Kindling Flames: Stolen Fire (The Ancient Fire Series Book 4) (8 page)

Darien snickered. “So, did you find out how she got hurt?”

“Not yet,” Vicky said, letting out a long sigh. “They needed some time alone.” She thought about the couple wrapped up together in the other room. They were going to be parents. A flash of melancholy skimmed through her, making her heart hurt. With Darien as a lover, she would never have children. She pushed the pain away and forced herself to be happy. Sue was going to be a mother.

Darien leaned over and gave her a quick hug, banishing the rest of her unhappiness. “So, I take it Karl will be staying for dinner?” He released her and reached for the can of sloppy joe mix.

Vicky chuckled. “Most definitely.” So far, this had not been a boring week.

***

The sound of Darien’s voice drew Vicky out of the trashy romance novel she had been attempting to read. Her eyes had skimmed across the same passage six times, but she was just not absorbing the words tonight. So much had happened in the last few days that her mind just couldn’t latch onto the story tonight. She looked up from where she was sprawled across the bed as Darien came into the room.

“I see,” he mumbled into the phone as he went about gathering up clothing.

Vicky closed her book and scratched Zak where he was curled up next to her. Her eyes followed Darien as he continued to listen to the phone. She was used to him choosing his work clothing in the evening, but tomorrow was Saturday, and none of the articles he had pulled out were suitable for work.

“Have it ready by then.” Darien paused to listen again. “Thank you.” Hanging up the phone, he set it next to his stack of clothing and came over to sit on the edge of the bed.

Vicky rolled over and looked up at the pensive vampire. “What’s up?”

“I just got a call from Clara.” His voice was slow as he thought about his conversation with the head of the local Vampire Council. “The Council is still having issues with random attacks in the city. There’s going to be a meeting at the end of the week to discuss this rogue. She wants me to help.”

Vicky considered him for a moment before answering. “Did you tell her about your issues?”

Darien got real still for a moment before glancing over to the new mirror over his dresser. The glazier had done an excellent job replacing the glass Darien had shattered in a fit of rage. “No.”

He breathed the word so softly Vicky almost didn’t hear it. Confusion crossed her face as she pushed up to a sitting position. “Why not?” she asked. “Isn’t losing your vampire powers something she needs to know?”

Zak rubbed up against Darien’s hip.

Dairen weaved his fingers deep into the little horror’s feelers. “This isn’t something I can let them know about.” He paused, choosing his words carefully. “The council here may respect me enough to let this weakness slide, but there are other things out there that would see my failings as an opportunity not to be missed.”

The seriousness of his voice caused Vicky to sit up a little straighter. She touch Darien’s arm reassuringly. “This isn’t your fault.”

He turned and gave her a thin smile. “Maybe not, but it still leaves me vulnerable.”

Zak gurgled and wiggled into Darien’s lap.

He let out a chuckle and rubbed the small fay. “There’s not much you can do to protect me.”

Growling, Zak rubbed his face into Darien’s stomach.

“So, what do we do?”

Darien turned to look at her and sighed softly. He loved that she was willing to help him without his needing to ask. “Well,” shifting Zak to the bed, he stood up, “I know of someone that might be able to help, but I have to go to them.” He turned and gave Vicky a cryptic grin. “How would you like to go drop in on them tomorrow?”

“Sure,” she agreed. “Will it be okay to drop in unannounced?”

Mischief bloomed in his eyes as his smile widened. “Oh, it’s expected.”

This confused Vicky, but she let it go. When Darien got into a mischievous mood, it was best just to roll with it. It didn’t matter how many times or ways she questioned him, he would not give her a straight answer. “All right.” She smiled. “So, where are we going?”

Darien’s grin got bigger as he tapped his long index finger on the side of his nose.

Vicky just laughed at him.

“Find a set of comfortable clothing.” He turned back to the clothes he had pulled out. “It’ll be warmer than here, but you will still probably need a jacket.”

