City of Dragons: Of Flesh and Blood (32 page)

“Nothing would please me more than to let you waste your favor, but before you ask, I want you to taste.” She raised Haley’s wrapped hand. “Taste and you will understand.”

Orin’s hearts pounded like a double drum behind his eyes. “I can’t.”

“One drop. A single drop. And you will see why Haley can hold the RHage. Why it will not hurt her.”

Orin backed away. God, to taste Haley. He tried to keep his eyes glued to the carpet but they were pulled back up against his will. Just one taste. A drop of Female blood.

He told himself no because this would only lead to other things, but Orin’s hands betrayed him by reaching out to unwrap the towel. White terry cloth streaked with green fluttered to the floor in a series of folds. Fresh ichor welled in the gashes and dripped like honey from Haley’s fingertips. Medan wasn’t letting her heal.

“Just one taste, Orin. With all your control, with all your discipline, surely you can handle it.” Medan grinned. “Do this, and if I’m wrong you can walk away. Haley can walk away.”

Orin blinked. Holy shit, she was serious. A real life get-out-of-hell-free card.

“All I have to do is taste?” Orin asked. She nodded. “And if I disagree, that’s it? No strings? No exceptions?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Yes.”

Fine. Okay. Orin’s eyes went back to Haley’s hand and he couldn’t help but lick his lips. God of Man, to
feed
from a Female. Something inside his chest burned. But this wasn’t
feeding
, it was just a taste. A very small taste.

I can do this. She’ll be wrong. She has to be wrong. And then we can walk away.

Or at least Haley could.

Orin closed his eyes, took a breath, locking everything down. When he opened them again Haley’s hand was still waiting. Ready and terrified, he leaned forward, parted his lips and flicked his tongue out under Haley’s first finger. With the barest caress, Orin took a drop of blood.

He sat back on his knees and rolled the flavor across his palate.

Cream. Haley tasted like cream, mixed with orange blossoms and sunlight. The heat hit him hard and fast, searing over his body like a flash fire. Orin burned so hot he had to open his mouth to breathe. The terrible power inside his chest shifted and he held on with every ounce of will he had. The crash and ebb of metaphysics drew a moan from Orin’s throat. Head to toe, he trembled with the exertion of keeping Serena’s RHage contained. And just when Orin thought he was heading down the dirt road to serious trouble, it stopped.

Dear God of Man, he hadn’t tasted a scent like that since Africa.

“How…” It was all he could squeeze out.

Medan’s voice was way too calm. “I do not know.”

Impossible. Then Orin reminded himself how Niles Fury had died for Haley. A complete stranger. A total unknown. He’d followed her and Medan had allowed it. “You knew?” She had to have known. Why else would she have wanted Haley for her Enforcer?

“I did not. Until I tasted her through her vessel, I did not know such potential lay within her flesh.” Orin scented no lie, but he knew from experience Medan was holding something back.

She said, “You agreed, Orin.”

Yeah, he had. If she was right, he’d give Haley the RHage. And damn it, Medan was right. Once she had it, what would stop it from eating away Haley’s mind and making her punch drunk with power?

What have I done?

As if reading his mind Medan said, “She will never be what Serena was.”

“How do you know?” All the death. All the destruction. Orin couldn’t live through it again. “How can you be so sure?”

“She cannot. Haley can contain the RHage because she is Female, but her Human
impressions
will keep her from ever taking it to its full potential. Truth be known, she may never even be able to use it.”

Otherwise she’d be a threat. If there was one thing Orin was sure of, it was that Medan wouldn’t do anything to risk her place in the Atlanta Hive, so she truly believed what she said. But what would save Haley from being used like a puppet whenever she was tired or weakened? All Medan would have to do is slip inside and take control.

Orin had to make sure that would never happen. Maybe it was time to cash in on his one favor after all.

“I still want my favor.”

Medan’s eyes widened. “You cannot deny what you felt, Orin.”

“No, you’re right. I can’t deny it.”

“Then there is no favor for me to grant. Remember, we agreed.” She smiled.

“This favor is completely different.”

Medan’s eyes narrowed and on the back of a growl she said, “Speak.”

“Haley gets control of the link between you. She opens it, she shuts it. No more taking her over against her will. Ever.”

