Burning Hearts (18 page)

She pressed against his chest. “No, no, it’s
okay. The river’s fine.” She smiled. “I’m happy. It doesn’t matter
where we are or the history behind it as long as I’m with you.”

He brushed her hair away from the side of her
neck and kissed it, before trailing his warm lips down to the bare
part of her shoulder, skipping over the wide white strap. “Ready
for a swim?” he mouthed against her fair skin.

It took her awhile to answer, still
intoxicated from his pleasures. “Yes, but if there are any
skeletons in there, I’m getting out.”

“
Agreed.”

Malcolm got in the water first and Jenna
followed. She swam away, enjoying the cool water on her skin, such
a contrast from when she’d been burned by the sun. She just knew
she’d get more freckles, but that didn’t matter. Malcolm would
still love her.

She held her breath and ducked under the
surface. She didn’t see any skeletons, but the water was dark and
dense, allowing anything to be hidden. When she propelled to the
top, she looked around for Malcolm, but he was gone.

“
Malcolm?” She wiped the
water from her eyes and nose as she moved to higher ground; the
water level reached her hips as she planted her feet to the bottom.
“Malcolm?”

She twirled around in the water, turning and
turning, until she felt gentle arms wrap around her from
behind.

“
You called?” He kissed the
side of her neck.

She giggled. “Where were you?”

“
Hiding.”

“
Trying to scare
me?”

“
Maybe.”

“
You could never scare
me.”

He twirled her around to face him; his fiery
blue eyes were threatening to burn hers.

“
Don’t be so sure. I’m part
evil, remember?”

She rubbed his muscular arms. “Why do you do
that?”

His jaw unclenched. “Do what?”

“
Act like at any moment
you’re gonna go bad and kill me.”

“
It’s in me, Jenna. I guess
I’m just…warning you…in case.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and
kissed his lips. “Well, stop. You’re good. Even when you were with
the Jinn in Egypt, you didn’t do bad things.”

“
But I wanted to.” He shook
his head. “I had so many evil thoughts.”

“
But you didn’t. Thinking is
not the same as acting.”

She seemed to get through to him as he held
her close, massaging her back. She lifted up her legs and wrapped
them around his waist; she was glad that he was strong and that his
knees didn’t buckle from her added weight. He secured her even more
to his body, pressing her against his muscular frame.

She could feel his rapidly beating heart
against her own. “See? You’re human. Your heart’s beating. That
means you’re good.”

“
Pureblood Jinn have beating
hearts too,” he reminded her.

“
Oh, yeah...”

She thought back to when Malcolm had ripped
out the still beating bloody heart from the Jinni in the Twisted
Trees. Any other girl would’ve run off screaming, but not her. He’d
saved her life, but he also displayed a rage that she didn’t think
he had in him.

He kissed her lips, bringing her back to the
now. “Enough talk about work.” He smiled. “We’re on vacation.”

But just as Malcolm was about to lower the
strap to her bathing suit, there was a scream from nearby, followed
by a loud splash.

“
What was that?” She
loosened her legs from around Malcolm’s waist, planted her feet to
the bottom, and looked around. “There.” She pointed in the distance
at a group of swimmers and gasped.

“
He’s trying to drown her,”
Malcolm observed with horror. Then he scanned all around. “There’s
a Jinni nearby.” He flared his nostrils. “I can smell him.” The
look on his face indicated that the Jinni didn’t smell too
good.

“
Go help them!” Jenna
ordered. “I’ll take care of the Jinni!”

Jenna rushed out of the
water and ran across the grass with wet feet, trying not to slip
and fall. She made it to her backpack, dug inside, and pulled out
the only two items in there. She placed the amulet around her neck
and removed the dagger from its sheath. Ready for danger, she
quickly scanned the area to see Malcolm swimming like a speeding
bullet over to the Stuck-Ups. She couldn’t believe that Kit, who
was the least awful of the gang, would actually be trying to drown
Sadie. She was a bitch, but she was
his
bitch.

