Dragon 1 Chapter 15 (Patreon)

I was on my third snickers, sitting outside the gas station waiting for my clothes and my phone to dry out. At this point the sun was setting, and I’d seen the same report on my high-speed chase cycle through the news feed two more times. No image of me or an indication that they were looking for me was present. They were still working to find a corpse at the bottom of the river.

Checking the phone again, I nearly knocked the cup of rice off the bench. It actually started up.

It also had half a dozen texts from Morgana, and a few phone calls. I decided now might be a good time to call her back.

“Zach! Where have you been?” She hissed.

“Oh, you know. Dodging cops on the highway after you ditched me, setting cop cars on fire and lounging in the Delaware.”

There was a stretched moment of pause on the other side of the phone. I thought maybe I’d lost her and checked my phone; it was still on.

“What happened to my car?”

“Gone. Well, not gone. It’s at the bottom of the river, and the cops are probably trying to pull it out now.”

Another pause before she sighed. “Fine. Get here ASAP. I have already texted you the address.” The phone beeped, indicating the end of the call. She might have been upset about the car. But then again, she put me in that situation and I didn’t feel an ounce of remorse. Except for the jag, poor thing.

I took a look and copied the address into a rideshare app. It only took a few minutes for the ride to show up. The driver eyed me in my still damp state, giving me a judgemental look before getting out, grabbing a towel out of the trunk and throwing it along the backseat of his car.

Ignoring his unhappiness, I plopped onto the towel.

The driver got back in his seat and drove off, leaving the pleasant neighborhood of Queen Village behind and heading south along the river to another industrial area. I was starting to think maybe abandoned factories attracted criminals.

“You can stop here. I’ll walk the rest of the way.” I said, not actually wanting him to drop me off at the building.

“You sure?” He asked, meeting my eyes in the rearview as he took in the surrounding area cautiously.

“Positive.”

The driver shrugged and pulled to a stop just long enough for me to get out before he booked it out of the sketchy industrial park.

Someone came up behind me and I jumped, putting my fists up.

“Don’t make a fuss. Come with me.” Morgana lurked in the shadows and crept along the buildings as we went. “Recognize this place?” She asked.

“Should I?” It looked like every other industrial park I’d ever seen. It was just a large number of big squat buildings. With the setting sun, it was difficult to pick up details.

She pointed west. “Three blocks over is where we raided the other night.”

“You’re kidding me…” I felt stupid for not checking for nearby factories. They moved right in under our noses.

“Don’t feel stupid. The police did a sweep of the area after Detective Fox set fire to the last factory. They didn’t catch it either, so these guys might have stepped away temporarily, only to come right back.” She shook her head as she crouched in the growing shadows of dusk.

I had questions about how the detective fit into everything. “I saw the detective with Jadelyn’s father when the council questioned us. Do the para control the cops?”

“No, not like you’re thinking. But we do have people in most of the emergency services. Helps us cover things when someone gets stupid. Like, you know, when someone breathes fire during a police car chase.” She gave me a knowing look.

A nervous chuckle slipped out of me. “You saw that?”

“Wasn’t hard to look it up after you told me. You need to be more careful. You got lucky with that one.” She rounded a corner, and the factory ahead of us had boarded-up windows. A new van was pulling up to the building. Two men jumped out of the van, throwing open the back doors and quickly taking a look around before they moved to pull something out of the van.

“Let me go.” A woman yelled. Two more men came out of the warehouse, and together the four of them held Kelly down as she tried to shift. I could see her body swell just before one of them cracked a bat over her head; she slumped down to the ground.

Morgana and I watched it happen. I was itching to leap forward and help her, but Morgana put a hand on my arm. “Not yet.”

“Why are they kidnapping other paras?” They needed the vampires for the drug, but what were Jadelyn and Kelly for?

“Hostages. Kelly is Brent’s daughter, the one he raised with his wife. You remember Brent from the council meeting, right?” She turned to look at me.

I nodded. They’d taken two of the council members’ kids. That move wasn’t for a drug; it was for their own protection. “They had to know the leaders wouldn’t stand still if their kids were kidnapped. Does that mean we are going to have more?”

“Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. All hell is going to break loose if we don’t get them back tonight. Brent won’t be as… tactful as Rupert.”

I filed Jadelyn’s father’s name away for later.

“As for others, I’m not sure. Simon would be a good target, but I hear he’s been locked up until your duel on Monday. If they took someone from the Faerie, then we should just back up and let them handle it.”

“The Faeries are that terrifying?” I asked.

“Sirens and Elves have money and numbers. The Faerie? They have raw power, and some heavy hitters that demand respect.” She looked me up and down again. “You might actually fit in best with them if you ever decide to take a side.” I’d have to learn more about them later.

“And here I thought I was on your side.” I nudged her side.

Morgana snorted, a smile curling up at the edge of her lips. “You wish.”

The men successfully dragged Kelly into the warehouse, and Morgana waved forward, darting across the last street and hugging the factory’s exterior wall. This place reminded me a lot of the past factory, although they all seemed a bit cookie cutter. Big concrete, boxy buildings with high windows.

