Trap. Scorch. Kill.
A trap. This field was set up as a kind of trap. Let creatures who thought they could handle it (like lesser powered demons) wander through, only for the heat to turn up at the end, like a stove dial cranked to high, and burn them alive. She wondered if someone had set it up for them. Or maybe this place was always this terrible—there was no way of knowing.
Regardless, they’d triggered the trap. Now, they had to get through before the heat bled through her magic.
“Hurry,” she grunted out, putting on a burst of speed. “Hurry, Emery!”
Darius was beside her in an instant, looking at her face.
“Yeah, danger. Danger, danger!” she yelled. “Oh sure, now the metal starts glowing!”
The wall of flame waited. If Darius was to be believed, a safe haven waited for them at the other end of that field. She wanted that. Needed it. She could not handle another week of picking through back roads in this hellish landscape.
The fire raged ahead of her, heat blanketing her body and forcing out all of her air. Pain pounding, aching, throbbing. It overcame her thoughts. Blacked out rationale.
She increased her magic, feeding in a cooling effect. More of it. Trying to make ice and instead conjuring a chilled blast of air. It would have to do.
She flung it at the flame filling the archway right before she jumped through, the others behind her. Her hair crackled and lit on fire, the flame racing toward her head even as heat coated her face. Agony scratched along her skin and dug in, all the way to her bones. She hit the other side and turned, taking the pain, needing to make sure Emery would make it.
She needn’t have bothered. He must’ve seen the elements she’d pulled and formed his own spell, one that worked a little better. The flames reduced within the blast of cold, and then he was by her side, grabbing her arm and ripping her along. Darius zoomed through a moment later, not needing the blast of chill air.
He shoved them from behind to get them moving again, and then they went rolling through the smoky agony.
It took a moment to realize that was a residual affect. The flames were gone. Her scorched cheek lay against green grass…
“Here. Quickly.” A little vial was put to her mouth. Darius leaned over her. “Please, drink. Quickly!”
She opened her mouth and the most divine taste filled her senses, sparkling and fizzy and full of life and light and all things good. Energy filled her limbs. Her magic jumped and surged. The pain eased from her skin.
“Emery, here. Drink,” Darius said, bent over him now, his sweater burned away. He still had his hair, though, the jerk. How’d he manage that?
“I’m naked, aren’t I?” she asked as the invigorating elixir worked through her body, her cheek still pressed against the springy grass. It felt cool to the touch. But anything probably would’ve, given what she’d been through. “And I’m bald. I’m bald, aren’t I? Do I have eyebrows?”
“No, you do not.” Darius was back in front of her, his hands out. “Let’s get up. The unicorn blood should start working any moment.”
The air turned sparkly, and the colors around her started to change, a little too bright, like everything was oxidized. A rush of power pumped through her as she let Darius help her to sitting. Her nipples tightened, and her core ached with need.
“Oh my God, what did you give me?” She crossed her arms over her bare chest, blackened with soot, a couple pieces of fabric sticking to her flesh. Then she slapped her knees together, her legs scuffed and scraped but the leather holding up better against the flame. She could feel the burns healing, though.
“Unicorn blood has many effects, an aphrodisiac being one of them,” Darius said, pulling open their backpacks and checking the contents. “This is in good shape. Here.” He tossed a shirt at her. “This will make you feel better.”
“That stuff is addictive, huh?” Emery said, running his tongue around his lips. Her core started to pound now, aching to be filled by him. To feel his touch. To invite in his tongue…
“Highly,” Darius replied. “You must use it sparingly. You won’t think much of the antidote.”
“And that is?” Emery asked, pushing to standing. His bulge said he was feeling what she was, and his easy movements and calm demeanor said he wasn’t nearly as stressed out about it.
“Vampire serum or a vampire bond. A vampire touch can help, too.”
“Not interested. We’ll need to avoid the blood as much as possible.”
“Which is why I haven’t brought it out until now. Come. Let’s go. We shouldn’t be far now.”
“How can you possibly be so chill right now?” she asked Emery as he helped her up, then yanked her hands away before she gave in to temptation and cupped that bulge and pushed down those pants. She squeezed her eyes shut, shrugging into the shirt Darius had tossed at her.