by Ally Shields
“Come on. Run while we can,” Sophie urged.
Ari sprinted after the priestess and tossed handfuls of the barrier crystals over her shoulder to gain added time. Then she and the witches ran like hell with nearly a dozen vampires in pursuit.
* * *
It was a cat and mouse hunt through the dark, but with the help of several confusion potions, a stink spell to erase their scent, and a stealth spell to mask the sound of their feet, the small band of witches managed to elude the vampires. Since three of the witches were injured, the group finally stopped in the cover of a large grove of olive trees to catch their collective breaths and assess the situation. Four members of the coven had died in the two attacks, plus three were injured. Although Sophistrina maintained a stoic face and brisk manner, there were unshed tears in her eyes. The coven’s loss was devastating.
Ari wished she had a way to ease their pain, but even expressions of grief would have to wait. “I think it’s safe to circle back to the house now. I have to warn our people. I’m not exactly popular with the O-Seven. If the vamps realize who I am, they could go there hoping to find me.” Ari pulled Sophie off to one side. “You should take your wounded and teleport home. I promise we’ll bury your sisters with honor, and I’ll find my way to you.”
The priestess grimaced. “I wish we could, but with the recent losses and injuries, we can’t teleport. We won’t be able to raise the necessary power.”
“Damn.” Ari gave her a sharp look. “If the spell is that draining, what kind of source are the vampires using to be able to reach us with consecutive transports?”
Sophie shook her head, her face pinched with dread. “I really don’t know.” Her eyes flicked toward their companions, and she lowered her voice to a near whisper. “I’m really worried. We’re sadly outgunned, and I don’t think we can survive another attack. And I have no idea how we’ll get home.”
“We’ll figure it out. The first thing is to get to safety. Let’s keep moving.”
* * *
Forty minutes later Ari and the witches crept into Andreas’s country house. Once Ari determined everything was all right inside, she stationed guards up close to the house and on the perimeter of the estate. Then she told Lilith and the tigers everything that had happened. When she finished, the tigers set stationary torches in a circle around the house, runners took off to notify the surrounding villages, and Beppe took the coven members to the kitchen for food and medical treatment.
“We need to keep the witches hidden until we can get them out of here,” Ari said.
Samuel turned to look at her. “If you’re worried that someone will betray them, don’t be. I think I’ve discovered the source of the suspected leak and the vandalism. A werebear moved into one of the villages several months ago. He asked questions about the De Luca estates at first, then seemed to lose interest. He started working at the local market and was there when staff from here bought supplies for Andreas’s visit. That’s how they knew Andreas was coming, and now the bear’s gone. Packed up and disappeared the night of the attack. He left in such a hurry that he didn’t take much. We found items that had been stolen during the vandalism.”
“Well, that answers one part of the story.” Ari sighed. Another werebear. The O-Seven had certainly planned ahead. “At least we don’t have to worry about a traitor in our own ranks. Thanks for tracking that down.” She sent him off to arrange for tickets to Germany and went to pack. Lilith followed her.
Ari could feel Lilith glowering at her back. Once they reached her room, she ignored the exasperated sighs and pacing until Lilith finally slammed the door. “OK, let me guess. You’re mad I’m going to Germany without you.”
“You can’t trust the witches.” Lilith scowled as Ari returned to tucking clothes inside a carry-on bag. “I get why you have to go. But even if the witches are friendly and don’t betray you, you still need someone to cover your back. The O-Seven will be expecting you. They lured Andreas to Italy. Now you to Germany? Maybe they really want to get their clutches on you.”
Ari paused with a T-shirt in her hand. “Why would the vampires want me? Kill me, maybe, but they could have done that at home. You’re rationalizing and it won’t work. I’m going to Germany to practice witchcraft, and the other witches won’t allow a werelion into their inner circles. You’d be bored waiting around all the time. Samuel is staying here to coordinate the continuing search and protect Andreas’s people. I want you to go home and explain what’s happened to everyone, including Steffan and Ryan. Andreas left you in charge of his house, and that’s where he’d expect you to be.”
