Wicked Flames (Solsti Prophecy)

by Sharon Kay

  “I’ve met her on video chats. She talks to the girls all the time. She’s cute,” Rhys said.

  Mathias snorted. “I don’t care what she looks like. She needs to get with the program.”

  “Get with the program?” A rolling laugh shook Rhys’s shoulders and he leaned forward, bracing his hands on his thighs. “Shit, man, you really drew the short straw. I’ve met her online, and only online. You know why? Because she wants nothing to do with our world. Nada. She won’t even come for a visit.”

  Mathias chucked his towel across the room, where it landed in a plastic hamper. “Thanks for the encouragement, dick.”

  “I’m just sayin’, you’ve been warned. She hasn’t even met her sisters’ mates in person. Says she knows enough demons down at University of Illinois. Probably just a bunch of whiny-ass frat boys.” Rhys cracked open a fresh water bottle. “That girl wouldn’t know a demon if one bit her pretty little neck.”

  Mathias’s eyes snapped to his friend. If Rhys’s words were true, then Ria was doing her job. Glued to Gin’s side, subtly steering her away from any other supernatural creatures they may encounter, and protecting her life no matter what. Sounds like it hasn’t come to that, thank the gods.

  Not that he’d ever doubt Ria’s skills. She had a knack for fitting into any situation, whether it required finesse or rough-and-tumble. But handling Gin Bonham might prove to be their trickiest assignment in years.

  “Let’s eat.” The two Watchers walked out into a hallway and up the stairs from the basement training room. The house was old and huge, but offered every modern convenience. Passing into the kitchen, a sweet familiar scent enticed Mathias’s nose.

  “S’ up, girls?” Rhys grinned at the two women standing at the granite topped island.

  “Oh good, you guys can be the judges,” Nicole said.

  “Judges?” Mathias asked. “Do I want to know?”

  “We’re having a sisterly competition to see who can heat their hot chocolate faster. Solsti style,” Brooke answered.

  Kai burst into the room. “Whew! Is every appliance turned on in here? You girls cooking? Baking? Smells sweet. Must be you.” He wrapped Brooke in his arms and kissed her mouth.

  In the wake of Kai came a shorter Lash demon. Rilan. The others truly didn’t know how old he was. He was one of the Elders, a walking encyclopedia of immortal creatures, legends, and facts. His wavy brown hair frizzed in the humid kitchen as he took in the scene. “Good. You’re all here. Let’s move to the great room, shall we?”

  “Okay.” Nicole stopped pouring milk into a pan on the stove. “We can do this later.”

  Mathias looked at Rhys, who only shrugged. They filed out of the kitchen to the high-ceilinged great room, where Gunnar and Brenin sat locked in concentration, playing Halo on the well-used Xbox.

  “Some of those little purple aliens look harmless,” Nicole murmured, sliding onto Gunnar’s lap.

  The black-haired demon pressed pause, dropped his controller and kissed her. “Small but deadly, love.”

  Rilan plunked himself in a large armchair by the fireplace and didn’t wait for everyone to get settled. “We’ve got visitors.”

  “What kind of visitors? Here at the house, or here…on Earth?” Nicole asked. Her voice rose on the last word and she exchanged a look with her sister that wasn’t lost on Mathias. Those two had absorbed a lot of information in a few months’ time.

  Rilan waved a hand in a circular motion in front of him. “The Chicago metropolitan area. There’s been unusual portal activity all across the suburbs. I can identify the trace magic of portals opening, but whoever is coming through is masking their scent.”

  “You have no idea who it is?” Brooke asked.

  “Or what it is,” Nicole muttered under her breath. Of course, every demon could hear her perfectly, due to enhanced hearing.

  “No. I can sense when the portal opens and closes. But there’s no essence of the travelers. Whoever comes through is cloaking themselves,” Rilan said.

  “Is that hard to do?” Nicole asked.

  “Not necessarily.” The elder shook his head. “Some have an innate ability for it. And witches can create cloaking amulets.”

  “I hope it’s not Neshi demons.” Brooke shuddered.

