Sam's eyes widened. That's right Sam....be scared. I was the one doing it and even I was scared.... 

Underfoot the sand trembled with the same cold intensity that burned my veins. It rose with higher with each pounding of my heart, and fell with each breath....we were connected. Sam screamed at the other guard to attack. The guard hesitated.  

Wrong move.  

With the flick of my wrist, he froze. Trailing my fingers up through the air, the earth pledged its allegiance as the grains of sand crept up his skin, covering him slowly, inch by inch. Sam's face morphed into one of horror as he watched the man beside him disappear under a sheet of earth. In a last attempt to keep his life, the guard snapped from his fear and reached for his gun...Tsk Tsk.  

I shut my fingers closed.  

Done.  

The sand settled, and he was no more.  

The barn door exploded open with a deafening boom. The rest of the men that had gone into the house stormed inside. Suddenly a shot rang through the air and unwittingly I lifted my hand, sending a wall of sand between us.....oh my god. The earth wasn't just an ally....it was mine to control.... Mine.  

In a test of loyalty, I swirled my finger and my wall became a swirling barrier... My own personal tornado... 

I smiled. Kheelan yelled something but it sounded more like a distant echo...I was too far gone. The same pleasure I felt while draining Jaime began to sweep through me again...Only then it had been that other thing within me. But she was bound. This was all me... 

Exhaling, I closed my eyes but it was like I never closed them because in the darkness I could see everything. Each grain of sand served as my new eyes and all their vision together gave me a clear picture of all that lay outside my tornado... I could see where each person stood frozen in fear, what they looked like, what they held...how they trembled.  

Was I scared? Yeah I was scared. Did I want to stop?......hell no. I felt free. I didn't have that other power pushing me aside. I didn't have Ivan stopping me.... 

Shit. Ivan! 

Reigning myself back in, Kheelan's voice seeped into my head, "The circle Charlotte! It's keeping him from healing!" 

Obediently, I swiped my hand, a whip of sand brushed across Ivan, blowing that damn protective circle to hell. Instantly the mist rushed back into the body...but nothing happened. His chest didn't rise or fall, his color was still gone...the bleeding continued... Why wasn't he moving?  

Through the sand, I heard rushing, determined footsteps. Turning, the men had snapped from their terror and were rushing toward me, toward Ivan...No. He was mine.  

Sweeping my hand across the room as if directing a lethal symphony, excruciating burning engulfed my arm as the earth followed obediently, wrapping its roughness around the running men. One by one, I wrapped myself around them, bringing their deathly steps to a halt. Curling my fingers into a slow, determined fist, I squeezed....draining the air from their poisonous lungs. They screamed, but I heard nothing. The sand that imprisoned them were my new ears....and all I heard was the ghostly beating of their hearts, counting down the seconds until eternal stillness... 

Beat.... 

Beat.... 

Beat... 

Silence... 

Releasing my fist, my hands fell lifeless....as did the mounds of dirt that were now intertwined with ashen fabric. What had I just done? Gasping desperately, I released my control on the earth....I was a monster! I....I was no better than them. I killed....I killed fathers and sons..... 

Tension built in my head and my tornado slowly began to wind down. A warm feeling trailed down my lip and touching it, blood. My nose was bleeding again. My body was breaking down. But it didn't matter...it still had enough for one more thing....one more person....  

A quick determined flick of my hand sent a whirlwind sweeping up Sam's body, gripping his legs. I could've devoured him as fast as the others...but I wanted to enjoy him. Just as he'd enjoyed destroying Ivan. Moving toward him, my eyes focused on his alone, on his black pits brimming with fear. Fear that sent a slow smile creeping onto my bloody lips. I could think of nothing more than putting my blazing hands on him and letting my hunger possess his entire body. I would slowly consume him...torching him from the inside out... starting with his lungs...then his heart. I would steal every breath and every beat until nothing remained but the glow of his dying embers.... 

There was a whimper...."Charlotte...."  

Ivan! Turning, Ivan's weakened eyes fluttered open. Tearing myself from sucking Sam dry with the greatest pleasure, I ran to him. The overwhelming hunger settled, replaced with a shivering desperation. I knelt beside him, sweeping his limp body to mine. He was cold, and shaking and still bleeding so much!  

