Chapter 44

Sitting with Trajan"s arm around her and a cup of hot tea in her hands, Anya finally relaxed enough to tell them about her dream and what Yanka had done to her. She couldn"t remember what the vision was about that had forced into her mind, but she still felt the horror and pain of it deep inside of her.

Dream Yanka was enough to scare the shit out of her. Anya could only imagine what she would have been like when she had been alive.

Will I become like that when I learn my magic?

"Just how much paprika did you put in that borsch you made tonight?" Izrayl teased Katya, who sat beside him. They were both bandaged up and recovering from the fight, but it didn"t stop their bickering.

Katya rolled her eyes. "Very funny. More likely something you put in it when I wasn"t looking."

"I don"t know much about magic, but how do we know your dream was real?" Cerise asked.

"She tasted of blackberries when I kissed her. Dreams can be powerful but not enough to cause fruit in one"s mouth," Trajan pointed out.

"It was real enough to Anya to cause her body and her magic to react. Whether or not she found her way to the Land of Dreaming or the Land of the Dead like Yanka argued is irrelevant," Yvan added. He had a dark look in his eyes that Anya hadn"t seen before. They flashed from red and back to blue, the firebird wanting to make his presence known.

"If it weren"t for Yvan, I"d still be burning." Anya smiled at him, and his glare softened a little. "You scared me when I woke up. I thought I had set you on fire."

"The firebird and I have begun working on me being able to control its magic. You couldn"t set me on fire if you tried," Yvan said as he got to his feet and started to pace.

"Getting back to whether you made it to the Land of the Dead or the Dreaming," Katya said to Anya. "I have shaman friends who can walk those paths. They need preparation first. Usually, they put themselves into a trance, but it"s possible you did it without it. I"ll ring them and see if they can help. I was going to get in contact with them anyway. They would be good teachers for you."

Anya drank her tea, her head still aching and full of fire and pain. Whatever Yanka had done to her hadn"t affected her physically, but mentally she was a mess from the horror of the future. Maybe Yanka had wanted to warn her, not scare her, but Anya doubted it.

"We need to think about whether or not you"re going to set yourself on fire every time you have a bad dream, Anya," Izrayl said, an uneasy look in his golden eyes. "Yvan, and you might be fireproof, but I"m not."

Katya elbowed him. "Shut up. You don"t need to scare her more."

"No, he"s right," Anya said, her panic rising. "I have no idea what this means from now on. I could wake up with the house in ashes with all of you… Excuse me, I can"t?—"

Anya hurried back to her room, flames, and blood flashing in her mind"s eye and salt filling her mouth. She went into the small bathroom and climbed into the dry bathtub. She swallowed down her tears and tried to steady her breathing. At least there was nothing she could burn in there.

Every day she learned something new about her magic, and every day she was starting to feel like a stranger in her own body. You have to learn how to control it. If you could use it to beat off bullies when you were twelve, surely you can do it now. She didn"t know how to stop being afraid of it.

"Anya? Are you hiding in here?" Trajan tapped on the bathroom door.

She pressed herself down as flat as she could. His curly head and dark purple shirt appeared above her.

"I"m not hiding. I"m trying to think," Anya replied.

"You don"t want to do that in comfort?"

Anya sat up and admitted, "I"m worried if I get upset, I"ll light up again."

"Okay, then scoot forward." Trajan kicked off his shoes and climbed in behind her. His legs came down around either side of her, and he pulled her back against his chest. Warmth flooded her, and she relaxed back into him.

"You know Izrayl didn"t mean to upset you," he said.

"I know, but it doesn"t mean he"s wrong. I don"t want to have to worry about lighting on fire every time I go to bed. I have enough trouble sleeping as it is," Anya replied, her hands tangling in his.

"It was out of your control, Anya. You can"t blame yourself for it. Katya"s friends might be able to tell you what in the dream triggered a physical response to you. It wasn"t a normal nightmare. It doesn"t mean you"re going to react the same way every time."

"We don"t know that, Trajan. It could be like this from now on. Like I needed to be more of a freak."

"You"re in good company then. I can suck the life force out of any living thing. Cerise has to drink dead blood to survive. Yvan shares his body with a mythical bird. Katya has so many skeletons in her closet, I can just about hear them dancing, and don"t even get me started on Izrayl"s kinks," Trajan said.

Anya was laughing before she could stop herself. "You make a good point, but I still need to sleep."

"I can watch over you tonight. I don"t need to sleep much."

Anya turned to look up at him. "You"ll stay with me?"

"If you don"t mind. It will be a lot more comfortable than sleeping in this bathtub."

That"s debatable. The thought of Trajan having a sleepover made her body and imagination light itself on fire in a whole new way. He helped her out of the tub and led her back into the bedroom. Miraculously, none of her bedding had been scorched in her inferno, and she said as much to Trajan as she climbed in.

"Try and worry about the properties of magical fire tomorrow, Anya," he said, tucking her in. He made to sit down on the chair next to the bed, but she grabbed his hand, tugging him back to her. His eyes shone red and back to autumn gold.

"Are you sure?" he asked. They had talked about his fear of accidentally feeding on her if he let his guard down, but she wanted him close.

"Trajan, if you"re not worried about me setting you on fire, then I"m not worried about falling asleep beside you," Anya replied and moved over, giving him space.

"Practice," Trajan said, and tingles swept down her spine. He took off his glasses and placed them on the bedside table before climbing in beside her.

"What if I really did go to the Land of the Dead?" Anya asked, her voice small. Trajan moved closer to her and placed his arm around her waist. She curled into him, putting her head on his chest.

"I"ve been to the Land of the Dead, and what you described was very far from it." His lips pressed against her hair. "We will work it out in the morning. Close your eyes and try to relax."

Trajan watched Anya sleep,a frown forming on his face. They were going to need more help than just Katya"s friends. Shamans were all well and good, but they needed warriors. He had planned on reaching out to Hamish, but he couldn"t wait any longer. Katya"s encounter with the Darkness was enough to have Trajan thinking about more security. It would only be a matter of time before Vasilli and Ladislav tracked them down, and he wanted to be ready for them.

Leaving Anya sleeping in the next room, Trajan scrolled through his phone for last known numbers. Hamish liked to travel and was never in one place or had the same number for long.

"Burnt Downs Station," a woman"s curt voice answered.

"Hello. I was wondering if Hamish Hudson would be available."

"You a copper?"

"I assure you, madam, I"m not the police. I"m one of Hamish"s acquaintances."

"Sorry. You sound like a copper. Look, Hamish ain"t in. He"s out mustering and isn"t due back to the station for another three days."

"Could you please tell him Trajan rang and that I need him to come to Paris? I"m calling in the debt he owes me."

"I need him to bring the cattle in first, then you can have him. Not for too long, mind you, because he works hard, unlike some of the other good for nothing bastards out here."

"Of course. Just tell him it"s urgent and if he needs money to call me."

"No worries. I"ll let him know." The phone went dead, and Trajan sighed. At least he knew where Hamish was. Now all he could do was wait.