Seared by Desire (10 page)

“
Let go.” His words were cold, delivered with the confidence
of someone used to having their orders obeyed. “I said let
go.”

“
Give her back to us.”

“
From what I saw, she didn’t want to go with you,” he replied
smoothly.

“
She belongs to the fire elementals.”

“
Belongs to?” he mused. Sara moaned lightly in her sleep, the
arms around his neck tightening as though she could hear what was
being said and was depending on him for support. “She’s a person
not an object. She doesn’t belong to anyone and even if she did
then it most certainly wouldn’t be you.” He leaned down to whisper
in her ear. “If she belongs to anyone then it would be me. She’s
mine.”

Abigail cursed him as he stood, loathing her body’s temporary
weakness. “I will hunt you and kill you and when I do, I’ll take
her back with me.”

His eyes glowed red as Lucian allowed her to see the monster
that lurked beneath the surface of his skin, hidden by the veneer
of civility and softly spoke words. There was a monster within him,
one he kept tightly leashed but one that wanted violence, relished
the idea of soaking in this woman’s blood, drinking her body dry
until there wasn’t a speck of the life sustaining liquid in her.
The monster dwelled in only the oldest of the vampires
simultaneously making them more powerful while making them more
dangerous. Centuries of living tended to have an adverse effect on
a vampire’s humanity. With nothing to live for but endless warfare,
Lucian’s emotions had suffered, dimming until they were barely
visible.

She shrunk back in fear and he let the monster retreat from
the surface. “There is a reason people fear the dark, you would do
well to learn why. Hunt me if you dare, it’s your
funeral.”

He pulled his ankle from her grasp, striding towards the exit
and the fresh air it offered but a cowering figure in the doorway
caught his attention. “You,” he called.

David’s eyes locked with his leader’s stunned that Lucian had
even acknowledge his existence. “Yes my Lord,” he responded, bowing
low.

“
You came in with this woman.”

“
Yes my Lord.”

“
What’s her name?”

“
I don’t know my Lord.”

Lucian strode outside, certain that David would follow him.
He inhaled deeply, sucking air that he strictly speaking didn’t
need, into his lungs. “How do you not know her name when you travel
with her?”

“
Honestly, I know nothing about her. She came to me a few days
asking for my help.” Lucian’s eyebrow arched in disbelief. Fire
elementals didn’t ask for help. “It’s true my Lord.”

“
Continue.”

“
She asked me to take her hand. We touched but whatever it was
she was hoping would happen didn’t. She ended up burning me and my
other two companions before she left. I haven’t seen her for days
but tonight she arrived on my doorstep demanding that I take her to
you.”

“
She never explained why she wanted your help?”

“
Never my Lord.”

Strange,
he mused.

Outside the tavern, Lucian began to puzzle over the
mysterious behaviour of his bride, trying to decide what the best
course of action would be. He’d barely spoken more than a few words
to the woman and she was already distracting him, making his life
more complicated than it should have been.
I knew having a bride was going to be trouble, I don’t think
I quite knew just how much.

A large white stallion reared up directly in his path and
Lucian leapt back, baring his fangs aggressively at the animal. The
horse moved closer, whinnying as it approached. It prodded Sara
lightly in the side as though trying to rouse her before pushing
roughly against Lucian.

“
What’s wrong with this animal?” he cursed.

David reached for Lance’s reins, restraining the large beast.
“The horse is hers. She seemed very attached to him, maybe the
feeling is mutual and he’s trying to protect her.”

“
From me?”

“
It doesn’t know you,” David answered calmly.

“
Even so, I don’t have time to be dealing with the peculiar
behaviour of a horse.”

“
What should I do with it?”

“
Bring it to my manor. Russell, you will take him.”

“
What will you be doing my Lord,” Russell asked coming to
stand beside Lucian.

“
I’m going to do what I always do. Deal with the problem. It
really shouldn’t be that hard.”

“
My Lord,” Gareth began. “It looks like you want to keep
her.”

“
And what if I do?”

“
She’s not one of us.”

“
Is that meant to make a difference to me? What I want I
get.”

“
I understand that my Lord but if you want to keep her you
have to realise that she’s not like us. Her needs are different.
She’s going to need food, clothes, sunlight.”

“
Now you’re just insulting my intelligence. I know all of this
but it doesn’t change the fact that she’s coming with
me.”

“
Of course my Lord.” They both bowed low and Lucian nodded
pleased at their submissive behaviour he leapt into the air, his
precious cargo held tightly against his chest as he sped back home.
As the wind whipped past them, blowing Sara’s red curls into
Lucian’s face, he was forced to look down into the sleeping face of
his beautiful bride. “
I knew the instant I
saw you that you were going to be trouble. I’ve got a war to fight
you know?”
She didn’t respond but he
hadn’t expected her to. “I really don’t have time for this. When we
get home, I’ll have someone see to your needs. We won’t see each
other again until the Malachites are dealt with. It’s for the
best.”

Chapter Seven – The
Oracle

It took Sara’s sleep addled mind a few moments to realise
that her head wasn’t throbbing in agony, so accustomed had she
become to the debilitating pain that had wracked her body almost
every morning since Seraphina’s episodes had begun. As soon as she
realised she wasn’t in pain, she sat bolt upright, her eyes darting
around the room wildly trying to discover where she was. One thing
was certain, she definitely wasn’t in the forest any longer. Her
surroundings were rich, opulent and a far cry from the hard dirt
floor and charred tree remains she’d been surrounded by the last
few mornings. She clutched the silk sheets, struggling to remember
where this place was and how she’d come to be there.

