City of Dragons: Of Flesh and Blood

by Wilder, Adrienne

  Haley watched all the color drain out of Orin’s face and he suddenly looked every bit of the eight hundred years he was. Haley put her hand over his, and since he didn’t pull away she left it there.

  She looked at Maze. “Are you going to be able to keep it out of the Media?” She asked because she was pretty sure that’s exactly what Orin was thinking.

  Maze gave a nod. “I’m confident I can. It’s on a DVR. I managed to get a judge’s order for the hard drive to be collected and put into evidence.”

  “I don’t want it used. It could ruin my chances for ever going back to teaching.” Orin rubbed a trembling hand over his chin.

  Deshi spoke up, “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Yeah, and I could just imagine how the students and teachers I work with are going to react when video of me being fucked with a night stick by a pissed off cop winds up on the internet!”

  Haley winced. Saying it aloud made it too real. Too ugly.

  Orin’s sea foam green eyes hit her hard. “Did you know?”

  Haley swallowed. All the hurt in his eyes, all the fear, it made her insides curl. “No, I swear, I didn’t.” If she had she would have told him, prepared him. Not that it would have done much good.

  Orin flipped his gaze to Deshi. “But you did, didn’t you?”

  When Haley looked at the Prince he was staring at his knees. “Deshi?” Surely if he knew he would have…but she didn’t need an answer. He wore guilt like he wore his fancy Italian suits.

  All too well.

  Deshi said, “I couldn’t.”

  Haley frowned. “What do you mean, you couldn’t?”

  “I told him not to,” Maze said. “Things were bad enough. We didn’t need to add to the complication.”

  But it was adding to it now.

  Deshi leaned towards Maze. “Is there any possibility we petition the court to have it destroyed?”

  “Unlikely.”

  Orin barked a laugh. “How do we even know there aren’t copies already floating around? Hell, for all we know it could be on YouTube.”

  Maze tipped his head at the two people beside him. “It’s unlikely, but Adrian and Beth are watching any and all outlets. Orin, the cops do not want this out. I guarantee you that they would have turned it off if they hadn’t forgotten about it being on. They are as panicked about the video getting to the media as you are, more so perhaps. For different reasons of course, but panicked all the same.”

  “And you’re sure it can’t be destroyed?” Deshi asked again.

  Maze looked at him and his eyebrows came down. “I can make a few phone calls, but it won’t be easy.”

  The Jersey City Prince nodded. “I’ll cover it.”

  Orin glared at the Prince. “What the hell? Am I going deaf or did you just offer to pay him to have it destroyed?”

  Deshi brought his baby blues up. Once again Haley saw a deep potential for the kind of anger that had made him throw her into the wall over Emily. “It’s only money.”

  “I don’t need your pity.” A growl lit up in Orin’s chest.

  “Pity? Who do you think is paying for the lawyer?”

  Orin opened his mouth, then snapped it shut.

  The Jersey City Prince gave his attention back to Maze. “Make this happen. I don’t care what it takes.” A dark glint fired up in the lawyer’s eye. He gave a nod and turned back around in his seat.

  “You let him pay for the lawyer?” Orin pulled his hand away from Haley. His face was red.

  She sighed. “Yeah, I did. A public defender wasn’t going to cut it, and my fifty-grand in savings wasn’t near enough to cover the retainer. And you hardly make enough to live on.” She waited for him to snap at her but he just turned away.

  A few moments later the Escalade turned onto East Washington. Haley looked out the passenger window next to Orin. Going by the police barricades and mass of onlookers, it was clear this was going to be anything but a private event. The crowd of media vultures lining both sides of the street made last night’s gathering look like friends and family.

  Haley saw vans marked CNN, ABC, NBC, FOX, and several others she’d never heard of as they went by. All around them, blue lights flashed from cop cars blocking off the street so only approved vehicles got into parking lot. When a cop stopped the Escalade, the driver cracked the window and passed him a laminated card, then a piece of paper. The uniform gave it a once over, frowning, then stuffed it back through the window and waved them in.

