The Síochán Ch. 04

"I wish I could tell you I regretted my actions, Summer, but I can't," he answered quietly. "I would do the same again to spend one glorious moment with you and I'm talking as a man here and not as a Síochán. Being with you was not about manipulating you to our way of thinking. It was personal entirely to me. You may choose not to believe it but I wanted you to know anyway. Perhaps it will soothe your soul a little."

He wanted to reach up and brush her curls from her face but he didn't think she would accept that gesture from him. She had emotionally withdrawn from him completely. So he was surprised when her expression suddenly softened and she threw her arms around him tightly.

"Thank you, Luc," she whispered softly. "It does soothe my soul a little."

He held her tightly, silently saying goodbye to Summer, the girl who had taken up so much of his time for such a long time now. She felt good in his arms, so soft and fragrant. He stiffened and held her away from him before his body betrayed his need for her. He flashed her a lopsided grin. "Perhaps one day we will be friends again," he smiled.

"Perhaps," she agreed with her own faint smile. No matter how angry she was with Lucas she knew there was a part of him which did genuinely care about her. One day she hoped to see him as a friend and not someone who had fallen short of her high expectations. Perhaps her expectations were set too high in the first place. Perhaps her issues were with the Síochán as a people rather than Lucas as an individual. It was something to think on.

"So, are you going to show me how to go down to the mortal world?" she asked, stepping fully out of his grasp. He smiled again and nodded his head.

_____

Nathaniel Ryan sat in the secluded back booth of the seedy bar on the outskirts of another nameless town in another nameless state. He had only been in the town for a few short days and already he hated it. The bar he was in was full of otherworld beings. There were some vampires and Weres, even a handful of demons. The place was a haven for non humans and it was protected by a powerful spell which essentially drew human eyes away from it if they ever looked too closely.

He had spent the last three nights coming to the bar, getting a feel for who was hanging around the town and what their purpose was to be there. He liked to know who was around in case he needed to move on sooner than he planned. He hated being embroiled in whatever otherworld plot was brewing.

He craved his solitude with a vengeance and hated to be among others but doing this same ritual was necessary to his peace of mind. Two more nights and he wouldn't have to come here anymore. He could manage two more nights.

No one approached him. His body language warned all away though he did receive many speculative glances. He knew no one would come near though, not after the first night when he had tossed the little female witch onto her ass when she had sashayed up to him thinking she had found a bed partner for the night. He smiled slowly at the memory. The entire room had gone quiet when the stupid bitch had stood up and tried to attack him with one of her weak spells. The look of horror which had crossed her face when she realised none of her silly little incantations worked on him had been priceless.

He could have killed her but he settled for paddling her backside on the bar while loud cheers rang out at the very thorough spanking he gave her. She would be lucky if she could sit down for a week after he had finished with her. Unless, of course, she could heal herself or knew of another witch with healing powers. The witch hadn't been back to the bar since that night and everyone else had given him a wide berth too. Which suited him just fine.

Nathaniel came out of his musings to glance across at the table with six demons all sitting closely together. They were all in human form, all dressed completely in black. Two were dark skinned with long black dreadlocks and black eyes. The other four were bald and pale skinned with eyes equally as black. The taint of their evil permeated the room and made him wrinkle his nose in disgust. These demons were up to no good. There was some killing going to happen this night which meant it was his cue to move on before it happened.

For the briefest of moments he considered staying, considered intervening and then the thought fled his mind. Once, a very long time ago he had gotten involved in things he had no business being involved in. Those days were long gone now. He was no longer a Síochán even though he retained all of his memories and still had all of his considerable skills too. Why the others had left his powers in tact he never could understand. It only served to make him the most formidable otherworld being to walk the planet, hence why the witch's magic hadn't worked on him.

He could do everything he could before he became mortal and then a vampire. Everything except go back to the upper Realm. Not that he wanted to go back but he found it curious all the same that the other Síochán hadn't stripped him of his powers when they cast him down to the mortal world. Lucas had been angry enough at the time to do so, Kincaid too. Perhaps Anton had intervened. His old friend had a habit of speaking up when situations became too intense in the meeting room.

