The Blue Devil

by Quirah Casey

  “Like you’d met them before?” I ask. Fran’s met a lot of people in her long life, so it wouldn't surprise me if she’d encountered my enemy before.

  “No. I’d never felt the presence before it appeared in town, but it felt very familiar to me. And now that my mind isn’t so clouded, it’s become clear to me that we’re dealing with a dragon. A very powerful one.”

  I nod. I couldn’t get a distinct feel for the person’s species from their presence, but if Fran says they’re a dragon, I believe her. Looks like it’s time to load up on nabesy and go dragon hunting. And speaking of presences…

  “I think they’ve found a way to mute and distort presences and smells. I haven’t been able to get a good read on Alftripson, and I know I had his scent locked in.” I should have found him by now.

  Fran hums in thought. “It’s possible. But I don’t know how to reverse it.”

  I sigh. Then I remember Fran’s vision about someone close to me dying, and I can’t help the chill that goes through my body. “Franny…do you remember the vision you had? I know Baptise said you didn’t remember right after you guys left, but has it come back to you?”

  A beep comes from behind me, and I turn to find Mel storming into the room, fury in her eyes.

  What have I done now?

  I turn away from her to listen to Fran.

  “I know that I was talking to you, but that’s all I can remember. I’m sorry, Blue.”

  Mel’s glare bores into my back and I know that whatever she’s pissed about, she’s not going to let me put it off for long. “Okay, thank you, Fran. I’m happy you’re feeling better.” I don’t want to ask her any more questions about the vision. I don’t want Mel to know about it, and it seems like Fran doesn’t really remember anything anyway. At this point, the vision is probably lost forever.

  Which means I’m going to have to work even harder to prevent it from coming true.

  “I’ll see you soon,” I tell Fran. The line goes dead, and I turn to Mel.

  I haven’t even raised my eyes to hers before she starts yelling. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Blue?” she shouts as she stomps toward me. “We just talked about how you need to stop taking such idiotic risks, and you immediately proceeded to go to a warehouse packed with creatures gunning for your head! With no backup!”

  How does she even know about my little mission? “Your informant had bad intel. The building was empty when I got there.”

  Her mouth falls open. “You can’t seriously be trying to convince me that you knew the building was cleared out. They may have been gone when you got there, but you weren’t banking on that. You wanted them to be there so you could send a message to their leader.”

  I frown, the dots starting to connect in my head. “You talked to London, didn’t you? That little snitch.”

  “Do you really think I needed him to tell me what you suggested when you found those people there? No, I’ve spent the last century with you, and when it comes to vengeance, you’re so damn predictable. You rush in with no thought for your safety; your only focus is getting back at whoever wronged you.”

  “I wasn’t going to kill those people!” Mel’s mouth drops open in disbelief at this. “Okay, maybe I wanted to at first, but I was going to settle for questioning them, maybe taking a couple of hostages.” I shrug.

  She clenches her fists. “Do you not realize that fifteen to one are some disastrous odds? No matter your stupid fucking intentions, you would have ended up hurt!”

  I scoff, feeling insulted. “I could have taken on all those people by myself. Easily. You and I both know that I’ve destroyed entire villages on my own.”

  She shakes her head, taking a step toward me. “Your father deserved that—”

  “And these people don’t?”

  “I’m not saying they don’t, but it’s obvious that they’re not calling their own shots, and their leader is clearly strong and smart. They’ve created some new poison that can kill a chöąt in seconds, for fuck’s sake. Yet, you think it’s a good idea to attack fifteen byurtid flunkies while the leader might be in the building, too? You have to be smarter than that.”

  “Mel—”

  “If you’d been thinking, you wouldn’t have been in that warehouse when the sprinklers went off.”

  “That was child’s play. It barely hurt me.” I forgot within minutes that my skin was burning.

  “You may have gotten used to the pain, but it was still killing you.”

  “It wouldn’t have killed me.”

  “It killed over two dozen agents.”

