City of Dragons: Blood Bonds

by Adrienne Wilder

  Farley checked the blood flow on his shoulder wound. It was only a bruise now.

  “I’m going to have to look you up more often. Or maybe I’ll just have to try the goods first hand?”

  “She’s not like that.”

  “You keep saying that, but what the hell does it mean? She’s not like that. She’s not like that...” Darco fluttered one hand mocking him. His other one was still down the front of his pants.

  “It means it takes more than being a Dominant to get her to Roll you.”

  “No shit? Really? I mean, because it’s obvious she marked you because of your placement on the Food Chain. You’re nothing more than a meal and a good fuck.” He laughed, then groaned, eyes fluttering up into his skull.

  “I think you’d better stay in the Dens where you belong.”

  Darco was too busy with himself to reply. Farley watched him, strangely detached. He wasn’t one to pass up an opportunity of sharing, but Darco scared him. Even if he was his Brother.

  While Darco did what he did best, Farley busied himself with examining the laptop. The thing was ruined. He picked at the silver casing. Green plastic and capacitors peeked through the cracks.

  Even Ken in IT couldn’t fix this mess.

  He glanced up at Darco. The Male had other things on his mind and was still ignoring him. While his Brother was occupied, Farley broke apart the rest of the case and pulled out the hard drive. He was putting the thing in his pocket when Darco let out a final groan.

  The young Males hovered over him, mouths open, sniffing, begging. Darco wouldn’t let them touch him, which was cruel in a way.

  “God of Man, that was almost fun.” Darco craned his head to the side. “Didn’t you hear me, little Brother?”

  “I heard you.” Farley turned to walk away.

  “Where are you going?” When Farley didn’t answer Darco followed. “Now, now, I didn’t give you permission to leave.”

  Farley kept walking. Darco, like the majority of Kin, wasn’t licensed to be outside the Dens. He’d made too many unacceptable Human social mistakes. And Medan was tired of paying for it.

  Darco’s hand closed on Farley’s arm and spun him around. “Well, well, well, someone is feeling their oats today.”

  “I paid your tithe. I’m leaving.” He jerked himself out of Darco’s grasp. As he took two steps back, he turned, expecting to be grabbed, bit, slammed into the ground, anything, but Darco didn’t move.

  Just keep going. A few more steps, then Farley stopped. It wasn’t like Darco to let someone walk away. He knew the bastard was probably influencing him, wanting him to stop, to turn, so he did.

  The Male smiled. “Go on, run home. But I am going to meet this Female.”

  “Stay away from her.”

  Darco’s eyes widened. “What? She’s a Female. She has a right to choose who she wants to mark.”

  “You will not go near her.”

  His Brother’s eyes narrowed and his smile went all cockeyed. “Are you going to stop me?”

  Anger propelled Farley forward until their noses almost touched. Scales flashed along his arms and chest. “You set one foot outside the Dens and you won’t have to worry about the cops, because I will kill you myself.”

  The smile on the Male’s face went wide. “Let’s see you try.”

  And Farley knew he didn’t stand a chance.

  Shame made Farley turn away. Darco’s laughter chased him out of the Dens.

  Chapter 19

  “I’m telling you, there’s nothing there. You’re fine.” Dr. Joyce Meyer gave Haley a pat on the shoulder.

  Haley rolled down her sleeve; the needle hole in her arm had already closed. Her green blood sample now sat in a field of red.

  “Well, something’s wrong with him. He’s sick.”

  The doctor took another look into one of five microscopes set up on the table. Outside in the hall, the cops were getting restless. On the orders of the Chief Metaphysical biologistDr. Corbin with the CDCthey had quarantined anyone with possible exposure. The only one allowed out was Jones, who was critical, and even then they’d transported him directly into quarantine at Grady.

  Dr. Meyer nodded. “I agree. Your friend in there is sick. With what, I don’t know.”

  “For Christ’s sake, the lizard is stoned.” That from the officer by the door. The guy couldn’t seem to resist throwing in his two cents. Every five minutes.

