Nightfire Part Six

My huge humble thanks to the wonderful people who have commented on the past few parts :-) You're all complete angels! Thank you to: the fabulous :o), the celebrated Camilla, the kick-ass Kate, the divine Dead Flower, the incredible Ice Princess, the magnificent ME, the glorious Galli-vi and the marvelous Millennia ~ thank you all so much! You have the patience of a very very patient person.

Comments would be adored ~ it's truly that simple :-) Please tell me what you think!

Ki

Nightfire Part Six

Cern Akafren tore through the school halls like a mahogany gale. Some stared as he flew by, most noticed nothing out of the ordinary, still locked in their small enclosed worlds. He was used to running, legs finding the rhythm easily, yet his heart battered frantically, shocked and concerned.

After Jal had collapsed, unable to heal her, he and Ruby had slapped, shaken and shouted at her, all to no avail. She was moving, squirming faintly; once, her entire body jolted as if she had been electrocuted. Finally, Ruby had told him to go and find Toya. She would stay to 'influence' anyone who got too curious.

Skidding round a corner, he heard raised voices. No, one raised voice. Filled with scorching, twisting wrath, it was what a hurricane would have been if crushed into pure emotion

"I'm going to kill you."

Seeing as this was a typical Cougar Redfern saying that covered a range of situations from 'I ordered a *plain* cheeseburger' to 'no, that stake should not be in my ribcage,' Cern would normally have ignored it. But now...the lamia sounded serious.

"Future tense, I notice. Face it, brother, the only way you'll kill me is with boredom." The new voice was not a hurricane, but a comet; icy, streaking with energy, slipping through empty darkness. "What is my sin now? I don't seem to remember killing any of your friends today. I feel so unfulfilled."

"You heartless, cold-blooded son-of-a-*bitch*!"

"I'd just like to point out that we share the same mother." Cern placed the voice. A face leapt into his head; cut in elegant lines that would have made Rodin give up sculpting and cry helplessly.

"We don't share anything!" A snarl. "How *dare* you threaten Toya?"

"You know." A gentle purr almost, but it was the hum of an electric wire.

"You leave her alone. You go near *any* of my friends and I will make you sorry you were ever born."

"No. I'm afraid not. The traditional Redfern reaction to their bastard relatives might have been somewhat irritating when I was younger, but things have changed. Written home lately?"

The speaker had the exact same nuances as Cougar, but there was something underneath that sent ripples of revulsion through the soul. Like seeing unnatural creatures scuttling beneath someone's skin.

Cern moved unobtrusively down the corridor, feet silent. There was an open door; looking in the reflection of a framed painting on the wall opposite, he could see the tiny, raging figure of Cougar, his eyes two golden orbs even in the diminished image. And the boy who had saved him and Jal from the Pack, sitting cross-legged on a desk and looking amused.

"Would you like me to turn round so you can twist the knife a little more easily?" Cougar, trying to get control. Ice slid into his voice lazily as a sun-soaked viper. "You know I haven't seen home in five years."

"I shouldn't worry. It's still the same crumbling hellhole." The blue-haired boy was so relaxed, but the smile never touched his deep, austere eyes. "Only Carinna is no longer alone in her grave."

Cougar froze. "No...you didn't..."

"Moi? Oh honestly, one has lackeys for such distasteful errands." The boy was imitating a nineteen-thirties British accent perfectly. Cern had never known anyone mock Cougar with such ease. "I sent dear Mama to a place far more fitting. May she rot in peace."

"You—"

He pelted in to see Cougar, furious, bare his teeth and slam a stake straight at his half-brother.

Blue didn't move at all from where he sat, a serene and cross-legged Buddha, but blinked once. Power filled the air like cinnamon syrup in sharp and heavy waves.

The lamia was hurled against a window. It shattered brightly as Cougar staggered, dots of crimson flecking on the side of his neck. The sound filled Cern's ears for eternity while he stared at the boy, the monster who hadn't moved at either sight or sound.

"Such sentiment for a woman who condemned you to be buried alive in a Wooden Maiden. Our family's always been so deliciously sadistic, don't you think? We made an iron version for the humans and kept the wooden one our secret."

"She was my blood," Cougar said through gritted teeth. "Family is family."

