city of dragons 03 - fire magic

by crowe, val st

  “That usually work for you? Throwing people off guard that way?”

  He raised his gaze to look at her. “Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.”

  “Oh, you’re cool as a cucumber, Flint,” she said. She eyed me. “What about you? You his cool girlfriend?”

  “Cool as a cucumber?” I repeated. “Who says that?”

  Her lips twisted into a smile. “Alastair Cooper. Where were you the night he went missing?”

  I looked at Lachlan.

  He put his hands in his pockets, stared at the floor.

  “Burning his house down,” I said. “Well, his sister’s house. That was where he had me held captive, see. He had these magical bracelets that kept me in the house, so I burned down the house, and I was free.”

  “You filed sexual assault charges against Mr. Cooper?” she asked me.

  “You know she did,” Lachlan interjected. “There a reason you’re bringing that up?”

  “Why were you in Mr. Cooper’s house if he had assaulted you?”

  “I told you,” I said. “He was keeping me captive with magic.”

  She nodded.

  “You don’t believe me?” I said.

  “She’s trying to rile you up,” said Lachlan. “See if your story shifts under pressure.”

  Dirk’s smile widened. She stared at Lachlan but addressed her next question to me. “So, while you were burning the house down, what was Mr. Cooper doing?”

  “He tried to stop me. He was using magic to get water out of the bay,” I said. “I tackled him. Then the heat in the house made the glass shatter in one of the windows, and he ran from me and dove into the bay. I assumed that he was shifting into a dragon, and that he was going to fight me. But I never saw him again.”

  “How convenient,” said Dirk, still eyeing Lachlan.

  “That’s definitely one way to look at it,” he said. “It was absolutely convenient that Penny was abducted and raped and beaten, that she got away but was then held captive again. Very convenient.”

  Dirk squared her shoulders. “I’m not saying that Mr. Cooper was God’s gift to humanity, Flint. But I do know the law, and the law says that he deserved a chance at a trial and punishment by the state, not someone taking the law into his own hands, even if he was trying to avenge his girlfriend.”

  Lachlan laughed. “Well, that was very subtly put,” he said sarcastically.

  “Wasn’t meant to be subtle,” she said. She looked us both over. “Ms. Caspian, your therapist says you have an unnatural amount of guilt regarding Mr. Cooper.”

  “What?” I said. Shirley was always going on about that, wasn’t she? Asking me about guilt, pounding that to death. But I had thought whatever I said to Shirley was confidential. I was never going back to that stupid therapist. “She just volunteered that to you?”

  “I have ways of getting information,” said Dirk. “I know about the two of you. I know a lot about both of you.”

  Lachlan shook his head. “You’re playing the wrong angles here, Dirk.”

  “Am I?” She gave us a smug smile. “Don’t leave town.” She turned and walked away.

  Lachlan glowered after her.

  I chewed on my lip. I remembered Lachlan, his voice low and serious, standing outside Alastair’s door, promising Alastair that if he had hurt me, Lachlan would kill him.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Be honest with me,” I said, staring across the booth at Lachlan. “Did you do it?” We were having lunch together at The Pink Flamingo.

  Lachlan set down his blood, which he had in a to-go cup and was sucking through an opaque straw. He had issues with being a vampire. “Did you do it?”

  “Me?” I said, pointing at my chest.

  He shrugged.

  “I asked first,” I said.

  “How could I have done it, Penny?” he said. “While you were burning his house down, I was with Felicity and Connor and Jensen. You can check with them if you think I’m lying.”

  “I never accused you of lying,” I said.

  “And then, I spent every waking second with you for weeks afterward.”

  I furrowed my brow. He was right. We were attached at the hip right afterward. It was only when I found out that I was pregnant and he said we should take some healthy space that we’d spent any time away from each other. “Well,” I said, considering. “You could have left while I was sleeping.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “You think?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “You said that you were going to kill him. I heard you. You came looking for me, the first time that Alastair captured me, and you stood at the doorway, and you said that if he’d hurt me, you were going to kill him.”

