“I should have just nailed her from behind before she realized that we were here,” I thought to myself bitterly as I sent one of my icicles flying toward Lita and tried to avoid the chain flying at me and attempting to entangle me. Okay, so I see myself as the good guy here, and that wouldn’t have been a very good guy thing to do, but it would have been damn satisfying and possibly have saved me having to fight her like this. Besides, as uncomfortable as I was with the idea, when we did take her and her Troll buddies down I figured that we might have to make sure they weren’t going to get up again, ever.

Lita had obviously figured out the whole ‘I’m a Nymph’ thing if she sent those Trolls to collect me for sale. If I allowed her to stick around she would just make other attempts on both me and my car and, since the sales invoice for the parts and work had my home address, she wouldn’t have to look very hard. No, it was better for me and everyone around me if this little problem ended permanently.

Melody seemed to agree with that sentiment as she threw that massive fireball at the pair of Trolls holding the guns before either of them even knew what hit them. While they were screaming, tossing their half-melted weapons aside, and throwing themselves into a snowbank trying to put themselves out she threw herself at the others to fight them up close and personal. I approved of her decision. For one thing, we were still too close to public areas for her to use that big gun of hers. It makes a lot of noise and a big mess when she shoots something or someone with it. Also, both it and the bullets were metal and Lita could have possibly thought to use them to her advantage, so it looked like Melody wanted all guns out of the equation.

Trolls are strong, fast, and have thick skin, but with Keurst unable to stand on his own and two others badly burned I was going to have to give Melody the advantage in this fight. Trolls are nowhere near as strong as Demons, or even half-Demons, and their thick skin wasn’t going to do much good against her claws. Demon claws can cut through just about anything, especially with enough strength and determination behind them. Between that and her regeneration, Melody wouldn’t have much trouble with them.

With that, I tried to focus on my own opponent, who might just have the advantage over me. She knew how to use her magic while I was still a total newbie at this kind of stuff with only a three-second lesson from Melody under my belt. Normally in the dead of winter, I’d have the advantage even like that with Ice being a secondary element and Metal only a tertiary one. And Metal is a sub-element of Earth and Ice, meaning that under the right circumstances I could control it as well.

This was far from a normal situation though and Lita had more experience and a garage full of metal tools that she could throw at me, not to mention the Charger, though I doubted that she wanted it damaged any more than I did. If I wanted to win this fight, I was going to have to use my brain. I avoided the chain trying to wrap around me like a snake with dancer-like grace and sent one of my remaining icicles flying toward her.

Lita stepped aside and my icicle went wide as I focused on forming two of the others into a shield of sorts to block the chain. She sneered as my shield shattered and the icicle hit the wall behind her. “You’re not very good at this, are you? Stupid bimbo, I’ll give you and your little Fire Mage friend props for courage but you should have just run and let me have the car while you had a chance.”

I couldn’t help but let out a giggle as I concentrated on my plan and informed Lita, “You didn’t get a very good look at Mel when we came back, did you? She’s not a Mage, she’s a Demon, and right now she’s tearing your buddies a new one.” I threw the last icicle at her and she stepped back as it went wide again and hit the floor rather than her as she sent the chain after me again.

“Doesn’t change the fact that you’re an idiot,” Lita snorted dismissively. “You just used the last of your ice and I have plenty of metal to take down you and your friend.” Then her eyes widened as the chain stopped before hitting me. “Wha…”

“I froze the chain, Bimbo, and Ice trumps Metal,” I told her with a smirk as I threw the chain at her to make it appear like I was taking one out of her book and trying to tie her up. A massive wrench flew into her hand, but she stepped back from the flying chain and slipped on the ice that I had coated the floor with. The second that she lost her footing I threw myself forward to tackle her, calling back over my shoulder, “Melody! I’m pullin’ a Mitchell with a Salamander twist! Bring those assholes when you’re done with them, no loose ends!”

