I gritted my teeth, felt the branch I was holding wind around my wrist... and then stab me with a thorn on its side.
I gasped, trying to hide my painful reaction, and watched as a drop of my blood slipped down the side of my arm and fell to the soil at my feet.
And then all hell broke loose.
Chapter 4
Oh Dear God, A Mad Scientist's Lab Flashed Before My Eyes
The gravel began to rattle where it lay, the concrete paving blocks shuddered from an unseen force. The ground made a deeply horrific groaning sound, the trees joined in, turning the miscellaneous sounds into a cacophony of unnatural noise. Some plants creaked and moaned, some leaves shattered the night air with high pitched tinkling sounds. And the earth beneath the concrete that surrounded, protected, Theo and his house, heaved.
He lost his footing, landing on his side in an undignified heap. And swore a litany of unspeakable words in Greek. I ran at him. No freaking idea what I would do, but the ground continued to move in a jerking wave that unsettled him, but somehow aided my footing, so I just kept going. I would wing it, but the bastard would pay for hurting my plants and being a git to me.
I leapt on his back and kicked and scratched and punched - ineffectually - all the while we rolled around and bucked with the movement of the earth.
"Are you mental?" he yelled in my face.
"Murderer," I shouted back and kneed him between the legs.
More Greek swear words. It was impressive.
And then a wall of fire erupted from nowhere and headed towards the line of trees.
"Call them off, Cassandra. Or the plants burn."
Holy freak. He caused the fire. Theo made fire from nothing and would barbecue the plants to get me to comply. I hated him. I really, truly did.
"Arsehole!" I spat, whacking him across the side of his head. His hand came up and grasped my wrist, the other wrist had been immobilised early on. He flipped us, somehow timing the motion to match a lull in the wave of pavement beneath us. So I landed with a thud, but was cushioned by a spring-like feeling that was impossible, in a normal world, to expect when being hurled at concrete.
"Oraia," he said between clenched teeth. "Call off your pets. Now!"
Stop! I thought and it miraculously worked. Theo's wall of fire dissipated immediately, making me think it took something out of him to sustain such an incomprehensible thing.
In the wake of such upheaval, both Theo and I were breathing heavily. In the silence that followed my mental command, it sounded so very, very loud.
"You are trespassing," he said in a way too reasonable voice.
"You killed my plants," I ground back at him. He frowned.
"What plants?"
I sucked in a slow breath, trying to get my heart to still so I could concentrate better. I searched his face for the lie. But all I saw was curiosity and a lingering sense of anger.
"My plants at home," I finally managed to whisper.
Something wasn't right here and part of me was already aching for it to be true. For Theo to not be the person who had destroyed my home.
But was he acting? I'd thought before it might have been an act. Was it now?
Oh dear God, I don't know how I would deal with the disappointment and pain if everything he'd ever done and said was a lie. Which made me realise that's exactly what he had been feeling too. Was he as scared as me of being let down?
His head tilted slightly to the side, an eyebrow raised in confusion.
"Your home," he said in a flat voice. Then immediately sucked in air. "Someone's been in your home? Already?"
I couldn't talk. I could hardly breathe. Please. Please let this be real. Please don't let it have been Theo.
"Casey," he said with a shake of his hands on my wrists to get me to focus. "Have you met any others like me?"
Like me. My mouth opened to answer him, but no words came out.
Was this the truth? It wasn't him? Could I dare hope?
I swallowed my fear and managed to murmur, "I did meet a doctor at the Emergency Room last night called Dr Peters."
Theo's face clouded briefly. I held my breath. "I see," he said, voice low and heavily accented. "Did she recognise you?"
Something in his tone told me this was the answer I'd been seeking. Dr Peters had recognised me, why else did her eyes flash gold and the curtains burn in her wake? I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek as I waited for his reply.
He let a long breath of air out. "Why have you not heeded my warning and left? Can you not see now, how important it was for you to escape while you still could? Xanthe's husband is in the Guard," he added, eyes deadly serious. "The next time it will be your head."
