Darius spent the drive to Rebecca’s condo lost in thought. Other people might push him to talk before he was ready, but not her. She was used to his need for silence. He’d talk when he’d figured out what he wanted to say, but not a moment before, and he appreciated that she didn’t pressure him. They might have gone the entire drive without a word if his stomach hadn’t intervened. It gurgled loudly with hunger, and Rebecca laughed at him.
“You want to come in and have something to eat?” she asked as he pulled into a parking spot outside of her building.
“Dunno. Do you have anything other than ketchup and beer?” he said, lightly teasing.
It wasn’t just an idle dig. The last time he’d been at her place, the fridge had been empty except for exactly those two things. And it hadn’t even been good beer.
“Actually, I drank all the beer, so it’s just ketchup. I hear you can make a nice soup out of it. Or we could say to hell with that and order a pizza.”
He shook his head with a reluctance that was at least half real. “I shouldn’t. As interesting as ketchup soup with a pizza chaser sounds, I’m pretty wiped. It’s been a long day.”
As if on cue, she yawned, reaching for the door handle and pausing there. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. It’s late. And it’s been a crazy long day. Can you imagine what would have happened if we’d cracked that cube on accident and let a genie out on the work site?”
“Djinn,” he said, smiling slightly. “You’ve seen Aladdin too many times.”
“Impossible. It’s the best Disney movie ever made, but I’m disappointed to find that real djinn are more like Jafar than Robin Williams. Audra made them sound awfully scary. You think they really try to corrupt their masters, or was she pulling our leg? If they’re as bad as she says, you’d think they’d be more of a problem than they are, but I’ve never heard of anyone getting hurt by a rogue djinn attack.”
“Not if djinn are rare.” He shrugged. “But I was thinking on the way here that it must depend on the person making the wishes. If you go in with a bad heart, wishing for things you didn’t earn, then the djinn can corrupt you. But if you wish for things for other people, then I don’t see how it could get its claws into you. I don’t see how they could corrupt you if you’ve got a good heart. Not that I’d try, but it’s an interesting thing to think about.”
“Says you.” His stomach growled again, and she laughed. “You should go get some food. And call that elementalist tomorrow.”
He blinked. “Audra? Call her why?”
“She’s totally your type.”
“Why? Because she’s tall and pretty?” He shook his head. “I need a little more than that.”
“Nah. Because she’s way too serious. Like you. She’s probably still at that pawn shop, working with a dangerous magical artifact when it’s practically the middle of the night. A pretty thing like that should be out having a good time. You should take her out this weekend. Be that good time. It would be good for you both.”
“You’re nuts,” he grumbled. “Go drink some ketchup soup.”
She blew him a kiss, grinning. “You know I’m right.”
He didn’t answer as she got out of the truck, because he knew she wouldn’t rest until she had the last word. Really, it wasn’t worth arguing over anyway. He would feel stupid calling Audra for a date. What would he say? “Hey, I don’t even know you, which means any attraction to you is only superficial, but I’d like to take you out on a date and see if maybe it’s not.” Women didn’t usually respond well to his brand of blunt honesty, and it just didn’t feel right to be anything but honest.
But after about fifteen minutes of waiting in a not-at-all-fast food drive through line while the dude in front of him argued about the price of his combo meal, he began to think that Rebecca had had a point despite herself. Not about asking Audra on a date, because he didn’t know her well enough, but he’d like to get to know her better. And the more he thought about the fact that she was likely working alone in the Desert Oasis with the lamp, the more nervous the idea made him. He had no doubts about her skill, but dangerous jobs like that should never be attempted alone. If something went wrong, there would be no one to help. After over a decade working in the construction industry, he knew the value of the buddy system when it came to hazardous tasks, and the more he thought about it, the more worried he became.
When he finally got a chance to order, he added some extra nuggets and a drink to his usual. Audra might be the kind of person who turned up her nose at fried food, but it seemed like a nice gesture. He’d pretty much decided that he was going to swing by the Desert Oasis on his way home, except that it wasn’t on the way at all. The pawn shop was in the opposite direction of his house. But he wouldn’t feel better until he checked on her. It would be worth the extra drive time, and if she wasn’t there, he’d just eat the extra nuggets himself.
Just making the decision made him feel better. His stomach stopped churning with anxiety, although it was still plenty hungry. He shoved a burger into his mouth at a stop light in the hopes that maybe it would stop grumbling at him. Usually, he was good about eating on a regular basis, because his musculature combined with his overactive shifter metabolism required constant fuel. But the discovery of the djinn had thrown him off his schedule, and now he was paying the price. He was starting to feel a little shaky from lack of food.
The shakes got even worse when he got out of the car in the lot behind the Desert Oasis, and for a moment, he couldn’t quite understand why. Then his brain caught up with what his senses were desperately trying to tell him. Smoke! His hyper sensitive nose picked up the scent from deep inside the building, although he couldn’t yet see any. Maybe it was nothing—he couldn’t hear any alarms—but if something happened with the lamp…
The bag of chicken nuggets fell to the ground. He rushed to the door without paying the food a second glance, all hunger forgotten. The smell was stronger here, and now that he was standing up close, he could see the minute wisps of smoke that escaped from around the edges of the closed door. He put his fingers to the metal with tentative care, but it wasn’t hot. So then he banged on it, hard, and pushed the buzzer with growing impatience and concern.
