Fire and Fantasy: a Limited Edition Collection of Epic and Urban Fantasy

by CK Dawn

  He chuckled. The woman had done her homework with the guest list and had seen his picture. Obviously, though, she hadn’t researched well enough to know that it was only his cover.

  “Just a line of business I’m lucky to do well in. I’m not exactly a tycoon.”

  “Aren’t you?” She smiled, tracing a finger down his lapel. “I’d like another glass of champagne, but these heels are killing me. Would you mind getting me another glass at the bar upstairs?”

  She handed him her glass before he could come up with an excuse to get away from her. As soon as his hand touched her velvet glove, he felt a prick on his finger.

  He shook his head to clear his vision, and then his world started to spin. The woman smiled at him. She thrust one velvet-gloved hand at him. He could see it better now. It hadn’t been her glove, but a gigantic diamond ring she wore that had pricked him with a needle.

  He saw the needle as if she were moving in slow motion. Or maybe he was seeing things that way because his mind had become numb after the initial jab. She stuck him once more in his neck. He knew what she was doing, but he couldn’t move either to grab her hand or get away from the ring.

  Oh hell, he thought before the image of the woman in front of him became blurry, and his world started to spin out of orbit.

  Two

  Liv thought it would be a lot harder to get a man of Lorcan’s caliber. His reputation in the business typically made his opponents cringe. But not her. She didn’t have much experience in spying, but she was sure she was a better assassin than he was.

  He was lucky killing him wasn’t her mission. Otherwise, the job would be a slam dunk, and she would be bored out of her brain for the rest of the evening.

  Lorcan’s knees buckled, and he fell into her arms. “Oh darling, you’ve had a bit to drink, haven’t you?” she said as she dragged him, staggering, to a nearby room and pushed him inside.

  He was gorgeous, leaning against the dark polished wood wall of the small cabin. Dark hair, masculine face, lips made for sex, and striking blue eyes that were fighting for consciousness.

  “The dose isn’t nearly enough to sedate a man your size, so don’t pretend. We have work to do, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

  She brushed a stray lock of hair off his forehead and looked into his eyes. “Hmm, I guess you aren’t pretending. Alcohol and sedatives probably aren’t a good mix for you. I’ll fix you up when we get downstairs.”

  The compartment served as an internal elevator and went down to the basement. Liv was relieved as the woeful music on deck faded out and became inaudible. She pushed open the door and saw a crew member walking past.

  She pulled out a gun with a silencer and fired point-blank at the man. Then, in one swift move, she pulled his dead body into the small compartment and pushed Lorcan out.

  “Let that be an example to you,” she muttered to Lorcan as she pushed him along the very narrow corridor of the basement.

  He staggered left and right and tried to sit down several times. She had to haul him up and keep pushing him along, steering him in the right direction.

  “Keep walking. You can barely stay conscious, so don’t even think about running.”

  Soon they arrived at a small storage room door, and Liv pushed him inside. She came in with him and locked the door.

  He glanced around at the room. “If we’re after the same thing, it certainly isn’t in here,” Lorcan said, his voice slurred by the effects of the drug.

  She pushed Lorcan slightly aside, pulled out a compact laser gun, and etched a large circle on the ceiling. As soon as the circle was closed, the ceiling dropped down, bringing with it the safe from the room above.

  From the hole in the ceiling, the tycoon looked down in astonishment. Liv smiled up at him, pointed her silenced gun upward, and fired. The tycoon, screaming profanity, ducked out of the way of the bullet.

  “He’s not a very good host, is he?” she said to Lorcan, who had slid to the floor and was about to lose consciousness.

  She punched a button on the wall of the compartment. It shuddered. The ceiling closed up again, and the compartment detached itself from the boat.

  “A submarine? You’ve got to be kidding me,” Lorcan slurred.

  “Yes, it’s a disposable submarine. You have three minutes to get the box out of the safe. No time to nap now.”

