Eternal Fires

by Ally Shields

  “Geez, Ari, I don’t know. We’ve checked the hotels, motels, and boarding houses, but there’s no way to know about all the sublets, or wealthy families on vacation for a month or two. He could be house-hopping for all we know.”

  “Andreas helped them do a police sketch. What about releasing that to the press and asking citizens to help us find him?”

  “I didn’t know he did that—apparently a lot went on while I was out of it—but it’s a good idea. I’d want to know if some killer vamp was hanging out in my neighborhood.”

  “I don’t think it’s necessary to put it that way,” Jena cautioned. “Just say he’s wanted.”

  “Yeah, I suppose. Why don’t I call the chief? He can talk to the mayor or city council. I think they’ll say go ahead.” He cleared his throat. “But if you’re trying to keep this on the QT, it’s a little late. The shootout in front of the hospital was kind of a giveaway.”

  “Oh, damn,” Ari said. “I hadn’t even thought of that.”

  “That’s why you have a brilliant partner. I’ll call you back as soon as I have an answer. Keep me updated on the wizard.”

  “Will do.” She disconnected, thinking how good it was to have him back.

  A more paranoid person might wonder if Eddie West had her office bugged when The Clarion’s crime reporter called less than ten minutes later. Even though he was a personal friend, she frequently avoided his calls during ongoing investigations for fear of seeing her words plastered across the front page. She hadn’t talked to him for several days.

  “I was beginning to think I was persona non grata,” he grumbled. “You used to at least take my calls.”

  “We’re talking now, aren’t we? What story is it this time?”

  “Give a working guy a break. I want to know happened at the hospital. Who was that guy? Did he really teleport onto a roof?” He paused as if running through a list of questions in his head. “Then you might take a shot at this crow thing. Migration won’t cut it a second time.”

  “Sorry, no comment. But ask me again in an hour or two. I might have something for you.”

  “No kidding?” He sounded surprised. “What can you tell me now?”

  “Not much. There was a confrontation, and the bad guy got away.”

  “I heard they were shooting at an unarmed man.”

  “Printing gossip now?” Ari’s laugh held no humor. “Give me some time, Eddie, and I’ll give you a statement. I might even let you print some of it.”

  He groaned. “You’re going to tie my hands…again?”

  “I’m waiting to see what the bigwigs say. I’ll tell you everything I can, and maybe a bit more—off the record—just so you get it right.”

  “Is this headline stuff?”

  She thought about it. “First page, maybe not headlines. I… You know, let me think about that. When I call you back, I’ll have a better idea.”

  Eddie spent a few minutes trying to worm more information out of her, but she held her ground. She laid down the phone and glanced at Jena. “Sorry about that. I seem to be spending my morning on the phone. You think we could get out of here for a while? Before Claris left, I promised her I’d visit with the midwife and nanny today.” She looked down at her protruding stomach. “We’re getting close.”

  Jena grinned. “Yeah, she asked me to remind you.”

  “That’s the mother hen in her. Someday I hope she has her own kids.”

  Jena gave her a knowing look. “Something tells me Ryan is hoping the same thing.”

  “You think?” she said noncommittally. “He’s naturally protective of everyone.”

  “You’ll see.”

  They left the office and met Steffan in the hallway.

  Ari cocked her head at him. “Are you here with news or have you been watching for us?”

  “No news, and guilty as charged. I’m just a friend taking his promises to your husband seriously. Where you go, I go.”

  “You’ll be bored.”

  “No doubt,” he agreed. “Andreas expects me to be.”

  “OK then, let’s go.”

  Kyra and Milla met her at a neighborhood women’s clinic in Olde Town, where Milla had obtained temporary medical privileges. While Ari conferred with the wood nymphs, Steffan and Jena stayed in the waiting room, surrounded by pregnant women and playing children.

  “Baby’s a good weight and has already dropped into position. I think you’ll be ready to go on schedule. Maybe a week or so early,” Milla predicted. “Keep up the diet and exercise. Kyra, you need to keep her on the same healthy diet after the birth.”

