The Spark Ignites Pt. 02

"I know it seems harsh, but for your case, I need to throw you so far out of your comfort zone that you can't even fly to get back in it. You're too stubborn for anything less. As of right now, I'd say you have a week, at most, before she tries to call you back. You had better try and get a hold on your mind before then, because you're going to hurt her if you don't answer."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, taking a second to gather my thoughts before I simply cursed her out.

"And if she doesn't want to talk to me, if she hates me?"

Alariel scoffed at that, I guess not even considering that as an option. She stretched her arms above her head, accentuating her breasts as they pushed against the now slightly stretched fabric of her shirt. If I looked closely, I could see her nipples poking through her top. Damn my brain and its preoccupation with boobs, couldn't think right around them.

"Look, the fact your number isn't blocked by default is a good sign, and the fact that she chased after you when you left should tell you something. That she doesn't feel scorn, or anger. If I had to bet, she wants her big brother back in her life, someway, somehow. Distance makes the heart grow fonder and all that stuff."

Her phrasing snapped me out of my fantasy about sticking my head between those two wonderful globes and made me look at her with slight concern. That was something they said for couples. Was she implying that I loved Bri like that? I had no idea why she would think I thought like that. Did it have something to do with 'feeling my soul' as Nereah said? I had to clarify her thoughts on it, for my own peace of mind.

"That, that's a phrase used mainly for lovers, you know that, right?"

She simply laughed and waved a finger at me, something very much like Nereah had done in the past when she wanted me to wait until the end to explain things to me. Alariel knew something, something about myself that I apparently didn't.

Well fuck, I wasn't going to think about it right now, I had better things to do with my time, like sleep. I felt my exhaustion catching up to me, and laid down next to Alariel, my hands going behind my head to act as a pillow. As soon as my head touched them, I felt myself slipping back into, what was hopefully, a dreamless sleep.

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Chapter 8

I had gotten a couple more hours of sleep, but I still felt like shit. No matter how much sleep I got after having a nightmare, it was still never enough to put me in a good mood, or even really catch me up with the amount I should be getting. But it wasn't that important at the moment. Right now, it was mid-afternoon, Nereah and I were out at a private shooting area that I used to train my powers. Now that she had revealed that she actually knew plenty about my condition, she was determined that I would reach heights greater than any other holder of my curse ever had, or ever would, for that matter.

Nereah was standing in front of me, wearing a light grey sports bra that contrasted well against her skin, and a pair of matching yoga pants, with pockets, something she was insistent on. She was dressed like she was going to a gym for a light workout, not training powers that involved fire. That being said, she was absolutely rocking it. The yoga pants fit her toned legs perfectly, showing off even the slightest muscle movement, which was rather distracting, not like she wasn't aware of it. She had a positively beatific grin on her lips as she turned away on one heel. A half twirl that had her now facing a training log we had set about fifteen feet from us.

"Now, what I'll be teaching you today is the fraction of power I inherited. You've probably never seen me do it before. Ever since I recruited you, I haven't really needed to use my own abilities to stay safe. Now, pay attention, because I won't show you too many times, it tends to make my throat feel like it's burning."

She took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and closed her eyes. I had no idea what this could be other than maybe breathing fire, but I could already do that to an extent. After half a second, she pursed her lips and released a thick black stream of what looked like smoke. I had no idea what it was, but I could see the heat shimmer rising above it. Once it got a few feet away from her, it expanded to coat the log like a blanket, surrounding it in a thick cloud. After a couple more seconds she closed her mouth with a soft click of her teeth, the cloud still hung in front of her, but was no longer connected to her body. It was here that she pulled out a lighter from her pocket, and lit it right below where it trailed away from her.

With a whump, the fire rushed down it like a water from a fire hose, and, once it reached the log, it detonated in with a bang. That threw me for a bit of a loop, I definitely didn't expect it to be flammable, or explosive for that matter. Maybe scalding ash, but that was the extent I had thought it would go. Nereah turned back to me with a grin and a mischievous twinkle in her eye, a thin coating of the black substance on her lips.