Morgana snuck around to a side door at the docks and pulled out her blades. In one clean swipe, she cut the lock. “Keep your big head down. This is different from our last job. We didn’t know there were hostages then. We need to secure the hostages before they realize we are here. Once we do that, you’ll stay with the hostages to protect them; I’ll clean out the operation.”

“Don’t want me setting this one on fire?” I smirked. Guard duty on Jadelyn and Kelly was perfectly fine with me. My beast agreed that we should protect them.

Morgana didn’t respond to my joke, already in motion. Slipping in to a small opening in the doorway, her soft blue skin and her dark leather attire made her practically a ghost in the dark warehouse. Tall metal wracks covered the inside of the building from floor to ceiling. Their contents seemed abandoned to collect dust. Further past the wracks, I could see a light and an open space full of machinery.

We skirted around the lit area, scouting for where they were keeping the hostages. Between two factory lines, there was a setup similar to what we’d seen at the last factory, with a clear plastic tent. But this time, there was activity within the tent. People looked to be packaging the drug, wearing white masks over their face while they did so.

One piece of equipment was running; a large slanted drum bigger than a car spun, depositing out a thin line of white powder at the end.

Up in front of the drum, I watched a shifted werewolf lift a large blue drum and pour the contents in. It made me wonder where that drum was made.

Morgana patted me on the shoulder and pointed to her eyes before pointing further off, away from the light. Kelly was being dragged by two men into another area of the factory. We slipped around the central area of the facility, avoiding detection, and heading towards where they’d been. As my eyes adjusted from staring at the lit area, I realized they had opened a set of heavy freezer doors and pulled Kelly inside.

I scanned around. I’d expected to find guards like the previous factory, where a small pack of wolves was guarding it. But I hadn’t spotted any yet. It made me uneasy.

Morgana moved quickly, grabbing the freezer door before it closed and motioning me in. Crouching in the shadows, I followed the werewolves hauling Kelly.

As we stepped inside, I was happy to find that the freezer had been left off. I could likely generate heat, but regardless, I did not want to freeze my butt off in a freezer.

The door clicked closed behind us, and the men started talking. They seemed to have been waiting until they were alone in the thick, likely soundproof room.

“Sure we can’t fuck this bitch? I hear she’s a big dog in the pack.”

“Shut up. Our alpha said she and the other bitch are important. If we want the pack to grow stronger, we need her and the drug.”

Why did they need her? I wondered.

Chains rattled as they hauled Kelly up and started wrapping chains around her, securing her to the wracks in the freezer. She was right next to Jadelyn, who hung from her own rack, her blonde hair hanging down and matted with blood. She’d clearly put up a fight.

I winced, imagining the headache she was going to have when she woke up. I looked to Morgana, communicating my need to do something. It only took the subtlest nod from her before I lunged out of the darkness and grabbed both of the werewolves, squeezing tight with my hands and crushing their windpipes.

Both of them immediately tried to shift, but Morgana jumped in. With two quick stabs, she’d stopped their shift and kept them human as their bodies focused on healing.

“I get that talking is probably difficult right now. So, raise your hand if you’d like to have a moment to breathe as you tell us why you need Kelly?” I looked between the two werewolves expectantly.

Instead, they both started struggling; I only saw the flash of Morgana’s blade before they stopped. I tried again. “Okay, I’ll make you a deal. The one that talks doesn’t get gutted by my drow friend here in the next few seconds.”

Both hands shot up, and I picked the one that had spoken more intelligently earlier. I pulled him away from Morgana.

The other was suddenly gurgling his own blood as Morgana finished him, leaving the other one looking even more talkative.

“Speak.” I shook him to get his attention, which had been drawn to his bleeding friend.

“If you let me go for a second, I can show you. I got it in my pocket.” He held one hand up and reached down with the other.

I stayed cautious, not knowing if he was going to pull out a gun. But instead, he pulled out a ziplock baggie of white powder. It looked like what had been coming out of the machine in the factory. “The drug? What does that have to do with Kelly?”

He lifted it slightly, but then moved quickly, tearing the bag open and shoving the powder in his face, snorting heavily. It was so sudden that I didn’t have time to react before the man came away with a powder covered face, kind of like a kid after they eat a powdered donut. At the same time, a deranged look filled his face and his eyes began to glow with what I’d come to realize as pack magic.

The shift happened so quickly that I barely had time to squeeze his neck before a massive paw slammed into my chest and shoved me off him. Morgana flashed past me, and I heard the ring of her blades hitting something hard before she reappeared to my right.

The wolf stood on his back legs, its tongue lolling out in a dopey look for a dog. I’d seen werewolves before, and this didn’t look normal. One of its arms was larger than the other, and lumps were rising under its skin. I could feel the wrongness of it in my bones as I looked at the wolf, which was now crouched low to avoid brushing its head against the ceiling.

It didn’t make any noise. There was no howling, no growling. It was bizarre.

The werewolf moved forward, slamming into me and driving me further into the crumpled racks. The hit drove the wind out of my lungs, but Morgana followed behind, using her blades to carve off chunks of its flesh.

