The Fire Within (The Fire of The Soul Series) (28 page)

I make my third attack, and I come up real close
behind him, placing my sword directly against the point where his heart is. He
drops his sword when the point of mine is pressing against him, and I move away
as soon as he has dropped his weapon. I drop mine too, and watch as Kayden
turns around. I see that he has not broken a sweat throughout our entire
training session, where I am sweating so badly that there should have been a
stream formed from it all.

"How did I do Sensei?" I ask Kayden. He
smiles softly at me, there is an uncovered emotion in his eyes, something that
makes them shimmer in the dimming light. I can't understand it though try as I
may.

"You did very well Anna. With time you will
become just as good as any other warrior," Kayden says. The sunlight is
lighting up his light-brown hair, like a halo masking his face in shadows, but
making him appear like a fallen-angel at the same time. His hands are just
barely holding onto me at the arms, as if he needs my strength to stand. Kayden
seems to be standing on a cliffs edge, and I can't understand why there is
something about this moment that seems unusual, so out of the ordinary that it
is strange. "Anna," He breaths my name, the slightest whisper on the
air. It seems as if he is about to say something when Meg walks into the
stables, coughing loudly enough so that when I hear her I jump away from
Kayden. The moment is gone with Meg's appearance.

"Anna, Lady Astoria has demanded your presence
in the ball room. She is waiting to begin
your
training. Captain Kayden
I'm sorry to steal Anna away from you, but this is very important." Meg is
furious, I can tell that she is almost steaming over, and I know that if I
don't follow her now than I'll be in so much trouble, not just from her but
Astoria as well.

I turn to apologize to Kayden, but the shimmer in
his eyes have gone, the strange mood he had been in has disappeared as well,
and he appears to be his usual self, as if nothing happened at all. He shoos me
off and I quickly follow behind Meg.

Meg refuses to talk to me, although I try to talk to
her several times. She does not seem to be in a happy mood whatsoever, and I
have no idea how to soothe her, how to make her talk to me again. She has never
been upset with me in this manner, never angry or impatient or demanding, and
now that she is I don't know how to fix things with her. The journey to the
ball room is over before it has even begun, and Meg is walking quickly away
from me. I enter into the room and find that Astoria, Augustus and Baron are
all here. There is also another present, my father, and I hesitate for a moment
when I see him, before walking over.

"Anna, today we will begin to train you in the
sense of overcoming your unusual powers. Victor, before he left, told us that
your power has been triggered out of anger; as was his before he mastered it. I
will tell you now that you will not master it in a day, or a week for that
matter. It will be a long and excruciating process," Augustus says, his
roughly gravely voice putting more urgency on his words than if it had been
coming from his wife. My eyes never fail to leave my father, who is kneeling on
the floor buckled in chains, which Baron had a good grip of within his hands.

"What is he doing here?" I demand, I
cannot stand seeing him here, and I turn away from the monster to look up to
Augustus; a man I knew that I could trust, no matter what happened.

"He is here to help you with your training.
Baron suggested the idea. His exact words, I believe were 'The dirty little
worm deserves all the pain she can dish out, and besides he will be able to
make her angry more so than any of us could.'" Augustus and Baron are
grinning as if them figuring this out is something to be pleased about. Instead
it only makes me angry, that these two grown men could act like such little
boys.

"Anna, your mother is suffering because of you.
You think that you are better than both of us, but if you were you would have
let us
go
. Instead you keep us prisoners here, you let these vampires
torture us and
feed
from us. You are no better than I daughter, in fact
I may have brought you up to be even worse than I." My father is grinning
from ear to ear, I can see that he is telling the truth. There are bite marks
all over his neck, and on his naked torso which is exposed. I believe that the
lower class vampires
would
feed from them but what of Astoria, Augustus
and Baron? Would they have feed from my parents, simply to satisfy their
thirst, or to torture them in the worst way possible?

