DESTRUCTION IMMINENT

STEEL DRAGON™ BOOK NINE

KEVIN MCLAUGHLIN

MICHAEL ANDERLE

This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

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Version 1.00, February 2022

eBook ISBN: 979-8-88541-260-5

Print ISBN: 979-8-88541-261-2

THE DESTRUCTION IMMINENT TEAM

Thanks to the JIT Readers

Dave Hicks

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Misty Roa

Paul Westman

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If we’ve missed anyone, please let us know!

Editor

The Skyhunter Editing Team

CHAPTER ONE

Kristen Hall loved the feeling of the wind beneath her wings. Her body thrummed with a sense of freedom, life, and power.

Apparently, Amy Williams liked it too and held on with only her knees. Her arms were probably outstretched—she couldn’t feel the girl’s hands clasped anywhere—and she would no doubt have a grin on her face. She couldn’t see her, of course, since the mage was on her back while she was flying, but her aura communicated sheer happiness.

“Better than first-class, huh?” the Steel Dragon said.

“I’ll say!” her passenger responded enthusiastically. She was braver than she had first appeared. When they’d first met, she’d been scared and meek despite her unimaginably powerful telekinetic powers. Not that anyone could blame her as she’d been hunted by dragons at the time.

The girl on her back felt like a different person—a woman, not a girl, she thought despite the fact they were both young.

“I flew when I tried to escape the dragons,” Amy said and it seemed that talking about the events of only two days before no longer bothered her. “On the car hood, obviously, so it wasn’t like this. My powers let me fly but…I don’t know, it’s kind of like being on an electric scooter compared to being on a skateboard, you know?”

“Uh…not really, but I think I maybe understand. Dragons use wings to fly, while you merely blasted yourself through the air. Does this feel more natural?”

“Much more.” Amy laughed. “I guess when I was on my makeshift magic carpet, I blocked the wind somehow because I hardly felt it. It wasn’t anything like this. I can even feel it between my fingers.”

“Yeah, speaking of which, do you mind holding on? I’m not exactly the best flyer.” They were close to Detroit, and the last thing she wanted to do was drop her new mage and splat her against the side of a skyscraper. Although given Amy’s power, the building might be in more danger than the woman. She couldn’t be sure but also had no inclination to try it.

“I can catch myself, remember? Plus, I’m using my powers to stay anchored to you.”

“Right.” Kristen nodded and decided to test those powers. She tucked her wings and dove toward the Capital Square Building, the headquarters for Dragon SWAT. Sure enough, despite the fact that her speed increased rapidly, the girl remained firmly stuck to her back. A yip of joy as they plummeted toward the roof of the building clearly showed that rather than any nervousness, she actually loved the experience.

The dragon spread her silvery wings, diminished her speed, and settled with her four legs on the roof of the building. Before she could even kneel to let Amy off, the mage simply jumped and slowed herself with her magic before she landed smoothly.

Apparently, she couldn’t use her telekinetic powers on herself but she could use them on anything else, including her shoes, which meant she could basically fly. Kristen never thought she’d be jealous of someone’s powers—there wasn’t another dragon on the planet who could turn their skin to steel—but she couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to fly in her human form.

“Once you get me a new skateboard, you’ll have to let me drop off your back into a pool or something.”

“It’s not exactly a priority right now,” she said and tried to remain serious. Was this what it had been like for all the senior officers who had tried to train her? She’d never been one for protocol either, although for Amy, this didn’t seem to be about rules or regulation. The girl was simply a former adrenaline junkie turned office worker who had come into magic powers less than a week before. Of course she was ready to relive her glory days. And tempting though it was to give her the opportunity to do so, she knew they wouldn’t have the time. Not with the pressure building between human and dragon culture.

It was fortunate that their last confrontation had taken place in Canada. If it got out that dragons had battled humans and died in the process…well, she didn’t want to think about what could and probably would happen.

“Come on, Amy. Let’s meet the team.” Before she could lead the mage inside, another dragon landed on the roof and this one also carried a mage on his back.

“Well, if it isn’t my two favorite ladies of law enforcement. Here I was, thinking we wouldn’t see you for a few weeks or so but you’re back in the saddle already.”

“Brockton, off my back, please.”

“Right, boss.” Larry Brockton grinned and climbed off Investigator Windlock’s back.

“Investigator,” Kristen blurted, suddenly anxious. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon. How did your meeting with the Dragon Council go?” It took everything in her power not to look at her mage, who had been the subject of that meeting. The young woman had killed two dragons with her powers and another two had died from human-made weapons while pursuing her. If history was any indication, Amy should be dead already.

“I made a few compromises.” Windlock began slowly.

“By that, he means no one will be happy about it,” Larry interjected, obviously unable to help himself.

“They weren’t happy about us taking Amy in like we did,” the investigator clarified.

“You mean alive?” Kristen growled. She would have liked to avoid saying such things in front of the girl, but she couldn’t help herself. The issue had nagged at her constantly over the last few days and her nervousness had been exacerbated by a very real sense of protectiveness that had slowly assumed an aggressive edge. She simply could not accept a policy that enforced the death penalty even if people had acted in self-defense, no matter where it originated or who it was applied to.

Windlock understood her anger and also felt it from her aura, and he held his hands up in a placatory gesture. “I don’t agree with the policy, Kristen,” he reminded her calmly. “You helped me to see how flawed it is, but the reality is that most dragons still do. They weren’t happy, but when I explained that you took her on as your mage, some of them felt better about it.”

“Because the old bag of wind reminded them that you saved their scaly butts at that party here in Detroit,” Brockton said with a grin.

“Indeed.” The Investigator nodded. “Which means I might also have inadvertently used up some of your favors, but I can’t be sure. The end result, however, is that those who feel they owe you their life were willing to give her a chance as long as you took responsibility.”

“And those who didn’t?” she inquired pointedly, her tone clipped. Part of her knew she was being unreasonable. She reminded herself firmly that he had, after all, approached the council on her behalf to make sure the reports that had been submitted by the other dragons were fair and accurate.

“Well, I pointed out that she was your mage—”

“I don’t like that either, by the way. My mage. Like she’s a possession,” Kristen snapped. She regretted it immediately, of course, but was so damn irritated and had stewed on the matter long enough to have worked herself up about it. But, while she needed a way to vent that, she shouldn’t take it out on someone who’d proven to be a good friend.

Windlock sighed and she could tell he tried not to roll his eyes. She knew he felt like she did—and the guilt over her snark made her irritation worse—but it was so frustrating to hear the repercussions of dragon culture voiced by the people she thought of her closest allies even though she knew they had no choice.

“I can’t believe I’m the one saying this, Kristen, but let the man speak,” Brockton said.

She clenched her teeth and nodded.

“When I pointed out that she’s now technically yours, the dragons who don’t support you saw that this could work in their favor.”

“How’s that?” Amy asked.

“Well, Kristen will be legally responsible for any of your actions as a mage. Which ostensibly means that she’ll be responsible for anything you do.”

The girl shrugged. “So? The last thing I want to do is hurt anyone. I’m with Kristen on this. The way to a better world is not through battling dragons. I don’t want to pick a fight with anyone.”

“That’s good to hear,” Windlock said and uttered something that might have been a snort-laugh before he smiled. “But what I referred to was the implication of collateral damage. You’ll be financially responsible for her as well, Kristen. That means damages.”

“Collateral? What’s he talking about?” Amy turned to the Steel Dragon, who groaned when she realized a negative consequence she hadn’t considered.

“What he means is that normally, when dragons or mages cause damage, the Dragon Council makes someone pay for it. Those dragons who destroyed your parents’ home both had estates, and even though they’re dead, their estates have to pay for it. If you break anything, I’ll be charged.”

“Oh, uh…how big is your estate?” the girl asked with a crooked grin.

Kristen snorted. “I live in a one-bedroom apartment and fly to work to save money on gas. My parents live in a house in the suburbs. I think the most valuable thing they own is a couch. So, uh…please don’t break anything expensive, okay?”

“No problem.” Amy forced a smile.

“There are clauses about all this, of course,” Windlock added. “Let’s get you both to the Paper Dungeon to start working on the paperwork and make all this official.”

“The Paper Dungeon?” she asked Kristen as the investigator led them down to the third floor.

“Trust me, it’s even worse than it sounds,” she told her but didn’t answer any further questions. Maybe it was kind of mean but she really wanted to see how she reacted when she saw it.

The mage didn’t disappoint her. The elevator door opened to let them off, but her mouth opened almost as wide.

In front of them stood a dozen desks covered in forms, inkwells, and quills made of feathers in various stages of decay. As crazy as that was, the real impact of the Paper Dungeon lay in the fact that mages filled out all the paperwork for every dragon action in the Midwest using only telekinetic powers. Quills dipped themselves in ink before they completed documents that then rolled themselves up and deposited themselves near hot wax and a stamp. Coffee cups, snacks, and post-it notes of gossip floated about as well, adding to the sense of chaos.

In the middle of it all stood a man in a blue robe decorated with elaborate black embroidery. The blue sleeves of the garment ended at hands tattooed with swirls as elaborate as the embroidery. His head and face were also tattooed.

“Amy, this is Atramento, our head mage,” Kristen said as the man joined them.

He took one look at Amy’s bare wrist and sucked his teeth in disapproval. “I’d ask why you’re here but it’s obvious. Is she yours or Windlock’s?”

“Is that really necessary?” she asked. “Can’t she be an independent contractor or something?”

Atramento stared for a moment before his breath caught. “Really necessary? You truly don’t realize how much of your education you missed out on by not spending the time you should have with me in the Paper Dungeon. Really necessary? What a question!” He shook his head and began to wiggle his fingers in arcane gestures.

“Where are you from?” Amy asked, no doubt noticing his accent.

“He’s from Detroit like me,” Kristen said. “And your real name’s Jose Mendoza, not Atramento.”

The mage scowled but when he replied, his accent was less pronounced than it had been. “I studied abroad. That was a big part of my life.” Rather than elaborate further, he held his hands out and papers began to stack up as if some invisible intern put them in place one by one.

Kristen was tempted to tease him further, but when she noticed the growing pile of paperwork in his hands, she didn’t dare.

“You’ll need to provide me with proof of citizenship, proof of residence, and blood type.”

“Blood type?” Amy asked, dumbfounded.

“It’s all in the forms, dear,” Atramento said and one rocketed from the stack and landed in her hands.

“She doesn’t have a place of residence yet,” Kristen said.

He sighed but she knew the mage enough to hear the pleasure in it. Silently beckoned, another stack of papers appeared from the maelstrom that was the Paper Dungeon. “This is a temporary residence form. Fill that out with your master’s address and reference it in the form. If there were any collateral damages during her acquisition, we’ll need to deal with those now as well.”

“Those have been taken care of by my account,” Windlock said.

Atramento frowned as part of the pile left his hands to return to wherever it had come from.

“But from here on out, any damages will be on Lady Steel,” the investigator added.

“Excellent.” The mage smiled and sent a form into Kristen’s hands for her to complete.

She made the mistake of trying to read it. “Damages to be paid in gold, heifers, or equivalent value?”

“Currency or food. It’s plain enough, don’t you think?” He whisked the form away from her as soon as she’d affixed her signature to it.

She would only ever be able to describe what followed as a literal whirlwind of paperwork. It was a good thing Windlock was there, as he and Brockton were able to explain some of the finer points of the contracts to the two women and let them gloss over the rest. Atramento didn’t seem too happy that they didn’t read every word of every form but he didn’t protest. She felt she could trust Windlock and that she didn’t have much choice. It was either trust him or die of starvation and a broken wrist from signing so much.

“Are there any damages that need to be remediated on behalf of the mage?” Atramento asked.

“I already took care of your parents’ house,” Windlock replied.

Amy piped up with a smile. “My skateboard broke and I’ll need a new one. Trucks, bearings, and wheels too.”

Kristen hadn’t realized how much Atramento had controlled with his telekinetic powers of bureaucracy until the statement made him pause. All the papers they’d looked at, signed, and completed stopped in midair as he turned to appraise her.

“Your…skateboard?”

“Yeah, it’s…uh, like a tiny, flat wooden car without an engine. You ride on top of it. Mine was trashed by a dragon.”

Atramento darted a look at Windlock through the room of frozen papers and pens, who nodded. It was a good thing the papers were between Atramento and Larry because he proved how different from the master of the Paper Dungeon he was. He laughed so hard he wheezed and tears streamed down his cheeks.

“I suppose we can always fill out an itemized form… I don’t think we have a section for…skateboards.”

“A gift card to a skate shop is totally fine, too, by the way,” Amy said cheerfully. “If you’re worried I’ll spend your doubloons or whatever on something less valuable than a new skateboard.”

“Less valuable?” Atramento muttered before he went back to his work and all the documents resumed their motion.

Not much else slowed the process until the very end. They were all seated at the table, the two women’s fingers stained with ink and their wrists aching, when Atremento used his powers to bring forth a dark-brown envelope sealed with red wax. He deposited it in Kristen’s hands.

“Everything is filed and you are ready to present her with her…uh…” Despite being the mage who most enthusiastically embraced dragons’ rules, he didn’t clarify what he meant. He merely jiggled the silver bracelet on his wrist.

She took the envelope and opened it. Inside was a bracelet almost identical to the one on the head mage’s wrist. She took it out and marveled that something that looked so light and flimsy could limit magic so completely. From experience, she knew that if she put the bracelet on, she’d no longer be able to take her dragon form. It would limit Amy, although not completely.

“Do we have to?” The girl moaned.

“Indeed. None of this is official until you attach the bracelet. In fact, I have another couple of forms to fill out to prove that you accepted it and demonstrated that you know how to clasp it and thus…shackle the mage.” Atremento was smiling at the prospect of more paperwork but he shuddered when he mentioned the shackle.

“All right then,” Kristen said. “Let’s do this.” To Amy, she mouthed the words “For now.” She had no intention to leave it on her but it was obvious that it had to be done to ensure that the girl had her legal protection until they could find a way around it.

With deep inner reluctance, she took the bracelet and wound it around the young mage’s wrist. Amy smiled and it seemed the power of the bracelet had no effect on her until the clasp snapped shut.

As soon as the tiny snick was heard, the girl sagged. She looked like someone had placed a fifty-pound sack of grain on her shoulders or a plant that had suddenly dried up. It was as if most of the vitality that gave her life had been drawn out of her to leave only a residual flutter, barely enough to keep her alive.

“I’d use my powers to throw you at a window for this, but I don’t think I can,” Amy mumbled.

“Indeed not,” Atramento confirmed. “The primary purpose of the cuff is to make it impossible for you to use magic against your dragon master. Your powers are limited too, of course, but you’ll get used to the feeling before too long.”

“He’s right about that,” Larry said. For once, there was no humor in his voice. “If you wear that too long, you’ll forget what you’re really capable of.”

Kristen noticed that Windlock’s mage kept his sleeves extended as far down his hands as he could. He didn’t want to reveal that the investigator had removed his cuff. Despite the master of the Paper Dungeon being a mage and not a dragon, he seemed more loyal to the dragon hierarchy of power than most people, either human or dragon. Which made Kristen wonder.

“Who put your cuff on, Atramento?” she asked.

His face tightened. “I’d rather not say. It’s a rather complex situation.”

“Tell her,” Windlock said.

He seemed to struggle internally before he acquiesced to the command. “At first, it was merely a mid-level bureaucrat who worked for the Dragon Council, but he was killed in a duel over missing paperwork. By then, the Dragon Council had realized who really managed their office. I was made a Master of Papers in a ceremony performed by the Council itself on behalf of all dragon kind.”

“You mean…” Amy’s voice caught. She took a deep breath and continued. “You mean you can’t do anything against any dragon in North America?”

Atramento nodded stiffly before he replied. “Neither can you unless the Steel Dragon orders it.”

“That seems harsh,” the girl said.

“It is an honor. Now, if there’s nothing else. I have paperwork to file on your behalf.” He pushed himself from his seat and retreated into the maze of shelves and flying paper that was his kingdom.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make him mad,” Amy said. “It’s only…I feel this awful weight on me. I can’t imagine how long he’s lived with it.”

Kristen shrugged and bit back the response she would like to have made. She didn’t think it was because both Atramento and Amy—mages she knew personally. The entire practice sickened her and not because it was dragons controlling humans. She would feel the same about any injustice, no matter who the perpetrators and the victims were.

Her recent adventure with Windlock and Brockton had shown her, however, that things weren’t always black or white. She’d promised herself on the journey from Rangeley that she would try to temper her responses and learn as much as she could about a situation before she made hasty judgments. It required ongoing effort. She had already overreacted earlier, so obviously, there was a fair amount of work still required.

This particular situation, however, seemed utterly irreconcilable, no matter how anyone looked at it. How could people imprison others in their own bodies because of a few bad actors? It seemed inhumane, unnecessary, and—if she felt patriotic—un-American. How could they deny so many people their freedom? It was also troubling what people endured when confronted with power beyond their ability to resist.

She vowed to deal with it later—both the cuff and the system at large—but she was no longer the naïve girl she’d once been. Yes, she had some hard learning ahead but she knew better than to remove the device in dragon SWAT headquarters, especially if putting it on in the first place was what afforded the mage protection.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to explain her reasoning to the girl yet. As they strolled to the elevators, Stonequest came down the stairs.

He pushed the door open without looking up. His broad shoulders and tall frame sagged and he shook his head, looking tired and worn.

“Stonequest! Hey, are you all right?” she asked quickly.

If her boss was surprised to see her, he didn’t show it. Instead, he looked at her, raised a heavy eyebrow, and said simply, “You’re back.”

“Yeah. I arrived earlier and filed the paperwork for my new…uh, mage. This is Amy Williams.”

“Hi,” the dragon said. He didn’t look surprised to see her, nor did he seem surprised that Kristen had introduced him to a mage. She had vaguely thought that might be significant.

“You don’t look so hot, Stone. Shouldn't you still be on leave?” she asked.

“Shouldn’t you also be on leave instead of out there disrupting dragon society?” Stonequest replied in a voice that was barely more civil than a growl.

She didn’t know exactly what he was talking about but winced as a pang of cold dread stabbed into her gut. Worry and gloom radiated from her boss. He must have held it in, but now that he saw her, he’d released the hold he’d had over it. His aura churned the emotions out like waves during a thunderstorm on Lake Michigan.

“What exactly do you mean?” Kristen asked. She tried to force a smile and only managed to make herself feel even more awkward. “Has something happened?”

He merely shook his head and turned his back to her, then gestured for her to follow him up the stairs. “You might as well bring the whole gang. This isn’t an order, Investigator Windlock, but I have a feeling you’ll want to see this as well.”

CHAPTER TWO

They walked up two flights of stairs to the fifth floor, then into the gym. Kristen couldn’t help but smile when she saw her Dragon SWAT team assembled. They all stood in a rough semicircle and looked as strong and tough as ever. John Emeraldeyes was there and his green eyes sparkled, his face framed by dark dreadlocks. Lumos stood beside him and twirled his elaborate mustache. Erin Timeflash was the only one of the team who gave the newcomers a smile. The other two looked far too worried.

“Are you guys all right?” Kristen asked.

“Fuck no,” Heartsbane said and looked out from behind Erin.

Seeing her made Kristen’s heart drop. Her face was still a mess and the memories surged painfully. The last time she had seen her teammate outside a hospital was in this very room. She’d opened a box that had been an explosive made with dragon pieces. Her injuries had been extensive, and she’d been hospitalized, as had Stonequest after he’d been shot trying to get her to safety. Heartsbane did not look like she was ready to check out of the hospital yet, let alone report for duty.

“What’s going on, you guys?” Kristen asked and noticed for the first time that the entire team was gathered around a TV, of all things. That alone was weird. There were TVs in the gym, of course. She had never seen one that didn’t have TV, but her team was far more focused on their form and training maneuvers to watch. They didn’t even watch sports when they worked out, yet they’d formed a rough semicircle around the screen and their gazes darted to it continually. They barely seemed to notice that she’d arrived with the investigator and a brand-new mage.

“Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused?” Stonequest asked and looked first at Kristen and then at Windlock. That was also strange. The investigator far outranked Stonequest, and the SWAT leader was a dragon who went by the book. She didn’t think she had ever seen him address a superior that way. Hell, he practically bit her head off every time she did it and questioning orders was like second nature for the Steel Dragon.

“If you’re talking about us saving Amy’s life, you’re out of your mind if you think I’ll apologize—“ she began before Windlock silenced her with a look that clearly told her to shut up and let him handle it.

“Stonequest, I should have told you I had requisitioned one of your officers, but you were out of commission so I took Steel. That’s well within my right as an investigator.”

“It’s not about her going but about what you did.”

“Everything we did was handled according to proper procedures. I had seniority on that case and filed the appropriate paperwork with the Dragon Council to clarify any decisions I made that might have seemed inappropriate to anyone not involved. Is this about something the Boston Team said?”

“No. They didn’t say anything.”

“Then what exactly is this about?” Windlock demanded. “Kristen handled herself very well. No lives were lost because of her actions, and I think we might very well have prevented a war. She displayed exceptional insight and…” Windlock trailed off when Stonequest held up a hand to signal to him to stop talking.

It impressed Kristen that the investigator listened. Many a superior officer would have steamrolled an underling who dared such a gesture while they were speaking. Her dad—a career police officer—had many stories about bosses messing up cases simply because they wouldn’t listen. It seemed Windlock wasn’t one of those.

“I’m not saying she didn’t handle herself well. The Steel Dragon always has done her very best and more than the job demands.”

Despite Stonequest’s tired face and the lackluster delivery of the compliment, it still filled her with a warm glow to know the dragon thought of her that way. Lately, she’d worked more with Windlock, but Stonequest was the first dragon to actually treat her as an equal rather than a curiosity—or worse, something to be manipulated as a tool to hurt mankind. But if he felt that way about her and didn’t doubt her actions, what the hell was this all about? Ever forthright, she asked him.

He gestured to the TV. Emerald nodded and pointed at the screen with the remote control—which reminded her of her mom for the briefest of moments because he didn’t really need to point it. It was a habit of people who’d been around before televisions had remote control and a reminder that all the dragons in this room were at least a century old.

Emerald then proved himself more capable than her mother Marty because he manipulated a digital video recording menu without difficulty and pressed play as Stonequest began to speak.

“This is a recording, obviously, but parts of it are playing over and over on most major news networks right now.”

It was footage of the battle in Canada, and judging by the quality of the video, it had to have either been a news crew or a very dedicated amateur. Kristen watched herself battle the three dragons from Boston SWAT above the asbestos mine near the city of Thetford Mines in Canada in stunning high definition.

“I don’t understand. Windlock, you said this was a sanctioned duel and that we were following rules. Is it because the mages intervened that it’s a problem?”

“No. Dragons have always been able to use their mages and humans to help them in a duel. Stonequest, what’s the problem?”

“Watch.”

Before the fight between the dragons reached its dramatic conclusion, the new network cut to the two news anchors, who discussed how the battle started and what the repercussions were. Below them, in the lower-left quarter of the screen, an inset played the battle at the dwarven restaurant where she’d finally managed to talk to Amy.

She watched as Timbergust’s chest erupted beneath a barrage of dragon bullets and the quality of the recording captured the moment in vivid and gory detail. The camera cut to where Bronzeback was impaled by two telephone poles before he too was killed by a storm of dragon bullets. Even in the small viewing area in the corner of the screen, the footage made it as plain as day that the dragon had died from gunshot wounds. An argument could possibly be made that Bronzeback had been the victim of a magic attack, but Timbergust’s death was unquestionably caused by gunfire.

“Show her again, please,” Stonequest said and Emerald obliged.

He paused the video, then rewound it to the point where Timbergust was killed. It was painfully clear what had killed him and Kristen swallowed. The entire planet—every human, dragon, dwarf, and pixie—knew that guns couldn’t hurt dragons. Perhaps, if one fired again and again, you might hurt it, but their bodies didn’t react like a human’s did.

Until now.

On the screen was incontrovertible evidence that humans could now kill dragons.

“But…I… Okay, they were talking during this part. Maybe people didn’t notice,” Kristen said and felt foolish even as she spoke.

Stonequest shook his head, his expression grim. “We recorded this a few hours ago because it was the first time any of us had seen it. Since then, the news team that recorded it has released the footage to every major news channel. From what we have ascertained, it was a woman out of Maine.”

“She followed us?” Kristen asked and he clenched his teeth so hard she hoped he wouldn’t crack a tooth. “I should have known that sneaky reporter was too damn accommodating. Bitch.”

“Regardless, she shared it,” Timeflash said. “And apparently angered the corporate structure at her company when she did so, but she felt she had to. There’s an interview with her but what matters is that every channel has dissected this footage. Most of the cable news networks are focused on the dragon battle part on account of the…uh, fireworks, you could say, but some of the smaller outfits have already zeroed in on what happened to Timbergust.”

“Can we get them to stop?” Kristen asked weakly.

“The word is out,” Stonequest said with finality. “Everything I’ve done to try to keep this under wraps for the last few months has all been undone. The world might not know it yet, but they will very soon. Within twenty-four hours, everyone will be aware that someone has guns capable of killing dragons.”

CHAPTER THREE

“But what does that really mean?” Kristen asked a little desperately. “People used to kill dragons in medieval times, right? Two wars were fought in which people killed dragons. How bad can this be?”

“This is way worse,” Heartsbane interjected. “The last time dragons fought people, there weren’t nukes or weapons like these. Good job, Kristen. You might have started the apocalypse.”

Stonequest silenced her with a gesture. “It’s not the Steel Dragon’s fault.” He shook his head. “Kristen had an idea of what these technomages were long before anyone else did. If we had put more resources behind this, maybe we could have stopped them before they arrived there.”

“You didn’t call them in, did you?” Heartsbane snarled.

“Melissa!” Timeflash said and earned a scowl from her teammate. She was not a fan of her first name, and Erin knew it.

“We had no idea,” Windlock said. “In fact, I had thought we had done a good job of laying a false trail, as we were concerned that the mage might draw the technomage’s attention.”

“I have a name, you know,” Amy said, her tone both polite and sharp.

“Yeah, we know all about you,” Emerald replied, his voice a low rumble. “The mage who killed two dragons without even trying. You’d better stay away from social media. There are pages and pages of fan sites all about you.”

“And as many wishing you were dead,” Heartsbane added.

No one snapped at her, which Kristen took to mean that it must be true.

“I know you didn’t intend this, Kristen,” Stonequest continued, “but I also want you to see the repercussions of your actions.”

“And how would you have wanted me to do this differently? Maybe I could have let them slaughter Amy? Of course, the problem with that is she was way more powerful than those dragons so she would have killed more of them. Not only that, Windlock was with me the entire time. I didn’t do anything without his approval.”

“She’s right,” the investigator said and seized the opportunity to redirect the conversation. “Lady Steel was entirely by the book during the operation. There’s no point in rehashing the past. It could have gone better, sure. We could have all sat down and sang together. But it could have gone worse as well. I’m not sure if you saw how close we were to igniting tensions between dragons and dwarves again. We did the best under difficult circumstances. I made sure the Dragon Council understood this. What matters now is managing the fallout. What are we looking at?”

“You mean you don’t know?” Lumos asked. “I thought you came from a meeting with the Dragon Council. Surely they told an investigator more than they told us.”

Windlock shook his head. “I’ve been airborne and out of communication for the last eight hours. This story broke after I had already left. Stonequest, do you have anything?”

The dragon SWAT nodded and looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. “The Full Dragon Council is convening.”

“Truly?” the investigator sputtered. Kristen didn’t think she’d ever seen him look that surprised before. She recalled that he had been with her when Amy had taken an eighteen-wheeler apart with her mind and used it like playdough to incapacitate five other dragons. If he was this affected, the news must be of tremendous importance.

Stonequest merely nodded as if he didn’t have the words to do it justice.

“Oh, wow…” Windlock said, rubbed his head, and sat on the padded floor with Heartsbane. He looked at the footage on the TV once more, then back to the floor as he shook his head. His expression revealed that he was deeply disturbed.

“What’s the big deal?” Amy asked into the silence that followed.

“Yeah, I thought the Dragon Council met all the time?” Kristen added. She was confused by the severity of Windlock’s reaction and Stonequest’s demeanor.

Lumos smiled at her and clicked his tongue. “You are such a capable officer and fighter that I often forget how much you don’t know about dragon culture. There is so much for you to learn, but it seems like you’re always whisked from one calamity to another.”

“Tell me about it,” she muttered, which served the dual purpose of telling them all how she felt and also to convince Stonequest to explain why it was of such import.

“The regional councils meet all the time. The North American Council, for example, is almost always working on something. But a Full Dragon Council meeting is another thing entirely. Normally, when the different councils want to coordinate policy—say the price of beef or gold or perhaps a crime that crossed from North to South America—they send a delegate. A full council meeting means all the councils from every region around the world will come together in one place.”

“I still don’t see the big deal,” Amy said. “It sounds like a UN summit. Those happen all the time.”

“These very much do not happen all the time,” Windlock added. “The last time a full council meeting was called was the onset of your second world war.”

“So one hasn’t happened in more than seventy years?” Kristen asked, a little shocked.

“Indeed not.” The color had begun to return to the investigator’s face. “It’s only convened when there is great need, which is generally in times of massive change and disruption. Humans engaging in world wars prompt full council meetings. The Mage Wars precipitated full council meetings too, of course. That a meeting was called so soon after the coverage reached the news indicates that the council members are taking this very seriously indeed.” The last words seemed to drain him of his strength and he stared at the mat once more.

“Is this why you were so desperate to keep any information about the dragon bullets secret?” she asked her boss.

He nodded.

“I still don’t quite follow here. What will this Full Dragon Council do?” Amy asked and fiddled with her new silver bracelet as if it irritated her skin. “Won’t they simply pass an international treaty or whatever like the Paris Accord? Get everyone to stop making these bullets the same way humans made it illegal to use certain kinds of mines and defined war crimes and stuff?”

“The Dragon Council doesn’t pass laws that apply to humanity.” Lumos sounded somber.

“Which means what?” Kristen demanded and her pulse began to race. “Will the Council vote to go to war then?”

“They won’t call it that,” Emerald said.

“Then what? They’ll call for the mass extinction of humanity?” Kristen was pissed-off now, and all her fears and frustrations seemed to coalesce into this new target. At the same time, she was immensely frustrated by the team’s reaction. How could they all be so despondent when they were closer to a world-ending war than they’d ever been before?

“They won’t start with that,” Stonequest said. “That would be extreme, even for them. My guess is that they’d start with eliminating the human population of North America, given that’s where the dragons were killed. Hopefully, they won’t draw the dwarves into it, but it happened in Canada so it might be unavoidable. If the weapons appear in other places…” His shrug was one of pained regret.

“Then we need to go to this council meeting and tell them not to do that!” she shouted at the depressed dragons. “We can’t simply accept the end of everyone I know. This is crazy! All we need to do is stop Constance. Most of mankind doesn’t want to kill dragons. They only want a good job and a decent house. We can’t go to war over the death of two dragons.”

“There’s no way they’ll listen to you,” Stonequest told her firmly. “You’re too young and you’ve lived as a human longer than you’ve lived as a dragon.”

“That’s stupid. Me living as a human is why they should listen to me.”

“Stonequest is right. Even if you are a steel dragon—and a tenacious and irritating one—they still won’t listen. Age means too much to them.” Lumos smiled warmly at her. She loved him like a grandfather, but he was the oldest one among them and it rankled to think that maybe he implied that even he wouldn’t listen to her, despite them being friends.

“It’s not like it matters if they’d listen to you or not,” Emerald added. “No one knows where they’ll meet. All Stonequest knows is that the meeting will be soon.”

“No one knows?” Kristen said in disbelief. Every UN meeting venue was always known months in advance.

“Of course not,” her boss pointed out. “Think about it. They will gather to discuss an enemy capable of killing dragons with handguns and bombs. This is literally the greatest threat they’ve ever faced. Before, their enemies had to create other beings simply to stand against them, but there’s no way a dragon can convince a gun not to shoot them in exchange for freedom or a parcel of land. Now, their enemies would simply have to blow up this one meeting place and end them all at once. No mage in history had that kind of power. I doubt even Amy does.”

The girl shook her head, her expression somber. “I could barely handle five. I can’t imagine more than that.”

That earned her a long look from the dragons on SWAT. Kristen saw Heartsbane mouth “Five?” to Emerald, who nodded and shook his head as if to say he’d heard it but didn’t believe it.

“The fact is that they won’t take any chances with the location,” Stonequest said with finality. “Too much is at stake.”

“But there’s has to be something we can do,” Kristen said.

“If you can think of something that doesn’t interfere with our work, by all means, let me know. But right now, I can’t imagine what you could do.”

“So we’re supposed to sit on our hands while they decide the fate of the world?”

“No. You are supposed to sit on your hands. The Dragon Council agreed with me that you’re probably the technomage’s number one target outside the actual council members. You’re to stay here at the SWAT base with your mage.”

“What will the rest of you do?”

“Every SWAT dragon has been recalled to active duty, effective immediately. We’re all on full alert for any possible indication of another attack,” Stonequest said and his posture finally straightened. “I received the order and it applies to everyone here. Even you, Heartsbane. They want the skies patrolled so these mages don’t try anything before they can decide what to do about it.”

“But that’s asinine,” Kristen protested. “The technomages won’t simply be out on the streets where you can see them.”

“And they won’t take potshots at dragons a mile up either. This is a show of force so everyone—human, mage and dragon—knows we’re taking this seriously. Furthermore, it’s an order directly from the top for all of SWAT, exactly like your order to stay at HQ came straight from the director of SWAT. Deal with it. The rest of you, let’s go.”

“Yes, sir,” Kristen said, but Stonequest had already turned his back on her and moved toward the roof. She thought the orders foolhardy but mostly because she wished she could trade places with him. She’d rather be in the skies and at-risk than know he was, while she was supposed to remain in safety and hide behind a desk.

CHAPTER FOUR

Kristen clenched and unclenched her fists as she watched others in the team leave the training area and head to the roof. She made no attempt to mask the frustration in her aura and was absolutely furious. The orders were nothing more than bureaucrats making decisions for the benefit of the elite.

“Hey, it’s not a big deal,” Amy said with a weak smile. “Maybe the dragons and the technomages will make friends and all hang out while we’re trapped here. Either that or…you know, they’ll blow each other to pieces.”

“That’s not funny,” she snapped and immediately shook her head. This was not the mage’s fault. Hell, it wasn’t even Stonequest’s fault. The blame belonged to a system that valued obedience and the status quo more than it valued individualism and justice. The frustrating part was that it was hard to be pissed at it, given that it couldn’t look her in the eye or debate itself. She had to content herself with the idea that she would be able to say, “I told you so,” when everything inevitably went to shit.

“Will you tell her or do you want me to tell her?” Kristen glanced at Larry Brockton, who practically bounced from foot to foot and glanced from her to Windlock. “Because I think it would make more sense if you told her, what with you being a dragon and everything. But if you simply stand there smirking, I can go ahead and tell her because I really, really, think someone ought to.”

“What is he talking about?” Amy asked the investigator. That finally made Kristen smile. It was nice to see someone who was even more direct and less politically correct than she was. There were times when she didn’t think that was possible.

“I intended to wait for a more opportune moment but Brockton’s right, I suppose,” Windlock said.

“A more opportune moment for what?” Kristen asked.

“Let’s continue this conversation in my office,” he said.

They all agreed and followed him to his office. As usual, it was a mess of stacks of paper and manila folders crammed with different documents, all arranged in teetering piles. Windlock gestured at Brockton with a sigh and the mage sprang into action. He wiggled his fingers and the papers and folders picked themselves up and began to swirl in a cyclone of notes. It was hard to follow exactly what was happening inside the tornado, but it seemed that some papers stuffed themselves into other folders, which then stacked themselves in a filing cabinet. A minute later, all that was left were three piles for Kristen, Amy, and Brockton to sit on.

Larry released a contented sigh. “You know, when I was cuffed, I could have done that, but it would have taken me ten times as long and damn near tired me out. I have to thank you once more for setting me free, Windlock.”

“As long as you put it all back when we’re done in here.”

“Given that I have full access to my magic, that won’t be a problem.”

“How did you do that?” Amy asked with both glee and jealousy in her eyes.

“That impressed you?” Kristen asked, shocked at how excited the girl was. “You took an entire forest and used it to clobber two dragons to death. Why are you worked up over putting papers away?”

“I don’t have that kind of control. While I’m all right with controlling one thing at a time—”

“You mean like a skateboard,” she cut in, unable to help herself.

The young mage smiled and stuck her tongue out. “Exactly! Which, by the way, I have yet to be compensated for. Just saying, your mage can’t get around as well without her own set of wheels.”

“So you’re saying you can throw a forest around but not an office?” Kristen asked.

“Oh, I could throw it around fine. But putting everything away?”

“And filing by date,” Larry added.

“I can’t do that,” Amy exclaimed honestly.

“Aw, give yourself time. I saw you take that truck apart. You’re a natural. Keep practicing and soon, you’ll be able to put things together.”

“Even with this bracelet on?” the girl asked and lifted the dainty bracelet to hold it like it was made of lead rather than silver.

Kristen looked at Windlock. “I can take that off her, right? You took it off Brockton.”

He set his jaw. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m an investigator, you’re a grunt for Dragon SWAT. As long as you’re in this position, first and foremost, you need to follow orders.”

She glared at him. Did he really tell her not to free Amy after he’d already liberated Larry?

“Now, hold up. Don’t get your aura all out of whack,” he continued. “There’s nothing you can do to change the way things will turn out while you’re stuck in the SWAT base, but… Well, I’ve seen you in action. You’re a vector for change. I’m sure of it. Everywhere you go, you alter things. And not little victories either. You stopped Boston SWAT from starting a war with those dwarves, and you proved the danger of the technomages to some of the most powerful dragons in North America.

“Maybe it’s luck, or your unique perspective, or merely something about who you are as a dragon and a human being. But I believe in your ability to do something here too.”

“Thanks for the pep talk, Windlock, but what does this have to with me being—”

The investigator held a hand up to silence her and she obliged him, although not without rolling her eyes.

“Furthermore, you’ve convinced me that this coming war will be devastating to everyone. I’ve seen what those bullets and explosives can do to dragons. And those were basically the home-made version.” He chuckled darkly. “What if the human military gets hold of this tech? They could develop armaments capable of wiping dragons out with even greater ease.”

“It’s not all about dragons, you know,” Kristen said.

