by J A Campbell
She regretted her words the moment she’d spoken them. Melanie had slipped out of the room so quietly that she didn’t realize the fae girl was there, until Marcus’ eyes turned to her.
The hallway light reflected a mixture of tears and sparks in Melanie’s eyes. Her face was nearly as pale as the white corridor walls, save for a streak of Darien’s blood on her cheek, but her voice was steady when she spoke. “No one thinks like anyone else. And I never thought you would speak about me as you just did.”
Elise nodded, swallowing a lump in her throat. Hagatha was her closes kindred, and she certainly did not understand the workings of her mind. An apology was on the tip of her tongue, but Melanie excused herself and brushed past.
“Someone needs to stay with him, I’m sorry—I can’t… Marcus, if you need rest, you’re welcome to come with me.”
He paused only a moment to turn to Elise. “He should sleep for several hours, between the Scotch and the magic. Call me if he worsens or you need help. I’ll be resting as well. One thing—if what you’ve been told is true, Darien is human until he chooses to take his draconian form.”
Elise nodded.
“I trust you will not speak of Melanie in that manner again.” His words were calm and final.
“Yes, milord.”
Why isn’t the bloody thing working?
Melanie stared at the card in her hand and the reader next to the door, blinking back the tears she’d been fighting since they left.
“Here.” Marcus took her wallet and pulled out the hotel key card instead of her American Express and slid it in. She hastened into her room when the light turned green, her hands covering her face.
Melanie raced to the bathroom, turned the shower to scorch, stripped off her clothing and got in to wash off the sweat and dragon’s blood. Wracking sobs mixed with the steaming hot water. She scrubbed with a washcloth until her skin felt raw.
Marcus gently wrapped her in towels as soon as she emerged. He had conjured a pair of warm red pajamas, which looked blissfully warm and snug. She regretfully abandoned that option for a clean sweater and slacks. Even with Marcus onboard, she wanted to remain on alert.
“You did well,” Marcus said. “You kept your wits and once you determined what I needed, you even anticipated my requirements. I could not have restored him as easily without your powers.
Melanie startled herself with a laugh. “And I thought sneaking into Doc’s study to watch the surgery videos was helping Tig’s medical careers.”
Marcus raised a brow.
“I’m not sure I’m ever going to tell my mother about this.”
Marcus nodded and headed for the shower.
Melanie surprised herself with feelings of regret when he closed the bathroom door gently. He emerged a short time later, clad in jeans and a warm sweater.
Melanie glanced at him, then the single queen-sized bed.
“Just lie down next to me,” Marcus said. “You’ve my word I won’t ask more of you. A gentleman doesn’t take advantage of a woman’s pain.”
Melanie wrapped her arms around her pillow and curled her limbs into a tight knot, sobbing. Last summer she’d had a bullet graze her neck and almost bled out. Nearly a dozen years before, her best friend lay on the ground, dead from a gunshot wound.
How close had they all come? If they’d been mere mortals...
“I’m here,” Marcus murmured, rolling over to wrap his arms around her. “Just sleep.”
“I don’t want to fight dragons,” Melanie sobbed out her confession. “I grew up with Puff and Pern and Daenerys … I hate Tolkien for killing Smaug.”
Marcus let out a long breath. He probably had no idea what she was babbling about.
“And Nessie,” she whispered. “I saw her. She wasn’t like them. She had kind eyes. She just wanted to be left alone.”
“Sleep, love,” he said tiredly. “We’ll sort this out on the morrow. We both need to recharge our powers before we face this again.”
Marcus’ arms tightened around her, and she settled back against his chest. She didn’t think she would sleep, but she dreamt of dragons: the gentle, beautiful kind of her childhood, winging across a sunset so rich with golds and reds that only stringed instruments could truly capture it.
Elise glanced down at Darien and clenched her jaw. He would recover. She could feel his life-force strengthening. Marcus had healed the worst of the damage, though Darien wouldn’t feel good for a while.
