by Dyan Chick
Despite the exhaustion, my mind was racing. I knew I needed to sleep. My brain was foggy and my eyes burned. Squeezing them shut, I tried to clear the thoughts away, but my mind kept cycling through the events of the last ten hours. It was hard to believe that Jimmy was gone. And even though I saw the dragon with my own eyes, it was hard to believe there was a dragon loose in Realm's Gate.
My thoughts shifted, and I wondered who was responsible for all of this. Someone let a dragon go on purpose. Someone killed my friend and set me up to take the fall. Mostly, I'd been fighting sadness, but a rush of heat washed over me as anger took hold. Who would do this to me? To Jimmy? To Realm's Gate? I held no love for the city, and even I wouldn't unleash that kind of destruction. I felt so helpless laying here. I grabbed a pillow and held it over my face, screaming into it.
I threw the pillow across the room as rage exploded from me. Pink sparks shot from hands, hitting the wall with a sizzle. Pulling my arms in, I shoved my hands under my armpits. It had been years since I lost control of my powers like that. Closing my eyes, I took a few deep breaths and wondered what was going on in Realm's Gate right now.
A gentle knock sounded on the door.
I turned toward the door. "Yes?"
The door opened a crack, and a pair of gorgeous blue eyes peered in. "Can I come in?"
"It's your house," I said.
James entered the room, carrying a cup of tea. I tensed, recalling the tea I'd had earlier.
"Relax, it's just chamomile and a few herbs to help you sleep." He glanced at the wall where scorch marks left black marks over the blue wallpaper. "I could hear you tossing and turning all the way across the house."
"Sorry. I'm just pissed about this whole thing. Who would do this?" I asked, taking the tea from him.
"I don't know, but I promise, I'm going to help." He nodded to the cup in my hand. "Drink your tea. Get some rest. I'll wake you in a few hours and teach you what you need to know. You can be back in Realm's Gate by tomorrow night."
He walked to the door, pausing in front of it, then turned back to me. "If it makes you feel any better, Jimmy always had nice things to say about you. He'd be proud of you."
He closed the door after he left the room.
I stared at the tea in silence. We might have started off on the wrong foot, but it seemed he was trying to help me now. Plus, when he fulfilled his end of the bargain, I owed him a favor. While a favor from me wasn't as valuable as a favor from someone like Jimmy, I had a solid magical skill set, and I was guessing there was something specific he had in mind. Probably wanted me to find him some magical objects or something. What kind of magic did a dragon have?
I shook my head, then took a sip of the tea. Now wasn't the time to start asking myself more questions. Being a mage had its perks, but the whole human body thing was a drag sometimes. I had no desire to be a vampire, but I could get a whole lot more done if I could skip sleeping.
After about half of the tea, my eyes grew heavy. I set the rest of it down on a small table next to the bed, and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.
"Morgan?"
I rolled over and blinked a few times. The room was unfamiliar, and it took me a second to remember that I was inside the home of a dragon. And he was talking to me. I sat up. "What time is it?"
"Ten," he said.
"You let me sleep all day?" I threw the covers off and jumped out of bed. "The dragon could be recharged already."
"Relax, it's ten in the morning." He pushed the door open and waited in the threshold. "Come on. We can talk over brunch."
"Dragons do brunch?" I asked.
"Who doesn't?" he said.
"I don't know," I said. "Dragons?"
He laughed. "I don't know about the wild dragons, but I sure like brunch."
It was an odd conversation. He didn't seem like he got out often. Did he meet up with friends on Saturday mornings and eat Eggs Benedict? For some reason, I pictured him holed up in his magically sealed house every day.
James turned down a few hallways, and I followed, wondering what I would be learning today. "You can really teach me how to stop the dragon?"
"Yes," he said.
"Does that mean I'll have to kill it?" I didn't want to kill another creature. Especially not a dragon. While I had never been as interested in dragons as some of my classmates growing up, I still viewed them more as a majestic animal than a dangerous beast. Though, this particular dragon seemed to be causing enough damage that I could probably shift my mindset.
