Dragon Marked: Supernatural Prison #1

by Jaymin Eve

  The Compasses were pretty picky, but they were still men and there were plenty of supernatural females to go around. They were the top dogs in this meadow, so generally all they had to do was look in the direction of a female for a little longer than a heartbeat and they were surrounded. Surprisingly enough, Braxton was the most circumspect. In fact, I didn’t know of more than a handful of his hook-ups over the years.

  Damn I missed the boys. My chest tightened and I gripped the bench in front of me so firmly I could see the white of my knuckles. Mischa reached out and wrenched my fingers free one by one and took my hand in hers. I was struck by a strange sensation. My heart flip-flopped a little. I had a sister, a twin. Somehow just knowing that made me feel less alone in the world.

  “I’m really glad you returned,” I said. I stayed facing forward to hide my emotional leaking.

  “Me too.” She squeezed my hand harder and we sat in companionable silence. I knew our parents were watching us, I could feel their stares, and … I scented the air – they were happy. Insert some sort of wolf-pack love anthology here and you get the gist.

  Lots of glances were being thrown toward our group. Some covert and others very obvious. So far I wasn’t seeing many viable suspects for the murderer, too many weaker powers in here. It was someone who was smart, strong, and evil. Which at the moment still had Kristoff as my number one. It was ten minutes until the start of the trial. Once the time ticked over, the doors would shut and nobody else could enter or leave until the spell was lifted. As a shifter I chafed at the sensation of being caged, but I’d deal.

  Right before the doors were about to close, a hush fell over the room and then the first of the red band wizards entered. Five led the way, and then my breath caught in my throat as I got my first glimpse of the Compasses. The boys were brought in one-by-one in a straight line, their hands again secured behind their backs with the magical cuffs. They were surrounded by magical security. I examined the four of them closely, but they looked the same. A little scruffier maybe, and a whole lot less fashionable – dressed in gray sweats – but there was no damage to them that I could see.

  Mischa’s grip on my hand was the only thing that stopped me from rising and running toward them. Maximus, in the front, his face bore no expression, but there were firestorms burning in those dark eyes. Braxton wore his trademark smirk, the one he used when he was preparing to beat the living crap out of someone who’d been stupid enough to run their mouth. That look worried me. It was his dragon that gave him the strength to throw himself into risky situations. But I didn’t want them being reckless.

  Not today.

  As far as I was concerned, they’d better not do one thing to jeopardize their release from Vanguard.

  They stopped moving when they reached the center of the dais, standing between Louis and Kristoff and facing the room. All of their gazes touched on me – I was surrounded by chattering idiots who thought they were looking at them – and smiles crossed their four handsome faces, full dimples gracing the room. Damn, I was pretty close to joining the pathetic souls behind me and fanning my face to lessen the heat.

  Instead I blew them a kiss, and my eyes leaked for a split second before I pulled myself together. I was just so happy to see them alive and not hurt. Louis was also staring at me, a knowing smile across his face. Which I was kind of wanting to slap. He should keep his opinions to himself. I did not need anyone coming in and upsetting the status quo.

  The clock ticked over and the doors were slammed shut. The securement spell washed over the room in a haze of yellow. The trial started out normal enough. Kristoff started laying out the evidence against the four of them. There was something from each, including Tyson’s spell, dragon claw marks, a flaming circle from Jacob, and apparently the murdered vampire and Maximus had had a raging argument last week outside the training hall. That was the motive apparently. Seriously, the Compasses argued with everyone … it was not a killing offence. Of course Kristoff then dropped the main bombshell.

  “The argument in question, of which I have six witnesses who testified under truth…” His slimy voice gave me the worst feeling in my gut, like period cramps only a zillion times worse. “Was about Jessa, and whether she was free for Markus to pursue. This upset Maximus Compass to a visible degree, and we believe at the time of his death the victim was on his way to the Lebron home. It was at this point he was intercepted by the four Compasses.”

