Then the ultimate betrayal happened. George and his men immediately killed every last “human” Drakon. He looked into the weeping eyes of Caragh and drove a dagger through her heart. Then he buried the Blood Stone where none would ever find it, allowing him to live for ever. There were additions to the scroll for a couple hundred years from druids of the order who tried to seek out the stone.
George and his allies swept across the globe, wiping out any magic users they could find as they were the only thing George feared now. He continued to warehouse any scrap of magic items or writings, trying to leave the world devoid of all magic but his. The druid order was wiped out except a few survivors that went into hiding.
There was one magic wielder, the Dark One, who used the magic of death and the flesh instead of nature who had more power than him, he hid from her until she succumbed to old age on the Isle of Avalon. Not even her dark magic could give her the seemingly immortal lifespan of the dragons. George swooped in and took all that remained of her magic artifacts and her writings.
The very last of the scroll was torn off. I looked at everyone. “So there we have it. The bastard wants nothing more than power and to live forever. That leaves us right back where we started ya know.” I noticed it was getting dark outside, how long had we been working?
Quinn was grinning. “No, it gives us our answer.” James was nodding in agreement with a knowing smile on his long face. Oh, he can be just as frustrating as Quinn at times.
I balled up my hands in fists. Consciously preventing my fire form from manifesting as my temper rose. “Well, don't be keepin' it all to yourselves! What is it that I took from the man?”
Quinn snickered. “Well Miss Hot Head, let me double check something, you said it seemed that more grey hair and wrinkles were showing on him on your second encounter?” I nodded as she pulled up something on the internet. It was a picture of a younger Blaine, perhaps from ten years ago. She asked, “Is this how he looked when you first met him?”
I shook my head. “No, he was five or ten years older. He had some grey on his temples and in his beard.”
James exchanged a grin with Agent McHottie. Quinn then just said, “Then it is simple. That was a photo of Blaine from last year. He is aging... and by the sound of it, quite rapidly. So what you took from him, is his immortality. The awakening. As more dragons awaken, it is taking more of it away from him. Remember the scroll said that as long as the magic was in the vessel, the protector would live?”
My eyes went wide. “Of course! But... it's through no fault of me own.” Then I tilted my head in confusion. “But how will the hearts of the dragons help him if all of the magic gets released?”
Mei was looking back at the scroll. “Maybe he thinks you will recast the binding to the Blood Stone?”
I shook my head. “No, he keeps tryin' ta kill me. He wants me heart, too, the bastard.” I huffed. “I'm not done usin' it me-self, so he is out of luck there ya know.”
Quin snorted and snickered. I could feel her appreciation for my temper flowing from her and... attraction? I looked at her and bit my lower lip.
Mei was in deep thought. “Well if he has stockpiled all the world's magic over the years, maybe he has found another way?”
I nodded. “That's the most likely scenario.”
Then James asked. “So, you two...” he paused, “You're like married now?”
We looked at him. He pointed at the scroll translations. “Well, according to the third scroll, the blood tie equated to betrothal. Which puts the Dragon Scroll writings of the Blood Tie into context. That's what the possessive was about in there.”
Then he added. “And both reference that the blood tie wouldn't work unless the feelings were already there.”
I chuckled. “Now yer talkin' nonsense. I admit I'm attracted to Quinn and have a wee girl crush on her but married?” Why did the concept excite me so much? I looked over at Quinn, who was blushing. Shite! I must be broadcasting on all frequencies to her.
Mei saw our mutual blush-fest and changed the topic. Bless her little heart. “So. How do we stop the bastard? I owe him and I want to see him go down.” Feisty! Go Mei.
Quinn nodded at her appreciatively. “Myra's red hair rubbing off on you? You've already given us the information we need. Now it is a matter of time before we take him down.”
She was about to say more when about seven agents with automatic rifles and FBI flack jackets and four men with Interpol flack jackets walked in with two men who didn't have the signature dark suits of the other agents. Quinn stepped between them and us. “What's going on here?”
