Battle With Fire

by Breene, K. F.

  She paused and pulled back her shoulders.

  “I call the other Seer my nemesis for a reason. She is the light, and I am the dark. She is the one who must steer the shifters and the fae—the goody-goody crew. I am the one who needs to monitor Reagan, the princess of the Underworld.” She cocked her head at him. “A title she can only claim if she lives, and that seems to be a very narrow outcome. There is something lurking in her future that I cannot quite grasp. It is her salvation, I know that much, and it is monumental. But it…”

  She hissed and slowly curled her fingers into a fist.

  “It is beyond me. All I see is death right now. A thousand ways she might die. More. My mind frays when I think of it. No amount of hallucinogens is helping. She is on a very shaky road, the drop on each side precipitous. I need…more. I need Sight on you.”

  He squinted at her, turning that over in his mind, when she continued.

  “I’ll also need to betray my faction in order to do my duty to them.” She licked her lips. “I will be heavily policed. Maybe jailed, I don’t know. I certainly won’t be a favorite.”

  “And so you will need a place to go. A place that, you will be grateful to hear, can help with your Seer issues—your magic won’t work in the Underworld. You’d go blind to the future.”

  “Yes.” She sighed in relief.

  He studied her for a moment. “You can’t See me, so to speak, but…did you know I would come here?” he asked.

  “I knew something big was going to happen in Reagan’s life today. I made arrangements to make sure she wouldn’t be home.”

  “Except…her demonic magic is pulsing in that house. If she is not there…”

  “Oh yes, that.” She waved it away. “She had Penny the mage rig up a spell with Reagan’s blood to direct you here. She didn’t want you to catch her out in the wild.”

  “Your idea…”

  “Guilty. A good idea, nonetheless. I don’t know where she is, though. I only know she will make a wonderful discovery, and it will likely be followed by drinking.”

  Clever, creating a spell like that. He hadn’t known that could be done. It would explain the heightened feeling of it, something he’d thought could be attributed to Reagan’s power level or maybe his attachment to her.

  “You orchestrated that because you knew it would be me?”

  “You’re my only blind spot. I sensed Vlad was making an arrangement hours ago, securing the sort of power he would need to sweep through the Realm. The details were hazy, though, and I figured it was because you were involved.”

  “Yes. It seems it was not he who snuck into the Underworld. He had a traitor. I brought him that traitor, who had been left behind by some others, and found the viciousness with which he handled the situation to my liking.”

  “I know. I see his path with crystal clarity now. He is undermining Darius and a few of the dissenting elders as we speak, give or take ten minutes.” She tilted her head up and looked at the sky. “The unicorns might be a problem for you. That is part of the deal he offered, but he cannot control the outcome. It will depend on the goodness of a certain heir.”

  Lucifer kept somewhat still, watching her. No one could’ve known they’d discussed the allegiance of the unicorns, given they’d done so while wrapped up in Lucifer’s magic. Lucifer had come straight here—even if Vlad had spread the knowledge, and it would have hurt his cause to do so, it couldn’t have traveled here so fast, especially not to this creature.

  Her gaze came back to rest on him.

  “We already knew you would work with Vlad, though, and the unicorns won’t make or break you.” Her stare was direct. “Reagan can, however. She can break you as no other heir could.”

  With her death, the Seer meant. He might be a blind spot for her, but she could still sense his attachment to his daughter. His hope for her. Insightful, this creature.

  “She must be subtly directed,” the Seer said. “You do want her to help destroy the elves’ hold on the Realm, correct?”

  He huffed a somewhat bitter laugh. “You will have a job manipulating her.”

  “I will not be manipulating her. I will be manipulating everyone around her. She is the most important piece of this battle. Reagan will finish the job that young Charity started when she brought about change. When she pushed the fae on this path. Reagan will be the one to initiate victory. I see spilled blood.” She paused and furrowed her brow. “But that is it. I have no idea of an outcome. You must have a piece in this. You must. I just cannot See it.”

  Lucifer narrowed his eyes slightly. He wasn’t following. He also wasn’t sure how much sanity this creature was hanging on to.

  “He is the only chance you have at keeping her on the right path,” she continued. “Which is the only chance you have at keeping her in your life. And you are the only chance they have at having a family. Do you see? Everyone has a vested interest here, and to get to the end result we desire, we cannot follow the path of the righteous. We must follow the path of the villain.”

  She had to be talking about Durant, then. Reagan wouldn’t want to sire children with anyone else. She’d made her attachment to the vampire abundantly clear.

  “And…you will instruct him on which path to direct her to?” Lucifer asked.

  “Of course not. She will guide him. You will need help from another.”

  His patience was starting to wear thin. “And who will that be?”

  “A vampire who loves to straddle sides. One you would’ve caught had you not let Reagan go when she was escaping the Underworld. The villain to crown all villains. She is rooting for Reagan, as you are rooting for Reagan, but self-interest is her only motivation.”

  He stilled. That was useful information. She referred to the vampire who had left the Underworld shortly after Reagan’s departure. The vampire had somehow moved through his kingdom undetected. He had hoped his daughter had another powerful ally, but apparently not.

