Volcan's Fire (Guardians of The Elements #1)

by Cathy McAllister

  “Why don’t you just say it? Did you kill him? And if you did, where’s the… the body now?”

  “Coreena. I can’t tell you. Not now. You musttrust me!” he urged her.

  “How can I? I know practically nothing about you! Who are you?What do you want from me?”

  “You know who I am. Deep down inside you know. I have no evil intentions. I loveyou. I will explain it to you. Soon. Get to know me a little better first, learn to trust me, then I’ll tell you everything. Who I am. Why I’m here. What happened today. Everything!”

  “This is too much for me. Please leave! Leave me alone!”

  The pain in his eyes hurt her deep down. She wanted to trust him. But she did not understand why he did not just tell her what he was hiding.

  “OK. I’ll leave you alone now. But please don’t open the door to anyone you don’t know.”

  *

  Volcan ran through the streets of New York without registering where he was. It was not important. He just wanted to run. If he were to go home now he would probably set the house on fire because he was so angry and frustrated. The first move by Exesor was a point for the Master of Destruction. Volcan knew that the attack on Coreena was down to him. He had smelt the stench of the evil one on the rapist. Of course he had been manipulated by Exesor into attacking Coreena. Also, the timing of it was precisely planned. Exesor wanted Volcan to turn up, because that was how come he was now in this tricky situation with his chosen one. But he was also not to appear too soon. That was why the time was planned so exactly, in order that Volcan was still in Ignigena when the attack happened, so that her amulet could not alert him straight away. At precisely the moment in which he changed worlds, he received the signal, and he had immediately materialised in the underground car park.

  Now he had to give an explanation. The problem was not that he did not want to tell Coreena who he was, but that he was not allowed to. The regulations stated that Coreena must first declare her love for him before he could reveal himself.

  Volcan turned into a side street and ran straight into a group of young men. There were six blokes, about twenty years old, wearing leather jackets embroidered with a gang’s logo.

  “Hey, you useless bum! Watch out, won’t you!” said a bloke with greasy, blond hair, with a joint in his hand.

  Volcan glared at him.

  “Maybe he’s got a few dollars spare for a beer,” said a fat bloke with a bald head.

  A third man drew up to Volcan. He was as big as Volcan, full of scars and broad-shouldered. He looked at Volcan, grinning, and drew casually on his joint, blowing the smoke into Volcan’s face.

  “Don’t you think his face is much too pretty for an area like this?” he asked his companions.

  Shouts of agreement could be heard.

  “Beat his pretty mug to a pulp, Al!” shouted the bloke with the greasy hair.

  Volcan took the first blow without blinking an eyelash.

  “Is that all you can manage?” he asked scornfully.

  Al went to strike the next blow, but Volcan caught his fist in his left hand. He held his opponent’s fist firmly and slowly squeezed it. Al’s face contorted. The other boys became somewhat uneasy.

  “Hey, man. Finish him off!” the fat one spurred on his mate, Al.

  The latter screamed as Volcan’s grip got tighter and all the bones in his hand broke.

  “Shit!” shouted the fat one in disbelief.

  Al fell to the ground as Volcan let go of his crushed hand. The other five gang members attacked him simultaneously. Volcan was happy to have a little distraction. This was just what he needed to work off his pent up anger. He dealt with them so quickly that the boys could not work out what was going on.

  “Let’s go!” one of them shouted, when it became clear that they would not win.

  Even Al had recovered and was running away, his friends behind him. Volcan wiped the blood running from his nose with the back of his hand. He had no idea what he looked like but he finally felt better. He welcomed the physical pain which momentarily, at least, concealed his inner pain.

  He heard laughter looked up. Aerios was sitting on a high wall, shaking with laughter. Volcan eyed him blackly, but that did not seem to have any particular effect on his friend. The Guardian of Air jumped from the wall and landed elegantly on his feet.

  “How did that go? What was it you said to me recently? You don’t need to go out looking for girls tonight? The same applies to you today, I think.”

