Chapter 18
Scarlet stared at Corazon’s face, studying the fine lines beside his eyes and the creases at the corners of his lips. He looked so peaceful as he lay beside her, lost in a deep sleep. She didn’t dare move in case she woke him.
In case she broke this sweet illusion.
Was he really here or had she lost her mind?
She wanted to believe that he was real, that all of this was real. She was alive and back at the garrison, and it was her Captain Corazon who had rescued her from the very brink of death.
She hazily remembered Troy being with him during the rescue. Were they really all alive?
She didn’t dare take her eyes from his face as she wanted to. She didn’t need to see the wounds to know they were there on her. She could feel them all. If she was dead, she wouldn’t have these wounds anymore. It wasn’t her spirit that had been injured. It was her body.
Physical wounds weren’t carried into the afterlife.
She raised a hand, ignoring the way her whole arm ached as she forced it to move. Her fingertips brushed his cheek, tracing the lines, and she slowly worked her way upwards towards his hair. It was longer now, messy, as though he’d forgotten to have it cut for months. If he was dead, along with her, he wouldn’t look so rough and worry-worn. He would look as she always remembered him—clean shaven, neat and noble.
She smiled as her thumb caressed his lower lip and his face twitched. Her gaze followed her hand as she lowered it to his chest. There were numerous cuts on it, pinkish scars that spoke of trials similar to her own. Had someone tortured him too?
He groaned and she removed her hand.
“Mmm, don’t take it away,” he said and she jumped when he caught her hand and pressed it against his chest. “It feels comforting.”
She continued to stroke his skin, her fingers following the shape of his muscles as he lay on his side. She wasn’t scared to do this anymore, to caress him. It seemed so natural to touch him and have him touching her.
“I’m really here, before you ask,” he said and his eyes opened. Tears threatened to fill hers as they met his. She held them back though, tired of crying.
She knew it was him now.
She believed this was reality and they weren’t dead.
The fact that there were two medics standing watching her had helped her finally believe it. If this was her afterlife, she wouldn’t need them.
She looked at them.
“How are you feeling?” they said in unison.
“Bloody—” Corazon jumped, almost falling off the bed as he tried to get himself into order.
Scarlet giggled quietly and held his arm, stopping him from hitting the floor. He cleared his throat and sat up. She had to admit that she had been so lost in being with him that she hadn’t noticed the medics at first. She had expected him to be a little more alert than her though.
“Hungry,” she said with a glance at Corazon’s neck.
The marks there told her that she hadn’t dreamed that part either.
She had bitten him.
He got to his feet, busying himself as he grabbed a fresh shirt and acted as though nothing out of the ordinary had been happening. It was strange to see him so flustered. She didn’t care one iota that the medics had seen them sleeping together. It wasn’t as though they were nude, or there had been any chance that they had done anything other than sleep in each other’s arms.
“We will get you some new blood.” The female medic bowed slightly and they both left.
She looked at Corazon, watching his hands and then his face as he buttoned his shirt.
“You fed me,” she said, her eyes drifting to his neck again.
He stopped what he was doing and looked at her. “I did.”
She rolled her eyes closed at the memory of it. It made her head swim with pleasure that drove away the lingering pain in her body. “You have such strong blood.”
She heard him move over to her and the bed beside her depressed. Her eyes opened and locked with his.
“I do?” he said. “And how did it taste?”
She sighed. “Like ambrosia.”
“Would you like another taste?”
She searched his eyes to see if he was being serious. He looked as serious as always.
“When I’m strong again. Blood for blood,” she said and the corner of his lips tilted into a half smile.
He looked at her a little longer and then left her side again, walking over to his desk and sitting down. She watched him in silence as he opened a draw and took out several sheets of parchment. He sharpened the nib of his pen and began writing, his face a mask of concentration.
“What are you writing?” she said, rolling onto her side with some effort.
She still felt weak and tired, but she didn’t want to sleep. She wanted to drink her fill of Corazon and the fact that she was in his bed and that when she had awoken, she had been in his arms.
“My report,” Corazon said and glanced at her. “Before she left, General Violet instructed me to write down everything that has happened and send it to her.”
He looked so handsome sitting there at his desk, his head bent and his focus on writing. His dark hair fell forwards, but wasn’t long enough to hide his eyes from her. Her own traced his profile and lingered on the nick in his ear and the scar on his cheek before moving lower. His lips parted as he frowned. Her gaze wandered lower, to the open collar of his white shirt.
