Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
SEB
While my mind keeps drifting back to pancakes with Zoe, Remus is staring at me like he wants to hurt me.
“Have you gotten a referral from the witch yet?” The Gemini sits across the table from me in my heavily guarded cabin in the San Gabriel mountains, sipping a cappuccino out of a mug that reads “Treble Maker.” I’m sure my Firetender Patrick chose that one on purpose.
Totally coordinates with the death rays Remus is sending in my direction.
He’s pissed because he’s had to shutter his tattoo parlor temporarily under the guise of suffering a long-term illness to conform to the new dragon lockdown.
It’s the only way for us to stay safe. We’re playing a game with the Order, and all the rules have changed.
Our only defense right now is to see them before they see us.
That means living in properties owned by investment firms with no identifying dragon information and staying out of the public eye.
I, too, have taken a leave of absence from most of my duties at Full Throttle in order to hole up in this cabin in the mountains.
Every person on this property is either a dragon or a Firetender, a human sworn to serve us.
Every security guard here also carries a gun and monitors the gated property electronically.
This place is safe, but it’s not a long-term solution.
“She hasn’t contacted me yet, and I haven’t had a chance to follow up. I’ve been a bit busy fielding questions and protests about the new safety protocols.”
“Go today, Seb. I know it scares you. You hate walking into situations where you don’t have control. But it has to be done.”
I rub my eyes. He’s right about me having reservations.
“It’s possible she couldn’t find anyone.
Considering what I offered her, I think she’s tried her best, but she made it sound like not all witches feel favorably toward dragons.
The only thing worse than not having a witch is having a witch who wants to kill us. ”
“Don’t think like that. You’ve got to try. If we understood the magic of their rings, it could change everything for us.”
I sigh heavily through my nose. It’s only been a couple days, and I’m already getting complaints. People are going to come out of their skin if I don’t do something soon. “Look, she’s performing again on Saturday. I can check with her then.”
“Saturday?” Remus curls his lip. “People have turned their lives upside down for you, Seb! You can’t wait another five minutes, let alone five days.”
I run a hand through my hair. It’s getting long and I seriously need a cut, but I’ll have to wait until I can get a private barber in, preferably a dragon. “What would you have me do, Remus?”
“Seek her out tonight. If you know where she’s been performing, there must be someone there, a manager or something, who knows how to reach her.” He points an accusing finger at me. “This is your job, Seb. Get it done.”
I rub my chin with the side of my hand. Fuck, I need a shave and a shower and a weekend off.
“Fine. I’ll go today. But I’ve been thinking, Remus.
Witch or no witch, we need to take action.
Whatever we learn about the ring, it’s not going to be a quick fix, which means we’ve got to be strategic about what we do next. ”
“Fuck. Why do I feel I’m not going to like this idea?”
“It’s well past time we turned the tables on the Order. So far, we’ve been at war, but only they have been fighting. We’ve been running. We need to fully activate the brotherhood. Have everyone, all twelve of us, pair up and start rotations. Take them out before they take us out.”
He raises an eyebrow. “You want us on the offensive?”
I nod. “Ellison has the list of order members from our rolls. I have a feeling that won’t be accurate any longer, but Mason’s mate Reagan is a journalist, and her friend Imana works for a vigilante organization.
Last month at Connor’s, I heard she has her own list, and if I were a betting man, I’d put money on that one being more up-to-date. She’s some kind of tech genius.”
“You want me to talk to this woman?”
“Yeah, I need you to go to Thornsboro and convince Imani to share what she knows, any information she has on the Order. Get Reagan to help you. Then we can call the team together and start targeting members to neutralize.”
“You mean, we kill them.” He frowns.
“That’s one possibility, but it isn’t the cleanest, given how powerful these guys are. I think we aim to cut off their rings, even if we have to take their hands. They’re helpless without them.”
“We either collect bodies, or we collect rings,” he mutters. Remus sets down the mug. “My father told me stories about the war, before Donovan brought about the accord. I never thought it would come to this.”
