Flux Flame (A Flame Moon Novel Read online

  Flux Flame

  A Flame Moon Novel, Volume III

  K.J. Jackson

  Copyright © K.J. Jackson, 2013

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any forms, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author.

  First Edition: October 2013

  Smashwords Edition

  ISBN-10: 1940149029

  ISBN-13: 978-1-940149-02-8

  http://www.kjjackson.com

  To my delightful readers,

  If you are here, diving into Flame Moon #3, you have been on quite a ride with these four wonderful characters!

  Hopefully along the way, there have been plenty of moments that tightened your chest, and made you sneak ahead a couple of pages, just to see what happens next (I have no will power, myself, when it comes to flipping ahead—I like to imagine I’m in good company on that one).

  For those that have been waiting, thank you for your patience with the cliffhanger in FM2. I’ve been told it was a doozy. Which is both good and bad!

  On the final read-through of FM3, even after all the time I’ve spent with this story, I still had plenty of moments that tugged at my heart. I love these characters! I hope you do too.

  There’s a lot that happens in FM3, so buckle-up, my fine readers, I am so excited for you to read this one!

  Thank you for your continued kind words and support—they mean the world to me!

  —K.J. Jackson

  http://www.kjjackson.com

  Dedication

  ~ For my favorite Ks

  .

  { Flame Moon }

  They were born with extraordinary powers, Panthenites and Malefics.

  And then man made them into gods.

  Time passed, as did their favor as gods.

  But they never disappeared. They never lost their powers.

  And occasionally, a flame moon would befall, and they were asked to prove their worth on earth, once again.

  { Prologue }

  Through the crust on her lashes, her eyes pulled, wedging themselves open. In the miniscule light, she could see a dingy white plaster ceiling and a large metal fixture with a broken light bulb hanging above her.

  A face leaned over into her eyesight. Wrinkled skin. Grey hair.

  “Do you remember what happened to you?”

  She had no answer. She couldn’t move a muscle.

  “Doesn’t matter.” He continued. “What matters is the choice you have to make in the next thirty seconds.”

  She blinked, still trying to comprehend.

  “Your life…Abandoned by everyone you ever loved. Used. Beaten. Disregarded time and again. A life of apologies. A life that you never really owned. A life spent hoping others would love you. But that love never came. And then you were given a death sentence.”

  His eyes bore into her from above. “But now you are being granted another choice. So here is the question. Are you ready to live life without apologizing for yourself? Ready to live a life where you are in control and have the power?”

  He paused. “Choice one: to live that life. Or choice two: you can close your eyes, and return to the darkness you were just in. Which will it be?”

  Dead silence followed his question.

  Dead silence until her mouth cracked open. Decrepit air hissed from her lungs. “Live.”

  ~~~

  “What do you mean you lost her body?”

  Skye looked over at Aiden, angry disbelief riveting her face. She leaned across the table and ripped the phone from his hand.

  “This is her sister. What the hell did I just hear?”

  The voice on the other end of the line stuttered. “I am so sorry for your loss ma’am. I know this is a shock, but your sister’s body. We checked it in last night, and when we came down this morning, her body was gone.”

  “Gone? How could that be? Where would it go?”

  “That’s just it, ma’am. We have the place secured at night. There is no way in. The police are here, and we’re checking with all of our workers and associates just in case.”

  “Just in case of what?”

  He fell silent.

  “Just in case of what?” Skye demanded.

  “It’s never happened to us, but sometimes, when there is a young female body…they are valuable to some people.”

  Skye swallowed back the breakfast that had just travelled upward from her stomach. “You get my sister back,” she hissed.

  She handed the phone back to Aiden.

  “This is her husband again.”

  He was silent for a few moments. “I repeat what Skye said. You get her back. I will expect updates hourly.”

  He tapped the phone off.

  ~~~

  The hotel phone by the side of the bed bleeped a caustic tone that ripped Skye from the troubled sleep she was lost in. The day had gone by with no trace of Shiv’s body, and Aiden had finally forced her into bed to sleep. It had taken an hour, but exhaustion had finally won out over her mind.

  So she was instantly bitter at the intrusion into the blackness that sleep afforded her. And when she realized Aiden was in the shower, and the phone was just going to continue to ring, she rolled across the big bed, and annoyed, picked it up.

  “Yes?”

  A voice she didn’t recognize was on the other end. “You want your sister’s body back, you come to 3892 West Hartford Road. Alone. 3892 West Hartford Road. Alone, or she is gone for good.”

  Click.

  “Hello?” Skye said into the receiver.

  No answer.

