Lupi 08 - Death Magic

saw she’d guessed right. His helmet bore a captain’s bugles.
    He was a blunt-featured man, Hispanic, midway between her height and Rule’s. Probably midway between their ages, too. And scowling. “What the hell do—wait a minute,” he said as his gaze shifted up and to Lily’s right. “You’re Rule Turner. Are you Rule Turner?”
    “I am.”
    “He’s asking for you, and by God, you’d better tell him to quit with his tricks and let us get some water on the building. Come on.” He turned and marched for the pumper truck’s high snub nose.
    Lily and Rule exchanged one quick, startled glance and hurried to catch up. “Captain,” Rule said, “are you talking about Cullen Seabourne? He won’t let your men put out the fire?”
    “Says he got rid of the fire himself and we should go away. He put the other victim on the porch. On the damn porch, like we were FedEx picking up a package. He did let the EMTs approach to take care of the man, but—”
    “The other victim?” Lily said quickly. “Dr. Xavier Fagin? Is he—”
    “In pain,” said a weak but familiar voice on the other side of the pumper. “A great deal of pain, but that’s”—this was interrupted by a long, wheezy breath—“encouraging, since it means the nerve endings weren’t destroyed. I—no, no, I don’t want that. I want drugs. Strong drugs.”
    A stiff female voice said, “They can give you some at the ER, sir, but you need oxygen now.”
    Lily rounded the nose of the pumper truck and saw Fagin. He was sitting up, leaning against his own front door and coughing as he swatted at the EMT who was trying to pull the oxygen mask back up. The other EMT was positioning a gurney.
    She saw Cullen, too. On the roof.
    The front of Fagin’s house was a mess, but it wasn’t in pieces. The porch was blackened. The bay window was broken, but the ones on the other side of the door were intact. The roof looked sound, too—which was just as well, because that’s where Cullen sat, his feet dangling over the edge. His jeans were burned partway up the calves. His lower calves and feet were black and oozy. He sat there and swayed as if there were a high wind.
    A pair of firefighters stood on this side of the pumper truck aiming their own scowls at the wobbly man on the roof. It looked as if they’d started uncoiling a hose, but hadn’t gotten far.
    Lily exchanged a quick glance with Rule. “I’ll take Fagin.”
    “I’ll take Cullen. Scott, call Cynna. Keep her updated.”
    They split up—Scott staying behind, Rule stopping short of the porch, and Lily hurrying up the porch steps.
    “Lily.” Fagin’s smile was a shaky facsimile of his usual beaming welcome. “My feet are a mess, but . . .” Another short coughing fit. “My new best friend kept it from being worse. He threw me to the floor behind my desk and covered my body with his own. But my feet are broadcasting enough pain for two of me.”
    “Then let them put that mask on and take you to the ER,” she said firmly.
    “I don’t need—”
    “If it gets you to those painkillers quicker, why are you arguing?”
    “Ah. Hmm.”
    Behind her Rule said, “How bad are you hurt?”
    Cullen’s voice was strong enough, though the words were a bit slurred. “Tell ’em to—”
    “Cullen,” Rule repeated with a new note in his voice, “how bad are you hurt?”
    A second’s silence, then: “Feet, ankles, lower calves. That would be roughly nine percent of my body, so it’s not too bad. Third degree on my feet. I can’t feel ’em. I sucked down some smoke, but that’s pretty much cleared up.”
    Lily caught Scott’s voice, quietly repeating that to Cynna.
    “All right,” Rule said. “Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
    “Battery’s dead. I need you to stop them.”
    “Stop who from what?”
    “No water. Water ruins books. And the elemental doesn’t like it. Fire doesn’t bother it, but it hates water. That’s why it— you stay back.” He pointed.
    Lily looked over her shoulder in time to see a thin stream of fire dance on the ground in front of the captain. The man backed up. Quickly.
    “We’re going to have to shoot your sorry ass if you don’t quit that,” the captain growled. “You’re in enough trouble already. You’re hurt. Let us help you down.”
    “No.”
    The EMTs were loading Fagin onto the gurney. He hissed and muttered as he was shifted, but didn’t seem to be in shock. Lily moved off the porch so she could see Cullen with his