Burning Both Ends

“I don’t like anybody spying on me,” she said, as she turned into another hallway. “When we find Marta’s boy toy, I’m going to ask him what his problem is.”

* * *

Ari and Lilith sped through the maze of hallways. As Ari became more anxious with each turned corner that failed to reveal the missing pair, her witch senses started to tingle, adding to her unease. Too much time had passed since she left Andreas. Anything could be happening back in that room while she was on what looked like a wild goose chase. Not to mention that her failure to return would soon be noticed. She was on the verge of giving up the search, thinking Marta might have returned to the meeting. One last passage, the one closest to the rear entrance, then she’d go back.

As they neared the corner, a rush of Otherworld power sent energy shooting down her arms and across her neck. She stopped without warning; Lilith narrowly avoided a collision. Hushed voices and furtive footsteps approached them from the hallway ahead. Ari and the lioness slipped into the nearest room, leaving the door open a crack. Ari could smell them long before she saw them. Wolves. Marta, Percy, and a group of a dozen or more wolves passed the door. It wasn’t hard to figure out their mission. As Andreas or Gabriel might put it, a coup d’état was underway.

As soon as the enemy was out of sight, Lilith and Ari came out of hiding and split in opposite directions, alerting their own troops. Ari fought off her instinct to race to Andreas’s side. Stick to the plan, she told herself grimly. They needed Gilbert’s help to contain any disturbance, keep it from spreading beyond the audience chambers. The battle would be won in that room or it might not be won at all. If the fight reached the other vampires and lycanthropes spread throughout the compound, no one could predict what would happen. She couldn’t let it get that far. If Sebastian’s people turned on them en masse, the numbers would not be in Andreas’s favor.

Ari chafed at the time it took to collect their forces and kept urging everyone to hurry. Groups of two and three took off at a sprint to man the strategic stations in the hallways. Gilbert and a dozen or so followed Ari. When they arrived at the chamber doors, they weren’t more than a minute or two behind Marta’s band of assassins, but they heard nothing from inside. Ari held up a hand to stop her companions, before opening the door a crack to peek inside.

Andreas and Gabriel stood back to back, surrounded by a circle of enemy wolves and vampires. Oliver knelt in a pool of blood, held tight by silver chains round his throat, a gun to his head. Four of Andreas’s lycanthrope staff, including Russell, lay bleeding on the floor. Ari heard Lilith’s quick intake of breath behind her. Off to one side, two staff members who’d served the wine and refreshments appeared to be dead.

Andreas was talking with the rogue vampires, but Ari couldn’t make out what was being said. She considered her options, but with Andreas at risk and Russell lying injured or dead on the floor, she wasn’t looking for a diplomatic solution. She signaled her troops to take their positions, and she did it the old-fashioned way.

She kicked open the doors, and they exploded into the room.

As soon as Andreas saw Ari, he slammed his power into Ezekial, knocking the other vampire to his knees, and leaped over him, punching Jamal in the mouth. Bartholomew, apparently left to guard the door, grabbed Ari from behind, lifting her in a bear hug. “Now play nice, witch. It’ll all be over soon.”

“Is this nice enough?” She twisted in his arms, punching him twice in the nose. “I want it over now.” She punched him again; blood spurted, and he cradled his damaged snout in both hands, releasing her. Ari landed on her feet, ducking under the giant’s arms in time to see Percy hand his mistress the sword that had decapitated Sebastian.

Marta launched herself into the air toward Andreas. Gabriel yelled a warning. Without hesitation, Ari raised her fingers and released the lethal witch fire. Crimson flames arced between them, catching the vampiress in midair with a direct hit. Marta screamed, bursting into a blaze of fire. The sword clattered to the floor.

Traitorous bitch. The vampiress had gotten off easy.

Gilbert and his band of wolves and tigers swarmed over the rest of the combatants. Marta’s forces fired a half-dozen shots, but the heart had gone out of the rebellion with her dramatic death. The fighting was over in a matter of minutes, but Ari wheeled to face a new potential threat as high-pitched keening rent the air.

She relaxed her stance when she saw Percy kneeling in the vampiress’s ashes. The eerie wail that erupted from his throat was a terrible mixture of physical and mental pain. Lilith crouched beside Russell, running her hands over her husband’s body. She finally looked up and nodded. Andreas stood with one foot on Ezekial’s throat and the rest of their forces soon had the others under restraint. When the room was quiet, except for Percy’s occasional wails, Andreas allowed Ezekial to stand and the other rebel leaders were released.

