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!
