Fire Within

chapter Thirteen

The following afternoon Ryan called Ari from his duty car to say they had an address for the owner of the drive-by vehicle. He was on his way to the residence.

“Do you need help?” she asked. He'd caught her in the middle of writing up her notes on her morning visits to the social service agencies, and any interruption was welcome.

“No, it’s a human residential area. Better let the uniforms handle it. I’ll call if we pick someone up, and you can meet us at the station.”

“OK. Take care.” Damn, human residential area. That was unwelcome news. If humans were behind the attacks, it wasn’t going to help the growing resentment in the vampire community. She’d almost decided a halfling demon was the culprit, but she couldn’t imagine a halfling blending into a human district undetected or gaining neighborhood acceptance. They were weird looking folks—scrawny; orange skin coloring; coarse, straight hair; and they didn’t touch meat or other human food until it was rotten and moldy. Not the least bit human-like.

Ari returned to her reports. Including Shale’s center, she’d found five social agencies that had some contact with Otherworld clients. None had been acquainted with Vanessa and her female friend’s description was too vague to elicit any positive responses. This was looking like another dead end.

She glanced at her watch. It had been forty-five minutes with no call from Ryan. Any address in Riverdale could be reached in thirty. Had something gone wrong? Maybe the suspect wasn’t at home. She turned her attention back to the computer screen.

The big clock hand made another complete sweep before her phone rang. Ryan sounded out of breath. “We’re headed for the station with one suspect in custody. The other is on his way to the hospital with a bullet in his gut. Don’t think he’ll make it.”

Ari clutched the phone. “Are you OK? What happened?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. A little hyped,” he admitted. “One of the suspects opened up with a pistol, and we fired back. None of our officers were hurt, but we sure stirred up the neighborhood. And they lit up the PD phone circuits. Then the press arrived. What a brouhaha. I’ll tell you all about it later. See you in fifteen.”

Ari abandoned her reports and dashed from the office. The PD would be in an uproar following a shooting, and Ryan would be impatient for answers. This was one suspect interview she didn’t want to miss.

The air in the cop shop sizzled with tension. When officers were at risk, everyone on the force felt the adrenaline surge. Next time it might be their lives on the line. Ryan’s office was crowded with uniforms and excited voices. Ari smelled the testosterone in the air, and the high levels of energy—even of the human variety—raised the hairs on her arms. As soon as Ryan spotted her, he started waving the crowd toward the door.

“OK, go on, you slackers. Out of here. Some of us still have work to do.”

After more backslaps, the crowd began to move and finally filed out into the hallway. Ari closed the door, silence descended, and Ryan sank into his desk chair.

“What an afternoon.” He raked his fingers through his curly hair. “It might have been one of us.”

Ari nodded in comprehension. The aftermath of an energy rush was setting in, that moment after a close call when a cop realizes he’s survived, but it could have gone either way. Ryan aimlessly shuffled the papers on his desk, straightening, restacking. Ari waited, giving him time to regroup. The suspect would still be in booking. They had plenty of time.

Ari dropped into a chair and let her gaze wander around the room, stopping on a sparrow sitting on the outside windowsill. It was pecking at something, dead bugs or debris.

“What do sparrows eat?” she asked. “Worms? No, I guess that’s robins.”

Ryan looked at her with a startled frown, followed her gaze to the window and grinned, settling back in his chair. “Seeds, I think. Maybe insects.”

“You want to tell me what happened?” she asked, bringing her focus back to his face. “It’s not every day you get into a shootout.”

Ryan took a deep breath. “Not much to tell. We knocked on the door, and someone inside opened fire. Thank God for protocol and bulletproof vests. An officer coming through the back door got the shooter. The other suspect surrendered. He wasn’t armed.”

That was the short version, Ari thought. The long would include the mind-numbing sounds of gunfire and the shouting and boots running and the fear. They didn’t need to mention those.

“What’s the status of the shooter?”

“DOA at the hospital. Knew he wouldn’t make it. Gut shots are lethal.” Ryan glanced at his wall clock. “Booking should be done. Let’s go do this.”

