The Detective's Dragon

by Karilyn Bentley

  “Or in mine.”

  Kol chuckled. “You think the High Priestess stripped me of my powers before banishing me, do you not? That is true. But stripping powers isn’t permanent. Only temporary.”

  “How would you know? Your magic shouldn’t work here.”

  “It doesn’t. But how do you think Fasolt returned to Draconia all those years ago? Luck?”

  Erik and Jamie gasped as if given coal for a Christmas present. Clearly whoever Kol referred to was bad news.

  “So why kidnap humans?” Jamie asked.

  Her exact thoughts. Did Jamie read her mind?

  No, I didn’t.

  Parker jerked as his words drifted through her thoughts. At her movement, he squeezed her palm, a small show of support.

  “I need the humans to return home.” Kol thrummed his fingers against his thigh. “Some of them have powers. Granted, they refuse to admit it, but with enough humans, I can cobble together their powers and use them all to return home.”

  “Father!”

  “That’s crazy.” Jamie gasped. “Do you mean to bring back the humans?”

  “You call me crazy? What kind of thought is that?”

  Jamie tilted his head.

  Kol took a step back. “No. The humans would stay behind. They would use their powers to send me home. I have no desire to unleash humans on Draconia.”

  He spoke humans with the same tone one used to describe rotten trash. Parker bristled. She opened her mouth. Closed it. Don’t let him get to you. She knew better. Knew to let a perp’s words flow like water across her nerves.

  But sometimes she couldn’t help herself. She wanted to smack him one.

  “Let us go.”

  Kol shook his head, a grin turning his lips with malevolent glee. “After all these years, I finally get to see my son. You truly expect me to release you? Ah, I see you do. Whoever you are, you came here. You can get me home.”

  “I have no idea how we got here or how to get home.”

  Kol’s eyes narrowed. “Well, then, that creates a small problem. I want you to return me home.”

  “Want in one hand, magic in the other. Which gets you farther?”

  A growl slammed against the concrete walls, the echo sending reverberating chills across her flesh. Parker tugged her palm out of Jamie’s grasp and took a step back, hand reaching for the door knob. A quick turn and she breathed a sigh of relief. Not locked.

  Kol turned his gaze to her. “Step away from the door. Please,” he tacked on. Not that the pleasantry changed her mind.

  His growl had snapped something inside her. Made her realize he kept them in the room for a purpose. And not to hear them talk.

  Was his crew waiting outside the door? Waiting to capture them? Return them to their rooms?

  “Father. Leave him alone.”

  “I said, stop defending him!”

  “No!” Erik snapped. “He doesn’t know how to get home. I brought us here.”

  “What do you mean you brought us here?" Jamie's brows furrowed. "I touched the cave wall.”

  “And I touched you.”

  “But your magic wasn’t working right in the cave.”

  “Neither was yours.”

  “So why do you think it was you?”

  Kol’s eyes flared as he turned to Erik. “Smart lad. I should have realized.”

  “Realized what?” Jamie growled.

  “Traveling dimensions apparently runs in the family. See, Father, you need me, not them. Let them go.”

  “Dimensions?” Jamie asked simultaneously with Kol’s sharp, “No!”

  “Why not? Father.”

  With Kol’s attention on his son, Parker once again reached for the doorknob. A twist and she eased the door open a crack. If she turned around, Kol might notice so she forced herself to remain still as she strained her ears listening for incoming backup.

  Which was a little hard to do with the loud voices several feet in front of her.

  Dimension hopping. Who would have thought that possible? Sure, TV shows and movies explored the issue, but really, who believed those for truth.

  What was Jamie’s world like? Magic played a huge part, and technology was next to non-existent. What about women? Judging from his behavior, they were considered weak, in need of protecting. Maybe she wouldn’t enjoy his Draconia. She had enough of egotistical males at her job.

  Make that former job. Nope. Make that going to be reclaimed job.

  At any rate, she didn’t need men calling her little lady and thinking she couldn’t tell the business end of a gun from a hole in the ground.

