Cold Fire (Immortal Love Series) 2

Again, he held his hand and adopted the stance as the professor got up and walked to his bench. The professor dipped his own litmus paper in the solution watching as it achieved the same result as David's before nodding and excusing him from the class. In a more practical sense it would have been easier to use magic to change the pH of the solution but he didn't.

He was standing at his locker when five minutes later the class ended and his sister accompanied by her friend arrived, "Hey." He said nonchalantly as they approached.

Both girls replied with a 'hey' talking in union.

"You did really well in there." Ashleigh said as she placed her books in her locker.

"Thanks." He replied looking at her gorgeous face.

"So what are you some kind of genius?" She laughed, beautiful.

No, just a thousand years old looking for you, live as long as I do and you're bound to be smart, He chuckled lightly, "No, I'm no genius. I've just done it before." He shrugged just happy to be having a conversation with her.

"You did acid titrations in primary school?" She asked with her brow raised.

He chuckled lightly again, "No. I was home-schooled for a while."

"Oh." She replied leaning against her now closed locker door.

"So where you from? I haven't seen you around before." Could I would have definitely have noticed...

"I'm from around here actually. I've just been moving around the past few years." Trying to escape a curse.

Ashleigh sounded a little surprised, "Oh." She said again. "What parts you from?" O.m.g I'm totally stalking him asking where he lives

"Umm... near the woods." He replied.

"Spooky." Danielle sang drawing the single word out as a musically high pitched note. David had completely forgotten about his sister's friend while he was talking to his love.

He chuckled again, bad habit, "It's not so bad." He shrugged.

Danielle tapped his sister playfully on the shoulder, "Hey we got to go, were going to be late."

The two ladies walked away down the corridor in the opposite direction he had to go.

Ashleigh looked back over her shoulder, "I'll see you at lunch?" She called out walking away.

David just nodded in reply.

As it turned out lunch came fast for David, even with the help of a little magic. Throughout most of his last class -- political science -- he paid almost no attention to the old blonde teacher droning on to the seemingly clear unenthusiastic students. All that his mind concentrated on was the single thought of seeing his sister again. She was finally here, she was alive. She is mine...

When the final bell signalled the end of the class he almost jumped from his seat and wandered around the halls of the school looking for the main auditorium where lunch would be held. Even with the slight help of his heart bond -- his and his sister's heart bond -- David barely navigated the maze of corridors and oncoming rush of eager students to leave. Finally he came to the main hall, the auditorium. At least a hundred desks, usually two together forming a square, were scattered about in the large room. Needless to say the room was chaotic. Students battled for seats, queued in long and clearly bias lines for food before juggling the light blue plastic trays above other students heads before they got to a seat. The floor was littered with discarded junk food wrappers; empty bottles lay on the floor being kicked around by those walking around. Dropped food and spilled drinks spoiled the otherwise shiny polished floor. And the smell of fried foods hung in the air along with the never ending constant noise of a hundred students talking competing to be heard over the noise. One thing was certain; it would take more than a 'clean-me' spell to get rid of the mess.

David scanned the room for any magically enabled students. He was pleasantly surprised to find quite a couple of those who had weak energy signatures but after watching each of them closely he considered that they were not very high or probably unaware of their talents chalking phenomenon to acts of coincidence. He scanned again and found a very large signature coming from one of the corners of the room and his once still heart thumped in his chest as he saw his gorgeous sister smiling with her radiant blonde hair blowing about behind her as she waved her head.

Ashleigh immediately noticed the hot new student as he entered the hall and began looking around. Although she found she had no particular reason why Ashleigh found herself looking forward to lunch time just so she could see David again. She wanted to see more of this new stranger who had suddenly taken to her heart; she wanted to get lost in his deep brown eyes and dark hair. Wow I met him once and already know his eye colour...stalker.

She saw him look around the hall at the chaos all around, he was home schooled -- probably hasn't seen this before, before his eyes settled on hers. Even across the room the two siblings stared into each other's eyes.

