Shattered Spirits

by C. I. Black

  Raven’s heavy door wavered. More gunfire. The vision twisted, wrenched back to the beginning, and the security door banged open again. Capri raced through him. His stomach lurched. An inamorated drake whose love wasn’t reciprocated had nothing to live for.

  Focus. Find her. All he needed was a conversation and he could make this right.

  He pounded on Raven’s door again, unable to see it through the vision. Come on. Open up.

  The door flew open, and Raven Mitchelle stood in the entrance. Her eyes flashed wide. “Oh, my God.”

  “I need to find Capri.”

  Raven squinted at him. No, not at him, at something just beside him. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea.”

  It was the only possible idea.

  “Holy shit,” a masculine voice said from behind Raven. It was the man from last night, the one who’d disappeared and reappeared in the blink of an eye, Diablo. He strode down the long hall toward them, radiating fury and feralness. He had to be a dragon.

  A gunshot boomed around Ryan, but Raven and Diablo didn’t react. “I need to find Capri.”

  “I’m sure you do. Of all the stupid things she could have done.” Diablo grabbed Ryan’s arm, yanked him inside, and slammed him against the wall.

  The air burst from Ryan’s lungs. The foyer twisted, darkened, and the hall flooded in around him.

  Diablo’s face materialized out of the darkness, close, sneering. “What have you got on her? She’s not this dumb.”

  “I haven’t got anything,” Ryan gasped.

  A sharp wind snapped between Ryan and Diablo and the dragon jerked back.

  “Let’s not overreact,” Raven said.

  “Overreact? Men his age just don’t develop earth magic,” Diablo growled.

  “It’s not common, but not impossible.”

  “Listen. I don’t want any trouble. I just need to find Capri.” The future flash eased, the gunshots faint, like a TV turned down low.

  “If she didn’t make you, then you really don’t want to find her.” Diablo paced to the far side of the foyer with ferocious steps. He turned his dark glare on Raven. “You can tell the difference. Did she—you know, or not?”

  Raven squinted at Ryan. “I can’t tell.”

  “It usually takes a lot longer than a few minutes of body-sharing for a human body to connect to the earth’s magic,” Ryan said. He drew in a steadying breath and pushed the future flash back even farther. “Listen, I just need to get in touch with Capri.”

  “Damned stupid drake.” Diablo growled and leapt at Ryan. “You could only know that if she body-shared.”

  The wind whipped around them again and yanked Diablo back. He roared and twisted toward Raven.

  “He’s an unnatural,” Diablo said.

  “He deserves a chance to explain. The dragon taint on his aura isn’t very strong.” She set her hands on her hips and turned to Ryan. “Start talking.”

  “Listen, I’m not here to cause trouble. Capri did what she had to do to make me understand.” He snorted. “I’m still not sure of everything she shoved into my head.”

  Raven pursed her lips. “So she shared your body and gave you her knowledge?”

  “Yes. Now, can we move on to finding her? If you can’t, put me in touch with her Viking friend.” He didn’t want to go into details. He’d already said too much. Sharing a body with a human defied dragon law, and revealing what he had to Diablo—an obvious drake—now put her in danger. But it didn’t seem as if Raven would let him go if he didn’t share something.

  “So you know everything?” Raven asked.

  “I think so. I’m trying hard not to really think about it. Right now, I need to apologize to Capri and then we need to go after Pete’s—Andy’s murderer.”

  “What do you know about Andy’s murder?” Diablo asked.

  “We got a solid suspect on video just before the third victim was killed.”

  Tyler Pimm stepped into the end of the hall and stared at them. He’d supposedly died in a fire just like Pete had. There was something about that, something about them being here.

  Diablo yanked against the invisible bonds holding him back. “Raven, let me go. I’m not going to do anything.”

  Raven rolled her eyes at him, but the wind slipped away. She turned back to Ryan. “Who killed Andy?”

  She seemed to know about this magic thing, and she was awfully close to Diablo, who had to be a dragon. Pete had had an uncanny ability to know what other people were feeling.

