Chaos Burning

by Lauren Dane

  He breathed in deep and then stood, holding a hand out, and she took it, continuing their stroll.

  “You’re very laid back about all this. Let’s say I come to a point where we take this another step. Won’t you miss your single life?”

  “I’ve been a single male for six hundred years. I’ve done my time as a single male. Enjoyed it. I love women. I figured when the time came I’d settle down one way or another. Have children.”

  Hm.

  “You’re mad.” He paused and turned her to face him.

  “Not mad. I know you aren’t a virgin. I had lovers before too.”

  “You’re mad.” And he grinned like an idiot.

  “Why do you have that look on your face? You’re making me nervous. Are you ill?”

  “No. Not mad. You’re jealous.”

  “I suppose you think jealousy is unnatural.”

  He shook his head, still wearing that stupid grin. “Nope. I think jealousy means you like me.”

  “Was that in doubt? Were we not just discussing our relationship and future and stuff?”

  “Sure. I was anyway, you were going along and taking it all in with some remarkable grace. But I know you aren’t totally convinced about the forever part. But you’re jealous and that means you like me.”

  “It means it’s totally dicky to mention how much you love women when you’re taking a romantic stroll around a lake with another woman.”

  “Sometimes I think you’re an alien. I mean, you are in that you’re not human. But neither am I so that in and of itself isn’t bad. But you’re… well, you’re Lark and you’re not anything like anyone else I’ve ever known, much less had a want on for. But this jealous thing, that’s sort of delightfully female. I like it. I like it on you. It makes me feel better.”

  “You’re weird. What kind of guy wants his woman to be mad at him?”

  “If you were mad, you’d have closed up. I’ve seen you do it to others. No, you’re agitated. Your feathers are ruffled and generally you’re unflappable. I agitate you.”

  “And yet you’re still smiling?”

  He turned and got back to strolling. “You make me happy.”

  And she couldn’t stop her own smile to that response. Goofball.

  Chapter 18

  SHE walked down the street, othersight open and knew something bad was watching her.

  Two witches walked down the block ahead of her, arm in arm, laughing and talking. Not aware of the menace stalking them, or even that she was behind them. Stupid. Even with all the warnings of late they still didn’t take care.

  Something lay in the shadows just a block up. Their energy was nearly as cold as the November night air. Lark wanted to confront it, but not until these two were out of harm’s way.

  So, she walked along, taking in the area, examining windows and doors for anything unusual. She’d come back during the day as well. They still didn’t know where the mages were headquartered. She couldn’t take the risk that perhaps they took shelter nearby. It needed investigating. If this was part of their hunting grounds, it was part of the mystery they tried to solve as a whole.

  Lark shadowed the couple until they turned down a block and entered a building, going inside.

  And then that cold, dark energy began to focus on her.

  She tapped the phone and dialed Gage. “I’m at Sixth and Pine. I’m not alone.”

  “I’m on my way. I’m just a few blocks away. Need me to call cops or reinforcements?”

  “No. Just bring a vehicle so we can put a prisoner in it.” She disconnected and paused, looking around slowly. Just on the other side of the street, about half a block up. She saw the energy, knew one of the turned witches was there. She kept staring, letting him know she saw him. Waiting for him to make a move. She knew the area at her back was clear. Had swept it only a few minutes before, which was one less thing to worry about, though she didn’t let her attention go entirely. It never did to lose focus on possible threats just because you were facing a known one.

  Things got very, very quiet and still. She had no intention of playing games. Enough was enough.

  “Bring it,” she said softly, but projected it, knowing he’d hear.

  He stepped out of the shadows. Tall. The sickness had eaten his aura away. Death edged at his form and she knew he didn’t have much time left. None at all if she had her way. Another stepped out and as she’d expected, one more. They seemed to travel in threes. This was now something she could put in her I know these things about my enemy column. Just the thought of it was a comfort.

  “If you come quietly, we’ll make it as painless as we can.”

