Born of Fire

The first Fire Mage

The hot dry air didn’t satisfy, as Kenna pulled it in with short panicked breaths. She writhed out from the blankets and stumbled out of bed, smacking her bare knees onto the cold tiled floor. She knelt there and tried to focus on the sweat dripping down her arms and tried to clear her head of the fever-induced dreams. She didn’t recognize the room, but Ben’s scent filled her nose. Since he was nowhere in sight, she assumed this must be his bedroom.

She felt nauseated from the heat and crawled over to the double doors that opened to the patio. She pulled back the curtain and barely registered the early morning rays as she reached up to open the door and let in the breeze.

She crawled out onto the concrete and let the cool wind wash over her and her fever rose to combat the brief moment of comfort. She knelt and vomited onto the stone patio before the change took her.

Human logic was lost to her as the wolf instincts took over. She had never been sick before and she knew she needed to run.

She couldn’t tell how long she ran, time was a burden in the thick fog of her delirious mind.

Suddenly her legs gave out beneath her and she tumbled to a stop at the feet of the woman whose scent she couldn’t place. She looked up and found her enemy. She tried to stand and growl, but could only lie there.

“This is Darren MacGregor’s offspring?” The woman sneered. “It doesn’t surprise me. He was so easily controlled. Like a puppet on a string.”

Confused, but angry, Kenna tried to growl but only managed a thin whine.

“I don’t want to stand here talking to an animal. Please change.” The woman looked down and a light flame shot out from her fingertips as she waved her hand toward Kenna.

The flame singed her fur and blackened the skin of her shoulder, and she immediately began the change. Her fur began to recede as if it were being pulled through her skin as the features melted into those of a human and she laid there naked on the ground, unable to move.

“Stop.” Was all Kenna could force out, though she wanted to stop talking and tear the woman apart. She knew this was the one they were looking for, the one who hurt her friend and killed his family.

“Now that you’re presentable, I need you to do something for me.” The woman swayed on her feet momentarily then knelt down and ran her fingers through Kenna’s hair.

“f**k you.” Kenna said, finally able to speak.

“Tsk, what would your father say if he heard you talk like that?” The stupid witch was amused. Jacob wouldn’t say anything, he would just kill her.

“He would tell me to tear your throat out and burn your entrails.” Her throat burned as she spoke.

“He already did that. Big mistake.”

She was more confused than ever now, Jacob had mentioned nothing of an encounter with the witch.

“What do you want?” Kenna asked.

“I want you to kill the Alpha, Benjamin.” The woman finally stopped stroking Kenna’s hair.

“Let me guess, he finished first?” Her mind and body were growing stronger and she decided to use that strength to get information. She wasn’t a killer, but she wanted this woman’s blood.

“Nothing quite so flagrant.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s simply standing in my way and I need him disposed of.”

“If you want him dead why don’t you do it yourself?” She could feel her strength returning. She needed time to prepare her strike. Let her believe she could be bought.

“Because I have you to do it for me.” And with those words the heat returned, this time it consumed her mind and body and suddenly she was wolf again. She ran full force back toward the house.

Darren, Rochelle, Jacob, and Ben were all on the patio outside the bedroom she had left this morning. They looked up when they heard her running.

She ran faster when she caught sight of Ben. She darted towards him, growling without any thought or control, while something inside her screamed for her to stop.

His face grew alarmed as he saw her running towards him, though he made no move to fight or run. She grew closer and caught sight of his neck and leapt, waiting for the warmth of his blood to fill her mouth. A sharp pain pierced her just above her left ear and everything went black.

She woke to the feel of a pinch in the crook of her arm, and a myriad of scents filled her nose. The smell of blood and fear made her queasy, but Jacob’s and Darren’s scents soon brought her comfort. Their voices rumbled like thunder but she couldn’t piece the words together to make sense of them for some time.

“You’re sure it’s the same woman?” Darren asked.

“Very sure. She looked right at me that night, I couldn’t forget a face like hers,” Jacob replied and Darren took in a shaky breathe.

She wanted to break the silence that weighed down the room, but she still felt so weak and tired. She could smell the anxiety, Darren’s especially and she wanted to find out what was wrong.

“I think she’s my daughter,” Darren said. Was he talking about Rochelle? Who? Kenna was confused.

“There’s more to the story than the deaths of your family,” Jacob said, and was answered by silence. She couldn’t open her eyes to get a better idea of what was going on. She knew this wasn’t good. “I won’t ask you to relive that night.”

“ Should we tell Kenna? Ever since we found the body we’ve assumed the thing came back for me or Rochelle. What if it’s here for Kenna? What if the witch is causing her illness?”

“How do we tell her something like that? I wouldn’t put that burden on her or you. You’ve both been through enough. How do you think she would feel knowing the nature of her conception?” Jacob asked softly.

