Flying Through Fire (Dark Desires)

by Nina Croft

  “I love you,” she said again. “But I won’t go away with you. There’s too much at stake for me to run and hide. I would never be able to live with myself.”

  He kept his lips clamped shut. He had no clue what to say.

  “I want to be part of this world. I want to make it a better place.”

  He whirled around then. “You’ll die trying.”

  “Then I’ll die. Better than living a coward.”

  The anger rose up inside him, pushing at those barriers. He didn’t want to feel anger any more than he wanted to feel guilt…or love. What did she know about dying? She was so young. And he’d seen so much death. He heard again the screams of his people as they burned.

  He had to go. He couldn’t stay and face the inevitable failure. If that made him a coward so be it. He’d opened his mouth to tell her when someone hammered on the door. At the same time an alarm screeched to life.

  Candy lifted up her comm unit, pressed a button, then shook her wrist. “It’s not working.”

  Thorne crossed the room and peered into the viewer. Devlin stood outside, Rico behind him. He pressed his palm to the panel, and the door slid open.

  “Bastard.” Devlin stalked through the door, stepped toward him, drew back his fist, and punched him on the nose. The bone crunched and blood flooded his face.

  “What the hell?”

  “She’s gone. What did you tell her?”

  He shook his head, wiping the blood from his face with the back of his hand. “Saffira?” Why would she leave without Devlin? She was supposed to take them all with her. Take them all to safety. “I told her to go.”

  “What else? What the fuck else did you tell her?”

  Oh, Christ. “I told her that her friends would never be safe while she stayed.”

  “She saw you as a goddamn father. She loved you, needed you, you pathetic piece of shit. And you just wallowed in your own fucking misery.” Devlin turned, hands fisted at his side.

  “What has she done? Tell me.”

  “She’s gone to give herself up to them. And they’ll kill her. They’ll fucking burn her.”

  His mind was whirling, swelling, threatening to burst from the confines of his skull. Flames flickered on the edge of his consciousness, and sparks seared the air all around him.

  “Madre de dios,” he vaguely heard the vampire swear. “Get a fucking grip, before you—”

  “Leave him alone.” Candy. Then soft hands gripped his shoulders. “Thorne, come back. You’ll kill us all. You’ll kill me.”

  He could do this. Slowly he clamped down on the thoughts swirling in his head. The temperature dropped. The red haze cleared from his brain. He’d done it.

  He released his breath.

  He was in control.

  He opened his eyes and found them all staring at him. Candy closed her eyes briefly, then released her hold, her hands dropping to her side as she slumped. Rico appeared relieved. Devlin still looked pissed.

  Thorne gathered his thoughts. Saffira had always believed the survival of the whole world was down to her. “I wanted her to leave, to go somewhere safe, to take you all with her. I didn’t think—”

  “You know her better than anyone,” Devlin interrupted, his tone filled with scorn. “Did you really think she would run and hide? There are thousands of people dying out there. Of course she fucking wouldn’t.” Devlin turned to Rico. “And don’t you look so fucking smug. You’ve gotten what you wanted.”

  Rico raised an eyebrow. “I have? How do you work that out?”

  “You wanted him back with us. Well, he’s fucking back. Whether he likes it or not.”

  “I’m back.” He’d known it from the moment he’d heard Saffira was gone. With the acknowledgment, the cracks that had formed with Candy’s scorn widened and his barricades crumbled. His brain filled with a wild outpouring of grief for his people who had burned. But there would be time for grieving later. He pushed the feelings down, locked them up tight. He needed to focus.

  “Tell me,” he said. “What did she say? What has she done? Why aren’t you following her?”

  “She’s giving herself up to save us. To save you. Because you won’t fucking lift a finger to help your fucking self.”

  Rico shook his head. “Not helping.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It seems Saffira took the shuttle Devlin had prepared for you. But not before sabotaging the ship so we couldn’t follow, and blowing the docking bay doors so we can’t take the shuttles out. And the communication systems are all down.”

