Embers in the Blood: Deadly Trades Series: Book Two

by Jessica Gunn

  “Uh, hello,” Will said, pointing to himself. “Mostly Infirmary-bound here.”

  I wrapped an arm around my best friend’s shoulders. “Let’s be real, Will. You’re not ready for the limelight anyway.”

  He scowled. “I would be if this poison had worn off already. Ben said I’d be training soon.”

  “Until then,” Kian said, interrupting us. He inclined his head toward the front entrance to Headquarters. “With everything going on, I bet we could escape for a few hours. It’s been weeks since we’ve left Headquarters.”

  Kian was right again. There was a very slim chance we’d be missed, especially if Krystin thought I was training. I bit my lip, considering the risk. They’d be pissed if they found out Kian and I had left the safety of Headquarters, but I could not stand being trapped in this ancient building for any longer. Regardless of what Talon might do to Kian and I if they found us—the reason we’d been confined here in the first place.

  “Fine,” I said. “We’ll go for a few hours and check the normal demon haunts around Boston before coming back. Will, you’ll stay here, where you’re safe and taken care of.”

  Will pouted.

  A grin split Kian’s mischievous expression. “Thank you.”

  Chapter 3

  For once, the city seemed quiet. Not literally, because Boston would never be a place to hear a pin drop. But no matter where we went, Kian and I didn’t run into any demons. Not the taco bar around the corner from Headquarters, which demons liked to pretend we didn’t know they frequented. Nor any of the normal club hot spots on the other side of downtown.

  It was… nice.

  “This is weird,” Kian said as we walked the last block to Infinite, a club loved by Hunters.

  I slung my arm through his and looked up at the sky. “Why can’t you just enjoy a demon-less night?”

  He glanced down at me and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Because it’s never demon-less. They’re always somewhere.”

  “Kian. This is the first time in months we’ve been allowed to leave Headquarters. Enjoy the freedom.”

  He shook his head and focused his attention on the sidewalk ahead of us. Already, the heavy bass of the music playing at Infinite throbbed in my chest. “We weren’t allowed anything. We escaped.”

  I shrugged. “Doesn’t make a difference to me at this point. I was losing my mind in there. Krystin’s a great teacher, but even she admits she’d lose it if she were stuck at Headquarters like us.”

  Sure, this new version of veritable house-arrest was for our own safety. But that didn’t mean I liked it any more than that apartment Will and I had lived in for six months. At least there we hadn’t been babysat every hour, day in and day out. Which, in hindsight, might have been the reason I’d gotten into that mess at Midnight in the first place.

  “Let’s just have a drink and get some dancing in, then head back,” I said as we climbed the front steps of the club.

  The bouncer outside, a mountain of a guy, held his hand out. “IDs please.”

  I dug around inside my pocket for my wallet and handed my ID over. He checked it out and then stamped my hand. Kian did the same.

  Infinite was a typical club, like all the others we’d hopped in and out of. Kian and I headed straight for the bar at the back, lit with neon lights that flashed in time with the music. A dance floor separated the bar from a stage where women danced in white tank tops and shorts beneath a black light.

  “Rum and coke, please,” I said to the bartender. “Whiskey for him.”

  Kian nodded a thank you before leaning back against the bar so he could watch the crowd. He was still wearing that mask of seriousness despite being three drinks in for the night and surrounded by normal humans and other Hunters.

  I leaned in close to his ear. “This isn’t a demon bar. Relax.”

  “I’ll relax when we know more about what happened today.” He frowned. “Maybe this wasn’t a great idea.”

  The bartender returned with our drinks. I paid for them and then forced the small tumbler of whiskey into Kian’s hands. “Yes, it was. Now drink up because we’re going to dance.”

  He looked at me for a long moment, his brown eyes searching mine for something. Then he threw back his drink and placed the glass back on the table. “Ready?”

