Kindling Flames: Stolen Fire (The Ancient Fire Series Book 4)

by Julie Wetzel

  “Will her spell really work?” Vicky wondered. She wasn’t sure if she trusted the fay queen. The woman had taken an unnatural delight in Darien’s troubles.

  “Oh, yes,” Darien answered as he moved the SUV through evening traffic. “And it better.” He let out a slightly sickened laugh. “We’ve just given her something she’s been after for centuries.”

  Vicky looked confused. “What?”

  “Carte blanche.”

  “But, she said her request wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

  “True, but handing that woman a blank check to do with as she pleases still scares me.”

  Vicky looked at him, shocked. “Then you should have said something.”

  “I didn’t have much of a choice.” Darien sighed. “I probably could have worked up something to help find our man, but it would have taken time we really don’t have.”

  Zak gurgled reassuringly at both of them.

  Vicky scrubbed her fingers into his fur. “It will be all right,” she stated, trying to push away the horrible feeling that they had just done something terribly wrong. Lady Aine had promised her request wouldn’t hurt anyone, so it had to be okay… right?

  “Yes.” Darien reached over and took a hold of her hand. “Dakine will get us the spell later this week, and everything will be okay.” Now, he just had to make himself believe those words.

  “I can’t wear that.” Vicky took the negligee from Vanessa and put it back on the rack. The garment was more sheer than there. “I might as well not wear anything at all.”

  “That’s the point.” Vanessa pulled another one out and held it up to Vicky. “How about this?” This one looked like someone took scraps of lace and cobbled them together for strategic cover.

  “I could fit this in a sandwich bag.” Vicky took the hanger away from Vanessa and held it up to look at the skimpy outfit. “With room to spare.” She tucked it back on the rack. “How about this?” Taking out another hanger, she held up a white, lace corset with matching thong.

  “Egads! No!” Vanessa took the bridal set away from her friend and shoved it back to the rack. “I’m sure your baby wants something more interesting than that.” She walked across the room and picked another set off the wall. “Like this.”

  Vicky cocked her head as she looked at the strips of red satin. “What is this?” she asked as she pulled on the inch-wide straps. There were definitely cups for a bra and bits that looked like a thong, but it was hard to tell what the jumble of straps should be.

  “Oh, that’s the newest in our bondage line,” the helpful sales clerk chirped as she closed on them. “Here.” She stretched the straps, showing them how the outfit would look when worn.

  “I think Master Darien would love it!” Vanessa squealed.

  “No.” Vicky shook her head. There was no way they were going to get her into a strap harness with a bow at her neck.

  “We’ll take it.” Vanessa pushed the harness into the saleswoman’s hands. “And this,” she said, handing over the blue lace bra and matching thong she was holding. Pointing to something mounted on the wall, she added, “And one of those.”

  Vicky turned around as the clerk took the selection to the counter and fished something out from under the counter. Her eyes widened as she saw what Vanessa had requested. “No.” Vicky shook her head at the suede flogger. “I am not taking that home!”

  The clerk paused, waiting for the girls to decide if they wanted it or not.

  “Yes. You are,” Vanessa said pointedly. “Wrap it up,” she told the clerk.

  The woman added it to the pieces she had already placed in the bag.

  “Vanessa,” Vicky complained, “no.”

  “If you don’t take it, I’ll just give it to Darien at the wedding.” Vanessa grinned at her evilly. “…Along with a pair of handcuffs and possibly a few other items requiring batteries.”

  A smile slipped across the clerk's face as Vicky turned bright red.

  “You are evil,” Vicky huffed as Vanessa paid for the indecent purchase.

  Vanessa took the bag and held it out to Vicky. “Oh, you’ll love it.”

  Vicky just looked at her.

  “Take them, or they and a few other choice items will decorate the groom’s cake.”

  Vicky growled and snatched the bag away from her friend. She stormed out of the lingerie store to sound of the clerk snickering. “I hate you,” Vicky growled at Vanessa.

  “No, you don’t,” Vanessa purred back. “You love me.”

