Flashfire

  Even then, that Slayer’s version of immortality had been burdened with tedious conditions and liabilities, being as it was an addiction to the life-renewing Elixir. The Elixir hadn’t ensured that Magnus could survive a dragon fight, either. Magnus was dead, his ambitions with him.

  This plea was about leadership of the Slayers. Balthasar wanted the job, but leaders need followers.

  Lorenzo wasn’t interested in following anyone.

  Balthasar smiled. “But I have his library and his hoard.”

  “So what?” Lorenzo said. “You don’t know what it means. It might as well all be gibberish.”

  Balthasar’s gaze was steady. “Are you sure there’s nothing in there of interest? He did have several millennia to build his collection.”

  “And the best he could do was make a disgusting Elixir that didn’t save him from dying by Rafferty’s hand in the end.” Lorenzo sighed with forbearance. “Let me guess—the price of a peek is turning Slayer.” He shook his head, bored by it all. “No sale, Balthasar, just as I told you before. I do not join anything or anyone, as a matter of principle.”

  “Still pretending to run solo?”

  “There’s no pretense about that.”

  “No, it’s just illusion.” Balthasar smiled, looking unpredictable again. “How’s your dad, anyway?”

  “You will leave my father out of this discussion.”

  Balthasar’s smile broadened, just long enough to give Lorenzo the creeps. “Well, I think you’re making a mistake,” he said, stepping back from the car. He surveyed Lorenzo, smiling with an oily confidence that was reminiscent of Magnus. It made Lorenzo want to injure him.

  They were all the same, these self-motivated Slayers who pretended to have something to offer—but in truth were manipulative and self-motivated. Lorenzo could teach them a thing or two about looking out for oneself.

  Or at least about baiting a hook so it was tempting.

  Balthasar’s smile broadened. “Which just means I’ll have to find another way to change your mind.”

  “There is no way to change my mind.” Lorenzo spoke with resolve, even as he feared the opposite was true.

  He had to survive only until Saturday.

  The days couldn’t pass quickly enough.

  After the spectacle, none of these fools would ever find him again.

  “Isn’t there?” Balthasar turned and inhaled deeply of the wind. “Her scent is distinctive, don’t you think? Even for a human.” His eyes glinted as he smiled again. “I’ll bet I could find her anywhere.”

  Lorenzo’s heart clenched, but he hid his reaction. The trick was ensuring that someone like Balthasar never knew that he had found a nerve.

  Lorenzo smiled coldly. “And you’re welcome to her,” he said, as if he were far more cavalier than he was. “I’ve had my fun.” He shook his head, as if weary of humans and their supposed charms. “Forgettable, really, but the choice is yours.”

  Balthasar’s eyes glinted, but he had no chance to reply. Lorenzo backed out of the spot, the tires almost smoking against the pavement.

  “If you’ll forgive me, I have other obligations.” He peeled out of the parking lot without waiting for a reply.

  Lorenzo fumed as he took the turn onto the Strip. The nerve of his kind, coming to meddle in his life. Drawn to the firestorm and determined to make trouble. How many of them were in town? How far would each pursue his own agenda, careless of the price to Lorenzo?

  It wasn’t as if he had nothing else to do.

  He ripped down the road, intent upon getting home as soon as possible. Responsibilities beckoned, unwelcome responsibilities but obligations all the same. He still had to persuade his father to pack, which promised to be a wearisome battle. He halfway expected Balthasar to follow him, but there was no sign of the other Ferrari.

  Where had he gone?

  Not that Lorenzo cared.

  The light turned red at the entry to the next hotel, and mindful of how much he’d been pushing his luck with the cops lately, Lorenzo squealed to a stop. His window was still open, the night air a balm to his sour mood.

  Balthasar was right. Her scent was distinctive.

  It led right here.

  Just this waft of it flooded his mind with images of the afternoon they’d spent together. The pleasure they’d shared. The desire he still felt.

