Blood and Fire

by Ally Shields

  “Can do, but sometime soon I’d like to see this secret cave. It might help me understand why finding this artifact is so tough.” He pulled up the collar of his jacket. “So far, I don’t get it. How many places are there to look in a room made of rock?”

  “You’ll understand when you see it.” She darted a look at Andreas. “If he has permission to go.”

  Andreas nodded. “Granted. As long as he is with you, no one will question it.”

  “OK. Soon,” she promised Ryan. “But not tonight. You’re needed out here.”

  The cop nodded and got back to work. Andreas and Ari squeezed through the newly dug entrance and followed Gabriel into the caverns.

  Dust from the cave-in hung in the air and tickled Ari’s throat. She covered her nose and mouth with part of her jacket until they were more than five minutes from the collapse.

  It was mostly a silent trip. While the vampires tried to smell or sense their missing vampire comrades, Ari stayed quiet so she wouldn’t interfere with their concentration. She reached out with tendrils of her own magic but gave up after the first moments. Too much vampiric activity in and around the caves. If there was trace to find, Andreas and Gabriel had a better chance of distinguishing the missing vamps from the other magics.

  They stopped briefly in the Chamber of Ages. The room was empty and eerily quiet.

  “Two guards were assigned,” Andreas said. “One here, one just inside the entrance. I had hoped the entrance guard had retreated here when the collapse occurred.” He turned around, scanning the room, although they already knew no one was there. No bones. Not even a pile of bone dust. It was like the vampires had never been there. “I want every tunnel searched.”

  “It’s already being done.” Gabriel shrugged at Andreas’s sharp look. “I knew you’d expect it. We have to be sure.”

  Andreas turned toward Spirit Cave. “I want to see the fire barrier.”

  Ari and Gabriel followed his lead. She immediately saw the glow of the fire flickering against the rocky walls. Andreas stopped six feet from the flames, and Ari moved up beside him. She studied the firewall a moment, using her magical senses to assess the danger, before stepping forward. Heat seemed to scorch her face. She closed her mind to what she was seeing and thrust one hand into the flames. The feeling of heat dissipated.

  “It’s not real. Only an illusion.” She looked back at her vampire companions. “They counted on the fact you’d never approach it.” She raised a cautionary hand to delay their questions and closed her lashes. Reaching out with witch power, she searched for traces of the spellmaker. She found the same multiple threads folded into one that she’d felt before.

  And a face. Time-worn, harsh, eyes glittering at her with anger.

  Ari gasped, and her eyes popped open.

  “What did you see?” Andreas stepped close beside her, smart enough not to touch her when her witch blood was so energized.

  “The High Priestess.”

  “What High Priestess?” Gabriel asked. “I hadn’t heard about any priestess. Is this some Indian thing again?”

  “A witch thing. I hadn’t seen her face until now, but I was pretty sure at the cave-in that a black magic witches’ coven was involved. The High Priestess is their leader.” Ari lifted her chin. “The Priestess knows I’m here now, and she’s not happy about it.” Ari’s fingertips sparked, and she clenched them into fists. “That makes two of us. I won’t have her practicing her dark craft in my territory.” Ari took two cleansing breaths to calm herself before turning her concentration inward. She muttered a short incantation and snapped her fingers. The fire in the cave entrance vanished. As she looked up, she responded to the astonished look on the vampires’ faces. “It wasn’t a very complicated spell. Its only purpose was to keep vampires away. Let’s see if they did any damage to the cave.”

  Andreas’s immediate concern was the security breach. “I saw no sign of a struggle. How did the witches get past security without raising an alarm?”

  “I can only think of one way. They teleported. Caught the guards without warning.” Ari climbed into Spirit Cave. “But I want to know what they were doing. They wouldn’t have conjured a barrier unless they hoped to keep you out while they were doing something else.” She scrutinized the debris that covered the carved symbol and let out a pent-up breath. No sign of disturbance, but she felt the residue of the coven’s presence all around her.