Vicky let out a long sigh and went to get some clothes. She was definitely not getting anything out of him tonight.

Zak led the way out of Darien’s bedroom. Vicky had been sleeping in there for a while now, but all of her stuff was still in the dappled green room she had originally moved into when an ifrit had set fire to her apartment.

Tapping lightly on the door to let the werewolves inside know she was there, she pushed it open when Karl’s voice called in answer. “Sorry,” Vicky said as she slipped into the room and grinned apologetically to her friends stretched out on the soft rug. The Scrabble letters were scattered across the floor so Sue could communicate. “I just need some clothing.” Zak wobbled over to the pair as she moved to the dresser and pulled out two sets of clothing. Peeking over, she found Sue watching her. “Darien wants to go out tomorrow, and we might be gone all night.” Vicky gathered the stack of clothes to her chest and turned to her friends. “Will you guys be okay here?”

Sue chirped, and Karl patted her lovingly.

“Of course.” He smiled. “We really appreciate Darien letting us stay.” Darien had invited Karl to remain with Sue for as long as he liked. With her still unable to shift back to human form, it was not safe for her to return to Rupert and the local pack.

“It’s no problem at all,” Vicky reassured them. She reached down to scratch Sue behind the ear and stopped just short of the soft fur. Somehow, Vicky has started to think of Sue as more dog than a human.

Karl caught her internal conflict and grinned. “It’s okay.” He reached up and scratched Sue behind the other ear.

Sue rocked her head so his fingers dug in a little deeper.

Vicky let her fingers fall to the fur and scrubbed them in the same way she knew Zak liked. “It just seems so rude to pet your friends like that.”

Sue let her tongue loll out of her mouth in pleasure.

Karl chuckled at her. “Wolves are very social animals,” he explained. “Most of us are very comfortable with ourselves and enjoy being touched.”

Vicky nodded her head, slowly taking in his words. “I seem to remember that.” She raised an eyebrow as she thought about a very interesting poker game she has walked into in this very room.

Karl laughed at the look on her face.

“Oh,” she pulled her hand back and readjusted her pile of clothing, “I don’t mind you using this room, but my stuff is stowed in here. If you don’t want me coming in at odd times to get something, you may want to move to either the yellow room at the end of the hall or the room downstairs. But, I don’t want you to think I’m running you out of here.” Vicky added the last bit quickly so they wouldn’t misunderstand.

Sue snickered—a very disturbing sound coming from a large wolf.

“We understand.” Karl reached out and touched Vicky’s leg where he could reach it. “It would probably be a wise idea to move to the room downstairs, anyway.” He turned loving eyes on his wolf lady. “Once Sue starts showing, it would be best if she avoided stairs.”

Sue snorted at his overprotectiveness, but she tolerated it.

“Well, let us know if there’s anything else we can do for you.” Vicky stood up and looked at the hellhound that had come in with her. “Zak!” She called to him. “Drop those, and spit out what’s in your mouth.”

Zak had been playing with Sue’s Scrabble tiles. He rapped a few on the floor before dropping them and spitting out a well-chewed, wet glob that had once been a game piece.

Vicky rolled her eyes in exasperation as the little fay came over to cuddle against her leg. “Sorry about that.” She smiled at her guests. “I’ll get something to clean it up.”

Karl reached over to the basketball-sized mass of tentacles and ruffled a few of the smaller bits. “Don’t worry about it.”

Zak turned to nuzzle Karl’s hand.

“I’ll get it.”

The fay wrapped some of his grasping ends around Karl’s fingers and was in the process of licking their tips when Vicky nudged him lightly with her foot. “Then, I think I had better get him out of here before he decides he wants to chew on something tastier.”

Karl’s eyes widened, and he carefully pulled his hand away from the fay’s mouth.

Vicky nudged the hellhound towards the door. “Come on, you little horror.”

The fay gurgled happily and rolled out of the room.

