Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extraordinary Girl #2)(17)

While she struggled to breathe, I straddled her, my knees pinning her shoulders. There would be no hair-pulling and scratching in this fight. We'd settle this like men. Superstrong, paranormally-enhanced men, but whatever. With my left fist - oops, a flame - I popped her in the nose. She yelped. With my right - what do you know, another flame - I nailed her in the jaw. Snarling, she wiggled for freedom.

Blood dribbled down her lip and chin, and black soot smudged her too-perfect face.

The laughter faded, the muttered "Stops" becoming real, concerned. No one dared approach us, though, fearing for their lives.

As I reached back to introduce her eye socket to my knuckles, one of her legs worked between us and kicked. Next thing I knew, I was flying backward. I landed on my ass but swiftly jumped up. She was already on her feet. Both of us were panting, glaring.

"What's the matter? Can't stand a little competition?" she taunted.

"Can't win a man without cheating?" My fingers caught fire completely. Several of the men decided to brave our ire and approached. I threw a fireball, causing a wall of flames to form in front of them, keeping them away. While they scrambled for an extinguisher, I said, "You knew this would happen to him, and yet you did nothing. He's suffering because of you. His life is a mess because of you." She shook her head viciously, as though she could block my words with the back-and-forth flap of her ponytail. "I'm making things right. But you know what? If he really loves you, he'll pick you this go-round, too." Her legs widened and her hands fisted in a classic ready-for-war pose. The same one I'd adopted twice already. "Now, enough talking. Let's finish this." Hardly willing to obey her, I held my ground. Smoke billowed toward the ceiling, curling, stretching fingers out to me. I coughed until the sudden tickle in my throat eased. "If you touch him, I'll forget killing a fellow PSI agent is a no-no." Truth and determination dripped from my every word. "And then, when Rome's memory returns, he'll hate you for what you've done and ask me to kill you all over again." Her cheeks leached of color, and a tremor worked through her. "Maybe his memory is forever lost.

Besides, hating me is not the future I see for him," she said, voice softening.

Everything inside me stilled. My lungs. My heart. My blood. Cold washed over me, ice crystallizing on my fingers and causing every flame to sizzle, die. "What do you see?" Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound emerged.

I inhaled sharply, and another round of coughing ensued. "What the hell do you see, Lexis?" Again, she remained silent. To be cruel? I was in her face a heartbeat later, scared, angry again, coughing even harder, frost and fire battling for supremacy inside me. Wind whipped between us as I hooked my foot around her ankle and shoved. Down, down she fell. On the mat, she used her elbows to crab-walk backward, away from me.

"What the hell do you see?" The cold began to leave me, my fury eating away at it and leaving a burning trail. Jealousy was there, images of Rome and Lexis living happily ever after with Sunny flashing through my mind. A muddy fireball formed in my palm. "Tell me!"

The agents finally doused the flames in front of them and moved around us in a circle, probably meaning to close in until they rendered us completely immobile. Instead, their positions aided my cause. Lexis hit a pair of boots and stopped.

Gasping, she rolled to the side just as I tossed my bounty. It barely missed her, yellow-orange flickers crackling where she'd been, smoke billowing from the foam. The men jumped back with a collective gasp as another muddy fireball formed. I threw it, too. Again, Lexis rolled, escaping harm, causing more of the mat to hiss and the men to step farther away, widening the circle rather than closing it.

"You really want to know?" she shouted. "Fine, I'll tell you. But you'll wish I'd kept quiet. You're going to continue to plan your wedding, but he'll want nothing to do with it. Another man will court you, but Rome won't care. Do you hear me? He won't care! You're going to date this other man. It's him you'll marry. Him. Not Rome. Him."

She was lying. She had to be lying. Anything to shred my confidence, my hope. Anything to give herself an edge. I wouldn't, couldn't believe otherwise. No way I'd marry any man but Rome. No way I'd love any man but Rome. "Too bad you won't live long enough to find out if your predictions are true." I advanced toward her, stalking my prey with every intention of destroying it. I hadn't lied to her earlier; I no longer cared about consequences.

But then, panting as I was, the black plumes still wafting from the mat enveloped me, soaked into me and filled me up, and I started coughing again. My steps slowed, then stopped altogether. As the seconds dragged by, those coughs became gut racking, shaking my entire body. Damn it! Not now. Any time but now.

While I gasped for breath, someone tackled me, tossing me to the ground and pinning me. What the - three male bodies weighed me down. I struggled and kicked and screamed.

Lexis, who was being patted on the back and asked if she were harmed, sprang for me. Through wide eyes I watched as she closed the distance, fist drawn back. One of the men dove for her, knocking her down just before she reached me. She scrambled to her knees just as I worked my way free of my own captors. Determination like ours couldn't be contained.

Even as I coughed, a raging fireball formed in my hand. Attack me while I was unable to defend myself, would she? Try and steal my man, would she? Hurt my friend, would she? Not without paying a very dear price. I pulled my elbow back, wrist relaxing...preparing...