by Cheree Alsop
Aleric shook his head. “You don’t have to do that.”
“No,” the officer continued. “He’s right. I shouldn’t have pulled my gun. Everything with the Fervor has got us all on edge; they found two more bodies in the Fallows, and—”
Aleric raised a hand, cutting him off. “They found two more bodies?”
“Yes,” the officer replied. “But these weren’t like the others at all.”
“They were eaten,” Officer Rellen said.
“By something huge,” Officer Teri echoed.
Aleric and Dartan exchanged a glance. “How big?” the werewolf asked.
“Where?” the vampire seconded.
A few minutes later found them all in the basement of the Edge City Northern Morgue.
“The cause of death was pretty easy to determine,” the mortician said. He pulled on the sliding table and drew the body from the refrigerated locker.
Aleric pushed down a rise of nausea. He had seen bodies before, but stumbling upon the headless human in the alley was nothing compared to the mangled mess before him.
An arm stuck out from the pile of pieces. The torso had been bitten almost in half; part of one leg and most of the face were gone.
“Without his jaw, we’ve been unable to determine his identification,” the mortician explained. “We’re waiting for missing persons reports, but haven’t heard yet. At least for this one we could identify her.”
He pulled open the next locker. Aleric’s hands turned cold. The woman had been torn completely in half and most of her torso was gone. Even with her eyes closed, the look of horror that had been frozen in her expression haunted him.
“Look at the size of the bite,” Dartan said.
It took considerable effort for Aleric to tear his gaze away from the woman’s face and follow Dartan’s finger. Given the jagged edges of the bite across her ribs, there was no doubt what had caused the wound.
“What do you think?” Officer Ling asked, his voice solemn as he surveyed the bodies.
“We’re dealing with a dragon,” Aleric replied. Saying the words aloud made the trepidation tighten in his chest.
“A dragon?” Officer Teri said in surprise.
“Not just a dragon,” Dartan began.
Aleric nodded. “It’s an Almedragon for sure. It’s young, but a normal dragon wouldn’t make bites like that.”
Both of the fae were quiet for a moment.
“You know how a dragon this size is made,” Dartan said.
Aleric nodded. There was only one answer. “Vampiress blood. Where’s Vallia?”
“She promised she would stay hidden until we found Lilian. There’s no way they could have found her,” Dartan replied, his eyes wide.
“Gorgons don’t stop,” Aleric told him. “I asked you to keep her safe.”
“She said they wouldn’t be able to find her,” Dartan said, his eyes wide. “Maybe there’s another vampiress.”
Aleric shook his head. There were other possibilities, but he knew deep down that Vallia had been the one they used.
“We need to find the dragon,” he said to the officers. “Can you take us to where the bodies were located?”
A few minutes later found them in a back alley.
“I’m getting tired of dark alleys,” Dartan muttered.
“Would you rather have a well-lit, sunny park be the place they found the bodies?” Aleric asked.
Dartan nodded. “Then I wouldn’t have to go with you.”
Aleric snorted, but walked beside Officer Ling without slowing.
“I know of dragon legends,” Officer Ling said. “But we don’t have them in our world." He hesitated, then continued with, “Not before the Rift, anyway. But you keep calling this one an Almedragon. What’s the difference?”
Aleric and Dartan exchanged a glance.
“Size, for one,” Dartan said. “If it’s allowed to grow big enough, it will raze your buildings to the ground.”
“Almedragons are the king of dragons,” Aleric took up where the vampire had stopped. “They’re born in the blood of a vampiress, which is what gives them their strength but also makes them so rare.”
“They breathe fire.” Dartan paused, then corrected, “They’ll breathe fire if given the chance to get big enough for the combustion to take effect.”
“It sounds like we need to stop this thing before it grows,” Officer Teri said.
Aleric studied the moonlit walls and the dark asphalt. His nose told him blood was near before he saw it. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Dartan’s muscles tense. He realized he should have made sure his friend had eaten before they went on a dragon hunt.