It had to be the work of the Jinni,
whispering in Kit’s ear, telling him to do it. Even though she
hated the Stuck-Ups with all her being, she never wanted them to
die. Soon Val and the rest of them showed up in their boat, but
instead of helping, Val jumped in the water after Malcolm, trying
to get him in a tight hold. Malcolm easily fought him off, but then
he was ganged up on by Barrie and Aidan.

Soon, Daniela and Emma joined in, wearing
matching pink bikinis, trying to scratch Malcolm’s eyes out. As
strong as he was, it was difficult for him to get free with five
possessed teenagers trying to tear him apart. The water was
violently gurgling up all around them. Jenna could tell that
Malcolm was trying not to hurt them, but she didn’t know how long
he could restrain his innate power.

She had to stop the Jinni.
He was close by. She couldn’t smell him—that may have been a good
thing considering Malcolm’s sickening reaction—but she could
feel
his evil
intentions.

There was a loud growl, followed by shrieks,
as Kit dragged Sadie out of the water, and started choking her on
the once tranquil sun-baked grass, now drowned wet with violent
agitation. She got loose and knocked his legs out from under him.
Then she pounced on top of his chest, trying to scratch at his face
as he slapped her hands away.

It was almost too much for Jenna to bear. She
was angry and she was sad.

Someone laughed nearby in uncontained
delight.

She turned to see a chestnut-haired Jinni,
wearing jeans and a T-shirt, hovering above the surface of the
water, watching in delight. She didn’t care if he’d hear her, and
jumped in the water, swimming fast to meet him. He turned
immediately to find the telltale signs of an intruder.

“
Mage,” he greeted with a
wicked grin, looking straight at her. “You’re uglier than the last
one I killed,” he insulted and boasted in an acidic Arabic
accent.

She was confused and looked down to see that
her amulet was gone. It’d come off and gotten lost in the river as
she powered ahead, hastily trying to reach her target. It didn’t
matter. He would’ve seen her disturbance in the water and found her
out anyway.

She grabbed his white name-brand sneakers,
splashed with a little water. “Were these expensive?” Without
waiting for a reply, she pulled him below the water as she remained
above, holding his head down.

He struggled, but then exploded above the
surface, where he latched onto her in a crushing hug from the
front; his arms were like steel vines, ensnaring her chest and
arms. His fiery eyes bored into hers. “My master will reward me
greatly when I bring him your head.”

“
Your master?” she said
weakly, suffering from his stranglehold.

“
Saladin will elevate me
above the rest,” he boasted again.

His hold loosened a bit for
her to speak coherently. “How about I bring him
your
head?” She broke free of his
restraints and raised her dagger. “No, wait. It’ll be your
ashes
.” She brought the
blade down to his heart, but he raised his hand, blocking her
attack. Her weapon was knocked away. It floated out of immediate
reach before descending into the water.

“
Damn you!”

She lifted her legs and kicked him away. Then
she submerged, scanning in the dark for the only thing that could
kill a Jinni. She wasn’t sure if she could rip out his heart, and
even if she decided to, she’d still need fire to kill him for
good.

As she searched in vain, the Jinni lowered
himself gracefully below the surface, and then swiftly grabbed her
feet, yanking her down to the gloomiest, deepest bottom of the Rojo
River. She wasn’t fast enough and sucked in a mouthful of
water.

She struggled and struggled against the
Jinni, but with the dense water rushing down her throat, and a lack
of gills in her neck to push it out, she felt powerless. As he was
crushing her lungs with his arms tightly wound around her chest,
she saw a light in the dark. It was faint to her, but blinding to
the Jinni, who let go of her, and blocked his eyes.

She felt for the glow, hoping to capture it,
and to her astonishment, it was the dagger; the bronze was lit like
fiery gold. With renewed strength, she grasped the cedar hilt, and
twirled around in the water to find the Jinni struggling, as if he
were trying to move, but couldn’t—paralyzed by some unseen
force.

