Kindling Flames: Blazing Moon (The Ancient Fire Series Book 6)

by Julie Wetzel

  “Thanks,” Elliot said. He stood up and tried to reposition the stuff he’d collected. “I’m positive it’s a daemon. I saw it when I touched Ross.”

  “But that’s impossible,” Krissy protested, unable to stretch her reality any further. “Daemons don’t exist!”

  Elliot raised an eyebrow at her. “And yesterday, werewolves and vampires didn’t exist.”

  “But that’s different,” she said, giving him an exasperated look. “You’re real. Daemons are…” She stopped, unable to finish. Elliot had a point, but she couldn’t bring herself to believe him.

  “Fiction?” Elliot prompted.

  Krissy nodded and swallowed hard. That wasn’t exactly what had come to her mind, but it worked. She stepped away from the desk as she started to feel a little lightheaded.

  Once the pile was under control, Elliot picked the leather book up again and looked in it. “I assure you, my dear, daemons are very real. Darien and I have faced off with them before.” He sat the book down, wrote something else on a sheet of paper, tucked that into the empty bag, and folded the top closed.

  “So there’s a way to stop it?” Phelan asked hopefully.

  “Of course there’s a way to stop it,” Elliot reassured him. He reached for the wooden box and pulled it to him. “We can break its hold on the wolves with this.” He rummaged around inside the box and pulled out a palm-sized medallion.

  Krissy moved a little closer so she could see it. It was a circle of gold etched with a series of rings set inside each other. Between the lines were letters, but they didn’t spell anything that she could read. “What is it?”

  “The Magic Rings of Solomon,” Elliot said, setting the disk into Krissy’s hand. “This will protect the wearer from the power of a daemon.”

  She held the disk in awe.

  “How many of these do you have?” Phelan asked, looking at the disk in Krissy’s hand.

  “Just the one,” Elliot said, holding his hand out for Krissy to return the disk. “But we can make as many as we need.”

  She gave it back to him.

  Elliot held the trinket by the chain and considered it. “Normally, these are made out of gold or silver, but we don’t have time to cast that many.”

  Phelan eyed the pile of supplies. “So what are we going to make them out of?” he asked suspiciously.

  “Ash,” Elliot said, dropping the medallion back into the box for safekeeping. “It won’t be as effective as the metal ones, but it will keep the daemon from affecting the pack as a whole. We’ll pray over them to give them a boost.”

  His words shocked Krissy. “You’re going to pray over them?” The idea of a vampire praying was outrageous. She didn’t know much about real vampires, but the movies made that idea absurd.

  Elliot gave her an offended look. “I could pray over them and still get the desired effect, though that wouldn’t be pleasant for me and it would take much longer than we have. I’m not what God would consider a righteous man and the weight of my sins are harder to bear, but it would work.”

  Her eyes widened as she considered what Elliot had to say. She hadn’t meant to insult him with her thoughtless words. Elliot continued before she could apologize.

  “But the two of you should have no problem completing the task,” he said. “Tell me, when was the last time you had sex?”

  Krissy sputtered her indignation. “What?”

  “About four months ago,” Phelan said with ease.

  Shocked, Krissy grabbed a quick glance at Phelan before turning her attention back to Elliot, who waited for her answer. “Does it matter?” she asked, horrified. She was unable to recall exactly when her last sexual encounter was, but it had been a long time. With her ability to read people, she tended to avoid the physical side of relationships as much as she could.

  “Yes,” Elliot explained. “It takes a virtuous man in the mists of a fasting to invoke the type of powers we need. Neither of you have had a full meal within the last twelve hours, so that counts as fasting. That leaves the question of your virtue. Have you slept with a man within the last ninety days?”

  Red colored Krissy’s cheeks, and she glanced towards Phelan again. She could feel his curiosity as he waited to hear her answer. “No,” she said, embarrassed. Her sex life, or lack thereof, wasn’t something she wanted to discuss.

  Elliot clapped his hands together. “Excellent. Then we’ll have Vanessa, Karl, and the twins cut and draw the medallions while the two of you pray over them.”

