Mercy Burns (17 page)

There were locked gates between us and the boats, but it didn’t take much of an effort on Damon’s part to get past. We slipped inside and parted ways—he moving into the first slip area and me stepping on board the
Heron
.

The minute I set foot on the boat, Angus’s familiar voice said, “Is that you, Mikey?”

I saw Damon leap across to the stern, then said, “I’m afraid not, Angus.”

“Jesus, girl, what the fuck are you doing here?” He appeared in the main cabin area, then just as quickly disappeared as a black-haired blur grabbed him and pushed him back down.

I scrambled along the railing and into the upper cabin. Damon stood behind Angus, one arm wrapped around the sea dragon’s neck and holding a silver gun to his head with the other.

He glanced up as I entered, and with a slight movement of his head motioned me toward the plush leather couch that half wrapped around a teak coffee table. I slipped the backpack off, dumping it on the floor and out of the way before sitting down on the end of the couch, avoiding the large window.

Damon’s attention returned to Angus. “I’ll put a bullet in your brain the minute the sea does anything untoward.”

The other man held up his hands. “No trouble, I promise.”

Damon released his grip on Angus’s neck and pushed him unceremoniously onto the smaller couch opposite mine. Angus looked at me somewhat reproachfully. “There was no need for this, lass.”

I snorted softly. “I trusted you the first time, and ended up drugged and held captive by psychos. Why wouldn’t we show a little more caution this time around?”

“Because if I’d meant you any real harm, I would have ensured you got a full dose of the drug. You wouldn’t be free now if I’d done that.”

I couldn’t sense a lie in his words, and yet I couldn’t help retorting, “Why even dose me at all if you wanted to ensure I’d escape?”

“Because I needed you to be out of it when I carried you in. These boys aren’t fools, and neither am I. I’m not about to risk my neck needlessly.”

“And this is supposed to make me grateful? Those men burned down my
apartment.
”

“At least you weren’t in it, and you could have been. They don’t care who they hurt in order to protect themselves.” He hesitated, then glanced up at the man standing so watchfully behind him. “I saw what they did to you. I wanted no part of that when it came to the lass.”

“Then why get involved in Mercy’s kidnapping at all?” Damon asked, the tension emanating from his body reminding me of a rattlesnake ready to strike. “Why stay here, when you could so easily disappear into the sea and never be seen again?”

“Because they have Coral.” Angus’s voice was an odd mix of anger and defeat.

“Who is?”

“My mate. They’re holding her hostage against my good behavior.” He hesitated, glancing at me with a grimace. “And they’ll kill us all the moment they’re sure there’s no widespread interest in the cleansed towns.”

My sudden smile felt brittle. “So the real truth is that you eased up on the drug dosage to save your own skin rather than mine.”

“Well, yes. But I didn’t want anyone else to suffer the same fate as your friend, either.”

Something inside me went still. Cold. “So you
did
set us up that night.”

He hesitated. “I had no choice. Not with Coral being held hostage. But I did call the cops and report the accident as soon as I knew that’s what they intended.”

“Which would have been useless if they’d both been dead,” Damon pointed out, voice harsh.

“I know.” Angus glanced at me. “I’m sorry, lass.”

The apology was sincere enough, but something inside me remained cold. He’d basically signed Rainey’s death warrant by setting us up like that, and even if he
had
done it to save the life of his lover and himself, it was something I could never forgive.

“So why didn’t they just kill you both the minute they ran Rainey and me off the road?” I asked, voice sounding amazingly calm considering part of me really did want to jump up and hit him. Repeatedly. “And why the hell didn’t they check that we were both dead?”

“Have you any idea how far that car fell? You really shouldn’t have survived.” He studied me for a second, as if contemplating how the hell I actually had. “Of course, they realized a little later that they had no idea how many other people you might have told about the towns. Given they’d made me your original point of contact, they released me to see if any other fish would take the bait.”

“And that fish was me again.”

“Yeah. You should have just walked away when you had the chance.”

I flicked a somewhat dark glance Damon’s way. “People keep telling me that. So why didn’t they kill me the second time?”

