Firebrand (4 page)

Amber drew back, her gaze lingering on his lips. “Isn’t it about time?” Her heart seemed to stop when a sad smile passed over his features.

“Not yet.”

Her lip quivered. “You don’t want me?”

He pulled her tightly to him and rested his chin on her forehead, a controlled breath escaping his lips. “More than you know.”

“Then what is it?”

“You’re too emotional right now and I won’t take advantage of that.” He gently raised her chin and looked straight into her eyes. “And I think you’re scared.”

“Not anymore now that you’re here.” She wound her fingers in his. When she withdrew them, some jet black curls tumbled across his forehead drawing attention to his clear blue eyes. She brushed the hair away from his face, the tip of her forefinger grazing his skin. With the soft contact, he inhaled sharply and closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, his gaze trailed across her face.

Amber moistened her lips and saw his eyes follow the tip of her tongue across her mouth. He shifted and she could feel his building arousal.

“Amber, maybe we should get out of here until we’re sure it’s safe,” he said hoarsely.

“I feel safe when I’m with you.” She rose up and kissed him. “Kiss me back, David,” she whispered against his mouth.

“Amber, under normal circumstances…”

She put a finger to his lips. “These are not normal circumstances.” She looked into his eyes and saw a barely controlled fire there that made her want to feel his body crushed to hers and surrender completely to whatever would happen. “Kiss me, David.”

With a sound that belied his hesitation, he stroked her face gently before lowering his lips to hers and kissing her softly.

It wasn’t enough for her. The fever for him raged. It mixed with the strains of the other unusual feelings she’d been having producing a hunger she never dreamed possible.

“More, David,” she said, clinging to him, “Let go. Give in.” She pressed her lips against his and urged his mouth open to accept her tongue. She felt the fire build with every stroke she made until she felt him surrender. She molded her body against his, every single curve fitting perfectly into the accepting ridges of his form.

Tendrils of her auburn hair danced across his hands as he massaged her back and she felt him deepen his kiss and press his body harder against hers. His fingers roamed downward to the curve of her hips and the unmistakable sound of desire rumbled from his throat when he slid his hands over her buttocks and pulled her hips forward to show her that he was ready for her.

Her kiss curved into a willful smile when she felt how much he wanted her. In response she moved to the rhythm of his hips. Each time the juncture of her thighs acknowledged the crest of his manhood, she took a small sharp breath imagining how he would feel inside her. As she danced in a lovers’ aching whirlwind her body burned like molten iron in the heat of a blacksmith’s inferno.

She didn’t remember pulling his shirttails out from the waist of his pants but soon her hands were roaming the span of his back, his skin fire to her touch. She traced the molded muscles under his ribs as she moved her hands forward across his flat stomach and up the carved lines of his torso. When her fingertips caressed his chest, she heard the sharp intake of breath that he released in a growl of desire. She trailed the tips of her fingernails down his skin and slipped her hands out from beneath his shirt, hearing him groan as she did.

Her fingers moved to the buttons of his shirt. As she opened one and then another, she kissed each inch of bare skin revealed. As the last button was freed, she ran her hands up to his shoulders and slid the shirt from his shoulders when suddenly David ceased his ardent movements.

“I guess I should have knocked first?”

Serina Ward stood in the doorway.

David twisted away from Amber, Serina’s eyes staying on him as she came closer. “We were… just talking,” he said in a voice still thick with desire. He shrugged his shirt back onto his shoulders and quickly buttoned it. Turning his back to Serina, he tucked the shirttails back into his pants.

“Uh-huh,” the tall, honey skinned woman said, “last time I saw talking like that, I was watching the lunch scene in
When Harry met Sally
at one in the morning on the Movie channel.” She walked toward them then stopped abruptly when she noticed the condition of the room. “What happened here?”

Composure regained, Amber answered. “Someone broke in but I think I surprised him before he took anything.”

“Are you sure you aren’t hurt?” Serina asked, inspecting Amber like a fragile package that had just been delivered.

Amber pressed her lips together. “He did cut my arm with a piece of glass.”

“Where?” Serina ran her hands over Amber’s arms.

