city of dragons 03 - fire magic

by crowe, val st

  “Hey,” said Lachlan. “A good detective never brushes something off as a coincidence.”

  * * *

  “Who are you again?” said the woman.

  “I’m Lachlan Flint, and this is Penny Caspian,” said Lachlan. “How long have you worked with Darla Tell?”

  Lachlan and I were back at the Order, despite the fact that Darla had said she wanted us escorted when we were here. We’d managed to get by the guards, so we’d gone to the first office that we came to, and started asking questions.

  “Darla Tell?” said the woman. “I don’t really work with her. I mean, she works here, and I work here, but we don’t see each other that often. I barely know her.”

  “Mmm,” said Lachlan. “And your impression of her?”

  “She’s… very thin.” The woman shrugged. She herself was on the pudgy side. “I guess she’s nice enough. I don’t know. I’ve never had a one-on-one conversation with her. When she gives us our tasks in big, group meetings, she’s always very polite.”

  “I see,” said Lachlan. “And what is it that you do here?”

  “I do spell work,” said the woman. “I help to craft the spells that take the magic from prisoners.”

  “Of course,” said Lachlan. “And how exactly does that work?”

  “Well, it’s a bit complicated.” The woman gave us a confused look. “I’m sorry, who are you? Why are you here? What is this about?”

  “Actually,” said Lachlan, “if you could just direct us to someone who does work a bit more closely with Darla, that would be excellent.”

  “Um, well, maybe you could speak to Jennifer Atlas, I suppose.”

  “Perfect,” said Lachlan. “And where’s her office?”

  “Third floor, but I still don’t see why it is that you’re—”

  “Thank you for your time.” Lachlan plastered a big smile on his face, waved, and dragged me out of the office with him.

  * * *

  “Hi there, Jennifer,” said Lachlan, peering inside Jennifer Atlas’s office on the third floor. “Got a minute?”

  Jennifer looked at us as if she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to know who we were. She looked to be in her mid-fifties, a little thick around the waist. Her salt-and-pepper hair was pulled into a no-nonsense bun on the top of her head. “I’m actually a bit busy at the moment.” She had a British accent too, like Darla.

  “Well, this will be quick,” said Lachlan, smiling and sliding inside the room. “I’m Lachlan Flint, and this is Penny Caspian, and we’d like to ask you a few questions.”

  “Questions? About what?”

  “About Darla Tell primarily. I understand you work closely with her.”

  “She’s my direct superior,” said Jennifer. “But why are you asking questions about her?”

  “It’s not thing to be worried about.” Lachlan smiled even wider. “How long have you worked with her?”

  “Oh, I couldn’t really say. A very long time.”

  Probably centuries if my guesses were correct about the members of the Order extending their lifespans with magic.

  “And recently, have you noticed any… differences in her?” said Lachlan.

  Jennifer cocked her head to one side. “You know, it’s funny that you should bring that up.” She crossed the room and pulled the door shut. She lowered her voice. “Because she has been different. I suppose it started months ago. I can’t say what happened, but she seemed to be actively seeking out more and more prisoners. It’s why we relocated here from Europe. She said that we’d find stronger magical creatures here. Said we needed to bolster our power.”

  Wait a second. I distinctly remembered Darla saying something different than that. I spoke up. “There wasn’t some dispute about ancestral lands?”

  “No,” said Jennifer, looking puzzled.

  Lachlan shot me a glance.

  I shook my head a little. I’d fill him in later.

  “That’s not all,” said Jennifer. “She’s been obsessed with some dragon shifter in town. Won’t shut up about her.”

  I swallowed hard. “And she’s not usually obsessed with women?”

  “She’s not usually obsessed with anyone,” said Jennifer. “We workers here at the Order, we’re not strictly celibate, per se, but most of us have lost interest with all that sort of thing. We’ve been working here quite a long time, you understand.”

  Huh. Apparently, even sex got boring after centuries of being alive.

  Jennifer knitted her brows together. “I’m sorry, who did you say you were?”