“Oh, they intended to. They just decided to do it right this time, and question you first.”

Which is why he’d made such a point of saying when we’d met in the bar that these men weren’t going to be scared of one lone draman. If I’d answered any other way, if I’d mentioned there wasn’t anyone else, then I might now be a dead and lost soul, just like Rainey.

“But how could you be so sure that I’d come out of
the drug quickly enough to escape?” I asked. “I’m draman. A drug meant for dragons could do anything to us.”

“It was a human drug, and most of them don’t affect dragons. Draman are, of course, half human, so it
does
affect you, though to a lesser degree. But I still only gave you half a dose to be sure.”

“You couldn’t have been sure I’d escape the cell.”

“No, but I figured you’d wake the muerte, and that he’d work something out.” Angus glanced at the gun, still pointed in his direction. “They’re tricky bastards, these muerte.”

Damon’s smile was cold. “What makes you think those men are any different from me?”

“Oh, I have no illusions about the men I’m working with. It’s part of the reason I changed boats.”

“You’re still in the same general area. If they want to kill you, changing location won’t stop them.”

“No, but it’ll delay them a little. Right now, I just need time.”

“For what?” Damon asked, one eyebrow raised.

“I’ve called Coral’s family in to help, but it’ll take them a little while to get here. The sea never hurries herself, even for a message that’s urgent, and it’s a long way from here to where they’re currently vacationing.”

“Tell us about the men,” Damon said flatly.

Angus blew out a breath. “There’s not a whole lot to tell. I only got into this a few weeks ago, after I recognized one of the men from the attack on Whale Point.”

“Whale Point?” Damon raised an eyebrow. “You were in that town when it was destroyed?”

Angus’s smile was grim. “I was barely fifteen, but yes. I think it was one of the first.”

“So why did you lie about not recognizing the people behind it?” I asked.

“I’m hardly likely to admit to something that might get Coral killed, am I?” He scrubbed a hand across his face, and there was an edge of frustration in the sharp movement. “As it turned out, my memory played me for a fool. The man I attacked wasn’t one of the ones who destroyed Whale Point. He sounded just like him, but he’s far too young. But he
was
involved in the more recent cleansings.”

If he heard the voice of the Jamieson king, would he recognize it? Somehow, I suspected he might. And Seth did sound a whole lot like our king.

He also hated draman—and he’d take great pleasure in erasing us. But there had to be more behind it than just that.

There had to be.

“Why didn’t you just call the sea once you got into trouble?” Damon asked. “It’s not like we’re far from water in San Francisco.”

“You’re not the only one who knows holding a gun to someone’s head is a good way to prevent trouble,” Angus said wryly. “And they were holding it to Coral’s. If it had been just me, I might have tried anyway. Any form of revenge would have been worth the price, even if these bastards weren’t involved in the Whale Point massacre.”

“So who
was
involved?” I asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Name the people you
do
know, Angus,” Damon said softly. “Stop avoiding it.”

He sighed. “I only know some. You met Evan—he
owned and ran the bar you were both caught in. They killed him last night.”

“Do you know why?” Damon asked. “Seems a strange move, seeing as the place was proving useful.”

Angus shrugged. “Maybe he wanted more money. He was greedy like that.”

Damon didn’t look convinced, but all he said was “Keep going.”

“Albert and Jay were the men you knocked out to escape. They’re just muscle. As are the four men who alternate minding Coral. They’re draman, though.”

“Draman shouldn’t be able to restrain a full-blood dragon, whether they’re of the sea or the air,” Damon said with a frown.

Angus snorted softly. “How out of touch are you? Many of the draman around here are more than capable of standing up to full-bloods, simply because many have the same capabilities.”

“Having them, and using them, are two entirely different things.”

“Draman aren’t dumb. It seems to me that you and your much vaunted council might be, though. Or at the very least, behind the times.” Angus sniffed disdainfully, and I couldn’t help smiling. It was nice to know that I wasn’t the only one who had a less-than-stellar opinion of the council. “But Coral’s also got one of those home-detention devices on her, and it’s combined with a boundary fence alarm set to a frequency that’ll just about fry her brain if she attempts to break it. She did try to push past the pain of the thing, but to no avail.”

