City of Dragons: Of Flesh and Blood Read online

  Their movement was beautiful. Haley could only envy their grace. Not being impressed by a Queen dragon meant she moved like a Human. The Males closed the distance on all fours. Stretching, rolling, pushing themselves forward with their legs. Moving like dragons and nothing like men.

  Dark Hair got to Haley first. He dropped his shoulders to her feet and his hands hovered above her skin as he ran them up and down the length of her legs. His Nevus was on his right wrist, small and silver with a touch of red.

  Blondie joined him but stayed lower to the ground. Based on body language Dark Hair was the dominant of the two. Haley held out her hands to them, and they rose to their knees making small mewing noises. Their teeth elongated. Blondie’s jeans were down around his hips and his cock peeked out from his boxers. At least they weren’t commando. Dark Hair was in the same condition, but he hadn’t lost his pants.

  Yet.

  They each took a hand and drew hot wet lines with their tongues across Haley’s skin while making clicks and whirrs. Heat flared from their skin and scales fluttered down their backs. Blondie moved behind Haley and pressed his tongue to the back of her leg. His teeth pricked the skin but he did not bring blood. He followed up by sucking on her skin.

  Dark hair slipped his hands up Haley’s skirt, kneading the flesh of her thigh. The tips of his fingers brushed her panties, but he didn’t go any higher. No, he would wait for her permission.

  When Haley placed a hand on the top of his head Dark Hair melted against the ground. Denied her favors, they both backed away, keeping their bodies close. Blondie curled against Dark Hair and buried his face in his neck.

  Haley waited for them to settle, then said, “My name is Haley Night. I work with the Center, and I was asked to talk to you.”

  Dark Hair looked at her. “We did nothing wrong.” His golden eyes bled back to blue, and he rubbed his face against Blondie’s unruly head of hair.

  Marking him with his scent. Declaring ownership.

  Haley lowered herself to her knees. Standing over them was scaring them both. They were so placid, so meek. Their behavior wasn’t normal even for Submissives.

  “Do you have names?” If they were new enough, there was a chance they didn’t.

  When the Males didn’t answer, Haley moved closer and held out her hand. Dark Hair raised his eyes, then reached out and brushed her fingertips with his. His mouth opened, and his throat worked as he swallowed her scent. Using his fingers, he made long strokes up and down her hand.

  When he was done, he held his hand up to Blondie who sucked his fingers, drawing each one into his mouth, saturating his palate with the scent. Then they flicked their tongues in and out before pressing their lips together and plundering each other’s mouths.

  It was Dark Hair who broke the scent exchange and looked at Haley. “Reiah.” He gave his fingers back to the smaller male. “This is Osa.”

  Osa glanced over his shoulder at Haley and made a display of sucking Reiah’s fingers.

  “Can you tell me the name of your Queen?”

  Up and down Reiah’s hands slid against the back of the slightly smaller Osa. He said, “Reh’ka.”

  Reh’ka was the Queen of Athens. Not the worst of Queens Haley had dealt with, not that any of them were pleasant. At least Reh’ka would talk to her on the phone, unlike a certain Atlanta Queen.

  “Do you know how you got here?” Haley asked.

  Reiah gave her a shy smile and nodded. “The Chetrah brought us. They said we would be safe. We want to be safe.”

  Yeah, the majority of Kin had the same goal--source of food, somewhere safe to sleep, and a place to stay warm.

  Haley sighed and brushed the hair back from Reiah’s eyes. He groaned under her touch. “Do you think you could remember anything about the people who brought you?”

  The Males looked at each other and gave a synchronized shrug and nod.

  Great. “Okay, let’s start with how many Kin were with you.”

  Rehia touched his chest, then Osa’s. “Just us.”

  Well, two probably ruled out a chuck-wagon. Haley had never seen them carry anything smaller than a six pack.

  “Do you remember anything about the people who brought you? Like names?”

  They shook their heads. Yeah, that was too much to ask. “Did either of them have a tattoo?” Haley put a hand on her sternum. “Here, that said Chetrah?”

  Because nothing says snack buffet like Olde Tongue for sweet meat tattooed on your chest.

