King of the Flame

by Elizabeth Frost

  “Nice?” he asked.

  “It’s perfect.” Again she moaned, and he had to bite his lip to control himself.

  She knew what she was doing. She had to.

  “Would you stop acting like a complete idiot and take control of the situation?” the elemental barked.

  Right. He wasn’t some young boy who’d never seen a naked woman before. He had experience. Centuries of it. Now was the time to use all that experience and show this vampiress two could play at this game she’d started.

  He walked around to her back and crouched behind the tub. Trailing his fingers over the warm metal, he let his fingers touch her shoulders and dug them into the muscles there. “I thought we might use this time for some information gathering.”

  “Oh really?” She wiggled underneath his hands. “What do you want to know?”

  “They say that vampires are stronger than humans, is that true?” Her skin was so slick. Like he was petting velvet.

  “We’re a lot stronger than humans. I can lift a car when I’m well fed.” She tilted her head to the side.

  He obliged, digging into the tense muscles at the base of her skull. All he could hope was that she didn’t notice his hands were steaming.

  “Ah yes, when you’ve fed,” he murmured. Leaning closer, he whispered in her ear, “Are you hungry now?”

  Drake knew how long it had been since she’d fed on any creature or the knife. She had to be hungry. It had been a few weeks since she’d tasted his blood in the blade.

  He watched her expression closely. Her pupils dilated the moment he mentioned hunger, and twin movements underneath her upper lip rippled. Like something had dropped from inside her skull.

  “So you are hungry,” he murmured.

  She licked her lips and revealed the slightest glimpse of those deadly teeth. “It’s been a while since I had a good meal.”

  “How long can you go without eating?” He tempted fate and held his wrist in front of her. Not so close that she could lunge forward and sink her teeth into him. He also had hold of the back of her neck. Drake just wanted to see what would happen.

  Her mouth opened and closed once, twice, three times before she caught control of herself. “A few months is the longest I’ve ever gone.”

  “What happens?”

  “Vampires are weak without blood,” she whispered. “I can do less and less.”

  “And right now?” He murmured. “Right now what do you want?”

  “You,” she snarled.

  The word struck him in the chest like a bullet. It raced through his veins, making him heavy and harder than a rock. She knew how to say words that shook him to the core. No one had ever needed him this much. Not to keep them alive or even to tempt them as she made it so clear he did.

  This was a dangerous game, and one he needed to be a lot more careful playing.

  Drake reached forward and smoothed a damp strand of hair behind her ear. He stroked the tip of his finger down her cheekbone before standing. “Wash up, vampiress. There’s more work to be done tomorrow.”

  He kept his steps measured and slow as he left the room. His heart raced, his palms were sweaty.

  He feared he needed her just as badly as she needed him.

  14

  The fire faerie wasn’t the one to wake her up the next morning. Instead, Flint himself loomed over her bed. He didn’t make a sound or shake her. Instead, he just stood there until she opened her eyes and then jolted forward.

  “Fuck,” she muttered, running her fingers through the tangled strands of her hair. “Could you be any more creepy?”

  “The king has summoned you,” he replied. He surveyed her appearance, then curled his lip in disgust. “You’re not ready to meet him.”

  “No shit, Sherlock.” Lilith wanted a few more hours of sleep. She’d been busy and for once, she just wanted these damned faeries to leave her alone.

  But if the king called, then she supposed she should answer.

  She rolled out of bed and stumbled past Flint toward the bathroom where she paused. Bracing her arms on the countertop, she stared into the mirror.

  Not that she could see anything, of course. Vampires didn’t have reflections. She still liked to stare where her eyes might have once been. Like whatever was behind her eyes might appear in the mirror instead of just what was behind her.

  She couldn’t get the memory of bathing with him out of her head. She’d thought for sure he just wanted to sleep with her. And she would have obliged. He was a very attractive faerie man and if her punishment was sex, then she’d take that punishment all day.

  At the last second, he’d left. Just... walked out as though there wasn’t a wet, naked, willing woman in the bathtub he’d gotten her.

  She didn’t know what to think. Lilith couldn’t even remember the last time a man had said no to her, especially when she wanted to sleep with them and wasn’t just trying to feed off their blood.

  Now he wanted to see her again? Was this some kind of strange courtship?

  No, that wasn’t possible. He might want to sleep with her, but a faerie king did not want more than that. Not from a vampire. And certainly not from her.

  Flint pounded on the door to the bathroom. “Hurry up, vampire! I don’t hear enough movement.”

  What if she just wanted to take her sweet, womanly time in the bathroom? Rushing her would only make things worse for him in the long run.

  Grumbling under her breath, she yanked on her brand new robe. A fresh smelling robe now appeared every morning next to her bed. Curious.

  She walked out of the bathroom and growled, “Done, I’m ready. Let’s go. Why are you so pushy all the time?”

  Flint looked her up and down, then sighed. “When will you learn it’s customary to look nice to see a king?”

  “Because I don’t care what I look like?”

  He sighed again before walking away. She was expected to follow him, like a good little pet vampiress even though it set her teeth on edge.

  Flint took her all the way to a part of the fortress where she’d never been, then nodded at a door. “Outside.”

