Watch Fire

by Jade Wolfe

"A fire, so we can see. Can I explain later?"

  I didn't wait for an answer. I just turned and started running again. He would keep up.

  Or not.

  By the time I got across the creek into our back yard, Sam was twenty or so feet behind. I let my flame go out and waited for him to catch up. When he did, he was out of breath, but that didn't stop him from gasping, "You have some serious explaining to do, you know that?"

  "Uh-huh. Later."

  None of the witches were home yet, so I ran into Lucy's house just long enough to grab my keys from the little hook inside the door. When I came back out, Sam was getting into his Jeep. I waved and jumped into the Escalade as I started it, and then did a U-turn in the driveway. When I checked my rearview mirror, he was right behind me.

  I wondered again what could be happening in town. I thought this whole mess was over, with Raul taking care of the witches and the barrier back in working order. Maybe it was something else. Maybe Lucy had gotten hurt.

  I pushed the Escalade harder and fought the sick feeling in my gut.

  I came around the turn just before the road turned to blacktop and someone darted out in front of me. I slammed on the brakes, cursing whatever it was, then realized that it was a who - Sheriff Michaels. it took a lot to get my big SUV to slow down, and by the time I slid to a stop I was sure I would hit him. He didn't move.

  The wildness in his eyes sent a shiver through me, and I was glad that Sam was behind me so he didn't see it. Michaels was bare-chested, his belly pale and hairy in the headlights, and he was covered in scratches and heaving like he'd just run a couple of miles.

  Maybe he had. I rolled down the window. He walked over. "We've got a problem," he said.

  "So I hear. What's wrong, Sheriff?"

  "That reporter. He's missing."

  "Tom?"

  He nodded just as Sam came running up to the car. "What's happening?" he asked.

  "Your friend is in trouble, apparently." I didn't like the idea of him out here, with the woods surrounding us. "Park your Jeep and get in."

  While he did that, I asked, "Who has him, Sheriff?"

  He shook his head. "Not sure. He was sticking his nose in at the town council meeting tonight and he went out to get something from his car. Said he'd be right back, but when he didn't come back nobody thought anything of it. Then Clay Ford saw blood everywhere when he left, about a half hour later. He called me."

  "Damn. You think Navarro?"

  Michaels shook his head. "Lucy said they were penned in again, so no. Not them."

  "OK, where is Lucy?" I asked. She would probably have more information than Michaels.

  "Community center, organizing search parties."

  "All right, thanks. I'll head that way."

  Sam got into the Escalade and slammed the door.

  "Careful," I said, more out of habit than anything. "Looks like your friend Tom got himself into some kind of trouble. He's missing." I glanced over at him. He looked pensive in the green dash lights. "Is he the type to take off?" I asked.

  It didn't actually matter if he was or not. Blood at the scene was a bad sign.

  "I don't know." Sam turned to me. "And he's not my friend. I've never seen him before this week."

  We were quiet for a few minutes while I navigated around a couple of sharper curves and he held on for dear life. Then he said, "Want to tell me what's going on?"

  I glanced over. "What do you mean?"

  "Why was Michaels out here alone, half dressed with no vehicle, for starters?"

  "He said there were search parties for Tom. He's probably parked somewhere else and walked into the woods."

  "Without his shirt?"

  "Maybe he lost it in the woods? Maybe he was in a hurry and didn’t take time to grab one. I don't know, and I didn't take time to ask him, Sam."

  "So a family of ogres lives in the woods behind your house, you can talk to gigantic wolves, and you can make fire out of thin air." He turned sideways in his seat to look at me, his expression dead serious. Almost angry. "What were those things in the trees?"

  I swallowed hard. So he had seen them. "Banshees," I said quietly.

  "Banshees." He sighed. "I suppose Bigfoot lives at Red Rock, too?"

  "Stop it." I said it quietly, but he heard.

  "I'm really not sure I can at this point, Indigo. This is...ridiculous."

