Chapter 17 – Charlie
CHAPTER 17
CHARLIE
I didn’t waste time thinking about the dreamscape or how good it was to see everyone safe when my eyes opened to see the early morning sun. Rolling out of bed, I hurried straight into the shower, passing Baelen still fast asleep on the sofa.
With his fangs peeking out from lips and his dark hair fanned around his face, he looked like a baby bat, and with my phone fully charged and returned to me, I took a picture.
Clawdia would appreciate it.
As I scrubbed away all the dirt, I noted how my skin was completely unmarked from all the shit that had happened over the last few days. Being a dragon seemed to come with the supernatural healing package, and with Clawdia’s bond thrumming with life inside me, the throbbing of my soul was gone and I felt as good as new.
“You are in a flurry this morning. We go to our mate?” Dralie asked as I brushed my teeth. In the mirror, I thought I saw a flicker of yellow in my eyes as he spoke.
Hmm, interesting.
“Dralie, good to have you back. You didn’t want to appear last night? We lost Fafnir and Laurence because I couldn’t fly.” I grumbled aloud since Baelen, who was asleep, wouldn’t hear unless he was ready to wake from the dreamscape.
I spat out a mouthful of toothpaste, but it felt wrong to blame Dralie for yesterday. Maybe it was something with me? I tried not to think about Laurence. The fear in his eyes would haunt me for the rest of my life.
“I apologize, Charlie, I don’t recall the incident,” he replied slowly, as though he was searching his mind for the memory. He added, “I’m sure if you were in danger, I would have helped.”
“You don’t recall? Were you asleep?” I asked as I towel-dried my hair and pulled out clothes from the bag I’d brought to the cabin a week ago.
Zaide’s and Clawdia’s items, as well as my phone and laptop, seemed to have survived the raid on the island, and I was grateful for the small mercies.
“I don’t think so.” He sounded just as puzzled about it as I was, which really didn’t make me feel better.
Maybe it was a connection glitch? I needed to know more about drakorians.
“We need to work that out, Dralie, because we can’t do that again. I can’t have you with me one moment and gone the next,” I told him as I tossed on the clothes and sat down on the bed to pull on socks. “I’m going to get some kind of separation anxiety and then end up dead because I thought I could dragon out and couldn’t.”
“I understand your frustration, Charlie, and will consider this problem,” Dralie replied seriously, and I suspected that if he had an invisible library full of drakorian lore in my mind, he’d be donning his glasses and riffling through tomes for answers. “Although, I believe it is better not to turn into a dragon when you want to than to turn into a dragon when you don’t want to. Pre-dragon-lation is a messy but natural part of prepubescent drakorians, but thankfully, it is a stage we seemed to have skipped.”
Pre-dragon-lation.
I choked and dropped my shoe as silent laughter wracked me until I wheezed and then howled when I finally got enough air. Tears poured down my face. This is the commentary I’ll have in my head for the rest of my life? Sorry Clawdia, but Dralie wins for entertainment.
“You are laughing at the misfortune of youths?” Dralie asked, and hearing him admonish me set me off again.
“God, Dralie,” I cried between bouts of laughter. “Stop it. I’m going to wet myself.”
“Apparently, we haven’t skipped that stage after all,” Dralie muttered dryly.
It took another minute for me to calm down, but eventually, I wiped my eyes, put my shoes on, and picked up my phone to begin my task for the day, contacting the task team, still occasionally chuckling as I remembered and continued my search.
Since I knew Arabella, and since my witch powers didn’t seem to have gone since I became a dragon, I got a phone number for her quickly and impatiently tapped my foot as I pressed the call button and waited for her to pick up.
She didn’t even get to say hello before I said, “Arabella, it’s Charlie. We met on the island. Anyway, hunters captured everyone, so we need to get everyone back before Fafnir drains them.”
All I heard was breathing before she asked in a sleepy voice, “What do you mean?”
I hurriedly explained, “Fafnir and the hunters are working together. It’s a long story. Tell me where you are. We need to meet.”
I’d clearly surprised her again, because she stuttered, “I—I can’t tell you. It’s top secret.”
“I couldn’t care less about your stupid task team rules right now,” I huffed out a breath. “If we don’t attack the base, then Clawdia, Zaide and all the witches, including the council, are going to be killed.”
I waited impatiently until she finally said, “Meet us at the dock in V?ster?s in an hour.”
Elizabeth startled awake as I walked into her cabin bedroom and said, “Come on. We’re leaving. Pack.”
“Leaving? You’ve found Clawdia?” she asked, her voice rough from sleep and her face looking as tired as I felt. But sleep could wait. I had a familiar to save.
