Flight from Hell

  Camille frowned, looking from me to Alex. “As we said, a friend of ours is worried about her and wanted us to check up on her. He said she’s been acting strangely.”

  Alex shifted, looking vaguely uncomfortable. “Carter, right? Yeah, I think that ship has sailed. But it’s probably better for her. I don’t think Shimmer’s cut out to hook up with the master of pain.”

  What the fuck? So he not only knew Carter, but had his own nickname for him. “Um, so you know Carter, do you?”

  “Well, I know him well enough, from a distance. Trust me, I do not run in the same circles. I’m not into his kind of games. But the man is brilliant, have to give him that. And the Demonica Vacana Society has a history far longer than any other organization.” At my look of surprise, he winked. “You didn’t expect me to know about that, did you? Trust me, Menolly, the Otherworld Fae may have a heads-up on a number of things, but over here, Earthside, there are those of us who make it our business to remain in the loop.”

  Why I’d expected Carter to be our secret, I didn’t know. He’d had a life in Seattle long before we’d arrived here, and probably would be around long after we were gone. And he made no secret of his existence to those he chose to befriend.

  “Yeah, it was Carter.” I hooked my thumbs in my belt loops and leaned back, stretching out my legs and crossing them at the ankles. “She was involved with him. I suppose you know that, too.”

  Again, the slightly uncomfortable look. “I know they were dating. I warned Shimmer to steer clear of him but she doesn’t listen to me all that well. But we have a rapport . . . or at least, I thought we did. Until she tried to impale me.”

  By the tone of his voice, I thought Alex might have a little more than a rapport with Shimmer. “You dating her, too?”

  Alex shook his head, a boyish grin on his face. “I am involved with a very possessive succubus. Let’s not go there.” But the slight catch in his words told me he very much wanted to go there with Shimmer. And probably hadn’t. And regardless of the fact that she’d tried to stake him, the attraction still lingered.

  “Then, tell us what happened.”

  He deflated then, his bravado softening. He slipped behind the desk and sat down, then folded his arms across his chest. “All right then. Shimmer was assigned to work for me. Do you know why she’s here?”

  I nodded. “We know she was in trouble and sent here as punishment.”

  He grinned, the tips of his fangs showing ever-slightly. “As much as I hate to think of working for me being classified as a punishment, yes, that pretty much sums it up. The Wing Liege wanted someone to keep an eye on her, and I’m damned good at that. And I owed him. Big debt. This is supposed to pay it off.”

  Hmm . . . what had Alex Radcliffe done to piss off the Wing Liege so much that he’d have to take on a dragon for five years to pay off a debt?

  “So, how long has Shimmer been here?” Delilah was jotting down notes. Apparently Alex either didn’t remember her from the Supe Urban Café or he wasn’t bothering to acknowledge they’d already met.

  “Just a few weeks, actually. She wasn’t happy about it, either, and while she’s been taking it out on me, she never once threatened to stake me. In fact, it felt like she was starting to settle in a little bit. Ralph and I have tried to make the transition as easy as we can. This has to be a major shock to her system, especially losing some of her powers.” Alex paused. “Well, I’m sure the three of you understand that, abundantly well.”

  I frowned. That we did. Coming over Earthside hadn’t been our idea, though we’d managed to adjust, and now Seattle was home as well as Y’Elestrial. More, perhaps, because of the wars going on back in Otherworld.

  “Who’s Ralph?”

  “Ralph is the IT guy for my agency. He’s a werewolf.”

  That made me blink. Werewolves didn’t usually like vampires. Alex must have gauged my expression because he let out a laugh.

  “Ralph is all geek. Chiphead. Whatever you want to call his type. He used to work for Google, but then he decided to strike out on his own. We’re actually neighbors. We met one night when he was heading out under the full moon. He was almost caught by the dog catchers and I happened along and recognized that he wasn’t a stray wolf, he was a werewolf. I managed to extricate him from the situation, and ever since then, we’ve been friends. Ralph owns a penthouse in the building next to the Shrouded Grove Suites, where I live.”

