Awakening the Fire

chapter Twenty-Seven

Leaving the warehouse district, Ari and Andreas walked in the general direction of her apartment. She’d gotten over most of her snit, for the moment anyway.

“Are you really fine with being part of this deal?” she asked.

“I already promised to help you.”

“Yes, but offering and being ordered are different. What about the club?”

Andreas dismissed her concerns. “The club has an excellent staff. And Daron did not order this without my agreement. He isn’t the dictator you think, but we don’t have time to talk about the prince. Too many other things to explain before dawn arrives.”

Ari listened with rapt attention as Andreas revealed detail after detail about the secretive vampire court. He started with an overview of the current daylight guards: three werelions, a werewolf and a halfling demon. All five had worked with the vampires for years with no smudges on their loyalty. Ari perked up her ears when he said the halfling’s abilities included demon fire. She’d never met another being with fire ability, except Great-Gran. The demon part gave her a moment of hesitation—even a halfling could be evil—until she remembered she’d just agreed to protect a nest of vampires.

Without telling more than necessary, Andreas described the general layout of the compound. The security station inside the side door held a secret entrance to Prince Daron’s sleeping quarters. Beyond that hidden door was a complicated labyrinth of passageways.

“Without a map or detailed instructions, no one could locate the prince’s chambers. Not before they were discovered.”

“Then why do you need me?”

“We have a traitor. Someone may have revealed the path, drawn a map.”

Ari blinked. “But I thought the passage was secret. Who would know the way…other than you, Carmella and Lucien?”

Andreas shrugged. “Nest leaders, court personnel, guards, maybe a few tradesmen. Most of the chambers are only secret to the outside world. Not to vampires. Daron’s actual sleeping quarters are private but simple process of elimination could get you there if you already knew the layout. The entire complex is like a community center in some respects.”

“How many entrances? Rooms? Corridors?” Ari flung out her arms. “This must cover an entire city block. A rabbit warren.”

His lips twitched. “It is not as bad as that. There is only one way into the inner chambers. It is true,” he said in response to her sudden scowl. “Daron believes that one entrance is easier to defend. The court is heavily fortified at night. And if we are asleep,” he gave a rueful shrug, “what good is an escape route?”

“But that’s such a stupid idea!” She put up her hands at his sharp look. “Never mind. We’ll deal with it. But if one of the daylight guards is on the enemy payroll or someone else has talked, your only entrance and exit has been compromised.” She sighed. “Fine, I’ve got the basic set up. Tell me about the other incidents the prince mentioned.”

As Andreas talked, it didn’t take long for Ari to see some possible links between the court problems and the wolves. Daron’s attacker had been a deliveryman, a werewolf employed by the blood bank for less than three months. His background check turned out to be falsified, and they had no idea who he was. Six weeks before that Carmella had been ambushed by a vampire, another stranger to the Riverdale area. Three weeks later a wolf offered to pay, and pay well, for information on the vampire compound. The young vampire he attempted to bribe reported the incident, but by the time the wolf was located, he’d been shot to death. Again, he wasn’t a local. In typical vampire fashion, the body was hidden.

“If you had reported it, we might have run DNA or something,” she said as they crossed 10th Street and turned left onto a shaded boulevard.

“At the time, it seemed unimportant.”

Ari suddenly looked at him. “That’s what you were doing in Goshen Park when we first met. Following a suspicious wolf. As it turns out, you were right. I wonder if the kids interrupted a drug deal or a meeting with a local contact. Guess I should have killed Molyneux that night. You might have mentioned your earlier suspicions. You’ve kept a lot of secrets.”

“Private vampire business. Up to the moment Sebastian questioned you, we had no proof our affairs affected the larger community.”

Vampires business. As if that explained everything, she thought. To him it might. Vampire society had been closed to outsiders for centuries. But, dammit, if she had known from the beginning, it might have helped. She released a weary sigh. If their current arrangement was going to work, they’d have to get beyond the past.

“I’m curious, Andreas. You work with werecreatures, even a halfling demon. Why no witches or other conjurers before now?”

Andreas’s eyebrows shot up. “I am surprised you have to ask. Have you no knowledge of the long-standing conflicts between the O-Seven and the Witches League? Their struggle for domination in the Old Country?”

“I’ve never even heard of the O-Seven. But what’s some fight in Europe got to do with your court or what you do over here?”

“It was not just ‘some fight.’ The council of the seven original vampires—who are thousands of years old, by the way—and the witches’ covens nearly destroyed one another in 1329. In my country, no witch would consider aligning with a vampire. With your abilities, she would be more likely to try to burn us out.”

“That seems harsh.” Ari shrugged. She couldn’t remember Great-Gran mentioning a special problem with the vampires. Except for them being violent predators, of course. For the witches, the feud must have stopped at the ocean. For the vampires, not so much. “So these old vamps are still holding a grudge, huh? Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

She fell silent, losing interest in the O-Seven and focusing on the other things she’d heard tonight. Headlights from a passing car swept over them and highlighted the familiar surroundings. Another two blocks and they’d be on her street.

“Out of questions?” he asked.

“Just figuring out what I haven’t asked. It’s a lot to take in. The vamp who was killed, Frederick. How’d the killers get to him but not the rest of you?”

Andreas swung his head to look at Ari. “I don’t understand the question.”

“You live together, don’t you?”

“Lord, no. Occasionally we might stay at the compound, but that is unusual. We have our own homes. Frederick lived with a human consort who guarded his sleeping hours. She was killed during the attack. Shot three times. She hadn’t been tortured, so the killers knew exactly where to find his hidden chamber when they arrived.”

“And who would know that?”

Andreas shook his head. “It is not information freely shared.”

“Well, someone shared. The consort must have betrayed him. Unless…could another vampire bespell her? Force her to tell without using visible torture?”

“No, not possible.” His answer was decisive. “Frederick would have known immediately. Consorts are closely bound to their vampire mates. It would take someone very powerful indeed—someone as old as Sebastian himself—to overcome such resistance. The attempt would have destroyed her mind. And her willing betrayal is improbable,” he continued. “Consorts often die from the breaking of a bond. Such action would invite her own death. No, Ari, they were well mated. Their friends, including Victor, report she would have protected Frederick with her life. As apparently she tried to do.”

“Then how’d this happen?”

“I have no logical explanation.”

They had nearly reached Ari’s front door. She still hated these steps, enough to look for a new apartment when she found the time. She made an automatic scan of the bushes. If Andreas noticed, he didn’t mention it.

“I will be back at five o’clock,” he said. “To introduce you to the guards.” The vampire started down the steps.

“Andreas?”

He looked back.

“What about you? Who keeps you safe at home?”

A slow smile spread across his face, making his eyes glitter. “I have to wonder why you ask. Is this concern for my safety? Or that I might have a consort?”

Good question. She dropped her eyes and hedged. “Just curiosity.”

He chuckled softly. As he disappeared into the shadows, his voice floated back. “Have no fears, little witch.”

Which, of course, told her nothing.