“What does it say?” She was curious to know what had happened and how he had come to be alive when everyone had believed him long dead.
He paused at his work and stared at it, as though he was thinking hard. Didn’t he want to tell her? She watched him, waiting to see if he would speak or start writing again. It was none of her business what he was writing in his report, but she had to ask. Since waking and seeing the scars on his body, she had grown more curious about his disappearance and the fact he had come back from death.
“You should be resting,” the female medic said as she returned with a tall canister of blood. She placed it carefully on the desk and then looked at Corazon. “As should you, Captain Corazon.”
He nodded and then waved the medic away.
Scarlet frowned at him. He didn’t look as though he needed more rest. He looked exactly as she remembered him, except the longer hair and new scars.
“What happened to you?” she whispered, trying to figure it out for herself as she looked at him.
Corazon turned to face her in the chair and then stood abruptly. He paced to the small window and stared out of it for a moment, his hands clasped behind his back, before he walked over to her. She thought he was going to sit on the bed but he just stood and looked down at her.
“What is it?” she said and then remembered herself. “I mean... what is the matter, Captain?”
Another smile tugged at his lips and she wondered just when they had been set free. She had never seen him smile so much. It unnerved her in a way, but pleased her in others. Clearly, he had been worried about her, and his behaviour towards her revealed his relief. He was happy to have her back and recovering. She was happy to have him back too.
“Are you up for a story, Corporal Scarlet?” he said.
She glared at him for reverting back to calling her by formal names. He gave her a look that said it was her own fault for calling him captain.
He walked away and picked up the canister on his desk and grabbed his chair. He dragged his chair towards her and set it beside the bed. Sitting down, he held the canister out to her.
“You can hear my story when you have drunk all of this.”
She swallowed and stared at the canister. She wasn’t really sure if she could stomach that much blood, but she wanted to hear about what had happened to him, so she took it and removed the stopper.
The sweet metallic scent made her stomach rumble.
“It’s fresh,” she said, a little stunned.
“I have had parties hunting each night since I brought you back.” He motioned for her to drink and she did.
She slowly drank all of the blood while thinking about what he had said. It warmed her to hear that he had been so concerned about her that he’d had hunting parties out every night. It must have broken many of the rules laid down by the generals. They were normally restricted to one hunting party a week.
When she reached the bottom of the canister, she sighed and leaned back into the pillows. She felt stuffed. It hurt to move. She winced and closed her eyes for a moment, too fatigued to do anything but wait for the blood to start replenishing her system. The canister disappeared from her hands and she sighed again.
“Better?” he said.
She nodded, her eyes still closed, and smiled.
“Much,” she said and made a low noise of appreciation in her throat when his fingers brushed her cheek.
“You are looking better.” His voice was low, a bare whisper that made her open her eyes to look at him.
There was so much pain in his dark eyes.
“What is it?” she said, raising her hand and placing it over his, making him cup her cheek. She curled her fingers around his and held his hand.
“I am sorry for everything that I put you through, Scarlet,” he whispered. “I tried hard to escape as soon as I was caught, but as time drew on, I became weak and it was impossible to break the bonds that held me.”
“Who had you?” she said, her voice catching as her emotions tightened her throat. “Was it the humans?”
He shook his head.
“Not the humans?” she said with frown. “Who else could it be?”
He paused, his look turning grim and his eyes darkening with hatred. It reminded her of that night in the woods when he had lost control. There was so much anger in it.
“The vampires,” he said in a voice laced with something she couldn’t define. It sounded like anger, but there was pain there too, and some subtle hint of disbelief.
“From this territory?” She shuffled into a more comfortable position. He looked at her, his dark gaze making her feel warm inside. It carried more than anger now. There was a trace of desire and heat in it.
She glanced down at the cotton smock she was wearing. It was hardly alluring and she knew that her face carried scars from her torture. She couldn’t understand what was stirring those feelings in his eyes and it was strange to see them. She had witnessed hunger in them before when he’d looked at her, but when it was coupled with his recent change in air and behaviour, she was left confused and wondering whether she really had died and her version of hell didn’t quite know her captain as well as she did and was creating him wrongly.
“They were not from this territory. I was taken a great distance away. I fear they may have killed me outright had they not been watching us and had recognised the insignia of a captain.”
She frowned at the bed and then raised her eyes to meet his again. The desire was gone, replaced with his usual graven expression.
She reached across and placed her hand over his where it rested on his knee. Hope that it would comfort him filled her and she wished that she could do more to reassure him that everything was all right now, but she didn’t know all the details. For all she knew, the other vampires may be coming after him. He could still be in danger.
