Slayers: Friends and Traitors (26 page)

He waited and watched her, not moving from his spot. “There’s lots of room for you in the parking lot.”

He was only trying to get rid of her. She would hold her ground, or rather—her place in the air. “It hasn’t been close to a half an hour, or you wouldn’t be up here.”

“The reason I said you were
part
dragon lord,” Dirk said as though they’d been discussing that topic, “is that you have some Slayer tendencies too—like losing your powers after a half an hour. Dragon lords, we don’t do that.”

“You’re lying so I’ll leave.” Her heart was beating faster now. She wasn’t sure.

“Tori,” he said slowly. “I think we’ve already established that you can tell when I’m lying. Well, at least most of the time.”

As soon as he said the sentence, she realized what else he’d lied about. Another wave of dizziness hit her. “The dragons,” she said, horrified. “They’ve hatched, haven’t they?”

Dirk tilted his chin down in frustration. “Dragons aren’t evil. They’re just dangerous when they’re not controlled.”

They were alive all of this time. They were already growing, would be ready to fight in less than a year. That wasn’t enough time. She didn’t have enough training. She couldn’t take on Dirk, let alone his dragons.

The wind ruffled his hair. He looked so calm as he glided closer to her. “You’re one of the few people who could be around them and be safe.” His eyes had an intensity to them now, a sort of pleading. “You weren’t born to be their slayer; you were born to be their caretaker. Will you at least promise me that you’ll think about what I’m telling you?”

“Where are the dragons?” she demanded.

He let out a discouraged sigh. “You need to get to the ground. Your time is running out.”

“How many eggs were there? Two?”

“Tori…”

“Four?” It infuriated her that Dirk knew this information and was keeping it from her. She tried to sense the answers from his reactions. “Will your father—”

She didn’t finish. Dirk hadn’t lied about how long they’d been out of the simulator’s range. Gravity took effect, sucking her downward. She screamed. The church roof flashed by her in a blur of color. She was going to die, all because she was lousy at keeping track of time.

CHAPTER 23

Jesse flew along the 395 heading toward the Slayer van. Dr. B was monitoring his progress and would tell him when he was within five miles of the simulator. He had to be close now.

“Tori?” Jesse asked into his watch-phone. He didn’t know why he bothered. She hadn’t answered the last ten times he’d said her name. His phone said he was still connected to hers, but it was hard to hear much while the wind whistled around his ears, and traffic constantly swooshed down below him. Every once in a while he heard muffled voices. He wasn’t sure if that was Tori or the people in Dr. B’s van.

Dr. B had said that Tori’s signal was staying in the same spot now. He thought she had landed and was waiting for Dr. B to find her. Which might be true. Tori probably had no idea where she was or which direction Dr. B was.

On the other hand, Jesse couldn’t forget that counterpart senses worked both ways. Dirk had a hard time hiding from Tori, but the same was true in reverse. And Dirk was bigger, stronger, and faster. What was to keep him from capturing Tori, chucking her watch somewhere, and toting her off to wherever his father was keeping Alyssa?

The more Jesse thought about it, the more likely the second scenario seemed. Why else wouldn’t Tori be answering her watch? He never should have left her. He should have told her to stop chasing Dirk. What had they been thinking to let Tori tail him?

Over his watch, Dr. B said, “You’re within range now.”

Good. His powers were recharged. He flipped in the air and headed back toward Gaithersburg, streaking through the sky. He was going so fast he could hardly see through the wind clawing at his eyes. He had stopped worrying about capturing Dirk and just wanted to make sure Tori was safe.

That’s when Jesse heard the scream from his phone. Tori’s scream. Long and panicked. Jesse flew faster, even though he knew it was no use. She was miles from here and he was too far away to help. Then the scream abruptly stopped.

CHAPTER 24

In Tori’s fright, she didn’t sense Dirk until he put his arms around her. He grabbed her around the middle, slowing her speed and transferring their momentum sideways. They flew along the parking lot and then back upward. Once Tori stopped screaming, she gulped in deep breaths and held on to Dirk’s arms.

She had almost died. Those last moments had nearly been the end of her life. And the worst part was knowing that the media would have spent weeks speculating on how she mysteriously fell to her death, and everyone would know she died while wearing a Supergirl costume. How completely tacky.

