city of dragons 07 - fire and flood

by Val St. Crowe

  “Detective Lachlan Flint,” said Lachlan. “This is my associate Penny Caspian.”

  “And you work for the police department here in town?” said Black. “Because I’ve never seen you around that I can recall.”

  “Actually, no,” said Lachlan. “We’re here specifically looking into the Tim Abbott case.”

  “I don’t know who that is,” said Black, laughing. “Why are you talking to me?”

  “You seem to have a lot of conversations with Simon Wells,” said Lachlan.

  “Well, Simon and I are friends,” said Black, “but what does that have to do with this Tim guy?”

  “You and Simon work together,” I said.

  “No,” said Black. “We’re friends.”

  “Right,” I said dryly. “Who share a love of various international cuisines.”

  Black narrowed his eyes. “Am I being detained? Because if I don’t have to answer your questions—”

  “All right, all right,” said Lachlan. “Look, forget about the drugs.”

  “Did someone say something about drugs?”

  “Everyone knows you sell drugs,” said Lachlan. “You work with Wells. You two make a lot of money. Whatever. That’s not why we’re here. We’re investigating a murder. That’s all. So, just relax about the drugs stuff. We don’t care.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You ever see Simon Wells do magic?”

  “Magic?” Black was incredulous.

  “You ever see him with a magical talisman?”

  “Are you kidding me?” said Black.

  “So, that’s a no?” said Lachlan.

  “Of course it’s a no,” said Black. “We don’t know a thing about magic, either of us.”

  “And you don’t have any idea why Wells would have a yearbook from the local high school from four years back?”

  “How does this connect?” said Black.

  “Do you or don’t you?” said Lachlan.

  “No,” said Black. “I don’t know this Tim guy. I don’t know about yearbooks. I don’t know about magic. I’m really starting to feel like we’re wasting each other’s time here. Now, unless I’m being detained or unless I gotta talk to you for some reason, I’m going to have to ask you both to leave.” He stepped back inside his house and shut the door.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “How are you guys doing today?” said Zach. “Didn’t know if you’d be coming by or not.” We were back in Zach’s office, all standing near his desk.

  “We’re just stopping through, actually,” said Lachlan. “Wanted to ask you a couple things.”

  “That’s why I’m here.” He gave us a smile.

  “Okay,” said Lachlan. “Well, first of all, we’re wondering about a conversation we read about in the Wells transcripts. Something about getting a release to go to a funeral?”

  “Oh, that,” said Zach, sighing. “That was a real mess. He went to the funeral of his best friend’s wife. It was completely strange, because we couldn’t figure out why he was being granted the privilege for someone who wasn’t immediate family. Apparently, he had his lawyer argue some shit like he was standing in for his best friend, who was dead too, and that he’d made some deathbed vow to his friend to be there when his friend couldn’t, and some judge bought that crap. Probably a bleeding heart type. I don’t know. Anyway, he got released. I didn’t have to go, but a couple of my co-workers escorted him. He was in shackles the whole time and every single one of his conversations were witnessed by the guards. He didn’t go anywhere alone. So, whatever it was he thought he was going to be able to do, he didn’t get to do it.”

  “What do you think he wanted to do?” said Lachlan.

  “Oh, I have no idea,” said Zach. “But I figure it was something to do with his business. Unless he really was sentimental about his best friend’s old lady. Hell, maybe he was. What the heck do I know?”

  “Huh,” said Lachlan. “Well, that’s interesting. Do you know the name of the woman whose funeral he attended?”

  “Not off hand,” said Zach. “But I can find out.”

  “Thanks,” said Lachlan, “that would be great.”

  “Also,” I spoke up, “we were wondering about Bradley? Is there anything we could look at that gives more details on the investigations into his possible murders? Of the inmates here, I mean?”

  “Oh, he’s got a big old file,” said Zach. “You want me to dig that up for you?”

  “Definitely,” said Lachlan.

