The Spark Ignites Pt. 02

Here it is, part two. I've been working on it since before part one was cleared to upload. I've had a couple friends on Darth Aussie's discord. If you want to hang out with me and meet the awesome group there, go check out his profile, the link is on there. While you're there, definitely check out his works. He deserves the credit for bringing this great group of folks together, which ended up supporting me in my writing endeavors. Again, thanks guys, wouldn't be here without ya!

Sadly, work on my stories will be slower and more intermittent just due to my current job. I am a chemist, I started this job back at the end of July, Mid-September we had one employee put in their two weeks, and at the time of writing this, we had another put theirs in. Right now, they now have me running a section of a lab by myself that is normally run by two people. It wears a bit on both the mind and the soul, and I have definitely found a couple grey hairs over the past month

But enough about me and my complaining, you're here for the story, so without any further delay, here you go.

As always, all characters in this story involved in sexual acts are over the age of 18.

Chapter 6

I was standing in the front door of the house I grew up in, a packed duffel bag in my right hand and my truck keys in my pocket. I was leaving, I had to get away from here, clear my head. It was about two weeks after the incident, Steph was out of the hospital, she didn't get hurt too badly, all things considered. Some small second degree burns on her arms and face, along with several large third degree burns on her legs. Right now, she was home, but wheelchair bound until they healed. I couldn't even be in the same room as her, it hurt me deeply, knowing I had something to do with that. After I had gotten out of the burning building, we were rushed to the nearest hospital. She was treated for her burns, I had a full physical, naturally. I walked out of a burning building without the protection I had walked into it with, that was enough reason for me to be checked out. I was fine, to everyone's shock, including my own. I should have been burnt, horribly, but my skin was smooth, unblemished. Only thing that was different were my eyes, what once were a sapphire blue, were now a malevolent purple, with an occasional glow that danced like flames.

I looked around one last time, examining the house. I saw my mom moving around the kitchen. Her back was facing the door, and she was talking on the phone. She wouldn't realize I was leaving until I was already gone. Bri and Mark were upstairs, they had some homework they needed to finish, and wouldn't be coming down for an hour or two, at least. Steph was in her room, doing something, I had no clue what. Only one I wasn't sure on their location would be...

"And where do you think you're going."

That voice, gruff, and slightly slurred, belonged to one person in the house, the one I wanted to avoid the most. My father had been drinking more lately, and that absolutely made his lips a bit looser. I'd overheard his arguments with mom, the words he'd said, what he'd called me, they stuck with me. I felt something deep in my soul start roiling whenever he called me a freak, a monster. He was the biggest reason I was about to get out of this house. After everything that happened, he bounced between ignoring my entire existence and insulting me behind closed doors. It was different, before it was tacit approval, somewhat at least. I had to do something truly outstanding to get any kind of compliment, otherwise, it was expected that I do as well as I did. He was a hard man, but he used to be fair.

"Leaving, I need to get my head on straight, and it isn't happening here."

He looked at me with no small amount of disdain in his eyes. There it was, the disapproval, something familiar at least. It happened every time I came home after doing things that were 'beneath me', according to him at least. After every party I went to, or after I came back from a date with a cute lamia who transferred into my class when I was seventeen. Now though, it was tainted by a bit of anger, and a well-hidden flash of hatred. That part was very new, even just a week ago, it wasn't there, but today, something slipped in his perfectly controlled façade.

"Thomas, don't."

That was mom, always the peacemaker. She was better at keeping her thoughts in check. Still tried to help me, but even she was cautious around me. That hurt, my family used to be close, but after the incident, there were definite fractures inside the household. Even Bri, in her naive fourteen year old brain, could tell something was up. We tried to keep her out of the loop as much as we could, didn't want to traumatize her, but she knew something. She'd tried to spend time around me, but I would always make some kind of excuse, I didn't feel like it was safe for her to be close to me. I didn't want her anywhere near me, in case another burst of power happened.

My father sneered, and I could see that something changed. The alcohol made him a lot more standoffish, confrontational. I could tell, he was about to say something, and that I wouldn't like it, at all.

