by Annie Bellet
YOUAREMIN.
You are min?
No… You are mine.
“Emma was meant to be the ending letter E,” Crwys put his hands to his face. “What the hell is going on? I found you and you are mine? Who’s the killer talking to?”
Levi licked his lips. “You, Crwys. They’re talking to you.”
“Me? Why the hell do you think that?”
“I went back and looked for similar sets of killings. You were in Ohio before Atlanta.”
Crwys nodded.
“There were five murders, all with broken necks. All killed within a ten mile radius of where you lived in Ohio.”
“Wait…where I lived? How come I don’t remember there being murders like this?”
“You weren’t a cop then. You weren’t paying attention. And from what I’ve found in the cold case files, no one’s put this together either.” He swiped his phone and Crwys got his pen ready. “Ladonna, Ellen, Taylor, Hailey, and Elaine.”
Crwys dropped the book before he wrote the last letter. Levi moved with his preternatural speed to grab his friend’s arm. “Breathe, Crwys.”
“It…that can’t be. No…it can’t be her.”
“Lethe’s tracking you. Why would Lethe want to kill all of those girls? Because you know as well as I do she’s the one doing it. That Dragon is several cards short of a deck. Everyone on our side of the supernatural world knows she’s bug-nuts crazy. That’s why you left her centuries ago.”
But Crwys was beyond really hearing at that moment because it took all of his control not to burn the apartment down and half of Chattanooga with it. Levi remained to the side but didn’t leave. He never left, because Ashur had been with him for a very long time.
“Crwys,” Ashur said and Crwys could hear the demon echoing in his mind. “What happened between you and Lethe? What is it you haven’t told me?”
“She…” Crwys said after several minutes, “she really believes I belong to her.” He looked at his best friend. “And she was the one who murdered Maggie.”
***
Crwys called Emma at the hospital. She wasn’t in her room, but the nurse said she was probably with the doctor since she hadn’t been officially released yet. He left a message to have them call him so he could pick her up then turned back to Levi.
“I thought you said Maggie committed suicide.”
“That’s what we all believed at the time. Me most of all. It’s always easy to believe the bad, isn’t it?” Crwys continued packing Emma a small bag of clothing, but when it came to the toiletries, he was at a loss.
“Let me handle that,” Levi said as he took a smaller bag from under the sink and started putting things inside. “So…Lethe killed her? How did you find out?”
“She told me,” Crwys zipped up the overnight bag. “Confessed it to me.”
“When?”
“She was there when I woke up.”
“So you did go to Sleep.”
“I did. I was broken. Ill fitted for life. I crept back into the cave I’d used before, which was poor judgment on my part, and let go. Slept for nearly two hundred years. Lethe was there when I woke. And once I’d created a new body, she kept me with her, using her magic like she had before.”
“Wait,” Levi stepped out of the bathroom with the smaller bag. “She kept you? What kind of magic does Lethe have? I mean…you’re a freak’n Dragon, for crying out loud. How can you be kept anywhere if you don’t want to be?”
“You are one of the few who knows how the Drachen were created, from my mother, Gaia. And each of us were created from an Element. Lethe’s not Fire like I am. Her Element is the strongest of our kind, something my mother never meant to infuse in a Drachen. Lethe is a Dream Dragon. Her power connects with Spirit. Catching me as I came out of hibernation was to her advantage. I was weak and the centuries hadn’t dulled the pain of Maggie’s loss. So while I Slept, she infiltrated my dreams and marked me.”
“Marked you?”
“She put herself in my mind. In her way of thinking, she claimed me. Something I wouldn’t let her do before. Back when…” he sighed. “When we had a short, if not volatile, relationship.”
Levi whistled. “So Lethe’s got her claws in you, so to speak.”
