Chương 157: Chapter 156 [Fire Coat]

The group reached their street, with the lads turning off towards their flat. Weird, not joining them. New normal though. Not complaining, looking forward to having a place with just Shai for company.

"Night then," said Luka.

"Congratulations again, both of you," said Parmo.

"Yeah, see you all in the morning. Try to actually get some sleep, you two," said Sam with a grin.

"Yeah, that ain't happening. I bet they look shattered tomorrow when they have to get up on no sleep," laughed Phil. Leo grinned and raised a hand as he walked away, down the street to his new home. A moment later Torren and Rika reached their own door, and Rika peeled off from Torren's side to hug Shai once, quick and tight, then headed inside without a word. A few houses down, Leo stopped at the right door and held the key up. Looked at it for a second.

"Go on then," Shai said. The lock turned. They'd been in earlier, changed the sheets, moved a few things around. The houses on this street had been set aside for incoming guards and trainers, so the previous occupants' furniture had gone into storage, but the basics had stayed. Bed, couch, TV. Fridge still humming in the kitchen, electric oven they'd probably figure out tomorrow. It already felt less like someone else's house than it had that morning.

"Better than the flat," she said.

"Bit more privacy at least." Her tail was moving slowly behind her.

"I've been thinking about this all day," she said.

"The house?"

"Try again." She was already smiling when he crossed the room to her.

Parmo was on the couch with his feet up when Luka looked over from the kitchen.

"Reckon he'll take her to the same places you took Rika?" Parmo thought about it.

"What, you mean the time I took her to look at the DVD section in the charity shop and ended up following Sara and Davan on their secret-not-so-secret date thing? I doubt it. I mean, we're not exactly spoilt for choice at the minute so I don't know. Just doesn't feel like Phil's style."

"He won't last five minutes before they're both bored," Sam said, not looking up.

"They'll either end up fighting or fucking."

"Yeah." Parmo laughed.

"Knowing Phil, probably both."

"Trust him to find the one girl in Stonehall who's more likely to kick his head in than hold his hand," said Luka.

"To be fair," said Parmo.

"That probably works for him."

Phil spat dirt and pushed himself up.

"Jesus," he said.

"You hit harder than Shai does after I've told her something stupid." Sasha stood over him, not even breathing hard.

"If you're not going to go hard, what's the point?" He couldn't really argue with that.

"Fair enough. Again." She put him on the deck inside twenty seconds. He lay there for a moment looking up at the sky.

"You're good at this."

"Obviously." She folded her arms.

"You don't get into the guard by deciding you've got nothing better to do." This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work. Phil looked at her. She held it for about three seconds.

"Fine. Sara joined and I followed. I'm just good at fighting, so what?"

"Never said I had a problem with it." He got up, brushing dirt off his shirt.

"Kind of hot actually." Her ears went pink.

"You're just trying to distract me."

"Nah. If I wanted to distract you, I'd do that thing with you like with your ears." The pink went red. Then her foot connected with his stomach and he went down like a deflated football. He lay there, holding his gut, wondering why he picked the one woman who was happier beating him up than having him tease her. Then he wondered why he liked it. Yeah, those idiots can't even find out about this.

"Oh gods, sorry," Sasha said, though she didn't sound entirely sorry.

"You embarrassed me and you wouldn't stop, so I made you stop."

"Okay," he managed.

"Remind me to think before I speak next time."

"Probably for the best." He stayed on the ground another moment, then got up carefully.

"Right. How about we end it there before I end up looking like something came out of the woods and had a go at me. I'll show you something cool." She raised an eyebrow.

"Better than the boring stuff from earlier. I don't see what the big deal is with," she frowned, "what did you call it? The sexbox?" Phil laughed.

"Xbox. It's for playing games."

"Fighting's more fun."

"Fair. No, I'm going to show you how my magic works." Her ears came up immediately.

"Oh, that sounds way better. Come on, I want to see it."

"That's what she said." She blinked.

"What?"

"Nothing. I'll explain it later."