"Family is an accident of genetics. Why on earth should you feel any emotion for these people because you share biological material? We share DNA with reptiles too, yet I don't hear any great clamor to invite alligators over for dinner." The boy's eyes were a deep, clear blue that had ribbons of cobalt swirling in them thick and heavy as mercury. Contaminated eyes, windows to a soul touched by inhuman ice.

"What's going on?" inquired Cern cautiously, buying time. This had to be Blue...and that meant trouble.

The boy swiveled slightly. "We're basket-weaving. Do you always ask moronic questions?"

"Takes one to know one," snapped Cern, watching as Cougar shook his head frantically, probably trying to tell him to shut up. He ignored him.

"How true." The boy smiled faintly. "Mostly. I'd watch out if I were you. Your blood's a little on the impure side."

"From what I've heard, so's your soul." His mind was chattering fiercely, throwing ideas at him. He discarded most of them; he had to think himself out of this, not fight.

"I'll admit," the boy allowed graciously, "I'm no angel. But then, from what *I've* heard, none of your little bunch of friends are going to qualify for the Vestal Virgin of the Year Award, especially that blond creature you've picked up. Jallakri, is she? Not to mention the fact you seem to have killed or maimed rather a lot of important people between you."

"We don't like to boast," said Cern, noticing that Cougar was absolutely still.

And that meant he was scared; Cougar Redfern was a creature of action – Cern had found that out when he'd met him; he had been unknowingly flirting with Cougar's girlfriend at the time and had woken up with a black eye, a fractured jaw and a furious girl screaming at Cougar.

"Seemingly. You're a valuable group. Dead or alive, though I believe the major contract stipulates alive."

"More threats."

"Not at all." Blue got up, stretching like a cat; arching his back almost lazily, tilting back his head and letting his eyes fall shut. It was the most unnerving display of pure predatory power Cern had ever seen. "It isn't *me* you should watch out for, Cernunnos Akafren."

How the hell did the boy know his name?

"Nightfire has good information," the boy informed him calmly. Was he— "Yes, I am reading your mind. It's not exactly the most riveting piece of literature. We've been rather interested in you for a while...and I'd just like to add it wasn't us that destroyed Rebecca. Of course, I wasn't running things then and it was a lot less efficient."

Cern felt all the blood drain from his face. This boy was plucking his darkest secrets from his head without a flicker of effort, and speaking them aloud as casually as if he was reading a newspaper article.

"Pretty little thing," Blue Malefici said lightly. "A waste of potential. She would have been a great asset to Nightfire."

"Her blood wouldn't have been *pure* enough for you," said Cougar, fists clenched. He knew about Cern's younger half-breed sister. Or at least, he knew *some* of it.

Blue looked at him. Cougar couldn't hold that unearthly gaze.

Cern was reeling from the shock. Becky...dear gods, it was years since he had even allowed himself to think that name though not a day passed when he didn't see her childish face, when the guilt didn't sting him. He thought of her when the scars on his legs ached, though his arms and face had healed long ago.

"Things change." Blue shrugged. "I run Nightfire now."

"I suppose you killed Sonj for fun then?" snarled Cougar, hurt misting his voice in smoky cadences.

Blue sighed. "You really do harp on about these things. You must be quite a bore to your friends. Yes. I killed her for fun. I killed her because it was in my orders. I killed her because she shot a nail into my hand. I killed her because she was weak. But I, personally, did not kill her because she was a half-breed. What does it matter? She's still rotting."

"It matters. You killed her for nothing."

"I wouldn't say nothing. I'm sure she would appreciate knowing she made me happy. And rich." The cruel words stabbed into the air. "Amusing though you are, I have more interesting things to do. But..."

Cougar's eyes smouldered dangerously. Cern knew that look; it meant Cougar was about to lose control. And when Cougar lost control, boiling hot oil would be a comparative mercy

"As we be of one blood, let me give you some advice. Get over it. People die – so what? I can assure you once they're dead, they really don't give a damn, so why should you? I killed her. I don't know what it is you want me to say. That I feel guilty or sorry? I don't. And that's how it is. So live with it, or die for it."

He strolled out, whistling a strangely haunting tune.

"Bastard," said Cougar hopelessly. They looked at each other, both of them seeing three years of relative peace, of safety and refuge from their ghosts, vanishing. "Bastard."

