《Soul Fire》


 Chapter 1

    Sweat trickled down her thighs as his face remained buried between them, his grip tightening on her hips as he pulled her closer. His tongue worked in slow, deliberate circles, then flicked in quick, teasing strokes, savoring her as though he were starved. His red hair bobbed like a buoy on cresting waves, rhythmic and relentless.


    A rush of pleasure built within her, rising and falling in waves, each one stronger than the last. Her leg twitched as he matched her growing need with long, indulgent strokes of his tongue.


    ¡°There¡­ oh fuck, right there!¡± she gasped, fisting the tangled sheets. His hands tightened, holding her steady as he focused on that sensitive bundle of nerves, his movements guided by the sound of her moans, the tension in her body. She writhed beneath him, hips rolling into his mouth, his rhythm perfectly in sync with hers as he brought her to the edge, then sent her crashing over it.


    A sharp gasp tore from her lips as she came, thighs squeezing around his face, body trembling with each aftershock. He groaned, drinking in her pleasure, drawing out every last pulse of it before finally easing away.


    With a slow, deliberate motion, he lifted his head. His face was damp, his mouth curled in a wicked smirk as he licked his lips. Then, as he shifted onto his knees, his body came into view¡ªhard, straining, ready.


    Her breath caught as she took him in, pulse still fluttering from the aftershocks of her release. He was waiting, and he didn¡¯t need to say it. *My turn now.*


    She moaned at the sight of his¡ª


    ¡°Hey, what sounds better: ¡®his throbbing manhood,¡¯ ¡®his pulsating hardness,¡¯ or ¡®his twitching cock¡¯?¡± Kai¡¯s voice rang through the apartment, casual, unbothered.


    ¡°Kai!¡± Raney yelped. ¡°I¡¯m on speaker with my MOM!¡±


    Kai winced. ¡°Oh. Yikes. Sorry.¡±


    Raney stomped toward her bedroom, phone in hand. ¡°Just a sec, Mom,¡± she said before turning back to glare at Kai. Then, just as she reached the doorway, she tossed over her shoulder, ¡°How about his manly meat sword?¡±


    ¡°RANEY LYNN SANDERSON!¡± her mother shrieked from the speaker.


    ¡°Oops, sorry, Mom,¡± Raney muttered, ducking into her room and slamming the door.


    Kai barely contained a laugh. Manly meat sword aside, Raney usually had half-decent suggestions for when she got stuck in the middle of a spicy scene. Coming up with fresh, steamy descriptions wasn¡¯t as easy as people thought. There were only so many ways to write about sex before readers started noticing the same recycled four maneuvers.


    Him kissing her hungrily and undressing her with his smoldering eyes¡ªsmoldering was always a good one. Him kissing his way down her abdomen before feasting on her like a man possessed. Her screaming orgasm, her thighs quaking. Then him sliding into her and thrusting until they climaxed simultaneously, just like in the movies.


    Kai snorted to herself. I¡¯d love to see some screenwriter try to pitch a realistic version of that to a director.


    She stretched, rolling her neck from side to side before pushing her chair back from the table. A yelp and an indignant hiss followed as Ruby darted out from beneath her chair. Kai sighed. ¡°You know this is a bad spot to nap, right?¡± The cat glared at her.


    Shaking her head, she crossed the kitchen, grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl, and took a bite. She chewed thoughtfully, then grabbed a marker and added apples to the grocery list on the fridge. Underneath, she scrawled: Not Granny Smith, for the LOVE OF GOD.


    Raney reemerged, phone-free.


    ¡°Has your mom taken me off the Christmas card list?¡± Kai asked.


