Lacey gasped as she rode hard, atop my very naked and utterly human body. Her mouth hung open as her body sought the peaks of pleasure that even elementals could reach. Of course monsters appreciated procreation.

“We can’t fight our nature, Jay,” she said with half breaths.

My mind was filled with fog and singular purpose. Still, I tried to play along by asking, “What?”

The moment shattered. My body had been encased by something huge and far more unpleasant. Water pressed against my ears and wormed its way into canals. Scratches on my scales cried as they were forced backward and felt as though they might peel off.

Then Lacey and a moment from the past recaptured my senses. I fought for air in both memories. My body moved in a rhythm as old as mankind against Lacey. Her warmth burned my skin. I buried my face between pushed up breasts and fought the better fight.

“That’s how you do it. Be a real man, Jay. None of this ‘please’ shit. Take it. Take it,” she demanded.

The Leviathan swung me around, sending my serpentine form flying into a reef. I reached out, striving for the much more pleasant, if oddly timed vision of Wylde’s naked body. All that resulted were chunks of sea life grasping into me with their own form of desperation.

I struggled for air but found none. The ocean’s surface was above me somewhere. Not miles, but too far for wings not designed to cut through this much liquid. There were no good ways to survive.

Up, the next step had to be getting airborne along with fresh oxygen. I shrugged to pull in pockets of air under my wings. Something responded, the water spiraled. Small whirlpools formed hundreds of feet above us. I gained purchase—on what—I didn’t know.

The leviathan chased after me, crashing into my side and driving me into the ground. My body flopped and air bubbles escaped. I gulped and struggled to regain the air. Why couldn’t my gifts include the ability to live without breathing?

A vampire would have survived. Dozens of them were back on that island, dying in droves from flame. I felt their muffled cries as the fire ended their lives. They might not have been able to handle the giant serpent but they could breathe under this forsaken ocean.

I, however, couldn’t see. My attempts to roar in defiance resulted in me swallowing additional salty water. It burned and sizzled then oozed between lips that couldn’t form a perfect seal. I coughed up dirt and felt bones of charred fish stick in my craw.

Lacey’s laughter pulled away my senses. Then anger, a scream of outrage and glass cracking.

“I’ve told you, time, and time again, Jay. I don’t give permission. You take it,” she said. Her hand bled and the floor sizzled where droplets touched.

“If you want to sleep with other girls, I appreciate that. It’s you taking what you want. If you want to leave me altogether, then do it. That’s our arrangement. We take.” The broken glass was placed on my table. She walked across the room to a cabinet and pulled out another glass.

I stilled and paid attention to every movement. A dozen sensations of people below. Roy’s tribe, they sparred, they moved in waves. Others danced along with them, stretching muscles. Part army, part relaxation and bonding.

“That’s how the flame works,” Wylde said. “It doesn’t ask permission. It doesn’t beg for more fuel. It simply takes, Jay. It takes, and takes, and takes. Then one day, it dies.”

She drained the glass and poured herself another.

“You’re okay with that?” I asked.

Wylde rolled her eyes and shook head while staring at the ceiling. “It doesn’t matter. I am what I am. You are what you are. But we’ll never be more than this. Not until you learn the lesson.”

“Take what I want?”

“And there you are. Asking again. Like a puppy needing its master’s approval.”

I shook my head. She told me to take what I wanted, and I had, multiple times over the years. She said to walk away, if that’s what I wanted, and for Kahina I planned to. What was the use if Wylde didn’t mean what she said?

My past vanished again as the large creature swam at me with jaws open. I balked and pulled away, trying to weave in the water as my foe. The leviathan slammed into me again. This time it sent me upward. I clawed my way to the surface and gasped for air.

A fresh dose of oxygen didn’t clear the spots in my eyes. One wing hung limply from where it’d broken. Blood in the water mixed with mud to obscure our battlefield. I struggled to reach the surface. My body got pulled under as the huge creature swam by.

Water filled in over my head leaving me spinning in a circle and bumping off its scales. I lashed out and tore, uselessly, at the swift creature. It spun in a U-turn, moving much how I had in the air. Our roles were utterly reversed.

Coward.

I thought loudly, knowing full well the creature could be listening.

