Breathing Fire (Heretic Daughters)

by Rebecca K. Lilley

  I just stared at them, waiting. They shifted their eyes and feet nervously. I could tell I disconcerted them. “Do the dragons already know what you are? If so, it’s pointless not to tell me.”

  “I”m a phoenix,” Nix stated tonelessly, shocking me speechless for a moment.

  “I thought your kind were extinct,” I told her honestly.

  She shrugged, obviously having heard that before. “If they manage to kill me, then as far as I know, we will be.”

  I nodded at Leona. “And you?”

  Her watery eyes were pointed at the ground. “Just think of the most useless creature in existence. I bet you can guess it.” It’s not an exaggeration to say that her despairing tone brought tears to my eyes. She was powerful at evoking emotions in others, that much was obvious.

  I thought for a few moments, but came up blank. “You’re a necro, then?” I shot back.

  She smiled, just the tiniest bit, and hope bloomed inside my chest. She seemed to have no idea that she cold affect emotions with her slightest move. “No. A unicorn.”

  I whistled softly. “I knew unicorns weren’t extinct, but just barely. Do you know of any more of your kind?”

  She shrugged. “My dead-beat dad’s still breathing somewhere in the world, but my mother’s human. I don’t know of any other relations.”

  “What are these bastards up to?” I asked softly.

  “Collecting pets is the only idea we’ve come up with,” Nix told me.

  “They like to have things around to torture,” Leona added.

  “Are you the only ones they’re holding?”

  They both shook their heads. “We don’t think so. We’ve heard them talking about other captives. They tell us all the time that we’re their favorites. But we haven’t actually seen anyone except our captors, you, and each other.”

  ”Do they move you at all? Or have you been in this room for months?”

  “Oh, they move us all the time,” Leona spoke. “We’ve traveled almost constantly since they captured me. I was in Florida when they grabbed me, walking home from school.”

  “They took me in Ontario, Canada,” Nix added. “They snatched me out of my bed.”

  “Have you heard them talk about the two women I had with me?”

  They exchanged a wary glance. “They said something about a druid woman…. They said she was dead. They seemed to think it was funny how they’d killed her.”

  I shut my eyes tightly against a sharp rush of emotion. Rage, anger, and pain, oh yes, pain, washed through me. Pain for the death of a woman I had always liked and respected. But most of all, I felt guilt, that she’d died for my fight. The rage seemed to help some of the pain in my body. Revenge had always been my best motivator. Heads were gonna roll for what had happened to Sloan, of that I was sure.

  “Did they mention anyone else? My sister was with me as well.”

  They shook their heads in unison, and I cursed. They both cringed. “I’m not mad at either of you. And, though I know it’s hard to believe at the moment, I will get us all out of here. My kind don’t stay conscious and captive for long.”

  Nix had a thoughtful look on her face. Thoughtful and determined. “So if you’re a dragon, can’t you make fire?”

  I studied her for a moment, trying to see what she was thinking. “Of course.”

  “Could you set me on fire from that far away?”

  I just stared at her, a little shocked.

  “Oh no, Nix! You can’t! You told me you’ll lose your memories! And it will hurt! You said you wake up in total agony.”

  Nix shrugged. “I only lose some of my memories. As it stands, there are quite a few memories I’d love to lose. And I can take the pain. The only thing that worries me is how long it takes to recover from the change. It’s just so hard to predict when they’ll check on us.”

  I shook my head at her, meeting her gaze squarely. “I couldn’t do that. I’m sorry, but I just can’t torch a little girl. I’m capable of some pretty dark stuff, but not that.”

  She glared at me, but didn’t speak. I decided to cheer them up a bit. I pulled off one my faux black pearl earrings. I waved it at them. “My reclusive family must not know too much about druids and their tracking devices. Guess what these are, girls?”

  They both just shook their heads at me, looking at me like I was crazy. I just smiled. “I’m being tracked by the druids, which means that, any minute now, we’ll be rescued.”