  “Will this stop the daemon?” Phelan asked.

  “No.” Elliot shook his head. “The medallions will only stop the general affect the daemon has over the pack. It will still need to be dealt with.”

  “How?” Krissy asked.

  “With this.” Elliot lifted the flap of the leather bag and pulled out a brass cup.

  Krissy stared at the bag in disbelief. She was sure Elliot had emptied it out a few minutes ago. “How did you do that?” she asked, staring at the bag and cup.

  Elliot cocked his head in question.

  “The cup,” she said, reaching out towards the bag. Just before she touched the leather, she stopped, shivered, and pulled her hand back. She just couldn’t bring herself to touch it. “Didn’t you just empty that bag?” She looked at the pile of things on the desk.

  “Oh, that,” Elliot said, pulling the bag to him and looking down inside it. “I did.”

  “Then where did the cup come from?” she asked, unwilling to let the matter go.

  Elliot paused as he thought of the best way to explain it without blowing her mind, but there wasn’t one. He could see that she needed an answer, so he went with the truth. “It isn’t just a bag. It’s a portal.”

  “A what?” she asked, looking at the satchel. It was finely made and looked a little worn, but she couldn’t see how it could be anything but a bag.

  “It’s a gateway to a pocket of Fairy where Darien keeps part of his collection.”

  Phelan looked at the bag thoughtfully. “You know, that explains a lot.” He’d always wondered why Darien kept it so well protected.

  “No, it doesn’t,” Krissy objected. She couldn’t wrap her head around the concept.

  Elliot broke it down for her. “Over the years, Darien has come across some rather interesting objects. Some of which are much too powerful or deadly to remain in this world. A while back, Darien made a pact with the goblins to keep some of his things in their realm. The bag is only one of several connections Darien has with that realm. When he needs something, he asks, and the goblins deliver it to him.”

  “And what do the goblins get out of it?” Phelan asked. The fay never did anything for free, and the cost of having even one goblin at his beck and call would be immense.

  “The goblins get anything left in their realm when Darien dies.”

  “Wow,” Phelan said

  Elliot nodded. “I have only seen a few of the amazing treasures Darien has placed in the goblins’ care. They may have to wait for the payoff, but their patience and service will be well rewarded.”

  Phelan’s eyes narrowed as he thought of the fay and their deviousness. “And what’s to keep the goblins from killing him and getting their reward early?”

  “They wouldn’t dare upset Lady Aine by trying to kill Darien,” Elliot explained. “Besides, it’s in their contract. If the goblins have any connection to Darien’s death, his entire collection will be sent to the dragons.”

  “That would do it.” There was no way the goblins would risk losing their treasures to the dragons. “Does Vicky know her bag leads to a pocket dimension?”

  Elliot laughed. “I truly doubt Darien thought to tell her. He’s had this contract for so long that he’s probably forgotten how special it is.” He paused as he considered the arrangement Darien had. “I’d also suggest you don’t mention this to anyone else. Very few realize the bag is more than it seems. My notes will be held as receipts and given to Darien when he returns from his vacation. If he do
esn’t approve them, the goblins will come after me for their return. And the goblins aren’t very kind to anyone attempting to steal the treasures in their care.”

  While Phelan and Elliot had been chatting, Krissy had slowly backed away from the table and the strange bag. The idea that it held a gateway to another dimension filled with mythical creatures was too much for her to handle. Her backside bumped into one of the bookshelves, and she slid down it to sit on the floor. She pulled her legs up to her chest and tried to contain her desire to call them out on what she could only see as pure fantasy. She had a feeling Elliot would find a way to support his claims. Her sanity wasn’t stable enough to deal with a goblin crawling out of the bag to prove its existence. She closed her eyes and tried to control the hysteria scratching at the edges of her mind. Warmth flowed over her, and she felt Phelan squat down in front of her.

  “Are you all right?”

  Opening her eyes, she looked into his face. Unwilling to trust her voice, she shook her head.

  Phelan gave her a concerned look. “Do you want me to take you home?”

