Envision it happening in your mind even as you slide your will into the earth.
I refrained from making sarcastic comments about sliding my will around and focused.
These tendrils can be used to entrap an enemy when you face multiple foes, she explained. Or to keep a goblin from stealing your snacks in the conservatory while you are potting new plants.
Is it possible that you speak from experience? I imagined vines wrapping around Gondo’s legs to keep him from swiping cupcakes off a plate.
It is possible.
Though I tried several times, nothing happened until Freysha sent some of her own magic to blend with and guide mine. With her help, I coaxed a scrawny root out of the ground. It rose up four inches into the air before flopping over. I snorted. That wouldn’t do much to entangle an enemy. It might trip a chipmunk.
Freysha withdrew her assistance and presence abruptly and leaned back. She squinted toward the house.
“Trouble?” I sensed Zoltan at work in the basement but nothing else in the house. Dimitri hadn’t come home from work yet. I stretched out toward the park, searching for portals or other magic that might threaten us.
I detected something—multiple somethings—as Freysha said, “I fear so. Creatures of dark magic approach.”
“Dark magic?”
The auras of these beings felt different from the shifters and rocs that had come looking for my sword, different from any of the magical refugees that lived here on Earth. They had a nebulous aspect, and there seemed to be a whole pack of them. They were coming from the lake, as if they had risen up out of its depths, and they were heading this way.
“They are crucible beasts, crafted from fire by a mage and molded into creatures.” Freysha looked gravely at me. “Depending on the power of the mage, they can be very difficult to destroy.”
“Are they coming for my sword?” I sensed them continuing in this direction and doubted there was any chance they were just in the neighborhood.
“Their master may have created them to kill you so he or she can take your sword.”
“Fabulous.”
“It will be better to face them outside. If they enter your house, it will catch fire.”
“Oh, hell no. Zav just remodeled this place for me.” I sprinted to the basement to grab Chopper. No way was anything burning my house down.
7
“Stay back and lend whatever help you can,” I told Freysha from the walkway in front of the house. “I’ll do the fighting, but if you can root them, I’d appreciate it.”
“Fire magic can be devastating to forest magic, but I will try.” Freysha stayed in the shadows by the porch. My secret weapon, I hoped.
Six four-legged fiery creatures had come into view, prowling up the street toward me. Shaped like huge wolves, they glowed orange like molten lava and sprouted flames instead of fur. The hollow black eyes in their lupine faces stared straight at me. Every detail of their bodies, from claws to fangs to tongues lolling from their mouths, was crafted from flame.
“I suppose talking to these guys and bargaining with them is out.” I tapped my feline charm and summoned Sindari.
“They do not speak,” Freysha said.
“What about their master? Do you sense anyone? Would he have to be nearby to command them?” I scanned the neighborhood, trying to sense such a controller hunkered between the parked cars or in the hedges in front of houses. Nobody was out walking their dog tonight, so there would be no witnesses for this battle. Unless someone heard it and came out to investigate.
But as I’d learned in past months, the neighbors tended to look the other way when strange occurrences happened at this house. Long before Dimitri and I had shown up, it had garnered quite the reputation. The few neighbors I’d talked to had peered at me as if I were nuts for moving into the “haunted vampire lair,” as they called it. If anyone had thought it strange when Zav magically caused two massive dragon-shaped topiaries to grow at the corners of the lot in plain view of the sidewalk, they hadn’t mentioned it to me.
I eyed those topiaries now, wondering if they could help with this battle. Their heads occasionally moved, and they growled like Rottweilers if intruders came close, but I hadn’t witnessed any other home-security benefits.
“It is possible,” Freysha said after a thoughtful pause. “I sense… No, nothing. For a moment, I thought I did. But if someone is here, they are cloaking themselves.”
Sindari solidified in the mist beside me and immediately faced the approaching threat. The flame wolves were walking, not running, as if they had no reason to rush to engage us. They could take their time and savor the moment.
Or maybe they were investigating the defenses around the property. A few times, they lifted their snouts as if sniffing the air—or checking for magic. Dimitri had installed numerous alarms and deterrents around the yard, sculptures and pillars that were half art and half defense against intruders, but I doubted they would do much against these guys. It would have been better if he’d installed automatic sprinklers.
Crucible beasts, Sindari spoke into my mind. They will be formidable foes and painful to touch. Do not let them bite you.
“I wasn’t planning on it.” I touched Fezzik’s handle, thinking of getting in a few preemptive strikes.
“Bullets will not slow them,” Freysha warned.
“These are magical bullets.” I drew the pistol.
Letting fire creatures get close enough for a sword fight seemed like a bad idea. Hopefully, the fire-resisting charm on my leather thong would help protect me, but it had never been enough to fully thwart flames.
I will have to be careful in turn with biting them. Sindari crouched, but he didn’t rush out to greet them.
I didn’t blame him. I wouldn’t want to bite something made from fire either.
As I aimed Fezzik at the lead creature, waiting for it to come fully out from behind parked cars, an uneasy feeling came over me. It was the same feeling I’d had at the bog—that I was being watched. Damn it, had the same invisible stalker trailed me back to Seattle?
I glanced toward the roof of the house, some vague instinct telling me the observer might be up there, but I didn’t see anyone. Nor did my senses detect anything except the creatures. They blazed to my senses, their auras stronger than elves or ogres or other full-blooded magical beings. They were pure magic, not creatures that had magic flowing through their blood.
As the lead creature came out from between the parked cars and stepped up onto the curb, a buzz rang out—one of Dimitri’s alarms. Intruder alert. No kidding.
I aimed between the flame-beast’s eyes. An eerie roar came from its fiery throat—it sounded like a forest fire growing in intensity—as it prowled across the sidewalk toward me. I fired, bullets streaking for its eyes, their magic leaving blue trails in the air. One of Dimitri’s statues spat thorns at the creatures.
My bullets passed straight through the beast and thudded into a car and a telephone post on the far side of the street. Dimitri’s thorns also passed uselessly through it.
“Shit.” I jammed Fezzik into its holster as all six creatures shifted from walking to charging—straight at me.
Sindari sprang to intercept two of them, but the others rushed around him.