Dreams
of Fire
Christian
Cura
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Date of Publication: 12/8/2019
Number of pages: 118
Word Count: 67,000
Cover Artist: Christian Cura
Tagline: And if you wrong her,
shall she not revenge?
Dreams of Fire is the story of
Kara Hartman, a young painter who is hiding her magic from the world.
Traumatized by the loss of her brother, she wants nothing more to do with
magic. But when an old foe resurfaces, hellbent on destroying all that she
loves, Kara has no choice but to embrace the only power that can stop her.
Chapter One
Kara Hartman
Prison, Canadian Wilderness, 1 year ago
The cold stone
corridor stretched before Kara as she walked its length. In the silence of the
passage, her quiet footsteps echoed against its gray walls. Every steel door
she passed marked a memory of the events that led her to this point. Every step
she took struck her like a pang of regret. She barely felt the cold draft as it
touched her pale face and hands or heard the sound of her brother’s footsteps
behind her. Kara’s mind was flooded with memories of fire, blood and death. In
the ghastly glow that filled the passage she could again see the blood of a
Sacrifice and the deathly pallor of one she had lost. The memories haunted Kara
and burned her mind’s eye as she drew closer to the cell at the end of the
corridor.
Kara stood
before the last door, the culmination of her dark reverie. Her heart throbbed
for the one on the other side of it, the one she could not save. Suddenly her
brother, John touched her shoulder. She turned and looked up at him; his pale
blue eyes fixed on her.
“Kara, you don’t
have to see her if you don’t want to.” he said softly.
For a moment, she
considered walking away. It would be so much easier to leave and pretend as if
nothing happened. It would be so easy to not have to look upon the one she had
failed, but Kara had not come to do what was easy. She came to do what was
necessary.
“No, I need
this,” Kara replied firmly.
John looked at
her as if he were about to say something, but even as the words formed in his
mind he held back. He cast a spell to unlock the door and pushed it open. The
door creaked as it swung on its hinges, and a cold gust blew out of the cell.
Kara’s short blonde hair fluttered in the wind. She stepped through the
threshold as John pulled the heavy door shut behind her.
In the corner of
the cell sat a young woman forlorn on the stone floor. Her bare feet were drawn
toward her as she shivered in a tattered robe. Her wrists were bound and
shackled with thick chains. The woman glared up at her with dark eyes that
blazed with anger.
“What are you
doing here?” she growled— the searing words stung with the heat of her wrath.
“I came to say
goodbye and…I’m sorry.” Kara said. She could barely maintain eye contact with
the woman in chains. Her simmering gaze pierced Kara like a dagger.
“Sorry? Is that
all you have to say to me?” the prisoner exclaimed.
Kara’s eyes grew
misty as another winter gust blew through the tiny barred window of the cell.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you from yourself.”
“Save me? Is
that what you think you were trying to do? I was so close to getting him back
and you interfered!” the woman yelled as she stabbed an accusing finger at her.
“I couldn’t let
you cross that line, Charlotte. I didn’t want you to become…this.” Kara said.
“I’ll make you
pay for what you stole from me!” Charlotte exclaimed. “I will get out of here,
I will find you and I will make you pay!”
Kara’s eyes
dropped to the floor. “No. You won’t. Goodbye, Charlotte.” She turned away and
pounded on the door.
“I will burn you
alive and reduce everything and everyone you love to ashes!” the prisoner
bellowed. John opened the door from outside just as Kara turned back to
Charlotte.
“If you ever
come after me or anyone I care about, I will stop you.” Kara said firmly.
“Oh, like how
you stopped me from killing Anthony?” Charlotte replied with a chilling smile.
Kara took a step toward the chained woman but John grasped her arm from behind.
Charlotte tossed her head back and laughed.
“Don’t you ever
speak his name again!” Kara shouted.
Charlotte’s
laughter echoed against the walls of her cell. “I hope you look over your
shoulder everywhere you go! Whenever you see fire, you will see my face and
hear my voice. Let my words be burned into your memory! I will raze everything you
love to the ground and I won’t stop until the bones of your loved ones are
ashes at your feet!”
Kara raised her
hand and Charlotte was suddenly hurled backward into the wall by some invisible
force. Her feet hung suspended above the stone floor and her arms outstretched
at her sides. But Charlotte simply gazed at Kara with dark, simmering eyes and
a malevolent grin.
“Kara, enough!”
John said quietly. Kara’s anger boiled as she stood with her hand raised, her
adversary pinned to the wall. For a long
moment the two women locked eyes; one firmly set to defend— the other
determined to destroy, but John was right. Charlotte was imprisoned, stripped
of her freedom and her magic. There was no escape for her. Kara dropped her
hand and Charlotte’s feet hit the ground. “Let’s go,” John said in a gentle
voice. Kara slowly turned away from Charlotte and followed her brother out of
the cell.
“I’ll be seeing
you…friend!” Charlotte called as the door slammed shut behind them.
Christian is an independent
writer who dreams of one day becoming a published author. Ever since he read
Lord of the Rings as a teenager it has been his goal to write and publish a
novel of his own. Christian’s favorite authors include J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert
Jordan and J.K. Rowling.
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