  Both nodded and heat flared back and forth between them.

  The tattoo meant the dump-and-run offenders were Mankind for Kin members. Bauer could work up a lineup from the best known ones. Atlanta did not like it when people dropped unlicensed Kin into the general population. And neither did the Atlanta Queen, Medan. Because if someone got hurt, then it was her financial burden.

  “Anything else you can think of?” Haley touched the back of Osa’s head, petting his soft blond curls. He rolled his head back to look at her.

  “They fed us.” A small boyish smile formed on his lips, and his eyes flared gold. “Will you feed us?”

  Haley shook her head. “I can’t feed you, I’m sorry.” Osa dropped his eyes but didn’t seem surprised at the answer. After all she was Female, and he was about as low on the food chain as one could get.

  “But Osa is hungry.” Silvery scales rose and fell as Reiah flashed his preternatural self.

  Osa responded by fluttering green around his neck and down his back. “Are there Chetrah here to feed us?”

  Yeah, even if there were someone willing, doing it was against Bureau policy. Not that these Males would understand. They were too new.

  Haley moved closer, and they flinched. Osa hid his face. “Easy, I won’t hurt you.” She petted each of them along their arms and thighs. “I just have one last question, then I’ll go find you something to eat. Do you remember anything about the vehicle you came in?” A make and model was too much to ask for, but Haley was hoping they could at least describe it.

  “Big.” Reiah pointed to her blazer. “That color, red.”

  “Can we eat now?” Osa got in another “I’m hungry” before Reiah shushed him.

  Haley sighed and stood up. They’d given her a whole lot of nothing, but what could she expect from Kin so new? Males like this were too unsocialized to be any help, so her only chance at any kind of ID was with a photo lineup; and if a line up didn’t yield something, maybe a sketch artist would.

  “I’ll get you something to eat. Stay right here, okay?”

  They both nodded before wrapping up around each other.

  Haley went to the door, pushed it open, and almost ran face first into Donald’s chest. She stumbled back and glared. Everything about the cop screamed pissed off--his narrowed eyes, his tense body. But under all his anger, he was aroused. She glanced up at the open viewing window, then back at him.

  His mouth screwed up. “You are one sick fuck.”

  Haley pushed the door shut behind her. She took every bit of his cold glare and then some. Unruly Males didn’t scare her, and compared to them this man was nothing.

  She leaned in a little. “And you smell like sex, Donald. I’m curious, which part did you like best? The palm licking, or maybe when they started swapping a little spit?”

  A deep flush bloomed across Donald’s weathered cheeks, and he stepped back. Haley put her money on the tasting. With a little shoving she pushed past the officer and headed up the hallway to Bauer’s office.

  Some days Haley really got tired of Humans and their narrow views. If they’d all just quit being such prudes and rub a little skin together, maybe they wouldn’t need all their antidepressants and antianxiety drugs.

  Her female instincts pointed out how she was a fine one to talk. Little Miss No sex in public. Haley told herself that was different and ignored anything else her instincts had to say on the subject.

  Detective Bauer hung up the phone as she got to his door. His eyes came up. “D
id they talk to you?”

  “Some, but they couldn’t tell me much. I don’t think they came off a chuck-wagon. It sounds to me like a few do-gooder MKFK members did a dump and run. They say they’re from Athens.”

  Bauer made an unhappy sound. “Do you think you could put together a line up of the usual DNR offenders?”

  Haley threw a thumb over her shoulder. “They’re hungry so I figured I could get them something to eat and feed them while I showed them photos.”

  Bauer nodded. “When you’re done, I’ll get Farley to take them into the Dens.”

  A trip to the Dens was going to be a surefire one-way ticket. “You might want to keep them around for a while.” Bauer’s mouth thinned out. “Sir, if you take them back into the Dens, they’ll wind up as Food. Kin like them don’t survive.”

  “And what are we supposed to do with them? This isn’t a shelter for wayward dragons.”

  Detective Bauer opened a desk drawer and pulled out three different prescription bottles. He popped the cap on his bottled water and threw back one pill from each.

  Haley watched him trying not to feel guilty, because it was one of her people who had hurt him. After he chased down the last one, she asked, “How bad is it?”

