by Shéa MacLeod
“First it was the Kissing Darkness business and now fire. It’s just so strange. Have you come into contact with anything unusual recently?”
“Now you mention it.” I rubbed my fingers across the dragon’s scale that was still in my pocket. Once again I noticed it felt strangely warm to the touch. “I was given a dragon’s scale.”
He let out a little squeak. “A dragon’s scale? Oh, my goodness! But, they’re extinct.”
“Apparently not. I think someone is trying to frame them for Alison Reynolds’s murder.” I hadn’t put that thought into words until just then, but it made sense.
“And someone gave you a dragon scale? As in, you touched it? Physically?”
“Yes,” I told him. “I’m holding it right now.”
“Oh, my. Oh, my, my. Well, that explains it.”
“Explains what exactly?”
“Well, it sort of explains it.”
“Eddie!”
“My dear, dragons are creatures of fire,” he said, as though that explained everything.
Sure. I knew that. Everybody knew that. Dragons breathe fire. All the fairy tales said so. “OK. What does that have to do with anything?”
“Well, coming into contact with the Atlantean amulet woke up your affinity with Darkness, but it woke other things up, too. I think perhaps coming into contact with the dragon scale may have, I don’t know, activated your fire affinity.”
“Are you talking,” I hissed, “about Kissing Fire? Like in the book?”
“I believe so, yes.”
“Oh, sweet lords above. Jack is going to kill me.” I hesitated. “Eddie, do not tell Jack. I don’t want him knowing about this. He will freak out and he’s already mental enough at the moment. I don’t need him breathing down my neck over this.”
“Morgan, you will be careful won’t you?”
“Of course Eddie. When am I not?”
It was probably a good thing he didn’t answer that.
Chapter Nine
The spray of salty water lashed my face, ice cold soaking through the thin cloth of my dress. I hadn’t bothered to grab my cloak. The rage had been too much, blinding me to all else.
Below me the sea crashed against the rocks, sending another icy spray over me. Still it did nothing to dispel the rage burning through me, turning my bones to fire.
“Fina! Fina!”
His voice called to me, even against the roar of the ocean. I turned. He stood, kissed by moonlight, glowing like a messenger of the gods. “Stop, Iah. Stop.”
“Fina, please,” he begged. So beautiful in the moonlight, his golden hair like spun silver dancing across a face that would make a sculptor weep. So beautiful he made my heart ache. “Fina, please don’t do this. There has to be another way.”
“There isn’t.” My heart was breaking, but there was no other choice. I’d become a danger to everyone and everything I loved. “I cannot control myself any longer. The Fire ... it burns, Iah. It wants to burn everything.” The tears that dripped down my face were scalding hot mixed with the cold spray of the ocean.
“Please, Fina, please.” But his tone told me he’d already given up. He knew I was right.
My heart wept. Now at the last I couldn’t even hold him, though my fingers ached to caress his moon-touched skin one last time. Iah, the first male in our history born with the power of the Moon. There hadn’t even been a name for him in our language. The priests had searched the scrolls for months to find a suitable name for him in the language of the ancients.
“Iah,” I breathed.
Tears trickled down his face. I’d never seen him cry before. My heart would have broken then if it hadn’t already been shattered to pieces.
“I love you, Iah. With all that I am and all that I will ever be. I swear this, one day, in another life, we will be together.”
I turned back to the sea far beneath me. Perhaps the Fire would be quenched in her chilly depths. Pain screamed through me, and I swayed. Only sheer determination kept me upright. “From Fire I was born and to Fire I return.”
I looked behind me one last time. Iah had sunk to his knees, his body wracked with sobs. But I had no choice. If I didn’t do this now, the Fire would burn through me and take everyone with it. It was the curse of the Fire Kissed.
The sea beckoned, so before I could talk myself out of it, I threw myself from the cliff. The Fire within me screamed and burned, angry that I’d denied it, but I would soon be free. Wind streamed past my face, tearing my eyes. The water loomed closer.