Stroking away the blood, I searched his beautiful face,"Tell me what to do Ivan, I don't know what to do" I pleaded through the tears but he didn't answer. He just looked at me disoriented and confused. 

"Kheelan!!" I screamed but he was silent. Looking over at him, Sam held a knife to his throat...oh god. The pressure in my head was mounting and no matter how fast my heart thundered, the sand lay still. There was nothing, just my blood pouring down onto Ivan. 

'Absorb his pain charlotte and the body will heal' Kheelan said softly into my head, obviously wanting to calm me down but the urgency in his voice was undeniable.  

I trembled violently, looking at Ivan lying in my arms barely alive and Kheelan in so much danger, 'Don't worry about me Charlotte!" he growled, "Take him into you, feel him...Let him take from you as you give yourself to him'  

Take him into me? Absorb his pain? How the hell was I supposed to do that?! I'd only absorbed life-forces....was it the same? In the classroom, when I kissed him, pulling the life from him...Maybe if I did the same but just focused on the pain.... 

"Do it Charlie!"  

Nodding through my girlish tears, I brushed Ivan's disheveled hair from his eyes with trembling hands....and holding him close, I kissed him.... 

Between the tears and the blood, I brought our lips together... but he didn't move.  

"Ivan," I whimpered, kissing his blackened eyes and bruised brow and every part of his broken face, "take from me...you're supposed to take from me" I implored desperately, kissing him once more. Again, the kiss was not reciprocated.  

Taming the desperation that threatened to kill me, I gripped his collar, 'Dammit Ivan please..." I begged against his mouth "I need you...." And in a last attempt, I pressed my lips against his.... 

He gasped! And like a ravaging starvation, his mouth suddenly flooded mine with a suffocating need, pulling me closer and deeper. The pain! It ripped and tore through me but when I went to scream, Ivan sent his kiss deeper. The frantic desperation behind his kiss proved how much he needed me. He was hurting. I could feel it all over me...I could taste it. My nails dug into him as I screamed into our kiss, feeling the crushing pain. With each stroke of our tongues, I pulled the bitterness that was the pain. It was a smoke invading my lungs, leaving me breathless. Suddenly arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer, wanting to invade every single part of me. Shocked, I pulled away only to see Ivan's beautiful eyes piercing mine. The gash was gone, as were some of the bruises. He still bled, but he was alive. Struggling for breath, we looked at each other, as if seeing so much more than what was there. I was tired. I didn't think I had much else to give but the primal look in his eyes sent a fire blazing through me. 

"More" he breathed raggedly.... How could I deny him? Crashing together with a severe need, I almost pleaded for the pain as it would only draw him deeper when I screamed. More pain and more pleasure. But then there was no more pain...just a bliss that made my skin burn.  

In the darkness of my closed eyes, I sensed everything going red, and opening them I realized, I was glowing again.  

"What are they doing? Tell me! Is she doing the time thing again? Tell me!" Sam interrogate Kheelan. Hell, I wanted to know the same thing. Kheelan had healed me, though slight, he still healed and it was nothing like what I was doing. This was just happening.... 

Watching wide eyed and confused, Sam didn't notice Kheelan loosen his binds "What are they doing?!" he thundered again. 

"What do you think? They're fusing!"  

What? Fusing? 

"Fusing?" Sam asked, echoing my own question. Kheelan chuckled, taking hold of Sam and effortlessly slamming him over his head onto the sandy ground, "They're mating...becoming one..." 

My eyes shot back to Ivan who gazed at me in awe. Could it be? I was only supposed to be healing...but...what the hell. I couldn't stop. The feeling was so pure I didn't want to stop. Kheelan told me to give all of me and me was all I had to give.... 

Tears of uncertainty and pleasure trickled from my eyes, falling onto Ivan's cheek and in that intimacy, his hand smoothed around the back of my neck, bringing me back to lips. Not because he needed me....but because he wanted me. The thought exhilarated me beyond control, intensifying my glow until it enveloped us into a flaming ball of light.  

Feeling as if though no longer in my body, I opened my eyes and saw nothing but the two of us together.... formless and free... 

******************* 

.... Oooo I'm so excited for the next chapter...it'll be very fantasy driven so prepare your minds hahaha 

:) 

xoxo