Kindling Flames—Gathering Tinder Read online

“Don’t worry about that. I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

  Vicky gave him a confused look. Something about that statement bothered her.

  “What did you get from Mary?” he asked to distract her from the questions floating just behind her eyes.

  She shook her odd feeling away and pulled the business file from her bag to summarize it for him.

  Darien didn’t hear a word she said. He was too busy preparing to spend the evening with the Vampire Council.

  “Damn it!” Darien cursed as he hit the debris that the car in front of him kicked up. Due to the heavy traffic, he had been unable to swerve out of the way, but he’d done his best to straddle the chunk of tire tread bouncing down the road.

  Vicky covered her mouth to hide her smile. A string of rather colorful words issued from her boss as the garbage thumped along under the car. She had never heard such things slip past his lips before.

  “Charlie’s going to tan my hide if anything happens to the car.”

  “I thought these were your cars?”

  “They may be my cars, but they’re Charlie’s babies.” Darien chuckled at the love the old man lavished on the machines in his care.

  Vicky’s smile widened as she nodded. She could just imagine the hours Charlie spent rubbing wax onto the vast collection Darien kept squirreled away in that garage.

  Darien took the exit ramp off the interstate and hit a county road that took them farther north. The storm was starting to wane, and the tail end of the day was just peeking through the thinning clouds.

  ***

  Letting her mind wander, Vicky rode on in silence, watching the cornfields roll past. She was pulled from her thoughts by another string of indecent words from her normally proper boss. From where she sat, Vicky could see the little dials on the dashboard telling them that the engine temperature was much too high.

  Darien continued to mutter as he pulled the car over to a wide spot in the road and got out to see what had gone wrong.

  Vicky climbed out so she could help if he needed it.

  Darien lifted the hood and looked down at the V8 steaming in the drizzle. He popped open the overflow bottle and looked in it before pulling a handkerchief from his pocket. Using the cloth to insulate his fingers, he twisted the hot radiator cap open to check the water level inside.

  Vicky could remember her father doing this many times on the clunkers he drove, but the steam that came out was nowhere near as strong as it should have been.

  Darien squatted down and placed his hand on the bumper of the car as he looked underneath. “We must have broken the radiator hose when we hit that junk.” He sighed as he stood and looked up and down the road for an answer to their problems. There were no signs of life on the little road. Darien cursed his luck again and turned to ask Vicky for her phone, but she was gone. He found her digging in the glove box of the car.

  “How far do we have to go?”

  The question surprised Darien. “Another twenty miles or so,” he answered, watching her pull the key from the ignition switch and climb back out of the car.

  She dropped her suit jacket on the seat and rolled up her sleeves. Opening the trunk, she looked inside and made a disappointed noise before shutting the lid again. Only a spare tire.

  Confused by her actions, Darien followed her around to the front of the car, where they both squatted down to look at the damaged hose. “What are you thinking?” he asked as he watched the wheels in Vicky’s mind turning.

  “I’m thinking that I’m going to need a new pair of stockings,” she answered, and stood up.

  To Darien’s surprise, the woman turned from him and pulled up the hem of her skirt. She freed the top of her silk stocking from the garter holding it in place. Slipping out of her shoes, she pulled the first of the sheer tubes off.

  Darien stood up and stared at her. He had no idea how taking off her stockings was going to help their situation.

  When Vicky had them both in hand, she sat down on the wet ground in front of the car and wiggled underneath.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, looking down through the engine compartment to see his assistant threading the delicate material around the damaged hose.

  “I once watched my dad nurse a pickup truck with a damaged radiator hose fifty miles to town with only two gallons of water and a shop rag,” Vicky explained as she twisted the first stocking into place and tied it as tight as she could. “He wrapped the cloth around the crack, so it held the hose together.” She added the second stocking to the first. “I figured we could make it twenty miles if we could just get this tied off.”

  “With stockings?” Darien questioned her judgment.

