by Paula Mabbel
“Daniel, I’m giving you one last chance to come out here and talk to me. If you don’t then I can’t be held responsible for my actions,” Simon said, warning ringing through his voice.
“Are you threatening me?” Daniel said in disbelief. “Do you really think I’m scared of you, Simon? Come on, get real. You’re a pussy cat.”
Simon could feel a sneer lifting up the corner of his mouth as he listened to what Daniel had to say. “Is that what you believe?” he asked Daniel, but he wasn’t really interested in the answer. In fact, he didn’t even wait for the answer. He walked up to the front doors that were locked by the small magnet system and pushed on them with such a force that they opened and smashed into the walls beside them.
The apartment building echoed with the sound of smashing glass as the doors made contact with the walls. Simon could hear shuffling footsteps from behind the apartment doors. He made his way over to the steps. He could feel a strange sense of determination running through him. It was as though he knew what was his purpose was and he knew exactly how to fulfill it.
He reached Daniel’s floor and made his way along the hallway. Daniel’s door was the last one, and Simon stopped when he was standing outside it. He looked at the door for a moment. If anybody had been watching him, they might have thought he was considering knocking, but then he took a deep breath that filled his chest, and held it for a moment.
He listened to the sound of Daniel’s shuffling feet, as he moved about in his apartment and then when Simon’s lungs had started to burn with the dirty air he was imprisoning within them, he finally blew it all out and watched as deep orange flames licked at the wooden door. He stepped away from the door and watched the fire take its hold. It was slow starting, but Simon knew that it wouldn’t go out until everything in its path had been destroyed.
That was the great thing about dragon’s breath. It burned forever, and nothing but its maker could put it out.
*******
Simon walked quickly away from the apartment building without looking back. He could hear the crackling of flames even as he turned off the street and onto the next, and he knew there was no way that Daniel could have escaped the fire. He considered for a moment what kind of person it made him to feel no guilt over taking a person’s life, but that thought was quickly replaced with an unquenchable thirst that he knew only too well.
Dragon’s fire came at a steep cost, a cost that could only be paid by knowing the right people. There was something about breathing unrelenting fire that caused a dragon’s throat to grow dry and tight. If they couldn’t soothe it with the elderflower elixir quickly then the fire that had consumed their victims would also consume them.
Simon walked quickly through the city with his feet taking him exactly where he needed to go. He knew that he had no hope of finding the elderflower in the wild, as it had been protected by the dragons many years before and was only available in a small bar in the very heart of the city. The bar was known by all magical creatures but could not be seen by humans. It was the one place in the modern world where shifters, fairies and witches could shake off their disguises and live freely without the fear of persecution.
He stopped when he reached the wooden door that would take him into the bar. He could hear an angry buzz of conversation coming from within, and for a moment he stood with his hand unmoving against the door. He could tell without being able to make sense of the buzz that something was wrong. He wondered what could have caused such a stir.
His curiosity overpowered his hesitancy, and he pushed the door open to find that every person in the room had turned to look at him. He stood for a moment in the doorway, unsure about whether he should actually go in, before the tightness in his throat reminded him that he had no choice. He pushed his feet forward and let the door close behind him, trying to ignore the burning stares of his peers on his way to the bar.
“You’ll be wanting the elderflower elixir,” the bartender said, before Simon even had a chance to ask for it.
“Yes,” Simon said with a small nod. “How did you know?”
“What do you think has shaken all their feathers?” the bartender asked as he let his eyes glance out to the crowd of people who were watching the exchange.
“Ah,” Simon said, because he now understood why they had all stopped and stared at him when he’d walked into the room. “So, I take it they’ve heard about my little fire incident.”
“Oh, you could say that,” the bartender nodded. “You’ve caused quite a stir, if I’m honest. The fire marshal has already been to the scene and, from what I’ve heard, not only does he have witnesses, but he’s taken a sample of the fire.”
“He’s taken a sample of the fire?” Simon asked, although he was talking to himself more than the barman.
“He sure has,” the bartender said with a small nod. “He seems to think that it has some special properties that keep it burning.”
“Well, he isn’t wrong,” Simon said. He took the glass of elixir from the bartender and chugged it quickly. The relief was instant. He could feel the cooling liquid running down his throat and opening it back up. He put the empty glass down on the bar. “God, that feels good,” he said as he stretched his neck from one side to the other.
“Well, don’t get used to it. I’m pretty sure that every person in this bar wants to see you strung up,” the bartender said with a cautious look on his face.
“Let them try,” Simon said with a cocky tone to his voice. He watched as the bartender opened his mouth to speak, but then the door to the bar opened and every eye in the room turned to see who was coming in.
Nobody spoke. The atmosphere changed instantly. Everybody in the room could smell it on the new arrival, and their eyes darted to each other as they silently asked how he’d gotten into the bar. Simon looked at the man standing in the doorway with great interest. He could smell the humanity on him from all the way over at the bar, but his scent didn’t make sense. No human was able to see the door to the bar, so how had he managed to walk in?
