Page 2 of Bound By Fire and Magic
“Love you, Kirin.”
Words in response hung in his throat, tangled in his anger at her. “See you soon.”
The closer Kirin got to the Field, the stronger the energy buzzed in his body, like standing too close to an electrical line. It was mostly unnoticeable except when strong solar flares spewed charged particles at the Earth that roiled its magnetic field. It was always stronger for him when he’d been away from it for a while.
Home. Damn it.
His Dragon unfurled, yawning and stretching, eager to run. The tattoo that represented the beast’s essence shifted across Kirin’s skin, growing hot with need. Dragons were the only class of Crescent whose magick was an independent entity intertwined with their soul.
Calm down there, buddy.
Dragon Crescents usually spoke telepathically to their Dragon, though the beasts could also hear spoken words. Dragons could only communicate telepathically, and fortunately they didn’t talk much.
Kirin had come down the west coast, the longer way. After driving through miles of marshland across Alligator Alley, he passed a sign announcing he was entering Broward County. Going straight would land him in the Ft. Lauderdale area.
Just south of that, Miami. Two and a half million people working, sunbathing, and partying, oblivious to the thousands of magick-struck humans among them. While Mundanes couldn’t see Elementals or most demons, they could see Deuce magick, a Dragon, or the sight of the rarer human/angel Caidos in full wing. Thus, the need for rules of restraint.
Kirin huffed. Restraint. Yeah, most Crescents did show restraint when using magick in public but not with using it against each other in private. The dissent between the classes of Crescents had started back on the legendary island that lured ships to its shores and trapped the passengers there. Spaniards, Europeans, Africans, pirates, and natives were all crammed onto one large island governed by a pantheon of tribal gods—Deuce sorcerers and Dragons—along with angels to balance their power.
The newcomers brought their own spiritual beliefs and eventually the people moved away from the Luciferian religion. Pissed and bored, the gods used their power and the fluctuations caused by an enormous solar storm to create the Divergence, which allowed them to take physical human form. Whatever their initial intentions, they’d ended up getting it on with the humans and making half-god, half-human babies dubbed Crescents.
Kirin neared the aerospace factory where he’d worked during one high school summer. Where he’d met Ellie, who handled secretarial tasks under the watchful eye of the owner, who happened to be her father. The last thing that man wanted was his beautiful Deuce daughter falling for a Dragon.
Bushes nearly obliterated the sign that announced Becker Aerospace. Off to the left, in a clearing within acres thick with pine trees, the big metal warehouse looked forlorn. Closed now, fenced off.
His Dragon strained toward it. Need to run.
Soon after moving to Atlanta for the engineering contract, his Dragon had broken loose—once in an alley, twice in his apartment. Embarrassing as hell when he had to lock himself in his bathroom with a pretend case of gastrointestinal upset, leaving the woman he’d invited home for dinner worrying about suffering the same fate. Especially when, after hearing grunts and one roar, he’d come out twenty minutes later wearing a towel, his shredded clothes stuffed in the cabinet.
Kirin felt the magick throbbing through him, pulling at his hands on the wheel.
Go where we played last time. Too long ago. Plaaaaaay.
Either that or it was going to take him over right there in the car. He could feel the talons extending from his fingers and thumb. He could—and had—closed those talons around another Dragon’s throat. They could tear into scales and flesh and even metal, but he couldn’t steer, downshift, or think about the road rules when the Dragon overcame him. All he needed was to crash the pretty red Porsche and have some Mundane stop to help, only to find a red-and-white Dragon busting out the windows.
“We’re stopping already, pushy beast.”
A sense of satisfaction rushed through him. He couldn’t help a hint of a smile as he drove past the NO TRESPASSING signs. He’d heard that Huff, Ellie’s dad, had sold the business but not the building. A realtor’s sign flattened a space in the overgrown grasses by the road, the words faded by the hot sun. Waist-high weeds filled the grassy areas and pushed up through the cracks in the asphalt parking lot.
The Porsche rolled to a stop. Memories rushed at him: stolen kisses behind the oak tree, lunch at the picnic tables, and a few hot and heavy sessions around the back of the building. He’d been sixteen and flat-out in love.
He got out and ran to the back entrance. Ran because the Dragon wasn’t going to wait much longer. Although the building was set off from the road, who knew if there were homeless Mundanes lurking in the woods that surrounded the place? The sun was lower in the sky behind him, lighting up the tops of the trees that cast shadows on the ground. He saw no signs of encampments.
His Dragon clawed at him. It throbbed through his body and pushed against his skin.
Let me out.
Kirin wrenched the back door open. Dust and stale air assaulted him as he stepped inside and closed the door. The huge, nearly empty space was the perfect spot for a Dragon to let loose.
Late afternoon light poured in through the high windows, illuminating squares on the concrete floor. He scanned the shadows and the scattered piles of debris…no sign of squatters, including the supernatural kind. He looked up at the offices, built in the upper space with mirrored windows so the administrative staff could watch the floor. He should make sure no one lingered up there, but there wasn’t time.
He stripped out of his clothes, a cloud of dust rising when they dropped to the floor. His skin stretched and thickened to accommodate a long, large body. Fangs pushed through his gums as his mouth morphed into a snout. Blood coursed hot through his veins.
Yes.
“Yes,” he said on a guttural breath, his head thrown back. Relief, pleasure, and always that tiny fissure of fear shimmered through his mind.
Then he let the Dragon take over and felt it take him racing into the shadows.
