Seared by Desire (30 page)

“
Gareth,” she called.

He hacked wildly at the opponent in front of him, cutting
through skin, bone and sinew to easily dispatch of the man. “Lady
Sara,” he gasped, turning around to face her. “What are you doing
here? I told Owen to take you to safety.”

“
I want to help Gareth.”

“
If something happens to you Lord Lucian will kill me.” He
swung his sword almost carelessly behind himself, slashing away at
an attacker that had appeared behind him.

“
Nothing is going to happen to me. Gareth, I want you to take
your men to safety. This is clearly a trap, more and more
Malachites are trying to get in and soon we’ll be outnumbered. Most
of the army didn’t spend the night here so our forces are divided;
if you want to win you need to regroup. Fall back, have someone
find Lucian and then I know you can win.”

His expression was pensive. “What are you planning to do? Are
you going to kill these people?”

“
You know I can’t, I won’t kill them Gareth but I’ll trap them
for you, weaken them for you.” A sword was swung at her head but a
simple glance from her cerulean eyes had the steel melting, her
assailant’s hands blistering and burning as the heat moved through
his skin. “I don’t know your men, you do. Go, find
Lucian.”

“
You’re very brave Lady Sara. Thank you.”

“
Just find Lucian, make sure he’s okay.”

He nodded. “Men, fall back!” he bellowed. “To me!”

There was a moment of confusion before the vampires rushed
into action, following their commander’s orders and retreating to
his position. Sara glanced at Gareth who nodded in confirmation of
the plan. She let her power wash over her, creating a ring of fire
around Gareth and Lucian's men, protecting them from any further
malachite aggression. The orange flames at the door heated to a
deep blue and screams assaulted her ears as she pushed the flames
back, forcing the Malachites out of the doorway and back out into
the street. Her heart twisted in her chest at the sounds but she
forced herself to keep up the assault, hardening herself against
their screams with thoughts of Lucian and their desire to hurt him.
The flames rose, the fire engulfing the doorway and reaching out
with greedy tendrils of flame to other areas of the tavern, pulling
whoever came into its reach to their downfall. Sara’s face
contorted in horror as it became apparent that she wasn’t the only
one maintaining the flames. Seraphina was rising, the sound of so
many tortured screams music to her ears.

Feast!
she screamed in triumph,
struggling desperately to take the reins of power from a frantic
Sara.

Stop! You’ll hurt Lucian's people. You can’t do
this!

No. Time to feast.

“
Gareth!” she screamed, extinguishing the fire around him and
his men.

Lucian's men took advantage of the opportunity she had made
for them, running for the door to gather reinforcements. He turned
to her, shepherding the last of his men out of the tavern and into
the night. “You have to get Lucian!” She fell to her knees,
wrapping her arms around her body as the pain mounted. Her head was
throbbing and she felt herself becoming increasingly lightheaded as
her body was pushed to its limits, her mind clouded by the pain.
Clearly concerned for his Lady’s welfare, Gareth took an
instinctive step towards her. “No! Don’t come near me. Just find
Lucian. Please, you have to bring him here otherwise the city will
burn. Please, find him. He’s the only one that can stop
me.”

Gareth hesitated at the threshold, clearly torn between
fulfilling Sara’s wishes and trying to protect her from whatever it
was that was hurting her but the decision was taken out of his
hands when a wall of fire appeared behind him. He rushed towards
the door as the fire at his back singed his skin. He turned back to
look at the tavern, the instant cool night air washing over his
skin and his eyes widened in horrified fascination. The entire
tavern was aflame, the door they had used to escape going up in
smoke with a resounding boom, putting an end to any ideas he had of
returning inside to retrieve his Lady. The fighting continued
outside regardless of the spreading flame and though he would have
liked nothing more than to join the melee and destroy the enemy
himself, Sara’s words would let him find no peace. From the
displays of power she’d shown whilst amongst them he had no doubts
that she could burn the city down around them and though she
expressed a desire for no conflict, there was something strange
about Lucian's bride. They had all caught glimpses of it but now he
suspected they were being exposed to whatever it was Lucian hid
about his bride in full. With no chance of going back, he could
only move forward. His decision made, Gareth ran, putting all of
his skills as a tracker to use in the hunt for Lucian.

*****

Lucian had known from the beginning that a fight against
William could bring out the worst in him and he was right. The
monster, which he had so studiously tried to keep hidden, was out
in full force. The sound of steel upon steel quickly became boring
to Lucian in his current state and so he resorted to using his
hands to break necks, to tear flesh from bone before sinking his
fangs deep into his dying victims and drinking their quickly fading
blood. There was no distinction between ally and foe, only more
bodies before him to be torn apart and more unwilling donors whose
blood he was desperate to cover himself in.

Through the madness of his bloodlust he often saw the whites
of William's extremely wide eyes, sheer terror reflected back in
his grey gaze. Perhaps it was because they hadn’t fought against
each other in years, perhaps that was why he was so shocked at
Lucian's transformation from civilised man to vengeful beast. It
didn’t matter, he was going to kill him anyway, he was going to
kill them all. He stalked towards William covered from head to toe
in blood, tattered flesh and the bile bodies released when on the
verge of death and the larger man took a terrified step back. There
was a sword in his hand, he couldn’t remember why but the sword was
important and he had kept a tight grip on it throughout the
fighting so when William thrust a body at him it seemed more than
natural to swing his weapon, the sharp blade neatly slicing the
man’s head from his shoulders.

“
Lucian,” William pleaded, his voice trembling.

Who was Lucian? He wondered as he continued stalking his
prey, his mind amok with fantasies of slowly peeling William's
flesh, drinking the blood that appeared before tearing the limb
from his body. He practically purred at the idea.

