Heart of Fire

By Jessica Roe

A year ago, aliens wiped out over two thirds of the world’s population.
Talin and her best friend, Nat, have been alone ever since.
And then Talin is almost murdered by aliens, kidnapped by the resistance, and offered a chance to fight.
Now she has new enemies, and surprising new allies. While David, the kind young soldier with dimples to die for, tries to win her heart, Makail, a leader of the resistance and the most irritable alien she has ever met, is determined to bring out the warrior in her.
Talin will learn new things about herself, her heart, and powers within her that she never knew existed.
But will it be enough?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jessica Roe
• Release date: Mar 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463113110

Jessica Roe

Jessica Roe is the author of The Guardians, the Fortunate and The Haven series/She's the mother of one sassy daughter, and two cats called Gus and Roman and fat rat named Dumbo. She's a lover of rainclouds, Gandalf and all things fantasy. Also chocolate. Always chocolate. When she's not writing, reading or gaming she works as a graphic designer.She loves to write, and especially enjoys creating a character and seeing where they take the story (because we all know authors aren't REALLY in charge).She likes strong, ready to fight, female characters who are just as capable at anything as the guys. She has a weird love for villains.Don't hesitate to get in contact - she loves to hear from her readers!Join her on:https://www.goodreads.com/JessicaARoehttps://twitter.com/JessicaARoehttps://www.facebook.com/jessicaAroeauthorhttp://jessicaroeblog.blogspot.co.uk/https://www.instagram.com/jessicaroe1305/She'd love to hear from you!

Book preview

HEART OF FIRE

HAVEN

JESSICA ROE

Copyright © 2020 Jessica Roe

Cover Art by Jessica Roe

Formatting by Jessica Roe

Smashwords Edition

ISBN: 9780463113110

All rights reserved.

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

Other titles by Jessica Roe

The Guardians:

Undone

United

Fortunate:

Because of Him

Something Real

Falling For Him

Something True

Nothing Like Him

Haven:

Soul of Darkness

For everyone who waited

Table of Contents

Translation Guide

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Epilogue

Translation Guide

Jharek – another world, similar to Earth

Jharekian – their version of human

Vorstoff – a Jharekian empire (the largest)

Vorstoffen – inhabitants of Vorstoff

Fane – the capital of Vorstoff

Morrfen Ard – a beautiful lake in Vorstoff

Jhenn – another empire of Jharek (the second largest)

Earlanion – a race of travelers from Jharek, never settled in one place

Fairhs – years

Rohl – a second

Ifelen – please

Tef – an insult

Nefor meht – forgive me

Tellev – live

Retmine – Vorstoffen technology – a holographic wrist device

Ielaha – the bond of true love

Virren – husband

Xoren – wife

Nahlen – twelve immortal beings who came before the Jharekians. Each of the Jharekian races are traced back to one of them

The Nahlen –

Terratiti – the Nahlen of healing

Hegron – the Nahlen of beasts, and the ancestor of the Jhenn

Rona – the Nahlen of battle

Ior – the Nahlen of the elements, and the ancestor of the Vorstoffen

Sortif – the Nahlen of foresight

Analen – the Nahlen of dreams, and the ancestor of the Earlanions

Fus – the Nahlen of truth

Nordine – the Nahlen of beauty

Elza – the Nahlen of season

Jaffrahel – the Nahlen of judgement

Ondrel – the Nahlen of empathy

Yinda – the Nahlen of mind

Chapter 1

Day 379

WOW, I LAMENTED, because at this point there just wasn't much else I could really say. I span in a slow circle and eyed the buildings around me. To think this was New York City just a year ago... My voice echoed.

My best friend, soul sister, and general other half of me, Natalie, hopped onto a particularly large chunk of rubble and glanced up, shielding her eyes from the sun. And now it's a wasteland, just like every other dump of a city we've been to.

The further I looked, the worse it got. If I hadn't seen the city in all of its past glory myself, hadn't shopped, seen the sights, been a part of the thriving bustle of life, I wouldn't have believed it to be true.

Now it was barren, desolate, broken; void of life, but for the scurrying of tiny, hidden animals. The buildings that hadn't fallen had caved in parts; bricks and rubble covered the roads, as well as shards of glass that crunched underneath our boots as we walked. Between it all, sprouts of weeds had begun to grow, twisting and wrapping themselves around everything they could cling to, with no one around to tame them.

It was heart-breaking to see how much everything could change in a year.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the first town or city we'd seen this way, and I doubted it would be the last.

Everywhere we'd travelled across America over the past thirteen months had been the same. And from the stories we'd heard off the occasional non hostile person we'd come across; travelers like ourselves usually; it wasn't just America. A world, destroyed. A world that had once thrived with life, reduced to ashes and chaos and nothingness. Of course, that was hearsay. After the initial attack, we'd heard no more official news from outside the country. No more news, period. With no one left to report it and no one left to listen, it had become a thing of the past.

Have you noticed? Nat called over her shoulder as we picked our way through block after block, searching for anywhere that might have precious resources we could loot.