  “Lachlan Flint and Penny Caspian,” said Lachlan. “If you’ll permit me another quick line of inquiry? How does the magic transfer work here? I know that you take magic from the prisoners here, but is anything else taken from them? Their personalities? Their memories? Predilections?”

  “Absolutely not,” said Jennifer.

  “Well,” said Lachlan, “what if I told you that this dragon shifter that Darla is obsessed with is the ex-wife of the prisoner who escaped from this facility recently? You remember the escape, don’t you?”

  “Of course I remember the escape,” said Jennifer. “But you can’t be serious about the other part of it.”

  “I am,” said Lachlan. “Definitely serious. Can you think of any reason why Darla might have assimilated some of Alastair Cooper’s traits?”

  “No,” said Jennifer. “And I’m sure that can’t be right. Whatever is going on with her, Darla wouldn’t have anything to do with one of the prisoners. She despises them. If it weren’t for the fact that they generate magic that the Order needs, then she wouldn’t even keep them alive. They’re all despicable, you know. They deserve death many times over.”

  “So,” said Lachlan, “Darla hates the prisoners. She’d kill them if she could.”

  “I didn’t say that, not exactly,” said Jennifer. “And she would never kill them. She needs them. The power they provide.”

  “She likes power?” I said softly.

  “For the Order,” said Jennifer. “You’re twisting everything I say around. I don’t even know why it is you’re questioning me.” She glared at us.

  Lachlan raised both of his hands in surrender, grinning again. “Actually, you’ve been very helpful, Jennifer. Thank you so much. We’ll get out of your hair. We know you’re busy.”

  * * *

  “What was that ancestral lands thing about?” Lachlan asked me. We were outside Jennifer Atlas’s office now.

  “It’s what Darla told me was the reason that the Order relocated from Europe,” I said. “She lied to me.”

  “Huh,” he said. “Why would she do that?”

  “Why did she come and see me at all, Lachlan? I could never figure that out. Here’s this big place, full of capable people. What does she need me for? Couldn’t she have taken care of those drakes alone?”

  “So, it’s got something to do with Alastair,” said Lachlan.

  “And something to do with power.”

  “She… absorbed some of Alastair’s personality along with his power,” said Lachlan. “But they say that doesn’t happen as a matter of course, so it must mean that she got it some other way.”

  “When she was killing him?” I said.

  Lachlan took a deep breath. “That would fit, wouldn’t it? She killed him, and she dumped his body, and the slayers found him. But why did she do it?”

  “She was trying to get his magic,” I said. “Has to be that. She’s obsessed with—”

  A door opened.

  We both turned to see Darla come out of her office. She narrowed her eyes at us. “Penny.”

  “Hello, Darla,” I said, glaring at her.

  “I thought I told you that I didn’t want you here without an escort.”

  “Did you say that?” I said. “When?”

  “When you were in my office, after what happened to Lachlan,” she said.

  “Oh,” I said. “Well, I was so upset after that. I don’t remember a word you said.”
<
br />   Her face twitched. “You are awfully frustrating sometimes, Penny.”

  I shrugged. “Sorry about that,” I said sweetly.

  “Go ahead and get us an escort,” said Lachlan. “I’m sure you wouldn’t have time to walk around with us yourself. I’m sure you’re awfully busy. But perhaps someone else can show us around.”

  “That’s why you’re here?” said Darla. “You want another tour?”

  “No,” said Lachlan, stepping closer to her so that they were only a foot apart. He gazed down at her. “We’re still looking for Alastair Cooper’s killer.”

  Darla’s nostrils flared. “You won’t find his killer here. He escaped here alive. Slayers killed him.”

  “Except they didn’t. He was killed by magic. The slayers put the arrow in him after he died, to make sure he was dead.”

  Darla folded her arms over her chest. “I’m afraid that I can’t spare anyone to walk you around, especially not on a fool’s errand like trying to find a killer in the Order. No one here killed Alastair.”

