Amethyst Flame (The Flame Series Book 2) (9 page)

Emma smiled crookedly. “Hell, yeah.” She patted her Sig Sauer.

When she climbed up on his right boot, he pulled her tight against him. He took her into the air, flying north in the direction of Crescent Territory. Lily had already called him back to let him know that Brannick had changed locations. Apparently, the safe house was no longer safe, and he would meet Vaughn in the alley behind his favorite Chinese restaurant, not far from the Border Patrol station.

Vaughn flew high in the air to avoid detection by any low flyers or anyone on the lookout for either Emma or himself.

Emma kept watch as well and more than once alerted him to a Crescent officer hovering near the rooftops of buildings they passed over. He also kept his shielding mechanism active. If Loghry happened to be in the area, he wouldn’t be able to see Vaughn, or even Emma, because of Vaughn’s shield.

His cloaking ability wouldn’t make him invisible to vampires, however, so that when he finally descended into the alley behind the restaurant, Brannick saw him right away. He offered a slow dip of his chin.

His gaze went to Emma. “Is this the witch you told me about, the one you helped rescue those girls?”

“Yes.” He introduced Emma but wasn’t surprised when Brannick kept his distance.

The vampire had a hard look with dark brown hair combed straight back. His green eyes always looked pinched. He had deep lines beside his mouth and rarely smiled. He was clean as a whistle in terms of corruption and was known for his cool head. But rage simmered within Brannick, evidenced by the frequent flare of his nostrils.

Fate had delivered a series of hard blows to Brannick, more than any of Vaughn’s fellow officers. He’d lost his pregnant wife and a young daughter to the
alter
nightmare thirteen years ago when a tainted supply of a brand name soft drink had been corrupted with vampire serum.

Enraged, he’d tried to punish the cartels for all the ways they worked to create more
alters
in the human portion of Phoenix.

Both Connor and Vaughn had tried to warn Brannick. But fury had fueled his vendetta. In turn, the cartels had targeted his extended family. His parents had been killed and his sister trafficked and sold to a dark witch coven in Elegance. She’d been used as a human sacrifice, something Brannick had been forced to witness.

He’d pulled in his vengeance, but he’d had a lot of grief to deal with afterward. The truth was, they all did. No one came to Five Bridges without having suffered severe losses. Every pregnant woman who went through the
alter
lost her baby, no exceptions. Fetuses and children couldn’t survive the horrendous changes the
alter
metamorphosis created, no matter which of the five species the human became, whether vampire or spellcaster, shifter, fae, or dead-talker.

A loud explosion hit the air, though probably a good mile away. Vaughn turned in the direction from which the blast had come. “What the hell was that?”

Brannick gestured toward the west. “Five Bridges is expanding. According to the latest stats, we’ve added five thousand
alters
in the past ten months. Unprecedented numbers. The U.S. finally agreed to give us another square mile off Crescent and Revel Territories then another square mile off Elegance in the east and Savage to the south.”

As if on cue, a second but even more distant explosion sounded toward Savage Territory. “That’ll make the shifters happy. They’ve wanted to plant more trees. Now they can.”

“Speaking of Savage, we’ve got to get going. Did you bring what I asked for?”

“Not exactly.”

Vaughn scowled. “What does that mean? We’ve only got a few minutes to get over there.” Going into Savage Territory, they had to have weapons. Wolves were vicious fighters and probably the best-equipped with illegal firearms. But they protected their supply.

Brannick’s nostrils flared. “It means I’m coming with. Simple as that. No argument. I’ve sat on the sidelines way too long and after the stunt Loghry pulled in the Graveyard, well, let’s just say my patience has finally worn thin. If I can help save some teenage girls tonight, I’m going to do just that.”

There were barely a handful of moments since Vaughn’s
alter
when he experienced a profound gratitude. Right now, knowing Brannick would throw in with them when he knew damn well he and Emma had a price on their heads, meant everything to Vaughn.

He extended his hand to Brannick who gripped him at the forearm in a solid hold. Vaughn returned the favor.

Vaughn nodded. “All right then. We’re headed deep into Savage.” He checked his internal clock, that critical biological timepiece all vampires had which ensured they stayed well away from the rising sun. But it also told him the exact time no matter the hour, day or night.

