Kindling Flames: Stolen Fire (The Ancient Fire Series Book 4) Read online

  Darien caught her eye and smiled as he went to clean up the counter. “Don’t worry,” he reassured her. “She’s a werewolf. She prefers it that way.”

  Vicky looked back to her friend and nodded her head. It really did look as if Sue were enjoying the raw slivers of flesh.

  Darien finished washing up and turned to look at the werewolf then up to Vicky. “Keep an eye on her. I’m going to go call Rupert.”

  Vicky nodded as Darien left through the door to the foyer. Letting out a deep sigh, she turned to the coats stacked on the iron chair. “I’m going to put these up,” she informed Sue, picking up the pile of clothing and heading out to the closet. Hanging Darien’s suit coat on the end of the banister, she dropped her bag on the floor next to it.

  Once the rest of the outerwear was stashed in the hall closet, Vicky returned to the kitchen. The growl from her friend made Vicky stop just inside the door. Her eyes came to rest on the tense scene in front of her. Zak had wiggled in from the living room and was gurgling while staring at Sue’s bowl.

  “Zak!” Vicky reprimanded the small horror.

  Zak looked up at her and chirped.

  Vicky scooped him up and away from where Sue was eating. “That’s not for you.”

  Zak wiggled intently towards the raw meat.

  “If you’re hungry, I can get you something.” Taking the little fay over to the refrigerator, Vicky pulled the door open. She took out a package of sliced turkey and ripped it open.

  Zak’s wiggling ends were into the package and shifting the thin slices of meat into his sharp teeth before Vicky could set him back onto the floor. He consumed the entire stack of meat and started chewing on the plastic.

  “Bottomless pit,” Vicky grumbled as she found some more treats for the hungry fay. She dumped a packet of sausages out, and he nabbed them up before they could hit the ground.

  Sue watched from her bowl as Vicky passed bits of food to the hellhound.

  After a while, Vicky shut the door to the refrigerator. “You have had enough,” she complained, taking the many empty packages away from the little horror.

  Sue snickered and nosed her mostly empty bowl towards Zak.

  The little fay turned at the sound. Gurgling his appreciation, he wobbled over and buried his face into the remains of Sue’s dinner.

  Vicky just laughed at him. “Thank you, Sue.” Reaching down, she tugged on a few of Zak’s writhing feelers.

  The small fay gurgled his pleasure and licked the blood from the bowl.

  “Let’s go get you cleaned up.” Vicky held open the kitchen door so Sue could lead the way out and up the steps to the bathroom. Snagging her bag on the way past, Vicky dropped it in her room before following them in to the bathroom. “Would you like a bath or a shower?” Vicky asked the wolf.

  Sue hopped over the edge of the tub and sat down at the end away from the faucet.

  Vicky looked at her, confused. “Do you want to shift back, so you can relax?”

  Sue shook her head.

  Cocking her head in confusion, Vicky started the water running. In a few moments it was hot, so she plugged up the drain. “Bubbles?” Vicky offered the rose-scented soap to her friend.

  Sue let out a strange noise that sounded like laughter and shook her head.

  To Vicky’s surprise, Zak wobbled into the room, right over the edge of the tub, and into the water. She hadn’t expected him to come in and help. Darien tended to yell at the hellhound for joining her in the bath. “Okay.” Vicky said, confused. When Zak grabbed the brush she used on him and started running it over the bloody area on Sue’s back, Vicky figured out what was going on. “Let me get changed, and I’ll be right back to help.” She left Sue in Zak’s care as she went to change. Obviously, Sue was not in the mood to shift, and it would be much easier to help her friend wash away the blood if she didn’t have to worry about getting her work clothing wet.

  ***

  Darien lay back on his couch and studied the drifts of clouds painted on his ceiling. The phone call to Rupert had not gone as Darien had expected. Instead of being happy to hear his sister was all right, Rupert had been very abrupt. Darien could tell that his friend was pissed about something, but the alpha wolf didn’t stay on the line long enough to tell Darien anything other than he was on his way. Darien closed his eyes and let his mind drift over the day.

