Playing With Fire (18 page)

Once, there had been a dozen phoenixes in their village. They'd been the power . . . until they turned on one another.

The fire led to bloodlust. Fury. The need to dominate and control.

For days, their village had been turned black with ash.

Others—humans down the mountainside—had started to spread rumors of dragons attacking.

There had been no dragons.

Dante stared down at his hands. Saw fire.

Only us.

He hadn't wanted to kill his brother. Wren had given him no choice. Dante had been burning. Wren and his siren had come at him as he rose, come for his head and his heart.

They'd almost taken his head.

But his phoenix hadn't been ready for death.

The phoenix who stands last is the only one with power.
Wren's panting words to him.
I will stand last. I will have the power. You, brother, will have hell.

Dante squared his shoulders. The elevator doors opened. Cain had his back to him—such a mistake. He saw the man's dark hair, a shade very similar to Dante's own.

Cain spun toward him.

His eyes widened. “You're not—where's Cassie?” He grabbed the woman with him and shoved her behind his back.

Dante's nostrils flared. The woman's scent . . .
speaking of dragons.
He hadn't caught that particular scent in centuries. Those two were even more of a threat than he'd first thought.

Dante stepped forward. The elevator closed behind him. His gaze slid to the woman as she peered over her man's shoulder. “I'm sorry,” Dante told her. “I didn't want to kill you.” He shook his head. “Leave now, and I will spare you.” Even though he knew
what
she was.

“Who are you?” the woman whispered.

Dante lifted his hands. The fire was burning so brightly now. Spinning. Flaming. “I'm death.”

Cain gave a rough laugh. “Am I supposed to be impressed by that shit? I can conjure, too.” In an instant, he had fire flaring in his own hands.

Dante smiled. He hadn't expected much of a challenge from this one. He'd been wrong. “What have you had? Maybe fifty risings? And probably all during your captivity at Genesis.”

Cain's dark eyes narrowed—
his eyes look like mine—
as he glared at Dante. “Did Cassie tell you about me?”

“I can smell the risings. Hell leaves its own stamp on us.”

“That why I can smell brimstone on you?”

“I've risen more times than you can imagine.” Maybe that was why he had to fight so hard to cling to his sanity. “And I will be the one who rises again. You will be the one to stay in hell this time.”

“No!” The woman yelled from behind Cain. She tried to lunge forward, but he pushed her back. The fire didn't burn her. Of course, it didn't. One sniff, and Dante knew that the woman had dragon shifter blood in her body—there was no mistaking that scent. Fire wouldn't harm her.

There were still plenty of other ways for her to die.

“She doesn't belong in this battle,” Dante said softly.

“Send her away. Face me on your own.”

“Why the hell are you doing this?” the woman yelled. Eve. Cassie had called her Eve.

Cassie . . .

Help!

Was she still crying for help?

“It's what we do.” The answer came from Cain. His voice was grim. “Our kind—we kill. I told you that before.”

“We're here to help Trace!” Eve shouted. “This isn't supposed to be about killing!”

She almost reminded Dante of Cassie.

“Step back,” he warned her.

“Swear that she will stay unharmed,” Cain demanded.

Dante inclined his head. “When I kill you, I will let her live.”

“No!”
Eve's voice was nearly a shriek.

Cain laughed again. The flames died above his hands. “No, dumbass. I meant don't hurt her during our battle. While I'm killing
you.
” He reached under his jacket, yanking out a gun.

He lifted the gun and fired at Dante.

 

The closet door swung open. Because Cassie was aiming again with her mop, she tumbled forward, and the mop clipped Charles on the side of his head.

“Ow!” He frowned at her. “See if I rush to your rescue again.” He hurriedly stepped back, adjusting his lab coat. “You don't
attack
your rescuer, Cass. You know that, right? It's bad form.”

She shoved him out of her way and rushed toward the security screens. “He's got a gun.” Of course Cain would have come armed. The man wasn't the type to take chances. That gun was aimed at Dante.

