Nightfire Part Nine

Hiya! Sorry this took so long! Anyways, the next one won't be out for at least a week because I'm off to France on a school trip. Thank you so much to the lovely Me: who I humbly obey, and to Wind Dancer – hey, don't apologise for not reviewing! I love it when you do!

Anything you have to say would be utterly and madly adored :-) Please brighten my day and tell me!

Ki

Nightfire Part Ten

When Jal crept in, exhausted and shaken beyond belief, the house lay silent, darkness coiled around it like a cobra scaled with starlight. She slipped upstairs to her room, wanting only the brief freedom of slumber.

She stopped when she got in the door. The moonlight was strained through the thin curtains, casting the room in a silvery, magical miasma of light. And it fell on the sleeping form of Cern Akafren.

Jal stared at him. He must have been waiting for her, his head laid on his arm. Most people she had known had seemed gentled and vulnerable in sleep; but there was a hardness that came out in his face. For a moment, she debated with herself, then padded over and shook him, careful not to let their flesh touch.

"Bugger *off*, Cougar," he said without opening his eyes, voice thick with sleep. "I told you what to do when Thom's sleepwalking."

"He sleepwalks?" said Jal, intrigued, before she could stop herself.

"Have you been at the helium again?" the boy said groggily, then opened his eyes. "*Jal*?"

He sat up so fast their heads cracked together. There was a moment of blinding pain, doubled by the link.

"Ouch!"

"Shit, that's a little more of a tête-à-tête than I was aiming for."

"Yes, it's me," she said grumpily, rubbing her forehead. He had sat up, looking at her with huge, questioning eyes. She felt all her nerves jump into life. "I'm...I'm sorry I ran away earlier. I was scared."

"What of?"

She shrugged and perched on the bed beside him. His hair was tousled, softly wavy as the ocean on a calm day, his voice husky with sleep and mellower than usual. "You. Me. Us. What it meant."

"It doesn't have to mean anything." He didn't move closer, simply kept his distance. "It's up to you, Jal."

"But I *do* want it to mean something," she cried shrilly, frustrated, then regretted it immediately. "Oh...I didn't mean to snap." She fiddled with the edge of the duvet. "Why is it so difficult?"

"Murphy's Law." She glanced at him, bemused. "Anything that can go wrong, will."

"You think this is wrong?" Her stomach dropped away.

He sighed. "Jal, I sat up all night for waiting for you to come back. Now, maybe etiquette says I should have run after you begging forgiveness and waving diamonds in true movie style, but for me, speaking as an emotional retard, i.e. a man, that's pretty good."

"Oh."

"What do you mean 'oh'?" he said indignantly. "That's not what you're supposed to say."

Jal laughed. He sounded so put out! "You keep forgetting, your world's still new to me. In my homeland, men weren't expected to do anything for a woman. Some did, but by law, the beasts were worth more."

"Welcome to the twentieth century," he said dryly. "Where it takes full-on grovelling, constant apologising and a lot of expensive gifts before you kiss and make up."

"You don't have to do any of that," she said matter-of-factly. "It doesn't mean anything to me."

"Who said anything about me?" His eyes danced delightedly, but the words were too like Blue Malefici's. She pushed the thought away to find him watching her thoughtfully, an odd wistfulness in his face.

"What?" she said nervously, as he sat up straight, his gaze starry and intent. There was that odd, shy smile on his face that she had noticed before and thought to be so at odds with this calm, astute boy.

"Would you mind if I kissed you?"

Jal blinked and felt warmth steal up her face. "I don't know." She knew what would happen if he did. But she thought perhaps she could stop it this time, control that darkness prowling within. But why else had she woken him? She needed him to help her, to help her fight.

She hesitated, then said so fast that the words tumbled out, "But I'd like to find out."

* * * *

The night twined around him, lazy and rich as a stretching cat. Bane Malefici yawned as he unlocked the door to his home. It had been difficult to commission, deep enough into the woodland of Ryars Valley to be hidden from prying eyes, but finally he had found a building firm willing to construct this place, three years ago, when Chatoya Irkil had thwarted all his attempts to kill her...just in case.

A flash of her face fell into his head. She had grown sweeter, he thought lazily, and stronger, and that veil of silky black hair a little longer. Yet those ravishingly innocent eyes were still as piercing, full of sinkable green softness and jungle depths.