Nathaniel gave himself a mental shake. He hadn't thought about the Síochán for such a long time, centuries even. He wondered why they sprang to mind now? He picked up his glass of red wine and sipped the tart liquid. He needed to feed soon. He was approaching the time when the hunger would become too intense, when he would be in danger of losing control if he didn't feed within the next week.

He was leaving it later and later to feed, pushing his endurance level to the very limits. He knew why he did it. Every time he needed to feed he thought of her. Pretty little Summer with her long blonde curls and bright blue eyes. With the need to feed came the need to sate his lust. He avoided all women until such times but when the blood lust was upon him he craved to slide deep inside a hot willing body.

He couldn't contain his sexual lust. It was a wild beast inside him which had to be fed as much as his hunger did. So he sated both lusts at the same time and always he saw those beautiful blue eyes shining with excitement and innocence, always he felt the soft, virgin flesh beneath his body as he drove into the woman he was with.

It had been over a century since he had lain with her and still she haunted him. How many times had he thought 'If only'? It was pointless to think that way but he did. If only he had taken her with him that night. If only he hadn't placed her family in such a deep sleep so he could enjoy her body with no interruptions. She would have been alive when he came back for her. He would have taken her with him, changed her into a vampire and have spent the last century losing himself in her sweet body, hearing her soft cries of pleasure as they writhed against each other.

Nathaniel felt his body respond to the mental images of little Summer's mouth sliding over his cock eagerly and he bit down a groan and drank more of his wine. It was pointless to keep thinking about her. She was dead and had been for a very long time and he didn't have the luxury of being able to go back in time and save her anymore. He had given that up when he left the Síochán.

The moment he thought of the Síochán he scented one. He stiffened in shock and immediately threw up an invisibility shield around himself. Did they know he was here? Had they seen him? Who was it? Lucas? Maybe Marcus? If it was Kincaid then he would avoid him. He had seen Kincaid once before and the expression on the Síochán's face had been what could only be described as hatred. Kincaid wouldn't approach him but possibly Marcus or Lucas would.

His shock increased when the second scent washed over him. Sunshine and violets. His stomach cramped and his head turned towards the door. It couldn't be! She was dead. And yet, standing in the doorway was the woman who had haunted him endlessly, Summer Melrose. It took him a few seconds longer to merge the two scents together, to understand and his breath hissed out furiously. 'Lucas!' he screamed in his mind, his rage at boiling point as he stared at Summer and attached the Síochán scent to her own unique scent. The bastards had taken her and changed her. They had replaced him with the only woman he had ever given a damn about. Something clicked inside his head, something hammered to be let out and he bent forward as a shaft of pain burst through his mind. He kept silent only by sheer force of will. When the pain subsided his memory was intact and he knew everything, every single little detail of that last meeting, the judgement passed on him.

The rage inside him was like nothing he had ever experienced. If it had been any Síochán other than Summer standing in the doorway he would have done his best to rip them to pieces as the memories flooded back. They had taken her away from him, stopped him from going to her, from saving her. His Summer. The young girl who had captured his heart when her pureness had shone through in the Scrying Fountain. His Summer who he had been tasked to eliminate from the mortal world forever.

Each memory crashed through him and his pain and rage escalated in proportion to the wrong done to him, the wrong done to Summer. How could they take her? How could they change her into the cold, unfeeling bastards they were? She was better off being dead than becoming a Síochán. The moment he thought it, his brain rebelled. Her death had haunted him for so long. At least she was still alive even if she was a Síochán now. She would know about him too. If she was on the mortal plain then she had finished her training and she would know all about the others who had made up the group.

