“Isn’t she though?” Mel agreed and pinched Erato’s cheek.
“Mel! Stop doing that. We are supposed to be law enforcement officers and you are undermining my authority.”
“We are pretending to be cops, you have no authority,” Mel reminded her. “Now here is a man with authority and a cute butt.”
Hailey nodded in agreement as Detective Dane joined them. He looked tired, she noticed. He must have been up the whole night trying to get everything worked out.
“Officers.”
“What would you like us to do with the prisoner, Sir?” Erato was back in character.
“Prisoner?” Hailey wondered aloud.
“Officer Williams, Ms. Holloway here is not our prisoner.” He frowned at her hands as one cuff slid off. “She is merely in protective custody until we return her to Philadelphia.” Blocking Hailey from the rest of the station, Dane tightened the cuffs enough so they wouldn’t fall off.
“Right, Sir. That’s what I meant, Sir.” With every Sir, the color under his eyes darkened. Poor guy probably had been dealing with this for hours. Hailey shouldn’t laugh but she did, very quietly.
Dane signed and rubbed his brow. “Let’s get on with this, shall we?”
Erato saluted before grabbing Hailey’s arm in a grip of death. She was led to the garage where two identical cars waited. One already housed a brunette woman, who must be Clio, the doppelganger. Lia and Darby were in the front seat of the empty car, also in uniform. They each had a large coffee cup for which Hailey was envious.
“In ya go,” Mel said as she opened the door. Hailey stood and stared at the backseat.
“Something feels wrong.” Everyone looked at her. “I don’t know what, but something is wrong.” There was a nagging prickle on the back of her neck.
“Hailey?” Darby asked turning in her seat. “What is it?”
“Dragon,” Dak answered for only Hailey to hear.
“Crap.” Hailey dove into the car and kept her head down and covered. As long as they saw Clio in the other car they wouldn’t go after her. She waited for the door to close, for the car to turn on, and drive them away, but nothing happened. Peeking out from under her arms, she found everyone staring at her, again.
“What are you doing? Go!” They only gaped and gave each other looks of “this girl is bat-shit crazy.” Hailey’s eyes were wild as she met each of theirs. Darby looked concerned while Lia snickered in the driver’s seat. Erato ignored her outburst and went back to giving her hard stare to inanimate objects. Mel seemed excited at the new twist of tragic events. The tragic loss of Hailey’s sanity.
“There is a dragon nearby. Close the damn door and get going.”
“Yes and his name is Dane. Paranoid much?” Erato laughed.
“Don’t you think I know what Dane feels like by now?” Hailey spoke her next words slowly and clearly. “THERE IS A DRAGON SOMEWHERE IN THE VACINITY.”
“Shit.” Lia catching on started the car.
“It’s about damn time,” Hailey grumbled still lying on the seat.
“See ya round, Hailey. Good luck.” Mel slammed the door shut and walked over to the other car and spoke to Clio.
As they backed out, Darby filled her in. They had spent all night convincing the muses to help, then the rest of the night smoothing out the details. They were positive this was going to work. There was also no plan B, so it had to work.
Lia waved to Dane as he came out the door. Darby relayed to Hailey that he was getting in his car with Clio.
This would work, she told herself on repeat.
Her cuffed hands were uncomfortably stuck between her body and the seat cushion. She wiggled while trying to stay low and out of sight until she finagled her body around so she was lying on her back. It was better on her arms but now her head was bent at an awkward angle.
“Ten points if you hit him,” she heard Darby mutter.
“That’s it? He should be worth at least 25.” Lia and Darby were both looking at something on the left side of the car.
“Do you think he is close enough to see in?”
“No, but toss a blanket over her to be safe.” The car slowed giving Darby time to turn in her seat and apologize before covering Hailey with a blanket.
“What the hell guys?”
“Hailey, just sit tight. You were right about the dragon and we get to drive past him. Now stop talking and pretend you’re a blanket,” Lia chided.
