The Burns Fire Page 12

  “And how do you imagine doing that?” asked Gunz with a lopsided grin. “I’m not going to walk around the city with a tiny dragon on my shoulder. People are going to think that I’m some kind of crazy Game of Thrones castaway. Father of Dragons.” He rolled his eyes and took a swig of his coffee.

  “Father of Dragons my ass. You wish,” muttered the wyvern. He lifted one of his legs, carefully balancing on the other and pointed at a small bracelet made out of some red stone that Gunz didn’t notice before. “You see this? Magic… lets me shift into anything I want.” Gunz moved his hand to touch the bracelet but the wyvern hopped back. “Hey, you, no touchy. Keep your hands to yourself.”

  “Fine,” said Gunz, pulling his hand away. “Enlighten me. How are you planning to camouflage yourself?”

  Mishka soundlessly vanished from the kitchen counter and the next moment, Gunz felt a sharp pain in his left ear. He slapped his hand to his ear and felt something hard and round under his fingers.

  “What the hell?” he mumbled staring at his reflection in the dark glass of the cabinet. A large diamond stud earring was shining in his ear. “What the hell! Mishka, get out of my ear. I’m a man! And I’m not a pirate either. I don’t wear earrings.”

  “Sheesh, we’re so touchy!” Gunz heard Mishka’s grumpy voice in his head and almost jumped. “Fine. I’ll come up with something else… I’m a man, hear me roar… Macho!”

  The next moment the earring vanished and Gunz felt a burning pain in his chest. “Mishka, are you exploring my pain barrier today?” he groaned, tearing the leftovers of his shirt off his chest. The reflection in the dark glass showed a fresh tattoo on his chest. It was depicting a dragon or perhaps a dragonet surrounded by dancing flames.

  “Aw, hell no!” shouted Gunz, slamming his hand on the counter. “A tattoo? Not a chance. I treat my body like the temple and I don’t need graffiti on my temples’ walls.”

  “Oh, for Fire’s sake!” yelled Mishka in his head. “You already have some scribbling on your temple’s wall. What’s wrong with mine? You’re just prejudice against my creative and imaginative expressions.”

  “A scribbling? This is my special forces tattoo!” exclaimed Gunz, running his fingers over his upper arm. “And this is the only tattoo I’ll ever have. Am I clear?”

  “Fine,” said Mishka and the tattoo vanished from his chest.

  Gunz braced himself for the next spike of pain but nothing happened. “Mishka, where are you?” he asked carefully, not quite sure that he wanted to find out.

  “What time is it?”

  Gunz glanced at his watch and took a sharp breath. The normally white face of Jim’s watch was sporting a red outline in the shape of a wyvern with expended wings. Gunz brought the clock to his ear, hearing a soft ticking sound.

  “Please tell me, you didn’t break Jim’s watch, you little varmint,” hissed Gunz.

  “Well, let me see,” said Mishka, sarcasm overflowing, “GPS, so your local pet owner could keep close tabs on you – check. The panic button, so you can cry for help like a little baby – check. Watch, the only useful functionality in this device – check. No, everything seems to be intact.”

  “Damn, Mishka,” mumbled Gunz, heavily sitting down on the only surviving chair, “why are you so acidy? What did I do to you to deserve this attitude?”

  For a few seconds, the wyvern remained silent. Then Gunz heard him clearing his throat. “It’s in my nature. Deal with it, Salamander. I’m not going to change who I am to fit your needs.” But his voice softened up. “So, can I ride in your watch then?”

  “Is it still going to show the right time?”

  “At least twice a day it will,” replied Mishka snidely.

  Gunz sighed and went upstairs to get ready for the meeting with Jim.

  “That’s going to be an interesting ride,” he muttered under his breath, thinking of his new companion.

  “I heard that!” shouted Mishka, and Gunz felt a jolt of an electric shock in his wrist under the watch.

  ~ Aidan ~

  It was just eight in the morning, but Aidan was already in his office at the Elements Marital Arts. Uri and Angel were sitting in the room with him, displaying all the symptoms of infinite boredom. Uri was silently staring at his phone and it wasn’t clear if he was reading something or was avoiding Aidan’s eyes. Angel was leaning back in his chair, lazily throwing a tennis ball up in the air and catching it.