  I grinned and paraded away from the bar, drink in hand. Kian led me through the crowd, weaving around couples dancing and singles writhing away on their own. A few of the faces looked familiar, but I didn’t worry. No one would turn us in to Dacher for being here tonight. Not these Hunters like us, without magik. We tended to stick together.

  Except I did have magik now.

  Instead of letting the thought and all that came with it drag me down, I threw back a significant portion of my drink and spun around to dance against Kian. His warm arms wrapped around me and he dipped his mouth against my ear.

  “You were right,” he said, his warm breath tickling my neck. “This was a good idea, Ava.”

  A smile grew on my lips and I pressed myself against him, molding my body against his strong one. Everything about him felt safe and strong—right. “You’re the only one I trust to watch my back.”

  “I’ll never leave.”

  I’d learned that the hard way a few months ago, when he, Will, and I had almost gotten caught in the explosion at Midnight. But this admission felt different. Heavier.

  Twisting so I now faced him, I looked up into his eyes. “Me either.”

  We held that gaze, filled with so many unsaid words, for long moments before Kian lowered his lips nearly to mine. But just before they met, someone knocked into me. What was left of my drink sailed into the air and spilled down my arm.

  Kian’s hawk eyes narrowed in on the poor guy. He threw his arm out to put space between me and him. “Watch it.”

  The guy threw up his hands. “Sorry, man. Tripped.”

  Kian’s entire body went rigid.

  I placed a hand on his forearm with a little more pressure than necessary—just to remind him I could handle myself. “It’s okay. It was an accident.” One that had interrupted probably the best thing ever, but an accident all the same.

  “Yeah,” the guy continued. “What your girl said.”

  Idiot.

  Kian moved himself between me and the guy. He had dark hair, but what color it or his eyes were, I couldn’t tell in this dim lighting. Even still, this guy wasn’t that large. Not lanky by any stretch, but it was almost as if he were definitely too young to be inside any bar, even one frequented by so many underage Hunters that sometimes they looked the other way when it came to fake IDs.

  “You need to go,” Kian nearly growled.

  “Okay,” I said, pushing against his arm. “That’s enough.”

  “Whatever,” the guy said before walking away.

  Kian watched him go, his eyes narrowing with every step the guy took.

  I touched a hand to his arm. “What the hell was that?”

  “An asshole getting—”

  “Too close?” I touched my fingers to his chin and turned his head to me. The moment our eyes met, Kian’s expression softened. “He tripped, Mr. Overprotective. And even if there was more to it, I don’t need you to fight my battles for me. Remember that it wasn’t long ago that I beat you in the ring.”

  A pained look flashed across his eyes, gone in the next breath. “You don’t need to remind me. Want another drink?”

  “Sure.”

  He was gone before I could say another word.

  It wasn’t long after that second drink that we had decided we’d pressed our luck enough. Eventually, Ben or Krystin or someone would look for us at Headquarters. And when they couldn’t find either of us, Krystin would run some sort of locator magik and discover we were out at a bar.

  Kian led the way out of Infinite. Though his glare and general brooding had worn off with the second drink, I could tell he was still pissed about what I’d said. But I didn’t care; it was the truth. Sure,
we all got knocked down sometimes, but in the greater scheme of things, I didn’t need a bodyguard. I needed a partner. And if Kian couldn’t see that and settle his own issues with it, then it wasn’t my problem.

  I shoved my hands into the pockets of my new leather jacket as we walked. It was a hell of a lot nicer than the black sweatshirt I’d lived out of for the six months Will and I had spent in New York. We were so late into the August summer now that the jacket wasn’t totally needed at night, but I relished the feeling of safety it gave me anyway. It reminded me of Kian when we’d first met, and to me, it kept my scars, mental and physical, hidden.

  Kian froze.

  I took another couple of steps before realizing it and turning to him. “What is it?”

  His eyes were focused on something ahead of us. “Look.”

  I glanced back at the road. At the end of the street, where it branched off into a three-way intersection, a guy followed another couple a little too closely. “Could just be a mugger.” Which we would absolutely move to intervene with, but considering what that person could be up to…

  Kian reached behind him to the sheath at his back. “Not so sure about that. Look at their hands.”