“Right here.” Amber looked at her right forearm. There was nothing. She checked the left. The skin was clear. “I’m sure I felt blood, she said with confusion.

“Maybe the skin wasn’t broken,” Serina offered.

“No, I felt the glass dig into my arm. But then the pendent started to heat up and I grabbed onto it. After that I shouted at the intruder and it was almost like I ordered him to appear. I saw him like a pencil sketch on paper outlined in a sickly green color.” She looked first at Serina and then David, seeing the twin looks of concern on their faces. “If either of you know something about this, tell me.”

Serina and David looked at each other but said nothing.

“The intruder did say he was looking for something specific. Something he was sure I had,” Amber added. She saw Serina’s face momentarily blanch and then recover quickly.

“What else did he say?” Serina asked.

“Nothing. He just kept repeating I had something he needed.”

“Curious. What do you think it was that he wanted?” Serina asked in a voice that sounded as though it she were testing.

“I have no good idea,” Amber replied. Her brows furrowed in response to the uneasy look that rose on Serina’s face. “But I think you know, don’t you?” Heat began to rise on her chest. She looked down and saw that the pendent was glowing again, scattering small beams of white in all directions. She hooked her thumb around the chain and raised it so the charm was completely exposed. “This is what he wanted, isn’t it?” She watched in fascination as the light grew and ebbed before her eyes. “It seems alive.”

“Not alive,” Serina said, taking hold of the chain and letting it fall back on Amber’s neck, “It’s activating.”

Amber narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean activating?”

“It’s been in synergy since the creation and is now coming to impact. Once fully galvanized, it can be a powerful ally or a threatening opponent depending on the motives of the owner.” Serina cocked her head. “I’m surprised it didn’t warn you of the intruder.”

“I think it tried. But I thought it was my imagination, like the visions.” Amber pressed her lips together. “They’re connected, aren’t they? The visions, this pendent.”

Serina didn’t answer but simply placed her hand over the charm now resting near Amber’s heart. “We must guard the amulet well until the time comes when its authority is needed.” Serina closed her eyes and breathed deeply and evenly. As she did, the pendent seemed to quiet and then darken. “You must learn to keep the charm at peace.”

Amber looked down at the amulet. It felt alive against her skin. “What is this?” she asked. Uneasiness washed over her. “What am I?”

“You’re special, Amber,” Serina said softly.

“How? And how do you know it?”

Serina cupped Amber’s cheek. “Close your eyes and open your mind.”

The pull to comply was undeniable and Amber could not refuse it. As her eyelids closed light and color exploded behind them. She saw a man and a woman alone in a beautiful garden, a kiss, then more. Suddenly the garden burst into flame and a beautiful woman in white pointed beyond a golden gate. From there the images moved like a movie in fast forward — people, creatures, screaming, fire, wind, swords another kiss and then blackness.

Amber’s eyes flew open. “Who are those people, what does it mean?”

“You’ll know.”

Amber’s brows drew together. “Know what? When?”

“When you’re ready to accept what must be.”

“And what do I do until then?” Amber asked in a rush of breath.

Serina traced the triangular lines of the pendant through the fabric of Amber’s blouse. “There’s nothing any of us can do but wait.”

Amber’s eyes fell closed even as the words were spoken. She not only heard the sadness in Serina’s voice but also felt the hopelessness in her heart. She knuckled away her building tears. “Riddles.” Amber’s shoulders slumped. “I feel like something terrible is going to happen and I can’t stop it.”

“No one can,” Serina admitted quietly.

“You’re scaring me, Serina,” Amber said feeling her heartbeat rise. “What is happening? You’re my best friend what have you got to do with any of this?.”

Serina put her arm around Amber. “Soon,” she said, placing a reassuring arm around Amber and leading her to the sofa. “We’ll know all soon. But for now, stay here and David and I will get something to temporarily fix that window.”

Amber clasped her shaking hands in front of her. “What if he comes back?”

Serina glanced to the door, a barely observable sparkle of light emanating from her eyes. “He won’t.”

