Flame's Embrace

by Pillar, Amanda

  FLAME’S EMBRACE

  AN AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRE CHARITY ANTHOLOGY

  EDITED BY AMANDA PILLAR

  About Flame’s Embrace

  Love has never been so hot.

  From urban fantasy with a dollop of romance, to spicy paranormal love stories, Flame’s Embrace has it all. Featuring stories from May Sage, Seanan McGuire, Meg Anne & Kel Carpenter, Bec McMaster, Amanda Pillar, Emigh Cannaday, Kim Faulks, Heather Long & Rebecca Royce, Grace McGinty, TJ Nichols, Ripley Proserpina, Vivienne Savage, Bam Shepherd and Mila Young. This Australian Bushfire Charity collection will keep you up all night long.

  All profits will go toward an Australian Bushfire Charity, to help support communities and wildlife that were severely impacted by the Australian Bushfires at the start of 2020. Funding is still required, and many animals and people lost their lives to this devastating event.

  Contents

  Set it Ablaze

  May Sage

  Love In The Last Days Of A Doomed World

  Seanan McGuire

  Succubus Blues

  Kel Carpenter & Meg Anne

  Wings of Fire and Fury

  Bec McMaster

  Burning Secrets

  Amanda Pillar

  Fireproof

  Emigh Cannaday

  Ashes and Smoke

  Rebecca Royce & Heather Long

  Don’t Flirt with Demons

  Grace McGinty

  Fire Dancer’s Familiar

  TJ Nichols

  Flames and Flowers

  Ripley Proserpina

  Fleeting Flowers

  Vivienne Savage

  Tide Together

  Bam Shepherd

  Hades’ Goddess

  Mila Young

  Redemption

  Kim Faulks

  Dedication

  To the bushfire survivors and the amazing volunteers, staff, and personnel who assisted in keeping Australia safe. Thank you.

  Set it Ablaze

  A Queen Witch Short Story

  May Sage

  Camille Madeline Denvers hadn’t been afraid of monsters under the bed as a little girl, and she certainly wasn’t now. The sound of nails raking against the cheap flooring of her motel room brought a sigh to her lips. “Not now, guys. I’d like to get some sleep.”

  She had to hit the road early in the morning. Cee had been in this crappy town long enough to earn a few bucks at the local watering hole. Tonight her tips had been decent enough for her to kiss Spencer, Massachusetts, goodbye. Hell, she intended to kiss the entire country goodbye. She was headed to Australia in the morning. The last-minute flight had been cheap enough for her to be able to take the plunge much sooner than she’d thought.

  The raking intensified, and the walls started to shake around her.

  Cee sat up, pouting. ”All right, all right. I’m up. What do you want?”

  The chaos stopped, coming to a standstill, but she got no answer. Cee lifted a hand and waved it in front of her, magic pulsing out of her palm with the movement. By the time her arm fell back to her side, two shadowy figures were standing in front of her, pale and expressionless, as ghosts generally were.

  She’d been a little freaked the first time she’d seen a soul outside of a body. Even for witches, it wasn’t common to see spirits. Now it was just another Tuesday.

  One of the spirits was young—too young. The child must have been six or seven when she’d passed away. She was holding a teddy bear with only one ear. The other ghost, who was holding her hand, must have been her father.

  Seeing that sort of thing on a daily basis had turned Cee into a peculiar witch. She wasn’t ever willing to put up with nonsense, and she had zero patience for pity parties. In short, she was a bit of a bitch, and she made no excuses for it. Life was always too dark and often too short to waste a second of it on bullshit.

  “Help.” The whisper could have come from either of the spirits, the girl or the man. Their lips didn’t move. No sound came out of them. The only one who heard it at all was Cee.

  Ghosts generally came to her because they had an important message, something that was anchoring them to this world. When she could help fix it, they then moved on to wherever they were going. Either a form of underworld, or if they’d been really, really good, up and over the rainbow. Mostly to the underworld though.

  “What do you want me to help with?”

  There was a rustling behind her, and the window was blown open in a burst of wind. Cee groaned. It was getting pretty chilly, and she was just wearing a nightie. “That wasn’t very nice now. I get that moving stuff around is easier than talking to me, but you’re going to have to concentrate if you want something from me.”

  The vibration behind her just intensified. Reluctantly, Cee wrapped the scratchy comforter over her shoulders and walked to the window.

  The town was quiet at three in the morning.

  “I don’t see anything wrong.” She looked over her shoulder.

  Naturally the ghosts were gone.

  She closed the window and returned to bed.

  She could always help tomorrow. From the other side of the world.

  No sooner had she returned to her bed than all windows, mirrors, and doors started to wobble.

  Cee exhaled. “Fair enough. Let me get dressed, at least.”

  She pulled pants and a sweater over her nightie, coupled with her pair of heavy black boots. By the time she was done, her gaze caught something out the window.

  “You gotta be kidding me.”

  There was a light in the distance—something that hadn’t been there just minutes ago. She frowned, concentrating on it. As she watched, the light brightened, becoming stronger, larger.

  Fire.

