Blood and Fire (31 page)

Dyani’s response was unexpected. “You saw an altered copy. This is a true copy of the original.”

Copied, changed, and re-copied. Not complicated at all. All it required was a home scanner and a few minutes of time.

Hawkson read through the letter twice before handing it to Ari. His voice remained steady but his hand trembled. His eyes brimmed with emotion. “It contains the additional instructions we need. Read it for yourself.” He speared Dyani with a glance. “Why would you conceal this?”

She hunched her shoulders. “I needed the money,” she said in a small voice. “I want to leave the reservation, make my own life. The old ways are not for me. The money from the stone would help me start over.”

“Many young people leave the reservation,” Hawkson said, “but you cannot leave behind who you are.”

Ari read through the document and quickly found Blackhawk’s instructions. She read the new part aloud. “Follow where the arrow flies and pull down the sky.” She frowned. “It’s in the ceiling?”

“How do you hide something in solid rock?” Ryan asked.

“Maybe it’ll make more sense when we look.” Ari glared at Dyani. “Are you withholding anything else?”

“That’s it. Honest.”

Ari was about to question her further when Hawkson unexpectedly broke in. “I believe her. She’s told you everything.”

“Is that a shaman thing or a gut feeling?” Ari eyed him.

“A little of both. Our young ones are caught between two cultures—the world they see on TV and the world of their ancestors, but most of them respect the old spirits. Dyani would not lie to a shaman.”

“Good enough. Ryan, why don’t you stay here with our guests while Gabriel and I go to the caves? We’ll bring back anything we find.”

Everyone started talking at once. It was a good, practical idea, but no one agreed with her except Gabriel. Ryan refused to be left out of the discovery, which left no one to watch Dyani.

“Ok,” Ari said, quieting them with her hands. “I guess we all go.”

While they were on the way, she called Andreas to join them and bring flashlights. The vampire guards would be uncomfortable with such a large party if Andreas wasn’t with them. He agreed to meet at the collapsed entrance. As they made the short hike of ten blocks from the office to the cliffs, Ari kept glancing over her shoulder. She still had that creepy feeling from earlier in the evening. If anything, it was stronger now. As soon as the bloodstone was safe, she’d make another patrol of Goshen Park.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“Is something wrong?” Gabriel whispered, when Ari looked over her shoulder again. Dyani and Hawkson were talking; Ryan was on his cell phone.

“Don’t you feel it?”

Gabriel frowned, looking up at the wisps of cloud edging across the moon. “I thought it was my funky mood.”

“Maybe we’re all just jumpy. You weren’t this quiet earlier. Did something happen at Claris’s?”

“No,” he said with a wry smile. “Hence the funky mood. I behaved myself, being friendly and supportive, as you wished. Claris was definitely glad to see me, but when I gently gave her my spiel about just remaining friends, she quickly agreed. Too quickly. I don’t mind telling you it was nearly a mortal blow to my ego.”

Ari snorted. “Cheer up, Casanova. At least you earned good karma.” She glanced up the path as they approached the cliffs. “Looks like Andreas beat us here.”

The vampire prince waited beside the dwarf at the cave entrance. When introductions were completed and Ari had filled him in on the details of Blackhawk’s letter, Andreas handed flashlights to her and Hawkson. “I hope we have better results tonight. Is everyone ready?” he asked. “Watch your step over this rough section.” He entered the tunnel, and the others followed, winding through the cavern maze until they arrived at the Chamber of Ages.

Ari couldn’t shrug off her oppressive mood. She uneasily scanned the eerie landscape. If anything, the cavern seemed more mysterious tonight. The limestone formations loomed as if they were the stone spirits of mythical beings.

“Any activity?” Andreas asked the guards.

“Nothing, sir. It’s been quiet.” The guard’s reassuring words were interrupted by a loud clanking from the direction of Spirit Cave.

“Stay at your post,” Andreas ordered the guards. Everyone else rushed into the tunnel, nearly colliding when Andreas came to a sudden halt. “The fire shield is up again.”

The rogue coven. So it was their dark presence she’d felt.

Ari pushed to the front of the group, spoke the necessary words to vanquish the spell, and snapped her fingers. The fire disappeared, but Andreas still barred the way. “If the witches are inside, is it safe to enter?”