“I’m staying the night,” David announced firmly. Serina’s eyes darkened to the color of thunderclouds. “No need. I’ll be here.”

David never wavered. “So will I.” The tone of his voice left no doubt as to the finality of his decision. Silence hung in the air for a few moments before he spoke again. “I’ll check the basement for something to put over that broken window.” He didn’t wait for an answer before he turned and disappeared into the townhouse kitchen.

On his way down to the basement, the heels of his shoes hit the wooden steps more solidly than he felt inside. He walked to the far wall and began to shove aside boxes and paint cans. He straightened and slowly turned, sensing Serina’s presence more than hearing her come in.

“Is this what you’re looking for?” she asked.

He watched the hammer leave her hand and float across to his. He grabbed it out of the air. “You know I hate when you do that floaty thing. Besides, I thought you were dead set against using your magic around Amber.”

“I’m simply reminding you of why you were sent to us. You are here to bring the Keeper to the Triad. No more. No less.”

“You mean to her death.” He strode to the corner and grabbed three long planks of boarding before heading for the stairs.

Serina fell into stride beside him. “If that be the will of the First One.”

“She’s so innocent. She has no idea what she has to do.”

“But the time is coming and there will be no stopping the events from playing out to fulfill the prophecy. The pendant has activated. Soon it will transfer its full power to Amber. Once the transfer is complete, she will learn who and what she is and will be the most sought after person in the universe. We will no longer be able to ensure her safety and hide her from Gorash. He will come after her again and it will be up to you to prevent it.” She put her hand on David’s arm. “That is your heritage, your destiny. You can’t change it.”

David looked from her hand to her eyes. “But I can try.” He shrugged his arm free, pushed past her and headed back upstairs to Amber.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Below the city, deep inside an abandoned subway tunnel, Gorash, King of the Trolls, paced his provisional throne room. “Jolinax, I should have you flogged! Or better yet, sent to the ice caves to help search for the third key.” Wild with fury at the interference of his underling, he shot to Jolinax and lifted him by his throat.

“I meant to surprise you by bringing it to you” Jolinax croaked as Gorash’s fingers tightened.

“Do you, a mere drudge, presume to know even if this girl you found is even the Keeper?” Gorash couldn’t stand any of underling subjects knowing more or even as much as he did.

“I was only thinking of you, of our people, of what we stand to lose if she was and if is allowed to fulfill the prophecy.”

Gorash felt the cartilage in Jolinax’s throat begin to collapse against his hand as he squeezed harder. “The prophecy!” he cried, reveling at his own power as Jolinax’s eyes bulged and a choking sound escaped from his open mouth. “The divination must not come to pass, the prophecy must fall short of prediction if we are to rule. You endanger us all with your actions.” He flung Jolinax against the wall of the cave as he spat out the words. “If she is indeed the one, the persona of Eric Sinclair will handle her.”

“Humans rely too much on emotion and that makes them weak, but even so oh great one, you will need help.” Jolinax cowered on the ground where he landed, gasping.

In two strides, Gorash loomed over him. “Listen to me and listen well. I need nothing and no one, least alone a slow-witted gnome like you who just might have put eons of work in jeopardy. From this day on, you are forbidden to have further contact with Amber Drake. You will not go to her home, you will not go to her place of work and will not cast your sallow eyes upon her again, is that clear?”

“It will be as you wish your majesty,” Jolinax managed to croak as he tried to recover his breath. Eyes closed, he covered his head with his hands and prepared for what would come next.

Gorash kicked out, catching Jolinax in the stomach propelling him toward the door. “Get out of my sight.”

On his hands and knees, Jolinax quickly scrambled away. Once out the door, he leaned against the cold stone of the tunnel wall and took deep breaths. As air returned to his lungs, an angry sneer creased his lips. Once the Triad was stopped, the worlds would be at the mercy of the strongest. By then Jolinax swore, it would be him.

Chapter Two

The next day when Serina entered Madison Square Park butterflies streamed toward her and flowers turned to follow her every move. “Not now, darlings,” she said softly with quick wave of her hand. The butterflies stopped mid-flight and then fluttered away while the flowers seemed to droop slightly before turning back to face the sun. She could see David pacing a few yards away, hands in his pockets, apparently lost in deep thought.

