Chapter 7
“She’s surprisingly hot,” Justin went on, nodding in approval. “Good job, Julius. Didn’t know you had it in you.”
Julius flashed Marci an apologetic look before grabbing his brother and yanking him down with a strength he’d never known he had. “She’s not my human,” he whispered frantically. “She’s a human, and she’s helping me. She also doesn’t know what we are.”
Any sane dragon would have gotten the hint after that and shut up. Justin, of course, paid no attention whatsoever.
He pushed out of Julius’s hold and walked down the alley, coming to a stop in front of Marci with his legs apart and his hands on his hips like a draconic Conan the Barbarian. “You, girl,” he said. “What’s your name?”
Marci shot a nervous glance at Julius, which he couldn’t return thanks to the palm he was currently slapping against his forehead. “Um, I’m Marci Novalli.”
Justin nodded like this was acceptable and stuck out his hand. “Justin, Knight of the Mountain and Fifth Blade of Bethesda. You know, you don’t look half bad for a human.”
“Thanks? I think?” Marci said, shaking Justin’s offered hand like it was an unexploded land mine. “I’m guessing you’re Julius’s brother?”
“His older brother,” Justin said pointedly.
“By two minutes,” Julius snapped, cutting between them before this situation could finish going from bad to worse and move on to catastrophic. “Sorry, Marci, can I borrow Justin for a sec?”
She backed off at once, putting her hands up with clear relief. “All yours. Sorry I interrupted. I’m just going to go back to the car. You guys reconnect or whatever.”
Justin watched her walk away with an appreciative ogle at her backside. “You have unexpectedly good taste,” he said, turning back to Julius. “But do you really have time to be playing around with humans? Mother’s going to eat you soon if you don’t start showing some initiative.”
“I’m working on it,” Julius said. “And Marci is an integral part of that, which is why you need to shut up before you get her killed.”
“What are you so worked up about? Lots of dragons have humans. Just keep her on a tight leash and you’ll be fine.”
Julius closed his eyes, wishing he could close his ears. This was exactly why his brother couldn’t stay. Five minutes with him and Marci would have to be stupid not to guess the truth. Of course, given five minutes, Justin would probably manage to insult her so badly she’d be ready to turn them both in to Algonquin for the bounty. Julius half wanted to turn Justin in himself already, but while he wasn’t feeling it at the moment, Justin was usually one of the few brothers he actually liked, which was why he decided to nip this in the bud as nicely as possible.
“Listen, Justin,” he said in a calm, measured voice. “I really do appreciate you coming all this way to support me. It means a lot, but this isn’t your kind of operation. I’m doing a delicate job for Ian, and—”
“What job?”
It would be more work to put Justin off than to tell him, so Julius quickly explained the situation with Svena and Katya, going to the shaman party, and how he’d come to be standing in front an empty commuter deck in the middle of the night.
“So let me get this straight,” Justin said when he’d finished. “A human gave you a false address, and you let him get away with it?”
“It’s not like that,” Julius said quickly. “I don’t think Lark did it on purpose. Katya probably just gave him a dummy address to keep people off her trail. She is on the run.”
“No excuse,” his brother growled, popping his knuckles. “He lied to us, he has to pay. I say we go back there and squeeze him until something useful pops out.”
“I’m not doing that!”
Justin gave him a disgusted look. “Why? Because it’s not nice?”
“Because it would be pointless,” Julius said. “Look, if Lark was trying to trick me, he’s long gone by now, and if he wasn’t, then he doesn’t know anything more than he’s already said. Either way, hunting him down isn’t going to help. We don’t need violence, we need a professional who knows what they’re doing. There are guys who make their living tracking people who don’t want to be found. I know one, actually.”
“That’s convenient,” Justin said. “What’s his clan?”
“He’s not in a clan. He’s human, one of my old gaming buddies.”
Justin rolled his eyes. “What is it with you and humans?”
“I like humans,” Julius reminded him. “Anyway, he might be able to get us a lead on Katya using the picture Lark gave me. I just need to get some money together for his fee and—”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Justin said, putting up his hands. “You’re going to pay him?”
Julius blinked. “Of course. He’s a professional.”
“He’s a human,” his brother snapped. “Humans serve us. Get that through your skull. You’re a Heartstriker, a dragon, an ancient and fearsome predator. You should be making people fall at your feet for the honor of doing your bidding, not paying them, and definitely not letting them lie to you without repercussions.” He turned away with a huff that sent a thin line of black smoke curling from between his lips. “This is exactly why Mother kicked you out, you know.”
“Well, what else am I supposed to do?” Julius cried. “Fly around bellowing for Katya to come out and fight me?”
“You could go back to that party and start shaking down humans,” Justin said. “She’s supposed to be with an alligator shaman, right? Someone there knows him, so stop being a pushover and go make them talk.”
Julius paused. Going after the alligator shaman wasn’t such a bad idea, actually. Still. “I’m not going to interrogate a bunch of drunk mages,” he growled. “No one’s going to be intimidated by a sealed dragon any—”
A loud, pained squeal shot through the air, making both brothers jump. Justin recovered immediately, but Julius was still reeling when he whirled around to see Marci standing beside her car. Her right arm was out in front of her, like she’d just finished throwing an underhanded pitch, and the first bracelet on her wrist was glowing like a spotlight in the dark. That was all Julius caught before he started to run.
He got halfway across the street before he remembered to drop his speed to a believably human rate. He still made it to Marci’s side in seconds, hands up and ready to take on whatever it was they were fighting. But there were no goons waiting in the shadows when he reached her, no armed thugs threatening to attack. Instead, Marci jogged over to the curb and bent down to grab something black, furry, and unmoving out of the storm drain.
“What is that?”
The sharp question made him jump, and Julius looked up to see Justin standing right beside him. Naturally, he wasn’t winded at all from the run, though he did look a little disgusted by the thing in Marci’s hand. For once, the brothers were in agreement. From what Julius could make out, it looked like Marci was holding a rat the size of a terrier, but no rat he’d ever seen had fangs like that. Or five beady eyes, all of which were still twitching as Marci hoisted the thing aloft like a prize fish.
“It’s a crater vole,” she announced proudly. “I’ve never seen one this big!”
Julius recoiled in horror. “And you’re touching it? I thought they were poisonous.”