“I know. Really, I do. I already thought I valued human life more than the average dragon, but you’ve made me realize how precious every human life is. Plus, I know none of you were born then, but I remember the Mage Wars, too. Entire human cities were burned to the ground to root out a few rebels. Mercy was not a good word in those days, and I have no reason to think that will have changed now that dragons are even more concerned with human power than before.

“The Mage Wars were dark times for both species, but this looming war feels even worse. At least with the Mage Wars, it was primarily mages versus dragons. Regular humans stayed out of it. But with Constance and these weapons of hers, she’ll make every American think it’s their constitutional right to have the firepower to kill a dragon.”

“Is she wrong?” Amy asked.

Kristen couldn’t help but smirk at her. She was from rural America, after all. Obviously, she knew her way around a gun.

“I don’t think humans should live in the shadows of dragons any longer. I don’t think it’s good for either species,” Windlock said. “But I also don’t think the way to eliminate that shadow is to shoot dragons out of the air.”

“Well, what can we do?” she asked.

He shrugged and let a wry smile tug at the corners of his mouth. “To use the modern parlance, I don’t have a fucking clue.”

Larry laughed uproariously. “So you have paid attention to the way people talk these days.”

The investigator continued to smile and shrugged. “I really don’t have any ideas. My next step would be to continue the investigation into the technomage group and hope I could find some of their cells. Perhaps that could maybe defuse the situation before it exploded but honestly, I don’t have any idea where I’d begin. Here in Detroit, I guess, but beyond that? I don’t know how to think like a human to be able to even guess where they’d hide. Plus, I’m not confident that stopping a cell will be enough now that the genie is out of the bottle. If these weapons are made available to people—especially Americans, who know how to use guns—dragon dominance might be over.”

“So you have nothing?” Kristen asked, a little dumbfounded and mostly frustrated.

Windlock nodded. “In this case, I’m actually counting on your tendency to always go to the next right thing and come up with a better answer than I have.”

“While I’m stuck here in SWAT HQ? It might be tricky. Constance won’t target this building again, especially if I’m the only dragon here.”

“Then why stay here?” he asked.

“Because I was ordered to. Something you pointed out.”

“Dragon SWAT ordered you to stay here,” Windlock said and slid his hand into his pocket. He withdrew an object in his closed fist, then uncurled his fingers. In his palm lay a seven-pointed silver star with the slitted eye of a dragon in the center. It was the same badge that he wore on his trenchcoat, the badge of an investigator. “However, investigators are not part of that chain of command.”

“Are you…but… You can’t be serious,” Kristen managed to stammer.

“I am,” he said. “It’s yours if you want it. The seven points reference the seven traditional seats on a Dragon Council. The eye in the center means nothing escapes our vision. The Council didn’t want to at first, but I convinced them to approve it if you want it. And there’s no obligation. You can return it any time you want to resign. Being an investigator is a solitary existence. You won’t be able to rely on other dragons in the same way. I wasn’t able to help you in that duel if you remember.”

“Oh, come on, you old windbag. It’s not that bad. You have me,” Brockton said.

He smiled warmly at his mage before turning to Kristen again. “You’ll of course still be able to have friends and it won’t affect how you interact with humans or mages at all but…well, it will change your place in dragon society. It’s long been the policy of the Dragon Council to not force the responsibility on those who don’t want it. The choice is yours.”

She had no idea what to say. Part of her knew she had to take it and that this was the chance to prove herself to dragon and human society and to make things right, but the other part was terrified. Before, when she’d made mistakes—as she had many times—someone had always been there to pick up the pieces. Be it a simple reprimand or disciplinary action, someone had been there to tell her she was out of line. From what she’d seen with Windlock, that wouldn’t be the case. He didn’t seem to answer to anyone other than the Dragon Council.

“So what kind of responsibility are we talking here?” Amy asked as if she’d read Kristen’s thoughts. “What?” she continued when everyone looked at her in astonishment. “If I’m the Steel Dragon’s mage, I want to know exactly what her job requirements are.”

“Smart mage you got there,” Larry quipped.

Kristen looked at Windlock and waited for him to answer.

“With that badge, you can question almost anyone in dragon society.”

“What do you mean by almost?” she asked.

“Well, Dragon Council members are excluded of course. That means the North American Council members who appointed you as well as the council members from other regions.”

“Who investigates them?” Amy asked.

“No one,” he said flatly. Kristen couldn’t tell if he meant no one should or that no one ever had, so she waited for him to clarify. “They are beyond reproach. Well, that’s not technically true. You could investigate one if you wanted to, but you’d need prior permission from a majority of another council. There are a few other bigwig dragons like that. For example, if you wanted to investigate me, you’d need permission as I’m a fellow investigator.”

“Okay. That seems reasonable enough. I suppose. So you’re telling me I need a warrant for the big ones but any other dragon is fair game?”

“Basically, yes.” Windlock nodded. “But I’m not only talking about dragons. My last job was to investigate Amy, who I suspected to be a mage. Investigators can investigate all parts of dragon culture. That means dragons and humans who work with dragons. We could investigate dwarves or pixies too. Or mages.” He raised an eyebrow and Kristen did not fail to understand him. She’d have the authority to investigate Constance Vigil and her technomages on her own terms. That was worth gold to her.

“Are there perks?” Amy asked.

He chuckled. “An office anywhere you want it plus a better stipend, but I must say the best perk to me is that if you call for assistance, dragons will listen. That badge carries the weight of the Dragon Council of North America. That’s no small thing. If you ask a SWAT team for help, you’ll get it unless they’re in the middle of something bigger. Even then, they’ll normally get me help. Stonequest was always willing to share you when I asked.

“Most importantly,” he continued and held the badge out to her, “you won’t be part of SWAT anymore. You won’t be part of the chain of command. You’ll be free to take action.”

“What action?” Kristen asked, overwhelmed by what she was offered. This was crazier than when she’d graduated from the police academy and immediately been placed on SWAT. It was crazier than when Stonequest had made her part of dragon SWAT. All of the previous indescribable moments seemed to fade into ordinariness against an opportunity so enormous she hardly knew what to do with it.

Windlock merely smiled his wry grin once more and shrugged like he’d rehearsed the gesture. “I really can’t say. If I knew how to tackle these technomages, I would. The problem is that this is a modern threat and none of us are modern dragons. I didn’t expect you to bring humans in to help stop the mage terror attack at that rooftop party. That was a stroke of brilliance—and in hindsight, completely obvious—and I would never have thought of it. I wouldn’t have thought you’d adopt Amy as your personal mage, not after she’d killed two dragons.”

“In self-defense,” she reminded him.

“You’re right,” Windlock agreed. “You are absolutely right, and yet that line of reasoning didn’t even occur to me. Hell, I would never have considered using a bulletproof vest to protect myself from a bomb, let alone carry it into the air.”

Larry chuckled. “To be fair, Windlock, I don’t think anyone would have thought of doing that.”

“Okay, we seriously have to sit to swap stories in the near future,” Amy stated, her eyes wide.

Windlock continued. “Everything I have seen of you demonstrates that your instincts are superb. You have exceptional moral fiber and are more than capable in a fight. In fact, your only shortcoming seems to be an inability to follow orders you don’t agree with—which for an investigator, is actually a boon.”

“I can’t believe this is happening. Honestly…I-I don’t know what to say.” It irritated her that she actually stammered the words, but there seemed a slight disconnect between them and her brain.

“Say yes,” Larry said with a grin.

“I trust your instincts, Kristen,” the investigator said, “and it’s my job to not trust people. I think you can trust your instincts as well.”

“What about you?” Kristen asked.

“Oh, I’ll follow your lead—this time. Don’t think this is my way of getting rid of you or anything like that. I’ll be along to advise and help you, but you’ve more than proven yourself capable of making the right calls. We don’t have time for you to check in with me on every decision you make. Plus, if you work as an intern or something along those lines, I’d have to explain your actions to the Dragon Council when this is all over. Given that I don’t understand said actions half the time, I’d rather you do that yourself.” His eyes twinkled. Apparently, that counted as a joke for him.

“I don’t know. I mean…I want to say yes but I worry that other dragons will resent me for it.”

“Aw, who cares about them?” Amy asked.

“Yeah!” Larry interjected. “Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? Massive global war and the possible extinction of the human and maybe even the dragon race?”

Kristen laughed, shook her head, and took the pin from the other dragon’s outstretched hand.

“All right, then,” Windlock said and nodded as she tried and failed to pin it on her uniform.

“Do you mind?” she said and handed it to him again.

The old dragon chuckled. “Are you giving it back already?” he asked as he pinned it in place with a practiced hand. She wondered how many dragons he’d honored in this way in his centuries and centuries of life.

He adjusted it, leaned back in his chair, and appraised her. “It looks good on you.”

She smiled and thanked him. To her, it felt heavy—not only from the metal but from the responsibility that came with it. Windlock had said she would have freedom with the pin to do as she wished, but she knew better. Her mission was clear. She had to prevent a global war. The seven-pointed dragon eye was a reminder to herself that this was the mission she’d been given in life. She couldn’t squander this opportunity, not with the fate of the human race hanging in the balance.

CHAPTER FIVE

Constance reached their temporary base moments before she saw the story on the news. They couldn’t fly like dragons could, and she didn’t like major highways, so the trip to a warehouse in Detroit from Canada had been a long one.

Her team was exhausted but proud. They’d killed two dragons, one all on their own and another when they seized the opportunity the mage had created. It felt good to know they were an accomplished task force.

The satisfaction of victory felt even better when she turned the television on and saw the battle replay again and again on the screen. The first few stories had focused on the dragon battle, but before long, other channels began to report on the two dragons who had—to quote Constance’s favorite line—“obviously been slaughtered by some kind of modified firearm in the hands of a human.”

Slaughter was exactly what she wanted people to think of when they thought of dragons. This story would be the first chop into the massive tree trunk that was the dragon power structure. It had already been dealt and there was no going back now.

She allowed her team to watch the news for a few hours when they first returned. They laughed when the dragons died and marveled at Kristen’s power. For the first time, they all saw why the Steel Dragon would have made such a powerful ally. She knew how to fight dragons and many in the group wished she could be convinced to. Maybe if—no. She shook her head. Now was not the time to think of Kristen Hall. It was time to move forward with their years of planning.

More than anything else, Constance hated dragons. She hated how they wantonly killed humans, how they hoarded treasure, and how their culture existed on the backs of human culture like a clutch of leeches on an Olympic swimmer. But that didn’t mean she didn’t respect them. She knew they were cunning, smart and powerful. It would be the epitome of stupidity to think the dragons would take the deaths of two of their kind at the hands of a small band of humans sitting down.

While the others watched the news, she began to make calls.

It was a misconception to think that a sleeper cell like hers could exist in a vacuum. One simply couldn’t hide in a hole and hope to overthrow the status quo. To be effective, one needed contacts. She knew that and had some in the most powerful human organization in the world—the United States Military.

It hadn’t been easy to develop these relationships, but she had found a way. After all, the military needed to buy their weapons somewhere, as did she. A little patience was really all it had taken to create a solid network. She simply made sure that at the end of each trade show she attended, she was invited to the next one. Over the years, she’d made her way into more and more exclusive weapons offerings until she located some of the people who always asked the same questions. Each of them was wise enough to see that humans could not let the proverbial sleeping dragon lie.

This group included people like General John Andrews of the US Army.

He was stationed in Fort Drum, New York, and had been in charge of the base for half a decade. Constance had met the general many times, and he was one of the people in the US military who shared her distrust of dragons. He liked single malt whiskey, didn’t like to eat pork—but also didn’t like to admit that in front of other members of the military—couldn’t stand golf, and was a Mets fan. General Andrews didn’t realize that she knew all these things about him, but she had made it a point to learn them because that was how someone like her was able to manipulate people like him.

“Constance,” the general said after he’d answered his phone on the first ring. “I was waiting for you to call after your recent performance. You do know the last number you left me is dead.”

“Not all of us are protected by a US base, General. I have to keep moving if I don’t want our mutual enemies to barbeque me like a pork chop.”

He grunted but didn’t respond to the comment. “You’ve made quite a splash, Constance. Every major media channel has realized what you and your team did. You might be the first normal people in the world to kill a dragon.”

“You flatter me, General,” she said coyly. He knew a little about her—one couldn’t build contacts and remain completely anonymous, after all—but he didn’t know she was a mage. As far as he was aware, she was a weapons dealer with a healthy respect for the second amendment who viewed dragons as the greatest threat to humanity.

Andrews didn’t much like mages and viewed them in a similar light as dragons in that they were stronger than regular people. He tolerated them as a necessary evil and was aware that she had a few on her team, although she’d been careful not to reveal that every one of her fighters had magic. She didn’t share his bias, obviously, not with her magic powers, but she saw his point. There would be no equality until everyone on earth was on an equal footing. People needed to be able to defend themselves against all attackers and with lethal force if necessary. “But I didn’t call you for praise, sir.”

“Of course not, Constance. Let’s get to it. We have good intelligence indicating that the Full Dragon Council will convene sometime soon.”

“I’m sorry, sir—did you say the full council? As in the leaders of the entire dragon society?”

“That’s what our sources say, and it fits with their history. The whole world is watching people kill dragons on loop right now. They’ll try to get in front of this one way or another. They can’t afford to stay quiet and for once, the damn lizards want to be united.”

“Do you have any idea where this meeting will be?” Constance asked, practically salivating at the prospect of every dragon leader in the world being together in one building.

“Supposedly, it’ll meet somewhere in Northern Canada.”

“Do you know more than that? Northern Canada is a big place.”

She could almost hear Andrews scowl over the phone. “I can’t even tell you a state. Those damn dwarves—well, you know what I think of them. You’d think they’d be loyal to people since people made them, but it doesn’t seem that way. I’d tolerate the short little bastards if they were actually neutral, but they always seem to side with the damn dragons.”

Constance didn’t bother to mention that she had a different perspective of the dwarves. When she’d gone to Canada, they had let her speak to Amy Williams in an attempt to woo the mage to her side. They hadn’t given that opportunity to dragon SWAT although, in the end, they had let Kristen take the mage. She thought they could handle themselves fine. It wasn’t worth trying to explain their politics to the general. What she needed was someone who was willing to take decisive action. Presenting the dwarves as a complex, multifaceted people wouldn’t achieve that.

“Do you think the dwarves know where this meeting is?” she asked and played off his biases.

“You’re damn straight I do! Those dragons know they can’t plan a meeting in our homeland without us finding out about it. Our surveillance is too damn good but in the great white north? There’s not much we can do there. What grinds my gears is that I’m sure the dwarves must already know the location but have they shared that intelligence with their allegedly closest ally? Not at all.”

“I wish I knew the location,” she said.

“Tell me about it,” he agreed. “It’s the chance of a generation. Sources show that they haven’t met together since the invention of the atomic bomb. Can you imagine if we attacked their little meeting with only one of those puppies? Dragon or not, there’s no way they could survive that. And all the better that it’s in Northern Canada—less risk of casualties.”

Constance liked the general because he spoke about the missed opportunity to kill dozens of power-hungry dragons with the same longing in his voice as a fisherman might use to describe the biggest fish he ever caught, only to have it slip off his hook.

Except that they still had a chance to snare all the dragons.

“I don’t know, Andrews. A few platoons of soldiers armed with dragon bullets would probably make a wonderful mess of things up there. A nuke might do the job more completely, but soldiers armed with weapons would drive home the point that dragons are no longer indestructible more effectively.”

“Which is precisely why they’ve kept the meeting place secret, of course,” he grumbled.

“Well, if you hear anything, let me know. You and I both agree that the second amendment provides for well-regulated militias, and my people are ready to work with you and the army against this threat.”

She made it sound like her people would work under the authority of the army, as that was what military people expected. While she never told an outright lie, she also never went so far as to tell General Andrews or any of her other contacts in the military that her people would follow orders. After all, wasn’t that what the second amendment was all about? Armed people needed to exist outside the chain of command in case the government became corrupt and moved against the people. The only problem was the government had been complicit with abuse from the all-powerful dragons from its onset.

“Believe me, you’ll know when I know. Not everyone is on board with a strike against those damn lizards. Not a preemptive one, anyway. The idiots don’t realize that if we wait for them to attack us first, it’s already over. If I hear anything, I’ll let you and your team know first thing.”

“Okay. Thank you, General.” Constance didn’t bother to tell General Andrews that she planned to mobilize multiple cells across the country so that when the spark met the dynamite, they’d all be ready. It was better if he thought of her people as good ol’ boys, gun aficionados, hunters, and small-town folk who believed in private property above all else. She’d far rather he undervalued them on those grounds than know he was working with a highly skilled and well-trained network of magic assassins. That was much better, in her view.

“In the meantime, I want you to expect a shipment from me,” she said.

“You know it’s not my birthday. I still haven’t used the last gift you gave me.” On his last birthday, she had provided him with a revolver filled with six dragon bullets. He’d doubted their veracity until he’d used one on a piece of dead dragon hide. That had impressed him but despite the available footage—he wasn’t a man who simply accepted everything the media touted as fact—he still hadn’t fully grasped how capable the weapons were of hurting living dragons.

“I hate to say it, Andrews, but this gift will make my last offering look downright stingy.”

“Is that right?”

“Be on the lookout for a case or two of the same quality pieces I gave you last time. And don’t be jealous when some of my other contacts get something similar. You know I’m not exclusive with you and the boys at Fort Drum.”

She heard something spray out of the general’s mouth and the man coughed. He’d probably sipped whiskey while she’d dropped that bombshell on him.

“I’m sorry. Did you say cases? With an ‘S?’ As in you have cases of those?”

“That is indeed what I said, General Andrews.”

“Well, how in the hell did you manage that? It seems like just the other month you were all proud of those six little bullets. Now, we’re talking about thousands of them? And you’re dumping ʼem off? How the hell can you afford that kind of material? We tried using the body of a dead dragon, and there was hardly enough to make one case, let alone multiple, and of course, we couldn’t get anything to stay together. What’s your secret?”

“Exactly that, sir, a secret. We live in America, after all, the land of free business. If I told you my secrets, wouldn’t that amount to socialism?”

“If it did I guess I might be voting socialist,” he muttered before he cleared his throat and addressed her in a more formal tone. “And you’re sure they’ll work as advertised? It wouldn’t do for me to send my men and women in only to find out you filled these cases with duds.”

“Andrews, please—you offend me!” The almost purring tone balanced the playful rebuke. “I can hear your TV in the background. You’re watching the same footage I am. The proof is right there. Yes, the bullets work and soon, your confidence in my efforts will be justified. You’ll be one of the people responsible for saving and liberating the human race.”

“Hmm…” Andrews intoned thoughtfully. The assassin could practically see him lean back in his chair and take a sip of his whiskey. She knew that the idea of John Andrews liberating the human race thrilled the man. He’d told her once at a Brazilian steakhouse that he joined the military because he wanted fame. He wanted to be known as one of the great generals in history, one of the men who made the hard choices and to whom even pacifists and liberals looked with begrudging respect. Men like Lincoln and FDR, although he had never been one for public speaking, so a run at the presidency had never really been an option for him.

“You’ve already achieved so much, John,” she said and gambled with his first name. Normally, she didn’t use it unless he was drunk—but maybe he was, albeit slightly. “You’re a general at one of the most well-respected bases in the country. You saw action in Iraq in the nineties and earned your medals. By all accounts, you could rest on your laurels. I know this is asking a lot, but I’m scared, John. I really am.”

“There’s no reason to be scared,” the general said, gears no doubt turning in his mind. He had also expressed to her that he didn’t like his posting at the base. While he would never complain to anyone in his official chain of command, of course, he felt he was in a dead-end posting at the end of his career. Everyone knew he was close to retirement and warfare wasn’t what it used to be. It made sense for him to stay on the base, even though he wanted more. “Those who made history were never scared.”

“I’m sure they were,” Constance said, “but they didn’t let fear stop them. They weighed the consequences and acted in the name of freedom.”

“You’re damn straight,” Andrews said. She heard him swallow the contents of his glass. “These weapons might give us the edge we need to win the final war to free humanity from the dragons. I think…well, I think that’s the only way for the history books to look at this time without shame. They need to see that when given the opportunity, we acted. We didn’t sit around and we forged history itself by breaking the chains those damn lizards have put on us for centuries.”

“I knew I sent them to the right man,” she said warmly. “And use that speech for your troops. It gave me chills.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Paper rustled in the background. He wasn’t a great orator, but if he believed in the speech he was making, he was passably good. She had made sure he liked many of his speeches over the years they’d known each other.

The leader of the technomage group wasn’t so naïve that she thought of someone as accomplished and experienced as Andrews as a pawn. He was an ally, nothing more and nothing less. But she wasn’t above pulling strings either. She knew he craved fame, so was it wrong of her to present his current situation to him in that light? She didn’t think so. It was the smallest smudging of the truth in a grand scheme that would free humanity. It was nothing she had any reason to feel guilty about.

“So if you find anything, you’ll let me know?”

“Of course,” the general replied. “And we look forward to receiving the shipment.”

“I can’t wait to see it in action.”

“We’ll be ready. We’ve been ready for this for years.”

They said their goodbyes and she hung up.

The assassin took a deep breath to calm herself. Not knowing where the Dragon Council meeting would be was a blow. She’d fostered relationships with men like General Andrews precisely for situations like this. Still hopeful, she made a few more calls but no one knew anything more, which really was too bad. While her hope had been a confirmed location, she also wasn’t surprised at the outcome of her efforts.

Dragons were powerful, obviously, but they were also cunning. They understood the threat to themselves better than humans did and by now, they knew what the future would bring. Constance—knowing dragons to be the bloodthirsty killers they were—knew it was only a matter of time before they struck at humanity. A preemptive strike was inevitable. Unfortunately, it was also the only way humanity would be galvanized to throw off their oppressors, so it had to happen in order to achieve her goals. Timing would therefore be crucial. When it happened, she had to be ready. Humanity needed to see the brutal cruelty of dragons met by her own people.

Still, there was nothing to be done now but make sure they were as prepared as possible.

Constance returned to the members of her cell. They were still celebrating the footage of them killing the dragons. She gave them a smile and turned the TV off.

“It’s time to up the production of our bullets. The long game is over. I want as much ammunition as we can possibly make and I want it within a week. There’s no saying when this conflict will break, but it’ll more than likely be soon. I want as big a harvest as possible.”

“Are you saying we can finally kill the damn monster?” Vindication asked. He had never liked keeping their subject around. Not that she blamed him. It was a little creepy to live, work, and sleep in whatever interim base they occupied with nothing for company but a giant dragon kept in a vat of chemicals and hooked up to electrodes.

She turned to the dragon. The goo they kept it submerged in aided its healing powers, but it still was a sorry sight. Its scales were pale and poorly formed from never seeing the sun and always being submerged. Recently, its fingertips had been torn away, as had many of its teeth. Its wings had long since stopped trying to form properly, so they were tattered ribbons, a parody of their true destiny.

Vindication hated fishing the membrane from the dragon’s wings out of the tank. The material was basically worthless but if not removed, it would jam the filters. The dragon’s eyes had been cut out too. Actually, they looked like they were due for another removal as they were rolled back and milky. The dragon was far more docile when it couldn’t see, so part of their harvest was to remove its eyes.

“He’s been far too good to us for us to simply slaughter him,” Constance said and smiled faintly at the creature. She’d cared for it since it had hatched from the same clutch of eggs as the Steel Dragon herself. For the first time, she wondered vaguely what he would look like in his human form. He’d never been taught that he could be a human, but he hadn’t been taught much of anything. Mostly, he was kept unconscious through drugs.

Constance examined him through the glass that supported the fluid he rested in. “Okay, we haven’t harvested ribs in a long time. Take as much as you can from both sides but leave three or four—enough to support his chest. Also, take finger bones and one of the forearm bones on each hand as well. Those should grow back fairly quickly if we leave flesh there. Then go ahead and take his legs and tail. Those will give us the most ammunition and he’s proven himself more than capable of growing that all back.”

“Aren’t you worried we’ll kill it?” one of the mages asked.

“I don’t want that to happen. Start with its tail and ribs and continue to monitor his vitals. If anything becomes erratic, take a break and try again after a few minutes. He—it—will be fine.”

She nodded and fought back a single tear. It was easier to do the work if she thought of the dragon as what it was—an it like a mushroom, an apple tree, or a wonderful organic creation that would grow and grow as long as they tended to its needs. Once they started calling it things like he and him, it became more complicated, especially when she started to think of the similarities between him—it—and its sister. Both had the same ax-tipped tails, for example. She made those comparisons more often since she’d fought the Steel Dragon.

No matter, Constance told herself and turned away from the impending harvest. She wasn’t a butcher or a blacksmith but a battle master.

While her team hurried to the tasks assigned to them, she moved to her battle map hung on a far wall of the warehouse where she—despite its distance—could still hear the sounds of the power tools needed to harvest the dragon.

The map was of the United States with a pin to highlight the rough location of every dragon they had intel on, along with those of the dragon centers of power—SWAT buildings, dragon courthouses, a few of the communal retreats and estates, and others. It represented decades of research and tens of thousands of man-hours, and yet it still wasn’t enough.

Constance retrieved a silver-headed pin and rammed it home into Detroit. Kristen, the Steel Dragon, was no doubt there by now. If anyone could unravel her carefully laid plans, it would be her. But what would that look like? Surely she wouldn’t allow her and her mages to kill dragons indiscriminately. The girl had proven that time and time again and yet, what would she think if the dragons attacked? The last time they’d met, the Steel Dragon had let them go so she could fight dragons. Had her opinion changed now that she knew how far the persecution of mages went?

There was no way to know. Kristen was simply too clever and too unpredictable. She was the most powerful piece on the board and one of the hardest to anticipate, and yet she had to find answers or risk losing everything.

What will you do? Will you side with your blood or your family? Because the time has come to choose.

CHAPTER SIX

Before Kristen could decide what to do with her newfound power, a knock at Windlock’s door pulled her from her thoughts.

“Come in,” the other dragon hollered while she slapped her hand to the seven-pointed silver badge on her uniform.

It was still unreal to think that she had been granted this kind of power. She wasn’t hiding it, exactly, but she also didn’t want Stonequest to simply see it. It seemed only good manners to say something, and she at least owed him an explanation of how she got it before he reached all kinds of conclusions on his own.

“Hey, Kristen, I thought I might find you in here.” He sounded a little sheepish.

“What can we do for you, Officer Stonequest?” Windlock said, his grin carefully hidden. He didn’t do a great job at controlling his aura though, and the dragon SWAT leader raised an eyebrow at him. When the investigator didn’t respond, he turned his attention to his erstwhile teammate.

“I think I was a little rash in grounding you. My boss definitely wants you kept out of harm’s way, but I don’t think you staying at HQ is the best way to achieve that. They’ve attacked here before.”

“What were you thinking?” she asked. The badge felt heavy beneath her hand and reminded her that she no longer had to obey him. She knew this, yet it was hard to go against conditioning she’d fought so hard to internalize.

“I thought you could fly patrols with Emerald. You two work well together and we all know we can use every hand we have. You’re more than capable.”

Kristen said nothing, unsure of how to tell Stonequest that her status had changed. Windlock remained silent and left her to it but that made sense. He’d said he didn’t want to speak on her behalf anymore. In a way, this was her first test. But, while he made no effort to join the exchange, his aura made it very clear that he thought something was fishy.

The dragon SWAT leader didn’t seem to pick up on it, though, so maybe he was distracted. He continued without so much as a glance at the investigator. “Some of the elder dragons are leaving town and heading to more remote places. It seems they already understand the implications of that footage—although yeah, of course they do. Detroit Dragons were picked off by these mages before all this went public.”

He shook his head and looked like he carried considerable weight on his shoulders. “They want SWAT to cover their exodus and I can’t say that I blame them. If those damn technomages manage to kill any more dragons, the entire situation will explode. Many of the younger dragons are ready to start this war already, with or without permission from the Dragon Council. I could use people who know how to defuse a situation.”

She looked from Stonequest to Windlock. The investigator merely smiled knowingly, which echoed his aura perfectly. He said nothing, though, and obviously wanted to see how she would handle this. She didn’t like him to simply sit there with a smile on his face, but she had to admit that she respected what he was doing. If she wasn’t able to stand up to Stonequest—a dragon she knew and liked—how would she ever stand up to the Dragon Council? How would she be able to investigate rogue dragons if she couldn’t refuse those she knew?

Kristen stood, squared her shoulders, and faced Stonequest. “I’m sorry. I’d love to help and protecting lives is always my priority, but I can’t. Not with bodyguard duty.”

“You can’t?” For a moment, his fatigue gave way to surprise and amusement. “Saying you can’t is not an option. You’re part of Dragon SWAT. That means you—”

His gaze alighted on the badge and he fell silent.

“I can’t because I’m no longer part of Dragon SWAT.”

“Wha— When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me?” Stonequest demanded.

“Calm down. It only happened a few minutes ago,” Brockton said quickly.

“Windlock has honored me with this position. I don’t think the best way to use it is to be seen protecting the very people who might go to war.”

He stood in silence, shocked into confusion and his mouth agape. After a moment, the corners of his mouth twitched into the faintest of smiles. He looked from Kristen to Windlock.

“Are you taking my best asset?” he said.

“You could say that, I suppose,” Windlock replied.

“Why?” Stonequest asked abruptly, which diminished the warmth that had washed over her when he’d called her his best asset.

“Because Kristen's talents are best suited for things other than patrols,” the investigator said. “And because if anyone has even a remote chance of cleaning this mess up, it's probably someone with a foot in both worlds. And because we both know how good she is and don’t know what to do with her.” He chuckled at that.

Larry and Amy both smiled.

“She’ll work under you, though?” the other dragon asked.

Windlock actually laughed. “No, no, no, of course not! We don’t do internships. It might color the new investigator too much. I gave her the badge and plan to let her loose. Of course, I’ll follow and provide advice if requested, but Kristen has already proven herself to be ingenious and adaptive.”

“It’s only…well, it seems a little fast.”

“Dragons have been advanced to the role of an investigator with far less experience than Kristen Hall. For that matter, every dragon who’s ever held the position in the entire history of investigators has had less experience than her when it comes to maneuvering through human culture and society—which I think, given our current threat, will be of the utmost importance.”

“I mean…yeah, that makes sense, I guess,” Stonequest didn’t sound like he believed it but his aura seemed to have warmed to the idea somewhat. “Kristen, is this what you want?”

“It is.” She nodded. “Come on, Stonequest. After all those headaches I caused you by not following orders, are you really surprised? At least this way, the only person responsible for covering my butt is me.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Windlock said quickly. “Although you two have a professional history and Kristen has only held this job for about one hundred and eighty seconds, I do expect you to give Investigator Hall whatever support she requires to get her job done. I don’t want you to second-guess her simply because you know her. You’ve always done an admirable job of following my orders—as is required of you—and I expect nothing different when it comes to our new investigator, especially given the urgent nature of her job.”

“What job?” Stonequest asked.

Kristen couldn’t help but smile at the question. The dragon SWAT leader could have asked any number of things about why she was promoted or given excuses about how his team was defending dragons or anything else, but he hadn’t. Instead, he’d looked at the threat dire enough to make Windlock promote her.

“I think Investigator Hall is our best chance to stop these rogue technomages. She has proven herself capable of handling them in combat and is also able to think like them. I’ve followed their trail as long as they’ve been active and have come up with nothing. On my first job with the Steel Dragon, she managed to lure them out. If anyone can bring them to justice, it’s her.”

“Well, all right then,” Stonequest said and glanced at the badge again. “If you need our help to take the fight to the technomages, I’ll provide it. I don’t think I can call off protection runs in the middle of one, but Emerald is here and the others will be back soon. How do we catch these mages?”

While the two men had been talking, she had been thinking. She didn’t blame Stonequest for his surprise at her promotion but she also couldn’t afford to dwell on it like he could. She had been given this role so she could act. It wasn’t a political move because she had grown up like a human or because she was a woman. There were other female investigators and apparently, the dragon world wasn’t as gendered as the human one. The appointment had been made because Windlock thought she could prevent a war from consuming the planet.

It was more than a little pressure, but Kristen felt she could handle it. She straightened, made sure her aura radiated confidence, and addressed her two former bosses.

“It’s far more than merely catching these mages,” Kristen began. “We don't need to only put an end to this group of terrorists. We need to stop a war from happening. It might be simple enough to stop Constance—and we should, of course—but that can’t be our focus. We need to think bigger and prevent her from putting anything larger in motion.”

The two dragons nodded and she swallowed. It was a sobering thought for her. This was huge, bigger than anything she had ever tackled before. She couldn’t even imagine where to begin unraveling the mess, but she believed there had to be a way. For now, she had that smidgeon of hope.

Windlock cleared his throat. “So…what will you do next?” His eyes gleamed. He must have known about the promotion for days—or at least for hours, as that was how long it had been since he talked to the Dragon Council. He probably thought she was already formulating plans and designing sting operations. She was—after a fashion—but was still very much at the beginning of that whole process. Still, she knew she couldn’t do it alone.

“First things first,” she said briskly. “This war threatens humans and dragons alike. It'll take humans and dragons working together to put an end to it. We need to join our forces. I'll call the human police in and bring them here. Working side by side is the best way to bring both our people together.” She assumed that with all their talents in one place, they could maybe solve the case once and for all. It certainly seemed a better method to her than multiple agencies—Dragon SWAT, Detroit SWAT, multiple investigators—all working toward the same goals without coordination.

“Now wait a minute,” Stonequest sputtered. “I’m all for working with humans and frankly, as soon as I saw that badge on your chest, I had a feeling there would be far more of that in my future. But you want to bring them here? People don’t come here.”

“I’m a person,” Amy said with a smile.

He rolled his eyes. “Based on the footage I saw, you are the most powerful mage to emerge in a century. You’re about as human as I am. Kristen, she’s a mage. Dragons have worked side by side with mages for a long time. That’s very different than working with regular humans.”

She thought he might have handled the suggestion better if Windlock hadn’t chuckled openly at his frustration the entire time.

“What? You can’t be afraid of them,” the investigator said. “Is it that you’re worried they’ll embarrass you or are you scared you’ll shake one of their hands and accidentally crush them?”

“Wait, is that something I need to worry about?” Amy asked.

“No, of course not!” Stonequest sputtered. “It’s only…it’s not done. And Windlock, stop laughing. You’re acting like a hatchling.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” Kristen replied sweetly. “Perhaps bringing humans into the dragon sanctuary is a dangerous idea. I mean, Keith does like taking pictures on his phone. He might accidentally share some of the mysterious inner workings of Dragon SWAT HQ. He might reveal the power of the bureaucracy.”

“You know it’s nothing like that. We’ve worked with your Detroit team before. It’s not like I don’t trust them,” Stonequest admitted.

“Well, if you’d prefer that we work there, we can do that. I merely thought working here made sense since dragon SWAT has better equipment or more resources than your human equivalent.”

“We’re not equiva—you know what? Never mind. I’m only… This is all happening so fast.”

“We need to move fast if we intend to stop the worst war this world has ever seen,” Windlock said. “Investigator Hall has the authority to do this and I, for one, am already excited to see what humans and dragons actually working together will achieve. This is exactly the kind of thinking that made me choose Kristen for this role in the first place.”

“What’ll it be, Stonequest?” Kristen asked. “Will you do it my way? Or do I order Lumos and Timeflash to help me anyway? I bet Emerald would go for it too.”

“No, no. You don’t need to be so dramatic. I only…I’m not used to working this way, is all. I’ve been in command here for…well, decades. Being bossed around by the fricking Steel Dragon has kind of thrown me out of my element.”

“Hey, she’s your boss, now. Show some respect!” Amy said and some of the papers they were seated on fluttered at their edges with a small blast of her magic.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. Of course we’ll help you, Kristen. You know I trust you with my life. The fact is most of the dragons in this city owe you their life. I needed to get some of that off my chest, is all. I’ll be professional from here on out. Bring the humans here. You’re right, that makes the most sense.”

Kristen smiled and nodded at him. “Thanks for seeing things my way, Officer. Dismissed.”

Stonequest grimaced. He could tell from her aura she was mostly joking but still, he had to accept that this was the way of things now.

“Heartsbane hasn’t left yet either. We were going to fly patrols together. I’ll go upstairs and let her know about your promotion and what our next moves will be. Maybe if I’m lucky, she’ll burn me to a cinder on the spot and save me some grief.”

She chuckled as he walked out and pulled out her phone.

“Is this my office?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I got you one next door.”

Kristen nodded and excused herself, although Amy came with her.

“What’s the plan, boss?” the young mage asked and grinned. She’d really enjoyed watching Stonequest’s reaction to the power shift.

“I thought you would meet these guys over beer and pizza but it looks like you won’t have the benefit of thinking they’re the way they are because they’re drunk and off duty.” She dialed a number.

“Do you want me to step out?”

“You can if you want to but if you’re serious about working with me as a mage, I want you to be about as attached as my hand. If you need the bathroom, go for it. Otherwise, stay with me so I don’t have to catch you up on anything.”

The girl nodded as Kristen brought her phone up to her ear.

It rang twice before Drew picked up. “Well, look who it is. Ms. Hollywood herself. Me and the crew have been watching your little highlights reel on TV. Hernandez wants you to know—” A scuffling sound followed as Drew put his hand to the speaker of the phone. She could hear him talking to Hernandez. “Yeah, I know. I’m telling her!”

More scuffling ensued before he returned to the call. Apparently, he’d won. “Hernandez wants you to know that you’re a real bitch for not bringing us along.”

Kristen couldn’t help but laugh at that. If Hernandez only knew who she was talking to. She had actually called a dragon investigator a bitch. But maybe that was what was so great about the woman. She didn’t care who she was talking to.

“Well that’s good news actually,” she replied.

“Really?” Drew asked. “How so? Do tell.”

“Well, as you can imagine, there’s been considerable blowback about the whole world seeing a dragon get shot on TV. To cut a long story short, they made me an investigator.”

“You have to be kidding me, Hall. That’s great!” The irritating shuffling sound resumed as he took the phone away from his face and bellowed at whoever was near him “They made her an investigator!” She thought she could hear Butters and Keith cheer alongside Hernandez.

“Yeah, which means I get to boss around whoever I like.”

“Is that right? Who are you bossing around today?”

“You won’t believe this, but it’s Detroit SWAT. I want you and the gang at Dragon SWAT HQ as soon as possible.”

“Are you serious?” he asked.

“We need to stop Constance, Drew. and you’re the best team for the job. I’m sure of it. What do you think of that?”

“Honestly?”

