Huntress Clan Saga Complete Series Boxed Set: Books 1-6

by Jamie Davis

  Nothing.

  Quinn waited for almost a minute, listening to the silent apartment for any sign of who was back there. She even engaged her scent tracking skill in an attempt to see if it was some kind of supernatural.

  She detected only the presence of last night’s thrown-out leftovers in the trash can behind her. Quinn wrinkled her nose. She really should have taken that out to the dumpster last night before she went to bed.

  Shaking her head, Quinn was about to start back and take on whoever was hiding back there when a tiny scraping noise came from down the hall.

  The dragon egg rolled out into the hallway from the open bathroom doorway. It wobbled a little as it turned toward her and rolled to a stop at her feet.

  Quinn stared down at it for the longest time. Her eyes tracked back down the hallway to the bathroom door, then she returned her gaze to the ovoid at her feet. Someone could have given it a shove from the bathroom, but how had they gotten it to turn the corner like that?

  Quinn crouched and stared down at the egg. She set her hand on it and said, “Was it you all along, little guy?”

  The faintest tremor vibrated the shell in her hand as she scooped up the egg, pulling it toward her to hold against her chest. When it came in contact with the silver amulet around her neck, the quivers were stronger for several seconds.

  That was definitely not her imagination that time. It really moved.

  Aurora hadn’t said anything about the egg moving on its own when she’d had to let Quinn take it home with her. It seemed like a big thing to omit from the care instructions for a dragon egg. All the Fae princess had said at the time was to hold onto it and keep it safe until the year was up, and it was available to imprint on someone else again.

  Quinn started back toward her bedroom, leading with her knife because she still half-expected to discover the missing intruder. There was no one in her room, though.

  Setting the egg back down on her bed, Quinn finished toweling off and got dressed to go to sleep.

  As she pulled on the oversized T-shirt, she yawned and said, “I’m so tired. I hope Clark turns up something to do in the city besides constantly training. I don’t think I can take much more of what that woman is doing to me.” Quinn sat down next to the polished green shell and laid her hand on it. It quivered.

  “You’re lucky. You don’t have a mother hovering over you all the time. It’s like she’s trying to make up for lost time in a single week.”

  Another vibration, a double one this time.

  Quinn glanced at the shiny surface of the shell, peering at it as if she could picture the tiny dragon inside. Could it really hear her?

  “Look, I know I should be grateful Naomi is around. It is better than when I thought she was dead for all those years. Is that what you want me to say?”

  A single humming buzz came through the shell.

  “Fine. I’m glad she’s here. There, I said it, so I hope you’re happy. But don’t expect me to tell Naomi that. I’m still mad at her.”

  Buzz, buzz.

  “I don’t care what you think. You aren’t supposed to know who your mother is. You were laid a hundred and fifty years ago.”

  There was nothing for a few seconds, then the egg vibrated very softly for a long time before going still.

  Quinn suddenly felt awful. She’d just teased a baby dragon about being an orphan just like she’d been.

  Her eyes teared up, and she lay down beside it and pulled it close, stroking the smooth shell while she whispered, “I’m sorry” over and over.

  She fell asleep a few minutes later, hugging her new friend.

  Chapter Five

  Quinn woke to a buzzing vibration the next morning.

  “Hey,” she muttered, struggling to wake up. She stroked the egg still cradled in her arms. “I said I was sorry.”

  The buzzing sounded again, and she realized it wasn’t coming from the egg. Lifting her head, she looked around and saw her phone lit up on the nightstand. When she saw the time, 9:14 AM, she groaned.

  She reached out and picked it up. It was Clark, and she sat up and tapped the screen to answer as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes with her other hand.

  “Uh, yeah. I was just coming down for training. I overslept.”

  “Forget about that. I just got back after being out on a stakeout all night. Something’s up. Meet me down in the bar. I’m getting breakfast.”

  “I’ll be right there.” Quinn stood up and glanced in the mirror over the beat-up old dresser. “Um, give me ten, maybe fifteen minutes.”