God, this was hopeless. I'd gotten what I wanted, an answer to who destroyed my flat, killed my plants. But instead of feeling relief, I was petrified. At least with Theo, I knew him. But the doctor's husband, a member of Theo's Guard, I did not know at all.
Fear skittered along my spine and I lost the ability to contain it.
"Casey?" Theo prompted, and something snapped inside.
"I'm getting a little sick of that threat," I replied, on a rush of frustrated air.
"I have your best interests at heart," he pointed out, but his jaw was set hard.
We stared at each other for a long moment. I was acutely aware he was still moulded above me; body to body, chest to chest. Hell, even our breaths were intermingling. But the sensations caused by his physical proximity had nothing on the gamut of emotions swilling inside me right then.
"I am not your enemy," I finally managed to say. It did come out much firmer than I had intended, but I was past caring how I sounded now. My body was tired, my head ached. I was about to break apart.
"What planet do you live on?" he scoffed, not helping my temper in the slightest and proving he was just as on edge as me; snapping back with equal rashness. "Since when has it been legal to enter another's territory without invitation or permission? We are well within our rights to respond with force."
"Whose permission do I need to live in my place of birth?" I demanded; the snapping had escalated into a snarl. "And who the hell are you to police this city?" That was almost shouted, the snapping was officially done; anger now fuelled every harshly spoken word.
Freaking hell, I was sick of this roller-coaster ride of confusing reactions to this man, to my life. One minute I'm desperately wanting him to be more than he appears, the next anger at his behaviour has taken root inside my mind. I was so weary of the confusion. I just wanted an answer to what I had become.
So, I started to struggle. Of course I did; it was the least sane thing to do. God knows what I thought I would achieve, but all the pent up rage and fear and confusion and incredulity at what was happening to me combined to make a boiling pit of desperation deep down inside. Like a wild, unthinking animal I lashed out.
In my efforts to get out of his grip, I writhed and bucked, threw my entire body into the battle, making my forehead come within an inch of his nose. He shifted at the last minute, avoiding a bloody scene. But the movement made his thigh slip between my legs. We both hesitated, surprised by the intimate contact. But then, with a cunning and calculated smirk on his lips he took advantage of our new position, and rubbed.
His eyes never left my face, looking for a reaction.
Thankfully, I was too pissed off to react.
He frowned and instantly a warmth rushed through me, melting all resistance and making me gasp out loud. I then, so embarrassingly, writhed beneath him in an entirely different fashion than before, seeking more friction, there.
He chuckled. I growled back. Fuck him!
"So, you are not immune to my charms," Theo purred, his voice deeper, rougher than before.
Within seconds the dynamic of our conversation had shifted and I had no hope of understanding how or why. No hope of fighting my reaction to this man. No hope of keeping up with the trajectory of our dialogue.
Theo breathed in languidly and shuddere
d above me as the air seeped out between his parted lips. I couldn't deny that it was the most sensual thing I had ever witnessed.
But I had no freaking idea what was going on.
The only thing that made any sense was the familiar feeling of confusion.
Suddenly thin vines crept up around our bodies. I hadn't consciously asked them to. I'd been severely unable to think clearly since that warmth invaded my body. Theo had his eyes closed, a look of utter bliss across his face. He didn't notice them at all.
I watched stunned as they wrapped around our bodies, then wrapped around his arms and legs.
His eyes flicked open. Gold washed my face.
"You are delicious," he breathed, still not registering his dire plight. The vines crept on further, ensnaring us both. I noticed a green tinge to his skin then. It wasn't his, it was all mine. "Beautiful," he husked. And despite my confusion, I was transfixed. "I like the green. I like that I can bring it out. You are so controlled, Casey. The green lets me know, I can breach that shield of yours. Make you feel. Give you passion. Light a fire deep inside."