  “How long do we have?”

  “Four hours, according to Fergal.”

  “And she’s been gone how long?”

  “Only fifteen minutes or so.”

  “Then let’s get after her.” He headed for the door and out into the corridor. He decided against the transporter bubble. If she’d messed with the ship’s systems, then that would be a vulnerable point. She presumably wouldn’t have done anything that would endanger their lives, though while they were land bound that didn’t limit her much. Saffira knew the ship better than anyone. When she’d used a wormhole to go back to Earth, she had taken the plans to the Blood Hunter with her so she would be able to help them build the ships to take the Chosen Ones, Earth’s refugees, to a new life.

  She’d planned to get to Earth a few years before they needed to leave, but her control had been nonexistent and she’d ended up in the Middle Ages. She’d made the decision to stay, and so she’d had five hundred years to study the plans. And much of that time—certainly the latter years—had been spent working out ways to sabotage the ship.

  But he had an advantage. She’d probably presumed that he would do nothing to stop her. Hell, maybe she’d even believed he’d be glad for her to sacrifice herself.

  He slowed his footsteps and turned to speak. “You do know that what she’s doing may very well solve the problem? With Saffira dead, the dragons will likely return to their own universe.”

  “It’s not going to fucking happen,” Devlin snapped. “I don’t care if it’s the one chance to save the whole fucking universe. We don’t sacrifice Saffira.”

  “Of course we don’t,” Candy said.

  Thorne nodded. He’d just wanted to make sure they were all thinking the same way. “Good.”

  “Besides,” Rico said, “there are still a couple more abominations. You think they’ll ignore Tannis and Skylar’s existence?”

  “Maybe.”

  “And maybe not. It’s irrelevant. Tannis will kill us all if we let one of her precious crew die.”

  “Never going to happen,” Devlin growled, pushing ahead and manually opening the doors for the engine rooms. This place was Devlin’s baby.

  Thorne followed him in, Rico behind him, Candy bringing up the rear. She avoided looking at him. Was she shy after what they had done? He thought it unlikely. He tried to catch her eye, but she looked the other way.

  Probably as well. He was staying. At least for now. But only until they found Saffira.

  He had to put it from his mind for now. He needed to go after Saffira and stop her before she got within range of the dragons. Once they sensed her presence, they would be onto her. Thorne reached out with his mind, but she’d closed herself off to him.

  “Comm her,” Thorne said.

  “I’ve already tried. None of the comm systems are working.”

  “So what else has she done?”

  “Disabled just about all the systems.”

  “What about using the ship my mother and father came on?” Candy asked.

  “It wouldn’t catch up to her in time,” Devlin said. “The Blood Hunter’s faster, plus she has stealth mode and much greater fire power. Or she would have if she was functioning.” He slammed his fist into the wall and then swore.

  “Relax,” Thorne said.

  “Fuck off,” Devlin replied.

  “You need to focus,” Thorne said. “I want the thought-control back on.”

  “Is that wise?” Rico asked.


  “It doesn’t matter. It’s the only way we’ll get her moving fast enough.”

  Devlin crossed to a console and started hitting keys, swiping his hand over the monitor, muttering under his breath. After ten minutes, he swore, bashed his hand down on the console. “I can’t believe she did this.”

  Thorne could feel the panic rising inside him as the time passed. She’d done too good a job. He paced the room. He should be concentrating on coming up with a plan. What the hell would they do when they caught up with her? He’d presumed they could intercept, stop her from getting too close. And once they’d got to her, she’d see the errors of her ways—because if she didn’t then they would all die, and she was bright enough to realize that.

  Devlin was getting nowhere and was bristling with tension. Rico lounged against the wall, seemingly cool, but a tic jerked in his cheek.

  What if they didn’t reach her? She couldn’t die. She was the last of his people. The daughter of his heart.

  Maybe they should have taken the other ship. Had they made a mistake? But they would never have reached her in time. Then again, they weren’t going to anyway. The systems were totally unresponsive to whatever Devlin was doing.