  Something still bothered him about the bouquet of roses that Vicky had received. It wasn’t Elliot’s style to send that type of present, but the younger vampire was really the only person who knew about the wedding arrangements other than Vicky’s friends. If the flowers had come from either of them, they would have signed the card.

  Pushing that from his mind, Darien next contemplated how his suggestion to Ethan had failed. Sure, he was bad with memory manipulation, but he had always been able to bend people to his will. What was happening to him?

  Darien let out a long breath, relaxing a bit more. He was bone-tired and somewhat achy. The feeling of his menagerie pressing on the edges of his mind gave him a moment of thought. Maybe they were straining him more then he realized. He had almost dropped Sue when he lifted her into the car. Could the additional load on his powers be stressing him that much? It had been a long time since he had last supported a group as large as this, but he didn’t remember his fledglings ever being this hard on him before.

  Lillian had never shown any signs of fatigue. Darien had always considered himself powerful, but he really wasn’t feeling it at the moment. Could Lillian have been that much more powerful than he was? Darien’s mind brushed over each one of the vampires linked to him as he checked to make sure they were okay. They all seemed to be fine, but Darien was still worried. Maybe he should get Elliot to join his menagerie and help support the load. The last thing Darien wanted was to fail those depending on him for their continued existence.

  The sound of Vicky’s voice pulled Darien from his thoughts. He blinked a few times, trying to make sense of what she’d said, but his brain wouldn’t process it. His eyes followed her around the room as she moved about, talking to him. Shaking his head, he realized that he had nearly fallen asleep on the couch.

  “What?” Darien’s voice cracked a little as he spoke.

  Vicky smiled at him and laid his coat over the end of the couch near his feet. “I said I’ve gotten Sue cleaned up, but she won’t shift back.”

  Darien processed this for a moment before nodding. “Rupert is on his way to take care of her.”

  “That’s fine, but don’t forget—Vanessa and Elliot should be here shortly to talk about the wedding arrangements.” Vicky turned back to the bed were she had dropped her bag. Darien let out a loud groan that made her turn towards him with an amused grin on her face. “You forgot, didn’t you?”

  Darien drew in a deep breath and pulled himself to sit up on the couch. “Yes,” he admitted as he kicked out of his work shoes. “I should probably get changed, then.”

  Vicky laughed at his reluctance. “It really isn’t going to be that bad.” Coming over, she slipped into his lap.

  Darien wrapped his arms around her and shifted his head into her warmth. Pulling her with him, he leaned back into the couch. He liked the way she felt against him.

  After a moment, Vicky tilted his head back so she could kiss him softly. She could feel how tired he was. “Do you want me to call and see if we can reschedule?”

  Darien considered this for a moment. “No. It’ll be fine.” He really needed to talk to Elliot about joining the menagerie. The sooner he could get someone to share the load, the sooner he would be back to his old self again.

  Vicky kissed him softly again and unfurled herself from his lap. “Then get up and get changed.” She pulled on his hands until he stood up. “They’ll be here soon.”

  Darien nodded and released Vicky’s hands so she could go get things ready for their upcoming guests. Turning to his bed, he found that Vicky had been kind enough to lay out something comfortable, yet presentable, for him
to wear. He sighed his happiness with her. She did some of the most thoughtful things.

  ***

  Vicky, Vanessa, and Elliot sat in a group at one end of the glass table in Darien’s living room. Vanessa had brought over a file box filled with her ideas for Vicky’s wedding. They had spread the items across the glass table and were trying to fit them into Vicky’s idea of the perfect wedding. Vanessa wanted to go for a huge church wedding on a Saturday afternoon. Elliot had shaken his head and suggested they have a small ceremony at the local country club where Darien was a member. Vicky had sat back and let the two argue over the details, enjoying the way they played off each other. Darien had been right in choosing Elliot to help with the planning. He had a way of undercutting Vanessa’s ideas so far that she had to scale back her plans to find some middle point between the two. They were just starting to haggle over the number of guests when Vicky heard noises from the foyer.

  “Where is she?” Rupert’s voice boomed through the penthouse as he stomped into the living room.