  "Yeah, well, it's also my life," I snapped. I was mad that I didn't have answers for him, mad that our evening had been interrupted, and mad that he thought this was all some kind of sick, stupid joke. "You don't have to believe it, but you damned sure better deal with it."

  "And Michaels?" he asked.

  "Michaels, along with Myla, her pack, and the wild dogs that ripped this town apart, are werewolves."

  "All right." He sat back in his seat and stared directly ahead. I hated that I snapped at him, but I didn't have the time or patience to guide him gently toward the knowledge. Maybe he hated me now, or thought I was crazy. There wasn't much I could do about it.

  I pulled into the lot at the community center less than ten minutes later, leaving him behind in the SUV. He had a lot to think about, and I needed to get to Lucy. I crashed through the heavy double doors at a dead run and spotted her on the phone in one corner of the large open room.

  Whenever there was an event, the town would set up tables or a stage, depending on what they needed, but tonight there was just one small table and Lucy, along with several people I didn't know milling around. Most of them turned to look at me when I walked through the room. The atmosphere crackled with energy.

  She hung up just as I got to her and grabbed her in a hug. It felt like I hadn't seen her for years. She hugged me back. "Indigo. Myla found you?" she asked.

  I nodded. "Was it the Navarro?"

  "No - I'm afraid not. It was Isadora."

  I groaned. "I thought Raul took care of them?" The last thing I needed was that witch still running around here, causing trouble.

  She shook her head. "He left men here to look for her while he took the others home. He'll be back in the morning."

  I looked her in the eye. "You trust these men?"

  She nodded. "Yes. They'll find her, if anyone can. Raul has good men."

  "But they don't know Red Rock."

  "Not the way you do. That's why I sent Myla out." She glanced over my shoulder when the doors opened again and Sam came in, looking around. "Sorry about your date."

  "It wasn't a date..."

  "Pearl told us you two were walking in the woods together."

  "Busy-body," I muttered.

  "She thought it was cute."

  Sam found me and started my way. Even from here I could tell that his jaw was clenched.

  "It wasn't cute, and it wasn't a date."

  When he got to us he didn't look at me. "Where was Tom last seen?" he asked Lucy.

  "Near the courthouse. Well," she amended, "In the courthouse, actually. No one saw where he went when he left."

  "Has anyone checked the cave where I found them?" I asked.

  She nodded. "Michaels was on his way to do that an hour ago."

  "We saw him," I answered. I wracked my brain, trying hard to think of anywhere else in the forest she might be holed up. "What does she want with Tom, anyway?"

  Lucy lifted her eyebrows and shook her head. "Indigo, she doesn't want Tom. She wants you. Which is why I had Myla direct you into town. You aren't going anywhere near those woods until she's safely back in Sweden with Raul."

  I shivered. "But why?"

  Sam was listening to us.

  She took my hand. "You remember when you came to us last year, and I told you that you were more powerful than I thought you'd be?"

  I nodded. "Yeah, but -."

  Lucy held up a finger. "A few years after Peter left Miranda, when she was moving in here, she discovered that some of her books were missing. Specifically, books that she'd been studying about a long extinct coven of witches who practiced one of the bla
ck magicks."

  "Why would Miranda be studying that?"

  "Because I was young and in love," Miranda said, coming up behind me and putting a hand on my shoulder. She looked exhausted. "Peter had been talking about this particular coven, and I wanted to learn more about it." She shrugged. "Keep in mind that I thought we were merely discussing it as history."

  "But you weren't?"

  "I was. Peter wasn't. He wanted to resurrect the coven, even though he didn't bother telling me that." She smoothed her knee length skirt with her hands. "He played me, at the request of his girlfriend."

  Sam looked completely confused, and I was sure I looked the same way. "He was already seeing Isadora by that time?"

  She ducked her head. "Yes. He had been, probably for a year before that."

  She looked embarrassed. I gave her a hug.

  "Anyway, Isadora was driving his sudden interest. Her mother was ill, although none of us knew that - her mother was in Rome at the time, along with her younger sister Carla."

