Dragon 5 Chapter 25 (Patreon)

Susan Garrison was watching me with a calculating expression before she turned to Maeve. “If she swears to protect me three times, I’ll tell you whatever you want.”

I scoffed. So Susan was only willing to talk if she was given protection. Which in itself was information. It told me she was in over her head; whatever she’d signed up for wasn’t going quite how she expected.

“Beezelbub not going so well?” I took a stab at the truth.

She stiffened. “You know? H-how?”

I rubbed my forehead. “How long have you been a vampire?”

“Five months.” Susan watched me as I grabbed another chair and placed it opposite of her before sitting down.

“So, you probably aren’t too used to how things are done. If I had to guess, you weren’t really brought into the paranormal.” I leaned back in the chair, considering the woman before me. “Let me try to work through this.”

“You were a rich and well-connected woman, already…” I paused, thinking back to some of the photos with her husband. She’d already built up wealth, but perhaps that wasn’t through legal means. One explanation made the most sense. “You were part of human trafficking even before this, weren’t you?”

She snorted and looked away. It was all the confirmation I needed.

“Got it. You were a human trafficker, giving you enough wealth to get to know other rich and wealthy people. You don’t seem like the type to get your hands dirty. So my guess is you just funded the operation and made connections with enough rich and powerful people to protect it.” The story was coming together for me.

“My guess is that it included your husband, Representative Halmer, and an accountant. This thing had deep roots, but someone came to you with an amazing offer. They wanted to become your single source buyer.”

There was a hum of understanding from Tills. “It made things easier. That way you’d be business to business, cutting out the risk of vetting individuals or them backing out. And less work for you overall.”

“When did you start working with the vampires?” I asked.

“A year ago.” She said in a bitter tone. Her eyes flickering to Maeve but letting her previous idea to get three promises out of her go.

A feeling of relief surged through me. I’d known I was a dragon for less than a year. This entire operation had happened before that.

Somehow, that took a tremendous weight off my shoulders. It wasn’t my fault or the fault of my birth.

“So, you were supplying them with fresh blood, and at some point, you realized what they were.” I replied.

“No.” She spat. “We tried to back out as things grew weird, and we were turned to keep it going.”

I turned to Morgana, curious. “How long does the compulsion last if you give an order to a vampire that you turned?”

“A few days to a week, but it depends on the strength difference between the two.” She replied.

“Then you met with Ricardo often.” I turned back to Susan. “What was he planning?”

“Things sped up the bloodlord’s plans. Then that thing came in and went through what was supposed to be months of reserves.” Susan wrinkled her nose. “Beezelbub, a demon, they called it… it took my husband. He became wild, and ate through months of blood bags we’d been collecting and then all the people we’d recently brought.”

“Wait. You were draining their blood?” Suddenly, the scale of the operation exploded in my mind. If they were bringing in people and feeding off them directly, it could sustain a fair number of young vampires. But if they were using those people as constant blood sources and storing it, we could be looking at an army.

She nodded. “Beezelbub went through our supplies and then they couldn’t keep them all on a leash, so they stopped trying.”

“The increased attacks.” I nodded. The time line she was describing made sense.

Susan scoffed. “You don’t know the half of it. Entire homeless communities have been wiped out. What you saw at the warehouse has echoed throughout the city and beyond. They are trying to be quiet, but they are all waiting for the bloodlord to ring the dinner bell for the fae.”

“Bloodlord? Who’s that?” My attention snapped to her. One of those was a very large problem.

She shrugged, caring less as this conversation went on. “Ricardo forces me to bow and stare at my feet whenever he’s around. He has this horrid accent, though.”

I frowned. “Do the names Wallachia and Gregorian mean anything to you?”

“Gregorian sounds right. I think that’s the guy’s last name.” Susan seemed hopeful that maybe that was a useful piece of information.

At least it confirmed what Deniz had told us. Grudgingly, I had to admit maybe he was helping us.

“Wallachia?” I asked again.

“Never heard of it. But they don’t tell me much.” She sounded resigned, but her eyes held a small plea.

I looked up at the ceiling as I thought through what she’d said. She’d filled in a lot of the background for us, and we now had confirmed the fae were targets. I also had a new target, the Gregorian family.

But one gap remained. “What about Helena? What do you know about her kidnapping?”

“That was Beezelbub’s idea… but he’s been hopping around bodies. His current one might be close to burning out like the others.” She couldn’t meet my eyes.

“Like your husband and your business partners. Were you next on the list?”

She really couldn’t meet my eyes, but that only confirmed my suspicion. Susan Garrison was all about saving her life and staying in the clear herself. Everyone else could be damned.

