Licked by the Flame

by Serena Gilley

  She fought it with all that she had, and she beat it, too. At least, they told her she did. After a year of chemicals and poisons, scans showed it was nearly gone. She had taken her life back, bought herself some time to finally do something important. Between Daddy’s jobs and her unfortunate string of assholes, she just sort of never got around to doing that important thing.

  And now her time was up. A routine screening came back positive. Additional tests confirmed the worst-case scenario: the tumor was back, growing twice as fast as it had before. And this time, it had nasty little tendrils wrapped around all sorts of sensitive parts of her brain. She asked the doctor how soon she needed to start treatments again. He’d just looked at her with pity.

  Inoperable. Untreatable. Terminal. He looked her in the eye and used those words. It took a while for them to sink in.

  “If you’ve got unfinished business in your life, Lianne, now’s the time to get out there and finish it,” he’d told her.

  Unfinished? Hell, she wasn’t even thirty years old. What exactly was she supposed to have finished already? Only one thing came to mind, so she’d gone home to Marcus and cracked open a bottle of wine. She’d wasted that damn expensive wine on Marcus.

  They’d been together six months, at that point. He’d moved in with her after the first three. She liked him. He was funny, he let her do things her way, and he had some damn sexy tattoos. He also had a crappy job, a motorcycle that she bought for him, and two ongoing paternity suits. But she overlooked that. Those were awesome tattoos.

  She told him what the doctor said and he seemed really concerned for her. The doctors said she had months. Months! How was she supposed to accomplish everything she needed to do with her life in just a few months? Marcus apparently didn’t have an answer for that.

  He was gone when she woke up the next morning. He took the motorcycle, all her credit cards, and his awesome tattoos. She didn’t even bother to cancel the cards. Let him have some fun. What would it matter to her? It might be interesting to see what got maxed out first: her stolen credit cards, or her.

  And now here she was, still desperate to make a legacy for herself, one month later. She hadn’t seen Marcus or her doctor since then. She hadn’t really missed either of them, though, until now.

  The way her mind was so blurry and her memory fuzzy, she wished she’d kept those last few doctor’s appointments. She’d known this would be a challenging job, and right now she needed all of her faculties. Maybe the doctor could have prescribed something to keep the tumor from having so much effect on her so rapidly. It really sucked that already she was starting to lose it.

  “Are we getting closer to that RGS we need to check out?” she asked Nic as the vehicle rocked over the chunks of ancient, glacier-ravaged volcanic debris and she realized she was desperate to escape her own thoughts.

  “It’s just up ahead.”

  “Aha. No GPS needed, apparently. Did we bring all the equipment we’ll need to make an adequate assessment?”

  “Yes. You oversaw the packing yourself.”

  Yeah, she must have. No way she would have let him bring her all the way out here and not have been completely convinced they had everything they needed. She was just pissed off that she couldn’t remember it.

  Why would that be the sort of thing her brain would block out? It would be so much handier to forget she’d just been groaning and panting in a closet with a guy she barely knew. Remembering the feel of Nic’s hands on her and the waves of climax he brought her to was more than a little distracting right now. She should be focusing on the job, not the tingling heat in all her sensitive places. It didn’t help her mood any to glance over at Nic and realize he seemed perfectly happy to continue ignoring her. By all appearances, he was having no trouble focusing on the job and not her.

  “There, just around that boulder,” he said, pointing toward a spot on the moonlit landscape ahead of them that looked very much like all the other boulder-strewn spots out here. “Our sensor should be right about there.”

  “Awesome.” She didn’t even bother faking sincerity.

  He continued happily ignoring her and maneuvered the vehicle into a near-enough position, then dropped it into park. The engine shut off and he slipped out of his seat belt.

  She began removing hers, too, but he stopped her.

  “No. You need to wait here.”

  “The whole point is for me to see this equipment, right?”

  “Let me look at it first. I’ll make sure it’s safe.”

  She wanted to argue, but the bleary fog that had been hovering over her seemed to descend just a bit and engulf her in a warm, fuzzy feeling. Why did she need to get out of the car? It seemed important…but maybe not. She was comfortable here, and Nic asked her to stay. She would do anything Nic asked her to do.

  “Wait for me,” he said, his voice the only thing she was aware of. “And keep your coat on. It’s cold tonight.”

  Of course she would do as he said. She was so tired, after all. It was cold out, just as he said, but she was warm here in their vehicle, waiting for him. Maybe she’d just close her eyes for a little while and take a rest. She could barely hold them open. Yes, she’d rest a while. Nic would be back soon and he’d explain everything.

  She snuggled into her coat and gave in to the weariness.

  * * *

  Nic left Lianne in the vehicle. She seemed confused and his conscience pricked. He didn’t like controlling her this way, but it was necessary. There was no telling what he would find out here, and he couldn’t risk disclosing any of it to her. Strong minds like hers didn’t give up memories easily—it would be much better to keep her at least partially under his sway so he could deter unwanted memories from etching themselves into her mind in the first place.