“I’m working on it, but we need to get off this cursed island so we can be close if she needs us. When she needs us.”
Elizabeth glared as I opened the curtains and tossed her suitcase on the bed next to her. “You don’t think she’s going to free them on her own?”
“I think she’s focused on Zaide and will get him out no matter what.” I had no doubt about that. Elizabeth slapped my hands as I unzipped the suitcase. Fine. She didn’t want help, but the manic energy swirling around inside me needed an outlet, so I paced as my birth mother hauled herself out of bed. “But she’ll feel bad that she left the witches and the council to be eaten. We can’t leave everything to her.”
“You should look at your cousins,” she said and began pulling everything out of the drawers and onto the bed. “They are working with the hunters, too. I just hadn’t realized it was under Fafnir’s direction.”
“I’m aware. Mary has made herself known to Zaide. She’s told Fafnir about Clawdia and our bond. He’s hunting her. But he attacked us last night, so I can only assume he’s looking for me, too. All the more reason to fuck up his plans. So, chop chop. We need to go.” I clapped my hands and turned on my heel, heading out of the room to pay Sigurd, Daithi, and Savida a wakeup call too.
“Charlie.” I hesitated. I knew where it was going, but I didn’t want to hear it. She hurried to continue. “I’m sorry. For attacking you. For thinking the worst. I didn’t know … Well, I didn’t know anything. It’s proven to me how much I need to learn about the otherworlders, but more than that, it’s proven to me that, in my ignorance, I continue to fail you, and I don’t want to do that anymore. If I’m going to be any kind of mother to you, I should be better.”
A mother to me?
I turned around to see her brown eyes looking solemn and teary. Her hands were knotted in front of her, and her shoulders slumped. She was the picture of apologetic.
“Thank you for apologizing and acknowledging your mistake. I get that. I know you were taught to think dragons are evil, magic-draining bastards. I know you thought the worst happened and that your inability to kill me as a baby meant you’d caused another Fafnir to fly around tormenting people. I understand it all. But I can’t pretend that I’m not … hurt.” I choked out the last word.
It wasn’t easy to admit that this rejection, of all the previous ones, stung worse because this time, she knew me and still believed I could be evil.
She nodded and licked her lips nervously. “I want to make it up to you.”
I shrugged, pretending indifference. “If you figure out how to do that, you can let me know.”
“I am sorry,” she told me again, placing a hand on my forearm. “You might be glad to know that Clawdia gave me a good talking to.”
A smirk pulled at my lips at the thought. “My girl is pretty fierce when she’s defending something.”
Within half an hour, everyone was up and ready to go, so Daithi portaled us all to the dock since he remembered it from when we got on the ferry over with Laurence. Since it was still early, there weren’t many people around, and I herded everyone to the nearest cafe for coffee and breakfast, then texted Arabella our location.
In a large booth at the back of the shop, Savida and Daithi muttered sweet nothings to each over steaming plates of food. Sigurd and Elizabeth sat opposite each other and engaged in magic knowledge sharing, which I would have ordinarily listened to, if only to learn more about our family gifts. But I stared at my new boyfriend-in-law as I poured my second cup of coffee.
“You okay?” I asked in a low voice.
He frowned at me. “I’m well. Why do you ask?”
“You’re … glowing?” I waved a hand at him. I couldn’t put my finger on what looked different, but he had an Edward Cullen shimmer about him. “I don’t know. You’re not smiling, but you seem really happy.” I clicked my fingers. “Are you pregnant?”
Baelen looked genuinely disappointed and remarked dryly, “You are an idiot.”
I chuckled. “And you’re stuck with me, so you’d better get used to it.” I put my cup down and lowered my voice. “Now talk.”
Baelen sighed like I was too much, but I saw the twitch of amusement in his lips. “We aren’t women. We aren’t going to discuss this.”
“Ah, so it’s about feelings. What happened when I left you and Zaide?”
“Stop.”
“I don’t think I will. Did you hug out all your angst and fear? Did you comb out his hair and tell him he’s beautiful? He always does that for Clawdia, so I think he’d probably like it himself. He’s a soppy one.”
Am I telling my one boyfriend-in-law how to seduce my other boyfriend-in-law? Yes.
Life is weird. One day, you’re checking your emails with your neighbor’s cat, and the next, she’s your familiar and the love of your life and comes with a pair of supernatural built-in bodyguard boyfriends.
His expression was blank as he said, “No. I took him to see the butchered bodies of the akari males who tortured him in the fighter cells and promised him the same retribution to those who do the same to him now.”
