The Detective's Dragon

by Karilyn Bentley

  “I had to ask.” Heat tinged his ears.

  “I know. You loved your father. It’s only normal you’d question my loyalties.”

  Jamie relaxed his fingers, uncurling them as he sucked down a breath. Calm and in control, calm and in control. If he didn’t get control soon he was going to give himself a case of emotional whiplash.

  “In case you need to hear me say it, I turned him down. Why do you think he threw me into that locked room with no healing care?”

  While he no longer doubted Erik, he couldn’t shake the feeling of a missing piece, an incomplete picture. Draconi males usually cherished their offspring.

  Parker cleared her throat, and Jamie’s attention snapped to her as if drawn by invisible strings. Her relaxed pose failed to fool him as her sharp gaze bounced between him and Erik, eyes narrowed in thought. “Did he place a tracking device on you?”

  Erik shook his head. “I said he had no magic. You can’t do that without magic.”

  “Maybe in your world, but here they make devices small enough to fit on your shoes or under your collar that keep track of where you are.”

  Both Jamie and Erik blinked at her as if she sprouted a tree on her head. For a people with no magic, they sure possessed amazing items.

  “Did they touch you?”

  Erik raised a brow. “Of course.”

  Parker rose, talking as she stepped toward him. “Lean forward, let me see your shirt.”

  “There’s nothing on there.” But Erik leaned forward as Jamie joined Parker in staring at the back of his friend’s shirt.

  She ran her hands around the collar, pulling off a tiny metal square. “We need to leave.”

  “What is that?” Jamie reached for the object, but she pulled it away as Erik twisted to see.

  “A transmitter. It’s how they can track us.” She walked into the kitchen, threw the transmitter on the hard floor and stomped on it, talking as she moved. “Damn it, I should’ve known better than to come home, but I thought they’d leave us alone. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Get your things, we need to get gone.”

  She quick-stepped back into her bedroom, leaving Jamie to stare at Erik.

  “They can track with no spell?”

  “Apparently. And here I thought the old male powerless.”

  “Never underestimate a Draconi.”

  A noise from the front of the house turned their attention to the door. Parker walked into the room right when Jamie started walking toward the entryway.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I heard something.”

  “What kind of something?” A click sounded as she adjusted a weapon in her hand, one that looked similar to the one wielded by the giant.

  Before he could answer, the back door crashed open, two men dressed from head to boots in black swarming inside. One of them pointed a small black box at Erik, releasing a jolt of electricity similar to the weapons fired last night. Erik dropped to the ground twitching.

  Jamie reached for the knife in his boot, thought better of it and hurled an energy ball at the weapon wielding intruder, the force slamming the invader against the wall. Parker aimed her weapon at the other intruder and fired. Bam!

  Goddess’s toes, that was loud. Not to mention it smelled like rotten eggs. His ears ringing from the weapon’s discharge, Jamie took a step toward Erik. And got all of a foot forward as cracking sounded from behind, the front door slamming inward, bouncing against the wall.

  Two more intruders ran in, pointing those electricity shooting weapons at him. The energy ball withered on his palm as a spark of electricity slammed into his already injured shoulder, dropping his seizing body onto the ground. Pain seared through his limbs as he fought to remain conscious.

  Another bam from Parker’s weapon. A yelp. A clatter of metal against tile flooring. He knew without looking she lay twitching on the floor along with him and Erik.

  “Shit, this one’s still awake.” Black boots stepped into his line of vision.

  “Hit him again.”

  Electricity slammed into his body carrying with it a veil of darkness.

  Chapter Eleven

  Parker woke to the vibrations of a rumbling engine beneath her ear. Tension laced her shoulders, stemming from cutting pain in her wrists. She tried flexing her hands. No good. Plastic ties cut into wrists tied behind her back. A cloth gag pulled at the corners of her mouth.

  Damn it.