  Mathias glanced at the brunette Solsti. He’d heard about her up-close-and–personal encounter with one of the beasts a few months ago. With four arms and rows of razor teeth, her reaction to the Neshi was more than understandable.

  “You got locations of the portal energy bursts?” Rhys asked, walking to the bank of three computers at one end of the room.

  As the Elder rattled off names of several towns near Chicago, Rhys’s fingers flew across the keyboard. “Shit, man.” He leaned forward to peer at his screen. “Guess what all these ‘burbs have in common? They all have water treatment facilities.”

  “Where was the most recent visit?” Mathias walked over to Rhys and peered at the screen.

  “The most recent energy discharge was within a few miles of here,” Rilan said.

  Rhys’s fingers tapped a staccato beat on the desk. “That would have to be North Chicago. There’s a treatment plant there.”

  Mathias rubbed his hands together. Sparring and stalking equaled a perfect night. The only thing missing was a pair of sweet female thighs. But that would have to wait. It didn’t matter if the portal-traveling creature cloaked itself—Mathias could still track it. “What do you say, boys? I don’t have to head downstate until tomorrow. You got me here for the night. Let’s check it out.”

  “Fuck yeah,” Rhys drawled.

  Rilan nodded, a genuine smile on his face. “Yes, we’re lucky to have Mathias with us. Gunnar and Brenin, you stay here and run your usual patrols in the city. Kai, Rhys, and Mathias can go.”

  “Let’s move.” Mathias stood and headed for the kitchen where the rear door would lead them to the demons’ vehicles.

  Rhys hopped over an armchair to follow on his heels. “You are not driving, man. Here in the good ole US of A, cars need to follow rules. Unlike whatever country your last assignment was in.”

  “It was Brazil, and the road rules were optional.” Mathias grabbed a set of keys from a row of hooks on the wall. “Anyway, a cop won’t remember what he can’t remember, right?” He tossed the keys to Rhys.

  Kai jogged into the kitchen. “Sweet. Gotta give the Hunter props. I’ve seen him scrub memories and he’s smooth.”

  “Christ, enough with the fairy dust.” Rhys grabbed a leather jacket and headed out to a black Escalade.

  “You take him down on the mats or something?” Kai handed Mathias a leather coat and shrugged into one of his own.

  “You know it.” Mathias stepped out into the December night and zipped up the borrowed, yet perfectly-fitting coat. Watcher homes always had extra clothes, sized for warriors.

  Kai laughed as they piled into the SUV. “Good to have you here, man.”

  With Rhys behind the wheel, the car hurtled north past a blur of lights. So much for rules of the road. Rhys had reduced a twenty-minute trip to ten.

  They parked a half mile from the water treatment plant and went in on foot through thick pines. Before leaving the cover of the trees, they spotted a six-foot-tall chain-link fence ringing the perimeter. A security guard and a German Shepherd walked past a metal gate, setting a brisk pace across the grounds.

  “Sense anything?” Kai asked Mathias.

  Mathias inhaled a troubling mix of scents. Every fighting instinct flared to life. “Hell yeah. Faint trace of portal magic and a god-awful smell. Quarter mile east.” Mathias jerked his chin toward it. There were only a few creatures that smelled that bad, and none of them belonged on Earth.

  With the guard and dog out of sight, the three Watchers darted to the fence and leaped over it easily. They landed softly on the snow-covered ground. They’d leave footprints, but Mathias could pull the guard’s memory if needed.

  Racing ahead of the others, Mathias led them to a
spot in the trees and stopped. The snow looked like someone had rolled around on it, and patches of brown grass poked through. More than one someone. But save for theirs, only one set of footprints led away from the mucked up ground. Two feet, large and booted, with a…no shit. The thin track of a tail graced a line between the left and right prints.

  Several supernatural creatures had tails, fae and demons alike. But that didn’t explain the other glaring issue.

  “Good gods, that smell!” Kai coughed into his lapel and shot Mathias a glance. “Your nose must hate you right now.”

  “Fucking trolls?” Rhys propped hands on his hips.

  “Trolls who came through a portal and left again, without leaving this little area.” Mathias stared at the receding trail. “And who have a friend.” He squatted down and plucked a handful of dormant brown grass, sifting the blades between his fingers. “Two trolls and one…” he took a deep inhale. “Deserati.” Bingo. Deserati demons each had a tail and small horns, but could hide them with magic. All the better to blend in on Earth.

