by D. R. Rosier
Lisa said, “That isn’t good.”
I shook my head, “No, it really isn’t. I bet she has wards on the building too. Not as good as Brent’s or Harold’s, but probably enough to skew the odds on us. What should we do?”
Lisa sighed, “You aren’t going to like it.”
I laughed, “We’re waiting then?”
Lisa nodded, “Maybe this is like a meeting type thing, and they’ll split up. She has her fingers in a lot of pies in the city, she can’t drag her whole pride around all the time, they’ll be needed to keep an eye on her other ventures. Let’s wait and see if some of them leave, most likely the best time will be early tomorrow morning, when they close up the club.”
I sighed, “Alright. Waiting it is.”
Turns out the meeting idea wasn’t wrong. Just thirty minutes later, six of them left the building, got in their cars, and left. We shared a glance.
Lisa smirked, “Now?”
We still had the target and five others inside. I closed my eyes and listened to the songs around me. They were faint inside the stone building, but I could hear them, barely.
“Maybe? She’s on the top floor, maybe in an office, with two others. The other three are on the ground floor, probably getting the club ready to open.”
Lisa nodded, “That’s not bad, if we take down and cuff the three on the ground floor fast enough, we’ll only have to face three at a time.”
“The wards?”
Lisa shrugged, “If they stop us somehow, we’ll retreat to the parking lot. She’s a shifter, and she won’t be able to ignore and back down from the challenge.”
Yeah, and probably come running out, but we’d be back to six against two.
Fuck it.
“Let’s go, this should be fun.”
We got out, and crossed the street. It didn’t take long for Lisa to pick the lock and pull the outer door open. We rushed in hard and fast at that point. Shifters had an exceptional sense of smell and hearing, even in their human forms. The advantages we had were speed, and in my case, equal strength.
The door opened into a small entrance area, with an open booth where the cover charge was paid. The shifter just looked up as we walked in, his hands full of money as he counted out a drawer.
The first shifter we took by surprise, Lisa was practically a blur as she darted forward, stabbed his shoulders with thick silver needles, and then cuffed him while I ran past. My worry about there being wards was unfounded, but I was still wary, and was sure there would be something magical at some point. If only from Kara herself.
The second lion shifter was behind the bar on the main floor which was a good thirty yards through tables and across a dance floor. I heard his growl as he grabbed a sword and hopped over the bar. No easy fight for me, and the third shifter was in the back headed our way. I threw my dagger at his gut and pulled my own sword as we closed the distance.
He dodged the dagger, but it put him off balance.
I slashed and knocked his sword away, and then ran him through the leg. I left the sword in there, and barreled into him, slammed my forehead against his nose. The crunch of cartilage was almost as loud as his scream. I grinned as I reached up and grabbed his head in my hands. He finally abandoned the sword to grapple with me with both his hands, I was too close for his sword to be effective, but it was too late.
I was so much stronger now, it was simple for me to tilt and twist his head.
Snap!
I pulled my sword out of his leg, flipped him over, and cuffed him before his neck fully healed. Two down, and Lisa blurred past me and into the stock room. My sense of smell had improved greatly with my shifter coming out, and I smirked at the scents of excitement and lust coming off her as she’d passed. Somehow, I doubted tonight would be another celibate night. I don’t think it was from the violence she caused, but rather what I’d done. Something else that we shared in common, there was nothing sexier to me than my vampire kicking ass.
I turned and faced the employee door where the stairs up were, guarding our backs while Lisa took down number three. The three songs above us had converged, but so far, they were staying put. I wasn’t sure if they were waiting for us, or merely taking a moment to plan a counter attack. It was more than possible Kara was casting a spell right now as well, I couldn’t afford to forget she was a mage too.
That last option was most likely in my opinion, I was sure they had contingency plans in place for if they were attacked. So much for her rushing down to get us.
