by Julie Wetzel
Kindling Flames
Flying Sparks
Julie Wetzel
Crimson Tree Publishing
THIS book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the authors' imagination or are used factiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Kindling Flames-Gathering Tinder
Copyright ©2014 Julie Wetzel
All rights reserved.
Cover Design by: Marya Heiman
Typography by: Courtney Nuckels
~Smashwords Edition~
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To my loving Mother and Aunt Laura.
You have been there to help me feed plod bunnies when they need fatting up and chase them down then they got out of hand.
I love you.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Acknowledgements
About the Author
“Where is she?” Darien yelled as soon as he hit the emergency room doors. His world had started to come apart when Elliot called to let him know his personal assistant, Victoria, had been caught in the latest of the mysterious arsons plaguing the city. Elliot stood up, and Darien pointed his course to his friend.
“They’re in the process of moving her to intensive care,” Elliot explained.
Darien looked at the blood and soot on his friend’s shirt.
“She’s suffering from smoke inhalation, several deep cuts, third-degree burns, and a possible concussion.”
“What happened?” Darien growled.
“I don’t know.” Elliot rubbed his head. “I knew something wasn’t right right, so I made sure she got home safely, but then the building just burst into flames shortly after she entered. It was strange. There was a massive explosion, but none of the windows in the apartment broke. I tried to get in the front door, but it wouldn’t budge.”
Darien gave Elliot a questioning look. “It wouldn’t open?”
“I slammed into it with everything I had.” The note of confusion in the younger vampire’s voice was easy to hear. “I knew the threshold would give me trouble, but the door should have at least opened. There was definitely something not natural about that fire, but I couldn’t tell what.” Elliot rubbed his forehead again as he remembered what happened. “It went from nothing to raging in no time at all, but when Vicky burst out on the fire escape, the flames subsided quickly. The firemen had no trouble putting the blaze out.”
Darien looked at his friend in shock.
“Mr. Warren?”
Elliot looked up at the nurse calling for him.
“Miss Westernly is secure in her room. You can go up now.”
“Thank you.” He waved to the nurse. Turning back to Darien, Elliot pointed to the slightly damaged satchel that Victoria always carried with her. “Get your damned bag. I’ve carried that thing as far as I’m willing.” The enchantments on the bag made it unpleasant for anyone other than Vicky to handle. It contained a large part of Darien’s human life, after all.
Darien picked up the bag and looked at the broken ends of the strap. “Wow, this really took a beating.”
“The spells you put on that thing are probably what saved your assistant’s life tonight,” Elliot commented quietly as they followed the nurse down the hallway to Vicky’s room. “I felt something very strong break just before she got out of the building.”
The nurse stopped in front of a door and held it open for the two men.
“She’s a real mess,” Elliot warned as they entered the room.
Darien walked into the room and looked over the bandage-wrapped woman. If he hadn’t been told it was Vicky, he probably wouldn’t have recognized her. Her hands were wrapped so only her fingertips stuck out, and her left arm was covered from wrist to shoulder. Vicky’s right arm had a large bandage on her forearm, and there was gauze wrapped around her neck and part of her face. What skin was exposed was bright red. The soft beeping of the monitor marked the beating of her heart, and Darien could hear the hiss of oxygen running through the tube in her nose. He looked at the IV draining into Vicky’s arm.
“Did she lose a lot of blood?” he asked Elliot as he dropped his bag against the wall.
“Not too much,” Elliot offered. “Most of the blood loss was from glass shards, and the EMTs were able to staunch that in the ambulance on the way over.”
Darien nodded and approached the bed.
Elliot could feel Darien unfurl his power as he checked over Vicky’s injuries.
He closed his eyes and ran his hand just over the top of the sheet. “How long did you say she was in the fire?”
“Less than ten minutes,” Elliot answered.
Darien opened his eyes and looked at his friend before turning back to look at Vicky. “There’s a lot of damage here for just ten minutes.” He moved up the length of Vicky’s body. Now that he was closer to her, he could smell the burnt hair and skin under the medical scent of her bandages.
“Remember, she is in a hospital. They’ve seen how bad her injuries are,” Elliot warned Darien before he could release his special healing abilities on his assistant.
“I’m not a complete idiot,” Darien huffed as he tried to determine what would be safe to do under the watchful eyes of the doctors. Surely, he could clear her lungs and prod the burns into healing without scars? A complete healing, of course, would have to wait until she was out and away from the tender care of the doctors.
“Okay, but be careful,” Elliot cautioned him again. “I’m going to have to get going if I have any hopes of making it to safety before the sun comes up.”
“How are you getting back?”
“Someone’s waiting outside with a car.”
Darien nodded. Elliot turned to leave but stopped when Darien spoke again. “Thank you.”
