by Cynthia Eden
He hadn’t heard from her in months. Had she been here the whole time? Trapped by Perseus?
“It’s not like I wanted to be here.” Her breath shuddered out, and she yanked up the sleeve of her shirt. There, on her upper arm, he saw two thin white lines. Scars. No, hell, no. Binding marks. He’d only seen them once before in his life, but he knew what they were-marks to bind a witch’s power.
“I don’t have a coven to protect me.” Her gaze was steady, proud. “When the agents came to me, I didn’t realize what they had planned for me, not until it was too late.”
Until the first binding mark appeared.
“Three marks,” she whispered and he heard her, even with the wailing alarm. “Three and I’m completely helpless. With two”-she swallowed—“my powers became so weak, I wasn’t able to fight back against the bastards.”
Shit. “I’m getting you out of here.”
But she shook her head. “There are others here. I won’t leave them.”
“Others?”
“A wolf shifter … and a vampire. I won’t leave them.”
A woman’s scream ripped through the air. Jana. He lunged forward. Catalina grabbed his arm. “They want you. They’ve seen what you can do. If they can keep you here, if they can use you—”
“No one’s gonna fucking use me.”
“They were going to kill me two days ago,” she told him, her lips trembling. “Then they realized I knew you. I’m alive just because—”
Another scream. Jana. He broke Catalina’s hold. “Cat, get out of here! Run, and I’ll find you!” But first, he was getting
Jana.
“I’m alive because I told them your weakness.” Her whispered words floated behind him. “I’m sorry, Zane.” He spun back to face her. “Cat?”
Her shoulders were slumped. Her head down. “They were going to put on the third bind. I didn’t have a choice. They know about—”
The drugs. Shit.
She looked up at him. A tear tracked down her cheek. “I’m sorry.”
The screams had stopped. He could smell smoke drifting in the air. Coming closer. “Fire’s coming.” Catalina’s weakness. “Get out. Just run!”
Fear had her eyes flaring wide, but she shook her head. “Not without the others.” She stumbled down the hallway, lifting her hand toward him. “Come with me, Zane. Don’t go back, they’re waiting for you! It’s all a trap.”
He knew it, but … “They’ve got someone I—” Someone, what? Someone he needed? Someone he sure as shit wouldn’t leave behind? She didn’t leave me. “I’m not leaving her,” was all he said.
Catalina’s lips parted, and her eyes seemed to lose a bit of focus. The shift in her glance always happened when she used her magic. “No.” A bit sad. “You can’t leave her.”
There wasn’t time to waste. Zane ran down the hall, bellowing Jana’s name.
A mass of swirling and crackling flames shot down the hallway. He shoved the fire to the side even as water poured down from the sprinklers above him. What the hell?
The door to the holding room was open. He rushed inside, and the smoke shoved its way down his throat. “Jana! Jana, pull back the fire!”
But Jana was lying in the middle of the room with her hair a black curtain around her face. Flames ate at the walls and the ceiling.
Beth stood near those flames, her body swaying.
Hell. He poured his power out as he fought the flames. The heat scorched his flesh.
The fire retreated from him, and he leapt to Jana’s side. She was slowly pushing herself up.
“Pull it back,” he growled, locking his fingers around her arms as he drew her close. “It’s okay, baby, I’m here now, you can ease up on the f—”
She blinked at him. Her eyes were tired, weak, and dark blue.
He heard the laughter then. Wild, wicked laughter. He turned his head and found Beth staring at him-with eyes gone dark red.
“N-not me …” Jana whispered as her hands twisted to hold tight to him. Her nails sank into his skin. “Not a-anymore.”
Another ball of flames shot straight at him. He threw his body over Jana’s even as he sent the fire slamming into the south-side wall with a psychic surge of energy. Jana coughed beneath him and shuddered.
“You’re going to die, demon!” Beth yelled, her voice rising above the flames. “You’re both going to burn!”
Zane glanced up and saw the flames rolling over the ceiling. Looked like clouds of fire. Not. Good.
