Fireblood: A Cassidy Edwards Short Story - Book 4.5

by Carmen Caine

  “Enough,” I growled, snatching her out of the air, mid-jump.

  Holding her tightly in my fingers, I rifled through the cabinets and found a spice jar half-filled with oregano. If there was one thing I knew about imps, you didn’t mention the word ‘bottle’ in front of them until after they were in it. Setting her down on the counter, I had the jar emptied and slapped right over her before she could open her mouth to object.

  “You need a timeout,” I said, screwing on the lid. “You know you’re too young to leave Imp Haven. Edna’s going to be furious.” Yeah, she was going to be furious at us both. I winced at the thought.

  Olivia flattened her ears and scowled at me through the glass before wilting to adopt that lost puppy dog look.

  In spite of the situation, I chuckled. “You know that doesn’t work on me.”

  Stuffing the bottle-encased impling back into my pocket, I finished the sandwiches, poured the coffee, and plopping them all on a tray, returned to the living room.

  Strix’s slow breathing indicated he’d succumbed to sleep once again. I set the tray down on the coffee table as quietly as I could, before standing there a moment, unable to resist staring at him yet again. What was it about him that fascinated me? Yeah, he was a handsome, sexy, and powerful sorcerer, but it was more than that. It had to be. Why did he feel so familiar?

  Feeling suddenly hot, I fanned my face. Strange. I wasn’t one to blush. Why was I blushing now? I glanced down at my coffee mug, but found the thought of drinking hot liquid suddenly unbearable. Leaving it there, I headed for the window, thinking to press my cheeks against the cold glass.

  A healthy layer of condensation again beaded down the glass as I arrived, much thicker this time, almost coming off in waves of steam. I wiped it furiously with my sleeve, eyeing the trees rustling in the coolness of the wind outside.

  The next thing I knew, I stood outside, holding my arms out as the wind caressed my hot skin. Why was I so hot? Had I caught some kind of fever? Dimly, from deep inside, part of me screeched the warning I shouldn’t have left the protection of the cabin, but I ignored it. I didn’t care. I needed relief.

  Closing my eyes, I let my thoughts swirl around me. I didn’t feel sick. Not in the slightest. In fact, I felt quite alive. As the breeze ruffled my hair, I wondered what it would be like to leave everything behind and simply fly away, riding the currents of the wind.

  I don’t know how long I stood there, reveling in the cool air as the birds chirped in the surrounding trees. I just suddenly became aware of a chilling pall, seeming to rise from the very ground upon which I stood, followed by a hiss.

  My eyes flew open.

  A foul smell crossed my nostrils, coming from a patch of shadows forming under the trees just to my left. The shadows began to move.

  I knew what is was then.

  A Fallen One had found me.

  Fallen One shows up

  Horrified, I stared at the shadows under the nearby trees, forming into a spectral figure wearing tattered rags and black, rusted armor.

  The next thing I knew, Strix stood behind me. “No!” his deep baritone challenged the Fallen One. “You cannot have her.” He pulled me back into a protective embrace, his strong arm holding me tightly against his rock-hard body.

  The Fallen One didn’t move. It hung in the air under the trees, its form growing clearer with each passing moment. Rotting flesh hung from its bones and skull, only a few clumps of hair hung from its head. Ignoring Strix, it focused on me. “Finish it, youngling,” it said in a long, drawn out hiss. “If you hang between worlds, they will find and destroy you.”

  “Finish it?” I gasped hoarsely.

  The muscles on Strix’s arm tensed and he began to chant the words of a powerful spell.

  “Wait!” the Fallen One called, falling back a step. “I will not harm you. I simply came to warn you, that is all. The others are coming. They will be here soon. The fledgling can’t hide from them, not yet. Listen to me, keeper. Can you not hear the ring of truth in my words?’

  To my astonishment, Strix paused his spell to ask, “Why? Why betray your own kind?”

  “My own kind?” The Fallen One laughed, drawing its lips back in a ghoulish grin. “Nay, no longer. Perhaps even a Fallen One is not beyond redemption, keeper.” Turning its attention back to me, it opened its mouth and roared, “Finish what you have started, fledgling. Until you do, you draw them to you like moths to a flame. You are both too weak to fight them. They will kill you. Run.”

