Heat in the Air

by Serenity Snow

  “Which means Amara is definitely going to want us in her coven, right?” Camille asked watching Tylor. There was tension in her face.

  “Yes, but even more importantly, we’ll have to move more quickly to take down some of the dark players Necron is using.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “One of the demons spearheading this venture,” Tylor told her. “Since he was one of Kryto’s, the leader of the underworld, soldiers it means they are going to move against him or go after the Congress.”

  “Mafia,” Camille muttered. “So, we’re the pawns and our lives the spoils of a territory war.”

  “It would seem to be the plan,” Tylor commented as she headed down the corridor. She moved inside and dropped her bag on the chair. Camille watched her stride to the window, her body tense.

  Camille put her bag next to the chair and followed in her wake running a hand up Tylor’s back.

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Dark Crystal’s leader is dead. Grace was part of the coven.”

  “She hid that dark part of her well,” Camille commented resting her head on Tylor’s back as she wrapped her arms around her waist. “I knew there was something about her, but I wasn’t sure of the depth of that darkness.”

  “She wasn’t evil, but tonight she became a threat.”

  “I’ll let you lead, but you have to trust me to know when to speak up and when to be silent.”

  “Be silent now,” she said. “The room is bugged.”

  Tylor turned and a breeze blew around the room, turning into a fog. It engulfed everything, falling over them where they stood.

  “We should get some rest. The witches might need us before the night is over.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Tylor climbed into bed beside Camille ten minutes later with a sigh. Her eyes closed and she slipped into the light doze of a wind warrior at rest. Tylor could survive on no sleep for forty-eight hours with her powers intact, but after that she’d need at least five to recharge.

  Storms could burn out fast, but the energy of wind and rain were boundless. However, Camille didn’t have that staying power yet. She was already fast asleep.

  Nothing disturbed her until early morning and then it was a breeze that caressed her awake. Tylor opened her eyes to find herself in a spacious room with a view of storm clouds and jagged filaments of lightning. She knew the Goddess had brought her home.

  “Darkness is rising quickly.”

  She beheld eyes of crystal blue and gray-blue curls that poured over delicate shoulders. Armor lay on the floor not far away along with a lean blue dog that resembled a greyhound. He watched her with warm eyes and his tail thumped the wood floor.

  The hound ambled over and she rubbed his head. “Fight or stand down?” Tylor asked.

  She generally obeyed her mother Goddess because to invoke her wrath was a day in Hades that Tylor didn’t want to experience again.

  “We’ve decided to allow you to deal with this as you see fit. There is no urgency, no need for all of us to join the fight. You can gather the troops you need, but there is only one request.”

  “And that is, my Goddess?”

  “Make sure these dissidents never rise again this time,” she said.

  “Kryto will enter the fight?”

  “We can’t see yet, but judging by the death that has already occurred, I would say he or his soldiers are already in it. Destroy the soldiers and make no deals with Kryto. He’s to die for their uprising.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” she said quietly as she ruffled the dog’s fur and it sighed loudly beneath her touch.

  “You will have opposition from his faction of chaos demons. Put them all down.”

  “Yes, Goddess.”

  “Congratulations on your union, your consort will be a welcome addition to our ranks for the likes of her we rarely see.”

  “I’ll train the next water storm aurai well.”

  “I trust you will, my dear,” she murmured with a smile. “Wake now. Trouble’s coming.”

  Tylor jerked awake, and she lay there listening hard. She glanced at her phone on the nightstand to see it was three-thirty a.m.

  With a sigh, she climbed from the bed and went to take a look out the window. The strangled cry from the bed turned her quickly around in time to see Camille sitting straight up in bed.

  “Tylor.” Camille gasped in a ragged breath. “Ty?”

  Tylor went to her, sitting on the bed. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

  “An attack is coming.”

  At the same time, the muted sound of a crash made her leap to her feet. “Get dressed.”

  She hurried to the chair where her bag was and jerked out a pair of khaki pants. Tylor dragged them on and pulled a shirt from the bag while Camille dressed as well.

  By the time she had her boots on, a creaking sound drifted in from the living area, followed by the slow crack of the bedroom window.

  “Things will happen fast, Camille,” Tylor said. “If you can’t fight or find yourself out of your depth, put yourself in a bubble. Nothing will get to you. Go with your instincts. You’re aurai, so you have the power to do whatever you think you can.”

  Camille nodded and tied her sneakers.

  The flash of light behind Tylor made her start, and Tylor whipped around. She waited for the glass to begin shattering inward before throwing her hand up. The glass froze in mid-air and then reversed course.

  The cries from the other side had Camille flinching, but she didn’t have time to remain motionless. The bedroom door was flung open and three men rushed inside.

  The first to enter threw dark sparks of energy toward Camille while the second engaged Tylor. She moved, drawing the eye of the third, hoping Camille could handle herself against one.

  Tylor ducked the first wave of energy and shifted as the second followed hard on its heels. She raced toward the sender in her translucent form and slammed into him taking him back to the wall.

  Before she could go intangible, she was hit from behind by a dark orb that sank into her skin causing her to let out a yelp and arch forward. The dark breed before her punched her in the stomach and she screamed, excreting blue air rather than blood.