Ari followed him down the hall.

When Ryan opened the door of the interrogation room, the mid-twenties suspect sat slumped forward, an untidy head of mouse-brown hair propped up by one elbow. As soon as he heard the door, he jerked up straight, his body stiff with alarm. Henry “Hank” Philby knew he was in big trouble. “What’s gonna happen to me?” he asked, his voice high, uncertain, clearly not feeling much like a badass right now.

“Well, that depends,” Ryan responded. “You’re in deep shit, Hank.” He pulled up a chair, taking his time, sat down and waited until Ari was settled. “Your buddy died on the way to the hospital. And you’ll be lucky to see the outside of a prison before you need the old folks’ home.”

Philby’s face visibly paled. “Wasn’t my buddy,” he muttered. “Just a dude.”

“Your best bet right now,” Ryan went on, ignoring the interruption, “is to answer questions truthfully and fully. Maybe there’s still something we can do for you.”

Hope sprang to the suspect’s face. “Like what?”

“Well, let’s see how good your answers are. Where were you Sunday night?”

Hank’s head bobbed as he seemed to search the room for a believable story. He scratched his ear and stalled. “Let’s talk about a deal. I gotta get out of here, man.”

“That’s not how it works. Answers first. So far you’re not cooperating. You’ll need to do better, if you want help. How about I start? Your car was involved in a drive-by shooting outside Club Dintero.”

Hank picked at his arm. “Uh, OK, so I was there. But I didn’t shoot anybody. Just drivin’. Billy had the gun. ‘Sides, nobody got hurt.”

Something clattered to the floor in the hallway outside the interrogation room. The suspect came off his seat. “What was that?”

“Relax. Sit down, Hank. Nothing that concerns you. Pay attention to me. You’re an accessory to an attempted murder. That’s six to thirty years. No parole, if it’s classified as a hate crime. And the gun play today will up the charges.”

The suspect drew in a ragged breath and looked at the door again. “If I talk, will you protect me? I gotta know you’ll protect me.”

“You’re safe in here.” Ryan said. “Who are you afraid of?”

Hank shook his head. “Today was all a mistake. We were watching TV, drinking a beer, when the pounding started. Billy saw the cop uniforms…started screaming that we couldn’t get arrested. I told him we were dead meat anyway. That’s when he freaked. Is he really dead?”

Billy wasn’t the only one freaked by today’s events. Hank Philby radiated a stench of male sweat, stale cigarette smoke, and something close to terror. Ari clamped down on her witch senses to stop the unpleasant barrage.

“Yes, he’s dead,” Ryan said. “He fired at armed officers, and they fired back.”

“Oh, God,” Philby groaned. “How did this all turn out so bad?” He held his forehead with one hand, as if he was in physical pain. “Billy’s dead, and I’m screwed no matter what you do to me.”

“Meaning?” Ryan asked. “You haven’t told me what you’re so afraid of.”

Philby shook his head without looking up.

“Why were you after Andreas De Luca?” Ryan asked, switching his approach.

“Just a job,” was the mumbled response.

“Job? You’re working for someone? Who?”

Philby held his head with both hands now, slowly moving it from side to side.

Ari’s brows drew into a deep frown as she listened. Philby was terrified of his employer, a rather dramatic reaction to a scheme falling apart. Why would somebody who could engender this kind of fear hire this wimpy guy? Philby wasn’t smart enough to execute a successful hit. His partner Billy sounded even dumber, opening fire on a group of armed officers. It was predictable that they’d flub the job. Her mind rolled through the possibilities. Had Andreas’s death even been the goal?

Ryan continued to sit as empty seconds ticked by. Silence was often an effective interrogation technique. Philby still stared at the floor but was beginning to fidget. Ari heard his agitated breathing, the frantic beating of his heart. He finally mumbled something.

“You’ll have to repeat that,” Ryan said. His voice was firm but not rough. “Sit up and talk to us.”

“It was a bundle of cash.” Philby’s voice was still so low that Ari leaned forward to hear him.

