by Cynthia Eden
Fire raced across the carpet, coming straight at Dee. “Mine!” Nina screamed again.
Dee sprang back, slipped, and fell to the floor. If the Ignitor wanted her justice, fine, then she could have it.
Nina’s hands dug into the door frame and her breath shuddered out.
“Had to…leave…witch alive…couldn’t let…”
What?
The fire drifted into smoke.
Grim sat up. His fingers curled around the stake, and he yanked it out.
Blood spattered onto the floor, the wall. “Nice try.” His teeth snapped together. “Last try.”
Nina sobbed behind him.
And color her fucking stupid. Dee’s jaw dropped. What had he told her just moments before? “I knew where you were, every minute. I knew.”
Not because he’d linked with Simon. No, that link hadn’t kicked in until—until he’d broken Catalina.
That meant—hell. Her eyes lifted to meet Nina’s glittering and teary 197
stare.
So blind.
“It’s past time for you to die,” the Ignitor said, not to Grim, but to Dee. Nina’s skin was so pale. The blood looked like bright red clown makeup on her flesh.
“He killed your family!” Dee snarled.
The Ignitor smiled. “That was the price.”
Dee didn’t dare look Simon’s way. If she could keep their focus, he might be able to break free of Grim. Maybe. “The price of what?”
“My services.” She waved her hand and fire snaked out to circle Dee.
Shit.
“For my fire, he had to kill my family.”
Dee surged to her feet. “Why didn’t you just do it yourself?”
“Because they knew what I was.” Spoken with sadness.
Dee stared into her eyes and knew, too. It wasn’t that Nina was an Ignitor.
She was a monster. Down to the soul.
“They wouldn’t let me get close enough to kill them. They left me—I was sixteen and they left me.” Nina’s lips flattened. “It took me so long to track them.”
And longer to find a vamp willing to take them out.
Grim’s hard laugh filled the room. “Tore didn’t know. For once, the bastard didn’t know the game.”
Dee swallowed back the sick rage that boiled in her throat. “You’re one fine actress, Nina.” She’d known just how to act. Just what to do. From the corner of her eye, Dee saw that Grim had risen to his feet. He had her stake gripped in his hand. The only thing that separated the two of them was Nina’s small line of flames.
“Thanks. I owe you for that bit,” Nina said.
Dee’s breath caught. What?
“I saw you. That night, when your family burned…”
They’d been dead long before the fire.
“I was there, watching.” A cold smile. “And making those flames dance. Grim wanted a sample of my power, and I gave it to him.”
But she would have been—
Around sixteen. Close to Dee’s own age.
Guess it hadn’t taken her that long to find her vamp. He’d just taken his sweet time killing for her.
The better to control his weapon.
“I had a sister, too,” Nina murmured. “I wonder—Grim, did she beg 198
like hers?”
Dee snapped. She raced right through the fire, barely feeling the lick of the flames as she went after that burning bitch.
She punched Nina. A hard hit right in the jaw and down, down she went, those eyes closing, the flames dying and—
“Kill her. Fucking kill her,” Grim ordered.
Arms grabbed her, held tight. Her claws raked against flesh that was warm and strong and familiar.
Her heart stopped as his scent filled her nostrils. Simon.
“S-sorry…” His gasped whisper, right in her ear.
Then his fangs sank into her throat.
The flames drew him closer. Zane moved easily, keeping low to the ground and staying in the shadows. He’d expected to see more vamps around the place. He’d taken out two, had found the signs to indicate Dee and Simon had eliminated at least two others.
The fire flared higher and he caught the faintest of sounds beneath the crackle. A whimper.
His blood seemed to ice. He rushed through the open stable doors, heading through the thick curtain of smoke.
A broken, twisted doll lay on the ground. She’d curled into a ball and the flames were closing in on her. He’d know that long mane of white-blond hair any place. Hell, no.
He ripped off his shirt and began beating at the fire. Trying to shove it back as best he could.
Too big. Too strong.
Zane sucked in a sharp breath and tried to focus his energy. He was strong enough for this. He had to be.
The whisper of wind blew across his face. Wind he’d stirred. With a push, he sent the wind against the fire and the flames shifted, chasing to the left with the force of the wind.
There, just enough. He jumped through the flames. Zane grabbed Catalina and threw her over his shoulder. She was so stiff, so still.
He covered his mouth with her shirt and ran back through the fire.
Can’t keep it down. Can’t stop it.
The smoke, a thick wall of gray, blocked his vision but he shoved forward. If he couldn’t find the doors, he’d just tear down a wall. He’d—
“Going somewhere?” A vamp loomed from the smoke, teeth bared, claws out.
No time for this shit.
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He hadn’t heard Catalina draw a breath. Hadn’t heard a sound from her since that faint whimper.
Keeping one arm secured around Catalina, he grabbed the vamp and heaved him back into the fire.
Then he took out a wall and got his witch to safety.
It’s all right, Cat. I won’t let the flames get you.
Her worst fear. One that had come true too many times for her.
And for him.
The fresh air slapped him in the face and a shout broke from the line of houses. More vampires, coming fast.
