Mentored in Fire by K.F. Breene

Eighteen

“Get him out of my sight.”I waved Cahal away when we reached the second-floor landing. “I will not be granting you a fucking mercy killing, Cahal. You and my da—Lucifer can suck it.”

He turned and showed me his back, straight and broad, like he was about to march into death without flinching.

He probably was, just not in the way our demon observers thought.

I kept my own back from straightening, my chin from rising.

I sensed battle coming. It was almost time to fight for my life in the best way I knew how—magic, steel, and fists. But not yet. I couldn’t show that side of myself without alerting everyone that I’d had a drastic change of heart. They knew me as a temperamental teen, basically. The broken heir who spent her days being coddled and training with her father. The moody, hormonal kid who was just getting her bearings. It was a façade that never would’ve fooled anyone who truly knew me. They would’ve called bullshit immediately.

I ripped away a wall hiding a little creepy demon and sent it scurrying with a ball of fire. I pulled Darius to the forefront of my mind, letting the longing soak into me. Drag at me. It would take the fire out of my eyes. The determination out of my jaw. It would help mask my desire to kick some ass long enough for me to get to my room and get things in motion.

Mr. Boobs found me on the third floor. I turned and blasted it with a shock of air, knocking it over the stone railing. It would catch itself before it went splat. Not like it mattered—it was a spy for Lucifer. It kept me in my place, happy as could be, and alerted the masses every time I did something big, like ripping down a huge wall that had sectioned off part of the castle or cutting a hole in the ceiling.

They must’ve thought I was incredibly gullible all these weeks, acting up but largely falling in line. I could just imagine Darius asking why he’d never gotten this Reagan, who could be trapped and cowed, happy with only friendly banter and fun training sessions.

Yes, I did like this place. But I liked being me better. This return to decisiveness felt damn good. It was like I was pulling off a smothering sheet. I had a job to do: save my friends, bang my boyfriend, and then knock the elves down a peg so Lucifer could open up the Underworld and I could come and go as I pleased. That was the real end game. That was what I wanted. I wanted to be here on my own terms. I wouldn’t mind taking a spin in the ruler chair, but I’d need freedom, and to also keep my home in the Brink.

And maybe I’d never get all of that. Fine. Then I’d make the elves and Lucifer both terrified to mess with me. Plus I’d steal a bunch of those gold bars on the walkway to the elves’ castle, smuggle it back to the Brink, and live out my days however I wanted. There would be no compromises. There would be no more confusion. Mama wasn’t playing anymore.

I made it to my room and slammed air into the doors, throwing them open. I turned and shouted, “Do not bother me unless it is an emergency. And let that druid go hungry. See what he thinks about death when he’s starving. I bet it won’t be so attractive then.”

I slammed my doors behind me, putting the most intricate air lock on them that I could devise. Over that, I created a fire illusion, a way to lock my fire magic into place without actively feeding it. Thanks, Dad, for the training. It would serve me well.

I couldn’t wait to ring Penny’s bell. Assuming she hadn’t learned more than me down here and threw whatever I dished out back in my face. That would hurt. Still, I couldn’t wait to see her again. All of them again. I even wanted to hug Roger, of all things. This place had knocked a screw loose.

It took me five full seconds to realize something was dreadfully wrong in my room, and another two to realize I was fucked.

A grisly monster hand grabbed my throat and squeezed. Pasty white and old as sin, the creature shoved me up against the nearest wall, pinning me there. The fecking thing was blindingly fast, and I hadn’t been even remotely ready.

This was what happened when you let your guard down for weeks at a time. Death by old-ass vampire.

Its black eyes stared into mine as it hissed, saliva dripping down long canines. Three other vampires were stationed around the room, ready to attack should I fight back.

”My, my, Grandmother, what big teeth you have,” I said, walling the other vampires off. The one that had me didn’t squeeze any harder. If she’d meant to kill me, she would’ve done it already. “What are you doing here, Ja?”

She pulled back a little, releasing my throat, and then changed into her human form. Small and petite, also now naked, she looked like a stiff breeze would blow her away. Dainty features and large eyes hid the predator within. Vlad had nothing on this vampire, I was sure of it. None of them did.

“Reagan. So nice to see you.”

“There, you see?” I winked at her. “When vampires say it, they don’t really mean it. There’s something reassuring about that. When Romulus says things like that, he actually means them.”