  “Shut up!” Volcan snapped at his friend. “If you’re just here to amuse yourself at my expense, then piss off!”

  “In a bad mood, huh? It’s not going the way you thought it would? Women are simply a mystery. The man who understands women is yet to be born.”

  “Huh!”

  “Come on, let’s get out of here. You look as if you could do with a drink, then you can tell me what happened.”

  “A drink? That sounds like a good idea,” agreed Volcan, spitting out some blood.

  They immaterialised and a few moments later they were in Volcan’s lounge, where Volcan fell, groaning, into an armchair. Whilst drinking whisky, he told his friend what had happened.

  Chapter 8

  As soon as the door locked behind Volcan, Coreena burst into tears. All the pent up emotions flooded out. Shock. Fear. Sadness. Anger. Doubt. Desire. She cried for so long that she fell asleep again through pure exhaustion. She dreamt about the attack – the face of her attacker only a shadow, but then she saw the figure with the red, long hair and the glowing eyes. She saw everything now, just as when it was really happening, only dimly. Suddenly the figure changed its appearance and the long hair disappeared. The eyes no longer looked like glowing coals, but were bright green.

  With a cry she woke from her dream. Bathed in sweat, she sat up and looked around. She was still lying on the sofa. Everything was quiet. The television was still on but there was no sound. No sign of Volcan. Of course! She had asked him to leave. She was alone. Her eyes were still burning from the tears that she had shed. Her eyes were sure to be completely swollen.

  Slowly, she sat up. The dizziness had gone and she no longer felt any pain. Only her heart felt like a single raw wound. Although she had done everything she could to stop it happening, it had simply happened – she had fallen in love with her client. And now it turned out that not only was he not a suitable man for a relationship, but he was even keeping some secret from her. She was not even sure any more that he was called Volcan Custos. She realised that she actually knew nothing about him, except that he had bought B&L. She had checked up on this. But where he came from and how come he had such wealth as to be in a position to buy the company, she had no idea.

  With a sigh Coreena got up from the sofa and went into the bathroom. There, she stood in front of the mirror and looked carefully at her face. There was hardly anything to see. No swelling, just a little bluishness on her nose and her left cheek. Considering that the blow had rendered her unconscious, he did not seem to have done much damage to her. She turned her head a little and examined the wound on her neck. It was a long cut. Strangely it looked as if it were already several days old and not only a few hours old. She brushed her right hand over the cut and felt the wound carefully. She could hardly feel it. How was that possible? She simply could not get rid of the feeling that something was not at all right here. She just could not make any sense of it.

  With slightly shaking hands Coreena got undressed and stepped under the shower. She turned on the water and closed her eyes. Steam filled the shower cubicle. Without opening her eyes, she reached out for the shower gel. She soaped herself thoroughly and washed her hair, then she moved the shower head higher up and let the hot water spray over her head. Suddenly images of the attack returned.

  As if through a veil she saw the creature with the long, red hair grab her attacker and throw him against the wall. Strangely, she had a vague feeling that she had seen a person with hair like that before somewhere. She just cou
ld not remember properly. It was just a quite faint thought deep inside her mind. She wondered how come she had seen such a person, when it was Volcan who had saved her. So, it must have been he who had pulled the man off her and… yes, and what then? What had he done with the man? She had seen his eyes before she fainted. Green eyes. But why had she seen glowing eyes before? She simply could not work it out. Perhaps Volcan was right, and the blow to her face had made her see things that were not really there. But how come she had such minor injuries if the blow was so hard? The more she pondered, the more confusing the whole thing became. Her head began to hurt and she felt mentally miserable, like never before.

  After showering, she pulled on her dressing gown and went into the kitchen. She put the kettle on and took a cup off the shelf. Perhaps a mug of coffee would help her to think more clearly. She put a spoonful of instant coffee into the cup, and two spoonfuls of sugar, and waited. When the kettle began to whistle, it made her jump.

