Not a Dragon: Soulmarked: Kiara Ravenlocke Files 1

by Alexia Black

  Bart whipped his head around. I face-palmed internally; that was not how you did subtle.

  However, the girl had already turned to leave. The shopping bag sat innocently on the table. “I am going to follow that girl. That bag could be dangerous. Can you protect them?”

  We had worked together on enough cases by now to know that he had started trusting my judgment.

  I would’ve asked him to follow the girl but being a serpent shifter, his hearing wasn’t better than mine. He was more adept at following movements and vibrations than sound.

  I got up, ready to follow her. If she was a lackey, she would definitely call someone to give an update. If I got close enough, I should be able to learn something.

  Bart jumped suddenly, the chair crashing back with a loud sound, “Ki, that bag is vibrating.” Bart ran towards their table.

  I ran right after him. The bag looked stable to me. But I trusted his senses.

  Aiden’s eyes widened seeing us run towards him like lunatics. He fisted his palms, his shoulders tensed, ready for a fight

  The next second, smoke exploded out of the bag, knocking Aiden and his manager unconscious.

  Thick smoke rolled over the cafeteria. Other diners got up and scrambled away in panic. There was no time to do panic control. We had to make sure they were both alive first. I pressed the emergency button on my watch, automatically sending our location to the head office and requesting for backup.

  “Two vamps. Seven, eight. Keep away,” Bart shouted, pulling up our standard issue black mask over his mouth and nose.

  “Got it,” I said, doing the same.

  They were two vampires at my seven o’clock and eight o’clock. He wanted me to take the two unconscious men away while he kept the vamps at bay. Bart’s speed was an advantage he had even over vampires. I would just end up getting in his way.

  Aiden groaned. Thank the fates, he was alive after all.

  “Get up,” I caught his elbow in a brutal grip and tugged him up. He slumped, slipping in and out of consciousness.

  I hauled the manager off his chair, dragging him away with my hands under his armpits and Aiden, half-leaning and stumbling after me, with his arm around my shoulder. Our progress was slow. Not only was the manager adept at being a brick wall between Aiden and unwanted attention, he weighed as much too. Damn his stupid muscles.

  Wheezing, I got them a few meters away from where the smoke cloud was the thickest. I really needed to up my weight training. I took out a barrier charm. The rainbow colored ball, half the size of my finger, hummed with muted magic.

  “Sit,” I unceremoniously shoved Aiden besides the manager. There was no time for politeness. I pressed my thumb into the ball, activating the charm, and threw it at them.

  The ball expanded to form a dome around them, looking more like a huge soap bubble than a fancy magical barrier. But, it would hold for now.

  The smoke had cleared. Bart and the two vampires were in a blurred dance of a fight. He was holding well on his own but those two looked powerful. If only I had my sister’s power. With Sam’s power, this fight would have been over in a minute. But, I could only watch helplessly. I stamped down the feeling before the twisted jealousy took root in me again.

  I had a few more barrier charms, a stake and two enchanted daggers. But I couldn’t give them to Bart in the middle of this. I wasn’t fast enough to get in and out of a supernatural brawl.

  What was that sound?

  I turned around to see Aiden, that idiot, punching the barrier that was protecting him.

  “Stop punching it. It won’t break easily,” I lied. The barrier was unfortunately weaker on the inside. I didn’t know what species he was, but if he was a strong one like a dragon or a Fae, the barrier wouldn’t hold for long.

  Aiden didn’t look like my words had registered in his mind; he looked half out of it, like he had been drugged from the smoke. He kept punching at the same spot of the barrier. Even half-conscious his accuracy was terrifying to behold. I didn’t know if he could see it, but that spot was becoming more and more translucent, like a soap bubble before bursting.

  I got down on my knee outside the dome. Seeing my face so near startled him into stop punching for a moment. Well, I assumed he was startled because it was impossible to know from his face. This guy could be a pro poker player with how much expression he had. The only sign of him being drugged was his glossed over eyes.