  “That’s fucked up.” Kai paced a line. “Trolls can’t just walk around here.”

  “No shit. Even humans would notice the smell. Then there’s that skin…” Rhys wrinkled his nose. A troll’s skin looked like cracked stone. Jagged lines ran up and down their limbs, breaking and re-forming with each motion. In fact, sometimes they left a trail of fine dust, the color varying, depending on their skin tone.

  “And their fingers. Decayed, but still lethal.” Mathias shook his head and started to rise, but stilled as he registered a new scent. Faintly floral, slightly antiseptic, it teased his nose like an olfactory ghost, hovering beneath the stronger troll and demon scents.

  Examining the area, he spotted its source. Ten feet in front of him lay a patch of snow that was darker than the winter ground. A small design, no larger than his palm…irregular, like something had spilled. He closed the distance and bent again, resting his fingers on the frozen earth. And then, the next cluster bomb of undeniable fact exploded in his mind.

  “Kai, Rhys.” His voice was low with wonder-tinged apprehension.

  “What’d you fin—”

  “What the fu—”

  His fellow Watchers fell silent behind him.

  Poking up defiantly from the frozen ground was a tiny patch of new grass. Healthy. Green. Pliant. Mathias ran a hand gingerly across the tops of the blades, then plucked one and raised it to his nose. He was met with the familiar sweet tang of a freshly mown yard.

  He looked up at his comrades. “I may not have spent much time in Chicago, but the calendar says December.” He stood and twisted the blade between his fingers. “No other green grass around.”

  Rhys eyed the grass and shook his head. “That’d be a hell no.”

  “And there’s a scent here that I can’t ID.” Mathias’ gaze flicked between his friends.

  Kai’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that a first for you?”

  “No, but it’s been a while. A long while since that’s happened.”

  “Does it remind you of anything?” Rhys asked.

  “It’s like a flower, but not one I can place on Torth or Earth. And it has a chemicalish, sterile note. Doesn’t add up. Part flower, part…doctor’s office?” Mathias frowned at the grass in his hand.

  “So we have a portal, a Deserati, two trolls, and magic grass?” Rhys rubbed the back of his neck. “The trolls are gone, but we should bring this to Rilan. Maybe he can figure out how it grew in the middle of winter.”

  “And our Deserati friend?” Kai asked. “Wanna pay him, or her, a visit?”

  “It’s a him.” Mathias could identify gender as well as species.

  “These places have pretty high tech security.” Rhys turned to Mathias. “I know you can scrub memories, but there are a lot of people working and a lot of cameras in there. I know a guy who can hack any system. Parker. Dude’s fucking brilliant. Let me call him first.”

  “A human?” Kai asked.

  “Yeah. Worked with him on my last assignment in Washington, DC.” Rhys chuckled. “Got a mind like a motherboard.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Mathias scooped up two heaping handfuls of dirt and grass. “Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER 3

  BIG BAND MUSIC AND CLUSTERS of white lights beckoned to Gin as she walked down the long hall toward the banquet room. One strappy silver dance shoe after the other landed on the plush black carpet, her knee-length skirt swishing against her legs. The red silk moved like water, its full skirt perfect for dancing, and silver-accented halter straps kept the whole thing in place. The chatter of voices grew louder as she walked closer. She thrust her shoulders back and stepped into the crowded room.

  She may as well have walked into a winter scene decorated by fairies. And, thanks to her sisters, she knew for a fact that the little creatures existed. Were they good or bad? She could never remember. Whatever. She didn’t plan on meeting any of them.

  Navigating the packed room, she headed for the bar and mentally congratulated the student decorating committee. Green cloth covered every table. Fake snow was dusted on top, and bright red berries on branches were twisted into elegant centerpieces. Artificial trees lined the room, some green some white, all wrapped in twinkling holiday lights. Each member of the student jazz band wore a red Santa hat as they belted out Glen Miller’s “I’ll be Home for Christmas.”

