Work. That was a funny word for what lay ahead of me.

At the club, I spied two Lillin under thrall. I didn't need Rosalind's puppet tricks to take care of them. She had been giving me sword lessons along with everything else, and I knew how to flourish with the best of 'em.

After dispatching the Lillin, I followed the strong scent of a Djinn feeding on a girl in the men's bathroom. It was a too late to save the girl; she had been drained dry. The Djinn was just as unlucky, meeting with the pointy-end of my sword, then being immolated with my fire lore.

Soot, ashes, and smoke swirling in the air around me, and I had never felt so clear. This was what I had been meant to do. I underestimated the demons then, and I grew arrogant of my powers.

The next few weeks proved to be a profitable time for the demon hunting business. With each kill, specifically that of a Djinn, I was led to more and more demons. Some nested together and some hunted alone, but they were all linked to each other by smell. One always begot the other, and their strong odors lingered on the hair, on the skin of one another.

Lillin were easy to find and kill because they never kept a low profile anyway. Watching the news or reading the paper would put me on the trail of a few silver-eyed baddies with a lust for blood.

Djinn were harder to come by, even though they carried with them an alpha-like scent that reeked for miles round. They were smart, powerful, and fast. Each demi-god had his or her own special ability that made it that much harder to kill or catch up with them. In each city, there was usually no more than two or three.

One Djinn by the name of Klocan had the bothersome advantage of invisibility. Fighting him was a demoralizing experience for me because I would slash at nothing but air, hearing his laughter echo around me. There was no way he could mask his scent, nor stave his giggles, and in the end I followed his scent to an empty room and unleashed the fire within me. In seconds, the room was filled with light, heat, and me, and nothing more.

Soon I had slaughtered my way past Tampa and was on to beheading demons in Sarasota. On the wind, I could taste the sweet and burning stench that belonged to the Uzita demon.

In my hotel room, I would practice fishing. Scanning the minds of the patrons in the room next to mine was no problem. Casting my net to reach a greater radius was challenging. Even so, I kept on, knowing I would master it someday. Besides, I had plenty to keep me busy.

Once I found a nest of Lillin, it was only a matter of time before I found other points to follow, taking me deeper and deeper into the woods. I fell into a pattern of efficiency that served me well. In two weeks, I had cleaned out Sarasota of the demon population. When I arrived in the next town, I was disturbed to discover the number of demons was growing exponentially as I moved lower on the latitude of the grid. It was as if they were drawn to the heat, which tended to increase with the downwards geography.

The next Djinn I tracked was seaside. She had her prey writhing in her arms. Both of them lay on the beach, bodies tangled together, the moonlight playing peek-a-boo with the clouds. At first glance, they might have appeared to be making out. From the alkaline smell of blood mixed with burnt pork, I knew the activity they were engaged in was not at all innocent.

I took each sinking step in the sand slowly. With the help of the sand and my new body's practiced grace, my approach was soundless. Even so, I was sure that the Djinn could smell me. The wind had shifted and was blowing away from me.

The monster looked up at me, its silver eyes glinting momentarily. Then it resumed its feast.

"Enjoy it while you can." I knew my words would be carried by the wind.

In response, the creature looked up again and bared its teeth. Blood was smeared all over its mouth, and I had the random thought of, What a sloppy eater.

I stalked closer to the animal. To show the demon my power, I allowed the fire to engulf the sword completely. It was a bright torch attached to my arm.

The threat of the sword motivated the creature to stand up and discard almost comically of its victim. The man's body flopped over, rolling into the waves. Glassy eyes stared up at me, another human life wasted. I had been too late to save him, but I would make sure that this Djinn would never again hurt another innocent.

From the hesitant stance of the demon, I could tell the sword scared it. I was used to the reaction. When the demon failed to attack, I took the offensive. As I charged with the intent to kill, I saw the creature raise its hands in surrender, or what I thought at the time to be surrender. I laughed, my arrogance being at its highest.