  I tried to peer closer despite the distance between us. Sure enough, a low, red-orange glow outlined the man’s fingers—ether magik. I withdrew my own Fire Circle knife from my right boot. “Well, then. Up for some fun?”

  “Always,” he said before basically launching forward and charging straight for the demon. Kian’s quick feet carried him a number of yards before I’d even realized he was gone. So much for teamwork. He fully drew his blade before reaching the intersection.

  “Hey!” I called after him as I began my own sprint.

  My heart pounded in my chest as I closed the distance between Kian and me, then between us and the demon. By the time Kian had reached the demon, the stalker had cornered the couple in an alleyway.

  “Stop!” Kian barked, his Fire Circle knife in hand. “Leave them alone.”

  Without so much as turning around, the demon said, “Keep away, Hunters. You have no idea what you’re doing here.”

  I scoffed. “Oh really?”

  Kian grunted and pushed off the ground, preparing to fully tackle the demon. A move I’d now watched him do a hundred times. The demon whipped out his arm, sending a fiery ball of distinctly red-tinted orange ether directly at Kian. The ether attack connected with a slam, stopping Kian’s forward motion with immense force and sending him careening against the brick wall of a building.

  I gasped. “Kian!”

  The demon turned to me. “Don’t make a move. Any of you.”

  My eyes widened as the street lamps finally cast a light on the man’s face. The young man’s face. The same guy from the club who’d run into me, spilling my drink. He had the burgundy eyes of a demon but the magik of an Ember witch. The ether swirled around his fingers with ease, although the red tint to the orange magik wasn’t typical.

  This man had once been a witch and then turned into a demon.

  “I have to admit,” the young man said, “I wasn’t intending to run into you at that club tonight.”

  My eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”

  Kian let out a battle cry and charged him again. The demon flicked another shot of Ember ether that sent Kian right back into the wall, the fabric of his shirt smoking as though on fire.

  The couple screamed and tried to make a run for it.

  “Not so fast,” the demon called. A wall of orange ether sprouted up around them, blazing with energy and heat that filled the alleyway.

  Holy shit. I’d never seen an Ember witch do that. To be fair, I hadn’t seen many Ember witches, period. But even the ether-shapers I knew couldn’t just make a wall like that without ether coming out of their hands first.

  I closed my eyes and reached out all around me with my magik. The ground, dirt. Even the metal of the street lights. I felt it all. Feeling with my magik wasn’t the problem. It was using it actively once I locked on.

  Kian’s knife. It’d been knocked out of his hand and now lay on the ground. My magik picked up on it, wrapping around the familiar feel of steel. Eyes now open, I imagined picking it up with a magik-made hand and throwing it at the demon like I would have if I’d actually held the knife.

  “Leave them alone,” I said, holding the demon’s attention as the knife rose from the ground.

  Kian’s eyes went wide. He watched as his blade danced in the air in front of him. But instead of amazement or pride, he scowled.

  “Or what? You’ll kill me?” Warm wind swept through the alley, covering the demon’s eyes with long, dark hair. But nothing could hide the demon magik in his hands, a twisted form of Ember witch ether. Was he one of Veynix and Talon’s victims?

  “Yes,” I said. The knife now hovered at head height. I lifted my fingers and flicked them toward the demon, giving the knife a trail to follow. It soared across the alley, right for the demon’s head.

  But at the last moment, he reached up and surrounded the blade with Ember ether, an orange wave that froze the knife’s motion. The red-orange glow died down as the demon examined the knife closely.

  “You know, I never thought you’d stay a Fire Circle Hunter,” the demon said as he lifted his burgundy gaze to me. “Not after you killed Veynix. I figured you’d quit after winning.”

  My stomach dropped. A cold chill crawled up my back. “You know about that?”

  An evil grin slid across his face. He flicked his hands and two sets of red-orange manacles formed around the couple’s wrists. “I know quite a lot about you, Ava. Or should I call you ‘Christine’? Which is more preferable to you these days?”