WEAKLING

It responded. I couldn’t figure out ways to project my thoughts in a ruse or misdirection. The water boiled with our conflict. I pulled at anything and everything existing, screaming inside my mind. Nothing came.

“TAKE IT!” Lacey shouted.

That had to be the problem. I was asking, I was calling, but none of that meant grabbing hold of the power. Daniel told me my abilities could be activated without ownership, and that’d been true. But some skills did not come from simple kindness.

Monsters did not ask for permission. What other name could belong to a creature such as me? Civilized? Polite? Heroic? None of those fit me in the slightest. I found new purpose.

I’d take the power. That had been her point. Maybe the years had made me a bit wiser. It only took a muddled mind, a dozen flashbacks, and a bigger monster beating the unholy hell out of me.

Fire would still be needed. Getting to shore seemed impossible. The sun would be too far away. I hastily swam and let currents push me around as the leviathan sought to get a firm chunk of my flesh.

Our dance in the water continued as I struggled to spin in search of a power source.

There were places where fire sat closer to the surface. Volcanos were the best location. If pulling fire off the red feathered Agent Brand could give me energy, calling up lava should fill me to overflowing.

The very notion of pulling fire from the earth for more strength made me giddy. It might have been the lack of air or the pounding of my ears. Maybe being knocked around turned me delirious. I started to see Wylde’s face, laughing at me under the seabed.

Piles of muck formed a thick layer along the seabed. I struggled to feel the heat. The island hadn’t formed on its own. Lava plumes or something similar were within my range. I trailed toward the lava, struggling to make it to the seabed instead of up for precious air.

“Take it, if you dare.” Lacey smiled. Or had smiled. Deprivation once again weakened my mental barriers between then and now.

I called to the deepest parts of the earth, where fire still rolled under thick layers of dirt and crust. The ground shook even more than it had at any point of our fight.

Lava seeped through the cracks and boiled along the seabed. I swam to the lava and prayed it wouldn’t burn me to a crisp. Or maybe it would and that’d be okay, too.

“You only need to call my name, Jay. Take me into your heart and together we could burn the world to ash.”

The fire had always been there. I pushed down the echoing words of my father’s deep thrum before he could repeat himself. The elements were our gifts. Wylde, an elemental herself, said that they weren’t simple gifts. They were prizes to be taken.

“Am I, Jay?” she asked. I couldn’t tell if she spoke in the now, or the past. “Fire’s a capricious mistress. Prone to burn your flesh just as often as I warm your body on the cold nights. Would you really have me?”

“Don’t be a coward now,” I answered.

My eyes blinked. Around me lava boiled and bubbled to the surface. The earth deep below pushed and heaved. I felt it part as more of the earth’s boiling liquid shot to the surface. The magma crawled toward me, ignoring the ocean’s current. Too heavy to be moved by mere words, or too proud.

Perhaps it wanted to obey.

Do not ignore me, Mistress. Do not dare. The life of what is mine stands at risk.

Time spun once more. I felt the leviathan hissing and circling the outflow of lava. Large teeth snapped at me. It seemed afraid and agitated. Then those sensations were gone and I stood in front of Lacey.

“You’re threatening me?” Lacey asked. Where her voice came from, I couldn’t say. A place below the ocean, where only heat ruled. “I’ll protect this place for you, until you return home. But not because of a threat.”

“Why then?” I asked.

Lacey smiled. My vision wavered in the haze as the ground rolled. “I don’t give answers.”

“What do you give?”

Lacey opened her mouth and a word died before completion. Her eyes shifted and watered for only a moment. She glanced down and shook her head.

“It doesn’t matter. Go away. For another woman.” Lacey took a deep breath. “I promised not…” She drifted off. I felt it as her heartbeat raced, face flushed redder than the flame, and eyes closed slowly.

That was then. Before going back to only being friends with Lacey. I’d wanted to separate myself from the old life, if only a little. To find more time for Kahina and give her everything she deserved. That rift had never been repaired.

I do not ask.

I swam through water and ignored the burning sensation. My body afforded me some resistance to the elements. Even breathing seemed like a distant concern for another soul. My nose flared as the ocean swirled.

The lava bubbled. It cooled and fresh layers burst through. Those cracked and erupted then kept right on going. I placed my claws into both while using both distorted back legs to push me forward against the swirl.

