I rested my forehead on my knees, regrets and sadness settling on my back like a hundred-pound barbell. Maybe, if I could somehow finish dealing with Nin’s shifters and get all the dragons out of my life, it would be safe to take a trip to Northern Idaho. I’d only had a few assignments over there, so I shouldn’t have too many enemies in that state. Maybe if I visited for a few days, no bounty-hunting orcs would show up to pester me. Maybe it would be safe to walk up to Amber and Thad and say hello. And say… I was sorry I hadn’t been around.
Thad knew the reason why—I’d told him before I left—but I doubted Amber remembered. She’d been so young at the time. And I had no idea what Thad had told her in the interim. Had he made me out to be a deadbeat and a villain? Or just explained that my work was dangerous so I couldn’t stick around? Either way, I couldn’t imagine a scenario in which Amber would understand and forgive me. It was almost better not to get in touch and never to know for sure how she felt about me. That would be less painful than walking up to the face of anger and rejection.
“Val?”
I sat up. “Yes. Sorry. You should go.”
“I will.” Mom paused. “You should go.”
“I’ll think about it.” My phone alerted me to another incoming call. “My boss is on the other line. I need to go.”
“Tell my roommate his rent is due soon if you see him.”
“I think he’s in Woodinville working on… a project for someone. His van is there too. Can you charge someone rent if he’s never there?”
“Of course, you can. He has a lease.”
“Right.” I said goodbye and switched over in time to catch Willard’s call.
“It’s about time,” she said.
“I like to keep people waiting so they’re extra eager to talk to me when I pick up.”
“You weren’t sleeping, were you?”
“No, I was talking to my mom. Her dog misses your cat.”
“Really. Nobody’s ever said they missed Maggie before.” A screech sounded in the background—it was either Maggie complaining about something or Willard had adopted a cranky baby in the last week.
“Rocket is a golden retriever. They like everyone—and everything. It’s in the genes.”
“I have bad news for you.”
“You’re sending me after the dragon, aren’t you?”
“How’d you guess?”
“My fate seems inextricably intertwined with dragons these days.”
Mr. Hairy Legs was listening to my conversation and raised his eyebrows at this. I resisted the urge to threaten him with a weapon and instead walked over to the window and spoke more quietly.
“Inextricably intertwined?” Willard asked. “Nice vocabulary words. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you went to college.”
“I read books now and then.”
“From what I’ve been able to dig up, the silver’s full name is Dobsaurin of the Silverclaw Clan.”
“He introduced himself to me as Dobsaurin the Most Magnificent.”
“I’m sure. According to my informant, his family is reputed to rule over the second most powerful clan among the dragons. None of my snitches have any idea why he’s here on Earth. Do you? And do you know for sure if he kidnapped those joggers?”
“I don’t know that for sure, but he seems to be here to harass Zav. Maybe even kill Zav.”
“So why kidnap kids and joggers?”
“To irk him. Or lure him into a trap, maybe. I have a map of some possible locations of caves where Dob might be staying. I can go out today to look for them.”
I’d been hoping Zav would return so we could do that together. It wasn’t as if I could take down Dob alone. But who knew when he would be back? Maybe I could find the lair, sneak in and rescue the kidnapped people, and then point Zav to Dob when he returned. Then they could fight it out in a dragonly way, mano a mano.
“Good. Do that. This Dobsaurin was caught on a video yesterday evening. I’ll send you the footage. He swooped down and killed four horses and riders near Kathryn Taylor Equestrian Park in Redmond. Right on the Tolt Pipeline Trail.” She hesitated. “It’s grisly.”
“I’m used to grisly.”
“I know. The dragon isn’t in the video—this was taken by the police in the aftermath—but two witnesses saw him and confirmed the scales were silver. They ran into the woods to the side of the trail when the dragon showed up. Others who were interviewed said they couldn’t see him, just people being torn to shreds, seemingly by nothing.”