As soon as I made physical contact with Lita I focused on taking us both to the Fire Plane. It was tiring but at least I wasn’t disoriented like Lita was. As she looked around in confusion and choked on what passed for air, I wound up, punched her in the face, and then took off running. She still had that wrench after all, and Nymphs aren’t really built for physical fights. Like I’ve said before, we’re lovers, not fighters. Besides, I had other plans.

I figured that Lita would have problems keeping up with me even though she looked like she was in pretty good shape. The air was barely breathable but with Cinder keeping me healthy, and this being her natural environment, I probably wouldn’t suffer any long-term effects from it. I also wasn’t affected by the heat so I likely wouldn’t tire as easily. As I ran off I called out along the Salamander network, ~Ummm… help?~

My mind was filled with a sense of surprise and wonder as a presence that felt male to me responded. ~One of us has bonded to a sentient? Her mind is so young, still an infant, and you too seem little more than a child. This is interesting, tell me of your need, Child.~

~Well, I’m being chased by a Metal Mage who tried to steal my car and get me sold into slavery, though I’m pretty sure that she’s pissed enough to kill me with that wrench of hers now. I brought her here because I figured that I can survive here better but I’m not really built for fighting, I don’t know how to use my magic very well yet even if I could get ice here, and I’m kind of worried that if I leave her here she might bond to one of your kind and come after me again,~ I explained hurriedly as I ran and tried to control my breathing.

~I do not think that one aligned to Metal could survive the bonding. I would not have thought someone aligned to Ice could either, but I can feel the Light of the Divine within you as well. We shall take care of your problem, just follow the pull of my voice, Child. My name is…~ What followed wasn’t so much a name as I knew them but rather a collection of musical notes and mental images. I could see why Ashe said that human tongues wouldn’t be able to pronounce their names, I couldn’t even think it.

My new friend seemed to recognize my difficulty and I felt his warm patience as he said, ~You may call me whatever is easiest for you.~

~How about Sal?~ I inquired as I headed off in the direction of the pull of his mental voice. A quick look over my shoulder showed Lita still following, wrench in hand, and she looked pissed. I quickly turned my attention back to watching where I was going and keeping ahead of her.

~That would be acceptable,~ Sal agreed with something like humor as I ran across the unfamiliar terrain toward his presence.

I had thought that the Fire Plane was all just black rock and lava pits but the area that we had appeared in was a small area with patches of ash-covered soil that harbored some hardy-looking plants, a pair of hot springs, and even a geyser of steaming water. I guessed that since I hadn’t thought of where specifically I had wanted to appear on the Fire Plane that we had just appeared somewhere random. I would have to be careful about that in the future.

I had wondered how anything managed to live here, but I guess that while Fire might be the dominant element on this plane, the others were not completely absent. I even saw various types of animals in my short run, including a fiery bird up above that Sal told me was a Phoenix, which of course was awesome. Still, it wasn’t long before I was running on black stone with an absolutely ginormous lava pit ahead of me.

I was near the edge with nowhere else to run when Lita caught up hacking, coughing, sweating, and cursing as she glared at me and approached wielding her wrench. “Nowhere to *cough* run now, you little bitch. I don’t know where we *cough* are, or how we got here, but you must be the stupidest person alive to bring me to a place where you can’t use your magic.”

“Well, we’re on the Fire Plane, and I’m not that stupid since I have friends here and you can’t get back to the Material Plane without me.” I backed slowly away as much as I could with the lava so close since I wasn’t sure if protection from fire and heat included lava. I could see the uncertainty in her eyes even as I thought that I saw movement in the lava pit out of the corner of my eye. “That’s right, I’m the only one who can take you home, not that I’m going to.”

