The Fire Breather: A Dark Paranormal Fantasy (The Broken Immortals Book 9)

With the entire world on the verge of war, a witch with a serious memory problem teams up with her greatest enemy to find her daughter. But when he gives Tessa a potion to restore her mind, she discovers those secrets she longed to remember were only the beginning of reclaiming her rightful place in the world of magic.

When her daughter goes missing right before her wedding, Tessa has no choice but to team up with the fiercest enemy her family has ever known to find her. But the deal is — she must take one of his potions before he’ll reunite them.

Suspicious of his intentions but desperate to find her child, Tessa agrees. At last, a million tiny doors in her mind open, instantly returning every memory and lifetime to her.

But the war, a thousand years in the making, has finally come for the Realm, and Tessa must choose between reclaiming the love of her life or saving the world instead.

The Fire Breather is the series conclusion of The Broken Immortals series, a dark and steamy paranormal fantasy.

The slow, steady raindrops against the laboratory window hypnotized her, and Tessa got lost in her thoughts again.

Fuzzy nightmares replayed on an endless loop at the front of her brain, never revealing themselves entirely.

Another fat bundle of drizzle slammed to the stone sill she sat in as the scene in her head reached the point she always worked hardest to plow through.

At Omar Idrissi’s table again, she stared at her mother’s lifeless body as it fell from its chair. “What happened next, though?”

Frantic knocking beat at the back of her head to disrupt her, snapping her from her visions as she balled her fists. “Dammit.”

Dragged all the way back to the beginning again, she kissed Rafik goodnight on the balcony and dropped to the floor. “How are you doing, baby?”

As her mother taught her, Marissa moved her knife inward across the shards of grass as her eyes flicked up for approval. “Like this?”

Tessa pointed two fingers at her eyes and swung them away as her boots clicked around the worktable. “You’re doing great, but don’t take your attention off it." She bounced her finger with each word. "The portions must be precise if you want them to be consistent.”

Once she reached the end, Marissa gathered the pieces on the broadside of her mother’s work blade. “I forgot to ask you what we were making today.”

Like nails down a chalkboard, the stool’s legs scraped the floor as Tessa pulled it to the counter. The pointy toe of her boot curled around the bottom rung as she worked her hip across the seat. “It’s a memory potion.”

A potful of boiling liquid bubbled in a tiny cauldron, and Marissa wiped the knife’s edge against the side to scrape off every morsel. “Why would we want to take away someone’s memory?”

Snorting a laugh, Tessa shook her chin along her fist. “Now you know damn well Nicholas would have me bent over his knee if I taught one of his goodie-two-shoes healers to do something so scandalous.”

When the younger witch twisted her lips back at her, Tessa cleared her throat and smoothed back her hair. “I didn’t say I didn't know any. I’m just not teaching you and the sunshine bunch how to find yourselves with me on the naughty list.”

She ticked her fingernail against the tabletop. “This one is to restore a mind already tampered with.”

Soft scuffs crossed the hall floor behind her, making her sniff the air as dust scented in her father’s tobacco trickled through the doorway. More in tune with his firstborn’s calculating mind than nearly anyone, Jasper chewed at the end of his pipe and jerked his eyes toward the hall when she peeked back at him.

After she and Marissa shared a look, Tessa rolled her eyes to the door and tugged at her sleeve. “Okay. Well it looks like Grandpa Subtle over there wants to have a private conversation, so go on and take off. I’ll clean up the mess.”

Her burgundy apron bunched in Marissa’s hands as she wiped them off and rose on her tip-toes to peck Jasper’s cheek on her way out. "She's all yours."

Yelling after her as she left, Jasper closed the door. “Thank you, baby girl.”

A puff of smoke spread across the room as he sat on Tessa’s chair and pointed his pipe at the pot. “If I recall correctly, that’s turmeric and ginkgo you’re cooking.”

The moment his youngest grandchild’s eighteenth year rolled over, he’d been looking for signs of the end coming. Tugging the rim of the concoction toward him, he had a gander at what method would destroy them all. “And since I always recall correctly, it sounds like a recipe for an amnesia reversal tonic to me.”

