City of Dragons: Blood Bonds

by Adrienne Wilder

  The colonel steadied himself. This had to be some sort of trick. Some play of words. “I’m glad you approve.”

  “As you should be.” A deep hiss came over the receiver. “But my pleasure changes nothing. Tomorrow she dies. I would suggest you stay out of the way.”

  Two could play it this way.

  “I understand.” Dobson smiled, then downright grinned. The tangible discomfort radiating from the silence practically gave him a hard on.

  A growl echoed over the line. “I do not play games, colonel. Do not get in my way. Killing you will not bring me sorrow.”

  “I feel the same way about you, Your Majesty.” She laughed and so did Dobson. “I just have one request.” Abrupt silence, then a slow intake of air. Dobson could almost see her in his mind, thinking, carefully picking her next words ... moving her rooks carefully across the board.

  “Speak.”

  “I want minimal damage. The city cannot afford the kind of devastation that your pet can cause.”

  “Pet?” The Queen sighed. “Oh, he is much more than a pet. I command Niles. He will do anything for me.”

  “Good, then it shouldn’t be a problem doing this away from the Bureau.” With this recent wrench, he couldn’t afford losing an hour’s worth of work.

  “Should I send Haley an invitation to meet me out in the countryside? Or perhaps you will consider delivering her to my doorstep?” Anger trickled into her words, distorting the pitch and tone.

  “Listen. You want her dead? Fine. But if you bring the attack into this part of the city, you will jeopardize everything I have worked on. This means your enemies will still be alive and there will be other Queens to remain your rivals. I cannot afford the loss of a single scrap of genetic information. If Niles starts taking out buildings, he could easily involve any number of my satellite labs, not to mention the fires will bring the entire place to a standstill for weeks. And I do not have weeks.”

  It was far more information than he wanted her to know, but it was the only way he knew to convey just how much was at stake for both of them.

  Twelve hours. Twelve hours and Haley would be underground, pumped up with his virus, her blood being spun down into serum to be released as an aerosol. By the time the wyrm Queen figured out the truth, she’d be dying herself. Or better yet, dead.

  Because she would figure it out. She always did.

  “Did you have a particular spot in mind, colonel?” Her tone was a kind of calm that promised terrible things.

  “You pick the location. I just need it to be at least three miles outside the Bureau’s offices.”

  The Queen sighed, and the Human mouth she spoke through clicked its tongue. “I must admit, I am skeptical of your sudden amicable nature. It is ... unlike you.”

  Just like a woman. You can’t make them happy when you disagree, and they don’t trust you when you follow. The Whore was the same way. Dobson just chalked it up to not having the right equipment.

  “And if I argued with you, would you change your mind?”

  She laughed. “Of course not.”

  “Then why should I bother? To tell you the truth, I don’t have the fucking time. Every minute I stand here flapping jaws with that Human puppet you use is time I could be getting what I need done. Now, if you don’t mind, pick a goddamned spot so I can arrange to get her there.”

  A low growl licked over the phone and Dobson fully expected the Queen to throw a dragon-sized tantrum. Instead she said, “Will Gresham Park suit your requirements?”

  Dobson took a minute to think. The distance was good. The team could respond in no time. And by the time the Queen figured out Haley wasn’t dead...

  “That will work.”

  “Good.”

  “What time?”

  “Two. Do not be late.” He started to hang up, but her voice held him. “Oh, and Dobson ... if I find out this is some sort of trick, I will use Niles to take the Fury from you. Even if it means ripping him out of the ground.”

  Chapter 24

  Farley headed into the Resources office. They’d texted him about the phone records request Haley put in for him.

  “There you are!” Judy Grimm flapped a handful of papers at him from the other side of her desk. “The ink on these is getting cold. I was starting to think you weren’t coming.”

  No, I just didn’t sleep worth a shit. For once.

  Nope, he’d just laid there on his broken down mattress counting the cracks in the ceiling thinking about Deshi, one word taking precedence. Fool. An absolute fool.