  Just what those unwanted memories might be, he still couldn’t be certain. All he knew was that he’d been sensing very strong magic out here. Fairy magic? Possibly, but more. He sensed a strange, sensual magic, too.

  He’d redirected his course to follow it, feeling something rising then cresting in the way the magic pulsated from multiple locations. First he sensed it near the RGS they were heading for, then he sensed it a kilometer away, halfway around the mountain in an equipment shed he didn’t know anything about.

  Reaching into the darkness to examine the sensations had been more than a little…arousing. He’d stopped a couple of times while they were driving out here and took a few minutes to mentally scan the area. It used a lot of his mental resources to remain aware of such a vast area, but he could see no way around it. Strange magic was at work here and he didn’t like it. He’d been so intent on studying it that at one point he’d lost his hold over Lianne and she’d woken and questioned him. She’d been too smart to fall for his lame excuse about programming his GPS, but hopefully her sheer exhaustion would work in his favor. He’d lulled her back to sleep and she had no idea he was searching for anything other than a defective RGS.

  But what was he searching for? He’d known all along there were forces working against him here. But he’d thought those were human. Now Eubryd said she’d seen fairies? When had fairies ever been a threat? Yet he’d felt danger permeating the air, twinging in his senses. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but the threat was real. It was his duty to neutralize it.

  He had been posted here as Guardian, after all. The clutch of dragon eggs incubating inside this mountain must remain secret and protected, at all costs. Nothing could matter to him outside of this goal, not fairies, not dark magic, not greedy human entrepreneurs. He had to destroy every obstacle that got in his way. Preferably, Lianne would not be one of them. He knew better than to let himself care for a human, but he could not deny that he would do what would be needed to keep her safe.

  The ground crunched under his feet as he approached the RGS. His own breathing echoed into the night. The ground was too rugged here for the SUV, so he’d had to leave Lianne and clamber down into a narrow crag, a gash carved into t
he volcanic rock by years of harsh weathering.

  Magic still lingered in the air here, but it felt alien and unfamiliar. He didn’t quite know what to make of it. Residual, no doubt. The magic was not active now and he could sense no other creature beyond Lianne. He would know if they were not alone. Aside from this strange magic, there was little else to interfere with his senses out here.

  This specific location had been carefully selected because of that very thing—it was remote, uninhabited, and the land was full of ancient magic. There were no humans to interfere within hundreds of miles. When Nic began guarding the clutch, he had been totally alone. He’d reveled in the loneliness, in the great honor of serving his kind.

  For the first time in a millennium, dragons had elected to propagate themselves. Queens were selected from every clan across the globe, and great care was taken to produce the very best offspring who would carry on their lines. This location had been selected and the clutch was gathered, placed in this hallowed nursery and assigned a Guardian. For nearly a hundred years, Nic had watched over the clutch, cared for the future of his kind with his very life. The time for hatching was growing near, and he would not fail at his task now.

  If not for these damn humans and their constant curiosity! Five years ago, Geo-Diagnostics selected this place as a potential source for geothermal energy development. Crandall McGowan and his group had felt that due to the distinctive nature of readings at this location, they had possibly found an entirely new, unexploited type of energy that might revolutionize an already revolutionary industry.

  Indeed they had found something new. Dragon magic was entirely unknown to humans, and the rarity of an incubating clutch would surely confuse their sciences and technologies. It was not something humans should tamper with. They might think this mountain held something revolutionary and useful, but they were merely endangering themselves.

  Nic had used every subtle method possible to dissuade them. He’d instigated social dissent, fabricated environmental concerns, delayed government permits, even resorted to sabotaging their equipment, yet McGowan’s outfit had been persistent. They’d been on-site nearly a year now and were inching forward every day, growing closer to their goal of tapping into the heart of the mountain to harness the energy burning below.

  Movement in the shadows alerted him. He turned, ready for attack, but the creature made its presence known and he relaxed. Eubryd.

  “I found you,” his scaly friend said as she appeared nearby, dropping low to see what he was up to. Her tiny eyes glittered as they glanced here and there. “Where is your female?”

  “She’s back in the vehicle. How did I not feel you approaching?” he questioned.

  “I don’t know. Perhaps your energies are being spent on more-human activities?”

  “More likely it’s this damn strange magic in the air. Follow me. There is a sensor giving off unusual readings, right over here. But stay out of sight—there may be more at play here than we know.”

  Eubryd did not seem as frightened as she probably should have. She rose up higher, peering over the crag in the earth and craning her neck to spot the SUV he’d left parked just out of view.

  “So you brought her out with you,” she commented. “You’re not worried she’ll see things she shouldn’t?”

  “I’m tending to that, but keep your head down. Those would be difficult memories to erase if she should happen to see you.”

  “What, your sway is not weakening, is it?” Her leathery wings made a coy flutter as she hovered in front of him, meeting him at eye level. “I thought you were going to take care of yourself…that way.”

  “I’m taking care of myself just fine. What have you found out here, Eubryd? Did you find the fairies?”

  “You feel their magic, don’t you?”

  “Too much of it, as a matter of fact. It’s the strangest fairy magic I’ve ever felt,” he said.