  Sue looked up from where she was curled up with Zak in front of the fire.

  Rupert’s eyes ran across the people in the room and stopped when he found his sister in wolf form.

  Vicky pushed herself up from the floor, trying to draw the alpha werewolf’s attention. “Good evening, Rupert. This is my friend, Vanessa.” She pointed out her human friend, trying to get him to realize that this was not the time to go into supernatural issues.

  Rupert just grunted without looking away from Sue.

  Darien stepped through the door from the kitchen and looked over the scene.

  Elliot met his eyes for a moment of silent communication. “Why don’t we go out and check on dinner?” The younger vampire touched Vanessa’s shoulder, breaking her from the tension building in the room.

  She looked up at him. “But, Darien’s cooking,” Vanessa protested. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but it didn’t take a genius to know that something was going to go down.

  “I’m sure he needs a female’s touch.” Elliot pushed his will into the words, and Vanessa stood up.

  “Of course.” She bent under the suggestion, and Elliot drew her out of the room to the kitchen.

  “Thank you,” Darien breathed as they passed. Elliot nodded his head and kept his concentration on the woman he was guiding from the room. Now that the human was out of the room, the tension peaked as the two werewolves glared at each other.

  “What the hell happened?” Rupert hissed at his sister.

  Whining a little, Sue laid her head back down on the rug.

  “Don’t give me that,” he growled. “You nearly killed Bernie’s lieutenant.”

  Sue snarled at the mention of the injured wolf.

  “You know how important these talks are! Why the hell did you attack him?”

  She growled again.

  “Are you going to shift back so we can talk?” Rupert was trying to keep a level head, but it was easy to see he was very upset.

  Sue whined again without moving from the rug.

  “Damn it, Sue! Bernie wants your blood, and if you don’t shift back and explain yourself, I’m going to have to give it to him.”

  She squirmed and whined again, but she didn’t shift.

  “Fine,” Rupert growled. “If you won’t do it, I’ll just make you.” He lunged at his sister, intending to grab her.

  Sue must have known what he was going to do because she was up and out of his reach before he could catch her. Zak gurgled warningly at the mad alpha as Sue rounded the couch and stared at her brother.

  “Get back here!” he demanded and made as if he would chase her down.

  Turning, Sue slammed into Vicky, knocking her back to the loveseat. She buried her face into her friend’s chest and whined loudly.

  Thrown by the off behavior, Vicky wrapped her arms around her friend’s head.

  When Rupert went to grab the wolf away from Vicky, Zak dropped his dog impression, roaring in anger. He yanked the riled-up alpha back and placed himself in front of Vicky and Sue.

  “Wait,” Darien cried as he threw himself into the middle of the chaos erupting in his living room.

  “Stay out of this, vampire!” Rupert growled, regaining his footing. “It is none of your concern.”

  Sue pressed her head harder into Vicky’s chest and whined.

  Darien grabbed Rupert by the arm and forced him to look at him. “It became my concern when Sue went to Vicky for protection.”

  Rupert glared at the man but couldn’t argue with him. He was in Darien’s bailiwick.

  “Have you considered that there might be a reason she’s acting this way?” Darien tried to reason with the upset man.

  Rupert relaxed in Darien’s grip slightly. “Then why won’t she just tell me?” he groaned, exasperated. “I’ve got a very mad alpha demanding an explanation and nothing to tell him.”

  Sue whined and rubbed her head on Vicky again.

  Vicky scratched her reassuringly. “Maybe we should all just calm down for a minute,” she said, trying to comfort Sue. She could tell that there was something bothering her friend. “I don’t think Sue would have done something so rash without a reason.”

  Rupert laughed wryly. “Then why won’t she explain it?” he growled at her. “I’ve got to do something soon, or all hell is going to break loose.”

  Sue whined again and fidgeted in Vicky’s arms.

  “There’s got to be a reason.” Vicky thought for a moment. “Maybe Karl knows what’s wrong.”

  Sue growled, and Rupert went very still at this suggestion.

  “Sue and Karl had some kind of fight last week, and she refuses to talk to him,” Rupert explained. “Karl keeps coming over to see her, but he won’t tell me what happened.”