  “Can they do that? The teleport thing?” Gabriel looked rather awed, but his mouth firmed in worry. “It sounds like they could pop in anywhere.” He gave a wary glance over his shoulder.

  “It would take a lot of coordinated effort. And a powerful priestess. But yes, a strong coven willing to use the necessary black magic incantation could do that.” She studied the rest of the room, moving her hands over the air surface to feel the energy vibrations. “I don’t feel a disturbance of the ley lines. No one has attempted to use the vortex to transport in or out. But the room is tainted with the coven’s corruption. They must be looking for the bloodstone.” She pressed a finger against her lower lip. “But why? Unless they hope to harness its power.”

  Andreas frowned. “Is that possible? To take the power of an amulet and use it to enhance their own?”

  Ari lifted her shoulders in a classic I-don’t-know gesture. “It’s not unheard of. I’m not familiar with the bloodstone’s magic, but if I had to guess, I’d say a witch with the proper training in earth magic could do it. The coven must know the history of the stone—enough to know it’s here, so I’m sure they’ve studied its abilities. And they’ve concluded it would be useful.” She frowned in thought. “But for what? I don’t understand why they need more power.”

  Both vampires stared at her. “Is the answer not obvious?” Andreas asked. “Power draws to power. Those who have it usually want more of it.”

  “Not witches. That’s not how we think. At least not white witches. Maybe the black magic has affected that too. All witches become more powerful as we learn to use and control our magic. And, that’s a good thing, a source of pride even, but power is a by-product of perfecting our craft for most of us. Not a goal. It’s almost unheard of for a coven to aggressively seek an outside source, especially in someone else’s territory.” She shook her head in disbelief. “When we’re done here, I’ll call Moriana, my former witch mentor in St. Louis. Maybe she’ll have some insight on this kind of coven behavior. It’s totally foreign to me.” Ari moved to the area where she knew the Indian carving was under her feet. “For now, I want to test the theory Gabriel and I discussed.”

  She held her right arm out following the sight line of the extra piece that angled north and slightly east from the top of the lightning symbol. When she was certain she had it right, she wiggled her fingers and fired the lowest-level stun of her witch fire. A pale blue line of energy arced from her fingers toward a crack in the far wall.

  “What are you doing?” Andreas raised his voice. “Is someone in here?”

  She heard a pop as the stun struck something. “No, I’m sorry. I should have warned you. I’m just trying to follow the line.” She ran over to peer in the crevice and saw a burn mark on the back wall of the shallow opening. She stuck her hand in and felt around.

  Gabriel was right beside her, explaining their theory to Andreas. “We thought the extra line might be a pointer, and the bloodstone would be at the end.” He looked hopefully at Ari. “Feel anything?”

  She shook her head, her ponytail swaying from side to side, as she continued to explore the hole. “Not yet. We looked in here before and found nothing, but it’s kind of a little pocket in the rock. There’s room to hide something.” Hope seeped into her voice. “There’s something in the silt on the bottom.” She searched blindly with her fingertips. “Never mind. Just a rock. The sides seem solid.” She pointed the flashlight up and put her head close to the opening, peering inside. “The top looks like it goes up about a foot. That’s all.” She pulled her hand out and stepped back, disapp
ointment filling her. “Nothing but dirt.” She wiped her hand on her jeans. “Sorry, Gabriel, I guess we need to come up with another theory. But it was a great idea.”

  “Oh, sure.” Gabriel snorted. “Wound me with faint praise. Great ideas don’t count for much. I was hoping for at least gold doubloons. Couldn’t Blackhawk hide his little stone in a pile of genuine pirate treasure?”

  Ari curved her lips in response to Gabriel’s attempt to lighten the mood. She gazed around the room. The bloodstone was here somewhere. Why couldn’t they find it? They’d checked every hole and crack. There simply weren’t any places they hadn’t already searched.

  Had they misread Blackhawk’s words? Had someone found and stolen the bloodstone years ago? Was it only residual magic she felt? What did the coven know that she didn’t?

  Ari turned toward the entrance. She needed to find the coven and demand some answers, but she didn’t want to go unprepared. Black witches were out of her expertise. A little advice from a more experienced witch just might be what she needed. Moriana knew everything.

