Windy City Dragon

by Genevieve Jack

  Scoria struggled against his bindings, then scanned the room, his eyes falling on Gabriel, Raven, and Tobias before narrowing into thin slits. He said something in a loud clear voice, in a language Sabrina did not know.

  “What’s he saying?” she asked.

  Gabriel answered. “He says Her Majesty Eleanor, Empress of Paragon, demands the presence of the Treasure of Paragon in her throne room immediately.”

  “Fuck that,” Raven spat out, shaking her head.

  “What’s the Treasure of Paragon?” Sabrina asked.

  Tobias looked at Gabriel for a long moment and then back at Sabrina. “The Treasure of Paragon is… me. Well, us. It’s what our people called my siblings and me. I told you I came from the kingdom of Paragon. We, my siblings and I, are the heirs to the throne.”

  Tobias had never thought he’d see a member of the Obsidian Guard again, especially not here in Chicago. The elite soldiers were one part of Paragon he didn’t miss. They served one purpose and one purpose only—to kill the enemies of the Paragonian crown. In his youth, Tobias had thought of them as humans might think of Navy SEALs, like honorable heroes. Now he understood that what the Guard did wasn’t honorable; it was espionage. Scoria was an assassin.

  “An heir… You’re a prince?” Sabrina’s dagger-filled gaze fell on him.

  “Yes. I told you as much.”

  “You told me no such thing. And if you’re an heir, doesn’t that mean the empress is…? I thought you said your mother was dead?”

  “I thought she was.” Tobias balked. He hadn’t meant to keep his royalty a secret per se, but had he mentioned it explicitly? “I told you I grew up in a palace.”

  Her mouth gaped, her fangs flashing. “You may have mentioned a shiny floor in a palace when you were a kid, but you failed to say it was your palace.”

  As much as he hated to see her angry, they’d both had their secrets. She couldn’t blame him for not revealing every detail about his past in the short time they’d been together. “Can we talk about this another time?”

  The tension broke when the guardsman started to laugh. He muttered an insult in Paragonian. Tobias rolled his eyes.

  “What did he just say?” Sabrina asked.

  Tobias sighed. “The closest expression in English…”

  “Tell me.”

  “Pussy whipped. He called me an owned man.” Tobias turned to Raven, ignoring the way Sabrina’s bottom jaw dropped. “Are you capable of making a truth serum that will work on a dragon?”

  He hated to ask her to do anything more. The Paragonian grenade had affected her far more than it had him. She looked exhausted.

  The witch rubbed a hand over her lips. “I think so. I mean, I’ve never tried it before, but my instincts tell me I can.”

  Gabriel held her against his chest. “Are you sure you’re strong enough?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I can do this.”

  “What do you need?” Tobias asked.

  She tightened her black ponytail. “Candles… I have some in my things, but I need more. As many as you can find. Lemon. Salt. A bowl of water. Oh, and some fresh sage.” She walked over to the guardsman and yanked one wavy dark hair from his head, holding it between her thumb and forefinger, pinky raised in disgust.

  “I’ll find candles. Everything else is in the kitchen,” Tobias said.

  “Gabriel, get my other candles from my things,” Raven said. He nodded to her and disappeared up the stairs.

  “Someone needs to stay here and watch this guy,” Tobias said.

  Sabrina wrapped her hand around her opposite fist. “I’m still standing here.”

  “This isn’t your problem. We’ve imposed on you enough already.”

  Sabrina lowered her voice. “Let me save you a lot of time, Your Majesty. I’m not going to leave here until I see that witch perform her spell and I know the truth about why this guy is here. Go get the candles. I won’t let him out of my sight.”

  Tobias looked at her—really looked at her—and it was like he was seeing her for the first time. The expression on her face was absolutely deadly. She hadn’t flinched when she’d brought Scoria down. The way she’d bound him to that chair, it was like she’d been trained to do it. And of course she had, hadn’t she? She was her father’s daughter.

