Darkfire Kiss (23 page)

Again.

To his astonishment, that sign came.

The door to the garden opened then, and Eileen stepped into the kitchen, looking tired. Zoë charged across the tiled floor, full of energy, and made a beeline for Rafferty. She climbed into his lap, as charming and demanding as always, and locked her chubby fingers around the black and white ring he wore. He dared to hope she would provide guidance to him, as she had before.

Instead, she turned to sit on his lap and considered Melissa with her clear gaze.

“You must be the new mate,” Eileen said, shedding her coat. She tried to cover her yawn without success. “I’m feeling like an ancient mate this morning. Word to the wise—think twice before taking a two-year-old on a night flight from Chicago to London. On such an adventure, the last thing she’ll do is sleep.” She smiled and winked at Melissa, yawning once again before she offered her hand. “Eileen Grosvenor. Miss Energy there is our daughter, Zoë. I’m hoping she slides into a deep sleep any minute now, but chances appear to be slim.”

“Melissa Smith.” Melissa stood and shook Eileen’s hand.

“Oh, you’re the blogger,” Eileen said, and feigned consternation. Erik, still grim faced, poured her a coffee, and she blew him a kiss as she accepted it. His attitude wasn’t visibly affected by her gesture, so Rafferty knew he was deeply troubled.

Eileen sipped and closed her eyes in rapture. “You always have such good coffee, Rafferty,” she murmured, then smiled at Melissa, her eyes widening. “I’ve heard lots about you.”

“Do you want toast?” Erik asked gruffly.

“Yes, please.” Eileen took Erik’s place and smiled across the table at Melissa. “Don’t let them intimidate you. So long as we’re human and mates—neither of which is likely to change soon—they’re pledged to defend us, even if they do get grumpy.” She picked an orange out of the fruit bowl and peeled it, handing the segments to Zoë. The little girl hung on to Rafferty’s ring, smiled, and ate with obvious pleasure.

Rafferty was less pleased. He waited with some impatience for a vision that never arrived.

The last time Zoë had grasped his ring, she’d given him a vision. He’d hoped that she’d seized it now to give him some indication of how to proceed. But there was nothing, not a glimmer of a dream, not a hint of a vision.

“Orge,” she said firmly to Melissa.

Melissa smiled at the toddler. “She likes your ring.”

“She adores Rafferty,” Eileen supplied.

“It’s only fitting that she likes the ring,” Rafferty said, realizing at Erik’s sigh that he’d said too much again. There was no chance Melissa would let that reaction slide.

“Why? What’s the deal with that ring, anyway? How does it change size to fit when you’re a dragon?”

“It seems to have some magical powers,” Rafferty said, contenting himself with that response. He was keenly aware of Erik’s presence and his view that nothing more should be told to Melissa. Rafferty himself was torn. He couldn’t see a way forward without confiding in Melissa, but he didn’t want to rile Erik even more.

He’d have to pick and choose. For the moment, he wouldn’t explain that the ring had been formed of the bodies of Sophie, the last Wyvern, and her lover, Nikolas, the Dragon’s Teeth Warrior. The pair had sacrificed themselves in ensuring the destruction of Magnus’s academy, and all that remained was this ring. It looked like black glass spun with white, a perfect reminder of the white perfection of Sophie’s dragon form and the fierce black of Nikolas’s dragon form.

Ice and anthracite, forever entwined in the ring as they could not have been while alive.

“Like what?” Melissa asked.

“Let’s focus on darkfire, shall we?” Erik interjected.

In the same moment, Melissa frowned. “Wait a minute.” Melissa indicated Eileen. “If you’re a mate, and this is your child, is she a
Pyr
, too? Are there female dragons? I’ve seen only men.”

Silence reigned for a moment, filling the kitchen and Rafferty’s ears.

“You ask too many questions,” Erik said tightly.

“That’s what happens when you hunt the truth,” Melissa replied smoothly.

Erik leaned closer. “You will put our very survival in jeopardy. It’s happened before.”

“It looks to me like our goals can be combined,” she countered.

“How so?”

Rafferty admired that Melissa was undaunted. She spoke in a calm tone. “I met Rafferty because I was determined to expose Montmorency as the arms dealer he is, and to bring him to justice.”

“He killed a friend of Melissa’s,” Rafferty supplied, and Erik nodded.