“The fae’s kindness makes them facile. They are practically asking to be used by smarter beings.”

“Good gracious. Tell us how you really feel.”

She put out her hand, indicating the sitting area in the corner of my bedroom, where a bottle of demon whiskey sat, half-full.

“Don’t expect this to taste like Irish whiskey,” I said, heading over and taking a seat. “It’ll disappoint you.”

She followed me, but I put up my hand when she bent to sit.

“Cover up your junk. I want to come back to these rooms someday, and I don’t want your ass crack all over my furniture.”

Her feral gaze made me grin. I had missed vampires. What fun they were. What a rush. Lucifer would get a real kick out of them.

She didn’t comment, but she did wait for me to allow one of her minions through my air wall so it could hand over a sparkly red dress. I waited for her to slink it over her person before taking a seat and reaching for the glasses.

I held up my hand again. “None for me, thanks. I’ve got places to be.”

“Is that so?” Ja sat back and crossed an ankle over her knee. I wasn’t sure if she was intentionally flashing me or what, but it wasn’t the choicest of views. “You do not plan to stay holed up in this fine castle like a little pet?”

“Oops. Your judgment is showing.” I let seriousness take over. Time was ticking. Cahal and I had to get to the dragons before midnight so we could be well ahead of Lucifer, whom I assumed would be leaving in the morning. I hoped he would, at any rate, or the battle was going to kick off a lot sooner than I had expected. “What are you doing here, Ja? And how the hell did you get in?” It dawned on me. “It wasn’t Vlad who snuck in at all—it was you and your people.”

“You would’ve realized that long before now had you been paying even an iota of attention.”

“I had my own demons to see to.” I waggled my eyebrows. “Get it?” Her flat expression said she didn’t care. “How’d you get Lucifer to think it was Vlad?”

“I’ve known about Vlad’s efforts in the Underworld for quite some time. I’ve watched, quietly. He doesn’t understand it like Durant does. Or like Durant will. He certainly doesn’t understand it like I do. If he’d made it through, he would’ve been captured and brought to the castle immediately. Maybe he would’ve sought it out himself. And then he would’ve woken you out of your comfortable sleep, told Lucifer things he had no business knowing, and everything would’ve gotten incredibly messy. But thanks to the distraction created by Ms. Bristol and Lucifer’s haste to close everything down, I didn’t have to hunt Vlad down within the Underworld and kill him to ensure his silence.”

Holy crap. Usually vampires didn’t gun down other vampires. Not elders, anyway. This lady was like a cowboy in the Wild West of vampires, and suddenly I really wished Darius was here to handle her. Or even Cahal. Anyone but me.

“Still, how did you fool Lucifer?”

“I went to Vlad’s chief contact, killed everyone loyal to him, bribed those I could to create false truths—”

“Those are called lies…”

“—and disappeared into the Underworld. Lucifer has been chasing a phantom. A loose end. Now he realizes foul play, of course, and will likely wipe out the sect loyal to Vlad. It’s better that way. They weren’t well organized. Vlad has been playing them for fools.”

I couldn’t do much more than stare. She was terrifying.

She studied me within the silence. “I am here because Darius assured me that you would be on the winning side.”

“The winning side of what?”

“Playing dumb just eats time.” She had me there. “I agree with him. I used to think Penny Bristol was at the center of this. Or maybe I just really like her, I can’t tell. I would like to taste her.”

“Good luck with that.”

“Thank you. But she is not the leading point in the pyramid of power. You are. You are more than just the heir of the Underworld. You’re much more, aren’t you?”

She paused, looking me over, and I checked the imaginary watch on my wrist and then tapped the skin to make sure she got the point. I could just walk out and go about my business, I supposed, but she’d likely get annoyed and sound an alarm. Or do some other crazy thing I would never expect. I certainly hadn’t expected her to be in here. Or in the Underworld.

“You know a bit about me,” she continued.

“A bit, though I had no idea it typically took you so long to get to the point…”

“You know something of my history with your kind. The demon kind, I mean.”

“I just know that it is mostly gross, what you get up to—banging and bonding the ickier versions of demons…”

“We all have our tastes.” Penny wouldn’t like to hear that she was valued on the same level as gross demon sex. Or maybe she would, that dirty little birdie. “I have many allies in the Underworld. I have extensive networks from all my dealings here. I was able to hide easily. Much more easily than Darius Durant, who has been found out.”

