Dragon 5 Chapter 13 (Patreon)

“Sleepy dragon, it’s time to get up.” Scarlett was bouncing on my snout.

I grumbled and lifted my head, surprising the kitsune. She faltered for the briefest moment before regaining her footing.

Then she rode out the rising of my head as if it was a walk in the park. “Zach, my dad sent me to get you. And the two beautiful women in your bed said you all stayed up quite late.”

I grunted. “No. They stayed up late talking about wedding details.” An exhausted sigh slipped out, and it transformed into a yawn. Scarlett had to go low, clinging to my snout to stay on. “You need to settle this whole wedding thing ASAP.”

“Weddings take months to plan, dear.” Scarlett admonished me.

I had been waiting to try a new trick, and that moment seemed like the perfect time. Making my eyes big and pitiful, I gave her dragon puppy dog eyes. “Please.”

Scarlett held her stomach as she burst into uncontrolled laughter. “Don’t do that. The eyes— and the dragon— it makes no sense.” While she belly laughed, I frowned. That did not have the desired effect.

Grumbling, I sank back down into the gold.

“Nope, sorry dragon boy. You have to go see my dad. He’s waiting for you.” Scarlett stomped on my nose as it sank under the gold. “I’ll handle the wedding talk. It won’t go away, but I’ll manage it.”

“Really?” I poked my head back up. “Can everything be gold too?”

Scarlett sighed. “No, but I can help you pitch for gold accents.”

Laughing, I rose from the gold and shifted back. This bracer that the girls had gotten me was really something. I often forgot it was there, carrying all my items within it.

With that thought, I grabbed out a fresh set of clothes and got dressed under Scarlett’s watchful gaze. “Sometimes I really want to just kick the others out and claim my spot as first mate.”

“I’m not against it.” I bobbed my eyebrows before putting my shirt on.

Scarlett blew out a breath. “Being the gateway to the dragon king is almost giving me a high. Do you even realize how many times a day I’m asked if a woman or someone’s daughter can get a meeting with you?”

“Aren’t you busy with Jadelyn’s security?” I grew more concerned.

She snorted. “Less so now. People don’t exactly want to mess with her now that you stand behind her. It’s been quiet and the dragonettes are pitching in to protect your mates more.”

“Do we need to get you an assistant?” I asked aloud, quickly glancing over at my gold and wondering if I’d have to spend some of it.

“That… might not be a bad idea. Or we can get you one and the two of us could share her?”

“Share?” I couldn’t help but grin at a meaning that she hadn’t intended.

Scarlett knocked me upside the head. “You know what I meant! Get your head out of the gutter. You need to see my father.”

I stuck my tongue out. “Will do. Oh, and we have the fae dinner tonight. Don’t be late.” I was bringing all of my mates.

It was hard finding the time for them all, and I suddenly had the urge to go track down Kelly. It would just be a short trip through the Atrium, though it would make me late to Detective Fox.

I pushed the urge aside, but I made a mental note to make some time for my werewolf.

Heading out of my hoard, I passed two sleeping beauties before walking out into the Atrium with Scarlett. She wandered down the hall. I had no idea where a number of the doors went. Many were enchanted like Morgana’s.

“This one goes to a coffee shop across the street from the station.” Kelly stopped at a door.

“Why?” A coffeeshop didn’t seem like the type of thing to need passage into the Atrium.

“For emergencies.” Was all Scarlett replied before shooing me through the door.

I stepped out of an employee only door into a coffee shop. I looked around, taking in the vibe. The glasses, flannel, and trendy haircuts told me all I needed to know.

But the workers were subtly not human. I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly they were, but it wasn’t human, that was for sure.

One of the workers waved at me excitedly and I nodded.

“You’re here for… for my coffee?” He said excitedly. There was a little sprig of a leaf that popped out of his hair.

“Can I have something quick? I have a meeting at the station.” It seemed the least I could do to order something when I was using their door.

The man turned and got to work quickly before coming back with a steaming hot cup and putting a lid on it for me. “The dragon king special!” He winked as more than a few of the surrounding hipsters took note of the drink’s name.

I could tell they were anxious to try the new off-menu specialty.

I took a sip of it. It didn’t burn me. After breathing fire, a little hot coffee was nothing. It was very very warm, almost magically so, as it settled in my stomach. A relaxing energy spread through my limbs. “That’s great. I’ll have to come by more often.”

