Kissed by Smoke (10 page)

The demon snarled and charged at us, its
deadly talons flashing. One swipe of Inigo’s blade declawed the
demon. I finished it off with a
dao
across the throat. The head went
toppling off and rolled across the floor to stare up at us blankly.
Bye, bye, demon.

“That was easy and painless.” I spoke too
soon.

Demons came pouring out of the basement as
if from the bowels of hell itself. Inigo and I had no time to
think, let alone speak. We only had time to hack and stab and
slice.

The floor under my feet was slick with demon
blood. My boot slid out from under me and that was all one of the
demons needed. He jumped on my back, taking us both down. I hit the
floor hard. Fortunately my training kicked in and I rolled with the
fall, shaking off the demon and coating myself in blood in the
process.

As I lay there flat on my back, the demon
made another run, talons flashing in the sunlight. Fortunately, I
was in the perfect position. I raised my legs, bending my knees,
and caught the creature in the chest with my feet. One heave sent
him flying across the kitchen, nicely impaling him on Inigo’s
blade.

“Oh, well done.”

“Thanks, babe.” I flashed him a grin.

“Damn, you’re a mess. I think we should hose
you off after this.”

I looked down at my clothes. Ruined, no
doubt. Shit. That meant I’d have to go shopping. “We got some vamps
to dust first.” I glanced over at the basement stairs. I so did not
want to go down there. “Ideas?”

“Plenty,” he gave me a leer. “None that
would help in this situation, though.”

“Seriously? Me covered in demon gore turns
you on?”

He just winked at me. Frustrating man.

“Okay, so we got the demons cleared out,” I
changed the subject. “There can’t be that many vampires down there.
Right?”

“I still can’t get a read on them, but yeah.
Maybe a dozen.”

Crap. A dozen vampires in an underground,
enclosed space. This was so not my day.

And then an idea hit. It was so ridiculously
over the top it might just work. “I’ll be right back.” I dashed out
to the car, rummaged around in the trunk, and came back with an
axe. Axes weren’t my weapon of choice, but they had their uses.

Inigo eyed the axe, then me. “You going to
take up lumberjacking?”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be an idiot.”

Moving around the living room floor, I felt
the floorboards under my feet until I found just the right spot.
Then I heaved the axe and slammed it into the floorboards, my
Hunter strength sending it deep into the brittle wood.

“Shit, Morgan.”

I ignored him and swung again. And again.
Until a hole began forming right in the middle of the living room
floor.

Inigo smiled and held out his hand. “Damn
me, you’re a genius. Here, let me have a turn.”

My shoulders were aching so I handed him the
axe and let him wale at the boards for awhile. I was woman enough
to admit my Hunter strength was no match for his dragon half.

Before long, there was a huge hole spilling
sunlight straight down into the basement. Hissing and snarling and
poofs of dust told us at least some of the light had hit its mark.
Hopefully we hadn’t accidentally dusted the wrong vamp, but we
could no longer play it safe.

Replacing our blades with UV guns, we headed
back downstairs. Amazing how light really opens up a space. There
were only a couple of corners dark enough for the vampires to
hide.

I strode up to the first corner. There were
two vamps hissing at me like a couple feral cats. They felt young.
Newly turned. No more than a couple years. I knew without a doubt
they wouldn’t have the information we needed.

“Sorry guys. End of the line.” And I dusted
them both. UV ray straight to the heart.

The other corner held what appeared to be
the last vampire. He matched the description given by the Radnor
brothers. He was older than the other two vamps. Much older. I
could feel the age of him pressing against the back of my head. And
yet, strangely, he looked afraid. I was pretty sure it wasn’t of
me.

I rubbed absently at my breastbone. I’d
forgotten all about it in the fight, but now it felt like the
bloody amulet was on fire.

“So, you like to hire redneck asshole idiots
to do your dirty work, do you?”

His jaw worked. Finally he spit out, “I
don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I think you do. My brother. Trevor
Daly. You paid three men to attack and kill him. Why?”

The vamp’s mouth worked as though he wanted
to say something, but nothing came out. He doubled over, as though
in pain.

I grabbed him by the hair and yanked him
back up. “Listen, you un-dead freak. I want to know why you had my
brother beat up.”

