Shadows of Fire

by Nina Pierce

  When his assignment in South Kenton was finished, he had no idea how he’d ever walk away from this woman.

  Chapter Four

  A hiss escaped through lips thinned with malice as he watched Glenn Karr bound up the stairs of the science building. Looking like an angel of mercy awash in the golden light of the noonday sun, the ancient vampire’s arrival had been expected. But the man was too late.

  A search of the neatly ordered space had turned up nothing. And though chaos had been left in the wake of his investigation, there was no doubt Glenn knew nothing of the professor’s compulsion for order. For anyone who didn’t understand Paul Morgan, the office wouldn’t have appeared to have been searched.

  Glenn didn’t even bother to look around to see if anyone was watching. Stupid, trusting fool. Things wouldn’t have progressed in finely tuned precision if he hadn’t been exacting in every detail. Knowing and understanding all of the players was what made this whole sordid situation quite a challenging game. Of course, the vampires and humans who had died in the course of all his scheming hadn’t had quite as much fun as he had, now had they?

  It had taken months to figure out exactly what had been happening in South Kenton. Everything had finally fallen into place last night at the old man’s mansion. Soon the natural order of things would be restored. The purity of the vampire population would once again be guaranteed and his place within its ranks solidified.

  Whatever Glenn discovered was of little concern. The hard drive in the good professor’s office had been swept as clean as the one at the mansion. He’d tamped down the temptation to dispose of everything in flames. A second university fire would certainly raise suspicions the first one hadn’t.

  Though it didn’t really matter, the end was near.

  Guilt squeezed and a sigh escaped. Killing Glenn Karr, savior of many lost vampires, had not been part of his original plan. But watching the man sort through the charred remains of the professor’s mansion earlier this morning had left little doubt difficult sacrifices had to made in order to keep his secrets safe.

  Now that everything was set in motion, turning back was no longer an option.

  Glenn took the stone steps into the chemistry building two at a time, looking every bit like a student or professor who belonged there. The only way to hide your activities was to do them out in the open. And though he’d been able to bear the light of early afternoon for centuries, Glenn despised the vulnerability of being out during the day. But fatherly concern had pushed him to this recklessness. He needed to finish what Alex had started—whatever the hell that was.

  Instinct told him the woman was in trouble and once again, she had no one to save her. He’d be damned if whatever was keeping her out at night and making her ill would cause her harm. He’d seen how she’d lost weight over the last few months. He was neither blind nor stupid, though Alex seemed to think he was both. Glenn worried her behavior was somehow tangled with the rash of fires killing his vampires—vampires he’d sworn centuries ago to protect.

  Even with the addition of Ronan, RISEN didn’t seem to be making progress in stopping the murderer. If anything, the number of fires was escalating. With the death of the professor, Glenn worried Alex could be next. He refused to stand back and let that happen.

  He hated leaving Alex alone and vulnerable in the cellars this morning. Despite her tough exterior, the woman needed protection and Reese seemed all too happy to be the one offering it. Glenn only hoped that stubborn streak of hers hadn’t sent him away.

  Maybe Reese would also manage to get answers Alex was unwilling to give Glenn.

  He didn’t need to hear the young woman’s thoughts to know she was keeping secrets about the fire at the professor’s mansion. He’d seen the guilt on her face last night as plain as her short red hair and lying smile.

  Like the dark chill in the foyer Glenn entered, cold fear weighed heavy in his gut. Alex was like a daughter to him. He’d found her battered, drained and left for dead in the woods behind the tavern thirty years ago. A faceless vampire had raped and nearly sucked her dry. He hadn’t been sure he could save her when he’d brought her back to his farm. Only weeks of constant attention and blood he’d taken from well-paid prostitutes in the valley—who’d willingly given him a pint instead of sex—had brought Alex back to the world of the living dead.

  He’d taught her how to survive on animals and she, in turn, had found the missing combination for the synthetic blood wine they now offered to a small portion of the vampire population living in the mountains—a population that waned with each passing month. He prayed Alex wasn’t part of the trouble, but suspected, at the very least, she had information about what was happening.