  With those last words ringing in the air, it faded away.

  We stood there, shocked, and then Strix said, “While I do not trust a word that foul creature spewed, I cannot deny we must run, and now.”

  “Right,” I agreed, my throat feeling dry. “But where?”

  He already looked pale, exhausted. We wouldn’t be going far.

  “I’m sorry,” I said then. “I don’t know why I went outside.”

  He wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his arm. “It would have found you anyway,” he said with a shrug. “Let’s go. We have only one choice now. I can only hope Lucian is ready.”

  He’d scarcely finished the words before he tightened his arm about my waist and began to chant the words of a new spell.

  “Are you sure you’re strong enough for this?” I gasped.

  Suddenly, the ground beneath my feet vanished and I fell into darkness.

  * * *

  We landed on the top of a building, rolling painfully in the gravel as the sounds of a busy New York evening drifted up from the streets below. I leapt to my feet, checking first to ensure Olivia had made the trip safely in her bottle, and satisfied she had, glanced down at the Nether Reach Keeper who was slowly sitting upright.

  “Rough ride,” he said through white lips. “Sorry.”

  “I don’t think bopping around the countryside is what Dr. Kip had in mind when he told you to rest,” I replied, trying to mask the worry raging through me with a vain attempt at humor. He looked downright awful. “This just isn’t working, Strix. We need to call for help.”

  His chest heaved with a dry, self-deprecating laugh. “We can’t. Not without sending a flare to every carrion creature of the Nether Reaches that one of their keepers is down,” he replied. “I’m afraid I have too many enemies to count. Believe me, we’re much better off this way.”

  I lifted a skeptical brow. “Can’t you call Lucian somehow?” I held out my hand to help him to his feet.

  He looked at my hand with something akin to amusement, but took it gamely enough. He was heavy. He nearly pulled me down onto his lap again on the first attempt. Widening my stance, I tried again and this time, he managed to struggle to his feet.

  “You really don’t look so hot,” I said. Well, that was a lie. Technically, he looked really hot. I amended it with, “You look like you’re going to faint, dude.”

  “I’ve been through worse,” he said as he scanned the skyline around him.

  I bit my lip, finding it hard to believe.

  We stood on the rooftop of what appeared to be an apartment complex a few blocks away from the Empire State Building. The sun would set soon. Already, streaks of pink and orange painted the horizon.

  “We’ve got to get to Governors Island,” Strix said then. “Lucian will meet us at Hammock Grove. I’m afraid we’ll have to get there on our own two feet, though. I haven’t the strength to open any more gates. Not yet. If we hide in the crowds as long as we can, the Fallen Ones shouldn’t be able to lock onto you until we reach Lucian.”

  I frowned, a bit skeptical. Governors Island? Hammock Grove? At this time of night, it wasn’t likely to be all that crowded. I opened my mouth to suggest we think up a better, less danger-prone plan, but catching sight of the stubborn line of his jaw, clamped my lips shut. Fine. I’d just go with it. Besides, at this point, a fair amount of curiosity spurred me on.

  As he strode off towards the roof-access door, I skipped to catch up.

  A few
minutes later, we emerged onto the busy sidewalk and headed for the nearest subway station. Strix worried me. He looked beyond exhausted. Would he be able to defend us if we were attacked? I twisted my lip. Maybe I should just run off to the imps. It wasn’t that far. But then, the Fallen One’s words whispered across my mind. Fledgling. Drawing them to me like moths to a flame. I scowled. Just what did it all mean?

  With my thoughts whirling, we battled the pedestrians to Herald Square Station. Strix guided me through the turnstile and waved his hand over the scanner. The machine obliged with a beep, sliding the barrier open and we were through, weaving through the crowd to the proscribed platform. The line arrived and the doors whooshed open. Luckily, we found a seat and Strix sat down heavily and closed his eyes. I sat at his side, worried, as the train thundered under the city and to the next station.

  After an hour of crowds, trains, and a ferry over the New York Harbor, we finally set foot on Governors Island. The sun had set and night had fallen. Across the bay, New York City rose in an impressive array of twinkling lights.