  Ah shit-damn. Not good, everyone knew the Compasses were hot-blooded over me; it was starting to look more like a real motive. Kristoff had a few more bits and pieces of evidence, like the magical trace forensics which found proof all of them were at the scene. Hair, scent, even a fingerprint. Of course that was to be expected – we all were there, we’d gone and gawked liked morons when we should have stayed home. But too late to worry about that now.

  When he was done, it was Louis’ turn. I could see Jo and Jack tightly gripping hands as they watched their boys. Each of their sons had touched their brow and saluted two fingers to their parents upon arrival, a supernatural sign of respect. They followed that with a wink for their mother. Their confident swagger did not seemed to have lessened Jo’s worry.

  I’d always known that Louis was impressive, but today … damn, he was unbelievable. Piece by piece he tore the previous argument to shreds. His voice was calm, his stance relaxed, and as always the power that rode his words spread throughout the entire room. He had alibis for three of the four – Maximus was keeping that day’s events to himself. Probably involved a woman. Louis then pointed out the obvious regarding evidence at the scene, which wasn’t even the kill spot. I could see Kristoff’s face darkening as each of his points were turned around. If the quads were cleared of charges, he would look like a fool, since he was the one to make the huge scene and arrest them on trumped-up charges. Finally, after a tense fifty minutes, all the facts were in, and all we could do was wait for the magical verdict.

  It took forever. I fidgeted, twitched in my chair, and drove Mischa crazy by knocking into her.

  Finally the book delivered the folded paper. Kristoff reached out and took it. He looked down for a second before flipping it open.

  No expression crossed his features. He lifted his head.

  “Not guilty,” he muttered, before throwing aside the white slip and storming off the stage.

  The hall erupted with delight and uproar. I wanted to jump up and down and scream a little, but before I lost my shit I turned and took in the room. My eyes alighted on the many faces. Most looked excited, but there were a few with neutral or unhappy stares. Kristoff obviously, and Giselda, who’d been near the back of the room; also a troll, two pixies, and another vampire – who was vaguely familiar but I couldn’t remember his name. Strolling closer to them, I tried to scent the emotions, but there was so much going on in the room I couldn’t get anything clear. There were traces of guilt and anger coming from someone, but the mess of emotional resonance made it impossible to pinpoint who.

  Finally I decided to just catalogue each face closely, for future reference.

  As I turned around, the guards were removing the cuffs to free the quad’s hands. I strode back to where my family was excitedly waiting. Jo was practically vibrating on the spot, and only Jack’s hold on her kept her from flying off into the ceiling.

  Then they were in front of us. Jacob and Tyson gathered their relieved mother into a hug. Maximus got to me first, wrenching me up and crushing the life from me, along with a few ribs and some happy tears. He handed me over to Braxton, and as his spicy, masculine scent wrapped around me, I felt the constriction on my chest finally ease. I wasn’t alone anymore. I buried my face in his hard chest.

  “We have a shitload to tell you.” Braxton’s words in my ear sent ominous shivers down my spine. I could tell that this was going to be bad. “And don’t lose it, but I have to go back into the prison.”

  He’d better be freaking kidding me. I just got them back from there. Pulling away, I narrow
ed my eyes at him, followed by my eyebrows. He just flashed me some dimple before turning away to join the celebrating crowd. With a huff I focused on the pair next to me. This wasn’t the place to start demanding answers. Maximus and Mischa seemed to be having some sort of intense, silent conversation, using only strange facial expressions. I watched them closely for a few moments. What the hell were they doing?

  “Looks like you owe me a date.” I swiveled to find Louis at my side. His enigmatic features were relaxed, but lots was going on in his eyes.

  I crossed my arms across my chest but didn’t move away. He was close, I could feel the power surrounding him.

  “Looks like I do,” I murmured.

  “I’ll collect soon,” he said, running a single fingertip along my cheek. His touch left the slightest burning path in its wake. And then he was gone, leaving via the now-open doors.