  “With silk stockings,” she corrected. “Silk is a very strong material, especially when it’s wet.” Vicky checked her knots and pulled herself out from under the car.

  “You wear silk, thigh-high stockings?” Darien asked, reaching down to help his assistant from the ground. This was another thing he hadn’t expected from her.

  Vicky blushed a little at his question. “One of the guys I dated in college got me started on them.” The red on her cheeks deepened as she thought about the reasons her ex-boyfriend wanted her to wear them. “I found they were more comfortable than other options. And the silk ones are more durable then the nylon ones.”

  Vicky pulled away from Darien’s hand and gathered her shoes to take back to the car. She pulled out her tea and the bottle of water Darien hadn’t touched and brought them around to the front of the car.

  “That’s not going to be enough,” Darien shook his head in mirth as Vicky emptied the bottle of water into the radiator.

  “I know.” She took one final swig of her drink before upending the liquid into the car. Vicky looked at the sky as the rain began picking back up, “You better get back in before you get soaked.” She handed Darien the key and ushered him back into the car. “There’s no reason for both of us to get wet, and you still have a meeting this evening.”

  Finding it hard to argue with the woman’s logic, he let her put him back in the car and shut the door right before the rain cut loose. He watched Vicky collect the two bottles and make her way to the ditch, where a swelling stream of water was flowing past. Darien sighed helplessly as he waited for his assistant to finish, so they could get back underway.

  It took several trips into the muddy ditch to get enough water to fill the radiator. Once full, Vicky signaled Darien to start the motor up and checked to make sure her makeshift patch was holding. Pleased with her work, she shut the hood. The dirt she had gotten on her back when she first laid down had been washed away while she worked, but there was still some on her legs. Pausing at a puddle, she cleaned the remaining traces of mud from her calves before opening the door. Since she was now soaked to the bone by the cold liquid falling in sheets from the sky, she stopped long enough to arrange her coat on the seat to protect the upholstery before sitting down gingerly.

  Looking over at his drenched assistant, Darien turned the heater in the car up as far as it would go. He studied the woman who had just fixed his car. She huddled on the very edge of the seat with her arms wrapped tightly around herself, trying, unsuccessfully, not to drip on anything. Her hair had come loose and hung in rivulets about her shoulders, over her white shirt. The sheer material clung to her skin, and he could see what she wore underneath without even trying.

  She tucked her bare feet under the dash, where the warm air could blow down on them.

  “You could’ve worn your shoes,” Darien sighed. It had killed him to watch her climb in and out of that ditch barefoot.

  Vicky shook her head as she shivered. “High heels and mud don’t mix.” Her teeth chattered as she answered him.

  Darien struggled out of his coat and flipped the warm material over Vicky’s shoulders.

  “Don’t,” she protested. “You’ll need your jacket.” She tried to stop the dry material from touching her.

  Darien dropped it on her and made sure Vicky t
ucked it around herself. “Not as much as you do.” He shifted the car into gear and pulled back onto the road.

  Thanking him, she pulled the material tighter around herself.

  Darien’s mind turned over the new problem he now faced. There was no way he was going to let Vicky try to drive the damaged car back to the city tonight, and it would take Charlie at least three hours to get a wrecker out here to pick the car up. With Vicky soaked to the bone, she could catch a terrible cold during the six hours it would take to get back to the office. He could see no way around it; he was going to have to take her with him. It would be the first time he had ever called on the hospitality of the Council for someone other than himself.

  “Given the circumstances, I’m going to ask my associates for help when we arrive.”

  Vicky looked up at Darien’s softly spoken words.

  “The people you’re going to meet tonight can be a little unusual. If they make you uncomfortable, have them call me. I’ll come as quickly as I can.”

  She nodded. “You don’t think I’ll be too much of a bother for them?” she asked, knowing the types of problems unexpected guests could cause. A strange smile crossed Darien’s face.

