Battle With Fire

by Breene, K. F.

  Penny stared with rapt attention, never having seen this side of vampires before. The way Darius had shrugged off his humanity, bent over now with hands fully changed, suggested he was ready to rip that other vampire’s head from its shoulders. It was like two bucks fighting for the right to mate a female.

  “Darius will not rip that vampire apart,” Reagan said through clenched teeth. “Starch, walk away,” she called. “He’s my bond mate. You have no claim here.”

  “I tasted you first…” the other vampire said, sensuality and desire dripping from each word.

  Clearly that had been the wrong thing to say.

  “Oh shit,” Emery said.

  As though he’d been held back by a rope that was suddenly cut, Darius rushed forward. He slammed into Reagan’s air wall and started slashing, sending sparks shooting out in all directions. Reagan tensed, and Cahal stalked forward to join her.

  “Yes, I fucking know that, Cahal,” Reagan said, replying to his thought comment, and another wave of her magic bolstered the first. The other vampire surged forward as well, hitting the other side of that wall and trying to get to Darius. They were mindless in their territorialism, and the magic curling away from them reminded Penny of shifters. It seemed a strange kind of mating dance, heady and volatile, fused with passion and need. A claiming.

  “Darius, you have to shrug this off,” Reagan said, but he slashed at her magic again, nearly breaking through before she could amp up her wall. “Emery, Penny, help. He can’t get to that other vampire, or he’ll owe Ja for finding him and bringing him here. We cannot let her have the upper hand.”

  Magic curled from Emery immediately, forming a sort of diversion spell. Penny jumped in at once, though she wondered if it might be better to just knock Darius out and drag him away. It would be easier.

  “Well, how about I just go kill that other vampire?” Dizzy asked, dead serious. “Then it wouldn’t be on you two. Because honestly, Reagan, it has to be done. This will clearly always be a problem. You should’ve known that.”

  “He was shipped off to Europe,” she replied. “His maker moved, and he went with. I never thought I’d see him again. Fucking Ja just had to stick her big nose in. You can’t touch him, though, because she’ll still consider it a win. He needs to be sent away.”

  “Agreed,” Callie said, opening the satchel slung across her chest as she marched in a half-circle to get around the wall. “We can’t kill him now. We’ll have to send him away, and then someone will have to track him down on their own later and kill him.”

  “Good point, hon.” Dizzy joined his wife.

  “This is so insane,” Penny said, working with Emery’s spell, uncomfortable with her reaction to this development. In the past she would’ve been scandalized. But now, she couldn’t deny feeling a thread of excitement at the intense magic wafting off Darius. It pounded with his claim on Reagan, his aching need to protect her against this rival threat. The desire to lay down his life to prove he was worthy of her. It was sexy in a crazy way, and that horrible demon sex club really had changed her for the worst.

  “Here we go,” Dizzy said as he and Callie worked some plants and then blew some power into them, speaking a spell to life. They weren’t natural mages and so needed props and often words to cast their magic.

  Emery sent his and Penny’s spell forward, layering it over Reagan’s. It molted into a sparkling brown-black layer, cutting off Darius’s sight and hopefully redirecting his focus.

  “Come on, baby,” Reagan said softly, still through gritted teeth, walking closer but keeping some distance. “Fire up that big brain and think this through. This isn’t the time. You can’t let Ja have this over your head.”

  “Got him!” Dizzy yelled triumphantly, as though reeling in a fish.

  Penny tiptoed to the other side, not wanting to miss any part of this. She would chastise herself later.

  Invisible bands wrapped around the vampire, keeping his arms tight to his sides and his legs cinched together. He arched and wiggled, flopping onto his stomach and then onto his back, trying to stand.

  On the other side, Emery was working another spell, increasing the distraction for Darius.

  It was working.

  Darius was slowing. His chest rose and fell as he panted. His claws retracted into fingers. And suddenly he was a rush of movement, sweeping Reagan up into his arms. He zoomed off, probably to prove his claim on her…physically.

  Penny fanned her face, noticing belatedly that Cahal was staring at her with a small grin.

