Chapter 3
“Relief to the walls!”
Scarlet shot up into a sitting position on her bed and looked around her at the dark empty room. The long lines of beds were perfectly made, not a sign of the people who normally occupied them when she woke. She blinked a few times, hoping to clear her head, and then listened hard for a sign of what was happening.
“Archers, get to the East Wall.”
Another shout and she was springing from the bed and tugging her clothes on in frantic fashion. She was thankful her heart no longer beat as she raced to dress and struggled with her boots. If it could, it would have been beating so fast that she would be nauseas.
The clatter of boots on dirt made her look at the row of small windows. Their curtains were open, revealing movement outside. The East Wall?
Her eyes widened.
“Captain Corazon,” she whispered and in a split second, she’d grabbed her bow and sheath of arrows and was running for the door.
The call for the relief wasn’t meant for her company, but she couldn’t sit by and watch the fight from down here. She had to be up there, fighting alongside the five privates from her company and their captain.
Scarlet shoved her way through the crowds of archers and swordsmen as she tried to get to the wall. Cries pierced the air and the metallic tang of blood filled her senses. It wasn’t just human blood either. Vampire blood was being shed tonight. She squeezed through a group of privates and corporals from the twelfth company and ignored their comments about her being rude.
When she neared the steps, she finally looked up at the wall, and swiftly covered her head with her arms. A volley of darts rained down on her, clattering as they hit the floor and bounced harmlessly off the metal cuffs that encased her forearms. She wedged her helmet on and readied her bow, tugging the string up and sliding it into the notch.
The tops of ladders appeared along the wall and she realised that the humans had made it far enough to mount a full scale attack on the fort. She scanned the fighters, desperately searching for him, and then the whole of her insides turned.
“Captain Corazon!” she shouted as he fought two tall broad humans that had made it over the wall. She pulled an arrow out of her sheath and fired it with deadly accuracy, puncturing the neck of one of the men. Blood burst from the wound, spraying everyone nearby, and the man fell to the courtyard. “Captain Corazon!”
She wanted to shout ‘look out’ but her voice left her when he looked down at her.
“Scarlet, get the hell out—” His sentenced ended in a harsh cry of pain as the sword penetrated his shoulder and the human twisted it.
She sneered and fired off two more arrows, killing the man responsible for hurting her commander, and then she was running up the steps. All she could think about was getting to him as she fired arrow after arrow, clearing her path and making sure that he was safe from further harm.
A man moved into her path as she bolted along the wall and she shoved him over the edge and into the courtyard below. She ducked and dodged as volleys of arrows whizzed overhead, her eyes fixed on her captain as he fell to his knees.
Another two arrows left her bow before she’d even thought about firing them and she grabbed Corazon’s sword as she reached him. She turned, gracefully dodging past him, and brought the sword down hard on the man at his back. It sliced deep into the human’s neck, straight through to their ribcage. She brought her foot up and kicked him backwards into the waiting members of the seventeenth company. She didn’t watch as they bit him, fighting over the chance to drain him dry.
Turning to Corazon, she was on her knees beside him before he could even look at her.
“Foolish,” he whispered, clutching his shoulder.
She felt sick when she saw the blood spilling through the gaps between his fingers. It trickled down his arm and soaked into the cuff of the white shirt he wore beneath his armour.
Scarlet reached out to touch his wound but something caught her eye and she sprang to her feet instead. She growled with each swipe of the sword she held, killing mercilessly and taking out her anger on the humans trying to invade the fort. When she made it to one of the ladders, she shoved it with all her might, sending it and the people climbing it crashing into the crowd below.
Her bow was off her back before the sword she’d dropped hit the floor and she fired arrow after arrow at the humans, slaughtering them. The other soldiers followed her lead, kicking the ladders off the walls. The archers made it up the stairs and volleys flew thick and fast at the humans.
A retreat was sounded, but she didn’t stop her attack. She clenched her teeth, ignoring the sharp points of her canines as they buried deep into her lower lip. Blood trickled down her chin but she didn’t care. She couldn’t stop the change and she didn’t want to. She needed the strength her true form gave her.
