Fire Kissed (6 page)
Adam ducked just in time.
Someone shouted.
Black and red, with licks of gold at its heart, the fire hit its target, caught, and swallowed its victim. The wight rattled as its remaining flesh fell like drops of fetid wax onto the earth. It smelled beyond foul. The mass of the creature dropped in seconds, the fire moaning, and then the afternoon was quiet again. A bit of horror on the ground smoked.
“Or we can do it her way,” Adam said.
Kaye frowned at the singed cuffs of her coat.
Filthy, horrible wight.
She concentrated on the cold air against her skin to quell the rising panic attack. Her hand shook as she picked at her cuff. When she went wraith hunting, she usually wore the right clothes. The wool was ruined, though she’d heard it was supposed to be fire retardant. She’d have to shop. And that bastard angel would just have to endure it.
Filthy, horrible wight.
She concentrated on the cold air against her skin to quell the rising panic attack. Her hand shook as she picked at her cuff. When she went wraith hunting, she usually wore the right clothes. The wool was ruined, though she’d heard it was supposed to be fire retardant. She’d have to shop. And that bastard angel would just have to endure it.
She closed her eyes to find composure, but it was slow coming. She’d never seen anything like a wight before. Hovering like that off the ground. The wet rattle of its bones. There had been no thought in its eyes, only hunger. It wasn’t quite a wraith, so yes, it did deserve a name of its own.
“Why do you call it that?” she asked, lifting her gaze to Adam. “A wight? It wasn’t white.” White would mean it was clean, and that monster was filthy and disgusting. “It should be called a shiver.”
Because that’s what it did, and that’s the effect it had too. Deep inside, she was shivering. And it had nothing to do with standing in the freezing mud.
She’d need new shoes too. Gorgeous ones. The Order could treat.
Why couldn’t she stop shaking?
“I love mages,” Adam said, approaching again. “Damn handy people. Come work for me at Segue. I’ve got lots of wraiths you can set on fire.”
Kaye forced brightness back into her expression. No use letting anyone know how unsettled she was.
“She’s working for me,” Bastian said. He had the nerve to put his hand on her elbow. Was that ownership or comfort? She resented them both.
She fisted her hands to stop the trembling and deftly stepped out of his grasp. She didn’t need anyone.
“Segue’s more fun,” Adam assured her, grinning. “Plus I’ve got Shadowy types there already.”
“Not the best inducement,” the angel muttered.
“Shadowy types” caught her attention. Maybe not an inducement for an angel, but for her? Interesting. All her life, there had been a hush around Shadow, a silence first imposed by magekind, which she’d kept upon waking in the rehabilitation center following her attack. It was very interesting to find a place with both answers and others of her kind.
Khan, the mage who’d cast the faelight, advanced. He was very tall, very broad. He had black hair streaking to his shoulders and wicked, slanted eyes, a deeper black still. His movements had a fluid quality, leaving a wake of danger on the earth with every step. He might have the standard limbs and features of a man, but he didn’t look remotely human. A pureblood. No doubt about it. The world seemed barely able to hold him.
Kaye’s mouth went dry.
And she was descended from this kind of being?
Khan didn’t signal welcome to Bastian, so she guessed it was mages against angels with him too.
“How many wraith kills does that make?” Khan asked her. He had an accent impossible to place.
Kaye drew herself up to meet the Grim Reaper. “Seven. I try for one a year, but I can’t always find one.”
She felt Bastian’s angel-gaze on her and took some pride in surprising him with her experience.
“See?” Adam continued. “It’s like you’ve already been working for me. I’ll give you back pay.”
So many men trying to buy her lately.
“She’s unavailable,” Bastian repeated, harder.
Kaye let the chatter slide past her. How could Adam be so comfortable in Khan’s presence?
Pureblood. The mage could rule the world if he wanted. No wonder there had been a war between Heaven and mages. The idea of a race of beings like Khan terrified even her.
“Seven,” Khan repeated. “You must have started young.”
Kaye smoothed her expression. Or tried. “I was fifteen.”
