Arctic Fire

by Erica Stevens

  CHAPTER 17

  Dani leaned against the hood of the pickup she’d rented from the airport with her fake ID and stared out at the desert. Quinn sat in the driver’s seat, watching as Julian and the others moved around the truck, tossing the last of the supplies into the back. There was a never-ending supply of death wielding power beneath Clint’s garage. She never would have suspected that room was beneath the building, or that Clint was actually a Guardian. He’d shown no indication he’d known what she was over the last three years.

  But then, how well could anyone ever really know someone else? The surface of a person painted one picture, but beneath it were thousands of hidden secrets. Quinn’s gaze drifted back to Dani. It had been the same with her, but the others seemed to have forgiven her and moved on. Julian had only forgiven her grudgingly, but he was trying.

  Quinn didn’t know if they could trust her, but she’d come to like the young girl over the past couple of days. She was her own person, confident and outgoing with an easy smile that was tough to resist. Quinn wouldn’t mind punching her for what she’d done to Julian, but she liked Dani far more than she’d believed she would when Julian had told her she was coming.

  Julian walked over beside her. He leaned his arm against the driver’s side mirror as Chris tossed two shovels onto the pile in the back and pulled the canvas covers over the load. Quinn didn’t want to think about the fact the shovels had been added in case graves needed to be dug. She was holding onto the hope they would be saving lives tonight.

  “That’s it,” Julian said.

  Quinn turned the truck on. He didn’t move away from the vehicle. “We’ll be fine,” she assured him and patted his hand.

  “I don’t like this.”

  “I know, but look at the weapons we have. Besides, between Dani and me, we can fry anyone who tries something funny. Plus, all of you will be right behind us. If something is going to go down at the bonfire tonight, it will be better if we have the element of surprise on our side.”

  “I still don’t like it,” he grated through his teeth.

  She squeezed his hand as Dani opened the passenger side door and jumped in. “We can’t keep letting him come at us; we have to take the fight to him.” She’d seen what he’d painted on the wall of Clint’s bar. The memory of it caused her to tremble, but thankfully, Clint had hosed the blood away that night. “He’s only going to destroy more lives until he’s stopped.”

  Julian’s gaze slid to Dani.

  “Besides,” Quinn continued. “I’ve got the only person we know isn’t under mind control with me. I should be more worried about you.”

  “Don’t worry about me, keep yourself safe.”

  “I love you.”

  His hand wrapped around the back of her head and he pulled her close. His lips pressed against her ear as he held her. “I love you too,” he murmured before giving her a kiss that had her blinking dazedly after he’d stepped away from her. The arrogant grin he shot her caused her to scowl at him before she shifted into drive and hit the gas.

  The vehicle lurched forward, kicking up sand as the wheels spun. Dani grabbed hold of the handle over her head and pressed her feet into the floorboard as the back wheels continued to spin. Finally, the truck found traction and lurched forward. Quinn laughed loudly when Dani pressed her back flat against the seat.

  “Hold on!” Quinn yelled over the whipping wind as the truck sped across the packed sand of the desert trail.

  “Good thing I rented this with my fake ID,” Dani muttered as the vehicle went airborne over a dune and landed with a loud groan of springs and struts.

  Quinn laughed again and hit the gas harder.

  ***

  “Is that the way she drives my Jeep?” Clint asked as he popped a piece of gum into his mouth.

  “Oh no, she treats it like it’s a delicate flower,” Julian replied with a straight face, earning him a sizzling glare from Clint.

  “The look on Dani’s face!” Chris laughed as he hugged his belly. “Oh, I don’t envy her. That vampire is one nutso driver!”

  Julian watched as the truck flew into the air over a dune before crashing back to the ground. Shaking his head, he turned away and tossed the last of the bags into the back of Clint’s Jeep. He climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine as Clint walked over to join Hawtie in her black Bronco.