    Raney leaned against the counter, smirking. ¡°I think that happened after the ¡®I was only watching porn for research purposes¡¯ incident.¡±


    Kai groaned. ¡°Well, at least she never walked in without knocking again.¡±


    Raney snorted. ¡°Nope. She literally handed me her key and told me she didn¡¯t want it anymore.¡±


    ¡°Not my preferred way to teach boundaries, but hey¡ªeffective.¡±


    ~~~~~~~


    Kai slung her bag over her shoulder, grabbed her sunglasses from the front hall table, and momentarily paused in front of the mirror hanging to her right. Her strawberry blonde hair - too fine and thin for her liking - was pulled back into a low ponytail. Her gaze from her reflection''s blue eyes came to rest disapprovingly on her midsection, with a belly that had never been even close to flat, hips that might have been attractive if she was a bit thinner, and those thighs. Sigh. If I was in one of my own love scenes I''d probably suffocate the poor guy. Resigning herself to the conclusion that as long as her muffin top wasn''t showing and she didn''t have toilet paper stuck to her shoe, this was as good as it was going to get, she stepped out into the crisp afternoon air.


    Spring was her favourite time of year without a doubt. She loved the slight chill on some days and the hint of warmth on others. She loved how it just felt in between; not too little and not too much of anything. Kind of like me. Just kind of medium-ish. Not like the characters in her books that she would think of as summer - hot, daring, overbearing - or even winter - bracing, harsh, silent, strong. Even autumn evoked images of pick-me girls with their pumpkin spice lattes and over-sized bags.


    No, spring was more her speed. Back and forth, not being able to make up its mind what it wanted to be or do. Not really ever distinct enough in anything to be classified one way or another. If those who can''t do, teach, then those who can''t be, write? At 40 years old, chubby - curvy in some good ways and in some not-so-great ways - and a little ... what do they call it, neuro-spicy? ... she wouldn''t have considered herself striking or notable in any way, having achieved nothing notable in her life. Well, other than a few hundred loyal fans of her books and finally being able to stay at one job for more than a year or two before getting the itch to find something new. Writing spicy romances went well alongside her steady paycheck of at-home book editing work.


    The walk to the area of town she was headed for was a bit of a hike, but today she didn''t mind. A few blocks past the river, she crossed over to the other side of the street and then made her way down a bit further until she came to Main Avenue. She had never before lived somewhere that had a Main Avenue instead of a Main Street and thought it was a sign of someone with a weird way of thinking, and she liked that.


    Kai pulled out her phone and scrolled through her emails until she came to the one from a fellow user of a writing website she frequented that gave her the address of the store she was looking for. "There''s a little alley off of Main, next to the hardware store and the dry cleaners." Kai was pretty sure the dry cleaners was actually some sort of money laundering front for the mafia since she never saw anyone go in or out of that place and never saw anyone at the front counter. "At the end, you''ll see some stairs leading down to a basement entry on the side of the building and the door has a sign that says "Luminara Ink". That''s where I get all my calligraphy supplies, like those inkwells and pens you were asking about. Theressa is the owner. She comes across as a bit odd, but she really knows her stuff and she carries things I haven''t found anywhere else."


    It was funny how she''d never noticed this little alley before. But then again, whenever she looked that direction her attention was usually focused on the dry cleaners and trying to see if they ever actually dry cleaned anything there. She crossed the street and entered the alley. Are those cobblestones? That''s a weird esthetic to go for around here. Not that she had ever seen new cobblestones before, but these looked strangely ancient compared to the modern city around them. About halfway down the length of the alley, she saw a wrought iron fence on the right with a gate that was open and a matching set of black iron stairs. The stairs themselves were fairly plain, but the railing was quite ornate with swirling scrollwork and delicate looking curlicues - Do people still use that word, curlicue? Maybe just people who write for a living.


    The stairs curved off to the left to end a few feet in front of the building and a heavy-looking wooden door. The sign carved right into the door itself said in large flowing script, Luminara Ink. The letters themselves were raised and a deep wine colour, while the surrounding parts had been carved out to set off the letters. The sign was framed in iron with twisting, vine-like patterns that intertwined and formed gentle loops and curves. It was weathered with an ancient feeling to it but yet it still retained an air of elegance and skilled craftsmanship.