  Alex had certainly been acting odd the last couple of months. He’d seen how queasy she’d become when they’d bottled the last batch of blood wine. Hoping it was a figment of his imagination, he’d tried to ignore the signs right in front of him.

  Either way, guilt or innocence, he hoped his quest today would keep Alex from the attention of the RISEN investigation.

  Glenn removed neither his sunglasses nor ball cap as he scanned the building’s directory in the marble foyer. Quickly, he found what he was looking for. Dr. Paul Morgan, Head of Chemistry Department … Room 308. Glenn headed down the hall. Though it was a weekday, students seemed to have cleared out early for the weekend, leaving the halls empty. He found the stairs and leaped gracefully up the three flights without fear of discovery. Locating the office door, Glenn scanned the hall before shoving two paperclips into the lock mechanism. A push, a twist and a little luck and the lock disengaged. Glenn couldn’t hold back his self-satisfied grin. Sometimes even vampires could learn a thing or two from crime shows.

  Slipping inside, he quickly shut and locked the door. Educators, Glenn suspected, ran in two flavors; neat to the point of obsessive order or systematic clutter. It appeared Professor Morgan fit the latter category. Files, periodicals and books were strewn about on the floor, chairs, and shelves. The desk in front of him was cluttered as well with a mess of notebooks and papers surrounding a computer monitor. The only organization seemed to be on the bookcases standing on either side of the window on the opposite wall. Textbooks and, he assumed, research materials, marched neatly across the shelves. His cheeks puffed as he exhaled in frustration. The proverbial needle lay somewhere among these stacks.

  The answer had to be here. Glenn only wished he knew the question.

  What he did know, aside from the fact the professor was one of a handful of humans who knew of the existence of vampires, was that he’d found no evidence of wrongdoing by Alex in the charred remains of the professor’s mansion. Glenn had snuck in after everyone had left, sifting through the debris throughout the morning.

  Passionate people like the professor didn’t go through life without a mission. And though Glenn didn’t know the man well enough to know what pushed him out of bed every morning, he had no doubt proof of the professor’s life work existed. He also suspected the man wouldn’t chance leaving the only copy of that passion to be destroyed. Somewhere, there was more evidence and he would find it himself and obliterate everything that might indict Alex. Then Glenn would help her fix whatever damage she’d done and restart her life.

  He’d done it once before—he’d do it again.

  Glenn stared at the computer. Over the years he’d become a master hacker. It was a time-consuming venture at best and not something he wanted to deal with at the moment. He’d taken the burnt hard drive from the professor’s computer at the mansion. Even though he didn’t have the expertise to deal with that, Glenn had simply not wanted to make it available to anyone else. If he couldn’t find anything in this mess, he’d take this computer with him and hope the answers revealed themselves in Morgan’s computer files.

  Removing his sunglasses, Glenn stared at the office, trying to think like a professor. Of all the professions he’d had over his five centuries, teaching had not been one of them. But scientists were
linear thinking creatures, surely he could manage logic. Surveying the cramped quarters, Glenn tried to see consistency in the randomness. The books on the shelves were the only ordered part of the room. He’d start there.

  Leaping over four stacks of magazines and the desk, Glenn wondered how the professor had navigated the crowded space. With a careful eye he read the bindings of the books. An hour later, as the afternoon shadows lengthened, Glenn found what he’d been searching for. Three quarters of the way through the fourth set of shelves, a couple of feet above the floor, it glared at him like a neon beer sign in the forest. It was so cleverly hidden in the open, if he hadn’t been searching with an eye to inconsistencies, he wouldn’t have tripped upon it.

  Pulling out the new copy of the John Grisham novel, tucked neatly among well-worn chemistry tomes, Glenn ran his fingers reverently over the embossed title—The Innocent Man. He had no doubt the title held not only irony, but some dark secret. He inhaled, praying whatever he found wouldn’t lead to Alex, but knowing deep in his gut that it would.

