Free Shadows of Fire by Nina Pierce Page B

Formica table. Portions of the map had been marked with
colored circles and numbers. “Hope came up with—”
    “Hope?” The name came from Reese
and Ronan in stereo.
    “She’s human.” Ronan’s
indignation rode tight on his words. “You shouldn’t be involving her. How the
hell can she help?”
    “She’s a reporter,” Josh said,
the low growl contradicting his calm tone.
    Guess Reese wasn’t the only one
who thought the asshole vamp overstepped when it came to their women.
    “As I was saying, Hope started
cross referencing fires and reported deaths. Every fire in the last two years
is highlighted in yellow. The number in that circle indicates how many died. If
they were vamps, they’re also highlighted with blue.”
    “Hope knows about vamps?” Ronan asked.
    “What I’ve chosen to tell or not
tell Hope about our world is not what we’re concerned about.” Josh’s words came
out stilted through clenched teeth. “It’s what she’s pieced together that’s
important.”
    Reese knew his roommate had been
struggling for the last couple of months with his deepening feelings for Hope
and his need to share the truth with her. He’d known Josh long enough not to
question difficult decisions. In light of what was happening, Reese had to
wonder if telling her about their immortals would put her life in danger.
    “Hey.” Reese laid a hand on
Josh’s forearm, unfazed when the man growled at him. It seemed both of them
were a little short tempered when it came to the woman they loved. “What douche
bag meant to say was …” he swept his hand over the map, “cut to the chase. We’d
like to know what the hell you’re getting at.”
    Tension eased from Josh’s
shoulders. He inhaled, reining in his temper. “The thing is, we’ve done this a
number of times over the last year, but I never noticed a pattern. The fires in
the beginning were all vampires.” Josh pointed to a dozen sites, varying
distances from South Kenton. “But in the last six to nine months, they’ve been
a two-to-one mix of vamp and human.”
    “What made the rogue change his
MO?” Reese wondered aloud.
    “Well, it’s the last piece of
information that may give us that clue,” Josh said. “This is where Hope …” he looked at Ronan as he emphasized her name, “took it in a direction we haven’t.
See these circles?” Josh traced several of the colored rings at the fire sites.
“She used different colors to indicate the victim’s connection to different
people. What do you see?” He gave them a moment to process the information.
    “A whole lot of red mixed in with
the other colors,” Ronan said.
    Reese couldn’t believe it had
been that easy. “Yes, we got ‘em.”  He punched Josh in the shoulder. He wanted
nothing more than to finish this case and bring the SOB vampire to justice.
Killing vamps was bad enough, but when it spilled over into the human
population, well, that just pissed Reese off.
    “Not so fast, Reese,” said Josh.
    “What, he’s right. Unless the red
circle isn’t a vampire,” Ronan said hesitantly. “Then we’ve gotten nowhere”
    “Oh, no, she’s definitely a
vampire,” Josh responded.
    “ She ?” In the half century
Reese had been with RISEN, there’d been only one other female rogue. “Doesn’t
matter her gender. What’s been done breaks all codes. We bring her in and let
the tribunal decide her fate.”
    “With that number killed, the
woman should be beheaded and burned.”
    Both he and Josh looked at Ronan.
What he said was true, but no one, least of all another vampire, wanted to see
one of their own punished that way.
    Josh held his palm out, pumping
the air in an attempt to slow Ronan’s judgment. “Let’s not be so hasty until
you know all the facts.” There was something Josh hadn’t told them.
    “Are you kidding me?” Ronan
stomped away and began pacing the small kitchen. “‘Tis our job to bring
this rogue vampire down. Humans? Vamps? This … this … thing