Kindling Flames: Stolen Fire (The Ancient Fire Series Book 4) (14 page)

Delia watched as her daughter disappeared with the small fay. “Will she be okay?”

Vicky watched the pair leave. “Zak wouldn’t let anything happen to her.” An agreeing gurgle brush her mind pulling a smile to her lips. Turning her attention back to the old woman that had stabbed Darien, she opened her mouth to tell the woman off, but Darien’s hand fell to her leg, stopping the reprimand.

“You’ve made your point.” Darien glared at her. “I would suggest you not do it again.”

Mama’s grin widened. “Of course, L'aimè.” She leaned forward in her chair. “But, it was a good demonstration.”

Darien snickered at her.

She leaned back in her chair again. “And I seem to recall a few similar demonstrations, only in reverse.”

“True.” Darien nodded his head. “So, Victoria has my powers?” He turned the subject back to the topic at hand.

“Not exactly.” Mama shook her head. “They do not reside inside of her, but the mark that binds you allows her access to them. Why she can wield them, I cannot say.”

Darien caught Vicky’s eye before looking back to Mama. “Vicky has a piece of my soul,” he admitted.

Mama’s face lit with surprise.

“It’s a long story,” he said, cutting her off before she could ask.

“That could explain why she can use them, but that doesn’t explain why they are missing, or where they have gone,” Mama pointed out.

Darien nodded. “Is there a way to find out?” he posed the question that had been plaguing his mind.

“Perhaps.” The old woman leaned forwards and took the bloodied letter opener from where Vicky had dropped it on the table. She held it up to look at the wet redness glistening on the end. With her free hand, she reached down and popped open the door on the end table next to her. Rummaging around, she pulled out a small sack.

Vicky listened closely as the woman started a low chant. Delia picked up the words, adding to the repeating rhythm. After a few passes, Darien also picked up the chant, growing its power. Vicky listened carefully, not sure if she was supposed to add her voice to group.

Before Vicky could dissect the unfamiliar words, Mama’s voice peaked, and she threw a pinch of dust from her pouch onto Darien’s blood. Their chanting fell silent, and all held their breath, waiting for the spell to take effect.

Vicky drew in a startled breath when a line of gold dust shimmered out of the tip of the opener.

“There you are.” Mama’s voice held a note of deviant glee. The faint line of gold twisted its way through the air and brushed against Darien’s lips.

He held very still as the gossamer thread continued on to touch the side of Vicky’s head where Darien often kissed her hair.

She felt a warm weight wrap around her as the spell encircled her. The warmth pierced her chest right over her heart. It didn’t hurt, but the spell pulled power from her mark. A line of gleaming gold shot out of her and followed the line of dust back to the knife-like tip. Once there, it ricocheted back in a northerly direction.

“That’s why your fay couldn’t find your spell. This magic wasn’t set on you.” Mama moved the blade around, bending the line back and forth examining it. “It looks like fay magic.” She followed the gold strand to Darien’s mouth. “Maybe something sealed with a kiss?”

Darien turned his mind back over the last few months. A lot had happened, but only twice had they dealt with the fay where they worked magic on Vicky. The most recent was the Halloween ball; but if what Vicky suspected were true, the magic had to have been done on that first encounter. His mind recalled an image of Vicky laid out in a white, spider-silk dress on a bed of flowers. He could still hear the lesser fay calling for him to wake her with a kiss. Darien let out a deep sigh and dropped his face to his hands.

“We have to go see the fay.” Darien rubbed the spell from his face. The gold line disintegrated. He had wondered why the little ones had been so adamant about getting him to kiss Vicky. It also explains why he had not been able to find a way to break the enchantment on Vicky’s dress. When he broke their sleeping spell without kissing her, they must have used the sweet gum balls to force her into his arms in hopes that Darien couldn’t withstand the magic she’d been wrapped in.

Thinking back over the events of the weeks that followed, Darien tried to recall the first time he kissed her. It was to the side of her head when they were folded together on the Twister board. No wonder it had taken the magic so long to affect him. The potency of the spell must have been weakened by the banality of the real world and the location in which he had kissed her.

“Then you must do it soon,” Mama warned him. “Your powers are very nearly gone as it is. There is no telling what will happen if you delay and they disappear entirely. You may never regain them, even if you break this enchantment.”

Darien swallowed hard and nodded his understanding. “How long do you think I have?” he asked, trying to figure out how long it would take to get an invitation to see Lady Aine.

Mama took Darien’s hand and felt him. She sighed at how little of his power was left. “A day.” She dropped her hand away from him. “Maybe less.”

He could hear the worry in her voice. Darien drew in a cleansing breath and set his resolve. If he had so little time, there would not be time to send a request for an audience. He would just have to go to Fairy and speak with Lady Aine, hoping that his standing with her would be enough to get him back out. A vibration from his pocket drew him out of his thoughts before the music of his cell phone split the air. “Pardon me.” He stood up and slipped the phone out of his pocket. No one would call him on this number unless it was important. “Hello?”

“Darien.” Elliot’s voice echoed down the line.

Darien shifted around the room to see if he could get better reception. “Elliot?” he asked. It was much too early in the day for Elliot to be up and about.

“Where are you?”

The line crackled with so much static that Darien could not hear his friend’s response. “Elliot?” He covered his other ear, hoping to pick up the other man’s words. “The reception here sucks. What’s up?” Static hissed across the line.

“Rupert… wol… wn… Sue.”

