“Why are you here?” I asked, hoping to break the awkwardness I’d just created. I looked around the bar. It was a slow night and the place wasn’t too popular. It was the middle of the week. Only the desperate were here. Or prowlers looking for a meal for the night.
“I’m testing a theory,” she said and shrugged, nodding her head toward a large man on the other side of the room, hidden in shadows. He was curled into himself, head down, long dark hair covering his face.
“Laila?” I asked, a warning in my voice. “Are you causing trouble?”
“Not yet,” she said and gave me a smirk. “I’m just testing a theory. I swear.”
“Who is he?” I asked.
“Just a sad and lonely man.” Her eyes lit up. “Maybe you should go join him.”
“Ouch,” I said, and grabbed my chest as if that really did hurt.
She snorted and pulled out a small vial, showing it to me.
“You didn’t,” I said, eyes big. “Laila, you can’t do that.”
“Relax,” she said and leaned closer. “It’s perfectly safe and I already talked with the owner. I showed him all my research so he understood that no one was in any danger.”
“Yes, but the person needs to know.”
“He does.”
“What?”
She shook her head and a flash of anger showed in her eyes before disappearing. She blew out a slow breath and straightened from the bar. “Did you really think I’d give some poor guy a potion without even telling him? I like my fun, but I’m not that much of an idiot. I talked to the owner and I talked to him. They both agreed.”
I eyed the liquid. “What does it do?”
“Memory suppression.” I opened my mouth, but she held up her hand. “It only works if the person wants it. It can’t be used against someone’s will. It’s the person’s will that makes it work in the first place.”
She reached out and rested her hand against my chest. I stilled. Did she feel the way her touch made my heart skip a beat? The little tube of liquid drew my attention. How did it work? Would it take away my memories of Livvie?
“No,” Laila said, her answer barely above a whisper. “You don’t get to use this. Not you.”
“Why,” I asked.
She gave me her sad smile again. “Because you’re human.” She leaned forward and fisted the fabric of my shirt, pulling me closer. I bent as her lips went to my ear. “That’s a good thing, Elliot. Being human. This pain you feel, it makes you stronger. But for beings like him,” she pulled away and nodded toward the guy, “it can destroy him. And those around him.”
“Aren’t you just saying humans are too weak to cause a commotion?”
“I think we both know humans are just as capable of causing mayhem as, say, a giant on a rampage or a wild shifter or feral leprechauns. What I’m saying is a human knows what the emotions are. They deal with it a lot better than other beings. A shifter gets pissed enough or goes into a whirlwind of emotions and they shift and attack anyone around them. They don’t know what to do with those emotions and so they release them in the most dangerous way. Humans know how to deal.” She poked my chest, and I reached up, grabbing her hand. “You came here for a few drinks to numb your pain, and I have no doubt afterward, you’ll go home, sleep it off, get up in the morning and go to work. You’ll do it over and over again until one day, that pain isn’t as deep anymore. You know how to heal, how to keep moving forward. There are beings out there that can’t do that. They need help.” I let her hand go and she lifted up the vial. “And this can help them.”
“So humans can’t use that.”
“They can. You can. But what I’m saying is, you don’t need it. He does. He’s a phoenix, and they are really good at self-destructing. The issue is when they do, they also take a city block out with them and once the ashes settle, he will be the only one to rise again, but not everyone else around him will. This is for that.”
I held out my hand, and she carefully placed it in my palm. I lifted it to the dim light and shook the vial, noting that while it was clear, there was also a green stream swirling around inside.
“That’s amazing. What had you coming up with this idea?” I asked.
Laila was silent for too long, and when I glanced over, she was focusing on a new drink in front of her. She finally shrugged. “Just something I came up with.”
I bit my lip and handed it back to her. The vial disappeared and she took a big gulp of her drink, grimacing as she swallowed. What demons was she running from?
“You shouldn’t use it either,” I whispered.
Her eyes met mine and before she could blink it away, I was able to pin down one of the emotions swirling around in them. Sorrow.
“No plans to.” She stood up and tossed some bills on the table. “Have fun, Elliot. Drink your pain away, find a lady friend, and come into work tomorrow. You’ll get passed this.”
“You’re not offering?” I asked. “To be my friend for the night.”
She chuckled. “No. Not tonight. I did what I came to do.” She pushed away, walked over to the being hidden in the corner, and exchanged words. When he nodded, she handed over the vial, gave him a small wave, and then headed out the door.
A smart man would have taken her advice and found someone to bury himself into for the night. Instead, I knocked back a few more drinks until the pain and hole left by Livvie was numbed and then went home, burying myself into my blankets to sleep it off instead. Because as much as I wanted to wallow in my pity party for one, she was right. Humans were resilient. We knew how to work through our problems and come out the other side better for them. I knew that one day this pain I felt for Livvie would only be a memory, but that day wasn’t today.
Chapter Thirteen
~Cyril Shanton Part I~
Meshan handed me a folder, and I raised an eyebrow as I plopped it down on my desk in front of me, still scanning another folder and signing off on projects before I took off to go to Springer City.