“Zav said that only those with magical blood can see dragons unless the dragons want to be seen.” I pulled up Kathryn Taylor Equestrian Park on my map, and a weird knowing feeling twisted my gut. “It’s not straight east from the spots where the joggers were picked up, but it’s very close. Just a little jag to the southeast. I’ve been theorizing that he’s got a cave out in the woods east of Duvall. For some reason, all of his kidnapped joggers were on an east-west line from there. Maybe he likes to take a morning dip in Lake Washington.”
That was a joke, since there were plenty of rivers and lakes closer to where I thought he was staying, but Willard said, “Maybe, or maybe he fishes there in the mornings. There’s a big variety in there, I’ve heard. Do dragons like fish?”
“Zav said they eat fish and meat. He was skeptical about the lavender chocolates I gave him.”
“You’re giving him chocolates? Val, it works the other way around. The man gives the woman chocolate.”
“I’m trying to get him to believe humans don’t suck and that there are some good things on Earth.”
“By wooing him with chocolate?”
“I’m not wooing him.” I must have spoken too loudly, because the eavesdropper was looking my way again. Either that, or my half of this conversation was the most interesting thing going on this morning. I scrutinized him briefly, making sure he didn’t have any magical blood. The last thing I needed was some spy from the Northern Pride giving the brothers another location to bomb. “I didn’t even buy it. The people I helped on the peninsula gave it to me, along with a case of wine.”
“Did you give that to him too?”
“Well, yes, but only because I don’t drink it.”
“Did he drink it?” Willard sounded fascinated by this development. Maybe some secret girlie part of her heart wanted to attend a dragon–half-elf wedding.
“How should I know?” I grimaced as the video she’d promised popped up on my phone. I was used to death and gore and violence, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed watching footage of it. “Are you officially putting me on assignment to get this dragon?”
“Yeah. The military is prepared to send in jets to attack it from the air, but we need someone who can see it to pin it with a locator device.”
“Oh, that’ll be easy. I’ll just tag him like he’s a bear.”
“I was told without much subtlety that this is the least preferred method of dealing with him. They would prefer you simply get rid of him.”
“Even easier.”
“When your dragon sobers up, maybe you can try that chute-opening-ass-swatting suggestion I made.”
“If only. Zav went back to his world. I’m not sure when he’ll be back.”
Willard swore. That spoke volumes about her belief that I could handle this without Zav. Maybe she’d assumed from the beginning that he would be there to help—though I wasn’t sure why she would. Unless she knew more than I did, which was usually the case.
She took a deep breath. “We need to convince Dobsaurin to leave, one way or another. I’ve been authorized to double your combat bonus if you can kill him. Regular combat bonus if you can pin him with a transmitter that he can’t remove.”
I rubbed my head. How was I supposed to do that? A dragon wasn’t a wolf. I couldn’t staple something to his ear that he wouldn’t be able to remove—or incinerate. Dragons didn’t even have external ears.
“I’m having something prepared now. Something very durable. You can
pick it up at the office this afternoon. If you’re successful, there’s a team at McChord ready to take off after him.”
I lowered my head, staring bleakly out at the gray sky and the darker gray water of Lake Union. Dealing with the dark elves seemed like a simple affair compared to this new assignment. I’d have to kill Dob. Or somehow convince him to leave. There was no way a dragon wouldn’t be able to remove a transmitter tag, even if I had a weapon that could pierce his hide to pin him with it. Chopper was the only thing I knew of that could make a dent. A tiny dent.
“You have the option to say no,” Willard added quietly.
I hadn’t spoken for a long minute.
“You’re not sworn to follow orders anymore,” she added.
“Yeah, but if I don’t do it, who will?”
“Nobody as good as you.”
“That’s what I was afraid of. I’ll be there soon.”
As I hung up, Mary leaned out of her office. “Val? I’m sorry my last appointment ran a little late. Will you come in?”
