Awakening the Fire

chapter Thirty-Four

“Ari, wait. I’ll go with you.” Mike caught up with her near the cavern entrance and held out a flashlight. “They don’t need me back there.”

Ari stopped her sprint through the dark. The finger fire she’d been using to light the way was almost depleted. Breathing hard, she rested her good hand on her thigh. “Thanks for the light. Give me a minute, will you?”

Mike nodded, his eyes saying nothing.

Ari’s brain whirled with images and thoughts she couldn’t reconcile right now. The dagger in her hand. The salamanders, their eyes flickering with fire. Andreas standing over Sheila’s body. She willed her brain to shut them out and concentrated on slowing her pulse. She needed to quit feeling.

“Go help them with the wolves,” Ari said when she was sure her voice was steady. “I can get back on my own.”

“No. You can’t. Not with that arm.” Mike was matter-of-fact.

She had forgotten. Glancing down, she saw the bindings were tight; it was swelling. “I guess you're right. Let’s go.”

She started off in the lead, Mike followed. He didn’t attempt conversation, and the return trip up the cliffs was completed in silence. It was harder than she had anticipated. Without Mike, she wouldn’t have made it.

When they reached the top, Ryan was sitting in his off-duty car. The door opened when he spotted her, and he stepped out. “I heard there’s been some trouble.”

“Yeah, you might say that. Who called you?” As if she couldn’t figure that one out. She wondered how much Andreas had told him.

Ryan ignored her question, looking at her arm. “You’re injured.”

He was being careful, cautious. Andreas must have said quite a bit.

“It’ll keep,” she said. “Prisoners and bodies come first.”

A brief frown crossed his face before he shrugged, accepting her answer. No barrage of questions. His restraint made it easier to stick to business.

Mike left, refusing a ride, and headed back to the vampire compound.

Ari filled Ryan in on most of the night’s events. She didn’t mention the fire salamanders. Not now, maybe never. And she didn’t talk about how Sheila died. Surprisingly, Ryan took it all in stride. Of course, he’d already been primed.

“No human bodies,” she said. “In fact, no one local. They thought they could walk into Riverdale and take over.”

“Overconfident, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess. Too bad most of them aren’t alive to learn by their mistakes.”

Ryan gave a short, mirthless cop laugh.

He drove her to the compound. Mike was already there, and no one asked her what happened. The next hour was a flurry of activity. Carmella and the four vampires arrived from the caverns with the wolves, both living and dead. Carmella took no time in letting Ryan know the caves were off limits. He was fine with that, said the delivery saved him and the police department a lot of trouble. He called in officers to take custody of the prisoners and the coroner to handle the bodies. Ari started to follow the last officer out the door.

“So this is the vampire court, huh?” Ryan stood in the middle of the security area and looked around.

Ari stopped and turned back. “This is security. The audience chambers are down the hall. Sleeping quarters are far from here.”

“Not very fancy. Somehow, I expected plush quarters.”

“They were better before the fight.” She started to shrug, grimaced at the discomfort in her arm.

“You need to see a doctor. We’re done here. Unless you’re waiting for someone.” He paused and waited for an answer.

“No, no one. Let’s go.” Now the work was done, she was anxious to get away. Afraid Andreas might appear. She couldn’t see him right now.

“Hey, Ari.” It was Mike. He walked toward them, pulling something out of his belt. He held out her silver dagger. “You dropped this.”

Ari shook her head. “You keep it. I don’t want it anymore.” As she turned away, Mike and Ryan exchanged a look, but she kept moving toward the door. “Are you coming?” she said over her shoulder.

“Right behind you.” Ryan caught up with her outside. “You’re not going to talk about it, are you?”

Ari didn’t break stride. “No, there’s nothing to talk about. The bad guys are mostly dead. The rest are in custody. Case closed. What more do you want?”

“Me? I’m satisfied, but I get the feeling you’re not.”

How could she be? Her personal life was a wreck. People she counted on had died or betrayed her. She had developed magical powers she didn’t understand. But she’d cope. She always did.

She turned to Ryan and mustered a smile. “Quit worrying about me, partner. I’ll be fine. A visit to the ER, a good night’s sleep, I’ll be a new woman.”

“I kind of liked the old one,” he said.

“Tough. You’ll get used to the new me. Now come on before your pager or mine goes off. I couldn’t face another crime scene tonight.”

As she climbed into his car, she congratulated herself for not asking why Andreas hadn’t returned to the compound. It was a start.