Caress of Flame (9 page)

He spurted into the condom so hard that he knew she had to feel the fire of his release through the rubber. His hands tightened on her breasts uncontrollably, but that only seemed to spur Isis onward in her trip to the heavens. His heartbeat was thick in his dick and he could feel Isis’ pulse beat around him too.

Isis collapsed against him. He moaned long and low one last time as he shot the rest of his cum into the condom then gathered her close. He pressed a kiss to the sweat at her temple and put both his arms around her, soothing them both with long strokes from the back of her neck to the rise of her bottom.

The room cooled as their breathing slowed. Isis laid her head on Flare’s chest and listened to his thundering heartbeat beneath her ear.

“You were magnificent,” he whispered against the top of her hair.

The words made her feel like a goddess, and they were said so honestly, so openly that she knew it was true. She laughed with true happiness and teasingly bit his nipple.

He swatted her behind, but only enough to make it sting sensually, and then he held her close again. He held her that way all through the night and Isis slept so deeply that she didn’t feel it when he rose and left her, gently covering her with a blanket and disappearing into the glow of the coming dawn.

4
Chapter Seven

Isis woke up alone, but she knew that Flare had had to go—none of her drapes were thick enough to block out the rays of the sun. She rose groggily, gasping when her body reminded her of her strenuous activity of the night before. Her body felt bruised and sore, but the soft pain was so delectable that she relished every ache and pain as she moved about.

She donned a robe and wandered through the house, heading for the kitchen. She rubbed her eyes blearily and gave a huge, satisfying yawn. It was amazing how good she felt and she was determined to hold onto that happy, contented feeling.

But fate was cruel. And as soon as she entered her kitchen she saw her sister’s note laid out on the table as well as the fallen bottle of Jager. Painfully reminded that not all was going well in her life, Isis avoided looking at it as she went about making a bowl of cereal. However, the dangerous lure of the letter beat at her resolve and she sat at the table with a slump, her cereal growing soggy as she stared down at the words written on the paper.

It took Isis a long while to figure it out, but she realized with some surprise that she wasn’t hurting as badly as she had when reading the note previously. The heavy, wrenching pain in her heart was barely there. Instead she found that she was angry.

Very angry.

“Damn you. Damn you
both
,” she growled and slammed her fists down on the table, splintering the wood slightly on one side, surprising herself with the strength behind her blow.

Isis held her hands up before her face. They were shaking. “What’s happening to me?” she asked in a soft whisper.

Silent and musing, Isis sat there, staring off into space for several long minutes.

Coming to a decision, she rose and dressed and began to pack her meager belongings.

All the furniture and appliances had come with the rental of the house. All she had were a few trinkets and some clothes and shoes. Still, it took her all morning and part of the afternoon to gather her things.

With her bags packed and the damned letter with its torn envelope in her front pocket, she sat down in the old, worn recliner in her sitting room and waited for Flare to arrive. She wasn’t leaving without him. Even though she felt sure he could find her no matter where she went, she still wanted to wait for him and let him know that she was leaving.

With her savings she would have enough money to take her time shopping for a new rental. In the meantime she fully intended to stay at an old hotel she knew of that 4was over an hour away from her present location. She wanted nothing more than to get as much distance as possible between dwellings before the night ended.

The sun didn’t set soon enough for her. But eventually, at last, there was no light in the room, and Flare appeared before her almost as soon as the sun disappeared over the horizon. Isis immediately went into his waiting arms and hugged him tight.

“I missed you this morning,” she said, feeling a tad shy.

Flare smiled, revealing his lovely teeth. “I missed you all day.” He motioned to her bags. “This is good. I was going to suggest you move now that the Daemons know where you live.”

Isis hadn’t even thought about that. “Yeah,” she said slowly. “I was getting tired of this place anyway.”

“Is this all you are taking?” he asked with a frown.

“It’s all I have,” she admitted.

“Are you ready to leave now?”

