Fire Dancer

Chapter 1

Stoking the Embers

She had no idea how long she'd been kept away from the light, her magic bound, and several bones broken... Weeks, or months, she couldn't figure it out. Remaining alive for as long as she could was her only concern. No matter what torture her fellow witch captors came up with, she gave nothing away. She'd been eternally grateful for her older sister teaching her how to bind her secrets to herself, so that no one could pull them from her by force, not even in death.

Whatever secrets they thought she possessed, they seemed intent on discovering them. The room... cell... dungeon... wherever she was, was dark, cold, and smelled of rot and damp. Underground no doubt. She couldn't even distinguish if she was even in the same country.

She felt stupid for not knowing that something like this could happen... Witch on witch violence was considered a rarity. She'd heard of the troubles between the Congregation witches and an American witch who found The Book of Life, and got involved with a vampire. Witches had been killed, as had many vampires. But, the Covenant forbidding interspecies mating had been lifted, and it was assumed that all was now well within the creature community. Unfortunately, not all creatures felt that the abandonment of the Covenant was a good thing.

Athena lived in Cheshunt, and travelled daily to the city of London to take dance classes. She was the anomaly in her family. The only witch with no pre-cognitive abilities. Her mother and sister had both been born with powerful seer abilities, and regularly practiced their craft together. Athena rarely got a look in, and had to rely on her father for encouragement, which, given that he was an average human, meant she was learning her craft alone. Still, he had always made time for her when she wanted to practice spells, or work with fire. He was aa calming influence on her, and she'd found his demeanour helped her control her temper.

Witches usually felt when other creatures were around, but Athena had missed the tell tale signs on her way to her evening class. She'd been darted and dropped to the floor unconscious before she could even discern what had happened. Everything after that had been a painful and disorientating blur. When magic hadn't worked to learn her secrets, physical torture had been employed. She'd been suspended by her wrists and whipped, beaten to a bloody pulp, had every finger on her left hand snapped one by one, and had both of her ankles shattered so that she couldn't escape. Just to make matters worse, she'd been spellbound. Magic wasn't going to save her. Curled up in a crumpled heap in the corner, all she could think about was how to keep breathing...

Witch disappearances weren't usually his business, especially now that the Congregation was Diana's problem. Unfortunately for him, his tracking abilities were second to none, and Diana had contacted him to recruit his 'warrior' persona. He'd wanted to refuse... The Covenant might have been removed, but he had no desire to seek out witches. But, he knew he'd never hear the end of it, and he was certain that Diana would find some way of making him pay for it in some not so subtle way in the near future.

As it was, he'd taken his private jet to London to meet with Marcus and Diana and discuss options. With her unlimited witch resources, Diana had ascertained exactly where the two witches had been abducted from. It had been more than a month since either had been seen, and the trail of scent had long since dissipated. He might not be able to smell where the witches might have been take to, but as a keen strategist, he could ascertain how they had been taken. The street was like many other side streets in London. Occasionally busy with people passing through. Tall buildings, some modern, some gothic. Lots of windows. He looked up at each building. It would be so easy to shoot someone from any number of windows. Even a drive-by wouldn't be completely out of the question. A delivery van could be used to bundle a victim inside in no time at all.

"Drugged," he stated to no one in particular. Diana looked at him curiously.

"How do you know that?" she asked, looking between him and Marcus.

"That's how he'd do it..." Marcus muttered, looking around at the nondescript side street.

Baldwin shot him a fierce glare before speaking again. "Think about it; how would you take on a witch? Someone who would know how to protect themselves? A creature couldn't get close enough to physically overpower them without being noticed. We all feel when another creature is close. The only way to catch a witch off guard would be to tranquilise them from afar. Possibly from up high. Have a van waiting to carry them off. No mess, no fuss."

Diana felt uneasy. When Satu had taken her, she'd done so using only magic. The thought that creatures might be using human methods to abduct other creatures was something she hadn't even considered. She pulled on her trusty cords, as well as using the knowledge from the book flowing through her veins to answer her question... There were a lot of places in London where someone could be held. But, even as Diana was searching through the possibilities, the book answering each internal question in turn, Baldwin, who knew every major city in the world like the back of his hand, had already ruled out a great number of possibilities himself.

"It wouldn't be somewhere quiet. But it would be abandoned to every day human use." He was slowly pacing, tapping a finger against his lip. "The underground system. Abandoned tracks. There must be dozens of tunnels no longer in use. They'd be dark and enclosed, and with enough foreign scent that they couldn't be easily sniffed out."

Diana was staring at him. She had to admit, albeit internally, that his reputation for strategic tracking was proving to be accurate. According to Matthew, Baldwin had been the one to help find her when Satu had thrown her into the Oubliette. It honestly amazed her. Baldwin had been able to do faster with his vampiric senses and experience, than Diana could do with all her weavers powers and the Book of Life.

"I have some Knights standing by, should we need them," Marcus stated, looking for the go ahead from Baldwin.

"We'll look alone for now... We have no idea how many are guarding the witches. It could be one, or it could be several dozen. Once we know where and how many, we'll decide how best to rescue whoever is left to rescue." He turned to Diana, who was still fiddling with her fingers, deep in concentration. "There may be no one left to find. How long did the mother say they'd been missing?"

"Just over three weeks. It worried me that she only seemed concerned about one of her daughters. The woman is a seer, and I worry that she's seen something she didn't want to tell me," Diana replied.

"Would you want to think about the possibility that one of your children has been murdered?" Baldwin asked. Diana shuddered and shook her head. It didn't bear thinking about.

"So, what's our first move?" Marcus asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. He was eager to get going. He was never one to wait around, but even more so, he wanted to get back to America, and his new wife, Phoebe.

