by Bonnie Vanak
It rose over him in a wave, crashing into his senses and making his eyes water. Matt rubbed the heel of one palm into his chest, trying to ease the crushing weight.
Stronger by the closet. He opened the door and peered inside. A miasma of terror screamed into his mind.
Methodically, he searched the closet. Sorting through layers of clothing awash with the smell of mothballs and cedar, he lifted boxes and set them aside.
A hidden recess in the closet revealed a locked file box shielded with a pentagram. He pulled it out and broke the spell locking it with a simple incantation his C.O. had taught all the team.
He combed through the files, his gorge rising as he scanned them. Then he found a business ledger. His instincts were right. No Draicon had stolen the Orb.
Yet another reason not to trust any Fae. He pocketed the ledger and replaced the files.
As he went into the room, he caught sight of himself in the dressing table mirror. His form shimmered.
The glamour was fading. Fast.
He had to sneak out. Racing over options, he started for the bedroom door and heard pounding footsteps. Matt withdrew his Sig Sauer 9 mm pistol, cupping it with one hand. Sienna burst into the room and ground to a halt, staring at the gun’s barrel.
He sheathed the weapon as she gulped down a breath, eyes huge in her face. “We’ve got to leave, right now. I was talking with one of the cops when one of them suddenly… It was horrible. His form, it just…I don’t know…”
“Wobbled?”
She nodded. “Like when you throw a stone in water.”
He glanced at the window. “Where?”
“Downstairs. But I think he knew I could see through him. He may be another Fae. Or something else. The daughter, they were leading her out, she was screaming that a demon tortured her mother for information, and went too far, then set the daughter up to make it look like—”
“It’s okay,” he soothed. “You did good. Where’s the rest of the police?”
“They’re all outside, since they’re done wrapping up the crime scene.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
The stench of sulfur grew stronger. Matt herded Sienna out of the room, grinding to a halt. He slid an arm around her waist and yanked her against him, away from the specter blocking the way at the hallway’s end.
The specter shimmered, losing the glamour of a police uniform.
They were screwed.
“Draicon. You have something I need,” the demon hissed. Then it smiled and held up a hand, tipped with long, gray talons.
Flames burned at the tip of each finger. Matt’s throat went drier than sand.
No way out past the pyrokinetic demon.
He and Sienna were going to fry.
Pulling his sidearm free, Matt screwed on the long barreled silencer, knowing gunfire would bring the cops running. He fired at the creature, hoping to slow it. But as the bullets whizzed at the demon, flames burst from its fingers.
The steel and silver-tinged bullets melted in midair. Sienna gasped. Damn it, the new ammo was specially designed to withstand the demons’ defenses. No dice.
They needed CO2. “You don’t happen to have a fire extinguisher handy in your bag of Fae tricks?” Matt unscrewed the silencer, and pocketed it with his service pistol. He pulled Sienna behind him.
“There’s a bathroom behind us. Let’s go, we need water, have to have water.”
“Water doesn’t kill them. Only puts out the fire and you need a lot of it. CO2 smothers their oxygen, keeps them from breathing.”
The ragged sound of her panting filled his ears. Panic radiated from her as Sienna stared at the demon. He could feel her pulse pounding, smell her fear. Knew the demon scented it, as well. They dined on terror.
“He’s going to burn us. We have to get out of here.”
“Stay calm,” he urged, backing her away from the demon.
Flames burst out of the demon’s fingers in a hiss, scorching the walls. A framed photo of the witch and her daughter began to burn. Then the demon turned and sprayed fire down the stairs, cutting off their exit.
Sienna whimpered, turning pale as milk. Matt gripped her hand. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. You need to stay calm and don’t panic. We’ll get out of this.”
Smoke began filling the hallway. She coughed, and laughed. “We will? Okay, super lupus, guess it’s time for a weenie roast. Except I doubt you like having your weenie roasted.”
Putting up a brave front. Knew all about that. Had done it a time or two. His admiration kicked up a notch.
“Depends on who’s doing the roasting. Definitely not him.”