"How many times must I tell you, that I am not
like you at all father, you are a despicable man. Who tortured me just because
you could, who killed my friends simply because I stepped off of the line that
you had drawn. Perhaps the vampires do feed on you, but you deserve it. After all
that you've done, you deserve to burn in hell." I spit at him, my words
burning like acid within my mouth. I can feel my flesh beginning to prickle, as
if cold fingers are running up and down my skin. Everything around me is
starting to go out, my mind closing off to the outside world. All I see is
darkness; there is no light, no hope, and no life. My father deserves to die,
to burn in hell, and who better to send him there than I? I can hear the
screams of my father, who withers and jangles within his chains like a worm on
the floor. Like a bird descending upon its prey, I get down onto my knees in
front of my father. His eyes look up to mine, and I can see my own reflection
within them. I can see how this is affecting me; my veins within my arms have become
black lines, raised so high that they appear to be drawn upon my skin. My hair
whips around by an unseen wind. My eyes are glassed over, there is blood
running from my ears, my eyes, my nose and my mouth. There is so much blood
that it begins to pool at my feet, and even though I notice myself within my
father's teary eyes, I cannot bring myself to care.

"You tortured me because you believed there was
a devil within me father, now today you see proof that there is at last. Do you
like seeing your daughter this way? Are you going to beg for mercy? I think the
real question is whether to spare you or to end your life, letting you live
gives me another opportunity at this." I sneer at him; my words are
choking up on the blood. I hear footsteps echoing from the doorway, and I turn
to face the intruder, and find that it's Kayden. My heart rate slows; I can
feel the blood flow in my mouth come to a slow and then a stop. Kayden looks
hurt, terrified and somehow I - the real me - recognizes this, my vision blurs and
everything blacks out as I crumble to my knees.

In the blackness I see faces, Kayden's, Victor's
even Sadar's. Each of them accuse me of something, and although I try to get
closer to them, they all just keep moving away. My efforts are futile and I'm screaming
within my own mind, for my power has turned against me, I am being tortured
from my own pain. Drowned in blood, killed on the battle field, bitten to death
by vampires, ripped apart by werewolves. Each of these is vivid nightmares, the
most horrific, painful deaths that anyone could imagine. Somehow although I'm
all alone, I feel arms around me. I smell the humble scent of oak, and the
ranched smell of sweat. The arms that surround me, that carry me I realize
belatedly, are strong though not unbearably huge. The arms are comforting, the
manly smell is comforting and I find that the nightmares are slipping away,
that there is nothing but darkness and the sweet smell of oak.

I wake up in the darkness, a single fire burning
within the fireplace. I automatically know the room; I've been in here so many
times recently that it has a simple familiarity to it. Sitting in the master
chair next to the fire is Kayden, his soft brown hair coming to life in the
firelight. He is holding a bottle of liquor, and I realize that he must have
been the one who had been carrying me. I check the state that my body is in,
and I see all the dry blood that is on the white shirt that I am still wearing
from before. The shirt itself instead of being white is almost completely covered
in dark blood; I want to scream from the horror of it all but if I do, I don't
know how Kayden would react.

"I was meant to keep you safe and I failed.
Seeing you like that was unbearable, I had no choice but to bring you back
here, where I could watch over you, where you would be safe," Kayden
whispers into the fire, and for a moment I think he is talking
to
me but
he goes quite again, and I release the breath that I had been holding. He had
not been talking to me at all, but rather to himself about me, in a half-hope
that I would hear him.

I sit up on the couch and walk over to him, as he
takes another swig from the half-full bottle. How depraved a man must be to
fall into this state, how miserable is he to drink himself into a stupor. I
walk in front of him, and take the bottle out of his hands, his eyes lock on
mine, and for a moment we both just stop and stare at each other.

