Free Hellfire by Kate Douglas Page A

lay there for a moment, silently critiquing the
sensation of waking up with such a tall and powerful man curled around her.
She’d never once slept through the night with a man.
    Not that the opportunity
hadn’t been there, but she’d never known any man before whom she cared enough
about or trusted enough to let her guard down around him. For some reason, she
trusted Alton, which made no sense. She hardly knew him. Even more bizarre,
he’d already admitted he wasn’t human.
    Neither am
I.
    Oh, God. She’d avoided
thinking about what HellFire said. That was going to take some getting used to.
Was she just going to accept the word of a talking sword? For that matter, was
she going to accept the fact a sword could talk?
    Hard to
ignore a talking sword. Especially a snarky talking sword. This was all just way, way
too over the top.
    Never in her
wildest dreams…
    Biting back an impending case
of nervous giggles, Ginny carefully slipped out from under Alton’s arm, grabbed
her overnight bag, and quietly went into the bathroom. She hadn’t had a shower
since leaving Phoenix so many hours ago, and even though it was almost three in
the morning, washing off the grime of travel was her number-one priority.
    She showered quickly,
towel-dried her hair, and resigned herself to the fact she’d have frizzy
instead of smooth curls in the morning. Then she slipped into her cotton knit
sleep pants and the soft cami top and padded quietly across the room to her own
bed.
    A blue glow on the little
round table by the window caught her eye. Could HellFire be awake? She glanced
at Alton. He snored softly, but he’d rolled over on his side and his back was
to her. Before she could talk herself out of it, Ginny carefully grabbed the
hilt and slipped the sword out of the scabbard.
    Alton’s warning slammed into
her thoughts just as she pulled HellFire free. He’d told her she couldn’t use
his sword in battle without risking death. She stared at her fingers wrapped
solidly around the jeweled hilt, at the way it fit her hand, and hoped the
threat didn’t extend to quiet conversation.
    Nothing happened. She let out
a soft, shaky breath. Then she quietly lay the glowing
sword on the floor beside the bed and sat down next to it, out of Alton’s line
of sight.
    The blade shimmered with a
soft, blue-toned light. She ran her fingers along the crystal, careful not to
cut herself on the razor-sharp edge. Whispering softly, she asked, “HellFire?
Are you awake?”
    I am.
    The voice was in her mind!
Clear as a bell and not nearly as snarky as it had sounded earlier. She
answered with her thoughts and hoped she was doing it right. May I ask you a question?
    You may.
    Oh, this was just too weird,
but she’d been afraid of waking Alton and she had so many questions! You said I was a daughter of Lemuria. How can that be?
    There are
very few who walk upon the earth with the blood of Lemuria in their veins. Only
when like meets like does the blood run true.
    She thought about that a
moment. When like meets like… Are you saying that both my
birth mother and the man who fathered me carried the blood of Lemuria?
    The sword glowed brightly and
then went dark. Ginny stared at it for a moment before whispering, “Guess
that’s an affirmative.” Maybe she should have asked HellFire if she could ask questions, as in plural.
    A snarky, literal sword.
    Smiling at the thought, she
carefully slipped the sword back into its scabbard and set it on the table. She
started to crawl into her bed when Alton rolled over and blinked sleepy eyes in
her direction. “Ginny? Is something wrong?”
    “No. I felt grimy. I just took
a shower.”
    “Come back to bed. We have a
busy day ahead.” He was lying on top of the covers, but he raised the sheet,
inviting her to join him.
    She glanced at her empty bed
and shivered. She didn’t want to sleep alone. Not with Alton so close, but at
the same time, she had a feeling she could be making a terrible mistake…or