Page 52 of Inferno

“That’s fine. I just need it closed. I’ll open it again later.” He just needed to be assured that any nosy passers-by couldn’t see in and get an eyeful of his infernal form.

Zandro padded over to the door, nudging it closed with his nose, and then jumping up and leaning on it with his paws until the latch clicked. “Thanks, buddy,” Nerik said, still not really processing reality very well. He rolled onto his back again and curled up in a ball, pulling off his boots one at a time, followed by his socks. Then he wriggled out of his pants, tossing them aside. Finally naked, he removed his obsidian necklace, then cursed as the floor beneath him began to smoulder. “Fuck, fuck, fuck…” Nerik hauled himself onto his hands and knees, cursing at the slightly charred floor. There wasn’t too much damage, and hopefully he could sand it out later with a good stone.

Too tired to figure out the complexities of fire and floorboards, he crawled over to the fireplace, where ceramic tiles took the place of wooden planks, dragging the log Zandro had brought along with him. Then he pressed the log in against his torso, sighing in relief when it slipped through the wall of ash and joined the bulk of the fire deep within. Then, too tired to do anything else, he sank down on the tiled floor and closed his eyes.

◊ ◊ ◊

When Nerik woke, it was the middle of the night. A warm nose prodded at him, and he startled upright. “What? Fuck. What?” The cottage was dark, a faint moon lending just enough light to fumble about in.

Need wood,Zandro said, and Nerik blinked, trying to make sense of the words.

“What?”

Nerik fire low. Zandro fire low. Need wood. Make more fire.

“Yeah. Great idea.” Nerik lay back, grateful that he had a companion to take care of the details for him.

Open door.

Shit.

“Okay. I’m coming, buddy.” Nerik pushed himself to his feet, realising as he did so that Zandro was right; his internal fire was running low. Not dangerously low. Not ‘refuel now or die’ low, but uncomfortable, nonetheless. Nerik felt cold, and he had the urge to shiver… until he realised he was still in his infernal form, and shivering like a human did would do nothing to help him.

He opened the door and Zandro darted outside. He came back in a hurry, a log in his mouth, and he dropped it in the fireplace, then belched a plume of flames at it. The fire scorched the edges of the log, but did little else. What Zandro needed was kindling, not just a big log. The fire from earlier in the evening had gone out long ago.

“It’s okay, buddy, I’ve got it,” Nerik said. He staggered over to the fireplace and knelt down, holding out his hands. It took a moment for the determined little sparks to respond to his command, but soon enough, he’d managed to coax a proper flame to life. Meanwhile, Zandro had dashed off outside again, returning with a smaller log and dropping it by Nerik’s side.Nerik fuel fire,Zandro commanded, sounding a little concerned.

Obediently, Nerik picked up the log and absorbed it through his abdomen, feeling the heat begin to rise as the log caught alight. “Keep it coming, big guy,” he said, concentrating on the flame in the fireplace, and Zandro did, bringing a mouthful of kindling, and then a larger log. Nerik heaped them in the fireplace, getting a proper blaze going without too much trouble. Another medium sized log was dropped at his side, but that wasn’t quite what Nerik wanted just at the moment. “Okay, champ, I think things are under control in here. Come outside and we can get the rest of it sorted.” Nerik picked up a wooden bucket beside the front door and traipsed around the side of the house, grateful for the darkness of the night. He kept his eyes half-closed and pointed towards the wall, wherever possible. It was extremely unlikely that anyone would be out and about at this time of night, but years of experience had taught him that vigilance wasalwaysnecessary. It only took one slip for life to unravel at frightening speed.

At his wood shed, Nerik first of all selected a couple of smaller pieces of wood, absorbing them one by one into his abdomen. His internal fire perked up at the offering, his flames spreading and heating, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Then he filled the bucket with a variety of other pieces, smaller ones to get the fire inside roaring, and then some larger logs that would burn more slowly and give Zandro a good meal.

“Did you eat while I was away?” he asked the fire-dog, and Zandro nodded.

Yorin fed Zandro. Then Zandro made fire in morning. Zandro clever.

“Good. Come on, then. Let’s get inside.”

He closed the front door again and spent several long minutes tending to the fire in the grate. “Your coals should be ready in about fifteen minutes,” he told Zandro.

The fire-dog nudged him, then flopped down to sleep on the tiles. “Okay, great.” Nerik activated the obsidian gem on his necklace, wincing as the magic changed him back into his human form. “Fuck, that never gets any easier,” he grumbled. “Okay, puppy, you stay here. I’m going to bed.”

Zandro offered a faint yip in reply, and Nerik stumbled off into his bedroom. He collapsed into bed, still entirely naked, and was asleep thirty seconds later.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Daylight was creeping in around the curtains when Nerik woke the following morning. His first thought was to check his body… and yes, he was in human form, he noted in relief, although the fact that he was also sleeping in a bed should have clued him in to that. If he’d been in a bed in infernal form, the straw-stuffed mattress would have caught alight in a matter of minutes.

He dragged himself out of bed, feeling more alert than he had last night, but still a little drained. He dressed in his usual worn trousers, but as he was reaching for a plain shirt, he hesitated. He’d missed Yorin while he was away, and had been a little disappointed that he hadn’t been around when he’d got home. He knew it was selfish to expect the man to drop whatever other commitments he had just to wait around for Nerik to get back, but after he’d done it once, it hadn’t seemed outlandish to think he might do it again.

But in response to his sudden fit of longing, Nerik moved instead to put on the shirt Yorin had given him at the start of the week. He held it up to look at it, and once again felt utterly amazed that Yorin had made it for him before he’d found out about his infernal side. The orange-gold embroidery, matched with the maroon fabric, was a work of art. Feeling indulgent, he slipped it on, running his hand over the fabric as it slid down his torso and settled into place. Just a couple of hours to go until he could see Yorin.

First, though, he had an errand to run today. That was nothing unusual, given that it was a Monday, but irritating nonetheless, given that this was one of the unpaid ones. Damn unicorns.

Out in the kitchen, he found Zandro sitting attentively in front of the fire, watching as the flames slowly reduces the logs to coals. “Preparing breakfast?” he asked the dog.

Hot. Crunchy,Zandro replied, his tail thumping a couple of times on the floor.

“Yeah, yeah, well, you enjoy that,” Nerik said, giving Zandro a rub on his head. “I’ve got to go deliver a message to Stanley. That was the man who brought the unicorn over the other day. Do you want to come for a run?”