  Clark hung up instead of responding. Quinn took that as tacit approval of her timeline. She’d fallen asleep without brushing her wet hair, and now it was a mess. She needed another shower to get it straightened out.

  She picked up the towel from where it had hung over a chair to dry overnight. The egg was on the bed just below her pillow. She patted it and said, “You stay here this time. I’ve got to move fast, okay?”

  It vibrated long and slow beneath her fingertips. She smiled and headed for the bathroom.

  It was closer to twenty minutes by the time she got downstairs. She was still brushing her hair and pulling it back into a damp ponytail as she entered the bar.

  The only occupied table in the place held Clark and Naomi. They sat hunched over, talking earnestly about something.

  “Hey,” Quinn said, noticing Clark’s bowl of cold cereal and glancing around. “Is Juni or one of the other waitresses here.? I’d like to order some breakfast.”

  “Just grab some Toasty Oats from behind the bar like I did. There’s a carton of milk in the cold case with the beer.”

  Naomi looked up as Quinn started toward the bar to grab some cereal. “I hope you got some sleep, kiddo. I know I’ve been riding you pretty hard. I figured you’d earned a little extra time.”

  Quinn crouched behind the bar and grabbed the box of cereal, then popped back up. “Uh, yeah, thank you, I guess. I was tired when I finally got to bed last night.”

  Naomi nodded and turned back to Clark. The two of them went back to whatever deep conversation was occupying them. Quinn couldn’t pick up what they were talking about all the way over at the bar.

  Sliding open the lid to the cold case behind the bar, she leaned in and grabbed a half-gallon of milk from amidst the various bottles of beer. She looked around for where Clark had gotten the bowl and then shrugged and snagged an empty beer mug from a shelf beside the sink.

  Quinn filled the mug with the puffed rings of cereal and poured milk over it until it was half-full. Putting the box and the carton away, she grabbed a long-handled cocktail spoon from top of the bar and returned to the table to sit and eat.

  It was awkward getting both milk and cereal in a single spoonful, and soon she gave up. Instead, she spooned up some of the circular rings, and after she popped them in her mouth, tilted the mug to get milk, too. It worked well enough, and she smiled.

  Quinn glanced up and saw Naomi watching her with a big grin as she ate.

  “What? Did I do something wrong?”

  “No,” Naomi replied. Her grin broadened. “Not a thing.”

  Not sure what to make of the woman’s response, Quinn scooped up another spoonful of cereal and turned to Clark. “So, what’s up? You said you found something.”

  “Remember when I said there had been mysterious disappearances I needed to look into?”

  “Yeah,” Quinn said. “Did you track it back to some of Handon’s goons still hanging around after we got rid of him?”

  “I suspected that at first since they were the last group like that to operate openly in the city. There’s no connection to Handon that I can find, though. I’m going to have Taylor kick in some of her tech witch skills to see if she can locate any connection, but my gut tells me there isn’t.”

  Quinn shrugged and looked from Clark to Naomi and back again. “Okay, then what is it? A new gang moving in to fill the void?”

  Naomi said, “That’s a good thoug
ht, but I think the best clue is in the people who’ve gone missing. They’re shifters.”

  “So, somebody is kidnapping werewolves?” Quinn asked. “Do we need to warn Taylor?”

  “They’re not werewolves,” Clark said. “They’re badger-folk.”

  Quinn laughed, “A freaking werebadger? That’s a thing?”

  Naomi chuckled. “They’re rare, but yeah, they’re a thing, as you put it.” Turning to Clark, she said, “I didn’t know there was a colony here in Baltimore.”

  He nodded. “They came here looking for work years ago when the mines in West Virginia cut back production. There isn’t much excavation work here, but they’ve adapted to working for local contractors operating digging equipment for foundations and such.”

  “Why would anyone attack them specifically?” Quinn asked. “Are any other shifter groups being targeted?”