  He sucked blood through his straw and didn’t respond.

  “And I could tell you were serious,” I said in a quiet voice.

  “I was,” he said. “I would have killed him if I had the chance. But I didn’t get the chance, and some slayer got him instead.”

  “So, you didn’t do it? You’re denying it?”

  “I’m denying it.” He fiddled with his straw. “Are you denying it?”

  “Would I be asking you if you killed him if I killed him?”

  He leaned back in the booth. “That’s a good point.”

  I unwrapped my silverware and smoothed out the napkin they’d been rolled in. It wouldn’t lie flat.

  “But maybe you’re just asking me that to throw me off suspecting you.”

  “Lachlan!” I made a face at him. “I didn’t kill him.”

  “No one can verify your story about Alastair jumping into the bay, you know. You could have killed him in that house.”

  “I didn’t,” I said. “Don’t you think I would have told you if he was dead?”

  “Probably,” he said. “But you know how I’ve reacted in the past when you’ve killed in self-defense, and maybe you decided that it was better if you didn’t tell me.”

  “Oh, geez, be serious.”

  “I am,” he said. “You would know that it would put me in an awkward situation, knowing that you killed him, what with the fact that I’m a police detective. So, you kept it from me for my own good.”

  “Lachlan, I told you about both of the vampires I had to kill, and you didn’t rat me out either time—”

  “They weren’t particularly high profile,” he said. “Not like Alastair.”

  “Well, if you’re theory was right, then killing him would have been self-defense, so why would I hide it?”

  He pressed his lips together.

  “I didn’t kill him,” I said. “You believe me, right?”

  He surveyed me for several seconds. “Yeah, I believe you. If he was dead, you wouldn’t have been such a mess afterward. You were genuinely worried he was coming back at any minute.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “I wouldn’t keep something like that from you, Lachlan.”

  He let out a little laugh. It had a harsh edge. “Oh, yeah, you’d never hide anything important from me.”

  I swallowed. Why had he said that?

  “There is something you’re not telling me, isn’t there, Penny?” He leaned forward. “If it’s not about that night, then what is it?”

  I went back to my napkin, trying vainly to press it flat. “You’re being silly. There’s nothing that I’m hiding.”

  He didn’t respond.

  I looked up at him.

  He was giving me a stony look. He picked up his cup and sucked through his straw, still staring at me.

  “Lachlan,” I said. “You have to believe me.”

  He set down his cup. “Okay. Sure.”

  “Good.”

  “And you believe me too, right? You don’t think I killed Alastair?”

  “Of course not,” I said.

  * * *

  “Penny!” called a voice.

  I turned. Lachlan and I were leaving the restaurant, halfway out the door, and the hot, muggy July air was pumping itself into the air conditioning.
<
br />   Ophelia was coming for me, waving.

  Lachlan let the door shut, closing out the heat. He gave her a half-wave.

  She stopped in front of us, giving him a once-over that wasn’t exactly approving. “Hello, detective.”

  “Good afternoon, Ophelia,” said Lachlan. “So nice to see you again.”

  She just pressed her lips together. “Can I talk to you, Penny?”

  “Sure,” I said, waiting.

  She eyed Lachlan. “You told him about those Order people?”

  Lachlan raised his eyebrows. “What?”

  “Oh,” I said, turning to him. “Um, so there are these weird people out there who might be interested in our blood bond, or they might have just had a drake problem that I took care of, I don’t know.”

  “A drake problem? That you ‘took care of’?”

  I nodded.

  He folded his arms over his chest. “Were we or were we not just having a conversation about you keeping things from me?”

  I cringed. “Well, I just… it never really came up, and…”

  He shook his head.

  Ophelia raised her eyebrows at me. “You two want a moment alone?”

  “Did you find something out?” I asked her.

