The familiar name perked Charlie up. Mya was a pretty popular witch back in New York, an ally of the shifters who helped them locate people and creatures, and created spells for their convenience.
Until her betrayal.
A few years ago, Mya had conspired with previous second-in-line leader vampire Killian March to create rogue shifters and put the blame on the vampires, and vice versa. It had created a tension on the frayed alliance between shifters and vampires and stirred up a big mess all around—all because Killian wanted to get the then-leader, John Grimaldi III, in trouble so he could take his place. Sophia and Charlie’s dragon shifter friend, Robbie, had been two important factors in stopping the mess—by exposing Killian for the traitor he was, and teaming up with third-in-line leader, Lucinda, to ultimately kill him. It was too late for John, though, as he was murdered beforehand. Lucinda had then become the leader, and so far, that seemed to be working out well.
Especially for Finn, Lucinda’s mate and Charlie’s other dragon shifter friend.
In all that general chaos, Mya had escaped and hadn’t been seen since. For someone to have spotted her here in Los Angeles was definitely a big deal.
“Is this a new mission, then?” Charlie asked.
“A side mission,” Henrik corrected. “Do what you need with the girl, and keep your eyes open for Mya on the side. Dylan wants to keep this wrapped up for now, to not get hopes up.”
“Got it.”
“Any trail you have with Mya might lead us to our most important mission,” Henrik stated, his voice turning hard.
Charlie stayed silent at that. Their most important mission was finding the ex-mate of their murdered dragon leader, Malik, before Henrik took over.
Ex-mate, AKA, sister of his murderer. She’d also been missing for years.
Unfortunately, that mission was on hold for now until they had more time.
Henrik went on to give him the details of what they’d discovered about Mya’s presence in Los Angeles, then hung up. Charlie looked at his watch, found that lunchtime was nearing, and he knew exactly where Francesca was going to be.
Time to follow again.
*****
She got pizza for lunch—a habit that he thought was unhealthy, and another quality that he found odd about her.
After pizza, she went out to get ice cream from a vendor that she seemed to be acquainted with, considering they chatted for quite a while before she moved on. After the ice cream, Francesca strolled around the city, meeting at a restaurant with a boy he didn’t recognize, where they had some cake and flirted with each other as if they only had eyes for each other. There was nothing exchanged there, and the boy paid for the food before they parted ways. Charlie knew that she didn’t just have eyes for the boy when she flirted with the next boy she met up with—one who gave her a brown package that she kept protectively at her side as she walked to her next destination.
Now, that was suspicious.
He had no idea what the package could contain, though he was pretty sure it had nothing innocent inside it. How she got herself in this kind of life, he couldn’t figure out—and he was determined to, because the mission wouldn’t be complete unless he delivered her in perfect condition, got no one in trouble, and had an explanation for why she had gone missing in the first place.
Then he could go home to Japan, where his quiet apartment and quiet life were waiting. Maybe he could settle with a nice, quiet woman, too, though that was so far down his priority list that he rarely thought about it.
The teenage girl he’d been following turned from a crowded corner down to one that looked shady, and he turned the same corner and followed, pretty sure that they were nearing her destination. Another turn, and he blinked. Stopped. Stared from his spot across the street inside a shadowed alley.
She had taken out what was inside the brown bag, and it was a box of…dog treats.
Francesca fed the stray dogs in that area treats, and instead of barking at her like most stray dogs usually did, they wagged their tail and put their dirty paws all over her shirt before enjoying the treats enthusiastically. She laughed at their antics and patted them on the head, hugging a puppy while she did so and watching them finish everything. Once that was done, she turned another corner and entered an alley, where she took a black tank top from her backpack…and took her current top off.
Sure, she was showing her back to the street, the corner she stayed in was dark, but it didn’t help that his sharp vision allowed him to see the curves of her breasts even from behind. Surprised at the shot of lust that zinged in his body, and absolutely disgusted with himself, Charlie glanced away, determined to give her privacy while he scolded her inside his head for acting so irresponsible.
He glanced back a few seconds later—and froze.
And became disgusted with himself for a different reason altogether.
She hadn’t been irresponsible.
She’d been brilliant, using the top removal as a tactic.
And now he’d been duped, and she was gone.
CHAPTER THREE
Someone had been following her, and had been pretty persistent about it.
Francesca knew it as sure as she knew her own breath—an instinct born out of being a shifter, even when she didn’t have the ability to actually shift yet. She didn’t know who was doing the following, but it simply wasn’t safe to do any of her transactions for the day with that certain sense of discomfort on her shoulders.
She had some interests to protect, including hers.
For a second, the thought of Mya following her popped into her head. She quickly dismissed it when she realized the witch would be too wrapped up in her own little schemes to reduce herself to following her own assistant.
