city of dragons 07 - fire and flood
Val St. Crowe
Table of Contents
Synopsis
Copyright
Title Page
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Contents
Synopsis
Copyright
Title Page
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Fire and Flood
City of Dragons
Book Seven
by Val St. Crowe
When my fiancé Lachlan Flint finds out that his daughter’s killer has been murdered in a locked cell with no apparent entry points, he says he has to take a crack at the case. He says it’s a thought experiment, but I’m fairly sure it’s about closure. Nothing has had a deeper affect on Lachlan than the death of his daughter.
Normally, I’d be all for closure, but things are getting bad with the Green King. The ancient sea monster attacked my hotel with a supernatural tidal wave that closed me down for business and put us all in danger. I want to figure out how to stop the Green King, not go off and try to solve murders.
But, as I said, nothing has had a deeper affect on Lachlan, so off we all go to Texas, where we’re neck deep in prison politics and shady suspects.
All the while, the Green King closes in.
FIRE AND FLOOD
© copyright 2017 by Val St.Crowe
http://vjchambers.com
Punk Rawk Books
Please do not copy or post this book in its entirety or in parts anywhere. You may, however, share the entire book with a friend by forwarding the entire file to them. (And I won’t get mad.)
Fire and Flood
City of Dragons
Book Seven
Val St. Crowe
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Aaron Lennox and Jenny Vallandingham for their help with plot twists in this novel.
CHAPTER ONE
“Really, both of you, I’m fine,” said Connor Beckett. The gargoyle was lounging in a curved booth at Oscar’s Place in Sea City. The place was packed since it was June, high season for tourists, but we’d still managed to snag one of the nifty circular tables that night. Probably owing to the fact that we were here really early in the night.
These days, my best friend Felicity Richardson and I were pretty settled. I had a one-year-old son and she had an eight-year-old stepdaughter, and late-night boozing sessions were not really much our thing.
Connor fluttered his wings a little as he leaned back into his chair. He was a gargoyle, living stone, and he looked like a perfectly carved sculpture of fine features and chiseled muscle. He snagged his drink from the table and sucked the liquid through a fancy swizzle straw. “Not that I don’t mind you buying me drinks or anything, but I’m fine.”
We all had outlandish fruity drinks garnished with pineapples and orange slices.
I picked up my drink. “You’re not fine, Connor. You just broke up with your boyfriend.”
“Yeah,” said Felicity, who was sitting next to me. “You’re fragile right now. You may still be numb from the whole experience, but that doesn’t mean that you’re fine.”
He surveyed both of us, shrugging. “I feel fine. Mike was juvenile and idiotic. I’m better off without him. That’s why I broke up with him.”
I considered. Even though I’d only met Mike a handful of times, I knew that Connor’s assessment of his ex-boyfriend was accurate. Still. “It’s painful to end a relationship, though.”
“Not this one,” said Connor. He sucked the rest of his drink through his straw, making a gurgling noise as he drained the glass. “But I’ll totally take another drink if Penny’s buying.”
I laughed, and I signaled to our waitress, who was serving the table next to us.
She came over, eyebrows raised. “Another round?”
“Just one more for this guy,” I said, pointing to Connor.
“Yeah, we’re still working on ours,” said Felicity, holding up her mostly-full glass.
“Sure thing,” said the waitress and scurried off.
Connor shook his head at us. “I can’t believe you two are both still working on that first drink.”
I ruefully squinted at my glass. “I’m still breastfeeding. I really shouldn’t drink too much.”
“Wyatt’s down for the night, isn’t he?” said Connor pointedly. “When’s he going to nurse again?”
I took a sip of my drink.
Connor rounded on Felicity. “And what’s your excuse?”
“We’re not here to talk about me,” she countered. “We’re here to have a girls’ night and commiserate with you.” Connor was an honorary girl.
“I don’t need to commiserate,” said Connor. “I’m not miserable.”
Felicity narrowed her eyes. “So, it meant nothing to you then? You and Mike were together for almost four months. You actually introduced him to everyone, and you don’t do that with your flings. You were serious about him.”
Connor sighed. “I tried to be serious about him. He wouldn’t be serious back. He wanted to flirt with other guys and be all weird about saying I was his boyfriend and…” He rolled his eyes. “Like I don’t get it at all. He wanted us to be exclusive, and he wanted us to do all the things that boyfriends do together, but he was like allergic to the word ‘boyfriend.’”
