Helpless (Blue Fire Saga) Read online

  “Perhaps I should go with you next time,” he said after a few moments, “along with a few other members of the Council.”

  Ricard’s words surprised Stefan—such a show of force was unprecedented. Still, he wondered if even that would be enough. He had another idea, a crazy idea. He decided to share it.

  “I’m not sure that is wise, my lord. There is more to these two than just their hidden strength. It’s hard to describe, but their vibrations are off.”

  Ricard’s brow furrowed. “Off? What do you mean?”

  “We could not detect their exact location, even when we were close. We knew they were there somewhere, but their vibrations were vague, as if they had been cloaked in mist and spread upon the wind. That’s the best I can explain it.” Stefan hesitated, but then forced himself to continue. “Forgive me, my lord, but I do not think we should risk you, not when there is so much we do not understand. You are too important to our coven.”

  Ricard’s expression grew hard. The thought that there might be a vampire he could not best did not sit well with him. But the vampire lord was wise as well as powerful, and not prone to act rashly.

  “You have another idea, then?” he asked.

  “I do, my lord.” A plan had been formulating in Stefan’s head the entire journey back, a bold and daring plan. He described it for Ricard. Halfway through, Ricard sat back down on his bed, but remained silent until Stefan had finished.

  “Such a thing is unheard of. It has never been done.”

  “I know, my lord. That is why I think it can succeed.”

  “And you think you can make this happen? Most would say it is crazy—and impossible.”

  Stefan allowed himself a small smile. “Part of me thinks it is crazy, too. But I think I can do it. Do I have your permission to try?”

  Ricard got up and laid a hand on Stefan’s shoulder. “I am very fond of you, Stefan, and I will miss you if you fail. But yes, you have my permission.”

  “Thank you, my lord.”

  Stefan turned and started for the doorway.

  “Stefan,” Ricard called.

  Stefan stopped and turned around.

  “Good luck,” Ricard said. “I think you are going to need it.”

  22. HIDING OUTSIDE THE BOX

  Sunday morning, Leesa woke up early. A glance at her clock showed her it was not yet seven o’clock. She closed her eyes and tried to fall back to sleep, but with no success. After about fifteen minutes she gave up the fight and figured she might as well start her day. She got out of bed and slipped into her most comfortable sweatshirt and sweatpants. For breakfast, she wolfed down some granola cereal mixed with a cup of plain yogurt. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she decided to do some work on her magic. Dominic had given her permission to do some limited practice on her own with telekinesis, so that’s what she was going to do. She had one goal in mind—to move something without having to see it move immediately before. To her, that would symbolize progress.

  She grabbed one of Dominic’s tennis balls and sat down at her desk, carefully balancing the ball as close to the edge of the desk as she could. She used her trigger and concentrated on visualizing the ball rolling off the edge, but it just sat there. She closed her eyes for a few moments and then tried again. The ball still refused to move. Frustrated, she kicked the desk leg with her knee and watched the tennis ball fall to the floor.

  She bent and retrieved the ball, placing it back onto the edge of the desk. This time, she had no trouble making it fall. It rolled off the desk and landed in her wastebasket. Her success did not please her, though. She had still needed to see the ball fall before she was able move it with her thoughts.

  As she reached into the wastebasket for the ball, she flashed back to the basket flying across the room a few months before when she had kicked at it and missed. Leaving the ball inside the basket, she picked whole thing up from the floor and set it on top of her desk. She thought perhaps if she tried to move something she had once moved without even trying she might be more successful.

  She carefully balanced the basket on the edge of the desk. It took her several moments to get it just the way she wanted, but at last she was ready. She went swiftly through her routine again and then focused on the basket, trying to picture it falling to the floor. To her surprise, the basket tipped over and fell.

  She let out a whoop. She had done it, finally!

  Grabbing the basket, she balanced it on the edge of her dresser this time. Once again, she sent it tumbling off the edge. She was elated. Now to try something else.

  She limped over to her mini fridge and pulled out a can of Red Bull, the other item she had apparently moved back before she even knew what was happening. Taking it to her desk, she balanced it on the edge, half on and half off.

  When she tried to move it, nothing happened. She tried again, focusing as hard as she could, but the can stubbornly remained in place. Dejected, she picked up the can and moved it away from the edge. While she pondered what was wrong, she didn’t want it falling of its own accord and giving her the visual she was trying to avoid.

  Two possibilities came to her. First, unlike the basket, which she had clearly seen flying across the room a few months before, she had never actually seen the can move. She thought she might have somehow caused it to move a few inches one night when she was studying for midterms, but she had never been sure. Indeed, until she met Dominic, she had never been absolutely sure she had moved the basket without actually kicking it. Still, she had a visual of the basket moving, but no visual of the Red Bull.

  The other possibility was that the full can of Red Bull was simply too heavy. The liquid inside gave it a pretty solid center of gravity. Perhaps the weight was just too much for her nascent abilities.

  Either way, she was disappointed. She had thought she’d been on a roll, moving the basket without a preceding visual, but if she had been, it had come to a grinding halt.

  On a roll, she thought. What a good idea that was.

