City of IF

[Kalanna Rai]

Very Happy Mastermind...I'll get this chappy up later today RL willing...or unwilling.

[Kalanna Rai]

Right next chappy. Enjoy
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Burn Eight: Fire Burning Bright

Two Thirty a.m.
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Lyr stared at Ian, his heart breaking. "You don't know what you're doing, you're not yourself."

"That's kinda strange coming from the mouth of a dead guy little bro. As far as I know I'm still me...but you're definetly not you. I should have caught on when you went along with my revenge plots. Time was when you would have talked me out of it..."

Lyr's expression hardened. "Yeah well that time kinda went out the window when my flesh was seared from my bones." Serephina's smile widened as she came from around behind the desk to stand behind Ian, hands on his shoulders.

"You don't need to fear your brother Ian...I am with you." Joan snorted at the Temptresses words.

"Yeah, fat lot of good that's going to do you. She's sapping your strength, not adding to it Ian. Serephina it's good to see some things havn't changed...you still jump into the pants of the first man likely to aid your cause...only last time it was MY brother you were jumping all over." Serephina laughed at the rage filled look on Joan's face.

"You? You were just the bastard by blow of the family. I'm surprised they're even still speculating about it all this time afterward. There's really no hard evidence. Besides, you were a shame and a disgrace, godless little hore!"

Joan lunged forward with a screech at Serephina's words, stopped only when Lyr's flaming hand wrapped around her arm. They both stared at each other in shock that he could hold onto her when her form was little more than colored haze. He looked at her and shook his head. "Let's not play into her image of us anymore than we already are shall we?"

Lyr's brain was already racing a million miles a minute. He remembered what Joan had told him about Revenants. If they had a Focus then destroying the focus would destroy them. But sometimes, as in this case, the focus wasn't something easily destroyed. Lyr had a hunch he could throw fireballs at Serephina's face all day long and nothing would happen. She wouldn't have so much as a scratch.

Well, he'd be viewed as a monster by Ian for the rest of his life, that much was certain. His brain was trying tell him something, something that might help him. It snapped into clarity all of the sudden. "Come on Joan, we're leaving." Joan stared at him like he'd lost his mind.

"But your brother..."

"Leave him. He's a big boy...he can make his own choices. If he wants to fight for the Mob and some Fallen Angel he can. I'm sick of it, I have better things to do." Turning for the door he'd just put his hand on it when it sprang into flames. "Wow, that would have been a deterrant if I'd been a living man. I've already been incinerated, fire holds no mystery for me anymore. And being burned," He looked over his shoulder at Ian's face. "I don't even feel that..."

Walking into the hallway Lyr ignored Joan's looks, concentrating instead on the item he was seeking. "Are they following us Joan?" She shook her head at him.

"Not yet." Lyr's brows knitted, as she shook her head. Dammit he need them, or at least Serephina, to follow. He rounded a corner and opened a door to find the room he was looking for. Rummaging through some drawers he found what he was looking for just as Joan hissed at him. "Here they come."

He moved quickly to the front door, looking into Ian's eyes one last time. "I'm offering you one last chance to trust me Ian." Ian shook his head.

"Never again Lyr...I'm sorry...I can't."

"Well then if I proved your angel was a fake?" Serephina took that oppertunity to laugh.

"And how are you going to do that?" Before she could finish laughing Lyr pulled the mirror from behind his back and flipped it toward her. "No! Get back!" She threw a hand across her eyes.

"What's wrong? Don't you want to admire yourself?" He thrust the mirror in between the sheilding arm and her face. She pulled back, her form rapidly bubbling like hot tar. "I didn't think so." She screeched at the top of her lungs, a banshee wail that had the mortals in the room clapping hands over ears.

Lyr stood there the whole time with the mirror aimed at her just in case. She swept her arm outward, trying to strike it from his hand. Flames crept up his form, rimming the mirror so that it blazed forth a shining light. She was breaking apart, sizzling like a sidewalk on a hot summer day. One of her melting hands clasped his foot, her eyes filled with hatred reflecting his flames.