  “What?” she asked, stopping immediately.

  Rather than comment, he glanced at Emery before heading around the air wall to Dizzy and Callie.

  Fifteen

  Darius’s lips crashed against mine, our teeth clashing and tongues wrestling. A surge of unbridled desire ripped through me, pumped up by the feelings of his passion and urgency through the bond and a heady sort of territorialism, the likes of which I’d never experienced before. It dripped fire through my blood and surged adrenaline through my body.

  He kicked his way into our room and spun me around, closing the door by slamming me up against it. His body was glued to mine, his kiss deep and urgent, like a starving man going after a meal. He grabbed my tank top and tore it off before shoving up the cups of my bra and sliding his hands over my breasts.

  I groaned as his thumbs worked over my hard nipples. He bent down and sucked one into his hot mouth, working my leather pants with his other hand. Buttons undone, he shoved my pants down, my panties caught up with them, and dropped to his knees in front of me. He flung my knee over his shoulder and took to me, licking up my wet heat before flicking my clit with his tongue.

  Pleasure surged through me, throbbing in my core and spiraling outward. I tangled my fingers in his hair, gyrating my hips against his delicious mouth. His fingers plunged into me in time with the swirling of his tongue, and my head thunked back against the door as I exploded, fracturing and breaking apart.

  Darius pushed up to standing and ripped off his shirt. He was out of his pants in a flash, and then he pulled me closer, wrapping my legs around his waist. Across the room and he dropped me to the bed and moved between my thighs. Heat blistered between our skin. His heavy length rested against my sopping core. His beautiful hazel eyes took me in, and I could see the primal desire pooling in their depths.

  “You are mine, Reagan,” he said, his tone deep and rough. Fire erupted in his eyes as he lined himself up with me and thrust, filling me.

  I cried out, squeezing his middle with my thighs, and he plunged into me with wild abandon. He pushed me into the mattress, capturing my wrists above my head, dominating me with his size and strength. I jerked my hips against his thrusts, drawing more friction, building again.

  He ran his open mouth along my jaw and bent a little, scraping his teeth against my throat. I shivered in anticipation, and he bit me. The pain turned to pleasure, his vampire serum mixing with my blood and driving incredible sensations through my body.

  I sounded like a banshee with all the moaning and groaning, but I couldn’t help it. His primal wildness, his inability to channel any of his usual grace and poise, caught me in the best of ways. I wanted to be taken, no inhibitions, no safety net. I wanted this claim just like I had wanted the bond. A vicious part of me understood his need to defend my honor against a rival male. A female part liked his earnestness in doing it.

  “Harder,” I said, struggling to get closer, to get him deeper.

  His breath mingled with mine. His body rose a little so he could give me what I wanted. His hips slammed against me, over and over. He worked one of his hands between us, massaging my clit to give me more pleasure. He drew from my vein again, dosing me with another boost of vampire serum.

  He was everywhere at once. Pleasure pulled at every inch of my body, dragging me under. Drowning me in the best of ways.

  I blasted apart, yelling his name, arching against him. He shuddered over me, groaning with his release
.

  The sound of our panting filled the suddenly quiet room. He didn’t remove his weight from me, nor did he let go of my wrists, trapped in one of his large palms. He held me there, cupping a breast with his free hand.

  “I cannot suffer any other vampire to know your taste, Reagan,” he said in a thick voice, the authority of an elder riding his words. “I certainly cannot suffer another vampire teetering on the edge of blood lust because of you. Any time that creature is near you, he will pose a danger to you and a challenge to me. This is not for a human to understand. This is how it is done with my kind.”

  “Callie and Dizzy said he was too young when…” I let that comment trail off, stayed by the surge of menace in his eyes. He wasn’t prone to jealousy, normally, but clearly there were limits.

  “He is lesser middle level, not too young to deny his desire for blood such as yours. He has a weak mind, and your blood, magic, and power are a temptation he is unable to resist, it seems. Ja must’ve realized this. She is devious.”

