Free Kill It With Magic: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 1) by J.A. Cipriano Page A

coolness. The burns brought me back to campfires I’d had when I was six. My marshmallow dropped from the stick, and without thinking, I grabbed the flaming bit of sugar. It had burned my hand so badly that I could still remember the feel of the sticky burning candy.
    Ash from the explosion fell from the sky with the rain. I coughed and tried to wipe my face with my hands. My limbs flopped uselessly in the air before falling limply onto my chest. I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open. Even the giant, blackened handprint that had been left on my coat didn’t scare me as much as it ought to have. That was going to sting tomorrow; I’d worry about it then.
    The shaman was standing now, despite the fact that the vast majority of his skin was blistered and oozing. He looked like a roast that had fallen into the fire. When Gib spotted Logan hiding behind a giant elm tree, he marched up to him and grabbed him by the throat.
    “A fire demon?” Gib yelled in Logan’s face. His voice was loud and ferocious. “Did you think it would be so easy to have it do your bidding?”
    “I was trying to contain it in a cold iron sword when you arrived,” Logan managed to squeeze out through his restricted airway while avoiding direct eye contact.
    He hadn’t answered the question directly. Since he couldn’t lie, that made me think of only one thing.
    “Why did you need the sword?” I asked.
    Gib snarled and that’s when I saw him glaring at me. “Did you know the vampire was trying to contain that demon in a cold iron sword?”
    I tried to narrow my eyes but found that it took a little too much effort. “Is it dead then?”
    It was Danae that I heard next. “No. The demon is trapped in a pillar of salt for the time being.”
    “Expect a bill,” I murmured. I then rolled over onto my knees and retched violently. I wiped my mouth on my sleeve as a thought struck me. “So I just made things easier for you, Logan? Didn’t I? The demon is still alive, but it’s contained now.”
    “I’m not sending it back. As long as it’s contained, we can continue the binding. I can finish the weapon,” Logan said before Gib slammed him into the tree.
    “That is forbidden! The creation of demon weapons has been outlawed for so long that even your precious founder will not remember a time when it was legal,” Gib growled. His eyes flashed as he hoisted Logan into the air leaving flecks of his charred skin on the vampire’s clothing. “Enough of this nonsense. Now, where is my son, leech?”
    Logan licked his lips and smiled, which seemed a bit odd given his precarious position. “Rome.”
    The worst of the sudden exhaustion was forgotten with those words. Hopefully Gib didn’t go into full on werewolf-killing-frenzy mode because, at this point, even the smallest spell would probably put me into a good eighteen hour coma. My body had used up pretty much all of its energy keeping me from becoming a human piece of toast. Good job, body. You can have a cupcake when this is all over. Except that cupcakes go straight to your hips, so maybe some celery instead. Congratulations body, you get celery. It was so sad a thought that it almost made me cry.
    “Why Rome?” I said.
    “The Bear founder lives in Rome. So, that’s where the baby was taken,” Logan replied, his eyes darting from the werewolf to me and back again.
    “What do the Bears want with him?” I asked as I crawled to my feet.
    Gib snarled; his hand had almost completely healed. I hadn’t actually seen him heal. It was like trying to watch darkness fall or a flower bloom. You were sure it happened, but you couldn’t pinpoint the exact where and when of it all. He flung the vampire aside before turning toward me with hatred-filled his eyes. “I don’t care why! We need to go get him, Lillim. Now!”
    I winced and staggered toward Logan. As I opened my mouth to say something I realized Gib was still glaring at me. His entire being contained rage so intense