Revealed in Fire by K.F. Breene

Sixteen

“As far as weapons”—Romulusglanced at everything I’d set aside already—“I see you did not plan to use them.”

“I was going to fight my magic against his. He doesn’t use weapons.”

“I do, however.”

“Right. Well, go for it. I can’t really stick you full of throwing knives, anyway. Right? That might kill you?”

“I do heal quickly, but that might kill me, yes. Would it not kill you?” He kinda…slunk down a little, and a shiver rolled across my skin. He was preparing to fight. It made me feel like hovering for some reason, though it would have been pretty pointless to try. I couldn’t go very fast in the air. I didn’t even know why Lucifer had that sort of magic. What was it good for, besides negating a ladder?

“They wouldn’t reach me. Unless they did, and then…probably. I also heal quickly.”

“Then no throwing knives. But I assume—”

“Oh my God, just use whatever you want and I’ll make it work. I miss Cahal. He rarely spoke. And he certainly wasn’t polite when he did.”

“Fantastic.”

“That was a put-down, and still you sound so nice. I really hate that,” I grumbled.

He unslung something from his back, and I realized it was a bow, of all things.

“Wait…”

He held it out in front of him and reached back with the other hand, pulling out an arrow. He nocked an arrow, pulled back, and paused for a moment.

“Dude, what the fuck—since when do you people use—”

He released. The arrow flew right for my heart. I should have thrown up a shield of air, but in that split second, only one idea came to mind—sword!

I had an air sword in my hand immediately and swung, clanging against the wood arrow and knocking it away. Another came, and another. Romulus nocked an arrow, released. Nocked an arrow, released. So fast his arm became a blur. But he was only shooting center mass. He didn’t vary the shots.

He definitely didn’t have the type of battle knowledge I did. His skills were the kind you learned from practice, not from evading a mark intent on killing you. He’d gained some experience in the field, but clearly he hadn’t been pushed to the limits. Not like I had. Not like Roger.

Intending to give Darius as much time as I could, I swung my air blade, cutting down or deflecting the arrows, one after the other, almost bored with it. Out of arrows, he dropped the bow. His hands came together, and I knew what would happen next.

I released the air sword as a jet of hellfire spewed toward me, blistering in heat, half the size of my wrist. It would get the job done with most creatures, including most demons. I covered my hair and clothes with ice, so they wouldn’t burn away, and let it wash over me. The heat felt like a comforting caress.

My turn.

“Stay put or this will kill you,” I yelled.

I sent jets of hellfire out of my palms, each bigger than his, although the heat was the same. They sped toward him, and I noticed his assistant start off across the grass, afraid for his boss.

“Halvor would’ve been too late.” I bent the fire at the last moment and wrapped it around him, cocooning him with air so the heat wouldn’t harm him. I rose a sheet of regular fire in front of Halvor. He came out the other side hairless but determined to get to his master. “Jesus. That guy is intense. I hope Callie brought enough hair stuff.”

The hellfire wore away, and Romulus just stood there for a moment, his face slack and his eyes wide, breathing heavily. The guy had thought I was going to kill him.

“You don’t trust me, huh?” I walked toward him, letting him get his bearings. “It makes me like you a little more. Though…” I finally punched him in the kisser.

Halvor was on us a moment later, his sword out, his decision-making a little off. I tossed him away with a burst of air. He really should’ve expected it.

“That was…enlightening,” Romulus said in a shaky voice, patting his lip and coming away with a spot of blood.

“Don’t try hellfire on Lucifer.”

“No. Shall we continue?”

“Always with the freaking politeness,” I said, exasperated, backing off a little. “I just scared the hell out of you on purpose.”

He pulled the sword from his back in one smooth, fast motion. His moves were good; mine were better. His people wouldn’t get to see that, though, because I’d put my weapons in the grass with the other stuff. I now regretted that.

He thrust with his sword, hit my air sword, pulled back. He spun and swung. Dodging the blow, I fast-stepped toward his body. I rammed my forearm across his jaw, then brought it back and slammed my elbow against his cheek. As I turned, I followed through with my other fist, clocking him a good one. Dancing back out, I prepared to air-club him, since the sword would leave a rather large hole I didn’t know if he could come back from.

Lightning rained down around us, all the strikes missing him but crashing down on various points of me. I could withstand the heat, no problem. The freaking jabs of electricity were not pleasant, though. Like, really not pleasant. I hated it.

“Charity, how lovely of you to join us,” I said, sarcasm ringing through my faux-politeness.

Without even looking in her direction, I shoved Romulus away with a burst of air. Doing that was as fun as kicking in doors. He went tumbling across the ground. These people clearly did not realize that their magic could cut through it if they applied enough force and pressure. Or at least lessen the impact. I thought they might’ve learned it battling demons in the Brink. Clearly they hadn’t been paying enough attention. I didn’t plan to enlighten them until right before they needed to use it against an enemy.