A knock on her door sounded before Lilith came up with another argument, and Samuel poked his head in.
“Got a minute?” When Ari waved him in, he opened the door wider and the fox leader entered with him. “Ramon and I have been hashing this over. You’re going to need someone inside the O-Seven’s compound. What if you can’t sense Andreas’s exact location or he can’t help you? An insider could feed you information, be there when you make your move.”
“It’s too dangerous. Spies would be spotted immediately.”
“Not if they were foxes,” Ramon said. “We’re admitted everywhere. They know we’re spies—and expect it. But if we’re out in the open, no one ever suspects we’re spying on them.” He shrugged. “It’s an odd phenomenon. Besides, we aren’t after deep, dark secrets, just general information on De Luca’s condition, the layout and routine. Wouldn’t that be helpful?”
Ari hesitated. “How would you pass anything you learned to me?”
Ramon gave her a sly smile. “We work in teams—one inside, one out. As long as we could reach you, you’d have it.”
He’d avoided a direct answer, but Ari thought about Ramon’s silent conversation with the fox on the trail. Telepathy. Having adopted surveillance as their clan’s occupation, they must have honed it to a high level.
“It’s risky,” Lilith said. “If they’re discovered, your foxes will be no match for the vampires or their werebears.”
“But we’re the only ones with a chance to get inside. Do you think the vampires would admit a tiger or lion?” The fox leader frowned. “It’s a matter of honor for us. If everyone agrees, I will send two foxes inside, posing as a couple, with their team mates outside. That gives us two chances, and hopefully makes it seem less likely they’re on a job. They’ll be instructed to do nothing suspicious.” He grinned and shrugged. “We’re really very good at deceit.”
“He has a point,” Samuel said. “No one else could do it.”
“OK. Then we’ll exchange cell numbers, so they can let me know when they’ve found Andreas. If I lose contact, I’ll reach one of you two,” she pointed at Ramon and Samuel, “to make other arrangements. And let’s keep this among the four of us and your two fox teams. The fewer people who know, the less risk of discovery.”
“Good.” Ramon rubbed his hands in satisfaction. “I’ll dispatch the teams immediately. With any luck, they’ll be in place by the end of the week.”
When the door closed behind the two men, Lilith let out a disgusted snort. “Everybody gets into the action except me. I still think I should go with you.”
Ari looked up and caught her friend’s gaze. “I’m depending on you to take care of things in Riverdale. I don’t have time to have this same argument with everyone. Oh, you’ll need to talk with Claris, too. Tell her not to worry and to concentrate on her wedding. I promise to be careful, Lilith. You just have to trust that I won’t do anything stupid.”
Lilith’s worried expression cracked into a grin. “I’m worried that you and I may have a different definition of stupid.” She sobered again. “Don’t get yourself killed.”
Chapter Six
Lilith’s warnings were still ringing in her ears when Ari and the witches landed at the Frankfurt airport the following afternoon. As a consequence, she was a little edgy, scanning the large airport often for potential threats. They reached the airport entrance wit
hout incident, and quickly located the two waiting rental vans.
Ari tried to relax her tense shoulders once they were on the way, craning her head to see every castle or medieval ruin nestled in the green countryside. Despite the scenery, she remained uncomfortably aware that she was entering hostile territory. Her magic grew uneasy. The hair on her arms rose and she rubbed at the sensation. Each mile not only brought her closer to the shelter of the witches’ home, but also to the territory dominated by the seven most powerful vampires on earth. To distract herself, Ari asked Sophie to tell her about the Witches’ League.
“Not much to tell. It was formed as a defense against vampire attacks at the time of the 1329 War. That war resulted in open fighting for more than ten years—fighting that never really stopped, just dwindled into smaller attacks. I’m a little sketchy on the early details, but it all started over territory.”
