Page 6 of The Mating Fire
But the dreams...
Turning her attention back to the computer, she typed in the data and let the program do its work. Fluorescent lights flickered overhead, casting a sterile glow on the rows of cluttered tables and mounds of paper. Geological journals and field notebooks piled high, threatening to topple over in a paper landslide. Nearby, sat Harper’s assortment of rocks collected by the one field study she’d done this year.
She picked up a rock, fingering it absently, the way a woman will finger freshwater pearls around her neck while waiting for a formal dinner date. The earthy, pungent scent of nature seldom failed to ground her, but not today. Not after last night’s dream.
She took the data her professor gathered on his recent trip to Iceland, and began comparing it to older readings. More than 200 earthquakes had indicated growing activity near the fissureand then the volcano erupted, sending streams of molten lava toward a small fishing town.
Harper felt sorry for the villagers whose homes were swallowed by the relentless lava flow. With today’s advanced technology, they did have warning. Her desire was to develop a system of even greater warnings, ones that could accurately pinpoint an eruption, perhaps divert it, and save lives and possibly, homes and land.
As she worked, her thoughts drifted, not to the data or saving property and lives, but about another active volcano that commanded her interest for several weeks.
Indonesia'sKawah Ijen. The volcano, on the island of Java, emitted a rare blue fire.
The volcano fascinated her, and last night in the dream she knew she’d visited it before.
Harper tried to remember vague wisps of the dream and the lover who sobbed upon the woman’s death. A man, committed to only her, whose face she couldn’t recall, but whose touch set her on fire with passion.
His caresses were, well, volcanic.
The mysterious dream lover…and the Kawah Ijenvolcano.
Somehow, she sensed the two were connected.
Some days,it was tough being a sexy incubus demon with time on your hands.
In human form, Jared perched on a comfortable stool at the outdoor bar of a semi-popular Miami sports restaurant, drumming his fingers on the counter. A glass of good Kentucky bourbon sat before him, but he did not drink. Instead, he scanned the room, looking for her. His soulmate, so claimed Xavier, the Crystal Wizard. The one who could save him.
As if that were likely.
Tigers cannot change their stripes and nor can I change myself. Even if you think so, Xavier.
The witch who cursed him to turn into a beast from midnight to sunrise had long vanished into the underworld, so he’d heard. Probably serving the Dark Lord. She was the one reason Jared hovered on the razor’s edge of crossing over to embrace pure evil and heading into the Dark Lord’s domain after death.
He had no desire to spend eternity with that bitch, er, witch.
Nearby at a table for two, a middle-aged woman talking on her cell phone held it away from her ear to complain loudly to a young waitress about her meal while her male companion quivered and tried to look elsewhere. Jared studied the woman, one known as a “Karen” in social media circles.
“I said I wanted the fish rare, you idiot! How hard is it to take a food order? Are you stupid? Did you even graduate the third grade, you ass!”
The woman bellowed like a bull he’d once encountered in a field while he made love to a farmer’s wife. He’d turned that bull into a butterfly until he’d climaxed, and the farmer’s wife had reached her zenith, several times.
Turning this shrew into a butterfly wasn’t warranted. He listened to the woman berate the poor server, a young girl turning beet red.
“I’m, I’m sorry Ma’am, but we cannot serve fish undercooked. It’s a health hazard,” the girl stammered.
“Then what the hell is sushi, you twit!”
“But ma’am, begging your pardon, this is grouper, not…”
“I know what I ordered. Now stop arguing with me, you minimum wage idiot, and get me the correct food! I pay good money in this restaurant.”
Tears rolled down the server’s cheeks as she picked up the plate and scurried away. The woman resumed talking on the phone, her lips flapping.
Flapping…no pursing like a grouper in water…
Don’t do it, don’t do it Jared. You promised Xavier no more tricks.
Aw hell, one last time and she deserves it for making that girl cry.