  Aidan ignored their presence, nervously moving some papers around his desk. He picked up one of the documents and tried focusing on reading it but couldn’t and dropped it back on the desk, slamming his hand on top.

  “It’s eight,” he muttered, checking his watch, aggravation rising in him. “Why can’t he be on time for once?”

  “I didn’t realize that it was such a vast emergency. Hello, everybody.” A young man materialized in the office and raised his hand, greeting them. He was a little shorter than Aidan, and his figure, while well-shaped and athletic, was slender. He approached the desk and peered at the flower pot with a half-dead orchid in it, disapproval on his face.

  “You forgot to water your flowers, Aidan. Again.” He touched the flower with his finger and it bloomed under his touched, dried dead leaves replaced by fresh thick greenery, beautiful white flowers expending their tender petals.

  “Sven. Thank God,” muttered Uri. He shut down his phone and put it back in his pocket. “I don’t think I could tolerate Aidan’s killer mood for another minute.”

  “You’re welcome! Oh wait… Which god were you thanking, Uri, if I may ask?” said Sven, an innocent look plastered on his round face, but his oversized turquois eyes betrayed his mischievous intent.

  “The one true God, of course,” grumbled Uri, glaring at him warningly.

  Sven laughed, ruffling his spiky blond hair with his hand. “Really? And was your one true God as nice as I am and said, you’re welcome to you?” He winked at Uri and added, “Would you like to get deeper into the meaning of one and true —"

  Aidan listened to them bickering and could hardly contain his annoyance. He got used to hearing their friendly arguments, it wasn’t anything new, but today he was on edge and everything and anything was setting him off.

  “We’re not here for theological debates,” cut Aidan short, rising. “Let’s get to business. Uri, please tell us what you found out.”

  “I was right,” said Uri, shrugging his shoulders. “Your young Salamander is working for the FBI. He’s an FBI consultant, part of Agent Andrew’s team. And we all know what Agent Andrews’ specialty is, right?”

  “Ahhh,” exhaled Aidan, rubbing his stubbled chin with his hand tiredly. “Agent Andrews… He specializes in being a pain in my neck. I was so hoping that you were wrong, Uri. But I’ll deal with it. Did you find out anything about his past? Where was he for the last twenty-seven years? What was he doing before he awakened the Fire Salamander in him?”

  Uri sighed, his lips set in a straight line. He got up and stepped closer to Aidan. “Listen, Aidan. Can you just trust me? The boy is not a threat neither to you nor to Tessa. Be reasonable, old friend…” He put his hand on Aidan’s shoulder squeezing it lightly. “He’s just twenty-eight. Compared to any of us, he hardly even exists. Besides, he’s Kal’s boy… And you know how overprotective the Great Salamander is when it comes to his children. You don’t want to mess with him. And your mentor is not going to appreciate it, if we get Kal hot under the collar.”

  “Are you talking about that little Fire Gecko that I met yesterday in the dojang?” asked Sven, his sandy eyebrows rising. “Twenty-eight? He’s in his infancy. Why are you so worried about him, Aidan? You can kick his ass even without using your magic. Just show him a good fire extinguisher and he’ll run for the hills, leaving his tail behind.” He chuckled, and a bright phosphoric light ignited on the bottom of his large blue eyes. “Angel, what do you think?”

  Angel remained silent, his dark gaze burying into Aidan. “It’s up to you what you want to do,
Aidan. You know that we all support you, no matter how crazy your ideas are,” he said finally. “But myself, I would prefer to have this little Salamander as a friend, not as a foe.”

  “Why?” asked Aidan.

  “I was watching you torturing him yesterday during training,” replied Angel frowning. “You were abusing him, my friend. That wasn’t like you at all and I was going to stop you a few times. Yet he remained calm and respectful all the way through training and he didn’t lose control of his power even once. For someone so young and inexperienced, he’s strong and focused. I don’t think you have any reason to worry about him.”

