Knight of Flame

by Scott Eder

  “Have you seen all the bugs, Marianne?” The senior news anchor asked his pretty young colleague. “My goodness, they bubbled out of the sewer like a…like a…well, there were a lot of them and I’ve heard other reports about the same thing happening all across the city. What do you think?”

  Marianne shivered. “I saw it too, Bob. This morning, my driveway was crawling with beetles. Disgusting. The way their little shells crunched when I drove over—”

  “Er, thank you, Marianne. Coming up, a grisly discovery in Ybor City. But now, back to Sam who is live on the scene at St. Matthews.”

  “Thanks, Tom.” Sam, with his stiff hair and brown suit, stood on the red carpet in front of St. Matthew’s. “It’s another dark day in the bay area. Two tragedies in the same week. First, eighty of Tampa and St. Pete’s elite perish at the hands of a madman. And now, the St. Matthew’s tragedy. The latest count is four hundred twenty eight,” he pressed his fingers to his ear piece. “No, sorry, five hundred twenty eight doctors, nurses, patients, reporters and even our own Mayor, died in what police and experts are calling a freak natural gas leak.”

  Alexander sat back on the love seat, lacing his fingers behind his head. “Five hundred…not bad.”

  The camera returned to the senior anchor. “There was one bright spot, though. The Emergency Room’s external camera caught a few survivors fleeing the scene.” A black and white video flashed on the screen. For the first couple of seconds, it looked like a still picture of the back driveway then two people, one of them carrying a small child, emerged from the back door.

  Alexander sat up, eyes glued to the women running from the hospital.

  That whore.

  He rose to his feet and turned his back on yet another disappointment.

  How did she escape? And who was that other girl?

  A knock sounded. Lowering his head, he yanked open the office door, grabbed the offender by the floppy collar of her cheap polyester blouse and pulled her into his office. With a thought, he slammed the door behind him.

  “Mr. Gray,” Kareena pried at his hands to no effect. “I am not that kind of secretary.”

  I cannot take that voice. Alexander slapped his hand over her mouth and drew her life force out in one massive surge. He dropped the ashen gray body and lurched back to the couch unsated.

  Dragon, Alexander called, I have a snack for you in my office.

  Gothrodul’s laughter filtered through the link. On my way.

  They replayed the video of Sinclair fleeing the hospital.

  We cannot have loose ends. You are mine, Cassidy Sinclair. Tonight.

  Chapter 24

  VISION BLURRED BY TEARS, CASSIDY WATCHED the All Children’s hospital sign fade in the distance through the back window of the “borrowed” car. Leaving the little girl proved tougher than she’d expected though she knew it was the right decision. All Children’s would provide the specialized care and emotional support the girl needed in the aftermath of St. Matthew’s. Still, it broke her heart.

  I miss the feel of a child in my arms. The gentle sway of Magnus’s conservative driving lulled her to sleep.

  Cassidy jerked awake as Magnus shifted into Park and opened his car door. The dome light flared and she covered her eyes.

  It’s dark? How long was I out?

  Sleep fogged her thinking, but she remembered it being no later than two in the afternoon when they dropped off the little girl.

  “Where?” Cassidy stretched.

  “Your house.” Magnus turned in his seat. “Remember the plan. After I check the place out, we all go in while you get what you need, then we port to the Cradle.”

  “Right,” Wren said. “We’re gone in fifteen minutes, tops.”

  The seriousness of her two companions dispelled the lingering effects of her nap. Wide awake, she peered into the darkness surrounding the car. As usual, the neighborhood was as silent as a grave.

  “Do you really think Gray will try something?” Cassidy asked as she tried to look out of all the windows simultaneously.

  “He killed a lot of people today and you are the only witness.” Magnus said as he unlaced his boots.

  Wren shook her head. “Nice work there, Captain Ominous. The only thing missing was the sinister laugh. Oh, and by the way, the boots ain’t working. It’s flip-flops for your birthday this year.”

  “Don’t bother. Won’t wear them.”

  “Whatever.”