  Sabrina had been telling him as much this entire time. Fully human, fully vampire. With her fangs dropped and her fist twisting in her palm, anything that was left of her human mask was gone. She looked at their prisoner like she was ready to bloody him. Sabrina was part of the Chicago vampire coven, a coven that she’d said was behind everything that happened in the city. The vampire mob, Tobias thought. This is not the first time she’s bound someone to a chair.

  At that moment, she was violently beautiful. And he realized that he loved both sides of her. Yes, he loved her. He loved the gentle human healer who preferred to feed on energy rather than blood, and he loved the vampire who’d saved his life tonight and would rip Scoria apart to protect anyone in this household. And as painful as it was that she had put her coven before him and their relationship, he also respected her strength and loyalty. When she looked at him, as she was looking at him now, her stare cutting through to his soul, he only wished that the feeling was mutual.

  “Tobias, where’s the salt?” Raven called from the kitchen.

  Tobias tore himself away from staring at Sabrina and marched into the kitchen where he retrieved a round blue carton from the pantry and handed it to Raven.

  “This has to work,” he mumbled. “We need to know the truth about why Brynhoff sent Scoria. The dagger he almost landed in our chests doesn’t mesh with his formal invitation to the throne room.”

  “Why would you think Brynhoff is behind this? The guardsman only mentioned Eleanor.” Raven turned on the water and started filling a glass pitcher.

  He scratched the back of his head. “It doesn’t sound like her. He’s pulling the strings. I know it.”

  Raven’s expression remained carefully blank. He didn’t like the pity he saw veiled in her expression. She thought he was in denial. She was wrong. Raven didn’t know his mother the way he did. She didn’t know anything about Paragon.

  She mumbled something as she poured the cold water through her spread fingers to mix with the salt, lemon, and sage already in the bowl. When the last drop broke the surface, the water sparked. She dropped in Scoria’s hair and a cloud of silver poofed toward the ceiling before settling back into the bowl to form a smooth, glassy surface.

  “So… how does this work? You make him drink that and he has to tell the truth?”

  “Not exactly. He doesn’t drink it. We soak his feet in it.”

  “Great. He tries to kill us and we give him a pedicure.”

  Raven flashed a half smile. Damn, she was pale. He wished he could tell her to go lie down, but they needed her help.

  She tightened her ponytail again and shook her arms like she was loosening up. “It will make it extremely uncomfortable for him not to answer our questions. If he tries to lie, we’ll know.”

  Tobias dug a box of candles out of the storage area above the fridge and shook them to get her attention. “How exactly will we know?”

  “It’ll be easier to show you.” She gestured toward the living room. “Oh, Tobias, before we go in there…”

  “Yeah?”

  “What Sabrina said to us about leaving Chicago… I get it now. I thought it was territorial. I took it as a threat. I thought she was bullying us on behalf of her coven. That’s not what it is at all. She’s asking us to leave because she loves you. She risked her life tonight to save you.” Raven’s eyes met his.

  “She helped us out of obligation. She’s made it clear she doesn’t want to see me anymore. I couldn’t even get her to answer my texts yesterday.” He rubbed the ache that had started in his chest.

  Raven didn’t say a word, just lifted the bowl and rounded the kitchen island to return to the living room.

  Gabriel had alrea
dy set up a ring of candles around Scoria. Tobias handed him the additional candles, and he made short work of a second ring.

  “That’s perfect,” Raven said. “I need his shoes off.”

  Gabriel held the guardsman’s struggling legs and popped off his boots. Raven slid the bowl in place and plunged his feet in. Tobias thought for sure that Scoria would kick the bowl over, but Raven settled that with a snap of her fingers. “Fotiá.”

  The candles blazed to life, the flames stretching toward the ceiling until Tobias was legitimately concerned for his paneling. Heat blasted through the room. He darted a worried glance toward Raven, who raised a placating hand. The flames shrank to a normal, flickering burn. The guardsman stilled, his eyes wide. Raven stood and backed out of the circle.

  “Goddess, I shouldn’t have pissed her off,” Sabrina mumbled beside him.

  “He’s ready now,” Raven said. “Ask quickly. The spell will only last as long as the water does.”

  Tobias eyed the bowl. Why the rush? It would take days for that amount of water to evaporate.