“I have to go.” I waved my phone before pocketing it. “Work.”
“You can’t take a few minutes to talk?” She raised her eyebrows. “You look tired.”
“Because I slept for two hours last night. I am tired.”
“I won’t nag you. I’m certain you already know that the best thing you can do for your health is get at least eight hours of sleep in a dark, quiet environment.”
“Trust me. I would love to do that.”
“Do you turn your phone off at night or at least keep it in another room?”
“No. When a friend calls and says her food truck is on fire, I want to be there for her.”
“It is difficult when your job requires you to be available around the clock. I know. I work with firemen and police officers. Will you make time to come in next week?”
“Yes. I figure everything will either be resolved by then or I’ll be dead.”
Mary smiled, but it faltered. Maybe my expression told her I wasn’t joking. I wished I were. The conversation I’d had with my mother returned to my mind, and even though I hadn’t decided anything yet, the idea of dying before I’d had a chance to speak with my daughter bothered me. A lot.
“Mary? My mom told me that my ex-husband and my daughter will be going on a family trip to Idaho in a few weeks. They invited her to join them, and she suggested I come along. I haven’t spoken to Thad or Amber in years, and they didn’t invite me, but… would it be weird if I showed up there? Just to say hi?”
“After years of silence? Yes.”
“Oh.”
“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, but maybe you could call them first, instead of unexpectedly showing up.”
“Yeah.” But Thad never called me, and it was hard for me to imagine calling him first out of the blue. Of course, I’d told him not to call me unless it was an emergency, but I’d expected… I didn’t know. I’d thought he might reach out occasionally over the years. He hadn’t.
Why was it easier to face killer dark elves, vampires, and werewolves than to call my own family?
Because I didn’t care how those other guys reacted to me, I answered my own question. More than that, I expected them to be hostile. I could deal with hostility from strangers. Hostility, or even indifference, from people I should have had a relationship with… That was different.
“Or email,” Mary offered. “Couldn’t you email them without people realizing you have a connection?”
“So long as none of the magical people who want me dead are hackers or get ahold of my computer or phone, yes.”
“Is that likely?”
“It’s not an impossibility. My apartment gets broken into often. Someday, I’m going to hunt down a trinket that can keep everyone out of there.” I sighed with longing, having heard that artifacts like that weren’t uncommon in other worlds. Dimitri’s cactus home-security doodad wasn’t quite in the same league. Maybe with a little encouragement, he could learn to create something more useful.
“Get in touch with your family.” Mary put a hand on my shoulder. “Whatever reception you fear is probably the worst possible iteration of what will really happen. Even if they reject you, at least you’ll know. That would be easier than living with the uncertainty.”
I wasn’t sure about that. As long as things were nebulous, there was still hope. Hope of them forgiving me for the long silence, for walking out all those years ago.
“I’ll think about it. Thanks.”
As I headed for the door, Mary repeated, “Don’t randomly show up on their vacation like a stalker, please.”
She must have decided her previous, more circumspect wording of that hadn’t been sufficient.
“I won’t. I’m not a dragon.”
Her brow furrowed in confusion. I definitely wasn’t a normal patient.
19
When I pulled into the Moss Lake Trailhead parking lot, a place that could get me back into the forest where Greemaw had marked the caves, there weren’t any other cars there. I didn’t know whether to take that as a good sign—there wouldn’t be anyone to see me illegally let myself through the locked gate—or an ominous one. The hiking spot was out of the way and not that well known, but there were usually a few other people here.
I left the Jeep running and walked up to the gate, reaching for the magical charm that unlocked secure doors and gates. But I paused, my hand dangling. Someone had shot off the padlock securing the metal gate that kept people from driving back onto the old logging-road-turned-trail. Fresh tire marks had disturbed the grass and mud. The bar creaked as I pushed it up.