Isis smiled, relieved at Flare’s expediency. “
Yes.
Can you help me—”

She didn’t even get to finish because Flare had gathered all her bags and was already carrying them to the door. She followed him outside, locking up behind her and leaving the keys in an envelope taped to the door. Isis joined Flare at her car as he was putting the last bag into the trunk.

“I thought about heading to this hotel I know of. It’s kind of far though,” she explained.

“The farther we get from here the better, to my way of thinking,” he answered, fitting his long legs into the front passenger’s seat. Isis didn’t know why she hadn’t yet noticed just how huge he seemed in the car, but she definitely noticed now. She grinned, watching him squeeze into the car.

He looked up at her and caught her smile. “What?” he asked.

“You just look so funny,” she admitted.

“Yes, well, Shikars are not built for human transportation. We much prefer Traveling.”

Isis started the car and backed down the driveway. “Traveling? Is that what you call it when you disappear and reappear all the time?”

“Yes,” he answered.

“I don’t like it. All that whooshing air and confusion and that feeling like you’re cut adrift from the real world is just too much for me. It makes my stomach ache just thinking about it.”

“It can be unsettling at first,” he nodded.

“One question though.” She pulled onto the highway. “I saw that the Daemons Travel too. Why don’t they just appear here in the car and kill us both right now?”

4“That is a good question and one we have puzzled over in the recent years since Daemons have developed the ability to Travel. We think they’re just clumsy, unable to focus on any one specific place and appear at will. Traveling is very draining—even to us Shikars. And the Daemons’ destinations always seem random and accidental. You noticed that only one Daemon met you in your house—the others appeared outside of it.”

“What does that mean though?” she asked.

“That the Daemon you faced was simply stronger than the other three in its pod,”

he told her flatly then sighed heavily. “I will never be able to forgive myself for letting that Daemon get to you,” he admitted softly. “I am so sorry, Isis.”

Isis snorted. “Don’t be like that. It wasn’t your fault at all. We both know that if you hadn’t been there I would have been dead meat. I killed one measly Daemon—you killed three, remember?”

“Still, he hurt you. And I was not there to protect you.”

“But you
were
there. And you made all my injuries go away.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Why do you think I did what I did to that monster?” she blurted.

Flare stared ahead at the road before them. “I told you that you were strong.”

“Yeah, but strong like
that
? I tore that thing apart with my bare hands! God,” she sighed. “I was so angry. I haven’t been angry like that since—” She broke off abruptly, shocked at what she had so easily begun to say.

“Since when?” he prodded her mercilessly.

“It was a long time ago,” she explained and hoped he’d leave it at that.

He didn’t. “Tell me anyway.” He made the words a command.

Isis thought in silence for several minutes. “I can’t tell you,” she admitted finally.

“It’s too hard right now.” She put her hand out and caught his, entwining their fingers together and squeezing it tight. “But I promise I
will
tell you someday. Just give me a little more time, okay?”

Flare looked like he wanted to press her but she shook her head with gritted teeth, warning him away from the subject. He finally settled back in his seat, letting it go, and she breathed an audible sigh of relief. But Isis knew he would ask her about it again.

Soon.

Isis wanted to fill the sudden silence. Her fraying nerves needed small talk to distract her from her stresses. “Tell me about your childhood,” she said, knowing it was hypocritical of her to expect him to tell her anything when she wouldn’t tell him the one thing he seemed to want to know the most, but it was all she could think to ask. Besides, she
was
interested in his past—very. Isis wanted to know all about who he was.

Flare seemed inclined to humor her. “My parents were both very loving. My father and mother are gone but the rest of our family is very close, even now after all the 4years. When I was born it wasn’t clear what Caste of warrior I would be, so my parents waited to name me until I showed my first Shikar traits.”

“So kids are the same with Shikars as they are with humans?”

“Very much so. Our kind is not so different as you might think. We have the same needs as humans—food, shelter, water—the basics.”

“I’ve never seen you eat,” she remarked.

