The Fires of Tartarus

by Emma V. Leech

  He seemed to take a moment to gather his thoughts before he spoke again. “Do you remember the day you came to France? Your driver stopped in the middle of nowhere, car trouble.”

  I nodded, feeling more and more perplexed. I remembered it clearly. Remembered my fear as the man pulled us off the road into the woods in the pitch dark of the night. The car had sounded fine to me. I'd got out, holding my phone and trying to find a signal as he made out like he was checking the engine. I'd been ready to run.

  “How do you know that?”

  “I was there.”

  He shrugged at my quizzical expression. “You know I often walk in the woods at night. Especially if I'm uptight.” He paused. “I was curious. I could tell he was up to no good. As I got closer it was obvious. I knew he was going to hurt you.”

  I stood staring at him with my mouth open, remembering vividly my shock and relief as the man had apologised profusely, looking shaken and said he was mistaken. There was no problem and he'd drive me to the address I'd given him straight away.

  “You stopped him. You made him take me to Inés.”

  He nodded, his fingers trailing over my jaw. “I knew right away you were special.” He laughed. “Though to be fair I had no idea how special.” His laughter subsided, his tone becoming serious. “You were the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, Jéhenne,” he whispered. “But you were human, and I knew better than to approach you. Your lives are so ... fragile - fleeting. But then he took you to Inés, and I realised you weren't human at all. I was so happy and relieved, but I knew how Inés felt about vampires, so I didn't dare go to the house, though I wanted to. I tried to see you,” he said, his voice angry now. “I waited for hours outside the cottage, but Inés hardly ever left you alone and you never left the house after dark. I watched you,” he admitted, shamefaced as I blushed.

  I blinked, stunned, trying to take it in. It didn't make any sense. Lucas had hated me.

  “And then there was the Council meeting,” he said, a bleak tone to his voice. “I thought I finally had a chance to speak to you, to tell you I'd been there, that I had protected you. I thought, maybe I'd be able to persuade you to give me a chance, despite everything your gran would have told you.” He stared at me. “And then Corvus saw you.” He closed his eyes, but I could feel the pain in his heart. He didn't hide it from me and the shock of it was overwhelming. “I knew then. I knew I didn't stand a chance. You were Jéhnina come back from the dead. You were the one he'd waited for all this time.”

  “Lucas ...” I began, my throat thick and no idea of what I was going to say to him, but he pressed a finger to my lips.

  “Let me finish,” he said, his eyes glittering. “Corvus knew. I couldn't hide my feelings from him when I saw you, and I knew he'd kill me if I tried to get close to you.” He cleared his throat and took a breath. “I couldn't live with it. With the strain of trying to hide my feelings, with the ... The pain of knowing you would never even look at me so ... So I went to Inés.”

  “What?” My heart thudded uncomfortably and suddenly I knew where this was going. “You asked her to put a spell on you?”

  He nodded. “I never told her it was you, Jéhenne. I just said I was attracted to someone it would be better if I avoided, and I needed to take the feeling away. I played it down, I ... I wasn't exactly truthful, and I didn't listen to her warning,” he admitted. “She told me it would reverse my feelings for you. That if I was attracted to you from now on all I would feel was aversion but ...” He looked away from me but I saw the shame in his eyes. “But I didn't tell her I was in love with you, and I never considered that love would turn to hate.”

  I took a breath and let go of his hand. “You tried to kill me.”

  He nodded, and I could see the misery in his eyes. “I'm so sorry, Jéhenne. You have no idea ...”

  I walked away from him as I tried to make sense of it. I'd put a love spell on him to stop him from killing me. I remembered how adamant he'd been that it wasn't a spell but how he truly felt. I remembered how unhappy he'd been, how he'd begged me to let him stay with me. My eyes filled. “Oh, Lucas.” I turned back to him with no idea of what to say, seeing his own eyes over-bright in the light of the study.

  He shrugged, and gave me that crooked smile again. “So now you know.”

  “I ... I don't know what to say.”

