The Fire Salamander Chronicles Series: Books 1 - 3: The Fire Salamander Chronicles Series Boxset Book 1

by N M Thorn

  “Don’t you?” asked the wyvern, an exaggeratedly shocked expression in his round eyes.

  “No, I don’t,” admitted Gunz, “otherwise I wouldn’t be asking, would I?”

  “Volkolaks, of course,” said the wyvern, looking heavenward. “A lot of them. I had never seen so many volkolaks in one place. That was some serious dark magic at work. I hope you know that unlike regular werewolves, volkolaks are created by a dark spell, not by some random bite.”

  “Yes, of course, I knew that. I just never came across one before,” mumbled Gunz, wondering who wanted him dead.

  To turn a man into a volkolak wasn’t easy. It wasn’t just any dark magic. The one who wielded it, had to be extremely powerful, and considering the size of both packs, whoever wanted him dead was a power to be reckoned with. Gunz cringed, thinking that every one of these volkolaks at some point was a person. Even though he scanned both packs and didn’t feel the presence of humanity in any of the monsters, he still felt remorseful. He kept asking himself if there was still a chance of reversing the dark magic, saving all those people.

  “Well, thank you for the information and for your help,” said Gunz again, but since the wyvern didn’t move, he added, “You can leave and go home any time you want.”

  “No can do. Kal sent me here to take care of you. I do what Kal says,” he said lightly, his eyes shifting to the coffee cup. “The coffee is ready.”

  Gunz took the cup of steaming coffee and inhaled its refreshing scent. The wyvern flew up and landed next to the coffeemaker, staring at Gunz sternly.

  “Now what?” asked Gunz putting the cup down.

  “Aren’t you supposed to offer some coffee to your honored guest first?” he scolded, shaking his head reproachfully. “Where are your manners, Salamander? I should have a word with Kal. How was he teaching you?”

  “Um, I’m sorry,” mumbled Gunz, placing the coffee cup in front of the wyvern. “I didn’t realize that mini-dragons drink coffee.”

  “Jeez Louise,” huffed the wyvern, “I don’t understand how the Great Salamander lets you run free in the human realms when you’re such an ignoramus. He told me you needed a bodyguard. He never mentioned that I would have to play teacher too.” He lowered his head into the cup and sampled the steaming coffee, closing his eyes joyfully. “Mmm, that’s good. At least one thing you know how to do right.”

  Gunz sighed, getting the second cup of coffee ready. He got used to his solitude, and he wasn’t sure that he needed this chatty and unbelievably invasive little roommate. But he wasn’t about to start arguing with Kal. It was never a good idea to argue with a person who has complete control over you.

  “What’s your name?” asked Gunz. “Since you’re not leaving any time soon, you might as well tell me how I should call you.”

  “You already know it,” replied the wyvern dryly between slurps. “Mishka.”

  “I called my kitten Mishka—,” Gunz started to say but then cut himself short. “Wait a minute…”

  “Meow,” said the wyvern grinning, sounding like a man who was trying to imitate a cat.

  “You can shift? You were the kitten?”

  “Ding-ding-ding,” sung the Wyvern, sarcasm in his every word. “That was when I thought I needed to guard you only in your home at night. But now that I know what kind of doofus you are and how amateurish you are when it comes to the elemental power and magic, I believe that I need to guard you every moment of the day.”

  “And how do you imagine doing that?” asked Gunz with a lopsided grin. “I’m not going to walk around the city with a tiny dragon on my shoulder. People are going to think I’m some kind of crazy Game of Thrones castaway. Father of Dragons.” He rolled his eyes and took a swig of his coffee.

  “Father of Dragons my ass. You wish,” muttered the wyvern. He lifted one of his legs, carefully balancing on the other and pointed at a small bracelet made of some red stone that Gunz didn’t notice before. “You see this? Magic… lets me shift into anything I want.” Gunz moved his hand to touch the bracelet but the wyvern hopped back. “Hey, you, no touchy. Keep your hands to yourself.”

  “Fine,” said Gunz, pulling his hand away. “Enlighten me. How are you planning to camouflage yourself?”

