Fire Song (City of Dragons) (6 page)

The compulsion was something that really freaked people out. Being able to look into someone’s eyes and tell them what to do and have them obey without question. I could see why that was terrifying. But it only worked when we were in the presence of someone. All our magic was like that, in fact. If we weren’t close, we couldn’t affect someone. And the compulsion only worked on utterly unmagical beings, which was why even having a small talisman on your person would protect you from compulsion.

Still, I supposed it might be true that people did hate us.

Most dragons were wealthy. There was a rumor that we had a magical connection to wealth and treasure, that we were driven to hoard it. It wasn’t true. Dragons were wealthy for the same reason most people were wealthy. The wealth had been passed down over generations.

But did everyone hate dragons?

If the people around me were to find out, would they hate me?

Because if it wasn’t an angry gargoyle that had killed those girls, but Alastair and he got locked up, there would be no reason for me to hide anymore. I could let everyone know what I was.

I guessed, with Alastair out of the way, I could even go back to my old life. Society parties and dragon coming-of-age ceremonies and all of that. But I didn’t think so. Even without the threat of Alastair, I knew I wouldn’t belong with them.

Not anymore.

The truth was, I might still technically be a dragon, but I wasn’t like them anymore.

After my walk, I went back to the hotel.

As I walked into the lobby, I spotted a man in a leather jacket bent over a brochure, standing by the doorway. The jacket had a skull on the back…

Oh, hell, no. The vampires were back already?

I looked around for more of them, gathering up my magic. Maybe this time, I’d breathe some fire. It would wipe out all my magic if I did that, but it might be worth it. Maybe it would scare them all away once and for all.

There weren’t any other vampires, though.

The one with the brochure turned slowly. He had slicked-back dark hair. He was smiling.

I stood my ground, unsure of what happened next. Were the other vampires hiding somewhere? Did they all jump out at once?

The vampire offered me his hand. “I don’t think we’ve met. My name is Ace Gonzales.”

I ignored his hand. “Get out.” I said in a bored tone, as if he didn’t unsettle me one bit. One thing I knew for sure was that showing weakness was never a good idea. If you showed your weakness, it got used against you.

“Oh, now is that fair? We’ve only just met, and you’re already being so rude to me?”

“Well, I might have been more welcoming if your gang hadn’t been here before you a few times, destroying all my property. That may have put a damper on our burgeoning polite acquaintanceship.”

“I really have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said. “I do happen to know that there is a problem with gangs in the area and with vandalism. But
my
organization is here to protect, not destroy.”

“Sure it is,” I said.

“Well, someone like you doesn’t need any protecting, do you, Penelope Cooper?”

“My last name’s Caspian.” I wandered over behind the counter, acting casual, but my heartbeat had sped up.

Connor was there, looking pale—well, as pale as a gargoyle can look, anyway.

I gave him a reassuring smile. “Why don’t you take a break, Connor?”

“I told him to leave,” said Connor, “but he wouldn’t listen, and I didn’t know what to do.”

“It’s fine.” I smiled wider. “Go ahead.”

Connor looked back and forth between me and the vampire. “I don’t know, Penny. I think maybe I should stick around,” he said in a low voice. “You might need me.”

Ace laughed. “I’m not here to hurt your boss, I promise. I’m here to talk business. It’s become clear to me that the way I was going about it before wasn’t the most effective way, so I’ve shifted my approach.”

I was tempted to just blast him with fire right then. Burn him to a crisp.

Of course, it probably wasn’t safe to do that inside the hotel. I could end up burning the whole place to the ground. I guessed I wouldn’t be using my pyrokinesis after all.

“As any good businessman should,” Ace continued, chuckling.

I had to admit that it felt good to have Connor at my side. I felt stronger as I stared Ace down. “I want you out of here. There’s no approach you could possibly use that would make me pay you one fucking cent.”

Ace laughed again. He put his fingers to his mouth, feigning shock. “Ooh, the mouth on you, Mrs. Cooper.”

“I
told
you,” I said. “My name is Caspian.”

“Your maiden name is Caspian.” He approached the front desk and put both his palms down on the counter. “You know, it’s funny, because when my guys came back telling me that you had strong magic, I figured that looking into you would only reveal that you were some kind of mage, one of those pathetic little ladies who bends over a cauldron, boiling down dragon gristle. Imagine my delight when I found out that you were the missing wife of one of the richest business moguls on the east coast.”

My nostrils flared. So, I guessed I’d just been lucky so far. Flint had been right. It was far too easy to track me, to figure out who I was. “We’re divorced.” I came out from behind the counter. “Do I need to escort you out?”

“I’m not finished with my proposition,” he said.

“I’m not interested. So, you know how to dig into a person’s private past and bring up painful memories. What do you want? A medal?”

“No,” he said. “More like I want you to pay me the going rate for protection of your business and provide me and my boys with a pint of your blood every week.”

My mouth dropped open. “You think I would
give
you vermin my blood?”

He reached out and ran his fingers over my neck. “I could just take it.”

I slapped his hand away. “Just try it,” I snarled.

He laughed again. “It’s been a while since I’ve tasted dragon’s blood. And I don’t think I’ve ever had it so fresh. Most of the stuff I get has been frozen, and it’s not the same.”

“Get. Out. Now.”

“If you don’t comply with my requests, Mrs. Cooper, I’ll be forced to give your husband a call and tell him exactly where you are.”

I clenched my hands into fists. I breathed in a lungful of air, and I felt power and heat gathering inside my lungs. Smoke trickled out of my mouth.

