Seared by Desire

by Jennifer T. Alli

  “You’re mad. Lord Lucian will kill you.”

  The man’s eyes wandered back to the clock and his smirked widened. “By now Lucian is dead.”

  Sara gasped, shooting to her feet. “What are you talking about? Lucian's just gone out with Russell, what have you done?”

  “I have done nothing but Lord William will have dispatched with him by now. Now, come with us.”

  Her flame was rising, her control slipping as her emotions began to get out of hand. Lucian can’t be dead, he can’t be. I won’t let him leave me like that. “I’m going nowhere with you and when Lucian returns, and he will, he’s going to hurt you.”

  “Even if Lucian were to somehow escape from Lord William and make his way back here, we will not be here, neither will you and neither will anybody else.”

  A dagger whistled through the air, missing Gareth’s face by mere millimetres. He turned slightly, eyeing the blade embedded in the wall with disgust. “This means war.”

  Harsh laughter rent the air, “You act as though we ever stopped.”

  “A mistake I’m going to rectify. Immediately.” He moved so quickly he looked like a blur to the naked eye. One minute the Malachite was laughing, confidently assured of his victory and in the next second Gareth’s blade was embedded deep in his chest. The laughter died as he coughed blood, the red droplets dripping down Gareth’s cheeks. “Lord Lucian lives.” He thrust the blade deeper. “The same however cannot be said of you and soon it won’t apply to your friends either.” He pulled the blade free and the man crumpled to the ground.

  As though Gareth’s actions had been a signal, fights erupted between the two sides, spreading like wildfire until the whole tavern was filled with the sounds of battle. At first it was simply steel on steel but as the noise quickly escalated loud battle cries joined the throng followed by the unmistakable sounds of people dying.

  Sara stood, her body rooted to the spot, transfixed by the wild savagery before her. Pulled from her state of frozen shock by a body colliding with her own, she found herself staring at the ceiling. Rough hands lifted her to her feet and she instinctively began to struggle, the fire within her rising.

  “Calm yourself Lady Sara, Commander Gareth told me to take you away from the fighting.”

  Wrenching herself from his grip, she let her flames wash over her, encasing her body in a protective shield. “And why should I believe anything you have to say?” she screamed, struggling to be heard over the noise.

  “Lady Sara please believe me. There is no time for doubt, you must escape.”

  The tavern was becoming increasingly crowded, bodies pushing against her before pulling back when their flesh burned. Her eyes were drawn to the door, a frown appearing on her face when she saw more Malachites forcing their way inside.

  “That isn’t going to happen now,” she remarked ruefully. “We can’t escape and I wouldn’t leave with you anyway. If we both make it through this alive and I find you were telling the truth, please accept my sincerest apologies.”

  “It is an honour to serve the Lady of Light.”

  His words struck a chord with her. No Malachite would know of her display of power, Lucian hadn’t allowed the messenger to return to William's side and he’d been guarded by Gareth himself. The stranger, whoever he was, was telling the truth. Before she could form an apology, a knife sank deep into his shoulder. He roared in anger, ripping the dagger from his body and throwing himself into the melee.

  More bodies pressed against her and she could feel her anger rising. The peace talks were a ruse and had been from the first. The Malachites had taken advantage of Lucian's kindness and his desire for peace and were trying to kill him; they wanted to separate her from him. It was unacceptable. Gareth had mocked her for being different to other fire elementals but as her thoughts churned and her anger rose, she felt herself becoming more and more similar to the people she’d left behind. No one tried to take something from a fire elemental, especially not someone as special to her as Lucian without facing dire consequences. Her flames rose, expanding past her skin as they became hotter and more intense. Her eyes were drawn to the tavern door, to the Malachites struggling to enter and cause more harm and her anger instantly found an outlet. Summoning her flame, she created a wall of fire, her outstretched hand pushing the wall back and forcing those nearest to retreat. Angrily she walked over to Gareth, a path forming instantly when people were confronted with the intensity of her flame.

  “Gareth,” she called.

