Wall of text incoming (the formatting needs some work ) and please remember this is an early draft. I will be asking you for in depth critique later if you feel like offering it! For now though, I'd just like to know what you think. Alternate title suggestions are also welcome!
Also, curse words and sex warning. :p
Chapter 1
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Brooke opened the newspaper with a little shake, but it continued to quiver from the fine tremor in her hands. The convenience store faded away as she scanned the pages, flipping rapidly to the middle section.
There it was. Her name, alone, on the cover of the huge seasonal wedding insert. Finally.
Her breath caught in the center of her chest. All these weeks to prepare, and she was still in shock.
There were only a few advantages to being a graphic artist for a small town newspaper, but she was looking at the biggest one.
She'd been an assistant the The Canton News for three years, but with her supervisor Adam's unexpected job offer from a big advertising agency, she'd been the natural choice. The only choice really, if she was honest. She'd earned it, she’d deserved it, and she’d hit it out of the park with this project. It was huge money maker for the paper because it was sent out to every other paper in the area, and had large, glossy, expensive full-color ads. Now instead of an assistant, she had complete creative control.
She'd probably need to hire her own assistant now.
The thought prompted a little squeal, and she paid for two papers at the counter. Once outside, she slung her purse over her shoulder and held the papers carefully with both hands. Her mother would want to see it, might even frame her copy. She wasn’t about to fold them up in her purse and put creases in them.
She set off toward the post office, but now that her paper was in her hands, she didn’t need to rush. She felt happier than she had in months. Years, maybe. For all her hard work to finally pay off, felt amazing. Besides, it was her first day off in a few weeks, and she was going to enjoy it.
Breathing in deeply, she smiled at the smell of spring in the air. All of Canton seemed to be brighter this morning; crocuses and daffodils bloomed in window boxes and the bright sunshine made the old buildings look decades newer.
She made her way to the post office. She was vaguely aware of a man standing nearby and was about to open the door when a large hand reached out and opened it before her.
“Allow me,” a deep voice said.
She looked up to say thanks, and her breath caught. The man was...magnificent. That was the only word. He had dark hair and light amber eyes framed by the kind of eyelashes that made women jealous. On top of a brawler body that would make men jealous.
"Thank you." It came out breathier than she intended.
He gave her a sexy grin, and a slow once over that made her skin warm. That look would have sent her running any other day. There was a reason she was good at being a workaholic -- too shy for a social life.
But today with joy and pride simmering inside of her -- she smiled at him as she walked by. Slowly. With full eye contact.
After the paper was on her way to her mother, Brooke came out of the post office half expecting to see him still standing there, but he was nowhere in sight. With a gusty sigh, she started for home.
She thought briefly of her sparse apartment waiting for her. Maybe it was time she actually decorated a little bit, put some pictures up. Maybe, a little celebration spree was in order. She’d finally got what she had been working so hard toward, so why not?
The thought put the smile back on her face, just because she could have a spree. All her bills were paid, the monthly check sent to her mother along with her newspaper, and there was not one other person she was responsible to. And, she had the rest of the day to do... whatever. It was a good feeling.
She was smiling at birds flitting in the trees when she almost ran into someone on the sidewalk.
“Oops, sorry. Excuse me,” she said to a large leather-clad chest, moving to the side.
His movements mirrored hers, and quickly they found themselves doing the uncomfortable shuffle of strangers trying unsuccessfully to get out of each other's way.
She let out a sheepish laugh, and finally looked up. She inhaled quickly. It was him. “Sorry, are you trying to get around me?” she asked with a blush.
“No ma'am, I'm trying to dance with you,” he said holding up his hands in a waltz position, amber eyes twinkling. “But you're making it awfully hard.”
Her laugh bubbled out at his unexpected response to their awkward situation. When a smile flashed across his face, razor sharp, she felt something she rarely gave in to: impulse.
With a grin, she stepped up into the circle of his arm and put her hand loosely in his. Instantly he was waltzing her across the sidewalk, and she grinned up at him. Then he spun her out to his side with one hand, the world passing by in dizzying whirl. One hand still around hers, he bowed, golden eyes still on her. She curtsied in response, laughing, and then pulled her purse back up on her shoulder.
