98 | BURNING TIME

Horror and fear only amplify my weird vamp-power. The worse I feel, the more the tugging sensation grows, until the telltale prickle of my scalp begins…and I know I’m in deep shit. But no matter how much I try, I can’t seem to calm my racing heart or try to convince myself that this isn’t as bad as it seems. Probably because it is. Already, the spot were Nikki had touched me has began to heat and itch.

Normally, I’d release the chords when I wanted time to resume, but nothing’s happening now. I’ve got nothing in my hands, and the jellyfish-like effect only seems to be growing as each of the thick fibers sting against my skin. I have to fight against the sharp pain, fight to stay absolutely still and nor jerk back in response. I have a feeling that, if I more too fast in here, I’ll only make things worse.

Sweat begins dripping from my forehead as I concentrate, shoving down my emotions, even as the vamp-chill fights to the surface. The usual cold calculation of that side drapes over my crazed brain and I feel my jaws start to ache. I clench my hands at my side, even as the prickling on my scalp continues, going from uncomfortable to painful in a matter of seconds.

*I need to go back*. I think to myself, focusing on that goal and channeling whatever power I have surging in me to that end. *I have to get back.*

My lungs start to burn, throat tightening, as my fangs drop into place. I ignore the bulky feel of them, and continue repeating the words in my head, willing them to spark something. Anything.

The universe ignores my mental mantra and pleading. The hot ropes make hissing sounds as they make contact with my skin, leaving bubbling flesh in place of the previous sun-burn-like lashes. It’s getting harder to ignore them as I keep trying to will my way out of here. I try drawing on my Wolven strength, but there’s only the usual vamp-chill in my bones, not a trace of my animal at the moment.

I’m naked right now, and I’m pretty sure I’m now covered in red welts, but any second now, the heat from the chords will go from stinging to burning. My body won’t last long after that. Somehow, my shifter-healing doesn’t work so well against these kinds of wounds. Basically, if one of these chords goes supernova, the way they seem to be heading, I’m toast. Probably literally.

My body’s trembling with effort, all muscles tensed against the feel of the hiss of the ropes around me. I feel a little pulse of power slowly rising in me as I continue to wish to leave, repeating my mental mantra over and over until that little thread of power in me slowly starts to grow, and I finally recognize it.

I balk away from the vamp-power trying to rage within me, but it’s too late to shove it back into the recesses of my bones. The pull in my body intensifies and fresh pain dances along my scalp before I can try and stop it. Nikki’s seal flares on my forehead, adding to the sharp agony already bursting along my nerve endings. The coldness in me rises against the burning feel of the now thrashing chords around me and I shut my eyes against my knee-jerk reaction to jump back.

Two, three, then four strikes later- and something changes. Just as I resign myself to grab onto one of the chords, to give something a try so I can escape from this fresh hell, everything calms.

The chords go back into the lazy drifting pace they’d been in before, humming softly instead of blazing and shuddering. I peek through my eyelids and see a cloaked figure only a few inches away from me. But I’m not afraid, because I recognize this figure. Relief floods me as the woman in white reaches out to lightly tap a finger to my forehead, and time slams back to it’s usual pace.

Nikki keeps her hood up, not allowing me to see her face, and finger pressed to my skin until time resumes. I gasp, my knees buckling and whole body smacking into the ground. Heat’s rising from my skin, thicker coils of steam curling over me as I lay there, dragging in lungful after lungful of air. The bathroom door bursts open, and I hear Blue’s voice over the pounding of my heart in my ears and Nikki’s soothing tones, but I just can’t focus on them.

I blink a few times, reassuring myself that I’m not in the same shape as the last time I messed with time, but the rest of me doesn’t respond as I try to get off the tiled floor. A towel drapes over me, making my body seize up as the cotton material presses into the places where the chords burned me. I hear Blue growl out curses as he gingerly pulls me off the bathroom floor and takes me into the bedroom.

