city of dragons 02 - fire storm (5 page)

My heart pumped faster. I stood up too. Should I go to him? Should I touch him?

“Every time I look at you, I think about the way you taste.” There was a bitter tinge to his tone.

Taste? “When you say you want me, do you mean…?”

He turned back to look at me.

My voice was a whisper. “You mean you want my blood?”

He nodded.

“Oh,” I said.

“Not just your blood.” He was whispering too. “You’re beautiful and strong and full of light, and you… you dazzle me, Penny.”

Funny, hadn’t I thought the same thing about him earlier that day?

“But,” he continued, “your blood is… is…” He picked up his wine glass and gulped half of the wine down. “I should go.”

“We could just talk about the case.”

He shook his head. “No, we couldn’t, and you know that.” He started for the door.

“Wait,” I said.

He paused.

“Maybe it’s not so bad that you want my blood. I mean, maybe I don’t mind. If you don’t take too much—”

“I mind,” he growled without looking at me. “I don’t like wanting it.” He threw open the door and left.

CHAPTER FOUR

I stood there, stunned, unsure of what had just happened, for several seconds before I decided this was stupid, and that I was just going to go after him. He had some weird guilt thing about the blood drinking, and he was being stupid about it, because I was fine.

And besides, I thought about it sometimes. About what it had been like when he’d had his teeth in me. And I thought about trying it again. So, maybe he just needed to understand that. And anyway, I thought it was highly unlikely that he could cause serious damage to me just by doing that. I mean, maybe it was theoretically possible that I could lose too much blood and die, but as long as I could get to some water to shift, then I’d be fine. Dragons couldn’t shift unless we were submerged in water when we did it. Otherwise, the trauma of the process would destroy our human form, and we’d be stuck in dragon form forever.

I found him at the bottom of the steps, talking to Connor.

He looked up at me as I descended the steps. “Hey.”

That was it? Hey?

“Connor got into the computer.” Lachlan held up the laptop.

“Oh,” I said. “Really? That’s great, Connor.”

Connor grinned at me. “I do what I can.

“I was telling him how much I appreciate that,” said Lachlan.

“Sure thing, Detective,” said Connor. “Anything you need, just ask.”

Lachlan grinned at him. “You don’t give up, do you?”

“I’m
not
hitting on you.” Connor’s nostrils flared. He threw up his hands and stalked off.

“He really does have an enthusiastic tone most of the time,” I said.

“I know.” Lachlan grinned at me. “I shouldn’t tease him, huh?”

I shook my head.

Lachlan gestured with the computer. “Guess I’ll go through this tonight.”

“Without me?”

He scratched the back of his head with his free hand. “I’ll call you if I find anything.”

“Lachlan, I feel like you’re being way too worried about this whole blood drinking thing, and I want you to know that I—”

“Hey,” he said. “Before you go off on whatever you’re going to go off on, let me say that it’s not just about being out of control or feeling like some kind of insatiable animal or any of that. It’s just…” His shoulders sagged. “I used to be a
dad
, Penny. I used to be a protector. But I failed.” His voice broke. “I didn’t protect her. And when I woke up, I was this thing that… eats people.”

“You don’t eat people,” I said. That was more of a drake thing, really.

“Eats, drinks, whatever,” he said. “It feels wrong to me. It’s like some beast thing crawled into my skin when I was sleeping, like Mr. Hyde took up residence in me, only I’m not being punished like Dr. Jekyll was—or if I am, I don’t know for what. Because I don’t know what I did wrong.”

“You didn’t,” I said. “It was an accident. Just an accident.”

“I don’t like being reminded of it,” he said. “You. This? Us? It makes it all too much.” He shook his head. “I really have to go now.”

I didn’t stop him.

* * *

He did call later to say that he’d found something interesting in Fletcher’s email account. Apparently, he and a friend were going to some club called The Dungeon, where they were doing stuff they didn’t want anyone to know about. They were cryptic in the emails, but it sounded like it might have involved some kind of drug use.

It sounded suspicious to both of us, so I agreed that I’d go with him tomorrow to interrogate the friend about what had happened.

After I lay down to go to sleep, I stared at the ceiling for a long time.