  Coreena tried to calm her madly pounding heart. The horrible experience really had affected her more than she had thought. Her nerves were completely raw. Suddenly she wished that she had not sent Volcan away. Of course she did not know what secrets he was hiding from her, but she was pretty sure that he would never hurt her, but would only protect her, as he had clearly already done.

  Suddenly she did not feel like coffee any more. She needed something stronger. Coreena left the coffee and went into the lounge. She opened the drinks section of her cabinet and took out a bottle of cognac, left there by her ex. Usually, she personally only drank a glass of wine occasionally or maybe a liqueur. But today she needed something stronger to guarantee her a deep sleep. She poured herself a glass and sat in the armchair that Volcan had sat in earlier. She convinced herself that his smell was still in the air. Suddenly she wished that she was lying in his arms again and being kissed by him. Maybe it would have helped to chase away the evil spirits. She took a long swig of cognac and coughed.

  “Uhh!” she said and contorted her face. “How can anyone drink such a thing of their own accord?”

  Coreena took a deep breath before taking the glass again and drinking it until the last drop. She shook. But the warm fire that now burned in her belly was totally pleasant. Her thoughts returned to Volcan and tears filled her eyes. She howled without really knowing why. The panic that she felt when she thought about the attack, and the longing for closeness and safety, coupled with the desire that Volcan had ignited in her, threw her into emotional chaos.

  “Volcan,” she sobbed quietly. “Please come back. I’m afraid.”

  She had rolled herself up into a ball on the armchair. Her head was buried under her arms. A hand gently stroked her hair.

  “Shhh.”

  She raised her head. Her vision blurred by tears, she looked at him in disbelief.

  “What…? How… how did you…?”

  “That doesn’t matter right now,” he answered gently. “I’m here because you need me. You don’t need to be afraid any more. I will always be here if you need me. This one time I got here too late, but that will never happen again. I will neverget here too late again. I swear that by the elements. Trust me, princess.”

  There it was again. That feeling that this was familiar and yet she could not put her finger on it. Somewhere deep down something was telling her that someone had called her that before. Princess. Where had she heard that? If only her mind was not so confused. She felt that some answers lay hidden in her head, that would explain a lot to her, but however hard she thought, the information would not come to her.

  Volcan stroked her wet cheeks, took her face in both hands and kissed her very gently on her forehead, then on her eyebrows, her nose, her cheeks and finally on her mouth. They were only small, harmless kisses and yet they set off real fireworks inside Coreena. His gentleness moved her heart. He looked deep into her eyes and she lost herself in his gaze. Everything suddenly moved into the background; her resolution to have nothing to do with this man; the attack; his strange behaviour. Everything was insignificant. Her heart was racing and she did not protest when he picked her up out of the armchair and carried her into her bedroom.

  He laid her on the bed and stroked her on the cheek.

  “I’ll fetch you a drink,” he said huskily, and left her alone.

  A little later he returned with two glasses. He helped her to sit up and sat down next to her on the bed. They sat with their backs against the headboard and drank their cognac. Volcan had laid his arm around her shoulder and she snuggled into him. The alcohol and his proximity had ensured that she felt a good deal calmer and safer. And yet she felt torn inside.

  “Volcan?”

  “Yes, princess?”

  “I…,” she began, indecisively, as she looked for the right words. “I need… Would you…?”

  “What?” he whispered.

  Her heart beat excitedly in her chest.

  “I… Please… make love to me.”

  Volcan put his glass onto the bedside table and took hers and put that aside, too, then he looked down at her questioningly.

  “Are you sure?” he asked hoarsely.

  She nodded, avoiding his look. She was embarrassed. She had never taken the initiative and asked a man to have sex with her.

  “Then look at me,” Volcan requested huskily.

  She looked up at him, hesitant. Heat flooded her cheeks as his searching look immersed itself in her despairing look.

  “Coreena, I desire you more than I can say. But if I start now I won’t be able to stop. You need to be sure.”