“The pieces were strewn all over here,” Officer Teri explained. “You can see the chalk marks there.”
Aleric paced around the white marks on the cement.
“Can you track it?” Dartan asked.
Aleric shook his head. He wanted to phase to his wolf form, but the burns on his hands would make it impossible to walk. As good as his human nose was even with the additional power his werewolf heritage gave him, he wouldn’t be able to find the tracks of the dragon. “I wish I could,” he said. “You can tell by the marks that the dragon isn’t flying yet. It’s still growing. If I could pick up a trail, we could follow it back and maybe find a lead to Lilian and Vallia.” If either were still alive. The thought remained unspoken, but hung in the air nonetheless.
“There’s a trail to follow?” Officer Rellen asked.
Aleric glanced at the third officer. “Something I could track if I was able to be in my wolf form for sure.”
“I have a hound dog.”
Aleric felt a spark of interest. “Can it trail?”
Officer Rellen nodded. “He’s a coonhound. He usually tracks raccoons and other game. I’ve never known him to lose a good trail.”
Officer Ling nodded. “It’s worth a shot.” He looked at Aleric for approval.
The werewolf nodded as well. “Let’s try it.”
“We’re going to rely on a dog to find a dragon?” Dartan asked quietly while they waited for the officer to return. “That seems like a bad idea.”
“You don’t have dogs where you’re from?” Officer Teri asked curiously.
“We do,” Aleric conceded, “But they run in packs and they take down livestock like wolves do. You don’t want to mess with a dog pack.”
“Nobody has them as pets?” Officer Ling asked.
“They wouldn’t dream of it,” Aleric replied. “Most of the inhabitants of Blays are what you would consider predators. Dogs are just as untrusting of us as we are of them, for good reason.”
Dartan nodded. “I know vampires afraid to go into the forest at night for fear of the packs there. If you aren’t worrying about werewolves or demons, it’s the dogs that’ll get you.”
Aleric’s muscles tensed at the scrambling of claws that reached his ears. A black and tan dog with long, drooping ears, a short coat, and floppy jowls came into view pulling Officer Rellen after him.
“Slow down, Magnus. What’s gotten into you?” Rellen demanded. He tried to dig in his heels, but the dog jerked forward out of Officer Rellen’s grasp, its eyes intent on Aleric.
Aleric turned to meet it. He knew the size of teeth a dog that big contained, and he didn’t want anyone else to deal with it. Instincts made him crouch. He put one bandaged hand to the asphalt to steady him as he met the dog’s headlong charge.
“What are you doing?” Dartan demanded.
The animal’s teeth were bared, its brown eyes intent as it closed the distance to the werewolf. Aleric leaned forward. The dog would reach his face. The werewolf’s hands were bandaged; he could imagine how many teeth were housed in the dog’s long snout. He didn’t want to feel those fangs in his skin.
Aleric lifted his lips and a growl emanated from his chest. At the same moment, the moonlight caught in his eyes, turning his irises from brown to gold.
Magnus backpedaled, his long legs flai
ling as he fought to keep from crashing into Aleric. The dog pulled up short inches from Aleric’s unflinching face. The dog stared at him a moment, his eyes searching Aleric’s alpha stare.
Aleric had never been so close to a dog. There was something familiar he saw in those brown eyes. The brow held intelligence and the dog’s flight had shown bravery in his need to protect his owner. Aleric could respect the dog’s drive.
Something trembled in the air. Aleric hesitated. His instincts whispered to him, hinting at a relationship between werewolves and dogs, of a pack, of trust. Aleric knew not to doubt his instincts. If he was going to track down the dragon and from there have any hope of finding Lilian and Vallia, he had to find a way to trust the animal in front of him.
Aleric took a steeling breath and pushed an image forward the way he would communicate with one of his pack when he was in wolf form. He didn’t know if the dog would understand. For all he knew, it would make the creature mad enough to attack, but he had to try.
