by Carina Cook
The hinges tore free before the latch worked its way loose, and Darius nearly hit himself in the face with the suddenly free door. He staggered backwards into a plume of smoke, let loose into the night air. The acrid scent stung his nose. As he took a deep breath, preparing to enter the building, the fire alarm finally sounded, shrieking a warning to stay out.
Darius rushed inside, pulling his t-shirt up to cover his face and nose. The smoke wasn’t very thick just yet, but better to be prepared.
It took a moment for him to orient himself in the dim light of the exit sign. He found himself in a hallway that branched off abruptly. The smoke was much heavier to the right, so that’s the direction he picked.
“Audra!” he shouted. “Audra, are you in here?”
Here, the fumes were thick, although he still couldn’t see flames. Even with the cloth covering his mouth, the smoke nipped at his throat. He coughed into the crook of his arm, moving forward with his other hand held out in front of him. He could barely see for the smoke and the darkness.
Moving slowly and deliberately, he made his way to a doorway. This one felt warmer than the others, and smoke curled angrily around the edges. The air was so thick here that it felt like it scratched at his windpipe as it entered his body. He tried to shout Audra’s name again but couldn’t manage any more than a croak.
Maybe he should have called 911 after all. He’d been so sure of his strength, but this smoke was not an enemy that he could destroy by force. But it was too late now, and certainly the alarm would have notified the authorities. If he fell, they would come for Audra.
He stood to the side and opened the door to reveal a descending staircase lit by the red flicker of flames. To Darius, it looked like a stairway to hell. He carefully crept down the staircase, holding his hand cupped over his mouth and nose for all the good it did. He couldn’t stop coughing, and his eyes streamed with tears. Although he tried to crouch down where the air would be better, that wasn’t easy for a big man like him. His best bet was to move quickly. He just hoped it would be quick enough.
The flames illuminated what looked like a storeroom, although most of the shelves were bare. He saw a few books and what looked like jewelry and…was that a manticore horn? This must be where all of the supernatural articles were stored, but he didn’t see any of the more dangerous things he’d brought to the Oasis over the years. Nor did he see the lamp.
But he did see Audra’s cream colored pants sprawled out on the floor on the far side of the room. Her body was nearly obscured by a pile of cardboard boxes strewn all about. It looked like maybe she had knocked them over when she fell. Strange. The flames weren’t anywhere near her. What had knocked her out? Cardboard?
Now that he thought of that, he realized what else was strange. There was too much smoke for the amount of flames, and the fire hugged the walls despite the fact that it should be hungrily consuming the staircase by now. Or the boxes sprawled around Audra. It seemed to be spreading, but much more slowly than it ought to be. Perhaps the room was warded or something? He wasn’t about to ask questions now, but he was glad for whatever it was.
He hurried over to Audra’s unconscious figure and gathered her up in his arms, still coughing.
“Audra,” he croaked. “Audra, are you okay?”
Her head felt wet under his fingers, and they came out of her hair tinged with deep red blood. She stirred under his touch, and he held her tight, staggering toward the stairs. But another bout of coughing overwhelmed him, driving him to his knees. It felt like he’d been punched in the stomach for about an hour. By a shifter with anger issues.
Audra needed him. He tried to shield her with his body, pushing himself forward another two steps before falling to his knees again. He couldn’t breathe. Whatever magic held the flames at bay, it hadn’t preserved the oxygen in the room. He was suffocating. All he could hope to do was keep Audra safe until the fire department came. He squeezed her tight, hoping to keep the worst of the smoke at bay.
“Ow,” she said muzzily. “That hurts.”
He tried to say something to her but ended up coughing in her face instead. He would have been embarrassed by that if only he could breathe.
“Darius?” she said, sounding a bit more alert now. “What the hell? Out. Now.”
For a moment, he thought she was talking to him, and he wanted to tell her that he’d like nothing more than to be out now, but he couldn’t get his legs to work, and his head was swimming, and it felt like someone had aimed a blow torch down his esophagus. But then she snapped her fingers, and the fire went out like someone had flicked a switch and turned it off.
Then she said, “We need some air,” and she whistled.
Darius felt a cool breeze on his face. A relieved smile grew on his lips as he breathed it in. He coughed again, released her gently, and passed out at her feet.
CHAPTER 5
Audra didn’t have any time to waste. She put her mouth over Darius’s and inhaled, pulling the smoke from his lungs with the help of her magic. It didn’t feel great, but her body quickly cleansed the particles from the air, expelling it out cleanly in a single cough. It only took a few repetitions before he was breathing clean again. The reverse mouth-to-mouth wasn’t at all erotic, although she couldn’t help but notice that he had nice lips, full and warm.
He’d need more medical attention, but not from humans. They’d quickly notice that he wasn’t normal. That would cause more problems than it solved. But he seemed stable for now; she’d bought them some time to deal with the fire department. The alarm system would have auto-called them the minute it went off, so they’d be here any moment now. She had to work fast, and that meant leaving Darius, even though she hated to do it.
