The Fire Within (The Fire of The Soul Series) (26 page)

"Did you enjoy what you have
seen?"
His dark voice rolls around my mind,
like the clouds of a storm, soft yet malevolent.

"Do you think I would have enjoyed watching my
friends die or my enemy cheat death? No, I did not enjoy it one bit," I
reply, burying my face within the palms of my hands. I didn't want to look up
into those cursed eyes, not when there was nothing to see in them anyhow.

"Of course, it was disastrous; I
rather much enjoyed watching Victor fight for his life though. After all that's
he's done to me, at least I could take a little entertainment in his possible
death."
This statement was followed by another
chuckle and then a sigh, as Sadar realized that I was crying; my sorrow must
have been evident even to him, through my trembling body and soft sobbing.
"There's
no need to cry. Your sorrow was caused by something that may or may not have
happened. You'll have learnt nothing new when you leave this prison, your
friends could have survived, your enemy may have died, but you won't know
either way until you see them again. So honestly you have no need to feel
sorrow or pain, where I do. I have not seen home for centuries, I have not seen
my kin for even longer. I am a prisoner here within this cage, and I have no
hope of ever escaping."
As he's speaking I cannot help but lower my
hands, and look onto his face which hid so deeply within the shadows. There is
such sorrow in his voice, a pain that I cannot understand; that I hoped to
never understand. I wanted to tell him that I would help in what ever way that
I could, but I could hear footfalls coming down the stairs, bouncing off of the
stone walls.

I look up into Sadar's eyes, there is nothing within
them, however the lines on his face tell me much more. I open my mouth to
speak, but he shakes his head softly, and taps his forehead.
"No-one
can know that I am here, if they found out I was here they would use me,
trapped I am powerless to stop them. Swear to me that you will not utter a word
about my presence, or what you have seen here."
There is no time to
say anything as the footfalls are coming even faster as if whoever was making
them were running down the stairs.

I get on my feet quickly, and make my way back out
into the wine cellar, and at the bottom of the steps is Meg, the only human
friend I have, my sister in all matters but blood. How could I have forgotten
her? How could I have allowed this world - and all of its wonders and problems
- to let her slip from my mind?

"Meg?" I whisper, my voice suddenly lost
due to my shame. She smiles softly at me, as her hair hangs in her eyes.

"Anna, I'm so sorry," Meg repeats over and
over again, stumbling over her mantra. She's trembling ferociously, as if she
had caught a fever in the past few months.

"Meg, what are you talking about?" I ask
gently, she refuses to answer though; she only shakes her head from left to
right repeatedly. This is when I take her appearance in, her cheeks are blotchy
red and shining wet from shed tears, her pallor is a sickly green, her forehead
wet with sweat, her hair hanging in her eyes. There is a dead look in her eyes
as if she had seen a ghost. I don't think, I only move toward her, wrapping her
up in my arms, letting her rest her head against my shoulder.

"Meg, you need to tell me what is wrong?"
I say again softly, no more than a whisper, but I know that she hears me as she
buries her head further into my shoulder.

"Anna, the worst has happened. They are here!
They have come seeking refuge." The words are a broken cry, as our worst
fears have come true. My parents are here, within Victor's castle, within my
sanctuary. I am trembling now as well, I have feared this the moment I decided
to run away. I had only begun to think that I was safe from the monster that
terrorized me throughout my entire life. The monster that tried to push the
demon - who he believed possessed me - out. The monster that not only tortured
me but killed my best friend as well.

I pull Meg along with me, as we run up the stairs. I
had to see the monster with my own eyes, deliver his punishment with my own
hands, and condemn him with my own words. I only have a moment to look over my
shoulder, look for the fallen immortal, whose imprisonment here is unjust. To
see the face of the man who - forced or not - made me what I was. I only had a
moment, not knowing if I was going to see him again.

It's easier, finding my way back out. Now that my
feet have already transverse the path, I would have been able to travel through
the dim, narrow corridors, without any guidance, without any light. I pause for
a moment, outside of the study, not knowing which way to go.

"They're in the main entrance, Anna." Meg
shouts from behind me, and I start up my run again, Meg slipping from my mind
again, my thoughts focused on my father, the monster that I despise. I run
through the halls of Victor's castle, up flights of stairs and once or twice
knocking into people, servants on my way up. There is no time to stop and
apologize, or to wait for Meg to catch up. There is no time to waste, not when
the possibility of my father staying as a guest is ultimately real. I round the
corner from the last steps, and run down through another corridor, I can hear
the shouting of voices beyond, and I quicken my pace, racing through the open
doors and toward the scuffle.

"I demand you release me at once, you filthy
demons. I have a right to see my daughter." My heart slams into my ribs at
the sound of my father’s voice. So it's true, he's actually here and there is
nothing that we can do to change that. I look down onto the scuffle, Baron has
a firm grip on my father’s arms, making him incapable to move, Augustus holds a
dagger to his heart, and the tip just pressed firmly enough to pierce the skin,
from the small trickle of blood that runs down my father's white shirt. Astoria
is in the same position as her husband, a dagger in hand pressed firmly enough
against my mothers heart, where you can see a small trickle of blood running
down from her breast underneath her sapphire dress.

"Why do you want to see her? After all that
you've done to her, do you truly believe I would allow you to see her?"
Augustus sneers at Rupert, and for a moment I feel the weight of Augustus'
fatherly love.

"I no longer need your permission, demon. My
Daughter stands before me, in all her beauty and grace, yet she is stained with
your master’s demonic mark." Rupert sneers, I can see the sneer turn into
a smirk as his gaze moves from Augustus to me. Everyone else’s eyes travel to
me as well, I do not dare to tremble underneath my fathers gaze, and I hold my
head high, as I make my way down the stairs. I feel as if I am going to tumble
down the stairs a few times, my soul and mind and body are in such conflict
with each other that my hand is shaking upon the railing.