  He shook his head. “You don't need to say anything. I know you love Corvus. You always have, you always will. There is nothing any of us can do about that. I ... I have no illusions about you falling madly in love with me, Jéhenne. I just wanted you to know the truth. I love you. I would do anything for you and if that means pretending this conversation never happened then ...” His voice became thick, and he paused and took a breath. “Then it never happened. I'll never speak of it again, and you need never worry that I would take advantage or ... Or make an unwelcome move.” He walked towards me and slipped his hand in mine. “But ... But if Corvus never remembers, if you can't find your way forward with him or for any other reason …” He laughed, a bitter sound that seemed to echo through the room. “Jéhenne, what I'm trying to say is, I'm yours. You can take me or throw me away. Just say the word, and I'll come running. My pride is shattered where you are concerned and ... I'll take what I can get. Whatever that might be.”

  He pulled me to him, and I let him. I didn't know what to say. Didn't even know if either of us would survive the next few hours. He held me, and I let him.

  Chapter 34

  I left Lucas to make his own preparations. There was no time to talk things through, and in a desperate kind of way I was grateful. I had no idea how to handle him now, what to say. Instead I concentrated on the coming battle and tried hard to keep my stress levels down so the vampires didn't murder each other instead of Dis Pater. I prayed that I wasn't misjudging him and that I was correct in supposing the hubris of the creature I had encountered before would mean he would come alone. As long as he had no suspicion that it was a set up he'd think he could swan in here, take me and destroy Corvus without breaking a sweat. He was going to get one hell of a surprise.

  I walked outside and headed into the woodland. I felt rather than saw all the vampires turn their heads, watching me as I passed. I was slightly freaked by the awe in which some of them held me, looking at me like I was some kind of ... goddess. I laughed to myself as I realised what I'd said. I was never going to get used to that. Maybe it was just as well.

  Cain was still inside working on the wards that held Dis Pater on his side of the gates. It was delicate work. Cain had to make it look as though the wards were failing little by little over the course of the next day, not as though they'd been deliberately taken down, so Dis Pater wouldn't realise he was walking into a trap. They couldn't be weak enough for him to break through until darkness fell again, though, or the vampires would all be sleeping and we'd be massacred. Once he'd started, though, there was no going back. The wards would fail. It all depended on the timing. If Dis Pater took the bait at the right time and we took him by surprise we stood a chance. If not ...

  I decided I wasn't going to consider the options. There was little point. We had to succeed.

  I walked into the trees and down towards the clearing where my own temple stood. This was where we had chosen to make our stand. Both Hekatê and myself would be worshipped tonight. A final bid for power before we faced the god that had blighted so many lives.

  Inés and Heloïse were off creating a wall around the perimeter of the Château grounds. Hopefully it would contain any noise and disturbance so that the village would remain in ignorance of the war being fought on their doorstep.

  As I reached the clearing I had to duck as I came across Kai's handiwork. From every surface there hung delicate magical threads. Each thread was decorated with dozens and dozens of small objects. He had been working on it ever since the meeting where we'd drawn up our plans and now there were hundreds of these skeins of magic.

  There were leaves and shells, tiny
fir cones, the fragile bones of birds and skulls of mice and shrews, acorns and nuts and feathers and snail shells and a plethora of tiny things. It looked like the store room for some giant spider as the threads twisted in the warm air and gave a web-like feeling to the lower boughs of the trees. Kai was still at work, speaking under his breath, touching each object with reverence as he added it to the whole. There was magic in everything, he said, even the tiniest of things. The magic he wove was fragile in comparison with mine, fine and insubstantial; but he had insisted on helping, and I was willing to try anything to bring Dis Pater down, no matter how unlikely.

  He looked up at me and smiled as I approached.

  “This is amazing, Kai.”

  He blushed and beamed at me. “I am good at small magics,” he said, nodding and looking at his work with pride.

  “I'm so grateful for your help,” I said, taking his hands in mine. “You have been such a support and help and ... a good friend. To all of us,” I added. I paused as he looked down, avoiding my eyes. “I was out of order before, with Corvus. It wasn't fair of me to take it out on you and ... I'm really sorry. Do you forgive me?”

