Page 52 of Wings and Shadowthief

Jack Hunter was a descendant of the line of the light, the line that had born Lucifer and his brother Michael. In their original world, they were known as the Dragnars, tamers of dragons, who'd eventually evolved to partially shift into their familiars.

He was fire, and he did what fire did best.

He burned.

At first, Hunter felt a prick, then the teasing changed to pain, then agony as his skin melted away under his steady stare, but he kept stroking the magic inside him, directing it to incinerate layer after layer of skin.

"What are you doing?" the innocent voice was tinged with fear.

As it should be.

Hunter redirected his eyes to her and smiled. "Don't worry. I can't hurt you. Right?"

He moved his flames to reach her, and watched with pleasure as the Fate recoiled in terror.

"No!" the crone cried, or begged, he couldn't tell.

He didn't care overmuch about those three fools. What mattered was the spell he needed to undo.

The golden words on his skin reddened as he burned them along with his flesh, screaming in anguish, but never stopping until they'd all finally faded.

Hunter was a raw sack of bone and charcoal flesh. His clothes had long since been destroyed, so he reached out for one of the Moirai's veils and pulled it down.

The girl underneath was as gorgeous and cruel as he might have expected.

"Come after me or Gwen again? I'm burning Olympus down."

He tied the cloth around his hips, unfurled his wings—the only part of him that had remained intact—and set off into the night sky.

He had worlds to cross to get back where he belonged.

Roll the Dice

"Well, what have we here?"

Gwen smiled at the two vampires closing in on her, hoping to appear dumb, tipsy, or both.

She'd left her shirt and trench coat in the cave, leaving her to walk around in a black bra and leather pants. Tris had assured her she was suitably distracting.

Tris grinned, making a show of kissing the fresh puncture wound he'd left on her neck. "She's mine. Find your own."

The vampires were good sports, moving along to find another amusement, just like all those they'd come across so far.

"Are we getting close?"

They were relying on Tris's sense of smell to direct themselves through streets filled with bodies. Tris wrinkled his nose. "I think? It stinks so much, it's hard to tell. Seth has a distinct scent, but it's like I get a whiff of it everywhere."

Gwen rolled her eyes, hardly surprised. Then she regretted it, because out of the corner of her eye, she'd just seen far too much of yet another pretty boy bent over in the street.

Hadn't these people heard of bedrooms?

They passed what appeared to be a gambling hall, with a few tables of card games, when Tris suddenly took a sharp corner, eyes wide. Gwen followed without questioning it.

Tris leaned over her and closed his mouth over the bite mark he'd given her for show. Gwen pretended to moan, playing her part to a tee as she looked down the main street.

Then she saw her.

Aveka.

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