Heart of Fire

by Lisa Edmonds

  I had the sudden and unwelcome feeling I was about to be tried before the Court. It occurred to me to wonder if they’d engineered a delay in Mark’s arrival so they might speak to me alone, but to what end? Everything we’d done so far was by the book. Maybe this was more vampire head games, trying to catch me off guard, but I couldn’t see a point to it.

  I quashed my unease, raised my chin an inch, and met Valas’s gaze. Her eyes were black and fathomless.

  “Miss Worth.” Valas’s voice, though pitched low, traveled across the room with ease. “The Court welcomes you.”

  “Thank you for inviting me.” My voice held a slight edge. “Where is Mark?”

  “Mr. Dunlap has been delayed,” Valas told me. “Our time is limited, so we wish to hear your account of the investigation.”

  “I assume you’ve read Mark’s reports. Do you have questions I can answer? If I knew what you wanted clarification on—”

  “We require a full account of your findings to this point,” Niara said.

  I steeled myself and looked at Niara. Her eyes, normally dark brown, were lit from within with soft amber light. Beautiful, I thought, then shook myself.

  “I can’t speak to what Mark did before I started working two days ago,” I said. “I can give you a report of what we’ve done since then.”

  “Proceed.” Valas’s voice was brisk.

  I told them everything we had discovered and done since Mark had brought me the case files. I wasn’t sure if Mark had had an opportunity to submit reports about our visits to Sister Berry and the homeless outreach center, or about Adam’s visions of the surviving victims, but I included that information. The vampires listened to my report, as silent and still as statues.

  When I finished my report, Niara spoke again. “You suffer no ill effects from the mishap with our Seer?”

  “None at all.” I’d hoped to thank Niara privately, rather than alert the entire Court that I had been healed with her blood, but it appeared I would have no choice. “Please accept my thanks for the healing.”

  Niara smiled and I took a deep, involuntary breath at the shiver that ran down my spine. “No thanks are necessary,” she said, her voice like warm chocolate. “I am extremely gratified to hear you are well. I would not have any harm befall an investigator of the Court as she works tirelessly on our behalf.”

  Charles leaned forward, his eyes darkening. I worried he would demand an explanation for my consumption of Niara’s blood, but instead he asked about something I’d mentioned earlier. “You say you have been in contact with a SPEMA agent who is investigating the possibility of harnad involvement. Who is this agent? He is not named in Mark Dunlap’s reports.”

  “I am not at liberty to say.”

  Nine pairs of angry vampire eyes focused on me. “You will tell us,” Valas said. I sensed a push along with her words, but this time my shields were at full strength and I felt no compulsion to obey. Point to me.

  I looked at Valas’s left shoulder, avoiding her angry gaze. “It is my judgment that doing so may compromise this agent’s ability to conduct his or her investigation, if it becomes known to other SPEMA agents that this agent might be pursuing other avenues. We have precious few allies in law enforcement, or among the public at large. I don’t think it would be in our best interest to jeopardize this person, when we may need their help in the near future.”

  “Your reasoning is sound,” Valas said. “We are displeased to have this information withheld, but we understand the need to protect this ally’s identity.”

  “Does this investigator believe we are not to be trusted to keep the information secure?” Friedrich glowered at me, then spoke to Valas in heavily accented English. “I do not see why the identity of this agent must be hidden from us.”

  I opened my mouth to speak but Valas silenced me with a single raised finger. “Information is like water,” she said to the German vampire. “It finds weaknesses and leaks with surprising ease. If Miss Worth and Mr. Dunlap believe it in the best interest of this Court for this agent to remain anonymous for now, then I am content to agree. We have no reason to doubt their judgment.”

  Ossun spoke. “And yet, despite the thoroughness of their investigation, we remain guilty in the eyes of the public and law enforcement.” He stared down at me. “You have identified a clear suspect and an accomplice and yet they have not been questioned. Why can we not bring these people here and discover the whereabouts of the survivors?”