Chunks of matter flew at me. They spun through the water, bouncing off each other. Ocean beds were torn up by force equaling a hurricane. I hung on and roared, getting a mouthful of water straight to the lungs.

For a moment, I thought I was back in that nothing between. Matter spun and formed. A duck died before my eyes, turned into bone, then into grass. I pushed that brief overlay of the past away and focused on screaming at Lacey, in the here and now.

My grip faltered. There were no words for taking power from someone else. It wasn’t an inborn skill or concept taught to me by a voice from the past. I’d called a fucking rabbit before me. It’d supplicated and died to fill my belly. Calling living fire could be no stranger.

Lacey could simply deny me, but I didn’t believe she wanted to.

Come Mistress of Flame. Come Heart of the Fire. You are mine.

She didn’t say anything. The words I’d heard must have been those of the past, spoken in tense moments of our final time together. Before this shitty island. Before my relationship with Kahina. Before the leaving city. The heat though, started at my fingertips and caused blackened claws to fill with red.

Energy trickled up my arm, bringing with it a pleasure so intense it hurt, or a pain so strong it felt good. I opened my mouth and yelled. Water around us pulled back, or was pushed away. My senses dampened by the rapid changes.

I felt myself shaking. Or more accurately, vibrating with an intensity I’d never felt before. The world had no more color. All that existed were shades of gray and heat so overwhelming it felt like my belly expelled lava.

The heat burned. My body heaved. I heard a cry as the water around us boiled. The sea serpent had to be in pain, and must have been too enraged to flee. Now it suffered the price.

Lava streamed in huge bubbling gasps, far more than the trickle prior. It split the earth and shot into the air all around. The sudden shift knocked us off balance and flopping to one side. Sea gave way as earth formed a new island. First a singular pillar, then a mile of rock. I hung on, screaming as we lifted out of the water.

The Leviathan fell to one side, flopping and rolling. It hissed at me. I dug in with claws that cracked red like lava. The creature’s body couldn’t move as easily without water to create buoyancy.

I stood on top of the newly forming island, to the side of an outcropping where lava flowed around me. There, I screamed, roared, and flooded the area with the sound of my triumph. Even the hacking feeling of sea water invading my lungs had dimmed to nothing as energy, unlike anything I’d ever felt before, suffused my being.

Now. For you.

The earth formed new shapes under the breaching volcanic eruption. Ash shot into the sky as it peaked. More oozed out of the side, expanding our new battleground.

I felt larger than before. My head moved in a way that somehow looked down upon the waves and forming island. The lava gushed all around, forming thick rivers that meant almost nothing. My mouth dripped hotter liquid, if such a thing were possible.

YOU DARE?

It questions. I snort and pull my head back. It deserves to be looked down upon, as it had so many other creatures. Weak Pink Meat humans may be, this creature has not known of the same simple lessons I did. Beware arrogance, for arrogance leads to death.

I sniffed and leaned over. The warmth of my stomach dribbled like fiery drool. It scalded the creature. My claws dug into its body, no longer unable to find purchase. They were larger than before, many times larger.

My claws dug in harder. I placed a back foot on the creature’s midsection and raked. Its guts poured out, filling the air with a muffled foulness.

The leviathan heaved to whip its tail at my head. I managed to block with the wounded wing. It crunched and I bellowed in pain. More flaming liquid flowed from me. I felt the leviathan’s thrashes increase. Its life ebbed away. My hind foot raked again, and sank into the leviathan’s belly where liquid sloshed.

Its surges of motion shook everything, but the earth already rumbled. I could almost pick out the differences between shakes caused by the enemy’s movements, and my own trigger of Wylde’s power.

My senses struggled to make sense of our surroundings. People spoke in the distance. Wolves cried to each other. Humans picked up leaves and created poor masks to block the ash. They were indistinct as the island still burned.

Parts of the shore were heavily saturated with water. I couldn’t feel anyone in the multi-floored jail that had been my temporary home. The lack of sensation confirmed my feelings from earlier. They’d evacuated.

I cast my senses farther away. The small party consisting of Leo, Stacy, and Deborah sat huddled on a beach under armed guard. Dozens of men carrying high caliber guns watched over an entire shoreline of prisoners. More people were arriving every minute, while an equal number of cars drove away at high speeds.

