Dragon Marked: Supernatural Prison #1 (9 page)

Where the hell was my father? My eyes darted around the crowd but none of
my family were here.

When Jonathon found out about this he was going to be pissed. He would
not appreciate the council using me as leverage to arrest the boys. I noticed
Jerad off to the side, but the way he spun his head and walked away spoke
volumes. Spineless dickwad. I was so well rid of him. 

I didn’t struggle against Kristoff, I could feel the strength of the
spell under his hands. He would only have to let it loose and I would most
probably lose my head.

“You can’t kill her.” Maximus sounded confident but he wasn’t stepping
closer. “If you kill an innocent, then you’re a murderer and will lose your
leadership and freedom. Right after I torture you for life,” he added, no
change in tone but the fires of hell in his eyes.

Kristoff laughed. “The five of you are implicated in the murder of Markus.
Jessa would simply be killed resisting arrest.” He waved his hand at the scene.
“I’ve been examining it for hours. All the evidence points to your group.”

Shit, there must be even more than we’d noticed, and Kristoff was a
master at deception and manipulation. It would not be hard for him to convince
everyone of his word. Our standoff was starting to draw a crowd.

“I’ve been waiting a long time for you to make a mistake.” The magic
leader’s lips curled into a sneer. “You think you’re untouchable, all powerful,
you show no respect, not even to the council members. But you made an error in
not cleaning up your kill site.”

“Come on, Kristoff, doesn’t this seem a little convenient,” someone
shouted from the back of the crowd. It sounded a lot like Torag, the demi-fey
council leader. “No one would be this stupid, and we know the Compasses have
the power to hide anything they want.”

Kristoff growled. “That’s up to the investigators and the trial. For now
the men need to be held in our cells at the prison.” He straightened. “As an
added incentive, I’ll wipe Jessa as a suspect if you promise to go quietly and
behave in Vanguard.”

I wanted to shake my head at them, but I couldn’t move. I had to keep
fighting my wolf, she wanted to rip Kristoff’s face off. But attacking a
council member would be a very bad move. Even if he’d started it.

All four pairs of Compass eyes were locked on me, and one by one they
placed their arms behind their backs. From the crowd, ten wizards emerged, as
if they’d been lying in wait for this movement from the quads. I recognized the
red bands they wore around their right biceps. These were our magic users
skilled in offensive powers, like supernatural police. It took no more than ten
seconds for the unbreakable magic cuffs to be slipped around the Compass’
wrists. They were threaded with silver and gold links, and then infused with
spells that cut off our access to the energy inside, rendering the boys as
close to human as we could ever get.

Kristoff released me. I coughed a few times, finally free to breathe
deeply. I didn’t think or pause, I swung at him, throwing my shoulder and full
weight into it. Okay, so I said attacking him was a bad idea, but really, who
gave a shit? The sorcerer clearly had not expected for one second that I would
hit him. He never even raised his hands. My shifter strength flooded down my
arm, and as I connected bone crunched under my fist. He flew backwards and
slammed into the ground. I heard his yells and knew I’d broken his jaw. With
one last sneer I turned away from the pathetic lump.

Braxton called my name. They were already leading the quads away. I ran
to catch up. They were being marched along at a rapid rate, but we had enough
time for a few murmured words.

Braxton locked me in his gaze, there was something cold in his dark blue
depths. “Jessa, this scene is complete bullshit, there’s no way for it to make
it through a trial. I’m not sure why, but watch your back.” The cold changed to
a hot fire in his gaze. “If someone is gunning for you or Jonathon, now would
be the perfect time.”

“Remember your training, Jessa babe.” Maximus was leaning toward me. “We’ll
get out soon and come for you.”

