Crying Fire

by Zenina Masters

  He chuckled. “I am not. My parents met in Japan after World War II. He was on assignment for his government and doing sweeps of the area around the coastline to check for unexploded mines, she was an ayakashi from the area who took one look at his tail and followed him back to the base.”

  “That is sweet.”

  “She considered humans as prey; it took some time to get her integrated into modern society. The local yokai in the region helped her out.”

  Thadra winced. “Ouch. Right. I forget that sometimes. So many of the ancient races used humans for food.”

  “With modern food production, it is a bit of a stretch to remember that.”

  She nodded. “Yup.”

  He looked at her with a grin. “Did you just say yup?”

  “I did. When I am not with my father, I let my language slip. He tends to remain on the formal side.”

  Thadra sighed when the grassy ground was within reach and she was able to set foot on the cooler surface.

  Rik joined her, still as naked as he was when he walked out of the sea like he owned it. His body didn’t seem interested in her, so that was both relaxing and disappointing. Perhaps the friend zone was their destiny. Human societies had so many fun words right now.

  She listened to the silence and then had to ask, “Your parents are both alive?”

  “They are. My mother finally ordered me to the Crossroads and let me know that if I tried returning home without a mate, she would chew me up and swallow.”

  “She is also a sea creature?”

  “An isonade. When shifted, there isn’t a part of her that isn’t deadly.”

  Thadra chuckled. “Everything one wants in a mother.”

  “She used to keep shipping lanes clear of poachers and pirates. It was an interesting childhood, but I don’t regret it.” He had a relaxed smile on his lips.

  “She took you along?”

  “When it was necessary. My father consulted for the navy, so we travelled quite a bit, and kidnapping was always a threat, so she taught me to deal with it.”

  “Right. Of course. You had to deal with the situation you were in.”

  “Yes. You don’t speak of your mother. Is there a reason?”

  She sighed. “My mother died while absorbing the nightmares of trauma victims. Eating dreams was what she was born to do, and it was how she passed.”

  “How old was she?”

  “Three hundred. Her direct family had short lives in comparison with the rest of her relations.”

  “So, your life does not stretch into the distance.”

  She sighed. “I prefer to think short term. There is one thing that I know in this life, and that is that you have no idea when it will be pulled from you.”

  “She had a brutal talent. You will have a different outcome.”

  Thadra wrinkled her nose. “Of course, I will.”

  They didn’t say anything until they were near the tower and he stopped at a shelf to tie a wrap around his hips.

  He was blushing slightly. “Sorry about that. I don’t have magic to summon clothing, so I simply ignore nudity until an opportunity presents itself.”

  She sighed. “You should have told me. I can do basic fabrication. I could have let my gaze relax a little. Making that much eye contact is stressful.”

  He grinned and then laughed at her. She blinked, trying to figure out if he meant it with a mocking strain.

  “Was that funny?”

  He shook his head, reached out, and brought her hand to his lips for a kiss. “No, it wasn’t funny at all. It was exceptionally flattering. Thank you.”

  She frowned and nodded. “I have to go take a shower. I am sticky.”

  His shoulders shook again, and she groaned as she followed his lascivious line of thinking. With her shoulders straight, she headed for the tower and some privacy where she could analyze the afternoon’s events.

  She was out of her depth with no one to stalk and kill. She was going to have to put another plan of attack into action.

  Chapter Six

  Rik was waiting in the lobby, and for the first time, Juno looked a little uncomfortable with him being there.

  “Rik, is something wrong?”

  “No, I just had a bit of an etiquette incident earlier with Thadra, and she went upstairs to freshen up. I am hoping to be in her field of vision when she comes down looking for a meal.”

  Juno’s eyes fluttered as she looked up toward the steps. “You might have a long wait. I think she went down for a nap.”

  “I will wait.”

  Juno opened her mouth and then paused. “Excuse me.”

  She sprinted up the steps, and Derix came through the portal, doing the same.

  Rik ran after them. “It is Thadra, isn’t it?”

  * * * *

  Thadra was lost in a haze of pain. The survivors of Ergonic’s twisted attentions had begun to realize that he was missing. They dreamed of their attacks, and Thadra had to take in their anguish and soak it up, leaving them free of it.

  She had survived the first wave, survived the initial impact of the people he hurt, but now, it was all about getting them through what he did to them and out the other side.

  She cried for them and sat up, hot molten tears burned down her face, and that is when she noticed that her bed was on fire.

  Thadra looked around, and it wasn’t just her bed. The room was on fire. “Damn it.”

  A pounding started on the door, and she got up, yelling over the roar of the flames. “I have it. Give me a minute.”

  She gathered up the flame as she crossed the room, and when she got to the balcony doors, she kicked them open and sent the fireball out until it dispersed.

  There wasn’t enough fabric to dress herself in, so she went to the door and opened it. “I do apologize. Perhaps there is somewhere I could just camp?”

  Juno and Derix were standing there in shock, and Rik was behind them, looking at her in amazement.