  Vicky crunched the top of the bag shut so no one passing could see inside it. “I’ll get you for this.” This was the last stop before they were supposed to meet up with Darien and Elliot for dinner. Those two had been sticking pretty close together since Darien had come back from New Orleans.

  “I would expect nothing less,” Vanessa chirped cheerfully.

  Vicky let out an exasperated sigh. “What else is left to do?” she asked, changing the subject.

  “Oh, lots!” Vanessa grinned. “Elliot and I fought about the flowers for a long time, but we finally decided on white and red roses. Simple, yet elegant. But there are still the decorations and invitations. You know, you still haven’t given me colors.”

  Vicky pondered this for a moment. She had asked Darien what colors he wanted, but he claimed not to care. “How about green and black?” Vicky offered. That would cover both of her boys.

  “Eww.” Vanessa shook her head, disgusted. “Too dark.”

  “How about emerald green?” Vicky suggested again.

  “That I’ll give you,” Vanessa conceded, “but not the black. Pick another color.”

  Vicky looked around at the shops for some inspiration. The mall was decked out in festive Christmas decorations, and her eyes were drawn to a catching display. “How about red?”

  “Mmmm…” Vanessa made a negative note. “Too Christmasy. We could do red and blue.”

  “I’m not marrying Superman.” Vicky looked at the movie poster that had drawn Vanessa’s eye. “How about blue and green?” she countered.

  “Not enough contrast.”

  Vicky stopped at a shop showing amazing, hand-blown, glass ornaments. “How about green and gold?”

  “That’s…” Vanessa stopped to consider the combination. “…Perfect! And we can use these to decorate the tables.” She pulled Vicky into the shop to look at the glass spires.

  “How many tables will there be?” Vicky asked. Other than her few friends and her mother, she had no idea who was on the guest list.

  “Mmmm…” Vanessa made another unhappy noise. “I’m not sure.” She looked at the bobbles again. “Let’s just get one of each and the artist’s name. Then, we can commission as many as we need.

  Vicky agreed, and they left with several bags of carefully wrapped glass.

  “Now that we have colors, we should start to think about dresses.” Vanessa went back to her planning. “I saw the perfect dress for you over at this new bridal shop.”

  “Let’s check with Elliot first,” Vicky suggested, unsure if there was something special that she should be wearing. She kind of wanted to wear that white spider-silk dress from Halloween.

  Vanessa gave her a cross look.

  “What?” Vicky asked, slightly offended. “You’ve insisted on his opinion on everything else.”

  “That’s because Darien refuses to give me one,” Vanessa huffed.

  “Darien gave you his opinion on the cake, yet you still insisted on force-feeding it to Elliot.” That had been quite the experience. Vicky had tried to convince Vanessa that Elliot wasn’t needed for the tasting, but Elliot wouldn’t let Darien out of his sight. Therefore, they both got to eat cake. Vicky gave Elliot an apologetic look as Vanessa practically shoved the bites down his throat. For a moment, she thought he was going to enthrall her to get out of it, but there were nearly a dozen people milling around the cake shop. Reluctantly, he submitted to the redhead’s whims. Hopefully, his system could handle a few bites of cake.


  “Yeah.” Vanessa walked a little while in thought. “Have you noticed anything funny about Elliot?”

  Vicky drew in a slow breath to keep from showing anything. “No. Why?”

  “Something about him just doesn’t sit right with me.” A crease formed in Vanessa’s brow. “I mean, he’s sweet and fun to be around, but there’s just something about him.”

  “Like what?” Vicky asked as nonchalantly as she could.

  “He’s polite,” Vanessa pointed out.

  “Isn’t that good?”

  “Yes, but he’s too polite.” This earned Vanessa a sideways glance from Vicky. “He opens doors, pulls out chairs, carries everything, and insists on paying for dinner even if he doesn’t eat it. Which is most of the time.”

  “Doesn’t eat it?” Vicky had known that Elliot and Vanessa were meeting, but not that he had been taking her out to dinner.

  “I’ve never seen a man worry his food as much as Elliot does.” Vanessa’s face scrunched up in thought as remembered the time she had spent with Elliot. “He mashes it up and pushes it around, but I can’t recall him actually eating any of it.”