  As the Escalade pulled up the drive, the wave of cameras and microphones surged. Lenses turned and the eyes of the world fell on them.

  Maze flipped his phone shut. Without looking at them he said, “Remember what I told you. I’ll take care of you, but you have to trust me.”

  Haley glanced out the window. The cops were doing a pretty good job at keeping everyone back, but they were seriously outnumbered.

  “Ready?” Maze didn’t give them a chance to answer before he threw open the door.

  Orin poured out of the Escalade in front of Haley and she scrambled to catch up. Deshi moved up behind her. Flash bulbs burst at a blinding rate and questions were volleyed in their direction with the speed of automatic gun fire. Distracted, Haley almost tripped. Deshi caught her by the arm, pulled her back up and held her steady.

  “Sorry.” Now she wished more than ever she’d impressed beautiful Kin movement.

  Maze brought up the rear and the two corporate additions flanked them on either side. Haley caught the scent of gun oil, so did the Males. They all zeroed in on the suits with ear pieces at the edge of the crowd. They looked like odds and ends stuck in a frenzy of busy colors.

  Next to her ear Maze said, “They’re with us.”

  All of them were herded into a side door leading to a hall clogged with cops and important looking people in expensive suits. Or at least suits that looked expensive.

  So many eyes and so many angry faces. The animosity leaking out all over the place choked the air, making it almost impossible to breathe. Haley wedged herself between Orin and Deshi and they responded to her anxiety by closing in around her.

  As they took a left into a large conference room, the narrow hall was replaced by more space, but the expressions on the people’s faces were the same.

  Maze went around one side of the table and pulled out a chair. He glanced at Orin who followed his lead and sat down. Most of the people in the room were standing, so the majority of seats at the long narrow table were empty.

  Just as Haley sat down next to Deshi, a tall willowy black woman came through the door followed by a handful of other suits and three uniformed officers. She put her brief case on the table and pulled out a chair. Her entourage took up the surrounding seats and hit Haley, Deshi, and Orin with a chorus of angry eyes.

  The black woman smoothed her skirt and sat. “My name is District Attorney Sarah Drew. I know Maze.” She looked at the lawyer, then her eyes moved to Orin. “I assume you’re Orin, and who are you two?”

  Maze was the one who answered. “Haley Night and Deshi.”

  Drew gave a little dip of her head, then looked at Maze again. “I don’t know whose arm you twisted last night to get your client out of lock up, but the charges will remain in place. I’ll be going to the judge this afternoon and asking for Orin to be remanded to the ADF until trial.” She pulled out a file and threw it on the table. “The autopsy report came back. The wounds on our victim are consistent with those inflicted by Kin.” She looked at Orin. “To put this incident away we’re willing to plea you out if you’ll end this now and save the family involved any more grief.”

  Maze shook his head. “My client didn’t kill anyone. He maintains his innocence.”

  “Really?” She flashed a brittle smile. “And who else would have motive to commit this crime?”

  “It is our belief that the death of Mary Gilsp was a form of punishment enacted by the Queen of Athens. Which as you know is Den business and out of your jurisdiction.”

/>   Drew shot Maze a look which said he was insane. “This didn’t happen inside the Dens and we are not talking about a Kin.”

  “No, but Kin law doesn’t stop at the Wall, Drew. You know that. Even the Supreme Court does not allow us to supersede the judgment of a Queen over those she owns. As for Humans not being Kin, we can choose to Belong. First Amendment, you might want to freshen up on that.”

  The DA glared. “Does the Queen of Athens own you, Orin?”

  Maze held up his hand. A signal to stay quiet of there ever was one. “The Queen is fiscally responsible for any and all damages any Kin causes in her city. Literal ownership is not even a subject of discussion. Since she is the financially responsible party, she does, according to property laws, own him.”

  Drew shook her head. “And I’m willing to bet a jury will see that interpretation of the law in a completely different light because Mary Gilsp wasn’t walking around with Chetra written on her chest, nor did she have a mark. Considering where this murder took place I find it repulsive you’d even entertain an ownership defense. And ninety-nine percent of this country will agree with me. Are you willing to risk your client’s life on those kinds of odds? Because I will get a guilty verdict. You don’t stand a chance, Orin.” She thrust her chin at the file. “Take a look. We ran the samples collected from the body with all the profiles listed in the CFKR licensing data base.” She smiled. “You left a lot of your DNA behind.”