"You think you have won...I was only the first...the distraction. There are far worse horrors instore for you, Lyr Varro. And I swear to you the fires of Hell shall charr the flesh from your bones." With a last gasp her form oozed away to nothing but a dark stain on the carpet, a stain quickly bursting into flames.

In moments the whole condo was engulfed. Lyr, unable to feel or be affected, knew the same wasn't true for Ian. Reaching out for his brother he was shocked to find himself still blazing, the mirror nothing more than ash in his hand. "Ian follow me!"

Ian shook his head, looking around. Lyr could tell he was still a bit dazed. The flames were spreading far too quickly, cutting off any hope of escape via elevator. That left only the stairs, which were quickly being engulfed by flames, and a massive window. "You can jump Lyr...you might be able to get Ian to safety if you do." Lyr shook his head...that was a bad idea. But then so was risking flame engulfed stairwells.

What to do...
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Hope you liked.

[Mastermind]

Very good chappy Rai! :)
He can make flames, maybe he can extinguish them as well?
If not, then go for the window, and try to find something you could use as a rope.
Serephina wrote: And I swear to you the fires of Hell shall charr the flesh from your bones.
The Mob already did that. It didn't work out very well. :lol:

[Kalanna Rai]

Indeed...they did try and look what happened. Maybe burning isn't a good idea.

[Guest]

Quote: He can make flames, maybe he can extinguish them as well?
If not, then go for the window, and try to find something you could use as a rope.

I agree, if he could make flames he should extinguish it too. Tough a window sounds better, but I doubt you'll just find a rope lying around.

there has to be another means of excape, like a fire excape or a ladder mounted to wall outside...

I liked this chapter Ria hope to see more real soon.

[Kalanna Rai]

New poll going up...

Vote when it appears...

[Kalanna Rai]

Here's to Mastermind and his vote. Enjoy!
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Burn Nine: Inner Fire

Two fifty a.m.
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The flames raged out of control all around him, all over him. Lyr's head whipped back and forth between window and doorway, between Joan's anxious grimace and Ian coughing into his elbow. He brought a flaming hand to his lips, biting his knuckle hard as a nervous habit from childhood surfaced. It was then, staring at his flame covered flesh, that he had an idea. Lyr, despite the flames that licked across his skin, was still fully clothed...and that was because he had told the flames to leave his clothes alone.

Closing his eyes, he didn't want to watch if this didn't work, he reached out to the rapidly growing inferno around them. At first he was trying to tell the flames to leave every surface alone but he quickly realized that wasn't going to work. It was like trying to deny a starving pit bull a t-bone. Opening his eyes Lyr caught sight of the fire advancing on Ian, the one person in the room they could consume.

Without thinking he reached out and pulled and the flames spiraled backward through the air and into his palms. Just as he had so many times before, Lyr recalled the fire to himself, drawing the blaze inside and locking it away until only smoke and smolder were left. For a moment he stood, dazed and wobbly after the exertion, before pain blossomed in his gut like a match in gasoline soaked rags.

It doubled him over, this fist of Hades, putting him on his knees with one hand wrapped across his torso. He bit his lip so hard it bled, the fire within feeling like it was a wild animal clawing it's way out of his flesh. It had never been so bad before, even when his raw powers had first surged to life. Ian's hands were on his shoulders for a brief moment before his elder brother jerked them back, smoke curling from reddened flesh. "Lyr, talk to me! What's going on?"

Joan knelt before him, twisting her face around until she could stare him in the eyes. The expression on her face was carefully nutral but Lyr detected the quaver in her voice. "He's burning up from the inside out. The blaze, it was started by Serephina's remains...Lyr's got Hellfire trapped inside him."

Forehead on carpet, both arms hugging his sides to keep his fiery equivilant of Frankenstine's monster from escaping, Lyr bared his teeth. "Oh that's just peachy. It feels like dying a second time."

"You're in very real danger of doing just that. It's blocking your ability to draw from the Source, you're essentially running under your own power."

"He's what!" Ian's yell was full of clammy fear and Lyr might have been grateful for it if it hadn't acted like chilled vodka and stoaked his hellish inner fire.