  Juno smiled, and when she had verified the fire was out, she tapped her cheek. “You have a little gold on your face.”

  “Oh. Sorry. I was crying.”

  Juno immediately got an expression of sympathy on her features.

  Thadra stepped back and waved them in. “I believe I need to explain.”

  The trio walked into her room, and Rik looked around before looking back at her. “What happened?”

  She flicked her hair over her shoulders to remove some of the nudity from her situation. She was dressed in the scorch marks and smears of the silk she had worn to nap.

  The tower was already refreshing the room, removing the smoke damage and slowly repairing the bed.

  Rik asked her again, “What happened?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I dreamed.”

  Juno and Derix looked at her, and they didn’t say anything.

  She inhaled and then exhaled slowly. “In my previous occupation, I was exposed to certain individuals who had done unpleasant things. When they were given court-ordered judgment, I took on the connection that they had to their victims. My job, my duty is to take that pain, little by little until it fades away. When I take the horror and agony into me, I cry fire. Well, I cry molten gold. At home, I have an island that I have created that doesn’t burn. The ocean cools me while the fire burns, and when I wake, their pain is lessened until one day, it is simply gone.”

  Rik murmured, “Isn’t that how your mother died?”

  “She couldn’t cry. It was part of her mixed genetics. There was no outlet for her, and the agony wore away at her. I am going to live as long as I can.”

  Derix scowled. “You are linked to the victims?”

  “Yes, at the moment of execution, the executed passes his or her link on to me. Well, they did. I am retired now. It was a safeguard put in place to make sure that the victims were not forgotten. The fey can no longer prey on the emotional and physical states of humanity. The half-fey nee
d to be kept in check as well. The delights of parenthood should never be shunted aside for the convenience of setting a predator loose on the world.”

  She walked over to the wardrobe and felt the heat blasting through it. That wouldn’t do.

  She focused and pulled the heat out of the wood, turning it into a ball of fire around her fist. She walked it to the balcony and let the fire float away on the wind.

  It dissipated and left no trace.

  She turned back to the gathering in her room, and she sighed. “Right. Well, sorry that you had to learn about it like that, Rik. I am sure that you will be able to move on to a nice shifter or something.”

  He moved past the guardians and gripped her hands. “A little death doesn’t scare me. Your living in pain does.”

  She squeezed his hands. “It isn’t pain, it is grief. Grief for all those who were hurt without anyone to defend them. They live with it every day, and sometimes, it tries to take them over. That is when I truly do my job. That is my occupation, my calling.”

  She looked at his features, and there was a strange pain in his eyes. She smiled. “Perhaps I should find someone who is a little less likely to share my pain.”

  He sighed. “Any mate you took at the Crossroads would share your pain. Before you leave, you will be balanced, and half of his magic will flow into you and half of yours into him. That is how it works. Your pain will be his in the most literal of senses.”

  She frowned. “No one said that.”

  “It is common knowledge, and most folk are excited to share everything with their mate.”

  Thadra blinked and pulled away. “No.”

  Rik smiled slightly. “What?”

  “No, I don’t want to share this. I have the tools to deal with it. He won’t.”

  “He will, and you will teach him to use them.”

  She looked down to where he still held her hands. “That is a lot to expect of him.”

  Rik smiled and squeezed her hands. “That is why we come here. We come to find the people who finally fit.”

  She looked at Juno leaning against Derix and back to Rik. Was this what she had been sent for?

  After a shower and a change of clothing, the tower had repaired most of the damage, and she was hungry again.

  The closet was open, and the tower had added a few outfits to her selection. The dresses were fluttery, off the shoulder, and the opposite of her everyday wear. They were also in a bevy of colours that she would never have picked for herself. She had decided on the rich blue with some light silver sandals. Thadra twisted and twirled, watching herself in the mirror until there was a knock on the door.

  Thadra walked over to the door and opened it.

  Juno was standing there with a smile on her face. “May I come in?”

  “Please.”

  “I think we should have a talk about the Crossroads and what they are. I am guessing that you have come into this a bit blind.”

  “I have. There are no texts on the Crossroads yet.”

  They went and stood on the balcony side by side while Juno explained what the Crossroads was, what it meant, and how it had come to be.

  “Things were different, of course, after the fey demanded their chance at non-human mates. The Crossroads expanded, the Isthmus sprang up, cottages in the back of beyond for honeymooning couples were designed, and the fey started a steady trickle into what had been a tiny and secluded world.”

  Juno leaned on the railing and exhaled deeply.

  “Those who had been here the longest felt it the most, but they had seen the change that moved through this little world. They took it the best. I arrived late, and Derix and I have only been a couple for a flicker of a heartbeat in the eye of the Crossroads.”

  Thadra asked, “What was the balancing like.”

  Juno pulled her hair behind her ears. “My ears got pointy, my skin is shiny now. Mind you, I knew Derix before we got here. He was my brother’s partner.”

  “Romantically?” Thadra cocked her head.