James stopped walking and turned to look at me. "Do you want to kill the dragon?"
"No," I said, without hesitation.
He turned around and continued walking. "You won't have to kill it."
We'd arrived in a dining room, complete with a formal table that would fit a large dinner party. Three place settings rested on the table, and a bowl of fruit sat in the middle.
Alec sat at one of the place settings, a tall glass in front of him. I wrinkled my nose when I realized the glass was full of blood. I'd never seen a vampire drink blood in any form before, and it was a bit unsettling. At least I knew he wasn't going to ask me for any donations.
As soon as he saw me, he picked up the glass and moved it under the table. "Sorry, I thought I was going to finish before you got here. I'm sure you don't want to see that."
Who knew vampires were so accommodating to the fact that others would find their habits gross? Then, I recalled the fact that I had spent a lot of time around Jimmy and his employees over the last couple of years and none of them ate in front of me. It must be standard practice. I felt a bit bad for reacting how I had. It wasn't like Alec had a choice. He needed the blood to survive. "It's okay. I have a strong stomach."
"You sure? I can go in another room," he said.
"Please, stay," I said as I sat down in the space next to him.
He smiled, then lifted the glass back on to the table. "Thanks. Feeling better after your nap?"
"Yes, thanks," I said. Small talk with a vampire while eating brunch with a dragon. Even by my account, this was weird.
"Coffee?" James asked, holding a pot above the mug at my place.
"Yes, please."
He filled the cup, then passed a little cup of cream and a glass bowl of sugar. I added some to my coffee and patiently waited for him to bring up the dragon. After a few sips, the room was still full of awkward silence. "So." I set down my mug. "How am I going to take care of the dragon problem?"
"Simple." James set down his mug just as a man in a white chef coat and hat walked into the room, two plates of food in his hands.
The man set a plate down in front of me. It was an impressive looking frittata with a side of fried potatoes.
James's plate was a steak the size of my head. From the pink juices running out of it, I could tell it was rare. So that's what dragons ate.
"Thank you, Herman," James said to the chef as he left the room.
I picked up my fork and knife and took a bite of the food to be polite, though, at the moment, I wasn't feeling hungry.
The room was quiet again as everyone at least stared at their food. I took a few more bites before I heard footsteps. Half expecting someone to deliver more food, I was a bit startled when I saw someone new following Herman into the dining room.
The newcomer was close to my age, maybe a couple of years older. She wore a leather jacket, jeans, and carried a black motorcycle helmet under one arm. Her black hair was cropped short, in a pixie cut.
Herman stopped about halfway to the table. "Ms. Pyx to see you."
"Thanks, Herm," Pyx said. She continued over to James, who was now standing.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice," James said as he pulled the woman into an embrace.
A flicker of jealousy rose in the pit of my stomach. My nose wrinkled as I realized it was driven by lust. It had been a long time since I had an interest in a man based entirely on his looks. But if I was going to choose a man to f
ixate on a bit, James was a perfect specimen. He looked like he could play a superhero in a movie. And he was probably just as spoiled and narcissistic as pre-Batman Bruce Wayne.
"You've only got me for about twelve hours," Pyx said as she stepped away from the embrace. "I've got a flight to Singapore to catch."
James held the chair next to him out for her to sit. She sat down, then turned her attention to me. "So you're the one who popped the Vamp crime lord?"
My mouth dropped open, and I felt heat rush to my cheeks. I closed my mouth and forced myself to keep from lashing out at this girl. Who did she think she was? "I did not kill him."
She shrugged. "I'll be the judge of that."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" I said, standing.
"That's enough, ladies," James said.
"Hey, you might want to be nice to me, James called in a favor to help you. I canceled on a rather important client to come here." She picked up James's fork and took a bite of the meat he'd already cut.
