Force of Fire

by Ali Vali

  “I believe her,” Kendal said, surprising her by the surety of her words. “Our truce brings balance, and if it’s broken, the only way to achieve it is for me and my kind to go back to work.”

  “I’m sure some of the slayers would love that as much as some of my followers would love to take up the war again. That’s something we can both agree on, but we don’t have time to worry about it now. Ora might be dead, but it’s evident that a group within your numbers doesn’t accept your rules.” Kendal unclipped the scabbard from her back and placed the sword on the desk.

  “My cousin shouldn’t have lived as long as she did,” she said, sitting in a leather wingback chair across from the one Kendal picked. “All those years only fed the craziness, not to mention the cruelty.”

  “Her death and why I wanted her dead should prove to any followers she had left that I’m more than motivated when provoked, no matter how long it takes.” Kendal poured herself what appeared to be whiskey and closed her eyes when she took a sip. “Do you have any idea how any of her killers would’ve met and followed Garza?”

  “Ora made quite a few pacts through the centuries when it helped her in the fight against the Clan elders. Until you contacted me, though, I’d never heard of Alejandro Garza,” she said, remembering the taste of liquor and how much she’d enjoyed the wine her family had made. “Why did you contact me about this?”

  “I called you to stack my deck, as it were, when it comes to weapons, but it’s more than that. You’ve lived almost as long as I have, so I need your experience with some of the things we’ve faced so far, but you’ve never seen anything like them before either. The appearance of Ora’s little bitches makes me glad you’re here.” Kendal drained her glass and twirled her empty glass between her hands. “There’s only one problem.”

  “Only one?” she said and laughed.

  “Piper’s family has a history with Ora they really didn’t realize until recently, and I want to put a stake through any remaining ties to that bitch and what she’s done to them. The only way for me to do that is to start killing anyone of your kind who crossed my path in my hunts, but that would mean going back on my word to you.” Kendal poured another drink and crossed her legs before looking at her. “I couldn’t do that, so I thought you’d be the best way for me to surgically remove both our problems. Only you will know which ones are her creations.”

  “The truth is I never wanted the title of queen of the vampires, but eventually I came to crave it only so I could control our future. Under Ora we’d eventually all die off when she pushed you and the others to kill us all.”

  “If any harm comes to those children, I won’t be able to change the tide against you,” Kendal said, and the honesty was refreshing.

  “Between us and your pets they should be fine.”

  “Good. I need you to stay and hunt your cousin’s remaining idiots.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “To find the key to give Aphrodite something she doesn’t know she wants.”

  * * *

  Pauline opened her eyes and shook her head, wondering how she got on a plane. A glance out the window didn’t clue her in since they were over water, but her father was next to her. Alejandro was reading something, holding the large ruby in his hand. She tried her best to find the missing time, but nothing was coming to her.

  “Where are we?” she asked and flexed her hands. Her skin felt different.

  “We’re headed to the next spot on the map my father found in his youth. It’ll be a safe place to wait until these people who want to stop us come back,” Alejandro said, sounding like he usually did by not committing to anything. “How do you feel?”

  “What happened to me?” She shivered as her heart started to race, and she started panting.

  “You were sick, so drink this.” Alejandro held up a glass with what looked like water.

  One taste, though, and she knew that wasn’t what it was, but that one sip made the light in the cabin grow dim. In her last seconds of consciousness she wanted to scream when she lifted her hand with great effort and saw the distinct patterns of the pythons that had crawled out of those chambers.

  “No,” she screamed, but the word was trapped in her head.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Charlie got off the plane first with Kendal and glanced around as Piper readied the baby. Morgaine had stayed with Lenore, as she did the same with Anastasia. Had it been any other situation, Kendal would’ve left the baby with Molly and Mac until they were done, but now the only way to protect her family was to keep them close.

  “Where exactly are we going?” Charlie asked.

  “After I saw that site,” she said as Oscar joined them on the tarmac, “I knew I’d seen something similar.”

  “Are we in Cambodia?” Oscar asked as a line of vehicles drove their way.

  “Yes,” she said, not able to figure this guy out. “And we need to get to the site here before Garza. I don’t know if he figured it out, but there’s a missing piece that wasn’t at the site you explored, and it’s got to be here.”

  “Baby,” Piper said from the top of the steps with Hali’s carrier in her hand. “You ready?”

  “Let’s go.” She climbed the steps and took the baby. The airport she’d picked was twenty minutes from the place they were headed, so she strapped Hali into the back of the lead car. “I want to get there before the sun goes down.”

  “What are we looking for?” Piper said once they started driving.

  “You’re going to tell me when we get there,” she said, glancing back to make sure the others were right behind them. “But the snakes were a big hint.”

  She drove along a highway that led to the largest tourist destination in the country. Angkor Wat was a large temple complex that had, by historians’ findings, at one time been painted mostly white with gold on the tall spires in the main temples. A mass of people was coming out as the sun started to set, and vendors were waiting outside to sell them trinkets and T-shirts to prove they’d been there.