Sinking back into a chair, Elise studied him. Yes. He was a lot like Toby, but that wasn’t why she liked him. He was kind and interesting. She wasn’t even sure she liked him as anything other than a friend—a friend who had risked his life for her, and her friends, a couple of times. If that didn’t count for something, what did?
“Elise, are you okay?” Hagatha came to her side.
“I guess. Why?”
Hagatha shrugged; then her expression shifted to her normal, somewhat manic grin. “We get to fight the dragons.”
Elise arched her eyebrows. “Indeed.”
“It occurs to me that we might want to figure out where we’re supposed to fight the dragons.”
Sighing, Elise straightened. She cast a quick look toward Darien before checking around the hotel room. “We need a computer.”
“Fresh out. Let me make a call.” She pulled out a burner phone and punched some buttons. “Hey, it’s Hagatha. We need to find the location of any cruise ships in the ocean around California. Yeah, call me back.” She snapped the phone shut and grinned at Elise. “Grayson geeks.”
“Good idea.” Elise smiled.
Hagatha’s manic smile brightened into something genuine at the approval.
It didn’t take long before the geeks called back. Hagatha snatched up the ringing phone. “What do you have?”
She nodded a few times before replying, “E-mail Marcus. I think he has a tablet.”
“And if he doesn’t, he can go buy one real quick,” Elise added, once Hagatha signed off with Grayson. “He’s got working credit cards. There is a store that sells them. Pricey, but lives are at stake.”
“Do you want to wake them, or should I?” Hagatha glanced at a watch. “They’ve had an hour.”
“Not a lot of rest, but we don’t have much time. I’ll check with them about the tablet or computer, and if we need to go buy one, they can continue to rest while we take care of that.”
Hagatha winked. “Nothing like spending daddy’s money.”
Elise shook her head and sighed. She had her own money, thank you very much. Well, it was House money. She just didn’t have proper access to it at the moment. “Keep an eye on Darien,” Elise said to Hagatha.
Her cousin nodded.
Shooting one last look at the injured dragon-kin, Elise left the hotel room and went over to Melanie’s room. She knocked softly on the door, then louder when no one answered.
It took a moment, but the door clicked and Marcus answered. He held a finger up to his lips, then stepped out into the hallway and quietly closed the door so they could talk.
“Grayson got us some information on the cruise lines in the area. We need to figure out which ship they’re most likely to hit. We thought you might have a tablet, so we told them to e-mail the information to you.”
“I do have one. One moment.” He went back inside and returned a moment later carrying a black case about the size of a composition book. “Let’s go back to your room. Melanie needs the rest.”
Elise led the way. Hagatha remained seated where she’d been when Elise left. Marcus handed her the tablet after unlocking the screen. Hagatha touched the screen a few times before bringing up lists.
“What are we looking for?” Elise stared at the ship specs and frowned. She knew boats, but not to this degree.
“We need to look for something that would attract the dragons.” Hagatha shrugged.
“In olden days, the dragons could sense treasure through the wooden hulls of ships. They were locked away before me
tal became commonplace in hulls. I’m not positive if that affects their ability to sense treasure or not.” Marcus stood and looked over their shoulders while Hagatha scrolled.
“Somehow they’re getting information about valuables,” Hagatha looked at reports of estimated thefts Scooter had compiled. “The Grayson crew’s saying they’ve been robbing the most upscale cruises. You know, no kiddie cruises where mostly they’d get stuffed animals or whatnot. People are throwing irreplaceable heirloom jewelry at them. They’ve got to have a huge pile of gold and precious gems somewhere. Scooter’s betting they’re going to hit whatever is the richest ship on the seas.”
Marcus frowned just as Hagatha’s phone rang.
“Yes?” Hagatha snatched the tablet from the table and switched to a different ship. “He’s right here. I’ll ask him.” Hagatha held up the device. “Any names look familiar?”
