by Livia Quinn
“What happened here?” the ME demanded. He scanned the area making a circle. “Are we in the right place?” When Jack nodded and pointed at the bones effectively cemented into the hard packed gumbo, Thorpe said, “This looks like a drought stricken zone and before, I saw…” he broke off, looking at Jack, then me, his eyes narrowing.
Then Jack did something I’d never seen him do before. He shrugged, and lifted his eyebrows as if to say, That’s my story, take it or leave it. He didn’t care that the ME was in a fuddle. The Jack before his “enlightenment” would’ve been all about making sure plausible explanations were made. His gaze caught mine over Dan’s shoulder and I saw the smile around his eyes. Okay, so he was putting it on me. I didn’t have a problem with bending the truth a little but I also wasn’t very good at it. He knew that as well.
I straightened my shoulders and cleared my throat, “Um, i-it’s a funny thing. While you were gone, a hot straight line wind came through without any warning.” I pointed toward the West and eyes wide to illustrate to our good doctor how shocked I’d been by this event, I waited for his reaction.
He stared at me like I’d lost my mind. You guys can jump in and help me anytime…
Dan looked at Jack then Montana, who was having trouble hiding a grin. Then he looked at the stoic Conor who stood nearby. Now granted, Conor was not in dragon form but there’s something about him—many somethings—that just cry out “Not human.” He always looks like it he’s been transported here from a Warcraft video game, with those swords, his massive naked chest and the metal boots—I mean no one runs around everyday in a costume like that. Even Superman and Batman had day jobs where they dressed like mere-mortals. If he settled in Destiny for good, we might have to look into something a little less “Ninja warrior” and more “Clark Kent” for his day look.
Finally, Montana said, “It happened just like Tempe said. It was sudden, and very powerful. We had to go over the levee to ride it out. Look at the trees over there, if you don’t believe it.”
I nodded at my compadre. We were like Vanna White and Pat Sajak. She never let me down. “Thank you, Montana.”
Chapter 4
Dan Thorpe wanted to take the Paramortal plunge, sign up with the league!
Tempe
Thorpe sighed. “Well, now I’m going to need different tools, and ironically, I’ll have to rehydrate in order to loosen the evidence from that gumbo. It’s like concrete when it’s dry.”
Wouldn’t it be simpler if the ME knew the truth? Sometimes I suspected that like Jordie, he knew more than he let on or maybe he was in denial. I decided to take things into my own hands and this time I’d show a little restraint.
“Uh-oh, here it comes again. Hear that thunder? We should probably go back to our vehicles until it moves through, don’t you think? I mean we’re right out here in the wide ass open.”
Four pairs of eyes looked at me then like I was crazy. I wasn’t crazy—there’s a method to my madness. Go on, Jack, take the hint or we’re going to be explaining our supernatural natures to another human.
Finally, Jack said, “Tempe’s right, Come on. We’ll get in the ambulance. Dan, you and I can get in the back.” Out of sight, he was thinking. Good job, Jack.
“I have my mail truck,” I said to explain where I’d be as the other four walked up the levee toward the ambulance. Then I hid behind the only tree on the bank.
When Dan’s back was turned, I added a little thunder and a bolt of lightning down the levee to hurry them along. Jack just shook his head as they entered the back of the ambulance.
Conor and Montana didn’t even pretend. They leaned against the outside of the van and settled in to watch. There wasn’t much to it. But it was real. Once I gather the forces of storm—heat, moisture, wind—things are bound to happen. This time I concentrated on withholding some of menori’s power.
Aurora was right, I really should get out and practice more in an uninhabited area. After my quickening I’d spun up some powerful weather magic during the Chaos but there’d been little opportunity for me to use it spontaneously. After all, I had a day job and I had my temper under control. I guess I just thought once it was there it was automatic but even though I knew where the on and off switches were, volume and intensity seemed to be more of a fine Tempestaerie art.
