by Kim Faulks
“Not yet.” Fire lashed my chest as I took a step closer.
The Guardian’s chest was still. The gray pallor now a shade toward white…but the closer I came, the closer I felt the faint flicker of life deep inside. “He’s still there…hurry.”
I wrenched my gaze toward the counter and stilled on the wide bore needle with the stainless steel cylinder. “The needle…give it to me.”
Parry stilled, and shook his head. Sonfabitch was gonna to fight me to the end…must everything be a damn battle? “Parry, give me the damn needle…”
The stubborn damn bastard never moved. “He’s gone, Amaris. Let him be…”
“You want me to just let him die?” I lunged for the needle and snatched it from the counter. “You know the kind of heat that’ll bring on us? You want to mess with the Guardian, Xael? ‘Cause I sure as fuck don’t.”
I gripped the edge of my singlet and yanked. Blood splatter dried the fabric in hard ugly patches. There was barely a day now where I didn’t wear someone’s blood. I wrenched my head to the still form on the bed…but I refused to wear his…
I gripped the cylinder and straightened my arm, needle aimed for the center.
“If you miss,” Parry whispered. “Jesus, Amaris…if you miss…”
“Then I won’t fucking miss.” The snarl burned, but there was a tremble in my hand.
Christ…please don’t miss…
The steel warmed under my grip. I took one last glance at the Guardian’s slack face and ground my jaw. One hand met the other, fingers slipped into place. I focused on the tip of the needle—took a breath—and drove the tip into my chest.
Steel carved flesh, nipping bone as I bore down.
“Jesus fucking Christ!” Parry’s voice boomed.
I tried to move, tried to do anything but stare at the thing in my chest. Numb fingers slipped, fluttering like a bird as I reached for the steel plunger.
No time…I had no time.
The thunder raced, filling my head until the deafening sound was all I could hear.
“Amaris!”
I lifted my head to stare at the blur. “Can’t work my fingers, Parry.”
Terror filled his eyes as he dropped his gaze to the barb in my heart. His hands trembled. He wiped them on his shirt and reached for the end.
Fire lashed my chest as blood slipped. A hiss escaped around the needle and the steel cylinder bubbled. “Please hurry.”
“I got you, love,” Parry muttered and gripped the end of the plunger. The cylinder buckled as he dragged the end back.
Heartsblood seeped from the wound as I gripped the barrel and yanked. Crimson raced, burning as the bead of blood pooled and slipped away.
“Jesus, Amaris,” Parry whispered as the steel cylinder bubbled and buckled.
There was no going back now. I gripped the needle and stumbled forward. “Move the damn sheet, Parry.”
My second gripped the fabric and yanked. I couldn’t focus, couldn’t get the speed. Please… The plea echoed as I blinked, found the swell of muscle over his chest and stabbed.
Steel bowed under flesh. I held on as my heartsblood trickled free and stabbed the plunger, driving what little I could into his heart.
It wasn’t enough…not anywhere near enough. I hit the end and waited. There was nothing…not a rise to his chest. Not a flutter of his heart. Not a breath. Flesh sizzled as I drew the needle free.
“Amaris…” Parry muttered. “It’s okay love.”
But it wasn’t okay. It wasn’t anywhere near okay. He came to me…he came to me. His hand trembled as Parry reached for my arm. But his fingers never touched my skin, only hovered in the air. I blinked, gripped the bed, and lifted my gaze.
He couldn’t touch me…couldn’t meet my eyes, only stare at my chest before he whispered. “The men…”
I swallowed and clawed my shirt, dragging the fabric over the top of my breast. “Of all the fucking times, Parry, you’re worried about my honor now?”
Heat flashed in his eyes as he growled. “I’m always worried about your damn honor, woman.”
The sting of anger swept away my last words. My blood blended with the melted steel and raced like liquid mercury, burning the Guardian’s flesh as it fell.
The hiss of fabric followed as the drip carved all the way through the thin mattress. But it was the Guardian’s chest I stared at. No life…no rise…no nothing. “Come on, please.”