  Glenn opened the cover, finding nothing but a generic inscription from the author himself. But several pages in, right at the end of Chapter Two, the story stopped and so did his heart. Lying neatly in a ragged hole sawed through the pages were a key and a Greyhound bus schedule.

  He shoved both into his pocket and replaced the book on the shelf, careful not to make it stand out. Glenn had no delusions he was the only one searching for the professor’s secrets.

  Obviously the man had been killed trying to keep them hidden.

  * * * *

  “So if Josh called this meeting, where the hell is he?”

  “How the hell would I know?” Reese stepped from the bathroom, finger-combing his wet hair. The shower had done nothing to wash away his irritation.

  Ronan had been at the cabin for nearly an hour annoying the hell out of him.

  “Wasn’t my turn to babysit him,” he said. Josh had called before noon and scheduled an emergency meeting for one o’clock, forcing him to leave Alex at the tavern. Though both Chris and the part-time bartender had shown up, he hated leaving her without the protection of another vampire. He’d heard Glenn’s concerned thoughts and knew the man would be hours before getting back to the tavern. With his patience paper-thin and his anxiety jacking his nerves, Reese was none too happy his roommate had yet to show.

  “Did he happen to share with you what we’re doing here?” Ronan had his fancy boots resting on the coffee table, a glass of red wine in his hand.

  “Feel free to make yourself comfortable,” Reese muttered. “And no, he didn’t.”

  “Cabernet. Not my favorite, but it’ll do.”

  It was a two-hundred dollar bottle of wine Reese was saving for a special occasion. After his morning with Alex, he’d hoped they would be sharing it over a candlelight meal. There was no sense mentioning that fact to the cocky vampire. “Listen, if he doesn’t show in the next half hour or so, we’ll just have to reschedule. I’ve got plans.” Needing his space, Reese walked to his bedroom. He had no idea what had prompted the kid in the living room to join RISEN. Everything about this assignment seemed to piss Ronan off. Whatever. RISEN had thought they needed eyes out in the community so they’d sent in the young vamp. The guy displayed his egotistical attitude as obviously as his high-end clothes and annoying accent. Reese had to work with him, but no one said he had to make friends with him. He grabbed his jeans from the end of the bed, shucking off the towel at his waist.

  “Would those plans happen to be with one, Alexandra Flanagan?” Ronan leaned casually in the doorway, sipping his wine. “I wouldn’t mind a little piece of—”

  In a single heartbeat, Reese was in Ronan’s face, sending the wine glass crashing against the wall and wrapping his hand around the vampire’s throat. “Don’t say another word. Don’t even breathe her name.” Reese’s fingernails dug into the tender flesh as the scent of Ronan’s anger and confusion filled the air around them. “As a matter of fact, if I ever find you alone with Alex again, I won’t be responsible for my actions. You feel me asshole?”

  “A little bonding time, boys?” Josh’s voice broke through Reese’s fury.

  “Just clearing up a little misunderstanding.” Reese pushed Ronan out of his face, unaware, until that moment, just how worried he was for Alex. No matter how annoying he found the kid, it was no excuse for his explosive outburst. “Sorry, man. I—”

  Ronan waved him off. “Forget it. I was out of line.”

  “How about you boys kiss and make up? We’ve got some real work to do.” Josh’s half-cocked grin and raised eyebrow implied humor Reese didn’t feel. “I’ve got some information that may blow our whole investigation out of the water.” Josh smacked a pamphlet on his palm.

  Reese quickly pulled on jeans and tamped down his frustration, following them into the kitchen. He pushed aside his personal life and refocused on their assignment. “I hope you’ve got the silver bullet. I’m ready to take down this bastard.” Reese clapped his hands and rubbed them together in anticipation. Any new information would be better than stumbling blindly forward as they’d been doing for the last year.

  Josh eyed him warily. “Just keep an open mind.”

  “Don’t I always?” Reese asked.

  Ronan let out a snort.