  Nix and Leona both glared at me, as though I’d said something offensive. “The druids only care about their own. Why would they help us?” Leona asked, her tone accusatory and bitter.

  My brows rose. “I’ll agree that the druids can be elitist bastards, but they would help you if they knew of your plight, that I can promise.”

  Nix snorted. “These monsters have been working with some druids. We’ve heard them talk about it.”

  That was a bit of a shock. I filed that away with things I needed to tell Dom the next time I saw him. Hopefully that would be very soon, like when he was busting the door down to free me. “That’s strange and disturbing information, but it won’t stop our rescue. The Arch himself is tracking me, so I guarantee our rescuer outranks whatever druids you’re talking about.”

  Nix gasped suddenly, her hand flying to her mouth. She pointed at me. “You’re her. I’ve heard of you. Leona, remember the stories about the mysterious supernatural woman that the Arch is obsessed with. Everyone knows the story, how she bewitched him with some dark magic, and then betrayed him with the last Arch. She actually caused the one to kill the other.”

  Leona’s lovely brow furrowed. “No, it can’t be her,” she said softly.

  I sighed. I really was famous, far and wide. Infamous, rather.

  “Yes it is her. You can tell, even with her all beaten up and dirty, that she’s exquisitely beautiful. Her long golden hair, and her pale blue eyes. She’s tall, with comic-book curves. I’ve heard her described tons of times. The druids hate her, every single one of them.”

  Leona was still doubtful, but studied me intently. “No,” she said softly, less certain now.

  “Tell us the truth. Are you Jillian?” Nix was nearly glowing in her agitation.

  I grimaced and nodded. “Yes, I’m Jillian.”

  Leona looked crushed and defeated at my admission. It made me feel bad just looking at her. “No,” she whispered. “But you’re…evil. The druids won’t be rescuing you. They hate you.”

  “She gets off on tormenting people. I’ve heard that about her,” Nix spat. “She gave us hope, just so she could crush it.”

  “Don’t believe everything you hear. I’m no angel, but I’m not evil, either. Dom put this tracker on me himself, and I swear to you that he will come here to free us.” I reached the device across the distance between our cages. It covered two-thirds of the distance, but Leona would have to reach to grab it. “Take one of these. That way, even if they separate us, the druids will still find you.” She hesitated, and my patience snapped even as the roaring in my ears grew with the huge presence trying to overtake my body. “Take it! What do you have to lose?”

  My tone frightened her into obeying, but she backed away from my cage the instant she got ahold of the pearl.

  “You’ll be okay,” I reassured the young girls, as well as myself. “No matter what happens, they’ll find you now.” I was folding into the corner even as I spoke, my body turning on me, as it tended to do lately.

  The change started like a raging torrent in my blood. It was faster and more violent by far than any I had experienced before.

  The girls looked on with horror as I lost all control of my body. I think my eyes went first, because my vision changed to dragon between one blink and the next. It’s impossible to say what changed next, it all happened so fast.

  I tried to reassure the girls in the other cages. I just wanted them to know that no matter what I turned into, they didn’t need to fear me, but there was no time.

  Blue fla
mes engulfed my body, which was normal. My wings expanded in one huge flap, quick as flight. That was not so normal.

  The steel bars on the cage that had seemed so sturdy just moments ago snapped like twigs.

  I was suddenly too big for the oversized theatre. There was no exit that would come anywhere near fitting my full dragon form. I would have to make one.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  The Return

  I landed softly on top of the vaguely familiar building. My shift to human form was more difficult than any I could remember. But also faster. I had been submerged in my other form for over six months. I had never stayed changed for such a long period of time. But I’d had a lot to do as my dragon self.

  I just lay on the textured concrete pavement of the roof for what could have been hours while I acclimated to my new form. I lay wrapped around my precious burden. It was carefully bundled inside a thick leather hide that I had been clutching securely the entire flight here.

  Finally, I stood on wobbly legs. My skin still glowed gold, and I could see from the strands of my hair that lay against my chest that the dragon-trance still claimed that as well. I knew from experience that these effects would last for days or even weeks.