She paused once again, this time to get my reaction. She was about to get nothing for her efforts.

Her flat smile said she’d just clued into that. “You knew.”

“I suspected.”

“And that is why you are suddenly shifting into action after frittering away weeks?”

“You have spies in the castle, then?”

“I have spies everywhere.”

“I needed training.”

It was my turn to study her. What the hell was her game? If my battle of wits down here had been against her, I was pretty sure I’d have lost.

“Your training has raised quite a few eyes.” I didn’t bother telling her that she’d gotten the saying wrong. She uncrossed her leg and entwined her fingers in her lap. “Your ideas have made people nervous, especially because they have excited Lucifer. Many don’t want change, even though he has always welcomed new information. New knowledge. He is one of the few good rulers, in my opinion. It is a shame he was locked down here, mostly cut off from magical society. He’d do well to move in the elite circles again. It would make the Underworld stronger.”

“Ja, honestly, you need to chat with Darius about all this stuff. I can get myself out of a pinch, but I can’t plan…whatever it is you are talking about. I’m not that smart. Or bored.”

“Simply put, the vampires belong in the Underworld. We should never have been left in the control of the elves. I want what Durant wants. What you now want. I want the treaty with the elves broken. The current regime must be toppled. I am fine with those silly little fae running around with their swords, promising…rules or order or whatever it is they howl about. If that is your cause, and you will be on the winning side, then we all will win.”

“That was a threat, right? If that isn’t my side, you’ll try to kill me?”

“Not at all. We both know I couldn’t. Though…if caught by surprise when your mind is numb from pampering…maybe…”

I scowled at her. That was a good dig. I didn’t have a comeback for it because it was true.

“Well, lucky us, that is what I want,” I said, sitting forward. I was running out of sand in the hourglass. “I don’t want to bother with the fixing-up side of things, in any of the worlds, but I do want to demolish everything so that it can be made better. In order to do that, though, I need to leave. So, again, what do you want, Ja? Other than to ascertain my plan?”

She spread her arms. “I want to help, obviously.”

“Oh yes, obviously.”

“I have a misdirection ready to go. One of Vlad’s people has always been loyal to me. He is deep within Vlad’s faction.”

I nodded knowingly, remembering back to when I’d first helped get Charity into the Realm. Vlad’s people had stood in our way, but they hadn’t been controlled by Vlad. He’d learned of it, and I’d thought he rooted out all the bad apples. Clearly he’d missed a few.

“Soon he will be sacrificed to the cause. Lucifer will be told he is one of Vlad’s people, and Lucifer will then try to torture information out of him. A futile effort, of course.” She smiled, and butterflies filled my belly at the gruesome mischievousness sparkling in her eyes. “I’ve acquired one of Penny and Emery’s spells. The sacrifice will not be able to say anything of use.”

“But it’ll take a while to kill him, I assume?”

She winked. That was a yes.

I took a deep breath to still my suddenly rampaging heart. “You are doing that for your own benefit. You need me, and I need Darius. So if you hoped to get an extra trade out of it, you’re pissing in the wind.”

“I will sort out the terms of all of this with Darius. There is one more thing.”

“Maybe. Keep it within reason.”

“I will help you with Darius. You will need to fight him out of there. They are holding him for Lucifer. They think that’ll give them some sort of boon. And they are probably correct, though what favor they would’ve gotten from Darius would’ve been far more lucrative. Simple-minded fools.”

“And they’ll die for their sins.”

“Of course.”

“What’s the catch?”

“You will then need to help me get out of the Underworld. I can get you to the safest exit point, but you or Penny Bristol will need to tear down the walls that Lucifer has newly erected.”

My smile spread, and it was my turn to pause.

She was trapped here, just like everyone else, and it was only a matter of time before someone turned her in. Without help from Penny or me, she was up shit creek.

“Darius will certainly be sorting out the ‘implications’ of all this,” I said, because she would owe us, big time. When it all shook out, she needed us to save her skin, and that was worth more than what she was offering us: a boost we maybe didn’t need.

“Quite,” she said tersely.

“The only problem is, we haven’t accounted for you in our plans. We have dragons. What’s your mode of transportation?”

