If there were more divisions between dragon shifters than Slayer and Pyr, bad and good, then Ronnie knew nothing of them.
Did she dare to trust him?
“Drake is here.” The dragon closed his eyes, and Ronnie wasn’t sure what to expect. She was startled when a vision of an urban apartment filled her mind. A petite woman watched worriedly as Drake paced, his anguish so clear that Ronnie’s heart twisted. She could see that he’d been injured in her defense because he had bruises and he moved more stiffly than he had before.
Even dragons were vulnerable, then. She drank in the sight of him, relieved that he was alive and worried about her. Her instincts about Drake were right.
But could she trust this dragon?
Or was this vision of Drake some kind of illusion, intended to trick her?
“My mate, Rox,” the Pyr breathed and Ronnie took another look at the woman. She looked urban and hip, complete with tattoos and piercings, but there was genuine concern in her eyes as she watched Drake.
“We want to rescue you,” the Pyr continued. It was the strangest thing. Ronnie felt as if he spoke to her, but the words unfurled in her mind, as if she thought them herself.
“I don’t know where I am!”
“Maybe we can figure it out. Can you show me everything you’ve seen?”
“I don’t know how.”
“Think of it,” the dragon whispered. “Fill your mind with it. Review your memories and they will become your dreams. I will follow your dream.”
“How can you do that?”
He shifted shape, shimmering blue then becoming a man again. He smiled with a confidence she was coming to associate with the Pyr. “I’m Niall Talbot, the Dreamwalker of the Pyr. Show me, Veronica, and let’s meet in real life.” He sobered and she feared whatever he might say. “Drake says he’s failed you, just as he failed Cassandra. It’s tearing him apart. Whether you want to be with him or not, let us help you.”
Ronnie sighed with relief at this proof. It wasn’t just a trick. He really did know Drake. He was calling her Veronica, just as Drake did, and he knew about Cassandra.
She was going to have to trust Niall Talbot and hope for the best.
“My friends call me Ronnie,” she said.
“Ronnie it is then,” Niall agreed. “Now show me what you’ve seen.”
Chapter Seven
Drake reviewed the notes Niall had made, determined to make some progress with what few clues they had. It was a pretty sparse beginning. “Somewhere in the forest,” he read. “A ruined building. The distant sound of traffic.” He looked up at Rox and Niall, unable to see what had been accomplished. “There have to be a thousand places like this in America alone!”
“But we know now, thanks to Ronnie, that Jorge is leading these new Slayers,” Niall said then grimaced. “I don’t much like the sound of that.”
“Never mind that he wants the baby,” Rox added. She folded her arms across her chest, which only drew attention to her own pregnancy. “As if I didn’t hate him enough already.”
“This has been a waste of time,” Drake said, flinging down the notes with frustration. “It tells us nothing!” He paced the room. “I have failed her and the firestorm. I could have been searching for Veronica. I might have found her.”
“Not since they’ve disguised her scent.” Niall picked up the notes even as Drake acknowledged that he was right. “We have to work with this. Help me to figure out some questions to ask her, ones that might identify her location more clearly.”
Drake sat down again, discontent. “Is she injured?” he demanded.
“I don’t think so. She said they were feeding her well enough, though her prison doesn’t look that comfortable. She dreamed of the place where she plays board games with Jorge. It’s much nicer than her quarters, so at least she’s there sometimes.”
Drake inhaled sharply and stood up to pace again. His mate was imprisoned and it was his own fault. He should never have insisted that Theo and the Dragon Legion stay away. He should never have assumed that it would be safe to consummate the firestorm in comparative privacy. He should have welcomed the firestorm in every way and corrected his errors of the past to ensure its smooth course.
He recalled the argument he and Veronica had been having when the Slayers attacked and wondered how that might have ended, if they hadn’t been interrupted.
What if she didn’t want to have his son?
Drake had to believe that she’d just been surprised. He had managed the situation badly, as he so often did when there were confidences to be exchanged and feelings to be discussed.
Her demand that he prove his story by shifting shape in front of her had been a surprise to him. Drake had a persistent sense that Veronica wasn’t as vulnerable as she had been when he’d met her four years before.
That made him realize that he really didn’t know his mate that well at all.
He’d never thought that an emotional bond between parents mattered very much, that the creation of a son was all that was of import. Certainly Cassandra had never demanded much of him emotionally. She’d welcomed him when he came home, she’d honored him in his household, she’d born his son and raised Theo in Drake’s absence.
Would Veronica accept the same relationship? Drake had a feeling she might not, that more than technology had changed in several thousand years.
“Look what I found!” Rox said, returning to the main room with a cell phone in her hand. She tapped at it and Niall grabbed his laptop. In moments, a video was displayed on the small screen, and Drake hovered close to watch. It was created by an amateur, clearly, and one whose hand wasn’t very steady.
And no wonder, because the film showed a dragon descending into the forest, crashing through the branches of the trees. He carried another wounded dragon and they were both ruby and brass. They looked just like the ones who had attacked Veronica’s home.
“The Slayers!” Niall said and leaned closer to the screen. “Where is this?”
“They don’t say,” Rox said. “Watch.”