“Of course.”

“Well, honestly? It sounds like Dragon SWAT doesn’t drug test as much as we do because from the sound of things, you’ve been smoking dragon crack.”

Keith and Hernandez laughed.

Kristen allowed herself to chuckle too. It might be the last time she had the opportunity for some time. “No fooling, Drew. I need you here. I’ll speak to Windlock now and he can help me with all the paperwork or whatever to square it with the captain. But seriously, this is urgent. We need to move now because I have a feeling the technomages are already a few steps ahead of us.”

“We’re already on our way, ma’am. And Kristen, congratulations again. I can’t think of a dragon—or a person—I’d rather take orders from than you.”

“Save the ass-kissing for after we prevent World War Three. Get the team here.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kristen had never been in the auditorium before. It was on the second floor of the basement of the Capital Square Building and was a reasonably classy area, she thought as she tried to focus on the lamp fixtures and beige carpet between the rows and rows of folding seats.

Don’t think about those. Of course, it wasn’t the chairs that bothered her but the people who filled them. She had expected to have a larger force attend than usual, but she hadn’t expected anything like this.

Hundreds—maybe a thousand—people filled the seats while she orbited the room and tried to think about what to say.

She knew their goal, of course. It was the same goal she’d had since she realized the threat that Constance posed, but she’d never had resources like this. She’d never had anyone on board but herself.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Even from the onset, her human SWAT team had always been on board. They sat in the front row now. Keith played on his phone while Beanpole sat beside him, watched the podium, and waited politely for the briefing to begin. Washington was next to Beanpole with his arms folded, clearly uncomfortable to be in the presence of so many dragons, but he was there all the same.

Behind him sat Hernandez, who smirked wickedly at her old teammate while she munched on popcorn. The woman must have brought it with her, and although it seemed entirely out of place, she had it all the same and didn’t seem fazed. She stuck her tongue out, then stuck a kernel to it when she saw Kristen looking at her. Next to her in the aisle seat was Butters. He smiled pleasantly as he did what she tried not to do—look at all the people in the room.

Perhaps the most out of place were those seated behind her old SWAT team. Drew and Windlock must have made the situation very clear to Captain Hansen, as it looked like she’d sent every available officer from Detroit to help Kristen with her plan. There were beat cops who had worked with her dad when they were younger and detectives who’d handled all of SWAT’s non-dragon cases. Even other SWAT teams were present, although she mostly recognized them from the airsoft arena.

Surrounding these seemingly regular humans were all the members of dragon SWAT. They were in human form, of course, but it was still unmistakable that they were dragons. They pretended to chat amongst themselves and ignore the human police inside their stronghold, but she could feel their aura. It was no doubt what made the human police so jittery.

Heartsbane, Emerald, Timeflash, and Lumos sat directly behind the human officers. They seemed amused to see their old rookie giving the orders, with the exception of Heartsbane. The scowl on her face said she wanted to murder Kristen and anyone else who told her she had to remain seated, but her aura said something different. It said she was proud of her. She knew the dragon had a level of control over her aura beyond almost any other dragon. Without a doubt, she was the only person aware that Heartsbane was actually proud of her. She probably radiated disgust to everyone else.

It wasn’t only dragons, though. All the mages from the Paper Dungeon were crammed into the auditorium as well. They passed notes to each other without bothering to be discreet about it. One of them wrote something on a post-it, folded it into an airplane or paper crane or another origami figure, and sent it across the room to a fellow mage.

Windlock was there too, of course. He stood in the very back with Larry Brockton. The investigator had a self-satisfied look on his face which she tried to keep telling herself was because of the presentation she was about to give.

It’s not a presentation. She looked at the stage at the front of the auditorium. This is only a briefing. I can do briefings.

The truth was that she hated public speaking. All her failed attempts at making speeches went through her head. When she’d first become the Steel Dragon, the news had been obsessed with her and while she’d coped and even seemed to excel at being in the public eye, any mass gathering only served to remind her that it had made her a target. She’d thought she might have conquered her anxiety when she’d gone to present at the hospital, but that only earned her a sniper bullet made of dragon parts through her shoulder. If anything, that had exacerbated her innate anxiety over being at the center of attention. More recently, she’d done okay with two reporters in Maine—or she thought she had but apparently, one of them hadn’t bought her story and tailed her, recorded her, and shown the world the danger that humans now posed to dragons and perhaps sparked World War Three.

On top of that tight little ball of anxiety, Kristen also had to consider that her words today would determine not only these people’s lives but those of the entire planet. If she messed this up, the future of both species could go up in dragon flame, bullets, and atomic blasts.

No pressure, she told herself, took a deep breath, and totally failed to calm herself.

Drew came into the room and strode down the sloped floor and past the rows of chairs like he owned the place despite only having now been invited in. He came up to her, looking serious until he was directly in front of her with his back to the crowd so no one could see his face except her, and he broke out a grin.

“You look like you’d rather fight a dragon than get on that stage,” he said.

Kristen couldn’t help but guffaw. “Is it that obvious? Me and public speaking don’t mesh. If I’m lucky, someone will shoot me with one of the bullets I’m trying to confiscate. If I’m unlucky, the world will literally end.”

“Don’t be so melodramatic. There’s nothing we could do to end the world,” Drew said.

“Are you serious, Drew? We are literally talking about a war between humans and dragons. We’re talking fire breath versus fighter jets armed with dragon bullets, but if the dragons do too well, there’s always atomic bombs to worry about.”

“Atomic bombs can’t end the world, Kristen,” he said and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Cockroaches will survive as well those weird tubeworm things near ocean vents or whatever.”

“Have you watched more nature documentaries or something?”

Drew smiled broadly. “Things get boring without you around, Kristen Hall, Steel Dragon. You have nothing to worry about, though.”

“I really do, Drew.”

He shook his head. “No, you don’t. You’re right. If we don’t stop this from happening it might very well be the end of everything we love. It might be that the mages already have a crazy plan and that we only have twenty-four hours left to live—"

“You’re really not helping,” she cut in.

Drew held up a hand, “Let me finish, okay?”

Kristen shrugged. He couldn’t make it worse, right?

“My point is, yes, the world’s in danger, but there’s nowhere I would rather be than right here, working with the Steel Dragon herself. You’re the only person who might be able to find a way out of this mess that doesn’t involve all of us fighting over the last can of beans.”

She smiled sardonically. “Sure, Drew, I know you feel that way, but you’ve saved my ass and I’ve saved yours. We’re friends. Most of these people here don’t know me.”

“They know of you. Every cop in Detroit is always pounding us for stories about the Steel Dragon. They all know that although your skin is made of steel, your heart is made of gold.”

“Come on, Drew, that’s a little cheesy.” She chuckled. “Did Butters tell you that one?”

He turned to the sniper, who put his hand to his heart and winked, which made it even more obvious that he was the one who’d given his team leader that particular line.

“The point is that I’ve watched you grow—we’ve all watched you grow. Hell, it’s damn hard not to with the media being such a sucker for you. You came in headstrong but damn if that stubbornness didn’t save my ass again and again. All these people know you—either directly or by reputation—and know you’ll do your best to solve this and won’t compromise lives to do so.”

“How can you say that?” she demanded and tears came to her eyes unbidden. She turned her back on the crowd so no one had to watch the Steel Dragon cry. “Jonesy died because of me.”

Drew took her by the shoulders. “Jonesy died because he was a bad cop.”

“What?” The words shocked her because he had never said anything like that about anyone.

He shrugged. “He was. He was hungover half the time and drunk the other half. He was racist and didn’t do a good job of leaving that bullshit at home. He swore—”

“So does Hernandez.”

“Not in front of civilians.” Drew shook his head. “I’m sorry Jonesy died on your watch, but that would have happened one way or the other. Kristen, you took a rocket for that man. Not a bullet, but a goddamn rocket! What more could you have done?”

“I don’t know. If I had only known more—”

“You do know more, Kristen. Think of everything you know now that you didn’t know then. Hell, has anyone tried to attack Detroit since they discovered what you are? You even scared Shadowstorm into hiding inside the recycling plant instead of risking an all-out battle! You’re a hero, Kristen Hall, and we all know that if you lead us, we can do this.”

Kristen nodded and wiped the last few tears from her eyes. “You’re right. I can do this.”

“Damn straight you can!” Drew clapped her on the shoulder a little too forcefully. “And if you don’t…well, we’re all fucked. So who really cares anyway?”

Her eyes widened but she couldn’t help but laugh. Ah…the humor of those who knew they were about to face their own death. Gallows humor was precious to human SWAT in a way it wasn’t to the dragons Kristen had worked with more recently.

“Great, we’re all fucked anyway. Words to live by, I guess,” she said, surprised that those were his last words and even more surprised that they’d worked.

After a deep breath, she walked onto the stage and stood behind the podium. The crowd continued to talk, which wasn’t too encouraging. Still, it gave her a moment to steel herself, then switched on the lapel mike she wore.

Feedback briefly blared and most of the crowd turned to look at her.

“Shut the fuck up,” both Hernandez and Heartsbane yelled loudly. They caught each other’s eyes after the outburst and seemed to appraise one another. Now that was a relationship Kristen did not want to see develop, so she took a deep breath and began to talk.

“Hello, everyone. My name’s Kristen Hall.”

She paused maybe too long, so Keith yelled, “Are you an alcoholic?”

The humans laughed at that but the dragons didn’t. If they had been in their dragon forms, they’d doubtlessly be twitching their tails in frustration.

“I’d say I’m the Steel Dragon or Lady Steel or tell you my credentials, but you all know me. I’m a cop, exactly like the rest of you. The main difference between me and any of you is that I’ve been yelled at by both Stonequest and Captain Hansen.”

That drew a few laughs, which did calm her somewhat.

“You also probably already know that the reason I get in trouble so damn much is that I refuse to defend dragon lives over human lives or visa versa. I believe we need to share this world. We can’t continue to pretend we’re two separate cultures. We’ve been mixed together forever and it’s time to acknowledge that. Our enemies hope we won’t realize that until it’s too late.”

She looked across the room to see somber faces. “I don’t use the word enemy lightly either. We’re all cops, so we all know the power and importance of words like alleged, and suspected, but we are not dealing with alleged or suspected criminals here. We are dealing with murderers. This job will be different than anything else we’ve ever done because if the enemy isn’t stopped, it will mean war is certain, not merely possible.”

Kristen paused to let those words sink in. It appeared to be an unpleasant process, but she also saw many people nod. They knew what was coming because they were all detectives and enforcers of the peace. If anyone knew the dangers of new kinds of powerful firearms in the hands of the unstable, it was them.

“Make no mistake, it will be a brutal, bloody war. Human cities will be torched. Dragons will be cut down by bullets made from dragon parts.”

“That’s disgusting!” a dragon yelled.

“Oh, I agree,” she said calmly, determined not to allow herself to be derailed now. “But that’s not the half of it. These enemies—technomages, we call them—have acted in a limited capacity, which means there are limits to their weapon production capabilities. Even if they have built up a cache they think is big enough to win a war, they will not hesitate to harvest more dead dragons on the field of battle and use them to kill even more of their kind.”

“Humans are monsters,” another dragon bellowed in protest.

“And how long before dragons start to think about the first two human rebellions?” she demanded in response. “How long until the dragons decide they miss eating meat? You dragons have all read the history books that aren’t available to regular humans. You know as well as anyone what you ate to survive in those wars. I’m not so naïve to think it would be different.”

She paused to let the weight of that sink in. You could hear a pin drop in the room before she continued. “It’s a nightmare scenario. What’s worse is that the Full Dragon Council will meet soon and if nothing changes, that might well be what they elect to do—unless someone can change their mind first.”

Kristen smiled at her friends, dragon and human alike.

“This was never my dream as a little girl. I never thought I’d be in this room with all of you, human and dragon both, the bravest police in the Midwest. All I ever wanted to do was be a cop, but so many of you believed in me and helped me and gave me a leg up that I became something more. I know some of you might say that I brought all of these people from two different species together, but that’s not true.

“You came together to help, and that gives me hope. It ought to give all of you hope,” she said, “because this kind of cooperation doesn't usually happen. It’s never happened, not in all of our centuries together, but it can.

“These two species—the one that raised me and the one I am—can work together and defend peace for all. The trust and bond that everyone in this room must have for each other if we are to succeed can spread. When we are successful, the world will look at this cramped auditorium and say this is the kind of thing that made it possible for both groups to stand side by side. This whole meeting is a symbol of hope for a better future.”

The crowd applauded and she let them. They clapped for a dream that Constance and her technomages worked so hard to rip apart and that the Dragon Council itself was afraid of. The noise finally died down and she continued.

“Unfortunately, symbols aren't enough by themselves. Not when war is looming so near at hand. We must stop the terrorist cells before they can take more action. To do that, we need to find out where they’re hiding, root them out, stop their dragon bullet production, and end this threat once and for all. Maybe if we can show the Council that humans and dragons working together will make dragons safer than a human-dragon war ever would, they will elect to pursue a path other than war.”

Kristen looked around the room. “You’re all professionals. We all have teams and bosses.”

“Not you,” said Brockton, grinning like a fool.

“My point is that we all know we need to find these technomages, so get onto it. You don’t need me to micromanage. Everyone in this room is now assigned to my anti-mage terrorist task force, effective immediately. Everything else is on hold until they're brought to justice. If you’re not working, know that the technomages are. So you’re all dismissed and will proceed under the direction of your commanding officers. Let’s get to work.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

The applause following Kristen’s speech was as long as necessary and no longer. She smiled and decided that even if she had been nervous, she had got what she needed to say across. Every human would get the details from Drew’s files. Every dragon and mage would get them from Stonequest. She had already spoken to a few teams about cross-overs, but she had full confidence that people would work to find answers and bring her the leads they found.

Kristen couldn’t help but smile as Jim Washington approached her from the seats. It was exactly like the Wonderkid to have a lead moments after the investigation began.

“What do you have for me, Wonderkid?” she asked and let herself grin as he responded with a look that seemed to ask how she knew.

“Well, I don’t have any new evidence but something’s kind of kicked around my head. Now that we’re all hands on deck, I thought I might as well share it.”

“Sure. What do you have?”

“Well, honestly, I think it’s weird that a group of technomage terrorists are still in control of the dragon bullets.”

She nodded and tried not to laugh. “Yeah, you’re right, but weird has basically been my job description since I found out I was a dragon. What aspect of magic users making dragon bullets to wage a more successful war than those that involved dwarves or pixies are you talking about?”

Jim smiled. “Fair enough, fair enough. I guess I’ve gotten used to all this crazy shit too. What I’m wondering about is their money.”

“Their money?”

“Sure. Most groups like this—terrorist cells, gangs, cartels, and those kinds of assholes—have some source of funding. Many cartels sell drugs, for example, while some kidnap people and ransom them. But as far as we can tell, Constance and her folks don’t have anything like that. We’ve never busted a drug-dealing mage, and she’s never made any demands beyond war, right?”

Kristen rubbed her chin and tried to think if Constance had ever demanded anything other than to overthrow the dragons’ grip on society. “I think… I think you might have something there.”

“Right? Plus, they’re making high-quality rounds. Think about it. We’ve fought against them a few times now, and no one has ever reported a jammed weapon, a dud bullet, or anything like that. Their facilities have to be reasonably professional to get that kind of consistency. And then there’s the elephant in the closet.”

“You mean the dragon,” she said with a frown.

Jim nodded. “Yeah, I do. I had a chance to look at some of Dragon SWAT’s data before this meeting started. They’ve recovered bullets from more than one of these crime scenes that have over a ninety percent match to your DNA, Kristen.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“I wish I didn’t have to, kid.” He sounded far older than he was for a moment. “But it’s like you said. We don’t have that kind of luxury anymore.”

“You’re right, of course. Go on,” she told him.

“Right. Well, at first, I assumed these mages harvested their materials from the dragons they killed, but the DNA testing seems to show otherwise. They must have an individual restrained or complicit or something.”

Kristen nodded at the idea, as disgusting and macabre as it was. “They’re probably using their healing power to continue to…” She let the sentence trail away because she didn’t want to say the word aloud. The very thought of them harvesting a living being to make weapons was repulsive.

“Exactly.” Jim looked disgusted at the idea. “Which means they have a dragon they need to keep fed, healthy, and restrained, not to mention move occasionally if they remain mobile—which, let’s face it, most terrorist cells do. An operation like that, plus building weapons? It can’t be cheap.”

“Okay, funding…that’s a great place to look at. I’ll get some of our desk jockeys on it,” she said, ready to get to work.

“Hold up. I have one more thought for you. Who else might benefit from the bullets?”

It didn’t take her long to follow his train of thought. “You’re thinking about the military.”

“Bingo,” he said and his jaw clenched. “We saw hell over there. Dragons aren’t supposed to participate in human wars, but that doesn’t mean they don’t. I’m not the only one with an ax to grind against dragons. And even if there isn’t a personal grudge involved, from a tactical position, dragons are a nightmare. There are many folks in the military who think the US has maintained global military dominance since World War II, but that doesn’t extend to dragons. These bullets would let us lead the world in military might. There are those who won’t ignore that.”

“I have to say, Jim, I don’t like how much sense you make,” Kristen said after she drew a deep breath. “Do you want to infiltrate a base or something crazy?”

The Wonderkid smiled. “No, nothing like that. Not yet anyway.”

She hated that she couldn’t tell if he was joking.

“I want to check in with my old military contacts and connections,” he continued. “I’ll run things through the grapevine and see if I can get any news. If there are officers high up involved in manufacturing dragon bullets, they’re bound to have told at least a few people down the chain. If that’s the case, I might be able to find out. But don’t get me wrong. Part of me hopes I come up with nothing at all.”

Kristen nodded. “Me too. If you’re right and there are parts of the military that have their hands on these bullets, it’s a significant problem. If the US military gets hold of them, I don’t see how we could prevent a war. That's too big a threat for the Dragon Council to let it go. They’d authorize a preemptive strike, which of course would earn retaliation from the military…” She shuddered at the thought.

In two strikes, it could all be over and Constance would win. The world, however, would burn.

“Jim, I have to say it makes sense. You might be right and if you are, you need to be damn careful. You’ve already stuck your neck out a little too far more than once. Don't get it chopped off this time.”

“Believe me, that is not my intention.”

“All right, then. Let me know as soon as you find anything out. If I’m not here, tell Drew.”

“You got it, Steel Dragon.” The Wonderkid winked and headed off to get to work.

Once he’d left, she watched the rest of the auditorium come together. Many people had already left, but a fair number of the joint human and dragon teams were still in discussion about how they would go about things.

Kristen moved through the auditorium and listened to snippets of conversation.

“Hell no, we won’t be bait for you guys. You don’t even know what it takes to kill a human.”

“We do too.”

“That’s the problem.”

Another conversation a few paces away presented an entirely different perspective.

“You want to ride us? Forget it. I don’t care how much time it will save.”

She saw scowls from humans and felt flashes of anger from dragon auras. Arguments flared between senior officers and junior officers took sides with their bosses.

But no one threw a punch and no one resorted to profanity or name-calling.

The humans and dragons didn’t work together perfectly, but they worked together. There was friction and tempers manifested, but that was to be expected. They were in a room with hundreds of people who all thought they were the one who knew what justice really meant, and she had forced them all to reconsider what their definition of the word was. Until now, few individuals from either species ever considered what justice looked like for the other. Now, they all struggled to not only define it but enforce it. Given what they were going through, she thought they did admirable work.

On the other hand, they also all knew the price of failing to work together. War was not justice and police weren’t soldiers. If war came to this continent and spread to the world, it meant every police officer in this room had failed at their job’s primary function—to keep the peace.

As Kristen made her way through the auditorium, she saw more and more groups break away. Everyone seemed purposeful and no doubt headed to offices or coffeeshops or already out to walk beats that might yield information of value.

She couldn’t wait to join them, to follow the leads of a thousand of the brightest minds in law enforcement, but first, she had a mission of her own to tackle. A highly functional team was the key to successful law enforcement. She had to make sure hers worked at the highest possible level.

Larry Brockton stood alone and waited for Windlock to finish a conversation with another dragon.

“Hey, Larry. I need your help with something.”

“Given that you’re the boss of everyone in this whole building, I think I’ll go ahead and simply say yeah, you got it. Whatever you need.”

“Great. Let’s take a walk, though. This is something I need you to do in…uh…” Kristen glanced around. It was as she expected. People couldn’t help but watch her. After all, she was the Steel Dragon and now their boss. She radiated energy and controlled the space, and as long as she was around, people would pay attention to her.

She led the mage up the stairs to her new office. They closed the door and she sat behind her desk—a weird feeling. The chair wasn’t particularly nice, and the desk—while made of wood and in decent shape—didn’t feel particularly special. Despite that, there was something very right about sitting at her own desk—the desk of an investigator.

“What you need, boss?” he asked and seemed to be at a loss. She didn’t think he was used to seeing an investigator’s office so clean and knew she only had to give it time. While she’d yet to work a case, her first one promised to be a doozy.

“I want that cuff off of Amy,” she said, perhaps too bluntly. “It hinders her magic and it seems to make her feel like crap. I saw her wince and stagger when it was first locked on. I had one of those damn things on me when I was sent to prison and it was horrible. I understand that hers isn’t quite as restrictive, but still. I almost died when I didn’t have access to my powers. If she is restricted like that—especially if and when we go up against Constance or God forbid, we have to stop a dragon from burning a city to the ground—she’ll fail. Hell, she might die and take me with her. I won’t have her life or this mission risked because of dragon paranoia.”

“Will you take it off her?” The mage rubbed his wrist where his own magic-inhibiting bracelet had been until recently. He didn’t sound particularly flustered at the idea, but he was Larry Brockton, after all. She had seen him ride into battle on Windlock’s back and not complain about anything but the wind.

“I want to, but I’m concerned about how the dragons will react. I realize Windlock took your cuff off, but you’ve been a staple in dragon culture for years. Many people know you and everyone knows Windlock. It’s odd, but you two have kind of earned it.”

“You’re worried that if you take it off, the dragons who don’t like the Steel Dragon raised by humans might take offense?”

Kristen sighed. “If it was only that, I wouldn’t be so concerned, but Amy’s safety is my priority. While it was in self-defense and that has been made clear, there’s still no question that she killed two dragons. That’s not the kind of thing everyone will simply forget. If she’s not cuffed, I’m worried dragons will simply wait for an excuse to snap at her.”

“She could defend herself, though,” Larry said and barely hid a grin. He knew better than anyone how powerful Amy really was. Kristen had a fairly good idea based on what she’d seen, but he was an experienced mage. He knew exactly how much power she needed to do the things she did.

“If she did that, we’d have a war on our team. It’s not an option.”

“Okay, so you want to take the bracelet off but you don’t want anyone to know? How exactly do I help with that?”

She smiled. “There are times when I’m very thankful you worked with an investigator for so long because you pick things up so quickly. That’s exactly what I want. So, can it be done? I doubt I could put any old silver bracelet on her and expect it to trick all the dragons and mages into thinking she’s not a threat, right?”

Brockton took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. “I…that’s interesting. You know, I’ve never really considered all this but you’re right about that. There’s a spell on the cuffs. Any mage can read it on another mage and many dragons can too. In fact, I’d wager that most dragons will try to read hers on account of her being new and so powerful.”

“So the cuff gives off an aura?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “You can think of it like that. It doesn’t change like a dragon’s or a mage’s aura does, though. It’s more like a stamp or something. It’s there and most dragons and all mages can read it.”

“Okay. Is there a way to fake that spell?” Kristen asked and leaned over her desk. “Is there a way to make a bracelet look like it functions as expected to keep a mage's power level in check but doesn’t actually do anything?”

Larry’s eyebrows raised in obvious surprise. “I hadn’t really thought of that before.” He chuckled. “I’m a cop—or a dragon one anyway. I’m not the kind of person who goes around breaking the rules, so it never occurred to me, but…”

“But?”

“But yeah. I believe it ought to be possible. It’s a different spell than the one that stops the power, which is always the same and very powerful. The one you’re talking about—the identification component of the bracelet—is more complex, but I don’t see why it would be particularly high-powered. It’s probably something I can achieve on my own.”

“So you’ll do it?”

The mage chuckled. “It’s not like I’ll be in trouble, right, Investigator?”

“We both heard Windlock say he gave me the job so I could explain all this to the Dragon Council myself. There’s no way I’d let you get in trouble for following one of my crazy orders.”

He nodded. “Yeah, of course I’ll try. Actually, I’m intrigued by the idea and the challenge of it.”

“Excellent. If Windlock needs you for something dire, help him of course, but if you can work on this and get me a solution as soon as possible, that would be great.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He darted from his chair and saluted as a knock sounded at the door.

Stonequest waited for her response. Since his original shock at learning that Kristen had been promoted to an investigator, he’d become one of her staunchest supporters. It was great to see him take her so seriously, even though it wasn’t really a choice. He had tried to hide the existence of the dragon bullets from dragon kind, the mages, and humans too. She’d sometimes been frustrated by this decision, but he’d understood better than anyone what would happen if their existence became common knowledge. His worst nightmares were now on the verge of reality if the combined team’s efforts failed.

“What can I do for you Stonequest?” she asked with a small smile. How completely their situations had changed was quite amusing despite the seriousness of the situation.

“We have a possible lead,” Stonequest said, his tone all business although his aura betrayed his excitement.

“Already? That’s great! How?”

“The Wonderkid turned something up.”

She beamed. The fact that Jim had found something was great, of course, but it was the fact that he’d gone to the dragon SWAT leader to relay the information that truly inspired her. If he of all people could work with dragons, a bridge could truly be built between the two species. The challenge would be building it before Constance tried to burn the foundations.

“Washington said an officer from the supply division at Fort Drum reported an unusual incident.”

“And can we trust this guy?” she asked.

“Jim seemed to think so. He said he was an old friend and was afraid after he’d seen the footage of the dragons on TV.”

“Go on.”

“Apparently, he has an incoming shipment of something—he's not sure what—that has no verified sender. He did his job correctly and filed a report with the base MPs, who put it out to other law enforcement for assistance to track the origin.”

“It doesn’t sound like anything concrete,” Kristen said, a little disappointed.

“That’s what I thought at first too, but Washington pointed out the timing and I think that might be all we’ll have to go on. It’s not like Constance will write ‘dragon ammunition’ on the side of weapons and post them on social media.”

“Fair enough. So that’s what you think it is? Dragon bullets?”

Stonequest looked like he wanted to shrug and dismiss the idea as pure paranoia, but something in him—the cop, no doubt—wouldn’t allow him to make the familiar unconcerned gesture. Instead, he nodded grimly.

“The way I see it, this is either nothing—drugs or something stupid—or it’s the worst possible scenario. We might find out it’s a bust, but if this is a shipment of weapons to a US military base, we’re basically already at war. The Dragon Council will not tolerate it, and if Constance chose her target right—and we’d be fools to think she didn’t find the perfect person—they won’t wait for the dragons to attack. Your military has a preference for preemptive strikes.”

“All right. Then we mobilize. We’ll treat this as our first operation but can’t drop every lead we have. I want people to continue the search for Constance here in the city and follow anything else we have, but I’ll have a list of who I want with us in ten minutes. We’ll leave in twenty. Tell Windlock he’ll be in charge of HQ until we get back and let’s all hope to hell this is a wild goose chase, even though my gut tells me it’s not.”

Stonequest nodded. “I wish you were being paranoid, but I think this might be it. We need to douse the spark that might set the world on fire.”

CHAPTER NINE

Twenty minutes later, Kristen stood on the roof of the Capital Square Building with the team she’d asked for.

Emerald, Heartsbane, and Stonequest would be the dragons on the team and Drew, Washington, and Amy would be the humans. The dragons were chosen in case they encountered trouble, Drew for his cool head and as a capable tactical fighter, and Washingon for his military experience. Amy was in case they encountered mages and they needed to fight magic with magic.

“All right, it’ll be a long flight, so get comfortable and let’s do this,” she said, already in her dragon form. Everyone nodded and Amy used her magic to lift herself onto her boss’ back. Thankfully, she was learning to use what abilities the cuff allowed her to their maximum advantage.

Stonequest lowered a shoulder for Drew to climb on. Emerald let Washington ride on him. It came as no surprise that Heartsbane was the first to take flight. She’d never liked humans and no one had expected her to offer to let one of them ride her.

The flight took hours given that from Detroit to northern New York wasn’t exactly a short distance. While they flew, they talked tactics and theories and Amy provided a bubble around the human passengers so they didn’t get cold from the wind and could actually hear each other.

What struck Kristen most on the journey was the beauty of the lakes below them. They soared across Lake Erie—once renowned for being so polluted it would often catch alight—but both its cleaner condition and the late hour of the day made it look beautiful. Gentle rolling waves hosted schools of freshwater fish and the occasional fishing boat dotted the seemingly endless stretch of water.

How can something look so peaceful while the world is so close to going to hell?

The question became even more pronounced when they flew over Niagara falls. There, tourists from all over the world gathered to gawk at a natural wonder. People snapped pictures of the dragons flying overhead and would no doubt post them to social media later, only concerned about the appropriate hashtag. It was both wonderful and terrible that her job could keep so many people oblivious to the dangers in the world.

If they did their job right, everyone would spend another night in comfortable oblivion. It was a weird goal to work toward, but Kristen infinitely preferred it to the other option in which world peace was shattered and every single person was thrown into the chaos of war. At least, when the world was at peace, they had some semblance of control over their lives. War did not give people control of anything. It would only take what little they had.

An hour later, they hovered above Fort Drum. From the air, it was obvious that the base was laid out in a huge oval. The northern half contained the barracks and training areas for combat, the military police, and other units. A small mall, a grocery store, and a fast-food outlet were positioned on the west side. The base headquarters took precedence in the center of the oval.

Even from the air, the southern half looked much older. People moved about there uncertainly and Kristen assumed those were new recruits awaiting allocation to a proper unit. There also appeared to be offices on the southside, as well as old equipment and warehouses. She could tell from the architecture that the northern section of Fort Drum saw far more practical use. The brick and concrete buildings looked both newer and in a better state of repair. The south wasn’t derelict or anything like that, but the paint didn’t look quite as fresh and there were more wooden buildings than concrete. In fact, there didn’t appear to be any brick at all.

“Should we land at the south and walk in?” Emerald asked.

Kristen considered his suggestion. It would be the polite thing to do and would give the soldiers time to form up as the dragons walked through their base. Unfortunately, they didn’t have time for niceties.

“No, follow my lead. I have a feeling we’ll need to talk to someone from headquarters.”

She whooped as she tucked her wings and plunged toward the base. Amy screamed with joy from her back—she really was more of a thrill-seeker than her boss had realized when she’d tried to track her. The other dragons followed and remained in tight formation as they plummeted and only slowed at the last second when they spread their wings, made one last cursory loop, and landed in a diamond formation facing the headquarters building.

While she wasn’t surprised at the reaction of the soldiers, she was impressed.

As the dragons tucked into formation, close to a hundred soldiers ran into position. They’d fortified the entrance and stationed troops in the trees across the street from the building. While they surrounded the dragons to make it clear access was not permitted, no one actually raised a weapon to aim at them. Whether that was a begrudging sign of respect or simply policy because it was known that regular bullets couldn’t do much damage to dragons, Kristen didn’t know, but she took it as a good sign either way. If these soldiers already had the dragon rounds, some of them would no doubt aim them, no matter how well trained they were.

A moment of silence followed while the mage, Jim, and Drew climbed off the dragons and the soldiers held their positions. A sergeant with a mustache and a hard face that looked like it had seen combat stepped forward.

“To what do we owe the honor of this unannounced visit?” he demanded, his tone civil but sharp.

“We’re not here to hurt anyone. My name is Kristen Hall, otherwise known as the Steel Dragon,” she said as she approached the sergeant and transformed into her human form as she moved. She pointed to her dragon investigator badge and he calmed visibly.

“Pardon our response, ma’am,” he said, chagrined. “The rumor is your kind will hold the first full council meeting in decades. Normally, those don’t go well for people, and well…being a base so close to Canada, we’ve drilled for ages for this kind of possibility.”

“Rest assured, Sergeant…”

“Smith, ma’am. Sergeant Ulysses J Smith.”

“Rest assured, Sergeant Smith, the last thing I want to do is hurt any of your men and women. As you can see, I brought a small group to aid me in my investigation. We merely want answers to a few questions, nothing more.”

He appraised her team and nodded. The four dragons had taken their human shape and appeared much less formidable—merely like seven people visiting a base that held hundreds. The tension eased now that they seemed less threatening. Kristen wanted them to continue to feel that way, even if it wasn’t technically true.

“Who can I direct you too, ma’am?”

“Who is in charge of your supplies?” Washington asked.

“If you have questions about our supplies, I’d direct you to Major Dunning. I’ll show you to his office,” the sergeant said and brushed his mustache with his finger and thumb. He turned to the soldiers. “Back to it, men. Some of you dragged ass getting into position, which means you need five miles as a reminder not to do that. Not yesterday, now!”

The troop broke ranks as Kristen and her team followed Sergeant Smith to Major Dunning’s office.

“Here he is, ma’am. He has access to all our emergency comms so if you need anything, he’ll be able to get it for you.” The sergeant’s subtext was clear. I may be going outside and this guy might seem nice, but he can press a hidden red button and this whole base will be up your ass faster than you can sneeze.

The Wonderkid knocked and an older man answered, “Come in, come in!”

It was immediately clear that Dunning had been there a while. The walls of his office were covered in photos of him meeting various political figures over the years. His bookshelves were crammed with books that had a layer of dust on them that hadn’t appeared overnight.

“Jim, how are you?” he said, stood quickly, and shook the man’s hand warmly.

“I’m good, Major. I’m not in the service anymore but working as a cop.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that when you called. That’s what brings you here, right?” Everything about Major Dunning radiated calm. He was a thin black man in his late forties or maybe early fifties with tight, curly hair that was now more gray than black. His spectacles didn’t look like they’d last long in a combat scenario. Kristen couldn’t help but like him.

“Well, like I said on the phone, we don’t know exactly what we’re looking for, at least from the outside. But we’re concerned that illegal arms will reach the military. I appreciate you letting me know that you noticed something.”

She knew that Jim had called Dunning, and yet the way he had phrased the last statement made it sound like the man had called him. That was the power of the Wonderkid, though. He was great with people.

“Of course, I don’t know what’s in there, but I saw a shipment that seemed designed to basically be invisible. It came in late, no one needed to sign for it, and it was unloaded into a warehouse without anyone to help, that kind of thing.”

“You still have them eyes, huh?” Jim said with a laugh.

The major smiled. “Oh yes, that’s why they don’t want to move me out of this office—thank goodness for that, of course. I don’t miss these kinds of things. I thought that was why General Andrews kept me here anyway, but when I reported this to him, he wasn’t exactly thrilled about it. He said something along the lines of who did I think would order a shipment like this but him. I tried to tell him I could square the paperwork so the soldiers wouldn’t know but the big brass would, and he got all bent out shape. But that’s fine. Who wants to be bossed around by Major Supplies? That’s what the troops call me.”

The Wonderkid looked like he was about to ask more about General Andrews but Kristen flashed her aura at him to make him feel like he should remain silent. She wasn’t subtle about it all, so he looked at her and raised an eyebrow. Her response was to give him a look that told him to simply let the man talk.

The opportunity to perhaps apprehend a person—especially a general—was important to her, but first and foremost, they had to stop the guns. After all, the old axiom was true. Guns didn’t kill people but people with guns did. She needed to stop the weapons.

Major Dunning seemed to also be more interested in the shipping itself than in further complaints about his boss. If there was something nefarious afoot with his commanding officer, he didn’t seem particularly concerned about it.

He opened his desk and removed some documentation, which he handed to her.

She glanced at it and noted the time and the instructions to leave without signatures. “And when is it supposed to come in?”

“That one? It should come in later tonight.”

“Wait—what do you mean, that one?” she asked.

“Another shipment like that already arrived,” he said with a smile like these were all pieces of some fun little mystery instead of the possibly the catalyst that would set the world ablaze. “Honestly, if there hadn’t been two of these, I probably wouldn’t have thought to say anything to Jim. The other one came in a few days ago. I tried to track it but couldn’t find it anywhere in the warehouse. Then Andrews gave me his glib answer and I thought maybe it was something personal and he’d had it delivered here to qualify for a military discount or something. He wouldn’t be the first CO to use his position like that and probably wouldn’t be the last, but then this one showed up. Well, when Jim called me, this all came to mind.”

“The loads are the same?” Washington asked.

“They both come late at night and are simply dropped off without signature or any help unloading, but the shipment that’s coming tonight looks like it’ll be much larger,” Dunnings said, removed his glasses, and polished them.

“And you never found the first order?” Kristen asked.

“No, and I’ll be honest with you, it’s begun to drive me crazy. What do you think it is anyway? Drugs? I don’t want to speak ill of any of our men and women, but everyone—even soldiers—has vices.”

She shook her head. “Something worse than drugs.” Her instinctive caution made her hesitant to tell him more. He seemed trustworthy enough and had even questioned this General Andrews—although he’d also simply left it there—but might not quite understand the meaning of a secret. Obviously, he respected classified information—one had to be able to do that if they were in charge of supplies—but he appeared to have a need for transparency that might be a disadvantage.

Dunning didn’t press, fortunately, and simply nodded. His eyes widened behind his freshly polished spectacles and he leaned back in his chair. “I suppose you would like me to take you where the shipment is?”

“Don’t you mean where it’s supposed to be?” Stonequest said. He was the only other dragon who had pushed into the small office.

“Yes, I suppose so, but I thought with you being dragons, maybe you could…I don’t know, smell it or something.”

The two dragons looked at each other and laughed. She smiled at the kindly man. If this was an act, he was a master of deception but she didn’t think so. In fact, it began to seem that her reservations had been groundless and perhaps they could trust Major Dunning after all.

Their entire team followed him through the headquarters building and out the back to a transport truck. Kristen and Washington sat in the front with the major while everyone else piled in the back. Dunning drove them south to the older buildings positioned around the huge oval that made up the base. It almost felt like driving back through time.

After ten minutes of comfortable silence, they arrived at a warehouse.

The team disembarked and entered. Their guide took them to a place where scuffed flooring suggested that a crate had been there, although it was now empty.

“Huh, exactly like you said. Nothing,” Stonequest said, obviously not impressed.

“No, not nothing,” Drew said. “Something was there. That area’s not as dusty as everywhere else around it.”

