Fire Within

by Ally Shields

  Ari even contacted Rita, her vamp informant. The only theories Rita had heard were directed at the humans and fears of a vampire hunter.

  “What about this group that calls itself the Pure Bloods? Could they be behind this?” Ari asked.

  “Oh, those guys. They brag a lot. Beat up somebody when they can, but that’s about it. Haven’t seen them for days. I heard Andreas ordered them to leave town.” Rita paused. “Trouble ain’t coming from us. Something real snerky is going on.”

  Ari’s unease went up another notch. Her witch senses had been sending a similar warning, constant, annoying pinpricks along the spine. Weird, creepy, snerky. Whatever term you chose, something was off. Her frustration grew as she realized her suspect list had dwindled to nothing.

  Then Gillian called with the sub-typing report. It complicated and confused everything, sending Ari in a new direction.

  “Full demon energy?” Ari exclaimed, her pulse surging from excitement or fear, maybe both. “Are you positive? How high was the level?”

  “High, but we’re not certain yet. It’s still within the very top range that a high-level halfling might generate. The sample could have been contaminated, considering all the activity that night. We talked it over here at the lab. If a full blood was in town, wouldn’t it have been obvious before now? They like things bloody, scattering terror and bodies around. Besides, how often does anyone see a full blooded demon?”

  “Not often.” Ari remembered her only contact in St. Louis, almost eight years ago. The local witch had detected the demon presence immediately. “What about Riverdale history?”

  “Last sighting was 1853. Burned buildings, murdered dozens of people on the streets. Not the delicate type. We think you’re dealing with a high level halfling.”

  “Then find me the names of every halfling in town.”

  “Done. The list is on its way to your phone. One more thing. The wounds we couldn’t explain? Maybe our halfling has demon fire. The explosions sound similar to gunfire and leave irregular, round wounds.”

  “Duh!” Ari tapped herself on the forehead. “I, of all people, should have thought of that.” Her witch fire could cause similar damage, except the victims would then burst into flames if she used crimson fire. Her stuns left round black singes but no penetration. If demon fire was used like a laser, carefully focused and directed, it might well leave wounds looking like bullet holes. Hard to detect with the added damage caused by the rapid decay of vampire corpses.

  “And,” Gillian said, as if Ari hadn’t interrupted, “I went back and checked the ozone levels at both scenes. They were elevated. With no electrical storm either night.”

  Magical fire. Hot damn. They had a lead.

  “Does your list mark the halflings known to have demon fire?”

  “It does.” The elfin tech sounded rightfully pleased with herself.

  * * *

  After alerting Ryan and Andreas, Ari spent the next twenty-four hours chasing down every halfling-demon in town. She started with the nine who had the known ability to breathe or throw demon fire. Each one had a decent alibi for at least one of the events. The halflings were living peacefully within the Olde Town community and had no prior history of violence or criminal activity. When interviewed, they were cooperative, although puzzled about her interest. Taking no chances, Ari asked Andreas to have some of Daron’s vampires keep an eye on all nine at night. Ryan assigned random cruiser surveillance during the day. In particular, Ari wanted to know if any of the nine went near Shale’s agency. She questioned Ms. Binderman and learned none of them were past or present clients.

  The other three dozen halflings, the ones without magical fire, received less intense scrutiny. They were low on her list of suspects, and as she anticipated, nothing of concern turned up. In fact, all of these efforts, including the intensive surveillance of the nine, failed to reveal the killer or even a good suspect. Ari’s initial excitement dwindled. They were still missing something.

  * * *

  In spite of the frustration generated by the investigation, Andreas and Ari continued to get along without a major fight. On Thursday, his regularly scheduled night to sing at the club, she spent the evening watching the show with Lilith and Russell. As Andreas’s voice rolled over the rapt faces of the mostly-human audience with songs from his Italian homeland and American pop culture, Lilith couldn’t resist teasing Ari.

  “I wonder how many women in this crowd are wishing they could climb into his bed tonight.”