  This infestation would need to be dug out by the root. It was clear it would need to be him who did it. He had more skill than Reagan at dealing with meddling, dangerous creatures. More experience, at any rate.

  “And what is in it for you?” he asked. “All this for a place to stay when it is all over? Mind you, your people will be able to find you in the Underworld, as Reagan would like to keep the borders open.”

  “They can find me if they want. I don’t care. They’ll walk in, but they’ll limp out. I’d like to retire. I want that blindness you spoke of. But that’s not why I do this. This is my purpose. Your daughter, who has not known peace of her own, will need to bring peace to others. She is the key to the prosperity of all the worlds. If she dies, we will all be thrown into darkness. I do this for her, and for us all. Sometimes to walk in the light, you need to first travel through the darkness.”

  “Why would you hide this from her?” he asked. “The woman I know would probably prefer the villainous approach.”

  “She would, but…it’s complicated. My voice carries very little weight with Reagan. It has to do with a torturous situation.”

  He’d had about as much circuitous talking as he could take. “Fine. Send this vampire to me. I will see what can be done.”

  “There are two things I need first, however.” She held up a crooked finger. “In addition to being able to See you.”

  “A deal with the devil? How droll.”

  “Yes. One, if Reagan should ask you to turn the vampire Vlad over, you must do it, whatever the cost.”

  He smiled and put up his hands. “Easily done. I enjoy betraying creatures that think too highly of themselves. Two months ago, I had planned to kill him, so really, in the grand scheme of things, he’s making out quite well. I will first need to use his forces, however. I need those numbers.”

  Her eyes got a faraway look, and her gaze roamed into the sky. “If Vlad is delivered to Reagan, then Darius will need to make a choice. A choice that, if incorrect, could ruin their future.”

  “Wha
t is this choice concerning?”

  She blinked at him. “Something about Darius’s shared past with Vlad. I can’t get a clear picture.”

  “And the outcome we are hoping for?”

  “No clue.”

  “Dare I ask whose future? Reagan’s or Darius’s or Vlad’s…”

  She just shook her head. He stilled in annoyance.

  “The second thing I must ask is for you to hold off your visit.” She pointed at the ground. “Come back later tonight. Find her, and go to her unannounced.”

  “Find her, as in…you don’t know where she’ll be?”

  “Correct. I have no idea. But it must be tonight, and then not again until…” She flexed her fingers. “Fogginess. You are blinding me!”

  He barely stopped from rubbing his temples.

  She squinted and chewed her lip. “I could really use some acid.”

  “If I don’t allow you to get readings on me…”

  “Reagan will die.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “No.”

  He felt his eyebrows rise. “Then what assurances do I have in trusting you?”

  “A wing and a prayer.”

  Three

  “Jimmy, listen to me, I know all about it.” I stood beside the merman bouncer outside the Purple Bear. Penny had to pee really badly, so I figured I had a few moments to chat through the whole merpeople sex thing before I needed to get her drunk enough to forget about her first real Garret experience. The other time with him hadn’t counted because she’d been too new to magic to feel the full weight of his annoyance.

  “Yeah?” A big man with a unibrow and a permanent scar, he stood with wide legs and squared shoulders and basically scared underaged people with his mere presence.

  He eyed my stringy ponytail. My hair had dried during the hundred-mile or so drive back into town, but without a brush, it gave the decided appearance of having been wet at one stage.

  “How’s that?” he asked.

  I briefly described my watery voyeurism.

  He shook his head and grabbed a young man’s ID, checking it out before giving it back and jerking his head, allowing the man admittance into the bar. An older woman and man with him paused with raised eyebrows, obviously the kid’s parents. They were probably thrilled they could now go to bars on family vacations. Jimmy waved them on.

  “That won’t make you any friends,” he finally said.

  “I already don’t have any friends. I seem to break them all.” I couldn’t stop my gaze from drifting down to his crotch. “Question—”

  “Don’t start asking questions,” he warned me, eyeing a couple of young women who’d stopped in front of the bar and looked in. They noticed his gaze, frowned, and started moving along. “That stuff is not talked about outside of our people. Just like the two dozen other times I’ve told you.”

  “Right. Got it. But is your junk the same size now as it is in water?”

  “Fucking hell,” he murmured, taking a middle-aged man’s ID and barely flicking his eyes at it. He waved him in, along with the next few people in the party.

  My gaze drifted down to his crotch again.

  “How would I get my fucking pants on if it was that size all the time, Reagan?” he growled, the words nearly indistinguishable. That answered that. I was a little relieved for him.

  “Do you have a mate?” At his scowl, I put up my hands. “That question is between friends. I won’t tell.”

  “We’re friends now?”

  “Best friends, yes. Always have been. I lied earlier when I said I didn’t have any. I have you.” I gave him a wide grin.

  He huffed out a laugh. “No, I do not have a mate.” He glanced around. “Yes, I have tried every season since I was of age. The more powerful mermen can usually lure two or three women a season. I manage two, usually.” I opened my mouth for the next question, but he seemed to know in advance what I was going to ask and then some. “No, matches aren’t easy to find. Yes, sometimes you can tell when you’re on land, but not always. When you find your mate, it’s for life. Even if you split, you ain’t gonna have kids with no one else. There is no point in even heading out to the water at that point.”