Eventually Ashleigh stopped staring at her brother, unbeknown to her. She waved him over and smiled when she saw him notice and expertly navigated his way through the hustle of students.

"Hey." She said when he was mere meters away from their table, littered with plastic trays and bottles of water or soda.

"Hello." He replied grabbing an empty seat from a near-by table and bringing it forward.

"Welcome to hall of madness." Ashleigh giggled waving her hands at the rather messy and still frantic room.

"Is it always like this?" David asked looking around his eye brow arched.

"Pretty much." Ashleigh shrugged, "Most times we go out but sometimes we end early and just come here."

David never stopped smiling as she talked, God I love you...

She interrupted him out his thoughts, "So how you finding high school?"

"Okay." He shrugged, "Kind of easy."

She laughed. Beautiful.

The rest of the school day went by quite pleasantly. David and Ashleigh shared two more classes -- Economics and General Studies -- although suffice to say they spent most of their classes watching each other inconspicuously rather than paying attention.

When the final bell rang echoing out the sound to announce freedom the thousands of students whom soon flocked to the exits to escaped the clutches of school and enjoy the rest of the day. David spotted Ashleigh standing at the waiting spot for the school bus but carried on regardless heading towards the car parking. Ashleigh called him over waving her arms in the air drawing his attention, he wandered over.

"Where you going?" Ashleigh asked tilting her head slightly.

Trying to play it cool he shrugged, "Home?"

She asked, "So why you heading away?"

He shrugged again, "To my car."

Ashleigh's face it up at the mention of David owning a car. She didn't try to hide the glee in her voice. "Oh my god... you have a car? Wow, I've always wanted to learn to drive but never could because I never got any ID." To this he knew, several times his contacts down at the DMV or Passport agencies contacted him towards notification of Ashleigh trying to obtain a licence. He was usually the one to cancel any applications she made for fear that she would move far from his reach.

David smiled secretly trying not to let the grin at his sister's enjoyment elope his face.

"You want a ride?"

Ashleigh grinned ear to ear and clapped her hands ecstatically. David grinned at her giving her the same butterflies whenever he did so and turned to walk back to his car, she and Danielle followed.

Being it quite recent that the final bell had ended there were still a number of different cars parked, ranging from the expensive BMW's that the higher paid teachers could afford towards the more student influential Volvo's and Astra's. David weaved in between the parked cars heading towards the back of the car lot. Ashleigh followed and tried to judge which car he owned -- the blue Corsa, the red impreza? David headed to the left towards...surely not...

Both girls stood mouths wide open at the sight of David's car. A black tinted Ford Mustang GT500 KR, licence plate: DAV1D.

David smiled at the two girls and clicked his car key fob proving that it was indeed his car, the sound of the double beep allowed them access; he opened the door and gestured for the girls to get in.

Danielle entered the car first climbing into the sleek interior and in the back leather cushioned seats. After re adjusting the seat Ashleigh climbed into the passenger seat and pulled down the seatbelt. David finally got in behind the wheel and started the car with a mighty roar of the V8 turbocharged engine grinning as Ashleigh squealed.

Within seconds they were out of the school gates and roaring down the street, remembering that he wasn't supposed to know where Ashleigh lived he finally asked, "So where to?"

Ashleigh gave David the directions to her house although he could have pointed out several short cuts or gotten there without any help and blindfolded but soon the sleek V8 muscle pulled up outside her home. Being the gentleman David even got out of the car and opened the passenger door for the ladies who stepped outside, waved bye and entered the house.

Chapter 3: Midnight rumble

Ashleigh and David got closer and closer together over the pursuing weeks. Though neither admitted their feelings to another they became very close enjoying each other's company. Over the coming weeks the two settled into a trend where they would spend time together at school but rarely outside unless they casually met -- not by choice but merely lifestyle.

