Chapter Thirty-Six

Brigid saw Tenzin curled into a ball in the corner of the room, but she couldn't focus on her. She knew the vampire would survive. That was what Tenzin did; it was what Brigid did.

She survived.

Brigid had survived abuse, violence, addiction, and fire for this moment. It rang in her head with the clarity of a single struck bell as she pulled the flames from Zasha's hearth into her hands, coaxing it—not like the lover that Oleg had described but as a friend.

I see you, she said to the flames. I see you protecting me.

The flames danced around her, swaying with a kind of glee as Brigid commanded them to burn around Zasha Sokholov, spinning and swirling around the fire vampire who had created them.

You are mine now.

She drew the flames out of the house, charring the walls until the timbers fell away and Zasha strode toward her, their black clothes on fire, the flames licking at their feet. With each step, the damp ground hissed.

"Bri-gid!" Zasha screamed. "What have you done?"

"You're finished, Zasha."

The fire rose around them, the needles on the ground quickly drying and bursting into flames wherever either of them walked.

Brigid's feet sank through the smoldering detritus in the clearing until her feet hit the ground and the earth touched her skin, soothing her like her mate's embrace.

"You're done." She paced in front of the house, drawing Zasha away from Tenzin. "It's you and me. Just us. It's always been comin' to this."

Zasha screamed and bared their fangs, blood dripping down their chin and along their chest. The fire snatched their tunic away like singed black feathers, and a scarred white torso emerged from the black cloth.

Brigid's clothes were also burning slowly, but the flames licked over her body, teasing and energizing her as she finally, finally held them lightly in her grasp.

That was what the fire had always wanted, Brigid realized as tears rolled from her eyes, turning to steam on her heated cheeks. It wanted to dance with her, to sing with her, and sometimes, yes, to destroy.

"I want to rage. I want to destroy everything, and I don't know where that comes from."

"It comes from you and it comes from the fire. Don't try to run from it when it's what gives you your strength."

"I can't become the destroyer."

"Fire is no simple thing. It consumes and creates. Destroys and revives."

Brigid paced in the darkness, the fire licking away the black cotton T-shirt she'd donned. Minutes before, she'd been soaked to the skin. Now the damp cloth was as dry and brittle as paper.

Zasha gripped a short sword in their hand, and the blade turned black from smoke.

She and Zasha circled each other, walking along the flaming perimeter of the clearing as the lush green forest and the misty night held the fire on the edge of control.

"You should have stayed away," Zasha said. "This is between me and the vampire who killed my mate." They pointed their sword back at the house. "This is between me and Tenzin."

"No." Brigid shook her head. "I'm not here for you or for her. I'm here for Walter."

No hint of recognition on Zasha's exaggerated face. "Who?"

"For Jackson and Rachel. The people that you helped kill." She pictured the old man surviving icy water and winter wind, surviving to tell the story of the family he'd lost. "I'm here for Jesse and Sandra. For a baby who won't know her grandparents because of you."

"They were human." Zasha waved a hand. "They were nothing."

They were everything.

"I'm here for Summer," she continued. "And for Lee. For Nic and Bex and Lucas. Even for Chance. For everyone you used. For every relationship you destroyed. For every evil suspicion you planted. And for every human and vampire you killed." She lifted her hand and felt the fire wrapping around her legs, her torso, and her arms. The last of her clothes had burned away along with her hair. She had no weapon other than herself and her element.

In that moment, Brigid realized she was the fire.

The saint and the goddess.

The destroyer and the creator.

She blasted a column of flames toward Zasha, who held up a hand and diverted Brigid's flames toward the forest.

A hemlock tree, shaking from the heat and the dry air, burst into flames on the edge of the clearing.

"I'll burn it all." Zasha's smile was madness. "I'll burn it all, Brigid. You know I will."

"This time there's no one but us on this island." Brigid spread her arms, and the fire leaped to her side. "Have at it. Do your worst."

Zasha's expression faltered when they realized they had no leverage. There were no victims to threaten. No innocents for Brigid to protect.

Brigid smiled when she realized that she'd done it. She'd finally isolated her enemy. Tenzin could fly away even if she was injured. There were no humans on the island, and they were surrounded by water.

"Burn it, Zasha. Burn it all! You're only killin' yourself." Brigid threw out her arms and sent two more columns of fire at the vampire, who batted them away, but this time, instead of hitting the forest around them, the rivers of fire flowed around Zasha and arrowed straight toward the tall wooden house.

Zasha spun and looked at the fire as it leaped to the wood shingles on the roof. "No!"

The wooden house quickly caught, the hungry fire eating away at the roof, the wooden shutters, and the railings before it began to consume the walls.

Brigid lost her breath for a moment. "Tenzin."

A burst of wind from the side of the house as a small figure shot like a bullet from the burning building and flew into the darkness above them, whatever flames that had been trailing her quickly quenched by the misty night air.