Joan's words were calm, for the moment, but there was nothing soothing about them. "He's been cut off from the Source, the power that's been feeding him. That means he's suddenly lost his unlimited power, his regenerative capabilities, and his connection to the this life...in short, he's either going to master this thing or die trying."

Grinding his teeth so hard they squeaked, Lyr forced himself up on one knee, knuckles of one fist in the charred carpet. "I love the way you're talking as if I wasn't right here."

"Don't get angery Lyr, this is Hellfire. It's not out to destroy you at the moment, just break you, own you. It's cut your connection and you know it, yet it's also offering you power isn't it?" Lyr had to admit she'd hit the nail on the head with that one. The malestrom within him was tearing through all of his carefully built barriers like they were paper, proving it was so much stronger than the power he'd possessed of late it was scarey.

Lyr might not be a Faith driven man, might not attend church or put much strength in devine doctrine, but he did know the difference between good and evil. Good was the soft reassurance he'd had for the past few days, the soft warmth of banked embers ready to spark upon command. This...this was evil, full on firestorm every second of every day, a blaze so powerful it would consume everything within Lyr, everything Lyr had ever been and would ever become, to feed itself.

It was then that Lyr stood, how he couldn't tell you, and turned his face upward. Staring through a skylight who's windows had blown in the flames, he gazed at the vault of the sky though no moon nor stars could be seen. Once before Lyr had made a plea, a plea that his death would not be in vain. Now he made another plea, a plea for the strength to fight.

White light seared downwards, invisible to all but the eyes of Lyr and Joan, illuminating him. Through the barrier of flames within, along the lines of his severed connection, it poured into him. He was distantly aware of Joan shouting.
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Two fifty-eight a.m.
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Ian couldn't tell what was going on but he was perceptive enough to know it was something big. Energy charged the air so badly that Joan was become every more 'real' as she soaked it in. "What's happening?"

She looked at him with wide eyes that reflected a brilliance Ian was blind to. "Can you not see? It is the most beautiful tragic thing I have ever witnessed...the first Revenant I have ever seen call down the Final Gift."

"Final Gift?"

"As I've said, your brother was a young Revenant. What that means is that he was still well within his week, the week we are all given to adjust to our new state. During that time we are connect to the Source at all times, unlimited power at our fingertips, unable to die or stay injured. At the end of that week all the Power a Revenant will ever have is given to us at once. It's called the Final Gift."

"But he's been back little more than two days! He should have five left!" Ian was frantic. Anything with the word 'Final' in it couldn't be good and things weren't that great to start with.

"That's been taken into account, the power he would have used in that time is being given to him as well...charity on an immesurable scale Ian, trust me." Suddenly the power, the charge, stopped for a moment and a sense of tension and waiting replaced it. Joan gazed intently upon Lyr. "It's all up to him now."

Ian looked at his brother, trying to fathom the struggle going on within him. Ian had never denied the paranormal, couldn't with his 'Gift', but he'd never really taken the allegations of angels and demons, Heaven and Hell, all that seriously...until that night seven months ago...until he the day Lyr returned to his life...until now as he watched his little brother fight a battle Ian himself had already lost.

'I sold my soul to a demon for the promise of power...Don't make my mistake Lyr, don't...' Joan gave no sign of hearing Ian, for which Ian was greatful. They'd seen how he'd acted with Serephina...but he doubted they'd guessed that she was only pulling the strings a much more powerful puppet master had placed upon him.

Still Ian had to know, what would happen to Lyr now that he'd taken this 'Final Gift' of his early? "Joan..."

She put a finger to her lips and shushed him. "He's making his choice."

Standing and listening to the clock strike the devil's hour, Ian could only hope it was the right one.
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Three a.m.
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Lyr felt it, all that power waiting just under his skin, all that power freely given warred with the power that wished to take all he had. But now he had the power to choose...and he chose willing service over blazing chains. The hellfire burst from him in a swirling conflaguration that seemed to scream in fury for losing his soul, but that was not the end of his battle.