"No, he can damn well tell us where he's going, so I can send the department there to put out anything else he lights on fire. Can't have you hurting more people, Firestarter."

He put so much venom in that word, Firestarter. It was a term he used for arsonists, something he hated with a passion. It hurt, he thought I made the fire worse, just for the glory of saving more people. Despite there being literally no evidence of me being able to do anything like this before. Thank God for one of the detectives, she was a fire mage, and knew something about the burns, that they weren't something 'from this earth'. I was cleared of charges rather quickly; she was tight lipped about how it happened though. I didn't question it, even if in the eyes of the law it was not my fault, my father would not be told otherwise. I was the reason his niece ended up in the ER, I was the reason the probies were reduced to ash. I was a criminal, plain and simple. Normally, my mom mitigated most of his vitriol, but not today, today was a boiling point for both of us. I felt something in my blood demand I strike back, say something to hurt him, and in my anger, I complied.

"Fuck you then, you saw the reports, there was no evidence, and I was cleared of all charges. You're just being a stubborn old bastard."

My mother let out a slight gasp from the kitchen as my father froze. His eyes grew wide, then narrowed into slits. That was one thing he'd instilled in us, respect your elders, do not insult them, do not swear at them. By not only insulting him, but calling him a bastard too, I double dipped into the disobedience. It took him a second to fully process it, but he marched up to me, getting in real close. His face pushed in close to mine, and he started shouting at me. From the corner of my eye, I could see Bri and Mark, looking at us from the top of the stairs, and from the other corner, I saw Steph wheeling herself from the guest bedroom we had on the ground floor to see what the yelling was about.

"Young man, you may be an adult, but you are still in my house, my rules apply, now, would you like to rephrase what you just told me?!"

I could smell the alcohol on his breath, it stank, horribly. His face was starting to get red, and the color deepened by the second. In that moment, with his full attention, I decided I was finally done tiptoeing around him. If he wanted to call me a freak, a monster, he could damn well do it to my face. I shoved him away from me, making him back up a couple steps.

"No, why don't you tell me in person what you really think about me, fucker! You talk all this shit behind a closed door, but won't do it to my face, bitch!"

I stared him dead in the eyes, my malefic purple staring into his bloodshot blue, eyes I used to have myself, until I saw something snap. He reared back, as if slapped. He certainly wasn't expecting me to stand up to him, and in his half-drunk state, he wouldn't take that insult lying down. He brought one hand up, clenched into a fist, and took a swing at me. Time seemed to slow down as I heard my mom and Bri's screams, Steph's shouting, and Mark's gasp. Something in my body reacted out of instinct, and I stepped into the blow, taking it in my ribs before he could get the full swing in. I barely felt it, as if he hit me with an inflatable bat.

I twisted, and sent a punch of my own into his gut that knocked the wind out of him. I knew since I heard the slight wheeze he made as the air left his lungs. How had I done that? I had no idea why his punch felt like nothing, I knew he was strong. So why did it feel like a kid punching me?

Before I could contemplate it, I looked up at my family, now running towards us, and I just turned around. I booked it out the front door, tossing my bag into the passenger seat and taking off in my pickup. With one last glance back at my now former home, I saw Bri run out the front door, reaching out, shouting at me, concern on her face. I looked forward, and gunned the engine, tearing out the neighborhood I grew up in, and into the unknown.

*************************************

Chapter 7

I woke up with a gasp, my heart rate moving a mile a minute. It took a few moments, but I remembered where I was. It was about a week since I had gotten with Kari. Nereah had decided to move us out from the apartment we usually stayed at, and into a house in a nice suburb. We had stayed here before, when we had a few days off from any responsibilities, but now with Kari as part of the group, we needed something bigger than the apartment.

As I sat there, regaining my bearings, I felt my heart almost beating out of my chest. To have another nightmare so soon after the last, this one hadn't happened since I had met Nereah, and we struck our deal. I glanced behind me, and saw her and Kari, sandwiched on either side of me, neither of whom were awake, blissfully fucked to sleep hours ago. Getting out of bed was hard, their arms kept trying to draw me back in, but I couldn't be there right now, I had to get out. Grabbing my phone and cigarette pack, I went to the one spot in the house that I used to calm myself back down if Nereah wasn't there.