“Somebody paid you a lot of money?”

“Seemed too easy,” Philby muttered.

“You’re going to have to be more specific than that. Let’s start with a name.”

Ryan had infinite patience in an interrogation, and a confession rate to match. In spite of her rising annoyance, Ari knew her best course was not to interfere.

Hank Philby raised a haunted face to Ryan. “He’ll kill me if I talk. Said he would.”

“You’re safe in here. Give me a name,” Ryan repeated.

“Aw, hell, I’m dead anyway.” Philby’s shoulders wilted. “This…thing offered Billy 50k. Half up front, the rest a bonus if we actually killed the vamp. I agreed to drive. All he had to do was fire the gun and the 25k was ours.” Philby cleared his throat.

“What thing?” Ryan’s frown was immediate.

The suspect shivered. “I’m getting to that. We set up a meet to get the money. It was there when we arrived. Really tall, wrapped in a long, black hooded coat. Somethin’ felt weird, so I hung back.” Philby’s hands trembled. “While they were talkin’, the wind caught the hood, and I seen them eyes. Red…on fire. Like something out of hell. Wasn’t normal.” He shivered again. “Not human.” His hands clenched into anxious fists.

Despite her lowered sensitivity, Ari smelled his rising panic. Her witch senses kicked into gear, threatening to flood her system with adrenaline. She blocked the response and re-focused on the suspect.

“Are we talking vampire? That kind of non-human?” Ryan was asking.

“Huh-uh. I’m telling you, he, it looked like the devil.” The suspect whispered the final word. “Oh God, I know it’ll find me. Even here. You can’t keep that thing out.” Philby was almost wailing now, rocking back and forth.

“What makes you think he’ll come after you?” Ryan tried to lower the tension by keeping his face and voice neutral, but the suspect was beyond calming.

“Said he would. If we got caught. Them eyes flared up when he said it. Oh, mother, what’s it gonna do to me? Billy’s better off dead!” He went back to rocking.

Continuing the interview appeared pointless to Ari, but Ryan tried one last time. “How do we find this person? Do you have an address? Name? Anything?”

Philby shook his head. “Don’t know, I don’t know. But he’ll come. He’ll hurt me.” He whimpered.

Ryan caught Ari’s eye and jerked his head toward the door. Philby didn’t seem to notice their departure. As Ryan strode down the hallway at a rapid pace, Ari hustled to keep up.

“Hey, slow down. Do you realize what he—”

Ari didn’t get any further before Ryan spun around and glared at her. “Not now. Not here.” He turned and continued to his office.

Startled by his harsh reaction, she stayed quiet until they were inside Ryan’s office with the door closed. “He may not be lying,” she said, trying again.

“I know that. I got it. But there are some things I can’t openly discuss around here. Not if I want to keep my badge and stay out of the shrink’s office.”

“Everyone knows about Otherworlders,” she protested.

“Regular Otherworlders, yes, like witches and vampires. But do you think that’s what he was describing?” The look Ryan turned on her was harried, resigned. He really would prefer to live in a normal world.

“Well, no, I think it might be a full blooded demon.”

“There, see what I mean? A demon! Brass will haul me away this time.” He collapsed in his chair, the back knocking against the wall, and gave her a belligerent look. “OK, tell me about demons.”

She gave him a first semester demonology synopsis. “Demons—big D, only exist in Hell. The creatures that live or manifest on earth are only part demon. They are descendants of a human\demon mating thousands of years ago before the banishment. When Satan and his descendants were eventually vanquished from earth, the only exceptions were those with mixed blood, who have the ability to exist in both realms. Two kinds of earthly demons have evolved. Those with the misnomer of full bloods are born in hell with only the one ancient tainting of human blood. The halfling demons are born on earth and have interbred with humans or other species many times.” She paused to see how he was taking this.

“Ok, two kinds. And let me guess, the full blood is the worst. What makes you think that’s what this guy is? And what’s that mean to us?”

“The red eyes, the long black cloak. Hard to miss. I’ve seen these creatures once before.”

“And they’re all killers.”