The wounded dragon was laid on the ground, the scene illuminated when he began to shimmer on the cusp of change. His wings had been torn off and he was bleeding badly. He shifted to human form while the other dragon watched. The dragon that had carried his body to the forest had his back to the camera.
“Wait,” Niall said. “There’s a building.” He tried to zoom the image as three men who looked exactly like the fallen one came out of a steel door. There was a square of light framed by the open doorway, enough to silhouette the men and give a glimpse of the interior, then the door was slammed shut.
“That’s the first one,” Drake said, pointing to the one that had a bandage on his shoulder. “I ripped off his arm when he came through the window to attack Veronica.”
“Five Slayers that look exactly like Boris Vassily,” Niall murmured. “And Boris has been dead for years.”
The fallen Slayer began to shift shape rapidly, rotating between forms. The new arrivals changed shape and watched his agony without much interest.
Niall caught his breath in realization. “Wait a minute. Veronica saw this,” he whispered and Drake felt new encouragement. “The armless one made a play for the wingless one, the one who brought the injured one fought him off, the third held down the wingless one and the fourth ate him. The armless one disappeared, then the others finished eating the wingless one alive.”
“You’re kidding me,” Rox said, as if she hoped it to be otherwise but didn’t expect as much.
“It is the Elixir. They consume the fallen to suck the last of that vile substance from his marrow.” Drake glanced up at Niall. “It must yet be in short supply, which means there may not be a new source.”
“Or there’s more of them wanting it,” Niall said and Drake had to concede that might be the case. “She saw this from exactly the opposite side.”
“You can almost make out a building there,” Rox noted. “Although it’s really overgrow
n.”
The dragon that had carried the wounded one to the site suddenly breathed dragonfire on him. The orange plume of flame lit up the forest and set some small branches ablaze. The armless one made his move, and the one breathing fire attacked him.
“Yes!” Niall said with excitement. “This is the same incident!”
Drake felt a surge of hope.
The camera wobbled as the person filming the scene gasped aloud as the wounded dragon was devoured. The armless dragon disappeared, then his attacker spun, evidently having heard the cameraman. He exhaled dragonfire into the forest. The trees lit into an inferno of flames and the image became jumbled as the person holding the camera ran for his life.
By the sound of the footsteps, he had a companion with him, and their breathing revealed that they were terrified. They ducked through a hole in a chain link fence and ran down a darkened road, the camera hanging upside down as if forgotten, then threw themselves into a car. The engine started, one of them swore, then the image went black.
“What do you think happened to them?” Rox asked in the silence that followed.
“They must have escaped to have been able to post this,” Niall said.
“But there’s no reference to where it was,” Drake said with frustration. “Why not?”
“Because they’re urban explorers,” Rox said softly. Both Pyr glanced up in confusion at that. She smiled. “They go into abandoned buildings and explore. They’re trespassing so they keep it hush-hush. I’ll guess that they want to go back again and see if they can get better footage of the dragons.”
“Do you have a hobby I don’t know about?” Niall asked lightly and Rox laughed.
“Not any more. Remember when we went into the tunnels below the subway?”
“How could I forget? You had a friend, Neo, who knew the subways.”
“Right. He wasn’t the only one I knew.”
Niall gave her a look.
“I dated the other one. You didn’t need to know. Let’s put this on the big screen. It looks a bit familiar. I might know where it is.”
“But you’ve never been there.”
“Not officially,” Rox acknowledged. When the film was playing on the large television screen, she tapped a number into her cell phone. “I hope he’s home,” she managed to say before her features brightened. “Toad! How are you?” She nodded and paced the room, smiling as she listened.
“My wife dated a guy named Toad,” Niall muttered good-naturedly. “And I never knew this.” He played the video again, eyes narrowed as he searched the background of the image.
“There,” Drake said, discerning a window in the darkness. He suspected it was only because of his keen Pyr vision that he could see it, and Niall had to stand right beside him for a moment before he saw it, too. “There’s a reflection in glass.”
“Have you seen it?” Rox asked the person she’d called. Drake tried not to eavesdrop on her conversation, though he wanted to know what she learned. “Well, yeah, I couldn’t resist. You’d expect that, given that dragons are involved. Do I think they’re real? I don’t know. They sure look it.” She listened for a minute. “Toad, do you recognize the location? It looks familiar to me, but I never really knew where we were…Yes, I know that was the point.” She spun to face Niall, her eyes wide, and Drake felt a frisson of excitement between them. Niall took a step toward his mate. “Really? You’re sure?” She reached for the laptop and tapped into the search field on Niall’s browser. “I’ll bet they’re not talking. They must have needed to change their Jockeys.” Toad laughed at that but Drake was too busy reading to share his amusement.
Seaview Hospital, Staten Island.
Drake was ready to fly there immediately, but Niall forced him to sit down. He pulled up a map on his laptop and winced at the size of the grounds. He pointed to the current hospital, which still existed, then ran a fingertip over the forest surrounding it. He found a satellite photograph and lined it up over the map. Peaks of old roofs from buildings no longer in use could be seen through the trees.
