city of dragons 02 - fire storm (27 page)

But it was too late. The captain said he’d already sent at least twenty men over there.

Lachlan hung up, white faced. “He thinks that sending twenty guys was overkill. He doesn’t get it at all.”

We got in Lachlan’s car and we raced up Atlantic Avenue—Lachlan had one of those little flashing lights that he could put on his dash, and everyone moved out of our way, which was nifty—until we were all the way to the north side of Sea City.

It was just getting dark when we pulled up to Alastair’s house.

The place was a mess.

Cop cars glutted the driveway, making it impossible for us to get close, so Lachlan just pulled off the road and parked.

We got out of the car to the sounds of gun fire. Loud pops of bullets shattering the air.

The police force that had been sent were all firing, but they weren’t firing at Alastair.

Instead, Alastair stood in the doorway to his house, his eyes glowing orange while the police lined up and marched to shoot each other one after the other.

The next wave of men trampled over the dead bodies of their fallen comrades.

“He compelled them to shoot each other,” I muttered, aghast.

Lachlan took out his own gun. “Maybe we’re making this too complicated, you know? He’s distracted. I’ve got a clear shot.” He cupped the handle with both hands and focused on Alastair. Then he pulled the trigger.

Everything froze.

Alastair looked up at us. He was the only thing that could move.

All the bullets fell to the ground.

Everything started to move again.

“Damn it,” said Lachlan. “Damn it, he can stop bullets?”

“So can we,” I said. “It’s just telekinesis. Hyper-focused telekinesis.”

“We did it once, anyway,” said Lachlan, reaching for my hand.

I took it. As we touched, the power surged to life between us. We had figured out that we sort of had to charge it up. It worked when we were connected, him drinking my blood. But it also worked if he had drunk my blood recently, like a lingering battery charge.

Alastair waved his hand at the police officers. The remaining ones took aim at each other again.

Lachlan reached out and snatched all the bullets out of the air.

He forced them to go toward Alastair.

Alastair knocked them to the ground.

“So much for that,” Lachlan said.

Alastair made a gesture with one fist, fingers bursting open.

And the skulls of the remaining officers exploded.

“Whoa,” said Lachlan.

I whimpered. “That’s telekinesis too. Technically, maybe I could do that even without extra magic. Not to that many people at once, but—”

“Penny,” Alastair’s voice boomed out. “You need to surrender.”

“We have to get close,” said Lachlan.

I nodded.

Still holding hands, we ran for Alastair, dodging the bodies of the fallen policemen. I hated to think of them lying dead this way. I hated to think of their families, the pain they would be going through when they found out. This was senseless. Tragic on an epic scale.

We had to stop him.

By the time we arrived at the front door, Alastair had Connor with him.

Connor blinked, bleary-eyed. He’d just woken up. “What the hell?” he said, struggling to get away from Alastair.

Alastair laughed. “I’ll kill your little gargoyle friend if you don’t agree to my terms. Admit that you belong to me.”

“Just try and kill me,” snapped Connor. “You can’t burn me. And you can throw me around all you want with your magic powers. I’m not going to bruise or break. I’m made of living stone. I was created to survive dragon attacks.”

“And yet you are still vulnerable to steel,” said Alastair, brandishing a knife and putting it to Connor’s throat. He held him by the shoulders, Connor’s back to Alastair’s front. Alastair peered around Connor. “I’ll slit his throat.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

He was using Connor as a shield. If we let loose with our magic, it would kill him.

I let go of Lachlan’s hand. “Let Connor go.”

“What are you doing?” said Lachlan, reaching for me.

“Just let him go,” I said to Alastair. “Don’t hurt him. He’s got nothing to do with this.”

Alastair sneered. “I’ll let him go when you surrender to me. Put on the bracelets.” He held them out to me.

I reached for them.

Lachlan blocked me. “Are you insane? You can’t surrender to him.”

Alastair moved the knife a little bit, and a spot of dark blood appeared at Connor’s throat.