It was eleven-thirty and they needed to move out now.

Brannick opened the duffel and handed him an AR-15. Knowing Emma couldn’t levitate, Brannick shouldered the duffel and rose slowly into the air.

He hit Vaughn’s telepathy.
Let me see what’s up here before you pass the roofline.

Good plan.

With Emma once more glued to his side and both her relatively small feet planted on his right boot, he began to levitate in Brannick’s direction, but stayed just below the roofs of the adjacent buildings.

As soon as Brannick waved him up, Vaughn hit the sky fast, speeding straight up then swinging southwest toward Savage.

Brannick took up a wing position on Vaughn’s left. From Vaughn’s peripheral, he could see the triplets, each keeping pace a little ahead of him and to the right. Not exactly the kind of black ops force needed to rescue half a dozen teens but it would do. Being armed helped. He had his AR-15 looped over his left shoulder.

Emma guided them into the central forest of Savage and soon enough he spotted the delivery truck. It was almost at its destination.
Is that the one?

Yep. That’s it. I recognize the logo on the back. Willow Creek Office Furniture.

Seeing that the forest line stopped, Vaughn veered to the right away from the truck. The shifters were waiting for them at the point where the pines gave way to a broad vacant lot, which in turn led to the storage units. Fortunately, there were few other buildings around, most having been bulldozed and the ground left to grow desert weeds.

Adrenaline pumped through Vaughn’s system and his fangs thrummed in his mouth as he headed for Fergus and his men. Descending gradually, he slowed to land a few feet from Fergus. The powerful shifter wore his thick, black hair like a mane past his shoulders and braided on one side.

Fergus lifted his own AR-15 in greeting. Two more shifters flanked him, each rough-looking. All three belonged to the Savage Border Patrol, but faced the same issues that his own force endured. Like the other territories, at least half the Savage ranks were corrupt, just like Crescent and Elegance.

Fergus greeted Vaughn and inclined his head to Emma. Vaughn eased Emma off his foot then introduced her.

For a moment, Fergus’s jaw worked as he stared at Emma. Vaughn bristled. He didn’t know what the hell Fergus was thinking, but he looked angry. In response, Vaughn took Emma’s hand.

He was about to step in front of Emma to protect her, when Fergus inclined his head toward her and held it as if bowing to her. He stayed in this position for at least ten seconds. “You are welcome in my forest, Emma Delacey. Max was one of my best friends. I’m alpha to the Gordion Pack.” He gestured with a wave of his arm to the forest line. “This is our domain.”

Vaughn glanced in the direction of the pines and to his astonishment watched at least two dozen shifters emerge from places of camouflage. They also bowed to Emma.

She lifted her chin and nodded, then spoke in a clear voice. “I wish I’d had the chance to know those Max valued and loved.”

Fergus scowled, grinding his jaw again. “His death was tragic, another wrong I’d like to right. You have but to ask anything of me, Emma, and I’m yours to command.”

Vaughn knew he gripped Emma’s hand harder than he should, but Fergus had a lot of presence and was unmated. Emma had already fallen in love with a shifter once before. The thought she could fall for this one, raised his hackles.

Fergus turned his attention back to Vaughn. “Where do you want us?”

Vaughn drew a deep breath and switched gears. “Did you see the truck arrive?”

“We did, and I can hear it right now.” Fergus gestured with a toss of his hand toward the distant block wall topped with barbed wire. “It’s heading down the alley just as you said it would. So, how do you want to do this?”

“I’ll let Emma tell you what she saw.”

Emma kept her voice low as she talked about the number of girls in the truck, six in all, the warlocks in charge, the fat shifter in the office, as well as the two guards in the facility. “But the images scrambled at that point, which means I can’t be sure how many we’ll be facing. There could be more guards in the facility or some in the strip-center building. We won’t really know til we get in there.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Fergus’s lips turned down. “We’ll deal with whatever we find.” He gestured to the ground at his feet.

Vaughn saw that he’d drawn a rough map.

“The complex has an exit here.” He tapped his foot on the western edge. “And one that leads at the back onto the southernmost street. The alley is right there, fifty yards away. It ends at the desert. Do you see it?”

Vaughn nodded. “Yes.”