  Cassidy didn’t mind the bickering. She’d come to realize that’s how they dealt with stress. In a way, it was comforting. She could imagine herself hanging with these people, the big brother and little sister she never had.

  And what about Dev? She didn’t know what to think about him. There was something there, but the fire thing…

  “I’ll be back in a minute.” Magnus got out of the car then stuck his head back in. “Eyes open. Be alert.”

  “Oh, hey.” Cassidy fished her keys out of her pocket and handed them to the Earth Knight. “You’ll need these.”

  Their hands touched.

  “Whoa,” Magnus jerked his arm away and a strange I-knew-there-was-something-different-about-you look came over him. “You have a gift.”

  Holy shit. He felt my gift too.

  “I…I.”

  “It’s okay, Cassidy. You don’t need to hide it.”

  “What’s going on?” Wren asked.

  “Nothing at all,” he said. “Yell if you need me.”

  Wren gave Cassidy a speculative look.

  Cassidy derailed Wren’s question before she could give it voice.

  “What was all that with the shoes?”

  Wren frowned at the change in topic, but played along. “The shoes block his earth mojo, I mean, power. When he is in direct contact with his element, he can sense what’s going on around him. Vibrations, movement, things like that. Comes in handy on recon missions like this one.”

  “Makes sense.” Cassidy nodded and watched for anything out of the ordinary.

  “Let’s go. He’s waving us in.” Wren pointed to the front door. “Get only what you need. We’re exposed here. The sooner we’re gone, the better.”

  Only what I need. Right.

  Cassidy and Wren hurried into the house. Wren ran for the back door and looked out from between the blinds. Magnus watched the front yard from the big window in the living room.

  Cassidy grabbed her suitcase and filled it with the essentials—a few pairs of jeans, t-shirts, underwear, toiletries—to survive a few days away from home. Next stop, she rushed to the kitchen counter to grab her laptop. She still owed a major story to her editor and some time away would give her the chance to get it done.

  Next to her computer, the answering machine flashed a red four. Unable to resist, she played the messages while she packed up the laptop power supply. Her editor left the first three messages. She winced at his rising level of urgency and concern in each one. In the last, he pleaded for her to contact him immediately. She’d told him she would be at the opening and he wanted to make sure she was alright after the accident.

  That was no accident.

  The fourth call was just wrong. As soon as Alexander Gray’s silky voice purred through the speaker, she hit delete.

  You’ve got to be kidding me. Is he really that stupid?

  Her house phone rang. Cassidy looked to Magnus for guidance. He shook his head and turned back to his surveillance. After three rings, the machine picked up.

  All packed and ready for whatever came next, Cassidy carried her bags to the front door while her digitized greeting played.

  “I see you made it home safely.” Gray’s silky tone oozed out of the speaker. “I saw you on the news. Who were your friends?”

  “Knulla.” Magnus swore. “He’s here. Wren?”

  “Nothing back here. You?”

  “No. Be ready.” Magnus called on his earthen power and changed. His body grew and hardened to granite in seconds.

  The sound of Gray’s voice should ha
ve petrified her, should have dropped her to the floor in a puddle of whimpering slush. She growled instead.

  I’m sick of this mother fu—

  Gray continued. “No matter. They will share the same fate. Goodbye, Cassidy Sinclair. Our association has come to an end.”

  Teeth clenched, she placed her bags in the center of the room.

  “What can I do?” she asked, her voice cold and grim. Anger ripped through her. She thought of those who died at the hospital, of the head nurse, of the girl who lived—all victims of this monster. He had to be stopped.

  “Do you have—” In his big stone form, the Earth Knight’s words came out in a gravelly rasp. Midway through the sentence, his voice quit. His lips moved, but no sound came out, like someone pushed his mute button.

  “What’s going on?” Cassidy heard the words in her head, but they never left her mouth.

  A bright green flash lit the world outside her front window.

