Page 8 of Bound By Fire and Magic
It faced Kirin and expelled a black cloud that enveloped him. He fought the pull, struggling within the confines of the oily net that held him as the creature dragged him close. Kirin’s talons were out, tail whipping from side to side and tearing bits of “flesh” from the thing’s hide. Untroubled, it reached down and grabbed him.
Kirin lunged up and took a bite out of its throat. He clamped down hard as the thing tried to shake him off. Kirin broke free and took a nice-sized chunk with him. It bled black, but the wound healed fast. It must have hurt, because its face was screwed up in anger. So, it had feelings.
“Come and get me, you ugly son of a bitch,” Kirin taunted.
It smacked him, its hand coming from nowhere. Kirin fell to the floor at the same moment the thing launched itself at him. Kirin took the deepest breath, using the Dragon’s ability to pull all of its power into one stream of fire, and aimed at the creature’s head and chest. He couldn’t do that and move at the same time, so he remained on the floor as it lunged down toward him.
A blue orb shot out of nowhere, bursting against the creature. Electrical sparks twisted with Kirin’s spikes of fire, and with a shriek, the thing shot up to the ceiling and disappeared.
Kirin looked toward the front of the building where the orb had come from. Elle.
He searched for the creature even as he raced toward her, Catalyzing back to man by the time he reached her. “What are you doing here?”
Her face still registered shock. “I saw that you didn’t follow me and figured you were up to something.” Her voice trembled. She raised her palm and created a flashlight orb that lit the place up. “Have to say, I wasn’t expecting what I found.” She laughed, any hint of humor replaced with stretched nerves.
“What was that thing? Some kind of Deuce magick, right?”
“My best guess is it was a thoughtform, something created with intense concentration. I don’t know much about them, only that they’re real…and not real.”
He brushed the dirt from his bare backside. “As crazy as that sounds, you’re right about that aspect.”
She searched the ceiling where the thing had disappeared. “Whatever it was, it seems to be gone.”
“I wouldn’t assume it’s dead. I tore through its center, came out on the other side, and it mended itself. I swear I heard a scream as I flew through it. Was that you?”
She shook her head.
“No, I think, as crazy as it sounds, that it was coming from inside the thing. Not its mouth but it’s…guts.”
“Nothing sounds crazy when we’re talking about that horrible thing. At least we know how to make it leave.”
“Not really. You threw your orb at the same time I breathed fire into it. We don’t know which did the job.”
She aimed the smoldering glare he knew so well right at him. “Well, excuse me for messing up your experiment as that thing was about to pounce on you.”
“I had the situation under control.”
She moved a bit closer. “While you were lying there like a log.”
He stepped even closer. “About to incinerate it.”
She opened her mouth to say something but suddenly seemed to realize they were nearly nose to nose. She let out a huff of breath and stepped back. “Fine. Next time I’ll let it eat you.” Her gaze swept down his body. “Would you please put your clothes on?”
“They’re outside. I’ll get them when we leave. Chill, Elle. It’s not like you haven’t seen me naked before. Many times.”
“Not that many.” The words came out like bullets.
She was definitely not chill, and he couldn’t resist exploiting that. “Every day for the first month after we got back together and then it tapered to four times a week?—”
She put her fingers over his mouth. “Please, don’t remind me.”
He took hold of her hand. “Does remembering those days fire up a hunger that never seems to go away?” He rubbed his mouth against her fingertips. “That makes you crave more?”
“Kirin…” she uttered on a breath. A plea or a reprimand, he couldn’t tell.
God, the sound of his name on her lips, no matter what her intent, rippled through him. “I remember those days, Elle. I remember the sleepy look on your face in the mornings, the scent of your skin in the sunlight, and the way you taste…everywhere.”
She stumbled back. “Stop.” More like a desperate, choked-out plea than an order this time.
