Christian laughed. “That is a goth, making himself very useful.” He raised his voice so it carried to the bar. “Fix me whiskey straight up, my good man. The stuff in the fancy crystal decanter will do. And the lady will have a glass of room temperature water with a lime. Thank you.”
The kid nodded happily, humming to himself as he followed Christian’s instructions. “He makes a terrible goth,” I whispered in an aside to Christian. “He’s downright chipper.”
We thanked the boy for our drinks and took them to a seating area that could have passed for VIP seating at a club. “Well, what do you think of the place?” Christian asked. I could tell by his eager expression that he wanted me to be impressed with his desert palace. He was so like a kid in some ways.
I smiled at him indulgently. “It’s perfect,” I finally answered him. He beamed at me.
“You gonna share some of your weapon’s stash with us for the necro roast?” I asked him, even though I knew I didn’t have to.
“You know it, girl.” His usual endearment with his faint british accent almost always made me smile. “And Caleb brought us all some nifty gifts. He says I can’t see mine until the necro roast. He seems to think I would waste it before it’s needed. That makes me think it’s some sort of flame thrower. It feels like waiting for christmas.”
I shook my head at him, laughing.
We stayed in the bar room, chatting, and I was surprised to have a packed house before long. Apparently this was the popular hangout spot of the house. I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was a bar.
I was even more surprised about a half an hour later. Two goth girls had just introduced themselves to Christian and I. Mostly to Christian. They both had black hair and brown eyes, with about a pound of black eyeliner on. They were like different sized versions of the same person. It was bizarre. One of them was a short, heavy girl. The other one was of medium height, and was stacked like a playboy model. The pinup girl was named Cherry, and I knew by the way they flirted that Christian had found his bed partner for the night. I rolled my eyes. He was about to take a walk on the goth side. Whatever. And by the looks the other girl, Juliet, was casting at him, he could get a twofer tonight. Barf. I tried to erase the mental image from my head.
“I’m hungry,” I said suddenly, to no one in particular. I didn’t think anyone would pay me any mind. Seemingly out of nowhere, a bag of food from my favorite mexican joint appeared on the table in front of me. Two more bags joined it. Slowly, I looked up and to my left in to black-lined, dark blue eyes half hidden behind curly dark hair that fell into a handsome face as though it had been arranged that way. Luke was staring at me with an intensity that made me feel immediately uncomfortable and embarrassed. “Mistress, I drove back into town and got you your favorite barbacoa bowl for lunch. It has brown rice and all four kinds of salsa, just how you prefer.” In a fluid motion, he sank to sit in a classic submissive pose, his eyes downcast. “Please, Mistress, may I watch you eat your lunch?”
I nearly choked on the water I’d been sipping. Christian started laughing hard. I glared at him. He just laughed harder. He didn’t stop even when tears started running down his face. He was clutching his stomach like he couldn’t keep it in. I kicked my foot sideways, catching him viciously in the shin. His knee bent into his chest, and he clutched his hurt shin, but didn’t stopped laughing.
I turned my glare on Luke. “You may not. Thank you for the lunch, Luke, but please stop this silly game. I’m not your dominant. And while I’m on the subject, what kind of a submissive pursues a dom? Doesn’t that seem a little off to you?” I tried to keep my voice quiet, but I knew the whole room was listening to this mortifying exchange. “I read your letter, and I can say with no hesitation at all that that is never going to happen. So just drop it.” My words fell on deaf ears. All he heard was the unconscious authority I had used.
“Yes, Mistress. Shall I remove myself from your presence? Where would Mistress have me go?”
I shook my head at him in exasperation. I pointed at the opposite wall, a good distance away. “Somewhere that way. And don’t cast me any more of those mournful looks, either.”
Christian, who had finally fallen silent, started laughing all over again. Dammit.
“And how will my Mistress punish me if I disobey?” Luke asked. He cast me his most mournful look yet.
Christian clutched his sides. “Oh, God, I can’t take it. This is too good. I’m taking this kid everywhere with me from now on.”
