Emma (Dark Fire)

by Cooper, Jodie B.

  The vast cavern shook again with a bit more strength. She waited for the movement to stop. Aftershocks were inevitable after the earlier explosion that destroyed half the mountain.

  Her eyes landed on Guardian Alexander. An idea crept through her mind. It would be simpler to make him disappear. She shook her head, refusing her plan before it took root. She couldn’t make the dragon guardian disappear, not when the man posed a problem and a possible solution, at the same time.

  She needed Alexander’s help, but heaven help her, she didn't know how to reach an agreement with the stubborn dragon when the mountain’s foundation kept shaking. It was the third strong tremor in as many hours.

  She stood still, waiting for the mountain to cease its bucking, but the gentle trembling turned into a violent shudder. She glared upward at the swaying stalactites.

  Gunshot-like cracks filled the dank air as several dangling rock formations snapped. With little warning, the entire ceiling collapsed, crashing toward them with the destructive force of an upside-down tsunami.

  Sarah rolled her eyes in resignation.

  Honestly, the entire day had been a disaster. What else could go wrong? Her cool demeanor didn't flicker. She mentally ordered a thin cord of synth crystal around the ankles of the three people in front of her. A split-second later, she ported Jared, Katie, and Guardian Alexander to the teenager's cabin, which was located inside the summer camp's main campground area.

  She didn't wait to see if they faired okay. She instantly ported to where she had left her obstinate mate, the mate who refused to bond with her, who essentially hated everything about her.

  Every Sídhí had a single chance to find his or her mate, the one person who was their perfect soul mate. Nick was hers. Too bad, he didn't want her.

  Less than a heartbeat later, she appeared below a steep cliff, next to a cave. The rocky tunnel appeared empty. Pebbles and dirt rained down the side of the mountain, bouncing and tumbling across the clearing.

  Sarah sucked in a deep breath through her nose, smelling hundreds of scents in the mountain air. She searched for a single scent, Nick’s spicy, mouth-watering scent. She got a nose full of dust for her troubles.

  She sneezed. Hastily backing away from the small cave as a thumb-sized pebble hit her in the thigh. Fear trembled in her belly, making her hand shake. After she left to help Katie and Jared, Nick might have gone back into the dark opening. Snarling, she mentally reached for the synth crystal, planning to build a protective covering over her head and search the tunnel for her missing mate.

  A deep voice, coming from the tree line, stopped her in her tracks. “Dang it, Sarah, get away from there.”

  His voice, harsh with anger, sent a tremor of longing through her. From the bottom of her soul, she strengthened her resolve. She refused to spill her guts to him. She prayed her resolve held. She couldn't reveal her secrets until he bonded with her. Too many lives depended on her steel control.

  At that moment, she hated what she was. She hated being the long awaited Chi’Kehra. All powerful, except where her mate was concerned.

  For several months, long before summer camp started, Nick had unwillingly invaded her dreams. The Sídhí scientists called it Mate Dreaming, shared dreams between two un-bonded mates, dreams that pulled destined mates together.

  Sarah’s nightly mate dreams with Nick didn’t have the same outcome as most Sídhí couples, not when each dream had ended with Nick’s claws ripping her throat out.

  Freezing her face into a mask, she calmly turned toward him.

  He shoved his hand through midnight hair in a familiar gesture of frustration. The rough movement created an oddly spiked style. The harsh scowl on his face registered in her gut like bits of glass cutting her to pieces.

  Her heart twisted. She clenched her teeth, obstinately refusing to let him see how much she loved him. She would’ve spread the world at his feet if he’d let her. The very thought frightened her, sending a shiver of dread racing down her spine, because if anyone was capable of conquering the world, it was her. The power she controlled was terrifying, even to her, especially to her.

  His face, clenched in anger, filled her vision. He grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the falling debris. The sun beat down on them as he hustled her away from the tumbling mountainside. After several minutes of silence, they neared a smooth flowing stream.

  “That's far enough, don't you think,” she said softly.

