city of dragons 03 - fire magic (28 page)

Lachlan didn’t answer.

We waited.

“Caleb?” Lachlan said again. To me, “Little light here, Penny?”

I pushed magic down my arm, and a small ball of fire appeared in my palm. I held it aloft, a torch. It illuminated the inside of Caleb’s cell. We could see the edge of his desk. His chair. His bed, and it looked empty…

“Hello.”

I jumped.

Caleb had stepped into the circle of light that my fire ball had created. He was grinning, and he looked demented.

“You want out?” said Lachlan. “You got it.”

“Just like that?” Caleb said. “You’ll let me go free? After everything I did to you? Really?”

“We’re getting you out of this cell,” said Lachlan. “I promise you that. And you won’t be going back inside it.”

Caleb folded his arms over his chest.

“Let me get this cell door open,” said Lachlan. “I’m going to have to trust you here, though, Caleb. If I do that, it will charge up the bars. Don’t push me into them again.”

Caleb raised his chin, waiting.

Lachlan gestured at the catch to the cell, and it opened. The cell door slid open.

Lachlan stepped back. “Come on, Caleb. Let’s go.”

Caleb let out a puzzled laugh, but he didn’t need to be told twice. He hurried through the door.

Immediately, I caught him with my magic, lifting him up off the ground so that he was a few feet off the floor. Now, he could flail all he liked, but he couldn’t get anywhere. “Not so fast,” I said.

“I knew there was a catch,” said Caleb.

“We just want to make sure you hold up your end of the bargain,” said Lachlan. “What’s this proof? How do we get it?”

“The cameras,” said Caleb. “It was all recorded what she did to Alastair. You were right about everything. She wanted more of his power, and she came in here and forced him to shift into a dragon to try to get the rest of it. But whatever she did, it didn’t work right. It killed him, and it did something to her. She was different before.”

My shoulders sagged. “Those cameras are just for show,” I said. “She told us herself. They’re only here to make you think you’re being watched.”

“She lied to you,” said Caleb. “They watch the cameras. They know the things that I do when they aren’t around. They’re probably watching right now, so you’d better let me go.”

“Nice try,” said Lachlan.

“At least let’s move up the corridor,” said Caleb. “They’ll be coming for us.”

“Shove him back in the cell, Penny,” said Lachlan. “He doesn’t have any proof after all.”

“I do!” said Caleb.

“So where do they keep this footage that these cameras are supposedly recording?” I said.

“I don’t know,” said Caleb. “How would I know that?”

Lachlan reached out with one hand and suddenly Caleb’s head twisted in an unnatural way. There was a sickening crack.

Caleb hung in the air, lifeless.

“Did you just kill him?” I said, shocked.

“No,” said Lachlan. “He’s a vampire. How else do you think he was compelling men to be sex slaves?”

“Oh,” I said. “Right.”

“Let’s get him out of here,” said Lachlan.

“Really?” I said.

“That’s the plan, isn’t it?” he said.

“Well, we thought he’d have proof, and he doesn’t.”

“Maybe his testimony will be worth something to the police.”

* * *

When we got back to Felicity and Connor, they had Sid splayed against one wall, stuck there spread eagle. He was still conscious, though, and that was good.

I stalked over to him. “Sid, the cameras. Do they function or not?”

He stared at me with wide eyes, but he didn’t say anything.”

“Sorry,” said Connor. “I’m using magic to keep his throat closed so that he can’t scream.”

“Let him talk!” I said.

Connor made a gesture with one hand.

Sid started yelling.

“Stop that,” I said. “I will breathe fire and
burn
you.”

Sid stopped.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “The cameras. Real?”

“Of course they’re real,” he gasped. “Why would we put up fake cameras?”

“So there’s footage of everything that happens in those cells?” I said.

“Sure,” he said.

“And no one told us this when we were trying to figure out how Alastair was killed?” said Lachlan.

“Well, he wasn’t killed here,” said Sid.

“How do we get to the footage?” I said.

“Computer,” said Sid. “They’re all saved on the network drive. But you need a password, and I’m never going to give you mine.”

I breathed out a tongue of fire. It stopped short of Sid’s face, singeing his nose.

