Well, my apologies - for this taking so long - and my ecstatic,
over-the-moon, heel-kicking thanks to the lovely people who reviewed - thanks
guys, you rock! Thanks to:
The delectable Dee: ::Ki
blinks:: Hey, you review for every chapter, the *last* thing you see will be
complaining. I adore reviews! Routine banter :-) Yeah, I guess it is! I don't
know, conversations just seem to blossom when they're about. And well, that
happens with my friends (who are a pretty weird bunch, bless 'em.) Zara is back
only briefly at the mo, but she should be back later, though I can't say why...
Thanks everso!
The definitive Dead Flower: Oh,
I know how it is being sick - I hope you get better soon...no one should be ill
at this time of year, so take some time off and relax :-) And apparently, the
msell of chocoalte is supposed to boost your immune system. ::grins:: Yeah,
Cern and Jal have something there ~ but hopefully I'll surprise you yet (if I
don't, it's time to retire...no one should be forced to read garbled repitition...)
Huge thanks!
The inspiring Ice Princess:
Zara is back :-) Only briefly though (men!) Cougar needs to have sense shot
into him, in my opinion :-) But that would be cruel... I like cliffhangers.
They leave me a sense of well-being and something to write about! Hopefully you
can read this story without having read the other ones (I don't think there's
anything too huge I haven't explained...if there is, yell!) Merci beaucoup!
The wondrous Wind Dancer: Great
name :-) Thanks! I've always had fun writing this series, I don't know - it's
just addictive! Yeah, you see more of Blue and Toya (That boy is just a
scene-stealer). It's not just a Jal/Cern story, don't worry :-) other people
and their various problems creep in...like life really...anyways, I'll cease
rambling and just say: thank you so much! I love reading what you have to say.
Anything you have to say would
be adored, pored over and purely cherished.
Ki
Nightfire Part Eight
One touch had been enough.
One touch, and Cern Akafren
knew his whole life would be changed. One touch, and he felt a sizzling
connection leap between himself and this alien, timid girl who he barely knew.
It was as if he had been
walking in a deep fierce storm, with the rain so thick and harsh that it stung
his eyes and blurred the way ahead. And sometimes the storm would slacken and
the air become lighter, and sometimes there would be hail to cut him to pieces
and icy cold, but always the same tempest, obscuring all before him, hiding all
behind him.
And now the storm had lifted,
and though the rain still tumbled as brutally hard as ever, the clouds were
gone and above him, the most amazing rainbow hung shimmering in the air.
Something that wasn't really tangible, yet still existed.
~ Jal? ~ he said softly, hardly
daring to breathe.
He was surprised to find he was
scared. What did he know about soulmates? Nothing. He had thought he was
supposed to feel an instant love, or affection, or anything but the empty panic
that filled his heart. He didn't *know* Jal. Sometimes, he didn't even think he
knew himself.
The thought of anyone seeing
his soul, his every secret, was terrifying.
But he couldn't resist this
unearthly pull that dragged him through a dark channel at furious speed, so he
could see nothing but rushing blackness, and far away, a distant grey glow.
~ She is not here... ~
The voice was rich and throaty,
and there was a promise in it. It filled the air around him like intoxicating
wine.
~ She has been gone from here
for a long time, ~ the voice said and laughed, desire slicing through it. ~ She
left me alone long ago...I want you. Your life is sweet, little halfbreed. ~
~ Jal? ~ he said again,
confused. The voice sounded like her...but it was so cold, so full of hungry
craving.
~ Not here, halfbreed boy. ~
Another, softer laugh. ~ There is only me here in the darkness. *She* is in the
light...but soon, I shall rise. I want to be back in the light, back in the
night's fire. It has been so long since I have tasted life. ~
The grey glow was becoming
brighter in his vision, turning into a bright blue light that burned his eyes
so he had to look away. But like a fading refrain, he heard that succulent,
strong voice.
~ The night fires will burn
soon. And so will you... ~
The glow was searing through his eyelids now, the cold wind throwing
him forward into the light, faster and faster—
The impact knocked him to his
hands and knees.
~ Cern? ~ he heard a voice say.
For a moment, he thought it was that other, luxurious one, but no, there was a subtle
awe in it, and like a light flicked on, her thoughts flowing through his head,
a mix of pastel colours.
~ Oh gods, ~ he said quietly.
He was subsumed in her thoughts, in the delicate blue of her marvel and the
flushing pale pink of her shyness. And it was incredible. ~ It's real. ~
~ We're meant to be like this,
aren't we? ~ she whispered.