  “Oh, I’m sure it’s just your imagination.” Vicky shrugged it off. “Maybe he has a sensitive stomach.”

  “Maybe,” Vanessa agreed reluctantly.

  Vicky made a mental note to let Elliot know about Vanessa’s worries. The two women walked on through the lower levels of the mall towards the parking garage where the men were supposed to have taken the rest of the shopping.

  “What have we here?” A male voice behind Vicky startled a squeak from her. Both she and Vanessa spun around to face a man who was much too close to them. The girls retreated a step.

  “Can I help you?” Vicky looked around at the empty hall. They had left most of the shops behind. She relaxed the tension from her shoulders, preparing for action. Her two, rather-full bags would be perfect to swing at the man.

  The man ran his eyes up and down Vicky. “I just came for a good look.” He made a noise that raised the short hairs on the back of Vicky’s neck. “Aren’t you a precious little thing?”

  Vicky rotated in place as the lean man started to circle them. There was something familiar about his chocolate brown hair and hawk-like features.

  “Did you enjoy my flowers?” He gave Vicky a toothy grin.

  “What flowers?” Vicky asked.

  The man raised a hand to his heart as if her words wounded him. “How could you forget my roses, Victoria?”

  Vicky just stared at him, openmouthed. This was the person responsible for the roses sent to her office. “Who are you?” She could not remember meeting him before.

  Quick steps brought the man up to Vicky. His arm snaked out, pulling her against him. “I’m the one who’s going to destroy you, sweetheart,” he whispered, looking into her eyes.

  A tingle of power rose between them, leaving Vicky shocked. She recognized the feeling, but it was coming from the wrong man! “You!” Vicky pushed out of his arms and stepped back. “You’re the one who stole Darien’s powers.”

  The man laughed and bowed to her. “And, oh, what a shock that was.” Grinning, he bared fangs at her. “But, I intend to take much more than that from him, my sweet.” He advanced on Vicky, making her step back.

  Vanessa dropped her bags and threw herself at the man. “You leave her alone!”

  He twisted around with inhuman speed and grabbed her up from her attack. Vanessa screeched as he sunk his fangs into her neck.

  “No!” Vicky shrieked as she dropped her bags. She aimed a good, old-fashioned punch at his face—a move he hadn’t expected from her. It connected, knocking him backwards. His fangs popped out of Vanessa’s neck spraying blood across the front of Vicky’s shirt. Vicky slapped her hand over the torn skin and pulled Vanessa away from the rogue vampire.

  The vampire pressed his hand up to stop the blood pouring from his busted nose. “The kitten has claws.”

  Panicked, Vicky pressed on her connection with Darien and Elliot for help.

  The mystery man stood up and laughed at her. “I can feel your terror.” His voice was rich with enjoyment.

  Vicky dragged Vanessa farther away from him. The boys would be there soon. She just had to find a way to delay the man coming after them. Casting her eyes around, she looked for something to help.

  The man held his arms wide to the empty area. “There’s nowhere to hide!”

  Where did everyone go? A flash of metal on the floor caught Vicky’s attention, and she pulled Vanessa along faster. The floors in this part of the mall had been designed by local artists. Each design was laid out in brightly colored tiles surrounded by brass edging. Vicky had no idea if her plan would work, but she had to do something. The crazed vampire stalked after her as she dragged Vanessa across the points of a compass rose.

  “Giving up?” He grinned as Vicky settled Vanessa into the center of the design.

  Vicky glared at him as she stretched her senses out and pointed them down. “Not hardly.” She had to search hard, but she finally reached a small pocket of coolness. Drawing hard on the magic, she dumped it into the brass ring surrounding the center of the compass rose. The magic hissed as it ran along the unusual metal, but Vicky willed the barrier up, and the air solidified just in time for the rogue vampire to walk right into it.

  “What the hell?” he cursed as he stumbled back from the magical wall.

