The Fire Within (The Fire of The Soul Series) (13 page)

"Well I see they made good use of you, though
you're a bloody mess. I guess there is not much left for me to do besides kill
you. But that would be putting you out of your misery, and that is the opposite
of what we are trying to achieve. I'm just stopping in for a moment; see how
you're handling the royal treatment." I chuckle slightly at my own play on
words. He is barely conscious and is hardly able to keep up with what I am
saying so I leave the room, and continue to let him hang from the wall like a
rag doll.

I quickly make my way down the hall and I soon find
myself in my throne room. I plop myself down on my throne as I had the night
before and I close my eyes as a slight smile grows on my face. I seek out the
human minds that I have come in contact with. First I find Darleen's. She is
dreaming of the night I had spent with her, though it is more of a nightmare
than a dream, of me torturing her with unspeakable pain. I soon move on to
Rupert's mind, and he dreams of the torture and pleasure that he had been put
through today, he dreams of what it would be like to have me take control of
him, would it be just as good as my men or even better, and I soon find myself
wanting to exceed his expectations. I then move on to Anna's mind, but she is not
dreaming of me and I know that has to be corrected. I know I have to insert
myself in there and overrule Victor's presence.

"My Lord?" A voice resounded and I'm drawn
out of Anna's innocent mind. I open my eyes to find Fawkes watching me with
wide eyes.

"What is it?" I demand, the irritation
quickly showing in my voice.

"It's the female prisoner my Lord, she is
screaming your name and I do not know what is the cause of it. I thought you to
be with her but instead here you are," Fawkes says, his voice wavering for
a moment.

I quickly sit up and with a slight quirk of my lip
say "Then I ought to see to her at once, and silence her cries."

When I didn't make a move Fawkes says "My
Lord?" in a silent question.

"You didn't think I was going to go do it
myself, now did you?" When Fawkes does not say anything, I continued,
"You must go in my place Fawkes as I have matters that need to be attended
to."

"My Lord I cannot harm you, I refuse to do
so," Fawkes interjects, worry and fear coursing on his face.

"Don't be a bumbling, blithering, idiotic
human, Fawkes. It does not suit you. There is no need to kill me Fawkes or even
to harm me. Do you remember when you first took this job, I gave you blood to
drink. That blood was my own, and with that blood having been inside of you,
you have the power to change into me for a short period of time. Use that power
and make the female human succumb to you and if you have energy move onto her
husband. I am trusting you with this gift Fawkes, don't betray my trust,"
I say before letting Fawkes leave.

I stop him before he can leave though to quickly
add, "Oh and Fawkes, do be rough with the female, she seems to enjoy
it," I give him a slight smirk and his eyes seem to light up, joyful in
been given permission to exceed the usual Skin-walker measure of pain.

I know I would have to check in on Darleen later but
for the moment I am desperate to get back to Anna's mind.

I close my eyes, hoping to easily be able to slip
into her mind and for once my wishes are met. She has no barriers guarding her
mind, and there are no outside influences within her mind, that is to say any
outside influence other than my own.

I simply watch her for sometime. She is in a land
that she does not recognize but I know it well, the rolling hills over looking
the shoreline. She is in a simple white sundress, which flutters around at her
mid thighs. Her dark auburn hair is loose and seems to dance in the gentle
twirls of the wind. I am not dressed in my usual garb - a black attire perfect
for the battlefield but light as well - instead I am dressed in tight black
riding pants, a white frilled open shirt, and riding boots. I smile; realizing
that it is not I who changed my appearance but she and for her to do so must
mean that she knows I am here.

"It's not polite to sneak into a Lady's dreams
Mr. Sitzman." She says and her honey-sweet voice washes over me. I smile
softly as I make my way toward her, and I take a seat beside her.

"No I doubt that it is but when have I ever
been polite, Anna?" I ask. I try to make my voice silky and seductive but
she simply laughs, which puts me off course, if only for a moment.

"Quite true, you were never polite and I never
gave you the chance to be." It is soft and sweet but I can still hear her
cautious behaviour seeping into her voice, and I turn so that I can look her in
the eyes.

"You do not need to fear me Anna, I won't hurt
you." I say softly hoping she will believe me, hoping I can believe
myself.

"Oh I know you won't hurt me, we are within my
mind and within my dream. You have no power here." Those words sting me,
for they have a double meaning.

"Do you wish me to leave Anna?" I ask
softly, the hurt seeping into my voice.

"I will not banish you from my mind while you
are acting so kind, when you turn back into your usual self, well that will be
a different situation all together," Anna says softly her eyes meeting
mine, and I see warmth and understanding there. "Are my parent's
well?" She asks a slight show of concern in her voice, despite how
horribly they have treated her.

"They are alive Anna, that's all you need to
know," I say coldly as I look away from her. Her soft, petite hand reaches
out, and grabs my chin in a strong hold, as she turns my head back towards her.

"I don't ask to cause you anger Christian, they
are my parents and despite how horribly they treated me, I am still a part of
them. Make them pay for their sins if you must, but for my sake spare their
lives." I cannot deny her, her wish. I stand up quickly and walk away from
the beauty beside me; I cannot deny her anything, especially when she looks at
me like that. As I prepare to leave her mind I turn back to look at her, she is
watching me, and smiles softly as our eyes met once more.

"I will spare them, not out of pity or
kindness, but only because it is your desire to let them live," I say
softly and I keep our eyes locked as I slowly feel myself slip away.

Victor's P.O.V

I am in my war room standing at the desk, the maps
of the underworld spread across it. I am not alone though. Kayden's unit – the
Acre Tempesta - surrounds me and thus Kayden is there and so is his second in
command Shade, and his weapons master, Blades plus several others. We have been
working and fining out the plans for the recruitment of the Underworld. I meet
Kayden's eyes across the table, and he nods his head in one sharp but quick
notion.

"Alright so it's agreed, we separate into
groups of four and go into the Vampire, Fae and Mermaid territories. Kayden
you'll take three with you, Shade you will take three with you and the rest
will come with me. We will be departing tomorrow afternoon. Spend the time with
your loved ones. William, Kayden and Shade can you stay back for a moment. I
need to talk to the three of you in private." I wait until the other
warriors have left the room, before I motion the three remaining men to take a
seat.

They look exhausted; we have been planning and
organizing all night. I have left Anna sleeping in her bed, and I had dragged
all of the members of the Special Force out of their beds. I wanted this to be
done when no one would overhear us, and that time was somewhere in the middle
of the night.

"Kayden, as your the leader of the Acer
Tempesta what area do you want to cover?" I ask it is common knowledge
that I am to cover the vampire areas; it is simply because of who I am.

"I'm going to cover the Mermaid territory, it’s
a well known fact that I have connections with some of the people in their SA,
and it'll be more likely that they will help us if they know a friendly face,"
Kayden says, his lazy smile in place as he easily talks about one of the
deadliest people in the sea.

"And I'll take care of the Fae, they play dirty
and I can play back," Shade says and I acknowledge his request, with a
simple nod of the head.

"And I'm obviously staying here to guard the
castle and to keep an eye on Anna," Blades adds and I give him a slight
quirk of the lips.

"Right since that's covered, you should all go
and get some sleep while it is still night. We'll meet tomorrow afternoon as the
sun sets," I say before walking out of the room, the three men following
after me.

I make my way through the dead hallways, towards my
and Anna's bedroom. All is silent as everyone sleeps, the only noise that can
be heard is the quick slaps of the soles of my shoes against the concrete
ground.

For a moment I wonder what it would be like if
Christian had won Anna instead of I, and it quickly strikes me that it would be
as lonesome as the next few weeks are sure to be. I push thoughts of being
without Anna away from my mind as I enter into our shared room.

I find Anna asleep in our bed, her wild dark hair
framing her face and shoulders as she sleeps. She is beautiful and for a moment
I simply lean against the wall and watch her sleep. She sleeps heavily and she
whispers things in her sleep, my name among it, which makes me smile.

She is everything I have ever wanted, and now she is
here with me, in my bed, and in my heart and mind. She belongs to me and I to
her.

After a long time of simply watching her sleep she
stirs, it is only a little twitch at first and then she moves in such a manner
that the blankets fall down to her legs. That's when I see that she is wearing
a silky white nightgown which only reaches her mid-thigh. It stirs something
within me and I begin to move towards her. I move the hair covering her neck
away, and kiss her neck lovingly, as I run a hand up and down her thigh.

As I feel a pulse flutter in between my teeth, my
fangs snap into place and break the flesh underneath my lips. Blood trickles
into my mouth from the small open wounds, and as the blood touch my tongue, I
groan in ecstasy and suck harder, forcing my fangs into her flesh and I take a
large gulp of the sweet nectar that is flowing from her. Anna moans softly as I
continue to drink from her, and soon the ecstasy of my venom that is sinking
into her has her rubbing her behind against me.

"Oh Victor," She moans and I quickly
pulled out of her to allow her to flip over. Her brilliant green eyes stare up
at me, and for a moment I lose myself within them, and then I realize what I
have done, and I am across the room in the blink of an eye. "Victor?
What's wrong?" Anna asks as she sits up. I refuse to meet her eyes, refuse
to look into her eyes, which would be hurt and confused and if I see that I
will lose my control once more.

"I'm sorry Anna, I did not mean to... I lost
control... It won't happen again; never again," I say before getting out
of the room, running from her, running from what I have done as if I'm a bat
flying out of hell. She deserves better, she may belong to me but I had no
right to drink from her as if she were a blood bag.

I spit the blood from my mouth. I do not want to
have the taste of her on my tongue as a reminder of what I have done. My
footsteps slap against the concrete as I head towards a spare chamber that I
know are not in use, to make good of the last few hours of the night. I need to
sleep and I need to immerse myself in my dreams. If only to forget about what I
have done. Oh god, what have I done?

Anna's P.O.V

I can feel his eyes upon me, devouring
me. I can feel his presence; can sense the smirk upon his lips as I scan my
surroundings. He enjoys playing this game of cat and mouse, enjoys watching me
shiver in fear of what his twisted mind can come up with. He's the true devil,
the demon who haunts me day and night. He's what I need to get away from and
yet he's everything I want, but this want is not my own, it's not my heart or
mind or even soul telling me that I want him.

I can feel him calling me, his voice
whispering in the empty air, calling me to him and without thought, without my
own will, I go to him. I let him embrace me, his warm arms wrapping around me
as his cold eyes search my face for something. Soon he's whispering sweet
endearments into my ear, but with each word he says it makes me feel colder,
empty as if something is missing within me.

This want within me, this wanting
feeling that is not my own, makes me lean into his touch, makes me welcome his arms
around me, makes me welcome his body pressing into mine, makes me welcome his
warm breath at the nape of my neck and soon my ear as he whispers "You are
mine Anna, no-one is going to take you away from me." I look up into the
face of the man whom holds me, expecting to see Christian. However as his face
comes into relief my breath catches, instead of seeing Christian I see Victor.
His features cold as ice but sharp as a dagger. His hair is rugged and mused;
he has stumble covering from his chin. Instead of the burning fire I'm used to
seeing in his eyes, I see cold, calculating blue. Blue eyes demanding and
seeking control, and it is so unlike Victor that it makes my blood run cold.

"Victor?" I ask hoping it is
not him. His eyes meet mine and the cold fire remains, he smirks slightly, a
slight twist of the lips as he says "Guess again Love" those are the
words to give him away. In his eyes I recognized the cold blue, and as I take a
step back, away from him, his lips tighten further into a wicked grin.