Kindling Flames: Flying Sparks (The Ancient Fire Series Book 2) (40 page)

Darien finished a series of chest compressions before moving back to give her more breaths. He readied himself to pull her over to his world, but stopped when she started coughing halfway through the second breath. The brown wolf on the floor whined at him, and Darien sat up as Vicky drew in a ragged breath on her own. He lifted her up in his arms and held her for a moment before opening himself up and letting his energy flow into her. Now that he had rekindled the flame of life in her, he could work to heal her without worry.

Sue found Vicky’s lost cloak and pulled it over to Darien. She pawed him lightly to get his attention.

Darien looked up at the tawny wolf and smiled weakly. “Thank you,” he said as Sue helped him to pull the slightly damp material over Vicky. “She’ll be okay now.” Finding a more comfortable position to sit in, he turned his mind to Vicky. He still had a little bit more work to do on her before she was healed completely. “Go find Rupert and let him know where we are. I think Karl is going to need some help out of here.”

Karl whined softly in agreement as he licked the ferocious bite on his hip, and Sue snorted before loping off into the darkness to find the pack alpha.

Zak laid down behind Darien so he could lean back as he supported Vicky in his lap.

“Thank you.” The vampire rested against his friend’s side.

Zak nickered softly in response.

Placing a light kiss on Vicky’s lips, Darien rested his head back against Zak and tried not to pass out. He was still not back to full strength after his close brush with death over the weekend. Between the fight with the ifrit and healing Vicky, he was spent.

“Thanks for coming,” Darien said to Dakine as they stood in his kitchen. He looked down into the last of his dinner and swirled the blood around in his cup. “I don’t know what to do with her.” Looking up, he hoped the elf lord would be able to help him with his problem.

Dakine watched the downcast expression on the vampire’s face. “I take it she hasn’t gotten any better.”

Darien shook his head before draining the rest of the liquid from his cup. It had been three very long days since the battle with the demons. Darien was glad they had taken the Hunt with them into the fight. Hellhounds were fiercely loyal to their masters, and it was largely due to their strength that they had come out as well as they had.

The demons were only weak shadow demons, but they had been called in great numbers. There were numerous injuries, but there were only five casualties. Two wolves and three vampires had lost their lives in the endeavor, but it was the lasting effects of the battle on Vicky that had him concerned.

The first thing she had done when she woke up in his arms was burst in to tears and thrash wildly, trying to get away from him. It had taken a command from him to make her sleep before she stopped flailing in his arms.

Darien rinsed the cup out and placed it in the sink. “If anything, she has gotten worse.” He turned back to face the fay. “She hasn’t eaten anything, she will not speak, she screams hysterically if we turn out the lights, and she’ll only sleep if I force her to. And then, her rest is fitful at best before she wakes up screaming.”

“Last night, I had to pull her from the bathroom after she had taken a nailbrush and scrubbed her skin raw. I think she was trying to scrub the blood from her hands. I healed the wounds, but now she won’t let anyone touch her, not even Zak in his dog form.” He rubbed his temples before crossing his arms over his chest.

Zak whined at Dakine from where he sat as a Shih Tzu on the floor.

“Elliot and his people have stayed to help, but we are at our wits’ end. I’m afraid her mind has snapped beyond my ability to fix.”

Dakine made a worried noise deep in his throat. “If she is that far gone, just erasing her memories may not be enough to fix the damage.” he said, worried. “And there is always the risk that her personality will suffer.”

Darien nodded. “I know, but we have to do
something
for her.” He turned to lead Dakine back to his room where Vicky was. “Even if she loses her memories completely, it would be better than what she’s become. And you’re much better at it than I am.”

“True,” Dakine said as he followed Darien and Zak from the kitchen. “We want her to have some mind left when we’re done.”

Darien didn’t even glare at the elf lord for the dig. He knew too well how true his words were. “Did you ever find the ifrit?” Darien asked as he climbed up the steps.

Dakine growled his aggravation. “It slipped dimensions,” he said, angry their quarry had gotten away. “From the look of the altar at the factory, someone was forcing the creature into the killings. With them gone, I doubt he’ll come back for Vicky.” These were the same thoughts he’d given Darien before they had left the abandoned building.

Darien opened his bedroom door and led Dakine in.

Zak let out a growl as soon as he cleared the doorway of the main room.

Dakine and Darien were shocked to see the ifrit sitting on the bed on the other side of Vicky.

The creature had his fingers of his right hand intertwined with Vicky’s left so their palms pressed together. He pulled back from the kiss he had just placed on the sleeping woman’s lips. Turning his head, he looked at the men standing in the doorway. The medallion Darien had placed back around Vicky’s neck had been pulled off and laid on top of the covers next to her.

Rage filled Darien as he tried to get to the ifrit to pull him off Vicky, but he was stopped by a barrier the ifrit had put up. “Get away from her!” Darien yelled as he banged on the shield.

Zak echoed his anger in a short, growling bark.

“Temper
,
temper.” The ifrit pulled his left hand from where it had been supporting Vicky’s neck during the kiss. “You really should take better care of your things,” he said, petting the golden curls back from her face.

Darien growled at him.

“Peace
,
vampire.” The ifrit turned his golden eyes to the men. “I haven’t come for a fight today.” He released Vicky’s hand and folded it on top of the covers over her. “I came to release your woman and to offer her two boons. I’m indebted to her for releasing my mate, and Saaleha did your lady a disservice, thinking she was with the men that captured her.”

Darien blinked in surprise.

“But, I never expected her to be this broken.” The ifrit looked back down to the woman next to him. “I thought you were better than this, vampire.”

Zak growled at the creature on the bed.

