The Fire Within (The Fire of The Soul Series) (14 page)

"Christian," I whisper his
name, the name of the man I fear and loath most of all. He pulls me back into
him and roughly bites down on my neck, I can feel him sucking on me and slowly
my energy is draining and before long my eyes drop shut, the darkness consuming
me.

I awake to find Victor on top of me, drinking from
me as he had in my dream. I try to say his name but it comes out in a moan, I
try to shove him off of me but I am weak from the blood loss. It is when I bite
him - as he kisses me - that he finally realizes what is happening.

He is across the room in a heartbeat, his body
turned away from me and his head hung low as he breathes heavily.

“Victor?" I ask, concern deep in my voice. He
doesn't respond, but he turns his head instinctively at the sound of his name.
His eyes meet mine and there is a deep look of repulsion, as if what has just
transpired made him sick to the core. It burns as if a lick of flame has shot
up my veins and it makes me freeze, makes me unable to move towards him, to
comfort him.

He leaves soon after, racing away from me, from what
had happened and I wish I could run too, run from this emotional pain that his
look had stirred within me. I close my eyes and try to let sleep overcome me
once more, if only to escape for a moment.

When I wake later on, it is to an empty bed. Victor
has not returned and though I had not been expecting him to it still stings me.
At breakfast he refuses to meet my eyes, and I do not know if it is my fault,
or for that matter why he is avoiding my eyes. I hate the silence and I call
his name again, as I had last night and it causes him to - once again - look to
the source of where his name had come from. When his eyes meet mine, I try to
show as much sympathy and understanding as I can.

"Are you okay?" I ask, as our eyes
continue to hold each other. His eyes drift away as he shrugs his shoulders
slightly.

"Never better," He says nonchalantly
refusing to meet my eyes again. His behaviour stirs anger and annoyance within
me and I slam my fist upon the table as I say "Then stop acting like a
wounded animal Mr Menédez, and start acting like the man I know you to be. What
happened last night, I know it was not of your own free will and because it is
such I refuse to hold it against you. If I am able to not hold it against you,
then you should be able to do so as well. I plan to go into town with Meg and
William today, if you wish to find me, either to talk or to just simply be,
then that is where I will be."

I can sense that he wants to say something; he has
even met my eyes whilst I had been speaking, but his mouth remains firmly shut
and before my anger can grow over his stubbornness I leave the room.

I find Meg and Will waiting by the front door, both
standing at either side of the vast foyer. Will quickly strides to my side as
he sees me, a large grin on his face. He bends low and kisses my hand, before
standing up and drawing me into his warm arms.

"It's good to see you again Anna," He
whispers as he continues to hold onto me.

"You'd be able to see me better if you loosened
your hold," I say teasingly, I can feel the rumble of his laughter in his
chest and it makes me relax even more, makes me quickly forget the fight I had
just had with Victor.

As soon as Will releases me, I'm swooped into Meg's
arms. We say our hello's and I introduce Meg to Will and Will to Meg, before we
are making our way down to the awaiting carriage, which has been arranged to
take us down into town.

William shows both Meg and I the town, and soon Meg
has to make her way back to the castle as she has work to do. This leaves Will
and I alone, which is fine with me. He suggests that we go to the shore at 'No
Man's Lands' and I agree simply because it sounds like fun.

We have just come out of the water, both of us
dripping wet in our day clothes and we are now relaxing on the green rolling
hills simply starring up at the blue cloudy sky.

"I always wondered what happened to you Will, I
thought you had been murdered, my mother couldn't care less and my father would
hit me when he saw even a small tear fall. But I never stopped wondering what
happened to you, and now I know, you've been here all along, far away from the
horrors of home," I say softly, reminiscing on the past years of my youth,
a youth without one of my best friends, my protector, and my saviour who did
everything within his power to protect me from my father.