She needed to make them pay for what they’d done.
Scarlet growled when she realised she was out of arrows and leapt up onto the wall to grab one of the humans’ arrows as it flew past. She slotted it onto the string of her bow and fired it back at them. It struck the archer who’d originally fired it, lodging itself deep in his eye socket.
The humans moved away, far enough that they were out of range of the arrows, and then they were gone, disappeared back into the forest.
She breathed hard and wiped the blood on her chin away as she remained standing on the wall and watching the trees for a sign of the humans. More had to die to sate her thirst for vengeance. She wasn’t satisfied.
Voices began to break the stillness.
They roused her senses and her head snapped around to face her captain. He was on his feet but was as pale as milk as he held onto his shoulder.
She dropped down from the wall and grabbed his sword as she ran to him.
“Foolish,” he muttered again, but there was no anger in his eyes.
There was only concern.
She shouldered her bow and cleaned his sword on her trousers before sliding it back into its sheath on Corazon’s belt. He took another step towards her and she realised that he was hobbling. Her eyes scanned him and stopped when she saw the glistening patch on his thigh.
“Sir, you’re hurt,” Scarlet said and didn’t wait for his response before placing his arm around her shoulders and helping him walk.
She led him down the stone stairs at a slow pace, slower than he wanted to walk. There was no way she was going to risk him injuring himself further by hurrying or causing them to fall on the narrow steps.
Corazon motioned towards his quarters and she didn’t dare mention that he should go to sick bay rather than there. She helped him to his door and once they’d reached it, he let her go and opened it himself. She watched him walk in and settle himself on his bed.
He wiped his bloodied hand on his trousers and then drew it down over his face and grimaced as he tried to move.
When he looked at her, she bolted out of the door and over to sick bay. She grabbed everything that could be of use and was running back to his quarters before the medical staff could stop her from stealing their supplies. She was panting hard by the time she’d made it back and had closed the door.
“Lock it,” he said.
She frowned but followed his order.
He had a reason, and she had an idea of what it was. He didn’t want the medical staff to tend to him.
He didn’t want anyone to disturb them.
She dumped everything on the bed beside him and then removed her armour as quickly as she could. When she was in her shirt and trousers, she began to remove his armour for him. He sucked in a sharp breath when she unbuckled the breastplate. Her eyes widened as she stared at her hands and saw they were already covered in blood. It was soaking into her shirt. She swallowed and rolled her sleeves up, unable to stand the thought of having more of his blood staining her clothes. The pain in his eyes was reminder enough of what she’d done.
He was right. She was foolish.
At a time when he’d needed to concentrate most of all, she’d distracted him by shouting his name. What childish mistake was that?
She held back her tears as she reprimanded herself and continued to remove his armour until it was all gone. She undid his shirt, not seeing his body through her tears as they made her vision swim.
When he took hold of her wrist, she stopped and looked at him. He stared at her with furrowed brows and questioning eyes. Her hands were trembling. His sure grip made that all the more obvious. She wasn’t hiding how shaken she was. He’d see it for certain.
“I’m sorry, Captain Corazon,” she whispered in a hoarse voice choked with her unshed tears.
“Just fix this mess up,” he said and released her hand. His slid along it, up her arm to her shoulder and then stopped there just as she’d hoped it would continue its path to her cheek.
She was an even bigger fool if she thought something like that would happen between them.
Corazon’s fingers tightly gripped her shoulder and she gritted her teeth against the pain of his claws. There was an apology in his eyes when she stared into them and he released her. She knew he hadn’t meant to hurt her, just as she hadn’t meant to hurt him.
She carefully pushed the shirt off his shoulders and drew it down his arms. Her eyes lingered briefly on the tattoo that decorated the whole of his right arm. They were strange symbols and lines, and she still wondered what they meant. It wasn’t unusual for soldiers to have tattoos but she’d never seen one like this.