Elliot’s words were fragmented, but Darien caught the need in them. Suddenly, he could feel Elliot’s mind pressing on his, calling him home as fast as he could get there. Darien snapped the phone shut and turned to look at Vicky. He could see that she was getting the same feeling.

Mama sat waiting for him to explain.

“Thank you for everything.” Darien came over to hug her. “Something has happened at home, and we need to leave. Now.”

Mama stood, hearing the urgency in his voice. “Go.” She pushed him towards the door. Turning, she ushered Vicky along at the same time.

Vicky got up and followed him.

“
Zak!
” Darien called out as soon as he hit the door. It took the hellhound a moment to scamper around the corner of the house with the little girl in tow. “Sue’s in trouble.” Darien nearly ran down the steps and yanked open the passenger’s side door of the car.

Vicky followed, calculating the hours it would take to get back. If things were as bad as Elliot’s panic led her to believe, they would be much too late to help.

Darien yanked out the messenger bag from the front seat and slammed the door before Vicky could get it. He tossed the keys to Delia. “Someone will be by later to get this.”

Delia nodded.

Settling the bag over Vicky’s head, Darien turned to Zak. “Take us home.” He grabbed Vicky’s hand and looked at Zak expectantly.

The little fay stared at him for a moment and wiggled his end reluctantly.

“I know you can feel Elliot through Vicky,” Darien pleaded with the fay. “We need to get back
now
.”

Zak writhed on the ground, still unwilling to open the way for them.

Darien looked at Vicky, then to Zak. “She bears your mark and my protection; nothing will harm her in-between.”

Whining louder, the hellhound flailed around more.

“Darien?” Vicky pulled on his hand to get his attention. From the one-sided conversation, she figured that Zak could get them home faster, but had to do something that might endanger her. “Is this dangerous?”

“Only if you go unescorted and unprotected,” Darien reassured her.

Turning this over for a moment, Vicky tried to figure out the problem Zak was having. “Zak’s mark protects me,” she confirmed.

Darien nodded. He was starting to get upset with the fay's delay. Every second could count in the world of the supernatural. He pleaded with the fay again, but only got a reluctant whine.

“What about you?”

“What?” Darien looked at Vicky, not understanding the question.

“What protects you?” she asked again.

“I’m a vampire, I don’t need…” His voice trailed off as he realized the problem. Drawing in a deep breath, he let it out, trying to think of a solution. “It’s a risk I’m going to have to take.” Weaving their fingers together, he squeezed her hand. “Just don’t let go.” He prayed that with her touch and Zak as escort, they would get through unscathed.

Vicky turned her attention to Zak and knelt down. “Zak.” She reached her free hand out to the fay and ruffled his feelers. “Can you get us there?” Zak whimpered at her, but she heard the positive note in his tone. “
Please
,” she begged him. The urgency beating at her from Elliot drove her to take chances she normally would not.

Zak studied her for a moment. His tentacles stilled as he considered her request.

“For Sue.”

Snorting his acceptance, the hellhound wobbled around on the ground unhappily.

“Thank you.” Vicky rubbed him and stood back up.

Zak rolled over and nuzzled her leg where she bore his mark, testing the link to make sure it was solid.

She pushed back against him mentally, showing it was firm.

Zak wiggled between Darien and Vicky, touching both of them.

“Ouch!” Darien jerked his leg away from the fay, who had just sunk his teeth into the back of Darien’s calf. “Damn it, Zak!” Releasing Vicky’s hand, he limped away from the fay. “I know this doesn’t make you happy, and you can eat my pants later if you want, but leave the flesh, little horror.” He paused a few steps away and lifted up the leg of his jeans to look at the wound.

“Zak!” Vicky snapped as she dropped down by Darien’s leg. She wiped away the blood with her sleeve to find two neat rows of teeth marks marring the skin. “Oh, Zak.” She reached up and touched one of the cuts.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow.” Pulling away from her probing finger, Darien limped around as he tried to ignore the pain ripping up the back of his calf. “I think the little monster is poisonous or something.” He flexed his leg. “It burns.”

Zak whined in response and rolled around.

“It’s okay, Uncle L'aimè.” Marie came over and tugged on Darien’s sleeve. “Da puppy only wanted to help.”

Darien clenched his teeth together hard, trying not to speak his mind in front of such an impressionable child. “Yes, help.” Sitting down hard, he squeezed the knee of the leg Zak had bitten. “Can I get some water, please?” he asked before closing his eyes on the tears forming, rocking to try to block out the burning in his calf. It was the worst pain he had ever felt. “Why don’t you just eat me and get it over with?” Darien growled at the fay behind him.

Zak gurgled and wiggled over to where Darien clutched at his leg. Sweat had broken out on the vampire’s forehead as tremors ran through his body.

Vicky moved to his back and touched him gently, not sure how to soothe his pain. “Stop this, Zak,” she reprimanded the hellhound.

Zak whined and touched Darien with several tips.

Delia approached him with a glass of water, but Darien’s attention was on the burn spreading up his leg. He could feel his heart pushing the pain from his leg into his body. The heat marked exactly where his veins ran under his skin.

Vicky took the glass of cool water and held it to him. She could feel his temperature rising as she rubbed his back, trying to comfort him.

Snatching the glass of water, Darien drained half of it before pouring the rest over his head. The cold water did nothing to calm the fire running through him. He dropped the glass to the ground, forgetting it in his plight. The heat climbed to his chest, making it hard to breathe. Gasping, he tried to drag air into his aching lungs.