by Fox, Piper
Kat touched his cheek, gently. “I think,” she swallowed hard, “I think you should leave. It’s me they want, and you shouldn’t have to keep taking all this.”
Nooooo, his jaguar roared. Ours. Claim her. We stay.
Ethan shook his head, “I’m not leaving you, Kat. I love you. I’ve known for a while, shifters always know. You’re my mate. Shifters only have one in their life, and you’re mine.”
Kat beamed at him, her heart leaping as she realised he’d put into words what she’d known and felt too, “I love you, too.”
He pressed his lips to hers, hearing his jaguar roar in his mind, Yessss, ours. Our mate.
* * *
Much later, Kat wrapped herself in her dressing gown. "We need to get your back sorted. We should have done that before, but you seem to have distracted me."
Ethan grinned. "Did I? Can I do it again?"
"Later. Come on, up! Let me look at your back."
In the bathroom, Kat washed his skin, gently, and applied an antiseptic. "You know, some of these are quite deep. You should really get these seen to by someone who knows what they're doing. Oh, wait. Do you visit the vet or the doctor?"
Ethan half-growled, playfully. "Funny lady. What a question."
Kat cocked her head, smiling. "Personally, I think it's a fair question."
"We have our own healers who know what we are, if we need them, but shifters heal really quickly. These will be gone by tonight. Don’t worry. Now, I’m going to have a nap, if you don’t mind. It helps with the healing."
“Of course.” Kat dropped a kiss on his cheek and headed downstairs.
In the kitchen, she began putting together something simple for lunch. She wasn’t great at cooking anyway, and there was no way she was focusing all her energy on food right now, but they had to eat to keep up their strength.
She took a pan out of the cupboard and was about to put it on the stove when a noise behind her made her turn around. Her heart nearly stopped in her chest as she stared a demon right in the face, from only a few feet away. Without thinking, she threw the pan at him with all her strength, but it just bounced harmlessly off his shoulder.
Kat watched helplessly as he muttered under his breath, forming his hands into a circle and folding them over and over until he produced a fiery, shimmering ball of energy.
“Die, witch,” he growled as he flung the ball straight at her.
Kat flung her arms up protectively in front of her face and closed her eyes, although she knew it was no use. Ethan would never get to her in time and she wouldn’t call him anyway. He might get himself killed trying to save her.
A sizzling, crackling noise filled the air, power surged through her chest, and heat briefly washed over her arms, then she heard the demon cry out and opened her eyes to see that he had been vaporised. There was nothing left but a small pile of ash on the floor.
She looked at her hands in astonishment. Finally! Finally, she’d done it. She didn’t know what she’d done, but she’d done something.
Kat whooped, exhilarated, and Ethan came running down the stairs to see what had happened.
She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him thoroughly. “I did it, I did it.”
“What did you do? What happened?”
Kat described the attack and her reaction and Ethan picked her up and swung her around the kitchen. “You brilliant, brilliant woman. Well done! We’ve got this. We really have.”
* * *
Outside, the sun disappeared as the sky darkened, and an eerie wind swirled around the garden, cold fingers reaching out to the house, seeking entry.
Chapter 4
“Can you feel that?” Kat stood and paced around the kitchen, turning this way and that as if to try and pinpoint the source of her unease. “Something’s not right. Something’s different.”
Ethan’s jaguar sniffed the air, hackles raised. “I can’t feel it in the way that you can,” Ethan said, “but my jaguar knows something’s wrong.”
Someone hesitantly knocked on the door, and Kat and Ethan looked at each other.
"That doesn't sound like a demon," Ethan said. "Expecting anyone?"
Kat shook her head. "In this weather and with all that's going on? Hardly."
She went into the hall and looked through the window, wiping away the condensation and peering through the heavily falling snow to see who was there, but it was only a stooped old man in a huge overcoat and scarf, shoulders hunched with age and his arms hugging his body against the cold. She didn't recognise him, but maybe he was someone from the village. She was quite new to town and didn't know everyone yet. White, whispy hair covered the man's head, untidy, thick brows looked as if they might crawl across his face independently, and his eyelids were so drooped and hooded that she couldn't see what his eyes looked like from this distance.
She beckoned to Ethan. "Look, do you know him?"
Ethan glanced out of the window and shook his head. "I don't like this, Kat. Don't go out there. It could be a trap."
The doorbell rang, startling them both, and Kat jumped back from the window as the man spotted her.
"He's seen me now. I can hardly be rude and not answer. And what if he's hurt or he needs something?"
"Okay, but for all the good it will do, keep the chain on, just in case." Ethan followed her close behind and shimmered into his jaguar
Kat cautiously opened the door and peered out, finding it hard to keep her eyes open in the icy wind and driving snow. "Can I help you?"
The old man took a step forward and Ethan snarled from behind the door.
"Sorry, my, uh, dog is really protective. He's not keen on visitors," Kat waved her hand behind her to sush Ethan. "It’s not the weather for being outside if you don’t have to. Are you okay?" she asked.
