Chapter 19

19

Sensations rolled across Lilis from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Warmth. Softness. Silence.

Safety.

As the impressions solidified, Lilis sighed. She was lying in Simon’s bed with her head pillowed on one of his strong shoulders. His arm wrapped around her, his hand resting on her hip possessively. A cotton sheet draped across their lower halves. Her entire body languished, more satisfied, more relaxed than she had felt in years —all from letting down her guard with Simon.

Is this what peace feels like?

If so, it was worth it.

Lilis reached for blissful sleep, but it eluded her. Other than Simon’s even breathing and steady heartbeat, no sounds penetrated their haven. Not even the birds bothered at an hour so dark. The moon had set, but the sun had not yet risen.

Her heartbeat sped up, stirring her body. Awareness pierced her relaxed mind, rousing her dragon, and with it, Lilis knew what had awoken her.

Someone had just restarted the fire.

And it was massive .

The inferno raging in the heart of the Pine Barrens burned with emotion. Even from where she lay, miles away, Lilis could feel its desperate, furious need .

Ice stole through her veins, replacing the comfortable warmth of her little refuge with Simon. This fire wouldn’t discriminate. It would take whatever it wanted. Acres of trees. Demons. Humans.

Her dragon rose within her, unfurling its wings, its message clear.

Not if we have anything to say about it.

Moving quietly and carefully, Lilis slid out from Simon’s embrace and tucked a pillow in her spot against his hard chest.

In sleep, Simon’s shaggy black hair fanned around his head like a small halo, and his perfect mouth that had driven her to the heights of pleasure only hours ago curved upward. As though he were dreaming of her.

“Stay dreaming. I’ll keep you safe,” she promised his sleeping form.

She gathered her clothes from the floor, pausing at the light of her cell phone’s screen flashing messages from Vega from four hours ago. The most recent read: WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?

“Saving your asses.” She didn’t bother checking the others. Instead, she locked it and placed it on Simon’s desk. She’d retrieve it when she’d eliminated the threat and returned to Simon, hopefully before he woke up.

She slipped from the apartment and out into the night.

The chill air blew across her bare skin and Simon’s dark windows haunted her, like the empty eye sockets of a skull. It should feel like she was leaving him safe.

It didn’t.

Her heart begged her to return to him.

I can’t. Simon’s safety comes first.

Rolling her shoulders, she let her dragon rise to the surface. Wings sprouted on her back as her muscles and joints shifted effortlessly into place. As her senses sharpened, she gathered her clothes into her massive paws and launched herself into the sky with a tremendous whumph of jet-black wings, soaring on the light breeze.

Below her, the streets were devoid of humans. Even animals still slumbered or sought new shelter, likely sensing it was better to avoid the Barrens.

She circled from high in the air, checking for humans. Her team had left some of their rescue vehicles on the edges of the Barrens, empty and waiting, but no people moved about.

She landed near one of the larger trucks and shifted quickly, tossing on her clothes.

The fire of the forest summoned her, calling to her dragon to come and play. Fed by the ancient power of a formidable endirim, its energy grated against her powers.

This fire wasn’t hers to command. It wouldn’t heal her or offer any solace.

She would end it. Today.

She peered into the hazy depths of the forest, inhaling burnt pine, smoke, and cool air.

I’m coming for you.

She strode through the trees, her dragon guiding her inexorably toward the heart of the inferno, the one spot that ignited and extinguished like the breath of a living being. Smaller outbreaks and offshoots of the fire smoldered along her path.

And then she crossed some invisible line, and the wind roared past her with the loud whoosh of backdraft. Smoke billowed around her, the embrace enveloping her. An enormous blaze roared in the distance, its white glow turning the trees into shadows of themselves. She smiled.

Found you .

Beyond the curtain of fire, a lone figure, dressed all in black, stood in front of a burning cluster of trees, arms out. From a distance, he appeared only a few inches taller than Lilis, with thick black hair that flowed down to his waist, secured by a tie.

Why did the true monsters hide in the shape of humans? This being, more ancient than demons themselves, stole fire from the very core of the planet and would use it to turn her own flames against her. Or lay waste to everything in sight.

His powers sizzled along her nerve endings as he fueled the blaze, rankling her and setting off her dragon.

“I know you’re there.” His deeply resonant voice carried over the roar of the flames to her.

“I made no secret of it.” You started this fire. Repeatedly hounded Hoyt in his hospital room. You dare endanger Simon? She pulsed with fury. “Clear out, or I’ll cremate you where you stand and toss your remains in a matchbox.”

He lifted one hand, and the flames licked up the central tree in front of him, like a flammable middle finger. “You can try.”

Lilis charged.

An instant before she reached him, he disappeared, reappearing behind her. A kick between her shoulder blades knocked her forward, and she tumbled, twisting and rolling to her feet before rounding on him.

“And you say we demons are evil?” she spat. “You define evil.”

His face contorted into a mask of rage and hatred, and he flashed in front of her again, swinging a fist at her.

Lilis dodged and punched him in the gut, sending him backward several feet. But he recovered quickly and advanced on her, dual flaming balls of power emanating from each of his hands as he lashed out with them. Her skin sizzled.