  Don’t. If I reacted, if I let him get to me, I’d lose my head completely. But even as I gave myself the command, a cold sweat slicked my brow and my pulse raced in my ears. Plenty of Talon soldiers knew my real name. But how many Ember witches did?

  None. Not unless they worked for Talon and that organization had sent them specifically after me.

  Except… the Fire Circle hadn’t heard anything in the past three months. Unless you counted the Ember witches at Headquarters earlier today. Only now were Hunters being attacked again. And from the looks of things, this demon had been trying to round up…

  They’re not humans. Not normal ones. The couple had to be witches. Or magik-users. This close to Autumn Fire at the end of August, this particular demon must be rounding up magik-users to be turned into demons.

  “Now you’re piecing it together,” the demon said in a low voice.

  Kian finally stood behind him, watching the exchange.

  “You’re one of their soldiers,” I said. Talon’s plan had worked. At some point, they’d been hoarding Ember witches to turn fully into demons because their magik was mostly demonic to begin with. But that didn’t explain what he was doing here.

  The demon’s grin became a laugh. “Soldier? Hardly.” He waved his hand again and a wall of flaming Ember ether rose between him and I—also separating him and Kian. “Until next time, Ava.”

  The wall of flames grew, flashing with power for a few seconds before dropping completely. The demon—and his victims—were gone. In the air where he’d been standing was a mirage; it wasn’t the result of the Ember ether but from the teleportante trail he’d left behind.

  A trail that probably went to Landshaft.

  “Don’t,” Kian said as he staggered forward, clutching his side. “We can’t follow them into the demon city.”

  “I know.” Aside from it being fully stocked with thousands of demons, we’d probably die from aura sickness upon landing the teleportante. “We should at least report this, though.”

  Kian’s eyes went wide. “And let Dacher know we broke out for the night?”

  My gaze drifted to his side. The demon had slammed him into the wall pretty hard. Hopefully. Kian had just been bruised. “That demon knew my name. Don’t you also find it strange his magik wasn’t pure
Ember ether? Something happened, Kian.” I glanced down the alleyway to the bar we’d met him at. “Talon’s plan, the one my team lost their lives to report, must have worked.”

  “They’ll be pissed,” Kian said.

  “Dacher’s smart enough to realize we weren’t going to stay under house arrest forever,” I said. “Besides, you need a healer.”

  Kian’s mouth slammed shut, his jaw locking. “Guess so.”

  Irritation bloomed inside my chest. “What is your problem tonight?”

  “You get magik, and we still couldn’t defeat that demon.”

  I blinked at him, my jaw hanging open. Anger swelled in my chest. “Excuse me? Did you see the way he was using his magik? That guy has absolutely had magik his entire life. I couldn’t take him out, not even if I’d been training for longer than three months.”

  “At least you have magik,” Kian spat. “You can fight. I ended up injured. Again.”

  I reached out for him. “Kian—”

  “No,” he said. “Let’s just go back to Headquarters. Teleportante.”

  A cold wind swept through the alley in the wake of Kian’s exit. I stared up at the night sky, wondering… wondering too much. I sighed, closing my eyes. I supposed it was only a matter of time before one of us went nuclear.

  Chapter 4

  Fire Circle Headquarters was still a bustling mess when we returned. It was hard to believe that after months of relative silence from Talon, they were finally beginning to retaliate. Our run-in with that Ember witch-turned-demon had shaken me to the core.

  “Ava!” someone called from the other side of the lobby.

  I rocked on to my tip-toes to see above the crowd. A head of short, blond hair was headed toward me. Ben Hallen, one of the Hunters involved in my case from last year and one of three Leader candidates, wore a scowl on his face as he pushed through the crowd to me. He was focused on me rather than the crowded lobby. Which meant only one thing: he and Dacher knew we’d left.

  “Hi,” I said as Ben approached.

  “Over here,” he said, indicating an alcove off to the side of the space.