“It was my pleasure.” Elliot bowed and left him alone to tend to Vicky.
Darien looked down at the sleeping form of his assistant and decided he could ease her pain without anyone noticing. He placed one hand over her sternum and the other on the top of her head. Pressing his lips to hers, he let his power flow into Vicky.
Now that he had a more intimate connection with her, he could feel all the damage done by the fire. He took his time clearing the smoke from her lungs and easing the swelling of her concussion. Once the two major problems were cared for, he poured himself into her and encouraged the cells around the burns to heal cleanly so they wouldn’t scar. Setting her system into overdrive, he pulled back to himself. He ended
the contact and placed a light kiss on her lips that had nothing to do with healing. Pausing just barely away from her lips, he rounded up his mind. He twitched at a sound and stood up to find a very red nurse standing near the foot of the bed.
“Pardon me,” the nurse said as she stepped up to check on Vicky’s IV. She added some medication to the drip line. “She’ll pull through,” the nurse said reassuringly as Darien petted the top of Vicky’s head.
“I know,” he said softly and patted her head one more time before leaning over to whisper in her ear. “I’ll be back,” he promised, and Vicky sighed in her sleep. Darien placed a soft kiss on her forehead and left as the nurse checked on her significantly improved vitals.
***
Darien stood in front of the charred remains of Vicky’s apartment. The fire had just about gutted her place, but the rest of the units only had smoke and water damage. Darien stepped past the yellow tape and into what was left of Vicky’s living room. He could taste the spell that had sealed the apartment up, but he couldn’t tell what had cast it or where it had come from. Darien carefully scanned the rubble, looking for a clue that might shed some light on the mystery. Stepping into the bedroom, he looked over at the busted window where Vicky had made her escape. His eyes fell on the charred remains of the beautiful kimono that had hung on the wall across from her bed. He sighed at the loss.
Looking around the room, he found one item that seemed to have escaped the flames. A soft laugh slipped out as he picked up the black velvet collar from the floor next to the bedside table. He wiped the soot from the crystals and looked up at the closed closet doors. They looked to be mostly intact, too. There was a chance that Vicky’s wardrobe, though smoke damaged, might have survived. He decided to have a crew come over and see what could be salvaged when the fire marshal released the scene.
Darien made his way back out to the living room and looked around once more. The burnt scene didn’t tell him much about how or what had caused it. When his eyes caught on a bit of shiny metal near what was left of an end table, Darien walked over and kicked the ashes from it. He reached for the small disk but stopped just before his fingers touched it—there was power radiating from the thing. Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, he carefully plucked the yellowish metal from the floor and studied the penny-sized object. It was thin, like a coin from a belly dancer’s belt, but heavier than it appeared. Folding it inside the cloth, he slipped the piece into his pocket before turning to leave. He was sure that this was what had caused the fire, but he didn’t know how.
Toying with the chains on the velvet collar, he made his way out of the damaged building and back to his car. Maybe Vicky was awake now and could shed some light on what had happened.
***
Beep. Beep. Beep. Vicky rolled her head as the electronic sound cut through her dream. Beep. Beep. Beep. She reached up to where she was sure her alarm clock was going off and felt a hard, cold railing. Vicky opened her eyes to the bright afternoon sun filling the white hospital room. Looking around in confusion, she noticed a body in the darkest place in the room. She snickered weakly at seeing Darien hiding in the shadow of the privacy curtain.
He looked up at the sound coming from the bed.
“You know, you could’ve shut the blinds,” Vicky said hoarsely, as her throat was very dry.
Darien stirred from his chair. “I have. Twice. The nurse keeps opening them back up. Something about sunlight being good for you.” His sneer made Vicky laugh.
“Well, could you shut them now? It’s way too bright in here,” she asked, both to make Darien more comfortable and because the light was too intense for the headache hanging onto the back of her eyes.
“Gladly.” Darien got up and dropped the shades over the windows. The light in the room dimmed to less than half the brightness it had been, and Vicky sighed with relief.
“What happened?” she asked softly. Her head felt slightly disjoined from her body, and she ached all over.
“I was hoping you could tell me.” Darien took the chair next to the bed. “There was a fire at your apartment. The police have been by twice to see if you could shed any light on the subject.”
Vicky raised her hand up to rub her face and stopped when she saw the bandages wrapped around them. Raising the second one up, she looked at it, too. “There was an explosion,” she said as it slowly came back to her. Something tickled at her mind, but she just couldn’t pull it from the cotton someone had stuffed into her head. A pained expression crossed her face as she closed her eyes and worked on the problem.
“Don’t try too hard.” Darien took her hand and patted it gently. “You have a bit of a concussion, and they have you on some really good painkillers.”