It looked almost as if he was struggling to
breathe. “Not me.” His voice was barely above a whisper. Strangled.
“Not me.”

And then he burst into so much smoke. Ash,
drifting to the floor.

“What the fuck?” I stared at the space where
he’d been standing and then whirled to face Inigo. “I barely even
touched him. What on earth is going on?”

Inigo shook his head. “Some kind of magic.
Same as what I felt controlling the demon upstairs. It dissipated
when the vampire dusted.”

Magic. I suddenly realized that the amulet
which had felt like a hot coal against my skin now felt cool to the
touch. I yanked it out and stared at it. No heat. No glow. But I
knew without a doubt it had been glowing a minute before.

What the hell was going on?

“What the hell is going on?” I stormed out
of the farmhouse practically slamming the door behind me. Anger
rode me hard, digging its claws deep into my soul. The Darkness
stirred. It liked the anger.

I put a lid on it fast. The last thing I
needed was for the Darkness to get out of control. Especially since
I could feel the Fire hot on its heels, and that new thing swirling
inside me. What was I? Some kind of godsdamned Fifth freaking
Element?

I turned toward Inigo and if the look on his
face was anything to go by, he was just as pissed as I was. “No,
idea, babe. But something or someone was controlling those
creatures, or they would not have been working together.”

“Yeah, and I’ll bet dollars to donuts
whoever it was immolated that vamp so it couldn’t lead us straight
to its master.” I really wanted to throw something. A rock, maybe.
There were plenty of them lying around, but I refrained. Instead I
dug around in the trunk for a change of clothes and some wet wipes.
It was way too cold for stripping to my underwear, but I’d rather
freeze my ass off than spend another minute covered in demon
goo.

“Now what?” I asked as I yanked a clean
shirt over my head. “How the hell are we going to figure out who’s
behind this? That was our last lead.”

“No it wasn’t.”

I must have looked completely lost because
Inigo laughed. I scowled, “Don’t you dare laugh at me.

He shook his head. In two strides he was at
my side, pulling my unyielding body into his warmth. I couldn’t
help it. I melted. Some bad-ass Vampire Hunter. One hug from her
boyfriend and she melts like butter.

“We have one card left up our sleeves,
Morgan. Have you forgotten?”

Apparently I had. I burrowed my face into
his neck and breathed in his scent. It calmed me enough I could
think semi-rationally again. “Remind me.”

“Trevor.”

I leaned back so I could see his face. “But
Trevor only saw the hillbilly brothers and the kid, Mikey. How
could he possibly lead us to whoever is behind all this?”

“I’m thinking your new little trick might be
able to help with that.”

“You mean my sudden ability to create mini
tornadoes? How is that going to help?”

He smiled. “Have you forgotten? The last
time you channelled Air you saw a djinni kill Agent Vega.” He
shrugged. “Maybe if you do it around a living person, someone still
affected by the magic, you’ll pick up more.”

Hell, it was worth a try. With the nest gone
we had nothing else, so after tossing my dirty clothes into the
trunk, I climbed into the Mustang and cranked on the stereo. Loud.
I needed a little rock music and Evanescence was just the thing.
Inigo didn’t even crack a smile as I sang at the top of my lungs
all the way to the hospital.

***

I have always hated hospitals. I think most
people do. They’re kind of creepy and depressing and reek of
chemicals.

“Shit, I hate hospitals.”

I glanced at Inigo in surprise. He couldn’t
read my thoughts. My emotions maybe, but not my thoughts.

“I’m clairvoyant, remember? Hospitals hold
lots of bad juju. I hate when they want to talk to me.”

We’d never really talked about it before. At
least not on the whole “I see dead people” level. I guess I’d just
thought of him as being like Cordelia. Communicating with the Other
Side, and whatnot. I reached out and took his hand, threading my
fingers through his. “Is it bad?”

His smile was a little forced. “Not if I
ignore them.”

I stopped, tugging at his arm. “Why don’t
you go back to the car? I can talk to Trevor.” I so didn’t want him
in pain, and I could see just being here was hurting him. His eyes
were haunted like I’d never seen before. It tore me up.