  “Shit.” He had an idea. “Go get Fergal,” he said to Candy.

  She opened her mouth, then closed it again and hurried out of the room.

  “So how are you feeling?” Rico asked.

  He whirled around and stared at the vampire, eyes narrowed. “I’m feeling fine,” he ground out.

  “Well, keep that in mind if we get the thought-control back up. I’m guessing what you’re actually feeling right now is a mixture of guilt and rage, and do we really want the Blood Hunter picking that up?”

  “I said I’m fine.”

  “Hmm. I take it you and Candace…got together.”

  “Mind your own goddamned business.”

  “So much for post-coital bliss.”

  “Piss off.”

  “Will you stop winding him up,” Devlin said, “and do something useful.”

  “Like what?” Rico growled. “There’s not a lot we can do? The ship’s dead. You’re the fucking engineer. And Saffira’s your fucking woman—couldn’t you have kept her in control?”

  “Oh, yeah. That really works.”

  “Stop it, both of you,” Candy snapped, returning with Fergal at her back.

  “What do you need?” he asked.

  “Can you talk to the ship, get the thought-control back on line?”

  “Is that a good idea?”

  Jesus. Did no one fucking trust him to have a little control? “It’s the only idea. Do it.”

  Fergal held up his hands. “No problem.” He closed his eyes for a second, though Thorne could see the rapid movement behind his lids. They blinked open. “Done.”

  At that moment, the console in front of Devlin flashed on.

  “I’m seriously pissed that I didn’t think of that,” Rico muttered.

  They needed to get moving. Thorne closed his eyes, spoke to the ship, removed all the traps Saffira had set in place. Once he was sure she was safe, he told her to start the engines, and the Blood Hunter came to life beneath his feet.

  “Thank Christ,” Devlin muttered.

  Thorne hurried out and into the transporter bubble, the others close behind. “Bridge.”

  Daisy was already in the copilot’s seat. Rico threw himself into the pilot’s seat, Devlin taking the chair on the other side of him.

  Thorne held himself back from interfering. These three knew the ship better than he did.

  They were in the air within seconds. He gripped the back of a seat, the force nearly knocking him off his feet as the thrusters ignited and they headed into space. After a minute they levelled out.

  “Maximum speed,” Rico muttered.

  Would it be enough? Thorne turned to Fergal “Are you still tracking the dragons?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will we make it?”

  Fergal thought for a second. A frown formed between his brows, so it didn’t look like good news. “No. Even at maximum speed we won’t intercept her before she gets there.”

  Shit.

  There had to be a way.

  Thorne closed his eyes and searched through the ship’s systems for the safety overrides and switched them off. The ship shot forward, and across the room, Candy crashed to the floor and swore.

  Rico glanced over his shoulder. “Good move.” Then he turned to Devlin. “Will she hold together?”

  He shrugged. “She’d better.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Candy picked herself up from the floor and brushed herself off.

  Nobody seemed to have noticed her ignominious fall. Either that or they had more important things to think about. She sank into one of the seats at the edge of the room, where she could see everybody.

  Thorne paced the bridge, his wing tips quivering, a sure sign he was agitated.

  She was finding it hard to believe that they’d actually done it. Had sex. She’d been thinking about it for so long. And it had been fabulous, far better than she’d ever expected.

  And it hadn’t been enough.

  She felt restless, unsettled. But more than that, she was…miffed.

  Saffira had broken through to him, whereas Candy had given it everything she had and still failed. She’d told him she goddamned loved him, and he’d still been ready to walk away. Or run away.

  Though, in all honesty, Saffira had rather beaten her. Sacrificing your life went above and beyond. She liked Saffira, so she hoped they made it on time. But what would happen when they got there?

  She glanced again at Thorne, still pacing, then at the others. Devlin stared moodily into space. He had to be terrified, but it didn’t show. Rico was talking quietly to Daisy. Fergal sat with his eyes closed, no doubt doing some sort of cyborg thing.

