by Zelda Knight
Stepping out into the hall, she looked through the window, wiping away the condensation and peering through the heavily falling snow to see who was there, but it was only a stooped old man in a huge overcoat and scarf, shoulders hunched with age and his arms hugging his body against the cold.
She didn't recognise him, but maybe he was someone from the village. She was quite new to town and didn't know everyone yet. White, whispy hair covered the man's head, untidy, thick brows looked as if they might crawl across his face independently, and his eyelids were so drooped and hooded that she couldn't see what his eyes looked like from this distance.
She beckoned to Ethan. "Look, do you know him?"
Ethan glanced out of the window and shook his head. "I don't like this, Kat. Don't go out there. It could be a trap."
The doorbell rang, startling them both, and Kat jumped back from the window as the man spotted her. "He's seen me now. I can hardly be rude and not answer. And what if he's hurt or he needs something?"
"Okay, but for all the good it will do, keep the chain on, just in case." Ethan followed her close behind and shimmered into his jaguar.
Kat cautiously opened the door and peered out, finding it hard to keep her eyes open in the icy wind and driving snow. "Can I help you?"
The old man took a step forward and Ethan snarled from behind the door.
"Sorry, my, uh, dog is really protective. He's not keen on visitors," Kat waved her hand behind her to shush Ethan. "It’s not the weather for being outside if you don’t have to. Is everything okay?" she asked.
The man stared at her for what seemed like far too long, as if he was taking in everything about her and assessing her. Finally, he spoke. "You. It's you. I've come a long way to see you."
Kat didn't know what to make of that, but after the last few days, that was probably the least outlandish thing she'd had to deal with. "Do you know me? I'm sorry, but I don't recognise you."
"I know your kind."
Kat raised her eyebrows, "My...kind? What do you mean by that?"
"Irresponsible, uncaring, devil-may-care, do what you want, no matter what the consequences, damned magicals." The old man spat the last word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth and began to rant. Kat took a step back, her hand on Ethan's soft back.
"You," the man continued, wagging his finger in her face, "It's people like you that shouldn't be allowed to live, shouldn't be allowed. When my Thalia, my beautiful Thalia is dead," he shouted, "because of people like you."
Kat didn't know how to react for the best, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for your loss," she said, gently, "but we've never met before, and I know I've never met your Thalia."
"It's your fault. It's all your fault," the man ranted, "You and your kind. I lost my daughter, my only daughter, to magic and I'm going to end you. Every last one of you. You take a good last look around because today, you're done. My demons couldn't finish you, useless lumps that they are, but I will."
Ethan grabbed Kat and pulled her back inside, slamming the door shut as the old man's eyes turned hellfire red and he raised his hands high, drawing power from the air. Sparks crackled from his fingertips and his posture was suddenly straight and unbowed.
The front door exploded inwards in a shower of sparks and Ethan shimmered back into human form and grabbed Kat's hand.
"Run," he shouted.
They got as far as the kitchen, but the back door blew off its hinges too and more demons than they'd ever seen before poured inside. Ethan pushed Kat behind him and shifted into his jaguar. "Go. Go now," he growled. "And don't look back."
Kat instinctively ran for the stairs, desperate to put distance between herself and the demons, but equally desperate to save Ethan. She lifted her hands on the stairs, waiting for the surge of power that she'd felt before, hoping against hope that her magic would work to save them both, but it didn't come. She had nothing. She could hear Ethan snarling and roaring in the kitchen as he fought to hold off the demons, but there was nothing she could do to help him.
She saw the old man in her shattered doorway, his arms raised, and then the whole world exploded into white hot fire. Unnatural flames streamed from his fingertips, climbing up the sides of the door frame, and raging across the hallway, engulfing everything in their path.
Fire licked on the bottom step and crept steadily up the stairs like a living, sentient thing, aiming for where she stood and driving her higher. Kat screamed and ran, turning to try again at the top of the stairs, lifting her arms to bring out any trace of power that might help her, but still nothing happened. She sobbed as the fire inched closer and her magic seemed more distant than ever.
The old man's voice rang out, calling to the demons. "Keep them apart. I want them to die alone, screaming, just like my Thalia."
As the fire climbed to the stop of the stairs, flames reaching out to her, Kat retreated into her bedroom and slammed the door.
She glanced around her room, looking for anything she could use. There was nothing magical about her house, that she knew of, and nothing that would bring out her powers. And although she had a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, she couldn't get to it. Even if she did, the fire was too big now, and whether these flames would respond to an ordinary extinguisher, she had no idea.
Smoke began to curl under the bedroom door and Kat started to cough. She ran into her bathroom and soaked the towels, stuffing them under the door, for all the good that would do.
The floorboards creaked and moved under her feet, beginning to warp in the heat. Kat moved away from the centre of the room, pressing against the wall in case the floor collapsed, and trying not to panic. She coughed again and went to the window, hoping for a way to escape, so she could run and get help, but when she opened the curtains, there was nothing but solid brick wall where clear glass should have been.
