Normal is overrated; that’s what my mom always said. My mom didn’t know the half of it. For 23 years, I thought my biggest problem was being an adopted child of a single mom in a tiny house, then I burst into flames. My first thought was mental breakdown, but that didn’t explain the fact that real flames were put out by real firefighters, so I fled to the city. The plan had been to check myself into a mental hospital, but I’d been too afraid, so I looked for a temporary job while I worked up the courage. My first interview is where things really went off the deep end. I found myself submerged in a world of monsters, and I was one of them. By my 24th birthday, I would supposedly be set into my immortality, with supernatural powers and all. With not one, but two handsome immortals watching out for me, hatred and hostility still lurked around every corner.
View MoreSet Fire and Burn Trigger Warnings:
Abduction, Violence, Murder/Assassination, Strong Language, Sex, Death, Substance Abuse, Dismemberment, Blood/Gore, Mutilation of Corpse, Sexual Assault, Crude Language, Immolation, Imprisonment, Voyeurism, Illegal Activities, Bondage, Prejudice, and Miscarriage.
Not all family is blood, some family is found. Wounds take time to heal. Now shut up, sit down, and read this book like a good little mortal.Set Fire and Burn
Prologue
The petite blonde had staggered into the emergency room and all but collapsed, holding her stomach. Her skin and hair were bruised and dirty, her lips cracked and split, and her clothes little more than rags. The young woman had been through hell and looked as if she’d been held against her will. When the receptionist tried to call the police, the young mother shot out her hand and stopped her. “Don’t, please!”
“Who do you want me to call?” the receptionist asked in concern.
“Not the cops, he owns the cops,” she said in fear, then doubled over in pain. “The baby’s coming.” Within moments, the woman was put on a gurney and wheeled through the emergency room doors away from the prying eyes of others waiting to be seen for less urgent things. Once she was in a room, two nurses helped her out of her clothes and into a hospital gown. The older nurse had kind eyes and moved with the confidence of years of practice, while the younger nurse with short blonde hair struggled to keep up. The door was opened by a nurse with fiery red hair carrying supplies for a sponge bath.
“Don’t you worry, sweetie, we’re going to get you cleaned up before this baby comes. You’re safe now,” the third nurse said.
“I don’t think the baby is going to wait,” the young mother said, doubling over in pain.
“Her contractions are about three minutes apart; the doctor needs to see her now,” the older nurse said.
“I’ll get you cleaned up while the doctor and other nurses take care of the pregnancy,” the fiery redhead assured her with a smile.
“We need to get a blood sample,” the younger nurse informed her, pulling out a needle.
“NO!” the young mother cried, jerking away from the nurse and trying to climb out of the bed.
“Easy! We just need to know your blood type, in case we need to give you blood,” the young blonde with the needle said as the other two kept the mother from falling.
“No more needles.” Tears slipped down the distressed mother’s face as a storm suddenly clouded the sunny day.
“We will just put you down for O-Neg in case it’s needed. Don’t worry, we won’t let anyone hurt you,” the red-headed nurse assured her with a look at the one with the needle. The nurse put it back in the supply cart and held up her hands, showing that they were indeed empty.
“Will you at least let us get your vitals? No needles, promise,” the redhead pressed.
The young mother looked around at the three women in the room with her and nodded. “Just no needles.” With that, the nurses set to work as the storm rapidly grew in intensity.
When the doctor came in, the nurses reported the young woman’s elevated blood pressure, fever, and a racing heart. “I know you’ve requested no needles, but based on the information I’ve been given, we may need to do surgery to save you and the baby. Can you tell me how far along you are?”
“Nine months, please, no needles, please,” she whimpered.
“I’ll do everything I can,” he said before pulling on his gloves and instructing her on how to lie properly in the bed for the best delivery and to check her dilation.
Lightning flashed across the sky, and the lights went out in the hospital as the young mother screamed in pain. The storm had rolled in without warning, and the generators were failing. The young mother was in distress, but without the machines, all the doctors could do was hope. The doctors had been ready to rush her into a C-section when the storm had hit and left them with only the lightning flashes to see by.
“Looks like we don’t have a choice. The baby is already crowning anyway. On your next contraction, I’m going to need you to push for me, alright?” the doctor instructed.
The young mother didn’t even have time to nod or catch her breath before another contraction hit and she was pushing. With only a few contractions, the baby girl came into the world crying loud enough to be heard over the thunderstorm that continued to shake the hospital. “You have a healthy daughter,” the nurse said behind the doctor as he worked to stitch up the mother.
The young mother smiled through her tears. “Angelica, her name is Angelica Steel.”
The doctor looked at the nurse. “Swaddle the baby and let her hold her daughter.”
The mother closed her eyes. “I’m bleeding too much, aren’t I?”
“I’m afraid so, Miss Steel,” the doctor said in a quiet voice. “I’m doing all I can for you, just hold your daughter for a moment.” The young mother never got to hold her daughter before losing consciousness, her pulse and breathing were undetectable. The baby girl cried as the nurses and doctor struggled to revive the mother during the storm. Time of death was called as the baby was taken to the nursery and the mother was wheeled to the morgue.