I pointed at him threateningly. “Don’t. You. Dare.”
He pointed back at me. At my hair, rather. “Oh, God, your hair is lavender again. I think it does it every time you get pissed off now. This really is like Christmas. Will you move in with me, Jillian? I want life to be like this everyday. You complete me. And I have room for Luke.”
That was it. I’d had it. I simply got up and moved to a different part of the room. I sat down in a cushy light-brown leather chair. I glared at the goth’s who had taken up residence in the chairs around it. They beat it. Good. I was officially unfit for company.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Spiked Drink
Lynn shocked me a few minutes later by walking into the room with the strange asian man we’d seen at the renaissance fair. Was that the man who’d put a love charm on her? Shit, that was bad. He was bad news, I just knew it. She was giggling and holding his hand, and just acting very un-Lynn like in general. I stared, mystified. He was some kind of foreign dragon-kin, and she had just brought him into our sanctuary. It wasn’t a safe house anymore. What the hell was she thinking?
The strange dragon sat down in a chair by the door, pulling her into his lap with an ardent look in his eyes.
I glanced at Christian to see how he would be taking the entrance of the strange intruder into his home.
He was completely oblivious, making a kissy face at Cherry while she and Juliet decked him out with goth makeup. I couldn’t keep the disgust off of my face. Way to stay focused on the problem at hand, Douche, I thought at him childishly. And he looked way more pretty than any man should in black eyeliner.
Luke had a cow-eyed stare fixed on me. I sent him a quick glare. That was a mistake. He liked that. I looked away.
I caught Lynn’s eye, and glared. She and I needed to talk, but she just giggled and looked up at the strange dragon as though they were old lovers. His heated eyes on her showed a certain knowing intent, as though they’d slept together, and he was confident it would happen again very soon.
Caleb strode into the room, all business, and I was relieved. He wouldn’t like this strange development any more than I did. Caleb motioned with his head for Lynn to join him at the bar, and I was appeased somewhat when she got out of the strange man’s lap and joined him there. They spoke quietly for a few minutes, and I couldn’t make out what they were saying.
Suddenly, Lynn looked at me, glaring. She was swaying a little, and her eyes were glassy. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she almost seemed drunk, but there was no way she’d do something that irresponsible. Was there?
“What?” I asked her, glaring back. Why was Miss Basket-case mad at me?
“Nothing,” she said, her words slurring alarmingly. “Just talking about some stuff I lost recently. Good thing some of my favorite comfy clothes were already here.” She lifted a foot and wiggled a fluffy black kitty slipper at me. She swayed precariously.
I flipped her off. Like that was our main concern at the moment. Caleb and I seemed to be the only ones here without a ticket on the crazy train.
“At least she’s sorry,” Lynn raised her voice dramatically. I smirked, just to taunt her.
Lynn turned back to Caleb. They spoke quietly for several minutes. I went back to eating and brooding.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the bar top go up in flames. My head whipped around. Shit. The flames had come out of Lynn’s throat. And it was going to happen again, going by the way she was taking a deep breath. All of the a
ir in the room seemed to be going into her lungs for the next breath of fire.
I looked in panic at Christian, whose head was just starting to turn toward the commotion. There would be no explaining away breathing fire. Even fire sorcerer’s couldn’t do that. Shit. Shit. Shit.
I was across the room in a flash, punching Christian square in the jaw before he could get a good look across the room. It was an instinctual, knee-jerk, retarded reaction to the inevitable threat of discovery. I didn’t think it through enough to work out why it would help the situation. I just knew that I had to get his attention away from Lynn, and fast.
Christian stood up slowly, rubbing his jaw. “What on earth, Jillian?” he asked me, sounding wounded.
I covered up quickly. “Any guy wearing makeup deserves to get punched,” I told him with a smirk. There were gasps from goth boys in makeup all around the room. They were all looking at me, expressions of either fear or anger on their faces. Except for Luke. I noticed he was sending me even more smitten looks from beneath his mascara coated lashes. I heard Lynn fail to stifle a giggle across the room, where I saw the strange dragon had joined her and Caleb at the bar.