He pushed a picture of the dragon tearing apart the body. He put pain and fear into the thought, lingering on the trail the dragon would have left with a hint of need, of pack, of loss. He needed to follow the trail.
The dog’s head jerked back and a low woof sounded from him.
“What was that?” Dartan asked.
Aleric pushed back to his feet to clear room for the dog to get by. The animal pulled Rellen past Aleric in his eagerness to get to the blood.
“What did you do?” Dartan demanded.
Aleric watched the dog with wonder. Hope warred with disbelief that the dog had actually understood what he needed. There had been some sort of reply, a feeling along with the woof that was one of camaraderie, of friendship, of the need to protect each other. Aleric hadn’t felt that in a very long time.
Something hit his shoulder, jolting him from his thoughts.
“What?” Aleric asked.
Dartan’s arms were crossed in front of his chest. “I had to hit you to get your attention. Did you just mind-control that animal?”
Aleric shook his head. “I don’t think so. But I think…I think it listened to me.”
They both looked at the dog. The hound searched the edges of the bloodstain eagerly. His loud snuffs echoed in the alleyway. His head jerked up, he met Aleric’s gaze, and he gave another woof. He turned and ran down the other end of the alley, tearing free of Rellen’s grip when he did so.
“Listen to that!” Rellen said excitedly. “That bellow. That’s his trailing howl. He’s got the trail!”
He took off after the hound. The other two officers fell in behind with the werewolf and vampire bringing up the rear.
“You told it to find the trail?” Dartan asked.
“I did the same thing I would if I was in wolf form talking to another wolf,” Aleric replied, his feet pounding along the pavement. “I didn’t think it would work with a dog.”
“It’s taking us somewhere, that’s for sure,” Dartan said.
Officer Rellen caught up to the hound and slowed his pursuit as they moved deeper into the Fallows. The other officers fought to catch their breaths as they moved along at an easier pace.
“No sense running into this blind,” Officer Ling told them. “I need to call it in if Magnus finds anything.”
“I think he found something,” Aleric replied.
The dog had stopped. His hackles were raised, his short fur standing up along his back and shoulders in a way that made him look even bigger. He didn’t move a muscle, his full attention on the wide door at the side of a low gray warehouse.
“I’ve never seen him like this,” Rellen said. He put a hand on the dog’s head. Magnus didn’t appear to notice.
“I’m going in,” Aleric told them.
“Wait,” Officer Ling protested. “We can have backup here in a few minutes.”
“A few minutes might be too long,” Aleric replied.
He reached for the door. Dartan put a hand on the door to hold it closed. “Are you sure about this?” he asked. “There might be an Almedragon in there.”
Aleric met his gaze. “Lilian might be in there.”
Whatever the vampire saw in the werewolf’s eyes made him drop his hand. Dartan turned to the officers. “Call in backup. We’ll search the warehouse. Come in slow. If we find anything, you’ll know it.”
Chapter Nine
“I understand you’re operating under a bit of a death wish right now,” Dartan said.
“Don’t even start with me,” Aleric replied as he made his way across the moonlit floor of the warehouse.
The sour reptile and brimstone scent filled his nose. He didn’t need to be in wolf form to understand what had spooked Magnus. The cloying smell refused to clear, leaving Aleric without one of the senses he relied on to detect danger. The fact put him on edge.
“I’m not starting with you,” the vampire continued. “I’m middling with you, if you take into consideration that losing a patient on the operating table was more towards the middle of your being at the hospital rather than the beginning.”
Aleric rolled his eyes. “A few weeks isn’t the middle. It’s barely the beginning.”
“Is it?” Dartan asked.
Aleric glanced at him. “Are you planning on heading back to Blays sometime soon?”
Dartan gave a single shake of his head. He paused beside the door to the next section of warehouse. The scent of the dragon was growing stronger.
“I guess I figured you’d give up after this.”
He pulled the door open before Aleric could argue.
