I flicked my fingers. Fire burst in front of the coming spell, enveloping it. Disintegrating it.

Sweet heat raged through my body. I’d never used my power on such a large scale before. It felt so natural. I was meant for this.

Smiling, I spread fire across the walls, growing the flame in size and intensity. It fanned toward Darius, a rescue mission.

“How are you doing this?” the mage screamed. “This is not possible.”

“If you think that’s cool, get a load of this.” I snatched a knife from my ankle, then used it to cut one of my fingers. Blood welled up as I said the incantation to infuse it with fire. When the drop was ready, I threw it into the pit in the middle of the room. “Here, little demon…”

Flame rose from the pit as I lifted my arms.

The werewolves backed away as the first sign of deep orange, almost red, fire licked the air. No smoke; it burned hot and smelled sweet, my calling card.

The mage screamed and writhed, now clutching the podium with two hands. Then he wrestled one of his hands free and dug it into his pocket. He surfaced with a vial, which he snapped open with his thumb and upended into his mouth.

I salivated as I watched it, knowing it was unicorn blood and remembering the taste. Remembering the rush of power and glory that came with it. The call to get to it was strong.

I gritted my teeth and flexed my arms. Power was sucked from my body. Heat intensified. The pit crawled with flame. Fire rose up all around me.

I levitated into the air.

“Leave his body,” I commanded, infusing my words with power.

Flame ate away the magic that contained Darius. The werewolves were stalking along the side of the gap, looking across at me. I wanted that mage, but I didn’t want to deal with his watchdogs. I probably wouldn’t turn into a werewolf if I got bitten, but I wasn’t positive. I didn’t want to test that theory and be wrong.

“Obey me!” the mage said through clenched teeth. He shoved the podium out of the way. It fell to its side and rolled off the raised platform before tipping into the gap, lost to the flame.

“Leave his body,” I commanded again, latching on to the power of the demon and summoning it. My blood-fire sang my song, beckoning. The mage had a helluva hold to keep it from answering for so long. “Leave his body.”

Fire raced across the ceiling. I stood in a forest of flames. The gap roared, advertising my power but also spreading the aroma of my blood. Darius shook his head before his gaze locked with mine, full of hunger and need and desperation. I couldn’t see his eyes at this distance, but I could read every line of his body.

“Focus!” I yelled at him. All I needed was another enemy to add to the demon, mage, and stalking werewolves.

His arms left his sides. The rope ripped away like paper. The spell over his legs, still thankfully holding him in place, was coated in flame.

“Focus!” I yelled again. “Don’t be a dick, Darius. I need your help.”

He plucked more rope away as the fire worked its way down.

This was not going well.

One thing at a time.

Turning back to the mage, I shouted, “Leave your host!” while infusing my summoning with more power.

The mage screamed, curling in on himself, squeezing his hands into fists. The building shook. Dust drifted down from the sky. The blue light from the window died. My blood-fire climbed higher without waiting for me to ask.

I saw the stone floor within that pit, rising to its former height. The mage was closing the gap.

“That’s a neat trick,” I said, backing up. “Bad timing, though.” The vampire’s gaze was still on me, and I also had the undivided attention of the stalking werewolves, their eyes glowing sporadically through the row of flame.

A new sort of force rose inside me, coming from my depths and merging with my magic, pumping it higher. Adrenaline sped up my heart, my movements. The thrum of power pushed through my limbs, begging me to use it.

The new presence made itself known. I am here, master, it said in my head.

“Oops. That’s not what I meant to do.” I tore away the blood-fire, lessening the summoning. With dexterity that could only be passed down through bloodlines, I pushed the demon from my body and forced it to stand beside me in its original form, a hunched, horned kind of thing with stringy arms and leathery legs.

Darius kicked off the last of the rope and stepped forward, freed. His eyes blackened and his fangs grew, his primal side taking over.

“Not a good time for hunger, Darius,” I said, hearing a chorus of growls. In cutting out that fire, I’d also opened myself up for a werewolf attack. “I’m having a bad day.”

I blasted a stream of hellfire, Spider-Man-style, pulling the necessary power from my ugly brooch. The corroding flame burned through the air and hit the nearest werewolf. It yelped and stumbled, succumbing to the direct shot even though the magical fire coating the ground hadn’t singed it.

Good to know.

Darius rushed me, his pants catching fire almost immediately. I snatched out my gun and shot, belatedly realizing I hadn’t reloaded.

Click.

“Shit!” I stuffed it back in the holster and grabbed out my sword. I’d have to reload later.

With the other hand I grabbed a spell, all while pressing my control of the demon so it didn’t wriggle away. I wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long. Something would have to give.

I threw the spell. Darius batted it away like it was nothing. It exploded off to the side, detonating too late. I braced until he got close, nothing more than a blur, he moved so fast, and struck. My blade barely met flesh before he dodged smoothly. I avoided a hand coming at me and launched, aiming for his middle. He turned to the side, my blade just missing, and kept coming.

“You are really fast.” I slashed down, getting part of his arm and not doing much damage.

His body hit me like a pile of bricks. He lifted me up and rushed me backward.

Snarls sounded right behind him. The demon was struggling against my bond.

Chapter Twenty-Four

I punched him just under his armpit and heard him grunt.

“I have very little control right now, Reagan,” he said in a rough voice. “It would be nice if you allowed me to protect you. Save the fighting for when we have a bed nearby.” I stopped struggling as he put me down near the wall. “I apologize in advance for my appearance.”

Before I could ask what he meant, his monster form bubbled out, a kind of pasty-white thing with long, fierce claws and black, stringy hair. Very gross indeed. At least he recognized it.

“Fire,” he muttered around his fangs. A claw pointed at the flame curling and flickering across the ground.

I peeled it away from his feet as the demon struggled against my control again.

A werewolf lunged for Darius. He rushed forward to meet it, slashing with his claws. Another ran at him from the side, jumping and wrapping its front legs around his torso. He flung the second against the wall as he slashed the first, opening a nasty, deep gash across its chest.

The thrown werewolf ricocheted off the wall and fell to the ground, baying in pain but not dead. I blasted it with hellfire, silencing it.

Another werewolf went flying, but the angle was such that if I used hellfire I might get Darius accidentally. I reloaded my gun while Darius stuck his claws into the belly of yet another beast. I stepped around him and shot repeatedly, hitting the other werewolf with three slugs.

“Need sh-ilver,” Darius slurred through his fangs.

I’d forgotten that. Dang.

“Wait, you’re not using silver.”

“Magical. Clawsh.”

Ah. I didn’t have those.

Back to my sword, I chopped at the hindquarters of a werewolf swiping at Darius. The blade sliced through and the beast bayed, falling to the ground.

The sword was a go.

I stepped forward and finished it off while Darius took the brunt of the next attack. He slashed and stabbed handily—strength, speed, and power working seamlessly together. The werewolf barely had time to yelp before succumbing to its fate.

There was one left, and it was running at a full sprint toward the back.

“Is there a door back there?” I asked, readying myself for another blast of hellfire.

Darius took three lightning-fast steps in that direction before stopping and looking back at me from a ghastly face. He glanced at the demon next—and then slowly walked back toward me. His monster form melted back into his handsome man form, only he no longer had on any clothes.