Suddenly the strange dragon-kin got everyone’s attention as he pointed at one of the goth boys. “It’s him.” The stranger’s voice was deep and certain. He walked towards the terrified goth kid. “Everyone else in the room had a proper response to what was going on. They all looked surprised or scared. This one showed no emotion until I pointed him out just now.” His accent was faint and asian. His english was very fluent, but still not his first language.
“Adam,” Lynn identified the goth kid.
Adam didn’t even try to run away when the strange dragon approached him. He just held up his hands, saying, “Ok, ok, you got me.” He was addressing Lynn. “I work for your Uncle Villi. He sent me here to spy on you. What are you gonna do about it? I know you don’t hurt humans.” His tone was belligerent. Stupid kid.
I beat the strange dragon to the kid. I slapped Adam hard across the face. Okay, it was a bitch slap. They seemed to be going around. But it floored him. Beating up humans was no fun. They were just too soft. But I was never one to balk at what had to be done. And any human who was unfortunate enough to be mixed up with my uncle had far worse things coming to him. “I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We will torture you until you tell us everything you know. Sound fun?” As I spoke, I hauled him to his feet. I dragged him across the room by his hair. He whimpered. I threw him roughly into a chair.
“K, what the hell is going on, guys?” Christian asked, confused. “Everyone is acting crazy. Anyone gonna tell me why?”
I ignored him, focusing on Lynn’s traitor. Caleb came up quietly beside me, speaking softly. “I’ll do this, if you don’t mind. I think we can all agree that torture is more my specialty than yours.”
I just raised my brows at him, but I was secretly relieved. I waved a hand at Adam, taking several steps back. “By all means, have at it.” I started to pace. I stopped mid-pace, addressing Adam again. “How old are you?”
Adam looked puzzled, but answered automatically. “Twenty.”
I nodded. “Good. Twenty, and too stupid to live long. I’m not too comfortable torturing anyone younger than that. Congratulations, you are of torturing age.” My tone was off-hand, even casual, but I felt none of it. You couldn’t look sick to your stomach, or scared out of your mind, when you were trying to intimidate someone into telling what you needed to know. I wasn’t nonchalant about torturing some dumb kid. I wasn’t even okay with it. But the thought that Villi might be moving to ambush us at any moment quickly dispelled me of any notion to take it easy on our one available source of information.
Caleb gave me a slight, chilling smile. His eyes were scary right then. He was going to enjoy this way too much.
“I’m over twenty,” Luke said quietly, but his voice reached us all. He was still giving me that cow-eyed stare.
I just frowned at him, and for some reason I felt myself blush. I pointed at him. “You just keep quiet,” I ordered him. He looked down submissively, a faint smile on his lips. Dammit, it was impossible to discourage someone who liked to be mistreated.
Lynn giggled. It was a stark contrast to the rest of the room. Most of the goths around the room were sobbing. Guess they didn’t see the humor. This was probably the most horrifying thing they’d ever seen. Lucky them. This little scene was more civilized than even the most tame family dinners of my childhood. At least I never had to wonder why I was so fucked up. It would have been a miracle if I wasn’t.
“Have you considered torturing him in a different room, perhaps?” the strange dragon was asking Caleb. “Or do you prefer the crying audience?”
Caleb eyed him coldly. “I prefer it, actually. Let all of them see what happens to traitors.” Caleb addressed the room at large. “If anyone speaks of anything they’ve seen tonight, far worse will happen to them. And if I’m really put out, to their families as well.”
I shook off that sobering picture. The scariest thing about that speech was that Caleb always meant what he said. It chilled me that I couldn’t have stopped him from doing what he’d just said if I tried.
I addressed Adam, wanting to get on with it. “Have you spoken to Villi since you arrived here?”
Lynn giggled at me. “Her hair looks like purple cotton candy,” I heard her say to someone.
I glowered at her.
Adam just smirked at me. Stupid, stupid kid. I guess he would have to be, to be a human mixed up with Villi. “Um, I’m gonna have to say no.”