My head’s spinning, but I keep my eyes open, as the fuzziness recedes from my vision and my lungs to screaming. Thirst bubbles to the surface as my body fights to heal itself from it’s latest injuries, and the too-fast beat of my mate’s heart only makes the thirst grow. I’m relieved I can’t move, can’t try and tear into Blue’s throat at the moment, even if I’m suffering at the moment.

Blue lays me on the bed, pulling a sheet up over me before disappearing from my line of sight. I breathe steadily, closing my eyes to concentrate on the feel of the soft mattress beneath me rather than the feel of the sheets against my burns. Something cold presses to my lips, a tube where thick, cool liquid spills from. I swallow the blood automatically as Blue and Nikki talk to each other, their voices steadily rising over the sound of my heart and making me flinch.

At least they stepped back into the kitchen to yell at each other. Though I’m still having a hard time calling on my wolf to enhance my hearing and clarify their muffled voices, I’m slowly regaining strength as the blood does it’s thing. I finish the blood bag quickly and push the empty plastic away from my mouth, hissing in pain as I stretch the skin on my back. My guts churn with acid, but my stomach groans with conflicting hunger. I ignore both as I continue to breathe, feeling the wounds on my body pulsing in time with my heart and focusing on that.

“-**We need answers**!” Blue’s voices booms in the next room. I wince, feeling the Alpha power in my mates words from here, even though they’re not directed at me. I listen carefully for Nikki’s response, but there’s only a long silences before the two return to my bedroom. Blue’s got fire in his eyes, silvery-grey irises glowing with his barely restrained wolf as he comes over to me. Nikki is a little paler than usual, her hood down, and amber eyes sunken into face.

I push myself up from the bed, keeping one hand around the blanket wrapped around me. No need to flash the Ancient. My muscles scream with fatigue as I move, but I’m eventually able to sit up. Staying in that position, however, is too hard, but before I can fall back into the bed, Blue takes a seat so I lean into him and stay upright.

He’s careful not to touch me, knowing I’m covered in long lashes from the chords. I can feel the skin around the blistered portion of the wounds threatening to split and open, so I’m grateful Blue doesn’t try to disturb me. My stomach continues it’s tirade, flipping from starving to nauseous every few seconds.

“I explained to you before,” Nikki starts slowly after she makes a chair materialize behind her. She sits, dropping into it with obvious exhaustion, and looks at me calmly. “The your ability was something I had seen before. That the name of the ability had been lost to time.” I nod when she pauses, recalling one of our first conversations had briefly touch on the vamp-power. She hadn’t wanted to get into what the power was at the time, more pressing things to worry about and focus on at the time. “What I didn’t mention, was that I had first-hand experience with it.” Nikki explains.

“You’re a vampire?” Blue asks suspiciously, frowning at the Ancient.

“Not anymore.” Nikki admits on a sigh, her eyes dropping to where I’d pushes the blood bag. Her eyes flash a familiar, nuclear-green, before the amber shade returns. “Not for many centuries.” Nikki lets out another sigh, this one deeper than the last. “We become something above race and species when one takes up the mantle of Ancient and Death.” She explains, then waves away her words as my curiosity rises. “My point is, I know how the power works, how it affects the host.”

“You make sound like a parasite…” I rasp out softly. My throat still sore from thirst and fatigue.

“The power works in a way similar to a parasite.” Nikki replies, shocking the shit out of me with her wary tone as her eyes search mine. Beside me, Blue stiffens, protectiveness and fear flickering through the bond before he can smother them. I try to mentally soothe him, but I still feel too fatigued to make the mental-caress as reassuring as it should be. “It feeds on the most powerful force in the universe to bend time and space, though the price for more than a few moments becomes exponentially high.” She adds softly, though her voice is still clear.

“Most powerful force being what? Vampires?” Blue asks, again with a tone of suspicion. We both know there’re are thing more powerful than vamps out there.

“No,” Nikki tells Blue, her eyes flicking from me to him, then back. Settling her eyes on mine meaningfully, she says what I’ve been terrified was true. “Your soul.”