  Cracking one lid, she took in her surroundings. Not much to tell. They lay lengthwise in a van, Jamie next to her, Erik on his other side, all three trussed up like Thanksgiving turkeys complete with gags. Unlike her, they still seemed out cold. They should be awake by now, provided they’d been hit by the same type of Taser she had. So why weren’t they waking?

  A cold shiver shot down her spine. Were they dead?

  Her breath hitched as she watched Jamie’s chest, watched until it expanded and contracted. The breath hissed from her nose. Thank goodness. Not dead.

  Where were they being taken? Probably back to the underground tunnels. Who knew those things existed and were being used?

  The van slowed, bumped over a couple of road humps and then sloped, like it drove down a hill. Instead of stiffening to keep in place, Parker forced her limbs to go limp, allowing for her to slide forward.

  The van continued to roll downhill for several more seconds before leveling off. Then the engine cut.

  Showtime.

  Parker closed her eyes, focusing on keeping her breathing steady and even. Might as well play unconscious victim for as long as possible. She might learn something to aid in their escape.

  The van door slid open. Rough hands grabbed her arms and feet, lifting her from the vehicle. Her feet dropped and the person at her arms shifted her weight around, muscled a shoulder into her stomach, and lifted with a grunt.

  Carried like a backpack. How dignified. If she hadn’t already been awake, the rush of blood to her face would have done the trick. She cracked open her eyes, taking in a jean-clad butt as she hung upside down. Cutting her gaze from side to side gave no input except for a long hallway. Doors on either side. Concrete floors.

  Yep. Back underground in the tunnels.

  How the hell was she going to get out of here?

  Well, that was easy. Rescue Jamie. Then Erik. Check for bugs. Call the police.

  No problem.

  A crazed chuckle threatened an escape, and she swallowed to keep from making a sound. Several bounces later, the man carrying her stopped, opened a door, and flopped her onto a mattress. Then he walked back out the door, shutting it behind him, the click of a lock sealing her inside.

  Great. Locked in and still trussed up like a bird.

  Parker opened her eyes. This time a gasp slipped free.

  A tall, dark-haired man, with a strong resemblance to Erik, leaned against the wall across from the bed. The small room shrank further until all she saw was him and the hunting knife he held.

  At her gasp, he stopped picking his nails with the knife and peered at her from under heavy lids. A smile crept across his lips, his cheeks, avoiding his eyes like a thief on camera. In slow motion he straightened, slapping the knife against his thigh.

  “Well, well, well. If it isn’t Detective Ruby Parker.” His accent slithered along her shivering nerve endings. Similar to Jamie’s and yet full of what she called the creep factor. “You’ve proven to be more promising than I thought.” He took a step toward the bed.

  She would not shrink in the face of adversity. She. Would. Not. Shrink. Oh wait, too late for that. Parker stiffened, forcing her body to stop its retreat. She would not show fear.

  Her heart raced a too-loud rhythm, thumping hard enough to vibrate her shirt. Each step he took echoed in her ears, the sound crawling across her nerves like a loud scream. He reached for her, knife outstretched. She failed to stop the involuntary flinch as the heavy weight of his palm grasped her shoulder. He rolled her onto her stomach while using the knife to slice through the pla
stic bindings cinching her wrists.

  Blood flowed into numb hands, tingling zips of pain and relief darting through her veins. See? No reason to shrink. Yet. Parker rubbed her hands together, rolling to a sit as he stepped back to his resting place against the wall. She yanked the gag out of her mouth, twisting the cotton rag in her hands.

  The man propped one leg against the wall, watching her, psychopath to her victim.

  She. Would. Not. Show. Fear. A hard twist of the rag. A deep breath to fill her lungs. A slow exhale to clear her racing mind. No such luck.

  Damn it.

  Parker cleared her throat, projecting her voice away from the whisper it longed to speak with. “What do you want?”

  One corner of his lip twitched. “You. Do you think I’d go to all this trouble of having you brought here for the hell of it?”

  “Why me?”

  “I think you know. I need your help.”

  Not likely. “Why should I help you?”

  “Why should you not?”

