Serpent's Kiss: A Dragonfire Novel

by Deborah Cooke

  “Viv and I went to a new bar. It was fun. The music was good and the women were hot.” Chandra caught her breath at the mention of her target, but Thorolf didn’t seem to notice. “She dared me to drink some mix the bartender had made up.” He smiled in recollection and affection. The expression softened his features, making him look appealing, but Chandra knew any affection for Viv Jason was misplaced. “She always does that. This one, though, it was wicked shit.”

  “And then?” Rafferty prompted, his disapproval clear. Chandra wondered if he disapproved of Viv or of Thorolf’s taking the dare. She didn’t doubt that Thorolf was inclined to indulge, given his robust metabolism.

  “That’s it.” Thorolf shrugged, mystified.

  So, he didn’t know where Viv Jason was.

  Chandra could have bailed and gone on to search for her prey alone. But Thorolf had a bond with her. Chandra decided to wait and see if Viv Jason turned up.

  Besides, Thorolf might know more about her location than he realized. She’d still take him to her sanctuary, then, just to be sure.

  Chandra might have considered all of this a rationalization to linger in the glow of the firestorm, but Rafferty frowned, distracting her from her thoughts. The older Pyr reached out and touched a fingertip to a dark mark on Thorolf’s forearm. There were two round holes in the middle of what looked like a large bruise. “Where’d you get this?”

  Thorolf frowned, looking so vulnerable that Chandra wanted to help him. “I don’t know.”

  “And a new tattoo,” Rafferty said, indicating the rows of spirals on Thorolf’s arms. The repetitive design covered all the skin that was visible, even the blue dragon on the back of his left hand. That dragon was blue and its tail wound around his wrist. It was very well done.

  The spirals looked amateur. Like doodles on his skin.

  Thorolf frowned at his forearms. “I don’t remember these swirls,” he said. “But they must have taken a while. And I hurt all over.” He peeled off his T-shirt abruptly, baring his muscled chest to view.

  The way Rafferty caught his breath told Chandra that the spiraling tattoo covering his torso and throat was new, too. She found herself catching her breath for an entirely different reason. Thorolf was magnificent.

  “How can you not remember getting such an extensive tattoo?” Rafferty asked quietly.

  “It burns, too,” Thorolf said with a wince. “Like I went to some dirty hole to get it. Rox would kill me.”

  “And your legs?” Rafferty asked.

  “It’s everywhere,” Thorolf said. “Like a nasty burn.” He looked at Rafferty with fear, clearly expecting the other Pyr to know the answers to everything. “How can that be? How could I be drunk long enough for someone to do all this?”

  Chandra decided to try an experiment. How helpful was the firestorm?

  “You must remember more,” she said, deliberately putting her hand on Thorolf’s arm. The firestorm burned hot and golden, the flurry of sparks from the point of contact taking her breath away. Even though she’d braced herself for its power, it shook her.

  And aroused her.

  It felt so good that she wanted to explore it more.

  Thorolf smiled and drew her closer. “You’re right. I remember I woke up in the apartment, alone.” He inhaled sharply and looked agitated. “And then something happened.” He shoved his hand through his hair, looking so troubled and vulnerable that Chandra wanted to fix everything for him. “Something bad, but I don’t know what it was.” He glanced between the two of them with concern. “Almost two years? Seriously?”

  “We’ve been looking for you,” Rafferty said with affection. “But you vanished without a trace.” His gaze trailed over the tattoo and he frowned.

  Since Thorolf was looking at her, Chandra nodded agreement. She declined to mention that no one could hide from her without a trace, not unless more powerful forces were involved. She’d assumed that the creature who had become Viv Jason was responsible, but now she wondered.

  Who else might have targeted Thorolf?

  Did his disappearance have something to do with his attacking Rafferty?

  And why had he reappeared now?

  Had the firestorm revealed him, or was that enemy using the firestorm against them both? Given the firestorm’s influence on Chandra and the havoc already wreaked on her carefully laid plans, it was easy to believe the latter. She could almost have blamed her brother.

