Incendiary - Fire Elemental Series (Sample Chapter)

Prologue - Incendiary - Fire Elemental Series

PREFACE

        The storm was raging outside and there was a violent clap of thunder. Colin didn’t even flinch as he stared morosely into the burning embers of the fireplace. He was far too drunk to notice something as mundane as the weather.

            He rested his chin on his hand, stroking the short hairs of his beard where it ran down his jaw and connected with his moustache. His brown hair was so dark that it bordered on black. As a rule, he wore it combed back out of his face, but at the moment it was mussed and looked almost wild as it waved about his head.

            Colin stared somberly into his glass as he wondered if he’d ever stop missing his wife. By this point he was certain she was dead. Nothing else could have kept her away for so long. He would give anything to see her again, just one last time. There was nothing he wanted more than to hold her in his arms once more.

            He threw back the dregs of his drink, enjoying the slow burn as it slid down his throat. Seeing that his glass was empty angered him and he hurled his glass towards the carved wooden mantle topping the fireplace. The glass shattered instantly, flinging satisfying little slivers everywhere.

            Colin heard a faint knocking at the door but he didn’t budge. At first he thought it was a tree branch brushing against the side of the house. Until the scraping sound came again, but this time it was louder. There was something about the noise that seemed almost frantic, so he pulled himself reluctantly from his seat and walked towards the door.

The fact that anyone had dared to interrupt his solitude enraged him and he flung open the door forcefully. This resulted in a most unfortunate consequence. He’d shoved the door so vigorously that it struck the visitor in the head.

            Whoever it was had already turned to walk away, so the door caught them in the back of the skull. If they’d been facing forward it probably would have killed them instantly. There was a sickening thud as the unyielding wooden board connected with the hard cranium. Colin’s senses had been slowed by the alcohol, so he stood transfixed in horror as he watched the person drop to the ground.

            There was another sharp thud as the person’s head hit the bricked walkway on the way down. Her skirts flared out as she fell, drawing his attention and revealing the fact that he’d essentially struck a woman. Somehow that made it all worse.

Collin came to his senses and rushed towards the woman. She lay unmoving on the ground. Her hair was soaked from the rain and for all he knew she was bleeding her injured head. Her face was covered in a myriad of bruises, so at first he didn’t recognize who she was.

“I’ve escaped from the devil,” she whispered and then she passed out.

Collin’s hands were shaking as he stared down at the woman in disbelief. He knew he’d had far too much to drink and at first he assumed he was imagining everything. He was certain, like a man dying of thirst in the desert, that she would prove to be nothing but a cruel mirage. The thought of her being there on his front stoop was too wonderful to be true.

            “Sasha,” he whispered reverently.

            He reached out a hand and touched it hesitantly to her cheek. He couldn’t believe it when his fingers connected with the solidity of her skin. She wasn’t a ghost.

She was real, and somehow she’d found a way to come back to him. And what had he done? He’d just about killed her with the door.

            Knowing that he’d never forgive himself if she didn’t recover, Collin bent to pick her up and carried her hurriedly into the house. He deposited her on the couch gently, and rushed back to pull the gaping front door closed. He was dripping water everywhere but he couldn’t have cared less.

            He sprinted frantically towards the bedroom to grab a towel and some of her clean dry clothes.  She hadn’t moved an inch and that fact filled him with uncontrollable fear.  He held a hand above her mouth to ascertain whether or not she was still breathing.

            Collin exhaled in relief when he felt the warm air stirring the thin hairs on his fingers. She was alive and he intended to keep her that way. He figured that the first order of business was insuring that she didn’t catch her death of pneumonia.

            He worked diligently to strip off the wet clothes and he was horrified by what he saw. Her pale white skin was covered with bruises. There was hardly a blank stretch of skin anywhere from her head to her toes.

            Imagination working overtime, his mind worked feverishly to deduce what could possibly have done this to her, but his brain drew a blank. What confused him even more was the fact that the bruises all seemed to be at different stages of healing. She’d obviously sustained multiple injuries over the course of several days or even weeks.

            He pulled a clean nightgown over her head and wrapped a towel around her soaking hair. He marveled again at how the rain had changed the color of her hair, making it look brown when he knew that it was actually red. Her hair had been the first thing he’d noticed about her years ago when they’d met for the first time.

            It had reminded him of fire, and he’d wanted so badly to run his hands through it. He grabbed a blanket and pulled it all the way up to her chin before sitting down in a chair by her side to keep watch. The bottle of whiskey sat untouched on the small end table.

            He wasn’t at all thirsty anymore. Sasha’s eyelids were twitching, although her eyes remained closed. She was dreaming.

Like what you read?  Please take a moment to vote and I LOVE comments :-)