Fan Fiction ❯ The Four Lords ❯ Memories of Love ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

The next morning Brittany awoke with a yawn as she stretched her arms out, only to have one of her arms to connect with bandaged flesh. Alex yelled in pain as he sat up and grasped his wounds.

"Alex, oh my God, I'm so sorry." Brittany stammered as Alex paled and began to pull at his bandages. Oh no, what have I done? I didn't even know I was in bed with him! Oh, I hope I didn't hurt him that bad.

"Holly, someone get in here!" Brittany yelled as she quickly got out of bed. Suddenly Alex cried out in more pain and Brittany turned around to see why. It was then that she saw flames start to rise out of his wound.

"Shit, get back!" Holly yelled as she ran in. She hurried to Alex's side as she tried to restrain his thrashing movements. "I can't hold him, hurry go get Shadow and Kiba now!" Brittany didn't move, she was frozen in place as she saw Alex struggle as the flames soon began to devour his chest. Kiba and Shadow came in as soon as they heard, they instantly realized what was happening and they got on either side of Alex to try and hold him down.

"I was careless. I thought last night that when he woke up he was able to suppress the spell. Evidently all that happened was it was delayed. Now there's no telling how far it has spread. We must hurry and try to cease the fires within him." Holly explained as she picked up some vials of liquids and began to stir them together. Brittany only stared as Kiba and Shadow held Alex down for dear life.

This is all my fault...I did this. If I hadn't hit his wound...if I hadn't fallen asleep...God what have I done? Brittany thought as tears rolled down her cheeks. Holly finished mixing together some more liquids and she noticed Alex had quit struggling, but still the fire burned within him.
"Make sure he doesn't move; he needs to get all of this." Holly instructed as she walked over to them. Holly stopped as her, along with Kiba and Shadow stared at Alex. They all felt a strong demonic pulse coming from deep within him. "No...move!"

In a flash Alex broke free of Shadow and Kiba's grips, at the same time slashing them across the chests and sending them sailing towards opposite ends of the rooms. Alex sat up, his eyes were completely white and he gripped his shoulders tightly, so tightly that his nails dug into his flesh causing blood to pour down his arms. He looked up at Brittany, agony, pain, and fear etched into his every feature. His teeth began to turn to fangs, but that only caused him to yell louder. Holly tried to get close to him, but she was blown back by a barrier that surrounded him.

"What's happening to him?" Brittany asked as she stood up. Fear wanted to consume her, but she her feelings for Alex kept her strong enough to face what was happening.

"This...this is bad." Shadow said quietly as he stood up weakly. Even Kiba seemed disturbed by what was happening.

"This is his last defense." Kiba said quietly as he stared at Alex, never taking his eyes off of him. "He's trying to go into his full demonic form to heal himself, at the same time erecting a barrier to keep himself protected. Right now he knows not friend from foe. His basic primitive need for survival has taken over."

"But you said he can't go into his demonic form. If it will help him to get better why does everyone look so upset?" Brittany yelled.

"Because lass, if he goes into his demonic form...he will die." Kiba replied solemnly. He walked towards the barrier and placed his hand on it to test it. He was blown back by the sheer force of it.

"It's no use. None of us will be able to get through to give him this." Holly said, the despair in her voice was obvious. She had already given up all hope.

"Will that make him better?" Brittany asked with a determined look on her face.

"It will cease the fire from spreading within his body, but there's no telling even after the fire stops if he will still survive." Holly continued sadly.

"Then give it here. I will give it to him." Brittany said as she held out her for Holly to give her the potion.

"No lass its way to dangerous." Kiba intervened. "He could kill you, besides there's no telling if even you could get through the barrier."

"I know I can. I don't think Alex will hurt me...he's in too much pain to do much right now. Besides, he needs me." Brittany replied. Kiba stared at her, then nodded to Holly to give her the potion.

"She's right lass. The Lord does need her. Besides she has the best chance to get through the Lord's barrier. Listen, we'll be right here. If he looks as if he might attack you get out of there." Kiba instructed. Brittany nodded as she slowly started towards the barrier. Alex was now growling in a feral manner as he shook with pain. Brittany placed her hand on the barrier...and her hand passed through it. Without hesitating Brittany continued through it. Alex growled louder as he pulled his hands off of his shoulders and placed them on either side of him as if he was ready to attack. When he took his hands off of his shoulders however, the wounds he had inflicted on himself began to burn as the fire escaped from his wounds. Alex quickly wrapped his arms around himself as he bit his lips hard, drawing blood as he quite growling. He was becoming increasingly paler and quieter.