  She lifted her hand and the ink of the new tattoo seemed to have faded. Thorolf followed her glance. “It hurts less,” he said with surprise.

  “Then it’s not a normal tattoo,” Rafferty murmured. “Not if it’s affected by the firestorm.”

  Then both Pyr looked at Chandra, their expectation clear.

  Chapter Three

  Chandra changed the subject quickly, not wanting either of them to make the suggestion that she could or should heal Thorolf by consummating the firestorm. She reminded herself of the merit of working alone.

  “Who or what can hide a Pyr from other Pyr?” she asked instead. “You all have such sharp senses.” That wasn’t all of the truth—her abilities were considerable, too, but Chandra didn’t want to reveal too much too soon.

  Rafferty cast her a quick glance, one filled with assessment. “You know about us?”

  She simply nodded.

  Rafferty waited for a long moment, long enough to make her wonder what he saw. He then glanced back toward the city. “We’ll be pursued. Have you anywhere safe to go?”

  “I have a sanctuary,” Chandra admitted.

  Rafferty’s eyes narrowed at her choice of word. “How safe is it?”

  “Safe enough.”

  Again, Rafferty gave her a long steady perusal. Chandra didn’t tell him more.

  Thorolf spoke up. “But I can’t be Slayer, Rafferty. That’s crazy.”

  “Your blood was dark,” Rafferty observed.

  “It’s like you spontaneously manifested today,” Chandra added and Rafferty gave her a hard look. “I know some Slayers can do that.”

  “Some Pyr, too,” Rafferty said tightly.

  Thorolf flung out his hands. “But I’m having a firestorm! Slayers don’t have firestorms.”

  “That must mean that there’s still hope,” Rafferty said with confidence. “You must not be completely lost as yet.”

  “But Slayers are made,” Thorolf protested. “I would never choose to be Slayer. I’d never sacrifice the chance of a firestorm.” He took Chandra’s hand in his. The flurry of brilliant sparks that erupted from the point of contact made Chandra hot and bothered. She could taste that kiss again, feel his hand in her hair, and wanted him to stroke her from head to toe. “See?”

  Chandra pulled her hand from his and stepped back, putting distance between them. Rafferty watched, his expression inscrutable. “I thought the Pyr were supposed to defend humans, as one of the treasures of the earth,” she said.

  The two Pyr nodded agreement. “Of course,” Thorolf said.

  “So, you weren’t trying to kill that guy in the apartment?”

  Thorolf frowned.

  “What’s this?” Rafferty looked between them.

  “I found him, choking the life out of a man who had apparently moved into his former apartment. Isn’t that Slayer stuff?”

  “I guess if it’s been two years, then Viv must have left the place.” Thorolf pushed his hand through his hair again, then paced a few steps. He spun to stride back to them. “I was so pissed. I came looking for Viv, to protect her, but he was hiding her.”

  “Protect her from who or what?” Rafferty asked.

  “From the Pyr.” Thorolf seemed dazed by the admission, and it certainly shocked both of his companions. “I was going to squeeze the life out of him because I thought he was helping the Pyr. I thought he’d given Viv to them.”

  Chandra should have been so lucky.

  Then she realized that something—or someone—had turned Thorolf against his own kind.

  How could t
hat even be? It didn’t sound like one of her brother’s pranks. He adored the Pyr and considered them his favorites of all creation.

  What was going on?

  It was probably a bad sign that she was curious enough to be tempted to put her own quest aside.

  * * *

  Rafferty and Thorolf seemed to be just as mystified as Chandra.

  “Your wanting to injure the Pyr and humans is consistent with you turning Slayer,” Rafferty mused. “But why aren’t you violent now?”

  Thorolf shook his head, then appealed to Rafferty. “How could I be made even partly Slayer without my agreement?”

  Chandra didn’t know nearly enough about this kind of transition, despite her research, so she just listened.

  “Chen,” Rafferty said with quiet heat. “I had wondered.”

  “Chen?” Chandra echoed, unfamiliar with this name.