Chapter 11 - Assault
A large man in a grey suit stepped up to her and flashed his badge. “Deputy Director Ethan Danes. Agent Quinn, you are relieved of duty for dereliction and willfully withholding evidence.”
He was holding his hand out and Quinn hesitated and slowly handed him her badge. He looked expectantly at her. She shook her head. “The weapon is my own.” One of the armored men grabbed her arm.
I stepped forward. “Leave her alone!” There were suddenly ten automatic rifles pointing at me. I put my hands up.
Danes stepped up to me. “Doctor O'Connell, I'll be assigned to you now. Until we can apprehend Blaine. Then we will need to...” There was an ominous pause. “Debrief you.”
The other man who had a cheap suit on was gathering all our research from the table. James jumped to stop him, but a couple of the gun barrels turned toward him and he backed off.
The other man was holding all the papers to his chest and as he walked past me he paused, looking me up and down. “I can't wait to study you.” That chilled me to the bone. Then he was out the door.
I was getting so angry, scared and frustrated. I had to stop myself from changing. “So what, am I your prisoner now? I did'na do anything!”
The man smiled, I think he thought it was soothing. “No, you are in protective custody.”
I looked around at the weapons pointed at me. “I don't feel fecking protected right now.”
He looked around and made a lowering motion with his hand. Everyone lowered their guns. Then I said, “So I'm free to go after you get Blaine?”
He shook his head. “It isn't quite as simple as that anymore.”
I spat at him in frustration, “So I AM a prisoner. I may not sound like it, but I'm an American citizen and I know me rights! You can't detain me. I want me lawyer.”
The arse-hole looked amused. “Well, first thing is keeping you safe until we get Blaine.” He looked back at the Agents holding Quinn and motioned his head toward the door and they started marching her out.
I blurted out. “You can't take her! Apparently you know what I am. We're bonded and if she gets too far away we will both die!” I lied through my teeth.
He hesitated a second. I knew he thought I was lying, but he held a hand up and they stopped at the door. He looked over at Mei and James and squinted his eyes. “Is this true Doctor Reid, Doctor Kamia?”
Mei stepped forward. “Yes they accidentally created a Blood Tie.”
James nodded. “There are references to the Blood Tie in the scrolls.” He pointed at the door where the weasel man had gone with our research.
He turned and walked to the door and looked Quinn in the eyes before he reached down and took her sidearm out of its holster. “I think you are all blowing smoke. But I can't take the chance.” He motioned his head toward us. “Over there Trask.”
Quinn walked over to us and I grabbed onto her arm hugging up to her side. The armed men were all arranged along the wall and relaxed. James pulled Mei protectively beside him as Danes sat down at the table. “Now. Why don't you fill me in? What have you all been hiding from us?”
The room seemed to explode into the shattering of glass when what appeared to be two stone gargoyles smashed through them, tearing down the closed drapes. The door was kicked open before anyone could react and thralls started pouring into the room.
Quinn pulled me be
hind her and automatic weapons fire almost deafened me as men were being shredded by the gargoyles. Quinn looked back and yelled at James and Mei. “Get down!” Her hand shot to her empty holster as a gargoyle leapt right at us through the firestorm of bullets. I heard her utter, “Shit” as she resigned herself to the inevitable. But just as the monster got to her, her fists exploded into flaming granite.
I was instinctively pushing as much fire and earth magic into her as I could. Her fist struck the oncoming Gargoyle and it stopped in it's tracks and shook its head from the powerful blow. I could feel the fury and satisfaction flowing from Quinn. She said, “I can work with this.” As she grappled with the beast. Throwing it to the side then attacking it with a tsunami of blows and kicks. Her feet were encased in stone, as well!
I realized I was seeing in that purplish red haze. As I stood between the chaos and Mei and James. The agents were not faring well. This time the thralls seemed to have some sort of magical items that were shredding through the armed men. All the thralls were chanting. I saw them as the greater threat.
