Forged of Fire (32 page)

Marsala rubbed her chafed and bloody wrist on her shirt. “If you’re done flirting.” She looked pointedly at Katara. “Can we get on with it?”

“Oh, I will do more than flirt with her, if I catch her.” The pretty brunette answered before sashaying over to Marsala. It was plain eerie how Dante’s daughter’s outward appearance completely contradicted the being she really was. She was petite, with large cat-like eyes and exquisite bone structure. Utterly beautiful, but that was only on the surface. When the female looked at you it was like she was looking through you. There was zero question that Dante’s daughter was insane and definitely not one to be messed with. “And, if I catch you both,” Katara grabbed Marsala by the chin, turning her head first to the right then the left as if she were studying her skin. “I will let you watch everything I have in store for your friend here so don’t worry this pretty little head of yours.” Katara roughly pushed Marsala’s face away. “You will be allowed to see it all before I turn my attention to you and peel your flesh slowly from your muscles.” She stepped back smiling. “Ready, set, go!”

Neither Marsala nor Kielyn took a second to process the order. They took off as fast as their feet could carry them. They jumped a small lava creek and started up a steep hill when Marsala tripped and landed hard on the ground. Kielyn stopped to help her just to find an arrow protruding out of her friends shoulder. She looked back, her acute Vampire senses could see Katara waving happily a quarter of a mile away.

“Shit!” Marsala pushed to her feet just to wobble where she stood. Kielyn braced her as Marsala yanked the arrow from her muscle. "The little bitch shot me with an arrow made from Ashwood!” Marsala’s eyes shot down to Katara as she lifted a middle finger salute. “Fucking cunt!”

Katara gave a mocking bow then held up seven fingers indicating how much time was left before they gave chase. “Are you ok?” Kielyn asked worriedly.

“For now, but the Ashwood tree is poisonous to immortals.” Marsala took off again but slower this time. “There is not enough of it in the arrow point to kill me, but it will slow me down.” She huffed as they crested the hill. “This way!” She darted into a denser patch of trees and began weaving through the low hanging limbs.

They cut through an open field on the other side and back up a larger cliff. A shot in the distance rang out signaling that the hunt had begun. Marsala stumbled again, but corrected her footing before she could fall. “There is a large cavern up ahead, at the top. Once you jump over it you will land in Earth’s realm. Hurry!” She was slowing, barely able to keep up with Kielyn.

“I will not leave you!” Kielyn grabbed her arm and encouraged her pace.

They reached the top and Marsala hit the ground. “I don’t have the strength to make the jump.” A sinister cackle could be heard from the bottom of the cliff. “Hurry!”

Kielyn hauled Marsala to her feet. “You have to try! You heard what that bitch said she would do to you!”

“I know what she said but if I try and fall, I will quite literally, be trapped in purgatory for the rest of time.” Marsala collapsed again. “Kielyn, you have to go on. Get help!” She rasped out, winded. “Get Alaric’s army!”

Kielyn tugged at her friend’s arm. Dementia must be a side effect of the Ashwood. “They can’t enter here! Get up!”

Marsala pushed her off. “They can now.” She coughed. “Kielyn, you’re pregnant.”

Kielyn looked daftly at her friend. “The poison is making you crazy. Please get up.” She reached again for Marsala’s arm just for her to yank it away again.

“Listen to me. You are with child!” A faint smile drifted across her face. “I can see the baby’s aura. That’s contributing to your weakness,” she wheezed. “But that child,” she pointed to Kielyn’s abdomen. “Is the chosen one. The baby’s life force will allow Alaric and his army in.”

Branches were snapping and footsteps were nearing as the hunting party crashed towards them. Kielyn shook her head, not understanding. “How?”

“Stefen will explain. Now go! Save yourself and Ash’s child!” Marsala began to try and stand. “Go!”

Kielyn made a dash towards the ravine just as Katara emerged from the tree line like a jungle cat. She reached the edge with only one thought in her head.
Save my child.
Kielyn launched herself into flight just as an arrow whizzed by her face, grazing her cheek with its sharp poisonous blade. She landed hard on the other side and rolled, immediately jumping to her feet. She looked back frantically towards where she had come from. Nothing! There was no visible cavern. Just an open field and the fresh air of Earth.

“Stefen.”
Kielyn mentally called out before collapsing to the soft grass.

****

Despite the hot humid air that hung like weighted chains around Ash’s neck, a chill began to seep into his bones. Hours had passed. Night was snaking in, stretching the shadows as its finality crept closer to his broken and bloody body. Ash knew it was Dante’s intent to keep him out here, shackled to the whipping pole like an abandoned dog until he was sure the Dragon was drained of all energy. The coolness Ash was experiencing was proof that his strength was gone. He had lost too much blood. Until he fed, he would remain reduced to the miserable state he was currently in. None of it mattered though. Until he knew that Kielyn was safe, the mental agony was far worse than the physical. He would happily wither away out here if only she would live.

Time passed in what could have been minutes or hours. When Ash opened his eyes again it was pitch black, the only light was that of the few remaining torches lining the courtyard walls. The creaking sound of a door opening from behind him made his head lift as footsteps echoed out through the emptiness. Ash did not need to exert the energy it would take to look back. He would know his evil presence anywhere. It was Dante coming to take his prize.

The leather boots stopped beside him. “You really are beautiful like this.” Dante ran his hand through Ash’s blood crusted hair, yanking it out at the scalp when his finger encountered a knot. “So very strong.” He trailed his hot touch down Ash’s neck before fingering one of the open gashes on Ash’s back. Ash flinched as Dante’s nails penetrated the raw wound causing him to chuckle. “Yet, so weak. Just for me.” He bent down beside Ash and licked his fresh blood from the tips of his finger. “Delicious.”