“You should have joined us when you had the chance.” More laughter from Beth. “Now I’ll just burn you until there’s nothing left.”
The hell she would.
Zane threw up his hands, pushing a powerful wave of energy at her just as Beth’s flames came for him again. The flames froze in mid-air, caught between them, and Beth screamed.
“She won’t be able to … handle it….” Jana coughed again and pushed against him. “Not the first time … not…”
The flames swelled. They shoved against his hold. Burned so hot.
“The ceiling’s gonna fall. …” Jana jerked from beneath him. “We’ve got to get out of here!” Her hands grabbed at his arms. ”Come on!”
Beth screamed again, a loud, desperate cry as she fell to her knees. The flames erupted, shooting across the room, and chunks of the ceiling fell down, crashing onto the floor.
He ran with Jana, holding back the fire and charging for the door. The smoke, heavy and gray, blocked their path, but they barreled straight through it and, with his help, through the flames.
Beth’s yells followed them, blending with the piercing alarm, and the crackle of the fire.
He and Jana thundered down the hallway. Guards were running, hell-bent on getting away from the flames so they didn’t even toss him or Jana a second glance. The guards sure didn’t try to stop them. Too busy running.
Zane risked a glance behind him. The fire was destroying everything, burning so bright. Sending screams of terror into the air. As he watched, two men appeared near the back wall. Chameleons being forced out of their camouflage because of the fire’s heat. One of the bastards was the one who’d attacked Jana.
He was burning, screaming as he fell to the ground. The flames flared higher around him and the other chameleon. Trapping them, killing them.
Zane’s legs pumped as he searched for a way out of the nightmare. Not Jana’s fire. What the hell had happened? And why hadn’t Jana mentioned that Beth was an Ignitor?
Fuck. Just when he’d thought he could trust her …
They burst through some double doors and out into the night. Jana sucked in deep gulps of air and fell to her knees.
The clean air almost seemed to burn his lungs. “Jana …” His voice sounded like gravel.
Her head turned toward him. Her eyes were wet with tears. From the smoke? Or something more?
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He lifted her up and carried her farther away from that burning building and the screams that echoed inside. “Why didn’t you tell me what Beth could do?”
She just shook her head.
“Fuck.” He sat her down near the edge of the swamp. “Stay here.”
She grabbed his arms. “Where … are you going?” she rasped.
“I’ve got a friend in there. I’m not leaving her for the flames.” He wouldn’t leave Catalina to her worst nightmare.
“Friend?” Her brow wrinkled. Ash stained her cheeks. “With … Perseus?”
Yeah, okay, that sounded screwed. “Just stay here, okay?” But even as he said the words, he knew she’d be gone when he came back. It was her perfect chance to run. “They’ve got supernaturals caged in there.” His voice grew stronger with every word, just as those flames were growing stronger with every second that passed. “I’m not letting them burn.”
Perseus was dying tonight, burning to the ground, but they weren’t taking the paranormals out with them.
He whirled away from Jana and ran right back into the fire
.
Jana shook her head, stunned, as Zane disappeared into the smoke again. What was he thinking? Didn’t he realize those flames weren’t going to stop? They were blazing out of control. Even a level ten couldn’t fight them-not with an Ignitor constantly charging them up. The first fire is always the hottest. Too strong. Can’t stop it.
She lifted a shaking hand to her head. Oh, God, how had this happened? One minute, that girl had been running toward her, and Jana had been getting her charge strong enough to blast, then—
Then Beth had been in control of the flames.
And I’d had nothing.
Jana had been surrounded by fire but, for the first time, completely at its mercy. If Zane hadn’t come in there, she would have died.
Her eyes squeezed shut. I’ve got a friend in there. I’m not leaving her for the flames. Beth had taunted him about a friend. We’ve got a friend of yours waiting to meet you.
What friend?
She stumbled to her feet. A guard ran out of the smoke. He didn’t glance her way. He just raced for the truck parked near the line of twisted trees.
Trying to get away?
She sucked in another breath and went after him. “Hey, hey, wait!”
