Fire and Fantasy: a Limited Edition Collection of Epic and Urban Fantasy

by CK Dawn

  Stupid boy.

  It wasn't until the chill hit that I was pulled from my internal thoughts. It was like swimming and going through an unexpectedly cold current. I froze, turning in a slow circle.

  There was nothing. I was alone.

  Frowning, I started again, this time noticing the rocks biting my feet and the air shifting from cold to warm again. "Weird," I murmured out loud. Skin all over my body broke out in goosebumps and I shivered. I could feel something watching me, something…not good. Something evil.

  My hand tightened on my Taser.

  Walk faster. Walk faster.

  Before I knew it, I was sprinting down the road for home, as fast as my legs could carry me and still, the thing stayed. I couldn't see it but I could feel it down deep on some subconscious level that told me I was going to die.

  Run faster. Run faster.

  I heard it hiss, louder than any snake, any reptile I'd ever encountered and I spun, certain I'd see it leaping for my back. I stumbled, nearly fell in my haste, but there was nothing there.

  I swallowed hard, shaking now, backing slowly away, eyes terrified as I searched for nothing. Had I been drinking, this would have been understandable. But I don't drink.

  Just water.

  Behind me, I heard the whoosh of something slicing through the air, the clang of metal against…not metal. Flesh and bone? I screamed and spun again, my Taser out and ready in my shaking hand.

  Navi stood in front of me, breathing hard, holding two swords that were as big as she was. Black, inky and tar-like blood stained her shirt and jeans and her hair tumbled down her back in wild tangles. She met my gaze, her eyes so, so dark and unreadable. I could find no words and everything in me seemed frozen in fear and indecision. My feet wouldn't move, either, and my Taser hung uselessly in my hand.

  "Are you okay?" she breathed. "Did it get you?"

  "Did what get me?" My voice was too shrill in my head, louder than I meant it to be, and full of fear. "I can't see anything!"

  She sheathed her swords at her back and I couldn't even comprehend the fact that she knew how to do that without cutting off her own head because I wouldn't have known, and she had swords and they were stained with the same blood her clothes were and she—

  "Hey." She gripped my shoulders, staring into my face. The dark circles, the exhaustion, everything was gone. She looked alive and healthy and gorgeous as always, but fear and worry creased her brow. "It's okay. You're safe now."

  She was checking me for injuries, I realized belatedly. I stared at my hands numbly, but I wasn't the one covered in blood. "No claw marks," she murmured. "No bites."

  Holy hell, what was she talking about? I spun again, breaking free of her arms and starting to feel like a top, but there was nothing. No errant mountain lions, no badgers, no bears. Not even a puppy or stray kitten. Nothing that would attack me with teeth and claws. "Navi…?" I whimpered.

  She straightened, shoving her long dark hair over her shoulder and out of her face. "It's okay. You're okay."

  "What just happened?" I asked, my voice shaking. I didn't care.

  She studied me for several long seconds. Hope flashed through her eyes, followed by sadness and finally resolution, all in those few seconds. "You need a better weapon," she said sadly.

  I looked at my Taser. She'd said it was fine when she bought it.

  "You're safe now, I promise. What are you doing walking home alone in the middle of the night?"

  I can't tell you what just happened, her gaze said when her mouth didn't. I was pretty sick of her secrets, but when I opened my mouth to tell her so, I saw the pain. It had left her eyes and spread through her whole face, practically radiating from her chest in wave upon wave. She wanted to tell me. She'd almost decided to—I'd seen it there.

  But she couldn't.

  "We went to the club but I wanted to go home…"

  "So you walked?" she bellowed in uncharacteristic Navi fashion. "In the middle of the night when the asw—when the crime wave is in full force?"

  I blinked at her. "What crime wave?"

  "You know—it's been on the news." She waved a hand dismissively through the air and studied the ground.

  She was such a crappy liar.

  "Why didn't you call me?" She waved her phone in my face and I didn't even know where it had come from. She wasn't holding it even two seconds ago. "That's why we have these nifty little inventions."

  "I—I figured you were busy."