Water began to lap at my feet. I moved away from it, sure that the waterline had been further away only seconds before. More hand movements from the demon, and a spike of cold water hit my face. It had been a warning, and the demon meant it to say Don't come any closer. I didn't listen. I wiped away the water with my sleeve and continued forward. One more water spike shot out from the ocean, extinguishing the flames coming from my sword. Again, I laughed. For some reason, that made the Djinn laugh. It thought it could put out my fire lore. Silly demon, I thought, my powers are internal. How can you put out the fire inside of me? My laughter was lost in the roar of the waves that washed not just under my feet, but over me.

Water crashed in around me, even though I had been careful to stay away from the water's edge. Nevertheless, a tsunami had overpowered me. I was drowning, being dragged under by the water itself. I could feel invisible bonds within the water, an element of the Djinn's manipulations.

There was no down, up, left or right. It was pitch black, with no end. I was holding my breath, but time and panic made me lose my battle with my body. Water burned my lungs as I reflexively took in a breath. Silver stars bloomed behind my eyes. It was all too tempting to give in to sleep and let the water claim me.

Before it could, I felt a hand through the darkness. I was tugged, and pulled, and my head broke through the surface of the lapping waves. An exaggerated gasp later, I had sweet, sweet oxygen again. The water in my lungs came out in bursts of coughs. I was dragged until I was on the beach, sputtering into the sand.

"I can only help you so many times." Rosalind buzzed in my ear again. "Now get up."

I could smell the demon and knew I had to recover quickly. I stood up, but more stars blocked my vision. Blinking them away, I stumbled and got my foot stuck into the wet earth.

"Duck!" Rosalind's warning came just in time.

I listened, and the wave that was meant to knock me over missed and crashed back down harmlessly. In front of me, the demon's arms were out, orchestrating the water's movements.

A wall of water came up to block my path. I stopped, stepping to move around it, but the wall increased in length. I put a hand through it, and when that worked, I walked through the wall. It was like walking through glue, and I could have sworn as I went along that the Djinn was increasing the width of the wall, making an endless corridor for me to drown in. Finally, I broke through the other side of the wall. I took in deep, quick breaths, and began running. The wall was still behind me, growing in size. I had to put distance between me and it.

The Djinn was still thirty yards from me, creating its revenge with the water. Poseidon would have been proud, but I was too wet and annoyed to be impressed. I had to think fast before the creature unleashed the entire fury of the Gulf. Already, it was gesticulating in intricate ways, building up the water behind me to resemble a snarling beast with horns. It had a mouth as big as a bus, and I could see fish swimming in its eyes.

Over the din of the water, the demon spoke to me. "Your matchstick is no threat anymore. How can you defeat me without fire?"

An idea came to me, and I went with it without pause. Somehow, I had hung on onto my sword, and I was glad I had. I drew it back, and threw it at the demon, the gold etching glittering as it flew through the air. My aim was perfect, and the sword severed the outstretched arms of the demon.

Like I had expected, the water monster collapsed in a deafening cascade of salt water. Its creator had fallen to its knees, stump arms flailing in the air.

"How are you going to control the water without any arms?" I couldn't resist the jibe.

A savage kick to the face incapacitated the Djinn long enough for me to find my sword a few feet from its amputated limbs.

My internal heat rose in a shudder and dried off my body, clothes, and hair. No longer wet or unsure, I prepared to end the life of the troublesome Djinn. It was on its side, struggling to move around without putting its open wounds in the sand.

"No need to get up. You're finished now."

I brought my sword down in an arc, severing the demon's head. The sword was red hot from my fire lore, and as it cut cleanly through the neck of the Djinn, fire spread outward from it like veins, and the head and body burst into ash.

*****

A/N: Ah, the smart-mouthed hero. Always a pleasure. 

This chapter is dedicated to a very thoughtful gal, and one of my favorite followers, tinamariewilliams522!