"No, this can't be." She touched the brick to see if it was real, and then pushed against its solid surface, trying to move it, but it wouldn't budge. She grabbed her hockey stick from next to the bed and smashed at the brick with all her strength but she couldn't even make a dent.
Flames began to lick underneath the door, burning up the wet towels and filling the room with choking black smoke and Kat dropped to her knees and crawled across the floor, retreating to the bathroom. She was determined to do everything she could to survive and get the time she needed to make her magic work. She just hoped that Ethan could hang on too. If he was still alive. She pushed that thought away, knowing that if she focused on him, she'd completely lose it and neither of them would have a chance.
Kat sat in the farthest corner of the bathtub from the door and tried to slow her breathing like Ethan had shown her, trying to calm down so that she could remember what had happened when the demon attacked her in the kitchen and she'd felt that incredible surge of power. She focused in on that feeling of power, sinking herself into how it felt in her chest and how it had felt when she'd released it towards the demon. How did she make it happen again? And quickly, before they ran out of time?
Downstairs in the kitchen, Ethan battled, scrapped, tore and clawed, using his powerful bite to rend any demons who came near him. There were too many. He knew it and his jaguar knew it, but he'd never stop fighting as long as he drew breath. The blood roared in his ears as his jaguar roared at his prey and pounced to shred yet another demon.
He tried to keep his attention on the fight, but he couldn't help wondering about Kat. Had she made it out alive or was she trapped somewhere upstairs? If he could only get to her, he might be able to keep her safe. But the demons kept coming.
A flash of light caught his eye near the doorway and he watched as pure white flames flashed across the ceiling. He hissed as the flames spread, consuming everything before them. The curtains went up in a flash and the old wooden dresser in the corner vanished as if it had never been. Fire leapt in through the doorway from the hall, pushing towards him and bringing choking, thick smoke with it.
He turned to find the demons lea
ving through the back door, and as he watched, red brick began to replace the window glass and fill in the space where the back door should be. As the last few bricks began to close the space, he shifted back into his domestic cat, closed his eyes, and leapt, knowing he had to get out and save himself before he could somehow find a way to help Kat.
Chapter Seven
Kat coughed again as choking dark smoke filled the bathroom. Her lungs were burning and she could barely see, and what she could see wasn't good. Fire was beginning to creep under the bathroom doorway and the door itself was black and smouldering, despite her aiming the shower head at it in an attempt to keep it cool. Water droplets hissed and spat, boiling away as they hit the wood.
Before long, the flames would be in the room with her and there was nowhere else to go from here, no way out. She only hoped the smoke took her before the flames reached her. She didn't want to die that way.
For the last time, she tried to summon every ounce of whatever power she possessed, focusing on trying to build up power in her hands, reaching deep inside herself.
As she watched, the flames begin to burn the inside of the door, melting and cracking the tiles on the floor and reaching out towards her. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see, and pushed herself as far into the corner as she could get.
Outside the house, Ethan raced around the building, as his jaguar, dodging demons that tried to stop him and looking for a way back in. But every door and window, every opening he could find was blocked by the strange red brick.
He knew it was hopeless, most of the house was on fire now and flames were shooting out of the attic window and through the roof. Even if he got inside, he had no hope of making it up the stairs to save Kat, but she was his mate and he had to try.
He scrabbled with his claws trying to dig his way in under the back wall of the house to get into the basement. Flames hadn’t yet reached this far and, until he knew for certain, he had to keep on hoping.
Fresh earth piled up behind him as he dug and he could hear demons behind him, commenting and laughing at his efforts, but he ignored them and dug on until finally he was through.
His powerful legs drove into the ground as he sprang forward and pushed through into the hole he’d made.
Inside, the basement was beginning to fill with smoke and he knew he didn’t have long until the whole house collapsed. Creaks and groans from the basement ceiling left him in no doubt of that, and whisps of smoke began to creep through from above as that ceiling too began to burn.
Coughing, he began to climb the basement stairs anyway, changing back to his human form to manage the door but, even as he reached it, flames flickered up the inside of the door and quickly spread, driving him back down into the small basement.
“Kat,” he shouted. He didn’t know why. She couldn’t possibly hear him over the roar of the flames, but he just had to reach out to her.
Smoke filled his lungs and his vision swam as his consciousness began to fade.
Chapter Eight
In the corner of the bathtub, Kat waited as the flames advanced towards her. Tears streamed down her face and she could barely breathe as her last minutes on Earth ticked away.
As if to mock her, the old man’s face shimmered in front of her, like a hologram, and he lifted his hands, fire somehow streaming from his fingers straight towards her like a blowtorch, even though he couldn’t possibly be in the bathroom with her.
He smiled, “Time to die.”