    There was a smaller sign hanging by a chain from one of the curving vines that said, If the gate is open, so are we. When the gate closes, so do we. Our hours are somewhere in between. Not a particularly helpful explanation, but she appreciated the directness of it and took it as a good sign.


    Grasping the large metal door handle, she gave it a pull. But while she had expected it to creak or squeak or something, given its apparent age, it opened silently. She paused, listening for some sort of bell to chime to indicate to the proprietor that a customer had entered, but there was none. I wonder how they''ll know I''m here?


    Her question was answered rather quickly as she immediately proceeded to trip over the threshold of the door frame and stumbled into a large glass cabinet filled with glass pens. The door to the cabinet shuddered at the impact and clinked back and forth a couple times, inevitably announcing her arrival to anyone that might be in the shop. Yeah, that seems about right. Damn it. Her faced burned with embarrassment, and her eyes jumped back and forth a few times between making sure the glass case was still intact and to see if anyone was actually around to have seen or heard her.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    To her left, against a wall that was floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with books of all sizes and colours, was a rolling ladder. On the ladder stood a woman who now stared at Kai. She didn''t look angry, but she also didn''t look all that inviting, and she just stood there halfway up the ladder, one hand on a rung and one hand in the midst of reaching out to place a book back on a shelf.


    "Sorry", Kai whispered, then a bit louder she said again, "I''m so sorry." The woman shook her head slightly, then expelled a sigh loud enough that Kai could hear but not loud enough to be overly dramatic. She turned her attention back to the book she was returning to its home, slid it into an empty spot, and made her way down the ladder.


    She was wearing a black dress that would have fit in quite nicely at a renaissance fair. Wait. No, not black. It was the deepest shade of burgundy Kai could have imagined without actually being black. It was cinched at the waist with a woven belt that wrapped around several times before coming together in a low knot hanging from her waist slightly off to her left side. Her shoulders were mostly bare, covered only at the ends with the beginnings of capped sleeves that covered her arms for only a few inches before opening wide into flowing pieces of the fabric that hung by her side. The neckline was akin to a capelet of sorts, made of several strips of cloth that crossed her chest horizontally in a top layer over the body of the dress. The dress reached down to her feet, long enough to hide them entirely. As she walked towards Kai and more details of the dress became visible, Kai made a mental note to do some research into renaissance gowns for future book ideas.


    "My name is Theressa. How can I help you?" the woman said, with the slightest hint of an accent that Kai couldn''t place. Her face was exotic looking with distinct cheekbones and tanned skin. She had dozens of freckles over the bridge of her nose that seemed slightly out of place with her complexion yet complimented her very nicely. Kai instinctively started imagining this elegant creature in one of her stories, somehow managing to convey both summer and winter at the same time.


    She suddenly realized she''d been staring and quickly brought her gaze down, letting it travel around the room instead. "Hi. Yes", she stammered somewhat awkwardly. "I was told you carry calligraphy supplies like writing inks and parchment paper and fountain pens? I''m specifically looking for a writing set I saw online called The Archaic Library collection. Do you carry that particular line?"


    The lady''s face brightened slightly. "Yes, it just arrived in today''s shipment but I haven''t had a chance yet to unpack it and bring it out. If you don''t mind waiting a few minutes, I can go into the back and find it for you. I haven''t actually seen it yet myself, but everything I''ve heard about that line has been very enthusiastic." She seemed pleased that Kai was interested in this particular item, and Kai relaxed slightly, no longer feeling like an intruder in the shop.


    "Yes, that would be amazing. Thank you", she said, smiling. She breathed a silent sigh of relief. Her usual underlying level of anxiety that she had to deal with in her everyday life, always afraid she was disappointing someone or that people were judging her for no real apparent reason, had begun to creep up from her stomach but now it began to dissipate.