A couple minutes later, I was sitting on the roof, overlooking the nice little neighborhood we now lived in. An unlit cigarette sat in my mouth as I just breathed in the cool night air. My arms were still shaking occasionally, but before I could light up, I remembered something. Pulling out my phone, I scrolled through my contacts until I fell on one that read "Head Doc". I tapped it, and waited as it rang. After two rings, a click, followed Southern breathy voice answered, not sounding tired at all.

"Hello?"

Good, she was awake. I didn't want to wake her up just for this. I would be ok by myself, in time, but a bit of assistance would be appreciated. She did say she didn't really need sleep, but still, I know I hated being woken up. Even if she was sleeping, I needed that feeling of comfort she had around her. Something in my mind told me without it, I'd end up burying what just happened deep. Suppressing it until it exploded later, much more violently.

"Hey doc, got some time to chat a bit? I need some help."

I cringed at the sound of my own voice. It was hollow, and a bit raspy, like I had eaten sand. Fuck, she had to know something happened. After a few seconds, and the sound of a glass being set down, she replied.

"Of course I have time, give me a few minutes and I'll be there. I can feel your energy, shouldn't be too hard."

I let out a sigh of relief, I needed to talk to someone about that nightmare, and as much as I trusted Nereah, I wasn't ready to tell her this part of my past. It was something that deeply hurt me, the things my father had said, that he tried to attack me, that set scars deep in what was left of my soul.

"Thanks doc, I'll be on the roof."

"Good, just try and stay calm until I get there."

With that, she hung up, leaving me sitting there in the quiet night. I glanced up, and was glad Nereah splurged on this place, as I could see the stars as if I was in the middle of the Mojave. She'd had dwarves carve runes of clear sight into the foundation, and that negated the light pollution around the property. That allowed me to see what was up above without any interference from the LA lights. I placed raised my right hand up to the end of my cigarette and snapped my fingers. This caused a slight spark to ignite at the end of my fingers, and lit it in one go. With a deep drag, I let the ash and smoke fill my lungs, and steady my trembling fingers. It didn't take me long to burn it down to the filter, maybe two drags in all.

A few minutes and another cigarette later, I heard softly beating wings. Glancing up, I saw black wings supporting a familiar blonde. Alariel, carried on eight wings, with dark feathers like a raven, was floating in front of me, carrying a six pack of some kind of bottle. Her blonde hair swayed gently as she hung there in front of me, defying gravity with only slight movements of her wings. She looked like an evil angel, save for her concerned expression. She slowly descended from the sky, alighting on the roof without a sound.

She wore a pair of light grey short shorts and a loose band shirt, the letters ATR printed in bold above a picture of a skull. I had clearly called her while she was relaxing, but she made time for me anyways. I could see why she was the best at her job, as Nereah had put it. She stretched out, and that gave me a perfect opportunity to admire her fantastic ass again. Her shorts hugged her curves perfectly, and were designed to be wore low on her hips. Where they sat was just low enough that I could see the top of her panties above its hemline. They were dark red, but looked like they weren't too fancy, lightly patterned, but nothing racy.

She took a moment to steady herself, and set down the drinks, which turned out to be bottles of coke, before sitting down next to me. Most of her wings dissolved into dark particles, leaving her with only two large ones. One hand reached out and squeezed the end of my cigarette, putting it out. I felt her aura blanket me, putting me more at ease than I had been before, so I wasn't that mad about her putting out my little coping stick.

"There, now, what happened that had you sound like you had seen a Horseman?"