“Not for you!” Ash hissed.

Dante’s brows drew together and his eyes narrowed. “Tisk, tisk Ashdon. You made a promise.”

“I promised not to fight you.” Ash looked coldly back. “I never promised to stop loving her.”

Dante scowled then abruptly stood. “That bitch’s scent is still on you,” he snarled. “It disgusts me. It must be washed away before I will have you in my bed tomorrow night.”

He retreated back a few feet and returned with a bucket, lifting a wet cloth from it. The pain was unmeasurable as Dante slowly allowed the alcohol to drip from the wrung out rag onto his Ash’s flayed back. The cold liquid singed and ate deep into the exposed muscle. Ash clamped his jaws together tightly in order to not cry out. He would not give him that satisfaction.

Dante dropped the cloth back into the bucket and repeated the process. “You don’t have to hold back the pain from me Ash,” Dante crooned as he lowered the rag and began to roughly scrub the coarse wool over Ash’s back. Ash closed his eyes and thought of Kielyn, the way she looked when she discovered the clothing he had bought her, the amazement that danced in her eyes when she placed fire into the log, the way she whispered his name…“You will cry out tomorrow when I claim this body of yours as my own.” Dante’s shrill voice tore into Ash’s memories like the burn of the alcohol.

Tomorrow.
The word was both a gift and a curse. “Fuck you!”

Dante laughed. “Oh no, It will be the other way around.” He dropped the rag in the bucket and leaned over Ash. “The first time I take you, you will beg for death.” Dante’s tongue darted out to swipe over an open wound. Ash’s body betrayed him this time and he cringed. He would rather have the alcohol’s acidic kiss. “And I won’t stop until you are screaming out.”

“What are you waiting for?” Ash spat. Part of him wanted the monster to get it over with. At least he was already half dead in his current state. The pain and degradation would be much worse when all his nerve endings were healed. It would be starting the torture over. In his current state he was not himself. The man in him could never submit to being raped if he was mended. The Dragon would not allow it. It had been like holding back a caged beast earlier just to submit to the flogging, but he did so to save Kielyn. There was no way Ash could contain the Dragon tomorrow unless…unless she had not been able to escape.

“I am waiting on you to be healed. I want your complete submission.” Dante grinned sinisterly. “But, don’t worry.” He leaned in to whisper into Ash’s ear as if he were reading his thoughts. “Your little mate is no longer in Hell.” The words were like a soothing balm from the pain he had endured. Ash’s body instantly relaxed and he exhaled a breath he was not aware he had been holding. “But her little friend is.”

Ash felt as if Dante had physically stabbed him in the gut.
Marsala!
“You have to free her too.”

“She was not part of our deal.” Dante stood and yanked him to his feet. Ash had to lean onto the pole for the support he needed to stand as Dante held out his hand to produce a hologram. Marsala’s bruised and beaten body appeared out of thin air. She was shivering and cowering in a dungeon cell chained to a wall. “You don’t think I would give away all my playing cards do you?” Dante undid the cuffs around Ash’s wrist and dropped them to the ground. “I may not have seen you in over a thousand of years, Ash, but make no mistake, I have tracked you ever since you left. You were good at running, but even you could not hide every detail of your new life. I know what the Air-bender means to you. There are only two beings alive you would die for and one of them will remain here until I have had you, in your full glory, full strength, bowing your Dragon at my feet in submission.” He reached out and tenderly stroked the side of Ash’s jaw. “If you give yourself over to my desires tomorrow night like you did today, I will let your best friend go too.”

“And after that?” Ash swayed and Dante hoisted his arm over his back to help him stand before navigating them back towards the castle doors. “There is always a catch.”

“After that I will not be able to trust you so you will live out your days in the insulating cuffs and on a steady diet of Ashwood. Not enough to dull your fighting spirit that I love so much, but enough to keep the Dragon at bay.” Dante paused before the doors and turned Ash’s head to look him in the eye. “Everything I do is for your own good. Once you have submitted to me you will welcome the drugs. They will make it much easier on you and you may even come to enjoy our nights together.” He leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on Ash’s lips. Ash did not even have the energy to care. It was as if his prison sentence had already dulled his very soul. Dante brushed a lock of fallen hair out of Ash’s eyes. “Of course, on occasion you will rebel and I will get to enjoy this part of our bond too.” He opened the door and led Ash inside. “Just like old times.” The aged wood closed with a crash behind them.

****

“Stefen!”
The word skimmed across his mind and propelled him in Kielyn’s direction. He manifested in the dewy meadow and raced towards her fallen form. The sun was just cresting the horizon and faint wisps of smoke began to rise from her exposed skin. He had to get her to shelter quickly. In one fluid movement he scooped her into his arms, unfurled his wings to cloak her body protectively and disappeared into the morning fog.

Emerging in her room, Stefen laid her down gently. The burns on her arms were not healing themselves quickly enough. He reached for the button of the wall that called for Hamilton. The man’s stoic voice came through the castle intercom. “Who is this?”

His tone was more than a little confrontational. Of course it was, the call was coming from the Mistress’s bedchambers. His Queen who, as far as anyone knew, was still missing. “She is back.” Stefen answered. “I need Gilly now! And my brother!”

Stefen heard an audible gasp. “Of course!” The older butler said before ending the call.

Stefen sat down on the bed and placed his hand on her cheek. She was too cold. They had to get her the Gilcolm’s blood, and fast! “Kielyn,” he implored. “Help is coming. You are safe.” He leaned down and placed a kiss to her forehead. “Hang on my little fighter. Hang on.”