  Gabriel didn’t hesitate. “Who sent you?”

  “Eleanor, the Empress of Paragon,” Scoria said immediately.

  “If the empress was requesting our presence, why did you try to kill me?” Tobias asked.

  The man didn’t answer. He started shifting in the chair, then grimaced, desperately attempting to pull his feet from the water. But Raven’s spell locked him in place, almost as if his feet were frozen into the water.

  “Feel that?” Raven said to Scoria. “That’s every one of your cells becoming an overfilled balloon. One by one, they will burst, causing you an increasing and intolerable level of pain until you answer us.”

  “Fuck you!” Scoria yelled. “I don’t have to tell you anything.” Then he screamed, loud and high-pitched.

  “That’s a lie,” Raven said. “Lie to us and you’ll burn from the inside. I warn you, even dragons aren’t immune to this heat.”

  “How is he speaking English?” Gabriel asked.

  “Translation spell,” Raven said. “Ask again, Tobias.”

  “Why did you try to kill me?”

  The guardsman squirmed.

  “Answer him!” Raven fisted the air in front of his face. “Answer him or I will make you hurt in ways you never imagined.”

  Scoria growled and bared his teeth. “Because your mother wants you returned to Paragon, dead or alive!”

  Tobias’s entire body stiffened. No. This wasn’t right. This couldn’t be. “Just me or all my siblings?”

  Scoria groaned before answering. “I have been ordered to return all eight of your hearts to the empress, beating or not.”

  The air around Tobias became hard and tight, his mind racing for the next question. All at once Sabrina leaped in front of him, hissing, her fangs bared. The rest of them covered their ears at the sound. She pointed a finger at the space between Scoria’s third and fourth ribs. When she spoke to the guardsman again, it was in a voice as dark and rough as the inner mountain.

  “Try it and it will be your heart in my hands after I tear it from your chest.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Everything stopped for Tobias the moment Sabrina lunged at Scoria. In that moment, she looked feral, all vampire and undeniably menacing. A voice inside Tobias’s head shouted, Mine. There was no other woman like Sabrina. If his feelings for her were strong before, they paled in comparison to his feelings now.

  His hand landed on her waist and he pulled her against his chest. “Easy,” he said, his voice low and soft. He massaged the base of her skull until she met his gaze. Her fangs were still out, painfully extended.

  “Sorry, I don’t know what came over me.” Her cheeks reddened. “I’m drained and hungry.”

  “It’s understandable. Do you need to feed from me?” Her body pressed against his, no room between them.

  Staring at his mouth, she edged the tip of her bubblegum-pink tongue along her bottom lip. “Maybe, just a little.”

  He bent his head to her and she leaned in to kiss him. Her fangs pressed against his lips, hard and sharp, interrupting the soft heat of the kiss. The energy started to flow. He didn’t fight it. He would have given her his soul if she’d asked for it. She inhaled deeply, his breath mingling with hers. After what might have been minutes or centuries for all he cared, she drew back. Her fangs receded. She stared at him with the strangest look in her eyes. What was she thinking? Did she feel what he was feeling, that there was no way they could stay apart now? Something had changed, shifted. They were bound, more deeply than the moment she’d first said she was his.

  “Thank you,” she said softly.

  Someone coughed, and he realized Gabriel and Raven were still in the room and staring at them like they had just turned a glowing fuchsia pink.

  Raven huffed. “We’re running out of time. One of you needs to ask the next question.”

  Gabriel recognized that Tobias needed a moment and did the honors. “Why now? Why did the empress send you to kill us now?”

  Scoria’s eyes locked on Raven. “Because she is a threat to the crown! When the dark-haired witch came to Paragon in Rowan’s dress, the empress could see you’d thrown the gauntlet down. Her children she could handle, especially considering she’d torn you away from your training before you could become a real threat. But a witch—a witch changed everything. It was clear to her that your next move would be to try to take back your birthright. You are a threat to her power. A threat to the throne.”

  Confused, Tobias demanded an explanation. “What about Brynhoff? Did he direct Eleanor to do this? He must be behind it.”