  He smiled up at me from under mascaraed lashes. “Nothing to forgive.”

  “Oh there is,” I said, giving him a grim smile and then letting out a breath before I confessed. “The truth is I was jealous.”

  He nodded, picking at the seeds of a pine cone with a glittery pink fingernail. “I know, but is no need, Jéhenne.”

  “That's easy for you to say,” I replied, quite unable to keep the bitterness from my tone. “He likes spending time with you, he's ... relaxed with you. We can't be together for more than a few minutes before we're at each other's throats.” I walked away from him in frustration, hearing the soft crunch of dead needles beneath my feet as the antiseptic perfume of the trees wafted up from them.

  Kai tutted at me impatiently, and I looked back at him in surprise. “Is because I don't know him before this. I have no memory of him, no expectations. He is Corvus to me as he is now. I don't burden him with my memories.” His face softened. “You remember a great man, your great love. How can he live up to something he not remember?”

  “But I've never said anything to him about what kind of man he was. I've deliberately tried not to burden him with the things I know so he can come to them by himself. I know that's important, Kai,” I replied, stung by the accusation.

  Kai laughed, his expression incredulous, and I felt even more put out. He obviously saw the look on my face as he dropped the pine cone and grabbed my hand, giving me a warm smile. “Jéhenne, what kind of man could win you, love you ... Hold the attention of someone like you?”

  I felt a hot flush creep over my skin at the look in his eyes, and wondered if perhaps Kai wasn't only interested in boys after all. “He knows what kind of man he was, Jéhenne. No one but a great man could have you.”

  I opened my mouth to say something and shut it again, too stunned to speak, and he chuckled. “Is true,” he insisted.

  I gave a snort. “I think you'll find a masochistic lunatic is more the kind of man that would want me.”

  He shrugged, a smile glinting in his eyes. “That too.”

  “Ha bloody ha.”

  We walked down to where Aradia was checking all of the ‘little surprises’ that they'd created to welcome Dis Pater to our little soiree. I'd gotten over the desire to tell her she was up past her bedtime, but it was still bizarre to see a little girl wandering around the woods in the middle of the night. No matter she was a great Dame Blanche and older than most of the vampires here- you didn't see that until you looked in her eyes. Those ancient eyes looking out of that innocent face was enough to give you chills.

  “Hey, Aradia.”

  She got up off her knees, wiping soil onto her grubby jeans. “Hey, Jéhenne. We're good to go here.”

  We looked up as movement sounded behind us and Inés and Heloïse and to my surprise, Dragon, emerged through the darkness. “Alors, Nina, where is the bastard?” Inés said, her eyes alive with excitement. She rubbed her hands together with rather more glee than was necessary. “I can't wait until tomorrow night. I want to see the look on his face when we take him down.”

  “Calm down, Inés,” Heloïse said, stifling a laugh. “You'll strain something.”

  Inés snorted. “Oh come on!” She looked at her sister with incredulity. “Putain! Don't tell me you're not excited? A chance to put your powers to the test for real for a change instead of forever hiding what we are from the world and pretending to make natural remedies?” She looked beyond disgusted by the idea and Heloïse cracked up, throwing an arm around Inés in an uncharacteristic display of sisterly affection.

  “Yes, Inés, I am looking forward to kicking some godly arse,” she said, eyes twinkling. “There, does that make you happy?”

  “Oui!” Inés grinned at her, and for a moment I could see all the things that were similar about the two powerful women and not all the things that kept them at each other's throats.

  Dragon's eyebrows rose, and I returned a resigned expression, laughing despite everything. Impulsively I hugged Heloïse and then Inés, and she looked at me in surprise. “I'm so glad you're on my side,” I said simply.

  Inés chuckled and we turned to walk back towards the Château.

  “Not that way!” I yelped, grabbing Dragon by his massive arm and towing him back from the path he was about to step on. “You really don't want to go that way,” I said, thinking about my own personal gift to Dis Pater that was waiting to greet him.