  Hawtie had asked some of her employees to help at Clint’s tonight while her strip club was still closed, saying both Clint and Quinn had fallen ill. It would make many of the patrons at Clint’s happy, Julian was sure, and it allowed Quinn and Clint to go to the bonfire with them. Julian didn’t know if he would have preferred her working tonight. If she were at the bar, she would be away from the bonfire and any potential danger. Then again, he would have spent the entire night thinking of her while he was staking out the bonfire without her.

  At least now, he would be able to keep an eye on her as she mingled with the others at the party. The plan was for Quinn and Dani to attend the party at the fire, while the rest of them kept watch.

  Julian shifted into first as Luther climbed in beside him; Chris and Melissa hopped into the back. Lou climbed into the backseat of Hawtie’s Bronco. “Brace yourselves,” Julian said and popped the clutch. He could practically hear Clint cursing him as he hit the gas and the Jeep launched forward.

  Melissa and Chris grabbed the roll bar to keep from bouncing out of the vehicle; Luther remained composed beside him as they took off down the trail Quinn traversed. He’d relented to her being bait, but he refused to let her be out here on her own for any length of time. He drove for a couple of miles, keeping the dim glow of Quinn’s taillights in view.

  In the distance, he saw the growing flames of a bonfire above the sandy dunes. The sun had only set an hour ago, but the party had already started. “Quinn and Clint said they didn’t get started until around nine,” Luther said.

  “Must have been a change of plans,” Julian murmured, not at all liking the fact they would be arriving late. He glanced at the nighttime sky; there had been plenty of time for other vampires to make it to the fire by now. Quinn could be walking into a trap.

  His hand tightened on the wheel. Stick with the plan. She’s not that far ahead, he told himself. Pulling to the side of the road, he jerked up the emergency brake and jumped out. “Be careful,” Luther said and slid over to take his place.

  “You too,” he replied.

  The sand slipped beneath his feet as he sprinted across the desert, taking a direct line toward the fire.

  ***

  Quinn slowed as she neared the fire, her headlights bouncing over the sky and trail when the truck dipped into a hollow. They had no idea if this was the fire from Melissa’s vision or not, but she still approached cautiously. “They started early,” she murmured. “We may be too late.”

  “All other vamps would have had to wait for the sun to set too. That was only an hour ago,” Dani replied, but Quinn still heard the note of concern in her voice.

  “I hope you’re right,” she murmured.

  “Me too.”

  The truck rose over the top of the dip. Before the fire came into sight, the smell of blood assaulted her senses. Her nose wrinkled against the coppery odor as her fangs pricked with hunger.

  “We’re too late,” she said.

  “How do you know?” Dani asked.

  “I can smell blood already.”

  Dani paled visibly, but she thrust her shoulders back and pulled her stake from the holster at her side. Quinn had her normal arsenal strapped to her, but it didn’t give her the same reassurance it normally did. “You should stay here,” she said to Dani. “There’s no reason for us to both see this if we don’t have to.”

  “I told Julian I’d stick to you like white on rice, and I’m going to keep that promise. Besides, letting you go out there alone may be the thing he finally kills me over.”

  “He won’t kill you,” Quinn replied. Dani shot her a look that said she didn
’t agree.

  Quinn focused on the trail before them as they drove closer to the flames dancing high in the air. The truck broke over the top of the last dune. The headlights flared over the fire before them. She managed to keep her mouth from falling open at the spectacle that greeted her, but her stomach turned and tears burned her eyes.

  “Oh.” Dani’s hand flew to her mouth. “Horrible.”

  Horrible didn’t began to describe the twisted scene before them. Quinn’s eyes shot everywhere at once as she tried to take it all in, but there was no way to take all of this in.

  About fifteen vehicles were parked around the fire; all of them had their grills facing the flames. Kegs of beer had been dragged out and set up before the vehicles. Coolers were neatly arranged, along with beach chairs and a volleyball net. Laughter should have been filling the air; there should be people dancing to the music she could hear coming from one of the parked trucks.