  She grabbed the Red Bull and laid it on its side, positioning it as close to the edge of her desk as she could. Rolling the can should be much easier than toppling it when it was standing up.

  And it was. She had barely started focusing on the can before it rolled off the edge and crashed to the floor. Just to be sure it hadn’t been an accident she did it a second time.

  Feeling a little bit cocky now, she stood the can up and tried to move it. Nothing happened. She tried again, with the same result.

  She refused to let it discourage her. She had definitely made progress today, all on her own. She couldn’t wait to discuss what she had done with Dominic to get his feedback.

  Dominic picked her up at the curb again at ten o’clock. As always, she climbed behind the wheel.

  “Where to today?” she asked after buckling her seat belt and adjusting the rearview mirror.

  “Head out to the 84,” Dominic said. “West.”

  “Okay,” Leesa said. “That’s easy enough.”

  This was the same way they’d gone for their first road trip. She wondered if they were going to New York again. If they were, she was pretty sure it would be somewhere new. She doubted the ever cautious Dominic would pick the same place twice.

  While they drove, she told Dominic about her morning exploits with telekinesis.

  “That was very clever of you,” he said, “to try the basket and the Red Bull. Moving something without having seen it move immediately before is a nice step forward.”

  “Thanks. I was pretty proud of myself when I thought of it.” She looked at Dominic and grinned. “And even prouder when it actually worked.”

  Dominic smiled in return.

  “I don’t want you doing this too often on your own, though,” he said. “It’s too risky to keep using active magic around your home, even in such small doses. When you get back to your room, stand a can of Red Bull on your desk and knock it over by kicking the desk. But don’t try to move it with your mind after you
knock it over. Bring the can with you on our next trip and we’ll work on it then.”

  “Okay,” Leesa said. She understood what Dominic was trying to do. In addition to being cautious, he wanted her to get a visual of her goal, but not one that immediately preceded her attempts.

  They drove west on Interstate 84 until they reached Danbury, where Dominic told her to exit onto Route 7 North. They followed the highway for just a few miles before Dominic had her pull into an empty parking lot. The lot fronted a small, closed up store with a black and white For Lease sign hanging in a dirty window. Leesa smiled. They weren’t likely to have any company here.

  “This is the second time we’ve come west,” she said after she had parked and turned off the motor. “How come we haven’t gone east or south yet?”

  “Put yourself in the minds of our enemies,” Dominic said. “If you detected someone using magic in New Haven, Waterbury, Springfield and Providence, where would you search for them?”

  Leesa pictured a map in her head. The cities Dominic had listed were pretty scattered—they didn’t seem to form any sort of trail that she could see. Instead, they formed a kind of crude box. After a moment it came to her. The box image did it. Lacking anything else to go on, she would look inside the box.

  “I’d look around Hartford.”

  Dominic smiled. “Why?”

  “Because it’s in the center of the cities you mentioned. If someone didn’t want to use magic where they lived, they would travel elsewhere to do it, like we do. The most logical place to look would be somewhere in the middle of the places where they were detected.”

  “Very good. So if we were to go south and east as well as north and west, we would be drawing a box for our enemies.” Dominic pushed his door open. “I do not think we have done anything they can detect yet, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful.”

  Leesa opened her door and stepped down out of the Blazer. Dominic seemed to think of everything. He had a way of making her feel very safe—but at the same time, he never let her forget the danger they faced. She smiled. The wizard had had over a hundred years on the run to get good at hiding, for which she was very grateful.

  23. AN UNEXPECTED GUEST

  While Leesa and Dominic drove west, Stefan was making his way toward the Weston campus. The beautiful gray clouds that had blanketed the sky yesterday were breaking up, allowing the sun to peek through for increasingly long intervals. Stefan did not care. He had his hooded sweatshirt and his gloves. As much as possible, he would keep to the shade, but if he had to bear the burning rays of the sun he would do so. There was no time to wait for nightfall. He wanted to begin putting his plan into motion as soon as possible.

  Most of the route between the vampire lair and the college was sparsely populated and he was able to move at vampire speed through the wooded hills. Only when he neared the southern edge of Middletown did he slow to a fast walk.

  When he reached Leesa’s dorm, he crossed quickly to the stairwell. Today was Sunday, so there were no classes. He hoped Leesa would be here, but he hadn’t even ascended the first flight of stairs when he knew she was not. His brief taste of her blood allowed him to sense her presence from short distances, but his vampire senses detected no trace of her. Still, he continued up the stairs—he had nowhere else to go, and he was good at waiting.

  He gave her door a perfunctory knock, just in case, but received no response. Putting his back against the wall, he slid down into a sitting position beside her door and let his eyes drift off into the vacant stare that was the vampire equivalent of a nap.

  All vampires have extreme patience. Other than the change between day and night, time means little to them. They are extremely good at waiting—except when they are very hungry. Then their patience grows thin.

  It wasn’t long—perhaps an hour in human time—before Stefan began to grow antsy. The feeling surprised him. He prided himself on his control, yet yearnings were building up inside him. It was Destiratu, he knew; the magic was fanning his hunger. He tried to force it down, but his need continued to grow. He fumed—was he not was a member of the High Council and powerful besides? He was expected to be able to control his urges—that was why council members were still allowed out on their own.