  So that had been the little sister I'd caught in the cave. Figured. "Do you think she took Tom as retaliation for me taking her sister?" I asked.

  Miranda shook her head. "No. She wants you. You have the power to cure her mother. Or rather, your heart does."

  "That's gross," I muttered, rubbing my chest.

  Lucy cleared her throat. "What would you do to bring your mother back, Indigo?"

  I nodded, not bothering to answer.

  "She took Tom because Raul has hailed your one weakness as something grand," she continued.

  "My weakness?" I asked. "The Escalade?"

  Lucy smirked. "No - your role as protector. He's spoken very highly of you and what you do here, how seriously you take the work. I told him not to do that, but Raul doesn't listen to anyone."

  "You're losing me, Lucy."

  "Isadora knows very well that if she has a hostage - especially a human hostage - that you'll come to save them. It's what you do."

  "Damned right." My hands went to my waist, but my knives weren’t there.

  She shook her head, and Miranda took my hand. "Not this time," Lucy said. "It's too dangerous."

  "I'm a witch. She's a witch. I think I can handle it."

  Sam was watching us closely, brow furrowed.

  "She wants to cut out your heart. She needs it for a healing potion. Does that sound sane to you?" Lucy asked.

  I saw Sam's eyebrows go up again, but I didn't stop to explain that one. "Let me take care of this."

  "And what if you can't?"

  "I can." I plead. "She's in our park, doing God knows what to Tom. He could be dead by now."

  "She won't hurt him until she has you there," Lucy said. "I can promise you that."

  "This is really my problem," Miranda said quietly.

  Both Lucy and I turned to her. "No. It's not. This is Isadora's problem," I said. "Or it will be, as soon as I get my hands on her."

  "I told you. Raul will be back in the morning."

  I shook my head. "I bet she knows that, too. She knows she has a small window to do this before he captures her."

  I could tell that Lucy wasn't giving an inch. Her mouth was drawn down and her eyes were hard with worry and determination.

  A clock on the wall behind Lucy told me that it was already close to ten. A few more hours and this would all be over. I was just afraid that Tom would be dead by then.

  Before anyone could stop me, I twisted out of Miranda's grasp and ran for the door. Just as I got it open, a heavy orange extension cord unplugged itself and snaked out toward my ankle. I jumped it and kept going. Lucy's magic - I wondered what Sam thought about that?

  The night was getting downright cold now, but I barely felt it. I'd already screwed up my date, so the least I could do was finish off this mess with Isadora and whatever she had planned for me. Not that I was going to let her kill me and take my heart. That was just gross.

  Chapter Twenty

  Outside, under one of the streetlights in the parking lot, I saw several men with ATVs. They were getting ready to head into Red Rock. Having that many unsuspecting people running around in what was essentially a danger zone made me nervous, especially since the Navarro were still a presence.

  There was a closer entrance to the park, just outside of town. I would save time by going that way instead of taking my car all the way back to Lucy’s house. The problem was that the Escalade wouldn’t get me far once I got to the gate. Those trails were made for walkers and people riding bikes. Walking would take too long, and I wouldn’t be able to cover much ground. I needed some other form of transportation.

  A few of the men were standing together, probably discussing the best course of action to rescue Tom. I slowed to a quick walk and changed direction, then cut around the side of the building into the shadows. When I was pretty sure none of them were looking, I jumped on the nearest four-wheeler and took off.

  I wasn't dressed for this. By the time I got out of town - ignoring a few shouts - my hands were freezing and my eyes were tearing up from the cold wind. The farther I got from the town limits, the darker it got, until my only light was the sharp stab of the headlights.

  ATVs were dangerous to use in Red Rock. More than once we'd found them idling in the woods, abandoned when the rider was plucked off the seat and spirited away, probably to be something's breakfast or dinner. We hardly ever found even a body. That was one of the reasons for all the signs - no motorized vehicles in the park. The noise made a target and blocked any sound of approach, so the rider couldn't defend themselves if they tried. The problem was that the Red Rock land backed up to plenty of properties that weren't within the barrier, and it was pretty tempting for those folks to go into the park on their machines. They usually carried weapons, but no weapon was effective against a creature that you couldn't even see - like banshees.

