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He hardly looked towards it this entire time, unable to take his hungry focus from me.
“I will not give in to you.”
“And you believe I need your acceptance?”
I shook my head ever so slightly, not once taking my gaze off his. “You can try but dawn will arrive and you will go without feeding.” Iron laced my words, the bitter taste of determination rearing its head for a final time.
Panic widened his stare, only enough for me to notice. His lips thinned, straightening into a pinched line. Spittle lined both lips as they finally broke into a snarl. “Iwillfeed.”
Fire.
I unravelled my fists either side of me, opening them like a rose in spring, buds of orange flames twisting in warning. “You will try and fail. Then morning will return, and with it my Marius will return. You will return to me.”
Marius’s snarl intensified into a growl that seemed to vibrate through the very night. The bloodhounds at his sides echoed his anger at my taunt, each bowing their dark-furred bellies to the ground in preparation for a signal.
Air.
The world around the burning castle began to scream as the winds picked up. A gust of conjured pressure that blew through the grounds, forcing dirt and debris to swirl in torrents around my feet. The fire that reached beyond the destroyed windows bent beneath its force, longing and reaching to join in with the whipping wind’s race.
Marius shifted his weight to take a step forward but I gathered air in my lungs and released it slowly, encouraging the wind around us to strengthen in a barrier.
“I will not kill you, Marius, but my life’s preparation will not go to waste. You will see.”
Water.
The tear that escaped my eye was not from sadness. No. It was the invitation for the fat droplets that began to fall from the sky. I did not need to look up to know that pregnant clouds coated the sky as the red tint from the cursed moon dulled, covered by my power. Rain crashed down upon my head, my skin, hissing as the droplets fell into the balls of flame that were cradled in my waiting palms. I risked a blink, enough to loosen yet another tear. Then the rain thundered down upon us. Each droplet that splashed against my body made me feel refreshed. Revitalised beneath the kiss of the element’s calming, all-knowing power. It thrummed within me, and around me.
Earth.
I grinned, looking through the sheets of rain as Marius teetered side to side. Beneath him the ground shook violently. A gasp of surprise broke his façade as his footing was lost to yet another tremble that jerked beneath him.
“Enough with your games!” he shouted above the elements. Marius raised a clawed hand to shield the lashings of rain and wind that battered against him. It blew the stark, white hairs from his head, exposing glowing skin and hateful eyes. I could not hear what he said next over the howls of his creatures that pounced frantically beside him. He seemed to shout as his mouth opened into a circle of dark oblivion.
Then the bloodhounds attacked.
All at once they threw themselves as balls of shadow, teeth and fur. Time seemed to slow as they each left the ground, throwing themselves with split jaws, towards me.
I cried out, fuelling my emotion into the fire in my hands. I sensed each tongue of flame that burned in the castle. Even the licks of candlelight in the town far away, beyond the barrier of this place. As I willed for the element to aid me, I became it. And it became me.
Light exploded before me, a wave of flame that burst from my hands and grew into a monstrous wall between me and the bloodhounds. I poured my very desperation into the element, causing the heat to intensify and the wall of flame to only burn wild and hot. I half expected the creatures to pass straight through. Like darkness through worn, hole-ridden drapes. But I sensed the bodies of shadow hiss and wink out of existence as they met my power. Not a hair passed successfully through my barrier. It devoured them entirely. Light ended the darkness. Heat destroyed the cold touch of death.
I could no longer see Marius beyond the wall of flame, but I sensed him. In the back of my mind I knew that I could let the wall fall upon him and he would, like his creatures, be destroyed. Like pleading song, I almost gave into it. The power had a mind of its own. I sensed its hunger much like that of which Marius spoke about.
It wanted him. To take his life and return the power that thrummed within him to the witches scattered around the world. All it would take was a thought. A will and the fire would end this.
But in the reflection of the hissing light, I saw the soft face of the boy that hid deep within the creature that currently hosted his body.
I thrust my hands inward, urging the fire to retreat and gather back within me. It rushed for me, like a child returning to its father.
The other elements raged around me, each out of my control as I focused solely on the fire. They would wait for my command. But for now I had to fight the siren song to release my magic entirely and kill him.
The world was suddenly dark again. Only the fire that burned within the castle provided light. My hands were empty and mundane as I surveyed the emptiness before me.
No Marius. No bloodhounds.
Just me and the darkness.
At least that was what he wanted me to believe.