  Dragon's pale complexion faded a little further and he nodded, sticking close beside me as we made our way, carefully, out of the woods. “What are you doing here anyway?” I asked, looking up and then up some more at him. Bloody hell he was tall.

  He grinned at me. “Heloïse told me your story,” he said and there was sympathy in his eyes. “You may find this hard to believe, but I'm something of a romantic.” I looked him over, from his massive frame to the scar around his neck and the lethal-looking sword and dagger combo he wore like a second skin. He laughed at the expression in my eyes. “Yeah, like I said, hard to believe.”

  “You'd really stay and fight with us?” I asked, beyond surprised. From what I'd seen of Dragon he was a mercenary, a drug dealer, a bad man.

  He smiled at me and suddenly all of those things were visible in that wicked expression. “A violent battle with desperate odds? Wouldn't miss it for the world.” There was something in his eyes that made me doubt him, though, and I began to believe his first comment had been the most truthful.

  I paused, turning to him and holding out my hand. “Well whatever the reason, I'm grateful. We need all the help we can get.” He shook my hand and then drew his sword and held the hilt against his heart.

  “My blade is yours to command,” he replied with all seriousness.

  I nodded at him. “Thank you. You'd better find somewhere to get some rest. You're going to be busy tomorrow night.”

  He grinned and headed into the Château, following Inés and the others who had gone on ahead of us. I was about to turn and take a moment to speak with some of the many vampires that were creating their own defences outside of the Château, when Decimus appeared directly in front of me out of thin air. I swallowed down the girlie squeal that had almost escaped my lips and wished the damn vampires would stop trying to give me heart failure.

  “What is it?” I managed as my heart stuttered back to its usual rhythm.

  “We have a problem, Master.” He gestured that he wanted to pick me up, and I nodded. Vampire speed was something I would never possess, and I closed my eyes as the world blurred around me, and I found myself in the gloom of a store room, deep beneath the Château. I turned to Decimus with a quizzical expression.

  “Corvus,” he said succinctly, nodding his head towards the far depths of the room that extended the length of the Château. “There was a delivery made. It was running late. Should have arrived hours ago bu
t it got held up. The last from a human supplier.”

  “Oh shit.” He didn't have to say anything more. I knew.

  I'd been careless. With everything else going on, I had allowed Corvus more freedom. I had foolishly begun to trust him, forgetting just what he was, what he was capable of.

  “You've tried to restrain him I take it?”

  Decimus nodded. “It is not possible, he'll kill her.”

  I gritted my teeth and walked into the darkness, my hand trailing over the cool stone of the walls. The smell of damp earth and age was thick, but it was nothing to the smell of blood. The copper tang overlaid everything else and I could taste it on my tongue.

  There was a low growl that rolled through the oppressive atmosphere and I could hear the slow thud of a human heart. Far too slow. She would die if he didn't stop.

  “Corvus, let her go.” I made it a command and as I drew nearer I saw that he had stopped, but the woman hung limp in his arms, her eyes closed, blood trailing from the two wounds on her neck. He hadn't let her go.

  With shock I felt the strength of him, the will to disobey me as he fought to deny my command. Of course he was stronger. He was their maker. He was the true Master of every single one of those thousands of vampires. He must feel the power of them surging in his blood just as forcefully as I did. More.

  His eyes glinted in the darkness, watching me approach. Daring me to take his kill from him.

  “Hello, Master.” His voice was low, seductive and yet mocking. Corvus had always had so much power in his voice, in the nuance of every tone he used. I felt the thrill of that power shiver through me.

  “Let her go.” I didn't command him this time. If it came to force I could stop him, but this was about more than power. He had to want to please me rather than himself. He needed to decide.

  “But ... I don't want to,” he said. He was looking directly at me, his voice civil and reasonable. It was disturbing with the cool glint in his eyes. He wanted to kill her so very badly. He closed his eyes. “Such a pretty sound,” he said softly. He opened them again, looking right at me, and I felt my heart ache. He'd said that before, to me, listening to my own heart beating.