“Me neither.”
He nods and stands from the table. “I’ll find Reagan and Imani and get that list.”
“Thanks.”
“And you’re going to find a witch, right?” Remus’s bright eyes bore into me.
“Yeah,” I promise. “I’ll find someone to help. I won’t quit until we have someone.”
“Good.”
Patrick shows him out, and I grab my keys.
“Should I call William, sir?” Patrick asks.
I shake my head. “Not this time. I’ll drive myself.”
“Are you sure that’s safe?” Patrick frowns.
“Safer for William,” I quip. Patrick starts, his expression filling with fear. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll check in regularly and stay on high alert. Is it okay if I borrow your truck?”
“You’re paying for it.” He shrugs.
“That may be so, but I’d still like your permission. It’s less conspicuous.”
“Take it.” Patrick grabs his keys out of the dish near the door and tosses them to me.
I jog out to the garage and skim past my Venom F5 to the much less flashy Ford Maverick and slide behind the wheel, praising the creator when I find the tank full. Then, I take off toward East Hollywood.
The truth is, I already know Zoe Willow’s address.
While she was playing her set, I cornered the manager and, with a little psychic pressure, got it out of him.
I didn’t want to admit it to Remus, but I found the witch enchanting and thought the address would come in useful at one point or another.
Part of me may have even fantasized about standing outside her bedroom window, perhaps attempting to enter her dreams. But no, that would be wrong.
Tempting but wrong. Still, she fascinates me, now more than ever.
I’m not entirely put out at having to see her again.
But when I roll up to her address, I think I have to have the wrong building.
The place doesn’t look inhabitable. There’s garbage on the front lawn and graffiti sprayed across the corner of the brick.
I check the address twice. It’s correct.
Unit 304. I park the truck and walk in a door that doesn’t close properly, into a lobby with a brown stain on the ceiling ringed with wet plaster, as if whatever problem is causing it has been festering for months.
None of the security features on the building are maintained.
The door doesn’t lock. There’s no one at the front desk.
A sign on the elevator door says it’s out of order.
I duck into the stairwell, climbing past peeling paint and loose handrails.
As I pass the second floor, an older woman sticks her head into the stairwell and seems surprised to see me.
She scans me from head to toe, her eyelids flaring when she sees my watch.
When I give her a look that says mind-your-own-business, she disappears back behind the door.
I continue to the third floor. The hallway is in similar disrepair.
Wallpaper peels from the walls, and a few lightbulbs are out, making the entire place look shadowy and dated.
What. The. Fuck. This place should be condemned.
I knock on the door to unit 304, wishing that this is all a big mistake. Maybe the manager gave me the wrong address and Zoe does not live here. But I hear footsteps and then a familiar voice.
“Can I help you?” Zoe asks through the door.
I clear my throat. “It’s Seb… I need to talk to you.”
Several long moments go by. “I, uh…thank you for the pancakes and everything. I enjoyed spending time with you, but, uh, this isn’t a good time. I’m sorry.”
I stare at her door for a minute, until something scurries across my toes, and I break my staring contest with the peephole to follow a blur of brown into the corner.
“It’ll only take a minute, I promise. Please don’t leave me out here in the hall with what I hope isn’t a rat.
I’m not particularly scared of rats, but what I have to ask you is none of his business. ”
She snorts, and then I hear a beleaguered moan.
“Um…just…hold on a minute.” My dragon hearing picks up a flurry of activity inside.
A shirt flutters through the air. A glass clinks into a sink.
Some papers rustle. A cabinet door opens with a squeak and closes with a thunk.
I snicker when I realize she’s picking up the place…
for me. Entirely unnecessary. If I thought it could convince her to help me, I’d dig her out of the bottom of a dumpster.
At last, the lock clicks and the door opens.
This is not the Zoe Willow I saw the night before last. Her eyes are puffy and red, and she smells like she hasn’t showered today.
It’s not a judgment, just a fact. She’s dressed in white joggers and a burgundy sweatshirt that reads College.
