Chapter 18
Seraphim
Being within a mile of two vampires that had just started fucking as mates was less than ideal. Even from my place across the lake, I could hear them clearly. I was beginning to worry that I’d have to act like the parent here and pull them out of their sex cave. If I had to force Lock to grow another heart, I had no qualms about burning it to ash.
When Sam reached out to me yesterday, I’d been surprised. They had gone this long without sleeping together and I didn’t expect it to happen so soon. They still hadn’t tethered themselves, though, so she was clearly still afraid. With good reason.
Since then, she still reached out sometimes, but it was becoming less frequent. I still didn’t know if she was doing it on purpose.
The noise from their cabin quieted, so I flew over there and grabbed a pack of cookies from the cabinet. There was laughter, then they appeared around the corner. Lock was holding onto her face, walking her backward as he whispered to her and planted kisses on her skin.
His gaze traveled over her shoulder, landing on me as I took a bite of my cookie. I raised a brow, not bothering to conceal my smirk.
“Belladonna,” he drawled. “Perhaps you could chain your puppy outside.”
She turned around, frowning when she saw me. “What the fuck, Raf?”
“You’ve had over twenty-four hours to get it out of your system. There are more important things to do than… that.”
“It sounds like Seraphim needs to get laid,” Lock whispered loudly.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re not needed here. Maybe you should go back to your tower like the little princess you are.”
“Even if I did trust you- which I don’t- I wouldn’t leave you alone with Sam for a single second.”
I wiggled my fingers in his direction. “You could just take a two day nap.”
My fingers iced over and I hissed, quickly heating them to melt it. Lock laughed and kissed Sam’s temple. I couldn’t tell if she’d done it on purpose and I didn’t know which would be better. Her having control of her energy might be as dangerous as her being volatile.
“It’s time to train.”
Her teeth ground together audibly. “Do I have to?”
I gawked at her. “Isn’t that the point of this whole thing?”
“It’s just…”
“What is it?” Lock asked, his tone softening.
“I hate the idea of being forced to fight some mysterious monster. Especially when we know nothing about it.”
Both of their gazes landed on me, making my stomach clench.
“Well, if you want to survive, that’s the deal,” I said dismissively.
Grabbing the pack of cookies, I headed into the backyard to figure out how I was actually going to train her. Despite her magical ability, I didn’t see her as a fighter. She was emotional and immature, even if Lock had been desensitizing her to killing. When it came down to it, I didn’t think she would stand her ground against an actual threat.
It wasn’t like I had any intention of letting her go up against it anyway, but I had to find a way to act like I did.
God, I’d been a fucking idiot the other night. Her heart had literally been in my hand. Within a second I could have turned it to ash with her mate being none the wiser thanks to my sound blocking mirage. Before he got out of bed, I would’ve been out of town already.
Her effect on me was going to be a problem. Worse, I had actually given myself a moment to think about taking this task seriously. It was ridiculous and must have been her own emotions rubbing off on me as they’d been doing lately.
That gave me an idea for our first lesson.
“Obsequium,” I said, stopping when I was on the dock. I turned toward the two of them, who were still clinging to each other like the codependent fuckers they were.
“That’s the freaky bond, right?” Sam clarified.
“Let’s not lump it into the bond category,” Lock muttered.
“It’s a connection,” I explained. “The thing that makes me submit to your blood, Sam. When you need me, you use it to call for me and I can grab onto that tether, sending my own forms of energy to assist you.”
I put my hand to my chest and she did the same. They both pulsed, a hum ringing through the air. Lock seemed oblivious to it as he stared at us.
“So, I’m the one reaching out to you,” she said.
“Yes. Like yesterday.”
“Yesterday?” Lock repeated.
Sam glared at me and I rolled my lips to contain my smile. I was dying to stir the pot, but I had to rein myself in. It wasn’t the time to joke around.
“If it’s not used correctly, it can drain both of us. Lately, I’ve been feeling weak and fucking depressed. Now we know why.”
“But I wasn’t reaching for you,” she argued.
“You were. The connection always exists and the less it’s fed, the more desperately it will seek out the other. You have been distraught, terrified, and starving. Even if not consciously, you were sending me a cry for help. It’s time for you to give it a rest.”
“How?”
“Well, that’s what we’re here to figure out, oh powerful Ark.”
She rolled her eyes, taking a step toward me. The closer she was, the more I felt her energy. She wasn’t as starved as before, but I could tell she wasn’t feeding enough.
“Go get her a meal,” I told Lock.
“I’m not leaving her.”
“It’s fine,” she insisted.
“No.”
“You were overbearing when I was a human. I think we’ve established I can take care of myself now.”
“Have we?”
They seemed to be communicating with their eyes, which was just tedious. Shaking my head, I sent a wall of smoke toward them. He immediately tried to shield her, but it pushed him back, doing her no harm. The wall shifted into flames, creating a circle around the dock that he couldn’t bypass no matter how hard he tried.
