Ancient Enforcer

by Reus, Katie

  Always the showman.

  Ozias liked to create havoc wherever he went, uncaring about the lives he destroyed. No, the male simply liked power and taking more of it.

  There definitely had to be more than the ten below. Not that he was worried about a bunch of baby vampires. He could handle those alone, with no backup—fire would incinerate them.

  Instead of shifting, he flew down at a sharp angle, reveling in the gasps of some of the vampires behind the mage hybrid.

  They really must be newly turned. Pathetic.

  At least Ozias didn’t flinch or act surprised.

  Mikael landed on top of a row of crumbling gravestones and stretched his wings out once, showing off their great span before he pulled them in tight to his back. Then he yawned, stretching his jaws wide to show his teeth as he eyed Ozias. He wasn’t going to shift until he saw Avery’s brothers. He didn’t scent them, however, so he knew they weren’t here.

  Big surprise, Ozias was a liar.

  “Shift,” the male demanded. He looked the same as Mikael remembered—unmemorable. Except for his eyes. It was a bizarre thing. This male was ancient, powerful, but had the type of face you would have a hard time remembering. With dark hair, and a too-slender build for his taller frame, nothing but his glowing eyes stood out. There was an eerie red quality to them.

  He yawned again, knowing it would piss Ozias off. And the sight of his big teeth would likely terrify the others. Then he flapped his wings out impatiently.

  “I have to see the key first,” Ozias snapped.

  He sighed. Apparently they were going to do this. Mikael half-shifted, something that was incredibly difficult to do and something he rarely showcased. Not many dragons could do this. He shifted partially to human but kept his wings extended.

  For the first time since he had known the ancient hybrid, he saw a flicker of surprise in the male’s eyes.

  “I don’t smell them,” Mikael said simply.

  “They’re nearby. I couldn’t bring them here. You know that.”

  Mikael couldn’t scent if the male was lying—probably because he was what Avery called a psychopath. There were some beings that never put off that acrid scent when they lied. It had something to do with the chemistry in their brains, he’d been told. Some people were just evil, in his opinion. It happened with supernaturals and humans alike, though the psychopaths were rare enough in both species.

  “How close are they?” he demanded.

  “Where is the key?” Ozias countered.

  “Close.”

  Ozias jumped down from the gravestone, the ridiculously long cloak he was wearing billowing around him as he strode forward. “You lie.”

  “Do I?”

  “I can smell it on you.”

  “Then I guess we’re both liars, because you didn’t bring them.” He breathed out fire even though he was half-shifted, giving the signal to attack. If the brothers weren’t here, then he was done with this male. He needed to kill Ozias and keep at least one or two survivors. It would be much easier to torture and break one of these baby vampires into giving up the brothers’ location.

  As five dragons dropped their camouflage and descended from the sky, Ozias lifted his hands up wide, then brought them down with a savage scream.

  The ground shifted beneath Mikael’s feet as magic rippled through the air. He took to the air, his wings propelling him upward even as a vortex of swirling blue and white opened under his feet.

  Oh, hell.

  He strained against the wind, the sucking pull of the Hell realm door, the muscles and tendons in his wings pulling tight as he fought against the whirlwind.

  Even as he struggled, he could see his brothers arrowing toward him, trying to save him. No. He couldn’t let them get sucked in too. They needed to stay. To fight.

  To protect Avery.

  “No!” he screamed at them.

  Surrendering, he pulled his wings in tight against his body, Avery his last thought as he fell into the vortex.

  Chapter 31

  King raced across the graveyard as dragons torpedoed down from the sky, his sword singing with power. Ever since Aurora had shot it full of her lightning bolts, it was even more powerful than before.

  A hideous scream went up as a couple dozen screeching vampires dropped down from the trees.

  It was time to fight.

  For the moment, he was going to shelve the fact that Mikael had just been sucked into a Hell realm. They would have to deal with that later and get him out. Mikael was a powerful dragon; he would survive—but King hated to think how devastated Avery would be if the dragon didn’t.

  He swung hard as a vampire with longer than normal fangs raced at him, hissing like a wild cat as he lunged. The thing let out a disturbing clicking sound that King would not soon forget.

  As the vamp sprung at him, King sliced his head off in a simple arc. He was aware of dragon fire all around him, screams filling the air as he sliced off another head. Then another.

  And another.

  There was fire to his left and behind him as he and two of his wolves mowed down vampire after vampire. Most of his pack had shifted and were ripping off heads and body parts, but he was using his sword for this battle.

  The leader of the group had disappeared into the melee, something that was weak and pathetic, in King’s opinion. He’d sent his people off to be slaughtered so he could escape.

  The fight was over in minutes, and he kicked a male vampire who couldn’t have been more than thirty years old when he’d been turned. One of his wolves started to pounce on the vamp but he held up a hand and sheathed his sword. “This one lives.”

  The male crab-crawled away from them, bleeding from his head and wrist as he tried to escape from King and the wolves that had already surrounded him.

  “It’s your lucky day,” he said as he stalked toward the male, his wolf in his eyes.

  The stench of the vamp’s fear nearly made him gag.

