Kissed by Fire Read Free Page B

shrieked as the salt sizzled against her
skin, and went tumbling ass over teakettle across the top of Rocky
Butte. I pulled out another handful of salt and as I threw it over
her I yelled:
    “ Thuraze Keres, ouk eni
Anthesteria! ”
    Which is apparently something along the lines
of “Keres, I banish you!” in Greek. Granted it sounds a lot cooler
in Greek.
    The ground under the Keres cracked open, and
with a final angry shriek, she disappeared into the earth. Totally
cool and much easier than I’d imagined. Thank goodness Kabita had
taught me that spell.
    The Darkness heaved up, making one last
effort to escape. I slammed the metaphorical lid down on it.
    I wondered if some day I wouldn’t be able to
close that lid, but I shoved that thought aside. I had more
important things to do than worry about some day.
     
    ***
     
    I sank into the roomy leather seat with a
sigh of relief. That was one thing about being a Hunter. I’d never
have to fly coach again.
    I made sure my portable weapons locker was
locked and stowed safely under my seat. The UK had strict weapons
laws, not to mention the rules about weapons on board a plane.
Fortunately I had a nifty little license that allowed me to carry
anywhere.
    I wiggled a little so the leather squeaked
under my butt. Yeah, this was living. I wondered if they’d serve
lobster. Not that I liked lobster. In fact, I loathed seafood, but
it was the thought of it that counted.
    “Don’t worry, there’s no lobster.” Kabita
dropped into the seat next to me. “It’s salmon.”
    I must have turned pale because she burst out
laughing. Of all the fish in all the world, salmon was the rankest.
And being from the Pacific Northwest I’d been around the best there
was. Didn’t matter. I still thought the stuff was vile.
    “Don’t worry,” she chuckled, “I ordered the
vegetarian meal for you.”
    “Thank the gods. I will love you forever,” I
said rather more fervently than strictly necessary.
    She shook her head as she settled back into
the plush seat and pulled out a stack of files. All work and no
play made for a very dull life indeed, so I snagged a book out of
my carry on and settled in. It was probably weird that I was
addicted to paranormal romances seeing as how I dealt with
paranormal crap every day. You’d think I’d want to read something
different. But my uncle was a cop and he read crime novels, so it
couldn’t be that weird.
    I barely noticed the plane ramming down the
runway and lifting into the sky, I was so deep into the story.
There were a handful of authors who made the paranormal fun, even
to someone who spent her life steeped in it. L.M. Pruitt knew her
stuff, all right. I wondered vaguely if maybe Pruitt was more than
just a writer of the paranormal. Another Hunter maybe?
    Naw. Probably not. Surely the government
wouldn’t let a Hunter get away with writing about the things they
hunted. Then again, there was that Stargate episode where
the Air Force encouraged the making of a sci fi TV show to hide
rumors of the “real” Stargate program. I might sound like a
conspiracy nut, but I’d bet my last dollar the government would
totally do something like that. Trevor Daly certainly would be
capable of pulling something that sneaky. The rat bastard.
    Thoughts of Trevor led me to thoughts of Jack
and the weirdness that had become our relationship. Or lack
thereof.
    Something had been developing between us, I’d
no doubt of that. There’d definitely been some steamy hot moments.
Being with him had been amazing. And then everything had gone to
hell in a hand basket, and Jack had gotten all weird on me.
    For a whole week after we’d discovered I was
not only a descendent of Atlantis but actually a member of the
Royal Bloodline, Jack had pretty much refused to talk to me except
over the phone in a professional capacity. So I finally did what I
do best: I hunted him down and cornered him.
    “Listen, Jack, this is bullshit. You’ve got
to talk to me. What the