Courting The Phoenix [Eternal Flames 3]

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ryder hated the underground parking area at the courthouse. Enclosed places gave him the heebie-jeebies, and being underground always had Ryder thinking it could collapse and he would be buried alive. It also didn't help that very few people were seen down here and anything could happen.

"Hey, Ryder wait up. I want to talk to you."

Turning, Ryder was shocked to see Carver Jinx approaching him. "I can't speak with you, Mr.

Jinx."

Carver got closer to Ryder's vehicle. "Why not? No one is here and can see us talking."

Pressing the toggle button, the double beep indicated his alarm was off and his door was unlocked. Opening his driver door, and feigning indifference, Ryder tossed in his briefcase, saying, "Mr. Carver, as the opposing counsel to your son's trial, as well as your own, it is unprofessional and against the rules for us to speak."

Ryder sat in the driver's seat and went to close his door, but Carver grabbed it, stopping him, "I want you to drop the charges on my case, Ryder."

"And people in hell want ice water, Mr. Jinx. Care for a cup of hot tea?" Ryder said sarcastically as he tried to close his door once again.

Carver's face contorted in anger and Ryder could see the veins starting to pop out of his neck, as he said, "Look, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. I can pay you to go away, or I can make your life a living hell. Let's just make this a win-win on both our sides and you drop the charges."

Never being able to curb his tongue, Ryder spat out, "Why the hell would I do that, Mr. Jinx?

You raped a young man and left him for damn near dead. I have every intention of making sure you pay for that crime, and if I find other crimes I can charge you with, be sure to know, I will charge you with those as well. You see, Mr. Jinx, you might scare the s**t out of others, but you do nothing but disgust me. Now back the hell off!"

"There is only you and I here, Mr. ADA. So I want you to listen closely to what I'm about to tell you. I won't be facing those charges any more than my son will be convicted of kidnapping, arson, or murder. Now I'm willing to pay you a bit for your trouble of coming all this way, or you can remain stubborn and who knows what can happen to you," Jinx hissed.

Ryder felt a zap of fear rush through his bloodstream. He knew what Jinx was capable of, he had heard stories from other attorneys in the human world. However, he was never one to show fear or give in to a bully, and that was exactly what Carver Jinx was to the world.

Taking a deep breath and pushing back his panic, Ryder snapped, "Are you threatening a member of the court, Mr. Jinx? Because I have to tell you, that isn't a smart move. Others may have caved to your threats, but I am not easily swayed. If you’re through with spitting s**t, let go of my f*****g door before I have you arrested for unlawful detainment, threatening a prosecuting attorney, and attempted bribery."

Jinx's eyes blazed with anger. "You are going to regret this course of action. I gave you a chance to save yourself."

Ryder could not just hear the threat, but feel it as well. The tone, look, and body language told Ryder that Jinx was completely serious and this was a promise not a threat.

"Is there a problem here, Mr. Ryder?" Viktor asked as he approached Ryder's car.

Jinx stood straight and gave Viktor a disgusted look, before saying, "There isn't anything wrong here. Just go back to kissing Nash's ass, Vik."

Turning back to Ryder, Jinx snarled, "I'll give you some time to think about my offer. We'll finish with this discussion later."

Shaking his head, Ryder snapped, "We are already finished, Mr. Jinx. Do not try and contact me again or I will have you arrested, and this time there won't be any bail to save your ass from jail.

I also find it really interesting that you would come at me about dropping your charges and not your son's. I wonder what Avery would think about that?"

Jinx said nothing as he turned and left the area.

"Are you alright, Mr. Ryder?" Viktor asked in concern.

Dropping his head back in his seat, Ryder closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath, whispering,

"I will be."

"Would you like me to contact the mayor?" Viktor asked in concern.

Sitting up straight, Ryder calmed his nerves, replying, "No thank you, Viktor. I will discuss things with Justice later. I'm staying at his place anyway."

Pursing his lips, Viktor looked back in the direction Carver had gone, saying, "Well, I would feel better escorting you to the mayor's house. I don't like the look Jinx gave you before he left."

Ryder grabbed his door handle. "I can take care of myself, Officer Capri, thank you."

Shutting the door, a bit harder than necessary, Ryder started his vehicle and left the underground parking area.

* * * *

Pauly loved the freedom of flight, and the close bond he had with his phoenix was unlike most phoenix in his Blaze.

Every phoenix felt a closeness to the human they occupied, but Pauly's was a bit different.

Unlike the other people in his Blaze, he could always feel his beautiful creature at the surface, clawing and struggling to be released. The best way to describe it would be to say, it was as if he was phoenix first and human only out of necessity.

Pauly often felt feathers fluttering inside him and his blue eyes, surrounded by red, showed just how close his bird was to emerging. It was sometimes difficult for Pauly to keep his phoenix from rising forward and taking over, especially when he became angry.

