Coldstorm (Heart of a Vampire, Book 7) (16 page)

The opposite groups rushed together. They slammed into one another with sickening thuds of pounding flesh.

Anca muttered under her breath, "
Să te ia dracu!
"

If only the devil really would take them.

When she was only ten or so feet away, she threw up a protective barrier, then shoved a taste of Council magic toward the brawling Arcaine.

The fighting slowed. A few turned her way, dismissed her in a quick glance, and jumped back into the fray.

Sometimes it didn't pay to be taken so lightly.

Anca dropped the cloak hiding her magic, just a bit, and filled her command with power. "By order of the Magic Council, all of you will stop immediately."

With her magic washing over them, most of the vampires and shifters drew back as if an invisible wall had sprung up between them. Except for one of the clan vampires, locked in a bloody wrestling match with an overgrown, sleekly furred, silver and black wolf.

Readying her magic, Anca strode between the groups, following the imaginary line. When she reached the fighters, she recognized the vampire.

Leo. The castle guard with the missing sister.

Anca grabbed the back of his neck tightly. As her palm touched his skin, she sent a shock of power through him. He froze.

In the same instant, she turned her gaze on the wolf.

"Back off." Baring her fangs, she let her status as a Council representative flow over the entire hushed group on a wave of power.

The pulse of their dark anger dimmed. Sharp emotions began to ease.

Jerking Leo back by his neck, Anca drew him close and asked sweetly, "Explain why Laws are being broken."

Leo hastily waved at the wolves. "They started it. Came up to us, demanding we hand over their friends."

She surveyed both parties.

Leo's words rang true. Crimson gray auras flushed with righteousness, while the icy blue ones dimmed with guilt. She let the vampire go.

Before she could speak, one of the wolves growled, "We have pack missing. If you are Council, tell us what you are doing to help
us
? They send another vampire, never a wolf."

"We didn't take your mangy flea bitten friends," Leo shouted. His eyes remained vibrant crimson, his thoughts jumping right back over the edge. "You want to blame us instead of admitting there are Rogues running around."

A shifter stepped from the group. He appeared in his late twenties, fairly handsome. Incredible power sparked through his aura.

Anca gathered herself, preparing for a fight.

This wasn't the local alpha. She'd seen pictures of him.

But this guy's magic was immense. His green eyes flashed back and forth with wolfy blue. "Vampire Judge. You're here only to help them, aren't you?"

In the distance, high-pitched police sirens sang into the night.

The wolf's anger brushed over Anca, flashed through his aura in ragged splotches. His agitation stirred the others. The furred wolf at her feet tensed.

Things would shortly escalate again if she didn't stop it now. She laid a hand on the hilt of her sword in warning. "I don't recall saying I was a Judge."

He just looked at her, though everyone else relaxed, believing the implication that she was not.

Leo stared hard at her. Muttering something indecipherable, he walked away.

Anca continued, "I am not here to help only the vampires. The Magic Council has proof of a group of Rogues in the area. I'm here to deal with them in order to help all of the local Arcaine, including the pack."

The shifter curled his upper lip in disgusted disbelief.

Once more magic exploded. The deep voice of the sheriff, and Keeper, spilled jagged spikes of power into the night. "What the hell are you doing in my town?"

Tension dissipated as Shane Spencer came late to his job.

Anca stepped back, letting him take over. These people knew him, were used to his command.

Though she didn't like it, she'd step on toes to get her job done if need be. Luckily, trying to keep the local truce together wasn't her problem.

A calloused hand smacked Anca's arm. "Hey."

She whirled to find the kid, Robby, at her side. Again she hadn't sensed his approach at all. "You were part of this?" she asked in a hard tone, raising a brow.

He grinned, holding his hands up in surrender. "We saw a movie, and were heading home. These guys stopped us and started yelling about their missing pack mates."

It wasn't in an Arcaine's nature to run from a threat. Doing so only exposed one's back to the enemy.

She studied the wolves' mouthpiece, talking to the sheriff. "Who's the shifter?"

Robby looked over, then replied, "Cole Tregas. He's one of the Alpha's sons."