  Orin opened his mouth but Maze stopped him with a look. The lawyer gave his attention to the DA. “Considering the physical relationship my client had with the victim, that’s not unusual.”

  “The DNA was in the body cavity. Blood mostly. How do you explain that? Did you claw yourself while you Raged, Orin? Or maybe bit your tongue when you were tearing out her heart?” She nailed the Male with a glare and he slid his eyes to Maze. Maze gave Orin a small nod.

  Orin sighed. “I fed her. So I suspect there will be a lot of my blood in her body.”

  It was like a switch was flipped, and the whole room sank into absolute silence.

  When Drew spoke it seemed way too loud. “What do you mean, you fed her?”

  Orin glanced at Maze before answering. “Mary was Lesser-Bred.” A hum of anger seized the entire room. Behind him one of the three cops bowed forward. Drew flicked a look up at the officers and Haley followed her gaze. Two older cops held back their buddy in the middle. The man was practically a raging bull. Hate boiled behind his gray eyes.

  Mary’s brother, Haley thought.

  Drew said, “Are you claiming Mary Gilsp wasn’t Human?” Unhappy went out everywhere. Cause if Mary wasn’t Human, the rules just took a trip into the crapper.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Orin dipped his chin.

  A juicy curse squeezed out of the middle cop, followed by murmurs from the rest of the room.

  Drew rocked back in her seat. “And how do you plan on backing up this claim, when I can guarantee you her parents and her brother won’t agree?”

  Orin said, “She went through the change about two years ago. They didn’t know. She didn’t tell them.”

  The DA shot Maze and Orin both a look that said they were full of shit and she wasn’t falling for it. “You’re trying to tell me that her own parents had no idea she wasn’t Human. Her brother is.” Yeah, because they didn’t let anything that wasn’t join the force. Everyone who applied had to be genotyped. “How do you suppose that happened?”

  Orin blew out his breath. “Unless she was adopted, which she assured me she wasn’t, her mother had an affair with a Lesser-Bred.” Thunder erupted through the room and the angry cop screamed.

  “Enough!” Drew shouted. Everyone went silent. “Do you have any proof of this?”

  Maze was the one who answered this time. “I had a blood and tissue sample run through an independent lab. All cleared with Judge Mason of course. They found at least eighteen Kin specific alleles on the X chromosome.” He glanced at Beth and the woman produced a file from the phone book worth of papers she carried in her arms. Drew did not look very pleased to see it. She flipped it open and ran her eyes down the inside.

  Still glaring at the contents she said, “But if she was displaying physical traits she would have to be carrying them on both. As in one from each parent. I’m sorry, but your story doesn’t hold water.”

  Maze adjusted his jacket and sat back in his chair. “If Mary had two working X chromosomes then the non-carrying would most likely be the active one. Even then there are exceptions. Our tests also show the X chromosome she inherited from her mother was defective. That leaves only the one she acquired from the male donor active. And in this case that male donor was Lesser-Bred.” He gave a shrug. “So, there you have it.”

  From behind them, the cop cursed. “My mother is not a whore!”

  Drew threw daggers with her eyes. “Brian, shut up and let me take care of this.”

  The look on the cop’s face reminded Haley of another cop she knew. Specifically one who’d beaten a Submissive to death.

  The DA gave the file in front of her one more once-over, then said, “I’ll have our lab run tests, but unless I get a hundred percent conclusive I’m still coming after your client. Even then I can still have him held on resisting arrest and assault on an officer. Both of which, considering what he is, are death penalty offenses. Either way, you are not getting away with this.”

  Maze said, “Did you bother to even look at the video?’

  “Yes, all forty-five seconds. Which conveniently doesn’t have footage showing what caused the officers involved to employ that type of force. We are talking about Kin here. You can’t expect Human officers to use kid gloves with them if they resist.”