"Listen, this may be insane -- it probably is insane, since I don't know you and you don't me," she said, stopping for a half-second to breathe. What was she doing? "But there's a coffee shop around the corner. Would you like to... go with me?" She held her breath, surprised by the compulsion.
His eyes, so bright in the sunshine before, darkened as his smile faded.
"As much as I'd like to... I can't." His mouth twisted. "I'm... looking for someone."
"Oh... okay. Of course," she said, blushing. How silly she'd been. A man that looked like that couldn't be single. "Well... maybe some other time then."
The look on his face said there would be no other time.
She gave him a little smile. "Thanks for the dance."
He just nodded, hands in his pockets.
When she turned away, her disappointment was tempered by the fact that, even if they didn't have coffee, their interaction had still been...fun. It must have lasted less than five seconds, but that little dance would make her smile all day. A waltz with a handsome stranger was just icing on her happy-cake.
She was smiling when she entered her almost-vacant apartment building. She even had a smile for her creepy neighbor Charlie when he almost ran her over in his haste to get out of the elevator. She was still smiling when she put the key in her lock.
It would be the last time she smiled today.
---
Levi's jaw clenched as she walked away. He couldn't change his mind, even though he wanted to. Seeing that bright smile falter had made him feel like an asshole. Any other day and he would have jumped at the chance at something as normal as coffee with a pretty lady. But damn it, war didn't leave much time for normal. Or flirtation.
He turned away with a curse.
Damn... that smile she'd given him had been full octane.
She's not your type.
The church-on-Sunday was the opposite of his type actually, but it didn't stop him from wanting her. She looked like a piece of sunshine had materialized in a floral skirt and a jaunty ponytail. With beautiful blue eyes, and that smile that lit a spark inside him as quick as striking a match. One so hot, he could probably light his cigarette by it. But he would have to ignore it and stay out here, because right now, he was looking for another sensation.
He didn't have much to go on. General planar coordinates and an ability to see a certain wavelength of light.
All he knew was there was an Erratic nearby, and that meant the Chaolt weren't far behind.
It was hard to tell which direction he should go, and like a perilous game of hot and cold, he’d have to pick a direction and see what effect it had on him. He was expecting the buzz in the back of his head, more vibration than sound. Or the twitchy, wild energy that filled him when they were close. At the very least, the hint of burning plastic wafting on the air.
So far, no matter which direction he walked, nothing.
Very fucking frustrating.
Being close to a Chaolt was anything but pleasant, it was also deadly. They were a race as ancient as the Elementals themselves, but with an affinity for death and destruction. Every elemental power could be used for creation or devastation, and without exception the Chaolt preferred the latter. They would find Erratics like the one he was looking for, humans with latent elemental powers, and cause them to basically self-destruct. This usually resulted in enormous collateral damage.
The loss of human life could be staggering. And all anyone had to do was watch the news to see that they were losing the war against the Chaolt. The death toll from these 'natural' disasters were steadily rising every year.
If it were just the humans involved, he wouldn't care as much.
He paused a step, half turning to see the flash off glass as the woman entered a nearby building.
Maybe.
But, as this world tipped farther away from order & harmony, the closer his own world was to destruction. All creation, even. Chaos had the ability to destroy everything. Which is why he was pacing the sidewalks of Canton on this fine spring morning, to try to find the Erratic before the Chaolt did.
He'd only gone two blocks when he was rocked by a building exploding into flames behind him - the building his lovely smiling woman had entered. There was an unfamiliar sensation, as if his heart fell down into his knees. He began to run. Legs pumping, he dialed 911 on his cellphone.
“There was an explosion, the building is on fire! There are people inside.” He shouted the address and hung up on the dispatcher.
His next call was to the soldiers, and when he sent a breathless prayer up to the heavens, it was that they would get there first.
----
There was no air.
There was no fucking air. Wherever the fire was, it was eating all the oxygen. Behind her rising panic, she was surprised that she didn't really feel any heat yet, but the smoke was thick and she couldn't get a good breath.