He opened his eyes and found
himself within a temple, a place cast in shadows shot with stark moonlight. She
was there, in front of him, kneeling in a shaft of light that picked out the
glaring crimson streak in her spilling hair, staring at him with wide and
shocked eyes.
He looked back, caught between
fear and delight. ~ Yeah. ~
Delight, because this was what
everyone dreamed of. Of finding the someone who would understand them
perfectly, who you could look at and share more than a mere glance, to whom one
word would say what a thousand songs could not.
Fear, because the person he
showed to everyone else was not the truth. It was a selection of what he wanted
to show, a fraction of his thoughts and feelings. He had secrets that were
buried so deep they would never claw their way to the surface again. Qualms he
would never mention. Thoughts he would never voice.
And he was so afraid that none
of those would ever be his own to keep again.
~ I'm scared, ~ she confessed
in a small voice, twisting her hands.
He looked at her solemnly. ~ So
am I. ~
~ You? ~ Astonishment in the
line of her mouth. ~ But...you aren't afraid of anything. ~
~ Sure I am. I have an entire ossuary in my closet. But...I still think
I want to know, because if I don't, I'll always wonder. ~ He paused, wanting
and not wanting to say it. ~ We're soulmates. ~
A deep hush as she seemed to
search his eyes, her stare sweet and piercing. ~ But I don't love you, ~ she
said in childlike bewilderment. ~ Cougar loves his soulmate. Ria loves him. ~
That made him grin. ~ Cougar
and Ria have known each other for over a year. I guess you don't just fall in
love. ~ The words felt awkward. It was such a powerful word, love, and it was
so often misused. To be talking about love to this exotic girl felt odd. Almost
embarrassing. ~ It takes time. And you have to want to... ~
~ And do you? ~ she said
quickly then went scarlet. He could feel her mortification like warm water.
~ I...don't know. ~ He
shrugged. ~ I'd...like to give it a try. ~ He was *never* shy, but somehow,
Cern found he couldn't look her in the eye. ~ You just have to trust me. ~
~ I'm not sure either, ~ she said hesitantly. ~ But...but what can it
hurt? Please... ~ She didn't say it, but he heard her unfinished plea. Please
don't hurt me.
How could you think I would, he
wanted to say, but didn't. No one could make that kind of promise.
~ Where is this? ~ he queried,
looking around. It was clearly a temple of some sort, torches burning orange on
the wall and casting shivery shadows onto the walls and floor. In the centre of
the floor, a pool swayed and lapped gently.
Her terror blossomed like
dozens of flowers, bursting into fiery life.
~ It's all I remember, ~ she
said quietly, her voice trembling. ~ It's everything. ~
At the very edge of his
hearing, like the background noise of the elements, he heard a faint
whispering. Something flickered in his vision and he turned to look at it,
heart pounding.
There were people, standing in
the temple, faint gauzy figures. They were speaking in a throbbing ancient
language he didn't know, but Jal did. He could feel the meaning of this strange
ritual through the link.
And that was a ghost of Jal
standing in front of what was unmistakably an altar. His stare swung back to
her; she had covered her hands with her face and was muttering something
faintly under her breath.
He reached out to her, not
knowing what else he could do or say to make any of this better as the scene
played out, the fragments of Jal's screams echoing through the air. But she
flinched away, curling herself up into a tight little knot.
He saw how the man – her lover–
betrayed her, how she ran and they hunted her and how finally, finally, she had
no choice but to succumb to what they wanted.
The figures blinked out. And
now he could hear the prayer she was muttering, over and over.
~ Take me from the darkness, ~
she was thinking, ~ Take me, wrap me up in you, give me your heat and your
light. Don't let me go back there again. Please let it stop, please let it
stop, please let it stop... ~
He was silent for a long time,
feeling her shuddering anguish drifting in and out of his mind. She was as
afraid as he was of this – her mind was an empty desert, stretching into
nowhere. Only odd nightmares appeared to fill the horizon occasionally, strange
stunted shapes.
~ I'm sorry, ~ he said finally.
~ I'm sorry for what they did. ~
She lifted her head, the moonlight
cutting her face into shapes of white and black. ~ What do you have to be sorry
about? ~ she said bleakly. ~ It wasn't you, it wasn't your fault. ~
She was hiding something. He
felt it appear suddenly as she spoke, a dark clot floating over her thoughts.
