“Will I know when she moves?” Poe said that he’d need to. “All right. Will she be safe being on my body? As I said, I want no one hurt in this that doesn’t need to be.”
“She will become a part of you.” He wasn’t sure what he meant at first, then it occurred to him. She’d be just as immortal as he was. “While she is very old, she can die just as anything can that is magical. Not I nor Raven, since we are a part of each other, and since she mated to young Lewis, she took on what he is. And he her. Am I making you understand, Lord Vance?”
“Yes, and don’t call me lord, please. So this being, she’s all right with becoming a part of me? Helping me out with this?” He said that she was more than pleased to help him. “Bring her here and I’ll talk to her, okay? But it’ll have to be soon. I want to get going tonight.”
“She is here now.” The little being flew to land on his leg. “Lilac, this is the gentleman that I told you about. He is agreeable to allow you to help him, but he has questions.”
“I am very happy to meet you, Lord Vance.” Poe asked her, as Vance had him, not to call him lord. “I’m sorry. What would you wish for me to call you? I can call you whatever you wish.”
“Vance is fine. You don’t mind helping me? I don’t want you to feel obligated to this. I can do this on my own, but with help, any help, I might make it out in one piece.” She glanced at Poe, then smiled at him. “Are you being made to help me?”
“Oh no. I have won the plea to help you. Poe is very special to our kind, and he asked for someone to go with you to help bring you home so that the dragons could be here again. I am very pleased to be the one that was picked. You will be happy with me as well.” Vance laughed. “You think me funny?”
“No. I think it’s funny that someone wants to help me. I thought I’d have to do this on my own, and now I find that I don’t think I could have, and everyone is being very kind to me. I’m not used to it.” He asked her what he was to do now. “I mean, you have to be a part of me, how does that work?”
“You only need to roll up your sleeve and I will become a part. You won’t be harmed, but you will know that I’m here. And I can do anything you wish.” He asked her like what. “I can see things for you. Leave your body long enough that I can find where you need to go. Heal you, should you need it. Also, I can be used as a weapon, but only for a short time as it drains me.”
The knock at the door made him stand, and before he could guess what was going on, Lilac left and returned in seconds. He didn’t ask her who it was when she put her fingers to her lips, but nodded to his sleeve. Rolling it up, she became a part of him.
Go out the window and I’ll help you. The man at the door wishes to come in and put in devices to watch you. I have told Poe, and he will warn the others. He thanked her. No need, my...Vance, we’ll work together.
Going out the window was the strangest thing he’d ever had happen to him. He didn’t jump, as he thought he’d have to, but floated down to the ground with a soft thud. Vance and his fae were across the yard and into the woods in moments. This might work, he thought as he ran to his vehicle.
Chapter 13
Micky watched the laptop, though there wasn’t anything really going on that she needed to watch; everything she had running was in the background. But the man that was sitting next to her in the booth was driving her nuts. He kept looking over her shoulder at her screen. Finally, she pulled the earplugs from her ears and asked him what he was doing.
“The Internet is running really slow. Even for this place. I was wondering if you were having the same issues.” She told him she was reading a book. “Oh, so you’d not know if it was running slow or not.”
“No. I don’t care.” Putting the plugs back in her ears, she shut him out. There was nothing coming through the plugs, just a thing that usually deterred anyone from talking to her. But this guy was insistent, and when he sat down across from her at her table, she pulled her gun from out of her waistband and aimed at him under the table. “I didn’t invite you to sit with me.”
“I know. I was wanting to get to know you. You know, sort of talk.” She told him no and to go away. “You’re not terribly friendly, are you?”
“No. I’m positively bitchy. Now, I’m not going to ask you again to go away. I have shit I’m doing here, and you’re bothering me.” He sipped whatever it was he was drinking and didn’t move. She was going to have to get rid of this piece of shit before she had to pack up and go. “Why aren’t you moving?”
“I know what you’re doing.” She didn’t even blink at him. “You’re using up the data here by doing something covert.”
“And you figured this out how?” He winked at her and she rolled her eyes. “You really think you’re smart, don’t you? I’m reading a book. I’m here because I like the quietness of the place, and the fact that you can get a good meal and endless drinks while you’re at it. I’m not going to tell you again to get away.”
The plug in her ear signaled that she was finished uploading the information. The man in front of her didn’t move, so she laid her gun on her lap and started packing her shit up. He put his hand on hers when she closed her computer.
“You don’t want to do that.” Cocking a brow at him, she said nothing. “You have to wait right here until I get the signal that you can go. Which, I’m thinking, you’re not going anywhere but with us.”
This shit was getting real. Not that she was afraid, but she didn’t want anyone else to get hurt either. Picking up her computer, she was careful not to let her gun fall. After putting the computer away and wrapping up her cords, she stuffed it all in her bag. Putting her hands in her lap, she wrapped her hand around the gun and waited on him to make a move.
He reached into his coat, and she saw the butt of the gun before he cleared his coat. Firing twice at him, she could see the shock on his face as the bullets entered his gut. Waiting just long enough for him to slump forward, she took her things and left the place. Pulling out her phone, she pushed a single number and said nothing as the person on the other end answered.