My stomach twisted. Whoever this girl was, she was apparently important to James.
"Can someone explain what the hell is going on here?" Alec asked.
I glanced at him, grateful that he cut in.
"Where are my manners?" Pyx said in an only slightly condescending tone. "My name is Pyx. Hacker extraordinaire."
I lifted my eyebrows. "Hacker extraordinaire?"
"Yes, and if you want to find out if there was something done to the videos of you supposedly breaking into the Vamp vault, I'm the only one who can help you."
"What if the person on the screen used magic to change their appearance?" Alec asked.
"I appreciate your help, but I'm with Alec, I don't know how you'd be able to prove anything if it isn't manipulated after the fact," I said.
"That's where the extraordinaire part comes in," she said. "My skills go beyond human technology. I can hack magic."
"That's a thing?" Alec asked.
"You're a tech mage," I said, resisting the urge to ask her a hundred questions. I'd heard of them before, mages who lived in the human world who had spent the last few decades fusing magic with technology. I could see how the skill would be incredibly useful.
"Yeah, mage raised in the wilds of the human world and all that." She took another bite of James's steak, then turned to him. "Jeez James, why even bother to cook the thing? Might as well get it raw."
"You want me to get them to make you one?" he asked.
"No, it's better when it's yours." She smiled sweetly at him.
My gag reflex engaged and I had to swallow back the bile that rose at the shameless flirting. Gross. "So, Pyx, you're on a deadline, right? Maybe we should get started."
"Good point," James said. He nodded to my plate. "Why don't you finish your food, then you can join us in my office. You remember the way?"
"Yeah, I'm good," I said, trying not to let the irrational jealously through in my words.
I watched as James and Pyx walked away from the table. James took the helmet from her and carried it for her. Dammit. Why did he have to do something sweet? Being around her would be so much easier if James was a total jerk. It wasn't that I had a stake in trying to be with James, it was something else that seemed to be bringing up these feelings.
"Jeez, could she have been any more obvious with him?" Alec asked. "Do you think she's part Siren?"
That's what it was. She reminded me so much of Dima. "No, I don't think so, but she isn't far off."
"You trust her?" he said.
"Guess we'll find out," I said. "James sure seems to, and Jimmy trusted him. And at this moment, that's all I've got."
13
Alec and I wandered through the halls until we reached James's office. I knocked on the closed door.
"Enter," James called.
Alec pushed the door open, and the two of us walked in. James sat behind the desk in front of two monitors. Pyx was practically draped over him as she reached around to the keyboard. Was it necessary for James to be sitting there? He seemed more in the way than anything.
I plopped down on a chair in front of the desk, and Alec sat in the chair on my right.
James looked up, then turned one of the screens, so it was facing me. "You haven't seen these yet, have you?"
Gripping the armrests, I dug my nails into the wood of the chair. I was staring at pixelated videos of Jimmy's vault. And someone who looked exactly like me was punching numbers on the keypad. Not me looked up at the camera for a moment, giving me a clear view of the face. Goosebumps rose on my arms, and shivers crawled down my spine. If I was a cop, there is no way I would believe these were fake. Whoever had done this was identical to me.
"It's good, isn't it?" Pyx asked.
"It's uncanny," Alec said. "If I hadn't been with you all night, I honestly don't think I'd believe you. But I was with you. It's not possible that you could have been there."
"It's like watching a mirror." I looked up at James. "How is this possible?"
Pyx crawled on top of the desk, then threw her legs over the front, so she was facing me. She traced her fingers along the screen. "You see this?"
I squinted at where she was pointing, but all I saw was what looked like me walking out of Jimmy's vault with a few items in my arms. "See what?"
"Right here." She tapped the screen, and it froze. "There's a haze around the face here."
I stood and moved closer to the screen, leaning in toward it. She was right. There was a haze around not-me's face. I looked up at Pyx. "What does that mean?"