Oh dear God. What was with this man? He infuriated me. Confounded me. And admittedly, totally turned me on. I wasn't sure which was winning right now, but it didn't matter. The vines were ready to announce their presence. Everything tightened. I watched as they shifted, stretched and gripped his muscles tight.
"Casey!" Theo shouted. "You little..." He didn't get to finish his statement, a vine wrapped around his face, like a rag over someone's mouth. A muffled sound came out with a decidedly angry gleam from his golden eyes. I think he might have threatened me with something. I was glad I couldn't make out the words.
But for once, I felt like I had the upper hand. I smiled up at him. Effected my best innocent look, and said, "It wasn't me."
A frustrated sound came out of the back of his throat, but I ignored it. "You and I need to have a little chat," I said, giving his body a small shove. The vines responded, lifting him up off my frame.
I instantly felt colder.
"Now I have your undivided attention and you can't interrupt," I said, and instantly the cold vanished, replaced by a fire deep inside, that heat I'd felt earlier washed through me again, making me moan before I could stop myself and reach out to brush my hand over his arm, his shoulder, his chest.
Then in the next second the fiery tingle vanished. Like a switch being flicked off.
Fuck!
"You did that?" I asked, amazed, turned on and freaking scared all at once.
His shoulders shrugged. His eyes held my gaze, a message clearly evident there. Theo could make me feel lust with just a simple thought. Like I could make the plants attack.
I sucked in a breath at that realisation, at the knowledge that I was well out of my depth. Holy freaking hell, what world did I now live in?
"Don't ever do that again," I scolded softly, somehow the conviction of my thoughts was not relayed in my tone.
Theo blinked once, slowly. Then maybe because he couldn't help himself, or maybe because he just didn't like being told what to do. Or, maybe because he'd heard in my voice what my words failed to portray. For whatever reason, a wash of molten heat shimmered through me, from head to toe.
My body responded, my back arched, lips parting on a sigh, fingers curling with the need to stroke flesh. It was sublime.
But it was not me.
"Stop it!" I said with force. The vines, thinking I was commanding them, suddenly unravelled.
And Theo landed in a hard splat on my chest.
Air was pushed from my lungs with a star-burst of light from behind my eyes. Theo rolled off me immediately. I was thinking for his own safety, not because he was concerned my stomach contents were about to come rushing out of my mouth. I groaned and rolled into a ball, looking up at him, as he stood several feet away. His eyes were darting around the concrete at his feet. I noticed he'd placed himself in the middle of an intact large paver. No chance of vines creeping up through that. I realised Theo Peters was indeed a little scared of me.
I cocked my head and stared at him. He looked a little rumpled, his suit not handling the earthquake and confinement of the vines too well. He had a scratch across one cheek and a rip in his trouser leg. His shoes were covered in dirt.
I had never seen him look so sexy before.
I cleared my throat and glanced away. But not before I caught his smug smile.
"What are you doing here, Cassandra? We are enemies," he pointed out, his voice though was soft. "You are in Pyrkagia territory without a pass. You must know the penalty is death." We were back at the beginning, it seemed. Full circle bringing us 'round to familiar death threats.
I sighed.
"I know nothing, Theo," I said with no small amount of frustration. "I woke up in a pit of dirt, having missed two days of my life. And walked into this mess."
He stared at me, clearly confused and disbelieving.
"You are one of the strongest Gi's I have ever encountered. The level of power you have at your command is reserved for elders. Do not lie to me, Oraia, I am..." he trailed off, the sentence unfinished. "I can tell," he said, rather weakly, instead.
"I'm not lying, Theo. I have no idea what you are. I haven't a clue what I have become. Just that you can make fire out of nothing, make me feel things that are so untrue," - and OK, so that was a lie, I did have feelings for Theo, but he didn't need to know that - "and you clearly want me to leave the city. I can talk to plants and make them do things, but obviously my control is not perfect, otherwise you'd still be hanging from vines."
