"Not so far. I've practised a lot, it actually takes concentration, hard to do accidentally." Nicolas crouched down next to Spike, holding his left hand palm up. He looked at it, a small flame gradually appearing. It didn't actually touch his skin, instead dancing a little bit above it. "I used to be terrified of fire. Traumatized, really. I was almost burned alive."

His first night had been as traumatic as could be expected, given the explicit goal had been to break him. But here he was, handling fire. "Fire's destructive, but it's cleansing. Most of the big bads need to be dowsed with fire just so you can be really sure they are gone and stay gone."