Kissed by Fire (2 page)

The Darkness was another matter. It loved
that sound and I felt it throw my head back and scream for joy
right along with the dying demon.

His skin shrivelled and blackened, then began
to bubble and melt. Holy water didn’t work on vamps, but it was
like battery acid to demons. I gave him another good spray and
watched him scream and gurgle while he sizzled away to nothing.

When all that was left was a gooey stain, I
closed my eyes and willed the Darkness back. It didn’t want to go,
but I’d gotten better at controlling it so it finally faded back
into that place inside me where it lived.

I pulled out my phone and hit speed dial
before sinking down onto the roof. With the Darkness gone I could
feel every ache and bruise. Shit, I was tired.

“Yeah.” Kabita was her usual brusque
self.

“It’s finished. Better send a crew, though.
He left a mess.”

She was silent a moment. “Done. Now get back
here. We have some things to discuss.”

“Yes, ma’am.” My voice was ever just so
slight snarky.

I thought for half a second about taking the
elevator down, but one look at myself convinced me otherwise. I was
splattered with demon goo and streaked with blood. Not a good idea
to upset the natives. I headed for the fire escape instead, my ribs
protesting all the way down. The Darkness had healed any cracks,
but they were still plenty sore.

Back on terra firma, I turned the car toward
the office. I probably should have cleaned up first, but Kabita had
sounded like sooner would be a lot better than later. She’d just
have to deal with the goo.

***

“You’re dripping blood on my carpet.
Again.”

“Well, at least this time it’s black. That’s
a change,” I said, pulling my shirt out away from my body and
eyeballing the damage. Demon blood was often black or green. No
idea why.

Kabita glared at me before tossing me a box
of wet wipes. “Yes.” Her voice was dry as dust. “That’s such an
improvement.”

I shrugged and threw her a cheeky grin. “I do
my best.”

“Maybe you should buy yourself a tiara.”
Kabita smirked at me, but there was something odd behind her eyes.
Maybe I was just imagining it, but something felt off.

“Very funny,” I snapped back with my fiercest
glare. “Just because you’re my best friend doesn’t mean I’m not
perfectly capable of murdering you in your sleep.”

Kabita Jones wasn’t just my best friend, she
was also my boss at the private investigative firm where we both
worked. Of course it wasn’t a real private investigation firm. The
whole PI thing was actually a front for our true work: hunting and
killing vampires, demon spawn, and the other monsters that liked to
snack on poor, innocent humans. Like the Ripper demon I’d just
hunted down.

Murdering her was probably a bad idea since
it would leave me out of a job. Plus there was that whole illegal
factor. I was pretty sure our government liaison, Trevor Daly,
would be less than thrilled, not that I cared too terribly much
what he thought. Maybe thumping her over the head would be a good
substitute.

“Don’t even think about it.”

Damn, I hated it when she read my mind. I
settled for the Glare of Death instead of physical violence. I
curled one foot under me and sank back into the buttery soft faux
leather chair with a slight wince as my ribs protested. I leaned
back carefully, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Do you have to put your boots on my chair?
They’re probably covered in something incredibly disgusting.”

She was right, of course. More than likely I
had demon goo on my boots, but I shrugged and glared some more. I
knew she hated it when I put my feet on her chairs, but damned if I
was moving an inch. She deserved it for all the flack she’d given
me lately about the whole royal princess business. Was it my fault
I was supposedly the descendent of some ancient Atlantean
prince?

“You’re the one who sent me demon hunting, so
deal. Besides, I’m royal. I can do what I want.” I couldn’t help
teasing her just a bit.

She rolled her eyes and propped her elbow on
the wide mahogany desk, chin in hand. “So, you really are some sort
of princess? I mean, this is for real?“

“Yeah, looks like it’s true,” I admitted. I
wasn’t too thrilled about it either. As if my life wasn’t
complicated enough.

“You’re a descendant of a prince. Of
Atlantis. As in the lost city of?” Her voice matched her expression
— sceptical. “That’s about the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard. And
I’ve heard some weird stuff.”