  “And I have two upstanding witnesses who are more than willing to take the stand on my client’s behalf.”

  Drew flicked those light brown eyes over Deshi, then left them on Haley. “Where do I know you from?”

  Haley looked at Maze, who gave her the okay. “I work with the Atlanta CFKR. I’ve actually consulted with you before on a few of your cases.”

  The DA’s face tightened. “I thought you were Kin?”

  “I am.”

  Drew’s eyes said she didn’t believe her, because sitting between two perfectly carved Males made Haley’s imperfections all the much more obvious.

  Drew said, “And you witnessed what happened in the park?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Haley nodded.

  “And you?” Her eyes snapped to Deshi. He smiled and nodded but his gaze stayed on the table. “You’re willing to stand up in a court of law and swear Orin offered no resistance, not even visual threats such as teeth and claws?”

  When Deshi didn’t answer, Haley took over. “Orin did nothing wrong.”

  “Bull shit!” That from the brother. “She’s one of them. Of course she’s going to lie.”

  Maze looked at the cop. “Haley works on a daily basis with the Atlanta PD. Her job is to keep officers like yourself out of harm’s way when interviewing Kin. She’s put her life on the line for Humans on more than one occasion. So bias, while plausible, is highly unlikely.” He gave his attention back to the DA. “Drew, you don’t have a case. If anything, this city is in serious civil trouble. Again. The last thing this town needs is another lawsuit from Kin interest groups as well as a civil suit over my client’s unlawful incarceration.”

  Drew opened her mouth to protest. Adrian came forward and pulled out handful of papers and put them on the table.

  Maze said, “That’s my motion to dismiss based on the DNA evidence. Mary Gilsp was Lesser-Bred, that makes her not Human and not Kin. Even if Orin was guilty, it’s a hundred dollar fine. Shooting a deer out of season is a bigger offense. If Athens is so hard up for the money to fill the coffers, write him a ticket and he’ll pay it.”

  Orin swung his head in the direction of his lawyer. Haley grabbed his arm. Heat boiled out of his skin.

  Drew said, “Is that how you feel about Mary’s death, Orin? That ki
lling her was like poaching?” A flush ran up and over Orin’s cheeks, but he stayed quiet.

  Maze stood up. “Have your lab run the tests and when you get the results do us all a favor and drop the case. I’ll take care of the civil matter.”

  “We still have a case if he did it in full form,” Drew said. It was a desperate jab and it showed.

  Maze gave her a cursory nod. “Good luck proving that.” He looked at Orin. “Let’s go.”

  Mary’s brother exploded. “What? You’ve got to be kidding me. He kills my sister and his lawyer waves some piece of paper around and that’s it? That’s it?”

  “Mr. Gilsp…” That from Drew. Her eyes were practically on fire. But the cop didn’t notice, didn’t care, or maybe it was combination of both.

  His superiors grabbed him by the arms as he lunged forward. “You fucking animal. You will pay for this, wyrm!”

  “Gilsp!” Drew stood up.

  “Fuck you. Fuck you and your goddamned laws. This son-of-a-bitch killed my little sister.” Brian’s lips drew up in a nasty grin and his eyes pegged Orin with a mix of rage and madness. “It’s not technically illegal to kill Kin either, Orin.”

  Maze straitened his jacket and stepped up to Officer Gilsp. “It would be in your best interest to let this drop.” His tone was so cold, so matter-of-fact, even Haley winced.

  “Like hell!” Brian Gilsp strained against the two men holding him. Their arms trembled and their knuckles turned white. The looks on their faces suggested they were worried about being able to keep their fellow officer under control.

  Maze moved even closer, putting himself dangerously near the man. “Mr. Gilsp, unlike your sister, the Queen of Atlanta and the Queen of Athens both have a vested interest in Orin’s wellbeing.”

  “And you think I give a shit?”

  Maze dipped his head a little. “Actually, no. I don’t. However, their interest expands a fiscal horizon you could not begin to imagine. While killing Orin may not get you the death penalty, they will keep you in court for the rest of your natural life. Your debt will be felt by your great-great-grandkids.”