Page 6 of Of Flame and Fate

He’s tapping into his inner beast. I have an inner bitch and she’s just as effective.“And I won’t have my sister in danger. Not if I can help it.”

“By putting out fires better handled byweres?”

I shrug. “Every bit helps.”

“Not when all it helps are the vampires.”

“Gemini, do not let your hate for the vamps cloud what I’m trying to do for Celia, Aric, and their baby.” He doesn’t budge, which only frustrates me more. “After what they’ve been through, they deserve some peace and happiness.”

“Not at your expense!” he growls. He pulls into our neighborhood, slamming down the parking brake in front of our house just to glare at me.

I glare right back. “I’m not going to let her die,” I say. “Not if I can help it.” I swing open the door and step out, fumbling with the blanket as I limp forward and a sharp sting tears up my thigh, burning my skin.

Chapter Two

Here’s the thing about being a badass, you have to walk the walk and talk the talk. The talk, I think I have down. The walk, not so much. Holy shit. My leg is pulsating, as in throbbing, and pounding, and taking on a life of its own. I grip it, uselessly trying to stop the swelling spreading up to my ass. Each pop and pull against my skin feel like a boil pushing through, following the same path that demon took when it tried to burrow its way to my heart.

I trip over the blanket that smells like wererat, causing my boobs to spill out, just in time for our evil neighbor Mrs. Mancuso to step out onto her porch. Christ, it’s like she waits for me.

“Taran Wird!” she shrieks. “Are you naked?”

“No, I have a fucking blanket.”

Considering I have boils the size of quarters scattering along the length of my leg at warp speed, it’s the best comeback I have.

Gemini appears out of nowhere, wrenching me into his arms to keep me from falling on my face, but not quite managing to keep the girls in.

Flashing my boobs doesn’t upset Mrs. Mancuso. No. Not at all.

“You are naked!” she screams at me.

“No, shit,” I snap, gathering the blanket closer.

Of course, Mancuso doesn’t stop there. “Take your disgusting body and your even more disgusting suitors elsewhere!”

“I did. Your son-in-law says, hello,” I fire back.

“Youwhore.”

Gemini hoists me in his arms. “Damn it, woman, don’t you have children to lure into your gingerbread house!”

It’s the last comment I manage before the quickly forming boils singe like fire against my skin and I coil in anguish.

Gemini launches us up the wooden steps. “Taran,” he says. “The demon’s venom is fading.”

I know it is. He doesn’t have to tell me. Another wave of pain claws its way up my chest, the agony making me curl into Gemini’s chest.

Mrs. Mancuso is still yelling, still name-calling and her support hose likely still in a bunch. For once I don’t care. My leg and butt are spasming out of control, causing the rest of my body to quiver.

I gasp, struggling to speak. “What’s happening?”

“The demon’s venom numbs its prey to allow it to nest,” he explains. His feet pound against the wood floor as he races me back to my room. I make out the picture of my sisters and I in the hall, but not much more. “Now that it’s fading, your body is reacting to all the damage it caused.”

What feels like an ivy of thorns digs into my skin. I bite down, not wanting to scream or fire up my arm. But I’m already plenty pissed and so is Sparky. Heat spreads the length of my limb, making it jerk. I clutch it to me when Gemini grunts.

“Don’t,” I tell her. “You’ll hurt him.”

It seems ridiculous for me to speak to my arm as if she’s an entity in and of herself. But as much as my right arm has become a part of me, she’s not the original.

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