The man couldn’t stop grinning as he went back to work, not even asking for money.

Fishing a twenty out of my bracer, I stuffed it in the tip jar and went on my way. The police station wasn’t far.

Walking up to it, I noted that the police station was hustling and bustling. Having the federal agents in town must have kicked everybody into gear.

“You’re late.” A woman wearing a blue uniform stated, waving me down and indicating to follow her.

“Hello?” I said cautiously following her. “I’m here to see Detective Fox.”

“I know. I’m here to bring you in.” She smiled at the receptionist who was sitting behind bulletproof glass and used a badge to unlock the door. “No idea why Fox needs a kid like you, but he’s just down that hall, only room on the right.”

As she left me on my own, I glanced around. The bullpen was a hub of activity, people coming and going, and not all of them were doing so of their own free will.

Heading down the hall, I opened the door to find a small conference room. Detective Fox perked up as I stepped in. Helena simply frowned, but Agent Tills looked like she was about to have a cow.

“We were waiting for him?” Tills flung a hand at me.

“He might have some helpful information. And it is best to keep him apprised of your investigation.” Detective Fox didn’t really want to answer her question. “Your partner asked for information that we had, and I agreed if we could have a consultant informed.”

Tills looked at me like she wanted to pick me apart. “Who the fuck are you, really?”

“No one.” I sat down. “You okay with this Helena?”

She shrugged and put a hand on Tills. “Leave it.”

“How are you both okay with this?” Tills kept shaking her head in disbelief. “Fine. Whatever. Let’s get this show on the road.”

I sipped from my coffee and settled into a chair as Detective Fox pulled out a stack of files and laid them on the table. He kept them close, not yet offering them to the agents.

“We have the investigations on the two victims we processed, but you mentioned a third.” He kept his hand on the files.

Helena pulled out her phone and put it on the table with a picture of a dead man in a suit.

My father-in-law snatched it up and expanded the photo. The victim’s skin was wrinkled beyond belief, but Detective Fox recognized him. “That’s Representative Halmer.” He blew out a heavy breath. “We have a dead congressman?”’

I cursed.

I didn’t pay much attention to politics, but if that was him, then the hornet’s nest had well and truly been kicked.

“Yes. As you can understand, the situation has become very sensitive as a result. We cannot let the news break before we have a rock solid suspect.” Tills explained.

I had a sinking feeling in my gut. Her suspect was paranormal given the state of the body it was a demon or angel. We certainly didn’t want that scrutiny into the murders.

Tills continued. “Do you have any understanding of why or how the criminal is desiccating these corpses? When I ran it past the lab, they thought either these bodies had been put in a vacuum or someone had used a tub full of industrial grade desiccant. Both are fairly impractical, but they were stumped.”

Detective Fox leaned back and eyed me for a moment to see if I had a better way to explain it.

“It is more likely a drug that is causing their bodies to stop retaining water.” I made something up on the spot. I wanted to make the process less time or money intensive. Needing an industrial grade machine would create a lead that would take us away from the actual investigation.

The agent looked at me incredulously.

“That would explain some of what I’ve learned too.” Helena, to my surprise, supported my claim.

“Then we need to add it to the bureau’s database, because I’ve never heard of anything like this.” Tills snorted and stared at all three of us with a slight squint. She wasn’t stupid. She could sense that there was something she wasn’t being told.

But at the moment, she had no way to connect the three of us together cleanly.

“I don’t have a definitive sample, only a rumor.” Helena said smoothly. “If we can get a sample back to the lab, then we can talk about that. Or would you like to have that conversation with the director?”

Tills wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Fine, so, some secret drug. Given to a congressman, an accountant and…” She took one of the folders, Detective Fox let her. “… a soccer coach. What do they have in common?”

“Money is always the most common.” Detective Fox said, opening the folder for the accountant. “We need to understand what money was floating around the congressman.”

“Can’t. Not unless we open a formal investigation and believe his death is related to his political activities. Until then, his bank details are sealed.” Agent Tills pursed her lips. “And we can’t let this go public until we have a name to give the press.”

That seemed convoluted and murky. “Aren’t donations public record?”

“Well…” Agent Tills waffled her head. “That’s tricky. Money often funnels through multiple organizations and the final donation is public record. But who funds the action committees is almost impossible to get unless you go into them with a warrant.”

