#burnthebone

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🖤🔥𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐞🔥🖤

A taste of what's in store, and, as always, a full list of CWs is on my website and in the book.

𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘯𝘦 - 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴

Life's all sunshine and roses now that Marcus is dead, right? Wrong. Now that the Inferno's former boss is no more, his second command, Roger van Statton, steps up to the plate, and demons are disappearing left and right. As Ciaran's best friend, Dimitri Romanov, struggles to identify the pattern of the kidnappings and murders, a mysterious guest shows up at the front door. Dimitri knew life was a bitch, but bringing in old flames was a new low.

When you're a killer, it's hard to prove you didn't, in fact, kill someone, and Red's all out of ideas. On the run from the cops who want to arrest her for the one murder she didn't commit, Reddina Leeyan decides to turn to some old friends. The trouble is, none of them want to see each other. As Roger's plans pick up new steam, Dimitri and Red are thrust into a fight they didn't see coming—and old feelings are brimming under the surface.

With everything catching fire around them, Dimitri and Red have two choices: lock themselves up in cages of their own making or fight for what they love. As the second installment in the Newborn City Series, Burn the Bone forces its heroes to deal with kidnapping, torture, and, worst yet, confronting their feelings.

ʙᴜʀɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏɴᴇ ɪꜱ ᴀ ᴅᴀʀᴋ ᴘᴀʀᴀɴᴏʀᴍᴀʟ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ. ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇꜱ ᴀʀᴇ ꜱᴜɪᴛᴀʙʟᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ᴀᴅᴜʟᴛꜱ, ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ’ʟʟ ꜰɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴏʟʟᴏᴡɪɴɢ:

Newborn City Series: Burn the Bone- Reddina Leeyan of the Daemos Clan

Their eyes met and even Dimitri paused for a minute. There was an awareness between both of them of “something” between them. Red swallowed hard, like a lump had suddenly made a home in her esophagus.

“Red...,”

“What is it?”

“Nothing. Never mind.” He leaned a shoulder against a bar and looked less comfortable than before.

Red didn’t know whether she really wanted to know what he was about to say. Would it make things in here worse or better? It wasn’t like they’d be able to get anywhere with anything and even if they got out some day, what were the chances of them going in the same direction? Slim to none that’s what.

Character Moodboard/Aesthetic: Dimitri Romanov

Everything looked gray and muted, flat and far away. The sights didn’t register, they were just things, not a home. Dimitri felt no attachment to them.  He slammed a hand onto the wall and watched the paint bubble and melt. Then the wood beneath charred. All dead. The wood darkened and darkened, soon it would be ash. Something shook his arm but it couldn’t break the connection, then there was shouting.

Leave a “Quiet Me” in my ask, and I’ll write a drabble about one character trying to calm another down [be it from crying, from lashing out, feel free to specify.]

Alright, I’ll do this one first but I’ll probably do the other too.

“Come on, guy. Try to calm down.”

Dimitri’s hands were glowing so blue, so bright, the whole fucking cell was like a neon sign. 

“Fuck you, demon. I don’t even know you! What the hell is this place?! What is happening?!”

His vision was clouding over with black and he could smell the humans and demons in the spaces around him. Black chunks…I’m going to be surrounded by black chunks.

“No, you don’t. But I promise you, if you don’t calm down, they’re gonna be pissed.”

“Who’s they?! I’ve been here for all of five minutes and you’re telling me to calm down! What the fuck! Why am I here?! What are you?!”

The demon in the cell next to him was bright fucking red and dressed as he now was, with only a thin wife-beater and a pair of sweats to protect them from the chill of the concrete walls.

“I’m Red. Please, try to control your gift. The guards are just going to shock you.”

“I can see you are red and the guards better not come near me.”

The demon scoffed, “No, Red is my name. And they won’t need to come near you. Try to take a breath.”

Dimitri couldn’t think let alone attempt to focus on breathing. Everything was too much, to many sights, sounds, too many questions. And his gift roared in his ears to kill something. Now.

Shuffling cut through the chaos in his head and Dimitri saw two men in black approach his cell.

“Get the fuck away from me!”

Dimitri held up his hands, the blue glow bursting out of his flesh and radiating power.

“Demon, calm down! Ugh,” Red approached the bars, “Look at me. Come on, just do it.”

For whatever reason, Dimitri listened. He looked over at the female demon and met her eyes, they were like flames.

“Good, now just breathe.”

Dimitri focused everything he had on taking slow breaths. It was starting to work, the black over his vision was receding. His hands still wanted to grip tight around a neck and disintegrateit however. 

“Stay where you are. I just want to hold something.”

Dimitri’s voice was quite but forceful. Red just stared at him.

He walked to the bars that separated them and gripped them tight. In moments, the metal was red hot and melting under his palms. They were warping, they might even break.

“Oh shit, buddy, I don’t think-”

Oh, lord this is too cute, can I do this?

“You promised me a cookie!” Reddina’s voice echoed in the small room. 

“Honey, you know I’m not inclined to give you one when you shout like that,” her father’s voice was even and regal. He was the King after all.

“I’m sorry, but I’m just so glad I did it! I can never make fire for mother.”

Reddina stifled a shudder at the thought of the not so pleasant lesson with her mother. She was feared making her mom mad and it was always justified by the woman’s actions.

“I know. You did very well. Come on, let’s go to the kitchens and we’ll get that cookie.” 

Her father scooped her up in his arms and she giggled madly. She squirmed on top of him until she made her way to his shoulders, sitting high on top of them and looking down at the checker board floor beneath her.  She could see too that her father’s hair was graying at the top and thinning out. His deep, deep red skin poked through the spindly hairs. 

Reddina’s skin wasn’t that dark. She was red of course like every fire daemon but she wasn’t the rich maroon her father was. She envied him a bit.

When they reached the kitchens, Reddina shouted out, “Cookies!”

She swung herself down from him shoulders and scrambled as fast as she could to the tall chair that sat in front of the high counter. Reddina plopped down and waited eagerly for her father to bring her a plate of her favorite treat.

“There you go.”

Reddina munched happily and got crumbs from the oatmeal scotchies all over herself. She couldn’t care in the slightest.

But then her father began to cough.

They were getting worse and worse and Reddina’s little mind churned at what they could mean for him.

Clicking heels signified the arrival of her mother. When she walked in to the kitchens and found Reddina happily mowing down on another cookie, she frowned so hard Reddina though her face might stick that way. Though frowning was her usual expression.

 “Redmond, she’ll spoil her dinner!” Her mother sounded like a broken harpsichord.

“Darling, she deserves it. She was able to produce a beautiful flame, and I did promise her cookies.”

“Ugh, honestly. You spoil not only that girl’s dinner.” 

Reddina started ignoring them then. They’d started talking about grown-up things and all she wanted to do was successfully sneak another cookie and go up to her room.

With her pilfered treat in her pocket, Reddina walked past her parents and went to leave the kitchens.

“Reddina,” her mother boomed at her, “In twenty minutes I expect you to come down and perform a flame for me, since you are so good at it now. If you can’t you can consider that cookie in your pocket your dinner.”

“Yes, mother.” 

Reddina went to leave, praying she could make the flame again, and when she thought she might cry, he father winked at her. He always secretly brought her dinner when her mother was in one of her moods.