He hungrily watched Summer walk into the bar and head over to ask for a drink. She looked as beautiful as he remembered. Her long golden curls were loose and cut a little shorter than when he first met her but the tresses were still glorious as they swayed around her tiny frame. Her beautiful face surveyed the bar slowly, passing over his 'empty' table without pause. He sighed with relief, pleased to see his invisibility shield still worked as strongly as it had done in the past. This was the only way a Síochán could hide from another, not that they chose to do so very often but it came in handy sometimes, like now.

His green eyes blazed with his hunger as he ran them slowly over her beautiful body. He remembered the taste of her breasts against his lips, the sweet intoxicating taste of her juices as he'd feasted between her legs. Those womanly curves were obscured by the loose black pants she wore and the white tunic style top which was covered by a black waistcoat. On her feet was a pair of knee high black high heeled boots. She wasn't exactly dressed for the era but she looked hotter than Hell in those boots and his body was rock hard in seconds.

What was she doing here? Was she looking for him? Her green eyes were once more travelling the room as if she were looking for someone. Did he dare hope that she had come down to the mortal world to find him?

Summer perused the bar again and tried to contain the sigh which was bubbling up inside her. She knew Nathaniel was somewhere in the bar but he had obviously cloaked himself behind an invisibility shield so she leaned against the bar in full view of the room to give him ample time to register her presence.

She knew he would sense straight away what she now was . Lucas had explained a few things before she had made the journey down. Her scent was masked in a witch's scent so the otherworld beings wouldn't know what she was but that wouldn't work on Nathaniel. He would know what she was the moment she walked into the bar.

So she waited impatiently to see what he would do. He could have left already and she would never know. She had seen him enter the bar, her heart leaping at the first proper sight of him in so long. He had definitely come in here and she didn't intend to leave until she was sure that he was no longer in the building.

Her appearance was attracting some attention, particularly from the group of demons sitting at the table across from her. She hoped they weren't going to give her any trouble. She wasn't here to be a Síochán. She was here to see Nathaniel, to talk to him, to find out if he still harboured any feelings for her. This was purely a personal visit and she didn't want anything to get in the way of it.

She sent out a tight, narrow psychic link. Lucas had said Nathaniel still had the abilities of a Síochán. "Nathaniel," she breathed softly with her mental voice. "I know you're here somewhere. Show yourself."

The sound of her sweet voice rocked through Nathaniel as he watched her from his vantage point. He wanted to answer her but something held him back. She had come looking for him but what was her purpose? Was she here to ask him to return to the Síochán? He wouldn't put it past the others to use her to try and lure him back into the fold. If that was why she had come then she was in for a rude shock. He would never go back to them.

He couldn't, not even if it meant he could be with Summer for eternity. He couldn't live that life again, eliminating people in the name of the greater good. How many other 'Summers' had he killed over the millennia? How many beautiful people had he cut short their lives all in the name of balance and harmony?

Summer's disappointment at Nathaniel's silence was cut short when two of the demons approached the bar and flanked her on both sides. It was the two dark skinned demons and their black eyes were fixed firmly on her. She stifled down a deep sigh at being interrupted from her mission.

"Little witches shouldn't travel alone," the demon on her right said in a low, guttural voice.

Summer didn't turn to face him, merely maintained her relaxed pose against the bar. "Little demons shouldn't bite off more than they can chew," she answered conversationally, her tone holding more than a hint of boredom. She just wanted them to go away so she could find Nathaniel.

The demon on her left hissed close to her ear and his rank breath made her wrinkle her nose. "You really need to clean your teeth," she said waving a hand in front of her nose.

"Maybe I'll clean them on you, little witch?" the demon laughed hoarsely and she shuddered at just the thought of his filthy mouth anywhere near her.

"Look, I'm just here to meet a friend. Maybe you've seen him? A very tall vampire with long black hair and light green eyes. Very charismatic but prone to being rather broody?" Summer watched the demon's eyes flicker towards an empty booth and she followed his gaze, staring into that seemingly vacant booth and wondering if Nathaniel was still there.

"It would appear your friend has left already," the demon to her right grated. "Don't be disheartened though, you have new friends now." His companion laughed along with him as Summer fought to stop herself gagging from the stench coming from their mouths.

