Touching Fire (Touch Saga) (10 page)

C
hapter 8

Ten thousand points of agonizing pain shattered through the cavity of my brain, bursting in serrated slivers that burrowed with malicious glee into every nerve ending throughout my body. The urge to scream was overruled only by the violent desire to vomit as my entire being convulsed. Cold sweat trickled down the column of my spine, plastering Isaiah’s shirt to my skin. Hunger wrenched my gut, twisting it with iron claws until I couldn’t even breathe. I sobbed, squishing my tears into the pillow.

I needed Isaiah. I needed his blood. But
I needed to fight it for the sake of humanity. No matter how much it hurt, I couldn’t allow myself to succumb. Besides, I had bigger problems at that moment, like ever leaving that bedroom, which I had half a mind to never do again. It wasn’t as though I ate food anyway. I could just stay locked away and ignore the fact that the previous night had ever happened.

But I
wasn’t a coward. I knew from years of experience that cruel kids never just went away. Eventually I would come across them again and I couldn’t afford to be labeled weak. Weakness only fueled cruelty. I needed to face them, to show them that, yeah, they got one over on me that time, but next time, I would kick their teeth down their throats. Okay, maybe not that exactly, but I still couldn’t stay locked up in my room forever.

Insides still
churning, I rolled out of bed and shuffled to my duffle bag. I pulled on jeans and a form fitting black t-shirt. I brushed out my hair, left the long, dark strands cascading down my back in thick waves and jerked on my Converse. I was as ready as I would ever be to face the day.

You got this, Fallon,
I told myself, glowering hotly at my own reflection in the vanity mirror.
You don’t owe these people anything. You’re not going to be around long enough to care about what they have to say.

I’d been to enough
private schools in my lifetime for that pep talk to normally work. It was practically my motto. But it didn’t work this time no matter how much I willed it, because no matter how rich, snobby and stuck up the kids at my schools used to be, they had never done anything that horrible. The worst thing that had ever happened to me in the past was getting left behind in a crumbling building by my roommate during an earthquake. Granted, I had caused said earthquake, but it had, up until the previous night, been the worst thing anyone had ever done to me. Not to say the kids hadn’t been mean, but what Delphi had done was total and utter bullshit. I couldn’t believe she would do that, and what the hell had been in that room with me and where had the fire come from?

I shuddered at the memory. Even in the soft glow of morning, I couldn’t suppress the cold slither of fear that worked through my body.

She had no right to do what she did,
the all too familiar voice murmured in my head.

Anger swelled up over me, a flooding dam that threatened to crush me beneath its weight. It took all my will
power not to let it snap the fragile thread of control I was clinging on to for dear life. I knew from personal experience that my temper needed many more than a few classes of anger management. I had a tendency to go crazy rabid girl on people when I got angry. The only difference between me and the Hulk was that I didn’t turn green. Lucky really. Green wasn’t my color.

Exhaling, I squared my shoulders and marched to the door. My motto repeated in my head, a tireless record on loop. I was prepared to go through the walk of shame even if it killed me
… or someone else. Hopefully, someone else.

I swung open the door, and jumped.

Inches from my face was five curled fingers in a fist. The knuckles actually brushed my nose when I walked right into them on my way into the hall. The owner jumped as well, dropping their hand quickly to their side.

I recognized the girl immediately. She was the one who had opened the door for me the night before, the one
who had let me out of that nightmare. At the time, I hadn’t given her face much notice in my haste to escape, but her mane of dark burgundy really made her stand out.

It was the
warm shade of wine, rippling down her slender back in a sheet of silk. The rich tone framed an oval face, enormous amber-brown eyes and a scatter of freckles across a narrow nose.

“Sorry about that
,” she said, offering me a lopsided grin.

She seemed friendly enough, I supposed, but I’d already seen what friendly was really like in that place.

“Need something?” I asked, not bothering to conceal my disdain.

If anything, the grin on her face only intensified
. “Relax,” she said, folding her arms. “I only came to see how you were.”

I mimicked her posture. “And you would care because…?”

She gave a shrug, arms going up in a careless
I dunno
gesture. “I’m told it’s what aunts are supposed to do … care and …
stuff
.”

I was sure the retreat of my eyebrows into my hairline g
ave me the look of idiotic shock, but I couldn’t help it. “You’re my aunt?” What had Ashton called her? “Vicky?”

A muscle twitched in her cheek, making her smile look pained.
“Vinnie,” she corrected shortly. “It’s short for Lavinia, but, niece or not, I will make you disappear in your sleep if you ever call me that.”

“Fallon,” I
said and mentally kicked myself. I really needed to stop introducing myself to people who already knew my name. “You’re the one who opened the doors for me last night. Why?”

A thinly penciled eyebrow lifted. “Would you have preferred I didn’t?”

“No … but what were you doing down there in the first place?”

“I heard you scream,” she said simply. “
And I smelled smoke. Are you normally this paranoid?”

“Only since the day I was born.”
I shifted. “And thanks for, you know, getting me out of there.”

She inclined her head.
“So, you coming down for breakfast, Fallon?” There was a hint of something in the question, a challenge of sorts.

My spine reflexively stiffened.
“I am.”

A grin twitched around Vinnie’s cupie-mouth. “
Great. Come. I’ll show you the way. I swear.” She put her right hand up when I felt my eyes narrow warily.

Did I have a choice? Yes, I could have walked around until I found the dining room myself. But something in my gut told me to trust the girl. Besides, I believed myself wiser. I would be more on my toes.