  Camille let out a laugh. “Great way to meet. We have friends who live in the Shrouded Grove Suites.” The complex was a vampire-only apartment building, heavily protected against the various hate groups in the area.

  “So, tell us when Shimmer began to change. You said she’s been here for only a few weeks?” The thought that her true nature was just emerging after the shock of moving ran through my mind, but I could be wrong.

  “Yeah, a few weeks. She got involved with Carter right away—said she had to do something to keep her mind off being here. I think she was just scared and clutching for straws, looking for anybody who would be her friend. But as I said, for all the dragon arrogance, she’s a pretty good girl, you know? She’s not naïve, she’s smart as a whip and dangerous as hell if you ire her, but as much as she didn’t want to be here, she told Bette she was going to give it a fair shake. The two get on like whiskey and soda.” Alex’s face grew a little misty. “I do miss a good drink now and then, you know?”

  Delilah snorted. “Yeah, because alcohol is the worst thing to lose in life.”

  Alex glared at her. “Pussycat, you lose your catnip and tell me how happy that makes you.”

  I stifled a laugh.

  His good nature flashing back, he winked. “It’s all in perspective, girls. All in perspective. Here’s the thing, though. About four . . . five days ago? I noticed a shift in Shimmer’s attitude. She’s never been tactful, but one evening—we work nights, of course—she came in grumpy as hell. She seemed uncomfortable, and every time I said a word, she bit my head off. I’m used to her chafing—the girl’s still trying to get used to being Earthside. She has no clue how to conform to the culture here, at least not yet. Shimmer grew surlier as the evening wore on.”

  “Maybe she told Bette what was bothering her?” Camille frowned and looked at me. I questioned her with my eyes and she gave a faint shake of the head, but I had the feeling she was playing a hunch.

  “Perhaps. You can ask her if you like. The next few nights she was in and out, and when I demanded an accounting for her time—I have that right, as her guardian here—she told me to fuck off. Those are her words, by the way. I never use that particular sentiment around a lady.”

  “You have an interesting sense of honor, Alex.” The man was intriguing me more and more. I rather liked him, though I had the feeling he was somewhat of a loose cannon.

  “Yes, well, I was brought up in a household run by strong women. Anyway, the Wing Liege made her accountable to me, and she was deliberately disobeying him.”

  I suddenly understood the dynamics. “You’re not just her employer. You’re her parole officer.”

  “Right. But when a dragon doesn’t want to do something, even with weakened powers, making them follow through is a hard row to hoe.”

  “What happened last night?” Camille leaned forward.

  Alex stood and began to pace. “I arrived at the office. Shimmer was here—she was in a right state. She seemed frenzied—almost frantic. I ordered her into my office. She was standing over there, where you are, Camille. I told her I had decided to contact the Wing Liege to ask him to intercede—she was like an angst-ridden teenager. I had barely gotten the words out when she pulled a stake out of her purse and came at me.”

  He leaned across the desk, his hands flat on the surface. His voice dropped. “I don’t suppose I have to tell you just how much I enjoyed that little surprise, now, do I?”

  A shiver ran down my
spine. I, of all people, knew what that felt like. Aiming a stake at a vampire was akin to pointing a loaded gun at a human’s heart. Not good. So not good.

  “What did you do?” Delilah had stopped writing notes and was staring at him.

  He cocked his head and flashed her a smile. “I leapt up on top of the desk, and as she lunged forward, I somersaulted over her head, turning to kick her one in the backside. Mind you, I don’t like hitting women—it goes against my nature—but when one has a big nasty pointy stick aimed at my heart, I’m not above defending myself.”

  “As you should.” Camille shook her head. “I’ve got a feeling that she might not have been in control of her actions. From what you and Carter are both saying, it sounds like she’s being controlled in some fashion.”