After one particular long day of spending much of his school day with his unbeknownst sister and lover David collapsed back on the leather couch at his home. Watching the crackling of the fire he mindlessly played with his aura and the magic around him. He looked at the clock above the mantle: 9:30p.m.

He threw another fireball into the flames of the fire before turning his attention to Simba who had just entered and lay at the base of his feet. He summoned another batch of energy for a fireball when without warning his chest constricted and a searing white pain erupted over his body. As he screamed in pain, to Simba's alarm, his head instinctively whipped to the calendar hanging from the wall in the kitchen.

Impossible she had been reborn only four months not a year..., He thought. Unless the curse had changed this time...

He barely managed to stand through the agony, his face a mask of pure pain. Finally he arched his back as an electric current of pain washed through his nerves. The pink heart bond the siblings shared, dormant for so long, exploded out his chest in such ferociousness that he knew something was wrong. The once and always calm and beguiled energy that sang with love now swarmed his mind and sight, threatening to blind him with pink light. He managed to mutter a single word, "Ashleigh..."

before it all went dark.

David awoke to the sound of his own laboured breathing. As his vision returned he realised that everything was not blurry but moving past him and as his body worked on autopilot he was running through the trees following his bond down to the line. His legs pumped back and forth moving him through the maze of trees and woods. Before his mind caught up to his actions he found himself out of the clearing and heading east towards where his sister lived. Within minutes he navigated the pathways around the houses and saw the familiar house that held his sister.

Without thinking why his body wrapped itself in a shield of energy and threw out a wave scanning the surrounding area. He zeroed in on his targets; eight men walked towards the house, all bald, all with white eyes and all holding knives.

A fierce surge of protectiveness overwhelmed his body - he had to protect Ashleigh -- no matter the cost. The eight man team broke up into two men teams and took flanking positions, four on the left and four on the right. David checked his pockets before realising he had left the house without any protection. He cursed and settled for clenching his fists and adopting a defensive fighting position.

When the gang attacked David managed to disarm one and turned the weapon on its owner slicing through the man's throat. No blood. The man collapsed to the floor but not a single drop of blood spilled from his body. The remaining seven acted almost oblivious to the death and carried on walking towards the house. Without the attention of the knife men David managed to slit two more throats dropping them before the other remaining five changed tactics.

The men attacked David. Though they were no match even with their numbers their relentlessness towards getting a strike forward proved to be more tiresome. Even so despite the tiring of his muscles his single thought of protecting his sister encouraged him further as he single handily took out the attackers.

Ashleigh, for the night, was protected.

David stayed awake all night watching her house.

Chapter 4: The meeting

"Hey David." Ashleigh waved as he veered through the hallway to his locker.

Once again Ashleigh's friend Danielle was at her side holding her pink notebook. She gave him a casual smile before turning back to her locker rummaging around.

During the rest of the school day the two siblings spent as much of their time together in between classes and during lunch as they could manage, talking about everything and anything just trying to keep their closeness.

At the end of the day David once again gave Ashleigh a ride to her house before heading to his own house in the woods. As soon as the front door was open he clicked his fingers sending a ball of orange fire towards the blackened logs in the fireplace. He collapsed onto the couch sinking into the soft fabric. The clock above the fireplace read out the time: 16:46, his meeting was at 18:00.

David leaned against the grimy brick wall. He had sent out a meeting for a black market courrier and waited for the response. His wrist watch showed that there were only a couple more minutes before the deadline expired -- if they hadn't come by then, well, he wasn't the type of immortal teenage to wait around.

He had deliberately set the meeting location behind a warehouse with only one route of entry. To his right was a 10 meter high brick wall, nothing for a quick blast of magic in the event if he needed a quick escape, but to the left was a long murky and dark alley leading on to the road. A pair of headlights shone brightly down the alley lighting up the darkness clearly as if it were daytime. David kicked himself off the wall and walked closer to the SUV hidden behind the two lights. It pulled to a stop inches away and the driver door opened as a large man dressed in black leather stepped down.

"You Mike?" The man asked in a gruff and burly voice.

