Page 49 of The Mating Fire
“Yes. So it isn’t merely bad memories that can make this…” She waggled her fingers and blue flames peeked out of her fingertips. “Happen. It’s like a lighter. I flip the switch.”
Jared stared into the distance, as if not paying attention. “Damn.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“It could be.”
His gaze swept over the pond’s bank. “Let’s test out all your magick. Use your mind to bring the coral rock over here. Imagine you can make it float through the air.”
For some reason, this proved easier than summoning the deadly coldfire. Harper guided the basketball-sized rock over to Jared. It dropped at his feet.
Crouching down, he touched the rock, seemingly lost in thought. “Commanding coldfire, plus telekinesis. You are not a mere coldfire pyrokinetic. What the hell are you?”
Her chest felt hollow. “I thought I was a scientist. A woman. A person.”
Drawing in a deep breath, he cupped her cheek. “You are all those things, Harper. But much, much more. Learn not to label yourself. It limits the potential inside you.”
Such wise words from an incubus sex demon. “You sound more like some mystic guru atop a mountain than an incubus who seduces women.”
His gaze narrowed. “I have walked this earth far longer than you, Harper. Much longer. Do not mock what you do not know.”
Suddenly she wanted to lash out, make him hurt as she was scared and hurting. “You’re so powerful and omnipotent and you have all the answers, tell me how to take my life back. I’ve had everything stripped from me in a manner of days. My life! My best friend, whom I did everything with. I didn’t ask for any of this! I didn’t ask to have my parents die so I might live, or to lose my identity.”
She poked at the center of his chest. “So tell me, Jared, how do I get my life back? I don’t want to have power or magick. I only want my old life back!”
Quicker than she could blink, he clasped her hand, and pulled her against him so her back was snug against his chest. He hooked an arm around her throat, cutting off her struggles. “You can’t. Grow up, Harper. You can’t get your old life back. Do you think I like what I am, damnit? How I wanted my old life back? Learn to live with it as I did and stop complaining.”
She went still, her mind reeling. “What do you mean? What happened to you, Jared?”
Pressure around her throat ceded as he stepped away from her. Harper turned, searching his face. “What was your old life?”
“It matters not. It happened long ago.
Expression bleak, he scanned the horizon. “We must hurry your training. This expenditure of magick is certain to attract attention, the kind of attention you do not want. I don’t detect anything yet, but this place is too wide open to attack.”
Harper tugged at her ponytail. “How can you tell if a demon or another evil entity is around?”
“Best way is to smell them.”
The peaceful park, with a breeze rustling through the palm fronds and rippling the water, suddenly took on a new aura. She lifted her head and sniffed at the wind. Nothing but the scent of horses, newly mown grass and fresh water.
“What do they smell like?”
“Remember the sulphur at the volcano? Now add decomposing flesh, and sewage. There you have it – the formula for a hellfire demon.” Jared shrugged. “They all smell the same, no matter the power. Darkness and pain, the screams of thousands of lost souls. All they care about is power and destruction and siphoning away all joy in the world so they can grow stronger.”
Nostrils flaring, she dragged a deep breath into her lungs. Nothing evil here. Jared’s scent pleased her. Spices and earth, and leather. Nothing bad, or threatening. A faint memory tugged at her – horses and leather, a man laughing as he watched her harness a high-spirited gelding.
Harper pressed a hand to her head. Jared watched her closely. “Headache?” he asked.
“No. Memories from a silly dream I had. What do you want me to do now?”
“Let’s try something else.” He pointed to a small piece of white coral rock near the pond. “Destroy that with your powers. Focus on seeing it smashed to tiny pieces.”
Harper reached inside for her magick, a low hum in her body like a crackling electrical line. Gazing at the coral rock, she stopped. “I can’t.”
Jared arched his eyebrows. “Can’t or won’t?”
“It’s coral rock.”