Breaking the phone in half, she put it on the ground outside the restaurant and used a bit of magic to destroy it. Not just the phone, but everything about it…SIM card, battery, and anything else that someone might be able to use. She was to her bike when she snapped her fingers, and all manner of camera and recording devices within a six-mile radius were destroyed.
Micky had about two minutes before the man was discovered. There would be police involved, no doubt, but they’d have no leads to go on. Not from her, anyway. As soon as she started up her bike, she was on the move when the first cruiser passed her. Stopping at a phone booth, which was getting harder and harder to find, she called in to her friend.
“You get it?” He said that he had, all of it. Then he mentioned that the police were on the way to the place she’d been. “Yeah, I think he made me, but it matters little. There is no one that can identify me.”
Her hair changed along with her appearance while she stood there. Her clothing was now a pair of jeans and a sweat shirt; the skirt and blouse were gone. She had on boots and not heels, and her hair was no longer blonde but brown. That was the only thing that wasn’t her normal self.
“This is what we’ve been looking for. How did you get it so fast?” Jeff didn’t ask because he wanted to out her, but was excited that she’d been able to get it at all. “I’ll get this to my contact now. He can use it. By the way, you said that you’d come here for a few days. I’m holding you to that.”
“I’m working right now on something else, but I’ll come to you soon.” He said that wasn’t good enough. “Has to be. I have to get my shit together here before someone comes hunting for me again. This time I won’t be so nice and instead will beat him for information that I need.”
“You be careful.”
Looking at the timer on her watch, she ended the call. There wasn’t anyone that she trusted more than Jeff, but she also didn’t want to leave herself
open for anyone to track the two of them down. Going back to her bike, she put it in the back of the stashed van and made her way across town, fucking with her image and vehicle every mile or so. Cameras were everywhere, and she wasn’t going to get caught up in that kind of mess.
Two hours after the news started in on how a man had been murdered at a local dive, she was packing up her things again. Not that she ever had that much laying around, and nothing that wasn’t replaceable, but she had to be on the move, and the sooner the better.
Micky Oliver had been working computers since someone had thrown one out in their trash and she’d found it. Fixing it had been easy enough, and enhancing it had been even easier. Once she figured out all the things that she could manipulate it to do, she started making a name for herself as a hacker.
Hank Hacker was well known in the underworld. Not by her own doing, but by Jeff. He said that she needed to have a following, as he did, because when the shit was about to hit the fan, they’d be the ones to warn them. Without the help of the other hackers she had known, Micky would have been caught a few times.
Micky drove all night, and when she reached the outskirts of the little town that Jeff lived in, just to make sure he was all right, she pulled into a hotel that had outside doors and took one of the rooms. She was settling in when she realized she was hungry. This wasn’t normal for her unless she was using a little too much of her magic, so she found a restaurant that had a salad bar and made her way there, changing herself again to appear to be an elderly woman.
Fresh was what she needed, and as soon as she was brought her first glass of juice, she drained it while looking around. There was a family in one corner trying to feed three teenagers that were being asses. A couple of truckers that were in need of not just a bath, but maybe some disinfectant as well. And the lone waitress. Micky pulled out her cell, also enhanced, and called Jeff again.
“Got it all?” He said that he did and had already sent it to his friend. “Look, I might have to lay low for a couple of days. I’m not myself.”
He, like anyone else who thought they knew her, didn’t have a clue what she was or what she was capable of. Jeff was good at what he did, but she was better. And stronger when she was up to par. Which, she wasn’t right now.
“All right. I wish you’d come stay here. That way I could keep an eye on you while you rested up.” She thanked him and told him for now she was fine. “I’ll talk to you in a few days, all right?”
“Yes, all right.” She put the phone away and watched the two newcomers. One was obviously a cop, the other she’d bet was military. They never looked her way, but she still thought they were there for her. When she made another trip to the bar, she made sure that she got as much fruit and other fresh things as she could on her plate before going by their table. The moment they looked up at her, she knew she was in trouble.
Knowing that she could leave right now and they’d not be able to follow, she needed information more than she did running right now. The men knew something, but getting it from them would be tricky. Lifting up her gun, she shot the first one in the back, the military guy, and then she killed the cop when he stood up. In a matter of seconds she was out the door with macho man.
He would live, she knew that, but when he shot her three times while she was carrying him, she nearly dropped him as she flew over the hillside. The pain was too much, so when she was far enough away, she let him drop to the ground as she landed beside him.
“Fucker, that wasn’t nice.” Taking his gun and any other weapon he had on him, she put them in her pockets. Time to get what she needed. And since she was hurting like a mother fucker, she decided to do things her way.
Letting herself go, she felt her wings spread out behind her. It felt glorious after being so confined for so long. Using them to fly didn’t give her the feeling like she had with just stretching them. She smiled at the man when he cringed away from her.
“They didn’t tell you what I was?” He said nothing. “Oh, well, that won’t work for me. I need for you to talk. If not, I’ll have to get it from you the hard way. What’s it going to be? Talking or the raping of your small mind?”