Melissa tapped her pen, obviously thinking. “But Rafferty is right—no jail would hold him, given his ability to shift into a salamander and to spontaneously manifest wherever he wants. On the other hand, Rafferty’s attempt to finish their duel by killing Montmorency was caught on video.”

Erik passed a hand over his brow. “So we are not just revealed but reviled. Again.”

“Not necessarily,” Melissa and Rafferty said in unison.

“You have an idea,” Eileen said, her eyes bright.

“I’m getting to it,” Melissa agreed. “The thing is that the fight between Rafferty and Montmorency didn’t just attract human attention. It brought this topaz guy out of the woodwork.”

“Jorge,” Erik supplied. “Another
Slayer
.”

“And minion of Magnus,” Rafferty supplied.

Melissa scribbled all of that down before she continued. “But they came off looking like heroes.” She pointed her pen at Rafferty. “While you were cast as the bad guy.”

Rafferty grimaced. “It is not familiar territory for me.”

Melissa’s lips set. “I think the immediate problem is Montmorency. We don’t know where he is, but we do know he is sworn to kill Rafferty.”

“Or be killed himself,” Rafferty confirmed.

Melissa sat back, pushing her notes across the table. “So what would draw him out? What would make him come to you, the way Jorge came to him?”

Rafferty stared at her in horror. Eileen dropped a spoon, and Erik’s eyes glittered.

“You want to lure him to us?” Rafferty asked.

“He’s injured, isn’t he? Doesn’t that make him weaker? It only makes sense that time will let him heal, which will make him tougher to kill.” Melissa frowned. “He was already hurt after the helicopter. Why did he attack you after you saved me? You would have finished him there, if not for Jorge.”

“Maybe he knew Jorge was coming to his rescue,” Eileen suggested.

Rafferty shook his head. “No. He was shocked by Jorge’s appearance, and I sensed that he was not certain of Jorge’s objectives.” His frown deepened. “I’m not certain myself why Jorge would come to Magnus’s aid. I had always thought his own ambition was to become leader of the
Slayers
.”

“Why not let you do the dirty work?” Erik mused.

“So, there’s another variable,” Melissa said, adding a question mark beside Jorge’s name on her list. “We have to anticipate that Jorge will follow if we manage to coax Magnus out of hiding.”

Erik rubbed his chin. “So, your scheme is to lure Magnus closer, then let Rafferty fulfill his blood challenge.”

“Yes. One less opponent in the world can’t be all bad, and we’ll be sure Rafferty isn’t directly targeted.”

Eileen leaned forward. “And if darkfire really does require that everything change, then eliminating the leader of the
Slayers
could be part of fulfilling its prophecy.”

Erik flicked a stern look at Melissa. “If it happens, it must occur without human observation.”

Melissa winced. “Actually, I was thinking just the opposite. You guys have really bad PR right now, but the truth is a great story. Guardians of the elements, safeguarding the treasures of the earth, which include humanity. It’s a fabulous green story and would really resonate for people.”

“No.” Erik pushed to his feet. “It’s out of the question.”

Melissa stood up herself. “Is it? What if the change required by the darkfire is having humans not only know you’re in their midst but also help you with your mission? What if the way for you to succeed in saving the planet lies in having a couple billion of us on your side?”

“It makes sense,” Rafferty said softly, and Melissa flashed him a smile.

Erik paced, his disapproval clear. “No. It makes no sense. We will be hunted again. We have been driven to the cusp of extinction before, and I will not lead us there again.”

“But you don’t have a choice,” Melissa retorted. “The story’s already out there. You can’t make it disappear. All you can do is add to it in your own defense.”

“I don’t like it!” Erik protested, his eyes flashing.

“Tell us your idea before any decisions are made,” Eileen said to Melissa, her hand landing on her partner’s arm.

“It’s the book that will do it,” Melissa said excitedly.

“What book?” Eileen asked.

“Montmorency kept a book documenting his activities and appointments as an arms dealer,” Melissa said.

“We have it,” Rafferty said.

“We can use his own records against him, show him for the sinister force he is, review his crimes, then destroy him and make the world safe for humanity.” She flung up her hands. “You guys will be heroes, fighters for justice, and probably superstars.”

“The book will draw him, as will the threat of being revealed,” Rafferty mused. “It drew him before.”