  Capri’s knowledge pulsed through him. Pete had empathy. He had magic. But only a human who’d shared a body with a dragon’s spirit could connect to the earth’s magic.

  “Who killed Andy?” Raven asked again.

  Except that wasn’t true. He was pretty sure Pete had never shared a body with a dragon, and before Capri had shoved her essence into Ryan’s head, he’d already had his ability to see flashes of the future.

  “It’s all wrong.” He met Raven’s gaze, as if somehow she’d confirm the truth. “Humans can connect to the earth’s magic without a dragon’s spirit.”

  She nodded.

  “Then why don’t dragons know this? Why does their law assume all humans are made by body-sharing? Why does the law assume all are soul sick?”

  “Other dragons don’t know because they don’t deal with them,” Diablo said. He glanced at Tyler, then jerked his chin, a clear command to leave. “Other drakes don’t have to kill children.”

  Tyler’s gaze jumped from Diablo to Ryan, then he hurried away.

  Realization flooded Ryan. “You don’t kill them, do you? You’re supposed to, but you don’t.”

  “Not the natural ones. They don’t deserve it,” Diablo said, his voice dark, the threat clear: don’t jeopardize his kids.

  “That’s what Pete—I mean Andy, was doing here. He was helping you save these kids. They can’t be accepted in the human world, and to keep dragons safe, the idea that magic exists needs to be kept a secret. He faked his death all those years ago and now he helps—helped others like him do the same.”

  Diablo grabbed the front of Ryan’s shirt. “And if you tell Capri, I’ll rip your head off.”

  Ryan grabbed Diablo’s hand but couldn’t pry the man’s grip free.

  The invisible wind whipped around them, but didn’t seize Diablo.

  Raven’s gaze flickered to the space just beside him. “I’m not sure Capri is a drake we have to worry about. She has to know Detective Miller is a mage. Even if she can’t see the difference between mage and drake, you didn’t have an aura yesterday and now you have one. She’s smart enough to figure out the truth, and she didn’t kill him.”

  She couldn’t have killed him even if she’d wanted to, because she’d become inamorated. All of which brought him back to the need to find her. “Capri isn’t a danger. Even if she can see…” There was something about auras.

  He tugged at Capri’s knowledge. Not all drakes could see the difference between a dragon’s aura and that of a human mage. “Is that what you’re looking at? When you glance just beside me?”

  Raven frowned. “Yes, why?”

  “Howard Pimm looked at Capri the same way.”

  “Tyler’s dad? What has Howard got to do with any of this?” Diablo growled.

  “Pimm was the man on the video before MacCabe was murdered. Did you know MacCabe? Was he a drake or a mage?”

  “A mage,” Raven said.

  That was the motivation. “Pimm is killing mages.”

  “His first victim was a drake,” Diablo said.

  “All right. So he’s killing anyone with an aura. He can’t see the difference or doesn’t care.” Ryan’s heart stuttered. “He’s seen Capri. He knows she’s a drake.”

  “I think Howard Pimm and I need to have a conversation,” Diablo said, his tone dark, implying that a conversation wasn’t what he had in mind.

  “You can’t just kill him.”

  Diablo flashed his teeth, looking even more feral tha
n before. “Why not? He’s killed two of us and a drake.”

  “Everyone deserves a fair trial.”

  “Consider me the jury of his peers.” Diablo shoved away from Ryan. The muscle in his jaw tensed, and Ryan knew he was going to pop away like he had during the fight last night.

  Gate. That was what it was called. He was going to gate to Pimm’s.

  “No.” Ryan lunged at Diablo and seized his arm. The world lurched. Gut-wrenching blackness flooded Ryan’s senses, then his foot hit something hard. He staggered and Diablo slammed his fist into Ryan’s face.

  CHAPTER 36

  Pain exploded across Ryan’s cheek and specks flashed across his vision. Dingy white siding swam into focus and the bite of freezing air stung his face.

  “No hitchhikers,” Diablo growled.

  “You can’t just kill someone in cold blood.”

  “I’ve been doing it for a long time. This one at least deserves it.” Diablo swung at Ryan again.