* * * *

Jal opened her eyes onto blinding light and as her eyes watered profusely, and realised she was lying on the ground. In the...what did Cougar call it? The recovery position? As she heard voices, she stayed still, not sure of her motive, but knowing that the presence of her, the outsider, would make the odd argument stop.

"So you've turned up at last?" The words rang harshly into the air. Ruby of the livid soul.

The new voice was tremulous and timid. "I...thought I should."

"Because Cougar's got a free this afternoon and won't be around?" Snort. "You're pathetic, Ria."

"You don't understand." A broken whisper.

"I do. We've all been victim to the Redfern charm. My particular infection made me a vampire and his brother nearly made me a corpse. They've got a cruel streak, all of them. Redferns don't love. They lust."

"Not all of them. Cougar's different."

"Is this a dagger I see before me?" A foot stamped reverberatingly close to Jal's head. "Yes, it is, Ria, and it's the one that soulmate of yours has stuck in your back time and time again. When are you going to figure it out? Redferns don't need anyone, especially not people like you."

"No. That's not true." The voice faded away, like a dying flower. "It can't be true."

"You live the dream if you want. It won't stop the truth. He doesn't love you. He doesn't want you, and my dear, he certainly doesn't need you." The hard, callous bitterness of a lifetime in there. Jal remembered Cougar's memories of Ruby; what he had done to her, what she had become. And she felt only pity, pity that a creature so cruel should come from someone so gentle.

There was a long silence. Around them, life spun on, bustling and bright, but here, stony silence and aching. The soft-voiced girl spoke again, a gentle tremor in her voice like a wary child. "Who's that girl?"

"Who cares? Something the boys picked up probably. Looks a bit of a slut with that bad dye job. She must be epileptic – she threw a fit. Cern's zoomed off to get Toya to heal her."

Jal trembled with righteous indignation. She didn't know what a slut was, but from the contempt in Ruby's voice, she could guess. And bad dye job? What did she mean?

She felt a shadow fall over her, then the shy voice, nearer. "She looks normal to me."

"Don't they all?" The hardness cut the air like sharp-edged flint

A cool hand brushed her forehead. "Goddess, she's cold! That's not epilepsy, Ruby, it's...magickal."

"Yeah, and *you* are such an expert."

Jal half-opened her eyes to see the quiet girl bite her lip. She wasn't beautiful at all, except in Cougar's memory, in fact she was plain. The girl glanced down to see Jal staring at her and gave a little gasp.

"Stay still," the girl mouthed. "Or she'll go ballistic." Aloud, she said, "I...uh...hear Jepar rang Toya yesterday."

There was a sound like a banshee wailing. "What? And she didn't tell me? The filthy...I'm going to find her," snarled Ruby furiously and she must have stormed away, because the girl helped Jal sit up.

There was silence for a moment; Jal stared at her face, comparing it to the image in her mind. The turquoise eyes were the same, wide and apprehensive, with tinges of mystery deepening them. And yes, there was the same delicate bone structure, and the fluffy, foaming red-gold hair, but she wasn't the elfin goddess Cougar saw her as. Jal wondered why he perceived her in such a false way.

"Hi," the girl said softly. "I'm Ria Lutinne...do you know what happened? Are you epileptic? Or is it something else? Should I call anyone?"

Jal swallowed. "I have no one to call."

I am alone here. I am standing in a place full of thousands of people and I am alone under an empty sky.

"She's so paranoid about Jepar," the girl said. There was a wistful sadness in her face that seemed to be permanent. "He's this...guy. Nice. Blonde. Chivalrous to the point of stupidity but the sweetest thing you'll ever meet. Thinks she...loves...him." her voice caught and she swallowed hard. "Sorry."

"Thinking of Cougar," said Jal sympathetically and then realised that perhaps people weren't so frank about their problems as the girl froze like a cornered deer, every bit as slender and graceful. "Oh no, you don't have to be scared!" No, that wasn't the right thing to say either. The girl looked positively terrified.

"Oh, no, look, I'm sorry... I only just...this is going to sound really weird, but I only just woke up. I was born hundreds of years ago..." It occurred to her that Blue might have been lying. She simply didn't know.

