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

by Julie Wetzel

  Vicky nodded as she heard the door on the other side open. She cracked her eyes and watched Darien lifted Vanessa into the other seat.

  “Everything’s going to be okay,” Darien soothed Vanessa as he shut the door and got in the front.

  “Go,” Elliot urged Darien from the passenger seat.

  Darien took a calming breath, carefully pulled the SUV out of the parking place, and casually drove it around the garage.

  Vicky’s brow furrowed as they eased out into evening traffic. “I thought we were in a hurry.”

  “We are,” Darien explained. “But, we’ll be in real trouble if we get caught speeding away. Police don’t look kindly on blood-covered women.” He looked at her in the rearview mirror. “We’ll pick up speed once we reach the highway.”

  Elliot turned around in his seat to look at the two women. “What happened?”

  Vicky looked at him and let out a deep sigh before telling him everything.

  Vanessa watched her in disbelief from where she leaned on the seat.

  “Who was he?” Elliot asked.

  “I don’t know.” Vicky shifted in her seat; she was starting to feel better. “I think I’ve seen him before, but I don’t know where.”

  “Wait a second.” Vanessa finally found the will to speak. “I don’t think I understood you.” She raised her hand up to her neck, feeling the healed skin. “What happened?”

  Vicky looked at Elliot, then to Darien, and back to Vanessa. “You were bitten.” She tried to sound soothing.

  “Oh, I definitely remember that.” Vanessa shuddered at the memory. “It’s the rest of it that I didn’t understand.”

  Darien shoved the car into park and killed the engine. “Let’s go inside, and we’ll explain.”

  Vanessa sat up, feeling for the door handle. “I don’t think so.”

  “Vanessa.” Vicky grabbed her friend’s hand, preventing her from bolting from the SUV. “How long have we been friends?”

  Vanessa stopped and looked at Vicky. She looked at the two men watching her. “A while now.”

  “And have I ever hurt you in any way?” Vicky pushed.

  Vanessa studied her for a moment. “No.”

  “Then trust me,” Vicky begged. “There is an explanation, if you will just sit down and listen.”

  Vanessa teetered on the edge of running for a moment before nodding her head. “Only 'cause I love you, girl,” she agreed.

  Carefully, Darien opened Vanessa’s door. “Let me help you.” He held out his hand for her.

  She gave him an unsure look before sighing and letting him help her from the car.

  Vicky was feeling somewhat better, so she waved Elliot’s help away and went to gather packages from the back hatch.

  Elliot joined her, unloading the bags. “I can get these.”

  “But, we can get them in faster if we both carry.” Vicky pulled out some more packages.

  “You should go in and rest.” Elliot slid the rest of the sacks away from Vicky’s hands and slipped his arm through the handles.

  Vicky shook her head and gathered up the few bags she had been able to grab. “All right.” She turned to follow Darien and Vanessa.

  Elliot snickered and shut the back hatch. He quickly dealt with Ethan before the man could get out from behind his desk. They really needed to do something about that poor man before all the suggestions messed with his mind. For now, they just needed to get Vanessa through the rest of the night without hysterics.

  ***

  “So, you’re telling me that you’re all vampires.” Vanessa had sat through Vicky’s rough explanation of the last few months of her life.

  “No,” Vicky said. “I’m not a vampire.”

  “But you have a vampire’s soul.”

  “Only a piece,” Vicky explained again. “Darien gave me a piece of his after your Halloween party.”

  “When he failed to mark you properly.”

  Darien cringed again as he was reminded of his error.

  “Yes.” Vicky nodded.

  “And what were you doing biting her at my party?” Vanessa shot him an accusing look.

  Darien sighed.

  “It was Beth’s fault,” Vicky added before Darien could say anything.

  Vanessa gave Vicky a sarcastic look. “Right.”

  “Come on.” Vicky’s voice held a note of exasperation. “You can’t tell me he wasn’t just a little bit smashed.”

  Vanessa looked up at Darien. Darien had found something rather interesting in the carpet to study. “I’ll give you that,” Vanessa relented. There was no way anyone could say Darien hadn’t been incapacitated when they practically carried him out of the house.