    The lady smiled back, turned on her heel gracefully, and walked to a door along the wall with the rolling ladder. The door was built right into the middle of the shelves, and she hadn''t even noticed it. After she left, Kai let her gaze travel around the shop. It was smaller than she expected given the footprint of the building above them at street level, but it was filled almost floor to ceiling with shelves of books about things like calligraphy, hieroglyphics, ancient languages, and making your own ink and paper. There were glass display cases of the most ornate and delicate looking pens Kai had ever seen, some looking like they would break if you tried to use them at all. Just decorative perhaps? Having something like that on her desk at home would certainly make her feel more like an authentic writer. Maybe that''s the kind of inspiration she needed, some elegant tools of the trade.


    She took a moment to breathe in deeply and she was filled with the scent of old books, a slight tang of rubbing alcohol - probably related to some of the inks - and something that might have been rosemary mixed with lavender.


    There was an entire wall filled with large glass bottles and various jars and smaller dropper bottles of inks of every shade imaginable. From jet black to the deepest reds, tropical greens and blues, and dazzling yellows. Some were matte and others shimmered with an otherworldly glow in the shop''s lights. She picked up one that she could see had some glitter settling in the bottom of the bottle. She gave it a swirl as if it were a snow globe, and waves of iridescence flowed against the sides of the bottle, tumbling over and over, creating trails that alternated between blue and purple.


    To her right, she saw a round display case a couple feet away from the wall of inks. It was about as high as her hips, lit from the inside, with several round bottles of various inks laying on a dark green velvet cushion. These were different from the ones that had obviously been produced in larger batches that were on the shelves behind her. No, these had handwritten labels declaring the names of the creators of these bespoke-looking concoctions and also the names of what lay within. Names like Aurora''s Breath, with iridescent shades of pink, teal, and purple; Phantom''s Grasp, a midnight blue with shadows of indigo shifting beneath; Whispering Jade, a pale green that the label claimed would glow under moonlight.


    But there was one that caught her eye and she immediately felt mesmerized. In delicate script, written on a label that seemed like it had to be decades old, maybe even centuries - How do they do that? It looks impossibly old - were the words Celestine Blaze. The bottle''s contents were a radiant blue with flickers of what almost appeared to be silver fire. The colours were stunning, but what really caught her eye was the fact that the ink inside this bottle, which was sitting inside a glass display case, was swirling around inside as though it had also just been shaken. The flecks of silver swam round and round, and she couldn''t take her eyes off the most stunning marriage of colours she had ever seen.


    Her trance broke when she heard the sound of the door to the back room open once more, Theressa walking back in with a few decorative looking boxes in her hands.


    "Sorry for the wait, but I found them." She brought the boxes over to the front counter and set them down on the glass top.


    "I don''t mind", Kai said, smiling. "I was just looking at these beautiful colours of ink that you have. Some of these are absolutely stunning."


    "Sometimes I find myself just staring at some of the more intricate colour combinations myself, and even after seeing them day after day they still fascinate me too."


    "There''s one in this display case here that I just love. How much is it?"


    "Which one in particular were you looking at?" Theressa asked, arranging the boxes into a sort of display on the front counter.


    "This one called Celestine Blaze. I just can''t take my eyes off of it."


    Theressa suddenly froze in place, her hands grasping one of the boxes. She turned to Kai, her eyes somehow looking terrified, surprised, and yet also relieved all at the same time, and said in a voice just barely above a whisper, "I''m sorry, which one?"


    Kai immediately felt her stomach drop, the dread that had earlier left her now coming back to claim its place with a vengeance. She immediately felt the urge to apologize even though she didn''t know what she could have possibly done wrong, but she managed to swallow that feeling enough to say, "Oh, uh, this blue and silver one here called Celestine Blaze. Is it ... for sale?"


    Theressa covered the few yards between them before Kai could breathe in again, and without breaking eye contact said, "The blue and silver one? The one called ... Celestine Blaze?"


