Pyromancist (39 page)

The white flames flared around Josselin.

Clelia cried out. “Please, I’ll hurt you,
I’ll let you have what you want, just let them go.”

“He won’t let us go,” Cain said. “You cannot
give him what he wants, no matter what he does to us. We’re a small
sacrifice in the greater scheme of things.”

The words rang like a distant echo in her
mind. Not so long ago she had believed herself to be the sacrifice
Josselin was willing to make for justice. She looked at him with
love and longing, seeing the flames slowly advancing toward him.
She knew with a clarity like never before that she couldn’t stand
by and watch Lupien destroy the man she loved. She’d rather
die.

Clelia pushed her body against the staircase
rail. The fire from the end of the corridor was approaching. Soon,
they would all be burned alive. She looked down over her shoulder.
It wasn’t a high fall to the bottom, but hitting the hard marble
floor headfirst would be fatal.

Josselin’s eyes widened. “No.” He lifted his
hand. “Clelia, I beg you.”

Cain had followed Josselin’s gaze.
“Josselin’s right. Taking your own life won’t help. You’ll just
play into Lupien’s hand anyway. Ending your life would be just the
same as taking that of another. You’ll give in to the darkness
inside of you.”

She shook her head. “No. Sacrifice is not the
same as murder.” She knew it instinctively, grasped a new kind of
natural law about her kind that had always been imbedded in her,
but that she had been blind to before.

She turned her head toward Lupien, feeling
strangely calm now. “Isn’t that so,
father
?” From the
worried look that flashed in his eyes, she saw her victory. “An eye
for an eye. It’s the law of our kind, the answer to salvation. My
life for my mother’s.”

“I’ll kill them all,” Lupien said. “I’ll kill
every fucking one you love.”

“If I’m dead without giving you my soul, my
gift will be lost. I won’t give the art you’ve imposed on me to
evil.” She knew Josselin wasn’t acting because of his concern for
her life. If she was out of the way... “And then Josselin will be
free to kill you, to rid the world of your darkness.”

The circle of flames around Josselin
narrowed. She saw the gun in Lupien’s hand move from Erwan to Cain.
She turned so that her tummy pushed against the rail, preparing her
body and mind for the inevitable, but then her gaze fell on the
dogs that sprinted through the door, four blurry lines of motion
that shot up the stairs.

“What the–” Lupien said, and then she heard a
shot being fired.

Clelia flung around. Before she had time to
take another breath, a deadly growl sounded in the open space and a
split-second later a white ball of fur launched through the air. It
took her a couple of seconds to find her bearings, and by the time
she did, Lupien’s body was flat on the floor with her dogs at his
throat. The gun had fallen from his hand, but still lay within
reach. She couldn’t move. She saw Snow going in for the kill,
aiming straight for the windpipe, but Lupien’s fist lifted and
collided with an inhumane blow on the animal’s jaw. Snow yelped.
Shaken from her frozen state, Clelia ran forward to get the gun,
but Lupien was faster. As he got hold of the weapon, she heard
Josselin, still trapped in the circular blaze, shout her name, but
it was Cain who was behind her now, grabbing her arms, holding her
back.

Blood ran down Lupien’s neck. Snow had broken
the skin. Chilling human screams cut through the air as the animals
tore and shook the body of the man on the floor. Snow, recovering
from the blow, jumped, his jaw locking around Lupien’s throat
again. The sound of fabric and flesh tearing mixed with growls and
a single gunshot filled the space. It rang loud and clear into the
air. Cloud, Thunder, and Rain were still ripping Lupien apart,
pieces of skin coming off his muscles while the white of bones
showed in his shin and hip. Snow had fallen with a thump to the
side.

Clelia fought the blackness and the nausea.
She looked around frantically, her mind refusing to process the
visual data. Erwan sat motionless in the chair he was tied to. Cain
stood very still. The white flames had died around Josselin.

She watched as if in a dream, a very bad
nightmare, while Josselin unstrapped the holster, dropped it to the
floor and ripped his shirt from his body. He rushed to her, pulling
his shirt over her head to cover her, stroking her hair. Her gaze
went back to Lupien’s bloody body. Snow?