I was honestly speechless. “You didn’t actually do that, did you?”
“I did.”
I shook my head and closed my mouth. “Wow, you are something else.”
“Zaide appreciated it,” Baelen snapped, defending himself.
I raised my hands. “Your idea of foreplay is warped, but who am I to judge? If Zaide likes the bodies of his enemies …”
“He does.” Baelen nodded decisively, and the happy glow seemed to return to him. His red eyes warmed, and the corners of his lips tilted upward. It was cute.
I held back a laugh as I returned to my coffee, and only minutes later, the cafe door chimed as it opened and a purple- haired witch and our rescued daemon friend approached the table.
“Friend!” Savida cheered, pushing his chair over as he jumped up to embrace his fellow daemon. Alcor didn’t immediately hug him back, which suggested he still didn’t have his memory back.
“Arabella, thanks for meeting us.” I said as Alcor held her chair out for her to sit down before he sat beside her at the table.
She eyed Baelen suspiciously. “You brought the possessed vampire with you?”
I replied before Baelen could. “Not possessed anymore, and he’s also part of Clawdia’s little harem, so he stays with us.”
She pursed her lips and nodded before helping herself to a mug and pouring a cup of coffee. “You said you have a plan to retrieve the council.”
I didn’t say I had a plan, but I inclined my head and said, “Tell us what you last heard first.”
She took a sip before replying, “The council said the island was under attack by the hunters, and when we couldn’t get back in contact with them again, we assumed them dead. We were planning to look for survivors, but there was a sighting of Fafnir, and so we followed that lead.”
“Human or dragon?” Because the dragon could have been me.
“Human.”
“And did you follow him?”
“We lost him.”
“If he’s walking around human, then he’s with the hunters,” I said.
And if it were me tracking them all, I’d have found them all already because I’d have a portfolio on every person he interacted with even briefly. But not everyone had the superpowers I did. I was just born better.
“Why do you think he’s working with them? We’ve found nothing to suggest that.”
“No offense, because I’m sure you’re doing your best, but you haven’t found shit, so why would you know?” Is what I wanted to say. Instead, I did the diplomatic thing and said, “My family are working with the hunters. We found evidence of it in their temporary accommodation. They are also working with Fafnir. Clawdia and Zaide are in the hunter compound. Zaide has heard Fafnir there. Clawdia had a vision of the past, which showed Fafnir has been planning this and working with the hunters for a long time.”
Arabella’s eyes grew larger with each sentence. “Planning what?”
“We are still uncertain.”
“The hunters know they are working with a dragon?” Alcor asked.
“No. They know about the witches, but the dragon is being revealed soon. He’s going to use the captured witches and the council for the demonstration.”
Arabella and Alcor exchanged a glance before she asked, “Do you know exactly when this is going to happen?”
“No. But I don’t want to waste any time. I want to get them out now. Yesterday. But I need you guys to help.”
Arabella took us back to their place in the black SUVs they’d used before. It really gave them a more Men in Black feel when, from their lack of knowledge and results, they were acting like amateur detectives, but maybe it was a “dress for the job you want” kind of deal.
They’d been staying on two floors of an office block. They’d laid out their beds and belongings on the top floor, and the below floor was office space for them to work. It was hurriedly put together, but the location was great for a secret operation. The building was secluded, surrounded by a forest with only one building on each side, a restaurant and a shop, with one path in and one path out, watched by cameras.
“Hey, guys!” Isaac cheered as we entered the office. Screens decorated the space behind him, and I noted all the different cameras they were watching and where they were. “Welcome to task team paradise.”
I smiled and replied just as enthusiastically, “You’re living the dream here. No fighting for your life against crazy witches, dragons, or hunters.”
He nodded but grimaced playfully and said, “Fighting for your life when you need to find an empty bathroom, though, so you decide what’s worse.”
“You’re right. At least a quick death means I don’t almost shit myself,” I deadpanned.
He smiled and waved his hands at the other people standing and gathering toward us. “I can’t remember who has met whom, so I’ll just introduce everyone. The demonkin is Robert, and Danica is the vampire. You know Arabella already, and Omaira is still classified. We’re the leaders of our teams, most of which are upstairs or out on the ground.”
“And you know my misfits.” I introduced them with a wave. My team was definitely more diverse than theirs. Ancestor, birth mom, boyfriend-in-law, faei friend, daemon friend. I eyed the screens with interest and took a step forward as I asked, “So, where are we at?”
Isaac sighed and sagged back into his seat at the computer. “We aren’t much further than before, which is frustrating. A few sightings of Fafnir in human form, but when we try to follow, we lose him pretty quickly.”