“Very fast speeds and the absolute fastest route already cleared.” Ja stood and shrugged out of the dress. She tossed it to the vampire behind her. It hit my air wall, which I then ripped down. “It’ll take time for you to collect the druid and get to the dragons. By the time you get to the sect in question, we won’t be far behind. Clear the perimeter and we should be on hand to head into the fray.”

She’d clearly thought this through.

“Fine.” I stood and looked her squarely in the eye. “If you fuck me or jeopardize my people, I will either trap you here for my father to deal with or find you on the outside and kill you and every vampire close to you. Do you understand me? You might be cunning and incredible at sabotage, but I am a nightmare from which you will not escape.”

Fire lit in her eyes before her eyelashes fluttered. “Oh yes, you will win. Darius Durant found a diamond in the rough. I am absolutely green with envy. Here. This will help.”

A blur was all the warning I had before she was directly in front of me, so close my breath dusted her face. Her hand stopped right before it touched my skin, and a grimace creased her lovely face when I squeezed her with air.

“I’m not sure if you’ve caught up with the times,” I said, holding her there. “But these days, you must get consent before you touch a person’s chest.”

I am glad to see that you are back to operating at optimal capacity, she thought, probably because I had her locked down so tight that not even her jaw could move. I meant to circumvent the binding on your bond with Darius when I was in the elves’ castle, but Lucifer showed up too quickly. I didn’t want to get caught with my hands on the prize and end up down here like Cahal did.

What was this now? She had been in the castle?

I’ve had a bond muffled by them in the past, she continued, so I did a lot of research on the subject. To break their magical suppression, you will need to take each other’s blood, like bonding again. It will be much quicker and less intense, of course. In the meantime, there is a workaround. You simply need a vampire more powerful than the bond holder to flower the effects of the bond so that you can feel it. Given Darius is the bond holder, your only option at present is me. Shall I?

“I mean…it goes without saying that I need to live through this, right?”

Don’t be an idiot.

That was apparently a yes.

I released the air hold and allowed her hand to continue until it rested just over my heart.

“Boy will I feel stupid if this was all an elaborate scheme to rip my heart out,” I said.

“In that case, we’d both feel stupid. Being elaborate just wastes time.”

“You’re not real moody, are you? Just super sweet all the time, huh?”

Claws elongated from her fingers and dug into my skin.

“I’m having second thoughts,” I said, and then held my breath as the pain spiraled outward from my chest. I would’ve pushed her off if I hadn’t felt a strange stirring in my chest, like the haze on my bond with Darius was lifting slightly, letting the feeling of him seep out and into my person.

My body tensed, the world stilled, my entire being focused on him re-entering my world.

The pain in my chest increased, her claws digging in, her power amplifying.

“He has grown mighty while under your care,” she whispered, her voice strained.

Anxiety and worry bled through the bond, followed by confusion, and then a gush of love so powerful my knees weakened. He felt me as I was feeling him. Relief washed in next, and suddenly I knew exactly where to find him. I could sense his direction in relation to mine.

“Interesting. I never took you for a crier.” Ja pulled her bloody hand away from my red-stained chest. I barely felt the pounding of pain, focused as I was on the feeling of Darius within me again. Coursing through me. Filling me up. It wasn’t just the bond, which was still half muffled. I could finally let myself miss him again. Ache for him. Want him near me.

How could Lucifer ever think I could sex him away? That was a person who didn’t understand deep, soul-crushing love. He might’ve really liked my mom, but he hadn’t loved her. Not like this. Not even close.

“It’s been a rough few weeks,” I said, wiping my cheeks and not even feeling remotely embarrassed about the show of vulnerability. Something Lucifer had said popped into my mind.

Vulnerabilities aren’t something to be afraid of. They make us stronger, in the end. You cannot really hate unless you know how to love. You will never know your true strength unless you give in to your greatest weaknesses.

Ja was watching me with a tilted head.

“Come on. Stop wasting time.” I brushed past her so I could grab a different top. This one now had holes in it.

“Don’t fail,” she told me, and then she and her cronies went running across the living space and leapt out of a window that would dump them out onto a very steep incline. I didn’t have time to see if they’d tumble off.

