Burn

by Suzanne Wright

  Forcing her mind off the matter, she spoke to Tanner. “I’m surprised you don’t sometimes give yourself a break and let either Keenan or Larkin take over.”

  He glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “Surprised? Why?”

  “You must get bored of babysitting me.” Her life wasn’t exactly exciting.

  “You’re important to Knox, which makes you important to me.”

  “This babysitting gig still has to gall you on some level. You’re a sentinel.” He was meant for more than this.

  “Knox would never trust anyone but a sentinel with your safety. I volunteered for the position.”

  “Dear God, why?”

  He chuckled. “I knew I was the best choice. Levi has always been Knox’s personal guard and it would be better for it to remain that way. Keenan and Larkin wouldn’t have been good guards for you. Keenan would have flirted with you, and Larkin would have conspired with you to do crazy shit just because she’s weird like that. Both would have driven Knox insane, which is never a good thing.”

  She nodded. “Got ya.”

  “Sometimes I think—” He grunted as his whole body seemed to jolt. Then he slumped in his seat a mere second before the car flipped in the air once, twice, three times and landed upside down. Then it was sliding along the ground, making the metal hood screech. Eventually, it ground to a halt. What the fuck?

  Coughing, she called out, “Tanner! Tanner!” Nothing. Her inner demon was at serious risk of freaking out.

  Instinctively, she spoke to the one person she knew would come. Um, Knox, we’ve got a problem here. Okay, maybe that was understating things a little, but she didn’t want him to lose his shit.

  What sort of problem? His voice was tense, hard.

  Undoing her seatbelt, she awkwardly fell to the ground. Ow. Well, the car kind of flipped over a few times, like a huge wind caught it up and hurled it. That was after Tanner suddenly lost unconsciousness. And…oh shit.

  What?

  Well, a black SUV is heading right for us.

  Where are you? It was a rumble of danger.

  It’s hard to tell. Scanning her surroundings as best she could, she realized… We’re in an alley. Tanner had only been driving for maybe five minutes or so; the alley can’t be far from the studio. And as the alley was blocked off on one side, it meant there was no way out. But she wouldn’t have left without Tanner anyway.

  I’ll come for you.

  She knew he would. She also knew he was beyond pissed and there was a very good chance these people would die. Grabbing Tanner’s arm, she shook him. “Tanner, wake up!” she hissed. Noticing the blood trickling out of his ears and nose, she suspected he’d taken a psychic blow to the head.

  Harper stilled at the sound of car doors swinging open. Then there were urgent footsteps crunching on the gravel. Two sets of footsteps, she sensed. The door on her right was abruptly yanked open. A hand closed tightly around her arm and snatched her out of the vehicle. That same hand shoved her toward the blond muscular asshole now rounding the Bentley; both males reeked of something which made both her and her inner demon tense: magick.

  So she was up against dark practitioners. That wasn’t good.

  She didn’t scream or fight. That would only tempt them to deal her a psychic blow to the mind that would render her defenseless. For them to have not already done so, they believed she would be easy to handle. How silly.

  The blond smiled at her, looking cool and smug. It was the smugness that irritated her the most. It also irked her demon, who saw it as a challenge to prove what it could do – to demonstrate just how badly they had misjudged their target. Unfortunately, neither of the practitioners were close enough to touch; if she dived at one, the other would attack her.

  “You’ll come with us,” the blond stated, scratching at his goatee.

  “Um, actually I won’t.”

  “You should—”

  “You don’t want me to go with you,” she said in a compelling voice. He blinked repeatedly. “You don’t want to hurt me.” Sphinxes didn’t befuddle people with riddles as mythology stated, but they did have the natural ability to confuse people. She’d much rather stab them with her blade, but they couldn’t die until Knox had interrogated them.

  “What are you doing to him?” demanded the other practitioner.

  “You don’t care about that,” she told him in that same compelling voice. “You don’t remember who he is. You don’t remember why you’re here.”

  The dark-skinned male stumbled. “What’s happening?”