  “West may be the head of a harnad of more than a dozen powerful blood mages,” I said. “I don’t have to tell you how much destruction a harnad that size could unleash. More critically, if he disappears, the harnad may kill all the survivors to prevent them from testifying. Besides, it’s not enough for you to obtain a confession from West, or from Rachel Barrow, because it wouldn’t be admissible in human court. We need concrete proof we can take to law enforcement.”

  Silence.

  I continued. “The mages who are responsible need to face justice and I want the victims back alive.” My voice carried through the room. “We need their testimony, first of all. Second, they’re victims in need of rescue. Everything we’ve been doing is in the interest of clearing vampires of involvement, getting justice for the victims, and rescuing the survivors. I assure you we are moving as quickly—and as deliberately—as we can.”

  I met the gazes of all nine members of the Court. Some were angry, some thoughtful, others appraising.

  My handbag buzzed. “Excuse me.” I unzipped my bag to glance at my phone. Lake Calling. I frowned and sent the call to voice mail. “Sorry,” I said, looking back at the Court. “What other questions can I answer for you?”

  “What are your plans—” Niara began.

  My phone buzzed again. I swiped the red button and rejected Lake’s call.

  Bryan’s phone buzzed as a man in black entered from behind the dais and hurried to Valas’s side. He bent to whisper in her ear.

  My phone buzzed. Lake Calling.

  Valas glanced at me as her security man spoke urgently in an undertone. Uneasiness formed a lead ball in my stomach.

  I hit the green button and put the phone to my ear. “This is not a good time,” I murmured.

  “I need you to come to Twelfth and Whitman.” Lake’s voice was flat. “The alley behind the furniture store. Right now.”

  I expected Valas to demand that I end my call with Lake, but instead she watched me, saying nothing. “I’m in a meeting,” I said. “What’s this about?”

  His tone gentled. “It’s best if you come down here.”

  And that’s when I knew.

  It seemed as though all the air was sucked out of the room at once. I sat frozen, unable to move, my heart thudding in my ears. Deep inside my chest, something dark took hold and began to grow.

  “Miss Alice,” Bryan rumbled, a warning note in his voice.

  Up on the dais, Valas motioned for the man who’d been whispering to her to step back and turned her attention to me. “Ms. Worth.”

  “Alice, did you hear me?” Lake asked. He sounded concerned.

  “I’m on my way.” I disconnected the call, stuck the phone in my bag, and stood. My chest felt tight, as if my fury might explode through my ribs at any moment. “I’m leaving.”

  Valas gestured at my chair. “Our conversation is not finished.”

  The pressure that had been building inside me burst through my skin. Cold green fire ignited along my arms and enveloped my upper body. Beneath my feet, the floor trembled from the force of my earth magic.

  Black-clad enforcers appeared from the shadows and formed a circle around me. The vampires up on the dais stayed seated. For a long moment, no one moved.

  I stared at Valas and our eyes locked. “It’s finished for now,” I stated. Air magic sparked on my hands. “Don’t try to keep me from leaving.”

  Every shadow in the room seemed to gather around her as she rose to her feet. Dark magic swirled between us and the air filled with an
ancient scent—something I’d never smelled before, but would from this moment associate with power.

  “What is that scent?” The question spilled out before I realized I’d spoken.

  Valas studied me. “I spent many days watching the mosaics being made in the Hagia Sophia. It was so new, the right to make images. Outside of the city, a man I knew owned an orchard. Such a bounty of the most delectable fruits. Have you ever had a fresh-drawn glass of blood mixed with the juice of a Byzantine pomegranate? Pomegranate seeds for Persephone; blood for the gods themselves.” She leaned forward, her eyes flashing like lightning. “You have met vampires who smell like wine, like spice, like one fruit or another. Child, listen, and understand when I say, I am the whole of the orchard.”

  Her magic swelled until I thought I might be crushed by it. I pushed back with a burst of air magic, the bright white energy displacing the darkness, and my ears popped. Her magic withdrew, the shadows settling onto her shoulders like a mantle.

  A long silence. The rest of the Court sat very still. No one breathed.