"That's not weird," the girl said, relaxing a fraction, though she still had one hand poised on the grass as if ready to pelt away at any moment. "It happens all the time round here."

"Yes, but I can't remember anything," she said despairingly. "Except...a dream. Something horrible." Ria looked baffled. "I should explain," sighed Jal, and promptly told her about everything, the story pouring out in hurried, uncertain words. About waking up, being rescued by Cern and absorbing Cougar's memories.

"Oh!" was all Ria said throughout it, her turquoise eyes growing larger and larger and her shocked, pale skin gradually regaining colour.

"And...uh...I heard Ruby talking to you about Cougar," said Jal shyly. She wasn't sure she ought to interfere with this – who was she to tell the secrets of another's heart? "He's your...soulmate, isn't he? Please, I know he hurt you, but he loves you. He really does. He's just scared."

The girl's mouth trembled, her eyes iridescent. Oh no, thought Jal, I didn't mean to hurt her *again*.

"I know," she said in a voice that was very ordinary, without Cern's subtle innuendo, or Cougar's darkness, or Lisa's strength. She's someone like me, realised Jal, who's lost and pretending to be found because it makes everything easier to bear. "But people don't understand. Love, it's a wondrous thing, but it doesn't solve problems. It doesn't change who he is or who I am."

"I know," said Jal bitterly, remembering the treachery of an aeon ago. "It doesn't change anything."

They exchanged a sad, knowing glance. "Men," they both said. And then Ria gave her a tiny, surprised smile that nearly reached her eyes, and Jal smiled back.

"You're the first person to see Cougar's mind in a long time," Ria murmured. There was something bitter, something hurt in her. It was horribly wrong, like seeing a child holding a gun. "You're lucky."

"Am I?" Jal tried to choose her words carefully. This girl seemed on the verge of collapse; not physical, but emotional. "All of them, they've been so nice to me. I...have never known much kindness."

Ria met her eyes. "They're close, aren't they? You know, I've known them for months now, but I still feel on the outside. They're always so dreadfully kind, but they're..."

"Careful." That was the word, realised Jal.

Ria blinked, those eyes seeming to dominate her face. She was desperately thin, and didn't seem to care about herself much. Her hair was loose, her clothes scruffy, she wore no jewellery except a heart that was made of a tiny clear stone, surrounded by a deep red gem and finally set in gold.

"Yes," the human girl said. "That's it exactly." She looked at Jal with a kind of wonder. "I've never met anyone else who understands. Ruby...she's like them too. She's Nightworld. And Alisha, she just fitted right in. And even though they all say they hate Iry, they like him too. And I'm..."

"Outside, looking in," finished Jal. It was at that moment she realised Ria would be a friend. Because she *understood* – her ka showed on her face. "I knew someone very like Cougar once. But the man I knew was evil. Cougar's not bad, he's just...caged."

"I thought it was everything I wanted," said Ria, plucking the grass and shredding it between her fingers. Her red-gold hair frothed around her face, the sun striking fiery highlights on it. "Plain girl, gorgeous guy, knight in shining armour, you know. But he has secrets. That's what I don't understand."

"I wish I could help," said Jal. The talk of secrets made her think of her unnerving vision. No. She didn't want to think about that. Maybe it was a...a...hallucination brought on by the...heat. That was what these modern people would say. A strange dream. And who was to say they weren't right?

"You have. It's nice to have someone to talk to." Her fingers toyed with the gleaming pendant.

"What's the heart for? Do the stones mean anything?"

Ria flushed a little and the sadness in her face deepened. Damn, Jal thought. "It was a...Valentine's gift. Cougar said it was gold, garnet and crystal. Lightning, fire and blood. He said that was what we were."

Yes, Jal thought quietly, that was right. Ria Lutinne and Cougar Redfern. Both struck and pierced by that beautiful, fatal lightning, burnt up by the dazzling heat of that contact and left to bleed away silently.

She tried to change the subject hastily. "What did Ruby mean, a bad dye job?"

"That weird red streak down your hair," Ria answered, looking a little amused, her hand still clenched around the delicate heart. "She's always like that about people she feels threatened by. Which is everyone."

