28. Chapter 28
Daxton woke to a soft, heavy form on his bare chest. His steady breathing caused Izzy, who was in the same clothes as yesterday, to rise and fall. She’d fallen asleep on his dragon as they sailed across the clouds, as if pressing against him had lulled her to slumber.
His chest inflated at the idea that she’d trusted him enough and hadn’t escaped into her spirit form. The real kick to his heart had been when he’d placed her in his bed, and she’d asked him to stay.
He wasn’t sure if he wanted her to wake up or not. She would most likely retreat into her reserved shell, but he hoped she would act bashful at the situation.
His phone’s blaring tone filled the air. Izzy stirred against him, and he scooted from under her to grab his phone. Jamal’s name flashed across the screen.
“What is it?” Daxton asked.
“I located the Tattered Ones. They’re on the move.”
Heat pushed at his skin, his dragon ready to burst free. “Where are you?”
Izzy sat up, eyes wide and awake, as if reading his alertness.
“Heading south on 95. I’m getting close to Boston.”
“Keep your tracker on your phone, and I’ll follow with reinforcements.”
“Will do.”
“Fly safe in the shadows.” Daxton hung up the phone.
Izzy’s hand absently rubbed at her chest where she’d been injured. “It’s the Archfiends, isn’t it?”
“This is going to end.” He took her into his arms.
A tremor flowed up her back to his hands.
“This doesn’t feel right,” she said. “Why now?”
A ringtone cut him off. He grabbed his phone from his pocket. It was an unknown number.
He answered it. “This is Daxton.”
“Simon’s gone.” Lewis’s familiar low timber filled the line and caused Daxton’s heart to drop to the floor.
“What happened?” Daxton asked.
“They were in an automobile accident. Raz is in surgery now—he’ll pull through, but no one saw Simon in the vehicle.”
“Where are you?”
Izzy stilled, body on full alert.
“We’re in Buffalo, New York. There’s no way Raz would have left Simon’s side.”
Fire scorched up his throat. The Archfiends had made their next move.
“Thanks. I’ll be in contact.” Daxton hung up and slammed the phone on the table. “Fuck.”
Izzy jumped, and her voice trembled as she asked, “What’s wrong?”
Collecting himself, Daxton tried to hold the dread in her golden eyes. “Simon has been kidnapped.”
Outside the SUV window, the skyscraper in Boston rose like a circular Goliath into the sky.
Daxton’s Insight detected a Tattered One’s acidic and metallic presence, but also a handful of humans within the building.
At least a few people were working on a Sunday.
Around four hours had passed since they had learned of Simon’s kidnapping.
His foot tapped on the floorboard, and his skin felt pressurized from his dragon’s desire to hunt and protect the woman sitting behind him.
He shouldn’t have let Izzy come. But he understood her need to find Simon. During the long car ride, her fear along the link had turned into a numb panic. He wanted to hold her.
A tingle of dragon energy had him glancing in the side mirror.
Jamal left the coffee shop he’d been using as his stakeout location and crossed the sidewalk to the parked SUV.
Blaze rose from her seat in the back beside Izzy and slipped into the third row with Sarah.
Jamal opened the vehicle door, and his tall frame filled the seat next to Izzy.
When the door slammed shut, the SUV buzzed with five dragon spirit energies as Silas sat beside Daxton.
Together, they were a cinder—three Hunters, one Healer, and one Illusion dragon.
“One came in through the roof, but I’ve lost the other one,” Jamal said, brown eyes trained on the building. “It’s been quiet ever since.”
“This is what that special agent Yuller meant,” Izzy said, voice flat.
“What do you mean?” Daxton asked.
“The corporate office for the Build a Better Future foundation I helped fund is here. It’s on the twenty-third floor.”
His gut wrenched. BABF was an organization focused on ensuring everyone had the chance to receive an education. Why was the Tattered One going through this much effort to kidnap Simon and lead Izzy here? It felt more like revenge than just wanting to kill her.
“All right,” Daxton said. “Silas, it’s your turn.”
“Fly safe in the shadows,” Silas said, his glance falling on Blaze, who ignored her brother.
Silas exited the vehicle, and alarms blared from the building.
Dragon energy pressed against Daxton’s mind, shifting reality right before his eyes.
As Silas stared down the road, emergency vehicles emerged from down the street.