  Instead, blood splattered the sand, turning it from an orangey hue to a macabre painting of red death. Amongst the blood, bodies were sprawled across the sand. Some people remained sitting in the beach chairs; one was slumped over the keg with his cup still clenched in his hand.

  The volleyball lying next to the keg had turned pink from the blood covering it; white spots poked out from beneath the layer of blood. Someone’s hand was tangled within the web of the volleyball net. Quinn’s hand went to her mouth when she realized there was no body beneath the hand.

  “Why would they mutilate them like this?” Dani whispered.

  Quinn had no answer for her. This hadn’t been a feeding but a bloodbath, a message perhaps, but what was the message, I’m out of my mind? Because that was all she could think about her stalker as she stared at the massacre before her. This was something beyond anything she could comprehend. Vampires could be brutal, this sick freak was no exception, but the savagery here made her skin feel like ice.

  “They could still be here, so be careful,” she said as she pulled a stake from the holster at her side.

  She grabbed the door handle and pushed it open. Sliding from the truck, she kept her hand on the door as she continued to survey the carnage. Dani opened her door and climbed out to join her as Quinn walked closer to the fire.

  Quinn moved cautiously through the bodies, listening for a heartbeat, though deep inside, she knew they were all dead. If the bodies hadn’t had their throats slashed, they’d been torn out and spit on the ground. She could almost hear the echoes of the dying people’s screams on the air, feel their pain and terror resonating from their broken bodies.

  “We should have come here earlier,” she murmured, trying not to shed the tears burning her eyes. “We didn’t need the extra supplies.”

  “We couldn’t have known they would start so early,” Dani said.

  Quinn lifted her head to look at her. She was about five shades paler than normal as she stared at Quinn from across the body of a young man. “Couldn’t we have? Melissa had a vision.”

  “But we didn’t know where or when, not even Melissa knew. We do the best we can with what we have. We will stop him so he can’t keep doing this.”

  “I said the same thing after he slaughtered the Kemps, yet look.” She waved her hand over the bodies sprawled around them. “There’s at least twenty more dead here, and I can’t help but feel it’s my fault. He’s here because of me. Maybe I should have left town.”

  “This is one twisted individual. If you’d left, he probably would have slaughtered the entire town before following after you.”

  Quinn glanced away. She knew Dani was most likely right, but she couldn’t shake her sense of guilt. She scanned the night and kept her ears attuned to any sound other than the crackling fire as she walked.

  Making her way around the flames, she stared at faces she recognized and those she didn’t. Those two boys had gone to college in Yuma. That woman had worked in the hardware store. That man had always left good tips, and that one had never tipped. She drank wine. He drank gin. She drank beer.

  About half the people here had wandered into Clint’s at some point, or she’d run into them in town. If she’d been able to go out in the day, she was certain she would know everyone in town, but her knowledge didn’t go far beyond the bar and her small apartment building. Now she wished she’d gotten a chance to know them all. To put a name with the faces screaming in endless horror and the eyes staring at the sky or at her.

  She shuddered as she met the cloudy-blue eyes of a young woman who had her head turned toward her. From the truck, “Simple Man” began to play. The chill that caused goose bumps to break out on her flesh had nothing to do with the breeze blowing across the dunes and everything to do with those unseeing eyes.

  She rubbed at her arms as she turned away from the woman and stepped over the arm of another young woman. The fire continued to burn beside her, but the heat of it did nothing to warm her as she stepped over the body of a young man who had once asked her for a date. Quinn froze, a single tear slipped free as she gazed at the next face before her.

  “Oh, Dusty,” she whispered. Her neighbor had never hurt a fly; he’d been one of the most easygoing men she’d ever encountered. He hadn’t deserved this; none of the people here had. Kneeling beside him, Quinn’s hand trembled when she went to close his eyelids. She jerked her hand back from the feel of his lifeless body beneath her fingers and hastily retreated.