An abandoned institutional building in the forest, close enough to a road that traffic could be heard. Drake was excited, but Niall indicated the number of buildings that were potential candidates.
“They were lucky to escape,” Rox said to Toad, but Drake shook his head.
It hadn’t been luck. These two humans could have easily been tracked and destroyed. No. Jorge had let them go.
Why? It wasn’t like the Slayer to show mercy.
Maybe he had been busy. Drake didn’t trust that answer.
Rox kept talking to Toad. “No, I don’t really want to meet a real dragon in the dark. I’m not going down there, even for the eye candy,” she said with a dismissive laugh. “I’m a mom now, remember. I’ve got to think of the kids.” She laughed again. “You’re right, Toad. Niall is too uptight to be into that kind of sneaking around.”
Niall glanced up in mock outrage, but Rox grinned at him, unrepentant.
“It just bugged me because I was sure I’d been there before. Uh huh. Uh huh. Maybe there were dragons there when we visited that time.” She frowned as she listened intently.
Drake listened intently as well, unable to resist temptation.
The women’s ward pavilion. That was what Toad said.
Drake leaned close to the screen, narrowing his eyes as he read the script, then put a finger upon the building in question. Niall nodded as Rox ended the call with various good wishes for other humans Drake didn’t know.
“Got the map and location,” Niall said. “This has got to be it.”
Rox’s eyes were shining, and Drake knew she hadn’t told them everything. “You don’t know the best part,” she said, perching beside Niall. “It was a hospital, so there are tunnels beneath it, for moving laundry and patients.”
“Patients?” Drake asked.
“Corpses,” Niall clarified.
Rox was exuberant. “Toad only knows about them vaguely, but Neo took me to Seaview Hospital once.”
“Mr. Subway.”
“Mr. Tunnel. We only went once because it wasn’t urban enough for him, but I remember how to get in.”
Niall gave a hoot and pulled Rox down for a quick triumphant kiss.
Drake averted his gaze and scanned their comfortable abode. A city like Manhattan wasn’t his choice of a place to live, but there was a feeling within these walls, an intimacy of home and affection. They were a team, Niall and Rox, and worked together not only to help the Pyr, but to raise their sons and to ensure each other’s happiness.
What would give Veronica happiness? Drake had no idea. He didn’t even know how she had earned a living these past four years. He knew almost nothing about her, except that he found her alluring and the firestorm had identified her as his mate.
Drake frowned and wondered for the first time whether the firestorm’s spark might not be enough to secure his future with Veronica.
The truth was that she would have no future unless he saved her from Jorge. “We must go this night,” he said tersely. “Those who made the film will talk, or be encouraged to do so, and others like this Toad will seek out the place in curiosity. We must retrieve Veronica now to ensure the safety of all.”
“Exactly,” Niall said, rising to his feet.
“No, no,” Drake said. “You must defend your mate and sons. I will go with Theo and some of the Dragon Legion, leaving others here to ensure that Jorge does not retaliate against you. We must outwit him and surprise him in order to defeat him.”
“I didn’t realize you knew Jorge that well,” Rox said, and Drake turned to her with cool confidence born of experience.
“I do not, but he is a viper, and they are all the same.”
He did understand vipers, because he had tracked them, studied them and learned their deepest desires. He would defeat this one, using his knowledge against Jorge, using his experience and intuition to find the Slayer’s weakness.
And then, once Veronica was s
afe, he would use those same skills to woo her.
The firestorm did not lie.
The Pyr thought of Jorge as a Slayer, but he was acting like a viper.
With that realization, Drake understood. He spun slowly, scanning the various displays as the details all made sense.
“He wants us to come,” he whispered and felt Niall straighten. “It’s too easy because it’s a taunt. He took Veronica to this place of comfort because he intended to beguile her. He has failed in that and means to undermine her resistance. He let those humans live so that this clue to his location would be revealed.”
“But why?” Niall asked.
“I will guess that he intends to slaughter me before my mate to dishearten her.”
“Then you’ll stay away,” Rox said, getting to her feet in turn. “You’ll ignore the taunt.”
Drake turned his gaze upon her and when she took a step back, he knew she saw the avidity of the dragon in his expression. Hunting and destroying vipers was what he did, and the stakes were higher than they had ever been before.
“On the contrary,” he said softly. “We will do as he desires. If we fail to take the bait, it is the way of the viper to sharpen the hook.” Drake surveyed the details again, reviewing all the vipers he had destroyed, seeking the one telling clue in this one’s scheme. “He taunts us, which means he has prepared a trap. He will know his temporary lair far better than we can, and there will be snares to ensure his triumph.”
“You have a plan,” Niall said, his gaze assessing.
Drake nodded. “He hopes to draw us into his lair because he knows it, but we shall draw him out. The surprise will even the odds.” He nodded at Niall. “That might be enough.”
“And if it isn’t?” Rox asked.
“Then I will be killed in the defense of my mate and son, and the Pyr will assume the responsibility of raising them.” Drake smiled thinly. “But I do not intend to die just yet.”
* * *
Ronnie was terrified that she’d inadvertently reveal her dream of the Pyr Dreamwalker to Jorge. He watched her so closely she was almost certain that he couldn’t be fooled.