the boat lifted above the water as it picked up speed. She could feel the immense power of the engines propelling it, and the ocean wind in her face kept her tears from spilling over.
As they drew nearer, they could see fire trucks rolling into the driveway, sirens wailing, lights strobing in the late afternoon sun. By the time Willem had guided the massive vessel up to its deep water pier, dropped anchor, jumped off and raced toward the house, the firefighters were manning their hoses, sending rivers of cooling water onto the place.
Racing up to them, a man in a heavy yellow coat and helmet, shouted, “Was anyone inside?”
Lucy opened her mouth, but Willem’s hand closed on her forearm, making her bite off the words she’d been about to shout. “No,” he said. “The house is empty.”
Nodding, the man returned to his work.
Lucy sent Willem a searching look.
“They’re either all right or they’re not,” he said. “If the flames reached them, they’re already gone.” His voice broke when he said it. “And if they didn’t, then they’ll be okay. The smoke won’t harm them. This is the work of vigilantes. Hate groups. We can’t risk revealing the presence of vampires to those bastards.”
Just then a familiar blue vehicle came bounding to a stop on the roadside, blocked from getting any closer by the fire trucks. James got out, and one look at his face told Lucy of his horror. Forgetting everything else, everything bad that had passed between them, she ran to him, stopping herself just short of flinging herself into his arms.
“Rhiannon?” he asked. “Fina?”
“They’re still inside—as far as we know.”
He gazed down into her eyes; then, his arm anchoring her to his side as if she belonged there, he strode up to the nearest firefighter. “Who’s responsible for this?”
The man shouted to be heard above the roar of the flames and hoses and trucks and pumps. “Rednecks trying to burn vampires while they sleep. Damn fools buying into all this hype on the TV. Press don’t know what harm they’re doing, playing into it the way they are. It’s sensationalism, is what it is. They need to get a handle on things—and fast. This is our fifth call today. Every last one of them arson.”
James turned, his eyes scanning the road in both directions, then the beach. Lucy noticed that his clothes were covered in ash and soot, and his hands were gray with it.
“You won’t find ’em hanging around,” the fireman said. “They throw their damned Molotov cocktails and run like hell. Cowards.”
“Oh, I’ll find them. Believe me, I’ll find them.”
James’s voice trembled as he spoke, and he held himself in check. But Lucy could feel the pent-up rage in him, and it frightened her.
“Any word on your family, James?” she asked softly.
He met her eyes, and his were bereft. “My parents’ home was burned. No sign of them. I don’t know if they left before…or if they…” He swallowed, cleared his throat, started over. “The others’ homes were empty. I just…I don’t know. I don’t know.”
For the first time she saw tears well up in his eyes. And for the first time, she realized, she saw him as he was. Not as a heroic angel or as a savior, not as a demon, but as a man. A man who didn’t know if his loved ones were dead or alive. A man in anguish. She did not stop herself any longer. She slid her arms around his waist, laid her head on his chest and just held him. “I pray they’re all right,” she whispered. “All of them.”
James had still been having doubts about his actions, mostly due to Lucy’s obvious disapproval of what he was doing, and why. He’d never been a man who believed a worthy end justified the use of immoral means. And yet he’d been employing just that: immoral means. He wasn’t kidding himself. He knew it was wrong to dabble in matters of life and death, matters that belonged to the discretion of the gods themselves, or to fate, or to whatever higher power was in charge of the world and its inhabitants. He knew it was wrong of him to try to take charge of life and death. But he’d believed he had no choice if he wanted to save his people. He’d felt he had been born to do this, right or wrong. He’d chosen to proceed on a morally questionable path for the greater good.