That wildness in her was...intriguing.

Such strange and gullible creatures, the people here; and another of them sat demurely in his lounge. He had felt the presence in his house half a mile away, for...acquiring...dragon powers and senses had given him an edge on the world without any of the disadvantages, like actually being a slavering, perilous reptile and thus a large walking target for misguided Daybreakers.

"I take it from the reek of festering meat you did it, then?"

Ruby started as he sauntered in. Those red eyes were wary, fearful. Wise girl. "Yes. It was easy."

"Well, you were hardly outwitting the Secret Service...that's only part-payment, by the way. I have something else for you to do."

Her pale skin went even whiter until it was smooth and flawless as a fresh snowfall. "But...I..."

"My dear, I'm hardly going to give you your deepest desire on a platter. There's *work* involved and alien concept though it may be, hard work." Those eyes seemed to have swallowed the bitter deeps of the night, and Ruby thought she saw the sullen moon caged and revolving in his pupils.

"I know what hard work is," she said shortly, a coral flush sprinkling her cheeks.

He fixed her with a colder than the misty breath of winter. "I find that hard to believe."

"You would." Wonder in her voice at her own daring. "I spent years hiding from your cursed family."

"It couldn't have been difficult. Their brainwaves tend to fall a little short of the beach, as my half-brother's complete lack of sense proves." Her wild eyes grew startled as he made no threat. Honestly, Blue reflected, people seemed to think him completely incapable of holding a rational conversation.

"I wish I'd killed him," she said vengefully. Vibrant hatred blossomed on her face, but her eyes remained lost, the helpless hopeless eyes of someone dying from the inside out.

He shrugged slightly, watching this graceful, hating creature closely. "All things come to she who waits."

"I ran for three years," she announced suddenly, her voice leaping like hungry foxes. "Always running, because of Cougar Redfern, pretending to be sweet and innocent and anything I had to be to get by." She gave a harsh, too-old laugh. "Men. They're like computers – turn them on, use them, and get yourself a better one quick. Some of what I've done might shock even you."

"Perhaps," he murmured. "I don't claim to have seen all the horrors the world holds." His mouth curved with tantalising slowness, arcing like a scimitar. "But I plan to add to them. Why don't you run along now, and take that mass of rotting flesh with you. It hardly matches the décor."

As the threat registered on her senses, Ruby flinched back.

"Get some rest," he said mildly. "Or you may be getting it in peace. Things are going to get dangerous."

She slipped past, her anger dying like a rose struck by frost, trying not to touch him.

No rest for the wicked? Blue Malefici slept the rushing, fire-filled dreams of the winged.

* * * *

Jal didn't know what to expect; she had only ever kissed Kaajen, and his had been the shadow-kiss, the kiss of a traitor, asking for everything and giving nothing. She simply waited, half-afraid and half-curious.

Cern looked at her, the same guardedness in his stance. Two strangers, we, she thought. I know him not at all, and he knows nothing of what darkness I hold inside my soul.

A foot apart, they sat, and it might have been miles.

Then he smiled ruefully, and reached to touch her face. She started at the contact, breathing in sharply; it was electrifying, but this time she was prepared for the link that sprang between them like a gateway swinging open, and refused to let it control her.

She met his eyes, turned dark as the murmuring ocean. "It's not so bad," she said. "It's not so bad at all."

As he blinked, Jal felt as if his eyelashes brushed her skin for a moment, as though every sense she possessed had been heightened. The strange, ghostly sensations sent feathery frissons through her.

He leaned forward and kissed her, lips tentatively touching hers; a soft touch that turned into an embrace. Jal was startled by his gentleness – the wolf-part of her, newly roused, didn't understand how passion could be tamed and made sweet; it howled for wildness and fervour, while she drowned in this dreamy bliss.

The link drew up around them like wings of light, sweeping and sparkling, making her head spin. She experienced his thoughts, his feelings too, his shock, his marvel...he had kissed a lot of people, but...not like this. Being afraid and yet wanting to more than anything.

Yes, she thought, it was frightening, but...Jal discovered she liked the feeling.

"Oh," she breathed in soft disappointment when he drew away, unaware of the vivid hunger burning in the depths of her stare. "Do you have to stop?"