“David,” she called out. He acknowledged her with a toss of his head and began walking toward her. “What were you thinking last night?” she asked, as he got closer. “Amber is the only one of her kind. We have no idea what could happen if she lets her emotions free.”

Even from a distance David could see Serina’s eyes flare. He knew what was coming. He raised his hand, palm outward, to shield his eyes from the sudden shower of pebbles and dirt stirred by her irritation like the onslaught of a rising dust storm. “I know you’re pissed when you pelt me with rocks,” he replied, reaching her. “Amber and I had a moment. That’s all.”

Serina held up her hand and, as though they hit a wall, the particles fell to the ground. “While I understand, you know these moments…” she mimicked him, “have to stop.”

He nodded. “I know.” He slapped his palm to the back of his neck. “I swear I would have stopped and just held her all night, but I let my feelings for her get away from me.”

“Amber is coming into her own. We just don’t know the extent of her emerging powers. You might not have been able to stop her. She may have wanted more.”

“ she’s not the only one who would have wanted more.” The tone of his voice left no doubt to the struggle in his heart. “But I also know how important the charge given to my family is to the success of the prophecy.”

“We knew this time would be difficult, David. We must deal with her transformation the best we can, knowing the end is coming.”

“I know that too.” He pressed his lips together. “How was she this morning?

“Still a little confused but she’s strong. Don’t worry.”

“Does she know you’re meeting me?” he asked.

“Of course not I waited until she left for work.”

David pounded the trunk of a nearby tree with his fist, grimacing in reaction to the pain as the rough bark tore his skin. “I should have been with her when she went home. I had to go over some papers for work and told her I’d meet her later. You have no idea how I felt when I saw the front door wide open and the living room in a shambles.”

Serina held out her hand. David placed his on it. She covered his bleeding knuckles with her other hand. Light grew between her palms, its intensity illuminating David’s face. When she withdrew her hand, the cuts on his skin had healed. “I know how hard this is for you.”

David flexed his fingers to work out the lingering ache. “How can you?”

“Just know that I do.” She put a hand on his shoulder and felt it droop as if in resignation. “Amber must follow her destiny. Nothing can change that.”

“Maybe I can.”

Serina shook her head. “Destiny is absolute. It is what binds our life forms to our souls. Our souls are only released when our destiny is fulfilled.”

He looked exasperated as he ran a hand through his dark hair. “You’ve been with her almost since her birth. How can you not feel something?”

“You actually believe I have no feelings for her?”

“You don’t understand.”

“Oh but I do. I understand all too well that you’ve fallen in love with a young woman who is about to face obligations she doesn’t even know exist as yet and discharge duties that are far beyond anything she could even imagine.”

“Then how can you stand by and let it happen?” David challenged.

“I have no choice and neither do you. I shouldn’t have to remind you that Amber will need every ounce of strength she can muster to withstand what’s to come. She can’t afford to become distracted by you. She must concentrate on the mission for which she has been born. You can’t stop it. No one can.”

David scrubbed is hand across his face and then through his thick hair. “Why? Because I’m human? Because I love her? What a bunch of pretentious hypocrites you fairy beings are. You don’t give a damn about this world. You don’t even care about Amber. She is an anomaly, alive only to fill a purpose.” Anger danced on his handsome face. “Your kind cast her out because she was strong enough to live. My kind made sure she survived,” he said arrogantly.

Above them dark gray thunderclouds gathered in reaction to Serina’s growing anger. “She was not cast out. She was removed for her own protection. And let me remind you,” she continued as a clap of thunder echoed around them, “that if it had not been for pretentious fairy brings like me, there would be no need for humans like you. You probably would never have even been born.”

David broke contact with Serina’s angry gaze and lifted his eyes to the ominous vortex above them. She was right. He and his forebears were direct descendants of Adam, given the task of first preparing the way for the Keeper and, now that she had come, protecting her. Through the ages, the men of his family chose only purebred human women as mates, women whose family lineage was not tainted by trysts with fairies or seduction by trolls. It was necessary to ensure the integrity of the bloodline and to bear more male children to carry on the fundamental charge for which they were born.