  “So she basically sent him here to die?” I asked.

  He skimmed his lips against my chin, and I shivered. “She is certainly trying for that outcome. It means nothing to her, of course. She is poking me. Meddling in my life. I could have found that creature before now, and I thought about doing so a few times, but I was respecting your privacy. You didn’t want me to track him down, and so I didn’t. Well…”

  “You did.”

  He nipped the sensitive skin on my throat. “Yes. He was far enough away that it wasn’t an issue. I left it at that.”

  “And now?”

  His kiss was slow and deep. “And now I cannot leave it at that. His challenge was direct, and it was public. You are my bond mate—he is in the wrong on a few levels, particularly in his disrespect of you, and so I will kill him.”

  The flatness with which he said it, in between gentle kisses and little nips, sent cold shivers up my spine before pooling heat in my core. Good God it was hot when he went all dominant male like this, fighting for my honor and taking me back to his bed like some caveman. I could play the Jane to his Tarzan for the morning. It was just what I needed to take my mind off the Red Prophet’s (likely terrible) secrets. Being a wilting flower now would give me a break before I had to strap on my leathers again and be the big boss bitch.

  He was still inside me, quickly growing hard again, and I swirled my hips against him. He growled, stretching against me and rubbing his chest along my hard nipples. Their sensitivity sent shock waves of pleasure to wind me up higher.

  “You reacted quite a bit differently to Ja’s surprise this time than you did after she told us about Ernesta,” I said, tilting my chin away so he would kiss down my neck.

  “I don’t care about my past lovers, just as you don’t care about yours. But I will hazard a guess that you would care somewhat more if you walked in and one of my past lovers had my cock in her mouth.”

  Rage and fire blasted through me, and I tensed up before laughing at my reaction. “It wouldn’t be her fault. I’d probably kill you, not her.”

  “And what if she knew I was bonded to you and didn’t want her anymore, and she used a moment of weakness—”

  “No, no. No need to elaborate. I was trying to use the PC answer that says it isn’t the mistress’s fault if the man is cheating. Which it isn’t. But no, it certainly wouldn’t take much for me to kill a threat.”

  “A threat to your man…”

  “I am currently fantasizing about you being a Tarzan, not me. I’d like to continue to pretend that I am a sensible creature that never flies off the handle.”

  “Ah. I see. Okay then.” He tightened his grip on my wrists and slammed into me, stealing my breath. “Then I will own my mantle and make sure you walk bowlegged the next time we leave this room, how is that?”

  “Yes, please,” I said, attempting meek. Polite was about as close as I could get. It would do.

  I arched my back and said goodbye to the present. For a while, I just wanted to get lost in Darius. On the other side of that pleasure, I knew there would be nothing but pain and blood.

  Sixteen

  “Ready?” I asked Penny, channeling nothing but cold determination and a can-do attitude. Battle day. Our futures and fates would be decided.

  “Nope.” She frowned and tapped her extravagant fanny pack with the various compartments. “Not at all.” She took out a red stone and held it in her palm. “I do not want to do this, I’m afraid we’re all going to die, and I want to go back to my sheltered life and forget I ever even met you.”

  “Quite the tune change.” I lifted my chin and hovered up onto Archion’s back. We’d spent the last two days practicing against the other dragons and their riders. This was because I’d had a moment of weakness and told all the dragons they wouldn’t be allowed to come with us.

  In my defense, they were three against a sea of dragons. How could they possibly help against Lucifer? I didn’t want them to get hurt.

  I’d been forcibly ignored.

  “Didn’t you tell me just the other day that this was the right path and you wanted to be on it?” I asked as she climbed onto Saphira.

  Emery crawled up behind her, and behind us, Cahal was mounting Coppelia.

  “I was delusional, and now I have come to my senses. I regret to inform you that I must resign as your bra—a very stupid nickname for a girlfriend, if I might add—”

  “Shut up, you love it.”

  “—stop being your fall guy in the bounty hunter gigs—”

  “Garret’s fall guy, you mean…”

  “—and stop the insanity. I just need to stop the insanity,” she yelled at me.