All that was needed was a gentle steady rain, but in order to keep Dan in the van I had to stir up a storm strong enough to produce lightning. It’s not just studio effects. The rain got heavier than I planned but when it stopped I surveyed the results like an artist stepping away from her oil canvas. The scalded earth was now plump and wet, and the gumbo around the body, softened and slick.
I stepped out from behind the tree as Jack led the others down the hill admonishing Dan to be careful on the slick mud. I strolled over and looked around. “Wow, that was—” the medical examiner was looking at me funny.
“It was convenient, Ms. Pomeroy. Too damn convenient, eh?”
The ME looked at each one of us in turn, hands on his hips. “Isn’t it about time you people”… You people! I hated that phrase… “trusted me with the truth?”
“What truth?” I asked a little too quickly and a little too guiltily. Jack looked off, scratched his head behind his ear and considered.
Thorpe huffed, “You know, I had a dead body up and walk out of my autopsy room a few months back. Then I did blood work on your ex, Jack, that showed reptile DNA.” He ticked events off on his fingers. “I’ve also performed autopsies, collected and categorized body parts of… well, species I’ve never seen before. And then, there was Robocop. Remember him?”
Oh, right. When Ryan found Fritz’ eyeball at a crime scene Dan was called, and one of the Special Forces men Ridge had brought looked just like Robocop, but he was actually human.
Dan propped his hands on his hips and glared at each one of us. “I know normal, and things aren’t normal around here.”
Jack laughed. A full bellied guffaw. Of course, he could appreciate the position the medical examiner was in. He’d been there, many times, himself.
“Let’s start with how you dialed up the weather as if on cue, Tempe,” the doctor said his jaw jutting out and eyes nearly bugging out of his weathered face.
Montana said, “It’s kinda her thing. She spins up storms, lightning…” She looked over at me and grinned. “She’s new at it though so sometimes it doesn’t turn out quite like it’s supposed to. I mean all she had to do was dry up the standing water here but instead, she created a drought.”
Vanah never let Pat down like this, I thought but she was only telling the truth.
Thorpe rubbed his chin, assessing Montana’s muscular Zena goddess looks. “So, er, what do you do?” he asked Montana. All of a sudden, he was like a kid in a candy store, eyes glowing with enthusiasm, not fear or repulsion.
She said, “I protect women with my hands and… this!” Matilda appeared in her hand and she waved it in a large circle. Dan stumbled back, eyes as wide as saucers and looked from her to Conor, stuttering, “T-that’s very good, Ms. uh, Montana. And you, sir, uh, I guess you’re pretty good with those swords.”
Oh, boy. This was going to be good.
But as if the light had suddenly dawned, Dan spun around and pointed at me, “It was you…back in March when the weather went crazy—”
Our resident scientist was finally putting the clues together.
Jack
Thorpe was not going to be satisfied with half-truths so I gave Conor a nod. Behind the ME Conor changed. When his hundred-foot wide shadow blocked the sun, Dan’s head jerked up. I was just as mesmerized as Dan. Seeing Conor’s massive black dragon hovering in the air above me would never lose its appeal. I just wished it was me.
Thorpe’s face changed from skeptical disbelief and even a hint of humor to incredulity. His mouth went slack and I thought he might faint, but when his examiner’s kit fell from his fingers and he raised his arms toward Conor, I was reminded of my own reaction the fir
st time I’d seen the black dragon hovering in the sky. Sheer spine-chilling wonder, like a kid on his first trip to Magic Mountain.
With everything that had been going on in the last months, my experience had been skewed, tainted even, by the events of the Chaos and my own change. Now, my heart sped up as I saw the dragon through fresh eyes.
Conor felt it, too. It was as if Tempe and the others weren’t even present. The black dragon tilted his head, one eye staring into mine while he hovered effortlessly. Everything he did just came naturally whether it was morphing into his Knight form with swords and leathers or shifting into this monstrous fire breathing dragon, wings and all. I felt Conor’s scrutiny, as if he were waiting for me to see the connection between us. But what did we have in common?
He was extra large. I was medium size. He was black and powerful and breathed fire—even his human form was a big impressive knight… and he could fly, damn it all.