  On the other hand she wanted to explore a relationship with Jamie. How crazy was that? From distrust to relationship status in less than a day.

  She should have stayed in the hospital for a brain scan.

  Clearly she needed to meet more people. Hang out with her girlfriends. Do things on the weekend that didn’t involve beer and sports. Stop being so damn lonely.

  Loneliness was a lot like desperation. One tended to make really stupid mistakes to remedy the problem.

  Was Jamie a stupid mistake? Or a true gift? If he returned to his home, how would she discover the truth? Easy. She wouldn’t. She’d be left here. In Denver. Pining for her job. No, damn it, pining was for sissies. And she would get her job back. Job equals life. Or at least it had until she met Jamie.

  What was wrong with her? Daydreaming while she should be paying attention to what was going on around her.

  “There’s something off about him, that’s why.”

  Parker startled at Kol’s words. Daydreaming idiot. What were they talking about? Oh, yeah, Kol’s refusal to release them. Of course he wanted to keep them. He lacked one hundred percent certainty that Erik told the truth.

  And his curiosity about Jamie sealed their fate. No way would he let them go until he satisfied that curiosity. Which meant they needed to move their asses instead of gabbing like gossipy old ladies.

  “Would you stop chatting him up and get the lead out?”

  Three sets of eyes focused on her. What? Could they not feel the urgency of escape? Someone needed to take the lead, and since neither of the men stepped up, she would do the deed.

  Parker yanked the door wide, stepping so she leaned against the frame, able to see both the hall and the room. No one in the hall, but the room exploded into movement.

  Kol reached into his back pocket, withdrawing a Taser he aimed at her. Jamie knocked Kol's arm up, grabbed the Taser out of his hand, and threw it to the ground. Erik shoved Kol into the chair as Jamie stretched an empty hand toward their struggling captor.

  A rope appeared from nowhere wrapping around Kol’s torso, pinning him to the chair. Jamie took a step back and slid his knife into his boot as he watched Kol try to get free.

  Shouts echoed from the hall, and Parker whipped her head toward the noise.

  Damn it. Six incoming. A veritable wall of muscle.

  “Come on! Get a move on!” She reached for her Glock out of habit, hand falling to her side as it hit air.

  The men darted toward her, Jamie grabbing her hand.

  “Erik! Don’t leave me here! Take me with you! Please!” Chair legs cracked against concrete as Kol struggled to free himself from the rope.

  Erik paused, but Jamie grabbed his arm. “Leave him.”

  “He’s my father.”

  Damn it. No time for second thoughts. Parker took off in a jog, running away from the inbound wall of muscle, her hand wrapped around Jamie’s, who in turn tugged a hobbling Erik. A roar bellowed from the room seconds before a plume of fire shot across the hall, singeing the walls with soot. Holy shit, what the hell was that?

  “Holy altars,” Jamie stopped, yanking Parker out of her dash. “Did he change?”

  “We should take him.”

  “Snap out of it, Erik. We can’t take him. He’s banished. Now come on, let’s go!” Jamie started moving again, taking the lead, Erik limping along as fast as possible.


  How far until they reached…what? The exit? An elevator? The garage? She should have paid better attention.

  “Can’t you transport us out?”

  “I don’t know if we’re underground or not.”

  “What about transport to the exit? Then we could run out or whatever.” Parker glanced over her shoulder as thundering steps filled the hall.

  Wall of Muscle was gaining. Damn it.

  They scurried around a corner, then another one, coming to a quick stop as the corridor ended with a door. The way out? Or a trap?

  Not much of a choice at this point.

  Jamie shoved open the metal door. Warm air slapped her in the face, and Parker drew in a shaky breath.

  The parking garage. Freedom.

  Heavy steps and loud voices echoed down the corridor as the guards sprinted toward them.

  Erik hobbled through the door, slammed it closed, and leaned against it seconds before the thing rattled in its frame as if smacked by a volley of bullets. Yeah, right. One body against a wall of muscle.

  "Can you get us out of here?"

  Jamie nodded. “I need a second. We’re going to try to get us back home.”

  “My house has been compromised. They know where I live.”