The power freely given, his Final Gift, waited for his choice. He remembered what Joan had told him, about fading away and burning up, but he already knew that those were not the right choices for him. He would choose to Focus his power and he knew just the thing. His inner fire. "I so choose..."

The words sprang from his lips unbidden, unknowingly, and with utter conviction. He didn't need to speak his choice aloud, the power knew somehow. Like all others before him who'd ever chosen a Focus, Lyr's body began to twist itself around to suit, changes making him something that could never again be called 'human'.

His blood was seared away, liquid flame taking it's place. His ashen skin became the golden color it had held in life save that now it radiated a warm golden glow, the inviting light of home and hearth. His charred black hair returned to it's former flaming hue, moving like the fires of the inner earth with molten shimmer and wave. He could feel it now, the essence of fire that swirled through him, igniting along every line of his body. The heat grew intense, a blast furnace that swirled around his feet and spiraled upwards, the collumn of superheated wind it generated knocking flat the walls of the penthouse, incinerating the ceiling before it fell.

The tattoo on his flesh ceased to be ink and instead was drawn in searing flame. As the fire spiraled outwards it met and clashed with the hellfire, blurring the line between the two enough that Lyr lost track of it, knowing only that it fled. Then he felt confined, as if something needed to change. From the center of him, pressure built, fire building, consuming itself in a reaction that would never stop. Suddenly, in a wave that illuminated the night, it all flashed outwards. A scream, like that of an eagle and fire itself, wild and free, shrilled across the night even as Joan and Ian were knocked into empty air by the blast's concussion.

As the light faded on the charred rooftop, grey ashes rained down...
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Three days later
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Ian woke in a bed that wasn't his own, the fire raging inside him like a hungery beast. A shadow flitted across his vision and he turned toward it, seeking a glimpse of whoever, or whatever it was. He had a good feeling he knew though, a feeling that was confirmed moments later as he was flung from bed and pinned against a wall by an unseen force.

"You have failed."

For once Ian was proud of failure. After watching Lyr, feeling the unease and guilt in his presence, Ian was glad that he wouldn't have to feel it for eternity. But his Master wasn't a pleasent creature to deal with, and he didn't like even the smallest failure...and failing to convert Lyr was no small failure.

"You've cost me a powerful servant and stolen her Fire on top of it and you remain silent...Foolish man."

Ian couldn't repress a shudder as his Master moved out of the light. Even now, in his human form, the Master was a formidible creature. Just over six feet tall and all whip-like muscle, arms and shoulders that could rip a bull in half. Long black hair was collected by a black ribbon at the nape of his neck and flowed in a smooth tail to the backs of his knees. His hands were strong, fingers slender, nails immaculate and sharp, razor sharp.

He was dressed in a suit of crushed black velvet, a red tie with a diamond tie pin that matched his cuff links the only color to be found. His skin was beyond pale and his black eyes burned with all the intensity of a black hole. "I'll expect you to fix this Ian. I'll expect you to track him down...but now I'll expect you to kill him."

Ian's blood ran cold. Kill Lyr? Even if his brother wasn't already dead it was impossible. "He's stronger than I am."

A smile curved the Master's lips. "Then find more power. Don't ask how...I'm sure you'll think of something."
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How is Ian going to find more power?
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And now the cards are on the table, the plot's finally unfolding, and you've met the real foe. Can you handle it? I hope you liked this chappie.

[Mastermind]

Liked it very much Rai.
Well, as using more fire probably wouldn't work, I'd say use liquid nitrogen to freeze Lyr.
Or maybe if Ian could control Hellfire...

Quote: until he the day Lyr returned to his life

[Guest]

Quote: I'd say use liquid nitrogen to freeze Lyr.
Or maybe if Ian could control Hellfire...

F5 hehe. well let him pray to the gods for a miracle or kill someone or drink something that is flammable or get really angry and then he gets more power, but it would not hold out for long.

He dies and comes back stronger than before... :D

[Kalanna Rai]

Poll's up.