“Never mind the firestorm,” Eileen added. She wagged a finger at Melissa. “Your plan could work. Magnus would be destroyed, Rafferty would be safe, with the blood duel satisfied, the
Slayers
would be short a leader, and the
Pyr
would look good in the public eye. That’s got to make some progress in satisfying darkfire’s demand to turn everything topsy-turvy.”

“I have seen the repercussions from our being revealed,” Erik insisted, his arms folded across his chest. “I have survived the mania among humans for hunting and slaughtering our kind once before, and I will not let it happen again.” Erik pointed at Rafferty. “You will tell her nothing more!”

“But that’s the whole point of darkfire, isn’t it?” Melissa replied, her tone cool. “What’s the biggest upset that could happen? That you could be revealed. And it’s happened already. Okay, that can’t be changed. What can be made of it? What advantage can you gain from it?” She leaned across the table to confront Erik. “If you tell the truth to the world, they’ll be on your side.”

“Erik, that hunting happened a long time ago,” Eileen suggested softly. “The world is a different place.”

“It is less different from what you imagine,” he retorted. “Surely you do not take this view, as well?”

Eileen also held his gaze without apology. Rafferty saw how much this shook Erik, and he recognized that his old friend was under tremendous duress.

What else had occurred?

“I have said I will tell Melissa about the darkfire,” Rafferty reminded Erik quietly. “I will keep my word.”

“Regardless of the cost?”

Rafferty nodded. Erik pivoted and leveled a look at Rafferty that was all-glittering dragon fury.

“
Because she might be right
,” Rafferty added in old-speak.

Erik’s nostrils flared ever so slightly, and Rafferty thought he saw a puff of smoke. Then the leader of the
Pyr
excused himself and left the kitchen, marching up the stairs to the bedroom he always occupied when he was visiting.

“
I will not participate in such folly
,” Erik said in oldspeak just before slamming the door of that room.

Rafferty knew that Erik would be able to hear their conversation even at that distance; he was merely making a point.

“Well.” Eileen cleared her throat, her gaze falling on Zoë. “I don’t see any harm in answering your question about Zoë. There should be only one female
Pyr
at any given time, and she should be a prophetess.”

“Among other things,” Rafferty added.

“Should be?” Melissa asked, once again homing in on the most important words. Rafferty once again admired his mate’s intellect and perceptiveness.

Eileen shrugged. “The thing is that Zoë is just a little girl.”

“She hasn’t come into her powers yet?” Melissa asked.

“Or maybe she doesn’t have any,” Eileen replied. “Maybe the prophecy is wrong, and she’s just a little girl.” She calmly ate her toast even as Rafferty stared at her in shock.

Zoë had given him a dream before. Were those fledgling powers gone before they had fully blossomed? How could this be?

He guessed the answer immediately.

“
Since she began to talk, she doesn’t respond to old-speak
,” Erik confided in old-speak.
“And I have sensed no dreams coming from her these past two months.”
He sighed, and Rafferty heard his old friend’s exhaustion.
“All goes awry, Rafferty. Mind you don’t join the tide.”

Rafferty looked down at the toddler, who was on the verge of sleep. She leaned against him, snuggling close as her hand fell to the tabletop. The orange segment in her grasp dropped, and Rafferty let it fall to the floor rather than disturb her. Her lids were drooping, and Eileen held up a pair of crossed fingers.

Zoë’s grip loosened on his ring, the ring she had always liked, and she put her fist in her mouth as she fell asleep. His hope died as she slumbered, and he knew she would provide no guidance to him in this moment.

Worse, Rafferty had a terrible sense that Zoë’s burgeoning abilities were another sacrifice to the darkfire. That was the variable that made his choice. He had to stop the darkfire before the
Pyr
lost everything they held dear.

And that meant confiding fully in Melissa, whatever the cost might ultimately be. The darkfire would accept no half measures until it was satisfied.

Rafferty knew what he had to do.

Eileen yawned and stood up. She smiled at Melissa. “I’m sorry, but I’m dead on my feet. I think Erik has the right idea. We’ll all make more sense after some sleep.” She came around the table, reaching to lift Zoë from Rafferty’s lap. The toddler yawned and fussed a bit at the transition, then nestled against Eileen’s shoulder and slept again. “You’re not getting any lighter, are you?” Eileen murmured, then waved her fingertips at Rafferty and Melissa.