  “They were weak.”

  Her eyes widen as she throws her hands in the air. “It’s like talking to a fucking brick wall!”

  There’s another beep from the door before it’s thrown open for the second time in five minutes. London comes storming in with Marie on his heels, a guilty look on her face. “I tried to stop him.”

  “You could have died in that warehouse! Why in the hell did you go back?” London rages as he draws closer to me. He’s in siem form, halfway to dragon. He’s clearly done some thinking since we spoke outside the warehouse, or maybe talking to Mel riled him up. The last time I checked, he wasn’t angry. He might have been a little worried, but hell, he made one of his stupid jokes right before we split up at the warehouse. The sudden change gives me whiplash.

  “I don’t understand what the big deal is. I wasn't in any danger.” My own dragon starts to emerge, and I don’t bother holding her back. I’m tired of people fucking questioning my actions. I do what needs to be done. And it’s getting us somewhere! Even if all these papers turn out to be a bust, I still got vials of the poison—just what Zyut needs for the antidote.

  “They put fucking poison in the sprinkler system and you still think you weren’t in any danger?” His canines grit together. “There must be something broken in that thick skull of yours, because you really believe you’re invincible!”

  I narrow my eyes at him. “I don’t see why my safety is any of your concern,” I sniff. “We’re barely associates, and we certainly aren’t friends. We’re just working on a case together.”

  Pain flashes in his eyes as he takes a step closer to me. “Really. Is that why you saved the agent? Because we’re working on a case together.”

  Is that why I saved Blaine? I mean, Agent Levitsky? It’s the only reason that makes sense—I needed his resources. “Yes, and I don’t like that you think you can tell me what I can and can’t do. I do what I want, and no one is going to change that.”

  Mel lets out a sigh, and I can tell she’s done arguing with me. She knows it’s pointless. London, on the other hand, hasn’t gotten the memo.

  “We’re a team. You can’t just go running off on your own.”

  “Well, the team wasn’t getting shit done, so I took matters into my own hands.”

  “Oh really, and how did that work out for you?”

  “If you weren’t so busy being a jackass, you would have noticed that it actually worked out pretty well.” I can’t help my smugness as I gesture to the table covered with papers.

  His eyebrows lift in surprise, and he steps over to examine my finds. His gaze pauses on the blueprint of The Lair, and I snatch it up, not wanting him to get any ideas.

  “Have you figured out who gave this to them?” London asks, settling into my office chair, his anger disappearing.

  Yet I’m the crazy one?

  Yeah fucking right.

  “How could I have found out already?” I ask him. “I found these papers not even two hours ago.”

  “I thought you knew everything that went on in this town,” he taunts. “Clearly someone from your den leaked this blueprint.”

  “What the hell have you been smoking? First you act calm, then you’re angry, and now you’re fucking calm again! Not to mention that no one in my den would ever betray me.”

  There’s a beat of silence. London looks at me blankly for a few seconds, and then his face scrunches.
/>   “Shit, you’re serious.” He stands up, patting his pockets. He pulls out a cigar. “You know something, Pudding? This is the first time you haven’t tried to break my arm just for reaching into my pocket. We’re making progress.” He holds out the cigar to me, confirming my suspicions that he is, in fact, a mental case. “This is to relax you. So that when you come to the realization that you have a rat, you won’t kill us all.” He looks at Mel and Marie, shaking his head. “Okay, so maybe you’d just try to kill me. I guess I’m saving my own ass, but I have no shame admitting it.”

  “You’re so far off your fucking rocker—”

  “Ha. Have you not met yourself?”

  “I don’t have a rat.” I ignore his comment, accepting the cigar and taking a long drag. It’s smooth, relaxing.

  “Someone else want to spell it out for her?” London asks, swiveling to Mel and Marie. I take another puff.

  “What is this?” I ask as I start to feel slightly sleepy. “You’re not trying to poison me, are you?”