  “I don’t know what I walked in on, but I need you both to let that go and pay attention.” Josh unfolded a state map on the cracked Formica table. Portions of the map had been marked with colored circles and numbers. “Hope came up with—”

  “Hope?” The name came from Reese and Ronan in stereo.

  “She’s human.” Ronan’s indignation rode tight on his words. “You shouldn’t be involving her. How the hell can she help?”

  “She’s a reporter,” Josh said, the low growl contradicting his calm tone.

  Guess Reese wasn’t the only one who thought the asshole vamp overstepped when it came to their women.

  “As I was saying, Hope started cross referencing fires and reported deaths. Every fire in the last two years is highlighted in yellow. The number in that circle indicates how many died. If they were vamps, they’re also highlighted with blue.”

  “Hope knows about vamps?” Ronan asked.

  “What I’ve chosen to tell or not tell Hope about our world is not what we’re concerned about.” Josh’s words came out stilted through clenched teeth. “It’s what she’s pieced together that’s important.”

  Reese knew his roommate had been struggling for the last couple of months with his deepening feelings for Hope and his need to share the truth with her. He’d known Josh long enough not to question difficult decisions. In light of what was happening, Reese had to wonder if telling her about their immortals would put her life in danger.

  “Hey.” Reese laid a hand on Josh’s forearm, unfazed when the man growled at him. It seemed both of them were a little short tempered when it came to the woman they loved. “What douche bag meant to say was …” he swept his hand over the map, “cut to the chase. We’d like to know what the hell you’re getting at.”

  Tension eased from Josh’s shoulders. He inhaled, reining in his temper. “The thing is, we’ve done this a number of times over the last year, but I never noticed a pattern. The fires in the beginning were all vampires.” Josh pointed to a dozen sites, varying distances from South Kenton. “But in the last six to nine months, they’ve been a two-to-one mix of vamp and human.”

  “What made the rogue change his MO?” Reese wondered aloud.

  “Well, it’s the last piece of information that may give us that clue,” Josh said. “This is where Hope …” he looked at Ronan as he emphasized her name, “took it in a direction we haven’t. See these circles?” Josh traced several of the colored rings at the fire sites. “She used different colors to indicate the victim’s connection to different people. What do you see?” He gave them a moment to process the information.

  “A whole lot of red mixed in with the other colors,” R
onan said.

  Reese couldn’t believe it had been that easy. “Yes, we got ‘em.” He punched Josh in the shoulder. He wanted nothing more than to finish this case and bring the SOB vampire to justice. Killing vamps was bad enough, but when it spilled over into the human population, well, that just pissed Reese off.

  “Not so fast, Reese,” said Josh.

  “What, he’s right. Unless the red circle isn’t a vampire,” Ronan said hesitantly. “Then we’ve gotten nowhere”

  “Oh, no, she’s definitely a vampire,” Josh responded.

  “She?” In the half century Reese had been with RISEN, there’d been only one other female rogue. “Doesn’t matter her gender. What’s been done breaks all codes. We bring her in and let the tribunal decide her fate.”

  “With that number killed, the woman should be beheaded and burned.”

  Both he and Josh looked at Ronan. What he said was true, but no one, least of all another vampire, wanted to see one of their own punished that way.

  Josh held his palm out, pumping the air in an attempt to slow Ronan’s judgment. “Let’s not be so hasty until you know all the facts.” There was something Josh hadn’t told them.

  “Are you kidding me?” Ronan stomped away and began pacing the small kitchen. “‘Tis our job to bring this rogue vampire down. Humans? Vamps? This … this … thing has no conscience. She’s left a wake of murder and destruction through two counties.” He waved at the map. “How many more have to die before we stop her? Are you two seriously going soft because it’s a female?”

  “Enough.” Reese knew instinctively he didn’t want to hear the last bombshell Josh was going to drop, but he had no desire to listen to Ronan’s criticism of the vampire tribunal. Nothing was worse than taking down one of your own—even if they had been doing the same. “What don’t we know, Josh.?”

  “Those red circles?” He paused, his gaze locking on Reese’s. “Are all associated with Alex.”