  “It’s not them I’m worried about.”

  ***

  “We’re here.”

  Darien’s voice drew Vicky from her thoughts as they pulled into the courtyard of a grand mansion. It was two stories tall and looked like something that should have been sitting in the English countryside, not out in the middle of Nowhere, America. The driveway circled around a fountain that Vicky could just make out. Their pit stop had delayed them slightly, and full night was eating away at the fading twilight. Vicky slipped into her shoes and reached to pick up her messenger bag.

  “You won’t need that here,” Darien placed his hand over hers before she could lift the bag from the floor.

  Dropping it back, she stepped out of the car and wrapped herself tighter in Darien’s coat in a vain attempt to hold off the cold wind trying to cut through her. She followed her boss up the steps of the large house. A tall man dressed in a tailcoat opened the large, wooden door for them.

  The butler bowed as they passed. “Good evening, Master Darien. They are expecting you.”

  Vicky followed closely behind Darien as they walked into the grand foyer. She usually respected people’s personal space, but there was something ominous about the extravagant hall that made her want to huddle into her boss’s familiarity. Shaking this irrational fear away, she stepped back to stand on her own.

  Noting her reaction to the new environment, Darien schooled the amused smile off his face.

  A short woman in a long sundress appeared out of one of the side halls at a dead run. “Darien!” she squealed.

  Vicky stepped back as the young woman threw herself at Vicky’s boss.

  He caught the girl in his arms, laughing.

  The heavy atmosphere imposed by the grand house was instantly shattered as she watched the professional man she knew transform into someone completely different.

  He spun around with the girl in his arms, laughing, before placing her back on her feet. “You have gotten so big, Tiffany.” Darien smiled.

  Vicky was surprised to find that what she had taken for a short woman was, in fact, a very young teenager.

  “If you’d come around more often, you’d see me growing,” she teased, before turning her attention to the unannounced guest.

  Darien waved for Vicky to step forward to be introduced. “This is Victoria Westernly. We had some problems on the way here. I ask that she be properly cared for tonight.”

  “Anything for you, Master Darien,” the girl beamed.

  “Miss Westernly, this is Tiffany,” Darien introduced the girl. “She’s the daughter of the housekeeper, Natalie.”

  Vicky shook the teen’s hand.

  “Tiffany, please make sure that everyone knows Miss Westernly is my guest this evening. She’s an Innocent, and I don’t want anything to happen to her.”

  Tiffany nodded. Taking Vicky by the hand, she pulled her away.

  Vicky looked back to Darien. She wasn’t sure what her boss had meant by that last statement, but she did not like it.

  Seeing her reluctance to go, Darien waved to her. “Don’t worry, Victoria. Tiffany will take care of you.”

  Thrown by the use of her first name, Vicky was pulled away from the foyer by the teen.

  Vicky gathered up her mind and listened to the string of chatter from the excitable girl tugging on her arm.

  “…He has been alone for such a long time that mother worries about him. Master Darien has never brought anyone here before. And the first person he does bring, he wants to keep to himself. I think it’s great he’s finally found someone he wants to keep.”

  Vicky wasn’t sure she understood what the girl was going on about, but she needed to make sure Tiffany understood her relationship with Darien.

  “Mr. Ritter and I are not dating,” she informed the girl.

  Tiffany looked up at her, smiling. “Of course not. I know how these things work.”

  Vicky was stunned by the girl’s words. Surely, she hadn’t just suggested that she and Darien were having an affair? This was something Vicky felt the need to set right. “I don’t think you understand. I work for him.” Embarrassment colored her cheeks as she tried to explain her position.

  “You don’t have to be embarrassed by that. Everyone here receives something in return for it.” Tiffany led Vicky through a door and into what looked to be the kitchen.

  Vicky sputtered in shock. How could such a young girl talk about sex like that!

  “Mom, Darien brought a guest!” the girl squealed in delight.