The strange dragon casually gripped Adam’s shoulders, effectively holding him in place.
With no expression on his face, Caleb reached over, casually snapping Adam’s right index finger completely back. It made a sick popping noise. It sat at that horrible angle for a moment before anyone reacted. One of the sobbing kids sounded like they were throwing up. Adam held up his finger in horror, screaming.
“Okay, same question, but without the attitude,” Caleb him told him, deadpan.
Adam shook his head vehemently. “No, no. I swear I haven’t. Remember, you searched me and took my phone before we came out here.”
“What have you told Villi about us?” Lynn asked, her words slurred. That strange little broken finger seemed to have cured her of the giggles. Torture was a major buzz-kill, to be sure.
He just kept shaking his head. “Just the location of your shop, and your house.” Caleb snapped his thumb this time. More screaming and sobbing rocked through the room.
“Try again?” I prompted in a bored tone.
“I-I told them about Lynn’s following. How I thought most of them were loyal. I told them who her lieutenants were.” He paused for too long, and Caleb snapped his pinky this time.
“More,” Caleb said curtly.
“I-I told them about you, though I don’t know what the fuck you are.” He addressed Caleb. His panicked gaze swung toward Christian. He nodded in his direction. “I told them about him, though I don’t think they believed me.”
“How many does my Uncle have with him?” Lynn asked. I understood her concern. His ‘them’ answers were alarming, to say the least.
He shook his head over and over. “Dude, I have no idea. I can’t tell one of those things from another. They don’t tell me stuff like that.”
“What things?” Christian spoke up suddenly.
Adam just laughed at him like a lunatic. “You don’t even get it, do you, dude? You’re even more in the dark than I am. How can you not see that you’re surrounded by-” Suddenly, surreally, his head just disappeared, pieces of it decorating the wall behind him. It hadn’t even been a conscious action, my hand had just found the gun in my ankle holster, aimed and shot on pure instinct. He had said enough incriminating things in front of Christian. The sound in the echoing room was deafening for a moment.
I bent down, calmly re-holstering my gun. The entire room was staring at me, mouths hanging open, jaws sl
ack. Understandable, I supposed. I swear a few of the goths started putting curses on me.
Christian was the most shocked of the four of us, of course, since he couldn’t know the reason I’d needed to silence Adam so immediately, and so permanently. “What the hell, Jillian?” he was shouting over my ringing ears. “I can’t believe you shot him when he was giving us information. Was that really necessary?”
I just shrugged, acting nonchalant. “He was just wasting our time.”
Christian threw his hands up in the air. “And here I thought Caleb was our resident sociopath.”
I looked at Caleb. “Yeah, Caleb. Where were you on that one?” I asked him, an edge to my voice. What was his angle? Usually he was the fastest draw. I was good with guns, but they weren’t even my best weapon. I needed a blade to show my real talent. And guns, well, they were Caleb’s passion. Caleb looked at a solid piece like most men would look at a lover. Was he messing with us?
But he was studying me thoughtfully. He seemed to be as surprised as the rest of us that I’d beat him to the punch.
“That was impressive speed, considering that you were drawing from your ankle. You may actually be faster than me,” Caleb’s tone was speculative, making my trigger finger start itching. Knowing Caleb, he was considering drawing on me just to find out…
“He was full of lies from our uncle, Christian,” I said, turning away from Caleb, effectively ending the tense standoff. “Villi was using him to try to hurt Lynn, and I told you only the nice parts of what that monster did to my sister. We could have never let him go. He would have led them to us.”
“Ok, ok, just someone needs to explain to me a little more of what’s going on here. I hate being kept in the dark.” As Christian spoke, his phone started ringing, along with Caleb’s. I found this to be an odd coincidence.
The connection made sense a moment later, when I realized that it was a call from the druids. Tonight was the night. Time for a Necro roast.
“Maybe it wasn’t such a bad night for Lynn to get sloshed,” I muttered under my breath.
Breathing Fire (Heretic Daughters) Page 13