Keri Arthur: Fireborn

Fire burned through my limbs, a force so eager to be used that sparks danced lightly across my fingertips every time I moved.

I clenched my hands and tried to control the fear that was leading to the fiery output. I might have serious doubts as to whether the sindicati would uphold their promises and let us go free, but I couldn’t walk into this meeting so obviously ready for trouble. Any show of force, however small and bright, might just turn things down the wrong path.

I raised my gaze and scanned the sky. Rory was up there somewhere, but it didn’t make me feel any safer. We might have set this meeting for a time convenient for us, but the cool-voiced vampire was one of the old ones, and dusk provided little impediment. And they’d had several hours to prepare their net—if indeed it was a net I was stepping into, and not just old fears and prejudices raising their ugly heads.

I blew out a breath, wished the nerves could so easily be released, then leaned back into the car and plucked the laptop—now safely secured in a backpack—off the backseat. After locking the car and shoving the keys under the rear wheel arch to ensure I didn’t lose them in whatever mayhem might happen over the next half hour, I walked through the scrub that divided the road from the fence and climbed into the reserve.

It took about ten minutes to walk to the main parking lot, and sunset had taken full hold by the time I arrived. The power of it sang through me, a fierce, warm energy that—in any other situation—would have had me dancing.

I paused on the edge of the tarmac. There were several cars present, but no sign of the occupants. Given the reserve was closed for the evening, they had to belong either to the rangers or to the sindicati themselves. But if it was the latter, where the hell were they?

My gaze jumped to the ancient rock formation that loomed above the parking lot, but I couldn’t see anyone there, either. Not that I would. I mean, we were talking about vampires, and those bastards were well able to conceal themselves in shadows. And even with dusk in its full glory there was still plenty of those lurking about.

I resolutely took four steps forward—and suddenly felt horribly exposed. Keeping my fingers clenched, I said, without raising my voice, “I know you’re here. Reveal yourselves.”

For several minutes there was no response. Sweat began to trickle down my spine, and my heart felt ready to tear itself out of my chest. Which, no doubt, was precisely what they wanted.

Then, directly opposite me, a long stick of a man shook free of the shadows lurking under the trees and stepped into the sunset-bathed parking space. He had dusty blond hair, a thick, handlebar mustache, and was dressed rather like an old-style cowboy—complete with boots and hat. The telling thing, however, was that he didn’t even flinch when the waning sunlight hit him. He was one of the old ones, and possibly had been a cowboy before he’d turned.

He was not, however, the man I’d been speaking to over the phone—the one who’d tasted me when I’d been held captive in that place of darkness. Why I was so certain I couldn’t really say, other than the fact that the same sense of menace wasn’t emanating from him.

Although that didn’t make him any less dangerous.

“You have the laptop?” His voice held the slightest hint of a drawl and none of the cool remoteness of the other vampire.

“I do, but I’m not about to risk handing it over to any old lackey. If the man I made the deal with isn’t here, then I walk away.”

“Such an action would only result in the Fae’s death.”

“Kill the Fae, and you kill any chance of getting the notes.” A flicker of gold caught my eye. I glanced up, saw a trail of fiery red-gold plunge from the streaked skies. Tension wound through me, and it was all I could do to remain where I was, to not step back to the shelter of the trees, where I was less of a target for a marksman. But I couldn’t help adding, “Kill me, and you won’t get the laptop’s password.”

His eyebrow raised almost imperceptibly. “That is hardly a consideration when we have more than enough resources to break whatever password you may have placed on the computer.”

“Perhaps.” My gaze swept the parking lot’s boundaries, sensing movement but not seeing it. “But if you shoot me, you risk damaging the computer itself in my fall. Isn’t it far easier for everyone involved if the man I made the deal with just stepped forward?”

“Why does it matter who you deal with?” the cowboy countered.

I smiled, but it was thin and forced. “Because my deal was made with him, not you. He gave me his word on our safety. You did not.”

“A small but important distinction, I agree,” a cool voice said to my left.

I jumped and half swung around as a shadow appeared out of the trees only yards from where I stood. God, I hadn’t even sensed him—how many damn others were nearby? More than even imagination could conjure, I’d wager.

I swallowed to ease the sudden dryness in my throat and watched him walk—although to be honest, gliding seemed a more apt description of his method of movement—into the middle of the parking lot, where he turned to face me. He had what could be described only as classic male features—a wide, angular jaw, a square chin, a prominent brow, and a strong—almost Roman—nose. Both his eyes and his hair were a steely gray, and he was rangier in build than his whip-thin compatriot.

“Now, the laptop. I wish to see it.”

“And I have the same desire to see Jackson Miller. You present your offering; then I’ll present mine.”

He sighed. “And still you don’t trust me. This aggrieves me greatly, I assure you.”

“I’m sure you’ll survive my mistrust,” I said. “After all, you are a rather high-ranking member of the sindicati. I would think mistrust comes with the territory.”

“That, unfortunately, is very true.” He paused, and a slight smile touched his lips. A chill ran across my skin, and I clenched my fists so hard against the surge of fire that my nails dug into my palms. “But also somewhat earned.”

He raised a hand and made a quick “come here” motion with two fingers. Out of the shadows behind him, two more vampires appeared, Jackson gripped between them as they dragged him forward. His clothes were torn and his body beaten and bloody; he looked every inch as bad as he’d sounded on the phone. But his gaze, when it met mine, was filled with pain, fury, and fire.

It was the fire that caught my attention. It burned deep in those green depths, and it suggested he was more than ready to wield flames should the slightest spark arise.

Had the drug worn off?

God, I hoped so. Even if he wasn’t at full strength physically, we had more of a chance of surviving this encounter if he at least had some fire capability. I returned my attention to the cool-voiced vampire.

“Your turn,” he said evenly.

I swung the backpack around and pulled out the laptop.

“Start it up. I want to check that the file has not been touched.” His sudden smile held a mocking edge. “I’m afraid the lack of trust goes both ways.”

“You’re welcome to check, but the laptop doesn’t leave my hands while it happens.” My gaze skated across the shadows haunting the tree-lined parking lot. The sense of movement was increasing, as was the sense of danger. I rolled my shoulders, trying to ease the tension, with little success. “But no tricks. I’m a lady of fire, remember, and flesh burns just as easily as trees.”

“Oh, we forget nothing .” It was a warning more than a statement, and it had my gaze darting across those shadows again. I had a bad, bad feeling that the “we” he was talking about was not those I could see or sense, but those I couldn’t.