  Bauer looked at her over his Dasani as he took another swig. “Bad enough. There’s enough damage to my heart they’re assessing me for the transplant list.” His tone was bland. Bauer put the bottles back into the drawer.

  A transplant? And here she’d thought he was getting better. “You know they’re doing some new treatments with muscle grafting using Kin--” Haley bit her words off when Bauer tossed her a look. “Just a suggestion.”

  And obviously an unwelcomed one.

  Bauer flipped through some papers on his desk. “I’ll have Chief Booker give the Athens PD a call. We need to find out if there’s something, anything we can use to stop those idiots from dumping their Kin on our doorstep.” He took another sip of water. “Oh, I almost forgot, I got a call from Terry. She’s got Farley over in the clinic.” Something must have shown in her face because he added, “He’s fine, Haley, just a run-in with the MARTA police. They tasered him a few times, broke his nose.”

  Great. Haley excused herself and headed down the hallway into the heart of the Atlanta PD. She didn’t come to this side very often, but when she did, it was almost always about Farley. As usual the front office was abuzz with cops, suspects, and secretaries. They moved around the place in perfectly choreographed chaos to a symphony of ringing phones, shuffling papers, and computer sounds.

  Haley took the back hall leading to the private offices and the interrogation rooms for Humans and Folk. Unlike the Tank, there were real honest-to-God windows with a view. Then again, Humans and Faeries didn’t sprout wings and fly away.

  As Haley took a right, she heard Farley’s agitated voice plus Terry and two men she didn’t recognize.

  Around the corner and into the room she almost had another collision of the Human-Kin variety. Haley pushed between the two men blocking the door. Farley sat on a table across the room wearing a pair of handcuffs while he stuffed his mouth with pilferings from a Krispy Kreme box. In one hand Terry had a heating pad pressed to his back, in the other a large bottle of cream.

  Terry’s green eyes were hot. “Didn’t you bother to look at his ID? What the hell’s wrong with you?”

  And that right there is exactly why Haley liked Terry so much. She had a really bad habit of treating Kin like people. Most days it was a good thing.

  “We checked for a wallet.”

  Haley looked at the protesting cop’s name tag. It said Kennedy. The other one was Rody.

  Farley said something indiscernible around a mouth full of doughnut while simultaneously giving them the finger.

  “Where’s the key?” Haley held out a hand at the MARTA cops, and they just stared like deer in headlights. “The key to the handcuffs? I want it. Now!”

  Rody fished it out. “We already put them on the front so he wouldn’t be uncomfortable.” He said it like Farley should be grateful. Haley undid the handcuffs and threw them at Rody. The cop fumbled but made the save. He said, “Look, he was attacking some kid. We were doing our jobs.”

  “It wasn’t a kid, you asshole.” Farley took the cream from Terry and guzzled it. Poor Terry was watching Farley like a worried mother hen.

  Kennedy jabbed a finger at Farley. “We both saw him, wyrm, he was a kid and scared shitless. And as far as we knew, you were out looking for a piece of ass or a snack.”

  Farley growled, flashing sharp teeth flecked with the insides of an éclair.

  Haley pointed a finger at Farley. “You stop.” When she looked back at the cops, they were rocking on their heels like they’d won some sort of competition. Well, Haley was about to burst that bubble. “Did you count the guy’s fingers?” The two cops looked at Farley. Haley stepped in their way. “Not him. The guy he tackled. Did you count his fingers?” Their expressions said it all. “He was Folk. Farley’s been trying to get ahold of a manifest for Vice. They estimate up to twenty-five live bodies are going to be coming in here over the next week, and thanks to you we may never know where and when.”

  With their self-righteous balloon deflated, the transit cops took on the appearance of two men who did not want to be where they were.

  Haley opened her mouth to shoot off a few more angry words, but a crackle came over the radio on Terry’s shoulder.

  “Ten-seventy-eight in the Tank, possible ten-eleven times two. Repeat possible ten-eleven times two.”

  Chapter 3

  The hallway to the Tank was packed shoulder to shoulder with officers. But even with all the voices, the shouts from other cops, Haley could hear the high wailing keen of a Kin in distress. She shoved her way through and froze when she got to the end of the hall.