She checked on him one last time before she hurried up the stairs, closing the door behind her. It blended seamlessly into the wall, and she’d bet her upcoming vacation with Beef that not even the most observant detective would be able to find it. Uncle Grey had spared no expense in making sure that no one would stumble upon the dangerous storage room.
The magic seeded into the walls had kept the fire from spreading, but it still smelled bad upstairs. Bad enough that no one would believe this had been just a simple microwave fire. As she hurried through the building, she employed every ounce of magic she could. Earth magic to pull the particles of smoke from the air. Water magic to clean any soot that had settled on tile or glass countertops. Air to dry the water. Then she threw a bag of popcorn into the microwave and lit it with fire magic. She hit it hard enough that the inside of the microwave scorched, filling the air with the scent of burning plastic as well as corn. That would justify the alarm. Hopefully the excuse would hold.
Mere moments after she finished these simple preparations, she heard a voice at the back door. “Fire department! Anybody in there?”
“Yes!” she shouted back, grabbing a fire extinguisher from the wall and dousing the microwave thoroughly. She should have thought of it before, but hopefully the fireman couldn’t hear. “I just put it out. Should I unplug it?”
“Don’t touch anything, ma’am. Where are you?”
The deep voice grew closer as he talked, and Audra stepped out into the hallway to meet him. She tried to project an air of sheepish relief, like someone who had accidentally nearly burned down her place of business and was sorry to have troubled the fine men of the Las Vegas Fire Department. She still held the depleted extinguisher cradled in her arm like a baby. After a moment of sheepish realization, she put it down.
“You should get out of there,” said the fireman in front. He was flanked by two more firefighters in full gear and face masks. One of them took her by the elbow.
“Let’s get you outside until we’re sure it’s safe,” they said.
Audra knew that it was plenty safe for an elemental mage like her, but she couldn’t exactly say that. Instead, she let them lead her out toward the back door.
“I’m sorry to be a trouble,” she said, trying to sound sheepish. �
�I was working late and nodding off, so I thought I’d have a snack to wake me up. I put the popcorn in, and then I must have fallen asleep. I woke up to the alarm, and the microwave was on fire, so I sprayed the crap out of it with the extinguisher.”
“It happens,” said the firefighter. “But really, if you’re that tired, it’s better to go to sleep and finish the work in the morning. You could have lost your pawn shop over this, ma’am.”
“No kidding,” said Audra, shaking her head. “You can bet I won’t be doing that again.”
As the fireman led her out of the building, Audra cast a single glance at the secret door, which was still safely closed. Darius had given her his cell number. She’d drop him a text so he knew what was up. Hopefully he would respond so she knew he was okay.
It took almost an hour before the last fire truck pulled out into the street. At least Darius had responded to her texts, because if he hadn’t, Audra might have been tempted to open the secret door and check on him. But he’d reassured her that he was okay. He claimed that his accelerated shifter healing had already taken care of most of the damage, and he preferred to wait than risk normal humans finding out about the storage room. He’d understood what the room contained without her having to explain it, although she’d be willing to bet that he didn’t grasp exactly how she stored things.
She put her hand to the back of her head as she went to open the door and let him out, wishing she had a little of that accelerated healing ability herself. The bloody spot at the back of her skull throbbed. She hadn’t noticed the injury until one of the EMTs pointed it out, and she’d had to make up a flimsy story on the spot to justify it. Based on his expression, the EMT hadn’t bought it, but he couldn’t do anything about that. He strongly suggested that she get evaluated for a concussion, and she promised to do so at some unspecified time in the future. Then he offered to give her a ride right then and there, and she refused. He wasn’t happy about it, but what could he do? It was the end of the conversation, and she only hoped it wouldn’t bite her in the butt someday. They left, anyway. She thought it was about time.
When she opened the secret door, she shouted, “It’s me!” down the stairs. When he didn’t answer, she started to descend them and added, “The coast is clear.”
Darius appeared at the bottom of the long staircase, looking no worse for wear and only a little sooty. She gave him a critical once over.
“You sure you’re okay?” she said. “I still think we should get you to a shifter friendly doctor.”
He shook his head. “Nah,” he responded, his voice only a little gravelly. “That would be a big waste of money for them to tell me I’ll heal on my own. But…” He trailed off in embarrassment, looking up toward her with a sheepish expression that she found incredibly endearing after Chad’s constant cockiness.
“What?” she asked, concerned.
“I’m starving. I dropped my dinner outside when I realized the place was on fire, and healing uses up a lot of calories. Do you have anything to eat before I keel over? Sorry to be a trouble.”
“No! That’s no trouble at all. There’s a taco truck in the parking lot next door. How about I get us some?” she said.
“I can come with you.”
“Actually, I was hoping you’d stay here, since our back door is off the hinges. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” she asked, meeting his eyes. “I had to do some quick on the spot lying to excuse it.”
She wasn’t trying to give him a hard time; the question was an honest one. After he and Rebecca had left, her memory got a little spotty, and the pieces didn’t add up. But she’d knocked her head pretty hard, so that didn’t seem all that strange. The one thing she did know was that he’d risked life and limb to save her, so she felt pretty good about leaving the shop in his hands. Besides, it would only be for a moment.