Serina was right. Whether he loved Amber or not, there was no escaping destiny for either of them.

He took a deep cleansing breath to calm his racing heart. “When I’m with her, sometimes I forget that she’s not like me.” His eyes snapped open. “But in my arms, she feels human. When I kiss her, she tastes human. When she kisses me back, all my basic human needs fire all at once and I want her to be human.” His voice dropped. “Simply and imperfectly human.”

Serina’s heart went out to David but she knew nothing could be altered from what must be. The path was set. The signs were emerging.

“The First One set the stratagem from the time of beginning. There can be nothing else — nothing else for you, nothing else for her. The chaos that would result should the Triad fail is inconceivable. Amber is the adhesive element that must bind together the separating forces holding existence and all that we know in place. If she doesn’t succeed in her mission, the alternative is worse than anything you can imagine.”

He turned brilliant blue, tear-glazed eyes to her. “What could be worse than life without Amber?”

“A world without hope,” Serina said sadly. “Amber is our hope. If you can possibly imagine evil a thousand times a thousand, it would be nothing compared to the utter immorality that would overtake humankind and fae alike should the trolls gain the control they seek. If the Triad destiny is not fulfilled, your beloved Amber would be at the mercy of Gorash, their king, only a means to an end, then discarded when her use is over. Do you want that for her?”

David closed his eyes and lowered his head. “No,” he whispered. “I would spare her that, even if it means losing her forever.”

“It might.”

He looked off into the distance. “She has no idea what she’s in for.” The muscle in his angular jaw twitched. “You know, when I first met her, she was an obligation, a debt that needed to be repaid. But the more I got to know her, the more I wondered why someone hadn’t scooped her up and married her long ago.”

Serina smiled. “Believe me, I had a time preventing that from happening.”

“Well how come I slipped through your magical cracks?”

“Because I saw your heart and let you.” She saw a glimmer of longing pass through his eyes and quickly continued. “It was a mistake.”

David smiled. “No, it wasn’t. There has to be a way to change her fate.”

“There’s nothing we can do. The task you must perform will be harder than anything you’ve ever faced. You have to prepare yourself to confront emptiness like nothing you’ve ever known.”

“Life without her,” he said sullenly.

“You’ll have to be strong when the time comes.”

“It’s soon, isn’t it?”

Serina nodded.

David swallowed hard and looked at the ground before looking back at the woman with whom he had undertaken the most important quest of his life. “I’m having second thoughts about my role in this Armageddon, Teezal.”

She put her fingertips on his lips. “You must not call me that name while we’re in this world,” she warned.

“Serina, then. But by any name, the fact remains, I love Amber.”

“The choice then will become duty or desire.”

“At one time there was no doubt about my choosing duty,” He shook his head. “Now…I don’t know.”

“Think well upon it, David,” Serina warned, “More than just your life and that of Amber rests with the road you select.”

The wind began to howl once more. David looked up into the sky. The clear blue sky had given way to billowing cumulonimbus clouds that were rapidly building to what looked like super cells. He raised his hand in front of his eyes as the dark gray clouds turned sickly green absorbing the sunlight that tried to break through them.

“Okay, Serina,” I get it. You can stop now,” he said as a microburst of violent wind uprooted a small bush to his left and blew it like a piece of paper across the park. Lightning flashed overhead, the accompanying thunder sounding like a runaway stampede of thousands of horses.

Serina’s face grew grim as hail the size of tennis balls began to pelt them. She shook her head. “It’s not me. Something or someone is coming through.”

As they left in opposite directions, Amber slipped from behind a nearby tree. She stared first at David’s retreating back, then at Serina’s, holding her briefcase over her head to deflect the hail that rained down from the sky. She took a few deep breaths to steady her racing heart. She had only been able to hear bits and pieces of their conversation, but
Armageddon, Prophecies, Destiny, Choices, This bizarre weather
. And what was that about something or someone coming through? What on earth was going on? And who the hell was Teezal?