“So, this Beezelbub is going to take Helena’s body?” Tills asked the crowd.

Sabrina pursed her lips. “It’s possible. He’s a demonic prince. If he had Helena for a prolonged period of time, he could work through her defenses.”

“Then we have to get to her ASAP.” Tills sounded frantic. “Before she becomes shriveled like all these other victims.” Finally, she turned to Susan. “Where is Beezelbub?”

“I don’t know for sure. But it seemed like most of their activity was at the big brewery in Callowhill. At least, that’s where they had us deliver all the crates.” She hedged.

I stepped back. “Tills, think you can trace her human trafficking and do that part by the books to satiate the FBI?”

That caught Susan’s attention, and she got a bit of energy back. “Hey, I helped you.”

“Yeah, and you’ll keep helping us.” I snapped. “Tills, we’ll keep her safe so you can take her down publicly for the human trafficking. That should help explain all the deaths. And you can get credit for the find.

“Scar, get her out of here and have your father send someone to pick Susan up. Keep her gagged so we don’t have anyone getting bit at the station.”

My kitsune was more than happy to stuff the wad of cloth back in the woman’s mouth and tie it behind her head. “I got this. Get going and take care of this Beezelbub.” She dragged Susan away by the chair as she pulled out her phone.

I glanced around the room, thinking about who I needed to take. “Morgana, Sabrina and Maeve, with me. Poly, Trina, and Amira get in Morgana’s van. The rest of you stay here and stay safe.”

“Like hell I’m leaving my partner out there alone.” Tills complained, but a glare from me silenced her.

“Work on the case. Getting the case wrapped up and the FBI out of my hair is more important. Besides, we are talking demonic princes and bloodlords. No offence, Tills, but that gun might as well be a toy.”

Yev stepped forward, ready to argue with me, and I got a whiff of my first dragon mate. I felt my dragon stir in interest and pleasure.

I leaned forward, taking another deep whiff, a moment of panic that she’d been possessed. But once again, my dragon seemed pleased and not concerned.

“Something’s wrong.” I replied, trying to understand what had changed her smell.

Trina stepped forward and sniffed Yev before a big grin blossomed on her face. “There is no way you are going.”

“Why not?” Yev demanded, her eyes shifting.

Trina leaned in and whispered something into Yev’s ear, but my hearing picked out one word like someone had dropped a bomb on me.

‘Pregnant’.

My hands were on Yev in an instant. I pushed her against the wall, sniffing her and biting her, marking her again.

“Zach, cut it out. You can rail my sister another time.” Tyrande put a hand on my shoulder to pull me away, but there was no use.

I was fully entranced by the thought of my mate being pregnant.

Trina laughed and told everyone. “She’s pregnant. Leave him alone for a second. He’ll get himself back under control.” She clapped excitedly, watching my reaction.

“Pregnant!” Tryande gasped.

“Congratulations!” Jadelyn squealed and was echoed by the rest of my mates.

“Mine.” I roared, pushing her against the wall and marking her shoulder over and over.

Yev put a soft hand on my cheek and cupped my chin to pull me up to her lips. “Yours, my mate. I suppose I’m off to your hoard.” She grumbled, but a light was lit in her eyes. While she didn’t want to be out of the fight, she now had our child to protect.

I sniffed her again. Now it made sense. The subtle shift was a change in her hormones. It was a slight change, but enough for a dragon nose to pick up. “Mine.” I growled once more, but I let up and relaxed before stepping away.

Every time I smelled her, the beast inside of me went wild and wanted to wrap myself around her. “Get in my hoard, stay safe.”

“I will. But you better come get me, us, soon.” She grabbed my hand.

“Of course.” I looked at her and all my other mates that were going to stay back. “I’d be a fool to lose this all.”

“Damn right.” Kelly replied as she strolled away from the rest of my mates.

I growled. “Where do you think you are going?”

“What use is it being the pack leader of over five hundred wolves if I don’t get to use them when shit hits the fan? I’ll meet you out there. It sounds like there’s an entire city of vamps that need to be turned into chew toys.” Kelly put her hands on her hips, just daring me to fight her.

For once, she was not being my submissive alpha mate. She was being the head bitch of my harem.

“What about me, Furball?” Morgana cocked a brow at her jab at vampires. It also broke the tension and gave me a way out.

“Not you. You are growing on me, Blueberry, kind of like mold.” Kelly laughed and took her leave. While I wanted her safe, her plan made sense. We’d likely need the help while we took on the heavy hitters.