  I’d gotten a taste of Valas’s power and magic, and it was enough for me to know she was more than simply the oldest and most powerful vampire in the room. It was possible I could still get out of the building and away, even if she tried to prevent me. It was also equally possible we’d destroy Northbourne in the process.

  Fortunately, it appeared neither of us wanted the evening to end that way.

  “You may leave,” Valas said. “We will speak again, once this terrible business is concluded. Mr. Smith, you will take her wherever she needs to go.”

  I drew my magic back beneath my skin and looked up at Valas. Perhaps I was imagining it—I almost certainly was—but I thought I saw a hint of pity in those ancient eyes.

  “Thank you,” I said. I grabbed my purse, gathered up my skirt, and ran.

  14

  We couldn’t get anywhere near Twelfth and Whitman; police cars with lights flashing formed a blockade at Thirteenth and the entire block between Thirteenth and Fourteenth was full of news vans and onlookers.

  Bryan pulled to the curb next to a closed coffee shop. I jumped from the SUV before it was even in park and headed for the police tape, pushing my way through the crowd.

  Just as I reached the barricade, someone took my arm. “Alice.”

  I looked up into familiar ice-blue eyes. Lake.

  I was used to seeing him in his off-hours lately, so it took me a moment to realize he was wearing a shirt and tie and a dark blue jacket with SPEMA emblazoned on the front and back.

  Bryan came up behind me, still wearing his tux. “Who are you?” Lake asked.

  “I’m with her,” Bryan rumbled. “Vampire Court security.”

  If Lake was surprised by how I was dressed or that I had a Court escort, he didn’t show it. “You’ll stay outside of the tape. I’ll take her back.”

  The two men eyed each other. I knew Bryan recognized Lake from his visits to Hawthorne’s. The enforcer glanced at Lake’s hand on my arm. So much for keeping Lake’s identity a secret from the Court.

  Finally, Bryan gave Lake a nod. “I’ll wait here.”

  Lake lifted the tape for me. My feet felt like lead as we walked silently away from the crowd.

  The entrance to the alley was blocked by more tape and three uniformed officers. One of them held up the tape for us.

  A half-dozen people were crowded into the alley. Two crime scene investigators in uniform took pictures while a third made notes on a clipboard. Two men in suits wearing police department IDs talked quietly. One of them, a dark-haired man in his mid-thirties, glanced up as we entered the alley. “Alice,” he said in greeting.

  Dimly, I realized it was Detective Ernie Diaz, but my attention was focused on the scene in front of me.

  Mark lay on his back next to an overflowing dumpster. He wore the same plaid shirt, jeans, and work boots he’d had on when I’d seen him earlier. His eyes were wide open, staring sightlessly up at the streetlight. I didn’t see any wounds, but his skin was gray and bloodless. His hands had been bagged for trace evidence.

  A heavyset man in medical examiner coveralls crouched near the body. He rose as we approached.

  My heel caught on a crack in the pavement and I stumbled. Lake caught me by the arm. “Are you all right?”

  “Who found him?” I heard myself ask.

  Lake let go, but stayed close. “Two junkies. They’ve already been taken downtown for questioning.”

  “What time?”

  “Just before midnight.”

  I looked around, but saw no cameras in the alley. That was probably why he’d been dumped here. “Where’s his van?”

  “What van?” Diaz asked sharply. “We have a Dodge pickup registered to him.”

  “He was driving a white panel van.” I gave him the license plate. “It’s registered to MDI.”

  As he wrote down the information, the other detective spoke up. His police ID read Ferguson. “The van could be the vehicle fire they had over on Third,” he told Diaz. “The fire department said it was a delivery van of some kind. I’ll have them take it to the lab for processing.” He stepped away to make a phone call.

  I approached Mark’s body slowly. Lake hung back and the M.E. moved away to give me what little privacy could be had with this many people around. The detectives were tense; they didn’t like someone getting close to a body, possibly compromising evidence. I gathered my skirt in one hand so it didn’t touch the pavement or Mark’s body and crouched carefully next to him.