  Zach settled down behind his desk and began to type on his computer. “All right, so I’ll print out the info that I have on Wells and the funeral, and I’ll give you the stuff on Bradley too. Good?”

  “Excellent,” said Lachlan. “We really appreciate it, Zach.”

  “Not a problem,” said Zach. “You think you’re any closer to solving this than when you showed up?”

  “We’re getting there,” said Lachlan. “Just pounding the pavement, looking into everything at this point.”

  * * *

  Later that evening, after dinner, Lachlan and I were standing outside by the lake. He yawned.

  “You tired?” I said.

  “I’m exhausted,” he said. “We went halfway across the world today.”

  “Way to exaggerate,” I said. “We only went to San Antonio.”

  “Well, Vivica had to put Wyatt down for his nap without you because we never made it back,” he said.

  “I know.” I sighed. Apparently, Wyatt had not gone down easily for her either. He’d cried and cried. I knew he’d missed me. I was always there to put him down to sleep, well, at least when I could manage it. I felt bad, like I’d been a bad mother. But I was also trying to take care of Lachlan. If there was any way to make it happen, I wanted to jettison this worry I had about his going evil. “I just… Lachlan, I need to know that you’re okay. You’re important to me. You matter so much.”

  He gave me a weary smile. “I know that. And you’re important to me too. I only… Penny, is it possible that you’re distrustful of all this because I’m becoming more powerful?”

  I wrinkled my brow. “Why would I care about that?”

  He turned away from me, surveying the lake. “I don’t know. Maybe deep down, you like your status as the most powerful being, the protector of the family, and—”

  “Oh God, Lachlan.” I groaned.

  “What?”

  I shook my head at him. “This is you. This is your male weirdness. It’s not me. I don’t care who’s more powerful than who. You’re the one who’s always been insecure about it. Like the fact that you don’t have as much magic as me makes you less of a man or something.”

  “Hey.” He turned back to me, making a face. “I think ‘insecure’ is putting it strongly. And when we use the whiteflame, I’m just as powerful as you.”

  I sighed. “You would bring that up, wouldn’t you?”

  He jammed his hands in his pockets, and he looked away again. “Okay. Okay, fine. I’m insecure. I don’t think I can help it. I don’t resent anything that you are, and I would never lessen you. I want you to be a powerful dragon who can breathe fire and decimate her enemies. It’s sexy. I like it. But… I don’t know. Some primal part of me feels like it’s my job to protect my family. I’m wired that way. I don’t know if I can stop being that way.”

  I reached out and snagged his hand. “Can’t we protect the people we love together?”

  “Yeah, of course we can,” he said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  I pressed close. “You know that I need you, don’t you? That Wyatt needs you? That I couldn’t do all this without you?”

  He kissed the top of my head. When he spoke, his voice was husky. “I do know. But it’s nice to hear that out loud.”

  We were quiet for a minute, standing close, the sun growing heavy in the sky, reflecting off the lake.

  I drew myself up. “Let’s get this done.”

  It was his turn to gr
oan. “Are you seriously still going through with this?”

  “Come on, Lachlan, it’ll make me feel better.” I bent down and picked up the basket of herbs that we’d brought with us. We’d purchased them from Rebecca earlier that day. “I think you’re supposed to take half of these.” I thrust the basket at him.

  Lachlan took the basket. “How am I supposed to take half when I’m holding the basket?”

  “Figure it out. I need to get the water.” I had a plastic bucket that had probably been used to mop the floors in the house. I hoped it would be okay for magic, because we didn’t have any other buckets. I submerged the bucket into the lake and drew up some of the water. Then I set the full bucket on the ground between us. I reached into the basket and took out half of the herbs. “There. Can you manage to take half now?”

  Lachlan scooped out the other half into one of his hands and set the basket down. “What did she say? We have to crush the herbs by hand?”

  “Yes,” I said, drawing in a deep breath. I was trying to be solemn about all this. We were doing a magic spell after all. It was going to protect Lachlan from outside influences, so that I could rest easy about his being influenced by darkness.