I was aware of the flames around me, I concentrated on keeping the heat from radiating and injuring people. Stray bullets were painfully ricocheting off of me as men were going down. I opened my mouth and growled. Flames shot out and engulfed one thrall after another.
I looked over as Quinn jumped into the air and landed a spinning roundhouse kick to the jaw of the gargoyle, shattering its lower jaw into stone dust. She flung herself onto its back, grabbing its front legs and straining with all her might. With a grinding, rocky sound they snapped off and she threw them to the side. The gargoyle was flopping around, trying fruitlessly to get to me. More thralls were arriving. This was a lost cause.
Quinn looked at me, her hands and feet went back to flesh. I could feel her fierce determination to save me in my head. “We need to get you out of here. They are after you. All these men will die if we stay here!”
I nodded in understanding. She pointed at the wall that was shared with the corridor beyond. I nodded again as she yelled at James and Mei over the noise of the battle. “Stay between us at all times!”
Then she gave me a cocky smile and asked sarcastically, “My Queen?” I grinned at her. Our playfulness seemed so out of place when people were dying all around us. I raised my hands and growled loudly. A ball of pyrotechnic fury blew through the wall and into the corridor beyond. Engulfing thralls unfortunate enough to be standing there, then I put my flames out.
Just as we started toward the door, we heard Dane's yell, “Trask!” Quinn turned and Danes threw her sidearm back to her. “Keep her safe!” He commanded and dove onto two thralls.
Then the four of us were diving through the smoking hole in the wall and down the corridor. The report from Quinn's pistol was in my ear as she plowed the road through the seemingly endless stream of thralls. I felt for them, knowing that they were just innocents caught in George's sick game. I glanced back to see them following us. That gave me some hope that some of the agents back in the room would survive.
We got to the parking level and we battled out to a SUV. Then we were on the road. I glanced up as Quinn drove. I could see a gargoyle jumping or flying from rooftop to rooftop, following us. I pointed. My protector nodded, “I can see them through your eyes.” That was new. “We need to get somewhere away from the buildings, with tree cover, so it will have to follow us on the ground.”
We turned toward the mountains. She lost the thralls that were following by car, but we couldn't shake the gargoyle. We drove into the mountains and she pulled off onto a dirt road. I put my hand on her shoulder and said, “Stop here.” as I looked back.
She looked at me and I grinned in malice. She understood and stopped the car. We got out and she told Mei and James. “Stay in the car.”
I felt the flames climb my body as I strode forward, I reached out to the world, to nature. I felt it all around me here. It was almost seductive. I could feel a nearby stream and I could feel the ground around me like it was a living thing.
Then I saw it. Quinn went to step between it and myself. I smiled, it was just an instinctive thing for her. I sent the warmth of my thoughts to her and tilted my head. She blushed and stepped back. The creature charged at us on all fours, its wings folded back behind it.
It felt as though I were asking a favor of the earth and two solid walls of stone shot up on either side of the gargoyle as it rapidly approached, I slammed my hands together and the two walls slammed together as well, reducing the beast to gravel and dust.
Quinn blinked then looked at me with shock appreciation and… Me lord woman! Did that really turn her on? I blushed and shrugged and we got back in the vehicle. Mei just whispered, “Holy shit.” James was nodding like he agreed with her evaluation of what had just transpired. I shrugged again.
Quinn was trying hard to suppress the smile I could feel inside her. She was... proud? Then she said, “Ok, let's get somewhere safe, get some breathing room. Then we can figure out what to do.” We all nodded and she continued on the dirt road until we came to a cabin by a stream. There were no vehicles and the cabin looked to be in disrepair.
We all stayed in the vehicle while my protector cleared the building. We went in and it was quite dusty, nobody had been here for at least a year. Mei and James collapsed on the couch, with him holding her protectively.