  “You’ve got a couple options,” he continued. “I’m going to let you live for now. But only if you tell me what I want to know. If you don’t, I’m going to hand you over to those dragons behind me. And then when they’re done torturing you, they’ll give you back to me and you’ll tell me what I wanted to know from the start. So you can save yourself a lot of time and pain by talking now. Because from your scent, I can tell you are a very newly turned vampire. So you won’t be aware of the hierarchies of the shifter communities.” He leaned close then, as if telling the male a secret.

  The male stared at him, raw terror in his glowing green eyes. His fangs withdrew and now he just looked like a scared human. If he had still been human, King had no doubt he’d have already pissed himself by now.

  “Dragons are very good at extracting information. And they can keep you alive for a very long time.”

  “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” the man whispered. “I saw Lindsey escape before we started fighting. She hung out on the outskirts when the dragon descended, and then she turned and ran.” His voice was growing stronger now. “I stole a bunch of cocaine from my drug dealer before I was turned. I killed him too. But only because he was going to shoot me for not having enough money to pay off my debt. I also robbed a liquor store on Douglas Street, but that was before The Fall. I felt bad about it so I washed his windows and swept in front of his shop for a week.”

  Okay, so this vamp was telling King everything.

  King thought he heard one of his people snort in amusement as the man continued telling secret after secret. King held up a hand because it was clear the young vamp was never going to shut up. “That’s enough. I don’t give a shit about any of that. I want to know about your maker.”

  “Magnus?” Fear intoned his words.

  King stilled. Magnus? Was it possible that Magnus and Ozias were the same person? The male had mentioned a Lindsey… “Yes. Tell me everything about your maker. The male who led you all tonight.”

  “Boss! You’re going
to want to see this!” Delphine called out.

  King pointed at the male on the ground and gave him a warning look. “Don’t move.”

  Ace, still in wolf form, prowled closer, revealing his canines as he let out a low, deadly growl.

  The vampire shrank into himself, curling into a ball.

  Dismissing the vampire, King turned and strode toward Delphine, who was standing next to a fallen gravestone.

  As King reached her, he cursed when he saw that it had been hiding a trapdoor. An escape route. The male hadn’t used magic to escape after all.

  “We track them,” he ordered. Delphine was already jumping into the hole along with Axel, who was in lion form, before King had finished. Then he turned to the dragons. “Span out, search the area.” Maybe they would get lucky and they would see Magnus—or Ozias—aerially. He didn’t need to give an order to Ace, who would haul that vampire back to the compound and question him until he cried.

  He’d deal with that vampire later.

  No matter what happened, whether he found this vampire or not, he had to figure out where Mikael was.

  He also had to tell Avery what had happened, and he wasn’t looking forward to that.

  * * *

  Hours later, King walked into the small room where their captive was being held. Though the vampire was not in chains or restrained, there was nowhere for him to go. And he knew it. “How were you recruited?” he asked as he strode inside.

  Ace hadn’t had a chance to question him because something more pressing had come up.

  Now King was ready to get his answers.

  The man, who had been human not long ago, blinked. “Recruited?”

  King kept his expression passive as he looked at him but bit back a sigh. “The male who turned you. How did he convince you?”

  “A woman did, Lindsey. She’s one of his. We all are. But she approached me at a bar and offered me immortality.” He cleared his throat. “And sex.”

  “So it’s as simple as that? He offered you immortality in exchange for what? To follow him? Worship him?”

  The male shook his head. “No, nothing like that. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. He said he was going to talk with someone and just needed backup. We were just a show of force.”

  Christ, this guy was stupid.

  “Lindsey left though, when the fighting started. I saw her escaping and started to ask her what she was doing, but I quickly realized. She was smart enough to run. Look, I don’t have any beef with you or your people. I just wanted immortality. I’m not a killer.”

  A dull throb started in King’s temple as he leaned casually against the wall. “Good thing for you I can sense that you’re not lying. So tell me more about Magnus. I want to know everything, including where you’ve been staying.”

  “A farmhouse,” he said immediately. Then he started giving information, spilling every little detail he could think of.

  Mid-conversation, King straightened. He knew the place this guy—whose name he still didn’t know, or particularly care to know—was talking about. He turned, and before he’d made it to the door, it swung open and Ace stepped inside. He’d clearly been listening and knew the area the guy had been describing as well.

  King turned back to the vampire. “You’re going to stay put and write down every single thing you remember of your time with Magnus. Every. Little. Thing.” Then he shut the door behind him and posted a guard there. The vamp might be too afraid to leave now, but he might be stupid enough to try later. He was young and not very skilled at fighting so he wouldn’t get far if he did. But hunting down an asshole wasn’t something King wanted his people to waste their time on.

  As he hurried down the hallway with Ace next to him, he said, “I’ve got a stop to make, but I’ll meet up with you guys on the way. Let the dragons know and grab four of our own. That’ll be enough.”

  Ace simply nodded as they stepped outside onto the semi-busy street in the Quarter. King went right and Ace headed left to gather up the others.

  Hunter swooped down from the top of the building across the street where he’d been patiently waiting for King. The dragonling flew right next to King as he jogged down the sidewalk, his chirping, constant companion lately. “You miss me?” he murmured.

