Raised in Fire (Fire and Ice Trilogy 2)

“If it bites or scratches you while in its humanoid form,” Clarissa continued, stepping on the gas, “you’ll die if I don’t get to you fast enough. They kill really easily.”

I doubted it. I was absolved from most evil, especially the demon variety. Daddy Dearest had given me a lot of his powerful gifts. Not like I could tell her that. I’d just have to hide any wounds I took until they healed over.

“Okay, then. Don’t get killed, move quickly, and kill the thing.” I nodded decisively and entwined my fingers in my lap. The adrenaline pulsed in my blood now, something that would make me as fast as a vampire, increase my strength, and keep me moving. I was made for action, not a cubicle.

“You really are crazy,” she muttered. “Or ignorant of the extreme danger you’re about to face.”

“Neither. I’m just good at my job.” And a different breed—literally—than the others in the MLE office.

In the French Quarter, she tried to navigate around the milling crowds, jeering and laughing as they swigged drinks and slung beads.

“It’ll take us forever to get through here,” she said, pounding on the wheel.

I fired a quick text message to Smokey. Working. What’s up?

Almost immediately I got a message back. Supernatural creature was in cemetery. Eating stomach. Changes into flock of birds. It’s gone now, but might come back. Tourist just found it. Cops called.

“Oh man,” I said. “That thing made a stop across the street from my house. That ain’t right.”

“It did?” Clarissa asked with wide eyes, her gaze dipping to my phone.

“Yeah. This just got personal.”

I reached for the door handle.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“It’ll be faster on foot. The captain gave me coordinates.”

“But wait, I didn’t tell you about—”

I jumped from the car, shut the door behind me, and hit the hood twice, telling her I was clear. I would figure out whatever it was she hadn’t told me. Before now, I’d always had very little information when I went in hot. The outcome was usually the same—tag and bag my mark.

I jogged along the sidewalk, weaving in and out of people and keeping my eyes open. Some supernatural creatures could hide in plain sight. Since I hadn’t confronted this particular creature before, there was no telling what it might surprise me with.

I crossed Bourbon Street. There were way too many people there. Instead, I worked toward the slower areas near the sighting. I wasn’t actually far from Darius’s home in the Brink. Ghost and vampire tours would be meandering around, not to mention people staggering home or heading to their lodgings. For a supernatural, it was a good place for a little dinner.

I turned down a quieter street, dodged a horse and carriage carrying a man explaining French Quarter architecture to two tourists, and slowed. Laughter, a shout, and someone talking too loudly drifted toward me. Shoes scuffed against cement. Someone belched. Welcome to New Orleans, where the party never ended. My kinda town.

I gripped the hilt of my sword and pulled it free, ignoring the surprised expression from a passerby. There was no need of a gun or even magic. If the creature needed a sword to the back, by golly, who was I to say boo?

I walked a ways, not hearing anything foreign. No screams. No flocking birds. I typed a message to the captain, asking for new coordinates.

It’s MIA. We’re hunting, came his reply. So he was on scene as well. That was rare. This thing had to be a doozie.

I did love a challenge.

Bring it in and we’ll get you partnered off, he sent. Their whereabouts came next.

“Um…nope,” I muttered to myself. Working with one of the other agents would only slow me down.

“Dude, have you seen the display?” a passing guy asked me, holding a pink plastic container half filled with a cocktail.

I slowed and gave him my attention. His friend laughed and pointed the way they’d come. “It was gnarly. Seriously. Some guy in a costume went after some other guy. They staged the whole thing so people could see.”

“It was awesome!” The first guy, younger twenties and with a shining upper lip from his drink, grinned. “Blood and guts all over the place. You should check it out. They’re probably still going.”

I saw a cluster of people gathered in front of a doorway down the road, all with wide eyes and open mouths.

Bingo.

“I will, thanks,” I said.

“Wait, was that a sword?” I heard one of the guys ask as I broke into a jog.

“Gross,” a woman said as I neared, her eyes big and a smile curling her lips. “That’s really great makeup.”

“It’s got to be a costume,” another said in a hush.

I stopped beside them, peering into the open doorway protected by a small chain. The sign dangling from it told tourists it was a private residence and not to enter, and warned of a camera watching.

I’d been past this residence a million times, and if the occupants were home, this door was usually open. They liked to be one with the Quarter.

Bad move, it turned out. It had made them easy pickings.

At the back of the room, hunched over a still form lying on its back, was a creature with a leathery torso and muscular legs ending in huge wolf paws. Blood spread along the cream-colored linoleum floor. Pretty gross.

“Well, ’ullo, lovely,” I said in a horrible British accent. “’Ave you come for tea?”

The creature’s head jerked up, and the crowd jumped as one. Blood dripped from its remarkably human face.

And I thought the vampire monster form was gross, with the swampy look and the claws. This thing was way worse.

“Scatter, you guys,” I said to the bystanders around me, slashing the chain with my sword.

“Are you a part of it?” someone asked as the creature straightened up.

“No, but you might be if you hang around.” I launched into the room. A chair tumbled as I pushed it out of the way.

The creature lashed out at me. I dodged, letting the long talons on the ends of its three-fingered hand sail past my face. It screeched like a bird of prey before blasting into a swarm of birds, much too close together to be natural.

“Holy shit,” someone exclaimed. “How did he do that?”

“Magic,” someone else said as the mass of birds swirled around me, scratching at my head.

I sliced my sword through the air, hitting one or two birds before the swarm rushed through the house. Without delay, I followed, jumping over a couch and seeing an open back door. Maybe it hadn’t snuck in through the front after all.

Once outside, I watched it swoop into the air, rolling and swirling, like ink in water, before heading west. I took two fast steps and leapt onto a small storage shed before launching myself onto the wooden fence. I ran along it, my balance perfect in the heat of the moment, before jumping onto a rooftop and taking off across the city after it, using the jammed-together houses as a kind of multileveled sidewalk.

In the distance, barely discernible, I saw the swarm dive downward. The creature didn’t plan to go far. Good.

At a gap in houses, I dropped down and ripped out my phone.

“Captain,” I said, barely out of breath. “I’ve got a sighting. That sucker flies.”

“What’s your twenty?”

“Heading east. I’m at Ursulines and Dauphine. It touched down four or five blocks away. It turns into a half man…thing, and a half big-legged wolf…thing. That’s when it isn’t a flock of birds.”

“Reagan, if they’re old enough, they can change sex at will. They can also adopt a true human form, though usually disfigured. These things start out human. Stay vigilant. I’ll meet you there. And whatever you do, don’t engage on your own.”

No promises.

Chapter Four

A car honked as I darted out in front of it to cross the street. When I hit the sidewalk, a tourist stepped in my path with his hands raised, beads swinging from them. “Show me your tits,” he yelled.

I punched him in the throat.

He made a choking sound as his hands fell from the sky. Served him right. I wasn’t that kind of girl.