  “No way. I’m just the nanny.” Kyra grinned. “I’m not brave enough to come between Ari and her coffee pot.”

  “Smart woman. That’s the first thing I want after delivery. An extra-large mug.”

  Milla clicked her tongue in disapproval. “What goes into your body goes straight into the breast milk.”

  “Killjoy,” Ari muttered, her smile fading. “I guess the massive doses of coffee will have to wait a little longer.” Her child would have the best start Ari could give—breast milk, twenty-four hour personal attention—at least for the four weeks until she returned to work. After that, she’d have to rely on Kyra to fill in the gaps. It was a compromise between her competing roles that Ari had struck with herself.

  When Ari and the wolves exited the clinic a few minutes later, Steffan was visibly relieved to be on the move again.

  “Can we grab lunch now?” he asked. “I could use a recharge after being around all those hormones and screaming children.”

  “Get used to it,” Jena suggested. “I come from a large family.”

  “Maybe I should make that a beer instead.” He shook back his reddish locks and suddenly looked up at the flapping of wings over head. Two crows settled on the light pole next to them. Steffan put a hand on Ari’s back and urged her to move. “Let’s not stand around.”

  The crows followed them from a distance. So far they numbered less than a dozen, nothing to be alarmed about except their attention was so focused on Ari.

  Steffan chose a deli for lunch, and they’d almost finished sandwiches and coleslaw by the time Ryan called.

  “Chief says he’ll release the sketch, but he wants you to call him. Anything else I can do, you know where I am.”

  The trio of friends exited the deli a few minutes later, and the crows followed them back to the Magic Hall. After checking on Merlin—still critical—and talking with Eryndale about the release of the police sketch, they headed for Ari’s office. Steffan extracted her promise not to leave the building without them before he and Jena took off on their own business. Ari settled at her desk to make a few phone calls.

  The first was to Chief Pittman. He agreed to have his PR person contact the media and fax a copy of the sketch to Eddie.

  “The mayor doesn’t want us to mention this guy can turn into a crow. He says it’s too much like some horror movie.” The chief let out an audible sigh. “I’ll be glad when Foster’s back here handling this Otherworld stuff. If we find this guy, just how bad is he? Can SWAT take him down?”

  “Good question, Chief. If—”

  “You don’t know?” he demanded.

  “He’s not immortal, but it will all depend on what they do. And maybe a lucky shot or two will slow him down. SWAT knows the vital points on any vampire—head and heart—but I can’t guarantee anything will work against this kind of power.”

  “That wasn’t what I wanted to hear.”

  “I know.”

  She hung up and called Eddie. “Here’s the official scoop. The assailant yesterday was a rogue vampire by the name of Porbius. Police are faxing you a sketch, and we’re asking the public to help us locate him. He likes his luxuries, so we suspect he’s staying in someplace upscale. Resorts, hotels, private clubs. Neighbors in wealthier suburbs should keep an eye on the houses of anyone out of town. Emphasize they are to observe and report only, not approach. He’s armed and extremely danger
ous.” She paused to make sure she had his attention. “The rest is off the record, so put your pen down. Porbius is one of the O-Seven elders we’ve talked about before. He’s accessing some really bad magic, and he’s angry as hell. If someone corners him, he’ll kill indiscriminately and not blink an eye.”

  She’d heard Eddie’s sharp intake of breath, but otherwise he remained the detached, professional reporter. “What about the crows?”

  “I honestly don’t know if they’re a threat or not. There’s only a few so far and probably just acting as spies for Porbius. But citizens shouldn’t take chances—stay inside and report concerns to the authorities.”

  “Got it. Anything else? I know there’s a whole lot you’re not saying.”

  “Just help us find this guy.”

  By the time she’d finished her calls, Steffan and Jena were back. “It’s almost two thirty,” he said. “If Porbius doesn’t find and kill us, Andreas might. We have to get you back to the cabin.”

