Healed by Fire
day Ares had come back from the town to
confirm it was her he had seemed defeated instead of happy. Now,
seeing her and knowing she did not recognize us, did not feel for
us as she had when we’d last seen her, hurt incredibly. She had
been the love of my life since I had first seen her and she had no
clue who I was.
    What had she been doing since we last saw
her? Had she found a mate? Had she slept with someone else? What if
she had a family? Could we really give her back her memories if she
was already happy?
    Theseus had said she was living in a witch’s
coven and that she didn’t smell of a man, but it had been a hundred
years; she could have mated with a human and had a family between
now and then.
    The thought of another man touching her made
my fists clench and my skin start to glow.
    “Achilles,” Ares said softly, “It’ll be
alright.”
    I turned away from the concern on his face
and ground my teeth together. “You have already established a bond
with her. Of course you think it’ll be alright. I am, yet again,
left to wait.”
    “Would you like me to answer the questions
you were asking yourself a moment ago?” Victor asked me quietly. “I
have seen some of her memories and know some of the answers.”
    It was tempting, extremely tempting, but I
shook my head. “No, thank you. I shall wait to hear them from her
lips.”
    Even if I hadn’t been bound to her and she
hadn’t been my match, I wouldn’t have been able to leave her or
forget her. She was perfect. She was the only woman I wanted. The
only one I thought about. She was everything to me.
    Ares rested his hand on my shoulder and then
turned to Victor. “We need the dragon egg your father has.”
    “That is the price the Council asked of
you?” Victor asked in shock.
    Ares smiled. “Yes, well I don’t think they
knew that you could just pop in and get it and come back.”
    Victor smiled. “Yes, translocation is a
handy ability.”
    It would have been a much handier ability if
he had had it when we were captured one hundred years ago. Of
course, we had all learned some new ability which would help us
should we be captured again. None of us enjoyed being
imprisoned.
    Victor closed his eyes, chanted a few words
and then disappeared. Ares turned and met my eyes. “She’ll remember
you too, Achilles. She won’t get only the memories of me back.”
    I sat down on the snow covered ground and
exhaled. “I know, Ares. It’s just…”
    “Painful,” Ares offered.
    I laughed bitterly and nodded my head. “Yes,
painful. I see the way she looks at you now, even without memories,
and it’s like being back in Lyngvi again.”
    Ares sat down beside me and sighed. “I
hadn’t intentionally set out to find her first, to keep you second.
I was just overcome with emotions when seeing her and her not
knowing me. She looked so different, but then she yelled at me and
I knew that she was still in there. I had to try.”
    Victor appeared in front of us holding a
large green egg. “Got it.”
    I pointed at the small man latched onto his
arm. “Someone grabbed on for the ride.”
    Victor hissed and handed Ares the egg. “I
hate stalkers.” He pried the other vampire’s teeth from his arm and
then snapped his neck.
    Ares cradled the egg like a baby and nodded
his head. “Let’s go, Victor you come with us.”
    Victor sighed. “I knew you’d get me in
trouble at some point. You better hope they don’t try to kill
me.”
    Ares smiled. “That would be a shame.”
    Victor smiled wide enough to flash all of
his fangs and then changed into his bat form, squealing as he flew
up towards the Lair’s entrance.
    I extended my wings and smiled. “Life has
been entertaining with you two around the last one hundred years.
Losing Victor’s comedic relief might dampen the mood.”
    Ares laughed. “Let’s hope the dragons don’t
eat the winged rat before we get there.”
    I jumped up into the sky, flapping my wings
to propel me higher. “We’d better

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