Arctic Fire

by Erica Stevens

  Someone screamed; another shook her head back and forth so forcefully that spittle flew from her lips. Taking aim, Quinn fired an arrow straight through the woman’s heart, putting her out of her misery. She shut her mind down, refusing to acknowledge the faces of those she recognized as she made her way forward.

  Already dead, she told herself.

  She spun to put an arrow into a young man when something lurched at her from the side. Quinn swung the palm of her hand up, driving it up and into the nose of the man lunging at her. Blood sprayed over her, but starving and disoriented from the change, her blow didn’t slow the new vampire. His hands wrapped around her arms as he propelled her backward toward the fire.

  CHAPTER 18

  Quinn swung the crossbow up, caving the man’s cheekbone with the force of her blow. His fangs continued to snap at her, slicing into his lower lip and shredding his flesh. Spittle and blood sprayed over her face as his fingers dug into her flesh and he tore at her arms.

  “Quinn!” Julian yelled.

  She felt the heat of the flames at her back, and the fire burned against her neck. The man tried to draw her closer as his momentum continued to push her toward the flames. A shout tore from her. Ever since Zach, she’d kept her power restrained, unwilling to risk using it again for anything.

  Now, it burst from her, latching onto the man so fast she didn’t have time to process it before she was drawing his life force into her in greedy gulps. Electric-blue sparks of light crackled from her fingertips, illuminating the death creeping over the man. His cheeks hollowed out as his skin became sallow and shrunken.

  She tried to pull away from him, but her power wouldn’t be sated until it had feasted and drained him entirely. Quinn started to shake and her muscles quivered, but somehow she managed to get her hand around her stake and jerk it from its holster. The power flowing into her and the enjoyment she took in draining him was so tempting, she hesitated with the stake pointed at his heart.

  “No!” she screamed at herself. She forced herself to lunge forward. She slammed her stake into the man’s chest and twisted it into his heart.

  With the connection between them abruptly broken, her power shot into her so violently that she took a step back as she gasped for air. His life force kicked around her insides as it sought some sort of release, but there was no one to pour it into right now, and her body greedily absorbed its strength.

  From the corner of her eye, another newly turned vampire launched at her. Her hand shot out to wrap around the woman’s brutalized throat. Quinn met the vamp’s reddened eyes as she lifted her easily off the ground. The woman’s feet kicked in the air, and her hands tore at Quinn’s. She swung the stake out, driving it into the vamp’s heart before dropping her to the ground.

  Turning, she spotted Julian by her side. Together, they carved their way methodically through the rest of the vampires until they stood near the volleyball net, surveying the bloodbath surrounding them. The others moved closer to them. Chris had a gash on the side of his head, Melissa was holding her arm, and it looked like Lou had a broken finger, but there were no major injuries.

  Tears burned Quinn’s eyes again as she wiped blood off her cheeks and flung it onto the red sand. She refused to shed them. These people deserved tears, and so much more, but she wouldn’t give her stalker the satisfaction of seeing her cry if he was anywhere nearby.

  “He didn’t expect us to come here tonight,” Julian said. “These were supposed to be new recruits for his growing army.”

  “What do we do with the bodies?” Hawtie’s lower lip trembled as she spoke. “Most of these people have families in town.”

  “We take them somewhere until the sun can come up and get rid of them for us,” Julian replied.

  “If they didn’t complete the change, will they burn up?” Dani asked.

  Julian rubbed at the stubble lining his jaw. “I don’t know,” he admitted.

  “People with heartbeats will have to stay out here to make sure,” Luther said. Blood splattered his face. He took the towel Melissa handed him and removed his glasses to wipe them clean. “And if they don’t burn, we’ll bury them.”

  “What about their families?” Hawtie demanded.

  Clint rested his hand on her arm. “There’s nothing we can do about that.”

  “Can’t we leave them here? At least then their families will have them, and they’ll have some sort of closure about their deaths.”

  “Not with the clear evidence of a vampire attack on them,” Luther said. “And even if we did something to cover the marks up, they could burst into flames the minute the sun hits them. I don’t think that will go over too well with the humans if they’re here to see it.”

  “No, it won’t,” Julian replied.

  Hawtie looked around the circle at all of them. Quinn found she couldn’t meet her heartbroken gaze. “They’ll never know what happened to their loved ones,” Hawtie murmured.

  “The blood will still be here. They may never know where their bodies are, but they’ll know they were killed,” Luther said quietly. “It may sound awful, but that’s more information than some people have about their lost loved ones.”

  Hawtie shook her head and pulled a handkerchief from her pocket.

  “We have to gather the bodies now,” Julian said. “There could still be others coming to the party.”

  Quinn’s eyes shot toward the trail. She scanned the night for any hint of another vehicle approaching the fire. They would be screwed if someone happened to stumble across them now.

  “Let’s get to work,” Clint said.

  Quinn kept her head bowed as she helped to gather the bodies and body parts. They had to use a couple of the trucks gathered around the fire in order to carry them all, but they were able to get everything cleaned up far faster than she’d expected.