  Meyer gave Haley that look. The one that said “got stupid?” One of the assistants came in with a tray filled with more test tubes. Names were written on the side to identify them.

  “There’s definitely a change in the cell cytology, but it’s localized to the nucleus. His ulysiss enzymes are elevated, so that’s where we’ll start looking. I need my lab to do a proper analysis.” Her thin finger tapped the screen on the laptop. “But the chemical compounds do not seem to be crossing the metaphysical line. Whatever is causing this isn’t normal, but it doesn’t seem to affect Humans.”

  Meyer pursed her lips. It was a look that suggested she had more to say.

  Haley said, “What?”

  “I get the feeling I’ve seen this before.”

  “You mean like déjà vu?”

  The woman smiled. “Something like that. If you don’t mind&” She typed something into the laptop. “I’d like to send this to a friend in North Carolina. He has a lot of experience with some strange stuff. This,” she waved her hand at the screen, “would be right up his alley.” She looked at Haley from behind her bifocals.

  Haley shook her head and shrugged. “Be my guest.”

  To the assistant, Meyer said, “You can tell them they’re clear to go. Give each of them a card and tell them to report any rashes, fevers, or limbs that suddenly drop off.” She stopped the young man before he went out the door. “That last part was a joke, you know that, right?”

  He blinked. “Uh, sure.” Meyer patted his arm and sent him on his way.

  Outside, the lab tech delivered the news and a flurry of movement and voices filled the hallway.

  Haley checked her watch; they’d been down here five hours.

  “What about Creyal?”

  “He’s sick,” Meyer said. “But you already knew that.”

  Haley got down off the table. “Will he be okay?” As in, was he going to live?

  A deep furrow appeared between Dr. Meyer’s eyes, accentuating her other wrinkles. “I really hate it when I get these pop quiz questions. I hate pop quizzes.” She called out for her help and instructed them to start packing things up.

  “Can you at least give me some percentages, a maybe, anything?”

  Meyer put a hand on Haley’s arm. “I’ll have them take him to my clinic. I have the best the metaphysical medical field has to offer there. I also have three Lesser-Breds and a Kin who work for me. If nothing else, they can feed him, comfort him, and give him what he needs. And if he dies, he won’t be alone.” Her grip tightened, which Haley took to mean the dying part had a pretty good possibility of happening.

  “Will you call me?”

  Meyer nodded. “I’ll do better than that. I’ll keep you up to date about what I find. Who knows, this could shed a lot of light on new and exciting possibilities.”

  “New and exciting” weren’t exactly the words Haley would have used to describe some Kin-killing super flu. It sure did give her a new respect for Humans. Just about everything could put them six feet under.

  “Haley?” It was Jenna. She stepped into the room. “Bauer’s asking for you.”

  “I thought he went to the hospital?”

  Jenna shook her head. “Been sitting over in room four, hooked up to an IV. One of the EMTs stayed and stitched him up.” Haley said her goodbyes to Dr. Meyer and followed Jenna out the door. The detective stopped a few feet shy of the other room and turned. “Look, I know we don’t know each other real well, and I won’t pretend to understand you people, but I appreciate you getting my friends out of there.” She offered Haley her hand
.

  There were a lot of things Haley wanted to say, but decided not to. Humans only pretended like they wanted to hear what you were thinking. She shook the woman’s hand, and went in the room.

  Bauer sat in a chair with his bad arm propped on the table beside him. Bloody flowers bloomed on the bandage. His shirt was off and the little gold cross he wore was propped up on the collar of his undershirt, looking tired. There were deep worry lines cut across his forehead, a testament to his pain.

  He spoke without opening his eyes, “Jones will live.” That was Bauer, always worried about his brothers and sisters in blue.

  Haley folded her arms and leaned against the door. “And you?”

  “I haven’t decided yet. He bit me. They gave me anti-venom. I think I should have taken my chances with the bite.” His gray cracked lips curled.

  “You should have come and got me, I could have taken care of that for you.”

  Bauer cracked an eye. “You know I can’t do that.”

  Haley looked at the cross dangling around his neck and wondered how the hell something so small could be so powerful. “It’s just a little blood.”