  He jerked her to a stop.

  Raising her hand, she automatically shielded her face, which was burning under the scorching rays of sunshine. As a blood-drinking vampire, an Exile, the sunlight not only turned her vivid blue eyes ruby red, the yellow ball of flame also burned her pale skin at an incredible rate.

  “Tell me you weren't stupid enough to even think about heading back in there,” he demanded, waving his free hand toward the mountain. “I'd say a little sunburn is better than getting crushed. What the bloody hell were you thinking?”

  Her face flushed with anger. Unconsciously, she angled her hand to better shield herself against the sun, not too sure that she agreed with his assessment. The brilliant ball of fire gave her the mother of all migraines. Leave it to Nick to belittle every move she made. She was so sick of his attitude. When he wasn’t snapping at her, he was taking a swing at her or calling her vile names.

  Of course, he didn’t know the type of person she was really like.

  He only knew her reputation, a rep she had spent a lifetime building, a vile rep that included death and torture. Creating such an evil rep had not been easy. She had her family and loyal guard to thank. Without them, setting up intense torture sessions would have been impossible. As it was, the memories made her blood run cold, memories that included her insane laughter as victims screamed in agony. Each performance built her guise, creating her evil mask to the world.

  Looking into Nick’s face, she realized that perhaps she had done too good of a job.

  She sneezed again. Keeping a haughty demeanor and sneezing didn't go together, ratcheting up her frustration over the entire situation. One thing at a time was her motto, but today had been one irritation after another.

  Nick’s attitude shouldn’t bother her, but it did. For pity sake, how could her own synth-laced blood not attract a loving mate to her side? Instead, she ended up with a gorgeous young man who hated her.

  He was the most frustrating, hardheaded… A third sneeze interrupted her internal monologue.

  At the constant sneezing, Nick’s hand loosened its steely grip on her arm.

  She jerked her arm from his grasp, quickly putting several feet between them. She glared at him through the tumble of her hair and sucked in a calming breath. Three little sentences and he brought out the beast in her, a nasty temper she preferred not to have.

  Oh yes, she had a temper, not that anyone except her closest family and guard ever guessed the truth. Her reaction to Nick bordered on insanity.

  The word ‘insanity’ stopped her cold. Could she be falling into a psychotic state? It was a well-known fact that older Sídhí, those wretched souls without bonded mates, often went insane. She was only nineteen, but she wasn't what anyone would ever describe as normal. Synth crystal flooded her body like no other person alive. She was a walking, talking synth spring of pure energy.

  She couldn’t fail, but the thought of insanity frightened her. She wanted to scream at the injustice of it all, not that screaming or crying ever helped.

  She fought a silent struggle to regain her inner peace. It wasn’t easy, but as always, her desires, her emotions didn't matter. From her first shaky steps as a toddler, people submitted to her demands, her leadership. She simply had too many people depending on her mental stability.

  She stiffened her spine, knowing she didn't have the luxury to feel fear for herself, much less take time for a pity party.

  Shoving the palest of blonde hair out of her eyes, she glared at him. Looking him in the eyes, she refused to let him see exactly how
much his words had hurt her, cutting into her spirit. Like a synth crystal knife that cut through metal, his hurtful words and actions destroyed her soul a tiny bit more each time they clashed. She wasn't about to tell him how terrified she'd been that he was in the cave, that she’d rather die roasting under the sun in the Sahara desert than to lose him forever.

  “A bit of dust and pebbles, the after-shock wasn't that bad.” She flipped her slender hand carelessly toward the mountainside. Arrogantly tilting her head, she reinforced the callous image of a cold, heartless exile. If he didn't want her, she couldn't risk his seeing her true face. “You, Mr. Self-Righteous Clan Vampire, always overreact.”

  He hissed, baring his slightly lengthened fangs. “And you don’t consider the consequences of your actions or how many innocents die because of them,” he said in a growling voice, glaring at her with solid black eyes as the sun beat down on them. The black eyes of a clan vampire, a valley full of vampires who refused to drink blood except as a type of recreation.

