Kindling Flames—Gathering Tinder (14 page)

Darien knew that Lillian would often support a few people that were down and out to provide blood for her and her offspring. She always took good care of her people, so for them to leave without telling her was unusual.

“I was actually asked to come here today by Rupert,” Darien finally revealed.

A groan sounded around the table.

“What does that mangy mutt want now?” William asked, from his seat on the other side of the table. It was clear to see the man hadn’t gotten over the last conflict with the wolves.

“Apparently, the wolves have been having some trouble with the same thing that’s causing the murders and abductions,” Darien explained to the waiting group. “They’ve been chasing something they believe has caused the fires across the south, but haven’t been able to catch it. In fact, the bodies that have been found torn up were all werewolves.” He paused to let this fact sink into the quiet table. It was inconceivable for something to mutilate a werewolf like that. “Rupert has asked me to come and see if the Council could help.”

“But… we were hoping the wolves were to blame for these actions.” Clara’s words were supported by an agreeing murmur from around the table. At least that would have explained part of the problems.

“No, they aren’t,” Darien informed them. “They’re having as many problems as you are. The incidents could be related. I think it’s time we put our heads together and figure out a way to stop this before it ruins life for everyone.”

He was slightly surprised when agreement came from the group, expecting more resistance from the thickheaded Council.

Clara spoke for the group. “Very well, we’ll put our feelings aside to find out what this is and stop it,” she said. “But if it’s not those mutts, and not us, then what could be causing the problems?”

Darien grinned at the way she had ‘put aside’ her feelings. They may agree to work with the wolves, but they wouldn’t like it.

Rachel broke her silence. “It could have something to do with the Gray Courts.”

Darien looked over at the timid girl. Of all the vampires on the council, she was the one he paid the closest attention to. When the quiet woman spoke, it was always important to listen.

“What do you mean?” Clara asked.

“Well, it’s obvious from the extent of the damage done that whatever is causing this is not human. That leaves things of the night. And if it’s not werewolves or vampires, then the next obvious choice would be the fay,” Rachael explained.

“True.” William placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “Their powers have faded over the years as humans have taken over the wild places. Maybe this is a way for them to regain some of what they’ve lost? Blood magic is very strong stuff.”

An understanding nod circled the table.

Daniel pointed out another issue. “But we just can’t go into the Gray Courts and accuse them of these murders. We would never make it out alive.”

“I know of one person who could go into the Gray Courts and ask, without endangering his life.” Clara leveled her eyes at Darien.

The rest of the Council turned to the outsider as well.

Darien sighed. He knew what Clara was going to ask of him.

“Master Darien. You stand apart from all the factions. Could you take our concerns to the Fairy Queen?”

“In hopes of solving this mystery before it can escalate out of control, I’ll be glad to offer my services.” Darien knew this was the only way the matter would get addressed. Just the negotiations to get one of the other vampire masters into the mound might take years, and even then, the fay weren’t likely to listen to them. As it was, he was in good standing with the Gray Courts and visited the Queen on a regular basis.

“Was there anything else we needed to talk about while we’re here?” Clara moved the meeting on to other, in-house problems, and Darien leaned back in his chair to listen to the Council reprimand Michael for the way he treated his food.

Clara insisted that the dark ages of vampirism were over, and special care was to be shown to the ‘victims’ that supplied them with blood. There were occasions where death would occur from bleeding one person too much or too often, but the Council had agreed a long time ago that these deaths were to be kept at a minimum to prevent the outside world from discovering their existence. It was not this way everywhere, but Clara was a humanitarian and saw that her people followed this rule.

Some of the other Vampire Councils found this viewpoint weak and would have gladly tried for the city if it hadn’t been for Darien’s presence. It was clear to anyone who tried to stand against the city that Darien was truly the man in control, even if he held himself away from the politics of it.

***

Darien sat up and stretched as the Council broke for the evening. It had been several hours since he had arrived, and he was glad that the masters were done bickering. If it had been in his nature, he could have easily fallen asleep at the table listening to their petty squabbles.

Michael stormed from the room without greeting Darien. He had been the center of most of the complaints raised. At one hundred fifty years old, he was a master, but he acted like an overgrown kid sometimes.

“Looks like you have your hands full there.” Darien smiled at the brunette who led the mismatched group of vampires. He had turned Clara a long time ago and enjoyed the fact that she had made a place for herself in the world.

Clara laughed at him. “You could always come in and take over,” she offered.

It had become a running joke of theirs. Every time Darien showed up, she would offer him the Council’s head seat, and he would gracefully decline it.

“No, thank you,” he replied. “I would rather sit through an audit every day.”

Clara laughed again. “Are you heading straight back to Brenton, or will you be spending the weekend with us?” She enjoyed the nights when Darien came out to visit. He was the closest thing to a celebrity they could get, and everyone came out to see him when he stopped in.

Darien was sure they were using his presence as a good excuse to throw a party. “I’ll have to head back as soon as I can get Charlie to come out with the wrecker. I blew out a radiator hose on my car on the way over,” he explained. “I had to bring my personal assistant with me, and she, well, she doesn’t know about us.”