"You are not an Alchemist. You are an Ekmetalleftis. An Athanatos," he concluded. I hadn't heard the first foreign word before, but the trees had whispered the second. And as to Alchemist, what the hell?
"I need your help," I whispered and watched his face shut down.
"You ask too much, Casey. Surely you know who I am. I would be within my rights to take your head. Right here. Right now."
"Please, Theo," I pleaded. "If you had any feelings for me over the past year, please help me figure this out."
He was kneeling beside me in an instant, his hand at my throat. There was no burning this time, and a part of me wanted to believe it was because he couldn't stand to see me hurt like that again. His response last night led me to think that, but could I truly believe it?
"You wish to rub in how easily you tricked me?" he growled low and soft. More threatening than if he had yelled. "For over a year I believed you to be human. I believed you to be someone you are not. You are good, Gi, why make the mistake of believing I care?"
At his hurtful words the vines wrapped around his wrists and arms immediately. He fought against them, struggled to remain at my throat. He almost won.
But with one last growl he was wrenched away. I blinked several times, sucked in much needed air, and when my eyes focused again Theo was standing in the middle of a pile of charred remains. The smell of burnt leaves assailed my nose. The sight of blackened twigs and patches of ash seared my brain. I stared at him, horrified. He'd burned the vines to a crisp to get out.
I staggered to my feet, planning on letting him have a piece of my mind. But I didn't last long, my body refused to obey my commands. My knees hit the concrete with a cringe-worthy thud.
"Crap," I muttered and frantically wiped away tears. I was just so tired of it all.
Theo watched on impassively, his face a staunch mask of blankness. The only evidence that he was affected by my sorry state was the tiniest glow of gold to eyes. Then he surprised me by saying softly, gently even, "You need to leave the city tonight, Casey. I find myself reluctant to watch idly as one of my Guard slices through your neck. Leave now and spare me that."
"Spare you that?" I asked with a choked incredulous snort.
"I am the one you have deceived," he pointed out reasonably. "You knew who you were toying with from the start. I would not have entertained you for so long, had I an inkling. I have every right to take your head."
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I somehow managed to get to my feet on those last words, and advance on him before he could react. My finger thrust into his chest.
"You've already mentioned that little titbit. How about some originality? Like telling me what the fuck is happening to me! What am I?"
The trees started wailing, the branches thrashing around in the still night air. Loud creaks and moans, interspersed with the crystal-like shattering of the leaves as they agitatedly danced in the air. The earth rumbled beneath our feet, both off us losing our balance. Before we toppled over completely Theo grabbed me about the waist and leapt up on to the steps of the house. They buckled, he swore in Greek, and then he promptly threw me inside.
The door slamming behind him shut out some of the noise, but the earth was making plaster on the walls rain down. The house shifting on top of all that loose soil.
"If you destroy my house, Casey Eden, I will lock you in a concrete dungeon and feed off you for eternity. Fuck the rules! I will make you suffer my influence, I will make you beg for release. And I will never, ever let you near a plant again!" The last was roared, either in an effort to be overheard above the noises the house was now making, or just because he was fuming mad.
I cowered a little. I couldn't help it. He was impressive standing there; infuriated, beautiful. Unnaturally magnificent.
"Say please," I managed to whisper. God knows where this courage was coming from, but Theo seemed to bring out the worst - or best - in me.
Somehow he heard my strained voice through the incredibly loud noise though. He stared at me a moment, then shook his head from side to side.
"What the fuck are you?" he asked incredulously.
"That's what I'd like to know?" I threw back, but made the earth slow its movements to just a tremor. I wanted the reminder of what I could do present in this hallway we stood within.
"You really don't know?" he asked, but I think the question was rhetorical.
The earth settled once I saw he wasn't coating me in fire or doing anything else to indicate I was screwed right now. He just stared at me, as though I was a freak. A huff of a laugh came out of my mouth.
The Tempting Touch Of Fire (Elemental Awakening, Book 1) Page 5