~ Jal? ~ he murmured, reaching
out to her again. And again, she flinched away, shaking her head. ~ Why don't
you want me to see? ~
~ Nothing, ~ she gasped. ~ It's
n-nothing. ~
~ It something, ~ he persisted
gently. He reached out through the link, falling deeper into her mind. It was
like sinking into quicksand and for a moment, she didn't resist then that
strange darkness emerged again, and curious, he tried to see it—
~ Keep away! ~ she snarled, her
face stricken. Panic thundered in her thoughts, a bruised purple. ~ I don't
even know you! I don't want you in my head! ~
~ Well, you've got me in your
soul, ~ Cern snapped back furiously. Couldn't she see he hadn't asked for this
either? ~ The way I see it, there's two ways to deal with this. We can fight
it, or we can go with it. ~
~ I don't want you to see! ~
she threw at him. The link was trying to pull them together. He caught a
glimpse in his mind, a glimpse of a blade...a blade shaped like a dragon,
a...a...blood-gift.
~ A blood-gift? ~ he thought,
and didn't realise she had heard it.
Her face went waxy-white. ~ Get
*out*! ~ she screamed. ~ Not your place! Get *away* from me! ~
Her rage erupted into his head
like black floodwater, and the link was severed.
* * * *
Ruby Luthman was cold.
She was always cold. There was
ice inside her that never melted and underneath was trapped her shrunken and
drowned soul. She didn't understand it; times when she had been swathed in
happiness, when sunlight followed her steps like a slave seemed to be only
yesterday.
Then Cougar Redfern had taken
away the sun and given her the chilly, distant beauty of the Nightworld.
She stared at the photo that
sat on her mantelpiece. It was a boy, a boy caught off-guard with his head
thrown back in pure laughter and joy, green eyes leaping even in the frozen
stillness of the image. A shapeshifter, with tousled blond hair and tan skin, a
creature of desertland and daylight.
She wanted him. Jepar Jubatus
was the warmth in this coldness of hers.
And he had been taken from her.
She couldn't stand that, no, she wouldn't bear it. He couldn't love anyone else
– couldn't he see how she needed him so desperately it filled her every waking
second? She wanted the sunlight that encircled him, to take it and make her own
so she could be the carefree girl she once was.
"You're in pain."
She started at the voice and
spun.
Bane Malefici was on her long
couch, his feet on one armrest and his head on the other. She felt wracking
fear at the sight of him that made her scream feverishly, "Leave me alone!
Haven't you done enough?"
"You're always angry when
you're afraid," he murmured thoughtfully. "You're terrified by me."
She threw the first thing that came to hand at him. A small cry escaped
as she realised it was her photograph, her precious photograph. He caught it in
one hand without even bothering to sit up.
"Temper, temper."
"Leave me alone!" she shouted,
picking up a clock and throwing that at him too. It missed and hit the wall.
"Alone?" His voice softened,
like a gauzy veil laid over diamond. "I don't think you really want to be
alone, Ruby Luthman. I'm sure you've tired of it by now."
How could he see what no one
else had? How could he know that she felt that she had become invisible, that
however loudly she beat against the bars of this immortal prison of a body, no
one saw or heard her?
She could break iron bars. She
couldn't make friends.
"Believe it or not," he purred
with ephemeral softness, "I'm here to help."
"Help? I remember the last time
you *helped*."
She had been nearly changed,
and so full of wonder at the world. And then Bane Malefici had come to her door
and looked at her with cool, unfathomable eyes.
"Hello," he had said, his azure
eyes old beyond his years, infinite and primal. "So you're the illegal vampire
my brother's been making. Well, your ticket to immortality just got torn up,
sweetheart."
She had tried to slam the door
in his face and he had caught it, pushed it open so hard she was thrown off her
feet and sauntered in.
"I've told my family *all* about you...they're perfectly prepared to
kill you now." The boy had glanced about him. "Nice place. Unless you want it
razed to the ground, I'd recommend you listen very closely."
She had looked at his cold, striking face and seen not one shred of
compassion.
"Now," he had said, "What am I
to do with you? I could kill you I suppose, but you're so full of potential."
She had quivered, under that
bright pitiless smile. "Please..."
"I've heard a good many of those
in my time, believe me," he said calmly. She hadn't realised the wordplay; it
hadn't struck her until long after that Blue had a sense of humour, strange and
glazed though it was. "How would you like to strike a deal with the devil?"
What choice had she had?