  “So you’re not a vampire,” Vanessa went on, trying to wrap her mind around Vicky’s story, “but Darien is.”

  Both Darien and Vicky nodded.

  “But, he’s not right now because some fairy put an enchantment on you that stole his powers and gave them to that jerk that bit me.”

  Vicky nodded her head.

  “Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?”

  Vicky let out a deep sigh. “Yes.”

  “Vicks, if I didn’t know you better, I would think you’re trying to put one over on me.” Vanessa looked over at Elliot leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. “But you’re not, are you?”

  Vicky shook her head.

  “They both really are vampires?”

  Elliot smiled, flashing fangs.

  Vicky nodded her head. “Yes.”

  “What else haven’t you been telling me?”

  Vicky looked up at Darien for help, but he just shrugged.

  “There’s a whole society of creatures who are not human.”

  “I kind of figured that,” Vanessa sassed.

  Vicky went on to explain about the werewolves and the fay.

  “Wait.” Vanessa held up her hand to stop Vicky. “The girl who makes your coffee is a werewolf?”

  “Yes. Sue.” Vicky nodded. “She’s in the other room if you want to meet her.”

  “Wait. There’s a werewolf in your other room?”

  “Two, actually.” Elliot shot her an award-winning smile.

  Vanessa drew in a deep breath and held it as she worked out what to say in response.

  “They really are nice people.” Vicky grabbed onto Vanessa’s arm, drawing her back from the scathing comment she could see forming. “You’ve kind of already met Sue. She was the wolf that was here when you first brought over the wedding boxes.”

  A shocked expression filled Vanessa’s face. “You mean…?” She pointed to the area in front of the fireplace where Sue and Zak had been curled up.

  Vicky nodded.

  “But, you said she belonged to someone else.”

  “Not exactly untrue,” Darien added in Vicky’s defense.

  “And the other?” Vanessa looked between the two.

  “That’s Karl.” Vicky smiled. “He’s a RN over at the hospital.”

  “A nurse!” Vanessa said, shocked. “The hospital has a werewolf nurse?”

  “They have a few.” Vicky nodded. “Do you want me to go get him?”

  Vanessa shook her head. “That’s okay.” She was sure she had seen the man herd the wolf out when they had first come in.

  Vanessa closed her eyes, steeling herself for more weirdness. “What else?”

  “Are you sure you want to go on?” Vicky asked. “We’ve already gone over quite a bit.”

  Vanessa opened her eyes and pinned Vicky. “What else.”

  Vicky fidgeted in her seat. “There’s Zak.”

  Vanessa looked over to the cute, little dog that had curled up by Elliot’s feet. “Please don’t tell me he’s a werewolf, too.” She couldn’t handle him being a person. There had been numerous times she had played with him. She had even let the little guy eat from her plate on several occasions.

  “No.” Vicky took a deep breath before going on. “He’s fay.”

 
; “So he’s not a Shih Tzu.”

  “No.” Vicky turned to look at him. “Come here, Zak.”

  Zak wiggled over and jumped up into Vicky’s lap.

  “Are you sure about this?” Vicky rubbed Zak soothingly.

  Vanessa took a deep breath to center herself and nodded her head. “Yes.”

  Zak shook out of his fur and wiggled his tentacles.

  “Holy crap!” Vanessa fell off the couch as she tried to scoot away from the horror in Vicky’s lap.

  Vicky rubbed Zak as he whimpered.

  Darien's chuckling earned him a glare from Vanessa. Reaching his hand down, he offered to help her back up. “That was pretty much the same reaction that Victoria had when she first met Zak,” he explained with a grin.

  Ignoring Darien’s hand, she watched as Zak wiggled about in Vicky’s lap. “Does he bite?” Vanessa tucked her feet under her so she was kneeling a little closer to Vicky and Zak.

  “Oh yes.” Darien chuckled. “Do you want to see my scar?”

  “Darien!” Vicky snapped at him. “He only bites if there’s good reason.” She gave Vanessa a pleading look. “This is Zak. The same little mutt that chews on anything he can get his teeth on, but he won’t hurt you.”

