Margaret Carter - New Flame (Ellora's Cave)

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2024-12-23 0 0 225.78KB 21 页 5.9玖币
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NEW FLAME
An Ellora’s Cave publication written by
MARGARET CARTER
MS Reader (LIT) ISBN # 1-84360-607-0
Other available formats (no ISBNs are assigned):
Adobe (PDF), Rocketbook (RB), Mobipocket (PRC) & HTML
© Copyright Margaret Carter, 2003.
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave.
Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc. USA
Ellora's Cave Ltd, UK
This e-book may not be reproduced in whole or in part by email forwarding, copying, fax,
or any other mode of communication without author/publisher permission.
Edited by PAMELA CAMPBELL
Cover Art by DARRELL KING
Chapter 1
Judy sat back and scanned her office in the back room of the bookstore. The desk
lamp alone didn’t do the job. Far too many shadows hovered just outside the lighted
area to fit into her comfort zone.
“I’ve got to put a real light back here,” she said to the empty room, happy for even
the sound of her own voice.
She stole a glance at the dark window with its artificial holly wreath. Locked.
Of course it was locked. She’d double-checked the locks on the front door and all the
windows as soon as she had closed the bookstore. That was an hour ago. She’d checked
twice more since.
The robbery had taught her to do that. Three weeks later and she still jerked at the
slightest sound. Some way to get into the Christmas spirit!
Sweaty from unpacking used paperbacks, she pushed clingy tendrils of damp hair
away from her forehead. December or not, this was San Diego, and her little shop didn’t
have air conditioning. Time to knock off work for the night and retreat to her apartment
on the second floor. Her sister was supposed to come over in the morning and help her
with the latest batch of estate-sale boxes anyway.
She stretched her T-shirt away from her damp breasts and wished she had the nerve
to open the window beside her for a breeze. The outside temperature dropped to
refreshing coolness after dark. But the thug who had threatened her with a knife and
cleaned her out of a full day’s cash remained on the loose. Thank goodness for the
bounty of holiday shoppers.
She stifled the impulse to make another circuit of the doors and downstairs
windows. Instead, she picked up a small rectangular box from today’s mail, bearing her
mother’s return address in Denver. Business stuff got opened immediately; personal
stuff waited ‘til the store closed. Now that the store was closed, she was entitled to a
break from bills and insurance forms. Too many bills. After all her work, the danger of
losing the shop still hadn’t passed. This latest blow just piled the burden higher.
She shook the box. No rattle. “What’s this? Early Christmas present?”
She cut the tape, turned back the lid flaps, and unwrapped the bubble paper,
accidentally pinching one of the bubbles. Its sharp pop made her jump. Trembling, she
breathed slowly until her heartbeat steadied. Peeking into the box, she found an
old-fashioned oil lamp, its glass discolored from apparent decades of use. Tucked next
to it was a folded piece of paper. The note read, “Dear Judy: This belonged to Aunt
Marta. Before she died, she said you should have it. Something about how you needed
it, because you’re the only single woman left in the family. Who knows what she meant
by that (ha, ha)? She always was a character. So—Merry Christmas. See you soon. Love,
Mom.”
Judy lifted the lamp out of its box. The base felt too heavy for brass—bronze,
maybe?
She ran her fingertips over the smooth curve of the chimney. It looked like an
antique, probably brought from the old country. Old enough to be worth money? Could
she sell it for enough to cover one of those pesky bills?
Marta, her mother’s aunt who’d died recently at the age of ninety-nine, had
emigrated from Eastern Europe as a girl. Judy remembered her only as a tall, slim
woman with steel-wool-colored hair. She’d met her great-aunt at infrequent family
reunions. Their unmarried status was likely all the two of them had in common.
Experimentally turning up the wick, she felt a sudden impulse to light the lamp.
Why not? Its parts seemed in working order.
She had a bottle of bayberry-scented oil stored with the hurricane lamp she kept for
earthquake-related power outages. It took only a minute, rummaging through a cabinet
next to the desk, to find the bottle. After pouring a small portion into the lamp, she set a
match to the wick. On first try, it blossomed into a clear glow, flooding the room with
the sweetish scent.