I made a sympathetic face. “Yeah, I’ve been there.”
“Men,” said Felicity, grimacing.
“Hey,” said Connor, feigning hurt.
“Well, except you,” I said.
We all grinned.
The waitress came back with Connor’s drink and set it in front of him. He leaned over and took a slurp through the straw.
“We’re good for now,” I said.
She left.
I turned back to Connor. “So, you’re really okay? You swear?”
He nodded. “Totally okay. But keep the free drinks coming.”
I laughed.
Connor twirled his straw in his glass. “I mean, okay, I guess it’s tough sometimes, considering you and Felicity are in such established relationships. Sometimes I feel a little left out. Maybe that’s why I pushed so hard with Mike. I think I’m at a place in my life where I’m ready to settle down, but I haven’t met the right guy yet.”
“Oh, Connor,” I said. “You’re still so young.” Felicity and I were about the same age, but Connor was almost ten years younger than we were.
“Yeah, but I actually have a typical lifespan,” he said. “You’re going to live for hundreds of years, and Felicity’s going to live forever.”
“I’m going to die forever, you mean,” said Felicity. She was a drake, a dragon-human hybrid. She had green-blue scales that started over her ears and ran down her neck and body. She died with dragon flesh in her system, and it had mutated her and preserved her forever.
“Same difference,” said Connor. “Point is, I’m technically older than you guys if you look at the percentage of my life that I have left.”
I grimaced. I didn’t like thinking about this. “Look, Connor, if you’re worried about dying, there are ways to halt your aging using talismans and magic and—”
“No,” said Connor. “I don’t want to live forever. I want to grow old with someone. I’m only saying that it’s not crazy for me to want to settle down.”
“Well, you’ll find the right guy,” I said.
His shoulders slumped. “I hope so.”
“You will,” I said. “Don’t give up hope.”
He made a face, but then he nodded, smiling a little. “I haven’t given up. I’m still looking.”
“Good,” said Felicity. “Because it will happen when you least expect it.”
“So I hear,” he said, sighing. “Everyone says that.” He squared his shoulders. “Let’s change the subject.” He pointed at me. “Let’s pick on Penny.”
I pointed at myself. “Me? But I’m the one buying you drinks.”
He took a drink of his as if I’d reminded him it was there. “When are you and Lachlan tying the knot, hmm? You’ve been wearing that obscenely huge rock for months now—”
“It’s not obscenely huge!” I peered down at my engagement ring, which was a modest-sized diamond on a white gold band. It was very subdued. I hadn’t wanted anything too crazy.
Connor laughed.
“It isn’t.” I turned to Felicity. “You don’t think it’s really big, do you?”
“It’s not big for a dragon engagement ring,” said Felicity.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I glared at her. “You said you thought it was a good size.”
“It is a good size,” she said. “I’m only saying that among really rich dragons, it’s a small diamond, but amongst us mere mortals, it’s maybe a tad biggish.”
“Biggish? Is that even a word?”
Felicity became very interested in her drink.
“Stop changing the subject,” said Connor, whose drink was already half empty. “When’s the wedding?”
I groaned. “Connor, stop asking me this.”
“It’s only that I told you that I got ordained online in order to officiate my friends Joe’s and Robert’s wedding, and I said I can officiate yours, and you haven’t told me if you want me to do that. So, when’s the wedding?”
“I don’t know. You think I wouldn’t have told you if I knew?”
“So, why don’t you know?” said Connor.
“We just…” I took a big gulp of my drink. “We haven’t had much of a chance to talk about it. We’re busy at work all the time and with Wyatt and—”
“You’re dragging your feet.” Connor pointed at me. “We all know Lachlan isn’t going to bring up making wedding plans. He doesn’t care about venues and flowers and stuff like that. So, you need to bring it up, and you’re not bringing it up.”
I looked down at my fingernails. There was maybe a little bit of truth to that. “I just… I feel like things need to be straightened out first. Lachlan took Wyatt’s powers into himself, and that moved up the timetable of the Green King and his court. We know they’re coming for us, but we don’t know when. I feel like we need to take care of that threat before getting married.”
Our son Wyatt had been conceived due to a prophecy. Even though Lachlan was a vampire, and shouldn’t be able to have children, because Wyatt was the blood dragon, destined to fight the evil Green King, he had been born to us. However, Lachlan had done some kind of ritual and transferred the power of the blood dragon to himself. This had the unfortunate consequence of speeding up the time it would take for the Green King to strike. Instead of decades from now, he would be coming sooner.
