Fire Marked

by Val St. Crowe

Lachlan opened the door to the warehouse to let me in. I had marched past the frozen drakes with no problem. They were compelled. They weren’t a threat. He looked me over. “Geez.”

  “They had these things like throwing stars,” I said. I pointed to one in one of the drake’s hands.

  “Whoa.” Lachlan furrowed his brow.

  “They’re dead, Lachlan,” I said. And I felt… nothing about that. Nothing at all.

  He nodded. “We knew that was a risk. At least the compulsion works on the drakes. Otherwise, even more of them would have died.”

  “Right,” I said.

  But I noticed his jaw was twitching. He moved out of the way of the door to let me into the warehouse.

  I stepped inside. In here, it was much the same as outside. All the drakes were standing stock still, like statues. They had glassy looks in their eyes. There was a long piece of dragon skin laid out on a table, and drakes were standing over it with mallets. They’d obviously been in the process of crushing the scales for powder.

  I looked at that, and I felt… nothing either.

  What was wrong with me?

  “You juiced up?” said Lachlan. “You need any more of my blood?”

  “I’m still good,” I said. “You?”

  “Maybe a little,” he said. “Just to keep us sharp.”

  I nodded, offering him my wrist.

  We stood there in the middle of the motionless drakes, and Lachlan’s teeth pierced me. It felt amazing, like it always did. But somehow… it was even more intense than usual. I could feel everything around us, the way I always could. The drakes, the framing of the warehouse, the magic in their talismans, the birds in the sky overhead. But now, it seemed that all of those things vibrated at a white-hot frequency, that they gave off little bits of strong energy, and that we were pulling that energy into us, sucking it all up, like we were vampires with our teeth in the vein of the entire universe, taking the lifeblood of everything that lived. And that was exhilarating. That was—

  Lachlan pulled back. He looked at me, his expression clouded with the taste of me. He licked his teeth.

  I drew in a breath, and I felt powerful. I felt like I could do anything I wanted.

  “Dune,” said Lachlan, gesturing behind himself without looking.

  Dune came forward. He moved like a toy soldier, stiff and regimented.

  “Who would know where Jackal is?” said Lachlan. “Who’s in charge?” We figured it made better sense to find a leader, instead of trying to search the place ourselves. Even if Jackal was there—though we knew that probably wasn’t likely—then the leader could get us there the most quickly.

  Dune looked around. He didn’t say anything.

  “Dune?” said Lachlan. “Answer my question.”

  “I don’t see anyone here that I know is in charge,” said Dune.

  “Do you recognize anyone?” said Lachlan.

  “No,” said Dune.

  We both sighed. What was the point of having someone on the inside if he didn’t know anything?

  Lachlan pointed to the stairs, which were on the other end of the building. “Let’s go look upstairs, then.”

  With Dune in tow, we trooped up the steps.

  It was the same up here. More frozen drakes. These guys weren’t working, though, but holding guns and gathered around the windows. They’d been trying to strategize a way to take us down, it seemed.

  “Do you see anyone up here that you know?” said Lachlan to Dune.

  Dune pointed. “Him. That’s Fang.”

  “Fang?” I said.

  “Probably a gang name,” said Lachlan. “Is Fang in charge?”

  “Not of the whole gang,” said Dune. “But he’s got his own posse.”

  “Great,” said Lachlan. “That’s going to have to do, I guess.”

  We approached Fang, who was sitting at a table with two other drakes. They had apparently been right in the middle of a conversation when our compulsion had hit. Fang was sitting up straight, his mouth wide open. He had a girl in his lap, one arm snaked around her waist.

  Lachlan pointed to the other drakes sitting with him and to the girl. “Get up,” he said.

  They complied.

  Lachlan and I took the seats the drakes had vacated.

  Fang blinked.

  Did they blink when they were frozen? I wasn’t sure. “He just blinked,” I said to Lachlan.

  “Yeah, I think they still do involuntary bodily functions when they’re frozen,” said Lachlan. “They have to be able to breathe.”

