Page 143 of Tin God

The destroyer and the creator.

She blasted a column of flames toward Zasha, who held up a hand and diverted Brigid’s flames toward the forest.

A hemlock tree, shaking from the heat and the dry air, burst into flames on the edge of the clearing.

“I’ll burn it all.” Zasha’s smile was madness. “I’ll burn it all, Brigid. You know I will.”

“This time there’s no one but us on this island.” Brigid spread her arms, and the fire leaped to her side. “Have at it. Do your worst.”

Zasha’s expression faltered when they realized they had no leverage. There were no victims to threaten. No innocents for Brigid to protect.

Brigid smiled when she realized that she’d done it. She’d finally isolated her enemy. Tenzin could fly away even if she was injured. There were no humans on the island, and they were surrounded by water.

“Burn it, Zasha. Burn it all! You’re only killin’ yourself.” Brigid threw out her arms and sent two more columns of fire at the vampire, who batted them away, but this time, instead of hitting the forest around them, the rivers of fire flowed around Zasha and arrowed straight toward the tall wooden house.

Zasha spun and looked at the fire as it leaped to the wood shingles on the roof. “No!”

The wooden house quickly caught, the hungry fire eating away at the roof, the wooden shutters, and the railings before it began to consume the walls.

Brigid lost her breath for a moment. “Tenzin.”

A burst of wind from the side of the house as a small figure shot like a bullet from the burning building and flew into the darkness above them, whatever flames that had been trailing her quickly quenched by the misty night air.

But the gently falling mist was no match for the fire that burned Zasha Sokholov’s haven in the woods. Brigid fed it, directing her fire to the woodpile in the corner where she could smell human remains decomposing.

Rest,the fire whispered.We will spread their ashes to the earth. Nothing is lost in the end.

Brigid saw it in the curling golden flames.

Nothing would be lost.

“Our element isn’t like the others.”She heard Oleg’s voice in her mind.“The air, the earth, the water… But fire?”Brigid watched the flames take the trees that had been used to build Zasha’s hideout and turn them into ashes.

Fire is a process.

Zasha was raging and stomping around the clearing, batting back every column of flame Brigid threw at them, hurling it at the forest and the cliff behind the house.

But fire was a process, and Brigid wasn’t going anywhere.

“Everythin’ comes to an end,” Brigid told them. “Even us, Zasha. Even me. If that’s what it takes to keep you from hurtin’ anyone else…” She choked on her words when she thought about Carwyn. This would hurt him. She could already feel his anger in her blood. His amnis was in her. Dying meant part of him would die with her.

But part of her would always live in him. It was the only comfort she could take.

“You’re not leavin’ this island.” Brigid threw another column of fire toward Zasha, and they diverted it to the other side of the clearing, setting even more trees on fire.

They were fully engulfed, and even though the fire was dancing for Brigid now, at some point she knew that she could be consumed. Maybe it wouldn’t come from her own fire, but Zasha was hurling their flames at Brigid; both were evenly matched.

The two fire vampires were surrounded by an inferno. The house was fully ignited, and the forest around them was burning. Not even the dense rainforest and the mist could combat the churning, fiery battle.

“What do ya want, Zasha?” Brigid shouted. “Because I can’t let ya live.”

“Then you’ll die with me.” Zasha gripped the sword in their hand and charged at Brigid.

She had no weapon. If Zasha wanted to kill her, they would probably succeed even if Brigid’s fire consumed the vampire in the process.

But halfway across the burning clearing, Zasha seemed to trip.

“No!” They looked around, their eyes careening around the clearing. “That’s not fair!”

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