  Harper looked back at the other practitioner…only to see that he was doing some kind of silent chant. Something heavy and solid slammed into her head. She swayed and staggered, blinking repeatedly. Her vision began to darken around the edges as she fell back against the car and slid to the ground. But she fought the fog and the darkness closing in on her, and she somehow held onto consciousness.

  His eyes widened as he struggled to his feet. “That’s not possible.”

  A growl made everyone freeze. Then the Bentley shook as if something was struggling to get out. Tanner. By the sounds of it, he’d let out his inner demon.

  A mere moment later, the demon was out; launching itself in the air and over the car to land in front of Harper, growling at the practitioners. Hellhounds were like wolves on steroids, yet they had a majestic air about them. They had fur as black as coal, eyes as red as blood, and they brought with them the scent of burning brimstone.

  Gripping the hound’s fur, she struggled to her feet, her head still throbbing with pain. “Motherfucking motherfuckers need to motherfucking die.”

  In full agreement with that, her demon barged its way to the surface just as it whipped out the stiletto blade and infused it with hellfire. Loving the fear that wafted from the practitioners, it spoke and as it petted the hellhound. “You cannot win this. Of course, you could try. You could attempt to take out myself or the hellhound. It might even work. But while you spend precious time doing a little chant, the other of us will be on you. That means that at least one of you will die.”

  Harper retained control then with a hiss. “But I won’t.”

  A roar split the air. A roar of fire, she realized a moment later. The fire hissed, cracked, and popped. The flames died away, revealing...

  “Knox?” He could teleport using fire? Shit, no wonder he’d gotten to her so quickly when Silas paid her a visit.

  His dark eyes roamed over her, absorbing every detail, noting the cut on her forehead. Then those eyes fixed on the practitioners, who were backing up. “I’m afraid I can’t let you leave.” Fire shot out of his palm like it was a flamethrower, enclosing the practitioners in a circle. It might have looked like a rope of fire…if it didn’t have the head of a dragon and wasn’t slithering along the ground, hissing and spitting at its prisoners. And that wasn’t weird at all.

  He stalked toward the two males, the image of absolute composure. But he looked too composed, too calm – so much so that it was terrifying. “You deliberately targeted my anchor. Why?” The question was spoken very steadily, yet it was coated in menace.

  The blond swallowed hard. “I didn’t know she’s your anchor.”

  “I find that very difficult to believe. My anchor would be a prize for any dark practitioner. But such a practitioner would need to be either mindless or desperate for death. Which are you?” He sounded genuinely curious, but Harper knew he was playing with them – like a predator toyed with its prey.

  “I’m telling the truth,” the blond vowed, “we didn’t know who she was to you. Someone wants her, but we weren’t told why or what for. Just that we’d be paid well.”

  “And who is this someone?”

  “We can’t tell you.”

  Knox stuffed his hands in his pockets, seeming both casual and bored. “Ah, let me guess. You’re under a compulsion.”

  Both practitioners nodded, flinching as the fire dragon hissed at them.

  “I think I’ll see for
myself if that’s true.”

  The blond, groaning in agony through clenched teeth, probably would have fallen to his knees if his friend hadn’t caught him. After a moment, he calmed and it was clear that Knox had withdrew from his mind. Then it was the other practitioner that cried out in pain, knees shaking. He sagged when it was over.

  “You’re telling me the truth. That’s good.” Knox nodded his head. “Very good. But…there’s something you weren’t planning to tell me. You didn’t know she was my anchor, that’s true. But you suspected it.” The blond shook his head wildly. “Yes, yes you did. You heard the rumors, and when you saw my sentinel with her you wondered if just maybe those rumors were true. And that made you excited.”

  Shaking his head again, the blond blurted out, “No, we—”

  “You thought draining my anchor of power would somehow drain me also. You decided to keep her for yourselves instead of handing her over to someone else. You planned to drain her using sex magick. She would have been a sexual sacrifice.”

  Sick fucking bastards. Her inner demon was now pretty eager to watch Knox destroy them.

