Chapter 9 A dangerous gift
The dragon laughed, and she crossed her eyes in annoyance but didn’t threaten me or demand I be more like a mage. She accepted that this was what I was.
She pressed a button to a device I suddenly realized she’d been holding in her hand, lifting the oppressive heat wave. “The humans will wake up in sixty seconds. We should scram.”
I jumped up to my feet, free of her restraint. “That’s it?”
“Don’t get in trouble again for twenty-four hours.” She waved for me to follow her out the doors, and I went without thinking twice. “While you were locked up, the Council of Mages passed a new law. If you are detained by a referee and released at their discretion, for twenty-four hours any referee action is an immediate trip to prison. The leader of your faction is working to get that overturned, but he hasn’t had any luck yet.”
“Ardrellia Petriv.” I recognized that arrogant voice. I turned around to find Hunter Pylo Quies standing there like a giant prick. Oh sorry, I meant Referee 9.
“Refer to me by my title,” Ref 74 demanded evenly, but with enough venom in her voice that I knew she didn’t like him either. Who did?
He’d been torturing, killing, and raping for the better part of five hundred years. It didn’t matter what fucking title they gave him. He was a monster.
“How did you get out?” Pylo’s eyes leveled on me and he pulled out his wyretooth daggers; blades made from the toxic fangs of the god killers. One knick was game over.
Ref 74 put her hand up to stop him. “What are you using deadly force for?”
“He killed my partner.”
“Those charges were dropped, and he was released.” Ref 74 narrowed her silver eyes on him. “Or are you abusing your power as a means to punish those who anger you?”
I eyed the forest that surrounded this little back road establishment. He had the advantage here. His forest magic would stomp me down in a second. I wanted to rip his eyes out, cut his arms off, and slowly torture him, but that wasn’t likely on this terrain.
He hurt Maleene decades ago. She wouldn’t tell me the truth, but all the evidence pointed to him. Pylo feigned innocence. “There were complaints of shrieking.”
“Which I was called to the scene to handle. You’re here because you thought it would lead you to him.” Ref 74 moved her body in front of mine. This teeny tiny woman was going to shield me? I could have snorted at the ridiculousness of the situation.
Vines whipped up from the ground.
Here we go. Stick to the concrete to keep some distance from his vines. Don’t let him get my feet out from under me. He favors a right hook; take
him from the left. If I died, he could go after Maleene next. Failure was not an option.
Ref 74 snapped her fingers and silver magic poured from her small body. Then there was nothing. Everything was eerily silent: the trees, the wind, even the damn birds. The only sound was the dragon chuckling, undisturbed that his mate was in Pylo’s sights. Pylo tensed his hand, calling forth his magic, but nothing happened.
Pylo stomped away, but I knew he’d be back. That monster knew I was coming for him, and he’d try to beat me to the punch. That was certain.
She turned around and smiled like she didn’t just snuff out one of the strongest hunters like he was a candle. “So like I was saying—”
“The only people I’ve ever seen hold their own against him were Hunter Petriv and Balthazar.” It hit me. “Your name is Ardrellia Petriv?”
“Yes,” she answered slowly, readying herself for whatever I would say.
It made perfect sense now. She was Hunter Esmerey Petriv’s daughter. The hunter who betrayed the Council of Mages hundreds of years ago and turned the tide of the war. The same hunter that helped beasts go underground while putting their names on her kill list so no one would look for them.
“You’re a scary bitch.” I walked away before she used the same spell on me.
That map Ref 74 gave me saved my ass. She was right. Towns grew into what was once untamed land. The roads changed. Everything changed. That map was the only thing pointing me in the right direction.
The setting sun was beautiful over the hills of Montana. After years of being surrounded by stone gray, it was downright vibrant. Scents of beasts and mages lead me on when the Ref’s map failed. The Faction wasn’t listed as a site on her map. She probably didn’t have access to it, since she was technically a member of the council.
I knew the moment I stepped through the invisible, magical barrier that protected the Faction. A slight tickle of magic buzzed over my skin for a second before it accepted me. When I was on the other side, the community that the magic barrier previously disguised as trees came into view.
I blinked several times before I could soak in the massive changes to the area. We’d relocated to this spot about fifty years ago, and when I left there was one massive compound that everyone lived in, a lake, and a shit ton of trees. Now, that compound was nothing more than a centerpiece. The valley
was filled with entire neighborhoods. Tall buildings that looked more like warehouses than homes were clustered together. There were even roads.
People were everywhere. After a couple of decades locked in solitary confinement, everything was loud. Our community was thriving, which was what beasts such as myself strived for. But right now, I wanted everyone to just get out of my way.
I followed the road to the compound, unsure of where else to go, ignoring the grumbles of disapproval from the beasts I passed. Sniffing the air, I finally got a lock on a scent I knew: Maleene. I followed it until I ended up in front of our old apartment door.
On the other side, the melody she sang drew me in. I was home. Despite all her talk, she still lived in our home. I pressed my ear to the door, savoring her sultry song, before I stepped in and it inevitably turned into shrieks of violence.
I’d held onto my sanity all these years cycling through my memories of all her songs. Everything from sweet lullabies meant for our children to the temptations that brought me to her in the first place.
This song was new. It didn’t have any words, at least none that she’d vocalized yet. Just a tune to fill the air. Sirens hated silence.
I shoved my key in the door, but the lock wouldn’t turn over. I knocked on the door. “Maleene!”
The melody stopped for a brief second before picking back up where she left off. Typical Maleene temper tantrum. I pounded again, hard enough to make the wood rattle. “You have until the count of three to let me in.”
“You can go fuck yourself,” she sang without missing a beat. Such a beautiful voice could be so annoying.
“One.”
“Ask Balthazar where he put your things, at least what survived. That’s where you live now.” She hmphed on the other side.
“Two.”
Crazy bitch.
“Three.” I kicked down the door with one powerful kick.
She shrieked with the sea goddess’s voice. Ocio was deadly beautiful, and so were her mermaids. I dodged out of the way so her voice waves wouldn’t hit me directly. “You don’t live here. You have some audacity to walk into my house.”