“Have a good night,” Vicky called as she followed Zak out to the sounds of Karl’s mirth. It was going to be interesting having other people in the house.

Vicky made her way back into Darien’s bedroom and added her things to the pile the vampire was sorting into a bag.

Darien looked over her choice of jeans and a dark, woolen sweater. “You might need something else.” He considered his options for a second before turning to his walk-in closet. “I think I have just the thing.” When he came back out, he held a black, hooded sweatshirt and a white, long-sleeved T-shirt. Darien folded them and replaced Vicky’s sweater. “Now, you just need some comfortable shoes.” Going back to the closet, he found Vicky’s running shoes. She only wore them to run on the treadmill in the exercise room. “There.” Darien looked over the new outfit, pleased. “That should work for our meeting tomorrow.”

Vicky raised an eyebrow at the new outfit. “I thought we were going to a meeting.” Lifting the zipped hoodie, she looked at it closer. The golden word ‘Saints’ was split in half by the zipper. This was definitely inappropriate for the types of meetings they usually had.

“Well,” Darien shrugged as he dropped the filled bag on the floor, “these people aren’t the type of people I usually meet with.” He gave Vicky an odd look. “They’re people from my past.”

“Oh.” Vicky nodded slowly and folded the shirt back onto the pile. “This is going to be interesting.”

Darien chuckled as he turned to pull her into his arms. “It’s nothing you should be concerned about.” He kissed her lightly on the forehead. “Now, go get ready for bed. We have to head out early tomorrow.”

Vicky leaned her head onto his shoulder and breathed out a resigned sigh. At times, Darien’s mysterious side infuriated her, but she had learned that pushing wouldn’t get her the information she wanted. All she had to do was practice a little patience and all would be revealed tomorrow.

Somehow, Vicky wasn’t really surprised when Darien got them up before dawn and drove out to the little airfield on the outskirts of Brenton. She had been there before—she picked him up from Hawking’s Field during the first week she had worked for him. Just the memory of how he had recoiled from the sun brought a smile of amusement to her face. At the time, she hadn’t known about vampires and had thought he was reacting due to a hangover. Oh, how wrong she had been.

“So, are you going to tell me where we are going?” Vicky asked as she opened the door to let Zak out.

The small fay shifted into his Shih Tzu form, jumped out of the car, and scurried around, sniffing things.

Shutting the door, she pulled her coat a little tighter around her before slipping her satchel over her shoulder. The weather had turned colder last night, and the air bit as they got out of the car.

Darien smiled at her and grabbed up the backpack he had stuffed their things into. “You’ll see.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and guided her into the hangar. “Come on, Zak.”

Zak peeked up from where he was digging in the grass and sprinted his way over to the waiting plane. He paused when one of the ground crew whistled and reached down. Zak’s tail wagged happily as the little horror rubbed into the man’s outstretched hand. After a few good scratches, the fay shook off the man’s attention and scampered up the steps into the plane.

“Good morning, Mr. Ritter.” A well-dressed man greeted him as Darien got closer to the small jet waiting for him. “She’s all ready to go.” He held out his hand, and Darien handed over the bag to be stowed.

“Good. Thank you, Michael,” Darien said as he led the way to the plane.

The man nodded. “Watch your step, Miss.” Michael stepped up and held his hand out so Vicky could follow Darien into the aircraft.

Vicky looked at the offering for a moment before using it to climb up the steps of the private jet.

The man followed her up and turned to help the ground crew secure the door.

Vicky paused to look around the aircraft. She had never been inside a private jet before, but she had seen them in movies. Darien’s jet looked exactly like she would have expected. The interior of the plane was done up in varying shades of beige.

On one side of the room were two comfy-looking armchairs attached to the floor. There was a wooden folding table attached to the wall between them. At the moment, it was stowed away for liftoff. Zak had jumped up on the long couch that ran the length of the other side of the cabin. The dark brown cushions accented the rest of the space, making the beige less overwhelming. The doors at either end of the cabin were done up in mahogany. Overall, it was a rather simple, but elegant, design.

