Up in a Blaze (20 page)

As he pondered he’d slowed his pace, letting Fiona get a bit further ahead. Bernt saw the tiny winged creature flitting in the gap between himself and Fi. He started to raise a hand trying to shoo the Imp away, but thought better of it, figuring it would be best to see how she would react. She would definitely see the Imp as the sound their wings made were that of a large dragonfly.

Imps were curious little creatures, reminding Bernt of the gremlins from the old Bugs Bunny cartoons, usually up to mischief. Knowing this, Bernt watched intently just in case the Imp decided to try to cause some sort of trouble.

The Imp hung lazily in the air, varying his angle behind Fi as if he was trying to take all of her in. Then another Imp joined the first, quickly followed by a third. The anxiety in Bernt’s gut ratcheted up with the attention Fi’s presence was garnering. He didn’t have too much experience with Imps but guessed the more there were the faster things could get out of hand.

The clutch of tiny creatures fluttered about, switching positions and flowing closer to Fi, then backing away as if they were riding air currents. When the trio got close to Fi, Bernt held his breath, bracing for impending disaster when Fi turned to find three tiny humanlike beings hovering on large insect wings behind her. The female Imp turned as if sensing Bernt’s apprehension, and flew straight at him. He hesitated, stutter stepping, not sure of what the Imp was planning.

The little female pulled up just short of his nose, causing his eyes to cross trying to focus on her. Turning his head and tilting it back so he could see her more clearly, he saw her smile, extend an open hand toward him palm out touching his cheek. The touch was so light it barely registered with his brain, but in that slight touch the Imp communicated with him. Instantly he knew they had no plans to cause Fiona any harm, they knew what she was and had felt her presence. The power she held attracted them to her, and there were more nearby, watching.

Before he could blink, the little female flew back to her companions. Bernt saw her touch both of the males and the two of them darted straight up, away from Fi, their wings buzzing loudly with the extra effort. Fiona must have heard the extra noise and turned to see what was causing it.

For Bernt, time seemed to slow in that moment. Before she fully turned around Bernt saw the female Imp look over her shoulder at him, and unless he was crazy, he could swear she winked at him. She held her place in the air right at Fi’s eye level. He realized she wanted Fi to see her, and there was no time for him to do anything to prevent it from happening. All he could do was watch as Fi’s eyes caught the Imp in her line of sight.

The Imp stayed just long enough for her image to register in Fi’s brain then shot straight up, curled back and away from Fiona, shooting over Bernt’s shoulder and out of sight.

Bernt kept his focus solely on Fi. Doing his best to keep his face neutral, masking that anything abnormal had just happened. He saw the look of confusion on Fi’s face, and hoped she would dismiss what she saw as a mistake, a trick of light, but she stopped dead and pointed in the direction the Imp had flown.

“What the hell was that?”

Trying to play dumb, he blinked and turned looking where she pointed, “What was what?”

“That little thing that was just in front of my face and flew right past you,” she thrust her finger in the same direction, her voice full of conviction, “you had to see it. The thing flew right past you.”

While trying to figure a way out of the predicament the Imp had left him in, actually them in, he kept up the ignorance. “Hmm, no don’t think I saw anything.” Turning around, feigning a search for whatever she saw, but as he looked he could tell she wasn’t buying it. Her hands were now on her hips, her head held at a slight angle, but the capper was the expression on her face. Yeah, her bullshit meter had been pegged. He smiled a painful smile.

“Wow, you’re still really bad at lying. It’s a good thing you don’t play poker.” She shook her head.

He stood there for a second, “So, want to go back and play strip poker?” Hoping humor would distract her, and when she smiled at him, laughing slightly, he thought he was in the clear.

“Maybe later. Right now I want to know what that thing was. I saw something like it when I first got here today.”

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