Battle With Fire by K.F. Breene

One

“Penny, Penny, Penny, Penny!”

“Saying my name over and over is not going to help me steer this boat!” Penny shouted at me. She squinted through the glass of the captain’s area…or cockpit or whatever it was called. Penny’s boat jargon fell on deaf ears. One of her hands clutched the steering wheel and the other gripped the red knob marking the throttle.

My butt slammed against the fiberglass surface at the front—bow?—of the convertible fishing boat. The rough sandpaper stuff, intended for grip when standing to fish in still waters, rubbed against my leather-clad butt before I went airborne again. Jaw tight, I gripped the calf-high metal railing, not nearly high enough to keep me from whipping overboard and into the turgid waters of the gulf. Then again, I was pretty sure no one was supposed to sit up at the front while the boat was jamming through the waves.

“It’s over there—right, Penny, right!”

“Starboard side,” she yelled as a spray of water splashed the glass windshield.

I blinked salt water out of my eyes before throwing up an air shield. Only it turned out water marred visibility on air just like it did with glass. I mean…I should’ve known, but who stopped to think about things like that when chasing a grotesque water sprite through rough waters?

“Starboard!” I watched as the jengu’s wooly-haired head disappeared beneath the sparkling surface, the afternoon sun reflecting rays bright enough to blind me. “Go starboard!”

The engine roared and the boat swung right. My butt slammed into the fiberglass again as we took another wave. A slap of spray hit my air shield.

Water sprites were known for curing diseases and helping sick kids reach adulthood. Or so I’d heard. I didn’t know if there was any truth to it—I only knew that the one we were after was a bit of a dick. He was supposedly haunting these waters with the intent to kill the merpeople during their mating ritual.

Yes, I did offer my services to the Magical Law Enforcement office so that I could spy on merpeople and figure out how they mated. Absolutely I did. I’d been wondering all this time, and this was my chance to hopefully answer that burning question. Bringing in the water sprite and finally claiming the crown of best agent over Garret, my dickface former colleague, would be pure bonus.

“You’re going to lose him!” I yelled at Penny, the words ripped from my mouth by the lashing wind.

The being crested the waters straight ahead, thirty yards out.

I see it, Penny thought, adjusting our direction.

Who would’ve thought she could handle a fishing boat like this? I would’ve asked how she’d learned, but I was afraid she’d answer, and I’d be treated to a boring story of family bliss.

I chanced a look to the side and then behind. Garret and the captain trailed us by some distance, a lot more cautious than Penny on these rolling waters. Then again, they hadn’t stolen money from their rich boyfriend and rented the fastest fishing boat they could find. Neither had Penny, of course, but she was always easy to lure into trouble. Two more boats came along behind them. We were safely in the lead and closing in fast on the water sprite.

“Okay, Penny, nice and easy.” I peered out through the transparent spell Penny had devised, muffling our sound and rendering us mostly invisible. We could sneak up on this SOB even in the water. It was good to be friends with a natural mage.

The boat plowed through the waves, full steam ahead. Clearly she hadn’t heard me.

“Penny!” I turned back so that she could see I was talking to her. “Nice and—”

The boat’s engine cut dramatically, and with it our forward trajectory.

“Holy—!” My ass slid across the rough sandpaper stuff. Leather on slick fiberglass squeaked as I sailed across the wet surface and to the point at the front. More sandpaper stuff tried to grab me, but I was going too fast. “Shit birds!”

My body hit the railing, rolled over, and I was falling.

The boat swung right, away from me, Penny seeing what was happening. My body crashed down into the water before I could think to hover. Dripping wet but in the air a moment later, I watched as Penny goosed the power until the prop at the back was a safe enough distance away.

Thank God for those family fishing trips or whatever had made her a fishing boat master.

The boat slowed once more, and she was hurrying out of the captain’s area and edging closer to our quarry. I could feel the spell she was devising even from here. She was in go mode and obviously didn’t plan to come back for me.

I’d saved her ass from the elves and a prison in the Underworld, and she was leaving me behind on a jengu fishing trip? The nerve of that woman.

