Force of Fire

by Ali Vali

  “Convel had been put on notice, but I wanted to give Asra and Piper some more time, considering the baby has just arrived.” He joined her at the dining table in his suite and accepted the cup of tea she’d brewed for him. “I never did ask you what you thought about the child brought forth by the sword.”

  She glanced at him and smiled. “The gods of old were so important at one time, but it’s good to know they’re still perched on their mountain looking down on us. That they showed Asra favor doesn’t surprise me, but I would’ve thought it would’ve been the god of war who tried to seduce her.”

  “Do you think she would’ve been swayed?” The tea was bitter but not excessively so, so he sipped it slowly and felt his mind relax. Only Rawney had the ability to alter the mind of a Genesis Clan immortal, but never for evil intent.

  “I’ve met Asra on only a few occasions, but Morgaine chose well. Asra has a true spirit, so the only way a dark force could sway her would be to save someone she loves. Julius didn’t understand that, and it cost him his life,” she said of the traitorous elder who’d tried to unleash the Sea Serpent Sword’s dark half.

  “The other thing I didn’t think possible was her truce with Vadoma. Do you think it’ll hold?”

  “Vadoma is no fool, and nothing like Ora. The first queen was partially mad before the sickness, and immortality didn’t improve her state of mind. Knowing that, it should be easy to guess the truce will hold.”

  “How do you know for sure?” He drank the last of his tea and his entire body felt heavy.

  “My job is to wield what power I have to do your bidding. The spells I cast are for protection and to bury things that shouldn’t be found.” Rawney’s voice wove around him like smoke from a fire, and his eyelids were suddenly too heavy to stay open. “Relax your mind, Rolla, so you may see and remember.”

  Rawney spoke softly and caught Rolla’s cup before it fell to the floor. He’d asked for the state he was in, but he responded better when he didn’t see it coming. She signaled for the young man guarding their leader to carry him to the bedroom and lay him down.

  “Is he all right, ma’am?” the guard asked.

  “He’s perfectly fine. Bring Bruik in when he arrives.” She unbuttoned Rolla’s shirt, took a few things out of her bag, and started applying three different infused oils in a swirl pattern to his chest as she uttered the incantations softly.

  Once Bruik arrived and laid his hands on Rolla’s head, they would both share the seer’s gift. Bruik would have to take him back, before they could go forward into an unknown future.

  The world was so different than it’d been in the early years of her life, and it still amazed her that man went searching for things better off buried. Not everything could be controlled, no matter how much you wished it or how much power it could bring you.

  “Are we ready to begin?” Bruik asked when he came in.

  “Not really, but we must, old friend.”

  * * *

  “We found it close to the property line, sire,” one of the men Rolla had sent told Kendal after he and some of the others had driven her out to the mutilated carcass of a deer.

  From the scraps and the bloating of the head it was only a few days old. The wounds and how it was killed concerned her because very few things were able to rip something so savagely, and the outskirts of New Orleans weren’t known for active lion packs or wolves. At least not the kind of wolves found in nature.

  “Have you found any others?” Kendal removed the new, very plain Sea Serpent Sword and twirled it from hand to hand for a few minutes to help her think.

  “I have the men looking now, but we might have an active pack in the area,” the man said.

  “Call the house and make sure everyone is vigilant. If you’re right it’ll be my turn to go hunting, and I’ll be happy to get a new pelt to wipe my feet on once I find these fools.” Werewolves, like vampires, usually hunted and lived in groups, but the weres were after more than their victim’s blood. She didn’t want any of that near her family.

  “Yes, sire.”

  She nodded and poured gasoline over the deer, then lit it on fire to do away with the scent. “I’ll walk back, so let me know if you find anything else.”

  The trees and brush had reclaimed what had once been the tobacco fields she loved working in and growing along with the vegetables that fed the residents of Oakgrove. She wished her old friend Lola had lived to see the baby and thought about how badly Lola would’ve spoiled Hali.

  “Problems?” Charlie asked. He rode up on one of the horses from the stables and had Kendal’s favorite, Ruda, following behind.

  “Have you seen any strange kills on the property? Any animal that appeared mauled?”

  “Nothing like that, but I usually stick to the trails when I’m exercising the horses.” Charlie glanced back at the spot burning and sat up straighter in his saddle. “What do you think did that?”

  “It’s not something we’ve ever seen here before, but unless I’m wrong, we’ve got some new and different kind of neighbors.” She mounted Ruda and led them to the fence line that surrounded the property.

  “I thought vampires weren’t into animals.” Charlie rode next to her while the trail was wide enough.

  “It’s time for you to venture out, my friend,” she said as she dismounted when they reached the fence line and started walking alongside it. There had to be some sign of how they’d gotten in. “If you choose, I’ll start training you to be a slayer. You can eventually work on your own, or you can serve with me and Morgaine.”

  “She and Lenore won’t eventually leave?” His riding pants and form-fitting shirt made him appear as if he were waiting to do a photo shoot for the cover of a fashion magazine.