  I blinked rapidly, clearing the vapidness his mere presence had created in my head. That sorcerer was way too powerful.

  Braxton left his mother and was at my side. “What was that all about?” he said.

  Jacob and Tyson were right behind him.

  The boys hugged me, distracting from his question. Well, distracting me, Braxton never moved. He had me locked in his blazing blue eyes. I knew he would wait forever for me to answer.

  I waved my hands at the stubborn ass. “Louis asked me out and I said I’d go if he got you four out of prison.” I shrugged. “It’s just a date.”

  His nicely shaped black eyebrows narrowed in over his eyes. “You shouldn’t promise shit like that for us.”

  What was his deal, it wasn’t like I sold a kidney. Which I would have.

  “It’s no big sacrifice, he’s hot and powerful. Sure, I hate picking magic from my teeth, but I’ll cope.” I dismissed the conversation with another swish of my hand.

  I heard an exhalation of breath but he didn’t say any more.

  After the trial we convened back in our house. Jonathon had called a meeting. Maximus was explaining what had happened during their week in Vanguard. Finally he reached the moment this morning where they were led from the cells and thrown into a magical step-through – a portal that joined two places – and ended up at the hall for their trial.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to have us imprisoned again,” Maximus finished, leaning forward from where he sat on the bottom step. “We met a sorcerer who converses with the dead, and word on the other side is that we’re a threat and someone will stop at nothing to keep us from taking over the council.”

  Tyson was grim-faced as he stood near the doorway. He hadn’t spoken much, but I could feel the rage he was working to conceal. “Apparently if you’re convicted of a crime you automatically revoke your rights to being council leader.” He sucked in deeply. “But that’s really not the most important part.”

  Damn, what could be more important than someone trying to strip them of their rights to be council leaders?

  “There were these rumors flying around the prison that the breakouts from all over the world … well, it was to do with the dragon marked. That they’re being freed and the dragon king is going to rise again. Word is Vanguard is next. Supposedly there are marked in there, members from all different races and … even kids.”

  I was actually shocked to hear that the marked were imprisoned. I’d always thought the marked were killed. But I couldn’t remember if I’d ever actually been told that; had I just assumed it? I raised my hands and rubbed my eyes as I worked to conceal the astonishment I felt.

  Silence descended over the room. Lienda had excused herself a while ago, but there were still plenty of us here to be taken by surprise. Could this be true, and wouldn’t my father have known? He was council and had information on the prison. Plus, he had two pretty big reasons to be interested in dragon marked.

  “Dragon marked…” Jo broke the silence. “We were led to believe that you were just in a holding area?” She was agitated, shifting in her seat. Jack tightened his arm around her. “Are you telling me the entire time you were in the main supernatural prison?”

  I could understand her dismissing the rumors for the more important fact that her sons had been hanging around with dangerous criminals.

  Maximus strode across the room and knelt in front of her, taking both of her hands. “Don’t worry, Mother, we were perfectly fine. We were in the main prison, but for the most part we could stay together and watch each other’s backs.”

  “With all the criminals,” I blurted.

  “Yes,” Jacob said, from his position against the wall.

  Jonathon interrupted. “Back to the dragon marked. What makes you believe that could be true? I’ve been to Vanguard many times, toured the different sections. I’ve never seen anything like that. And there are no children in there. You know we don’t imprison our young.”

  Truth.

  In America, if a supernatural committed a crime under the age of twenty-two, they were trialed and punished, but did not enter the prison system. Instead they served house detention, rehabilitation, and various spellings, depending on the severity of the crime.

  Braxton rested his arms along the back of the couch. “There were these vampire transfers from Europe. They had all of these stories about the breakouts, that those freed were all marked, and that the escapes were orchestrated by two females.”

  Girls? For reals? A part of me thought that was kind of awesome. Two females taking on all of those prisons. And if they were freeing the marked, well, I was all for that.