I was so proud. It was annoying when she was too nice.

Hovering higher, rolling fire over my body to burn off the residual water, I drifted toward the fishing boat.

Shapes moved within the ocean’s depths to my left, two figures floating just below the surface.

My attention snapped like a rubber band, Penny and the jengu forgotten.

A wave rolled by, washing up to my waist. I created an air bubble around me and lowered into the water. The next wave rolled over my air bubble, not touching me. I had plenty of air to breathe, though I didn’t need it.

Two merpeople floated five feet below the surface, lowering slightly as their fins swayed in sync. The mermaid smiled up at the merman, no regard for anything but him. She floated on her back beneath him, her hands clasped around his neck. His touch caressed her exposed breasts, occasionally pausing to remove her flowing golden hair from around her chest.

This was it. This was it! I was giddy with anticipation. Penny might be embarrassed by voyeurism, but I definitely was not.

I lowered a bit farther just in case stupid Garret came roaring by and his boat prop was deep enough in the water to puncture my air bubble and rip off my head.

The man’s touch flowed down her sides now and along her scaly hips, the light dimming. He leaned forward with a passionate kiss, pulling his groin area—which was all fin, from what I could see—away from hers—which was also all fin at the moment.

I drifted closer, wishing I could record this on my phone, but thankful at least for my fantastic vampiric memory, courtesy of my bond with Darius. I’d remember everything as vividly as if I’d taken footage.

The merman tensed, and I knew something was happening, but I couldn’t see what. The couple was still kissing passionately, his hands on her hips, her arms around his neck.

Gritting my teeth, I lowered a little more, knowing I didn’t have all day. Penny might take her new attitude to the bank and leave me out here. I wouldn’t put it past her. She blamed me, for some reason, for the way she’d let loose in a demon sex club. Dirty birdie. Darius had filled me in. I could tell he found great humor in the whole thing.

The couple stopped in their watery descent, and then started floating upward again, apparently liking the feel of the water softly moving around them. I got it. Water banging was a good time.

The guy continued to tense, and then I saw it! From a slit in his front emerged his dick, shaped like normal but longer and with an engorged tip. It was basically coming out of the fly in his fin suit.

I’ll be damned.

It curved upward at the root and kept growing, now on the very large side. If Darius was working with that thing, I’d pat him on the head and tell him he’d have to be a bottom, because no way.

Passion intensified between the couple, the kisses turning fervent, his fingertips going white as he gripped her hips. He lowered toward her, and this was it. It had to be. This was what I’d been waiting for. Merpeople banging. An as-yet-unsolved mystery.

I drifted closer, in rapt attention. Penny could leave me for all I cared, I would get this payoff, and I’d finally know what these folks got up to during their watery mating ritual, something they kept very close to the chest. I needed to know why!

His massive dick drifted closer to her, and he eased her up a little so they weren’t totally lined up anymore. He pulled her closer, and his tip touched just below her fin-covered groin. It would be like poking a woman in the triangle at the top of her closed thighs.

Her moan was audible, even in the water. Clearly that was a sensitive spot.

Drifting ever closer, since they didn’t seem to notice my presence, I watched in scientific fascination as his length pushed against her scales. Her scales dented but didn’t part. He moved his hands a little higher on her hips, getting a better grip. I nodded with his efforts. Make it happen, bro. You’re almost there!

He moved up a little, but she spread her hands across his shoulders and pushed him back down. He’d had the right spot the first time. So what was the holdup?

Time ticked past. I hoped Penny didn’t think I was drowning and crash down here looking to save me. She’d bust up the party, and I was on the precipice of this thing. I had to see it through! They had to see it through.

He pushed again, that massive member seeking entrance, but there was nowhere for it to go. The gal put her palms against his cheeks and increased the fervency of their kiss. She pushed her lower half against him, clearly willing him inside. Uh-oh. It kinda seemed like she was trying too hard. Trying for something that she knew likely wasn’t going to happen. But why not? What was the problem?

