Healed by Fire (13 page)

Ares started to go after him, but I grabbed
his hand. “No! Let him go.”

The hybrids and Apollo disappeared down the
beach, disappearing around the turn.

Achilles squatted down next to Darren and
checked his pulse. “He’s dead.”

I nodded my head. “Apollo killed him.”

Achilles’ eyebrows raised in shock. “He
killed his father?”

I stood up and shoved my finger in his
chest, pushing him backwards. “You knew?! You knew he was my
brother!”

Achilles stumbled back a couple steps and
then caught my hands in his. “Yes, but he’s our enemy,” Achilles
said softly.

I pointed to Darren’s dead body. “Apollo
saved me from Darren. Now, you tell me everything about him!”

Theseus trotted up to me in his wolf form
and whined. I turned away from Achilles and scratched under his
chin. “What is it?”

He rubbed his head against my hand and then
trotted away. I sighed and followed him to find a young halfbreed
bleeding from gashes with Koda by his side putting pressure on the
wounds. I pushed him away. “Stay still.” I put pressure on the
wound and he winced. “It’ll be over soon.”

The boy nodded his head and then slowed his
breathing as I closed my eyes. “By the blood in my veins, the power
of the night, I call to the plants and ask for your help.” Little
bits of glowing energy danced across the wind towards me and with
some focus, I pushed them into the wound. Instantly the bleeding
stopped, the internal issues sealed and healed and the skin was
blemish free.

“How many other spells did you learn?!”
demanded Victor in a near shout.

I patted the smiling boy on the head and
stood up to face Victor. “Enough for me to be sure that if we can
get your father and his whole army on the battlefield, I can
obliterate every single vampire there.”

Victor’s eyes widened in shock before he
turned silently away to walk back to the house.

Theseus rubbed his head against my shoulder
and I turned to smile at him. “Yes, I’m alright. No one hurt
me.”

Ares growled and Theseus whined in apology
before backing away. I put my hands on my hips and glared at Ares.
“He wasn’t being possessive or overstepping bounds. He was acting
as any other wolf in a pack would.”

Ares’ shirt was gone and as he walked
towards me the hormones I’d worked so hard to keep in control the
past one hundred years surged forward. He inhaled and I knew he
could smell my desire. Achilles turned away from us and walked into
the house. My emotions warred with me as my desire to mate with
Ares and my desire to heal the feelings I’d hurt with Achilles
gnawed at me.

Ares stopped an inch away from me and nipped
my chin. “He understands.”

My body wasn’t responding to any of the
commands I gave it, my arms felt like jelly, so I just nodded my
head and allowed him to pick me up and dash off to the woods. Ares
didn’t stop running until we came to a densely wooded area where a
bed of leaves awaited us.

I looked at it suspiciously. “Had this
planned, did you?”

Ares smiled smugly. “It was only a matter of
time before the need overcame your virtues. Besides, I am your
mate.”

He laid me down on the bed of leaves and
kissed me fiercely. Everything felt so different than the first
time we’d kissed and yet the same. I ran my hands along his
sculpted chest and abs and to his muscular back, now slick with
sweat from the fight. He nipped my shoulder making me moan, which
made him growl.

I didn’t want to rush our mating, but I
couldn’t wait to become one with him again. I pushed him down onto
his back and he laughed softly. Though I saw his eyes glint with
gold, he let me force him to submit. I stood back and admired him
in all his glory. “It’s definitely been too long since I’ve seen
you. I’d forgotten how magnificent you are.”

Ares pulled me down and flipped us over,
cushioning my head with his arms. “You almost died again today,” he
whispered softly as he kissed his way from my lips to my chin to my
throat.

“No, I wasn’t bleeding to death like all the
times before.”

Ares growled and nipped my chest. “If Apollo
hadn’t stopped him, Darren would have skewered you.”

I arched up as he kissed his way down the
center of my chest. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“Say that again,” he said with a hint of a
growl in his voice.

I met his eyes and felt tears sliding down
my face at the same time I saw tears falling down his to land on my
chest. “I’m sorry, Ares.”