I opened my mouth, but the words just wouldn't come out. The emotions, the fear I felt back then, it was clouding my mind, locking up my muscles. My throat felt like it was constricting, and I couldn't breathe. Just as my eyes started to lose focus, and get hazy, I felt her arms around my neck, pulling me in close as her wings wrapped around me. Suddenly, the comforting feeling in the air intensified. Now, instead of an ambient sensation, it was wrapping around me. After a few moments, my throat relaxed, and I could breathe again. As soon as I could, I started tearing up, the emotions overwhelming any control I thought I had over myself.

We sat there like that for a while, her not saying anything as I silently poured my emotions out. It took several minutes, but my tears slowed to a stop. Once I was sure I wasn't going to start again, I tapped on her arm, letting her know I was ok. She released me, and leaned back as her wings fully dissolved into black particles. This left us sitting closer than before. Now I felt like I could actually talk, say the deeply troubling things I had to relive not even an hour ago. Nereah wasn't kidding when she called Alariel the best, she cracked your walls, then put you back together enough to talk about it. She reached over to her drinks, opened up one and handed it to me before getting herself one too as the comforting feeling receded to its standard levels. She didn't even look at me, just stared out at the horizon, and the dark sky.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

She finally asked me, after a long sip. I took one as well, wetting my throat, which now felt like I swallowed sand instead of just sounding like it. I slowly told her everything about my nightmare, pausing here and there to drink, and get myself back under control. It took me well over an hour, and the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon, but I finally got to the point where I was speeding off in my truck, leaving behind everything I knew.

She said nothing the entire story, only nodding or squeezing my shoulder when I started to choke up again. Every time she did that, I felt the comfort in the atmosphere concentrate again, soothing my mind and allowing me to keep talking. Even though it hurt, and it felt like I was walking the razor's edge of having a breakdown, I was glad I could get that off my chest. After I had finished, she glanced at me, then formed a small rod of light magic, about the size of a pen. She started rolling it between her knuckles, like I had seen people do when they were thinking hard back in high school.

"I will revise my last idea, you are going to call your sister, you need to talk to her. As your doctor, I'm making that an order."

I shook my head, I still doubted that anyone in my family wanted to talk to me. I ran out on them, abandoned them. I couldn't bring myself to even try to punch in her phone number.

"Doc, I can't, I just, can't."

She shook her head and held out her hand. Her expression was dead serious, she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Give me your phone, now, and unlock it."

I just looked at her for a few seconds, I didn't know exactly what to do with that. Since my parents were somewhat strict on morality, I was always a bit standoffish when it came to handing my phone over. It was a habit I had never broken, but right now, it just didn't pop up. With a stiff movement, I pulled it from my pocket, used my thumb print to unlock it, and handed it to her. It took her a few seconds and a couple taps, but she soon was holding it flat.

Before I could ask what she was doing, it began ringing. My heart skipped a beat, and not remotely in the good way. We sat there silently as it rang, and rang, and rang, after a few seconds, it went to voicemail.

"Hey, this is Bri, sorry I can't come to the phone right now, leave me a message and I'll call you back when I can."

Her voice, cheery, without an ounce of anger, had my head spinning. Before I could get it set straight again, some of my negativity boiled up and out of my mouth. Starting off in a normal tone, but slowly getting louder.

"See? She wants nothing to do with me, at least she let it go to voicemail instead of just rejecting the call."

It ended with a harsh laugh that made me sound dead inside. She held up her hand, stalling any more I wanted to say. My brain didn't want to be quiet, it was whispering cruel things, things I didn't want or need to hear. Alariel cleared her throat, snapping me out of that thought loop, and turned back to the phone.

"Hush you, it's five thirty in the morning, on a Saturday, she's probably sleeping. Now, hello Bri, sorry about the early call, this is Doctor Alariel, I am your brother's psychologist, and I felt like he needed to talk to you, or at least hear your voice. I'd give him some time before you call though, just your answering message seems to have short circuited him and his manners."

With that, she hung up, as if she hadn't just probably ruined Bri's entire day by waking her up early, and telling her that her brother wanted to talk to her. I couldn't do that, just the thought of it made my chest feel tight. Alariel handed me back my phone with a nod. Her lips were curled into a slight smile as she laid back against the roof, enjoying the slight coloration the sun was throwing across the sky.