He grabbed the door handle and wrenched open the door.
“Look, buddy—”
He swung around to face her. Jana slammed her fist into his face. She might not have her fire right then, but she wasn’t helpless.
The guy sank to the ground. She went with him, patting his pockets, finding his keys, a cell phone, and-yes!-a gun. Jana tucked the gun into the waistband of her jeans and glanced back at the fire. Zane was in there. Other paranormals were trapped inside. She looked down at her hands. Cell phone. Keys. The perfect time to escape. There were no more ties to her past. Perseus wouldn’t come after her. She could get away clean.
But Zane was in the fire.
Zane.
She punched in a quick series of numbers on the cell phone. Numbers she’d memorized earlier, when she’d seen Zane make one of his calls. The phone rang once, twice—
“Who the hell is this?” a snarling voice demanded.
Jana’s fingers tightened around the phone. “I’m calling about Zane Wynter.” She didn’t have a whole lot of time to waste.
“Zane?” The voice quieted. “Is he okay?”
“Kinda hard to say.” She bit her lip and rose, stepping away from the fallen guard and keeping his keys. She had to strain to make her voice louder and clearer when she said, “He’s in the fire right now.”
“What?”
“I don’t know where we are,” she said. “Some damn swamp.”
Other voices murmured in the background, then he told her, “Just keep the phone on. We can find you.”
“Send some fire trucks, would you?” She watched those flames blaze. They’d burned through the roof and were reaching so high. With a fire like this, there was only one way to stop the flames. Just one … “People are still inside. They need help.”
A pause. Then he asked, “Is it your fire, Jana?”
It should have been. “I’ll keep the phone on,” she said. “You just get help out here, got it? Perseus is burning, but I’m not letting them destroy Zane.”
Then she put the phone on the hood of the truck and made the stupidest move of her life. She went back into the fire.
“Help me…” The voice drew Zane in closer. It was weak, rough, desperate. Not Catalina.
He found himself in the same conference room he’d been in when he’d first seen Catalina. The fire had already come inside, the flames surging against the walls. The guards were gone. They’d cleared out fast, but then, his psychic blast wouldn’t have kept them knocked out for long.
He’d never seen a fire like this one. Even with his power, it was hard to push the flames back. And if he hadn’t been so high on the demon scale then he never would have been able to clear a path back inside. The fire was too wild.
The flames weren’t just sticking to the walls. They were surging forward, actually tracking people-as if they were intent on killing. Hell, they were intent. An Ignitor aimed the fire where she wanted it. Beth wanted the fire to kill, and it was. Only, it wasn’t just killing Beth’s enemies. It was killing everyone.
“Help … me …” The voice came again and Zane hurried forward, even as he shoved back those greedy flames. He rushed down the hallway and turned right. Another room, this one with chains on the walls.
He found Davey on the floor. His legs were pinned by a heavy metal cage that had fallen onto him. Hell, this must be some kind of damn containment room. Fire circled around Davey, but the demon held the flames back from him, keeping a protective circle around his body. A circle that barely seemed to be holding. Blood dripped from his temple. “Don’t leave me here.”
Zane stared down at the kid. “You chose the wrong side.”
Tears leaked from his eyes. “I chose the-the only side that I had! I was trying-trying to save l-lives!” The fire inched closer. Young Davey wasn’t a strong demon, that much was obvious, or he would have freed himself by now.
A weak demon. A kid. One who’d been pulled in and used by humans gone crazy with their own power.
“Tell me where you keep the paranormal prisoners.”
The flames inched closer to Davey’s legs. That circle was failing. The demon screamed.
“Tell me.”
Davey broke. His face crumpled and he cried out, “End of the hall, go right!” He pointed with a trembling hand. “Third door! They weren’t hurt, they weren’t—”
“They were.” Disgust had his voice thickening, but Zane waved his own hand and the metal flew off Davey’s legs.
The guy gasped, staring up at him with wide eyes.
“We’re not all evil, kid. You need to start realizing that.”