  “Hey, girl!” Her friend Ria stopped her and pulled her in for a hug. “You look gorgeous! What’s that line from Terminator—we’re too good for human men? That’s you.” She stepped back and grabbed Gin’s hand, holding it out at arm’s length, assessing her. “With those shoes, you’re almost as tall as me.”

  “Pfft. Not quite.” Gin grinned and slapped her friend’s palm in a high five. “You look amazing yourself.” Ria’s curvy six-foot frame was poured into a slinky green dress, free of embellishment but plunging to a dangerous depth in front. “Did you use tape?” Gin asked, nodding at Ria’s cleavage.

  “You know it. Locked and loaded.” Ria winked at her. “Let’s make a toast.”

  They linked arms and walked the short distance to the bar. Ria flashed a megawatt smile at the twenty-something bartender and asked for two glasses of champagne. How he filled the flutes without spilling, Gin had no idea. He never took his eyes off Ria.

  Ria handed one drink to her. “To being the hottest girls in the room.”

  “Ria!” Gin stifled a giggle. “We’re supposed to toast something besides that.”

  “We can’t help it.” Ria tossed a long, blond curl over her shoulder. “But fine. You go.”

  Gin cleared her throat and raised her glass. “To finishing my Master’s degree!” They clinked glasses and downed their champagne in one shot.

  “You go, girl. You worked your ass off for this.” Ria turned to the smitten bartender. “We may need the rest of the bottle.”

  Gin shook her head. “I can’t have too much. I have students here.”

  “Just pace yourself.” She waved a hand dismissively. “You’ll be fine.”

  “Miss Bonham!” Right on cue, a group at a nearby table waved at Gin and gestured for her to join them.

  “Here we go,” Gin murmured. “Be back in a bit.”

  “Which group is that? Science or dance?” Ria asked.

  “Which do you think? Dance. The band wallpapered the Fine Arts building with fliers for this event.” Gin knew some of her ballroom students would be here tonight, anxious to try their new skills. Her class was full of couples, “just friends,” and friends who were on their way to becoming couples.

  The undergrads in her science classes, on the other hand, claimed they’d rather diagram atoms than learn dance steps. And neither group related to her passion for the other. She was a true right brain/left brain combination. Talk about making it hard to decide what she wanted to be when she grew up.

  Reaching the excited bunch, she was enveloped in hugs from the girls as they oohed and aahed over her dress an
d shoes.

  “Oh my gosh, Miss B. You’re beautiful!” Caitlyn breathed.

  Gin chatted with the group for a few more minutes, then leveled them with her best teacher stare. “I want to see all of you dancing tonight.”

  They nodded effusively, but she pasted on a stern look. Making her index and middle fingers into a V, she pointed first at her eyes and then at them, before winking. She turned and made her way back to Ria, sidling up to her as the still-flustered bartender refilled their glasses.

  “Thank you.” Ria flicked a smile at him and put her phone away before turning to Gin. “You ever think about teaching dance full time?” She tapped a gigantic pinkie cocktail ring against the glass stem.

  Gin shook her head. “I don’t think there’d be enough interest over the years. Not enough to make a living. But people will always need clean drinking water.”

  “And who can say no to an orange tree that grows in the desert?” Ria grinned.

  She’d only known Ria a few months. How does she come up with these things? “That would be awesome. I’ll put that on the bucket list.” Gin smiled and sipped her drink. “I booked my flight today.”

  Ria nodded and raised her glass. “The UN will never be the same. I can see the headlines now: ‘Illinois Agriculture Science Major Takes UN By Storm.’” She drained her fizzy concoction. “I’ve always wanted to go shopping in New York City. Want company?”

  “Sure.” Gin’s veins were as effervescent as her drink at the thought of realizing her dream. The challenge of helping crops adapt to harsh climates appealed to her. But getting clean drinking water to every person on the planet was her dream. The UN’s program targeting worldwide water-related issues was where she needed to be. And how lucky was it that one of the top schools for this was in her home state? After this, she could conceivably work all over the world.

  Too bad that left zero time for family. She adored her two older sisters, Nicole and Brooke, who lived in Chicago. And they wanted her to live with them when her Master’s program was done.