Purified by Fire

Chapter 3: With Smoke (I)

The engine rumbles under the hood of the car, a choked off sound dying slowly which inspires no hope to the young couple outside of the metal vehicle. The man turns to his wife, a grim expression on his face, his soot-streaked jaw tightening as his mind races to a solution to their predicament even when his hands had not been able to. The woman watches worried, her fingers playing with the hem of her shirt nervously as she shifts her weight from one foot to the other, her hips swaying as she does so. She sends him a look, condemning him for his stubbornness and praying for someone to come and find them on this abandoned road soon. The wind picks up speed, ruffling her black hair, tousling it from its normal straight style and making the bangs irritate her eyes, causing gooseflesh to cover her arms as the air pierces through the flimsy shawl she had thrown over herself.

"How long is it going to take?" she questions, smacking her lips to get rid of the taste of dust on her tongue. She's been in the wind too long.

"I don't know, Mina. I still haven't the faintest clue what's wrong with the car." The man admonishes, looking at her over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow as if to challenge her. She huffs, knowing better than to start a fight in the middle of the night and crosses her arms to her chest.

"We've been here for ages, Steve! My feet are sore, I'm hungry and I have more dust than skin at this point!"

"Don't exaggerate." he sighs and slams the hood back down, closing it. "It's not the engine, at least." He mumbles next, sending her a grin. He ignores her look of exasperation.

"Great." she mutters.

"Maybe someone will come by soon." Steve attempts to lighten her spirits, but right now the only spirits he'll have any chance of lightning would be of the supernatural kind he realizes when he sees her glare.

"Somehow, honey..." she begins, her smile sardonic. "... I doubt it. You decided to take a shortcut."

He winces at the accusation, fully aware of the truth of it. It was more likely to be eaten out here than to find another person. He sits on the hood, heaving another sigh and wiping his hands on his jeans. Mina slaps him over the head; her tongue doing that thing of hers when it hits the back of her teeth and out comes a tsk sound of reprimand.

"Sorry" he mumbles and, wrapping a hand around her wrist, he pulls her to his chest. She is shivering when he finally wounds his arms around hers and she buries her nose in his collarbone inhaling deeply. He feels her nod rather than sees it and he can also feel her breath caress his skin as she calms down and it deepens.

"Steve?" she whispers, her lips catching on the skin under his jaw. "I was going to tell you something tonight, when we got to Sam's place..." she trails off, closes her eyes and inhales, clenching her small hands in his shirt.

"What is it?" he asks, resting his chin on the top of her hair, after pressing a kiss to it. He's getting tired. Driving a whole day will do that to you.

"I'm pregnant." she tells him, her head dislodging to gaze into his eyes, green meeting shocked blue. She waits as he pushes her off slightly, watches as he begins a back and forth walk and her heart is close to bursting when he suddenly turns and gathers her in a tight hug, spinning her around. She feels the laughter rumbling in her chest but she is beyond happy to be able to recognize the action as her own. She hears him echoing it and then he kisses her hard on the lips. It isn't a passionate kiss, there is not clashing of tongues, there are no knee-weakening feelings, but it does fill her up with warmth. They had been trying for a few months, but she hadn't been sure he was as excited as she had been about the prospect of becoming a parent.

"I'm going to be a daddy!" he screams into the night sky and she slaps a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet despite the wide smile on her face.

"And I'm going to be a mommy" she adds, whispering surprised. "We're going to be parents, Steve!" she exclaims and slumps against the car, hearing it creak under the pressure.

"But first, we need to get back to civilization." he comments offhand. She slaps his shoulder. She doesn't need his jibes right now. "I have an idea..." he continues, hesitant. "... but you won't like it much."

"How bad could it be?" she smiles and shrugs.

"I hate you!" Mina yells, tripping over a branch. She regretted her words as soon as she said them, but she hadn't expected an hour walking through the dense forest. "I need a break." she whines, stopping and causing him to crash into her back. Whose idea was it to let me first anyways?! She rotates her left ankle, then her right one, then she turns to glare at her husband, but she refrains at his expression. "Steve?"

"Mina... look over there." he lifts his hand to point. She follows his line of sight and notices a house.

"What is that?!"

"A house" he deadpans.

"Steve!" she whines in response."You know what I meant!"

"I know, I know..." he scrunches up his nose. "I have no idea what that's doing here, in the middle of nowhere." The house – mansion the man corrects himself – is covered in vines, swirled around the faded yellowed wall, a grand door made of solid wood – cherry? mahogany? I'll need a closer look – and murky glass that made up the windows. It seemed old, but not run down. He wonders who could have live in it.

"Steve? I know you're architect mind is currently cataloging it, but it's already dusk and we're hungry." he hears his wife's voice near his ear.

"Hm?" he asks, not paying much attention. He yelps when she elbows him in the ribs, "Why are you so violent?! I don't remember you being so violent before!" he complains, holding onto his injured limb.

"I needed to lure you in then." she smirks cheekily, her tongue peeking through her teeth, winking. He laughs and tousles his dark hair, kissing her cheek and dragging her along as he moves closer to the building. He ignores her protests and when she tries to stop, he swivels around and picks her up, carrying her all the way to the beginning of the clearing. She stays burrowed in his arms, her nose stroking his jaw up and down as her eyes grow heavy. She doesn't fall asleep, but neither does she remember the walk to the porch. What she does know is the moment in which Steve lets her stand on her own two feet. She watches her husband enthuse about the Medieval Western European architecture, gushing about how the windows are in this way or that one, how the walls have something or another, how the doors are so tall or so short or something. She's never been passionate about these things, but she allows him his moment before she poignantly clears her throat.

"Mina?" he seems confused for all of five minutes, then his face melts and he sighs deeply. "I did it again, didn't I? I spaced out again. I'm sorry" Mina waves it off and points to the door. There, encrusted in the wood, they see markings.

"What does it say? Move so I can read." she pushes him aside softly, more of a slow slide than a shove. She searches inside her small handbag for her glasses, puts them on and squints. The writing is very small and for a little while she thinks it's in Latin – what little she can remember of the language from her college studies – but then she can clearly read it in English. She goes over it twice, just to be sure of what she's about to say. Steve is incessant with questions behind her, the river a few yards away loud as it rushes down the stream. Finally she licks her lips and begins reading.

"From the endless night

He came,

Darkened by his light.

From him stemmed those containing

The fire from below.

He gave them life, and soul, and breath,

He rose them to stand by him and,

With the scorch of crime, he drew

From above down for his rule,

But she brought him to her side,

Rosy flesh to be entwined.

For this Midnight stands for all,

Time not passing through its halls,

Do not enter if you fear

The flames which rise in sin."