Fire Song (City of Dragons)

by St. Crowe, Val

  “Maybe,” I said.

  “Of course, maybe she made up all those details. If she was really trying to keep him a secret, maybe she didn’t share anything accurate about him at all.”

  “Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.”

  Flint dug his phone out of his pocket, holding up a finger. He put it to his ear. “Flint here…. Yeah, I saw the other calls. I’ve been busy, though…. Oh. No, you were right, that is something I would want to know about. Thanks.” He hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket. “Another dragon girl has been reported missing.”

  “What?” I said. “Who?”

  “Dahlia Brooks,” he said. “You know her?”

  “No, the name doesn’t ring a bell. I know the Brooks family, though.”

  “Well,” he said, “maybe it’s unrelated. Maybe she’ll turn up at home and it will have all been a prank or something.”

  “Or maybe she’s the next victim.”

  He looked at his feet. “That’s always a possibility.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  A search party was gathering at the boardwalk in the twilight of the evening. It was cold, and I was wrapped up in a big hooded sweatshirt. Flint was standing next to me, and he didn’t seem cold at all. He was too intent on watching everyone who was gathering there.

  “There’s a certain kind of person who’d be perpetrating crimes like this,” he said. “And most likely, it’s not someone who even knows these girls, at least not intimately. It may be that he did know his first victim quite well. Often times, that first killing is the result of a fantasy that has played out so many times the killer can’t stop himself. But after that first one, he’ll be smarter, he’ll look for victims who are similar, who allow him to replay that same killing again, but they won’t be people connected to him.”

  “So, if that’s the case, it could still be Alastair,” I said.

  “Yes, it could be. He’s definitely still a suspect. But we can’t allow ourselves to have tunnel vision about him,” said Flint. “It’s possible that the killer didn’t know any of these victims. That he was smart from the beginning, and that he chose people who weren’t connected to him at all. At this point, he’s probably on a crazy high, especially if he’s also taken this other victim. And he is delighted by the fact that he has pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes, that no one knows who he is. But… the feeling fades. The delight doesn’t last for ever, and to get it back, he has to take bigger risks, thumb his nose at the authorities and still get away with it. If he can pull that off, the emotional reward will be even greater. So, he’ll start getting closer to the investigation.”

  “That’s like what you were saying when you thought I was the killer. That I was inserting myself into the investigation.”

  “Yes, exactly,” he said.

  “You think the killer is here tonight?”

  “It’s quite possible.”

  I pointed. “Alastair is here tonight.”

  “Yes, I did notice that.” He glanced at me. “Don’t worry. If Alastair is guilty, we’ll find out and we will bring him to justice.”

  “No, I know that. I’m sorry I keep bringing him up.”

  “It’s because you’re too close to him as a possible suspect,” said Flint. “You need to take a step back, look at the wider picture.”

  “Okay,” I said. “So, what are we looking for? If the killer didn’t know the suspects, then it could be anybody.” There were lots of people who’d showed up for this search party who didn’t know Dahlia or the family. They had just come to be good Samaritans. Or maybe because of the news coverage. Maybe it was like touching celebrity.

  “Well, we should hone in on white men,” said Flint. “Mid-twenties to early thirties. He may be single or married with a family, but he will have shown up for the search party alone. The distraction of trying to keep up appearances for a wife would ruin the excitement for him. And beyond that… I’m just going to watch. There’s something about the way he’ll move, the way he’ll interact with everything. He’ll be trying to blend in, but he’ll be separate.”

  “What?” I said.

  “He’ll be play-acting, and it will be subtle, but possible to see. You know the way that people sound different when they’re actually being interviewed versus when they’re pretending to be interviewed? When you watch one of those horror films that’s pretending to be a documentary, even if no one tells you it’s not a documentary, you can hear the difference in the way they speak. It will be like that.”

  “What?” I said again.

  Flint shrugged. “I’ll know it when I see it. Trust me. I’m good at this.”

  So, we stood in the dark, on the edge and watched as the people came through and were organized into different groups.

  Flint was quiet. Sometimes, he made notes on his phone, but he didn’t say anything aloud.

  When I asked him questions, he was dismissive.

  “Him? You think him?”

  “No, not him,” Flint would say, as if it were the most ridiculous idea to ever have crossed my lips.

  By the end of the evening, however, he went to the organizers and checked their list of names. He wrote down six or seven names in his phone and said he’d check them out.

  I was shivering and ready to go home.

  I walked back to the hotel, worried that I’d find Connor hurt again, something else destroyed…

  But Connor was behind the counter, looking cheery—if bored due to the lack of the television set.

  I went upstairs to my apartment, poured myself a glass of wine, and peered out the window at the dark ocean.

  I thought about Dahlia Brooks. Was she still alive?

  Or was the killer dumping her body into deep, dark water?

  *

  I awoke to the scraping sound of my balcony door opening. My apartment had a little balcony off the back. There were a set of stairs from the balcony down to the ocean, and I liked it for the easy access to the waves, but hated it because of the lack of security. I always kept that balcony door locked, but Felicity was awful about forgetting to lock it, no matter how I lectured her.