  Silently, both of us smashed the fresh herbs in our hands. The smell that hit the air was pungent and fragrant.

  At the same time, both of us dropped the herbs into the bucket of water.

  There was a little splash as they hit.

  Okay, now I needed the words that Rebecca had written down for me. The spell was in some other language, and she had written down the words and then a phonetic rendering above them so that I could be sure to pronounce it properly. Roughly translated, it meant something about cleansing Lachlan’s soul from all evil. I pulled a folded piece of paper out of my pocket and peered at it. Okay, good.

  I looked at Lachlan expectantly.

  He sighed, but he tugged his shirt over his head.

  I smiled a little as he bared his skin to me. He was a very attractive man. I was going to marry him. I felt little warm thrills tug at me.

  “What?” he said. “You enjoying this?”

  I shrugged. “I enjoy pretty much anything that involves you without a shirt.”

  He rolled his eyes.

  I began to read from my paper. As I did, I bent down and cupped a small handful of the herb water and I poured it over Lachlan’s head.

  He flinched. But then he brushed water away from his eyes, squared his shoulders, and let me continue.

  I had to read the spell three times, and I had to pour cupfuls of water all over Lachlan as I did. I had to smear the herbs into his chest and over his shoulders and all over his flat stomach. Hmm. When I had listened to the instructions, I hadn’t thought that they’d be so… erotic.

  I found myself slowing as I pronounced the words, drawing them out long and low as my fingers moved languidly against his skin.

  And Lachlan wasn’t flinching anymore. He was letting out tiny gasps.

  And we were looking into each other’s eyes.

  And I was dropping the piece of paper, because I had said the spell three times, and I was putting both my hands on him, and I was wondering if that was going to ruin the spell, and I was hoping it wouldn’t. But whatever the case, I thought maybe our next step should be to go put Lachlan in the shower and maybe he’d need help getting these herbs off him, so maybe I should get in the shower with him, and—

  There was a crash and splash, and something shot up out of the water right next to us.

  We stumbled back, stunned.

  It was like a huge serpent, all black, but with red glittering eyes. It opened its mouth, and it had dripping fangs. It was silhouetted against the dying sun, and it blocked the last of the light. Its voice came out slippery and oozing. “We know where you are now.”

  And then, as quickly as it had come, the monster dove back into the lake, leaving a wake of ripples in the lake that lapped up at our feet and soaked our shoes.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “So, what does that mean?” said Vivica, who was standing in the living room with her arms folded over her chest. The boys were both already in bed, had been before Lachlan and I went out to do the spell.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I guess that when we left Sea City, the Green King didn’t know where we were. This thing had to come from the Green King, don’t you think?”

  “Must have,” said Lachlan. He made a face. “It was creepy, whatever it was.”

  “So, the Green King’s been looking for us,” I said. “That’s why there haven’t been any attacks.”

  “And now he knows where we are?” said Vivica. “If that thing takes control of me again—”

  “No, that’s why you have the talisman we gave you,” I said.

  “You’re wearing it, right?” said Lachlan.

  “Yes,” said Vivica. “But I don’t like this. I don’t like any of this.”

  “In a way,” I said, “it’s good news. It means that we can hide from it, at least for a short time.”

  “We’re not going to hide,” said Lachlan. “That thing comes back, and we’ll blast it with fire, and we’ll burn it extra crispy.”

  “I don’t understand how it showed up in the lake,” said Vivica.

  “That lake is stream fed,” said Lachlan. “And it drains into a few streams too. It’s connected to the ocean one way or the other.”

  “But who knows how it travels,” I said. “Maybe it doesn’t need to be in water?”

  “Hell, there’s water in the air, isn’t there?” said Vivica. “Even if it needs water, maybe that’s good enough.”

  “If it didn’t know where we were,” I said, “then I guess we can rule out the idea that it killed Tim to lure us here.”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” said Lachlan, “although I think you were the only person who was seriously considering that as an option.”

