Awakening the Fire (Guardian Witch #1)

CHAPTER Twenty-Three

Once she made it home, Ari slept until noon. She finally crawled out of bed, made the coffee, and found two messages on her cell phone: Ryan and Zoe. She called Zoe first.

“Is there a problem? Something went wrong?”

“Not in the way you mean. The Magic Council took it well—even your part—and thought it was an excellent idea you had returned to the States. They felt Sebastian might take some action if you stayed.” Zoe chuckled. “The Council already has the computer, CDs and journals in custody. Somebody on our staff was very busy last night.”

Ari let out a breath of relief. That was one major concern off her shoulders.

“But that isn’t the reason I called,” Zoe said. “Louie Molyneux’s body washed up on the beach near Lake Shore Blvd this morning. Coroner says he’s been dead less than eight hours. Thought you’d want to know.”

Speechless, Ari sucked in her breath. She hadn’t seen that coming. His death wasn’t so surprising, but the timing brought her up short.

“Ari? Did you hear what I said?”

“Yes, Zoe, I heard. How’d he die?”

“Neck snapped. No other marks.”

“Quick and clean. Vampire.”

“Like Sebastian?”

“Well, not him personally. But he ordered it. Isn’t that how you said he handles things? People disappear? I mentioned the wolf last night and now he’s gone. If Molyneux wasn’t such a dirtbag, I’d feel bad about it.”

“Yeah, I hear your sorrow,” Zoe said dryly.

In a strange way, Ari was sorry. The witnesses in this case, anyone who could explain what was happening in Riverdale, were being picked off, one by one. And whether Sebastian was eliminating competition or covering his ass, the sneaky toad was involved in this right up to his funny mustache.

* * *

The rest of the day was a lost cause. Uncomfortable or unpleasant, often both. When she stopped to let Claris know she was back, her best friend became alarmed, almost to tears, about the meeting with Sebastian—and Ari had cut out most of the details.

Even Yana scolded her for going to Canada alone. Ari would have received a longer lecture if she hadn’t mentioned the strange phenomenon, the mental gate that had blocked Sebastian’s magical assault.

“Oh, my dear, you must have been in such grave danger for that to happen! If only your Great-Gran was here to explain this.” Yana’s voice broke.

Appalled, Ari thought her mentor was going to cry. She could almost see Yana ringing her hands on the other end of the phone. “I don’t get this. You sound more concerned about this gate thing than about Sebastian. What’s wrong?”

“Wrong? Everything. No, that isn’t what I mean. It’s really good news. It was the fire spirits that came to your rescue. A fire shield. A rare protection that usually accompanies other abilities that haven’t surfaced. At least not yet. It is as I hoped or feared. Since you’re witch powers weren’t nourished in childhood, they’re emerging as you need them. Oh, dear, this isn’t how it’s supposed to happen. You need training to control these things. Do be careful, Arianna.”

How could she be careful about something she’d never heard of? Ari hadn’t heard Yana so flustered before. She demanded a better explanation, but the nymph refused until they could meet in person.

“I need time to think, Ari, and do some research. I’m not a witch. Oh, why couldn’t this have happened years ago?” Yana promised to visit Ari tomorrow evening and explain everything.

The conversation added to Ari’s frustration. She was tired and discouraged. Now her friends were ganging up on her.

When she met with Ryan at his office, he disapproved of almost everything she’d done in Canada. Like she’d planned for it all to happen. He wasn’t even happy she’d brought back the thumb drive, claiming she’d tampered with evidence. Ari had sighed but said nothing. She wasn’t looking for trial evidence, just information. They both knew this case wouldn’t be settled in a human courtroom. Ryan still had a scowl on his face when he took the thumb drive to the lab for data recovery.

And Andreas. Ari didn’t think he had any room to complain. He’d warned her about Sebastian, but just barely. Not enough. She wondered if he’d suspected Sebastian from the beginning. When she stopped at the club to ask him, he chewed her head off the moment she mentioned Sebastian’s name.

“Trust you to go off and do exactly what you were warned against.” His dark eyes flashed with annoyance.

Ari stood her ground. “Maybe if you’d told me Sebastian was behind the drugs and violence in Riverdale, I wouldn’t have met with him. Although, I’m not sure we had a choice. You suspected him, didn’t you? From day one.”