A great beast swooped from the shadows. “Dracona,” I breathed. My lifelong friend and companion. The water would not take me after all.
“Fire Bringer,” she whispered back.
For just one moment, I saw in her eyes infinite sorrow and then her mighty jaw opened. Flame shot from her throat.
I burned.
***
I came awake with a start, thrashing at the duvet, barely holding back a scream. It took me a minute to figure out I wasn’t on fire, though I was drenched in sweat and stinking of nightmares.
I pressed my palm against my chest willing my heart to slow. The palm of my hand was hot, and I jerked it away from my skin leaving a pink print behind on my chest.
Shakily, I stumbled out of bed and into the bathroom and splashed water on my face trying to shake the horrific dream. “Gods, what the hell was that?”
It had been weeks since I’d had one of my dreams. I’d thought that with the whole discovery of the amulet and me being the Key of Atlantis thing, the dreams would have stopped. Apparently not. The amulet must have decided it had more to tell me, despite the fact I was several thousand miles away.
I checked the time. Three a.m. It was still early evening back home, so I dialed Eddie. If anyone would know what the dream meant, it would be him.
He picked up on the third ring.
“Eddie, it’s me.”
“Morgan, twice in one day. To what do I owe the pleasure?” His voice was as jolly as ever.
I told him about my dream, leaving nothing out. He was quiet for a moment. His silence made me nervous. “So?”
“Well, remember how I told you about the Elemental Mages?”
Of course I remembered. How could I forget? The Elemental Mages had been descendents of the ancient Atlanteans, able to channel the elements.
“It sounds like you were dreaming about a Fire Mage.”
“A Fire Mage? Oh, goodie.” Fina would have been the Fire Mage which would have left Iah, what? I had no idea what the Moon represented, but somehow it just didn’t seem that important at the moment.
“Well, it would make sense. It seems you are starting to channel Fire, so perhaps the dreams are trying to tell you something.”
“What about the dragon calling her a Fire Bringer?”
I heard the sound of pages turning. “Is that the book, Eddie?” I would never admit it to anyone, but Eddie’s sentient book kind of freaked me out. Not something a badass vampire hunter wanted the world to know.
“Naturally. Let me see ... ah, yes, here it is.” He cleared his throat. “Nothing here about a Fire Bringer, but as I told you before, the Elemental Mages chose a particular element to worship and learned to channel that element as a form of power. A very few were so good at it, so powerful, they went mad and had to be killed. Perhaps that’s what you were seeing.”
I shook my head then realized Eddie couldn’t see me. Oh the joys of jet lag. “No, I don’t think so. I mean, not exactly. These people were very young, and I got the feeling that they hadn’t chosen the elements so much as been born with them. The woman kept thinking of the man as, I don’t know, a Moon Child, for lack of a better term. He was the first male on record to be born with affinity for the moon. They didn’t even have a male name for him. Don’t know what that was about.”
“What were their names?”
“He called her Fina. His name was Iah.”
“Ah, yes. Fina, short for Sarafina. She was a fire godd
ess. Iah was a moon god, thousands of years older. They must have been named for the Elements they chose.”
“Or chose them,” I reminded him.
“It is possible that the truth of the matter has been lost to time,” Eddie admitted. “There could have been some who were born already channeling their power.”
“It seemed like it. They were too young to have spent the number of years in practice the book indicated. But let me tell you, the woman was freaked. She killed herself, Eddie. She kept saying, or thinking, that she couldn’t control the Fire. There was such ... rage in her, such hunger. To burn. To destroy.” That was what really freaked me out.
Eddie sighed. “It sounds like she was burning out. If she was born with the power, she should have had better control over it, but from what you’ve described it seems she didn’t. She killed herself to save those she loved.”
“In other words, she was about to go critical?”
“Yes, indeed.”
Great. That was all I needed. As if the Darkness weren’t hard enough to deal with, I was now channeling a power that might make me blow up and take a city with it. Just dandy.
“But what about this Moon guy? That’s not an element.”
“Oh, yes, that’s an interesting one.” Eddie had his lecturer voice on. “The Moon is often associated with nature worship. Artemis was both moon goddess and nature goddess, goddess of the hunt. This Iah was most likely able to channel Earth.”
“That would make sense. So, he was an Earth Mage and she was a Fire Mage who fed herself to a dragon. And that’s another thing. She seemed to be friends with the dragon, despite the fact it killed her. Not exactly the same picture of dragons Alister painted.”
“Hmm, interesting, let’s see.” More page flipping. “Ah, yes. It appears that Elemental Mages often had affinity with supernatural creatures of their element. Dragons are of Fire, therefore it would make sense for a Fire Mage to befriend a dragon. Odd choice for friendship, but there you go.”
“So the dragon burned her out of friendship?”
“Yes, of course.” He seemed surprised I would doubt it. “The water most likely would not have destroyed her power permanently. Dampened it maybe, but not destroyed it. You’ve heard the saying ‘fight fire with fire.’”
Fantastic. I was going to wind up eaten by a dragon. Then a thought occurred.
“Eddie, I have an affinity with vampires. They’re not my friends, but ... ” I couldn’t finish the thought.
“You’re wondering if that affinity has something to do with the Darkness?”
“Yes.” My voice was small. I didn’t like how weak and helpless all this Elemental stuff made me feel.
“It’s possible of course, but not necessarily so. After all, you are a Hunter. Hunters often have affinity of some nature with their prey. That’s what makes them good at their jobs.” His voice was hearty and cheering. It made me smile. Eddie always tried to make me feel better, no matter how bad the news. He was like a wonderful, crazy uncle with bad fashion sense. I decided then and there I was going to bring him back something breathtakingly tacky to wear. Like Union Jack boxer shorts. He’d love them.
“I really think you ought to talk to Jack, my dear,” Eddie’s voice grew quieter. “If anyone would know how to help you, it would be him. He hasn’t seen nine hundred years for nothing.”
By “help” I knew he really meant “save.” I must be in a hell of a lot more trouble than I realized. Freaking fantastic.
“Thanks Eddie. I knew I could count on you.”
“Always my dear.” I heard the sadness in his voice under the false bravado. Right then I felt more scared and alone than I’d ever been. Even on the night I died.
***
I didn’t sleep much the rest of the night. The idea of having another nightmare combined with the very real possibility this stupid Fire thing could kill me was enough to keep anyone awake. Naturally Kabita noticed.
“You look like crap,” she said over the rim of her coffee mug.
“Gee, thanks. If you don’t stop with the flattery I might get a big head.” I slapped some butter on a croissant and took a bite.
“Too late.”
I flipped her off and took another bite of croissant. My stomach wasn’t feeling pleased this morning. I knew I’d be hungry in an hour, but bread was the only thing that didn’t make me feel like hurling.
“Didn’t sleep well?” Her voice held a bit more sympathy.
“Not so much, no. I had another dream.” I’d told Kabita about the dreams. She didn’t take them quite as seriously as I did, but then she wasn’t the one having them. Nor was she the one channeling weird mystical energies. Or whatever. Which was something I hadn’t told her.
“You talked to Eddie?”
“Yeah, of course. He was quite helpful.” I paused. “He wants me to talk to Jack.”
She raised a brow. “Then why don’t you? I thought the two of you had some kind of thing going on. This incredible chemistry or whatever.”
“We did.” I couldn’t quite help the sadness that crept in. “We had amazing chemistry. I really thought we were going somewhere and then this stupid Atlantean Royal Bloodline thing and he freaks out and heads for the hills.”
“You want me to show him my ninja junk punch skills?”
I laughed at that. “Thanks, but no. I’m trying to make him see sense, not scare the daylights out of him. Though he was a Templar Knight, so I doubt he’d be all that scared.”
“He should be.” Her face was calm, her voice expressionless. She kind of scared me when she did that.
“Well, I’ll keep it in mind should my powers of persuasion not work.” Which so far they hadn’t. I might need her NJP skills after all.
“Good.” She set down her cup. “What’s on the agenda for today?”
“Sandra Fuentes invited me to her shop in Soho, so I thought I’d head over there. I’ve a feeling that woman knows a lot more than she’s saying. It would be good to have a longer chat with her.” I tossed the remainder of my croissant onto my plate. My appetite just wasn’t there.
Kabita nodded. “Good idea. She’s definitely got more up her sleeve than she’s showing and she appeared to like you. Goddess knows why.”
I chucked a croissant at her. “How about you?”
“I was thinking of heading over to Alison’s place. See if there’s anything useful MI8 missed. I’ve got a meeting with an old client first, though, so I’ll head over after lunch.”
“Why don’t I go with you? We can meet up after you do your meeting thing and my visit with Sandra.” I really didn’t want her going there alone. She was putting on a brave face, but I knew her well enough to know this was really hard for her. It would be hard for anyone.
She looked relieved. “Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll text you her address and we’ll meet there at two.”
I nodded and headed for the lobby. I still felt shaky and disoriented from the dream. “Pull yourself together, Morgan,” I muttered under my breath. “This is no time to fall apart.”
Not sure the pep talk worked, but as I stepped out into the sun I felt a little better. I might not know yet what to do about my fabulous new superpowers, but at least I was doing something for Alison. Maybe in finding her answers, I’d find some of my own.
Chapter Ten
Sometimes when you haven’t lived in a place for a long time, you forgot the little things that annoyed you. Hordes of tourists were one of those things.
As I dodged yet another couple stopped dead in the middle of the pavement to gawp at something or other, I tried to rein in my temper. Honestly some people didn’t have the brains the gods gave a turnip.
It was a gorgeous sunny day and Carnaby Street was packed. It shouldn’t have surprised me. Carnaby was such a cute little street, crammed with beautiful little shops filled with all kinds of treasures. Then I saw something that stopped me in my tracks.
Just ahead of me, headed my way, were two men. They were tall
and well built, but not overly muscular. They were holding hands, but that was nothing unusual. Soho was known as the gay Mecca of London, so two men holding hands was pretty much par for the course. The thing that stopped me was their faces.
Their almost too handsome faces kept shifting. One minute they wore one face and the next time you looked they had a different one, their faces moulding and changing from one incarnation to the next.
No one else seemed to notice, but I did. I’d seen that phenomenon before. They were sidhe.
The two men drew closer and, as they passed me, they nodded at me in unison. My heart froze then started pounding double time. They’d noticed me. For the second time in a matter of months the sidhe had not only noticed me, they’d acknowledged my presence with something almost like respect. I shuddered with the thought. I had no idea why the sidhe were suddenly taking such a keen interest in me and I didn’t like it.
It was never a good thing to come to the attention of the sidhe. They had a way of making life very difficult. Even if they liked you. They were more likely to dislike you, and then you were in deep shit.
The sidhe disappeared around a corner. Suddenly I could breathe easier.
I darted left up Ganton Street and finally found Sandra’s shop tucked in between a men’s tailor and a shoe shop. Honestly, you couldn’t miss it. The trim around the front window was painted a bright golden yellow while the door was a hot, fiery orange. Orange letters picked out in gold across the window proclaimed “The Dragon’s Den.” Cute, real cute.
The best thing about the shop had to be the enormous paper-mâché dragon taking up the entire front window. It was painted fire engine red with gold and orange accents and yellow jewels for eyes. It was incredibly impressive and I wondered if this was another result of Sandra’s own particular brand of magic, or if she’d actually made it by hand.
A little bell above the door tinkled as I entered the store, reminding me of Eddie’s shop back in Portland. I suffered a tiny pang of homesickness. How could a person be homesick for two different places?