Even there, the earth rumbled.

“Do you see that fog?” Leo asked. “It goes on for miles.”

“Smells,” Stacy muttered. “Like rotten fish and ash. Do you think…” she trailed off. “Do you think he beat that thing?” Stacy’s forehead sloped as if she struggled to remember the monster.

“There were creatures in the fog,” Deborah said. “An ill omen. I don’t see the Agent.”

“It looked like giant monsters. The kind my mom used to tell me stories about. But we couldn’t see them this far away, could we? It must be our imaginations,” Stacy’s voice peaked while her pulse quickened.

The monstrous sea serpent thrashed under my claws. Fires sizzled and sputtered. The ocean floor we’d once sat on had become a second island, next to Atlas. Could they see it from the mainland?

Could they tell how large I’d become? Did they see the red flaming claws piercing through the fog like a lighthouse beacon? I felt like fire incarnate and wanted someone to notice.

Its head whipped around. Long thin lips drew back in a snarl. I snapped at its face to keep it in place. More drops of lava dribbled from my mouth onto its skin. Holes burned into the creature’s flesh. Impossibly huge muscles twitched uncontrollably.

Shut up and die. Sea Slug.

That was a rude response. Tal had taught me better. He wanted me to respect worthy foes. This had been the toughest fight of my life. Not the longest, though it certainly felt drawn out. Even now I still heaved for breath.

That new voice twisted into my mind.

JOR-COUSIN. I NAME YOU. KIN-SLAYER.

It projected the words. The other voice in the back of my mind snorted distastefully. This defeated Leviathan may have scales and size, but we were not the same. We were not related. I had only one like me in this world and they’d been lost in the void.

I snorted. Steam billowed. My tail turned and dug long spikes into the dying creature’s body. It didn’t have the strength to protest. These childish actions provided no release for budding anger.

I am not your kin. You unbalanced Sea Slug. Hunger personified. Worthless. Base. Abomination.

The way my mind said abomination startled me. My ears flattened and mouth pulled tight. The ground hissed as the earth finished its violent thrashing.

KIN-SLAYER

It whispered again. The flopping motions slowed to a crawl. My arm ached and body shook as muscle strain took a toll. The heat in my stomach still raged and my mind struggled to stay whole. With each passing second exhaustion pulled at me but my body cried out for more.

I could burn down the nearby island and keep up this strength. Nothing could ever challenge me or threaten to take away what belonged to me. The earth would give me more, if I beckoned. Fire and a line of lava that would erupt and trail along under me. I could crack the tectonic plates with sheer force of will and Lacey’s powers.

Who could stop me? The Gods were dead. Muni and Brand had said so. The greatest threat I’d ever known lay beneath me, gutted and weakly gasping. I embodied fire, took it into myself, and I could take anything I wanted for the rest of eternity until the world had nothing left to offer.

WE ARE THE SAME

It fixed me with a lax eye. Water gushed and wavered. It was as if the leviathan’s body continually oozed layers of flesh made of bloat from living in the sea too long. The smell fouled the air, mixing with steam vapors and silt.

No. You are dying. I am fire. I took your life.

YOU WILL SEE

Something pushed my head. Thoughts that weren’t my own. Familiar in how they came, and annoying. My vision blacked out and senses narrowed as another dozen memories rushed in. Unwanted and useless.

I pushed the thoughts away with a curl of my claws. The leviathan’s body unclenched as it fell to the side and stopped moving. I glared at the dead worm at my fingertips and sighed. My tail lashed slowly, knocking over what remained of the landscape.

Kin-Slayer. What of it? I’ve no true kin.

They’d been lost. My failure had cost the only blood relationship I could have possibly had. But this time I’d won. I’d proven myself the most useful monster.

My chest panted. The single breath sent fresh burning liquid to the rock where it sizzled and cooled. Ocean water still swirled around the island. Waves could be felt in the distance, cast off by the last few tail thrashes of the leviathan.

They would reach the shore and flood that small area. Boats would dash to pieces in the harbor. My small family, away from their home, would drown during the aftermath of this great battle.

Home.

Before it really registered, my enflamed wings were already beating a path home, back to the shore I’d left behind. Back to a small part of the only family I had.