Black, black eyes bled to gold, then red. “This is a waste of your favor, Orin. Surely you do not mean to lose it on such a trivial, useless…meaningless act.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s not useless.” In fact, going by the tone in the Queen’s voice, he knew damn well it was a favor well spent. If he could stop Medan, force her to leave Haley alone, it would be worth an arm and maybe both legs.

Medan said, “You do this to win Haley’s favor. An unnecessary gift I can assure you. Haley’s thoughts of you are very--”

“No. Stop.” Orin pointed at her. “This isn’t about me, it’s about her. You’re not changing my mind.”

“And yet you brought her here for me to use.”

Yeah, a mistake he’d have to live with, or make sure never happened again. “No more, Medan. Shut up and do this!”

The Queen sneered. “Your arrogance has no boundaries.”

“It’s my favor. There were no limits. It’s a debt you owe to me. You don’t get a say in it.”

“You will regret this.”

Yeah, well Orin already regretted so much. What was one more to add to the list? “Do it, Medan!”

Anger, a palpable force, boiled out of Haley’s body, hot enough to make Orin sweat.

God of Man, he hoped she couldn’t go back on her word. If she did, they were worse than just dead.

Silence. Then Medan said, “So be it.”

Haley slumped forward and Orin rushed to the edge of the bed to keep her from spilling into the floor.

The darkness made the pain a little more bearable while Farley waited for his arms and legs to fall off. ‘Cause there was no way something could hurt this bad and stay attached. It just wasn’t possible.

“You feeling better?” Garrett asked.

Farley touched the towel wrapped around his head. It was still damp from the melted ice. He fondled his scalp, wondering if the thing had split yet or if it was just going to fester like everything else.

Farley said, “Not really.”

“Is there anything else I can do?”

“No, just don’t turn the light on.” No, cause if the light came on he was going to burst into flames. Poof. Maybe even explode. Take out a wall or two.

“Lights are staying off.”

“Good.”

How long had he been down here now? It seemed like years. After Terry had gotten him into the back of the car, Farley had kind of lost track of things. Then his brain came back on line in the infirmary when they hit his eyes with a pen light, sending bolts of lightning into his skull. Hypersensitive was an understatement.

So now Farley was in the Tank, where the ink well of blackness was so thick the shit stuck in his lungs when he tried to breath.

Garrett said, “You did good. Inoata is talking to the DA as we speak.”

“Talking?” Yeah, right. Not with the amount of hardware he was going to need stapled to his head.

“Well, writing with magic marker and a white board. His jaw will be wired shut for the next six weeks.”

“I hope the fucker looks like a bulldog when they take the screws out.” Farley shifted his weight. The pile of coats and towels he was on did very little to ease his aches and pains. Something told him if he was on a two-foot-thick feather bed it would still feel like gravel digging in his ass. Shit, even his dick hurt. Kicking off the blankets they’d wrapped him in did nothing to ease him either. Nope. He was just going to have to ride this out. That’s what he got for
feeding
on a half-breed. Like a box of chocolates, a Male never knew whether biting into one was going to fry his ass.

Garrett said, “You mind telling me what happened out there?”

“I ate a hybrid.” Farley could practically hear Garrett’s eyebrows having a head-on right in the middle of his forehead. “Geeze, Garrett. It was a fucking half-breed. Had a peanut for a brain. Might as well have been a pet cabbage. Quit staring at me like that. You’re making my head hurt worse.”

“It’s dark, and you have a towel over your face.”

“Yeah, but I can feel all your disappointment raining down all over me. It was him or me. I chose him. Trust me, I’m paying for it.” Boy, was he. Technically he could have stopped after ripping out its throat, but that was like saying no to sex. Farley sighed and wished Haley was here. This wouldn’t hurt half as bad if she could pet away the pain.

“Do you think you’ll be up by this afternoon?”Garrett asked.

Afternoon? What day was it?

Farley groaned. “Honestly? I think I need to stay down here for a few weeks. Maybe longer. Just toss me some Twinkies and cream. Yeah, cream would be nice.” Garrett’s breathing deepened and his scent changed, leaving a tang on the back of Farley’s throat. Stress. “Garrett?”

“Yes, Farley?”