“All the full bloods, yes. Not the halflings, at least they don’t have to be. It’s the interbreeding. They can learn to control their dark side, much like vampires. But that’s not Philby’s employer. He sounds like the real thing, a full blood. They’re close to pure evil.”

Ryan shoved away from the desk. “Dammit, Ari. I find this ‘evil’ talk a little over-dramatic. Can’t we just agree he’s a really bad guy?”

“Fine, but it’s not going to make him any less dangerous.”

“Yeah, I know.” His mouth twisted in reaction. “So, how do we find him? And then, how do we get rid of him?”

“Magic. That amount of demonic energy should be easy to trace by scrying. But to get rid of him, we’ll need help. He’s physically strong and magically powerful. He’ll have enormous speed, the kind where he appears as nothing but a blur between locations. I can’t match that. Witch fire might kill him, if we can catch him.” She paused, trying to think it through. “But a full blood shouldn’t be able to wander around town unnoticed.”

“He’s hiding,” Ryan said, stating the obvious.

“Yes, and blocking his magical trace, but why? And how? Demons are not the low-key type. They come roaring into town, creating terror and chaos. And that’s before large numbers of people start dying.”

“Shit! Sorry, Ari, but there’ll be hell to pay if the press gets wind of a demon. We need to put a lid on it. I’ll isolate Philby, offer him and his attorney a deal in return for their silence. It could buy us some time to find this thing.”

“I’ll work on locating him, and bring Andreas up to speed.”

“That’s another thing.” Ryan turned a suspicious face toward Ari. “Why’s this demon after Andreas? Is there something your boyfriend hasn’t told us?”

Ari managed not to squirm under his scrutiny. She’d been wondering the same thing. “Good question, and I intend to ask. It’s either personal or the demon’s on a job. That’s what they do when they aren’t rampaging just for fun. They’re mercenaries, hired guns. That makes it really odd he’d contract his job out to humans in such a clumsy shooting attempt.” She cocked her head. “Unless he was trying to divert Andreas’s attention. Or ours.”

“A distraction. From what? The murders?” Ryan asked, picking up the thread of thought. “It has muddied the investigation.”

They talked for almost an hour, mostly about the public panic they would have if the suspected demon came out of hiding. In the end, they decided they couldn’t worry about the ‘what ifs.’ They would start where they could: containment of information. Then they’d focus their efforts on locating the creature. Anything else took second place.

By the time Ari slipped out the door, Ryan had already made arrangements with the jail to isolate the suspect. She went home to collect the equipment and ingredients for the scrying attempt. On route, she called Club Dintero to warn Russell and Lilith and to have them pass her suspicions along to their employer. She figured the demon wasn’t done with Andreas, and the werelions needed to know what kind of enemy they faced. They took the news in stride, but Russell said he’d be calling in reinforcements. Ari’s second and third calls went to the Magic Council President and to Gillian at the OFR lab. She didn’t want anyone caught by surprise.

Urgency hurried her pace. Her blood tingled with remembered terror from years ago. Before she did anything else, she needed her notes from St. Louis. Her first and only confrontation with demons.

Ari’s journal was in a box shoved under the bed. When the Book of Shadows had not returned to her by the time she’d achieved full witch status at age eighteen, she’d begun keeping her own records of the spells and potions she made with Great-Gran and the lessons learned during the four years in St. Louis studying witchcraft under Moriana, a practicing witch. The journal was the only written account Ari had. All the years with Great-Gran prior to that time were unrecorded. Until her eighteenth birthday passed, she and her clan had assumed the Book would somehow return by the initiation ceremony. Without it, she felt incomplete.

Ari opened her journal and thumbed through the meager pages. They brought back vivid memories of those eye-opening years with Moriana. The older witch’s long, black hair, swirling around her in the wind, Moriana had whisked from one crisis to another, never once doubting she was equal to the challenge. Ari had soaked up and recorded as much of that time as possible, including the fight with the demons.