“It was the fight with your demons that damaged her mind,” Darien snarled at the man.

The ifrit shook his head. “They were not my demons,” he corrected. “They were slaves to the men that held my mate.” The ifrit petted Vicky’s curls again.

Darien’s blood boiled at his inability to stop the creature from touching her. “They were still the cause of the problem.” His words were filled with anger.

“True.” The ifrit stood up from the bed and walked over to face Darien, the shield held firmly between the two. Had it not been there, Darien and Zak would have attempted to tear the ifrit apart where he stood. “I have removed my mark from the woman and fixed her mind. I still owe her one boon,” he told Darien. “If she should choose to use it, all she needs to do is call me. My name is Ma’awiya, vampire.”

Darien’s anger cooled a little as he listened to Ma’awiya’s words, as knowing a creature’s name gave one power over it. The ifrit had just given him a huge advantage if they ever squared off again.

“Darien.” He gave his name back to the ifrit. “I’ll let her know when she wakes up.”

“If you plan to keep her, you may want to mark her before something else decides it wants her.” The ifrit turned to look at the sleeping woman. “She’s very beautiful.”

A ping of possessiveness shot through Darien. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, carefully trying to keep a hold on his temper now that they were talking civilly.

“Till the next time we meet, Darien.” Ma’awiya bowed to him before disappearing with a pop.

The barrier evaporated, and Darien went to check on Vicky.

Zak jumped up on the bed in his dog form to sniff her thoroughly.

Darien looked over the woman, but she seemed to be unharmed and sleeping more quietly then she had in the last three days.

Dakine sat on the edge of the bed where he could place a hand on her forehead. He closed his eyes to see if he could tell what the ifrit had done. The elf made a confused noise as his brow wrinkled. “I can find nothing wrong with her mind.” He pulled his hand back. “We’ll just have to wait for her to wake up to see how she is.”

Darien sat on her other side to lift her left hand up and look at the palm. There was a circular scar left in her skin, but it looked as if it had been long healed. Rubbing his thumb over it, he sighed. He believed the ifrit would leave Vicky alone as he promised, but the creature had been right. If he wanted to keep her safe, he needed to mark her. Darien looked at the small dog lying on her stomach, watching him. They were going to need to have a long talk about this.

“Thank you
,
Dakine.” Darien placed Vicky’s hand back down on her chest and looked over to the elf lord. “Did you want to wait?”

Dakine shook his head and stood up. “I have other things I need to attend to.”

Darien stood up to see him out.

“Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you, Kian.”

Darien nodded and let Dakine lead the way from the room. The vampire paused for a moment before looking back to Vicky sleeping on the bed with Zak. He let out a deep sigh and prayed to everything he once believed in that she would be all right.

***

Vicky opened her eyes and yawned. She tried to stretch, but found she was pinned between two warm bodies. Darien held her fast on one side, and Zak in dog form snuggled into her other side. Her brain worked through the fuzz as she tried to figure out how she came to be in this situation.

The last thing she clearly remembered was sitting with Darien on Zak’s back in the rain. Everything after that was a blur of images. She had an impression of horrible, dark shapes and the sense of running, but the memories wouldn’t solidify.

Vicky recalled Tim and Alex had been responsible for everything, and she knew both of them were dead. The more she tried to put the memories together, the more her head hurt. The feeling of warm blood on her skin made her shiver, and she wiped her hands on the covers.

“Hey,” Darien said softly from next to her.

Vicky rolled her head over and blinked at him. She could see the worry lines around his eyes.

“Hey,” Vicky said back to him. She didn’t understand the joy she saw flood his face.

“How are you feeling?” Darien asked.

She thought about that for a moment. Other than the headache from thinking too hard, she felt as if she had just slept through a long bout of the flu. “Okay,” Vicky said. “Hungry,” she added as her stomach gurgled its unhappiness.

Darien smiled as he sat up.

She felt suddenly cold as he moved away.

“I think we can fix that.” Darien stood up from the bed. The look of fear on Vicky’s face stopped him from going to get her something. “Would you like to wait here, or come with?”

“Come with,” she answered, swinging her feet out from under the covers. The long, silk nightgown Darien had changed her into, clung to her. Vicky shivered in the cooler air.

Darien wrapped his arm around her shoulder and drew her with him to the closet. He pulled out a heavy, man’s robe and wrapped her in it. She snuggled down in the woolen material as he tied it into place. It was a little large for her, but he thought she looked cute in it.

Vicky turned to look at the little dog left whining on the bed. “Come on
,
Zak,” she said, and he jumped down to run to her.

Darien scooped up the little dog and handed him to her.

She hugged the distressed fay. “What’s with this?” Vicky asked, ruffling Zak’s fur. He shook himself out to be his normal ball of tentacles. “That’s better.”

He purred his happiness.

Darien let her lead the way out of the room. “Thank you.” He touched the cross on the wall just inside his suite and jerked his hand back from the zap of energy that hit him. Laughing lightly, he followed Vicky out of the room. It had been a long time since that cross had reacted that strongly to him.

***

“Hey
,
Vicky,” Sue said as Vicky stepped up to the counter. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m doing better,” she answered. Darien had told her what had happened during the time that she couldn’t remember. “Still not feeling quite right, but getting there.”

It had been two weeks since Ma’awiya had set her mind right. Vicky was still waking up from strange dreams and wasn’t handling darkened rooms well, but she no longer insisted on someone being within touching distance at all times. Darien and Zak had been very understanding and supportive as she worked through her issues.

“The usual?” Sue asked, and Vicky nodded. “So what are you going to do now?” The wolf pulled out the stuff to make Vicky’s coffees.