She welcomed the opportunity and struck where
he was most vulnerable. She watched as he burned alive; his mouth
fell open, screaming as water rushed in, but it didn’t extinguish
the flames. Finally, his body disintegrated, and his ashes fell to
the bottom, weighed down by the ghosts of the river, who wanted
nothing but peace and quiet.

Jenna propelled from the depths and exploded
above the surface, spewing out the water that should’ve killed
her.

“
Malcolm?!” she croaked
loudly.

“
Here!” he yelled, swimming
to her.

She witnessed the Stuck-Ups looking confused,
shaking their wounded faces, full of bruises and bloody cuts,
stumbling around like drunks.

When Malcolm came near, she asked, “Are they
all right? Are you all right?”

He wrapped her in a pressing hug as if he
hadn’t seen her in years. “I love you.”

She kissed his lips, warm and comforting. “I
love you too.”

“
They’re fine,” he finally
replied to her earlier question. Then he smirked. “And it takes a
lot more than clueless brats to take me down.”

She chuckled, and then looked around. “Are
there any other Jinn?”

He kissed her again. “If they were here,
they’re gone now.”

“
And so is my amulet. It got
lost when I was chasing after the Jinni.”

Without saying a word, he let go of her and
submerged, disappearing in the river. She waited and waited until
he popped back up with the amulet, holding it warily by its chain.
He quickly handed it to her.

“
What’s wrong?” she asked,
taking it firmly in the same hand where she held the
dagger.

“
I can sense it, but it
hurts to touch. I think it’s a Magi failsafe in case the Jinn try
to steal it from you.”

“
Lemme see your
hand.”

He smiled, shaking his head full of wet black
hair. “It’s all right. Just a little burn.”

To express his good health, he embraced her
in another hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck, careful to
keep her knife-wielding hand away from his vital organs. He touched
his lips to her shoulder, holding it there in a long kiss as she
watched the Stuck-Ups get back in their boat and leave. From
fighting the Jinni to Malcolm’s sensual display of affection, her
legs felt too weak to keep her body afloat, so she motioned for him
to follow her toward the same spot of higher ground they’d been at
before; they secured their feet to the bottom, with the water
lapping at their hips.

“
I’m really getting tired of
these Jinn.” She kissed his cheek. “Present company excluded, of
course.”

He sighed. “I know. I just wish they’d leave.
They must know I want nothing to do with them. But of course
they’re wreaking havoc anyway, just as they always do.”

“
Maybe it’s something to do
with Saladin,” she casually offered.

He gasped and let her go, disturbing the
tranquility of the water around them. His fiery blue eyes went wide
from some unseen horror. “Fatima,” he whispered only to himself,
looking away from Jenna.

She held out her hand to him, grasping for
understanding. “What? Who? What’s going on?”

He rushed back to her, holding her in his
arms, as the water shook with anxiety, unable to find its former
peace. “You love me, right?”

She nodded. “Of course. You know I do.”

“
You trust me,
right?”

For a split second, she hesitated, before
nodding again. “Why are you so afraid?”

His words came out in a
rush. “If Saladin’s here, Fatima’s here—I didn’t think she’d come
here—and to drag him along—why didn’t I sense them?—why didn’t I
sense
her
?”

Jenna was frustrated. “Who
the hell are you talking about?! I get this Saladin is like some
ruler to the Jinn, but who’s
Fatima
?”

He turned his face away, refusing to look at
her. “She’s his sister and…my ex-girlfriend.”

SINISTER SIBLINGS

“
You’re nothing but a damn
liar!”

“
I didn’t
lie
to you. And besides,
she wasn’t
really
my girlfriend.”

“
You just said she
was!”

“
I didn’t know what other
word to use. Fatima and I’d been together ever since she found me
in England.”

“
That was the Jinniyah who
found you? Unbelievable!”