  “You know what I’ve been wondering?” I said, stepping up next to Lachlan. “How do you decided who’s big enough and bad enough to be locked up in this place?”

  “Well, that’s just a silly question,” said Darla, who looked a little frazzled. “It’s obvious when someone needs to be here.”

  “When we first met, you led me to believe that the only people you locked up in this place were horrible people bent on world domination. But then we met Caleb Kinnan, who Lachlan says is a garden-variety serial killer. So why him? Why was he a big enough threat?”

  “You can’t doubt how dangerous Caleb is,” said Darla. “Not after yesterday.”

  “You wouldn’t be… I don’t know… picking up anyone with lots of magical juice just to make yourself more powerful, would you, Darla?” I said.

  Darla drew back, clearly offended. “That’s a horrible thing to say.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “He’s in there. Parts of him are in you somewhere.”

  “What are you talking about?” Darla said, but the bottom had dropped out of her voice.

  “Just tell us what you did,” said Lachlan. “You’ll feel better if you let it all out.”

  Darla took several steps backwards. She was shaking. “I want you out. Now.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Lachlan. “We were on our way out.” He pushed past Darla and headed down the hallway.

  I followed him.

  I glanced over my shoulder to see Darla staring after us, still shaking.

  Then I turned back and kept walking.

  When we got in the elevator, Lachlan hit the button for the second floor.

  “What are you doing?” I said. “I thought you said we were leaving.”

  “We’re making a pit stop to chat with Caleb again,” said Lachlan.

  “Are you insane?” I said. “We can’t talk to him again.”

  “We’ll keep our distance,” said Lachlan. “But I think he’s telling the truth. I think he did see the murder. It all makes sense now. That’s the reason that Penny was trying to keep us away from him the other day. Not because she was trying to protect you, but because she was trying to protect herself.”

  “You agree with me then? She killed Alastair?”

  “She did something,” said Lachlan. “I don’t know if she killed him directly, or if she just took so much of him into herself that he died from shock or… But she’s definitely hiding something.”

  “But there’s no way that Sid will let us in to see Caleb. Not again.”

  “Yeah, well, let me worry about that,” said Lachlan.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Sid stood up from his desk. “What are you doing here again? Do you have any idea how angry Darla was with me for letting you in before?”

  “Yeah, sorry about that,” said Lachlan.

  “That’s all you’re going to say? That you’re sorry?”

  “And I’m sorry about this,” said Lachlan, reaching out with one hand.

  “Sorry about what?” said Sid.

  Then Lachlan’s magic picked him up and slammed his head into the wall.

  There was a loud crack.

  Sid slid to the floor unconscious.

  “He’s not going to be out for long,” said Lachlan, taking my hand. “We’ve got to hurry.”

  Together, we rushed down the hallway to the cell that contained Caleb. We stopped in front of his cell, but we both stayed back. We didn’t move close.

  Caleb had heard us coming, and he was heading up to the front of the cell, his eyes dancing. “Well, well, well. This is quite a treat. I didn’t expect to see you two again any time soon.”

  “We know it was Darla,” said Lachlan. “We know you saw her kill him. Tell us how it went down.”

  Caleb’s smile faltered for a second. “What?”

  “We’re not making a deal with you,” said Lachlan. “We figured it out. You saw her kill him. She killed him for his magic. He was crazy powerful. Dragon sacrifice imbued into his being. She couldn’t get it all, and she needed to suck him dry. So she did it. You saw it. How did it happen?”

  Caleb folded his arms over his chest. “I want out of here. I’m not saying anything unless you get me out of this cell.”

  “Never going to happen,” said Lachlan.

  “Then we don’t have anything to talk about,” said Caleb.

  Lachlan sighed. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

  “You can’t offer me anything I want, so why would I help you?” said Caleb.

  Lachlan shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know, Caleb. I thought we had something, you and me. You didn’t feel it when you pushed me into those bars? You didn’t feel it when you watched my body writhe there, all that pain going through me?” His voice lowered suggestively. “You owned me, Caleb. You think that doesn’t create a bond between two people?”

