Desert Flame

by Nicole R. Taylor

  “So, how do we do this?” the vampire asked. “Do we activate the phone tree? Where’s the BatPhone?”

  “Is he always like this?” Eloise asked as Joseph began opening and closing drawers like a restless toddler.

  “Unfortunately,” Hardy drawled. “But don’t worry… He’ll wear himself out eventually.”

  Chapter 16

  Blue’s pub was lit up like a Christmas tree. Music and voices echoed from inside, and across the way, Hardy and Joseph lingered outside the opal shop.

  Eloise and Kyne watched from underneath the gum tree as the sun set, both anxious to hear what the newest arrival had to say for himself. Dappled light played across the ground as a hot breeze buffeted the eucalyptus leaves overhead and the squawking of parrots echoed across the outback as a flock passed on their way to their own local watering hole.

  After witnessing Hardy and Joseph reunite, Eloise pondered the few things she’d learned about Solace’s newest vampire. He’d been turned by Darius, he’d also escaped his maker’s clutches, and he was plotting revenge—she assumed for the vampiric gaslighting part. He was also another London expat, and judging by his last name, Joseph Cheapside was at least several hundred years older than Hardy. She guessed sixteenth or seventeenth century, though it was still up in the air.

  “I feel uneasy about all these vampires,” Kyne admitted in a low voice. “Compared to us, they’re overpowered.”

  “Joseph seems decent enough,” Eloise said, looking towards the pub. “A little on the smartarse side, but Hardy trusted him enough to have me invite him into the shop.”

  “I seem to be deferring a lot lately. So much for being a leader.”

  “As I remember it, it was reluctant leader.” She kissed him on the cheek. “At least we can’t be mind-controlled.”

  Kyne chuckled. “Oh well, after the super strength, speed, and the fangs, there’s always free will. We’ll all have the option to scream as our heads are torn off.”

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Eloise said, then dissolved into fits of giggles. “Ahead… Get it?”

  He groaned and wound his arm around her waist. “Don’t quit your day job.”

  Eloise pressed against him. “Are we going to tell him about the…you-know-what?”

  “I reckon we hold off for now. Keep it need-to-know. See what he says about Darius.”

  She nodded as she caught sight of the two vampires approaching.

  Kyne followed her gaze and narrowed his eyes, studying the approaching vampire. Joseph did the same, then flashed her a cheeky wink.

  “This is Kyne,” Hardy said.

  The miner held out his hand, which Joseph took, and they shook firmly.

  “Mate,” Kyne said gruffly. He didn’t appreciate the wink.

  It was so full of macho bravado, Eloise sighed.

  “The earth elemental,” the vampire declared, “otherwise known as the rock supplier.”

  Kyne glanced at Eloise, his eyebrow rising.

  “I warned you,” she reminded him.

  “Shall we go inside?” Hardy asked. “The others are waiting.”

  “Yeah, I reckon.” Kyne took Eloise’s hand and glared at the new vampire. “We have a lot to discuss.”

  “I’ll say,” Joseph declared, sweeping his arm towards the pub. “After you.”

  When they went in, the core Exiles were already seated round their usual table, drinking and discussing theories about the man Drew and Vera had already labelled as ‘the tourist’. When they saw the vampire, they stopped abruptly, falling into complete silence.

  “Welcome to Solace!” Joseph cried. “Where normal people are weirdos!”

  Eloise rolled her eyes and sat beside Vera.

  “You weren’t wrong,” the witch whispered in her ear.

  Blue fussed behind the bar, bringing out another jug of beer and a cider for Eloise.

  Hardy began the introductions as Kyne pulled up a chair beside Eloise. “This is Blue, the publican, and Wally runs the garage.”

  “Werewolf, right?” Joseph asked the old mechanic.

  “We’re the old dogs around here,” Wally said with a nod. “We sit back, relax, and let the young ones do all the work.”

  “We’re retired,” Blue told him. “Keeping the supernatural peace is hard on my back.”

  Joseph laughed and shook his head. “Would that I had the same excuse. It gets tiring, always fighting something.”