  “Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!” Vicky snapped before she turned to Vanessa. The skin on her neck had started to heal under Vicky’s touch, but there was still blood spilling out. “Hold still.” Vicky dropped to the floor and pulled Vanessa up against her. She placed her hand over the wound and opened herself to Darien’s power.

  The vampire outside the shield stood with his hands rubbing the solid air. “Fascinating.” He walked the edge of the circle, pushing on the hardened air. Stopping in front of the woman, he smiled down at them. “You may be safe in there, but your friend is going to bleed out. Oh, the irony,” he chuckled.

  “Not likely.” Vicky pulled on Darien’s powers as hard as she could, making the vampire stumble back as if he’d been sucker-punched.

  Wrapping his arms around his middle, he dropped to squat on the floor. He looked up just in time to see Vicky drop her hand away from Vanessa’s fully healed throat. “What the hell are you?” the vampire growled.

  Vicky stood up to face him. “That’s none of your damn business, asshole,” she snapped.

  Surprise stole over the vampire’s face.

  Vicky glared at him through the invisible barrier. If she could just keep him here a few minutes longer, Elliot and Darien had to be close.

  “Interesting.” The man stood up and looked Vicky over again. “I was just going to kill you, but I think it would be more entertaining to bend you to my will.” He gave her an intense look. “Lower these shields.”

  Vicky could feel the power in his suggestion, but it was obvious he hadn’t used the ability much. “Go suck eggs.” She glared back at him, shaking off his hold. The rapping of feet on tile echoed through the hall. Her heart lifted; help was coming.

  The vampire looked from Vicky to the corridor leading to the parking garage. He backed up from her a few steps. “This will have to wait until next time.” Turning, the rogue raced down the hall towards the more populated areas of the mall.

  “Come back here, coward!” Vicky yelled as Darien and Elliot turned the corner. She spun to look at them, dropping the shield away.

  Darien stopped just short of plowing into Vicky and pulled her into his arms. “What happened?”

  Relief coursed through her as she leaned into him. “He bit Vanessa!” Vicky’s voice shook with the anger she still felt.

  Elliot paused a moment to look at the two women before turning and racing after their assailant.

  “Are you all right?” Darien pushed Vicky back to look at her. She was covered in blood and seemed a little woozy.

  “I’m fine.” Vicky
pushed his hands away and turned to her friend lying on the floor. “It’s Vanessa.”

  Darien took one more look at Vicky before turning to check on Vanessa. “She’s lost a lot of blood.” There was a real mess on the front of her shirt. Gripping her shoulder, he tried to sense the extent of her injuries but growled in frustration. “I can’t tell anything.” He placed his fingers on her neck to feel her pulse. “Everything looks healed, and her heartbeat is strong.”

  Vanessa groaned and rolled into Darien. “What the hell?” She grabbed at her head as the world spun.

  Darien carefully helped her into a sitting position. “Easy.”

  Vanessa drew in a noisy breath through her mouth. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  Darien pushed her forwards, lowering her head.

  “He’s gone.” Elliot jogged back up and looked over the scene. Vicky has sat down and bent her head forwards trying to fend off the wooziness from the magic, while Darien supported Vanessa. “What happened?”

  “He bit her,” Vicky answered.

  Elliot looked over at the discarded bags and pools of blood. It wouldn’t be long until someone came through here. “We need to get out of here.” Grabbing up the girl’s shopping, he came over and lifted Vicky to her feet. “Now.”

  Darien nodded and wrapped Vanessa’s arm over his shoulder.

  “Whoa!” Vanessa cried as Darien stood up with her. Her other arm waved around, nearly knocking them both off balance, before latching on to him.

  He pulled her in against him, pausing until she was steady. “I’ve got you.”

  “Good.” Elliot settled his grip on Vicky and hurried her along. “Let’s go.”

  Darien matched Elliot’s fast pace.

  Vicky closed her eyes and hung on for dear life.

  “Keys,” Elliot called.

  Vicky heard the beep of the unlocking SUV right before Elliot reached it.

  Leaning her against the side of the vehicle, he opened the door and tossed the bags over the back of the seat. Carefully, he lifted Vicky into the back. “Just relax.” He rubbed her arm soothingly before shutting the door.