“She’s not to blame for what her mother did.” Darren growled.

“I know that,” Jacob assured him gently. “But do you think she will feel the same?”

“She told me she wanted to find her parents and I promised to help her…” She moved a little and moaned weakly. The men stopped talking and rushed to fuss over her. She didn’t want to hear anymore. She fought a losing battle against the tears as she pieced together what she was hearing. She tried to sit up and choked out a sob as Darren pushed her back down.

“You need to rest,” he told her. She shook her head and buried her face in the pillow. She was still too weak from the fever to fight him. It was so rare for a were to be given up for adoption, and usually the child would be taken in by a relative or a friend in another pack. The werewolves in the Guard had been her pack. Jacob, human that he was, was her pack and father. She hadn’t wanted for love and companionship, but she’d always dreamed of finding her parents, finding answers to why she had been given up.

She turned her head to glance up at Darren. His eyes held unshed tears and his mouth was tight with internal pain. Now she knew why no one had come forward to claim her. She wished she hadn’t listened to their conversation. Knowing only made things worse and she wished the fevers had killed her months ago. Maybe this was her punishment for taking the place of his wife and son. She was here because they were dead.

“Kenna,” he said, and laid a hand on her arm.

“Go, please go.” She hid her face in the pillow again and slapped his hand away. He sighed and withdrew. She could hear his footsteps as he left the room. He stopped and hesitated near the doorway before leaving her alone with Jacob.

She sat up weakly and put her head on his shoulder, he put his arm around her and held her as she cried.

“I shouldn’t be here,” she told him.

“What happened to Darren and his family is terrible, but we can’t bring them back.” If he was trying to comfort her, it wasn’t working. “What we can do is keep that monster from hurting anyone else.”

“If that monster is my mother, what does that make me?” She hoped his answer would be different than the one her voice screamed to her inside her head.

“My daughter,” he said and interrupted her before she could argue. “I’m not letting anyone else make that claim, except maybe Darren if he chooses. I raised you. I know you better than anyone. You’re no monster.”

Suddenly she was tired again, and all she wanted to do was sleep.

“I want to rest,” she told him.

He nodded and tucked her in as if she were a child again. “I’ll be right out in the living room,” he told her. He kissed her head and stroked her hair until she dozed, then left the room.

She slept on and off as she tried to process everything, or at least let herself go a little numb so she could see things from a more logical standpoint. She had come here to find answers about her illness, and maybe to find her parents. She succeeded somewhat in the latter, and Darren had mentioned the fevers could be related to her mother, who might possibly be there murdering more people because of Kenna.

When Ben first mentioned the deaths, she wanted to help so she could have something that might get her mind off her own problems. Now she had no choice but to solve this and find her mother. This wasn’t about her anymore, and yet it was because of her.

Though her body felt stronger, she was still weary and had difficulty dragging herself off the couch. It wasn’t the world she didn’t want to face, it was herself, her mother, Darren.

She followed the rumble of voices to the living room where Darren, Jacob, and Khal were discussing locations where the witch was likely to be hiding.

Darren looked up and excused himself when he saw her. He went into the kitchen and she heard the clanking of dishes. She couldn’t blame him for not wanting to be around her now, though her heart hurt a little more at the thought.

Jacob motioned for her to sit beside him and he wrapped a blanket around her as she situated herself, legs tucked underneath her. She wasn’t cold, but the blanket was more for comfort than warmth.

Darren came back into the room carrying some of the pizza she had liked from the place they had gone to the other night. The slices were already drizzled with ranch dressing. She looked up at him and tears escaped from her eyes as he handed her the plate and gave a warm smile.

His reassuring kindness both warmed her and made her feel a little more miserable. He really was an amazing person.

“I don’t know why you’re being so nice to me, considering where I come from.” Her voice cracked and she lowered her eyes. It was an admission of guilt on her part, though she didn’t know what she was guilty of, just that she felt guilty.

“I don’t know if I should be insulted,” he tried to joke, but the severity of the situation made it sound a little flat. She appreciated his attempt, though.

“You shouldn’t feel ashamed for existing, you didn’t ask for this any more than I did.” Though his words made sense, they were still too new and raw.

“What makes you think she is your daughter? Yours and this creature’s?” Khal asked.

“I was there when she was born, I helped deliver her.” Jacob told him. “I recognized her as Kenna’s mother when she nearly killed us last night.”

“Wait, you ran into her? When was this?” Though he was sitting beside her, fear and concern threatened to turn into panic.

“This morning after we stopped you from trying to kill Ben, she followed you and tried to throw a fireball at us but couldn’t get past the protection spell and flew off.”

Oh no!

“Ben!” Kenna’s eyes widened in panic. She had forgotten about him.

“He’s alright. Rochelle hit you in the head with a bird feeder and you passed out,” Darren said.

