Page 113 of Let Sleeping Vampires Lie

I almost dropped the power.

Not from fear.

From rage.

I would burn this entire hall to ash, before I let him think he could bait me.

I shaped the fire.

This time, it did not flow as a sheet or a narrow arc. It erupted from the center of the hall in a sweeping spiral, a rising column that expanded outward along the ceiling.

White-gold flame raced above the crowd, hugging the chandeliers. Crystal shattered under the heat. Molten drops fell and evaporated before they could touch the buyers below.

The fire rolled down along the walls on one side of the hall, consuming every enhanced soldier in its path. Flesh blistered and vanished. Cybernetic implants warped and cracked. Weapons dropped, then melted.

Half the hall disappeared in a roaring inferno.

The other half crouched behind invisible lines my magic drew.

The buyers were untouched.

Some looked at me with dawning horror.

Some with awe.

Con looked at me with something far more complex.

My vision blurred for a moment. The edges went white. My knees wobbled.

The pillar of flame flickered once, then sank back into ember threads, curling along the charred walls like smoke.

The tall mercenary fleeing had not escaped completely.

The fire had caught his arm as he tried to shield the case. The limb was gone now, burned away from elbow to fingertip. The stump smoked, black and unsalvageable.

He failed to save the case, my fire too powerful.

He grappled with the case with his remaining hand, trying to extinguish the flames, before it turned to ash.

He roared and ran.

Con saw it.

He broke from the cluster of bodies near our row and sprinted for the exit, ignoring the blood that soaked his shirt.

“Con,” I shouted.

Too late.

He threw himself at the mercenary as the man reached the door.

They collided. The force of the impact knocked them both sideways.

The mercenary recovered quickly.

He had lost an arm. He still had teeth, knees, a fist.

He slammed Con into the marble floor, driving him down hard enough that I heard something crack. Then he drove his knee into Con’s ribs again and again, each strike meant to shatter.