Ollie Vance - Book Two: Ashes and Smoke

Chapter Eight

There were flames everywhere.

Hell. It couldn’t be anything else.

The flames were surrounding me in a cage of fire, barricading any possible escape.

I screamed but no sound came out.

I looked down on my hands and my legs, skittering about as tongues of fire leapt out in their direction.

I screamed again and looked around but there was nothing else but the blazing hell around me and the darkness beyond it.

I was going to die and it was going to be a painful death.

Sobs rose in my throat and I choked them out in misery with the realization that the cage of fire was closing in with every second. 

“Don’t be afraid,” a voice spoke and I whipped around to match it to a face but there was no one except the hell was fast descending on me.

“Help me!” I cried out. “Someone please help me!”

“Don’t be afraid, Ollie.” It was a woman’s voice. “The fire won’t hurt you.”

“What are you talking about?” I demanded hoarsely. “Get me out of here before I burn to death!”

But there was no response and before I could say anything else, the flames rose into pillars of fiery giants before crashing down on me.

I’m going to die. It’s over, I thought in panic as I fell to my knees, bracing my arms over my head, waiting for the searing pain I knew was coming any second now.

“It’s your life and not your death,” the voice came on again, firmer and fiercer this time. “Fight with it, Ollie. Fight.”

I looked up just as the ceiling of fire plummeted towards me.

I started to scream but stopped short when the strands of fire slinked around my arm like snakes.

They didn’t burn. 

I watched in amazement as the fire snakes continued to wrap around my entire body, consuming me in its blazing light yet coursing through my veins like liquid power. 

“What have I become?” I whispered as the fire enveloped me completely and vanished.

My eyes flew open and stared at the ceiling of my bedroom in the mansion.

It must be just right before sunrise based on the muted light that seeped through the curtains. 

I swallowed the last of my panic back and took a few deep breaths to get my heart rate back down to normal. I tilted my head to the side and saw Tristan’s sleeping face next to mine on the pillow.

I was alive and back to reality—not being consumed by fire. It was only a nightmare.

I carefully slipped out from under Tristan’s arm and he budged back into consciousness a little but quickly fell back asleep.

I went to bathroom and splashed some water on my face, taking a few moments to calm myself down. 

It was a bad dream and certainly not the first with monstrous fires in it but this one shook me harder than the others.

I went back into the bedroom and grabbed my robe. 

Slipping it on, I walked barefoot to the french doors that led to the balcony and quietly eased them open.

I stood on the balcony and gazed at the lake clearing up its light mist as the sun broke through the clouds.

“The calm before the storm.”