She pushed past him. “Safe or not, I’m going in there. The rest of you, stay here.” She centered herself, wrapped her magic around her, and climbed into the cave. Andreas followed her; Gabriel was behind him, then the others. So much for staying there.

The High Priestess stood near one wall watching two women attack the ceiling with pick axes. Seven witches stood across the room from her; two of them, including Avery, the woman from Cincinnati, held machine guns. The coven had come prepared.

“Stop right there,” the High Priestess ordered. “Dyani, come to me.”

Ari’s jaw dropped as the young tribal woman stepped forward. She hadn’t seen this coming. Gabriel seized Dyani by the arm to stop her.

“Don’t look so surprised,” the priestess said. “Didn’t you wonder how we were always one step ahead of you? Although she held out on us, too, until she couldn’t do it alone. Dyani, come.” The High Priestess turned a glittering look on Dyani, and the woman struggled against Gabriel’s hold.

Andreas began to edge along the outer wall.

“Arianna, tell your vampires to stay where they are and release the girl—or she will die right now. Painfully.”

Ari took a look at Dyani’s face. Slack, unfocused. “Let her go. She’s been bewitched. Her mind and body are under the priestess’s control. She’ll do whatever she’s ordered to do, even die.”

Andreas stopped where he was. Gabriel released his captive, and Dyani shuffled across the room to stand before the High Priestess.

“You were told to delay them,” the priestess said. “Not lead them straight to me. They must have convinced you to show them the letter.”

Dyani nodded; her voice held no inflection. “Yes, I told them.”

“Weakling.” A loud slap echoed as the High Priestess left a red handprint on Dyani’s left cheek. “Do not disobey me again. Kneel beside me until I want you.”

Dyani barely flinched but knelt to obey.

“You don’t need to treat her like that,” Ari snapped. The witch acted more like a dominatrix than a High Priestess. This was not the way a true leader used her power.

Ignoring Dyani, the High Priestess turned her attention to Ari, settled there for one moment, then moved to her companions. Her gaze stopped at Hawkson. “If any of you can decipher the puzzle and speed up this process, I advise you to do so. My patience is running thin.” She moved her hand to Dyani’s bowed head. “Does someone have to die before you take me seriously?”

Sophistrina stepped sideways. “Please, your Highness, let me take care of Dyani.”

The priestess scowled. “You grow too soft, Sophistrina. Beware I don’t decide to replace you.”

Ari heard a stifled gasp, although she couldn’t identify which of the witches had reacted. First Initiates were never replaced, except by their death. Ari felt a wave of disgust. The High Priestess was so caught up in a power trip that she was threatening a sister witch. In most covens that transgression, even by the leader, would be met with expulsion.

“What is taking so long?” The priestess suddenly turned her wrath on the witches hacking at the ceiling. “You.” She pointed to Hawkson. “And you.” She nudged Dyani with her foot. “Take over for them.”

Dyani rose and picked up an axe. Hawkson stood mute.

“If you defy me, the girl dies.”

Hawkson stepped forward and grabbed the other axe handle. He suddenly swung it toward the coven leader, striking her shoulder a glancing blow as she leaped away.

Everyone exploded into action, and one of the witches shouted, “Stop! I’ll shoot.” A rifle barked, one round catching Gabriel in the right leg. Andreas leaped in front of Ari, using his body to shield her against the gunfire. He took two rounds, staggered, and recovered almost immediately. Hawkson aimed a second swing at the priestess, but an animalistic shriek tore through the room. Everyone froze, staring at the blood flowing from Dyani’s eyes, ears, and mouth. A psychic attack.

“No. Stop hurting her.” Hawkson dropped the axe and threw himself across the young woman. “Don’t kill her. It’s my fault.” He pleaded with the priestess as he pulled Dyani into his arms. “We are so few. It’s me you should punish.”

Ari knelt next to Hawkson, but it was already too late. Dyani’s chest heaved in a last gasp, her eyes glazed over.

Fighting the impulse to unleash the lethal power of her fire magic and risk incinerating them all, Ari sprang toward the priestess. A loud rush of pressure deafened her ears as a magical fist hit her, knocking her to the floor. Ari rolled to her feet, her face tight with rage. “As a rep of the Magic Council, I’m officially declaring you a renegade.” Twin blue stuns erupted from her hands, striking the priestess in the chest and abdomen and smashing her against the far wall. Ari rushed forward to stand over the sprawled form. She thrust one hand out, pointing her sparking fingers toward the witch’s heart.