  She shook her head. “Not really. Some people in my order have heard of them, and they say that they do imprison dangerous magical creatures, but that they’re very private. They said that they weren’t the kind of people you’d want to be on the wrong side of.”

  “Great,” I muttered. “Well, I don’t think I’m on their bad side. I think they really did need my help.”

  “What was it you helped them do?” said Lachlan.

  “Feral drakes,” I said.

  “Killing,” he said. “It was killing.”

  “The drakes were brain damaged,” I said. “If you could have seen them, you wouldn’t call it that. It was like putting down rabid beasts.”

  Lachlan fished his sunglasses out of his jacket and slammed them on his face. “I’m going back to work.”

  “Lachlan, wait,” I said.

  He shook his head. “Call me later.” He pushed the door open and went through it, leaving behind only a whoosh of hot air.

  Ophelia watched him go. “He’s got a nice backside, I’ll say that for him.”

  “Ophelia, please.” I rolled my eyes.

  She shrugged. “I’m still not sure about him.”

  “He’s great,” I said.

  “Uh huh,” she said. “Which is why you’re keeping him at arms’ length.”

  “I’m not,” I said.

  She gave me a look that said she knew better.

  I sighed.

  * * *

  After lunch, I headed back to the hotel by myself. I stopped in the lobby to chat with the new guy who was working there. His name was Stan, and I’d hired him for the busy summer season. He was doing a good job, but I just wanted to make sure that everything was going well with him, that he didn’t have any questions or concerns.

  While we were talking, someone came into the lobby.

  It was a guy who looked disheveled. His nose was bleeding, and he had the beginnings of a pretty good shiner.

  I stopped talking to Stan to go over to him. “Are you all right?”

  “Is, uh, is Connor here?” said the guy, glancing over his shoulder warily.

  “Connor’s stone right now,” I said. “It’s daylight.”

  “Damn,” said the guy. “I forgot about that.” He looked back at the door and nodded once. He turned away from me. “Sorry for wasting your time. I’ll come back later.”

  “Wait,” I said. “Are you Brian?”

  He turned back to me. “How did you know that?”

  “Connor told me about you,” I said. “If you’re… if you’re trying to get away from your boyfriend and you need someplace to stay, you can stay here.”

  Brian licked his lips. “I, uh… he’s, um, he’s not usually like this. My boyfriend, that is.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Really?”

  He hung his head.

  “You’d like to get cleaned up, at least, right?” I said. “Come with me.”

  He let me lead him out of the lobby and back the hallway. Connor lived in a little area that I’d converted into a suite back behind my office. It wasn’t as big as the suites upstairs, and it didn’t have unobstructed oceanfront views or anything, since it looked out on the pool area, so I hadn’t been sure how I was going to price it. Then Connor had come along, and it had seemed to me as if I had made it especially for him.

  It had one little bedroom, which was where Connor was now, dead to the world, but it also had a pull-out couch in the small living room. I thought that Connor probably wouldn’t mind if Brian crashed there for now. If not, Brian could stay in Felicity’s old room in my apartment. There was no bed in there right now, but I could dig something up for him if I needed to.

  Anyway, the important thing was to let him take a shower and all of that stuff.

  I snagged some clean towels out of the laundry room on our way to Connor’s suite, and once we were inside, I showed Brian to the bathroom.

  “You can take a shower if you want,” I told him. “I’ll go into Connor’s room and see if he’s got any clothes that you could borrow.”

  Brian looked shell shocked. He licked his lips and took a breath, as if he was about to say something. But then he didn’t.

  “Hey, it’s okay,” I said. “You can say what you’re thinking. I promise I won’t tell you it’s idiotic.”

  He laughed a little. “It’s not that. I just don’t want you to think that I’m…”

  “Weak?” I said. “Stupid for taking it? Crazy for not leaving sooner?”

  “I didn’t leave him,” he said. “I mean… I did, but I don’t know if it’s forever. He’s not usually like this.”