Hands slick with sweat and body tight with fear, Cassie whirled away from the monitors and ran for the door.

“You're welcome!” Charles called out behind her.

“Thank you!” she yelled and flew for the elevator. She had to get up to the ground level. If Cain shot Dante, she didn't even want to think about what would happen next.

Fire.

Rising.

Death.

Not Dante's. She didn't actually think anything was strong enough to kill him permanently, not after all she'd seen during his years of captivity at Genesis.

She didn't want Cain to die. He'd been a captive at Genesis, too. Tortured, hurt. The man had just found happiness with Eve. Neither one of them deserved to have that happiness snatched away.

Cassie jumped into the elevator. “Hurry, hurry,” she whispered under her breath. She realized that she was still clutching the mop. As weapons went, it wasn't exactly a major threat.

Not that she had a whole lot of options.

She sucked in a deep breath and hoped that when those elevator doors opened, fire didn't greet her.

 

Charles watched Cassie vanish. He wasn't sure how the woman had wound up in the closet. When she stopped running, he'd be sure to get that story from her.

He glanced over at the monitors. Oh, hell, that looked like a situation he didn't want to—

The door crashed open behind him. Charles spun around, his hand automatically rising to his chest.

He's out. Fuck, fuck. He's out!

The werewolf stood before him. If possible, the man's features had become more twisted in the form of a beast. He was bigger than before. Charles was sure of that. And the werewolf 's claws were much sharper now, too.

Bad. So very bad.

As Charles stared at him in horror, the beast dropped down onto all fours and let out a deep, rumbling growl. When those glowing eyes locked on him, Charles was pretty sure that he saw his own death reflected in that gaze.

“No,” Charles whispered. “Please, I tried to help you. Don't you remember that?”

The beast snarled.

Charles ran forward and dove into the closet. He yanked the door shut behind him just as claws drove through the wood, coming through about two inches away from his head.

So damn bad.

 

The bullet exploded from the gun, rushing right at Dante. He couldn't help it. He smiled as he pushed his flames hotter. Higher.

The bullet melted before it could ever touch him.

Above the crackle of the flames, he heard the woman's shocked gasp.

“When you're as old as I am, the power is so much greater,” Dante murmured. He let his flames flicker away so that he could meet Cain's stare once more. “Want to try again? Feel free to shoot every bullet in your gun.”

Cain's hold tightened on the weapon.

“But you should know, they won't hurt me.” Dante tilted his head. “Though they will piss me off.”

Eve's hands fisted in the material of Cain's shirt. “Cain . . .” Fear threaded his name.

Dante heard the grind of a motor. The elevator. Lifting up once more.

He couldn't have an enemy at his back and one at his front. He leaped to the side, not sure who he would see when the doors slid open. Cassie was safe in the closet—

The doors parted to reveal Cassie's worried face.

“Cassie!” Dante roared. He tried to leap toward her.

Too late. His roar had revealed far too much.

Cain had rushed toward her, too. Cain reached her first. Cain wrapped his arms around Cassie and pulled her close against him.

Dante hadn't intended to make the phoenix shifter's death particularly brutal. In that moment, he changed his mind.

The woman—Eve—had frozen, but Cain hurried back to her, pulling Cassie in front of him like the shield that she was.

“You want to let her go,” Dante snapped.

Cain shook his head and put his gun to Cassie's head.

The fool.

“What are you doing?” Eve demanded. “That's
Cassie
! She's helping Trace!”

The elevator doors closed.

Cain shook his head again. “She set us up, don't you see that? Lured us out here so
he
could attack.”

Cassie's wild-eyed stare landed on Dante. “I didn't,” she whispered. “I didn't know what he'd planned.”

Dante saw betrayal in her stare, and that look made him feel strange. His chest ached.

“Move the gun away from her head,” he ordered.

The gun didn't move.

“Cain!” Eve snapped.

