City of Dragons: Of Flesh and Blood (48 page)

When Orin faltered, Brian put another round in his thigh. For some messed up reason, it hurt worse than all the rest combined. Orin wailed and hot wet trails cut down his cheeks.

“Now wyrm…tell them…now! You killed her! Say it!”

Orin sucked in a breath of air. “I killed her.”

“Say her name.”

“I killed Mary.”

Brian gave a nod, apparently satisfied that they were finally getting somewhere. “Now, tell them that you raped her.”

Orin gritted his teeth and pushed the words out.

“Good—Good—now tell them how you ate…” It was Brian’s turn to waver. His bottom lip trembled. “Say it.” His demand was barely a whisper.

Orin sighed. “I ate her.”

“You ate her heart.”

“I ate her heart.” Numbness inched its way up Orin’s arms, making his skin cold. Brian leveled the Beretta with Orin’s head and was about to stamp a big The End on his life when the slow squeak of the front door opening drew the man’s attention. For some absurd reason Orin thought about how he really needed to WD-40 the hinges on the thing.

Mary Gilsp walked into Orin’s line of sight wearing a dark blue skirt and the fuzzy blue sweater she loved so much. He blinked, shook his head and blinked again.

“Mary…” Brian’s mouth fell open. “How?”

“Oh Brian, I’ve missed you so much.” Mary opened her arms to him.

Orin’s senses flared as the sweet honey scent coated his tongue and the illusion in front of him wavered. He opened his mouth to say something but it was too late, because Brian had already dropped his gun.

After Orin left, Haley wasn’t sure what happened. There had been hot water and a lot of Deshi trying to get her to drink warm cream. Most of all she remembered his eyes. Beautiful Deshi and his baby blue eyes were so sad that it broke something inside her to look at him.

At some point he
fed
her, but in her exhaustion she couldn’t even keep the bite open, so he scored himself and rubbed her throat so she would swallow.

Sleep finally came and it wasn’t kind. It dragged her under fast and rolled her deep. An event so traumatic she never doubted what she saw was anything but a dream. And like most dreams it made very little sense.

Haley stood in front of a mirror staring at her reflection. Behind her image Orin lay curled on his side racked with tears. Crying like a Human cries. And while Haley cried like that, she’d never met another Kin who did.

That part of the dream wasn’t all too strange but when she looked at the reflection again there was a familiar face hovering behind her, smooth, cruel, with a Nevus of fire cutting under his chin and around his neck. Niles Fury and his ruby red eyes stared at her from over her shoulder.

Haley said, “You’re dead.”

He smiled at her, flashing long white fangs which were too big and cumbersome to fit in a Human shaped mouth. “Only the good half.”

Niles leaned in close and opened his mouth. Haley felt him draw the air across her skin. He said, “I ask for you. But the Chetrah will not bring you to me.”

And that’s when the bar of soap sitting on the counter rang.

Haley threw a hand out in the dark but someone beat her to it.

“Hello?” By the tone of Deshi’s voice he hadn’t been asleep. “Yes, she’s here.” His cheek touched hers. “It’s Maze, he says it’s urgent. Are you awake enough to talk?”

“Yeah…” Haley blinked in the dark. “Just…turn on a light.” Her body felt full of lead as she pushed herself up. Deshi handed her the phone. It took two grabs before she could grasp it.

“Hello?”

“Please tell me Orin is there with you.”

Haley sighed. “No…we had an…argument.” Argument? That was like saying Chernobyl was just an accident.

He sighed. “Damn.”

“What’s wrong?” Behind her a lamp clicked on.

Maze said, “I just got off the phone with the Sherriff. Someone with department access logged into the department GPS and disabled Orin’s tracking bracelet. I told them as far as I knew he was still with you.”

“Why would someone do that?”

“My inside contact says Brian Gilsp logged in at around seven thirty. After that, all the info was tanked. I don’t have any more information. But the Sherriff is acting real nervous about the entire thing. They’re afraid Gilsp might go after Orin. And I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, no matter what, there can be no good end to that scenario.”

No, there couldn’t. If they crossed paths, one or the other was going to die.

