by Meg Xuemei X
Vladimir gave Lucienne a look of objection, then let his lips indulge themselves on her again, as if determined to keep his promise not to let anything or anyone get between them, not even the air.
His lips slowly, purposefully traced down the slender column of her neck. He knew her every sensitive spot and kissed her in every right place. And she knew that wasn’t from his experiences with other girls. He understood her body’s needs. Lucienne let out a moan.
“Come back to Sphinxes with me,” she purred.
“I can’t,” he said, lips lifting from her skin. “If Nexus Tear is the last element of your Siren’s insignia, you’ll need it. I’ll get it for you.”
“No. I don’t want you to go back to my enemies. When our air force and navy crush the Sealers, we’ll fetch Nexus Tear.”
“You won’t get it that way,” he said. “The Sealers will destroy it beforehand. I’m your best bet. Let me do this for you.” His lips now traced a path to her shoulder blade.
Lucienne felt heat stirring in her belly, and deep frustration also arose. They couldn’t go to the finish line. So why was he doing this to her and to himself?
And it was three times now he refused to come home with her. She drew back from him. “Is there any other reason you don’t want to come back to me?”
He stared at her incredulously. “I don’t want to come back to you?” Anger flared in his eyes at her open suspicion. “You think I’m whoring, or drinking with the enemies?”
“Your words, not mine.”
“Why do you put a wedge between us when all I’ve been doing is trying to secure a future for us?”
“My heart can’t be broken again,” she said miserably. “I can’t bear to lose you. Not this time.”
The storm in him vanished, replaced by a gentle breeze. “You won’t lose me, láska,” he said. “You’re home to me. I want to go with you more than anything. I want to be near you all the time. But we both know what’s at stake.” He cupped her chin. “Once you have the last element, you’ll be able to fend off Ashburn, and we’ll have a shot at being with each other in truth.” His gaze grew hot. “I’ll finally get to sleep with you—if you want, too.”
Lucienne’s cheeks flamed. She wanted that as much as he did. What could motivate her more to acquire Nexus Tear than that—to truly have a future with him?
But she also knew her mark’s need ran deeper than hers. Its craving to have the fifth element back had been maddening her. It had fire, water, earth and metal. It must have the last fundamental force: aether. Once all five forces merged, the endless, gnawing emptiness within her would cease. She would have the full strength to fight off the Lure and any supernatural power.
“But—” She still hated separating from him and placing him in danger.
His lips only grew hotter on her skin as they travelled all the way down to her cleavage. He started unbuttoning her shirt.
As her desire went haywire, she was powerless to stop him. “Vlad,” she warned, but could barely hear her own voice.
“I know,” he said dreamily, his mouth moving down, kissing her with ravenous hunger. “You’ll know when—” His voice slurred. “You won’t burn me.”
But Lucienne wasn’t as confident as he was.
She had burned him twice. The third time could be the death of him—that was the reason she kept her distance before they found the Eye of Time, no matter how bitter he was at her alienation.
Her DNA was lethal, but there might be something else—the power from her mark would strike any man except Ashburn when sensing her virtue was being compromised.
“You’re playing with fire,” she murmured.
She must stop him before he got hurt. But she didn’t. Her body merely shifted from pleasure to rigid, then to pleasure again. Her back arched, wanting more from his touch.
The café’s front door blasted open. A torrent of chilly air surged in. Then a flash of light blinded Lucienne momentarily.
Vladimir’s men covered their eyes and bolted from their seats with shouts, their guns drawn. When they charged toward whoever had come through the door, it was a second too late.
A flying motorcycle dashed to the semi-private loft, going straight for Vladimir and Lucienne.
Spike reached their table. Ashburn sat tall on the motorcycle like a raging god. He squinting at her new looks—he didn’t seem to like it.
Lucienne immediately closed the top two buttons on her shirt. Thankfully Vladimir hadn’t the time to unbutton the rest. She felt her cheeks going up in flames, her heart pounding painfully against her rib cage.
“Ash?” Her mouth opened agape. “What are you doing here?”
Of course, he would come. She fooled the guards, but Ashburn had the memories of all people.