  Kendal parked and waved over one of the Buddhist monks walking toward the still-viable temple, giving him a note with a large donation to deliver to his master. She didn’t like to go to religious sites uninvited if she didn’t have to, and at times the true believers knew their surroundings much better than she would.

  As the sun dropped a little lower, the same novice monk came out and waved them to the long bridge built over the moat. At the end of the railing stood two large stone carvings of Naga, the multi-headed serpent. “We’re in the right place, but our problem will be to find which one of these holds any meaning since dozens of them are scattered throughout the property,” she said as they entered the holy place.

  “Asra, you’ve come back,” the old monk said when she pressed her hands together and bowed as a sign of respect. “The last time you were here, I was a novice, and you were searching for something you didn’t find.”

  “I’ve found everything I need, so rest easy, Niran,” she said, smiling when he took her hands. “This is my wife, Piper, and our baby girl, Hali.”

  “Come sit and tell me what you’re searching for this time,” Niran said, leading them to a building that had been a library centuries before. “Can I offer you tea?”

  “Not this time, but I promise we’ll come back to enjoy the peacefulness of your beautiful home when we can. Right now, I’m looking for something that came as a sign from Naga.”

  “Come, Piper,” Niran said, taking Piper’s hand and leading her toward the main buildings that were usually full of tourists. The smell of incense and dust was strong in the room that housed the large standing Buddha, at the moment surrounded by monks chanting their evening prayers. “Sit and listen to their devotion. You’ll find the chants much like Asra’s love for you.”

  “How do you mean?” Piper asked as Kendal took the baby from her. She barely glanced up, finding this man mesmerizing.

  “They speak of tradition, devotion, love, and
kindness. Your mate, once she learned to clear her mind, healed her heart. Because she did, when she found you she was ready to give you all those things that make the bond truly last when you find your true other half.”

  The way Niran spoke in that slow but steady cadence made Piper close her eyes and sway slightly as she listened to the monks. She didn’t understand what they were saying, but a sense of timelessness echoed deep in her chest. The longer she listened, the more she faded into the past, and the picture of what this place had been once appeared in her mind’s eye. It was beautiful.

  “Come, child,” Niran said, taking her hand and helping her to her feet. It was the same old man she’d met, but now he appeared like the young man who’d led them in. “Naga protects what’s in the earth, so we’ve repeated his image throughout our temple, but also to hide that which must never be found.”

  “Not until the right time,” she said as he led her to another bridge, only this time the statue on the left came to life, and the snakes looked exactly like the ones they’d seen in Costa Rica. “We don’t want anything more than to give back to the goddess what’s rightfully hers. To kill them means killing her, and Kendal and I don’t want that.”

  “Then ask Naga, and he’ll give you the answer you seek.”

  She repeated the bow Kendal had done and asked in her mind for the clue they needed. The live snakes slowly shifted back to stone, but unlike the others, the second head to the right of center had an indentation in its mouth. That was the only answer she was going to get as she came back to the present.

  “Thank you,” she said to Narin as Kendal helped him stand. “We need the bridge right outside.”

  Narin walked with them and pointed to the snake head Piper had seen in her vision. “I think we need to put something in there, but I’m not sure what,” she said.

  Piper squinted to get a better look, so Kendal aimed a flashlight at it, and the hole in the stone was identical to the one they’d found in the chamber in Costa Rica.

  “Pauline has the stone, so if it’s the key we’re done,” Oscar said, obviously having guessed what fit in the space.

  “The stone at the site was a clue, not a key,” Kendal said, and Narin nodded. “I promise I’ll put it back if I can borrow it.”

  “You’ll have to climb to the top spire to the King’s temple, but make sure you know all the consequences of failure before you go,” Narin said in the same kind, gentle tone.

  “The only way to save them is to give the man against us what he wants and bring them to life. With us, though, it won’t be for power or gain.”

  “I know, but I still have to remind you of what could happen.”

  They climbed to the tallest spire and headed to the middle of the structure, where another Buddha statue, this one sitting, was surrounded by candles and offerings. Embedded in his forehead was a large stone that had survived the thieves and vandals that had emptied the place of all its treasures.

  “That’s the key,” Kendal said, bowing again before climbing to the head, taking the stone out, and dropping it into her shirt pocket.

  They all went back to where Narin sat. “I’ve waited all my life to see the true purpose of the stone,” he said as Kendal climbed again and very carefully placed the stone in the serpent’s mouth.

  Nothing happened immediately, but as the moon appeared in the sky, the stone started to glow until it illuminated the area around them. Rawney stepped closer and placed her hand on Kendal’s bicep, but Kendal’s eyes never left the stone. A finger of red came out of the glow slowly, but just as quickly turned into what appeared to be a laser beam that streaked across the yard and landed on one stone lying on the ground in a heap with a lot of others.