“Exactly!” Dunning looked like he had seen a ghost. “When I came and checked here last, there was nothing unusual. Now, though, it looks like this spot has been swept or something. I…this is very peculiar. I’ve never seen anyone bother with that in a warehouse before.” He removed his spectacles and polished them once more as if doing so might make the missing crate appear.

“You said earlier that whoever received this shipment had already moved it,” Drew said and again assumed the role of detective. “This seems to indicate that they didn’t want any trace evidence left behind.”

“Which means we don’t know what the hell was in there and have no way to find out.” Stonequest growled with the frustration they all felt.

“We know that whoever arranged this took some extraordinary precautions,” Washington said. “It would have been far simpler to try to fit this in with a larger shipment, but that would have risked discovery. This way makes it more obvious that it’s something odd if it's discovered, but balances that by making it far less likely to be discovered by accident.”

“Do you think this is what we came here to find?” Kristen asked Washington.

“I can’t say. It could be nothing but it does seem like the best lead we have unless Windlock has something for us.”

Kristen shook her head. She hadn’t heard from the investigator.

“There’s nothing to be done, then.” Heartsbane sounded furious like her time had been wasted.

Jim, Drew, and Kristen all looked at each other and smiled.

She spoke first. “Come on, Heartsbane. The major said another shipment was planned for tonight and it’s even bigger than the first. Have you never been on a stakeout before?”

“A stakeout? You mean where we hide in the bushes and drink bad coffee and wait for nothing to happen? That’s mage work,” the dragon huffed.

“Not anymore it’s not. I want to know what is in those crates and I want to stop that shipment before anyone can get their hands on it.”

Dunning grinned. “Now this is how a discrepancy in supply paperwork should be handled.”

CHAPTER TEN

While most of the team readied themselves for the stakeout, Kristen and Jim flew to the Military Police building. On the way, she realized this was the first one she would be on with Drew that didn’t involve snacks. Butters must have been in charge of those because they’d been almost a ritual.

“Do you think these guys are complicit or what?” her companion asked when they landed out front.

“Nothing like that.” She actually laughed at the idea. Her dad was a cop and she was essentially hard-wired to trust police in any form. She knew—intellectually—that there were problems with that thought and that corrupt officers existed on every force, human or dragon, military or civilian. Still, she couldn’t help but give police the benefit of the doubt.

She flashed her badge at the two MPs guarding the door, who saluted smartly and let her past. Another led down a hallway to the office of the XO.

“Lt. Colonel Barnes, Ninety-first Military Police Battalion,” he said and proffered his hand to shake hers. If she hadn’t been a dragon, her knuckles might well have been crushed. The only thing harder than the man’s handshake was the expression on his face. He was younger than she thought the rank suggested but perhaps his short-cropped red hair made him seem younger than he was. Still, he looked as disgruntled as any old-timer she had ever seen.

“Hello. I’m Kristen Hall, the Steel Dragon and investigator.”

“Yes, ma’am, I am aware,” Lt. Colonel Barnes snapped and barely let her finish before he spoke. “Now, what exactly can I do for you today? And may I point out that nothing I do will be against protocol—for example, landing in the middle of Fort Drum without following the proper chain of command is something I would not have allowed.”

“Well, Lt. Colonel, that’s exactly why we’re here. It seems someone has delivered late-night packages to your base—without the proper paperwork, I might add. We’re here to see what that is.”

The officer’s unreadable demeanor was such that she might not have noticed his reaction to her mentioning the late-night delivery, but she could read his aura like any other’s. He was surprised that she knew about the delivery and disgusted, either with her or with the problem shipment. None of this reflected his face, however. The only expression he seemed capable of was being perpetually pissed-off.

“Do you know something about that?” Kristen asked, which surprised Jim, who turned to raise an eyebrow at her. Honestly, it was a risk. Barnes knew about it as Dunning had reported it, but he might also be in on it, which meant he might call the latest shipment off. Or—if her suspicions were true—he was a true hard-ass who loved the rules and someone had asked him to bend them for this.

For a moment, the Lt. Colonel somehow appeared to look even more pissed-off before his features finally softened slightly. While it didn’t make him even close to agreeable, it tempered his overall disapproval somewhat.

“I…uh, I already took that up with my boss, Colonel Fox, and he said not to worry about it. He didn’t fill out the proper forms to officially enable me to not worry about it, but chain of command is chain of command.”

“And what if I told you that your Colonel Fox and perhaps even General Andrews have been compromised by an enemy of the United States people?” Kristen asked.

Barnes didn’t react to this in the way she thought he might—again, she read his aura, not his face—which made her think he had already entertained the idea.

“I would say it’s not my place to entertain conspiracy theories about my superiors…ma’am.” It sounded like a canned response to her, maybe one he had been given by the man he’d asked about the matter.

“We’re here to investigate that shipment and another that’s supposed to arrive tonight,” she told the military man. She wanted to tell him more but again, how could she be sure she could trust him? Even with her ability to read his emotional state, she wasn’t sure. Still, she had to give him something. “We suspect the missing supplies and the shipment arriving tonight involve terrorists, but we have yet to confirm that.”

Barnes stiffened visibly at that. It was the first body language he’d actually displayed, which indicated that her words had definitely made an impression.

Kristen wanted to trust him. He seemed cut from the same cloth as Dunning—a man who took the rules of the land more seriously than the people who claimed to enforce them—but even if he was, it didn’t guarantee his support. Hard men like him might be glad to have dragon bullets. Clearly, folks at Drum knew a war might be brewing and a soldier like Barnes might be relieved to finally have the arsenal he would need to carry out his orders.

For a moment, no one said anything, then the military man spoke. “You’re not telling me everything.”

“No, I am not, Lt. Colonel Barnes. I am a dragon investigator, and what I do is confidential. But I can assure you that I act in the interests of the people and dragons of this country. If you’ve heard of me, you know my reputation. I don’t take sides.”

“I already have people withholding intel from me and demanding that I take risks, but at least they’re part of my chain of command. That’s part of my job. If you think you can come in here and walk all over the protocols of the US military, you need a reality check, Lady Steel.” At least he’d used the proper honorific for a dragon, she thought before she realized that perhaps he’d said that rather than address her as Investigator because he didn’t want to recognize the rank. Technically, humans were supposed to help dragon investigators too.

“All I’m asking is for you to help stop that shipment,” Kristen said. “You know it’s illegal. I know it’s illegal. Your superiors know it’s illegal. Let’s see who clucks the loudest if we cause trouble in the henhouse,” she said.

“I’m not doing a thing, ma’am. Not for ‘suspected terrorism.’ That bullshit is what got us into the Iraq War.”

“You understand that I can go ahead and stop the shipment with or without your help, right? That I have three more dragons with me and a mage.”

“Ma’am, there is nothing I understand more than a show of force. I recognized you and your people as soon as you entered the airspace over my base. But I also recognize that you wouldn’t be in here if you didn’t need me. We both know your job would be much harder if the MPs actively did their job to stop incursions into this base at say around oh-one hundred hours tomorrow morning. Is that why you’re here? To make sure I stop you? Do you want to incinerate my men and women or something?”

“No! Of course not. I told you, I only want to stop this delivery from reaching its destination. What do you want?”

Barnes wrinkled his brow and sat. Clearly, no one had asked him that question in a very long time. He looked around him as if his office might be bugged and this last cursory check might finally be what cleared it. “I want the real information. Real intel. What is actually going on? What the hell do you think is in those shipments? Because I don’t think it’s drugs. So what? Bombs? Some kind of dragon bombs maybe?”

While he had talked, Kristen had barely focused on his words. Instead, she’d concentrated on his aura as she tried to determine his true loyalties and now thought she finally understood. When he spoke of the law or rules, something in his aura shifted. Rules and the law seemed to be the ideal he treasured the most. He was stressed because people he’d looked to as men worthy of carrying this banner—the banner of the rule of law—now seemed to shirk their responsibilities or at the very least, didn’t allow him to do his.

That was enough for her. Drew had a very similar aura to Barnes. She loved people who, like her father, believed in the rule of law for everyone. Even the poorest had rights, and even the most powerful—even the president, or the Dragon Council—should follow the laws that protected those rights.

She decided to be honest. It was what she would have done with Drew. “We think a terrorist cell is shipping cases of bullets made from dragon pieces. Our suspicion is that both shipments are filled with those bullets and that someone at Fort Drum has a connection to these terrorists.”

“Like on the goddamn cable news channels.” Barnes leaned back. “It’s true, then? There really are bullets that can kill dragons?”

“Oh yeah. That footage you’ve seen is real. I was there,” she replied.

The officer clenched and unclenched his jaw a few times, a frown on his hard features. Kristen had the sense that this was his equivalent of pacing the room. He didn’t seem likely to become emotional.

“You know, with the rumors that dragons might decide to wipe humans out, those supplies sound like something I might like to have around.”

She nodded. “I don’t blame you for thinking that, but you have to consider the broader implications if those bullets are widely distributed and become commonplace. The Dragon Council has ruled by sheer will for centuries. If people suddenly start killing dragons, they won’t have any choice but to go to war.”

“I don’t know…” Barnes took a deep breath. “You’re saying we shouldn’t have these weapons because if we do, the dragons will attack? If all it takes is us showing a little spine for them to get all bent out of shape, it sounds like a good reason to fight them.”

“I understand wanting to be as strong as them. I really do. I was always afraid of dragons on some level—I think all people are—and when I became one, it was an amazing feeling because I didn’t have to live in fear anymore.”

“But can’t these guns give that feeling to people?” he asked.

“Yes, they could, but not like this—not as an illegal shipment to the most powerful military in the world. If these guns suddenly appear in soldiers’ hands, it won’t do anything to make dragons trust people. They know this tech exists but they don’t know who has it. If they did, I think we would have already seen retaliation. We need to stop the terrorists and bring them to justice. Then and only then can we have a real conversation with the dragons about what this new power looks like.”

“And I’m supposed to simply believe you? What assurance do I have that you’re not simply trying to hamstring people and that you really want to bring them to justice?”

“In our hearts, we’re the same. We’re cops. This is what I do. If all of this was official and the president was in discussion with the Dragon Council about our military’s new capabilities, I don’t know that I’d be here having this discussion with you. But stopping an illegal shipment of arms from reaching a hothead gun-nut? That’s something I need to do. It’s not only my job but it’s part of who I am.”

Barnes held her gaze for a long time before he finally nodded.

“Maybe I’m finally taking after my mom instead of my dad, but…you seem like a kindred spirit. My people will stand by tonight to assist yours in any way they can.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The team had made a point of departing the base very visibly to create the impression that they had left. Barnes had directed them to a little-used entry point and had waited to let them in after nightfall and led them personally to where they had previously agreed would be the best location for their stakeout. To the best of their knowledge, no change had been implemented to the delivery schedule, which indicated that whoever was involved had simply assumed they posed no threat and things could proceed as arranged.

It was late—or early, depending on one’s perspective at a little after one in the morning. The shipment should have come in at around twelve thirty, which made everyone jittery. The dragon and human SWAT team leaders shared command of the operation—both had far more experience than Kristen with these kinds of missions so she didn’t mind delegating the responsibility, but even they were nervous.

Drew and Washington were on another warehouse overlooking the door to the one where the shipment was supposed to arrive. Both were armed with sniper rifles but she couldn’t help but wonder if it would have been smart to bring Butters. He was the best shot on the force and she’d have felt far more confident with him on board.

“Movement!” Jim said, then sighed audibly through his radio. “Only an owl.”

Stonequest, Emerald, Heartsbane, Kristen, and Amy were all on the ground, hidden behind trees and in brush near the warehouse, where they waited with growing impatience. It clearly indicated how anxious everyone was that when Jim mentioned movement, the team shuffled in place as if readying themselves to attack.

“Kristen, what’s our plan?” Stonequest asked and sounded tense. She thought it was odd that the dragons—beings who had lived for centuries—were the impatient ones. It seemed logical that they would be masters of patience but he seemed to have moved past his earlier agreement to make the final decision once they knew what they faced.

“I hate to jump the gun on this, but I think Stonequest might be right,” Drew said. “Something’s up. You can’t plan an operation like this and clear out any witnesses, only to be an hour late. Maybe our arrival spooked someone? I don’t know, but I have a bad feeling.”

“Okay, I’ll call Barnes and—” Her phone vibrated in her pocket.

It was Barnes. They’d agreed it would probably be best if his people weren’t involved in the actual stakeout. Whoever had planned this seemed to have extensive working knowledge of how Fort Drum was run. If a number of MPs suddenly began to scout a random location instead of doing their regular rounds, it might raise red flags.

The officer had said he’d only shared the mission with people he trusted, but she knew how that went. You trusted your people, and they trusted their people, and soon, everyone knew. It wasn’t inconceivable that someone had got wind of their sting.

Or maybe Barnes had seen something, she reminded herself and pushed the negative thoughts aside. She answered, excited to be doing anything besides listen to owls.

“Investigator, I might have something,” the man began without preamble. Kristen had to admit, she respected anyone who didn’t waste time. “One of my people called in something that looked odd. A truck arrived on base loaded with supplies but it wasn't a regular shipment.”

“How do you know?”

“It’s not one of the usual vehicles, plus it's damn near two in the morning. On top of that, my MP said it was a new driver.”

“Do we have any idea where it’s going?” Kristen asked.

“Not really. Based on the order I saw, I thought it would head to where you are, but it doesn’t seem to be doing that. Maybe they suspect something or that whole paper trail was merely a red herring.”

“Dammit. So we’ve lost them?” Kristen was so frustrated she wanted to incinerate the woods around her but that, of course, would literally blow their cover.

“Not so fast. I put an MP on a motorcycle to tail them. We don’t know where they’re headed but we know where they’re going if you see my meaning.”

“Perfect! Good job, Barnes. Call me if there’s anything else but I think we’ll locate them and pursue.” She hung up and filled her team in via the radio.

“It sounds like our truck,” Stonequest said.

“But we can’t be certain,” Drew countered. “We should split up and make sure this isn’t a diversion.”

“You can’t be serious,” Washington complained.

“Drew’s right,” she said. “I need some of you to stay here. Stonequest, Heartsbane, Washington, keep this area secure. We’ll call if we need you.”

“Oh, this is bullshit!” Heartsbane and Washington shouted over each other despite being in totally different hiding places.

“Emerald, Drew, Amy, let’s go.”

Drew clambered down from his position on the roof and hurried to Emerald, who had already assumed his green dragon form.

Kristen stepped out onto the field and transformed. By the time she was done, Amy floated down to land on her back. The Steel Dragon smiled. They were becoming very good at anticipating each other’s actions. That might prove essential in a very short space of time.

They became airborne as quickly as they could and pushed to gain altitude with every ounce of strength they had. If anyone saw them, their cover would be blown and the shipment would no doubt be rescheduled for another night when dragons were unlikely to make unexpected appearances.

It didn’t seem like anyone was close enough to have seen them take to the skies, though.

As they pumped their wings and headed north, they examined the base below them. It was close to two am so even on a military base, traffic was light. It didn’t take too much effort to identify a truck driving with a motorcycle tailing it about a quarter of a mile behind.

“That has to be our target,” Emerald said. “I only saw one other truck and nothing was following it. Are you ready?”

“Oh yeah,” Kristen said and tucked her wings to descend a little and follow the vehicle.

Rather than head to the warehouses where the team had waited in ambush and where the order had appeared to direct the shipment, the vehicle now drove toward the munitions storage depot. Even at night, it was an impressive sight. The base had numbers of bunkers where they stored ammunition for all their weapons. Dunning had mentioned them at some point and told them it was where they kept all their tank shells, mortar rounds, artillery, grenades, and ammunition. Basically, anything that could detonate or be exploded was all stored there. The concrete bunkers were huge, partly buried by dirt on either side and heavily locked down. Kristen didn’t really see how anyone other than the higher-ups could have access to them. She told herself not to jump to conclusions but ideas of who was orchestrating this with Constance had definitely begun to form.

Her suspicion that the higher-ranking officers on the base were involved was further strengthened when the truck drew up the gated entrance at the bunker area. It didn’t even come to a complete stop before someone waved it through. She couldn’t imagine how someone could—at two am, no less—check identification and paperwork while a vehicle was rolling. It made far more sense that the soldiers on duty had been told what to expect and how to behave and reminded not to ask any questions.

The truck drove down the lane between the bunkers before it finally stopped at one near the end of a row. The driver killed the engine—probably because of the noise—and turned the lights off.

“It’s now or never, Lady Steel. What do you want us to do?” Emerald asked.

Kristen took a deep breath. The gravity of the situation weighed heavily on her. If she was wrong, she was about to interrupt a totally legitimate arms shipment. Furthermore, given the secrecy around it, there was a good chance that if the contents of the boxes weren’t dragon bullets, they were some other kind of proprietary military tech. If she revealed what that was, the military would be all over her for stealing national secrets.

It put her in an unenviable position, but she couldn’t afford to risk not doing anything.

“Amy,” she said to the mage on her back. “Radio the other team and fill them in. We’ll make contact and might need backup soon.”

The girl did as her boss asked before she patted her on the back twice—their signal that she was prepared.

“Is everyone ready?” Kristen asked.

“If you’re asking if I’m ready to dive into battle with people wielding weapons that can’t only kill people but dragons too, and that some of these people might be magic users, the answer is hell no,” Drew said. “But if you’re asking if it’s time to stop these assholes, then let’s do this.”

“That’s good enough for me,” she responded as she and Emerald rocketed earthward.

CHAPTER TWELVE

The two dragons landed at exactly the same moment with Kristen on the driver’s side of the truck and Emerald on the passenger’s side. As soon as their feet touched down, Drew and Amy scrambled off in opposite directions and both moved away from the vehicle. It wouldn’t do for the squishy humans to be caught by a bullet meant for a dragon.

Then, as they’d planned, the dragon teammates transformed into their human bodies. This would limit their capabilities somewhat—no flight, no tails or claws, and no fire breath—but if the technomages were inside, it only made sense. Dragons were larger targets than humans, after all, and the mages literally planned a war against dragon kind. Somehow, she didn’t think they would be intimidated by dragons the way most people were.

Plus, they both had superhuman strength and speed in their human bodies in addition to body armor. It might not stop bullets but then again, it might, and it was better than nothing. Even as the Steel Dragon, she was vulnerable to the dragon bullets. This was the smarter way to fight, she knew that, but it still made her incredibly nervous.

Drew didn’t seem to have any inhibitions, though, and why should he? He was used to fighting in his human form. He already had his gun raised and aimed at the passenger window of the vehicle.

That was enough to snap Kristen into action. She readied a pistol and Emerald did the same. Amy raised her hands and a few rocks began to float. The girl had practiced her skills and despite her bracelet, she could throw pebbles at almost the speed of bullets.

“Come out of the vehicle with your hands up!” Kristen shouted and tried to recall the last time she’d given such a pedestrian order to a hostile. These days, it was all, “don’t try to incinerate anyone,” or “keep your magic under control.” There was something satisfying about a simple, “hands up and get out of the vehicle.”

Or so she thought until the rear door was flung open and two people wearing robes began to spray everything around them with bullets from their machine pistols.

She fell prone—and thanked her lucky stars that Drew had trained her—but that seemed to be exactly what their attackers wanted. Immediately, the driver started the engine and floored the accelerator.

“The two in the back were wearing robes!” she shouted.

“So were the two in the front,” Drew yelled in response and fired his pistol. He delivered a succession of shots at the passenger windows and the wheels of the truck, but with no success.

“Then these are our guys,” Emerald said and raced after the vehicle.

Kristen pushed to her feet and shuddered when she realized how close she’d come to being removed from the battle forever. A bullet had lodged into the soil about a foot from her head. It was the off-white of a dragon round.

She wasted no more time. “Emerald, no!” she shouted and sprinted after her teammate, using her dragon speed to close the distance between them.

He raced toward the back of the truck—and probably enjoyed the pursuit since he hadn’t bothered to run at his full speed yet—but the two mages were ready for him.

They lowered their machine pistols and actually took aim—she didn’t think she’d ever seen anyone wielding the crazy, rapid-fire handguns actually aim before, whether in real life or the movies.

Kristen leaped with every ounce of strength she had and bulldozed into his back to thrust him off his feet.

The mages opened fire and the air above the two dragons was suddenly filled with a fusillade of deadly fire.

“What the hell was that?” Emerald demanded and scrambled to his feet.

Kristen slammed the bullet that had narrowly missed her before into his hand. “Did you forget what we’re up against?”

He looked at it and his dark skin went ashen. “Oh, fuck me. I…I never thought they’d use these rounds in weapons like that.”

“They filled a bomb with this, remember? Obviously, they have a stable source, a huge stockpile, or both.”

“Right. I’m sorry about that.” He shook his head. “And Kristen…”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. You saved my damn life.”

“Don’t mention it,” she said, then paused. “Actually, on second thought, please keep it in mind and save my ass the next chance you get.”

“What now?” Drew asked, caught up to them, and stopped to catch his breath. Amy floated over effortlessly, although she looked shaken after the gunfire.

Kristen was already calling Barnes. He picked up with a, “What the fuck was that?”

“We met our delivery guys. They were packing,” she replied.

“No shit! I heard the shots. What’s going on? Are they down?”

“No, not even close. They fired at us and are driving off now. We had to let them go.”

“Where are they headed?”

She turned at a loud crash as the vehicle barreled through the gate that secured the bunker area. Apparently, they either hadn’t wanted to wait for the guard or he’d decided that people shooting at dragons was beyond the level of discretion that was expected of him.

“Well, they destroyed the gate so they could leave the munitions depot, and I don’t have a clue where they’ll go next.”

“All right. I already called in every MP I have on duty and they’re on the move. I’ll send them that way. We’ll catch these bastards and finally get answers!” Barnes sounded more excited and nothing at all like the stony soldier they’d met with earlier.

“Great. That sounds good.”

“Investigator,” he said before she could hang up.

“What do you need?”

“The Fort’s security is my job, but if there's anything you can do to help, that would be greatly appreciated.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Barnes. I’m merely happy you want to cooperate. These assholes tried to hurt my men. For their sake, I hope you catch them first.”

“Right, then. We’re on the same page. But remember, we have questions.”

“I won’t get carried away. See you soon.” Kristen hung up and tossed Amy her phone. “Let’s go!” she ordered and took the form of the Steel Dragon once more. The mage climbed on her back and with Drew on Emerald, they took to the skies to catch the assholes who were willing to use body parts to kill.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The problem with a getaway vehicle being a truck was that it had very definite limitations. Despite the driver obviously driving as fast as he dared, it hadn’t covered any significant distance before the dragons located it once more. They didn’t engage, though. If it was merely a matter of dragons versus bullets, they were at a standoff, but unfortunately for the mages, she had made friends.

“Amy, call Barnes and keep the line open. I want you to update him on where that truck is at all times.”

“You got it, Kristen. But if you’re trying to predict where they’ll be, I’d say forget it. I don’t think they really know.”

Sure enough, the vehicle swerved erratically down a road and seemed to have no particular destination in mind. Kristen could almost hear the driver and his passenger arguing about what to do next.

Amy did a good job of telling Barnes where they were and he, in turn, directed his MPs efficiently and coordinated their approach. Kristen had worked enough roadblocks to see that the man knew what he was doing. The truck was able to continue, but any of the roads it might want to turn down were being blocked one by one and the flashing lights of the military were very visible. The trick to an effective roadblock was to let the criminals see it so as to force them to realize they had nowhere to go.

The vehicle swerved down one of the few roads Barnes hadn’t sent MPs to and Kristen thought it might have a chance to escape. She soon realized this was part of the officer’s plan as well as yet another roadblock blocked the end of the twisting road the driver had chosen.

The driver seemed to realize this and instead of following the road, he pulled off into a field. For a moment, she thought he would try to lead them in an off-road chase but apparently, he realized how foolish this was, given that they were pursued by not only police cars but also motorcycles, military vehicles, and flying dragons.

The truck pulled to a stop in the middle of a field surrounded by the old buildings that defined the southern part of Fort Bend. Every single one was a wood structure.

Military police vehicles of different makes and models drove into the field and formed a perimeter around their quarry, although they kept their distance. Kristen had told Amy to make sure their commanding officer knew to remind his people how dangerous the hostiles were.

The Steel Dragon landed and changed into human form. She was impressed that Barnes was already there to meet her.

“I guess these are our assholes,” he said and grinned. Apparently, all the hard-nosed Lt. Colonel needed to be cheered up was a good old high-speed chase through the early hours of the morning with a couple of potentially lethal hostiles.

“Yeah, it looks like it,” she agreed. “But I don’t know why they haven’t left the truck. I’m not entirely sure what I expected but it definitely wasn’t for them to simply sit there.”

“Are you saying you’re bummed we’re not being shot at?” Drew asked.

“No, I’m only curious. Sitting tight while the noose tightens around them doesn’t seem like a bright idea and I’m sure that’s not all they’re doing. They have to be planning something.”

“Tell it like it is. There’s no need to dance around it. What the fuck is going on?” the military man demanded.

“Honestly, I don’t know so let’s proceed with caution. I don’t think we want to rush in yet. Let’s see if we can get them to come to us.”

“No problem.” Barnes retrieved a megaphone and switched it on. He grimaced and moved it away from his face after a blast of feedback, then held it up. “All right, step slowly out of the vehicle.”

The driver and passenger side doors both opened and raised hands extended through each.

“That’s good…real good,” he said encouragingly. “Now, keep those fingers in the air and take a few steps away from the vehicle. We’ll say five steps. That’s how many men have guns aimed at each of you right now, by the way. Five men. Five steps. Got it?”

The men each took the required number of steps. Unlike the two in the back, they both wore regular clothes. The jumpsuits looked vaguely like some kind of company uniform, no doubt an attempt at a disguise, and Kristen narrowed her eyes. She was sure Drew had said they had worn robes, but perhaps they had changed and hidden them somewhere in the vehicle.

“All right. I’m loving how we’re all complying and no one’s getting a bullet through them. That’s real nice,” Barnes said. “Now, I want you both on your knees and your hands behind your head with your fingers interlaced.”

Again, the men complied without complaint. Kristen began to get a bad feeling. She’d never had criminals comply so easily but couldn’t determine what their end game might be.

Cautiously, she reached out with her aura and suddenly realized why they were so calm. The other two members of their little delivery team were gone and she couldn’t sense their auras in the back of the vehicle. She cursed herself for not noticing that sooner.

“All right, men, arrest them,” Barnes told his team and Kristen didn’t tell them to stop. Instead, she told Emerald and Amy to remain alert for a trap. For all they knew, the drivers might simply be regular folk. Maybe the mages stayed in the back—or had somehow escaped from there. But where had they gone now?

She hadn’t seen anyone jump from the rear of the vehicle, nor had any of the dozens of MPs who had been in pursuit. How did two people—dressed in robes and armed with machine pistols, no less—manage to vanish in the middle of a military base?

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Now that the two men from the front of the vehicle were restrained, Kristen had a decision to make—to investigate the vehicle or to leave it and try to find the two missing mages. She decided she had to stay laser-focused on the weapons, although it did leave a hollow pit in her stomach to make that choice.

“Emerald, I want you in the air. Two of these guys are missing. Keep an eye out for anything unusual and be careful. If you hear or see anything, do not attack. Do you understand me? These people have dragon-killing rounds. I don’t want you to engage.”

“No problem,” Emerald said and took to the air. Whether he meant no problem, he wouldn’t engage or no problem, these mages didn’t stand a chance against him, she wasn’t totally certain. She would merely have to hope the dragon would heed her orders.

Her orders. It was still a strange thought.

“Amy, I’ll examine the back of the truck. Please put a shield over me in case this is all a trap.”

“You got it, boss.” The young mage nodded and raised her hands, which began to glow with blue energy.

“All right, here goes nothing,” Kristen said with a nod to Drew and Barnes.

She approached cautiously, only to find that she was right. There was nothing at all in the vehicle. Startled, she stared, shook her head and glanced into the darkness of the night, and finally looked at the empty truck again. There was still nothing there.

It meant that they either tried to pick something up rather than deliver it—she honestly doubted that—or whatever they had hauled was small enough that the two mages took it with them when they left. But why use a truck at all? Maybe it had been something bulky and the mages used their powers to move it invisibly somehow. None of it made any sense, no matter how her brain tried to rationalize it.

Kristen shook her head. It wasn’t worth her time to attempt to come up with a hypothesis before she had all the evidence. And surely more evidence could be gleaned from the delivery vehicles. Why else had these two men spent so much time trying to keep it away from her and the MPs? If there was nothing, they would have pulled over way sooner.

Kristen examined the seemingly empty interior once more. Scrape marks were visible on the floor from something heavy being hauled around, but that wasn’t exactly definitive evidence. The back of a truck wasn’t a forest floor and there wasn’t any way to tell if the marks were fresh or not.

She startled and almost whirled into a defensive stance when Amy said, “Boss, I think something’s weird.”

“What is it?”

“I can’t say exactly…but…something about the vehicle doesn’t feel right.” She peered into the back of the truck and squinted as if to focus on something, but her effort brought no result. Kristen felt exactly the same way—that she was missing something right in front of her.

“Do you think it could be a spell?” she asked the young mage. She couldn’t feel anything at all but she had skipped the time she was supposed to spend in the Paper Dungeon and gone directly to patrol work. While she’d been relieved at the time, the downside was that she was unfamiliar with magic and mages. If Amy could sense something she couldn’t, it wouldn’t surprise her.

“I think it might be, but I can’t tell…” The girl held her wrist up and shook the bracelet. “I feel like I’m trying to see something through a t-shirt, you know? Like I can sense that something’s right there but there’s a shirt over my eyes and I can’t quite make it out.”

“Does the bracelet interfere that much?” Kristen asked.

“Yeah. I can feel it damping most of my magic but I don’t know if taking it off would help. I’m working more from intuition than real training anyway. Larry could probably discern what’s going on but all I can do is guess. Even with my full powers, I might not be able to do more than that. I’m sorry.” Amy’s shoulders slumped.

“It’s okay, don’t beat yourself up over it,” she told the girl. “I want to take that damned bracelet off of you too, but I don’t want you to get in trouble. As long as you wear it, everyone knows you’re with me. I don’t want any dragon to get the wrong idea.”

Stonequest and Heartsbane landed before she could continue. “What’s the situation?” he asked before he had finished transforming into his human form.

Kristen filled them in, then ordered them to help Emerald with his efforts to find a clue of some kind. She knew it was risky to have them airborne, but if there really was a crate of dragon bullets somewhere on the base, they would have to take risks.

That was one nice thing about working with dragons as opposed to people. It didn’t bother her as much to put a dragon in harm’s way because they were so damned hard to kill. Of course, Constance worked hard to change that reality but still, she deemed it worth the risk and knew her dragon teammates would feel the same way.

No sooner did Stonequest and Heartsbane depart than another vehicle pulled up and a general stepped out. She could tell not only from his uniform but from how all the MPs recoiled from the man’s scowl.

“That’s General Andrews,” Barnes whispered to her as his superior approached. “And Colonel Fox, my boss.” The two had a small team of guards with them as if their lives might come under threat at any moment.

“General, Colonel, you’ll be happy to know we’ve apprehended two men who were on our base unauthorized,” the MP began.

The general didn’t grace him with a response. He left the beratement to Colonel Fox. “Goddammit, Barnes, an allegedly unauthorized truck is why you have every MP in this base driving around like madmen at two in the goddamn morning? What the hell is wrong with you? What on earth makes you think it’s appropriate to cause a ruckus of this magnitude at this hour without so much as telling me what the hell you planned?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I tried to bring this to your attention but—”

“Don’t attempt to drag the Colonel’s good name down,” General Andrews interjected, his voice like ice. “You took unauthorized action when you called this circus and with an enemy no less.” He glared at Kristen when he said the word enemy.

If this wasn’t the guy who was planning to start the third dragon-human war, she would turn into a dragon and eat one of the tires from the truck.

“There’ll be discipline for these actions. You understand that, right?” Colonel Fox demanded.

“Sir, I merely followed protocol. This vehicle wasn’t on the arrivals schedule. The shipment paperwork looks valid, but there are no records of it in the base registry.”

“And is that how you think the military works, son?” General Andrews asked. “You think that every little thing that happens is supposed to be accounted for and available in public records? It didn’t occur to you that maybe—just maybe—what was going on tonight was above your paygrade?”

“General, are you saying that you knew about this truck?” Kristen asked.

The base commander glared at her for a moment and his eyes flinched when he saw her investigator badge. “Some deliveries are classified, isn’t that right, Barnes?”

“Yes, sir. It is, sir, and I realize I was taking a risk. But sir, those men shot at us with machine pistols when they were confronted. Those are not the actions of law-abiding soldiers or citizens. When they turned to violence, it became clear to me that the investigator’s suspicions were true.”

“And what suspicions are those?” General Andrews asked.

The MP seemed conflicted for a moment. He obviously didn’t trust his superior officer but he’d been asked a direct question. His face froze for a moment before it seemed his military training won. “Sir, the investigator has reason to believe there are illegal weapons being shipped to this base by a terrorist organization that will attempt to start a conflict between the US military and the dragons. When the passengers in the truck fired at the dragons, it confirmed my suspicions.”

“Confirmed your suspicions, huh?” Colonel Fox asked. “Tell me something, Barnes. Have you found any weapons on these two delivery men?”

Barnes forwarded the question to his MPs, who confirmed that the prisoners had no weapons and that the truck didn’t seem to have any in it either.

“No, sir,” the MP said and readily took responsibility for their failure to locate the cargo.

“Did these two men fire at you in this field when you apprehended them?”

“Sir, earlier—”

“The colonel did not ask about earlier. The colonel asked you about what happened here. Were the men armed or unarmed?” General Andrews asked.

“They were unarmed, sir.” Barnes stiffened, his posture at attention.

“And did you see these two perpetrators who fired shots on my base?”

“No, sir.” All emotion had gone from his voice. He had retreated into the military attitude he’d been in when Kristen first met him.

“Tell me, what did the dragons say these perpetrators looked like?” Colonel Fox demanded. There was no kindness in the way he said it.

“The investigator told me there were two of them wearing robes and armed with machine pistols.”

“Were they male or female?” Fox snapped.

“She did not say, sir.”

“Skin color?”

“She did not say, sir.”

“So we’re supposed to believe that two wizards jumped out of that truck, armed not with staffs or spells or whatever it is mages use to serve the dragons but instead, armed with guns?”

“Sir, the nature of this investigation is centered around firearms, so I don’t think it’s that—”

“We’re supposed to believe,” Colonel Fox continued and cut the man off without apology, “that they saw these wizards but couldn’t tell if they were male or female, or black or white?”

“You should believe it because that’s what happened,” Kristen said.

“Of course, ma’am,” Fox said, his tone sarcastically pleasant. “Of course, and we do. I have no trouble believing this.”

She tried to give the man the benefit of the doubt but her ability to read his aura made it damn hard. It was obvious that he hated her—not only hated but loathed her. Whether it was because she was a dragon or for some other reason, she couldn’t be sure.

But it didn’t matter, not really. These two men could bark and yell and do whatever they wanted, but they would not stop her from preventing this war. She was about to say as much when Amy spoke from beside the truck.

“Hey, boss? You might want to check this out.”

Kristen nodded—happy to have the distraction—and moved toward the vehicle. As she did so, she felt General Andrew’s aura shift from one of assuredness to one of desperation.

“Do we really need to waste our time out here? Investigator Hall, come to my office. Let’s have coffee and determine how Fort Drum can best help you in your investigation.”

Even without her ability to read auras, it was painfully apparent that he tried to keep her away from the truck.

But why? It was empty and no one had found a thing. Why would her going near it bother him?

“What did you find, Amy?” Kristen said and left Andrews rooted to the spot. His aura began to heat like a volcano ready to explode.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When Kristen reached the truck, Amy sat outside the rear door, her eyes closed in concentration, with a slight blue glow emanating from her. The first pinpricks of perspiration began to form on her forehead. Whatever the novice mage was doing, it looked like more effort for her than fighting dragons had been.

“Hey, Amy, what’s going on? Do we have a clue? Because I could really fucking use a clue right now.”

“We have…something,” the girl said and gritted her teeth. For a moment longer, she simply sat there, her body rigid and hands clasped tightly before she opened her eyes and exhaled a ragged breath.

“What kind of something did you find?” she asked.

“A magic something, I’m certain of that,” Amy said. “There’s definitely a spell on it and maybe more than one. I can’t really tell. I’m still new to this and whoever did this has far more power than I currently have access to.” Whether she meant to or not, her free hand found the bracelet on her wrist and she fidgeted with it absent-mindedly.

“Can you tell me anything else?” Kristen asked.

“I can tell you that I don’t have enough raw magic available to do anything more than sense it right now. It was cast by someone with more skill than I have. Maybe if Larry were here he could do something about it. I don’t really know.”

“I thought he said you were more powerful than he was,” she whispered, not eager to reveal to General Andrews how powerful the mage working with her was.

“I’m still new at this and he’s way more skilled than me. Larry said magic is kind of like anything—there are two ways to force something. You can use a pick to open a lock or a sledgehammer. I don’t have the power to sledgehammer it with this bracelet on and I don’t know how long it will take me to learn the lockpick method. Years?” The girl sounded so apologetic it was almost cute.

Except it wasn’t cute that she was shackled and now hampered this investigation due to dragon customs and superstitions. It was tragic, actually, that they inadvertently prevented the one person who could possibly save them with her magic from exercising it on their behalf. Without realizing it, they had become their own worst enemy. It gave Constance the platform she needed to pursue her ruthless objectives. If they could only change that single rule, it would remove the moral high ground the technomages used as the foundation for their cause and give them time to change the rest.

Frustration surged once again. While she found the system abhorrent, she knew it wouldn’t change overnight. At the same time, both dragons and humans would perish before they could even begin the process if Constance wasn’t stopped. Someone had to take the first step.

“Tell me what you need,” Kristen said.

“I don’t know.” Amy threw her hands up in exasperation. “It’s like you’re asking me to crack a nut. I don’t have the tools I need, but if I could put my boots on…” She looked at the bracelet but didn’t say anything.

She respected the mage for not demanding that the fetter be removed but also knew that the thin band of silver was what stood in their way. More than anything, she wanted to solve this case and find out what kind of spell had been cast. Maybe the other two mages had been illusions? She couldn’t even begin to guess. The limits and possibilities of magic were not something she knew much about. But to lay Amy open to attack from other dragons? She didn’t know if it was worth it.