Lisa came up behind me, and pinched my ass. Was it wrong that it excited me at a time like this? A shock of pleasure went through me, from the sting of my ass right to my core, and my nipples tightened. If I’d thought we could get away with it, I’d have stopped for a sex break then and there. Lisa was right, I was a total slut. When it came to her anyway, not anyone else. Not that I’d admit it. Not that I had to admit it, she could scent my arousal as easily as I was scenting hers.
I laughed, “Ready for the last three?”
She nodded, “Go for it.”
I went forward and opened the door, and went up the stairs.
Wards. She just didn’t have the wards in the public area, but these weren’t like normal wards, I wasn’t sure what they were doing as I ran up the stairs. I know I had no problems keeping violent thoughts, whatever the wards were set up for it wasn’t to stop violence. What were they set up to do?
“Kara James, you are under arrest, if you surrender now, things will go easier.”
I stepped into the hallway, which had a beige carpet, white painted walls, and a few doors. I ignored most of them, there was no life behind them. The office that the three shifters were in was on the other end of the hallway. I sheathed my sword, and pulled my gun.
This should be easy, I was almost sure she’d surrender, she didn’t stand a chance against either of us. Surely, she knew that? I was a dragon shifter, and a siren, what was she compared to that? Lisa was an ancient and powerful vampire, what chance did a little kitty cat shifter have against us?
Kara’s voice filtered out, “Come on in, I will go peacefully.”
Her voice was pleasant, and very soothing. I briefly regretted the need to arrest her, she was rather a sexy woman, and I bet she’d make a good bedmate for Lisa and me.
I snorted, of course she would go peacefully. I smirked, was filled with confidence, and put my gun back in the holster. Even if something happened, I’d be fast enough to pull it back out. I marched right down the center of hallway as if I didn’t have a care in the world, with Lisa following behind. I’d heard her sheath her sword as well.
“I’m glad you’re being reasonable about this,” I said as we walked into the room, “You’ll get your day in court.”
The two male lion shifters stood to the side of the doorway, I ignored them and walked up to the desk and looked down at the graceful feline beauty that was Kara James. She was breathtaking, and I wondered for a minute if we had time to fuck before we brought her in.
I shook my head, there was something wrong here. Women hated me, only Lisa loved me, the rest hated me, and I avoided them. I could see the look of distaste on her face. My head was full of fog, why had I disarmed? I followed procedures, I was careful. I had a few advantages, but I never depended on them. That’s why I was still alive, arrogance led to death.
The ward, it must be the ward. Not as powerful as my song, but it was seducing me and confusing me. I called on my water magic to block hers, even though I didn’t fully understand how that worked. Dragon magic was more elemental than mage magic, and I knew I hadn’t even scratched the surface on what I could do with it. Could I use spells, or was it all will and intent? Controlling the element of water was simply the beginning. Yet, I sure as hell couldn’t ask a dragon for advice on my magic, not even Theo. I’d have to settle for what I could figure out myself, much like I had as a siren. My mind cleared as my magic rose and shielded me from the wards. It wasn’t even hard, unlike the strong mage war
ds at the bank, Kara James was good at subtle magic, and very effective with it, but as Brent had implied, she was weak.
I pulled my gun. I bet this was why all those agents failed, they were probably seduced by her magic, knocked out, and spelled to forget.
Kara frowned as she realized I’d fought it off, “Put that away, or your partner dies.”
I wanted to laugh, but I turned my head and could see she was held firmly between the two shifters. Lisa was impossibly fast, but not as strong as a shifter. Now that they had hands on her, she was virtually helpless, and not strong enough to fight. Plus, she still looked dazed, even more than I had been earlier, as if even when I was stupidly overconfident I’d already been partially resisting the seductive pull of the wards. She looked almost bemused by the fact one of the shifters had her throat in his grip.
“Surrender, or they die,” I demanded, as I pointed the gun at one of their heads, the one holding her by the throat.
Kara laughed darkly.
“Listen skank, you have five seconds to drop the gun.”
Oh, no she didn’t.
