Page 36 of Ignited

Gunn turned to Thanatos, his voice clipped. “I think we better take this discussion up to the Big House.”

The hood gazed at him and then said, “Indeed.” He turned to Sugar. “Make arrangements to cage the tiger.”

What? “Hell, no,” Boomer said, not putting down his gun. “Nobody’s caging anybody.” Karisma was already freaking out. If she was caged again, she’d lose it for good. He could feel the traumatized terror in her at being forcibly restrained.

Gunn heaved a sigh. He said to Boomer, “Can you control her?”

Of course he couldn’t fucking control her. He was pretty sure nobody was ever going to control the Tiger Queen.

“Sure,” he said.

Trying to look confident, he walked up to where she was hanging in the air. Which was fucking spooky.

“Hey,” he said to her. “K. It’s cool. We’re just going to talk. Nobody’s going to hurt you, I swear. Nobody. And nobody’s caging you up, either.” He glared at Thanatos and said, “Please remember I have enough explosives up the mountain to turn your mansion into a smoking crater.”

He reached through the magic red light—which somehow only seemed to affect Karisma—and put his hand on the tiger’s neck. Even her fur was stiff with the spell. He said to her, “It’s probably better if you turn human, though. Then you can tell him what a dick he is. I’ll help you.”

Thanatos must have done something, because Karisma floated to the ground, still frozen. Boomer kept his hand on her, trying to call her out of her tiger like he’d done the night before. “Come on. You can do it. Just come back out.”

The tiger shimmered and became Karisma again—naked, disheveled, and royally pissed off.

Thanatos dissolved the spell, and she almost fell to her knees. Boomer caught her.

She jerked away and turned on him. “I’m going to fucking kill you,” she said through her teeth. She turned on Thanatos. “And then I’m going to kill you.”

Great. Just fucking awesome.

Boomer stepped away and ran his hand through his hair. “Can I at least have some coffee before we all fight to the death?” He looked at Gunn. “And could somebody get us some pants?”

Pants arrived, along with shirts and boots.

Coffee did not.

They started up the hill in the snow: Thanatos in the lead, gliding like he didn’t have any fucking feet. He also left no trail in the snow, like Karisma in the woods last night. He glanced down at the ground. She was leaving tracks now. Maybe it was a magic tiger thing.

Gunn followed behind Thanatos, with Sugar. Not talking.

Boomer and Karisma came next, about ten feet behind. A couple of the guys who usually took guard shifts up at the Big House brought up the rear, weapons out like he and Karisma were prisoners or some shit. Boomer glared at them until they dropped back about ten feet, leaving him and Karisma in their own space.

As soon as they did, Karisma came right up close to Boomer and hissed, “Why the hell didn’t you tell me you worked for Thanatos?”

He was taken aback. “Why the hell would I think you’d care?” He frowned. “Wait a minute. How do you even know about Thanatos? Nobody knows about him. He’s more mysterious than Batman.”

Karisma rolled her eyes. “He’s why I’m here.” She dropped her voice even lower. “Thanatos is the job I was telling you about.”

Boomer stopped dead in his tracks. “Hold up. What?” He raised his voice and held up his hands in the shape of a ‘T’. “Hey!” he yelled. “Time out.”

Everyone stopped and looked at him. Sugar said, “Time out? This isn’t a football game.”

Boomer said, “Fine then. I need to confer with my client. In private.”

Gunn rolled his eyes. “This isn’t a courtroom, either. And you’re sure as hell not a lawyer.”

“Just give me a minute, okay?”

Everyone looked at Thanatos, who inclined his head in a yes. Boomer had no idea how he made a faceless hood look irritated and impatient while doing it, but he did.

Boomer pulled Karisma aside, even further from the others.