“Well, I’m of the Royal Bloodline anyway, or
so Jack says, and I guess he would know.” Jackson Keel was our
resident Sunwalker and former Templar Knight. Emphasis on the
‘former.’ As in nine hundred years former, give or take a
century.

According to him I was not only a descendent
of the Royal Bloodline of Atlantis, but also a
quite-possibly-immortal Sunwalker. I wasn’t entirely sure I bought
the whole thing, but whatever. When someone insisted you were a
Royal Princess, best thing to do was just humor the crazy
person.

“I am not calling you ‘your majesty’. I don’t
care how royal you are.” The sarcasm was back in her voice, but the
shadows still lurked in her eyes.

“Call me ‘your majesty’ and I’ll show you
just what a royal pain in the ass I can be.” Not that I needed to
work that hard at it, mind you.

She snorted. “Well, if you can spare a minute
for us peasants, I’ve got a job for you.”

“I might be able to work something out,” I
said with an airy wave of my hand. “But you know we royals are just
so
busy what with throwing people in dungeons and the daily
floggings. Not to mention the weekly beheadings.”

Kabita snorted. “Yeah, whatever. Listen.” She
shoved a file across the desk. “Trevor Daly was in this morning and
brought me this.”

I rolled my eyes. Trevor, despite being
seriously gorgeous, was a royal pain in the ass if I ever met one,
but I took the file anyway. That was the deal. The government paid
us big bucks, we did what they wanted. Mostly.

“There’s a Keres loose in the neighborhood,”
she continued.

My eyebrows went up. “No kidding?” Keres were
death spirits. Incredibly rare and incredibly difficult to kill. It
usually took a witch. A witch like Kabita.

“Why me? That one’s more up your alley.”

Kabita shook her head. “Not this time. I have
some things I need to take care of.” Again that flash of something
in her eyes. There for a moment, then quickly hidden.

I eyed her over the file. Fine lines between
her eyes told me there was something going on. Something wrong.
“Tell me.”

She sighed. “My cousin. I haven’t seen her in
several years, but we were close as children. I got a call from my
brother Dex last night. She was murdered two days ago.”

“Shit, Kabita, I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “These things happen sometimes.
She knew the risks.” It sounded cold, but I knew better. Kabita
kept her pain to herself. It was just her way.

I frowned. “The risks? Was she into drugs or
something?”

She gave me The Look. “Don’t be daft, Morgan.
She was MI8.”

Well slap me with a wet noodle. MI8 was the
British intelligence agency responsible for handling paranormal
activity, mythical creatures, and things that go bump in the night.
MI8 had “officially” ceased operations after World War II, but they
continued their work in secret though they didn’t have the power
they once did. They were the ones that locked my ass up back in the
day to see if I would turn after my attack. I guess that explained
why Kabita was able to get me out of MI8 custody. Go Kabita.

“Double shit. Vamp? Demon?” MI8 agents didn’t
get murdered by normal people. Mostly because normal people didn’t
even know MI8 existed.

“I don’t know, but Dex asked me to come.” Her
face turned hard and cold, which was sort of spooky on a face made
for laughter and smiles. “I’m going to kill the son of a bitch who
hurt my family.”

Oh, yeah, this was serious. Kabita never
swore. “Fine. Sounds like a plan. I’m going with you. Give me two
hours. I’ll do this hunt while you make the arrangements. You are
not doing this thing alone.”

Her smile was tight and her eyes hard and
sharp as flint. “Thanks.”

I shook my head. “That’s what friends are
for.”

“I know what this might cost you.”

She meant going back. Returning to London
where I’d died. Or not-died. Or whatever. But she was wrong. I
loved London. Always had. I was drawn to it.

Plus the vampire that had killed me was still
out there. It was time for a little payback, not just for Kabita’s
cousin, but for me.

“You’re wrong Kabita.” I stood up and headed
for the supply room. I’d need some salt and a few other bits and
pieces if I was going to hunt down a Keres. At the door I turned
back. “It won’t cost me a thing. I plan on collecting on an old
debt.” I could feel the smile stretching across my face. It wasn’t
a happy smile.

For the first time Kabita looked just a
little bit scared. I wasn’t sure if she was scared of me or for me.
Then she smiled back. “Two hours.”

