Warrior of Fire

by Shona Husk

  “She might kill you.”

  “No, there was a group of them.”

  “It might be a trap.” She didn’t want him taking risks, and yet if they did nothing, fate was coming to kill them anyway.

  “We have to do something. Keep trying.” He pulled her closer.

  She didn’t know if he was talking about them or Emily. It didn’t really matter as the three of them were linked. “I need something of hers.”

  “I’ll get you something.”

  “Then I can do a reading for her and more importantly track her.” Then she’d let Quinn do his thing. Hopefully Emily would face a very long time in jail, although what the cops would charge Emily with she had no idea. Maybe risking prison would put other Guardians off. The Albah were fighting back, but not in a way that would bring a war between the two peoples like there had been.

  They would fight using human laws against the humans.

  “No more waiting,” Julian murmured.

  Leira leaned over and kissed him. “No more waiting.”

  Chapter 12

  It was a cliché that male Albah either worked in medicine or in law enforcement, but many did because that was where they could use their magic instead of hiding it. As Julian did his rounds at the hospital, easing the pain or helping the damaged skin heal, he wouldn’t have it any other way. He had to believe that magic was a good thing.

  That he could do good.

  Last night had been better than good.

  This morning had been even better. He wanted to rush through the day and get back to Leira. The clock was ticking until everything went wrong and nothing they were doing was changing it. He wished he’d never gone to that meeting. That he’d called up and said that he was finishing too late and that he’d catch up later. But he knew that wouldn’t have been enough to stop this from happening.

  Emily was the key.

  Somehow, the moment he’d broken up with her everything had changed. He almost wished that she’d attacked him and gotten on with it instead of playing him for a fool and faking a relationship with him.

  Now he was the one having to fake the relationship because of the love spell she’d done. He’d sent her an e-mail this morning and when he’d checked at lunchtime, she’d replied. He would have to hide the disgust he felt. That was all he felt for her now. She’d killed even the memory of what they’d had. Tonight instead of having dinner with Leira and talking about magic, he’d be pretending that he wanted Emily back.

  He hated deception.

  But if he didn’t do this, Emily was still running the show. It was time to treat her to her own medicine and see how she liked to be the pawn in a game. The only trouble was that this game ended in death if he fucked up.

  He spent the hour between work and meeting Emily buying something new to wear. At some point he would have to purchase a whole new wardrobe. That was, of course, assuming he survived long enough to need them. He needed to find somewhere to live so he had a place to keep his new clothes. He couldn’t keep staying with Leira—even though he wanted to.

  He put on the silver chain he’d been given as a child. From it hung a small curved disk. It could be a shield or a scrying bowl, depending on if the wearer was male or female. The disk was barely bigger than his thumbprint. He hadn’t felt the need to wear it in many years, had stopped when he’d moved to Sydney. It had tarnished in his wallet, but that didn’t matter.

  The chain, though light, was heavy around his neck. He made sure it was hidden under his shirt. He had to remember he was meant to be under the influence of the love spell. He’d decided the best way to do that was to act as though breaking up with her had been a mistake and that he really missed her.

  Which was about as far from the truth as he could get.

  He wished he’d never gotten with her in the first place. Of all the women in the bar it had been her that he’d settled on. Or, more correctly, her gaze had landed on him and she’d found a way to make sure that he left with her, and only her.

  She’d been stringing him along for months and he’d been fooled. Perhaps it wouldn’t take much for her to think she once again had him in hand.

  By the time he was ready to meet Emily it was almost dark. He walked down the road to the café where they were meeting. It was busy with the after-work crowd, a place he’d been too many times with her before.

  Not a place he’d ever come again after this was over.

  Emily was already waiting for him, pretending to read the menu. He waited for a moment before going in. She looked so innocent, as though she could do no evil and yet she wanted to wipe out his people for no other reason than they had magic.

  He had to remember there was no reasoning with the Guardians.

  But Emily was an initiate, if his father was right. She hadn’t made her first kill yet. So there was still a chance. As long as he didn’t become her first kill.

  Julian forced his lip to turn up into something that resembled a smile and not a pained grimace. Then he walked over and sat opposite her. “Hi.”

  “Hey, babe.” She smiled as though she hadn’t left iron in his kitchen, or in his bed, or set fire to his house. How would she explain that if he asked? But her gaze was cool; there was no lust or even pleasure. Had he been blind to the calculating expression or had she hidden it? “I heard about your place. I was so worried and then you didn’t call.”

  “My phone got stolen from the hospital.” It had happened to other people. “Then I’ve been busy dealing with the cops and insurance.” That the fire had originated in his place was cause for suspicion. She had done this to his life.

  Was she planning on ruining everything just to see him wriggle like a worm on a hook? Was this love spell just part of that?

  She nodded, but there was suspicion in her gaze. “That has to be rough. How about I get dinner?”

  Once he would have argued and he’d have insisted on paying, but today he let that slide. “That would be great, Em.” He smiled and meant it. Picking up the bill was the least she could do. He even leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek.

  Even though Leira knew he was here and the game they were playing, it still felt like cheating.