“She did then. But as the years passed, I grew stronger and her hold over me weakened. Then one night…I don’t know the exact date, but it was somewhere around the early 1800s, she confessed to me that I was better off without Maggie. That she’d done me a favor by killing her… But I wasn’t as far under her spell as she believed by then. And when she slept that night, I cast a spell I hadn’t thought of in a very long time. I traveled through her dreams and I saw what she’d done. How she’d lured my bride up those steps and told her I didn’t love her. That I loved Lethe and I was going to leave her at the altar in front of everyone.” He smiled and he was pretty sure his gaze had a far away look to it as he remembered those images. “But my Maggie fought her, refused to believe her, and in the end Lethe snapped her neck and—”
He and Levi looked at each other. Crwys clenched his jaw as he picked up the paperback and stared at the letters. “I didn’t see this before. Why didn’t I see it?”
“Why would you? I mean that’s not an in-your-face clue by any means. It took me weeks to figure it out. Lethe’s a sick Dragon. Are all of you like her?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen the others in centuries. I assumed we were the only ones left.”
“That might just be the case.” Levi checked his watch. “What time are you supposed to be checking Emma out?”
“They’re supposed to call…” He looked at the clock by the bedside. It was already after seven. Emma was supposed to be released at six thirty and the hospital hadn’t called him back.
“You still got the Maserati?” Levi asked as he ran to the door in front of Crwys.
“No. Got a Mustang.” They headed out to the parking lot. Crwys got in the driver’s seat, expecting Levi to get in with him. When the Vampire ran to a blue Audi, Crwys stepped back out of the car. “What’re you doing?”
“Getting something!” Levi pointed his key fob at the Audi and the trunk opened. He leaned in and came out with a small black bag, closed the trunk, locked it with the fob, then finally joined Crwys in the Mustang.
“Wow…you traded down,” Levi said as he settled the bag on the floorboard between his feet.
Crwys cranked the car. “Fasten your seatbelt, old man.” He threw the car in drive and stomped the gas pedal.
***
The girl behind the counter at the hospital looked stricken as she eyed the badges of the two officers. “But he said he was a detective and he had a badge!”
They were already running to her room. Crwys could smell her everywhere. A cloying, familiar perfume of jasmine and mint.
Lethe.
But he could also make out another scent.
“Her stuff’s still here,” Levi said as he opened the closet. “Who do you think the detective with the badge is?”
“I don’t know. Might not even be a real cop. Just another of Lethe’s pawns.” He assumed whomever was helping Lethe had no idea what it was they were getting into. “The IV’s been removed,” Crwys picked up the needle and sniffed it. He smelled her blood. “Roughly too. Dammit! She’s already taken her.”
“Don’t freak out. Emma’s probably okay.”
“How can you say that?” Crwys roared as he faced his friend. “Lethe’s already killed all those women just to send me a message. You think she’s not going to complete it after I stopped her the first time?”
“Lower your voice,” Levi held up his hand. “She’s been stalking you and she’s got to know you’ve finally figured it out by now. She’s not going to do anything to Emma. Not yet. And if she did, wouldn’t you know it?”
“Yes.”
“Can you trace your bond?”
Crwys closed his eyes and sought out Emma’s smile, her smell, her feel… He caught glimpses
of something. A waterfall. Flags. Cold. Stars.
It wasn’t much but put together as a whole, he knew where they were. He opened his eyes and put a hand on Levi’s shoulder. “They’re on Lookout Mountain.”
“Where?”
“Lover’s Leap.”
The two ran out of the hospital as fast as they entered. Levi grabbed the bubblegum light out of the glove compartment and attached it to the dashboard as Crwys drove like a bat out of hell down Interstate 24. He took the exit and had to slow down once they went up the winding road to Rock City Gardens, the park famous for Lover’s Leap. It was mostly known for the view of seven states and the waterfall beneath the ledge.
It was close to eight by the time they arrived and the park was closed. Crwys parked the car by the ticket booth and started toward the entrance.
“Crwys,” Levi called out. “Wait.”
“I can’t wait. She’s here. I can feel both of them…because she wants me to know she’s here.” It was true. Dragons could sense other Dragons if they wanted to be sensed. The scary truth was Lethe could have been a hair’s breath from him and he’d never know it if he wasn’t looking for her. And from the research Levi had done, Lethe had been just that close for years.
“I’ve got something,” Levi said as he ducked into the back and pulled out the bag he’d insisted on getting from his rental car. He set it on the trunk and pulled out what looked like a decorative dagger. “You might need this.”
