Jane of Fire Read online

  I tried to leave but he held me tightly. “I’m not going to let you go ever again,” he said in a fierce voice.

  I met his blue eyes and they were shining with love. I still had to pinch myself that he loved me.

  “You’re not crazy. There is nothing about you that is crazy. My entire life had been crazy until the day I met you. That was when everything started making sense.”

  He leaned down and kissed me with such tenderness I started to cry again. When we pulled away, I gasped. I couldn’t believe my eyes. “Edward!” I looked him up and down. “Your scars are gone.”

  “Shit!” he said as he looked down at his body.

  The burns on his face and chest were gone. The scars where Bertha had stabbed him were gone. The cracks on his back were gone. He was perfect.

  Without thinking, I grabbed him. I pulled him back to the bed and climbed on top of him. I didn’t want to fight it anymore. I was right where I wanted to be. With the only guy I would ever love. I let him study my body as an art student would study a Monet. I let myself stop caring about everything that had been slowly driving me insane. I let myself believe that everything would be all right. I had made love to Edward and nothing had happened. No demons had broken free and burst into our world. It had all been in my head. I made love to him again and the pain was gone. The blood was gone. He felt good. I felt better. I felt complete.

  “It is beautiful,” he said. “You should never be ashamed of this.”

  He kissed my back and I closed my eyes. I should leave. I knew that, but I couldn’t let go of him. I lay on my stomach and let him kiss my tattoo. I let him touch and explore it as I began to doze off into a blissful sleep.

  As I drifted off, I could hear him talking to me. “It is mesmerizing. The monsters are almost beautiful. They seem alive. The door almost seems to be glowing, Jane.”

  I was almost asleep. I was content. I was trying to ignore him…When it happened there was no pain, at first. There was only shock. A bright light came from my back. I grabbed onto Edward. “What is happening?” I asked. I felt like something was leaking out of my back. I couldn’t see what was happening.

  “I don’t know,” Edward said. He had fallen onto the bed beside me and was clutching my hand. His face was painted with terror as he stared at me.

  “Help me,” I pleaded.

  “I don’t know how,” Edward said in desperation.

  From within the doorway on my back, I could feel movement. I could feel something emerging from me. It felt like what I imagined it felt like when a child was born. I wailed in pain. From the corner of my eye, I could see something almost human slither out of my back.

  I put my hands over my face. I couldn’t watch and, somehow, even glimpsing what was happening made the pain that much more unbearable.

  “What the hell?” Edward yelled. He held onto me for grim life. “Jane! I am so sorry! How can I make it stop? I don’t know what to do!? Tell me how to help you! Jane!” Edward yelled and I felt him release me. I didn’t open my eyes. I curled up in the fetal position and prayed for death. The agony was unbearable and, mercifully, I passed out.

  Chapter 29

  To know the truth behind reality is the greatest burden.

  ~ H.P. Lovecraft

  I woke up on what I had to assume was Witching Hill. It looked like the Witching Hill from my dream. I was completely naked and wrapped in Edward’s arms. It was daylight and it was unspeakably beautiful. The hill was covered in flowers and butterflies danced from flower to flower. Rabbits sat by my feet and what looked like fairies sat beside the rabbits. I sat up and tried to cover myself, but there was nothing to cover myself with.

  Edward awoke with a start. He sat up and grabbed me in a protective gesture. “Where the hell are we?”

  “I think we’ve lost our minds. We are crazy.”

  “Crazy doesn’t feel like this.”

  I stood up and Edward pulled me back into his arms. “Don’t,” he said. “Stay here and let me make sure we are alone and safe.”

  “You aren’t alone,” a voice said from the shadows.

  Cerrus emerged from the darkness like he was made of it. His yellow eyes glowed in daylight. He had horns that looked like antlers he’d had in my dream, and his smile was so bright I could have been blinded by it. He was as much tree as man. His skin was dark and covered with bark. Butterflies surrounded him. He was beautiful. I cowered in Edward’s arms.

  “Who the fuck are you?” Edward demanded.

  “I am Cernunnos. Thank you for opening the door. You have begun to set the old ones free. But there is much work to be done. You have done as you needed to do. Just ask for your reward and it will be given to you.”

  “What the hell is going on!” Edward bellowed.

  “You were born of a curse and Jane was born of magic. Together you have unlocked the power of your destiny. You both have more power than you will ever know, and now I offer you any reward for the part you played in the game.”

  “What came out of my back?” I asked in desperation.