Memories trickled to the front of her mind slowly at first
before snowballing out of control. She remembered seeing Abi,
trying desperately to persuade her friend to let her go, to let her
find the one she knew could save her. She hiccupped remembering
Abi’s staunch refusal to listen to her, her willingness to
sacrifice her life all for the greater glory of the fire elementals
and then she remembered him. Lucian. The vampire who’d saved her
once before and had, by the looks of things, done it again. She
looked around the room expectantly, hoping to see him. Her heart
began to race when she realised he wasn’t in the room with her and
she leapt to her feet.

“
Shit! Where’s he gone? I need to find him before Seraphina
rears her ugly head.”

Dressed only in a long white shift, she moved towards the
door, growling angrily when she found the door locked. The brass
knob melted easily beneath her heated palm and she rushed out into
the corridor intent on finding her vampire. The hallway was dark,
no lamps or candles burned and there were no open windows to cast
natural light along its length. Now that she had a goal to work
towards, she didn’t let the darkness make itself into an obstacle.
With a mere thought light sprung from the candles held in brackets
along the walls, lighting the formerly dark hall. The deep blue
carpet was plush beneath her bare feet but she barely registered
the soft sensation so intent was she on finding Lucian. She let her
vision shift from colour to heat, searching for the absence of
warmth that marked a vampire’s presence. The rooms near hers were a
lesson in disappointment filled as they were with human
heat.

Groaning in frustration, she walked to the end of the
corridor, opening the door to reveal a large curving staircase,
gilded with gold. She walked out onto the landing, standing in the
centre of the two halves of the staircase. She glanced back at the
door she’d emerged from, trying to deduce the next step in her
plan.
If that corridor was filled with
humans then maybe the one opposite is filled vampires.
Alone as she was on the dark landing, Sara
quickly reasoned that it wasn’t as though she had much of a choice
but to search the other hallway. Quickly and silently, she ran into
the other corridor, finding only one area where there was a
noticeable lack of heat. The door was quickly opened but to her
immense shock and dismay the cold body was gone, vanished as though
it had never been.

Her eyes slid back to her regular vision, the darkness
quickly pressing in on her. Just as she was preparing herself to
bring light to the space, a body pressed itself against her back.
Warm breaths caressed her cheek as a head came to rest in the curve
of her neck. She shivered as arms wrapped themselves around her
waist, pulling her body closer to the solid muscle of another’s
frame.

“
Get off me!” she screamed. “Get off me or I swear, I will
burn you into the blackest piece of charcoal you’ve ever laid eyes
on.”

“
You women confuse me,” the voice purred, breathing softly
against her skin. “You can never seem to make up your minds and
stick to a decision you’ve made. Just last night you were begging
me to touch you, pleading with me for any skin to skin contact and
now, when I give it to you, you can’t wait to get away from me.
Fine, if that’s the way you want it, I won’t touch you ever
again.”

Lucian stepped away from the warmth of her body, struggling
to seem calm and unaffected by her presence, her proximity. He’d
known the instant she’d stepped into his room, her blood calling to
him, demanding he wake and drink deep. She’d moved unknowingly
closer to his place of rest and he’d moved, using his supernatural
speed to vanish from her line of sight in an instant. He’d had
every intention of sneaking out of the door and disappearing,
taking off for the day to sleep outside the manor as most of it’s
vampiric residents were prone to doing but he’d been drawn to her,
unable to resist the call of her body. A frisson of heat had rushed
through him when he pulled her soft curves against his frame, her
skin so warm against his own that he’d wanted nothing more than to
kiss every inch he came into contact with. Pulling away from her
had been hard but necessary, just because his body desired her like
nothing else, didn’t change the fact that she was a distraction
that he couldn’t afford.

“
Lucian,” Sara gasped as she turned around to face
him.

He was just as beautiful as she remembered and Sara felt her
heart speed up in anticipation. She wanted to get closer to him.
The feel of his hard body against her own had roused previously
banked desires but she restrained herself when she saw the
foreboding look on his face.

He smiled faintly, the gesture putting her on edge rather
than soothing her frayed nerves. “It seems that I’m at a bit of a
disadvantage here. You know who I am but I know absolutely nothing
about you, not even your name.”

“
It’s Sara,” she rushed.

“
Sara,” he purred, rolling the word over his tongue. The
simple calling of her name seeming like an intimate endearment when
said by his smooth tongue. “Sara?”

“
Yes,” she replied quickly.

“
What are you doing in my bedroom?”

She stuttered, stunned by his forwardness. “I, I, I was
looking for you.”

“
Why?”

“
I was afraid you might have left, that I’d have to look for
you again today.”

“
I’m a vampire Sara, I sleep during the day. While you’ve been
blissfully unaware of what’s been going on around you, I don’t have
that luxury. It’s been a long night and I want to sleep.” Her blood
was calling to him and he cursed himself for not having fed the
previous night. She was standing before him like a feast to a
starving man; he needed to get her to leave before he did something
he’d later regret.

“
But I need to talk to you.”

“
This manor is mine, I’m not going anywhere. You can wait
until tonight.”
Until I’ve fed at the very
least.

She gnawed her lower lip, biting so hard that the skin broke.
“But Lucian, it’s important, a matter of life and
death.”

Truer words have never been spoken,
he agreed. The smell of her blood in the air was making him
desperate with the need to drink her. Soon he would be upon her,
consequences be damned. Fangs erupted in his mouth, hard and
hungry, and he knew whatever time he had was up. He spun away from
her, unwilling for her to see him like this. “Sara, I want you to
leave.”

“
Lucian…”

“
Get out! I’ll talk to you tonight. Leave Sara, leave
now!”