He kissed me again and then made love to me
until the sun rose above the trees.

~~~

Artemis was much different than the first
time I’d met her. She was still naïve in many respects, but I could
see that whatever she’d been doing the past one hundred years had
definitely changed her.

The most shocking change was her incredible
power. I wouldn’t admit it to Ares, but if she and I battled it
would be a very intense and catastrophic battle. I would win, but I
would be very injured and very drained afterwards.

I couldn’t outwardly choose sides, but I
hoped Artemis continued to only mate with Ares. They belonged
together and no matter what Achilles said, the two of them were not
soul mates like Ares and Artemis are.

“Victor?” Koda asked softly, “Are you
feeling alright?”

I shook my head and stood up from the couch
I was sitting on. “I need to feed. I’ll return shortly.”

Koda watched me, not convinced that I was
telling the truth and thinking those thoughts loud enough that I
would hear even if my focus was elsewhere. I wasn’t telling the
truth, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. We had known each other
so long that he could tell when I was lying. I was not looking
forward to the days when Artemis could read me as well.

I closed my eyes and focused on my favorite
place to feed. The Red Bordello, a house of human’s offering
themselves for vampires to feed upon. Using my power I shifted my
body from one place to the other.

A woman screamed and I opened my eyes,
smiling. “Hello,
ma chéri
.”

“Sir, you startled me,” the doe eyed petite
woman said as she released her hold on her bed sheet. She had
golden wheat colored hair and eyes the color of dark emeralds. Her
negligee was white and she looked so fragile in the large four
poster bed.

The room was bare except for the large bed
with extremely fluffy sheets and pillows. This room was where she
slept so it was not as ornately decorated as the bedrooms where
they entertained vampires when feeding them. I was the only one
that I knew of who visited any of the feeders in their personal
rooms.

I stood beside the bed looking down on her.
She had aged since the last time I was here and looked to have a
bruise under her right eye. I picked her hand up and kissed it
softly. “I apologize for startling you.”

She smiled sweetly at me and then scooted
over, patting the bed. “Sit with me a moment.”

I obliged her and then turned her face to
mine. “Who has harmed your lovely face?”

Most women would have turned away or been
ashamed, but not her. She simply smiled and said, “It comes with
the territory of being a blood whore.”

I cringed, hating that term for the humans
that offered their blood for vampires. “You are too sweet to be
using such vile terms.”

“You are too kind for being the Prince of
Vampires.”

I smoothed her hair back from her neck and
she shuddered in anticipation. “I wish I could stay longer, but I
have much on my agenda,” I whispered in her ear as I kissed it
softly and then made small tender kisses along her jaw line and to
her neck.

Her jugular vein pulsed faster as I kissed
beside it and my fangs lengthened in response. If I was not helping
Ares I would take this girl and keep her to myself, but I could not
do that now. I would not promise her or even suggest the notion
until I could do it. I was not one to go back on my word and I did
not want to offer until I was sure I could keep it.

She ran her hand down my arm and then arched
up into me as I kissed her stomach. I pulled the bed sheets down
and then found my favorite vein on the inside of her leg.

My fangs extended fully and I bit down,
sucking as her blood flowed from the bite. She hissed a moment and
then relaxed on her back, enjoying the emotions I was giving her.
Every vampire over the age of thirty could manipulate a human’s
emotions to make their bite enjoyable. Some used it negatively
while others just didn’t use the ability. I preferred to use it,
enjoying the smiles on the women’s faces as I fed.

I finished my feeding and pressed against
the bite to ensure it stopped bleeding. “Lie with me until I fall
asleep,” she ordered quietly, still high on the feeding.

I should have said no, but I wasn’t going to
be needed until tomorrow, if at all by Ares. She was soft and warm
as I laid down beside her and she sighed softly. I stroked her hair
and spoke softly to her in French, knowing she couldn’t understand,
but enjoyed it nonetheless.

She snuggled against me and giggled softly.
“I always dreamed of sleeping with a prince.”

“Then go to sleep little Princess. And dream
of happier days.”

I watched her sleep with a smile on her face
and then teleported back to the house.

“How is she?” Koda asked from the reclining
chair.

I tried to hide my smile, but he saw it and
smiled back. “Someday my friend, we will both find females.”

Koda shook his head. “We both know that
we’ve already found them. Sadly we are both unable to have
them.”

I patted his shoulder and whispered, “There
are many more to choose from.”

He scrunched his face and whispered, “How
can I look past perfection to see them?”

Achilles and I were the only ones who knew
of Koda’s feelings towards Artemis. And I was probably the only one
who knew the true depth of his feelings for her. “You must. Or you
shall only wallow in what could have been. There could be a perfect
one for you if you would just open your eyes.”

He shook his head and stood up. “I think
I’ll go for another run.”

“Do not lose yourself in the wolf’s mind for
too long.”

He bared his teeth at me. “I know.”

I watched him go, trying my hardest to block
out his pain and the thoughts in his head. If he got any worse I
was going to have to talk to Ares about him.

He was dangerously close to losing himself
to the wolf and it would break Ares to have to kill another of his
brothers. I could do it to spare him the pain, but I had to hope he
would keep the human side alive.

I couldn’t judge him for his fascination on
one being when I was fascinated on one, and she was human. I shook
my head in disgust at myself and walked down to the basement area.
The pack looked at me and then went back to their various
activities. I walked to my room and lay down to sleep. Or at least
to dream of what could have been.