"Kayden, why are you doing this? Why drink
yourself into a stupor over me. Victor may have charged you to protect me, but
we both know I can protect myself now. You cannot do this every time I get
hurt, or come to my rescue if I'm in danger. You are a warrior but not my
guardian. Please, promise me you will stop doing this," I whisper, he
leans closer toward me, his eyes dark, even within the light of the fire. There
is a soft curve to his lips and he tugs at a loose strand of hair that hangs
limply from the bun that sits atop of my head. He doesn't say a word, he only
follows me with his eyes, and I cannot help but watch him in shock. He leans in
quickly - the hand that had been playing with my hair capturing my cheek and
the other hand following its twin’s motion - and captures my lips with his. For
a moment I relax into the kiss, it is strong and powerful, yet soft and yearning
as well, for a moment I forget all about Victor and just enjoy this moment.
However there is a tugging at my soul which tells me that this is wrong, that
tells me to remember my love for Victor. This tugging notion within me, gives
me the strength to push away from Kayden. There is a shocked look on his face,
half from the fact that I pushed him away, and half from the fact that I
actually kissed him back, and then he starts to grin like a little boy. I slap
him hard across the cheek, and turn away from him, how dare he do this to me,
how dare he do this to Victor!

"Anna wait, I can explain," He calls out
after me, but I don't stop walking, I don't stop to wait for him or to listen
to him. I cannot believe he would do such a thing. I storm down toward the
dinning hall hoping that it would be around supper time. I find Meg setting the
plates out in the hall, and I take a seat at the dining table. Astoria and
Augustus come in a few minuets later and we all sit at the table.

"Anna are you alright? What happened today, it
wasn't your fault that you lost control. We should have never brought your
father into the training sessions until later on, and not at all without your
permission," Astoria quickly apologizes, and Augustus simply keeps quiet,
he knows he is in the wrong here, and he still allows his wife to stand up, and
take the blame for him.

"Astoria it is quite alright, what happened
today was not your fault, and my father had that coming for a long time. If you
don't mind, I would prefer not to discuss this at this very moment," I say
politely, Astoria says that she understands and falls quite as well. Kayden
comes into the room, and sits across from me, so that I have no choice but to
look at him. The idiot is still grinning although he does try to hide it.

The supper consists of soup and a roast of what kind
of meat I could not be sure, however it is delicious, and I cannot complain.
Astoria, Augustus and Kayden discuss Kayden's trip and the events that
happened. Kayden tells them of what happened with the Mer-folk and they discuss
what they believe would be the Mer-Queens next step, whether she would join
with the vampires, the skin-walkers or stay out of the war completely.

I can barely listen to what they are saying, my mind
is whirling with the kiss Kayden forced upon me before. I should have realized,
I should have seen it coming, but I hadn't and I couldn't have stopped him if I
tried. There is a loud bang echoing from outside of the dining hall, heavy
footsteps following after the noise. I cannot tear my eyes from the doors in
hope that it will be Victor, in hope that he has finally returned home. It only
is a few minuets - that seem to pass painfully slow - until the dining hall
doors are being slammed open, making loud cracks against the walls. Unfortunately
the man standing within the door frame is not Victor; instead it is another one
of his warriors, a man that I had no chance to really get to know. Of all
people it's Shade, he's carrying an enormous stag on his shoulders, two sets of
legs hanging over each of his shoulders. He is grinning from ear to ear, proud
of having captured such a large beast all on his own.

"I'm sorry to interrupt dinner. I would have
been home earlier, but it had been such a beautiful day outside, that I felt
like hunting and bringing home some game." Shade drops the stag to the
ground, there is no blood coming from the beast, and it makes me curious as to
how Shade had killed it in the first place. Shade quietly orders one of the
stronger kitchen boys to take the stag back to the kitchens, before he sits
down at the table next to Kayden.

Shade slumps down at the table, and begins to pile
up his plate with the food that sits in the centre of the table. None of us say
a word for a few moments still surprised at Shade's sudden arrival. Augustus
speaks up first though, speaking for all of us when he says "So Shade how
was your trip?"