  “Well, but they don’t. Not really.”

  “Still,” he said.

  We both surveyed Fang.

  “Raise your hands,” I said to him.

  He didn’t. Then, he did, but there was a flicker of something across his expression.

  “The compulsion isn’t working on him,” I said, getting to my feet.

  Fang got to his feet at the same time. He shot a blast of magic out of both hands, knocking Lachlan and me into the table. He grabbed the girl up, hoisting her over his shoulder, and took off running.

  Lachlan and I fell down from the force of his magic, taking the table with us. We struggled to our feet, getting tangled in the chairs and the legs of the table.

  But Fang was getting away.

  I filled my lungs and blew out fire, as much fire as I could. I caught Fang’s shirt on fire. “Stop!” I yelled.

  He shrieked. He set down the girl and dropped to the floor to try to beat out the flames.

  Lachlan yanked him through the air using magic. The force of the air against him put out the flames. In moments, Fang dangled in front of us, breathless and defiant.

  “What the fuck are you people?” he said. “What are you doing to everyone?”

  “Why doesn’t it work on you?” I said.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I got a pretty powerful talisman I keep for protection. Maybe it’s that. But whatever you two are, it’s not natural.”

  “Jackal Bryant,” said Lachlan, choosing not to respond to Fang’s insult. “Your gang took him captive. Where is he?”

  “Is he here?” I said.

  “What makes you think I’m going to tell you two shit?” said Fang. “Whatever it is that you can do, I want no part of this.”

  “If you don’t tell us,” said Lachlan mildly, “we’ll hurt you.”

  Fang’s face twisted. “More fire?”

  “Maybe,” I said.

  “Fuck you both,” said Fang.

  I blew out tendrils of smoke.

  Lachlan turned to the girl, who was lying on the floor where Fang had left her. “You. Take the knife from Dune over there.”

  The girl did as she was told, her face blank.

  Fang paled. “Come on, man. What’s wrong with you? You some kind of sicko?”

  “Tell us where they’re keeping Jackal,” said Lachlan.

  “And then what? Then you burn me to a crisp, ‘cause you’re done with me? I don’t think so. Look, how about I take you there?”

  Lachlan turned back to the girl. “Stab him in the shoulder.”

  The girl did it.

  Fang let out a strangled sound of pain.

  The girl pulled the knife out and gazed at Fang, expressionless.

  Fang cringed. “It’s okay, baby,” he said to the girl. “It’s okay. You can’t help it.”

  “Where are they keeping Jackal?” Lachlan said again.

  “You don’t gotta do this,” said Fang. “You really don’t gotta—”

  “Stab him again,” said Lachlan. “Other shoulder. Harder. Quicker.”

  The girl drove his knife into Fang’s other shoulder hard, and then yanked the knife back out.

  Blood arced out of the wound, hitting the drake’s face, hitting me, hitting Lachlan. There was blood everywhere. Still, I felt nothing. Nothing at all.

  Fang cried out. “God damn it. What is your problem?”

  Should I feel something?

  “Tell me what I wan
t to know,” said Lachlan.

  Fang just moaned.

  Lachlan looked at me. “Penny? Burn him.”

  An excellent idea. I summoned my power, and I blew out a long burst of flame. It engulfed his hand, catching, burning his flesh.

  He let out an inhuman keening noise.

  Lachlan yanked him through the air again, fast, back and forth until the flames went out.

  Fang was still making the noise.

  Lachlan knelt down next to him. “Where is Jackal?”

  Fang just shook his head.

  Lachlan looked up at the girl. “You. Come here.”

  The girl knelt down too.

  “Put the knife to your throat,” said Lachlan.

  “What the hell?” said Fang, his voice breaking.

  Lachlan turned back to him, fierce. “Jackal Bryant.”

  “They keep him down by the river,” gasped Fang. “But I don’t even know if he’s still alive anymore. I never saw him. I don’t know anything.”