  Bauer grunted. “What did Meyer say about Creyal? I saw she let the officers go, so I guess it’s safe to assume he isn’t contagious.”

  “She doesn’t know what it is. Meyer is sending the samples to a friend in North Carolina.” Haley shifted her weight and the sound of her moving made Bauer flinch. Either he was still jumpy around her, or the anti-venom was messing with his senses. She hoped for the latter. “Can you tell me what happened?”

  Bauer took a deep breath, then another. No doubt about it; there was nothing warm and fuzzy about the way her people looked in their true form. Getting attacked by Kin, even in partial change, could make you shit your shorts. He said, “Jones found Creyal’s wallet at a murder scene, called in and gave us the heads up in case he showed. McKinney walked him down. She told him it was standard protocol.” Which wasn’t exactly true. Humans never wound up waiting in the Tank to see an officer. “By the time I got down here, Creyal was climbing the wall like a shithouse rat.”

  “How did you get bit?”

  Bauer’s eyes came all the way open. “I got in between them. Jones was acting twitchy. I wanted him to leave, and I wanted Creyal to sit down and shut up.” His face tightened and he sucked in his breath.

  “I can still help.”

  Bauer shook his head and threw her a glare that said, “don’t ask again.” Haley let out a sigh. She didn’t understand Humans and their religion, but it was a powerful force. Like a Queen dragon. Only nicer. “So, then what?”

  “Jones drew his gun.”

  “Why?”

  “I told you he was twitchy. I don’t know what was said or what Creyal did to him, but he was freaked. I’ve known Martin Jones for a long time. He’s a good cop, a sound cop. I’ve never seen him like that before.” Bauer shifted in his seat again and threw out a leg. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “What makes you think Creyal did anything?”

  “What else would make Jones act that way?”

  Um, guilt, fear of losing his pension, going to jail. Haley kept that to herself. Instead she said, “Maybe he was the one doing the intimidating?”

  “He’s Kin, how the hell would Jones intimidate him?”

  “He’s Male, middle-ranked, a drug user, and under the thumb of the D.A. until he delivers on his promise to help.” Which was now out of the question. “And if Jones was dirty, all he had to do is put it out in the Dens that Creyal was snitching to the cops and he’d disappear.”

  Bauer shook his head. “No way. Martin Jones is a good cop.”

  “And Creyal isn’t a killer.” Haley looked at his bandaged arm. “You never said how you got bit.”

  “Not sure, really. It all happened so fast.” Detective Bauer scrubbed his eyes with his fingers. “One minute I was standing there, Creyal behind me, Jones out in front. The next thing I know, there’s gunfire and Creyal is half changed with his jaws around my arm. I hit the ground, and Jones starts screaming & Christ. Son of a bitch about ripped him in half.”

  There was a knock on the door jamb. Haley looked over and saw the EMT. She was small, with a boyish haircut. “I’ve got transport on the way. Dr. Meyer says we can move you now.”

  “‘Bout time, this chair is making my ass numb.” Bauer shifted again and winced.

  The EMT looked genuinely apologetic. “Sorry, they had the front blocked up with CDC trucks. I had to get the Metaphysics and the Pathology Director to call into the hospital and reassure them this wasn’t contagious. Last thing this city needs is a panic.”

  Bauer waved at her. “Yeah, still doesn’t make these chairs any more comfortable.”

  The EMT pointed to the hallway. “I’ve got two more guys to load up in front of you, so give me about twenty minutes, okay?”

  She disappeared back out the door. A mix of male and female cop voices drifted in. Haley reached over and shut the door, sending the room into silence. Thick doors have many applications. Keeping in a pissed off Kin is only one of them.

  “Did Jones try to shoot you?” The look that Bauer gave her said it was something he’d already considered and chose not to think about.

  “The man was terrified, Haley.”

  “That still doesn’t answer my question.”

  “Jones is a good cop.”

  Haley crossed her arms and stared at him. “How many times are you going to say that?”

  “Damn it, Haley, even if he did, what the hell was he going to do about McKinny? She was standing right there.”

