Chapter 1

1

Yellow-orange and gray smoke thickened the air, darkening the skies and laying ash across everything it passed. Chainsaws growled through the thickening gloom, singing the death sentence of the trees, preying on them in the hope of stopping an even more massive predator: the fifty-acre fire racing through the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.

How the fuck does a swamp catch fire?

Lilis diligently hacked at the soil at her feet, unearthing a trench designed to slow the progress of the inferno decimating the reserve about a half mile away. Her muscles burned with welcome exertion, and sweat rolled down her sides underneath her thick yellow protective gear.

Ahead of her worked a dozen men in identical gear, balaclava face coverings filtering out little of the campfire air around them. They moved at a grueling pace through the ravaged and steaming landscape, digging, cutting brush, and burning the dried and dead debris. As the last defense against the progress of the inferno, the Flame Jumpers focused on their singular goal: hold the line to stop the spread of the blaze.

A breeze picked up, lifting the hairs on the back of Lilis’ neck and tickling her senses. She peered behind her at the pines blowing in the gust, the dirt beginning to swirl on their path, signaling the start of a fire whirl.

She had seconds.

She looked up the line at each of her comrades. None of them noticed her as they marched forward. Whipping around again, she lifted her face coverings, calling on her other half.

Her dragon responded immediately, rising to the surface, shifting and expanding her chest and face. Just as the whirl took shape, Lilis exhaled a stream of fire. Her blast punched through the middle, disrupting the air flow enough to kill the deadly tornado before it ran down the other members of her team.

“Keep up, Gerru.” Diego Vega, the crew’s leader, crackled through the radio from the front of the line. “I took a chance on you because Anderson said you could handle this work. Don’t make me regret it.”

“Sorry, sir,” Lilis managed to croak as her body returned fitfully to its fully human form.

And you’re welcome.

Her dragon fought her after being contained for so long, and Lilis adjusted her handkerchief to conceal her face from the humans surrounding her.

Soon , she promised it. When the humans are all asleep, we’ll return to play in the flames.

Until then, she’d keep their blissfully ignorant asses safe from the dangers of her playground.

Joining a new team last minute was proving to be far more of a pain than she’d expected, especially with the crew’s boss threatening to kick her off it. It would be easier to abandon this assignment entirely than to follow his never-ending rules.

But someone was killing demons, and while she’d never been friendly with others like her, she’d sooner live in Antarctica than let someone kill them off for no reason.

When I find whichever of you has been starting these fires as traps, I will use your pelvic bone as a shovel to dig the barbecue pit I roast you in.

“Watch out for the south flank, guys.” A team member’s voice came over the radio from another region of the fire. “There’s a drop near the?—”

He cut off on a scream.

Silence followed. Only the wind whistling through the trees and the dull roar of flames dared to break it.

Shit.

She didn’t usually care for humans any more than she did other demons, tolerating them only for the fire’s sake. But she didn’t want her teammates to die .

“Hoyt!” Vega shouted over the radio. “Everyone report. Who has Hoyt?”

“Not me,” came one reply.

“He moved to the east side.” Another.

Reports flooded in. No one knew where their comrade had fallen.

“Ramos, Carter, sweep south for him,” Vega barked through the radio. “Johnson and Abernathy, you’re moving in the other direction. Warn the other teams as you go, and make sure none of their men get as far as Hoyt. Gerru, you and Shepherd keep on the trench. I’m sending Clark and Ellis to join you. Rescue teams haven’t gotten all the campers out of the area yet.”

Lilis pressed the comm button. “Sir, I can?—”

“I didn’t ask for volunteers, Gerru,” Diego’s sharp bark rolled down her spine and set her teeth on edge. “Just follow orders.”

“But sir, I have a background in?—”

“Shut it, Gerru.”

Her dragon beat against her, demanding release, unwilling to let someone else control her. Lilis tightened her fist, holding it back through sheer force of will.

If we lose this job, we’ll lose our best chance at finding the one trapping and killing other demons.

As her dragon reluctantly calmed, she returned to dismembering the earth in front of her.

Another shout from Carter halted her movements. “Brush is too thick down here, and the fire’s moving. Winds shifting!”

Fuck.

More grumblings came over the radio, and Vega’s voice rose above them all in a commanding shout.