  * * *

  Or almost everything. Ari called her witch mentor the moment they reached Andreas’s office at the club, but the St. Louis witch couldn’t give her the answers she wanted, only words of caution. “Practitioners of the dark arts don’t think like we do, witchling. Black magic demands a payment, a piece of your soul. It corrupts those who use it. If you must find them, perform your scrying spell during their evening rituals. The High Priestess’s trace will be strongest then.” Moriana hesitated. “Be very careful, Arianna. A bad witch can be worse than a demon.”

  After the conversation ended, Ari couldn’t shake Moriana’s chilling words. Her former teacher held awesome powers and rarely considered the risks from other beings. Moriana’s warning had put Ari on edge.

  “Worrying won’t help.” Andreas rose from his desk, glided across the room, and placed his arms around her. “I can see her words upset you, but there is little more you can do tonight. Why don’t you go home and rest? I will continue to search for the missing guards. If there is news, I will let you know.”

  She rested her cheek against the front of his shirt, listening to his steady heartbeat as she allowed him to shoulder their problems, at least for the moment. It was a vulnerability she never quite shared with anyone else.

  “I might do that. But I want to stop at my apartment first to pick up the scrying bowl. I’ll need it to track the coven.”

  He stiffened. “Perhaps I should go with you. If the witches are as powerful as you say, none of us should be alone.”

  “Your people need you here, helping with the search for the guards. I’ll be fine. It’s just a quick stop.”

  “Will you take Russell and Lilith with you?”

  Instead of arguing, Ari nodded, and he seemed satisfied. Truthfully, she was glad to have the company of the werelion husband-and-wife team. The ex-mercenaries not only provided security for the supper club but had become good friends over the last year. Normally working days, they’d been called in to cover the club when Andreas took most of his staff to the cavern collapse. Now he was back, and they were free to leave.

  She found the lions next door in the security room. Lilith perched on the desk, her spiky black hair even more rumpled than usual. Russell’s stormy face showed they’d been arguing. Not unusual for them. And not so different from Ari and Andreas. Lilith had pointed out the similarities ad nauseam. At least they agreed the making up was usually worth the preceding fireworks.

  “Want to go for a walk?” she asked, coming in unannounced. “I plan to pick up some things from my apartment, and, well…you know Andreas.”

  “He’s worried about trouble,” Lilith finished.

  “I’m coming,” Russell growled and sprang to his feet. “Anything rather than sit here. I hope somebody gives me an excuse to take them down.”

  “Hey, Russell. Chill out. I doubt if we’ll see any hostiles.” When Ari noticed the gun he was shoving into his belt, her lips twitched. “I hope you don’t plan to shoot strangers on the street.”

  Russell looked startled, then grinned. “Overeager, huh? When there’s trouble I hate sitting behind a desk. It makes me irritable.”

  “You can say that again. We were working up to a knock-down, drag-out fight over nothing.”

  Ari rolled her eyes. “As if you didn’t love it. Come on. Let’s go.”

  The streets were nearly deserted, and within minutes, Ari turned the key in her apartment lock. The instant the door swung open she leaped backward into the hallway. In reaction, Russell and Lilith pulled their guns, stepping sideways to avoid a potential line of fire from inside the apartment.

  “Witches,” Ari hissed. She listened, reaching out with her magic. “I think they’re gone, but stay here.”

  “Not gonna happen,” Lilith whispered.

  Russell didn’t bother to say anything. He slipped around the women and disappeared into the darkened room. Ari followed close behind, flipping on the light switch. Without another word, they quickly checked her efficiency apartment. Ari took the bath, Lilith the closet, Russell looked under the bed. Finding nothing, Ari stood with her hands on her hips and surveyed the kitchen floor.

  “How childish.” Potions and ingredients usually stored in her pantry had been swept off the shelves. Jars opened and dumped. They’d made a mess. No real harm done, but the coven had thumbed their collective noses at her. Ari was pissed. “It’s almost as if they’re daring me to try to stop them. Why are they making this personal?”