And her smile was fearsome.

Two hours wasn’t much time to take care of a
Keres, especially since I wasn’t a witch. So I made a quick phone
call.

“Majicks and Potions. Eddie here.” Eddie
Mulligan ran an occult shop in Portland and had helped me out on
more than one occasion. It had been Eddie who’d taught me what he
knew about the Darkness and how to control it. More or less.

“Hi, Eddie, it’s Morgan. I need your
help.”

“Morgan!” his voice boomed cheerfully through
my earpiece. “So good to hear from you. What do you need? Love
potion? Banishing spell? Three pronged crossbow arrows?”

“Three pronged crossbow arrows? You’ve got
those?”

“Of course!” His chuckled warmed my heart.
Eddie had a way of making a person feel good, even when the
proverbial shit was hitting the fan. “Shall I set some aside for
you?”

“Now that you mention it, sure. But that’s
not what I called about. Do you know how to kill a Keres?”

“A death spirit? Good lords above. Are you
sure it’s a Keres?”

“That’s what Kabita says,” I assured him.

“Well, then.” I heard him clear his throat.
His tone was serious. “You’ve got a problem. You can’t
kill
a Keres. A Keres is a spirit and spirits, as you know, are
non-corporeal by their very essence. They only turn corporeal when
they are about to feed.”

“Um, yeah, I sort of got that. So, if I can’t
kill it, what do I do?”

“Banish it, of course.” His voice had
returned to its natural state of jubilance. I swear Eddie couldn’t
be solemn for more than five minutes if his life depended on it.
“It’s really very simple. First you need to call the Darkness.”

***

Simple it may have been, but I was so not
looking forward to the banishing. Without the natural magic of a
witch, there was only one way to call a Keres, according to Eddie.
Keres were attracted to death, the more violent the death the
better. Since I wasn’t about to kill myself just to trap a Keres, I
used the only other weapon in my arsenal.

I really tried to avoid using the Darkness.
The more I used it, the more it felt like it was trying to take
over. Gods only knew what would happen if it did. Unfortunately, if
I wanted to banish the death spirit, I didn’t have much of a
choice.

So I drove to the parking lot near the top of
Rocky Butte, a large hill overlooking Portland, and then hiked up
the short distance to the lookout. It was pretty much the highest
natural area in the city. Or at least the one with the best view.
It was dinner time, so I had the place to myself, which was good.
Last thing I needed was an audience.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I
focused deep down to that place inside where the Darkness lived. A
few months ago I hadn’t even known it was there, but now it seemed
I no longer needed to channel the darkness outside. Now it writhed
and seethed and was a living thing trapped inside me, waiting to
get out. Sometimes it got out on its own. Like earlier with the
Ripper demon. Now it was time to let it loose deliberately.

I visualized holding on to the Darkness like
one might hold a dog on a leash. Then holding fast to the end of
the leash, I let the dog run. The Darkness heaved its way out of me
with a scream of relief, snapping my head back and nearly knocking
me off my feet. It rushed through me, the pressure building until I
wanted to scream. That’s when I heard it, the death cry of the
Keres.

My eyes popped open, but it was like looking
up through a dark, swirling well. I could see the Keres wheeling in
the sky above me, black wings stretched against the dying rays of
the sun. She screamed at me, hungry for the Darkness that lived
inside me.

The Darkness screamed back.

***

The Keres swooped down, bone white fangs
dripping with venom, eyes blood red in a skull like face. I
shuddered. Fear mixed with exhilaration streaked through me as the
Darkness boiled and raged, reaching for its prey.

Before the Darkness could take over, I shoved
it down. It reared and snapped, but I wasn’t about to allow it to
control me, so I shoved harder. It retreated almost sullenly into
that deep place within me.

The Keres swooped in, claws extended. I
reached into my pocket and came out with a handful of salt. Not
that stupid table salt, either, but nice, big chunks of rock salt.
I tossed it straight into her face.

She shrieked as the salt sizzled against her
skin, and went tumbling ass over teakettle across the top of Rocky
Butte. I pulled out another handful of salt and as I threw it over
her I yelled: