city of dragons 02 - fire storm

by Val St. Crowe

  “Well, how about tonight?”

  “Tonight? Why the rush?”

  “I just feel like we need to move forward with this case. Get somewhere.”

  “You don’t want to go talk to Alastair,” he said.

  “Not at all,” I said.

  “Yeah, not looking forward to that myself,” he said.

  “Will it be like last time? Where if it’s Alastair, it’s too personal for us to investigate him?”

  “That would be up to the captain,” said Lachlan. “You’re right, though. Let’s give ourselves some breathing room before we try to go see him. Vampires it is.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Lachlan and I were behind The Dungeon. The back of the strip mall was nondescript, each store had nothing back here to indicate which was which. There were several dumpsters, and none of them smelled good.

  “It’s this door, right?” I said.

  “No way,” said Lachlan, who was looking casual in jeans and a black t-shirt. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him in jeans. “Two down from the end. It’s this one.”

  “Are you sure?” I said. “I feel like it was three down.”

  “I’m positive.” He strode forward and tried the door. Locked. “Damn it,” he muttered.

  “Maybe we can pick the lock,” I said.

  “I can’t do that,” he muttered, surveying our surroundings. “Listen, you understand that anything we find tonight can’t be submitted as evidence, per se. Because if we break in, it’s not official police business. This is just to lean on the vamps, get them to give up the goods.”

  “I understand that,” I said. “But whatever we’re doing, I wish we would get on with it.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Got big plans for the night?”

  “No, I just…” I glared at him.

  He licked his lips. “Maybe after all of this, you and I could talk.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I might just want a little space for a bit.”

  He rubbed his forehead. “All right. I guess that’s fair. But I don’t understand how you were ripping off your clothes for me, and now you’re—”

  “I didn’t rip off my clothes,” I said. “I shifted and they ripped. It’s not the same.” I was blushing. God, I was blushing. I was glad that it was dark out here and that he couldn’t see. “Let’s not talk about this.”

  “You’re right,” he mused. “Now, I’m very distracted, thinking about you without your clothes.”

  I shoved him. “You don’t get to say things like that.”

  “No?”

  “The door.” I pointed. “We need to get in.”

  At that moment, the door next to us opened up, and two girls stumbled out, giggling. “Oh, wow,” said one.

  “That was amazing,” said the other. “You were right, I never felt anything so cool.”

  “Jenna!” I whispered.

  “What?” said Lachlan.

  I reached out and caught the door with magic, stopping it just inches before it closed. “That’s Jenna Irwin. She’s a dragon who comes here. We’re at the wrong door.”

  Lachlan furrowed his brow. “Four down?”

  “Come on.” I started for the door.

  He followed me.

  We waited in the shadows until Jenna and the other girl were far enough away that they couldn’t see us, then we crept forward, through the door.

  We emerged into a dark hallway, lit only with a single red light bulb, hanging from the ceiling. To our left was a bathroom, door marked Ladies.

  On the right was the mens’ room. I could see inside the bathroom. The tile was stained, and it smelled.

  I grimaced.

  We made our way up the hallway. At the end was a metal swinging door with a small window in the center.

  After a short pause, listening, Lachlan pushed the door open.

  We entered a big, open room. It was dark in here as well, lit with red lights. Music was playing softly, a sort of rhythmic, melodic electronic style, lyricless.

  There were tables and chairs ringing the outside of the room. They were made of wrought iron with spiky accents and red velvet plush seats. A bar was tucked in the corner, the man behind it in a black cape.

  In the middle of the room were dozens of couches. They weren’t identical, but they were all similar. They were red and black. Some velvet, some leather. Some covered in silk cushions.

  Most of them were occupied, a dragon lying supine, arm dangling to where a vampire crouched on the floor and fed from the dragon’s wrist.

  Lachlan and I made our way over to one of the tables.

  We sat down in the chairs.

  We stared.

  It felt… oddly invasive, as if we’d walked in on an orgy or something. When I looked at the pairs of dragons and vampires, it made me feel a little keyed up, as if I were watching people have sex.

  Just like watching sex or talking about sex tends to make a person aroused, this was affecting me too.

  Only it didn’t make me want sex. It made me want to be bitten.

  I watched the dragons lying there, and I wondered if they were all floating in the clouds, feeling at one with all of nature, with all of the universe, and with the vampire biting them.

  Wistfully, I turned to look at Lachlan.

  I caught him trying to retract his fangs.

  Huh. Affecting him too?

  “Maybe this isn’t a good idea,” he said to me in a low voice loud enough to carry over the music. “We’ve seen it, now what?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “This was your plan.”

  “I thought it was going to be harder to get inside,” he said. His fangs were still there. He ran his forefinger over one. “Damn it.”

  I leaned close. “Does it make you want—?”

  “Could I get you something to drink?” A waitress wearing a black bustier and flared red skirt was at our table. She narrowed her eyes. “Wait a second. Where are your hand stamps?”

  “Hand stamps?” said Lachlan.

  “No one gets in without a stamp,” she said. “Did you try to sneak in without paying the cover?”

