I swallowed the surprise back, taking in the feathered form of the man I had only just spoken to. Unlike me, his feathers covered much of his body, his back, chest, and even his legs were hidden beneath the smooth soft redness of the blood colored feathers, glistening with a metallic sheen. Wings, much larger than my own rose behind him, the feathers longer at the tips, and his eyes blazed like liquid fire. I was so stunned, I didn’t see the next attack coming.
This time, when he attacked me, he wrapped his wings around me, making sure I could not escape. Fire coursed through me, igniting along my skin and causing the feathers of my wings to fall away, leaving the shredded skin and bones of my Reaper wings. This was a huge disadvantage for me, as I couldn’t fly when I was on fire. I knew that the second he let go of me, I would plummet, but that didn’t scare me. It was the fire in his eyes that did scare me.
As fire erupted along my body, I watched as it also ignited along his wings and I knew without a doubt, that he had his own flames. His body became covered in fire everywhere he had feathers, and as he held me to him, our flames intermingled.
“I told you, Valkyrie. You will never be rid of me.”
With fire in my soul and on my skin, I glared back at him. “Yes I will!” closing my eyes, I let the darker half of myself out, and I reveled in the heat as my flames burned brighter and hotter. It was only seconds before the crackling explosion echoed through the silence of the dark sky, and I opened my eyes, watching the heat and fire that ravaged both of us. My body was slowly fading away, one limb at a time, turning to ash. Aeron’s molten eyes were angry, and as I was nearly gone, he bellowed like a crazed animal.
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The house loomed before me, and as I stood staring at it, I wondered why I had come here. The ancient trees of the woods that stood sentinel around the breathtaking home hid me, but the house was dark, and I doubted its owner was here. It had been several days since the explosion in the sky which caused me to die, yet again. In the streets, I’d heard whispers of the “fiery explosion” people had witnessed. They whispered that maybe the Pyralis was coming back, maybe she would save them.
My bitter, blackened heart shut them and their hopes out. Now, I understood the lyrics to so many songs I had listened to. I could sympathize with those who had gone down the wrong paths after finding their own love was unrequited. I understood the self-destructive behavior of so many women who had loved, and lost, who had given their hearts, and been used. Dark thoughts blurred the edges of my vision, and like so many before me, I had urges to destroy his property, urges to fuck others and try to erase him from my mind.
It was the fire within me that stopped me, however. I knew what would happen to anyone I lay with. I had come a long way in learning to control the fires within my soul, but there was one time when I could not control them. Desire and lust seemed to fuel them to the point where I was no longer able to keep them contained. If I slept with another, they would burn in the fires of my desire. Instead of erasing Aeron’s memory, it would only add to my guilt. Knowing that Aeron was the one man I could fuck without killing was tearing me up.
The dark need for sex hadn’t left me since I had turned my back on the demon, and I suspected that the reason was because those desires were one-hundred percent mine. They were eating me up, and I felt that to move on with my life without satisfying them would only leave me lusting for death. Emerging from the shadows of the evergreens, I walked slowly, determinedly, toward the house on the hill.
Stopping, I studied the cherry wood of the door which had obviously been rebuilt. My hand caressed its thick cold wood, taking in the detail of the craftsmanship and the grain of the wood showing through. Turning the brass nob, I smiled when it was unlocked. The cocky bastard probably thought he had no reason to lock his home. Who would dare trespass on his territory? I smiled wickedly. Me.
Inside, his scent hit me full force. Soot, dampened earth, and the overpowering aroma of male. A purr vibrated through me just to inhale his unique fragrance, and I moved deeper into the house, my eyes scanning the remembered rooms. There was one room I hadn’t seen, and that’s where I headed now. Up the wide, curving, rich cherry wooden stairs, my hand trailing along the smooth balustrade. My lips curved in a smile as I recalled the time I had walked up these very stairs, nude, just to taunt the two men who had thrown my life into chaos.