  Incapable of expressing her needs in words, she nodded.

  Slowly he lowered his mouth to hers. Only very softly he breathed little kisses onto her lower lip, her upper lip and the corner of her mouth. He teased her cautiously with the tip of his tongue until she opened her lips and he entered her mouth, groaning loudly. His hand opened her dressing gown and his fingertips danced over her heated, naked skin. She shuddered and her nipples became hard.

  Volcan slid down to her and pulled her down, gently but definitely more firmly, so that she was lying on the bed. Her heart was beating wildly and her breathing was heavy. The passion that glowed in Volcan’s eyes robbed her of her senses. She was exhilarated by the thought that it was specifically her that he so desired. He may have been deceiving her in other ways, or keeping things from her, but his desire for her was real. There was no doubt about that.

  He slid over her and kissed her again – hungrily this time, and only with great difficulty controlling his passion. His hands were fondling her firm breasts. She wanted to see him at last. Hastily she pulled his shirt out of his trousers and tried to undo the buttons, her fingers trembling. He came to the assistance of her unsuccessful attempts by simply tearing open his shirt so that the buttons flew off. She helped him to get rid of the rest of the shirt, and it landed carelessly on the floor. His chest was covered in a strange tattoo. She reached out and touched the pattern that made her think of an animal’s scales. Again, she had this feeling that she had seen this before.

  They were both breathing heavily. Volcan took off his trousers and slid between her spread legs.

  “Coreena,” he murmured huskily. “By the elements. You are so beautiful.”

  “Don’t you think I’m… too…fat?” she asked uncertainly.

  He looked at her in amazement. Stretching out his hand, his fingertips made their way from her lips, down her neck, over her breasts and stomach to her neatly trimmed triangle.

  “Princess, do you really not know how unbelievably beautiful you are? Every inch of you is totally feminine. Everything is tender and soft and yet firm. I love the way your breasts lie heavy in my hands and I want to bury myself in them and enjoy your softness. When you walk in front of me in a skirt, with your round behind showing beneath the material, I get hard straight away and I love the swing of your superbly rounded hips. And your legs are unbelievably sexy. I want to kiss my way up them, inch by inch, right up to your p
earl and pleasure you until you call out my name.”

  Although she had never considered herself to be pretty she believed him, she felt the honesty in his words. Volcan helped her out of her dressing gown and pushed it aside, then he slid down her, to make his words a reality. He began at her feet, kissing each individual toe, and then he moved upwards. As he reached the top of her thigh, her legs were already trembling uncontrollably. Her pussy ached in expectation of the pleasure that he had promised her.

  When Volcan had finally reached his destination, Coreena was already on the point of exploding and she convulsed, screaming, as the tip of his tongue touched her pearl. Her hands clutched at the sheet and she pushed against him. As his lips enclosed and carefully pressed her little erogenous bud, she came more intensely than ever before in her life, and she shouted out his name.

  Trembling and breathing heavily, she lay beneath him. Her cheeks were lightly flushed and her look transformed. Volcan had never seen anything more beautiful and his heart leapt with joy. He wanted to give her much more of this exquisite pleasure. He loved the way she called out his name. The pendant with the ruby, that he gave her when she was a little girl, lay shining between her breasts.

  Slowly he slid over Coreena and first kissed her tremendous breasts, then her neck, her chin and finally her slightly open lips. Her quiet groaning was like music to his ears. He looked searchingly into her eyes.

  ”Tell me, do you want me to make love to you, Coreena?”

  “Yes,” she uttered breathlessly. “Yes, make love to me.”

  He needed no further encouragement. Slowly he slipped into her, enjoying to the full every new inch of her entrance. He did not look away from her eyes. He was enjoying the desire that he saw in them as he slid deeper and deeper inside her. When he finally completely filled her, she embraced his hips with her legs and he slowly began to move inside her. He was intensely aroused, but he wanted to enjoy this first time for as long as possible. She was his. Finally!