  Oh, let’s see, you ordered someone to drug and kidnap me, bastard. Not that those words would come out of her mouth. She wanted to escape more than she wanted to piss off the perp. Parker forced her lips to turn. “It’s not every day I find myself in this type of situation.”

  “Ah. So you are surprised. You probably think I mean you harm, but that is not true.” As if to prove his point he sheathed the knife, then met her gaze. “Why would I want to harm the one who helps me? That makes no sense.”

  A dozen or so murders popped into her mind. Plenty of people helped a drug lord or crime boss and were never heard from again. Not that she would mention those cases. She blanked her mind, focusing on keeping her face devoid of thoughts. “Of course you wouldn’t.”

  He smiled, and a frisson of fear licked through her system. “That’s right. You want to help me return home. That’s all I want. I’m sure you understand. Most people long for the familiarity of home.”

  Parker nodded. Yep, she understood. Odd thing was, she wanted to help him. Which made no sense. He tried to drug her. Succeeded in kidnapping her. Tried to harm Jamie and Erik.

  Who, she reminded herself, she didn’t trust at all when they first met. And now, she believed them, trusted them. Or at least she trusted Jamie and Jamie believed Erik. Which meant she trusted Erik by default. And neither of them trusted this guy, who she assumed was Erik’s banished father. So why would she want to help him? Probably due to the case of begging dog eyes he wore like a fur coat.

  If Jamie hadn’t looked so shocked when Erik mentioned his father’s banishment, she might have fallen for the dog eyes. Even knowing he drugged her. Knowing he kidnapped her, Jamie and Erik. Knowing he would undoubtedly pit them against each other to get what he wanted. She still felt an urge to help him. How effed up was that?

  Usually her intuition fired when confronted with a liar, a special knowledge that helped her solve many a crime. But in this instance, her intuition remained silent. Like it did when someone told the truth. He really did want to go home. And despite knowing better, she wanted to help him achieve that goal.

  Conflicted much, Parker?

  Jamie’s eyes flashed through her mind, a remembrance born of a desire to believe. He lies, Jamie’s voice whispered in her head, and she white-knuckled her grip on the gag as she jerked. Did he really speak in her mind? A flashback of Erik using telepathy to talk to her earlier pinged in her memory. No freakin’ way.

  “What?” Tall, dark and dangerous leaned forward, concern written on his face.

  Do not be fooled.

  “Nothing. Just a chill.”

  Erik says his power is convincing others he tells the truth when he really lies.

  Then stop talking and get in here! Transport me out.

  A long pause. Give me a minute. The electric weapon seems to have disrupted my magic.

  Her breath hitched. Was Jamie hurt? How had he managed to mean so much to her in such a short period of time?

  “Are you talking to the Draconi hatchling?”

  At the perp’s words, Jamie’s presence in her mind disappeared, leaving her with a strange emptiness.

  Tall, dark and creepy’s eyes narrowed. “I see you are, don’t bother lying. You need to be careful around him and his friend. He is dangerous.”

  Parker swallowed, unwilling to believe Jamie was dangerous. At least not to her. “Which one?”

  “The Draconi.” One dark brow skimmed his hairline as he gave her a look doubting her intelligence.

  Condescending creep. “Which one is that?” Two could play the ignorance game.

  He sighed, shook his head. “I take it they did not bother to explain. Draconi have black-hair and green eyes.” He pointed to his hair, his eyes. “I don’t know what race the other male is. Definitely not a Watcher. Looks similar to a Draconi. Would say he’s a Halfling, but he’s the wrong coloring. Are you surprised?”

  Parker stared at him, wondering where all the air in the room went. Had Jamie lied to her when he said he was Draconi? If so, why? If not, what was this man talking about? Halflings? Watchers? “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

  “Never mind.” He waved a hand. “I will deal with them later. What matters is that you realize they are not trustworthy.”

  “And you are?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then why haven’t you given me your name?”

  “You haven’t asked for it.” His smile gave her the jitters. “My name is Kol. See, I’ve been nothing but truthful with you. I want to go home. I want you to help me.”