The discomfort on her shoulders remained steady as she went out for some snacks with Aaron Gibson, an old buddy and the only person from her past who actually knew where she was. Aaron had been her high school crush, then her sort-of friend, then her sometimes-date when she was lonely and needed company. They weren’t exactly official, but they’d basically already gone to second base with all the kissing and touching they were doing during their free time. Nothing had happened yet, though it was pretty obvious something was going to happen soon with how he’d been all intense with her lately. It was just a matter of her deciding if she wanted it or not.
Part of her yearned for the connection—intimacy with a man she trusted, to have a normal life with a romance on the side.
The other part of her rejected it completely, considering…well, considering she wasn’t in love with him.
“I’ve missed you, Fran,” Aaron whispered in her ear, scooting closer and placing a gentle kiss on her cheek.
“Ren,” she corrected. “And I’ve missed you, too.”
She felt guilty for the lacking sincerity in her words and tried to smile to make up for it. Aaron smiled back, his handsome face wearing an expression that told her what he thought of her face now.
“Are you free tonight? I was thinking perhaps we can hang out…”
The words trailed off meaningfully. Delicately, Francesca placed her hand on top of his and batted her lashes. “Not tonight, buddy. I’ve got a busy day ahead. I promise to hang out with you soon.”
He seemed to accept the excuse enough, and she did her best to distract him by asking about New York. Apparently, word was still out for her search, though not as actively as before.
She’d sent her parents a letter once, telling them she was going to be fine and to stop looking for her.
She’d sent her younger brother, Simon, another. It was more detailed, and she asked him to be a good kid.
Francesca cut off the meeting with Aaron after, remembering her schedule for later. She had an important meet up with one of Mya’s new clients, someone looking for a potion that could harm. Francesca never really asked for details, merely did the deed. Mya promised her a bigger batch of the healing potion if she handled this successfully, and that was all the inc
entive she needed.
The feeling on her shoulders didn’t go away after she left the restaurant, so Francesca decided to visit a local friend who sold doggy treats on the side. The guy owed her, so it was an easy thing to convince him to give her some freebies.
She took the treats to the dogs on the streets, something she did from time to time. But this time, she did it to distract. Francesca made sure to appear as cheerful and carefree as possible as she fed the dogs, hoping to dissuade the follower once and for all.
It didn’t work. The discomfort remained.
Finally impatient, she glanced at her watch, then cursed inwardly at the time. She was going to be late. As a last resort, she did the only thing she could think of in case the follower was a man. Francesca carefully had the dogs accidentally-on-purpose step on her top, so it would become dirty. Instinct told her that the follower wasn’t an aggressor, considering all the empty streets she’d passed by and her not being attacked once.
But she did not want to be followed anymore.
Francesca looked down at her now-dirty top and hoped that her plan would work.
Then she took off her top, right there on the streets where anyone could see.
A few seconds passed, and she made sure to slide her hands down her hips for good measure while pulling her new shirt down. Then before she could even think further about it, Francesca made a dash for it, slipping quietly into the nearest open building she could find and out to the next street. She walked and walked, carefully making sure she left no tracks to be followed.
Minutes later, the discomfort in her shoulders was gone.
Francesca breathed a sigh of relief.
Then she dashed off again as she remembered exactly how late she was becoming.
*****
Mya wasn’t pleased.
Francesca was thirty minutes late, and the people she was meeting up with weren’t exactly happy about it. She tried to flirt, tried to make up some plausible excuse to lighten the mood and remove the stormy looks on their faces. But it didn’t work, and she was left with just a measly part of their deal before they left, promising vehemently they weren’t returning to deal with someone so unprofessional.
Mya heard every last word, of course.
“I’m really sorry,” she started, but the witch already put her hand up.
“That was a major deal,” Mya interrupted softly, taking a seat across Francesca and giving her a level look. The meeting place she’d been late to was at another dining place—an Indian restaurant where they were given the VIP room, reserved in advance.
Suddenly nervous at the implication of how she handled things, she tried not to squirm in her seat.
“I had a hold up,” Francesca explained, not sure how she could explain the follower to the witch who absolutely hated being discovered, considering her crimes. She opened her mouth to start with how successful she was in her evasion when Mya interrupted again.
But Mya didn’t get to speak, because a cloud of purple smoke appeared in front of her. It took a few seconds for the smoke to clear, and a figure appeared when it did—a handsome man, with blond hair and red, observant eyes.
The burst of smoke that followed came from another corner of the room. In less than a second, Mya was gone, but not before Francesca saw the look of panic on her face.
And now she’d just left Francesca alone with a greater demon.
Lesser demons were rough and unintelligent, relying on brute strength and violence to get what they wanted.
Greater demons were smarter, more refined...and ultimately more dangerous.
The demon slowly sat on the chair Mya had been sitting in a few seconds ago, his face a mask of calm as he seemed to assess her silently. She tried not to gulp—tried to keep herself completely still as he finished his perusal.
Finally, he spoke, voice curling like smoke at the edges.
“Are you Mya's...friend?”
Francesca gulped. Tread slowly.