  “Not your house. Mine.”

  Parker blinked, her veins turning to ice. Oh hell no. He thought to…to…she couldn’t go, right? Just because she’d wondered what his home was like didn’t mean she wanted to visit. Right?

  Pounding on the door jarred Erik, but he managed to keep it shut. Parker threw her weight beside him. As if that would help stop the forward momentum of six oversized men.

  Jamie grabbed Erik's forearm, reaching out a hand to her, palm up.

  Breath hitched in her chest. If she took his hand, her life would change. Was he worth it?

  A pounding bam-bam shuddered the door, echoing a response in her bones. Was he worth it? The door burst open, knocking her to her knees, Jamie and Erik remaining upright by luck alone.

  Screw this. She was not going back in a cell. Parker leapt forward, grabbing Jamie’s hand. At the same time, Kol darted into the parking garage, his cry of 'No!' echoing through the concrete structure.

  A fog descended over her vision, the room fading, colors muting. Kol jumped as a shot of electricity sparked a path into their circle. The room disappeared, swallowed by the fog. Air slapped her skin as if she fell from a distance. Air?

  Parker smacked against concrete, rolling on impact, breath escaping her lungs in a burst. She lay stunned, body aching like she’d been hit by an eighteen wheeler. Grunts and groans sounded nearby, as if the men mirrored her aching body on concrete position.

  What happened?

  “Parker?” Jamie’s voice cut through the pain, and she forced her eyes open. Darkness surrounded her, interspersed by metal lumps and tall shelving. A warehouse. What were they doing in a warehouse? Weren’t they supposed to be in Draconia?

  “Parker?”

  Maybe she needed to answer Jamie and alleviate the concern she heard in his voice. “Over here.”

  She flexed her hands and feet, arms and legs as the rasp of clothes against concrete indicated Jamie’s scramble to her side. No broken bones, thank goodness, just aches and bruises. By the time Jamie found her, she was sitting, trying to catch her breath.

  “Are you all right?” he asked simultaneously with her, “Are you okay?”

  She grabbed his outstretched hand. Damn lack of lighting. Was he okay? Only his shape showed in the darkness.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “No,” she shook her head, “just some bumps and bruises, that’s all. Where’s Erik?”

  “I do not know. I sought you first.”

  And didn’t that make her heart soar. A smile crept across her lips. He cared. For her.

  She squeezed his hand. “Why are we here?”

  “I don’t know. Erik? Erik, can you hear me?”

  A distinct groan from the opposite side of the room answered his question. Jamie pulled Parker to her feet, formed a blue light in his palm and together they hurried toward the noise. Erik lay on his side, eyes blinking a slow up-down as if he woke from the land of nod.

  Or the land of unconsciousness.

  Jamie knelt by his friend, running his hands down Erik’s arms, clearly feeling for broken bones. Erik grunted and shoved off Jamie’s hands.

  “Scout, I like you, but not that way.”

  Jamie bit back a laugh. “Glad you are all right.”

  “Did Father come through?”

  Parker shrugged. “I don’t know. He jumped at us, then there was this bolt of electricity, and we landed here. I should call the police. Let them know about the others being held. Do you have…” a phone died on her lips. Right. They didn’t know what a phone was, let alone have one. And since hers was sitting at home, so much for reporting the kidnapping.

  Unless this building had a landline.

  “Have what?” Jamie stood and helped Erik to his feet.

  “A phone. I need to file a report.” Shouldn’t there be an office up front with a phone? Parker turned in place. Which direction was up front?

  “We need to leave before Kol finds us.”

  So much for finding a phone. Wait a minute. Was she really going to return with them to Draconia?

  “That’s what I meant to do.” Erik shoved a hand through his hair. “I tried to take us home.”

  “Perhaps we have to leave through the same portal from which we came.”

  “That makes sense.” As much sense as possible considering the circumstances. A couple of days ago she would never have considered the possibility of dimensional jumping as normal. Now? Sci-fi flicks had nothing on her experiences.

  “We came through over here,” Jamie pointed toward shelving. How he could discern one shelf from the other in the dark was beyond her understanding. They all looked identical to her eyes.

