Mentored in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

A distant peal of thunder made the boat rock and roll, just barely stopping before it took in water on the right side.

“Do that spell again,” Penny said, letting the gag order dissipate and now working on the spells attached to the river. They kept the boats safe, kept them going to certain locations, kept them from capsizing. The magic was all connected, grounded, like Reagan had described the magic in the Realm.

She peered over the side. Her stomach rolled with what she was about to do.

“Flaming farts, hold on.” Another peal of thunder reverberated off walls and a ceiling she couldn’t see. A ceiling that kept dripping. She ignored it and formulated the spell that deadened Reagan’s magic. She elbowed Emery, and he helped out, making it bigger. More expansive. More potent.

The riverbank drifted ever closer. The boat rocked and rolled some more. The thunder died away, and she glanced around. One boat was sinking fast, two bodies floating away from it. The other was in pieces amid some sludge that probably used to be demon parts. Emery’s spell had taken them out in short order.

“Right, okay, good work.” She breathed deeply, and he worked quietly, accustomed to being around mayhem and carnage, and also causing it. You’d think she would be too by now.

She released the spell and then immediately faced front again and restarted the spell for the gag order. Emery jumped in quickly as Darius waited patiently, watching the bank, the point at which they needed to have all the spells done.

“Wait…” Penny stilled as her and Emery’s spell ate through the Underworld magic like it was nothing. Breaking it apart. Sizzling it. Eroding. The illusion in the river dissolved, and now the torrid current jibed with the rocking of the boat. “We don’t have oars.”

“We do.” Emery continued to work on the gag spell.

Penny glanced downward as the boat caught a current that pulled them back to the center of the river. Darius bent to his feet.

“No, Walrus. That is not your job,” the creature said, still mostly placid.

Penny stilled for the second time as the magic wafting toward her changed. This wasn’t the magic creating the illusion, but that of the creature in the boat. Restrain. Capture. Question.

“Hold on there, Darius,” she said softly, feeling Emery tense. He must’ve caught the tone in her voice. The something is about to go very wrong here tone. “Just take it easy.”

“I’ll handle it,” Darius said, and he all but launched forward, the speed and ferocity of his movements making Penny jerk back and cover her chest. If she had a string of pearls, she’d be clutching them so hard her knuckles would turn white. Even Emery jerked back.

In a display of unbridled violence, Darius reached the boat man and slashed his throat with his lengthening claws, raking them down the gray flesh of the creature’s chest. He punctured the sternum and then wrenched off its head, tossing it aside. The quickly decaying body followed.

With wide eyes, frozen stiff, Penny watched as Darius pulled down a sweater sleeve, adjusted a strand of hair that had gotten out of place, and then bent for oars that had been tucked along the floorboard.

“Now you won’t need to rely on a gag spell,” the vampire said, holding an oar out to Emery.

Emery shook away his reaction and took the proffered instrument. Penny continued to stare.

There was one thing she would never, ever say: Darius wasn’t vicious enough to date a girl like Reagan.

There was one thing she would never, ever do: pick a fight with him.

She’d seen him in battle, but they’d never exactly fought side by side. She’d never watched as he…handled things. It was jarring, to say the least. Reagan had found her match.

Penny licked her lips as the guys put their oars into the water and started paddling quickly. “How did you know he—it—was about to…cause a problem?”

“You advertise your reactions, and Mr. Westbrook…has certain tells when he feels danger coming,” Darius responded. “My solution was easier and quicker, though we need to put some muscle behind these oars or we’re going to miss our point of entry. The sect beyond isn’t as…savory as the one I’m aiming for.”

“Very eloquent speech after that display…” Penny murmured.

“I didn’t see our lives in danger,” Emery said, speaking of his special magical ability to get a mental picture of his demise right before it happened. It allowed him to change things up and avoid death, something that had saved them both a million times, it seemed like. He pulled harder on his oar.

“No, the Boatmen do not resort to extreme violence very quickly or very often,” Darius said. “They are not programmed for offense or even defense. Lucifer could’ve changed their roles to keep people like me out, if he’d wanted, but instead he created the fog. It did its part but left ample room for error. I have not figured out why this decision was made. Possibly one day I’ll be able to ask him about it.”