I Am the Wild (The Night Firm #1)- Karpov Kinrade Page 0,48

dramatically. "Fine, fine. Step back a moment. Wouldn't want to hurt anyone. Humans and vampires are so delicate when it comes to fire."

Sebastian stiffens by my side and pulls me back as Ifi bursts into flames.

The fire burns around us, and I sweat profusely, the air hot and heavy in my lungs.

Ifi begins chanting in a language I've never heard. His voice seems powered with magic. It becomes layered with other voices, the vibration of them shaking the room. I clutch Sebastian's arm to avoid falling over, and he braces me as everything rattles. I worry the building will cave in on top of us. I glance at the vampire by my side with frantic eyes, but he looks calm, collected, like this is par for the course.

I take a breath and calm myself. A loud screeching fills the air. Flames dance against the marble walls and ceilings. And then the body of Mary Dracule begins to shake as flames flow into her, animating her from within.

She sits up and turns to us, color filling her cheeks, light and soul filling her eyes. She locks her gaze with mine, a plea on her face as she clutches her dead baby to her chest.

"Save them. Save my babies. Please! Save them!"

And with that, she drops back down to the table with a loud thunk. The fire leaves her body, flowing back into Ifi, who staggers to the side and is in turn caught by Elal. Ifi returns to his more human form and the temperature in the room drops about thirty degrees, though I'm still sweating profusely. I'm dizzy, too, though whether that's from the heat, the fire, or the dead woman coming back to life, I can't rightly say.

With everything going on, it takes a moment for Mary's last words to register.

"Are dying wishes considered reliable?" I ask.

Elal nods. "Generally. We can tell if someone's spirit is too broken to make sense. Why do you ask?"

"Because Mary only has one child. So why was her wish that her babies—plural—be saved?"

The Crime Scene

He who dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose. ~ Anne Bronte

The cold air of the rainy evening hits me as we exit the mausoleum. The gargoyles, Okura and Akuro, do not come to life to greet us again, but I feel Okura's eyes on me as we walk away, and I swear she winks at me.

"What do you think it means?" I ask, referring to the final wish of Mary Dracule.

Sebastian shrugs. "Perhaps she had a child in the past no one knew about? We'll have to look into it. Maybe something at the crime scene will give us a clue."

Lily greets us with a cheery smile when we return to the carriage. "Aren't they amazing?" she says, gushingly.

"The gargoyles or the Ifrits?" I ask.

She considers. "Well, both, but mostly I meant the Ifrits. The gargoyles don't talk much."

"I've never met an Ifrit before," I say, which is true of all of them actually. First dryad, vampire, Ifrit and gargoyle. And whatever Matilda is.

"They're fun. You should come clubbing with us sometime. They know the best spots for partying."

Sebastian huffs at that, and this time I'm on the side of the boring vampire. "That's probably not my scene," I say, diplomatically.

We climb into the carriage and Lily takes us through town towards Dracula's place.

The tightly packed town becomes more spread out the longer we drive, turning into farmland and then larger estates.

The carriage comes to a stop, and I look out the window and see a Spanish-style villa sprawled out over acres of beautiful land with a view to kill for. "This is incredible," I say. "Clearly Dracula lives on the right side of the tracks."

"Tracks?" Sebastian asks.

"It's an expression. He's rich."

"Vampires get very good at acquiring wealth," he says.

"I assume that applies to you as well?" I say, thinking about their freaking castle and cars and all the things.

"Yes," he says, simply.

"Then why do you still work as lawyers? You could just retire on your wealth, couldn't you?"

"We could. But even vampires need purpose. Being immortal is a long time to live, and for that life to have meaning, we need work that fulfills us and makes a difference."

"That makes sense," I say. "But why law? Specifically, why defense?"

"The paranormal legal system can be finicky. Dragons are generally decent judges, since they are considered wise and long-lived even by our community standards. But their perspective can get skewed as a result and they can