  “Not that I can see,” Clark replied. “I’ve asked around, and everything else seems stable in the city right now.”

  Quinn crunched through another mouthful of cereal and chased it with a gulp of milk. “So, do we need to check this out? I’m ready to be on the street again. I don’t know about Naomi, but I’m getting a little stir-crazy, staying in here all the time.”

  Clark smiled. “Is it because your moth…I mean, Naomi is running you ragged?”

  “I can handle it,” Quinn said. She glanced at Naomi, who smiled at her. Quinn sat up straighter. “I thought you might want some help. That’s all.”

  “I want to check with Taylor and Miranda. If they have the VR system back up and running, it might be a good test for it and the new skills they want you to try out.”

  The changes Taylor had hinted at the last time they talked excited Quinn. The tech witch hadn’t been very forthcoming, and she’d changed the subject when Quinn pressed her on it. She guessed she’d find out what they were soon enough.

  “I’d love to get back into the system again. Naomi hasn’t had a chance to see what I can do except for the big fight with Handon. We were all too distracted to take in everything properly then.”

  “It would be nice to see how the virtual reality stuff works,” the vampire said. “Handon didn’t talk much about that side of his operation with me.”

  Quinn clapped her hands together. “Good, it’s settled. I’ll go find Taylor and see where she and Miranda are on getting the new system up and running.”

  She got up and turned to leave.

  Clark raised a hand to stop her, pointing to the empty mug on the table. “Clear that for Juni. Let’s be respectful and not create extra work for her when we’re down here after hours.”

  Quinn nodded and took the mug back to the bar. She leaned over the top and set it down in the stainless-steel sink. She stood up and turned just in time to see Taylor and Miranda come out from the club’s back door that led to the storerooms and underground tunnels.

  Taylor’s big grin as she approached Clark and Naomi at the table got Quinn excited again. Things must be going well for Taylor to look so happy.

  The tech witch stopped at the table. No, that wasn’t right. It was more like she bounced beside the table, looking back and forth from Clark to Naomi.

  Quinn walked up and realized from Clark’s amused grin that he was enjoying watching Taylor wait for someone to ask her why she was so energized. The girl looked like she was about to burst.

  Naomi glanced at Clark and said, “I suppose one of us should ask her what she has to say?”

  “That would be best, I guess. Do you want to do the honors?”

  Naomi shook her head. “I’m the newest member here. I think it should be you.”

  Quinn laughed. “Oh, come on, you two. Don’t torture her. Taylor, what did you want to announce?”

  “I finished, and it’s better than I’d hoped. Miranda had ideas on adjusting the VirSync interface we acquired to take into account things we learned while building our own. We guessed on some stuff for the cobbled-together system we created. It turns out we invented new tech that enhances their professional system.”

  “It was Taylor who did all the hard work,” Miranda said, hovering beside the tech witch. “I just made some suggestions. She had to go through the trial and error process to make it all function.”

  Clark smiled. “What did you do, add a turbocharger to it?”

  “Close,” Taylor said, then the words started tumbling out. “We got the idea from the spells and rituals listed in the Life Tome. We figured the VR interface was the perfect place to add some additional functionality, and we had all those magical abilities just sitting there ready to be used. It took a lot of experimentation, and we’ve both been working almost non-stop for two days, but we finally got the first two of them to function.”

  “We think,” Miranda countered. “We won’t know for sure until Quinn gets in there and tries it. Only then will we know for sure if what we tried to do works.”

  Naomi leaned forward. “What sort of spells and rituals? Some of those things are for special occasions and require years of training to carry out safely.”

  Taylor waved a hand in the air. “Nothing too crazy. We found a way to give Quinn the ability to expand her stamina capacity. Think of it as a boost in her available life force.”

  “Okay, that’s useful,” Clark said. “It’s also impressive. I never had much luck with spells to draw in life energy.”

  “Me neither,” Naomi said. “What else?”

  “Spells,” Taylor and Miranda said together.

  “You already said that,” Clark said. “What kind of spells?”