  Ari shrugged, refusing to rise to the bait. Andreas’s eyes had strayed in her direction often enough that she wasn’t worried.

  Russell, on the other hand, growled and said, “I trust you’re not one of them, my dear wife.”

  Andreas kept his magic at low level, enough to spice the atmosphere without risking audience enthrallment. Ari relaxed and enjoyed the same wickedly delicious evening as the other guests. She kept her own fantasies hidden.

  On Sunday, Ari attended Cirque de la Symphonie with Andreas, their first public outing. Well, a group outing actually. Prince Daron and Carmella, one of his lieutenants and current lover, attended with them. Ari had suggested cancelling due to the recent public tension, but Prince Daron thought the appearance might serve to offset the bad publicity, remind the community that vampires were regular people. Right.

  With promoting good publicity in mind, they dressed for the cameras in semi-evening attire. The vampires wore black. What else? Ari was in pale sea green.

  Their appearance immediately drew the spot light. Despite the expected interest, Ari was uncomfortable with the lights and hubbub, until the stage show started. Then, she forgot the press. The performance absorbed her attention, except when Andreas’s knee brushed against her or his hand captured an escaping curl.

  He kissed her goodnight at her apartment door. A kiss that made her heart beat faster, but he kept it brief and didn’t suggest coming in. She couldn’t decide whether she was relieved or sorry he was being such a gentleman.

  “Thanks for the evening,” she said, leaning back against the door, hoping he would linger. “I enjoyed the show.”

  “My pleasure.” He gave her a brief look, before turning away. “See you tomorrow.” At the bottom of the steps, he glanced back, a smile parting his lips, before he disappeared into the trees.

  Disconcerted by his abrupt departure, Ari frowned. Why didn’t he stay? Did he have some hot vampiress waiting at the club?

  * * *

  The next morning, Ari stopped by the shop to tell Claris about her double date.

  “Honey, I already know,” Claris said as she handed Ari a steaming mug of coffee. “At least, some parts. Brando and I saw you on the late night news. The vampire court and their dates. You guys have gone public in a big way.”

  “Did I look all right?” Ari imagined a terrible shot of her with the gorgeous vampires. Well, Daron wasn’t gorgeous, but he was compelling.

  “More than all right. You and Andreas in fancy dress. What’s not to like? How are things off camera?”

  Considering how Claris went right to the personal stuff, Ari was glad she’d come during the lunch break. It was really the only time they could pop into Claris’s kitchen and talk privately without customers or Brando.

  “OK. No…good, I think. Last night’s show was special. You should have seen the aerial acts. And Andreas, well, you’ve seen him. He’s even better up close. It’s weird, but he’s so easy to talk to. I know we’ve got no future, I’ve accepted that, but I’m enjoying it while it lasts. How do I explain this? He’s never boring.”

  “Never boring!” Claris laughed. “He’d give up if he heard you say that. And no future? Does that mean you’re losing interest in him already?”

  “Goddess, no. It’s not that. But I’m trying to be realistic. For one thing, how can I continue to date someone if I don’t trust him?”

  “Is that because he’s a vampire? Or has he done something I don’t know?”

  “I’
d tell you if he’d done something,” Ari said simply. “He’s been great, but…well, you know. I’ve gone over it all before. The mind thing still bugs me.”

  “I thought you accepted his word on that.”

  “I know. I did. Doesn’t make sense, does it?” Ari sighed. “Maybe it’s the other stuff too. I have some valid reasons not to trust men, like my last boyfriend’s cheating. Maybe Andreas started out with two strikes against him.” She hesitated, reluctant to bring up what was really bothering her. “Andreas could be seeing someone else. Last night he was in such a hurry when he left my place, I wondered…if he was meeting someone.”

  “Really? Jealous, huh?” Claris didn’t sugarcoat it. “Well, he isn’t Simon. Give him a break, unless he gives you a lot more reason than a short evening. He may have had business for all you know. He’s actually been quite attentive.” Claris smiled. “Might make someone think he’s in love with you.”

