Fires Of Solstice Part 4

The broad-shouldered priest stared at her, his triumphant gaze now one of horror. "What have you done to her?"

"Your men shot her, priest of the peaceful G.o.d," the druid stated sarcastically. "Be gone from here. You know not whom you face."

The priest threw back his head and laughed loud and long. Throwing back his black cowl, he glared back at them. "You know not whom you face," he answered demonically. The top of the cross he carried was pointed. He lowered it and positioned it like a lance.

Ignoring the boast, the druid nodded his head and a ball of burning light shot toward the priest's skittish horse. The gelding screamed and began to buck.

"Run, fool," he snarled at Bleddyn. "You have no chance here today."

Bleddyn hesitated, glancing once more at Meredythe, blinking the tears from his eyes.

"Go! I have her. She's not dead yet, and many futures lie before us."

One last time, Bleddyn caressed her cheek. "I will find you, no matter when you are."

With a snarl and another heartrending howl, he leaped away, tearing at the priest's men with hands and teeth. A few strides away from the fire, the wolves enfolded him in a blanket of snapping teeth and ripping jaws. None were able to stand before them. Again, a swirling black and gray mist surrounded Bleddyn as he s.h.i.+fted. Only wolves disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

Body now numb, Meredythe closed her eyes. Bleddyn would find her, no matter when. Unconsciousness beckoned, but the voices of those around her continued to echo through her mind.

"Abomination! Devil! Werewolf!" exploded from the throats of the soldiers.

"You're a fool," said the priest. "The wolf may have escaped, but the girl is mine."

"What do you want with her?"

"She is innocent of the blasphemy that occurred here. Her soul can be saved. There's a nunnery close by."

Meredythe moaned and fought to stay conscious. The priest was lying. She could hear it in his voice. She didn't dare go with him. She struggled to talk. Instead she coughed, warm blood trickling from her lips.

"She'll die before you get her there."

"She will not!"

With the last of her strength, Meredythe forced her eyes open. The priest stared at her with vicious hunger.

"Tanau!" the druid barked, and the bonfire exploded behind them. Clasping Meredythe tightly, he stepped back into the conflagration, his voice deep with command. "Difannu!"

From the forest, a single, anguished howl followed them into the fires.

Screaming, Meredythe wrenched her eyes open and bolted from her bed. Her knee banged against a small table, rocking it onto two legs. Both the lamp and alarm clock clattered to the floor. Scrambling across the moonlit room on her hands and knees to the overstuffed chair sitting in the corner, she grabbed a baseball bat lying next to it and pulled herself onto wobbly legs. Bat clenched tightly in her fists as she shook uncontrollably, she sucked in gasps of air as her gaze darted from first one corner of the room to another.

"Merrooww?"

Her knees buckled and she collapsed onto the floor, the bat thunking beside her.

"Methuselah?"

He leaped from the bed and crawled into her lap. His deep purr rumbling, he began kneading her thigh with his paws.

Still shaking, Meredythe pulled him into her arms and hugged him tightly.

He snuggled close and purred more loudly.

After blinking her eyes dry, she set him on the floor and pushed herself to unsteady feet. She carefully picked up the fallen clock and lamp and put them where they belonged. Four staggering steps had her back on her bed.

Shuddering, Meredythe clasped a pillow to her chest. "A nightmare. I was dreaming. My G.o.d, Thuse, it was seemed so real! I could smell the wood burning, the ropes hurt my wrists and that arrow... "

She gasped with remembered pain. She could still feel the fiery tearing of the arrow as it embedded itself deeply in her side. Eyes widening, she dropped the pillow and lifted her sweats.h.i.+rt. Her trembling fingers brushed the scar on her rib cage.

"I fell against a broken gate, Thuse! I got this scar when I fell against a broken gate when I was only four. Aunt Evelyn told me so. It was only a dream! It wasn't real!"

The cat jumped up beside her and rubbed his head against her knee. Then he stretched out against her thigh and began to purr deep in his throat.

Almost immediately, her tense muscles began to relax. Her eyelids drooped.

That's enough for tonight, Meredythe. Go back to sleep.

Slumping against the pillows, she yawned, her thoughts drifting to the man in her dream-Bleddyn, the naked man who looked exactly like the stranger from James King' s office. She moaned as her memory replayed his caresses, his firm hands kneading her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, his skilled fingers plucking her nipples, his hard c.o.c.k probing between her thighs.

Jerking herself upright, she flung the pillow across the room. What the h.e.l.l was she doing reliving a dream where a man tried to rape her?

Methuselah's b.u.t.ted his head against her thigh. His purr became louder as it wrapped itself more deeply around her subconscious.

Sighing, Meredythe blinked. She settled back against her pillows. The gray-eyed, black-haired man faded from her mind.

"G.o.d, Thuse, what a night," she muttered.

After tossing and turning a few minutes, she snuggled into the middle of the bed. Her breathing deepened.

Methuselah tucked his paws against his chest and smiled his Ches.h.i.+re smile. Meredythe's past would soon become her present.

Chapter Three.

The scantily clad young woman shuddered as an eerie mist drifted above silent ponds and swirled around ghostly statues and wraithlike shapes flitted amongst shadow-laden trees while more tangible figures staggered along the gentle paths illuminated by the pregnant moon. More than a few of Halloween's mortal revelers sought new adventures in Central Park. Others with darker intent sought satisfaction in other ways.

"Come on, b.i.t.c.h," snarled the heavyset man as he jerked her along behind him.

She wrenched her wrist free of his bruising grasp. "Quit talkin' to me like that, Reggie."