General Andrews recognized her indecisiveness and strode toward her. “Clearly, we’ve had a misunderstanding,” he said, all fake smiles and nods. “I don’t know why we need to get worked up over an empty vehicle. I agree that if there’s been an illegal shipment, we need to track it. Barnes doesn’t have access to the same information I do, so how about we go back to my office, have that coffee, and see what we can turn up?”

That did it for Kristen. The man had gone from a barely camouflaged tiger to a house cat as soon as they’d approached the truck. There was no reason to do that unless he had something to hide.

Emerald swooped overhead and landed smoothly before he transformed into his human form. “There’s nothing out there, Kristen. I didn’t sense any magic or see any other…” His voice trailed off as he looked from Kristen to Amy and finally, the general. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes. I was speaking to Amy. General Andrews, can you tell Emerald exactly what you thought was going on while I help Amy with her bracelet?”

The other dragon moved to intercept the general, but not before he gave Kristen a hard look. “Are you sure about that?” It was obvious from his tone that he didn’t approve of her removing the fetter.

“I’m sure,” she replied, her voice like steel.

He merely nodded. She outranked him now and that seemed to be enough to silence his protest. The general, though, had other ideas.

“Isn’t that a violation of protocol?” he demanded when Kristen began to disconnect the clasp on the bracelet. “I thought registered mages had to wear one of those things.”

“You sure do seem to know a lot about mages,” Emerald said and deliberately remained between the two women and the general.

“I don’t see why this has become such a big deal,” Andrews said and his tone now shifted to politician. “If you have a mage running around, maybe she left the magic residue or whatever it is.”

“It’s not residue,” Amy said as the fetter came free. “It’s a spell.”

The young mage took a deep breath and it felt like all the air in the field rushed toward her for a moment and the grass actually bent her direction. She smiled.

“Better?” Kristen asked.

“Oh, you have no idea how much better.” The girl grinned. “Oh, I guess you do. You were in jail, right?”

“Jail?” General Andrews sputtered. “You’re a criminal accusing this base of illegal activity? I will be forced to report this up the chain of command if it continues.”

“She was fully exonerated and this is the time when you shut up,” Emerald said.

Kristen helped the man to do exactly that by ignoring him when she focused on Amy. It wasn’t a difficult task, given what followed.

The first thing the girl did was float off the ground. Apparently, she’d become so adept at levitating her shoes with her in them that she could do so without conscious thought. Next, her fingertips began to glow before golden sparks erupted and left trails that extended all the way to her fingers, like bottle rockets whose sparks never seemed to run out.

These glinting tendrils poked and prodded at the truck. The exploration started tenderly at first but her limited skill soon became apparent when she began to batter the vehicle with the sparking tentacles. She shattered a window, then knocked a dent into the side of the truck.

General Andrews earned some of Kristen’s respect as he didn’t flinch when she did this but stood taller. It was, she thought, merely more evidence that he had worked with mages.

These vibrant lines of magic brought no apparent result and Amy dismissed the sparks, pointed at the truck, and simply lifted it. She spun it idly like a child examining a particularly fine rock before skipping it across a pond.

When that had no effect, she set it down and it rocked on its suspension.

“The spell isn’t on the outside,” Amy said and pointed at the back doors. They both jerked off their hinges and careened away. Almost as an afterthought, she stopped them and plunged them into the field like grave markers of the vehicle she was about to disassemble.

“Do you see anything?” Kristen asked.

“Oh yeah, I got it,” the mage replied and released a blast of sparks into the back of the truck.

A little beyond where the drag marks had ended, the sparks from her hands encountered something, although nothing was visible. It was like the power had rebounded off an invisible wall.

“There it is,” Amy muttered, and delivered another surge of power into the shield. This one was more like a kinetic force than sparks. It collided with the unseen barrier with such an impact that it knocked the entire vehicle forward. Still, the spell didn’t crack.

“Are you sure this is safe?” Barnes shouted.

“Not at all,” the mage replied before she inhaled deeply and whirled her hands. A wind picked up where there had been none.

“All right, cool. I only wanted to check if we would all blow up, is all,” the man said. He looked serious but he didn’t step away. A vortex appeared between the girl’s hands and spun faster and faster. It began to suck in leaves and debris and she grinned, then hurled it against the barrier. The projectiles streaked like razor blades to slice at it.

At first, they seemed to have no effect, but slowly, leaf by leaf, something began to appear in the back of the vehicle.

“That’s working!” Kristen shouted over the roar of the wind. “Keep it up!”

“Oh yeah,” Amy said. She smiled, then gritted her teeth and focused. She’d turned her baseball cap backward at some point, but it was a good look.

The vortex whirled with ever-increasing speed. It drew in more and more debris, brought all the leaves, sticks, and twigs into violent motion, and flung them at the shield as if a tornado had decided to make this particular vehicle its only target.

For Kristen, it was odd to watch—like finding out her brain had lied to her about something. It was as if an invisible sheet had simply been tossed into the vehicle and Amy obliterated it piecemeal. The mage reached some kind of tipping point and suddenly, with the sound of a hundred sheets being shredded, the spell was gone and the contents were laid bare.

“There we go!” The girl sounded pleased with herself and also out of breath.

The Steel Dragon clapped her on the back and scrambled into the truck to look at the crates.

“Now wait a second,” Andrews protested immediately. “If you intend to interfere with a shipment coming to a government base, at the very least, we need to see some kind of warrant or something.”

“I’m confused, General,” she said and glanced at him while her fingers worked the edges of the crate and tried to find purchase on the nailed-down lid. “Is this an empty vehicle you know nothing about or is this a legitimate shipment you claim is protected by the government?”

“I— Either way, you don’t have the right to open that!”

“Is that right? We’ll have to let the courts decide, I suppose.”

“There will be hell to pay for this, dragon, mark my words.”

“I’d walk through fire to protect the people of this planet. If I’m in the wrong on this, so be it, but I don’t think I am.” Kristen finally located the crack she’d looked for and applied with her dragon strength, but it wasn’t quite enough. Despite its very real power, it didn’t make fingers into a crowbar.

“You can still stop. We can chalk this up to a misunderstanding,” the general protested, his gaze focused on her fingers.

His intense stare was good because it meant he saw them transform into steel. Now made of metal, it took hardly any effort for her to pry the lid off the crate.

Despite having suspected what was in there from the moment they left the Motor City, she could not help but gasp when she saw the contents.

Inside were ammo cases of different sizes. She opened one that was full of dragon bullets.

She opened another to find more dragon bullets of a slightly different make.

Kristen took a step back. There had to be hundreds inside the truck, maybe even thousands. Enough, she acknowledged, to start a war. Hell, there was enough in there to kill every dragon in North America if the shooters were properly trained.

She fixed her attention on Andrews. “I think it’s about time we had that little chat in your office as you suggested.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“This is preposterous,” General Andrews said and barely managed to hold himself in check. “You come to my base, make wild accusations, and you…you use magic to plant fake evidence.”

“That’s weak,” Emerald said. He still stood in front of the man and showed no inclination to move. “Even for a human.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” the officer retorted. The quiver in his voice was gone and he’d replaced it with rage. “You dragons come in here, make a mess of things, then have the audacity to blame us for a shipment we didn’t even know about.”

Barnes cleared his throat. “There were records, sir. Records that you said earlier you knew—"

“Were you her accomplice on this, Lieutenant?” Colonel Fox cut him off. “Did you alter those records?”

“You both know I can tell when you’re lying, correct?” Kristen said.

“Dragon magic.”

“It doesn’t take magic to tell you two are lying,” Stonequest said and—to her shock—he fell asleep.

She looked up quickly and realized he wasn’t the only one. All the MPs who had stood near the two occupants of the truck were now asleep. She wasn’t surprised at all when the driver wiggled his fingers and light glowed from inside his handcuffs before they snicked open.

“You take the Steel Bitch and I’ll get the green one,” the mage who’d opened the cuffs said.

His companion nodded and his hands began to glow.

Kristen turned her skin to steel as a blast from the passenger struck her in the chest. It felt like a bowling ball had rocketed into her ribs at forty miles an hour and would have no doubt cracked a bone if not for her abilities.

Emerald was ready and parried his first attack. The driver launched some kind of a spinning disk at him, but the dragon moved quickly, dropped to land on his back, and kicked the flat edge of the disk. It careened ineffectually into the night sky.

His action might have saved his life too. He’d no sooner fallen when gunshots were fired from the nearest building. The soil beyond her teammate exploded in three places. Each bullet would have caught him if he’d have been only a second later.

“Down! Stay down,” she said and threw herself onto the grass as more shots rang out.

“Do you think they’re using dragon bullets?” Emerald said as he wriggled toward the truck to use it as cover.

“I’d bet on it!” She followed him and crawled toward the vehicle.

Her progress was unaccountably halted by something that had latched onto her leg. It felt like a python had taken hold and constricted tighter with each moment. A second one caught her other leg and she glanced at the mages. The passenger held his hands extended and a long and writhing tentacle made of some substance blacker than ink crept from each fingertip. Two of them had already grasped her ankles and the others attempted to bind her as well like the semi-intelligent yet seemingly mindless arms of an octopus.

Kristen rolled, sat, and struck one of the weird appendages with a steel fist. She hit it hard enough to break the tip off. Once she’d severed it from the rest of the tentacle that connected it to the mage, the inky blackness seemed to lose its power.

Unfortunately, there were seven more and she had put herself in range by her altered position.

Two latched onto the arm that had punched the one binding her ankle. Another caught her other arm before she could react. The rest aimed at her torso and wound around her in both directions like the world’s creepiest hug.

She had damaged one of them so she knew she could break the magic with force, but she didn’t have enough strength in her human form. While she could transform and shatter them all effortlessly, common sense warned her that it was what the mage wanted.

If she transformed into her dragon form, she’d be the biggest target on the field. That aside, the gunmen wouldn’t have to hit her with a lethal shot to disable her. If any dragon bullet was lodged inside her body, it would cripple her powers. It was a lose-lose situation and her adversary no doubt knew this. Constance’s team had practiced for a war with dragons for years so it was hardly surprising that they had tactics to fight them.

The mage, however, hadn’t expected to battle its own kind.

Amy stepped forward—or floated, really, as her feet dangled a few inches above the ground. Her entire body glowed with the warm yellow light of the sun despite it being the middle of the night. Gradually, the glow seemed to dim until it issued only from her hands but that light was far brighter than her body had been.

With a scream that would have made any powerlifter proud and perhaps envious, she seared the mage who attempted to bind Kristen’s body with a blast of what appeared to be pure sunlight. It caught him squarely in the chest and instantly dissipated the tentacles like a house fire had been dumped over an inkwell.

He fell back and landed on his ass but found his feet in a moment. Apparently, the blast had affected his magic far more than it had affected him.

“Go help Emerald!” Amy shouted at Kristen. “I can handle this asshole.”

Her adversary seemed to have also practiced his villainy as he threw his head back and laughed. “An untrained neophyte like you has no chance against me. Your dragon friends are as good as dead, but there’s still time for you to join our cause. Constance could turn you into a goddess, girl.”

“All women are goddesses,” she sneered and delivered another concentrated beam of light.

He was ready for this one, though, and countered with a hundred threads of the black magic he’d used to bind the dragon.

The two forms of magic collided with the violent sound of a pair of semi-trucks meeting head-on. Red and blue sparks erupted where the powers touched. Kristen knew she had to help Emerald but she’d never seen a magic battle like this before.

It was unreal.

The mage was obviously more practiced and each of his ink threads darted at Amy in complicated loops and whirls. Her raw power, however, seemed to do quite well for itself. Every time one of the threads touched her arms, the tendril would start to swell. Before any of them could become as thick as those that had bound the dragon’s legs, the girl surged her magic and forced her adversary to focus more on defense so the tiny threads simply fell away.

“Lady Steel…a little help!” Emerald was on the ground and when she turned to look at him, the other mage now used the same type of tentacles to bind him. Six had already wound around his body, and one of them tightened around his neck. “Anytime…would be great…”

Kristen snatched the tentacle with her steel fist and yanked hard. It didn’t break, so she chopped it with her other hand. That provided enough force to sever the magic, but she immediately understood that she couldn’t beat this magic like that. She was too slow. In the time it had taken her to sever one, the mage had reached Emerald with two more, one of which already slithered to his neck.

She needed magic and she didn’t have it…but she did have a gun.

Mage or not, no one much liked to be on the receiving end of bullets.

Quickly, she drew her weapon, aimed at their enemy’s face—he was closer than the targets she practiced with on the shooting range—and squeezed the trigger.

The bullet flew true. She knew this because about a foot out from the space between his eyes, the bullet evaporated in a shower of silver sparks.

He laughed. “Did you think we came to a military base without being able to protect ourselves from bullets?” He didn’t sound quite as villainous as his companion but she was suitably spooked all the same.

Kristen didn’t let herself get flustered. While he could obviously stop a bullet, could he stop an entire clip? At this range, a clip would hurt even a dragon fairly severely.

With no other ideas, she tested her hypothesis with four more shots at his face.

None got through, so she aimed three at his chest.

When none hit him, she emptied everything else she had at the mage, who didn’t even react to her after the first shot. He was too busy crushing the air out of Emerald. The clever bastard knew that dragons could heal from stab wounds and the like but needed air as much as every other creature on earth did.

Kristen was about to attack when a spray of bullets pushed her back. She cursed when she realized it was covering fire from the reinforcements on the nearby building. Apparently, they’d waited for her to expend her rounds before they tried to eliminate her.

She took a step back to avoid giving them an easy shot and made the mistake of looking around.

The battlefield was a grim place. Almost all of Barnes’ MPs were asleep, and those who weren’t obeyed Colonel Fox, who ordered them to not break cover. Stonequest, Drew, and the Wonderkid had vanished, but she had no time to try to locate them on the field. She wondered vaguely how the sleeping spell worked as it seemed to have the ability to target some and ignore others and even to work less effectively on certain individuals. At least the members of her team had somehow managed to escape it. Perhaps having the mages occupied with fighting had diminished it somewhat. It was something she made a note of to discuss with Larry later.

General Andrews hadn’t actually loaded a weapon with dragon bullets but he looked like he would if he could.

Amy fought the mage, but both her arms were now wound in the black tendrils of energy, while the light she hurled at her opponent with was noticeably dimmer.

The Steel Dragon cringed when she realized she had brought all these people there and they were about to die. Worse, it would give the Dragon Council all the reason they needed to start a war.

For a pain-filled moment, she didn’t know what hurt more—the idea that the cops she respected would die in a barrage of gunfire or magic or that her family would soon live in a world known only for dragon fire and atomic blasts.

No, what hurt most was knowing that all this was her fault and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop it.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Kristen was about to transform into a dragon—being a bigger target be damned—when Heartsbane appeared out of the night sky and literally landed on the mage’s head.

While his shielding was such that he could block a few bullets while he kept Emerald restrained, the entire weight of a dragon overwhelmed it.

He barely had time to scream before she shattered his magical armor and ground him beneath her like an insect under a boot.

Gunfire retaliated immediately from the nearby building and the dragon hissed at it while she transformed into her human form and took cover.

Her tactic had been entirely successful and the mage she’d landed on was indeed crushed.

The distraction only lasted seconds and Kristen grabbed Emerald and dragged him behind the truck while the two mages in the building rained bullets on them. The report of the weapons made her think that her opponents still used the Uzi-style machine pistols. Those were great for spray and pray violence, but not especially accurate at the range they currently fired from. The two reached cover without being hit and she joined Heartsbane, who was also unharmed.

Part of her brain registered that the two technomages who had vanished from the back of the vehicle had probably snuck away at some point to join their comrade in the ambush. Either that or they lurked nearby, waiting for the perfect moment to join the battle to greatest effect. It was a worry but there wasn’t anything she could do about it until they acted, so she pushed it aside and tried to focus on solutions for their current predicament.

The blackness of the night sky was swallowed by a vivid flare of light as Stonequest rocketed from a great height and swept the building the mages had selected as their sniper location with a blast of fire. She stared in bemusement for a moment, as the last time she’d seen him, the dragon had been asleep. The logical answer was that when the mages engaged in the battle, he had been able to shake the sleeping spell off thanks to his dragon abilities—although she had no idea why he’d been susceptible to it in the first place.

While the others had drawn all the attention, he must have crept away and launched into flight, then returned to wreak havoc.

To the mages’ credit, they actually tried to return fire as one half of the top floor of the building they were in caught fire. Thanks to the speed of his assault, they were hardly more effective against the dragon’s fiery assault they had been against the human-sized targets below them.

Their difficulty was compounded by the fact that Drew and Jim were on Stonequest’s back and laid down covering fire that kept the mages’ heads down as the dragon virtually skimmed them before he elevated once more.

As he ascended sharply, the mages scrambled into position once more. Before they could fire at the dragon overhead, however, the SWAT teammates responded with a concerted barrage that drew curses and curtailed the enemy’s efforts as Stonequest turned for another attack.

The flames were intense enough to vividly illuminate the scene as the mages tried to run from the approaching dragon. Apparently, they’d trained to fight against giant, flying, superpowered lizards but not when their adversaries attacked with armed humans on their back. It was yet another reminder of why humans and dragons should be allies, not enemies. They were more effective working together than they were apart.

When Stonequest ignited the other half of the building, Kristen was given a graphic reminder of why humans and dragons should not go to war. In a second, the entire roof area was on fire, a burning crown that had erupted from two simple exhalations from the dragon.

All gunfire from that direction had ceased. Obviously, the mages were more concerned with not burning to death than they were with completing a mission in which they’d failed to properly anticipate the unexpected interference.

The dragon banked for a third strike, but he flew over the building without an attack, either with fire or with his talons. His aura and his body language indicated that the targets were no longer there.

He tucked his wings, turned sharply, and circled the building while he and his two riders checked the windows as they raced past them for any sign of their quarry.

No shots were fired, and the dragon landed. Drew and Jim disembarked, reloaded their pistols, and aimed at the building to cover Stonequest while he transformed into his human form.

“Those were slick moves,” Kristen murmured to Heartsbane where they held their position behind the truck.

“Yeah. for a horse. I can’t believe Stonequest lets those two monkeys ride him like a pony.”

A flash of light drew their attention to the battle between Amy and the other mage.

Through some unspoken agreement, the two combatants had progressed from the types of magic used in their original attacks against each other. Instead of tendrils of dark energy, the technomage now hurled tiny balls of energy at the girl. They weren’t much bigger than marbles but when they struck, they exploded in flashes.

She dodged these with deft twists and spins and looked terrifying as she did so. Her telekinetic powers couldn’t be used on her own body and when she flew, she could only move her clothes so it looked like the mage fought a skateboarder punk scarecrow. She evidenced impressive control as she yanked her own shoes and hoodie to haul herself around with uncanny motion as her enemy tried to catch her with his tiny spheres.

Amy seemed to grasp the concept of these projectiles on some level as she attempted to replicate them. She couldn’t make them as small as the technomage could, however.

Instead of a marble, she formed a glowing orb the size of a basketball in her hand. It glowed like a miniature sun before she hurled it at her opponent.

The ball of energy exploded with enough force to crack the mage’s armor and catapult him across the field. He landed and tumbled but found his feet immediately, recast his defensive spell, and lobbed more balls at his foe.

A few of them actually struck home and burned holes in her clothes, but the vast majority simply popped harmlessly against another sphere of energy she grew slowly in front of her.

It was already larger than a basketball and continued to expand beyond the size of a beachball, then one of the balls trendy offices let people sit on—bigger than a person, larger than two people, and finally, as large as a car. As it grew, Amy yelled like a shotput thrower from the Olympics going for the world record. It began to vibrate and it soon became abundantly clear that the young mage wouldn’t be able to control it much longer.

Kristen made sure she was under cover and that her skin was steel.

The mage ceased his continuous barrage of magic and fled.

The girl simply released the orb of energy and it rocketed after him and outpaced his sprint so easily that it wasn’t far-fetched to imagine it could outrace even a dragon.

At the last second, the target spun and tried to stop it with a web of the black tentacles he had used earlier. The energy projectile burned through these like they were nothing more than strands of cotton and struck the mage squarely in the chest.

A flash of light seared and surrounded him before his skin and flesh seemed to vanish and leave only a skeleton. In seconds, that too turned to ash.

Amy gasped for air and Kristen ran to catch her before she collapsed. Despite bleeding from one nostril, the mage was smiling, obviously proud of winning her first magic duel.

She didn’t pass out, fortunately, and Kristen dragged her to Heartsbane and Emerald.

The group looked at one another where they hunkered behind cover but before anyone could speak, the top floor of the building Stonequest had sprayed with fire caved in.

Sparks exploded from where the windows had once been to illuminate the action below.

Drew and Jim were outside, guarding doors on two sides of the building. A moment later, Stonequest ran out.

“There’s too much smoke,” he said. Despite breathing fire, dragons still needed oxygen like any living being.

“I have movement!” Drew said and moved toward a door. Jim followed.

“Stay with me!” Stonequest shouted at the two humans and they immediately complied. All of them knew the danger of facing these mages alone but safety also meant they lost the advantage they could have gained by splitting up as a combined search took longer. The three teammates circled the building but found nothing.

Kristen couldn’t imagine that the enemy had let themselves be incinerated. She’d seen magic users fly and had recently seen them turn the crates invisible. They were dauntingly capable and it was safer to assume they were somewhere nearby.

Everyone—or at least everyone who was still awake—gaped as the wooden building, now almost completely engulfed in flames, began to collapse in sections with showers of sparks and smoke.

Even that sound wasn’t enough to wake some of the MPs, but that might be for the best. Her friends were safe, two of the mages were dead, and the others were hopefully licking their wounds, and she turned her attention to General Andrews.

She walked toward him, convinced that he’d known exactly what was in the truck. He’d acted suspiciously and even contradicted himself, first swearing there was nothing in the vehicle and then saying it was confidential. But, still, she couldn’t be sure. Yes, he was in charge of the base and that, together with his attitude and reactions, made him the prime suspect, but it was possible that the entire operation was put together by an officer below him. It still left her with the necessity to determine who the culprits were—there had to be more than one—so she could act on informed and confirmed information.

The nagging voice in her head reminded her of his attempt to persuade them to have coffee instead of investigating the illegal shipment. No, he wasn’t blameless, she decided firmly. Andrews had to have something to do with this. If he wasn’t the sole actor, he had to at least be a member of the conspiracy.

Her hard, unflinching gaze met and held his. “I think it’s about time we had that cup of coffee you offered,” she said with a mirthless smile.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“Idon’t think we need to go all the way to my office,” the general said. His voice approached a whining, wheedling tone, no doubt kept in check only because of years in the military.

“Then we do this here. Tell me how you met Constance Vigil and why she gave you these bullets,” Kristen replied, her voice as hard as her steel skin.

He blanched at the mention of the technomage’s name—as good as a confession to her—but he tried to continue to push the lie. “I don’t know who this…this Constance is or what the hell you’re accusing me of, but I need to see a goddamn warrant if you think for a half a second I’ll cooperate with you.”

“One of your own soldiers admitted there was an illegal shipment coming here, a fact you’ve attempted to obscure. It’s obvious you’re in on this. My only question is how deep. Did you know about the technomages and their terrorist attacks in Detroit?”

“Terrorism?” Andrews puffed himself up as he said the word. “You dare accuse a general of the United States Army of terrorism? How dare you! This merely proves that you…you lizards can’t be trusted. You’re vermin. All of you. Look at the damage you’ve done to my base.”

“We did that damage stopping four mages who used lethal force—and who disabled your MPs with their hands cuffed.” She had begun to lose her patience. The man was a terrible liar and his aura didn’t help. He knew he wasn’t being honest but the emotions she sensed the most were rage and anger. Both burned inside him like white-hot fires.

“Putting my MPs to sleep is hardly as bad as wrecking a building. In fact, now that I think of it, that building was historical. You assholes burned down a national treasure.”

“What is wrong with you?” Kristen demanded harshly. “Your people were attacked and this is what you care about? We should work together from here on. Tell me what you know and we can focus on the real problem. We’ll even fill out paperwork to make you look like you cooperated if you’re scared of punishment.” It wasn’t exactly true but if he confessed and provided details, she would be sure to note that. Of course, only after her paragraphs detailing the general bullshit.

“You dare to threaten me? I represent the United States of America! Who do you represent? A cabal of power-hungry, gold-obsessed dragons who don’t want anything more than the eternal enslavement of mankind?”

“I represent everyone.” Her words were uttered like a rock that the wind of his tirade blew against and couldn’t move. “I am trying to stop a group of terrorists from starting a world war that will hurt everyone. People. Dragons. Mages. Dwarves. Dogs. Cats. Shit, a war like this could hurt the fucking Kirkland’s warbler, for fuck’s sake. I am not here because I don’t like you or don’t trust you. I am here because I followed a line of clues that led me to that trove of illegal weapons.” She pointed so he might better understand. It didn’t seem to help.

“If you think you can pull this communist kumbaya bullshit, I have another think for you—” Andrews replied and launched into another predictable tirade in which he insulted her patriotism, her gender, her parents, and the shithole city she crawled out of.

Kristen only half-listened to it. None of it addressed what was actually happening. All of it was bullshit meant to distract from the crates of weapons that were literally made from the body parts of her species.

As he spoke, she couldn’t help but prod his aura. It was so filled with hate it was almost hard to believe. His was like a great bonfire of anger and hatred, while most people’s was like a torch. She wanted him to see what he was doing but how could he when he couldn’t even think beyond his rage?

Her senses were still wrapped around General Andrews’ aura when she cut him off with a question. “Why are you so angry?”

For a moment, he said nothing. The man stared at her while a vein near his temple throbbed and his face reddened significantly.

“Tell me,” she said gently and didn’t realize she was using her aura against him until it was too late.

Like a hot-air balloon punctured by a katana, he deflated and fell to his knees, and the high color in his face faded somewhat as he breathed deeply. “Because—because it’s only a matter of time before you fucking dragons kill again.”

Kristen hadn’t intended to force him to speak. In fact, she’d resisted far stronger pushes to use her aura before but apparently, the honest question combined with the general’s rage was enough to crack the façade the man had hidden behind.

“It’ll be okay. We’ll stop the dragons from hurting more people. That’s why we’re here.” She tried to pull her aura back because she didn’t want to push Andrews any farther than she already had. In fact, she already felt like she’d overstepped the boundaries of her abilities where she felt comfortable. She hadn’t meant to crack the man, but he’d been under so much pressure that it had only taken the smallest of chips.

“You’re here to ruin everything we’ve worked for!” the general screamed as tears ran down his red face.

“Who is we?” she asked. While she didn’t want to take advantage of this man in this state, she had to have answers. Lives were at stake—billions of lives.

“You already know, you fucking bitch! Constance made those bullets, the same mage who should have put a fucking bullet in your brain when she had the chance.” The words flowed freely now like a dam had been broken and the utterances had only needed time for gravity to drag them out of him. “She gave us the first shipment so we could protect ourselves in case more of you fucking monsters arrived.” Spittle sprayed from his mouth as he spoke.

“Where’s that shipment?” Kristen asked.

“In the second bunker from the end,” Andrews told her coldly. He seemed to be regaining some control of himself.

“I’m on it,” Emerald said, transformed into a dragon, and flew away. He’d obviously already recovered from almost being strangled.

“If the shipment was to protect yourselves, what was this one for?” she asked.

“You’ll have to eat me, you fucking lizard,” the officer replied. “You won’t get an answer out of me, so you might as well transform into a fucking lizard, cook me with your fucking napalm breath, and eat me. I’m not telling you a fucking thing. You’ll get a bullet in your chest from your sister like all the rest of your fucking kind.”

Before, she had felt bad and still did on some level. She didn’t want to use this power against humans, but Andrews was talking about starting the very war she wanted to stop and he had mentioned her sister?

“What do you mean? I don’t have a sister,” she said as her rage built like a storm cloud inside her. It was a strange thing, rage. While she tried to control herself and not hurt this man despite him being complicit in a war that would kill billions, as soon as he’d mentioned the family she suspected was embroiled in Constance’s schemes, the anger surged within her and grew from a storm to a tempest to a hurricane in mere moments.

Kristen let her aura push at the general, swirl around him like a cyclone, get inside him, and strip away the phony face he used to lie to his superiors, his soldiers, and every other human being he’d sworn to keep safe. She asked only one question. “Why now?”

He was incapable of resisting her aura now. She could hardly control it because she was so mad at him, so he stood no chance at all.

Unsurprisingly, he cracked like glass beneath excess pressure. “The war is about to start,” he yelled. She opened her mouth to ask him for more but apparently, he was now more than willing to oblige without prompting. “Do you think you can stop Constance? She’s a genius, a brilliant warrior and a hero to humanity. You’re merely a fucking reptile. I spoke to her yesterday. We were all to be ready by midnight tomorrow.” Andrews grinned savagely.

“It’s a good thing we stopped you, then,” she replied.

His laugh was strange given that his mind had effectively been forced open. It sounded empty, hollow, and terrifying. “Do you think Constance relies only on me and my men? Can you honestly believe she’s so short-sighted?” He fell into his dark laughter like he no longer cared about the failure of his part of the plan.

Kristen’s mind raced. She had assumed that the war would most likely be started by the Dragon Council at their meeting but no one knew when or where that meeting was scheduled, only “soon” and “somewhere remote.” It had been deliberately kept secret to reduce the threat of an attack. Even Stonequest and Windlock didn’t know the details.

But if Constance had given an Army general—Army generals, if Andrews could be believed, and Kristen found that in his current state, she very much believed him—a specific date for the war to kick off, she had to have planned something to spark it.

She turned to Stonequest and Drew and it was immediately apparent that both dragon and man reached the same calculation.

“She’s planning something big,” Drew said.

“Did you see that crate?” Stonequest asked rhetorically. “This is bigger than big. She wanted this base and who knows how many others to be ready for war tomorrow.”

“But how can she know when the war will start?” Heartsbane asked.

“Because she’ll start it,” Kristen said.

The dragon SWAT leader nodded grimly.

Kristen continued. “I would be willing to bet—given her history of showing her power—that she’ll choose a massive demonstration of these weapons, which will give the Dragon Council no choice but to begin the war.”

“Do you have any ideas what that could be?” Drew asked. “If we know the place, we could stop it before it starts.”

Stonequest shook his head. “There are too many viable locations they could choose to even hazard a guess. They could target any of the Dragon SWAT headquarters buildings. There’s the one in Detroit, obviously, plus one in Boston, New York, DC, Miami, Los Angeles…even more than that. Plus, there is any number of estates out there. If she attacked one that had a fair number of dragons on it, the Council would retaliate.”

“Can you tell which ones of those have the most dragons?” the human SWAT leader asked. “Let’s say the top three.”

Again, the dragon shook his head. “Not with everyone moving around so much. Most dragons don’t carry ID or phones. It’s not like we can simply run them through a database. Plus…well, I hate to say this, but Constance had consistently shown she has better intel on where dragons are than we do.”

“We need to find her,” Kristen said. It was the only solution. “And fast.”

“How the hell are we supposed to do that with two dead mages?” Heartsbane asked.

“Well, sorry for saving your butts,” Amy interjected.

The dragon half-smiled at the mage. “I killed one too, remember?”

“Who the hell would know where she is?” Kristen asked, but no one had an answer.

She looked at Andrews. He seemed to have gained control of himself and now sat on the ground, seething. When she looked at Colonel Fox, he seemed both horrified and furious with her actions.

Before she could say anything to him, however, Barnes came over.

“I can’t believe you were right about all this, ma’am,” he said. Some of his formality had returned now that they were no longer in a firefight.

“I wish I wasn’t,” she responded.

The man nodded and she was sure he understood. Serving on the military police couldn’t be easy. Being expected to police soldiers—the people who were supposed to keep their country safe—wouldn’t make him any friends. Now, he had to apprehend his bosses too. Barnes didn’t seem to mind that, though.

“Not to worry, ma’am. I’ll place them both into custody until they can be tried. I’m not quite sure what they’ll be charged with yet, but…something appropriate. Conspiracy to end the world might not be an official charge but it damn well should be.”

“History will validate our actions,” Fox snapped at his lieutenant.

The MP stared at him for a long moment before he said thoughtfully, “You know, General Andrews and Colonel Fox always taught me to be thorough.”

“Shut your mouth, Lieutenant,” his superior retorted but looked scared. “That’s an order.”

“It’s an invalid order, sir, what with you being a terrorist and all,” Barnes said crisply and turned his attention to Kristen. “But like I said. They were always thorough. I’d be a little surprised if they already told you everything. I can’t imagine either one of them letting that shipment travel for any length of time without knowing about it. It’s too dangerous.”

“History will judge your words, Barnes!” Fox hissed in fury. “History and God himself.”

The man jerked a thumb at his boss. “I’m only saying that if I worked with a terrorist cell, I’d want some kind of dirt on them in case they tried to double-cross me. I’d want information about them I could use in a pinch to get myself out of a bind. Their whereabouts, a list of names—something that would be suitable insurance.”

Andrews scowled when Barnes said the word “whereabouts,” something Kristen noticed and which seemed to prove the MP correct.

She turned to Fox first. “Tell me where their base is.”

“I don’t know anything,” he blurted. “General Andrews handled those kinds of details.”

“I know the phrase is no honor among thieves, but maybe we should change it to no loyalty among terrorists.” Heartsbane sneered.

“General Andrews,” Kristen said and forced herself to stay calm. “I will ask you only once. Do you know the whereabouts of the technomage base that made these bullets?”

“No,” he said and spat in her face.

Her expression coldly calm, she wiped the spittle from her face. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Now, General Andrews, tell me where the technomage base is.”

Despite her enormous reluctance, she didn’t have time for what she liked or what was nice. She needed information and she needed it now, and the urgency reminded her that perhaps not everything was as black and white as she believed. This wasn’t the first time that circumstances had pushed her to make a decision based on which was the lesser of two evils depending on what was at stake. It was something she’d have to work through and come to terms with but for now, she flexed her aura to force Andrews to tell her.

He resisted mightily for a while. She realized that when he’d last cracked, he had wanted to say certain things—perhaps his way to be heard and to justify his transgressions. The knowledge of Constance and her base was his trump card. If he told her the rest but not this, he could still tell himself he won. In reality, it meant that she hadn’t really battled his will and had merely guided him down a path he’d already considered.

This was different. Andrew’s will resisted like a wall and she assailed it with an aura like a sledgehammer.

He stared at her, fully aware of what she was doing but unable to fight her in any way besides clenching his fists and remaining single-minded. “No.”

His effort wasn’t sufficient, however. She was trying to save the planet and he only tried to save himself. It was inconceivable that he should be allowed this triumph while others died literally by the billions.

“Fuck!” the man finally screamed. “There is a war coming! Do you even know what that means, you mewling child?”

Kristen continued to push at his aura. He hadn’t cracked yet and simply attempted to talk to dissuade her and make her change her mind. The words gave him power and shored up his failing resistance. “Those bullets are humanity’s only chance of survival. This is us against them. Can’t you see that? Can’t you see your mother and father will die if you stop us?”

“If we don’t stop Constance, no one will be able to save my parents,” Kristen said and sighed. Her inner struggle against what she’d always believed was inherently wrong made her task so much more difficult. The person she was rebelled against the thought that she could use her powers to force compliance and the conflict generated an inordinate degree of strain. Still, she had to do it. They had to know. “Tell me where the technomage base is.”

Finally, General Andrews snapped. He collapsed and stared into the night sky, his eyes focused on something behind the stars. “It’s on a ranch,” he mumbled.

“What ranch?”

“Deephealth. It’s called Deephealth Ranch. It’s in Wayne County in Michigan.”

From there, he gibbered incoherently and continued to stare at nothing. She was disturbed by what she’d done to him. Her conscience shrieked that she had reduced a grown man to an incoherent pile, barely cogent. Hopefully, he’d recover with time and she fervently hoped that would be the case. She couldn’t bear the thought that she might have destroyed him permanently.

Unfortunately, she had to know one more thing.

“You said something about my sister. What were you talking about?”

“It was something Constance said. Your sister is key to all this. The…the secret ingredient.” Andrews started to laugh and cry after that and his brain seemed fried.

Kristen took a few steps away from the man she’d broken. Was this who she was now? She looked at him in horror. It seemed like it would have been more humane to simply kill him than break his mind.

“Jesus, Kristen… I didn’t know you could do that,” Amy said and made no attempt to hide the disgust in her voice.

“I… Neither did I,” she responded shakily.

“Don’t beat yourself up too much about it,” Stonequest said, his face an unreadable poker-mask. “This happens sometimes when a hostile won’t cooperate. You did the right thing. It’s distasteful to leave a human like this, but no one would argue that this wasn’t necessary. He’ll recover—”

“Who the fuck cares if he doesn’t?” Heartsbane countered. “The dude was an asshole. We are fulfilling a responsibility to not only dragons but humans as well, thanks to you, Steel Dragon. Who cares if we hurt the people on the wrong side of our fight?”

Kristen wanted to say that she did but held the words back. There was time to worry about this later when there wasn’t a war to prevent. Right now, there was work to do, and she didn’t want to think about what else she might have to do to protect the planet from its own inhabitants.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

There was nothing left for the team to do at Fort Drum but take the bullets. They loaded them—including the earlier shipment Emerald had located—on an enormous canvas cloth that Heartsbane and Emerald took the corners of to lift it into the sky. Kristen had little doubt that they’d confiscated all the ammunition. When Colonel Fox had seen what she had done to General Andrews, he’d become very cooperative. She was relieved that he didn’t dig in against her, but she’d used fear as a motivator and as much as she hated it, she had to confess that it could be very effective.

“All right, Lady Steel, is there anything else?” Stonequest said, looking at the other dragons already wheeling about in the sky.

“No. I think that’s it. Go ahead and get Drew and Jim back to base. I’ll carry Amy.”

He nodded and his gaze lingered on her for a moment as if he tried to understand something about her. Finally, he shrugged and took flight.

She was about to transform when Barnes came up.

“I’m sorry to delay you,” Barnes said, “but do you have a second?”

It was an odd request after such a crazy night. They’d upended the entire power structure at the base in a single event and now, the man was concerned that he wasted her time?

“Of course. What do you need?” she replied. They could never have been successful without the Lieutenant Colonel so she would certainly give him a few minutes.

He looked at her for a moment, and she realized that maybe he didn’t actually want to say anything. Maybe he wanted something from her.

It was fair enough, she thought. “I’m sorry about dropping all this crap in your lap. It must be a nightmare to arrest your own boss and process the paperwork for illegal weapons. If you have any trouble, please contact me. I don’t want you to jeopardize your career over this.”

