Kate Daniels 02 - Magic Burns

steps.”
    We stepped back in unison, he to the middle of the room, and I to the wall by the chair.
    â€œOn three. One,” he said, bending forward like a runner. “Two.”
    He lunged for the maps. I grabbed the chair and hit him with it. He went down. I hit him again to make sure he stayed that way, stepped over him, and picked up the maps. “I win.” Now if only the room would stop spinning, I’d be all set.
    He groaned and a torrent of obscenities burst from him.
    â€œYour problem is, you underestimate me because I’m a woman.” I nudged him with my foot. “Hood’s name?”
    â€œBolgor the Shepherd, of the Fomoire.” Mist swirled and he vanished.
    My legs gave out and I crash-landed on the bed. Fomoire? Fomorian. Morrigan’s old adversaries. Now the fish stink made sense: of course, a sea-demon would stink like fish. I frowned. Bran served Morrigan and Morrigan and the Fomorians hated each other. That made perfect sense. But what did this Shepherd want with Julie?
    The door burst open and Derek charged into the room, followed by two female shapeshifters.
    I held out the maps. “Here. That’s twice in one day. You owe me.”
    Derek took the maps from my hands and sniffed them, while the two women checked the window.
    â€œHe’s gone,” the younger woman said.
    Derek’s face trembled in fury. “I’m going to find him. Nobody does that to us twice.”
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Curran stepped into the room.
    Derek paled. Good luck explaining that monumental breach of security.
    Bran snapped into the room in a corkscrew of mist, jerked my robe open and down to clamp my shoulders, and kissed me. His teeth clicked against mine. I kneed him, but he expected it and blocked with his leg. He realized his tongue wouldn’t make it into my mouth and let go. “I’ll still get you,” he promised.
    Curran lunged at him and caught tendrils of mist.
    I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
    â€œDid he hurt you?” Curran said.
    If my eyes could shoot lightning, I would’ve fried him on the spot. “Depends on how you define hurt. What kind of show are you running here, anyway?”
    Curran snarled.
    â€œVery impressive,” I told him. “He can’t hear you.”
    I pulled my robe shut, again, climbed into my bed, and covered myself with my blanket. I had had entirely enough embarrassment for one night.

CHAPTER 11
    I WOKE UP BECAUSE SOMEONE WAS WATCHING ME. I opened my eyes and saw Julie’s face an inch from mine. We looked at each other for a long minute.
    â€œYou’re not going to die?” she asked me very softly.
    â€œNot right this minute.” And, of course, saying something like that usually resulted in immediate demise. I braced myself for a stray meteorite falling through the roof to crush my skull.
    â€œThat’s good,” she said in a voice that suggested anything but happiness.
    She crawled on my bed, and curled up in a corner, hands fastened over her knees.
    â€œI got scared. I get scared when Mom goes to work.” She put her head on her hands. “And when Red leaves.”
    â€œThat’s a hard way to live.”
    â€œI can’t help it.”
    I didn’t know what to say. Kids don’t usually understand death. They feel immortal and secure. Julie understood the full extent of death the way an adult would, and she couldn’t deal with it. And I didn’t know how to help her.
    â€œThere is something you said to Red that I wanted to ask you about.” If I just could figure out the right way to do it. “You said you would give him what you had. What did you mean?”
    She shrugged. “Sex. Red knows a ritual that would give him my powers if I do sex with him.”
    I stared at her, speechless. There were so many things wrong with what she said that my brain experienced a momentary shutdown.
    â€œI don’t need it. It’s not a big thing. So I can see magic’s colors, so what? If I give it to him, he’ll be stronger and he can protect us both. I’d do it now, but he wants to wait. He says if we do it when I get fully grown, he’d get more power.”
    â€œJulie, do you trust me?”
    The question caught her by surprise. “Yeah.”
    I took a deep breath. “There is no spell that transfers power from one person to another.”
    â€œBut…”
    â€œLet me