  That and fuck-tard.

  And his chest still ached for him, because his friend was making a terrible choice.

  “Hey, you okay?” Judy worked the piece of gum in her mouth like her life depended on it. Her eyes flicked up and down over Farley’s body, but there was absolutely no desire in them, just concern. Not that Farley hadn’t tried stirring those feelings, but Judy said she was gay.

  As in female to female, not the happy kind of gay.

  Lesbian, she told him.

  Yeah, whatever that was supposed to mean. Humans and their carnal boundaries escaped him.

  He took the papers and scanned them. Over one hundred phone calls had been made from the pay phone closest to Niles’ apartment in the past month alone.

  Whoa, now this was interesting.

  Every seven days or so Justice’s number popped up, usually on Tuesday, sometimes Thursday. Farley flipped the papers, going back six months. The pattern was the same. A lot of people used this phone, but the likelihood of this many people from the Dens giving the Great White a ringy-dingy just wasn’t happening.

  That was about as likely as ... well, Judy going out with him.

  She smiled and craned her head like she might be able to catch a glimpse over his shoulder. “Did you find what you need?” Damn, she was cute. Same height as Haley, with long dark hair she kept braided in the back. She was tawny like Farley, her small tight breasts almost invisible.

  They could easily wear each other’s clothes. Both of them preferred black skaters with chains, and T-shirts. Today, hers was Seether, his was Disturbed.

  “You’re looking at me like that again.” Judy reached out and tweaked his ear.

  Farley winced. “Sorry, just admiring your shirt.”

  She looked down and gave the hem a tug. “I got it at their concert. Hey, are you going to get tickets to the Battle of the Bands in December? I hear all the wyrm-based ones are going to be there.”

  Farley shrugged.

  “What’s eating at you? You’re usually way more talkative than this. You’ve been here,” she checked her watch, “five minutes and haven’t asked me out once. Normally you’re working on your sixth try by now. You sick?”

  “Kin don’t get sick.” Then he thought about Creyal and added, “Normally.”

  “Well, something’s wrong.” She popped her gum in rapid succession, then froze. Judy’s eyes widened a little. “You didn’t break up with Claire, did you? ‘Cause if she’s available, I’m so after that piece of.”

  “She’s not gay.”

  “Well, me not being straight doesn’t stop you now, does it?” She grinned. “Hey, half the fun is making the attempt.”

  “No, I didn’t break up with Claire.” At least not that he was aware of. But then, after the locker room incident...

  “You don’t look too sure about that.” Judy put a hand on his arm. “You wanna talk about it? We can go get beers after work.”

  “Naw, z’all good. Just some relationship difficulties is all.” Well, he was sure something was being difficult, but it didn’t have anything to do with Claire. “I gotta split. Haley will want to see these.” He stalled and gave Judy a cockeyed smile. “If I was having heartbreak ails, could you find it in that heart of yours to ease me?” Farley breathed in her scent when she leaned close. Her cheek nearly brushed his. Warm air stirred against his ear, making his temp kick up. This close and he could see bits of green in her gray eyes. Judy had
great lashes.

  Man, he wanted to put his lips on hers, run his tongue across her skin.

  “Still gay,” she whispered.

  He sighed. “Your loss.”

  “You keep telling me that.” She went back to her desk. “Oh, an F.Y.I. for ya.” He leaned back over her desk and she tapped the computer screen. “I’m not sure what it means exactly, but I saw an internal investigation request come over the system. It had your partner’s name on it.”

  Farley raised an eyebrow. “What did it say?”

  Judy shrugged. “Don’t know. Couldn’t see it. Usually, any kind of I.N.I. requests go through Resources because we have to file them with the individual’s personnel report, as well as alert their legal defense. Everything has to go through the lawyers first. Annoying, if you ask me.”

  “And this didn’t come through here?”

  “Nope, it went right upstairs.”