Dress off and tank on, I tied my hair tighter and grabbed the demon whiskey and one glass from the table. I emptied most of the whiskey to look like I’d drunk it and then put the bottle on the table in the main room and the glass on the table near the window. If someone got into the main room before they should, hopefully they’d see that and my closed door and wait for my hangover to wear away. Assuming they could get in at all.

I opened the window that looked out over the darkened kingdom and sailed through it, pulling in tightly to the building and dodging windows as I made my way to Cahal’s apartment. I’d chosen it deliberately. It was a big production to get there from within the castle—you had to take stairs and go down halls. Go out the window, though, and it was very accessible. I loved it when a plan came together. Especially because I never usually planned at all.

He stood in the window with only dim light at his back. He didn’t have his sword, which would be a problem, but there wasn’t anything we could do about it. I’d tried to devise a way to get down to the armory to get it back, but I’d never been allowed to go there. I wasn’t ready to see the darker parts of the kingdom, I’d been told, as though I didn’t know how torture worked. As though I hadn’t been tortured right before being brought here.

They just didn’t trust me. They thought I would try to steal the sword out from under them. They were right.

He pulled the latch and swung the heavy pane inward. He glanced down the side of the castle to the ground far below. Then back at me.

“Wanna hug?” I put out my arms.

He glanced down again before stepping up onto the ledge and reaching out for me. I cinched my hands around his big body, grabbing him beneath the pits, before wrapping my legs around his middle. While I’d discovered I could hover two entities, he could only wrap himself in shadow. Unless I was glued to him, of course.

What took you? Cahal thought.

“I had a lovely surprise meeting,” I whispered, sliding down the side slowly, working around windows great and small. “Ja showed up.”

His large slabs of muscle bulged, his arms squeezing my back uncomfortably.

“Yeah. Surprised me, too.” I tried to glance around his big arm to the ground, but no go. “How close are we?”

Half a floor. How did… It wasn’t Vlad.

“Correct. She scolded me for not having seen that. She had a lot of disparaging things to say, actually. She doesn’t think too highly of the way I’ve spent my time here.”

She was in the elves’ dungeon when I got there. She cleared the way for Lucifer, though he didn’t know it. Or need it. I don’t know what else she was doing in there, but she mentioned that you needed training. She wanted you here.

“She was going to release the hold on my bond with Darius, but she ran out of time, I guess. She just did it there, in my room. Well, halfway. It’s enough. I can get Darius’s direction. I’ll be able to find them easily this way.”

We bumped into the ground a little harder than we should’ve. Whoops.

“Let’s go, druid. Let’s see if you can keep up.”

I took off like a jet, needing to get the hell out of there as fast as possible. Cahal was right beside me, hopefully close enough to impart a little magic. He wouldn’t last long at this speed, but we could slow down once we were out in the nothingness.

“I do not…get that…vampire,” I said as we went. “She told me…some of her…end game—”

I hit a rock and stumbled. Cahal braced me. The guy was like a dark guardian angel. He was dangerous and rough and deadly, but when he was helping you stay alive, no detail was too small.

Do not trust anything she says. Her mind is dizzying, and her motives are never clear.

I was glad I wasn’t the only one that thought so.

Cahal looked back and then slowed, breathing heavily.

Thank you for the air, by the way, he thought. I may not technically need it, but it is uncomfortable to live without it.

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing when I did it. Also, I was throwing a tantrum.”

He continued on at the slower pace, and I took that opportunity to tell him all Ja had said, repeating her plans in slow detail.

She will let them kill the spy she had with Vlad?

“It seems so.”

She must have others. She likely brought him in case the worst should happen.

“Which it clearly did if she is now asking for help.”

Yes, exactly. She is learning the hard way what it is like to enter into a situation with you and Ms. Bristol. It takes some getting used to.

“You’ve done well.”

Yes.

His delivery was deadpan. Who would’ve thought that was possible with a thought? I laughed as we reached the dragon territory. We slowed, and Cahal stepped in front of me. He bent, and I climbed onto his back so his magic would mask both of us. Most of the dragons were asleep, but the big ones would be heading out soon for the hunt.

“And here I thought you’d carry me like a bride,” I murmured as he started jogging through the trees. He’d drop me at Archion before he went back for his dragon.

Only a madman would consent to carry you like a bride and mean it.

“I’ll tell Darius you said so.”

He is not a man.