Ace took a step backwards.

I blew out a bright tongue of fire. It sizzled and crackled in the air, lighting up the room orange and red.

Ace tripped over his feet and went sprawling on his backside.

I hadn’t even singed him. Unfortunately. But I couldn’t risk the hotel, so I’d held back. I stepped over him, staring down at his stunned face. “You know what? I think maybe I’m tired of hiding. You tell Alastair anything you want. I don’t care. Now get out of my hotel and don’t come back.”

*

“Where’s your gargoyle?” said Flint, looking around the lobby of the hotel.

“Stone,” I said. “It’s daylight.”

“Ah,” he said. “Right. I forgot about that.”

I shook my head at him. “How have you survived this long working as a police officer in this city without knowing this stuff?”

“Don’t know,” he said. “That’s why I’m lucky to have you.”

“You here to ask me questions about Alastair?”

“Actually, yes. I’m hoping to go and interview him today, and I want to know everything I can about him.”

I took a deep breath. “I think I’d like to come when you interview him.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“I’m sick of hiding,” I said. “And besides, Alastair has ruined my life for too long. I need to move forward. If he did this, I want him locked up.”

Flint nodded slowly, putting his hands in his pockets. “I guess that makes sense. And I think having you along might throw him off guard. Seeing you could affect him emotionally. I might be able to use that. But I don’t know if it would be good for you.”

“I didn’t know you cared,” I muttered. “A few days ago, you were convinced I was a murder suspect.”

He gave me a funny look. “Of course I’m concerned about your welfare.”

“Whatever.” I logged out of the computer at the desk. “Let me find someone to cover the front desk. I’ll meet you out front.”

He didn’t argue with me.

In about fifteen minutes, I was pulling the passenger door of Flint’s car shut after me. It was midmorning, a nice spring day, with the sun shining and the temperatures in the upper fifties. The forecast promised that they’d climb into the low seventies. I rolled down the window a crack to get the smell of the sea air.

He put his sunglasses on and started the car. He pulled out of the parking lot and back onto Atlantic Avenue, heading north.

There was no traffic this time of year, this time of day, so it would only take us about fifteen minutes to get up to the north side of the city.

“I assume you have confirmation that Alastair is in town?” I said.

“Yeah, I wasn’t going to interview him in Connecticut,” he said.

“So, he’s staying up north in one of those new housing developments.”

“It appears so.”

I felt my throat tighten. Had he known that I was here? “He hates the ocean,” I said softly.

“What do I need to know?” said Flint. “You don’t have to go into too much detail if it’s painful, but what kind of hitting are we talking about here?”

“There are different kinds?”

He gripped the steering wheel. “You ever read
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad?”

“I don’t think so,” I said.

“Well, it’s a story about a man who goes insane in Africa, all the while making a tribe of natives worship him as a god. The man’s name is Kurtz, and he’s psychotic. He thinks he’s right about everything, thinks he’s God’s gift to Africa, but he’s nothing more than a sad bully. Anyway, it starts out simple for Kurtz. But as time goes on, he starts to assert his dominance more and more. By the time the narrator in the book finds the guy, he’s got a ring of heads on sticks around his house. He’s not only killing people, he’s displaying their heads like trophies.”

I made a face. “That’s… disgusting. What kind of book is this?”

“Look, the point is, a man like that, a man who enjoys dominating people, he works his way up to it. So, what kind of hitting are we talking about? How far did he go?”

I was quiet.

“If you don’t want to talk about it—”

“It wasn’t so much the hitting,” I said. “It was what he did to my head, how he made me doubt myself, how me made me feel worthless.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I get that.”

We were silent for a bit, and the air coming through the window was too cold. I shivered, and then I rolled up my window.

“The reason I ask,” said Flint in the voice he’d used on the beach, the intimate, soothing one that made me want to spill all my secrets, “is because I need to know if he takes pleasure in inflicting violence or not. If he’s the one doing this to those girls, then I need to know what gets him going.”

“Oh,” I said. “Right.”

“Did he slap you?”

“He never… cut me like the girls are cut,” I said.

“No,” said Flint. “But you were his mate. He valued you. These girls… they’re disposable. Playthings to be used for a bit and tossed aside.”

“Yeah,” I said. “He just used his fists. We dragons, we can heal fast if we shift into dragon form, and it was like… if I did that and erased the damage, then it didn’t matter what he did to me.”

“He made you bleed then.”

“Yes,” I said softly.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I’m sorry it happened. I’m sorry I made you talk about it.”

“It’s okay,” I said.

“We can talk about something else.”

“No,” I said. “There are things you need to understand about how it all works. The mating bond. When we see each other, it might be…” I bit my lip, trying to think about how to explain this.

“If you’re trying to tell me that you still have feelings for him, I understand. That’s typical, you know, even without this mating bond you’re talking about.”

“It’s different,” I said. “It manifests as a strong… physical attraction. Basically, the first time a dragon sees his or her mate, both of them are swept away by a very intense physical reaction. It’s hard not to give in to that. It’s hard to keep from…”

He waited.

I chewed on my bottom lip.

“From what?”

I winced. “Jumping each other’s bones.” I couldn’t figure out a less crude way to put it.

He shot a glance across the car, eyebrows raised.

“I’m wearing a talisman,” I said. “It dampens it, so I should be able to resist any… urges I might have.” I was blushing now. My face felt incredibly hot.

“That’s very interesting,” he said.