Hidden Flame 87

**Draven**
I keep wondering if I should have followed Cassius and Avery. That strange feeling has kept growing. When I was on my
way to pick up the Hags from Jessica’s home, I got a text from her stating that the girls had last minute shopping to do
and to wait for them in front of the school instead. At first, I didn’t think anything of it but as my trepidation grew so did
my assumption that the Hags were going to attack Avery. My poor friend can’t have a normal moment, at least she did
get a formal proposal. Oh shit! What is going to happen when her tormentors learn that she’s engaged?
I was left waiting for nearly an hour when my dates, and I use that term loosely, showed up. They look elegant but I smell
Avery on them. Just what the fuck have they done? Once inside, I make eye contact with Conner and Clint. I motion for
them to meet me outside. I left my dates to socialize with the other cheerleaders as I snuck out. “Have you heard from
Cassius or Avery?”
They check their phones and their eyes glaze over. Clint’s eyes snap open, “No and our dragons can’t reach them.
Something is very wrong.”
I lookup at the sky to say a prayer to any god who is listening, when three ravens fly overhead. Each raven drops a gold
coin which the guys and I caught. Conner asks, “What does this mean?”
I hold up my coin and show him both sides, “Death. The Ravens bring death.”
**Cassius**
I should have killed Jessica and her friends when they nearly killed Avery. But foolishly I thought that justice would be
served once I found and marked my mate. Instead, the Hags still draw breath. We know that they are likely the rats and
thought that they could change fate. Our fates are sealed. Avery is my mate and nothing can change that. She is The
Supreme Mother, at least that is a hunch because I keep thinking about our offspring from that genetics lab in Mr. Chen’s
class. Avery is touched by the Goddess. Avery is life!
I give her a kiss before I take her hand and we walk into the abandoned building. Everything feels wrong, so very wrong.
Scents flood my nostrils. I growl, “Jessica and her bitches are here. Tim is too but it is different.” I turn to Avery. “He has a
dragon. It is weak but there. What was his cousin’s name again?” Just as she was about to answer, I opened a door that I
wish I hadn’t. There lying against the wall is a nearly dead Tim. I know that he isn’t because I can hear his faint heartbeat.
Avery rushes to him before I can stop her. The moment she is close to Tim, Jessica and Lenore grab her. They hold a
Dragon Blade to her neck. It has an odd coloration on its blade. Poison, that must be why Tim’s scent smells different. I
charge but Jessica stops me. “One more step and I will slit her throat,” Jessica spats.
I hold up my hands. “Killing Avery won’t make you Queen. But I know what can. In fact, I know how all three of you could
become Queens.” I obviously have their attention because I see their guard drop so I inch closer. “I am the oldest so I
decide who Naga’s Queen is. Draven can make one of you Talos’ Queen. And I know that Tim could make you one of you Queen Of Queens because he is a Balans.” I watch their eyes glaze over do I inch even closer. When the Hags open their
eyes, I see them for the monstrous bitches that they are. I see nothing but evil greed staring back at me.
“Renounce Avery and remove your mark. Heidi can be your Queen. Lenore can be Talos’ and I will be Queen Of Queens,”
Jessica says.
“Fine. I, Cassius Draco of Naga, nearby renounce Avery as my mate and Naga’s Queen. After prom, we can have her mark
cut from her.” I feel Avery’s spirit break. I don’t mean anything that I just said. Avery is my world.
Jessica grinned triumphantly, but instead of letting Avery go, she cut her near her clavicle. At the sight of Avery’s blood, I
snapped. I reached for her and put her behind me in the stairwell. However, as I did her ring caught the light. Jessica
screamed and charged at Avery and me. I sidestepped her but I couldn’t evade Lenore. She rammed the Dragon Blade
into my stomach and then my chest. I was wracked with immense pain before it was replaced with cold harsh darkness.
**Avery**
No! Oh, Goddess no! My vision can’t be happening. I watched Cassius’ lifeless bloody body fall onto the stairwell. I knew
that they would kill me next, but I didn’t care. I have to do something, so I press my palms to Cassius’ chest. I feel our
marks heat and merge. I feel Regina pull Asher towards her. I lean down and breathe my fire and allow my tears to rain
down. I push my life force into my fallen mate. With everything in me, I will him to live. I began to feel dizzy so I
embraced death and darkness as I felt Jessica and Lenore drive their blades into my scars as Heidi screamed for them to
stop. Too bad her change of heart came too late….
**Draven**
Clint and Conner both shifted into their dragons. Carter put me on his back and we took off to where Cassius and Avery were supposed to meet Tim. When we landed outside of an abandoned asylum, I smelled death’s sulfuric stench even
stronger. This was Forest Haven Asylum and it is extremely haunted. This abandoned asylum was once a state of the art
facility before devolving into one of the most deadly mental institutions in American history. As we walk in I can hear the
echoes of past patients whose souls still aren’t at rest. This place was opened in 1925 to serve residents of the area. Forest Haven was initially a beacon of progress and quality in treating children who were mentally ill, handicapped, or otherwise
unable to function normally in society. With over 30 structures on the 250-acre campus, the inmates were taught job
skills in a communal farm colony environment that provided them with essential training and an emotionally
empowering sense of community. For the first few decades that is.
By the 1960s funding for the sprawling institution began to dry up and devastating cut backs began to afflict the asylum.
Recreational programs were discontinued, and the staff was reduced and replaced with unqualified employees. As the
years rolled by things got progressively worse as the doctors, nurse, and caregivers began taking out their frustrations on
the patients, many of whom were abused bodily and sexually, if they were given any attention at all. Eventually patients
began dying of neglect and related causes. The dead would be passed through the basement morgue and eventually
buried in an unmarked field nearby. Hundreds of inmates died, and according to one report, some were even the subject
of medical experiments before the entire institution was shuttered in 1991. I know that everything I have ever read about
this place is true because I can see, hear, and feel the trapped souls.
Today the buildings of Forest Haven asylum are still standing, bearing the peeling paint, rot, and graffiti of time. I point
out of what was left of a window to show the guys a single headstone that had been erected in the burial field to honor
the hundreds of inmates who were anonymously put to an unceremonious rest. As if the decaying remains of this horrific
asylum did not give the site a haunting air, there have also been reports of the shallow graves of the carelessly buried
inmates eroding to reveal the unfortunate corpses. With places like Forest Haven, why do horror movies even build
sets?
I wish that I could help them, but nothing can other than death finally coming to take their souls to the Great Beyond.