The car was quiet as they wound their way out of the garage and through the parking lot. Hailey sat impatiently under the blanket. She wasn’t sure if she was more annoyed by the fact that she couldn’t see what was going on, or that her breath stank something fierce and she was unintentionally giving herself a Dutch Oven.
The car rocked over a speed bump and Hailey’s awkwardly bent head took a beating.
“Bump,” came the late warning from Lia.
Hailey gave her a very violent showing of her middle finger, which went unseen by the careless driver. Finding the edge of the blanket, Hailey made herself a little breathing hole and sucked in some gloriously fresh air.
“Looks like Dane spotted him. Getting his attention and… oh nicely done.” Darby would make an excellent sportscaster. “Dane has sped off in the opposite direction but first he pushed faux Hailey down in the back seat trying to hide her. It was a very obvious play to those of us on the inside, but nicely executed.”
“Does that mean I can come out now?” They had progressively been picking up speed.
“You can take the blanket off but I’d stay down for a bit longer,” Darby answered.
“Anyone have keys to these handcuffs?” She kicked the blanket off, letting it ball at her feet on the floor. Her question was met with silence.
“This isn’t funny. Where’s the key?” Fuck this, she thought and sat up. They were on a long stretch of straight highway. Hailey adjusted until she was relatively comfortable. Her two friends in the front seat were doing their best to ignore her.
“How can you not have a key? It’s universal! One key to rule them all, one key to find them, one key to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. Or unbind them as is the case.” She slumped back in the seat, exhaustion of the past few hours setting in.
“Coffee?” Darby held the large to-go cup out. Her peppy smile coated in guilt, like sprinkles to a donut. Hailey grumbled about reevaluating their friendship but accepted the cup as it was intended, a peace offering.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Three hours, thirty-two minutes, twenty-four ounces of coffee, one awkward visit to the gas station bathroom, and four failed attempts at picking the handcuff lock, had Hailey sulking with self-pity. Lia dropped her bag on one of the beds of their motel room. It could almost pass as the first one they stayed at weeks ago if the colors were different. The green and orange paisley wasn’t so bad if you squinted. It was probably even stylish at one point in history. One very sad point in history.
Darby hefted in another duffle bag; her tiny frame was dwarfed by its bulk. Hailey stood watching with her hands still attached at the wrists.
“Help her,” Dak insisted.
“And how do you suppose I do that?” She tugged at the bindings.
“Your hands still work don’t they?”
“Geez, no need to get your panties in a bunch,” Hailey mumbled as she wandered over to the little witch. “Need some help?” she asked blandly.
“That’s nice of you to offer, but I got this Darlin’.” She dropped the bag on the floor just inside the door. Lia had one last trip to the car before closing the door. Hailey felt inadequate as the two women shuffled around the room unpacking their bags. To stay out of the way, she sat in the middle of the bed Lia didn’t claim. Darby began burning something funky and mumbling words. She had mentioned warding the room while they had been driving. Hailey definitely couldn’t help with that.
Lia was laying her small arsenal onto the table. Guns followed knives, which were settled near the
ammo. She sat at the table and began to piece apart the ammunition and clean it all. Lia had assured her that they would probably not need most, if any of it, but it was a good idea to have on hand.
It looked as though she was stuck with her dragon for company, too bad he was currently being a silent grump. Hailey began to braid small pieces of her hair, the handcuffs jingling as she went. It wasn’t the least bit productive but she didn’t need much range of motion and it kept her busy. Dane and Clio entered her mind; she wondered how they made out. Silas wasn’t stupid and their few hour lead was probably coming to a close. If they were lucky, the dragon henchmen were scrambling to find them right now while Silas tossed around death threats.
Boredom overcame her on the fifth braid. She tugged on the handcuffs again, the metal quietly clanked together. The lack of concern Lia and Darby showed about the rings of metal around her wrists bothered her. Not enough to say anything to them. Confrontation was her arch enemy after all. But if roles were reversed, Hailey would be trying to get these things off of them, not cleaning her guns.