As she locked eyes with his, she saw he was heartbroken. The residue of desire for Vladimir in her eyes shrank away, and an unexpected guilt slapped her in the face. But she hadn’t done anything wrong, had she? Then why did she always feel like she was cheating when she was with either one of them?
Was she so doomed?
Ashburn was off Spike like the wild wind. He shoved Vladimir back, pulled Lucienne away, and punched his opponent.
He was fast, but Vladimir wasn’t slow.
Vladimir ducked his head to the side, his hand catching Ashburn’s fist. One man was an excellent warrior, but the other could read his rival’s every memory. While Vladimir was in a corner with little room to maneuver, Ashburn kneed him in the gut. Vladimir grimaced. His fist landed on Ashburn’s jaw.
Lucienne spun and cut in between them before either of them could exchange more punches. Her hands pressed on their chests, and the touch felt delicious, only in different ways. What’s wrong with me? She was pissed at herself and them. “Enough!”
Vladimir’s men came up the stairs, all guns pointing at Ashburn.
“Back off,” Lucienne ordered them.
The men didn’t move. They took orders only from Vladimir. Lucienne’s hand left Vladimir’s chest and went for the beads under her wig.
“I can fry them all,” Ashburn offered.
Vladimir motioned to the men, and they withdrew, but not before gawking at the translucent flying motorcycle.
“Dude,” Vladimir sent Ashburn a death look, “don’t make me warn you again. It’s extremely rude crashing a man’s date, unless you have a death wish.”
“I’d like to see you try.” Ashburn glared at Vladimir with equal hatred.
“Gladly. Let’s take it outside,” Vladimir said. “Don’t let a girl defend you.”
Ashburn was instantly on the move toward the stairs, ready for a duel.
Vladimir looked giddy at succeeding in goading his enemy into a challenge.
Lucienne remembered he mentioned that he had transferred all his hate to one single person—Ashburn Fury. And Ashburn confessed to her during his fever that he desired to remove Vladimir Blazek from the face of the earth.
Vladimir jogged after Ashburn with the nerve to still flash a grin at Lucienne. She blocked him and stared at him hard. “Don’t be a jerk, Vlad.”
“He stormed in, disrupted us, and tried to slug me in the jaw with a nasty intention to deform my good-looking face, and you call me a jerk?” Vladimir asked, but he seemed to be in an improved mood.
Obviously, she realized. This time, he made Ashburn watch how he and she went on neck on neck. The more furious Ashburn was, the better Vladimir felt.
This feeling thing is a mess. She sighed inwardly. She used to think Vladimir had an uncanny talent for landing himself in hot water. It seemed the pot was calling the kettle black.
When Ashburn didn’t see Vladimir coming, he returned and was more than outrageous. “What?” he demanded. “Now you’re hiding under a girl’s skirt?”
Vladimir only laughed, half delightful, half hostile. “And there’s no space for you there. It’s cozy with just the two of us.” He waved his hand at Ashburn dismissively. “So get lost. Lucia and I are finishing our dessert and res
uming our make-out session.”
“Do you have to rile him up?” Lucienne asked in displeasure.
“Be fair, miláček.” Vladimir now looked serious. “Is this distasteful crushing-our-date thing my fault? I’ve been refraining myself from taking him down because you want me to play nice. So I’m nice, and it’s not easy.”
Lucienne rubbed her fingers on her temples, feeling a headache. “Ash,” she started, “you need to learn some boundaries.”
“Boundaries?” Ashburn asked, eyes turning to stormy gray.
Lucienne held his glare with an uncompromising resolve. Then she saw black lightning forming in his fingertips.
“You dare not—” Before she could finish, Ashburn raised his hands. A beam of dark lightning shot toward Vladimir.
Lucienne moved in front of her Czech boyfriend. The lightning went through her.
“Lucia!” She heard them both screaming her name in horror, followed by a heavy thud behind her.
Dumbfound, she turned to see Vladimir collapsing to the ground, his face twisting in pain and rage.
The lighting had gone through her and shocked him.
“I’m very sorry, Lucia.” Ashburn reached her. Remorse, worry, and anguish took turns twirling in his eyes. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I can heal you.”