  Aidan looked at his friends, his gaze slowly drifting from one face to the next. Inside, he knew that they were right, but he couldn’t help feeling threatened by this young man. He wasn’t afraid for his life or safety. He was afraid of losing Tessa. In his mind, he saw her gazing at this young man with curiosity in her brown eyes. What if she falls for him? A spike of jealousy struck through his heart and he felt blood draining from his face.

  Through all his very long existence, he never let himself get attached to anyone. The way he felt about Tessa was confusing and frustrating, and her interest in this young Salamander, as slight as it was, was hurting him. He never felt like this before and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it and what to do next.

  “Uri, please,” he said quietly, dropping back into his chair, “tell me everything you found out. I’m not going to do anything with this information, I swear. I just want to know what kind of a person we’re dealing with… I want to be prepared. Just in case.”

  “We’re dealing with a good man, Aidan,” started Uri. “It wasn’t easy to find out his background because the FBI covered his tracks well. But like you said, your connections are more powerful than the FBI.” Uri smirked, sitting back down. “His real name is Vladislav Kirilenko. Alexander Burns is the alias that the FBI gave him. He was born in Belarus and lived most of his life there. He served in the spetsnaz – Belorussian special forces. Sniper. Multiple tours of combat duties. Besides high school, no college education —"

  “I want to know who he’s hiding from and why the FBI is covering for him,” said Aidan, softly interrupting his friend.

  “It’s a good story, you may actually like it,” said Uri smirking. “Zane and two of his friends, without any support, destroyed a full branch of the Russian mob. In a matter of a few hours, they killed them all, blew up four SUVs and burned their house. Just the three of them. Both his friends were wounded, and Zane pulled them out of the house before burning everything to the ground. My guess is that this was when he discovered his Fire. It happened slightly over two years ago.”

  “Yeah, that’s what he said,” murmured Aidan, mindlessly playing with a silver coin, twirling it between his fingers, “about two years ago… Something still doesn’t add up… If he is in Florida slightly over a year, where did he spend that one year between him discovering his power and moving here?”

  “I couldn’t find anything concrete on this period of his life, but it’s not hard to guess,” said Uri. “Zane told you that Kal was his mentor, right?” Aidan nodded. “Do you know where Kal resides most of his time?”

  “Yes, of course,” said Aidan with a light shrug. “Outside our realm, in Kendral.”

  “So, my guess, he spent this year in Kendral with his mentor, learning how to control his Fire,” continued Uri. “And from what I see, Kal trained him well. As far as the FBI – they cover for him because he helps them keep this city safe from things that go bump in the night. Aidan, Zane is a good man, stop torturing him.”

  “Agreed,” said Angel, joining him.

  “Okay, I’ll promise to be nicer to him. That’s assuming that he’ll show up tonight,” agreed Aidan, getting up. “But let’s see how strong and focused he really is.”

  Aidan approached Sven and put his hand on Sven’s shoulder. Then he bent down and whispered something in his ear. Sven’s jaw dropped, and humor reflected in his large eyes.

  “Are you sure you want to do it?” asked Sven, staring up at Aidan. Aidan flicked his eyebrow at him, suppressing a smile, but the corners of his mouth lifted a little. “I think I’ll have fun with it.”

  “Wait!” exclaimed Uri, jumping to his feet, stretching his hand to Sven to stop him, but he wasn’t fast enough. The young man just snickered and vanished from the room. Uri turned to Aidan, his eyes glowing with golden light.

  “Aidan,” he growled, throwing his hands in the air, “please tell me you didn’t just send the trickster after Zane.”

  “Maybe,” replied Aidan with a sly wink and vanished from the room.

  Aidan materialized in his penthouse apartment. Even after everything that Uri told him, he still felt uneasy. Something was bothering him, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. This dreadful feeling was going far beyond his worries about Tessa’s safety or her possible affairs of the heart. There was something else going on, and he was still trying to figure out how all the moving parts were tied together – Tessa, the Fire Salamander, demons attack, and an upir in the dental office. There had to be a connection.

  He walked into his closet and quickly undressed, changing into light linen pants and drawstring white shirt. At first, he was going to teleport to his favorite part of the beach but then changed his mind. It was close to 9 AM and he was sure that the beach wasn’t empty.