  Mishka soundlessly vanished from the kitchen counter and the next moment, Gunz felt a sharp pain in his left ear. He slapped his hand to his ear and felt something hard and round under his fingers.

  “What the hell?” he mumbled, staring at his reflection in the dark glass of the cabinet. A large diamond stud earring was shining in his ear. “What the hell! Mishka, get out of my ear. I’m a man! And I’m not a pirate either. I don’t wear earrings.”

  “Sheesh, we’re so touchy!” Gunz heard Mishka’s grumpy voice in his head and almost jumped. “Fine. I’ll come up with something else… I’m a man, hear me roar… Macho!”

  The next moment the earring vanished and Gunz felt a burning pain in his chest. “Mishka, are you exploring my pain barrier today?” he groaned, tearing the leftovers of his shirt off his chest. The reflection in the dark glass showed a fresh tattoo on his chest. It was depicting a dragon or perhaps a dragonet surrounded by dancing flames.

  “Aw, hell no!” shouted Gunz, slamming his hand on the counter. “A tattoo? Not a chance. I treat my body like a temple and I don’t need graffiti on my temples’ walls.”

  “Oh, for Fire’s sake!” yelled Mishka in his head. “You already have some scribbling on your temple’s wall. What’s wrong with mine? You’re just prejudice against my creative and imaginative expressions.”

  “A scribbling? This is my special forces tattoo!” exclaimed Gunz, running his fingers over his upper arm. “And this is the only tattoo I’ll ever have. Am I clear?”

  “Fine,” said Mishka and the tattoo vanished from his chest.

  Gunz braced himself for the next spike of pain but nothing happened. “Mishka, where are you?” he asked carefully, not quite sure that he wanted to find out.

  “What time is it?”

  Gunz glanced at his watch and took a sharp breath. The normally white face of Jim’s watch was sporting a red outline in the shape of a wyvern with expended wings. Gunz brought the clock to his ear, hearing a soft ticking sound.

  “Please tell me, you didn’t break Jim’s watch, you little varmint,” hissed Gunz.

  “Well, let me see,” said Mishka, sarcasm overflowing, “GPS, so your local pet owner could keep close tabs on you—check. The panic button, so you can cry for help like a little baby—check. Watch—the only useful functionality in this device—check. No, everything seems to be intact.”

  “Damn, Mishka,” mumbled Gunz, heavily sitting down on the only surviving chair, “why are you so acidy? What did I do to you to deserve this attitude?”

  For a few seconds, the wyvern remained silent. Then Gunz heard him clearing his throat. “It’s in my nature. Deal with it, Salamander. I’m not going to change who I am to fit your needs.” But his voice softened up. “So, can I ride in your watch then?”

  “Is it still going to show the right time?”

  “At least twice a day it will,” replied Mishka snidely.

  Gunz sighed and went upstairs to get ready for the meeting with Jim.

  “That’s going to be an interesting ride,” he muttered under his breath, thinking of his new companion.

  “I heard that!” shouted Mishka, and Gunz felt a jolt of an electric shock in his wrist under the watch.

  Chapter 14

  ~ Aidan ~

  It was just eight in the morning, but Aidan was already in his office at the Elements Marital Arts. Uri and Angel were sitting in the room with him, displaying all the symptoms of infinite boredom. Uri was silently staring at his phone and it wasn’t clear if he was reading something or was avoiding Aidan’s eyes. Angel was leaning back in his chair, lazily throwing a tennis ball up in the air and catching it.

  Aidan ignored their presence, nervously moving some papers around his desk. He picked up one of the
documents and tried focusing on reading it but couldn’t and dropped it back, slamming his hand on top.

  “It’s eight,” he muttered, checking his watch, aggravation rising in him. “Why can’t he be on time for once?”

  “I didn’t realize that it was such a vast emergency. Hello, everybody.” A young man materialized in the office and raised his hand, greeting them. He was a little shorter than Aidan, and his figure, while well-shaped and athletic, was slender. He approached the desk and peered at the flowerpot with a half-dead orchid in it, disapproval on his face.

  “You forgot to water your flowers, Aidan. Again.” He touched the flower with his finger and it bloomed under his touch, dried dead leaves replaced by fresh thick greenery, beautiful white flowers expending their tender petals.

