(Blue Fire 05) Heartless [A] Read online

  Rave carried her nimbly down the steep hillside, never coming close to losing his footing despite his rapid pace. In just five minutes, he deposited Leesa onto the ground outside his front door.

  Inside, Leesa grabbed her cell and sent Cali a quick text saying she was going to be with Rave for a few days and not to worry. She thought about warning Cali that the xenorians might come poking around again, but she was still paranoid about what the government might be able to intercept. Since Cali did not possess any magic, she should be perfectly safe.

  Before Leesa could even put her phone away, Cali texted her back, telling Leesa to have fun and calling her a “lucky girl.”

  Leesa smiled, agreeing wholeheartedly with Cali’s assessment. She shoved her phone back into her pack and grabbed her scrunchy, quickly fixing her hair into a ponytail for the ride ahead.

  “I’m ready,” she said.

  She started to sling her pack over her shoulders, but Rave grabbed it and strapped in across his back instead. Once again, he swept her easily up into his arms and headed out the door.

  Leesa settled comfortably against Rave’s muscular chest as he glided swiftly through the woods in a northerly direction. Maybe she couldn’t kiss him the way she wanted, she thought, but this was pretty darn good—being held tight in his strong arms and feeling his magical heat flowing into her as the crisp night air washed over her. Yep, it was pretty darn good indeed.

  Best of all, this was not going to be one of those short trips that would be over seemingly before it began; tonight, they would be traveling more than two hundred miles, a distance that would take even Rave several hours. She remembered fantasizing once about him carrying her across the entire country, or even around the world. Tonight’s ride was going to be the next best thing.

  She closed her eyes and gave herself completely over to the wondrous sensations as the miles melted behind them—the play of the muscles in his chest against her cheek, the slow steady beat of his heart in her ear, the masculine smell that seeped through his shirt into her nostrils, and, always present above everything else, his magical heat flowing into every inch of her body.

  As much as she loved being carried like this, Rave’s rhythmic pace and her own fatigue eventually combined to make her drift off into a deep, peaceful sleep. She dreamed she was floating down a slow-moving river, her body kept afloat by a cushioned inner tube. The rays of a summer sun warmed her face, while the clear, clean waters kept her comfortably cool.

  She did not wake up until Rave stopped. The ending of his running motion pulled her from her dream river. She opened her eyes to see Rave smiling down at her. She smiled back. This was even better than the dream.

  “We’re here,” Rave said, gently putting her down onto a smooth slab of granite.

  Leesa circled her arms around one of Rave’s, pressing herself against him as she surveyed the area. A partial moon spread just enough illumination for her to see they were surrounded by miles and miles of tree-covered hills. Not one light was visible anywhere, save for a twinkling canopy of stars above—more stars than she had ever seen. She knew they must be many miles from any human habitation.

  “It’s so beautiful here,” she said. “I can’t wait to see what it looks like come daylight.”

  “Dawn is just a few hours away,” Rave said.

  He gently spun Leesa around to face the opposite direction. She saw a dark, narrow slash in the steep hillside and knew she was looking at the entrance to a cave.

  “Is this where your people stayed while you were gone?” she asked.

  Rave nodded. “It’s one of several such caves in the area. I stayed in this one.” He took her hand and led her to the opening. “Come on. You will be as comfortable here as in my house.”

  No moonlight filtered into the cave, and after just a few steps, Leesa might as well have been blind.

  “I can’t see a thing,” she said.

  Invisible arms scooped her up as Rave cradled her against him once again.

  “I can,” he said.

  He carried her about ten steps deeper into the blackness before bending and laying her down upon a soft surface. She recognized the feel of a straw-filled mat covered by a cotton blanket. She couldn’t see even an inch in front of her face, but she felt Rave’s heat beside her and smelled his breath on her cheek. That was all she needed to feel safe and secure enough to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  24. HEAVEN

  Leesa awoke to her favorite sight in the whole world—Rave’s smiling face just inches from her own. Enough pale light leaked in through the cavern entrance for her to see him clearly and to show her that a new day was well underway. Rave’s head lay upon his bicep and his left hand rested softly upon her hip. No wonder she had slept so warm and soundly.

  She had long ago gotten over being uncomfortable knowing he watched her while she slept. Bending her head forward, she kissed him lightly on the forehead.

  “Good morning,” she said.

  Rave lifted his head and propped himself up on his elbow. “Did you sleep okay?”

  Leesa stretched her arms languorously above her head. “Like I was sleeping on a cloud. “I’m guessing you didn’t sleep at all, right?”

  Rave’s smile widened into a grin. “Why on earth would I want to sleep when I could spend the time looking at you?”

  Leesa sighed. Some of the cooler kids at school might think some of her exchanges with Rave were pretty corny, but she didn’t care. She loved it when he made comments like that. Better yet, she was even starting to believe them. She sat up, and Rave did likewise.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  Leesa realized that with everything going on yesterday, she had never gotten around to eating any dinner. “Yeah, I am. How far to the nearest Denny’s?”

  Rave laughed. “I have no idea. But we’ve got plenty to eat right here.”