  “Well, Kol, we’re back to the how of that help.”

  Another smile. Another shot of cold down her spine. “You have a power I want.”

  “Power?” She swallowed. How the hell did he know about her embarrassing ability to emit a blast of electromagnetic energy?

  “Don’t play dumb. On this you know what I mean. I saw what you did. At the bar. Come now, explain to me how this works.”

  Parker opened her mouth, closed it. Was she really thinking of telling him? How could a man with such a large creep factor convince her to want to help him? Her secret ability seemed weak compared to his.

  See beyond his lies. Discover his truth. Play along. Sage advice given to her by her father, the original Detective Parker, when she first became a detective, shortly before he died. Words she tried to implement in her job, if only to please the ghost of the old man.

  “I don’t know.” She shrugged. Nope, no extraneous information leaks from her. “It just happens.”

  “When you’re stressed? Happy? Sad? When?”

  Frightened was the word he wanted. Not that she’d admit it. “I’m not sure. One minute things are fine, and the next they aren’t.”

  “Come now. Surely you’ve tried to experiment with this. Use the power at will.”

  Once. To the detriment of all involved. “Nope. It didn’t seem worth the effort.”

  “Think you can make the effort for me?”

  Not unless she learned to knock out the light bulb on purpose and fry his ass. “I can give it my best shot. But I don’t see how that would help you return home.”

  “Think of a large puzzle. You are merely one of the pieces.”

  “There’re others?”

  “Of course. Surely you didn’t think you were unique?”

  Well, yeah, she kinda had. “You have others here?”

  “Oh yes. Many others. All part of the puzzle. A puzzle that’s almost complete. With your help we should be able to make progress.” Kol moved to the door. “I’ll have them send in water and a blanket. You can start helping me tomorrow. Sweet dreams, Detective Parker.” The door clicked shut behind him, the bolt sliding in place with the finality of a gavel.

  She sagged, resting her elbows on her thighs and her head in her hands. Now that Kol was gone, she no longer wanted to help him. But she needed to play along with him. Until Jamie came for her.

  Would he come for her? Maybe s
he shouldn’t trust Jamie either. As soon as the thought entered her mind, she rejected it. Been there, traveled that path already. The conclusion being Jamie spoke true. Unless Kol was in the room with her, trying to convince her otherwise. Well, she wouldn’t let him. She hadn’t let him. Not really.

  She believed Jamie. End of conversation. He would get her out of here. Provided she failed to escape on her own. Even if she did get out of the room, how did she get out of the tunnels? She hadn’t seen much but upside down doors on her way in.

  Parker rose and walked to the door, turning the knob, proving she was indeed locked in. A quick glance around showed the bed, a nightstand, a toilet and a sink. A regular jail cell, except instead of bars, she had a door and four concrete walls.

  Oh yeah. And an air vent. Not that she could fit through it. Unlike the movies with the conveniently sized and located vents. Damn it.

  Now what? She sat on the bed with a huff. Waiting to be rescued sucked.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jamie pulled his consciousness from Parker’s thoughts, unwilling to risk Erik’s father knowing he, not Erik, invaded her mind. Perhaps if the banished Draconi thought of him as human, he would leave him in here without a guard on the door. Which would make his escape easier. Provided his magic started working again.

  At the moment he couldn’t even form enough magic to break the ties on his wrists. Ties that cut into his skin, rubbing it raw. Not ropes or metal. Some form of hardened bendable material. Yet another instance of a strange element.

  Jamie spoke a spell to break the ties. Smoke wisped, the small burn stinging his skin. The ties remained intact. Goddess’s toes. Why did his magic no longer work? Only last night he stood in these tunnels able to work magic, able to free Erik and kill the giant.

  He shuddered at the memory. Killing had never been on his to-do list. He learned to defend himself—he had to as a reconnaissance specialist—but made an effort never to find himself in a life or death situation.

  And then the giant attacked Parker. The urge to kill overwhelmed his senses, turning him into a beast, an enraged dragon protecting his mate.