Ari shrugged. “Sounds good enough to me.” She set down her coffee cup. “Look, Eddie, don’t try to stir up trouble to improve your circulation. The case is closed.”
He held her gaze a moment longer than necessary. “OK, if you won’t talk about that, what’s the story at the vampire caverns?”
“Nothing much. Intruders,” she said dismissively. “Some cavers were trespassing.”
Ryan looked up from his coffee. “At the request of the vampires, we put up barriers to remind tourists and reporters that it’s restricted territory. The vamps have a right to their privacy just like everybody else.”
“Trying to keep out the treasure hunters, huh?” Eddie sipped his Coke. “That’s the rumor. That Jase Barron was going to film the recovery of buried treasure.”
“Rumors,” Ari scoffed. “I hope that isn’t what The Clarion prints these days. What kind of treasure? Like pots of pirate gold?” She chuckled. “Somebody’s been watching too many adventure movies.” Inside, she cringed. How much information had already leaked out into the general public?
“Haven’t heard what it is, but why else would Jase Barron be in town with a film crew?”
“Stopover maybe. They’re gone now. I guess any imaginary treasure around here will have to stay buried.” She gave Ryan a significant look. Further conversation about the case would have to wait until a better time. “I have a ton of paperwork to finish.”
When Eddie took the hint and stood, Ari slid out of the booth. “I hope you won’t print wild rumors,” she said. “The national press has finally left, letting us all get back to work.” She frowned to emphasize her words. “No meddling in this, Eddie. Not only would the media come back, but you’d bring the crazies and speculators who want to get rich quick. The vamps would freak out if they had more strangers poking around. Somebody could get hurt.”
Ryan stood. “I’ll walk you out.” He looked at Eddie. “The vampires won’t be the only ones upset if you bring a bunch of treasure hunters to town.”
Eddie looked thoughtful. “I won’t print until I have confirmation. But I haven’t forgotten the kids’ ghost either. Something weird is happening. If you two decide you need a friendly reporter, give me a call.”
They left Eddie sitting by himself, already talking on his cell phone. Ari hoped it wasn’t about the activities in the caves, but she had no illusions that the reporter would give up.
“Damn,” Ryan said softly. “That’s all we need.”
“I’m not too worried.” Ari tried to sound upbeat. “Nobody involved wants publicity, and I don’t think The Clarion will print a story without confirmation. If no one talks to him, how’s he going to verify his suspicions?”
Ari spent the next two hours at her office in the Cultural Center, writing her latest report for the Magic Council regarding Ursula and the massacre in Canada. Putting the grisly facts on paper raised the hair on her neck. She typed the last line, saved, and printed, planning to drop off a copy at the front desk on her way to the club. Andreas would be up soon, and he’d want to discuss their next steps regarding Ursula.
She turned off the computer and reached for the report. When her cell phone rang, she picked it up instead, hesitating when she saw an unknown ID. “Hello?”
“We’ve captured intruders at the caverns.” Ah. She knew that stern voice. One of Andreas’s weretigers. She’d forgotten his name; the guy with the piercing gaze.
“Who are they? Kids?”
“No, two adult human males. One has a camera. We’re holding them at the dwarf’s station.”
“I’ll be there shortly.” Hanging up, she grabbed her report and called Ryan on her cell as she headed out her office door. Leaving the report with the receptionist to distribute, she walked out the front entrance, still talking into her phone. Ryan agreed to meet her at the cave. He just might need to make an example of these guys.
She jogged the few blocks to the cliffs. It was faster than navigating the one-way streets and tourist traffic. She wondered who she was going to find. Hawkson or more treasure hunters? Did a camera mean Carmody’s crew had returned? Or maybe it was curious tourists. He’d said males, so it wasn’t the Indian woman Dyani.
She approached the cave entrance. “What happened here?”
The dwarf appeared to be sitting on something. Drawing closer, she turned a startled laugh into a cough. The “something” was a man securely tied with magical twine. The dwarf held a beanbag-style billy club over the captive’s head of tousled reddish hair. Eddie West’s face flushed a rosy pink.
The other man, bedraggled and dirty, jeans newly ripped, was held securely by the muscular hand of a large weretiger. The tiger’s other hand held a damaged camera. Both captives complained loudly.
“Get him off of me,” Eddie yelled.
Ari waited until she could master her grin and addressed the dwarf. “So what’s the story?”