He thrust forward, readjusted, and thrust again. She moved against him, like a woman trying to get wet so the man could slip in. His next thrust was wild, and she flinched, her hands moving from his cheeks to his shoulders, the classic “That hurts, and if you don’t get the hint from my lightly pushing, I will buck you the fuck off.”

Their lips came apart, and I could feel the disappointment emanating from them. His fingers relaxed, but he didn’t let go, keeping his touch on her. They floated for a moment, his dick starting to retract, looking into each other’s eyes. Sorrow shone brightly in her gaze, and frustration glittered in his.

Not a match, then. When merpeople mated, clearly it required more than attraction and the desire to bang. Interesting. I wondered how many of these trysts failed before they found their true mates. Did they date on shore and then try their hand at mating season? That would be a letdown if you loved someone in real life, but when you tried to fornicate in the deep sea, nothing happened.

The couple startled, their heads jerking my way. I drifted merely three feet away, staring intently.

Realizing I had been caught, I gave a thumbs-up. “Better luck next time,” I yelled through my bubble, not sure if they could hear me. “It’ll be okay. More merpeople in the sea, as they say. Question—do you guys just go looking for someone else right now, or is that it for the season?”

The guy’s junk snapped the rest of the way into his fin pocket and he pushed the woman away. His meaty chest swung around, and suddenly I remembered that not everyone was like vampires. Some people weren’t cool with voyeurism.

“Sorry!” I hovered my bubble backward and held up my hands. “Don’t mind me. I was just passing by.”

He rushed toward me, and I threw up an air wall, just as effective in water. He slammed into it, and I hightailed up to the surface.

Intruder, he thought, fighting against the air shield. What is this thing that traps me?

“Don’t fight it. You don’t want to add injury to insult in regards to your ego, know what I mean, bub?” I called through the water, still not sure if he could hear me. It didn’t seem like it.

It struck me that they hadn’t been thinking at all during their exchange. I would’ve known. That had to mean it was definitely something other than attraction, and they were acting on biology or something. So very interesting.

I wondered if shifters were like that? Vampires certainly weren’t. I’d have to ask Roger, even though he definitely wouldn’t want to answer. He got prickly whenever I pried into his sex life. Which I had been doing an awful lot since we’d brought our dragons to his secret residence. He had a couple of drawers full of women’s lingerie, in two different rooms! He clearly brought a few special ladies over, maybe two at once, and had a good time of it. Would he give any details, though? No!

I crested the surface and kept rising, catching sight of Penny nearby on the back of our boat, her hands on her hips as she stared at Garret on the MLE captain’s smaller fishing boat.

“Oh no,” I murmured. He looked smug, and a smug Garret was the absolute worst thing in all the worlds, and that was saying something, given I’d been tortured by elves.

I pulled away the air bubble and sucked in a fresh gulp of crisp sea air as I lifted over the waves. Then, because I didn’t want to cock-block Free Willy for too long, I released him from his air prison before I continued on toward Penny.

A splash was the only indication I had that something was amiss. Thick, wet arms wrapped around me from behind, dragging at me. I startled and turned, whipping the merman around behind me, clinging to my back as I hovered.

“Dude, you gotta let this go,” I hollered, swinging around again. “Dang it, get off. This looks ridiculous.”

“You are not permitted here,” he ground out in rough, sexy tones. A spice of his magic coated my skin, prickling my nipples pleasantly. Heat wormed through my core, suddenly pounding.

“Oh wow, is that part of it too?” I gripped him with air so he couldn’t get spooked and fall off. Still hovering, I drifted toward the boat, working at this next piece of the puzzle. Two birds, as it were. “You’re making me horny even though you’re mad at me. Do mermen make their women horny on land, too, or just in the water?”

“What are you?” he asked, looking down at the water he was now floating over. He kept his firm hold on me, though, jerking, trying to take me down into the depths with him. Courageous, this merman. Gallant, too. He was likely doing this to protect the woman who wouldn’t, or couldn’t, open her lady bits for him.