  Leesa glanced around the cavern. All she saw other than a few sleeping mats were rough stone walls and a bare dirt floor.

  “Really? Do you volkaanes subsist on dirt and rock when you’re alone?”

  Rave laughed. “There’s food a little farther back in the cave. We keep these caverns stocked, in case of emergency.” He stood up. “Wait here.”

  Leesa watched as Rave disappeared into the blackness in the rear of the cave. Of course she would wait here—where else would she go?

  Rave returned in less than two minutes, carrying a sack of dried fruit, a hunk of cheese and some strips of jerky he told her was venison.

  As hungry as she was, breakfast was delicious—as good as anything Denny’s could have whipped up, she thought as she washed her meal down with water from her pack. The venison had been a bit salty, so she drank thirstily, not worrying about conserving her water. She knew the volkaanes would have a source of fresh water somewhere nearby.

  “That was great,” she said when she was finished. She looked down at her hands, which had gotten a bit greasy and sticky. “I don’t suppose you have any napkins around, do you?”

  Rave smiled. “No, but I’ve got something better.”

  He held his hands out, palms up. Tiny blue flames appeared from his fingertips, smaller and less bright than any Leesa had seen from him before.

  “Give me your hands,” he said.

  Leesa laid her fingers onto his palms. Her hands immediately grew warm, almost hot. The heat was more intense than what she usually got when he touched her without the flames. As good as that felt, this felt better. She could almost feel the grease and dirt dissolving.

  In less than thirty seconds, her hands were perfectly clean. She watched in disappointment as Rave extinguished his fire. She closed her fingers over his, not wanting the moment to end. A sudden, deliciously naughty thought rose in her head. If his fire felt that awesome on her hands, what would it feel like if he touched her with it somewhere else? She felt herself blushing.

  The look in Rave’s eyes told her he noticed her cheeks growing pink. Of course he did—he noticed ever
ything.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked.

  Leesa stared into his deep brown eyes. God, she loved him. She wondered where it might lead if she told him what she was actually thinking.

  “I was thinking about how much I love you,” she said, not lying, but not telling him everything, either.

  Rave smiled. “Because I can clean your hands so easily?” he asked teasingly.

  Leesa smiled back. “That, and about a thousand other things.”

  Rave drew her close against him, then let go of her hands and wrapped his arms around her back, engulfing her in his hug. She sighed into his chest.

  “I love you, too,” he whispered into her ear.

  An exquisite, moist warmth followed his words as his tongue found her ear. She shivered in delight as he moved his tongue in a slow circle before withdrawing it. She took a moment to catch her breath before inching her face away from his chest and looking up at him. Her earlier thought returned to her.

  “Do you have more control over the fire in your fingers than you do from your mouth?” she asked.

  Rave looked a little confused. “What do you mean?”

  “If you lose control of your fire when you kiss me, I’m toast. But what about with your fingers? Could you kill me that way, too?”

  Rave shook his head. “No. I could burn you a bit if I lost control, but that’s about it. Why? Did you think you might be in danger when I was cleaning your hands?”

  Leesa smiled. “No, I definitely was not thinking that.” She gently pulled his shirt out from the waist of his pants and ran her hands up along the bare skin of his back, thrilling to the heat of his flesh. “What I was wondering was how amazing it might feel if you touched me with a little bit of fire on your fingers—touched me somewhere other than on my hands, I mean.”

  Rave stared into her eyes for a long moment. She felt as if he was looking into her soul.

  “Would you like to find out?” he asked.

  Choked with desire for him, her “yes” seemed to stick in her throat before she finally managed to push it out.

  “Please,” she added.

  “No kissing, though,” Rave said. “That would be far too dangerous.”

  Not trusting her voice, Leesa nodded her understanding. Rave gripped the bottom of her shirt and eased it out from her jeans. He held his hands in front of her and kindled his fire.

  Leesa watched as the beautiful blue flames sprouted once more from his fingertips. She looked back up into his eyes and nodded for him to go ahead.

  Rave reached behind her and slid his hands up under her shirt, mimicking her movements from just a few moments before. She gasped at the pure pleasure of his touch as he stroked the bare skin of her back. The sensation was almost indescribable. Everywhere he touched, she felt as if he had opened up her skin and was injecting warm honey directly into her veins. She could almost taste the sweetness of it flowing inside her. Closing her eyes, she surrendered to the wondrous sensations.

  Rave eased her down until she was lying on her side on the sleeping mat. His hands never lost contact with her skin, and the incredible pleasure continued to stream through her. He brought his hands slowly around to her sides, and then a few moments later to her stomach. The feel of his magical fire against her belly was almost more than she could bear. A low moan escaped her throat as he drew tiny circles on her skin with his index fingers. An image of blue fire flickering inside her belly filled her mind and she thrilled to the thought.

  Unable to contain herself, she grabbed his wrists and guided his hands higher. When his burning fingers began tenderly caressing her breasts, she passed into a world almost beyond comprehension. Of all the words and thoughts shooting through her head, “heaven” was the only one her brain actually registered and deciphered. She was glad she was not the one who needed to remain under control.