  “It’s going to be—”

  “Stop telling me it is going to be okay, Emery,” she hollered at him. “We’re going to get crushed. You better take that deal, Reagan.” She leveled a finger at me. “Donkey turds and old-man farts, you take that deal, and you take me with you, do you hear me?”

  Is she always like this before battle? Cahal asked me.

  “Yes. Literally always, though she isn’t swearing as much this time. I think she might be getting more acclimated.”

  “I don’t think she was quite this bad before the Mages’ Guild battle,” Emery said, wrapping his arms around her middle.

  “Yeah, but there wasn’t much warning before that one,” I replied.

  “Sure. Why not?” Penny muttered. “Talk about me like I can’t hear you. It’s fine.”

  I looked out across the large host of gathered troops, everyone in neat lines to go through the portal. Darius stood off to the side with his faction of vampires, all of them in normal human attire with backpacks. Within those backpacks were large sun-repellent blankets that they’d hunker down underneath should something happen to my magic masking the sky. Which wasn’t a problem right now, since it had just slipped into evening.

  I’d wanted him to ride to battle with me on Archion, but he declined, saying he needed to lead the vampire faction. It seems Charity’s vision—or visions, I guess—had been thoroughly theoretical. For all the variations she’d seen, she’d never once mentioned our dragons or the surly druid.

  “What’s the story with your people, Cahal?” I asked as Archion beat at the sky. “Are they going to be on the elves’ side?”

  “Druids in general are a peaceful sort of people. There are only a few of us that end up in my line of work.”

  “Killing people, you mean?” I yelled over the thump of Archion’s wings.

  He didn’t comment on that directly. “They are spread out throughout the worlds and don’t often involve themselves in politics. They certainly don’t engage in battles of this nature. It’s not where our true strengths lie.”

  “So why are you involved?” I asked as he drifted beside me, waiting for Saphira.

  Mostly because I count you and the others as friends. Because I care what happens to you. And because there is honestly nothing more amazing than riding a pink dragon int
o battle. It also makes my choice completely beyond reproach by my people.

  I laughed. Sounded legit.

  With Penny finally ready, we flew toward the portal. We’d be going through first. If it were just us against the elves or the Underworld, I suspected they’d be waiting there, ready to pick us off as we came through. But I had it on good authority that the Underworld planned to storm the elves’ castle, and I doubted they’d split their forces to stop a much less intimidating group.

  That was the logical conclusion, at least, and I really hoped logic held up this time.

  Darius looked up at me as I flew overhead. The other vampire had been gone by the time we left the room the other day. I hadn’t asked where he’d been taken or by whom, and no one volunteered the information. We could sort that out if we lived.

  I felt his love through the bond and took a deep breath to steel myself against the feeling of grave uncertainty of what was to come. If I were to ever get a semblance of a happy ending, it would be on the other side of this battle. The problem was that I didn’t see how this battle could go well. I really didn’t. Not for us, anyway. It filled me with dread for my future. Dread I pushed down and refused to dwell on.

  Roger, still in human form, looked up from his position beside Romulus and Charity. He didn’t raise a hand, but that moment of acknowledgment was his way of wishing me good luck. He wouldn’t have bothered to take notice of an underling.

  He’d approached me a couple hours ago, taking a break from preparing everyone to march.

  “It’s an honor to fight beside you,” he’d said, putting out his arms for what would become a very awkward hug. I patted his back a little, at a loss, until he squeezed me tightly and rocked me from side to side. It had felt a little weird, until he said, “Am I making the vampire jealous? I hear he has a weakness for stuff like that.”

  “I do not get jealous over mere dogs,” Darius replied in a snooty voice.

  Roger backed off with a smile, but it faded as he looked at me. “What you said in the conference room the other day has stuck with me. You might’ve taken a get-out-of-jail-free card in the past, but not now. We never saw eye to eye in the past, but now we do. You are made of solid stuff, Reagan Somerset. I respect you. I respect your position. As I said, it is an honor to fight by your side.”