  He stood up. He could control this thirst, he knew. But not here, surrounded by the sweet smell of so many tasty young humans. Their numbers and proximity were a powerful call, especially with nothing to distract him. And the call was growing increasingly strong.

  He set off down the hall, sniffing the air as he went.

  Cali flicked off her television. There was nothing on the tube she wanted to watch. Unless you were a sports fan, weekend afternoons pretty much sucked as far as television went. She wished Leesa was around, but she was off somewhere with that Dominic guy. Leesa had been spending an awful lot of her time with him, and Cali wondered what they were doing. She guessed Leesa would tell her eventually—she had already shared about Rave and Stefan with her—but that wasn’t doing her any good right now.

  She sighed and switched on her CD player. The Black Eyed Peas started singing to her that tonight was going to be a good, good night. Maybe so, she thought, but this afternoon was definitely leaving a lot to be desired. She turned up the volume and stretched out on her bed while she tried to decide what to do next. Closing her eyes, she let the music wash over her.

  The Peas were “just not getting enough” when the knock sounded at her door. She barely heard it over the music. She pushed herself up from the bed, happy that someone was going to rescue her from her boredom.

  She opened the door to find the last person she would ever have expected to see looking back at her.

  “Hi, Cali,” Stefan said, smiling.

  Cali stepped back involuntarily. It took her a moment to find her voice.

  “Stefan,” she said finally. “What are you doing here? How did you know where I live?”

  Stefan’s grin widened. “Which question would you like me to answer first?”

  Cali found herself unable to pull her gaze away from Stefan’s dark eyes. They looked like bottomless black pools.

  “Uhmmm, I don’t care….Would you like to come in?” The question sounded foolish to her as soon as she asked it—as if she could stop him from doing what he wanted in any case.

  “Thank you,” Stefan said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. “Do not worry, sweet Cali. You have nothing to fear from me. I would not have saved you only to turn on you now.”

  Cali backed up as Stefan entered, still unable to pull her eyes away from his. She recalled the recent discussion she’d had about him with Leesa. Nice or not nice, he was definitely the sexiest guy she had ever met. The sexiest vampire, she corrected herself.

  “Now, as to how I knew where you live,” Stefan said. “I kissed your hand, remember? That brief taste was enough for me to find you whenever we are close.”

  He held out his hand. Without really thinking about it, Cali placed her hand into his upturned fingers. Stefan lifted it to his lips and kissed it again. The same icy thrill as last time shot through her.

  “Yes, very sweet,” Stefan said, smiling. He let go of her hand. “I was looking for Leesa. I need to talk her. I thought perhaps she might be with you or that you might know where I could find her. I guessed you two probably lived in the same dorm, so I just walked the halls until I sensed you.”

  Something in Stefan’s eyes shifted and Cali was able to pull her eyes away from them. She sat down on the edge of her bed.

  “Leesa’s not around,” she said. “She probably won’t be back until much later.”

  Cali hoped he wouldn’t ask who Leesa was with because she wasn’t sure she could keep herself from answering. She did not think Leesa would want Stefan to know about Dominic.

  “Is she with Rave by any chance?” Stefan asked. “Rave is who I really want to talk to.”

  Cali wasn’t sure she’d head correctly. Why on earth would Stefan want to talk to Rave? Vampi
res and volkaanes were sworn enemies.

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  Stefan thought for a few moments, unsure what to do. Normally, he would just go back and wait outside Leesa’s room, but his Destiratu-fueled hunger made that far too dangerous. Even now, he found his gaze roaming to Cali’s tender neck. He could never attack Leesa’s best friend, but the other girls in the dorm carried no such strictures. He needed to get away from here soon, at least for awhile.

  “When you see Leesa, please tell her I need to speak with her, and with Rave, too, if she can get a message to him. Tell her I will be back later, and I hope she will wait for me. It’s important.”

  “Okay,” Cali said, nodding. “I’ll leave a note on her door telling her to come see me as soon as she gets back.”

  “Thank you, Cali.”

  Stefan kissed her hand one more time and then spun around and left the room.

  Cali stared down at the back of her hand as Stefan disappeared out the door. Kissed by a vampire two more times, she thought. She didn’t know if the Peas were right about how good her night was going to be, but it had certainly turned into one damn fine afternoon. She sat down at her desk and began writing the note. Maybe she’d get to hear about some more cool stuff once Leesa talked to Stefan.

  24. A COLD RIDE

  Leesa saw the folded yellow note taped to her door as soon as she stepped out the elevator. She pulled it off the door before inserting her key into the lock but didn’t open it until she was inside her room.

  Stefan stopped by this afternoon. Said he needs to talk to you (and Rave!). Very important. He said he’d be back and hopes you’ll wait in your room for him. P.S. He kissed my hand TWO MORE times!

  Leesa rolled her eyeballs. Cali really was incorrigible.

  She sat down on her bed without even taking off her parka and read the note again, wondering what Stefan could possibly want to talk to her about. And wanting to talk to Rave? What the heck was that about? That part was almost beyond comprehension.