  Vicky looked from the shocking girl to the woman standing over the stove. Both women had the same curly, brown hair and high cheekbones. It was very easy to see that they were related.

  “Did he, now?” The woman wiped her hands on her apron and walked over to them. “I’m Natalie,” she said, holding her hand out for Vicky to shake.

  Vicky pulled her arm out from under Darien’s jacket and shook the offered hand. “Victoria Westernly.”

  Natalie looked over the wet woman, shivering in her kitchen. “Let’s get you cleaned up.” She led the way back out into the hall. “What happened?”

  “We broke a radiator hose on the way over, and I got caught in the rain trying to fix it.”

  Natalie held a door open for Vicky to enter. “Is Master Darien as wet as you are?”

  “No. He got back in the car before the rain cut loose.”

  Natalie pursed her lips together. She didn’t like that any man would make a woman fix the car while he stayed dry… master vampire or not.

  “Let me introduce you to the rest of the gang.” Natalie pointed to each person as she named them. “That’s Brian and Jenny, Marsha, Roger, Terrance, Josephine, and Liz. I’m sure you’ll run into everyone else during the rest of your stay.” Addressing the group now facing her, Natalie said, “This is Victoria Westernly. She came here with Master Darien.”

  A murmur of surprise passed through the group at this introduction.

  Natalie ignored their reaction and went on. “Can you see to her needs?”

  “Of course, Nat, just leave her to us,” the woman Natalie had pointed out as Josephine got up to take charge of the new arrival.

  “Thanks, Josie.” Natalie waved goodbye to Vicky. “They’ll take good care of you.”

  Vicky was still reeling from everything that had happened since she had arrived, but she followed the new woman deeper into the room where the group of strangers was waiting.

  “What happened?” a dark-haired man with delicate features asked.

  Fishing in her mind, Vicky pulled out the name Terrance. “I got caught in the rain when the car broke down,” she explained.

  “That’s horrible!” The raven-haired girl Natalie had called Liz answered.

  “Do you need someone to look at it?” A handsome bl
ond sat up from where he lounged on one of the many couches.

  Vicky shook her head. “It has a blown radiator hose. I’m sure Mr. Ritter will call Charlie to come get it.”

  “You must be freezing.” A tall, thin, black woman stood up, drawing Vick’s attention. “What you need is a nice soak in the onsen.”

  Vicky heard agreement from all, and she found herself pulled into a protective hold as the woman spun her around to lead her back out of the room.

  The entire group accompanied them down the hallway and through a set of bamboo and paper doors. Vicky was surprised to find the doors concealed a large changing room. The seven people accompanying her spread out to different areas, pulled down baskets, and started stripping their clothing off.

  Shocked, Vicky twirled around to face the wall and turned the deepest shade of red she could get.

  “Is there something wrong, darling?” The tall, muscular man next to her asked as he folded his boxer shorts into the basket and slipped it back up onto the shelf.

  Vicky squished her eyes shut as tightly as she could.

  “I think she’s shy,” the voice of the little goth girl snickered from behind her.

  “Don’t tease her, Marsha.” The voice of the delicate man reprimanded her. “She may not be used to such large groups. Master Darien has never brought us anyone before.”

  A collective agreement sounded around the room.

  Vicky felt a reassuring pat from the naked man next to her.

  “It’s okay, darling. You’re safe with us.” She heard him turn to face the rest of the room. “Jenny, Josie, will you stay and make sure she’s okay?”

  The two girls agreed, and the man addressed the rest. “Everyone else get out to the bath so she can change.”

  “But Brian, I want to help too.”

  Vicky could hear the teasing note in the voice of the man that had offered to look at Darien’s car.

  “Get out of here, Roger,” Brian growled.

  Vicky calmed as the majority of the group left. Hearing two giggles, Vicky opened her eyes to see the tall, dark-skinned woman, who had to be Jenny, and the shorter blonde with long hair that was Josie.