Ember Ch. 05

"I, for one, am not going to tolerate his selfish, serve me as a slave and like it attitude anymore, and none of you should either!" She threw her head back and shouted, "Do you hear me, you arrogant, insecure, childish asshole?"

She let all her emotions flow down the bond to him. Stryx stared at her, eyes wide.

"You've probably gone your whole life using people and throwing them away like trash, well, that's over now. So proud of your conquests, huh? How you left every woman behind when you were done with her? Well, don't feel so smug, because they were probably all glad to see you gone, and if they weren't, it's just because they didn't know how lucky they were to be rid of you."

Stryx flinched as if she'd punched him. He could feel the truth she was speaking through the bond.

"Your dick doesn't do anything for me that I can't do with the tip of one finger," she spat at him.

"My Dragă—"

"Shut up!" she screamed at him, throwing a hand up. She needed him to be quiet as tried to rein herself in. It was like she wasn't in control anymore. Her rage was powering something inside her and it was powerful. "You don't get to call me that! In fact, you know what? Feel that bond you just created thinking it would make me obey you?"

Stryx nodded, looking smug.

Ember closed it. "You don't feel it now, do you?" she demanded. "I will not be bound to someone like you. You disgust me. Apologize to Ciaran for beating him half to death for helping me, for doing the right goddamn thing and NOT helping to keep me prisoner as a sex slave to you."

Stryx remained stubbornly silent.

"Do it!" Ember raged. He was still silent. "Oh, are you worried about losing face in front of your little soldiers? You're a coward." She let all her anger and disgust flow to him through the bond. She actively shoved it at him, and saw when it hit him.

Stryx started to speak, but Ember wasn't done. "I said for you to SHUT UP! If you can't apologize for beating a man half to death because YOU were being an asshole and he wasn't, I don't want to hear anything you have to say. Are you going to apologize?" She waited. "I didn't think so. Just hang there until you will."

She turned back to Ciaran. "Take my blood to heal injuries caused to you as a result of you helping me." She glared at Stryx before she turned back to Ciaran. "If Stryx so much as thinks about hurting you in any way, or having someone else hurt you for him, ever again, I will hide my blood scent and this bond and leave him. Forever." She glared at Stryx again. "Is that understood? Can you feel every word I'm saying is irrevocable and true?"

Stryx nodded.

"Is it clear to all of you that no one is to hurt Ciaran, even if your asshole boss orders it?" She ran her gaze over the assembly of still gaping vampires in the kitchen. They all nodded.

Ember faced Ciaran. "Please, take what you need to heal." She held out her wrist. "Don't make me force you. I think you know I could now. Let me help you."

Ciaran very gently took her wrist in his hands and brought it to his lips. He closed his eyes, and gently sank his fangs into her skin. He used a little venom so it didn't hurt, but his venom wasn't anything like Stryx's. She didn't feel a rush or like jumping Ciaran's bones, just numb where his fangs cut into her.

He didn't drink very much, or for very long, but watching him, Ember saw his swollen eyes and bruised skin return to normal, and he sat up straighter when his ribs stopped hurting.

Ciaran licked over the bite in her wrist to seal the wound, and rested his head against her hand. "Thank you."

"You never have to thank me for doing what's right."

Ember felt rage coming from Stryx. Some of it was directed at her for embarrassing him in front of everyone, but most of it was directed at Ciaran for daring to drink her blood, and in front of him. She belonged to him and him alone!

Ember sighed. She let him feel all her disappointment and sadness, and let those remain the last things he would feel from her as she shut down the link completely. Stryx gasped, but she ignored him.

Taking Ciaran's hand she concentrated on Selene's room and disappeared them from the kitchen.

**********

Idris gave a startled yell, and leapt to his feet as they appeared in Selene's tower. He rushed at her, and Ember, out of instinct, flung up a hand at him. Idris flew back across the room and crashed into a wall, then slid to the floor and lay still.

Selene's laughter had her spinning around.

"Oh, god," Ember said. She moved towards Idris to check on him. What if she'd killed him?

"He is fine, Ember, my Soră," Selene assured her. "You will learn control of your powers, and the vampires will learn to behave."

"But I didn't mean to hurt him," Ember said.

"He has taken worse blows than that one," Selene said. "He will be fine in a moment or two."

Ciaran held up his hands, but there was a grin on his face. "That's two vampires you've put into walls since you turned strygoi. I want it stated for the record that I'm only half vampire."

Ember gave him a small smile and her gaze fell to her sister, laying so still. Musette would think her throwing vampires into walls was hilarious. The sadness she felt looking at her sister so quiet and opposite of her vivacious twin, drained away the rage she felt towards Stryx.

Her strygoi side slipped away and she became aware she was naked. She'd been naked since she left Stryx's bedroom, but it hadn't seemed to matter then. Before she had more than a moment to be embarrassed, a robe was draped over her shoulders. She looked up into Ciaran's face. "Seems like you're always trying to dress and feed me."