"Alex...it's me Brittany." Brittany said slowly as she walked towards him. She held out her hand to reach out to Alex, but when she came close enough to touch him Alex growled at her. "Alex...please...I don't want you to die." Brittany begged as tears rolled down her eyes. Despite her fear Brittany placed her hand on Alex's shoulder and kissed his lips softly. "Please Alex...remember me." Alex glared at her with his white eyes, but they soon reverted back to their light blue color.

"Brittany...God it hurts...." Alex pleaded in a hoarse voice. His hands returned to normal as did his teeth. His eyes were glazed with tears that he forced back as he looked weakly at Brittany. Brittany smiled weakly as she leaned him back and lifted the potion to his mouth so that he could drink it. Alex barely managed to get it down, just as soon as he did he passed out from exhaustion. His barrier dispersed and everyone gathered to his side. Brittany sat on the bed next to him as her tears fell onto his chest. The flames that had threatened to devour Alex alive were dying, and after a matter or seconds dispersed completely. Brittany laid across Alex's chest as she cried harder not releasing her grip from him. I could've lost him. I don't want to lose him, I can't lose him. Why...only now do I see, I really do care about him. "Remember, you promised you'd come back to me. Don't leave me Alex. I will never forgive you if you do." Brittany whispered into his ear as she tired to pull herself together and wipe her tears. It was then that she noticed everyone staring at her. She blushed lightly, but still did not leave Alex's side.

"Lass, I don't know what to do with you sometimes." Kiba chuckled as he put his arm on her shoulder. "But thank you. I still can't believe you were able to get through the barrier. Usually, only a demon with the same energy could get through. The fact that you could shows how much the Lord trusts you."

"I'm not sure why, I just cause him even more pain. If I hadn't hit his wound this morning, I mean...I don't even know how I got in bed with him." Brittany said as she looked up at everyone. Holly blushed slightly as she raised her hand meekly.

"That would be my doing." Holly said quietly. "The Lord knew about it this time however and he didn't object. So don't blame yourself okay. This would've happened regardless. If it's anyones fault it's mine for not treating this curse as seriously as I should have."

After hearing that Brittany made up her mind. "Holly, I want you to teach me all you know about potions and magic. That way, maybe if he gets hurt again I will be more helpful." Brittany said as she looked up at Holly with pleading eyes. Holly was taken a back by Brittany's request but smiled as she nodded.

"Yes, of course. It would be my pleasure. I won't be able to teach you any magic of course, because demons aren't supposed to be able to use magic." Holly replied.

"But didn't Zanatos and Alex use magic?" Brittany asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"That's the problem. The Lord of the north can use magic, more than likely due to his dog Magnus teaching it to him. He's probably able to have the energy required because of his crystal. How our Lord was able to is a mystery. If he can use magic and the other two Lord's can't then there is something wrong because in all truthfulness our Lord is the weakest out of the four." Shadow commented.

"Only because they subdues his demonic powers." Kiba corrected as he stared at Alex. "So, how exactly is he doing?"

"Bad...very bad." Holly replied as she removed the covers from his body to examine his chest. "He used up so much of his energy erecting the barrier and trying to free himself of the subjugation spell that it ended up slowing down his healing factor even more. Kiba, you and Shadow go outside. Me and Brittany will take care of things here okay."

"Aye, if you say so lass." Kiba answered as he nodded towards Shadow as they left. Kiba patted Brittany on the back reassuringly as he left. "He's in your hands now lass."

As soon as they left Holly pulled out some more vials and bandages as she began to instruct Brittany what to do. "First off, I need you to get him completely unclothed so that I can make sure his body was damaged anywhere else." Holly instructed.

"What...you mean I have to take his clothes off?" Brittany asked timidly.

"He's asleep besides he's your mate and I need you to do that since you don't know how to mix together the salves yet." Holly reasoned. Brittany knew she was right and slowly leaned over Alex as she began to slip off his pants. That was the easy part, she'd seen him in his boxers before. Even as Holly was fixing the salves Brittany could tell that Holly was still watching her every movements. Brittany blushed a bright shade of red as she removed his boxers and quickly turned around to face Holly.

"There, all done." Brittany said in a relieved voice.

"Hmm, that's surprising." Holly said with a playful smirk as she dipped the salves into a red liquid.

"W-what is?" Brittany asked not knowing what she meant.

"You didn't peak." Holly replied as her smirk became a devilish grin."I would've thought this was the perfect time for you to see his manhood. But seeing as how you are too shy, I'll check to see if anything in burned down there."

