Kissed by Fire (10 page)

“She obviously didn’t do it or you wouldn’t
be sitting here today, Kabita Jones.”

“She’d just had her third child when the
witches discovered her deceit. They killed the older children, but
she hid the baby. When Jonas discovered that she was a Witch and
that her coven had murdered their children, he killed her.”

“Shit.”

“I know.” Her smile was a bit weak. “Jonas
took the baby to the Church for the monks to raise and then
disappeared. Some say he killed himself. Some that he became a
monk. Nobody knows because he was never seen again.”

“And he never told the Church his wife was a
Witch?”

“No. Can you imagine?”

“So, how do you know all this?”

“When the baby was grown, he became a witch
hunter like his father. One day he was about to slaughter an old
woman, but before he did she told him everything. She claimed she’d
belonged to his mother’s coven. He wouldn’t have believed her
except he had begun manifesting Witching abilities.

“He killed the woman anyway and returned to
the Church. He never told them of his heritage, but spent the rest
of his life trying to purge himself of ‘sin’ as he called it.” Her
voice dripped with disdain. “He trained his own children to hate
and fear Witches and to ignore any abilities that might crop up.
Each generation followed suit, denying their heritage and decrying
it as evil.”

I leaned back against the hard bench,
shifting to get comfortable. Shit. That was fucked up. “Until
you.”

“Yes, until me. My mother’s people do not
share European views on Witches. Quite the opposite, in fact. My
mother refused to allow my father to repress me or my abilities.
Instead, she had me properly trained.”

“And so the witch hunter’s son has a Witch
for a daughter.” I snorted, “Ah, the irony.”

“Trust me, the irony is not lost on my
father, he simply isn’t amused by it.”

I downed the last of my drink. “Obviously the
man needs to work on his sense of humor.”

She laughed. “Obviously.”

We were headed out the door when I stopped
abruptly causing Kabita to crash into me. “What the ... ” she said,
but I shushed her.

“Look. It’s her! The woman from the airport.”
I pointed down the street. A woman with spiky platinum blond hair
was striding along the pavement, her black leather boots making a
clicking sound that echoed off the old brick buildings on either
side of the street.

“Morgan,” Kabita started to say something,
but I ignored her. I was going to catch that woman and make her
tell me why she was following us.

I took off down the street at a dead run. She
must have heard me coming, but she didn’t turn, instead she kept
walking, her hips doing that little sashay thing women do when
they’re wearing heels.

I grabbed her by the arm, spinning her
around. She shrieked, pulling away from me. “Get away from me! Stop
or I’ll scream!” She held her handbag in front of her like a
shield.

“Oh, gods, I’m sorry. I thought you were
someone else.” I lifted my hands up and backed slowly away. It
wasn’t her. This girl was much younger than the woman from the
airport. She looked like she was still in her teens, and had a
bright pink streak through her bangs. She was shorter, too, up
close. She’d had her earbuds in which was why she hadn’t heard me.
“I’m really, really sorry.”

She scurried off, casting a frightened look
behind her. Poor kid would probably be scarred for life. Crap.

“Good one, Morgan.” I hadn’t heard Kabita
come up behind me.

“Hey, I thought it was her, OK? Sure looked
like it from behind.”

“You are taking this thing way too far. It’s
like you’re obsessed with this woman from the airport. Between that
and this business with the vampire, I think you’re starting to
imagine things.”

Her attitude pissed me off, but there wasn’t
a whole lot I could say. It wasn’t like I’d had much luck finding
either of the people in question. Instead I turned and, without a
word, headed for the hotel, Kabita trailing behind.

***

By the time we got back to the hotel it was
late enough to call Eddie. I used my mobile since Inigo, the
techno-genius, had rigged them so they couldn’t be bugged or
traced. Eddie’s phone rang twice before he snatched it up.

“Hey, Eddie.”

“Morgan Bailey! I knew it must be you. How is
London? Have you seen the Queen? What about Prince William? Isn’t
he a handsome one? I did so love his mother ... ”

“Eddie!” I broke in. He’d go on like that for
an hour if I’d let him. “No, no Queen, no Prince. I haven’t seen
any famous people at all.”