The crowd of people now stretched halfway around the practice field, everyone trying to get a good vantage point. Most of the village had to be out here. The shifters were all with Roger, including Cole, who was sitting at the side. Penny had really done a number on him.

And Darius thought I had an expiration date on my ability to keep people distracted?

I finally swiveled to look at Charity. She stood about a hundred feet away, her hair high on her head in a ponytail, her sword sheathed, and the loose fabric of her top, tied around her middle with multiple bands, lightly moving in the breeze.

“You look hot,” I called. “Like a warrior princess. Oh, wait…you are, right? A princess of the practice yard?”

Even from the distance, I could tell she narrowed her eyes at me. Vampire vision from the bond—it was amazing.

“I didn’t grow up practicing. I grew up surviving.” She turned a little and bowed to Romulus.

“Oh no, not you too. I was actually starting to like you. We were on our way to being friends.”

“Hardly.”

“Yeah. Penny said that too. And now look. Besties.”

“No,” Penny barked. “It’s like a…captive situation.”

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “Whatever works. I bonded a vampire, after all. My decision-making is questionable.”

“Father, may I take this fight?” Charity asked.

Romulus bowed back. “But of course. I will take this time to consult the shifters about—”

“Oh no, no.” I waggled my finger at him, then pointed at Penny. “She just took out a yeti. Try your hand with her. She can borrow magic, remember? That means mine. You want to see what a mage wielding Lucifer’s magic can do? She’s your best bet.”

“You know what?” Penny said, and I could tell she’d reached her threshold. “Yeah, sure. You want to fight, let’s fight.”

“Be careful,” Cole called out.

I didn’t wait to see what happened. I started running straight for Charity, air sword in hand.

Lightning rained down around me, striking my shoulders and head, vibrating down through my body. I threw up an air shield, and that helped diffuse it, but bolts still made it through.

“That can be used on Lucifer,” I said as she started forward, charging toward me as I ran at her. She knew my fighting style.

We clashed in the middle, and demons spun up around us, the really gross kind, distorted in the way they’d probably looked to her on her last journey through the Realm, when she’d had to face them while fighting magical poisoning. Insects crawled across their flesh and poked up through their skin. They belched fire and hobbled.

Her eyes widened for a moment, long enough for me to jab her in the stomach with a dull air blade. It didn’t pierce flesh.

“You’re supposed to lead the battle,” I said as she bent over, losing her breath. “If I don’t make it to the end, someone is going to have to take on Lucifer. It’ll likely be you. You can’t get distracted.”

The demons still moved around us as she straightened up. I stitched in a big black wolf, like Devon, figuring it might help anchor her. The detail in the image was great, but I couldn’t get it to move.

Charity barely spared it a glance. She learned fast; I had to give her that.

She slashed her sword, and I blocked the move and sidestepped to sweep her legs. She jumped over my leg and turned, her blade coming down. I swiveled and threw a punch at her face. She jerked to the side, barely missing the impact, and stepped in the direction she’d turned. I created my sword as her thrust came at me. I blocked it, then shoved at her with air.

She wasn’t like the others. She thought two steps ahead. She’d already seen me use this trick and had clearly been thinking about how to work around it.

She swung her blade in figure eights, chopping through the air, pushing back rather than going down and rolling. Clearly she had been paying attention when fighting demons in the Brink.

“Shh,” I said, even though she wasn’t speaking, and slammed air down on top of her. I wasn’t ready for the other fae to know they could fight my power like that. It would steal all my fun. She bent under the weight, and her electricity started up again, reducing my magic. Which was fine, because it didn’t seem like the other fae had that in their arsenal.

“Where’s your hellfire?” I asked as she pushed her way to standing, sweat beading on her brow. I let her.

“I don’t have the power.”

“Bullshit. You have plenty of power.”

She sent a buzzing ball of light at me. I braced myself, because it would probably be electricity and would hurt something fierce. In a moment, though, it bloomed into fire before enveloping me. I’d already protected my hair and eyebrows from a possible attack, so I ran with it. Literally. I bore down on her covered in flames. It was probably really freaky.

“To make hellfire…” I said, pooling the fire onto the outside of my air blade, letting flames shed as I swung it through the air. She danced away when one of the embers landed on her, burning. “You need a little bit of love…”

I thrust forward. She barely dodged. I was faster than her, but not by much.

“A little bit of lust…”

I kicked out. She blocked with her shin, then danced forward and side-kicked at my chest. I ducked under the attempted kick and spun around, at her back and hacking, catching the edge of her shoulder before she could face me. She let out a gasp. That smarted.

“A little bit of hate…”

Demons descended on the wolf, ripping and tearing. She didn’t so much as flick her eyes in that direction.

“And a little bit of violence. You need them all, in equal doses. You need the balance. The desire and the pain. The love and the loss.”