"That is an ash that is created using fire magic, and combined with the tiny bit of Hellflame I inherited. I didn't get enough to light it myself, but my grandfather could ignite it simply by clicking his teeth and making a spark. It's a very simple technique that requires you to know what it feels like to fill your lungs with ash and smoke. Something you should know by heart seeing as you suck on those smoke sticks. Now get over here and try it yourself."

I shrugged and moved next to her, getting in a solid stance that would ground me in case the explosion sent me backwards. I looked at the now severely scorched log and drew in a deep breath. My eyes closed as I focused on my powers, drawing out as little as I could and sending it to coalesce in my lungs. Oh fuck! It felt like I had just breathed in an entire lung full of Carolina Reaper dust, which caused me to panic. I fell to the ground, coughing out small bursts of the ash as I tried to suck in fresh air. It was so much worse than the first cigarette I had ever had. I was focusing on breathing normally until I heard a burst of laughter.

Nereah was doubled over in fits of giggles. I guess my suffering was amusing to her, then again, she did usually get a bit of a kick when I made little mistakes like this. I pushed myself off the dusty ground and fixed her with a glare. To this she laughed even harder, she knew I wasn't going to do a thing, but dammit, it still stung at my pride. Once she got herself under control, she straightened her stance, and got back into teaching mode.

"Ok, a decent first attempt, you did actually create some, but for now, I want you to actually fill your lungs with smoke, then transform that into this kind of ash. It was what I had to do, it helps keep you from overpowering the technique in your lungs, then having it detonate in there."

My eyes widened at that. There weren't many things that could really kill me, but I felt like that might just do the trick. My body could withstand some pretty serious injuries, like the one time I was hit by a truck going forty, but being blown up from the inside probably would just snuff my flame out for good. I may not have a great idea on what would happen after I died, but I was incredibly reluctant to find out.

Nereah walked over to my truck and opened the passenger side door so she could rummage around in the glove box. She grabbed my pack of cigarettes I kept in there for emergencies. Tossing me the pack, she stood there, still by my truck, and far away from the smell that they made. I pulled a single stick from the package, and lit it up with a spark of power. After letting the smoke fill my lungs, I was ready to try again.

I kept it there for a few moments, just savoring the feeling, before I allowed the power to flow into it. This time it felt more controlled, less like filling my lungs with hot pepper dust, and just a slightly more intense smoking sensation. I focused on it, got a feel for it, committed it to memory. Then, I pursed my lips, and blew out a roiling black cloud of ash and soot, much larger than the one Nereah had. Hers looked like she'd breathed out a cloud of smoke, mine looked like a black storm cloud rushing to cover the log. I could hear Nereah telling me that was good, that I should get this part down soon, but I wasn't done yet. I snapped my mouth shut, and with it, a spark caused the entire cloud to erupt in blue-purple flames...

I stared at the now almost obliterated training post. I hadn't really used my powers since I got in the fight with that demon about a week ago, and the blue hue inside my power was not something I expecting to see. My powers were purple, had been since the very beginning, but now they had tongues of dark blue in them. I turned to Nereah, since she probably knew what that meant, and by the smirk on her now clean lips, she did. Then she cleared her throat and went into lecture mode. Though her eyes held a slightly bittersweet light I couldn't exactly place.

"I did say your powers would feel more stable after you got with Kari, that is a side effect, according to my grandmother's journal. Grandfather's flames started changing from purple to blue after he fell in love with his sixth wife, and fully changed with his twelfth. You're on number two, and I'm fairly sure you haven't fully fallen for her yet. You're fast tracking this."

I looked down at my hands, and set motes of flame circling around them. Sure enough, there were intense veins of blue twisting inside the mainly purple flames. That was fair, I wasn't sure what Kari and I were yet. I know she considered us closer than I did, but for the moment we were just friends with benefits, kind of. I hadn't really put too much thought into it, and I didn't particularly want to. When it came to relationships, I liked simple, simple made sense, I liked Kari, she liked me, didn't matter what we were. She was also a beast in bed, which definitely helped. Yesterday she absolutely rocked my world, just as much as I rocked hers. Truly a wild ride, which is something you'd expect from a dragon.

