Embers (The Slayer Chronicles Book 2)

by Val St. Crowe

  “Well, you got your wish,” I said. “You’ve let me go now.”

  His face tightened. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

  “I’ll be fine, thanks,” I said. “Since it was nothing but meaningless sex, I’m discovering you’re leaving very little of an impression on me.”

  He flinched.

  Oh, that hurt his feelings? Good. I squared my shoulders and narrowed my eyes. “Get out.”

  His shoulders slumped. He turned and began slowly making his way out of the room.

  Good riddance.

  “Clarke.” He turned.

  “Go.” I pointed at the door.

  “Why did you do it last night?”

  “Naelen, get the hell out of my room.”

  “You bewilder me,” he said.

  “I bewilder you?”

  He hung his head. “I wish that it didn’t have to end this way between us. If you really do think it was meaningless, then maybe you could find some way to let it all go? We could pretend like it never happened.”

  “Why do you care?”

  “I don’t know.” His nostrils flared. A little bit of smoke came out of one. “I’m not leaving you here alone, though. You can forget that. I have to get you home safe.”

  “I’m not your responsibility.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  “You piece of shit,” I said, getting off the bed. “You don’t get to act all noble and righteous after the way you used me. You get to run away like the asshole that you are.”

  “I’m not the one who’s running away,” he said.

  “Oh, shut up,” I said.

  He ran a hand through his hair. “I need to know that you’re going to be okay. How are you going to get home?”

  “Not your business.”

  “Just humor me. If you want to get rid of me, you need to reassure me that you’re going to be safe.”

  “Why do you even care?”

  “I don’t want you to be hurt. I still care about you, even if I don’t…”

  “Don’t what? Don’t have an itch to scratch somewhere inside my pussy?”

  He winced. “Don’t be crude. It wasn’t like that between us and you know it.”

  I folded my arms over my chest. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Nothing,” he said. “Never mind.”

  “Fine,” I said. “We’re done here.”

  “We’re not done until you’re home safe.”

  A knock on my door.

  Who was that? Someone who was going to tell us to keep the noise down and stop arguing? Well, there were practically no guests in the lodge, so whoever it was could just move to a room far, far away. I stalked over to the door and threw it open, ready to give the person there a piece of my mind.

  It was Logan.

  I took a step backward.

  He pushed his way into the room. “Who are you yelling at?”

  “You got here quick,” I said.

  Logan looked Naelen over. “You. She’s arguing with you.” He turned to look at me. “What the hell is going on? You sounded all desperate on the phone. I traded a tricked-out magic gun for someone to take me here on a snowmobile while I was stone. I was lashed to the thing with bungee cords.”

  “He was just leaving,” I said to Logan.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” said Naelen.

  Logan ignored him. “So, are you all right or not? When you called me—”

  “She called you?” Naelen furrowed his brow and turned to me. “When did you call him?”

  “Last night,” said Logan.

  “What time last night?” said Naelen, still looking at me. “After?”

  “Yes, after,” I said.

  “After what?” said Logan.

  “Nothing,” I said.

  Logan’s wings twitched.

  Naelen dragged a hand over his face. “Of course she called you,” he muttered. He turned to Logan. “It’s good, actually, that you’re here. You’re going to get her home?”

  “If she wants to go home,” said Logan.

  “But she’ll be safe with you,” said Naelen. “You’ll protect her.”

  “Of course.” Logan looked defensive.

  “Good,” said Naelen. “Good.” He patted Logan on the shoulder. “Very good.”

  Logan stepped away from him, moving so Naelen couldn’t touch him again. “You’re a very strange person.”

  Naelen laughed. “Yes, I guess so.” He looked at me, and his blue eyes suddenly went all luminous and earnest again, like they had when we were—

  I looked away.

  “Take care of yourself, Clarke,” Naelen said, and his voice had gotten a little hoarse. “Be happy.” He started for the door.

  Logan was glaring at me.

