Licked by the Flame

by Serena Gilley

  Slowly she reached for one of the devices.

  No! Don’t touch it!

  She jolted back. “Why? Is it booby-trapped or something?”

  It’s my blood. Don’t touch it, Lianne.

  “I’m not freaked out by blood, don’t worry.”

  No! It’s toxic for you. Stay back.

  “Toxic? Well, shit, Nic. How am I supposed to get these things off of you?”

  You’re not. You’re supposed to get the hell out of here.

  “I’m not doing that. I can tell you’re not doing so well, and this fairy dude already told his friends out there that the coast is clear, so they’re on the way. When they arrive and can’t find him, they’ll probably come down here with guns and bad attitudes. I won’t leave you here for that, Nic, so you’d better tell me what the hell I can do to help!”

  * * *

  So she thought she wanted to help him, did she? Nic felt the heat rumble inside him as he watched her study him, a frantic expression of worry and determination taking over her pleasant features. She surprised him in her reaction to what must be quite a shock for her system. She hadn’t run from him or fainted in terror despite the fact that he could feel the turmoil inside her. Oddly enough, she accepted what her eyes saw in front of her and she wanted to help. It was almost endearing.

  But endearments were not any way of life for him. He did not need help from a human, and he sure as hell didn’t want it from her, especially not when helping him would almost certainly get her killed. She was just another human female, of course, but he still didn’t want that for her. She had a lot of life in her. He wanted her to go on long after this, living that life and sharing her passion with anyone worthy of it. It was a damn shame that he would not be the one to share it with her.

  He adjusted his hold on the struggling fairy and turned his head to watch Lianne. She muttered about the heat in the cavern and slipped out of her coat. The light blouse that she’d been wearing was damp from her sweat and it clung to her body, highlighting her delicious curves. The glow from the molten rock incubating the clutch made her shine.

  It was a good look for her and he roved his eyes over the rest of her form. Even in his dragon body he couldn’t help but appreciate the tautness of her skin and the swell of her breasts. He usually did not notice humans this way when he was in his natural dragon state, but their recent encounter still lingered in his mind. He could still taste her, feel the stroke of her hand over his flesh, smell the fresh, floral scent of her hair.

  He wanted her. If he could take back his other form, he would show her the only help he needed from her. And she would take everything he offered, and more.

  By the Fires, where was he finding strength to even contemplate such a thing?

  His tail flicked, causing Lianne to jump nervously. He flexed the muscles in his limbs, his neck, his heavy jaw. Damn, but how was it possible he was feeling noticeably stronger?

  “You’re moving,” she noted. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know…” he said, and then realized he spoke aloud rather than simply sending the thought out with his mind. “Something is making me stronger.”

  “That’s terrific! Then come on, let’s get you out of here. Can you stand?”

  “No, not yet, I don’t think—”

  He made the mistake of shifting himself and testing his legs. Unfortunately, this gave the fairy just the slightest moment of opportunity. He must have been feeling stronger as well, and very nearly fluttered himself right out of Nic’s grasp. But sharp dragon claws were too quick, too powerful for him, and he remained captive.

  “No you don’t, damn insect,” Nic growled at him. “I’ve got a few questions for you.”

  “Well you won’t get any answers!” the little creature shouted.

  “As if you have a choice in it,” Nic assured him.

  He’d ask his questions, and he didn’t need his voice to do it. His mind was stronger, clearer now and he could focus on more than just keeping his contact with Lianne. He probed the fairy’s tiny mind and didn’t like what he found.

  A conspiracy. Just as the fairies earlier had indicated, there was some sort of alliance between magical creatures and a contingent of humans. This insignificant fairy didn’t know many details, but Nic was able to read enough from him to know that primary leadership came from rogue members of the Fairy Council. No wait…there was more. The fairy had no personal knowledge of more intricate details, but he held suspicions. Nic searched them, pillaged the little traitor’s fears and emotions as he moaned in his struggle to keep his thoughts away from the dragon.