Simon walked quickly over to the stranger before anyone else in the room had a chance to react. “I think you might be lost, stranger. This isn’t the kind of bar for you,” Simon said as he tried to turn the guy around.
“I’m not looking for any trouble,” the stranger said with a wild hand gesture.
“I’m sure you’re not, but trust me, this is not the bar for you,” Simon said again, and he tried to pack enough warning into his tone to alert the bloke without frightening him. “There’s another one around the corner. How about I show you it?” Simon suggested as he pulled open the door and waited for the confused-looking man to step back through it.
“Oh, um, right. Sure,” the guy said, and he turned around and walked back out of the bar.
Simon stopped for a moment before following him and turned back to the people who were all watching him. “Nobody is to follow me. Is that understood?” he said in a deep, warning voice that boomed through the empty spaces in a way that left no room for questions.
*******
Simon walked quickly away from the back street with his new human friend behind him. He didn’t stop or speak until they had arrived several blocks away from where they had started. Simon stopped outside of a small bar that had metal tables and chairs filling the sidewalk in front of it. “This seems like as good a place as any,” he said. He pushed the door open and waited for the human to walk in.
The bar was surprisingly well lit, and Simon took a moment to really examine the stranger standing in front of him. He was handsome in a classical kind of way, with a sharp jawline and deep brown eyes that seemed to emit strange warmth from within them. He had hair matching his eyes, but when the light caught it, hundreds of tiny golden highlights seemed to sparkle through the deep brown.
They took a seat at an empty table and for a moment neither of them spoke. Simon could tell that the guy was on edge from what had happened back the bar, but he didn’t seem like he wanted to talk
about it. It seemed, though, that there was something bigger pressing on the stranger’s mind. He could feel secrets being kept and he couldn’t help but wonder what secrets the stranger could possibly have that needed to be protected.
“I’m Simon,” he said eventually, when he realized that the stranger wasn’t going to start up the conversation.
“I’m Connor,” the guy said with a small nod.
“What brought you to that dump then?” Simon asked with curiosity sparkling in his eyes. He was curious how Connor had managed to find the bar, never mind why he had gone into it.
“I was thirsty,” Connor said with a small shrug.
Simon could feel his eyes sharpen as he sensed Connor’s lies. He looked at him for a moment with deep thought, as he tried to work out whether Connor was even human. “Plenty of places to drink that are at a better standard than that,” he said as he pushed Connor for the truth.
“Well, you didn’t seem too fazed by it,” Connor said with a small lift of his eyebrows.
“I’m used to drinking in dives,” Simon said with a shrug. There was something about Connor that was setting alarm bells off in Simon’s head, and if it wasn’t for the fact that he was so appealing to the eyes, he might have left him to the magical creatures of the bar, instead of risking his reputation taking him to safety.
Connor didn’t say anything for a moment. His deep brown eyes seemed to be fixed on Simon, but Simon could feel how they were passing through him.
“That bar definitely had a strange feel to it, though,” Connor said with a small shudder, as though the thought of the feeling alone was too much to bear.
“I’ve heard people say that before,” Simon said with a small agreeing nod.
“Don’t you think it does?”
“I don’t know. I find it quite homey,” Simon said with a sly smile that revealed an inside joke that Connor would never get.
“Homey?” he said in bewilderment.
“I guess it’s been a while since I’ve had a proper home,” Simon said with a small shrug.
“It must have been.”
“Where do you live, then?” Simon asked Connor curiously. The alarm bells were still ringing loud and clear in his mind, and he wanted to find out everything he could about the guy who had managed to break through the protection spells on the bar.
“A few blocks from here, actually,” Connor said in a matter-of-factly.
“Do you live alone or with a partner?” Simon pushed him for details.
For a moment Connor looked wary, as though he could tell that Simon was pushing him for information, but then the look in his eyes disappeared and he shrugged before speaking. “No, I live with my younger brother.”
“I never had any siblings,” Simon remarked truthfully.
“That’s a real shame,” Connor said quickly. “I rely on my brother in more ways than I’d like to admit.”
“I thought you said that you were the older brother,” Simon said with a look of surprise on his face.
“Well, yeah. I’m older technically, in years, but he’s much more mature. He’s actually the fire marshal in this town. He got me a little desk job at the precinct, but I tend to stay away from the actual fires.”
Simon couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He sat for a moment in silence as he tried to work out what it meant. Connor was the fire marshal’s brother? He worked at the precinct? Was that how he managed to get into the bar? Had he been following Simon?
“That sounds like interesting work,” Simon said carefully.
“It can be,” Connor nodded. “I mean, like, tonight we got this call out for an apartment fire. It all sounded like pretty standard stuff, but when my brother got back he had this piece of wood that was still on fire and it just wouldn’t go out. I mean, I know that sounds like I’ve made it up,” Connor said, “but honestly, I saw it with my own eyes. My brother poured water on it and everything, and the water just boiled dry on top of the flames.”