  “Maybe they were simply looking for something in a hurry. An ingredient for a spell or a potion.”

  “I have nothing rare. Claris has all of this stuff in her greenhouse. Any greenhouse in town carries the same. No, I think this was deliberate. They’re sending me a message.” She grabbed her broom and a roll of paper towels. With Lilith and Russell helping, it didn’t take long to tidy up. As Ari picked up the last pieces of broke glass, she cut her finger and mumbled something about burning witches at the stake.

  “Now I know where the expression of the pot calling the kettle black came from. Had to be a witch fight,” Russell said. Ari gave him a pointed look, but his chuckle broke the tension. She shook off the biggest chunk of her anger when she discovered the contents of her trunk hadn’t been disturbed.

  “But they’ve only made me more determined to find them.” She pulled out her scrying bowl, candles, and crystals, piled them in an empty box and stood. “And when I do, we’re going to have a little chat about this intrusion.” She looked at her friends with a pugnacious set to her chin. “I don’t like strangers touching my stuff.”

  Before they left her apartment, she warded the windows and doors. It wouldn’t keep the coven from paying another visit, but if they did, the screech alarm she’d included would bring the police. It would serve them right.

  Upon arrival at Andreas’s home, she repeated the warding spells and the screech alarms. He had installed the latest electronic gadgets, but most of them wouldn’t pick up witches who could move around by teleportation. Ari said good night to the lions, alerted the weretiger security team of her concerns, and dropped into bed. Bella snuggled beside her, and Ari slept soundly until Andreas woke her when it was nearly dawn.

  As soon as she realized who it was, she took her hand off the derringer under her pillow.

  He sat down next to her. “I am pleased to find you safely in bed. Russell told me about your apartment. The witches are growing brazen.”

  “Your vampire guards?” she asked, sitting up.

  His face clouded. “Nothing. I cannot feel their life force, nor can their nest leader. And yet, I do not feel their loss.”

  Understanding, Ari lifted a hand to touch his cheek. “Then there is hope.”

  Whenever someone died, a tiny hole was created in the universe. Sensitives, including most Otherworlders, noticed those pinpricks. Especially if the deceased was close, by friendship or proximity. It was a good thing that
Andreas and their nest leader couldn’t sense their deaths. Probably. But something unexplained had happened, and Ari knew who to ask. All she had to do was find the coven. Her best chance would be tomorrow night, under the light of the moon.

  Chapter Ten

  Ari woke on Monday morning thinking about another aspect of the case. She’d seen Dyani’s face in her dreams last night, and that usually meant something. She would need to talk with the Indian woman one more time before the crew left town.

  The agreement Ryan had made with the film crew’s attorneys expired today, and the crew would be free to fly to the next filming site or wherever else they wanted to go. Before that happened, Ari hoped they could convince Dyani to reveal what she knew about the bloodstone. The more Ari thought about the likelihood of a brand-new Indian consultant on the crew not knowing of Barron’s intentions, the more skeptical she became.

  Ari discussed it with Ryan, and he immediately called the River Vista Inn. The crew was still in residence, as the flight taking them to New York for Jase Barron’s funeral wouldn’t leave until afternoon. Ryan agreed to meet Ari in the hotel lobby.

  It didn’t take long to find Dyani and three other members of the crew at the hotel pool. Rico and Tom were swimming laps; Sara and Dyani relaxed in the loungers. Ryan asked Dyani to join them at a poolside table away from the others.

  Noticeably reluctant, she stood and followed them. She sat stiffly in the chair, her face wary, with tiny puckers marring her forehead. “I’ve told you everything I know.”

  “Then you shouldn’t have a problem with repeating it again.” Ryan gave her his stern cop face. “Before we start, I want to caution you it is a serious offense to interfere with a police investigation by withholding information.”

  The young woman sighed. “Didn’t we go through all that before?”

  Ari sat back and watched Dyani while Ryan detailed the penalties, making them sound much worse than they were. By the time he finished, Dyani had lost her composure and her nut-brown complexion was pale.