  “Either he would shoot her or he’d just push her in the way when Creyal started biting and clawing, and let nature go to work.” Yeah, he really didn’t like those answers.

  “I’m done talking about this.”

  “Why? Because Creyal was only a Kin?”

  Bauer jabbed a finger at her. “Do not go playing the species card with me, Haley. You are not IAB, and I do not have to explain anything to you.”

  Haley dropped her eyes and poked at the concrete floor with the toe of her shoe. No carpet in here. It would just stain. This way, housekeeping could just come in with a bucket of bleach, hose the walls down, and let it slide down the drain in the floor.

  Too bad life wasn’t so easy to clean up.

  An electronic beeping broke the silence. Haley checked the number on her phone. It was Farley. “I need to take this, do you mind?” Bauer waved a few fingers at her without looking up.

  Haley put the phone to her ear. “Yeah?”

  “You busy?”

  “Not really, why?”

  “Can you meet me in the showers?” He sounded frustrated.

  Haley slipped out into the hall and headed back up the corridor. “What’s up?”

  “I can’t come to your office like this.”

  “Like this” could mean just about anything. The top three on the list were naked, bloody, and naked. And the office help just never seemed appreciative of Farley’s willingness to stroll bareback in public. For Kin, clothes were just decorative, or at the most, a public service. Any other time they got in the way.

  “You okay?” She willed him to say yes. Because if he said no, it meant the blood wasn’t his.

  “’Zall good. Look, call Ken in IT. I need him to look at something.”

  “You want him to meet you in the shower?” She could practically hear him shrug over the phone.

  “Quicker I get this to him the better.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Bring me something to eat. Chocolate if you can get it, maybe some cheese?” There was a snack machine in the break room. Normally it stayed stocked with a variety of Keebler goodness.

  “I’m on it.” Haley hung up and headed upstairs. She made it to her office, raided her change jar, then took the booty to the break room and fed the snack machine like it was starving. She hit the buttons and waited for the machine to start dropping th
e food in the dispenser. With a quick flip of her phone and punch of numbers she called Ken and asked him to meet her in the showers.

  Silence. Haley explained she wanted to meet him in the men’s shower. When that didn’t work, she just told him Farley had something computer related for him to tinker with.

  “I’ll be down in fifteen. I’ve got to get this mail server back up before the entire PD drags me out into the parking lot for a beat down.”

  Haley hung up and watched as the last of the cupcakes wound its way down the silver guide wire and fell in the opening below.

  Two more snack crackers hit the bottom and she was out of quarters. Haley scanned the counter, then opened a cabinet, looking for something, anything to help get the load down stairs. She found a box with five packs of sugar left in it.

  Footsteps came in behind her and the female chatter stopped. A familiar candy scent drifted to Haley’s nose. Claire’s friends wandered over to the coffee machine with their heads together and whispered.

  “Don’t forget, ladies, even in Human form my hearing is better than yours. And trust me, you don’t want to know the details of my sex life.” Their mouths hung open as they threw her a quick over-the-shoulder glance.

  Haley piled the food stuffs into the box. It wasn’t going to be big enough, but she had room in her pockets. At least her blazer had pockets. For some reason, fashion designers seemed to find it humorous to make ladies clothing with pocket flaps but no holes to put anything in. Haley had hers tailored so there were real pockets in every one.

  Claire stepped closer and Haley said, “Is there something you need?”

  “I want to know what happened with Farley.” Claire’s voice was barely a whisper, and she kept her head turned away from her friends, like they might read her lips. “Garrett wouldn’t tell me anything. He just kept saying I misunderstood.”

  Haley did nothing to lower her voice. “He’s fine. Stayed at my place last night. We watched movies, lots of movies.”And she said movies in a way that suggested other things. When she looked at Claire, her eyes were blazing. Haley smiled, knowing it looked down right mean. “Seriously, Claire. I overreacted about that phone call. You know Farley, he’s always playing jokes. Got me good that time. Don’t worry&” She paused and stuffed the last packet of crackers in her pocket. “He made up for it later.”