  They ordered. And Emily asked about work and his family—that was no surprise. “Are you staying with them?”

  “No, it’s easier for me to stay in a motel close to work than stay with Dad.” If she’d been hoping he’d run home, she was wrong. “How about your family? Are they missing you and waiting for you to go home? You hardly talk about your mother and never about your father.”

  Emily shrugged. “I don’t know my father. My mother, she’s the kind of woman that you obey. She has high standards.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “I was thinking of extending my visa so we could spend more time together.”

  They had agreed that there was a time limit to what they had, but he was supposed to be under a spell and falling for her. He would have to agree even though he’d much prefer she got booted out of the country. “Maybe once I buy a new place we could think about living together?”

  Too much?

  It wasn’t the question that he wanted to be asking. He wanted to know how she’d become a Guardian. Why she wanted to kill him…or mess with him? What was her plan? But he had to bite his tongue. He was here to convince her that the spell had worked and get something of hers so Leira could do her thing.

  He hated that he was sitting here being as deceptive as Emily.

  She smiled and the wariness was gone from her eyes.

  For the first time, he wondered if she really did like him. She’d started causing trouble the moment he’d ended it. He glanced at the tattoo on her inner wrist. But how did she think it was ever going to work? She was a Guardian and he was Albah, the less than human creatures she was sworn to kill.

  Unless she was thinking about defecting, of not making the kill.

  Would the Guardians let her walk if she failed? At the moment,
she hadn’t hurt anyone, just been a pain in his ass. Kind of like the last month of their relationship, but dialed up to ten.

  He reached over and took her hand. “Are you in some kind of trouble back home?”

  Around her wrist was a gold chain. Several charms hung from it. He’d seen it plenty of times, but now he was wondering how easily it would come off. Could he melt a link and palm the bracelet before she realized?

  She bit her lip.

  Julian let his fingertip heat. The gold link broke and the bracelet fell into his hand. He kept rubbing his thumb on her palm as though he really cared. Maybe it wasn’t too late to turn her from a life of killing. He cared about that. But he didn’t care about her the way she wanted him to. He wasn’t sure that he’d ever cared about her that way, and for that he was sorry. Maybe if he had she’d have turned away from a life of murder.

  “My mother wants me to follow in her footsteps, but I don’t know if I’m cut out for that. Do you ever have doubts?”

  “Yeah, I do.” Why should he help people every day when people like Emily still thought him scum because of his ancient bloodline and his ability to work magic. Magic that she’d been happy to use on him. “What does your mother do?”

  There was a pause. He could hear the table next to him laughing too loud as they ordered another bottle of wine. Something fell in the kitchen with a crash. Would Emily come clean or lie?

  “She’s a rancher. Looks after thousands of cattle.”

  A lie. He drew his hand back, the bracelet hidden. He slipped it into his pocket and hoped that she wouldn’t notice that it was missing.

  Emily must have seen something on his face. “What were you expecting me to say? That she’s in a gang or a con-woman?”

  Either of them would’ve been closer to the truth. “You seemed so worried. I thought it must have been something bad.”

  “You haven’t hung around a lot of cattle.”

  “The smell?”

  Emily wrinkled her nose. Julian got the feeling that this wasn’t a total lie. Perhaps her mother did run a ranch as well as killing Albah. Would that make it easier to trace her?

  “You don’t want to be a Texas cowgirl? You’d look cute in a hat.” The words fell off his tongue before he could stop them. Maybe that spell was having an effect. It was still coiled around him, even if it hadn’t dug its thorns in. He needed to wrap up this date and get away from her before he accidentally fell for her.

  “Not really. It’s been nice being away from all of that, but she’s been asking when I’m coming home.”

  “Maybe she misses you.”

  He missed his mother. Not all the time the way he once had, but he was feeling it now as he reread her diaries with Leira. She wasn’t here when she should be. His father was alone and right now it would be nice to have another opinion on what was going on.

  “Disappointed in me more like.” Emily glanced away. “So dessert here or at your place?”

  “I have an early start tomorrow. Plus I’m feeling very unsettled what with all the recent drama.” And there was no way Emily was ever getting in his bed again, love spell or not.

  “You don’t have to be alone.” She brushed her fingers over the back of his hand.

  And he wouldn’t be. He’d be with Leira.

  Chapter 13

  Leira threw her bag into her car. She needed to get to the shop or she’d be late for her evening shift. She couldn’t be late. Saba was depending on her. She shouldn’t have lingered at university to try to appear normal to her friends. Instead of working all she really wanted to do was go home and read the diaries and wait to hear about Julian’s date with Emily. Some of the observations in the diaries made no sense, while others made it all seem so much clearer.

  It would have been helpful if his mother had made an index so it was easy to find what she was looking for. Halfway through the second diary, that is exactly what Leira had started doing. Which had meant that she’d had to go back through the first diary, but it was so much easier to look something up with the index. At the moment, it was on her laptop, but when she’d done all of the diaries she’d print it out. Despite all her reading, she hadn’t made much progress with actually doing magic, but her understanding was coming along.

  Understanding and practice, though, were two different things. It was easy to say don’t fear fire, much harder to do. Which then made it that much harder to control because she was so busy being afraid of herself.