  “Stop!” I pressed my palm against the spot he was punching. Yep, it was definitely going to break soon. “I am trying to help you, you dumbass.”

  I held my breath; did my words get through the fog in his mind?

  He punched the barrier again, right where my face was.

  Okay, never mind. Protecting him isn’t going to work out, time for plan B. This was absolutely breaking the protocol, interns are supposed to alert security and get the hell out of there during non-sanctioned combats but, I had to interfere. If Bart lost, they might not leave him alive.

  I ran towards where the fight was happening, hoping to hell I had enough element of surprise on my side to pull it off. “Back away,” I yelled to Bart, trusting him to follow.

  I activated and threw a barrier charm towards them. One of the vampires caught it in his hands, confusion plain on his face. Not a second after, it exploded into a dome, trapping the two vampires in it.

  “What is this?” One of them punched it in anger. Shit, it was already becoming transparent from one punch. These guys were serious business.

  “It won’t hold much longer,” I shoved my stake and an enchanted dagger into Bart’s hand, keeping only one dagger with me. “I told you weapons were useful.”

  “Weapons are for humans,” he said, but he held on tight to them.

  Of course, the supernatural looked down on weapons. Why wouldn’t they, when they themselves were the ultimate weapon?

  The Barrier broke and the vampires shot out in rage. I narrowly managed to get out of their way.

  “Now,” Bart said, catching onto my plan.

  I threw the charm at his command. This time it broke in the first punch itself. But that split second delay gave Bart the advantage. He impaled the stake deep into the vampire’s heart and slashed the neck of the other.

  The staked one fell on the ground and started pruning like a raisin; muscles and fat shrinking till he was just a skeleton with skin wrapped around him.

  The other vampire staggered back under the uppercut Bart delivered with his now stake-free hand. The wound on his neck might give him some pain but considering how vampire blood cells were stationary, there was no chance of him bleeding out. The dagger could nullify magic to a small extent but it could not kill vamps.

  “Away,” I called out and threw my last charm. Bart sidestepped the vampire as the charm hit his forehead and exploded into a barrier. The vamp growled and punched. The dome broke like glass.

  The vampire’s movements were more erratic now, the frustration chipping away the sharpness of his attacks. In a move no other species could imitate. Bart twisted his upper body back, avoiding the punch, his lower body still upright. Easily pulled out the stake from the shriveled vamp and plunged it deep into the other vampire’s heart.

  It happened so fast, if I’d blinked, I would have missed it.

  “You should be called rubber man,” I said, pulling out the stake from the now shriveled up body of the second one. The stake slid out easily, now that nothing was holding it in place. Vampires never expect a human weapon like a stake. If worse comes to worst, they expected their head to be twisted off and killed. Of course, even with a stake, a human or a lower supernatural would be dead before they took one step forward.

  “Are they alive?” Bart wiped off the sweat from his face.

  “Yeah,” I nodded, walking back towards them. “He almost broke the barrier,” I pointed towards an unconscious Aiden and waited for the barrier to lose its magic. If Aiden had been fully conscious, I had no doubt he would’ve been able to break throu
gh it in a single punch.

  Ten seconds later the charm broke.

  And with that, I was officially out of charms. I needed to get my supply back up. Those few I had only gave seconds of advantage. If Aiden had broken through the barrier, I wouldn’t have had enough to protect him and delay the vampires at the same time.

  My stomach growled. I gave Bart a sheepish look. All that adrenaline had left me even hungrier than before.

  He laughed, “Let’s eat.”

  We took our food and sat on the floor, keeping an eye on their unconscious forms and an ear out for our backup. The place was completely empty. There had been very few diners earlier, just a couple of kids and their girlfriends. They had very smartly run away when the smoke had appeared.

  Aiden and his manager were still out when backup arrived. They were loaded into the company ambulance and the staff had returned and started cleaning up the place.

  “Return to headquarters,” the healer mage said before climbing back into the ambulance.