  Ari flipped off the switch on the coffee pot and followed him out the door. Having her hours monitored was a pain, especially when so much was going on. She understood the necessity—how could she forget when tiny feet poking her ribs were a constant reminder—but she felt like she should be doing more.

  Hot air brushed against her skin the moment they stepped outside the doors of the Cultural Center. The heat index had to be over one hundred, steamy, almost suffocating. Summer in the Midwest often hung on like this, turning its dying days in September into scorchers. A dozen crows watched from across the street, but even they seemed lethargic. A few made an effort to follow, but retreated to the shelter of nearby trees when Ari and the wolves turned onto open commercial streets.

  “They’ll follow again as soon as we’re in an area that provides more shade,” Steffan predicted. “Any suggestions how to shake them?”

  “The vampire tunnels.”

  Ari took them to Club Dintero where they accessed the tunnels that ran underground from Andreas’s office to the vampire court in the warehouse district. This portion of the tunnels was rarely used, and Ari and Jena voted that Steffan take the lead to clear away the spider webs.

  When they surfaced and left the compound, the skies were clear of crows. They crossed the Oak River just east of where it joined the Mississippi, circled south of town, and made it to the cabin unobserved.

  And just in time. Andreas called fifteen minutes later. She could truthfully tell him she was safely tucked away in the woods.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Eddie called her at the office the next morning to brag on his restrained handling of the news article: “Police Ask For Public’s Help.” It described the suspect as armed and dangerous, wanted for multiple felonies. The story had made the front page, bottom half.

  “It’s also been on local TV, and radio talk shows are encouraging listeners to check out the photo on the web and call in any sightings. If he sticks his head outside, I think we’ll find him,” Eddie predicted.

  But nothing happened the rest of the morning except boring paperwork, and by the time two o’clock rolled around Ari almost welcomed the chance to leave. Still, the evening ahead would be a long one. She and the wolves had already run out of things to talk about, and they hadn’t been housemates long enough to be comfortable with ignoring each other and doing their own thing.

  “Let me check outside first.” Steffan reached past her, pushed open the exit door of the Cultural Center, and stepped outside. After a moment, he poked his head in. “All clear, except for the usual spies across the street.” He pointed out three crows on a rooftop.

  Ari suppressed an impatient sigh. Could she take four more weeks of this? Steffan was getting worse than her husband. The thought of Andreas brought a smile to her lips. She didn't often bother him at work. But the current situation was a bit unusual. Maybe that was her reprieve.

  “Let’s stop at the club and wait for Andreas. I’d love to do something normal like watch the show. And you’d have the evening to do whatever you wanted,” she coaxed.

  “Tired of us already?” Jena laughed. “But I can understand needing a little space. An evening with Andreas might be exactly what you need. Don’t you agree, honey?”

  Steffan gave in gracefully. “It’s up to Andreas.”

  Ari frowned, not quite liking it put that way. No one should be making decisions for her, but nothing was simple anymore.

  Fortunately, Andreas thought it was a great plan. “How could I not want to spend the evening with my beautiful wife?” He looked down at her with a smile. “If I can arrange a few things, I’ll not only bring you home but spent the night.”

  “I’d like that.”

  Steffan cleared his throat. “We’re clearly in the way here, so we’ll see you guys later.” They headed out the door.

  “Uh-huh.” Andreas bent his head to kiss Ari’s lips. After several moments, he released her. “The rest will keep until later. Anything happen today I should know about?”

  She told him about the media exposure. “Hopefully, someone, somewhere, will see him and call it in. When I spoke with Chief Pittman an hour ago, he said they’d had a few tips but nothing looked promising so far.”

  “Then let’s forget about Porbius. You need a night off.” Andreas grabbed her hand. “Give me your opinion of the new singer. This will be his first night, and he’s rehearsing now.”

  They slipped into one of the semicircular booths that faced the small stage in Club Dintero’s main dining room. Andreas slid across the soft leather and pulled her close to his side. “I miss touching you,” he said simply.