  Hunter chirped an affirmative—he’d let his annoyance be known when King had forced him to stay behind for the cemetery battle.

  It didn’t take long to make it to Aurora’s house, where Avery was staying. Unfortunately Aurora wasn’t there—she’d had to check on some supernatural friends of hers about something. Probably just as well because she was a distraction—his kryptonite.

  Outside, behind the mansion, everyone had given them privacy. And though he’d sat at the table, hoping to make Avery more relaxed, she was still standing, hands shoved into her cardigan pockets. “Please tell me what’s going on,” she said. “I know something’s happened. Everyone has been really weird. Is Mikael…hurt?” Her voice broke on the last word.

  He stood, since it was clear she wasn’t going to sit, and moved closer to her. The yard was lit up with a plethora of Edison-style lights and a few chickens were walking around—but keeping a wide berth from Hunter, who was a few feet from King.

  “There was a battle at the cemetery. It appears as if Magnus and Ozias are one and the same. He set a trap of sorts, we believe to trigger the opening to a Hell realm.” He knew she was aware what they were after the last conversation they’d had. “Mikael was sucked into the vortex before any of us could get to him.”

  She gasped and put a hand over her mouth but he continued.

  “The good thing is, he’s a dragon shifter and he’ll be at the top of the food chain in any other realm. I know this is hard on you, but Mikael is tough and damn near impossible to kill. We’re currently hunting down Ozias and will do everything we can to find out which realm Mikael was taken to. We’re also scouring the city for your brothers.”

  Her breathing had increased and he could hear her out-of-control heartbeat. Normally he could tune out the sounds of heartbeats, but right now it was just the two of them plus Hunter, and Avery was close to panicking. Her eyes were dilated as she dragged in shallow breaths. “Mikael will survive a Hell realm?”

  “I have no doubt he will. And I have a potential lead on where your brothers might be held—I wanted to talk to you in person but I swear we’re going to do everything possible to find Mikael and your brothers. And you know his brothers won’t stop until we do.”

  She slowly nodded, shoved out a long breath. Her breathing had somewhat evened out, but her eyes were still dilated and he could scent the fear rolling off her, the sharp metallic scent bitter on the air. “Thank you for coming to tell me in person. Do you know anything in particular about the spot Mikael was in when the portal opened? Maybe Thurman knows something we don’t. Maybe he’ll have some insight about the area. The Magic Man knows a lot, and if you haven’t tapped him for information…I will.” Her lips pulled into a thin line, as if daring him to stop her.

  King paused. He didn’t want Avery going off and doing anything rash, but…he also couldn’t stop her from going to see the Magic Man. Besides, Thurman would talk more easily to her than one of his people, that much King knew. Thurman always played his cards close to the vest but there were a select few people he communicated fairly openly with, almost all humans or witches. So King gave Avery the details she’d need, right down to the name on the gravestone that had split open during the portal opening and Mikael disappearing.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I’ll have my cell phone on me. If you find out anything more…” She cleared her throat. “Just don’t leave me in the dark about Mikael or my brothers, please.”

  “Of course not.” With some people he would, but not with her. She could handle honesty. “I don’t think I need to tell you this, but I don’t want you going anywhere tomorrow morning. No work. You stick close to Aurora or one of her people. And if you go to see Thurman, take one of them with you
. In fact…” He turned to look at Hunter, who only straightened under King’s scrutiny, sitting up at attention like a little sentry as he looked between the two of them.

  King crouched down in front of him and found that he didn’t want to say goodbye. Hunter had burrowed his way under King’s skin. He was a freaking wolf shifter; they didn’t have pets. But…apparently he did now.

  Still, the pain leaking out of Avery’s every pore was raking against his skin and all his senses. “You’re going to stay here with Avery,” he said, pointing at her. “You stay close to her and keep her safe, okay?”

  King swore Hunter understood him because the little dragonling nodded once, then butted his head against King’s before he stepped back.

  Avery stepped forward. “King, you don’t have to—”

  “I think you need him more than me right now. And he really likes you. I can’t drag him off now anyway. He’s too young to take part in a hunt like this.” Or King assumed he was. He had no idea. But it sounded believable, and he didn’t want the little one to get hurt.

  Hunter moved closer and gently patted Avery’s back with his gray, sparkling wing as if he was trying to comfort her.

  Avery’s jaw clenched tight as if she was fighting back tears. “Thank you,” she rasped out, reaching out a hand to pet Hunter.

  “We’re going to get your brothers and Mikael back, okay? I swear it.”

  Avery nodded, crouched down and hugged Hunter, who awkwardly hugged her back with his big wings.

  “Go and get them,” she whispered to King.

  He nodded and ran off, briefly acknowledging Brielle, who was perched along the mansion’s border wall, acting as Avery’s security.

  This was his city and these were his people. His responsibility. He was going to get all of them back home safely.

  Chapter 32

  “Where are you going?” Brielle dropped down from the wall as Avery almost made her escape from the compound undetected with Hunter in tow.

  Or maybe she was fooling herself because these shifters were stealthy. “To see the Magic Man. And I’m not asking for permission.”