The Burn (26 page)

"Seth," she murmured.

"He's here."

Miranda approached the plate and crouched down beside it. Reaching out, she touched the symbol gently with her fingers, feeling its power burn against her skin. Its source was strong, but distant, just bright enough to be seen and felt. He had to know that she couldn't do anything to help him, but had chosen to appear to her anyway. "I feel him, but the energy here is not strong enough. I'm not strong enough. It would take a lot more than just me to bring him through."

"Well, I'm here. You can use me."

Miranda made a pained noise under her breath. "One human really doesn't make that big a difference. It…"

She allowed the words to trail off, her gaze lifting to the bright statue in the distance. The flames lashed higher now, the crowd yelling and screaming in primal anticipation, their voices reaching for Heaven.

"Seth," she murmured, suddenly realizing what his real intention had been.

There were only seconds left.

Rising from the sand, she leapt over the scattered remains of Seth's sculpture and sprinted for the open playa. Her body dissolved as she moved, obeying her will as she slipped into the air. The desert streamed beneath her and she rose higher, over the writhing crowds, over the smoke and the harsh glare of fire, to the top of the Man. The heat was all-consuming. The air shimmered, bright and searing around her. Flames roared from the base of the towering structure, the howling of the surrounding crowd drowned out in the internal chaos of its destruction.

Miranda formed herself along the framework of its shoulder, hearing the groan and screech of metal, the hard crackle of disintegrating wood. The neon lighting covering its framework had gone dark. The fireworks packed into its chest were moments away from exploding skyward.

She drew the Rathvam dagger from her side, remaining just human enough to keep her grip on the ghost blade, but not so solid that she exposed her flesh to the flames. She could feel the incredible heat, but only as a spirit in the world of the living, a goddess caught in the arms of an effigy.

Crawling forward, she dangled over the ledge of the Man's shoulder and found footing on the crossbeams of its chest. She climbed down and balanced in the space that would have held its human heart.

The dagger burned in her hands.

Raising it carefully, she began to carve Seth's name into the wood. The details came with difficulty. The complexity of the lines, and their smooth transitions into one another, seemed to form a kind of infinite movement.

From the ground far beneath her, she could hear the hard thump of drums, the screaming of thousands of voices.

"Seth," she murmured, the blade of her dagger finishing its work. The symbol appeared intact before her.

She placed her hand over it, focusing the pain of his loss to a physical touch. It was instantly unbearable, the contact summoning a bright stream of heartache. Clenching her teeth, she felt the intensity of it sear at her fingertips.

The lines carved into the wooden heart of the Man acquired a silken luminescence, glowing at the point of contact.

"I feel you," she whispered.

Around her, the fire roared upward, wooden supports crackling and hissing in the heat. A burst of flames swept over the plank with Seth's name. Its lines quickly turned black in the glare, fading to a shadow in the charred wood.

"Seth," Miranda called again. "Seth!"

The mass of people around the statue seemed to scream louder as the fire eclipsed the sky, the pulse of their drums thumping in the intense heat.

She caught her breath, feeling a tight bead of energy forming where Seth's name had been, its power fed by thousands of riotous souls and their hungered voices, their insatiable cries to the divine. She felt the subtle warping of reality around her, the influence of a higher being in the firestorm.

The Man flashed with brilliance, bathing the playa in a stark white glow. Unearthly power streamed off its shoulders, spreading like bright wings against the stars. The crowd quieted with awe, watching the apparition hover above churning flames and snapping wood.

Fireworks burst from the statue's chest, their chaotic blooms of color calling the masses back into the world of human spectacle. The gathering began howling again, moving in unison, circling the massive pyre like celestial clouds caught in the glow of a dying star.

The Man tipped to one side, the frame creaking in agony, then collapsing toward the sand. Miranda allowed herself to fall with the wreckage, following Seth's sign into its fiery center. She slowed her descent at the base, surrounded by blackened wood and hissing flames. Air vortexes, formed in the intense heat, whooshing overhead as they spun onto the playa like crimson dust devils.