I pulled the trigger, and the shifter dropped like a puppet with its strings cut. The other one pulled Lisa in front of him as a shield, but he was too tall, and my precious vampire was petite, and short. He took a silver bullet between the eyes less than a second later. Too much? Maybe, but my partner was worthless right now, under the influence of Kara’s magic, and I wasn’t taking any chances with her life.
I’ll admit, Kara calling me a skank made me enjoy killing the bastards more than I usually would have, but I don’t think it was truly involved in my decision making.
I heard a scream of hatred and then felt an explosion of fire against my back, it sent me flying out the door and about ten feet down the hallway. It hissed and sizzled, as my magic rose up in me again, I really needed to learn how to control it at some point, not that putting out a fire on my back was a bad thing, or the soothing coolness it brought, but it had been an instinctive response.
I jumped back up and entered the room to see Lisa burning, a stream of fire from Kara’s hands led to my sweet Lisa. I shot the bitch in the stomach, twice.
She snarled at me in pain, but didn’t stop. The crazy bitch was determined to end Lisa, maybe one or both of those men had been her lovers? I didn’t care, Lisa’s life had been in the balance, and it hadn’t been time to hold back.
I panicked at that point, vampires and fire didn’t mix, if Lisa hadn’t been ancient she’d have died by now. I double tapped her chest, and then put one in her forehead. That stopped the fire, but it also killed the shifter. I used my magic to put it out, Lisa was still burning. She still looked out of it as well, even as her skin and body was still smoking, she was obviously under thrall.
I looked at Kara James, who looked back at me through glassy dead eyes. The feds were going to be pissed. Well, at least I’d made it a whole week without fucking up.
I picked her up, and ran downstairs as fast as I could, as soon as we got out of the stairway and outside the ward, she seemed to snap out of it and started to scream in pain. I sat against the wall, and propped her up in front of me, and moved my wrist in front of her mouth. I sighed, as I felt her fangs sink into my flesh, and she started to draw blood from me.
“Brent, are you monitoring this op?”
Of course he wasn’t, there was no response from the earring.
My back started to itch, and was healing. Lisa was healing as well, the burned flesh sloughed off, as new pink skin was formed beneath. I was also soaked in between my legs, and my nipples were so hard they ached. It always happened when she fed from me, and I wanted her badly, but now really wasn’t the time. I moaned softly as she licked my wound closed. I was dizzy, and horny, but the former would pass quickly as I regenerated the blood she’d taken.
Shit, how the hell were we going to explain this? My new fast healing, since by the time anyone got here they’d see a big hole in my armor but no burned skin, and of course, I’d killed the target instead of arresting her. Lisa turned and kissed me. I kissed her back, passionately.
She was a little breathless, “Later, when we get home.”
I sighed, she was probably right.
She smirked, “Slut, you want me right here right now, don’t you?”
I winked, “Maybe?”
There was no maybe about it, if she’d pushed for it, I’d have done it. The last thing we needed to do though was to get our liquid arousal all over a crime scene, plus it would be fun to wait and tease, anticipation could be a wonderful thing. I reached out and teasingly squeezed her nipple, the armor had almost been completely burned away on her front. We both needed a new armored suit.
We were lucky to be alive, we wouldn’t be if Kara hadn’t been overconfident in her wards. Almost like she’d been playing with her food, like a cat.
I shuddered.
I pulled out my phone, and called Brent, this wasn’t going to be pretty.
Chapter Ten
It was already late, but we waited for a ward team to come in, and take apart the ward upstairs so the feds could come in. They still had three suspects under arrest, and the other six were out there somewhere as well. While they did that, Lisa and I had gone out to the car to change into fresh body armor and clothes, and used the tablet to fill out reports and submit them to Brent. We were stuck there guarding anyway, since we didn’t want to chance the other six coming back while our ward mages were vulnerable.
