A Sanguinary Rose

The Fire in Our Blood

I HAD SNAPPED.

My own body wasn't under my control anymore.

It didn't seem possible eyes could run dry. I was the last one to let go of Anja.

Royce shook Scarlett's shoulder. She didn't like that. I didn't like it either. No one bosses me around. "Come on. Let's go." When she didn't respond, the old man seemed close to losing his temper. "We have to get out of here. We need to find Melanie and get out before Mandala changes his mind."

Scarlett and I made no move. Her grief had infected even me. The corpse's weight still pressed against us.

It was Oliver who voiced our thoughts. He snatched the beanie cap from his head and balled it up, squashing it in his hands.

"He killed Anja. I will send him to the deepest circle of Hell for it. She can't have died for nothing."

I seconded his opinion.

"He'll kill you, too," Royce said, shuffling. "Please, reason with me, Oliver. I can't lose another one of you, please..."

"What difference does it make? I have nothing to go back to, certainly not my family."

The teacher turned to our guardian angel, his eyes pleading. "Alan, help me out here."

He watched us for a few seconds, holding on tight to Scarlett's dead girlfriend. Even the pretty boy hadn't been immune to a couple of tears. "Right."

Alan knelt beside us. We both felt the trembling hand he placed on our shoulder. "Come, we have to go. Anja can't stay here, or Limbo will claim her soul."

Scarlett's nose was pressed against the back of her head, the sweet and gentle flowery aroma clinging to her blonde hair. It'd be the last time she smelled it. Scarlett didn't want to lose her scent, or it'd ruin her even more.

"Oliver's got the right idea..." Scarlett said, her dead stare transfixed ahead on the pavilion tent. "He won't get away with it."

Royce clasped a hand to his forehead. "There's nothing you can do to him. Didn't you see? He's practically immortal." He wiped his eye. "Scarlett, please don't make me beg. Revenge solves nothing. It brings only more loss and destruction."

Scarlett spoke exactly what I had in mind. "No. No half measures. We don't turn tail. We came, we sacrificed, so we sure as hell are going all in, or it'll have been for nothing."

"Nothing in existence is immortal," Morganne said, watching wisps of fog dance about her feet. "Not even gods. I guess what I'm trying to say is I've got an idea. A crazy idea."

At least she was upfront about it.

Scarlett scoffed. "Thinking about dropping a meteorite on our heads?"

"Too crazy for me. But I like the way you think." She steepled her fingers inside her overlong plum-colored sleeves. "The warlock may be nearly immortal against all our means. But what is he compared to an Archdemon?"

"You're insane." Royce snapped. "We don't have the power to summon an Archdemon. Not only that, but you'd have to convince it to come. Besides, you don't know how it might react to us bothering it. We are nothing but insects to them."

"Oliver is Belial's descendant," Morganne said. "He could coax him to come to us."

The devil's skin went pale. "Oh no, no. No way. He's right. You're insane."

There was a fire in our blood, and though I seldom agreed with Scarlett, we shared the same sentiment. Arguing led nowhere.

"I'll do it." By which she meant I would be the one doing it.