Matt turned, searching the hallway. At the end sat a cherrywood bookcase with leather-bound volumes. No good, but the covering…
The Indian weave table runner.
“Create a distraction. Talk to it. Feed its ego. Demons love having their ego stroked.”
“As long as you don’t ask me to stroke anything else,” she muttered.
“If something happens to me, get into that back bedroom and escape out the window. Drive as fast as you can to a place where you feel safe, and call that number on the card you got earlier.”
She coughed, nodded. “Nothing’s going to happen to you,” she whispered.
Sienna faced the demon as Matt backed up to the bookcase. “Hey, Officer Hot Stuff. That was some glamour you pulled. Never guessed you were a demon. Fooled the cops, too.”
Matt removed the runner, folded it behind his back.
The demon smirked. “You’re a pretty one. You’ll look even nicer when I melt your face.”
Sienna blanched.
“Enough. You found the witch’s ledger, Draicon? Give it to me and the girl lives. Perhaps.”
“These?” Matt pulled the book from his back jeans pocket. He ripped out a few pages, tossed them into the flames licking the walls. “Go get them.”
Screaming, the demon dove for the papers burning out of control. Matt pushed her to the side and whispered, “Get ready. On my word, conjure a fire extinguisher in my hands and run into the east side back bedroom.”
The demon raised its hands toward Matt, its slit of a mouth yawning open, showing daggerlike teeth. Timing was everything. If Sienna dropped the illusion, his ass would be cooked.
“Now.”
Sienna invoked the image of a fire extinguisher. “Take this, hot stuff,” she yelled, pointing the apparition at him.
Screaming, the demon drew back, its hands dropping. As it looked behind for a way out, Matt tackled it in a full body slam. He jammed an arm at the demon’s throat and stuffed the blanket into its flat nostrils and oval mouth, cutting off its oxygen supply. The demon’s body heat burned through the arm of his leather jacket, cooking his skin. The metal of his sidearm began to warm like a skillet over an open flame. An eerie scream choked out of the pyro demon. The heat intensified, but Matt continued to smother the cloth, now singeing beneath the flames creeping out of its mouth.
The pyro demon tried to draw in a breath, found only woven cloth. It gasped and its reddish-yellow eyes fluttered.
Unconscious for now.
He gave a hard twist, breaking the creature’s neck. Permanently cutting off all oxygen.
Smoke clogged his lungs, heat painfully burning through his leather jacket. Wincing at the pain of his burned hands, Matt crawled the length of the smoky hallway to the back bedroom. He tried to draw air into his lungs, and coughed. Then someone yanked him into the room.
He kicked the door shut with a booted foot, buying them time. Sienna was already yanking off the bedspread, stuffing it beneath the door to block the smoke.
A distant screech of sirens sounded. By the time the fire department arrived, it would be too late. And how the hell would they explain anything?
Two stories down, but they could make it. Smoke curled into the room from the door frame. Coughing, Sienna clamped a hand over her mouth.
Matt ran to the window. Ignoring the pa
in in his burned hands, he jerked it upward. The wood frame splintered beneath the force.
“I’ve heard Fae can fly. Now’s a good time to find out. Me first. I’ll cushion you, but if I don’t, hit the ground in a roll, Sienna.”
He jumped, aiming for a thick bayberry shrub. Branches scraped his face, but the bush protected his bones from breaking. He rolled out, held out his arms.
“Jump.”
Sienna fell, rather than jumped. He caught her, wincing as her weight made contact with his burns. Matt set her down, whistling through his teeth, the agony in his arm graying his vision. Swaying, his eyes watering and lungs burning with smoke, he fought to remain on his feet. Sienna’s soot-covered face looked anxiously at him.
“Better get that NASCAR illusion ready, sweetheart. Because this time, I think I will let you drive.”
Chapter 4
The white house with the bright red shutters was quaint and small and in a quiet neighborhood near downtown Forrest Plains. Perfect place to hide and recover.
Heart pounding like a war drum, Sienna found the key beneath a statue of a grinning gnome. As she replaced the gnome, it politely lifted its hat. She blinked.
“The owner has an odd sense of humor,” Matt rasped.