  She hadn’t been outside yet. It didn’t seem like a very safe choice to make considering this entire realm was made of fire. She pointed at the door. “Out there?”

  He nodded.

  “There’s fire out there, right?”

  “You are in the King of the Flame’s court. Yes, there is fire outside.” Flint gave her a look like she was the idiot. “He ordered you outside.”

  “To kill me?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Reassuring. Flint was always such a softy whenever they conversed.

  She supposed there was only one way to find out. If she wanted to know what the king’s plans were, she’d have to be brave. Considering what she knew of him so far, that was probably the whole point of this. He was testing her.

  Lilith strode through the door and out of the Black Fortress. Whatever she had thought about the outside, it didn’t match what was happening beyond the walls of his home.

  It looked like a fire had raged throughout the entire realm. The ground was blackened with ash. White dust motes floated through the air and danced in front of her eyes. The trees were skeletal and darkened with smudges of soot. Every direction something burned. Bushes on fire. Gusts of wind with billowing flames within it.

  This was a nightmare for a vampire. She was so screwed.

  And just beyond a white path leading through the madness, the King of the Flame stood waiting for her. At least he’d changed into something that looked... well. Sexier.

  Tight black pants covered his legs. A black silk shirt tucked into the waistband, accentuating the narrowness of his hips while only making his shoulders look even more broad. Even his hair gleamed in the dim light of this nightmare realm he created.

  He looked like he fit in here. And maybe that was the whole point of why he’d built this place. She couldn’t imagine him anywhere else.

  Lili
th took a hesitant step forward. “You know how dangerous fire is to my kind, right?”

  “Yes, I’ve heard vampires don’t get along with heat.”

  “It’s more than that.” She sidestepped a burning bush, giving it plenty of space as she picked her way down to the king. “If a single spark lands on me, I’ll go up in flames like a match to hay. It’s not pretty, and it’s very fast.”

  He seemed to hesitate for a moment. “Well we can’t have that, can we?”

  The king waved a hand over her head and magic coiled around her. Its warmth touched every part of her body, even the parts she wasn’t so sure she wanted him to touch. Or maybe it was the parts she very much wanted him to touch, but didn’t know how to ask for just yet.

  Once the magic settled, she blew out a low breath. “What was that?”

  “Protection. For now.” He held out his hand for her to take. “If you’re going to be walking through the Fire Realm, then you shouldn’t have to worry about a stray ember catching you on fire.”

  Had he just warded her? She’d never had another person care if she was harmed. Vampires were stronger than they looked, and no one ever worried if they would survive in most situations.

  A ward. Who’d have thought?

  Lilith reached out for his hand and took it. “Does this mean I could touch fire if I want to and it won’t hurt me?”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “No. Touch nothing that’s on fire and don’t walk on top of the lava fields. You’ll burn. The ward just makes sure anything that touches you by accident doesn’t hurt.”

  That was a shame. A flaming vampire running wild and free might be an interesting sight for everyone to see. At least it would make her more powerful than just a servant with a magic collar around her neck.

  Still, she supposed she’d already made enough waves.

  Drake pulled her away from the fortress and into the burning fields. They walked down the path that disappeared under the mounds of blackened dust.

  “Why is this place...” She paused, not sure how to ask the question.

  Lilith wanted to know why everything looked like it had been destroyed in a war. She wanted to know why he would live in a place ruined by some event that had taken away the original beauty. She’d only seen places like this a few times in her life, and they were always after something horrible had happened. Usually the screams of the dying filled the air along with motes of ash and ruin.

  The faerie king glanced around and she watched peace flow down his features and smooth even the tiniest of wrinkles. “It’s pulled from my mind. Some people think this realm was destroyed by another long ago, but I designed it. Every piece of every stone came from my very soul.”

  Oh.

  Well.

  That was problematic.

  Lilith tried to see through his eyes and maybe attempt to at least understand the beauty. But she couldn’t.

  Nothing was alive here. Even the trees were just skeletons of what once had been. Every feature, every part of this endless dark realm was infinitely sad. Just the horizon, bleak and empty, made her heart ache.

  How could she tell that to him when he had designed this place? The Fire Realm was what Drake wanted. He’d built this home from the ground up, and of course he was proud of it.

  She stepped up and over a boulder streaked with ash. “Good for you. I don’t know many people who could create an entire world.”

  Drake reached for her hand and helped her over. “This place is the world between worlds. We are neither in the human realm, nor the fae realm.”

  “I didn’t know such a place existed.”

  “I assume you don’t know a lot exists,” he replied. Drake spun her around and pressed her back against his chest. Together, he turned them to face a wall of light so bright it made her eyes water. “Now, feast your eyes on this.”

  She didn’t even know what she was looking at. The light was too much, too powerful, too strong. She lifted an arm to cover her eyes and then them adjust, before she dropped her arm again. Before she could finally see what he wanted her to see.

  Lava.

  An entire lake, no, sea of lava spread out just a football field from their feet. It stretched all the way out to the horizon and then some, until she couldn’t guess how big it was at all. Infinite. Enormous. A stray wind blasted heat into her face and she coughed as it singed her lungs.

