Blood Heat

by Maria Lima

  “We’re actually here,” Rhys said before I could continue. “Just pulling up now.”

  “How?”

  “You disappeared, Keira,” he said. “It didn’t take a genius to figure out you somehow located Niko. I phoned home and got one of the seers to help pinpoint you.”

  “Damn, that was some good thinking, Rhys,” I said. “They could do it this far?”

  “Gigi helped,” he said. “Once you Mark us, we’ll be able to find you, too.”

  That made a buttload of sense. “C’mon then, we’re in the back of the main building. Bible study room.”

  Rhys chuckled. “Only you.”

  “What can I say,” I said. “See if you can find keys to the church van on your way, okay?”

  “Done.” He ended the call.

  I shoved my phone back into my pocket and knelt down next to my brother and Niko. Adam joined us. I placed a hand on Niko’s chest, feeling deep inside him, trying to find the spark of what animated him. Magick, not blood, not heartbeat. Adam had let me do this to him last year. I’d felt no heartbeat then, but now I knew that had only been a glamour, as he’d been hiding his Sidhe heritage from me. Niko, though, had once been human, a boy, a teenager, dying of plague during the end of the first Elizabeth’s reign, rescued by Adam, who’d been captivated by his beauty. There, the spark. There was little I could do here, but as long as it held steady, he’d be fine.

  “Tucker, your wrist? I think it would be best to do this now.”

  He extended a wrist to Niko, a gesture I’d seen many times, mostly as a Mark of love and belonging, now as a means of feeding for Niko. Though still unconscious, Niko stirred as the familiar scent of his partner reached him. Fangs appeared in his mouth and he latched on, rich blood flowing from my brother’s veins into his mouth. Satisfied, I stood and approached Janey Miller, who was still cowering by her husband’s bloody and torn body.

  “What am I going to do with you?” I mused. “You’re sheriff here, not exactly a low-profile person. You can’t just disappear.”

  She whimpered. “Don’t kill me. I’ll leave, I promise.”

  “And do what?” I leaned in, pushing my face close to hers. “What will you do, Jane Miller? How will you explain all this?” I indicated the room, the bodies. “I can’t let you out in the world knowing about us, about what happened.”

  She shrank against the wall, eyes terrified. “I don’t want to die.”

  “Did Margery Flax want to die? Did Stephen? Did Maki?” She cringed at my words. “Those were their names, Jane. Those three wolves, also people. Margery and Stephen were newlyweds, looking forward to a new life together. Did you know she was pregnant, Jane?” The erstwhile sheriff burst into tears, once again hiding her face.

  “I never knew they were killing,” she wailed. “Only thought they were scaring people away.”

  “Ignorance of the actions of your husband and his men is no excuse, Sheriff. Isn’t that what you say about the law? You’ve broken many laws these past days. More than just human law, but the laws of all sentient kind.” I couldn’t leash my anger, my resentment that these pitiful assholes used guns and intimidation because they thought they were better than others. Fear and loathing in White Rock. Film at eleven … or never, because no one would ever learn about this.

  “Hey there, sis,” Rhys’s voice broke into my diatribe. “Got keys to a twelve-seater van. Ianto is standing guard outside, Liz is keeping Tucker’s van running in case we need to leave quickly.” He paused a moment, studied the room, and whistled. “Damnation, Keira, what happened?”

  “Later,” I said. “Load up the bodies in that van, will you?”

  “Done.” He moved past me and Jane, hefted one body over his shoulder, then snagged Miller’s foot and dragged him away, leaving a trail of blood. Jane whimpered.

  “Quiet,” I warned. “Adam, could you please help Rhys?”

  He stood, quietly picked up the body of the man he’d killed, and followed Rhys out the door. Tucker still bent over Niko, who was now awake and still feeding. “Be careful there, brother. You’ll need your own strength.”

  Tucker broke out into a delighted grin. “I know my limits.” He pulled his wrist away and helped Niko to a sitting position. Niko blinked and took in the room.

  “I suppose I have you to thank?” he asked me.

  “All of us,” I said. “We’ll fill you in later.”

  “What are you going to do with her?” Tucker nodded to Jane. “She’s our only remaining witness.”