  I cocked my head at him. “Oh, admit it, you considered it too.”

  “Yeah, I guess I did. I guess having anything eliminated in the case is a good thing.”

  “The case?” Vivica was incredulous. “What is wrong with you two? Why are you solving a stupid, unrelated murder when we’re being stalked by sea monsters?”

  Neither of us said anything. I looked at Lachlan, who was studying his feet. Maybe before we’d started all of this, I would have agreed with Vivica. After all, I hadn’t been a huge fan of coming all the way across the country to investigate. But now that we were here, and that we’d gotten into it, I had to admit that I didn’t feel right abandoning the case. We needed closure. Lachlan needed it even more than me.

  When we’d had to solve Alastair’s murder, it had been out of desperation, considering that we were being accused of committing the murder ourselves. But there had been another component to it as well, I thought. I had needed to know what happened to Alastair, to the man who had hurt me so badly. I’d needed to know who it was that had taken him from the earth. In my case, I think it was because I half-wished that I had killed Alastair myself. Maybe Lachlan felt something conflicted like that too. He had been talking about primal urges that he couldn’t control. What was more primal than vengeance?

  And if vengeance couldn’t be had, then… well, closure. We needed closure.

  “It’s important to solve the case,” I said to Vivica. “It’s hard to explain why, but it is.”

  “Still,” said Lachlan, “you’re right that we can’t neglect preparation for the Green King. I’m the blood dragon. I’m meant to face him. I have to figure out the extent of my powers.”

  “That’s your big plan?” said Vivica. “Lachlan takes this thing down? It possessed me. It’s crazy powerful.”

  “Well,” I said, “uh, Lachlan might be crazy powerful too. We don’t know yet. We do need to figure out the extent of your powers, Lachlan.”

  “Okay,” said Vivica. “Well, great. But do something, guys. If the lake rises up and comes for my baby while he’s sleeping—”

  �
��Don’t think like that,” I said, alarmed.

  “I’m bringing his pack and play into my room,” she said quietly.

  * * *

  Lachlan and I spent the rest of the night outside doing our best to try to figure out his powers. We worked with the dragons, and we worked together, and Lachlan breathed fire. He caught things on fire and we floated them into the lake to put them out.

  We even had to uproot a tree and dunk it at one point when some of the flame went too far and caught all the leaves and branches on fire.

  Between Lachlan, me, and the dragons, we could generate some serious heat. It was intense.

  We knew that we could be powerful against any typical enemy, but would we be powerful against the Green King? He was from another world. He was the antithesis of our powers. We couldn’t be sure.

  We didn’t get to sleep until after midnight. I went to look in on Wyatt before I did, and had a moment of panic, because his pack and play was not in the room. I went running to Vivica’s room and threw open the door only to find that she’d brought both of the boys in there with her. Doing it without waking them was some kind of feat. I was impressed. And I was somehow… touched, because I was so glad that she cared for Wyatt that much. I was lucky to have Vivica. We helped each other, I knew, but she was important to me. She was basically the only family I had left besides the new family I had made, and I loved her very much.

  I left her there asleep, and I tiptoed out of the room.

  After that, I fell into bed and slept like the dead until dawn.

  I awoke to the feeling of the bed shifting suddenly and a grunting sound. Someone in pain.

  Lachlan!

  My eyes flew open and I sat up straight.

  He was stumbling out of the bed, clutching a glass of blood that he kept by the bedside table to drink first thing. He drained the blood. And then he stopped, a strange look on his face. He took two labored steps forward, cringing. Then he dropped the blood and grunted.

  The glass of blood hit the carpet, droplets flying in all directions.

  Lachlan was only wearing his boxers, and I could see that his skin was changing color. It was turning red—that bright red that it had turned before. And there was something roiling beneath his skin, poking up in two spots on his back behind his shoulder blades, pressing against the skin as if it was going to break free.