  “That excitement died down when she fought back, however.” As the blond opened his mouth to speak, Knox shot him a hard look. “I don’t accept excuses. They mean nothing to me. You mean nothing to me.”

  “We can show you where we were supposed to take her, you’ll be able to see who hired us! You can use us!”

  “I’ve been in your mind. I already know where you were told to take her. There would be no sense in me going there, however. You were both psychically bugged.”

  The blond exchanged a confused look with his friend. “What does that mean?”

  “Someone has been listening to your every thought, watching your every move,” Knox told them. “They know you failed. I’ve destroyed the bugs, which means they won’t see what happens next. I think it will be better to let them guess.”

  “Wait, we—” He cut himself off as Knox’s eyes bled to black and the demon glared out at them. Even from where Harper stood, she could feel the air chilling.

  It bared its teeth. “Harper is mine. You hurt her. That means you don’t get to live.” Spoken like the matter was a mathematical equation.

  The blond glanced at Harper. “Doesn’t it bother you that he’s just going to kill us?”

  She tilted her head. “It did…for about two seconds. Then I remembered you’re a couple of pricks that knocked Tanner unconscious and would have raped me.”

  “And now they die,” said the emotionless voice of Knox’s demon.

  There was a sudden buzz in the air, like something was charging, building, gathering in power. The ground began subtly vibrating, making the car tremble and the litter flutter. A chill snaked down her spine, and every hair on her body rose.

  There was so much power, she could feel it hum and purr against her skin; it slithered between her fingers, stroked over her face, burned her eyes, and made her teeth rattle. A slight ringing sound filled her ears, and her chest suddenly felt so tight it hurt a little to breathe. It was too much power. No one and nothing should harness that kind of power. No one should be expected to control it.

  Then the practitioners screamed as flames erupted from the ground at their feet and swirled around them. The flames were at least ten-feet high and were a beautiful intricate mix of gold, red, and black. And they gave off a heat that burned so hot she wouldn’t have been surprised if her skin blistered. And she instinctively knew…the flames of hell.

  They didn’t burn the practitioners, they swallowed them, leaving behind only ashes. Spotting the red residue in the ashes, Harper knew she’d been right. The flames of hell were said to leave behind such a residue. Which meant Knox really could call on them. He really was a threat to not only every demon, but every single thing that existed on the planet. Well, shit.

  The buzz in the air died away as the power seemed to return to where it came from, and it no longer hurt to breathe. Knox held out his hand, and the fire dragon was sucked back into his palm. As Knox closed his hand tight, smoke puffed out of his fist.

  That was when he turned to face her, and she saw that the demon was still in charge for the moment. It prowled toward her, its gaze unblinking. The hellhound moved aside, as if it didn’t dare try to come between her and the demon. Harper put away her blade, not wanting to seem a threat.

  Coming to stand in front of her, Knox’s demon studied her closely. “Now you know the truth.”

  “I won’t tell.”

  “You fear me now.”

  Kind of. It wasn’t necessarily Knox or his inner demon that she feared, it was the power they had…and what they could do with it. “You won’t hurt me.”

  That answer seemed to please it, and it fluttered its fingertips along the cut on her forehead. How could something so dangerous, so capable of cruelty, be so gentle? “They made you bleed.”

  She gave a casual shrug. “It will be healed within the hour.” As if satisfied, the demon retreated. Knox cupped her nape and pulled her flush against him; he held himself stiffly, and she got the feeling he was expecting her to pull away. So she relaxed into him.

  “I’m proud of you for fighting back.”

  “It was good that she did, since I was unconscious for most of that.”

  She turned to see Tanner, having retained control over his demon, zipping up a pair of jeans. He obviously kept fresh clothes in the car in case he had to let his demon out. “You would have done what it took if Knox hadn’t turned up and stole the show.” She couldn’t help but be impressed as Tanner effortlessly righted the Bentley.

  “It’ll be safe to drive, it’s just a little banged up.” Tanner was right. None of the windows had been smashed.

  “Is it demonically protected?” she asked Knox.

  “Yes,” he replied. Then he frowned. “You’re hurting.” How he’d sensed it, she didn’t know. “Where?”