A bird feeder?

“Wait, she flew? What exactly is she?” Jacob and Darren both referred to her as a witch, but she didn’t know any witches with the ability to control someone’s mind and body, or come back from the dead, or fly.

“I’ve never heard of anything like what you’ve described,” Jacob said to Darren.

“Many species of creatures have gone extinct or hidden from the eyes of the Council over the years, but once in a while something new will surface,” Khal said.

“There has to be a list of some kind,” she suggested. “If we’re going to kill her, we have to figure out what she is first.”

“It was Sun Tzu who said ‘know your enemy,’” Jacob recited for the billionth time. Sun Tzu was one of his favorite war tactician to have his students study. She interrupted him before he could go into one of his lectures.

“My point is, we have next to nothing to go on, and too little time to search for answers. We need to find out how to kill her, for good, before she kills again.”

“If you would let me finish,” Jacob continued and ignored her exasperated snort. “I might have something.” He pulled out an old dagger with a strange bird-like emblem engraved on the hilt. There was an emerald in place of the bird’s eye on one side, and a ruby on the other.

“The bird with the jeweled eyes is called a Phoenix, it’s a symbol of the Guldbrandsen Slekt. They were believed to have been fire mages, but their powers extended beyond that of those with normal fire magic.” He handed her the dagger and when she took it, she felt a strange humming vibration creep up her arm toward her heart; the feeling filled her with both power and dread. She thrust it back toward him and leaned away from it.

“What can you tell me about firemage origins?” he asked her. Great, pop quiz.

She fought the urge to roll her eyes and gave them a brief summary, though chances were they knew the story as well as she did.

“Basically, a human man and a fire spirit wanted to do the nasty.” A fire mage himself, Khal burst out laughing at this. She stopped in surprise. She had never seen him laugh like this before.

“That’s not exactly how it happened,” he told her, then turned to Jacob. “May I?”

Jacob turned to Kenna, who lifted her palms up in a have-at-it gesture.

“Many years ago there was a sun maiden, a spirit girl who lived in one of the kingdoms on our sun. Their world is said to be bright and jeweled and beautiful, but she longed for the exotic night of the earth. She would often visit the flames in hearths or bonfires of Celtic clansmen to catch brief glimpses of our world, but the fires weren’t strong enough to hold her fires for long. One day, she visited a burning city that had been taken by a powerful human warrior. After every battle he would burn the bodies and belongings of his enemies and stand before a fire to regal his friends with tales of his bravery and conquest.

“Eventually she fell in love with this warrior. Surely the fire in his heart was strong enough to withstand the flames that made her soul. One day she allowed him see her in the fire. He stopped in the middle of a great tale of how he slaughtered the seventy-five soldiers that burned before him; his heart grew hotter and he lusted after her as she did for him.

“Yet when he tried to touch her, his hands were burned by the flames. As the flames diminished, her image faded. The warrior grew furious that he could not have what he desired and could not bear to part from the sight of her. He lifted his sword and struck down almost a hundred of his own men whose bodies were used to fuel the fire so he could look upon her lovely face.

“He spent days felling trees and gathering wood and timber, and slaughtering whatever creature crossed his path to keep the fire going. He spent weeks gathering and killing and chopping trees until he could go no farther without losing sight of her fire.

That last day he sat down in front of the fire to see her. He planned to wait until she left this fire so he could build another one in a neighboring village. To his horror, she didn’t leave as the fire dissipated. He feared for her life and begged her to go, but she would not heed his pleas. The fire grew smaller and smaller and he turned away, not wanting to see her die.

He bowed his head and wept, not for those he slaughtered or the village or forests he destroyed, but for the beautiful fire maiden who he would never see again.

As he wept, a hand lay upon his shoulder and he thought it was perhaps a traveler who sought to comfort him. He wanted no comfort and attempted to strike out at the person who touched him, but stopped when he saw her face. It was his beautiful fire maiden standing naked before him, not as flames but naked human flesh, her eyes a sparkling brilliant emerald.

She had consumed his sacrifices and offerings and made for herself human flesh. The magic of her fire held her body together and she was able to live as a human. They married and together they conquered villages and gathered together armies of brutal warriors.

One day she bore him a son. His birth weakened her and stole power from the fire that gave her life. She thought to kill him, but her husband was growing old and begged her to spare his son so he would have an heir to lead the kingdom they built and protect her when he was gone and reluctantly she agreed, if only to please her husband.

He trained his son in combat and war strategy and, as he grew, they discovered he could command fire. He devastated his enemies with his magic and his father was pleased. The son discovered that not only could he wield the fire, but he could steal the heated lifeforce from the bodies of his enemies and he would grow stronger. Soon he was unstoppable as well as ruthless and cunning. His parents grew afraid of him, and for good reason, but they dared not challenge him.

