Bloodmagic (Blood Destiny 2) Read Online Free Page A

life so he had be someone – something – entirely more dangerous.  It occurred to me that he may well have planted himself inside the little shop for the very same reason, my traces of Draco Wyr blood, that the demi-god bitch, Iabartu, had killed or maimed almost everyone I’d cared about for.  Not gonna happen this time, buster.
    I thrust forward again, this time pivoting on the ball of my foot at the last possible second to aim for his more vulnerable flank.  To my abject fury, he bent his body back away again in a move a ninja warrior would have been proud of.
    “Really, given what I’ve heard you’re capable of, I find this rather disappointing.  I’d expected a more,” he paused, “impressive display.”
    I snarled but kept my distance this time, trying to clear my thoughts and focus on the job in hand.  Focus the fire, focus the fire, focus the fire.  I wasn’t going to give in to the temptation to let the dragon part of me, whatever that entailed, take over.  I needed to stay as human as I could because letting go would mean facing up to what I really was inside and I just wasn’t prepared to do that yet.  I’d come close last year with Iabartu and I had no desire to go that way ever again.  Even if it meant I couldn’t defeat whatever otherworldly thing was in front of me. 
    Focus the fire.  The mantra ran through my head again and again as I fought to compose myself and control my blood to allow me room to think.  The flames dampened down although the heat inside me remained.
    “There now,” he softly cooed.
    The bristles on the back of my neck stirred at the patronising tone of voice and I almost, just almost, lost my shaky control.  I forced a deep inward breath, reminding myself that completely flaking out and losing my temper would not help me control this situation.  I looked him up and down, realising that I still hadn’t seen his face clearly from under the shadow of his wide-brimmed hat.  I might not be able to quite connect with his body but…
    Tensing ever so slightly, I pulled one teeny tiny tendril of flame up through from the pit of my stomach and allowed its heat to swirl gently through my veins, before using its power to snatch forward with the very tip of one of silver needles.
    He hissed in sudden surprise but I’d achieved my immediate goal.  I’d snagged the edge of the hat and managed to take him unawares and pull it off his head.  I found myself staring into a pair of deepset indigo eyes that flashed silver in a mixture of shock and fury.  Damnit.  My would-be attacker was Fae.
    The obvious tension in his heavily coated body and in the muscles tight against his high cheekbones betrayed the Fae’s own emotions.  I felt some momentary satisfaction that he had had to control his own temper at my actions and resisted the urge to chant, ‘nana nana na’ at him.  Instead, I scooped up his hat from the floor and twirled it thoughtfully on a finger, returning the silver needles to their hiding place at the same time and keeping my eyes carefully trained on him.  Silver would do me little good amongst the Fae; I’d need to find some iron instead.  Life would be so much easier if all otherworld nasties had the same weaknesses.  There was a limit to how many different types of metallic weapons I could realistically carry with me.  The Fae’s eyes followed the circular motion I made with his hat whilst I forced myself to inject a lazy nonchalant drawl into my voice. 
    “Well, someone’s strayed far from the Unseelie Court.  Why are you darkening my door, Fae?”  I winced slightly at  my own over-done cliché, but it did the trick.
    Hissing again and baring back his lips in a surprisingly animalistic grimace that revealed a set of very sharp and very white teeth, his eyes returned to my face and deepened to almost black colour.  Neat trick. 
    “I am Seelie, human.  Do not think that you can compare me to the dark ones.”
    Oh, well.  I’d had a