  “Mhm, mhm, hmm.” I tapped my chin. “Lure, huh? Is that the feeling that made me horny?”

  He rubbed his shaved head and ran his large hand over his face. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation.”

  “I know, but honestly, I’ve got so many problems, I won’t even think to tell anyone all of yours.”

  He looked down at me and furrowed his brow before huffing out another laugh and shaking his head. “You do got a lot of problems. I’ve heard.”

  “No, no.” I put my finger in his face. He swatted it away. “You first, then I’ll tell you anything you want. Anything at all. Secrets? I’ll spill them.”

  “Why do you care so much about my kind?”

  “Mysteries were made to be solved, bud.”

  He sighed. “Yeah, that thing that made you feel horny is a constant…secretion is the wrong word. It’s more like a constant vibe we have in the water. We enhance it to attract the ladies. The more powerful we are…”

  “The better it works. Got it. So they come slinking around, and you try for the deed, and…biology shuts you down, or…?

  “This is the last one.”

  “Fine, fine.”

  “The female’s biology shuts us down, I guess you could say, yes. A female has to be ready, and her body knows what pairing would result in a blessing—a child. I don’t know how, exactly, but I think there are a few factors, like her age, the guy’s age, plus whatever vibes she gets from the male… We’ll try and try until we find the right pairing, and then that’s it.”

  “If you mate in the water, does that carry over onto the shore?”

  “Yeah. It doesn’t always last, because life, but you’ll return as a couple and try to work it out. Some people end up with complete strangers. Some people find a mate in the water and have to break off their…situation with whoever they were seeing on land. That’s a tough one. We don’t often get involved long term with someone from a different species because it can’t last. Even if we try to deny the urge to find a mate, we are called to the water. We can’t help doing the dance. It’s primal.”

  “Huh. That has made for some sticky situations in the community, I’ll bet.”

  “Very. Your turn.” He waved a group of questionable-looking guys on the younger side through. “Did you really get tortured by the elves?”

  Memories crowded my mind. The sound of breaking bone, followed by screams. My screams, that seemed to go on and on in the darkness.

  “Yeah,” I said, turning and glancing at the dying sun. “Those bastards are pieces of shit.” Rage filled my gut as I gave him a brief description of what I could remember of their dungeons. Of the pain that had threatened to strip me of consciousness. Of the hard stone floor where they’d left me after each session, two and three sessions in the day and night.

  “And Lucifer pulled you out?” he asked, pulling me out of the darkness. Sometimes I got trapped in it, in the memories of the pain that part of me hadn’t thought I’d ever escape.

  I blinked a couple times before I gathered myself enough to answer. “Yes.”

  “You were really trapped down in the Underworld?”

  “Yeah but…it was a good kind of trapped. I didn’t feel like I was a hostage. I mean…I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to leave, but given what I was doing and how long I was there, it didn’t short-circuit me.”

  After I explained a little more—he had told me his secrets, after all, and fair was fair—he issued a long, low whistle and rocked back on his heels.

  “That’s some shit,” he finally said.

  “Yeah.”

  “And now you and the vamp are joining with Roger and them fae to go to war?”

  “Yes,” I said, and then unclenched my fist, thinking about standing in front of the elves and daring them to come at me
again and see how it worked out a second time.

  But then, I was supposed to be a peacekeeper, wasn’t I? I was supposed to stop the Underworld and the Realm from destroying each other.

  What a shitty job for a person who’d suffered at the hands of those horrible fuckers.

  Then again, my father would’ve killed Darius, Penny, and Emery, not to mention Ja’s posse of elder vampires, had I not interfered. My father had allowed another of his kids to torture my druid pal, Cahal, once upon a time. Was he any worthier of being saved than the elves? Could I make that distinction when push came to shove?

  Because the thing was, I liked my dad, but I did not like those elves. Not one bit.

  Basically, I was not the person who should be at the crux of this thing. I needed to go back to my job as a bounty hunter and let the big dogs handle everything.

  If only.

  “I still need to connect with the fae,” I said. “We’re supposed to be doing that in the next few days. Time to get ready. Playtime is over. Or so they tell me.”

  He stepped in front of me, his face deadly serious. “We’ve known each other a long time, Reagan Somerset. Years. I’ve dealt with your shit more times than I can count. You always start trouble in this bar. Always. You owe me.” He paused dramatically. “Can I take a ride on your dragon?”

  I released a breath, and let it flow into laughter. “If Roger lets you visit the super-secret lair where they’re staying, or if we win this war and they’re allowed into the Realm, or if I ever patch stuff up with my old man and we can go freely into the Underworld, then yes, you can ride Archion. He would tolerate you for a time, especially if I tell him about all the mermaid stuff.”

  Jimmy stared at me for another beat, nodded, and stepped back. “That would be fucking amazing.”

  I laughed again and continued into the bar, finding Penny on a barstool with a shot of whiskey, straight, sitting in front of her. Her shoulders were slumped, and a grumpy expression had taken up residence on her mug.