Not a specific college. Just the word College.
Her dark blond hair is in a messy bun at the top of her head.
My dragon rouses, and heat flutters along my skin. We could clean her, he rumbles. Lick her clean.
“Well?” she asks.
Fuck, I’m staring. I shove my inner dragon down deep and step inside. She closes the door behind me. “Is everything all right?” I ask softly.
She looks down at herself and then at me. “Hunky-dory. Fan-fucking-tastic.”
I slide my gaze to the left, where I find a collection of Chinese takeout containers shoved behind the microwave. “It seems like, maybe, you’re being sarcastic right now and that something is, in fact, amiss.”
She tips her head to the side and narrows her eyes on me. “Don’t judge me. I’m sure that in whatever ivory tower you live in, everything is perpetually pristine, but here, in real life, sometimes people get busy and forget to take the garbage out.”
My nostrils flare. “For three days in a row?”
“Are you serious right now? Why are you here, Seb? How did you even know where I live?”
I clear my throat and brush invisible lint from the sleeve of my shirt. “The manager at the Barrel Room shared it with me when I told him I had an opportunity for you.”
She licks her lips. “Is this the same opportunity we already talked about—twice—or something else?”
I sigh. “You said you no longer practice magic, but I… We…dragons desperately need the help of a witch. Lives are at stake. Many, many lives. I respect your refusal to help, but I was wondering if you’d had time to think of another witch who might.”
She sighs. “I haven’t, Seb. I’m sorry. I’ve been…busy…and haven’t had a chance to speak with anyone in my coven.”
“All I need is a name. Any witch who might help us, please.” I’m very close to begging.
“Why can’t you find them yourself? You found me.”
“Your voice betrays your magic.” I see her brow twitch at the corner.
She likes what I’ve said, so I continue, taking a step closer.
“It’s like hearing silk, you know. Like notes transform into something that caresses you from the inside.
You may not practice the craft anymore, but your magic lingers in your voice like a siren’s.
I listen to hundreds of voices a year, Zoe, and you are truly a rare talent. ”
Her mouth works like she doesn’t quite know what to say. I look away when a tear rolls down her cheek. I hadn’t meant to make her cry.
“Was that what you’ve been doing in here for three days? Writing music?” I ask.
Her cheeks heat to a delicious shade of pink, and she swipes her fingers under her eyes.
She doesn’t answer my question, though. “Say I did refer you to another witch who could analyze the enchantment on this object you mentioned. What would you offer them in exchange? I have to tell you, there aren’t many of us who could use a recording contract. ”
“I’ll offer them whatever they want, within reason. And if they help us, there will be a bonus in it for you, of course, for making the connection.”
“Only if they agree to help you.”
I nod. “Yes. I’m a generous man, Ms. Willow, but I won’t pay you for a referral to someone who has no intention of giving us what we need.”
“Call me Zoe.”
“Zoe.”
She paces to the window. The glass is clean on this side, but the outer panel is dingy and cracked, framed by curtains that I presume were ivory when they were new but are now an uneven shade of tan.
“I think…” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “I’d like to try to help you myself, if the offer is still open.”
My heart leaps inside my chest, and my fingers tingle with the desire to touch her, to pull her into my arms and celebrate this turn of events. To have her in my cottage! My dragon roils under my skin with excitement. “The offer is still open.”
“There’s only one thing. As I mentioned to you at Alice’s, I’ll have to use gold dust. There’s a risk that if I try this, I will need care to recover from the side effects.
I need your promise, whether I succeed in cracking this enchantment or not, I need you to promise you will care for me until I’m back on my feet.
I’m talking medical, rehab, a place to stay…
whatever is necessary. I won’t do it unless it’s in the contract. ”
My dragon is as excited as a dog who’s had a raw steak thrown into his bowl. I don’t consider for a second that this is a terrible deal, that I’m promising everything for someone who has told me straight out she probably can’t deliver. “Done,” I say, without a second thought.
She holds out her hand. “Then you have yourself a witch.”