Save him… The need consumed me. Save him. I dropped my head to blood smeared hands. All I did was take…all I did was kill. My past flanked me like my hound. Killer, it whispered. No good…never any good…Don’t deserve happiness…don’t deserve peace.
“Shut the hell up,” I growled. “You just shut the hell up.”
The words sank deep, finding the soft parts inside me, the parts I kept hidden. My knees shuddered. I straightened, locking them in place. I wouldn’t fall…not now—not ever.
“Amaris…”
I wrenched my head up at the whisper to the still body on the bed. A spark flared under flesh and bone. My breath stilled, locked knees barely held as I leaned in. The orange came to life, tender at first, until the flare caught and engulfed his heart.
My world narrowed to that fire… I fisted the sheet as the light rippled out, burning like a nebula, one filled with fire and flames.
“God damn,” Parry muttered.
A breath caught behind me, and the sound echoed across the room.
But I couldn’t turn my head, could look at anything else but the throb of life inside the Guardian’s chest, a throb that echoed in mine. The flames beckoned, calling…whispering, urging me closer.
My fingers skimmed his thigh catching his trousers. Flesh…that was what I wanted. His body shuddered as I shoved his shirt aside. My fingers spread, dancing over the hard swell of his chest and stilled. His nipples hardened, and the hard rise caught the rhythm, and hit my palm.
So beautiful…A hard body…a warrior’s body. I licked my lips as life bloomed in his pale flesh, turning pink under my fingers.
Someone cleared their throat. But the sound was so far removed from where I stood—another place—another time.
Not here, not now. It was just us…
Just us as gold blended with the yellow fire in his chest, and the light raced, following my touch.
We were almost one…almost one. My heart sped. One heart, one pulse. My heartsblood blended with the Guardian’s magic, taking me down…down…down.
The splash of something rose in my mind. A vision of a beast—big, hulking. Scales caught the light, blinding me with a violet hue before he was gone and disappeared into the dark.
I waited for him…for the mighty Dragon to rise.
I waited for the rage and the destruction—all those stories…all those whispers—they were feared, they were honored. They were akin to a God…and yet—I touched his flesh, searching for a glimmer and found nothing—in this moment he could’ve been human.
I pulled away, leaving him alone.
A hiss escaped from the Guardian’s lips, and a low moan followed. I lifted my gaze to those perfect lips and felt desire flutter deep. I wanted to taste his mouth, and take his breath. I wanted more…more than flesh, more than fire.
Lean over… the urge raced. Taste him.
He looks bad, Amaris. Motor’s words filled my head. Even if he made it…
This was more than a spell—more than a binding. I stared as my blood became his. Blood to blood, soul to soul…this healing asked for more than words—it asked for eternity.
The Guardian was bound to me—a quake raced—and it seemed now I was tied to him.
“Um, Amaris,” Parry murmured.
I yanked my gaze to his reddening cheeks. He glanced to me, then to the Guardian and found a spot on the mattress. “Might be best if I send for a healer now. You’ve done all you can.”
A growl resounded in the back of my throat, soft and dangerous, drawing my beast to the surface. Mine, it whisp
ered. My kill…my blood…mine. My second flinched and kept still. I took a step, stalking…flanking.
“Amaris…it’s me, Parry.”
His name shattered the hold and the world came rushing back. I looked at my second, to the man I trusted with my own life, and then to the Guardian and felt that dark call of desire once more. “A healer. Yeah.”
There was a power between us now. A calling that moved deeper than the blood in our veins…a calling that moved within me. His eyes fluttered, lids opened. He found me, amongst all the chaos in this room he found me. Violet flames roared, blending to red like an inferno.
My feet moved…hands reached… I needed to touch him, needed to find his warmth, and steal his body—or was it the other way around?
“Someone get a damn healer,” Parry snarled. “Don’t just stand around gawking you damn fools.”