Okay, that wasn’t the worst part of nearly dying, just the first thing that came to her mind.

Dirk soared past trees and houses, kept going higher to get out of sight of anyone on the streets who might look up. “That’s the third time I’ve saved your life. Most people would say thank you at this point.”

“Thanks,” she said, and then after a moment added, “although you wouldn’t have had to save my life last summer if you hadn’t endangered it first by leading me into your father’s trap.”

“A technicality,” Dirk said. “Danger comes with superhero work. You should know that.”

Even with Dirk’s arms around her, the air rushing against her skin felt freezing. She had expected him to put her down on the ground somewhere, but he didn’t. Of course he didn’t. He wanted to capture Slayers tonight and now he had. Her.

“Let me go,” she told Dirk.

“You don’t really want me to do that. It’s a long way down.” And getting longer every second. Civilization was shrinking underneath their feet.

“Put me down somewhere safe. Please.” She knew he wouldn’t. How could she have been so stupid to let herself be caught like this?

“Where is your watch?” he asked.

“I dropped it.”

“Right. I can tell that’s a lie even without being your counterpart. You were expecting Jesse to find you, so you must have it on you somewhere.”

An eight-lane highway came into view, the beltway that ran around the D.C. area. Rows of cars were slowly making their way in each direction. Dirk followed along above it.

“Where are you taking me?” Tori asked. She trembled and this time it wasn’t from the cold. She couldn’t fight Dirk. Not when he had superpowers and she didn’t. She was completely at his mercy. “You’re going to drug me, aren’t you?” The thought hit her with surprising dread. She would be useless, unable to help the Slayers or anyone else, and she wouldn’t even remember that it had happened to her. Everything she experienced over the last summer, everything that she’d become—it would be blotted out from her mind.

Dirk held on to her tighter. “I don’t want you to lose your powers or your memories.” The words were spoken softly. They would have been lost in the rush of the wind if Tori’s hearing hadn’t been so good. “When you came to see me in Winchester, I told you I wanted to be with you. Do you know why you couldn’t tell I was lying?”

“Because you’ve had a lot of practice lying?”

“Because I wasn’t lying. I told my father not to hurt or drug you. When all of this happens, I want you on my side.”

All of this?
Was that how he thought of attacks on cities, attacks on
people
—as if it were some sort of chess game? How could he think she would ever help him do those things? She shivered again.

He didn’t notice. “You asked me how many dragons we have. The answer is there’s enough for all of us. My father, me, you. If you work with us, your family will be protected. You’ll have a position of power afterward. Isn’t that what your father wants? We can give it to him for more than four or eight years.” Dirk shifted her in his arms so he could see her face better. “Just agree to work with us. Say yes.”

“I would,” Tori said, “but you can tell when I’m lying.”

Dirk’s expression hardened. Anger flashed through his blue eyes. “You’re so sure this is about good and evil that you won’t even try to see my point of view. I’m just evil now, aren’t I?”

Dirk tilted downward, flying lower, heading someplace now. She’d been foolish to make him mad. Maybe he changed his mind about drugging her. She swallowed hard. “Dirk, I care about you. You know I’m not lying about that. You can’t really want to hurt innocent people—children, kids like Bridget. Don’t do this.”

“Child Protective Services,” Dirk said. “That’s one of many agencies my father will overhaul. I don’t think abusive parents should have rights to see their kids again. Too many of them end up in garbage bins.”

A huge castlelike building came into sight. The Mormon temple. The lights around the base made its white stone exterior glow, and its three-hundred-foot-tall spires seemed to pierce the coming night. A statue of a golden man stood on the front spire. He wore loose robes and held some sort of celestial-looking trumpet to his lips.

Dirk flew toward the temple. “You still want me to drop you off somewhere?”

“Yes.” She didn’t let herself feel either hope or relief at his question. He was asking, but not necessarily offering, and she could feel the ice in his tone.

He glided over until he hovered in front of the statue. “All right. Since you’re so sure that you’re on the side of good, you won’t mind hanging out with an angel for a while.”

This wasn’t what she had in mind when she asked to be dropped off.