When things were wrapped up, we headed home. I took a quick shower, and threw on comfortable casual clothes. Just a pair of yoga pants, and a clingy t-shirt. I felt much better being clean, but I still worried about the night’s events as I went into the kitchen, where Lisa was cooking for me. I walked up behind her and cupped her ass, and squeezed lightly, before I ran my hands up her back, through her hair, and then teased her neck and shoulders with my fingernails.
She shivered and sighed under my touch.
She looked over her shoulder and smiled, “Thanks, that magic was… creepy.”
I nodded, “We’d have been fucked without my new dragon magic.”
She replied, “I know, and I worry that our reports will seem off because of it. This is the second time you’ve resisted wards, and Brent isn’t stupid.”
I sighed, and kissed her softly, and then kissed down her neck, and over to her ear.
“Thanks for cooking again,” I whispered seductively, and nibbled on her earlobe.
She sighed in pleasure, “I know you must be starving, you regenerated a lot of damage, and then blood. Try to behave slut, you can eat me later.”
That was true enough, it took a lot of calories to regenerate like that.
“Bitch,” I said in a laugh.
Lisa just smirked.
I walked over to the table and sat down, and she scooped the steak stir fry out of the pan and onto a plate. It was a mountain of food, and it looked almost as mouthwatering as Lisa. I’d been learning lately what an amazing cook Lisa was.
She set the plate in front of me, and I dug in after a mumbled thank you.
“How much trouble do you think we’re in?”
Lisa sighed, “We shouldn’t be in any trouble. It was self-defense, clearly, but I’m not sure. The feds will be angry about the wasted time.”
I shrugged, “It shouldn’t be totally wasted. They can still arrest the other nine, and shut down several of her criminal enterprises.”
At least, I hoped they could. No doubt others would quickly spring up in their place, but that was the nature of organized crime, the power vacuum would be filled quickly.
“This is really good.”
Lisa replied, “Glad you’re enjoying it.”
I asked, “What was it like for you, for me I was just hoping to get her in bed with us, and I felt overconfident, like they didn’t have a chance against us.”
Lisa sighed, “For me it was more intense. It felt surreal, and I was very turned on. The shifters that were
holding me, I didn’t perceive it as a threat, it felt more like kinky foreplay to me. I don’t regret a thing, I’m glad that bitch is dead. It was different than your enthralling, or my compulsion, it was subtler. Even when she was burning me, I didn’t feel threatened, and it didn’t seem real.”
That was true, it had been very different from what we could do.
Lisa continued after a pause, “If we do need to move on, any ideas? Dragons are everywhere, as are vampires. If the council is serious they’ll circulate pictures of me, it’ll take another century or two before I can start to blend in again anywhere.”
I shook my head, “I don’t know. I’ll give it some thought, it won’t be easy to hide from both if that’s what it comes down to.”
Lisa nodded, “This is the safest place for you, since it’s Theo’s territory.”
I finished my plate off.
“Maybe. A small town in middle America, or an island?”
Lisa shrugged, “Maybe, vampires prefer large populations to feed on, and dragons are usually near major cities. Let’s hope this passes.”
I nodded, but neither of us looked very confident in that scenario. As a rule, burying our heads in the sand was a recipe for failure. We talked about it a bit, an island would be slightly better than a small town in America’s bread basket, since I’d be a lot more powerful near the ocean. Both my dragon, and my siren side…
Her touch was blissful torture, I wanted to wrap my hands in her hair, and grind against her tongue, lips, and face, but I couldn’t. I had my arms above me, and I was gripping the headboard. Every time I tried to grind against her face, she backed off, and I couldn’t reach her. Not without letting go of the headboard that is.
I gasped, “Bitch,” as she giggled into my wet heat.
She admonished, “Don’t you dare let go of that headboard, or I’ll stop.”
She’d been teasing me for a long time now, keeping me right on the edge of an explosive orgasm, but not letting me fall over. My whole body tingled, and the pleasure was coiled tightly in my center, waves of bliss emanated through my body causing the euphoria to build and build, but not break. Her soft hot wet tongue and silken lips pleasured me both teasingly and lavishly.