  Lachlan managed to retract his fangs, finally. He reached into his jacket pocket and took out his badge. “We’d like to talk to your boss.”

  The girl’s eyes widened. “Yeah, okay. Um, sure.” She scampered away.

  * * *

  The guy who’d answered the door to us the last time we were there turned out to be the manager.

  “You’re human, hmm?” said Lachlan. “Really.”

  “Remember us?” I said to him. “Remember how you said that there was no blood drinking going on here?”

  “Look, I really am human,” said the manager, glaring at both of us. “And what the hell are you doing in my establishment? Can you be in here without a warrant?”

  “You can’t deny that you’ve got vampires in here drinking dragon blood,” I said.

  “It’s consensual,” said the manager. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”

  “The big deal is that someone is dead,” said Lachlan.

  “Last time you were here, that guy was only missing,” said the manager. “Now, he’s dead?”

  “I asked you a question last time,” said Lachlan. “About what happens if things go too far, if one of your vampire friends takes too much blood. You want to answer that question for me seriously now?”

  “That doesn’t happen,” said the manager. “Vampires can’t kill dragons. Dragons are more powerful than vampires, so it’s ridiculous.”

  “If vampires are drinking dragon’s blood, they’re taking their magic,” I said.

  “What?” said the manager. “What are you talking about?”

  “You didn’t know that?” said Lachlan. “Maybe you really are human.” He crossed his arms over his chest and turned away, looking out over the room, at all the couches where the dragons reclined. “How’d you get involved in this, anyway?”

  “Look, I work here,” said the man
ager. “I don’t own the place or anything.”

  “Is the owner a vampire?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” said the manager. “Listen, no dragon has ever been hurt, but some vampires have.”

  “What do you mean?” Lachlan said.

  The manager dragged a hand over his face. “Oh, crap, if they find out I told you this…”

  “Told us what?” I said.

  The manager swallowed. “Okay, on occasion, the dragon who pays to get sucked on gets twitchy. Goes apeshit on the vamp. One time, the dragon killed one of the vampires. I was here that night. The vampire was screaming, begging for his life, and the dragon just used magic to twist his head right off.” The manager grimaced. “There was blood everywhere. We had to burn like six couches. And… well, the other vampires didn’t feel safe and they may have… There’s a slayer that they know, a girl who takes care of dragons who’ve gone rogue.”

  “Rogue dragons?” I said. “What?”

  “Well, I think she, uh, took care of that dragon,” said the manager. “Now, I’m not saying that anyone could have called that slayer for your guy, because he wasn’t a problem. He never did anything like that other dragon.”

  “Oh, so you do remember him?” said Lachlan. “Because before you said you’d never seen him in your life.”

  “Yeah, I know who he is. He’s a regular here. At least he used to be. Haven’t seen him in a while.” The manager’s shoulders slumped. “I hope he’s okay.”

  “What’s the name of this slayer?” said Lachlan.

  “Uh, she’s got some guy’s name… Um, Clay—no. Clarke. That’s it. Clarke Gannon.”

  “Thank you for your time,” said Lachlan.

  “Consensual or not,” I said, “this place needs to be shut down.”

  “You can’t do that,” said the manager. “You don’t even have a warrant, and I’m pretty sure I can kick you both out.”

  “No need,” said Lachlan. “We’re leaving.” He grabbed me by the arm and tugged me after him. When we were out of earshot of the manager, he said, “You can’t just say things like that to him. It conveys bias.”

  “I am biased,” I said.

  We fell in behind two younger dragons who were staggering toward the front door.

  One of them took a step and nearly fell over.

  I ran up to catch him. “Hey there. Steady.”

  He looked me over. “Wait a second. I know you. You’re the chick who left her mate.”

  I rolled my eyes, but I helped him get out of the club.

  Once we were outside, he pushed me away. “I’m good.”

  “You probably shouldn’t drive,” said Lachlan.

  “We got a cab coming,” said his friend, his eyes half-lidded.

  I leaned forward. “Listen, what’s it feel like? When they’re drinking your blood? Is it like you’re melding with the universe, becoming one with everything that exists?”

  “No,” said the other guy, laughing. “It’s like being really drunk is all.” He chortled.

  “But I want whatever you’re on,” said the other guy.

  “Oh yeah.” He tried to high-five his friend, but they both lost their balance.

  Lachlan and I caught them.

  We exchanged glances over their heads.

  * * *

  “Why’d you ask them that?” Lachlan’s voice was quiet. He was sitting on the opposite side of my balcony, feet propped up on the railing. The balcony was off the back of my apartment, and it overlooked the ocean. There were steps down to the sand.

  I hugged my knees, gazing up at the night sky. “I guess I just wondered if it was like that for everybody.” There were at least five feet between us. I was afraid to get closer, and he seemed afraid too.

  “Like that? Like it is for you?”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “So, that’s how it feels when I’m drinking your blood?”

  “How’s it feel for you?”

  He shut his eyes. “There’s some of that. What you were talking about. Feeling connected, like you and I are… joining somehow? Being really hyperaware of everything around me. All the blades of grass, all the grains of sand.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Exactly.”

