Master of Smoke

hell you are, tell me about yourself.”
    David looked a little wary, and she wondered why. “What do you want to know?”
    “The usual.” Before he could grab it, she snatched the last piece of bacon and bit down, enjoying the smoky crunch. “How did you end up a trio?”
    “I already ... I mean, Cat already explained that.” His gaze shifted away from hers. “The Dark Ones had invaded and were killing people. My tribe needed to fight them off, so he and Smoke needed a body with hands.”
    “Yeah, but what did you think about having them move in?”
    “What did I think? Sweetheart, I fought like hell for the privilege.” He snorted and flicked his fingers. Another plate of bacon appeared, and he picked up a piece. “All the men of my village competed. It’s not every day you get a chance to become one with your god.”
    “Smoke said something about that. Your tribe really thought he was a god?”
    “We’d been worshipping that cat for generations.” He lay back on the floor, bracing on one brawny elbow. “This was a long, long time ago, before the Sidhe became immortal or gained much in the way of magical abilities. My people were essentially a Stone Age tribe then, and Smoke impressed the hell out of us with his powers.”
    “What was it like?” Fascinated, Eva sat up tailor fashion. She couldn’t imagine any life further removed from her own middle-class childhood of comic books and school. “I mean, growing up like that?”
    “Up until the Dark Ones showed up, it was pretty idyllic. Thanks to Smoke. We had plenty of food, and we rarely encountered other tribes, so we didn’t go to war very often.” He shrugged. “Before I was twelve or so, I gathered food with my mother and the other women. I learned which berries and roots you could eat, and which ones would give you one hell of a bellyache. I also learned how to make an arrow that would fly straight, and how to flake a pretty decent axe head out of this green rock we called ca’ita.” David smiled. “Basically, they taught me everything a man needed to know in the equivalent of, oh, 10,000 B.C. or so.”
    “What about after you were twelve?”
    “I started hunting with the men. Smoke always led the hunting parties, so we were generally pretty damned successful. We certainly never went hungry.” He paused, one hand rubbing his thigh, a frown on his face.
    His expression made her sit up. “What’s the matter?”
    “Damn. I suddenly remembered the day I almost died. I haven’t thought of that in years.”
    “What happened?”
    “I’d gone fishing alone—I guess I was fourteen or so. My people didn’t have all that good a grasp of the passage of time, so it’s hard to tell. Anyway, I was in the shallows of the river, tying to spearfish, when this snakedog burst out of the brush and hit me like a compact car.”
    “Snakedog?”
    “It looked something like a furry crocodile. Mean little bastards. Had a set of teeth like you wouldn’t believe. Anyway, it ripped the hell out of my thigh. I managed to ram my spear through its left eye, which killed it, but it still did a hell of a lot of damage.”
    “Oww.” Eva felt sick, remembering the sensation of teeth ripping through her own flesh.
    “Yeah. I was bleeding to death, when all the sudden, Smoke was there, my parents wild-eyed on his heels. He started licking my leg ...”
    She wrinkled her nose. “Eeew.”
    “Hey, don’t knock it. Smoke could do a hell of a lot of magic with a lick.”
    “I’ll buy that,” Eva said, grinning. “So can you.”
    “Smart-ass. Anyway, he saved my life.” His grin faded. “It wasn’t long after that when the Dark One found us. Those creatures were big, horned bipeds, looked like a medieval woodcut of a devil. Mostly because they inspired the woodcuts. Smoke damn near died fighting off this particular devil. Ri’ae said she’d had a vision that he needed to merge with one of us warriors.” He fell silent.
    Eva studied him. The expression on his face was a little chilling. Finally she prompted, “Who was Ri’ae?”
    “His priestess. Smoke had enhanced her magical abilities a century before so that she could assist him in running the tribe.”
    Eva sat up with a jerk. “That’s the one Cat said was a bitch!”
    “Exactly. She and Smoke held a contest among the warriors. I won and merged with him, which is when she became my lover.”
    “Big surprise there,” Eva grumbled.
    He gave her a smile. “Jealous?”
    She bared her