Page 52 of Fire Bound

“Jax,” Kaius scolds. “Don’t talk about yourself with such contempt. You’re special.”

“Don’t call me that.”

My eyes continue to dart around the room as I attempt to find where the real Kaius is, but the whole thing is so disorienting, I can’t even remember what side we entered this room from. My right and left are completely twisted. From what I’ve seen, Jax hasn’t even bothered looking around. He’s barely moved since we found ourselves surrounded by mirrors.

“What is it you want from us?” I ask, interrupting the intense moment.

“Who says I want anything from you?” Kaius questions.

I roll my eyes. “You think because you’re the oldest that you’re the smartest?” I challenge him. “If you didn’t want something from us, we would have bypassed this whole conversation and you never would have shown us that bargaining chip you keep stuffed in your jacket pocket. You wanted us to know you have it, and I’m asking why.”

“You really are a smart girl, aren’t you?” Kaius’s lips lift in a wicked grin, his slightly yellow teeth shining. “You’re right. I do want something from you. I’m looking to create anotherreciprocalrelationship. I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine, so to speak.”

“What the hell could we possibly have to offer you?”

His dull, uninspired eyes light up in excitement as he says, “I want you to kill Sterling and dismantle his little empire. I think seeing everything he’s built go up in flames would be an enjoyable spectacle to watch.”

“Anything to get your kicks, right?”

“That,” Kaius agrees. “But also, Sterling seems to have forgotten that I’m not one of his devoted servants and he’s started to treat me as such. Especially when your family started wreaking havoc on his plans. Kudos, by the way, I haven’t seen that man that frazzled in decades.” He holds up the piece of paper with the addresses on it. “Anyway, back to my position. This list is all the places where Sterling is keeping all the people he’s taken. There’s another list with the locations of where I’ve been stashing away people. They’re mostly women and children. If my guess is right, your poor little bleeding hearts will never allow these people to suffer even after Sterling is dead. You couldn’t sleep at night if you didn’t save them. A trulyexhaustingdilemma.” He’s right, we’ve long wondered how we were going to find all the breeding facilities and free the people in them. “I will give you the lists on three conditions. The first one is obvious; I want you to kill Sterling. The second one is where things get a little sticky. After our encounter today, you’re going to let me go—”

Jax laughs coldly, cutting him off. “That’s not fucking happening.”

Kaius holds up his finger to his lips, shushing Jax. “If you’d let me finish, you’d know it’s not forever. I have a couple loose ends I need to tie up before I go. As you may recall, I told you I was ready for my next adventure. I’ve decided I’m done with this world. I’ve walked every continent, seen and done everything I can or want to. It was fun until it wasn’t. It’s time I see what kind of mischief I can get into in the next life.”

“You want to die?” I ask confused.

“And I’m going to allow one of you the absolute pleasure of doing it.”

Ishould be rejoicing at the thought of killing the necromancer, but every nerve in my body is screaming at me that this is a trap. No man as old and powerful as Kaius would want to die. But then again, I’ve only been alive for twenty-four years and I already feel like I’m a thousand in my bones. In my short life, I feel like I’ve lived many lives. Maybe he truly is just ready to move on.

Unfortunately for him, I’m not prepared to take that risk right now. The only thing I want to do right now is get these fucking mirrors to go away and to get that list in Kaius’s pocket. Saving those people in those facilities aren’t at the top of the priority list right now, but one day, after Sterling is killed one way or another, those people are going to need to be freed. Those poor children who are being trained as weapons need to be protected like I never was. They deserve a childhood that Isabeau and I were deprived of.

“So, what do you say?” Kaius’s reflection grins at me. “Want to make a deal?”

There are a dozen different Kaius reflections around us, but I haven’t pulled my eyes off the one directly in front of me. He thinks he’s smart, that we wouldn’t be able to figure out where he really is. He’s been boasting about how foolish Sterling has been, but here he is, being just as dumb. “I would love nothing more than to rip your head from your shoulders and use it like a soccer ball for a bit, Kaius, but unfortunately, unless it’s sex, I’m not into delayed gratification. I’m not going to wait for you to do your laundry list of things before you’re ready to kick it. I’ll kill you, but I’m doing it today.”

Kaius pulls his pocket watch from his pocket and looks at it dramatically. “You see, I have plans already. A later date really would work better for me. How do we feel about the third Friday next month? Do you think you can wrap things up with Sterling by then?”

My power hums through my body, warming my limbs.

One second I’m standing next to Remington, the next I’m standing behind Kaius in the glass cell he’d been hiding behind. He coyly looks over his shoulder at me, not an ounce of fear or concern on his face. “Well, that’s just cheating.”

Without a word, I press the button on the wall in front of him, turning off the mirrored effect on the surfaces. On the other side of the glass, Remington turns around so fast she almost falls over. Her eyes fill with confusion when she realizes Kaius has been standing right behind us the whole time. With my overly advanced hearing, better than any other shifters, I was able to pick up the faint heartbeat behind the soundproof glass.

Kaius’s fun little trick was completely futile against me. Hellfire burning in my palms, I shove the necromancer with so much strength that his body crashes through the glass. It shatters all around us. Shards fly through the air and cover the ground at our feet. Kaius skids through the disarray, the scent of his blood instantly filling the air. Remington backs up a foot when he almost collides with her legs. The small amount of hellfire I’d infused his body with makes him whither in pain on the ground for a minute before he finally settles and leans up on his elbows. Spitting blood from his cut lip, he grins wildly at me, blood coating his teeth. “I’m strongly advising you to reconsider my offer.”

“And I’m strongly advising you to shut the fuck up,” I seethe between clenched teeth as I charge for him. As he tries to pull himself off the ground, I shove him back down, filling his body with hellfire again. This time with three times as much.

Watching him groan and shake in pain on the glass-covered ground isn’t penance enough for the role he’s played in all of this, but it sure does make me feel better.

I’m so distracted, loving the way Kaius is hurting, I’m not paying attention to what Remington is doing until it’s too late. She bends down over top of him, her hand reaching for the pocket of his jacket. Alarm and fear scream inside of me as I shoot forward. “Stop!” I yell at her in desperation. “Don’t touch him!”

The hellfire coursing through Kaius’s body will transfer to Remi if she touches him now.

My hand wraps around Remi’s shoulder as her hand abruptly pulls away from Kaius’s chest with a surprised gasp. I pull her away and bring her back safely up against my chest. She cradles her hand against her chest. The sound of her spiked heartbeat beating wildly against her ribs fills my ears.

“Are you okay?” I ask, spinning her around. “How bad does it hurt?” I’ve never felt the pain of hellfire myself, but from my growing list of victims, it’s not a pleasant experience. It’s a burning, soul-deep pain. “You can’t touch them when they’re filled with hellfire. It’s like touching an electric fence. The power will transfer to you.” She doesn’t look at me, just keeps staring down at her hand where she’s rubbing her fingertips against each other. Worried that she hasn’t spoken yet, I give her a gentle shake. “Remington, are you hurt?”

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