Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga) (16 page)

Cali’s eyes seemed to glaze over
as Bain’s vo
lkaane heat flowed into her
. “
Uhh
h
…his name…
uhh
…his name is….
uhh
…
”

Leesa had never seen Cali speechless before, but she knew all too well how amazing a
touch like that
felt.

“Bain, stop fooling around
,
”
Leesa admonished.
She grabbed his arm to pull it away from Cali’s face, but it was like tugging on the arm of a statue.

Bain grinned and lowered his hand.

“
S
h
e loves to flirt,” he said. “
I thought I’
d turn the tables for a moment.”

“Wow,” Cali said
as her eyes began to come back into focus
.
She looked at Leesa.
“Do you ever get u
sed to that
?”

Leesa smiled. “I hope not.”

Cali turned back to Bain. “My boyfriend’s name is Andy, by the way.”

“If you two are done fooling around,” Leesa said, “I think we’ve got something a bit more important to talk about. Namely, what were freaking zombies doing in our dorm?”

“It’s the work of the black waziri, clearly,” Rave said.

“I know. The question is why. Do you think they somehow found out about me?”

Rave s
hook his head. “I doubt it
. Otherwise the creatures would have been sent to this floor.
”

“What are black waziri?” Cali asked.
She looked back and forth between Rave and Leesa.
“And just what would they have found out about you, Leesa?”

Leesa looked at Rave, wondering how much she should tell Cali. Rave just shrugged, indicating it was Leesa’s decision.

She thought about it for a moment. Cali knew all about
volkannes
and vampires, but nothing about Dominic’s wizard nature or Leesa’s magic. Leesa trusted her to keep any secrets, but didn’t want to endanger Cali with information that could get her into trouble.

“The black wazir
i are evil wizards.
They serve a guy called the Necromancer. They’re trying to break the seal between the world of the living and the world of the dead. So far, they can only do it for very short times. I don’t want to tell you any more, for your own safety.”

Cali took only a few seconds to digest Leesa’s words—she was getting used to supernatural surprises from Leesa.

“Okay, I’ll settle for that—for now.
But eventually, I’m going to want to know why evil wizards would be looking for you. I’m guessing it has something to do with those zombie dreams of yours.”

“Y
eah, sort of,” Leesa replied. “But t
hat’s as much as I’m going to tell you.”

“I think the zombies were
probably
sent because of the magic the waziri sensed outside,” Rave said, being as circumspect as possible. “
They were t
rying to see if the creature
s would sp
ark any kind of magical activity here
.”

“
If they were
, they mus
t have been disappointed,” Leesa said. “
You guys didn’t even use your volkaane fire. Maybe they
’ll
leave now
. They’ve got that other thing
to do.”

“
Let’s hope so
.
But e
ven so,
it might be a good idea to
get you away from here, for a few days, at least.”

“Where would I go?” Leesa asked. “I guess I could stay with my mom and brother, but I don’t want to bring any danger around them.”

Rave smiled. “I was thinking you
could come
home with me
.”

Rave’s suggestion took Leesa completely by surprise. She had never been to Rave’
s house and had no idea at all what it was like.
She was pretty sure
he lived with
Dral
and Bain, but
she
had no idea who else might share their home.
The few times she had visited the volkaane settlement, she and Rave had always gone to
Balin’s
cabin.
Balin was Rave’s mentor, who lived alone in a cabi
n he had built himself nearly three
hundred years ago.

Going home with Rave
was a good idea, though. She cou
ldn’t think of anywhere she’
d be safer than surrounded by a whole clan of volkaanes. Surely even three black waziri would think twice before
messing with so many volkaanes.
She would be able to practice her magic with much less worry there.
Plus, being near Balin meant
s
he and Rave might be able to do
some quick kissing under the old
volkaane’s
watchful eyes.
Now
that
was a definite draw
to going home with Rave
. She hadn’t had a real kiss in way too lon
g, ever since Rave had almost burned her to ashes when he suddenly lost control of his inner fire. She knew they would have to be careful, but was pretty sure they could try some of the
ir
five second kisses if Balin was there to watch. Five seconds didn’t sound like
much, but when she kissed Rave
time had little meaning. She felt herself growing warm just thinking about it. She hoped it didn’t show on her face.

“I guess I could
stand to
miss a couple of days of class,” she said.
“And
d
o without electricity
and television for a few days,
too. It’
ll be fun to see your house.”

Leesa limp
ed to her closet and pulled out her backpack.

“Let me throw some stuff together
and then we can go.”

“I hate to miss out on all the fun,” Cali said, “but I’d better get back downstairs. The cops are probably there by now
, taking a head count
. I don’
t want them
think
ing
I was kidnapped or killed.
” She grinned. “
I can’t wait to see what they make of those three dead zombies.
”

She gave Leesa a
big
hug. “Make sure you call, so I know you’re okay.”

“I will,” Leesa said. “I won’t be gone long—I hope.”

Bain opened the door for Cali. She gave him a wink and a smile as she passed by. He
rolled his eyes and
grinned.

When Cali was gone, Leesa began getting ready to
leave
. The first thing she
shoved into her pack was Dominic’s book.
She thought about taking a couple of her schoolbooks,
too, so she could get some studying in while she was away,
but
she
decided she could be a slacker for a
few
days.
She
grabbed an extra pair of jeans, some shirts, socks and underwear,
and
pronounced herself ready to go.

11
. MAGIC MAGNIFIED

R
ave lowered Leesa gently to
the ground in front of a gray, one-story wooden house.
After racing through the night in Rave’s arms, the cool, still air
felt strange on her
cheeks. With little ambient light from the volkaane settlement, the sky above was a black curtain pierced by what seemed to be thousands of stars. A three-quarter moon painted a soft glow on the world around her.

She sighed. As always, it took her a moment to get over the disappointment of no lo
nger being cradled in Rave’s
arms. She took his hand in hers, to maintain the contact a bit longer.

“So
,
this is where you live,”
she said, taking in the house with a slow sweep of her eyes.

The d
esign was simple—a plain, flat front with a door in the middle and two square windows on either side of the door.
Even in the moonlight
, Leesa could see that t
he
horizontal wood planks were
old and weathered
, but in good repair. An A-frame roof fashioned of
dark
wooden shingles was punctured in the center by a stone chimney.
It was the kind of
old
house you could find in
almost
any New England town.

“
It’s been my home e
ver sin
ce I came of age,” Rave said.
“The s
ame with
Dral
and Bain.
We live in one half of the house. There are three others in the other half.
”

Leesa remembered Rave telling her that the long-lived volkaanes were not considered adults until they were forty years old. Until then, they were raised communally by the elders in the village.
Volkaanes did
not marry, either.
Children were produced during a rare event called the Feast of Renewal, when couples paired up for the purpose of procreation.
The young volkaanes
never knew their parents, but often formed close relationships with one of
their mentors, as Rave had
with Balin.
For a moment, she wondered what would happen if she and Rave ever had children. She didn’t know
if that would
even
be
possible, but if it was, no way was she going to give them up. The Council of Elders would just have to be okay with that.