Simon could feel his heart beating hard against his chest. He needed to break into the precinct before the news of the unstoppable fire spread. He needed to put it out, before any of the humans realized what they really had on their hands. His attention got pulled away from his thoughts when a loud ringing sound filled the air.
Connor fumbled over his pockets for a moment before he pulled out a cell phone and answered it. “Yeah, sure, I can do that. I’ll be right there,” he said to whoever was speaking to him. “I’m sorry, I’m going to have to go,” Connor said as he stood up and pulled the phone away from his face. “It was good to meet you, Simon.” He reached out his hand and shook Simon’s before he turned and walked quickly out of the bar.
********
Simon gave Connor a few minutes’ head start before he stood up and left the bar. He didn’t need to see where Connor was going because he could still smell his scent in the air. He followed the trail until he reached a small building that had been painted white a long time ago, but had been left neglected since then. It stood in the shadows of the city and looked as though it might have been abandoned. In fact, the only clues that the building was still in use were that lights were flickering from the windows and that Simon could smell a mixture of different human scents coming from within it.
He approached the building slowly and made sure that he kept to the shadows. He knew that the fire marshal already had a description of him, and the last thing he wanted was to be caught. He managed to get underneath one of the windows and avoid the posies that had been planted in a small flower bed underneath his feet. He peered in and tried to listen to what was being said.
He noticed Connor sitting in a corner at a desk and watched as a younger-looking version of him walked up. Simon rationalized that it must have been his brother, and he listened intently to hear what was being said between them.
“Did you find him?” Connor’s brother asked in a gruff voice.
“I think so,” Connor said with a hesitant nod of his head. “I can’t see how it was him though. He doesn’t seem like the type,” Connor quickly continued.
“Well, that’s why you aren’t paid to convict people,” his brother said dryly. “You need to remember that people are better actors than you give them credit for.”
“Maybe,” Connor said, but his voice sounded conflicted. “I really don’t think it’s him, though,” he finished in almost a whisper that made it hard for Simon to hear clearly.
“It doesn’t matter what you think,” Connor’s brother said dismissively. “The only thing that matters is what I know. Do you think you’d be able to lead me to him?”
“I think so,” Connor said.
Simon took a step back from the precinct and tried to collect his thoughts. The fire marshal was certain that he’d found the culprit of the fire, and he was right, but Simon couldn’t allow them to capture him. He skulked away, keeping to the shadows, until he was sure that he was out of sight, and then he stopped again.
He could feel his options running out, and he briefly considered going back to the bar and asking for help. He knew, though, that it would be a pointless exercise because no one would be willing to help him. The bartender had made it clear that if the fire marshal didn’t get him, then it would be a creature of the night that did instead.
Simon tried to work out where everything had gone so drastically wrong. He’d woken up that morning in good spirits. He’d thought that he had everything worked out, so how had it all gone so badly? How was it that in less than twenty-four hours he had gone from accepting that his time was nearly over to avoiding those who wanted to see him dead?
None of it made sense to him. He could hear a little voice in the back of his mind telling him that perhaps it was simply time to give up. He’d had a long life; some of it had even been good. Was there really any point in trying to avoid the consequences of what he’d done? Had his actions been a subconscious attempt at making sure that he wouldn’t continue to live much longer? He didn’t know, but he wa
s certain in the face of his troubles that he had to see his plan through to the very end, before he could allow his death to happen.
He sighed as he realized that for his plan to work he would need to bring somebody else into the equation. Daniel had been perfect. He’d been strong and willing, but where was he going to find another man on such short notice? He couldn’t possibly hope to ignite a relationship with somebody when he knew he had, at the most, days left.
He let his brain skip over all the people that he knew, until he reached Connor. Connor had been touched by magic. That was how he’d managed to walk through the protection spell and into the bar. Simon wasn’t sure when or why he’d been touched, but that didn’t matter. Connor was his best chance, his only chance, and he had to take it.
He followed the path he had just taken until he found himself standing outside of the precinct again. He waited quietly for Connor to leave. He knew that his plan would involve some skill, and more risk than he was really happy taking, but it didn’t matter. He needed to make sure that his legacy lived on, and that meant that he had to find a mate who wouldn’t burn under his touch. Connor was the only person he could think of who might be able to handle the heat. He was the only human Simon was aware of who had touched magic and had not been affected by it.
The door to the precinct opened and Simon watched from the shadows as Connor walked out into the dark street. He waited until Connor had turned a corner before starting to follow him.
********
Simon watched as Connor came to a stop outside of a small diner that looked almost identical to the one that he’d been in earlier that day. Connor seemed to be looking around, as though he could feel himself being followed, but Simon was well out of sight and eventually Connor sighed and walked into the diner.
Simon considered his options for a moment before following Connor into the diner and walking straight up to the front desk, where a perky, brown-haired girl smiled and asked for his order.
“Simon?” Connor called out from one of the booths behind him.