“This one comes up friendly as can be.” The dwarf tapped Eddie lightly on the head with his billy club. “Started asking me about the caves, the entrance collapse. He kept babbling on, while that one,” he pointed the club at the man held by the tiger, “sneaked into the cave entrance and took off running. I took this one down.” He waved the club again. “And I left the rest of the fun to the tigers.”
Ryan walked up in time to hear the dwarf’s explanation. He folded his arms and speared Eddie with a hard look. “You were warned.”
“Where’d you catch the other guy?” Ari asked the tiger. “Did he make it as far as your guard station?”
“Not even close. When the dwarf called me, I went looking. This guy was already lost,” the weretiger said in disgust. “But he wasn’t very cooperative about being rescued. I recovered his camera too, but, sorry, I guess it got damaged in the struggle, or maybe when I stomped on it.”
“Ari. Ryan.” Eddie tried a more conciliatory tone than before. “We’re legitimate members of the press. Tell them they can’t do this to us.”
“Looks to me like they can—and did.” She was unable to suppress the grin any longer. “Didn’t I tell you not to be snooping around?”
“This isn’t funny,” Eddie sputtered.
Ryan had obviously been enjoying the show. Now, he scratched his chin. “I believe you gentlemen of the press were trespassing. That’s a misdemeanor worth about thirty days in lockup.”
Ari gurgled but pointed to Eddie. “Let him up. They’re free to go. This time. I don’t think the vampires will press charges unless they try to get inside again.” When Eddie was on his feet and straightening his clothes, she added. “I mean it. Don’t come back. Next time you’ll have to deal with Andreas, and he may let Ryan take you to jail.”
“If you’d talk to me I wouldn’t have to resort to this,” he grumbled, but he didn’t act very upset now that he and his photographer were free. He looked the camera over and shrugged. “I don’t suppose I could send the bill to the city?”
Ari shook her head at the quick adjustment in his attitude. Seasoned members of the press probably learned to take rejection in stride.
“Get out of here.” Ryan waved them off. “Go home, both of you. Before I change my mind.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Without a better plan of action, Ari resumed her regular routine with the addition of regular checks of the cliff area on her nightly patrol. She considered scrying for Dyani, but magical searches weren’t very effective with humans. Hawkson had a strong aura but that seemed to be due to his shaman status and not his race. She abandoned the idea.
Most of Sunday passed with no remarkable incidents. Ursula remained in hiding, the coven had not yet returned to town, and no one tried to enter the caverns. The new tunnel saw no activity. If Dyani was in town, she was laying low.
Instead of relaxing, Ari grew increasingly tense over the afternoon. She took an early run in the park, practiced her knife throwing, and finally tried yoga. Nothing worked. It was only a matter of time before one of their enemies made a move, and the anticipation was taking a toll. Every muscle was tight, and she avoided Andreas’s staff for fear she would snap at them.
She called Claris a couple of times to vent. She said Ari was strung too tight. When Claris locked her shop door at four o’clock, her regular Sunday closing time, she insisted Ari come with her to a late matinee. It was a chick flick that they both giggled over. Ari enjoyed the break, but the moment they left the theater her tension returned.
Late that night she tried scrying for the coven in case they had slipped back into town without her knowledge. When her search failed to locate them, she stomped from her room, banging the door behind her, shaking the solid walls.
“Temper, temper,” Lilith said, racing up the staircase. “I thought we were under attack, rather than having a tantrum.”
The teasing didn’t go over well. “Stuff it.” Ari brushed past her and hurried down the stairs, pausing at the front door. “And stay here. I don’t need or want a bodyguard.”
Clearing the house, Ari broke into a run, letting her legs stretch out, increasing her pace until the wind whipped her hair back from her face. Activity felt good. The breeze felt good. More than anything else, the freedom felt good. She turned into familiar territory, running past her apartment building and through the tree-canopied, residential streets. She leveled out into a pace far beyond the light jog she’d taken earlier. Pushing herself faster and faster, she relished the stretching of her muscles and raced on, fleeing through the darkened town from her inner demons.
She had almost reached the other side of Olde Town before she felt his magic. Andreas fell into step beside her, and they ran in silence. Entering the gates of Goshen Park, they circled both fountains twice before Ari came to a stop in an isolated area. She bent over to rest, hands on knees, catching her breath, then dropped onto the grass.