  His need for more.

  Abruptly, Lorenzo’s thoughts were filled with flames, the crackle of heat and the sound of a woman’s screams. He caught his breath, terror flooding him all over again.

  Just as it had in the past. He could not logically remember that night—he’d been too young—but his nightmares had always been filled with smoke and fire and suffocating darkness. He could smell the ash. He could hear the chants. He could sense the hatred.

  He could taste his mother’s fear.

  He could hear the chanting of the crowd, mingling with the accusation from Caterina’s lips decades later.

  Diavolo.

  The two incidents had blended together in his memories, potent experience—and reminders—of the destructive fear of humans.

  Lorenzo shoved the memories out of his mind just as the light turned green. His mouth dry, he recalled Balthasar’s threat and target. He would be a devil if he let a Slayer have his way with this woman.

  She deserved better.

  Lorenzo swore, then turned hard into the hotel entrance. He’d thought that the firestorm was the last thing he needed, but the truth was that Balthasar’s arrival was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

  As much as Lorenzo might have preferred otherwise, he couldn’t let this particular human be endangered.

  His reaction was fortified when he caught the distinctive whiff of Slayer drifting from the hotel lobby. Not Balthasar—another Slayer. Worse, the scent entwined with that of the woman with the alluring lingerie. Lorenzo even let the valet park his car in his haste to get to her side, a fact that astonished both of them.

  He strode into the hotel with determination, his gaze scanning the interior. What Lorenzo saw in the lobby bar did precisely nothing to reassure him. His temper flared.

  Enough already.

  As soon as Cassie stepped off the elevator, she saw JP stand up in the bar. He even waved to get her attention, as if anyone would miss such a gorgeous hunk.

  “She’s fine,” Cassie said to JP before he could even ask.

  He pulled out her chair, his eyes filled with concern. “Are you sure?”

  “She was asleep. I woke her up and we talked for a bit.” Cassie smiled at JP. “She feels really bad about messing up your evening together.”

  “I shouldn’t have suggested that she have the shrimp.” JP spoke with obvious irritation. “What was I thinking? Shrimp in the middle of a desert? It would have to be flown in, and it’s like an inferno out there every day. The chances of the shrimp getting warm are so high—”

  “She’s fine,” Cassie interrupted. “She’ll be back to normal in the morning. She just wanted me to apologize to you.” She smiled, then leaned closer to whisper, “I think she really likes you.”

  JP relaxed then, his own smile widening. “I suppose it’s no secret that I like her, too.”

  They smiled at each other, Stacy’s admiration society, and JP gestured to the wine. When she sipped, Cassie realized he’d ordered the same one she’d had earlier.

  Stacy could do with a man in her life who was attentive.

  They sat in silence for a minute and Cassie wondered how she’d steer the conversation to the illusion of those flames. Without seeing them, of course. She didn’t want to get hypnotized herself again.

  To Cassie’s surprise, JP gave her the opening she needed. “And how was Lorenzo’s show tonight? Did he turn into a dragon again?”

/>   He looked like he was fighting the urge to laugh.

  As if she’d made it up.

  Cassie found that reassuring. “No. I guess that was a one-off illusion.” Cassie smiled. “Still a good show, though.”

  “Yes, I thought it was quite a spectacle.” JP sipped his drink and glanced over the bar, his interest wandering.

  Cassie hauled it back with her next question. “Do you know anything about magic at all?”

  JP looked at her in surprise. “Me? Why?”

  Cassie let her gaze slide over the occupants of the bar, as if she were less interested in their conversation than she was. “I was just trying to figure out one of his illusions, that’s all.”

  “Let me guess—the dragon one.”

  “No. That’s got to be all smoke and mirrors. It’s the little tricks that intrigue me.” She tried to sound offhand. “The way it looks like there are flames in the pupils of his eyes, for example.”

  If JP was startled, he hid it well. He smiled. “You saw him close up?”

