Fire Song (City of Dragons) (21 page)

“It’s just better for them things to be with their own kind is all,” said Glasses. “Not out in public with regular folks.”

Man, this conversation was starting to make me sick. I hated the Brotherhood. They were disturbed individuals, and it bothered me that they were allowed to exist or that anyone would join their ranks. But the truth was that they were growing, especially in this area. As more and more magical creatures came to Sea City, more and more humans joined the Brotherhood.

I couldn’t understand why. Surely people were more intelligent than that. Surely they weren’t all swayed by hate.

“You’re awful quiet, sweetheart,” said No Tooth to me.

“Just taking it all in,” I said.

“So Otis is a member of this club?” said Lachlan.

“Well, what do you mean by that?”

“You do have membership, don’t you?” said Flint.

“Yeah, there’s dues and all that,” said Glasses.

“So,” said Flint. “Is Otis one or not?”

“Yeah, I guess,” said No Tooth. “Why does it matter?”

“Only that I find it strange that he would have lied to me about it is all,” said Flint. “If this place doesn’t condone killing or violence like you say, then why would he want to hide his association?”

“We don’t know why Otis does anything,” said Glasses.”

“What’s this really about?” said No Tooth.

Thinning Hair cocked his head and looked closely at my chest.

At first I thought he was checking out my cleavage or something, and I blushed and felt like cold-cocking him. But then I realized he could see my talisman, because it was sticking out of my shirt. I tried to reach up and tuck it out of view.

But Thinning Hair shot forward and snatched it before I could. “What’s this?”

“Let go of my necklace,” I said.

He tugged it over my head. “This is magic shit.”

I shut my eyes. Damn it, why hadn’t I been paying better attention? Well, these were humans, and there was no reason to get too bent out of shape over it. I opened my eyes, locking onto Thinning Hair’s gaze. I peered deeply into his eyes. My voice came out low and soothing, bolstered by magic. “You want to give that back to me. You can see it’s not magic after all.”

“Oh,” said Thinning Hair in a low, sleepy voice. “Yeah, I guess not.” He started to hand it back.

“She’s using mind magic on you, Bill,” yelled No Tooth and leaped between us.

I held up my hand, pouring magic from it, lifting No Tooth off the ground.

And then I felt a sharp pain at the back of my skull.

Someone… behind me…

Everything faded out.

I struggled to open my eyes. My head still hurt. It was pounding in the place I’d been hit, pounding in time to the beat of my heart. I groaned.

I was lying face down on rough wood. I raised my face up.

And the world started to shake from side to side.

“Penny,” said Lachlan.

I sat up. We were hanging in the air in some kind of makeshift cage that looked like a big box for chickens or something. There were slats of wood around us, letting us see out, letting in the light. Near as I could tell, we were hanging from a tree.

We weren’t anywhere near the place where we’d been when I lost consciousness. They must have transported us while I was out.

“What the hell?” I said.

“I just woke up a minute ago,” he said. “There were more of them in there. They got the drop on us from behind.”

I gingerly touched the back of my head. “So, you don’t have any idea where we are?”

“None at all,” he said.

“They have us strung up like animals.”

“Yeah, they’re definitely just a nice wholesome organization who doesn’t stand for violence,” Flint muttered.

“Bastards,” I said. “We have to get out of here.” I reached out with my magic. “I can unhook us from the tree, float the cage down to the ground.”

“Okay,” said Flint. “That sounds good.”

A gunshot in the distance.

The bullet slammed into the trunk of the tree, just below us.

We both hit the floor, flattening ourselves there.

“Jesus,” I whispered.

Flint raised his head. “They’re up there. At the top of the hill.”

“Damn it,” I said. “That’s too far away. It’s out of the range of my magic.”

“Yeah?” he said. “Well, lower us anyway. They’ll have to come after us.”

I started to reach out with my magic again.

Another shot.

This one splintered the wood above my head, missing me by mere inches. I let out a high-pitched keening noise.

“You okay?” said Lachlan.

“Yeah,” I said in a tiny voice. “Let me try to get us down again.” I reached out a third time. This time I was successful. I untied the rope and lowered the box to the ground.

Another bullet burst through the wood.

Inches away again.

I shrieked. “Jesus, it doesn’t matter, does it? We can’t get out of this box anyway. They’ll just shoot us.”

“Thus far, they don’t seem to be crack shots,” said Flint.

“I wish you had magic,” I said. “With two of us, we’d double the amount of area we could cover. We’d be able to reach them.”

Flint swallowed. “Well, okay. Let me drink your blood.”

I drew back. “That would only work if you were a vampire.”

He raised his eyebrows meaningfully.

“You’re a
vampire
?”

Lachlan opened his mouth. He was sporting fangs.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this,” I said.

“I’m not exactly happy about it,” he said in a tight voice. “Can I…?” He pointed to my wrist.

I gave it to him.

Another shot burst through the cage.

I dove into Lachlan’s lap to avoid it.

He sunk his teeth into my wrist.

It hurt.

I squeezed my eyes shut. “Hurry up.” I cringed as I felt the tug of his mouth against my skin, his teeth deep inside my veins. I could feel my blood rushing out of my body, pumping out of my heart, down my arm, through my wrist, and into him.

But then… it was the strangest thing.