Lita stepped toward me after a coughing fit and glowered as she brandished her wrench. There was this moment where she seemed to realize that neither threatening or killing me was a good idea unless she wanted to look for a good spot to build a home. That passed quickly though as a cruel smile lit up her face. “I don’t see anyone here but us, not even your ‘Demon’ friend. She’s probably dead now. I don’t know how you got us here when you’re obviously a Snow Nymph, but you’re an idiot to bring me somewhere with no ice. Now, when I’m done with you, you’re gonna beg to take me home and let me sell you and your car.”

“Not gonna happen,” I told her stubbornly. “Yeah, I might be a Snow Nymph, but I’m way more than I appear to be and I’m just full of surprises.”

~Run, Child. we will need space,~ Sal gently prodded.

“The only thing that surprises me about you is that you can *cough* breathe and talk at the same time,” Lita taunted before taking a swing at me. I dove to the side and ran past her, away from the lava pool. My shoulder stung from where she had grazed me as I looked over it and saw her turning to follow me. That was when we were both caught staring at the massive shrieking form that broke the surface of the lava.

It was some kind of giant shark-squid-lizard thing and its head alone was a good fifteen feet tall. A massive tentacle wrapped around Lita to toss her in the air, where that massive big-eyed head filled with shark-like teeth snapped up the now screaming Mage like a piece of popcorn. Eww… she was crunchy. “See, full of surprises,” I muttered as I winced at the crunching sounds.

Then the beast turned its attention to me and I’ll admit that I was extremely relieved when Sal’s mental voice assured me, ~My host will not harm you, little Nymph. She may not be sentient like you but she can sense that you are bonded, and she knows that we do not harm one another.~

A breathed a sigh of relief and tried not to cough from the acrid air. ~Thank you, Sal. So, how does your host like the taste of Troll?~

~We have never tried it,~ Sal offered in an amused tone, ~but there is a first time for everything.~

~I’ll bring some back for you then,~ I offered with a smile. That smile sank though when I came to a realization. ~Melody should have been done with those guys by now. I know that I was running from Lita for at least ten minutes, probably twice that. I hope that she’s okay.~

~Worry not, little one. Time passes differently on different planes of existence. I have been told by others of my kind that it passes much faster here than on the Material Plane,~ Sal assured me.

I breathed a sigh of relief and tried not to cough as I breathed in the poor air of the Fire Plane. ~Oh, okay. I should go back and see if she needs help then, Sal. I’ll bring some Trolls for your host to snack on soon.~

With one focused thought, I was back inside Auto-Worx Parts ‘n Mods and taking a deep breath of Edmonton’s air. It was cool, crisp, and clean by comparison and I had arrived just in time to see Melody casually pulling a knife from her shoulder and returning it to its owner, hilt deep in his neck. There was only one Troll left standing now and he was making a break for it and running for all he was worth, that is until he ran face-first into the wall of ice that I grew in his path. Magic is fun, now if only it didn’t require so much concentration.

Not only did using magic use too much concentration but it was tiring as well. Melody made it look so easy when she controlled Fire, I hoped that I could get some proper lessons soon. The half-Demon didn’t seem tired at all, though her clothes were torn and bloodied, as she walked up and snapped the remaining Troll’s neck like a twig. Then she turned to smile at me as if this kind of thing happened every day and said, “Nice job there, Crystal. Where’s the bitch?”

Well, I suppose that it was her day job until recently but I still found myself a little uncomfortable with the thought of killing someone, though there was blood on my hands too. “I… ummm… took her out for a bite,” I joked weakly. “She won’t be bothering anyone again.”

Melody nodded grimly. “We’ll need to get rid of these bodies and scrub the scene before the PDA or the normie cops can show up.”

“I’ve got something arranged,” I said swallowing the bile that had suddenly taken up residence in my throat. “Sal will help us out. We just need to get them to him and his host on the Fire Plane.”

“Okay, let’s get to work then,” Melody replied, all business. “If you can take one of the bodies, I’ll follow with another pair, and then bring along the rest. When we get back I can get rid of any evidence in the shop while you check on the car.”