She danced backward, and I wasn’t expecting it, so I stood there like an idiot for a moment.

Her eyebrows lowered over her intelligent red-brown eyes, and silence descended on the practice field. Bodies crowded in, more than before. It had to be nearly the whole village.

It is good that she has this knowledge, Darius thought, clearly in the area now. I’d been too busy trying not to get skewered to notice his proximity increasing. I half hoped it would come after I was out of these lands, however. You are magnificent, by the way. Your power is unequaled in this village. It is giving them a lot to think about.

Skulking and eavesdropping. Doing what a vampire did.

“Are we breaking? What are we doing?” I asked as Charity put her sword away. “I’m not winded. Are you? Or are you passing me off to Penny?”

“No,” Penny called from somewhere behind me.

“She really does like me, you know.”

Charity leaned forward, thrusting her hands out. A very thin stream of hellfire blasted forth, and I let it wash over me so she’d get a little joy out of it.

“Good,” I commented after it diminished. She panted as though she’d run a mile. “It’ll get easier and your stream will get bigger.”

“I have a lot of anger,” she said after a moment. “A lot of violence.” She paused. “Until Devon, I’d forgotten how to love with my whole heart. How to lust with my whole body. I’ve never merged those two halves of myself. Part of me, I think, was afraid of all that anger.”

I grimaced and then worried the grass with my foot. “Yeah, I’m a little uncomfortable with emotional revelations. Your people seem to just hand that stuff out willy-nilly.”

“My father has tried to explain how to make hellfire. My grandmama. They said it comes from within. That I would grow into it with time.”

“It does, typically. Living here, it would take a long time, I imagine. What sort of hate do you have in this place? It’s too nice. The violence is all for show. Like…look. Watch this.”

I rose into the air, above her head, swelled my power, and blasted it out at the people gawking on the sidelines. The air rolled over the ground, gaining speed as I pumped more power into it. It slammed into them like a tidal wave, knocking them down and on top of one another, sending them rolling. I smiled as I watched. It really was a good time.

“And not one of them will get pissed enough to come after me.” I lowered back down. “It would take these people years to accumulate enough anger here to really harness it, I think.”

“Not for long, hopefully,” she murmured, and then bowed to me. “Thank you for teaching me. For joining me. For giving me status.”

I grimaced again and started edging away. “I think we’re good here.”

“You will make it to the last battle. We will make sure of it.”

These people were so positive. They clearly had no foothold in reality.

“Okay, well…”

Darius walked across the grass to meet me, and I had a feeling he was doing it to show his face. To put forth a show of having been there the whole time.

Let’s head out of the public eye, he thought as he neared, looking behind me. They have a lot to unpack.

Penny was getting a bow from a bloodied Romulus.

“Did she win?” I asked as she reciprocated the bow awkwardly and then walked toward us, storm clouds on her face. I was going to get yelled at.

I only saw the last portion of the fight, but yes. She threw a spell over her shoulder as she ran away from him.

“Oh yeah, that’s her signature move. It means incredible pain if you let that spell land.”

He did. He watched your fight with Charity lying down. Tomorrow, while I get into position, I’d ask that you fight Penny out here. Let them see how you can negate her spell weaving. They saw her take down the Second and the yeti, so it’ll have a big impact.

“You’ll have to ask her yourself. She’s done with me.”

“Yes, I am,” Penny said as she stomped by. “I will be spending the evening in my room, thank you very much. Darius, you’re cooking. I need edible food. Charity taught them to make good food the last time she was here, but clearly they didn’t keep it up.”

I want Callie and Dizzy here, as well. Hopefully that’ll distract people from realizing Emery and I are away. They are speaking in hushed tones, even amongst themselves, and have organized a closed trial with sentinels. They are wary of strangers in their midst. I was able to glean that people are angry with the First. They want their say. Even still, I do not know if they’ll tear her off her post.

“You’re taking Emery with you tomorrow? Can’t you just use a spell casing to hide?”

I could, yes. But he doesn’t trust me to relay the information I gather.

“Wise.”

He is absolutely correct, yes, and his knowing that is…frustrating.

I laughed as I collected my weapons and we made our way off the field. Fae were returning to the practice field, giving me a wide berth but facing off with the shifters, now in their animal forms.

“The thing is, though, I might be more valuable to you if I wander around the village and maybe just…kinda…insert myself into the proceedings? I can make a show of Penny anytime, but if I’m fighting, I can’t very well listen to the melons, if you know what I mean.”

Listening to thoughts…yes. How stupid of me to forget. I will still need a distraction so I can slip away undetected, but after that, slip into the trial and find out whatever you can.

Another green light to behave badly. And even though I was a real asshole, I’d still lent Charity status! I was with Steve—this place was amazing!

I wondered if I could get anyone to lose their temper with me…

Tomorrow I would find out.