Lifting him off the ground, I slammed his skull against the cement. He thought he could come in here, threaten Aiden, and walk away unscathed. I had won. I had bested him and when I revealed his identity to Aiden, it’d all make sense.
Smoke laughed as the black struggled to cover his skin.
“You,” —he spat blood— “think you won?”
His face turned. The darkness consumed his face, and I followed his eye-line. Aiden was staring at us as he pulled himself to his feet. We hadn’t started the night on the best footing, but as the horror played out across his face, I found myself the victim of a trap.
“Foolish man.”
Smoke hadn’t come here to kill me or even harm Aiden. He had found the one thing that would strike the heart. The man I had fallen for had all the evidence he needed. He had slept with a monster.
Smoke had won.
High above Vanguard, I must have looked like a flickering star. Any higher and the atmosphere would become too thin to maintain the waves of fire holding me adrift. Hours ago, when I fled the gala… fled. I couldn’t believe, even as I pinned Smoke to the floor, seconds away from crushing the villain, I had lost.
Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was the look of horror on Aiden’s face. It was bad enough that he believed Blaze was a killer, but I had played right into Smoke’s plan. That jerk had set me up, laying a carefully executed scheme in Aiden’s head. He probably killed Dozer to set me up, and then I played right into his hands.
“He’s not wrong,” I whispered.
I had been prepared to kill. I could lie to myself and say it was to save Aiden. Hell, I could hide behind the immediacy of the situation, but if I was honest with myself, the truth would escape. Xander Bennett was prepared to become a killer. Everything I hated about superheroes, every complaint I had ever made to Griffin…Iwas the problem.
The roar grew in my belly. As it reached my chest, the flames turned a brilliant yellow. As I screamed, the fire shot out in a wide arc, white-hot. The clouds vaporized as I turned into a living flame. My throat burned as I curled into a ball, trying to will myself out of existence.
I failed.
Once I admitted it, I fell from the sky. The wind whipped past, and as I reached terminal velocity, I wondered if the suit would protect me from an impact at this speed. Super strength didn’t seem enough as the ground came into focus. With a splat, I could end the tightness clutching my heart. I could give in and let Smoke win.
Stubbornness summoned the flames. My direction shifted, and I flew forward, weaving between buildings as fast as I had ever managed. Cutting it too close, I knocked several bricks free from a skyscraper. It was reckless, but I didn’t care. I had been branded a killer by one of the few people able to cut me where it hurt the most.
Whether because he was occupying my mind like atenant I couldn’t evict, or because I needed resolution, I soared down Aiden’s street. By now Aiden would have given his statement to the police, ratted out his maybe-not-anymore boyfriend, and returned to his home.
The thought of him confessing to the authorities the real identity of Blaze continued to burn a hole in my chest. I might not be the killer, but it was nearly impossible to blame him. He had watched every blow as I attempted to slaughter Smoke. A dead body was one thing, but he had watched as I lost my temper and used my abilities to exorcise my demons. It might actually be worse.
I might not repair the damage, but I had to try. Slowing, I hovered a hundred feet above Aiden’s building. I could stand at his door again. But the moment I knocked, I started a conversation that could end miserably. At least here, it could go either way.
“Stop being a coward,” I growled. I wielded the power of the sun, and yet, the rejection of a man left me feeling weak. I could handle trading blows with a villain. None of them could reach deep enough into my chest to touch where Aiden had access.
The flames diminished until all that remained was a dull glow. I lowered until I hovered just beyond the fire escape. A quick flash of fire would be enough to get his attention if he was inside. It might be creepy to lurk outside a man’s window, but I didn’t dare set foot on the metal grate of the escape in case I needed a hasty exit.
Aiden opened the curtains. He didn’t make any indication that he was going to open the window. The tip of the knife hovered over my heart, ready to plunge to the hilt. I tempted fate and landed on the fire escape.
“Can we talk?”
He opened the window. After a moment, he sat down on the sill. The first hurdle had been jumped. I half expected him to be too scared to open the window, or worse, police would burst through the door and tell me to put my hands in the air. Though it didn’t happen, he didn’t make any indication he was going to speak.
“I never wanted you to find out like this.”
Nothing.
“I don’t know what I’m doing. None of this came with a manual. There’s no guide on how to be a hero. The one piece of advice they gave me was to never let the people you care about find out.”
“How long?”
“What do you?—”
“How long have you been like this?”
“The day on the bridge when I saved Prometheus. He transferred his abilities?—“