When he sucked in another sharp breath, Scarlet returned her attention to the wound on his shoulder. She inspected it, making sure she didn’t hurt him in the process. The wound wasn’t deep, but it was ragged and bleeding badly. She picked up the wad of bandages from the bed beside him and began to clean the wound with some ointment. When all the dried blood was gone, she realised that she would have to sew the wound to help it seal. This wound would take too long to heal if she just placed a bandage on it, even with their species’ heightened healing abilities.
She threaded the needle, silent all the while as she listened to his steady but laboured breathing. She could sense pain in him, even though he was trying hard to hide it. Most of the other soldiers in this fort would only see a composed captain if they looked at him right now—a pillar of strength and an example of how they should behave when injured. She saw all the hurt in his dark eyes and felt all the pain.
Sewing the wound closed, she cursed herself repeatedly for what she’d done until it became a mantra in her head and slowly began to break her down. The tears rose unbidden again, filling her eyes, and she dashed them away so she could see what she was doing.
There was another reason for hiding them too.
She didn’t want Corazon to think that she was weak again. She wanted him to believe in her and believe that she was strong. She’d fought so hard to prove herself to him, and she felt as though she’d thrown it all away tonight. Her actions had shown she had no more sense than a private, or worse.
She didn’t deserve the rank of lance corporal.
Snapping the thread as she finished sewing his shoulder wound, she moved all her focus to him and ignored all the negative thoughts that were crowding her mind.
She put the bloodied needle back into the box on the bed and her eyes shifted across to his trousers. She would have to remove them to tend to his other wound, but the idea of seeing him in nothing but his underwear was making her stomach jig with nerves. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen his bare torso. She’d seen that plenty of times over the past six months. She’d stared every time. He had such a fine physique—subtle and toned, but strong. This, however, would be the first time she’d seen him almost naked.
A quick motion with her hand and he was standing up, injured arm hanging limp at his side and his other one resting on his hip. She swallowed hard, moved around to stand in front of him, and flexed her fingers as she stared at his trousers. She fought for the courage to go through with what she needed to do, and then stepped towards him. Her eyes remained locked on her hands the whole time and she was thankful that blushing wasn’t an option for a vampire. If she’d still been human, she would’ve been five shades of red by now. As it was, she could feel the fire burning in her, setting her aflame as she slowly undid his belt and then fumbled for his zipper.
Her breathing quickened as she drew it down, the back of her fingers grazing his crotch. Her mouth turned drier than the desert south of the plains and she struggled to keep her composure as she pushed his trousers carefully down his legs. She swallowed again as she moved to kneel in front of him. Her eyes flickered to his underwear where it was level with them and she drew a deep steadying breath.
No wonder he’d wanted her to lock the door. She really didn’t like the idea of someone walking in on them when they were like this either.
She dragged her eyes away from his crotch, settling them on the cut.
It looked like an arrow wound.
She looked up at him. “It’s not deep. It will heal before long.”
He stared at her, his dark hair falling forwards to obscure his eyes. “Will it be healed before General Violet arrives to reprimand me?”
Her eyes widened. “Why would she—oh. Because you took my place on the wall and captains aren’t supposed to do such low duties.”
Scarlet dropped her gaze to his knees. Scars peppered them beneath the soft hair. Her head was again full of thoughts, and all of them were again negative. Corazon was in trouble because of her. She’d literally added insult to injury. She was in trouble too. The general would be sure to question her about why she hadn’t been on duty that night and why he’d taken her place on the wall.
And why he was injured.
She’d seen Captain Barlow and Lieutenant Troy on the wall. They’d seen her distract Corazon.
“Am I to stand here all night?” Corazon said, tone soft and almost playful.
She wondered why he was being so kind to her after all that she’d done. She wanted to go back to her shared quarters and cry out her stupidity and anger at herself.
Grabbing the tweezers and more bandages from the bed behind him, she was careful to avoid knocking his legs. She settled back on her ankles, kneeling before him, and looked at the wound.
“There’s something still in it,” she said.
“There is?” He bent over, almost bumping heads with her as he took a look. His hair tickled her forehead and she stared at him, at how close he was to her.
Scarlet bit her lip as other thoughts rose in her mind, thoughts she’d had so often since first meeting him in the woods. She wanted to know what it would be like to have those soft lips against hers, to feel the strength in his body, and to have him set her on fire with his touch.
