Arctic Fire 2 (6 page)

Quinn sat on the couch behind where Julian stood as she strapped her stakes to her calves. Luther, Lou, and Zach stood by her door. She could hear Chris in her kitchen, pulling a package of peanut butter cups from the fridge before popping the top on a can of her Dew. He’d eat all of her chocolate stash if she left him in there for too long. Melissa sat beside her on the couch, watching as Quinn armed herself.

“For a vamp, you sure are comfortable being strapped with things that can kill you,” Melissa commented.

Quinn tugged on her boot and zipped up the side. “Hunter too,” she reminded her. “I’ve been comfortable with this stuff since I could walk.”

“Oh, the toddler years. Most people babyproof, we were vampproofed.”

Quinn laughed as she tugged on her other boot. “And you’re still alive because of it,” Luther said from the door.

Turning on the couch, Melissa draped her arm across the back. “And I thank you for that,” she assured him.

“We’re going to have to stay together from now on,” Julian said, bringing them all back to the reason why they were here. “Since the vamp who attacked Quinn can control minds, we can’t take the chance of him getting a hold of someone and bending them to his will. From now on, we’ll stay in groups of twos and threes. At all times.”

“What if he’s already gotten hold of someone?” Chris asked from the doorway of the kitchen. Quinn’s eyes focused on the
bag
of peanut butter cups in his hand. She’d purposely put that one in the oven to keep it hidden from him. Sensing her stare, Chris looked over at her and grinned.

I will not hit him,
she told herself. Still, she couldn’t help but smile over the fact he felt comfortable enough around her to brave her annoyance with him. She’d have to find better hiding spots for her treats if they all agreed to what Julian was about to propose.

“He seemed as surprised to see me as I was him,” Quinn said as she rose to her feet.

“He could have faked that,” Zach said.

“He could have, but I don’t think so.”

“If he did, one of us could be under his control right now,” Melissa said.

Luther lifted his glasses to peer around the room before rubbing at his nose and settling them back into place. “But since we have no way of knowing if that’s true, we’re going to have to trust each other.”

“Isn’t there some kind of vamp test?” Chris asked.

“No,” Julian replied.

“Would Devon be able to tell?”

Julian shook his head. “The only thing Devon could do is take control of all of your minds himself, in order to make sure none of you went against him.”

“Thanks, but no on that one,” Chris said and shoved a peanut butter cup into his mouth. Quinn stalked over and snatched the bag away from him. “Aw, come on!”

Opening the stove, she threw the bag inside it. She supposed it hadn’t been such a great hiding spot to begin with; she never used the stove, so of course he would think to look there. “I think you’ve had enough.”

“Someone never taught you how to share,” he replied with a smile that had her reaching back in and pulling out two more chocolates for him. His sapphire eyes twinkled when he took them from her hand. “You vamps, all bark and no bite.”

A burst of laughter escaped her as she slipped past him and into her living room. “I’ll bite him for you, if you’d like,” Julian offered. “I don’t think anyone here would say he hasn’t deserved it at least once.”

“Feeling the love,” Chris replied as he popped another peanut butter cup in his mouth.

“Thanks, but no,” Quinn said to Julian.

He held his hand out to her, and a quiver of pleasure raced up her spine when she took hold of it and stepped against his side. Her body instinctively pressed closer to his. His thumb stroked the back of her hand.

“Since I know no one here wants to be under anyone’s control, and I think we can agree we don’t want Devon and Cassie involved in this, we’re going to have to watch out for each other,” Julian said.

“Could you touch us to learn if he has taken control of one of our minds?” Lou asked Julian.

“I could try, but he most likely would command you to forget any encounter you had with him, especially if he knows who I am.”

“Wouldn’t there be something on our skin from him if we had contact with him?” Chris asked.

“He doesn’t have to touch you to take control of your mind.”

“I’d still feel a little better if you tried,” Lou said and held his arm out to him.

Julian walked around the room, taking hold of everyone’s hands. Images of their lives flashed through his mind, but he saw nothing involving the vampire from last night. He shook his head before returning to her side. “There’s nothing there.”

“Can he take us in a group?” Lou asked.

“No, he’s much stronger than the last vamp we came across with this ability, but the only vamp I know who can take control of more than one mind at a time is Devon, and he’s an Elder,” Julian replied. “This vamp can’t be older than two or three hundred, I’m guessing from the little I’ve seen of him, and that’s not old enough. If he gets you separately, he can take control of you and keep control, but he couldn’t take an entire group at once.”

Chris wiped his fingers on his jeans and leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen. “What if we’re in a group and he’s hiding somewhere, could he take over the mind of one without the others noticing?”

“That’s a possibility,” Luther replied. “But we’re all trained to know when a vamp is present, to look for signs of something unusual. We’re much stronger in a group than separated.”

“We are,” Julian confirmed. “And you’ll be much safer here than in the motel. He can enter any of those rooms at any time. Before the sun sets, you should move in here.”

They all glanced around her cramped apartment. There was barely room for the sofa, TV, and milk crate coffee table, never mind five more people, but there was little other choice. “Where?” Zach asked.

“Wherever you can find room. It’s not going to be pleasant for any of us, but it’s better than the alternative,” Julian replied.

Zach ran a hand through his hair. “Can’t argue with that.”

“We should get moving then,” Melissa said. “We’ll see you at the bar?”

“I’m going to walk Quinn over. I’ll meet you at the motel after,” Julian told her.

Quinn watched as they all filed out her door before following. She stepped into the hall and locked the door behind Julian and her. Together, they walked down the hall. Dusty was coming up the stairs when they reached them.

“Hey, Quinn-o,” Dusty greeted and flashed the peace sign at Julian.