  “Perhaps they are strange fairies.”

  “No, it has to be something more.”

  Yes, his senses could sort through the magic lingering in this place, and he did, indeed, recognize fairy magic. And Eubryd’s magic, of course. And the hot, fiery magic from the clutch brooding inside the mountain…all of that was here, yet still he felt something more. Layered in behind all of it, he could sense a dark, dangerous magic that he’d not encountered before. It was old—nearly as ancient as dragon magic.

  “Is this the sensor you were talking about?” Eubryd asked, flapping her way over to the spot where the sensor stuck up out of the ground, a small box jammed into place on a stake.

  “It is,” he said and knelt by it. “The humans placed these RGSs a year ago, but something is wrong.”

  Sure enough, the malfunction was easy to detect. This sensor had been modified. A strange component had been added, wired into it in an almost haphazard fashion. It was not the work of McGowan’s careful technicians. No, this was something that had been added here, in the field. The wires, however, were blackened and charred. Clearly this little module had shorted itself out. And something more: it had the distinct feel of magic.

  “This RGS has been tampered with,” he said. “Someone added a component, and it carries magic.”

  Eubryd nodded. “I’ve seen that before. Most of these sensors have that little thing wired onto it. This is the only one that looks burned up, though.”

  “You have been inspecting the RGSs and never told me about that?”

  “I only just discovered it! And really, Nic, you have to admit you’ve been a little preoccupied. This woman has distracted you.”

  “No, I’ve got her under control. Damn it, Eubryd, you should have informed me about all of this. Do you know what this module does?”

  “Haven’t the slightest idea.”

  “The humans use these sensors to detect seismic activity inside the mountain,” he explained. “I’ve been carefully doctoring the readouts from them so the humans believe this mountain is unsuitable to their purpose and finally give up on the project. Plus, I have been using the undoctored data to monitor the clutch inside the mountain. This amateurishly added device, however, seems to be designed to further confuse the original sensor’s readings.”

  “That’s good, then, isn’t it?” Eubryd asked. “Someone is working with you to disrupt the humans.”

  “No! Someone is working against me. I’m already disrupting the humans. This added device only serves to disrupt me. I’m afraid, Eubryd, that someone is deliberately trying to hide something inside the mountain.”

  “What would be the point of that?”

  A very good question. He could come up with only one answer.

  “By the Flames, Eubryd, someone has gotten into the clutch!”

  She appeared as shocked by that notion as he was. “No, no. That can’t have happened. The clutch is fine. Surely we’d know if it was not.”

  “But these sensors have been modified specifically to prevent me from knowing when there is activity inside the mountain. Someone intended to go in.”

  “They can’t. You set up your safeguards, right? Only you and I know how to get inside the mountain.”

  “Safeguards can be broken. I need to go to the clutch.”

  “No! Not now, not with so many strange things happening, Nic. Fairies have been here—you know you can sense them. They’re the ones who tampered with this sensor. They’re deceitful little creatures. They must be trying to trick you into giving away your secrets. If you go into the mountain now, they’ll watch and they will know how it’s done.”

  His instinct was to run to the clutch, to defend it and make certain it hadn’t been compromised. But Eubryd made sense. Fairies were notoriously scheming, always looking for ways to promote their agenda, to assume more power among magical beings and have a greater say in governing the Forbidden Realm. His own kind had joked for ages that fairies sometimes acted as if they ruled the Realm, as if fairy law covered everyone.

  Perhaps Eubryd was right. Perhaps this was some mis
guided fairy scheme. Did they think they could hold the clutch hostage? Make some sort of power play against the dragons? It was ridiculous, of course, and could never work, but fairies were ridiculous creatures. Nic would do well to have a better idea of what was going on before he rushed into something and divulged the secret entrance to his mountain.

  “Where are these fairies now?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. They’re using their sparkling dust to keep out of sight, and the strange magic in the air seems to be obscuring them.”

  Nic closed his eyes and drew in a deep, demanding breath. He let the air fill his lungs; he held it there and examined it, searching through each molecule with his dragon senses. Fairy magic still crackled around them. The distinctive texture and scent was unmistakable. He reached out into the vastness, sensing the rocks, the breeze, the chill in the air. He forced his mind to reach past the temptation of Lianne. He had to keep focus…yes, there they were. Fairies were nearby.

  “I feel them,” he said.

  “You do?”

  “Yes. Not too far, I believe, and…”

  Suddenly he felt their panic. They knew he detected them. Like a breath of air, instantly they were gone. They must have been watching him, using their Fairy Dust to make themselves invisible. Now they seemed to have simply dissipated in the wind.

  “They flew off,” he announced. “Whatever they were up to, those fairies are gone.”

  “What should we do?” Eubryd asked.

  “Go to the clan and tell them what you’ve seen. I will stay here. One way or another, the clutch must be kept safe. I’ll hunt down our enemies and get rid of them. Whatever it takes.”

  “Whatever it takes, Nicolai? Can you do that?”

  “Of course I can.”

  “But what if our enemy is…human?”

  “Do you doubt me, Eubryd?”