“What is this?” I asked him.
“The file on Dr. Laila Porter. Mr. Lombardi sent it over.”
“Finally,” I grumbled. I didn’t look up at my assistant as I read through the forms and signed off on some, rejecting others. Finally finished, I leaned back and grabbed the file on the lab technician.
When Lombardi first said he was having one of his lab technicians upgrade his security, I laughed. And couldn’t stop for a few minutes at the idea of some no-name chick doing the work. Over the last couple of weeks, I had gotten reports on the progress and slowly, I grew impressed and curious.
Apparently she had an eye for things even Lombardi’s security men had missed, and while she didn’t fully know our intentions, she was doing her best to lock that place down. On this trip, we were going to get some of the crazies, and I wanted them to come. Lombardi promised with Dr. Porter’s so-called traps, we’d get them.
Good. I was going to make an example out of some of those idiots. Over the last few decades I had grown complacent and now anyone with any bit of confidence thought they could take me on. It was time to end it, knock them all down a few pegs and rethink coming after me.
I stared at the picture and nearly growled. She was challenging me. How could someone in a photo challenge one of the last dragons in existence? She had dark green eyes, dark brown hair, and looked like a little girl. Young, still a baby.
She had been in and out of foster homes her entire life, managed to get out of it at sixteen when she worked her way into college and graduated at nineteen with a PhD. How was that even possible? There were some recommendations from her professors. She had managed to test out of most of her undergraduate classes. She’d only had to take two undergrad classes while simultaneously taking graduate classes. Within those three years, she managed to do more research on magic wards than any other student, and while others were still struggling to find a title and topic for their thesis papers, she was already graduating.
I grinned. She was a
force. The entire time she was in college she was also making a living by selling her creations. Or in a few cases, making a big name for herself by donating other creations in the medical field and even in the education field.
Now she was making a name for herself in the security world, and it wasn’t necessarily a good thing. There were lists and reports of people who had approached her for one project or another. She had a good eye, because she told them no and Lombardi’s team did the rest, making sure they didn’t approach her again. As far as they knew, she had no clue they were watching over her. I briefly wondered if she was more aware of things than they thought.
There really wasn’t much about her past. She was left as an infant to die in a dumpster. Taken in and then passed around. There wasn’t much on the reasons why she couldn’t stay in those homes. Those incident reports had magically disappeared when Laila became a teenager. All we had were lists of homes she’d been in. There were notations next to most of them, about contact information failing or the foster parent not willing to talk, or they just didn’t remember her.
She was a big mystery. Magic since she was a baby. Strong magic. No clue to who her parents were or what she was. She was a level A1 magic user, but Lombardi noted that her magic signature went even higher. If she wanted, she was more than capable of erasing her past.
What exactly was she capable of doing? After looking through her file and making a couple of calls, I was more excited to meet this lab technician.
“Meshan, I want two teams with me for the trip,” I said.
“Not three, sir?” he asked through the intercom.
“No. Two will be more than enough.”
“Very well.”
I dialed in a number, put it on speaker, and listened to it ring. On the third ring, he finally picked up.
“Keep calling like this and I’ll consider it to be harassment,” Lombardi said on the other end.
I chuckled. “Nothing wrong with wanting to make sure everything is in order before I come up.”
“You got the file?”
“I did. She looks like she’s challenging me through her photo.”
Lombardi’s deep chuckle came through the line. “I thought the same thing.”
“She’s interesting.”
My grin widened when Lombardi didn’t answer right away. That silence said it all. She meant something to him, even if he wasn’t going to admit it.
“I wanted to confirm that you really did give me everything,” I said, poking at the hellhound.
“You know I did.” His voice was blank, not giving anything away, but I had a feeling he was holding himself back.
“Do I? We really don’t know much about her. Her accomplishments make her feel like a myth. How was she able to accomplish so much at such a young age?”
“Stubbornness, determination, and intelligence,” he answered.
“Uh huh, I’ll see that with my own eyes this weekend.”
“You can’t have her,” Lombardi growled, finally slipping.
“See you in a few days,” I said. “Don’t get me killed.” I hung up before he could say anything else and laughed. Oh, she had managed to get under his skin.
This was going to be interesting. I stared down at her photo. I wanted her. Someone as talented as her could be put to good use.
Chapter Fourteen
~Cyril Shanton Part II~
Springer City wasn’t that impressive. It was large, but not as large as Brighton. What was cool about this place was how diverse it was. Their city council had thirteen members. Brighton had seven, and I had the right to overrule anything I wanted. My nose picked up all kinds of scents, including the increased amount of humans. They had a lot more here. And it looked like everyone wasn’t gearing up to tear each other’s throats out. It was almost relaxing. If I knew how, I’d feel bad for drawing in some very dangerous beings who were willing to tear this city apart to get to me.
I wanted to feel bad. I really did, but I didn’t.