  Vanessa scooted a little closer.

  Zak stretched his ends out so they were just inches away from Vanessa but not touching her.

  “It’s okay,” Vicky reassured her.

  Carefully, Vanessa reached out and felt the soft feelers. They were almost velvety to the touch. A few wrapped around her fingers as she played with them. “He’s kind of cute, in a mind-numbing sort of way.” Vanessa finally pulled herself up from the floor. She reclaimed her seat on the couch just a little farther away from where she had been.

  Vicky kissed Zak on his top and pushed him off to the floor. “Let her be for a bit,” she said, warning the fay away from Vanessa.

  Zak looked up at her before sneezing and wiggling back over to Elliot.

  Vanessa watched him move across the floor, intrigued. “And you let him sleep with you?”

  “There is no ‘let’ to it,” Darien growled. “Zak does as he pleases.”

  Zak gurgled a happy note as he pulled one of Elliot’s shoestrings into his mouth.

  Elliot lifted his foot up, trying to stop the fay.

  Zak just stretched up, holding on.

  Giving up, Elliot put his foot back down and let Zak chomp away on the aglet.

  “Okay.” Vanessa held out her hands as she collected her thoughts. “So you live with two vampires, two werewolves, and a tentacle thing.”

  “Elliot doesn’t really live here.” Vicky looked up at the blond vampire. “He’s staying to help until we can get Darien’s powers back. And Sue and Karl are only staying because Sue is pregnant.”

  Vanessa gave Vicky a disbelieving look.

  “Long story there. And Zak,” Vicky looked over at the fay, “he’s just a sweetheart.”

  Zak gurgled and rolled around in pleasure.

  “And you think this is normal?”

  “Of course it’s not normal,” Vicky scoffed. “If this were normal, I would have told you about it months ago when Michael bit me.”

  Vanessa looked shocked.

  Vicky drew in a calming breath and smiled at her best friend. “You were the one who thought my ex was cursing people with chickens. Turns out, you were right.”

  “Yeah,” Vanessa almost laughed. She looked over to Zak pulling on Elliot’s shoelace. “I guess the world is full of odd things.” She looked back at Vicky. “So how many vampires are there?”

  “Lots,” Darien answered from where he stood at the far end of the couch.

  Vanessa gave him a concerned look.

  “But, you don’t have to worry about them,” Vicky tried to soothe her nervous friend. “Darien’s already taken care of that.”

  Darien nodded his head in agreement. “As long as you’re in this city, you’re safe.”

  “But, what if I go someplace else?”

  “Have you ever had problems with vampires before?” Elliot asked.

  Vanessa gave him a puzzled look. “No.”

  “Then there’s no reason to think they should bother you now,” Elliot replied.

  “What about the one that bit me?” Vanessa pointed out.

  “He was after Victoria. You just happened to be with her.” Elliot shrugged. “Unfortunately, since Darien’s claimed her, you’re probably going to run into a lot more vampires.”

  Vanessa shot Vicky an accusing look. “And, when were you going to tell me this?”

  “I wasn’t planning on it,” Vicky said sheepishly.

  “And, if it hadn’t been for this rogue, you would never have known,” Elliot added. “We’ve had years of practice hiding what we are.”

  “I bet.” Vanessa laughed and turned her attention back to Vicky. “I can see why you kept this from us, but I really think we should tell the rest of the girls about it.”

  Vicky gave Vanessa a doubtful look.

  “I think Maggie might already know, and Beth will just get a kick out of it.”

  “Maggie?” Vicky asked.

  “You know she’s been into those alternative religions for a while now.”

  “True.” Vicky nodded.

  “She keeps showing me weird stuff.” Vanessa looked over at Zak wiggling on the floor. “Not this weird, but I think you should talk to her.”

  Darien and Elliot looked at each other, concerned.

  “All right,” Vicky agreed. If Vanessa thought Maggie could handle this, then she probably could. And it was probably a good idea to let the girls know that something was going on. If the rogue came after Vicky, anyone near Darien or her could be in danger.