“Don't move the gun,” Cassie said in the same instant.

What?

“Eve, call up the elevator,” Cassie said softly. “You, Cain, and I will go inside it. Dante won't—He won't hurt us as long as I'm in front of you two.”

She was choosing to protect them? Even as that jackass pressed a gun to her head?

Cassie held Dante's gaze. “I'll lock the system down once we're inside. He won't be able to follow us.”

No, no. That would not happen.

“Cassie . . .” Her name was a warning growl from Dante.

Cain slowly backed them toward the elevator.

“You don't follow us,” Cassie whispered to Dante. “You just . . . get the hell out of here. Don't look for us, and we won't look for you.”

He didn't think Cain was going to agree to that plan. The expression on the guy's face promised retribution.

Dante wasn't leaving him alive. “That's not happening,” he vowed.

“You used me,” Cassie said, shaking her head.

Had her voice broken?
It had.
Broken with pain.

“I trusted you, but you just wanted to hurt them.”

“No,” Dante said. “I wanted to kill the phoenix.” It was what he'd been taught to do. The only way he'd survived.

The phoenixes in his village had turned on one another, battling in a fury of bloodlust and fire.

Until only one remained . . .

Because of the siren.

Cassie didn't realize that she was the danger that would destroy so many. He knew what powers she held inside. He'd known from the beginning.

Maybe he should have just killed her, but that act had always been beyond him. She made him weak.

Just as Zura had made his brother weak.

It doesn't have to be this way! We can be strong together.

Hadn't he tried to stop his brother? Hadn't he tried to use reason before fire?

Until there had been no reason left.

Just flames.

Wren hadn't wanted them both to live. He hadn't wanted them both to be stronger.

I'll be stronger on my own.
Wren had told him those cold words, even as his fire burned hell-hot.
And I'll never fear you turning on me.

The elevator's doors opened. Eve stepped toward those doors then stopped. “Trace?”

The wild scent of the wolf hit Dante.
Impossible. The werewolf is chained below. He is—

The werewolf shoved something, someone—the human, Charles, a very bloody Charles—onto the ground and leaped out of that elevator. He looked different, far more savage and animal-like, as he lunged for Cassie.

“No!” The bellow was Dante's. But he was too far away.

The werewolf hit Cassie and Cain, sending both tumbling to the ground. Cain's weapon fired, the bullet exploding, and Eve screamed.

The wolf didn't stop. He grabbed Cassie and yanked her back.

Dante attacked. He lifted his hands, conjuring the most powerful fire he had within him. The werewolf wouldn't survive the blast. Cassie had thought to save this beast? There was no saving a being that thought to hurt her.

No saving . . .

Dante's fire launched out.

The beast dropped Cassie and rushed toward Cain, moving so fast—incredibly fast—as he dodged the flames. The fire barely singed him. The werewolf 's claws swiped over the other phoenix, cutting him deep. Cain swore and fire swirled over his fingers.

Eve grabbed his arm. “That's Trace!”

“That's a fucking dead wolf,” Dante shouted. Cassie was bleeding. The wolf 's claws had cut her and the wolf was—

“Help . . .” That cry was more beast than man. Far more. “Help . . . Cass . . .” the werewolf growled. Then he was curling his powerful body around hers.

Dante stepped toward them.

The werewolf bared his teeth. “Kill . . .”

His claws weren't near her throat. He had wrapped his arms around Cassie's stomach.

“The change is . . . even worse,” Eve whispered. “I thought he was getting better.”

The wolf
had
looked better. Before.

He seemed to be turning more into the beast as Dante watched. Thick, dark fur burst from his skin, and the werewolf opened his mouth to snarl with the pain of his change.

“Trace.” Cassie tried to push free of his hold. “Trace, you're hurting me.”

The phoenix within Dante began to attack with his flaming claws. Wanting
out.

Trace stiffened.

“Let me go, Trace. Please.”

Trace shook his head. The transformation seemed to have halted with Cassie's words.