I paused at the door to a room that had once been mine, my fingers sliding over the wood of the door, my nails trailing along, creating noise in an otherwise silent house. Moving on, I let my powerful sense of smell lead me to the place I sought. It was down the corridor, past several other closed doors, where the hall became the darkest, and I could feel the dark thoughts of his caged beast, its signature like residue here.
Placing my pale hand on the heavy wooden door to his room, I studied it. This door was different from the others. It was carved with intricate symbols, and I recognized them. They were Witches symbols. I had seen drawings like these in many of Rafael’s books. I had little doubt that this room was warded against trespassers. My lips curved, and I turned the nob. I felt the magic that sizzled across my skin, it tingled and it burned, but it did nothing to me. Closing the door behind me, my eyes flashed, adjusting to the deep obscurity here.
The room was much larger than the others, and of course, it was decorated in rich furnishings and deep maroons. A giant four poster bed with dark maroon canopies sat on a raised dais, and I felt a trill of excitement as his odor lingered around me. The darkness in me shivered, and I moved forward, dropping clothes as I went. Crawling slowly into the luscious softness of his bed, I grinned at the feeling of silk as it touched my skin. Only the finest for Aeron. I wasn’t surprised. I nestled into the bed, falling into the first deep sleep I could remember in so long, surrounded by the redolence that was uniquely Aeron. The lingering residue of his memories and thoughts wrapped me in its fold, holding me protectively there in the silk sheets of his bed. It was the first time I felt safe in so very long.
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I knew she was there. Standing at the front door to my own home, I could feel her, smell her, and sense her. I had to swallow back the surge of lust her presence brought to my loins. I was filled with rage that she still provoked such animalistic want within me. I had fucked her, felt the silky folds of her body as they tightened around me, and yet, I still wanted more. Once, I had thought, hoped, that if I could just taste her, feel what it was like to fuck her, I might be able to let go of my obsession with her, but I was so wrong.
Fucking her only stroked the desire I felt for her to new levels. Worse, the animal in me seemed to have claimed her, and it wanted no one else. Once I’d finally had her, the beast in me had come to the surface, and now it refused to be subdued. In my absence, I had learned so much, but it didn’t matter. Once the beast was released, it would not be put back into its prison. The only difference between me and the creature Valkyrie had become was, I’d had much more time to come to terms with the beast I was.
She was angry with me, and justly so. It was true that I had known I would come back when I died in that mine shaft, but I hadn’t known it would take me so long. Something happened that night I hadn’t foreseen. I hadn’t risen from ash, I had gone somewhere else. The whole time, my connection to Valkyrie had remained, and the blood link we shared seemed to have evolved into something else. I could hear her thoughts, her desires, and her fears. I knew when she was in trouble, and I knew when her loneliness was consuming her.
Eventually, I figured out that I could speak to her, and she to me. For a while, I let her believe she was going mad, imagining me, because I was afraid I had really died this time. She thought I had used her, faked my death only to push her into the direction we all wanted her to go, but that wasn’t the reality of things. I had risked my ancient secret to save her. It was the first time I had died in so many centuries, and little did I know, someone had been waiting a long time for it to happen.
The first time I’d
met her, Valkyrie had been so different. Innocent, sweet, untouched. Even then, the creature in me had sensed what lay hidden in her. He had rattled his bars, longing to make her his. I had looked at the beauty and the fire I had seen in her, and I too had longed to be the one she loved. It hadn’t happened. She had found Desmond, and he alone owned her heart. Even now, I felt he was the one she wanted. His betrayal was what had sent her over the edge, not my death.
She thought that fucking me would wash away the desire for the Witch she tried to hide, but she was wrong. All she had accomplished with me was to awaken the creature I’d worked so hard to subdue. The taste of her, the feel of her, it had all been too much, and in the end, I’d burned the prison down, no longer caring if everyone saw what I really was. Now, I knew what I was and where I came from, but it didn’t help. I wanted her, and she wanted Desmond. It was a never ending cycle and I was tired of living it.