With one quick motion, Dirk tossed her toward the statue.

“Dirk!” she yelled, and grabbed hold of the angel’s neck. She clung there, grappling to find footing. Stupid Supergirl boots. They didn’t have any traction.

“What did you say?” Dirk asked with mock curiosity. “There’s so much evil floating around I can’t hear you.”

Tori’s boots scraped against the statue’s robes. “If I fall and you have to save me, it
so
doesn’t count as the fourth time.” She finally found a foothold. Keeping herself pressed to the statue, she balanced her weight so she didn’t slip. She let out deep breathes and held on tightly.

She heard Dirk’s voice drifting away from her. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Jesse will show up soon. Which means I should go. You know what they say, three is a crowd.”

“Dirk!” She looked over her shoulder, attempting to reason with him one last time. “Don’t go back to your father. You don’t have to do this.”

He turned and headed away from her without answering. If it hadn’t been for her extra hearing abilities, she wouldn’t have heard his parting comment: “You won’t cry for me the way you cried for Jesse.”

And then he was gone, disappearing into the darkening sky.

CHAPTER 25

Dirk phoned his father while he flew toward Winchester. Instead of saying hello, his father growled out, “What happened?”

His father had been watching the Slayers’ signals, waiting for them to converge on the car lot. When he saw Jesse’s and Tori’s signal take off across D.C., he must have known something had gone wrong.

“The mission is a bust,” Dirk said wearily. “The Slayers figured out who I was. You’ll need to get your men out of the car lot. Get rid of any evidence.”

After a long pause, his father said, “How did they figure out who you were?” His voice dripped with accusation. He thought Dirk had told them, thought he’d thrown the mission again.

Dirk didn’t expect sympathy, but he didn’t deserve anger, either. He had been willing to go through with his father’s plan even though he hated it. He gripped his phone harder. “Jesse told Dr. B that I knew he could track the watches. Dr. B asked me if I’d told anyone. When I said I hadn’t, Tori knew I was lying. She started asking questions.”

“And you couldn’t think of a way to fool her?” his father drawled. “You managed to hide your identity all last summer and when she came out for a visit. But you couldn’t do it now, when it mattered most?”

Dirk hadn’t had to lie about leading everyone into a trap back then. It was harder to pull off that sort of lie convincingly; he didn’t point this out. His father would only see it as an excuse. “Tori remembered your accent,” Dirk said. “She put two and two together.” Dirk paused to let that bit of information sink in. “I told you that you shouldn’t have talked to her.”

His father grunted, unrepentant and unconvinced. “How lucky she recognized my voice right before the mission. It reminds me of her luck at the enclosure when you opened the roof to let the Slayers escape.”

“I didn’t throw the mission,” Dirk insisted. “Did you notice Jesse and Tori flying, high speed, across D.C.? That was them chasing me.”

Down below Dirk, the landscape crept by at a maddeningly slow pace. He couldn’t fly any faster, though. The wind would make a phone conversation too hard to hear.

“Your problem is that you have split loyalties.” His father’s voice was cold, crisp. “You can’t be completely loyal to me as long as part of you is loyal to them. Do I need to get rid of the competition so I can depend on my son again? Is that what it’s going to take?”

Dirk felt the weight of the threat. His father had kept track of the Slayers’ signals for nearly three months. He knew where they lived, went to school, and worked. He could send men to their homes right now.

“I didn’t throw the mission,” Dirk said again, more firmly this time. “It’s a setback, but nothing we can’t overcome. And it wasn’t a complete loss,” he added, hoping to distract his father from his threat. “Tori told me she found Ryker’s address. He lives in Rutland, Vermont. His father’s first name is Charles, not Allen. It won’t be hard to find him. It’s not a big city. You can have people ask around.”

“Rutland, Vermont?” his father repeated, then paused for a long moment. A judgment lingered in that moment: a scale, a balance, and his friends’ futures. Was Dirk’s offering enough to protect them?

“Well,” his father said, “it looks like I have work to do tonight after all.”

Ryker didn’t stand a chance. Dirk knew it, but couldn’t bring himself to feel too badly about this fact. If his father’s men were busy in Rutland, it would give the Slayers time to protect their families.