“My men will come in from the western exit, in wolf form initially. You come in from the front and we’ll see what happens.” Vaughn didn’t know a whole lot about the shifter experience except that battle and transforming into wolves went hand-in-hand, a necessity of their
alter
condition.

Vaughn nodded. Emma met his gaze and dipped her chin once. Brannick did the same.

The teams split up. Vaughn watched as each of the shifters, with barely a thought, moved fluidly into their wolf form then loped across the open land to the west of the storage facility. He wasn’t sure where their weapons went, but apparently part of the shifter ability was transforming everything they held or wore into their wolfness.

Within a matter of seconds, they’d disappeared.

He was about to hold out his arm to Emma, when he realized she was levitating. Stunned, he gripped her arm, fearing she’d fall.

But she smiled at him. “I’m okay. I’ve picked this up from you, Vaughn. I don’t know what’s going on between us, but right now I can levitate as though I’ve been doing it my entire life. I must have gained the skill from you, and it rocks.”

She didn’t wait for him, either, but rose in the air and sped in the direction of the alley. He caught up with her, stunned.

Brannick flew on the opposite side of her. He caught Vaughn’s gaze.
What the hell? Did you know she could fly?

He shook his head.
Had no idea.

Something strange is going on between the pair of you.

I know.

The ghosts appeared and flew near Emma. He felt it as well, just as Emma had said. They were a team.

Her voice entered his mind.
Let’s save us some girls.

~ ~ ~

Emma couldn’t believe she was five feet off the ground, tracking toward the alley. She knew some of the most powerful spellcasters could levitate, but she’d never been able to. When Vaughn had moved her off his boot, however, for a few seconds she’d found herself suspended in the air if only an inch above the ground.

After she’d met Officer Fergus and received his warm, respectful greeting, she’d done some surreptitious practicing. Stranger still was the sure knowledge the new ability came fully formed.

She knew she’d be able to fly with Vaughn’s skill, so she did.

Of course the real question surfaced almost immediately as in why she could suddenly do this remarkable thing. But she had no answer. Her instincts, however, leaned toward her growing relationship with Vaughn.

They’d crossed a critical threshold in the past few hours and their new-found intimacy seemed to be having an effect on them both. Vaughn could see the ghosts and he’d played a role in her spellroom that allowed Emma to find the future.

As she, Vaughn and Brannick turned into the alley, the Willow Creek truck was already backing into the storage facility. The obese shifter was waving his arms in a loose manner. “Keep going.”

Vaughn shot forward, rifle in hand, and called out, “I’ve got a better idea. Shut it down. Now.”

The slovenly shifter reached behind his back and drew his pistol. Vaughn whipped in his direction and fired once. The shifter fell, shot through the chest.

Vaughn levitated toward the truck. By then, the two warlocks had their hands in the air, the engine off.

Emma flew with Brannick above the wall separating the alley from the storage facility, weapons aimed at the two security guards she’d seen in the stream of images. They’d started moving in the direction of the truck, AR-15s at hip level.

Brannick’s deep voice hit the air. “Drop your weapons. Now.”

The two guards glanced, up then immediately set their rifles on the asphalt.

Emma called out. “On the ground. Face down. Both of you.”

Brannick turned to her. “Keep your weapons on these two. I’ll open the truck.”

“I’ve got a better idea.”

A smile spread over his face, and he nodded. “You gonna kill em?”

“Not quite, but I’m tempted. What I want to do, once we’re finished here, is haul them to the Trib jail.”

Brannick looked skeptical, but she wasn’t about to start explaining her position. She knew that even if she booked them at the Tribunal, their bosses would get them released in a short period of time. But building a decent society in Five Bridges had to start somewhere.

Emma levitated down to the asphalt. She touched the first guard on the back of the skull. He started to move, but Emma released a small portion of her energy, knocking the warlock out. She moved to the other guard.

“Don’t kill me.” He laced his hands at the base of his neck.

But Emma didn’t need to reach the more vulnerable location to render him unconscious. The man panicked, however, and started to roll when she drew close. She jumped on his back, pinning him to the ground. Though he tried to protect his head with both hands, the moment she made contact with his skull and her energy flowed, his body went limp. He’d be asleep for a long time.