He let out a hoarse cry.

“The password,” I said.

“It’s 15641616,” said Sid.

“Shakespeare’s dates?” said Lachlan.

“What?” said Sid.

“Those are the dates that Shakespeare was born and died,” said Lachlan.

“Okay,” said Sid. “I don’t set the passwords.”

“Does that matter?” I said, glaring at Lachlan.

He shrugged.

“This computer right here?” I said, pointing. “Is it going to work here?”

“Let me do it,” said Connor. “I’m good with this stuff. You keep Sid here up against the wall.”

I nodded. “Okay, fine.” I traded places with Connor, and found myself standing next to Felicity, who was holding her talisman and glaring at Sid. “You okay?” I said to her.

“Fine,” she said.

I reached out with my magic, and I realized that she was bearing the brunt of holding Sid in place, only leaving a few augmentations for Connor. I took over, giving her a much-needed break.

She let out a slow breath. “Thanks,” she whispered.

Behind us, there was a thud.

I turned. Damn it. I’d forgotten I was floating Caleb along. Caleb had said that they could see us on those cameras, that someone would be coming.

“Jensen, watch the hallway,” I said to him. He was just standing around watching everyone, looking nervous.

“Uh, okay,” he said. “What do I do if, uh, if someone’s coming?”

“You tell us that,” I said. I turned to Felicity. “What do you see in this guy again?”

“Hey,” said Jensen. “Standing right here. Right exactly here.”

I ignored him.

He scurried out to watch the hallway.

“How’s it going over there?” I asked Connor.

He was sitting down at the computer. “I’m in,” he said. “I just don’t know what file you want. They’re in folders by dates. When are we talking here?”

Lachlan told him what week we thought it might have happened.

“A whole week?” said Connor. “Uh, I can’t watch all of these. I don’t know which one we want.”

Jensen came back in. “Uh. Someone’s coming.”

“Who?” I said.

“I don’t know. Some lady with a bunch of guys dressed like him.” Jensen pointed at Sid.

“Great,” said Lachlan. “Can you copy them all, Connor?”

“Sure,” he said. “I can put them all in my cloud storage, but it’s going to take a little bit of time to upload.”

“How much time?” I said.

“I don’t know,” said Connor. “It depends on how fast the Internet speed is here.”

From the wall, Sid yelled again. “Help!”

“Shut up,” I said to him, using magic to seal his lips.

“Mmmph!” yelled Sid.

“Are you doing it?” I said to Connor.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, staring at the screen, clicking on his mouse furiously.

The door burst open.

There stood Darla Tell, flanked by a bunch of men.

I pivoted, dropping all the magic that I had holding Sid to the wall, and throwing it into Darla and the men.

The men all stumbled and fell to their knees.

Darla just stood there, sneering at me.

Behind me, Sid yelled as he hit the floor.

“Felicity!” I cried.

“With you,” she snarled, turning to face the men.

We joined hands. I felt her magic join mine, the power heady and strong. Together, we picked up Sid and the other men. We swept them out of the room, like they were being pushed by a powerful wind. We slammed the door behind them.

Darla wasn’t affected at all.

“Connor?” I called.

“Yeah?” he said.

“How we doing?”

“Well, it’s uploading. Shouldn’t be much longer.”

“You need to have hands on the keyboard?”

“No, I’m just waiting.”

“Then you and Felicity and Jensen need to get Caleb out of here. Now.”

Darla spoke. “What do you think you’re doing, Penny?”

I poured my magic into her, a concentrated thrust, everything I had. I funneled it into her stomach.

She blinked a little, let out a grunt. But she didn’t even stumble. “There’s no need for that, you know. I’m not here to hurt you. I would never hurt you, Penny.”

“No?” I said, glaring at her.

“Have I ever even
attempted
to hurt you?” she said.

“You killed Alastair and let me take the fall for it,” I said. “So, yeah, that’s kind of doing harm to me.”

She sighed.

“Felicity, Connor!” I yelled. “Get the hell out of here.”

Felicity darted forward, and—using magic—hauled Caleb’s body over her shoulder.

Connor came out from behind the computer to join her.

Darla shook her head. “I can’t let you take a prisoner.”