As soon as she had turned her key in the lock, she'd felt a little rumble. Like thunder almost. And then the building's fire alarm had gone off. It happened frequently enough that she hadn't been worried. The alarms were sensitive, and would usually go off for something as simple as an over-cooked meal. They always quit after a minute or two.
She had stood there at her door waiting for it to turn off for too many precious minutes. Just another burned dinner, right?
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
When she had finally caught the scent of smoke in the air, she was still only slightly alarmed. Stove fire? She hadn't thought the two, the smoke and the rumble, were related.
She hadn't rushed on her way to the stairwell.
Half way down the sixteen flights of stairs, the smoke began to thicken, to choke her. Black, acrid, and hot, it burned her throat with every inhalation. It was then that she realized there must have been some kind of explosion. She wondered if she should try to enter a hallway and try to find an open apartment to get to a fire escape, but knew the chances of that were pretty slim. She'd made the decision to press on down the stairs, collar over her mouth and nose.
Now, somewhere between the second and fourth floor, she was practically crab-crawling down the stairs, trying to keep below the smoke. But there was just so little air. Stopping for air for a moment because she was dizzy, she knew she was in serious trouble.
How many stairs to the next landing? She couldn't tell. How many stairs had she come down since the last time she stopped? She couldn't remember. The edges of her vision were fuzzy and starting to blacken, narrowing down to the stairs right below her feet.
Got to go faster. One more stair. One more. One more.
Her progress was slower than it needed to be, and her tunnel vision almost didn't allow her to see the orange glow that blossomed on the landing above her. Through her panic, the heat she was descending into finally registered, but her dress was already clinging to her skin with sweat.
“Oh God. Oh God.”
It was too much. She had to stop to breathe. She sagged down, hands still on the rail, to sit on the last stair of the set.
I just need air. I just need a minute to catch my breath.
When she opened her eyes again, the smoke was thicker, the orange glow brighter. Flames licked underneath the door on the landing. She had lost consciousness for a time, and that scared her. But the fear was muffled, like it was underneath layer upon layer of cotton batting.
Even when she saw the hallucination, she just couldn’t find the energy to be concerned.
The handsome guy from before was there, the one she danced with, walking through a tunnel of flame towards her.
She didn't know why her mind chosen to conjure him, but now, at the end, she was just grateful she had company.
Very good looking company. She smiled. Even if he was on fire.
Flames danced across his shoulders and his hair itself seemed ablaze. His jacket from earlier was gone, and swirls of molten color moved across his arms. She could see that even his eyes, which had been that lovely golden color, now glowed orange as he came closer.
In a shimmering bubble of heat waves he knelt beside her, gesturing to sweep flames off her lower leg.
With dampened amazement, she realized she had been on fire. It didn't hurt. It just felt odd, like her skin there was five sizes too small.
He gently put an arm under her back and legs, and pulled her close as he stood up.
“You're gonna be okay. I'm going to get you out of here.”
Brooke nodded and turned towards him. When she met his eyes, vertigo overtook her. It was like looking into the window of a furnace, and the harder she tried to focus, the more it was like she was falling into the flames. She looked away and into the fire in front of them, blinking. Confused.
She wanted to ask him if he was trying to dance with her again. But when she drew her breath to speak, it burned her throat and all she could do was cough. There was no catching her breath, no relief from the burning in her chest and throat, and every attempt was noisy and painful.
He carried her to an impassible wall of flame, and she knew this was it. There was no way to get through without burning, and the inky shadows at the edges of her vision told her that she wouldn’t make it either way. She hoped she would be unaware of it.
Weakly, she tried to cover another cough, but dizziness swallowed her again as it wracked her. Her hand fell limply to her side and her head fell back. She stared right into the mass of hungry flames. And he carried her straight into them.
She expected pain, but was blessedly relieved to not feel a thing.
Her eyelids were heavy and her eyesight was blurry and dark, but what she could see of the hell before them was not what she expected. Somehow, as if they were in a bubble of glass, the fire swirled over and around, but never touched them. She was mesmerized.
Beautiful.
Right before her vision went completely black, it looked like a solid wall before them began to incinerate - white hot flames melting wood, concrete and steel alike. It was only a moment until the blue sky was framed by angry pillars of black smoke.