The stone targets were set up along the far end of the training area, pockmarked from use. Phil was surprised to see a few of the other townsfolk training their magic on them. Apparently people had made progress in the few days he'd been away. Phil waited until someone finished with one and walked back to town, rolled his shoulders, held out a fist, and sent the first fireball into the target. Then another. He changed up the speed he fired them, the size, the power.

With each hit, Sasha let out a short whistle or a "woo" from behind him, and he couldn't help smirking. I'm man enough to admit I like how that sounds. Having my own little wolf-girl cheerleader. Fuck. Add that to the list of things the others can't find out about. I'd never hear the end of it. That probably goes for Sasha as well if she found out I thought the words little and cheerleader. She'd smack me again. Is this what South American blokes feel like when their missus twats them with a chancla?

He was about to throw another fireball when something felt different. He remembered the feeling he got when his fireball spell upgraded; this was like that, but different somehow. He summoned his swords. Sasha frowned.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying something." He held them out, pictured the blades wrapped in flame, and pushed the fire toward them instead of out. It worked immediately. The drain hit harder than he expected, more than Volcanic Blast had cost him, but the chime sounded and he knew before he even checked that it had worked. He quickly pulled the magic tab up on his UI. [Fire Coat — Unlocked] Applies sustained fire to surface or object. That'll do. He closed it without reading further. He'd go over it properly with the others later.

The flame didn't behave like normal fire. When he moved the swords, it didn't flicker or trail; it just stayed, like it was part of the steel. He could slash with them, wave them around, maybe even dunk them in water. He just knew that the only way to stop the fire was for him to cancel the spell. He swung once, watching the flame hold perfectly still despite the movement.

"That," said Sasha, "is actually really cool."

"Yeah." He didn't look away from the blades.

"I've been waiting to get this to work for ages. Can't wait to show the lads. Ronan said I'd lose to Luka if magic was involved, try telling me that now." Sasha laughed.

"Good luck getting Ronan to change his mind on that." Phil chuckled.

"Yeah, I pestered him for days leading up to the festival, and he didn't change his opinion on it once. I wonder if he actually would now that I have this." He let the spell end and put his swords back in his inventory.

"Right," he said.

"Food?"

"Finally," said Sasha.

"I'm starving."

Sasha was still grinning to herself when she turned onto the street. Good day. Better than she'd expected honestly, and she'd expected it to be pretty good. She wanted to tell Sara everything, and also, if she was being honest, she wanted to see if she could sneak up on her. Sara was jumpy and it never got old. She reached the front door and tried the handle. Locked. She frowned. Sara never locked the door during the day.

She shrugged, got her key out and let herself in, easing the door shut behind her without making a sound. She slipped her boots off in the hall and moved toward Sara's room in her socks, slow and deliberate. Then she stopped. Noises. Coming from behind Sara's door. Her sister, sounding out of breath. Sasha's eyes went wide. No way. She's got someone over. Is this him? The mysterious boyfriend Phil mentioned at the pub last night? She thought about Davan.

He'd probably cleared out when he found out Sara was having company. Probably for the best. Those two argued over absolutely everything; it would've been a nightmare. She pressed her back against the wall and waited. Didn't want to ruin her sister's fun. A few minutes later the noises stopped. She heard voices, low, but she couldn't make out the second one. Then the door opened. Sara walked out with nothing on. Sasha burst out laughing.

"Nice, sis. Who's the lucky guy?" Sara froze.

"Sasha. I didn't know you were back, I..." Davan walked out behind her and stopped dead. He'd noticed about two seconds too late. Sasha threw her hands over her eyes.

"Oh gods. What is happening right now?" She kept them there.

"You and Davan? Since when? I thought you two hated each other."

"Sasha, let me explain..."

"I'm not looking until he's decent, Sara, I swear."

"Davan, get dressed." A shuffling sound. Sasha stayed exactly where she was, hands firmly in place.

"I'm going to kill Phil," she said.

"He knew, didn't he? He knew and he let me move in here without saying a word. Oh, just wait until I get my hands on him."