Kat flung her arms up as the flames came for her. And there it was, finally. A surge of power so strong that if she’d been standing up, she would have been knocked off her feet.
Cooling wind swirled around her, blowing the fire backwards and away from her at such a speed that the flames were almost horizontal. She focused in on the power, feeling it flow through her, feeling it rise up to meet her, there for the taking, and she stood, spreading her arms wide and focusing all her will on what she wanted.
Inside the house, walls and floors knitted together again as if they’d never been burned, smoke cleared as if blasted out of the house by a jet engine, and the red bricks shattered away from the windows and doors into nothing but dust.
Outside, the fire the demons had brought turned back on them and combined with her magic. They vaporised where they stood, their screams dying into nothing.
Kat’s knees wobbled as she finished the spell, pulling the energy she’d released back into her own body, but she was determined to walk out of the house on her own two feet, so that was what she did.
Outside in the icy air, soft snow still fell, but the power behind the blizzard had faded with the demons and the storm would soon be over.
“Ethan,” she called, her voice hoarse from the smoke. She coughed to clear her throat and tried again, “Ethan, where are you?”
For too long, he didn’t answer and her heart sank, but at last his jaguar burst out of the house and raced across the grass to her side. He leapt as if to attack, but instead, powerful, velvet paws curled around her shoulders and he rasped his tongue over her face, rubbing his head against her cheek to mark her with his scent.
He released her for no more than a second and shimmered back into his human form to take her in his arms properly and hold her tight.
Kat didn’t know whether she was laughing or crying, but all she cared about was that they’d survived and they were together.
When she could finally speak, she looked up at Ethan, “Did I get him?”
Ethan laughed, “Did you see that? You were amazing. How could any of them have survived? Of course you got him.”
“Let’s hope so. I really don’t need that to happen again.”
“Oh, I think you can cope.”
Kat smiled, feeling the power of her magic coursing through her, “So do I. Although, I don’t know why my magic didn’t work before desperate measures were called for. It was so obviously there all the time.”
“I know. I was thinking about that and I think you have defensive magic that can reflect back whatever power is thrown at you. That’s what happened with the demon in the kitchen, anyway. But that doesn’t mean that’s all there is. I don’t know a lot about it but, as far as I know, people’s magic develops and grows over time, so give it a month or two and you might be able to do a lot more.”
Kat nodded. That made complete sense and she knew she’d keep learning and finding out what she could do.
There was just one problem. After all that had happened, she realised that there was nothing left to do now, maybe no reason for Ethan to stay. He’d stayed to protect her, but that was over now, and she didn’t know if everything that had happened between them had been just because of the heat of the moment.
She cleared her throat awkwardly, wondering what to say.
“Well,” she said, at the same time as he did.
They both laughed. “No, you go first, he said.
“Ah, well, I was, uh, just going to ask, uh, if you were okay.”
Ethan smiled and cupped her cheek. “No, you weren’t, sweetheart. You were wondering if I was going to stick around now all this over, and the answer is ‘yes’. You’re my mate, Kat, so of course we’re going to see each other again.” He drew her close and kissed her gently on the lips. “In fact, how about we start right now?”
He kissed her again, sliding his hand into her hair and neither of them noticed the rather confused firemen who’d driven hell for leather to reach what looked like a three-truck fire at least, from all the billowing smoke, only for them to arrive and find a perfectly innocent, pristine house, and a couple who obviously wanted to be alone.
Epilogue
One year later
Ethan patted the unicorn shifter’s mane, soothing the remains of its panic as Kat laid waste to the trio of harpies that had been taunting it for months.
The last of the harpies dove to attack her from behind, and Kat didn’t even turn before casually blasting it out of the sky, just like she’d done to the other
two.
His jaguar roared in approval and then turned its attention to complaining about the distinct lack of food in its belly for the whole hour they’d been out here. Typical cat.
Kat turned to face him, her eyes bright with excitement and happiness.
Badass. He’d married an absolute badass of a woman. And how far she’d come in such a short time.
She strolled over, taking the time to talk softly to the frightened unicorn shifter, patting its side and stroking its soft nose. “It’s okay, beautiful boy. They’re gone, and they’ll never bother you again. I promise.”
The unicorn whinnied and cantered off, quite happily.
Kat linked her arm in Ethan’s, and they set off, ready for their next big adventure. It was a busy job being a supernatural guardian, but they were more than up to it.
The End
Check out Lillia’s website (https://lilliahunter.com) for news on hellcats, gods and goddesses, and more coming soon! There will also be cake. Just because.
About Lillia Hunter
Lillia Hunter writes paranormal and fantasy romance, with gods, goddesses, hellcats, shifters, and more worlds than you can shake a dangerous artifact at, along with a dash of humour, a sprinkle of magic and, of course, a happy ending.
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Also By Lillia Hunter
Can’t Buy My Love (Fighting for Love, Book 1) https://books2read.com/CBML