“Lachlan,” I said, reaching back for him.

His fingers touched mine.

“We got to keep her busy so that they can get away,” I said.

His fingers closed around mine, and our magic surged to life like lightning. It sprang out of us, a white bolt that collided with the wall two feet from Darla’s head. The wall dissolved where the power touched it. A huge hole appeared, and then cracks in the rest of the wall shot out from the hole.

Darla raised her eyebrows. “A blood bond. But of course. How else could the baby have been possible? It had to be a blood bond.”

“You two really need to work on your aim,” said Felicity from the door. “That nearly killed us all.”

“Sorry,” I said.

Darla turned, reaching out with one hand.

Felicity and the others froze.

I squeezed Lachlan’s hand. We let out another bolt.

Our aim wasn’t great this time either, but this time we grazed Darla’s shoulder.

She shrieked, clutching it.

Felicity and the others disappeared through the doorway. I hoped they’d get away clean. They needed to get Caleb to the police. Get the evidence to the police. Lachlan and I would take care of Darla, and we’d meet them there, and this nightmare would be over.

Darla was doubled over, her eyes closed. She straightened, pulling her hand away from her shoulder. It looked fine. She’d healed it somehow.

Lachlan turned to me. “Let’s get this bitch.”

I narrowed my eyes, and together, Lachlan and I pulled our power together, doing our best to harness the storm that passed between us, to bend it to our wills. We sucked up a cyclone of magic, white-hot and blazing. We started to throw it at Darla and—

Suddenly, we were on opposite sides of the room, not touching.

Darla was standing between us, her arms spread.

I tried to get up.

She pushed her palm at me.

I flopped against the floor like a fish on dry land.

“Only one thing to do against blood bonds,” said Darla. “Keep the bonded pair apart. No touchy, no blasty.”

I sucked in a huge breath, gathering fire in my belly. I roared out a ball of fire at her.

She pointed at it and it fizzled, turning blue, then transparent, then fading away in a puff of smoke.

I swallowed. That was bad.

She looked frustrated. “I came here to talk to you, that’s all. But if you don’t want to talk, then I suppose I’ll have to show you why it’s a very, very stupid idea to try to fight me.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Darla pointed at Lachlan. She used magic to lift him into the air.

Lachlan reached out, sending magic at Darla.

She didn’t even feel it. Instead, she twirled her finger in the air.

Lachlan’s body suddenly bent backwards, nearly in half.

He screamed. And screamed. And then it cut off.

And Darla kept bending him.

“Stop!” I said.

She looked at me. She clenched her hand into a fist.

And I was alight in pain—pain I’d never felt before, as if every part of my body was burning from the inside, all my cells igniting and disintegrating.

And someone was still screaming.

But then I realized it was me.

And the pain kept going, so excruciating that I could hardly believe it was actually happening. I hurt like I was dying, like it was worse than dying.

No, I wanted to die, because dying would be peace, an end to this agony.

Then, there, I could almost see death, ahead of me, like a dark, empty tunnel that I could burrow in and—

The baby. I felt the baby, reaching for me with his tiny hands.

Oh, God, what was this doing to the baby? I couldn’t die. I had to stay alive. My body was the only protection that he had.

I stopped screaming. I forced my eyes open. “Stop,” I said. Well, I mouthed. I had no voice. I wanted to scream again. I wrapped my arms around my belly. I pulled my knees up to my chest. I had to protect the baby.

Darla was staring at me, looking me up and down, sizing me up like I wasn’t even human, just some vaguely intriguing plaything.

“Stop,” I croaked, against the pain that was still burning through every fiber of my being.

She lowered her hand.

The pain stopped.

I shut my eyes again. I hugged the baby from the outside, trying to feel for him again. Was he okay?

And there was a faint answer from him, just a pulse of his tiny being from within me. The pulse was fading, but I knew somehow that it wasn’t because the baby was hurt, but because my ability to feel him was fading now that I wasn’t inches from death.

I opened my eyes and looked around.

Lachlan lay across the room from me, eyes open and glassy.

“He’s not dead,” said Darla. “I could kill him if I wanted. I could kill you both. Very easily. It wouldn’t be a bit of effort. Do you understand that?”