At the same moment, a bright streak flared at the edge of her vision.
She spun around in the swivel chair, ready to climb the wall. Or run out screaming if
the thug had come back for seconds.
In the corner of the room loomed a pillar of fire. A six-foot column of orange-red
flame, fading to indigo and violet at the edges. It undulated slowly like a candle in a
light breeze.
Oh, Lord, she had set the place on fire! Her books! She leaped to her feet.
The apparition radiated none of the fierce heat expected from a blaze that size. And
how could a spark have jumped from the desk to the center of the room without igniting
anything in between?
While she stared, the flame’s outline shifted, growing curves and appendages. It
took a few seconds for her to recognize the emerging shape as the figure of a man. The
fire had all but died away. She saw an apparently solid body, although it still emitted a
faint glow.
The naked man, lean and graceful, stood about a foot taller than Judy. He had
tawny-bronze skin, an angular, striking face. Coppery hair growing to his shoulders
floated as if stirred by a phantom wind. With his every move, his muscles appeared to
flow like molten gold. While she stared at him in stunned disbelief, his penis hardened,
lengthened, and sprang to attention. The gleaming shaft made Judy’s hands curl with the
temptation to encircle it. A treacherous tingle started between her legs.
She plopped down in the chair. She’d lost it completely; she was going nuts from
stress. Or else she’d fallen asleep at the desk and plunged into one ever-more bizarre
dream. Either way, she wanted it to stop right now. She reached for the lamp to
extinguish the wick.
A voice echoed like a chime inside her head: No! Please…Do not send me away.
She looked around wildly, expecting she didn’t know what. Just something that
would make sense of the voices in her head. “Who’s that?” she growled to the room.
“What do you want?” she demanded of the figure in front of her.
I want to stay here and enjoy your world. I exist only while the lamp burns. A sigh
echoed through Judy’s mind. I have drifted in darkness for so many weary years—
“You’re not real. I’m dreaming—or crazy.” Yeah. Judy’s logical brain had her saying
stuff like that even while the intruder stood right in front of her.
You are not mad. A smile illuminated his face. The lamp called me. I have been sent to care
for you. To cherish you. The man glided toward Judy. His amber eyes snared hers, then
roamed downward to focus on her breasts. She became achingly aware of how her
nipples showed through the clinging shirt. A fragrance like sandalwood incense
mingled with the smell of bayberry from the oil.
She swallowed a lump. “Cherish?” No real man had ever used that word to her. He
sure talked pretty, for an apparition.
She shoved the chair back against the desk. “What are you?” Now she could feel an
aura of heat from the figure, warming rather than burning.
Your folk in the homeland know my kind as zmeu.
“What’s that mean?”
A shrug, like the flicker of a candle. It is what I am. Please believe that I intend you
no harm.
Definitely a weird dream, but kind of interesting. “Yeah? So what do I get for
releasing you from limbo?”
My friendship. My passion. I exist only to lavish these upon you.
“Hey, not even three wishes?” She groped for the edge of the desk and pressed her
fingernails against it while she tried to joke. She needed the solidity of the wood right
then. “Or a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?”
The man—the zmeu—gazed at her with a small frown of puzzlement. I can find lost
treasure if needed, but that is not my purpose here. Many of your folk claimed to enjoy
my companionship—your Tante—
He reached out and touched the hollow of Judy’s throat with one tapering fingertip.
A painless electric spark sizzled on her still sweat-dampened skin. Heat danced from
the point of contact to her breasts, making both nipples tighten and tingle. She blushed
and crossed her arms over her chest to hide the telltale peaks.
A crash sounded from behind her. She leaped to her feet before she realized she’d
even reacted.
The back alley door! Had the creep returned for another day’s receipts? Easy money
for him meant a threat to her livelihood. She’d sunk every dollar of savings from seven
years as a school librarian into this place.