  He hacked wildly at the opponent in front of him, cutting through skin, bone and sinew to easily dispatch of the man. “Lady Sara,” he gasped, turning around to face her. “What are you doing here? I told Owen to take you to safety.”

  “I want to help Gareth.”

  “If something happens to you Lord Lucian will kill me.” He swung his sword almost carelessly behind himself, slashing away at an attacker that had appeared behind him.

  “Nothing is going to happen to me. Gareth, I want you to take your men to safety. This is clearly a trap, more and more Malachites are trying to get in and soon we’ll be outnumbered. Most of the army didn’t spend the night here so our forces are divided; if you want to win you need to regroup. Fall back, have someone find Lucian and then I know you can win.”

  His expression was pensive. “What are you planning to do? Are you going to kill these people?”

  “You know I can’t, I won’t kill them Gareth but I’ll trap them for you, weaken them for you.” A sword was swung at her head but a simple glance from her cerulean eyes had the steel melting, her assailant’s hands blistering and burning as the heat moved through his skin. “I don’t know your men, you do. Go, find Lucian.”

  “You’re very brave Lady Sara. Thank you.”

  “Just find Lucian, make sure he’s okay.”

  He nodded. “Men, fall back!” he bellowed. “To me!”

  There was a moment of confusion before the vampires rushed into action, following their commander’s orders and retreating to his position. Sara glanced at Gareth who nodded in confirmation of the plan. She let her power wash over her, creating a ring of fire around Gareth and Lucian's men, protecting them from any further malachite aggression. The orange flames at the door heated to a deep blue and screams assaulted her ears as she pushed the flames back, forcing the Malachites out of the doorway and back out into the street. Her heart twisted in her chest at the sounds but she forced herself to keep up the assault, hardening herself against their screams with thoughts of Lucian and their desire to hurt him. The flames rose, the fire engulfing the doorway and reaching out with greedy tendrils of flame to other areas of the tavern, pulling whoever came into its reach to their downfall. Sara’s face contorted in horror as it became apparent that she wasn’t the only one maintaining the flames. Seraphina was rising, the sound of so many tortured screams music to her ears.

  Feast! she screamed in triumph, struggling desperately to take the reins of power from a frantic Sara.

  Stop! You’ll hurt Lucian's people. You can’t do this!

  No. Time to feast.

  “Gareth!” she screamed, extinguishing the fire around him and his men.

  Lucian's men took advantage of the opportunity she had made for them, running for the door to gather reinforcements. He turned to her, shepherding the last of his men out of the tavern and into the night. “You have to get Lucian!” She fell to her knees, wrapping her arms around her body as the pain mounted. Her head was throbbing and she felt herself becoming increasingly lightheaded as her body was pushed to its limits, her mind clouded by the pain. Clearly concerned for his Lady’s welfare, Gareth took an instinctive step towards her. “No! Don’t come near me. Just find Lucian. Please, you have to bring him here otherwise the city will burn. Please, find him. He’s the only one that can stop me.”

  Gareth hesitated at the threshold, clearly torn between fulfilling Sara’s wishes and trying to protect her from whatever it was that was hurting her but the decisi
on was taken out of his hands when a wall of fire appeared behind him. He rushed towards the door as the fire at his back singed his skin. He turned back to look at the tavern, the instant cool night air washing over his skin and his eyes widened in horrified fascination. The entire tavern was aflame, the door they had used to escape going up in smoke with a resounding boom, putting an end to any ideas he had of returning inside to retrieve his Lady. The fighting continued outside regardless of the spreading flame and though he would have liked nothing more than to join the melee and destroy the enemy himself, Sara’s words would let him find no peace. From the displays of power she’d shown whilst amongst them he had no doubts that she could burn the city down around them and though she expressed a desire for no conflict, there was something strange about Lucian's bride. They had all caught glimpses of it but now he suspected they were being exposed to whatever it was Lucian hid about his bride in full. With no chance of going back, he could only move forward. His decision made, Gareth ran, putting all of his skills as a tracker to use in the hunt for Lucian.