  Krissy stared at him as she weighed her answer. She desperately wanted to take him up on his offer. It would give her the chance to convince herself that the last day had been a wild dream caused by indigestion and exhaustion. She could go back to her life and pretend none of it had actually happened. On the other hand, there was still a lot of work to do. If she wasn’t there to help, the wolves of Brenton might not win. Her eyes traced over the lines of Phelan’s face and she knew that she couldn’t leave him. She was his future and if she left, he wouldn’t have a future. That was something she couldn’t live with. “No,” she said unfolding herself. “I’ll be okay.”

  Standing up, Phelan held his hand down to her. “Are you sure?”

  Taking his hand, Krissy let him help her up. “No,” she admitted. “But we don’t have time to deal with it now. There’s work to be done.”

  Phelan considered her for a moment. She looked a little shaken, but determined to go on. “Okay,” he said. “But let me know if this gets too much for you to handle.”

  Krissy wanted to laugh hysterically. Things were well past the amount she could handle, but she couldn’t back out now. “I will.”

  “Then let’s get started,” Elliot said as he started to gather things up. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

  ***

  Closing her eyes, Krissy sat on the floor and leaned back against the front of the couch. She was completely exhausted from the lack of food and sleep, but the rest of the amulets were complete. Her fingers fell to the warm body beside her, and she scratched at Zak’s dark fur as she listened to Elliot and Phelan bickering in the other room.

  “No,” Elliot reprimanded for the third time. “You need to put the stress on the last half of the word.” He repeated the Latin phrase, putting more emphasis on the part Phelan was missing.

  Krissy smiled as Phelan growled his way through the phrase again, putting in some extra emphasis.

  “You can’t get this wrong,” Elliot emphasized, repeating the phrase.

  “Fine,” Phelan snapped. “You do it!” He stormed out of the sitting room and away from Elliot.

  “Phelan,” Elliot yelled and chased after him. He grabbed Phelan’s arm, stopping him before he could get away. “I can’t. This stuff leaves me powerless.”

  Phelan whipped around and got in Elliot’s face. “I thought you said that you and Darien had taken on daemons before.”

  “We did,” Elliot argued. “But Darien did this part.”

  “He’s a vampire too.”

  Elliot snarled. “Darien isn’t your typical vampire.”

  “No, he’s not,” Phelan said as he turned away from Elliot and crossed his arms over his chest. “He’s a damn monk compared to most of the vampires I know.”

  “You have no idea.” Exasperation filled Elliot’s voice.

  Krissy smiled to herself. This Darien fellow was sounding more interesting all the time. A vampire monk. Now there was a story to be told. She was starting to look forward to meeting this man when he got back.

  “Boys,” Vanessa said as she came out and stood between the disagreeing men.

  Krissy opened her eyes to see how the redhead would deal with the men.

  “Why don’t you take a break?” Vanessa suggested. She reached out and caressed Elliot’s upper arm. “Neither of you have slept or eaten since you got here yesterday. I’m sure this would go a lot better once you’ve had some food.” She laid a soothing hand on Phelan’s arm.

  Irritation hit Krissy as soon as Vanessa’s hand touched Phelan. An aggravated noise rumbled up from Krissy’s chest, surprising her. She sat there, shocked by her own reaction. She’d never been jealous over anyone before. The soft sound drew the attention of both Phelan and Elliot.

  Pulling away from Vanessa’s hand, Phelan came over and knelt down beside Krissy. “Are you all right?”

  A blush formed on Krissy’s cheeks. “I’m fine,” she mumbled. “Just tired.”

  Phelan placed his hand on her shoulder. “Maybe we should take a break.”

  “That sounds like an excellent idea,” Elliot agreed. He came into the living room and looked over the glass table filled with amulets. He picked one up to see it closer. “Are you done?”

  Krissy nodded her head. “All done.”

  “Excellent,” Elliot said, dropping the necklace back to the table. “Then why don’t you and Phelan go take a nap while I arrange for food.”

  “But what about the amulets?” Phelan protested as he glanced over his shoulder at Elliot. “If they’re done, then I need to get them to Rupert and the wolves.”

  “You need to stay and work on your Latin,” Elliot urged. “As soon as it’s dark, I’ll have the twins take them over.”