  “Yeah. I know.”

  Tucker stood and began straightening the room.

  I stood and pulled Janey up with me. “You’re coming with me,” I said. “Tucker, could you hang on to her for a moment?”

  “Gladly.”

  I concentrated on the room and cast a cleaning spell my aunt had taught me. With a whoosh of energy, most of the blood was gone. I cast it again and the rest disappeared.

  “Neat trick that,” Niko grinned. “You do windows, too?”

  “Funny vampire,” I shot back. “You good to stand?”

  He nodded and slowly stood. “Yes, I’m fine,” he said. He gave me an abbreviated bow. “Thank you.”

  “Anything for family,” I said with a smile. I turned to Janey and put my hand on her forehead. She tried to back away from my touch, so I gripped her other arm. Tucker, who’d let her go when I approached, grabbed on to both of her arms again.

  “What are you going to do?” she whispered through dry lips.

  “Nothing you’ll remember,” I said. “Anghofia.” Rumbles of subsonic sound accompanied my command to forget. “Remember nothing and no one.” I forced energy through her, envisioning her brain as a jumble of color and sound, the wave of the spell erasing it, muting it. She sagged. Tucker caught her before she could fall. He eased her to the floor just as Adam and Rhys returned to the room.

  “We got the bodies in the hall, too. All in the van,” Rhys said as Adam began picking up weapons and ammo. “Now what?”

  “Drive the van to a good cliff on a curvy road,” I said. “Just like before with Boris and Greta Nagy. Crash the van over the side and throw a bit of mage-fire to make sure it burns well and thoroughly. There’ll be enough left for the sheriff’s department to identify, but not enough to determine cause of death or much of anything else.”

  Rhys nodded. “No accelerant residue.”

  “What about her?” Tucker, his oversized body perched on one of the undersized children’s chairs, indicated the unconscious Janey on the floor at his feet.

  “Damn it.” I scrubbed my face with my hands. I didn’t want to have to kill her, but what could I do? “Rhys, could you leave her at the accident site? As if she were in the van, too?”

  Rhys studied Janey for a moment before answering. “I could, Keira, but frankly, that’d probably raise more questions than not.”

  I looked at Adam. His face was impassive, but his eyes locked on mine: one ruler to another. I turned away and stared at gentle Jesus and his lamb on the wall.

  What choice did I have? The small blond woman lay still on the floor. Her face slack, free of guilt, of conscious decision. Was this what I’d come to? Judge, jury, executioner? For a sick moment, visions of my great-great-grandmother passed before me, a woman who always did whatever it took to keep the Kellys safe. Was that my job now, too? I considered the options. Leaving Janey in her car to be discovered at the accident site might work—but why would she have lost her memory? We could cause another “accident” with her, crashing her car into a tree, a rock, even down the same ravine …

  No. Too many “accidents” usually involve a greater degree of investigation.

  Damn it. Would this never end well? If I wanted no repercussions, no chance of discovery, there was only one answer. I thought of Adam’s now truly-dead vampires, the dead wers, and Luka. They were “evil creatures of the devil” and, to her warped mind, didn’t deserve to live. She claimed she hadn’t known. But if she had, would she
have done anything? If we hadn’t arrived, Janey Miller would have let her husband destroy Niko right before her eyes and done nothing to stop him. And even with her memory wiped clean, Janey Miller would still be Janey Miller and hate anyone she thought “different” or “unnatural.” Old Joe had known: there was something deeply wrong with this woman. Evil in her being.

  I straightened my shoulders and faced Rhys. “She goes in the church van,” I said.

  He nodded. “I’ll take care of everything, except you need to do another clean-up job on the hall on the way out. Adam, you might double-check for spent casings out there while she does her Mrs. Clean thing.” Adam and I both nodded in acknowledgment. “Then y’all take Tucker’s van and get back to the ranch. I’ll meet you there after I’m done.”

  “I’ll send a car—” I began.

  “No, no need to risk any more exposure,” Rhys said. “I’ll shift and go cross-country. Won’t take me long.”

  “What about the blood?” Tucker asked. “I can still smell it.”

  I sniffed. “Yeah, it should dissipate soon. It’s good enough for humans.”