  “No chance.” He closed his eyes.

  “You can remain at the bottom of the ocean with the safe or remove the box and go to the surface.” She grabbed his hand, snapped a locked band to his wrist, and secured his hand to the handle of the safe.

  He stomped his foot against her abdomen, causing her to fall backward and hit her head on the wall. She didn’t pass out, but she couldn’t move. The hit had dazed her.

  It took Lorcan only fifteen seconds to free himself from the locked band. He looked at the lock on the safe. She knew the challenge would be tempting for him. And she was right.

  In a mere thirty seconds, he had the safe opened. In it, he found a small steel box, slightly larger than his palm, the lid engraved with strange symbols.

  Liv flexed her muscles but still couldn’t move. Her vision was blurry, but through the blur, she saw a stream of white smoke appear behind Lorcan. She opened her mouth to warn him, but no sound came out.

  In the center of the small submarine compartment, a white-haired woman dressed in a long black robe appeared.

  Lorcan growled. “You’ve got to be a hologram.”

  She raised her right hand in the air, and the steel box in his hand shook and flew toward her.

  On the floor, Liv did her best to reach for her gun. On her first attempt, only her fingertips touched it. She tried once more and grabbed the weapon. She fired at the woman in the black robe. The bullet went through her head as if it wasn’t even there and hit the wall of the compartment.

  “So you’re definitely a hologram,” Lorcan said and dove at the hand holding the steel box.

  The woman glared at him with bloodshot, witchy eyes.

  Lorcan jerked his hand back as soon as it touched her.

  “You’re real!” he gasped.

  The woman in black held the box tightly. Lorcan tugged at it again and pushed her backward with his other hand. She gripped the box even tighter, grabbing his neck with her free hand to choke him.

  The woman had to be some kind of supernatural being to have the strength to choke him with one hand, holding him up with his legs dangling.

  Lorcan couldn’t free himself. He slammed the hand holding the box again and again to the wall as hard as he could. When she finally dropped him to the floor, he kicked her legs out from under her.

  They both fell to the ground, but she wouldn’t let go of the box.

  Liv scrambled up. “Get away from the box!” she shouted.

  Lorcan let go and kicked his feet against the wall to slide himself backward on the floor.

  Liv fired at the lock on the box three times. It sprung open, revealing a round artifact inside with three interlocking colored stones.

  The woman in the black robe hissed and backed away from the artifact as if afraid to touch it.

  Then the submarine shuddered and exploded.

  Three

  Cool. Calm. Serene. Those were the best words Lorcan could come up with to describe what he was experiencing. The best thing he could do to prolong this pleasure was to keep his eyes closed and enjoy.

  When he finally opened his eyes, he sighed. Orla had been right. They’d known each other since they were kids, and she’d sworn she had never seen him totally relaxed. What she didn’t know was that he was only tense when it came to her safety. Lorcan promised himself he would finish this job early and then take Orla on a long vacation to a remote island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where they would lie in the sun all day and watch fish swimming lazily in a fish tank. Why they had to be in a fish tank, he really had no idea. He blinked and bolted upright.

  He was lying on a lab bench in a room
with a glass ceiling belonging to an immense fish tank. There was no way this was a hallucination. Fish swam above him and outside the glass walls surrounding him on both sides.

  Am I dead? Is this a submarine version of heaven?

  But Lorcan was sure if he had died, he wouldn’t go to heaven. So he ruled that idea out.

  Strands of seaweed floated above him, and fish swam to and fro in the water above and to the sides of him. When a curious little rainbow of striped fish swam close to his face, one of them wrinkled its nose and winked at him.

  “Oi!” Lorcan shouted and backed away from the fish. It looked at him, seemingly amused. Then it turned around, wiggled its tail, and swam away.

  Lorcan turned his head toward the bed. He felt dizzy. His knees buckled again, and he fell, grabbing the edge of the bed. He found himself lifted by supporting hands. Someone helped him onto the bed. He turned around and drew in a sharp breath when he saw the most beautiful face.