  “Well, then what fucking good are you?” said Lachlan. He turned to the girl. “Kill him. Then kill yourself.”

  What? No, that was too far. I felt something inside me break. A wave of horror went through me. I was feeling something. Finally. What were we doing?

  The girl raised the knife.

  Words ripped out of me. “Stop.”

  The girl halted.

  It was too much. It was too ugly. It was bad what we were doing, and it was cruel. We were better than this. Lachlan was better than this.

  Lachlan looked at me.

  I held his gaze, pleading with him to see it. We needed to make a line somewhere, something we didn’t cross.

  His jaw twitched again. And then he looked away.

  I swallowed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Lachlan and I hadn’t spoken. We’d herded up our vampires, still under compulsion, and we’d left and driven back. They were now all standing outside our camper in a big group, all facing one direction, just looking blankly into the fading sun.

  I was in the shower scrubbing the blood off my body. I felt like crying, but I couldn’t.

  So, I scrubbed. I scrubbed and scrubbed. I let the soap slide off my rounded belly, and I wondered how it had all gotten like this and what the hell I was doing.

  It didn’t feel like I was clean when the hot water clicked off.

  I stood under the freezing jets of water for a while, but the baby started to kick and protest, so I turned off the water, and I got out of the shower. Wrapping myself in a towel, I entered the bedroom. Lachlan was sitting on the end of the bed with his head in his hands.

  “I used up all the hot water,” I said.

  He looked up at me.

  “Sorry,” I said.

  He looked back down at the floor.

  I went over to the window and pulled aside the curtain and looked out at all the members of the clan, who were like our little wind-up toys now. I licked my lips. “We went too far,” I whispered.

  He got up from the bed and came up behind me, but he didn’t touch me. “How many of them died?”

  “I don’t even know.” I let the curtain drop, and I turned to look at him. “It’s the blood bond, Lachlan. I read about it in this book.”

  “What book?”

  “This old book that my great-grandmother gave me, and it had these stories about how these couples had a blood bond and they went crazy, drunk on power and did all these awful things, and I…” I shook my head. “I thought that it was exaggerated. I thought that the reason that they said those things was because it was a book written by jilted dragon mates who wanted their wives back.” I put my hand to my mouth. “What the hell is going on with us?”

  His jaw worked. His eyes were shining. He turned away from me again. “They aren’t exactly good people, I know that. But we didn’t even give them a choice. We just marched them down there and forced them to die for us.”

  “It’s the bond. It’s making us—”

  He turned back around and grabbed me by the arms, his fingers digging into my skin. “It’s us, Penny. We made these decisions.”

  And then I did start crying.

  He let go of me. “Sorry.” He backed away. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I…” He made a choked noise. “Did I hurt you?”

  “Lachlan,” I whispered.

  “I never want to hurt you.”

  I bit down on my lip, trying to stop the tears.

  “Fuck,” he said. He ran a hand through his hair. He walked out of the bedroom.

  I cried a little, but not enough. Before long, the tears were drying up, the sobs fading. I felt… empty inside. I got dressed, quickly shrugging into my clothes and then I left the bedroom too.

  I found Lachlan standing in the open door to the camper, looking out at all of the compelled vampires.

  I put my hand on his back.

  “When did it start, you think?” he said. “When we started fucking like rabbits?”

  I removed my hand. “Lachlan—”

  “Or before that? Maybe that first rogue we killed together?

  I pressed my lips together. “I don’t know. I think even before. I think maybe every time we used the whiteflame…”

  He looked at me. “Maybe it started the minute I tasted your blood. Sometimes, I wonder about the way I want you, Penny. I’ve never wanted anything—”

  “Stop,” I said, hugging myself. “It doesn’t make us love each other.”

  He slammed the door. “God knows what it does.”

  We stood there, looking at each other, not saying anything.

  Seconds ticked past. It was quiet.

  He sucked in breath. “We won’t ever use it again.”

  “The whiteflame?”