It didn’t take Ari long to find the notation and the scrying spell she sought. It wasn’t a family spell, because Moriana wasn’t a Calin, but it was the best Ari had. Moriana had used it to locate four demons who had invaded her city. Ari read through the scribbled instructions, gathered the objects and ingredients required, and set the room for the ritual. A year ago she hadn’t had much luck locating a pack of wolves by scrying, but a demon would emit so much magical energy that she had much greater hopes this time.

As Ari closed the magical circle around her, a familiar vampiric energy touched her. Andreas tapped on her apartment door. She called for him to let himself in and, when the door closed again, motioned him to silence with a raised finger. He looked at the circle drawn in ashes, nodded, and dropped gracefully into a chair at her oak table.

Ari returned her attention to the ritual and determinedly shut him out. The magic required total concentration. She lit the four candles and spoke the words of invocation. When she was prepared, she focused on the water bowl, called the picture of a demon to mind, and repeated the spell three times, as she had seen Moriana do.

Take the image in my mind; Set it free to seek and find; What it finds, let me see; As I ask, so mote it be.

At the end of the first recitation, the water began to swirl and grow cloudy. By the end of the second, an image formed across its shimmering surface. During the third repetition, an overview of Olde Town appeared, pinpointing a pulsing red light.

Gotcha.

The image zoomed closer; the tops of buildings appeared. Then, without warning, the red light winked out. Ari gasped. “No!”

Andreas leaped to his feet, hovering near the circle’s edge, ready to break it if necessary. Ari shook her head to let him know she was in no danger. She continued the ritual. Whatever had happened, the fault wasn’t with the scrying ceremony. Ari still had to thank the goddess. The spell had worked, but somehow the demon had concealed itself.

She said the final words, opened the circle, and turned on a lamp.

“What happened?” Andreas demanded.

“I’m not sure. I had him located somewhere in Olde Town. Then, he was gone.”

“Gone. To where?”

Ari lifted her shoulders. “He just disappeared. Like he winked out. Demons can move fast, like you can, but nobody moves that far, that fast. Not to get completely out of my scrying range. He should have showed up somewhere else.” Ari was stumped. Maybe she had done something wrong after all. She let her mind run over the elements of the ritual, finding nothing wrong in its execution.

“Interesting.” Andreas walked to the bay window and stood, looking out at the night sky. “What if the image changed? Would that explain what you saw?”

“Have you seen something like this before?”

“Perhaps. When I was new to vampirism.” His thoughts seemed far away, his voice pensive. “I was in France. A creature was terrorizing the villagers. There one instant, gone the next.” He turned to face her, his eyes dark as ink. “Your demon may be an image changer. Not an ordinary demon at all.”

“Image changer? Is that like a shape shifter?”

“In some ways. But it does not go through a metamorphosis like a werewolf. It merely assumes the outward appearance of another being.”

“And since my scrying spell was based on his image, the picture in my mind, I lost him when he changed!” Ari exclaimed. “He must have recognized the magical probe. Damn, that means the creature knows we’re looking for it. So how did you kill it?” She’d unconsciously switched to “it” but demons could be any sex or every sex.

“I did not kill him. I was only a nestling at the time and too self-absorbed with my new circumstances to make the effort.” He gave his characteristic shrug. “Besides, I would have been seriously outmatched.”

Ever pragmatic. “Could this be the same demon? Hunting you?”

“That was a long time ago. I am sure it paid no attention to an inexperienced vampire. I did nothing to draw its attention. What reason would it have to hunt me, then or now?”

“You tell me. Some demon is after you.” Ari bit back the urge to accuse him of keeping secrets again. This was hardly the time for another fight.

“I wish I knew the answer, Arianna, but I do not.” He cocked his head as if he knew what she’d been thinking. “I am quite certain I have had no dealings with any demon, except the occasional halfling. And this is no halfling. This is an assassin working for someone. Although I have no idea who that would be.”

“It’s strange an assassin would hire such worthless help.” Ari related the day’s events in detail, including the interview with Philby, ending with the demon’s threats to avoid capture. “Ryan and I thought it might have tried to distract us from the murders.”