  “Oh, please. Let’s not take romantic fantasies too far. Are vamps even capable of love?” Ari countered. “Even if they are, think how unlikely it is in this case. He’s had two hundred years of experience in manipulating women. How would you or I know what he’s thinking or feeling?”

  “Then find out. If it’s not love, or the possibility of love, then what’s the point? What do you want from him?”

  Ari frowned, taken aback by her friend’s blunt question. “I like being with him.”

  “Is the sex good?”

  “Hey, Clare, back up. How’d we suddenly jump to sex? I told you I wasn’t rushing into anything.” Ari gave her a fierce frown. “There’s been no sex.”

  “You’re kidding.” Claris hid her surprise, but not before Ari saw it. “Actually, I thought you were kidding. Andreas isn’t pushing?”

  “Well, no.” Ari thought about the brief kiss last night and bit her lip. “Do you think he’s not interested? Maybe I’m too young, too inexperienced for him.”

  “Ari!” Her best friend laughed. “You’re being silly.” Claris shook her head. “No, I think your vampire is very clever, biding his time. But not interested? The sparks fly when you get in the same room. Remember the auction?”

  As Ari remembered it, she was the one who’d had the intense reaction. He’d been paying attention to another woman. And she’d forgotten to ask him who Ms. Slinky was, an error she’d have to correct when she saw him. In the meantime, she was through discussing her uncertain love life.

  “It’s no big deal anyway. So, what’s going on with you and Brando?” she asked, determinedly redirecting the conversation. She sat back and listened to the ups and downs of dating a wizard scientist. Brando was so absorbed in his work that he was never romantic for long. When your girlfriend was an ultra-romantic like Claris, that was a problem. Claris was uncertain if their relationship was going anywhere. A familiar theme, Ari thought. Was it possible she and Claris were worrying too much about the future? After all, Andreas had reminded her there were no guarantees.

  * * *

  Ari spent the afternoon at her office in the Otherworld Center. In between meeting with an elf looking for a customized bow-and-arrow maker and the childless wood nymphs seeking a reliable adoption agency, Harold Shale called looking for updates again. She didn’t have much to tell him. Frankly, she was already tired of the calls. Why didn’t he read the paper or watch TV like everyone else?

  “The press seems to think we have a serial killer,” he suddenly said. “Is that official?”

  Well, damn. Apparently he did follow the press. “I’ll tell you the same thing we’re telling the media, Mr. Shale. No comment. We’re working as fast as we can.” She tried to remain patient, but she hadn’t forgiven him for not calling them about the graffiti. Or more likely it was just because she didn’t like him. “We’re following several leads, keeping all possibilities in mind.”

  “Surely you can tell me something. A description, a profile. I have to tell my clients how to protect themselves, who to avoid.”

  “They need to be alert around everyone.”

  “That’s not very specific. Clients, even staff members, are afraid. I’m thinking about hiring a security guard for the Center, but we need advice on safety measures.”

  “Which we’ll give in more detail as soon as we know something. Until we do, suspect everyone.”

  “What about the vampire leaders? What are they doing? I saw you on TV in the Prince’s party. He didn’t seem too worried.”

  Ari bit back an angry retort. “All a front. We hoped to calm community fears by acting as normal as possible. We’re all taking this seriously.” Ari was tempted to hang up. She didn’t like his implications, and his reference to the TV coverage had renewed her discomfort with how public her private life had become. “I’ll call you when we learn more,” she said. Disconnecting, Ari shook off her irritation. She realized his clients were under a cloud of uncertainty. Maybe Shale had reason to be pushy, but she didn’t have to like it.

  Patrol that evening was quiet. Goshen Park was empty of human intruders and the Otherworld nightlife district exuded its usual exotic, edgy but controlled energy. After completing her rounds, she stopped by the club. Andreas met her there, and they took the hidden passage to his home, where they spent much of the night in front of a wide screen TV in the first floor family room. It still amused her he did ordinary things, like watch television. He played with the remote too. Just like every other guy. His tastes ran to crime shows, sci-fi, history, and comedy. It was the horror channel, however, that often was their biggest source of laughter.