  Ryan wrenched back, sending agony shooting through his bruised ribs and body. “But it isn’t what you do anymore.”

  “Oh, it is. I just don’t kill innocent kids. What do you think is going to happen to him? You arrest him? Dragon-kind still needs to figure out if he’s a danger. If he isn’t, Capri and her team has their way with him and he’s left a shell of a man. If he’s a danger, the Prince’s Assassin will finish him and Capri will help hide the evidence.”

  “That’s what she does?” He couldn’t believe it, but it made horrible sense, and if he thought about it, the truth was there, in the memories she’d given him. Ryan just had never imagined that she used her FBI credentials to cover up crimes.

  “What else did you think she did?” Diablo barked a harsh laugh. “Did you actually think she worked for human law enforcement? It’s all about keeping our secret. The only way we care about you is whether or not you’re going to go crazy and try to kill us. If you’re just crazy, we might arrange for you to spend the rest of your life locked up in an insane asylum, because, hey, who’s going to believe you? But more likely, we’ll just end you. It’s better that way.”

  “You don’t really believe that. You wouldn’t be saving those kids if you did. Do you really want to murder the father of one of those kids? What would he think of you?”

  Diablo glared at him, then growled and jerked away. “Fine. Let’s get Howard into custody. Then we’ll figure out how to deal with him.”

  “Fine.”

  They marched from the back of the driveway to the front steps. Diablo pounded on the door. No answer. Pimm’s van was gone, as well.

  “He’s not home. I have to get to Capri and warn her.” Pimm could be halfway to where she was right now. Except if Ryan had no idea where she was, how could Pimm?

  Diablo slid his dark gaze at Ryan as if he could see into his soul, weighing him.

  Ryan shuddered. Maybe Diablo had empathy, like Pete, and could see how Ryan felt about Capri. What would this dragon do, knowing that a human had fallen in love with a drake? Or that Capri’s soul had picked Ryan? Without a doubt, there were laws about that.

  The knowledge flashed through him. Yep. Big laws.

  “I think we should see what Howard is up to.” Diablo grabbed Ryan’s arm, the world wrenched into blackness, then materialized into a musty hall.

  Ryan staggered and grabbed the wall beside him to catch his balance. One minute they had been on the front step, the next two feet inside the door.

  “Do you have night-sight, mage?” Diablo asked, glancing through the arch beside him into the living room.

  “Do I have what?”

  “Can you see in the dark?”

  “You can see in the dark?” More of Capri’s knowledge rushed through him. Capri could see in the dark. Night-sight was a pretty common earth magic. He squinted but couldn’t discern anything through the gloom. “I don’t think I can.”

  “You might get it later.” Diablo strode down the hall, his footsteps silent even with his heavy boots. He radiated a predator more than ever.

  Ryan followed, his steps quiet, but not Diablo-silent. At the end of the hall sat a kitchen, shrouded in even more gloom. A heavy curtain, shot with half a dozen holes, covered the window over the sink, and a blanket had been nailed over the back door—likely an attempt to keep out winter drafts.

  Beside them sat the door to the basement. Diablo reached for it, then glanced at Ryan. Dark gold light radiated from his eyes, like the blue light Ryan had thought he’d imagined glowing from Capri’s eyes the other night.

  “Before we break all of Grey’s horror movie rules and go into the creepy basement, what is your magic?”

  “It’s not useful.”

  Diablo’s lips curled back in a wicked smile. “Not telling me won’t ensure your safety.”

  “I haven’t told anyone. And if you wanted me dead, you would have killed me by now.”

  “Maybe I respect Capri too much for that.”

  Ryan raised an eyebrow, trying to match Diablo, predator to predator. “I’m not sure you respect anyone. I’m certain you don’t respect Capri enough to spare me.”

  Diablo shrugged. “Keep your secret for now. I’ll find out soon enough.”

  “You’re so sure of that?”

  “If you don’t want to lose your mind, you’ll find your way to Raven and get training. What Raven knows, I know.”

  “Ah, the power of pillow talk. You know you can’t always trust what a woman says in bed.”

  Diablo grabbed the front of Ryan’s shirt and jerked him close. “Say that again about my sister and I really will kill you.”