“Don’t look, angel,” Josselin said. He cupped
her head and pushed her face against his chest. “It’s all right
now.”

“Snow?” she said, staring up at Josselin.

He only shook his head. “Let’s get you away
from here.” He looked over his shoulder, “Cain, can you get
Erwan?”

Cain nodded. The dogs had finally let go of
the body on the floor. They huddled around Snow, Thunder licking
his white fur where it was stained red.

“Come.” Josselin tugged at her hand, but
Clelia pulled back.

“Snow,” she whispered.

Josselin let go of her to lift the animal’s
limp body into his arms. Cain had cut Erwan loose, and he was on
his feet. It was Cain who took Clelia’s elbow to lead her down the
stairs.

Once outside, Clelia started trembling. She
couldn’t think or move. She stood rooted to the spot, staring at
Snow’s body, his head hanging over Josselin’s arm. An anger bigger
than any she’d ever felt spread through her cold and lifeless body.
Not having to restrain her emotions any longer, she allowed it to
erupt, to burn through her like a white-hot flame. All she wanted
was for the heat to scorch away the memory of the evil she had
witnessed, the shame she felt at being connected to the man who had
called himself her father. In the same instant that she allowed her
emotions to run freely, a terrifying explosion shook the house. The
shutters shot inward like dimples in a cheek. A second later,
orange fingers reached through them. Roof tiles were sucked into
the core of the house before they projected like fireworks into the
air. The inferno was visible through every crevice. Josselin’s
house had gone up in flames.

Clelia looked around for Josselin in a panic.
When her eyes found him, standing on the garden path with Snow in
his arms, she saw the shock on his face as he stared at the
stonewalls turning to ash in the blaze. She shook from the
knowledge of what she had done. Would he despise her now? Would he
hate her for letting her dark side out?

“I’m sorry,” she said, starting to shake more
violently. It felt as if her body weren’t hers to control. “I
didn’t mean to.”

Her teeth chattered despite the increasing
heat that spread through her. Her organs were on fire.

Josselin left Snow on the grass and rushed to
her side. “Clelia.” He seemed strangely concerned. “Look at me.
Focus on me.”

Why was he looking at her like that? Her gaze
moved to Erwan, who reached for her.

“Do something, Cain,” Josselin said.

“What’s wrong with her?” Erwan’s voice
shook.

“It’s the shock,” Cain said. “She just blew
up your house, Josselin.” His voice was filled with wonder.

“I don’t give a fuck about the house,”
Josselin said. “Help her. She’s going to combust herself.”

Cain chuckled. “No, she won’t. She’s just
exercised an immensely powerful act. It’ll take a while for her
body to stabilize.” He smiled. “I’ve never seen anything like this.
Instead of blowing outward, the house imploded. We didn’t even feel
the force of the blow. The energy of the explosion projected to the
center instead of away from it. Truly amazing. This is totally
against the laws of nature.”

Her head was spinning. She heard their voices
but all she could feel was the heat inside her mind, the flames
that burned and cleaned.

“Cain, stop fucking delivering a scientific
speech,” Josselin said. “We’ll have time for this later.”

Fighting the urge to give in to the
blackness, she pushed forward, trying to get to Snow, to Josselin,
to Erwan, but Cain’s hands held her still.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and then the heat
inside her body and mind turned to ice.

Chapter
Twenty-Five

Clelia woke up in their bed in the castle.
Her head was aching and her tongue felt like sandpaper. When the
last event etched into her memory came back to her like a film clip
exploding in her mind, she shot up.

“You’re awake,” Josselin said, as if it
amazed him.

She blinked at him and took in his naked
body. Looking down, she saw that she wasn’t wearing clothes
either.

Following her gaze, he said, “I had to wash
his stench from both of us.” He reached for a glass of water on the
bedside table and handed it to her with two pills. “Aspirin. Sorry
that you feel like this. I had to give you a tranquilizer.”

Clelia frowned. “You stabbed me with a needle
again? Why don’t I remember it?”

He brushed the hair from her face, looking
concerned. “Actually, it was Cain who
stabbed
you. Your body
had gone into shock. I couldn’t calm you. Your teeth were rattling
so severely that you were biting yourself. The insides of your
cheeks were bleeding.”