Three smells hit Aleric’s nose all at once. The dragon was there somewhere to be sure, but underneath the reptilian musk was the jasmine and sunshine scent he associated with Lilian. Vampire was the third smell, the coppery scent that followed any member of their kind. Aleric was surprised he wasn’t more used to it considering all the time he had spent in Dartan’s presence.
“They’re here,” he said quietly.
All pretense of joking vanished from Dartan’s demeanor. They both knew entering the next room would be something they couldn’t take back. Facing an Almedragon was like staring down death. Both had survived terrible things. They weren’t sure adding a dragon to it would be pushing beyond the reach of their luck; truth be told, Aleric was pretty sure he had about used up all the luck he was allotted in life.
“That’s something you should know about me by now,” Aleric said quietly. At Dartan’s questioning look, he concluded with, “I don’t know when to give up.”
A grin lifted the vampire’s lips. “Me, neither.”
In an unspoken agreement, they entered the room together. Darkness clung to the shadowed corners, but Aleric’s wolven eyesight easily made out the black-scaled form curled against the far wall. It was already the size of a car; the Almedragon’s leathery wings lay across its body tipped with claws big enough to gut either of them. The bellows of its lungs filling and then deflating masked any other sound. The bloody scent of its breath circled around the room and turned Aleric’s stomach.
“It’s asleep,” he whispered. His mouth twisted with distaste when he said, “It just ate.”
“Human?” Dartan asked.
Aleric checked the scent for the animal notes he hoped to find. His heart sank at their absence. “Human,” he confirmed.
Dartan swore quietly under his breath. “We need to kill it before it feeds again.”
“Agreed,” Aleric replied, “But I need to find Lilian first.”
Dartan opened his mouth to argue, but the werewolf cut him off. “Have you ever killed an Almedragon?”
The vampire paused, then shook his head.
“Me, neither,” Aleric whispered. “Assume we try and fail.” At the vampire’s sputter, he held up a hand. “It just ate; listen to how deep it’s sleeping. Do you really want to wake it up and risk it attacking the officers outside?”
The vampire was quiet a moment before he said, “Not really.”
&nb
sp; Aleric kept his eyes on the sleeping dragon as he forced the words out, “I need to make sure it’s not Lilian’s blood I smell.”
Dartan couldn’t argue against the urgency in the werewolf’s voice. He nodded. “Hold on.” He picked up a beam of broken wood from near the wall and jammed it across the door so it wouldn’t open. Aleric realized the vampire was keeping the officers out. It would at least protect them until Aleric and Dartan returned, if they did.
The vampire used one quick push to lodge it into place. At the sound of the splintering wood, both of them looked at the Almedragon. The fae creature’s front leg twitched and its breathing paused, only to resume with the same steady rhythm as before. Aleric let out a breath of relief.
The werewolf crossed the floor on nearly silent feet. A memory of sneaking around the alleys of Drake City came to him. Silence hadn’t been a game to the orphans of Blays; it was a necessity. To awaken a golem in either the forest or alleys could mean a child’s life. The huge creatures had been known to rise from the mud or clay and eat whatever was in their reach. Aleric had seen a goblin disappear in one gulp. Golems didn’t care if they caught Dark fae or Light. It was all the same once it reached their sandy lips.
They made it to the door on the other side of the Almedragon without waking it. By the scent of the fresh blood on its breath, Aleric doubted the creature wanted to awaken on a full belly. He reached for the doorknob, turned it, and pulled the wooden door open. Just before it was wide enough to accommodate them, the hinges gave a loud squeak.
With his heart pounding in his ears, Aleric glanced over his shoulder. He froze. For the briefest moment, he swore he had seen the Almedragon’s closest eye open and watching them. The four smaller eyes on its forehead had remained closed, and he couldn’t see the other one from their position, but staring at the black closed eyelid against the black scales, Aleric could still see in his mind’s eye the bright yellow, simmering glare of the fae creature.
“Go,” Dartan whispered, his voice tight.
Aleric gave the dragon another close look, but its eye was closed. He stepped into the next room with trepidation pressing against his back.