  Darkness. Oh hell. It was worse than expected. This fairy was just a flunky in the great scheme of things, but in the back of his mind he had misgivings. He believed there was more than he knew, and that spoke volumes, as far as Nic was concerned.

  This fairy played a small part, but there was much more going on than simply draining a little magic from the eggs in this clutch. Somehow this was just one cog in a giant wheel—a part of a complex design the fairy did not understand. He did have some ideas, though, and Nic had to pry them forcibly from the creature’s mind. The great instigator behind all of this—behind the schemes of the Fairy Council, the involvement of humans, the creation of machines to gather up magic—was Darkness.

  Someone ancient and dark was pulling the strings, and they were a tangled mesh that interwove deeply within the Forbidden Realm. The fairy had seen nothing to give proof of this, but Nic knew his suspicions must come from something. If ancient Darkness was involved, this would be powerful magic, indeed. Obviously the plot ranged far beyond what was going on in this mountain right now.

  The clutch was in much greater danger than Nic had even imagined.

  “We have to stop them,” Nic announced.

  The fairy whimpered under his grip.

  “How? What can I do?” Lianne asked, sounding as frustrated and helpless as Nic felt.

  “I don’t know. I’m feeling slightly stronger, but still I can’t—”

  His complaints were cut off as a sudden bolt of pain ran through him. His muscles spasmed out of control as some great electrical current ran from one device in his side to the next. He could hear his blood sizzle and smell the scent of seared dragon. But then suddenly it was done. The pain was over and his muscles slowly relaxed. He coughed and realized the low, droning vibration that had been running through his body since he’d been shot was now gone.

  “The lights have gone out!” Lianne exclaimed. “Look, the console is shut down. I think it shorted out, Nic. Those devices in your skin have turned off.”

  She was right. He could feel magic flowing back into his body again. Somehow the dampening effect was suddenly gone, the equipment shorted out with a surge of some external power from somewhere. Had the fairy’s companions arrived and shut their equipment down? Or had some other force acted on it? Whatever it was, Nic knew he needed to take advantage of it—now.

  The trouble was, this renewed energy affected the fairy, too. As Nic struggled to regain his faculties, the fairy squeezed from his grasp and made it into the open. Nic swiped at him with his claws, but he was still too weak, too slow.

  Lianne noticed the escape and called out as she lunged for the creature, but the fairy merely laughed at their efforts and fluttered up into the air. He thought he was safe, so he had a few insulting things to say about both of them. That was a mistake.

  Nic let out a bellow. Superheated air blasted with flame. The obnoxious fairy never knew what hit him. There was not even ash left to flutter back down to the floor of the cavern.

  “Damn, Nic,” Lianne murmured, blinking into the charred air where the fairy had just been. “That’s kind of terrifying.”

  “You should see me at my best,” he said, wincing as he reached around to claw at the devices still stuck into his body.

  He knew Lianne hated that she was so helpless, useless to him in this. He could tell his connection to her mind had not been fu
lly broken. She felt a portion of his pain as he tore at his scales, ripping them wide so the devices could be removed. They were anchored tightly, having expanded once they’d entered his body and gripping from the inside. The first one finally clattered onto the floor, and his blood was flowing freely.

  “Keep back,” he warned Lianne as she gaped in horrified wonder. “I’m serious—you cannot let my blood touch you.”

  “How are you doing that?” she asked, but did take several steps back. “That must hurt like hell.”

  “I’ll take pain over helpless incapacity any day,” he assured her. “Don’t worry, I can take a little pain.”

  He had the second device removed and was digging at the third. It was in more deeply than the others and he rumbled with fury as he slashed at himself, determined to get the damn thing as far away from himself as possible. There was no telling when the next threat would present itself. He needed to be ready.

  “So much blood…” Lianne mumbled.

  “I’m fine. Just stand back.”