“They don’t know what you are. Said a woman, that’s all.” Micky waited for him to continue. “What the fuck gave us away? I was told that you were not all that smart when cornered.”
“Too bad you’re not going to get to go back and warn them. Who sent you?” Nothing. “Seriously? I’m bleeding here, and you can’t tell me shit? Who sent you?”
She didn’t have time to wait around for him to get his shit together and tell her. Putting her hand on his head, she ignored his screams of pain as she sorted through his mind. There was plenty to see too, if someone knew how to look. Once she got all that she could, Micky stood up and paced. The man was dead now—she’d not been nice about her search—but she had information that was going to hurt a few dozen people if she didn’t get it to someone fast.
“What to do? What to do?” She had to clear her mind and find someplace to heal. She could, but without something to eat that was high in sugar, and fresh, she’d be months and not days healing. She’d not die, but she couldn’t heal herself without consequences.
When the cell phone at his side started chirping, she picked it up and saw that the name on it was unknown. Whoever it was on the other end, they might not know that he was dead. Or they might, and were trying to pinpoint her by her answering. So she was back to her first question. What to do?
Answering it, she said nothing but watched the time. “My name is Caelin. You don’t know me, but I have a safe haven for you, Micky. But I don’t imagine that you’d trust me any more than you do anyone else. All right. Let me come to you.”
Before she could tell him that was a bad idea, a man was standing in front of her. Pulling her gun out, she aimed it right at his chest when he laughed. There wasn’t shit about this that was funny as far as she was concerned.
“It will do you no good to shoot me. I mean, it will hurt, yes, but I won’t die. Neither will you.” Micky could smell his magic…it was as white as the driven snow. “Here you go. I know that you can tell if something is tainted. Go ahead and feast on this while I talk.”
The oranges and apples were beautiful. Shiny, like he’d rubbed them against something soft before putting them on the plate. Sitting down on the ground, she didn’t waver her gun when he sat as well. The food helped a great deal, and she moaned when a gallon of fresh pear juice was set beside her.
“What are you?” He told her. “Dragon? They’re all dead. Or in hiding. And I know better than most that the shifter dragons have all been in hiding for a very long time.”
“Yes, they have been, I’m afraid.” She ate another apple while he continued. “They’re in Ohio, these shifters. I had thought you’d make it there on your own, but there is something searching for you that I hadn’t counted on. You’re not as well hidden as I had thought.”
“No shit, Sherlock. The president, of all people, is after my ass. Who would have thought it?” He said that he hadn’t. “So, you’re a dragon and you knew that I was here. Want to explain that to me?”
“Not at the moment, no. Besides, I think you’d be better served if I told you what you needed to do now, and the rest will come to you.” She nodded and leaned back to watch him. “You’re not trusting, not that I blame you, but you must trust me for a time.”
“Why should I? I mean, yes, the fruit you brought was good, and needed. You did find me. And used a phone that might not have been easily tapped. So what gives?” He handed her a piece of paper, and she only glanced at it before shrugging. “Who hasn’t heard of the jewels that bring the dragons back? Most people with money have been looking for them all my life.”
“Yes, but what most don’t know is that they’re all coming together soon. Very soon, as a matter of fact. But you need to help one of them before he can return to his home.” She asked him why she’d do that. “Because you need your dragon to come
to life again.”
She said nothing to him, but did look at her thigh. The dragon there, a sigil, most people thought, was her very own bit of magic. He’d gone to sleep the day that the queen of the castle that she’d lived in had disappeared.
“She’s my mother, Queen Prisane, she’s my mother. And she lives.” Shaking her head, she stared at the man, who was nodding. “You heard about me, I’m sure. The child of the bastard Butler, who was going to make things right. And how I had to live to make the dragons come back.”
“As I said before, everyone has heard of that tale. And that’s all it is, a tale.” When he stood up, she did as well. His shift from man to dragon made her eyes fill with tears. To see something so magnificent was heartwarming. The magic that he brought with him, it not only healed her, but gave her more energy as well. “You’re really him? And Warrior, where is he?”
“He is waiting for them to come together this final time.” Micky wasn’t sure she wanted to believe him or not, but he was making a good case for himself. “I need for you to go and help one of the men. He will not return when I need for him to, and all will be lost.”
“He’s one of the dragons. The family that is supposed to be able to call him forth.” Caelin nodded. “Why me? I’m nothing but a faerie gone rogue. Even my own kind won’t have a thing to do with me. They think me tainted in the head.”
“I would say that they’re right on that, a little anyway. Someone that has taught herself how to use what most of them shun and make it work for her. You must have a couple of things in that head of yours that is different than them.” She grinned at him, and he laughed. “Will you help me with this? I can guarantee you that you will be greatly rewarded when this is done.”
“I don’t want a reward.” Micky wondered if he’d do her a favor, and when he said he’d do anything for her, she sat there for several seconds thinking. Trust, as he pointed out, wasn’t something that she had a great deal of. “I don’t need the money, but the pip that I came from, they could use some help. I send them what I can, in way of a messenger, but they need more.”
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