Nereah cleared her throat again, and stopped my thought process as I looked up from my hands at her, the fire vanishing in a soft crackle. She had a worried expression, something I rarely saw. Once she had my attention, she moved over to take my hands, holding them palm up. One hand started tracing the lines on my palm, and I felt my power follow her movements.

"It's good you're getting more techniques in your arsenal. I don't want you to just brute force your way through fights. That path has led every other bearer of this curse into a grave far sooner they should have."

I looked at her with curiosity, what had brought this on? It really wasn't my style to just throw flames at any problem I had and forget about it. Sure, it was fun and all, being a human flamethrower, I mean. What kid doesn't dream of being able to control an element at some point in their childhood? But it was so simple, and boring. I by far preferred getting up close and personal, using my powers to close the gaps or add strength to my attacks. I turned one hand over and took ahold of hers, my thumb rubbing the back of it.

"What had you thinking about this? You know that really isn't my thing."

She shook her head, and put a smile back on her face before pushing me away playfully. She gestured towards the log, now almost a stump, which had stopped burning by now.

"Just worried about you matchstick, all that charisma and lady killer energy will go to your head. Someone has to keep it deflated. Now, I want you to practice that move until you can do it without smoking, it's a serious disadvantage."

I laughed at her jab; it was something she usually did to ease the tension between us. I knew she was worried about me losing my mind. She had made it abundantly clear when she hired me that she didn't want a disaster on her hands from me going off the deep end and drowning all of LA in a tsunami of purple flames. Before I could think too much about that, I pulled out another cigarette, and got back to practicing the new ability.

It took me a few hours, and almost two packs of smokes, but I could finally get the ash to form in my lungs without it almost killing me. That worked out fairly well, because I actually had to pick up some groceries, since it was my turn to cook tonight. Nereah and I got into my pickup, and we were off. It was something nice and normal when I got down to it. No demons, no fighting, no stuck-up nobles I had to hear belittle me for being a bodyguard, just a family, of sorts, getting groceries. Luckily Nereah would help me with the cooking, and Kari wasn't that picky as long as it had meat. Just a strange family, eating a family dinner.

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Chapter 9

It was roughly a week and a half later, and between work and my next therapy session with Alariel, I hadn't really had time to do things with either Nereah or Kari. Oddly, Alariel's timeframe of when Bri would call me back never happened, the only calls I had gotten were the usual ones.

It was a day off, and the girls had made plans without me, and that plan was my first official date with Kari. I was lying in bed, just relaxing in the midmorning sun coming from the window when Nereah suddenly dropped that bomb on me. It wasn't like I didn't want to go on a date with Kari, but I wanted to give the media more time to fully move on to the next big thing. When I told her that, Nereah just turned on the news, and they were showing a story about some starlet who was caught moving half a brick of cocaine across the border. That made my little show fade away as massive investigations were launched to find out about the how's and why's.

I was now standing in front of a mirror, in a very nice short sleeve button-up and a pair of designer jeans. Something I wasn't entirely opposed to, even if I would have by far preferred one of my polos and an old pair of jeans, several I'd had since I turned 18. What I wore now was a comfortable outfit, don't get me wrong, but it was a solid chunk of money more than I liked to sink into clothes. Just made me feel like I was putting on a front that wasn't me, but for my girls, I couldn't say no.

As I examined my belt, a worn piece of leather I'd had for a long time, something I was insistent I wear, I felt a hand trail up my left arm. I glanced at it in the mirror, and saw a creamy pale hand, with red scales on the back of it. The voice that drifted into my ear was rougher than Nereah's, with a slight central European accent I could never quite put a place to.

"Stop fiddling with it, I'm just as put off by this dress up game Nereah has us both doing, so stop it."