  Movement to her right drew her attention in that direction. Hope shot through her, a small cry escaped as she raced across the sand to the young woman she swore she’d seen move. Quinn fell beside the woman. Grabbing hold of her chin, she turned the woman’s head in her direction. The vein in her neck had been torn out. The imprint of a vampire’s fangs were clearly visible against her tanned skin. Blood coated her neck and pooled beneath her in the sand, but her hand twitched on the ground.

  “Dani!” she shouted as a new set of headlights spilled over them. Glancing to the side, she spotted Clint’s Jeep and Hawtie’s Bronco pulling up beside the truck. “She’s alive!”

  Dani fell beside her. “How?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Quinn replied. She ran her hands over the girl when her fingers twitched on the ground again. Lifting her head, Quinn shadowed her eyes against the headlights as doors opened and closed.

  “My God,” Hawtie breathed.

  “This has nothing to do with God,” Clint replied.

  The girl’s body jerked; her head turned to the side as she finally blinked. Quinn stretched her hand out to rest it against her cheek. Before she could touch the girl again, arms wrapped around her waist. They lifted her up as they pulled her away. A startled cry escaped her, and she instinctively fought against the powerful hold as she kicked herself for letting her guard down.

  Turning, she almost smashed her fist into Julian’s cheek. She managed to hold back her punch at the last second. “What are you doing?” she demanded as she squirmed in his hold, but he refused to let her go.

  “Get away from her, Dani,” he commanded brusquely.

  “But…” Dani started to protest.

  “Get away from her; she’s turning.”

  Quinn gawked at the young woman as her body twitched on the ground again before going still once more. Memories of her own turning, the excruciating agony, the hideous panic and helplessness that had accompanied the change from human to vampire filled her. She so badly wanted to help the woman, but the damage had already been done.

  To her left, she spotted someone else’s hand jerking on the ground and then another. Julian’s lips skimmed back to reveal his razor-sharp fangs. Her gaze slid around the circle as more of the bodies started to move.

  “Get the supplies. We have to destroy them before they turn,” he said.

  He carried her briskly toward the vehicles with Dani close on his heels. The others were gathered before the headlights, their faces ashen, and their eyes wide in disbelief. “Wait, what if they still retain some sense of rationality after turning
?” Quinn protested. “We can’t kill them when we don’t know if they could be good.”

  “They won’t be.” Julian placed her on the ground and raced over to the truck. He threw back the canvas before yanking supplies from the back. Pulling out two crossbows, he tossed one to Chris and the other to Melissa.

  “You can’t know that!” she protested.

  He glanced at her before tugging another crossbow free and rising to his feet. He pressed the weapon against her chest. His eyes burned into hers as he spoke, “A vampire can keep control of the mind of the ones they change. They can warp them and bend them to their will. With everything you know about this vamp, do you think he would relinquish that kind of power over his offspring?”

  “Oh,” she breathed, her mind spinning at his words. That was a fate worse than death; one that could have been hers if the vamp who had attacked her hadn’t believed she was dead after their first encounter. “No, he wouldn’t, but he couldn’t have killed all of these people on his own.”

  “He could have given them all his blood to turn them though. We can’t risk letting even one of them rise, if they are going to do his bidding.”

  “Dusty,” she whispered.

  Julian’s eyes softened, but his face remained inflexible in its resolve. “Stopped being Dusty the second he died. Don’t let him be sentenced to a mindless existence now.”

  She closed her eyes before giving a brief nod. “You’re right.”

  “I freaking hate this guy,” Chris muttered as he loaded his crossbow.

  “Get in the Bronco,” Clint ordered Hawtie and shooed her back with his hands.

  “Let’s get this over with,” Julian said crisply.

  A muscle in his cheek twitched, but he strode forward. She didn’t miss that he made his way directly to Dusty as his feet kicked on the ground. Quinn turned away.

  People began to writhe and moan more loudly on the ground. During her change, she’d felt like every bone in her body was breaking, as if her muscles were trying to choke the life from her and were constricting until they would snap. She’d begged for death, but her body wouldn’t let her die.