“And the people he’s walking with? Have you been tracking those? My family?” I asked, dragging a seat from another table to sit next to him, ignoring everyone else who murmured around us or simply watched.
“We’ve tried to identify a few, but we keep running into obstacles I can’t get past. They’ve got some excellent hackers on their side keeping all identities and information locked tight.”
I nodded slowly. I knew they had some talented people covering shit up after Adam’s call. They got him tied up in knots before he realized what was going on, and he was one of the best hackers I knew.
Maybe not as good as me, though.
“Right. So we’ve got nothing,” I confirmed.
“Basically.”
I rolled up my imaginary sleeves and nudged him. “Move over. Show me what you are doing.” I watched as he walked me through his process of trying to get past the walls around the hunter's identities.
“Okay, you’re right, they’ve got some great code protecting them, so we have to deal with it in different ways. One, we could go right for the kill and try to use their code, because it’s unique, to track them and take over their machine. Two, we can use the places and people around Fafnir to track him. Not everyone is going to be a hunter, and people are creatures of habit. If he’s interacting at a coffee shop every Tuesday, then we’ll know. Three, we can distract the hackers by causing other issues, and hopefully they give away something we can use.”
“We are tracking all the random people he has interacted with, and so far, no connections have been made,” he said, showing me the profile they’d created and the location lists. My eyes scanned over it for anything that looked strange, but nothing jumped out at me. Isaac asked, “How could we track through code? And what distractions can we create when I can barely scrape the surface of their info?”
“Your girlfriend is a witch,” I said as though the answer should have been obvious, but I was winging it. Every day I was reminded I didn’t know enough.
He shushed me under his breath. “Not so loud.”
I stared at him, a little surprised, and looked around to see the blue-haired daemon standing like a guard by Arabella’s side as she watched us. “Alcor doesn’t know you two are together?”
He gave me another “shut up” look and changed the subject loudly. “What does Arabella being a witch have to do with anything?”
“There are spells to track. Potions to track. Magic ways to hunt people down. I only know this way, but surely she’s tried magic ways.” I looked over my shoulder at her, my eyebrow raised in question.
“Yes, Charlie, we’ve tried to track him, but we have nothing of his to use. He hasn’t even touched anything for longer than half a second that we could use.”
“What about magical tracking with digital footprints?” I pursed my lips.
Arabella hesitated a moment before asking, “What do you mean?”
“We have this code, and I think I can track it digitally, but it might be quicker and more distracting if we could track them with magic.” They looked at me as though I were speaking pig latin. “Am I making this up? Can it be done? Didn’t Mary track Savida with just his name?”
“I think so,” Arabella said slowly and turned to look at Elizabeth.
“It’s not something we have in our hands, but it’s something,” Elizabeth said, frowning and staring at the screen.
“I can print some of it out,” Isaac suggested.
“It’s not an exact science for location.” Arabella continued thoughtfully. “Someone may need to investigate before we can ascertain the exact location.”
“What’s happening right now?” I whispered to Isaac.
“I think you gave them a new way to use their magic, and they are trying to work out how to do it,” he whispered back and smiled proudly.
While Elizabeth and Arabella sat down to discuss the logistics of tracking via a code, another member of the team escorted Sigurd to a bedroom to rest. He’d been quiet and withdrawn since Fafnir had flown off with Laurence. Yet Savida, Baelen, and Daithi stood around with the rest of the task team, awaiting assignments.
“While watching you play on your screen is riveting, Charlie, is there something the others and I can do to help in this plan?” Baelen asked.
“What I’m doing is finding where this frigging compound is and who we can expect to be there when we break in. You guys are going to have to deal with the escape plan.”
“Which we can’t do until we have schematics for the building,” Isaac added unhelpfully.
“Have you been able to contact Clawdia since you woke up?” I asked Baelen.
His lip twitched downward. “No. Our bond is strong, but it’s muted, probably because of wards around the compound.”
I listed on my fingers. “Battle hackers for information on hunters; find the location of the compound as well as what wards, tech and people protect it; then get a map for it. My to-do list is full. ‘Spoon-feed tasks to supernaturals’ isn’t on there. I can’t do everything, you know. I’m good, but I’m not the son of a god.”
“I’m rather powerless here,” he retorted quietly.
I looked up at him. “Are you? I thought you had fun gadgets. Powerful items. Wasn’t your room like a golden shrine full of them?”
His eyes flickered, and he looked down at his hand sharply. With a growl, he clenched his fist and muttered, “My ring.”