Page 14 of Echoes in the Void

All robbers were alike. Tall, or short. They had skin, hair and a beating heart. In a few minutes, when my boy heart ratcheted up a few notches, that m last wouldn’t be a problem any more.

Another flash/bang moment brought to the streets of New Orleans by yours truly.

Hopefully the local population would think my display had more to do with fireworks than any supernatural occurrence, thigh with Dolion’s friend and the bar witch sniffing about, my chances of surviving unscathed for too much longer grew slimmer by the nightfall.

“The thing is, little firebird, it’s you I wanted to find.” The amusement dropped from my captor’s voice, though his hand didn’t.

I sighed again.Peek-a-boo, I found you.Or rather, he’d found me. “Sebastian.”

“I am indeed.”

A snort ripped free from me. “The two of you won’t survive here. Your friend looks like he stepped straight from thesixteenth century. You sound like it. The pair of you need to level up, vampire king.”

I couldhearhis eyes roll, I swore.

“I can see why he’s enamored with you,” Sebastian murmured. “But, little firebird, we have a problem with you.”

“Youhave a problem with me,” I corrected, as another sigh whispered from my lungs. Facing Sebastian for the first time, I stared into the vampire’s soulless eyes as he tried to enthrall me and failed.This is fun. What other tricks would you like to try on me, Mister Vampire?My patience waned along with my energy as my body began to heat, boding poorly for both myself and my future lover’s best friend, plus any other life form in the alley. “Let me set a few things straight. First?—”

“She’s not a firebird. She’s a Firestarter. You should know the difference, Sebastian. And why in the hell are my toes pink?”

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CHAPTER SIX

DOLION

Someone had spray painted my toes, claws and all, in the time between when I climbed on top of my Steorra’s crypt and when I cracked an eye to check she was sleeping and found she wasn’t there. No stranger to graffiti, only in this new form, I’d discovered with Sebastian on an early evening track upon arrival in New Orleans, the night he outfitted me and we found our accommodation. The state of the city’s underbelly might have disgusted me had I not seen so many cities in states of deshabille over the centuries, and played warden to them all from my perch above.

Often, I had ignored the plight of the homeless population, protecting only that which was mine under the roofs where I stood sentinel with my brethren until they died out over the years and I traveled with Sebastian to the new world.

Other times, I became involved.

Never had I found the latter course of action to my benefit. Hatred was always the outcome. And after a time, I chose to step away from the people who feared my twisted face and stone colored skin, retreating with my own kind until a girl with pale ringlets captured my heart.

But the woman who stood before me, her heat rising, was not Minette. Ash’s bronze hair brushed her shoulders in impossible metallic glints. She looked as far from this world as It was possible to be, the brightness of that hair and those glimmering eyes that darted about my face. Her lips curled as her gaze dropped and she spotted my toes and?—

Laughed.

Sweet, and high and contagious.

The corners of my mouth tugged upward. I danced for her, wiggling my bare feet I'd crossed the city on, seeking first her then, when I couldn’t find my Steorra, Sebastian. A boon to find both of them together, though in a different circumstance than I would have hoped.

“Please let my fallen star go,” I requested my friend politely. “I don’t need to threaten you. While I am immune to her stunning flame, I don’t think your kind is.”

Sebastian looked at me in alarm that his immortality might be threatened by the slip of a woman he held. “I beg your pardon?”

Ash giggled and batted at his hand. “Let go of me, you old relic. Before I singe you.”

The vampire blinked at her, then released her arm, offering me a rueful look. “I understand why you’re taken with her.”

“Do you?” I tipped my head to one side. “Would you like to tell me how to get the pink paint off, please?”

She glanced down and shrugged. “I mean, it suits you? But I can find you some product to remove it if that’s what you need. I have money stashed for food and things.”

“Money isn’t an issue.” Sebastian passed a wad of currency I didn't recognize in my direction.

I glared at him and waved the phone in his direction. “And yet you made me use this.”

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