  “But then it just gets drowned out by my insatiable thirst. All I can think is that I want more. That I can never get enough of it. And the taste… it’s so complex and intense and I just… it makes me feel crazed.”

  “Oh,” I said.

  “Which is why I said I was never going to do it again. I don’t like feeling like that.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Sounds awful.”

  “It’s not awful,” he said. “Not at all. I’ve never wanted anything the way I want your blood. Drinking it is amazing.” He put his feet down, sitting up straight in the chair.

  I got the feeling he was just going to bolt.

  “Do you think the vampires did it?” I asked, abruptly changing the subject, although I wasn’t entirely sure why. Maybe it was better if he did bolt. Maybe I should have never let him come back here with me in the first place.

  “Probably not,” he said. “But I could be wrong. It doesn’t seem to fit, though. If he’d been killed by one of them during a blood-drinking session, then we should have found his car outside of The Dungeon, not Andy’s.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense,” I said. “But this slayer person. Maybe she’s involved somehow.”

  “We’ll need to check her out.”

  “Can you do that? Can you find her?”

  “I’ve got people who might know who she is,” he said. “Confidential informants, that kind of thing.”

  “Oh,” I said.

  “When I find her, you want to come with me to talk to her?”

  “Of course,” I said.

  “Okay,” he said. He got up. “I should go.”

  I studied my knuckles. “Yeah, maybe that would be best.”

  He shook his head. “It’s funny, because some part of me wants to do the fight-for-the-girl thing. Like I’ve got any right to ask you to be part of my life. I’m all kinds of fucked up.”

  “Yeah,” I said in a tiny voice. “Me too.”

  “You’re not,” he said.

  “I am.” And suddenly, I didn’t like that he was leaving. At all. I stood up, facing him. “It occurs to me that no one’s ever really fought for me before.”

  “That fighting-for-someone stuff?” he said. “It only happens in old books, like Jane Eyre.”

  “And bad romantic comedy movies,” I said.

  “Really?” he said. “I don’t really watch that.”

  I tried a smile.

  He smiled back at me, and he reached out and cupped my cheek with one hand. “That’s just like you, Penny. You always bring in the light somehow.”

  “Look, Lachlan, I’m not saying that I’m not afraid, because I am. But if you simply leave, then…”

  He shut his eyes. “In real life, there shouldn’t be any need for fighting. It should be easy. We should just be together and comfortable and happy.” He opened his eyes. “When I met my ex-wife, it wasn’t like this. It wasn’t all angst and confusion and pain. It was only nice. Of course, that all went to hell, so…” He let out a breath.

  “Don’t go,” I said, the words seeming to rip out of me.

  “I thought you hated me,” he said. “I thought you were angry with me for drinking your blood.”

  “Not for drinking it, just for not stopping,” I said.

  “And that will never change. I’ll never be able to stop.”

  “You always have stopped though.” I bit my lip.

  He let out a wild laugh. “Oh, by all means, let’s throw caution to the wind, then.”

  I didn’t respond.

  He started over to the steps. “I’m going to go.”

  Maybe that was for the best. It wasn’t romantic, but it was sensible. I nodded, feeling disappointed, but accepting it.

  He turned away from me and started down them.
“I’ll call you whenever I’ve got something set up with that slayer,” he called over his shoulder.

  I gripped the edge of the balcony and watched him as he descended the steps and then disappeared into the darkness. God damn him for leaving.

  Even if it was the right thing to do.

  Truth was, if he was going to keep waffling back and forth like this, maybe I didn’t want it to progress too much. I didn’t know if I could handle his mood swings if we were any more deeply involved than we were now.

  Movement out of the corner of my eye.

  It was Lachlan, running around the hotel. He bounded up the steps, two of them at a time.

  I furrowed my brow. Had he forgotten something?

  He gave me a lopsided grin as he stepped up onto the porch. “This is a fucking bad idea.”

  “What is?”

  He came for me, one hand sliding behind my hair to cup the back of my head. He kissed me and pushed us both back into the wall, pressing his body into mine. He was warm and solid and eager, and I held onto him for dear life.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  I pushed open the door and lurched into the apartment, Lachlan right behind me.

  I collided with the wall, facing it, my palms flat against the cool smoothness there.

  He shut the door. He pressed into me, hands tangling in my hair, mouth on the nape of my neck.

  I gasped.

  He ran one hand over my hip, my waist, under my shirt to touch my bare skin.

  I sighed.

  His teeth grazed the skin of my neck.

  My lips parted in anticipation.

  “No,” he muttered, turning me to face him.

  Then we were kissing again, kisses that took my breath away, and both his hands were inside my shirt, pushing it up, baring my belly button, then my bra.

  And then I put my arms up, let him pull it over my head.

  He sucked his breath through his nose.

  I grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and tugged him after me, yanking him down the hallway, into my bedroom.

  He kissed me in the doorway. He cupped my breasts through my bra.

  Jolts of sweetness ran through me, electrifying my nerve endings, exciting me. I moaned against his mouth.

  He pulled back, fixing me with a penetrating expression.