Chapter 2 #2
When Adrian arrived a couple of minutes later, puffing from climbing all the stairs in a rush, Haru was leaning on the wall near their target, wearing a smirk.
Adrian glared. “You flew up here.”
“Literally? No, I did not.”
“Then how?” he snapped, his voice a harsh whisper.
Haru lifted his right hand and brandished his talons. “I climbed.”
Adrian rolled his eyes and motioned for him to get rid of that dragon-y attribute. “Should have made you carry me.”
“Anytime you wish, my Adrian.”
The royal guard ignored him and took a step closer while being careful not to block the light that would have leaked under the door from the hallway.
Haru had also inspected it prior to Adrian’s arrival, but he could see no wires or gadgets that would make this apartment any different from the others.
If the culprits were holding a prisoner here, there should have been some sign of a security system.
That there wasn’t felt like an ill omen.
Adrian’s grim expression showed that he felt the same. He stepped aside and waved to Haru. “Kick it in and move away from the opening.”
Haru slammed his booted foot into the wood. A loud cracking noise shattered the silence of the hall. The door tore from its flimsy lock and flew open, crashing into the far wall. Haru leaped back, expecting gunfire to race out of the apartment like a swarm of angry bees, but nothing happened.
The darkness in the room was deep, seeming to swallow up the thin light from the hall. Nothing moved, but Haru could hear several people breathing within the depths of the room.
“May I go first?” he inquired.
“Sure. But, Haru, incapacitate. Don’t kill. Dead men don’t answer questions.”
With a wicked grin, Haru zoomed into the pitch-black apartment. He reasoned that the bad people wouldn’t be able to see what he was doing in such conditions. If he just happened to move faster than a human could, or was stronger than any human could be, well…how would they know?
His eyes shifted to his vertical-pupiled dragon eyes once inside, allowing him to see more clearly.
At least a dozen men were scattered about, half-hidden behind broken and flimsy furniture.
They each held a weapon of some sort, whether it was a gun or a blunt object.
Their goal was obvious—to hurt his Adrian.
Never.
He’d never let that happen.
A low growl rippled up his throat, and he lunged at the closest man, grabbing a fistful of his shirt.
With little effort, he flung the hefty man into three of his companions, knocking them all to the ground as if they were a pyramid of empty wine bottles.
Men shouted and gunshots rang out. Haru dodged bullets, leaving them to pelt the drywall and even the other bastards who’d come to ambush them.
One after another, he took out the attackers.
Bones cracked and men screamed, but he was very careful not to tear anything.
They were left unconscious but still breathing.
The sour scent of piss and sweat choked the air, along with mold and dust. Haru sniffed and tightened his grip on the last of the scoundrels, preparing to slam his head against the wall.
“Wait!” Adrian bellowed.
Haru stopped and jerked his head around to find Adrian standing in the center of the room with a small flashlight attached to the front of his shirt, illuminating the chaos he’d left behind him.
He pinched a silver blade between the fingers of his right hand, which he was pointing at the man Haru was holding.
“We need one conscious for questioning.”
Haru looked at the man who was glaring at them both. Blood streaked down his narrow, sweaty face from a shallow wound on his forehead. His bald head glistened in the glare cast by Adrian’s flashlight. “You will answer our questions,” Haru stated, giving him a hard shake.
“Fuck off!” the would-be attacker barked.
Adrian stepped close and held up the picture of Shey he’d been showing to every coroner and shopkeeper for days now. “Have you seen this man?”
“Fuck. Off.” He enunciated and finished with a curl of his fat upper lip.
Adrian sighed.
“He’s not frightened of us enough,” Haru murmured. “May I strike fear into him?”
Adrian lifted one eyebrow. “Without the wings, right?”
“Of course.”
His companion made a dismissive wave of his hand as he tucked the photo safely away in his pocket. “Sure. Go for it. The other option is to kill him and wake up one of his companions. We’ll try it your way first.”
“Wait! I—” the goon started, but Haru ignored him as he hoisted him high enough that his toes no longer scraped the floor and walked across the room to the one window.
Gritting his teeth, Haru shoved the man back through the window.
The sounds of shattering glass and breaking wood were deafening.
Shrieks poured from the man as he tried to grab for the window frame, but Haru kept going until he was balanced precariously on the windowsill, holding his prey five stories up over open air.
The poor man kicked and clung to Haru, his fingers digging into his arms to the point of drawing blood.
“Don’t let me go. Oh gods, please don’t let me go!” Baldy begged.
“My friend asked his question politely, but your answer was vulgar and rude. This is your one chance to make amends,” Haru stated.
Below, on the sidewalk, the man’s screams had drawn the attention of people walking by. A few slowed enough to take pictures, but they resumed walking, their heads lowering. There was no feeling that anyone was surprised or even that they were summoning the police. Such a strange city.
“I’ll be nice. I promise. Please bring me in. I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” his prey sobbed.
“All right. We’ll try again,” Adrian called from the apartment.
Haru pushed off the windowsill and drew his new toy into the building. Once inside, Haru threw him into the nearest wall, where the man curled into the fetal position, still crying.