"Aldwych Station." Baldwin stated. Diana and Marcus exchanged a confused look. "Out of all the disused stations, Aldwych is the only obvious station that hasn't had investors turn it into something else. It's perfectly placed, because no other line in use goes through there. Temple Station runs right above it, but doesn't interfere with the infrastructure. It's a perfect hiding place. No tours, no trains, no workmen."

"So, I assume you know how we get there?" Diana asked, but Baldwin had already called for his car and was striding out onto the main street.

The car was parked up within minutes, and soon after, they were on their way into the heart of central London. The station entrance was like most others. Slotted in between two businesses, and the doors locked, Baldwin snapped the padlock easily. He looked around to ensure they weren't seen, and instructed Diana to check for wards, as well as work some magic to silence their approach. Marcus was already using his nose to sniff through the gate.

"I can't smell vampires... I doubt it would be daemons," Marcus observed.

Diana nodded to Baldwin. "There were wards. Mostly to turn away human eyes." She shook her head in disgust. "Witches abducting witches again, as though we don't have enough to worry about from human persecution..."

"That's the least of our worries right now. We don't know which witches have them." With one last look around, he slipped through the partially open gate, instructing Marcus to close it behind them.

Diana walked between the two vampires, her vision not as keen, though her witch's eye was helping to guide her... She couldn't yet sense the presence of any witches, but the stairs they were taking were old and dusty, littered with broken tiles and discarded rubbish that had never been cleaned up. The place smelled of mould and damp, and the temperature dropped with each step they took.

Once they'd reached the old barriers that lead down to the platform itself, both Baldwin and Marcus stopped and inhaled.

"I can smell death... Something is beginning to rot... Something bigger than rats," Marcus said, looking towards the tracks. Baldwin nodded in agreement.

"I don't hold out much hope, Diana," he replied, looking at her soberly.

"I know, but we have to try. Even if all we bring back are corpses, at least she'll have something to bury." Diana floated down to the tracks, waiting for Marcus and Baldwin to direct which way the smell was coming from.

The scent took them down the tracks for almost a quarter of a mile before it strengthened to their left. Baldwin used his shoulder to shove open an old utility door with a precisely timed thud, waiting for a passing train to go overhead. Once inside, it lead to a small series of corridors. The two vampires paused when they heard the familiar thrum of heartbeats. Three of them, separate from Diana's.

"Witches... Three of them... Two stronger than the other..." Baldwin whispered, his keen eyes looking into the darkness.

Diana tried to see what he was looking for... Her witch's eye could see the faint glimmer of the other witches, two of which were bright with life and health. Both glowing green as they moved around inside a small room. When she focused on the room itself, she could see the third witch. The glimmer was faint, but a most beautiful sunset orange. She was certain this was one of the abducted witches. She searched for any glimmer of another captured witch, but found none. She put a hand on the wall to her right. It was cold and damp, and unprotected by wards. If they were quiet, they could sneak upon the green witches.

"I can see them... Three of them. Two in green. They're watching a third. I can't find a fourth. You might be right about finding them both. Maybe they're not both here..." Diana whispered back.

She floated down the cramped corridor towards the green shimmer, feeling Baldwin and Marcus stepping eerily quietly behind her. As soon as she rounded the corner and saw them with her actual eyes, she put them in a binding knot. Baldwin and Marcus moved so quickly, she barely had time to register the snap of each neck, causing her knot to fall at her feet and disappear. Then, in the darkest corner of the cold room, she saw the sunset witch.

The witch looked slowly up through her dirty hair, surprised to see two vampires looking at her with concern, and a witch glowing in the most brilliant white light. She'd been curled on her right side, finding it a struggle to sit up as both of her ankles were still broken and sat at odd angles. She'd taken comfort in the pain, knowing at least that her nerves weren't severed. Her left hand was curled against her chest, her fingers in an equally terrible state.

Baldwin removed his thick coat and moved closer. She was in desperate need of a bath and serious medical attention. He could see her left cheek was swollen to twice the size of the right, old bruising healing under newer injuries. He couldn't see them, but he suspected she had a few broken ribs when she winced as she tried to sit a little more upright.

"Is there anyone else here with you?" he asked quietly, his amber eyes holding her sea green ones in focus as he wrapped his coat around her shoulders.

She nodded in response, her eyes dropping down. "Dead."

Diana let out a soft sigh. She didn't relish having to tell a mother that one of her children hadn't survived.

"Baldwin, we need to get her out of here."

The witch looked back at the man called Baldwin as he gently slipped an arm around her back, the other hooking under her knees. She used the only limb still intact to grasp around his neck, whining in pain as her ankles hung uselessly, even as Baldwin tried to move as gently as possible.

"I'll call the hospital and let them know we're on our way," Marcus said, pulling out his phone.

"No. We'll take her to Sept-Tours. If witches come looking for her, they won't cross vampire land." He gave Diana a pointed look, reminding her of exactly why Matthew had done the same when Peter Knox had come after her. "I have a jet waiting at Heathrow. It won't lake long. Call Matthew and have him meet us at Charles de Gaulle."

Diana was about to protest, but Baldwin was already making his way out of the corridor and back onto the tracks. She sighed. He was nothing if not precise in his ordering around. He might have mellowed some over the past few years, but he would always be a commander.

She and Marcus followed him out, Marcus calling off the Knights and then calling Phoebe to let her know how things went. Diana did as Baldwin had said and called Matthew. He'd been as surprised as Baldwin was at finding a survivor. Almost a month of slow torture, both magical and physical, could easily have killed her. How her sister had died was yet to be investigated, but the primary concern was to ensure she would live.