Passion Ignited (2 page)

Not that it mattered. Nitro had noticed the
handiwork her brother had done on the place. There wasn’t even a
doctor to do the healing anymore.

“Kill them,” Sloka demanded.

The woman and small child froze in place at
the sound of his voice. Nitro’s eyes focused on the mother:
sadness, pain, and fear reflected back at her. As it should. It
would be nothing to wipe out all three of them. A flick of her
finger, really. No one would walk away from this carnage
tonight.

Nitro stepped forward, raising her hand. A
small ball of fire formed in her upraised palm, and at her mental
command, the ball grew in size. The mother gripped the small girl’s
hand and started to run.

“Don’t. Move,” Nitro growled. “I would think
you’d pray for a painless death for your children.”

The mother froze in place again and made eye
contact with Nitro. She nodded her head once just as she started to
cry. She was shaking horribly as she continued to stare at Nitro,
her gaze barely flicking at Ash and Sloka.

“Please. I beg you not to kill my children,”
she cried.

Nitro looked up into the sky, laughing at the
undeserving request of the mortal female. It was always the same.
Humans were like children…as if crying fixed everything. Nitro
couldn’t count the number of humans who had begged for their lives.
“Hmm,” she mused as she tossed and caught the fireball in her palm.
“So you would much rather have your children live in a world of
pain? You would have them try to survive without a
mother?”

Ash laughed from behind her. Sloka grunted in
annoyance; he clearly wanted her to finish up. Nitro’s anger only
doubled at the woman’s greediness. She’d rather have her children
grow with no one to care for them than to let them die along with
their mother tonight.

“I would ask that you s-spare us. Spare me and
my daughters. You’ve already taken my husband and sons.”

The little girl peeked around her mother’s
olive-colored skirt for the first time. Her long black hair was
tangled, and her face and clothes were soot-ridden, but what caused
Nitro to pause was that while her bright brown eyes showed how
scared she truly was, there were no tears flowing down her cheeks.
She wasn’t crying as her mother was. She was showing no
weakness.

“Finish it,” Sloka barked.

Nitro cocked her head to the side and kept eye
contact with the girl as she willed the ball of flames to grow.
Again, Nitro couldn’t help but laugh. She truly did live for this.
Death. Destruction. Pain. Smiling at the young girl, she flung out
her arm and hurled the fireball.

Chapter One

Maplewood, New Jersey

Present Day

“Demetrius sent us.”

Raider looked at his monitor, glancing over
the three supes that were glaring into the camera. Yes, Demetrius
had mentioned that there were a few new recruits coming to fight
alongside the Guardians. And yes, he’d mentioned that a few were
expected this week, but Raider knew there was a problem with the
three outside the gates. Well, one problem actually. One was a
female.

Demetrius did not do females. Well okay, maybe
he did, Raider didn’t know for sure. But what he did know was that
Demetrius stayed as far away from them as possible. Even Raine, who
was Ferox’s mate and the queen of the vampires. She was a Valkyrie,
and the only female who lived with the Guardians. Whenever
Demetrius—or Demi as some of them called him—showed up at the
mansion, he would remain on the other side of a room from the
Valkyrie; either that or one of them would leave the room
altogether. So if the three supes were saying that Demetrius sent a
female, then they were feeding him a load of monkey
shit.

As the Guardians’ off-site leader, Demetrius
had never once brought a female into the ranks. The Guardians were
the elite. Legendary among the Lore. All of the warriors had vowed
to protect the innocent and proved their worth daily. Demetrius
searched constantly for warriors worthy enough to add to the
brotherhood in an attempt to keep up with the growing number of
adversaries. Their greatest known enemy, the Collective, was a
local organization headed up by Ferox’s twin brother, Damion. But
of course, they weren’t the only big-bad in this realm. There were
too many enemies for the Guardians to face alone, especially since
their numbers were so few. Demetrius’s plan was to spread out the
Guardians’ forces, so that more humans and Lore could be protected.
Raider understood that cause. He and the other Guardians welcomed
warriors who were willing to risk their lives for
others.

But that didn’t mean there wasn’t something
going on with the female outside the gate. For as long as Raider
had known Demetrius, he wouldn’t have gotten within reaching
distance of this female. He wouldn’t have touched her with a
ten-foot pole.

Not that there was anything wrong with her.
From what he could see through the camera, she was a finely built
female: thin, muscular, straight black hair, her body covered by
tight black leather.

Raider quickly pulled up the Guardians’
internal site and logged in. The site had originally been created
because Demetrius traveled a lot, and since he refused to carry a
cell phone, it was a way for him to keep in contact with the
Guardians. They constantly uploaded photos and data on enemy
demons, blueprints for buildings they needed to infiltrate, and
even had a chat section so everyone could stay in contact all the
time.

He clicked on the FotoFolder, hoping he could
spot pics of the three standing outside the gate. No dice there, so
he checked to see if Demetrius was online. Of course, he wasn’t.
The sun had just set for the night, so everyone in residence at the
mansion was either just waking up or was already getting ready for
patrols. At least Demetrius had sent an email on the three who were
expected.

“Thanks for the info,” Raider mumbled to
himself as he looked over the email. The entire message consisted
of three names. Clearly Raider needed to give the boss-man a lesson
on how to give better details.

He pressed the button for the intercom
outside. “Names.”

The female stepped forward, glaring into the
camera. “Nitro. Ash. Garrick.”

Well, at least the names checked out. He
clicked on the program for the mansion’s security system and
entered in the code to open the gates.

He then looked over at his nephew who was
practically falling asleep as he watched TV. “Ethan.”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“I’m letting in some new recruits. Let the
others know to be on high alert in case they aren’t who they say
they are.”