Adrian crouched near him, his forearms resting on his knees. “The guy in the picture. Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Dammit. This was a waste of time. Why the hell did you bring us here if you don’t know?”
“Y-You and him. You’re from out of town. Splashing money in the homeless camps for info. We thought we’d rob you. E-easy target.”
Haru snorted. “Yes, that thinking worked out well for you and your friends.”
Adrian grinned at Haru over his shoulder. Haru had decimated a dozen men in no time. They were going to wake up with many broken bones and contusions. What a mess for a robbery.
As Adrian looked at their songbird, his expression was grim. “I don’t care for people who waste my time. Toss him out the window,” Adrian grumbled as he rose.
Before Haru could take a step toward him, the man lunged for Adrian’s feet, grabbing one of his ankles with both hands. “No! Please! Wait! That-that man! I’ve seen him. Around Little Stip.”
“When?” Adrian snapped.
“Been at least a week. But he was being stalked. Thought I heard the government snatched up another herd of people. He’s not in Bellcairn anymore if they got him.”
Haru’s eyes widened, and he drew back his hands from where he was preparing to seize the man by the collar of his shirt. “Where would they take him?”
“The Pit. In Voxmore.”
Haru’s brow furrowed. None of those words made sense to him, but Adrian didn’t blink.
“A government black site?” Adrian demanded.
The bastard nodded vigorously, releasing Adrian’s ankle. “Yeah. Don’t know the exact location. Just that it’s in Voxmore. People taken to The Pit are never seen again. If your friend is there, I doubt he’s still alive.”
Adrian grunted and turned away from their informant. “Let’s go,” he mumbled as he turned off his flashlight and stuffed it into his pocket.
Haru fell into step behind him, following him across the room that was now lit by the waning sunlight coming in through the broken window.
He could see more clearly the people he’d beaten to a bloody pulp.
Light glinting off something silver caught Haru’s attention, and he stopped to pull one of Adrian’s silver knives from the bloody throat of a dead man.
He made a small noise and held up the knife.
Adrian growled and snatched the knife from him. “Shut up.” He marched out of the room, his back painfully straight.
Haru swallowed a giggle as he chased him. “I believe you said no killing. Is my memory faulty? Did I misunderstand you?”
“Whatever. That guy was aiming a gun at your head,” Adrian snapped as he stopped on the stairs. “You weren’t paying proper attention to your surroundings. I had to do something.”
“You protected me,” Haru purred.
“I had to, Mr. Cousin to the King.” His voice was a harsh whisper, but it still seemed to echo through the stairwell.
“Not to mention, you’re the grandson or nephew of the head of the Omari Clan; like that doesn’t make you some kind of royal.
Oh, and let’s not forget Shey. I’m up to my goddamn eyeballs in troublemaking royals. ”
Haru had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. Adrian was grumpy. He’d taken a life to keep Haru safe. That was an excellent sign that his affections were progressing in the right direction. It was just a matter of time—Adrian would be his.
For now, he was content to take things slowly.
They had enough to worry about with locating Prince Shey.
The sun finished sinking below the distant horizon, and the few working streetlamps flickered on to shove aside swaths of thick darkness.
Haru strolled beside Adrian, his hands hanging loose at his sides, prepared to snatch Adrian from danger in a flash if it became necessary.
However, Adrian’s stride was quick with the stomp of his boots on the pavement.
A scowl twisted his normally handsome features, and he appeared fierce and dangerous.
Was he still sexy?
Oh yes, very sexy. Haru allowed himself to fantasize about all the things he could do to Adrian to make that angry expression melt away until he was gasping and moaning…
Nope. Nope.
Not now.
He shook his head to clear away those thoughts.
“What’s wrong?” Adrian demanded. “You shook your head.”
“Nothing. Lost in thought for a second,” Haru said, pushing a smile onto his lips. “This pit? In Voxmore? This is a city in Damardor?” Haru prodded.
Adrian’s brow wrinkled as he stared at Haru for a heartbeat, as if he didn’t quite believe what he had said. But a moment later, he spoke, letting Haru’s suspicious behavior slide. “Mn. Rural town south of Bellcairn. I don’t know anything about it, so it’s at least not a major city.”
“What did you mean by a black site?”
Adrian shoved a hand through his sweaty hair, leaving it an adorable mess that was standing up in every direction.
“It means that it’s a so-called secret location where the country’s rules no longer apply.
The government uses places like that to gather up people they suspect of being spies or insurrectionists or even just political opponents, whatever excuse they want to use.
They probably torture and question them before killing them and dumping their bodies in a mass grave. ”
“That’s disgusting,” Haru snarled.
“It is.”
“And we’re going there?”
Adrian nodded. “It’s the best lead we have right now. I hope that asshole is wrong, and Shey hasn’t been taken there, but we have to check it.”
“When we’re done with this black site, you’ll allow me to burn it down, correct?”
Adrian looked over at Haru and grinned. “If we have time, I’ll let you turn it to ash.”
Yes, this is an excellent plan.