“The fight is over. Or I will burn you where you are.” To remove any doubts, she glanced over her shoulder at the huddled witches. “All of you, if I have to. This ends here.”

The priestess stared up at her, resistance written across her face. “You wouldn’t.”

“I would.” Ari let her see it in her eyes.

“Listen to her.” Sophistrina stepped forward to appeal to her sisters. “If not, listen to me. This has gone too far.”

The witches looked uncertain at first, then followed Sophistrina’s lead. When they turned their weapons over to Ryan, the priestess finally lowered her head in defeat. Ryan unloaded each gun and handed them to Hawkson. Andreas and Gabriel took charge of the priestess, pulling her to her feet and marching her toward the entrance.

“I think we should get out of here. Something is not right,” Andreas said.

He felt it too? That creepy feeling? Ari’s witch magic spiked. But they had the situation under control, didn’t they?

“What about the girl?” Hawkson jerked his head toward Dyani’s body. “We can’t leave her here.”

“I will have her body brought to the surface.” Andreas urged the others toward the entrance. “Just go.”

“Take the lead.” Ari pushed Ryan ahead of her. “It feels claustrophobic in here.”

Ryan seemed puzzled, but he climbed through the exit. Ari couldn’t explain her sense of urgency—or why Andreas shared it, but she knew she didn’t want to get trapped inside the small room. She urged Hawkson to follow Ryan, then came Gabriel, who had dropped back to escort Sophistrina. Andreas, still maintaining a firm grasp on the priestess, led the remaining coven members, and Ari took the rear. She breathed a sigh of relief when she climbed out of Spirit Cave and followed the others toward the Chamber of Ages.

“Where are the guards?” Andreas’s sharp voice reached back to her.

Holy crap. Ari’s magic flared, sending adrenaline racing through her system. She pushed through the last of the witches and burst into the chamber. The unmistakable, putrid odor of decay hit her. A thin, black fog hung over the room, menace clinging to every particle of air, making it hard to breathe.

Ryan drew his pistol. “Anybody there?” he called. He moved sideways to look behind the nearest formations.

Ari whirled toward a power surge at the far corner of the room.

“Right here.” Ursula emerged from among the columns, like an alien warship decloaking for battle. Blood glistened on her lips and chin, emphasizing the gothic effect of her long, black gown. She dragged one of the vampire guards by the throat. A detached head, rapidly decomposing, dangled from her other hand.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“Run! Get out of here,” Ari shouted. Images from the Canadian massacre raced through her head. Hawkson and part of the coven members scattered, scrambling for safety.

Ryan emptied his pistol into Ursula, aiming at areas away from the hand clutching her live victim—the head, the opposite shoulder, her upper chest. The vampiress didn’t even look at him. Ari ran toward Ryan and grabbed his arm. “Stop. You can’t kill her with that. You’ll only piss her off. I need you to get the others to safety.”

“I’ll try to protect them, but I’m not leaving you.” Ryan was calm but determined as he reloaded. “No way.” He turned and urged Hawkson and the witches, including the priestess who had been discarded by Andreas, toward the back of the chamber.

Andreas was confronting Ursula, standing in her path. “Why are you here?”

“I’m afraid one of your friends has been damaged.” The enforcer stopped a dozen feet from Andreas and swung the detached head by its hair. “But you can have it back if you want.” She tossed it in the air.

The last of the coven who had stood fast, watching in horror, now darted back, squealing, to avoid the grotesque missile.

Andreas didn’t so much as flinch. Ari and Gabriel moved forward to flank him on either side. “You are not above vampiric law, Ursula. You have entered my territory without permission and now you have committed murder.” His firm voice exhibited none of the panic that had hit the rest if the room.

Ursula cackled. “Oh, Andreas, you are so entertaining. Hoping to stand on protocol? Are you really demanding that I forfeit my life?”

“Your actions have already done that. Why are you here?”

She laughed, then waggled a finger at him. “You have been a naughty boy.” The amused smirk was belied by the malevolent blood-red haze swirling in her aura. “You have annoyed the elders. You and Daron and your witch. I was sent to solve the problem.”

“You delivered the official warning in Toronto.”