Lucienne stared down at her chest, then looked up at Ashburn in amazement. His lightning touched her inside like a spectrum of warm sunbeam.
“I’m not hurt,” she said.
TimeDust wouldn’t hurt her, and Ashburn regarded her with reverence. Their shared moment disconnected when she saw Vladimir struggling to stand up and stumbling to her defense.
If her body hadn’t neutralized the electricity thrown by Ashburn, Vladimir wouldn’t be standing now.
Lucienne’s look of wonder turned cold. “Why did you shock him? Don’t you know that if you wound him, I won’t forgive you?”
“That’s why I only used less than one-tenth of the force to teach him a lesson,” Ashburn said sheepishly. “I didn’t expect you to step in front of him. You shouldn’t defend him. He isn’t worth it. I’m only glad my power wouldn’t hurt you.”
As soon as Vladimir reached Lucienne’s side, he shoved Ashburn. “Get away from her! I’ll cut your heart out if you ever try to throw anything at her again.”
Ashburn pushed Vladimir back, another wave of dark lightning forming in his hands. “I wasn’t throwing it at her. I’d never hurt her. I was throwing it at you to see how well you eat my lightning!”
“Shut up!” Lucienne screamed. She had reached her limit.
The whole café became deadly silent.
Ashburn and Vladimir both looked alarmed. Lucienne sensed their desperation wheeling around her like firecrackers waiting to explode. Ever since her Siren’s power half awoke, all her senses were constantly in hyper-drive, especially in such a stressful situation.
“Lucia,” Vladimir said, “don’t you ever try to shield me again!”
Lucienne ignored him, then looked from his hand placed on her left arm to Ashburn’s on her right. “Do you two want to tear me apart? Hands off, both of you.”
Neither obliged.
“One, two, three,” Lucienne hissed, “off!” She shook them off.
Vladimir and Ashburn removed their hands reluctantly at exactly the same time, but still engaged in a growling match over her head. They were almost the same height, so it was convenient for their death-stare contest.
“Let’s be civilized for once and work this out,” Lucienne said. “First, as I said, Ash, you need boundaries. And Vlad, you need—you need to calm down.”
“So I get a restraining order, and he just has to be calm?” Ashburn demanded.
“Ash, when did you pick up his habit of melodrama?” Lucienne asked. “I thought you were better than that.”
“Now he’s better, and I’m the drama king with a bad habit?” Vladimir asked in displeasure. “That’s how you see me?”
“And boundaries?” Ashburn spat fire. “Ask him about boundaries. I came because he took Violet. He took advantage of her.”
Lucienne spun toward Vladimir, her heart turning to stone. Ash wouldn’t lie. What advantage did Vladimir take of the redheaded girl from Nirvana?
“It was a mutual agreement.” Vladimir ground his teeth, evidently resenting Ashburn for ratting him out.
“What did you do, Blazek?” Lucienne asked. Did he—? Did they hook up? Her face was paler than the dead. He came all the way here to confess his love for her, but behind her back, he—
“When I snuck back to Nirvana,” Vladimir dropped his gaze, “Violet came to me, heartbroken. I took a pity on her and let her stay with some of my friends.”
“That’s not true,” Ashburn said. “You two made an arrangement. You’ll use her to get Lucia back, and Violet could have… me. And you gave her to the Sealers.”
“Did you also betray me by telling them about Nirvana, Blazek?” Lucienne asked.
“I didn’t betray you! I’ll never betray you,” Vladimir said, lifting his head to meet her icy stare. He didn’t flinch, but fear was in his eyes. And beneath his apprehension of losing her lay his deeper hatred for Ashburn. “Bayrose is taking care of Violet. Bayrose isn’t a Sealers fanatic, despite being an elder’s daughter. She hates politics and cruelty, and she’s on my side. Violet is in good hands. They hit it off.” He then swallowed. “But I told the elders about Nirvana a few days ago.”
Lucienne cursed him, her palms forming fists. She shouldn’t have shielded him from Ash’s lightning.