  *****

  Lucian had known from the beginning that a fight against William could bring out the worst in him and he was right. The monster, which he had so studiously tried to keep hidden, was out in full force. The sound of steel upon steel quickly became boring to Lucian in his current state and so he resorted to using his hands to break necks, to tear flesh from bone before sinking his fangs deep into his dying victims and drinking their quickly fading blood. There was no distinction between ally and foe, only more bodies before him to be torn apart and more unwilling donors whose blood he was desperate to cover himself in.

  Through the madness of his bloodlust he often saw the whites of William's extremely wide eyes, sheer terror reflected back in his grey gaze. Perhaps it was because they hadn’t fought against each other in years, perhaps that was why he was so shocked at Lucian's transformation from civilised man to vengeful beast. It didn’t matter, he was going to kill him anyway, he was going to kill them all. He stalked towards William covered from head to toe in blood, tattered flesh and the bile bodies released when on the verge of death and the larger man took a terrified step back. There was a sword in his hand, he couldn’t remember why but the sword was important and he had kept a tight grip on it throughout the fighting so when William thrust a body at him it seemed more than natural to swing his weapon, the sharp blade neatly slicing the man’s head from his shoulders.

  “Lucian,” William pleaded, his voice trembling.

  Who was Lucian? He wondered as he continued stalking his prey, his mind amok with fantasies of slowly peeling William's flesh, drinking the blood that appeared before tearing the limb from his body. He practically purred at the idea.

  “Lucian, please,” William continued frantically. “I want to talk. I understand now just how much stronger than me you are. Let us have peace.”

  While he liked the man’s deferential attitude, the idea of peace made him angry and his grip on the sword tightened. He didn’t want peace. Peace was boring. When there was peace he couldn’t do as he wished. Any intentions he might have had about drawing out William's demise quickly died. He wanted more blood and mayhem to feast on.

  “Lord Lucian!” Gareth called frantically as he approached the scene.

  Again with Lucian? Who is he? Lucian turned blood red eyes on the commander of his army, his mind debating which man to attack first, the man at his back or the man in front of him. He quickly decided on the man before him, there was something the large man had said to anger him and though he couldn’t remember what it was, he knew he was angry. He shrugged carelessly, continuing to stalk ever closer to William, it didn’t matter the order he attacked, both men would be dead before daybreak.

  “Lord Lucian,” Gareth called again, hacking away at all who stood in his path as he continued to approach his Lord. “Lord Lucian, please you must return with me, there is something wrong with Lady Sara, she needs your help.”

  Sara, he mused through the haze of bloodlust. The name sounded more familiar than Lucian and the instant he heard it an image of a woman with flaming red hair entered his mind. The memory of her hair, so different and yet so similar to the colour of blood, so soft to the touch wracked his body with a lust that was completely different to the bloodlust of battle. Her name whispered through the mad corridors of his mind and the taste of her blood suddenly rushed to the front of his thoughts, pushing out all thoughts of battle. He wanted more; he wanted to sink his fangs deep into her flesh and drink and drink and drink. The stolen tastes had only made him crave her all the more. Even as he thought it, other memories fought to make themselves known. Sara’s smiling face; her dreadful methods of teasing him; the joy in her laughter…the pained expression that washed over her face when Seraphina was on the verge of erupting.

  Seraphina! Realisation quickly dawned on Lucian as he clawed his way back to the surface, forcing the monster’s destructive desires back to where they belonged, hidden deep beneath his skin.

  When he was once again himself, he briefly scanned his surroundings, unsurprised to find he was surrounded by the shredded remains of William's warriors. He could tell without even having to look that he was coated in blood and bile, both drying quickly on his skin. He’d tried to warn William but the other man was stubborn and had refused to see the inevitable outcome of his rash actions. Another quick scan told him that William had managed to flee in the time it had taken him to regain control of himself. He cursed but turned his thoughts away from trying to capture him, Sara was in trouble.

  “Gareth, tell me what happened,” he demanded.