Vicky pulled her bag off and headed for one of the chairs. She slipped off her overcoat and looked around for someplace to hang it. To her surprise, Michael stood ready to take it from her. “Thank you.” She handed the coat over.

Michael folded it over his arm before taking Darien’s jacket as well. “The captain is running through the last of the preflight checks now,” he explained, taking the bag and jackets to a small closet in one of the bulkheads. “There’s a cold front over Mississippi, so we could run into some turbulence there, but otherwise, it will be calm air clear to New Orleans.”

Vicky’s eyes widened when she heard their destination. She had always wanted to go to New Orleans but never had the chance to go.

Darien sunk into the chair farthest from the door. “Very good.”

Michael nodded and disappeared through the door to the cockpit.

“New Orleans?” Vicky asked as she settled into the other chair.

Zak jumped off the couch and came over to climb onto Vicky’s lap.

Darien gave her a lazy shrug. “I have a contact there who owes me a favor or two.” Leaning back into the seat, he crossed his legs at the ankles and folded his hands over his stomach. “They deal with a different type of magic than the fay. I’m hoping the different perspective will shed some light on the situation.” He closed his eyes and relaxed back into the chair.

“So what type of magic do they deal with?” Vicky tried to draw Darien into a conversation, but all she got was a rumbling noise from deep in his chest. Smiling, she turned her attention to the windows. With all the stress from the last few days, Darien hadn’t been sleeping well. It was probably best to let him rest a little. After all, he was still recovering from his bout of stomach flu. She wiggled her fingers deeper into Zak’s fur, setting him to purring.

When the plane started to move, Vicky looked around in surprise. She had been on a few planes before and was expecting the whole safety demonstration thing from a flight attendant. As far as Vicky could tell, there wasn’t a flight attendant. While the plane hurdled down the runway, she considered waking Darien to ask, but he looked so peaceful stretched out in his chair. Vicky decided to wait for the plane to level out and ask Michael. When the plane finally stabilized, she picked up Zak and went to tap on the pilot’s door.

“Can I help you, Miss?” Michael asked when he opened the door.

Vicky took a quick look around the small room before answering. She had never seen the cockpit of a real airplane before. Shaking her head to realign her thoughts, she turned back to her question. “Is there some kind of security or safety stuff we have to do?” She held Zak tightly against her. He was trying to get down to investigate the little room.

Michael chuckled and opened the door, inviting her into the small cabin. He went back to the copilot’s seat. “That’s only for aircraft over 12,500 pounds,” he explained. “We miss that mark by about 2,000 pounds.”

“So, what about the whole flight attendant thing?” Vicky asked, curious.

An attentive look crossed Michael’s face, and he sat up taller. “Did you need something?”

“No.” Vicky held out her hand to keep the man from jumping up to help. “I’ve just never flown by private plane before.”

Zak made an attempt at escape, but Vicky caught him before he could leap from her arms.

“Then, welcome aboard.” The pilot smiled over his shoulder at her. “I’m Terry.”

Vicky looked over the well-spoken man. His skin was so dark it was nearly purple, and he would probably be tall when he stood up. Right now, he was folded neatly behind the controls of the plane. “If you need anything, Michael here can help you find it.”

Michael nodded his head in agreement.

“I’m Vicky.” She smiled warmly at him. “And this is Zak.” She bounced the fay in her arms. He was still trying to get down to look around the room.

“You can let him down.” Terry reassured her as he watched the little dog struggle to get free. “He can’t hurt much.”

Vicky snorted in mirth but let Zak down. “You don’t know him very well.” She smiled.

Finally free, the fay sniffed around one of the panels. He turned his attention to Michael holding down his hand. Zak sniffed it before rubbing his face into the man’s palm.

Michael lifted him to his lap and ruffled his fur. “Oh, he seems nice enough to me.”

