Mastering the Flames (The Beacon Hill Sorcerer, #4)

by S.J. Himes

Angel was cranky and sarcastic, along with protective, bossy, caring, and supportive. When he remembered to be, at least.

He wanted his own bed, his clothes, his stuff. He wanted to listen to Angel tease Daniel about his crush, fend off Eroch and his machinations for bacon, and hear the reassuring rumble of Simeon’s sexy Irish accent.

“What? Oh, I bet Angel loves that!” Isaac laughed at the image of Eroch nesting on a gold egg, grumbling whenever Angel went in to use the toilet. Isaac stopped laughing, a sudden thought worrying him. “Wait. Eroch doesn’t think it’s an egg, right?”

If it was possible for a dragon to laugh, that’s what Eroch was doing. The small emerald-green dragon was on his side, wings flapping on the table, adorable chirps and puffs of smoke escaping. Daniel crossed his arms and pouted.

She gave Eroch a huge, sparkling smile and the dragon preened, winking at her. Angel coughed. He was so weird about people cooing over his familiar.

The shattered young man Angel claimed as his apprentice to keep him out of prison and alive was now a sweet, charming person with a heart as wide as his smile and a capacity for kindness that made Isaac all too aware of his own failings. He wasn’t jealous of Daniel; they were two vastly different people. Daniel made Isaac want to be a better person. Daniel was his best friend, and a part of him was a little sad he felt nothing romantic for the younger man.

“You’re a sneaky lil’ shit, aren’t ya?” Isaac griped, and Daniel burst out laughing. Isaac grinned at the carefree joy he heard. “Angel hasn’t been rectifying your education—he’s been teaching you to be Angel 2.0. Bastard.”

Simeon dearly loved the huge hellhound. A rare piece of magic and extremely valuable on the international market, Scáth was treated like the family pet he had become. “Of course! Simeon loves taking him for a walk,” Angel’s grin was evil. Beacon Hill was used to Angel being a bit extra, but an elegant, suited vampire walking a hellhound around the one-hundred-and-five acres of their little slice of Boston was more than the locals were accustomed to seeing. It was a good thing Animal Control was terrified of Eroch and Angel, and they had the BPD on speed dial.

“I never thanked you. I’m sorry about that.” “Thanked me for what?” Angel was confused, but his appraisal was steady. That was Angel in all things. Steady. Immovable. “Raising me,” Isaac choked up, jaw tight. “You went from street warfare to parent in the space of a night. It was hard on both of us, but I never appreciated the strain it put on you.

Dawn came with a growing warmth and the cooing of pigeons on the fire escape. Isaac cracked the window in his room, and Eroch chirped in thanks before leaping into the air, flames shooting from his jaws. He kept the window open only enough for Eroch to squeeze in and out—he didn’t want a flock of frantic, flaming pigeons destroying his room. Luckily he’d been up for a while already, and Eroch didn’t wake him with his demands to set his breakfast on fire.

Daniel raced a few steps to reach his side, and hugged him, indifferent to the garbage bag full of his troubles and bad choices. A soft kiss landed on his cheek, and Isaac grinned, wrapping his free arm around his best friend. “Why can’t I be in love with you?” he murmured into soft blond hair, and Daniel chuckled. “We’d drive each other crazy.” Daniel rubbed his hands up and down Isaac’s back, and Isaac sighed, the bad memories departing, chased away by the gentle love and compassion Daniel shared with every breath he took.

Isaac couldn’t bring himself to say more. Daniel tsked at him like he would when Eroch was being naughty, and he kissed Isaac’s cheek. His best friend wasn’t slow, and his nature one of boundless love.

“Daniel or Eroch. Pick one. No one is going alone anywhere until we figure out who set that trap downstairs.” Isaac grumbled and shrugged. “Feel like going to my appointment?” he asked Daniel, who sat up and gave a tiny cheer. He didn’t feel like getting kicked out of the doctor’s office for a misbehaving dragon. When bored, the dragon was more destructive than a legion of toddlers.

“Mr. Salvatore, right on time.” The nurse stood, smiling at them both, then gestured to Daniel. “Will Mr. Macavoy be joining you for your session today?” “That’s really creepy and nope, I’m just here on the buddy system,” Daniel quipped. “Do they know everything?” Daniel asked him. “My brother is a horrible influence,” Isaac stared wide-eyed at Daniel, instead of answering. Where the hell was the terminally shy young man Angel couldn’t peel off him with a razor blade?

Simeon went to stand watch over Angel, and Daniel was murmuring quietly to Eroch, checking over the tiny dragon for hurts, Eroch eating up the attention.

Eyes closed and exhaustion weighing him down, Isaac managed a grin at the image of the tiny green dragon curled around his golden nugget hidden behind the toilet in Angel’s bathroom. His brother needed to order a whole new set of bath towels since Eroch used most of them to build his hoard, and they were covered in ash and burned in several places.

Angel tipped the driver and they carted their food upstairs, greeted by an enthusiastic dragon who stole half of Angel’s meatballs.

Simeon moved suddenly, a statue come to life, and went to the doorway, motioning for Isaac to follow. “Come then, and we shall see.” Translation: Angel was going to be pissed.

He blinked after a minute or so, and scowled at Angel, who was glaring at him with arms crossed while Eroch was pretending to be interested in the recessed lighting overhead.

“Smoke, like that of a bonfire on a frigid winter night, pine sap snapping as the wood heats, the earth beneath it soaking in the warmth, smelling of rain as the snow melts.” Isaac blinked up at Constantine, finding himself growing warmer, cheeks flushed. “That’s fucking awesome.”

Angel was one of the best people he knew, but he was an asshole when he decided he needed to know everything about a situation. Angel was exhausting sometimes. He loved his brother, he did, but Angel was not for the weak of heart.