  Skye stared at the bathroom door, partially ajar. She didn’t know how long Aiden had been in the shower. And he was usually quite quick. She scrambled off the bed, pulling on clothes as she grabbed her shoes, a long knife, and the rental car keys. She was out the door in twenty seconds, bare feet running down the hall, leaving the sounds of the shower behind her.

  ~~~

  There was no moon on this black night, and Skye squinted at the number just below the red neon bar sign. 3892. And this was West Hartford Road, unless the GPS glowing on the dashboard was wrong.

  Skye took in the scummy bar as she quickly whipped her hair into a braid that came down over her right shoulder. It was a small bar, with no windows, save for a small horizontal slit high on the door, so she had no idea what she would be walking into. She wondered how much time she had before Aiden would find her. She guessed that the rental car company could track the vehicle fairly quickly, and that Aiden probably had already woken up half the company in order to find her.

  Best to take care of this quickly, whatever this, was.

  She took a deep breath and checked the knife tucked into the back of her jeans. She pulled her shirt over the hilt of the blade, berating herself that she hadn’t grabbed a sheath for it.

  The cold hit her hard when she got out of the car. She hadn’t grabbed a jacket, either. She walked quickly across the pot-holed street, and pushed in the cheap, hollow door.

  There were very few people inside, seven, at most, and not one looked up when she entered. Skye looked around the dinge. And then she spotted exactly why she was there.

  She walked over to the bar and remained on her feet.

  “Evan. I should have guessed.”

  Evan turned on his barstool and looked past her toward the front door. “I applaud you for following directions so true, my daughter. Where is your watchdog?”

  “Not here. Now where is
my sister’s body?”

  Evan looked her up and down. “Your watchdog trains you well, doesn’t he?”

  Skye rolled her eyes. “My sister?”

  His hand went to his chin, stroking it as he contemplated her. “Tell me. Why didn’t you save her? You have the power.”

  Skye’s face went crimson in immediate rage. “I would have died for her.”

  “So why didn’t you save her?”

  Skye gritted her teeth.

  Understanding crossed Evan’s face, and his top lip curled in smirk. “You tried, didn’t you? You tried and you failed.”

  He stroked his chin some more while Skye resisted pulling her blade and stabbing him. She still didn’t have her sister back.

  “Hmmm. We all knew time moved back once that night, but that didn’t save her, did it? Do you know why it didn’t work?”

  His musings were only met with silence.

  “May as well answer, daughter. We’re not moving past this point until you tell me.”

  Skye crossed her arms across her chest. “No. I have no idea why it didn’t work. The first time I moved back time saved her from crashing her car. The second time in the fire didn’t work.”

  Evan nodded slowly. “I have a theory, if you’re willing to learn something about your power. Turn it back, right now. Go back to when you walked in the door.”

  She glared at him.

  “It’s not a trick. It’s an experiment.”

  “I will perform nothing for you.”

  “Fine. Then you are choosing not to get Shiv’s body back?”

  Skye’s lips tightened as her glare deepened. She had been searching for answers as to why she couldn’t save Shiv. But she despised being forced into anything by Evan.

  She was stuck, and knew it. So without a word, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the moment she stepped into the bar.

  She opened her eyes, and she was instantly at the door again. She scanned the room as she walked back over to Evan, hand under the back of her shirt on her blade, just in case.

  She stopped in front of him. “And what?”

  “And try again. Go back to that same moment in time, or one right before it.”

  Understanding dawned on Skye. Her gut heavy, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the same moment in time she had just gone back to.

  She opened her eyes. No time shift.

  Evan watched her. “Was that the same instant in time, or before?”

  “Same.”

  “Try before.”

  Skye closed her eyes and concentrated on the moment she looked at the bar from the car. She opened her eyes. No time shift.

  “So interesting.” He tapped a folded forefinger on his chin. “It seems you can only re-arrange a time thread once. Interesting limitation. That must have been terribly frustrating, watching her die.”

  Skye winced, and rage shot her hand back to her blade.

  “You don’t want to do that. You won’t win.”

  Skye’s hand slipped to her side.

  “I only mention it because had you known, you could have saved her. The people around you Skye, they aren’t interested in exploring your power. Knowing exactly what you can and cannot do with it.”

  “Stop. I leave the next time you talk derogatory about Aiden or my friends.”

  “They are who they are. I am very different. I am interested in what you can actually do. Just remember that.”

  Skye was at her breaking point. “Evan. You got me here by promising Shiv. Produce her.”

  His folded finger tapped his chin again. “Before I do. I warn you against the shock.”

  “What shock? What did you do to her body?”

  “What if it was a mistake? What if she’s alive?”

  Skye’s heartbeat flew out of control. Her voice was dangerous. “Don’t, Evan. Don’t. She’s dead. I saw her body.”

  Silently, he pointed to the worn, black door at the back of the bar.

  Skye squinted through the haze of the dark bar.

  “That is where you need to go, child.”