“Come on,” he muttered to himself. “Audra, come on.”
One car still sat in the lot, right next to the door. It had been there earlier too, a cute little red VW convertible. Maybe it belonged to someone else, but if it was Audra’s? Then she was still inside the building, and the building was burning.
He considered his options for a quick moment. He could call 911 and let them handle it, or he could break into the building. The first option would be much safer for him, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to live with himself if Audra got hurt because he was worried about getting arrested for breaking and entering. Besides, what if something had gone wrong with the lamp he’d just delivered? The timing was awfully suspect. If the djinn was loose, the mortal police wouldn’t be prepared to deal with it. It was his responsibility to do something.
His mind made up, he grabbed onto the metal door handle, called upon his shifter strength, and pulled. His body tightened with strain as his legs pushed against the wall. The door began to warp under the intense pressure, letting out a tortured screech as he pulled it out of shape.
The hinges tore free before the latch worked its way loose, and Darius nearly hit himself in the face with the suddenly free door. He staggered backwards into a plume of smoke, let loose into the night air. The acrid scent stung his nose. As he took a deep breath, preparing to enter the building, the fire alarm finally sounded, shrieking a warning to stay out.
Darius rushed inside, pulling his t-shirt up to cover his face and nose. The smoke wasn’t very thick just yet, but better to be prepared.
It took a moment for him to orient himself in the dim light of the exit sign. He found himself in a hallway that branched off abruptly. The smoke was much heavier to the right, so that’s the direction he picked.
“Audra!” he shouted. “Audra, are you in here?”
Here, the fumes were thick, although he still couldn’t see flames. Even with the cloth covering his mouth, the smoke nipped at his throat. He coughed into the crook of his arm, moving forward with his other hand held out in front of him. He could barely see for the smoke and the darkness.
Moving slowly and deliberately, he made his way to a doorway. This one felt warmer than the others, and smoke curled angrily around the edges. The air was so thick here that it felt like it scratched at his windpipe as it entered his body. He tried to shout Audra’s name again but couldn’t manage any more than a croak.
Maybe he should have called 911 after all. He’d been so sure of his strength, but this smoke was not an enemy that he could destroy by force. But it was too late now, and certainly the alarm would have notified the authorities. If he fell, they would come for Audra.
He stood to the side and opened the door to reveal a descending staircase lit by the red flicker of flames. To Darius, it looked like a stairway to hell. He carefully crept down the staircase, holding his hand cupped over his mouth and nose for all the good it did. He couldn’t stop coughing, and his eyes streamed with tears. Although he tried to crouch down where the air would be better, that wasn’t easy for a big man like him. His best bet was to move quickly. He just hoped it would be quick enough.
The flames illuminated what looked like a storeroom, although most of the shelves were bare. He saw a few books and what looked like jewelry and…was that a manticore horn? This must be where all of the supernatural articles were stored, but he didn’t see any of the more dangerous things he’d brought to the Oasis over the years. Nor did he see the lamp.
But he did see Audra’s cream colored pants sprawled out on the floor on the far side of the room. Her body was nearly obscured by a pile of cardboard boxes strewn all about. It looked like maybe she had knocked them over when she fell. Strange. The flames weren’t anywhere near her. What had knocked her out? Cardboard?
Now that he thought of that, he realized what else was strange. There was too much smoke for the amount of flames, and the fire hugged the walls despite the fact that it should be hungrily consuming the staircase by now. Or the boxes sprawled around Audra. It seemed to be spreading, but much more slowly than it ought to be. Perhaps the room was warded or something? He wasn’t about to ask questions now, but he was glad for whatever it was.
He hurried over to Audra’s unconscious figure and gathered her up in his arms, still coughing.
“Audra,” he croaked. “Audra, are you okay?”
Her head felt wet under his fingers, and they came out of her hair tinged with deep red blood. She stirred under his touch, and he held her tight, staggering toward the stairs. But another bout of coughing overwhelmed him, driving him to his knees. It felt like he’d been punched in the stomach for about an hour. By a shifter with anger issues.
Audra needed him. He tried to shield her with his body, pushing himself forward another two steps before falling to his knees again. He couldn’t breathe. Whatever magic held the flames at bay, it hadn’t preserved the oxygen in the room. He was suffocating. All he could hope to do was keep Audra safe until the fire department came. He squeezed her tight, hoping to keep the worst of the smoke at bay.
“Ow,” she said muzzily. “That hurts.”
He tried to say something to her but ended up coughing in her face instead. He would have been embarrassed by that if only he could breathe.
“Darius?” she said, sounding a bit more alert now. “What the hell? Out. Now.”
For a moment, he thought she was talking to him, and he wanted to tell her that he’d like nothing more than to be out now, but he couldn’t get his legs to work, and his head was swimming, and it felt like someone had aimed a blow torch down his esophagus. But then she snapped her fingers, and the fire went out like someone had flicked a switch and turned it off.
Then she said, “We need some air,” and she whistled.
Darius felt a cool breeze on his face. A relieved smile grew on his lips as he breathed it in. He coughed again, released her gently, and passed out at her feet.