Firewalker by Allyson James Page A

will.”
    Nash didn’t believe me, but then, Nash never believed me.
    He directed us to give statements to Lopez, and then he turned away to take Salas and his deputies over the scene. Lopez’s lips quirked as I had to tell him exactly what time I left the diner, who I’d seen there, and why I’d decided to ride with Mick into the middle of the desert. Everyone in town would know by tomorrow that Mick and I had been engaged in sexual activity out there in the dark, because Lopez was almost as good a gossiper as Fremont Hansen. Finally, Lopez finished with us and told me and Mick to go.
    Mick stopped by the diner on the way to the hotel, where I picked up my bike. Everyone had already heard about the corpse, of course, and townspeople in the parking lot tried to get out of us what we knew. Mick and I managed to evade questions and head home.
    Mick had known me long enough to understand what I needed. He pulled down the blinds and undressed me himself, and then he carried me into the bathroom and set me under a warm shower. His clothes came off, and he stepped in with me, his large body enveloping mine.
    We didn’t make love there as we sometimes did; we just soaked up the hot water. I closed my eyes to the feel of Mick’s big hands smoothing soap over my body, opening them when he rinsed me off and lifted me out. He wrapped me in a towel, carried me into the bedroom, and laid me on the bed.
    Now he made love to me, slow and easy. By the time he was done, I was pleasantly drowsy, the horror of the crime scene fading a little. As had been Mick’s intention, I drifted off to sleep in his warm embrace.

    Whenever I encountered Coyote in one of my dreams, I seemed to be naked. This time was no exception. We stood side by side, he in his animal form, looking down at the remains of the body, me human and naked. Turkey vultures moved in slow hops around the corpse, like hooded demons feasting on their victim. Coyotes, lured by the scent of blood, circled at a safe distance, their eyes shining in the darkness.
    “Did you do this?” I asked Coyote. He sat on his haunches, a coyote as big as a wolf, except that he had the rail-thin legs and pointed nose of his species.
    I am capable of such a thing.
    “Don’t go all cryptic on me again,” I growled. “Were you really in the diner tonight?”
    Were you?
    “Of course I was. I was eating dinner.” I glanced at the corpse. “Kind of sorry I did, now.”
    There is your answer.
    “No one else could see you. Maya couldn’t. Did you pull a glam to get free food?”
    His answering laugh was full of amusement. I wanted to talk to you without anyone knowing about it.
    “Why? You didn’t say much of anything.”
    I didn’t have time. I knew Mick was coming for you. Be careful of Mick. He’s more dangerous than you know.
    “You told me that before. I’ve seen how dangerous he is.”
    You know only what you’ve witnessed. What goes on in his mind is unfathomable to you. If he makes the decision to kill you, he will without warning. He will be swift and merciless. You love him with your human emotions, but he is not human. He never has been. His emotions are . . . complicated.
    “Like yours?”
    No one is as complicated as me.
    “No kidding.” I knew better than to ignore his warnings, but I had many immediate things to think about, like the dragons taking Mick to trial for not killing me and now a corpse at the edge of town. Worrying about what Mick might do in the future would have to wait.
    You need to end your Beneath magic, Coyote said. Before it ends you.
    “Easy for you to say.”
    You were born with the magic, but it has been biding its time, unable to grow here in this world of earth magics. Now it has been triggered by your journey Beneath.
    I felt cold, but I nodded. “I figured as much. I thought maybe you could help me get rid of it.”
    No, Stormwalker. It is part of you. But you must control it, or it will consume you. And possibly everything else on