David nodded, "You K-I-L-L-E-R?" Referring to his email screen name.

The man nodded and fetched a silver briefcase from his car before walking over and handing it to David; he opened the case nodded to the man and gave him an envelope in return. The man checked inside the envelope nodded and got back in his car pulling away.

As soon as he was back at home he pushed back the couch and rug revealing a small hatch door hidden amongst the wooden floorboards. The hatch had no latch to pull so David used a slight Gravity spell to lower the gravity under the hatch letting it float higher until he could move it pushing it aside. Underneath the hatch was a wooden staircase leading lower into a small room.

The room was full of a multitude of weapons: knives, swords, daggers, guns, ropes, nets, ancient spears, medieval clubs and more items of death. Red blood stuck to the floor like treacle, sticky and dried. All of the knives were caked in dried blood as was the other weapons, only the guns remained untouched by the blood everywhere.

In the middle of the room was a small wooden table literally dripping with blood as if it were the operating table for surgery during medieval times, David placed the case on the table and opened it staring at the content -- a single knife. It had taken nearly twenty eight years to find this one knife and twenty more before he could find a person crazy enough to steal it -- the knife used to stab Rasputin, the mad monk.

A conversation popped into his head:

"So if I died would that lift the curse?" David asked.

"It's possible; I mean life is about balance so your death may break the curse." The man replied.

"So Ashleigh can still have her life..." David mused.

"Wait... you're not thinking what I think you're thinking? David if you die Ashleigh won't want to live."

"But she will still be safe."

He blinked back the tears in his eyes. If this knife worked Ashleigh would live, it would break her heart but she would be safe and free to live her life without dying.

The knife weighed nothing, trying almost for hundreds of years to kill himself he had tried almost every type of knife, ordinary knives stolen from a convenience store, antique knives found from archaeological digs, even knives used in famous battles and assassinations.

He closed his eyes and whispered his sister's name before plunging the knife into his heart. The pain of having his skin pierced was like a stepping on a burning ember bare footed. Painful, even after so many blades being stuck in his chest into his heart the pain was the same always -- never dulled. As the blood dripped from the wound and down his body pooling on the floor around him David dropped to his knees, his body felt heavy and it became a task in itself to keep his eyes open. He collapsed to the floor like a rag doll no muscles in his body working.

Please let this be the one, he thought as he slipped quietly unconsciously.

Chapter 5: Lifelong pals

"You never guessed who I saw the other night down in shore..." Danielle whispered leaning against her locker facing Ashleigh.

Shore was the name given to the more rougher side of town where those who are involved in illegal activities usually hung out. It was named so due to its distinct characteristic of warehouses with their wavy roofs -- like a shore.

"Santa Claus?" Quipped Ashleigh smiling.

Danielle shook her head and giggled, "You're new boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend." Ashleigh replied giving her friend her serious look.

"Whatever. You want him to be."

Ashleigh gave Danielle an incredulous look arching her brow in a questioning manor.

"Oh come on I see the way that you two look at each other. You want him as badly as he does you. The only ones who you're fooling are yourselves."

Ashleigh giggled and leaned her head against her locker, "You really think he wants me?"

Danielle gave a short laugh, "Are you kidding? Have you seen the way he looks at you? It's like you're the only person in his world."

Speaking of the Devil Danielle looked down the hallway at the watchful eyes of David.

"But seriously." She began looking behind Ashleigh at David, "What was he doing down shore? You think he's a killer?"

Ashleigh scoffed, "Do you even know it was him?"

Danielle nodded her head affirmatively, "Yeah I saw his car, really obvious. But why was he there, you know what the shore is like."

Ashleigh nodded but kept quiet -- had David really been down at shore?

She remained quiet all the while her friend talked about David and his mysterious activities, she had the unnerving sensation to look behind her as if someone was watching her; she knew he was behind her -- David. The rambling of Danielle played in the background of her mind as she thought about David but one final sentence hit her perfectly.