He was shaking badly now. Sienna slid an arm around his waist, helping him inside. She locked the door behind them.
The living room had a large, faded olive sofa, and two green recliners. A basket of dried wildflowers sat in the hearth of a stone fireplace. Silver-framed photos adorned the cream walls. It looked like an average, middle-class house.
The only difference was a painting hanging over the fireplace. A large, gray wolf, head held aloft and proud, standing in a forest.
Her stomach pitched and rolled. Great. Portrait of ole grandpa. A wolf.
“It smells like a den in here,” she muttered.
“Belongs to a buddy. Draicon. He took his family to visit relatives. Told me I could use it any occasion I wanted. The occasion calls for it.”
Instinct warred within her, her Fae side shrieking in fear at the wolf scent, her Draicon side welcoming the cozy and welcoming house. She told her Fae side to shut up and deal. They needed a place to lie low. And he was badly hurt. Worry raced through her.
Matt limped over to the sofa, coughing violently. Sienna ran into the kitchen, pulled open an oak cabinet. She filled a glass with water and brought it to him. He gulped it down, then wheezed.
“Thanks. It’s not a beer, but it’ll do.” He winked at her.
“You need a hospital, Lieutenant Parker.”
“Unless you can conjure up the illusion of a medic, no chance in hell. Too dangerous. I’ll heal. Give me a few minutes. I’m a fast healer.” He leaned back and closed his eyes. Long, dark lashes feathered his sooty cheeks.
The anger she’d harbored against all Draicon melted a little. He was wolf, but courageous and steady. Not like the Draicon who’d abused her mother.
Sienna sat beside him. “Let’s get the jacket off. Then I’ll see about conjuring up a steak. You’re low on energy, and from what I know about your kind, protein will suffice.”
He opened one eye. “That or sex.” Matt gave a rueful glance downward. “Though I doubt that part of me will cooperate right now.”
Heat flooded her cheeks. She helped him sit up, and gently tugged the jacket off his uninjured arm. Sienna sucked in a breath. “I can cut it off you.”
“Just do it.”
A harsh whistling noise hissed through his teeth as she pulled the other arm free. Sienna winced at the red burn on his muscular forearm and his burned palms and fingers. He surveyed the injuries and shrugged. “Not too bad. Considering that pyro demons can melt steel and reduce bones to ash.”
Fire strong enough to burn bone. They’d be dead, if not for Matt’s quick thinking.
“Thank you for saving me,” she said quietly.
He looked at her steadily with those deep blue eyes. “No problem. Your glamour helped us out of a tight spot. You’re not bad for a Fae.”
As she bristled, he added with a teasing smile, “And you’re much prettier than the ones I’ve run up against.”
The whiteness of his teeth contrasted with his dirty face. Sienna felt a tug of unwanted attraction. He was a cool operator, and the sheer sexiness of that smile melted her.
She found a medical kit in the main bathroom and washed his injuries, treating them with a cooling cream. His jaw turned to stone as he endured her ministrations. It had to hurt, but he was stoic.
Hard muscles of his arm quivered beneath her fingers as she spread on the cream. Mingling with the stench of ash and soot was the delicious scent of his cologne, and something richer and purely male.
Her Draicon half reacted, making her soft and aching. Sienna bit her lip. Fae, she was Fae. Not Draicon.
When she’d bandaged the wounds, he turned. “Thanks.”
Tension hovered in the air as he gazed at her, his expression steady and warm.
Sienna stared at his jaw, the bristle shadowing his lean cheeks. So different from her, so very male.
So very Draicon.
A small, but persistent connection flared between them. He rested a bandaged hand over hers. She shivered, imagining him undressing her, those big hands gliding over her body, coaxing and teasing….
Sienna gently pulled free and went over to the fireplace hearth, curious about this wolf and his chosen profession. “So, you’re a soldier. It must give you a big advantage over the others, to be a wolf with strength and healing abilities. Was it easier for you to become a navy SEAL?”