Davey pushed to his feet. Almost fell right back down. A broken leg wouldn’t stop a demon. The guy could still manage to get out of there.
Zane turned away from him. He tore down the hall. ”Catalina!” With two binding marks, she’d never be able to control the fire. If it came after her the way it had come after the others …
Burn, witch.
Her worst fear.
His feet pounded on the hard floor as he searched for her, running down that snaking hallway and following the desperate directions Davey had given him. If the kid had been lying …
Zane turned a hard right, then slammed his foot into the third door he saw. The door shattered and flew forward and he saw Catalina on the floor. Her hands were jerking at the chains that bound two men to the wall.
She whirled toward him with a gasp, but the fear left her eyes when she saw him. “Zane! Help me!”
The fire hadn’t gotten to them yet. Smoke seeped inside the windowless room from the vents, but otherwise, they were okay. He hurried forward and grabbed the manacle on the first guy’s hand. The man, blond, young, with glinting blue eyes-shit, the guy I saw when I went into Jana’s mind-just shook his head. “You can’t break ‘em. They’re reinforced, even I can’t—”
Zane shattered the manacle. “You can’t because they’re made of silver.” They know your weakness. The old story about werewolves and their silver weakness was based on some fact. He broke the other manacle. The shifter stepped forward, then staggered. Long cuts and incisions covered his chest and legs. Fuck.
Catalina jumped to her feet and put her arms around him, trying to help him to balance.
The other guy hadn’t moved. His skin was gray, his dark head hung low, and the scent of blood was heavy around him.
“Be careful, Zane,” Catalina said, “they’ve bled him for days, and he hasn’t—”
The guy’s head snapped up when Zane got close, and wickedly sharp fangs came at his throat. Zane caught the guy’s chin in one hand and held tight. “Easy.” Black eyes stared back at him. Not demon eyes. The sclera was still white, but the iris had faded to pitch black. A vamp in hunting mode. No, a vamp who was st
arving. “I’m not on the menu.”
The vamp snarled. Zane fired a fast glance at Catalina. “We leave this one. He’s too far gone. Vamps attack anyway and he’s—”
“Please.” A desperate whisper from the vampire. “Won’t… bite…. Don’t… leave….”
“He comes with us.” Catalina stared at him with a raised chin. “They drained his blood for the last four days. He’s starving.”
“All the more fucking reason to leave him here.” Zane didn’t ease his grip. Wasting time. Was Jana still outside? Had she already left him? “A hungry vamp is a dangerous vamp.” No, any vamp was a dangerous vamp. “We don’t have a lot of time. The fire’s coming—”
“I-I know, but we can’t leave him!”
He glanced back at the vamp. At those dark eyes.
“Won’t … bite … you….“ the vamp said again. His fangs were still out, his eyes still so dark. “ Begging …”
His jaw clenched. “If you do, you’re dead, Drac.” Simple fact. He eyed the chains holding the guy. Looked like the same kind of metal he used for his cuffs. “Cat, is there a little something extra on these …?”
He glanced back and saw her trembling nod.
“Do you have enough magic to break it?”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “I’ll use everything I’ve got.”
Too dangerous, she shouldn’t—
She began to chant, low but fast, breaking the spell that had been weaved on the cuffs.
“My spell,” she whispered as her shoulders sagged and her face paled and more shame flared in her eyes.
Shit. They’d forced her to help keep the vamp trapped. Bastards. If this place weren’t already burning to hell and back… Growling, he broke the manacles, snapping the locks and freeing the vamp.
The vampire fell forward and slammed into Zane. Zane caught him, grunting at the impact. That vamp’s teeth were way too close to his throat. There was only one vamp in the world he’d bleed for, and Dee wasn’t anywhere near them. “Watch it,” he ordered, but the vamp just slumped harder against him.
He looked down. The vamp’s eyes were closed. The guy was dead to the world-well, again.
Zane hefted him up and draped the vamp over his shoulder. “We’ve got to get out of here, we’ve got to—” “You’re not going anywhere.”