“Everyone do your fucking jobs!”

Firefighters all around her jogged in different directions, marching like soldiers to their new assignments. Ten feet away from her, Shepherd dug at the ground with renewed fervor, his pace carrying him farther ahead of her with every passing second. Until Clark and Ellis arrived, it was only the two of them. If she left Shepherd, she’d endanger his life.

If she didn’t leave him, Hoyt was almost certainly dead.

Sensing her indecision, her dragon lifted its head.

Now?

Lilis growled. She waited until the haze had thickened enough between her and Shepherd, then ducked behind a tree.

And ran.

She raced through the underbrush at top speed, down the hill toward her teammate’s last known location. He’d reported from somewhere between the road and stream, though why he’d been there on his own?—

Doesn’t matter. Keep moving.

She had five minutes, ten if she was lucky, before Shepherd noticed she wasn’t there. And if he reported it, they’d have to come looking for her as well.

Sixty pounds of gear beat against her body, but she paid it no mind, pressing her muscles to run faster. The heat increased around her protective gear. She could remove it, but it wasn’t worth the time she’d lose in the process.

This was her territory, her element. Her home . She’d be damned if a fire took someone without her express approval.

As she neared the spot where Hoyt had disappeared, she slowed to a stop.

The flames had advanced much farther than she’d anticipated, farther than any of the rest of her team knew. The pines surrounding her crackled and sparked, announcing the inevitable approach of the inferno, the echoing sounds harbingers of the devil himself.

A bad omen for Hoyt.

Needing to work as quickly as possible, she ripped off her helmet and facial protections, inhaling the heat and smoke. Flames licked up the sides of trees, devouring the bark and every leaf in their path, dancing wildly above the canopy.

Come join me , it beckoned.

She resisted the temptation. Closing her eyes, she took deep, even breaths, reaching into the core of her being for the ability to expand her senses. Her joints slid inch by inch into new locations, and her body expanded, pressing on the seams of her gear, threatening to rip it off her. With great effort of will, she held herself to that stage of transformation.

When she opened her eyes again, everything snapped into sharp, crystalline focus. Every individual leaf illuminated. Every speck of dust floating through the air sparkled in a spectrum of purple light only dragons could see. She inhaled great lungfuls of air, removing layers of smoke from the clearing. Her ears picked up each sound, each scurrying scratch of some unfortunate rodent trying to escape.

She took off again, darting among the trees, searching every bush, every nook and cranny.

Damnit, Hoyt, where are you? She wished she could call out to him, but her mouth no longer supported speech. More snout than human, with a forked tongue designed for spitting fire, not words. She’d have to rely on the taste of the air and the most minute sounds around her to locate him. He had to be here somewhere! She just needed to?—

“I lost Gerru!” Shepherd’s voice crackled through her radio.

No, no, no!

She had seconds to prove her risk had been worth it, or Vega would not only fire her but blacklist her from the other teams in the region. And the culprit setting traps for demons would get away.

Again.

She doubled her pace, running faster now than even the flames could move, overturning falling logs and ripping bushes out of the ground to clear her path.

“Gerru! Report!” Vega responded immediately.

Shit, shit, shit. Where could ? —

There!

A prone figure lay tucked into a bush, surrounded by trees being devoured by flames.

Pouring on another burst of speed, she leaped to his side. She didn’t bother finding his pulse, instead flipping him over and hauling him across her back. The instant he was secure, she fled the flames, forcing her dragon back and settling into her human form.

“GERRU! WHERE THE FUCK?—?”

“Here!” she rasped into her radio.

“Just what do you think you’re?—”

“I’ve got Hoyt!” she rumbled, knowing that would end the rebuke.

For now.

She was in for a solid chewing out later. If she was lucky.

She ran with hopefully-not-dead Hoyt across her shoulders to the rendezvous point, ignoring tree branches that whipped at her face and the smoke that thickened the air.

Only one thing mattered. Getting him out as quickly as possible without any other major incidents. Maybe if she saved a member of Vega’s team, she’d be able to keep her job.

Why do I do this shit for random humans?

An ominous groaning rang out over the crackling of the fire, her only warning a split second before an enormous pine toppled, sending her and Hoyt flying.