The man was already waving his hand for her to stop. “It’s fine, really. Stop apologizing. I don’t mind. You could say this is a dream come true, in a way. I think many MPs who wonder how high up the ladder we’d be able to stop someone. It’s damn scary to stop a general, but I’m glad we did it. This is what the job’s about—no one breaks the law, especially not so they can start a war with our own soldiers. Shoot, if I play my cards right, I might get a medal out of this. It’s only…” He trailed off.

“Only what?” Kristen prodded. She could give the man a minute but they also had intel on where Constance’s base was. The urgency of the situation meant that they couldn’t spend more time there than what was required.

“I guess I’m worried that Andrews and this Constance woman might be right. What if a war is inevitable?”

“My people will do everything in their power to stop anything from—”

“I know, I know,” Barnes said and cut her off. She might have protested if he didn’t sound so damn concerned. “But if it all goes to shit anyway, I guess I’m worried that we might have given up our only chance to defend ourselves. I’m no fool. If the Dragon Council decides to go to war, there’s no way they’ll overlook military bases and especially not one where those weapons were found. We’d be attacked within the first week of the war, if not the first day. That ammunition might have been the only thing we had to save soldier’s lives.”

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Amy said.

The man turned to her, a look of faint surprise on his face.

“If Kristen says she’ll do something, she’ll do it. She found out I was a mage at basically the same time I did and after I had killed two dragons. The Steel Dragon stopped at nothing to bring me in safely. She risked her life, her job—everything. Now, she has a thousand people behind her, all working on this problem. If she says she’ll stop this war from happening, she will.”

Barnes smiled at that. “A thousand and one now, I guess.”

Kristen could sense his aura enough to know she could have left it at that. The man felt better and he would make sure Andrews and Fox saw justice, but something Amy had said didn’t sit right with her.

“I guess…that’s kind of my biggest fear,” she confessed to the lieutenant and her mage.

“What is? That you’ll make a promise to someone for something ridiculous one day when the war is over—like you’ll get them a hotdog or something, but you won’t find any and you’ll burn three states to buy one?” The girl smiled.

The jokes didn’t lighten her mood, though.

“No. That I’ll stop at nothing to prevent this war. What I did—” She took a deep breath. She had to be able to talk about this and for some reason, it seemed right to do it there in that moment. “What I did to Andrews was harsh. I crossed a line and learned something about me that I didn’t want to know. I always thought I didn’t have much aura power but now I see that I simply haven’t flexed that muscle. I broke that man like an egg and I don’t know if he can be fixed. What I do know is that I can’t help him and I don’t want to leave a trail of broken people in my wake. I’m afraid I would if it meant stopping everyone on the planet from attacking each other.”

Barnes frowned at her. “Lady Steel, with all due respect, I don’t think you quite know what you’re talking about. You didn’t break that man. General Andrews was broken long ago.”

Kristen startled at that. “How do you mean?”

“Now that all this has come out, it makes everything so much clearer. He’d drummed up hate toward dragons for months, ran drills on how to fight them, and talked constantly about how they hate mankind. I realize that you cracked his shell but the inside of that man was rotten with hate.”

“Still… I think I went too far.”

The man shrugged. “I think you did what you unfortunately had to do. It was hard to watch and I’m sure it was hard to do, but it was the right thing. You have a tool at your disposal and you used it to help. If Andrews is the sacrifice who prevents humans and dragons from finally turning on each other, I think it’s a fair price.”

She nodded, albeit reluctantly. Something about what he said made sense and coming from a military man, it was hardly surprising. The military couldn’t afford to be idealistic in the same way the police could. Cops were expected to bring those who opposed them—namely, criminals—in to face justice, while the military was expected to stop its foes, period. It was naïve to think otherwise, yet something about it still rankled.

“Do you believe that the ends justify the means? That I can do anything as long as it stops others from killing each other?” She wasn’t sure exactly what had caused her to blurt that. Maybe it was post-combat fatigue, being up all night, or merely Barnes’ straightforward demeanor. Whatever the reason, she had said it.

“No, I don’t think the ends always justify the means. That’s why we have war crimes, right? There are some things that can be considered too far under any circumstances.”

“Then how am I supposed to know what’s too far? There are no rules like that among dragons. I have all this power and it seems to grow constantly. I don’t want to use it. If I start to focus too much on my goals, I could lose track of what I’m doing now. Terrible actions done for the right reasons are still terrible actions.”

Barnes nodded at this, frowned slightly, and looked impressed. “I agree. I really do. Power corrupts. Not to side with General Andrews, but the power dragons command has corrupted many of them. It’s a huge issue everywhere.”

“Then what do I do to make sure I don’t abuse my own power?” she asked.

“Keep asking that question, I think,” he said and scratched his chin thoughtfully. “I think that’s the only way to go about it. As long as you ask yourself what you’re doing with your power and as long as you constantly check your actions against your motives, I think you’re the best we can hope for. If a person still asks themselves whether they are misusing their power, they are probably already doing their best to not abuse it.”

Kristen nodded and managed a weak smile. It was something to keep in mind, she decided.

“Well, don’t let me keep you any longer, Investigator.” Barnes saluted. “You have a war to prevent, after all.”

She nodded at the man, transformed and let Amy levitate onto her back, and pumped her wings to lift herself into the lightening sky. The sun was at their backs and the land below them had barely begun to stir to greet a new day.

Ahead of them, the rest of her team were merely silhouettes.

“You know…” the mage said tentatively and sounded nervous, “I kind of feel the same way as you do. About your power—or mine, rather.”

“Amy, you’ve done nothing to harm anyone since we’ve met—”

“I know. Believe me, I know. But I killed those dragons and I still feel horrible about it.”

“That wasn’t your fault.”

“Maybe not,” the girl countered. “But I still did it.”

“You didn’t have control then like you do now.”

“No, Kristen, but thanks to you, I have access to the same power now that I did then. That’s kind of my point. We’re both…hell, I don’t know how else to say this, but we’re both insanely fucking powerful. You’re like a superhuman when you’re in your weak form, and a goddamn steel dragon when you really want to kick ass. I have powers that make most comic book heroes look like wimps. Together, we’re really fucking powerful.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at the blunt crassness but nor could she argue.

Amy continued. “So, if shit gets bad out there, I think we need to look out for each other.”

“We will. That’s what it means to me that you’re my mage. I don’t own you or anything, but if anyone else tries to hurt you…” She growled as the dragon possessiveness rose within her.

“No, Kristen, that’s not what I’m talking about. I know you have my back. You’ve made that very clear and I’m thankful, but I think we can help each other to not…you know…not go too far. We were both raised in the human world and thought we were normal far longer than most of these dragons and mages did. We can’t lose that part of us. When we face Constance, I don’t want to hold back. She told me she wanted this war, which is crazy. We have to stop her, but when it’s all done, I hope you and I can sit down, look each other in the eye, and at the very least, tell each other where we messed up.”

“We can do that.” Kristen nodded and seized the offer like a life raft in a freezing ocean.

For the rest of the flight, she felt lighter. She didn’t feel better about what she had done to the general but it was good to know that someone would hold her accountable. She promised to do the same for Amy. It was the right thing to do, even if it wouldn’t be easy.

A few hours later, they settled on the roof of the dragon SWAT headquarters building. Through some quirk of wind currents, they barely managed to beat the other dragons and waited to greet Stonequest, Emerald, and Heartsbane as they landed and deposited the crates of dragon bullets on the roof.

“All right, Investigator,” the dragon SWAT leader asked, “what next?”

“I want those dragon bullets destroyed. Every. Single. One,” she replied.

“I can do that, Lady Steel,” Atramento said. He’d appeared beside them while she’d been focused on her teammates.

“Are you sure?” she asked the boss of the Paper Dungeon.

“Hell yeah,” he said with a grin and dropped his fake accent for a moment to allow his real voice—that of a Detroiter—to come through.

A number of mages exited from the door to the building. They levered the crates open with pry bars and used their powers to lift the bullets out of the cases like a swarm of bees ready to find a new nest. Atramento issued orders in Latin or another language she didn’t know, and the mages directed the bullets down to the third floor to begin the process of destroying them.

It felt good to know that each one of those could have killed a dragon but never would. At the same time, it reminded her forcefully that this was what Constance had sent to one base and there were quite likely many more out there exactly like these.

“All right, boss, what now?” Drew asked with a grin.

“Did any of you punks Google Deephealth Ranch on the flight over?” Kristen raised an eyebrow.

Jim held his phone up. The screen displayed a route to the countryside that followed streets as they obviously didn’t make apps for dragon flight. “We were merely checking if it was pizza time yet or if we still had a war to stop.”

“When do we head out?” Stonequest asked.

“As soon as we can get dragon SWAT and Detroit SWAT here,” Kristen said with a grin. “I’m not saying it’s a competition, but I am saying everyone better hurry the hell up because the loser will buy drinks when this shit’s all over.”

Stonequest nodded and pulsed his aura to tell the other dragons there was something urgent, while Drew pressed the button on his radio.

A minute later, both teams were assembled.

The three dragons already there were joined by Timeflash and Lumos.

It seemed the humans might have won the race except Hernandez was late. Drew and Jim stood at attention while Keith, Butters, and Beanpole arrived, each with a duffel bag that was no doubt stuffed to the seams with guns and ammunition.

“It looks like we win,” Stonequest said with a roguish wink.

“Only because none of you assholes know how to help a fucking lady,” Hernandez said, kicked the door to the roof open, and struggled through with four duffle bags. Two were slung over each shoulder.

“Do you plan to hit up a spa?” Heartsbane sneered.

“I wanted to bring enough explosives to blow up any smart-talking dragons if you really want to know,” the woman retorted smartly.

“Fair enough.” The dragon was obviously impressed by the human’s fiery temper.

“You’re fucking right it’s fair enough, Jesus.” Hernandez dropped her bags beside her teammates.

“Humans win,” Kristen said.

“How so?” Stonequest demanded as Windlock ran out onto the roof with Larry.

“Sorry I’m late. It’s been a long time since I’ve been called to action like that,” the dragon investigator said.

“All right,” Kristen said and looked at the two teams that were now one. “We’ll head to what we have reason to believe is Constance’s base of operations. I doubt this is the only one as our inability to locate it means the team has to keep moving. Still, Andrews was able to pinpoint it, and that tells me that this could be a kind of headquarters that operates like a long-term safe house or something. It might turn out to be another damn wild goose chase, but we’ll take every precaution in case it’s not.

“We’d be fools to think they won’t have aura detectors as part of their perimeter defenses, which means we’ll have to set down far away and let the humans take point on this one. Drew, can you handle that?”

“Do we really have time for rhetorical questions?” he responded with a grin.

“Good man. I want Larry and Amy with you as well. They’re mages, which means they won’t have anything that can trigger blaring alarms. Once you get in there and use as much advantage as you can from the element of surprise, call in the big guns.”

“If we need the big guns,” Hernandez said and raised an eyebrow in a challenge at the dragons.

Everyone laughed, which thankfully bled a little of the tension from the air.

Heartsbane seemed ready to bring it back, though. “I hope you don’t, sweetheart, but if your firecrackers aren’t quite up to snuff, don’t be afraid to ask for help.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Barely twenty minutes later, Kristen scowled and shifted irritably on yet another stakeout.

She was decidedly more on edge this time, mainly due to the fact that while immobile, her thoughts were allowed to range at will through all the possible things that could go wrong. A part of her knew she had to send the humans in and that they might, in fact, stand a better chance against the mages. This reasoning was based on the very real truth that the technomages had trained for years to kill dragons and with a war looming, this would be their focus, not humans. While she didn’t doubt this, a growing dread curled in her stomach as Drew, Amy, and the team moved farther and farther away.

A burst of static yanked her into action and she scrambled to answer her radio.

“We’ve reached the perimeter of a group of buildings.”

“Tell her it stinks,” Keith whispered loudly into the radio.

“It stinks, Kristen,” the team leader confirmed. “And…well, how sure are you that this is the right place?”

“There’s no way Andrews was lying,” she said and shuddered as she recalled the state she’d left the man in. “And given the way our source guarded the intel, I don’t think it would be false. He must have had reason to believe it. Why? What makes you think that we’re at the wrong location?”

“Well…it doesn’t really look like a secret base. It looks like a pig farm.”

“And smells like one,” Keith added.

“A pig farm?” Kristen was both surprised and confused. She’d expected Constance to hide out in an abandoned warehouse and that the ranch part of the name was a historical reference to what it used to be. She had assumed this was an old factory and hadn’t even thought to clarify with Jim’s Google search.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Heartsbane lick her lips. “There’s nothing like fresh pig. That is one thing humans and dragons definitely have in common—we can all agree that pigs are damn tasty.”

“Kristen, I think it’s time we faced the ugly reality we’ve all wanted to avoid,” Stonequest said.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s easy to pretend that they obtained the parts for these bullets from the dragons they killed—and they might, to some degree—because that’s the comfortable explanation. This location says otherwise, however, we have to accept the reality that they have a living source. I know we’d rather not and I’ve been as guilty of avoiding it as anyone, but I don’t think we can do that any longer.”

It was something she’d considered as well, and it reminded her of what Andrews had said about her sister. Even in his compliant state, she hadn’t wanted to dig deeper—in all honesty, she was afraid he might tell her the truth and hadn’t been sure she could control herself when she heard it. Still, this was no time to be squeamish. He was right. They’d all tried to circumvent it as long as possible because the truth was so unpalatable. “Go on.”

“Well, this entire situation points to the fact that the source is a living dragon—either a captive or someone helping them willingly.”

“That’s fucked,” Heartsbane said.

“None of us wanted to take the idea seriously but he’s right. It makes sense,” Lumos said. “We dragons need to eat a huge amount so a pig farm is the perfect cover. There is sufficient food, and things will come and go so it’d be easy to hide stuff here—much easier than in an abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere.”

Kristen relayed all this to Drew.

“Okay, that makes sense I guess,” the team leader responded, “but if we run in and give some poor old farmer a heart attack all because a few dragons wanted pork chops, I’ll never forgive you or your bacon fetish.”

“Bacon is a perfectly acceptable pizza topping,” she joked before she took a deep breath and allowed the gravity of the situation to seize them all once more in preparation for the combat that was likely to come. “Let’s hope the intel’s good, though. Are you ready to go in?”

“Yeah, we’re moving in toward the buildings now.”

A tense minute followed before Drew spoke again. “We have nothing.”

“Nothing?” she asked with a frown.

“Yeah, but in a weird way. This place is big and we can hear the pigs. There ought to be people moving about outside and working on a farm of this size, so where are they?”

“They don’t need farmhands if one mage can do all their chores with magic,” Larry said.

It made sense to her. “We need to operate under that assumption.”

“All right, where to, boss?” Drew asked. “We have a farmhouse, two smaller barns that we can hear pigs in, and another bigger barn that looks like it’s seen better days.”

Kristen thought for a moment. “To get a dragon in, they’d have to do it through somewhere big. Try the big barn.”

“You got it.” The Detroit team leader left the radio on so they could hear the footsteps as they approached.

A creak must have been from the doors opening, then someone—Kristen thought it was Keith—muttered, “Holy shit.”

“Kristen, this has to be the place,” Drew said crisply, “unless this farmer uses magic runes to protect his old barn from rats.”

“What do you see?”

“We have a hayloft, a few old farm implements on the walls, a rusted tractor, fresh hay on the ground, and did I mention the magic runes crawling the walls?”

“Larry?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m checking now. We have typical detection stuff, a few defensive ones—all keyed to dragons, probably so they don’t inadvertently blast delivery people—and there it is.” A rustling sound suggested that fabric was rubbed on wood. “All right, that should do it. I wiped out any reference to dragons. I’ll remove the others, but you can move in without triggering any alarms right now.”

Unfortunately, it seemed the detection spells had already fulfilled their purpose.

A shout echoed in the barn, followed quickly by what was most likely a blast of magical energy.

“Hit the deck!” Drew yelled and muted thuds indicated that the team had complied.

Living bodies, Kristen told herself again and again as she barked orders to the dragons to transform and join the fight. That meant her team was fine. It seemed they’d already lost their element of surprise so it was pointless to try to creep in.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Drew often missed the times when he’d worked with Kristen. Even before she’d become a dragon, she’d been a charismatic, idealistic cop, his favorite kind of person. Once she’d become a dragon—or realized she was one, he supposed—it had been an honor to work with her. Time after time, it had been a real pleasure to go into a fight with her and come out on the other side.

Now was not one of those times.

He and his SWAT team, together with the two mages, had barely managed to avoid their heads being blown off. And not figuratively either like when a bullet went through a man, but literally. The resident mages lobbed glowing spheres of energy at them that seemed to explode everything they touched. They’d already struck the old rusty tractor that had been in one corner of the barn and it had become almost like a bowl of soup in the microwave.

There was no way he would let that happen to his people.

“Split up, take cover, and try to attack them from different angles,” he ordered, but his team was already moving into position. They’d been in enough high-stakes fights to know what to do, even if this one was against magic-hurling mages rather than gunmen.

Larry and Amy didn’t seem to have the same instincts. She stood in the doorway with her hands up to protect herself, the perfect example of a girl in a firefight who was way out of her league.

The team leader responded without hesitation. He raced forward and leapt toward her as a bolt of energy sizzled on a direct path to the undefended mage. She might have been a rookie, but he had seen what she could do at Fort Drum. They couldn’t lose her. He was far more expendable.

All this went through his mind as he careened with his arms outstretched to intercept the blast the mage had hurled.

The expected impact never came. Instead, when he sprawled directly in front of her, he noticed an almost invisible blue shimmer that absorbed the blast of energy like the surface of a pool assimilated a bucket of water.

Amy knelt quickly beside him. “Are you all right?”

Drew pushed to his knees, brushed the hay off his body, and tried not to look as sheepish as he felt. “Sorry. I thought you were wide open.”

“No, I’m fine,” she said and retaliated with a few attacks of her own at their attackers. “I hoped to draw their fire. That works better when it looks like I’m not shielded.”

He nodded and scrambled to his feet. Inside her energy barrier, it was like watching a crappy action movie with bad computer-generated effects.

The mages stood in front of the doors to what was most likely a workshop, except behind the old wooden door he had seen when they’d entered, sliding double doors of burnished stainless steel were visible. The defenders fired an ongoing fusillade at the young mage. From behind her, Keith, Jim, and Hernandez answered the blasts of energy with good old-fashioned lead.

Their adversaries blocked the bullets with a shield similar to Amy’s, but it seemed to take all their attention. Neither of them noticed Larry, Butters, and Beanpole sneak into the hayloft until it was almost too late.

As soon as the sniper reached his preferred position, he aimed his rifle at them. It was almost comically large in the close confines of the barn and after a single shot, one of the mages staggered from the strike. The bullet hadn’t caught him but the force of it seemed to have shattered his shield.

He fired magic blasts in response, but Larry deflected these up and away from the hay they were seated on. The energy seared holes in the roof of the barn and he checked hastily to make sure no sparks had drifted to smolder unnoticed.

Drew took aim at the mage whose attention was on his allies in the hayloft. He shot him in the arm, which earned a curse from his target, and the enemy retreated hastily.

They delivered some kind of concussive wave that threw the hay in the barn into the air to obscure them as they withdrew inside the little workshop that obviously concealed something far more technologically advanced.

“Is everyone good?” Drew called quickly.

All responses were positive.

“All right, then. Let’s blow those doors open. Hernandez, if you’d do the honors?”

The woman grinned. “I thought you’d never ask.”

She stepped up to the doors and began to affix shaped charges to them.

“And Hernandez, I’d rather you didn’t bring the entire damn barn down on top of us.”

“What do you think I am? An amateur?” she huffed, but she also removed a few of the charges. After a minute of quiet work, she stood and nodded at the team leader.

“All right, Butters and Beanpole, down from there. I want everyone behind Amy and Larry with shields up.”

“Don’t be such a chicken,” the demolitions expert complained.

“I, for one, think that if we have magic protection, we might as well use it,” Butters said as he returned to the barn floor and moved to stand behind Amy’s shield. She’d changed the shimmering blue shield from a sphere to a wall of force, the better to protect them all.

Drew nodded at Hernandez for her to proceed.

“Fire in the hole!” she said and detonated the explosives.

An enormous bang was immediately followed by a wild flurry of hay and smoke. Larry swept it out of their line of sight with magic, and Drew could see that Hernandez had quite efficiently blown the shit out of the doors. One of them was still in its track but the other was a twisted scrap of metal.

“What the hell was that?” Kristen demanded over the radio.

“Hernandez,” he said and the Steel Dragon merely laughed.

The team approached with their weapons ready.

It turned out the doors actually were an elevator. Drew peered over the edge and looked a long way down into darkness. If he was more prone to poetic language, he might have even called it an abyss, but he was a cop, not a fucking poet, so he turned his flashlight on and tried to make sense of what he looked at.

The shaft went down about forty feet before it reached the roof of an elevator carriage. The cable that had carried it down was still intact, as was the panel with the controls, but some component he couldn’t see must have been damaged as the controls were unresponsive. Fortunately, he located a small ladder running down the side of the shaft. From the looks of it, he assumed it was for maintenance and little else. He couldn’t imagine that people could have used it to take anything up or down.

“I guess there’s no second floor to the barn, but I’m not exactly thrilled about going down there,” Butters said ponderously. “I’m not sure that ladder will be able to handle a man of my stature.”

“Dude, those are steel rungs. What did you eat for breakfast—lead?” Keith grinned.

“I’ll have you know he did not,” Beanpole said. “But I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a five-egg omelet until I went to eat with this guy.”

“Butters, if you’re too big to climb down, stay at the top. You can be the cork to this shaft if anyone tries to escape,” Jim said.

Drew was glad to allow his team to let off a little steam. Everyone being calm and thinking positively could be the difference between life and death. And, of course, Butters had set himself up with his “man of my stature” statement.

“I think Butters is right,” he said. “I’m not sure if those rungs can hold him.” He pointed at a few chips and blackened areas near the top of the ladder, obviously blast damage from Hernandez’s bomb. “We’ll need to take this carefully. Butters, there’s rope in my duffel. I left it maybe thirty yards outside the barn. Let’s get that and secure it before you go down. Everyone else, hold this position until we get back.”

The two men hurried out to retrieve the bag and exited the barn as the dragons arrived.

“What’s our status?” Kristen asked.

“We have two hostiles—mages. I guess I should clarify—on the run down there. The element of surprise is over.”

“Okay, we’ll take point on this, then,” she said.

“Investigator, with respect, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he replied.

She smiled at the forced formality. “Why’s that?”

“We found an elevator shaft that goes down about forty feet. It would be the perfect choke-point. If there’s a bomb at the bottom of that, it’d be a great way to eliminate a dragon. I don’t think it makes sense to risk any of you this early in the operation.”

Her expression hardened as if she didn’t like what he had said, but she nodded all the same. “We’ll keep an eye out up here. Let us know when you want us down there. We’ll look for another way in until you give us the all-clear.”

“I can stay here too,” Butters said as the two men returned to the barn.

“Are you all right, big man?”

The sniper tried to nod but he looked pale. “I’m not great in small spaces.”

Drew was shocked. He’d had no idea his teammate was claustrophobic. “Is that right?”

“Look, I’m a big man, no doubt about that, right?”

“Those tunnels won’t be so tight you can’t get around, Butters. We’re looking for a dragon.”

“I know. Really, I do, but that’s also one of the reasons I became a sniper. I like being able to see the whole field of combat. If I have eyes on everyone, I feel like I can keep everyone safe. Down there will be all twisting halls and closed tunnels.” He shuddered.

“You did all right when we saved Kristen from that maze with Obscura.”

Butters shook his head. “That was a warehouse. I knew we could get out. If something goes wrong down there…” He swallowed.

“I understand, Butters, I do, but your eyes keeping everyone safe is why we need you. We’ll stick together, all right?”

He agreed because he was too good a cop not to.

When they returned to the others, Amy immediately confronted Drew with the same argument he had used with Kristen.

“If we go down one at a time, I should go first. I can shield myself against their magical attacks. It doesn’t make sense to risk all your lives when I don’t have to risk mine.”

“Don’t forget that they have guns. I know you can make that snazzy shield, but these technomages know how to shoot. Do you think you can stop bullets?”

She shrugged. “Maybe a few but you’re right. I can’t hold gunfire off for long. But it’s still longer than any of you can. I’ll be careful.”

“I think you’re too valuable an asset—” He tried to argue but she shook her head. There was something in her eyes that brokered no argument.

“What’s the point of having assets if we don’t use them? Let me do this and let me do it now. We’re wasting time as it is.”

“Fair enough, I guess. Go ahead, but take it slow and be careful.”

The young mage nodded before she jumped down the elevator shaft and plummeted forty feet into the darkness.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

It was nothing short of amazing how having magic powers had given Amy her old thirst for adrenaline back. A month before, she wouldn’t have jumped from a twenty-foot cliff into Lake Michigan. Now, she plunged into a dark elevator shaft that fell forty feet into darkness, where deadly mages might be waiting at the bottom. Yes, her heart pounded and yes, she had the giddy, scared-shitless feeling in her chest, but she felt alive—the most alive she’d felt since she stopped skateboarding and moved away from her parents.

She held her clothes with her telekinetic magic abilities to make sure she stayed that way and landed on the top of the elevator as silently as she could. Skateboard tricks as a teen had taught her good control over her feet so she thought she did all right.

Still, she wasn’t a fool. She threw as much energy as she could into her shield as she opened the hatch to the top of the elevator, fully expecting to take a blast of magic in the chest.

When the attack failed to materialize, she took a moment to confirm that no one was in the elevator to greet her.

Amy stepped into the space where the hatch door had been and floated into the carriage. Instead of a matching set of burnished steel doors like the pair that had been at the top of the shaft, an open hallway beckoned to her. A piece of steel wedged the doors open. That had to be what had prevented the elevator from returning to the top of the shaft.

She stepped carefully under the metal bar and removed it. The hallway ahead appeared fairly pedestrian with concrete walls, fluorescent lights, and a button to summon the elevator behind her.

“The elevator should work now,” she said into her radio and sure enough, the doors closed, summoned to the surface by her team.

For the moment, she was on her own.

This super-sub-basement was obviously not a part of the original barn and could only have been added in recent years. The construction was modern but simple and concrete walls restrained the tons of dirt overhead. The hallway continued for perhaps fifty feet before it ended at another set of double doors. There was no panel beside these, though, and she didn’t think it was another elevator.

Amy hesitated. Part of her knew she should wait for the others to join her, but no mages had attacked her, despite the fact that the two they’d been fighting had escaped. That meant they weren’t guarding the entrance to their hideout, which plainly suggested that they were doing something else. Her reasoning said this was something they didn’t think they needed much time for since neither of them had stayed behind to slow the invaders.

Urgency won out over caution and she hurried down the hallway. She reached the steel doors at the end and found them unlocked. Cautiously, she pushed one open and peeked into a cavernous room.

The space seemed to bristle with the signs of concerted activity. While she wasn’t quite sure what it all meant, she was still reasonably certain that she’d found some kind of planning and control room. A massive whiteboard with notes, maps, and other materials dominated a wall. A few computers were positioned on different tables, tethered to the wall with orange extension cords that were taped to the concrete floor in places. Two long workbenches—as big as school cafeteria tables but taller—were both covered in assorted tools for what she assumed was shaping dragon bullets. She also recognized a few reload presses, mainly because she’d grown up in rural Maine and one or two of the locals used them.

There was no doubt in her mind that they’d found the location where Constance—or at least some of her team—manufactured their bullets. There were even pieces of partly completed dragon bullets on the workbenches.

Her gaze scrutinized the room and finally settled on the two mages. They were huddled over a device in a corner, and sparks of magic flickered faintly as they worked. It spoke to the size of the room that she hadn’t noticed them and they hadn’t turned to her when she’d opened the door.

Now that she had seen them, she was immediately overwhelmed by the power that radiated from where they were but also registered that it couldn’t be the energy from the two mages. She’d battled them—albeit briefly—and they hadn’t possessed anything even close to this degree. It could only be the device that contained it.

When she focused in an effort to understand what it was, she realized the power was getting stronger.

The magic energy in that corner of the room was building rapidly. It made her think of a bonfire. If properly built, a single match could ignite kindling, then branches, and entire tree trunks. It seemed to her like these mages attempted to provide the spark.

Amy also realized that she would have to snuff it out before it accomplished its purpose.

She fired a blast of magic which they blocked. It seemed they’d maintained an almost invisible shield like she had, but the defense barely stopped her attack and in fact, her power had been enough to rip a hole in their barrier.

One of the mages cursed but they continued their frantic task.

Dread stabbed painfully in her gut. Whatever they were doing, it was apparently more important than a mage trying to attack them.

If she hadn’t been so stressed about the possible results of their single-mindedness, she might have been offended to be so easily disregarded.

A little out of her depth and uncertain as to what she should do, she released three more energy missiles at the mages. Two of them went wide but the third burned one of her target’s arms and knocked him off his feet.

“Come on—its charged!” Rather than sounding frightened, the mage who hadn’t been hit sounded almost excited. He caught his companion by a sleeve of his robe and pulled him to his feet and down another hallway.

Amy gave chase and raced across the room toward the hallway down which they’d vanished, but she slowed when she approached the device.

It still gained power as far as she could see, although she wasn’t sure exactly what she was looking at. If her perception was accurate, the mages had sparked the bonfire inside the machine and it was now able to build its own energy.

She hesitated for only the briefest of moments before she stepped closer to examine it. Given that it was apparently more important than defending their own lives, she would have to treat it with the same gravitas the mages had.

It was made of a series of tubes that all seemed to be connected to a central chamber. Whatever it was, the energy in the central chamber—that continued to expand alarmingly—seemed to have only one purpose. There were no prizes for guessing that it was to blow the whole damn farm to smithereens.

Of course, she had to at least try to do something. Her first thought was to yank out one of the tubes connected to the central chamber—if she could deny it whatever feedback loop that powered it, perhaps it might run itself out. As soon as she made the attempt, a jolt of energy surged up her arm.

The force was enough to hurl her onto her ass. When she looked at her hands, the veins on the one that had touched the machine had turned black all the way to her elbow.

Amy grimaced. “Larry, I think we have a problem,” she said into the radio.

“Yeah, you ran off.”

“And it’s a good thing I did too. I’m looking at some kind of a…honestly, I don’t know. Some kind of magical device. It’s throwing off a ton of energy and I think it might be a bomb.”

“Tell me what you see. I’ll be there in maybe two minutes. Hernandez must have damaged the elevator as it’s a slow ride.”

“Um…okay. It’s made of metal, and—”

“What kind of metal?”

“It looks like copper, I think.”

“Okay, what else?”

“It has all these tubes going into a central area. I can feel energy growing in there—a ton of energy.”

“It sounds like an amplification device. Regular people worked out that copper could carry electricity after watching mage devices—”

“This is no time for a history lesson, Larry!” She cut him off and decided she’d apologize for the sharpness in her tone later.

“Right, well, if you can remove a couple of those tubes, it should bleed itself out. It might get kind of hot in there, but you’ll be all right.”

“I tried that.”

“And?”

“And it did some weird freaky shit to my arm. It made my veins go black.”

“Don’t touch it!” he yelled so loudly into the radio that he managed to produce feedback. “How far did your veins turn?”

“To my elbow.”

“Oh, thank God. If that shit gets to your heart, you’re a zombie. It’s…it’s not pretty and there’s no coming back from that. That’s dark, dark magic. I might be able to disarm it but it would take a couple of hours.”

“Yeah, we definitely don’t have a couple of hours. It’s starting to vibrate.”

“Amy, you need to get out of there. Do you hear me? The magic has reached its peak. It’ll keep vibrating until it finds a crack in that copper.”

“And then what happens?”

“Given that I can feel the energy from up here now? I’d say it’ll vaporize everything down there with you and maybe make a sinkhole out of this whole damn farm. Get. Out. Of. There. Now!”

“I can’t do that and you know it,” Amy said.

“Don’t be stupid.”

“I’m not. You’re in the elevator, right? If I don’t stop this thing, you’re all dead.”

“No, Amy, we’ll be all right. I can make a shield so get the hell out of—”

Larry’s voice was silenced when she tossed the radio aside.

He didn’t know how to stop it, not with all his mastery over magic.

Unfortunately, it meant that brute force was the only option.

Amy wrapped a shield around herself and working quickly, unwrapped it until it was like a sheet of force. The easiest thing to do with shields was to cast them around herself and other people near her. Even the wall was kind of tricky and making another sphere trickier still.

Her forehead creased in concentration, she twisted it, bent it, and shaped it until it cocooned the device. Once she put it in place, the magic seemed to curl in on itself. It was a familiar shape, a sphere of protection, although it wasn’t used to being around a device instead of a living thing she cared about.

She concentrated and forced it to grow smaller and smaller while the copper tubes rattled and shook with ever-increasing fury.

Finally, she managed to shrink the sphere as small as she could—the size of a beachball—so it completely enveloped the magic bomb.

After a deep breath, she began to push her power into it.

Both common sense and instinct made her focus on strengthening the shield she’d made. She thickened it, made it denser, and weaved threads around it until it wasn’t a sphere in front of her but a series of concentric spheres bound together with threads of magic. All of it was held in place by the sheer force of her will.

The young mage was sweating now and one of her nostrils had begun to bleed at some point, but she couldn’t relax. Even now, with all her power brought to bear to contain this machine in front of her, she could feel some of its energy bleeding through.

It was strong—possibly stronger than her—yet she was the only one who might be able to stop it.

Amy focused on her breathing as she tried to further strengthen her shields, but she seemed to have reached an impasse. She used every ounce of power she had—the same power that had effortlessly killed two dragons by dropping a forest on them—and it still might not be enough.

She realized that she couldn’t hold this level of power for much longer. If the device didn’t detonate soon, she might pass out from the exertion of expending all this energy.

“Come on, you bastard!” she shouted at it. “Show me what you got!”

As if the magic powering it could understand her, it responded.

It exploded and ruptured her spheres one by one until the force traveled through her tendrils of energy and struck her.

The last thing she saw was her own shoes, the only things left where she had been. The force of the blast had hurled her across the room.

The young mage had time to realize that she’d failed and that all her friends would die before her head struck the workbench and she was knocked unconscious.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“Tell me that was a good explosion,” Drew said to Larry as the elevator finally came to rest at the bottom of its shaft. The blast had rattled the elevator, the shaft, and the walls of the earth all around them. He had a feeling it would be read on Richter scales the world over.

The mage shrugged. “We’re still alive, right? That’s good enough for me.”

The team leader could see that for the lie that it was. Larry was worried about Amy. The foolish girl had rushed off by herself and Drew hoped she was all right. She reminded him of Kristen.

“Let’s move!” he ordered his team. They’d all barely managed to cram inside the elevator. He didn’t want to take a guess at how lucky it was that they’d all come out of it alive.

The team raced down the hallway to a pair of double doors.

Drew and Jim each kicked one open as the others poured into the room. Despite surroundings that he thought would have been more at home in a science fiction film than a farm in rural Michigan, his team quickly and efficiently secured the room.

They ignored the table of bizarre implements, the strange charts and diagrams, and the smoldering mess of copper tubes in a corner, and made sure there weren’t any immediate threats. He couldn’t check on Amy, not before they knew the room was safe.

Larry ran to her, though. He knelt and muttered an incantation while the team leader checked the weird copper device. It was the only thing in the room that seemed hostile and his team had all given him the all-clear. Drew radioed the dragons and told them it was as secure as it could be.

He turned his attention to the remnants of the bomb. A circular scorch mark as wide as a large table surrounded the device. Just outside the scorch mark were Amy’s shoes.

“Is she all right?” he asked. Apparently, the mage had been at point-blank range when the blast detonated.

In response, Amy fluttered her eyelids open. “I’m better now. Are you guys all right? I thought the bomb went off.”

“It did!” Larry Brockton sounded beside himself with excitement. “You contained it, Amy. That was amazing.”

“Then why do I feel like shit?” she asked and rubbed her head.

“The last remnants of power traveled through your connection to your shield and blew you out of your shoes and across the room.”

“Radical,” she said, but she didn’t sound like she meant it.

Drew radioed Kristen and the others.

He approached the young mage and helped her to her feet. She was wobbly and her nose was bloody. “Kristen should be down here in a minute. Stay put and wait here for her, all right?”

Amy looked like she was about to protest before a wave of dizziness swamped her and she was forced to sit. “Okay.”

“Jim, Keith, you two stay with her and keep this room secure. Everyone else, you’re with me. Brockton, do you mind providing us with a little cover?”

“That’s why I’m here,” the mage said.

Butters, Beanpole, Hernandez, and Drew formed up around Larry and a sphere of shimmering blue energy surrounded them.

It wasn’t hard to determine where the two mages they had been fighting went. Other than the door they came in through, there was only one other entrance to the room.

Beanpole kicked it open and moved clear while Butters, Drew, and Hernandez all stood ready to fire at anyone who might be waiting in ambush. They looked down yet another hallway.

“Proceed with caution,” Drew ordered. “Beanpole, you and I are in the front with Brockton in the middle—keep that shield up, Brockton, even if one of us gets hit—and Hernandez and Butters follow. Butters, our rear should be secure, so I want you to one side. Don’t be afraid to give me a shave with a bullet if it means you can eliminate one of these magic assholes. No offense Brockton.”

“None taken. I do use magic to wipe my ass.”

All eyes turned to the mage.

“What? A little humor to lighten the mood?”

“Don’t drop that shield while you’re working on your comedy,” the team leader said and they started down the hallway.

They progressed about fifty yards before the hallway ended in a T.

“Butters, Beanpole, I want you with me. Hernandez, Brockton, you two go left. Hernandez, I give you full permission to blow any hostiles to tiny little pieces.”

“You got it, sir!” she said and fiddled with a row of grenades at her waist.

She and the mage turned into the left passage and Drew shuddered as Brockton’s shield passed over them and left them exposed.

“Wait up!”

Drew turned as Amy half-jogged down the hallway. She had a wad of paper crammed up her nose but it was already mostly soaked with blood.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded.

“I feel way better. I don’t have much magic left, but…” She held her hand up and a shimmering blue sheet appeared about the size of a handkerchief. “I have enough to block a blast or two.”

“I don’t think that’s smart,” he said.

“Boss, with respect, we don’t have much defense against magic. And by much, I mean not a damn shred,” Butters said. “If we’re to keep moving down this tiny damn passage and the mage wants to help, I say let her.”