“Khan,” Bastian said, interrupting. “If I might have a moment of your time?”
Kaye slid her gaze over to Bastian, and she remembered one of his reasons for coming here. She almost made a fool of herself by laughing out loud: Bastian wanted to recruit ...
Khan
? She wished the angel luck. It’d be a pleasure to watch, a scary kind of pleasure, but good nevertheless. She wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Khan
? She wished the angel luck. It’d be a pleasure to watch, a scary kind of pleasure, but good nevertheless. She wouldn’t miss it for the world.
“The conference room is waiting for you.” Adam gestured to the mobile trailer near their parked car, and then looked to Bastian. “If you have a moment when you’re finished, I’d like a word.” It seemed like Adam was staying behind, though she wanted to hear more about Segue.
They reconvened in the trailer, which turned out to be an office unit. The main space was dedicated to an office area, cluttered with computers and papers. But the back room was furnished with facing leather sofas. A large screen (now dark) was mounted on the wall. Kaye didn’t think it was intended for watching television.
They all took a seat. Khan seemed to fill the room with a dark throb of magic. Bastian’s inner glow pushed the Shadows aside. And she coaxed her fire hotter and hotter to try to match them. Never again would she be overlooked in a room bursting with power.
“I have very little patience for angels,” Khan said. “What do you want?”
“I need you to help me avert a war,” Bastian answered. His conviction permeated the room. She felt his urgency reverberate through her and even might have responded, if she were human. But she was a mage, so she refused to allow it.
Khan didn’t seem interested either. “I’m already fighting the wraiths and the”—he glanced at Kaye—“shivers.”
Kaye was starting to like Khan. Bastian, not so much.
“I’m referring to another great war, humanity in the balance.” Bastian leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “I understand that you care for humanity now more than ever.”
“I do.” The irises of Khan’s black eyes seemed to expand with the underlying anger of his answer. Why he was so angry, though, Kaye had no idea and she wasn’t about to ask.
“Then will you help me control the mage Houses before they undermine human interests? They are colluding with wraiths to do violence.” Bastian glanced at Kaye. “Ms. Brand was a victim of one such attack.”
“Leave me out of it,” Kaye said. Her interests were different from Bastian’s; she would not allow him to think otherwise, or Khan either. Bastian wanted her to find out how the Houses were using wraiths, and now very likely the wights. And she wanted that information as well. But once discovered, then what? The question would become how she would use the information for her business with the Greys. Whatever recourse she decided to take, she was certain Bastian would not approve.
Khan shifted his attention to her. “But you’ve agreed to help The Order.”
“I have,” she answered. Her life needed to change.
“And now that you know you have other options?” Khan asked. His gaze was impenetrable. “Segue needs someone who is able to finish wraiths.”
Needs someone who is able ... ?
“Bastian said you have power over life and death.”
“Bastian said you have power over life and death.”
“And so I do,” Khan answered. “But the wraiths and wights have no death, and so cannot die. But they can be cut from the world, as I once did with my scythe. Or burned to oblivion, as with your faefire. No mortal means can kill them, however, and I am now mortal.”
“I don’t understand.” And she hated her ignorance. She glanced at Bastian for answers. No help there.
“A human’s death is a precious thing,” Khan said. “A death is transformation, from one state to another. It might be terrifying to some, but it is vital to existence. The wraiths gave up their deaths to a demon in return for immortality, for everlasting life. Without their deaths, they cannot die. The wraiths cannot cross into Shadow, cannot become something else, and so forever are consigned to their flesh.”
Hence the wight’s state of advanced decomposition. That made sense. Wraiths smelled awful, but they weren’t that far gone. This was not an immortality anyone could want. They’d been duped.
“As the fae lord of Death,” Khan continued, “I could open the way between the worlds and force a wraith to cross. I could cut them out of life with my scythe. But I am mortal now. I cannot kill what cannot die.”
“But I can,” Kaye said. She just had.
“Yes. Fire is by its nature
transformative
. It is a great power. A god’s power.”
transformative
. It is a great power. A god’s power.”
Bastian growled disagreement.