  I shuddered, pulling away from Lachlan. How could he say something like that? I knew he was trying to manipulate Caleb, but his words still had a perverse power to them.

  Caleb licked his lips, hesitating.

  Lachlan stepped closer to the bars. “Tell me what you saw.”

  Caleb shook his head slowly. “You really are very good, Lachlan. So pretty too. It’s tempting…”

  “Tell me,” said Lachlan.

  “What would you do for me if I asked?” said Caleb. “Would you unbutton that shirt you’re wearing, let me see your bare chest?”

  “We have no time,” said Lachlan. “Tell me what happened.”

  “I want out,” said Caleb.

  Lachlan shook his head. “Fine.” He started to unbutton his shirt.

  “Lachlan!” I said.

  He looked at me, irritated.

  “We don’t have time,” I said. Besides, I wasn’t keen on watching him do a strip tease for this psycho. “You didn’t see what Darla did yesterday, the way she absorbed all that power. I felt just a touch of that jolt on those bars, and it was horrible. But she barely flinched when she touched it. We’ve never actually made her mad until now.”

  Lachlan sucked in a sharp breath. He nodded slowly. “You’re right.” He buttoned his button and turned to me. “Let’s go.” He shot a glance back at Caleb, and he looked almost as if he were sad to be leaving.

  I grabbed his hand and tugged him after me.

  We started down the hallway.

  “I know where there’s proof,” called Caleb.

  Lachlan stopped. He turned to look at Caleb. “What?”

  “Proof. Evidence. It would leave no doubt who killed Cooper. You want that proof, you get me out of this cell.”

  “What do you mean, proof?” said Lachlan.

  “I mean proof,” said Caleb. “That’s the deal. You get me out, I tell you what it is.”

  Lachlan arched an eyebrow. “We’ll think about it.” And then he turned and started walking again, a smile playing on his lips.

  When we were out of earshot, he turned to me, his smile wi
dening. “Way to sell that, Penny. I almost believed you were a little jealous.”

  “Sell that?” I said. “That what you were doing?”

  He winked at me. “Not so bad at selling it myself, huh?”

  “Lachlan, what the hell?” I was feeling unsettled and furious.

  “Let’s get out of here. Guy makes my skin crawl.”

  * * *

  “How’s Brian?” I said to Connor.

  It was dark, and we were gathered outside, next to the pool, which closed to the guests at 10:00. We had the place to ourselves, so that we could all talk. We were all there. Lachlan, Connor, Felicity, and even Jensen. Lachlan had said we should invite him, since what we were talking about was so dangerous. I didn’t see how it was any of his business. Besides, I’d never let anything happen to Felicity.

  Connor sipped at a coffee. “I think Brian’s okay, under the circumstances. But he’s not great or anything. And you’d be proud of me, Penny, I’m just being his friend. Hands off.”

  “Good,” I said.

  “Of course, he says he’s not ready for anything, anyway,” said Connor. “Maybe after some time passes… But I don’t know. I mean, after what I did for him—what we did for him—it’s just it adds all these weird layers to everything. It’s too much pressure.”

  “He could use a friend more than he could use a lover, I’m sure,” I said. “Be his friend, Connor.”

  Lachlan cleared his throat. “Um, I’m glad for this update on Brian and all, but we do have more pressing things to discuss.”

  “Right, we’re storming the Order, yeah?” said Felicity.

  “We haven’t decided anything,” I said. “We wanted to get everybody together first. Because we can’t do this alone. And if you two aren’t on board—”

  “And it’s fine if you’re not,” said Lachlan, “because it’s dangerous. We don’t know how exactly, but we know that Darla Tell has absorbed some of Alastair’s power and some of his personality as well. She’s also the head of an organization that siphons magic away from powerful, magical bad guys, so we can assume that all that power reaches an apex with her. Going up against her might be really stupid.”

  “But if Caleb is right, and we can get proof, then we’ll be exonerated for the murder of Alastair,” I said.