[Kalanna Rai]

Right Mastermind, liquid nitrogen...I'm on it. Enjoy!
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Burn Ten: Freezing Phoenix

Seven a.m.
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The ashes swirled and stirred, blown by the wind far from the charred rooftop where firemen swarmed. They twisted and whirled in the light of the dawn, conforming their shape into the shape of the man they belonged to. In moments Lyr Varro stood shaking his head. "I'm going to have to get used to that." His voice worked, he felt a small quirk of surprise that he shouldn't have...then realized he was standing in a park, naked, burning like a torch.

He thought longingly of clothes, the kind he used to wear, and watched as the flames twisted themselves into the imagined outfit. Slowly their brilliance faded until only the snap in his grey eyes and the highlights in his red hair betrayed their presence. He snuck a glance at his tattoo to find it still etched in glowing lines, but the glow didn't seep through the white turtle neck or the tan leather jacket over that. A pair of khaki cords and tan boots finished the outfit.

He looked around, trying to get his bearings and trying to discern where Joan was. He felt his connection to her like one might feel the leash on a dog. Lyr wasn't inclined to think of Joan as an animal and he was even less inclined to yank her 'leash'. Still it did lead back to her and right now he wanted some answers. Like, why was everyone rimmed in light, like the glow of a candle, that he'd never noticed before?

He walked out of the park and bumped into an elderly woman walking her small Yorkie. She looked at him, startled and obviously annoyed, and he watched as all that seeped out of her face and was replaced by a grandmotherly smile. "You need to be more careful young man. My old bones arn't as agile as they used to be." The warm tone coaxed Lyr's own smile back.

"I'll have to remember that Ma'am. I was so lost in thought I needed a rescue party. So excuse my clumsy mistake and thank you for rescuing me." She smiled at him again before leading her dog into the park and leaving a bewildered Lyr standing on the sidewalk wondering what had just happened. As he looked around he realized he recognized the place and took off in the general direction of where he'd left his car.
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Eight thirty a.m.
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Ian had despaired for a few moments. How was he supposed to fulfill his Master's wish? The Hellfire raged inside him, whispering, demanding, pleading, seducing. He thought again of Lyr and felt the fire flare into an inferno of anger and rage. The Hellfire hated Lyr, hated him for refusing it, and it feared him, feared him for casting it out. It called to Ian again, in the language of wordless fire that his forsworn soul understood.

The foe of fire was ice and if his brother's flames could be frozen then his brother would be powerless...save for his focus. The fires churned around inside Ian, begging then ordering him to tell them what he knew of Lyr's focus. But Ian knew nothing, had no idea what his brother might have chosen and where he might find the item even if he did know what it was. The fires punished him for that, charring everything inside, consuming him.

The only thing keeping Ian alive was his Master's will. Ian couldn't die until he had completed his job for the Master, or until the Master tired of him...which seemed likely if he failed this time. He needed more power and the Hellfire responded, pulling more essence of the inferno upward until Ian was little more than a charred black skeleton wrapped in the blazing fires of Hell.

He looked at himself in the mirror and laughed. "Well Lyr always said I needed a new look. I wonder how he'll like me now. But I can't go out like this..." Almost instantly an illusion sprang into place, an illusion of himself. "Better...now I suppose I can use some liquid nitrogen to freeze Lyr cold but I've got to find him first." The flames whispered, deamanded, that Ian not go to Lyr, that Ian bring Lyr to him.

For a moment Ian stood thinking, wondering how he could bring his brother to him. Then it dawned on him. "He still loves Addy...and I know where she is. I'll pick up a few things and go pay her a visit."
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Ten twenty p.m.
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It was harder than he thought to track Joan down, especially since she seemed to keep moving and he was on foot. He'd been pretty pissed when he'd returned to the scene of the fire only to find his car had been towed to make room for emergency vehicles. And it wasn't like he could go pay the fines on it. He only hoped the man upstairs would see fit to return it to him.

Joan, it seems, had been treated as a Jane Doe fire victim and had been bounced from hospital to hospital. He finally found her in Our Lady of Peace, laying in an ER bed and pretending she was unconcious. Slipping in, unnoticed by doctors and nurses, Lyr walked over to her bedside, ignoring the man on the gurney next to her. "Come on, we've got to get out of here."