The man stared at her for what seemed like far too long, as if he was taking in everything about her and assessing her. Finally, he spoke. "You. It's you. I've come a long way to see you."
Kat didn't know what to make of that, but after the last few days, that was probably the least outlandish thing she'd had to deal with. "Do you know me? I'm sorry, but I don't recognise you."
"I know your kind."
Kat raised her eyebrows, "My...kind? What do you mean by that?"
"Irresponsible, uncaring, devil may care, do what you want, no matter what the consequences, damned magicals." The old man spat the last word as if it left a bad taste in his mouth and began to rant. Kat took a step back, her hand on Ethan's soft back.
"You," the man continued, wagging his finger in her face, "It's people like you that shouldn't be allowed to live, shouldn't be allowed. When my Thalia, my beautiful Thalia is dead," he shouted, "because of people like you."
Kat didn't know how to react for the best, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for your loss," she said, gently, "but we've never even met before, and I know I've never met your Thalia."
"It's your fault. It's all your fault," the man ranted, "You and your kind. I lost my daughter, my only daughter to magic and I'm going to end you. Every last one of you. You take a good last look around because today, you're done. My demons couldn't finish you, useless lumps that they are, but I will."
Ethan grabbed Kat and pulled her back inside, slamming the door shut as the old man's eyes turned hellfire red and he raised his hands high, drawing magic from the air, sparks crackling from his fingertips and his posture suddenly straight and unbowed.
The front door exploded inwards in a shower of sparks and Ethan shimmered back into human form and grabbed Kat's hand.
"Run," he shouted.
They got as far as the kitchen, but the back door blew off its hinges too and more demons than they'd ever seen before poured inside. Ethan pushed Kat behind and him and shifted into his jaguar. "Go. Go now," he growled. "And don't look back."
Kat instinctively ran for the stairs, desperate to put distance between herself and the demons, but equally desperate to save Ethan. She lifted her hands on the stairs, waiting
for the surge of power that she'd felt before, hoping against hope that her magic would work to save them both, but it didn't come. She had nothing. She could hear Ethan snarling and roaring in the kitchen as he fought to hold off the demons, but there was nothing she could do to help him.
She saw the old man in her shattered doorway, his arms raised, and then the whole world exploded into white hot fire. Black and red unnatural flames streamed from his fingertips, climbing up the sides of the door frame, and raged across the hallway, engulfing everything in their path.
Fire licked on the bottom step and crept steadily up the stairs like a living, sentient thing, aiming for where she stood and driving her higher. Kat screamed and ran, turning to try again at the top of the stairs, lifting her arms to bring out any trace of power that might help her, but still nothing happened. She sobbed as the fire inched closer and her magic seemed more distant than ever.
The old man's voice rang out, calling to the demons. "Keep them apart. I want them to die alone, screaming, just like my Thalia."
As the fire climbed to the stop of the stairs, flames reaching out to her, Kat retreated into her bedroom and slammed the door.
She glanced around her room, looking for anything she could use. There was nothing magical about her house, that she knew of, and nothing that would bring out her powers. And although she had a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, she couldn't get to it. Even if she did, the fire was too big now, and whether black flames would respond to an ordinary extinguisher, she had no idea.
Smoke began to curl under the bedroom door and Kat started to cough. She ran into her bathroom and soaked the towels, stuffing them under the door, for all the good that would do.
The floorboards creaked and moved under her feet, beginning to warp in the heat. Kat moved away from the centre of the room, pressing against the wall in case the floor collapsed, and trying not to panic. She coughed again and went to the window, hoping for fresh air at least, but perhaps a way to escape, so she could run and get help, but when she opened the curtains, there was nothing but solid brick wall where clear glass should have been.
"No, this can't be." She touched the brick to see if it was real, and then pushed against its solid surface, trying to move it, but it wouldn't budge. She grabbed her hockey stick from next to the bed and smashed at the brick with all her strength but she couldn't even make a dent.
Flames began to lick underneath the door, burning up the wet towels and filling the room with choking black smoke and Kat dropped to her knees and crawled across the floor, retreating to the bathroom. She was determined to do everything she could to survive and get the time she needed to make her magic work. She just hoped that Ethan could hang on too, if he was still alive. She pushed that thought away, knowing that if she focused on him, she'd completely lose it and neither of them would have a chance.
She sat in the farthest corner of the bath from the door and tried to slow her breathing like Ethan had shown her, trying to calm down so that she could remember what had happened when the demon attacked her in the kitchen and she'd felt that incredible surge of power. She focused in on that feeling of power, sinking herself into how it felt in her chest and how it had felt when she'd released it towards the demon. How did she make it happen again? And quickly, before they ran out of time?
* * *
Downstairs in the kitchen, Ethan battled, scrapped, tore and clawed, using his powerful bite to rend any demons who came near him. There were too many. He knew it and his jaguar knew it, but he'd never stop fighting as long as he drew breath. The blood roared in his ears as his jaguar roared at his prey and pounced to shred yet another demon.