She cleared her throat again and realised he was looking at her and she was now staring straight into his eyes. He was so close, almost blurred in her vision, and her breathing quickened with anticipation as she fought for control.
A second later and he’d straightened up. She closed her eyes, took another long deep breath and then exhaled it. Reopening her eyes, she focused on her work, on carefully extracting the arrowhead from his thigh.
It was a struggle, and when it came free, she froze and stared at it.
Cold engulfed her, stealing away all feeling with it as she looked at the arrowhead, unable to tear her eyes away from it as she wanted to. It wasn’t one of the humans’ arrows.
It was one of hers.
She dropped the tweezers and arrowhead as she got to her feet and bolted for the door. Tears streamed onto her cheeks when she found Corazon blocking her exit and she stared at his chest, head swimming with thoughts of what she’d done.
She’d shot him.
No other archer was firing at the time. The arrow had been hers.
In her blind panic to protect him, she’d shot him.
She didn’t bother to stop the tears this time. She deserved to look like a fool, to look as weak as she really was, and she wanted him to see it.
Countless words rose to her lips but she voiced none of them. What use was an apology? She’d shot her captain. She’d shot Corazon.
A sob broke free of her and another quickly followed it. Scarlet tried to push him aside so she could get away, but he stood firm, unmoving. Her hand rested against his chest when she realised her attempts to move him were futile and a desperate urge to press her cheek against his shoulder and cry her heart out took her over.
She removed her hand instead, hiccupping on her tears and dying inside as she made a fool of herself in front of him.
It was over. Corazon would never see her strength now. He would only ever see the weak girl in front of him tonight.
“Let me pass,” she whispered to his chest, eyes fixed on it but not focused there.
“You still have a wound to fix.” He sounded so cold that she shivered and more tears came.
Couldn’t he see the pain just standing here was causing her? Didn’t he care?
“A wound I caused,” she said and tried to raise her eyes to look into his, but they would only go as far as his neck. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him, not after what she’d done.
“And a wound that you can fix,” Corazon said, his tone softer now.
Scarlet realised why he’d sounded so strange earlier when he’d asked whether he was going to stand there all night.
He’d known it had been her arrow.
That was why he’d made her bring him here and not to the medical unit. If they had seen that one of their own had shot him, she would have faced a court marshal.
He was protecting her.
How could he bring himself to do that after what she’d done to him?
“Come, Scarlet, we can find a way to fix this mess. You had only intended to protect me and none need know that it was your arrow.”
His voice was so gentle and coaxing that she finally found the strength to look at him, and she was stunned to see so much concern and compassion in his eyes. This wasn’t the captain she was used to seeing. This was the captain she’d always hoped to see.
Yet in her heart, Scarlet knew that this moment would never be repeated. He was being nice to her in order to get her to tend to him, and in order to boost her morale. None of the feelings in his eyes were because he liked her in the way that she liked him, and she refused to make a worse fool of herself by believing that they were.
She moved away from him, distanced herself and found her strength again. She was a good soldier, and tonight would never happen again. She was here to prove herself, and that’s what she would do. Since coming here, she’d fought battle after battle to protect the fort. She’d gone up a rank, but she wanted to go higher. She wanted to be like him. Then she would be worthy.
Corazon came back to stand beside the bed and she patched his leg up without a fuss, concentrating wholly on it and never once glancing at him. When she was done, she rose and packed the things away. She placed them beside the bed and then looked at him.
“You should rest,” Scarlet said with fatigue in her voice.
He moved to lie on the bed with his back propped up on the pillows and she stared at the floor, keeping her eyes anywhere but on him because every time she looked at him, she saw the wounds she had inflicted.
“You’ve lost a lot of blood.” Her eyes settled on the red stain on her rolled up shirt cuff. “I will get you some to help you heal.”
She went to leave but he stopped her with nothing more than a handful of words.
“Maybe it is time for you to repay that debt then... blood for blood.”