  “Whether or not she was in control of herself, the fact remains she tried to dust me, and I’ll be damned if I let that happen. But you may be right. After I kicked her, I yelled for Ralph and Bette. Shimmer panicked. She screamed, “No, no . . . I didn’t mean to do that . . .” then raced out of the office. We haven’t seen her since then.”

  “Have you been to her apartment?” Camille shook her head as Delilah got busy with the pen again.

  “No, love. Do I look like an idiot? I’ve been debating how to approach this. I don’t want to send Ralph or Bette—what if she attacks them, too? If I call in the Wing Liege, that’s it—she’ll go home and . . . they might kill her. I have called in some muscle to help protect the office from her, however.”

  “Ogre?” Delilah glanced up at Alex, a faint grin playing on her lips. We all knew that Alex’s muscle wouldn’t be human.

  “Nope. I have a friend who lives near here. Real character. He can animate the dead. He provided me with a couple ghouls and several bone-walkers, which are now stashed in the back.” Alex arched an eyebrow. “Hard to stop the undead, even for a dragon. Especially one who doesn’t have full use of her powers.”

  With a faint groan, Delilah put down her pen. “Your friend wouldn’t be a necromancer named Wilbur, by any chance, would he? Wilbur Folkes?”

  Alex cocked his head. “Yes, love. Why? You know him?”

  “Oh, we know him all right. He’s our neighbor.”

  Alex grinned. “He and Martin come over once every couple weeks and play poker with Ralph and me and Bette.”

  Par for the course, I thought. It wouldn’t have surprised me if Ivana Krask, the Maiden of Karask, had also joined their little party. I pressed my lips together before a snide comment could slip out. But one look at Camille’s expression sent me into a peal of laughter. By the twisted smirk on her face, she had to be thinking the same thing.

  “Am I not getting your little joke?” Alex looked from her to me then back at her again.

  “Never mind. You don’t want to know. So . . . Where do we go from here?”

  My first inclination was to stay out of the whole mess. A fucked-up dragon running around Seattle was so not a good thing. Not only that, but we had to make tracks on the rogue vampire situation.

  But Camille nixed my idea in the bud. “Let’s talk to Bette, then we’ll go check out Shimmer’s apartment.” She glanced over at Delilah, who nodded.

  Knowing it would do no good to argue—and to be honest, I couldn’t ignore the fact that Carter’s girlfriend was in trouble—I caved.

  “Okay, let’s do this,” I said. “But first, Alex, can you tell us exactly what powers Shimmer still has available? We need to know what we’re dealing with. If she’s being controlled, we need to know exactly what we’re up against.”

  Alex crossed to one of the filing cabinets in his office and flipped through folders in the second drawer, pulling out a blue one. Taking a seat behind his desk, he rifled through the pages.

  “Okay, here we go. The punishment is temporary, effective as long as she’s here. She has to earn her powers back. As of now, Shimmer can only shift into dragon form while underwater. Blue dragons are water-breathers, you know, connected with the water on an elemental level. Her powers of flight are gone, too. They removed her ability to breathe fire. She still has super strength, to a degree, and limited forms of water magic. I’m not sure which spells she can still cast. And she’s unable to return to the Dragon Reaches unless she’s summoned by the Wing Liege.”

  “That’s severe. Can she travel through the Ionyc Sea?” Camille paled. She, better than any of us, understood what it would mean for a dragon to be stripped of so many of her powers.

  “Not on her own. She’s effectively soil-bound.” Alex shrugged. “Not easy, but she could have been killed. Had a hand cut off, or been wing-strapped for a long period of time.”

  “I’m amazed that the white dragon family she stole from didn’t tear her apart.” Camille frowned. “So she can fight like hell, and use limited magic. Her hair still move on its own?”

  I repressed a grin. That was one of the things my sister loved most about her dragon-husband . . . in fact, she jokingly called it bondage hair.

  Alex snickered. “Yeah, it does. I’ve seen it. Though the Wing Liege cut it before she left. Her hair now reaches mid-back. It used to flow to her ankles, she told me. One more humiliation. I understand it grows very, very slowly.”

