It wasn't the height of the lofty skyscraper that scared her, neither was it the possibility that she could be nosediving into her own doom. It was the memories that walking into this hellhole triggered that were scaring the living daylights out of her.

The State Union Building to the natural eye was a stunning facade. Steel-frame structure with diamond cut angles that could have competed with Frank Gehry's designs. The architect, who was the founder of La Jave Corporations, did an amazing, head turning, awe-inspiring job.
This was one of the major highlights for tourists from all over the world. Ivory Island's very own Eiffel Tower.

However, if one could unsheathe the veil over ones eye, one would collapse from stark, out-of-this-realm fear.

The dark mist that hovered about this building was as thick as that found in the Strippers zone of a X-rated club.
And it stunk too. Smelling like blood mixed with fume, mixed with a kind of gas that made you want to puke your innards out, it wasn't palatable to the human olfactory lobes.

Next were the most hideous and grotesque forms. Some, half-human, half-beast. Some, slithering serpentine things. Some, crawling reptiles. Some having jarred wings. Most of them slathered with green and blackish goo.

The chaotic noise that filled the spiritual air was so grating and on a hypersonic decibel level. The hissing. The scratching and screeching. The sounds of batted wings fluttering in the turbulent wind. The howls. The repeated bickerings and vile, obscene speech that bounced from one evil comrade to the other.

And Ella was stepping right into the middle of it all.

If the physical exterior was beautiful, well then the interior was 10× that.
And if spiritually the outer walls were scary, then the inside was packed with 10× everything that was lurking and spooked the outside.

Activity buzzed inside like the heart of a beehive. Men and women, sophisticatedly dressed, holding files, briefcases, iPads, what-have-you's were striding with a designated task driving them.
The few who weren't here for official purposes clustered about this pristine, bubbling fountain situated in the middle of the ground floor.
Some were posing and flashes of cameras clicked away.

Ella could see through some glass-walled, soundproof offices as she walked past. Many officials were clicking away on computers and some were sorting through paperwork.

Trembling slightly, from a sudden draft, she entered into the elevator with a small party of tourists who wanted to explore more parts of this building. She drowned out their voices as she tried to think through Mr D's mind.

Why was she here by the way? What did she intend to achieve? Wasn't she, in a way seeing a trap with full red lights flashing 'KEEP AWAY!' yet walking straight into it?

No! Enough of running and hiding like a wimpy mole. She was doing this to protect Deborah. She didn't want her benefactor to suffer the same fate her mother did.

The elevator dinged their arrival at the 7th storey. As her co-riders scrambled out, chattering on and on about God-knows-what, she rechecked her disguise.
She stepped out just before the doors slid shut automatically.

A left turn. Straight up the hallway.
The secretary was a new face, Ella noted. Well, she wasn't surprised that the tenure of the former one had expired. Mr D loved fresh chicks. After all, three years wasn't three days.

"Uhmm... Hello!" she greeted nervously as she approached the diaphragm-high desk.

The secretary flashed her a Mona Lisa smile, her eyes smiling along. The lady was pretty and pretty naive. Ella pitied her.

"Welcome to The State Union Building's central zone 1233. How may I help you?"

"I would like to see the Commissioner for Works."

"I see," she scanned Ella from head to toe. Ella felt underdressed and the chill was getting more profound. The secretary cleared her throat politely and said, "Do you have an appointment with him?"

"Ehm... Not exactly. You see, I really have to see him. It's urgent, confidential matters."

"I'm sorry but he is busy at the moment," she lied without batting an eyelid and Ella could read it. "Besides, the commissioner doesn't just meet with random citizens who wish to whenever they so please. It's security procedures ma'am." Ella could have as well wilted. Even though the sweet-looking secretary said it in a courteous voice, Ella felt the cold bite of the words summarized in her brain as—You are a nobody! Get the hell out of here.

"I understand. But please could you at least relay the message that Miss Aquifer,"—she cringed having to address herself with that alias—"is here to see him. It's really important."