Clara stopped in her tracks and stared at Darien with an open mouth. “You brought an Innocent here!”

“There wasn’t much I could do about that.” He defended himself. “We were in a meeting when you called, and I didn’t have time to take her back to the office. She was going to just drop me off and drive back, but that was before the car broke down. I couldn’t very well leave her sitting out there, waiting for Charlie, soaked to the bone.”

Clara closed her mouth and thought about his situation for a moment. “You have a point,” she agreed before they resumed their walk out of the council chambers. “So where is she now?”

“I ran into Tiffany on my way in and had her take Miss Westernly to Natalie, with instructions that Miss Westernly was mine, and no one was to touch her.”

Clara stared at Darien like he had made a massive mistake.

“What?” Concern bloomed in his heart.

“Tiffany’s a scatterbrain these days,” she said. “I hope she gave Natalie the full message.”

Clara and Darien both picked up the pace. They ran down the steps and through the hall, trying to find Natalie.

***

“Where is she?” Darien cried, as he followed Clara into the kitchen where Natalie was baking.

Natalie looked up in shock at the greeting the normally calm man had given her. “Good evening, Master Darien. I assume you are looking for your pet?” She smiled.

Darien groaned. That just proved that Tiffany hadn’t passed on his message properly. “She’s not my pet,” he explained. “She’s my employee and an Innocent.”

Shock crossed Natalie’s face. “I... I didn’t know!” she exclaimed.

“It’s all right.” Darien tried to calm himself down. “Where is she now?”

“I gave her to Josie and the house crew.” Natalie found her way into one of the chairs at the table so her weakened legs wouldn’t drop her to the floor. Had she known Vicky was an Innocent, she would have made sure the house crew knew to keep her away from the vampires. As it was, she had turned the poor girl loose to be dinner, without so much as a warning.

Darien pushed past Clara and jogged down the hall to the lounge. His eyes scanned the room to find all the regulars and a few vampires, but Vicky was nowhere to be seen. “Where is she?” he asked, with a note of urgency in his voice. Not all the vampires were there, and he knew the house rules said that anyone in this room was free game to all.

“We put her to bed after her bath,” Brian answered.

Darien let out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.” The tension drained from his shoulders.

“You were worried about her?” Josie asked. After listening to the way Vicky had spoken about Darien, she was sure he would be less caring.

“Of course I was worried about her. She’s an Innocent.”

Everyone turned shocked looks towards him.

“You brought an Innocent here?” Terrance asked from where he sat on William’s lap.

“It wasn’t by choice,” Darien defended himself again. “The car she was going to drive back in broke down, and I couldn’t just leave her to wait till Charlie came and got her. She would have caught pneumonia.”

“But we thought she was your…” Jenny started, but Darien cut her off.

“No, she’s my personal assistant. She runs my human life.”

“But she said something about you putting someone on bed rest, and that you had been through another nine pets in the last two months!” Brian exclaimed.

Darien now understood the reason Josie had been surprised he was worried about the girl. “I’m not that kind of monster,” he said, shocked. “Marianna’s on bed rest because she’s pregnant with triplets. And the nine women were temps trying out for the position as my assistant!”

The entire room cowered back from the power leaking off the livid vampire.

Darien closed his eyes and bit back his anger at them all. Of course they would want to ask her questions. He had never brought anyone here before. Calming himself, he tried to think of a way to salvage the situation. “She doesn’t know anything about vampires,” he informed the room. “What did you tell her?”

Another shocked gasp ran through the room.

“Completely innocent?” Liz asked.

Darien nodded. “She doesn’t even know about me. Now, what did you tell her?”

A whistle of amazement sounded in the stunned room as he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to fend off the headache threatening him.

“Nothing, really,” Josie finally answered. “We had just started talking to her about, well, you, and she fainted from the heat in the onsen. We figured it was low blood pressure, and Brian and I put her to bed in one of the suites.”

Darien let out another sigh of relief. This was not turning out to be as bad as it could have been. He looked around the room at the people that had gathered. The trickle of power that had been released during his outrage had drawn the rest of the Vampire Council into the lounge to see what had made the great man so mad. Darien noticed that everyone was there except for one face.

“Where’s Michael?”

A gentle tug on her hair pulled Vicky from a strange dream. She rubbed her face into the soft pillow and tried to recapture the sleep that had left her. Feeling the pressure on her head again, her eyes fluttered open. The light of the moon shown across a huge featherbed. She shifted her head as she recognized the pull of a brush through her hair.

Vicky froze for a moment as she tried to figure out what had happened. One minute she was having a weird conversation with a strange group of people, and the next minute she was having her hair brushed in bed by a stranger. Vicky went to sit up, and a hand pressed against her bare shoulder.

“It’s okay, baby, relax. I’m just sorting through your hair for you.”

Vicky couldn’t see the man who spoke to her, but he wasn’t one of the men she had been introduced to. Keenly aware of his cool hand on her bare skin, she held still, trying to decide what to do. Turning her eyes down her body, she found the shine of a black silk nightgown. She let out a sigh of relief. As long as she was wearing clothing, she could handle just about anything.