Ethan rolled his chair over next to Raider’s
and glanced at the monitor. His eyes narrowed as he obviously
reached the same conclusion about the female. “Okay, I’m on it.” He
shrugged and gave a quick nod before he left the room.

Raider continued his perusal of the three
warriors as they walked away from the cameras. Two of them had
ridden motorcycles, so they’d hopped on their bikes and rode
through the gates; the other had driven a sports car, which he’d
revved before speeding up the drive.

Raider entered another code into the computer,
closing the gates. Sighing, he left the security equipment behind
as he headed up to the main floor to meet their new
warriors.

****

Nitro parked her bike near the steps that led
to the front door of the mansion. Turning off her motorcycle, she
looked down at the word “Thadius” painted on its tank and gave it a
quick pat before dismounting. Both she and her brother, Ash,
removed their helmets and hung them on the bars just as Garrick
rolled up in his silver Vanquish.

“Nice place,” Ash said.

Nitro could only snort at his comment as she
looked up at the large building. “Yeah, nice place. This doesn’t
look like ‘command central’ for Demetrius’s precious Guardians. It
looks like Martha Stewart’s Christmas wet dream.” She flung her
backpack over her shoulder and started to walk up the
stairs.

Not only had she not wanted to come to train
with Demetrius’s favorites, but she also hadn’t wanted to live with
them either. As soon as they’d pulled up to the gates she’d known
they were in trouble. This place was fucking decked out in holiday
cheer. It looked like Santa threw up all over everything. All the
trees were lit with twinkle lights. Deer, polar bears, penguins,
and presents glittered all over the property leading up to and in
front of the house. And that hadn’t been the worst part of it. The
godsdamned inflatable Santa Claus at the front gate “Ho-Ho-Hoed” at
them while an irritating song played from a speaker. Had she been
at the gate any longer, the bastard would have been popped, and his
voice box would have ended up on the roof in a flaming heap of
ash.

“Relax, Nitro,” Garrick said as he started
pulling things from his car. “They’re just trying to fit in with
the humans. If you would have looked around you’d have seen that
all the houses around here are decorated.”

She pegged the fellow warrior with a glare as
he slung duffel bag after duffel bag over his shoulders. They had
all been assigned to “train with the Guardians.” Yeah, like they
didn’t already know how to fight. Yes, the warrior knew how to
fight, and he was fast, but Garrick was such a girl. Here she and
her brother each only had one bag full of clothes and weapons, and
Garrick had loaded up his sports car to the brim. Most of his bags
were likely filled with hair products, since the fairy styled his
perfect brown hair more than most females Nitro’d ever met. Worse,
Garrick hadn’t even brought all of his shit. This was just his
“necessities.” The bastard had ended up Fed-Exing countless boxes,
just so he was “covered for every possible scenario.” Like he
couldn’t just trace back to his condo anyway.

Girl.

“What, you don’t like me talking about your
mom?” she asked with a pouty face. “I hadn’t realized Martha meant
so much to you.”

Garrick narrowed his eyes at her and flipped
her off before grabbing another bag.

“Whatever,” she replied. “Let’s just get in
there and get this over with.”

The three of them climbed the stairs just as
an old, white-haired man opened the front door. He seemed friendly
enough, which put Nitro that much more on edge. He’d offered to
take her bag, but she had vehemently refused. No fucking way was
she going to let go of her weapons.

Not that her bag was the only thing packing.
But a girl’s gotta survive.

****

Raider reached the main foyer just as the
three warriors made it through the doors. Most of the other
Guardians were already there, staring down the newbies. Only a few
were missing from the meet-and-greet: Draven had ventured out on
his own to battle the gods for Ally, Ferox was healing from a nasty
battle against his twin brother, Damion, and Raine, Ferox’s mate,
was with her husband, remaining by his side until he was fully
healed. With their leader and second-in-command out of commission,
that left Raider to pick up the role.

From here, he could sense the power radiating
from the three new warriors. One had such a magical presence that
he was shocked at the feeling of it; it had been so long since he’d
been around one so strong. Raider reached out with his mind,
listening to their thoughts. The first two threw up a block,
shoving him from their minds; the other kept dropping bags on the
floor of the foyer, completely unaware of Raider’s
intrusion.

He stepped toward that one first and extended
his hand. “I’m Raider.”

“Garrick,” he replied, gripping his
hand.

Yeah, this one was pure magic. But what clan,
he couldn’t tell for sure. Garrick wasn’t extremely tall, but was
well built. Rounding out at about 6’ 3”, the man had light brown
hair that was cut just below his ears. In a tailored suit, he
hardly looked like the type of male who would fight at all, let
alone do so alongside the Guardians.

Raider turned his attention to the other two
who had shut him out of their minds. Both had long, straight hair
that was so black it had a bluish tint. The male was heavily
muscled, which was easily seen from under his black leather getup.
His look was finished off with black buckled shit-kickers that
looked like they’d lived up to their name.

He looked at the female and took a little
longer with his assessment. As he’d noticed on the monitor, she was
dressed in head-to-toe leather, but skin tight—as opposed to her
brother’s baggy look. Her leather top looked more like a
tank-topped bustier that highlighted her full breasts and her slim
stomach, and her leather pants were so tight he would gladly pay
millions just to have her turn around. His gaze wandered farther
down her body stopping at her…well, her hooker boots.

Guess it’s time to upgrade to a High-Def
security system
. The nighttime resolution that his monitor
showed as she stood at the gate had nothing on the real
deal.

“Are we going to continue introductions or are
you going to just stare all day?”

Raider shook the thoughts from his mind as she
stepped forward and flung her arm out, gripping his forearm.
“Nitro,” she said as she gave him a squeeze.