  She threw her arms up, but her movements blurred and I rubbed my eyes. She moved too fast. Too fast and maybe my brain was broken because I couldn't keep up with it. "Konstanz! I'm not too busy to make sure you get home safe! What do you think I am?"

  The big truck barreling in our direction distracted us both, and she froze, inching behind me.

  Alec's truck.

  "Oh no," Navi muttered. "Not now."

  "Go," I whispered, although the last thing I wanted was to be left alone on that highway. "Go. You don't have to see him now."

  "I'm not leaving you."

  I was mad at Alec. I wanted to strangle Alec. But he wouldn't hurt me, and he wouldn't pass me by and leave me standing there in the dark. "It's okay, Navi. Go."

  She stepped backward away from me as his lights drew closer and the truck slowed down. "I'll be over here if he doesn't stop. Okay? I'll get my jeep—"

  But he was stopping. I turned to tell her it was fine, maybe that Alec could take us both home because it had just occurred to me that she'd shown up without a car and I didn't even know from where — this was a long, flat road and there wasn't anywhere to hide, but she was gone.

  Gone.

  There wasn't anywhere to hide.

  I rubbed the bridge of my nose and stared around me. "Navi, what are you?"

  Alec's door swung open and he got out, scanning the area around us, as I did. "What are you doing out here?" he asked without looking at me.

  He was looking for Navi.

  "I wanted to go home from the club but I didn't have a ride."

  He finally tore his eyes from the area around us and they landed on me. "You're alone? Where's Na—I thought—Wasn't Navi just standing here with you?"

  I shook my head, spreading my hands wide. "Do you see her anywhere? There's not exactly any place to hide here, Alec." My voice still shook.

  He blew out a breath and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. No. She's not here. Want a ride home?"

  I tried to ignore the exhausted pain in his voice as I nodded. "Yes please."

  He opened the door for me and I clambered in, grateful for the step sides he didn't need. His truck was freaking huge. As he passed through the headlights on his way to his side, I could see him scanning the area again, a deep crease in his forehead.

  Looking for Navi.

  I remembered the night he'd come to the apartment, asking for her. I'd told him to stay away from her, because they had too much chemistry to just be friends and he kept hurting her, over and over and over. And then I'd lied to her about him ever coming and it felt like a knife in my chest every time I thought about it.

  I was trying to protect her. Trying to protect them both. Alec and I had been friends since we were kids. I cared about him, too. Even if I wanted to kick his ass.

  I mean, I hadn't done it, had I? That's caring.

  "Thanks," I said when he got in and shifted into drive. "It's pretty scary out here alone."

  "Why are you? Alone, I mean." He was still looking for her, barely seeing the road he drove on.

  I sighed and leaned my head against the cool glass. "I didn't have a ride home."

  "You were with Bryson at the club. Why didn't you let him take you home? Or Reese and Terrie?"

  I glanced over at him, rolling my head across the glass. "Are you stalking me?"

  He snorted. "As much fun as that sounds, no." He checked the rearview mirror.

  Still looking for Navi.

  "Bryson called me. He drove off in the wrong direction looking f
or you, couldn't find you, panicked, and called everyone he knew to help look."

  Something warm poked at my heart and I shoved it away. No. No warm feelings for Bryson.

  "He's a mess, Konstanz. You should tell him you're okay."

  He's a mess. I just got attacked by some invisible monster and my best friend seemed to be part warrior ghost or something but yes, let's worry about Bryson being a mess.

  I ground my teeth together and returned my gaze to the window. "He'll be fine."

  He sighed, stopped at a red light and dug his phone out of his pocket. I was grateful that he wasn't dumb enough to text and drive, but I watched the light anxiously in case it turned green while he was distracted. Even though there were no cars anywhere. It was past two AM now.

  My phone buzzed in my bag but I ignored it. Or tried to, but it buzzed again and then again. As the light turned green and Alec shifted into gear, he glared over at it. "Will you answer that? It's driving me crazy."

  Grudgingly, I dug it out of my purse. There were a gazillion missed alerts—texts from Bryson, from Reese, even Terrie. And lots of calls. Even some from Alec.