  “Which means what?”

  She switched the screen and pointed to a number at the end of a name. “See this? This is Agent Gills. He had one pulled on him because of a missing file on a case. The S here at the end means it’s a standard double check. He probably has the damn thing stuffed in his trunk again. Anyways, your partner--” she clicked back to the other screen. “There is an M at the end and then a one.” Judy pulled at her bottom lip as her eyebrows clenched.

  “And you don’t know what that means?”

  “I’ve never seen it before. So I looked it up.” Judy patted the large white binder on her desk. “It’s a Military code. Someone in the Bureau’s Military section has called an investigation on her. And that number one...” She looked back at the screen. “That one means it can only be the Head of Operations for that section. You know who that is, right?”

  Farley’s legs shot him down the hall and drove him up the stairs two at a time.

  Dobson had requested an I.N.I. It didn’t mean he would get it, but the fact he’d bypassed Resources was a good sign the S.O.B. had something up his sleeve. Farley hated Dobson. That jerk was the reason he’d lost his Agent status and almost wound up in the ADF doing a six month stint. He would have never survived the need that long. That kind of fortitude just wasn’t possible for Food.

  As he took the corner, his shoulder smashed into someone and sent them spinning. They cursed, and Farley shouted an apology, but he didn’t have time to slow down. One right and a left and he skidded to a halt in front of Garrett’s office. If the guy didn’t know, he needed to. And if he did know, Farley wanted something done about it.

  Garrett was on the phone. He looked up but didn’t motion him in. Farley bounced on his toes, waited, and waited some more. Garrett kept an open door policy. As in, “my door is open and you just stand there ‘til I tell you to come in.”

  Which was going to take forever.

  Fuck.

  Farley walked up to the man’s desk. During a pause in his conversation Garrett turned his chair away.

  Farley shuffled, he shifted, he picked at the corner of the desk. Fifty years later, Mr. Chatter-Box-Garrett finally hung up the phone. He was the only man Farley knew that could have a twenty minute phone conversation and say all of two sentences.

  Those storm gray eyes pegged Farley where he stood. “I know I didn’t just see you walk into my office and stand here at my desk without invitation.” Garrett stood up and the term brick shithouse came to Farley’s mind.

  “Dobson called an I.N.I. on Haley and I want to know what for.”

  Garrett’s eyes widened. If he didn’t know, it most likely meant this was bad. Really bad.

  “When?”

  “A few hours ago, I think.”

  Farley did not like the look on the man’s face at all. “You can do something about this, right?”

  “If you’re asking me if I can override it, the answer is no.”

  “Why the hell would Dobson have grounds to call for an I.N.I. on Haley? She’s no military threat. It’s not like she’s been rubbing shoulders with Medan or something...”

  No, but she did go into the Dens. Shit.

  Garrett’s stare was stone cold and Farley knew. “She didn’t have clearance?” An angry growl ripped out of his chest.

  “If you’re going to start that crap, go close my door. We don’t need the entire office seeing it or hearing it.”

  Farley clenched his fists and eyes shut. He willed himself back in order. Everything listened except his vision.

  Garrett cleared his throat. “I don’t have any idea why Haley would be denied clearance for anything. As far as I know the only place she’s been is here, home, and any and all approved locations. Last Tuesday, she took my car to pick an anniversary gift for my wife.” The man’s eyes flashed. “She loved it, by the way. She plans on wearing it out next month when the Center has its annual dinner.”

  “Garrett...”

  “I know exactly where she was the entire three and a half hours. I followed protocol and had her use one of our cars. My car, to be exact. The GPS device has her logged exactly where she was supposed to be for the entire time it took that piece to be finished.”

  Silence fell and Farley folded and unfolded the phone records in his hand. His eyes never left Garrett’s face and Garrett never looked away. “Then why would Dobson have grounds to call an I.N.I. on her?”

  “We don’t know that he does.”