She looked around and noticed it was dark
outside. “How long have I been out for?”

“Only a couple of hours. It wasn’t a strong
dose. How are you feeling?”

She was feeling amazingly well, which
probably wasn’t a good sign. It meant that she was either dreaming,
or there was something wrong with her. Surely, it couldn’t be
normal.

“I’m fine. Where’s Erwan? Cain?”

“They’re both fine. Erwan is staying here. I
had a room prepared for him. He’s resting. Cain is waiting in the
dining room.” Josselin’s expression turned dark. “He wants to speak
to us before he goes.”

“What about?” Clelia said, even if she had a
pretty good idea. When Josselin didn’t answer, she said, “He’s
upset about what you did, isn’t he? He’s angry that you saved me
instead of killing me, like you were supposed to. What do you think
will happen?”

Josselin pulled his hand through his hair. “I
don’t know. He may ask me to quit the force.”

Clelia’s eyes widened. “Oh, Josselin, I’m so
sorry.”

He pulled her to him. “Don’t say something so
silly. Ever. Don’t be sorry for me loving you.”

She wrapped her arms around him. “Lupien?”
she said with a trembling voice.

“Ashes. Couldn’t even find his remains in the
debris. Even the rocks in the walls exploded.” He caressed her
cheek. “If it weren’t for your dogs...”

She pushed away from him. “Snow? He shot
Snow, didn’t he?”

“Yes, but he’ll make it. It’s only a flesh
wound. Cain took him to the vet. He’ll stay there for a couple of
days until he’s recovered enough to come home. We’ll go see him
later.”

“How did they find us?”

Josselin sighed. “God knows, but I thank God
every second of being alive that they did. Siril said they came
sniffing around the castle, cornered him inside, and then took off.
They must have followed your trail.”

She moved her hands over his arms. “He didn’t
hurt you, did he?”

“No.” He shook his head slowly. “But he would
have destroyed me if he had managed to take the one thing in the
world that gives me a reason to live, to breathe.” His arms folded
around her. “I thought for a minute that I’d lost you, that he
would kill you.”

She lifted her head and kissed him. “It’s all
right, Josselin. I’m here now. He’s gone.”

His eyes darkened. “Do that again.”

“Do what again?”

“Kiss me,” he said with a thick voice. “Kiss
me like it’s our last night together.”

Clelia wrapped her arms around his neck and
pulled him close. She opened her lips and took his tongue, sucking
lightly, giving him all the warmth and assurance she was capable
of. She could sense his fear, the anxiety he had suffered at the
thought of losing her, and she understood it. She could never go on
without him, not now that they had found each other in so many
ways.

He pushed her down until his body covered
hers, his hair falling around her face. She felt desperation in his
kiss, as if he needed to be reminded that they were both alive. He
cupped her face in his hands, nipping and sucking at her lips
gently until the entry he sought with his tongue became more
urgent. His hands smoothed over her shoulders and her arms, seeking
her breasts. He pinched and rolled her nipples until they puckered
and throbbed with a sensation that repeated in her clit. His tongue
tickled her ears and her throat, staking claims on her skin as he
sucked it into his mouth until he found her nipples. Clelia moaned
as he took first the one and then the other into his mouth while
his fingers found her wet curls. Without further foreplay, he
pushed two fingers inside her. Her vagina immediately clenched
around the sudden intrusion.

“I can’t wait, Clelia. I came so close to
losing you today.”

“Then take me,” she whispered.

He started moving his fingers, slipping them
out slowly and sliding them in fast, in a rhythm that soon had her
humming in ecstasy. He moved down, taking her clit into his mouth,
his tongue joining his fingers to drive her into a frenzy of need.
It didn’t take long for her orgasm to start building. She kept her
eyes open for him so that he could see the wave that was about to
consume her with pleasure. He slowed his pace a fraction, drawing
out the climbing sensation until she heard herself whimper and
beg.

“Please, Josselin.”

Only then did he give her what she wanted. He
sucked her clit hard while pumping his fingers in and out of her
slick channel. She came around his fingers slow and hard, a wave
that rode her mercilessly until she thought she couldn’t take more.
Only when the last spasm had calmed, did he pull his fingers out
and bring them to her lips.