“Ulvi Mataraci, the owner of the cruise line. He’s the leader of the Aquamancy House. Turkish. Decent fellow. He’s working toward a seat on the JM Council next time one opens. He’s favored,” Marcus replied.
“Maybe he’s a target,” Elise said.
“That was Grayson’s conclusion. I guess they finally got access to the JM files they needed and cross referenced with known names,” Hagatha said.
Marcus raised a brow and smiled. “Very well. We must get transport to the ship. I will see to that, as well as gathering backup. The two of you should rest while you can. We will have to move shortly.”
Elise sank back into one of the chairs, and Hagatha sat across from her while Marcus left the room, already on the phone. She heard something about a helicopter before the door shut. By the blanched look on Hagatha’s face, she’d heard too.
Sound beat against Elise as she huddled in the back of a small helicopter. Hagatha sat next to her, knees up to her chest, hands clamped on her ear protection, rocking back and forth. Marcus and Melanie sat across from them. Melanie was dressed in a sleek black dress that glittered in the low light. Marcus wore a tux. Even though the employee clothing Elise wore was finer than most of her normal attire, she felt shabby compared to her father and his fiancée. Hagatha was dressed similarly to Elise. She and her cousin would try to find Ulvi and procure his help, along with warning him. Marcus and Melanie would mingle with the guests, try to place the backup who would be joining them in key spots, and be on the lookout for dragons.
Elise looked out the window. Late afternoon sunlight glittered across the open ocean that stretched as far as she could see. Being over that much water might be part of Hagatha’s problem, Elise mused. Darien had stated that the attack was to come in the evening. If plans stayed the same, they’d have a couple of hours to prepare. She had been worried that they wouldn’t be able to land on the cruise ship, but Marcus had assured her the situation was handled. With calm weather, they shouldn’t have any issues.
As the helicopter began to drop in altitude, Elise readied a shield, just in case.
Considering the way the rest of the mission had gone, the landing went smoothly. Elise had half expected the helicopter to burst into flames before touchdown. Fortunately, it didn’t, and they ditched their hearing protection and climbed out onto the deck of the cruise ship.
A man in a white tux sauntered up to them. Dark curly hair, killer smile, with twinkling whiskey-colored eyes, the vampire Tallon was a welcome sight. The former cop was great in a fight, and she was happy to have him at their side.
“Your Highness, M’lord.” Tallon bowed to Melanie and Marcus. “If you would follow me, we will see to your accommodations.” He spared a quick glance and a wink for Elise before leading the other two away.
Elise and Hagatha scuttled away from the helicopter so it could take off again. Their task was to find Ulvi. They’d hoped to arrange a meeting with him prior to their arrival, but he’d not responded to their radio message, and his cell phone was turned off.
Marcus had shared a picture with them, and they would recognize his magical ability when they got close. He appeared to be a striking looking man, with a strong nose, dark olive complexion, and short, curly hair. He wasn’t overly tall, according to Marcus. He was, however, very friendly, and Elise looked forward to meeting him.
A few other familiar faces tipped hats or touched fingers to temples, acknowledging the necromancer cousins as they hurried across the deck. Both Grayson security agents and JM mages had made their way to the ship to assist with the fight. Most had arrived a few hours earlier, under the guise of crew relief, or a few late passengers in the case of the mages.
Hopefully they had the right ship.
Elise strode forward with the air of someone on a mission, hoping that would keep actual passengers from requesting her help. Hagatha trailed along behind her, gawking a bit.
“I can’t even feel the boat move,” Hagatha said. “I expected the deck to rock, or something.”
“The ship is huge. The only time you get much feel from a ship like this is when the seas are unsettled. Everything is calm tonight,” Elise replied.
“Think we’ll be able to stop the dragons in time?” Hagatha dodged an actual servant she saw at the last minute. She earned a dark look at the near miss.
“I hope so. Marcus will call for rescue as soon as we’re attacked, just in case. If the ship does go down, hopefully we won’t lose too many people.”
Her cousin nodded, white hair gone frizzy with the humid sea air. They went into the ornate hallway on the main deck and stopped to admire the fine décor.