  “No, I’m sure you’ve had enough poison for the day.” He looks pointedly at my bag that’s still a little damp. “Let Mel look at the blueprint and see what she thinks.”

  I reluctantly hand the blueprint off to Mel.

  We’ve never had a rat in the den, and we don’t have one now, but I’ll play along for the moment.

  I lean against my desk, waiting for everyone to come to their senses. London moves to my side and places a hand on my back, out of view of Mel and Marie. “How are you feeling, Blue? Are you alright after the poison shower?” He keeps his voice low, though I’m sure Mel and Marie are too engrossed in the blueprint to be paying us any attention.

  I turn my head, meeting London’s gaze. He’s back in human form now, but those golden eyes are still just as penetrating. His breath fans across my face as he leans in closer.

  “I’m fine, even though your ever-changing moods are making my head hurt.” He only smiles, and I shake my head and reach behind my back to roughly grab his arm. I soak in the tingles for a moment, keeping my face blank. I’m not sure why the little euphoric tingles come every time I touch London, and I hate to admit that I like them. I’ll never let him know it. I clench my jaw. “I remember threatening to take your arm off the next time you touched me.”

  His smile widens. “You won’t.”

  “Blue.” I look up at the sound of Mel’s voice, and I push London’s arm away. Mel’s frowning, and I narrow my eyes at Marie, who seems to be taking cautious steps away from me.

  “What?”

  “He’s right.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Every security camera is marked. Every passcode, every lock, every guard change and shift.” Her lips pull into a tight line before she huffs out a breath. “The only people who have this access are the den wyryns. The highly ranked ones.”

  “No—”

  “Think about it, Blue.”

  I pause, mentally flipping through all the material I found tonight.

  Fuck.

  We have a rat.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  London was smart to try to calm me down before the realization could fully sink in. He wasn’t quite as smart as Marie, who moved as far away from me as possible.

  “Fuck!” London jumps as a lamp crashes into him before falling to the ground and shattering.

  “Shit.” Mel snatches the stapler that I’d picked up to throw next. “Calm down and look at this from a different angle, Blue. We just found out something that’s going to get us closer to cracking this case.”

  “Fuck the case! I want to know which of my people had the nerve to stab me in the back.” I shake my head in disbelief. “After all I’ve done for this den, someone does this shit? Betrays us all and nearly gets me sent to jail for murders I didn’t commit?”

  “Don’t forget that they killed innocent people,” London mutters.

  “Don’t push her right now,” Mel warns him as she rubs my hand in what I’m sure are meant to be soothing circles.

  “You need to stay level-headed,” Marie says, not moving from her position in the corner of the room.

  I focus in on her, redirecting my anger. “What are you doing back in town anyway? I sent you away, and I don’t recall telling you to come back.”

  “She needed to pick up some things for…” Mel bites her lip, glancing at London before turning back to me, frustration in her eyes. “For Q. I gave her permission to come back because I knew you wouldn’t, and what Q needed was important. She was giving Marie hell about it.”

  Of course she was. Quest can raise hell like nobody's business when she wants to, and she’s so damn stubborn, I can’t believe she’s only five. I glance at London. I’m sure he’s put together all the clues: Levitsky’s widened eyes, the clipped argument, Mel’s evasive references. He definitely knows that I have children, but I still don’t want to speak openly with him in the room.

  “Well, go and pick up whatever you need, and then get back where you’re supposed to be.” I sigh and turn away from the others as I try to reel in my anger. Save your rage for the rat, Marie doesn’t deserve it. I turn back around. “Things just got even more dangerous here, and I don’t need you in the crossfire.”

  “Okay.” Marie nods, walking over to the door and opening it.

  A figure careens into the room as Marie ducks out. “Why did you fucking go back to the warehouse?” Blaine yells, stopping just a few feet short of me.

  Everyone wants to test my fucking patience today.

  “I told you to stay away, to let the CDA handle it, and you did the fucking opposite. You could have blown the entire operation, or you could have been caught by another agent and thrown in jail.”