He ran for the woods and really hoped Jude would appear to cover his ass.
In the distance, a tiger roared.
About fucking time. Jude had better have his sexy little lady by his side, because they were going to need her to take out these bloodsuckers.
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Chapter 16
Dee’s body trembled against his and Simon tightened his hold around her slender form.
Her blood flowed onto his tongue and with it, their link strengthened.
The voice that had been shouting in his mind since he’d followed Dee inside this hell finally quieted, and his focus shifted back to—
Her.
Kill Dee?
No fucking way.
His eyes closed for just a moment and his teeth eased from her neck.
His tongue swept over her flesh. The sensual caress was the only reassurance he could offer her then.
“I said to kill the bitch!” Grim’s fierce shout.
Simon’s head lifted and he stared at the Born he’d fought to keep out of his head for so long. The man who’d ordered the hit on his family. On Dee’s.
The Ignitor lay on the floor. Still unconscious because his Dee didn’t screw around.
Neither did he.
Dee laughed. “The man might die for me, nearly has, but no way would he ever kill me.”
Damn but he loved her.
He met Grim’s dark gaze. The bastard’s hold had all but vanished now. Whether from Dee’s touch, her blood, or just her, he didn’t know.
But the end had come. Not for them, but for Grim. “Your brother sends his greetings, Grim. I think he really hopes you enjoy hell.”
The Born’s face changed then, went slack with surprise and a flash of pain. Grim’s gaze leapt to the bed. To the still form of the woman. “I’m not…” He shook his head. “Tore can’t kill me, he’s not here, I’d know—”
“He’s not killing you.” De
e’s body vibrated in his grasp. “We are.”
Grim’s stare snapped to them and his lips rose. “Still on that, are we?”
“Yeah, we are.” So fierce, his Dee.
“A fresh vamp and a fool who couldn’t appreciate the new life he’d been given?”
Enough talk. Time to end—
“Your knight, is he?” Grim sneered at that. “Don’t you know, dear 201
Dee, he’s been luring you in—for me—from the beginning?”
Simon’s hands dug into her shoulders.
“That attack in the alley. The near hit with the gunshot. Your lover arranged that. He almost got you killed.”
Dee glanced up at him.
“And that woman, the one who died so well for my men. Grace, wasn’t it, Simon?”
Grace. Dee’s friend. The one he’d used to manipulate her.
“She gave you all that wonderfully wrong Intel on Simon, didn’t she?
I wonder…how could she have made a mistake like that?”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He should have explained all of this to her before.
Should have made her understand—
“I know.” Soft. “I know everything he did,” she said.
His jaw dropped. She knew and she was letting him touch her? Not screaming? Not staking him?
“And I know he wasn’t doing it for you, asshole.” Her dark stare turned back to Grim. “He was working to kill you, not to set me up.”
She knew? How—
“I knew from the first bite. I’m Born, remember? I knew.”
Well, shit.
Hate twisted Grim’s face. “You should have run while you had the chance.”
A ripple of her shoulders. “Not really the running type. More the kick-your-ass type.”
Flames raced across the floor.
Grim’s laughter filled his ears. And Nina—dammit, she jumped up.
“Burn, bitch!” Her scream of fury, directed right at Dee.
Grim slipped through the doorway, his laughter following him.
The flames rose too high, too fast. Nina’s eyes flashed red, the vessels near bursting as she pumped all her power right at them.
Dee stumbled back against him. “Run!”
They charged toward the window. The fire chased after them.
“Burn, burn, burn.” A chant from Nina. Fucking insane. The flames caught Simon’s back and legs, biting at the flesh, and he clenched his teeth at the agony. He fell, the fire rising around him as—
“No! Not without you!” Dee grabbed his arms and yanked him out the window with her. The broken glass cut his stomach and chest and then Dee was hitting him, pounding on his body. No—striking at the flames and putting out the fire.
Burning her flesh, to save him.
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A shriek echoed from the house. The flames came at them again.
“Grim has himself one hell of a guard dog,” Dee growled, breath heaving out.
Simon’s gaze scanned the yard. Three vamps came out, claws and teeth ready, but they didn’t attack. They just watched.
Ready to watch us die.
“This is the way it ends for you.” Grim’s taunting voice. He walked from the shadows of the house. Blood dripped down his chest. “For both of you.”
Simon caught Dee’s hand, held tight. Surrounded by fire and vampires.
He looked at Dee. Shoulders back, chin up. Eyes blazing black. Not afraid. Not his Dee. Never afraid.
No, not her and she was—
Smiling?
“I know what happens next,” Dee said, and her soft voice carried easily over the crackle of flames.
“Me, too,” Grim snapped. “You burn. And you scream. Then you die.
Right in your lover’s arms.”
“You believe in prophets, don’t you, Grim?” The flames were so close that the heat seemed to graze his flesh, but Nina was holding back now, watching Dee. Why?
Because Grim had his hand up, and like the good lapdog that she was, Nina wouldn’t strike without his order.
“After all, you set all this into motion.” Dee’s right hand—which looked broken—lifted to indicate the flames and vampires. “Because a demon had a vision and told you that I would be your killer.”