Maze’s breath rattled over the phone and it was a sound which said he was drudging up courage to tell her the worst part. “Haley, Sarah Drew was taken from her home about three hours ago.”

“The DA?”

“Yes. In response, the Governor has called out Hounds to track her. ”

Just great. Leave it to Humans to call out the Alchemists who scare Alchemists.

Maze said, “I was able to buy some time and argued since they already checked on his location once, they needed to look at other avenues. They’ve given me until twelve noon tomorrow to bring Orin before the judge, who will decide whether to go ahead with the charges. If he doesn’t show they will issue a Death Warrant.”

“I’ll find him.”

“You do that. Call me if I can help.” Maze hung up and Haley let the cell fall limp in her lap. “Deshi?” He sat on the opposite side of the bed with his head down. “What time is it?”

“A little after four.”

Athens wasn’t Atlanta but there were plenty of places to hide. Strange thing though, Haley was pretty sure she could find Orin. When she thought about him she felt a strong pull inside her chest.

She said, “Come on, I think I know where he is.”

They got dressed in record time. Haley threw on a pair of jeans and a thick burgundy sweater while Deshi put on something expensive.

Less than fifteen minutes after hanging up with Maze, they were in her Mustang pulling out of the hotel parking lot. Deshi drove because Haley wanted to concentrate on Orin. And feeling him was strange. She couldn’t feel Farley no matter how hard she tried. Orin however, was a soft hum. A constant presence close to her hearts.

Deshi turned onto a narrow road thick with old trees and untrimmed hedges. The Athens Gray Zone. And just like home, a lot of the houses here were old, worn out, and just two steps from being condemned. By the time they got to the small shotgun-style house, the sense of Orin had faded.

Haley said, “He was here…”

Haley got out of the car, confused. She felt Orin but couldn’t figure out which direction he’d gone in. It was almost as if her internal compass had gotten too close to a magnet. But then this was all new and maybe she wasn’t doing it right. Or maybe because she wasn’t a Queen it didn’t work all that well.

Deshi followed her up the foot path.

The small windows on the front door leaked out pale golden light. The pane of glass near the door knob was broken. A little bit of red blood edged the glass shards still stuck in the frame. There was another spot of blood on the knob and a smear. It reminded Haley of the kind of marks left on icing, when you steal a taste.

Haley scented the air and smelled the lingering scent of a discharged weapon, blood, a lot of blood, and death.

Deshi reached for the door.

“Wait. Don’t touch anything.”

“Why?”

“Fingerprints. The last thing we need is you getting blamed.”

Deshi smiled. “I don’t have any finger prints.” He didn’t have a belly button either.

Haley took her hand off of his. “Fine, just don’t smear any of the blood droplets.”

Deshi double checked where he was going to touch the door knob before turning it and giving a little push.

The room might have belonged in any well-loved farm house, with its dog-eared sofa, book cases, and carnival glass lamps. Only instead of a latch hook rug in the middle of the hard wood floor there was a body.

Brian Gilsp lay on the floor with most of his throat gone and his chest cavity cracked wide. He had a shocked expression on his face like someone had jumped out and yelled surprise. His gun was on the floor near his foot.

Deshi said, “That’s the cop from this morning.”

“Brian…Maze said they were afraid he was going after…” Haley didn’t finish her sentence because her eyes were too busy following the story written in green blood and bits of flesh littering the floor. Working with cops on a regular basis gave her a little insight when it came to reading crime scenes.

The blood was Orin’s, color and scent told her that for a fact. The first assault had happened near the door. He’d been shot at close range. Pieces of the bullet stuck in the floor.

Then he’d dragged himself or maybe rolled. Another shot, because the spray made a big star burst on the hard wood and there was a large chunk of bone jutting up like a splinter. Then another shot and there were pieces of black plastic from the tracking bracelet. He’d made it across the room where the floor was covered in a scatter of little brown pellets. A broken blue pet feeder was in the corner.

Another bloody flower and more flesh marked the last shot.

Had it killed him? No. She’d know if he was dead.

The air stirred and Haley tasted honey on the back of her tongue.

Deshi growled and said, “Rehbek’ah.”

The Queen of Athens had been here. Which meant Orin could only be in one place.

The Dens.