  “Well,” Vanessa broke the silence that was settling into the room, “it’s late, and I have to work in the morning.”

  “Yes.” Vicky stood up and hurried to the shopping bags to separate out Vanessa’s things.

  Vanessa came over to help. “Here.”

  “I’m sorry, Vanessa.” Vicky sighed as they worked.

  “It’s all right, Vicks.” Vanessa smiled at her. “I still love you.” Grabbing up the bottom corner of a crumpled bag, Vanessa stood up with her purchases. She shook the crushed bag, letting the red satin harness and flogger spilled out near Darien’s feet.

  “Vanessa!” Vicky snapped from where she stood holding the rest of the bags.

  “And that’s for getting me bitten.” Vanessa shot Vicky an evil grin and left for the elevator before Vicky could sling anything at her friend’s head. “Have fun!” she called back from a safe distance.

  Elliot looked over at the spilt bag. “Well,” he cleared his throat, “I should probably see her home.” Trying to hide his grin, he followed Vanessa to the foyer.

  Darien grinned as he reached for the spilled items. “What’s this?” His hand closed on them before Vicky could get free of her bags.

  “Nothing!” Vicky squeaked as she untangled herself from her shopping and came for the outfit.

  Darien raised it out of her reach. “Really?” He swung the flogger around so the soft ends lashed gently across the backs of Vicky’s legs, surprising another squeak from her.

  Vicky’s fingers finally caught on one of the satin straps, pulling it from Darien’s hand. “Really!” The red on her skin shone brightly as she turned away and balled the embarrassing item up.

  The soft tails of the flogger trailed up her arm as Darien wrapped himself around her. “I didn’t know you liked such things,” he purred in her ear, making her fidget in his grasp.

  “It was Vanessa’s idea,” Vicky mumbled as she leaned back into Darien’s warm embrace.

  “So are you going to model it for me?” Darien pulled the lingerie from Vicky’s hands and held it out in front of her. “I think you’ll look very nice in it,” he coaxed as he nuzzled the hair at the side of her head. Slipping a kiss to the sensitive skin just below Vicky’s ear, he weakened her objections. “
Please.” He breathed the word across her skin, sending shivers of promised pleasure rippling down her back.

  Vicky waffled for a moment before snatching the harness from Darien’s hands and heading to the bedroom.

  Darien smiled at her retreating form. He swung the leather flogger around his legs, testing the feel as he followed her at a more leisurely pace. It had been years since he had used a cat o’ nine tails, and that had been under less-than-pleasant circumstances. The opportunity to play with one in a more enjoyable setting intrigued him. Seeing how the wicked device could be used in a gentler way was going to make for a very entertaining evening. His initial opinion of Vanessa as a troublemaker was definitely correct, but he was learning to appreciate the fun she brought to Vicky’s life.

  Vicky rocked the little vial back and forth, watching the way the violet liquid coated the inside of the glass. “So, what do we do with it?”

  “Drink it,” Dakine answered, taking the bottle back. He shook it hard, mixing the contents until they glowed brightly.

  Darien held his hand out for the bottle. “All right.”

  “Not you.” Dakine ignored Darien and held the bottle out to Vicky. “Her.”

  Vicky looked at the glowing vial. “Me?”

  Darien wrapped an arm around Vicky, pulling her into a protective hold. “No.” Lady Aine had already taken too much of an interest in Vicky. Darien didn’t like that she had made this potion for Vicky. He should have been more specific when requesting the fairy queen’s assistance.

  Zak wrapped a tentacle around her ankle, gurgling his agreement.

  “It has to be her, Kian.” Dakine held the bottle towards them. “This will follow the line of your powers, and you don’t have much of a connection with them anymore. Since the spell is anchored in cailín, she has the best chance of finding your rogue.”

  Darien held out his hand for the bottle. “I’ll take my chances.”

  Vicky looked at it, considering their options. “I’ll take it.” She reached out and pulled the small vial from Dakine's hand before Darien could.

  Darien squeezed her so her back pressed harder into his chest. “You don’t have to do this.” He really didn’t like the idea of her taking something the queen had given her.