Hellfire

Chapter Fifty-One

We had moved into the depths of Bath without a word as Lucius continued to battle his instincts and blood. I kept close to him, a small quiet shadow with flickering silver eyes who leapt to tug him to a stop by roads and watched his back for trouble, my bare feet warm despite stepping over the ice curling in Lucius' wake. He hadn't lied when he said I needed to watch his back. He wasn't there really. His mind was too busy dancing through the humans tucked away in bars and apartments, breathing in their mortality and humanity, to worry about his surroundings. He loomed ahead of me without a word, his pace lazy and his body dangerously fluid despite the frost clinging to him, his attention fixed on nothing and his mind prowling around mine, inhaling my heat to keep himself stable. He was calming at least. The meditative state he had delved into, flittering lazily amongst the humans surrounding us in vast buildings, appeared to be healing him. Those thorns about his mind receded inch by inch as he leaned deeper into his humanity and away from whatever he briefly became.

My eyes flashed in the dark as I trailed after him like a protective shadow, observing the cars roaring by in a spray of dirty water and the humans that drifted by here and there beneath umbrellas. I was constantly jumping onto the minds and eyes of everything around me, ensuring no one noticed the sudden change from rain to snow or that Lucius stuck out like a sore thumb; blood coated, teeth thick with predatory sharpness and steps acutely inhuman. Thankfully I'd become decent at nudging away attention with blood-magic. I couldn't do it in the way Lucius could, convincing mass amounts of people of whatever he wanted as easy as if he was breathing, but enough that the humans didn't seem to notice the mess he was in or the danger he posed. The sorcerers and beasts however I couldn't do much about; not that I needed to. Something about Lucius made them keep away from him, not daring to even come close. Either the terrible ice to his gaze, the tension knotted in his frame, or the frost sweeping over everything he drew close to warned them not to approach him for any reason.

We continued onwards through the night. My feet patted over ice, melting it slightly beneath my heat, and I kept a slight distance to Lucius, watching his back, his frost hair, the slight rippling of muscle with every step and the quiet danger. I had no idea where he was going. I had assumed home, but I was realising the route we were taking wasn't right. Not that I could ask him. His head was elsewhere, and I didn't particularly want to disturb him and risk him growing those fucking horns back. So, I sighed and followed, trusting him and focusing instead on ensuring no one noticed him.

At some point I just wasn't really paying attention to where we were going. Everything around me melted into a blur as I focused only on keeping him hidden, until my bare feet abruptly stepped onto warm carpet and yellow, artificial light surrounded me. I blinked madly as I took in everything, finding myself in a fancy looking foyer of a hotel with Lucius striding through the centre of it and people instinctively giving way to him. I narrowed my gaze at his back and very quickly didn't both trying to nudge minds anymore when he was obviously doing it now by how people scampered out of his way, and how he expectantly took a bottle of whisky someone hurriedly offered with clouded eyes, promising him everything he'd ordered will be up shortly.

We moved into a lift, which no one dared to enter us with. I side-eyed Lucius, at the ice over his jaw and the small amount of blood trickling down his face from a tiny bit of horn protruding from his forehead. He was testing his balance too much right now.

'No magic.' I reminded Lucius firmly.

He glanced at me sharply, the blue of his eyes glowing viciously, but I wasn't sure he could see me really. Normally my skin prickled beneath his gaze, my blood heating as he'd practically undress me with his eyes, but I felt nothing. I huffed a sigh and fleck of flame as he moved out the lift the moment it pinged. I felt on edge, not sure if Lucius was getting better or not, and there was nothing I could do about it. I hated it.