  They moved the bodies a mile away and dropped them off before returning the two borrowed trucks to the fire. Quinn refused to acknowledge the pictures on the sun visor above her head, or the Virgin Mary doll glued to the dashboard as she drove the borrowed truck. It smelled of beer and Old Spice, a combination more pleasing than she would have expected.

  Julian stopped the other borrowed truck directly before her in the sand. She could see him searching the fire to make sure no one new had arrived while they’d been gone. He eased his foot off the brake and approached the fire. Quinn slid the truck back into its spot and clambered out as fast as she could.

  Walking over, Julian wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close against him. Quinn savored his scent as she pressed closer, burying her face in his neck. “We’re almost done,” he whispered and kissed her temple.

  She reluctantly stepped away from him and watched as he walked over to rip the lids off two coolers. “Your fingerprints may not be on file, but if they decide to fingerprint you at some point, they’ll match with the ones on those coolers,” she pointed out.

  “No one’s going to catch me, other than you, Dewdrop.” Still, he picked up the coolers and heaved them into the fire. “We should burn anything any of us could have touched.”

  Together, they moved about the fire, tossing anything that might contain some kind of evidence into the flames. Quinn wiped down the inside of both trucks. When she was done, she accepted the cooler lid Julian handed her. Together, they worked to erase the tire tracks leading away from the fire and toward the makeshift burial place they’d picked. When driving out to the burial spot, they’d made sure to keep all three trucks on the same path. The tracks deviated in some areas, but for the most part, they only had the one set to cover.

  When they reached where they’d left the bodies and the others, they discovered Chris and Lou already digging a grave with the two stolen shovels. They took turns digging until the grave was big enough to hold all of the bodies in case they didn’t burn up.

  Clint, Hawtie, Lou, and Luther took up a position on the rocks to see what would happen when the sun came up.

  ***

/>   “All of them burned up,” Luther said when he entered the apartment hours later.

  Julian stretched his legs out before him as he leaned back in the rickety chair. The subtle snores of the others in the living room drifted to him. Quinn had passed out almost as soon as they’d gotten home. He’d waited to speak with Luther before going to sleep.

  “What he’s doing now is reckless. He risks exposure for all of us, and he risks creating a bunch of monsters who will slaughter without hesitation. This vampire is insane.”

  Julian folded his hands and rested them on his stomach. “I know.”

  “No matter what it takes, he has to be stopped.”

  Lifting his eyes, he stared at Luther as he pulled out a chair and settled across from him. He may be human, but in his own way, Luther was as ruthless as any vampire. “You want to use Quinn as bait,” Julian stated.

  “I think we have to.”

  Julian had been thinking the same thing; he just couldn’t admit it to himself, or anyone else. “And what if something goes wrong?” he inquired. “What if she’s taken, and I can’t get her back, or she gets killed? Who will be the one to destroy me?”

  “You know I will if I must, but we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  Julian’s fingers drummed on the table. “What this man has done to her…” His voice trailed off, and his fangs tingled as he contemplated what he would do to her killer when he got the chance.

  “What he will do to countless others. If those people had turned tonight and come into town, it would have been devastating. That may have been exactly what he had planned for them too.”

  “I know, but the idea of using her—”

  “I want to do it.” Quinn had moved so quietly he hadn’t heard her approach. She stood in the doorway, so fragile looking in her oversized t-shirt with the sleeve hanging off her slender shoulder. “This has to stop. I’ve lived in fear of this man, I’ve hunted him, I’ve planned to destroy him for six years now, and it has to end. I need to be out in the open for him, by myself.”

  “No,” Julian said tersely. “Not by yourself.”

  “I won’t risk anyone else’s life. Not for this. I’ll turn the tracking app on my phone on—”

  “And if he takes you somewhere with no reception?” Julian demanded. “The desert isn’t exactly cell service central.”

  She thrust her shoulders back as she gazed at him. “You will be able to find me. I have complete faith in that.”

  “Quinn—”

  “We either do this together, or I do it alone. I’ve made my choice, Julian, get on board with it.”

  His fangs lengthened as his palm slammed against the table. Luther leaned slowly away from him. “Get on board with it?” he bit out.

  “Yes. I will go into the desert and allow him to catch me. If I don’t kill him, then you can come and find me. But I have every intention of killing him before that becomes necessary.”

  Julian kept his hand pressed against the table; he was half-afraid he’d throttle her if he moved it. “Do you now?” he murmured. “And what if he kills you before any of that can begin to happen?”

  “He won’t,” Quinn said.

  “You’re so sure?”

  “I’m his prize. He won’t kill me.”

  “What if he rapes you?”

  She waved her fingers at him. “He’ll get to know the true meaning of shrinkage if he tries.”

  Despite his exasperation with her, he couldn’t help but smile at that. He had no doubt she’d try to make it so, but there were so many things that could go wrong, and she was his light in a world of death. If he lost her because of this, or if something happened to her, he’d never forgive himself.

  The idea of that man’s hands on her made his fingers dig into the table. “Don’t ruin my furniture,” she scolded.