“Ah, well. One can dream. So I imagine you
didn’t call to give me a status report on the Royals?”

I laughed at that. “Uh, no. I rang because,
well ... ” How to say it? I mean it sounded so crazy, even to
me.

“Morgan, what’s wrong?”

So I told him everything. I told him about
Alison and her murder, the blond woman from the airport and the
cemetery. Then I told him about scenting the vampire, my murderer
of sorts, and about following him. Finally I told him about the
fire.

He was quiet for a moment. “Morgan, this
isn’t good. I mean, chasing that vampire around the city like a
lunatic. And that woman.”

“Eddie, I get it. I sound like a basket case.
But I’m a little more concerned about this fire business. I mean, I
set a freaking door on fire!”

“Yes, yes, I know. It is worrying.”

“Yeah, worrying would be the word for it. I’m
spouting flames out my fingertips.” I started pacing back and forth
across my room. There wasn’t much space, so it was a short
walk.

“First it was the Kissing Darkness business
and now fire. It’s just so strange. Have you come into contact with
anything unusual recently?”

“Now you mention it.” I rubbed my fingers
across the dragon’s scale that was still in my pocket. Once again I
noticed it felt strangely warm to the touch. “I was given a
dragon’s scale.”

He let out a little squeak. “A dragon’s
scale? Oh, my goodness! But, they’re extinct.”

“Apparently not. I think someone is trying to
frame them for Alison Reynolds’s murder.” I hadn’t put that thought
into words until just then, but it made sense.

“And someone gave you a dragon scale? As in,
you touched it? Physically?”

“Yes,” I told him. “I’m holding it right
now.”

“Oh, my. Oh, my, my. Well, that explains
it.”

“Explains what exactly?”

“Well, it
sort
of explains it.”

“Eddie!”

“My dear, dragons are creatures of fire,” he
said, as though that explained everything.

Sure. I knew that. Everybody knew that.
Dragons breathe fire. All the fairy tales said so. “OK. What does
that have to do with anything?”

“Well, coming into contact with the Atlantean
amulet woke up your affinity with Darkness, but it woke other
things up, too. I think perhaps coming into contact with the dragon
scale may have, I don’t know, activated your fire affinity.”

“Are you talking,” I hissed, “about Kissing
Fire? Like in the book?”

“I believe so, yes.”

“Oh, sweet lords above. Jack is going to kill
me.” I hesitated. “Eddie, do
not
tell Jack. I don’t want him
knowing about this. He will freak out and he’s already mental
enough at the moment. I don’t need him breathing down my neck over
this.”

“Morgan, you will be careful won’t you?”

“Of course Eddie. When am I not?”

It was probably a good thing he didn’t answer
that.

The spray of salty water lashed my face, ice
cold soaking through the thin cloth of my dress. I hadn’t bothered
to grab my cloak. The rage had been too much, blinding me to all
else.

Below me the sea crashed against the rocks,
sending another icy spray over me. Still it did nothing to dispel
the rage burning through me, turning my bones to fire.

“
Fina! Fina!”

His voice called to me, even against the roar
of the ocean. I turned. He stood, kissed by moonlight, glowing like
a messenger of the gods. “Stop, Iah. Stop.”

“
Fina, please,” he begged. So beautiful in
the moonlight, his golden hair like spun silver dancing across a
face that would make a sculptor weep. So beautiful he made my heart
ache. “Fina, please don’t do this. There has to be another
way.”

“
There isn’t.” My heart was breaking, but
there was no other choice. I’d become a danger to everyone and
everything I loved. “I cannot control myself any longer. The Fire
... it burns, Iah. It wants to burn everything.” The tears that
dripped down my face were scalding hot mixed with the cold spray of
the ocean.

“
Please, Fina, please.” But his tone told
me he’d already given up. He knew I was right.

My heart wept. Now at the last I couldn’t
even hold him, though my fingers ached to caress his moon-touched
skin one last time. Iah, the first male in our history born with
the power of the Moon. There hadn’t even been a name for him in our
language. The priests had searched the scrolls for months to find a
suitable name for him in the language of the ancients.

“
Iah,” I breathed.