“Possible, I suppose. Even for a demon, his actions seem erratic. I assume that, in itself, is a way of misleading us.” Andreas sounded more interested than alarmed.

“If the demon is trying to fool us, that raises different questions.” Ari sat at the table, doodling on a corner of a journal page. When she realized she was messing up her notes, she closed the notebook. “What did he gain by attacking you?”

“Divided our focus. Ryan began looking for the car. We became involved in club security. But mainly, he gained my attention,” Andreas said. “Almost as if the creature is taunting, wants me to know it is coming after me.”

“Which sounds personal.”

“I have to concede the attack on me does not appear random. It must be tied to the murder investigation in some way.”

“If the demon is our vampire killer, that would explain how each victim died. The first two were killed by bolts of demon fire, mistaken for gunfire. The third victim was beheaded by a demon sword.”

Andreas nodded. “If we knew why, we might figure out who is behind this. Why has a demon chosen to target vampires, especially these three vampires? What is his interest in me?”

Ari had been thinking about Philby. “You know, I don’t think he, uh, it expected us to learn he was a demon. He set the shooters up so they’d resist, avoid capture, or be killed trying to escape. He wanted us to think humans were behind it all.” Ari looked at Andreas. “If I'm right, he's not as clever as he thinks he is. This thing made a mistake. Maybe he’s made more. Ryan and I can go back over all the evidence.” She turned to look up at him. “Finish your story from France. Did the demon kill all the villagers?”

“No, they chased it away with torches.”

“So it’s vulnerable to fire,” Ari said. “Witch fire might destroy it, if I could get a direct hit. With his speed, he’d have to be immobilized. Provided he doesn’t kill us first,” she added.

Andreas regarded her with a cynical eye. “How do you propose immobilizing this creature while you set it on fire? No vampire is going to offer to hold it for you.”

Momentarily diverted, Ari’s lips twitched in response. “You’re not interested in becoming a crispy critter for the cause?” Fire was the great equalizer. Andreas was faster, stronger, and could snap her in two or rip out her throat in an instant. But if she used the crimson witch fire, he’d burn like tissue paper. It made for a precarious relationship.

He looked at her from lowered brows.

She gave him an unabashed grin. “OK, I guess we’ll have to find a better way. Tell me more about the creature. If it’s not a true shape shifter, what’s it doing, creating illusions?”

“Not just illusions. The forms I saw were real enough, capable of inflicting damage and being damaged. My memories of that night are vivid still.”

“Describe everything you saw.”

Andreas’s aura darkened, his energy seeming far away, as if he’d actually returned to those days in France. “I was hiding in the woods. I heard the screaming first, and the sound of many running feet. What I thought was a young man came racing down the road, headed into the village. A crowd of men and women carrying torches were chasing him. Many were bleeding from open wounds. When I looked at the young man again, he had become an old man with long white hair, but still as fast on his feet. At that point I realized he was not human. The nearest villagers fell back, frightened by the creature's changed appearance, but the crowd behind pushed on. Drawn by the smell of so much blood, I followed them through the streets until they cornered him in an alley.

“He changed his appearance again to a young girl, and they were so astonished, they almost let him approach them. At the last moment, a man swung a torch toward his face, and the creature leaped back, switching into his true demon form. Seven feet tall, red eyes and skin, and claws. Terrified, the crowd backed away. Some of those in front dropped their torches and ran. That is when he charged them. His speed appeared as a yellow blur to me, but the villagers could not see him at all. He raced through the crowd, an invisible terror, ripping off arms, legs, and heads. It was a gruesome sight.”

Ari swallowed hard. If a vampire said it was gruesome, she didn’t want to think how bad it must have been. Unfortunately her imagination was pretty good, and the story made her shudder.

“The survivors rallied, formed a solid circle of fiery torches, but he escaped into the night, laughing.” Andreas’s voice had been emotionless throughout his account, but the face he turned to Ari said he had seen true evil. “He is earthbound. No wings. He avoided the torches, but not like a vampire would. He was wary, not fearful. I am not convinced your witch fire will kill him.”