Scarlet stared at the door handle, her chest rising and falling in rapid succession as her breathing accelerated. He wanted her to pay for spilling his blood by offering her own. She swallowed as her stomach churned with clashing emotions. To have his teeth in her, to feel him taking her blood, was something that stirred fire in her veins. But vampire blood wasn’t what he needed and her blood would barely replenish his, and do nothing to help him heal. She wasn’t old enough to have blood as strong as he needed it.
Yet she turned to face him, willing to offer her blood to him if that was what he wanted in return for what she’d done to him. She moved silently to the bed and stood before him, waiting for a sign of what he wanted her to do. He motioned for her to sit beside him and she did, placing her hands in her lap and drawing a long breath.
“Have you been bitten since you were turned?” he said in a low soothing tone.
She started when he touched her wrist, the feather light caress sending a shiver dancing through her. She shook her head and kept her eyes fixed on her knees, too scared to look at him in case he saw in her face how he was making her feel.
He closed his fingers around her wrist and raised it towards him.
Her insides trembled with anticipation.
“Then take a deep breath, hold it, and I will try not to hurt you.” His lips brushed her wrist with the last of his words and she closed her eyes, inhaling shakily.
Hurt her?
His teeth sank into her wrist, slowly penetrating her flesh, and his lips closed around it. She shuddered and released her breath in a staccato sigh.
How could he think this hurt?
An explosion of feeling swept all sense of pain away, leaving nothing but raw pleasure in its place. The first pull on her blood made her dizzy with excitement and desire, and she finally opened her eyes to look at him. He was cradling her arm so gently, holding it against his mouth as he drank her blood with closed eyes and furrowed brows. Warmth filled her as she watched him, felt him taking her blood, and she only wanted more. She kept still, fearing that any movement would break this spell, this moment, and would steal it away from her.
She shivered with each trace of his tongue against her flesh and bit her lip to contain the moan that rose in her throat. He bit down a little deeper, sinking his teeth in further until she felt as though he was never going to let her go. She silently begged him over and over to keep going, to take it all if he wanted, if only so she could hold onto this moment of divine intimacy with him.
All too soon, he had removed his fangs and was lapping up the remaining blood on her wrist and sealing the wound. Regret came swift and fast when he finally let her go and she brought her wrist to her. She licked it, not only to make sure it was sealed but to taste him on her skin and to smell his scent on her. She clutched her wrist to her chest when she was done and tried to think of something to say.
The silence was oppressive and the way he was watching her, studying her like he always did, made her want to run away this time.
Scarlet stood and fought for words but nothing came. All she could do was look at him, hoping beyond hope that he wouldn’t see the things in her eyes that she wasn’t ready to tell him. She looked at the door and then back at him. When she did, he was looking away from her, his features set in a grim expression that made her feel as though he didn’t want her to leave.
But she had to.
“The sun is rising,” she said idly.
He said nothing and then he looked at her.
He stood, put his clothes on without showing any of the pain he must have been feeling by moving his arm so much, and then went to his desk.
When he spoke next, her heart sank and she felt like crying all over again.
“Lance Corporal Scarlet, you are not to report for duty until two nights hence when you shall meet with me to discuss your future here.” Corazon paused and looked at her, eyes cold and empty, showing nothing of the warmth and feelings she’d seen in them earlier. “Your orders are to rest and recuperate. When you feel able to assess a situation clearly and act in the correct manner, you may return to active duty.”
She swallowed her tears and nodded before turning towards the door. Her chest burned with pain and tightened as she opened the door. She stepped out into the fading night without looking back at him.
The walk to the shared quarters seemed long and hard. Tears stung her eyes as she tried to make sense of everything that had happened tonight. For a moment, a beautiful flitting moment, she’d seen another side of Captain Corazon.
And then he’d snatched it away.
She looked at her wrist as she unrolled her sleeve to cover it, knowing that he wouldn’t want anyone to see it.
She smiled and brushed her thumb over the shallow bite mark.
Her heart sung as she replayed that moment in her mind and realised something.
This wouldn’t be the last time his guard slipped.
Tonight was just the start of something.
Not the end.
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