“Something’s bothering you and it has nothing to do with me eating the half-breed.” He made it a statement and Garrett didn’t deny it. For no real reason, Farley thought of Frankie’s warning about the heat on Inoata. Maybe that’s what was eating him. “Back in the Dens, there was some talk, about a Bureau big wig having a kid picked by Inoata.” Farley heard his boss’s muscles pull tight. “Whoa, ease up before you pop a blood vessel. I think your BP just shot over one-eighty. You know, if you need me I’m here. You let them know upstairs and I’ll get on it. As soon as I’m up I’ll…”

Garrett cut him off. “Her name is Jessica, and she’s my Granddaughter.”

“What?” Farley tried to sit up and promptly wished he’d thought that through first. “Ah shit…” The nausea was back. He ignored it and kept pushing until he was no longer prone. “Man, if I never eat another half-breed it will be too soon.” Farley pressed a palm to his right eye. “Garrett, why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because there are a lot of other families involved in this too.” In other words, Garrett didn’t want it to look like he was being given preferential treatment. Farley leaned against the wall and watched Garrett’s faint outline shift.

Farley sighed. “Tell me what you need.” Garret went completely still. “Anything you want me to do, and I’ll do it.” ‘Cause God of Man knew his boss had pulled a lot of strings for him over the years. As far as Farley was concerned, he owed Garrett big.

When Garrett spoke his voice had the tone of a man who’d come to terms with life, that what he’d been given was all he was going to get, and what he wanted just wasn’t going to happen. “They’ve recovered twenty-three of the thirty-five missing kids from the truck you called in. Those are best odds we can ask for.”

Farley wondered how many times a day Garret stood in front of a mirror and told himself that. “So you’re okay with giving up?” The man’s heart rate took a jump but he stayed silent. “Garrett, all you need to do is ask me.”

There was the metallic sound of a chair being pulled out and the squeak and grind of it taking on weight. In the darkness Garrett sighed. “Three months ago we had an agent get all the way inside Heikman’s circle. It was dangerous but we needed him in there. The only people who get to the core are his top clients or his victims. Unfortunately, less than two hours in we lost contact. Apparently Heikman found him out.”

“What happened?”

“The Agent managed to get out through the laundry service. Something ate one of his arms and half of a leg.” And Humans just didn’t grow limbs back. “He’s still in an isolation ward at Grady doped up on enough chlorapromazine to sedate an elephant. His body healed but his mind was a total loss.”

Farley swallowed. “Damn.”

“He had help getting out. We still don’t know who, but they used his cell phone to contact us on an internal priority line. Whoever it is, they have access to the entire building. We received video files for a while. A few text messages. Then everything went quiet. The data receiver our Agent was supposed to plant either malfunctioned or was destroyed. We don’t know which, but we never got the first blip.”

Farley waited, because he knew there was more.

“Yesterday our mystery contact popped up again.” And Garret sounded anything but happy. “They claim there were three young girls brought into the GLG, one of whom matches Jessica’s description.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before now?”

“I was hoping she’d be on the truck.”

So now the only place left to look was the GLG.

“Just say the word and I’ll go in.” And Farley would.

Garrett moved in the dark. Desperation rolled off him in waves. “Yeah, I know you would. You never let me down.”

Farley tried to smile. Fuck, even his lips hurt. “I’m good at what I do.” Not to mention he loved doing it. “You know that. I know that. C’mon Garrett, you have a plan, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I have a plan.” He shifted his weight and the metal folding chair let out a groan. “I want you to know I don’t ask you this very easily. It goes against everything I believe in. It’s wrong, it’s sick…but right now I don’t have anywhere else to turn.” A pause, then, “From what we know, Heikman has exotic tastes when it comes to personal entertainment.”

Leave it to Garrett to try and clean up the ugly. “Just say it, Garrett.”

“He prefers Kin.”

“Okay. Lots of people prefer us. That’s not so exotic.”

“He prefers Kin because they can usually survive the things he does to them.”

“Usually?”

“From what our inside contact has said, he likes to cut them up. He was using Lesser-Breds for a while but they died too easily. The contact sent us video of the bodies. The word ‘butchered’ doesn’t even come close to describing the conditions they were in.” Farley knew Garrett wanted him to be shocked by what he was saying, but he wasn’t. The only thing shocking was that Heikman was Human and Humans didn’t usually want to play with things that were capable of ripping them limb from limb. Especially if they pissed it off.