  “An ancient and powerful Slayer, possessed of lost dragon magic,” Rafferty said. “He’s targeted Thorolf before and his lair is hidden in the Himalayas. In this part of the world, damage can be easily attributed to him.”

  “He likes enslaving Pyr and has made Slayers and shadow dragons with the Elixir,” Thorolf said.

  “I thought the Dragon’s Blood Elixir was gone,” Chandra said, inadvertently drawing Rafferty’s attention again. “Or at least its source.”

  “You’re well informed,” Rafferty said softly.

  “Yes,” she said simply. He waited, but she didn’t elaborate.

  Chandra would have to see what she could learn about Chen once they got back to her sanctuary. She supposed it only made sense that the Pyr’s traditional opponents might be involved, although it was yet another complication. She folded her arms across her chest, unable to dismiss the sense that life would only get more complicated the longer she remained with Thorolf.

  She had to find Viv Jason and she believed Thorolf would lead her to her prey, one way or the other. She wasn’t leaving yet.

  “But it can’t be Chen this time,” Thorolf argued with Rafferty. “He almost got me once, but he failed.”

  “Why couldn’t he come after you again?” Chandra asked.

  “He did say he needed a Pyr with an affinity for air,” Rafferty said. “That’s why he targeted you, and Lorenzo, and Brandon.”

  “If he didn’t get any of them, what makes you assume he got me?”

  “Where else could you have been all this time?” Rafferty demanded and Thorolf looked bewildered again. “And this tattoo took time. Remember that Chen uses spirals in his dark magic.”

  Thorolf stared at his skin in horror.

  Rafferty tapped him on the shoulder. “Remember: it was the firestorm that led me to you.”

  Purpose lit in Thorolf’s blue eyes. “You think it can save me.”

  Rafferty smiled. “I think that’s what firestorms do. The firestorm saved Delaney from a plan to turn him Slayer.”

  “So, I’m having a firestorm at the perfect moment,” Thorolf said with satisfaction. He reached for Chandra but she backed away.

  This was all getting too complicated too fast.

  “I thought firestorms were about the creation of more Pyr,” she felt obliged to note. She wasn’t going to be anyone’s sexual toy or destined mate, much less the mother of his son. She was in this realm to complete a quest and had already lingered longer than she’d planned.

  This was an expectation she had to stop in its tracks.

  “They are,” Rafferty agreed. “But sometimes they’re about more than that. Sometimes they’re about partnership and alliance.”

  “Sometimes they’re about second chances,” Thorolf agreed. “New beginnings and all that.”

  That was exactly what Chandra didn’t want to hear. She didn’t do commitment and long term and partnership. “No. That’s out of the question. I work alone,” she said. “Always have and always will. I complete the task at hand, then take on another.”

  Thorolf stared at her, his astonishment making her feel mean for stating the truth. “You’d just carry on, as if the firestorm had never happened, as if you’d never had a son? My son?”

  “I’m not going to have your son.”

  “Of course you are! When we consummate the firestorm, you’ll conceive my son.”

  Chandra folded her arms across her chest and glared at Thorolf, wishing the firestorm would stop making the Pyr plan sound so desirable. “Just because there’s a firestorm doesn’t mean it has to be consummated.”

  Thorolf’s eyes gleamed and his hand landed on her elbow. The heat made Chandra swallow, but she didn’t back down.

  In a way, she liked that he didn’t admit defeat easily.

  In another way, she was afraid he could succeed.

  “Maybe I’ll change your mind,” he said with an intent that made her swallow. The heat that emanated from his touch melted Chandra’s protest from her lips and had her leaning toward him, yearning for another sweet kiss. She was losing her mind but when the firestorm burned so hot, she didn’t care.

  If she let him kiss her again, there was no telling where this would stop.

  She shook off Thorolf’s touch. “There’s too much at stake,” she said flatly, and he studied her. She felt herself blushing, as she never did, and wishing he didn’t agitate her so much.

  “Maybe the firestorm will change your mind,” Rafferty said with a smile. He lifted a finger and a moment later Chandra heard the distant sound of police sirens. “You need to leave.”