Beanpole nodded. “Anything she can do is better than nothing.”

“Okay, I’ll let it go,” Drew agreed begrudgingly, “but only because it might be safer for you to be with us. But I need you to keep your own safety in mind as well as the team's. It seems like this place is mostly deserted. I expected more hostiles than two mages, which means we have another fight ahead of us in the near future. I want you to be there.”

She nodded. “You’re right and I will.”

They moved on with her in the lead despite a half-hearted protest from Drew. She held her wisp of a shield in front of them and moved it randomly as they progressed.

“I couldn’t do this before,” she muttered. “I’ll have to talk to Larry about it.”

The members of SWAT were far more focused on securing the hallway. They found nothing, though, until they reached the end of the hallway and a man-sized hole in the ceiling with another ladder leading into it.

Drew shined his light at a closed trapdoor.

“Damn it. That’s an escape route, I’ll bet. Those mages are probably long gone.”

“We ought to make sure, though,” Beanpole said and grasped a rung on the ladder.

“This might be another trap,” Amy said and stepped quickly beside him. “I should go first.”

He looked like he was about to argue but decided against it—knowing Beanpole he probably considered it rude—and let her go first.

They climbed through the tunnel to the surface and their words echoed in the confined space.

“If there are more of these jerks up there, I’ll cover you while you deal with them, okay?” Amy said to Beanpole. Drew could hear both determination and fear in her voice and didn’t blame her on either count. Both of those emotions currently battled for supremacy in his own chest, as they did on most missions. He quelled his fear with a deep breath as he had thousands of times before.

They reached the top and popped the hatch.

“Nothing!” the mage shouted down the tunnel and sounded disappointed.

Drew—having noted her perhaps less than perfect attention to detail—scaled the ladder and exited as well.

Her shield fluttered around them—it was already bigger than a handkerchief and more like a towel now—and Beanpole held his gun ready, but neither defense was required as the room they’d entered was empty.

“What is this place?” she asked.

“Some kind of outbuilding,” Beanpole ventured.

Drew could see the barn through the open door. The floor was concrete. “I think this was possibly a garage,” he said and pointed to an oil slick on the surface. “They must have kept vehicles here. I bet they waited for the dragons to go inside the barn, then used them to escape. Damn it, we should have thought of that.”

At the time, having the dragons there to help fight what they’d believed would be a significant number of adversaries had seemed like a priority. Yet again, they’d been outmaneuvered by Constance and her technomages.

He didn’t have any time to sulk, though, as his radio crackled and Brockton spoke.

“We found something…” Even over the crappy radio connection, it was easy to hear the pain in Larry’s voice. He sounded like he had seen something that had broken his heart.

“What’s wrong?” Drew asked, immediately concerned for the safety of his team. “Is everyone all right?”

“No…everyone is not all right.”

“I’m fine, Drew,” Hernandez said over the radio. She understood his concerns after working with him for so many years. “But we found something and…you guys need to get down here. You too, Kristen, and bring the dragons. I don’t think anyone will want to see this, but I think the dragons need to.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Kristen rode the elevator while relief and anxiety fought for control of her aura.

“I know how you feel,” Heartsbane said.

She looked at the other dragon, shocked that she revealed any kind of compassion, but reminded herself that it made sense, given her power. Heartsbane had incredible control over her aura. She was even able to make different people feel different things at the same time. It therefore came as no surprise that she could read Kristen’s like a book.

Still, it felt out of character for the blonde woman to show any kindness.

“Oh yeah?” Kristen raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Equal parts relieved they didn’t fuck this up and anxious about whatever the hell is so serious it has them pissing themselves.”

At that, she couldn’t help but chuckle. Heartsbane had the right of it. While it was great that the humans and mages had cleared the area—she still couldn’t believe she thought of them as humans and wondered vaguely if it meant she’d finally accepted her identity as a dragon—but it had been almost worse than being in battle. At least when she fought an opponent, she knew the outcome of the battle rested on her shoulders. When others fought for her, she had no such reassurances.

The elevator finally came to a stop and the doors opened. Drew waited for her, his eyes grim.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

This was a man who’d seen family members shoot each other over nothing and had watched a city turn on itself at the prodding of a dragon. What could be so bad that it made him look like he’d seen a ghost?

“You need to see this. It’s bad.” He shook his head and led them down the hallway in front of them.

They walked in silence and reached a large room. It was some kind of a control center, obviously, and judging by the scorch marks in one corner, also the place where Amy had stopped the magic bomb from collapsing the entire complex.

Kristen scrutinized the area—pieces of dragon on workbenches, tools for turning the body parts into bullets, plus charts, maps, and some kind of plan—but her gaze settled on her friends. None of them would look at her. Not Keith, nor Jim, nor Butters, and both mages looked nauseous. Even Hernandez stared at the ground and fidgeted with a grenade. If she was too freaked out to talk shit, it meant that whatever it was, it was truly awful.

“It’s…” Drew seemed to reconsider before he shook his head and his already grim expression tightened. “It’s through here. To the left.”

She nodded and led the dragons through a door close to where the blast had been and into another hallway.

Immediately, the stench of whatever had bothered everyone so much swept over her. It was powerful and unpleasant like old, festering wounds mixed with stale stable scents. It reminded her of when she was a kid and her dad had taken her to the circus. Instead of going to the show, he’d taken her to the back of a tent and shown her an elephant. It was knee-deep in its own shit and had open weeping wounds from where it had been chained around its neck and legs.

Kristen had been horrified—she’d thought they were going to the circus—but Frank Hall had only wanted her to see why the Detroit PD was about to be all over the news for taking clowns and acrobats to jail. At the time, she had been furious with her father but as she’d grown, she had come to understand what his intention had been. Right now, the smell reminded her of cruelty and she wasn’t the only one.

Heartsbane’s aura—normally so controlled—pounded against hers. “I don’t think I’m going to like this.” The dragon growled and her tone emphasized her anger.

The group reached a T in the hallway and turned right. They followed it for a short distance, then pushed through another pair of wide doors.

The massive room they entered was about halfway filled by its sole occupant, a dragon—or what was left of one anyway.

It was suspended in a giant glass vat of some kind filled with mostly transparent slime. A massive respirator on its face appeared to be about the only comfort the creature had been allowed. Despite being in a glorified aquarium, it had chains on its neck—three separate cuffs—as well as on all four of its arms and legs, its tail, and another that connected to a cruel-looking piercing through the ridge that ran down its back.

Most of the spines had obviously been cut off. Kristen recognized the marks of pruning shears from her mother’s garden. Its claws were all gone too so its fingers all ended in bloody stumps, and what should have been wings were useless tatters. More than half its scales were missing. The skin beneath was either the fresh pink of scar tissue or the whitish-green of infected sores filled with pus. It had no teeth to speak of—or so she thought until she took a few steps closer to the giant vat and saw that the dragon had a few off-white nubs in its mouth. The teeth were growing back. Her bile rose as her mind wondered how many times the captive’s teeth had been ripped out. Had one been in the bullet she had taken in the shoulder?

“I guess we know where Constance has sourced the dragon parts for her bullets,” Emerald said darkly.

No one else said a thing. It was almost too much to comprehend how such cruelty could be inflicted on any intelligent being. She struggled to comprehend this, knowing that the tortured wraith of a dragon before them was as smart as anyone—human, mage, or dragon—they had ever spoken to. That such cruelty was inflicted so someone could attempt to start a war was the very definition of atrocity.

It couldn’t go on any longer.

Kristen blinked her tears away and stepped forward. She felt like she could have remained locked in that place for years, trying to process the horrors that had been inflicted on this captive creature but she couldn’t. Her next step was obvious. She had to help it.

Slowly, she approached the glass with a hand raised in greeting and tried to smile through her tears. “Hi. My name is Kristen Hall. I’m a dragon like you. We’ll get you free, okay? Hold on a few more minutes.” She put her hand on the glass.

The dragon either couldn’t hear or couldn’t understand, for as soon as she touched the glass, it lurched back in its tank. The chains held it so immobile that it couldn’t even slosh any of the slime it lived in over the top of the tank. It made pathetic mewling noises as it struggled weakly against its bonds and reminded her of a runty kitten that had yet to open its eyes. Hardly a fair comparison for the world’s most powerful being, but nothing seemed more tragically apt.

She removed her hand from the glass and stepped away, and after a few seconds, the dragon seemed to tire itself and stopped thrashing.

“It’s been like this since Larry and Hernandez first came in here,” Drew said. “If anyone gets too close, it tries to flee.” His voice was heavy with guilt. “I…I was worried about it hurting itself, so I had everyone retreat to the other room. Hernandez wanted to try to crack the glass, but I ordered her to leave it. I…I’m so sorry.”

He didn’t weep but two tears rolled down his cheeks, one from each eye, and he made no effort to wipe them. They all witnessed the same horror and there was no shame in feeling awful about cruelty.

“I’ve looked at the tank,” Hernandez said. Kristen hadn’t seen her come into the room as most of her focus had been on the dragon. “I think if I put a few charges on the bottom, it’ll crack the glass. There are drains on the floor in here.”

She looked down and nodded for the woman to proceed. Shock had robbed her of spatial awareness, and she hadn’t even noticed that the floor was comprised of grates.

The demolitions expert worked quickly and laid a few tiny charges. Once she had finished, she detonated them and shattered the glass to allow the goo to stream out and into the drains.

Whatever it was, it was the source of the smell. While it was obviously filled with dragon’s filth, it also smelled of chemicals. No doubt it was packed with whatever medicines might aid a dragon—not to ease its suffering but to keep it productive. It poured down the huge drains and sprinklers suddenly activated in the ceiling.

The technomages had installed some kind of spill cleanup system. It was disgusting to Kristen that a living being would be cared for in the same way an apartment block was, but the water helped with the smell and let everyone hide their tears in plain sight so for the moment, she was thankful.

She stepped over the broken glass and toward the dragon. “Hey there, I’m going to break these chains, okay?”

The dragon flinched at her voice and opened and closed milky eyes that tried to focus on her.

It pulled back as she approached, but it couldn’t go very far with the chains. She took one of those that cuffed the poor creature’s wrist and pulled. When it didn’t break, she turned to steel and it snapped in her fingers.

The dragon clearly didn’t understand that she tried to help it and lashed out with its newly granted freedom to strike her in the chest. She tumbled back and made no effort to stand strong against the pathetic captive. It didn’t understand what she was doing for it, which could only mean it hadn’t been freed in a long time.

“Hey, be calm, okay?” she said and flashed her aura. It blinked its milky eyes a few times at this, possibly sensing a kindred spirit.

“Heartsbane, can you try to keep him calm? I’ll change into my dragon form and snap these chains where they connect to the wall and floor. I don’t want him to start thrashing and whip them around.”

Her teammate nodded and a wave of calm washed over her. Heartsbane could have focused her aura only on the dragon, but she could no doubt sense how everyone was feeling and gave them all a dose of her aura. It was amazing that she could experience the same horrors as the others and yet could still use her aura to help in this way.

Kristen took a few steps back and transformed into her steel dragon form. There was barely enough room for her in the room. The tank took up about half the space and she now filled the other half. Despite the close quarters, none of the other human-formed dragons retreated.

She used the ax-blade on her tail to slice deftly through the chains that bound the dragon’s neck.

The prisoner—not knowing what to do with even this modicum of freedom—let its long neck sag and its head clunked on the floor. It didn’t look hurt, though, but relieved.

Encouraged, she didn’t waste a moment. The tiny measure of freedom plus Heartsbane’s aura gave her the time she needed.

Her tail broke the rest of its bonds easily—first on its front legs, then its back limbs, and finally, its tail. She was afraid of jerking the spike that went through its spine, so rather than snap that one, she stood as tall as she could, flapped her wings a little to keep her torso upright, and blasted the mounting with fire. It melted and she caught the drops of molten steel on her tail before they could hurt the dragon’s exposed skin. Molten steel did little to her steel scales.

It was done. She’d freed it. Kristen settled onto all four legs, tucked her wings behind her, and wound her tail around her legs to take up as little space as possible.

The dragon stood—trembling on all four limbs as it did so—and turned its milky eyes toward her. One of them was slightly clearer than the other and it focused its slitted pupil squarely on her.

“Hoo yoo?” the dragon said in an oddly sing-song voice.

It took her a moment to realize what it had asked.

“I’m Kristen Hall. The Steel Dragon.”

“You like me?”

“Yes. I’m a dragon too,” she said and wondered how alike they really were. Was this the sister General Andrews had mentioned? Was this the source of the dragon bullets that gave their lab-techs a ninety percent DNA match to her? Was this why her dad’s sister had snuck out a tiny, redheaded baby from a dragon biotech lab so many years before—because she knew the horrors of what awaited her if she stayed? Was this what she was supposed to have been? Rage grew steadily inside her unlike anything she’d ever experienced before. It glowed hotter and hotter like the core of a nuclear reactor that had started meltdown.

“Please! Please, no hurt,” the dragon said and misinterpreted her rage for anger directed toward it.

“No, I’m not mad at you, only what’s been done to you,” she tried to explain, but the dragon shied away. It had made no effort to leave the footprint of the tank, despite now being free.

“Please, please—no hurt.” The terrified creature trembled.

“Do you have a name?” she asked as she tried and failed to regain control of her aura. She could feel Heartsbane trying and failing to work on her rage too.

“She-bitch! Others call me she-bitch.”

“Those bastards didn’t even give her a name,” Stonequest said.

“She was only supplies to them,” Emerald said through gritted teeth.

“Please. Please, no hurt,” the creature protested.

“We won’t hurt you,” Kristen said but her voice didn’t sound nearly as calm as she wanted. “We’ll take you out of here.”

“Out of home?” the dragon asked. “Nothing out of home. Home only place.”

The weight of the statement struck her. Had this dragon never left this tank in this cave?

“Where Mama-Constance?” the dragon asked and sounded frightened.

“They must have fed her enough to keep her alive and healing while they stripped her for parts like she was a goddamn apple tree,” Stonequest said. His fists were clenched and flecks of dust formed around him like he wanted to transform into a dragon.

“Constance is not your mother,” Kristen said. To think that she’d let the woman live so many times. If she had known what she was doing—what she thought was acceptable to fuel her war—she would have eaten the damn mage.

Lumos stepped forward. “Okay, I see everyone’s upset and I understand why, but you’re not helping her.”

Kristen clenched her teeth. Somehow, Lumos was actually calm. She didn’t know how but it was in his aura as plain as day.

“Kristen, transform to human so I can have space to take my dragon form, all right? Then, I need you all to leave,” the old dragon said.

She complied, although it was difficult. As livid as she was, she wanted to be in her dragon form to exact vengeance, even though they didn’t know where Constance was.

Lumos transformed. “Hi there, sweetie. My name is Lumos, and we’ll go to see the sunshine, all right?”

“Sun…shine?” the dragon asked and it was obvious that she understood neither word.

In response, he began to glow. “That’s right, sweetie. Sunshine.” To the others, he said in a lower tone, “I’ve helped captured dragons like her before. Humans would try to take them—this was thousands of years ago, mind you—but she’ll be all right. Won’t you, sweetie?”

“All right?”

“I got this. The rest of you”—Lumos turned to them and his eyes burned with the furious intensity of the sun—“go deal with the bitch who did this.”

Kristen nodded. “We will, I swear it.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The walk along the hallway toward the first room was a hard one.

Heartsbane didn’t make it. “I’m sick of this shit. These fucking humans! They do this to us, to each other, and to animals. I say we burn them all.”

“That’s out of line, Heartsbane,” Stonequest said, his voice like granite.

“For fuck’s sake. Did you see what they were doing to that poor girl?”

“And we’re trying to stop them,” the team leader shouted. Kristen had never heard him so angry. “So take a goddamn minute to calm and get yourself under control.”

Heartsbane’s eyes flashed, transformed into the eyes of a dragon for a moment, then turned human again. “I need some fucking air.”

“There’s an access tunnel down that hall,” Hernandez said and pointed.

“Thanks.” The dragon practically spat the words.

“If you burn anything around here, I’ll take you down myself. Do you understand?” Stonequest growled.

“Yes, I fucking understand, now shut the fuck up before I stop giving a shit.” With that, she stormed down the hallway, climbed a ladder, and vanished.

Kristen was both impressed and appalled. Impressed that Heartsbane could be so furious and still able to use her aura to help calm the wounded dragon and appalled that she wanted to use the condition of the captive to justify attacking humans. Then again, she doubted that any of them were thinking very clearly and reminded herself that she’d needed her teammate’s help to control her own rage. Still, she hoped it was simply a response to what they had witnessed and not an underlying truth about her attitude toward humans.

Before she had time to ask Stonequest how serious her teammate really was—she wasn’t sure she really wanted to know anyway—Keith and Jim met them at the door to the control center.

“We have some things to report that might help us stop the people who did that,” the Wonderkid said and nodded toward the chamber of horrors they had come from. It really said something that even he seemed appalled by what they’d seen. He used to hate dragons. Now, he saw them as what they were—living beings, albeit powerful and flawed ones, but living, thinking, feeling creatures all the same.

“We were lucky, really,” Keith said and immediately grimaced. He looked uncomfortable for bringing up anything positive given what they’d all witnessed.

But they couldn’t simply stay angry and disgusted. They had to do as Lumos said and stop the monsters who did this.

“How so, Keith?” Kristen asked.

“Those two mages must have counted on that bomb to destroy this entire room. There’s considerable evidence here that we can use.”

She let herself feel a smidgeon of hope. “What kind of evidence?”

The Rookie’s grimace shifted into a grin. “We found records of dragon bullet shipments to half a dozen places.”

“That’s terrifying but yes, it’s good.”

“For one thing, it seems Constance and a small team remain constantly on the move but call in here regularly, but entirely at random so they don’t set an identifiable pattern of movement. They must have any number of temporary bases, and if they are producing these weapons while on the move, it stands to reason that they must have…well, another…uh, source readily available—perhaps one they move with them. We also found references to other cells with their own supplies. I think it means there might be more of these dragons trapped elsewhere,” he finished and his positivity was swallowed by evident disgust.

Any hope she had felt was swamped by a flood of anger. “Where are these other cells?”

“We have some leads but nothing like an address,” Jim interjected quickly. “But Kristen, that’s not the most urgent thing we found.”

“What could possibly be more urgent than freeing more of—” She was about to say her siblings but the possibility that these dragons were all related to her infuriated her to a point where she could hardly think. It brought home the fact that she’d been raised by humans only because her adoptive dad’s sister had been brave enough to steal her away from a future like this, while her flesh and blood had endured unimaginable suffering. She took a deep breath and finished with, “These dragons.”

“Look at these.” Jim led them to the whiteboard. It was covered with lists and diagrams and surrounded by maps that displayed movement routes, printed spreadsheets of timing schedules, and supply lists. Everything was dated and seemed to converge in one place. The maps were mostly of Michigan and Canada.

“Two things stand out about all this,” he explained as she tried to process what she was seeing. “One, there are references and plans here for far more than only two mages and Constance. I think this base must have housed many more than those we saw, and none of them are here. It means they are out there, either with Constance or at some other base.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” she agreed. “What’s the second?”

“That would be my discovery.” Keith pointed to a map that to her didn’t look like anything more than a clearing in a forest. There were probably thousands like it in the piney woods of northern Canada. “Do you see those GPS coordinates? They match an old hotel built deep in northern Yukon territory. I checked it on the Internet. Apparently, it was built with the money from gold and whale blubber, but the gold ran out and the whales grew wise. It was thought to be abandoned but all these maps seem to say that Constance and her friends are headed there.”

“It’s in the middle of a mountain range, cold, and remote—in other words, the perfect place for a meeting in which all the attendees can keep themselves warm and are capable of flight.” The Wonderkid looked pleased with the discovery.

Kristen nodded. This was why General Andrews had received his shipment and why Constance had warned him to be ready. It also answered the question as to why this base was empty and why they had attempted to blow the whole compound despite their source of bullets still being inside. The technomage wasn’t guessing when the Council would declare war. She intended to launch the first strike, eliminate the attendees, and begin the war herself. The bomb Amy had thwarted was simply insurance against discovery. The treasure trove of information was too valuable to risk leaving it available for discovery and the bomb was a failsafe—a way to destroy all the evidence, including the dragon. It also suggested, if Constance was willing to obliterate the source of the bullets, that she had others and wasn’t averse to sacrificing one.

It was logical that they would have destroyed their base and especially since all indications were that the woman intended to start the damn war herself. She wouldn’t allow anything to get in the way of that.

“She can’t be serious about this,” Stonequest said, having come to the same conclusion as she had about what their adversary planned. “The Dragon Council will have security—considerable security—and the Councils themselves are made up of some of the most powerful dragons on earth. They won’t be destroyed so easily.”

“Stonequest,” she said, turned to him, and looked him in the eye. “That’s precisely the kind of thinking that has caused most of these problems. Dragons believe they are untouchable and beyond human ability to hurt. Constance’s entire war is predicated on the idea that she can convince people that it’s false before she can convince the dragons. But no matter who she persuades, the fact is that humans now have the ability to hurt and even kill dragons.”

“Still, this is another level. It’s totally beyond anything she’s previously attempted.”

She poked him gently in one of the places where he was struck by a dragon bullet when he’d tried to save Heartsbane after a dragon bomb had detonated in her face. He winced as it was still tender and clenched his jaw. She’d made a point.

“We know better than this,” Kristen said. “We know humans can hurt us and even kill dragons. Obviously, dragons can hurt people too, but you’re not all invulnerable. You all have a weakness.”

“We know we do,” Emerald said. “Each other. The only way people can hurt us is by using the dragon body parts against us.”

“No.” She shook her head. “Well, yes, that too, but I’m talking about your hubris. Too many—practically all—dragons believe they are untouchable. That might well be the Council’s undoing because Constance knows how strong they are and she has still made them her target.”

“She must have made a miscalculation,” Stonequest said. “Even for her, this is wildly ambitious.”

“Must she have? Did she make a miscalculation when she started killing dragons in their own homes? What about when she sent a bomb to SWAT headquarters? Or when she tried to detonate another bomb in downtown Detroit and almost killed the North American Dragon Council? We’ve seen her fail before, yes, like when she tried to recruit Amy, but we’ve never seen her take wildly unjustified risks. Constance is a careful, cautious planner. She’s not reckless. If she made a plan to annihilate the Council, she believes it has a good chance of succeeding.”

“So because she plans it, that means it will work?” Stonequest shook his head and clearly didn’t believe any of it.

“Do you really doubt this woman’s assessment of her foe?” Windlock asked. He’d been quiet since they’d come down, no doubt appalled by the condition of the dragon, but he sounded frustrated now. “Stonequest, you’re a good cop but you worked to keep this covered up for a long time. I think those instincts are betraying you right now.”

“I’m not trying to keep it quiet anymore—”

“Only because the Steel Dragon convinced you not to. I made her an investigator exactly for moments like these. She had instincts about people and these technomages that you and I lacked. I also find it hard to believe that anyone could be so arrogant as to attack a meeting of the Full Dragon Council, but would you have believed someone if they’d told you of a dragon captured in a vat beneath the surface of the earth that was periodically harvested?”

“That’s different.”

“It shows cunning and commitment that we are not used to thinking humans capable of possessing. We can’t underestimate Constance, not with the world at stake. I think we should continue to follow Kristen on this. She’s already uncovered so much. Let her uncover the rest while we still can.”

“Thank you, Windlock,” she said and didn’t give Stonequest the opportunity to respond in the hope that his silence would allow him to save face. It seemed to work as he simply nodded and took a few steps back to stand beside Keith, Jim, and Emerald, a physical admission that she was still the leader.

Kristen nodded her thanks at him but looked at Windlock. “Is there any way you can reach the Dragon Council and warn them? You’ve been an investigator for a long time. Surely there’s a channel you have access to?”

He shook his head and smiled grimly as he did so. “These dragons existed long before cell phones. They have no back channels to speak of. There was a time when they had mages to perform long-distance communication, but two wars saw an end to that.”

“Well…” She took a deep breath. “I guess that means we have our marching orders.” She snatched the piece of paper with the GPS coordinates off the wall. “We’ll leave Lumos to take care of the hurt dragon until we can send more help and find a way to get it—her—out. As for the rest of you, take the elevator to ground level. I hope you packed your winter coats because we’re going north.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Constance’s perimeter defenses didn’t pick up the signature of the two mages but she saw them all the same. She’d mastered the ability to control wind with her magic long before so could detect the artificial currents the two mages used to fly across the great expanse of northern Canada to arrive at their new—and decidedly temporary—base of operations.

She had been there for two days already with the other five members of her cell. It was the perfect location, a small cabin on a neighboring mountain to the one that housed the abandoned hotel where the Dragon Council would hold their meeting. They’d found the interior to be dusty and without electricity, although the propane tank for heating was still mostly full. It must have been a rarely used vacation home or something and hadn’t had visitors in a while—and likely wouldn’t anytime soon, not with the snow falling thicker and thicker.

Across the valley between the two mountains, the dragon’s hotel was visible. It had also been abandoned for quite some time, not that one would think that by looking at it. The dragons had sent servants ahead, who had used their God-given magic powers to clean their masters’ meeting place like they were nothing more than slaves.

While she had little real respect for the mages who served the dragons, she didn’t blame them for their weakness. Had she been anyone else, she might have submitted as well. And irrespective of how she felt about them, she would free them from the yoke of their oppressors. She did wonder if the mages had any sense of what was coming, however. It seemed absolute folly to hold a secret meeting with such little discretion. Yes, the location was remote, which was an advantage. She had made sure not to turn on any lights when their cabin’s windows weren’t magically shielded so no one would have any idea they were there, but could the dragons still be so arrogant?

Smoke billowed from the chimneys of the old hotel, and lights gleamed in all the windows. The servants had even cleared much of the snow. Any passersby would undoubtedly take notice of an abandoned establishment that now showed every sign of occupation.

Constance peered at the other mountain through a telescope. Seeing the silhouettes in the windows made her giddy with excitement. She could tell by their posture alone that they were all self-important, arrogant dragons. They had no idea she was so close and watched their every move.

Her time to act had finally arrived. After all the years of preparation, humanity was finally about to break free of its chains.

Or die trying.

She had weighed that outcome and deemed it appropriate. Failure was always a potential outcome of a revolution. Death, for many, was a certainty. It was worth it for the chance to win freedom for humans and nothing mattered more than that. Plus, by her calculations, it wasn’t exactly a long shot. She had studied her prey for years and learned everything about them, all while she’d waited for an opportunity like this. The proverbial cannons were loaded and the pieces were all in place. Of course, something could still go wrong, but she had thought of every eventuality.

While she continued her surveillance on the old hotel, she wondered what had caused these two mages to flee, but it was more an intellectual curiosity than a source of concern. She’d anticipated this like she anticipated every other possibility and had left a bomb that one of the mages would have been able to charge. No one could have deactivated it, not even her and especially not in the time it would take to blow.

Constance greeted the two mages without ceremony. “Why are you here?”

“The farm was attacked,” Resolution said, the more senior of the duo.

“By who?” she demanded

“I can’t really say, ma’am. There were mages as well as armed humans. We set the bomb and escaped, but I don’t think it went off.”

“How could it not go off? Did you charge it?”

“We did, but you said it should have been strong enough to blow that entire farm away.”

“That didn’t happen,” the junior mage said.

She wondered if this could be the work of another cell from their organization, perhaps someone looking to weaken her position before she cemented herself as the leader of the movement. In-fighting like that wasn’t unknown, but it had been a few years since anyone had been so brazen about it and given her recent successes, she would be very surprised. Any other cell—no matter how ambitious—would have realized that any attack on her at this point in the game would hamper the overall progress of their forces. Plus, it wasn’t like any of them knew her exact location any more than she knew theirs. The organization operated on a policy of paranoia and privacy, one that was critical when facing dragons.

“Were there any dragons present?” Constance asked, suspicious that it might be something else.

“No, ma’am,” Resolution said. “And I’m sure of that. None of the aural alarms tripped, so no dragons. We checked the skies when we made our escape and didn’t see any nearby either.”

She nodded as she took her phone out and pulled up a collection of known associates of the one dragon most likely to use humans to help her—Kristen. She held her phone up and flipped through pictures of the human SWAT team and Amy.

“That’s them, ma’am,” the junior officer said and sounded relieved.

“Dammit!” She cursed and her magic flared to inadvertently shatter one of the cabin’s windows.

“Let me guess—your little pet managed to follow at your heels yet again?” Vindication all but purred. She respected the man in a fight but he could be annoying at times like this.

“Quiet. Now’s not the time to gloat, not when everything we built might burn. Are you sure the location didn’t explode?” she asked Resolution. It was a stupid question but she had to be certain.

“They had a mage with them. A free mage,” he said and sounded shaken. “She was extremely strong. We faced her in a battle on the surface and she followed us down. We barely managed to get the device charged before she caught up to us. I think—given the raw power at her command—she might have disarmed the bomb.”

“That’s impossible,” she protested. The mage must have contained the blast somehow or thrown the device somewhere else or… It didn’t matter. What did matter was that they’d left bullets there and a captive lab-dragon. Her blood froze for a moment when she recalled all the plans they’d laid. “Did you leave the intel intact for our enemies?”

The two mages looked at each other before they both nodded. “We did,” Resolution admitted. “We barely got the bomb charged and didn’t think the mage could have stopped it. We thought it would all be vaporized—”

“But it wasn’t,” Vindication said and pushed into the debriefing. “Constance, we must assume your little friend has all our plans and operational information. The Steel Dragon must know precisely where we are and what our objective is. They're probably already on their way north, no doubt expecting to meet you and talk you out of all this, as that seems to be all the two of you ever do.”

“We can’t let this interfere with the mission,” Constance said, ignored the truth of his words, and vowed to herself to not make any of those mistakes—mistakes of kindness—again. “We need to speed up the op. There’s no time to wait until nightfall. We have to move now. Otherwise, the Steel Dragon will take away our only opportunity.”

“But the dragons might still be on guard,” one of her other mages protested.

“I know.” She fumed. Her frustration was such that she wanted to light Resolution and the other one—in her rage, his name escaped her—on fire, but she wouldn’t. A leader had to be fair, not hard-handed.

She knew from personal experience precisely how frustrating going up against Kristen could be. After all, she had lost to her more than once. She couldn’t fault these two for failing to beat a dragon who a more experienced and more powerful mage like herself had failed to defeat.

Still, she could punish the two of them—no doubt the other mages would approve—but she wouldn’t. Instead, she would use them as something positive, minor though it was.

“Get some food and some rest, then prepare to move. Since you’re here and our timetable is moved up, you’ll join our strike force. With luck, we can wipe out the Council before Kristen and her people ever get close.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Hours later, Kristen and virtually every person she’d ever trusted her life to were close to the secret location of the Full Dragon Council’s meeting. The only one who had stayed behind was Lumos. He was good in a fight and his experience gave him an edge in many situations, but Kristen couldn’t abandon the dragon they’d discovered, especially since she was her sister.

“Yo, Kristen, are you all right?” Amy shouted from her back. “You have smoke coming out of your nostrils.”

“I’m fine but I don’t want to be late.”

“Do you really think a group of monkeys can beat us here?” Heartsbane asked.

“I’m sure Constance and her mages have some form of fast travel. I’ve seen her use the wind to make her fly. Plus, they might not have needed those two mages to spring this plan,” she responded and tried to sound confident. Of course, she knew she failed because of her aura.

“We’ll be all right,” Emerald said. He and Stonequest had the human SWAT team on their backs. “I can see the hotel where the Council’s supposed to be. We made it.”

“I’m not so sure about that, junior,” Windlock said as a wing of a dozen dragons swept toward them.

Kristen had to admit she was impressed. She was used to flying with her fellow officers, but they never did much with in-flight formations. Stonequest might take the brunt of the wind for them, but that was about it. Watching these twelve dragons was like watching organic fighter jets.

They flew in two six-member triangles slightly offset so if the first formation missed a target, the second could swoop in and finish them off. The first group banked toward her and her rag-tag team of dragons—some of them loaded with humans wrapped in parkas and insulated coats and who clutched duffel bags filled with weapons—and they didn’t even bend their wings to do so. It was like each team of six dragons flew with one mind.

“Follow us to the ground and explain yourselves,” the leader of the formation that now flanked them ordered. He spoke in a gruff voice, and his face—even in his dragon body—was a mess of scars. Two eyes as red as hot coals looked at her from the mess of scar tissue.

“We’re here to help. We have reason to believe that the Dragon Council meeting will be attacked,” Kristen replied.

“The only threat we’ve identified in our secure, top-secret location is six dragons flying in what civilians might call a formation loaded with armed humans and a couple of mages.”

“We’re not here to hurt the Council and are only here to help keep them safe,” she reiterated, impressed that the scarred dragon had already identified the mages and guessed at the contents of the duffel bags.

“What you need to do is land,” he said, his voice harder than before.

“We’re worried about an attack by those technomages armed with dragon explosives and projectiles. They might already be here!” she shouted.

“They aren’t. We would have noticed them. You tripped our aural sensors and we found you and even identified your two mages. Now land, or we force you out of the sky. If it makes you feel any better, we’ll put you down on a mountaintop so we can all see the hotel you’re not supposed to know about.”

Kristen knew that time was of the essence. Even if the mages who had escaped from the base hadn’t made it there yet, they could have used cellphones to warn Constance. Which meant she knew she and her technomages had to attack as soon as possible.

But there was nothing to be gained by trying to circumvent these dragons. They were obviously well-drilled and they outnumbered their small force by two to one. If they fought to get past, she had to acknowledge the possibility that at the very least, her human friends might lose their lives. These dragons would be better as allies than antagonists, so—with real reluctance—she ordered her team to follow the other formation of six dragons to the ground. The scarred one—and obviously the leader—landed beside them.

They settled on a mountaintop amidst black rocks and a few tiny, stunted pine trees that protruded from the snow that looked like it hadn’t been touched by human, dragon, or any other living creature for decades. She knew it was simply a fresh fall and someone—like Constance—could have been there only days before. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling of isolation in the frozen mountains of the far North. It was incredible to think that the mage had somehow determined where the meeting would be.

“Sir, there are mages who intend to attack. We recently found a trove of evidence that points directly to this location and—”

“Ma’am, I need you to calm down,” the dragon said and made no effort to assume his human form like she and her dragons had. “We know damn well about those mages. Everyone does. That’s why this meeting is happening. You claiming to have intelligence only makes me wonder how you got it. I told the damn Council our intel wasn’t as secure as they thought it was, and it stands to reason that this mage has a dragon working with her. Now, tell me why the hell we shouldn’t incinerate your little humans and scramble another dozen of my guards here to eliminate you all.”

“Because she’s Kristen Hall, the Steel Dragon,” Windlock said and stepped forward.

The scarred dragon furrowed his brow and looked at the investigator for a moment. “Is that old Windlock over there?”

“Indeed, Emberwing. Long time no see. Now please, you’ve no doubt heard of the Steel Dragon. She was the one who fought so valiantly against those mages, but you may not have heard that the North American Dragon Council promoted her to the rank of investigator.”

Kristen took her badge out and showed it to Emberwing. His scarred faced calmed somewhat at the badge and Windlock’s tone.

“I guess if the Dragon Council promoted you and Windlock vouches for you, the least I can do is hear you out. Still, it’s a pity you didn’t destroy these mages when you had a chance to in the dwarf village.”

As usual, Kristen’s frustration pushed her to vent in scathing style. She wanted to point out that the only reason she hadn’t was because a team of misinformed, bigoted dragons had been too obsessed with revenge to give her the opportunity, but there was nothing to be gained from that particular argument.

“We’re here because we raided the base of one of these mage cells and found maps of this location. We think Constance—she’s the leader of these assholes—will use this meeting to start the war. What better way to show humans they’re not as helpless as they thought and piss off all dragon kind in one strike?” Her gaze only left the hotel on the next mountain to scan the other peaks nearby. She saw nothing but trees—dark against the snow—and a few shadowed cabins and gritted her teeth. That was more than enough cover for Constance and her mages.

Emberwing only chuckled in reply. “Twelve of the finest dragon warriors in the entire world stand before you. Together, we have centuries of experience fighting mage, man, dragon, beast, and anything else the earth has thought to throw at our society. The only warriors who could challenge the twelve of us are stationed at our security base. Together, we are three dozen of the best-trained, fiercest warriors the world has ever seen. We know the nature of the threat—bullets that can shred us like bread. And yet my warriors think only of facing a worthy foe.”

To emphasize his statement, the eleven warriors behind him all shouted, “Hoo-waa!” in unison. Coming from a dozen dragon throats, it was a truly fearsome sound.

“The Council is secure. There’s nothing a small band of humans can do to get past the guard force. Even if they’re armed with magic and weapons the likes of which might actually scratch our tough hides, they will perish if they stand against us.”

She nodded and tried to keep her aura under control and her voice something other than an angry shout. “I am relieved to know that a team as experienced as yours is here, but you cannot underestimate these humans. Every time a dragon has underestimated Constance and her team, a dragon dies.”

“No one dies today,” Emberwing stated as if it were a fact as inarguable as the presence of snow on the mountain.

“I know you want to think that, but we know what we’re up against, dammit.” She clenched her teeth and took a deep breath. While she hadn’t meant to curse in the dragon’s face, it was hard to argue all this crap again when literally, every second mattered. “You cannot anticipate what they’ll do. No one can. They had maps and plans of this area. They might very well know more about the hotel than you do.”

“One can only hope they do. We’ve refitted the hotel in ways a human will fail to anticipate. If they are familiar with the old hotel, their ignorance will betray them.”

“Pardon me, Investigator Steel, but perhaps I can offer a solution?” Windlock said and stepped forward.

“We are not in need of a solution, old friend. I assure you, this location is secure.” Emberwing nodded as if to punctuate his statement.

“Certainly,” the investigator agreed amicably. “But even with all your forces, it couldn’t hurt to add the Steel Dragon’s forces to the mix. We could fly our own formation—under your command of course—or we could integrate with your other teams or even serve as scouts or simple security. We’d all rest better and I assure you, we wouldn’t be in the way.”

Kristen tried to smile pleasantly. She was beyond relieved that Windlock had stepped in as she knew she wouldn’t have been able to ingratiate herself with Emberwing the way he had.

The dragon commander stroked his scarred face with a claw and nodded. After a moment of consideration, he cleared his throat. “I suppose we cannot have too many guards—and who knows? Perhaps your team will learn something.” He chuckled at his own joke. “But you must promise me to not get in the way. When we order something, you obey. You may be investigators, but this is my—”

He didn’t get to complete his sentence because at that moment, the top half of a nearby mountain exploded.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Kristen had been looking at the hotel—the only building that had been illuminated in the dark mountain range—when the mountain beside it exploded.