They could all be in danger.
“What did they want with you?” she said.
He laughed, a dry bitter sound that made her cringe to hear it.
“Nothing at first. They held me in shackles and tortured me for three nights without speaking once. When I was on the verge of breaking, they sent a new person down, a captain of theirs. She was darker than any I’ve met. She waited with infinite patience and no explanation until I was healing, and then she began her own vicious form of torture. She asked about the garrisons and our companies. She asked about our humans.” He paused and drew a long breath. His eyes cast down to rest on her hand where it held his. He placed his other one over it. “You were the only thing that kept me silent. I had to be strong and get back to you, Scarlet. I could not tell them anything. If I had, I am sure they would have killed me.”
“But you were gone for so long,” she said and went to move closer to him but her stomach ached and her cuts felt as though they were being stretched beyond what they could bear.
He pressed his hand into her shoulder and gently pushed her back against the pillow.
“Rest, Scarlet. The medics would murder me if you reopened those wounds.”
Scarlet swallowed the pain and closed her eyes for a few seconds until she was in control again and the hurt had ebbed away. When she opened them again, Corazon had moved closer. She thanked him with a small smile and it widened when he took hold of her hand. She liked the contact between them. She had thought about what it would be like to hold his hand so many times in the past and it seemed a little surreal for it to be actually happening. His grip was strong, but gentle at the same time. It spoke of possession and protection, and of love.
“The fortress they took me to was ten days carriage ride south of the fifth garrison. It was into the hills and valleys and surely must have brought me close to the desert.” He checked the canister and looked pleased that she had drunk it all but she got the impression that he had done it out of the need to do something with his hands in order to distract him from his thoughts for a moment.
“Did they hurt you badly?” she said with a glance to his chest. She had seen the marks on it.
“Nowhere near as badly as you were tortured. They wanted information but it was I who got it from them. They have eradicated their humans and have taken absolute control of their territory. With no one else to kill, they have come to realise something that myself, the other captains and the generals at the council had thought of many seasons ago.” He cleared his throat and she looked right into his eyes. “Without humans, there is no chance of survival for the vampires.”
She frowned and thought about what he’d said. It was exactly as Troy had told her.
“But what of animal blood? I know that Lieutenant Troy told me that we can’t survive on it... but are we sure that we can’t?”
He shook his head, his look solemn. “It must be human, or as close as possible. Vampire blood can sustain another vampire for a short period, but only human blood can keep us alive.”
“Is that why we’ve never fully attacked the humans?”
He nodded this time. “We knew it would be foolish to wipe them out. If we did that, we would have to move and attack the next territory. There, we would face both the humans and the vampires.”
She had a hard time imagining the massacre it would be if they had to do that. They wouldn’t be strong enough to face both vampire and human attacks at the same time. By wiping out their own humans, they would sign their own death certificate.
Unless the next territory didn’t unite against them.
“We have to convince the humans to join us, just as you’d planned,” she said and leaned forwards quickly. Pain shot through her and she pressed her hand into her side. When she brought it away, the thin cotton dress was dotted with blood.
“Scarlet,” Corazon said in an imploring tone and she leaned back, knowing that was what he was trying to tell her.
She sighed and lifted the dress, making sure her lower half was covered by the bed sheets so Corazon didn’t see anything.
The wound on her side was seeping blood.
Before she could even run her fingers over it, Corazon was kneeling beside her and had removed her hand. She bit her lip and watched, sucking her stomach in a little from sheer exhilaration, as he licked the length of the wound. He cleaned all trace of blood from her, sealing the wound again in the process. When he looked up at her with dark eyes that told her that he had switched into his vampire guise, she bit her lip harder.
“Be careful, Scarlet,” he whispered, voice heavy with emotion and eyes telling her everything he meant by those words.
He went back to his seat, leaving her to cover herself and think about that look. He was still scared of losing her and he was concerned about her. She wished she could do something to alleviate his worry, but she knew that the only thing that would do that was him seeing her fully healed and healthy again.
“I know we must convince the humans to join forces with us. I have written to General Violet already explaining that we will put our plan into motion ahead of time. If we are to defend ourselves against the vampires and survive, we must come up with a new plan. We no longer have time to wear the humans down before we attempt to make a truce with them.” His look shifted to awkwardness and she wondered what he was thinking. He glanced away from her at his desk and then his gaze returned, locking with hers. “I have to ask you something.”