  “You wouldn’t know what to do with yourself if you were idle,” Hardy said. “And that would be terrible thing for everyone involved.” He gestured to Vera. “This is Vera. She owns the Outpost and is our resident witch.”

  “How many vampires are there?” Vera wondered. “I never met one until I left Ireland.”

  “There’s more than enough of us,” Hardy muttered.

  “We stay out of Ireland,” Joseph explained. “That’s old witch territory. There’s certainly more of you all over the world these days, but it’s best us vampires don’t go there.”

  “Why?” Eloise wondered.

  “We like to keep a low profile,” Hardy explained. “By keeping our existence secret from humans and supernaturals, we retain a certain power that can work to our advantage.”

  “Something that was drilled into all of us by a certain maniacal mastermind,” Joseph quipped. “Started from day one, then just became the thing that was done. Apparently, vampires are more flashy in Darius’s home world. Probably thought he could do better this time around.”

  Hardy gestured to Finn, who was cradling a bowl of hot chips in his lap. “This is—”

  “Finn Oreah’anza,” the fae said, smirking.

  Joseph looked him over. “And what are you?”

  “Fae.” He stared at the vampire and shoved a slice of potato into his mouth, chewing slowly.

  “With eyes and a getup like that, I don’t doubt it.”

  Eloise watched their exchange closely, but neither man fired up at each other, which was a good start, but the night was still young.

  Joseph’s gaze moved to Drew. “And I’ve already met you. The shifter.”

  “Drew,” the dingo-shifter said, narrowing his eyes. “What were the party poppers for?”

  “Like I told your pretty elemental, they’re for the afterparty.”

  “For?”

  Joseph grinned. “Why the death of Darius, of course. I’m going to pop them over his withered corpse and dance a little jig.”

  “I think I like this bloke,” Finn said.

  “You would,” Vera muttered.

  “We’re missing one fellow,” Joseph added. “The curious little man I met up a tree.”

  Eloise laughed, covering her mouth with her hand as the Exiles all turned to look at her.

  “That’d be Coen,” Hardy told him. “He’s on a walkabout.”

  “A walka-what?”

  “Walkabout,” Kyne explained. “It’s a spiritual journey. An ancient rite of passage for Indigenous Australians.”

  “Hmm…” Joseph mulled over this new bit of information. “You don’t say?”

  Wally leaned forwards. “What did he tell you?”

  “Oh, not much. It was hard to follow, but…” He shrugged. “I don’t think he is what you think he is.”

  “Sure.” Vera screwed up her nose. “Then what do you think he is?”

  “You do know he’s supernatural, right?” When the Exiles nodded, he went on, “I’ve been around a lot of ‘places’ in my time and met a lot of ‘our folk’—the magically inclined as you’d say—and I’ve never met anyone quite like him, but I have. If you know what I mean.”

  “No,” Kyne drawled, “we don’t.”

  “I do,” Finn quipped.

  “Oh yeah?” Drew asked the fae. “Then tell us.”

  “He’s talking about the magic that’s in all of us,” the fae stated. “Coen is magic.”

  “Coen is magic?” Vera asked incredulously. “You’re worse than he is!”

  Eloise
reached for her cider and sipped the sweet liquid. This conversation was going sideways, and fast. “So, how exactly do you know one another?”

  “Joseph was the first vampire I met after I left Darius,” Hardy explained. “When was it?”

  “1850-something,” Joseph reminded him. “In the gold rush days at that little tent city. What was it called?”

  “Ballarat.”

  Joseph clicked his fingers. “That’s the one!”

  “You escaped a raving psychopath to go scratching for gold with a thousand other blokes?” Finn asked with a snort. “You really know how to live it up.”

  “That’s what I said to him!” the vampire declared.

  “All this reminiscing is fascinating and all,” Kyne said, “but I’m more interested in what we’re going to do about Darius.”

  “We go up to that dig site and descend en-masse,” Joseph said. “Kill the bugger and be done with it by dinnertime.”