"Seth!" she called.

"Over your shoulder, baby girl," he murmured.

Miranda felt the graze of his fingers along her back, the heat of his breath against her ear. She turned, seeing only the bright cast of flames. "Where are you?"

"I'm here."

"I can't see you," she said desperately.

"There's no form for me to take."

She pressed her lips together, realizing that he was right. He had been called from the flames, from a statue that was quickly being incinerated around them. His human body was too far away, locked in the protected chambers of the Gate. It couldn't guide him now as he took shape in the human world.

"You're a ghost," she concluded.

"Same as you."

"I can't create you in human form here."

"Yes, you can."

She watched him come close, his outline a shimmering distortion in the heat. He touched her and she felt only emotion, only the sensation of his tenderness as he stroked a fiery caress across her cheek. She knew it was merely her soul's interpretation of a physical touch, but it felt real. Better than real.

"Remember me," he said. "Remember how I felt."

She shut her eyes, imagining him standing there, his broad shoulders spread above her and his eyes glowing in the heat. "I missed you," she whispered.

"I know."

Miranda reached for him and found his solid strength waiting for her. His body seemed to materialize under her hands, though she didn't open her eyes to see it, didn't distract herself from the task of remembering him as he had been.

She felt his lips brush hers. Her mouth parted, inviting the hot taste of his tongue. The fire burned in his being, in his arms as he pulled her closer, in the feel of his hands as he seared their bodies with the bright glare of his touch.

She heard the pounding of the drums in the distance, the screams of the crowd beyond the flames as he deepened the kiss. The pain of the past few hours bled into the heat, its intensity safely harbored in the embrace of this soul.

"I love you," she whispered.

He made a rough noise under his breath and pulled her up into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist, grasping onto his shoulders and pressing against him. They were both spirits now, their bodies naked and shimmering in the flames. He looked up at her, his eyes the color of fire, the mass energy of human souls ringing thickly between them.

Its power was immense and hedonistic, the crowd beyond the glare crying out for gratification, circling the pyre, dancing to drums and music, their bodies swimming in the light and touching as shadows.

Miranda couldn't fight their energy and didn't want to. It was the force that had brought Seth back and it could be used to bind him to her again, if only for a short time. She felt her own body glowing, her naked breasts silken and liquid. Tilting her head back, she watched the red waves of her hair sparkle above her, crimson flames caught in the blaze.

Seth held her tightly in his arms and thrust into her. His cock pushed between her legs and slid deep, joining their bodies as if they were still human.

She gasped with the intense pleasure of it, careening in the heat of possession.

Looking down at him, she realized he was just as lost as she was, his lids half-closed, the beauty of his human form restored to his spirit, the tattoo on his bicep shining darkly in the heat.

He claimed her soul with each new thrust, stroking her toward something vast and mysterious, infinity burning in the bright center of his being. Their spirits locked together in ecstasy, becoming light, more than light. She sailed into a release that unbound the universe around her.

Its darkness melted away, revealing a subatomic world ringing movement and vibration. It surrounded her, overwhelmed her, appearing as an intense glitter with no beginning or end. She shuddered, only to feel Seth's arms tighten around her. He was still there, holding her safe in this ocean of light, the pleasure of their bodies lingering in his closeness.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

"I come from higher. I was sent here to find human souls that resonate, to help humans communicate with us and to protect this world as best I could."

"How did you find me?"

"You were killed in a human war."

"And you elevated my soul?"

"To represent your race, because you resonate."

"And you were my guardian."

"And your lover," he admitted. "It's been the two of us for a long time, Miranda, though loving you this way was not something I could have planned. It's human love and I'm not human. The connection between us was strong though, strong enough to bring us back together again, even after lifetimes apart. I suppose I'd hoped for that when I damaged the Gate."