  My landing perch was the posh balcony that I knew connected to the presidential suite of the casino that was my destination.

  I didn’t make a sound as I slipped in the door. The first four rooms I moved through were empty, but I followed the sounds of voices and easily found my target.

  I found him holding court in a palatial dinning room. The room was dark and beautifully decorated, all dark wood and marble. Dom sat at the head of a massive table, his back to me. I’d obviously arrived at a bad time, during some kind of business dinner, but I couldn’t leave until I’d completed my mission. Dozens of druids faced me, staring with mixtures of shock and contempt. Siobhan sat to Dom’s left, obviously his hostess. Hers was the only glare I returned. She clutched a steak knife in her hand like she intended to use it on me. I half-wished she would try. The draak still held enough sway over me that I knew I would show no mercy. Consequences be damned.

  Dom had frozen at my entrance, but hadn’t turned. He addressed his dinner party. “I assume by your silence that whoever just entered is posing no threat to me.” His tone was sardonic. I heard him take a deep breath. “Jillian,” he said, his voice dangerously soft. I wasn’t myself enough yet to have any idea what that tone of voice meant.

  “Dom.” My voice was hoarse from disuse. I worried that the faint sound hadn’t reached his ears, but suddenly, he turned. He stood at the sight of me, and it was only as he stared at me with shock and fury that I remembered clothes. Or rather, my lack of clothes. I was nude, of course. Dragons have no thought for clothing.

  “Everyone out!” he roared, his voice going from human to beast in an instant. They obeyed. All except for Siobhan. She sat where she was, as though she were immune to his order. He turned to her slowly, growling in his throat. “Did you hear me?” Menace inundated every word.

  She swallowed hard. “There’s nothing you can’t say to her in front of me, Dom.” Brave woman.

  “OUT! You don’t want me to remove you myself!” She was gone in a blurred flash, door slamming hard behind her. She cursed colorfully on the other side of it as she stormed away.

  I drank in the sight of him. He was enraged, but I felt no fear. Perhaps it was my other form’s hold still on me, or maybe I had just never been afraid of his rage.

  He studied me closely, visibly shaking. His voice was calmer than I would have expected when he spoke. “I didn’t think you were coming back.” Abruptly he turned and sat. I sat to his right. He had his head in his hands, rubbing his temples wearily. His hair had grown since I left. He obviously hadn’t cut it. It hung nearly to his shoulders now. Druids grew things back quickly; hair, nails, limbs. He looked wonderful. I drank in the sight of him, starved to the point of pain.

  “Me neither.” My voice was getting stronger. “I thought I was flying north to perish, to tell you the truth.”

  “But you didn’t perish.”

  “No.” I surprised myself by laughing.

  He looked up, startled and angry. “Something funny?” he asked coldly.

  I shook my head, but a little smile still lingered on my lips. “No, it just feels good to know that I’m not going comatose or crazy for the foreseeable future.”

  “So what have you been up to for the last seven months?”

  “I thought it was closer to six,” I mused out loud, though I was sure he had tracked it more closely than I had.

  “Trust me, it was seven. You know, we raided that place they were holding you in. I even let the slayer and the mimic in on the action. We got there just one hour after you had escaped. We were so close to rescuing you. But you never were one to wait around long enough to be rescued.”

  My eyes widened in surprise This was all news to me, of course. “Did you see the other captives? Where they okay? Was Lynn in there somewhere?” I still felt bad about that, about leaving them, even though I’d had no control over it at the time..

  “No signs of Lynn. The slayer believes a different group of dragons took her. But we found the other captives, and they are fine. The dragons left in too big of a hurry to take them. They were both orphans, so they’re in druid custody now. They are acclimating as well as can be expected, considering all that they’ve been through.”

  I shut my eyes, laying my head back against the large, comfortable headrest of my chair. The elaborate chairs at the banquet table were closer to thrones.