“Shikars do not need to eat as much as humans do. We eat every couple of days or so. Our metabolic rate is very different from yours.”

“Neat,” she said with a grin, feeling some of her cares being soothed away by the magic in Flare’s voice. “So when did you first exhibit your Shikar powers?”

“When I was three. I don’t remember it, but apparently I set my bedroom on fire.”

Isis gasped. “Are you serious? Oh my God, your parents must have been scared shitless.”

Flare laughed. “No. My father put the flames out easily enough and my mother immediately had my bedroom redesigned in stone so that such a thing couldn’t happen again. Not that the fire would have hurt me, but it could have hurt other Shikars and it was just safer to avoid using wood in my environment.”

“That’s why your whole apartment is done in stone. I just thought it was to be ostentatious.”

“It is safest that way. I haven’t lost control of my power in a long time—usually it happens during one’s sleep, but I’m a light sleeper by nature so I usually check myself before anything destructive happens. But sometimes there are unavoidable accidents and the stonework is simply a precaution against that.”

“Sounds reasonable,” she said with a nod.

“My aunt and uncle live a few miles from me but—”

“Holy hell, are you telling me that your underground city is that big?”

Flare threw a long lock of hair back behind his shoulder. “I think the city is about as big as your New York City. Maybe bigger.”

“Oh my God, are you serious?” Isis was truly incredulous. As big as New York City. Shit.

“I’m not sure. It grows daily—whenever a warrior mates he leaves the bachelor quarters and moves into new quarters designed specifically to meet the couple’s needs.

And when male children become warriors, they are given their own home—a haven away from our constant battles with the Daemons. Usually new apartments are dug out of the rock specifically for each new warrior who reaches maturity—though not always.

Sometimes there’s a vacancy due to one of the warriors mating. My apartment, though, was specially constructed to my specifications.”

“What about the women?” Isis had noticed he’d said male children become warriors and said nothing about the females. “Are they part of your army?”

5“Hmm,” Flare mused thoughtfully. “None of our females have ever wanted to be warriors—not that I know of. In our culture the females usually stay behind to protect the children and to make a home for the family. In return, their mates provide safety, love and constant protection. But there are four females—humans like yourself—who have joined the ranks of warriors and fight alongside the males.”

Isis was interested in this. “Do you know these women personally?”

“I know
of
them. Everyone does—they’re already legendary among us. Their names are Cady, Steffy, Emily and Nikki. They’re all different yet strong and valiant beyond any humans we have ever known.” He deliberately neglected to tell her that the women had long since become Shikars themselves, thanks to their mates.

“Do you have any other family?”

“Many aunts and uncles. No brothers or sisters though—my parents had enough on their hands with me as their son.” He chuckled. “I was a bit of a hellion in my youth.

Stubborn as an ox and cocky too. I’ve mellowed a lot since then though.”

Isis could almost imagine him as a boy—precocious, prone to getting into mischief, proud of his powers and adventurous to a fault.

The dark figure in the middle of the road appeared out of nowhere and there was nothing Isis could do to keep from hitting it. She shrieked in surprise and jerked the wheel but she was far too slow in her reaction. Her car slammed into the figure as if it were a giant slab of concrete, crumpling the front end of her vehicle. The figure bounced off the hood, shattered her windshield and landed limply in the road behind them. The car skidded and went into a spin as she slammed on the brakes in alarm. The spin ended with them facing away from whatever it was that they’d hit. Isis’ car stalled and suddenly everything went quiet but for Isis’ panicked breaths.

“Oh my sweet holy God! That was a man! I hit him, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck!” Isis knew she was babbling but she couldn’t stop it. Adrenaline surged through her and she struggled with the door handle—her hands were shaking so bad it made her clumsy and she fumbled a few times before Flare put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her away from the door.

“Are you hurt?” he asked her, hands already feeling her for injuries.

“I’m fine,” she answered with a gasp—even now his touch ignited heat within her.

“Get the car started again,” he told her. “I’ll go take care of our friend.”