  “And what about the EarthBore team?” Eloise asked with a shake of her head. “He’s compelled them all. If we go up there guns blazing, he’ll use them as a human shield. I, for one, would like to avoid collateral damage.”

  “Make that two of us,” Kyne said.

  Vera slapped her hand on the table. “Three.”

  “It won’t be that simple,” Hardy said. “According to Joseph, Darius wants to go back to his world.”

  “Hang on a second,” Finn declared. “We’ve got another parallel world to worry about?”

  Joseph explained it to the Exiles, outlining the few things he knew about the origins of vampires in their world—how they were created by witches from a group of Ancient Romans, allegedly—and about Darius’s origins. “He’s single-minded in his pursuit. He will stop at nothing to see this done.”

  “If he finds out Eloise can manipulate ether, then he’ll try to take her,” Kyne said.

  “Oh, that’s a new bit of information,” Joseph stated. “A little portal-opening elemental.”

  Eloise squirmed. “I can’t control it. I can only manipulate what’s there. I can’t make a wormhole out of thin air, let alone know where I’m sending someone.”

  “That won’t matter to Darius, love,” the vampire murmured. “He’ll try anything once.”

  Hardy nodded. “I thought the same thing, but I also wondered if it’s past time we sought out this mysterious Andante.”

  “Who’s Andante?” Joseph asked, looking between them. “I’m guessing you’re not talking about sheet music.”

  “Huh?” Drew asked, wrinkling his nose.

  “Andante is a tempo,” the vampire explained. “It’s an easy pace. Moderately slow.”

  “Andante is an old woman I met when I was lost in the outback,” Eloise told him. “She knew things.”

  “Ooh, things…” the vampire mocked. “This place just keeps getting wilder and wilder.”

  Hardy kicked his friend under the table, making the beer glasses rattle.

  “Coen’s been teaching me how to see when I’m in my dingo shape,” Drew told them. “I can keep an eye on EarthBore and try to figure out what they’re digging up.”

  Kyne nodded. “Good idea.”

  “This is all fascinating,” Blue said, “but I’m human. Last thing I want is to end up a liability.”

  “He’s right,” Joseph said. “He can be compelled.”

  “I’m working on that,” Vera said. “I’ve found some herbs that I think I can use to counteract the magic you use to do all that, but I need to test it.”

  “Unless you want to go on a holiday until this is all over,” Joseph added, looking at Blue. “Spend a little time by the beach and get a massage for that bad back of yours.”

  “I’m not the holidaying type,” the publican snarled. “I’m staying right here.”

  “Ah, another fighter, I see,” the vampire mused.

  “For now, we bide our time,” Kyne said, his voice taking a commanding tone. “We watch, learn, and don’t take any unnecessary risks. We need to understand what Darius is trying to dig up out there. No one goes on the offensive until we can make sure our homes are secure and Blue is protected from compulsion, got it?”

  It seemed like a sensible plan to Eloise, so she nodded her agreement.

  “What about me?” Joseph asked. “Do I get membership into the club?”

  “Hardy trusts you,” Kyne said, narrowing his eyes, “but we don’t know you from squat. ‘Membership’ is earned around here.”

  The vampire chuckled. “It was worth a shot.”

  “I know you like to think you’re charming,” Hardy said, “but you can’t expect to come in here with your revenge plot and one-liners and expect us all to jump on board and tell you all our deepest, darkest secrets.”

  “Of course not,” Joseph told him. “I have learned a thing or two after four hundred years of throwing stuff at the wall and hoping it sticks. The definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting different results…but sometimes people are that insane.” He craned his neck towards the bar. “So, since we’re on the down-low with daddy dearest, how about a good old piss up, eh? Got any hard stuff, Blue? Why do they call you Blue, anyway? Is that your actual name?”

  “Before I went grey, I had flaming red hair,” the publican replied as he got up. “That’s why they call me Blue.”

  “Makes total sense,” the vampire drawled. “I’m guessing it’s an Australian thing.”