I was troubled by the fact that I wanted to have my blood sucked out of my body. I gazed at the ceiling and wondered if I was actually a masochist. If I’d been destined for Alastair because I enjoyed being hurt somehow…

But that was bull. I hadn’t enjoyed being beaten up, Alastair’s fists pounding into my stomach and, when I doubled over to protect myself, my cheekbones and jaw. I remembered the pain blotting out everything, making it impossible for me to breathe. To think.

I hadn’t enjoyed that.

The blood drinking thing was nothing like that.

And besides, I had to stop trying to question out why I had been mated with Alastair. I used to think it was some mystical bond, as if something in the universe had brought us together for a reason. I thought that if I was mated to someone like that, it had to be because I deserved it somehow.

Alastair always used to say that I was selfish and spoiled and stupid.

I believed him.

Even now, sometimes, I got confused. I wondered if I really was a terrible person. Attacks on my character hit hard, and I wasn’t sure how to take them.

But I knew the truth. Alastair and I were mated because of some accident of biology. That was the way dragons had evolved, to have one mate, and—for most people—it worked out fine. But I’d been saddled with a jackass, and it wasn’t my fault. It was his.

I shut my eyes.

I forced myself to relax.

That was the last thing I remembered before I slipped off to sleep.

The next morning, I was ready when Lachlan came to pick me up. My hair wasn’t wet. I looked presentable. I had my own coffee.

He was all business. He didn’t touch me or compliment me or make any reference to what we’d talked about the night before.

I followed his lead.

We drove up to the north of Sea City to the condo where Fletcher’s friend lived and knocked on his door.

The door opened and a guy with messy dark curls blinked sleepily at us. He was only wearing a pair of plaid pajama pants. “Uh, hello?”

Lachlan flashed his badge. “Hi there. I’m Detective Lachlan Flint. This is my associate, Penny Caspian. We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions.”

The guy scratched his bare stomach and yawned. “Yeah, all right.”

“You are Timothy Fields, right?” said Lachlan.

“Yeah.”

“And you exchanged a series of emails with Fletcher Remington about attending some establishment called The Dungeon?”

“Oh, dude,” said Timothy, backing away from the door. “Look, I only buy the stuff. I don’t sell it or nothin.’ I’m a small fry, man. I’m not worth your while.”

“This is about Fletcher’s disappearance, not drugs,” said Lachlan.

“But you two
were
using,” I said.

“Only with the vampires,” said Timothy. “At least for me, anyway. I don’t know about Fletcher. He seemed out of it a lot, and maybe he was into other stuff too. We just did The Dungeon thing.”

“Vampires?” said Lachlan.

“Uh… you didn’t know about that?”

Lachlan and I both crossed our arms over our chests.

Timothy swallowed. “That’s what The Dungeon is. You take a bunch of speed, and then you go to The Dungeon, and a vampire sucks you almost dry, and it’s this really intense high.”

I felt my face flush.

Lachlan looked down at his feet.

Was that what we had experienced together? Some kind of cheap thrill that teenage dragons were replicating in disgusting clubs? I mean, I hadn’t taken any speed, but I wasn’t sure what component that was to the whole experience.

“The vampires like it because they get dragon blood out of the deal,” said Timothy.

“Yes, I gathered that,” said Lachlan, shaking his head. “How often did you and Fletcher do this?”

Timothy shrugged. “I don’t know. A bunch of times, I guess.”

“And when was the last time you saw him?”

“I don’t know. It’s been weeks.”

“Was the last place you saw him at The Dungeon?”

“I don’t think so, but after they drink your blood, everything’s really fuzzy. A couple times, I haven’t even been sure how I got home,” said Timothy.

“Great,” said Lachlan. “Just great. I’m sure that you realize this little activity of yours is dangerous.”

“Dangerous?”

“What do you think happens if one of the vampires can’t stop?” said Lachlan.

“Dragons can’t die from blood loss,” said Timothy, snorting. “If it got that bad, I’d just shift.”

“As long as you were still conscious,” said Lachlan. “And from the sounds of it, you lose track of yourself a good bit of the time.”