“Dak,” She twirled the braid around her finger. “Dak?” The voice was quiet inside her head. If she had a stick Hailey would poke him until he responded to her. Alas, no stick.
“Look I didn’t mean to diss your panties earlier. I’m sure they are as un-bunched as they can get, and very manly too. I bet they have Batman on them. Nothing says testosterone like Batman.”
Darby snorted from the other corner of the room.
“Stop being absurd.”
“Your face is absurd,” her comebacks were those of legend.
“You won’t be saying that when you see the real thing,” he countered with a little more flirt and a little less grump.
“Is that so? How do I know you aren’t lying to me and are actually covered in boils and have a hunchback?”
“And if I did?” She imagined that eyebrow of his raising.
“I’d make a button with ‘Hunchbacks Are Sexy’ written in bold across it and wear it everywhere.”
“Good answer.”
“So do you have any ideas on how to get me outta these?” Hailey held her hands up hopefully.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Lia interrupted. She pushed her chair back and stomped over to Hailey. “Use your imagination.” She flicked Hailey’s forehead then walked back over to the table and continued cleaning her weapons.
“That was weird.” She rubbed her forehead. “Why did you… OH!” Hailey bounced on the bed with her arms held in front of her repeating “Oh!” over and over.
“You are turning me on Babe with all that bouncing and screaming in bed.” Hailey ignored him because of her brilliant idea.
“I know how I can get these off!” When no one asked her “how” she stopped bouncing and dropped her hands. “What gives guys? I just had a brilliant idea.”
“Yeah, you’re welcome,” Lia chuckled.
It took her longer than she liked to admit, but it came to her eventually. “You used your musey powers on me?” Shock took over the excitement.
Lia nodded. “Do you always have to flick someone in the head for it to work?”
“Only on the thick headed ones.”
Hailey stuck out her tongue in a very unladylike fashion and scooted off the bed. She went in the bathroom but peeked her head back out. “Someone have a fire extinguisher handy. You know, just in case…”
*****
Silas slammed his door with more force than was necessary. Inside he was gleefully dancing, thrilled for what awaited him. Outside he wore a stone mask devoid of any emotion. The wreckage up ahead was vicious. The once unmarked police cruiser was now a crumpled heap of metal. Various car parts mingled with broken glass littered the road in a Jackson Pollock-esque masterpiece of carnage. His shiny black Prada loafers crunched over the glass and stopped just at the edge of a pool of blood.
“Where are they?”
“Sir, they are on the other side of the car.”
Silas followed the blood trail around the twisted car. He allowed himself a quick ruthless smile at the sight of his dear Hailey and her dragon detective. He was lying on the ground with a part of his abdomen missing. One of his men did a number on the dragon. He would have to remember to praise him later.
Hailey was bent over the dragon with her hands covering the missing piece. She was covered in blood but none of which seemed to be hers. Silas clicked his tongue. “Tsk-tsk Hailey, you’ve gone and ruined your shirt. And here I was thinking we would go and have a nice dinner.”
“Fuck you.”
Silas frowned, her voice was wrong. “Who are you?”
The woman lifted her head and pushed back a piece of chestnut hair that was stuck to her check with the back of her hand. Blood smeared her face but he could plainly see she was not Hailey, not even a dragon.
“Doesn’t matter who I am,” she responded. “All that matters is the look of horror on your face when you realize that you’ve been outsmarted. Oh, and there it is.”
The dragon on the ground laughed but ended up choking on his own blood. The woman turned back to him and began crooning over how he was going to be just fine. “Once I get you home, I’ll get you all fixed up. You’ll be better than ever. My family has some of the best healers in the supernatural world.”
Dane reached for her hand gripping it tightly. “You tell Dacea it was an honor to serve him.”
Silas sneered. Why was he being ignored?
“Now stop that. You are going to live another day my dear Detective Dragon.” She took another look at the ever bleeding hole in his side and grimaced.