  Scoria laughed a low and wicked laugh. “Brynhoff? He hasn’t directed anyone to do anything on his own in a very long time. He’s a puppet. Your mother and her fairy witch Aborella hold all the power of the Mountain.”

  Tobias swallowed as cold, hard dread filled him like he was a bucket in a rainstorm. “She wasn’t saving us when she sent us here; she was moving us out of the way.”

  Gabriel drifted closer to him. “Yes, brother. Do you see now?”

  “Tobias, I’m sorry you’re finding out this way,” Raven said. “We tried…”

  It was funny how just a few words could tear someone’s entire personal construct apart. One day he was walking around thinking he’d had a wonderful childhood and was loved by his parents, parents who’d given their lives for him. And the next thing he knew, it was all a lie. He’d been thrown away like old bones.

  His knees gave out and he sat down on the couch, staring at Sabrina’s boots. They were Italian leather. The craftsmanship was lovely. Expensive boots for a nurse. But then she wasn’t a nurse anymore, was she? And wasn’t that a huge indication that his brain was done for the day that he’d prefer to think about her shoes than the life-changing events of the evening.

  “The spell is wearing off. The bowl is almost empty,” Raven said.

  Tobias glanced at Scoria’s feet. It was true. The evaporation rate defied logic, but the water was gone.

  “What should we do with him?” Tobias asked.

  “Kill him,” Gabriel offered, looking every bit serious about the suggestion.

  But Sabrina shook her head, her eyes bright with cunning. “You do that and Empress Eleanor will send a replacement to finish the job. There’s no way she isn’t sitting on her throne waiting for an update from this guy. She might even have him magically tagged so she knows where he is.”

  “You seem to know a lot about the daily life of assassins.” Gabriel’s tone wasn’t complimentary, but Tobias didn’t have a chance to react to his brother’s quip before Sabrina came to her own defense.

  “Yeah, I do,” she said, meeting Gabriel’s stare head-on. “I was raised in a vampire kingdom. I’ve watched my father defend and expand that kingdom since I was old enough to walk. If you two are truly the heirs to this place called Paragon, you’ve got to be smart about this. You can’t just kill this guy.”

 
Raven rubbed her eyes, looking more exhausted by the minute. “Then what do you suggest?”

  Sabrina glanced at Tobias before answering. “I suggest you use magic to wipe his memories, then send him back to Paragon to report to Eleanor that he couldn’t find any of you. You’re gone. Plant a false memory to suggest you are either all dead or have left this realm for good. Then hope she believes it.”

  The unflinching eye contact between Sabrina and Gabriel was making Tobias itch, but his brother’s expression gradually softened. He knew that look. It was respect.

  “You are one badass vampire,” Tobias murmured.

  She smiled and curtsied.

  Gabriel paced in front of their prisoner, his hands buried in the pockets of his sport coat. “It’s a good idea, but not enough. Not for Eleanor. We must take it one step further. We should plant something in his brain to make him kill Eleanor if and when he’s close enough to her to do so. Turn her own weapon against her.”

  “Are you suggesting we murder our mother?” Tobias crossed his arms against the ridiculous notion.

  “Yes, before she kills us.” Gabriel raised an eyebrow.

  A tingle crawled up Tobias’s spine. He couldn’t deny what his brother, Raven, and now Scoria had told him about his mother. But he couldn’t accept it either. He wanted an explanation. He wanted to look her in the eyes and have her tell him herself why she had done it. The idea of Scoria killing her before Tobias experienced that closure, before he was totally sure that there wasn’t some sort of reason, some manipulation driving her, unsettled him.

  “And then what? I can get behind sending him back. Killing her means someone else needs to step up and lead Paragon. Do you want that to be Brynhoff? Or are you suggesting it will be you on the throne?”

  “I am the eldest heir.” Gabriel pointed a finger at his chin. “Relax, brother, no one expects anything from you.”

  “No, you never did. You were happy being the warrior, the backup for Marius. Who was I but the wiry and underestimated academic who could barely wield a sword? A sparring partner meant to build your confidence.” Tobias ground his teeth. He was a renowned doctor in the human world. He would not go back to being his family’s punching bag.