  Now, my worst fears were realized.

  It was undoubtedly the vampires, back again to wreak havoc on me and mine. If they hurt Connor again, I was going to kill them all.

  And I meant it.

  It would be worth it if I knew that we were safe.

  I got up out of bed, only wearing my pajamas, a pair of silky pants and a little white tank top. Slowly, carefully, so as not to make any noise and tip off the intruder, I made my way over to the door. It was open a crack.

  I peered through the crack.

  All I saw was the dark, empty hallway of my apartment.

  Maybe I was hearing things.

  Maybe the door hadn’t opened at all?

  I was still, listening now.

  All I could hear was the pounding of my own heart.

  Maybe I had heard the door open, but it had just been Felicity coming back in from a late-night swim.

  Of course, Felicity wasn’t sleeping here anymore, in favor of spending all her time with Jensen the vampire. The one time I’d run into her, she hadn’t spoken to me. Admittedly, I hadn’t said anything either. I knew I needed to apologize, but it was a really hard thing to do, because I was only looking out for her. It wasn’t as if I had said those things because I wanted to hurt her.

  Anyway, it was too cold outside for a swim. It wasn’t Felicity.

  Movement.

  Someone walking down the hallway.

  I stepped back from the door.

  It wasn’t a vampire.

  The door to my bedroom was pushed open from the outside.

  I stumbled backwards, wanting an exit, wanting to hide in the closet, to dive out the window.

  Alastair entered the room. “Penny,” he breathed.

  Where the heck was my talisman? I hadn’t been wearing it to sleep, and that was idiotic. In the future, I would never take it off. If I made
it through this meeting, that is. If I didn’t allow Alastair to take me back to his home, to his bed.

  Oh, God, he looked good. “What are you doing here?” I licked my lips.

  “The guy at your front desk wouldn’t let me in. He said you were sleeping,” said Alastair. “But I had to see you.”

  My breasts felt heavy, and there was a tingling feeling between my legs. It was growing and spreading, a pleasant sweetness. “That’s the whole reason you’re here in Sea City. For me. You hate the ocean.”

  “No,” said Alastair. “I came because of Elizabeth. She said I should spend some time away from the rat race. I’ve been working remotely from that house she decorated. It’s godawful to look at, but she just laughs when I tell her that she has terrible taste.”

  Elizabeth was Alastair’s sister. I had never much liked her. But she did know how to stand up to him, I would give her that.

  You know how to stand up to him, I told myself. You left him.

  But I didn’t want to stand up to him. I wanted to tackle him and rip off his shirt, bare his flat, hard stomach, put my lips all over his warm, warm skin. I sighed.

  He stepped closer to me. “Penny, whatever happened between us—”

  “You need to leave,” I whispered. I rolled my head on my shoulders. God, I was turned on. It felt so good, and I remembered how good it had always been with Alastair. Orgasms like fireworks behind my eyes. The sweet invasion of his thick shaft, prodding its way into my body. Augh. I shut my eyes.

  “I want you,” he said in a husky voice. “And you want me. I can see the way you’re looking at me, baby.”

  “Don’t call me that.”

  He closed the distance between us, and one of his hands came up slowly. He stroked my cheek with his knuckles.

  It was the whisper of a touch, but it send earthquakes through me. My legs felt weak.

  “That hungry little look you get is so sexy,” he murmured.

  “Shut up,” I gasped. I tried to lift my hands and push him away, but I didn’t.

  “Is your pussy still hungry for me?”

  “Stop it,” I said, my body clenching on itself. I wanted him. I wanted him to push me down on my bed, strip off my clothes, spread my legs, and drive himself into me over and over again.

  “My hungry little slut,” he said. “You could never get enough of my big cock.”

  The dirty talk usually got me going—at least it used to. There had been something dangerous and exciting about the way he called me dirty names.

  But this time, maybe for the first time ever, I heard the way his voice changed around the words. I heard the contempt he felt for me. It wasn’t a kinky little game for him. It was true. He thought he owned me. He thought that I was his personal property, and I existed only to give him pleasure.

  Well, screw that.

  I brought my hands up now, and I placed my palms on his chest. I shoved him as hard as I could.

  He staggered backwards. He was stronger than me, solid and large, so it shouldn’t have made much difference, but he must have been surprised.

  “Get out,” I said in a hoarse voice.

  “Wait a second, Penny.”

  “No,” I said. “I don’t want you anywhere near me anymore.”

  “That isn’t true. I know how badly you want me. I can see it. I can smell it.”

  “No.” I sucked in air, filling my lungs, puffing out my chest, challenging him.

  “You little bitch, you can’t just tease me like that.” He was coming for me again, reaching out with one hand to deliver the slap I knew was coming.

  And I raised my palms and let my magic surge out of my body, stopping him in his tracks.

  His eyes widened.

  “Don’t you touch me ever again,” I said.

  “Penny.”

  “No,” I said. And then I hurled him backwards, slamming his body into the wall behind him.

  He grunted.