  How many times do I have to hear this lecture today?

  “Or I could have not been there, you idiot. You would have died in the chemical shower, just like all the other agents in that building. Really, you should be thanking me right now.” I step forward, meeting his glare head on. Just when I was getting control of my rage. “If I hadn’t been in that warehouse, they’d be making funeral arrangements for you right now. Hell, I could have stepped over you, for the record.” I mean, I wanted to and almost did, but he doesn’t need to know that.

  Blaine’s skin starts to ripple with onyx scales, and really, I find it funny. Who would have thought that Agent Do-Good would be this easy to anger? And all because I saved his life.

  Fucking hysterical.

  “Okay, children, let's simmer down.” London steps between the two of us, and I survey the room. Mel is sitting on the couch, arms folded across her chest. She’s still pissed, and from experience, I know that she probably will be for the next week, her anger ebbing away slowly but surely.

  “Pudding, I’m sure Blaine is grateful and just doesn’t know how to show it. Agent Levitsky, Blue understands that she shouldn’t have gone back to the warehouse, but she did save you, so let's just stop arguing.” Hmm, I could have sworn that he was yelling at me not even fifteen minutes ago. “She actually found some information that could help us while she was off being hardheaded.”

  “I feel you could have worded all of that differently,” I tell him dryly as I sit back at my desk, nerves on edge, wondering what the hell happened to London’s cigar.

  “I need a shot of yonka or something stronger. Hell, at this point I’d take inyt, and that shit is disgusting.”

  London sits on the edge of my desk and holds out the missing cigar like long-lost treasure.

  “You make yourself useful whenever I least expect it,” I tell him, taking the cigar and watching as Blaine reclines on the couch next to Mel, back in human form. His heartbeat tells me he’s still angry, but at least he’s trying to hide it.

  I light the cigar, taking a drag. “There’s a rat in my den,” I tell Blaine.

  His eyes widen and his back straightens. “Really?”

  “Yes, really. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but it’s true. Which is why you ne
ed to keep the CDA out of the loop from now on.”

  His forehead wrinkles. “What does the CDA have to do with there being a rat in your den?”

  “Yeah, you’ve totally lost me, Pudding,” London adds.

  “If this person can get one of my own wyryns to turn on me, then they’ve certainly gotten people in the CDA to turn. I mean, it’s not hard; CDA agents have no loyalty. Look at Blaine!” I point at the agent. “He’s been going behind the CDA’s back to work with us for weeks.”

  Blaine sits up, his fists balling as scales ripple across his skin. “My working with you hasn’t hurt the CDA in any way. I’ve been loyal to the organization since it began, and nothing has changed that.”

  I roll my eyes. “Whatever you say, Agent.”

  London raises a hand and reaches out, as if to touch me, before pausing and pulling back. “Pudding, stop antagonizing him. Focus on explaining why we need to leave out the CDA.”

  I raise a brow at him before turning back toward the sofa, where I find Mel looking at me intently. I avoid her gaze. “It’s simple. There may be a rat in my den, but there’s also at least one in the CDA. No one in my den had any idea that we discovered the warehouse, or that you were telling the CDA about it. Hell, neither London or I knew when the CDA was planning to raid, yet our perp wired the sprinkler system for exactly the right time.”

  “They could have had some kind of security system in place.”

  “Doubtful, or else it would have gone off when I broke the locks on the door. Plus, don’t you find it just a little too convenient that the warehouse was cleared out before the CDA made it there? There were plenty of byurtids there just a few hours earlier.”

  “Damn, Pudding. You have some pretty valid points.” London looks down at me with surprise, and I smirk.

  “Of course I do. I didn’t take over an entire town by being stupid.”

  “Yet you didn’t realize that your den had a mole,” Blaine mutters.

  “I meant to ask, Blaine, did your partner go down in the shower from hell?” I shoot back. I’ve had enough of the constant attacks.