While he walked, his brow furrowed as firetrucks blocked off the street.
Real people flooded from the skyscraper that flashed and blared with a fire alarm.
Silas’s meticulous Illusion would hide the dragons and their operation.
Illusioned firefighters worked quickly, creating a story as Silas took a seat on a nearby bench. Daxton’s head swam, imagining how many humans Silas had to target in the surrounding buildings. The Illusion was so strong, even Daxton could barely tell what was real.
“Blaze. Jamal. Take the roof and work your way down to flush the Tattered One out. He’s intelligent and has used explosives in the past, so keep an eye out.”
Blaze touched Izzy’s arm. “We’ll get Simon back.”
Izzy nodded. “Thank you, Serephina.”
The passenger door slid open, and both exited. Blaze had barely crossed the road before the air flashed as she shifted into her red dragon. A muscle ticked in Silas’s jaw. Whether with worry over his sister or straining himself to cover her shift, Daxton couldn’t tell.
“I’ll wait here for the injured,” Sarah said.
“Hopefully, it won’t come to that,” Daxton said.
He met Izzy’s drawn eyes in the rearview mirror.
The conversation they had earlier played out in his head again.
“They’re after me,” Izzy had said. “Without my presence, you might as well be looking for the rarest element, astatine. With me there, they may be more willing to present themselves. I won’t be a distraction to you.
You tell me what to do and I will act, no questions asked. ”
Daxton hated that she was right, but if listening to him kept her safe, Izzy wouldn’t object. Though it terrified him that if she believed her solution more sensible, she wouldn’t heed his words. But she’d grabbed his hands and said, “Trust me to do the right thing, as I will trust you.”
Daxton sighed harshly. “On my back at all times. Let’s go.”
Spirit energies as low as the grassy static of insects tunneled in and out of his brain as Daxton and Izzy left the SUV and entered the main entrance.
Two Illusion firefighters followed them.
Fire alarms blared and lights circled the room.
The open lobby with a receiving desk and waiting area was bare of any humans.
Izzy’s human warmth pressed reassuringly against Daxton’s back as they crossed the linoleum floors to the door marked for stairs. When he opened it, saccharine-sweet spirit energy trickled up from below.
Daxton held up his palm to stop Izzy. “Simon’s energy is coming from below us.”
“Maybe he’s in the parking garage.”
Daxton nodded.
Concrete had a way of blocking his senses. It explained why Daxton couldn’t detect him from outside. The hair on the back of his neck rose. The enemy seemed to know another dragon weakness.
He trusted Serephina and Jamal to stop the Tattered One upstairs. He needed to find Simon and stop the other one.
Down the stairs, they entered the darkness. Unease trickled down Daxton’s spine. An enclosed space like this was the worst scenario for his dragon. He stepped forward, and a fluorescent bulb flickered, lighting a small portion of the parking garage.
Damn it. Simon’s spirit energy came from the far right.
With each step, a motion detection light illuminated the area ahead of him.
Barely any cars littered the space. Izzy quietly followed him.
The stale, pungent aroma of alcohol clung to the walls.
His Insight caught subtle impressions of acid, metal, and fear.
A human presence filtered through—someone was hiding down there.
Anxiety spiked along the link, and Izzy grabbed Daxton’s arm. She pointed toward a brown delivery truck parked haphazardly between two cement columns. Someone had left the back door propped open.
“Wrapped. Packed. And shipped. That’s what the puppet said,” she whispered.
What was the Tattered Ones’ plan?
Daxton held up his hand, telling Izzy to stay.
“Hello,” Daxton yelled, trying to home in on the human’s scent.
He strode to the cement column closest to the truck, hoping to activate a motion detector to illuminate the other side of the vehicle. As he passed the truck, the stench of rotten onions—no, body odor—overwhelmed him.
Midstep, a glint in the darkness caught his eye.
He dodged backward as a male’s arm swung at his face.
Glass shattered. Izzy gasped. Shards of shrapnel and liquid sprayed into the air.
The assailant held a cracked whiskey bottle in his bloody hand.
In a blur, Daxton grabbed the man’s wrist with enough force to break it.
Daxton plastered the man’s nose against the wet cement wall.
The brown uniform gave him away as the truck driver, and his name tag had read Collin.
“Let go of me, you bastard,” Collin choked out. Spittle hit the wall.
