Page 48 of Of Flame and Fury
I press my head against his chest. “It’s confusing the lake,” I conclude. “It’s not sure whether to embrace it or punish.”
Gemini nods. “Yes. Johnny is no fool.”
Bren emerges from between theweres. I noticed him right away. I also noticed him purposely keeping his distance. “T, you were closest to that little bitch. Do you know how he created them?” He didn’t take anything he heard well and takes a moment to glare at Bridette’s corpse. “These creatures outnumber us and shouldn’t exist under our natural law.”
Shayna continues to smooth Koda’s fur. He’s deadlier in his wolf form and wants to stay that way in case Shayna needs him. “The presence of Fates and Destinies disrupt natural law, dude,” she reminds him. “Maybe that’s all little Johnny needed.”
“Maybe,” Bren says, his voice rough with pain. “But this is some fucked-up shit he’s pulling. Fate or not, you don’t mess with the natural order. Not without it coming back to gnaw on his throat.”
“Eventually, it will. We just don’t have the time to wait,” Aric says. He isn’t any happier and is only maintaining his composure for Celia’s sake. “Fate is playing with us, weakening our defenses. We’ve had our asses handed to us, and he’s not done. That vampire that went after you shouldn’t possess wings, period. He called himself a god. Is that what Fate is making now?”
“It’s what he claimed, but who knows,” I say. “The vamp was cocky as hell. He could have easily been blowing smoke. We didn’t get a look at his back. Johnny may have tattooed him and gave those wings life, similar to what he does on himself.”
Gemini meets Bren square in the face. “What do you get from the vamp?”
Bren has the best nose in the pack. It doesn’t seem to help him this time. He kicks at the pieces of leftover vamp and scratches his scruffy beard. “Can’t tell. What’s left doesn’t give me much. The wings were maybe real, but I don’t sense anything godlike about him. Not in this state.”
“I’ve never smelled anything that could be interpreted as godlike,” Gemini says, clutching me when the breeze picks up. “Except the events of the evening have taught us we can’t dismiss the impossible.”
Emme tilts her head. “If Johnny is making gods, they’re not as powerful as they should be. I mean, not if Bridette could kill him.”
“That’s true,” Gemini agrees. “But these things are evolving, growing smarter every time they fight us. If they’re learning, so is Johnny.”
“Which means eventually he could indeed create a god,” I say.
Theweresgrowl, mimicking the collective feel of the group. Bren is the only one who doesn’t join in, staring at the remains of the vampire as if he’s missing something important. If possible, he looks worse than before. I ease away from Gemini, worried.
Emme stays near Shayna and Koda. It’s the farthest she can be from Bren without joining theweresguarding us. “Why haven’t you healed him?” I whisper.
Bren freezes. He and everyone can hear me, but it’s Emme’s reply that causes his muscles to tighten. “He doesn’t want me to touch him, Taran.”
Gemini shakes his head slowly, making it clear to me that now is not the time to go all “Taran” on him.
Celia looks up. “Misha,” she says.
Aric releases her slowly. He doesn’t want to, but also doesn’t want her upset.
Misha and Ileana emerge, his bodyguards Hank and Tim flanking them, and the naughty Catholic schoolgirls strutting behind them. The schoolgirls still have their damn stilettos on. I’ve been barefoot for what seems like hours, and here they are, runway walking along the grass save for Edith Anne, who’s…jumping rope?
Ileana is completely naked. In girlfriend’s defense, she didn’t have much on to start with. Misha ditched his jacket, and his shirt is filthy and torn. His long blond hair drifts around him in the breeze, and blood and dirt smear his face. Somehow, he still looks good. It must be nice being immortal.
His steady pace slows as Celia reaches him. Aric shadows her. I think it takes everything that wolf has not to snap Misha’s wrists and toss them at his feet when he kisses her hands.
“You are well?” he asks.
Celia nods, the smile she greets him with fading “How many did you lose?”
Hank spits what looks like a finger on the ground. “Too many. What’ve you got?”
Aric and Gemini update the vamps. I keep my eyes on Edith Anne. Out of all the she-vamps in naughty Catholic schoolgirl clothing, Edith is the most… Hmm, what’s a good word for it? Oh, yes, nuts.
She jumps along in circles, her skin oddly pale for someone who regularly sunbathes naked, and her features are giddy in the most psycho way possible.
Ileana glides her hand down her face, wiping the blood coating her skin. She takes several long, appreciative licks, grinning when severalwerespause guard duty to watch.
She slides her tongue between her fingers and laughs. “I don’t know, mighty wolf,” she says, addressing Aric. Amid the chaos and bloodshed, her Russian accent remains delightful and flirty. “These Nytes, as you call them, don’t taste like anything I’ve ever sucked on.”
Given all the skilled lickin’ she’s doing, I agree she must have sucked her share of things in this life.