  I felt a stab of guilt. What the hell was wrong with me? How could I call Logan after I’d gone to bed with Naelen? Sure, Naelen had been a dick to me, but I’d still betrayed Logan, hadn’t I?

  Naelen paused in the doorway. He turned to Logan. “Uh, listen, do me a favor?”

  “What?” Logan was practically growling.

  “Stick around for her, okay?” said Naelen. “Don’t run off on her again. She can’t… If you do that to her again, it will crush her, and I don’t know if—”

  “How is anything between Clarke and me your business?” Logan leaned in so that he was eye-level with Naelen.

  Naelen put up his hands in surrender. “I didn’t mean it like that. I didn’t mean to be insulting. You care about her, right? Just don’t hurt her. That’s all I was trying to say. She deserves better than that.” And then he was gone, disappearing out of the door and out of my life.

  I felt it like a punch to my stomach. I clutched the foot of the bed, surprised by the force of my reaction to his absence.

  “Clarke?” said Logan.

  I turned to him. “I’m sorry.”

  “Why are you sorry?” said Logan, taking a long, slow breath. “What happened with him?”

  I shook my head. “Logan, it didn’t mean anything.”

  He grimaced. “What happened?”

  “I shouldn’t have called you. It’s not fair to you to involve you—”

  “Did you sleep with him?”

  I bit down on my bottom lip.

  “Shit,” muttered Logan.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “You don’t have to stay. I can find some way to—”

  “No, don’t be silly,” he said. “It’s…” He looked vaguely ill. “I hate it, but you picked me, right? That’s why you were arguing with him? Because you obviously broke his heart.”

  “What?” I said.

  “He’s got it bad for you,” said Logan. “It’s all over him.”

  “No, he doesn’t,” I said. Why the hell was he saying that?

  “Clarke, a man doesn’t tell another man to take care of a girl unless he cares more about her safety than about being near her,” said Logan. “So, he does.”

  I shook my head.

  “Never mind,” said Logan. “This has to have been hell for you. Trying to decide between two people. You were obviously attracted to him. And I haven’t always been good to you, so I can see why you might have had your doubts about me. I can’t imagine how agonizing it was for you, knowing you were going to have to hurt someone that you cared about. So, whatever happened, whatever you did with him, we’ll get through it.” He crossed the room and wrapped me in his arms.

  I let him hold me, but my mind was screaming in confusion. I needed to set Logan straight, needed to tell him that it was Naelen who had cut me off. But how could I? It made it so much worse, what I’d done to Logan, and he was willing to move on, so maybe I should simply let him think whatever he wanted.

  But that would mean we’d start our new relationship with a lie, and I didn’t think that I could—

  The door opened.

  Was it Naelen, back again?

  But no.

  The person who walked through my door had a face covered in stubble and
a striped suit with a bright red tie. He grinned at me. “I knew if I followed the gargoyle, he’d lead me to you eventually.”

  “Cunningham,” I mouthed, my throat too dry to make any noise.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Cunningham sauntered into my room. “You really are a major pain in the ass, Clarke. Especially the way you’ve been following me around. I can’t even have a little privacy? Really?”

  Logan glared at Cunningham. “Well, if it isn’t Ronan Cunningham. I should have killed you the last time I saw you. I won’t make that mistake again.”

  Cunnningham smirked. “You’re going to kill me? Oh, please, gargoyle.”

  Logan was tugging a blade out of a holster on his belt. “Won’t be the first vampire I’ve killed. Or the last.”

  I didn’t have a blade, but I knew I needed to help Logan. Where were my arrows? One of the exploding ones would do pretty nicely right now.

  Cunningham put his palm against a wardrobe. It was big and heavy and made of darkly stained wood. The minute he touched it, there were suddenly three of the wardrobes, one on each side of Logan.

  “You’ve got a manifestation object,” I said. Manifestation objects could create more matter.

  “Clever girl,” said Cunningham. “Nothing gets by you, does it?”

  Logan roared, throwing his shoulder into the wardrobe on his left.

  The wardrobe wobbled. Gargoyles were pretty strong.

  Cunningham made two more wardrobes on the other side of that one, bolstering it.

  I rushed forward. I might not have my arrows, but there had to be something I could do to help.

  Cunningham made a careless gesture at me.

  I froze in place.

  Logan hissed. He threw his shoulder into the wardrobe on the right.

  But Cunningham was ahead of him, making more wardrobes to close in on the gargoyle.

  Logan threw out his arms and his wings, snarling. They collided with wood. Nothing moved.

  Cunningham made another wardrobe, and this one pushed the other wardrobes in on Logan.

  Logan swore, pushing at the wardrobes.

  Cunningham made more, piling them on top of Logan.

  Logan grunted. Struggled.

  Cunningham piled more on.

  Logan was stuck. He strained, but he couldn’t get free.

  Cunningham advanced on me. “Clarke, Clarke. How are you doing?”

  I backed away from him. I didn’t have my bow. I didn’t have my arrows. And that was all Naelen’s fault, because I’d been so caught up in all that drama that I hadn’t even thought about the fact that danger dogged our paths, and I—

  Cunningham’s hand shot out and he snatched at my collar. He was reaching for my damned talisman again.

  I raked my nails over his face, struggling with him.

  But he yanked it out and tugged the strap over my head.

  No! Don’t look into his eyes!

  Too late. “You’re not going to fight me,” said Cunningham in a soft voice. He was compelling me.

  Damn it.

  “Say, ‘Cunningham is dashing and clever,’” said Cunningham.

  “Cunningham is dashing and clever,” I repeated in a monotone voice.

  Cunningham laughed. “That’s better.”

  “Stop it,” said Logan. “Let her be.”

  “Oh, I will,” said Cunningham. “As soon as I get the knife. Clarke, darling, tell me the truth. Who has the knife right now?”

  “Naelen does,” I said. I couldn’t do anything except what he told me.

  “Naelen’s the dragon?” said Cunningham. “The truth, Clarke. Always the truth.”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Where is he?”

  “Next door in his room, I think,” I said.

  “I see,” said Cunningham. “Well, call him and get him over here, then.”

  Logan was still struggling. “You fucking bastard.”

  Cunningham chuckled. “You’re awfully worried about the girl, aren’t you? I find that confusing, I have to admit, because she’s always with the dragon, and you’re not always around. Now, it’s probably none of my business, I suppose, but I do have this horrible appetite for histrionics. I watch those reality TV shows sometimes, and I just can’t get enough of it. So, what is the story with the three of you?”

  “Fuck you,” said Logan.

  Cunningham looked at me. “Didn’t I tell you to call the dragon?”

  I was actually already dialing my phone, but I was doing it as slowly as I possibly could. He hadn’t specified how quickly I needed to do it.

  He rolled his eyes. “Faster. Think he’ll come over if you tell him you want to give him a blow job?”

  I went marginally faster. “Maybe,” I answered, which was truthfully as I could manage, apparently.

  “Stop,” said Logan.

  Cunningham giggled, delighted. “Does it bother you to think of her giving the dragon a blow job?” Cunningham turned back to me. “Have you given him a blow job?”

  “No,” I said in the quietest voice I could manage. If I had to answer these horrible questions, the least I could do was try to keep the volume down.

  Cunningham laughed again. “Have you given the gargoyle a blow job?”

  “Yes,” I said through clenched teeth.

  “I’m going to kill you, Cunningham,” said Logan. “And I’m going to do it slow. I’m going to make you suffer, you waste of air.”

  “Hmm…” Cunningham looked back and forth between Logan and me. “You went down on the gargoyle, but not the dragon, hmm? Did the dragon go down on you?”

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  Logan let out a little noise.

  “When was that?” Cunningham asked me.

  “Last night,” I said.

  “Speak up,” said Cunningham.

  “Last night,” I said in a louder voice.

  “Really?” Cunningham laughed.