  With a look to burn his flesh, Skye moved past Evan and crept to the back of the bar, her body tense and ready for anything. No one attacked, no one jumped out at her.

  She grabbed the wobbly silver knob and turned the handle. Door cracked, she peeked out, and seeing nothing, she stepped through the threshold.

  Blackness, save for one weak overhead light, surrounded her in the bar’s parking lot. It was silent, and the cold immediately encased her bare arms.

  And then she heard it. A muffled scream. A scream begging for someone to stop. Skye flew past the line of cars closest to her, eyes searching in the dim light. Within seconds, she found the source of the screams.

  Held down on the trunk of an old sedan, a girl thrashed under a pony-tailed dirtbag. His hand clamped down over her mouth, while his elbow dug into her chest, pinning her to the car. He was freeing his pants with his other hand as the girl kicked wildly.

  And then Skye caught sight of the girl’s eyes.

  The girl was Shiv.

  Skye’s blade was high, attacking in a blur. The dirtbag looked over his shoulder just in time to see the blade come down on his body.

  The knife went into his neck, and he slowly fell backward off of Shiv, and slid to the ground, landing on his knees. He was a man, not a Malefic, and the blade easily stopped him.

  His hand went up to knife, trying to free it. It didn’t take Shiv a second to slide off the car. She went to the dirtbag and knelt in front of him. Casually, she swatted his fingers away and wrapped her hand around the hilt.

  She yanked it from his neck.

  And then she sunk it into his heart.

  He slumped forward, hitting the ground hard and rolling to a crooked stop on his side.

  Shiv followed the lifeless body, and then leaned over him, ripping Skye’s knife from his chest.

  “Wow. You feel it too, don’t you?” Shiv asked as she stood and wiped the blood on the blade off on her jeans. She held the knife out to Skye. “He told me, but I didn’t know. I didn’t know it would feel like this.”

  Skye took the knife silently, her hand shaking.

  Shiv’s head fell back and she breathed deeply, licking her lips. “God, this is insane. Insane. Doesn’t it feel fantastic?”

  Repulsed at the warm euphoria flowing under her skin, Skye trembled. “What the hell is this?” she asked, horrified at the blood burning, pleasuring every pore in her body.

  Shiv’s eyes came down to Skye’s. “We’re sisters, Skye. Turns out we always have been. Evan’s my father too.”

  The shock of seeing of Shiv alive, of killing, of the appalling joy flowing through her body, combined and sent Skye’s feet staggering backward. “No, Shiv. No.”

  The knife clattered onto the pavement.

  “Yes. Feel this, Skye. Really feel it. That fire was a gift. I’m Malefic now. And so are you.”

  Disgust warred with the ecstasy in Skye’s body.

  Then, the ecstasy won. Her head fell back and her eyes slipped closed. All thought. All fear. All confusion. All rage. All of it floated from her body, leaving in its wake nothing but sweet electricity in her veins. She swayed for minutes, letting it take over her being.

  Aiden’s voice suddenly cut through her haze. “Skye. What the hell have you done?”

  Her eyes fluttered open to see him heaving in stunned rage at her.

  The shame was immediate.

  Shit.

  { Chapter 1 }

  Aiden’s gut wrenched. Even in the dim light of the back parking lot, he could see Skye’s eyes clearly. And hell. He had nightmares about this moment. And he had dared to hope it would never come. But there it was, in her eyes. The Malefic in Skye was awake.

  He’d seen the look thousands of times in the Malefics he’d killed. Eyes slightly vacant, but aware. It was a drunkenness that instead of dulling their senses, made Malefics hyper-precise in their movements.

  And now it was
in Skye. His Skye.

  He choked out the question again. “Skye. What the hell have you done?”

  Shiv fell back onto the car behind her, laughing.

  Horror. Shame. Disgust. All of it flooded Skye’s face, even as she tried to hide what her body betrayed. But Aiden could see it. He had watched her body in ecstasy too many times to not recognize what was flowing through her veins.

  Skye’s hands flew up, pleading. “Aiden. He was attacking Shiv.” Her head darted over her shoulder to Shiv, then back to Aiden. “Shiv. She’s alive, Aiden. Alive. And he was attacking her.”

  Breaking his frozen stance, Aiden strode past Skye and picked up the bloody knife from the pavement. Skye grabbed his arm as he shoved it into the back of his jeans.

  “Aiden. I had to stop him. I didn’t know what to do. But Shiv—she’s alive.”

  “Not now, Skye.”

  Her grip tightened on his forearm.

  “Shiv’s alive—it’s a miracle.”

  Aiden ripped his arm from her hands. He glared down at her, words harsh. “It’s not a miracle, Skye. It’s a monstrosity.”

  Stunned, she reeled away from him. He grabbed her wrist. “Come on. We’re getting out of here.”

  “No.” Skye tried to wrestle her wrist out of Aiden’s iron grip. “No. Not without Shiv.”

  Aiden bit his cheek. He couldn’t rail at her right now. Not in a back parking lot. Not standing over a dead body.

  He let her go and stalked over to Shiv, picking her up and tossing her still-laughing form over his shoulder. She grunted as his shoulder went into her stomach, but maintained the giggle.

  “We go now, Skye.” He grabbed her wrist again. She came, stumbling, but not fast enough for Aiden, and he didn’t bother to slow so he wasn’t dragging her. Not when he wanted to throttle her.

  In the darkness, they went alongside the bar to the rental car across the street.