“
Lucian, please,” William continued frantically. “I want to
talk. I understand now just how much stronger than me you are. Let
us have peace.”

While he liked the man’s deferential attitude, the idea of
peace made him angry and his grip on the sword tightened. He didn’t
want peace. Peace was boring. When there was peace he couldn’t do
as he wished. Any intentions he might have had about drawing out
William's demise quickly died. He wanted more blood and mayhem to
feast on.

“
Lord Lucian!” Gareth called frantically as he approached the
scene.

Again with Lucian? Who is he?
Lucian
turned blood red eyes on the commander of his army, his mind
debating which man to attack first, the man at his back or the man
in front of him. He quickly decided on the man before him, there
was something the large man had said to anger him and though he
couldn’t remember what it was, he knew he was angry. He shrugged
carelessly, continuing to stalk ever closer to William, it didn’t
matter the order he attacked, both men would be dead before
daybreak.

“
Lord Lucian,” Gareth called again, hacking away at all who
stood in his path as he continued to approach his Lord. “Lord
Lucian, please you must return with me, there is something wrong
with Lady Sara, she needs your help.”

Sara,
he mused through the haze of
bloodlust. The name sounded more familiar than Lucian and the
instant he heard it an image of a woman with flaming red hair
entered his mind. The memory of her hair, so different and yet so
similar to the colour of blood, so soft to the touch wracked his
body with a lust that was completely different to the bloodlust of
battle. Her name whispered through the mad corridors of his mind
and the taste of her blood suddenly rushed to the front of his
thoughts, pushing out all thoughts of battle. He wanted more; he
wanted to sink his fangs deep into her flesh and drink and drink
and drink. The stolen tastes had only made him crave her all the
more. Even as he thought it, other memories fought to make
themselves known. Sara’s smiling face; her dreadful methods of
teasing him; the joy in her laughter…the pained expression that
washed over her face when Seraphina was on the verge of
erupting.

Seraphina!
Realisation quickly
dawned on Lucian as he clawed his way back to the surface, forcing
the monster’s destructive desires back to where they belonged,
hidden deep beneath his skin.

When he was once again himself, he briefly scanned his
surroundings, unsurprised to find he was surrounded by the shredded
remains of William's warriors. He could tell without even having to
look that he was coated in blood and bile, both drying quickly on
his skin. He’d tried to warn William but the other man was stubborn
and had refused to see the inevitable outcome of his rash actions.
Another quick scan told him that William had managed to flee in the
time it had taken him to regain control of himself. He cursed but
turned his thoughts away from trying to capture him, Sara was in
trouble.

“
Gareth, tell me what happened,” he demanded.

“
We were ambushed my Lord. The Malachites outnumbered us and
Lady Sara volunteered to trap them while creating a path for us to
escape and bring reinforcements. We had almost all left the tavern
when she called out to me in pain. Her fires seemed to be getting
out of control, burning everything and everyone it touched. I tried
to go back for her but she forced me out telling me to bring you to
her or the city would go up in flames.”

“
Seraphina,” he cursed. “Gareth, you will take me to
her.”

“
Of course my Lord.”

“
Russell you will come with me and when I have ensured Sara’s
safety we will talk, until that time Gareth will watch over
you.”

“
I expect nothing less my Lord.”

Though confused by the strange command, Gareth said nothing
allowing Lucian to lift both himself and Russell from the ground as
he took to the sky, flying quickly back to the place where he had
left Sara and his men. It was not difficult to find the tavern from
the air, the plume of grey smoke could be seen even from a far
distance and within minutes they were all standing once again in
the middle of battle.

Lucian's eyes were instantly drawn to the burning remains of
the tavern, his attention so focused on the place where his bride
rested that the buildings burning around them didn’t even register
in his mind. There was no hesitation as he unsheathed his sword and
sliced away at all who stood between him and his goal.

“
Lord Lucian, no!!!” Vampires all around began rushing towards
him as he approached the door but their attempts to stop him were
futile. He raced into the burning building, ignoring the flames
that licked dangerously at his clothes.

The acrid smell of smoke and burned bodies made him cough and
he placed a hand over his mouth and nose, walking further into the
tavern. He quickly found Sara, lying in the centre of burned bodies
of the dead and dying. Her body felt abnormally cold and his heart
stuttered, missing a beat at the idea that she was dead.

“
Sara,” he called, shaking her lightly, desperate to rouse
her. “Sara, wake up.” He shook her with more force and gradually he
felt himself grow warm, the heat from her body seeping into
his.

Her blue eyes opened, the lids heavy and drooping.
“Lucian.”

“
I’m here Sara.”

“
I was worried for a minute that you wouldn’t
come.”

“
I’ll always come when you call me.”

Her eyes wandered from him, taking in the destroyed tavern
and the dead bodies littered around her. “I’ve killed people
Lucian,” she sobbed, tears rolling down her dirty cheeks. “I did it
again, I killed people. Innocent people.” The flames were receding
even as her emotions got out of hand, the heat simply transferring
into Lucian's cool body.

“
These people weren’t innocent, they were trying to capture
you and to kill me and my people. I’ve killed people too Sara, just
look at me.”

“
But the fire must have spread. How far? How many more have I
killed?”

“
I got here quickly Sara. If you can control your flames now
then no innocents will die, I promise.”

“
Really?” He nodded, yes. Her brow furrowed in concentration
as she pulled the fires back to herself, taking their destructive
energy into her body and letting it pass harmlessly into Lucian.
The fires died down even as Sara’s grip on consciousness faded, her
eyes sliding shut as the strength in her body slipped
away.