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

Looking around the room, he found one item that seemed to have escaped the flames. A soft laugh slipped out as he picked up the black velvet collar from the floor next to the bedside table. He wiped the soot from the crystals and looked up at the closed closet doors. They looked to be mostly intact, too. There was a chance that Vicky’s wardrobe, though smoke damaged, might have survived. He decided to have a crew come over and see what could be salvaged when the fire marshal released the scene.

Darien made his way back out to the living room and looked around once more. The burnt scene didn’t tell him much about how or what had caused it. When his eyes caught on a bit of shiny metal near what was left of an end table, Darien walked over and kicked the ashes from it. He reached for the small disk but stopped just before his fingers touched it—there was power radiating from the thing. Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, he carefully plucked the yellowish metal from the floor and studied the penny-sized object. It was thin, like a coin from a belly dancer’s belt, but heavier than it appeared. Folding it inside the cloth, he slipped the piece into his pocket before turning to leave. He was sure that this was what had caused the fire, but he didn’t know how.

Toying with the chains on the velvet collar, he made his way out of the damaged building and back to his car. Maybe Vicky was awake now and could shed some light on what had happened.

***

Beep. Beep. Beep.
Vicky rolled her head as the electronic sound cut through her dream.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
She reached up to where she was sure her alarm clock was going off and felt a hard, cold railing. Vicky opened her eyes to the bright afternoon sun filling the white hospital room. Looking around in confusion, she noticed a body in the darkest place in the room. She snickered weakly at seeing Darien hiding in the shadow of the privacy curtain.

He looked up at the sound coming from the bed.

“You know, you could’ve shut the blinds,” Vicky said hoarsely, as her throat was very dry.

Darien stirred from his chair. “I have. Twice. The nurse keeps opening them back up. Something about sunlight being good for you.” His sneer made Vicky laugh.

“Well, could you shut them now? It’s way too bright in here,” she asked, both to make Darien more comfortable and because the light was too intense for the headache hanging onto the back of her eyes.

“Gladly.” Darien got up and dropped the shades over the windows. The light in the room dimmed to less than half the brightness it had been, and Vicky sighed with relief.

“What happened?” she asked softly. Her head felt slightly disjoined from her body, and she ached all over.

“I was hoping you could tell me.” Darien took the chair next to the bed. “There was a fire at your apartment. The police have been by twice to see if you could shed any light on the subject.”

Vicky raised her hand up to rub her face and stopped when she saw the bandages wrapped around them. Raising the second one up, she looked at it, too. “There was an explosion,” she said as it slowly came back to her. Something tickled at her mind, but she just couldn’t pull it from the cotton someone had stuffed into her head. A pained expression crossed her face as she closed her eyes and worked on the problem.

“Don’t try too hard.” Darien took her hand and patted it gently. “You have a bit of a concussion, and they have you on some really good painkillers.”

Vicky opened her eyes and looked into his face. “That explains why my head hurts.” She closed her eyes again.

“I can help with that if you like,” Darien offered.

She opened her eyes back up and looked at him oddly. “You can do that?”

“Oh yes,” he answered. “It’s one of my special talents. Would you like me to?”

Vicky nodded weakly.

Darien stood up so he could get closer to her. Placing a hand on top of her head, he supported himself with the other as he bent over to place his lips against her temple. He closed his eyes so he could concentrate.

Vicky blushed at the intimate contact. Warmth radiated from the kiss that chased the pain and fluff from her head. She felt him shift his supporting hand to her arm, and the feeling flowed down her body to relieve her pains. It felt like the light touch of feathers against the inside of her skin. The warmth rolled back up her body, leaving a slight tingling sensation in its wake.

Darien broke the kiss from her temple and dropped his forehead to rest on hers. He worked to control his breathing as he waited for the sensation of their mingled essences to pass.

Vicky swore she could hear his normally slow heart pounding fast and hard.

He lifted his head slowly away from his assistant and looked down into her eyes. “Better?”

The breathy quality to his question stirred something deep inside Vicky, and she nodded.

Darien placed a light kiss on her forehead and withdrew to his chair before he lost complete control.

Vicky watched him go in awe. She could see a twinkle of light shining from the depths of his green eyes. “That was…” She couldn’t find the right words to describe what had just happened. Amazing just didn’t cut it.

Darien smiled coolly as he worked to get himself back under control. “I could have you fully healed in a few minutes, but that might upset the doctors.” He chuckled at the look on her face. “I’ve already done more then I should have.”

Vicky blushed as she thought about his words. Opening her mouth, she started to thank him, but was interrupted by a knock.

The door swung open, and the nurse stepped around it. Looking at the closed shades, she pursed her lips before turning to look at her patient in the bed. “You’re awake.” The nurse walked over and checked the monitors next to Vicky’s bed. “How do you feel?” She fiddled with the buttons on the monitor.

“Um… okay,” Vicky answered. Whatever Darien had done had taken away her pain.

A smirk slid across Darien’s face as he relaxed back in his chair. He steepled his fingers in front of his mouth and watched as the nurse took Vicky’s vitals.

The nurse scribbled the results in Vicky’s chart. “Let me go get the doctor on duty.” They waited in silence until a short man in a white coat walked in.

“Good afternoon, Miss Westernly. I’m Dr. Chimbra,” the doctor said as he flipped through the charts. “How are you doing?” He looked up into her face.

Vicky wasn’t sure how she should answer this; she felt as if she could get up and go home. “Okay, I guess,” she answered.

A puzzled look crossed the doctor’s face. “All right.” Dr. Chimbra came to stand next to the bed. He looked questioningly at Darien, but the vampire showed no signs of budging from his seat. The doctor turned his attention back to Vicky and started in on her condition. “Victoria, you have some very serious burns.” The doctor’s eyes strayed to her visitor again.