Meshan sat next to me, prattling on about the schedule and expectations. He didn’t envisage much out of this, and he wasn’t impressed with Biomystic Security or Dr. Laila Porter. I was the opposite. I expected the world from Lombardi, and he was good enough to give me the universe instead. We were going to draw out some of those crazies, and thanks to the doctor, we were even going to capture some of them. Maybe then, after reminding them of what I was capable of doing, some of these assassination attempts would stop. I could only hope, but really, there was no room for hope in my world. It wasn’t going to keep my head from being blown off or my body drained dry of all my blood or my scales from being pulled off.
A smart dragon would just stay in their lair where no idiot would dare go. I wasn’t that dull though and the world called out to me. I wanted to see it all, find all its secrets and make it all mine. I was adventurous. Better than half of my dragon family. They preferred staying in their little city and out of sight. Boring.
“We will be there in five minutes,” Meshan said.
I didn’t bother replying to him as I pulled out my phone and sent Lombardi a text, telling him he’d better be out there waiting like the good doggy that he was. That was going to raise his hackles. Of course, that also guaranteed that he wouldn’t be out there waiting.
When we pulled up to the massive steel gates, I snickered. No welcoming party waiting. Of course not. I waited in the car while my security team jumped out and cleared the area, a couple of them chatting up the man at the gate. The man was small and a little squirrely. He kept glancing toward the car, most likely waiting for me to jump out and swallow him whole. He didn’t have enough meat on his bones for my dragon to enjoy, but he didn’t need to know that.
Once I got the all clear, I climbed out, making a mental note to get something bigger. I was a big man. I needed space. I took in all the scents around me, smirking at the fear that rolled off the gatekeeper. My skin buzzed the nearer I got to the gate, and I gave it a closer look, impressed with the amount of magic radiating off it. My sharp eyes were able to pick up the pale purple shimmer of the ward, and my sensitive nose took in the scent of cinnamon. A clash of senses. Lavender color with cinnamon flavor.
I approached the ward slowly, feeling it push back on me.
“I wouldn’t,” the gatekeeper said, getting in front of me.
I narrowed my eyes on him. I expected him to cower, to give away to the fear he felt, but he didn’t. He straightened instead and focused on my face. Not my eyes. If he wanted to keep his head, he’d never look me in the eyes. My lip curled into a growl.
His hand shot out and he uncurled his fingers to show a handful of what looked like small white cloudy crystals.
“What are those?” I asked. I picked up one and held it up to the light. Etchings into the crystal shone as the light refracted off them, and while I couldn’t make out what the symbols meant, I knew what they were used for. “Charms.”
The man nodded. “It’ll get you through the ward unharmed, but only with an escort. Your welcoming party will be here shortly.”
I nodded and tucked the crystal into my pocket while the guard passed out the rest to my team. It was a good idea to require visitors to need something to cross through the ward. It had its own risk too, like if a charm got stolen, but from what the guard said, there was another layer of security by using escorts.
Approaching the ward carefully, I wanted to poke at it. I could feel a spell woven in there so that those not meant to be there would leave, probably deciding they needed to be somewhere else. Basic. But there was nothing basic about this ward.
I was impressed, and I hadn’t been in a while. There were other layers I couldn’t pick apart.
“What do you think?” one of my guards asked, coming to my side.
“If this is what Dr. Porter did, I can’t wait to meet her,” I admitted.
“That good?” he asked, eyeing the ward. As a wyvern, his eyes were just as good.
I nodded and prod
ded the ward, wondering what I’d need to do to take it down and how much it would hurt the creator. As a dragon, I had some immunity to magic, the simple spells useless against me. This ward was not a simple one. I wasn’t even sure if a coven could do something so intricate. Maybe with time and creativity.
“They are approaching,” Meshan said, and I looked up to watch a group of people make their way here.
I smirked when I spotted Lombardi. He had his usual bland expression as he towered over everyone. His second was by his side. The vampire. His name escaped me since I didn’t deal with him often enough. I just knew he was old and more dangerous than he seemed. Behind him was the tiger shifter. Alijah.
I’d borrowed him a couple of times for assignments. He was an excellent tracker, especially through the wild. Seemed Nature liked him a lot. My attempts to persuade him to come work for me hadn’t panned out. He was determined to stay here and that only made me more adamant.
Dismissing the others around them, I searched for the one person I wanted to see the most.
I felt her before I saw her. Her magic ran along my skin, putting my dragon on alert. She was warm and soft. Contained.
When I finally spotted a woman tucked away behind Lombardi and his men, I smirked. Her green eyes widened when she met mine. I gave my energy a little boost to see if she cowered. She didn’t even miss a step. A few of the group paused or stopped, not wanting to come closer. My energy had been explained to me as being a cyclone, pulling everyone to me.
But not Dr. Laila Porter.
She was a pretty thing. Small but not tiny. Standing next to normal people, she would probably be considered average height, but supernaturals had a way of dwarfing anyone under six feet.
When they were a few feet away, Lombardi rested his hand on her lower back, as if staking his claim. I wanted to laugh. That wouldn’t work with me. He could piss on her for all I cared. If I wanted someone, I still took them.
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