Brittany didn't know why she suddenly felt so defensive about Alex but without even thinking she blurted out. "No, I can do it myself. After all, he is my mate, so it's only natural that I should." Brittany placed her hand quickly over her mouth as she realized what she had just said. Holly grinned as she waved her hands towards Alex.

"Be my guest. I'm almost through, so I need to know if I have to make more so hurry." Holly giggled. "In other words, don't take too long."

Brittany blushed even brighter as she turned back around to look at Alex. Her eyes were closed and she felt as if her heart would beat out of her chest as she slowly opened her eyes to look at him. She breathed deeply to calm herself as she began to examine the lower half of his body to make sure the curse hadn't burned through any skin down there. I can't believe I'm actually doing this! How do I always get myself into these situations? Alex would kill me if he found out what I'm doing, that's if I don't already die from embarrassment. Even though I must admit...no, bad Brittany! I can't believe I'm taking advantage of an injured man.

"He's okay. Only his upper body is burned." Brittany replied after she finished. She was no longer blushing, that is until Holly looked up at her.

"For a minute I was thinking you might be enjoying yourself too much down there." Holly teased.

"Holly!!" Brittany exclaimed as she started blushing again.

"I'm just teasing. Now, help me apply these to his body, then I'll bring up some books and help you learn what to do so you can do this by yourself okay." Holly stated as she gently carried the salves over to Brittany. Brittany nodded and after carefully wrapping Alex's body with the salves Holly left to go get the books.

"Look at you. I can't believe the trouble you get into. Even here your still standing up for me and still getting punished for it." Brittany said as she gently stroked Alex's hair as she sat behind him. A memory of them together in the human realm came to her mind.

Brittany was walking alone holding herself tightly as tears fell from her eyes. She had just gotten into a big fight with Alex and had left to have some time alone. She walked through the park to a secluded area by the lake so she could think. It was then that she ran into four guys who Brittany could instantly tell were trouble. The guys tried to surround her, but Brittany knew better than to let them do that. The first guy that came at her, Brittany brought down to the ground with a swift kick to the groin. She turned to run, but was unable to as the other's quickly caught hold of her. Even though Brittany tried to struggle the guy's overpowered her. The guy who's family jewel's had been crushed by Brittany stood up angrily as he raised his hand to slap her. Brittany closed her eyes and awaited the slap but in never came. When she opened her eyes Alex was standing in front of her holding the guys arm in his right hand.

"Don't you ever hit a lady, especially when that lady's my girlfriend!" Alex said coldly. Without warning Alex sent the guy flying with a powerful right punch to the face. The guy holding Brittany let go of her as he tried to take on Alex. Alex dodged his punch and grabbed his wrist with his left hand, nailing the guy in the ribs with his right elbow. Alex went to attack the other guy, but the fourth one knocked Alex to the ground with a kick to back. Before Alex had time to get up the other two guys started assaulting him. Finally the guy who Alex had punched got up.

"My nose...he broke my fucking nose!" the guy exclaimed as he too began assaulting Alex. In all the chaos the guy's had all but forgotten about Brittany. It wasn't until one of the guy's collapsed with a sickening 'thud' that they realized she had gotten free. Brittany knocked the first guy out with a large branch she had found. She swung it menacingly at the other guys, whacking one upside the head another on the right shoulder. It didn't take long for the guys to turn tail and flee under her assault. As soon as they were gone Brittany dropped the stick and ran to check on Alex. He was badly bruised and bleeding from the injuries he had received as he stared at her with a dazed look in his eyes.

"You idiot! Why did you do that?" Brittany asked as she cradled his head and tried to wipe the blood off of him.

"Heh, only you could make me saving you out to so like it was a bad idea." Alex whispered as he rubbed his sore head.

"I'm not exactly sure it was you who saved me. I think it might've been the other way around." Brittany teased even though she was crying. "Still...why...."

"Why did I come back? That's simple, I love you Brittany, and I sure as hell wasn't about to let anything happen to you. As long as I'm around, I'll always protect you." Alex said with a weak smile.

Brittany smiled at the memory. That seems so long ago. What happened between then and now? He said he loved me, but now...now I guess its not important. Brittany was snapped out of her thoughts as Holly came back in and handed her some books.

"I've got to head back downstairs, but read those books. The first few are on medicine. The dark black ones are some spell books I found in the Lord's library. The last one, that is the rules and etiquettes of a mate." Holly said, putting emphasis on the last book especially. "I think you might find that one especially interesting to you. Let me know if you need anything okay."

"Thanks, I will. You don't have to worry about me, I can take care of myself." Brittany said with a smile as she started reading the first book. Holly smiled back as she headed downstairs knowing full well that Alex was in good hands.