Timothy furrowed his brow. “No way, man. Vampires can’t kill dragons. Dragons are way more powerful than vampires.”

“Where is this Dungeon place, exactly?” said Lachlan.

* * *

Lachlan banged on the door of The Dungeon, which was a tiny bar tucked away in a strip mall downtown. The doors were locked up, and it said that it was closed, but he was banging on the door anyway.

“They aren’t here,” I said, chewing on my thumbnail. Ever since the revelation that whatever I’d experienced with Lachlan was nothing more than a high, I’d been feeling so embarrassed, I wanted to go crawl back under the covers of my bed.

He ignored me. He kept knocking.

“Lachlan,” I muttered.

He didn’t acknowledge that I’d even spoken.

“They’re closed,” I said.

He let his hand fall to his side. He shook his head.

And then the door opened. A goth-looking vampire poked his head out. He had jet black hair and smeared black eyeliner. “We’re closed.”

Lachlan shoved his badge in the vampire’s face. “Just here to ask some questions.”

The vampire straightened up. “There’s nothing illegal going on in this place.”

“Really?” said Lachlan. “Then you aren’t killing dragons?”

“What?” said the vampire.

“You drink the blood of dragons here. You deny that?”

“Hey, I don’t personally drink any blood at all,” said the guy. “I’m human.”

Lachlan gave him a bland look. “Of course you are.”

“And nothing like that happens here,” said the guy.

Lachlan got his phone out and flipped through until he found the picture of Fletcher. “You ever seen this man?”

“No,” said the guy, barely looking at the picture.

“Look again,” said Lachlan. “He’s missing.”

The guy glanced at the picture again. “Never seen him before in my life.”

“What happens if one of the little sessions here goes too far?” said Lachlan. “What happens if one of the vampires takes too much blood?”

“Nothing. That doesn’t happen,” said the guy. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure, you don’t.”

“No idea.” The guy surveyed us both. “We done here? Am I being detained?”

Lachlan rolled his eyes. “If you killed him, I’m going to find out.”

“I didn’t kill anyone,” said the guy. “I think you should go.” He started to close the door, but he did it slowly, waiting for Lachlan to stop him.

But Lachlan just put his phone away and backed up. “Have a nice day, sir,” he said in a caustic voice.

The guy glared at us. He yanked the door shut.

* * *

Lachlan jammed his sunglasses back on his face.

“Are you okay?” I asked him. I was sitting in the passenger seat of the car with him. The previous interrogation had been atypical for him. He was usually in control of himself. He was casual, collected, calculated. This time, he’d only seemed angry.

“No, I’m not okay,” he said. “That dumb kid got himself killed by a bunch of stupid vampires, and I don’t know how we’re going to prove that. How can we even place him at the scene?”

“Look, we don’t know what happened,” I said.

“It seems pretty obvious, don’t you think?” he said.

I stared out the window at the sky. It was gray today, as if it was going to rain, but it wasn’t raining. Just humid and windy. “I think maybe you’re projecting our issues onto the situation.”

“
Our
issues?”

“You think that vampires don’t have any control, and you’re sure—”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Penny, can you not let it be for a
day
?” He ripped his sunglasses off and jammed his keys into the ignition.

I shrank into the seat of the car. I didn’t like being yelled at.

He noticed. He let go of the keys and sank back into his seat. “Sorry,” he whispered.

I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t going to say anything. I knew better than to talk back after making a man angry. I should have kept my mouth shut in the first place.

“Hey,” he said in a gentle voice. “Look at me.”

God damn it, what was I thinking? I could flipping talk back if I wanted. It was Lachlan’s stupid fault that he was angry, not mine. I whipped my head around to meet his gaze, and I glowered at him. “You’re worried that
you
would lose control. You’re worried that you’d hurt me, and that’s what all of this is about.”

His lips parted.

“Admit it,” I said.

“Okay,” he said softly. “I admit it. Because it could happen. It’s not crazy to think it could happen. Your friend Felicity? How would you feel if she was letting Jensen bite her?”

I stiffened. “It’s not the same thing. She’s helpless, and I’m—”

“Penny, it’s the same.”