“I'm one of her assistants,” she replied carefully, balancing her tone to not sound too eager or disinterested. “I was late for our appointment, so she's not really pleased with me at the moment.”
The demon tilted his head, smiling. “Cool story. I'm Mico. I've been trying to kill her for ages.”
Francesca's blood chilled at the casual declaration. Even while it chilled, she felt sweat trickle down her back and wondered if she was going to live. Speech left her, her mind going blank as she thought of the plentiful ways he could kill her in Mya's place—slow, torturous forms of death that would make her scream in agony.
Mico leaned forward, and Francesca tensed, expecting the demon to strike.
Instead, he patted her hand, the touch cold.
“If you see her again, let me know. Just call my name thrice, and I'll be here immediately.”
Then the demon, Mico, disappeared as fast as he appeared, leaving curls of smoke in his trail. In her spot on the chair, Francesca took a deep breath and tried not to panic.
She stood up.
As calmly as possible, she left.
*****
It wasn't until she reached the streets and passed by the ice cream stall that Francesca started trembling—slowly at first, then faster and faster until she had to ruthlessly reign it in so as not to draw unwanted attention. She wanted to run back to the marketplace and check in with Mya—and get her potion, damn it—but it was too dangerous to do so at the moment. If anything, the witch would probably just be more displeased if she did so.
She didn't want to go home yet. Not to her apartment, where it was empty and she’d just end up freaking out and not getting any sleep.
A tingling feeling came at the back of her neck as she was walking down the road to the nearest park. Already freaked out, Francesca turned around—and found herself face to face with Mico.
Mico’s eyes were still as red as blood, but no one else seemed to notice. Her mind screamed at her to run, but for the life of her, her body didn’t seem to get the memo as it stayed frozen in place.
“I…thought you left,” she croaked, hand shaking. She quickly fisted it behind her.
The demon’s eyes glinted almost knowingly. “I wanted to see if you were meeting up with Mya. It looks like I’m wrong.”
“I don’t know where she is,” Francesca said, this time able to keep her voice clear and steady. The demon tilted his head again, almost as if considering her words.
The crowd surrounding them were still making noises, but she’d blocked them out, waiting for the demon to attack.
Mico smiled. “Just making sure. I’ll see you around.”
When the demon disappeared with a puff of smoke, Francesca looked around and saw the crowd not reacting at all.
This time, she trembled and didn’t bother to hide it.
*****
The walk home was nerve-wracking.
There were so many people in the roads she passed, which should have reassured her that she wasn't alone. Instead, it only made her aware that a dangerous creature had just been stalking her earlier, and not one person in the crowd had been aware. Had she been her usual smart-ass self with the demon earlier, things would have gone the other way—something she didn't want to contemplate just yet.
Demons were known for stripping the skin off your body if you were disobedient. They also apparently liked to tear your limbs apart and eat them raw.
The thought made her sick.
She realized she couldn't go home alone, not after what happened.
A tingling panic settled in Francesca's stomach as she desperately tried to think of where to go. Even as her mind was absorbed, her senses didn't allow her to forget the discomfort that still persisted on her shoulders.
A hand touched her shoulder.
Startled, revved up, Francesca whirled around and took aim as she punched.
Another hand stopped her fist before it could come into contact with anything.
Francesca stared at the man holding her hand, inch
es away from her and dark eyes intense. It took her brain a second to register, even while she tried to struggle.
“Easy there,” he murmured, voice smooth and relaxing.
It was the cold neighbor.
“Are you okay?”
Relief poured out of her in waves, and she stopped struggling. Her brain went back to calculating as she found the perfect solution to not being alone.
Francesca tried a sultry smile.
“I am now that you're here. Would you like to walk me home?”
She was going to need all the help she could get to keep the fear at bay.
CHAPTER FOUR
Something was amiss.
The Francesca he'd been observing for the past few days had been...bubbly, for lack of a better term. She was warm and spastic and a notorious flirt, one who seemed to have a zest for life and never let anyone or anything get in her way. The disappearing act she pulled on him just earlier proved just so, and it proved just how confident she was in her so-called skills—which was some set of skills, indeed, considering it took him hours just to catch her trail again.
The Francesca he was seeing now was smiling, but something felt off. It wasn't her usual bright smile, and she barely chatted on their walk home—and he expected her to chat a lot, considering that's what she did with every person she met.
She was also very tense. Not outwardly. It was like there was a coiled spring inside her, ready to strike at any possible second.
“So, Alex, where are you from? And why the move here?”
Remembering that he'd given her his second name instead, Charlie nodded his head and followed her up the steps of their building.
“I'm from Japan. I have come here for a research assignment.”
“Oh. So you're just going to research L.A.?”
“Something to that effect.”
Which was partly true.
They'd reached the floor of their respective apartment units, and Francesca took out her key and tried to insert it in the keyhole. He quietly watched as her hand trembled, as she tried to force another cheerful smile on her face.
“Chilled hands,” she explained offhandedly.
Dragon: The Clan Legacy Series Page 28