  “Not for years, since we’ve made a pact to keep the babies together for as long as everyone is agreeable. They’re unique in how they got here, so I think it’ll help to have someone who understands that position better than any of us.” She stopped and put her hands on his shoulder. “You did well in the fight against my brother, but this isn’t something someone can force you into.”

  “The only reason I drank from your cup, Asra, was to avenge my family.”

  “We have that in common.”

  “That I know, and I’m sorry you had to wait much longer than me to rid the world of your father’s killers. You gave me my freedom all those years ago, along with my dignity, and I loved you like a brother for it.” He moved closer and hugged her. “I never thought I’d ever sense the kind of belonging I had when I was a boy growing up with my parents, but you proved me wrong and encouraged my relationship with Celia.”

  “I know you miss her still,” she said, guessing that Charlie was planning to refuse her offer.

  “I have for a very long time, and my misery is what’s kept me locked up here. Driving your father’s sword through Henri’s rotten heart finally brought me peace, and even though you aren’t my brother,” he said, making air quotes, “you’re my family. I want to serve with you and venture outside these gates at your side.”

  “Thank you, Charlie, and I’ve always considered you the brother I never had.”

  “Everyone you brought here loved you, Asra. You have no idea how much we feared the unknown when we finally got off those pits of hell we sailed in, only to be dragged toward you with our heads full of the stories those men who worked the blocks told us. When they led me to that platform, I wished and prayed to die like those who didn’t make the crossing. You and Lola were waiting, and all I felt was hate.”

  “No one could blame you for that, my friend, and I wish I could say it was the only time in my life I’d seen that kind of brutality, but I’d be lying. The world’s changed, according to the scholars, but we know better.” She sighed and continued their walk. “There’s always someone willing to put us all in chains if we give them the opportunity. I am so sorry all that happened to you. Words aren’t much, but I did the best I could.”

  “Jacques,” he said wit
h his perfect French and smiled. “Like I said, I don’t think you ever realized how much everyone you saved loved and respected you. None of them were blind or deaf as to what happened to those not lucky enough to stand on those blocks the days you weren’t there. We loved you because we wanted to, not because we were forced to.”

  “Until Piper came into my life, this is where I felt the most at home. You and your family, along with Lola and the others, made me happy.”

  “You’re still my family now, so tell me, brother, what killed that deer?”

  “There,” she said, finding a part of the fence cut away. The hole was low to the ground and had a few strands of fur along the top. “We’ve got a family of werewolves close by, and they’ve got to know whose land they’re hunting on.”

  “Seriously?” Charlie said, rubbing the strands between his fingers. “I need to read more books from the list Lenore gave me.”

  She chuckled and called for a crew to ride the fence and make repairs. “She’d love to hear you say that.”

  “So how do we kill them?”

  “Not everything deserves killing, so let’s see who they are before we call the taxidermist.”

  * * *

  Oscar jumped down from the helicopter to the opulent grounds of the Garza estate. Alejandro was the current heir since his father had disappeared eight years earlier on a dig somewhere in Asia. His father had told him the story, but he hadn’t paid attention, not as fascinated with the Garza legacy as Sebastian was.

  He smoothed his shirt down and followed the servant who’d stood by to meet him. “Bienvenido, Dr. Petchel,” the man said, leading him toward the back of the house.

  The view of the mountains was spectacular, but he figured that on particularly cloudy days the coffee plants and everything else that lined the mountainside wouldn’t be visible since they were so high up. The house was magnificent, but it was also remote. Alejandro and his family obviously valued their privacy.

  “Señor Garza is waiting for you on the deck on the edge.”

  Alejandro was standing on a wooden platform with no sides, wearing a thick leather glove that stopped just short of his elbow. He whistled loudly, and a hawk flew up from the slope below him. Standing so far out along the edge was probably an attempt to show Oscar how fearless he was.

  “There’s something special about these birds in flight, don’t you think?” Alejandro asked, handing his pet to one of the handlers. “This is one of the offspring of my father’s favorite hunter.”

  “They don’t hunt anymore except to take the meat from your hand. The only freedom they have left is flight, but they’ll never venture too far, or they’ll get no more steak from their master.” Oscar was tired of playing these games, and he wasn’t in the mood to fawn like everyone else in Alejandro’s life did. The second stone had been removed, and the pythons had killed another six of his crew.

  “You know I tolerate your disrespect only because of your father, but tread carefully unless you can fly like my hawk.” The glove came off a finger at a time, and Alejandro walked away as if he expected to be followed.

  “Either you give me more information or you can find someone else to dig for you, and you can forget that it’ll be my father. We lost more men today to the most bizarre thing I’ve ever witnessed.” He waved the servant off, along with the drink he offered. “The first five died for nothing because that’s exactly what we found—nothing.”

  “The information you gathered is what’s important to me. Our search will end only when we find what we’ve been after for centuries, and you’ll be leading that search, Dr. Petchel.” Alejandro spoke softly and drained whatever liquor was in his glass. “We’ve come too far to allow anyone to jeopardize our ultimate goal. Either you keep digging, or—”

  “What, you’ll kill me?” he asked and laughed. It was like Alejandro had watched too many movies.