That was Kari, and as she said, she wasn't exactly the type to dress up fancy. She, like myself, was most comfortable in casual clothes, but we had both caved to get Nereah to stop badgering us. She moved around to the side, standing next to me, her six foot tall frame nestled against my slightly taller six two. She was wearing a navy blue blouse that helped her red scales pop, and her own pair of designer jeans, courtesy of Nereah, again. Between us, these clothes probably would have cost most of my paycheck back before the incident.

"Fine, I still don't see why we don't just ditch her plans and go to a steakhouse chain. As much as I love Galardi's, it's damn expensive."

Kari snorted and rolled her eyes, something she had done a hundred times before when I said something she thought was dumb. I thought it was cute, since she also scrunched up her nose when she did it.

"You know they treat you like family because you make Nereah happy, and they like her a lot, especially after she essentially saved their business. Besides, I've never been, and I'm looking forward to it, and what comes afterwards, of course."

That perked me up significantly, Nereah had essentially promised that we'd have tonight just by ourselves, all night, something we usually didn't have. Nereah would usually come in and cuddle up on my side after we were done. This time, well, there was a chance of wakeup sex with someone tomorrow. I threaded an arm around Kari's waist and pulled her in close. If that's what she wanted, we'd go to Galardi's, and then come home. After that, well, good thing the bed was reinforced with steel.

I led the way out, Nereah had left for some work she needed to do at the club, leaving us alone at home. I opened Kari's truck door for her, like a proper gentleman, even put in an overexaggerated bow, just playing around. She rolled her eyes, but smiled at me. She definitely wasn't a helpless princess, and she'd probably knock the block off of anyone who implied that, but I liked to live dangerously. She knew I was joking around, and as long as I didn't go too far, she wouldn't try and punch me.

I got in the driver's side, started up my truck, and we were off. The drive would take about forty minutes with the traffic, but it was well worth it. About fifty minutes after pulling out of the drive, we were sat down in a dimly lit Italian restaurant. Galardi's was a family run place that Nereah had put money into after hearing that it was going through some tough times. Francesco Galardi, the chef/owner and grandfather of the family, was immensely thankful he was able to keep his business. Once he had stopped hugging Nereah, he told us that she always had a table, and by extension as her lover, I did too. The hostess, a short raven haired woman I was unfamiliar with, greeted us with a smile and showed us to our seats. She said her name was Aurora, and that she was Francesco's granddaughter. She handed us two glasses of water before leaving us to think about our orders.

Kari was browsing her menu, while I knew what I wanted before I had even gotten in my truck. Chicken alfredo with a side soup of chicken gnocchi, both were things I would die for. They made everything by hand, from start to finish, and it was all local. Add in Francesco's secret spices and tricks made it so much better than anything I could make at home.

"Hmm, what to get, what to get..."

Kari murmured as she browsed the back side of the menu, the part with the steaks. Expensive pieces of meat, but dammit if they weren't amazing too. I saw her eyes focus on that section, and I had a feeling about what she wanted. There was a 14 ounce New York strip that was something I had had a few times before. It was excellent, and I had tried to replicate it on a smaller piece, but never quite gotten it down.

Kari grinned, showing off her razor sharp teeth as she pointed at the menu.

"You've had the strip before, right? How good was it?"

She asked me with an almost childlike glee in her voice. It contrasted heavily with the slight grit her voice had, and gave me a little chuckle.

"Yeah, it's excellent, thinking about ordering it?"

She nodded slowly, her eyes still laser focused on it, looking at every option she could get as a side with it. I knew by heart what you could get, and if I had to guess, she'd get the side plate of spaghetti. She wasn't a massive fan of veggies, and that was what most of the sides were. I preferred the green beans, mixed with a little salt, they were pretty good. Before I could think more about the food, Aurora came back with a pad and pen.

"And what will you both be having tonight?"

I looked over at Kari with a raised eyebrow, prompting her to go first, and did so with a smile.

"I'll have the New York strip, rare, with the side plate of spaghetti."

It was pretty much what I guessed. She, like myself, liked steaks less cooked, though I preferred medium rare. Aurora turned to me, and I shook my head with a grin.

"I'm sure Francesco knows exactly what I want, but I'll have the chicken alfredo with the gnocchi soup."