  It was a relief to hear that those girls were okay, and hardly a surprise that they hadn’t found Lynn in that place.

  It felt like at least one huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I hadn’t realized what a burden of guilt I had been carrying for that. My desertion of those girls hadn’t been deliberate on my part, but that was little reassurance when I knew first-hand what the monsters who held them were capable of.

  “The dragons were in such a hurry, in fact, that we captured one of them mid-flight.”

  My eyes snapped open, and I leaned forward to look at him more closely. I had been trying to avoid looking into his eyes up to that point. Those mercurial, mis-matched eyes had such power over me. “Who was it? What did you do with him?”

  He smiled at me enigmatically. “At last, I have the answers and you are the one asking the questions. Perhaps we can bargain, then. Let us trade information. I ask you again. What have you been up to for the last seven months? We’ve been looking for you. I’m sure that’s not surprising to you. I feel like I’ve spent most of my life chasing your trail. So I must admit to some curiosity as to your whereabouts these past seven months.”

  I licked my lips nervously. Where to start… “That’s why I’m here actually. I have a favor to ask you. I have something very important that I need you to protect for me.”

  He raised a brow at me. “Let me guess. You’ll ask me for a favor, I’ll agree, and then you’ll leave in a rush, giving me no information, as usual. Whatever you were up to, it didn’t change you much.” Bitterness dripped from every word.

  “Actually, I plan to tell you everything. I’m just trying to figure out where to start.” I could tell I’d surprised him, but he was still wary. “I went north because of something that happened years ago, back when we were together.”

  He removed his jacket suddenly, throwing it at me. “Put on some clothes, for god’s sake. Why the fuck are you naked?”

  “Sorry, that wasn’t intentional. I forgot about clothes. I’ve been my other form almost since I left. My mind doesn’t work the same when I’m changed.” Still, I let his jacket fall to the floor.

  Suddenly, his nostrils flared, as if picking up a scent. Before I could blink, he had me on my back, on the table, his weight pushing me down. “You provoke me, as always.”

  “Wait.” My voice made him freeze. His body started to shake as he straightened up.

 
I ran my burden to the corner, turning to smile radiantly at him. “Sorry, it’s delicate.” I was back to him in a flash. Just the smell of his neck made me shake with need. “I missed you,” I whispered in his ear, and felt him tremble.

  He splayed me on the table, more carefully this time. He set to work on my body slowly with his lips, tongue, and teeth. I gripped his hair in both fists, it’s silken texture a wonder to me.

  I tried to guide his head lower, but he just ignored me, chuckling softly against my skin. The sound was sinister, and it drove me crazy. He always took control in this fashion when we made love. He would take no orders, and I could refuse none of his. He was dominant to his very core. I doubted there were any truly powerful druids that weren’t. They melded their souls with the beasts. It was the nature of their power. And I had never seen a druid more powerful than Dom. Or more controlled. He could tamp down his dominance when needed, but when we were like this, letting go completely, he didn’t even try. I would have hated it if he had. His power spread over me like a mist, and every part of me loved it.

  He buried his face in my neck, biting down hard. I whimpered, but not in pain. He kissed the bite marks he’d made, soothing me, then kissed his way from my throat to my breasts. He kneaded one in his hand while his mouth set to work on the other. He sucked my flesh into his mouth so hard that it would have left a lasting mark, if I was human. He gave the other one the same attention, then moved south, kissing across my ribs, and into my naval. “Stroke your breasts,” he ordered roughly into my skin. I obeyed, but made a sound of protest in my throat. I didn’t want to stop touching him, didn’t ever want to let go of him again.

  When he finally buried his face between my legs, I was sobbing with need, begging for it. He licked me, and thrust three long fingers into me with one smooth motion. He had me coming in moments. I screamed loud enough to have someone knocking on the door.

  “Sir?” An uncertain male voice called from the other side. “Is everything all right?”

  Dom straightened, unbuttoning his severe black robe as he answered. “Yes, I am fine. Do not interrupt us again.”