“What do you want done with them?” Gabriel asked. Everyone looked at Andreas, waiting for his decision, except for Jamal, who seemed afraid to look at anyone. Ari turned her back on him. He should be worried.

Before Andreas could answer, Percy’s strident voice interrupted. “You,” he screeched, a world of accusation in the word. He lifted a trembling finger to point at Ari. His entire body was shaking from the effects of the bond breaking. “Oathbreaker! They said you’re forbidden to use witch fire on vampires. I told her she’d be safe. Marta! Marta!” He frantically scooped the ashes into a pile. Even he probably didn’t know what he intended to do with them.

Is this what he’d traveled to Riverdale to learn? He’d have been better off to ask. Ari would have told him. She wondered who “they” had been, but the source didn’t really matter. No one who knew Ari very well. Otherwise, he would have learned the truth.

She did whatever had to be done.

She had no sympathy for traitors. Not for Marta, and not for Percy, whose death had been set in motion the moment his mistress died and the vampire bond broke. When he finally collapsed over Marta’s ashes, Ari winced but turned away without a comment.

No one else died that night. Once initial hostilities were over, the vampires turned into consummate pragmatists, including Andreas. She’d been around them long enough not to be surprised. While most of the company retired to the lounge to celebrate—although a party seemed odd to her with four people dead—the rebel leaders met with Andreas and Gabriel. Ari sat in on the proceedings. Deals were made, treaties were signed in blood, and the defeated leaders eventually departed with their supporters. World leaders could take lessons from the vampires. It was hard to figure out their rules of diplomacy and engagement, but you couldn’t fault the results.

“I am glad tonight is over, madam witch. We were fortunate we did not lose more, but I doubt the friends of the two fallen wolves feel that way.” Andreas had one arm around her as they turned away from the chamber doors that had closed behind their former enemies, now allies.

“Will the treaty hold?”

He favored her with an unreadable look. “For now. For a while. Until something or someone else triggers their ambitions.”

“Are you suggesting they’ll be back? That they might change sides again?” Maybe world leaders didn’t have any lessons to learn from the vampires after all. Not if Andreas had to fight the same battles over again. The world already knew how to do that.

“If it suits their purpose,” he said wearily. “Not soon, but I cannot speak for the future. You should know by now that vampires are as changeable as circumstances warrant. Tonight they are our allies. It is enough for now.” He surveyed the disorganized room. The bodies had already been removed but the floor was covered with blood, broken bottles, and scattered pieces of tableware and chairs. “I will send for staff to clean up this mess. Shall we join the others in the lounge and thank our friends?”

Arms around each other, they strolled toward the door, but Gabriel stopped them.

“I have something I need to say to Ari, and I’d rather do it here. Keep this among us.”

Andreas’s look might have been a question or a warning, but he didn’t say anything. His arm tightened around Ari in a reassuring squeeze.

Good Goddess, what now? Had she done something else wrong? She’d hoped Gabriel was through being pissed at her. Bracing herself for whatever was coming, she stepped away from Andreas and gave Gabriel a weary look. “OK, say it.”

“I was wrong about you. I shouldn’t have questioned your loyalty to Andreas.” When she frowned, he said, “I know I said that before, but it was because Andreas wanted me to. Now I’m speaking for myself.”

For a moment, Ari was dumbfounded, then she was irritated he’d pretended the first time he apologized. It might be important to Andreas for her and Gabriel get along, but enough was enough. She narrowed her eyes. “So you lied to me?”

Gabriel flinched at her unexpected response. “Yes, I guess so, but it was for a good reason. Now I’ve seen how you came through. When we needed you, you were on our side and took Marta out. I’m sorry I—”

“You still don’t get it, do you?” Ari interrupted. “I’ve always been on Andreas’s side. I shouldn’t have to kill someone to prove it. I guess I don’t act the way you think I should. And knowing me, I probably never will. Until you accept that, we’re going to be constantly butting heads.”

Openly disconcerted, Gabriel regarded her for several long moments. Then he threw back his head and laughed. “Touché. I stand corrected.” He gave a courtly bow and dropped to one knee. “In the future, I hope to meet your high standards for always speaking one’s mind. In the meantime, I beg your forgiveness, Lady Arianna. Can we be friends again?”

“Now you’re overdoing it, and I’m not sure there’s much hope for you. But…” She paused, pretending to consider her response. “Friends,” she agreed, promptly turning away to hide the grin on her face and walking toward the door. “But a little begging and kneeling from time to time would be nice.”