Fuck. If he could burn her, she had no chance of walking out of this fight alive.

Didn’t matter. All she had to do to keep Simon safe was take this son of a bitch down with her.

Freed by the knowledge she would die, Lilis exploded into her dragon form, towering above him.

She leapt.

With her heightened senses, she avoided his next blast, and released a stream of fire of her own.

“You have no right to wield my element!” Using his fire like a whip, he felled a tree and swung it at her. “All you do is kill and destroy! No more .”

Lilis roared and leapt. In her dragon form, she felt him draw in heat, burning through space as he disappeared. She spun around, watching for the shimmering air that signaled where he would reappear.

The instant he did, she swung her tail, knocking him backward and through several rows of trees. She thundered after him, tearing open the ground with another stream of fire. He regained his feet and tackled her to the ground, holding her jaws together and head-butting her.

Trapped. Her most valuable weapons—fangs that could shred, a jaw that could crush, and fire that could incinerate—pinned by the god’s might. She wanted to howl. To rip at him. But he was too fucking strong. And she was too weak.

Gods. Simon deserved better. And if he died, it would be her fault. Again .

No!

She sank her claws into his arms and tore him off, flinging him above the tree line before launching herself into the sky after him. But he flashed himself to a point above her, landed on her back, and flashed them both hard into the ground.

Nausea washed over her from the disorientation of his teleport, and Lilis heaved a molten fireball and several recent meals into the earth at his feet.

Her vision swam, and she shook her head, trying to clear it. But a ringing built in her ears, and her head felt as though it were still soaring above the clouds. A sharp pain in her shoulder drew another roar, and she lashed out, swinging her tail, claws, and fangs to avoid getting stabbed again.

A grunt to her left and telltale wetness along her paws told her she’d hit her target.

Not good enough.

She tackled him to the ground. He flashed out of her grasp, but she was faster this time, and her vision was returning quickly.

But her weakness was costing her. He teleported from place to place, never close enough to reach, tossing little knives at her back and tail. She roared with pain and pawed at the ground.

Need fire to get around? Let’s see what happens when none of it is yours.

If he couldn’t burn through space, he couldn’t teleport. She breathed deeply, inhaling all the air in the area, and drawing down any remaining cool air from above. He dove at her again, but Lilis was faster. She feinted to the side and leapt upward, igniting everything around them and beating her wings to spread it rapidly. It swirled and churned, burning the forest below them.

She would burn down the whole fucking world for Simon. She’d burn this endirim, who thought himself a god. He fell out of thin air, fell through fire, then… thud . Nowhere else to fall.

She followed him down, a fresh wave of dizziness sweeping over her.

Stupid bastard coward, poisoning his knives, just like Longwei.

Lilis landed in front of him, deeply pleased to see his own brown eyes glazed over and the blood trickling from his mouth, nose, and arm. He was breathing heavily, and she smiled a big, toothy dragon smile.

“I will use… each… and every one… of your scales… as a barbeque spit,” he panted, “to roast you while you scream.” He spat blood and leapt at her.

She met him head-on, lashing out with all she had, slashing at him with her claws and snapping her jaws. He ducked, dodging her attacks with an ease that made her roar with frustration.

Swinging around, she unleashed a torrent of fire at him. But she misjudged his exhaustion. He grabbed some of her flames, slicing through her stream, and appeared directly in front of her.

A burning sensation ripped through her abdomen.

“And when I’m done,” he continued, twisting the knife in her gut, “I’m coming for your little human slave. After everything he’s done, I’ll enjoy taking him apart piece by p?—”

No!

Even in her dragon form, Lilis’ scream came through her roar. She attacked again and again, pulling him out of his flashes by his shoulders to slam him into the ground. He kicked her off him, and she landed hard, dazed.

The poison in his weapons ate away at her, but she dragged herself to her feet. The knife blade ripped deeper into her, shooting screaming pain along her torso.

The endirim turned to walk away.

Lilis panicked, diving at him. They tumbled through the undergrowth and trees.

He rose, and she tried to follow him but flopped back to the ground.

Simon!

She was dying, and her failure would mean his death. She couldn’t let that happen. With a groan, she managed to stand. He grabbed her head in his hands, drawing her down to his level.

“Listen to me very well. My next stop is that nurse of yours. Never. Fuck. With. An endirim.”

He turned his back on her, and Lilis chomped his side, driving her fangs as far as they would go into him.

I will cut you in half.

He screamed, and blood rushed into her mouth. She increased the pressure, crunching through bone, and with a cry, he managed one last teleport away from her.

Disappearing entirely.

No!

She’d failed.

Her tears spilled freely onto her scaly skin, sizzling on her metallic scales—her protection and armor. Armor that had failed not only her, but the man she’d lost again and again.

She collapsed, unable to move or shift, and her eyes drifted closed.

Behind her lids, she could see Simon’s caring, woodsy eyes and his inviting smile for her and her alone.

At least this time, I won’t have long to live with my failure.

As her consciousness drifted, Lilis prayed that her death would mean the end of the vicious cycle that ripped Simon’s soul from this world again and again in a never-ending cycle of pain and death. With any luck, it would be decades before he crossed to the other side.

She only wished she could see him here. One last time.