Then came the day that he laid eyes on his parent’s power and kingdom. He still looked upon his father as a great unstoppable force, as even adult children are wont to do, and he coveted that power and fashioned a dagger with which to claim it. He sacrificed his father for himself. Though the old man was weak from age, the image his son held of him was enough to stoke the fires within.

As soon as he killed his father, he began to seek out his mother. Surely, the daughter of the sun-king would give him powers beyond that of all mortals. He found her and they fought a great duel, but he was sorely outmatched, for wasn’t she the daughter of the sun-king? She had watched him carefully and anticipated his actions and, though her husband brought about his own demise in his old age, she would take back what was hers.

She defeated him and plunged the dagger into his heart, only she enchanted the dagger to hold his power and she could absorb it little by little. With this, she could live forever.

She drained him almost entirely, but she left him to live. She promised her husband she would not kill her son, so she kept him in a cage like a wild cat. He lived as long as any normal human, for every time he would regain a hint of his lost power, she would siphon it from his body with her dagger.

When he died, she began to suck the life of the people she now governed. She had become a leech, a parasite, and they grew weary of her. She procreated with them often, though it drained her at first, the energy her children provided satisfied more than the average human, and she kept them caged like her first son.

Her people tired of her and devised a plan to lure her far away to a holy temple. The religious are full of light and energy and she would have her fill for years. Even though her children satisfied her more, she was never fully satiated.

They warned the priests at the temple, who were holy warriors, dedicated to fighting the monsters who roamed our earth. She had a taste for battle and loved seeing the bloodshed and always led the battles herself. Warned of her habits, the warriors laid in wait and struck her down as soon as she reached their great temple.

They struck her head from her body and she burst into ashes. For a night, her people celebrated their freedom, but she returned to them. Though she had killed and tortured them for sport, she saw this as a great betrayal and laid waste to the temple and her own army. Every one of them she laid eyes on burst into flame at her command.

Unfortunately for her, this great act of vengeance was her undoing. It sapped the strength and life force that she hoarded for so long. Soon the land around her was entirely aflame and she was weakened, barely able to stand. She searched for her dagger in hopes of finding a survivor, but one of her former soldiers found it first. Too weak to defend herself, he plunged it into her heart and soaked in her magic. This time her ashes stayed as they were. She was finally dead.

The soldier took the dagger and killed her children in fear of them following in their parent’s footsteps. He later learned that he now could wield fire, though not to the extent she could. His children and those after him could as well. He was the first Fire Mage. He was not immortal like the sun-princess or her children, but his was a great power nonetheless.

The few fire mages left are his descendants. I am one of them. I think this killer of ours is something more.”

“I think we figured that out already.” Kenna almost regretted taking her irritation out on Khal, almost. He did kind of deserve it.

“Perhaps one of the children survived, or maybe the sun-princess isn’t as dead as everyone believed,” Darren said thoughtfully.

“Either of those would be a bad thing, though we can only hope it isn’t the princess herself. If it were her, we would all be in a lot of trouble.” Khal’s face was expressionless, though his tone was grim.

“Prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Jacob spouted another of his favorite sayings. “At least we have the dagger and know its purpose. The fact that she was trying to use it on Kenna makes me think she is the princess. I’ll hold onto it until we can track her down. The sooner, the better, at any rate.”

“When is Ben coming back so we can fill him in?” Kenna was starting to worry. She looked around in confusion when she realized the pack was gone as well. She couldn’t believe she had missed the absence of eighty people.

“Where is the pack?”

“We can’t be sure you’re no longer under her control, so Ben and Rochelle rented some tour buses to take everyone to safe houses away from the witch. They’ll be back later this evening. We’re hoping that will be enough time for you to break fully from her spell,” Jacob answered.

“How do you know I can break out of her control?”

“We’re hoping that being her offspring will give you a certain degree of immunity to her magic, as is the case with most witch families.”

She grimaced at the thought of her being a blood relation to that thing. She glanced out the window and made a wish to be able to run on four feet and escape her own thoughts, but she knew her mother was waiting out there somewhere. She didn’t feel ready to face her just yet.

She was pulled out of her depressing thoughts when Darren sat beside her and put an arm around her. She was grateful when he didn’t say anything, he somehow understood that words wouldn’t help at all and she took comfort in his kindness.

“I have a thought about your fevers,” Khal said with a hint of expression. “It could have something to do with the dual nature of your magic.”

“I thought dual magics were impossible,” she said.

“Unheard of, yes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean impossible,” Jacob told her.

“I’d like to figure out how to keep whatever this is from hurting her any longer.” Darren squeezed her shoulders a little, then stood up and wandered into the library.

“I’m going to see if I can help him find anything,” Jacob said and followed Darren down the hall, leaving an unhappy Kenna alone with Khal.