  “Are we fast enough now?” Rico asked. “This is the best we can get out of her and I’m not sure how long she can maintain it.”

  Fergal blinked and gave a quick nod. “We might not beat her to the dragons, but we should intercept at the same time.”

  “Oh goody,” Rico murmured. “We get to play with the dragons.”

  They were all silent for a few minutes. She could feel the tension twisting into knots inside her. She’d told him she loved him.

  Did she?

  Or had it just been words to try and tie him to her? She studied him again, tried to imagine a world without Thorne, and failed. He’d always been larger than life to her, like some superhero. She’d had her intentions fixed on him since she’d learned what desire was. She couldn’t lose him now.

  Though, chances were they were all going to die. They’d survived dragon encounters so far by running as far and as fast as they could. But if Saffira was out there and determined to give herself up, then running wasn’t an option.

  They’d all burn.

  At least Angel and her parents were safe. They’d returned to their ship and were presumably still back on the planet. They’d be upset if she died.

  There had to be something they could do. She jumped to her feet. “We need a plan.”

  All eyes turned to her. Thorne stopped pacing.

  “Sounds like a great idea,” Rico drawled. “I’m open to suggestions.”

  God, they were all so negative. Wolf woke inside her and growled softly. Wolf didn’t want to die. “So, we have to presume we are going to get there the same time as Saffira?”

  Fergal nodded. “If we can maintain this speed.”

  “So we go in on stealth, sneak up on her, use the tractor beam to pull her in.”

  “Except she blew the tractor beam at the same time she blew the docking bay doors,” Devlin said. “It’s one system, and the whole thing needs replacing.”

  “Oh.” She scowled. “How about we shoot her as soon as we get within firing range, disable her ship, give us time to get to her before she gets to the dragons.”

  “We are not sho
oting Saffira,” Devlin ground out.

  Candy frowned. “We can’t kill her. She’s immortal.”

  “And we can’t disable her ship. She can’t get back on board the Blood Hunter with the doors sealed shut. Her only way out is to persuade her to call up a wormhole.”

  “Which shouldn’t be difficult once she knows we’re there.” Rico waved a hand at Devlin. “She’s not going to let lover boy here fry. We tell her she goes or we stay.”

  “Do we follow her into it?”

  “Sure? Why not?” She could detect a definite hint of sarcasm in the vampire’s tone. Asshole. “I’ve always wanted to go on a journey to who knows where or when. She’s not exactly accurate when she’s on the same ship, Christ knows where or when we’d end up if we took the Blood Hunter in after her. Once she’s gone, we go into stealth mode, and get the hell out of there fast.”

  “Well, it’s a sort of plan, I suppose.” Candy tugged on her hair as she considered it. “But if she won’t listen…”

  “She’ll listen once she knows we’re there. She’s doing this to save us all. She’s not going to let us burn.”

  A shiver ran through her. She hoped not. “That’s good.” She wiped her hands down her pants, her skin prickling as if she were already on fire.

  She glanced at Thorne; a fine sheen of sweat coated his forehead. His hands were tight at his side. As she approached him, irritation flashed in his eyes. That pissed her off and dried up the nice, sweet words she’d been going to offer up. “Are you okay?”

  “I won’t be if anyone else asks me that question.”

  “Well, we can’t afford you to go all stressed out on us again. You take control of the ship and we’ll never get there.”

  His eyes narrowed on her. She stood her ground, raised one eyebrow, stared into his face, and some of the tension eased from him.

  She’d been thinking about something since it became clear that they might be about to come face-to-face with a couple of scary-ass dragons. Thorne, for all his trying to come across as a benign, mild-mannered, leader-of-the-people, was actually the most scary-ass person she’d ever met. Even if he wouldn’t admit it and tried to hide it.

  But if ever they’d needed scary-ass Thorne, now was it. Time he manned up and came clean about what he could do. Maybe it was the one thing that could save them.