“I heard something about a little boy and his pig.”
“I’ve heard that version too.” Sophie grinned. “Something trivial may have been the final spark, but the real reason was the vampires had expanded their feeding grounds and our witch ancestors objected. The vampires set out to destroy the witches, and were highly successful. It was an unfair fight, except for the witches who had unique abilities. And since fire witches were the most dangerous, they were the first targets.” Sophie took her eyes off the road long enough to glance at Ari. “They’ll go after you immediately if they discover you’re a fire witch.”
“That’s why Prince Daron and Andreas have insisted I keep it a secret. Maybe I can give them a nasty surprise. So what’s the Witches’ League do now?”
“They’re a unifying force for the covens, raising support for the warrior witches and warlocks, improving communications, arranging joint defenses. They also settle disputes between covens and regulate the availability of the fire witches. Since so few of your kind survived the vampires’ purge, the league ensures that each threatened coven has access to a fire thrower. Usually that means several covens share one, so we’ve perfected other skills to protect ourselves. That’s how many of us got into the dark magics, more power.” Sophistrina swerved to avoid a motorcycle, and Ari grabbed her seat. “As a fire witch, you’ll be welcomed whole-heartedly.”
“I’m not here to join the league.” Ari hastened to remind her. “My only goal is to rescue Andreas.”
“Well, yes, I know that. But it would be nice if you’d burn a few of the bloodsuckers along the way.”
Sophie sounded so wistful that Ari smiled. “I won’t hesitate if it becomes necessary, but I adhere to the Witches’ Oath, and it restricts my use of witch fire. I won’t use it unless attacked, and I don’t want to reveal my hand too soon if I can avoid it.”
“You don’t think they’ll figure out what happened to the first group of vamps in Italy?”
“How could they? None of the four survived, and I didn’t use the fire with the later groups. My secret should still be secure. I just don’t know for how long.” She watched the trees whiz past as they entered the Black Forest. “From what you’ve said, I assume there’s another fire witch in this area.”
“Oh, yeah, two as a matter of fact. Warlocks. Gerhard and Warin Kirsch. Handsome devils, but way too full of themselves. Gerhard’s tolerable, I suppose, but Warin can be a real pain in the ass. They think they’re better than everyone else.” She shot Ari a speculative look. “I can hardly wait for you to meet them.”
“Is that likely to happen?” Arrogant or not, they’d be interesting. And who could be more arrogant than the vampires she hung around with? She’d always wanted to meet another fire witch and talk about the different forms of magical fire. The finger fire was easy, but there were so many things she didn’t understand—the mind shield and the ancient fire spirits for starters. They’d protected her more than once, but she didn’t really know how or why they worked.
“You can count on meeting them. Every witch for a hundred miles will be visiting us to see the American fire witch. I, ah…” Sophie laughed. “I guess we mentioned you a time or two after we returned from Riverdale.”
Ari scowled in dismay. “You talked about me? Then the O-Seven may have heard about my fire abilities.”
Sophie snorted, reminding Ari of Lilith. “Like any of our people talk to the vampires.” Giggles came from the back seats. “Don’t worry. You’re only notorious with the witch clans.”
Ari looked out the side window and absently rubbed at her arms again. What if Sophie was wrong? OK, what if she was? It was too late to do anything about it now except go home, and she wouldn’t do that. She slumped in silence for the rest of the ride. She could only hope she hadn’t already lost a tactical advantage.
* * *
Four hours later, Ari sat on a log enjoying the warmth of a bonfire, pretending to listen to the many stories being told by the witches gathered around her. As Sophie had predicted, word of her arrival and the attack in Italy had spread quickly. A dozen or so witches were already gathered when they parked the vans in front of the coven’s woodland base: a main house and a dozen out-lying smaller buildings scattered at the edges of a clearing.