  Not Navi, though. Because Navi had apparently been there the whole time. Unless I'd lost my mind and imagined her.

  Maybe I had. I was pretty tired and I hadn't seen her much. It was possible I'd started hallucinating that my best friend actually showed up when I needed her.

  Because I was insane now.

  "How is she?" Alec asked softly, his voice barely audible above the roar of his truck.

  I sent a text back to Reese and glanced at Bryson's last message. "I'm glad he found you. That was a stupid move, Konstanz."

  Alec must have been texting Bryson when he stopped at that light.

  I tucked my phone away and tried to figure out how Navi would want me to answer that. Would she want me to tell him she was a mess and still whimpered his name in her sleep? Should I say she's fine and has a new boyfriend since he'd moved on so quickly? "She works a lot."

  Yeah. That would do.

  "Oh. That's—does that make her happy?"

  No. "It seems to. She's always been a work-a-holic."

  She comes home covered in blood, most of which isn't hers. And she's lying to me. To all of us. And she watches for your truck the same way you watch for her now.

  He pulled into our parking lot and killed the engine, and I watched his eyes flit from each car, looking for hers.

  It wasn't there.

  "I'm glad she's okay," he said, nodding, and I believed him. He didn't want her to hurt. All the awful things he'd said to her the night they'd broken up had just been empty words. I knew that, and he knew that, but Navi did not know that. And I wouldn't let him near her so he could explain. "She deserves to be happy. She's sweet as hell."

  "Yeah. She is. Thanks for the ride, Alec."

  I was protecting her.

  Five

  Bryson

  Well, that could have gone smoother. Maybe baring all my feelings while buzzed wasn't the best idea ever, but my head cleared fast enough when I went out to the parking lot intending to let a very angry Konstanz drive us home and realized she wasn't there.

  I'd looked everywhere, and when I couldn't find her that way, I'd dragged Reese out to the car and we'd searched the streets.

  Nothing.

  So I'd had to call in reinforcements.

  I'd called everyone—even friends who didn't know Konstanz. I'd tried Navi but she didn't answer. I'd even called Alec.

  Of course, it had been Alec who found her. Now she'd probably fall head over heels in love with him.

  And I didn't care. All that mattered was that she was safe.

  When we pulled into her parking lot, she was just getting out of Alec's truck. "What were you thinking?" I bellowed as I got out of the still-moving car. "You're small. You're gorgeous. Do you know what could have happened?"

  Alec got out and stood behind Konstanz, towering over both of us, illuminated by the glow of his truck lights. "She's an adult, Bryson. She doesn't have to ask your permission to leave."

  "No, she doesn't have to ask anyone's permission, but I would have thought she had common sense. You don't go walking through the city in the middle of the night because you're pissed at me, Konstanz. Were you punishing me? Because it worked. I feel like shit. I feel like you just ripped every calm fiber in my being and replaced it with sheer panic. I didn't know—"

  She laid a hand on my chest. "Stop, Bryson. It was stupid and I'm sorry. I was angry."

  I blinked as her hand sent waves of electricity shooting through my skin and waving through my blood.

  One touch.

  "He was a mess." Reese smirked. "Navi runs through the night by herself all the time and no one bats an eye. Konstanz tries to walk three miles and everyone loses their mind."

  Alec looked like someone had hit him. In the stomach. With a unicorn. "Glad you're okay," he said weakly, patting Konstanz on the head. "I'm heading home. I gotta get up for work in a couple hours."

  "Thanks," Konstanz smiled at him like she never smiled at me and my soul crushed and crumbled. Not again.

  Except this time, he wouldn't go after the girl I wanted because he spent all his weekends elsewhere and was still obsessed with Navi.

  Small favors.

  Alec paused at his door. "You need a ride home?"

  Right. Because my car was still at the club. This was the last time I was not the designated driver. "Yeah. Thanks."

  I backed away from Konstanz, wishing she would say something, wishing she would tell me—I didn't even know. But she was okay. Safe. That was all that mattered. "See ya."