I rolled my eyes. I’d walked into that one.

Hey, I thought as Cahal put me down next to a sleeping Archion, all curled up like a dog in a comfy, big bed. Trees and bushes closed him in on all sides but one, a setup I’d made for him over the last few days, much of it an illusion. It gave him privacy, which he deserved, but it would also keep Lucifer from noticing his absence.

Hmm? A sleepy dragon lid lifted slowly, the pale orb beneath glowing slightly. Huh.

We gotta go. It’s time. I patted him again, hard as a rock. Way prettier, though. Hurry!

His eyes snapped open now and his head came up, quickly alert. He snaked his long neck out and twisted through one of the trunks, spying what lay beyond.

Go tell Saphira that we are ready.

Who?

Saphira. The white dragon.

Oh. I turned to hurry away. I turned back. What?

She is my best mate. Our eggs hatched close together. I trust her with my life, and I told her about our journey. She wants to come. She will help carry your friends. The bond requirements will be withheld while we are running for our lives. Because if you get caught, we will all be trapped here forever, or killed. We wish to leave. With you.

I didn’t have time to argue. Or say thank you. Or ask if this was a good idea. I just listened, running toward Saphira’s hangout, using the roundabout back way so none of the other dragons would see me. This close to Tatsu, Lucifer’s dragon, we need to take the utmost care, especially since the big dragons would be getting up to hunt pretty soon.

Reaching the dragon with the lovely snow-powder scales, outlined in dusty gray, I patted her shoulder.

No reaction.

Hey!

Still nothing. Oh, right—I could only think thoughts between a dragon that accepted me as a bond mate.

“Hey.”I kicked her this time. She was a dragon. She would barely feel it.

Her eyes snapped open, and her head jerked up, smoke pouring out of her nostrils.

“No, no.” I held out my hands. “It’s me. Archion’s rider. Remember? I guess he broke my trust, blabbed to you, and you consented to be a fifth wheel?”

Those luminous eyes, the “whites” a soft blue, blinked slowly. The black slit within enlarged, and she looked in the direction of Archion.

I put my finger to my lips. “Shh. Hopefully he also told you that we can’t let Tatsu know we’re leaving…”

Her body rocked back and forth until she was pushed up into a crouch, very graceful for a dragon.

“Get out of here without people—dragons—noticing.” I took a few steps away. “Then meet us in the air. We’ll be flying high. We have no time to lose.”

Back at Archion, I belatedly remembered that I should’ve probably put up some sort of illusion to show her sleeping in her spot. Then again, if Lucifer noticed the magic, he’d know I’d deliberately set out to hide her. If he noticed she was missing, on the other hand, he might just think she was out for a fly.

Okay, let’s go. I hovered up onto his back. Cahal is probably wondering where we are.

I thought your friend chose a dragon under his power level. Archion lifted into the air and flew forward a ways, staying low to the tree line. But his magic is able to cover Coppelia perfectly. With a larger dragon, that would likely not be the case. They will be stronger as a pair with that magic able to hide them.

I nodded, because I’d wondered too, but his insight made sense. We kept moving, and a little farther out, hopefully past the notice of Tatsu, he zoomed into the sky, meeting Cahal and Coppelia. Saphira joined us a moment later.

I tapped his neck on the side to adjust our direction. I had Darius’s bond to guide me now. His location was a glowing spot in my mind, and I could barely keep from pushing Archion to hurry faster.

We’ll be going into battle, I told him. I think it is a violence sect, so they’ll be able to defend themselves. We’ll need to clear the outside of the sect so a group of untrustworthy vampires can rush in.

I have not been in battle before.

I know. Trust me, it’ll be fun. You can do a sweep and then drop me off so I can fight on foot. I’m better off if I’m participating.

I’d hate to lose you.

Then help out when the time comes. If you feel fear, just—

I am a dragon among peasants. Why should I feel fear?

He wasn’t too old in dragon terms—a hundred and fifty or so—and male. He was basically a teen boy. He probably wouldn’t feel fear, stupidly so. But in this situation, that would help instead of hurt, so I let it go.

Cahal pulled up alongside us, high above the ground. He looked over, hard to see within the darkness and his swirling shadow.

We’ll need to give it all we have, Cahal thought. This is your only chance at escape. You fooled Lucifer once. It will never happen again.