  The dark energy covering his fist burned its way through the fabric of her shirt and into her flesh while the shadow behind her drew something around her neck and pulled tight.

  Tylor struggled and jagged lines of lightning crawled down the backs of her hands and into the male before her. He let out a startled cry and his body convulsed as lightning fried him.

  She drove her elbow into the shadow behind her and his hold on the dark thread of energy he was using to strangle her loosened.

  Tylor gripped it sending lightning into it. He let out a yelp and released the energy vine. Tylor turned, his black eyes holding fury that almost stole her breath.

  The man pushed power out of his fingertips and at the same time, she pushed storm energy out of hers. The power collided, but the rough strength of storm shoved through to crash into him. He was thrown back into the first man into the room.

  Their backs smashed together and their heads snapped back into each other. The crunch of bone was audible in the air. The men fell to the floor, but one of them looked up with cold black eyes. He threw a dark orb that slashed across Tylor’s shoulder, and she let out a cry before returning fire.

  “You can’t kill me,” he sneered and got to his feet.

  “Back Camille,” Tylor ordered and ran at him. She went translucent.

  “I can still see you, aurai,” he growled.

  Tylor ploughed into him, excreting pure lightning. She wrapped her arms around him and exhaled, sending showers of charged air into his lungs.

  He attempted to break free, but she tightened her hold using the strength of air.

  He bit her with teeth so sharp they tore through flesh, but she held on shoving more lightning into her form.

  He spat out blood and glared at her. “I can take you
r power. I am power itself.”

  She met his gaze and thunder rumbled around them before lightning fired in her eyes and streaked out to his. Her body glowed silver, and he convulsed in her arms and turned to dust, a hard scream echoing in the wake of his death.

  Tylor frowned. “He lied,” she murmured meeting Camille’s shocked stare. “I guess he was a demon, huh?”

  Camille’s face was a little pale and blood stained her cheek, but she appeared to be otherwise fine.

  “If demons lie,” Camille said dryly.

  Tylor lifted her brows in a shrug. “Haven’t met one yet that doesn’t.”

  She nodded. “You—your eyes are still glowing. Well, flashing lightning.”

  “Afraid of me?” she asked in a tone that was low yet held a rumble like thunder.

  Camille shook her head slowly. “Will I heal that fast and be that awesome?”

  Tylor laughed and went to her. “You’ll have your own brand of awesomeness,” she murmured and kissed Camille. “You held your own.”

  “Barely,” Camille replied. “Barely.”

  “And it was enough for now. Let’s check on the others. There are at least three cabins out here that will have been occupied.” She led the way from the cabin and outside the air was thick with dark fog and the metallic tang of blood.

  A few bodies were lifeless on the ground as shadows retreated. Some screams from further away filled the air and Tylor turned.

  She wanted to go to those up at the house, but decided Amara could handle whatever was going on up there. She had Amollia and eight others in the house with her. Those occupying the cabins out here—some of them might still be alive, but as she walked she could tell that was a slim possibility.

  There would have been fourteen people out here including them. Four of them had come out to fight and looked as if they’d put up a resistance by the damaged trees and ground. She dropped to her knees when she came to the first body.

  “Tylor!” Camille screamed.

  Tylor ducked and a black ball flew over her head. She turned and the woman on the ground reached up and grabbed her by her throat. Shards of dark energy cut her skin.

  Tylor gasped and air rushed out of her. She struggled against the dark breed until she had one hand on the ground. Tylor pushed out an energy ball, and it dropped into the grass only to come up through the chest cavity of her attacker.

  The woman released her, and Tylor looked down at her, watching her eyes glow before shoving her limp hand aside. She got to her feet and faced Camille. At her feet was a dead incubus.

  Tylor gave her a nod, and Camille joined her.

  “Are we going to check the cabin?” Camille asked, looking into the distance where the second cabin was.

  “Yeah.”

  They went inside the single-story guest cabin and found Aaron on the floor near the door and his wife’s head twisted at an awkward angle. Her eyes stared up unseeing while over the glass table was the dead body of a younger male.

  A search of the cabin turned up one more body. The female was dead in the hallway.

  They searched the other three cabins and found only one person alive. The female was conscious and bleeding, skin marred with smoke and superficial cuts. Tylor and Camille took her to their cabin. They’d just put her on the couch when Tylor’s cell phone rang. She hurried to retrieve it from the bedroom.

  “Amara.”

  “How many of you alive?”

  “Three,” Tylor told her. “Can we be of assistance?”

  “It’s too late,” she said weakly. “They’ve retreated. Only four of us are still alive, and I’m not sure we’ll all make it through the night.”

  “We’ll come to you,” Tylor told her. “I think the girl can make it.”

  “Stay where you are for now. They might be waiting for you to move so they can attack. There was a high-level demon among them according to the last one I killed.”

  The man was in the file Aria had given her. He ran a law firm. He was an attractive male, but the man she’d killed had had red skin and markings on his face.

  “We did dispatch a demon. Black with red markings on his face, one a very complicated mark and a scar on his cheek, does that ring any bells?”