  She laid her head on his shoulder, and they listened to the tenor run through his repertoire. The singer was good, but not as good as Andreas had been when he was the club’s headliner. Ari smiled remembering the first time she’d heard him sing. His magic had wrapped around her and become entwined with her own. She didn’t realize it at the time, but in those few moments her world had changed forever.

  She sighed in contentment, and Andreas tightened his arm. “Good thoughts?”

  “Very.”

  The moment was interrupted by the chirp of her phone. “I could ignore it.” She peeked at the screen, then sat up straight. “Or maybe not. It’s the police chief.”

  Ari hit the connect button, Andreas took her free hand and pulled her out of the booth, and they headed for the privacy of his office. “Yes, Chief. Do you have something?”

  When the office door closed, she put it on speaker. “…dispatch forwarded it to me, as soon as they heard an officer on the scene had confirmed.”

  “Chief, I have Andreas on speaker now. Can you repeat that?”

  “We have a confirmed sighting. A home in the Waring Heights suburb, SWAT is on the way.”

  “Alone? No, no. You need to contact the Magic Council. Get my replacement, Tom Bodie, to help you. Don’t let SWAT attempt to take him on their own.”

  “I thought you’d want to be in on it.”

  “I’d love to—”

  “But she can’t,” Andreas finished. “My wife sometimes forgets she’s almost nine months pregnant. She’s on leave from field duty.”

  “Uh, well, yes. I understand. Fine. We’ll take care of it.”

  “An Otherworlder, or two or three, needs to be there,” Ari protested. “How do you intend to contain him?”

  “We don’t.” The chief’s voice was tight. “We’re going to kill this thing. My men are armed with silver netting, silver bullets, and enough holy water to take a bath.”

  Holy Goddess help them. Ari was stunned. Didn’t they understand this wasn’t an ordinary vampire?

  “That’s not enough! Not for an elder. You’ll need magic. I need to go,” she said, turning to Andreas.

  “Not this time.” He shook his head, his jaw tightening. The muscles of his arms rippled, and she knew he’d never let her out of the room except on his terms.

  Ari sighed. “I guess not, Chief, but please get Tom there.”
>
  “We don’t have time. I only called you as a courtesy. SWAT knows what they’re dealing with. If they wait too long, they risk letting him escape. No one wants that.”

  “No, but…”

  “You can watch from my conference room and tell us if we’re doing it wrong,” he said, offering a compromise. “The SWAT team has a video camera. We won’t be able to see inside the house, because the camera’s mounted on the van, but we’ll see the initial assault. And you’ll be able to hear a live report of the entire operation.”

  She hoped they wouldn’t be witnessing a bloodbath.

  Ari looked at Andreas. “Does that work for you?”

  Her husband nodded. “We’ll be right there, Chief.”

  * * *

  It wasn’t fancy like the war rooms at the White House or Pentagon. In fact, any comparison would be a stretch. But between the video streaming over the laptop computer and a mobile phone lying on the table, Ari, Andreas, and the three police officers gathered in the chief’s conference room had a good idea of what taking place in Waring Heights.

  Ari had made another plea for the chief to contact the Magic Council. He’d acted like he might agree with her but still refused. She suspected he’d been leaned on rather heavily by the mayor, who had a poorly disguised phobia of Otherworlders. And an even bigger phobia for anyone else giving the orders in his city.

  “Our department needs to handle this,” had been Chief Pittman’s final words on the matter.

  Ari had subsided, still gritting her teeth and wishing for the umpteenth time Ryan was in charge.

  The speaker on the mobile phone line clicked on. “We’re rolling up the street now, Chief. Do we have a green light?”

  Chief Pittman leaned forward and pushed a button. “It’s your team’s call from here on, JD.”

  “Ten-four.”

  The camera focused on a sprawling, graystone walkout ranch on a corner lot. As the unmarked SWAT van approached from a side street, they had a clear view of the deck wrapping around the upper level and the sliding glass doors beneath.