Kissed by Fire (19 page)

Behind me, Drago laughed.

***

Darkness had fallen by the time I left The
Dragon’s Den. The streetlamps cast their mellow orange glow over
the cobbled streets of Soho as a drunk couple staggered past me,
arms wrapped around each other. I wrinkled my nose. I could smell
the reek of alcohol on them.

Laughing, one of the men slammed the other up
against a shop wall. I braced myself for action before realizing it
wasn’t aggression. At least not in a bad way, if the kissing was
anything to go by.

I tucked my hands into my jacket pockets and
tried not to stare too much as I passed them. An unexpected ping of
jealousy hit me out of nowhere. Why couldn’t my love life be that
simple? A little too much wine and some hot groping on a street
corner sounded pretty good to me.

I’d just turned the corner when that tingle
gripped the back of my skull, stopping me in my tracks. Vampire. I
knelt down as though to tie my shoelace and carefully slid my blade
from its ankle sheath.

“So, little Hunter, we meet again. At
last.”

He stood a few feet away, wrapped in shadow.
I couldn’t see his features, but I could smell him with that odd
sense I had, and I’d never forget that voice. “You’ve led me on a
merry chase these last few days, Bob.”

“Bob?” he sounded amused.

I shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”

Fangs flashed in the dim light and a chuckle
followed. “You Americans are such an odd bunch. I suppose it comes
from living in the wilderness of the Colonies all these years”

Was he serious? “Whatever, Bob. You didn’t
answer my question.”

“You didn’t ask a question.”

Point to Bob. “Why have you been following
me, Bob?”

He sighed. “You are amazingly thick for a
Hunter. Very disappointing. Especially considering I’m essentially
your sire.”

“Excuse me?”

This time his smile chilled me to the bones.
He took one step closer. “I made you. Without me you would be
languishing in the ordinary. I made you extraordinary.”

He was actually trying to take the credit for
me becoming a Hunter. As if that made him killing me OK. “If you’re
waiting for me to thank you, you’re going to be waiting one hell of
a long time.”

He shrugged as if to say he had plenty of
time. He wouldn’t if I could help it. I adjusted my grip on the
knife handle. “Answer me.”

“Very well. I was paid to lead you around
London. Distract you. Just for a few days, you understand.”

“You ran me all around London for
money?
”

He examined his nails before buffing them on
the lapel of his snazzy wool coat. “Living takes money, you know.
And I’ve lived a very long time.”

“Well, then, let me fix that for you.”

I called it. Without a second’s hesitation, I
called the Darkness and it came in a rush, ramming through me like
an ocean wave. The edges of my vision bled black. It shrieked with
glee and it wasn’t just the Darkness shrieking, it was me.

“Holy goddess.” Bob had blanched white. Well,
as white as a vampire can blanch.

“The goddess can’t help you now, Bob. No one
can.” The voice that came out of my mouth was mine and yet not
mine. It held the weight of a thousand tombs. I let loose the
Darkness.

Apparently he decided he wasn’t going to sit
there and wait to get turned into dog meat. He ran at me. The
Darkness laughed and I was across the street and on him faster than
a heartbeat.

Bob grabbed a handful of my jacket and used
my momentum to swing me around and into the wall. I landed so hard
it rattled my teeth. I’d no doubt have some lovely bruises.

He went for my throat, fangs flashing in the
dim light, but I brought up one arm and with strength born of
Darkness broke his grip. With my other hand I got a good grip on
his throat. He snarled and I snarled back, lifting the knife and
driving it home right into his kidneys.

Only problem is vampires don’t really use
their kidneys so stabbing one is no big deal unless you had time to
let them bleed to death. I didn’t have that kind of time.

Bob picked me up and threw me. I flew a good
twenty feet before crashing down on the pavement. Something snapped
and pain flooded my body, but the Darkness snarled and shoved it
back. I felt nothing but the bliss of Darkness.

The Darkness wasn’t all power, it was
cunning, too. I lay, waiting, catching my breath until Bob was
within arm’s reach. Then I reach out and grabbed his ankle,
flipping him into the air and unto his back. He landed with enough
force that if vampires could breathe, it would have knocked the
wind out of him.