We were quiet as Melody gathered up the half-melted guns, and any other physical evidence of the fight, and placed them on the bodies to take with us to the Fire Plane. While she was doing that I got rid of any snow or ice that had been stained by blood and sent it into the closest sewer grate. When Melody was satisfied that we had everything, I took one of the bodies and focused on going to where I had left Sal. I was feeling the strain from everything that had happened as I appeared, dropped the body to the ground, and just about collapsed to my knees in exhaustion. I managed to stay standing though and backed off so that Sal’s host could snatch up the body and nom on it. Ugh, that sound was going to be in my nightmares for a while.

Melody showed up a moment later with a pair of bodies and, after a quick introduction to Sal, she tossed the bodies over for the huge beast to snatch up and snack on. She made the other two trips quickly and I stayed so that Sal’s host wouldn’t get the wrong idea and try to eat Melody too. By the time that all of the bodies were all disposed of she looked as wasted as I felt.

It seemed that we had gathered an audience as some of the animals were watching us from a distance, and I was fairly certain that most, if not all, were hosts. There were even some Salamanders in their physical forms watching us in keen interest until we left the Fire Plane behind. Several had even greeted me and come close enough to touch us before flying off again. “That was weird, were all of those creatures Salamander hosts? They seemed really interested in you, Crystal,” Mel inquired once we had returned to the Material Plane and she scanned the scene for any other evidence that might have been left behind.

“Yeah, I think so. It makes sense since I’m the first sentient host that they’ve met. They were interested in you too though. Probably because you’re not bonded and you were perfectly fine in all that heat. They seem to sense things about people, Ashe knew a lot of things about me and the others that she shouldn’t have, so maybe they had a reason to be interested,” I answered as I focused on checking for anything that I might have missed in the snow.

We finished just before the police showed up. At least it was normie cops and not Hunters from the PDA. We were able to stay hidden within the garage’s wards while they searched the area in response to noise complaints. They didn’t hang around for long and the wards kept them from thinking about the building we were in so I used that time to check on the Charger.

At least the bitch had installed the stereo and GPS properly and nothing seemed damaged. The MP3 player was what I had paid for too. It had three USB ports, FM radio, and if I had my phone plugged into it I could receive and make calls and talk hands-free. There was whatever stuff that she bought for Jocko and put in the trunk but I was going to worry about that later, it was paid for and I didn’t mind sticking the bill to the guy who conspired with Lita to steal my car.

Melody used that time to check the building’s security for any cameras, hidden or otherwise, and to make certain that we were never there. It seemed that there were cameras but they were the old-fashioned kind, not digital so Melody was able to find the tapes and erase them. My sales invoice on the computer was altered to show the same information as the most recent one for Jocko, and once Melody had carefully gotten rid of any fingerprints or other physical evidence that we had been there using stuff in that big purse of hers, she had me drive the car outside and wait down the block for her.

She scared the shit out of me when she knocked on the window looking like Lita, and I had to cover my mouth to keep from screaming before I unlocked the door and let her in. She returned to her human-looking form and smiled tiredly at me. “I replaced the tapes in the security feed and made it look like Lita was locking up for the night. Hopefully, nobody will notice the size difference between us on the tape.”

I nodded and looked at the clock display on my new radio/MP3 player. It was damn near ten o’clock, I was exhausted, and everything was starting to catch up to me as I drove with no real direction in mind. “Some date, huh?” I half-mumbled after a while as I tried to get the sound of Sal’s host eating Lita and the trolls out of my mind.

“Crystal, don’t feel bad about what we had to do,” Melody told me as she reached over and put a hand on my shoulder. “They deserved what they got. Lita was a criminal and they were all willing to steal your car and sell it, kill me, and sell you into slavery, so don’t you dare feel bad for them. They chose that end when they chose to do those things. You know damn well that if we didn’t take them out permanently that they would have just tried again. And they’ve probably done the same to other people, or worse, especially the Trolls.”