  “Sven. Thank God,” muttered Uri. He shut down his phone and put it back in his pocket. “I don’t think I could tolerate Aidan’s killer mood for another minute.”

  “You’re welcome! Oh, wait… Which god were you thanking, Uri, if I may ask?” said Sven, an innocent look plastered on his round face, but his oversized turquoise eyes betrayed his mischievous intent.

  “The one true God, of course,” grumbled Uri, glaring at him warningly.

  Sven laughed, ruffling his spiky blond hair with his hand. “Really? And was your one true God as nice as I am and said, you’re welcome to you?” He winked at Uri and added, “Would you like to get deeper into the meaning of one and true—"

  Aidan listened to them bickering and could hardly contain his annoyance. He got used to hearing their friendly arguments; it wasn’t anything new, but today he was on edge and everything and anything was setting him off.

  “We’re not here for theological debates,” cut Aidan short, rising. “Let’s get to business. Uri, please tell us what you found out.”

  “I was right,” said Uri, shrugging his shoulders. “Your young Salamander is working for the FBI. He’s an FBI consultant, part of Agent Andrew’s team. And we all know what Agent Andrews’ specialty is, right?”

  “Ahhh,” exhaled Aidan, rubbing his stubbled chin with his hand tiredly. “Agent Andrews… He specializes in being a pain in my neck. I was so hoping that you were wrong, Uri. But I’ll deal with it. Did you find out anything about his past? Where was he for the last twenty-seven years? What was he doing before he awakened the Fire Salamander in him?”

  Uri sighed, his lips set in a straight line. He got up and stepped closer to Aidan. “Listen, Aidan. Can you just trust me? The boy is not a threat to you or to Tessa. Be reasonable, old friend…” He put his hand on Aidan’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly. “He’s just twenty-eight. Compared to any of us, he hardly even exists. Besides, he’s Kal’s boy… And you know how overprotective the Great Salamander is when it comes to his children. You don’t want to mess with him. And your mentor is not going to appreciate it, if we get Kal hot under the collar.”

  “Are you talking about that little Fire Gecko that I met yesterday in the dojang?” asked Sven, his sandy eyebrows rising. “Twenty-eight? He’s in his infancy. Why are you so worried about him, Aidan? You can kick his ass even without using your magic. Just show him a good fire extinguisher and he’ll run for the hills, leaving his tail behind.” He chuckled, and a bright phosphoric light ignited on the bottom of his large blue eyes. “Angel, what do you think?”

  Angel remained silent, his dark gaze burying into Aidan. “It’s up to you what you want to do, Aidan. You know that we all support you, no matter how crazy your ideas are,” he said finally. “But myself, I would prefer to have this little Salamander as a friend, not as a foe.”

  “Why?” asked Aidan.

  “I was watching you torturing him yesterday during training,” replied Angel frowning. “You were abusing him, my friend. That wasn’t like you at all and I was going to stop you a few times. Yet he remained calm and respectful all the way through training and he didn’t lose control of his power even once. For someone so young and inexperienced, he’s strong and focused. I don’t think you have any reason to worry about him.”

  Aidan looked at his friends, his gaze slowly drifting from one face to the next. Inside, he knew that they were right, but he couldn’t help feeling threatened by this young man. He wasn’t afraid for his life or safety. He was afraid of losing Tessa. In his mind, he saw her gazing at this young man with curiosity in her brown eyes. What if she falls for him? A spike of jealousy struck through his heart and he felt blood draining from his face.

  Through all his very long existence, he never let himself get attached to anyone. The way he felt about Tessa was confusing and frustrating, and her interest in this young Salamander, as slight as it was, was hurting him. He never felt like this before and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it and what to do next.

  “Uri, please,” he said quietly, dropping back into his chair, “tell me everything you found out. I’m not going to do anything with this information, I swear. I just want to know what kind of person we’re dealing with… I want to be prepared. Just in case.”