The group split up, Yev taking the lead and bringing part of my growing harem back into my hoard.

It was hard to be apart from them, but I knew they would be safer there. I needed a clear head as I went on the hunt for Beelzebub.

"Zach. I appreciate you including me. But I need to get back to my family.” Maeve caught my arm.

“I understand. Good luck.” I realized that Maeve could handle herself, and she needed to get back and warn the fae.

She gave me a brilliant smile. “Don’t worry about me.” She flexed before turning and whipping her long silver hair behind her.

I gave her a smile before heading towards the garage.

As I moved, Poly walked up next to me. “My king. I know you wish to get personally involved, but it might be best for us to handle the combat.”

“Not a chance.” I told her, my voice calm.

It was strange. A sudden calm had come over me now that we had a target. Rather than being angry, I was cold and calculating.

Poly didn’t argue with me, and as we walked into the garage, we skipped right over the gun rack. The fight that was coming would render those useless. This was a fight for magic and claws.

We were all quiet as we filed into Morgana’s car.

Trina had claimed the passenger seat while Sabrina was in the back with Amira. That left Poly and me to take the middle two seats. I buckled my seatbelt in preparation.

“Hang on.” Morgana smiled as she floored the gas. The car’s tires squealed as she whipped out of the spot.

Amira flew across the back, having not buckled in, but the rest of us had prepared.

Polydora had a huge grin on her face. “That was pretty fun.”

“Fun?” Amira climbed back into her seat with Sabrina’s help and buckled in as Morgana’s van flew out of the parking garage, bouncing onto the street.

“Fun.” Polydora confirmed before changing the subject. “We should inform the Detective.”

I was already on that, hitting his contact and putting the phone on speaker.

“Zach? Any news?”

“Yeah, actually. A lot of news. Susan Garrison was running a human trafficking operation, which turned into a blood donation business for the vampires. Tills is taking her back to the station. We’ll use the human trafficking to cover everything else.”

He grunted, but didn’t seem to have anything else to say, so I continued. “But we also now know that Beelzebub is in town and playing a part in all of this.” I paused, assuming the detective knew about the demon prince, and when he let out a slew of curses, I assumed the name registered. “It seems like this is a Gregorian play for the fae.”

“Idiots.” Detective Fox spat. “Why would they do this? It’s just sloppy.”

I nodded, but something about it made sense to me. “They might have been influenced by Beelzebub, or another demon of gluttony. I don’t know how deep their relationship goes, but it’s a problem. At the very least, they are currently being influenced by Beelzebub and it’s likely skewing their decisions.”

“True. Either way, it’s a mess that we now have the pleasure of cleaning up.” While the detective was talking, the sounds of phones ringing off the hooks sounded behind him. I could hear him shuffling around before he paused. “One moment.”

He put the phone down, and there was the scuffing of boots and background chatter that picked up several volumes as he opened the door to his office.

A minute later, he picked up the phone again. “So we have a situation. We are getting calls all over the city of violence, specifically an increase in bites.”

“They know we are close and are letting their minions loose.” I said, realizing the situation and staring up at the roof of the car. “Do what damage control you can. We are going to make a pit stop.”

“On it. Bye.” Fox breathed and hung up.

“Where are we going?” Morgana asked.

“We need more magic power, someone who can take on an army in the streets. I think it’s time to visit an old friend at a nursing home.” I thought of the perfect person to help in the event of an army in our city.

Morgana winked at me in the mirror. “You are crazier than I am.”

“Why are we going to a home of old people? We need to take down a demon.” Polydora asked.

“An old friend of Morgana’s lives in the home. He keeps a low profile, but if we have a big problem, there’s no one better to clear a battlefield.” I thought of the stories that had popped up around T.

I’d been shocked that the crotchety old man was such a feared being.

Morgana swerved off the highway onto an early exit and barreled down the exit ramp, not even stopping for the stop sign.

“Stop signs are for everyone’s safety.” I reminded her as she swerved to avoid someone running across the street, and a vamp came charging after them.

Morgana was quick, pulling a SMG out of the spatial pocket in her bra and turning the van hard. She skidded to a jarring stop as her window came down.

In the confined space of the van, the gunfire was deafening as she sprayed down the vampire to swiss cheese.

Trina held her ears and cursed. “Warn a girl first. Envokus.” She flicked her wrist, and the skin melted off the vampire even as it was trying to heal.

Polydora sat beside me with her arms crossed and a pensive look on her face. “We are far too exposed. This is a nightmare.”

“Agreed. It’s time to end this. Quickly.” As I said it, I was slammed back into my seat as Morgana took off once more.