"I don't need any new friends," she said firmly. "Believe me, the ones I have already leave a lot to be desired as it is. Adding you to my acquaintances isn't really going to improve my social circle. So, toddle off like good little demons and leave me to find my friend."

Her dismissal infuriated the two demons at her side and she tensed as she saw the other four across the room from them start to rise. Six against one wasn't great odds for a witch but then she wasn't a witch. She could vanquish them with a thought but she couldn't do so in such a public place. The otherworld beings would know they were witnessing something new, something different and they would start to try and find out about the Síochán.

She was mentally running through her moves to take out the demons in hand to hand combat when suddenly the two demons at her side were lifted bodily and tossed into the other four.

"Didn't Lucas tell you not to provoke demons unnecessarily?" Nathaniel breathed softly from her left side.

"He might have forgotten to mention that to me," Summer answered, a moment before she ducked to avoid the fist flying in her direction. She danced away from the attacking demon and spun with her leg out, the sharp heel of her boot spearing him in the groin. The demon shrieked loudly and collapsed to his knees even as she regained her balance and was reaching out to break his neck before turning towards the next demon to attack her.

From the corner of her eye she saw Nathaniel rip the head from a demon with practically no effort involved. There were already two demons lying dead at his feet and she couldn't help feeling impressed by his skills. He really was a killing machine when his ire was up. Being Zeal suited him perfectly.

The hard punch to her face caught her off balance and she fell backwards, tripping over the demon she had just killed and landing flat on her back. She felt her nose break and for a second she was stunned by the sharp pain, then her anger at her own stupidity kicked in and she rolled just before the demon who'd punched her, landed on top of her.

She was on her feet, licking at the blood on her cut lips as the demon roared and came back at her. He was incensed at being denied his kill and his thought processes didn't seem to be much above a primordial rating. She punched him squarely in the face, repaying him with his own broken nose. The blow stopped him momentarily and she followed up with a hard kick between his legs which brought him to his knees.

"Will you stop toying with him? It's not nice to let him think he stands a chance of living," Nathaniel said drolly, leaning casually against the bar with four dead demons surrounding him.

Summer spared him a dark look and broke the demon's neck with a quick, efficient movement. "You could have helped instead of making asinine little quips," she snapped waspishly.

His green eyes flickered to the demons at his feet. "I thought I had helped," he remarked dryly. "And you seemed to be doing just fine on your own." His gaze settled on her bloody lip and he frowned slightly before he dug his hand into his pocket and tossed some coins to the barkeep. "For your trouble," he said, turning and walking out of the bar.

Summer followed him, her heart thumping wildly. It was a combination of adrenaline and also excitement at seeing Nathaniel again. She wondered if he'd vanished or if he would be waiting for her when she walked out the bar.

Nathaniel was angry with himself. He hadn't meant to get involved but the moment the demons had flanked Summer he knew she was in trouble. She wouldn't be able to vanquish the demons by thought alone, she would have to physically take them out. No matter how good her training was, six against one wasn't good odds, particularly when she was hampered by being in a public place.

His anger at the Síochán had still been burning brightly within him. He couldn't take that rage out on Summer so he did the next best thing, he took it out on the demons who were getting ready to try and kill the little blonde. The demons would have been unable to kill her but they could hurt her. One of them had and it sent him into a dark rage. He should have done more to help her. He should have killed the demon who had dared lay his fist in her face.

He meant to leave the moment he was out of her sight. He could move very swiftly and he knew he could mask his scent enough to evade her search but he found he couldn't do so. He leaned against the side of the bar and waited for her to come out.

Summer breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Nathaniel waiting for her. She took a moment to let her eyes travel over him and her heart thumped wildly as her gaze ran over his beautiful face and down his impressive body. He was just as she remembered, arrogant, broody and so damned sexy she could feel her body responding just to his closeness. Nathaniel Ryan was all she had ever wanted. The question was, did he still want her?