Hellfire

Chapter Four

Taking care of Ella was definitely less stressful now she wasn't glaring at me anymore. The moment she felt brave enough to leave her room the second day, she trailed after me like a terrified puppy. She didn't say a lot, just watched the house, how I worked (or didn't work as Lucius was away and refused to hand me jobs), and listened to me talk with Arnold and Mo. At first, I said nothing much to her. I was struggling a little with my temper. Anxiety kept twisting about in my belly and my hellfire converted that it rushes of ash I coughed out and an irritable disposition. I'd slide away regularly to sit by myself, trying to breathe and not think about Lucius, but, under Arnold's firm instruction, I forced myself to stop hiding and began to just tell her anything that popped into my head instead of waiting for her to probe.

She now knew about fairies and to keep the hell away from them. A fairy in a city was there either on the run or hunting down traitors, perceived or otherwise. They hated mortals vigorously and any that saw them, they killed. She knew that nymphs were only found by the coast or by lakes. She too was to keep away from them because they could seduce anything and then would eat you the moment they felt the moment they lost interest. She knew lamia were dangerous as walking bombs, witches that controlled stone and could conjure plagues and death for a laugh. She also knew vampires were the truest immortal there was and, just like nymphs, were incredibly horny but, instead of devouring you like a black widow, they'd probably suck you dry. I hadn't told her much about hellfire witches though. That was a sore subject, not that Ella minded. She just listened, absorbed like a sponge, and said little - her cattiness from our first encounter gone.

Then, the moment dusk began to creep, Ella locked herself up in her room and never poked her nose out. Night brought out Alistair and she avoided him like the plague. It bothered him. When I'd tell him Ella was hiding yet again, he smiled distantly, ran his fingers through his hair before stepping off into Lucius' office. Sam seemed most dejected though.

'I want to see her face! It's been a week!' She groaned not for the first time.

She sat sullenly in the kitchen, rubbing her face to wake herself up when she wasn't scooping up the porridge Arnold had made for the youngsters' breakfast - his special with cinnamon and honey. Unlike mine however, Sam's had taken the appearance of black sludge as she drowned it in her favoured blood – the blood of the curious. Food wasn't something vampires needed technically, their bodies would survive just on blood alone and some of the Traditionalists did so out of pride, only having blood as a proper vampire should, but they had tastebuds and food was an enjoyment to them. The younger ones did so freely, even Lucius to some extent. He didn't eat much, but he enjoyed drinking whisky.

'I know Susan should be seeing her face more.' Mo grumbled as she picked at her dinner, cupping her chin in her palm and waving her fork in my general direction a little to aggressively. 'You've been sneaking off too much. She's your job.'

I arched a brow irritably. 'You want me to hang around when I'm coughing up ash?' I pointed at her. 'You're more human than I am anyway. You should be getting involved.'

'Being human has got nothing to do with it. Ella knows humans, but not witches, and she trusts you more.' She stabbed at her lump of buttered potato. 'Actually, teach her something and do your job.'

'I have been.' I snarled, my tone unnecessarily aggressive as my fire rippled.

Mo glanced at me, watching as I shut my eyes and breathed out evenly. I counted to ten then turned my head to cough out coils of molten embers, then rubbed my face to try get rid of my unnatural irritation. I hadn't worked in a week and it was starting to show as my fire surged with ease.

'She doesn't know about you or this house and the people living in it.' Mo continued. 'Don't be so vague with her. Share experiences. I know it's hard but try to connect with her. She might start coming out at night if she actually knows what she's facing.'