Flame's Embrace

by Pillar, Amanda

  I didn’t slow. Not for her.

  The tops of my boots caught the moonlight as I lengthened my stride. She walked beside me in silence, until we stopped at an empty taxi rink. “You were right, I dunno what came over me tonight.”

  Alcohol…desperation…same as every other woman he picks up.

  “I just broke up with my boyfriend, and I—”

  I closed my eyes and wished for death. May it be swift and painless…less painless than this.

  Headlights cut through the darkness. I opened my eyes as a yellow cab pulled up hard against the curb.

  “Ladies, first,” I muttered, and motioned toward the rear door.

  She waited for me to reach for the door, as though she expected the servant and not the man. I was done waiting mortals, done waiting for something better to come.

  The window rolled down as the driver leaned over. “You want a ride, or not?

  She stepped forward, opened the rear door and slid inside. I followed, keeping as far enough away from her as the small space allowed, as the cabbie muttered, “Where to?”

  “You can just drop me at the line,” I growled and reached for my pocket, withdrew a fifty and handed it over. “And then wherever the lady needs to go.”

  The bill was gone with the crunch of a fist. “Fucking supes,” he muttered under his breath and then yanked his gaze to the rear-view mirror. “Where to for you, love?”

  She glanced at me, as though waiting for me to break in and save her with a she’s coming with me. Sex with her would be weepy and messy. I’d figured that out the hard way, no mortals—not without paying, anyway.

  She leaned forward and gave an address to the driver, while I stared out into the night. That gnawing hunger flared inside me. I pictured me with her, ramming home between those milky white thighs. I’d fuck her until the early hours of dawn, and still it wouldn’t be enough.

  It was never enough.

  The gears clunked, before the cab pulled out into the road. We rode in silence as the driver glanced at both of us and wound through the streets toward salvation.

  Fires burned in trashcans, warming the protesters as we neared the supernatural line. The car slowed and the cabbie turned the wheel, going no further than the marker.

  “Hell’s spawn!” screamed one protestor as I climbed out of the car.

  The division was fresh…a little too fresh. Houses were abandoned, businesses closed down over night. I’d lived in this city for the last eighteen years, and still mortals couldn’t accept they were no longer the apex predator on the pyramid of life.

  “Go back to Hell!” screamed another, as I slammed the rear door and the cab lunged forward.

  “I already am, lady,” I muttered and turned toward my side of the city. “Believe me, I already am.”

  Glass smashed the pavement behind me. I kept walking, striding out as I passed boarded up houses and the darkened streets of Harker Hollow, until the faint pulsing red lights of Chang’s Chinese glowed in the dark.

  This place was as familiar as my own…and it wasn’t the damn Peking Duck that bought me here.

  I turned my head to the apartment building beside the restaurant and then lifted my gaze. She lived up there…the one I swore to protect. I drew in the cool night air and scanned the shadows. That dangerous scent of the Unseelie crammed the space…me.

  The light clicked on. I caught a shadow move from one room to the next. She’d just moved in here, leaving behind the farmhouse in the middle of the arid landscape twenty minutes north.

  Her grandmother, Alma Goodchild, had raised her after her mother’s death. She was a hard woman—a fierce woman. A hunter, they called her. She hunted those who broke the oath that allowed the supernatural to live out here in the open.

  Alma was as cold and as shrewd as they came.

  I turned away, leaving the daughter behind and making for the supernatural center, to a bar called Wicked, with the last fifty bucks to my name.

  Chapter Two

  “Redemption,” called a Night Walker who lingered outside.

  Neon lights flashed and buzzed. The throbbing beat of heavy metal vibrated the ground.

  She swayed her hips as she headed my way. Constance, Creedence…something like that.

  “After some company tonight?” she murmured and stopped a hairsbreadth from my chest. Dark kohl-lined eyes met mine. “Last time was pretty spectacular.”

  Last time the witch tried to get me to ingest a goddamn love spell. “I don’t think so, Constance, not tonight.”