  “Yes, after the show. Didn’t I mention that? I talked to him backstage, but he wasn’t interested in sharing the secrets of any of his illusions.” She let her eyes widen. “Certainly not in being photographed.”

  JP laughed. “He does seem to have a control issue.”

  “Many celebrities do,” Cassie acknowledged. The manipulation and management of a public image was old news to her. “Those flames, though, they looked real, as if there were fires burning right in his eyes.” Cassie shrugged and shook her head. “I can’t figure out how he did it.” She took a sip of her glass of wine. “Unless, of course, the beguiling has something to do with the firestorm.”

  “It’s totally unrelated,” JP said, then fell abruptly silent, as if realizing that he’d said too much.

  Cassie looked at him.

  He looked back.

  “Caught,” he whispered, and smiled. JP toasted Cassie with his drink. “Well done.” He considered her for a moment. “Do you have any idea what you just asked me?”

  “Not really. I was hoping you’d fill me in.”

  JP nodded, then leaned forward. “I’m sure you’ve heard about these Pyr, the dragon shape shifters.”

  Cassie nodded in turn. “Are they real?”

  JP grimaced. “Who knows? But the stories are persistent, and there are elements in those stories that make for a great show. Like beguiling.” He smiled at her. “It’s a type of hypnosis that these Pyr are supposed to be able to do, by conjuring flames in their eyes.”

  “But others can learn the trick, too,” Cassie guessed, remembering what Stacy had said. “Like you and Lorenzo.”

  JP nodded again. “Probably other illusionists, as well.”

  Cassie found this conversation reassuring. She could imagine that Lorenzo would learn illusions from anybody anywhere to use in his show. She was more ready to believe in a group of magicians who guarded the secrets of their illusions jealously than a team of dragon shape shifters.

  If JP was one of them, he might be able to tell her more.

  “So why did you hypnotize Stacy?”

  JP winced. He ran a finger around the base of his wineglass. “It’s very tempting, you know, to use hypnosis as a tool to get what you want,” he said quietly, then flicked a look at Cassie. “But in my experience, this kind of hypnosis, this beguiling, works on a person only once.” He sighed. “So I thought I would remove temptation and hypnotize Stacy over something ridiculous and small. That way, if anything happens between us, it’ll be what we both want.”

  Cassie was liking JP more by the minute. Given her own experience of the afternoon, she could relate to what he was saying. Imagine having the power to make people do what you wanted them to do? Cassie could believe that it would be easy to use that ability to expedite things.

  She admired JP’s foresight.

  She was glad to know that Lorenzo wouldn’t be able to beguile her again.

  JP sipped his drink thoughtfully. “As usual, Lorenzo is pushing the edge. He likes to take risks. That dragon illusion that you saw will just perpetuate the idea that he’s more than human. Did you see the papers tonight?”

  Cassie hadn’t, but she could guess by JP’s attitude that Lorenzo’s feat had made the news. “So you don’t actually think Lorenzo is a dragon shifter?”

  JP laughed. There was a lingering twinkle in his eyes when he met Cassie’s gaze. “So much is manufactured for effect in an illusionist’s biography.”

  That was true of any celebrity’s bio. “You’re right. But maybe you can fill me in on some of the other stories about the Pyr.”

  He watched her with a bit of wariness. “Why?”

  “There’s a big photo assignment available, to get shots of them. It’s because of the all the interest in Melissa Smith’s shows.”

  JP nodded his understanding.

  “I wouldn’t mind scooping up some of the cash.” That wasn’t all of Cassie’s motivation, but JP didn’t need to know that she just wanted to know more about Lorenzo.

  “Yes, material goods are always tempting, aren’t they?”

  It was a strange comment, but Cassie chose to ignore it. “What is the firestorm exactly?”