“Don’t do it, Penny,” said Connor. “It’s not worth it. I’m his leverage, anyway. He’s not going to kill me.”

“He will,” I said in a tight voice. “He doesn’t care about anything. If you aren’t useful to him, he’ll kill you without batting an eyelash.”

“Exactly,” snarled Alastair. “Now put on the bracelets.”

“No,” said Lachlan. “If you put those on, he might just slit Connor’s throat anyway.”

That was a strong possibility. Alastair didn’t give a crap about Connor.

“My word as a dragon, he’ll go free,” said Alastair. “Put them on.”

“Penny.” Lachlan’s eyes were wide. “There’s got to be another way. What about other dragons? He used dragon sacrifice. Is there some sort of ruling body, a council of magic or something, someone who could stop him?”

“I’ve never heard of a dragon doing a dragon sacrifice,” I said. “It’s too horrible to even imagine.”

Alastair laughed. “Such is my love for you, not that you deserve it, bitch. I can’t
exist
without you. Since you left, I’ve felt your absence chipping away at my sanity. I had to fix it. I had to have you back, no matter the cost. You are my
mate
.”

“You don’t love me,” I said.

“Maybe not,” said Alastair. “But I need you, so it’s all the same in the end, isn’t it? Put on the bracelets. You’re killing him.” The knife bit into Connor’s neck a little more.

I picked up the bracelets and turned them over in my hands.

“No,” said Lachlan.

“I have to,” I whispered.

“No,” said Lachlan.

I put the bracelets on in one movement. They shrunk immediately, so that they were tight on my wrists and impossible to get off. “I’m sorry,” I said to Lachlan.

He seized me. He sunk his teeth into my neck.

And I felt us enveloped in magic—so bright, so strong, so intense—

But the bracelets were stronger, and they were yanking me away from him.

They pulled me inside the house, tearing my neck from Lachlan’s teeth.

I shrieked.

He cried out.

And Alastair shoved Connor out the door and opened his arms to me. “Welcome home, darling,” he jeered.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

I was shaking. My collar was covered in dried blood from the wound that had been made when I was ripped away from Lachlan. I stood in the living room, all the way across the room from Alastair, who was sitting on the couch and glowering at me.

We had been this way for nearly an hour. Just facing each other off, neither speaking.

Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore. “This is what you want? Having me here against my will?”

“Your will can be molded,” said Alastair. “It will take time, as you’ve built up walls against me, but I will find a way to make you compliant and sweet again.”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “And I’m not touching you again. I came in here to save Connor, that’s it.”

“I don’t want to touch you,” he said, looking disgusted. “It’s only the dragon bond that wants you.”

“Funny,” I said. “Truth is, I don’t feel very attracted to you right now.”

He stood up. “No?” He slowly tugged his shirt over his head, exposing his bare chest.

My breath caught in my throat. I looked away, disgusted by myself.

“And you,” he said in a gravelly voice. “You’re disheveled and bloody and I can smell the scent of that vampire all over you. And still I want you. I hate that I want you. I
hate
it.”

“Well, I hate it too,” I said.

“Look what you’ve done to my life.” He gestured around him. “It’s so tawdry, being caught up in a scandal like this. We’ll never recover our image, even after you drop the charges.”

“You’re a murderer, Alastair,” I said. “It doesn’t matter if I do drop the charges. And after all the cops out there that you killed?” I gestured. “You’re going to be locked up.”

He looked a bit alarmed, as if he hadn’t considered this possibility. “I suppose we’ll have to leave the country, then. And I’ll have to resign from the company.” He dragged a hand over his face. “You fucking, god damned whore. You have destroyed me.” He stalked across the room and seized me by the throat. He put both of his hands around my neck, and he started to squeeze.

I choked, struggling for air.

He squeezed tighter.

I closed my eyes, reaching for my magic. I concentrated, and I threw him away from me. I wanted to throw him all the way across the room, but he was too strong for me. I only managed about a foot.