“Which those men undoubtedly delighted in telling you about,” I murmured.

Anger flared in his eyes, deep and bright, and suddenly this sea dragon seemed a whole lot more dangerous. “Oh, Vincent and Harry delighted in telling me lots of things. And they will die for that alone, if I have my way.”

I believed him. You couldn’t look into his eyes and not believe it. And just for that brief second, he was every bit as scary as the man standing so vigilantly behind him. I licked my lips and said, “Who was the elegant-sounding man you were talking to in the van?”

Angus raised his eyebrows. “You heard that?”

“Some of it.”

“Then you’ve more dragon blood in you than I figured. I gave you enough to knock you out for a good hour or so.” He hesitated, then glanced up at Damon. “Can I get a drink? No tricks.”

“The moment I suspect anything untoward, you die.” Damon’s voice was flat and deadly, and left no one in any doubt that he meant what he said.

Angus’s answering smile was bitter, but he rose and walked over to the bar, pouring himself a bourbon without offering either of us one. Can’t say I really blamed him.

“Tell you what,” he said, turning around to face us again. “I’ll do a trade. The name of that man for your help in rescuing Coral.”

“We’re not here to do a deal, Angus.” Damon’s voice was still flat. “We intend to stop these men, and we intend to get the answers we need from you. It’s your choice as to whether we do that nicely or not.”

Angus downed his bourbon in one gulp then poured another. “Then you might as well kill me now,
because I’m not helping you unless you help me to save Coral.”

Damon shifted and the tension in the air sharpened abruptly.

“Don’t,” I said, half pushing to my feet. I wasn’t entirely sure what I intended to do, but I couldn’t just sit here and let him kill Angus. I might not entirely trust him, I might never be able to forgive him for his part in killing Rainey, but I didn’t want to see his brains splattered across the boat decks, either. He didn’t deserve that any more than Rainey had deserved what happened to her.

Damon glanced at me, jaw clenched and eyes as harsh as stone. He was going to do it, I thought, and I added hurriedly, “Please, Damon.”

He continued to study me, then said sharply, “For you, not for him. But don’t ask for any more favors, Mercy. You’ve had more than your fair share.”

I relaxed back into the seat and blew out a breath. Danger averted, but for how long? Death might have been restrained this time, but not for long. If Damon believed it was for the best, then he
would
kill, regardless of what I thought or did. It was his job, after all.

And I was insane to be so attracted to the man.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Angus said, the tension in him as sharp as that still riding Damon. His gaze met mine. “If I can get her out before her family arrives, we can all just flee, without her family putting themselves in danger.”

“Meaning you’re endangering our lives rather than theirs,” Damon said in an annoyed sort of voice.

“You’re more than capable of taking care of yourself, muerte.”

“Mercy’s not.”

“Mercy
is
, and she won’t be left behind, so don’t even think it,” I said, before Angus could even open his mouth.

Damon gave me a dark sort of look. “Where are they keeping your mate?”

“Santa Rosa,” Angus said, then grimaced. “It’s far enough away from me—and far enough from the ocean—that neither of us can be of much help to the other.”

“So why call in reinforcements from the sea?” I asked, confused.

He glanced at me. “Because there are at least two men guarding her at the one time, and only one of me. I need the additional muscle.” He glanced at Damon, and a hint of mischief touched his lips. “You’ll do just fine in that department, lad.”

Angus shifted a little, moving from one foot to the other, and in that moment, the window exploded inward. He jerked sideways and blood splattered the mirror behind him.

Then he fell to the floor in a heap.

D
amon moved so quickly he was little more than a blur. He hit me low and fast, dragging me facedown onto the wraparound couch while he knelt beside me on the floor.

“They shot him!” I said, voice half muffled by the leather and more than a little shaky. “Why the hell would they shoot him?”

“Maybe they’ve figured he’s outlasted his usefulness.” His attention was on the window above us rather than me, and his body hummed with an energy that seemed dangerously ready to explode. “Keep your head down until we know if they’re still out there.”