“Yeah, bad choice in accosting me. I’m Lucifer’s daughter—a very big deal, I must say. I’d offer you a business card, or more proof, but he basically tried to trap me down there and force me to follow his will. Not a great father-daughter relationship, I’m afraid. I’m now wanted by two worlds in a very bad way. So…now we know about each other’s lives. Tell me, do you blast that horny feeling to bring all the girls to the yard? Then you try to bang them and eventually find the right fit, right? Also, is your human cock that big?”

“Our mating is private.” He ripped at me, his arms like thick bands of steel. His thoughts poured into my head. What is holding me? What magic is this? “It is only for our kind to witness.”

“Except you’re in public waters. Have you never heard the expression get a room? This is hardly my fault. Though I can understand wanting to keep it private, what with the rejection… Her body basically cock-blocked you. That’s intense.”

As we neared the boat, I chanced a look at his face, something I hadn’t paid much attention to when watching the almost-fornication earlier. Strong cheekbones, straight nose, defined jaw, and deep-set eyes with thick black lashes. Quite the looker. He could’ve graced the big screens.

“You can at least bang ladies topside, right? You surely have no problem there?” I asked.

Penny caught my progress out of the corner of her eye and turned, face red and screwed up in frustration. “Reagan, stop messing around with that merman. The captain says this is a shared kill, but I was the one who did all the work. I didn’t ask for any help!”

“Let me free.” He thrashed against my magic, his power ballooning out and eroding at my air. Not enough to break it, but enough to hint at the strength of his magic. Maybe that was why the woman had been so disappointed by the mismatch—he was probably a catch in the mer-world, what with his looks and his power level. “Let me down or I will send out a request for aid.”

I huffed in annoyance. “Fine.” I released the air, so many questions left unanswered, and flung him away. He bent and arched at the last moment, diving into the water instead of flopping like I would’ve. In a moment, he was gone.

My feet touched down on the standing area at the back of the boat.

“What took you so long?” Penny demanded. “I could’ve used your help.”

“Any other time, I would be sorry, but boy have I got an earful for you!” I pushed my wet hair out of my face and stepped closer to the MLE captain’s boat. The other boats drifted some distance away, waiting for instruction.

The jengu lay on the captain’s boat without a net, its arms pale green and its lower half an enormous fin, similar to the merpeople. A thick mop of hair covered its face and what had to be sightless eyes.

“What happened?” I asked the captain, standing behind Garret with a clipboard.

“I’ll tell you what happened—”

“I didn’t ask you,” I told Garret, spearing him with a glare. His mouth clicked shut, and his pinched, weaselly face glowered at me. They’d all heard what I truly was. Most of them had gawked but said nothing, the captain had nodded thoughtfully, and Garret had raised his chin and said, “That doesn’t stop you from being second best.”

Man, I hated Garret.

“I closed in on the jengu,” Penny said as the captain stepped closer, his black rain suit slick and the expression on his aging face placid. Garret and I had fought over many a victory. He was no stranger to waiting until someone got punched in the face. “I worked a spell to ensnare it—no small feat, because the creature had some sort of ability to resist magic clinging to it.”

The captain frowned, his brows lowering. “That isn’t typical of these creatures.”

“She’s just compensating for shoddy spell work,” Garret said.

“Shoddy spell work?” Penny screeched. She still wasn’t totally right in the head since leaving the Underworld two months before. She was getting back to normal but not quite there yet. “I am a natural dual-mage of the highest order in the newly defined Mages’ Guild—”

“A guild you control. Cheat to win, huh?” Garret smirked.

“Why, you little ape’s dingleberry,” she said.

“Okay, okay.” I put a hand on her shoulder, trying desperately not to laugh. For once it wasn’t me fighting with Garret, which was the only reason it was comical. “Captain?”

He looked down at the creature, his dark brown skin creased in concentration. “It looks like one of their kind, but its actions certainly don’t fit their mold. I’ve never heard of them resisting mages’ spells.” He threaded his pencil behind his ear and put the backs of his hands on his hips. “We’ve brought in a few creatures with unexplained characteristics over the last few months, some with unexplained behavior and some far from home. This is just another occurrence in a growing list.”