The encampment had been well concealed. The vans had followed a narrow lane through the tall, dense trees canopying the camp and protecting the witches from prying eyes. Since Sophie’s witches were a warrior coven, fighting the vampires was their full-time job, and they all lived at the site through funding provided by the league. Most of them had little contact with the outside world. Sophie’s return had been a sufficient excuse for a gathering.
Ari stretched her arms, relieving tense back muscles. She was drained from the long trip and the stress of answering the witches' long list of questions. What happened in Italy? Was she really dating a vampire? What had he done to make the O-Seven so angry? What was it like to be a witch in America? Did she really have close friends that weren’t witches?
The questions had kept coming until she’d finally pleaded a headache, grabbed a glass of wine, and retreated to the campfire. Voices still chattered around her, but most of the conversations had grown quieter as the news sank in about the losses in Italy. Ari had welcomed the opportunity to drop out of the discussion.
The coven’s forest home felt secure, nestled among the tall pines. An owl hooted in the dark, telling her all was well, and the fresh smell of burning pine was soothing. She yawned, her whole body heavy with exhaustion. The firelight flickered on the wooden buildings peeking through the trees and warmed them with a subtle glow. It was a comfortable, back-to-nature life the witches lived, if you didn’t think about the vampires. The bloodshed kind of ruined the idyllic atmosphere, and what had all the years and centuries of plotting and fighting really accomplished?
They’d survived.
In a way, that was what life was all about. And living with the hope of making things just a little bit better for the next generation. Wasn’t that what kept her motivated to be a Guardian? Making a difference.
The thought brought an frown to her face. Was she still a Guardian? Would she be allowed to return to her duties when this was all over?
She slipped off the log, walked over to several wine bottles propped up in the grass, and poured her glass half full. A suntanned, masculine hand thrust another glass at her. She filled it, then looked up to find a handsome warlock smiling at her. She’d seen him and a second warlock create quite a stir when they arrived fifteen minutes earlier. Since they were almost identical—over six foot; pale blond, windblown hair; green-gold-flecked eyes that glinted with mischief; enviable muscled abs—she assumed they were the fire witch brothers.
“Gerhard Kirsch.” He widened his lady-killer smile. “You must be Arianna.”
“Ari.” She corrected him automatically. No one consistently called her Arianna, except Andreas, and she liked to keep it that way. “It’s nice to meet other witches with the gift of fire.”
“We are rare, more so in this part of the world.” His tone was matter-of-fact. He gest
ured toward the campfire. “Would you like to sit and talk?”
Well-aware of the envious glances tossed in her direction, Ari settled on a log with the warlock beside her. Contrary to Sophie’s warnings, Gerhard proved to be a charming companion, moving easily from topic to topic, from more questions about her life in the States to movies, past and present. He was a 007 fan and had seen every film, providing a lively critique of the various actors who had played James Bond.
“Sean Connery is still my favorite,” he confided. “Ah, I see my brother approaches.” He raised his voice slightly. “I should warn you to be suspicious of half of what he says. And, the rest are outright lies.”
“My brother is up to his usual antics, trying to cut me out with the most interesting woman.” The newcomer studied her with open curiosity. “Aren’t you going to introduce us, Gerhard?”
“I’m not certain I should.” Gerhard gave her a negligent tip of his head. “I apologize in advance for anything he says. This is my brother Warin.”
Ari studied the new arrival. Even their voices were similar, but up close, she could see minor differences between the two men. Warin’s face held sterner lines, his expression more closed, even wary. “Are you really that bad?” she asked him.
“Probably worse,” was the laconic reply.
Gerhard laughed with what she thought was a mocking note. “My brother has no filter on his mouth. Many find it disconcerting.”
“Bluntness isn’t always bad. I’ve been accused of it a few times myself. Have a seat, Warin. We’ve been discussing movies. Are you a film buff too?”
“Hardly.” Warin sat on the opposite end of the log from his brother. “My pursuits are more of a literary and scientific nature. I’ve published treatises on the genetic origin of magic abilities in various witch families. Do you know your own genetic history?”