  A fire had started out in Oakham State Forest. And the ghosts wanted her to stop it.

  Cee had a buyer lined up for her car, but they weren’t picking it up until midday. She hopped into her five-year-old Beetle. Her dad had bought it for her, back when he still liked her. Back when she was the obedient daughter. She hated that car. It was beige, for one. Who bought a sixteen-year-old a beige car?

  At least it still ran well. She got to the forest in minutes. She couldn’t drive through the woods, so she parked her car as close as she could and walked the rest of the way on foot, letting her magic guide her. The clan she was from, back in Salem, practiced elemental magic, and although that wasn’t Cee’s strongest suit, finding a big-ass fire wasn’t exactly hard. As she approached, she encountered animals running in the opposite direction.

  “What the hell?”

  It was the wrong season for this. In November, the forest was too wet for a fire to propagate like this. It had rained just yesterday. Which meant that this was the work of a witch. Hopefully. Otherwise, it was something much worse.

  Cee consciously stopped herself from chewing on her bottom lip—a nervous gesture she was trying not to resort to as it messed with her lipstick. She had a big thing for lipstick these days. After so many years of not being allowed to wear any makeup at all, she loved all types of cosmetics, but lipsticks more than the rest. She liked it bright or dark. It would have been positively shocking for her family.

  When she reached the line of fire, she knelt to the ground and planted her feet deep in the cold earth. Spells came to her mouth without a second tho
ught as to the best one to use. Magic had always been easy as breathing for her. She whispered to the wind and the sky, coaxed the earth into lending her some power. Her words weren’t in English. Nor were they in Latin, typically used in most of the spells her family had wanted to drill into her. She didn’t know the language at all. All she knew was that it worked.

  Within seconds, the first drop of rain fell on her forehead. A moment after, she was drenched as the rain poured down with violence.

  Yet the fire remained.

  What the hell?

  “Help.”

  She didn’t need to turn to know the ghosts were right behind her.

  “Yeah, well, I’m trying.” She blew a frustrated breath. If a crap ton of water wasn’t working, how was she supposed to stop the fire?

  Then she stilled, thinking about a different approach. This fire wasn’t natural, and the consequence wasn’t what she needed to get rid of—she needed to find the root cause.

  She closed her eyes to clear her senses, her mind scanning the woods around her, trying to pinpoint the witch behind the wall of flame. Sweat gathered on her forehead because of her concentration, as well as the fast-approaching blaze.

  All she felt was the terror of the critters running away, too panicked to pick the right direction, and the misery of those trapped within the inferno. Pain, fear, despair. Cee knew the wetness on her face wasn’t from sweat this time; she couldn’t help but cry for them.

  There was no one else here. No other witch that she could sense in any case. Which meant one of two things. Either she’d been the one to cause the fire somehow. The theory wasn’t as absurd as she would have liked it to be. It wouldn’t be the first time her magic grew out of her control. It had a will of its own sometimes. Or two, whoever was behind this was too powerful for her to feel them.

  Incinerating woods wasn’t her style. Wild as she was, she thought she understood her magic a little. At least she understood its goal: it was attempting to protect Cee and those she cared about. Even when she destroyed things. Even when she hurt people.

  No, this wasn’t her doing.

  “Are we going to play hide-and-seek all night?” she asked, getting to her feet, and wiping the mud off her hands on her jeans.

  At first there was nothing. Part of her wondered if she was slowly growing insane. It wouldn’t be unheard of. Witches like her weren’t supposed to be without a coven to support them, guide them.

  Control them.

  But no, her gut told her she was right. There was something here. Something cold and dark. Something that hated her.

  Maybe it hated her enough to show itself if she dared it to. If there was one thing Cee excelled at, it was goading.

  “I wouldn’t have thought your kind were cowards.” Cee managed a confident smirk. “Hiding in the shadows of the night, like you’re afraid of me. Tut-tut. What would your immortal friends say?”

  She had to be right. There was only one thing capable of truly concealing their presence from a witch of her standing: an immortal. An “enlightened” as they called themselves. Whether they were fae, vampires, demons, or even gods, they were all blessed with magic unlike anything mortals could dream of.

  Most mortals.

  A form materialized right in front of her, wrapped in bright flames. It was a woman with ebony-black hair that flew around her ridiculously beautiful face. She wore nothing at all, her bare skin caressed by the fire. Her curves were covered in what first appeared to be scars, or perhaps tattoos, but Cee caught their shine. Scales. The woman’s eyes were liquid gold, and her hands ended in sharp claws. Her mouth opened in a smile that mirrored Cee’s, only her teeth were sharp little fangs made to tear at flesh.

  A demon. This was a demon.

  Judging by the unnerving gold eyes without any whites or pupils and the scales, Cee had to count herself lucky—at least this was a minor demon. Major demons didn’t tend to look any different than humans. Oh, they felt different—being in their presence was supposed to be worse than staring right into the sun. But physically, they weren’t born with marks like this fire wielder had.

  “Hey there.” Cee was impressed; her voice didn’t quake.