“Then he’s useless.” I looked at the photo of the congressman. “We need to identify what both an accountant and soccer coach have in common.”

Detective Fox was on it though. “Given the nature of these two incidents, we have been working on identifying any connections they may have.” He flipped in the folders to what looked like notes. “The only connection we found is that they frequent the same dive bar. And it’s certainly not the kind of place you’d find a congressman.”

Helena snorted. “You’d be surprised where you find congressmen. Can we get the place’s name? We might be able to get a specific request like this pushed through to check his credit cards to see if he went there often.”

Fox underlined the name and turned the folder to her.

Both agents took notes on their phones.

“Thanks.” Tills said and shifted her focus to me. “Since you seem to have all the answers, what’s your leading theory.”

“Well…” I fudged the truth. “This is a brutal way to kill someone, maybe they did it to cover their tracks? But there’s emotion in it. They could have just thrown them in a river, but this feels like there’s more emotion or intent behind it.”

I continued on. “In terms of the connection, I could see a way the three of them play into the hands of somebody else. There’s the congressman for connections, and the accountant who’s good with shuffling money. But both of them are either too smart or too scared to get physically involved. The coach? He’s probably desperate and willing to put himself in a risky situation to make some solid cash. Whatever they were into was planned by the killer.” I almost believed it myself, rather than making up something for a demon killing.

“Given that they moved up the coast before killing here in the city is odd though.” Those were feedings I guessed.

But the killings in Philly seemed like an odd pattern. I wanted to know if there was more to the killings than just feeding.

Tills grudgingly nodded. “Okay, any theories on what they were into?”

“Drugs, people or weapons are really the only things that offer enough money to do something this stupid.” Helena tossed in. “We should check out the bar.”

Tills nodded and glared at me. “So help me god if you show up at the bar. I don’t know why everyone in this city seems to look to you for answers.” She turned to Fox. “Is he an informant or something?”

“No. He’s my son-in-law.” Detective Fox deadpanned.

She threw her hands up in the air and marched out of the police station.

“Thank you. I’ll update you on the progress of the investigation.” Helena paused. “I don’t want to presume to order you around, Zach. But it might be best if you steer clear of my partner.”

I only nodded, and she took that as leave as she hurried after her partner who was storming through the station.

“That went well.” Detective Fox smiled and collected the folders.

“Why didn’t you just give them the bar in the first place?” I frowned.

He stopped what he was doing and smiled. “It’s just how it is done. Information isn’t free. If I didn’t make it a little painful, they wouldn’t have given me the congressman’s name. This is a mess though.”

“Which part?” I asked, cringing a little.

Though he was right, this whole situation stank. We had a dead congressman and a nosy FBI agent circling the drain around a paranormal problem.

Fox shrugged. “We have to get there before them and kill the demon. If they show up to the dead corpse, I’m sure Helena can find enough to pin it on them. But we absolutely cannot allow for a demon to go to trial or Tills to confront one.”

“Because the demon won’t stay hidden.” I realized it would break our secret if it had to survive.

“No, it’ll go poof. She can’t catch one, even if she does with Helena’s help. The demon will disappear the second she takes her eye off of it.”

The Detective eyed me for a moment with a more fatherly look, and something told me some guidance was about to be given whether I wanted it or not. “And you need to be more careful. Stop riling up the agent or she will dig into your life more than any of us want.”

He waited until I gave him a nod.

“What do you think about Helena?” I asked.

“Do you really need more boy? If you neglect my daughter—“ His build up to a threat was cut off when I lifted a hand.

“Never in a million years. I meant can we trust her? My past with her is… contentious, and I wanted a second opinion. Can we trust her on this case?” I clarified before I had a huffing and puffing father-in-law.

He scratched at the orange scruff he called a beard. “Probably. I looked into her. She’s been squeaky clean since Sentarshaden. She had a case in Montana a few months ago, and I have a friend on the force up there I gave a call. They said she was nothing but helpful. If anything, she was trying to ingratiate herself.”

A bit of sympathy filled his face. “Kid, she just got cut off from the authority she believed in, just after she started to realize she was on the wrong side. She’s now alone, trying to protect herself and find ways to give back to the paranormal community. If anything, I’d say she’s trying to repent.”

I let his words soak in, not quite sure how I felt.

Either way, I doubted Tyrande would forgive her. So for now, she remained under watch.