  “We were ambushed my Lord. The Malachites outnumbered us and Lady Sara volunteered to trap them while creating a path for us to escape and bring reinforcements. We had almost all left the tavern when she called out to me in pain. Her fires seemed to be getting out of control, burning everything and everyone it touched. I tried to go back for her but she forced me out telling me to bring you to her or the city would go up in flames.”

  “Seraphina,” he cursed. “Gareth, you will take me to her.”

  “Of course my Lord.”

  “Russell you will come with me and when I have ensured Sara’s safety we will talk, until that time Gareth will watch over you.”

  “I expect nothing less my Lord.”

  Though confused by the strange command, Gareth said nothing allowing Lucian to lift both himself and Russell from the ground as he took to the sky, flying quickly back to the place where he had left Sara and his men. It was not difficult to find the tavern from the air, the plume of grey smoke could be seen even from a far distance and within minutes they were all standing once again in the middle of battle.

  Lucian's eyes were instantly drawn to the burning remains of the tavern, his attention so focused on the place where his bride rested that the buildings burning around them didn’t even register in his mind. There was no hesitation as he unsheathed his sword and sliced away at all who stood between him and his goal.

  “Lord Lucian, no!!!” Vampires all around began rushing towards him as he approached the door but their attempts to stop him were futile. He raced into the burning building, ignoring the flames that licked dangerously at his clothes.

  The acrid smell of smoke and burned bodies made him cough and he placed a hand over his mouth and nose, walking further into the tavern. He quickly found Sara, lying in the centre of burned bodies of the dead and dying. Her body felt abnormally cold and his heart stuttered, missing a beat at the idea that she was dead.

  “Sara,” he called, shaking her lightly, desperate to rouse her. “Sara, wake up.” He shook her with more force and gradually he felt himself grow warm, the heat from her body seeping into his.

  Her blue eyes opened, the lids heavy and drooping. “Lucian.”

  “I’m here Sara.”

  “I was worried for a minute that you wouldn’t come.”

  “I’ll always come when you call me.”

  Her eyes wa
ndered from him, taking in the destroyed tavern and the dead bodies littered around her. “I’ve killed people Lucian,” she sobbed, tears rolling down her dirty cheeks. “I did it again, I killed people. Innocent people.” The flames were receding even as her emotions got out of hand, the heat simply transferring into Lucian's cool body.

  “These people weren’t innocent, they were trying to capture you and to kill me and my people. I’ve killed people too Sara, just look at me.”

  “But the fire must have spread. How far? How many more have I killed?”

  “I got here quickly Sara. If you can control your flames now then no innocents will die, I promise.”

  “Really?” He nodded, yes. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she pulled the fires back to herself, taking their destructive energy into her body and letting it pass harmlessly into Lucian. The fires died down even as Sara’s grip on consciousness faded, her eyes sliding shut as the strength in her body slipped away.

  “Sara!” Lucian coughed, the smoke from her flames beginning to hurt his lungs. He shook her body roughly, determined that she wouldn’t slip away from him so soon after he had found her.

  Sara’s eyes fluttered open weakly, a tired smile forming on her lips. “It’s okay Lucian, I’m just tired, please let me sleep.”

  “You can’t leave me Sara.”

  “I’m not leaving you Lucian, I just want to close my eyes for a little while. This isn’t the fire that will kill me, trust me if it were I wouldn’t be talking to you now. I promise Lucian. Just let me sleep, let me pretend that I haven’t done all of this, that I didn’t cause this much damage, kill this many people…” Her voice trailed off as her eyes closed again but this time Lucian let her fade.

  Though the fires had died down the building was a hazard, the burned remains of wooden beams likely to fall on them at any moment. He scooped her small body from the ground, cradling her close to his chest as he walked out into the night. The sight of battle only served to anger Lucian, his grip on Sara momentarily tightening. He had risked his bride because of the Malachites and their ambitions for power. They had tried to take her from him, endangered her life and made her wreak damage she would only hurt herself because of. He placed a chaste kiss to her temple before lowering her to the ground, shrugging off his smouldering jacket and covering her small frame. The monster had been satisfied and now the man, the leader, was out in full force seeking retribution for his bride’s tears.