  He thought the worst of her.

  Grief clenched her heart in an unrelenting knot, and she barely concealed a body-length shudder. Clan vampires were the poster children of do-good vampires. They had fought against the Dhark Empire for thousands of years.

  Arrogantly, she raised a single eyebrow in question. “I always consider the pros and cons,” she said coolly, intentionally misunderstanding his statement. Before she could ease him away from the topic of high morals that every clan vampire boasted about, he plowed ahead.

  “And the people you kill? What do you consider? That you killed some innocent person who questioned the powerful dhark lords? Do you even consider the grieving families? That you’ve committed murder?” he asked in a rapid fire of heated questions.

  For a second her heart stopped. From his heated words, he might have guessed one of her darkest secrets.

  The memory of her first assassination target was vivid in her mind. Nick had been there. She didn’t know if he recognized her from that day at the fairgrounds or not. She prayed he had not, hoping he had been too far away to see her clearly.

  She tried slowing her rapid heartbeat, knowing that even if he had seen her, it had been nearly seven years earlier.

  She would never forget that night, vividly stamped in her brain for all time. Dusk fast approached as she slid behind her assassination target. She glanced around. Her eyes landed on Nick who was a dozen yards away. Her body’s synth crystal sang for a solid hour after seeing him. Without a single doubt in her mind, she knew Nick was her destined mate. It made confronting her assassination target so much harder, but she steeled her nerve and completed the critical mission.

  She thrust her sword through an innocent man’s heart as the beautiful synth mating song hummed through her body. The man’s life-blood poured over her hands, condemning her actions.

  She shuddered, once again praying Nick had not clearly seen her that day.

  Jerking herself back into the present, she shrugged her shoulders. She knew the movement was jerky, but grace wasn’t possible as fear pummeled her body. “I do what must be done for my people.” She looked him straight in the eyes and sucked up her courage. “If you'd promise, on your honor, not to breathe a word of what I say, I'll tell you every secret I have even before we bond.”

  He glared at her. The strong lines of his face clenched. A few seconds turned into a minute. She was losing him, but she was at a loss. She didn't know how to win him over. If she told him outright that she was Chi’Kehra, every full-blooded vampire’s boogieman, he’d try to gut her right then and there.

  She grimaced against the sun’s sharp glare, but maintained eye contact with him as the burning ball of flame seemed to grow brighter every second.

  “I’ll be so glad when your eyes are a normal black,” he said, moving to stand between her and the blazing ball of fire, contradicting his harsh words with the simple act of kindness.

  “For me, my eyes are normal,” she said quietly. She continued holding his gaze, hoping this once he'd listen to reason. She took a deep breath and tried to reason with him one more time.

  “Nick, you’re everything to me, but my people’s lives are in my hands. If you said one wrong word, even in joking, your words could end up getting thousands, possibly millions of people killed,” she said earnestly, lightly touching his bare arm with the tips of her fingers. A ripple of electric recognition surged through her body.

  His eyes narrowed into black slits. “If you have to hide behind lies why should I listen?”

  She sighed with a pent-up hiss of exasperation, throwing her hands up in the air. “Because this isn't just about you and me, my lies, as you put it, keep my people safe.”

  He glared at her, but she refused to go any further. If he wanted her then he could bend at least a little bit.

  “Safe? An exile worried about keeping people safe? What about the people who die?” He demanded in a snarl. “Did you know a filthy exile killed my brother?”

  Blood drained from her face.

  The loud roar of a dragon drowned Nick’s rumbling growl of fury.

  She'd never been so glad to see a dragon in her entire life.

  Chapter - Wishful Thinking

  A dark blue dragon questioned Nick and Sarah about their missing cabin mates then flew them both to another location several miles away.

  A feeling of dread built in the middle of Nick’s chest. He was determined to confront Sarah, but after they landed at the new campsite, she avoided him like the plague. The few times he managed to catch her eyes, she quickly looked away.