She cracked open her eye and the monitors went wild on her pulse and respiration rate. By the time the doctors and nurses rushed in to take a look at the machines, both of them were gone. And the man in the other gurney wasn't nearly as injured as he had been...
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Ten fourty p.m.
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Lyr and Joan sat on the subway, Joan in some shabby clothing Lyr had scrounged from Salvation Army. She kept glancing at him as if expecting him to do something amazing. "What?"

"I didn't expect to see you back. I thought for certain you'd vaporized yourself." Lyr grinned. It was nice to still be able to surprise people. She grinned back. "I hope you picked your Focus wisely. Otherwise you might end up like me...with a hidden catch."

He shrugged. "I havn't run into any catches yet...although I know this isn't free." He sat there wondering about it now that Joan had brought it up. What might his weakness be?
--------------------------------

Well?

[Mastermind]

Apathy would be the most obvious weakness - if he stops caring, he won't have any inner fire to draw power from, right? Or a feeling of being powerless - unable to save Addy and his son, for example. One must defeat him emotionally, not physically.

Some typos:
Quote: How was he supposed to fulfill his Master's wish?
fulfil
Quote: The flames whispered, deamanded
demanded
Quote: pretending she was unconcious.
unconscious

[Guest]

Quote: The Hellfire hated Lyr, hated him for refusing it, and it feared him, feared him for casting it out.

I think his weakness is not emotion tough it is an interesting thought. I say it is the fear of hearing the fires call to him the fear of losing controle of his powers, to hurt her- the one he loves.

He cares for her, but her heart was really on a fast pace and the hospital would be looking for her. Lyr cares for her he should do what is best and try and let go of what emotion weakens him. It is like tie chi chun even the slightest of emotion could weaken him at the outer of his skin.

Show weakness and also give a weakness to fires then he'll have trouble of controling it. He has to let go of her. it is for the best even if it is for a good of her life and for his and her protection against his unknowning growing power of fire.

I ot my ideas back rai, hope you liked it. ;)

[Kalanna Rai]

I'm probably going to combine both of those ideas for the next chappy rather than put up a poll. I think it's about time to put PHOENIX to bed.

[Kalanna Rai]

Right, final chappy. Enjoy!
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Burn Eleven: Rain of Fire

Ten fifty p.m.
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Lyr was startled out of his thoughts by the ringing of his cellphone. Reaching into his pocket he frowned...hadn't it burned up with the rest of his things? So why was it still here? Still he answered with a slow "Hello?"

"Lyr...I have something you want. Something you value. I have your family." Lyr's grip went white knuckle as the sounds of a screaming baby and Addy sobbing could be heard. He didn't recognize the voice on the other end...how many people were out to get him. Looking at the Caller I.D. his heart clenched to read Ian's number. That meant whoever had Addy and his son had Ian as well.

"What do you want?"

"You. Come to the Warehouse at 3 a.m...don't be late...." There was a click as the phone was hung up leaving Lyr to tremble.

"What's wrong...there's fire in your eyes." Joan was staring at him, concern written all over her face.

"We've got to prepare and we don't have much time."
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Two thirty a.m.
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Ian sat quietly watching Addy hold little Lyr. Addy was shaking and trembling but she was doing better than she had been when Ian first abducted her. At first she'd been fine, accepting his explanation that Lyr needed her...she hadn't started screaming until he'd dropped his disguise.

Now she hummed softly to her baby, keeping the brat quiet and comfortable. Ian was glad he'd let her keep the diaper bag, he really didn't care for the kid's wailing and knew that no dirty, hungery baby would ever stop crying.

"What are you waiting for you monster?" Ian looked over at Addy in mild surprise. Where had she summoned the courage for that? She hadn't spoken to him since he'd taken her, screamed yes, but not spoken. Yet now she stared at him out of red-rimmed flinty eyes. It must be those maternal instincts kicking in. He decided to humor her.

"I'm waiting for Lyr. And when he gets here...well I havn't decided that yet. I don't know if I should fry the two of you infront of him or if I should make him submit, then fry the two of you infront of him...or if I should just fry him then fry you two."