  Neither of us spoke as we left the dock and headed for the trail leading around the island, walking on high alert but in a companionable silence. I found it odd. I’d known Strix for roughly two days. As far as the Charmed went, he ranked among the most powerful, a Reach Keeper and one who patrolled the Nether Reaches, no less. Yet, instead of intimidating, I found him comfortably familiar, someone I could walk next to while lost in thought without one second of it being judged as cold, aloof, or awkward.

  Outside the pollution of the city lights, the night stars hung much brighter in the sky above. It could have been a beautiful walk, strolling up the island shore but not tonight. Not when we eyed every shadow with suspicion.

  The closer we got to Hammock Grove, the more worried I became. What if Lord Lucian Rowle didn’t show up? Or even worse—what if Strix had conjured up the meeting in the throes of delirium? What then? I’d allowed him to drag me out of the safety of numbers. I’d stick out like a sore thumb, the single moth fluttering above the flame.

  “Argh,” I growled, shaking my head in frustration.

  “There,” Strix said at the same time, pointing through the trees. “We’re here.”

  I followed the line of his finger to see the red hammocks on their posts, illuminated by the nearby streetlights. There wasn’t a soul in sight.

  Strix stepped off the cement pathway to cut across the grass.

  “Are you sure about this?” I asked uneasily as I followed. “How’s he going to know—”

  I abruptly stopped as an electrical current suddenly zinged straight through me.

  “What is it?” Strix asked, whirling on high alert.

  “Did you feel that?” I asked, puzzled.

  Strix arched a slow brow and relaxed a little. “You felt Lucian’s wards, didn’t you?” he said, his tone sounding closer to an accusation than a question. “Lucian’s in a class of his own, so not just anyone can detect his wards.”

  Yeah, he needed to be in the hospital. Stat. “Then how can I?” I retorted. What part of dud didn’t he get?

  Apparently, no part. “Only a highly trained sorcerer could do such a thing,” he explained coolly. “Or one with incredible mana pumping through their veins.” He fixed me with a stare.

  I rolled my eyes at him. “Well, that counts me out, doesn’t it,” I snapped, stalking forward. Yeah, he was sexy and comfortably familiar, but apparently, a pig-headed dolt as well.

  I got only a few yards farther before a chill swept over me. I stopped again, dead in my tracks.

  “What is it?” Strix hissed, rushing to my side.

  I swallowed and glanced around, but saw nothing. “Nerves, I guess,” I said, unable to shake a sense of queasiness rising in my stomach.

  “I don’t think so,” he disagreed in a low voice. Drawing his scarf over his mouth, he raised his hands.

  A harsh, uneven growl shattered the silence behind us. We whirled as one.

  Fallen Ones. Three. Three dark, ghostly shapes hovered in the air behind us, looming large, hulking, and dangerous, their tattered robes whipping around exposed, spectral bones. The overwhelming putrid stench of their rotten flesh blasted my nose, prompting a gag.

  “Where’s Lord Rowle?” I gasped. “We’re sitting ducks here.”

  “Get behind me,” Strix ordered through clenched teeth.

  I couldn’t. I stood my ground. I couldn’t leave him to face them alone. The fight had yet to begin and already beads of sweat formed on his brow. Clearly, he couldn’t even fight one, let alone three.

  I heard him chanting the words of a spell and a starburst of pure white light exploded from his hands, arcing directly towards the Fallen Ones, but it wasn’t enough. Oh, they screeched and snarled, scattering formation in order to avoid the light burning past them, but it was gone all too soon, and they again returned to hover, unharmed, as Strix weaved on the verge of fainting.

  This wasn’t going to end well.

  The Fallen Ones lunged forward in concert then, melting Lucian’s wards like butter.

  Strix didn’t move. Gasping, I grabbed his arm to pull him back, but then, the worst thing of all happened. As I jerked him back, Olivia’s spice bottle flew out of my pocket over the grass to shatter on the concrete—right in the Fallen Ones’ path.

  I froze, a shock of fear flooding through me. Not Olivia. No, not Olivia.

  Strix began to chant again. A bolt of lightning sizzled down from above, driving a protective wedge between the Fallen Ones and the terrified impling.

  “Run, Olivia,” I shouted hoarsely. “Run!”

  She didn’t. She huddled amongst the shards of glass, her squeals of terror ripping my heart to shreds.