One finger circled the top of the pot, and the brew followed Tessa’s command as it stirred itself. “Did anyone ever tell you that you’re almost as smart as you are good-looking, Daddy?”

“Mmm-hmm.” A cloud swallowed him until he swatted it away with his fingers. “Now, who would this little ditty be for?”

The lid gently lowered again as Tessa bit her lip to keep herself steady. With a squeal, it sealed shut, and she shoved her thumb into her chest. “This girl right here.”

His pipe flipped over, and he tapped it against the dish of scraps to empty the tobacco. “Since Logan wasn’t dead yet, I wondered what had you so damn happy.”

Three amber glass vials lined up before her, and she squinted as she inspected them for dust and cracks. “Come on now. I’m not that lucky.”

Peeking back at her on the other side of the warbled glass, Jasper widened his eyes. “When?”

Not a soul in her life who ever wronged her would be safe, not even the one across from her, waiting for her to answer. “After the wedding.”

Like a spider, all her fingers scurried across the tabletop to him. “I’m going on a little trip somewhere secluded, so I don’t hurt anyone.”

The mouthpiece of his smoker poked back into his chest. “I’m with you. This isn’t the kind of thing you should go through alone.”

When she hopped off the staircase right outside the window, Marissa crouched down to blow them both a loud smooch, making Tessa smile. “No. Those two ass hats will abandon her the minute they figure out I skipped town.”

Snatching the kiss from the air, Tessa shoved it in her pocket and turned around. “I need you and Momma to hold shit down for me here with my kids while I figure things out.”

His fingers dug into his cheek as he wrinkled his forehead back at her. “Then what?” Flipping his hand away, Jasper shrugged his ear toward his shoulder. “What’s the endgame for you, Sugar?”

So fixed on only surviving the day-to-day monotony of the family holding her back all this time, she never finished laying out what would come next. “I’m not sure yet.”

To break up the dreary morning, one ray of sun poked through the western window, landing on her heart. The single bit of warmth was gone no sooner than her fingers tapped at it, though. “Something in here tells me I have to go west. It’s pulling me so hard I can barely hang on anymore.”

A crooked finger left the bunch and bounced at him as Tessa swept the pile of herbs away with her other hand. “So I got to find out why before I lose what’s left of my fucking mind.”

Softly, his hand slapped at the table as he pushed himself out of the chair. “I’m happy for you, Tess.”

When she twisted up her face to make fun of him, he squished her chin in his fist. “I am. In fact, I’m jealous as hell you have the pleasure of strolling off and falling in love with that boy all over again.”

Falling down and right as he wandered back through his life, Jasper’s eyes watered. “I’d give anything to go back in time and run into your momma for the first time.” A tear slid down his cheek, and he caught it on his tongue as he shook his head. "No one ever understands what a miracle that moment it is until it's over."

Convinced she didn’t stand a chance at being forgiven for the sins she couldn’t remember, she fell apart entirely as Jasper tucked her face into his neck. “I hope you find him quick.” Though it might mean the end of everything if he let her go, his heart burst with excitement to see her leave. “I hope the two of you spend every damn day wrapped up in each other for the rest of eternity.”

Cradling his most precious thing in his fingers, he pulled her away and dipped his knees so they were equal for once. “Go with my blessing. Just don’t forget all about who loved you first, though.”

The edge of his thumbs wiped her tears away as he rubbed their noses together. “And don’t you dare leave without kissing your old dad goodbye. You hear me?”

The gentle mist of cold rain splattering against the windowsill grew stronger with every step Jasper took to leave her. Making her indestructible fingers tremble as she pulled the steaming kettle from the fire, the idea of being separated from him another day made the tears flow endlessly.

One by one, each vial filled as a tickle started on the end of her nose to warn her potions weren't the only things brewing that day.

Rubbing her sleeve over her face as she shook her head, she flipped her eyes to the dark form gathering in the corner. “Whatever troubles you want to talk about will have to wait, Daniel.”

Still wrinkling and churning her face to stop the itch, she set the pot on the countertop and grabbed a handful of corks from the bucket. “It’s all about me from now on.”