Following the perfume that was her scent, I looked upward, tracing the lines of the stairs, knowing she had gone that way. I told myself not to follow the trail she laid for me, but the Fenix urged me forward. Taking the steps slowly, I tried to calm the beating of my heart, to push away the surge of hope I felt that she might have come here because I was wrong. Maybe it was me she longed for…no. I couldn’t let myself hope. When she found out that Desmond was free, she would seek him out, the one she really longed for.
At the top of the steps, I frowned in confusion. Her scent trail lingered at her door, but it didn’t stop there. She had kept going…why? My brows drew together in a frown and I stalked after the trail, like a predator on the hunt. When the savory smell of her stopped. I looked at the door to my own room, and I knew with certainty, that I would find her in there, in my own domain. I wasn’t even surprised she had been able to pass through the powerful spells placed on this doorway. Nothing about her surprised me anymore.
Quietly, I stepped past the threshold, and into my dark room, closing the door silently behind me. My eyes tracked around the room, until they found her, finally. The image that awaited me there was like the sweetest, most alluring dream. My heart seized up, and my mind stopped working. My eyes roved over her naked form where it lay strewn across the black and maroon sheets of my bed. Her long shapely legs were thrown wide, giving me an unobstructed view of her, and her delicious breasts faced me. Her nipples were hard, her arms thrown behind her head, and her silky black hair cascaded across my pillows in long dark waves.
Her alabaster skin stood out like snow against the darkened backdrop of my silk bedding, and her eyes were closed, her face peaceful in deep sleep. Inside me, the Fenix growled with desire. My heart beat returned, slamming through me with unfulfilled need, and my groin hardened to the point of aching. I didn’t care why she was there. I didn’t care if she was just looking for sex. At that moment, I couldn’t have turned away if I’d wanted to. She was in my room, in my bed, and all I wanted was her.
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I felt his presence in my sleep drugged mind. The darkness in me purred, the feeling vibrating through me. I could feel the heat of his gaze as it roved sensuously over my nude body. Keeping my eyes closed, I allowed myself to rouse fully before I finally opened them, slowly. He stood over me, his eyes seemingly unable to focus on one area of my body. They were their usual mosaic color, but the ring of fire around them burned brightly. His jaw muscle ticked in his strong cheeks, and his breathing seemed ragged. My eyes drifted slowly over the length of him, and when they settled on the bulge of his arousal, my body broke out in awareness, heat pulling in my womb.
My eyes shifted back to his face, and I felt my breath hitch at the expression I found there. My fangs descended, and my hunger increased. I watched the fire that broke out along his shoulders, his clothes burning away. In an instant, he was on me, his fangs sinking deep into the column of my throat, and I moaned deeply. His hands were all over me, touching me roughly, desperately. His hardness jabbed into me, against my thigh, and I moaned deeper, wanting desperately to feel him buried within me again.
I bit into his shoulder, tasting the essence of him as his blood pooled in my mouth, and I didn’t think I could get any more turned on. The blood-link that already connected us grew, and along with it, so did my desire. I was already wet, and orgasms rocked me. My cries were not pain, but pleasure, because just the feel of his hands on me drove me to ecstasy. Aeron moved his mouth from my throat, his eyes holding mine as he trailed his bloodstained tongue down my chest, over the peak of one breast, down my ribcage, and lower, all the way down and into my wetness.
I cried out again, and my need built anew. My hands delved into his hair, holding his head there, I couldn’t seem to get enough of him. My back arched and my hips gyrated against his mouth. I cried out his name over and over.
“Aeron! Aeron, please!” flames erupted along my skin, but it wasn’t the blindingly hot flames I normally displayed. These flames were made and fed by desire only, and they seemed to be contained only to my skin. I watched with glazed eyes as his own flames rose to meet mine, and he lifted his face, his intensely provocative gaze holding mine. Moving upward, he came over me, his mouth taking mine just as he drove deep into me. A scream of pure delight tore through me, and in answer, he growled like the animal he was. Our eyes were locked, our mouth’s devouring each other in harsh need. I felt his fangs slice into my lips, and I tasted his blood as my own cut him.
