Enflame (Insight #6)(9)

At first I thought that the flames in the fireplace were reflecting in his fierce glare, but as I stared, I saw that I was wrong. Though the base of his eyes were a deep gray, the centers were golden, near orange. His strong jawline clenched. He slanted his head ever so slightly, allowing a lock of his dark auburn hair to fall over his high cheekbones.

Though I looked calm, reserved, I was freaked. I couldn’t feel a single thing from him. No emotion, nor intent nor truth. The only thing I felt was his dominant, predatory energy. My fear exploded into thunder, rattling the house and causing the candles on Saige’s altar to extinguish.

Holding my gaze, with one slide of his boot he stepped closer to me. A force of energy held me in place as he raised his hand. His fingertips beckoned the air. At first I thought he was calling me closer, but when I saw the ash fly by me and into his waiting hand, I knew it was not me he was calling to him.

A sly smile came across his tantalizing image as one more slide of his boot brought him closer to me. Now only inches away, peering down at me as if I were his next meal, he clenched the fist with the ashes in them, then leaned forward.

“You tell Skylynn that if she toys with me again, I will rip her little shadowed soul into tiny pieces and feed it to the bloody devil’s hounds.”

I nodded my head in an attempt to jolt him back with my energy. Beyond another rumble from the heavens, nothing happened.

“I don’t know who Skylynn is, but you need to get out of my face before I rip you into shreds.”

At first his stare held, fierce and commanding, but then he burst into laughter as he stepped back and began to circle me.

“You? I should fear you?”

I couldn’t figure him out. He didn’t look any older than me, but the aged, regal power emanating from him told me he’d lived well beyond my lifetime.

“Give me a reason,” I dared as I backed away and began to match his circling stride with a waiting stare.

“Oh, my lady,” he moaned in a seductive whisper. “I could give you a thousand if I wanted to,” he winked, “but I decline.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I’ve never hurt a woman, and I’m not going to start now.” He smirked. “Besides, you’re terrified right now, trembling.”

“No. I’m not,” I seethed through gritted teeth. My dangerous expression was backed up by a fierce wind pounding the glass pane windows, but it was all an act. I was terrified.

“You need to find a new teacher. Saige has done a wretched job with you. Poorest excuse for a witch that I have ever seen.”

“I don’t know Saige. I’m not a witch.”

He stopped his circling and glanced at the altar, then to the iced hallway, before returning his gaze to me.

“Why do you have my ashes? Why did you call me here? Where is Skylynn?”

“I didn’t call you. I don’t know who your girl is. Leave.”

“I’m not leaving,” he whispered sarcastically with another wink. “I want the rest of my ashes.” His eyes traveled down my body once. “I want them now.”

Ash only made me think of one person: Donalt. I couldn’t feel this person, which led me to believe he was evil, too.

“In my life, ashes are victory. If you lost them, you deserved to.”

His stare found mine. “Victory,” he mused, almost to himself as his eyes drifted over my furious expression. As he began to circle again, I matched his turn. “They’re more than victory to me. I don’t care to be toyed with.”

“That we have in common. Now leave.”

“What is that look?”

“What look?” I snapped.

“Beyond the sickening fear you’re leaking all over me, I see that look in your eyes, the one that is painting me as evil.”

“Self-conscious? My stare speaks truth.”

“Does it?” His eyes raked over me once more. “You call me evil? Ironic...why are you here?”

“I’m trapped here.” I cringed as I said the words, knowing that was the last thing I should have said to him.

He glanced to the icy hallway, then back to me. “What did Saige tell you about me?”

“Nothing.”

“Truth,” he said to himself. “Then why do you see me as evil?”

“You’re blank.”

“Blank?”

“There is nothing there.”

A mischievous smile echoed on the corner of his lips. His eyes locked on mine. The fire I saw in them grew wilder, then he nodded his head ever so slightly. A sensation of warm energy began at the crown of my head, and like a slow rippling waterfall it eased down my body. When it reached my core I gasped as every muscle in my body flexed, then relaxed. I felt the quiver fall down my legs to the tips of my toes.

“Feel me now?” he asked in a sultry tone.

“Back away,” I gasped.

“I never touched you. Now tell me, why would you assume I was evil by not being able to feel me?”

“I never feel evil. They’re a void to me.”

A grin that would melt any soul slowly eased across his face. “That means we are one and the same. You can call it evil. I call it real.”

“What does that mean?”

He crossed his arms and let the tips of his long fingers slowly caress his bottom lip, studying me with those alluring eyes before he answered.