The Glorious Flame (#2)

Chapter 31

Rouhem

     He watched out the window as he made his sandwich. There she was, a body in an infinite space. She was an angel with a devilish spirit. 

     He placed the other half of the bread on top with a sigh. She made her way back to shore, and his heart deflated when she tumbled onto the sand. Her limbs had given out, but the soft sand cushioned her fall. If he dare try to help, she would surely shoot at his face. 

     What the hell was he doing? What the hell was he thinking moments ago when he danced with flames? If anything happened between them, it was not something which would end happily. 

     He drunk in her form stretched across the beach floor and his hunger swelled. He had never craved another so, and it was hard to deny something he had tried to ignore since he met her: she was his Alter mate. An attraction so strong could only be explained by such a bond. It was a tricky detail about Alter culture. The idea of soulmates seemed ludicrous in modern day, but animalistic instinct did not evolve so simply. 

     Rouhem wanted a taste. He wanted to ravage her, to punish her, to worship skin abused far too often. 

     He thought back to when he found her. She had healed greatly in her sleep, but he knew things like this were far more damaging inwardly. 

     And they had ended up on some island. Rouhem understood that one's form of therapy varied from person to person, but he had the need to return in time for the trial. When charged, the criminals which played a hand in the torture of Inferno (as well as Poppy who has agreed to testify) will be sent off to George, prison for the dangerous of supernaturals. This was a place not to human knowledge. There was no place which could hold an alter or some other powerful being quite like George. 

     He looked back to the fading sun and realized she was approaching the house. 

     The door burst open and she marched through, right past him. "I thought you were making a sandwich?" she barked. His eyes strained to leave her shapely behind. Dayum! He look down to an empty hand. Well shit, he ate the sandwich without savoring the taste! 

     Rouhem needed to do something, anything. He traversed through the kitchen and into the living room. He plopped down on the couch, making sure the towl around his waist saved the seat from being soaked. Grabbing the remote, he flipped to a movie. Wow, humans were weird. 

     "Why are you watching this horseshit?" this came from behind, she was in the kitchen, most likely fixing herself the same sandwich. 

     "Pass me a beer, will ya?" He held out his hand without looking back. There was a swoosh sound before a bottle shattered against the wall beside the tv, feet away from where his hand was. He snorted. "You have terrible aim." 

     Her silence returned. God, he wished she would just tear him a new asshole and get it over with, and she nearly did when she first awoke, but this new strategy of quietness would be the end of him.

     "You know!" he sprung of the couch to face his first enemy and best lover. "This silent shit just isn't gonna work." 

     Inferno snorted and munched on her sandwich. The fire in her newly grey eyes was beginning to glow. 

     "You're right," he conceited and walked a couple steps closer, "that I shouldn't have left so abruptly. Afterwards, I should have called to tell you I was with my brother. It had been so long since I had seen my family that everything else fell away. But these aren't excuses. I want to tell you that I didn't leave willingly." 

     "Why not leave?" she demanded. Her sandwich was only half-eaten. 

     Rouhem wished to shake her until the studipity spilled out. "Okay, we are gonna play this game? I will tell you if you tell me why you looked for me? C'mon, tell me." He had his hands splayed on the countertop before they went on their own adventure. 

     She frowned. "I hate you." 

     Rouhem chuckled. "Yeah, and I'm ugly." 

     "You said it." 

     He would have none of it. "Let's get one thing straight here, I am one sexy beast, and you can't keep your eyes off of me." 

     She laughed this time. "Oh, really? Well at least I don't grope you. See, looking is very different than touching. You have more creep points than I do."  

     Rouhem threw his hands up in surrender. "Okay, so I'm caught. I touched a beautiful woman, hell, it was a whisper of a touch compared to what I could've done, and we both know it." 

    "I didn't ask you to."

     Rouhem was closer. He leaned in. "I am not a creep. You gave me permission alright." 

     Inferno threw her finger of accusation up in his face. "Well, I said not a word, so I guess you were wrong." 

     It slipped out before he could think it through. "Baby, you didn't have to say a word. You were practically panting! It's difficult misinterpret signals likes that." 

     Her cheeks flushed with vibrant crimson. "I'm gonna kill you, start running."

     Rouhem didn't move an inch. "We either hash it out here and now, or I take you over my knee and spank you into the realization that being mad at me is plain stu-" His head whipped to the side at the impact of her fist. He sighed. "Why is it that you take everything I say so literally?" 

     She came flying at him, but he dodged every swipe. It was in a matter of seconds before she had him on the floor. He said not a word when she pulled out a gun. Even as the barrel was in his face, he pointed out, "the safety is still on." 

     Inferno looked tense and furious. Could she really be so angry with him?

     He let out a shaky breath. "Do you feel better?" 

     Her features softened with melancholy. The grey of her gaze illuminated the rest of her features with a pain usually hidden. But she quickly masked it with something more level. "You deserve an ass whoopin' always. But what happened to me... you didn't do that." She removed herself from his vicinity. "I am sure if they didn't snag me then, they would have snatched up somebody else. Besides, as the Queen of Torture, it seems fit that I take one for the team... not that we are a team."

     Rouhem did not expect that reply. He got up. "I was an asshole, and I am sorry... Don't get used to me saying that." Wow, that was hard. 

     "What about in the water?" she blurted out. He could see that she caught herself off guard at that question. 

     His senses became alert, realizing that her emotions were altering. "Should I be sorry? Are you?" 

     She frowned. "No. Shut up." Inferno was gone, her voice fading off into another part of the house. 

     Rouhem couldn't stop his own smile. He grabbed a towel and began to clean up the front room of broken furniture. 

     Oh, what a mess.