“Really?” Sam asked, glaring at me.
“I’ll let him back in when he has a human in tow.”
She shooed him away with her hand and after a few minutes, he growled and shifted to smoke. I was going to drop the wall but thought better of it.
“Attack my flames,” I instructed.
Her eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
“Dispel them and walk off this dock.”
“I don’t know how.”
“So, learn.”
“You’re supposed to be teaching me,” she pointed out.
“I have no idea how your magic works or how it feels. If you want to harness the soul of flame, I’m your guy. Otherwise, you have to teach yourself.”
“Essentially, it’s impossible.”
“You’re too damn dramatic for your own good. Here you are, an all-powerful being that could annihilate any vampire- one on one, at least- and you’re bitching about magic being too hard.”
“I’d hardly call myself all-powerful.”
“No, but around the basic vampires of your coven, you may as well be. Right now, though, you’re a liability. Dangerous and not in the good way.”
“Go ahead, Raf. Throw more insults my way.”
Rolling my eyes, I thrust a hand toward her, sending a burst of orange smoke at her. She shrieked and darted to the other side of the dock, stopping when she reached the edge of my circle.
“Running is for bitches, Sam.”
“I should’ve known you’d be a misogynist.”
“Jesus,” I muttered, throwing my magic at her again. This time, I made it wide enough that she couldn’t go around.
With her heightened senses and faster processing speeds now that she’d changed, she could spend a moment planning her next move. I watched the small changes in her expression and almost wanted to laugh. In the end, she still wasn’t fast enough.
She cried out as the smoke enveloped her. The smell of singed flesh reached my nose, making me wrinkle it. My chest ached as she emitted a signal that begged me to help her, but I gritted my teeth. I didn’t relent, even as her screams grew louder.
“Fight, Sam. Or are we back to your suicide mission?”
“I can’t!”
“You have everything you need inside of you. Let it go.”
“I don’t know how,” she cried.
“What you’re doing clearly isn’t working, so maybe look deeper.”
A human dropped to the ground outside the circle just before Lock materialized. His eyes were wide and frantic as he took in the spectacle before him.
“What are you doing, Seraphim?”
“Teaching.”
“Let her go!”
“She can fight me.”
“Please,” Sam sobbed.
Through the smoke, I could see her sitting on her knees with her head in her hands. The heat was only attacking her skin, burning through it just slow enough for her healing to keep pace with it, creating a continuous cycle of eating away each layer. I’d never suffered a burn in my life, but I bet it hurt like hell.
“Seraphim!” Lock shouted.
He tried to push through the barrier, but I made it hotter. Even if he was willing to lose all his skin getting in, he’d never make it to the other side before he became ash. After figuring that out, he let out a fierce cry, pacing back and forth like a cat.
Dropping my head back to look at the sky, I spread my arms wide. Heat spread across my skin, then the air became stifling as it filled the space. Sam was coughing as it dried out her throat. Soon, it would do the same to her veins.
God, it would still be easy to kill her. Why wasn’t I?
There was a sharp pain in my head, almost like an electric shock. Gritting my teeth, I dropped my arms and let the barrier fall. Lock rushed in immediately, pulling Sam into his lap while shooting me a murderous glare.
“What the fuck was that?” he shouted.
“Now we know where to start.”
“Where’s that?” Sam croaked, looking up at me with watery eyes.
“The very fucking bottom,” I grumbled before shifting and fleeing through the trees.
I materialized in a high branch up on a cliff, looking down at the town in the distance. What the hell was I doing here? I was being pulled in two opposite directions simultaneously and it would very likely tear me in two.
Kill Sam. That was the goal here. Now that she’d recovered some of her will to live, her body might automatically react to an actual attempt on her life, but the odds were still tipped in my favor. I could take the chance.
On the other hand, it would be safer to go with my original plan and make sure she was completely weakened for a short time with her mate’s death. That was a longer game, though I had no idea how long. It was riskier for that reason. If I didn’t do something soon, we’d have a bigger problem to contend with.
One of them would come to check out the situation, then it would be out of my hands. I may have been stronger, but this thing in my head would try to keep me from stopping them. They would take her, and all of my efforts would be in vain.
“Fuck!” I shouted, ripping off the branch above me and throwing it like a javelin.
I didn’t want to do this shit anymore. Everything had become so goddamn messy and there was no scenario where I really won anything, except maybe my freedom eventually and even that was unlikely, though I didn’t like to admit it. I was just fucking tired.
My chest pulsed and this time I didn’t feel Sam’s distress. It felt like she was sending energy to me. I rubbed at the spot, a longing setting in that I couldn’t allow to fester. I could never get comfortable.
Always moving. Always working, fighting, searching. Always alone.