Angel of Inferno (sample chapters)

The Hybrid

It wasn't working. She'd tried everything. She had been painting for hours. They all looked the same. Ayda slammed her paintbrush against the canvas as if pressing harder and faster would make the picture better. It didn't look anything like him. Ayda roared like a beast, which wasn't too far from the truth, and tore the page out. She crumpled it into a ball in her fist. After tossing it to the side, she tried again. She took deep breaths. It was always harder to paint the closer it got to sunset. She gritted her teeth, smearing the brush across the page. A mechanical arm appeared. It looked almost right. She painted the rest of his body, biting her lip as she reached the head. The face appeared...and still looked wrong.

"God damn it! Why can't I remember your face?"

Ayda smashed both fists against the page, almost knocking the entire stand over. She tore out that page too. A few hours ago the painting was going fine. She painted everything: demons, angels, cities, churches, hell even the damn library she was in right now. Why couldn't she do this? Maybe it was time for a break. She picked up the scattered pages off the floor and tossed them into the burning fireplace. They ignited, the paint making spectacular colors in the fire. Ayda sat down cross-legged in front of it to watch. She rested her head on her palm.

Fire—her ever constant companion. It swallowed everything in the most beautiful way possible. The pages curled up and browned inside of it, slowly disappearing. The flames continued to change colors with the paint. Ayda could never tear her gaze away. She was always tempted to touch it, but she learned her lesson a long time ago. It was fine. Fire just didn't like to be touched. It did whatever it wanted. But it never left her. It burned for as long as she allowed it to. She spread it as she pleased. The heat, the colors, the endless dance that the flames performed; why worship a god when they could worship fire? What was wrong with that? Ayda fumbled around for another piece of paper. She moved it closer and closer to the fire until the flames licked the corner of it. Now the paper sat ablaze in Ayda's hand. A huge smile unfolded on her lips. That powerful urge came back again. Spread it. Spread it.

She stood up and tossed the burning page against the curtain. The flames crawled up the fabric. The scent of it filled the room. Ayda inhaled deeply. The more fire the better. Maybe now she could paint. She stood up, returning to her spot in front of the canvas paper. She lifted the paintbrush. It flew across the page. Her hand jerked around, forming creatures in the paint. The picture was a mess. Her heartbeat quickened. She tore off the page, not even bothering to crumple it up. The crackling of the flames exploded in her ears. She started another picture. It looked terrible. She tore that one off too. Each and everyone she started looked worse than the other. She kept tearing and tearing, pages flying all around the room. Some of them even floated in the fire. Tears burned in the backs of her eyes now. She clawed at the papers almost begging them to show her the answer.

I can't...remember. She threw back her head, shouting at the top of her lungs. Ayda's cry was followed by the tearing of more paper. She groaned. Steam started to curl off her skin. She bared her teeth. How late was it? Her touch scorched the surface of the paper. No...please. Not now. His face was just at the back of her mind. She was so close. A whimper escaped her lips. She felt the muscles rippling beneath her skin, the bones cracking and shifting inside of her. She cried out again. The fire had jumped onto the wooden desk in the corner of the room. Only certain things burned. Plenty of things did, but there were some that didn't. It took Ayda a while to figure out which items she was able to burn and which ones she couldn't. Luckily, wood was one of them and there was plenty of it in here. She smiled a little, despite the boiling inside her body.

Ayda had stopped drawing by now. But she continued to tear pages. Eventually, she did knock over the entire stand, sinking to her knees. She heard faint shouting coming from the hallway. Here we go. A sharp pain in her spine made her scream. Hands wrapped around her mouth. More hands grabbed her arm, although they withdrew shortly after. Before she knew it, Ayda was tangled in a mess of hands and arms, all of which dragged her out of the room. She vaguely heard someone hollering about the fire. She would have laughed had it not been for the agony inside her. The group that had her tossed her on the floor. She landed on her side. The familiar runes of an Inferno Circle were etched in beneath her. Her back snapped.