Burning Both Ends (3 page)

“I do not like seeing you injured.” Andreas released a heavy sigh, opening a jar of ointment. “Turn around and stand still. This will stop the bleeding.” He knelt on one knee behind her and smeared a jelly-like substance over the backs of her legs. The stinging stopped immediately. Ari craned her neck for a look at the jar. It had no label.

No longer concerned she would leave blood all over the furniture, Ari dropped into one of the armchairs while Andreas gave his attention to her hand. The bite had gone deep enough to reach the bone. His long fingers gently massaged the area, forcing the ointment into the wound and bringing instant pain relief.

“Is this a vampire home remedy of some kind?” she asked.

“You could say that.” He set the jar aside and began to wrap her hand with gauze.

“You should market the stuff. Make a fortune.” Ari was making small talk to alleviate her discomfort with the situation. She wasn’t used to being the helpless one.

“It would be difficult to mass produce,” Andreas said dryly. “The main ingredient is saliva from a master level vampire.”

“From you?”

“In this case, yes. Does that bother you?”

“No.” Somehow a saliva ointment out of a jar didn’t have the same ick factor as licking. Mind tricks again. This time her own brain, not vampiric manipulation. “Does it work on vampires too?”

“Yes. It would, if needed. How quickly do you heal?”

“Not as fast as you do, but a few hours’ sleep will probably do it.”

“Good. Depending on what the prisoner has to say, we may need to respond to this attack swiftly. If this is Sebastian’s doing…” His jaw clenched.

“I’ll be ready. When are we going to question the wolf?”

Finished with the bandage, he swiped a little of the ointment on her facial and arm scratches, set the supplies aside, and finally answered her question. “I am going to question him now. You are going to bed.”

“No, I’m not. He tried to kill me. I have a right to be there.” Ari started to get up, but Andreas firmly pushed her back into the chair cushions and rose. She glowered up at him.

“Bad temper will not win this argument for you. You are injured and need to heal. Besides, it would be best if you were not present during his questioning.”

“You don’t get to make those decisions for me,” she snapped, pushing him away and standing. “Why shouldn’t I be there? What are you going to do?” Ari was annoyed by his high-handed attitude, but she was even more upset at herself. How could she have let the wolves catch her off guard? Not wanting to think about what could have happened, she concentrated on being angry with Andreas. “You’re obviously planning something you think I wouldn’t like.”

He looked at her, his expression unreadable.

“What kind of torture are you planning?”

“Does it matter?” His look hardened. “I will do what is necessary.” Coldness edged into his voice. “A concept you do not always understand, except when it suits you to break the rules.”

Ari blinked. She’d definitely gotten past his armor.

“I will lock you in, if necessary.”

They glowered at each other, and this time Ari backed down.

Even in her present sour mood, she wasn’t stupid. They were on the verge of an all out fight, a fight she couldn’t and maybe shouldn’t win. He was wrong in thinking she didn’t understand the practical side, but she was a cop. It made times like this one very complicated. She sat down and crossed her arms.

“Lilith will be outside if you need anything,” he said. “I will not be back tonight.”

Holy crap! He was angrier than she’d thought. “Then how am I to know what the wolf says? Or what needs to be done tomorrow while you’re snoozing away?”

“Lilith will tell you in the morning.” With those words, he left, closing the door more firmly than required. One irritated vampire. Not a good sign for the werewolf below.

* * *

In spite of her determination to stay awake until somebody told her what was happening, Ari woke with the sun streaming through the window. She flexed her fingers on the injured hand. A little stiff, but otherwise strong. She’d slept soundly, thanks to Andreas’s ointment and she suspected a little something in the bedtime hot chocolate from Lilith. Their assumption she needed to be taken care of was annoying, but she felt too good to complain. Ari stretched and sat up, suppressing a startled gasp when she saw the lioness lounging in a chair, watching her. As usual, Lilith’s short, black hair stood on end, and she had a bored expression on her face.

“Have you been here all night?” Ari demanded.

“No. Just the last hour. I came to see if you were going to sleep all day.” Lilith yawned and flexed her shoulders.

“I don’t snore, do I?”

“More like heavy breathing.” Lilith gave her a sly look. “If you’re worried, no doubt Andreas would think it was cute.”