"It's a charm. A complicated one, but a charm nonetheless." She tapped the screen and not me took a few more steps, then she paused it again.
"Look here." She pointed to the feet this time.
"Those aren't my shoes." I leaned in closer. "Those aren't even my pants."
"And that person has no boobs. I don't even think that's a woman," Alec said.
I looked over at him.
"Sorry," he said as he sat back down in his chair. If he could blush, his cheeks would probably be on fire.
Turning to the screen again, I looked at the figure. "You're right, Alec. The build is nothing like mine."
"I think you're right," Pyx said. "Whoever did this only charmed their face. The rest of the body is theirs."
She climbed back over the desk and turned the screen toward her again. "Give me an hour or so, I'll see if I can clear up the image some. Make it easier for the Hunters to see."
My blood ran cold. "Hunters? Nobody said anything about the hunters."
"Like vampire slayers or something?" Alec asked. "Do they have those for Mages?"
"Or something," I said.
"Hunters are who they call for the tough cases," Pyx said. "The cases where they can shoot first and ask questions later."
"They'd kill you on sight?" Alec asked.
"They wouldn't kill me." I shuddered. "It would be worse. They have hunters who specialize in different beings. For me, it would be a mage hunter, for you, a Vampire Hunter."
"What's worse than death?" Alec asked.
"Taking away your magic," Pyx said.
I swallowed and shook my head. "But there's no way we have to worry about hunters. They save them for the big cases."
Pyx raised an eyebrow. "Like the killer of one of the most high-profile vampires in the world?"
My shoulders sunk. When she put it that way, it sounded worse than it had in the beginning. Losing Jimmy was hard enough already. On top of that, I couldn't pause to grieve. I had to prove that I hadn't killed him. My throat tightened as tears threatened. I cleared my throat and turned to Pyx. "You going to help me, or not?"
She straightened and turned back to the screen. "Alright, alright, business it is."
James led us to his living room to wait while Pyx finished her work. Perched on the edge of the couch, I tapped my feet nervously. My mind wandered as Alec flipped through the channels on the television.
"You doing okay?" James took the seat next to
me.
"I'm fine, I guess," I said. There wasn't any way I could articulate how I was feeling right now. I was devastated by the loss of my friend and mentor. I was heartbroken that someone would harm him. And I couldn't stay to grieve or help them find the killer because the killer was dressing up like me. In a million years, I couldn't explain how I felt. It was too weird and painful.
"Look, Pyx is very good at what she does. Once she has the corrected file, we'll send it to the proper channels and wait for them to realize they made a mistake."
"Um, Morgan," Alec said.
I turned to look at him but froze on the screen when I saw a picture of me. "What the?"
"Turn it up," James said.
Alec increased the volume, and I listened as a human news program enlarged a photo of me from a few years ago so it filled almost the whole screen. As the reporter spoke, a list formed next to my face: armed and dangerous, wanted for murder, mentally unstable, do not approach, contact emergency personnel immediately.
My breath caught in my lungs. They'd sent out my information the human news? "They know I left Realm's Gate. Marco couldn't stop it. Time's up."
"Don't they have their own cops?" Alec asked. "Why involve humans? Isn't that usually a big no-no?"
"Yeah," I said. "Unless they believe that human lives are at risk or they think Realm's Gate is at risk."
I covered my face with my hands, then pushed my hair out of my face. This was getting out of control. Involving the human police made me a fugitive in the human world forever. They were cutting off my ability to hide and blend in. Even getting back to Realm's Gate was going to be risky now. And once I was there, even after I was cleared, I was stuck there. "How could they do this to me?"
Panic rose inside me, and my breaths quickened. I'd never felt so trapped before in my life. I stood and started pacing the room. They were taking away my options, my freedom, my livelihood. I relied on going back and forth between the human world and Realm's Gate for my very survival. It was literally how I paid my bills. Now what? Even once this was cleared, I was trapped.