I could feel the blood as it left my body, as it flowed into Lachlan, and I could feel myself sort of… inside him, my magic surging into his body, filling him up.

We were connected, as if we were one being.

The sensation was startling. It was powerful. It was good. Almost exquisite. It was as if I had somehow suddenly found my place in the universe, and it was right here, with Lachlan, my blood in him, his teeth in me, the two of us together something larger and more wonderful than anything we could ever be on our own.

I was abruptly aware of everything else around me in the world with crystal clarity.

My eyes were closed, but I could sense every blade of grass, every bud on every tree, every bird in the air, every speck of dust floating in the breeze. I could feel the clouds, the sky, the sun, the coldness of the space and stars beyond us all.

I heard the sound of another gunshot, the bullet’s explosion, its movement as it ripped through the air.

But it was just an annoyance. I reached out and plucked it from its path, dropped it to the ground so that it was ineffectual and pointless. I had never thought such a thing was possible. Sure, I guessed theoretically my magic should be able to stop a speeding bullet, but the precision of that seemed—

I heard Lachlan suck in air through his nose.

I opened my eyes to find him staring at me, his mouth still working at my wrist. His gaze burrowed into me, and his eyes were clouded, half-lidded.

I felt like we were suddenly drowning in each other.

Another gunshot, but Lachlan took care of that one, knocking the bullet off course.

I reached out and touched his face. I ran my fingers over his prominent cheekbone, over his jaw, felt the slight prickle of his stubble underneath his skin.

He shut his eyes.

I let out a tiny noise, a kind of sigh.

And then…

Abruptly, it was
bad
. I could suddenly feel that I was losing too much blood, and there was a dark, inky spike of terror coursing through me. I was sinking. I was going to be swallowed by that darkness, unless—

“That’s enough,” I gasped. “Stop it. Let me go.”

He didn’t. He kept sucking, his eyes slammed shut.

“
Lachlan
.” I could hear the fear in my voice.

He disengaged, throwing himself to the other side of the cage. He put his fingers to his lips. His hands were shaking. “Fuck,” he mumbled.

There was another shot.

I tried to stop the bullet again, but it was too fast for me. I hit the floor.

The bullet burst through the wood just above my head.

I felt lightheaded from the loss of blood. It felt better to simply lie here. I rested my cheek against the rough wooden floor, closing my eyes.

“Penny,” said Lachlan hoarsely.

I grunted.

“You have to help me,” he said urgently.

I wanted to go to sleep. I was tired, and the world was all fuzzy around the edges. My heart was beating too fast, my breath was shallow, and my head was starting to pound, and if I just took a nap—

He was shaking me.

I opened my eyes.

“Wake up,” he said urgently.

Another gun shot.

He yanked me up out of its path.

I moaned at the sudden movement.

He cupped my face, searching my eyes with his own. “Listen to me, I realize this is my fault. I’ve never done that before, especially not to a dragon, and you taste…
Fuck
.” He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them. “Look, I don’t have time to feel guilty. I will do that after we get out of here. Now help me stop them.”

I blinked. I swallowed. My throat was dry. “Okay,” I said. My voice sounded like ground glass.

I took his hand.

It was like when I’d had the talismans with Connor and Felicity. I could feel his magic, strengthening mine.

How did that work? He had
my
magic. Why did his consuming it make more magic? I didn’t understand.

But there wasn’t time to think about it.

Instead, I reached out, using his strength and my own, and I splintered the cage we were in, just smashed it to smithereens, sending the shards of wood off in all directions.

And then I used my magic to find the guns.

I ripped them from the men’s hands, tore them away and made them hurtle through the air. I had the guns land up in the branches of a nearby tree, out of the men’s reach.

Then I picked up each of the men and floated them in midair.

Lachlan and I got to our feet.

The men were yelling their heads off, screaming for mercy, calling us all kinds of names.

We approached them, crossing the field until we reached them.

“You maggers!” said one of the men. “Both of you.”

“Shut up,” said Lachlan. He pointed at the men, and their arms were all forced behind their backs. They tried to speak, but they couldn’t. He made a circle with his hand, and the bottoms of each of their shirts ripped off in a long strip. He circled wider. The makeshift ropes wrapped around the men’s wrists.

I was still feeling lightheaded. I could feel my magic starting to wink out. I only had so much after each shift, and I had given too much too Lachlan.

I stumbled.

The men all fell to the ground.

They landed on their sides, and they tried to stand up, but they couldn’t.

Lachlan just smiled. “Y’all stay down, all right?” He was using his magic to keep them down.

I staggered again, and then I fell down.

“Penny?” Lachlan was alarmed.

There was water over the hill. I remembered it from when we’d been all connected and I had been able to sense everything. It was a lake, not a huge one, but deep enough. I just needed to get there.

I got to my feet, and I ran for it.

“Penny!” he yelled after me.

On unsteady legs, I hurried down the hill, ripping off my clothes. I wanted to have something to put back on when I shifted back.

I dove naked into the lake. Surrounded by water, I let my dragon form take over me, rippling through my body.

As I did, I felt my strength returning. I was healed. I was strong. I was whole.

I surfaced from the lake, my wings dripping water as I rose into the air, climbing into the bright sky, the wind sailing past my sleek form.

*

Lachlan and I stood watching the members of the Brotherhood be loaded into police cars.