  JP leaned toward her, as if sharing a secret. His voice was low and his gaze was intent, but there were no flames dancing in his pupils. Still Cassie could feel the considerable influence of his charm. “The firestorm is a sign that a Pyr has met his destined mate. Sparks fly between them, so neither can miss the presence of the other.”

  Cassie thought of those strange flames that had jumped between herself and Lorenzo at the afternoon show. She didn’t believe for a minute that the effect wasn’t under his complete control, even if she couldn’t explain it.

  Had Lorenzo conjured the effect to seduce her?

  Seemed improbable.

  It was a lot more likely that he’d mastered the trick of those flames and incorporated them into the show on purpose. Right before he did that transformation trick, it might buttress the idea that he was Pyr.

  That would be fabulous PR.

  She made a mental note to check the papers herself.

  “And they say that the firestorm lights desire within both the Pyr and his mate.” JP smiled. “They are said to burn with lust for each other, until they consummate their relationship.”

  “Who’s they? Who says this?”

  “The dragon shifters, of course.” JP widened his eyes. “At least that’s what one hears.”

  “Right.” Cassie considered this information. “But once the Pyr and his mate do the wild thing, the firestorm is over?”

  JP smiled. “Except for the mate’s little souvenir.”

  “What souvenir?”

  “She conceives a child. That’s the point.” JP shrugged. “At least, that’s the story they tell.”

  “Do you think they’re real?”

  JP’s smile turned enigmatic. “Who’s to say what’s real and what’s not? Particularly in a place as filled with illusion as this one?”

  Fair enough. Cassie sipped her drink, her thoughts racing, and tried not to panic. The conversation had made her realize she and Lorenzo hadn’t used any protection that afternoon, and she wasn’t on the pill anymore. She hadn’t really thought about precautions. That wasn’t like her, either.

  But then, it was long odds to conceive in one try. It was the prospect of other little souvenirs that made her wine taste sour. How could she have been so impulsive?

  She had been beguiled.

  Manipulated by the master of illusion.

  Hypnotized.

  She was starting to give serious consideration to the prospect of getting even.

  “So what about beguiling?” she asked JP, keeping her tone light. “Can any
body do it?”

  But JP wasn’t listening anymore. He had turned to glance toward the hotel entrance. His nostrils flared in the strangest way, as if he were smelling something he didn’t like. Cassie couldn’t smell anything distinctive. JP’s eyes glittered and there was a faint blue shimmer around his body.

  The same kind of blue shimmer she’d seen around Lorenzo before the dragon trick.

  Cassie blinked and the blue light was gone. Had she imagined it? Or was it another illusion from the magician’s society?

  JP faced her again, looking perfectly normal once more. “I’m sorry,” he said with an easy smile. “What did you just say?”

  Cassie had a very unsettled feeling, all of a sudden, that JP wasn’t quite who or what he seemed to be.

  She had no time to think about it, though, because a man stormed toward their table.

  Not just any man—Lorenzo.

  And he was furious.

  Cassie felt a flush start at her toes and spread slowly upward as she watched Lorenzo approach. Apparently one wild naked afternoon hadn’t been enough to diminish her attraction to him. What was it about this man? Did the effects of beguiling last? She knew Stacy couldn’t be right about kismet. But the fact was that Cassie couldn’t think of anything beyond repeating the afternoon’s festivities.

  This was not good.

  Lorenzo’s hair was unruly, as if he’d been shoving his hands through it. It was sexy to see him looking so agitated. Out of control. She’d bet he wasn’t distracted very often.

  He moved with a powerful grace that was mesmerizing. He strode through the lobby like he was parting the seas: people stepped aside and watched him with awe. Cassie found the sight of him pretty riveting herself.

  It wasn’t just that he was tall.

  It wasn’t just that he was so incredibly good-looking.

  It wasn’t even that he projected an aura of authority.

  Lorenzo had presence anyway, but it was multiplied by a factor of ten because he was angry. His eyes blazed; his attention was completely fixed upon Cassie. It was clear that nothing was going to stop his progress.