  He bit back a comment about how he couldn’t do anymore damage to it. She tended to get a little testy when he commented on her awful assortment of hand-me-downs she considered furniture.

  “I can do this,” she said.

  “I know you can, but I can’t stand the idea of purposely putting you in harm’s way.”

  “We’re all in harm’s way while he’s still walking around. None of us can sleep comfortably knowing one of us could be the enemy in disguise. If he dies, then all of that ends. We may get a little peace for a change,” she said with a wan smile.

  He rose to his feet and closed the short distance between them. Wrapping her in his arms, he pulled her against his chest and cradled her there. Over her shoulder, he saw that the others had woken and were watching them expectantly. Closing his eyes, he bowed his head and pressed his lips against her neck.

  “I’d find you anywhere,” he murmured.

  She rested her hands on his chest and tilted her head back to look at him. “I know you would.”

  Brushing the hair back from her face, he memorized every one of her proud features as his fingers trailed over her skin. “Okay, we’ll do it,” he relented.

  CHAPTER 19

  Quinn stared at the shifting sand of the desert as she tossed the trash bag into the dumpster behind the bar. She didn’t sense anyone out there watching her, but somehow she knew he was. Now that she’d finally persuaded Julian to use her as bait, they had to figure out a way to lure her stalker out into the open. She didn’t think the vamp would buy her wandering around alone in the desert all helpless.

  She didn’t do helpless well, and Julian had been steadfastly by her side this entire time. No one would believe he’d left her to her own devices. The breeze blew her hair back from her face, the strands of it tickling her cheeks.

  She could walk out into the desert right now. Glancing behind her, she stared at the open kitchen door before shaking her head and turning away. If she took off now, Julian would have her head. He’d agreed to let her be the bait, but it was supposed to be under controlled circumstances, or at least as controlled as they could be.

  She climbed the back steps and returned to the kitchen. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she nodded to the two cooks and washed her hands at the sink before entering the crowded bar. Julian stood at the end of the bar, his elbow leaning casually against it, but she sensed the tension in his rigid muscles.

  Pausing beside him, she rose on her toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Don’t worry so much.”

  “I think that’s impossible not to do right now.”

  Quinn tied her apron around her waist before patting his cheek. “I’ll be fine.”

  Before he could respond, she walked down the back of the bar to take the orders of the customers there. The hours passed in a blur of orders, drinks, and gossip about the people who had never returned from the bonfire last night. Talk of what the police were doing, at what was now a crime scene, ran rampant amongst the patrons.

  Some whispered that the missing people had been taking part in some sort of satanic ritual that had gone wrong. Others believed a pack of rabid coyotes had taken them all, but the ones who believed that didn’t have an explanation for how so many of their things had ended up in the fire. Still, others thought the party had been attacked by a gang as an initiation requirement. Very few assumed any of them were still alive.

  Missing fliers were already going up all over town; a few of them decorated Clint’s front window. The smiling people in those photos only served to reinforce her determination to stop this vamp no matter what it took.

  About halfway through the night, Jeb, Ross, and Ernie came in again with a few other ranch hands. “What can I get you?” Quinn asked them.

  “Beer please,” Jeb replied before the others made their requests.

  Quinn filled their orders and placed them on the bar. “I thought you weren’t going back to the ranch?”

  “Just stopped by to check on some things today,” Jeb replied.

  “You still having trouble out there?”

  Jeb shook his head and took a swallow of his beer. “Checked the video but nothing n
ew has been recorded in a few days. Whatever it was seems to have moved on.”

  “Probably coyotes,” Ernie said.

  “On speed,” Ross muttered.

  “I don’t know what it was, but I’m glad they’ve moved on,” Jeb said and pushed a ten across the bar toward Quinn. “Can we get some quarters for pool?”

  Quinn grabbed the money and went to make change for them. “Thanks,” Jeb said when she returned and handed him his quarters. She watched as they walked away before returning to work.

  When the bar finally closed, she couldn’t help but think that even though she was tired, now was the perfect time to tempt her stalker. “Maybe if you leave while I close up, he’ll come around,” she suggested to Julian when he remained sitting at the bar after the last person had left.

  His jaw locked, a red ring encircled his pupil. “I don’t think he’ll buy that,” he muttered.

  “We don’t know what he’ll buy,” she replied.

  Julian rose stiffly and walked over to grasp her arms. “Turn your tracking app on, now.”

  She pulled her phone from her pocket and turned the app on. He stared at her phone before bending to kiss her forehead. She watched as he walked out of the bar with Chris, Lou, Luther, and Melissa. She looked over at Dani, Hawtie, and Clint, who were collecting the last of the glasses from the poolroom. It wouldn’t look so obviously like they were trying to trap her stalker if she had some other people with her. She hoped, anyway.

  She finished cleaning the bar and placed the rest of the glasses in the dishwasher. Her gaze repeatedly went to the window, but everything beyond remained hushed. The normal sounds of the ticking clock and the hum of the coolers had her on edge. Every noise made her feel as if she were going to jump out of her skin, but as time went on, nothing happened.

  “It may take him a while to believe Julian isn’t around,” Dani said.