"That..." Jal shook out her hair in front of her and saw it, slicing into her vision in a bolt of crimson. Oh god. Where that boy had touched her with his fingers in her sickening dream, where he had smeared blood down her hair...it was there.

And that meant it was real.

* * * *

"Toya? Toya, hon?"

She had her head in her hands, trying to survive the tremors that rippled through her mind and her body; forlorn voices screaming whom she had known intimately once, but who had been cut silent one by one.

Chatoya looked up, not knowing how haggard her face was, how her green eyes seemed to have lost their soft mossy lustre and become dead.

The stark, gravely drawn face of Lisa Ochai filled her vision, all warmth with her smooth chocolate skin and infinitely comforting chestnut eyes. "Oh hon," she murmured, "I'm sorry. We didn't know he'd come back...we didn't know he'd come back for you."

Her blood jittered shrilly in her ears like crickets. "I th-thought he'd g-gone..." she managed to gasp out, her hands shaking despite the fact they were locked about her drawn-up knees. "Why me? Why?"

Lisa hesitated, gently putting her hands over Chatoya's. Her touch was a solace, strong and calm as her even voice as she chose her words with thought. "Who knows how that boy's mind works."

"He's n-not a boy," she said, glaring black tendrils clinging to her mist-white skin. "He's a m-monster."

"Don't call him that," said Lisa gently, looking at the shattered face before her, feeling rage at the frozen soul of Blue Malefici that he could reduce one of her dearest friends to this. "Don't make him into some nightmare creature. That's how he works. He preys on fear, hon. When all's said and done, he's just a boy."

She didn't believe that entirely, but it was important that Chatoya did. She watched as her friend gradually stopped trembling so violently, only shivering slightly now. She had never seen such visceral, sweeping dread in any person. Even now, even Toya's lips were pale, her eyes too white.

"He's not just a boy," Chatoya said numbly, staring blankly ahead. "He's..." For a moment, Lisa thought Chatoya would tell her the secret that she didn't realize Lisa knew; that Blue was the other half of her soul, be it a shrivelled, grotesque half swathed in physical allure. But the witch's breath caught and she finally said, "Evil. He's *evil*."

"Maybe," allowed Lisa, fiddling with the dozens of coloured glass bangles that clinked on her wrists. "But people use that word too lightly. It's slang. Evil is a very powerful word, Toya. In my—" No, she thought hastily, they don't know that! "uh, church, that word was never used because it implied something so terrible, so dark that it could rip the world into pieces. He doesn't have that sort of force, Toya. Don't believe he does. It's just another way of giving him power."

"What am I supposed to do?" she demanded hollowly, turning tumultuous eyes to the made vampire. "He killed so many people. He took my family away."

"And you still beat him," said Lisa strongly. "He couldn't kill you three years ago. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger – it's old, and it's true. Just keep away from him for a while, get used to him being here. Then you can kick his perfect ass out of town." Lisa grinned. "Trust me, as an expert on the kicking of the shapely Redfern butt, it can be done."

Chatoya gave her a winsome smile. "You sound so convinced."

"I am. Come on, hon, we've only got one more lesson, then we can all go home and enjoy Autumn Equinox with the Circle. Zara's driving up from Vegas and bringing that hunk of a fiancée with her..."

The witch brightened a little. "It's been so long since we've all seen each other."

"See?" said Lisa, helping her up and handing her a tissue and eyeliner. "Now go fix your make-up. And if Blue Malefici turns up *there*, it's really time to start worrying. If only about his mental health."

Blue didn't turn up there. No one knew where he was. But as Cougar Redfenr said; what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve.

By the end of the lunch break, a slightly happier group of people sat around in the sweltering heat, Cougar and Ria managing to avoid speaking entirely while chattering with everyone else. Chatoya was laughing with Lisa as they regaled Jal with stories about Cern and Cougar, both of whom denied everything.

"It's Autumn Solstice, tonight," said Lisa, grinning. "We have a little tradition – just stay in the house tonight, and all will be revealed. And no, Cougar, that does not mean you're going to have to strip again."

And it seemed that Cougar had been right; with Blue gone, his soft deadly voice but a ghost, the summer was bright and full of promise.

But what the eye doesn't see, the heart cannot stop.

* * * *

Thoughts? Comments? Opinions? I'd love to know what you think!