  As the man laughed and got down to their drinking, Eloise leaned back and shook her head. Joseph had slotted himself in with little effort; his personality, though harsh at times, was infectious to everyone around him. It wasn’t just her who’d sensed it—even Kyne was beginning to ease up on the guy.

  She was thankful for the small distraction the night was providing, though Darius and the seal weren’t far from her mind. He was trying to get back to his own world and would need something, or someone, to open a portal.

  If there was a way to send him back without involving the seal, then why didn’t they just do that? Flick him off someplace else, like she’d done to the Dust Dogs.

  Even as she mulled over it, Eloise knew it wouldn’t be that simple. She could only manipulate what was there and had no control over the destination. If she couldn’t sense the currents when they needed it, then Darius wasn’t going anywhere, and they’d wind up on his lunch menu.

  But she’d decided where to send the Dust Dogs and they’d gone. No, she thought. A vision brought me here, and it probably made me think I’d had control when the path was already laid out before me. Fate and destiny had led her and the current to entwine at the right moment, nothing more.

  Then there were the things Joseph was telling them about Darius and his intentions. The Exiles were keeping information back, but so was he. Eloise didn’t doubt his intentions—he really did want to end Darius—but his explanation was a little lacking, which left the puzzle with more than a few gaping holes.

  Vera tugged on her sleeve. “Hey, you okay?”

  Eloise blinked, startled out of her reverie. “Yeah, just puzzling it all out.”

  “It’s certainly a bind we’ve got ourselves into this time,” the witch replied. “You’d think fighting a vampire would be easier than a possessed witch, but here we are.”

  “Here we are…” She picked up her cider and drank. “Speaking of… How’s Clarke?”

  “Taking some time out,” Vera replied, frowning. “Just until this vampire business clears up.”

  “Probably a good thing,” Eloise told her. “All of this…it’s a lot.”

  The witch nodded. “I’ll go see him once I perfect my potion. I don’t want to go empty-handed and…”

  Eloise placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “He’ll come around. He did the last time. He wanted to stay and fight for you until Hardy sent him away. This time will be no different.”

  “I hope so,” Vera murmured. “I really do.”

  Joseph Cheapside was 435
years old. Born in a London that was a great deal more putrid than the polluted Victorian cityscape Hardy had been pushed out in, he’d seen more cities—and the people in them—rise and fall than he could count.

  Solace, though tiny, was no different. These ‘Exiles’ had only lived a blink in the long span of his lifetime.

  He lingered in the shadows outside the ramshackle pub, his mind working overtime. He hadn’t revealed everything, not just yet, but neither had they.

  Hardy stood beside him, all high and mighty. He was just that kind of guy—all moral and upstanding. Vampirism was a curse to a man like Frederick Hardy—he would struggle with it his entire immortal existence.

  “Are you my babysitter now?” he asked, straightening his shirt collar.

  “The moment I leave, you’ll go straight up to that site looking for Darius,” Hardy told him. “I wasn’t born yesterday.”

  “You’re keeping things from me, Hardy,” he said. “Important things.”

  “For good reason.”

  “Oh, I’m sure your reasons are noble, but they sure are inconvenient like that perpetual stick up your arse.”

  “It goes both ways, Joseph.”

  His eyebrows rose. “The stick? I hope not.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  The vampire smirked. “You were always a smart cookie.”

  “Still am.”

  Joseph kept quiet. Hardy was always a tough nut to crack, but he wasn’t a threat. There was no way in hell he’d be working for Darius, not after the number the guy did on him. There was twisted manipulation, and then there was Darius.

  No, Hardy was his friend and always had been.

  “There are things here that need to be protected at all costs,” Hardy said with a sigh. “Darius and his operation threaten them.”

  “Hmm,” Joseph murmured. “You have something he needs.” Hardy said nothing, which meant he was on the money. “Does it have something to do with that funny feeling I get when I stand in the middle of the highway? Or is it just the anticipation of knowing a truck might be coming along at any moment to squash me?” He laughed. “Which is complete and utter nonsense, because there won’t be a truck on that road for another million years.”