She frowned. “Anything.”
He hesitated again. “Troy—”
“Nothing happened,” she interjected, fearing that his next words would be about Troy’s feelings for her.
Corazon smiled. “He told me that himself, but it is good to hear it from you. That isn’t what I was going to say though.”
“Oh,” she said, thankful that she couldn’t blush. “I really don’t have any feelings for him, none beyond friendship at least.”
“Troy mentioned something the other day, about something you said when you were delirious, and it was something I heard too. I have to admit, it made me curious... but I fear I will hurt you by mentioning it, that I will dredge up some terrible memory that will cause you pain.”
“Ask me,” she said. “I am strong. I have endured much these long months.”
He caught her hand and held it tight, pressing a kiss to it and smoothing the skin. “I am sorry. It took me so long to get back to you... and when I returned, I found that you had been taken. I thought I would be too late.”
She brought his hand towards her and kissed it, peppering it with small ones and making sure that she pressed one to each of his knuckles and fingertips.
“It’s all right,” she whispered against his skin. “I am glad that you are back though... and that you are not dead as I’d feared. My heart said you couldn’t be, but I lost hope. I wanted to die when they had me. I asked him to kill me but he would not.”
Corazon was frowning now. “This man, was his name Jacob?”
She went rigid and stared wide eyed at his hand. Fear pounded in her head as everything from her captivity came back, mingling with the things that Jacob had said and her memories from her human life.
She nodded.
“You knew him didn’t you?”
She nodded again, her mouth and throat suddenly dry. She tried to swallow to make it wet again, but it had no effect.
“He was the one...” Corazon trailed off and she knew he couldn’t bring himself to go any further.
“Who tortured me.” She finished it for him.
He sighed and held her hand tighter. “I hate to ask you to do this.”
She looked into his eyes and saw that he was telling the truth. There was hurt in them. He didn’t want to harm her and even asking her was causing him pain.
“You want me to speak with him,” she said, voice empty and emotionless. “I do not mind. He seemed superior in that village and probably held a rank similar to our captain. Plus...”
“He could not kill you,” Corazon said. “When we attacked, we kept casualties to a minimum. Our objective was to rescue yourself and any other survivors. There was a man there, tall with dark hair, who seemed to be in command yet he was defending your cell. We knocked him out. Troy confirmed that he was one of the men that had taken you and him captive.”
“It sounds like Jacob.” She hid the pain his words caused and the memories they evoked. If Corazon believed that they could talk sensibly to Jacob and convince him to speak with the other high-ranking humans, then she had to do as he asked of her and face her fears. With Corazon there to protect her, she knew that nothing would happen to her.
“If you do not wish to,” he said.
“I do. I can do this. I have grown strong in your absence, though I have had my weak times too.”
“You were always strong.” He captured her cheek with his hand and came to sit beside her. He sighed as he looked into her eyes. “You know not how strong you truly are... just as you know not how long I have fought for you and only you. This war means nothing to me anymore. It has taken so much of me, but in return, it has given me back something I have long been missing.”
She frowned at him but he leaned towards her, tilting his head and closing his eyes. She stared wide eyed at him until he was so close she lost focus.
“My heart,” he whispered against her lips and then kissed her, stealing her own heart away and claiming it wholly for his own.
She returned the kiss, closing her eyes and pouring her heart out into it. Her soul rejoiced at having him back, at feeling his kiss again, and knowing that now they could finally be together as she had always hoped. His other hand came up so he was holding her face in his hands as his lips played tenderly and gently against hers. It was a subtle kiss, one laced with passion but not demanding. She missed it when he stopped, pined for its return, and brought her hands up to cup his cheeks.
“I love you, Corazon... let me do this for you. I know with you there I will be strong and I will be safe from harm.”
He swallowed and his expression faltered, his eyes swimming with emotions that she had never dared believe she would see in them. He frowned and then furrowed his eyebrows, heaving a long sigh as he stared into her eyes. She leaned forwards, ignoring the way her stomach hurt and her wounds protested, and got onto her knees. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she brought her mouth to his and went to kiss him, but he held her, stopping her. She sat back and frowned at him.
“Scarlet...” He swallowed again and looked as though he was struggling with his words. Her chest tightened when she saw them coming in his eyes. “Scarlet...”
“Yes?” she said, leaning forwards again and pressing her hands against his chest.
He tensed.
His eyes closed.
He whispered into her mouth before capturing her lips again.
“I’m in love with you.”
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