  I let him slide down the wall to floor.

  He started to get his feet.

  I used my magic to slam him back down. “Don’t get up,” I said. “If you get up, it means you want more. Do you want more?”

  “What are you doing?” he said, a nasty smile on his face.

  “Didn’t expect me to fight back?”

  “You don’t stand a chance against me,” he said.

  The truth was, my magic wasn’t as strong as it could be. I barely had anything left after breathing that bolt of fire the other night, and now I was going toe-to-toe with Alastair. But he wasn’t really fighting back, and it wasn’t because he didn’t want to hurt me, I knew that much. “If you had magic, you’d have already used it.” I couldn’t count the number of times he’d burned me when we were together. “You haven’t shifted lately, have you?”

  “I’m going easy on you,” he said. “I’m a changed man.”

  “Right, that’s why I had to stop you from slapping me,” I said.

  “Please, Penny.” He made his face contrite. “I promise only to touch you with respect and love from now on. Come home.”

  “Never,” I said. Using my magic, I picked up a lamp from the bedside table and sent it hurling across the room, straight for his head.

  His eyes widened.

  And then the lamp shattered against his forehead.

  He slumped over, unconscious.

  I got my phone and called Connor at the front desk. “Get up here,” I said. “We’ve got to haul my ex out of here before he wakes up.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “Hey,” said Felicity’s voice.

  I looked up from my desk in my office to see Felicity in the doorway. I didn’t spend a lot of time in this office, but it was helpful for when I needed to meet with people for job interviews or to do paperwork and money stuff.

  She stepped inside. “Uh, Connor told me that Alastair showed up last night.”

  I was on my feet, coming towards her. “I need to apologize for the other evening at dinner.”

  She shifted on her feet .”Yeah, that would be good. But first, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I said.

  “Were you wearing your talisman?”

  “No, I fought him off without it. It’s as if his hold on me is getting less and less powerful.”

  Her face burst into a big smile. “That’s so great. I know you were worried that if he ever found you—”

  “I’m strong now.”

  “Yeah. You are.”

  “And about the dinner with Jensen.”

  She folded her arms over her chest. “You were way out of line.”

  “I was absolutely out of line.”

  “You don’t even know him.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “You should get to know him before you make sweeping judgments about his character,” she said.

  “You are absolutely right, and I’m very, very sorry.”

  She nodded. “Well. You should be.”

  “And I am.”

  She sighed. “Just… try not to be a bitch from here on out.”

  “It’s only that I care about you—”

  “That sounds like an excuse.” She put her finger in my face.

  I hung my head. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. Really.”

  “Good,” she said. “You should be.” Then she softened. “But I’m really glad you’re okay, and I don’t want to fight anymore.” She held out her arms. “Hug?”

  We hugged.

  After a moment, we released.

  I grinned at her. “Hey, you think you can pry yourself away from your fangboy later on? I want to talk to you and Connor about something.”

  “Don’t call him fangboy.”

  “Sorry.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “You don’t sound sorry.”

  “I am.”

  She sighed. “I’ll be here.”

  *

  Connor was drinking coffee, since he’d just woken up. It had been a much warmer day today, and we were sitting outside on
the patio behind the hotel.

  I was looking down at the empty pool, wondering if we should have it filled early. It had already been in the mid-seventies a few days this week and maybe it was going to get warm early this year.

  “What’s going on?” Connor said.

  “Let’s wait for Felicity,” I said. “I’ll tell you guys both then.”

  He nodded. He yawned.

  Felicity opened the back door. “Here you are. I’ve been looking for you guys everywhere.”

  “I told Lisa at the front desk to let you know we were out here.”

  “Did you?” said Felicity. “Or did you just mean to tell her?”

  I furrowed my brow. I was fairly sure I had told her. Well, it didn’t matter anyway. Felicity was here.

  Felicity sat down next to Connor. “So, what’s up?”

  I sat down with them. “Look, this vampire problem is getting out of hand. They came in and hurt Connor, and I don’t know when they’re going to strike next. We need to do something.”

  “You’re friends with that police detective,” said Felicity. “Maybe he’s got friends on the force who could help us out.”

  “I don’t get the impression he’s very popular, actually,” I said. “And anyway, if the police could have done anything about the vamps, they would have done something by now. What kind of weapons could they use against them? Guns?” As long as vampires had some kind of blood in them, they healed pretty fast. The only ways to kill vamps were to cut off their heads and to burn them alive. The stake in the heart thing worked okay. As long as you didn’t take out the stake. But then, no creature was really doing a lot of moving around with a big object implanted in their hearts, dragons included.

  “Good point,” said Connor. “But what can we do against them?”

  “Well, we’ll need magic,” I said.

  They both raised their eyebrows.

  “Seriously?” said Felicity. “The only way that I have magic is to eat the flesh of a dragon, and there’s no way you’re suggesting that I do that.”

  “Of course not,” I said. “There are ways we can get magic without disrespecting dragons. How do you think I got that talisman I wear to block my feelings for Alastair.”

  “I never thought about it,” said Connor.