“That’s what he would like you to believe.” She chucked at Zak sniffing the instrument panel. “Come on, Zak.” She patted her leg. “Let’s leave these nice men to do their jobs.”

Zak shook his head in a great sneeze and jumped from Michael’s lap.

“Sorry for bothering you,” Vicky backed out of the small room.

“You’re no bother at all.” Michael stood up to see her out. “If you or Mr. Ritter needs anything, please let me know.”

Vicky thanked him again and went back to her seat. The air temperature in the plane was comfortable now that the cold December air had been shut out. She unzipped the Saints hoodie and relaxed back into the chair, giving her lap back to Zak.

Closing her eyes, she tried to remember everything she had ever learned about New Orleans. Unfortunately, it wasn’t much. She knew the city was most famous for Mardi Gras and drinking. There had been a few extensive articles on the city’s rich history after Katrina had devastated the region, but she had mostly read the parts about the pumping and levee systems. There had also been a recent kids’ movie about the darker side of the city.

Vicky pulled at her memory trying to get it to work. She had stopped to watch part of that show when she had gone shopping. There was a man with a strangely painted face and little shrunken heads singing a catchy song, but she just couldn’t recall what he was. Vicky shook the thought away and let her mind drift. She would find out the answers soon enough.

***

The morning sunlight twinkled off the water as the plane circled, preparing for landing. The little airport was on the edge of the biggest lake Vicky had ever seen. Darien pointed out the thin line that crossed the waters of Lake Pontchartrain and explained that it was the longest bridge in the world at a whopping twenty-four uninterrupted miles. Zak perched on the back of the couch, looking out the window as the plane touched down. By the time they taxied into a waiting hangar, he had jumped down and was romping around the cabin, ready to get out and explore the new area.

“Should we warn New Orleans that he’s coming?” Vicky laughed as she gathered her bag.

Darien smiled at her. “No,” He chuckled as he went to get their coats and bag. “This city’s seen worse.”

Michael stepped out of the cabin and almost ran into Darien. “Sorry, Sir,” he apologized and slipped passed the vampire to crack open the hatch.

Zak bounced over and rubbed against his leg.

“Come on, Zak,” Vicky called the little horror away so the man could work.

“He’s all right.” Michael leaned over and scratched Zak’s ear before lowering the door to the waiting ground crew.

As soon as the steps were completely down, Zak bounced out to investigate the new smells.

Darien laughed as Michael tried to catch him before he slipped away. “Just let him go,” he reassured the man trying to scramble after the dog. “He’ll be fine.”

Michael looked out the door before nodding and climbing out of the cabin at a more dignified pace.

Vicky glanced around to make sure she hadn’t left anything before following Darien out of the plane.

He held his hand out to help her down the steps.

Vicky looked around, slightly disappointed. “So, this is New Orleans.” Even though the air temperature was warmer than Brenton, it didn’t seem much different than home.

Darien snickered and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her to his side. “This is the New Orleans Lakefront Airport.” He steered her towards a black sedan. “You don’t get a good feel for the city until you get to the Quarter.” A dark-skinned man, dressed in a suit, stood by the car with keys.

“Welcome to the Crescent City, Mr. Ritter.” He held out the keys for Darien to take. “She's all gassed up and ready to go.”

Darien thanked him and tossed his bag and coat in the back seat. His long-sleeved T-shirt was enough to cut what little chill there was in the air.

Vicky added her coat and bag to the back seat as well.

“Zak!” Darien called to the fay. “We’re leaving.”

Vicky had to suppress a smile when she heard the surprised squeal of some unseen groundskeeper. Zak must have startled him when he bolted out of whatever mischief he was getting into. Vicky opened her door, and Zak launched himself into her seat.

“Little monster.” Darien grinned as he got in.

Vicky had to shift the excited fay around so she could get in. “Do you like it here?” she asked as Zak bounced from looking out the front window to looking out the passenger window.