The wounds only lasted so long, healing unnaturally quickly. Her blades weren’t able to keep up with its healing, but I knew she was at least wearing the beast’s mana down.

I grabbed the werewolf’s wrists and tried to hold it still, but the thing’s large warped arm was strong enough that my weight meant nothing. It didn’t matter how strong I was if the weight difference was so big.

The wolf thrashed me into the wall and ceiling, even as I held both of its wrists in a vice-like grip. I was not about to let it have range of motion in its arms again, but I also wasn’t too pleased with getting smashed around like some sort of comedic moment in a superhero movie.

“Just cut its head off, Morgana. Let’s be done with this.” I grunted as I made a new dent in the ceiling.

“Can’t.” She hacked with her blade, and that metal ringing sounded out again as it got stuck. “Shit.” Morgana shifted her stance, starting to use her magic instead of her blades.

I realized my eye must have shifted, because I could see her magic again. I looked at the werewolf and could see his magic, too. It was a dark orange, but it had a sickly oily sheen to it. The magic seemed to be connected to something else further off. I followed the connection and could see it connected to a whole network; it was his pack. There were less than a dozen in the facility, but more elsewhere to the west. They all connected to a single point, one that was coming closer.

I focused back on Morgana and her magic. Even in the dark freezer, there was a new level of darkness that started at her fingertip before she drove it right into the wolf’s skull.

It dropped like a rotten sack of potatoes.

“Phew.” Morgana let out a huff. “Running around all day in the sun, and now this. I do hope there aren’t more of them.”

Something pounded on the freezer door, and we both went still. I didn’t see pack magic on whatever was out there.

“Mark, you okay? If you and George want to start a fight, do it elsewhere.”

I pulled myself out of the wire racking I’d landed in and wrinkled my nose at the smell. The dead wolf smelled absolutely terrible, but I pushed that aside.

Instead, I strode up to the door and threw it open, catching whoever was on the other side with a heavy thud. Stepping around the door, I grabbed the man by the throat and hauled him into the freezer. We didn’t have much time; someone else would come looking, eventually. “Speak, what’s going on here. Why kidnap these two?”

The man instantly began shaking. “I’m just human. I swear; they just sell me drugs. This stuff is taking over the market. Huge demand.” He raised his hands, but there was a small spark of magic in his eyes.

I didn’t want another problem on my hands, so I squeezed as hard as I could and jerked my arm. His neck made a satisfying click and his eyes glazed over.

“What was that for?” Morgana asked, scowling at the dead man she could no longer question.

“I felt something start to stir in him and I didn’t want another of those.” I pointed to the dead wolf with my chin. The wolf was shifting back to human, like the others I’d seen, only he still had those grotesque proportions.

“He was human though.” Morgana frowned, and I just shrugged. I didn’t know what to tell her. “Fine, stick to the plan. Post up next to the freezer. I’ll do my best to clear out these wolves before they become a problem.”

“Step out with me.” I opened the freezer door and looked around; no one else had come to check yet. “There are two wolves further out in the office. I figure you can take those two down quietly. One outside.” I pointed, following the trace of pack magic. “Then you have another five in the center operation. There’s obviously the one hauling the barrels, but also three girls in the tent and the guy putting the drugs in the truck.”

“You can see them all?” She asked, but her eyes focused on my right eye. “Ah. I see. You seem to be better when you get thrashed around. I’ll remember that for the next time we spar.” There was a faint smirk that vanished in a moment as she slipped away towards the office to take care of the first two, leaving me to guard the two unconscious girls.

“Bart, what the hell is taking you so long?” The wolf that was placing bricks in the truck stood up and barked my way. I tried to step to the side into deeper shadows, but the wolf wasn’t satisfied when he didn’t get an answer. He shaded his eyes from the light and started heading my way.

I waited, letting him get closer. The longer Morgana had to take out the ones away from the main operation, the fewer surprises we’d have to deal with.

But it didn’t take him long to spot me. As he stepped away from the light and into the darkness, his eyes glowed orange like a wolf's, and his head snapped to me.

Guess the jig is up. I burst from my hiding spot, making sure to be as quiet as possible as I tackled him before he could shout.

I was able to take him down, but he shifted in the process. At that point, I wasn’t entirely sure who had who. I was stronger than him, but he definitely had mass on his side in his wolf form.

Each time we rolled, my body reminded me that I was covered in bruises from being knocked around by the last werewolf.

“Intruders!” someone yelled behind me, and I cringed. Now it was going to get messier.

I saw the workers in the center tearing up the bricks and throwing them into the air. White clouds of V-phoria filled the air. The workers that were human were immediately evident as they fell down, writhing on the floor. I wasn’t sure why they would overdose themselves like that.

But the wolves in the room seemed to be shifting into grotesque werewolves, like the one in the freezer.

I watched in horror as the white cloud of drug continued to expand, threatening to smother both myself and the wolf I was struggling to keep down.

AN: Another cliff for you. It's the thriller pacing, I swear. Also next chapter we get into being high while fighting. Full of loopy snark, but let me know if it still makes sense.