Fire Danger by Claire Davon

finger, beckoned to her. It gestured with its body, craning its neck and tilting its head away from the house. It motioned again, this time with its whole hand.
    “Rachel!”
    She heard Phoenix behind her, and the humanoid winked and took to the air. It had no wings, but it flew. One minute it was there, the next it was high above her, and then it was gone.
    “Oh God, Aleric,” she said as he reached her, putting his arms around her and drawing her back from the door. His intake of breath told her more than she wanted to know.
    “Haures. Of course. It’s about time.”
    Rachel threw the lock and stepped back from the large glass door. It didn’t look nearly secure enough to hold back whatever that was.
    Belatedly Rachel tasted blood on the inside of her mouth. She’d bitten her cheek. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might explode from her chest, and her skin was clammy to the touch.
    Then she straightened. She might be out of her depth, but she was nobody’s victim. She was no simpering coward to freak at the sight of someone, even if that thing did have black eyes, breathed fire and flew without wings.
    She hadn’t had a chance to do much digging into what she supposedly was, but the little she’d learned about Ifrits wasn’t much help. They were fire beings, like Djinns or genies. It seemed they’d be more likely to be on the side of the Demonos than the Elementals. She wanted to know more about who she was, but there was frustratingly little online.
    * * * * *
    The sun splashed in over the door, and it caught Rachel in a beam of light, glinting off the blonde of her hair and spiking her lashes with rays. For an instant all Phoenix could do was stand there and stare at the vision she created. He wanted to pull her into his arms and carry her to the highest mountain, where she would be safe. He wanted to trace every curve of her body with his hands until she quivered with need for him. When he took her, it would be the joining of the century, soaring together as only those who are meant to be together could soar. Fire calls to fire. Was he ready to pay the consequences a second time?
    “Be right back.” He opened the door again and went through it. With a practiced move, he jumped off the balcony, down to the spot where the being had been a minute ago.
    There was a faint black residue of fire on the ground. The Demonos had left its paranormal mark on the Earth in a line of black, char seeping into the cracked pavement of the hillside street.
    Phoenix sniffed the air, searching for where Haures had gone. He saw her as a speck, far above them. Phoenix wondered what the purpose of the brief visit had been. Fear? Intimidation?
    Taking Rachel’s mettle? The Demonos and Elementals knew each other well, locked as they had been for eons in this battle of good and evil. Rachel was an X-factor. There was only one reason Haures was trying to intimidate Rachel, and that was because she meant something to Challenge. He didn’t know what it was, but clearly she did. The wolves and shadow people seemed scared of Rachel. What did Rachel’s fire do to the balance of Challenge?
    The residue was already fading. He could follow it, but it didn’t seem worth it at this stage of the game. To do so would leave Rachel defenseless. She might be part Ifrit, but she was still learning. Her fire was an uncertain thing, unpredictable and therefore useless in this battle.
    Phoenix began walking back up to the house, cutting through the scrub of the property as he did so. Rachel’s fear beat at him, but he noted she brought it under control, muting it to a part of her brain where she could be afraid but still function.
    The woman had a lot of strength, whether she knew it or not. He had to find out exactly who she was and what had happened to cause her to be alone and unaware of her Ifrit side. The presence of the Demonos, her interest in Rachel, made this part-Ifrit more interesting than normal half-breeds.
    His cock grew