The glitter around her faded, leaving a starlit sky over the black shadow of the mountains, the burning remains of the Man still glowing in the distance. The crowd was beginning to disperse from around it, their shadows sinking into the darkness of the open playa.

Seth appeared in human form beside her, his profile glowing with firelight, his body clothed in a thick black cloak. He was beautiful and real, or at least he appeared that way. She touched his shoulder, spreading her fingers along the fabric of his sleeve. "You're really here. Even with all the burners, all the energy, I didn't think it would work."

His expression warmed. "It shouldn't have. But you're a little stronger than you ought to be."

"Because of you?"

"Because of us."

"Seth…"

He shook his head, as if there was nothing more to say. Clasping onto her hand, he raised it to his lips and kissed her fingers lightly, holding on for a moment before letting go. The gesture was tender and wordless, and more complete than anything that could have been said.

He narrowed his gaze on the movement of figures across the desert, revelers streaming away from the burned statue in search of fresh amusements. "The Divine Gate Camp will start celebrating now, hoping to attract as many of these people as possible. They'll all be encouraged to have a good time."

"And wake the Goddess of Excess?"

"That's Asmud's goal."

She released a tense breath. "It'll be difficult to stop them. The Khagan's been resurrected to human form. His body's still in one of those chambers."

Seth nodded, as if he had expected as much, or already knew. "The Khagan draws his strength directly from the Gate. He's becoming stronger as its power grows, which is why he's so useful to Asmud. If the Gate opens, he'll become stronger in this world than all of us put together."

"The Khagan?"

Seth nodded, distracted.

"He killed Pete," she admitted haltingly. "With a sword. We went there to destroy the Gate. He was trying to save me."

"He did save you. And he isn't dead."

She stared at him, speechless.

Seth frowned. "They're expecting you to come back and fight, so they've made sure that Pete will be there to sidetrack you when you do."

"You can feel all that?"

"I can hear it."

"Right." She released a grateful breath, feeling some of night's horror easing from her heart. "He's alive."

"He's bait," Seth corrected gently. "They know you're coming, which is why you can't disappoint them. They've set a trap and now I need you to walk into it. I need you to draw the Khagan out of the Gate."

S
eth crouched alone in the open sand before the Divine Gate camp, hearing the whispers of the Rathvam threading toward him on the breeze. Their voices held a crystalline quality now, the tones far richer than those he had been able interpret before. He heard his own history flowing in their songs, human lifetimes he had forgotten, the trace of his higher origin still resonating from the metal.

There were darker tones as well, revealing an audible change in the Gate itself. It bore the pain of its earlier destruction, a subtle warping acquired in its artless repair. It was not the same gift he had guarded for so many years. It had become a twisted version of itself, something awkward and less pure, something that struggled under a burden it couldn't possibly bear for much longer.

He grimaced, sensing Miranda as she moved along the opposite border of the camp. She was focused now, a goddess in the truest sense of the word.

He tilted his gaze skyward, knowing that he could ask for nothing, and expect nothing, from those who had sent him. His loyalty was unconditional. His commitment left no allowances for his own hopes or desires. But in his heart, the need to protect this world had merged with the need to protect this woman and it was now impossible to separate the two.

Softly, baby girl, he thought.

You don't want to spring this trap too soon.

* * *

Miranda slipped through the flood of colored light at the edge of the arena. The sand before her had been transformed into a lush garden of delights, complete with towering palm trees and thick, flowering bushes, their dark leaves brushed with iridescent glitter. At its center, bright fabric tents offered a variety of luxuries, from oil massages and feather teasing to chocolate and champagne. Canopied mattresses glowed with lantern light nearby, sectioned by draping red veils.

She pressed her lips together, her gaze darting toward the entrance. People were already waiting to be let in, mulling restlessly at the makeshift barrier, their eyes shining in the blue glow of stage lights. Already drunk, already high, they looked into the fake garden and saw a miraculous Eden, a welcoming feast for over-stimulated senses.