CROSSING FIRE, page 17
“I was bitten a few times but am otherwise unharmed.”
Cleanup was a bitch, but we got out of most of it. That was a perk of being in the mess of it, I supposed. Waves three and four had faced less carnage but got the brunt of the bitch duty at the end.
The mood was somber after all danger had passed, and I assumed it was because the druids were disturbed by the darker form of their magic being stolen, yet again.
It had happened before, at the last necro roast. Druid magic in a place it shouldn’t be. And though there wasn’t an exact connection between necros and vampires, it felt significant that they were both undead.
It was alarming, to say the least. And if it was making my skin crawl like this, I couldn’t even imagine how crazy it was driving Dom and Sloan.
It was a perturbing development but one that the druids would be handling themselves. I wasn’t even sure they’d tell any outsiders after they got to the bottom of it all, which was frustrating but typical.
CHAPTER TWENTY
YOU WOULD KNOW
I got a message from Lynn only a day later. It showed up on my phone from an unknown number, but I knew it was her by the contents and the fact that the message started with a line of black heart, black cat, and dragon emojis.
The next line was coordinates that we mapped out to a remote palace in Mexico. She also let us know there were two dragons, the shadow-man was with them (Dom really didn’t like that part), and we had two days to get to them before they could potentially move.
It was eleven p.m. when I got the message, but time didn’t matter when you had the right connections. We took a private jet to the airport nearest to the location, because druids.
There had been a slight snafu that delayed our flight a few minutes which was when Cam had lost his ever-loving mind when he’d found out what we were doing and that Sloan was coming along. Apparently she’d managed to keep her involvement in the task force from him before then.
It had all gone down right before we headed to the airport, and Christian and I had even gotten the rare chance to witness some of it.
We’d been waiting in a private lobby for everyone to show so we could shuttle to the airport. So far it was just Christian, Sloan, and I, and we were going over some details when Cam had stormed in like Hulk on a rampage.
“What the hell is your malfunction, Sloan?” I jumped at the sound of Cam’s voice, turning as he entered the room. His angry eyes were all for Sloan. He didn’t look at me. He usually didn’t. He was still furious at me for… things. Mostly the incident with Sloan getting hurt when I was captured. And I thought he was probably still livid about what I’d done to Dom. He wasn’t one to let things go, and I’d done plenty for him to hold onto. “Why are you involved in this mess?” he shouted at her.
Sloan barely reacted. It was as though she’d been expecting him. “Not that it’s your business, but I have a score to settle with the Viking dragons. If you’ll—”
“Is it to help her? Why? Why are you always championing her? Why are you so gung-ho about her disaster of a relationship with Dom? What has she ever done to actually make his life better?” Cam’s tone was venomous.
Ironically I didn’t take it personally even though it very much was.
Sloan whipped her hair behind her back in agitation. Her trademark phlegmatic persona changed in a heartbeat. As always, all it took was Cam entering the room. She waved a dismissive hand at him. “It’s simple. Dom loves her. She loves him. They are crazy for each other, and nothing on this earth will change the way he feels about her. Look at all the crazy shit she put him through, and he starts drooling every time she looks his way. Even after everything, he will only ever love her. It’s not something you could understand.”
I shot a look at Christian, who was just as curious about the always fascinating soap opera that was Sloan and Cam. He gave me wide eyes, his mouth opening in a small O.
Cam sputtered. Literally sputtered…I couldn’t believe it, but he looked downright flabbergasted. “You—you are off your rocker!” he was shouting to take the roof off. “You think I don’t understand what’s it’s like to love a stone-cold, heartless bitch?” He turned and punched the wall several times until he’d left a large hole in it. He turned on his heel, pointing a bloody finger at Sloan. “Fuck. You. Sloan.” He charged out of the room.
Christian and I looked at each other, open-mouthed. Christian couldn’t help a little smile as he mouthed at me, “Oh, no he didn’t.”
Sloan strode after him, cursing as she walked away. Damn, they were gonna take it somewhere private. But Christian and I had gotten enough of the show to be adequately distracted.
“Dammit, Cam, wait up, you Neanderthal prick!” Sloan shouted as she chased him down the hall.
Christian and I were up, heads hanging out the door to watch, in the blink of an eye.
Cam had actually stopped at her rude shout, turning to look at her. Sloan stepped close to him, speaking to him too quietly for us to hear her. He put a hand between them, as though to ward her off. “I’m only going to warn you once,” he said loudly. “You know what’s going to happen to you if you get that close to me again.”
We could only see the back of her as she squared her shoulders and took a pointed step forward. Cam’s eyes widened, and in a flash he had slung her over his shoulder, his feet eating the ground as he strode purposefully down the hall and away from us.
“Figure yourselves out!” Christian shouted after them and was soundly ignored.
Christian and I stood up straight from our undignified, spying crouches. “Holy shit.” His tone was dazed. “What was that?”
“I don’t know.” We shared shocked looks until finally we both broke into laughter. Side-splitting laughter.