“Thanks,” I said, following her over the threshold and closing the door behind me.

I was nearly all relaxed with my newfound friendship with Vinnie,
when a figure moved over her shoulder. My heart leapt into my throat.
Ambush!
My brain screamed. My back came up against the door when I took a retreating step back. My fists clenched. I wasn’t going down without a fight.

Puzzled, Vinnie turned to see what had caught my attention
and I focused on the tall, dark figure leaning against the wall.

“Isaiah
?” My hands flew to my pounding heart. “What the hell are you doing lurking there?” I barked.

“
You must be the human Acheron mentioned.” Vinnie said, eyeing Isaiah appraisingly.

Neither of us paid her any mind.

“Have you been there all night?” I asked him.

Isaiah
pushed off the wall. “I told you I wasn’t going anywhere.”

I crossed my arm, shielding myself from the sudden chill in the air. “
You shouldn’t have done that. Ashton said—”

“It doesn’t work that way, Fallon.” He took another step closer. “We’re in this together. You
said yourself, we’re a team.”

“Should I leave you two
alone?” Vinnie asked, darting curious glances between us.

I don’t know how I managed it, but I tore my gaze away from Isaiah to focus
on the girl. I wet my suddenly dry lips. “Can I meet you downstairs?”

Vinnie shrugged. “Yeah, sure. I’ll nick you some cakes
before Lally eats them all.”

With a last peek at Isaiah, Vinnie hurried off, leaving me alone with the only man on the planet that could make me burn with just a look.

“It’s wearing off isn’t it?” he said, barely moving his lips.

It was
… with a vengeance. It was only a matter of time before the twinges burned a hole in my stomach, and then the shakes and finally … I didn’t even want to think about what would happen after the shakes.

“
I’m fine,” I whispered instead, swallowing hard and hugging my middle as though keeping it from spilling out.

“
You’re not fine,” he hissed through his teeth. “You’ll die without it.”

I looked away. “No—”

His movement was like lightning. We went from the open hallway to the privacy of my room before I could even blink. The door was closed and locked behind us, and I was pushed up against the cool surface.

“I won’t let you die!” he growled into my ear, sing
eing the sensitive skin. “Even if I have to tie you down and force you, you will drink.”

He didn’t have to force me.
That
close, his blood was pounding in my ear. The memory of its taste tinged the back of my throat. Saliva pooled in my mouth. The gum areas above my canines itched.

“Don’t…” I squeaked, begging him, begging myself. My hands trembled as I fisted them in his black t-shirt. Maybe to push him away
. Maybe not. “Please, Isaiah.”

The pulse of
raw heat wafting off him gripped me, molding me into the hard wood pressing against my back. His heart beat against mine. His fingers cut bruises into my waist through the material of my top. Insatiable hunger clashed between us, a full blown war of wills.

His hand slipped under the weight of my hair
to support the back of my skull. He guided my head forward, ignoring my weak resistance.

“
Don’t fight it, Fallon,” he breathed, every harsh puff hissing in my ear. “Don’t fight me.”

I might have moaned his name; the whole world seemed surreal and misty, like a dream. My knees knocked together violently as I rose up on my toes,
closing those last few precious inches to come level with the pulsing vein beneath the taut stretch of golden skin.

His arm tightened around my middle, reinforcing the arch in my back as I bowed into him. One hand untangled from the crumpled fabric of his shirt and cupped the back of his neck, holding him steady.

I pressed a kiss to the spot. His skin was warm and salty beneath my lips. Against me, he twitched with a shiver. I repeated the gesture, elated by every shudder and groan that escaped him.

“Don’t tease!” he
groaned, crushing my waist with his arms.

My grin stretched
against his neck. I ran the tip of my tongue over the extended length of each canine before positioning them carefully over the vein, hoping to make it as painless and quick as possible.

The hand fisted in my hair trembled with
anticipation.

“Fallon?”
The familiar voice wasn’t as jarring as the discreet knock that shattered the sparkly moment into a million colorful pieces.

Isaiah bore down on me; his blue eyes a frightening shade of ebony. His nostrils flared against the harsh set of his face, like a predator denied his meal.
At times like that, the wolf DNA in him was alarmingly pronounced. I could almost see the beast peering back at me from behind his eyes. But there was not a shred of fear in me. I was drowning in disappointment, cringing with hunger and burning for him, but no fear.

“Tonight,” he vowed darkly, reaching for the door before I could
think to respond.

Ashton stood on the other side. His eyes
narrowed at the sight of Isaiah. His gaze flickered to me, then back. “Am I interrupting?”

I could only imagine how it all must look, how
we
must look. I had to stave off the urge to smooth a hand through my hair and over my clothes. I briefly wondered if I looked as rumpled and flushed as I felt, and hoped Ashton wouldn’t notice.

“We were just on our way to breakfast,” Isaiah answered simply, only the halo of black in his eyes giving away that anything was amiss. “Were you looking for me?”

Ashton continued to glance from me to Isaiah, wary deliberation gleaming in his slitted eyes. “I actually wanted to talk to Fallon a moment.”

Isaiah stepped aside, allowing Ashton entry into my room. “I’ll wait outside.”

Ashton turned only his head to peer at Isaiah as he passed. “In the future, it would be best if you weren’t in Fallon’s room unescorted, Isaiah. It isn’t proper.” There was a chilly undertone to the words although his facial features never changed.

Isaiah bowed his head. “Yes, sir.”

I opened my mouth to tell him not to go, but the door was already closed at his back, and I was alone with my father.