  “It’s Clemence,” she snarled, dark eyes flashing with anger.

  Charms clanged and bounced against her wrist, as she lifted her hand toward my cheek. I lashed out, catching her wrist and snarled. “I said, not tonight.”

  There was a curl of her lips as I cast her hand away and moved toward the doorway of the bar. Fucking Night Walkers. Still, I’d rather the sting of their words when compared to the witches who haunted the day—those women were backstabbing and ruthless, even with their perfect smiles and pale, milky skin.

  I stepped inside the seedy bar. Supes crammed every inch of the dance floor, and hugged filled amber glasses. Pretense, that’s all it was. A straight line of cocaine barely made a dent on their wellbeing, so a bottle of Jack was for show.

  Silver eyes glinted from the darkened corner as I let the door swing shut behind me. A Vampire crossed my path, eyes flashing fear and hate as he curled his lips.

  Even to other immortals, the Unseelie were both hated and feared.

  Especially one like me.

  Glass crunched under my boot. I looked down and then to the boarded up window before I made for the bar. An Orc turned, flipped a white cloth over his shoulder and snarled, “What do you want?”

  “Vodka, straight up, and leave the bottle.” I slid the fifty across the lacquered wood toward him. “What happened to the window?”

  “A fucking mortal happened.” Tusks peeked out the side of his mouth as he snarled. “Kid smashed it about an hour ago. Vamps are all fucking hyped up on the smell of blood. Just don’t cut yourself, Unseelie, I don’t need to clean up body parts here tonight.”

  He slid the bottle toward me and waved the money away. “Drink, be fucking cool, and then leave, yeah?”

  I gave a nod and reached for a glass, splashing the bottom with crystal clear liquid. The shit burned as it slid down the back of my tongue. I drained the glass and then poured another as the door to the bar opened and closed behind me.

  I never lifted my head, never cared who or what came through those doors. I was done caring for tonight, done with every fucking thing—

  “Gonna offer me one of those?”

  I flinched, stilled, my hand wrapped around the cold glass. That slow, unfeeling heart of mine picked up pace as I turned my head and stared into her eyes.

  Eyes I’d seen a thousand times inside my head.

  “We don’t serve minors in here, so fuck off,” the Orc snapped and stared at the tiny red headed woman.

  She opened her wallet and slid it toward him. “Not a minor anymore, so suck it. I want what he’s having.” She jerked her head my way. She was young, full of anger, fire, and goddamn spunk.

  “I’ve seen you around, you know?” she muttered, without turning her head my way. “Seen you outside the restaurant. But you never stay long, I wonder why that is?”

  One massive brow rose on the Orc before I gave him a nod. An ache flared across my chest, cover fucking blown. I gave the room a casual scan, searching…had she seen others like me?

  The Unseelie Prince Absolon filled my mind. Panic filled me, tearing apart that heavy, thick pulse inside my head until all that was left was a scream.

  “You think I’m a kid,” she muttered, reached over and grasping the bottle. “That’s okay, you can go fuck yourself like everyone else.”

  “You always talk like that?” Stony words slipped free. “Weren’t you raised to speak like
a lady?”

  “Well, my grandmother says I’ve got too much of my dad in me. But seeing as though the loser ran out on me and my mom before I was born, I’m not one to argue the fucking point, now am I?”

  The corners of my lips twitched. I smothered the smirk, biting the inside of my cheeks.

  “Besides, being proper is for mortals.” She poured half a glass and then drank.

  The wince was fast. Still, she went back for more, gulping this time. I’d never really seen her before, not up close—not like this.

  She was the object. The protected...

  The bait…

  Red hair shone under the glaring overhead lights as she turned toward me. Her gaze never wavered, gold flecks glinting in brown irises as she held my gaze. “You’re cute.”

  Cute?

  Not a word that’d ever been used to describe what I was. I opened my mouth to say that exact thing as the squeal of tires rang out.

  Gunning engines, and hoots and hollers.

  “Goddamnit,” the Orc snarled.