“Were they going to go fuck? Or was he going to spank her? Or were they going somewhere to beat the shit out of each other?” Christian pondered.
I shook my head, still laughing. “If I had to guess, I’d say the first one. Dom implied that they’re in love, and it’s a fact that they are definitely crazy for each other.”
Christian grinned. “You would know the signs. I wish there was some way for us to find out what they’re doing right now. I’d love to take bets on it, but the sad fact is we’ll probably never know.” He shook his head, running his hand through his disheveled blond locks. “I’m glad I’ve never found a woman to make me that batty, no offense. On the up side, I’m sure bat-shit crazy sex is amazing.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
The end result of the whole mess was that we had a fuming Cam on the plane with us and Collin had to stay behind so the druids weren’t missing too many members of their upper management at once.
The flight was about five hours, and we prepped and briefed on the way. We’d left in a hurry so we were still gearing up as we went.
I had the still strangely quiet Torst—again that worried me—strapped to my back, and a small arsenal of other weapons that I either equipped myself or had forcibly strapped to me by either Dom or Caleb.
Christian braided my hair into neat twin buns on the sides of my head as we flew.
Dom didn’t even try to kill him for it.
Helen stood too close to Dom a few times as we made our plans, and I didn’t even take an axe to her.
Well, well, weren’t we were all making progress toward becoming mature adults. Maybe in a few neat centuries, we’d be all grown up.
Everyone was wearing matching armored tactical gear. I really didn’t know how much it could help considering we were going up against at least two dragons and one other slayer, but it was better than nothing, I supposed.
“You will stay far away from their slayer,” Dom told me quietly. It had been his favorite subject since he’d found out we wouldn’t be the only ones with the power to kill dragons in this fight. “Harvey and I will focus on him first, and I don’t want you anywhere near him in the meantime.”
I nodded. That was fine by me. Just thinking about him turned my stomach into a pit of anxiety.
The plan was simple. I’d take Caleb, Christian, Sloan, and Cam and go after my father.
Sven would lead Helen, Hamish, James, Jasper, Corbin, Henri, and Calum to take the second dragon.
Dom and Harvey would join my team directly after killing their slayer, but chances were almost 100% that my father was the more powerful dragon of the two and they would have Sven so I thought it was as even as we were going to get.
The other was likely one of Villi’s sons, my cousin Ragnar, Sven was certain, and would be formidable but not at the level of my ancient father.
“Are you sure you can do this?” I asked Sven on the flight. He was quiet and spent most of his time meditating which I didn’t know how to take. Was he having doubts about our new allegiance against the family?
At least he didn’t hesitate to nod firmly. “I can. It won’t be pleasant but it is a necessary evil. Keeping our sister’s eyes in a jar on his desk is more than enough justification on its own.”
I stared at him with wide eyes. “Is that really what he’s doing?”
He shrugged. “It’s a figure of speech but it’s as likely as anything.”
“Quite a figure of speech.”
He smiled and it was wry. “Par for the course considering our childhood.”
“Par for the course? You into golfing these days?”
He laughed and waved me off, “I’ve been working on my modern turns of phrase. Now I’m going back to meditating if you’re quite finished making fun of me.”
“Enjoy,” I told him, moving to stand next to Sloan.
“How are you related?” I asked Sloan. I nodded toward Calum.
She glanced back at him, and they met eyes and they both gave a casual chin up at each other. “My brother.”
“I had no clue you had a brother.”
“Half-brother, and we weren’t raised on the same continent so we don’t know each other that well. He moved to the States recently.”
That was curious. “You could be twins.”
She shrugged. “My dad had a type,” she said laconically.
Alright then. Change of subject time.
“Cam seems to be calming down,” I observed. We were near the front of the cabin, Cam near the back talking to Dom, but at my comment he looked at me and glared. Oops, he’d heard. I looked away like nothing had happened.
“Hard to tell,” Sloan said, glaring back at him. “He has a tendency to hold on to grudges beyond all sense of time or reason. Excuse me, that reminds me I need to have another word with him.”
As she left Christian approached me and we watched as Sloan said something brief to Cam, and they both disappeared into the plane’s private cabin.
We looked at each other, raising our brows and covering our mouths in tandem.
“SloCam ship confirmed,” Christian said with glee.
“Maybe they just went in there to talk,” I said but I didn’t believe it for a second.
Just then Helen approached Dom and took Cam’s vacant seat across from him. She touched his hand as they started talking.
“You going to put up with that?” Christian asked me, trying to stir up shit like it was his job, as usual.
I shrugged. “I’m trying to overlook it. I’m being mature about it.”
“Why?”
“I’m trying to adult now.”
“Why start now? You’re no spring chicken. How old are you—” He stopped mid-sentence, seeing my face, remembering how I felt about discussing my age, and re-shifted his question, “What’s with the sudden maturity?”
“I’m going to be a mother, or I guess I am a mother. I’m turning over a new leaf.”
I didn’t think he believed me going by his loud laughter. I stuck my tongue out at him.
“Jillian,” Caleb spoke from beside me. I almost jumped. He’d been so quiet I’d almost forgotten he was there. Dangerous habit, that.