He frowned, and I knew that look—there was a puzzle to work out. In the past, I would have welcomed the weird. I would have sat back and waited for the jobs to roll in. Now, however, I knew what the bigger picture looked like. The war of the worlds. These strange occurrences might be related to that, but either way, a few rogue water sprites or whatever were the least of anyone’s problems.

“Okay, so after you ensnared it?” I asked Penny.

“I—”

I gagged Garret with my magic. His eyes bugged out.

“Yeah. I can do that now,” I told him. “Penny?”

“I left it floating there, spitting obscenities at me, as I turned the boat around.”

“Why didn’t you just kill it then?” I asked.

A vein throbbed in her locked jaw. She stared at me defiantly.

I hazarded a guess: “You felt bad?”

“I just wanted to make sure it was guilty,” she responded.

I tore the gag off Garret so he could finish the story, because I knew full well what was coming. “What happened next?” I asked him.

“This is usually my job…” the captain said with a twinkle in his eye.

“Sure, fine.” I waved him away. “Have at it.”

He went back to his clipboard. “Nah. I don’t have the ability to gag with air magic.”

Garret’s brow furrowed, and he glanced at the captain in outrage. I couldn’t help but laugh.

He turned back to finish. “Seeing as she trapped the creature but couldn’t kill it…”

Garret threw that smug smile Penny’s way again. I had unraveled her invisibility spell when I left the boat, so he’d definitely known that she had it handled and was just getting the boat turned around. He’d wanted the prize.

Penny sputtered in indignation. I patted her shoulder to keep her from blowing up his boat. I liked the captain—I didn’t want him to get caught in the crossfire.

Garret shrugged. “I naturally delivered the killing blow when the captain moved us within range and then hauled the beast up onto the boat. I did all the work, so I should—”

I lifted Garret with air and launched him over the side. He hit the water headfirst, his arms windmilling and his legs splayed. Hopefully he’d run into that merman from earlier.

“Captain, come on,” I said, tilting my head. “You know that she had it covered.”

“Honestly, I didn’t see you on the boat and wondered if maybe you’d fallen overboard and she was looking for you,” he replied. “By the time I knew what was what, Garret was hauling the creature onto our boat. I couldn’t chance letting it get away.”

“She fell overboard way back there!” Penny pointed behind her. “You must’ve seen that. Obviously I was leaving her to die.”

The captain stared at her in disbelief, and I left my hand on her shoulder, fighting chuckles and losing.

“Captain, come on,” I pleaded. “Penny closed in on the jengu, snared it, was about to do away with it, and Garret stole her prize. It’s hers. You know it’s hers.”

He shook his head slowly and took a deep breath, glancing over his shoulder to where Garret was sputtering in the water.

“She didn’t even retaliate.” I pointed at Garret. “I did. She is totally by the book on this one.”

The captain put up his hands helplessly. “It was a team kill, Reagan. My hands are tied. The kill goes to Garret, but Penny made it possible. Both of their names have to go in the books. They don’t get anything special for it anymore—no bonuses or anything. We no longer have the budget for it. I’m not sure why it matters so much.”

“It matters,” Penny and I said together.

“It matters because he sucks,” Penny added. She heaved out a sigh and turned toward the front of the boat. “Let’s go, Reagan. I’m sick of these people.”

“I thought she was the nice one,” the captain called as she started the motor.

I threw him a wide smile. “I’m rubbing off on her.”

“Poor thing,” he yelled.

I waved as Penny expertly turned the boat and headed back for shore. I’d wait until the drive back to New Orleans to tell her what I’d seen. And then direct her to the bar, because after a run-in with Garret, a stiff drink was absolutely necessary.

Maybe I’d finally convince her to take her aggression out by chasing around a couple of shifters. There was no telling what post-Underworld Penny would do. Especially once she was on the battlefield in front of a host of non-friendlies.

Roger had gathered all the shifters that he could, and all the fae, and sent a demand to the elf king and queen that they step down. Obviously they didn’t—who was he fooling? So now the whole outfit was resigned to doing as Charity’s visions said they’d need to—stand between the two forces, stop them from killing each other, and reach some sort of compromise.

We were headed for bloodshed. Post-Underworld Penny would be just the ticket.