“How… how do you live with doing things like that?” I asked uncertainly as I stared at the road ahead.

The half-Demon squeezed my shoulder and sighed. “Look, Crystal. I know that I was all business when we were taking care of things, but if I let myself get too emotionally involved in the moment, that’s when mistakes happen. I live with myself because I don’t kill for the wrong reasons. I was doing my job and keeping you safe and even if I hadn’t been I would have done it because you’re important to me and I don’t want to see anyone trying to hurt you.”

“I… I know and I really appreciate that you stuck with me when I decided to go back for the car rather than getting to safety. I know that they would have just tried coming after me again and it was me or them but how can I…”

Melody cut me off firmly. “Stop it, Crystal. Those people deserved it, plain and simple. They were planning on doing bad things to us, they’ve obviously done them before, and they wouldn’t think twice about doing them again. By taking them out we made the streets a bit safer and prevented other people from getting hurt. They were exactly the type of Paranormals that the PDA sends Hunters after when they know about them to protect others, we just beat them to the punch. Don’t think about the people that we killed, think about the people that we saved. That’s what I do.”

I saw a Dairy Queen that was still open up ahead and sighed. “Do you know what I really need right now?”

“Sex?” Melody guessed, sniffing the air in the car.

She wasn’t wrong, and it probably would help me de-stress. “Okay, well that too, but that’s kind of obvious with me I guess, I’ve been horny since before we met, even with shit like tonight happening. If you were offering I’ll be happy to take you up on it though, after we get ice cream. I honestly think that it’s my favorite food now.”

“Well, it makes sense with you being a Snow Nymph and all,” she said with a smile as I turned into the Dairy Queen parking lot and found a spot. Then she looked dubiously at our clothes. “I don’t know if we should go inside, Crystal. My clothes are torn and bloodied and we both smell like we’ve been in a fire.”

I looked down and sighed as I realized that she was right. “Yeah, I guess so. I liked this outfit too, I’m probably gonna have to get it dry-cleaned after tonight. Let’s go through the drive-through then?”

“Sure, sounds good. I haven’t had ice cream in a really long time,” the half-Demon replied as she reached out to squeeze my hand.

I pulled out of the parking spot and drove us up to the order window where I ordered a chocolate extreme blizzard for myself and a strawberry-dipped cone for Melody. Then I pulled into another parking space in a nearby lot so we could eat our frozen treats. Melody was half-finished her cone by the time that I got us settled and was able to start eating my blizzard.

It was starting to get a bit melty, but I had left the window opened after leaving the drive-through and didn’t have the heat going so it didn’t melt all that much by the time I took that first mouthful. It was cold and creamy and sweet in all of the best ways, like a little piece of heaven in my mouth. Is it possible to orgasm from ice cream? This was going to require copious amounts of research and I looked forward to every moment of it.

I had finished my heavenly treat, Melody had run the trash to a nearby trash can, we had been talking for almost an hour, and I was trying to figure out how to get Melody to come to join me in my bedroom once we got home when I noticed her shivering. “Duh, Crystal. It’s like minus twenty-five, you’ve been eating ice cream, the window is still open, and you don’t have the heat on. Not everyone is immune to the cold,” I mentally chastised myself as I rolled up the window and turned the heater on.

As the inside of the car warmed up a bit I leaned over to put my arm around Melody and pull her close, sharing my body heat. “Sorry, I’m so stupid. I wasn’t thinking, you should have told me that you were cold. We’ll head home once the car warms up a bit,” I promised.

I wasn’t sure about her, but I was definitely getting warm as she put her arm around me. I wanted to be with her so badly right now and everything else that had happened that night seemed to just float away as we started kissing and working our way quickly to heavy petting. We were all over one another and I was kind of wishing that we were in the back seat, where it would be more comfortable as our hands began to explore beneath one another’s clothes.