  Holy shit. “Fine. You want to know my curse? I see things.” Ryan met Diablo’s gaze, facing the predator and offering a direct challenge even if he scared the crap out of Ryan.

  Diablo’s grip eased. “What kind of things?”

  “Deaths.” The word rushed out, and the moment Ryan said it, he knew it was true. He didn’t just see flashes of the future; he only saw flashes where people died. “I see when someone dies.”

  “You’re a death augur? Well, that’s grim.”

  Which meant if his future flash was showing him Capri in danger, it was life threatening. Except that might not be entirely true. Pete hadn’t died in that fire… well, he had. Pete had died and Andy had been reborn.

  God damn it. He bit back a growl. Wow, he was becoming more and more like a drake. Capri might not be in physical danger, but the life she knew had to be. He knew in his soul he saw permanent ends. In a world where dragons could be reborn, a process that stripped away everything they were was as much a death as a physical one.

  Real or spiritual, he couldn’t let her die. He had to get to her, warn her, stop it somehow. Except they were at Pimm’s house. They might be able to confirm if he’d murdered Pete or not. From Diablo’s reaction, the dragon wasn’t going to rush to help Capri, and Ryan still wasn’t sure he could trust him. “Can we finish with Pimm, now?”

  “Got somewhere you have to be?”

  Ryan glared at Diablo. Just finish this, for goodness sake.

  Realization flooded the dragon’s face. “You keep saying you have to find Capri. You’ve seen something, haven’t you?”

  “Yes. Now, let’s find Pimm.” Ryan jerked his chin to the basement door.

  Diablo opened it, revealing a rickety set of stairs descending into darkness. He crept down, glanced around, then pulled the string of an overhead light. The naked bulb flared to life, exposing a small room filled with photos and papers and scribblings. The mess covered every wall as well as a homemade worktable sitting in the back left corner.

  A thick book sat open on the worktable. A picture of Capri had been glued to the page, with notes: demons can be spotted on television, works for FBI, has human servant.

  Ryan flipped the page. A picture of a middle-aged man with a strong jaw and hard eyes stared back at him. The man looked familiar, but Ryan couldn’t place him.

  “What’s he doing with a pictu
re of Barna?” Diablo asked, nudging Ryan aside so he could get a better look at the book.

  That was it. The man was Gregory Barna, the businessman who owned half of Newgate. The notes beside his picture were a flurry of scribbles, something about the biggest of the demons, and dinner. Beside the book were more notes and pictures.

  Ryan shifted through them, using the tip of his pen. He couldn’t make out a lot of the writing, stuff about demons and duty.

  “Here it is. Proof he killed Kardas, Andy, and Don.” Diablo tapped the book under a picture of Pete with the note: trial complete.

  Diablo flipped the page, revealing a picture of MacCabe with the same note.

  Now the question was, where was Howard Pimm? From all the notes and pictures of people scattered across the desk, his work wasn’t done. It looked like it was just beginning.

  Ryan shifted to another pile of pictures at the end of the table. They were of men and women in white shirts and black pants, and half a dozen different angles of a white van with a catering logo. None of the previous victims involved catering. Was this a murder no one had discovered, or was this one that hadn’t happened yet?

  Diablo had flipped back to Gregory Barna’s picture. No completed note at the bottom.

  There was something about the caterers. Something about Gregory Barna. Well, he was rich, he probably used catering all the time. In fact, he always hosted a charity ball every year.

  “When is Barna’s ball this year?” Ryan asked.

  Diablo glanced up from the book, light seeping from his eyes. “Tonight.”

  That was it.

  “Barna is his next target. Howard is dressing as a caterer to get in.” Ryan flipped over another note. In bright red ink were the words: They unnaturally heal and the world must know. I will prove it and the world will take up the fight. “And Howard is going to reveal dragons to the world.”

  “Just yelling it out won’t do anything, no one will believe him,” Diablo said.

  “I have a feeling he’s going to do more than just madly scream it. He knows about dragon healing. There will be news cameras at that gala. He’s going to prove dragons exist.”