He gave her immortal life and
she gave him her loyalty whenever he called upon it, before all others. Couagr
Redfern had run away believing her dead, the Redferns had supposed Blue made
her a ghoul and she, she had been forced to live a shadowed half-life in that
guise, until she finally escaped.
And the devil had come to
collect. Time had added only beauty and ice to his boundless eyes.
"W-what do you want?"
"I've come to collect on our
little deal, but of course, you knew that." He shrugged. "I let you live for a
reason and this is it. I want you to help me with something. And I'm prepared
to offer you something else."
"Why?" she whispered, her
crimson eyes soft and glimmering as a glass of wine turned in light.
"Z," he answered and laughed.
"I can recite letters of the alphabet too. Why? To make sure you deliver, my
dear. And what I'm prepared to offer you, well, I think it'll interest you."
He glanced at the photograph in
his hand. "Jepar Jubatus," he said. "You want him, don't you. In fact...you
crave him. But there's that matter of his soulmate. A dragon, isn't she? So you
can't kill her."
"H-how do you kn-know all
this?" she said, fascinated.
"I have this lump of tissue in
my skull called a brain, and occasionally I put it use," he drawled. "What I'm
offering you is Jepar Jubatus. I'm prepared to make you a hex that will draw
him to you. He'll be yours, my dear, and all I want in return is one little
thing..."
She stared at him, lips
half-parted, her voice filled with wonder. She was suddenly radiant, summer
bloomed in her face. "You can do that? But you don't have magick..."
He threw the frame in the air
casually and stared at it, his eyes leaping with incandescent silver lights.
It exploded in a flare of black
fire. Ruby screamed in anguish as a fine grey dust settled around the room.
"Wrong," he murmured. "I
acquired dragon magick quite a while ago. It's been a most useful boon."
"My picture..." she moaned, on
her knees, hands sifting through the dust.
"Why have an icon when you can
have the real thing?" that soft, deadly voice hissed. She looked up to see his
eyes, impossibly blue and strikingly chill, watching her idly. "What do you
say, Ruby Luthman?"
She looked at him. Alluring,
stunning as the first storm of winter, and filled with the same uncaring
destruction. But holding out to her something so exceptional, so beautiful, she
had to have it. She had to.
Her voice was a scant whisper. "Yes. Yes."
"Good." He stood up suddenly,
fluid as a jungle beast cut in blue and white. "We go now. I'll enlighten you
on the way..."
She didn't dare ask where they
were going.
Because if she followed in his
path, she was going into the night.
* * * *
A clatter made Jal blink, and she was back in the house, staring at the
same face and feeling her mouth hanging open in sheer shock. The saltshaker had
fallen onto the table and spilled onto the cloth.
She could see the waves
crashing in his indigo eyes. And just looking at his astonished expression, she
knew that the rhythm of their hearts beat as one. Breath for breath and pulse
for pulse.
She was gasping hard, trying to
wrap her mind around this thing, this reshaping of her very essence. She had
felt him, part of her *soul*, part of her that felt as if he belonged, and yet
she knew nothing about him.
But she had felt that memory
rise, that other memory that she denied even herself. Because it was so
terrible, so shameful...because it meant that it was all her fault. She
couldn't let him see that.
"Oh, you are *kidding* me," a
disgusted voice said. Jal could feel the panic rising in her, like stampeding
horses that she could feel shaking the ground but not yet see. It shook her.
"Please pass the salt?" Cougar
Redfern was saying, appalled. She concentrated hard and could see his dazzling
face. "What kind of way is that to meet your fated other half?"
"A most savoury way, I'd say,"
put in Zara coyly.
"It'd certainly season your
life," the lamia boy drawled, his sleepy gold eyes beginning to dance with wicked
humour. "Hey Cern, does this mean you're going to be throwing her over your
left shoulder..."
"Leave it, Cougar," Chatoya
said gently. Her mossy eyes were fixed on Jal's white face, filled with
compassion. Jal could barely hear her words for the deafening crash of her
heartbeat "This isn't a laughing matter."
The black-haired boy looked
from Jal to Cern, tapping a fork on the table impatiently. "They don't seem to
be having much fun, do they?"
Jal could feel the stare of
Zara's fiancé resting on her thoughtfully, that cool regard shaking her even
more. It was something about his face, the half-formed recognition on it.
The panic routed Jal. She
couldn't stay, couldn't sit and pretend it was all right, that she wasn't
changed...
She had only ever had one
escape for the events in her life that had threatened her safety.
She ran.
* * * *
Thoughts? Comments? Opinions?
I'd love to hear what you have to say!
