Royal Academy: Hellfire's Fury

Annalise's POV Smoke.... Ash.... Thick, hot flames eating at the ceiling of my room as I crouched in a fetal position and covered my nose and mouth with my hand, struggling to breathe as my tear-filled eyes searched for my parents. "Mama! Help me!" I call out, but the sound of an overhead board crashing to the ground blocks out my cries. I swipe at the tears now running down my face as I go on my stomach and attempt to crawl around the fallen board, and towards the open door to my room. I make my way out into the hall, where large flames are burning along the length and the smoke bellows thick and black above me. "You were a fool, Cora! You can't just decide to leave the circle and live happily ever after!" I heard a voice coming from the living room up ahead. "You are the fool if you think I will allow you to take her! You will have to kill me first! Will, get Anna, now!" "Mama?" I inhale smoke and my throat closes up as I cough a few times. "Mama!" I feel a hand grab me from behind, and I let out a scream until I hear the whisper of words at my ear. "It's ok, Anna. It's Daddy. I've got you." I stop struggling as my father gathers me up in his arms and rushes me in the opposite direction of my mother's voice. "No! Mama! I want Mama!" "It's okay, Anna. Mama can't come right now. Cover your eyes with your hands, babygirl." I feel a cloth being draped over my head and a hand presses me into my father's chest. The sound of glass shattering and my father grunting as he held me tight against him filled my ears. Then he started to run, the sound of his pounding heart hammering against my face, as the smell of smoke and soot filled my nose from his shirt. The sound of a huge explosion causes him to stop suddenly, and I'm able to wiggle my head out of his loosened grip. I looked over to our once beautiful home, to see it completely engulfed in flames. The little white fence was now shattered into pieces on the road and the entire house was now slowly crumbling to the ground in a pile of flames and ash. "Oh my God. Cora," I hear my father's soft cry as his grip tightens on me again. My eye catches the outline of a dark shadow, just beyond the flames, but my father is once again covering my head with the thin blanket. "Dada, where's Mama?" I asked, shifting my head to look up at his face. Dark streaks of soot covered his cheeks and forehead as thin lines where tears began to fall ran down to his face and jaw. "Mama.... Mama is in a better place now, Anna. She's with grandma." My father's body begins to tremble as more tears start to flow down his face, washing away some of the soot on his cheeks. "No! I want Mama! I want Mama!" My father holds me close as the sound of sirens fills the air. My father turns around as the red and blue lights approach us and people from the houses along the street start to filter out of their homes. A man in a dark, padded jacket walks over to my father as he keeps me bundled close to his chest. "Christ, Will. What the hell happened here?" the man asks my father, who doesn't immediately answer him. "We smelled gas. Cora, she um, she didn't make it out in time," my father's body trembled again, and the other man swore under his breath. "Christ, Will. I'm so sorry man. Is there anyone I can call for you?" the man asks. "I have a friend in a town called Crystal Lakes," My father let out a strangled breath as another explosion rocked the pile of rubble that was once our home. I jump in his arms as he pulls back the blanket to look down at me. "Detective Allan Black. He's the only person I trust. I'll call him." A cold chill runs down my back as I struggle to keep still in my father's arms. Give your power to me child! You don't deserve it! Such power will waste away in your feeble hands! Give it to me! A sinister voice says to me as I feel a burning in the pit of my stomach. "No! Leave me alone!" "Anna?" "I said leave me alone!" "Anna! Wake up!" I shoot into a sitting position as sweat runs down my arms and chest. I take deep, long breaths as my hands swipe at the beads of sweat on my hot forehead. A warm pair of hands are encircled around my waist as a soft, soothing breath brushes against the nape of my neck. "That's the third time this week, Anna. You're starting to scare me, babe," I turn and settled into Stefan's warm embrace as I continued taking deep breaths to settle my rapid heart beat. "I'm sorry. I don't know where these dreams are coming from. Every time, they're a bit different. But every time, I hear the same creepy voice. Jesus, what time is it?" Stefan shifts a little to reach for his phone on the bedside nightstand. "It's 3:30am. You still have a few hours again. Come here." Stefan moves to sit against the headboard and pulls me flush against his chest. "Maybe I should just get a head-start on the paperwork for the office. Alexis will be here at 6:30 to pick me up." I make a move to sit up again. "Oh no you don't. You need to get the extra sleep. You need to be on your A game when you're in the field. Do not make me tell Alexis about these dreams. You know she will kick your ass for it." "I don't need you to remind me that my younger sister-in-law got the better of me in a sparring match, sweetheart. And do I need to remind you that you were the one distracting me because you were too chicken to take on your own sister on your own." "Hey, hey, hey. Have you seen Alexis lately? Ever since she and Killian completed the mate bond, it's like she morphed into GI Jane! Her biceps are almost as cut as mine!" "Seriously, Stefan? Her biceps?" I can't help the snicker that escapes my lips as I hear him grunt under his breath. "Look, all I can say is I was trampled on by her when we were kids. And she tramples way harder now. I want a Lycan boost too!" I turn in his arms and glared at him. The blood drains from his face as he clasps a hand over my eyes. "Whoa babe. Relax, it was just a joke. Do not burn this house down. We just redid the wine cellar and the kitchen." I jab my elbow into his ribs as I turn back and settle in comfortably into his arms again. "Joke my ass. I'm pretty sure you can take on Killian. You're a Beta and a damn good one who runs this pack with ease when Luca isn't around. You don't need a Lycan boost." Stefan presses his warm lips against my shoulder and I shiver as goosebumps cover the length of my arms and legs. I'm still amazed that, after being married for so many years, the thrill of being with my mate has not changed one bit. The feel of his warm body against mine. The touch of his lips against my skin still sets my body on fire, though not literally. OK, maybe it happened once or twice, but I've learned how to control that since then. "So how about we get a little one on one time since we're both up and the kids are...." "Don't!" "What?" The sound of feet running up the hall and the knob of our room door turning had Stefan groaning as the twins burst into the room and scamper to settle themselves on our bed. "Mom! Dante peed his bed again!" "Did not! I was drinking water and it spilled!" "Okay, okay, that's enough. Why are you two in here?" Stefan tries to sound serious as two pairs of gray eyes looked back at him like doe-eyed little ones. "I just told you, dad. Dante peed his bed. And then he tried to come in my bed. So I told him we should come here instead?" "Don't you think you guys are too big to be coming into our bed?" Stefan asks, but the kids have now successfully wedged themselves into the covers and are now looking over at us like this wasn't the most natural thing in the world. "I told you, never say the words out loud. You jinxed it." I watch as my adorable husband scrubs both his hands down his face before shifting himself to lay behind me as the kids snuggle in closer. As Stefan began to tell the kids a story for them to fall back to sleep, I closed my eyes and tried to clear my head of that cold, sinister voice, while visions of my old home engulfed in flames and the feel of my father's trembling body, flashed in my mind.