  Ari woke about 6:00 a.m. on Andreas’s couch, covered with a light blanket. Light from the window told her dawn was breaking, and she assumed Andreas’s departure for his own quarters had woken her. The last thing she remembered was some disaster movie. She glanced at the TV, but the screen was dark. She stretched, headed for the kitchen seeking caffeine, but the familiar sound of her phone sent her running back to the family room to snatch it from the coffee table.

  “This better be good,” she growled. “I haven’t had coffee or food yet.”

  “Better than good,” Ryan responded. “We’ve got a headless alien.”

  “A what? It’s too early for jokes.”

  “Just repeating what the caller said. There’s a dead alien in Goshen Park with its head cut off. This one has to be down your alley, Ari.”

  “Uh, probably. OK. Twenty minutes.”

  “I’m already on the way. Meet you by the west fountain, and I’ll pick up coffee.”

  “Bless you.”

  She dashed up the stairs to the Chantilly Suite and jumped in the shower. While hot water cascaded over her body and the delicate smell of richly perfumed soap from the dispenser filled her nose, she tried to make sense of Ryan’s words. Goshen Park had been quiet enough last evening. What happened in the intervening hours? And what kind of a creature would be mistaken for an alien? Of course, maybe it was an alien. Given the strange things that already inhabited her world, why not aliens? But why headless?

  Chapter Eleven

  Lt. Foster and his crime scene techs were clustered around an area to the right of the swan-shaped west fountain. Water stood in puddles around the edges. Since the Goshen Park fountains were turned off at night, it must have automatically switched on at 6:00 and been shut down again by the PD. She stepped over the areas of standing water. The police huddle opened as she approached, and Ryan handed her a Styrofoam cup before pointing toward a skeleton on the wet cement.

  “Bones,” he said. “That’s all I found when I got here, but the anonymous caller reported a headless alien.”

  “Anonymous?”

  “Public phone at the park entrance.”

  She squatted beside the bones. “Vampire.” She scrutinized the area. The skull had rolled about three feet away. “I suppose it could have looked like an alien during the decay process.” She glanced up at Ryan. “Remember when we found Marcus?”

  Ryan grimaced. It had been a horrific sight. The you
ng vampire had been starved until his body had shriveled and resembled an ancient mummy. Fortunately they’d found him before it was too late.

  Not this time. Nobody could help the latest victim. She—the pelvic structure looked female to Ari—had been dead more than an hour. Her body had already returned to its natural state. The dry, brittleness of the skeleton placed her original birth at least several decades ago, maybe even in excess of a hundred years. The older ones decayed faster, more completely. The Magic Council lab and the local Medical Examiner might give a better estimate, but neither could tell them what she looked like two hours ago or who she was. Facial reconstruction would take days or even weeks, and they’d need help from the state or feds for that kind of expertise.

  Ari lifted her head and took a quick glance around. No evidence of clothes. The body must have been naked. That was a new twist. If this was the same killer, he’d switched his behavior. She hoped forensics could tell them whether the severing of the head had been the cause of death or post-mortem. In either case, it also was a significant departure.

  Ari got to her feet as the ME strode toward them. In his late fifties, Doc Onway was lean and energetic, with an acerbic tongue and a somewhat jaded view of human nature. Went with the death business.

  “Ari. Lieutenant,” he grunted at them. “Why was I deprived of my morning jog? Some ridiculous story about aliens?” He spotted the bones. “Ah. One of yours, Ari. A vampire.”

  “That’s my guess,” she said.

  “Either that, or someone dug up a very old grave,” he said, already beginning to assess the situation. “Female, undetermined age. Did someone move the skull?”

  “Not since I’ve been here,” Ryan said. “The witness who called it in referred to a headless alien. So the head must have been detached at that point. Ari thinks the witness saw the shrunken stage of vampire decomposition.”