  “They were sure there’s dragon marked in Vanguard … somewhere,” Braxton said.

  I hadn’t forgotten his words from before. “Why do you want to go back into the prison?” I’d heard nothing in their story to indicate a reason for this insanity.

  He took a deep breath. “Okay, I don’t know if this is off topic or part of the same thing, but despite the fact we don’t imprison children, there was a kid in Vanguard. A little boy … his name was Nash.” I could feel my face tightening as confusion flooded my body, and I wasn’t the only one with a scrunched up face. “He used the sewerage system to move around the different areas.”

  I exchanged a glance with my father. Really, how was it possible that a child could be in Vanguard? Could there really be dragon marked in there somewhere, hidden away? And if so, how did the boy get free?

  Braxton was still speaking, his words picking up in urgency. “He’s six years old. He wouldn’t tell me much about himself or why he was in there. He just said he was small enough to fit places that others couldn’t. It took him a couple of days, but he started to trust me. He told me how to get into the area that he lives, and I promised if I could I’d try to break him out.”

  Great, Braxton’s need to be a hero was probably going to get him killed.

  Jack sat straighter in his chair. “You think he’s marked? You can’t free the dragon marked.” He usually didn’t pull rank on his sons, but it looked as if he might now. “There is a reason they’re locked away.”

  I kind of saw red on that one. “That’s bullshit. A stupid scary story from over a thousand years ago is not a good enough reason to lock away children for their entire lives.”

  It was hitting close to home now. I apparently bore this stupid mark. It didn’t make me want to go out and gather an army. So I assumed the rest felt similarly. Although, the murder and imprisonment of dragon marked was not going to make them particularly sympathetic to the supernatural community. As always, people created their own enemies. These extremist actions would probably be the reason the marked rose up against the supernaturals.

  “I never saw a mark on him, Dad.” Braxton’s voice was low. “He was just a little boy, he deserves a damned chance to run in the sun and play with kids. Vanguard is not the place for children.”

  “So how are we going to get in and free this child? Do you know the way back?” I asked, my eyes locked on Braxton. I knew nothing was going to change his mind now, he had that stubborn look
on his face. All that I could do was tag along and make sure he didn’t get himself killed.

  Mischa jumped in. “I want to help,” she stuttered. Her nerves were palatable; I could smell her sweat, see it beading her forehead. But she spoke truth, she did want to help. I wondered why. Maybe she had a soft spot for kids. Or was she wondering, like Jonathon and me, if there really were marked in there.

  Maximus growled. “Personally I never want to set foot in there again. But I always have Braxton’s back and this is something he needs to do.”

  Braxton’s voice went really low. “I won’t leave him behind.”

  I’d never noticed Braxton having a particular affinity for children, but I could see that this one boy had made an impression.

  Jack rubbed at his temples. “How is it that your Nash has evaded detection from everyone but you for all these years? What if it’s a trap?”

  Jacob laughed a few loud barks. “He probably sensed a kindred spirit in Brax. Neither of them stay where they’re supposed to.”

  Braxton was on his feet now. “Nash said he’d been running around in there since he was a young child. If he hadn’t figured out how to move undetected he’d have been killed or starved. He discovered a way to use the sewerage system, most of which an adult would not fit into.” He ran his hands through his black hair, leaving spiky disarray in its wake. “He’s a little wild, and I smelled him before I saw him the first time.”

  “How do you plan on releasing him?” Jo said, still gripping Maximus’ hands.

  Braxton clenched his fists as he continued to pace. “The hardest part is finding the entrance to the prison again. But once we do, there’s apparently one small weakness in the outer perimeter, something incorporated into the original design so that there was an exit for the water mains. All the prisoners know about it, but there’s no way for them to get to it from the inside. But we would be coming from the outer zone. With a bit of magic we can create an opening. After this we’ll follow the main thoroughfare in the sewer which leads to Nash’s room.”