City of Dragons: Of Flesh and Blood (20 page)

“Thanks for coming.” Damn, his voice sounded like he’d swallowed rocks.

Haley’s hand tightened in his. “We’re your friends.”

We? Orin glanced up at Deshi and the Male watched him with a gentle expression. Maybe he was being a little hard on the Prince, but Orin couldn’t help it. He didn’t like him.

No, you don’t like what he gets to do and you don’t.

Orin glanced down at where Haley was holding his hand and couldn’t help but think how this was at the top of bad choices. The
this
, being asking her to come here in the first place. The touching her part? It was nice.

Haley gave their connection a little tug. “You were saying?”

Orin rubbed his chest. “Yeah, Rehbek’ah… I think I was somewhere between she is obsessed with me and a few bats short of a belfry.”

She laughed. “I think the crazy part must be included in the job description to qualify as a Queen.”

“I shouldn’t have called.” Orin surprised himself by saying it out loud. But now that the truth was out, it seemed a lot easier to embrace. “I just didn’t know what else to do.”

“Orin, we’re here to help. I already have a call in to a lawyer.”

“A lawyer?”

“Yeah, you’re gonna need a good one to get you out of this.”

Was she insane? No. Haley was thinking like a CFKR Agent. Orin said, “I can’t go to the police, Haley. They’d kill me before I could get up the front steps.”

“Which is exactly why you need a lawyer. You can’t run forever. You’ll have to stop and face this. If Rehbek’ah killed Mary, then you need to clear your name and the authorities need to go after her. Have you tried to contact Re’ka to let her know what’s going on topside?”

Orin shook his head. “Re’ka’s dead. At least according to Rehbek’ah, and I have to believe her cause her scent has changed. She’s come into power.”

“Queens don’t just die.” That from Deshi. “Which means someone killed her.”

Orin said, “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Do you think another Queen is involved?” Haley looked at the Prince.

Deshi shook his head. “If it was an assassination by another Queen, they wouldn’t have left Rehbek’ah standing. And there are no other Females in Athens. That leaves only Rehbek’ah. But Rehbek’ah is younger than me, so I don’t understand how she could have had enough strength to kill her Mother.” Deshi looked at Orin. “Could there be a coup going on in the Athens Dens? Because if there is, things could get serious quick.”

“No, there’s no coup.” At least Orin was pretty sure there wasn’t. The Dens were too quiet for a coup. Besides, this was Athens. Here the Dens weren’t much more than a hole in the wall…er…ground.

Deshi said, “Are you sure?”

Was he? It wasn’t like he had many ties to his people. After all, Orin did his damndest to stay away from the Dens. Still, he’d lived through a coup and knew overthrowing a Queen took a lot of power.

Which was not the kind of thing that went unnoticed.

“Yeah. I’m sure.” Orin thought about Deshi’s other question. How could Rehbek’ah gain enough metaphysical strength to kill her Mother? She was the only possible culprit for Re’ka’s death. Seeing Kin didn’t age and they didn’t get sick, the list of natural causes was pretty short, and teeth and claws were at the top.

Haley stepped closer. “Orin, are you sure you’re all right?”

He blinked and nodded. “Yeah. Just trying to figure out how Rehbek’ah could have overthrown her own Mother for the throne.” And by the look on Haley’s face, she wasn’t having a bunch of happy thoughts about that scenario either.

She said, “We’ve got a room at the Hilton in town. Come back with us. We’ll wait for the lawyer to call.”

The little voice in Orin’s head pointed out how he was supposed to be taking care of himself and
feeding
again. Haley had offered once before. Not to mention a nice private room alone with her and Deshi would give him the perfect opportunity to…

Orin pulled his hand away. Enough touching. It was seriously dicking with his head.

He said, “I can’t risk being seen.”

Haley frowned. “And you can’t keep hiding. We have to go to the police about this.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen.”

“And how long are you going to be able to keep up the cloak and dagger routine? How long before you burn out? Huh? You’re already pale, and you’re leaking hunger all over the place. You can’t keep this up forever, Orin, and you know it.”

Thing is, he didn’t need forever. He just needed long enough to call in his debt.