“Stop struggling,” Daxton growled into his ear and hit a pressure point on his wrist. The broken bottle clattered to the floor. He didn’t loosen his hold as Collin cursed and struggled.
“I’m here to help. Stop fighting me.” Daxton forced dominance into his voice using his dragon energy.
“Who are you?” Awareness flashed across Collin’s face, as if he had woken up for the first time. Tears welled in his bloodshot eyes. “No, no, you can’t be here. Go.”
“What’s going on?” Izzy asked.
Collin sobbed. Daxton released his hold enough to allow Collin to breathe but kept himself between him and Izzy.
“Where’s Simon?” she asked.
Collin’s wailing forced Daxton back another step. “He…I…set off the timer when I saw you. Metal, gunpowder, brimstone, and fire. Shut Simon up and teach her not to care.” He spoke the mantra in a trancelike state.
Daxton’s dragon bristled.
“Where?” Izzy squeezed Collin’s arm. Her wide eyes skewered the man. His sobbing prevented him from speaking. She shook him. “How long do we have?”
“Less than t-two minutes.”
Izzy disappeared into the darkness, energy fading.
“How the hell?” Daxton shouted. She’d moved so fast, the lights hadn’t detected her. “Get out of here.”
Collin ran to his truck, and Daxton raced after Izzy. His heart was lodged in his damn throat. Using his Insight to follow her energy, he ran after her.
Daxton sucked in a harsh breath when he reached Izzy near the garage entrance.
A warm light radiated from her body, outshining the sun’s rays, and dust refracted in the glow as if an invisible force suspended the particles.
Spirit energy heated his skin and overwhelmed his Insight.
Incomplete wings stretched from her back through her ripped black sweater.
Fewer than ten feathers held on to the arching ivory bones. They hummed with life and structure.
What the fuck? She’s human. How did she shift into a Fallen form?
“Izzy,” Simon said from in front of her, speech mixed with heavy breathing. “Your wings. I can…I must be dead already.”
“You’re not dead,” Izzy said heatedly.
Moving into the space, Daxton stepped to the side to see what kept Izzy’s attention.
A bomb—strapped to Simon’s chest.
“Daxton. Great of you to join us,” Simon spat, face red and sweating. “Can you please tell her to get the bloody hell out of here? She’s gone mad as a bag of ferrets.”
A deep cut ran along the side of Simon’s head. Dried blood coated his temple down to his neck. The bundle of C-4 blocks had a digital clock fastened to a board. Exposed wires ran around the death vest Simon wore as he sat tied to a chair.
00:00:58
Daxton’s mouth slackened.
“Shut up, Simon. I’m not leaving you.” She yanked her glasses off and bent to examine the wiring.
“Izzy,” Simon pleaded.
She seared him with a sharp look. His lips formed a grim, flat line.
Simon nodded. “All right, we’re doing this. I’ve been—”
An archaic dagger made of yellow crystal appeared in Izzy’s hand, blade poised against her wrist. A feather dropped from Izzy’s back.
00:00:38
Simon swallowed, eyeing the weapon. “I’ve stared at the bomb for a while now.”
“It’s just circuitry and engineering,” Izzy said.
Simon nodded. “It doesn’t seem like expert craftsmanship.”
“So, it’s likely not booby-trapped.”
“Let’s rip it off him,” Daxton interrupted. This is madness!
00:00:28
Izzy lifted her hand to stop him from advancing. “The wires are all the way around. We can’t cut it off him.”
“She’s right,” Simon said. “We have to wait until the last second and cut the correct wire—”
“Or we will trip the fuse,” Izzy finished.
Daxton clenched his hands. Their minds had synced. But did they say to wait until the last moment? Like hell that’s happening. Daxton lifted his hand to place it on her shoulder and paused. The link tightened—calm confidence swept away all her fears. She had asked me to trust her. So do it.
She glanced back as if sensing his posture.
He dropped his hand. “You got this.”
00:00:10
Turning back to the task, she followed a cord with her fingers. Three wires met her careful consideration. She bent a white one between her index finger and thumb. She exhaled and lifted her blade to place it under the wire. “This one.”
“Yeah,” Simon whispered. He took an abrupt breath and closed his eyes.
Daxton clenched his jaw.
00:00:01
Izzy swiftly yanked the knife up.