He tried to keep his attention on the fight, but he couldn't help wondering about Kat. Had she made it out alive or was she trapped somewhere upstairs? If he could only get to her, he might be able to keep her safe. But the demons kept coming.
A flash of light caught his eye near the doorway and he watched as black flames flashed across the ceiling. He hissed as the flames spread, consuming everything before them. The curtains went up in a flash and the old wooden dresser in the corner vanishes as if it had never been. Fire leapt in through the doorway from the hall, pushing towards him and bringing choking, thick smoke with it.
He turned to find the demons leaving through the back door, and as he watched, red brick began to replace the window glass and fill in the space where the back door should be. As the last few bricks began to close the space, he closed his eyes and leapt, knowing he had to get out and save himself before he could somehow find a way to help Kat.
* * *
Kat coughed again as choking, dark smoke filled the bathroom. Her lungs were burning and she could barely see, and what she could see wasn't good. Fire was beginning to creep under the bathroom doorway and the door itself was black and smouldering, despite her aiming the shower head at it in an attempt to keep it cool. Water droplets hissed and spat, boiling away as they hit the wood. Before long, the flames would be in the room with her and there was nowhere else to go from here, no way out. She only hoped the smoke took her before the flames reached her. She didn't want to die that way.
For the last time, she tried to summon every ounce of whatever power she possessed, focusing on trying to build up power in her hands, reaching deep inside herself.
As she watched, the flames begin to burn the inside of the door, melting and cracking the tiles on the floor and reaching out towards her. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see, and pushed herself as far into the corner as she could get.
* * *
Outside the house, Ethan raced around the building, dodging demons that tried to stop him and looking for a way back in. But every door and window, every opening he could find was blocked by the strange red brick.
He knew it was hopeless, most of the house was on fire now and flames were shooting out of the attic window and through the roof. Even if he got inside, he had no hope of making it up the stairs to save Kat, but she was his mate and he had to try.
He scrabbled with his claws trying to dig his way in under the back wall of the house to get into the basement. Flames hadn’t yet reached this far and, until he knew for certain, he had to keep on hoping.
Fresh earth piled up behind him as he dug and he could hear demons behind him, commenting and laughing at his efforts, but he ignored them and dug on until finally he was through.
His powerful legs drove into the ground as he sprang forward and pushed through into the hole he’d made.
Inside, the basement was beginning to fill with smoke and he knew he didn’t have long until the whole house collapsed. Creaks and groans from the basement ceiling left him in no doubt of that, and whisps of smoke began to creep through from above as that ceiling too began to burn.
Coughing, he began to climb the basement stairs anyway, changing back to his human form to manage the door but, even as he reached it, flames flickered up the inside of the door and quickly spread, driving him back down into the small basement.
“Kat,” he shouted. He didn’t know why. She couldn’t possibly hear him over the roar of the flames, but he just had to reach out to her.
Smoke filled his lungs and his vision swam as his consciousness began to fade.
* * *
In the corner of the bath, Kat waited as the flames advanced towards her. Tears streamed down her face and she could barely breathe as her last minutes on Earth ticked away.
As if to mock her, the old man’s face shimmered in front of her, like a hologram, and he lifted his hands, fire somehow streaming from his fingers straight towards her, like a blowtorch, even though he couldn’t possibly be in the bathroom with her.
He smiled, “Time to die.”
She flung her arms up as the flames came for her and there it was, finally. A surge of power so strong that if she’d been standing up, she would have been knocked off her feet.
Cooling wind swirled around her, blowing the fire backwards and away from her at such a speed that the flames wer
e almost horizontal. She focused in on the power, feeling it flow through her, feeling it rise up to meet her, there for the taking, and she stood, spreading her arms wide and focusing all her will on what she wanted.
Inside the house, walls and floors knitted together again as if they’d never been burned, smoke cleared as if blasted out of the house by a hurricane, and the red bricks shattered away from the windows and doors into nothing but dust.
Outside, the fire the demons had brought turned back on them and combined with her magic, they vaporised where they stood, their screams dying into nothing.
Kat’s knees wobbled as she finished the spell, pulling the energy she’d released back into herself, but she was determined to walk out of the house on her own two feet, so that was what she did.
Outside in the icy air, soft snow still fell, but the power behind the blizzard had faded with the demons and the storm would soon be over.
“Ethan,” she called, her voice hoarse from the smoke. She coughed to clear her throat and tried again, “Ethan, where are you?”
For too long, he didn’t answer and her heart sank, but at last his jaguar burst out of the house and raced across the grass to her side. He leapt as if to attack, but instead, powerful, velvet paws curled around her shoulders and he rasped his tongue over her face, rubbing his head against her cheek to mark her with his scent.
He released her for no more than a second and shimmered back into his human form to take her in his arms properly and hold her tight.
She didn’t know whether she was laughing or crying, but all she cared about was that they’d survived and they were together.
When she could finally speak, she looked up at Ethan, “Did I get him?”
Ethan laughed, “Did you see that? You were amazing. How could any of them have survived? He’s got to be gone after that.”