Awakening the Fire (Guardian Witch #1)

Suddenly, she did recognize them. Mythical creatures come to life. The ancient salamanders. She felt a surge of pure power. The fire spirits were awaiting her order to devour the wolf. It was exhilarating and terrifying. Her heart pounded like a thousand drums. The magic filled Ari, threatening to burst through her skin.

When Sheila moved, drawing her attention, Ari laughed, a strangely hollow sound. She was nearly drunk on power. And just because she could do it, she summoned a lesser magic, a child’s magic, and took Sheila’s gun away.

Thought to deed, heart’s desire; with this thought, I shall acquire.

Bewilderment spread across the she-wolf’s face as she looked at her empty hand and watched the weapon reappear in Ari’s hand.

Sheila stood helpless before her. Ari smelled the sweaty stench of the she-wolf’s dawning fear—and liked it. “You should have left my friend alone.” Ari’s voice was soft, almost conversational.

“It is our way,” Sheila said. “An eye for an eye. It’s the code.”

“Yana was an innocent.”

“She was a casualty of war.”

Ari laughed. “What war? Sebastian’s? You were only a pawn in a vampire game.”

Small, furry tufts appeared on the backs of Sheila’s hands.

“You really think I’m going to let you shift?” Ari nodded toward the wolf’s hands and tossed the gun aside. She stared into the eyes of the fire, focused her magic, and ordered the spirits to leave.

There was an instant puff of steam and smoke. The cave darkened as the flames went out, leaving a fallen penlight as the only illumination. Sheila tried to run. Ari leaped forward, the dagger in her hand and tackled the wolf. Sheila fell with a hard thud on the rock floor, Ari on her back. Sheila reached back, snagged Ari’s hair, tearing at it until they rolled. But Ari came up on top, straddling the wolf’s chest. Breathing hard, she stared into the face of Yana’s killer, relishing the moment of triumphant, and raised the dagger.

And then she hesitated.

The world slowed, flipping frame by frame, as Ari struggled with her inner demons. She wanted this. A voice said no. The she-wolf smiled.

Then Ari was roughly yanked away. Andreas reached down and snapped the she-wolf’s neck with a powerful twist.

Reality bent. And snapped. Ari’s blood boiled with primitive rage. He’d stolen her kill. She sprang toward him. He turned, his lips drawn back, exposing white fangs.

Ari jolted to a halt and backed away, nearly falling over her own feet. Anguish clawed at her chest as the impact of the situation hit her. Her throat tightened, a scream stuck there. She and the vampire were ready to kill each other over the rights to take an enemy life. An unarmed woman. Ari raised a hand as if to ward off the truth and noticed the dagger still clutched in her fist. Shocked, she opened her fingers, and the blade clattered to the cave floor.

She looked at him. His dark eyes were hooded, a black curl had fallen across his forehead. The fangs were gone.

“Arianna.”

“Stay away from me,” she hissed. She whirled and ran as if all the demons of hell were at her heels. And maybe they were.

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.

Epilogue

Six weeks later, Ari returned to Riverdale on a gray, gloomy afternoon. The feel of early snow was in the air, no more than a few weeks away. She was glad to be coming home. Her arm had healed, she’d undergone rigorous retraining with her childhood Sensei, and she was ready, even anxious, to get back to work. Martin was exhausted from covering both territories, but at least there’d been no vampire wars or drug outbreaks during her absence.

She hadn’t heard from Andreas, but that was a good thing. At least she thought so most of the time. The manner of Sheila’s death had stunned her, but she’d had many hours to go over the details of that night. In the honest light of day, she realized she’d reacted mostly from anger at herself, the irrevocable choice she almost made. And she’d been afraid, still was, not for what happened in the caverns, but at the compound. The magical link. The idea of such a powerful connection with a vampire, one that could break all magical barriers and wake him from his sleep…well, that was something she still couldn’t wrap her head around. What if their magics consumed each other? Or the stronger one took control? And, Goddess forbid, what if it was all her fault? Or at least the fault of her family legend?

In her brooding, Ari almost missed the turn. She drove down the lane to the woods where Yana was buried and parked the Mini Cooper. She’d come to chat. She couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t brought her problems to Yana. This time, she also needed to tell Yana why she’d died.

And how the story ended.

Ari got out of the car and entered the woods. The ground was hard, the brown grass brittle and crackly. It crunched under her feet. Finally, standing in the middle of a small clearing, Ari explained it all. The drugs, the deaths, Sebastian’s ambitions, the compound attack, the caverns, and how Sheila died.