  Aidan pressed the elevator button and waited until the doors softly opened. He walked inside and clicked G|L on the computer screen. The elevator moved down fast and soundless. A few seconds later, Aidan walked out of the building and crossed the patio, heading toward the beach.

  Despite the pleasant weather, the beach was relatively empty. Just a few people were relaxing on beach chairs here and there, and a young couple was on their morning run. He walked slowly along the shoreline, looking for a place where there were no people at all. Soon, he found a secluded area between two trees. Their branches were so low that they were almost lying down on the sand. The sandy area wasn’t large in this place, most of the beach devoured by the hungry ocean.

  Aidan sat down on the sand and pulled his knees to his chest, resting his folded arms on his knees. For a while, he sat quietly, staring wistfully at the ocean. The waves softly rushed to the shore, getting his shoes and his pants wet, but he didn’t seem to notice. He listened to the gentle whisper of the waves, enjoying the touch of the light morning breeze.

  “My sister,” he whispered into the wind, his voice merging with the murmur of the ocean. “My fair-shouldered sister… I miss you so much.” Sadness crushed him, and his throat tightened for a moment. “I wish you were here with me, my darling sister. I feel so lost…”

  No one answered. Nothing broke the silence around him – just the same even rush of the waves, whisper of the wind and piercing screeches of seagulls. He bowed his head, hiding his face in his folded arms and sighed.

  A sudden splash of water and a touch of a cold wind made him raise his head. The weather was quickly deteriorating before his eyes. Aidan tried to get up, but the next wave rolled over him, drenching him in the salty water from head to toe. He jumped to his feet, coughing and surveyed his surroundings. He couldn’t see anything, but he knew that something wasn’t right. Natural weather could never change that fast.

  He channeled the magic, and his eyes shone with a bright white light. He still couldn’t see anything, but he detected a strange icy presence somewhere next to him. It wasn’t strong enough for him to recognize what it was, but his heart thundered against his chest with an expectation of trouble.

  “Aiiii-dannnnn…” He heard a soft whisper in his head and his every muscle tensed at this unexpected invasion. “I see you, boy…”

  The voice disappeared, and the sun was shining again.

  ~ Zane Burns, a.k.a. Gunz ~

  The elevator stopped softly on the eighth floor of the FBI building. Gunz walked out of the elevator and opened the glass double door of Jim’s office. He survey
ed the large room with a few desks and a couple of small offices at the opposite wall. It had been a while since he met with Jim in his office, almost a full year, but nothing had changed here. A few agents were standing around one of the desks, talking about something quietly. As soon as he walked past them, they broke their conversation and stared at him with curiosity.

  Gunz proceeded to Jim’s office and knocked on the door. A moment later, he heard a loud “come in” and walked inside the room. Jim was sitting at his desk, scowling at the computer screen like it was his worst enemy. He hardly glanced at Gunz over the top of the monitor and waved at an empty chair.

  “Hey, Gunz,” he mumbled, without pulling his eyes off the screen. “Is everything okay? Yesterday you sounded like a train ran you over.”

  “Oh yeah?” asked Gunz. He didn’t sit down but stopped in front of the wall with a city map and pictures of victims from the case he was working on. “Well, maybe a train did run me over… at least it felt like that yesterday.”

  “Very good... Tell me about it,” murmured Jim, his attention elsewhere, his fingers furiously clucking at the computer keyboard like he was trying to knock nails into each key. “I’m… listening…”

  “I see that you’re giving me your full and undivided attention,” said Gunz, biting his lip to contain his laughter.

  “Yes, of course.” Jim nodded absentmindedly and waved his hand to proceed. Gunz leaned on the wall, folding his arms over his chest and stared at Jim with a lopsided smirk.

  “Well, I thought I would walk into the main hall of the Diplomat hotel during one of the business conventions and turn myself into a Fire Salamander in front of all the people there. Do you think it’s a good idea?”

  “Uh-huh,” mumbled Jim, nodding.

  “And maybe, I’ll bring a few dragons from Kendral to do a little fire show there too. What do you think?”

  “Dragons… yeah…” repeated Jim, shuffling through the open windows on his computer screen. “Sounds interesting… What? Dragons? Excuse me?”