  “Just about anything, really,” Taylor said. “Simple stuff at first. But depending on how much Quinn can see once she gets in there, it could be quite significant as she levels up. To start with, it’ll be focused on her ability to sense, and in a limited way, read magical energy used by someone else.”

  Quinn remembered some of the simple spells she’d seen Clark use, like unlocking doors with the wave of his hand. That would be useful.

  Miranda said, “It’ll start with Quinn learning to see the magical spectrum and the energy flows around her in the natural world. Once she can do that, we can try to teach her to see others who use magic. Eventually, she should be able to learn specific spells.”

  “When can I get in there and see?” Quinn asked. “Clark has a mission for us.”

  Taylor smiled. “It’s ready now.”

  Miranda interrupted her. “But we’re going to wait until after Taylor gets some rest. She’s been running on adrenaline and caffeine for two days now. She shouldn’t be expending more energy. It could be dangerous for both of you.”

  Both Quinn’s and Taylor’s shoulders sagged. Then Quinn noticed the circles under her friend’s eyes and a general weariness in the way she carried herself.

  “Miranda’s right, T.” Quinn smiled, hoping she hid her disappointment. “You get some rest. I can wait until tomorrow or the next day, once you get your strength back.”

  “Quinn’s right,” Clark said. “It wouldn’t do to burn out our resident tech witch. Go up to your apartment. We’ll still be here when you get back.”

  Naomi added, “Miranda and I can work with Quinn in the meantime. There are some exercises I remember that are supposed to help attune a Hunter trainee to magical energy.”

  “They’re probably very similar to what I learned in my coven when I was growing up,” Miranda added. “Between the two of us, I think we can come up with something that will work.”

  Clark nodded. “Good, it’s settled then. We’ll put Quinn through the new exercises, and when you’re all rested, we’ll pop her back into the VR world and see what she can do.”

  Taylor looked at Quinn.

  “Go, I’ll be fine. I live for training, remember?”

  Taylor smiled and turned toward the door leading to the apartments.

  Quinn waited for her friend to leave before she said, “We can go out and check on those badger shifters while you teach me to see mag
ic, right?”

  Naomi smiled and said, “No, dear. Those exercises are not suited to the field. We’ll be working here in the practice arena until Taylor is back up to strength.”

  Miranda nodded. “It’s not that bad. Think of it as super-strenuous stationary yoga.”

  “I don’t think I like the sound of that.”

  “Nonsense.” Naomi grinned. “You just need to get into the groove with the routine. Come on. We’ll get you dialed in in no time.”

  Quinn bit back her groan, disappointed she wasn’t going to go into the VR system sooner. She understood the need to watch out for Taylor, though. In her own way, she was as competitive and focused as Quinn was.

  Naomi stood to head to the training room and Quinn followed, with Miranda right behind her. Time to see if she could learn to see magic.

  Chapter Six

  Quinn did learn what she needed to see the barest hints of magical energy before Taylor was ready. A day and a half of the so-called yoga exercises Miranda and Naomi devised for her exhausted her. It made her not so sure she wanted to learn to use magic on her own.

  She said as much while the others prepped the VR system to send her inside after dinner on the second day.

  “Don’t worry,” Naomi said as Quinn sat on the wooden table beside Taylor’s equipment. “The hardest part is over. It takes a shock to the body for someone to break through to the magical realm.”

  Miranda nodded. “Being a Huntress got you halfway there. We had to bring you the rest of the way. The good news is, it worked. Now you’ll know what to look for inside the VR system, at least once you unlock whatever you have to unlock in there.”

  Quinn turned to Taylor, surprised by Miranda’s statement. “You don’t know what I need to do, but this works inside the VR system?”

  Taylor shrugged. “I can figure out how to add the spells to the code once it’s wired into the system, but I still don’t know exactly how you access the interface the way you do. You’ll have to try it once you’re inside. Maybe it’ll just show up as a new button or whatever in the display you see.”