  Farley didn’t think the man really believed his own words. He was just hoping. And hoping wasn’t good enough. “And if you’re wrong?”

  “We’ll get through it.”

  Farley bared his fangs. The only reason he didn’t get into the man’s face was because he couldn’t reach him. Standing on the desk just sort of ruined the effect.

  “You should have told her no.”

  Garrett closed the distance for him. “I think you need to back away from my desk before you’re kissing the sidewalk outside this building.” It killed Farley, but he stepped back. He hated knowing even though he could break Garrett in half, the man was still his Dominant. In Human society, they called it being “boss.” Unfortunately, the person in charge wasn’t decided by strength and speed.

  Farley paced, crushing the papers he carried. He had to burn his anger off somehow and moving was the only way. ‘Cause biting and clawing was out of the question.

  Garrett said, “I promise you, I will take care of this.”

  “How?” A growl chased his question.

  Garrett’s mouth made a slash.

  “You don’t know, do you?” Farley kept himself rooted to the spot even though his legs wanted to tap dance all over the desk.

  “No. Not yet. But let me handle it.”

  “I’m telling Haley.”

  “You do that.” Garrett sat down at his desk. “Now, if you’ll excuse, me, I have some phone calls to make.”

  Chapter 25

  Haley waited on hold as the History Department secretary transferred her call over to Orin’s office.

  “Ancient Histories, Orin speaking.” Damn, he sounded so Human. Even Haley couldn’t tell over the phone. Not a lick of Olde Tongue accent in his words. And he did speak it. All five dialects.

  “Orin, it’s me.”

  “Haley, just the Kin I wanted to talk to. How’s life treating you, my friend?”

  “Good, pretty good. I take it you got somewhere with that ledger I sent you?

  He laughed. “You could say that. Niles Fury, huh? I never would have guessed his hobby to be along the lines of sky-watching. A Kin like that? If word were to get out, it would tarnish his grisly reputation with his brethren.”

  “He watched stars?”

  “Apparently, he did. Those first set of dates in the book correspond with hatching records in the International Clutch Database. The second set matches up to astrological events. Specifically the dates and times of star deaths.”

  “What?”

  “It looks like Niles was trying to match up the hatching dates of Queens with star births and deaths.”
r />   “And next you’re going to tell me this means something special.” Haley had been hoping for something concrete, not the wild goose chase of a mad-man.

  “Actually it doesn’t. There are billions and billions of stars in the galaxy, and because of their distance, by the time we see them, many of them don’t even exist anymore.”

  “Then how could he know when a star died?”

  “Well, that’s the thing, he really couldn’t. There isn’t a dragon in the history of our people who has lived as long as the stars. In the grand scheme of things, we aren’t really as immortal as we think.” He laughed. “Don’t tell Medan I said that, of course.”

  Of course she wouldn’t. Not “I-am-the-only-god” Medan. Nope, Haley liked her arms and legs firmly attached, thank you.

  “Mum’s the word.” She reached for a candy. “If the dates of star deaths can’t be determined, then how do you know that’s what he was cataloging?”

  “Now, now, I never said they couldn’t be determined.”

  “So his dates were on mark?”

  “Yeah, they actually are.” Orin sounded impressed. Really impressed.

  “How?”

  “Because just like Kin, stars give off a metaphysical signal.”

  “And what? He had a metaphysical telescope in his pocket or something?”

  Orin laughed again. “You’ve been hanging around Farley too long, he’s made you snarky.”

  “Snarky?”

  “Yeah, that’s my new word of the month. I give myself a Hershey Kiss every time I get to use it.”

  “Orin, you seriously need a hobby.” Haley sat back in her chair and glanced up at the clock. Hopefully everything had gone okay with Bauer. She was already going to one funeral this month. Why Humans had them, she couldn’t understand. Dead was dead. Everyone getting dressed to go stand over a metal box and cry just seemed like punishment for the living.

  Orin said, “It’s called an EMR.”