“Oh, please.” Ari grimaced. “I’m not sure he thinks anything about me is cute right now.”

“Lover’s spat? I thought he was feeling murderous because of the wolf attack.”

Oh, no. Ari’s gaze flew to Lilith’s face. Had her bad temper been responsible for the captive’s death? She didn’t need that on her conscience. “Is the wolf dead?”

Lilith shook her head. “No, but he spilled his guts, figuratively speaking. Your Lt. Foster is picking him up this morning.”

“Really?” Ari sat up straighter. “When was that arranged? How’d Ryan get involved in this?”

“Something had to be done with the prisoner and the dead bodies in the park. Andreas talked with Foster and with Steffan last night. Several times, I think.”

Ari took that all in, relieved the wolf was still alive, but annoyed she’d missed so much while she’d slept. “Tell me what the wolf said.”

Lilith smiled without humor. “It takes only one word—Sebastian. That vamp freak doesn’t know when to quit. He lied to the wolves to get them to come after you. Some cock-and-bull story about you and Andreas ambushing their leaders in an unprovoked attack last year. And that you mutilated and tortured the she-wolf before killing her. Andreas was furious when he heard that one.” The lioness paused and snorted in disgust. “Sebastian’s not only after Prince Daron now. He’s targeting you and Andreas, maybe all of us.”

Ari ran a finger over the edge of the silken comforter. Damn. She should have anticipated Sebastian would use the wolves again. After the pack killed her mentor and attacked the vampire compound, Ari and Andreas had cornered and killed one of the wolf leaders; the other had died at Sebastian’s hands because Ari had discovered their partnership in drug trafficking. Even if Sebastian hadn’t skewed those facts, the surviving wolves would have blamed them, and avenging fallen packmates was instinctive to most lycanthrope clans.

Still, Sebastian might have overplayed his hand this time. By sending them back so soon, scarcely a year since the pack was decimated, they had been weak with only five adult leaders. They had caught Ari by surprise—which was her own damned fault—but thanks to Andreas, the pack had now suffered a second major defeat. It might take years this time for the wolves to adequately fill such a power loss. Due to his haste, Sebastian had lost one of his most effective weapons.

“So what’s the plan?” she demanded. Andreas would be plotting a response. He wouldn’t let this incident go unchallenged.

Lilith cleared her throat. “Andreas spent much of the night conferring with Prince Daron and the vampire court. They decided Andreas should go to Toronto with a formal warning from this court to Sebastian’s.” Lilith dropped her eyes. “Russell and two vamp guards are going with him.”

“That’s it? Just a warning? No way! And while we wait here? Like that’s going to happen.” Scowling, Ari hopped out of bed. “I’m going to Toronto to confront that nasty toad. Give him a warning of my own. He’s gone too far this time.”

“Thought that’s what you’d say.” Lilith smirked. “I’ve brought the essentials.” She stood and picked up several items that had been laying unseen behind her chair. She slipped a plastic bottle of holy water into a waist holder, grasped a pistol in one hand, and tucked a second handgun into her shoulder holster. Lilith and her semi-automatics were notorious. The holy water was a nice addition.

Ari slowly smiled. Now that was her idea of appropriate luggage.

“You’ll have to tell Samuel to add us to the air and hotel reservations,” Lilith added. “I tried, but he won’t take my word for it.”

Even at Ari's urging, Samuel, the weretiger in charge of household security, hesitated. He knew his boss wouldn’t like it but finally gave in when she said she’d deal with the fallout. Samuel couldn’t quite hide a mischievous grin. It made her stop and think about how she should approach Andreas. Maybe confrontation wasn’t the best way.

* * *

As soon as Andreas appeared that afternoon, Ari told him her travel plans. She kept her voice matter-of-fact. If the staff had hoped for ringside seats at a big blow up, they were doomed to disappointment. Andreas’s only reaction to the news was a small quirk of his mouth, followed by a brief nod.

“You don’t seem surprised,” she said. It might have been smarter to leave it alone, but if he was still pissed with her, she wanted to deal with it now. If left to fester, grievances between them tended to erupt at the most inconvenient times and places.

His dark eyes studied her with amusement. “I assumed I had done all the masterful pushing you were going to tolerate.”

“Damn straight. This is my fight, too.”