  “What about Father?” Erik hobbled after Jamie, Parker bringing up the rear.

  “He’s been banished. We can’t return with him.”

  Was she really following them to Draconia? Was she really going to leave her world, her job, her friends—what few of them she had—behind?

  Parker stopped a few feet away from where Jamie circled in place, a human homing beacon. Erik stepped beside him, grasping forearms like they had earlier in the tunnels. Was she going to go? Or stay?

  Stay for what? The possibility of getting her job back? Of more lonely nights, wishing for a man while working on her latest case?

  Or go. To what? What was his land like? What if this budding sense of attraction for Jamie melted? What if he stopped caring for her? If things went sour? Then she’d be stuck in a strange land. Or would she be stuck? Maybe she should give him a chance. If she didn’t like his land, she could return.

  Hopefully.

  Shuffling sounds echoed from her left, the scratching of a downed person trying to rise. Parker turned to the sound as a shadow rose from the concrete. Her eyes popped wide. Kol. Lack of lighting didn’t deter her from knowing the shadow belonged to him. He lurched toward her.

  Stay or go?

  Light surrounded Jamie and Erik as Jamie stretched out a hand toward her. Stay or go? Kol took another step, gaining speed as he rushed toward her. Parker ran toward Jamie. So much for staying. She’d rather face the unknown than return to that cell underground and be used as a lab rat.

  Parker leapt, grabbing Jamie’s hand at the same time a large body slammed into her back. She stumbled, but the light surrounded her, pulling her into its gravitational field, carrying her across time and space.

  Pain ripped at her bones, through her flesh, a sharp edged dagger tearing into her soul. Hard rock slammed against her soles and she toppled, collapsing on rough stone.

  Breath tore jagged holes through her lungs. But at least she could breathe. Meant her ribs weren’t broken. Her brain still functioned. Grunts sounded as heavy bodies landed next to hers.

  Clothing
rustled. More grunts indicated shifts in position. Blue light lit the darkness, hurting her eyes. Parker blinked several times, trying to stop the dance of dots against her retinas. Jamie held a small flickering blue flame in one palm, his other hand outstretched to pull up Erik. Neither noticed as Kol pushed up to a sit, a smile lighting his face.

  “Home.”

  “Hey!” Jamie dropped his palm from Erik’s, but before he could reach Kol, the man popped to his feet and took several steps back.

  “Father. Wait.” Erik started to rise, his injured ankle slowing the attempt.

  “Thank you, son, thank you. And I’m sorry.” Bright light formed in his palms, eclipsing Jamie’s blue flame, illuminating the glee in his expression.

  “No!” Jamie and Erik yelled. But Kol moved faster, pitching the light their direction, a racing explosion of color.

  Another burst of pain slammed into her, through her, baking her bones in a fiery agony. Her mind clicked closed, thrusting her into welcoming darkness.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Hard stone pressed against Jamie’s side, a damp chill seeped through his skin. Where was he? And then the last moments before everything went dark slammed into his mind. Transporting. Kol latching on to Erik, his presence almost throwing them out of the transport except they managed to compensate for the extra weight. A rough landing. Kol’s escape.

  Bloody dragon bones. He’d returned a banished male to Draconia.

  Jamie pushed to a sit. Dark spots danced whirling winds across his vision, dizziness an unwelcome remnant of the energy ball. Damp air clogged his nose with rot. Water dripped in the distance. A feminine moan sent a cold chill chasing across sweat drenched skin.

  Parker.

  “Jamie?” Erik’s voice grated like metal hinges.

  “Here.” Jamie formed a flame. A puny flame. He sighed. So much for keeping his magic.

  The light flickered across Erik as he struggled to rise, the healing boot hampering his movements. Jamie gathered his feet under him and offered Erik a hand. Where was Parker?

  A quick turn and splash of light illuminated her sprawled on her back, eyes fluttering behind closed lids. An ache ran through his chest, a dull pain speeding his breathing. Jamie knelt and touched her arm only to release it as a burst of blue light exploded into view.