  “Please.” She said it a little shakily and they took a step closer, believing she was afraid. Sick assholes. What they didn’t hear or see was the spell she cast to blur their physical presence from humans. Passersby would take the next block. People would decide not to look out the window. And she’d be able to do what she needed to in privacy.

  She pulled out her weapon and shot one of them in the left kneecap.

  “Please watch out,” she said this time, smiling.

  Sick balls of dark magic slammed into her shields and she deflected while aiming it back at her attacker. Some of the dark energy touched her skin as she batted it away and she had to wrench back a gag as it entered her system, making her sick. It wouldn’t kill her and the damage wouldn’t be permanent, but it wasn’t pleasant either.

  “How about you two come quietly with me and I’ll make it as painless as I can? Not the kneecap part. Your friend there will walk with a limp over the last months of his life. If I let him leave here alive anyway. That part’s up to you.”

  They tried to flank her and she blocked the way with her magick, the blast of it sending one of the mages several inches off the pavement and back into a nearby wall. “You’re soft. I’m not. I’m not a junkie either. Weak, weak, weak.”

  “If you’re so strong, why use a weapon instead of your magick?”

  “I’m strong and smart. Seriously, why wouldn’t I use a weapon as well as my magick?” This was why she’d been making the entire hunter team there hit the gun range every single day. They couldn’t allow themselves to count on their magick. Not wholly. They had to learn how to use everything they could to defend themselves. Mages didn’t use guns. Turned witches didn’t either. They had their magic and it blinded them to their weaknesses. Which was just fine with her.

  In the background she heard a car approach and risked a look over her shoulder to check and be sure it was Gage. It was so. She turned back to the mages but the one she’d shot was gone. Stupid and careless of her.

  “I’m going to need a prisoner. You can be one. Or you can be a casualty. Whichever you prefer is fine with me.”

  “How many?” Gage asked as he approached.

  “Three. I shot one in the knee. He’s gone now. I don’t know where.”

  “I’ll go look.”

  “Don’t let your guard down. There could be others out there.”

  He gave her a quick look and then took off.

  “You can’t defeat him.”

  “The Magister or Cyrus what’s-his-face?”

  They both stepped back at the use of the Magister’s name.

  “You should surrender now.”

  “You should shut up and decide if you want to die or come in with me. As for the Magister and his lackey? Pffft, they don’t know who they’re dealing with. You’re on Owen land. We will not allow you to harm our witches or the Others here in our area. We will not go down without a fight. And just because some of you were once witches and threw that away doesn’t mean you understand just how far we’ll go to protect ourselves.”

  She continued to get closer. Close enough to see the fear on their faces. She pointed the Sig at the head of the tallest one. “What’ll it be?”

  “I don’t answer to you!”

  So she shot him and turned to the one with him. “Next.”

  His hands went up. �
��Prisoner. Prisoner!”

  “Smart choice.”

  But right as she got the magick cuffs on him, she was tackled to the ground, the asphalt digging into the exposed skin on her arms, her head hitting so hard she saw stars and tasted blood.

  Now she was really mad as she got to her knees and managed to send out a spell to knock her prisoner out. If he wasn’t already dead anyway.

  She heard Gage in the distance, calling her name and turned, weapon out, spell already pouring from her when a bolt of energy so dark, so powerful and ugly hit her and sent her reeling again.

  This time it was she who hit the nearby brick wall as she managed to get a few shots off at the man she figured was Cyrus Pasqual.

  “Your energy tastes like fear.” She wiped her sleeve over her mouth, smearing the blood. “And I think you’ve cost me a sweater. Damn it, it’s very hard to find these old cashmere sweaters. I spend too much time combing thrift stores as it is.”

  “Your magick tastes like candy.”

  She curled her lip as she brought her most likely broken arm up to block a spell. The pain had settled back into a dull haze, but moving her arm hurt like a bitch.