“He’s fine,” she assured the doctor, and the man went on.

“You have a few third-degree burns,” Dr. Chimbra explained. “Here, here, and there.” The man pointed to the back of his neck, his left arm, and then at Vicky’s left leg. “And most of the skin that was exposed has some first- or second-degree burns. All totaled, about ten percent of your skin was badly injured, but you seem to be doing very well.”

The doctor looked in his charts again. “Your blood oxygen levels are up, so we can get rid of this.” Setting the clipboard on the bed, he pulled the thin hose away from Vicky’s face and twisted the green knob on the wall off. “If you have any trouble breathing, feel weak, or faint, call the nurse. You inhaled a lot of smoke.”

Vicky nodded her understanding as she lay in the bed.

“You also have some stitches in both your hands and feet from the glass in the window.” Dr. Chimbra paused to look over her bandages, checking to make sure there was no blood seepage, before making a note on the chart again. “For a while, we were worried that you might have a concussion, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Still, I don’t want to chance it, so someone will be in periodically to check on you. Any questions?” The doctor stood and waited for a response.

“How long am I going to be in here?” Vicky asked. It felt like she was ready to get up right then.

Dr. Chimbra chuckled lightly. “You seem to be doing very well, but that’s probably due to the pain medication,” he explained. “We’ll have to wait and see; maybe a week or two. That all depends on how well you heal and how much shock your system is in. There’s a burn specialist coming in tomorrow, and she’ll be able to give you a better time frame. Anything else?”

“I’m kind of thirsty.”

“I’ll let the nurse know.” Dr. Chimbra wrote on her chart again. “If there’s nothing else, I think there are some others here to see you.” The doctor turned to the door. “I’ll send them in for a few minutes.”

Vicky waved as the doctor left. “Thank you.”

Vanessa poked her head in a few seconds later. “Vicky!” she squealed as Beth and Maggie followed her into the room.

Beth held a large vase of flowers.

“I took the liberty of calling your friends to tell them what happened,” Darien said softly.

“Thank you.” Vicky smiled at him. “For everything.”

He smiled warmly and stood up. “I’ll leave you ladies be.” As he nodded his head at the three new arrivals, they parted so he could pass between them.

Vicky’s friends watched him go before swarming her bed.

Maggie giggled. “He is so amazing!”

“You have no idea,” Vicky muttered under her breath.

“Oh, Vicky!” Vanessa nearly bawled as she dropped into the chair Darien had just left. “I nearly died when your boss called to say you were in the hospital. What happened?” She looked over the bandages wrapped around her friend.

Vicky shrugged and sat up a little more. “There was an explosion and a fire in my apartment.” Her friends helped her shift around so she was more comfortable. “I’m okay,” she reassured them.

“Okay!” Beth snapped as she deposited the flowers on the bedside table. “You look like hell, trussed up in those bandages like a mummy.”

Vicky looked down at her hands and arms. “The doctor said they were mainly second-degree burns and should be fine in a week or two,” she reassured her friends. “You know how hospitals can be.” Vicky shrugged.

“How are you?” Maggie asked from where she sat on the edge of the bed.

Vicky still didn’t know what the proper response should be. Darien had pushed all the pain out of her during that kiss. “Not bad.” She shrugged as she came up with a good answer. “I’ve had some really good painkillers.” Amusement curled to corner of her mouth.

“Do they have you on morphine?” Beth asked as she looked up at the IV line running through the blue machine on the pole.

“I don’t know,” Vicky answered. “Whatever it is, it really works.” She wasn’t about to tell her friends that her painkiller had just walked out of the room.

“Are you
really
feeling all right?” Maggie asked.

Vicky nodded her head.

“So tell us what happened last night,” Beth prompted as she retrieved the other chair from the shadow of the privacy curtain. She hauled it over to the bedside and sat down.

“I told you, there was an explosion—” Vicky started.

“No, with Elliot,” Beth interrupted.

Vicky gaped at her friend.

“Didn’t he take you home?”

“I saw him walk you out, and he didn’t come back,” Maggie added.

“It’s rare that you take a guy home.” Vanessa grinned. “Details, girl, details!”

Vicky closed her mouth as her friends pressed her for information. “It’s true he walked me home, but that was it,” she protested.

“Really?” Maggie giggled.

“Yes,” Vicky insisted. “He dropped me at the door and left.” She thought hard. “I don’t think he could have gotten very far when the explosion happened.”

Her friends listened intently as she told her story.

“I think I remember Elliot in the alleyway after I got out.”

“What caused the explosion?” Maggie asked.

“I don’t know.” Vicky pressed her memory for more information and shivered when a malevolent laugh filled her mind. The palm of her left hand stung under the bandage. She hissed in pain, and her friends looked on in concern as she gripped the hurting hand with the other one.

Vanessa sat poised on the edge of her chair. “Should we call the nurse?”

Vicky rubbed her hand. “No.” The pain started to subside as she rubbed the bandages with her thumb. “I think it’s okay.” She didn’t want the nurse to take off the bandages in front of her friends; she was worried to see how bad the damage actually was.

“Are you sure?” Vanessa asked.

Vicky worked her hand and rubbed her bandaged palms together. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“So, he was in the alleyway when you got out of the apartment?” Beth turned the conversation back to the blond who had taken Vicky home. “He didn’t go in and try to get you out?” She sounded disappointed.

“The explosion knocked me out, but I woke up to someone banging on my door.” Vicky worked to remember what had happened in the apartment. “But the flames were too high at that point for me to get to it.”