"You no longer need to seek me out father, I
have come to you. To deliver my own justice, to condemn you and to sentence you
for all that you have done against me. There will be no escape for you or for
my mother; you have brought this onto the both of you." My voice is
commanding and I am surprised at how steady I sound, how sure I am in myself,
and in my words. I hold out my hand for Augustus' dagger and he places the
handle within my palm. In a flash of movement, I am holding the dagger against
my father’s throat.

"You would harm your own flesh and blood
daughter? There is no difference between you and I, child. I killed your own
grandfather, in cold blood." There is a wicked curve to his lips, as if he
is smiling about his own actions.

"There is a difference between you and I
father, you killed your father out of greed, and I will kill you to have justice,
to make right all that you have done wrong to me. I promise you that it will be
slow and painful, you will rot in the pits of hell until you are begging for
death, and even then I will hold the dagger, just firmly above your heart,
enough to give you hope, but not enough to deliver the blow." I move the
dagger in just a little bit, enough to make my father squirm within Baron's
arms. Slowly I move the dagger down, drawing blood from the vain the dagger
traces. His blood oozes out, trickling down his neck slowly, as if an artist
was taking their time to trace a black line upon a piece of paper. There is a
physical shift in the atmosphere with the present vampires at the scent of
flowing blood.

The look in my fathers eyes are pure hatred, it is
almost as if he didn't care that every vampire present was focused on his blood
- that was trickling down his neck - in a thick black ooze. "You may think
that this is the end, that you've solved your problems and that you have
justice, but as long as I am alive I promise you that justice will elude you,
that peace and restoration will elude you. I will bring down the walls; I will
burn down the world to make you remember that I am the one in charge. I will
murder the ones you love Anna, I will burn down your world. Everyone you have
ever gotten close to will no longer be safe; each and every one of them will
fall. This I vow to you Anna." His voice is spiteful and loathing, and
looking past my father, I can see Baron. His eyes are dark and sorrowful; as if
he understands the words my father is speaking clearly. As Baron's eyes meet
mine, I can see that he understands what I need, that I need my father gone and
he makes his grip tighter, as I step away.

"Please take him away, to where you think is
best Lord Baron." I say taking the dagger and handing it back to Augustus.

"You'll regret this Anna, you will regret this
always!" He screams out as he gets dragged away, I don't pay any attention
to him or my mother, who has remained silent through all of this; I don't pay
any attention to anybody. I walk away before I can be stopped. I don't know
where I'm going at first, or what I'm planning to do when I get there, I simply
let my feet carry me, and before I realize it I'm in the gardens, kneeling
before the Midnight Bloom, my fingers gently brushing the black petals. There
is only one face that comes to mind at the sight of the flower, the face of the
person I miss most of all; Victor.

"Although they appear to be unbreakable like
the night, they are as delicate as the morning sun." There is a husky
chuckle from a man getting down on his knees besides me. When I turn my gaze
from the Midnight Bloom to the person besides me I find that it is Kayden, his
lips pulled into a frown.

"And how would you know?" I ask, wiping
the tears away from my eyes with the sleeve of my dress. He smiles brokenly for
a moment, as he reaches out to touch the flower as well.

"Because I created them Anna," Kayden
says, another chuckle slipping from his lips. His eyes turn toward me, our
gazes interlocking for a moment before I look away again.

"But I never thought that you..." I say
before my words slip short, not knowing how to continue that sentence.

"Everyone needs a hobby Anna. I heard the end
of your scuffle with your father, and I'm sorry to say that I brought him here.
I did not realize that you feel so strongly against him, if I had I doubt that
I would have brought him here. I don't know what he's done to you, or what he
truly deserves but you do, and if you believe that he deserves to rot then I will
not object. I believe that you have a major role in the future of this world
Anna, and I will stand behind you as long as you fight for the good of this
world." His eyes are focused intently on me, making my skin burn. I can't
help but look in his eyes.

"What they did to me was monstrous, Kayden.
Their actions have caused me to be less of the person that I could have been,
that I was born to be. I don't even deserve him Kayden, I can't be everything
he needs. I'd fail him again and again. How could he love me?" The tears
are flowing again, my words are the thoughts of my heart, echoing with all of
my heartache but Kayden simply sighs and places a hand on top of mine.

"In all my years, out of all the people that I
have met, I have only ever come across three type of people. There are those
who are born into a privileged life, whom receive everything that they want
when they want it, they do not know of suffering and thus when it comes their
way they cannot cope under the pressure. Then there are the mediocre people,
who just barely go through life, having something’s but not a lot, they know
somewhat of suffering and as with life, just barely survive it. Last but not
least there are those who are born into suffering, or whom were born to suffer
- like you and I Anna - they suffer through out their lives, but they are the
people who are the strongest, the bravest, they are the type of people that
legends are made of. Those who are born to suffer are the people that the
privileged and the mediocre turn to in times of war, in times when they need a
hero. Anna, you are of the later, you are a hero, you are the one that the
underworld will turn to, will look to in this time of war. You'll have me and
you'll have Victor. You won't ever be alone in this." There is compassion
and understanding in his voice, there is wisdom that comes with old age, and
hearing his words I realize how long Victor and Kayden have lived, I truly
recognize the extent of their lives, their immortality.

"What happens if Victor dies? What if we lose
this war? I don't know if I'd be able to go on living if I let everyone
down." My voice is a broken whisper as my doubts flowed from my lips. I
cannot bear to move my eyes away from the lily-rose, from the Midnight Bloom.