  Chapter 25

  ALEXANDER WAITED FOR THE GIRL TO return home from his seat on the dragon’s back. Since nightfall, they had hovered a safe distance above the Intracoastal waterway directly behind Cassidy’s house. The wind currents at that height allowed Gothrodul to remain relatively steady with nothing more than the occasional shift of his broad wings.

  What if she doesn’t return home? the dragon asked.

  Alexander patted the sleek, scaled neck. “Patience, my friend, she will return. In the meantime, I have another matter to address.” He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket, and tapped in a number. “The twit had better answer.”

  “H…he…hello?”

  “Oh, man up, Revost. I have a job for you.”

  “Alex? Is that you? I hardly ever get a call.”

  Alexander rolled his eyes and the dragon’s sides heaved in laughter.

  “Yes, Revost, it is Alexander.”

  “Brother, it’s been so long.” Revost took a deep breath. “I haven’t talked to you for ages. I didn’t think this phone worked anymore. How is Florida? I bet it’s nice.”

  “Revo—”

  “It snows here every day and it’s cold, but the cold is good for the machines. They like it. They told me they did. When are you coming to visit me?”

  “Revos—” Alexander slid more power into his voice, tried to break through the ceaseless chatter.

  “Fall is a nice time in the Yukon, Alex. You can come then. I’ll turn up the heat a little, but not too much. The machines will be unhappy if I do. They don’t work well if they’re unhappy. Oh, I got another character to level ninety. A hunter. He has a big crab for a pet. I named him Cra—”

  “REVOST.”

  “Yes, Alex?”

  “I need your help.”

  “Do you need information? Money? Credit? A robot? I like to build robots.”

  Alexander bit his tongue. Dealing with Revost always took far longer than it needed to so he did it sparingly.

  “We have an enemy.”

  “Ohhhhh, another bad person out to harm father’s company?” A dangerous change came over the voice on the other end of the phone. “You want me to clean them, right?”

  Clean. I would think erase or delete would be more accurate.

  “Yes. One Cassidy Sinclair.”

  “C.a.s.s.i.d.y. That’s a pretty name.”

  A quick series of clicks sounded through the phone.

  “There are over four thousand Cassidy Sinclairs in the United States, Alex. Which one?”

  “The one in Florida, Revost, near Tampa.”

  Alexander rubbed his forehead and checked the house for a sign that she returned.

  More tapping. “Okay. Still have over two hundred references.”

  “She works at the Tampa Weekly.”

  “Oooh, that will help.” Click. Click. “Got her. She’s beautiful.”

  “But evil, Revost.”

  “The pretty ones always are, brother. Give me a sec.”

  Alexander pictured this odd shadow warrior concentrating with the tip of his tongue stuck out the side of his mouth, fingers flying over the keys. His ability to interface with machines of all makes, models, eras and technologies was nothing short of magic and his father and older brother kept him tied in to every aspect of the global business. He had a backdoor into every corporate system in the world. Revost, and therefore the Gray Lord, knew the major decisions made in every boardroom before the actual members of the board knew.

  A car pulled into Cassidy Sinclair’s driveway.

  Why do you doubt me, dragon?

  She’s not alone, Alexander. The Knight of Earth is with her.

  So? It does not change our plans.

  “Squeaky clean, Alex. I deleted her credit cards, bank accounts, driver license, school records, social security number, tax ID, pr—”

  “Good work, brother. Once again you have foiled the bad guys.” Alexander felt his brother’s pride swell. “Now I must go.”

  “So you’ll come visit me, right? Soon?”

  “Absolutely.” Alexander terminated the call with his brother and placed one more. He left a short message on Cassidy Sinclair’s answering machine then turned off his phone lest his lonely brother call back to chat.

  “Destroy them.”

  The dragon banked its wings and dove. Shadowed bands of power strapped Alexander into place against the speed of the near-vertical descent. I hate this part. Air rushed past too quickly to breathe.

  “Pull up you stupid beast.” The hard reality of the water came closer. “You will kill us both.”

  This, Shadow Lord, is what it feels like to be dragonkind. Gothrodul unfurled his massive wings at the last possible instant and pulled out of the dive low enough to drag the knife-edge tip of its forked tail in the water, trailing a vapor cone in its wake.