  “What is this place?” she asked. Lilith tugged the edge of her robe up and over her mouth to prevent the heat from igniting her from the inside.

  “The legendary lava lakes of the Autumn Court.” Pride deepened his voice into a low baritone. “Faeries come from every court just to see them.”

  She could see why. How many people would ever be this close to lava in their life? Let alone see an entire lake of it.

  “They’re beautiful,” she whispered, and she meant the words. They really were as beautiful as they were impossible. Kind of like their king.

  Drake stepped away from her and toward the lakes. “Stay there for a moment, would you?”

  As if she would step any closer to the giant death trap. Vampires might be classic monsters, but they weren’t meat heads. Nothing could ever convince Lilith to get that close to a lava lake.

  She waved a hand at him. “Go on ahead. I’ll stay here and watch.”

  He must have caught some sarcasm in her voice. Drake cast a disapproving glance over his shoulder. “Easy, vampiress.”

  Arms crossed over her chest, she held her breath as he strode toward the lava. It didn’t move like water at all. Instead, it sort of undulated like a living creature or perhaps the top of a jellyfish.

  Drake paused at the edge of the lake, bent down, and tapped his finger on the thick surface. A wave from his hand spread out, and a gong echoed through the realm.

  A gong? No, that wasn’t right. It was the lava singing.

  She’d never heard such a sound before, but there it was. A low hum of approval as it danced away from his finger and then the sound of laughter. Deep and dark, but somehow familiar. Like magic lived within that lake, and it was a magic she’d heard her entire life.

  Drake looked over his shoulder and grinned. Then he straightened, strode forward once again, and stepped into the lava.

  Lilith pressed two fingers against her lips to silence her sudden gasp. He was going to kill himself in front of her? That was his plan?

  Except he didn’t die. He didn’t even sink into the lava. He walked across it out onto the middle of the lake with red footprints glowing in his wake. The light danced around him, toying with the outline of his legs and playing with the tails of his shirt.

  He met her gaze from the lake of fire and opened his arms wide. The sound of sizzling electricity reached her ears before a blast of light made her look away. When she still the crazed beating of her heart, she looked back to him. Great arcs of red lightning spewed from his fingers and into the lake of lava. She’d never seen power so raw or in its purest of forms.

  His fingers spread wide, head tilted back, he looked like some kind of avenging demon who had come to punish the world. The image called out to her. She wanted to walk across that lake and into his arms just so she could see for herself what power felt like.

  Lilith didn’t know how long she watched him. Her wide-eyed stare hurt after a while, the brightness of the lake and his energy burning through her retinas. But she couldn’t stop watching. Not yet.

  Not until it was done.

  Eventually, he released his hold on the magic. The red lightning disappeared, sinking back into his skin and pressing against his form once more. He walked back toward her and the closer he got, the more she could see the power was still underneath his skin.

  Like wriggling red veins, the magic wanted to be released. Just a little more.

  Her fangs slid out of their casings and hunger punched her in the gut. She wanted to sink her teeth into his forearm where she could see a majority of the power was. Right over his veins. She’d be tasting
his chocolate flavored blood and drinking deeply of the magic unique to him.

  The hunger was so strong, she didn’t know how to control it. Contain it.

  Lilith knew she looked like an animal standing on the hill waiting for him. She was eyeing him like he was next on the menu. Her thighs locked, biceps tensed, ready to jump onto him even though she knew she’d couldn’t let herself.

  He stepped right up to her, leaning down and breathing deeply of her scent with all that magic glowing in his eyes. “You’re hungry, aren’t you?”

  Why did he have to say that? Couldn’t he just let her fight her battles on her own, without having to point out the obvious?

  Lilith ground her teeth together and gritted out, “Yes.”

  “What happens if I don’t feed you?”

  Her fingers curled into claws, nails lengthening into weapons. “I will try to take matters into my own hands.”

  He tilted his head to the side. “Willingly?”

  “No,” she snarled. “A starving vampire isn’t thinking, it’s feeling. When I’m too far gone, I have to feed. It’s instinct not thought.”

  “How intriguing.” He lifted his arm, watching her eyes as she followed every movement. Drake moved his wrist in a circle before bringing it back down to his side. “I don’t think I will feed you just yet, vampiress.”

  “I know the deal wasn’t to feed from you.” Her stomach clenched at the thought of going longer. But that was all right. There were plenty of servants in her sleeping quarters. She could take just a sip from one of them, although she didn’t know what happened to a vampire who fed on fae.

  She wasn’t made to feast upon magic. And it was foolish to assume she would remain the same creature.

  Drake shook his head, astute eyes watching hers. “You will not feed from anyone in my court but me. Do you understand?”

  No, she didn’t. Faerie blood was faerie blood. She opened her mouth to argue, only for him to hold up his hand and silence her.

  “You will only feed from me,” he growled. “Is that understood?”

  The collar around her neck burned and magic coursed through her body. She had a feeling if she tried to feed from anyone else, she’d get zapped like she had in the hallway when he didn’t want her to walk too far ahead of him. And that was an experience she didn’t want to repeat any time soon.