The flavor of honey smell hit Orin’s pallet. His head whipped to the side. “Shit…” Rehbek’ah was here and close. Worse, she wasn’t alone. The thick rich scent of Males flowed through the air.

“We’ve got to move!” Orin headed into the mass of Human bodies with Deshi and Haley right behind him.

Halfway through the crowded pavilion Deshi said, “We’ve got company.”

Orin risked a quick glance over his shoulder. Three large Males jostled their way through the ocean of Human bodies. They were close enough to scent them, which meant metaphysical shields or not, they could follow their trail.

“We need to split up.” Orin pointed to the open lawn. “You go that way. There’s a park on the east end with picnic tables and pavilions. We’ll meet over there, but I have to lose Rehbek’ah, and I can only do that by myself.”

Haley made an unhappy sound. “What happens if she catches up to you?”

“She can’t touch me, remember?”

Deshi said, “But that doesn’t include her Marks.”

Thanks for the reminder, Prince Perfect.
Out loud Orin said, “I’ll be fine. I can handle the Males.” Which was true. “You go out the front and we’ll meet up again in five.” Orin turned and sank into the crowd. He heard Haley call his name but he didn’t turn around. Rehbek’ah was too close for comfort. The bitch.

Orin all but ran into the mass of bodies caught in a surge spawned by electric guitars and propelled by drums. When Orin emerged from the crowd, he found himself facing the wall of the building. The dead end forced him to take another route. Twice more he had to stop and go another way because of being blocked in, or the risk of running right into her Marks.

Orin ducked under the edge of the stage and clamored across miles of cables. He came out on the other side and was swallowed up by another crowd of people. He scented the air. The honey smell wasn’t as strong on this side.

Even though it pissed him off, Orin had to admit Haley was right. There was no way he was going to be able to keep hiding himself. It wasn’t like he had a ton of resources to begin with, having pushed himself to the point of starvation over the past year. And while
feeding
last night had sated him, it wasn’t enough. Especially when he was burning metaphysical energy fast like this.

Tapping any part of a true form was taxing. Every strength, every advantage came with a price. And the bill of sale read “pay in flesh and blood”.

Orin headed down the grassy knoll and weaved through the bodies covering the lawn like pickup sticks. The college kids were putting on their own private parties, stretched out on blankets with their liquor and drugs.

Flashlights up ahead swayed back and forth over the spread of people, and the cops carrying them weren’t here for the show. Orin turned to go back into the crowd, but Rehbek’ah and her Marks were hiding in there. He realized she was forcing him to make a choice.

The police or her.

And that was like asking if he wanted to die by firing squad or cannon fire. Either way there wasn’t going to be a whole lot of pretty left behind.

With so many people not moving and in prone positions, staying hidden was going to be hard. Not to mention the first lines of hunger were starting to kick Orin in the ribs.

The Queen or the cops?

Orin chose the uniforms. As Orin moved towards the police, he couldn’t move the people in his way, so it became his job to step around and over them. If he could just keep it up long enough to get through the search line then he could make it into the darkness and head for the picnic area.

Orin moved past the lead cop who stepped a little to the left, pushed by a preternatural force he couldn’t see. Another ten feet and he passed through the second line of searches without incident. And damn it, he would have made it through the third if it hadn’t been for the dog.

The German Shepherd walking with its handler went ballistic.

Orin tapped everything he had and kept moving. A flashlight beam swung past him then came back, and the tide of uniforms turned his way following the canine officer. Just up ahead were the pavilions and the woods. Haley and Deshi were in there somewhere. Orin’s foot hit the concrete pad and at the same time a cop stepped out of nowhere and high beamed him in the face.

Looking a little perplexed, the officer on the end of the Maglite
blinked stupid a few times, then his eyes came into focus. His mouth fell open and the yelling brought his fellow Brothers in Blue like a swarm of locusts. But instead of the hum of wings, there was the slide and click of guns being pulled.

“Down on the ground!” The angry demands came from multiple directions and were followed by threats of violence and bloodshed if Orin didn’t obey.

Orin raised his hands up and did the only thing he could when facing the entire Athens PD. He went down on his knees. Radios crackled at the same time red and blue lights broke on the horizon.