  Alexander swallowed his stomach, which tried to escape during free-fall, and marshaled his strength. As they’d done hundreds of time in the past, Alexander’s magic would shroud the house in silence while their combined attacks leveled the place.

  “On my mark.” Alexander took control. The dragon leveled out ten feet above the surface of the water and closed in on ground zero.

  Goodbye, Cassidy Sinclair.

  “Mark.”

  Chapter 26

  CASSIDY’S FRONT WINDOW EXPLODED INWARD, BLOWING glass shards and the stone giant Magnus across the room. He reared up in front of Cassidy, blocking the majority of the sharp rain, but a few sneaked around, sliced her cheek and the exposed flesh of her arms.

  Wren came up behind as another explosion rocked the house and caved in the ceiling over Cassidy’s bedroom.

  The Earth Knight dropped to one knee and pulled the women in close. Through the contact, Cassidy felt his frustration, his concern, and his joy as he drew on the power on his element.

  The ground rumbled. The floor around them cracked and split into a ring around the huddled trio. Jagged rods of limestone shot from the ground at odd angles, creating a protective rock shelter over their heads. Magnus braced himself against the roof of the structure, bolstering it with his earthen strength.

  Green fire tore the house apart around them. Chunks of the ceiling bounced off the top of the makeshift shelter and smashed to the floor. Cassidy shuddered with each strike. The rods bowed. The last hit tore off a chunk.

  It’s not going to last much longer.

  With one arm holding up the limestone, Magnus dug a glowing card out of his back pocket. He held up the glowing picture of a cave entrance in the side of a mountain then to the garage doorway across the room. Raising five fingers, he counted down. Wren grabbed Cassidy’s wrist.

  Three…two…one.

  The shelter shattered as Magnus released his power. He grabbed Wren’s hand and indicated she should grab Cassidy’s. Linked together, he leaped for the doorway. When they got close, he flicked the card. It expanded, opening onto a dark room with the seal of the Knights on the floor. The big man charged through.

  Another blast rocked the hou
se. The sounds of the disaster around Cassidy should have been deafening, but they happened in eerie, surreal silence.

  Wren followed Magnus. A hot gust of air ripped Cassidy from Wren’s grasp. Before tumbling away she glimpsed Wren’s horrified expression as the girl reached back through the gateway. Her mouth opened around a scream, but the oppressive silence devoured it.

  The garage doorway collapsed under the blow of a mighty shadow arm, taking the gateway down with it.

  Cassidy slammed against the back wall and threw her arms over her head as the kitchen exploded. Through the gap between her forearms, she watched her matching appliances crash through newly made holes in the wall and ceiling. The counter top disintegrated. Glass doors and windows shattered.

  She cowered under the remains of the bay window and wished for the nightmare to end.

  Any minute now, I’ll wake up. The sofa, covered in hungry green flames, smashed against the side wall, its ends stuck on either side of the double wide doorframe. Like dominoes, the interior walls collapsed into each other. The ceiling dipped and wobbled before it caved in on the front half of the house.

  A cloud of dust, rock and splinters rolled through the still-standing portion of the house. Amy’s princess pillow tumbled out of the churning mass. It flopped across the floor and bounced off Cassidy’s shoulder on its way through a hole in the wall.

  Cassidy coughed. Smoke stung her eyes, filled her lungs.

  Can’t anybody see what’s happening? A crystal lamp smashed against the wall beside her head. She screamed, but nothing came out.

  Only the shell of the kitchen and living room remained. A tremor shook the back wall and rattled her spine. Gotta get out. On hands and knees, she crawled toward the open doors into the backyard.

  A large ball of luminous green splashed down in her living room floor. The force of the impact ejected her out the door and into the pool.

  The cool water revived her spirits. She took a deep breath and dove under as heavy bits of stone, wood and rebar splashed into the pool around her. Grabbing the bottom rung of the ladder, she forced herself to stay submerged, dodging debris and watching the destruction through the distortion of the water.