Vicky opened her eyes and looked into his face. “That explains why my head hurts.” She closed her eyes again.
“I can help with that if you like,” Darien offered.
She opened her eyes back up and looked at him oddly. “You can do that?”
“Oh yes,” he answered. “It’s one of my special talents. Would you like me to?”
Vicky nodded weakly.
Darien stood up so he could get closer to her. Placing a hand on top of her head, he supported himself with the other as he bent over to place his lips against her temple. He closed his eyes so he could concentrate.
Vicky blushed at the intimate contact. Warmth radiated from the kiss that chased the pain and fluff from her head. She felt him shift his supporting hand to her arm, and the feeling flowed down her body to relieve her pains. It felt like the light touch of feathers against the inside of her skin. The warmth rolled back up her body, leaving a slight tingling sensation in its wake.
Darien broke the kiss from her temple and dropped his forehead to rest on hers. He worked to control his breathing as he waited for the sensation of their mingled essences to pass.
Vicky swore she could hear his normally slow heart pounding fast and hard.
He lifted his head slowly away from his assistant and looked down into her eyes. “Better?”
The breathy quality to his question stirred something deep inside Vicky, and she nodded.
Darien placed a light kiss on her forehead and withdrew to his chair before he lost complete control.
Vicky watched him go in awe. She could see a twinkle of light shining from the depths of his green eyes. “That was…” She couldn’t find the right words to describe what had just happened. Amazing just didn’t cut it.
Darien smiled coolly as he worked to get himself back under control. “I could have you fully healed in a few minutes, but that might upset the doctors.” He chuckled at the look on her face. “I’ve already done more then I should have.”
Vicky blushed as she thought about his words. Opening her mouth, she started to thank him, but was interrupted by a knock.
The door swung open, and the nurse stepped around it. Looking at the closed shades, she pursed her lips before turning to look at her patient in the bed. “You’re awake.” The nurse walked over and checked the monitors next to Vicky’s bed. “How do you feel?” She fiddled with the buttons on the monitor.
“Um… okay,” Vicky answered. Whatever Darien had done had taken away her pain.
A smirk slid across Darien’s face as he relaxed back in his chair. He steepled his fingers in front of his mouth and watched as the nurse took Vicky’s vitals.
The nurse scribbled the results in Vicky’s chart. “Let me go get the doctor on duty.” They waited in silence until a short man in a white coat walked in.
“Good afternoon, Miss Westernly. I’m Dr. Chimbra,” the doctor said as he flipped through the charts. “How are you doing?” He looked up into her face.
Vicky wasn’t sure how she should answer this; she felt as if she could get up and go home. “Okay, I guess,” she answered.
A puzzled look crossed the doctor’s face. “All right.” Dr. Chimbra came to stand next to the bed. He looked questioningly at Darien, but the vampire showed no signs of b
udging from his seat. The doctor turned his attention back to Vicky and started in on her condition. “Victoria, you have some very serious burns.” The doctor’s eyes strayed to her visitor again.
“He’s fine,” she assured the doctor, and the man went on.
“You have a few third-degree burns,” Dr. Chimbra explained. “Here, here, and there.” The man pointed to the back of his neck, his left arm, and then at Vicky’s left leg. “And most of the skin that was exposed has some first- or second-degree burns. All totaled, about ten percent of your skin was badly injured, but you seem to be doing very well.”
The doctor looked in his charts again. “Your blood oxygen levels are up, so we can get rid of this.” Setting the clipboard on the bed, he pulled the thin hose away from Vicky’s face and twisted the green knob on the wall off. “If you have any trouble breathing, feel weak, or faint, call the nurse. You inhaled a lot of smoke.”
Vicky nodded her understanding as she lay in the bed.
“You also have some stitches in both your hands and feet from the glass in the window.” Dr. Chimbra paused to look over her bandages, checking to make sure there was no blood seepage, before making a note on the chart again. “For a while, we were worried that you might have a concussion, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Still, I don’t want to chance it, so someone will be in periodically to check on you. Any questions?” The doctor stood and waited for a response.
“How long am I going to be in here?” Vicky asked. It felt like she was ready to get up right then.
Dr. Chimbra chuckled lightly. “You seem to be doing very well, but that’s probably due to the pain medication,” he explained. “We’ll have to wait and see; maybe a week or two. That all depends on how well you heal and how much shock your system is in. There’s a burn specialist coming in tomorrow, and she’ll be able to give you a better time frame. Anything else?”
“I’m kind of thirsty.”
“I’ll let the nurse know.” Dr. Chimbra wrote on her chart again. “If there’s nothing else, I think there are some others here to see you.” The doctor turned to the door. “I’ll send them in for a few minutes.”