  Then the third one was out. They lay in a pile before him. What hideous, horrible inventions. How many others of his kind had been subjected to this? And to what purpose? The Darkness could only have something huge, something heinous in mind to go to so much effort.

  He roared with his anger, shooting a ball of fire that would permanently disable the devices. They were resilient, but his fire was more than enough to render them useless. He was left with three melted, distorted chunks of metal. They were easily swept into the void, burned in the lava surrounding the eggs. He glared into the white-hot pool and watched as they were fully consumed. Good riddance.

  When he was strong enough, he went to the console and gave that a solid crunch with his powerful arms. He chose not to toss it into the pool. It might be useful to get a good look at it when the more pressing danger had passed. He would love to understand what made this technology work.

  A wonderful wave of power suddenly washed over him. It surged through his body and gave him strength to rejuvenate and heal. Magic that had been trapped in the console, apparently. It was released and his famished body soaked it up readily. He breathed in deeply, relishing the flood of unexpected magic throughout his system.

  “Now that’s better!” he said. “Come on. Let’s get you somewhere safe. I can fly you back to the jobsite.”

  “Nic…your injuries look pretty bad. You can’t exert yourself like that. Maybe there’s some kind of first aid kit around here or something.”

  He had to laugh at her. “I’m afraid this place isn’t set up for maximum comfort. I’ll be fine, Lianne. Look.”

  Stretching the soreness and kinks out of his body, he rose to full height and swung his neck around. It was hardly any effort at all to do what needed to be done. With three well-aimed huffs, he cauterized his wounds, burning off any residue of his blood. If he did need to carry Lianne out of this place and somewhere to safety, he could do so without worry that he’d cause her injury…or worse.

  And if such close, physical contact with her just happened to lead to something more…well, he’d need to be fit for that as well. Of course, there wasn’t enough room for flying in the various caves they’d need to travel through to get out, so perhaps this form wasn’t the most efficient right now. She might be more comfortable if he appeared as she was used to seeing him, too. Now that his strength had returned, he could assume human form again, feeling more healthy and virile by the minute.

  Plenty virile enough, as a matter of fact.

  “What is it?” she asked nervously. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  He curled one spiky corner of his wide, dragon mouth. Yes, he could well understand why she might sound a bit insecure. He must have been leering at her as if he could gobble her up.

  “Sorry. I was just thinking maybe getting through these passages here would be easier if I took on my human form.”

  Clearly, she was relieved. “Yes, that would most definitely be easier, if you think you’re up to it.”

  He puffed two perfect rings that drifted through the hot cavern air, twisting and twining themselves around Lianne before they dissipated and floated away.

  “Oh yes, I’m most certainly up to it.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Right before her eyes, Nic transformed from enormous, terrifying dragon to the same enormous, terrifying man she’d made out with just hours ago. He looked even better to her now, oddly enough. Her body reacted instantly when his fiery eyes latched onto hers.

  “Come,” he said, reaching his hand toward her. “I’ll lead you out of here.”

  “What if they are here already?” she asked. “What if that next shipment of whatever is on its way down? Won’t we run into them along the way?”

  “I will sense when they are here,” he said and seemed to know what he was talking about. “Now that I have my strength back, I can sense the entire mountain. No one has arrived; we are still alone.”

  “And all those eggs?”

  “Safe. Healthy. The mountain gives them their strength, so now that the device is inactive, they will regain anything they have lost. They will hatch on time, just as planned.”

  “You can feel that? Just standing here, you can feel all this stuff with your mind?”

  God, but the grin he gave her nearly set her toes on fire. “I can feel a great many things with my mind, Lianne. But come, I want you to be safe.”

  She had to admit, she did like the idea of being safe. If Nic thought he could get them out of here and back to their jobsite, she was all for it. She took the hand he extended. His fingers were warm and they wrapped tightly around hers. With her coat slung over her shoulder, she followed him toward one of the passageways.