I was a part time shiny Disney trick who couldn’t control his change, didn’t seem to have a purpose, much less spit fire or fly. I gave a hard exhale hidden behind a cough as I attempted to breathe a little fire. I hadn’t given much thought to that aspect of my dragon form. I’d been pretty much preoccupied with my other deficiencies.
Everyone looked at me including Conor who did a giant eye roll. For months his maddening advice had been “patience”. Patience. Easily said for someone who could do everything I couldn’t. He wasn’t a lawman who couldn’t work, or a father who was afraid his daughter might witness his next transformation.
Without being able to control the shift, I couldn’t make plans. With my sheriff’s car in Ryan’s hands I had to drive Jordie’s—the car her grandparents had bought her for her 16th birthday—with no less than three changes of clothing in the trunk, just in case. And that plan doesn’t always work, like today. I’d been miles from my car when I shifted. Though the expression on Tempe’s face when she’d seen the increased definition in my body had been my best moment in months, the best since we’d made love.
I felt a twinge of guilt. I wasn’t being fair to her, but I needed to get a handle on this shapeshifting business. When I mastered it, I’d make it up to her.
Thorpe cleared his throat and I jerked my thoughts back to the present. “So, Dan. What do you think? You still on the job?”
Conor’s form shimmered then like a gray funnel cloud he melted down into the Dark Knight. It was amazing and at least two minutes before Dan could answer. Then he turned towards me slowly, “What was the question?”
“I said, you’re not running for cover so I assume we can still count on you…”
“Yes, but how…” He looked from Conor to Tempe and back to me.
We couldn’t wait any longer for the examiner to get to work. “C’mon Dan. Daylight’s wasting.”
“Sorry, but…” Any time now. I shifted my weight to one hip impatiently and stared at the man.
“What do you have to do to become like…” he nodded at Conor, “… like him?”
Conor’s eyebrows rose. He looked in my direction as if to say You can have this one.
I lifted my hat and scratched my head. “You don’t do anything, Thorpe. It’s usually hereditary and then again, sometimes it happens when you least expect it.” Excitement bubbled up in the M.E.’s expression making seem more youthful. It dawned on me then. Dan Thorpe wanted to be a supernatural.
And here I thought people would be freaked out and run screaming out of Destiny like I’d wanted to do. But not him. Dan wanted to take the Paramortal plunge, sign up with the league and run the gauntlet, take the oath…
“How does it happen? Does someone have to bite you, transfer blood—”
“Wait.” I had to get him back on track. “You’ve been watching too many science-fiction shows,” and I’ve been watching too few. I’d forgotten the doctor had the heart of an explorer. He hadn’t flinched when he met Robocop, just launched into a barrage of questions. “I’ll let you know if we find a way to uh, let you in, all right? Mean time, can we get back to the victim?”
Dan looked crushed, like he wanted to argue, absently taking the kit when Rafe shoved it into his hands. He speared Rafe with that analytical look, “What about you?”
“Not me, Doc,” Rafe grinned, throwing his hands up. “I’m merely a blood donor.”
Dan seemed surprised when he saw the taped off area behind me. In the excitement he’d completely forgotten the body. He’d forgotten his duty—the job he’d devoted his life to—for a dream and the possibility of being part of some magical realm. By contrast, I’d spent the last several months avoiding my responsibilities and whining over my entry into that same realm.
In that moment we both looked a little embarrassed.
Chapter 5
“Hiding things from me, Dutch?”
Tempe
While Jack and the medical examiner were busy re-creating an NGO archaeological dig, I walked up the slope to Montana. Conor had poofed again, which was quite a feat for either the knight or his dragon, and suddenly I wondered if he might be able to just disappear at will. “Where’d Conor get off to?” I asked her.
“He said he had something important to do,” Montana said matter-of-factly. “What happened? Did Jack get an anonymous tip?”
“Nope. It was Jack who discovered the remains.”
Montana’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, yeah? What were you doing out here, so far from town?” She did that weird waggle thing with her eyebrows like she thought we might have been having a frisky picnic.