No bodies?

No bodies, she confirmed, following that up with a low whistle. After the first attack on what we now called Day 0, there had been bodies everywhere. Still were, in some places. Bodies that had died right there on the street and had been left to rot for months on end. Those were images that would never leave me. But in other places the bodies were gone, cleared away. That usually meant people were about. People weren't always a good thing. In fact, they rarely were.

But NYC was huge. It must have taken hella manpower to clear that many bodies. I could only hope they'd at least been given some kind of funeral. I doubted it, though.

And yet...where were all these people? The ones who had cleared the streets of the dead.

My spidey senses are tingling, I said.

Mine too, babe. Mine too.

Carefully, we continued our trek through the ruined streets, our guards up at all times. It was impossible to tell what could be hiding behind each shadow, each alleyway, each darkened door or shattered window.

After Day Zero, when what remained of the human race was still in chaos, new gangs of people had begun to form. But these people, they weren't like they used to be. Desperation and fear changed humans in awful ways. Most of them would take up residence in abandoned buildings; cities being where they thrived the most. In all honesty I was surprised we hadn't come across anyone yet, and we'd been walking out in the open on aching feet all day. Yet nothing had stirred. Nothing but dust.

Still leading the way, Nat paused. I stiffened, and out of habit my hand went immediately to the newest gun I’d looted it in the last city we’d traipsed through.

Talin, she hissed. Enemy ahead. Dirty, evil enemy; right in front of us.

There was a little scratch and a snuffle, and a small rat ran across the street ahead of us, stopping to sniff at an old, rusty can. Relaxing, I grinned at Nat. Aliens, my best friend could deal with. Terrifying, ruthless gangs; no problem. Desperate, raving lunatics all messed up from the apocalypse, don't even worry about it. But a rat? A rat... No way, José.

Lil' scamp, I said, fluffing her bronze hair, earning me a dark scowl. I picked up a small pebble and tossed it in the general direction of the dastardly rat. It scurried off, its tail disappearing down a tiny crevice in one of the buildings.

All sorted, darlin'. I tipped an imaginary cowboy hat.

She curtsied and replied, My hero.

As we continued to walk, she smiled and hip bumped me. See, that's why we've always been best friends - I'm the brains and you're the brawn.

We kept our laughter hushed. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been able to laugh out loud. I hated that the world had turned into a place where laughter was dangerous.

After walking a few more blocks, Nat nodded her head in the direction of what used to be a small grocery store. Probably family ran. I wondered where that family had gone. My heart ached.

I shrugged in agreement and we found a path over a pile of loose bricks. We popped our heads inside the smashed glass windows, careful of the jagged edges.

Picked to the bone, just like every other place we'd tried. Sighing, we ignored the pain in our empty stomachs and moved on. We had a couple tins of food left, but we were saving them for when we were most desperate. I had a feeling most desperate was coming soon.

It was a hot day, especially for April. The sun blasted down on us, burning the top of my head. I pulled on the baseball cap I'd found in an abandoned clothing store a couple of weeks before. The bright pink cap and my fair blonde hair made me look like Slummin' It Barbie, but beggars couldn't be choosers, what with the apocalypse and all. After a good thirty minute's deliberation, I finally gave in and whipped off the long-sleeved top I'd been wearing, leaving me in my cami. God, it felt good to get some air on my skin.

Do you think the mark is getting bigger? I asked contemplatively, my left arm outstretched before me. The purple mark on my arm was usually hidden by long sleeves just in case we happened across anyone who might take it the wrong way. And anyone usually tended to be everyone. Because of one stupid mark on the inside of my forearm, my life seemed to be in constant jeopardy, even in an already apocalyptic world. Every human who'd caught a glance at it had automatically assumed the worst – that I was somehow involved with the aliens.

No matter who saw it, it usually ended with Nat and I running or shooting for our lives.

I poked the stupid thing angrily, but it didn't do anything.

Looking at it objectively, I guess I could understand why the humans thought there was a little bit of alien in me. Sitting on the inside of my forearm, the mark was shaped like a six-pointed star but looked like a mini explosion on my skin. The purple was too bright and beautiful for it ever to be confused with a birthmark, and besides...sometimes it glowed. Just like the blue marks that lined and swirled on some of the invading aliens' skin. So maybe...maybe I could understand why the humans didn't trust me. Hell, I probably wouldn't trust me if I didn't know me.

But I also wouldn’t try and kill me on sight, and there was the godsdamned difference.

Spinning so that she was walking backwards, Nat inspected the arm I held up and rolled her eyes. No, she answered dryly. For the ten millionth time, it hasn't gotten bigger. You goob.

Turning back, she threw her hair up into a band and waved a hand at her sweaty neck, grumbling when half her hair fell back down. She'd decided recently to hack most of it off and had gone for mid neck length, but it turned out cutting off your hair with a pen knife isn’t as easy as it sounds. It should have looked stupid, but she pulled it off; made the choppy style look chic. It had something to do with the complete air of confidence she'd always had – anything looked good on her because she made it look good.