  The car was running a little rough tonight. She hadn’t noticed it on her way to uni, but it was overdue for a service. She needed to get onto that. Next week, or maybe once everything settled down. She waited at the red lights, indicator ticking away precious seconds. She was going to be late. She’d hit every red light all the way. Typical. The lights went green. Her car sputtered and stalled halfway through the intersection. The car coming the other way slowed but didn’t stop in time. It hit the passenger side and spun her.

  Trying to relax and not freak out, she closed her eyes. Her car hit something else with a crunch. Her heart sped up in panic and her hands shook as she gripped the steering wheel. She cracked open her eyelids to see if anything else was going to hit her, but it was hard to tell as she was still moving. She tried to take control of the car but the steering was heavy and it wouldn’t obey. Traffic lights danced past her. Horns blared.

  Shit. She wasn’t even going to get to the shop.

  She may not even make it out of the intersection alive. Another car hit her and they both came to a stop. The seat belt snapped her hard into the seat. For a moment, she had no idea which way her car was facing or what was going on. She was alive. Her heart fluttered like a trapped butterfly. Flames licked over her skin.

  “No. No. No.” She tried to pat them out.

  She had to get out of the car; she couldn’t if she was covered in fire. People would freak out. The edge of her sleeve caught fire. Then the fabric of the car seat.

  “No!” But her car was now on fire. She had to get out even though she was still on fire.

  Stop panicking. Breathe. She fumbled for the seat belt.

  Her heart beat faster and harder with every second. The flames on her skin intensified. There was no controlling anything. The flames leaped to the passenger seat. She had to move.

  Someone opened her car door and was talking to her. Then they were yelling that the car was on fire. She finally got the belt undone and climbed out—or more accurately fell out. Her legs were all rubbery and joint-less. The interior of her car was well and truly alight. Black smoke was coiling out of her door. Was that her vision? Had she just dodged her future?

  A woman was yelling.

  Leira looked down. Her shirt was on fire. She should be screaming from the pain.

  The woman ran over with a picnic blanket and tackled her, trying to put out the flames. How could she tell them she was fine? If Julian was here, he’d have the fire put out in no time. Most women wanted a man who would make them burn with desire. She wanted one that would put out the flames. It was the laughter that tried to bubble up that put out the shirt fire.

  Adrenaline made her shaky but she managed to keep the fire off her skin so no one else panicked at the sight of her. She sat on the curb and was attended by the onlookers. Sirens were drawing closer. She drew in a slow breath. Her bag was on the front seat. A diary inside it. For a heartbeat, she wanted to run over and rescue the book, but it was warded. It should be safe. Guess she was about to find out how good Julian’s wards were.

  Her mum’s car was totaled. It might have been salvageable if she hadn’t set it on fire.

  Her phone was in the bag. Had Quinn warded that? Would it be safe from the flames? And her laptop, which was warded against theft and being dropped and accidental small fires. Saba had done that after Leira had accidentally ruined two laptops. Please let there be enough warding around it to keep it safe. She had to wait to find out. Her fingers curled in agitation. She needed
to save her things, but if she reached into the fire-filled car people would really get suspicious.

  She ignored the people who were pouring water from their drink bottles on what should be burned skin, and asking how she was. Let them think she was in shock and unable to do anything but stare at the wreckage. She stared into the blue of the flames that were consuming her car. Not seeing the fire anymore. She was looking past the flames, past the metal and into the place where she could see the truth.

  Show me the accident.

  In the vision her car stalled. The other car hit her and she spun, only to be hit again. She winced at the impact. That wasn’t what she was looking for. Her car had been running rough. The vision changed. Her fuel cap was undone and something was being added. What?

  All she could see was Emily pouring some white powder into her fuel tank.

  That bitch.

  Her car popped as the metal expanded. The vision scattered as fury took over. Flames flicked over her skin again. She tried to hide them under the picnic blanket. The more she freaked out and got angry the worse it became. People around her were getting scared. She wasn’t behaving the way they expected. She shouldn’t catch on fire for a start.

  Leira drew in a breath. She needed to talk to Julian about how he got control. She remembered the way he’d wrapped them in a shield so nothing burned. With him she’d been able to embrace the fire, not fear it. It was part of her. She exhaled and the flames went out. The fire was still in her blood but no longer on her skin.

  From the looks on the people around her she really needed to put on some hysterics.

  That was so not her. She’d rather fight than cry. Some would say she had a fiery nature. They didn’t know how right they were. For the benefit of the onlookers she gave up on numb shock and started crying. That seemed to make them more comfortable with the situation. They knew how to comfort her then. Someone offered her a cell phone so she could call family.

  Quinn wasn’t family, but he’d be more useful than Saba right now. Saba would freak out. Completely freak out. Leira couldn’t deal with that at this moment. She’d ring her sister once she’d spoken to someone who could remain calm in an emergency. Except that everyone had new phones now because Quinn was being paranoid. Looking at the wreckage, Leira was now convinced that his paranoia was warranted. The only two numbers she could remember were the shop and Quinn’s police cell phone. Neither was ideal.