He drove into me roughly, wildly, again and again in a primitive rhythm that fed and heightened my lust and need. My body bucked, my cries filling the room, and I didn’t think I could find anything more amazing, until he stroked me deeper, harder. His mouth left mine, his fangs grazing the hardened tip of my sensitive nipple, and I dug my nails into his hard, strong shoulders as he rammed into me, harder and harder. Our flames licked across our bodies, mingling in a mating of their own, and as Aeron thrust into me one final time, I felt everything inside of me shatter. My bitterness washed away as his seed washed through me, and my cracked heart mended just the slightest bit.
I couldn’t not love him. The truth was staring me in the face, multi-hued eyes boring into my own. This man, this Fenix, was made for me, and I for him. He was the other half of my soul, and I his. He was my one and only mate, and there could be no other for me. His flames matched mine, and his blood called to me as mine haunted him. Closing my eyes, I tried to ignore the thoughts, and the tear that tracked slowly down my cheek. I may love him, but the cold reality was that he would never love me. We could fight and fuck, we could bring each other to such heights in sex, but the love I felt would always be unrequited.
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20
Returning to the Fight
Waking to the most intoxicating aroma of sex and Valkyrie permeating the air, I rolled onto my side, my hand automatically reaching for the feel of her sensuous curves. Bare cold sheets greeted the nerve endings of my fingertips, and I leaned up on my elbow, peering through the dark, looking for her. Emptiness was all I found as I took in the silk sheets which still smelled of her and of our coupling. My body grew hard just thinking about the wild night of sex we had shared, but my mind filled with rage that she wasn’t there beside me.
Loneliness welled up in me, and it fueled the anger that was beginning to overtake even my basic needs. Standing, I strode purposefully from my bed, not bothering to cover myself as I stalked through my house, looking for the woman who haunted me. My door stood ajar, the wind blowing a fine layer of silt onto my polished wood floors. My hair rustled from the force of it, and I stepped forward, sending the door slamming closed. Why was I surprised that she was gone? Hadn’t I said nothing about her would surprise me anymore? Shaking my head in bitterness, I advanced toward my kitchen, my mood darkening in provoked hostility.
Pouring myself a drink, I took a slow sip of the amber colored whiskey, letting it burn its way slowly down my throat and warm my skin. The hand holding the glass tightened, until a spray of alcohol and glass splashed across my arm and cheek.
My gaze fixated on the window looking outside as I stood in wrathful silence. Valkyrie was gone. The trail leading out my door was old, and I was growing more irate by the minute. I had fucked her long and hard all night, and when I woke to find the bed empty, the beast in me became violent.
Realizations washed over me as I remained immobile, staring through the glass and into the storm raging outside. Valkyrie belonged to me. She was mine, and mine alone. Just the thought of Desmond anywhere near her made violence rise to the surface with dangerous ferocity. The Fenix in me had claimed her as his mate, and he wouldn’t share. I didn’t care if she loved me, I didn’t care if she hated me. I had branded her with my body, and I was not willing to give her up.
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With my desires satiated, I landed amidst the whirling vortex of a storm. My mind was so full of confusion and overwhelmingly strong thoughts, I had to do something to distract myself. Looking around the bleak streets of St. Paul, I knew there must have been a reason I came to this city before my confrontation with Aeron. There was something here that was calling to me, almost like the flashing light of a distress signal, and I was determined to find it. I had no idea if Celosia and my other Draikais friends were all right, but I was going to find out.
Again I studied the deep purple hue of the sky above me, notating the lightning that lit up the thick clouds over me, and I listened to the cracking and booming of the thunder as it roared around me. There was nothing natural about this storm, but I was uncertain whether it was created by the changes going on with our earth after the loss of light, or if this was caused by a Witch’s magic. In truth, there was only one Witch I knew of who could influence the weather, but that certainly didn’t mean she was the only one.
Valkyrie Divided (Pyralis Book 2) Page 21