  The pile of rocks had been part of the library at one time, but the wall they made up seemed to have collapsed years before. Kendal turned her flashlight on again and held Piper’s hand as they made their way to the square stone, which looked very similar to the one Lumas and her sister had been buried in, so they opened it the same way.

  “What is it?” Oscar asked, standing on his toes to try to see over the crowd.

  It was another book, and when Rawney opened it, she started crying as she touched the pages. “This is what she would’ve given me eventually had we not been robbed of it all those years,” Rawney said.

  “What is it?” Oscar said, repeating his question.

  “It’s the translation of our families’ book. You have to understand the power before you can understand the language that will allow you to wield it.” She pressed the book against her chest and wiped her tears. “I can’t believe it’s been here all this time.”

  “It was waiting for the right time,” Piper said, sensing the happiness that almost radiated out of Rawney. “Now we can finish.”

  “Like you said, now we wait until the right time, and then we finish,” Kendal said, going back toward the temple so she could put the ruby back.

  “Must you always get the last word?” she said, pinching Kendal’s side.

  “Not always, but later, when we’re alone, I’ll let you have the last word, I promise,” Kendal said, and she pinched harder as the heat swept up her face.

  “What? Maybe I want to talk about tugboats,” Kendal said and laughed.

  “I’ll remind you of that later when we’re alone and on a twenty-hour flight back.”

  * * *

  Pauline woke up again strapped to a bed and instantly panicked. It was like her brain had frozen on the last image she remembered, and pain sliced through her chest and head from the betrayal. Alejandro had actually used the spell the family had found years before but never knew how to accomplish until she and Oscar unearthed the snakes that were waiting like the dragons. Only she was still in her human form and not permanently trapped in the hideous body the other girls had been turned into.

  The door opened, but she could only lift her head slightly so she couldn’t tell who it was. Her temper instantly flared when she saw Javier Valentino standing over her. The supposed high priest of the order had convinced all the poor villagers to sacrifice their youngest daughters for the good of the gods. All it had been was an experiment to see if the old documents held any merit.

  “How do you feel?” Javier asked, his smile widening when she pulled her restraints as far as they’d allow her.

  “You bastard,” she said as she started to sweat. The reaction made him take a step back. “You talked him into this, didn’t you?”

  “Because of who you are, you finally broke the barrier we’ve been hitting with all the others. You’re able to transform into the spirit of the dragon, then come back to your true form.” He dropped his eyes to her hands and took another step back. “You have to learn to control the urge until it’s time, Pauline. Embrace the power we’ve gifted you with.”

  “Why?” she said, conflicted by a heat that seemed to be burning in her stomach, but her skin felt cool, almost cold. Whatever was happening was making her nauseous. “Why in the hell did you do this to me?” she screamed, the heat growing worse, and she was able to tear the right restraint off the bed so she could see her hand. It was now a claw covered in snakeskin, and when she began to speak again, nothing but a loud hiss came out.

  Javier stared at her, not having seen the transformation since he’d tied her up in the temple to let the dragon spirit loose. When Pauline tore a leg free he headed for the door to lock her in. Alejandro was waiting right outside and seemed as interested in what was happening as he was. It didn’t take much longer for Pauline to completely transform and run to the door with a speed and ferocity that made the walls shake when she slammed against it.

  “So anger is the best trigger?” Alejandro asked as they both stared at the door, waiting to see if it would hold.

  “That’s the only one we’ve found so far, and once she’s completely changed she has no memory of anyone in her life, so you’re not safe around her.” A piercing groan replaced the pounding, and it sounded like what he imagined pain
would be defined as.

  “She’s going to have to learn, because I need her by my side when we welcome the gods back to do our bidding. That,” he said, pointing to the room Pauline was trapped in, “is the language of the gods. To have them do what needs to be done once they awaken, I need her to be able to communicate with me and them.”

  “She has to learn to control it, and that could take more time than we have,” he said, jumping when Pauline punched a hole in the door. “We might have to start using the prod. Since she’s your daughter, we’ve used it sparingly up to now. And she’s so much stronger and larger than the others that it might not work the same.”

  “Start immediately,” Alejandro said. “Everything in life worth having comes only through pain. Pauline will eventually understand her part in this and how she can be replaced if she doesn’t cooperate. I have more children who would gladly fill her role, but you’re right. She’s perfect.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked. “Some of the others died after a few shocks.”

  “Get started, and report any progress or lack thereof. I’m going to the site to do one more walk-through before we go back.”

  “Please be careful. I’ll send the team in to start her training. To really be successful we need Oscar back. The scripture said there had to be two for the awakening to happen.”

  “If we can’t, I’m sure we can use someone else,” Alejandro said, looking at him in a way that made him move closer to the beast trying to claw its way out.

  “Let me get started,” he said and tried not to show fear. If Oscar wasn’t found, Alejandro would awaken the dragon heart in him. “I’ve been too loyal for too long for that to happen,” he said softly as he stood alone in the hallway. “I’m willing to give only so much.”