  I wouldn't be on one, except for one fact - I knew exactly where I was going. They had to be holed up in that cave, it was the only thing that made sense if Isadora was trying to draw me in. If she wanted me, why would she hide from me?

  I was only vaguely aware when another ATV flanked me, and when I finally noticed it, I saw that it was Sam. He didn't seem to be trying to stop me.

  Surprised, I gave him a wave and then concentrated on getting to the closest park entrance. I felt like I needed to rush, although I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because Tom was out there and totally incapable of handling himself in this kind of situation. Maybe I just wanted this whole mess to be over, so that life could go back to normal.

  Sam stayed with me, even after I passed the big red signs that marked the public entrance to the park. That was good, because I was getting an idea.

  There was no way I could just present myself to Isadora and demand that she let Tom go. She would just kill us both. I needed to get him out of harm's way first, before I made contact with her. If I sent Sam in to make the deal - if Sam was willing to go in and make the deal - he could help Tom.

  I got the feeling that I was going to need all my wits to even match this witch, much less beat her.

  And if I didn't beat her?

  I couldn't think about that or I was lost before I even started fighting.

  This way in required that I cross the still - swollen river, but I wasn't too worried. Even before I saw the bank, I did what I'd done before and asked the Earth Elemental to make a temporary bridge for me. It might freak out Sam, but if he wasn't freaked out already he was a keeper.

  Wait...what? A keeper? He wasn't a keeper. He was just a guy, and one that was currently distracting me when I had other, more important things to worry about. I ducked a low-hanging branch, sped up, and put that thought out of my mind to dissect later.

  I swerved into a hard left when I saw the bridge rise up and hit it going too fast, barely avoiding driving off the side. One rear wheel slid a little in the mud, but I managed to wrangle it back before I went into the water. Sam's ATV fell back a little but when I looked he was still b
ehind me, albeit looking a little dazed at what he'd just witnessed.

  I'd have to explain this - and everything else - later. The bridge disappeared behind us.

  I had crossed a little farther downriver than the spot where I'd rescued Tom, so making my way back through the woods was a little time consuming. By the time I found the spot and parked, the weather had worsened.

  As I'd learned a year ago, my mood had something to do with that. I didn't manipulate the weather purposely, like Miranda did, but it did seem to reflect my moods sometimes. If I had Miranda's abilities, I needed to learn to use them, but c'mon - shooting fire was way more fun.

  Of course, Sam didn't know that me and the weather were connected, so the first lightning strike startled the hell out of him. He scrambled off the ATV and took cover under a nearby tree, then beckoned me to join him. I climbed off my machine and did, since I needed to talk to him anyway.

  He pulled me in under the leaves and spoke into my ear. "What the hell were you thinking, coming out here by yourself?"

  I ignored the question. "OK, here's what I need you to do."

  I maneuvered myself closer to him and pointed. "See that cave up there? I need you to - carefully - go tell the woman you find there that I'm willing to make a deal."

  He looked up the mountain, squinted to find the dark entrance. When he spotted it, he nodded. "I see it. Who's up there?"

  I licked my lips. How much did I tell him right now? The whole truth would require a lot of explanation, and Tom's life was hanging in the balance. At least, I hoped Tom's life was hanging in the balance - the alternative wasn't something I wanted to think about right now.

  No – Lucy was right. She would keep him alive. Otherwise, Sam would just come back down, say that Tom was dead, and there would be no deal. Isadora would lose me, and that was the opposite of what she wanted.

  She was going to lose me anyway, but she didn't know that right now.

  "The woman up there is holding Tom hostage. She wants me, and she knows I'll come after him."

  "Who is she? Why does she want you - whatever that means?" he asked.

  I shook my head. "I promise I'll explain later. All of it. Right now, we need to get Tom back." I searched his face, or what I could see of it in the reflection of the headlights. "She'll kill him, Sam."