"I'll talk to you however I wanna, Sal," he answered, shoving her ahead of him. "Now get your fat a.s.s moving. There's plenty of drunks wanderin' 'round the park lookin' for a hot piece of a.s.s. And you owe me extra for those freebies you're givin' out."

Plump b.u.t.tocks sliding beneath her tight skirt, the garishly dressed young woman stomped over the uneven path-as much as she was able to stomp in bright orange stiletto heels.

Lousy son of a b.i.t.c.h, she swore to herself as she moved deeper into the park. I'm goin' back to Tennessee as soon as I have enough money for a bus ticket. Cousin Reggie can find somebody else to wh.o.r.e for him.

Ten minutes later, the dark surroundings finally got the better of her anger. Disoriented by the eerie mist eddying through the trees, unsure of her location, she halted abruptly. Nervously glancing at the shadows under the trees, she spun around at the sound of a low growl. The bushes rustled.

"Who's there?" she demanded, her voice quavering as the clouds parted and luminescent moonbeams danced with wisps of dark mist.

More rustling.

A man appeared-a naked, black-haired man with stormy gray eyes.

Her eyes widened. "What're you doin' runnin' around the park naked?"

"Looking for you," he growled as he moved closer.

Dropping her stare to the thick c.o.c.k jutting from the dark nest at the juncture of his thighs, she licked her lips. "You want a piece, mister?" She looked up to his face.

His grin was wolfish as he held out his hands, palms up, and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't have any money on me."

Her gaze traveled back down his body. s.h.i.+vering, she smiled and licked her lips again. He didn't have any money? h.e.l.l, she was willing to pay him. "Won't cost you nothing."

Sticks cracked and bushes rustled again as Reggie barreled into the small clearing. Shoving the dark-haired man out of his way, he stomped to Sally and grabbed her arm. "I knew you was cheatin' me, b.i.t.c.h, givin' it away for free."

She jerked back, trying to wrench her arm free. "You were gonna watch? You creep."

He tightened his grip. "Watchin' my investment. And you owe me more money, you stupid s.l.u.t. How many other a.s.sholes did you f.u.c.k without makin' 'em pay?"

Raising his other hand, he slapped her hard, grinning demonically as she struggled to break free.

"No, Reggie, don't hit me again. Please. I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"You ain't worth the money I sent to get you here, wh.o.r.e," he shouted, backhanding her brutally. He released her arm.

Her ankle turned and she lost her balance.

Reggie balled his hand into a fist.

As Sally fell to her hands and knees, a vicious snarl ripped through the small clearing and a large, dark shape exploded from the bushes to their left. In one long leap, it landed on the man, its sharp, gleaming teeth snapping at Reggie's fleshy throat as he futilely beat at his a.s.sailant.

Sally's scream melded with his.

Then, just as quickly, his terrified screaming stopped.

Sally shrieked again.

An immense black wolf, neck hairs bristling, stood over Reggie's body, blood dripping from white fangs. Licking his gore-flecked jowls, it eyed her speculatively.

Eyes rolling back, Sally melted to the ground.

As the full moon embraced him with her luminous glow, the wolf lifted his head and howled long and triumphantly.

After one last glance at the bodies lying before him, the wolf sprang away and disappeared into the deep shadows beneath the trees.

Minutes later, a shadowy, human-shaped figure slipped out of the park.

When Bleddyn pushed the door open, Rhys turned away from the window. Setting the full brandy snifter on the table, he locked his gaze on the younger man. "Where have you been?"

Bleddyn threw himself down on the sofa and stared into the roaring fire. "Out."

"Where?"

"I'm not a child."

Rhys clasped his hands tightly behind his back. "There's blood on your jaw."

Bleddyn rubbed his chin then stared at the brown flecks on his fingers.

The older man began to pace. "d.a.m.n it. You were supposed to take the medicine. You agreed not to kill again."

Bleddyn shook his head, trying to clear the fog from his brain. His brow wrinkled as he searched his fuzzy memory. Kill? He killed someone? Masculine screams jogged his memory. "There was a man. He was beating a woman."

Rhys raked his fingers through his hair. "What have you done?"

Bleddyn s.h.i.+fted as his memory cleared. f.u.c.k! He had killed again. "He was a pimp -a mean one."

"And the woman?"

Anger rose. Hurt a woman? Never! "I didn't hurt her."

Relaxing visibly, Rhys stopped in front of Bleddyn. "I'm sorry. I should know better.

When you weren't here, I thought... After that meeting with Meredythe... "

Shoving himself out of his chair, Bleddyn kicked a footrest out of his way as he stomped to the sideboard to pour himself a brandy. "The urge was too strong. I had to get out."

"Surely, with the medicine, you could wait-"

Snarling, the younger man pivoted to face Rhys. "For what? For Meredythe to welcome me into her bed? That G.o.dd.a.m.n medicine doesn't work. It shot my self-control to h.e.l.l. It took me a couple of centuries to reach the point where I could pretty much control the compulsion, the urge for blood or s.e.x. That medicine completely eliminated it. I had no control. None! I was compelled. The d.a.m.n bloodl.u.s.t was in control."

Rhys' shoulders drooped. "So you got what you wanted."

Briefly, a sated smiled slipped onto Bleddyn's mouth and he felt the demon that inhabited his soul look out through his eyes. "Not what I wanted, but it will suffice."

"d.a.m.n it..."

"Don't start again, old man," Bleddyn snarled over his shoulder as he hurled the crystal brandy snifter into the fire where it shattered into a thousand sparkling pieces.

Flames shot up the chimney when the alcohol flared.