His eyes widened, gulping the gloom. "I don't think I've ever met anyone quite as honest as you."

I want you, she thought silently. You are mystery, and fire in darkness, and you draw me to you with a power beyond anything I can understand. You are my moon, and I will howl for you in the endless night.

"Will you tell me about you?" she asked suddenly. "I want to understand you. I want to know why..."

Why you feel, why your eyes hold such mysteries, why you are sad, why you are happy, why, why, why... She had no words, so instead, she reached out to him and let her soul speak. And what it said was this:

~ I want to know why you are. ~

He smiled sweetly at her, and it surprised Jal to realise that she knew the curve of that mouth, and the feel of that wavy hair. She had known these little things, these incidentals with Kaajen too, but they had not touched her so powerfully, as though the restless tides pitched her from crest to foaming crest.

"The feeling's mutual," he told her almost shyly, as though it was hard for him to say these things. "But..."

She knew what he wanted to say without hearing and smiled back. She understood at least this small piece of him. "But it will take more than a night," she finished. Jal kissed him again, to feel that sensation searing through her, to be lifted on fiery wings. "Sleep be sweet," she said softly, sure he would dream of her.

* * * *

The next day dawned lazy and hazy, bringing Lisa and Chatoya, come to help get rid of the previous night's leftovers (minus meat). The sun cast a golden glow onto everything as the five of them sat scattered in the sitting room except, apparently, Cougar Redfern's temper, when Jal told them about Blue's threat.

"...does he have to come back here and screw everything up again?" the lamia shouted, mid-tirade, and threw a plate. It shattered against the wall, food turning the carpet chilli-red. He slumped down, seething.

"Calm down, hon, before you rupture something," sighed Lisa softly and came to lounge nearby, leaning her head on the vampire's legs as she lay back, sunbathing in a patch of light from the patio doors.

"Do I look like I come with matching cushions and a three year guarantee?" Cougar demanded, his voice edged as a mountain winter, giving Lisa what Cern called his Evil Eye; golden eyes narrowed, barest hints of fangs showing and face tight. A look that said: dangerous and combustible.

Lisa scrutinised him.

"No," she said with a wicked glitter in her eyes. "But you do look like you come with legs, arms and a back, so in my view, that qualifies you as a chair."

The lamia scowled and reverted back to his diatribe. "Why can't he just leave us all alone?"

"Because that's no fun," Chatoya murmured. Her eyes were oddly livid, though the witch's expression remained serene. She waved a hand and the plate leapt back together, glowing with deep green witchfire.

"Maybe he's crazy," Cern said with a slight shrug. Jal's mind was a shock to his senses, a blend of lime and sun-warmth as he spoke to her. ~ I don't use telepathy much...but I think I'd like to give it a try today. It's the only way we're going to get any privacy. Well...the others will be polite enough not to listen. ~

~ Mmm... ~ was all she said, engulfed in the tidal peace of his thoughts.

~ Hey! That tickles... ~ His laughter was an aquamarine sea frothing into her mind.

"I have to go," Lisa said abruptly. She grabbed her bag and folders that were strewn about. "I have to talk to Rob Slivan about a biology project."

"Can't it wai—" Cougar began as she strode out. They heard the snap of the door. "You know, maybe biology is more interesting than I thought. I mean, I'm bang on the side of anatomy, but..."

"Alternative 'b'," pointed out Cern, "our girl's got something on her mind."

"I'll go talk to her," Chatoya said. Her mossy eyes were worried. "The Blood-Rose Café's open, isn't it? There's nothing a good talk and some Ben and Jerry's won't solve. The only two men you can trust."

"Say that to me next time I save you from assassins," Cougar muttered darkly, but Jal saw his grin as the black-haired girl swatted him. "I'll take your bags for you. See you in hell, or high school as we call it."

* * * *

Lisa was a slinky shape on the shimmering horizon by the time Chatoya got out of the house. She was planning what to say to her friend when she saw someone she wasn't expecting at all, and her thoughts were washed away by a surge of blinding fury.

She recognised the careless grace the boy walked with, recognised that unmistakable cobalt hair and the chill-white skin of someone who was untouched by the light. And this time she wouldn't run.