Grim’s lips thinned.
“You killed my family,” she continued. “Everyone I ever loved because you thought a fifteen-year-old human girl would one day kill an all-powerful Born.”
“The demon was right! You would have come for me!”
“I came now for vengeance. Because of you. You are the one who set this in motion. You.”
He shook his head. “No, no, I wasn’t dying again. Those bastards, they betrayed me before. I wasn’t going to die like that again!”
His eyes darted to the vampires who stood so still and silent. “My men won’t turn this time. They’ll stand by me.”
“This isn’t about them.” Simon had no idea where she was going with this, but he caught movement from the corner of his eye. Slow, careful 203
movement. His nostrils flared, just a bit, but he couldn’t smell anything but the smoke and blood.
“I won’t stand by you,” Simon called out. “I won’t be your fucking puppet anymore.”
A muscle jerked in Grim’s jaw.
Simon turned his stare on the line of vamps. “Sure you’re on the right team?”
One of the vamps cut his eyes toward Grim. Hesitation there. And anger in the man’s eyes.
He hates that control, just as much as I did. “What did he make you do?” Simon demanded, aware of that shadow slipping ever closer. “Kill your lovers? Your family? How did you prove your loyalty to him?”
Because that was Grim’s way. Loyalty could only be shown in blood.
“And if you didn’t kill them, he did, right?” Like the bastard had taken out his family. “None of us signed on for this shit, but we can get out.
He just has to die!”
Grim took a step back. His hand rose again to trace the side of his back. Always checking for the wounds he’d had so long ago. Now, Simon understood.
“I know what’s going to happen,” Dee said and she was so close to the flames. He wanted to haul her back, to force her behind him, but this time, this moment was hers. And he’d follow wherever she took him.
“You believe in your prophets.” She lifted her hands high. “I believe in my witch.”
Unease flickered over Grim’s face and the vampires began to move in closer. Not closer to the fire, but closer to Grim. For his protection? Or—
“She scryed to see how this fight would end.”
Uh, yeah, and that shit hadn’t been so positive. Simon swallowed and ignored the fierce throbbing in the back of his legs. The blisters would heal, eventually, if they survived this night.
“Catalina knew she would die in the fire. That’s why she was running when your men caught her.”
Grim’s eyes widened, just a bit.
“Grim!” Nina’s voice screeched. “Let’s just kill them, now, let’s—”
“She saw you die.” Dee’s finger lifted and pointed at the Ignitor.
“The hell you say! You die, you—”
The shadows seemed to grab her. Nina’s words choked off and a thin line of red appeared on her neck.
“Your throat gets cut,” Dee said, just as Nina’s body fell to the ground.
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The flames sputtered away.
The shadow—it was Zane. Standing there, body trembling as he stared down at the woman.
“I saw death. Zane was surrounded by flames. I burned. Nina—her throat was cut.” Catalina’s sad voice drifted through his mind.
But no, after that, she’d said—
“You die, Dee.” The whisper of her words filled his head even as Dee sprang forward and said—
“You die, Grim. You. Die!”
Grim came at her with fury, meeting her armed with the stake she’d used on him.
He drove that stake right
at her chest.
“No!”
But Dee was ready. She spun away from the vamp, and the stake grazed her side, not her heart.
Simon grabbed Grim and wrestled the bastard to the ground. He ignored the claws and teeth and fought to hold the Born when he buckled, struggling to keep him pinned as—
“You die,” Dee whispered again and she had a stake in her hands. The stake she’d taken from Simon when his arms were locked around her and no one could see. The stake had been hidden near his waist, just waiting for her.
Grim lurched up.
She shoved the stake into his chest.
Grim’s eyes flared wide and he sucked in a sharp breath.
Then he smiled. “True,” he whispered, and blood spilled from his lips.
“Both…right…”
The bastard smiled, and died.
Grim’s vampires inched forward.
Simon glared at them. “Your choice. Die with him or get the hell out of here.”
They stared back at him.
“My mother…” One whispered. “He made me…”
“My wife…” From another.
“My son.” Grief. Fury. “I begged him, but I couldn’t stop him!”
Not born monsters. We are what we become.
Simon stared back down at Grim’s still face. Once, Grim had just been a man, too. A man betrayed who’d woken to the power of a near god.
Dee’s fingers slowly loosened their death grip on the stake. Her breath exhaled on a hard sigh. She trembled.
Grim’s lashes were closed. His lips unmoving. No heartbeat. No 205
breath.
Death.
Simon took Dee’s shoulders and pulled her away from the vampire.
Over. Finally.
“Dee?”
He caught a scent then. A wild, fierce scent in the night. Animal.
No, shifter. Jude had to be close. More of the cavalry, but coming too late this time.
The vampires stilled, and he saw their eyes dart to the shadows. They knew when they were being hunted. Fear trickled into their dark gazes.
Then they bolted.
Not as dumb as he’d thought. Just lost, like he’d been.
“Is he dead?” Zane wasn’t looking at them. His eyes stayed on Nina’s body and his shoulders hunched.