  Juno laughed. “No. They worked for the shifter council as part of the initiative to rescue shifters who had been captured by fey. Like me.”

  Thadra looked at the woman closely. “You were captured?”

  “Captured and tortured for three months. Derix was on the team that brought me in so that I could be taken to healers.”

  Thadra blinked. “You were very damaged?”

  “Very damaged, in every way. But, I got through it, Derix got me through it, and when I was well, I left the human world and came here for a job as a guide. Derix followed me as soon as he learned about my departure, and then, he got a position here as a bouncer. After that, the Isthmus opened up, and we were assigned here as guardians and caretakers.”

  “Do you have a rescue complex?”

  Juno laughed. “No. Even while I was in recovery, he courted me, and it kept me connected to the world at large. That was what bound us as friends. He gave support to me and expected nothing back. The lover’s thing came later.”

  Thadra cocked her head again. “Is that what I should look for, someone who is kind?”

  “No, you should look for a friend. A friend makes a choice to be at your side and help you. A lover wants a different kind of intimacy. I don’t think you have had many of either if your occupation is any indication.”

  Thadra shrugged. “I often had to gain confidants in the areas that I was investigating. I suppose those were friendships. Men were easily swayed into my embrace if I chose to invite them, so lovers don’t matter as much. I always hated the look in the eyes of those who found out I was just there for the court. I think I hurt them, so I am a bad friend.”

  Juno shook her head. “You had a job to do, but that job is over now, so now, you need to learn how human the fey can be.”

  “It was a fey that hurt you?”

  “Yes.”

  “And it is a fey that you mated with?”

  “Not the same one, but yes.”

  Thadra processed that as quickly as she was able. “Do you have any books on friendship?”

  “I will ask at the Axion. They have a full library.”

  There was a chime, and a book rose out of the floor at Thadra’s feet. “Thank you, tower.”

  The book was on historical friendships between fey and humans and between the fey. She bent and picked it up.

  Juno looked over her shoulder. “How can you read that? The words are moving.”

  Thadra smiled. “You don’t read the words, you read the book.”

  She pressed her palm to the book and took it in. She processed the information as it swarmed into her and filed it away for analysis.

  “So, I need to look for someone I can befriend before I seek out a lover?”

  “It is generally recommended. I would say to start with Rik.”

  Thadra blinked, and she shook her head. “No.”

  Juno was stunned, and it showed. “What? Why not?”

  “I don’t want to hurt him, and being with me, with what I am, hurts. My magic will hurt him, and he would have to live with it, a much shorter life than he normally would. That isn’t right.”

  Juno looked at her, and there was a weird shine in her eyes. “No, it isn’t right. My merging with Derix shortened his life by centuries, and he did it voluntarily and with great enthusiasm. It was his choice, and I am glad he made it.”

  Thadra let a slow smile cross her lips. “The men get a vote?”

  Juno’s features relaxed. “They actually do. It has to be a meeting of partners. But yeah, after you have your way with them, you can let them have a vote in whether you will stay with them. Damn. I never meant that to rhyme.”

  They giggled, and Juno filled Thadra in on the details of binding and balancing, and how things would work once Thadra had found her target... mate.

  Now, it was time to put that plan into action.

  Chapter Seven

  The ninth fey
in a row spun her around on the dancefloor at the Crossed Star. She returned to his arms, and he smiled at her. She smiled back, but inwardly, she was calculating how long she could go before she returned to her seat.

  “So, Thadra, it is a lovely name.”

  She smiled. “Thank you, so is Norkris.”

  He chuckled and swayed to the music. “Have you had an easy time with the name?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “It is shared with the fey-killer, the executioner.”

  She didn’t miss a beat. “You don’t say.”

  “Yes, it is rumoured that she steals the soul as she kills the victim.”

  Thadra nodded. “Interesting.”

  The music wound down, and she pulled herself free. He smiled and kept hold of her hand. “I would like another dance.”

  “I am done. Enjoy seeking out women who don’t frighten you, Norkris.”

  She heated her hand until he couldn’t hold on, and then, she simply walked away.

  She glared at two fey who tried to stop her from leaving and looked around for the café. She stalked around and stood outside the building and its windows. She looked at the cheerful people, some solo, some in groups, and a few couples. They were all here for the same purpose, but they had felt a yearning to come there, and they were fulfilling that urge.

  She cocked her head and decided to leave. She could get food at the Isthmus without the socialization.

  She turned and took a step, colliding with a familiar body. “Rik?”

  He caught her by the arms, and he sighed. “It is difficult, isn’t it?”

  “It is. I have never had to fit in.” She blinked rapidly as her eyes filled with tears. “This is hard.”

  He wove his hand into her hair and cupped her head. “I know.”

  He kissed her. Her eyes went wide with surprise, and then, something else crept in. Curls of heat formed in her extremities, and she moved toward him until her body was plastered against his.

  She lost track of time, space, and everything in between. Rik felt like the best and safest place in a world where everyone was looking for someone, and it was never going to be her. He was the only one who knew what she was and embraced her anyway.