  “We’ll go to my sanctuary,” Chandra said, her words coming quickly. It wasn’t an ideal plan, but she didn’t have a better one—and she couldn’t think with him standing so close to her. “We can argue about the details there.”

  “We can consummate the firestorm there,” Thorolf countered, that pale blue shimmer appearing around his body as he prepared to shift shape. “Is it far?”

  Chandra nodded, not at all confident that she’d be able to resist the firestorm’s call when he held her against his chest. Even having a small increment of space between them helped her to remember everything she had to do, every detail she’d put in place for this last battle.

  No doubt about it: the firestorm was every bit as much trouble as Thorolf.

  “Let me give you a firestorm gift,” Rafferty suggested. “Confide the sanctuary’s location to me and I’ll take you there.”

  Chandra shook her head at the very possibility. “I won’t tell anyone…”

  “Then think of it,” Rafferty commanded, his manner terse. “Fill your mind with the vision of it, the scent and sound of it, your every memory of it. We haven’t much time and Thorolf is tired.”

  “Rafferty can spontaneously manifest elsewhere,” Thorolf contributed when Chandra hesitated. “He can take us anywhere pronto.”

  Chandra could do the same trick, but didn’t trust herself to stay focused while in contact with Thorolf and distracted by the firestorm’s burn. She remembered only now that Rafferty was the Pyr who had been so changed by the darkfire. That must be why he could spontaneously manifest as some Slayers did. “Thank you. That would be best.”

  Thorolf eyed the other Pyr with concern. “If it’s not too much for you.”

  Rafferty didn’t even nod, much less leave more time for protest, before a shimmer of pale blue outlined his body. He shifted shape, becoming an opal and gold dragon again, then offered one claw to Chandra. She gripped one of his talons.

  Thorolf shifted shape in turn, and Chandra averted her gaze as Thorolf caught her around the waist. She didn’t want to look at how magnificent he was, in the form of a moonstone and silver dragon. It was bad enough being held in the crook of his powerful arm, feeling the firestorm’s burn dissolve every conviction she held to be true.

  She’d been right about the firestorm. Its light was brilliant yellow, almost white, and the heated desire it sent surging through her body made her wonder how anyone could resist it. Thorolf crushed her against his chest, and she leaned her forehead against him.<
br />
  He felt so good.

  She was never going to be able to keep her vow of chastity if this temptation kept up.

  She shivered, realizing that she didn’t even know the price of breaking it.

  She’d never find out because she couldn’t risk failing in her mission.

  Rafferty took a deep breath, and then another. Chandra felt a weird quiver slide through her body, even as the scene around them began to waver. It was like the reflection on the surface of a lake, rippling slightly, revealing that it wasn’t real.

  How interesting that his ability to move through space and time felt so different from her own. When Chandra moved, she felt nothing. The transition was instant and without sensation.

  As the scene around them vibrated with greater force, Chandra heard police motorcycles pulling around the corner of the warehouse. An unwelcome nausea suddenly ripped through her body. She held tightly to Thorolf as a wind swirled around them, one as ferocious as a tempest.

  Her mouth went dry, even as her desire doubled and doubled again. She was trapped against Thorolf, held captive by one great claw, and consumed with memories of his scorching kisses. These Pyr felt such powerful sensations and passions that she was awed. She’d never felt so vehemently or been so keenly aware of another person. Her tendency to keep everything and everyone at arm’s length was incinerated by the firestorm, making her feel vulnerable and emotional.

  Alive.

  And burning with desire for more.

  Did she have the fortitude to deny the temptation that was Thorolf?

  Chandra hoped for the sake of both of them that she did.

  * * *

  The sensation of manifesting elsewhere was a strange one. Thorolf felt himself flung off his feet and cast through the air, something that didn’t happen often when he was in dragon form. After a long interval, his back suddenly collided with stone. He landed so hard that the breath was knocked out of him, but he shifted shape. He cradled Chandra close, determined to protect her.

  Would the firestorm really save him from turning Slayer?

  Why couldn’t he remember almost two years?