Burn

“Do you think the flames will get through the cube?” asked Larkin, wiping blood away from her nose.

“The flames of hell can get through anything. Where’s Tanner?”

“Last time I saw him, he was on the roof.”

Harper looked up at the roof, straining to see or hear him. It was hard to hear anything over the roar of the flames that battered at the cube. “The practitioners are all gathering up there. They must think they’re safer on higher ground.” There was no safe place when you were facing the flames of hell.

Tanner? Harper called. Tanner? “He’s not answering me telepathically.”

“Nor me. He must be still in his demon form.” Larkin shot vertically into the air, wings flapping gracefully. “I see him,” she said, hovering at a stand-still. “He’s stuck under some kind of energy net, but he’s conscious. And seriously pissed off.”

“Can you get to him?”

“Not without getting extremely close to the practitioners. They’ll attack me.”

“I think they have more pressing problems,” said Harper as she looked at the energy wall on her right. “Look.”

“What?” Larkin tracked Harper’s gaze. “The flames are eating the cube.” There were holes that looked a lot like cigarette burns. Larkin returned to Harper, landing gracefully. “And they’re out of control.”

The flames – so beautiful, yet so deadly – indeed looked that way. But Harper shook her head. “Knox wouldn’t hurt us.”

“That’s not Knox.”

Through the fire surrounding them, Harper caught glimpses of the flaming figure. “No, it’s not.” As pot holes began to appear in the ceiling of the cube, she said, “We need to get Tanner.”

“I can’t leave you.” Larkin’s voice was firm, implacable. “You’re Knox’s mate. I’m sworn to protect you.”

“That’s great and all, but I don’t like Tanner being up there with them.” The practitioners were now stood in a circle, hand-in-hand, and appeared to be chanting something.

“What are they doing now?” asked Larkin.

“Probably casting counter spells.” A pointless exercise, in Harper’s opinion. “It might distract them enough for us to get Tanner. If they need to hold hands, I doubt they’ll break the circle just to keep him.”

Picking up movement in her peripheral vision, Harper turned her head…and found herself staring directly at the flaming figure that was her mate. Even her demon was wary of what he’d become. Only the flames and the disintegrating cube separated them. There were no eyes, no facial features of any kind, but she knew that it saw her somehow.

Knox? Knox, can you hear me? Silence. Nothing she said seemed to penetrate the mental shield of fire that was now between them. The figure took a slow step backwards and was swallowed up by the flames. “Where’s Levi and Keenan?”

“They had to stay behind. Isla’s demons went crazy, and there was no chance Knox was going to stay there and take care of it while you were here.” Larkin peered up at the ceiling of the cube. “The holes up there are getting a little bigger. I’ll fly you out as soon as one is large enough.”

“Not until we have Tanner,” Harper told her. “We’re not leaving him behind.”

“I can come back for him.”

“We leave together, Larkin. Now let’s fucking go get him. It’s risky, I get that. Putting me near the practitioners might tempt them to grab me again, I get that too. But if Tanner’s stuck here when those flames get through, he dies.”

Larkin growled. “Fine. But if those bastards grab you, I’ll kill you myself!”

“You can try, I guess.”

With another growl, Larkin flew them both onto the roof. Tanner was thankfully outside the circle that the practitioners had formed. It was as both females struggled to find a way to break the energy net that one of the practitioners saw them.

As he broke the circle and advanced toward them, Harper shot to her feet, blade in hand and glowing with hellfire. “If Knox sees you holding me, you’ll be the first person he kills when he gets through the cube.”

“What is he?” the practitioner demanded. When she didn’t answer, he snarled, “Do you want to die? Look around you.” The holes were everywhere, making the cube look like a chunk of cheese. “Tell us what he is. If we know, we can stop him.”

“Fuck. You.” A growl came from the now free hellhound at her side, causing the magickal shitheads to jump.

“Maybe if we offer to give her back to him, he’ll stop,” said another practitioner.

A third practitioner responded, “He won’t hear us over the flames. He’ll just—” The walls of the cube flashed repeatedly, making everyone freeze. Then, with a sizzling sound, they disintegrated. “We’re dead.”

The flames rushed at the house, making Harper, Larkin, and the hellhound back up fast. Worse, the flames were so tall they were curling over the building, so thick and raging that there was no clear path for Larkin to fly them all out.

An elderly practitioner shrunk away from the sight. “We’ll be safe if we get inside,” he told his friends. “The house is protected, it will remain standing.”

One of the other practitioners shook his head. “No. The protective spell will do no more than buy us time.” He turned to Harper. “If you don’t tell us what he is, if we don’t stop him, you’ll die with us. You’ll—” He screamed as a single flame suddenly curled and contracted around him like a boa constrictor.