I finally took a good look at Quinn. Her side was gouged and bleeding from her fight with the gargoyle in the hotel. Her lower lip was bleeding and she had a bruise on her cheek. I quickly put my hand on her side.
She tried to pull my hand away, but I had already taken on her wound. The pain was almost blinding, I knew I had a couple broken ribs then. But that would pass, at least she is ok. She reprimanded me. “You have to stop doing that! I... I don't like seeing you hurt.”
I shrugged, “I'll heal. You're... important... to me.”
She leaned in and kissed me gently on my lips. Oh me lord, I'm floating on cloud nine. It was almost electric. I craved her now... but... “Agent Trask.” I grinned at her.
She smiled back. “I'm not assigned to you anymore, remember.”
I blushed and replied, “Oh. If that's the case, then...” Then I leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. My lip was bleeding now through my smug smile, and hers was good as new.
“You sneaky little wench!” Quinn said. I was starting to sway.
Mei laughed. “Get a room you two.”
My eyesight was blurring as I grinned sheepishly at Quinn. “That... may not be... a bad idea. I may have overdone it... again.” I said as I lost consciousness. The last thing I could remember were warm arms catching me and a feeling of safety as her scent enveloped me.
Chapter 12 – Hiding
When I woke up, I felt a warm, strong arm around me. I sighed at the scent of safety that was assaulting me. I could feel her watching me as she held me protectively to her on the bed. She nuzzled my neck. I swear I almost orgasmed on the spot. I'm thinking this is more than a girl crush. I smiled at the thought and snuggled in.
“There she is. The impulsive, short tempered prodigal has returned to us.” I could feel her chuckling in my head.
I mocked her. “I'll be havin' none of that now missy.” I went to sit up, but the dull ache in my ribs made me take it slow.
She helped me to sit up and sat in front of me on the bed. She ran a soft finger across my lower lip. “As good as new.” The contact seemed more intense than normal, very seductive. Then I realized I had my senses opened up. I switched them off and I felt half blind without them now. I grinned at her. I was feeling quite bashful.
Quinn said with a tinge of humor, “You're making a habit of passing out after you go all bad ass on the bad guys.”
She lightly touched my side. My shirt was ruined, covered in dry blood and oddly enough, three or four bullet holes. I pulled my shirt up to just below my bosoms. No need in givin' Miss Hottie a free show... yet.
There was a sickly looking, brown and ye
llow bruise where her injury had been. The claw marks were gone and I could tell my ribs were well into their mending. At this rate, I'd be fine by lunch. There were large patches of scales across my chest where the bullets had struck. A few scales fell off of my shirt that were probably torn off by the rounds that struck me. I pulled my shirt back down as Quinn collected my scales with a smile.
The side of my face ached. Wait, was it mine? No, it felt like Quinn. I looked at her and that bruise on her cheek was there. Her only injury I didn't take on myself. I smiled at her and cupped her cheeks with my hands. “If you weren't so frustrating I'd say you were the most beautiful sight I ever did see.”
She blushed but then pushed away suddenly, realizing my deception. “God damn it Myra! Would you stop doing that?!” I chuckled at her as I placed a hand gently on her now flawless cheek again. The ache on mine had doubled.
I shrugged. “I'm sorry Quinn. I really can't bear ta see ya hurt. You're... sort of... important... to me now.”
She put her hand on mine. “Right back at you. Just try to keep in mind, my injuries are... well, mine. Ok? I don't need to see my pain on your face.”
I nodded. “I'll keep it under advisement. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna be listenin'.”
She shook her head. “Impulsive.”
“Shut yer yap.” I grinned and kissed her. “There, that'll be shuttin' ya up now.” I almost needed to fan myself as well after that. It was oddly erotic, experiencing the feelings from both sides of a kiss.
I hopped off the bed, avoiding her retaliation. I made my way toward what looked like a bathroom. “Do we have water here? I smell like the arse end of a gargoyle.”
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