  “You don’t think many have died in our pursuit? Those men gladly gave their lives to the order, and plenty more are waiting to take their place. Honor your commitments, or I won’t kill just you. I’ll have your entire family killed, along with the French slut who’s dying to get you into bed.” Alejandro accepted another drink and appeared as calm as if they were talking about baseball scores. “Don’t try my patience or my word. You won’t care for the outcome.”

  “Then give me something to try to save some lives before we go forward. The mounds out there are most probably pyramids, but the interesting pieces that don’t fit are the stones with different hieroglyphics that aren’t Mayan or Incan.”

  “One of my men told me about the snakes in the first chamber that killed the men who went down first.” Alejandro waved him to a chair, and this time he accepted the drink. He was surprised when he tasted his favorite scotch. “Do you believe in magic, Doctor, or what some call witchcraft?”

  “Even in the Mayan times the powerful shamans were nothing more than talented magicians. They convinced their royals of their power, but it was all based on sleight of hand and nothing more.” He wanted to curse his father for getting him into this situation, especially for not telling him there was no out. “The events at the site are strange, but I haven’t seen anything that can’t be explained scientifically.”

  “You’re so much like your father was in the beginning when he had the same arguments with my father. Open your eyes, Oscar, before something you can’t explain plucks them from your skull.”

  “How does that help me?” This was a complete waste of his time.

  “The places I will send you are under the protective spells of an organization called the Genesis Clan, or so we believe. That’s who’s mentioned in the early writings of the Order of Fuego. The key to breaking them has to be in the glyphs, but up to now no one’s been able to decipher them. There’s no Rosetta Stone for this.”

  “Then, with your blessing, I want to head back to the university and research them before anyone else dies needlessly.”

  “You have a week, and then back to the jungle.”

  Oscar nodded, then left without another word. The helicopter was ready to depart, and only when he was out of sight did one of the back doors open. Pauline came out and kissed Alejandro’s cheek.

  “Is he going to be a problem?” he asked.

  “He’s simply worried about the lives we lost. Oscar has a soft heart but a brilliant mind. If anyone can come close to breaking the code in these stones, it’s him.”

  “My apologies if you heard me earlier when your name came up.”

  She bowed her head slightly and smiled. “We may not have spent much time together, but I haven’t forgotten your love for me. France was a dead end, so I appreciate you letting me come home, Father. You and the order are all I have left now that my mother is dead, and I’ll serve you as faithfully as she did.”

  “Good, so go back and do everything you need in order to keep Petchel in line.”

  “He’ll probably never fully convert, but he’ll be useful.”

  He stood and kissed both of Pauline’s cheeks. “Good, and his reward will be to fly off my perch out back along with his father. It’ll give my birds something to feast on that’s not from my hand,” he said, remembering Oscar’s insult. “He’ll learn the hard way that no hunter can be totally tamed.”

  Chapter Four

  Piper sat outside on the balcony and held Hali as she stared unseeingly at the levee that banked the river across the road. She let her mind wander like Bruik had taught her and did her best to put order to the thoughts that came like a mudslide, in that it was a jumbled mess with a lot of images to process. She concentrated on Hali’s breath against her neck and smiled despite her semi-conscious state.

  “That bitch has much to pay for” was the one statement that caught her attention, so she closed her eyes and tried to pinpoint that one thing by peeling away the rest of the noise. Bruik’s instruction was that all her insights were like walking through a mansion with a multitude of rooms. Each room had a separate conversation goi
ng on, so if one was of more interest than the others, she should sit there and listen while trying to drown out the rest of the din.

  With time and practice, he promised she would hear only the noise of the thousand things when she wanted to. When he sat to let his mind wander he always had a particular destination in mind. She knew instinctively that the statement was about Kendal, but the woman who said it stayed in the shadows. This wasn’t a sight from the future—this had already happened, and all Piper could see was the large, straight scar on the back of the woman’s hand.

  “Who are you?” she said as she sat in her mind’s eye and tried to gather more information.

  Macedonia, 142 BC, The Korab Mountain Range

  Erik Wolver rode up the steep incline he was on as fast as the horse could handle the terrain. Once the ground leveled off some, he dismounted and let the horse loose to graze where he wanted. The only thought in her mind was how far the days of the pharaoh’s forces were behind her. Wolver was a good alter ego for Asra as she traveled to do the Clan’s bidding.

  The flat sands of Egypt were only a memory now as she looked out at the valley with sporadic signs of fire from the people living and trying to make their way here. Snow mixed with ice crunched under her boots as she tried to find a way to start her mission. Up to now she had used her skills only to hunt Ora’s fledglings who’d become a nuisance, but this was a different scenario she couldn’t quite believe existed.

  Men and women who could shape-shift into a wolf in a way defied even her imagination, but Morgaine had assured her they did in fact exist and were terrorizing the villages along this area. It wouldn’t be long before someone tried to keep them away from their livestock and they’d acquire a taste for human blood.

  “So where are you?” She leaned against a tree and decided to wait for the upcoming night.

  It took three days, but she stood between a cave entrance and the four unnaturally large wolves trying to make it inside. At the sight of her, they lowered their heads and bared their fangs, but they stood their ground. Erik knew these were the only ones at the moment, since she’d explored their den.