Lowering my arm, I accepted that Nat was right and that I was paranoid. That was another thing I was going to chalk up to the apocalypse, because there had once been a time that I’d been a carefree cheerleader whose biggest dilemma was what outfit to wear to a party.

I shuddered as my mind flashed back to the day that everything changed. A year wasn't long enough to heal the wounds inside. No amount of years ever could be. I could live a hundred lifetimes and I'd still never get over the day everybody died.

Chapter 2

Day 379

IT WAS A couple hours after midday when we came across a department store – one of the huge ones with at least ten floors that sold everything ever.

"There's gotta be something we can use in there, Nat said as the two of us stood before it, considering our options. I say we hit it."

I chewed on my lip, weighing the pros and cons. On the one hand, she was very right. A place that big was bound to have something left behind, things previous looters might have missed or just didn't care about. But on the other hand, Gods only knew what was lurking within any of the buildings, especially the big ones. There were too many hiding places for too many nasty things. We'd come across aliens, gangs, other looters who didn't want to share. One time I'd walked into an old mall and come face to face with a godsdamned feral wolf.

But eventually I nodded because really, we didn't have much of a choice. The day was getting on and even if we didn't find food here, we needed a place to stay for the night. Travelling after dark was stupid and we'd made a rule to avoid it at all costs. This place would surely have a little corner for us to hide out in until morning came back around.

Pulling out our guns, I held mine carefully as we nodded once, mentally preparing ourselves. Wish us luck, Trapp, we whispered together, before climbing in through the broken glass doors and into the unknown.

We'd been doing it for a year, the whole surviving alone thing, and food and supplies were hard to come by. It seemed all we ever did was spend our days searching for our next meal, day after day after day. I'd gotten good at scouting a room, and I could already tell the ground floor of the department store was a no go. From the defaced posters on the wall, the floor had once housed women's clothing and make-up. It had been trashed beyond hope. Many, many people had passed through here.

Climbing the long dead escalators, we found the next couple of floors in almost the same condition. Menswear was trashed. Kids was stripped bare. The next level wasn't so bad. It looked like a herd of wild horses had trampled through it, but it was only half as ravished as the rest.

Teenswear, I read the sign, hanging only from one corner, out loud. I guess there's not a lot of teenagers out there making it on their own.

Nat shrugged one shoulder. Not everyone can be as awesome as us. It was easier to pretend not to care.

We found a section where the clothing had somehow escaped complete ruin.

Rad, we both declared, because we'd decided rad was a thing again and there were pretty few humans left on earth to tell us otherwise.

More excitedly and far less cautiously than we should have done, we sifted through the clothes left behind. We couldn't carry a whole lot and kept it to the bare essentials to make for easier running away in possible deathly scenarios, so it was a dream to throw away the clothes we'd been living in and swap them for fresh ones.

Oh my God, Nat sighed happily as we stripped right there in the large room. New underwear. This is heaven.

Look over there. I gestured with my head as I hopped into a fresh pair of jeans. Jeans weren't as easy as jogging pants to move about in, but they were made of sturdier material. Pros and cons. Always pros and cons. Break room.

Can't hurt to check it out.

Once we were decent and all packed up again, we approached the break room door. It had a thick, metal keypad lock on it.

Well, from what I remember, Nat mused, twirling a long, imaginary beard around her index finger. Neither of us are psychic.

Or master lock breakers. Although after this I might add it to my résumé. I pointed my gun at the lock.

Wait, dumbo! Nat hissed. What if people hear?

I made a point of glancing around. What people? There are no people. There have been no people for days.

She considered that for a moment. Point taken. You may continue, she allowed graciously.

Two precious bullets were wasted, but we broke the lock and hesitantly pushed our way inside.

The stench hit us first and we both gagged simultaneously. I wish I didn't, but I knew that smell. Rotting flesh. Aged, rotting flesh. Someone had forgotten to clear this room of bodies.

Nat shook her head swiftly and backed out, her eyes watering. Pretending not to care and actually not caring were two very different things. I...can't. I just can't. Not again. She moved away, and I heard her sliding down a wall until a bump told me she'd hit the floor.

One of us had to be strong. Always. Sometimes it was both of us. A lot of the times it was Nat. And sometimes it was my job to be the brave one. Grabbing a bandanna out of my backpack, I held it over my mouth and nose and stepped further into the room.

Oh God.

There had been two people in the here when the initial attack had hit. They'd died right where they sat at a small, round table, long dried up cups of coffee in front of them. They'd slumped forward and it was just...eerie. And tragic.

I couldn't look at them for more than a second. Like everyone else in the world, they'd never seen it coming. It had been an ordinary day at work for them, and then...death. Instant death.

Hurrying across the room, I searched the cupboards above the sink and found a few tins of beans and fruit and dried soup sachets. There were other bits of food, but not the long-lasting kind. If not for the two dead people behind me, I could almost have smiled. Somehow, no one had thought to check one little cupboard, so we had almost half a pack of food. Quickly I threw out a couple of tops and a pair