  Centuries later, when she returned to earth and opened her eyes, Rave was lying beside her, smiling, just like when she had awakened this morning. A pleasant warmth still filled her body, but it was nothing like before.

  She reached out and touched his cheek.

  “A hundred ‘wows,’” she said. “No, make that a thousand.”

  25. A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

  How much time passed before she and Rave finally got back up off the sleeping mat, Leesa had no idea. Inside the dim confines of the cave, there was nothing to mark the passage of time. The sun never poured directly in through the entrance, so once the morning had reached full light outside, the illumination in the cavern remained the same, a kind of pale twilight.

  They talked, held each other quietly, and talked some more. She drifted off to sleep at least once, she knew. She thought she could easily spend the entire day like this, wrapped up close to Rave with absolutely nothing to distract them, but there was a reason they had come all the way up here to the mountains of New Hampshire. And it wasn’t to lie around all day like a couple of love-struck teenagers—even though that was exactly what she was. She smiled to herself, thinking that if she wanted to get technical, Rave was still a teenager, too—in volkaane terms, at least.

  She leaned her head forward and gave Rave a light kiss on his forehead, then reluctantly pushed herself up to her feet. Rave sprang nimbly up beside her.

  “I think it’s time to get to work,” she said. “I want to get in as much practice as possible while we’re up here.”

  “Can I help?” Rave asked. “Or should I just find a quiet corner to myself and work on Rammugul?”

  Leesa pursed her lips, torn by the question. She loved having Rave watch her do magic—in some small way she felt like it brought them closer, since he was a magical being, after all—but the more time he spent practicing Rammugul, the sooner they might actually be able to kiss for real.

  “How about you stay with me for a little while and then go do your thing?” she suggested, splitting the difference. “I definitely could use your help with one thing, at least.”

  Rave smiled. “Whatever you say. What can I help you with?”

  Leesa turned and looked deeper into the cave. “How far back does this thing go?”

  “Pretty far. Hundreds of feet, at least. Maybe more. I’ve never gone all the way in.”

  Leesa nodded. “I imagine it gets pretty dark back there, then.”

  Rave smiled. “You don’t have to go all that far before it becomes dark even for a volkaane. Even we need at least a tiny bit of light to see. Back there, there is none at all.”

  “Hmmm… I don’t think I want to go that far, then.” Leesa took Rave’s hand. “Let’s go.”

  She led him toward the back of the cavern. After just ten steps, it was noticeably dimmer, and when the passage made a slight curve, it suddenly grew dark. Leesa could barely make out Rave’s form beside her. The walls of the cavern might as well have been a hundred feet away, or a mile. They were invisible to her.

  “You can still see fine, right?” she asked him.

  “Yes, I can.”

  “Perfect. I can hardly see anything.”

  Leesa held out her free hand and pictured the spell she wanted in her mind.

  “Illuminati verdus,” she said.

  The golden orb that appeared above her palm seemed extra bright here in the darkness. The light shimmered slightly, making shadows caused by cracks and rough spots in the cavern walls seem to flicker and move. Without Rave by her side, the moving shadows might have made Leesa worry there were other creatures hiding here in the deeper reaches of the cave.

  “One of the ways my book describes this spell is as ‘a light to guide you in the darkest places.’ This seems like the perfect place to put that to the test. I sure can’t imagine anywhere darker.” She gave Rave’s hand a squeeze. “And just in case my magic light falters, I’ve got you to lead me back.”

  “Good planning,” Rave said, smiling.

  Hand in hand, they walked deeper into the cavern. Leesa had been hoping this cave might be like some she had seen pictured in b
ooks, filled with glittering crystal formations, sharp pointed stalactites and stalagmites, and maybe even an underground river or stream. They found none of that in here, however, even when they ventured farther into the cavern than Rave had ever gone. The passage twisted and turned, usually descending at a gentle grade and occasionally ascending, but it was always the same—rough walls and ceiling fashioned of uneven, gray and brown stone. Now and then tiny crystals embedded in the rock gleamed under her magical light, but it was nothing more than could be seen in an ordinary piece of quartz she might pick up off the ground outside. In some places the cave widened enough to be called a chamber, in others it narrowed so tightly she and Rave had to walk single file. Even then, she kept a firm grip on Rave’s hand, just in case.

  Despite the lack of beauty or unusual discoveries, Leesa was hardly disappointed. Her light remained bright and strong, even after more than fifteen minutes of steady walking. The illumination from her hand spanned at least a dozen feet in front of them and almost as far behind, though the light to the rear was dimmer due to the shadows cast by their bodies. The uneven floor of the tunnel kept their pace slow, but even so, she guessed they must be at least a quarter of a mile inside the mountain by now. Her glowing orb was a light to guide her in the darkest places, for sure!

  They had just entered a particularly narrow, low-ceiling section of the tunnel when something suddenly fluttered out of the darkness and whizzed by Leesa’s ear. She let out a shriek as she felt it brush against her hair. Frightened and distracted, she lost her concentration and her light winked out. Blackness immediately enveloped them—a blackness deeper and thicker than any Leesa could ever have imagined.