  Phelan snarled in disapproval and stood to face Elliot. “The twins can’t touch them.” Josh and Jakob had been very helpful in creating the medallions. Their artistic eye and steady hands had been great for copying the symbols on the small disks, but the prayers needed to evoke the disks’ power had left them feeling weak and queasy. “I need to take them,” Phelan insisted.

  “Phelan,” Elliot said, trying to make the wolf see reason. “If you don’t think the twins can handle it, Karl can take them.”

  “Sue needs him here,” Phelan argued.

  “Then I’ll send Vanessa,” Elliot snapped back.

  “No one sends me anywhere!” Vanessa protested. She glared at them, her distaste over the men ordering her around obvious.

  Taking a deep breath, Elliot held his hand up to help soothe the angry woman. “My apologies. I will ask Vanessa.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him.

  “Politely.”

  She nodded her approval.

  “To help the twins make the delivery,” Elliot finished. “They are more than capable of letting Rupert know what’s going on.”

  “But it’s my job,” Phelan protested again.

  “True,” Elliot said, conceding the point. “But what are the chances Rupert will let you return once you’ve told him there’s a daemon possessing his pack?”

  Phelan stopped and considered the situation. It only took a moment to come to the same conclusion Elliot had reached. He let out a defeated breath. “Slim to none.”

  “Exactly,” Elliot said. “You aren’t anywhere near ready to take on this daemon. If you leave now, you will lose.”

  Phelan growled his dislike but could see Elliot’s point. “Fine,” he grumbled. “Then what do you suggest?”

  “Well,” Elliot said thoughtfully. “For starters, I would suggest a nap. You and Miss Midlton could both use some rest.”

  Turning, Phelan looked down at Krissy, who was still sitting on the floor. She did look worn out. “All right,” he agreed and turned to help her from the floor.

  “Use Darien’s room,” Elliot said as he turned to go back into the sitting room. “Everything else is occupied.”

  Phelan sni
ckered as he looked down at the little dog that had been leaning against Krissy’s leg. “Do you think Zak will allow it?” He could recall several times when Zak had made it known that Darien’s room was off limits.

  Elliot snorted in amusement. “Possibly.” He shot Phelan a grin. “I don’t think he’ll give you any troubles as long as you stay out of Vicky’s things.”

  Phelan chuckled.

  Krissy glanced between the two men. She couldn’t see what they found funny, but a nap before dinner sounded divine.

  Taking her hand, Phelan pulled her into motion. “Come on.”

  She followed his lead out into the foyer and up the stairs.

  Zak yipped at her and raced up the steps, leading the way.

  “Are you sure this is okay?” she asked as Phelan guided her along. They turned at the head of the steps and started towards the closed door at the far end of the hall.

  Phelan squeezed her hand gently. “It’ll be fine,” he reassured her as he opened the door. “Actually, it’s probably the only place we’d be able to sleep.”

  Zak gurgled his agreement and scampered in ahead of them.

  “Why’s that?” Krissy asked, peeking around Phelan as he led her into the room. She stopped and stared at the cross hanging on the wall.

  Phelan turned to see what had caused her to pause.

  Krissy pointed at the cross. “Isn’t Darien a vampire?” she asked. She had seen the effects holy items had on Elliot and the twins. The fact there was a huge cross hanging in the vampire’s home boggled her mind.

  A smile split Phelan’s face. “He is.” Phelan pulled on Krissy’s hand so she would start moving again.

  “But… I…” Krissy stammered as she walked. She couldn’t get her tired mind to process things.

  “Darien is a very peculiar vampire,” Phelan said. “I’ll have to introduce you when he gets back.”

  Krissy relaxed and followed Phelan down the short hall. “I’d like that.” Most of what Krissy knew about vampires came from a few mainstream movies and books. Elliot and the twins had blown a lot of that lore out of the water. She couldn’t begin to imagine what an abnormal vampire would be like. A hint of fear tingled at her spine as Phelan led her into the darkened room. What did a vampire’s bedroom look like anyway? She held her breath as Phelan reached around the corner and turned on the lights.