“We are not going there to fight, Arianna.” His face lost its humor. “We will have four guards with us. Do not start anything we cannot finish.”

She grinned at him, but said, “I’ll be good.”

“Try to keep that in mind. Considering your last meeting with Sebastian, I doubt if he finds your temper as…intriguing as I do.”

When she gave an indignant snort, he laughed. “Let us not fight with each other. We need to pack.” He slipped an arm around her waist, pulled her close, and dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

And that was the end of it. Andreas had turned off his annoyance, put it behind him. He’d known she would insist on going. Sometimes he was overly protective, and Ari didn’t understand that. She was a cop, for Goddess’s sake. No one else treated her with kid gloves—except Ryan, on rare occasions. Maybe it was an alpha male thing. In any case, she and Andreas had worked well as partners in the past, and she figured he wasn’t really opposed to her joining the delegation.

Once the decision was made, they hurried to finish preparations. The flight left at 6:03 p.m. and would put them in Toronto a little before midnight. She didn’t call Ryan until they arrived at the airport and was relieved to avoid his questions when she reached phone mail. She left a message stating she’d be out of town a couple days and not to worry. It wouldn’t stop him from wondering where she was, but suspecting she was up to something versus knowing she had gone into the enemy camp were two different levels of concern. Either way, there wasn’t much he could do about it.

The flight was uneventful. Andreas only flew first class, and Ari was curious how much he’d paid to get them all onboard at the last moment. He sat next to the window and brooded at the dark sky outside. Ari read the in-flight magazine and dozed for a while. Russell and Lilith chatted in low voices one row ahead of them. Ari couldn’t see the other two vamps, but she heard Marcus giggling over his video game from a couple rows behind. The flight attendants, aware of the number of weapons they had declared, gave the six members of their party a wide berth.

It was nearly 1:00 a.m. by the time they checked into the Toronto hotel. While Ari and the werelions settled into the suite, Andreas and the other vampires left to explore the city and locate Sebastian’s court. They still hadn’t returned by the time Russell, Lilith, and Ari decided to go to bed. Ari was tempted to stay up, but she needed to be fresh to guard the vampires while they slept during the day. Yawning, she crawled into her bed. Since they never slept together, Andreas’s room was next door. He had understood when Ari made it clear she never wanted to wake to find his “dead” body lying next to her. Way, way, way too creepy.

Around dawn Ari awoke to find a single rose next to her pillow. She sat up, instantly awake, picked it up, and sniffed the sweet fragrance. Slipping out of bed, she blew a kiss toward the connecting door and smiled all the way to the shower.

When Ari wandered into the suite’s common room half an hour later, Lilith was already there.

“Coffee’s made, and we have reading material.” The lioness swept her hand toward the kitchen table.

Ari glanced at the pile of maps and brochures stacked there. First things first. The hotel coffee was only passable, but it held the essential ingredient, caffeine. After several quick sips, she began to feel human again. As human as a witch ever felt.

The werelions and Ari spent the morning chatting about the upcoming meeting with the vampire prince and studying maps of the city. Andreas and his companions had located Sebastian’s Court, and someone had drawn a map with directions. A note from Andreas suggested they should be ready to leave by sundown.

“They won’t be up for hours yet,” Ari said, picking up the map. “I’d like to check out this place. Get my bearings.”

“Good idea.” Russell jumped up. “I’ll go with you.” He paused as if suddenly remembering someone needed to stay behind. “Unless you’d rather I stay here.” He looked at Lilith.

She gave him an indulgent look from her relaxed pose on the couch and put her feet on the coffee table. “Fine by me. I’ll watch the sleepers. I’d rather have you two out of here than pacing all day long.”

Russell gave his wife a sheepish look, but joined Ari in plotting the route on the city map. Fifteen minutes later they were out of the hotel and hailing a cab. As they road in the taxi, Ari noted city landmarks that would mark there way if they had to get in and out in a hurry. Just in case. Exiting their ride several blocks from the vampire compound, they continued on foot.

The entrance to Sebastian’s court masqueraded as an abandoned storefront. Vamps always seemed to pick isolated areas, probably a reaction to being hunted with stakes for thousands of years. Choosing a vacant second-story room in a building across the street, Ari and Russell settled in to watch.