The Demon King of Lust

Chapter 35

Kieran sits in the center of my bedroom floor as I pull out a bin full of candles and start setting them out next to him.

"How is it that you have so many candles yet I've never seen you light one?" he asks.

"Because I don't light them. I just like candles, okay? I smell one in the store and I want it and I have these grand visions of being this person who reads a book in the candlelight. And then I don't actually do any of those things because I'm a trash person who ends up eating an entire family-size bag of chips while watching old seasons of Project Runway."

I spread them out around us so that there are about 20 in a scattered circle around us, with enough space in the middle for us to both sit.

"First off," he says, "everybody loves Tim Gunn, that's just a fucking fact. Second, this is definitely way more candles than we need."

"Well, you said to get out some candles so we could practice fire stuff."

"Yeah, I didn't mean the entire stock of Candles-R-Us?"

"Candles-R-Us?" I giggle.

"I don't know... wherever they sell candles. I'm clearly not as much of a connoisseur as you."

Pumpkin walks over and joins us in the middle of the circle, finding a cozy spot on Kieran's lap and laying down.

"Is it safe to do this with him here?" I ask.

"Don't worry. I'll keep lil Pumps safe." Kieran scratches him on the chin and Pumpkin makes a contented purr-like grunt. I'm starting to think my pig prefers Kieran over me.

I cross my legs and sit opposite them on the floor with a few candles beside me.

"So what do I do?"

"Okay, so it's just a little spark, right?" He holds out a finger and touches the tip of the wick. "Channel that feeling of heat, the intensity, whatever that is for you—anger, frustration, arousal..."

He wiggles his eyebrow suggestively at me.

"You wish," I say.

I hold out my finger and try to remember the place I was in the other day when I triggered the power. Frustration... feeling useless and annoyed.

Flames erupt around my entire hand and I yelp, but they simmer to a low half-inch layer of blue flame just around my skin. The candle lights, but my hand is still on fire.

"You can do it, babe," he says with a smile. I find myself getting caught up in his expression, and before I know it, the flame is out.

"I did it!" I cheer.

Pumpkin lets out an annoyed sigh, clearly unimpressed with my feat.

"See, I told you. Now do it again."

*****

After about half an hour, we've lit most of the candles in the room and I've started to get a handle on using Kieran's fire powers. And I've only charred my rug twice.

There's a tapping at my door.

"Come in!" I say.

Zahra walks in and looks around at the scene with confusion.

"What... What on earth are you guys doing?" she asks.

It didn't occur to me that this probably looks really strange to her.

"It's a long story." It's the best explanation I can come up with on short notice.

"You guys better not be having a séance in here. If you get possessed, I am so out of here."