  “Last night,” said Logan. “Before you called me or after? Is this what he was talking about?”

  I didn’t answer.

  “We’ve got to get the dragon over here now,” said Cunningham. “Have you finished dialing him yet?”

  I had. I put the phone to my ear.

  “Tell him that you can’t stop thinking about his tongue on your clit,” said Cunningham.

  No, I was not going to say that.

  “Clarke?” said Naelen. “Why are you calling me?”

  “I can’t stop thinking about your tongue on my clit,” I said woodenly.

  “What?” he said. “What’s wrong with your voice?”

  “Tell him to come to your room,” said Cunningham.

  “Come to my room,” I repeated.

  “Clarke, are you okay?”

  “Tell him you’re willing to return the favor,” said Cunningham. “Tell him you want to suck his big, hard cock.”

  I felt sick, but I repeated it. “I want to suck your big, hard cock.”

  “Clarke, what the hell?” said Naelen.

  And then the door burst open.

  Cunningham laughed. “That was fast.”

  “Cunningham,” growled Naelen. He reached out his hand.

  Oh, good. Naelen had the knife. Naelen was crazy powerful. Naelen could stop all of this.

  “Clarke,” said Cunningham, “take this.” He handed me a straight razor.

  Naelen froze. “What are you doing?”

  The razor was sharp. It glinted under the lights, winking at me.

  “Hold it to your neck, Clarke,” said Cunningham.

  I did. I couldn’t stop myself.

  Cunningham smiled at Naelen. “I can tell her to slash her own throat anytime I feel like it.”

  “Don’t,” said Naelen. “Don’t hurt her.”

  “Let her go,” said Logan.

  Cunningham was grinning from ear to ear. “Now, this is quite entertaining. So, are you sharing her, or is she just hopping into the sheets with the other one behind the other’s back?�
��

  “You made her say those things to me on the phone,” said Naelen. He looked at me, and then back at Cunningham, and then down at Logan.

  Logan struggled again. He moved one of the wardrobes an inch.

  Cunningham touched the wardrobe pile. Another appeared on top of Logan.

  Logan groaned.

  “What do you want?” said Naelen to Cunningham.

  “Oh, well, that’s fairly obvious,” said Cunningham. “I want the knife back. The one that you took from me. But we’ll get to that eventually. Let’s have some fun first.”

  “Naelen, don’t worry about me, you have the knife,” I said. “You can compel him.”

  “Shut up,” Cunningham snarled at me. “Cut yourself. Somewhere nonlethal. Don’t do it deep, but make it hurt. And don’t say anything else unless I ask you a question. ”

  I couldn’t help but comply. I slashed the razor over my thumb. Blood welled up.

  Logan yelled.

  Naelen let out a roar, accompanied by a bit of flame and smoke.

  “None of that,” snapped Cunningham. “I see any more fire, and she’s dead. And don’t think you can compel me before I compel her. You’re not fast enough. Do you want to risk her life?”

  The blood was running down my finger in rivulets. It hurt. I could feel tears forming in my eyes. They were as much from anger as from pain.

  I was pretty sure that Naelen could be faster than Cunningham, but I didn’t say anything else. I was afraid of Cunningham’s orders, what he might make me do. Instead, I just pleaded with Naelen with my gaze, trying to tell him to use his magic.

  “How about a trade?” said Naelen. “I can’t just give you the knife. What guarantee would I have that you wouldn’t compel all of us once you’ve got it?”

  “That’s not something you want to worry about,” said Cunningham. “Besides, I’m having fun making Clarke talk.”

  “Leave her alone,” said Naelen. “She’s with the gargoyle now. There’s nothing else to it.”

  “Clarke,” said Cunningham, “which one’s better in bed?”

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  He gave me a bemused smile. “You don’t know? Haven’t you slept with both of them?”

  I didn’t say anything.

  “Answer me,” he commanded. “Always answer when I ask.”

  “Yes,” I said sullenly.