I had been all too eager to remove those clothes completely and almost started to do so, when Melody whispered in a husky and quavering tone, “We’re…. still… in public. We should… get home.”

I nodded but I was reluctant to remove my hands from inside her shredded top as I had her bra pushed up and was caressing her breasts. They weren’t large no, but they were perky, perfectly suited to her size, and her nipples were as diamond-hard as mine were at the moment as we kissed again. Our tongues danced around one another in desperate need and the warmth between my legs was now an inferno, an aching need for more than we were doing.

“Mmm… sooo… hot,” Melody murmured when I finally broke our kiss. In my highly aroused state, I wasn’t entirely with it and only vaguely sensed the presence of a Salamander. Its mind was projecting happiness and excitement that seemed almost a part of what I was feeling right then as she, yes definitely a female, appeared practically in Melody’s lap. I had barely even registered her presence, much less the fact that she had dropped something, until the presence was gone again and Melody yelped in pain.

“Melody? Are you okay?” I asked in sudden concern, afraid that I might have been too rough with her. I didn’t think that I was that bad and she was half Demon, so she should be able to take a little of the rough stuff, right?

Okay, yeah, so my brain was a teensy bit lust-addled, can you really blame me? “Yeah, I’m f…fine,” Melody replied, her words a bit slurred as she looked back at me and seemed to have trouble keeping her eyes open. That was about when my brain decided to process that brief Salamander presence as I sensed a similar presence inside her. It was faint but definitely there, it felt like what I sensed from Carmen and Sorcha when they were nearby. “I’m a l’il tired,” the half-Demon managed to get out before passing out, her hands falling from where they had previously been generating such amazing sensations in my breasts.

“Just great,” I grumbled as I extricated our hands from each other’s tops and then smacked my forehead against the steering wheel. “This is now officially the worst date ever. I just wanna get laid, is that really so much to ask?”

Of course, just when things were finally getting good, something else had to happen. I was pretty sure that it was one of the Salamanders that had taken such an interest in Melody and me on the Fire Plane. It had become familiar enough with her presence while checking us out to target her when teleporting to the Material Plane carrying a new little bundle of joy. Why do they call infants that anyway? This one had just firmly hit the breaks on the joy that I was about to feel.

“Damn clam-jamming Salamander, couldn’t that have waited until we were finished?” I grumbled. Then, feeling that Cinder was awake I quickly corrected, “Not you Cinder, you know that you’re my sweet baby, it’s just been a very long night.” She hadn’t seemed to have taken offense, she might not have even realized what I was upset about, but it wouldn’t hurt to reassure her and send her some loving feelings to let her know that it was the situation I was upset with and not her.

Since I had a feeling that Melody wasn’t in any real danger and was just sleeping while the infant Salamander settled in and adapted her body for its presence, I tried to calm myself down and get myself thinking clearly before heading home. It took several minutes of deep breathing, thinking about just how badly the date had gone, and ignoring how good it had been oh-so-close to getting, but I managed to cool myself off enough to drive. Then I put the Charger in gear and headed for home feeling exhausted and disappointed, though of course, I had to use the GPS for that since I had absolutely no idea where I was.

The GPS didn’t let me down and I idly wondered if I should invest in an electronic friend for my other pressing need at some point as I entered the security code, pulled into the garage, and parked in my spot. Then, with a sigh, I turned off the engine and called along the Salamander network, ~Carmen, are you still awake?~

~Yeah, I was just about to go to bed. It’s almost midnight. You’re just getting back now? Well, it seems like somebody had a good date,~ she teased in response.

~Well, if you meet whoever that was, be sure to congratulate them because it wasn’t me. This has been the worst date ever,~ I griped. ~Please let your mom know that we’re back, she’s going to have to look over Melody. And I’m going to need someone to help bring her upstairs, I’m too damn tired to carry her after the night we’ve had.~