She should have replaced that lock. How could she think that flimsy latch was
secure? For that matter, she should have closed up shop after the first robbery. Her
family kept reminding her it was insane to stay in this part of town.
The flame creature turned to face the doorway. Terrified, her pulse pounding in her
temples, Judy noted that the creature looked only half-human from the rear. His upper
back showed only the fiery silhouette of a vaguely masculine shape.
A man clattered into the office. Judy immediately recognized his blond buzz-cut and
stocky build. The same man who’d robbed her the last time.
He brandished a knife and grinned when he saw her. “You still here, bitch?” He
shook his head as if she’d been a bad girl and took a single step toward her. “I told you
not to call the cops, honey. You too dumb for your own good or what?” He stepped past
the zmeu as if he couldn’t see the glowing figure. “I’m gonna have to teach you good
this time. Hard—so even a stupid bitch like you ain’t likely to forget.”
Her stomach clenched. She imagined the blade slashing her face or ripping into her
belly. This time she might lose something worse than cash.
He waved the weapon at her as he moved closer to her. Inches away, he clutched her
breast. The rough grip wrenched a yelp from her.
“Shut up!” He held the blade to her neck and unsnapped her jeans.
The flame-man darted forward and grabbed the robber’s wrist. The thug convulsed
as if from a high-voltage shock. The knife hit the floor.
The zmeu jerked him away from Judy, who saw the two of them in profile, the
creature a blur of half man, half whirling fire. The robber’s face screwed up in anger and
fear as he grabbed at the hand holding him. His hand went through the creature’s arm as
if it weren’t there.
The thug’s anger evaporated, and he stared at his own arm with widening eyes.
There was only fear left in his face. The zmeu shoved him onto his back. His head made
a dull thump on the floorboards.
With both hands the creature gripped the top of his trousers and yanked. The denim
ripped like newspaper. The shredded fabric fell from his legs. The tatters of his briefs
immediately followed. A burning smell stung Judy’s nose.
Mewling , the man lay flat with his hands grasping his genitals to hide them. The
creature forced his legs apart and pinned his splayed thighs to the floor with its knees.
He lay exposed like a dog ready for the vet’s castration tool.
The flame-man’s nails swept down the thug’s torso from shoulders to groin,
shredding his shirt on the way.
He screamed.
With her mouth dry, Judy watched, half hoping the creature would actually maim
him. And, like the good liberal she tried to be, praying it wouldn’t.
The zmeu reached down to run a fingernail over the man’s scrotum. He gasped, his
whole body jerking. Judy was almost sure she saw a wisp of smoke.
The man howled and tried to pull free. His large hands batted at the air above his
groin.
The creature slapped them away. Again Judy caught a whiff of singed skin. The man
bucked helplessly under the zmeu’s sinuous body, while claw-like nails scored red
lines on his chest and abdomen.
The zmeu planted both hands on the man’s chest. The robber’s torso went rigid, and
he shrieked. This time she couldn’t mistake the odor of charred flesh.
The creature stood upright and flowed into his flame shape, then reverted to human
form. The man scrambled to his feet. Burns branded every visible part of his body.
In a swirl of light, the zmeu snatched up the pieces of his pants and shoved them
into his hands. The robber fumbled, almost dropping the rags, then recovered enough to
lurch toward the exit.
Tears streamed down his face as he staggered out, clutching his tattered clothes. The
door slammed.
An image of his trying to explain his naked, burned condition flitted through Judy’s
mind. Her lips formed a grin while she hastily shoved a chair in front of the damaged
door. Got to get a new lock first thing on Monday.
Chapter 2
摘要：

NEWFLAMEAnEllora’sCavepublicationwrittenbyMARGARETCARTERMSReader(LIT)ISBN#1-84360-607-0Otheravailableformats(noISBNsareassigned):Adobe(PDF),Rocketbook(RB),Mobipocket(PRC)&HTML©CopyrightMargaretCarter,2003.AllRightsReserved,Ellora'sCave.Ellora'sCavePublishing,Inc.USAEllora'sCaveLtd,UKThise-bookmaynot...

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