The Guardian took one hard breath and closed his eyes. I glanced to the wound in his side and stiffened. Black edges turned red, jagged hunks of flesh smoothed, knitting and mending before my eyes. But the process was too slow, too weak.
Not enough blood…the thought filled me. I didn’t give him enough. His chest rose and fell. Flesh was pink and perfect. There was life in his body and soul, in his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured as rushed, light steps rebounded along the tunnel racing toward me. “I wish I could give you more.”
“Thank you.” The whisper was just a hiss…
The bed blurred, the room swayed. My damn knees buckled, but hard hands were there holding me up when I couldn’t stand anymore.
“Damn stubborn woman. You pushed too hard, gave too much. When are you going to learn, hey?” Parry growled in my ear as he half led, half carried me from the infirmary.
My feet dragged, bones felt heavy. I was weighed down by this night, weighed down by this world…tears came now, carving a slick trail down my cheeks. I could fall here. I could fall in his arms and he wouldn’t say a thing.
My head drooped, hitting his shoulder. Sure hands guided me, leaving long enough to shove aside the curtain and usher me into the dark. “I stink of him, Parry,” I whispered. “I wear his blood and I stink of him.”
He stiffened, and I caught the turn of his head. “You do not stink of him, Amaris. He carried it all on his own. We make our own fate in this world, and Heron made his. Good or bad, child. His fate was his own doing, and not yours.”
I let him carry me, let him ease me down to the thin mattress, let him kneel at my feet. Laces were tugged, boots slipped free. I needed to bathe the filth of this night from my skin. But I couldn’t, not now…not when the world was crashing down. “I don’t want to be like him.”
The words slipped from my lips, and for a second the room was silent.
“You won’t, you can’t. You carry too much of your mother inside you for that to ever happen. Sleep now. I’ll be right outside. I’m here for you, child. I’m right here.”
“Parry…”
“Yeah?”
The words bruised my throat. “I wish you were my father.”
Silence…cold, dark silence until two small, husky words filled the space. “Me too.”
He was gone then, leaving behind the thud of his boots and the whisper of the curtain as it dropped into place. But it didn’t matter…nothing mattered, not when the darkness was rising like a wave above me.
The Guardian’s face filled me as the wave of darkness hit, and those perfect words carried me away.
…Thank you…
5
Bastian
“You need to get out of here and leave him alone.”
The woman’s snarl slipped in, drawing me from the murky darkness to the light.
“He’s not a damn cushion. Stop poking him. Shoo, I tell you…shoo! Or I’ll march right up there and drag the Princess out of bed to deal with you!”
A hard jab came in the middle of my chest. I yanked open my eyes to stare into the murky light. Orange flames danced across the ceiling.
Not outside. The words filled me.
I wasn’t outside. I was somewhere else.
The hard jab came again, this time in my arm. I turned my head and stared into piercing blue eyes. The little girl gave a squeal and jumped backwards. “Poke me one more time,” I muttered. “And I’ll have to poke you back.”
She spun on her heel. Long blonde hair whipped behind her as she lunged for the wide skirt of a woman standing in the middle of the room. The woman wiped her hands on an apron tied to her front and stared at me with a mixture of fear and excitement.
She moved slow, kept her voice careful. “She was sure you were going to wake up and eat us all.”
I dropped my gaze as the little one peeked out from the gathered fabric. She reminded me of the chaos of home—children squealing, chasing each other from one end of our home to the other, while their mothers tried their best. I bared my teeth watching her eyes widen in fear, and in the softest voice I could find murmured. “Grrr…”
The little one jumped out from behind the doctor, and then took off like a rocket, tearing from the room and along the hall. A smirk spread across the woman’s face. “Not so scary after all.”
“Oh, I’m scary, but you should see my family. Evander will scare the pants off anyone, just you ask him to baby-sit before he’s had third cup of coffee…and Marcus…don’t get me started. I’m sure the Bloodletter is terrifying surrounded by screaming three-year-olds demanding one more ride on the moo cow’s back.”
She tried to hide a snigger. “Sounds like you’ve got yourself a handful.”