  Still, she batted the spell away and managed to get her own sent in his direction. Gage joined in on her other side and when Cyrus’s attention was on him, she took a deep breath, willed her arm to stop shaking and shot him in both knees, sending him to the ground with a howl of pain. She had a clip with the spelled bullets in her backpack and wondered if she should just use them and be done with it.

  “Get him. He’s a far better prize than that idiot over there.” She leaned back against the wall to catch her breath and control the pain with a blocking spell.

  Gage cuffed Cyrus and she rounded up the other prisoner and tossed him in the trunk.

  “I’m calling my mother. She’s a doctor and can help with your injuries.” It wasn’t a request and she wouldn’t have argued anyway. She had a long night of interrogations ahead of her and she couldn’t waste any time pretending she wasn’t hurt.

  “Take us to the new holding cells. We can’t risk anywhere else right now.”

  “Do you need a hospital?”

  “No. I thought my arm was broken but it’s just dislocated. You can pop it back into place. The rest is just minor.”

  “Minor? Jesus, Lark, you’re covered in blood and road rash.”

  “I’ve been mauled by werewolves, slashed by a vampire or two, had my left arm broken twice, my nose broken a few times. A few dislocations here and there. This is really just some scrapes. I’m okay. I promise.”

  He groaned, but made the call to his mother, who agreed to meet Lark at the Owen offices. They’d been keeping the location of the prisoners secret. It was best for everyone if only a very few people knew. Knowledge could be a dangerous thing and they didn’t want to make targets of their witches for that reason.

  “We’ll get them situated and then I’ll meet her there. Did you find the other one?”

  “Found some blood. But it looks like someone must have picked him up. The trail ended cold a few blocks away. Ginger was right behind us. She’ll take care of the dead mage and clean the scene. Let me drop you at the building. You can use one of the cars to get over to the other location.”

  She shook her head and nausea bloomed and then subsided. “Good call on Ginger. And no, I’ll get this garbage squared away first.” She made a rookie mistake in not expecting them to have more people. The pain would serve as a powerful reminder not to forget she was dealing with monsters. She couldn’t afford to get soft.

  Gage started to reply but thought better of it so she sat back and thought about the next steps as they made their way the few miles south.

  Teo and Ginger were already at the location, waiting to get the prisoners in cells. She approved of that mightily.

  “I’ll be right back.” She headed toward the bathroom to clean her face up. Her eyes were messed up and she needed to rinse out the dirt and blood. Teo stopped her on the way.

  “Your arm is dislocated.”

  “Yep. Gage’s mom is going to meet me at the Owen building in a bit. She can fix me up then. I’ll live for now.”

  “I was a medic. In the army. Let me help.”

  Duh. She felt like an idiot for not remembering that. “Thank you.”

  “We’ve got some painkillers here if you want.”

  “I know it’s going to hurt. Just do it and I’ll take some Advil. I can’t afford to be groggy.” She’d have to use the spell she used with the first prisoner to get into the heads of Cyrus and his little friend. And that took focus.

  “All right.” He felt along her shoulder gently. She took a deep breath and blew it out a few times and then nodded to him. Quickly and efficiently he made a quick, hard movement and her shoulder popped back into place. She clenched her jaw and down onto the scream and only allowed a huff of sound to come.

  “Thank you,” she managed to say as she licked her lips.

  “Advil. Now. Want some help cleaning your face and arms up?”

  So she ended up in the bathroom with her shirt off so he could tend to the abrasions and clean out the gravel and dirt. He wrapped her up. “You’ll be a rainbow tomorrow.”

  She laughed and it didn’t hurt as bad as she feared. “I’ll have to factor that into my fashion choices then. Thank you for helping.”

  One last look into the mirror and she noted she looked far more badass, pissed-off woman than assault victim. Which cheered her. It would be a lot harder to intimidate her prisoners if she looked injured rather than scary.

  Gage looked her up and down and nodded. “You ready?”

  “Call your mom and tell her I’m okay. Teo here patched me up. Of course now I know he’s got the skills so I might be pressing him into service for that here and there. Nice to have a medic on the team.”