She would *fight*. Bane Malefici had hunted and haunted them all long enough. Why on earth was he terrorizing Jal, who was perfectly innocent? She would make him leave, Chatoya decided. *Make*.

And this time, she was prepared. She never slept without a knife now, never took one step without a blade. The cool of the metal was reassuring, wound up inside her hair, hanging in a coil at the nape of her neck.

She gave chase.

Blue was walking into the woods in those long, flowing strides, ducking into the gloom. Why he was going there, she didn't know. She followed, wishing she wasn't wearing such a short top as branches and thorns nipped at her. Time eased by as she tore her way through the forest depths.

He disappeared abruptly through a screen of vast ferns interspersed with willows, and was gone from her sight. Cursing, she crossed the fifty metres or so of thick brambles between them slowly; he had moved through like a phantom...easy, of course, when you had vampiric strength, but it took her minutes.

Finally, she pushed aside the heavy fronds and stepped into a living, breathing dome of soft green light. It filtered through in tiny spatters of light, like a giant kaleidoscope, luscious and cool.

He was lying flat out on his back in the centre of the glade, ankles crossed. His hands were linked behind his head, the proud face tilting up to the light. Against his cheekbones, those long eyelashes made rich black crescents.

In the peace and solitude of the place, his wild hair and starkly modern clothes should have been out of place, but somehow, he melded into the background. Perhaps it was his sheer stillness or the way he relaxed completely. She could see his chest rising and falling in slow, even breaths.

The fronds swung aside with a silent rush as she stepped in. "Nice place," Chatoya drawled. "But it's hardly the Ritz."

Those sooty eyelashes lifted slowly and smoothly, as if he wasn't at all surprised.

"Next time you track someone, try not to crash around like a drunken elephant," he advised lazily and shut his eyes again, not even turning to look at her.

He had heard her? Then why had he let her come here?

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, cutting short any ideas of surprising him.

"I was thinking." His lips hardly moved, voice hypnotically dark. "You should cultivate the habit."

Anger welled up in her. This is me, Chatoya thought. I don't *get* angry. Not after last time. Not since I almost lost myself and took them all with me.

But he knows me.

As much as she hated to admit it, this boy knew her better than anyone else living or dead. And he used that knowledge like a weapon, a sharpened dagger in her back.

"I spent most of the last three years thinking," she said, forcing calm into her voice. "About what you did."

"Thinking and remembering are not the same." He propped himself up on one elbow and did open his eyes then, and as always, the startling, dawn-fresh blue was like a flare of electricity in darkness. "But I assume you're referring to that half-breed I dispatched."

"She was my friend," Chatoya hissed. The anger was fizzing like acid, eating away at her. "She was my friend and you killed her for fun."

"It was also my duty. If I went about killing everyone I thought would be fun, I'd never sleep." One eyebrow arched. "And please, at least give your friend her name. Let's not tiptoe about the subject. Sonj Jameson was indeed your friend, and I did indeed slaughter her for fun."

"Did you ask her opinion before you ripped her apart?" she hissed, staring down at him with all the hatred that gathered in her torso in a tight, painful knot; as though someone had lodged a fireball there.

"I didn't feel it necessary." He gestured to the ground. "As you're obviously so geared up for a world-class argument, why don't you sit down?"

"Why don't you go to hell?"

His lips drew back fractionally, but for a bare second. "I answered that three years ago."

There was a sharp impact on her legs. She fell forward, her knees jarring on the ground.

"Now *sit down*," he murmured. There was no sign of the effort it must have taken to telekinetically knock her forwards.

The tables had turned suddenly.

She had been so sure she would surprise him, so sure he thought she would be the shy, vulnerable creature of three years ago. The creature he had left her.

But he had known.

And now the power lay in his hands. For the most part. She still had one or two surprises.

"And don't bother with that knife." Metal sliding coldly along her neck, her hair falling loose as it flew into his hand with a soft snap.

He turned it in the light. "Good workmanship. At least you have some taste, if not any sense."

Nausea rose in her stomach. She was defenceless now. That was the one thing she couldn't afford to be around this boy.

Her soulmate.

The secret she had kept silent. The secret that would kill her.

* * * *

Thoughts? Comments? Criticisms? Opinions? It would make me unbelievably happy if you'd tell me what you think!