  Thunder echoed inside the bar. I grasped the bottle as the Orc lunged forward, slamming his feet into the floor. Glasses vibrated along the length of the counter, before they were caught by others at the bar. Rage spilled out of the beast of a man as he made for the door.

  “Oh shit,” Lorn muttered, sliding from the seat and shoving her glass toward me. “Here, hold my drink. I’ll be right back.”

  The woman was fucking crazy, lunging after the beast as he busted through the door.

  The rest of the bar stopped and stared. No way in Hell were they getting in the middle of an Orc and his prey. I glanced at the glass in my hand. The damn woman was gonna get herself killed. “Goddamnit.”

  I slammed the glasses on the counter and lunged from the seat. Screams cut though the bar before a second boom tore through the open air.

  Lorn was already barreling toward the Orc as he grasped the back of the Explorer and lifted. Wheels spun as the young males leaned out, throwing bottles and cans at the bartender.

  “Come to my goddamn bar!” he roared, veins bulging at the side of his neck with the effort. “Smash my window!”

  “Fuck you, ugly ass mutherfucker!” one asshole screamed.

  The four-wheel drive was thrown sideways, tires lifted on one side as it started to roll.

  “I’m gonna fucking kill you!” the Orc bellowed, reaching through the open window as Lorn lunged.

  She landed with a hard thud on his back. “No, you don’t. They’re not fucking worth it!”

  He twisted and thrashed. “Get the Hell off me!”

  But the damn spitfire was holding on, digging her knees in like this was a rodeo.

  The car titled further, and then hit the side, rolling up onto the pavement in front of the bar.

  Screams echoed from inside the car. I drove my boots into the pavement as Lorn was thrown. The young punks scrambled out of the overturned vehicle as the Orc strode toward them. “Come around here one more fucking time and it’ll be more than your car I’ll destroy!”

  “Get the fuck out of here!” Lorn screamed as the four bolted down the street.

  “Fucking bitch!” an asshole threw over his shoulder.

  She lifted her hand, and flipped them the bird. “My middle finger salutes you!”

  The Orc sucked in hard breaths and leaned over, bracing his hand on his knees.

  I glanced at the mess as Lorn took a step closer. “Look, no hard feelings, okay?”

  The bartender jerked his head up, dark eyes glinting with rage. Orcs were crazy big and strong as a damn ox, but once they got going, once they were filled with rage, there was no stopping them.

  “The woman saved your life,” I growled. “Least you could do was thank her.”

  The truth echoed in those dark eyes as he turned to me. There was a glint of fear, as reality dawned. He rose, taking a massive breath and stared down at her. “I’d like to say I wouldn’t have hurt them, but my temper gets the better of me, so thank you.”

  She gave a nod, then the hint of a smile, and glanced to the car. “I’d say Mom and Dad will be coming by in the morning to wipe asses and clean up the mess. What’s say we hoist this baby out back and they can pay for the damages or they don’t get the damn car back?”

  He took a second, glanced at the car and then the punks running down the street and answered, “Yeah, that’s a damn good idea. Imma call up my buddies and we can clear the street.”

  He looked at the car, she looked at him.

  And I couldn’t tear my gaze from her.

  She turned then, as though she somehow sensed the connection. “Now, about that drink.”

  The corners of my lips curled as she strode toward me, eyes alive with energy and excitement, and shoved out her hand. “My name’s Lorn.”

  “Redemption,” I muttered without a thought.

  I was lost around her, utterly and helplessly lost. I couldn’t get my bearings, couldn’t find the words, not the right ones, at least.

  She gripped my hand for a second and then made for the open door and stepped through.

  “Man oh man,” the Orc stared after her, dumbstruck and smitten. “That one is gonna be trouble. I can see it now.”

  I shook my head as the smile grew wider and followed her inside. Thoughts collided as I stepped through the door and made for the seat next to her. I’d never seen her before, not like this…not so up close and personal. To me, she’d been an object, a name—not flesh and blood.