Tears trickled down his face. I’d never seen
him cry before. My heart would have broken then if it hadn’t
already been shattered to pieces.

“
I love you, Iah. With all that I am and
all that I will ever be. I swear this, one day, in another life, we
will be together.”

I turned back to the sea far beneath me.
Perhaps the Fire would be quenched in her chilly depths. Pain
screamed through me, and I swayed. Only sheer determination kept me
upright. “From Fire I was born and to Fire I return.”

I looked behind me one last time. Iah had
sunk to his knees, his body wracked with sobs. But I had no choice.
If I didn’t do this now, the Fire would burn through me and take
everyone with it. It was the curse of the Fire Kissed.

The sea beckoned, so before I could talk
myself out of it, I threw myself from the cliff. The Fire within me
screamed and burned, angry that I’d denied it, but I would soon be
free. Wind streamed past my face, tearing my eyes. The water loomed
closer.

A great beast swooped from the shadows.
“Dracona,” I breathed. My lifelong friend and companion. The water
would not take me after all.

“
Fire Bringer,” she whispered
back.

For just one moment, I saw in her eyes
infinite sorrow and then her mighty jaw opened. Flame shot from her
throat.

I burned
.

***

I came awake with a start, thrashing at the
duvet, barely holding back a scream. It took me a minute to figure
out I wasn’t on fire, though I was drenched in sweat and stinking
of nightmares.

I pressed my palm against my chest willing my
heart to slow. The palm of my hand was hot, and I jerked it away
from my skin leaving a pink print behind on my chest.

Shakily, I stumbled out of bed and into the
bathroom and splashed water on my face trying to shake the horrific
dream. “Gods, what the hell was that?”

It had been weeks since I’d had one of my
dreams. I’d thought that with the whole discovery of the amulet and
me being the Key of Atlantis thing, the dreams would have stopped.
Apparently not. The amulet must have decided it had more to tell
me, despite the fact I was several thousand miles away.

I checked the time. Three a.m. It was still
early evening back home, so I dialed Eddie. If anyone would know
what the dream meant, it would be him.

He picked up on the third ring.

“Eddie, it’s me.”

“Morgan, twice in one day. To what do I owe
the pleasure?” His voice was as jolly as ever.

I told him about my dream, leaving nothing
out. He was quiet for a moment. His silence made me nervous.
“So?”

“Well, remember how I told you about the
Elemental Mages?”

Of course I remembered. How could I forget?
The Elemental Mages had been descendents of the ancient Atlanteans,
able to channel the elements.

“It sounds like you were dreaming about a
Fire Mage.”

“A Fire Mage? Oh, goodie.” Fina would have
been the Fire Mage which would have left Iah, what? I had no idea
what the Moon represented, but somehow it just didn’t seem that
important at the moment.

“Well, it would make sense. It seems you are
starting to channel Fire, so perhaps the dreams are trying to tell
you something.”

“What about the dragon calling her a Fire
Bringer?”

I heard the sound of pages turning. “Is that
the book, Eddie?” I would never admit it to anyone, but Eddie’s
sentient book kind of freaked me out. Not something a badass
vampire hunter wanted the world to know.

“Naturally. Let me see ... ah, yes, here it
is.” He cleared his throat. “Nothing here about a Fire Bringer, but
as I told you before, the Elemental Mages chose a particular
element to worship and learned to channel that element as a form of
power. A very few were so good at it, so powerful, they went mad
and had to be killed. Perhaps that’s what you were seeing.”

I shook my head then realized Eddie couldn’t
see me. Oh the joys of jet lag. “No, I don’t think so. I mean, not
exactly. These people were very young, and I got the feeling that
they hadn’t chosen the elements so much as been born with them. The
woman kept thinking of the man as, I don’t know, a Moon Child, for
lack of a better term. He was the first male on record to be born
with affinity for the moon. They didn’t even have a male name for
him. Don’t know what that was about.”

“What were their names?”

“He called her Fina. His name was Iah.”

“Ah, yes. Fina, short for Sarafina. She was a
fire goddess. Iah was a moon god, thousands of years older. They
must have been named for the Elements they chose.”