The Fire-Bringer

preternaturally beautiful loins of a daddy vampire and a mommy vampire. Or my best friend Nikki who is the only daughter of the chieftain of the local werelion pack. As a cub, she has

ade blowjay gestures at me for the rest of the year. I was really popular for a bit, though, so there was that. Anyway, she got scratched on the boob by an overly amorous werewolf suitor in college and now has to chain herself up in her mom's basement three days out of a

-Fae. Flowers never fail to bloom under her care and tiny furry critters seem to follow her around wherever she goes--which is hell on my father's allergies--but that is about the extent of her powers. She is, however, endlessly beautiful despite being eighty years old and therefore thirty years older than my father. She looks slightly older than my own twenty-one years. It's kind of mortifying. She is a tall, willowy redhead with huge green eyes that take up half her face and skin so white she practically glows in the dark. Why she fell in love with my stout, balding father who stood

powers you just haven't t

with an obscene amount of whip cream on top. I try to keep the distaste out of my face and avert my eyes as she idly wipes away the dark brown smudge

blue cheese dressing in front of me. The four-alarm hot wings that accompanied them are long gone, the pile of bony carcasses the only evidence of my gluttony. "My mother is the living embod

he human eye and serve to filter ninety-five percent of the sun's UV rays while still allowing bright light into the place. As a purebred vampire, Olive can withstand sunlight, but prefers to be out of it. She says sun exposure feels like having her skin abraded with a cheese grater.

es her teeth. She makes a beeline for our table, but another were-fox grabs her arm and pulls her to a chair. Sylvie plunk

each other. Hers perturbe

ack tights, a red sleeveless empire-waist dress showcasing her buff, golden arms, and a black bandanna covered in red rosettes wrapped around her black and gold corkscrew curls. The smile on her face disappears as soon as she sees Sylvie and I swear to God, the whole restaurant darkens as s

uck," Oliv

h to the back door in a blink of an eye. I, on the other hand, probably can't take more than three steps without getting my throat slashed by

le to take Olive's cold ha

n the bright side, at least you won't

o Sylvie. It is a horrible strategy on her part because she won't be able to see Sylvie coming up behind her, but I don't say anything. If she wants to ignore Sylvie, that's one thing. As the only Mundy in a group of supes, I've

d lean toward her. "Hey, mayb

y. "Do you think I'd let that bitch push me out of my f

t she only shrugs. I turn back to Nikki. "Com

she growls. She glances down at my empty plate and pushes out her l

fingers. I consider asking her again to leave with me, but bite my lip. When Nikki has made up her mind about something, there's not

d for something bloody.

n. I don't like being reminded that my food was once a bleeding slab of flesh that used to be attached to a livi

arge plate of hot wings. And cheesy fries. I groan. I can't ever get enough of cheesy fries and unlike my friends, I do not have a

toward Nikki. "Did

launched herself in front of Nikki to keep her from attacking the were-fox and got an elbow to the eye for her trouble. A werewolf waitress and Sylvie's friend Denise also jumped into the fray to break up the two women, but by the time Nikki and Sylvie were separated,

er, too, so I finally had to block him." Nikki reaches for Olive's drink, takes an experimental sip, sm

seur!" Olive smacks her palm

in front of all our friends. One asshole took a video of it with his camera phone and uploaded it to Youtube within the hour. I was an Internet sensation for about a month. T

of the area until my gaze lands on Olive again. She frowns at me and I shake my head. Sylvie is glaring at the back of Nikki's head as though she is trying to drill a hole into her skull with her eyes. Nikki is oblivious to her enmit

oking around with Olive, determined to ignore her. To a were-animal, there is no greater insult than to be dismissed as a pest and nothing more. I have a vision of Sylvie sne

the side of my face. My fingers form a claw and I dig into the area between my breasts. I rake my nails from my jaw to my collarbone. I pinch the inside of my wrist and twist hard. Scrape my back against the hard plastic of my chair. I plunge my f

e, you got fleas?" Ol

aw, but the itch won't ease. Goosebumps are sprouting all over my arms and my skin is crawlin

s when she gets a good look at me. "Oh my god, you have to stop scratching,

crescents under my nails. With my free hand, I

gouges I have made on my skin are starting to burn in the open air. I look down at the fork next to my plate

mouth even before she has swallowed whatever is in there. Her anger is a red-orange ball with green and violet spikes growing bigger and bigger. She grabs the purple-haired elf as she passes an