Ice and Fire
The Djinn laughed. The smell of cooking meat filled the room. He sucked it in, listening with satisfaction as an alarm sounded elsewhere in the building. Someone had found the bodies. He spared another glance at the charred ruin on the bed. The body he now wore had called that man father…or would have if he'd known he was alive before the Djinn had begun to hunt him.
Maybe it was just the reopening of old wounds, but the old man seemed to have suffered his son's loss to the Djinn more than that of his wife so many years before. Both had been a masterpiece of blood and death; and this one was just beginning… He started toward the door.
The door swung shut with a metallic clang. The lock clicked.
The Djinn slammed its hands against the metal in frustration, and the paint curled away from the heat of its rage. It was possible that he had missed one; that a guard had somehow escaped his notice and lived to thwart him. But the Djinn felt some other force was at work here.
"Who dares?" The Djinn demanded. "Show yourself and die."
Peering though the narrow cell window, the Djinn saw a face.
"You are trapped, demon." The man said.
The creature sneered through the glass with menace.
"For now, mortal. But once this body dies—and I can make sure that it's soon—I will be free to find another. Maybe it will be you."
"Then if you stand back, perhaps I can save you the trouble."
The demon smiled. It stood back from the door, its expression one of indulgence. As the door swung slowly open it hung back, sizing up its new prey.
"Do you have a name?"
"None that I'd be foolish enough to tell you."
"I see. I'd hate to fail satisfaction of my curiosity before I kill you, but I won't let it stop me. Why are you here?"
The man took a step through the door, his manner relaxed. "Let's just say, I'd like to satisfy a curiosity of my own."
The Djinn channeled heat into the palms of its stolen hands. With a swift motion, it lashed out, grabbing the man by his throat.
"And what might that be?" It asked calmly.
The flesh of the man's throat sizzled where it met the demon's touch. Wincing, he spoke hoarsely against the pain.
"Have you...ever stood on equal footing with your victims?"
The Djinn never got a chance to answer. The man's hand came up, clamping down on its wrist. The heat it had focused on the attack ebbed, redirecting itself toward the man's touch. It seemed to drink in that demonfire, wreathing
The Djinn staggered back. The man still held up that hand, palm out. Though it shook, an intricate glyph burned visibly at its very center. Cradling its wrist, the creature fell on unsteady knees. The exposed flesh had already turned an unnatural color of white.
"Y-you," it said, a tremor creeping into its voice, "you will accomplish nothing."
"I've already done all I could." The man's voice rasped, close to breaking. He sat on the bed heavily, a hand going tenderly to his blistered throat. Next to him, the corpse's eyes looked up at the ceiling still frozen in unblinking horror. The man was oblivious, keeping his watch closely on the Djinn.
Finally, the Djinn sank motionless to the ground. The temperature of the room dropped immediately. The man spoke again to the still form on the floor.
"It's all up to you now, Liam." His breath steamed in an opaque cloud at his mouth. "Let's get out of here before the guards answer that alarm."