Still. He wasn’t strangling me anymore.

I panted, rubbing my neck. Then I ran down the hall to the bedroom and locked myself inside.

He wanted to kill me. He hated the dragon bond. He hated me. Killing me would break that bond. I couldn’t let him do that. But I couldn’t get out of this house either.

I looked around.

I saw the telephone.

But who could I call for help?

On the phone’s body were a list of handwritten names.
Elizabeth’s cell-1. Mom and Dad Home-2. Mom’s cell-3. Dad’s cell-4.

I snatched up the phone and hit the number 1.

It rang.

“Hello?” answered Elizabeth.

“Elizabeth, it’s Penelope,” I said. “Your brother’s trying to kill me.”

“What?” she said.

At the same time, Alastair burst through the door, coming for me.

I thrust the phone at him. “Talk to your sister.”

Her voice filtered through the speaker. “Alastair? What’s going on?

* * *

Talking to Elizabeth calmed Alastair down enough that he wasn’t murderous.

After he hung up with her, he told me I could sleep in the guest bedroom until he figured out what to do with me.

I was pleased that he didn’t seem interested in trying to force me to have sex with him anymore. There seemed to be only loathing in his eyes when he looked at me, and the feeling was mutual. I wouldn’t be disappointed if he never wanted to touch me again.

I couldn’t sleep, though.

I paced the room, trying to figure out what it was that I could do.

Hours went by. I was exhausted and terrified.

Mentally, I had listed my few advantages, which were that my magic was intact and that I wasn’t under compulsion and I was alone here in this room.

But I was trapped in the house, and I couldn’t get out of here. Even Lachlan’s and my magic hadn’t been enough to override the magic in the bracelets.

I knew that what I had told Alastair was true. After killing so many police officers, there was no way that the department was going to let him go. They were going to attempt to arrest him again, and maybe if I just sat tight and waited for them to do it, everything would be okay.

I didn’t think, however, that they were likely to be successful at arresting Alastair. He was too powerful.

Still, there were a lot of them, and only one of him, and they would figure something out. Maybe they’d pump gas into the house, like Waco.

I shivered. I’d get gassed too, then, wouldn’t I?

And besides at Waco, the whole place had burned down. I didn’t think that was typically thought of as a good solution these days.

But, maybe they
would
come up with some kind of solution. Maybe they would get to him.

Of course, by then he might have already killed me.

There was no doubt about it. If I remained here in this house, my days were numbered. Alastair would kill me, sever the bond between us, and free himself. He thought the bond was making him crazy, but the truth was that he was simply insane and possessive and murderous anyway. The bond wasn’t at fault. He was.

Still, I couldn’t stay here. I would not survive if I stayed here.

But the bracelets kept me inside this house, and there was no way—

Wait a second.

What had I just been thinking about burning?

CHAPTER THIRTY

I crept out of the guest bedroom, tiptoeing past Alastair’s bedroom. The door was closed, but when I got close, I could hear him breathing steadily. He was asleep.

He had told me that there was an adjacent door to the master bathroom, and that must mean that it was down this hallway somewhere.

I padded over the carpet, searching.

Ah, yes.

There.

I pushed open the door. I crossed to the other side of the bathroom and pulled the door to Alastair’s room shut.

It made a loud clicking noise.

I swallowed. Had he heard?

Nothing. At least not yet.

I reached out for the light switch and then stopped. This was going to be noisy enough as it was. Turning on the light would mean that there would be a brightness shining under the door into his bedroom. That might wake him up.

So, I just went over to the bathtub and turned on the hot water full blast.

I would have done this in the guest bathroom, but it only had a normal-sized tub in it. The master bathroom had a full-sized jacuzzi tub. Since there was no pool in this house, and since I couldn’t get outside to go to the bay, this was my only option. I only hoped the tub would be big enough.

The faucet whooshed and the water babbled as the tub began to fill.