  Strix’s light faded and he fell to one knee.

  The Fallen Ones grinned and moved forward, interested now in using the impling as bait.

  A righteous rage began to bloom deep inside me. No. Not on my watch. Lifting my head, I stepped protectively in front of Strix and shouted at them, fiercely, “Leave here, at once! Don’t you dare touch her. Stop. Not one step closer.”

  They answered in a chorus of growls, “Then deliver yourself to us instead, fledgling. This day is your last to walk on earth. Die well.”

  A burst of adrenaline rushed through me, heightening my senses. An odd smell tickled my nose. Sulfur? I frowned and shoved the distraction away. As one of the Fallen Ones reached for Olivia, I found myself running forward, but even as fast as I moved, I was too slow. The spectral creature’s fingers closed around the impling’s tiny body.

  Her terrified screech spurred me on. I heard Strix then, shouting behind me, realizing then he’d been shouting the entire time, but I was beyond listening. A low growl erupted deep from within my throat. I shook my head and took another step forward, but suddenly pitched forward, feeling strangely off balance and heavy.

  Startled, I glanced down at my feet to see a soft crimson light spreading out in front of me as energy raced up from my toes to crack up my legs. As I surrendered to the sheer energy coursing through me, I felt my every cell rearranging itself into an entirely new form.

  Was I…shifting? How? Into what?

  A brilliant blue light glazed over me. I smiled, recognizing Strix’s touch, a spell of protection, even as I felt a power rocking my body, bursting forth and surging through my veins, thrumming over me as I grew into something else.

  Then a low, fierce snarl sounded from behind, the chilling sound raising the hair on my neck. I whirled, wondering what new manner of dark creature attacked me from behind, but to my relief, saw only Ricky, not in his human-friendly, eight-inch form, but in his natural state and in the full glory of an angry, elite fire imp. He raced towards me, a scaled, horned, towering mass of muscle over twelve feet tall and arriving at my side, braced his feet in a wide stance and peeled his lips back, revealing massive incisors dripping with venom. He roared then, the ground beneath my feet vibrating with the rage of a father protecting his
child as he unleashed a potent spell directly at the Fallen Ones. The collateral damage sent Strix flying back and should have knocked me off my feet as well, but oddly, it didn’t.

  The Fallen Ones wailed and fell back a step, their gut-churning shrieks cracking through the air like booms of thunder.

  I faced them again, possessed by a fierce rage.

  “Drop her, at once,” a low, growling voice commanded, so deep it rattled my bones. I blinked, startled to realize the voice was…mine.

  I lifted my hand—only it wasn’t a hand any longer but a massive, scaled creation hosting a fantastic set of large, black claws. I flexed them and roared as tiny pinpricks of heat crawled up my throat. Power. Sheer, raw power. Opening my jaws wide, I allowed a ball of fire to erupt from the depths of my gullet and launched it directly at the Fallen Ones, driving them back another step.

  “Drop her,” I ordered again.

  “Only if you grant us safe passage,” the Fallen One holding Olivia hissed at me as the foul creature at its side parted its lips in a blood-curdling scream.

  I smelled their fear. “Get out of here,” I ordered with a feral sort of smile as another blast of heat began burning in my belly.

  The Fallen Ones moved back, hissing and chanting unholy words, and then, dropping Olivia to the ground, they vanished as one, narrowly missing the hot, rushing blast I’d just launched in their direction.

  Moving fast but as silent as a ghost, Ricky barreled past me to scoop up Olivia from where she fell.

  I stayed where I was, massive legs splayed wide, and then, the hot, dry power inside me stilled and I felt myself melting back into my human form. As the last scale faded from my flesh, I gasped, shaken to the core, “What happened?”

  A figure stepped gracefully forward to catch me as I swayed on my feet. Strix. Grateful for his strength, I buried my fingers into his shirt to steady myself and feeling strangely exhausted, laid my head down against his chest. It just felt like the natural thing to do.

  “They’re gone, thanks to you. We’re safe,” the deep rumble of his voice beneath my ear sounded like a cool liquid calming my burning skin. “With the strength of your spirit, I knew you’d shift into something fierce, but never in my wildest thoughts did I think it could be a…dragon.”