  “I’m Faye, your nurse. Take it easy. I want you to lie back down. You’ve been in an explosion.”

  “Explosion? Oh yes, that’s right. I must have a concussion…”

  Faye stuck a needle into his arm. He frowned. There were no beeping machines, no drip line, and none of the medical tubes and equipment usually attached to an IV needle.

  “Yes, you had a severe concussion.”

  His vision started to blur. “I was hallucinating. I thought I saw a fish winking at me…”

  Faye chuckled. “That wasn’t a hallucination. You saw Daisy, and she’s a naughty little fish. I told her not to disturb our patients. But she did wink at you.”

  “A talking fish? Where am I?”

  He grabbed his left side and felt a lingering pain. He tried to jump off the bed he was lying on, but his knees wouldn’t hold his weight, and he landed face down on a sandy floor.

  Faye helped him up and gave him a disapproving look. “You’re in no shape to move around like that.”

  He looked around again and saw that where the walls weren’t glass but rock with bits of embedded shell and coral. Outside the walls, schools of fish swam by at leisure. He glanced at what looked like a door and thought if he dared to push it open, he would walk right into a giant fish tank.

  He remembered the explosion—the submarine, the spooky woman in the black robe, and the unaccomplished spy job. He felt the urge to search his pocket for the artifact but figured it was most likely not there. If he had grabbed it, whoever had undressed him would have seen it and probably taken it.

  Did I get the artifact at all? Or was it lost at sea? He searched his mind frantically for an answer, but none came to him.

  “Where are my companions?” he asked.

  “Let’s talk later. When the doctor clears you, I’ll take you around so you can see where you are. But you were brought into this hospital alone.”

  “Have you been taking care of me the whole time?”

  Faye raised an eyebrow.

  “I mean, I should say thank you…” He donned a fake but friendly smile but could feel the potent drug she’d given him starting to take effect. His eyes felt like they weighed a ton, and her voice seemed to echo in his head. “How long have I been here?”

  “Only a couple of days. You have nothing to worry about. Just rest.”

  Faye laid him down. Before falling into oblivion, he heard a male voice. It was saying something in a language he didn’t understand, and Faye responded in the same strange language.

  The short conversation became quickly heated, and the male voice rose in volume and then spoke in English, “You don’t think I know your origin? You even speak the human’s language. Don’t fool around with me.”

  “It’s English, one of the languages used on Earth. And yes, I’m educated and well-traveled. I like the English language, and I use it a lot. But that proves nothing about my origin. I use English to speak with Lorcan because it’s his mother tongue.”

  “All right. So pry the information out of him, then, will you?”

  “I told you, his condition doesn’t allow for long conversation. He doesn’t seem to remember anything. Memory loss after trauma is very common in humans. I’m amazed he survived the blast.”

  “If it’s unlikely he’ll give us any information, terminate him. I don’t want to waste resources.”

  “That’s not for you to decide—”

  “I’m in charge here. It’s because of me that he’s still breathing.”

  Lorcan felt an impact against his bed, and he thought maybe the man had shoved Faye.

  He flexed the muscles in his arms but knew he had no hope of moving anytime soon, so he kept his eyes closed.

  “He’s injured. He couldn’t help it…”

  He felt Faye’s face pushed down against his. The male voice was close. “He couldn’t help it, or you couldn’t help falling for his pretty face? How many times have we had a human being down here who survived? Zero? So you couldn’t help it, could you?”

  “I’ll try. When he wakes, I’ll ask him. If he dies, all of your efforts will be in vain.”

  “I’m not a man of patience. Wake him up, and I’ll beat the information out of him.”

  Lorcan felt his upper body lifted as if someone had grabbed him by the neck.

  “That won’t help anything. If he dies, you’ll lose everything,” said Faye.

  A pause, and then his body was thrown back onto the bed.