"You seen him start a fight like this before?"

"Nah. He usually doesn't leave the cabin he's got hidden deep in pack lands. Doesn't like other people, I've heard."

The Keeper finished talking to the wolves. Stiff with authority, he ordered them home, then approached Anca and Robby.

He met the boy's gaze, his golden eyes hard. "Explain yourself before I call Nikki."

The kid slouched, looking down at the street, suddenly very much a teen boy in trouble. He mumbled the same explanation he'd given Anca.

Then the sheriff pinned her with his stare. "And you?"

"Me?" Startled by the question, she automatically answered, "I was looking for leads to the Rogues and found this instead."

Without responding, Shane strode to the other vampires, getting their stories. As he'd done to the wolves, he yelled at them about recklessness and violating the Law. By the looks of the Arcaine around here, Anca figured this man must be the only thing keeping the fragile truce from breaking entirely. Such a war would only end after far too much needless bloodshed.

With the fighting over for the moment, a couple earth spirits braved the town to return to her side.

The itch to slip into the shadows and hurry on her way was nearly overpowering. Instead of giving in, she stood her ground, waiting to talk to the Keeper alone.

Another spirit appeared, this one's magic a dim gold and green, the colors of summer fading to fall. It floated around the sheriff, playing with his hair, his clothes. He couldn't fail to notice, but he didn't appear to mind, just went about his business.

When he returned to Anca, only the two of them left on the street, the earth spirits beside her grew a little brighter.

Shane's gaze landed on them before he pinned her with a look of intense curiosity.

Anca said, "You see them too."

He nodded.

Her anger surged. She stalked a foot closer, forced to tilt her head back to study his closed expression.

Her voice came out harsh. "Then why haven't you cleansed this area for them?"

"Because the Rogues are feeding the darkness faster than I and my tribe can purify it. We don't have enough people to stop the tide." Something flashed in his eyes. There, then gone. "But if we had, say, a Romani helping us..."

Anca didn't bother to fill in the blank. "I'm a bit busy at the moment, but before I go, I will help." She couldn't leave without cleansing this place.

"Good." He looked over the deserted street. "Thank you for stepping in with this."

Anca waved off his words. "How often do conflicts like this happen around here?"

"In town? Rarely. But tensions are growing. A while back, you'd be hard pressed for a fight once every few years." Frustration colored his voice.

"What started it?" she asked.

"That's the hell of it. As far as we can tell, only the wolves know, and they're not talking."

Anca appraised his tight expression, the gold flash in his eyes. "Hopefully I'll get at least one of your problems settled soon."

She more than hoped.

Except, so far, she was a dozen stumbling steps behind the Rogues, just like everyone else.

"Good." Shane scratched his chin. "On another subject. You ever fought a siren before?"

Startled, she forced a neutral expression to her face. "Once."

He stayed silent, patiently waiting for more.

"I was part of a team to subdue, capture and relocate a young siren, from a populated inland bay she'd somehow found herself in, to a more secluded island, far from people."

"How did it go?"

Anca laughed lightly. "Perfectly to plan." When he began to look relieved, she added, "The Council sent two groups of twenty warriors, plus a contingency of thirteen witches each."

He grunted. "Tell me honestly. Should we try to call in backup before facing this creature? I'm not letting anyone go on a fool's mission."

Weighing her words carefully, Anca shared her assessment. "Take every legend you've ever heard about these creatures and multiply it by ten or so. What will happen if, with the sunrise, the siren is let loose once more? Do you think she'll leave this town, or anything—anyone—around it, alone?"

"Not so easy then?" He raised a sardonic brow. "Guess I better go make the best of the time before the meeting." The Keeper strode off to his truck, shoulders hunched deep in thought.

Anca glanced at her pocket watch, another memento of days so far in the past even the memories were faded. The clock showed it barely past eleven. The tension of the fight had stretched the sense of time.

Hours still remained until the meeting with the witch.

Finding herself alone, with no clues to follow, a sweep of weariness spilled over Anca. The town, so far from nature, was the last place she wanted to be right now. And for the first time in years—decades—centuries—she found herself touched by loneliness.