  “That it does,” Camille sighed. “Anything else?”

  He nodded, slowly. “The Wing Liege fitted her with a magical homing device in case she took it into her head to run off. If I activate it for longer than a few hours, he’ll know that she hit the streets. But it could lead us to her. I promised her that I wouldn’t ever use it unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

  “Let’s hope she’s home, stewing it off. If that’s everything, we should talk to Bette and then head out.” Camille paused. “Alex, what the hell is Bette?”

  He rolled his eyes. “She’s one of the Melusine. A water spirit who can change into a snake. A water moccasin, no less. Though mostly she stays in human form.”

  Holy fuck. The Melusine were a strange race. They weren’t Fae, not really. They were dangerous, sensuous, and alluring. Their looks and age didn’t factor into their seductive natures at all. Bette might be off putting to us, but to an FBH? I had no doubt she was kicking the sheets on a regular basis.

  “Where the hell did you meet her?” Not only were the Melusine strange, but they were rare, as far as I knew.

  Alex laughed. “Bette and I used to be an item . . . don’t let your eyes deceive you. She’s one hell of a lover. But about a hundred years ago, we decided we worked better as friends. We argue too much when we’re involved, and we’re both as stubborn as a couple of pack mules. We’ve traveled together ever since. Good friends are hard to come by in this world.”

  And with that, he led us out into the waiting area. Bette gave us a long look, then cackled. “You told them what I am, didn’t you, sugar?” She winked at Camille. “Chickadee, you’re just too pretty. I could eat you up, I could.”

  As Camille coughed, I let out a bark of laughter. Delilah averted her eyes and I could tell she was trying not to laugh, as well.

  “Well, you must want something. Spill it, girls.”

  Bette’s ever-present cigarette hung off her lip, and her eyes twinkled in the most disconcerting fashion. I found myself liking her more and more, and that in itself was highly disturbing.

  “We know you and Shimmer talked a lot. Did she say anything the past week that seemed off? Did she mention anything out of the ordinary?”

  Bette frowned, reaching under her shirt to scratch her boobs. She caught my eye and yanked her shirt down a little lower. “Like what you see, fang-girl? They may not be perky but they’re all mine.”

  Mildly horrified, but also insanely amused, I let loose with a laugh. “I swing that way but I’m spoken for. At least as far as women go.”

  Bette snorted, then pulled her cigarette out of her mouth and tamped it out in the ashtray next to her. She
sobered. “Shimmer said that she was meeting a new friend for coffee. This was . . . oh . . . five . . . six days ago. I didn’t think anything of it. That’s the only thing that stands out in my mind. She said that she met him online. She also told me that she was going to break up with Carter. She liked him, but they didn’t have enough in common.”

  “Was she angry at Carter at that point?” If she had been angry, then the mood shift had begun before Carter had suspected.

  But Bette shook her head. “No. In fact, she seemed sadly resigned to it. Said they just weren’t compatible but that she had learned a lot about herself from the brief time they’d been together.”

  “Did she mention the name of the man she was going to meet?” Alex moved forward, a troubled look on his face.

  Bette squinted, concentrating. After a minute, she looked up. “Actually, she did. Julian.”

  “Julian?”

  I stared at Alex. We had spoken at the same time.

  Before I could open my mouth, Alex leaned over Bette’s desk. “Julian? Why didn’t you tell me this before? Are you certain?”

  Okay, this was interesting.

  Bette frowned, worrying a nail with her teeth. “Yeah, sugar plum. Julian.” Then she paused, a look of recognition crossing her face and she clapped her hand to her mouth. “Oh no. You don’t think . . .”

  “Yeah, I do think. I knew he was on this side of the pond, and I knew he’d come looking for me sooner or later. Ten to one, it’s him. Damn it! He’s using Shimmer to get to me and now she’s caught in the crossfire.” Without missing a beat, Alex slammed his fist into the wall, shaking the room and leaving a lovely hole where the drywall had been.