  “Brian.” I reached out and took both of his hands. “I know what you’re going through. I was married to someone who did the kinds of things to my face that are going on with yours, and I promise you—”

  “He’s not like that.” Brian pulled his hands back. He looked at his palms. “It was all fine until he became a drake.”

  I nodded slowly. “I see.”

  “He’d get a little out of control when he took the dice,” he said. Dice was a typical slang term for dragon flesh, as in slice and dice, near as I could figure. “But he was never violent. And then he did stupid shit while he was high, and he…”

  “Got himself killed,” I said. “Came back as a drake.” It was a typical story. People got hooked on the high from eating dragon flesh, which made them feel invincible, so they did stupid things like throwing themselves off the top of buildings or running into traffic. Once they became drakes, the addiction to the dragon flesh was all-consuming.

  Brian nodded.

  “And now all he cares about is his next fix,” I said. “And if you aren’t helping him get that, he’s got no use for you except as a punching bag.”

  Brian’s lower lip started to tremble. “I love him.”

  “You love what he used to be,” I said. “Now, he’s nothing more than the addiction.”

  A tear slid out of one of his eyes and he scrubbed at it with one hand. “I’m sorry,” he said in a thick voice. “I don’t even know you, and I just… I knew Connor said that if I needed anything, that he lived here, and I…”

  “It’s okay,” I said in a soft voice. “I know we don’t know each other, but do you want a hug?”

  He didn’t say anything. He rubbed his eyes. Tears were flowing more quickly now.

  I hugged him anyway.

  He let me. “Thank you,” he whispered.

  I pulled back. “Of course. Now, why don’t you take a shower and get cleaned up? You’ll feel better.” Poor kid couldn’t shift. I wished there was something more I could do for him.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Brian ended up crashing on the pull-out couch in Connor’s suite. He was exhausted, having
been up all night with his boyfriend, apparently. He said that he had finally thought the fight was over and gone to bed around seven that morning. But then around noon, his boyfriend, whose name was Darrell, had woken him up and started screaming him and punching him.

  Brian said it had never been that bad before. That Darrell had never wailed on him like that. He’d tried to fight back, but he was half-asleep and stunned and frightened.

  In the end, he’d gone for his car and made a run for it, heading for the hotel to find Connor.

  I told him that he could stay here as long as he wanted.

  I wondered if Lachlan would say that I was picking up another stray. If I was, I didn’t mind. That was who I was. I took care of people. I helped people.

  And just as I was thinking of people I had helped, Darla Tell strolled into my lobby. When she saw me, she smiled. “Penny! So good to see you.”

  I went over to her. “Darla. Um, is everything okay? I thought that the drake problem was solved.”

  “Oh, indeed,” she said. “It is, most definitely. You did a fantastic job.”

  I smiled, but inside I felt wary. Okay, maybe there was more to this than helping them out with some drakes. Maybe she was interested in me and my blood bond, maybe she and her Order were a danger after all. “Well, I’m glad we could help out.”

  “So am I,” she said, clasping her hands together. She looked around the lobby. “Your hotel is really just darling. I love all the dolphin art on the walls. I suppose that’s because it’s called the Purple Dolphin.”

  “Uh, yeah,” I said. “Is there something I can help you with?”

  “Have you been to the cafe down the street? It’s the Pink Something-or-other.”

  “I was just there for lunch, actually.”

  “Oh, you’ve eaten already.” She sighed. “I was hoping I could catch you. Well, maybe you’d want to go for a dessert or a snack or something?”

  Truthfully, I did eat little snacks here and there to stave off the pregnancy nausea. But I was thrown by Darla’s appearance. “You came here to take me to lunch?”

  She smiled. “Well, we all have to eat, don’t we?”

  “Just… lunch?”

  “Well, a snack now, I suppose,” she said. “Although I might get something more substantial. Really, since relocating to the States, I haven’t made a lot of friends, and I felt as though we hit it off. It would be my treat, of course.”