“No, Arianna, I did not. Don’t try to put me in the wrong. You broke your promise and could have gotten yourself killed.”

They were standing in the middle of his office where she’d found him going over the club receipts. Ari had her hands on her hips.

“Maybe that’s because someone didn’t share. Unlike you, I’ve told you everything I know. So what’s going on? Some private vampire war? Coincidental, isn’t it, how everything seems to be about the vampires?” She glared at him.

“Your suspicions of me are tiresome—and wrong.” Andreas walked away from her.

“Really? Sebastian said he knows you well. Have you talked to him recently? He made a point of saying he knows you and I are friends. “

Andreas swung around; his gaze sharpened. “Did he? Now that is the first interesting thing you’ve said tonight. Very interesting. He must have a spy in town.”

“Well, duh. Molyneux was here.” Ari knew she was being bitchy, but she was more than annoyed by the way her friends and partners had reacted to her trip. She hadn’t gone looking for trouble, but if she hadn’t talked to Sebastian, she still wouldn’t know who was behind this whole drug scheme.

Andreas paid no attention to her attitude. “The spy has to be someone else. I was not with you when you visited Molyneux. That was Steffan.”

“Fine. Maybe Molyneux saw us somewhere else. It doesn’t matter. And don’t try to change the subject. I still think you’re hiding something.”

Since the conversation had deteriorated to bickering, Ari went on patrol.

* * *

Thursday morning she woke in a better mood. A full night of sleep had improved her perspective. Although her friends were overly protective, she decided they meant well. She patched up the disagreement with Claris by phone then she called Yana. They talked for an hour. Ari said she was sorry; Yana admitted she’d overreacted. Her mentor even laughed when Ari described Sebastian’s mustache. Yana still wouldn’t talk about the fire shield until they met that evening, but today that short delay seemed acceptable. Satisfied two parts of her life were back in sync, Ari made early rounds throughout Olde Town, stopped at her office in the afternoon to write a lengthy report on the Toronto trip, and started home.

She glanced at the setting sun and hurried her steps. It was late, near dusk. The report had taken longer than she thought. She didn’t want to keep Yana waiting. Her mentor was bringing dried herbs for a new potion, and Yana would insist on explaining the details of its various applications. Ari wanted to allow plenty of time for dinner and a long discussion regarding the mysterious fire shield, an ability Ari had never heard of before yesterday. She was making a mental checklist of restaurants they might try when she turned onto her street and saw the first of the flashing red lights.

Emergency vehicles crowded haphazardly around her apartment building. Her first thought was fire. Then a horrible premonition hit her, crushing out rational thought. She started to run, shoving through the onlookers. A uniformed officer grabbed for her arm, but she pulled away.

“Miss, you can’t go over there! This is a crime scene.”

Ari saw cops near the front steps and a mound of rumpled clothing.

She heard calls for her to stop. Ryan stood near the entrance door. He heard the commotion and turned to intercept her. Ari tried to push past, but Ryan grabbed both arms and held on.

“No, Ari. You don’t want to see this.”

She looked at his face, a sudden rush of fear constricting her throat. “Yana?”

Ryan’s face was ashen.

Anguish punched her in the gut. “No! Oh, please, no!” She struggled to get loose, and another cop came to assist Ryan. Her self-defense training must have kicked in, as she delivered sharp blows to bodies and shins until she broke free. Scrambling away, she dodged the reaching hands of the evidence techs.

By the time Ryan reached Ari again, she had Yana’s body clutched in her arms, rocking back and forth. Two cops tugged on Ari’s arms in an attempt to remove her from the crime scene, but Ryan waved them off.

A strange keening sound penetrated Ari’s pain. When she realized it was coming from her, she made an effort to stop. Ryan squatted by her side. He was talking to her, but somehow she couldn’t comprehend his words. The world was a red haze, confined to Ari and Yana swaying back and forth. And the metallic smell of blood. Everywhere.

After a while, Ryan pried her fingers loose. When she didn’t resist, he pulled her to her feet, and others moved in to place Yana on a gurney. Ari rode with the body on the way to the morgue. She spoke only once, her voice lifeless, saying she’d wait for the family.

As she sat by her mentor’s body, Ari stared at the savage, gaping wounds. She didn’t need an evidence lab to tell her what happened outside her apartment. Yana had been ambushed—attacked and mutilated by werewolves. The Canadian pack had come looking for Ari, found Yana instead, and left a terrible message. Ari should be the body on the slab.

