Page 58 of Cry of the Firebird

"That trick you did with the dragon, any chance of it happening again by accident?" Katya asked, her eyes not leaving the children.

"None at all. I'd never hurt anyone here. You have my word."

"Good," Katya grunted but didn't push him. "When we get back to the human world, I don't know what kind of reception we are going to get. Probably a bad one knowing the Darkness. Vasilli and Ladislav will have their operatives looking everywhere for Anya and Yvan."

"You're not afraid of a fight, are you?" Izrayl asked. He and Katya eyed each other up like gunfighters. She hooked her thumbs in her belt, close to the sheaths holding her daggers.

"I live for it. I'm worried about an old dog like you taking on the big boys, that's all."

"Settle down, pup. Those teeth aren't sharp enough to take me on just yet," Izrayl retorted. "I'll give you a rematch if you want, but right now, we got bigger problems."

All three of them turned and looked at Anya again. She gave them a puzzled glance but was interrupted by one of the children clamoring for her attention.

"Aleki tells me she learns remarkably fast. She thinks it'stoofast, but I think Anya's a natural. She certainly has enough power to fly around, that's for sure," Katya commented. "She's smart, and she wants to learn. I'm sure Eikki had his reasons for protecting her, but damn, she has talent. Kind of surprised the Darkness hasn't tried to take her already."

"They tried once in Moscow before Anya had learned a thing about magic. They were suspicious of what Eikki had told them about her having no abilities and thought to find out for themselves," Trajan replied. He could still feel the rage he had released that night, taste the blood in his mouth.

"The Darkness do love a press gang when they are keen to recruit, don't they? What happened?" Katya asked. "Anya only told me you both found her in the park in Moscow."

Trajan said, "Izrayl and I had been tracking her for days, trying to get her back to Eikki. The Darkness had been following her too."

"Eikki finally managed to get a hit on her with his tracking spell, and we found them closing in on her," Izrayl continued, his eyes flicking over to Trajan. "Trajan kind of lost it. He raged out and tried to kill all ten of them. They had backup, and we didn't. It was a messy fight. Trajan almost died, but we got Anya back to Eikki in one piece."

"They would've found it a hard task to kill me," Trajan argued.

That night was still a sore spot between them. Izrayl didn't like to kill unless he had to, but Trajan was his best friend, sohe had made the exception. Trajan had fought with Eikki about coming back into their lives then, and the old man had refused.

"I won't say the Darkness didn't deserve it. I know what they do to people who have magical abilities," Katya muttered. "Sounds like it would have been a good fight."

"The problem is we are now high on their shit list. That's why we have been keeping away from Russia. I'm happy to go back to the human world, though. I have missed the girls there for countless reasons." Izrayl gave Katya a wicked smile. She rolled her eyes.

"I am sure. You two having a bounty on your heads is going to create even more trouble."

"I'm sure you can handle some trouble," Izrayl said.

"I can handle a lot of trouble." Katya's mouth twisted into a grin. "And I could certainly handle you."

Izrayl laughed. "You keep telling yourself that, hunter."

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Night came quickly in the forest, and Katya was drinking heavily as everyone sat eating and talking around the cooking fires.

Katya's eyes slipped to where Izrayl was chatting with Cerise but looked away quickly. She didn't know what had gotten into her. Flirting with avolk kroviwas just plain dangerous, no matter how cute he was. He had a shitty attitude, but it kind of heightened his appeal.

Katya groaned inwardly at her stupidity. It had been drilled into her to kill his kind, not flirt with them. Maybe Baba Zosia was right, and she was turning into a harlot. Or maybe there was avolk kroviwalking around with amazing black hair and wicked amber eyes and a killer smile who could turn a seventy-year-old nun into a harlot just by walking past.

Focus!Katya yelled at herself. She decided to blame her lack of sex, the night, the fires' gold light, and the vodka singing through her brain. It would be really great if he stopped smiling at her knowingly, then looking away.

Bastard. Katya took another sip of vodka. She was standing out of the fire circle, leaning against one of the caravans.

Trajan and Anya were sitting next to each other, their sides just touching. They reminded Katya of nervous high school kids who didn't know whether to hold hands in public. Cute, in a bizarre way. A Grecian death spirit crushing on a mortal Russianshamanitsa? That was a world of drama waiting to happen.

"You seem to be lost in thought," a deep voice said from behind her. Shit! She hadn't even seen Izrayl move.

"Big thinker I am," Katya slurred and stumbled backward a little. He placed his hand on the small of her back to steady her.

"Easy there, hunter," he said, and Katya heard the humor in his voice. "I never picked you for a big thinker. You're more like me. You're a doer." She turned around slowly to face him. His long braid hung over his shoulder, and she fought the urge to touch it.

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