  “We’re dealing with a good man, Aidan,” started Uri. “It wasn’t easy to find out his background because the FBI covered his tracks well. But like you said, your connections are more powerful than the FBI.” Uri smirked, sitting back down. “His real name is Vladislav Kirilenko. Alexander Burns is the alias the FBI gave him. He was born in Belarus and lived most of his life there. He served in the spetsnaz—Belorussian special forces. Sniper. Multiple tours of combat duties. Besides high school, no college education—"

  “I want to know who he’s hiding from and why the FBI is covering for him,” said Aidan, softly interrupting his friend.

  “It’s a good story, you may actually like it,” said Uri smirking. “Zane and two of his friends, without any support, destroyed a full branch of the Russian mob. In a matter of a few hours, they killed them all, blew up four SUVs and burned their house. Just the three of them. Both his friends were wounded, and Zane pulled them out of the house before burning everything to the ground. My guess is that this was when he discovered his Fire. It happened slightly over two years ago.”

  “Yeah, that’s what he said,” murmured Aidan, mindlessly playing with a silver coin, twirling it between his fingers, “about two years ago… Something still doesn’t add up… If he is in Florida slightly over a year, where did he spend that one year between him discovering his power and moving here?”

  “I couldn’t find anything concrete on this period of his life, but it’s not hard to guess,” said Uri. “Zane told you that Kal was his mentor, right?” Aidan nodded. “Do you know where Kal resides most of his time?”

  “Yes, of course,” said Aidan with a light shrug. “Outside our realm, in Kendral.”

  “So, my guess, he spent this year in Kendral with his mentor, learning how to control his Fire,” continued Uri. “And from what I see, Kal trained him well. As far as the FBI—they cover for him because he helps them keep this city safe from things that go bump in the night. Aidan, Zane is a good man, stop torturing him.”

  “Agreed,” said Angel, joining him.

  “Okay, I’ll promise to be nicer to him. That’s assuming that he’ll show up tonight,” agreed Aidan, getting up. “But let’s see how strong and focused he really is.”

  Aidan approached Sven and put his hand on Sven’s shoulder. Then he bent down and whispered something in his ear. Sven’s jaw dropped and humor reflected in his large eyes.

  “Are you sure you want to do it?” asked Sven, staring up at Aidan. Aidan flicked his eyebrow at him, suppressing a smile, but the corners of his mouth lifted a little. “I think I’ll have fun with it.”

  “Wait!” exclaimed Uri, jumping to his feet, stretching his hand to Sven to stop him, but he wasn’t fast enough. The young man just snickered and vanished from the room. Uri turned to Aidan, his eyes glowing with golden light.

  “Aidan,” he growled, throwing his hands in the air, “please tell me you didn’t just send the trickster after Zane.”


  “Maybe,” replied Aidan with a sly wink and vanished from the room.

  Aidan materialized in his penthouse. Even after everything that Uri told him, he still felt uneasy. Something was bothering him, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. This dreadful feeling was going far beyond his worries about Tessa’s safety or her possible affairs of the heart. There was something else going on, and he was still trying to figure out how all the moving parts were tied together—Tessa, the Fire Salamander, demons’ attack, and an upir in the dental office. There had to be a connection.

  He walked into his closet and quickly undressed, changing into light linen pants and a drawstring white shirt. At first, he was going to teleport to his favorite part of the beach but then changed his mind. It was close to 9 AM, and he was sure that the beach wasn’t empty.

  Aidan pressed the elevator button and waited until the doors softly opened. He walked inside and clicked G|L on the computer screen. The elevator moved down fast and soundless. A few seconds later, Aidan walked out of the building and crossed the patio, heading toward the beach.

  Despite the pleasant weather, the beach was relatively empty—just a few people relaxing on beach chairs here and there, and a young couple on their morning run. He walked slowly along the shoreline, looking for a place where there were no people at all. Soon, he found a secluded area between two trees. Their branches were so low that they were almost lying down on the sand. The sandy area wasn’t large in this place, most of the beach devoured by the hungry ocean.

  Aidan sat down on the sand and pulled his knees to his chest, resting his folded arms on his knees. For a while, he sat quietly, staring wistfully at the ocean. The waves softly rushed to the shore, getting his shoes and his pants wet, but he didn’t seem to notice. He listened to the gentle whisper of the waves, enjoying the touch of the light morning breeze.