“But the Green King might not strike for years,” said Connor.
“I know that,” I said. “But whenever I try to think about the wedding, all I think about is the Green King instead.”
Both Connor and Felicity were quiet.
I drained my drink and sat back in my seat.
No one spoke.
“Well,” said Connor, “that put a damper on the conversation.”
“Thinking about the world ending usually does,” said Felicity.
“The world is not going to end,” I said. “We’ll stop the Green King. We will.” But when the waitress looked our way again, I ordered myself another drink. The enormity of all that danger was easier to think about with my mind fuzzy from alcohol.
* * *
~Lachlan~
Lachlan blinked his eyes, feeling tired. It was late afternoon, but Penny had been out late with her friends the night before, and he’d been up with his son Wyatt, who hadn’t been happy to wake up and find Mommy gone. Lachlan hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before. As a vampire, such things usually didn’t bother him too much, but he was always wearing a magical dampener these days, and it took a lot out of him.
The dampener was a talisman that had been made for Wyatt. It blocked the powers of the blood dragon. That meant that while wearing the dampener, rogue dragons weren’t drawn to him.
Lachlan was wandering through the office in the police station. He had been picking up a few blank paper copies of some files that he was required to have on hand in case of technical difficulty that rendered the digital copies unreachable. He was working alone today. Penny had stayed home for the afternoon. She was only a consultant and didn’t come to the office with him every day. He felt as if the lack of her presence was making him doubly sluggish, however. It was as if he couldn’t get anything done at all. Penny was motivating when she was around. She got things done.
He wound through the rows of desks in the large open room towards his own desk, which was back in the corner.
“Flint!” called a voice from behind him.
He turned to see that the main receptionist was waving at him. “What?” he said.
“You’ve got a call on line five,” said the receptionist.
A call for him, huh? Who would be calling the office and not his cell phone? Probably some crazy out there who wanted to make up some fake crime in order to talk to him. After the cases he and Penny had solved, he was a bit of a local celebrity. He almost told the receptionist to take a message, but he knew that would only delay the problem. The crazy would call back, more desperate than ever, and he couldn’t ignore the crazy forever. So, he’d better face the problem head on and nip it in the bud. He gave the receptionist a wave. “Thanks. I’ll take it at my desk.”
Arriving back in his corner, he sat down and picked up his phone. He hit the button for line five. “Flint here.”
“Lachlan?”
His stomach kinked up. He knew that voice. Female, soft
, a little breathy. His heart started to pick up speed.
“Are you there?”
He sucked in a shaky breath. “Debra?” His voice was a rasp.
“I’m sorry to call you at work, but I didn’t know how else to get in touch with you. Apparently, you haven’t even given your own father as much as an address, let alone a phone number. I knew you worked in Sea City, so I found this number and asked for you.”
He waited, not saying anything. He didn’t know what to say to Debra, his ex-wife, mother of both of the little girl he’d lost and the teenage boy who’d taken her from him.
“Lachlan?”
“What?”
“I just… I thought maybe you hung up,” she said.
His voice came out sarcastic. “Can’t think of any reason I’d do that.” He hadn’t realized he was still so angry with her, but he was. Seething rage was pouring up from his stomach like bile.
“Right,” she murmured. “You would feel that way.” She took a deep breath.
It was quiet.
Lachlan clutched the receiver of the phone, looking around the office. In a way, maybe it was better that he was talking to her here in the office, because anyone could see him, and he needed to keep himself in check. If he’d been alone, he might have started screaming at her. Curses might have started spewing from his mouth, and he wasn’t sure that he would have been able to stop himself.
After Hallie had died, after Debra’s son had shot their little girl to death and attempted to kill Lachlan, his wife had been distant. She had grieved with abandon, but she hadn’t done it near him. Instead, she’d run away to stay with family, leaving Lachlan alone in the house where they had all lived together. He had just turned into a vampire at that point, having been shot with dragon blood in his system, and he was trying to adjust to that change all by himself.
Lachlan wasn’t angry at her for the distance, and he wasn’t angry at her for being mother of the boy who murdered Hallie. But he was angry with her for becoming so distant that she slept with Lachlan’s partner Steve and abandoned her husband. For leaving him to deal with the loss of his child and the loss of his humanity all alone. He was furious with her. And he realized he’d only run from that emotion, so hearing her voice again brought it all back.