  “Not for Luminol,” Rhys said.

  “No one will suspect anything happened here,” Adam said. “Their cars are in the parking lot. They met here and left. That is all. Why closely inspect anything?”

  “Right. There’s no reason they’d hire a forensics team to come out here from Austin. These people will have been in a tragic accident.” I moved away from Tucker and Janey and surveyed the room. It looked just like we’d found it, sans tied-up vampire and men with guns. A nice, cheery little classroom, ready to teach the next generation about love, Jesus, and hopefully, nothing about white supremacy. I eyed the torn-off door. Three sets of hinges hung from the doorframe, screws still embedded in chunks of wood. No hiding that damage. “Rhys, can you fix this?”

  He shrugged. “Can’t do anything about the door, but the door frame is fine. I’ll just remove the pins from the hinges and take them and the door. It will look like the door was removed for repair or something.”

  “Excellent. While you’re at it, leave a note on the pastor’s desk. Say you’re taking the van and sign it “Robert Earl Miller.’ Leave his car keys there.”

  “Better yet, I’ll add that a little horseplay damaged the door, that I’ve taken it to repair and will bring it back tomorrow.”

  “Even more excellent, Rhys, and … thanks.”

  He laughed. “A good brother helps you move … a better brother helps you move bodies.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Let’s hope we never have to do this sort of thing again,” I said.

  “C’mon, guys, let’s leave Rhys to his carpentry and get the hell out of here.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  LIZ WAS IN THE ranch’s van, motor running, as I exited the building after a final check of the corridors for evidence of carnage. Adam sat in the second seat. Tucker and Niko huddled together in the back. “Heya, Keira,” she said. “You okay?”

  “Well as I can be,” I said and climbed aboard to sit next to Adam.

  Ianto, who sat next to Liz, eyed me in concern. “This isn’t you,” he said. “Not the you I’m used to. Adam told me what happened in there.”

  “Better get used to it, twin. I’m the heir now, no longer a kid. I have to do what has to be done.”

  “Impressive,” Liz piped up. “Kudos to you, cousin. You’ve learned a lot.”

  “That I have, Liz,” I replied. “Too bad I had to put some of it to actual use.” I looked behind me, at our two men, huddled in each other’s arms, neither giving in to unconsciousness yet. Niko might have said he was okay, but he was still exhausted, beat. “Boys, sleep,” I said. “Isabel should be here in no time. She’ll watch over Niko properly.”

  Tucker groaned, the activities of the past hour finally getting to him. “Damn,” he whispered, cradling Niko’s head to him. “I can last, but Niko—” Damn it. Niko had fainted. Stupid vampire, telling me he was all right when he wasn’t.

  “I can donate—” Ianto began.

  “No, wait.” I stopped him as he started to crawl over the seat to Tucker’s side. “Let me.”

  “Why you?” Ianto asked. “Either Liz or I could.”

  “We’re fixing to get blood bonded anyway,” I said. “Plus, my blood is different from yours.”

  Adam agreed with me. “Good point, love,” he said and squeezed my shoulder.

  “Let’s go, Liz.” Ianto turned back to the front. “Get some miles under us.”

  “Yup,” she said and shuddered as she watched Rhys climb into the church van. “He’ll be okay, won’t he?”

  “Rhys will do just fine, sweetheart,” Ianto said. “Won’t be his first time at this.”

  “Better be his last,” I muttered. “I hate this.”

  “Keira?” Tucker whispered. “Niko …”

  “I’m here,” I said quietly as I joined the two of them in the rear seat. “Here, Niko, drink.” I extended my bare wrist. Niko’s head lolled as he tried to gather strength.

  “He’s too weak, Keira,” Ianto said. “You’ll have to—”

  “Do it for him, I know.” I smiled as I recalled the first and only other time I’d done this. Except last time, Niko had bitten my arm so I could offer the then-dying Adam my blood. “Ianto, switch on the light, please?” He complied. I concentrated a moment, focusing on my mouth, my teeth, moving the cells around, the shape of the incisors lengthening, pointing, honing to needle sharp.

  Ianto whistled. “Damn, woman, you’re good.”