I eased my head against the mattress and closed my eyes. “It’s more like Hell really…just not as warm.”
Sweat ran in a bead along my temple. I reached up and felt the twinge along my side…but I wasn’t dead…I wasn’t anywhere near dead. I wrenched open my eyes and inhaled.
My lungs expanded. My heart throbbed. I dropped my hand to the side of the bed and pulled.
“Easy there. You’re not completely healed.”
Not completely healed?
I jerked at the words, stared at the flickering shadows on the wall as the room spun. The bite. I touched my side, prowling muscle through my shirt.
A savage ache flared, unseen fangs sank deep. The room darkened, footsteps rushed to my side.
“I said easy. Don’t take instructions that well, do you Guardian?”
I tried to lick my lips, tried to stop the world from spinning and muttered. “Not usually, no.”
“Figures.”
She gripped my arm and held me steady. “The bite.” I lifted my head to find beautiful brown eyes. “Please…tell me.”
Her voice was so soft, eyes imploring. “It’s healing, slowly. But it’s healing. You were in a bad way, Guardian, and the heartsblood was…the heartsblood was…”
I fumbled for her hand as another’s face filled my mind. Hard eyes, hard voice—uncaring, scathing…please, that voice whispered at the end…please be enough. “The heartsblood was what?”
“Powerful, beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. I don’t know the reaction it’ll have on you…or your…”
“My Dragon…”
Her grip stayed but her words left me. That was why the fear. That was why the apprehension. They were afraid of me, and not just me—they were afraid of the Catalyst.
I sank into the darkness of my mind, carving through familiar waters.
Are you there?
Quiet…nothing but cold…nothing but empty.
I sank deeper, down to where the rush of my thoughts faded into oblivion.
Catalyst…you there?
There was a splash…a ripple, somewhere far off in the distance. I reached for him, sending the faint touch of warmth, and he pulled away, sinking deeper into the cold.
It’s too hot for him. This place…this world—sweat dripped along my spine.
He wouldn’t survive…and neither would I.
Too hot. We weren’t made for the bowels
of Hell. I lifted my head to the shine of black on the ceiling and the glow along the walls. “Where are we?”
“In the tunnel. We’re safe, if that’s what you mean. Amaris…Amaris will protect us.”
Amaris! The boom of an old man tore through my head, and with the name her face filled me. Hard eyes, staring at the body on the ground while cars blazed around her. Flames raged in her eyes, burning like the damn sun.
My pulse sped with the image, heart gave a twitch…I winced and reached for my chest—the damn muscle twitched inside…thundering, speeding. I couldn’t tear myself away from the image as she gripped the knife in one hand and slowly walked toward me.
The sun…the fucking sun lived in her eyes.
She was a damn firestorm of red and yellow and orange all rolled into one.
My damn heart…thundering, tightening. Heat flashed, carving a line across the muscle. “Heart attack.” I wrenched my head up to the doctor. “I’m having a heart attack.”
“No,” she murmured and touched my shoulder. “You’re okay, just breathe.”
Air wouldn’t move in my lungs. My chest was on fire, lashing down my damn veins. I turned my hand over as the horse in my chest picked up speed…galloping…galloping…
“You’re okay,” she murmured.
But the gentle touch on my shoulder gave me no comfort. Her eyes widened as a spark of fire coursed like a shooting star along my vein. Pink skin brightened, turning yellow, and then red. The healer wasn’t here for comfort…she was damage control…for me. “What…what did you give me?”
Her hand fell from my shoulder. Steps stuttered as she moved away…and the fire…Jesus fucking Christ—the fire.
“What in the Hell did you give me!”
The roar rebounded, tearing along the hall. I shoved to my feet and took a step. Fear shone bright in her eyes. I could see my own reflection. Violet and red flames consumed my eyes. I was the monster…I was the fucking monster they all feared.
“She gave you her blood,” the healer whispered, backing toward the doorway. “It was the only way for you to survive.”
Her blood…Hellhound blood.