  Vicky could feel the rumble of anger issuing from Sue.

  Darien took a deep breath and let it out loudly to break the silence that fell in the room. “Go tell your visiting wolves that I’m dealing with the issue,” he finally answered. “If they have a problem with that, send them to see me.” Even though he felt weak, he was sure he could pull enough power together to intimidate a few werewolves. “Leave Sue to us. We’ll find out what’s wrong.”

  Rupert looked at his sister pressed into Vicky’s arms, then to the hellhound writhing protectively in front of them, and back at the vampire. He threw up his hands in defeat. “Fine!” he growled. “You take care of this, but she can’t come home 'til this is solved.” Rupert turned and stormed out of the room.

  Sue pressed her face more firmly under Vicky’s arm with another soft whine.

  Darien looked at his assistant and followed Rupert from the room.

  Vicky scrubbed her fingers into Sue’s fur again. “It’s okay,” she reassured her friend. “You can stay with us as long as you need to.”

  Zak gurgled an agreement and came over to touch Sue reassuringly.

  Whimpering, Sue sat down next to Vicky. She pressed her head hard into her friend, and Vicky gave her what comfort she could.

  After a few minutes, Darien came back. “He’s going to talk to the other wolves.” He came over and scratched Sue’s ear. “But this issue won’t be solved until we get some answers.”

  Sue looked up at the vampire.

  “Can you tell us what’s wrong?”

  Sue whined but didn’t elaborate on the issue.

  Darien sighed. “All right, but he’s sending Karl over to talk with you.”

  Sue growled a little at this.

  “Do whatever.” Darien turned away from the upset werewolf. “Just don’t get blood on my rugs.” Shaking his head, he went back into the kitchen where he had been cooking dinner before Rupert had shown up.

  “Come on.” Vicky pushed Sue back a little so she could stand up. “Let’s go see how Vanessa is faring.” She let the issue with Sue lie for the moment. If the wolf wouldn’t shift back, she couldn’t tell them what was wrong. There was no point in pushing. Zak shifted back to his S
hih Tzu form and followed the two girls into the kitchen where Elliot had Vanessa laughing at something. It was clear that he had her enthralled; there was no way she could have missed the exchange in the living room unless he had done something to her.

  “Is she going to be okay?” Vicky asked as she approached Darien. Vanessa was acting a little more than drunk.

  Darien smiled at her as he stirred the stew on the counter. “Yes,” he reassured her. “Elliot gave her a glass of wine with a little suggestion.” He chuckled. “She’s going to wake up tomorrow with a bit of a hangover to go with the hole in her memory.”

  Shaking her head, Vicky watched her best friend flirt with Elliot. “She’s incorrigible,” she said with a laugh.

  Darien’s grin widened as he agreed. “Maybe we should call it an evening.” He sighed. “I don’t think we’ll get anything else done tonight.”

  Vicky had to agree. She had seen Vanessa drunk on many occasions, but Elliot had done a pristine job on getting her completely soused. He had managed to sit her in one of the iron chairs, but she was leaning her head against his him, humming happily as she petted him affectionately.

  “I think I’m going to like your friend.” Elliot grinned at Vicky as Vanessa slipped her arm around one of his legs, cuddling him.

  Vicky rolled her eyes and came over to her drunken friend. “Vanessa.” She tried to get the woman to focus on her.

  Vanessa looked up and smiled drunkenly. “Hi, Vicks!” she slurred.

  Vicky giggled at her and held out her hands. “Let’s get you home.”

  Nodding, Vanessa slipped her arm out from between Elliot’s legs. Lifting her hand up, she cupped his butt, copping a feel as she released him. A goofy grin cut across her face. “He’s got a nice ass,” she whispered to her friend in a very loud slur. Both Darien and Elliot’s smiles widened as they tried not to laugh.

  “Come on, Vanessa.” Vicky helped her friend up from the chair and pulled her arm over her shoulder.

  Elliot moved to help support the wobbly woman. “I’ll take her.”

  Vicky looked up at the tall vampire. “Are you sure?” She didn’t want to burden him with her randy friend.