  I looked back at the cafeteria. For a fight of that caliber, although the casualty rate was nil, the place had gotten completely wrecked. How badly had Aiden pissed someone off for them to hire such high grade Vamps? If it wasn’t for Bart, both of them would’ve been toast.

  Maybe it was the manager who the enemy was targeting? No, the girl had showed no signs of wanting to hand it to the manager. Aiden was definitely the target. I didn’t even bother thinking about the why? I knew next to nothing useful about him.

  The company SUV screeched to a halt just as I stepped outside the mall. Talk about timing. I strapped myself in.

  “They both woke up on the way,” Bart said, fingers tapping the steering wheel. He had kicked the driver to the backseat and I had gleefully called shotgun. “Carl said there isn’t any long term damage. It was only for knocking them out temporarily. They both are being taken to the headquarters,” I hummed, my face pressed against the glass. I watched the world pass by in a blur, watching in fascination as always as we sped past other vehicles.

  The first time I had seen the highway I almost cried in joy. I didn’t know the world was so big, so easy to get lost in, so easy to hide.

  I wasn’t used to pollution, still coughing my guts out every time I walked home after work. But there was something freeing about being out in the open, of no one knowing you or caring what you are. Here, I was just another city dweller, among the millions of supernaturals and humans.

  “Kiara,” Bart’s voice brought me back to the present.

  “Yes, grandpa?”

  “They have asked for us.” Specifically you, he didn’t add but the warning was evident. I had broken an important protocol. And now, I was going to suffer the consequences.

  Chapter 3

  I swiped my badge and walked past security.

  The entire four story structure belonged to Blazewood securities. Most of our offices were at the uppermost floor and the rest was taken up by gyms, the cafeteria and rooms to crash in when we worked overnight.

  I followed Bart out of the elevator into one of the smaller meeting rooms. At least we wouldn’t be having an audience for this. He pushed the door open and walked in. I took a seat beside him after shutting the door, effectively soundproofing the room.

  Around the round table, Aiden and his manager sat along with our Boss, Arthur Blazewood; fire dragon extraordinaire, best friends to the Dragon King of the country and unofficially, my dad. He did not look happy to see me.

  “I am Travis and this is Aiden,” the manager spoke. His shock of auburn hair stood up, defying gravity. I repeated his name in my mind a few times. Faces were easy to remember but I sucked at names. “Thank you for saving us,” he said.

  “You were in need, we helped, that’s all. No need to thank us,” I said.

  Bart nodded in agreement.

  “You knew we were in danger even before we did,” Aiden’s eyes narrowed. “How?”

  He was a wary one. Good. Maybe he was not a complete dumbass after all.

  “I heard what that girl had said. It was a lie so it was obvious something was wrong.”

  Aiden’s eyebrow shot up at that. His manager didn’t look convinced.

  “I have advanced hearing,” I lied. I knew they would probably think I was a bat shifter. The other species can’t retain their sensitive hearing as much when they shifted to their human form. It was an obvious misdirection. One dad wasn’t happy to hear this, if his glare in my direction was any indication.

  “I knew she was lying because I didn’t recognize her and also Caroline hadn’t forgotten anything. Plus, Bart sensed movement inside the bag.”

  “How were you so sure she wasn’t a staff member?” Aiden asked. Travis tapped his thigh, a warning in his eyes, asking him to tone down his interrogative tone. Did I accidentally piss him off or something or was he like this to everyone? Remind me to never try and save him again.

  “I have a good memory,” I smiled sharply. Aiden was still looking at me with suspicion, as if he could sense something was wrong with me.

  Stop being so paranoid, I scolded myself. I forced myself to relate the rest of the incident as professionally as I could. It was times like this I hated Bart. He despised talking so I was the one who was always interrogated when need be.

  They didn’t ask about my charms to my relief. It would have been hard to explain why a supernatural would carry such rudimentary defense charms but they probably dismissed it as part of my bodyguard lifestyle.

  “There is going to be another attempt,” I said. “It’s pretty obvious someone wants to kidnap him.”