Pauly did everything he could to stay calm in his life. He practiced meditation, did deep breathing exercises, and completed his yoga every morning and evening.

Pauly had to wear color contacts to hide his true self from others, and the only other person that knew of his daily struggles was their leader, Justice Abruzzo. For this reason, Pauly made sure his home was not directly in the town of Crystal. It sat on the outskirts of town without a neighbor for miles around.

His phoenix had been unusually agitated lately, and Pauly was exhausted from maintaining control. He figured it had to do with all the dragons that had recently taken residence in his small town, and with the phoenix and dragon history, it wasn't hard to understand why his bird was so uneasy.

Hundreds of years ago the dragons and the phoenix used to be a united force. They often fought side by side, and many times fell in love and discovered their true mate was amongst them.

However, when an evil snake shifter convinced the leader of the phoenix that the dragons were trying to take over the Blaze, he refused to allow his daughter to mate with the dragon king's son.

The two ended up running off together and being murdered. Each side blamed the other and the great Shuite War commenced, just about wiping out both sides.

The two groups seemed to just stop fighting and go their separate ways. However, it seems that now the fates have decided the two must come together as one, again. For what purpose, Pauly didn't understand, but lately all hell seemed to have broken loose in his quiet community and Pauly was neck deep in the s**t storm.

First it was the deranged dickhead, Levi. He was apparently the son of the snake that caused the war and was pissed that his family had been killed. He blamed both the phoenix and the dragons for his ancestor’s fate. Pauly shook his eagle style head in bafflement. What the hell did the fuckhead think would happen when they murdered the daughter and son of the two strongest forces in the world?

Levi started setting fires and killed the mayor's wife as well as the entire fire crew, well, all of them except for Fire Captain, Daytona Sutherlan, son to IllanSutherlan, the leader of the dragons.

Pauly was still pissed that for years, a dragon walked amongst his people and he had no idea.

When Daytona and the mayor's son, Ethan, discovered they were mates, it seemed that some new prophecy had started and everyone was still unsure where it would lead.

Then Angelo found his dragon mate with Morgan Barrett. In doing so, more fires started

happening around the entire town, and still no one knows who really started them. Oh, everyone thinks it must be the young boy that kidnapped Angelo and Morgan's newly adopted son, Manny, but Pauly wasn't so sure. Yes, there was no doubt about the kidnapping and maybe even the fires, but as for the murder of Manny's mother, Cindy, Pauly just had some issues with the case.

The actual time of the murder is based solely on the testimony of one of Angelo's visions. He was a greatly respected phoenix in his Blaze that had the gift of sight. He told Pauly that Cindy had been returning to the burnt down shelter with groceries. When Pauly had questioned the owner of the supermarket, he had told Pauly that she had been in his store not fifteen minutes before the fire. Wade Wells insists that Avery had left for home about ten minutes before the explosion. That didn't give the kid enough time to get back to the shelter, but it did give him time to get home.

So how could Avery be at home at the same time of the explosion and still kill Cindy? The answer was, he couldn't. So how was the ADA going to handle his lack of evidence for the murder?

The thought of working with the man for hours on end, trying to prove something that most likely didn't happen, had Pauly’s insides in turmoil. He couldn't in good faith put a kid away for life, or even send him to his death, if he really was innocent. He knew that Angelo and Morgan wanted justice for Manny, but he couldn't ignore the evidence, either. The pressure he felt on how to proceed was agitating the s**t out of his phoenix. Which is why he had decided to allow his bird a little extra time out this evening.

His large magenta wings spread wide as he glided through the sky. He didn't fear being seen.

Unlike most of the others, when seen from the people below, they often mistook his phoenix for an oversized eagle, due to his eagle shaped head and not as long body shape.

Looking down, Pauly noticed a small car being closely followed by a large truck. It seemed to be getting closer than it should. If he wasn't careful the truck would ass end the little car.

Pauly watched the larger truck bearing down on the smaller car, and knew something bad was about to happen. Why the hell was the truck not slowing the f**k down?

Diving down, Pauly watched in horror as the large truck bumped the small car from behind and the little car wobbled right, then left slightly, and pick up speed. The truck didn't slow down as it got closer to the little car once more and again bumped into the back end of the small car.

The guy in the car almost lost control once again, but soon righted his vehicle. Pauly could tell the little car was going even faster. Up ahead of the vehicles was a dangerous curve, if that little car tried to take that curve going that fast, he was going to find himself going right off the cliff's edge.

When the truck rammed the little car once more, Pauly picked up speed. He knew he was going to be too late. The driver of the car tried to control his vehicle, but the curve was there and Pauly gasped as it slammed sideways into the guardrail. The truck then braked and smacked into the little car once more, sending it over the edge.