  “Hey back.” The demon’s voice was both beautiful and terrifying. She sounded seductive, but each word echoed in a deeper, darker growl that made the earth under her feet vibrate.

  “Can I ask why you’re doing this?” Cee was doing her best to sound polite, but there was no hiding her disgust. “The fire is going to kill hundreds of animals and endanger a whole town.”

  The demon’s laugh was clear as a bell. “But isn’t it beautiful,” she challenged.

  Cee blinked, astonished. What could she even say to that? Sure, fire was pretty. It still didn’t change the fact that it was dangerous. And wrong. But how was she supposed to explain that to a demon?

  “Aren’t there laws against your kind destroying our planet?” Cee knew there were. As Earth was mostly inhabited by regular mortals who were too fragile to defend themselves against true enlightened, it had long been warded.

  There were complex politics she—and the rest of the witches of Earth—weren’t privy to, but the bottom line was that some major gods had dictated this dimension protected.

  She also knew the gods couldn’t spend their lives patrolling the millions of doorways into this world, and major demons had a hell of a time keeping their subjects in check. There was demon activity at least once a year. Stopping it was the witches’ responsibility.

  It could take an entire coven, if not two or three, to banish a demon out of this dimension. Something told Cee that this woman in front of her wasn’t a run-of-the-mill minor demon. She had a presence that reeked of power and viciousness.

  “No one will find out,” the demon shot back smoothly.

  Cee knew then that the demon intended to kill her. She wouldn’t want any witnesses to her transgression, for one.

  The flames around the demon gathered into her open palms, becoming brighter, stronger, and hotter. “Don’t look so frightened, little witch. It’s only a little fire. It won’t hurt. For long.”

  Cee lifted her hands and started to chant protection spells, wards, anything that came to mind. She knew running was pointless, but damn if she was going to go down without a fight.

  Soon the forest fire had all but disappeared, leaving the land scorched black. All that was left was the she-demon and the weapon in her hands. The sphere of fire had turned blue and seemed to contain lightning bolts.

  Then the demon flung it at her with the force of a professional pitcher. Cee felt the burning heat rush at her. All her measly shields fell as the demon’s magic incinerated them. This was it. Her end. She closed her eyes, accepting it. She had to at least attempt for a little peace in her last moment.

  Part of her wished she knew why. It didn’t feel like a random occurrence at all. This she-demon had something against her specifically. But what?

  Perhaps her family had summoned a demon to get to her. That wasn’t impossible. They were terrified of her now.

  On her twenty-first birthday, like every other witch of the Salem White Clan, she’d undergone the trials that should have determined her true affinity and her place in the coven. When she’d accomplished the whole ceremony, one of the seven candles in front of her was supposed to have ignited, revealing her core strength. Instead, every single one of the seven candles had come ablaze, then they’d all burned, black wax pooling on the floor. The house had caught fire.

  She remembered the three days she’d spent in isolation like a criminal. Her mother had brought her food and water, passing it through a dog door she promptly locked.

  The ancients were discussing her. She’d imagined what would come next. A sentence. An execution. So she’d bailed.

  Cee could easily glean the she-demon was killing her for the same reason.

  Why, why, why? What was wrong with her? She wasn’t a bad person at all. So maybe she s
aw ghosts, but they didn’t do any harm. Other than that, she was a normal witch—if a little too strong for a woman of her age who didn’t have access to powerful grimoires yet.

  Well, she’d never know.

  She let her body and soul relax, accepting her fate.

  It’d happen soon.

  Any second now.

  All right, what was going on?

  Cee opened one eye, cheating a little. Then she opened the other, because what she was seeing wasn’t what she would have expected at all.

  There was no more fire. It had entirely disappeared. Instead, she was facing a shocked and confused she-demon, gaze fixed on her.

  “Impossible.” The demon’s voice was little more than a whisper.

  Cee looked around her, confused. She saw what was astonishing her enemy, and her jaw went slack. The flames hadn’t disappeared after all. They’d gathered around her, waiting, tamed, malleable. Instinctively, she closed her hands into fists, and the fire rushed to curl around her skin obediently. It was hers now. Hers to control. Hers to use.

  She looked at the demon, lifting her chin. The woman stepped back, frightened, and started a spell.

  Cee threw a blast of flame at her feet. “Oh no. You’re not getting away so fast,” she said, eyes narrowed.

  The demon hissed but didn’t make another attempt to flee.

  “You and I are going to have a nice chat.” Cee stepped closer. “What’s your name?”

  The demon made no answer. Cee lifted her hand again.

  “Vrayn!” The demon kicked the dirt, frustrated. “I’m Vrayn, all right?”

  “Nice to meet you, Vrayn. Now tell me, why did you try to kill me?”

  The demon’s jaw was set.

  Cee sighed. “Do we have to do this the hard way?”

  “I won’t be outranked by a mortal,” Vrayn said. “I’d rather die.”

  “Outranked?” Cee repeated, bewildered.

  “There’s a simple hierarchy in the underworld. At the bottom there’s the rabble. Mortal-borns, half-breeds, weak ifrits without magic.” She wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Then there’s the common demons. Those who take jobs for the lords or whatever.”