Playing with Fire

He nodded, and with one hand holding tight to my arm, gestured toward the patio. The two others followed us. I tried to shrug him off and run to Cyrene, but he held firm.

‘‘I will tend to her, do not fear,’’ he said in that beautiful voice as I sank down next to the chaise where she’d been laid. The dragon with green eyes stood at her feet, his face hard and watchful, his arm around an obviously pregnant woman. His two goons stood on the other side, István bleeding profusely from the arm. I smiled at that, but the smile withered away as my gaze dropped to my poor twin.

‘‘Agathos daimon,’’ I gasped, my hands shaking as I reached for her. Her face was deathly white, blood matting the thick, glossy black hair that she wore an inch or so longer than mine.

‘‘Will you allow me?’’ the silver-eyed man asked.

I didn’t want him to touch her, didn’t want any of them to have anything more to do with her, but I didn’t even know where to begin fixing whatever damage István had done when he’d knocked her into the table.

‘‘I am a healer,’’ he said again, his voice caressing me.

I hesitated a moment, wanting nothing so much as to hide Cyrene from their prying eyes.

‘‘You don’t have to worry about Gabriel-he’s very good,’’ the pregnant woman said. She must be Aisling Grey, the demon lord who had wed a wyvern. I glanced at her, unsure of what I should do. I couldn’t get Cyrene out of there without doing more damage to her, but to trust her to strangers…

‘‘He did wonders for me when I was gutted with a sword,’’ Aisling added.

I eyed the man kneeling next to me for a moment. Those beautiful mercurial eyes considered me with calm assurance.

‘‘All right,’’ I said slowly, scooting back a hair to let him have access to Cyrene. ‘‘But I’ll be watching you.’’

A slight smile caused his cheek to indent in the begi

‘‘What’s going on?’’ A furry black head was inserted between the man and me. Jim the demon was back on its feet, a shocked look on its face as it peered down at the inert form before us. ‘‘What happened to Cyrene?’’

‘‘Jim! You’re OK?’’ Aisling asked, hurrying over to it.

‘‘Yeah. Uck, what happened to my coat? Oh, man! That’s go

‘‘I’m so glad you’re not hurt,’’ Aisling said, hugging it. ‘‘I thought they’d destroyed your form.’’

‘‘They?’’ Jim asked, looking from me to Cyrene before turning back to the woman still hugging him. ‘‘You don’t think Cyrene and May did this to me, do you?’’

‘‘They didn’t?’’ she asked, giving me an odd look.

I didn’t pay her too much attention-that was taken up with watching the velvet-tongued healer as he worked over Cyrene.

‘‘Nope.’’

‘‘We saw them attacking István and Pál,’’ Drake said, nodding toward us. ‘‘The one kneeling bit István.’’

‘‘Hard,’’ István muttered, having taken off his shirt to wrap around the arm in question.

‘‘Really?’’ Jim’s eyebrows rose as it looked back at me. ‘‘Nice job, May! I couldn’t have done better myself.’’

‘‘Nice-Jim, are you insane?’’ Aisling asked, ruffling the fur on the top of its head.

‘‘Naw. But you guys are confused. May and Cyrene weren’t attacking anyone. May just wanted to get Cy out of the garden, but I told them about Drake being a gadget freak, so they decided to go out through Kostich’s yard. That’s where we were nailed… or rather, I was. Fires of Abaddon, his arcane traps are downright nasty! He owes me a whole bunch of fur.’’

‘‘Will she be all right?’’ I asked the man who was evidently named Gabriel.

He nodded without looking at me, his eyes on Cyrene ’s face as his fingers manipulated her neck. ‘‘She has a superficial cut to the scalp, but you were correct that her neck was broken.’’

My stomach lurched at his words. Cyrene might be immortal, but there was still such a thing as brain damage. If she didn’t get sufficient oxygen and blood to her brain, she would be left in a coma… a permanent coma.

‘‘It is a good thing she is a…’’ He glanced at me, his eyes questioning.

‘‘Naiad,’’ I answered.

‘‘Ah. That would explain much. Elemental beings do not cope well with injuries to the head. Their center is in their heart, is it not?’’

Cy certainly thought with her heart more than her head, but I wasn’t about to admit that to the stranger… A thought struck me. I looked more closely at him. Like the other men present, he was dressed in evening clothes of a black jacket and pants, but unlike the others he had a gorgeous silvery vest heavily embroidered with fantastical creatures. His skin was a warm brown, like a very dark tan, but his high cheekbones and narrowed nose pointed to mixed ancestry. The shoulder-length dark brown dreadlocks hinted at some African blood, while the narrow mustache and goatee simply drew the eye to his mouth, which seemed to hold an unholy fascination for me. But there was something else, something exotic about him that I found it hard to pinpoint… ‘‘You’re a dragon,’’ I said suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle sliding together.

‘‘I am,’’ he said, nodding acknowledgment.

‘‘Gabriel is not just a dragon,’’ the nasty man who stepped on my arm said in a deep voice heavy with an Australian accent. ‘‘He is the dragon. The silver wyvern.’’

Wyverns, I knew, were leaders of dragon septs. Great. Now we had gotten ourselves tangled up with not one wyvern, but two. And a demon lord, a demon, and a couple of homicidal bodyguards.

My expression must have shown my feelings, for Gabriel shot me a little smile, saying, ‘‘You needn’t look quite so wary. I won’t bite. Unless you ask me to, of course.’’

I blinked at him in surprise.

‘‘Did you just flirt with her?’’ Aisling asked, an interested light in her eyes as her gaze rested on me. ‘‘Would you mind… I hate to be rude… er… May, is it?’’

I nodded.

‘‘This is always so awkward, but there’s really no way around it. What exactly are you? I’ve never seen anyone who can get out of my binding wards, but you just-poof! Disappeared. Then suddenly you were a few feet away.’’

‘‘Oh, geez, Ash,’’ Jim said, covering its eyes with one paw. ‘‘I just can’t take you anywhere, can I?’’

‘‘What?’’ she asked, turning to her wyvern. ‘‘Stop looking like you all know what May is! You do, don’t you? Admit it-you all know, except me! I hate that!’’

‘‘You’ve seen her type before, Ash,’’ Jim said, pushing itself forward to look at Cyrene. I shoved it back, not wanting anything else to disturb Gabriel.

‘‘I have? Where? No, wait, let me think…’’ She sat when Drake gently moved her toward a chair, her face scrunched up as she thought. ‘‘Immortal, definitely. But not a naiad, like the woman on the chaise- she’s got a definite glimmer to her that May doesn’t have. Hmm. She’s not bound by wards, and can do that disappearing thing…’’

‘‘It’s called shadow walking,’’ I said, unable to stand any more of her scrutiny. ‘‘It is a trait common to doppelgangers.’’

‘‘Doppelganger!’’ Aisling said, her eyes wide in surprise. ‘‘Wow. I thought you guys were really rare.’’

‘‘We are,’’ I said, turning back to Cyrene.

‘‘But… shadow walking? I’ve never heard of that. What exactly… er…’’

I stifled a sigh, not really irritated with the woman so much as I was with the whole situation. I hated having to explain my origins. ‘‘Doppelgangers are created from their twin. We are identical in every way, but individual beings, and wholly separate from our twins. Because we are literally created from the twin’s shadow, we can slip into that form and move amongst people without being seen-except in brightly lit places. We cast no shadow ourselves, and have no reflection. Here endeth the lesson. Is my twin going to live or will she be in a coma?’’ I asked the question of Gabriel as he sat back on his heels, his eyes intent on Cyrene ’s face.