  Teo blushed and ducked his head a moment.

  “All right. Are they conscious?” She looked through the things they’d confiscated from the prisoners. She picked up a silver charm. “A talisman. Not good.” She riffled through the desk one-handed until she found a small bag and put the charm in it. “We need to get this out of here. It needs to be de-spelled.” She looked through the rest. “What kind of moron takes his wallet to a snatch and grab? John Deforest. Lives in Michigan according to his driver’s license. I want a full run on him.”

  Ginger took the bag of confiscated items and left quickly with them, promising to contact them ASAP with any info he found on Deforest.

  “Cyrus had nothing on him.” Ginger shrugged.

  “He’s not nearly as dumb as John there. Cyrus also has a lot of stored magick right now. But he can’t hold it very long. Deforest is going to be a drone. Like the others. They won’t know anything. But I’m going to ask around anyway.”

  “Are you going to use the spell?” Gage handed her a mug of tea and she took it, sipping. It helped and heaven knew she’d need the energy and power to handle Cyrus. The others would be relatively easy, but Pasqual was clearly higher up on the food chain and for good reason.

  “I’ll probably have to, yes. The drone may not be that difficult. But Cyrus is another story. We’ll take it step by step. I want Teo in the room with me. Gage, will you video again?” She’d found a lot of use in looking over her interrogations. Picked up her mistakes, learned from them. Noted the things that worked as well. They all needed this sort of behavior as second nature, especially now.

  “Got it. I called Meriel, by the way. She wants us to keep her apprised.”

  “Good. Don’t call Nell until the morning. She’ll only fret.” And she didn’t need that.

  SIMON had been going over that night’s receipts when Dominic came into his office.

  “Good night tonight.” He indicated the computer screen.

  “Meriel is going to kill me and Lark too, most likely, but I know I’d want to hear if it was me.”

  Before he knew it, Simon was standing. “What? What’s wrong wi
th Lark?”

  “She got ambushed when she was out on patrol. She’s all right. They got two prisoners including Cyrus Pasqual.” Simon understood the savage look on Dominic’s face. Pasqual had tried to kill Meriel just a few months before and had also been working with Gloria Ochoa, Dominic’s mother and a turned witch. At the time, Pasqual had gotten away and they’d been looking for him ever since.

  “Gage called Meriel to fill her in. They’re going to interrogate the prisoners now. You’ll see her later I’m sure. I just wanted to tell you. Meriel said Gage told her Lark is scraped up and had a dislocated shoulder. Teo is a medic, he treated her and got her arm fixed up.”

  Simon heaved a sigh and then started to pace. “Damn it.”

  “You know this is who she is, right?”

  Simon laughed, but wasn’t totally amused. “Yes. I do. And I respect it and all. But fuck, I hate it too. I hate that she’s in danger. I hate that she gets banged up and bruised. I hate it that she rolls with it because she’s been getting banged up and bruised on the job for most of her life. I wish I could protect her. But she’d hate it and at base, it’s who she is.” She was so fierce. It was sexy and he admired her for it. But… she was his and there were times he wished she were a secretary or a lawyer or anything where she didn’t get stalked by assholes on a daily basis.

  “She’s living with you now at least. You can take care of her when she’s on your land and in your den. This is a good thing. I know I sure as hell felt better when Meriel and I started living together.”

  “Where is she? I don’t want her driving home with a messed-up arm.”

  “I can’t tell you that, Simon. I’m sorry. Only a very few people know the location. It’s not that I don’t trust you. But I can’t tell you.”

  “Fine.” He knew he snarled it, but Dom didn’t bat an eye. “I’ll call and leave a message for her that she’s to call me when she finishes so I can come get her. She’ll be exhausted when she’s done anyway. Told me the kind of magick she uses when she does the interrogation spell is one that drains her more than a lot of other stuff.” He looked up quickly. “Shit, don’t tell her I said that.” She was so stubborn she most likely wouldn’t like it shared that she was ever tired or weakened.