I trotted up to the bend and peered around it to make sure there wasn’t a bevy of park-ranger trucks waiting. The wide trail stretched back into the trees, straight and empty for as far as I could see, but the fresh tire marks were visible all along the way.
“Maybe someone else is hunting dragons,” I muttered and thought about calling Sindari.
But I needed to save him. If I ran into Dob back here… Well, I hoped I wouldn’t. Not yet. I wasn’t ready to run into him. I had Willard’s transmitters—there were three of them, and they’d been built into custom cartridges I could fire with Fezzik—but I was skeptical those rounds would pierce dragon hide. The memory of Zav incinerating bullets before they touched him came to mind.
All I wanted today was to find Dob’s lair. If I could slip in and out and leave one of the transmitters tucked behind a rock, maybe Willard’s pilot buddies could bomb the cave one night while he was snoozing.
Rain drizzled from the gray sky as I drove onto an old dirt road that had been allowed to narrow to something more suitable to hikers than automobiles. High grasses, trees, ferns, and other dense foliage I couldn’t name made it claustrophobic. Long beards of green moss dangled from the evergreen branches and carpeted their trunks.
Some of those branches reached out over the trail, clawing at the roof of the Jeep and reminding me of when Zav tore off the soft top on my last Jeep. The black one the army was lending me had a hard top, though I doubted it would deter dragon talons. Even though I couldn’t sense anyone magical nearby, I kept leaning my head out and trying to see the sky.
I caught a glimpse of Moss Lake off to the left but soon passed it, along with narrow trails branching off into the woods. I stayed on the wider path—given the density of the trees, there wasn’t any other option—until I came to a grass-choked crossroad, then turned right and gained access to a larger system of old roads. The rain picked up as I weaved along routes long forgotten by all but determined hikers and the wildlife that lived here.
When I got as close to the first cave as possible, I parked, put on a wide-brimmed rain hat, and went on foot. I cut my way through wet foliage, forging a path toward one of the creeks that ran through the area. Rain pattered off my hat, and the going was slow. My thought of checking all the caves Greemaw had marked by the end of the day turned into a plan to check them all this week.
T
he first one had been claimed by a skunk, and it drove me out of the area more effectively than a dragon would have. A bear had made a den in the second cave but was fortunately not home. The third was high on the bank of the Tolt River and too small for a dragon, unless he shape-shifted to get in. Since that was a possibility, I climbed up to it and shined my phone’s flashlight inside. Nothing.
“Three caves down, twenty-eight more to go…”
I’d searched all the ones in this area and would have to return to where I’d parked and head into the brush on the other side of that road. I was halfway back when gunshots fired.
Reflexively, I tore Fezzik from its holster and sprang behind a tree for cover. But my brain caught up to my instincts and informed me those shots weren’t near me. It was hard to tell how far away they were with the forest muffling sound, but at least a mile.
More shots fired as I continued warily back toward the Jeep. Hunters? If so, they weren’t very good hunters. Who needed that many shots to fell a deer? It wasn’t even hunting season. If anyone was back here, they were illegally poaching. Not that I particularly cared, so long as they didn’t shoot up my rig.
The gunfire continued, and the roar of vehicles grew audible. It sounded like I was heading right for it. I broke into a run, imagining drunk idiots smashing into my Jeep.
I leaped ferns, mushroom-studded logs, and great roots jutting out of the earth. I couldn’t wreck another vehicle in the same month, damn it.
Their trucks came into view before my Jeep did. A white Nissan and a black Ford, mud spattering the sides as they navigated down the old logging road. Men leaned out the windows and knelt in the beds, aiming rifles into the brush on the other side of the trail.
Just as I was thinking that any deer would have long ago fled at the noise, I sensed magical beings in the woods in the direction they were shooting. A half dozen of them at least. I couldn’t identify their species by the auras, but they seemed smaller than humans. More kobolds? Goblins?
Battle Bond: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series (Death Before Dragons Book 2) Page 17