  Officer Donald stood in the door way, his night stick in one hand and his half-lidded eyes on the occupants of Interrogation Room Two. His mouth curled in a small satisfied smile.

  Haley noticed a splash of green ichor painted his left cheek. When he backed away, a trail of it followed, dripping from his baton.

  Farley raced past and slid to a stop at the door. His eyes widened, and his lips thinned out. He hit her with eyes that said Don’t look. But she had to. Haley pushed past him and into Room Two. At first she thought some of the lights had gone out, but realized the bulbs were covered by the green of Kin blood. It coated the ceiling in high velocity spray.

  Reiah was sprawled out on his back, his limbs bent at odd angles, one side of his beautiful face completely smashed to an unrecognizable pulp. A rib stuck out of his side along with the black sheen of his insides. Osa screamed and pressed his face to Reiah’s shoulder, his hands, but Reiah couldn’t comfort him. Both Males had lost their clothes at some point, and they lay off to the side forgotten.

  “God of Man…” Haley stumbled into the room and fell to her hands and knees, landing in a puddle of warm ichor.

  She reached out and pushed back a lock of hair from Reiah’s brow. His one good eye stared out at nothing and bits of brain clung to his cheek. Behind her Farley got on the phone with Garrett.

  Osa looked up at Haley, his bright green eyes wide with horror while at the same time pleading with her to make the other Male better.

  But there wasn’t anything she could do. Reiah was dead. Haley reached for Osa, and he ran, careening into the small table, then the wall. His hands dug furrows in the concrete as he tried to get away.

  “Osa…Osa…” She eased closer to him, but he didn’t seem to hear her. His terrified eyes kept falling on Reiah. “It’s okay…please…I’m so sorry.” Haley knew her words were a sad excuse for comfort, but she didn’t know what else to do. When she closed the distance, the Male slid to the floor and turned his face away, trying to hide under his arms. Urine puddle at his feet.

  Haley touched his shoulder, and the contact made him jump. She ran her hand down his back, and his muscles trembled like an earthqua
ke. “Osa…” Haley eased in, slipped an arm around his back and drew him into her neck. He fought at first, screeching in panic, but it didn’t take long for him to give up and fall limp.

  Farley walked up and sat down beside her. Haley curled against him, holding Osa between their bodies. When she looked at Farley, his eyes were dark.

  Osa’s entire body hummed with a kind of pain which couldn’t be measured. It left his face pale and eyes clenched.

  When Garrett got to the door he said, “Jesus Christ” and looked away. “Get an EMS team in here. I want to know who did this and now.” Garret slipped back into the hall, his deep voice booming, making more demands. Haley barely heard him.

  In her arms Osa shivered. Haley ran her hands along his body, feeling for broken bones and open wounds. But none of the blood on him was his.

  “Farley, he’s cold.” She went to shrug out of her jacket but he stopped her. “What? We need to get him warm.”

  He looked at her with such sorrow and shook his head. “He’s already dead, Haley.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “They’re bonded.” He pulled the Male’s leg out. With his clothes gone, she could see the scar on the inside of his thigh. “He won’t live. He can’t.” His sad eyes slid over to the broken corpse of the other Male.

  Haley refused to believe it. She pulled Osa’s head into her neck. “Feed from me, Osa.”

  “That won’t work.”

  She glared at Farley while she rubbed Osa’s back. Strange mewling sounds came out of his throat.

  Haley pulled Osa’s face up. If he saw her, he didn’t act like it. “Osa, listen to me, feed from me. Let me help you.” Still nothing. Haley pushed Osa into Farley’s lap and ripped the sleeve of her blouse. She scored her wrist with her teeth and moved to force it to his lips. Farley caught her hand. “Let me feed him!”

  “He’s dead, Haley.”

  “He’s not dead yet!” She didn’t mean to scream. Not really.

  “Haley…”

  She jerked her hand out of his grip. “Just help me feed him for Christ’s sake!” Osa made small desperate sounds as Farley eased him upright and held his head still. Haley rescored her wrist and pressed it to his mouth.