Silver - By Kailin Gow Page 0,28

her voice. She knew the others would hear her.

Kevin transformed and moved to stand by her.

“Fire.”

Briony smel ed it then. The faintest drift of smoke on the breeze, reminiscent of campfires or the cozy, log burning fireplace in the inn’s lounge. Except that this scent did not bring with it feelings of warmth and comfort.

Briony rushed forwards, ignoring the others as she ran to the edge of the trees. There ahead lay the house, or what remained of it, anyway. Flames licked at it, leaping up around door frames and spurting in flares from gaps in the roof. The fire crackled and spat as it ate the structure, loud against the near silence of the forest beyond the clearing.

“No.” Briony couldn’t stop the horrified sound escaping. “What happened here?”

“There’s no sign of the werewolves,” Kevin said.

“The battle must have finished a while back.”

“No sign of any vampires, either,” Fal on added.

“Though that might be harder to tel . We don’t exactly leave bodies.”

Yet something had happened there. Houses didn’t burn themselves down, and the very lack of bodies was some kind of clue. It meant that someone had found time to clear away the carnage left by the battle, or at least relocate it inside where it could burn with the rest of the structure.

That sparked a horrible thought in Briony. “Do you think there is anyone left in there? I mean, trapping someone inside when you set light to it would be a good way to kil them, wouldn’t it?”

Both Fal on and Kevin nodded. “Vampires can be kil ed by flames, if the fire is hot enough,” Fal on said.

“And werewolves are just as vulnerable to fire as anyone else,” Kevin added.

Briony stood staring at the flame-ridden building.

Jake moved to stand beside her.

“You can’t go in there, Briony,” he said.

“I’m not thinking of going in there.”

“Yes you are,” her brother countered. “I know you.

But it’s too dangerous, even for Aunt Sophie.”

As if to make his point, a section of roof col apsed inwards, letting fresh flames flicker up in the night sky. Even from as far back as they were, Briony could feel the heat of it.

“But what if Pietre is in there?” Briony demanded.

“Then he’s probably already dead.”

And ordinarily, that would have been a good thing.

Ordinarily, Briony could quite happily have stood by while a whole nest of vampires burned. Yet here, her hopes were burning up with it.

Kevin stepped past her. “I’l go,” he said.

Briony grabbed his arm. “No, Jake’s right. You’l burn.”

Kevin shook his head. “I think there’s an area near the door that’s clear. I can at least take a quick look.” He bent down to kiss her, and it was tender, too tender. “You need this, Briony.”

He sprinted towards the house, and Briony watched him.

“He has to play the hero, doesn’t he?” Fal on demanded, and moved in front of Briony. His kiss was harsher, more ful of need, than his brother’s had been. “So you don’t think Kevin is the only brave one in this family.”

He streaked off after his brother, with that inhuman speed vampires had. Where Kevin ploughed in through the open door, Fal on dove through a window. Al Briony could do was stand there dumbstruck. How could they be so stupid?

“It’s not often that you find people who are literal y prepared to run into a burning building for you,” Jake observed.

“It’s not funny, Jake. What if they don’t come back?”

Her brother didn’t have an answer for that as they stood, and waited, and waited. It was too long. Far too long.

Two shapes burst from the burning building almost simultaneously. Fal on was covered in soot and ash, while Kevin’s shirt was actual y smoldering, until he took the time to drop and rol . Briony rushed forward.

“Kevin, Fal on, are you hurt?”

They both assured her that they were fine.

“There’s no sign of Pietre though,” Kevin said.

Fal on shook his head. “Same here. There’s some ash, but I can’t even tel if it’s vampire, or just the building.

There’s no sign of any werewolves.”

Briony thought about it. They could assume that Pietre had died in there, but that didn’t get them anywhere.

In any case, she suspected that if anyone had managed to survive the day’s events, he had. Besides, something about this burning had his feel to it. The feel of someone cleaning up, dealing with things, and moving on.

Of course, even if al this meant was that Pietre had decided to relocate his base of operations now that