Baptism of Fire by Jessie Thomas

Author:Jessie Thomas [Thomas, Jessie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

16

I should have felt him here.

Then again, there was so much concentrated incendiary power in this room, I couldn’t have picked him out of the crowd.

An obsidian room, the disorder of bodies separated us, and yet he offered me a slow, knowing grin. A steely sort of gratification flittered in the shadows pooling across his face.

I moved without knowing what I’d do when I got there. Any sense I might’ve had vanished, replaced by a wildfire sweeping through me at a breakneck pace. The silver-tongued incendiary called after me, pissed off that she’d lost her latest conquest. But I ignored her, pushing my way through the crowd, earning a collection of glares and sharp expletives for my efforts. Anger became something unstoppable, blinding, as it raced through me. An entity unto itself, cultivated and bottled over days and sleepless nights.

I kept my eyes locked on him. He gave me a measured look—it seemed more like a silent challenge, a question of what exactly I would do—before he tossed back a shot of something he’d plucked from the table in front of him. His hand had been wrapped in a white bandage, stark against his black clothes. The idea of it was strange, and somewhere in that pile of scattered memories, another lost fragment clicked into place. I didn’t have the luxury of time right now to dwell on it. I wanted him to suffer for once.

And I wanted him fucking gone.

Now.

“Nix!” Javier’s shout echoed over the din. He was close, though the tunnel vision made it sound like he’d been cast off into the distance. “Nix, wait!”

I felt his lithe fingers reach for my wrist, but he hadn’t been fast enough to latch on. I surged forward, putting more annoyed, well-dressed bodies between us.

“Don’t do this here,” he warned. “You’re gonna get yourself killed.”

“As long as I kill him first,” I snapped.

“Nix, please,” Javier begged. I tried to ignore the distress in his voice. “Not here. Not now.”

Jostled by the crowd and the tug of Javier’s words, I lost sight of the incendiary for a moment. But like everything else, that was all it took. When I found his table again, he’d already vacated his spot, walking swiftly along a row of velvet booths occupied by his demonic associates. He moved like a shadow. Deadly, with that same supernatural grace.

Determined not to lose him again, I shoved through a group of pyromancers, racing up a few steps to the small mezzanine platform. The air crackled with the sudden flare of incendiary heat. It stifled the pyro energy around us, briefly.

I gathered the rage welling inside me, following that shock of silky blond hair through the dark. My fingertips burned with the fire rising in them, the reddish-orange of the embers lighting up everything I passed. The sight of me tailing an incendiary, glowing red, shoving elbows and breaking glasses in my chase, elicited shouts. A murmur of panic spread through the crowd. The exasperated scowls hurled my way stung as if I’d been bombarded by a pyromancer’s flame.

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