“Láska, please understand,” he pleaded. “I need to use that town to distract our enemies when I’m this close to finding Nexus Tear. Sooner or later, the world is going to know about Nirvana. It’s but a fancy shell after we took what we needed. While the Sealers are busy figuring out Nirvana’s puzzles, we’ll take Nexus Tear and set fire to their backyard.”
“Did you tell them about Ash, too?” she asked, her voice dangerously calm.
“No,” Vladimir said. “I hate him more than anything. I want him to disappear forever, but I know if I tell anyone about him or bring harm to him that way, I’ll truly cross the line, and you’ll never forgive me. Besides, there’s a better way to get rid of him. So why would I jeopardize my future—the only future I want—to be with you?”
“You don’t know what you’ve done.” Lucienne narrowed her eyes at him. “And what if Violet has told them about Ash?” She knew what that girl would do to get Ashburn back.
“Fine. I’m coming clean,” Vladimir said. “I don’t trust that dude. I need to use his girlfriend as leverage so he’ll stop advancing on my girl. Besides, I’ve warned his girlfriend not to say anything about Ash and you. You know the redhead isn’t stupid, and she’s loyal to him, even though he doesn’t deserve it.”
“I care about Violet very much, but she isn’t my girlfriend,” Ashburn said, looking at Lucienne as if afraid of her believing Vladimir. “She’s like my sister.” He turned to Vladimir, gritting his teeth. “Lucia isn’t yours.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Vladimir said with his arms across his chest.
Lucienne realized that Vladimir was trying to sidetrack them to cover his guilt. “That doesn’t give you the justification to use Violet to hurt Ash,” she shouted. “When you hurt him, you hurt me.”
“I might not have thought this through,” Vladimir said. “But what about him?” He pointed two fingers at Ashburn. “You want to break up Lucia and me? You’d better come up with a better strategy. Why didn’t you stop your girlfriend from following me when she decided to run away? You have everyone’s memories. You surely can read hers.”
Lucienne turned to Ashburn.
Encouraged by Lucienne’s suspicion, Vladimir raised his voice in righteous indignation. “And you had to wait until this moment when Lucia and I were having fun?”
“I didn’t know earlier,” Ashburn said gravely. “I blocked out Violet’s memories. I can’t bear her grief
. I can’t give her what she wants. So I let her memories slip into trillions of strangers’ and become a background blur.”
He can single out and brush aside an individual’s memories. Amazement glinted in Lucienne’s eyes. She didn’t feel as mournful for Violet as Ashburn had. The scholar in her took over. Ash has made a great progress with TimeDust. And soon he might hand her the code if she worked harder on him.
“I knew about Violet’s situation only half an hour ago,” Ashburn continued, “because of the tag I put on you. Any memory concerning you would move up to my headline window.” He looked at Lucienne with a pained expression. “That’s how I knew you were here with him. I
tried to find out what he was up to, for he’s up to no good. Then his memories of Violet came up. It’s my fault that she’s in danger.”
“She’s far from danger,” Vladimir said. “She’s only waiting to take you back. In the meantime, she’s exploring a new world and enjoying herself.”
“You can’t blame yourself for her choice, Ash,” Lucienne said. “You can’t force your feelings.”
“I don’t know what to do with her,” Ashburn said, his shoulders slumped.
“Take her back. Love her and hold her,” Vladimir said. “It isn’t that hard. She’s pretty. She has colorful hair and nice skin. And she’s feisty and smart. Every red-blooded teenage boy would kill to have a girl like that.”
Lucienne glared at Vladimir.
But Ashburn’s eyes brightened to silver. “She sounds like your type,” he said. “You’re hot for her. You can make her forget about me. I’ll owe you for a lifetime for taking care of her.”
“A crafty devil,” Vladimir cursed. “She’s your perfect match, not mine.”
“But you just confessed your feelings for her,” Ashburn said. “You can make her happy.”
“Don’t put your words in my mouth,” Vladimir shouted. “I was trying to kick some sense into your thick head so you’ll see what’s good in front of you, rather than drooling over my girl and causing me trouble.”
“You two just keep negotiating,” Lucienne said, “like Violet is a property for an ownership transfer.”
They looked ashamed, but they avoided her glare by growling at each other.