In a flash, I was on top of him, straddling
his chest, knife at his throat. “Who paid you, Bob?” I could barely
hiss out the words past the Darkness that was growing stronger and
stronger inside me. “Who wants me dead?” Because that’s what it
was. A hit. Whoever hired Bob had to have known that he would try
to finish what he started. What they didn’t know was that I was no
longer easy to kill.

“If I tell you, will you let me go?”

The Darkness smiled with my mouth. “Of
course, Bob.”

“Swear it.”

“We swear it. On everything we hold dear. If
you tell us who hired you, we will let you go.” My voice had a
weird double echo. Deep inside I felt a thrill of terror.

“Fine. It was a woman called Jade. A Hunter,
but not like you.”

“Very good, Bob,” the Darkness said with my
mouth, my voice. “Thank you for telling us.” The blade bit into his
neck, spilling a thin trickle of blood.

Fear flashed across a face that might have
once been handsome. “You promised.”

“Of course we did, Bob. And we keep our
promises. We will let you go back to the dust which made you,” the
Darkness hissed.

“No! Please!”

“Sorry, Bob.” Without warning the Darkness
was gone and in its place was Fire. Fire so hot it burned, turning
my very bones to dust. “Ashes to ashes ... ” the Fire whispered in
the vampire’s ear.

I placed my palm in the center of his chest.
One second later, he was flame. He screamed in agony, but though I
still straddled him, the flames didn’t hurt me. I watched in awe as
they danced along my skin, leaving it unmarred.

And then I knelt alone on a pile of ash. Deep
inside, the Darkness laughed and a tiny crimson flame danced.

I don’t remember how I got back to the hotel.
One minute I was on that dark street kneeling in a pile of ash and
the next I was standing in the hotel lobby with Francois fussing
over me.

“Mademoiselle Bailey! Where have you been?
Mademoiselle Jones has been
most
upset! Most upset. Is
everything OK? You look most distressed!” He talked at about ninety
miles an hour, arms waving in the air. Every other sentence came
out an exclamation. Honestly, he was exhausting.

“I’m fine, Francois. My meeting just went a
bit longer than I expected.”

“But Mademoiselle ... ”

“I’m fine,” I cut him off, voice firm.
“Goodnight, Francois.”

He was still muttering and wringing his hands
when I turned my back on him and headed for the elevator.

Inside, I slumped against the wall. I tried
desperately to dredge up any memory of the trip, but no matter how
hard I tried it was a no go. The last thing I could remember was
Bob doing a great ash pile impersonation.

“Shit.” I ran a hand through my hair and
realized it was shaking. I was not doing my reputation as a badass
Vampire Hunter any good. I stepped off the elevator and headed for
Kabita’s room.

The door swung open at my knock. “What on
earth happened to you? You look like you’ve been rolling around in
a dustbin.”

“Pretty much,” I said, stepping past her into
the room. “I dusted Bob.”

“Who?”

“The vamp that killed me three years
ago.”

Kabita sat down abruptly on the edge of the
bed. Her mouth worked as though she was trying to say something but
couldn’t quite figure out what. Finally, “His name was Bob?” She
sounded incredulous. I didn’t blame her.

“Not exactly. He didn’t tell me his name, so
I figured I’d give him one.”

She smirked. “So, what happened?”

“We had a chat. I dusted him. Simple as that.
One thing, though. He said someone hired him to follow me around.
You know what that means?”

She frowned. “It was a hit. No way he’d just
follow you and not try to kill you again once he learned you
survived. Nothing pisses a vamp off like learning a kill didn’t
die.”

“Or in this case did, but lived to tell the
tale,” I pointed out.

“Why would someone want to kill you? Other
than the fact you’re annoying, of course.” She leaned back crossing
one leg over the other and gave me a cool look. I very maturely
stuck out my tongue.

“I have no idea in this particular instance.
He said the woman’s name was Jade.”

Kabita sat up abruptly. “Did you say
Jade?”

“Uh, yeah. Why?”