“What is it?” Crwys put his hand on it and immediately pulled away as he felt the electric charge. He also felt instant fear as he took a few steps back and pointed. “That’s…Artemis made that.”
“That’s what they say. It’s supposed to kill Dragons.” He offered it to Crwys. “Tuck it into the back of your jeans, beneath your jacket. Just don’t get stuck by it, okay?”
Crwys hesitated. He was leery of anything Artemis had made. It was one of her Arrows that set him on the path of becoming a Dragon. With his thoughts on Emma, he wrapped the fingers of his left hand around the grip. It still tingled but he found he could hold it.
“You have to get it in her heart, got it? And if you can’t, don’t think I won’t.”
After the dagger was tucked where Levi said to put it, they checked the magazines in their guns before heading to the turnstiles. Crwys was readying himself to jump over when an all too familiar man in an expensive suit stepped out from behind the ticket booth and pointed a gun at the two of them.
Rhames.
“Nice of you to join us, Holliard.” Rhames glanced at Levi. “Who are you?”
“It doesn’t matter, Rhames,” Crwys said. He still had his gun in his hand and aimed at Rhames’s face. “I suggest you put your gun down.”
“I don’t think so,” Rhames smiled. “You put yours down or else I’ll kill your friend here.”
Crwys knew a bullet wouldn’t actually kill Levi, but it would slow him down. Any loss of blood for a Vampire was a bad thing. “When did you meet Lethe, Rhames?”
“You have no right to call her by that name,” Rhames screamed as every muscle in his body tensed. “You, the one that kept her locked away, raping her multiple times and savaging her…until she escaped. And now you’ve been chasing after her from city to city, bent on killing every woman you find attractive. Oh yes, Holliard. She told me all about you from the day you were hired in.”
It was obvious she had her claws in Rhames, and his human mind couldn’t fight her. He wanted to believe her. And he’d become her little puppet.
“Now, I suggest you put your gun on the ground, Holliard, and kick it to me before I start putting holes in this guy’s head.”
The situation changed in that instant. A bullet to Levi’s head could kill the human brain and make the reanimation process impossible for Ashur. That would leave Ashur locked in a dead body unless he found a new host. And with there being only one human nearby—Rhames—Crwys didn’t find that a comfort.
With a glance at Levi, Holliard held the gun out, squatted, and set the weapon on the ground. Once he stood back up, he kicked it at Rhames. Rhames didn’t pick it up, which could have given Crwys a second of a chance to rush at him. Instead, with his eyes still on Holliard and his gun trained on Levi, he stepped to the side. “My dear, please pick up the gun and aim it at your boyfriend.”
Crwys gasped when he saw Emma step out from behind the ticket booth. She’d been right there, so close, and he hadn’t sensed her. That meant one thing—Lethe had already severed the burgeoning bond between them. The images he’d seen weren’t given to him by Emma, but by Lethe.
That knowledge threatened to drown him in regrets and sorrow, but he couldn’t give in. Not yet. There was a chance to save Emma. And himself. It was the only chance either of them had to survive.
He would kill Lethe.
Emma moved as if in a dream as she picked up the gun and aimed it at Crwys. She wasn’t herself, not with Lethe controlling her subconscious.
“Good. Now, Holliard, you lead the way with Emma behind you. And you,” he pointed at Levi. “You do the same with your gun.”
Levi did as he was told.
Azazel— Ashur’s voice sounded worried.
Just do as he says. We need to get to Lethe.
Crwys led the way through the open area with its closed shops, except for the novelty building where the gardens started. He knew this place like the back of his hand. He kept a steady pace, aware of Emma behind him. He paused once they reached the stone bridge to the overlook.
“Please keep going, Holliard,” Rhames said from behind him. “She’s at the overlook.”
Crwys continued over the stone bridge above the waterfall and down the steps to where guests could look out over the seven states.
A single figure stood in the center, between the coin-operated telescopes. Crwys felt Lethe’s power flow over him like a fog. Crwys stopped in the center of the slate platform as Emma moved to his right and faced him with the gun pointed at his head. Rhames directed Levi to his left and held his gun to Levi’s head.
