Hellfire

Chapter Forty-Six

I shook my hands, watching as the fire flickered over my fingers; warm and making me glow. Sam stood opposite, dressed in her vicious neon training outfit that hurt my eyes, while Doc was pacing around us, scrawling notes. I was aware of the audience I had though. Mo and Ella were there in the corner, sipping tea and snacking on custard creams - Ella silently cheering me on by how intensely she was watching, while Mo just observed with a bored expression. Even the youngsters were peering in through the door of the gym and trying not to bother me too much, but very keen to see what was happening.

'Are you sure you want to do this now? You've had a bit of a shock.' Sam asked, not for the first time.

'Yes, I want to do this fucking now!' I reiterated. 'I need to see if this is real.'

I needed to see that Lucius had given me a gift, not broken me. I had to know I was a witch still – that he had saved me, not condemned me.

'Susan, I want you to just try setting yourself on fire. We'll then work on your usual training with hellfire, see how your limits have changed.'

I breathed out and waited for Sam to let me know she was ready. She flexed, letting her skin become crusted with frost and ready to embrace me to settle my temper if this went to shit and my bomb hadn't been shut down. I hoped she'd be enough. Lucius wasn't here, nor was Oliver or Alistair, and Eva had left reluctantly to return to Scotland with her mountainous political task. No other vampires were in the house.

After a breath, Sam nodded.

I did as Doc asked first. I let my fire come forth, finding Lucius letting me take as much as I wanted. It came quickly, but controlled, rushing over my skin and streaming out of my mouth with every breath. I didn't feel hot still. It wasn't an unbearable heat that I couldn't contain, that melted my head and cooked me. It still stunned me how in control I was, how much of me remained.

Doc came forward, scrawling as he did and muttering under his breath as he circled me.

'No peeling skin still. No singed or ashen hair. No burning beneath her feet. Eyes are still full of embers, but normal for witches.'

Doc then shoved his clipboard beneath his arm and abruptly came forward with his hand outstretched. I stared at it, seeing how mottled it was from the last time I'd burnt him, then looked up at his face, confused.

'Take my hand.' He said lightly.

When I shook my fire away from my fingers, he scowled.

'No, with your fire.'

I hesitated, staring at him incredulously. 'I'll burn you.'

He shrugged. 'Just see what happens, Susan. All part of the testing.' Doc said and his hand remained outstretched for me, those old scars staring at me. 'If it doesn't burn you, it won't burn me. Did you mother ever hold you while she was on fire? Did she ever burn you?'

I hesitated, raking my mind. I remembered how my aunts and mother had a short temper. They were often on fire, sparks flying, arguing over anything, but they never burnt anything. The only time I saw hellfire burning things was when I was on fire, no one else. Not my sisters when they were practicing, not my mother or aunts when they fought with each other. Just me.

'Witches don't burn things like you, Susan. You're Bright. Your soul is so vast and angry that you've never been able to control it. Instead, it controls you. It threatens to cook you alive and tear you apart.' Doc explained. 'But a normal, healthy witch chooses what she burns. She has a high temper but varying emotions. She has no risk of exploding, no risk of tearing herself apart or overheating. Everything you've suffered from your hellfire is abnormal. Now it's changed and we need to test it.' Doc flexed his fingers. 'So, take my hand. Let me see if your hellfire is now under control.'