  He was vampire, a predator. He knew how to stalk prey. He eased off hunting her, letting her grow complacent as they spent the night with cabin twenty-four's campers.

  The next day, a different dragon arrived with Mitch and Emily. He breathed a sigh of relief that the burly halfling, who was Katie's twin, and the female vampire, who was Jared's younger sister, and his baby cousin, had escaped from the monsters hidden within the mountains.

  Late that night, after tossing and turning for several hours, he muttered a soft curse. Escaping the confines of the tent he shared with Mitch, he headed toward the middle of camp.

  The darkness, not a hindrance to his enhance Sídhí senses, appeared as gentle shades of gray. A midnight breeze ruffled his hair, bringing with it a hundred smells. A single smell caught his attention, bright and sharp the scent teased his senses. Still as a statue, he inhaled Sarah’s scent, sucking it in like a drowning man gasping for air.

  He couldn’t help it, like the strongest magnet ever created, her pull was impossible to resist.

  Turning on his heel, he followed the smell of heather and hyacinth laced with a sharp bite of fire. His need to see her outweighed his caution. On a large rock, overlooking a deep ravine, Sarah sat under the bright moonlight. Tensing, she brushed a slender hand across her face, and the long, silky strands of her moon-colored hair shimmered as she turned away from him.

  “If you’ve come to yell at me then just go away,” she said in her normally soft voice, a voice laced with what he knew was tears.

  His heart clenched, demanding something he couldn’t give her no matter how much he wanted to. Clearing his throat, he swallowed the knot blocking his voice, but he wasn’t sure what to say.

  He settled on not saying a word. For ten minutes, he silently sat beside her, watching her beautiful profile as she gazed into the darkness. The moon enhanced the soft lines of her face, turning her from beautiful to exquisite. “Tell me what’s wrong,” he said gruffly, as if a force beyond his control sucked the words from him without his consent.

  Shaking her head, she snorted.

  Right. Her mate didn’t want her.

  He needed to keep his big mouth shut.

  “My little sister’s birthday is in a few days,” she said quietly. “I’m going to miss it.”

  “Miranda?”

  She turned to him, eyes wide with surprise. “How did you know that?”


  “I heard you and Katie talking.” He shrugged, uncomfortable that she knew he had wanted to listen to anything she had to say.

  “How old will she be?” he asked, giving into the desire to talk with her, while refusing to admit how desperate he was to know everything about her.

  “Seventeen going on a hundred,” she said with a smile coloring her voice. “Miranda and Mac keep me centered.”

  Stifling a growl, he refused to ask who Mac was. Any boyfriend she had didn’t matter to him. She’d never be his bonded mate. No matter how much he desired her, she was an exile. Her values, her entire way of life, was so vile he would never accept her.

  He tensed, ready to stand up and return to camp, when she started speaking softly, almost dreamlike, as if she were talking to herself.

  “Miranda might ask me a dozen questions about stuff, but she never questions me. She accepts me without reservation. Living in my shadow, she should hate me, but I know for a fact she’d die to protect me.” She paused, glancing at him. A slight smile touched her lips. “You’d like her. She is so sweet she’d make your teeth ache.”

  He scrambled for something to say, something that wouldn’t hurt her or start an argument. “What’s the last thing you did together?”

  To his surprise she laughed. The shocking reaction filled her eerily beautiful face with sunshine. “Long story,” she said with a shake of her head.

  “We’ve got all night,” he said, unwilling to let her go, desperate to know what it might’ve been like between them if she hadn’t been born exile and him clan, a staunch supporter of vampire honor. Reluctantly, he admitted, he also wanted to know what made her laugh with such honesty that delight glowed from her eyes. The thought struck him, and he realized it was the truth. Without the ice princess face, she appeared different, pure of heart if that was possible. He shook his head at his crazy thoughts, shoving them to the dark recess of his mind.

  “A few nights before camp started, I had trouble sleeping,” she said hesitantly, giving him a flickering glance filled with pain. The smooth skin above her eyes tightened.