  I grinned, my newly sharp fangs prominent over my bottom lip. “Why yes, my dear brother.” I sank my own teeth into my wrist, bracing myself for the pain. “Fuck,” I exclaimed. “That hurt. Here, Niko, now.” I held out my arm again as I let my teeth shrink back to their natural shape.

  Niko sniffed, and with both Tucker and me holding his head, he drank. Energy slammed into me, pleasure, a rush of dizziness accompanied by a near orgasmic sense of well-being. It came across as taste/scent/touch. Niko’s aura tasted different from Adam’s, smoky and green, like tea or something woodsy. Damn vampire’s been around Tucker too long, I thought. After a few minutes, Niko began to truly revive, his energy stronger, his aura lighter, less weighed down.

  “Help support Tucker,” I said to him. My brother sagged against Niko, his own energy spent. “What the two of you need is rest,” I said. “Sleep.”

  “Thank you, my liege.” Niko bowed his head in my direction. “You didn’t have to do that.”

  “Yes, I actually did,” I said. “You’re as much my responsibility as being my Protector, Nicholas Marlowe. A good leader, a good liege will support her people as they support her.”

  Tucker gave a wan smile, light-years away from his usual energy-filled, charming grin. “You have grown up, little sister.” He groaned as the van took a curve too fast, pressing him into Niko’s arm. “Hold tight, Tucker,” I said. “Let me try to at least stabilize you.”

  I put my hands on my brother’s face, closed my eyes, and rested my forehead on his. Niko, on his other side, now restored, let Tucker lean against him. “I’ll need your help, Niko,” I whispered. “Put your hands over mine.” He did, and immediately the cool magickal living energy that was vampire flooded me. I wove his energy with mine and pushed. Tucker’s shields were down to nothing more than a flimsy, rotted shell, crumbling beneath my beneficial assault. All throughout him lay pools of dull red pulses, torn flesh trying to mend with little energy. I visualized golden light, white around the edges, filling him, restoring him. I didn’t think I could give him back the blood he’d lost, but I could probably slow the hurt, reduce the pain. I couldn’t dare try to remove any bullets or bullet fragments, or even to heal the torn tissue. This was just a stopgap until Isabel could go further.

  I watched almost outside myself as our combined energies, Niko’s pale green and my golden-white, mingled and swirled, surrounding the damaged areas, pushing against the intruding metal, re
ducing the pulsating angry red to a much safer orangey-pink. With a final general sweep of his body, I kissed his forehead, then a light peck on his lips before I, too, sagged back, letting my body rest against the seat arm.

  “That should do it,” I whispered.

  Tucker shuddered and with a surprised glance, swept me into a bear hug. “By all the gods,” he whispered. “You fixed me.”

  I nodded into his shoulder. “Well, not completely. Enough so Isabel can help finish up. She’s still going to have to get that metal out of you.”

  Tucker took my face between both his hands and stared into my eyes. “No, Keira,” he said. “No need for Isabel. I’m done.”

  “What?” I peered into his gaze, letting my consciousness slide behind his eyes again, inside him. Not a single sign of damage remained. He was right. I had healed him. No sign of raw angry wounds, no sign of intrusive metal fragments. No torn blood vessels. Just healthy, solid muscles, all the veins and arteries doing their assigned tasks. I sagged back against the car seat, stunned. How the hell had I done this?

  “Damn, Keira,” Ianto said. “You don’t know your own strength.”

  “Evidently not,” I said. “Honestly, all I got taught while I was gone in regards to healing was just simple field spells to hold things together until a real healer could do their magick. I couldn’t even heal Gregor from that pesky bullet graze.”

  “You’re a quick study?” Niko ventured.

  I snorted. “Doubtful. Maybe it was our relationship?” I was totally guessing.

  Tucker looked thoughtful. “Blood will out,” he ventured. “Perhaps you are right—it’s our connection, our common blood tie.”

  “That explanation will do for now,” I said. “I’ll talk to Isabel about it when she gets here. After she fixes Luka up.”

  “You are the heir,” Rhys said. “Could be you’re just getting better at these things.”

  “Not at keeping you from harm,” I said to Tucker and Niko. “I am so sorry. I had no—”