  “That isn’t the one you brought me here through,” she pointed out.

  “There are many ways into this cavern. Trust me, Lianne.”

  Trust him? Now there was a thought that made her chuckle a bit. But of course she would trust him. Her brain had been whirling in circles since…well, since the Geo-Diagnostics helicopter dropped her off on the jobsite and left her there. She couldn’t think straight enough not to trust him.

  Besides, dragons apparently didn’t wear clothes. When Nic changed back, there hadn’t been anything for him to change into, so he was standing here now completely, beautifully naked. God, but she did like the tattoos. And everything else.

  She let him lead her into the relative darkness of the passageway. This one was wider than the one she had come through before. It had the feel of frequent use, too. In fact, there was more than enough light spilling into it from the glowing cavern beyond that she could see evidence that humans had been here.

  Boxes of supplies and unused equipment parts lined one wall. They must have been using this as a staging area. One box caught her attention and she tugged at Nic’s hand.

  “Not that I’m in any hurry to cover up the view,” she said and gestured for Nic to notice a pile of folded clothing. “But it’s going to be cold when we get away from all this lava. Do you need some clothes to put on until you decide to go all dragon again?”

  “You’d rather I put clothes on?”

  “Absolutely not. I just don’t want you getting pneumonia.”

  He laughed at her, but took a moment to grab a jumpsuit and a coat as they went by. She snagged the largest pair of boots she saw in the line of boots waiting there. If Nic did have to go around in human form out there in the Icelandic wasteland, he could do it at least fully covered.

  They moved into the passageway and Nic took a moment to pull the jumpsuit on. Well, mostly on. He wore it up to the waist, then left the top part hanging down. The resulting bad-boy-cover-model effect was inspiring, to say the least. Damn, but she loved those tattoos.

  He led her along this passage for a while, until the light behind them was distant enough that she could barely make out Nic’s perfectly formed shape in the darkness. He was still holding her hand, though, so she was close en
ough to occasionally bump into him—accidentally, of course—and cop a cheap feel. He didn’t seem to mind. After a few minutes of darkness, he slowed his pace.

  “I don’t sense anyone close by yet, but I think we should continue on in a less direct route just in case.”

  “All right. I can’t see anything at all, so unless you can glow, or something, you’ll need to guide me along.”

  “Sorry, no glowing in this form. But I promise to keep you close to me, Lianne.”

  That was a promise she could live with. She made sure he didn’t have to work too hard to keep it. As the air temperature slowly grew cooler, they followed first one passage, then another. He was guiding her through the labyrinth, keeping his pace steady but slow enough that she had no trouble along the way. She had no idea how he could possibly know all these twisting, sloping passages, but he did. He assured her more than once that they were not lost, merely taking an obscure route to avoid any unexpected arrivals.

  He became increasingly quiet and she started to wonder what that must mean. She could feel the tension building in his body and it sparked an anxious worry in hers. Did he sense something? What did he know that he wasn’t telling her? She was just about to ask him, as a matter of fact, when he stopped short.

  “What is it?” she whispered.

  “They’re here. Humans, with fairies. I can feel them nearing the entrance to the mountain,” he replied.

  “Shit. Do we have time to get out of here?”

  He waited a moment before answering, probably using those crazy senses of his to feel around, or whatever. “No. They’re coming in fast. They must be using human conveyance, of some sort.”

  “Then they’ll find us!”

  “No. Stay calm, Lianne. Their equipment is ruined—my magic is strong again and there are secret places I know. I can hide us.”

  She had to agree that these tunnels were a maze. Even with powerful lighting and a good map, they could likely stay hidden for hours. But did they have hours? What if these people set up more magical dampening equipment? Nic would be in danger, and she had no hope of ever finding her way out, especially if the only entrance was guarded by evil fairies, and humans who were involved in some sort of plot with them. They’d find the mess Nic made of their stuff—and their friends—in the cavern and they’d be understandably pissed.