A well-dressed gentlemen stepped into the hallway in front of them and cleared his throat.
Elise, thinking he was a passenger, turned toward him. “Can we help you?”
“Don’t you have jobs to be doing?”
“Of course, sir.” She hoped he was just a passenger and not some sort of supervisor. Her hope faltered when she noticed a gold nametag on his breast.
His gaze traveled up and down her uniform before he sighed. “You two are both on the wrong deck. Sightseeing is for non-duty hours, of which all crew have plenty. Get down below decks and get back to cleaning rooms.”
“Right away,” Elise said. His tone rankled, but she had more important things to worry about. Though a quick fantasy about blasting him with a lightning bolt entertained her as she and Hagatha hurried to where they hoped some sort of elevator would be.
Though they’d studied schematics, the pictures and the real thing felt vastly different. Hagatha muttered something about pompous asses, but otherwise followed Elise.
They finally found the elevator and hurried inside.
“We need a list of passengers and their quarters,” Hagatha said.
“There’s no telling where he’d be, even if we could find his rooms. What we need are surveillance cameras.” Elise hugged herself.
“You know we’re mages, right?” Hagatha shook her head.
“Yes, I was aware of that, in fact.”
“Elise, scry for him, or call up a ghost. We don’t have time to search the entire ship.”
“Not many ghosts out here right now. None attached to the ship that I can sense. Let’s scry. We’ll find a room to clean and use a basin.”
“That’s the spirit.” Hagatha slapped her on the shoulder.
Elise groaned.
“Get it?” Hagatha grinned.
“Yes. I did. I’m going to sic Slade on you when we get back to Neutral.”
Hagatha cackled.
They managed to find their way down to the crew area and procure a cleaning cart. Hagatha pushed while Elise studied a list of rooms due for cleaning. Many of the rooms had “do not disturb” tags on them. At the first they came to that was untagged, Elise knocked as they were supposed to. She could already sense that no one was inside, so she swiped the card she’d procured and pushed open the door.
Hagatha followed with the cart. Elise let herself into the bathroom and plugged the drain magically, since sink drains were never watertight enough. The stainless steel basi
n wasn’t exactly ideal, but it would get the job done in a pinch.
She filled the sink as Hagatha hummed in the other room.
Elise winced, but before she could make her cousin stop the horrible, off-key racket, the door opened.
“Ah, you did find your way to do some work.”
She recognized the voice of the supervisor from earlier. Elise cursed and slid the bathroom door shut. Maybe he wouldn’t look for her.
Taking a deep breath and hoping Hagatha could keep the supervisor busy, she pulled out the picture of Ulvi. It was the only thing with which she had to scry.
Crossing her fingers, Elise tuned out Hagatha’s indignant reply and focused on the basin.
Hagatha shot a sideling glance at the bathroom, but Elise slid the door shut. Trust her cousin to think on her feet. Not that Hagatha couldn’t improvise. Her entire life was mostly about thinking on the fly. Still, she wasn’t quite sure what to do. She could take him out with magic. Pretend to be cleaning. Maybe run screaming? That was the best option, in her mind, but it would leave Elise to fend for herself when she needed to concentrate on a tricky piece of magic in uncertain circumstances.
Deciding to give cleaning the old-fashioned way a go, Hagatha briefly wished for a bunch of brownies. The little fae folk cleaned fast and well. Then she considered the last time she’d encountered a pack of brownies and shuddered. Maybe not. They had gone on a sugar high rampage through Neutral and turned the town inside out. It had taken Elise and Hagatha several days and a large amount of magic to fix the damage.
Looking down at the cart, she dubiously studied the cleaning supplies and clean linens. She was solid on changing beds, so she decided to start with that while the supervisor glared at her.
“Sorry, not used to an audience.” Hagatha pushed the cart over by the bed and pulled back the comforter.
“What are you doing?”
Hagatha frowned. “Changing the sheets.”