"Ma'am, the best—" The secretary's obvious disagreement with her suggestion was cut short by the ringing of the intercom. She picked it up with a tap and listened and responded through what Ella could guess was an earpod. Gone were the days of jingling telephones with curled, springy wires.

"Sir," she greeted. Ella almost laughed but she stifled it by smiling briefly and pressing her lips together. The poor secretary at the moment looked like a soldier-in-training receiving orders from the General of Army.

She glanced at Ella who straightened immediately. "Alright sir, I'll send her in right away."

"You may enter." She pointed at a door behind her.
A shudder crept up Ella's spine. That door was the threshold to her worst fears. Was she ready? Well, there was no turning back now.

"Thank you," Ella said as she ambled towards the door that both tugged at her body but repelled her heart.

She peeked in, making sure the coast was clear before entering in. Which was odd, because indeed the coast was clear. He was not there.

She stood in the office, gazing at the many awards that decked the walls. Out of curiosity and a lack of any worth doing, she shifted closer to the table upon which was strewn many papers unattended to.

"I knew you would come to me at last, child," a voice that sounded like pelts of chilly rain said behind her.

Ella petrified. Her senses halted. The last inhalation was painfully clogged in her nostrils.
For three years she had run away and now, unfortunately, she was back. And still she detested the sound of his creepy voice. How could the media stand the sly voice of this man soiling their broadcast with false hopes?

"Did you miss me? What the hell came over you, running away like that?"

"What do you want?" she finally managed to say in a strained pitch. His full view came to sit in the black, leather, swirling, wheeled office chair before her.

He was a big, broad-chested, a-sight-for-sore-eyes man in his early 50's with a satisfied smirk swiped on his lips.
She could already spot countable defiant graying hairs peeking from his sleek black hair and the stubble on his chin.

Then, there was his eyes. Strickling brown.
He was peering at her. Intensely looking all over her. His leer an obvious attempt in trying to see if she had in anyway improved her assets. She hated that look.

"I have not returned. I have just come to demand that you leave me alone."

He clapped both hands together and let out an amused chuckle. "I see that she has given you back your voice."

Ella knew immediately who he meant and she would have none of his tampering.
"Leave Deborah alone."

"Oh, I will. I have no need for her. It's you I want." His voice dripped with lust. He stood, came closer, took a fingerful of her straight, auburn hair which was let down and entwined it between his fingers. She could do nothing. Her fears left her paralyzed, stuck like a statue. Leaning closer to her ear, he whispered, "My spawn."

She trembled, feeling a shift in the atmosphere. Someone else was present and it wasn't a nice someone.

Shifting back, her voice quavering, she asked, "Why did you threaten her then? And how did you know where I was?" She hadn't particularly prepared a confrontation speech and now she felt like a dummy.

"You know I have my ways." He stared into her eyes and she could spot the speckles in his eyes.
"You shouldn't have left, you know. It was pointless. You'd eventually come back."
He held her wrist and was about to lead her to the chair.

"No!" she said forcefully, jerking her hand free, surprised at herself. "I have not come back."

His face, shocked by the resolve of her resistance, contoured into an angry sneer. "Really? We'll see about that!"

In a twinkling, before her very eyes, his company materialized out of thin air. Two monstrous demons, as tall as the ceiling, stood beside him.

Ella screamed at the top of her voice and bolted for the door. Shaking and crying, her hands fumbled with the lock. To her horror, it was locked shut. She began frantically slapping the door with her palm, screaming incoherent cries for rescue.

"My, my," Mr D tsked. "You're quite the shouter. Too bad nobody can hear you. This place is soundproof."

Ella gasped and crumbled slowly to the floor, her back to the horrid, suffocating scene awaiting her. Hot tears trickled down her face. She was trapped.

This was her fault. She walked into this, with her two feet and her mind intact. Well, unless, he had added an enchantment. Her eyes widened as insight flooded in. The water and fire insignia!

You can easily take on this man you know, a voice whispered.
Ella was startled. That was the unmistakable voice of her banished spirit guide, Mergirlina. Her eyes widened even more.