Four cops came forward. They shoved him to the ground, and a boot was jammed in the back of his head. They yanked his arms back. The handcuffs they put on him were a joke, but the bullets weren’t all that funny. No, if they got itchy in the trigger finger, Orin would wind up missing part of his head. And no matter how old he was, a bullet to the head in Human form would kill him.

Orin bucked when a foot landed in his side. Someone screamed at him to quit resisting and landed a punch against his temple. Then they all joined in. Stomping, kicking, screaming obscenities.

Since defending himself wasn’t an option, Orin clenched his eyes shut and tried to block out the sounds of the cops trying to beat him to death.

Haley forced herself to stay right where she was, hidden in the shadows with the Jersey City Prince. The hand holding her cell phone trembled. The streaming video recorder icon blinked in the lower corner as she filmed the cops descending on Orin. If nothing else, at least there would be an infallible eye witness to prove Orin did not attack them first. They backed off and swept over him with their flashlight beams. Even on the crappy screen she could see the green sheen of ichor.

In a team of four, the officers picked Orin up and dragged him by his arms down the hill and tossed him into the back of a truck.

Deshi moved first and Haley followed. The wooded edge gave them plenty of cover as they circled around back toward her car. By the time they reached the Mustang Haley was shaking.

Her first thought was that Medan’s RHage was back.

“You’re just scared,” Deshi said, and wrapped himself around her.

“A-are you reading my thoughts now too?”

“No, you smell like
food
.” He stroked her head. “It’ll be okay.”

“He’s hurt, Deshi. And bad.” Haley tried to think of who she could call and remembered she was supposed to be on vacation. With heavy air quotes.

Deshi moved her into the passenger side, then went around and got behind the wheel.

Haley glanced at the Prince. In the dark she could only see his eyes, silver and glowing with a soft fire. In the pitch black he maneuvered the car through the parking lot and onto the road. He kept the headlights off until they were at the farthest entrance. Haley stayed turned in her seat so she could watch the blue lights sink over the hill and into the night. Was Orin still alive?

Part of Haley was angry because she didn’t stop them, but her Female instincts snapped that thought off real quick. Only someone stupid or with a death wish would have tried to stop them.

Those cops had been caught up in their own kind of Rage. Mary Gilsp had been one of their own and someone had loved her. And that was the kind of thing that could put a bad short in anyone’s morals.

After they were on the road, Deshi asked, “Are you all right?”

“No.” It was the truth. She felt helpless. It was the Submissives in the Tank all over again and she was powerless to stop it.

“He’s strong, Haley.”

Yeah, well he had to be to not turn on them. Orin had just laid there and taken the beating. “I don’t doubt that.”

Deshi exited the I-10 and headed downtown.

As a college town, Athens was a crowded mish-mash of Southern tradition and retro America. Large white mansions cluttered beautiful green lawns with ancient oak trees. Most of them had been turned into multi-resident apartments, frat houses, and businesses. A few remained as private residences, but not many. For a small town, the place sure was alive at night. Small cafes, shops, and eateries overflowed with college kids. They yelled at each other from passing cars, their shrill cries sounding like things that would be good to eat.

The hotel was located on Washington Street in a nice neat area of the city.

Deshi pulled in behind a Lexus. When the vehicle pulled away, Haley and Deshi got out. She retrieved her suitcase from the trunk. An attendant offered to take it, but she shook her head.

The Prince’s hands were empty of luggage. Haley wasn’t about to let him go home and pack, and when she offered to stop at a clothing store in one of the outlet malls along the way, Deshi said he would have some things delivered.

Of course he would. The Prince was used to only the best. And while he never openly complained, there was always a sense about him that suggested his standards were beyond ordinary means.

However, he had no problems handing over the keys of her 1965 Mustang to a complete stranger.

Haley bit her tongue.

“You ready?” Deshi held open the door to the hotel lobby.

They walked inside and Haley did not miss how Deshi’s eyes flicked around the elegant front room. But she couldn’t tell if he liked what he saw, or if he stamped it with a big fat F. They went to the front desk. Deshi pulled out a little plastic card and they waited for the clerk to look up.