All four of them looked pissed, but I was also picking up tendrils of
fear. And from men who were never afraid – that was the most worrisome. They
were trying to tell me that this whole setup was probably just to get them out
of the way to get to me or Dad. And they didn’t even know about my dragon mark.
If they did, I doubt they would have gone as quietly, because all of this
seemed to be happening conveniently right after I found out about my heritage.
It felt like too much of a coincidence. My heart ached as I followed them all
the way to the edge of town, where they were thrown into the back of two Hummers.
I didn’t know where they would be taken, all I knew is that they’d be gone at
least a week.

“Stay safe!” I screamed as the doors slammed on the vehicles. I raised a
shaking hand to cover my mouth. I didn’t know what to do. Who knew what was
going to happen to them?

Kristoff’s words kept running through my head. They’d deliberately left
that scene there, using my presence and the crowds to be able to publicly
arrest the boys. My heart felt as if it were going to burst from my chest as I
watched the cars disappear. The Compasses were gone. I must have stood there
for a long time. Eventually I found my feet leading me back to the scene. I had
no idea what I was looking for – evidence, a clue of who might have created the
murder scene.

The crowd was still gathered around. There was much noise and chaos as I
stumbled into the forest area.

“Jessa?” Jonathon ran up to me, his strong arms wrapped around my shaking
torso. “I was showing Lienda and Mischa around Stratford when I heard.”

Kristoff stormed across in a wave of power “Your daughter broke my jaw.”
I could see the healer behind him. His face had been mended. Bastard. “I want
her punished.”

Jonathon swung around and in one movement wrapped a hand around the
sorcerer’s throat and lifted him into the air.

“You used my daughter as leverage to falsely arrest the Compasses. You
held a decapitation spell to her throat. You’re lucky I don’t kill you right here
and now.”

At least Dad believed in their innocence.

Kristoff was not strong physically, but his magic was. With a blast, he
shot my father back. “You would be lucky to kill me,” he sneered, as he
straightened and smoothed down his black dress shirt. “See you at the trial,
Jessa. I hope you’re okay without your protectors.”

I bared my teeth but didn’t reply. I took the warning for what it was.

“Jonathon…” Lienda’s panic was clear as she came up to us, Mischa by her
side. “This is what you were talking about, the start of an assault on our
family.”

He nodded. “Maybe. It is too soon to tell if it’s about the Compasses,
the girls, or just another attack on my position on the council.”

It was
late at night and a small group was gathered around our living room. Jonathon,
Lienda, Mischa and myself on one couch. Across from us was … well, I almost
couldn’t believe it … Louis. The. Sorcerer. This had to be the man who had
spelled our dragon marks. He was the strongest sorcerer in Stratford, probably
in the entire supernatural community. A legend. He looked about twenty-eight,
which meant he was old in supernatural years, and he was absolutely striking.
Honey-blond hair with caramel-colored skin, almond-shaped eyes that I swear
were so blue they were purple, and straight, aristocratic features. He wasn’t
as tough looking as, say, the Compasses, but you only had to meet him once to
know he was scary. I’d only seen him from a distance a few times and I couldn’t
believe he was sitting here in my living room. Our privacy dome was courtesy of
his spell, so we all knew it was more than safe to speak freely.

I was doing everything I could to not think about the boys. I kept having
some sort of panic attack as my brain conjured up images of what might be
happening to them in the prison. Sure, they could look after themselves, but
for all I knew this entire setup was to take them off and kill them.

Shit.
Stop thinking, Jessa.
I focused back on the room.

Sitting next to Louis was Torag, the council member of the demi-fey and
loyal friend and supporter of my father. It had been him in the crowd to call
Kristoff out. And lastly were the Compass parents: Jo, their very tall, black-haired
and stunningly beautiful
vampire-sorceress mother, who was
tightly gripping the hand of Jack, their very blond lion shifter-fey father. He
was built like a tank and it was easy to see where the boys got their size.
Yep, Jo and Jack, simple of name but huge of presence and power.

“We have to get them out.” Jo’s voice floated softly around the room. Her
pale, creamy features were scrunched. I could scent her desperation. “They have
enemies in there, criminals they’ve detained.” Jack pulled her closer, his
hands running soothingly over her.