“I knew you’d come to me.”
Crwys cringed at the sound of her voice. “You made sure I didn’t have a choice.”
“You never have a choice. Not with me, Azazel.”
He held his arms down at his sides, aware of the dagger tucked into his jeans, beneath his shirt. “Let them go. You have me.”
“Oh, I’m just getting started, now that you finally saw my messages.” She turned to face him. Lethe as a Dragon was a thing of beauty, with blue scales and pink and lavender wings. It made sense her human form was just as lovely. Blond, wheat spun hair that seemed to glow under the moon with hues of pink and mint green. She wore a long dress, reminiscent of the draped togas worn in hers and Crwys’s youth. Her purple eyes glowed as they took him in, and he felt just as disgusted as he had the moment he realized what she’d done.
“No more killing, Lethe. You got my attention.”
“But not enough, Azazel. Did you honestly believe you could move on without me?” She clasped her hands in front of her. “You’re mine.”
“I’m no one’s,” Crwys hissed. “Whatever you think we had ended a very long time ago.”
To his surprise, she clapped and her laughter sounded like the chirp of delicate birds on the wind above the world. “Oh and what fun we had, Azazel. You didn’t realize what power you had until you met me. I was the one that coaxed that out of you.” She took a step forward. “The one that showed you the power of your magic.” Another step forward. “The one that supported you and urged you to give us human form.”
Give you human form? Ashur’s voice had the ring of confusion.
Crwys couldn’t go into the complicated mess that was his life or how Lethe had inexplicably woven her way into it.
“I see you’ve not told your little demon minion the truth, have you?” She stopped moving and looked in Levi’s direction. “I can sense her uncertainty. So why don’t I tell her myself?”
&n
bsp; Crwys glanced from Lethe to Levi. “Her? Levi’s a male, Lethe. You haven’t been Asleep that long, have you?”
“The form is male but the—” She stared at Crwys and he almost—almost—withered under her scrutiny. Not anymore. “You don’t know? How can you have be so blind, Azazel? Ashur, as a demon, is female.”
He broke his concentration on Lethe to stare at Levi. “What…what is she saying?”
“Look, Crwys I—”
“We don’t have time for this,” Lethe said. “I want Crwys’s eyes on me.”
He looked back at her and pushed what was either a revelation or a lie about Ashur to the side. “Give Emma to me, Lethe. Let Levi and Rhames go. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“You see,” Lethe continued, as if Crwys had never spoken. “Azazel didn’t realize his power, his ability to spell cast, had traveled with him through the land of the dead and into his new life. But I could see it. I saw it the day he flew away from his home hoping to die, believing himself to be the only Dragon in existence. You see…his mother gave him this new form. But he wasn’t the first. Gaia’s rage had already given life to two others by that time. Myself and another young woman. Two of her priestesses that she loved with all of her heart, killed by robbers in her temple. I was given the gift of Spirit, and Artemis was made of Earth.”
Artemis…was a Dragon? Even Ashur’s knowledge had been limited in Crwys’s past.
“Oh yes! But I found him. I taught him. I schooled him in the way of his magic.”
“His magic?” Levi asked.
She laughed. “Only Azazel possesses this kind of magic. I can enter dreams and influence minds. But my magic was only bestowed upon me when I was transformed. Gaia infused her son with this magic when he was in her womb, the son she named Apollo.” Lethe gestured at Crwys with one long, thin arm. “Our hero can want a thing to happen and can create the spell to achieve it. He wanted to be like he was before Artemis’s Arrow took his life. He wanted it desperately. So I saw my chance to save our race from watching life as a thing to be feared and hunted.”
Crwys remembered it all, because he never forgot. If he wanted it, he could put himself back in that cave in the mountains where he’d fled after waking as a giant, hideous beast. He could smell the damp rot and feel the cold mountain water against his scales. He smelled the incense again and saw the flickering candles as he called on his old power, the gift his mother had given him at birth, the blessing his sister Diana cherished and his sister Echidna despised.