Page 47 of Of Flame and Fate

I’ll give him this, Johnny does fragile well, his trembling form reminiscent of a lost, wounded bunny who can’t find his way home.

I hold out my hands, ready to defend myself or lash out if he strikes. Except all he does is stand there, paralyzed with fear, his body quivering out of control.

“I need you to come with me,” I tell him gently.

He takes off like a rocket, a great deal faster than I can run.

“Johnny, wait,” I yell.

“Eat shit,” the wounded bunny answers.

All right, can’t exactly fault him for that one.

I chase him across the field of withering grass, garbage, and varying degrees of drug paraphernalia. With the amount of concerts the arena has hosted, the field has seen better days and more crackheads than a hundred city blocks. I don’t want to step on a syringe, in fact, I’m terrified of it. But I’m more scared of what Johnny will do if I allow him to escape.

My legs propel me forward, the muscles of my thighs, burning with how hard I’m running. With the exception of Emme, anyone else on Team Taran would have caught him by now and shred him to confetti. As it is, I’m barely keeping him in my sight.

“Johnny, I’m not going to hurt you!”

It’s an absurd thing to say, and I mean every damn word. Johnny isn’t a predator. He neither hunts nor stalks, outwardly fleeing and absolutely terrified.

He peels off his leather vest, exposing blotches of reddened skin lining his back. I’m not sure what they are or what he’s doing until another creature leaps from his back, enlarging in size and falling with a crash directly in front of me.

I stop dead. The way this thing materialized is almost identical to the way Gemini’s twin wolf separates from his human half. Except where Gemini’s ability is more of a smooth, liquid motion, Johnny’s is abrupt, a missile fired in retaliation and aimed right at me.

I don’t move, more dumbfounded than afraid as I take in this massive new threat. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen, his build at least seven feet in height and his musculature reminiscent of comic book hero, supersized and overly done.

His head is that of a ram, his legs, too, the hooves stomping aggressively in challenge. But his torso and arms are human, stretching out and bulging as they wait for me to act.

He’s making it clear I have to get past him to get to Johnny. But he’s not attacking. Like the wolves on the stage, he’sprotecting.

“Johnny,” I yell. “You don’t want to do this.”

“Fuck off,” he yells back.

The creature hunkers down, digging his hooved foot into the soil and kicking back the dirt and broken glass.

No more warnings. He’s ready to charge. “I don’t want to hurt you,” I tell it.

Like the wolf who bit me, there’s nothing human in him. His stare is void of emotion, almost robotic, and like a robot blindly following commands.

He snorts, his breath visible in the cool air.

I back away. “Stop,” I tell it, my arms lighting up in a spray of sparks. “Idon’twant to hurt you.”

His head jerks to the side, charging past me.

The force he uses spins me and forces me off balance. I regain my balance in time to see him collide into Gemini.

“No!”

Gemini’s human form is dragged across the field, his hands gripping the ram’s horns.

The ram plants his hands into the battered soil, using them like paws to thrust him across. Gemini, steels himself, digging in his feet and driving the ram’s head to the side, trying to snap its neck.

I don’t stand there, I can’t. My hand jerks out, the buzzing sensation making it tremble and sending a stream of lightning into the ram’s hide.

Johnny’s pained scream from behind me has me turning around, he’s sprawled on his chest, kicking his feet.

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