"I always thought of you too Anna," He
says as he turns to me, his sky blue eyes starring at me. "I always
worried, prayed that you would stay safe, stay innocent but I knew as we got
older that those prayers were for nothing, I knew what your father was capable
of and although I wanted to save you as I had when we were young, there was
nothing I could do. I'm sorry for what you had to endure Anna," His eyes
kept mine as he talked and for a long while our eyes stayed locked and then
slowly but surely a lazy, lopsided smile spread across his lips. He moved in
towards me, hovering over me, his lips only inches away from mine. His eyes
drift down to my lips for a moment, and then drifted back up to my eyes, and
then down once more as he moves in to kiss me.

As our lips meet, I expect fireworks for this was
the boy I had loved when I was young, instead I feel an iciness spread inside
of me, a pain so deep and cold that it makes me move away from him in hopes
that the pain will stop. I throw up my breakfast and lunch when I'm a good few
meters away from him.

"Anna, are you alright?" William asks, his
hand hovering over my back but afraid to touch me.

"She will be but you won't," I hear Victor
say and I turn around to find him standing behind us, a cold, dead look in his
eyes. He looks furious, murderous and I am instantly afraid of Victor.

"Please Victor don't hurt him, William is a
very old friend of mine." I say as I move towards Victor, hoping that I
will be able to calm him.

"That isn't William, Anna. I wasn't going to
come, my pride and stubbornness were preventing me from doing so, but when I
saw William at the castle, I knew something was wrong. When I asked him where
you were and he told me that he didn't know, it simply confirmed what I knew. I
followed our bond to find you," Victor says, his voice asking for
forgiveness and understanding. I smile at him in assurance, thinking that he
should have known that it was his for the taking.

"You are correct Victor, I am not
William," William says from behind me, as he snakes his arms around my
waist.

"Then who are you?" I ask. I surprise
myself with how calm my voice is when I feel nothing but fear and turmoil.

William kisses my neck and whispers "Can't you
guess love?"

Victor growls fiercely one name, the only name that
I despise. The name of the man who haunts my dreams, the man whom I will never
succumb to no matter how much, or for how long he wishes. The name steals from
my lips in a horse whisper, "Christian."

William's P.O.V

Darkness surrounds me, the gut wrenching smell of
blood, sweat and decay hanging heavily on the air. I wish to scan my
surroundings, learn of where I am and what I am to face, but all I see is
darkness. There is a sound of metal rattling against metal, and with my high
senses I can tell that it is chains, clanking against more chains. There is a
soft whisper of prays from across the room. I try to speak but my voice is
horse and sore from the lack of use. There are footsteps quickly approaching, I
can hear it from a mile off but the footsteps, their quick slaps against the
ground, match the thundering of my heart.

"Alright you mangin' dogs, Sun's a-settin'.
Time to rise and howl." There is cold laughter following the man's voice.

There is a bright light as the stone door opens and
I blink, trying to get rid of the temporary blindness the sudden light has
caused me. We are roughly pulled along, one thin man after another, there are a
few men like myself whom seemed more well fed, and the only rational idea is
that those who appeared healthier are newer to whatever was going on here. I
quickly find myself in a stone courtyard facing vast woods a hundred or so
meters away from the courtyard.

"For those of you who have been here for some
time you should already know what is going to happen tonight. For those of you,
who are new here, welcome to hell. I'm Sergeant Monroe and you are all my new
underdogs. This place is a camp to train werewolves to fight for the Skin-walker
army. You are in a life or death situation, to survive you will have to fight,
you will have to kill and you cannot trust anyone. Follow these rules as if
your life depends on it - and it does - and you will survive, if you don't then
your life - and those you entrust in your time here - may be in jeopardy. In a
few minuets time the sun will fully set, and the moon will have risen, you will
turn as soon as it is does, if not your brethren will hunt you down as if your
any other, human meat-bag!" the Sergeant barks in a military style. I
watch those around me and the sun, constantly the sun.

"And if I hear any whining tomorrow, then we'll
have a little chat one-on-one." and that was the last the Sergeant said
before the sun set.

We all shifted as one, some were unwilling to shift,
to go through the pain of it and they were hunted down first, their fleshed
ripped between our sharp, canine teeth, their blood gushing down our wolfish
throats and their blood staining our teeth red. Howls emitted from the pack and
growls stirred as we fought over food, over our own dominance. We were one as a
pack and yet we were divided.

The Sergeant was unrecognizable from the rest of the
pack, but I feel eyes watching me, evaluating me and I have a feeling that I'm
going to rise through the ranks easily. It will be better to be higher up the
food chain, and so I get into fights, displayed my dominance and rule over the
others. I am choosing my destiny from the choices before me. It's a battle of
survival and I want to live, I want to conquer and above all else I want to
keep Anna safe, and if that meant pretending to be loyal to the Skin-walkers
than so be it.

Anna's P.O.V

"Yes love. It's me," Christian says, his
voice bordering onto a purr. I want to move away from him, but his arms are
firm around my waist, and I cannot move. I look up into Victor's eyes and that
murderous look is lingering, growing stronger, and I fear what he may do.

"I'm surprised that you didn't figure it out
earlier. You have known the werewolf - 'William' as you call him – for several
years. It's surprising how deceiving the eyes can be for a mortal; you believe
what you see and you do not ask questions. It's so
human
." There is
a sick edge to his voice, something so twisted, so wrong that it makes me feel
physically sick. I want to get away from him and yet I cannot, as he continues
to hold onto me.

"Still your naivety served its purpose; you're
here in my arms. And your suitor gets to watch every foul act I am to execute
on you." His hot breath tickles me as he kisses his way slowly down my
neck, and then across my bare left shoulder blade. I know what his purpose is,
he wants to make me moan, to make me enjoy what he is doing in front of Victor,
but I cannot afford to lose control now, I cannot afford to destroy the bridges
that Victor and I have built. I couldn't make him doubt my love for him.

I can see Victor starting to lose control. I know he
is going to do something irrational, if Christian doesn't stop his
ministrations. I'm starting to get that cold, poisonous feeling building up
within me again. Christian continues to kiss my skin, his lips travelling all
over my upper body, and as he turns me around to kiss my lips once more, I see
something in his eyes that I've never seen before; Love. He is in love with me,
and it makes me sick to the core. His lips meet mine and my eyes flutter close,
for a moment I forget who is kissing me. All I can feel is warmth; warmth and
love. He is hungry for me, desperate to show me all of his love. For a moment I
forget, and simply live; live in the moment, drown in the kiss, feel the warmth
of his hands on my cheeks, feel the warmth of his lips on mine, the tongue that
darts out to lick across my lips. He is so warm and yet somehow as his soul
meets with mine, I can feel the coldness, and the darkness of the man that is
kissing me.

There is a tugging feeling at my waist, right in the
centre of my stomach. It pulls and tugs, twists and turns until the feeling is
consuming my entire being; my soul, heart and mind included. I open my eyes and
look up into Christian's eyes. As our eyes meet there is no longer love and
hope within them, but a deep pain. He opens his lips as if to scream but no
sound reaches me. I watch him fall to his knees, his hands reaching up to hold
the sides of his head, covering his ears. His face starts to look drained, as
if the life is being sucked out of him. I can feel nothing but darkness, I can
feel nothing but hate and anger, fury and rage, these burning desires of
darkness consumes me, drives me on the task that is set before me, I know not
what I am doing nor how I am doing it, but I know it is hurting Christian, and
if I had a shred of pity for him it does not raise it's voice, or dares stop me
in my task. Christian's silent scream continues on and on, as if the moment
were frozen in time. I can feel my strength leaving me and the power that was
pushing me on, quickly abandons me. I fall to my knees, my eyes fluttering
close, but not before I could see Christian flop to the ground, a wasted, empty
shell; destroyed by my own doing.