She hurried over to the desk and riffled
through some paperwork. “I had a little chat with Simone Williams
today. She didn’t know anything, but she did have an email Dara
sent her after she disappeared. Adam traced down the IP address. I
did a little digging. Here.” She waved some sort of official
looking document at me. “Jade Vincent. Otherwise known as Dara
Boyd.”

I snatched the paper from her. “No frigging
way. Bob said the Jade that hired him was a Hunter, but not like
me.”

“Obviously the same Jade. I don’t imagine
there’s another Jade who is also a Hunter running around.”

I scanned the document. It was an application
for Miami University for a girl named Jade Vincent from Miami. The
age was right, but that didn’t mean anything. Dara Boyd had last
been seen in London. Miami was a long way away. “How do you know
this is Dara?”

She sighed and handed me another piece of
paper. This one was a personal letter addressed to someone named
William Rhodes. It looked innocent enough until I got to the second
paragraph. “Holy crap. This is a request for witness protection. A
personal request.”

“Signed by my father. William Rhodes was head
of the agency responsible at the time. They were friends. My father
often visited the Rhodes home. In Miami.”

Of all the crazy insane things, this I hadn’t
expected. “So, your father asked his buddy to hide Dara inside the
American system. Not only that, he wanted her close enough so
Rhodes could keep an eye on her.”

Her voice was grim, “William Rhodes has a
sister named Ann Vincent. Jade Vincent is her adopted daughter. My
father circumvented MI8 and all the safeguards to hide a dangerous
woman in another country. And now she’s back.”

“And she wants me dead.”

“Apparently.”

“Fantastic.” This really wasn’t my day.

“What did Sandra’s friend have to say?”

I sighed and flopped down onto the bed Kabita
had vacated. I quickly told her about Alison’s diary and what Drago
had told me, including the fact that the dragons hadn’t made Jade
Vincent, a.k.a. Dara Boyd. I knew she’d figure out the connotations
of that all on her own.

“Drago’s fairly certain that whoever let the
Dragon Hunter loose and murdered Alison is trying to start a race
war between humans and dragons again, most likely in an attempt at
genocide. Gods, can this day get any better?” You could have cut
the sarcasm with a knife.

Kabita didn’t say anything. She just swung
open the mini bar and took out a tiny bottle of tequila. The liquor
disappeared in one swallow. “You want something?” She waved at the
rest of the selection.

“Hell, yes. Make it a double.”

***

I sat on the edge of my bed staring at the
photograph I kept with me everywhere I went. It was late and I
needed sleep, but the photo had caught my eye and so I sat staring
at it like somehow I could reach into the past and unlock it.

My mom had given me the photo on my twelfth
birthday. I’d always known my father died when I was a baby, but
mom never talked about it.

She talked about him plenty. How brave he
was, how strong and smart. When I was being particularly stubborn
she’d tell me I was just like him. It always made me proud to be
told I was like him. Even when it wasn’t exactly a compliment.

Then she’d given me the photo. It was the
first time I’d ever seen his face. Mom said it was the only one she
had of him, but it was right for me to have it.

In the photo, Dad was standing next to
another man, slightly older. Dad was young, maybe twenty-five, with
wavy brown hair and one of those ridiculous moustaches popular back
in the seventies. Still, he was a handsome guy and confidence oozed
out of every pore, even in the photograph.

Around his neck hung a medallion on a short
cord. I’d always thought it was pretty cool, that medallion. It was
a starburst sun with the rays in wavy lines. No idea what it meant,
but I always felt like I should know it. Like it was connected to
me in a way.

But as I stared at the photo, it wasn’t my
father who drew my eye. It was the man standing next to him. The
man with the thick, dark hair and the neatly trimmed sideburns. I
knew that man.

Why was my father in a picture with Alister
Jones? And why hadn’t Alister said anything about knowing my
father?

My jaw grew tight and I rolled my shoulders
to try to release some tension. Somehow I needed to find out,
though I doubted Alister would ever tell the truth. Maybe Mom knew
something. I’d never thought to ask before. Then again, I’d never
met Alister Jones before.

A pounding on my door drew me out of my
reverie. I sighed when I saw who it was. “Trevor Daly. What the
heck are you doing here?” I turned back to the room, assuming he’d
follow.