“And the visions I see in the flame?” Kaye asked.
“Another property of Shadow—to see the possibilities of a life. To see a human’s fate. I do not think you see mage futures there—we have no fate, no boundaries or limits imposed upon us.” His dark expression split into a grin of victory. “We are not predestined.”
“I see my fate,” she said. Her breathing got tight.
Khan’s brows rose. She must have surprised him. “And that is?”
“Fire.” Kaye felt Bastian’s gaze, but she didn’t look at him. Her future was none of his business. If not for this opportunity to get answers, she would have kept quiet. “I see myself on fire.”
Khan looked thoughtful, which made her uncomfortable. Somehow it seemed more prudent to avoid his notice, to avoid being the subject of his deep consideration as well. Khan was too potent for simple conversation. “I do not know how that could be, but as a fire mage, you should be protected from flames.”
She tried for a smile and an affirmative nod, something with calm. She didn’t feel it, though. The visions bothered her and not even Death knew why she had them.
“One of Segue’s missions,” Khan continued, “its primary mission, I think, is to search for understanding. You would be welcome there. It is a
good
place. The work is dangerous, yes, but I can extend your life if necessary, even preserve it in the event something goes wrong. You need not fear death while you work there.”
good
place. The work is dangerous, yes, but I can extend your life if necessary, even preserve it in the event something goes wrong. You need not fear death while you work there.”
“Sounds like the offer the demon made to the wraiths,” Bastian observed.
The whites of Khan’s eyes blacked until yes, he did look every bit the demon. Though angry, he continued to address Kaye. She held herself very still while he spoke.
“A mage should not trust the angels. You have no soul for this one”—Khan inclined his head in Bastian’s direction—“to protect. He will not stand by you.”
“I’ve given her my word,” Bastian said. “I’d give you the same. Please help us.”
Khan finally regarded Bastian, who impressed Kaye by not rearing back in his seat with the gale force of Khan’s glare.
“The Order conspired to take my Layla from me,” Khan said. “I will not help you. And further, I don’t require the protection of an angel. Nor do I have any desire to break the mage Houses. After ages of secrecy, they are coming out of hiding and making themselves known. Room must simply be made for them on this fair earth, or the mages will take it.”
“It will come to war again,” Bastian said, as controlled and implacable as he’d been from the first. “And for exactly the reasons you just gave Ms. Brand. Magekind knows no limits, no constraints. You, most of all.”
“You seem old to me,” Khan said to Jack. “Are you old enough to remember that I was among the fae to assail the great wall of Heaven? I know war. I know war the likes of which you could never conceive. I say again, I will not help you.”
Khan settled that black gaze back on Kaye. She made very sure not to flinch either. He spoke of her childhood fairy tales, Shadow rising against Light.
“Kaye, will you come?” the dark mage said.
Did she dare refuse him?
Yes.
Years ago she’d wandered from town to city afraid of everything. She would have done anything to feel safe again. And it would have been a great relief to find others like her who had no ties to the mage families.
But today? She was angry at herself for not facing the truth, when she’d always known it. She’d run for so long, for so many years, but the only thing that could ever really save her was to stop. And to turn. And to face the monsters behind her—both the wraith and the Grey who’d commanded it. She knew better now. Her monsters were not at Segue.
“I’ll stick with Bastian for now, but thank you very much for the offer.” Besides, the limits
she
lived by were imposed by herself. She’d said she’d do Bastian’s job, and she would. That was
her
word.
she
lived by were imposed by herself. She’d said she’d do Bastian’s job, and she would. That was
her
word.
Khan stood, looming dark above them. “If you reconsider, you may come at any time. You are needed.”
Kaye and Bastian stood as well. That word
needed
made her feel strange, especially coming from him.
needed
made her feel strange, especially coming from him.
“I’ll remember,” Kaye said. And after matters were settled with the Greys, she just might.
Segue
meant a shift from one state to another. She needed a change, a new life. When this business was over, Segue might just be it.
Segue
meant a shift from one state to another. She needed a change, a new life. When this business was over, Segue might just be it.
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