Quinn bit back a laugh as Julian shook his head at him. “I’m going to have some friends staying with me, Dusty,” she told him.

“The same peeps I’ve been seeing a lot around here lately?”

“Those are the ones.”

“The black-haired girl single?”

“Sorry, but no.” It was better she broke Dusty’s heart with a lie now than have him chasing after Melissa while she was staying here.

“Oh well, she probably couldn’t handle all this anyway,” he said and gestured at his skinny body.

Julian looked at Dusty as if he’d sprouted a third eye. “We have to go.” She grabbed Julian’s arm and propelled him down the stairs before he could say something to hurt Dusty’s feelings. Dusty was a little strange, but she liked him.

***

“Are you sure you’re feeling better?” Clint asked as she tied her apron around her waist.

Despite having come face to face last night with the man who had ended her life as a human, she felt like she was walking on clouds. Every time she recalled what had transpired between Julian and her earlier, she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. She half-worried she’d become like one of those Disney characters and burst into song at any second. Unlike Snow White, her singing voice would chase off every animal in a ten-mile radius.

“Much better,” she replied. “It must have been one of those twelve-hour bugs or maybe food poisoning.”

Clint chewed on his gum as he eyed her skeptically. “Never heard of a twelve-hour bug before. Don’t need you puking on the customers.”

“I’ll make sure to take it outside again,” she assured him.

“Fine,” he relented. He’d turned away from her when Julian stepped into the bar with Chris and Melissa. “I hope you’re not the one who got her sick, Hulk Hogan,” Clint said as he walked by Julian.

Julian did a double take before a thunderous expression crossed his face, and he glared at Clint’s retreating back. Melissa and Chris burst into laughter; Quinn had to bite her lip to keep from laughing aloud.

“One of these days,” Julian growled.

“You’ll what?” Quinn asked as she grabbed her tray from the table.

Julian shook his head. “I might flash my fangs and go all red-eyed on him in order to make him piss himself.”

“He’d probably just shoot you,” Chris choked out. “And then I’d laugh more.”

Julian gave him the finger before walking over to kiss her cheek. “Are you okay?”

“As okay as I was the last six times you asked me,” she assured him as she rested her hand on the black stubble lining his jaw. “I have no regrets.”

He settled his hands on her hips and shook them a little. “Just checking.”

She gave him a quick kiss before reluctantly stepping away from him. The place was already beginning to fill up. Quinn kept her attention on the front door as she took orders and worked her way through the crowd with ease. She didn’t think the vamp would return so soon, but she hadn’t expected him to appear last night either. After work, she planned to search the surrounding desert for him, but until then, she had rent to pay.

The laughter of the barroom, the smell of alcohol, and the clink of the pool balls were all familiar sounds that comforted her as she worked. She stopped at the table where Julian, Melissa, and Chris were sitting. Luther, Lou, and Zach had recently joined them. “What can I get for you?” she asked as she pulled her pen from behind her ear.

Before they could respond, a wash of red and blue lights spilling through the plate glass window at the front of the bar drew her attention to the road. Everyone in the bar quieted as first one and then another police cruiser sped by. Their sirens echoed through the night, shaking the glass with their forlorn wails.

Quinn stepped closer to the window and craned her head to peer out. All the patrons who had seen the cruisers go by approached the window to see where they were going. Ed and Beverly Johnson were the only two full-time cops in town. They rarely worked nights, and the married couple was most often in the same cruiser when they were at work. The last time she’d seen them go to a call at the same time was when the bar was shot up and Angie had been killed.

The five part-time deputies on the force mostly drove one of the three police motorcycles at the station. Occasionally, they would be in one of the cruisers. It could be one of the part-timers, instead of the Johnson’s, driving one of those patrol cars now, but for some reason, Quinn didn’t think so.

The ghostly hand of impending doom slid over her back, causing the hair on her nape to rise. Someone opened the bar door and stepped onto the porch outside. The splash of red and blue lights continued to play over the street and window, but she couldn’t see the cars anymore.

Murmurs ran through the crowd. Shoving her pad into her pocket, Quinn walked over to the open door and stepped outside. At the end of the road, both of the cruisers were parked.

She frowned as she watched the Johnson’s approach the house with their guns at the ready. Most of the calls in this town were bar fights that couldn’t be handled by the bar employees themselves, some cats in trees, and the rare domestic abuse. She’d never seen Bev or Ed with their hands near their weapons before.

A middle-aged woman stood on the porch of the house; she gestured frantically for the couple to hurry up. With her superior hearing, Quinn heard the woman talking, but she was sobbing too hard for her to be able to make out the words. People pressed closer around her, and some made their way down the steps toward the dirt parking lot.

“They’re at the Kemp’s place,” someone behind her commented.

“That can’t be good.” Quinn hadn’t realized Hawtie stood beside her until she’d spoken.

In the flashing lights, Hawtie’s deep-auburn hair was a vibrant shade of red. Her red lips were pursed, her creamy complexion illuminated.

“No, it can’t,” Clint said from beside Hawtie. With Clint’s barely five-five height and Hawtie standing at six-foot, the top of Clint’s head just made it past Hawtie’s breasts as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

The whispers of the crowd picked up. More people filed into the parking lot and a few made their way down the road as Bev and Ed disappeared inside the house. Ed reemerged a minute later. He grabbed hold of the porch railing and threw up over the side. Such a spectacle probably would have brought laughter from the patrons of the bar on any other occasion; now it only increased the concerned voices surrounding her.

Bev strode past Ed. She jogged down the steps of the house and over to the police cruiser. She sat in the driver’s seat, talking with someone over the microphone before grabbing something and heading back toward the house. Her husband wiped his mouth before joining her to spread out the yellow crime scene tape around the perimeter of the home.