Kindling Flames: Smoke Rising (The Ancient Fire Series Book 3) by Julie Wetzel Page A

deployed and knocked the sense out of him. He looked around the car as his mind put things together. The phone call from Elliot, the black SUV he had only seen when it hit, the crunch of metal, and Vicky’s scream. His mind snapped into gear, and he looked around for the woman who had been in the seat next to him. She was gone.
    “Victoria,” Darien called as he pulled himself together. He could hear voices outside the car.
    “Yes, officer.” A woman’s voice sounded frantic. “That’s right. Please hurry—I don’t know how badly she’s hurt.”
    Darien tried to open his door to get out but found it was jammed shut. “Victoria!” He called louder as he tried to move. Pain screamed through his side, announcing that he had broken some ribs, and his leg was pinned and holding him down.
    The voices from outside the car stopped and listened.
    “Hello!” Darien called.
    “I thought you said he was dead?” the woman’s voice asked.
    “I thought he was,” a male voice answered. “He had no pulse.”
    Darien saw a young man stand up from the ground and look into the passenger side door.
    “Are you okay?” he asked Darien.
    “Yes.” Darien pulled against his leg. Somehow, the steering wheel had dropped down to his lap. “How’s Victoria?”
    The man looked down at the sidewalk, concerned. “It looks like she hit her head badly, and her arm might be broken.”
    “Please help me out,” Darien begged. “I need to make sure she’s all right.”
    “Hailey called the police,” the man informed him. “They should be here shortly.”
    “I need out,” Darien insisted. He grabbed the handle of the door and slammed his shoulder into it, trying to free himself from the twisted metal. His ribs protested, and he hissed in pain but didn’t stop. “Please.”
    The man rushed around to Darien’s side of the car. “You’re going to hurt yourself,” he said as Darien rammed his shoulder into the car door. The door gave a little, and Darien hit it again. The man wrapped his hands around the top of the doorframe and pulled as Darien pushed, and the door popped open.
    Darien drew on his vampire strength and bent the steering column up enough to get out from under it. “Thank you,” he said as the young man helped him from the car. Darien’s leg was definitely broken at the femur, but he didn’t care. His system would sort it out shortly. What he was really worried about was Vicky possibly bleeding to death on the sidewalk. He could smell her blood from here. Darien let the young man help him around the car to where Vicky was laid out. A young woman in a lavender sweaterdress stood over Vicky. The woman had tucked a light jacket over the injured girl, trying to keep her warm.
    The woman stepped back to let her husband help Darien to the ground. “She’s hurt.”
    Darien reached out and touched Vicky. He cringed at the damage done. Not only did she have a head wound and a badly broken arm, she also had several broken ribs and some internal bleeding. Darien shifted closer so Vicky’s head rested on his lap. “Thank you,” he said to the couple one more time before turning his attention to Vicky. Placing a hand on top of her head and one on her chest, Darien closed his eyes to work. He poured himself into her, wiping away the worst traces of the accident. Healing was one of Darien’s unique powers. He spent the time waiting for the police to arrive fixing the internal damage. Vicky’s arm would need to be set before he could heal it properly, and he left the minor cuts so the medics would have a reason for the blood on her. He could finish the job when he got her away from the doctors.
    The approaching police officer looked over the mangled car. “What happened?” The front, driver’s side quarter panel was smashed, and the rest of that side was torn up from spinning into the side of the SUV. The passenger’s side had crunched into a power pole just in front of the door. There was no sign of the SUV that