Pissing blood is never a good thing and it made Farley wonder if he really wanted to turn his head to the left and look in that bathroom mirror at his back. A night’s worth of sleep bathing in the metaphysical wave of a Dominant should heal just about anything. It was almost as good as
feeding
.

The fact he was still suffering an aftermath supported Lor’s original claims that he should have been dead.

A disturbing thought if there ever was one.

Farley shook himself off and flushed. It wasn’t until the tank had finished its refill that he shored up the courage to turn around and look at himself in the mirror. Bad didn’t cover it. Awful made it seem like a blister, and the longer he stared at himself the more had had to agree with Lor. He shouldn’t have survived.

The bruises started at the side of his throat and traveled all the way down his shoulder. As he turned around, the yellow-green became solid black and blue and he could still see gouges denting his skin along his spine. Farley could only imagine what it looked like in the tub.

When he pressed on the bruises things on the inside hurt. And that only happens when your insides are pulled out.

And chewed on.

Heikman had practically eviscerated him.

Farley washed up before digging out a pair of black cotton scrubs. He headed into the kitchen to eat. What Farley needed to do was
feed,
but Lor was gone when he woke up so he didn’t even get a chance to ask. Not that the Dominant would have agreed anyhow. Sharing heat was one thing,but
feeding
him without being
fed
? Well, that was a whole other ball of wax.

Farley opened the fridge. There was cream in the back. He pulled it out and grabbed a bowl of meat and put it in the microwave. He couldn’t risk starting off the day with a round of chills.

The damage Farley had taken was a testament to Heikman’s hunger. The Lesser-Bred was starving. It wouldn’t have been a bad thing if the asshole was stuck down in a concrete hole somewhere, but he wasn’t. And if Farley was going to survive this, he had to figure out what the hell the Lesser-Bred was starving for.

It occurred to Farley if he hadn’t dumped so much of his scent he would probably be dead. At the time his motives had been pure vindictiveness. Looking back on it he was just fucking lucky.

Or unlucky, now that he thought about it some more.

‘Cause before long Heikman was going to start jonesing, which meant the SOB was going to be at his door step. And if Farley bit the big one, there was no doubt in his mind Heikman would go after Haley. The only prevention for that was eating out the Lesser-Bred’s throat.

Farley was more than willing, but the little iron difficulty looped around his neck presented a problem. As long as he had on the collar he was as weak and slow as the average Human.

Farley was dumping his dishes into the sink when the door opened. Heikman stood in the doorway dressed in a light gray suit and ivory button up. He looked a little pale but his eyes were full of pissed-off.

“Walk with me.” He turned back down the hall.

Oookay.

Farley caught up to the Lesser-Bred halfway down the corridor and followed him past the matched set of guards and into the main hall. Heikman walked until he came to a wall of glass looking down into a large arena, where there were two halvsies decking it out in a sand pit. The glass must have been soundproof because the two males were tearing it up and not so much as a crash or thump resonated from below.

Heikman’s profile was nothing but sharp lines and a long, slightly hooked nose. Standing there with his hands behind his back, the Lesser-Bred looked like a king surveying his subjects.

Heikman kept his eyes on the fight when he spoke. “Last night will not happen again. I will arrange for Junily to
feed
you sometime today so you can heal.”

If Farley didn’t know better he would have thought the man sounded disgusted. If Heikman thought the scars and bruising were bad, Farley wished he’d seen it before four bowls of meat and half a gallon of cream. He probably would have upchucked on his fancy shoes.

Farley almost smiled but caught himself. “Are you done?”

Heikman’s mismatched gaze slid over. Yeah, there were some dangerous thoughts behind those eyes. Farley pretended not to notice even though his intestines felt like a pretzel.

Heikman said, “Done?”

“Yeah, with your little…” Farley twirled a hand in the air. “Apology thingy.”

Heikman’s gaze narrowed. “I think you are mistaken.”

“No, no I’m not. Like you said, you
need
me.” Farley forced himself to step closer. When his scent drifted under Heikman’s nose the reaction was instant. The Lesser-Bred’s teeth descended and the scent of his
need
permeated the air. “In fact, I think your exact words were that ‘you’re my only hope.’” Farley gave the man his best nefarious smile.