  “It’s just a headache.” Okay, that was understating things a little – it felt like someone was stabbing her in the eye while pounding a hammer on her skull. The pain was making her feel nauseous. “They tried to knock me out the way they did Tanner. But I fought it.”

  “Bonding with me has made you stronger.”

  She peered up at him, smiling despite herself. “By the way, the fact that you can travel using fire is really, really awesome.”

  “I’m glad you feel that way, because that’s exactly how we’re getting home.”

  Wait, what?

  “Tanner, you can come with us or you can wait here for Larkin and Keenan. I’ve already spoken to them. They’re on their way.” By that, Harper guessed he’d called them telepathically.

  “I’ll stay here and help them with the clean-up,” said Tanner.

  Knox locked both arms around Harper. “Ready?”

  Um, no. It sounded fun to pyroport, but as she remembered the raging fire, she wasn’t so eager to try it.

  “The flames will cover you, but it’s just normal fire, it won’t hurt you,” Knox assured her. “Trust me.”

  A fire suddenly roared to life around them and, fuck, it was one of the weirdest things she’d ever experienced. The heat was unbearable for a millisecond as the flames engulfed her entire body, licking every inch of exposed skin. Then the flames parted and the heat vanished, and she realized they were in his living room. “Well, fuck.”

  Hearing a deep rumbly laugh, she turned to find Levi on the sofa. “That was my thought the first time he pyroported me somewhere.” His brow crinkled. “You okay?”

  “Been better,” she mumbled tiredly as she flung herself on the sofa. “I’m seriously tired.”

  “You used a lot of psychic energy fighting to stay conscious after the practitioner dealt you a psychic hit,” said Knox. “Of course you’re tired.”

  Using too much psychic energy was like being given a sedative. Lethargy was creeping over her, making her sleepily curl up into a ball. Unfortunately, the pounding headache had the potential to k
eep her from resting peacefully. Something in her expression must have given away the amount of pain she was in, because Knox sat beside her and used the pads of his fingers and thumb to massage her temples and scalp. It felt so good, she pretty much melted into the soft leather. “I really wish I’d killed Frick and Frack myself.”

  “Frick and Frack?” echoed Levi.

  “Dark practitioners,” Knox explained. Levi listened quietly as he told the tale. Sensing Harper had fallen asleep, Knox ended his massage and brushed his fingers through her hair; it was like liquid silk and he loved the feel of it against his skin.

  When he’d received her frantic telepathic call, he’d almost lost his fucking mind. It was a dangerous thing for someone like Knox to be without the control that kept his demon and his abilities in check. Knox knew without a doubt that if Harper had been killed tonight, his demon would have taken over and expressed its anger on the world. It cared for nothing other than its own survival and pleasure. But Harper belonged to it, and someone had tried to take her away. That wasn’t acceptable to it.

  In the alley, Knox had stepped aside and given his demon supremacy, knowing it needed to be the one to punish the practitioners if it had any chance of calming. Its anger had already subsided. Although its rage was always cold, it was also always fleeting.

  “The more I think about everything, the more I believe this isn’t a case of different camps of people targeting her,” said Levi. “I think the dark practitioners were put up to this by the same person that sent Silas.”

  “You think it’s Isla,” sensed Knox.

  “I think it’s very likely her,” confirmed Levi. “She’s got more reason to target Harper than anyone else. To her, Harper’s trying to take a place that rightfully belongs to Isla.”

  “But she didn’t know about Harper until the Manhattan conference,” Knox pointed out. “Silas visited her studio before that.”

  “How are we sure that she didn’t know before the conference? She looked shocked, but Isla’s always been a good actress. The news of Harper’s connection to you spread far and wide. It’s extremely possible that Isla heard. Maybe she believed it, maybe she didn’t. We know Silas was sent to test your reaction. But what if the real reason someone was interested in that reaction was because it would tell them whether the rumors were true? I think Isla heard and she sent Silas to confirm it.” Levi leaned back in his seat. “The only other enemies Harper has are Kendra and Carla.”