“Yeah?” I responded because he seemed to be waiting for it.
“It seems like you might need to be a dragon to fight a dragon, no?”
I thought about it some. I’d been considering it a lot in last the few hours, and I just wasn’t sure where I’d be more effective, or even if I’d be able to shift fast enough to be useful. “I might,” I finally answered. “But my dad is a lot older and more powerful than me. Even the second dragon will be, no matter who he is. The power of the blood grows with age, and I’m the definitely the youngest.
The weakest.
“I have more training fighting with an axe than as a dragon,” I continued, “and Torst will only be helpful if I’m my human self. Also I’m not sure how much help I’d be to the team as a draak. Some of us are flame retardant but certainly not all, whereas what we’re fighting certainly is.”
“I see,” Caleb said. “So it’s looking like you won’t shift, but if you need to at any time, I’ll take Torst for the fight.
“What about the hammer?”
“I can dual-wield.” Christian and I shared a smirk at the gamer term. “It’s not wise to do for anything but the bloodiest fight,” Caleb kept talking like we weren’t just immortal children, “but I’m positive this will qualify. So if at any time you need to grow scales and fly, toss Torst to me.”
I nodded. It was a relief. “I will. I’m still a little freaked out that he’s so quiet now, though.”
Caleb looked thoughtful. “Perhaps I kept the wrong one. I’ve found more tricks to keep Torst quiet than you did. Any chance you’d be more suited to the hammer and me to the axe?”
The thought made me uncomfortable, but I mulled it over. “Possibly,” I conceded reluctantly. I hated that fucking hammer and Caleb with the axe made me uneasy but quite frankly both options sucked.
“We’ll give it more thought after we kill your father,” Caleb said. It was a disturbing sentence but hardly incorrect.
About an hour out Sven roused from his meditation, took out some strange tools, and started mixing something together. He wasn’t speaking but I could tell he was using magic as he worked. It was in the air and without even meaning to we began to gather around him. I was suddenly standing at his shoulder with no memory of moving.
It looked like he was playing with black tar in a little mortar and pestle.
No one was speaking, and I wondered if we were all under a spell.
He dipped his fingertips into the tar and began to paint his face. He was quick, like he’d done it a thousand times and when he finished he had a black mask painted perfectly around his eyes.
He looked up at me, eyes eerily pale and farseeing. “Your turn,” he said it like we’d been in the middle of a conversation, like I was somehow in on this ritual.
“Viking war paint,” I said, somewhat amused.
“Can I have some?” Christian called out, because of course he did.
Sven shifted his eyes to him with uncanny focus. “This is only for draak.” He looked at me and said something in the old language that amounted to, ‘for the glory of battle,’ and began to paint.
I closed my eyes and when I opened them again I had a matching black mask painted across my eyes.
The group huddled up right before the plane began its descent to touch on any last minute questions or concerns.
Dom gave a stirring speech about victory then nodded at me like I should say something.
“Christian, any tips for the other slayers?” I asked, for what I thought were obvious reasons.
“We don’t need any tips from him,” Helen said disdainfully. “We’ve all had just as much training or more.”
I opened my mouth—to correct her, I suppose, but Christian beat me to it.
He touched the relic around his neck and in a flash it was transformed into its true form, a long blue sword that glowed and made me take a step back in caution.
“This is the only slayer weapon in this cabin full of slayers that’s ever been quenched in the blood of the enemy,” Christian’s voice was cold and strange. I rarely saw or heard his serious side. It colored him differently. “So perhaps I do have a few things to add. It’s not what you think it will be. The dragon will be faster than you trained for, and it will take much more strength to cut its scales than you imagine. One slayer will go for the head, the other the heart. You’ve been looking forward to this, but there will be fear, more fear than you’ve ever felt, and you cannot hesitate.”
I stared at the weapon in his hands. I’d seen it skewer one of my kin in full dragon form. It had cut through the scales like butter, and it had ended my uncle’s very long life.
It boggled the mind just what it could do to my human form.
Christian was one of my closest friends and seeing his slayer weapon bared made me tense.
The fact that I was in a room full of strangers carrying similar weapons made my molten blood run cold with dread.
Slayers were a necessary evil. I knew it logically. My kind were too powerful, too destructive if left unchecked.
I knew it. That didn’t mean I liked it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
WE’RE EVERYWHERE
The sun was just rising as we left the airport and loaded up into the back of two large armored vehicles divided up by the teams.
Dom traveled with ours.
“You have a druid presence even here?” I asked Dom. I was impressed at what they’d been able to put together with a few hours’ notice. How they’d found such vehicles so quickly with two stone-faced druid drivers, to boot.
Dom looked insulted. “We’re everywhere, as you well know.”
Touché.
“How long is the drive?” Christian asked, looking antsy.
“Two hours, give or take,” Dom said. He once again pulled up a map of the compound we were storming and we continued to plan.
Two hours felt like days with raw nerves strumming inside of me, and I knew I wasn’t the only one. Everyone was on edge.