But the gently falling mist was no match for the fire that burned Zasha Sokholov's haven in the woods. Brigid fed it, directing her fire to the woodpile in the corner where she could smell human remains decomposing.

Rest, the fire whispered. We will spread their ashes to the earth. Nothing is lost in the end.

Brigid saw it in the curling golden flames.

Nothing would be lost.

"Our element isn't like the others." She heard Oleg's voice in her mind. "The air, the earth, the water… But fire?" Brigid watched the flames take the trees that had been used to build Zasha's hideout and turn them into ashes.

Fire is a process.

Zasha was raging and stomping around the clearing, batting back every column of flame Brigid threw at them, hurling it at the forest and the cliff behind the house.

But fire was a process, and Brigid wasn't going anywhere.

"Everythin' comes to an end," Brigid told them. "Even us, Zasha. Even me. If that's what it takes to keep you from hurtin' anyone else…" She choked on her words when she thought about Carwyn. This would hurt him. She could already feel his anger in her blood. His amnis was in her. Dying meant part of him would die with her.

But part of her would always live in him. It was the only comfort she could take.

"You're not leavin' this island." Brigid threw another column of fire toward Zasha, and they diverted it to the other side of the clearing, setting even more trees on fire.

They were fully engulfed, and even though the fire was dancing for Brigid now, at some point she knew that she could be consumed. Maybe it wouldn't come from her own fire, but Zasha was hurling their flames at Brigid; both were evenly matched.

The two fire vampires were surrounded by an inferno. The house was fully ignited, and the forest around them was burning. Not even the dense rainforest and the mist could combat the churning, fiery battle.

"What do ya want, Zasha?" Brigid shouted. "Because I can't let ya live."

"Then you'll die with me." Zasha gripped the sword in their hand and charged at Brigid.

She had no weapon. If Zasha wanted to kill her, they would probably succeed even if Brigid's fire consumed the vampire in the process.

But halfway across the burning clearing, Zasha seemed to trip.

"No!" They looked around, their eyes careening around the clearing. "That's not fair!"

Brigid frowned and looked down as the vampire in front of her seemed to shrink before her eyes.

No, not shrink.

The ground was eating Zasha from below.

"No!" they screamed again. "Noooo!"

Brigid saw her opportunity and ran, blasting a stream of fire at Zasha's hand.

They screamed and dropped the sword, which Brigid picked up, her flesh sizzling against the heated steel as she lifted the sword from the ground, drew her arm back, and swung.

Zasha's eyes went wide the moment the blade bit their neck.

Then the metal sliced through their spine and it was over.

The world around Brigid erupted in flames, and the ground beneath her opened up, swallowing her whole.

He moved effortlessly through the silent earth, using his amnis to protect her from the fire, pushing away the rocks and roots until he could sense her. He felt the hum of her amnis glowing like a banked fire in the darkness.

Carwyn pushed through the soil until he was next to her, stretching his body out with the earth between them. Then he moved his hand, clearing a pocket around her face but leaving the rest of her smothered in the cool soil. Her warm, loving eyes flickered open.

He couldn't stop staring. Her face was flecked with faint scars from Zasha's flames, but her eyes were the same, the warm brown charred with grey along the edges, her gaze holding his as firmly as she held his heart.

He said nothing. What was there to say?

"You came," she whispered.

"I'll always come for you."

"I didn't feel you near."

He smiled a little bit. "You had it, darling girl. I just gave you a little assist at the end. This was your battle to win."

"With you." She took a deep breath and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm always better with you."

"Glad you finally realized it."

She smiled, but it died away quickly. "The humans on the boat?"

"Ben was fighting with Jennie when I left. They had the upper hand, Brigid. They'll get everyone out that they can."

"Tenzin was hurt."

"She'll survive. That little vampire will always survive. It's her blessing and her curse."

"Yes." Brigid blinked, and he could feel her mind already pulling away from that moment, already reaching for the innocents who might still be in danger. "I'm naked."

"I noticed that, yes."

"Might need to borrow your shirt if we need to get back to the Nautilus," she whispered.

"Or you could rest for a bit." Carwyn's heart ached. "Let others fight the battle for a while."

"Carwyn—"

"Will you rest, Brigid? Just for this night. There will be another battle to fight tomorrow." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "I promise. There will be others you can help. But just for tonight, trust our friends to do the rest. You've done enough for now."

She whispered, "It's not enough. It'll never be enough."

Her heart was a burning fire, and he loved her for it. A thousand years wouldn't quench it. A thousand innocents rescued wouldn't quell her need to help the next.

For his Brigid, eternity was only worth it if she could mend the hurt, find the lost, and give them the justice they deserved.

"For tonight, Brigid" —he brushed a gentle hand over the curve of her forehead— "it is enough. You've done enough."