“That was me,” he said. “I smelled the smoke. I thought you might be in danger. Sorry about the door, though. I can fix it for you. I broke it, so it’s my responsibility.”
The story added up with the timeline and the state of the door, as well as the bag of chicken nuggets the police had found in the parking lot. That was reassuring, although she still had a ton of questions. They were probably best answered over a snack, though, because now that he’d brought it up, she realized how long it had been since she’d had a meal.
“Let me get some food, and we can talk it all over,” she said.
He sagged against the scorched stairwell in relief or calorie-deprived weakness. “That sounds great,” he said.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” she said, gesturing for her to follow him. She went to the office where she’d stored her purse. “You don’t have any food allergies or taco preferences, do you?”
“No allergies. And I don’t care what kind of tacos as long as you get a lot of them.” He began to reach for his back pocket. “I can cover it.”
“Nah, you just saved my life. I think I can buy you dinner.” As she reached the doorway, she turned back. “Oh, and if the cops happen to come back while I’m gone, I told them you could park your truck here while you went clubbing. So you must have just gotten back.”
“Clubbing. Right,” he said with a little smile.
“It was the best I could think of on short notice! Sit tight. I’ll be right back.”
The taco truck was parked at the gas station next door, and it didn’t take long to get the food even though she tripled her usual order. Pilar, the owner, was clearly curious about all of the emergency vehicles that had been at the shop, but she seemed to accept Audra’s flimsy explanations. The whole thing took less than ten minutes, but by the time she returned, Darius was standing in front of the broken back door with a tape measurer and a clipboard, taking down the dimensions.
“You don’t take directions very well, do you?” she asked, smiling to take the edge off the question.
“What?” he replied, wearing what was beginning to become a very familiar expression of apology.
“I told you to sit tight. You’re supposed to be recuperating, aren’t you?”
“I’m fine. Besides, we can’t leave your business open overnight. If it’s okay with you, I’ll board it up tonight and be here first thing in the morning with a new door. This is a standard size, so I can pick one up no problem.”
She laughed. “That sounds good, but if we don’t go inside and eat these, I might snarf yours down too. And maybe the chicken nuggets that were left on the pavement too. I’m starving.”
He needed no other urging. Soon, they were sitting at the break room table, and the smell of salsa and warm tortillas filled the air. For a while, the room was silent except for the sound of chewing, but it was a strangely comfortable silence.
Finally, Darius came up for air. He’d put down a half dozen tacos in a very short amount of time, followed by two cans of Coke, before he even began to slow down. But as he selected another carne asada taco from the pile and began to unwrap it, he said, “So what happened?”
Audra shook her head gently, trying not to make it hurt any worse than it already did.
“I don’t really know. I can’t remember much. I was working in the vault where I store all of the dangerous stuff. I remember starting to work the magic to seal up the lamp. It’s very complex, and I have to block everything out in order to work it. And then…I think I fell. I remember a sensation of falling, and pain. Maybe I hit my head on one of the shelves or something. I must have lit the fire myself as I lost consciousness. I haven’t lost control like that in ages, but if I was knocked senseless, it could happen.”
“Let me see your head.”
Darius stood up and came around the table. His hands were surprisingly gentle as he probed at her skull. They felt surprisingly smooth and warm, and huge. He could have palmed her entire head in one hand like a basketball. For some reason, that thought amused her. Maybe that was the head injury at work.
“If anyone needs medical attention, it’s you,” he s
aid. “You probably have a concussion.”
“That’s what the EMT told me,” she grumbled. “I’ll see a doctor soon, but I’m not happy about it. I strongly think that Vegas needs some kind of magical healer person.”
“I’m sorry?” He sounded amused.
“You know, a healer. Some hippie looking chick in a long flowing gown who makes vague statements about peace on earth and puts her hands on you, and then whatever is wrong with you magically fixes itself. Like in just about every 80s fantasy film. But you’re probably not a weird movie buff like me.”
“Oh, I love movies.”
“Me too.”
They looked at each other for a long moment, and Audra began to think with dawning horror that he might be about to ask her out. The most horrific thing about that thought was that she wasn’t sure what she’d say. She’d sworn off dating, after all, and it would be really pitiful of her not to be able to keep that vow for a full 24 hours. But maybe, just maybe Darius was better than the lowlifes she’d picked in the past. What if she turned him down, and then it turned out that she lost the only opportunity she’d get to be with a decent guy for once?
Then he said, “Is the lamp okay?”
It wasn’t what she expected at all, and she closed her mouth with an audible click, biting off whatever she’d been about to say. She wasn’t entirely sure.
“I don’t know. I suppose I should check.”
“Okay.”
He began to put sour cream on his taco, like he expected her to just get on with things while he was sitting there. Normally, Audra preferred silence and solitude when she worked her magic, and she almost asked him to leave until she thought of what had happened in the storage room. No, it would be better for him to stay. He’d probably been thinking of protecting her all along. Even if she had to be protected from her own klutziness. She wasn’t usually that careless, but then again, she’d had a rough day. Being a little distracted seemed reasonable given the circumstances.