  “Look,” she muttered, stopped and downed the rest of her drink before continuing; “I like you, I think you like me. We could be good you know, a one time thing, no strings attached.”

  I sat down on the seat and stared at her. “What the Hell are you saying?”

  She lifted her head and swiveled on the seat. “Jesus fucking Christ, it’s like guys are goddamn tone deaf the moment you come onto them.” She lifted a hand and pointed at my chest. “You and me…my place isn’t far, right next door to your favorite restaurant actually. You grab your number fucking twenty-four when we’re done, and be home in your own bed by sunrise.”

  She was coming on to me?

  I flinched with the thought, suddenly fucking sober…

  She was coming on to me?

  My heart thundered, mouth went dry. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop my mind playing it out in slow motion. Her place lay out before me. The open door to her apartment, fumbling fingers trapped by buttons, desperate breaths racing…catching…needing.

  The freckles across her nose. I hadn’t noticed that before. My gaze slipped lower, even though I knew it was wrong. She never flinched away from me.

  I’d be so easy with her. Sex…life…everything. And in that whisper of emotion, a word slipped from my lips. “Yes.”

  Her eyes widened, hope raged. “Yes? Yes…was that a yes?”

  “It was a yes.”

  She nodded, grabbed the bottle and poured another inch in the glass before downing it once more. “Okay, you ready?”

  I grabbed the bottle and raised it in the air as I slid from my seat. The Orc gave a nod and watched the two of us leave.

  “My car is over here,” she muttered and fished in her pocket for the keys.

  I couldn’t believe this was happening, and somehow, some part of me wanted it to just be some perfect fantasy, just me and her, over and over again.

  Chapter Three

  We pulled up outside her apartment building, across from where I’d stood only hours before. She switched off the engine to the old Corolla and climbed from the car.

  Nervous glances at me, as though somehow I’d change my mind. I wanted to do this…I was desperate to. Just a kiss, just one perfect moment and then I’d tell her the truth.

  I knew her mother.

  I knew her…

  I wasn’t the kind of guy she needed.

  I was the kind she should run from.

>   There was no goodness inside me, only pain…only death…

  She shoved the key into the front door of the apartment and made for the stairs. Gone in a heartbeat, and even though part of me didn’t want to follow, I still did.

  I climbed the stairs, stepped inside her apartment and locked the door behind me. The place was cheap, simple; one dining room chair in the middle of the living room to serve as a lounge, and a few boxes still to unpack.

  She’d moved in three months ago. I’d watched her haul her stuff from Alma’s ranch to this place, and then visited her almost every night since.

  “Sorry the place is a mess. I just moved in.” She made for the bedroom. There was a frantic rush of movement. The rustle of clothes, the squeal of a chair against the floor, before her voice came from the hallway once more. “Okay…done.”

  Gone was the feisty warrior woman as she stepped out of the hallway. Gone was the woman who stared me in the eyes and called me cute. Lorn glanced nervously around the room, unable to meet my gaze—and my heart gave a stutter at the sight.

  She was so fucking vulnerable in this moment, and so utterly perfect. A tremor raced though my body, and that cold tether to my Queen echoed with pain.

  I swallowed the feeling and reached out, brushing strands of her hair from her face and then traced the hard line of her jaw. “What are you?”

  She gave a shrug. “Night Walker…Day Walker, who the fuck knows.”

  Or cares…

  She didn’t.

  It was so typical of her, just one more thing that drew me closer. I leaned down, catching her stilled breath. Just one kiss…just one and I’d leave.

  That heavy dull thud in my chest picked up pace. Lips brushed, soft and tender, barely there, until she parted her mouth. I wanted to taste her then, just for a second, and then I’d leave.

  Her mouth widened, giving me more—giving me everything. Jesus, I wanted…I wanted this more than I’d wanted anything else in my entire life.

  That dark pit of despair cried out a name.

  Her name: Lorn.

  A savage sound tore from my chest as I moved closer, crouched low enough to grasp her by the waist and lift. Her legs went around my waist and held on.