  “The bond,” he said. “No whiteflame. No compulsion. No blood sharing.”

  “We don’t know that the blood—”

  He silenced me with a look.

  I nodded. “No blood sharing.”

  It was quiet again.

  I yawned.

  “You should rest,” he said. “You have to think about the baby.”

  “You must be tired too.”

  He shrugged. “I want to take a shower. And then I think I’ll sleep on the couch.”

  I winced. “Lachlan, don’t make it like that.” I reached for him. “You, and me, and the baby. Everyone else can go to hell.”

  “No,” he whispered. He pulled me against him and kissed me on the forehead. “Thinking like that is what got us into this mess.”

  I wrapped my arms around him and clung to him.

  He held me too.

  “Don’t sleep on the couch,” I whispered.

  “I just need… It’s hard to think when I’m close to you.” His voice was rumbling and raw.

  I let go of him and backed away. “Okay, then.” I took another step backwards. Then I stopped. “What about…?” I pointed to the compelled vampires.

  He rubbed his forehead. “I’m just going to compel them to go to sleep for now. We all need rest.”

  * * *

  Later that night, I felt the bed shift as Lachlan climbed in next to me. I snuggled close to him.

  He kissed me. “Sorry I woke you up.”

  “I’m glad you came to bed,” I said, winding my arms around him.

  “That couch is really small,” he said.

  I laughed a little, and then it felt wrong to be laughing.

  But Lachlan kissed me again.

  Somehow, things didn’t feel so bad. I burrowed close. It wasn’t sexual, not the crazily tinged powerful feelings we’d had for each other lately. Idly, I thought that the compulsion must have taken a lot out of our blood bond. Maybe it was losing its charge. Maybe it was letting us go. “I think it’s less,” I said. “The bond. Does it feel less to you?”

  “Yeah, I think we exhausted it,” he said.

  “So, we’re just us now.”

  “We were never not us,” he muttered, rolling over onto hi
s back. He kept one arm under my shoulders.

  I snuggled against him, resting my palm on his chest. “But the things we did… I wouldn’t do those things. And neither would you.”

  “I don’t know, Penny. I don’t know how far I’d go. All I know is that having all those people as literal extensions of my will, being able to direct all of them, control everyone, it made me feel… like God or something. I liked it.”

  “I did too,” I murmured.

  “But you stopped me,” he said in a tight voice. “I was going to kill that drake and that girl. They were nothing to me. Nothing at all. I could have killed them all. It wouldn’t even have fazed me. But it bothered you.”

  “I just…” I struggled to make sense of my feelings. “His blood was on me.”

  “You’re stronger than me, Penny. You’re strong, and you’re good. And I’m not nearly as—”

  “Shut up. You’re good too. We’re just… It was the goddamned blood bond. It makes us crazy.”

  “Maybe,” he whispered. “Maybe it was just the bond.”

  “We might have to use it someday, Lachlan.”

  “No,” he said. “We will never—”

  “If someone tries to hurt the baby. Or you. If someone tried to hurt you—”

  “All right,” he whispered. “Okay, you’re right. But only as a last resort.”

  We held each other, pressing close in the darkness. And it was soft and sweet and almost mundane. And I liked that. I liked that the white-hotness had ebbed out like the tide, leaving us with something solid and warm and strong.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Someone was banging on the door. “Hey! Wake up.”

  It was the next morning. Lachlan and I had released our compulsion on the clan, but we hadn’t known how to handle it beyond that. Mostly, we’d been hiding in our trailer like cowards.

  Now, apparently, it was time to face the music.

  “Open the damned door!” yelled the voice again. More pounding.

  Lachlan and I looked at each other. Wordlessly, we headed for the door together. Lachlan yanked it open.

  Dune was standing there, hand raised to knock again.

  Behind him were all the members of the clan, gathered outside our camper. They were a ragged bunch of people—the women with red noses from crying, the men tired and confused.

  Lachlan and I stepped outside.