  “All right, I’ll give you two more days. Get the info out of him, or I’ll finish you both.”

  Lorcan felt some struggling beside him on the bed. He thought Faye was likely trying to push the man away from her.

  He tried to move again without success.

  Then he heard the unmistakable sound of a slap.

  The man chuckled. “One day you’ll crawl to me and beg me to take you, Faye.”

  Silence.

  Then Lorcan’s consciousness slipped away from him.

  Four

  The Key master put the baby angel back on the nest of grass, which he knew now had been created by the female angel to give her child some comfort. He didn’t know if the mother had done it before or after she was attacked. But did it matter?

  He fluffed up the grass around the baby. “All right, it was nice meeting you. I don’t get along well with angelic creatures, so let’s just pretend we never met. No hard feelings.”

  He stood to leave, but then heard a croaking sound.

  “No, you’re not going to cry. That’s not going to work.” He crouched down. “Listen, I don’t do babies. I eat them for breakfast. You should be scared of me.”

  “Bababb.” Clap. Clap.

  “All right, you’ve got me. I don’t eat babies. But I am a predator. I’ve killed other creatures simply for sport. I don’t eat them because they taste disgusting, but I do enjoy the smell of flesh and fresh blood.”

  The baby stared at him and stopped making noises.

  “See, you angels can’t handle what I do. You don’t understand, and you don’t appreciate it. I’m going to call this experience a wash.”

  He stood.

  The baby still didn’t make a sound.

  “Now what, you’re not even going to say goodbye?”

  Silence.

  He shrugged, picked up his precious piece of jade, and walked away.

  Then he heard a low growl. He turned around and saw the baby angel still sitting in the grass with the same look as it had had on its face before. The baby wasn’t scared, but it had sensed the creature nearby, which had now emerged from the bush as a gigantic wolf on eight hairy spider legs.

  “You are sinfully ugly,” he said to the creature. “You’ve offended my eyes, and the baby angel’s. Do you see the look of disdain on this baby’s face?”

  The creature ignored him and crept toward the baby.

  He recalled the wounds on the mother angel’s back. They were definitely caused by the claws on those spider legs. He realized now that the mother had hidden her baby from thi
s creature, and he had pulled the baby out in plain sight for the predator to find.

  He glanced around. There didn’t seem to be any more spider-things coming. He could handle one. Given it was his fault the baby had been found, he might as well fix his grave mistake.

  Shrugging, he put the jade down and darted at the creature, pulling his rock carving knives out as he did so. In the midst of battle, he couldn’t tell which part was which on the creature’s body.

  Once he had slain it, he wiped the blood and viscous substances from his hands and the knives on his pants.

  He smiled at the baby. “Sorry you had to see that.”

  There was no response.

  “All right, I know you’re a little scared. I’ll take you away from this blood and gore. But be clear about this—it’s just temporary.”

  As he reached to pick up the baby, the ground began to rumble. The rocks beneath his feet shifted slightly. He peered over the edge of the cliff where he had seen the male angel’s body and saw an army of the wolf-spider creatures approaching.

  He was a predator, but he was no fighter.

  He had no time to stop and think. He grabbed the baby and charged toward higher ground.

  The tapping noises of thousands of spider legs climbing up the cliff echoed around him. From above, they looked like ants, but he was sure these creatures could do a lot more damage than ants ever could.

  He saw the hillside and thought of the Daimon Gate—the neutral ground of all things. He would take the baby there for protection. He wouldn’t need the protection himself. Not that he disliked the Daimon Gate, but he didn’t they would accept him because he didn’t believe in their true, fair, and neutral moral principles. They had maintained that reputation for thousands of years, and he was going to have to trust them for the sake of the baby.

  The Daimon Gate wasn’t far. He didn’t have to turn around to know that the first pack of spider-wolves had climbed to the top of the cliff. But he turned around anyway, facing them as he held the baby in his arms.

  And he saw that it was too late to run.