I glanced over at Jack. He was dressed in jeans and a black Saints jersey, not his green uniform but oddly, it didn’t diminish his aura of authority. It did amp up his sexy quotient a lot. I sighed and faced Montana. “I was tired of waiting to hear from him, and so was Jordie. But what I found wasn’t what I expected.”
I explained. I no longer found it funny, but Montana laughed loud and hard. Rafe came from the back of the van wanting to be in on the joke. I shook my head and he left, an obedient human. Rafe knew about Paramortals, as Montana’s EMT partner and blood donor. She’s half-vampire. The ambulance makes their arrangement convenient, but Rafe didn’t know about Jack yet. It would be up to Jack to disclose it when he was ready.
“Rafe is a great guy,” I said. “We’re going to have to fix him up.”
Montana made a face. “Don’t go fixing up my partner and blood source, it might screw everything up. Besides Rafe says he’s not into committed relationships.”
Famous last words, I thought, as I continued, “Anyway, he was headed back toward town on dragon foot when he stepped on something.”
Montana nodded. “John Doe?”
“Yep,” I said. “Then Conor showed up and… the rest you know.”
“Conor’s been watching him. He’s peeved that Jack doesn’t see the beauty and awesomeness of his dragon.”
I sighed, “Oh, he does—or he did—that first night but certain issues and not being able to fly have dampened his enthusiasm. It’s been months, Montana, and he has no control over his shift. You know Jack, he likes control. He probably imagines himself turning into a dragon in front of a grocery clerk—or worse—Jordie.”
“Jordie is smarter than he thinks,” Montana said.
“Exactly. She’s seen a lot, too. We knew there were going to be some people who didn’t buy the line we gave them during the Chaos, and insiders like Dan and Jordie… well, it was bound to happen.”
Montana tilted her head, watching Jack and the ME on their knees in the muddy earth retrieving the evidence. She said, “Any news on how he became a dragon? I say he should investigate that.”
She was right. “I hadn’t thought about it until today.”
“Tempe, my friend, you’ve had a lot on your plate, between River being kidnapped and you finding out what’s really going on with your parents and going through your own change…”
“That’s no excuse and it’s all in the past. Jack needs my support.”
&nbs
p; Montana looked unconvinced and her voice took on an edge. “And what about you? Doesn’t sound like he’s been holding up his end of this relationship. When was last time you had dinner together, spent time together, made love?”
“I—it’s not like…” my voice trailed off as I deflated. “I do miss him. We’d only known each other a month before all this happened…”
“But you had a lifetime of experiences together,” Montana reminded me. “Forged in the fire so to speak. Don’t be too ready to give him a pass. Yes, he’s gone through a lot, everyone has this year. I know you love him, but it’s time he stopped feeling sorry for himself and started being a man.”
She had a point, still, that comment from Montana who had an innately low regard for the male species worried me. Sometimes she didn’t have the best control over her Dinnshencha. “Okay, let’s chill,” I said, seeing Montana’s aura turn a dark mix of red and gray, not to mention I could see a glimmer of her sword on her shoulder. Not good.
“You’re not used to fighting for yourself, only for River. ” Montana swore, “I have plenty of experience in this. I’ll coach you.”
Coach me, how I wondered? “I have to give him some time, Montana. He’ll come around, I know he will.”
Montana’s eye roll showed me what she thought about that. Tires crunching on gravel announced the arrival of one of the sheriff department units. When it got close, I saw Jack’s SUV driven by Ryan Kirkwood, Jack’s friend and wingman from the Navy who had taken over for him as sheriff when he took a leave of absence in the Spring. Ryan hadn’t wanted the job and didn’t understand what was going on with Jack. He’d taken over merely to help his friend. Ryan jumped out of Jack’s vehicle and walked over to the other two men. Jack rose and shook Ryan’s hand. “How’s it going?”
Ryan said, “As well as you can expect with me running things.”
Jack waved his hand dismissively, “I have no doubt the department is as tidy as your whities.”
“But you’re ready to give up—er, come back, aren’t you?” Ryan asked hopefully.