~~~

We woke up to the sounds of whispering. Ares
growled next to me and wrapped his arms around me protectively.
“She’s sleeping,” he whispered.

“We discussed this, Ares. I know I agreed
not to mate with Artemis, but you’re not allowing me time alone
with her,” said Achilles.

Ares growled again as Achilles moved closer.
“Back away.”

“Ares,” Koda said in an exasperated tone.
“Stop acting so damn possessive. It’s Achilles we’re talking about,
not some random wolf.”

Ares nuzzled my hair and exhaled. He stayed
in that position for two more minutes before finally releasing me
and standing up. “I’m sorry.”

I rolled onto my back and stretched. “What’s
going on?” I asked as I feigned naivety, looking from Ares to Koda
and then to Achilles.

“It’s time for breakfast,” said Ares softly,
pulling me to my feet and kissing my cheek.

I kissed his lips and then moved to hug
Koda, but my stomach felt weird. I stopped moving and frowned as I
tried to determine the problem. I stood perfectly still for thirty
seconds as nothing seemed to answer what the weird sensation was.
And then my stomach grumbled. I laughed at my ridiculousness and
said, “I guess it
is
breakfast time.” I hugged Koda before
stepping into Achilles’ arms. “Good morning.”

Achilles smiled down at me. “Hello.”

Ares and Koda took the lead and Achilles
placed my hand in his as we headed back towards the house. Ares got
dressed and tossed me clothes so I could dress as well before we
all went down the stairs to the sub level of the house. The sub
level wasn’t what I had expected. I thought it would be wood and
dirt and small and dark, but it was none of those things. Large
wooden support beams held the sides and upper level from crashing
down, but marbled tile and candelabras decorated the area. It was
also much bigger than I thought it would be with two hallways
leading to at least ten doors and three large main rooms, including
a full kitchen.

The pack was sitting around the outer edge
of the living room floor with empty plates in their hands, looking
hungry. Victor stood in the center of the room tapping his foot
impatiently, but once he caught sight of Ares and me, he just
smiled.

Ares cleared his throat and the room
quieted. “You all fought well yesterday and we’re very proud. Now,
let’s eat!”

Five boys from the pack brought in plates of
slightly cooked meat and set them down in a large circle in the
center of the room. Ares picked up two empty plates and handed me
one. I followed him as he took some meat from each of the plates
and filled mine as well. Once our plates were full, Achilles and
Koda took their turns and then the rest of the room. Ares found an
open spot against the wall and we all sat down with Ares beside
Victor, me beside Ares, Achilles beside me and then Koda beside
Achilles. I ate in silence as I listened to the discussions of the
pack around me. They were all discussing the small victory the
battle was yesterday and what it could mean for the battle at
large.