  "Bye," she said softly as Reese led her inside.

  I got in the truck and leaned my head back against the seat, watching her disappear inside as we pulled out onto the road. Something moved in the rearview mirror and I glanced over my shoulder in time to see Navi materialize out of the shadows.

  Like a ghost.

  I scrubbed my eyes and looked again, but she was jogging toward the apartment after her friends. Not ghost-like at all. Just normal Navi, small and fast and mind-numbingly gorgeous.

  I checked to see if Alec saw her, knowing if he did he probably wouldn't have the will to keep the truck moving away from her. I knew how he woke yelling her name every night. He was plagued by nightmares that he denied during the day, but come nightfall, it all started again.

  He kept his eyes on the road in front of us. Meanwhile, I felt like half my soul had stayed behind, alone and empty while Konstanz walked away from me. Hadn't I just strongly disliked her a couple days ago?

  "You see her a lot?" Alec asked after several miles.

  "Konstanz? Yeah, most days—"

  "Navi."

  Maybe he had seen her, then, and was more strong willed than I thought.

  I shrugged. "I see her around. She works a lot." I didn't tell him that I'd invited her to sleep at our apartment while he was at work. That would just bring him home during the day, hoping to run into her, and she'd stop coming to my house. And if she stopped coming, so would Konstanz.

  Whoa.

  Since when had Navi been a way to get to Konstanz and not the other way around?

  "That's what Konstanz said." Alec's knuckles tightened on the wheel. "She still going to school?"

  "Navi or Konstanz?" I couldn't keep them straight. In so many ways.

  "Navi." He sighed, running a hand through his short hair. "Is Navi still going to school if she works so much?"

  "Yeah. Yeah, I think so."

  He nodded, put the truck in park and got out, slamming the door harder than necessary. He wasn't angry at me, though. For once. He was…just angry.

  Angry that he'd finally gotten this girl back he couldn't seem to let go, and then he lost her. After three days. Angry at fate. Angry at the nightmares that plagued him.

  But not at me.

  For once.

  He was locked in his room by the time I got up the stairs. I flopped o
nto my bed, suddenly exhausted, but my eyes wouldn't close. They stared at the ceiling illuminated by the street lamp outside and searched for patterns in the spackle that looked like Konstanz.

  So she wouldn't jump through hoops. She thought she didn't want a boyfriend. That was fine. I didn't want her to jump through hoops to prove she was better than Navi. She wasn't. They were best friends, and so different it was impossible to compare them. But whether she meant to or not, she'd issued me a challenge when she'd walked away from me and I'd never been able to resist a challenge. I'd jump through hoops. I'd change her damn mind about not wanting a boyfriend. By the time I was done, she'd forget all about that fear of being hurt like Alec and Navi were.

  She wouldn't know what hit her.

  I was just stumbling out of the shower, half-alive, when Konstanz showed up. Alec was in the kitchen and I got to the door before I did. "Is Navi here?" She froze, realizing it was Alec at the door and not me, her eyes wide as her cheeks darkened.

  "No," Alec said gruffly. "Is she supposed to be?"

  Almost reluctantly, he swung the door open to let her in. I hadn't seen her in two days. We were both busy with work and she was still mad at me despite the flowers I'd sent.

  All four dozen roses.

  "I just—she wasn't at school and—what are you doing home in the middle of the day?" She wrinkled her nose at him in offense and I smiled.

  "I just came home for lunch." He left her to go back to the kitchen. "You hungry?"

  She shook her head, following him inside. "Do you come home for lunch often?"

  He sent her a bewildered look. "No…"

  She was protecting Navi. Making sure Alec didn't come home while Navi was there. But he never came home during the day and only had today because he was working a job nearby or something.

  She left him and padded across the floor to me. And then stopped, her mouth open, eyes raking across me like hot coals.

  Oh yeah. I was in a towel. And no shirt.

  "I didn't—I didn't…know…" she trailed off, blushing furiously. "Sorry. I'll come back later."

  "It's fine." I tried not to grin. "Just give me a sec."