He grinned at her. "Just don't expect me to feed you after midnight."

"Musette?"

"She sleeps very deeply," Selene said.

"I saw her. I found her like I found Stryx. She said the mage that took her made her drink something over and over again. It made her pass out, but they forced her to drink more. She heard them say something about separating her magic. I couldn't bring her back though. She couldn't follow me."

"I don't know what the mages gave to her, but I cannot reach her. I had thought Idris might be able to, but he hasn't been able to yet."

"Why would he be able to—" Ember broke off as she answered her own question. "So, it's as I thought."

"She is my Dragă," Idris said from his place on the floor.

Ember whirled on him, her eyes furious.

Idris held up his hands. "I knew you wouldn't be happy about that after the way Stryx has treated you, that's why I stayed on the floor when I said it." He said the last part as a half-hearted joke but Ember didn't hear it.

"I wanted her to be free," Ember said, sitting on the bed by her sister. She took her hand and held it. "I didn't want this for you."

Idris had a pained look on his face. "If I get up, will you not throw me across the room anymore?"

"Of course," Ember said. "I'm sorry. You startled me."

"I thought for a moment there was danger. I didn't recognize you, with you strygoi-ed out." He got up and crossed the room to kneel in front of her. "I have sworn to devote myself to her while she sleeps. I will do anything, anything in my power to find a way to wake her. And when she wakes, if she does not want to be with me, I will not force her. I will not mistreat her."

"No, you won't," Ember said it, eyes flashing a bright silver.

"If I hurt her, I will not fight whatever you do to me."

"Did you reach her?" Ember asked.

"I can feel her, but I can't find her. She calls to me, but her voice echos. I don't know where she is yet, only that she is somewhere. I will keep trying. I think sometimes she can hear me."

"She's calling you to her like I called Stryx." Ember noticed for the first time the lines of stress and exhaustion in his face. "You should go shower and rest."

Idris looked down at himself. "I just don't want to leave her alone."

"She's not alone," Selene said. "We are with her, and I told you to go take a shower ages ago."

Idris was reluctant to leave and stopped at the door. "I'll come right back."

"She's fine with me here," Ember said.

Idris looked like he wanted to argue but settled on saying, "Please, let me come back. I will swear on whatever you want I only mean to help."

Ember closed her eyes. Idris was not Stryx. Idris was not Stryx.

Taking her closed eyes as a sign he was not welcome Idris sighed and turned to leave.

"Idris," Ember's voice stopped him and he turned to her. "You just proved you're not like him by not trying to bully me into accepting you. But just you and Ciaran, Selene and me. No one else is to come near her. I don't care if Stryx orders you to let him. He is not to come anywhere near her."

"Are you making that demand of me as strygoi?" Idris asked.

"Do I have to?" Ember looked back and forth between Idris and Selene.

"It cuts Stryx out of the loop if you do," Selene said. "He has no power over a strygoi, as you will no doubt teach him. If you command this of Idris he cannot disobey you, even if Stryx orders it."

"But we're not bonded," Ember said.

"He can swear to obey you on his blood," Selene said. "It's a sort of one time bond. You don't have to do with him what Stryx did with you."

"Okay," Ember said. "As a strygoi, I order you to protect Musette. Keep her safe no matter what."

Idris drew a small folding knife from his pocket and made a cut on his palm. He held up his bleeding hand. "I swear on my blood to obey in word and in spirit you until you release me."

Ember felt a jolt as a little of Idris' blood flew across the room and landed on her arm. The truth of his words as he made his vow were tangible on her skin. She looked up, but Idris was already out the door. She looked at Selene, who was looking thoughtful. "What did he just do?"

"He has just sworn to obey you in absolutely everything you tell him to do until you tell him he no longer has to."

"So he's my puppet now? I didn't want that. I just want to keep Stryx away from Musette," Ember protested.

"He freely made the vow, you didn't ask for it. He's offered you the strings, but he's only your puppet if you pull them."

"But why would he do that?"

"He's made it so Stryx cannot find a way around what you tell him to do," Selene explained. "For instance, you didn't tell him how long to keep Stryx out of the room. So Stryx could argue if Idris kept him out for a day, or even an hour, he'd done what you said. And you didn't say how far from Musette he had to keep Stryx, so Stryx could say an inch was far enough away. Idris has removed all those possibilities because he swore to obey you in the spirit of what you said as well as in word. He's free to interpret the distance involved in 'keeping Stryx away from Musette' as one inch, or one mile."

"He really does care for her, doesn't he?" Ember asked.

"Yes," Selene said simply. "He will do anything for her, and now he has the freedom to do anything to protect Musette, whether Stryx wants him to or not."

"I can't imagine that's going to go over well with Stryx," Ember said wryly.

"Does it matter?" Selene shrugged. "Stryx has brought what he's going to go through on himself. Do not trouble yourself." Selene got up and sat on the bed with Ember and Musette. "Now, let's teach you what you can do with your new powers. My favorite is vanishing."