That was the last thing she saw as her eyelids fluttered down and the darkness consumed her.
---
Levi felt her go limp and knew she was succumbing to the smoke. She’d stopped coughing and he could no longer even hear her wheezing breaths. With great effort, he was keeping the flames from touching them, but he could do nothing about the smoke and super-heated gasses from the burning building. If he didn’t get her air now, she would die. And so might he.
He may be immune to fire, but not so much to smoke. His own chest was tight, his throat burning, and his mortal body too, could soon yield to the toxic air. Oh the irony, that he could die in a fire.
Hell. Fucking. No.
Levi prayed that there were no onlookers paying close attention, and with a thought, he incinerated the wall before him, creating an opening directly to outside. He stumbled through, and greedily the flames behind him instantly filled the space where they had been.
Coughing, dizzy - with her in his arms and steam and smoke rising from them both, he carried her away from the building. He laid her as gently as he could on the pavement, dropping down, shaky, beside her. It had taken a lot out of him to use his powers to that extent, to control them.
Around him were several urgent conversations at once, sirens, but he couldn't focus on anything. All he could do was cough. A heavy hand grabbed his shoulder, trying to help him sit up.
His brothers were there, right there. Somehow, they'd known.
"She needs air,” he rasped, chest heaving. “She's not breathing. Get her some fresh air.”
Ajax was already kneeling beside her, two fingers under her jaw.
“Ajax -”. He coughed. “Give her some air-”
“I am man, it's ok. I am.”
Suddenly Levi's own lungs spasmed. The smoky air had been sucked forcefully out of his lungs, and fresh, pure air pushed in to take it's place. Godamn, it hurt. His back arched with the icy pain. Ajax kept pushing in a little clean air with every inhalation, forcing out the hot, heavy air that filled his lungs.
He waved his hand in Ajax's direction ineffectively. “Not me asshole. I'm okay,” he said, gulping air despite his words. “Give her the air.” His lovely smiling girl had almost died in his arms, still smiling.
“There's enough for both of you,” Ajax said gently, with a grave smile. Levi was relieved that she had started breathing on her own, though it still sounded labored and strident.
“Where their any others?”, he asked as Walker grabbed his hand and helped him stand.
“No,” said Walker. “The landlord said there were only two residents missing.” He looked down at the slight figure on the ground. “Here's one.”
Levi, hands on his knees, squinted into the sun to look again at Walker. “The other one, it's going to be the Erratic. I didn't get to him in time.”
Ice blue eyes took in the burning building and then came back to him. "Obviously."
Levi hung his head. “Fuck.” He stood straight and pushed both hands through his sooty hair.
“She's coming around,” said Ajax, looking up at Levi, whose gaze was again pinned on her.
“Time to go." The order came from Walker, and he'd never wanted to refuse so much in his life.
Levi knelt down by her head quickly, noticing the pale tracks on her face left by sweat and tears. He hated to leave her there, on the ground. Alone and vulnerable. He knew she'd be scared and in pain when she awoke. But necessity demanded that they were nowhere around when questions started flying. They needed to leave now, while the confusion would keep them from notice.
He leaned close to her ear and said, “You're going to be okay now. You don't have to be afraid. We'll get a second chance at that coffee.” He was lying, but it felt like the right thing to say to a woman who had almost died in his arms. Who he'd almost killed, with his negligence.
Her eyelids flickered, and in a split second Levi stood and he and the other soldiers were walking away.
Before they left, he let a paramedic know there was another victim behind the building. Even as they rushed to her, Levi just couldn't leave. He hung back in the deep shadows under the trees, until an even larger shadow joined him.
He swallowed, bristling at his commander's heavy stare.
"You want to tell me what the fuck happened here?"
Levi's jaw clenched. If only he knew.
"I couldn't pinpoint the Chaolt. I couldn't find the Erratic in time."
Voice hard, Walker said, "I figured that out already, and we're going to talk about that when we get back to base. I mean, what happened...here?" And he gestured to the woman being lifted on a backboard.
Levi shrugged, jaw hard. "Just trying to keep casualties down." His voice was gruff from smoke, and something else.
Longing?
Levi turned away, and after another brief glance at the woman on the ground, Walker followed him.