You know water and fire can never harmonize. He might claim so but it's a lie. Your powers are still in you. It's only dormant. I can help you, if you allow me.
Ella didn't want to say yes, but as it was, there was no other way out.

"You might want to get up now, Aquifer. Enough of the slobbering. I haven't got all day to get this over with," her captor said, sounding irritated.

When she didn't budge, he came to her. She could feel the demons with him.
As he tried to touched her, he balked in pain.

Surprised, she looked up. The demons were also reacting in pain and anger. 

Was this really happening?

See, I told you. Mergirlina herself sounded dazed as if this wasn't her doing.

Ella watched closely, still frozen with fear, her heart ricocheting. The demons were unable to touch her, especially where she was dressed.

Deborah's clothes!

Mergirlina couldn't waste a breath. She couldn't think that the uncomfortably anointed dress of Deborah could come reactivated at this time. Ella mustn't know that much. Hastily, Mergirlina brought a memory that stirred up bitterness in Ella.

Ella stood on wobbly legs, and vented, "You did your worst already. Stealing this battered little girl's innocence wasn't enough for you? You'll never have me again. Not after what you did to my mother. You killed her!"

He hissed. Out of pain or out of annoyance that she brought up the past, Ella couldn't say. "Kiera was a brat that needed to be done away with. By the way, you were the weapon I used. So technically, you killed her."

Now Ella boiled over with rage and guilt.
"Don't say that!"

"You killed your own mother. And you're just blaming me for it."

"Stop!"

"What good are you to the world? You know, one word to the press and you're a goner. I can protect you. Just come to me."

Ella suddenly made up her mind. "Never!"
Then, she closed her eyes, concentrating, waiting for her spirit guide's go ahead.
Mergirlina, tucked away in Ella's heart, smirked. This was way too easy. The master would be proud.

Now!

"Aquadaglevbehioo!" she echoed. With palms outstretched she called all the water molecules in, above and around the room. There was the swooshing, rippling sound of water as they swirled about her.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes and there was that vivid insignia of water and fire in her lilac iris. Blue and red mixed into a light shade of purple.
She directed her hands towards her hatred and the waters obeyed.

She didn't stop when the spluttering man began gasping for air.

"I did not kill my mother. You did!" she roared.

She couldn't see the demons anymore. So, they could abandon him? Bah!

She relaxed the intensity because the water was beginning to soggify the whole office.

"She was your mistress. You killed her so you could have me. But no more will you," Ella spoke into his face. He didn't try to object. He was too weak to.

"Be grateful I let you live. I cannot help validate your claim."

"Because... Because you don't want to... to kill your own father," he spluttered.

Ella's eyes narrowed and the insignia glinted again.
She raised a finger to his face and twirled it.
He felt every drop of moisture—blood, urine, sweat, water—in his body congeal. His eye widened. She smirked. She kept twirling. He felt them sway every which way. Then suddenly she stopped and it stopped.

"That was a warning. Don't dare me."

She rose, went to his table and searched for the keys. In a moment she was out.

The secretary lady was surprised to see her walk out drenched, eyes odd. "Hey, Miss!"
Aquifer kept walking away.
Mr D groaned loudly in pain.
The secretary ran in and saw the state of her boss. Fidgeting, she called 911.

As Aquifer stumbled out, she watched as ambulances and police drove in with blaring sirens.
She blinked rapidly thrice, not quite knowing why, and saw the cloud of demons outside.
Dread propelled her running further away.

**********

Author's note: Lads and lasses, I greet thee all.😇 It brings me great pleasure to have you read this chapter of the sizzling hot Chronicles of Flames (#COF🔥). I believe you found it quite, remarkable.😌

What thinkest thou of the unfolding of events?🤔 And poor Ella, unknown to her, has just re-enacted the half broken pact with her demons. Mergirlina is crafty. Oh heavens! Save the prisoner of the Mighty!😩

Watch out for what's coming next. Especially between Ella and Jeremiah. 😶🤫

See you in the next episode. Remember that Jesus loves you and all you have to do is call upon him in the day of trouble and he will save you. 🤗❤️

Yours in Christ,
PeculiarPraise. 💖