"So there's no chance of my survival?"

Ian cackled. "None at all my dear. I'm afraid the only outcome for the pair of you is a choice between extra crispy and charred black...which is really no choice at all."

"Why are you doing this Ian? You were closer to your brother than anyone."

For a moment feelings stirred within Ian again. Shame and revulsion at what he had become and what he was doing...then he thrust it all away as the Hellfire surged within him again. He stood up and stalked over to her, flames popping and hissing on his bones.

"Why? Well power for starters. I never wanted to be helpless and weak again, never wanted to be beaten and humiliated again. For months I've hidden my power and waited for the moment when I could take my revenge...then I'd have been the boss and I'd have had control." He snapped his jaws closed, flames wirling around him in rage. "Then Lyr came back...HE CAME BACK!"

His fire pillared upwards like a massive volcanic eruption, searing the earth around him and blistering Addy's skin, making her clothes smolder as she curled protectivly around the baby. Slowly Ian calmed himself.

He looked at his wrist, a watch of fire forming, and checked the time. "But don't worry...it'll all be over in the next couple minutes."
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Three a.m.
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Lyr saw the inferno beast from a distance, his shoulder blades itching. "I've got a bad feeling about this Lyr...a very bad feeling." Joan was a half-step behind him, dragging her feet. "Lyr...I think that's..."

"It's Ian...I can see his aura." Lyr didn't know how hell had gotten to his brother, it must have had something to do with the Hellfire that had tried to overtake Lyr himself. When he forced it out it must have latched onto Ian instead. But that wasn't the whole explaination...the corruption ran deeper than that.

The burning skeleton turned to face him, charred grin fixed for eternity. "Ah Lyr...just in time for the party...and see what guests we have." He extended a flaming boney arm toward Addy and little Lyr. "They've come for the fun...afterall, what party is good without games."

"You bastard..." Joan started forward only to be stopped by Lyr's arm.

"What do you want Ian?" Lyr got the satisfaction of seeing Ian's shock.

"So you've figured it out...always were the smart one. But not smart enough to get out of this. You've only got one choice in this one Lyr...submit or they die!"

Lyr shook his head. "That's not the way Hell works Ian. It doesn't matter what I do..you're going to kill them. I'll agree to whatever you want and then you're going to kill them and I'll be bound to the agreement."

Addy laughed quietly. "He's got you there Ian."

Ian whirled around, flames crackling. "Shut up!" He hurled a small bolt of flame at them only to watch as another bolt hit it. There was a brief flash but no fire reached the woman and child.

"You forgot I'm here brother."

"So I did Lyr...so I did. But you forget the game. I can still burn them to cinders before you can save them...and you know it." Lyr opened his mouth and shut it again. Deep down he did know it. He knew if he charged over there to save him he'd be no more than a mortal man. His power was destined for greater things, greater uses...it was selfish of him to squander it on two lives. It was playing favorites that he'd save them.

Lyr looked at Addy and saw something in her eyes, something that gave him the strength to go on. She got to her feet, lifted her chin, and stood tall with their son in her arms. Her eyes boring into his she spoke two words. "Do it."

Almost instantly Lyr was consumed with fire. Turning to Ian he shook his head. "You forget one thing Ian...those certain of their belife are not afraid of death." Rising into the air his human form lost it's shape, wings of flame spreading as he and his tattoo became one. With a scream like an eagle and the roar of a thousand acre wildfire, Lyr let go.

And fire rained from the sky...
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It's finally over...I hope you enjoyed it!

[Chinaren]

Well done Rai! Another one to add to your collection! :D

:clap: :drunk: :cheers:

[Amichan]

i havent had a chance to comment at all i'd like afew days to read this whole thing through before it gets moved mainly because Lily remmended this titel to me and Rai i'll give you major credit. there aren't too many SG's that get recommended to me to read by many people so i'd like the honor to read yours and give some honest feedback

[Kalanna Rai]

Even if it get's moved Kang PM me the feedback...I'd appriciate it.

[Mastermind]

Excellent work, Rai. Nicely wrapped up.