She was right, although the boys weren’t officially hunters – we hadn’t
even finished school yet – they’d been involved in a few arrests. As future
council members they were not
supposed
to take part in risky missions,
but hey, they were the Compasses, they lived for dangerous shit. Generally,
they didn’t hear the word “no” much. So all of them at one time or another had
left the protections of Stratford. I’d been waiting to reach twenty-five to be
able to head out with them. Jonathon had laid down the law. I couldn’t leave
Stratford until I was legally a supernatural adult.

The Compasses used to go out together, but the last time all four of them
left the community the vampire had tried to usurp my father from the council.
It was then we realized their presence added some protection to the Lebron
home. They never left me alone again; at least two of them were in Stratford at
all times. Which made it doubly hard right now. I felt their loss like a
missing limb or organ. No wonder my chest hurt. It felt as if my heart had been
ripped from its cavity.

I jumped to my feet, both of my hands flying to my hips. “You have to
tell me where the prison is.” I was trembling as I raised my chin at Jonathon.

He shook his head. “I won’t. Firstly, it’s forbidden and I’m spelled to
prevent unauthorized location revelation. And secondly, I will not enable you
to get yourself killed trying to free them.”

I huffed in and out. Each breath felt strained, like my lungs weren’t
filling. I narrowed my eyes. “I can’t leave them there. I will find the prison.
Don’t you think for a moment you can keep me from helping the boys.”

Jonathon and I locked eyes, neither of us backing down. I could not let
him dominate me this time. I loved and respected my father, but if he didn’t
fight for the Compasses then we were going to have a big problem.

He finally sighed. “We’ll get them out, Jessa, but we have to be smart
about it. Going in guns blazing to one of the highest security prisons in the
world is foolish.”

His words had my heart rate slowing a little. Was he saying they weren’t
giving up, they were going to get them back?

“What do we do first?” Mischa seemed almost as anxious as me, which I
found odd, but was too stressed to really think about.

Louis spoke then, and like magic everyone froze and locked in on him.
“They’ll hold the trial in six days.” His voice was low, and energy seemed to
float through the air following each note. “We know it will be a farce. I have
no doubt that Kristoff is involved. His cravings for power is reaching
dangerous levels, and he knows his time on the council is almost over. He doesn’t
want to lose the boost from his people.”

Jonathon nodded. “Desperate people do despicable things, and right now
Kristoff is more desperate than I’ve ever seen him.”

To become council leader you had to be the most powerful of your race at
the time of choosing. Then, on top of already having incredible power, the
leaders also received small portions of energy from everyone under their lead.
Which, as you can imagine, increased their power monumentally. This was what
Kristoff was afraid of losing. Louis had been the mages’ council member fifty
years ago, and now he was a chief, an honored place for those who had served as
leader.

“I will defend the men,” he said, his voice calm and smooth, and it
seemed he was staring right at me when he said it. “I have gathered evidence
from the scene and have no doubts that this was a staged murder.”

“I will also defend,” Torag said. “The trolls not like this deception.”

Ignoring the sorcerer’s probing gaze, I strolled across the room and
hugged the small, robust troll tightly. “Thank you … thank you.”

Over his shoulder I met Louis’ eyes. I didn’t know him well enough to hug
him but I gave a single nod. Which he returned with a wink … which was curious.
His features definitely softened and he looked … friendly. Was he flirting with
me? I couldn’t scent interest, but he’d only reveal what he wanted to.

Jo was on her feet too. “Where are they holding them? Will we be able to
see them before the trial?”

Jonathon attempted a reassuring smile. It fell far short of the mark.
“The prison has a special cell for those awaiting trial. They boys won’t be in
with the rest of the sentenced criminals. The trial will be in the town hall
and you’re permitted to attend. The morning of the trial, we’ll meet here at 8am,
the doors will be secured at 9am. That gives us plenty of time.”