    "Yes?" Kai wracked her brain trying to come up a plausible explanation for Theressa''s reaction to her inquiry but came up with absolutely nothing. "I just really like that one and I would love to see how it looks on paper. But if it''s not for sale, I totally understand." she quickly blurted out, even though she didn''t understand at all. "Is it? For sale, I mean?"


    And for a moment, she could have sworn she saw the woman''s eye begin to glass over with what might have been a tear, but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Theressa appeared to attempt to compose herself, then reached down to her pocket. Her hand emerged with a ring of very old looking keys. She thumbed through several before stopping on one that was made of what appeared to be two different coloured metals twisted together somehow. Kai had never seen a key like that before and before she could try to make sense of it in her mind, Theressa grasped it between her thumb and forefinger and bent slightly to fit it into the lock of the display case.


    It seemed as though a small puff of air escaped when she opened the top of the case, as if the bottles inside had been sealed in for some length of time. "Why don''t you grab it," she said, "since my hands are a bit dirty from the back room?" She stood there with the hinged lid of the cabinet still in her hand, watching Kai intently. "Oh. Sure, okay."


    All too aware of the woman next to her watching her in such an unsettling way, Kai reached into the display case and gently grasped the round bottle with the mesmerizing coloured ink inside. She lifted it out carefully, then unsure what to do next, she just stared at the object in her hands. Somehow it almost seemed like the eddies in the inky current were moving faster now, but then again, she had just disturbed its state of inertia so naturally the ink would be moving inside.


    Feeling completely awkward and beginning to question whether she had taken her daily antianxiety meds, she walked over to the front counter, grabbed one of the new boxes with the words, The Archaic Library scrawled across the top, and placed the bottle of ink on top, sliding it forward and hoping she could just make her purchase and get out as quickly as possible.


    Theressa, this beautiful woman who had seemed to have such a commanding and intimidating presence when Kai had first entered the shop, somehow seemed slightly smaller now, but Kai couldn''t quite put words to it. Some writer you are, she chided herself. The woman walked behind the counter, pushed a few keys on a somewhat antiquated looking cash register, and then turned the debit hand terminal to Kai before starting to place the items in a small paper bag. Not even paying attention to the amount, Kai quickly tapped her card on the terminal and grabbed the bag the moment the owner had placed the receipt inside for her.


    "Thank you", she mumbled, and then quickly made for the door. She pushed it open and quickly made her way up the iron stairs, avoiding any look back at the shop. At street level again, she passed through the gate and darted back towards the main street, having a mental conversation with herself about why did she always have to be so awkward and such a klutz and why couldn''t she just be normal around other people? Why did she always feel embarrassed just being herself? Her face burned with shame and frustration the entire walk home.


    In the shop, the establishment''s owner just stood there for a moment staring through the wall as though she could see Kai walking down the cobblestones on the other side of it. Then she turned around to face the wall behind her.


    This was the only wall in the store that wasn''t covered with shelves or covered in large pieces of parchment paper with writing demonstrating how various inks appeared out of the bottles and on the intended writing surface. This small portion of the shop''s wall was the only visible part of the stone walls that made up the room. Cobblestoned, just like the street outside, there were various stones of slightly differing colours and sizes. In the dim light it would have been easy for anyone else to miss it, but one stone in particular had a small engraving on it. It appeared to be a book with a flame hovering over the cover. Theressa pushed on the engraving, and with a small click the stone swung outward.


    She reached into the dark space behind and pulled out a small bottle, a piece of parchment, and a glass ink pen. The bottle contained a dark red ink, similar to the colour of her dress. She put the items down on the counter, then opened the bottle. She dipped the glass pen into the ink, which flowed into the intricate spiralled grooves encircling the tip of the pen. She withdrew the pen from the bottle, then placed it on the parchment. She wrote a single word, then signed it at the bottom, Theressa, Auvarek of Elaris. She hesitated for a moment, then placed the pen down on the counter, raised her hand above the still wet parchment, and with a slight flourish of her hand, the paper disappeared.


    Then, into the stillness of the empty shop, she whispered, "It begins."


    End of Chapter 1