Chapter 55 Set Fire and Burn by Ruth NalioAngelica…How could a heart ache when it no longer existed?I had become something unholy—flame-wreathed bone, a screaming soul bound in fire. When I snapped, I didn’t break—I burned. My rage flared hotter than the sun, a molten scream that cracked the earth open beneath my feet and pulled the sky down in a frenzy of tornados.My body fought to regrow itself—sinew sizzling, skin bubbling over scorched bone—but I no longer cared if it won. Pain was constant, my flesh caught in an endless cycle of death and rebirth. But even that agony couldn’t touch the thing inside me. The hollowness. The truth.My mother’s body had been discarded like garbage, her life beaten out of her until she was nothing but a battered heap on the ground. And Zander… Zander’s heart had been ripped from his chest and shoved in my face, still twitching, still warm.That was my pain—not the flames devouring my body or the flesh that hissed as it returned. No, this pain was
Chapter 54 Set Fire and Burn by Ruth NalioAlatap…I crested the hill, out of breath, just in time to see Zander fall to the ground. Angelica stood about ten feet away from them, her body covered in brilliant orange flames, wind whipping all around the crumbling city. I opened my mouth to yell for her to run when tornadoes began to drop all over the city. My eyes widened as her orange flames turned blue and white. What little had been left of her clothes quickly burned away, followed by her skin and muscle, until she was nothing more than a flaming skeleton.Hades threw back his head and laughed. “Is that supposed to scare me?” he mocked.“I’m going to kill you,” Angelica said in a voice so low I could hardly hear it over the tornadoes, even with my heightened hearing.“Angelica! No, run!” I yelled, starting to make my way down the hill at a good clip when the ground began to shake and crack, lava bubbling up from the jagged fissures in the earth.“You can’t kill me! I’m a God,” Hades
Chapter 53 Set Fire and Burn by Ruth NalioAngelica…“Did you find her?” Zander answered on the second ring, anger and desperation in his voice.“Zander-” I nearly sobbed with relief at the sound of his voice.“Angelica! Where are you? What happened? Are you alright?”I closed my eyes and slid to the floor, tears streaming down my face. “I’m so sorry, I couldn’t stop it—couldn’t stop them from—Zander, I’m so sorry,” I sobbed.My heart felt like it was frozen in my chest as I waited for his response. “Are you alright?”“No. Yes. It—it’s complicated,” I cried.“Is Alatap with you?” he asked in a calm voice.“I asked him to go get me clothes,” I said, gaining some control over myself.“Where are you? How do I get to you?” There was a note of desperation in his voice.“About 20 minutes outside of hell,” I told him honestly.“Angelica, love, I can’t get to you if I don’t know where you are.” The irritation was rising in his voice.I looked up at the ceiling, willing myself to tell him as m
Chapter 52 Set Fire and Burn by Ruth NalioAngelica… “Wake up,” a woman’s gentle voice said as someone lightly shook my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see a stunning brunette, the one from last night who had been without chains on one of the tables.That’s when I remembered everything that had happened. Horror and disgust took over my body as I sat up quickly, tears beginning to stream down my face. “Oh God, what did I do?”She gave me a sad look. “I had hoped that he would wait to do such to you. I’m so sorry.”I looked up at her with tear-filled eyes and hatred. “As if it would have been any better to wait a day or two before raping me!”She looked toward the entrance to my room. “I’d hoped to have a chance to free you before it had happened instead of after. We must hurry, while they are busy regaining their strength.” She handed me a robe. “Put this on, it’s all I have.”“Who are you?” I asked as I took the robe.“I’m your grandmother, Persephone,” she said as she looked around ag
Chapter 51 Set Fire and Burn by Ruth NalioUnknown…Using a transportation potion, Angelica’s captor took them to Greece in a matter of moments. Once his feet settled upon the soil, he wasted no time searching her for a phone. Finding it easily in her pocket, he tossed it to the ground, lifted her unconscious form into his arms, and set off for his destination.Zander… As I got the last of the items on Angelica’s list, I looked around, wondering if it really took that long to pick out the perfect bird as she’d said. With a sigh, I pulled out my phone and called her while heading to the frozen turkeys. Her phone rang, rang again, and again. Panic filled me as I listened and couldn’t hear it anywhere in the store. Then a thought occurred to me, and I pulled up Alatap’s contact information and called him.He answered on the second ring. “Well, if it isn’t The Sandman. What can I do for you?”“Cut the shit, where is she?” I demanded, ready to track him down and rip him apart.“What do yo
Chapter 50 Set Fire and Burn by Ruth NalioAngelica…Ash looked at me like I had spoken a different language. “You invited a Demon into a Gargoyle's home?”Closing my eyes, I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Al is the leader of the Demons here in town, and Zander is the leader of the Gargoyles, right?”“You are correct, and for the last few months, you have been in the middle, making a mess of things,” Ash said in a bland tone.“Watch yourself, friend,” Zander said in a tight voice.“He’s just giving his honest opinion. What I’m getting at though, is that things between Gargoyles and Demons in this city could improve if Zander and Ash can get along at least a little bit. Wouldn’t it be nice to go anywhere in the city without worrying about whose damn territory you’re in?”“You are painfully human in your thinking,” Ash said.“Does that mean you’re coming to dinner?” I asked, matching his bland tone. They were the ones being painfully stubborn.“Do I have a choice?” Ash asked, looking a
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