He squeezed my hand. “Morgan, I’m fine. I
don’t break so easy. I’m not as weak as all that.”

“That is not what I meant … “

“I know what you meant,” he shushed me. “And
I love you for it. But I’m fine. Let’s go talk to Trevor and then
we can get out of here. Okay?”

“You’re the boss.”

That made him laugh. “Oh, right. That’ll
happen.” He winked at me. I grinned and winked back.

Trevor was propped up in bed, being fussed
over by an extremely pretty blonde nurse. It was pretty obvious she
was smitten, which amused me no end.

“Hey, Trev.”

The nurse whirled on me. “I’m sorry, Miss.”
Her tone was just this side of snarky. “Visiting hours are for
family only.”

She was full of shit, of course, but her
narrowed eyes screamed jealousy. I’d have loved to have played with
her, but time was of the essence. “I
am
family. I’m his sister.”

By her expression, I could tell she didn’t
believe me. She opened her mouth, but Trevor jumped to the
rescue.

“It’s true, Emily. Morgan is my sister.”

That seemed to placate Nurse Emily, and she
reluctantly toddled off to tend to her other patients.

“That one has the hots for you, big
brother.” I couldn’t help the little jab.

He rolled his eyes. “She is driving me
insane. They’ll need to check me into the psych ward after
this.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Not your type?”

“Definitely not.”

I crossed to the bed and leaned down to give
him a hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” He looked a little worse for
wear — black eye, bruised cheekbone, arm in a sling — but he seemed
chipper enough.

“You should see the other guys,” he
joked.

“I did. Trust me. You definitely got the
worst end of it.”

Trevor frowned. “They caught me off guard.”
He said it like it had never happened before. Probably it hadn’t.
Weird powers ran in the family, after all.

“We think they had a little magical help,”
Inigo spoke up.

“No kidding?” That got Trevor’s
attention.

“The guys who attacked you were hired by a
vampire.” I settled myself on the chair next to the bed. “Which is
weird enough, but we found the vamp’s nest. They were working with
a bunch of low-level demons.”

Trevor frowned. “That’s unusual.”

“No kidding. On top of that, when we tried
to question one, it dusted. On its own.”

“Not exactly on its own,” Inigo pointed out.
“There was magic involved. We just don’t know what kind of magic.
We were hoping that if Morgan uses her new abilities on you, she’ll
see something like she did with Vega.”

“It’s a good idea,” Trevor agreed, “but I
was attacked by humans. Not supernaturals. I don’t see how Morgan
can pick up anything.”

“There is one more thing,” I said.

Two pair of eyes turned toward me. I felt a
little nervous and kind of dorky saying it, but it had to be said.
“The amulet was glowing again.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?” Inigo was
pissed.

I shrugged. “There wasn’t time. We were
fighting more than two dozen demons and vamps. And then there was
the dusting business.” I shook my head. “But the amulet got so hot
it nearly burned my skin. And you know what Eddie said.”

Inigo nodded, but Trevor looked confused.
“What did Eddie say? Why was your amulet glowing?”

I sighed. I didn’t want to say it out loud
because it freaked me out no end, but Trevor had to know. “Sidhe
magic. The Atlantean amulet glows in the presence of sidhe
magic.”

Trevor gaped at me a moment. “The sidhe
would never work with vampires. Or demons, for that matter. It’s …
anathema. Not to mention a death warrant should the Fairy Queen
find out.”

“Eddie said the Fairy Queen was the only one
who might have enough power to control one of the djinn, but only a
low-level one. He doesn’t think we’re looking for one of the fae,
but with all this sidhe magic going on, I’m not convinced they’re
so innocent. Are you sure the sidhe aren’t up to something?” It
would be just like them, too. They did like to cause trouble.

Trevor shook his head. “In all my years with
the SRA, I’ve never once heard of the fae dealing with such
creatures as the djinn. I find it very hard to believe they’d start
now.”

“And you’re sure you saw nothing else when
the guys attacked you?”

“Sorry, Morgan. No.”

I sighed. “You mind if I do that wind thing
again?”

He looked a little creeped out, but he
agreed. Wasn’t sure if it was because he was my brother, or just a
good agent. Maybe a little of both.