“As touching as this all is,” Silas began, “I think it’s time you started to answer my questions.” When she didn’t move he walked over to her and wrenched her away from the detective. “You will face me when I talk to you.”
“No, I won’t. For once you are not the biggest and baddest asshole here. You touch me again and I will be sure to personally introduce you to my Uncle Hades as the fucker that bruised my arm after sending his hounds to run me and my friend off the road. He has a special place in the Underworld for people that mess with his family, especially his favorite nieces.”
What was she? He wondered in awe. This woman had a fire in her. If he wasn’t on a hunt, he might just want to get to know her a bit more. But his quest for Dacea’s death meant more to him than a possible fuck. Silas didn’t notice it at first, and neither did she, but there was one less beating heart in the area. He glanced down at the filth named Dane and nudged his shoe. The foot flopped up and back down. At least a little good came of this, even in he didn’t have Hailey and Dacea in his possession. One less Red in this world meant one less pain in his ass.
“Dammit Dane! I told you to hang on.” The woman began to drag him off the ground.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Going. Bye now.” Once she got a good enough grip around the dead dragon, she disappeared.
Silas punched the car, leaving an imprint of his knuckles on what was left of the passenger side door. His nostrils flared as a bit of smoke seeped out. How did Dacea always get out of these things? He was trapped in a human for fuck’s sake.
When he turned from the car, his face was a mask again. Silas rounded on the first of his men he saw. “You,” he pointed. “Get over here.” The man stepped forward with his head bowed. Silas circled him. The man didn’t move, keeping his head tipped forward and eyes downcast. In a swift fluid motion Silas grabbed hold of his head and twisted until he felt a pop.
He rolled his shoulders as the man fell to him knees and collapsed into the already bloody road. “Clean this up,” he told the rest of the men and stepped over the body. The click of his shoes on the road was the only sound as he walked to his car. All were too afraid to speak or move until the black Mercedes was just a dot on the horizon.
*****
“What is the melting point of whatever this metal is?” Hailey twisted her arms around trying to see i
f the handcuffs had any writing on them, or better yet the melting point.
“It’s steel and does it matter? Just heat it up and it will eventually melt.”
“In the sink or,” she looked around, “the bathtub?” Crap, who’d have thought she would actually need to remember her high school chemistry class? Nicely played Mr. Dickenson, nicely played.
“I’d try the bathtub.”
“Yeah, okay.” Hailey stood with his arms over the tub and stared at the metal binding. “Now what?”
“Heat it up and pry them off.” After a few moments where Hailey just tugged on the cuffs he added, “There’s a flame somewhere inside you that you need to access. You’ve done it by accident a few times but now go looking for it. I usually feel mine in my stomach, Lennox held his in his chest. Everyone keeps theirs in a different spot.”
Because she couldn’t think of anything better to try, Hailey closed her eyes and went looking for a little ball of fire. She imagined herself on the Magic School Bus with Miss. Frizzle driving through her body. The chest was a no go, nothing but a bruised heart there. She did smile a bit at the Band-Aid holding it together. She knew that was a recent addition but didn’t take the time to dwell.
Down they travelled to her stomach where she wasn’t the least bit surprised to find a flickering of light.
“Found it.”
“Good. Now harness it. The fire is yours to command. Tell it where to go.”
She wasn’t sure what exactly he wanted her to do. So she pointed at the spark and told Miss. Frizzle to floor it. The bus lurched forward and ran head first into the fire and out the other end. They turned their heads to see what would happen next. The fire grew; it turned in on itself and rolled. By the time it tripled in size, Hailey was pushing the frizzy haired teacher out of the driver’s seat and taking control. She flew past the ball, taunting it a bit while she circled and then sped off. Just as she hoped—the fire followed her.
Hailey blinked dropping the Magic School Bus fantasy as the fire traveled from her gut to her mouth. She pursed her lips and pretended she was blowing a small stream of air. Orange and yellow flames streamed from her lips hitting the metal cuffs.
The Hailey Holloway Complete Series Page 15