  “My brothers and sisters. Your family. Even now, they are creeping down to the worlds below New York to prepare for what is to come. They are building cities of miracles and beauty. We will show your kind wonders. Your love opened the door. The love of an air spirit and a hollow man, a soulless shadow demon born out of black magic and the daughter of the horned god made love. Despite oceans of suffering between them, in doing so, you gave birth to the three gateways that will set all of the old gods free. The first gateway is Love that defeats all obstacles. The second gateway is Hate that changes a person and corrupts all love. The third gateway is Sorrow, which can lead only to death. You, my darling daughter, were the door. And you, young Edward were the key. The old ones have slept too long. We are restless and hungry.” Cernunnos smiled like he was talking about the day he met his wife or the birth of his first child. He sat down in the grass and the fairies climbed onto his shoulders.

  “What are the old gods?” Edward asked. He looked so confused.

  Cernunnos only smiled. His voice was cold and harsh. “We are the sleeping legion that once ruled this world. We have awoken to retake it. We have many names, but we were here before mankind and we shall be here after mankind. Men will fall to their knees, again, and we shall be the kings of all.”

  “No,” I said.

  “It is already done. The first gate is open and the second will open soon. You cannot stop it. Luxovious, Ogmious, and many of the nameless are already free. I am free. It is too late, but you have nothing to fear, gentle daughter. You are a queen here and your hollow prince will be a king. I am here to take care of you. What would you ask as your reward?”

  “We want no part of this. Send us home,” Edward said.

  “As you wish,” Cernunnos answered.

  Edward and I stood alone in his room, naked and covered in dirt. The tattoo on my back was gone. The door had closed and the key around Edward’s neck was gone. Edward had healed. There was no evidence of the terror that had happened to him. For a while, we just stood there, holding each other. We were both shaking and confused.

  “Was that real?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said. I looked down at my naked body. My tattoos on my arms were gone, too, and my flesh felt foreign. All that remained was the rough outline of a skeletal door on my back. “This is my fault and it is real.”

  “How can this possibly be your fault?”

  “I knew something would happen if I came to you, but I came anyway. I acted like a lovesick fool of a girl.”

  “I wouldn’t have done any different, Jane. I would have set the world on fire to be with you. It felt like there was a rope connecting our hearts and when you left, I started bleeding inside. It felt like I was dying without you. If what that thing said is true, wasn’t this inevitable? Aren’t you my other half? I am the key,
you are the door, and this had to be? It wasn’t your fault. You can’t blame yourself for what you are.”

  “Isn’t that the excuse of every sicko?”

  “This is different and you know it, but it’s over now and we can choose what we do from here on out. We can choose to change fate.”

  We got dressed and sat on the bed. The passion was satiated, but we still clung to each other. “What now?” I asked.

  “Now, we have to find the other gateways and make sure they never open,” Edward said. “We have to stop this.”

  “How?” I asked.

  Edward shook his head. “I don’t know yet, but don’t you think that if what that monster said was true, if we were built to be together, we can somehow use the power between us to stop this. If we were the keys to letting the monsters out, can’t we be the keys to putting them back?”

  I nodded. I looked over at Edward. He was right. I felt different. There was a power between Edward and me. There was a kind of fire between us.

  “We just have to find out where to start,” Edward said. “We need to know how to use our power and stop this.”

  I put my head on his shoulder. “I think I know where to start. We have to start in my father’s house. We have to find the other doors.”

  “And we have to find what is nesting beneath the city.”

  I wasn’t afraid anymore. I should have been. I should have been terrified, but it seemed like there was nothing else to fear and, somehow, I knew that the fire between Edward and me was something that even Cerrus, the horned god, would fear.

  To be continued…

  About Jessica Penot

  I’m a therapist and a mom. I live in Huntsville, Alabama with my kids, husband, dogs, cats, and other strange creatures. When I’m not writing, I’m probably exploring a haunted house somewhere with my husband and kids, or sharing pictures on Instagram of some cool, scary thing I just bought.

  I hope you’re enjoying my YA/NA paranormal series called the Tattooed Girl Series inspired by Charlotte Brontë’s beloved classic novel, Jane Eyre.

  The Tattooed Girl Series includes the following books:

  Jane of Air (Book 1)

  Jane of Fire (Book 2)

  Jane of Water (Book 3)

  Jane of Earth (Book 4)

  Jane of Darkness (Book 5)

  Jane of Light (Book 6)

  Sign up for my newsletter: Scary Girl News, and follow me on BookBub and Amazon to find out about my new releases and recommendations of books that I love. You can also find out more about me and my books and my spooky blog about real-life hauntings on my website: jessicapenot.com.