  I had my back to the detectives and Lake, who were conversing quietly. I let them think I was saying goodbye, but I had another, more important purpose. I did not, however, have the luxury of taking my time about it, judging by the way Diaz’s eyes drilled into the back of my head. This was going to hurt.

  I braced myself as best I could, touched a single fingertip lightly to Mark’s cool arm, and dropped my shields.

  It wasn’t the agony sharing Adam’s visions had been, because this was my own kind of magic, but there was so much magical trace coming at me from every direction that for a moment my senses shorted out. I ignored the pain and focused on what I needed to do.

  Through my fingertip, I sensed two specific traces lingering on Mark’s skin: a faded trace of air magic and strong, recent blood magic. The latter was so powerful that when I tried to follow the trace to get a better sense of the mage who’d left it, it lashed me like a whip and with my shields down, it hit me like a physical blow. I fell backward with a gasp.

  Lake was at my side immediately. As he squatted next to me, I slammed my shields closed and the sudden silence in my head left me disoriented.

  I swayed as his hands tightened on my upper arms. “Don’t pass out,” he murmured, his lips near my ear. “Get your feet under you. We’re standing up.”

  We rose. I let him steady me, but when my head started to clear, I took a step away to show I could stand on my own.

  The medical examiner joined us. “Are you lightheaded?”

  “No, I’m fine,” I lied. “It’s just…” I looked away. I’d rather they thought I was overcome with emotion than suspected what I’d been up to.

  “Do you need to sit down?” Lake asked. “We can put you in a squad car for a few minutes.”

  “I’ll be okay.” I looked at the M.E. “Cause of death?”

  “Looks like a vamp. Can’t confirm till I get him on the table.”

  I thought of Mark on an autopsy table and flinched. “Show me the bite, please.”

  The M.E. looked at the detectives and raised his eyebrows.

  “Show her,” Diaz said.

  The M.E. squatted down and pulled back Mark’s collar. I forced myself to bend over and look. There on his neck were two neat round holes. My vision tunneled until all I could see was that wound.

  Behind me, Lake said something, but I didn’t hear him. Someone else spoke and Lake responded, his voice sharp. It sounded like an argument was breaking ou
t over jurisdiction. I was about to complicate matters considerably.

  I couldn’t tell them about the magic I’d sensed. It was unlikely they would believe me, and since magical evidence was not admissible in human court, most law enforcement personnel discounted it entirely. Luckily, there was more than just the trace that might lead them away from the obvious explanation for Mark’s death.

  “Doctor, how much blood do you think is left in his body?” I asked.

  “Can’t say for sure,” the medical examiner said, letting go of Mark’s collar as Diaz and Lake continued to argue. “Just looking at him, I’d say maybe a half a liter, probably less.”

  “This wasn’t a vamp,” I told him.

  That brought an immediate end to the heated debate going on behind me. “The hell it wasn’t,” Diaz snapped. He was suddenly at my side as the M.E. got to his feet. Ferguson was joined by a petite woman I recognized as Detective Shay. All four of them stared at me, their faces hostile. “That’s a fucking vampire bite,” Diaz said.

  I shook my head as Lake moved next to me. “Those holes are perfectly round. They could just as easily have been made by large-bore needles.”

  “There was saliva around the bite,” the M.E. informed me coldly. “We ran a presumptive test. It came back as vampire saliva, not human. He’s been drained.”

  “Then the saliva was planted. If that’s the only wound, it couldn’t have been a vampire. No single vampire could drain an entire body; it’s not physically possible.”

  Doubt flashed in the M.E.’s eyes. He exchanged glances with the detectives.

  I opened my mouth to argue the point, but Diaz interrupted me. “Get her out of here,” he told Lake.

  “You should be listening to her.” Lake crossed his arms and stared at the shorter man.

  Diaz didn’t back down. “She works for the vamps; she’s just trying to cover for them. We allowed you in here as a courtesy, but I’m done listening to this bullshit. Now both of you, get the hell out of my crime scene.”