Wishing for more than just the stubbornly lingering scent of minty male.

A
fter a restless few hours stuck at home under orders to eat, and impossibly, to relax, Matt hung up the call with his King and left his house. He'd been commanded to stop and speak to the sheriff on his way to pick up Anca and offer her a ride to the castle.

He drove to Shane Spencer's place, pulling up in front of the narrow, three story house. Though it was nearing midnight, the man was certain to be awake. Shane rarely slept.

Matt hurried up the stairs to the wraparound porch and was about to knock on the door when his senses alerted him to someone's presence. He spotted the sheriff on the swing at the end of the wooden porch.

"Shane," Matt said.

"Glad to see you. Come. Let's speak."

Matt weaved through the scattered chairs and tables. "Jordan said you needed to talk to me?"

"I want you to come along when I speak to the pack, sometime in the next few days."

Alert, Matt leaned back against the porch rail, opposite Shane. "Why? What happened?"

The sheriff filled Matt in on the near brawl in town. "If Miss Fieraru hadn't been there, blood would have been shed before I arrived." He mumbled something under his breath about impossible shields messing with his magic. "None of my alerts sounded like they should have. Again."

"Why didn't you arrest the wolves if they started it?"

Shane leveled his gaze. "If I arrested everyone who tried fighting inside the city, the jail would overflow. And every Arcaine arrest would have to be reported to the Council. You'd wish that on the pack?"

Matt's stomach roiled. "Of course not." But there had to be something they could do. The wolves were getting more aggressive as time went by. "Don't know how much help I'd be coming along. Ever since Jake left town late last year, most of the pack has drawn lines of silence between them and all outsiders."

He and Jake Tregas had become friends right after the wolves settled at the opposite end of town. Back then, the truce had been strong, and there were no issues with one of the Alpha's sons being friends with a clan vampire. A few recent years of strained tension didn't break the bonds of a century-long friendship.

Shane replied, "You're not pack so you weren't included in their circle."

"Worse. I'm clan." None of the wolves would even tell Matt why Jake had left, where the man had gone. "It's rare anyone from the pack will even come to the hospital anymore, and then, only in dire emergencies."

Shane shook his head. "Come with me anyway. It can't hurt."

Matt stared at him incredulously. "You did hear what I just said, right? I'm a vampire. Clan. They're shifters. Pack. We have bad juju between us right now."

Shane grinned. "But you're also a healer. And since they're not coming to you, I'll bring you to them. As a gift." There was a glint in the man's eyes Matt didn't like.

"A gift, huh?"

Shane's grin widened.

The porch door slammed open and Shane's other half, Niki DeVeraux strode out in a t-shirt, jeans and bare feet. She spotted Matt, and stopped abruptly, her smile fading. "What are you doing here?" Paling a shade, she worriedly scanned Shane as she flashed to his side. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing." Shane grabbed one of her hands and pulled her down beside him. "I was just talking to Matt about the meeting I want to have with the wolves."

Relief crossed her face.

Shane brought her fingers to his lips.

Niki softened, her usual projection of an angry hardened warrior slipping for a moment as her face flushed. Her eyes glowed with happiness.

Matt cleared his throat and turned away, but his thoughts circled to Anca.

She'd stepped in and stopped a fight between the wolves and his clan. Why? Shane sounded so certain she'd saved them from bloodshed, and the escalation it would cause between the pack and clan.

Niki asked, "Did you hear about the Council Investigator?"

Her question startled Matt, and for a long moment he was certain he hadn't hear right. "What?"

The woman shrugged. "She sounds like an interesting woman."

"She is, believe me," Shane replied.

Instincts prickling, Matt straightened. This was the second time Shane implied he at least knew
of
Anca.

The words spilled out before Matt could stop them. "What did you mean this afternoon?"

Shane just looked at him. "About what?"

Stupidly, Matt realized he'd acted like Anca would be the first one on everyone's minds with the intensity that he kept thinking of her. "When you met Anca. You sounded like you'd heard of her. And again, just now."