“I went through the same training, except every paranorm who strives to become a SEAL has extra tests to pass after we become SEALs. Makes the playing field even with humans who complete BUD/S, Basic Underwater Demolition/SEALs. Most civilians think SEALs are all firepower and muscles.” Matt gave a crooked grin. “They don’t realize half the battle is up here.”
As he tapped his forehead, she gave him a puzzled look. “Your mind?”
“Physical strength is important, but mental strength is equally important in defeating the bad guys.”
“So how would you learn to defeat a paranormal bad guy? It’s not the same as defeating a terrorist.”
“Same basic techniques. Study the enemy. Get to know him as intimately as you know yourself. What drives him?” Matt’s gaze went distant. “Although in our case, we can’t see the enemy until it’s too late. If we had, maybe Adam…”
He fell silent. Sienna felt a tug of sympathy. Not wanting to grieve him further, she changed the subject. “Back at the hotel, Chief Petty Officer Shaymore called you Dakota.”
“All the guys on my team have nicknames. I like John Wayne movies. Even the worst one of his, Dakota, so they slapped that on me.”
His teammates shared close bonds. Sienna wistfully longed for the same. Her few Fae friends had been distant and aloof, not playful and friendly. “I’ve never had a nickname.”
“Maybe I should give you one.” He cocked his head, considered. “Pixie. You’re small and feisty like one.”
“I am not,” she protested.
“But you are cute.”
“Oh.” A furious blush chased across her face.
“Very cute.” His grin faded, replaced by an intent look. All alone here, with this big Draicon wolf, the chemistry between them hot and intense.
Sienna drew in a deep breath, willing her arousal to lessen. “What did you find at the witch’s house?”
Matt’s expression became guarded. “Spells for warding off pyro demons. And bank receipts, a business ledger and a Craigslist ad. Evidence.”
As she sucked in a breath, he added, “Don’t worry. I let them burn on purpose. All the info’s up here.”
He tapped his head again. “The ad was cryptic, selling secrets revealed by a crystal ball. The witch recorded the transaction in the ledger, making a note of the seller’s name and place of business for future reference. She paid two hundre
d thousand dollars for the intel about myself and Adam from the Orb’s holder. She sold it to a Darksider Fae for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, a nice little profit for herself. Only she didn’t realize who the real client was until it was too late, when the pyro demons decided to cut out the middleman.”
Cold dread crept up her spine at the SEAL’s hard expression. “Who was the seller?”
Eyes the color of an icy ocean swept over her. “His name is Tim McMahon. He’s Fae. Seelie Sidhe.”
Words sank into her like steel claws, shredding her insides. “It can’t be… The thief was a Draicon.”
“No, Sienna. He’s Fae. One of your own.” His words sent a chill through her. “From your own colony, Los Lobos.”
He stretched out on the sofa and fell fast asleep. Never had Sienna seen anyone crash that fast. He’d muttered something about taking a combat nap and bam!
Sienna brought in their bags, showered and changed into fresh jeans, a cable-knit turquoise sweater and sneakers. Her suede boots were ruined. She sighed and set them aside. A month’s pay from the little convenience shop where she’d worked and they were good only for the garbage can.
The kitchen was bare of food. Her stomach rumbled. Sienna rubbed her arms. She was low on energy herself. Unlike Draicon, Fae didn’t need beef. They could survive on sprouts and berries. They were creatures of the forest, protectors of innocents.
Betrayers and dealers of dangerous secrets to pyrokinetic demons.
Her palms gripped the granite countertop. Tim. She knew him. He was quiet, introspective and hovered on the fringes of the society. He’d left the colony the same time the Orb went missing. Why hadn’t Chloe suspected him? It made no sense.
Because Chloe wouldn’t dare suspect one of her own pure-blooded Fae would commit such treason, Sienna realized. Instead, she blamed a Draicon who’d been seen in wolf form near the sacred ground.
All her beliefs and convictions about her people crashed like a house of cards smashed by an uncaring hand. Emotion rose in her throat. Not Draicon but Fae had been the real enemy all along.
She had to regain herself. Everything in her world was collapsing. Sienna lifted her head and stared at her watery reflection in the microwave.