Ryan returned to his investigation as soon as Claris and Brando arrived to sit with her. After awhile Ari sent them home, promising to join them soon. She needed to be alone, needed to get her head wrapped around this.

Another hour passed before the clan arrived. An hour in which images floated through Ari’s head in a continuing slide show. Yana and Great-Gran. Yana and eight-year-old Ari having tea. Yana in her garden, walking through the woods, appearing before the Magic Council in her white uniform, calming a drunken dwarf. A million pictures, but Ari wanted a million more. Yana had been an anchor in her life as long as Ari could remember. She couldn’t imagine a world without her.

Yana’s wood nymph family took her body home to be prepared for burial. Tonight was for them alone; tomorrow, a small number of close friends would witness Yana’s return to the earth. Ari faced a long night ahead with nothing more to do, except think.

She wandered out the morgue doors and crossed the hospital parking lot. As she approached the grove of trees at the end, Andreas stepped into the streetlight.

At first, Ari just looked at him. “Why are you here?” she asked, her voice flat.

The vampire hesitated, seemed uncertain, and Ari cut off his explanation. “Let me guess, before you start making up some excuse. Ryan called you. And the two of you decided I need protection from the bad guys. He’s busy with the…investigation.” Ari couldn’t yet say the word murder. “So you got guard duty.”

“Something like that. Why else?” he agreed levelly, watching her face.

“I wish they would come after me. Settle this now. Here, tonight.”

“Not the time, Arianna. You are not yourself. Perhaps an escort is warranted, under the circumstances.”

And Ryan sent a vampire, instead of a cop? Or had Andreas volunteered? Ari tilted her head and thought about it. Her magic stirred and, without conscious effort on her part, reached out to touch his. Finding strength, even reassurance. She raised questioning eyes to meet his.

“I am sorry, little witch.”

The simple words breached the last of Ari’s defenses. She moved toward him, Andreas opened his arms and wrapped her inside. She sighed against his chest, safe, secure, for the first time in hours. Not needing to be the strong one for a while. And then the tears came. The grief bottled inside poured down her face. They stood like that for a long time.

Eventually, Ari started talking about what happened, about her love for Yana. Andreas listened without comment to her emotional freefall. Then they walked. Ari didn’t pay much attention to the route, but along the way they stopped at Yana’s home to get Hernando. Near dawn, Andreas left her outside Claris’s door. Ari hugged her best friend, handed her the cat, and fell into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

Yana’s cleansed body was wrapped in layers of white lace. Following wood nymph tradition, the clan carried her through the woods to a site chosen in secret and prepared during the night. Claris and Ari were among a small band that walked with the family. They were barefoot, and the ground under Ari’s toes was hard and cool. A young wood nymph male followed the procession sweeping a branch of pine needles across the ground to obliterate their passing; he’d also follow them out. Claris cried softly, but Ari’s eyes were dry. She’d run out of tears, leaving only an overwhelming emptiness. The family sang quietly in an ancient tongue, rejoicing for the time they had her spirit with them, grieving now that she was gone.

When the procession reached the gravesite, each mourner dropped white flower petals into the grave and the body was lowered. As it disappeared from view, Ari had a sudden urge to snatch her back. Then the moment was gone, and more petals dropped into the grave. The nymphs’ song was different now, comforting, like a mother’s lullaby to a sleeping child.

The first dirt was spread by Yana’s father, the closest relative. The others followed his lead. The smell of moist earth and the fragrance of the lilies drifted around Ari as the dirt trickled through her fingers. Yana’s clan finished covering the grave. Once the service was complete, branches, dried leaves and pine needles were scattered over the site until the new grave was invisible. The nymphs would not visit again. They had returned Yana to the woods.

* * *

Ari spent two days holed up in her apartment, alone in her grief and with her guilt. Guilt that she hadn’t come home sooner that day, that she hadn’t been there when Yana needed her. That she hadn’t saved her friend—or died instead.

Claris and Brando tried to talk with her; Ryan left a message each day. She didn’t answer them. She knew her friends were worried, but she didn’t have the strength to reassure them. Andreas, an unexpected and curious source of comfort that first night, was giving her space. He had good instincts.

On the third day, Ari went back to work. She wasn’t over the loss. She might never put it behind her, but she was ready to hunt down Yana’s killers.