Raised in Fire (Fire and Ice Trilogy 2)

I needed to push beyond this; I just didn’t know how.

“How are we coming, Penny?” I asked, giving in to the cold. Letting it rise up through me like I’d done earlier that night.

“I think… I think I can create a kind of bridge, but only for a moment.” She exhaled noisily. “You’d have to kill the demon within a very short amount of time. If you don’t succeed, he’ll be banished. We’re not trying to banish him, right? We’re trying to kill him? Because banishing would be very easy.”

“Kill, yes.” I grimaced at the demon’s laughter. “Sooner the better.”

“You have the capacity for greatness, but you are not there yet, heir-child.” It laughed again.

“I hate you.” I closed my eyes as the cold overcame me. Suffocated me.

The candles around us dimmed and then went out.

A shower of bright white light shone down on us. Darius had turned on the warehouse lights.

Everyone, including the demon, squinted and raised their arm against the unexpected glare.

“There goes the romantic atmosphere,” I said as the sludge rose up within me. Freezing my limbs, like at the mage’s house. This time, though, I was prepared.

With everything I had, I pulled at the fire deep in my gut as the circle throbbed even colder against my hands, inside me.

“This has to happen now, or he’s gone,” Penny said. “He’s nearly got the power he needs. He’s draining it out of the mages.”

“Told you so,” I muttered to the mages, wrestling with my fire. “Never trust a demon.”

Thoughts of my mother floated through my mind. Of Callie and Dizzy’s blind faith. Of No Good Mikey and the gang, welcoming me into the neighborhood even though they gave side-eyes to most everyone else. My thoughts even lingered on Darius and his soft caresses. Darius, who had tried his damnedest to protect me, and look after me, when he ignored most everyone else.

I welcomed the flutter in my heart this time, reminding me that I was human. That this cold power would not steal the parts of me that could feel, any more than the fire had.

The heat crept up, encircling the cold. Blending. But not fusing.

For now, it would have to do.

“Go, Penny,” I barked. “Darius, take down the mages. Callie and Dizzy, work with Penny in any way you can, and protect Darius from the mages’ attacks.”

“You can do this, Reagan,” Callie said.

“Go!” I shouted.

Chapter Thirty-Four

I felt the strength from Penny’s magic, threading light and buoyancy through the demon’s dark, dank magic. Cracks formed, shattering the cohesiveness of the pyramid of the spell. The circle flickered, one moment a self-imposed cage with a one-way trip to the underworld, and the next, nothing more than some lines and characters drawn on the concrete floor.

My power burst forth, grabbing the demon in a concussion of air and raising it up. Darius ran around the circle, easily dodging a battery of spells. He broke a spell casing he’d been carrying and threw it at one of the mage’s feet. Sickly green smoke enveloped the mage, making him convulse. Callie and Dizzy threw something at another one of the mages. The final mage met Darius face to face as he came out of his trance. He shot off a stream of red, but Darius easily dodged it. A moment later the mage succumbed to the elder’s strength and power.

I crawled fire down the borrowed body of the demon, shedding the shell he’d made of the homeless man, and exposing the oily black feathers beneath. I pushed my hands forward and felt the rush of fire fill me, rolling over my arms and out through my fingers. The spicy heat raked across me in a way I’d grown to love, even as the hollow coldness pumped in my stomach. A stream of hellfire tore through the air and splashed across the demon’s front, melting half of him away.

Orbs of light popped up around us. Boxes floated up from the floor. I didn’t worry about controlling either hallmark of my power.

I gritted my teeth from exertion as sweat dripped down my face.

The demon howled and writhed, trying to break free. A blast of air slapped my body, jolting me backward. Boxes flew, aiming for me.

None of them made it far.

Magic pulsed from all around us, my mages putting up spells to block me from being struck.

“Die, you bastard,” I yelled, squeezing the demon in place with air while pushing forth another blast of hellfire. My limbs shook with the effort. Weakness clutched at me.

The fire tore at the creature right before something cold and solid hit my face and sent me reeling backward. A pile of char sank to the floor in the middle of the circle as the power radiated through the room.

“It’s sending it down,” Callie shouted, throwing a spell at the circle. The energy melted in, fueling the banishment spell.

“It’s done,” I said, panting. I held up a hand. “It’s done.”

The pile of burned black feathers disappeared from the warehouse floor, sent down to the underworld.

“It got two full-power blasts of hellfire.” My legs gave out and I fell to the ground. Darius was there a moment later, hefting me up into his arms, in human form again, thank bejeebus. “It was nothing but a puddle of a former demon. Nothing could come back from that.”

“Are you sure?” Dizzy asked, analyzing the circle.

My head felt unbelievably heavy. I let it fall to Darius’s shoulder. “I saw it right before it went down.”

“That was close.” Callie glanced around. Exhaustion deepened the lines around her eyes. “That was really close. Thank God you can find a needle in a haystack, Dizzy. We almost didn’t get here in time.”

“Oh, that was nothing.” Dizzy took out his phone and held it up to take a picture of the circle. “The pay stub was lying there, clear as day. I just had to pick it out from under a pile of his junk. He probably forgot it was even in there.”

“Darius, you need to get dressed,” Callie said, scowling at him with her hands braced on her hips. “No one needs to know what urges you are having right this second.”

“We need to erase this evidence.” Darius lowered me to the ground, ignoring Callie. “And to do that, you need to burn this warehouse to the ground. It is the easiest approach. Do you need some blood?”

“No, no.” Callie marched over. “No way. She’s in it thick enough where you’re concerned. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. No, Penny can take care of that.”

Penny stood off to the side, wringing her hands and looking anywhere but at the fallen enemy mages. “Yes, I can do magical fire. I mean, you know, not like Reagan. I can’t control it like that. But I can set a fire well enough. My mom still doesn’t know what happened to our shed.”

“Atta girl. And don’t you tell her, either. You’re better off.” Dizzy nodded matter-of-factly. I noticed that he very consciously didn’t glance at the glowering Callie. A few questions had probably just been answered for her regarding some destroyed items in her house.

“Let’s get going.” I struggled out of Darius’s grasp.

“You’re staggering like a drunk.” Callie grabbed my arm to brace me. “Vampire, cover that thing up and then go get the car. We’ll get this place burning in the meantime.”

In as little time as it had taken her to say it, Darius was dressed and looking impeccable. It boggled the mind.

I squealed like an idiot when he scooped me up and took off, leaving Callie shouting behind us. I let my head drop again and held on tightly.

“Today is Saturday, right?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“I forgot to text J.M. that I was working. He probably figures, but still. I should’ve texted. I’d much rather be out to dinner with him instead of battling a demon.”

“I know,” he said as we tore through the lots. Dawn was a few hours away. We had to get back to the hotel. “Can you still read my thoughts?”

I let my eyes flutter closed. “No. That’s only when the other power overcomes me. You know, I vaguely remember that happening with the fire when I first learned to use it. Well, not like that, but I remember feeling the fire rage through me, and having the uncontrollable desire to burn everything down. Just burn it all down. I just remembered that when I was wrestling with my magic earlier. My mom had a way of talking me through it. I can’t remember how, though. I was never in my right mind.”