  Silence and then, “Sounds like Kryto but it could have been his brother.”

  “At any rate, we can deal with that later,” she said.

  “I’ll contact you again at first light.”

  Tylor took her phone with her back to the living area where Camille sat next to the other woman on the couch.

  “Amara?” the woman on the couch asked. Her name was Tara, and she was pale. Camille was seated at her feet pressing a cloth to her shoulder.

  “She’s alive but not certain they will all last until day break,” Tylor told her.

  “They might be lying in wait to launch another attack before then,” Tara told them. “The dark breed that attacked me said Necron had sent them. He ordered a hit on us, Arielle’s coven and Samantha’s.”

  Camille turned her gaze on Tylor. “He must be a wimp if he didn’t come himself,” Camille murmured.

  “He’s vicious and will do whatever it takes to accomplish his goals,” Tara said insistently. “He’s part of Kryto’s inner circle, but there is discord in the underworld thanks to Kryto being willing to work with good witches.”

  “Is there a chance he could be behind this?” Camille asked.

  Tara gave her a thoughtful look before taking a pained breath. “I had a vision that supports that theory, but Amara said it was likely his people were instigating this to make him look bad. They want a war while he wants help controlling them but when I discussed this with Alice, she agreed with me.”

  “This attack could be the result of a dark seer having seen that you were doubting the façade Kryto’s been putting up,” Tylor murmured. “If Amara decides to believe you what will she do?”

  “I don’t know,” Tara said and shifted position and grimaced. “She’ll talk to Arielle and Samantha who both have access to an aurai-marked.”

  Tylor’s blood ran cold as she watched the girl’s face. There was something in her stare, nothing truly telling just the way she couldn’t hold Camille’s gaze for long that set off alarm bells in her head.

  Not only that, the girl felt of darkness. She’d been marked by a demon, and that meant she’d given him something in return for her life.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “And what will they do? Try to bring those girls into their covens? Why? They’ll only become targets, too!” Camille exclaimed.

  “Ask Tylor,” the other woman looked at Tylor and then got to her feet. “I need to see what this looks like.” She ambled off to the bathroom.

  Camille turned her gaze on Tylor. “Why?”

  Tylor watched the other woman exit the room. The blackness was starting to fade from her aura, but it was certain that she was right.

  “Where there is a marked, there is normally a nymph. Whether we know who they are or not, we’re usually in close proximity.”

  “And you’ll go to their aid,” Camille said. “Who are the others in the area?”

  “Only one other has fully assimilated, and she’s Samantha’s daughter. The other, who’s coming awake, is in Arielle’s coven. I don’t know who the fourth is.”

  “So, they want us to draw in the pure aurai,” Camille said.

  “Exactly,” Tylor told her grimly. “If she brings you into the coven, she gets me. Samantha has Aria. So, two storm aurai are in the fight. Others will come and the witches will ask for assistance.”

  “Can someone help me?” Tara called.

  “She might need to be stitched,” Tylor told her and headed for the bathroom, where they found Tara slumped on the toilet lid with her shirt off.

  A deep gash marred her shoulder, and there was a jagged cut across her stomach that wasn’t as bad.

  Tylor turned on the water in the sink. “What’s in the kit?”

  “Normal first aid
supplies including a stitch gun.”

  Tylor wet a cloth and cleaned both wounds. “Your shoulder will need stitches. Looks like there’s an anesthetic in here I can use to numb the area.”

  ****

  Camille watched Tylor go to work on the other woman’s shoulder. She was puzzled by the way she pressed her hand to the flesh from behind and drew it back. She couldn’t see what was in her hand, but she was certain it hadn’t been good.

  Tara nearly passed out, but Camille distracted her with talking about the coven. Once Tylor had used the stitch gun on her shoulder she moved to the stomach where she again appeared to be removing something.

  This time she saw a small cluster of bur-like items. Tylor tossed them into the sink where they flamed up before burning out.

  “Your color is looking better,” Camille said.

  “I’m feeling a little better.”

  “Tara, who gave you these wounds?”

  “A dark breed,” she said. “I’m lucky to be alive. He left me for dead and retreated.”

  Tylor placed her palm to the back of the woman’s neck, and she slumped forward. Tylor pulled her up and took her into the living room to put her on the couch.

  “Why’d you do that?”

  “She was lying,” Tylor told her. “A demon attacked her. She probably sold her soul for her life.”

  “You’re going to question her?”

  “No. You are. Concentrate on her blood and listen.” Tylor told her. “My job is to kill her.”

  Camille stared at her. “Ty—”

  “Now,” Tylor cut in coldly. “We need to find out what the hell else is coming before it hits us.”

  Camille exhaled and held her hand over the unconscious woman’s forehead. She focused on the blood on her clothes. At first there was nothing. She felt as if she was spying on her, but she pushed that aside and focused on the lake.

  “It’s simple,” Camille said feeling as if she was in a trance as the words came through her. “Just find out who the other two aurai-marked are and pass that information to me. With most of the coven dead, Amollia will have to seek help from Samantha. And Samantha’s daughter will connect with them soon. Where there are aurai-marked, there are aurai.”