  “What makes you think they want to kidnap and not kill me?” Aiden asked. His question was a typical one but the way he said it, it wasn’t just suspicion, something about me was bothering him. Could he see my soul, or whatever the hell was left of it? Otherwise, why else would he be so suspicious of me. Wouldn’t he be more suspicious of Bart?

  I knew from previous experiences that despite standing tall at 5”10, I was considered fairly harmless. I blended well into the background like a professional wallflower. It’s how I had managed to survive till now.

  “I am pretty sure they wanted to kidnap you since the smoke only knocked you out and didn’t kill you,” I said “And before you ask, there are poisons that work in small range so it’s not concern over mass murder that made them use that smoke bomb.”

  He nodded, satisfied for now but his eyes never left me.

  I pressed my short nails into my palm, blood welled up in crescents. I used the pain to ground me. It didn’t matter how much he unnerved me, I couldn’t lose composure in front of everyone.

  “I can assure you, my employee wasn’t the one trying to kidnap you,” dad said, shifting his glare from me to Aiden.

  Aiden blinked once. As if he had woken up from a trance. It was a miniscule reaction, something I would have missed if I hadn’t been staring at him.

  “Sorry for making you uncomfortable.” It was a genuine apology.

  I waved it away, “It’s fine.” At this point, he was piquing my curiosity more than anything. What species was he for him to notice me? Was he a soul whisperer?

  “It seems Aiden here is in need of some bodyguards,” Travis said, his deep voice carrying equal parts of frustration and anger; frustration with the situation and anger at whoever wanted to harm his client.

  “We are happy to offer our services,” dad offered his personal business card, going from protective father mode to CEO mode within seconds. Not that anyone knew he was in dad mode.

  Aiden was a lucky one. Dad rarely took special interest in such small cases. He was usually invested in providing protection to kings and politicians, not rockstars.

  Ah, perks of being from Starfire.

  “Thank you. I will discuss with our CEO and contact you tomorrow to iron out the details,” Travis replied.

  I slumped in my seat as soon Travis and Aiden walked out, my breath leaving me out in a whoosh. Dad asked Bart
to submit his report as soon as possible. He grunted his reply and I got up to follow him out.

  “Ms.Ravenlocke, a word,” dad spat out my new last name as if it offended him and I reckon it did. I grimaced and sat down again.

  “Pumpkin, you promised,” he pinched the bridge of his nose. Dad knew how easy it was to kill me, how fragile everything was. I had to beg him and mom for months to let me intern here.

  “I didn’t even fight, dad. I just stood to the side and watched him fight. It was pretty cool,” I kept my voice nonchalant. Once upon a time my parents would’ve been able to identify the near invisible waver in my voice but that time was long gone. Truth was, I had been terrified. Every single mission made me realize just how powerless I was. But, I had no choice. I was my sister’s only chance.

  “You let them think you were a supernatural, pumpkin. They are going to ask you to be part of that kid’s security detail too.”

  I hid my snicker at dad referring to him as a kid. Aiden seemed to be my age but considering dad was more than a century old I guess we were really fetuses compared to him.

  “I am hoping they would ask for me too. Please don’t say no, dad”

  “It’s too dangerous. I am not letting you go on that mission.”

  I clenched my fist. “Are you kidding me?”

  “I know why you want to be part of it. But pumpkin, this is a twisted way to gain James’ favor. Are you just going to keep working for Starfire’s people hoping he would grant you a wish one day? He is a king, Kiara. There are millions of people trying to gain his favor. Just because you protected a few of his employees doesn’t mean you will get to stand out. This won’t work out.” He shook his head.

  I hated that he was right, but I was banking everything on him being wrong. There was a precedent to the King granting a wish, if no one else did, dad knew that.

  “What else can I do?” I asked. “How else can I save Sam? He is the only one with the power to help her when her own family doesn’t want to help her.” I looked pointedly at dad.

  “Stop worrying about Sam. She will be fine. She will learn to adjust. You are being too sensitive, pumpkin.”