“Tell me that the Council is actually in that hotel and it wasn’t some kind of decoy,” she said when the roar of the explosion no longer echoed in the mountains.

Emberwing was pale—only his scars kept their color—when he turned to her. “That was our security site. We were on patrol but the other two wings were stationed there to be near the council meeting.”

One of the other dragons transformed into human shape and called their base on a radio.

There was no response beyond static. “There’s nothing, sir,” he mumbled.

“I know there’s nothing!” Emberwing roared, but that seemed to be all he was capable of. He continued to stare at the peak that was now a little over half its size. The top had been obliterated completely and the ruins of Emberwing’s base were nothing but ash and debris.

“Someone must have survived…” the dragon commander managed to say after a moment. His voice sounded dry like he hadn’t drunk any water in days. She realized he was going into shock.

The dragon with the radio tried again and again with no response.

“They would have used dragon shrapnel,” she said. “Your team is dead—or so close to it that it won’t matter if we don’t stop Constance.”

“What would you have me do?” Emberwing said, almost to himself.

“Are you asking me for advice, old friend?” Windlock asked in an attempt to pull him out of his own mind as it swirled in the abyss.

“Yes… Yes, Windlock—Investigator Windlock, what… What can we do?”

“Are you really asking for my advice, old friend? There was a time you tried not to take what was offered and it cost you dearly.”

This seemed to shake the old dragon out of the pit of despair he’d fallen into. He touched the scars on his face in what must have been an old habit, then looked once more at the investigator. Some of the color had returned to his face.

“Yes. Tell me what you’d do if you lost two-thirds of the world’s strongest and bravest warriors in one strike. Tell me what those of us on this mountaintop could possibly do against a foe as clever and as strong as the one we now face.”

“Simple. Do what I did. Put her in command,” Windlock said and pointed at Kristen. “Then follow her orders like your life bloody well depends on it, because it does.”

Emberwing was shaken far enough from his stupor that he was able to turn and glare at her for a moment. Between his expression and his aura, she could practically read his mind—this young upstart must think she’s hot shit, coming in here acting like she owns the place. He broke the glare only to look at his friend. Windlock merely smiled his wry smile.

Finally, the other dragon sighed. “New times and new ways of doing things, I suppose.” He reached out a clawed talon to Kristen. She transformed into her dragon form and took it.

They shook and he studied her as they did so. “All right, same question,” he said and seemed to recognize something he actually liked in her. “What would you have me do?”

“Before we go, we need to know what your backup plans were in case something like this happened.”

“We never expected anything like this, but in the event of an attack, the plan was to evacuate the mansion and clear the area of any potential snipers before the members of the councils took to the air.”

“How would they evacuate and remain under cover?” Kristen asked. She knew they had to go and not waste more time but there was no point in rushing in, only to find an empty hotel. Her team sensed her urgency, though. Even as she spoke to Emberwing, the dragons transformed into their dragon bodies and the SWAT team climbed on their backs, now with assault-style rifles at the ready.

“There is a secret passage through the mountain. It’s a long, straight passage that eventually meets up with a few abandoned gold mines. It will allow the different councils different points of egress.”

“That’s good.” Kristen nodded. “How is this tunnel secured?”

“We have a dragon and a mage on duty there,” Emberwing said.

“Make sure the evacuation is going as planned.” She didn’t dare voice her fears that there would be no evacuation. There was a possibility that the Dragon Councils were already dead and the warriors didn’t know it yet.

The dragon on Emberwing’s team with the radio tried and failed to raise the protective detail on the radio.

She didn’t have to wait for him to tell her he had failed.

“Your guards have been eliminated.”

“That’s impossible—” Emberwing started to argue before she cut him off.

“We will not use that word again today. Anything you think is impossible is now a threat, do you understand?”

“Er…yes, ma’am.”

“Take us there. Now!” Kristen leapt skyward and wheeled toward the hotel.

Emberwing and his dragons—despite obviously being unprepared for the kind of guerilla terrorist tactics that Constance and her technomages were so fond of—still seemed capable enough. Despite the fact that she’d been airborne first, the wing commander quickly outpaced her.

They followed him for a long couple of minutes—waiting all the while for gunshots to batter the flying dragons—and he led them down to what looked like a small cave.

They landed near an opening to a mineshaft. It was framed with old timber and there were no footprints in the snow around it.

He sighed with relief. “It looks like this escape path is still untouched.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Stonequest said. “We’ve seen these mages use their powers to hide their tracks in snow before.”

“We’re wasting time,” Kristen said, took her human form, and led the others into the tunnel at a brisk pace.

After another painfully long couple of minutes, they learned what had happened to the mage and dragon who guarded the tunnel.

The teams emerged from the narrow mine shaft into a passage wide enough for even the largest of dragons to walk through. The walls were made of the stone of the mountain and cut in smooth, even lines. It sloped up, no doubt toward the mansion. Farther down, her dragon sight noticed the faintest hints of light that suggested more of the escape mines that Emberwing had mentioned. Still, she had no doubts that Constance and her technomages were down there.

Sprawled in the middle of the tunnel was a dragon corpse riddled with bullet holes.

“Oh, Talon,” Emberwing said and shook his head.

“Cassandra’s here too, sir,” one of Emberwing’s dragons said and gestured to the cindered remnants of a dead mage, little more than a skeleton and a few charred pieces of a robe.

“Does anyone have any idea where Constance and her goddamn mages went?” Kristen demanded.

“Are there any more escape tunnels higher up in the passage than this one?” Windlock asked Emberwing.

The scarred dragon shook his head.

“Then, if we’re lucky, maybe we’ll come up behind them and surprise them,” she said with feigned cheerfulness. It was a foolish thing to say but sometimes, a leader’s duty was to inspire others.

In reality, Kristen didn’t see how they could possibly sneak up on Constance. Ahead of them stretched a long open tunnel. It was beautifully made as if some ancient, massive creature had dug it out and sanded all the edges, but to her combat-ready brain, it only meant there was no cover. They wouldn’t be able to sneak up on their quarry any more than the members of the Council would be able to hide. The expression “like shooting fish in a barrel” came to mind.

There was no time to lose, though, so she gestured for them to start up the tunnel.

“Shouldn’t we transform into our dragon forms? There’s enough room in here for us and we’ll be able to incinerate the bastards. Even if they’re tangling with the Council, our flames will cook human flesh far sooner than it will cook a fellow dragon,” Emberwing said and although he spoke in a hushed voice, it still somehow managed to echo in the confined space.

“I don’t want any dragon to transform under any circumstances. These mages have fought us for years—they know how to avoid being burned—and if we take our dragon form, we’ll make a huge target for their guns. Remember, if only a shard of those bullets is lodged in your flesh, it severely limits your ability to heal.”

She considered telling Emberwing to retreat. Her team all had bulletproof vests, human, dragon, and mage alike. His team didn’t. That meant if the mages opened fire, they’d be shredded like her mom’s azalea bushes in a hailstorm. Unfortunately, she couldn’t simply order them to leave. She could be sending them into sniper fire for all she knew and besides, they knew the risk and were still there to work security. She needed warriors like that at a time like this.

As they made their way up the passage, Kristen’s vision easily pierced the darkness. Now that they were farther from the mine shaft, there was next to no light. In all honesty, she didn’t like what she saw.

“Emberwing, did you construct this tunnel expressly for this meeting? Can you tell me anything about it?”

He grunted, an obviously negative sound that she had not hoped for. “This tunnel’s been here for a long time—decades, probably. My team had scouted out a dozen of these kinds of locales all over the world. Remote, secure…” He shook his head at the word before he refocused. “Supposedly secure locations. We chose this one because of the tunnel. No one was supposed to know about it, but this magic bitch of yours must have.”

“Is there anything about it we can use to our advantage?”

“I hate to say it, but I don’t think so. We came out of the last place that could even vaguely count as cover. The stone is hard too so we can’t hope to burrow into it unless you have a dragon with abilities different than those on my team.”

One of Emberwing’s warriors spoke. “Stonepush could—”

“Stonepush is dead, son. So are we if we mess this up.”

Kristen didn’t bother to correct Emberwing. He was right. As dire as it sounded, that was the short of it.

“Humans, how are you doing?” Kristen asked.

“I gotta say, I’ve never held hands on a mission like this before,” Keith replied. “But I’m not gonna lie, it’s not terrible.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You’re holding the pretty girl’s hand,” Butters retorted.

She had paired humans and dragons beforehand and could think of any number of situations where dragons might need human assistance or visa versa. A dark tunnel had not been in those plans, but she was pleased to see that the pairs still worked together, even if Butters held hands with Emerald.

“Hernandez, do you have a plan to give you all some eyes?”

“You fucking know it,” the woman replied. “I have flares primed and ready. As soon as the shit hits the fan, I’ll light this place up and give us more than enough to annihilate these mages. Did you ever see a human out-fight a dragon?” The last question was directed at Heartsbane, who was partnered with the demolitions expert. Both women were so gruff and ornery that she had been shocked to see them gravitate toward each other. Then again, birds of a feather and all that.

“I’d be more than happy to watch you hurt these petty mages with your little firecrackers,” Heartsbane responded. They weren’t holding hands but Heartsbane did help to carry a duffel that was no doubt crammed with explosives.

Gunfire erupted—violently loud in the tunnel—and for a moment, Kristen thought all her worst fears had come to pass. The mages had already killed the Council and had merely waited to ambush the Steel Dragon. A moment later, her brain registered that there had been no cries of pain and she realized that they still had time.

Not much—maybe ten seconds—but some was better than none.

“It looks like the shit has hit the fan!” Hernandez sounded enthusiastically ready for combat.

“Light the way,” Kristen ordered as they sprinted up the tunnel, ready to engage and hoping they weren’t too late.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Crystal loved combat but she hated this.

She’d spent her entire life honing her skills. In human form, she was a black belt in seven forms of martial arts. In her dragon form, she was considered one of the most dangerous duelists in the world.

Emberwing had joked that it was time to put her skills to the test and she had accepted this job because of it. He’d told her that the Dragon Council was paranoid and wanted pedigreed warriors to defend them, and she fit the bill.

They’d all been ready to fight should the unthinkable happen and the safety of the Full Dragon Council come under threat. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she’d expected a conventional battle in which the combatants used their skill, abilities, and powers in a large-scale version of a duel between enemies. In all honesty, though, she’d prepared herself for a few days of utter boredom and routine because an attack was improbable.

She was therefore not prepared for what had happened.

In the blink of an eye, twenty-two fellow warriors—some of whom she had known for years—were gone. This wasn’t a fight but a slaughter, not combat but murder.

Her instinct was to race out and show whoever did this what a true warrior was capable of, but that wasn’t the task Emberwing had given her. She and Brownscale were the only two guards in the hotel itself. If anything happened, it was their job to get everyone into the tunnel and out of their respective smaller escape tunnels.

“Brownscale, lead them down into the tunnel. I’ll take the rear,” Crystal shouted as soon as the ringing in her ears had stopped.

He raced to their exit door and they began to shepherd the Dragon Council into the secret tunnel.

They made it a few hundred yards before gunshots rang out, blood blossomed on her teammate’s chest, and Brownscale fell dead.

“Don’t transform!” Crystal shouted to the Dragon Council and adrenaline made her ignore the strangeness of her ordering the most powerful and esteemed dragons in the world about. “We don’t want to present larger targets for their weapons. I repeat—don’t transform.”

What they were supposed to do, she didn’t know. Their escape plan was compromised and Emberwing had been very clear that they shouldn’t let the dragons fly. The last thing they wanted was to give these mages targets to shoot out of the night sky.

It turned out it was far more difficult to make a group of powerful, bossy dragons sit on their hands than her commander had made it seem.

“What do you say, Dragonshire—shall we show these rapscallions what we’re made of?” one of the dragons from the European Council asked another.

“Indeed.” Dragonshire looked as if he’d been wounded. He bled from the shoulder and wore the curious dragon expression of half-grin, half-rage. It was that of a combatant who knew their enemy would pay.

“You should retreat. Let me hold them back!” Crystal yelled, but neither of the dragons obeyed.

They raced deeper into the passage and took their dragon forms.

The light from Hernandez’s flare illuminated the scene in time to show everyone exactly what Constance and her technomages were capable of when armed with their dragon bullets.

Two dragons sprinted down the tunnel toward the invaders. The one in the front roared and a great gout of fire poured into the wide hallway and completely filled the space.

His targets, however, were unaffected and shielded themselves magically from the fire as easily as a child might protect themselves from a light drizzle with an umbrella.

When he stopped breathing flame, two of the mages opened fire and killed both before the two dragons could follow up the initial attack.

“Now—get them now!” Kristen shouted and raced forward toward the enemy while her teammate launched flares overhead. Her brain was already in combat mode. She didn’t lament those two dead dragons—not now and not until this was all over—and instead, she saw them how she knew Constance would see them. The enormous bodies provided substantial cover.

The dragons joined her in her sprint while the humans laid down covering fire. One of the mages fell, shot between the eyes by Butters, no doubt.

Constance shouted orders and her mages seemed to vanish into the two dead dragon corpses. Kristen wasn’t surprised to find that they were willing to hide in the still-warm body of a dragon. After what they had done to the creature trapped beneath the earth, nothing would surprise them.

From their hiding place inside the corpse, the technomages delivered a concerted barrage at her. A bullet took her in the chest, then another. She almost didn’t notice—her bulletproof vest transformed the lethal bullets into nothing more than bruises—but when a third exploded inches in front of her, she stopped her mad race toward their enemy.

“Did you forget you don’t have a vest on your face?” Amy shouted. She’d made them stop to buy her a skateboard and she used it now to roll up the slanted tunnel and come to a stop beside her boss.

“I saw her—Constance,” Kristen replied. “I’ve let her go so many times.”

“And she could have killed you so many times,” Windlock said. “Don’t let her now.” He had come up the tunnel with Larry. Now, both mages worked together to create a barrier between them and their enemy.

It had been her plan to use the mages this way and yet, seeing her adversary so close had almost cost her the caution she’d worked so hard to instill in her team during their flight.

“Did you get a count?” she asked her force.

“I counted eight of the bastards—seven now!” Emberwing roared. “We’ll take them. They can’t even hit us.”

“No, Emberwing!” she yelled, but he’d already sent two of his warriors toward the enemy.

They were gunned down efficiently and unceremoniously.

The mages—empowered by this victory—continued to fire at the others but their bullets only struck Amy and Larry’s combined shield.

“How…how did they hit them so quickly?” Emberwing was flabbergasted and he gestured at the others who remained unscathed.

“We have mages covering us right here.”

“More like right now.” Larry grunted. He was already sweating, and blood streamed from one of his nostrils. It was obvious that he wouldn’t be able to hold his part of the shield much longer.

Which meant that all Emberwing’s dragons were about to become much more vulnerable.

“Emberwing!” Kristen shouted over the relentless fusillade. “I need you and your team to turn back and fly around from the other side. You’re too vulnerable here and your people can’t shoot.”

“We won’t leave simply because there’s a little danger,” he protested. One of his warriors, no doubt encouraged by this sentiment, raced forward. She was fast—much faster than Kristen was in her human form—and insanely agile. With flips and leaps, she closed the gap between her and the mages and seemed to be able to evade the bullets fired at her.

She made it halfway across the field between the opposing forces and in another blink, she reached the dead dragons. She grasped one of the mages by their robe and hauled them up and out of their cover.

That was when Constance put a bullet through the dragon’s skull.

She crumpled, but Butters shot the mage she’d held. Drew, Jim, Keith, and Beanpole launched their own combined volley at Constance, but she dodged it like they threw paper airplanes instead of bullets.

“You can’t help here,” Kristen told Emberwing. “And if you don’t go, the Council doesn’t have a chance.”

Invoking the Dragon Council gave him pause. She took advantage of it and yelled at him through the gunfire.

“Get to the hotel and get the Council airborne and out of here.”

“The mages might shoot them out of the air!” Emberwing protested.

“They might, but I don’t think so. Constance seems to have her entire force engaged here. We need to keep the Council from coming down here—you need to keep them from coming down here. I’d bet there’s a bomb that could eliminate the whole damn Council if the technomages get inside. Get them out of here and close in on this position. We’ll keep her distracted.” She didn’t add what she was thinking—if we’re still alive.

Emberwing nodded, obviously not one to leave a fight, but also—if his scars were any indication—one who knew the advantages of living to fight another day.

“My team, with me.” His dragons obeyed. They turned, raced down the passage, and rapidly vanished into the gloom, powered as they were by their dragon speed. “But save some for us,” he said to Kristen as he left.

That was good. She didn’t want to bust out the gallows humor yet, but she couldn’t help but think that all that would be left was pieces.

“What’s the plan, Lady Steel?” Stonequest asked.

“We hold this position and keep them occupied while Emberwing goes around and evacuates the Dragon Council.”

“I don’t think that’s the best plan,” Windlock said and gestured to Larry. Both of his nostrils were bleeding now and he was down on one knee. He simply didn’t have the power Amy had.

“SWAT, increase covering fire on the mages. I want them to shoot less than we do.”

“We’ve tried,” Drew told her. “But we’ve already used most of the ammunition we had for automatic weapons. We still have rounds for our handguns but—"

“They must have brought every damn bullet they had,” Butters added. “We won’t win a shootout. As things stand, we can’t shoot past their cover and ours is tired.”

Kristen knew their assessment was correct. Constance had spared no expense on this operation. She’d not only abandoned a base but tried to scuttle it and had no doubt brought every piece of weaponry she had to this battle. This was it for the mage—her Big Bang and her last chance to start a war.

At another blast of gunfire, Larry stumbled and fell back.

Windlock raced to him. The mage’s eyes fluttered open. He was all right but his powers were overwhelmed.

“They will simply chew through this,” Amy warned as she expanded her shield to cover the space her teammate had taken care of.

Indeed, Constance’s mages began to fire at the wall of magic as casually as if they were on a shooting range with more bullets to be purchased if they ever ran out.

This definitely wouldn’t work. Amy’s shield would fail and when it did, they would all be dead. Bulletproof vests could only protect so much, and if any of the dragons had a bullet lodged in a limb, they’d be as good as dead.

“What’s the plan?” Drew demanded.

Kristen didn’t know. They couldn’t stay where they were and would be shredded if they didn’t.

“We retreat and join Emberwing and try to rout them from behind,” Stonequest suggested. “The Council…the Council should be able to defend themselves for a few minutes.” He sounded like he’d rather die than go through with his plan but what other choice was there?

They couldn’t approach the mages, not with them shielding themselves and using the dragon as cover. Retreat was the only option, but it wasn’t a real choice. If they did so, the Dragon Council would suffer catastrophic losses and those who survived would no doubt vote for war.

If any survived.

Hell, maybe war was a forgone conclusion at this point.

As long as Constance was alive, the Dragon Council would move to stop her. The only way to avoid the inevitable was to stop the technomages now. They had to kill her or bring her in.

Which meant they had to risk everything.

“Hey, Drew, I think I have an idea!” Kristen yelled.

“What kind of an idea?” he asked. He’d detected the glee in her voice and interpreted it as recklessness in the face of insurmountable odds—basically her signature.

“Nothing crazier than usual.”

Drew grinned at her. “You heard her, people! I need everyone ready. The Steel Dragon is about to do something dumber and more desperate than any of us would ever dare. Be ready!”

“You all get behind me. Amy, focus your shields.”

The dragons braced themselves and the humans cheered as they moved into position.

She transformed into her dragon body.

CHAPTER THIRTY

The half-formed plan worked as well as she had expected. Now that she was a massive steel dragon, the mages focused every source of firepower they had on her.

“My chest and head,” she muttered to Amy. She kept her legs tucked close to her body and fought every instinct she had not to let her tail twitch out from behind her.

The young mage obliged and narrowed her shield until it was a smallish sphere around Kristen’s head and chest.

The Steel Dragon slunk toward them and kept her arms tucked into her body as she moved—if she was struck in a leg, this whole attempt would probably end poorly.

Rather than risk her limbs, she gave her enemies another option.

She spread her wings. They almost filled the entire hallway and provided a huge target. Unable to help themselves, the technomages attacked her with their combined force.

Her ploy proved successful and the enemy didn’t concentrate their fire on her chest or head like they should have. Instead, those who attempted lethal shots were rebuffed by the shield Amy generated, while those who took the easier shot at the wings were rewarded with the membrane shredding.

It hurt to have holes ripped in her wings, but the membrane was too thin for the bullets to remain lodged in it. She bounded forward before the mages realized this.

She halved the distance between them—hoping all the while that her team of humans and dragons approached as well—and executed the final part of her arguably suicidal plan.

Kristen roared and exhaled a huge blast of fire that completely filled the stone passage.

“Barbeque those bitches!” Hernandez shouted while the human SWAT team cheered.

The mages scrambled to huddle together on top of the dragon corpse and tried to shield themselves from the blast.

Their layered shield was clearly visible and she burned it away layer by layer like an onion dropped in a deep fat fryer at a carnival.

She had desperately wanted to turn one of them into ash, but she didn’t have that little victory. The mage on point’s nose began to bleed, though, and she decided to count that as a consolation.

“Their shields are gone,” Larry said quickly. He’d recovered enough to sense their magic, at least.

Kristen flicked her tail forward and launched two of its spikes as she did so. One went wide but the other caught the lead mage in the chest. He crumpled, dead before he fell.

“Shish-Kabob!” Keith shouted.

The mages opened fire again and she took her human form and let the bullets careen overhead.

“You missed me.” She grinned. It was a stupid thing to say but nevertheless made her feel good.

Windlock hauled her back as the other dragons advanced.

Her shoulders were bruised and bloody. When she’d taken her human form, her shredded wings had transferred their wounds to her back, a sick reminder that she was still injured despite being in a different form.

She looked up to see that the mages no longer hid inside the dragon’s corpse now that she had burnt it to a crisp. They had wisely retreated to the far side.

“We need to push forward,” Kristen said. “We can’t afford to give them time to recover.”

“What, no snack break?” Butters said as he took another shot and cursed when he missed.

“If we make it through this—”

“Yeah, yeah, the pizza’s on you,” the sniper said.

She grinned at him as Windlock pulled her to her feet. Her back hurt considerably but the wounds had all been to her wings, which had no direct correlation in her human body. Despite the pain, she could still fight.

“I thought more about Coney Islands.”

“Not this again!” Jim shouted and rushed past her.

Even Beanpole seemed to outpace her. “Did you need to check your phone or something?” the quiet, well-spoken man asked. It was basically the most trash she had ever heard him talk, and it worked.

Kristen raced forward to join the fray.

“The mages are still between us and the Council Members,” Stonequest told his dragons. “We can’t let them get away—not now and not ever!”

The thought of Constance escaping gave her a fresh surge of adrenaline. She raced past her human allies and leapt over the charred dragon to find that her quarry and her four remaining mages were now atop the corpse of the second one.

“Now! We take them now!” On top of a dead dragon was about as good a position as anyone could have in this cursed tunnel, but the mages were outnumbered. She and her team could defeat them.

The members of Dragon SWAT raced up to the dead Council member and attacked the mages. It didn’t prove to be easy.

The enemy obviously knew they couldn’t hope to stand against the dragons in close combat. As Stonequest and his team approached, the technomages leapt or flew or whatever else they could do to evade them and fired continuously as they bounced around the tunnel, powered by magic.

It was like trying to swat heavily armed magic flies.

Drew and his team had all switched to handguns, which proved to be slightly more effective than the assault-style rifles were in close quarters.

The mages lunged and withdrew, darted near a dragon to fire a shot, and vaulted off again only to land in front of a human. In the chaos, Timeflash was shot in the leg and fell, screaming in pain.

Keith managed to graze one of the mages in the shoulder but this only earned his opponent’s wrath. A blast of ice froze the Rookie to the wall.

Butters hung back and attempted to use his vantage point on the top of the dragon Kristen had burned. Unfortunately, he succeeded only in falling through the charred flesh and was soon stuck inside the dead dragon’s ribcage like it was a macabre prison.

Windlock hung back and directed the two dragons’ mages to use their shields where they could. Most of that work was done by Amy, while Larry did his best to anticipate magic attacks and call them out.

Hernandez lobbed a grenade but the mage she’d aimed at was somehow able to use her magic to pluck the pin from the air and shove it back into the device. She then rocketed it into Emerald’s face and pulled the pin once more.

The blast knocked the dragon over, bloodied his face, and blinded him. Although the grenade had been made of metal—not dragon parts—it had still shredded his eyes and he was effectively out of the fight.

Constance darted through the battle, daring Kristen to catch her. She was impossibly fast and every time it seemed like a dragon was about to take advantage of a mage, she was there to unbalance them, to throw sand in their face, and to keep the fight alive.

But when Emerald and Timeflash were disabled, the technomage leader seemed to deem the battle over.

She moved to stand on top of the dead dragon and beckoned Kristen to fight her while their allies fought to the death all around them.

The Steel Dragon obliged her and rushed forward in human form to engage her enemy. The mage was more than ready for her.

They locked in combat and their fists and feet moved faster than a normal human would be able to track. Constance had trained her entire life for this. She augmented her speed and strength with magic as well and was a powerful, formidable foe. The fact that she’d killed before without remorse made her that much more intimidating.

To counter this magic-fueled fighter, Kristen had her own years of athleticism, plus hours and hours spent in grueling combat with Drew, Stonequest, and even Shadowstorm—the evil dragon who’d first taken her into dragon society. She combined this training with her own dragon-augmented speed and strength.

Both held grudges against the other and fought for what they believed in.

Kristen couldn’t help but grin as her first blows hammered into her opponent’s forearms. This wouldn’t be easy.

“Even you must be able to see that you’ve gone too far,” she said between punches.

The woman dodged a jab and drove her leg up and into Kristen’s chest faster than she would have thought possible with any other opponent.

She stumbled back and looked at the mage, whose face was a haughty glare illuminated in the harsh light of the flares. “Too far? I would think that of all our missions, this is the one you could most appreciate.”

“You’ve gone off the deep end,” she continued and launched into another rapid attack. Constance blocked her fist but not the other arm’s elbow, which caught her across the jaw and spun her away.

The assassin had obviously taken the blow’s momentum and transformed it into her own escape. She bounded back almost immediately, looking like something out of a kung-fu movie, and landed. The hard strike to her jaw seemed to have not made any impression at all.

“Hardly! This is what we’ve waited for—an opportunity to attack the dragons most responsible for the suffering of mankind. You also see the flaws with the status quo. I know you do! The monsters at the top of this tunnel are those responsible for it.”

“You can’t bring change through murder,” she retorted, then braced herself as Constance jumped, kicked off the back wall like an Olympic swimmer, and launched herself into her stomach.

She turned to steel before her adversary made impact, yet the force—no doubt magically augmented—was still enough to fold her in half and she fell with the mage on top of her.

The woman had her arms pinned now, one bicep beneath each knee. “What would you have me do?” she demanded, her fist lost in a swirling maelstrom of some kind of energy that crackled like lightning before she punched Kristen in the face. The blow itself didn’t hurt her steel skin but the energy surged through it and triggered the muscles in her face and neck to spasm painfully.

“What would you have me do?” Constance demanded again before she struck her once more in the face. Rather than waiting for an answer, she delivered a third blow. “Should I try to sue the dragons for years of genocidal clandestine warfare against humanity?” The electrifying punch descended again. “Should I write a letter to my representative in Congress and ask them to demand reparations for the gold dragons made slaves mine and refine?” The next punch was enough to cause her steel skin to flicker and turn off. “Should I go to their courts since they don’t recognize ours as having any legal sway over them and present my case while they laugh?” One final punch was hard enough to break Kristen’s nose.

“Did you try any of that?” she sputtered, still on her back while blood ran freely from her nose and down her throat and made her gag. “What have you done but kill?”

“You’re naïve. A child in a woman’s body. I guess the dragons and I agree on something.” She tried to punch her again but Kristen bucked her hip and used the momentum to roll her over so she was now on top.

“All you and the dragons have in common is your willingness to spill blood,” Kristen said, her point accentuated by the blood pouring from her bloody nose onto her enemy.

“Let me get this straight,” the assassin said, tried to push her off, and failed. “The dragons spill blood, yet they should be given every chance to redeem themselves despite the fact that they never have.”

She was about to punch Constance—she thought she could break her nose in the same way as the woman had broken hers—but a gust of wind caught her and hurled her into the ceiling.

Kristen struck the roof and fell. She managed to restore her steel skin before she collided with her adversary, but the mage was wily and stepped aside at the last moment. The Steel Dragon landed heavily on the dragon’s corpse and broke through the skin to sink into the enormous body.

“There are dragons who care about people,” she screamed and her voice rose to a shrill shriek as she tried to extricate herself from the horrible gore of the bullet-ridden corpse. She was too heavy and couldn’t climb out in her steel skin. Worse, her attempts snapped the bones so she couldn’t find leverage.

“And there are people who care about puppies. Does that mean they want to give them the rights of humankind?” Constance noticed that she had turned her steel skin off, seized her by the lapels, and yanked her free.

Kristen punched the assassin in the neck—once, twice, and three times, but the woman didn’t drop her. Instead, she tightened her grasp and shook her like a ragdoll. “What do you want, Steel Dragon? What are you fighting for? Have you ever paused to consider why you work so hard to prevent the utopia we’ve worked so hard to bring about?”

In a blink, the mage’s hands moved from the dragon’s lapels to her neck so she had to answer through a choked windpipe. “All I want is to share this world.”

Constance laughed ruefully and flung her to the ceiling of the tunnel. She struck it hard enough to dislodge a few pieces of rock before she fell again. Before she could get her breath back, her adversary kicked her in the chest and she careened into the back wall and loosened more rock. As if this wasn’t enough, the assassin then kicked the debris that had fallen from the ceiling at her.

She tried to activate her steel skin but she was too tired. Instead, she watched with her teeth clenched while her eyes tried to squeeze shut as the rubble streaked toward her.

It didn’t connect and stopped inches from her face, then boomeranged back to Constance.

The technomage dodged it with an effortless backflip but she looked around and tried to determine who had thwarted her attack.

Kristen tried to catch her breath and only focused on her breathing and turning her body to steel. She knew where the intervention had come from.

Her adversary seemed to give up on her mysterious assailant and turned back to her with murder in her eyes.

That was the moment Amy had waited for. She rocketed up the side of the tunnel on her skateboard, then launched off it, using her magic to propel the board toward Constance’s neck.

The woman brought her arms up in time to block the attack and the skateboard shattered, but not before it bloodied her forearms.

“Another fucking board?” the novice mage shouted in disbelief.

The enemy vaulted toward her, launched by the small flex of her muscles. Again, she obviously used her magic to propel herself forward.

Amy knew she was outclassed and didn’t try to engage in a direct battle. Instead, she began to throw anything that wasn’t stuck to the wall or floor at the other mage.

“How can you act like you’re a defender of regular people when you have powers like this?” the girl yelled while stone, discarded bullet casings, and even pieces of the dead dragon rocketed toward Constance.

“You have power exactly like them,” Amy continued and flung piece after piece of debris. The assassin flicked each one away like stone and metal were nothing but slow-moving insects. “I don’t buy for a second that all this is pure altruistic bullshit. If it were, you’d fight with civil disobedience or whatever other normal shit normal people have to fight oppressors. You’re nothing but a dragon in human’s clothing.”

“I am nothing like them!” the woman shrieked and closed the distance between them with an uppercut that caught Amy on the chin and catapulted her away.

“Nah, you’re right. Dragons have better peripherals.” The girl smirked as she pushed to her feet.

Constance turned in time to catch a steel foot in her face. The force of the blow pounded her into the wall and stone cracked on impact.

Kristen walked toward her, no longer hurried. “Face it, Constance, you’re done.”

The assassin looked around and scowled at the scene. One of her mages was dead from a bullet to the head and another was either dead or unconscious. Two remained alive but both were captured, one by a ring of humans, each with a gun pointed to the mage’s head and the other by the dragons, who held the mage in vice-like grips.

Wearily, the woman pushed to her feet and coughed up blood as she did so, but she didn’t surrender or quit or try to run. She simply looked at her adversary with bloody teeth. “Don’t you get it? The dragons underestimate us because they think about people instead of a person.”

“It seems to me like you forgot about a person back there,” Kristen said and gestured to Amy before their combat resumed. Even now, with who knew what kind of internal injuries, the mage fought back with unbelievable vigor.

She caught the steel blows when she could and dodged the ones she needed to but only attacked when she had a clear opportunity.

A powerful blow caught Kristen in the sternum and forced her back a few paces. “People are weak,” the assassin continued as if she needed to justify herself in this final encounter. “When we group together, we make dumb choices, choose bad leaders, and let fear drive our decisions. But there’s no way to anticipate a single person’s actions. As long as dragons treat us like cattle, that’s what we’ll be. But when people and dragons see that one person is all it takes to break the shackles of our servitude, then and only then will mankind rise up against our false masters.”

“You’re wrong,” she said, lurched forward, and caught the woman in the groin with a knee. The mage stumbled and before she could straighten, Kristen hit her in the back of the head with an elbow. She threw every ounce of force she had into the blow—it would have crushed a regular human’s skull like a melon—and it hurt Constance, but not much. She fell but caught herself in a pushup. Kristen kicked her in the ribs, rolled her over, and placed a foot on top of her chest so she couldn’t wiggle away.

“The reason we’re beating you is because we’re a team,” she explained as the captive punched at her leg. “We’re stronger—men, women, dragons, mages, whatever—when we work together. If we would all sit and listen to each other, we could live in a better world.”

The woman stopped struggling and an expression crossed her face that seemed entirely out of place. It looked like…acceptance. Kristen took her foot off the other woman’s chest and reached her hand out to help her up.

Constance headbutted her hard enough for her to see spots despite her steel skin.

She stumbled back while the mage darted to her feet. Her forehead had split from the blow and bled openly, but she didn’t seem to mind.

“I think I finally understand what you’re talking about,” she said and spat some of the blood. “I even have a word for the world you want to live in.”

“What’s that?” Kristen asked and lunged forward.

“A fairytale.” The assassin vaulted over her head, planted her feet on her shoulder, and launched off her. The force thrust the dragon into the stone floor and a tooth chipped.

That’s a new and awful form of pain, she thought as she pushed to her feet and raced up the tunnel after her adversary.

Constance was fast and Kristen was tired and unsure if she could catch her. Confident in the success of her team, though, she transformed into a dragon.

“Fool!” the assassin shouted, sliding to a stop to face the Steel Dragon. “I’m far more lethal against this body than your human one.”

She had no intention of engaging in a melee, though. Instead, she exhaled flame at the mage, who dodged in a series of flips and spins. The dragon had seen it before, though, and in fact, she’d anticipated the response. She flicked her tail, once, twice, thrice and each time, flung barbs at her enemy. The first went through the woman’s foot and pinned her to the ground. The next trapped her forearm when it drilled through and into the wall, and the third narrowly missed her head.

Constance screamed in pain as Kristen approached her. “You’re done, Constance. It’s over.”

“You might have won this fight but you’re out of your mind if you think that I’ll submit myself to the dragon justice system.”

“Spoken like someone who knows they’re guilty,” she countered.

“When the revolution comes, I only hope you see that you alone can stand against these dragons,” the mage said. She stretched her hand across her body to the arm that was pinned, tapped a jewel on a bracelet she wore, and vanished.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

“No!” Kristen screamed and blasted the tunnel with an inferno of fire. Nothing burned as only rock stretched ahead of her. No hidden figures, no hidden tunnels, and nothing but stone, now superheated.

“She’s gone, Kristen,” Larry said and limped toward her. Apparently, he’d been shot in the leg at some point but she had had no idea when. “There are invisibility spells but none that can be paired with invulnerability. Plus, she’s never used one before. It looks like a teleportation spell to me and is probably linked to another gem at a safe house somewhere. My bet is she’s gone to lick her wounds. Sorry about that. I had hoped to bring her in too.”

“She won’t,” Kristen said and assumed her human form. Both bodies were hurt, but her tattered dragon wings hurt far more than the broken nose, chipped tooth, and scrapes and bruises in her human body.

“You beat her, Steel. Don’t sweat it,” Heartsbane said.

“No way. She’ll go after the Council. Right now. By herself. She practically told me as much.”

Stonequest came up and shook his head. “Kristen, that would be suicide, even for her. Emberwing must have reached them by now and it’s not like he’ll let anyone get the jump on him again. Now that his warriors are on alert—”

“How many of them died when they were down here? Three?” she demanded. While she didn’t want to be morbid, she was also furious that people were underestimating Constance again. It was as the leader of the technomages had said. Dragons couldn’t help but underestimate an individual person when in reality, individual people were the only way things got done.

“Okay, sure,” Stonequest said and looked pissed that she’d used the dead dragons to make a point. “But there’s the Council as well. It’s not like they’re helpless. They might not be warriors like Emberwing’s team was, but they have those positions because they’re the most cunning and powerful dragons alive.”

“How long have they had those positions?” Kristen demanded.

“What? I don’t know.” He looked even more annoyed and his gaze darted constantly to Emerald, whose eyes had yet to heal, and to Timeflash, who still clutched her wounded leg. She understood his concern—they were her teammates too—but there would be far more dragons hurt soon or even worse. She was sure of it.

“Decades,” Windlock answered. “Why?”

“That proves my point. They have those positions because dragons are complacent. That’s exactly what Constance is counting on. I’m sure she knows everything there is to know about them. Every one of them she can kill is a victory. These are dragons who have been seen as untouchable for decades. Even killing a handful will prove they’re not as strong as humans and dragons think.”

“You make good points,” the investigator admitted but didn’t sound happy about it.

“I know I do, which means we need to move—now. She’ll be in that hotel somewhere, I’m sure of it.”

Stonequest cleared his throat “You can’t be sure—”

“It makes sense, Stone. Go. We’ll be all right,” Emerald said.

“Amy, Larry, you need to stay here and keep those mages contained. Will that be a problem?”

“Not with these,” Larry said and revealed three of the magic-dampening cuffs.

“Good. And if you three try anything,” she said to the mages. “They will kill you.” She gestured to the human SWAT team. “Drew, I won’t lie. We could use backup, but I need to know these mages are secured and Larry and Amy don’t exactly have that kind of experience.”

“We’ll get the cuffs on them, post guards, and make sure no one comes this way. Right now, I want Jim and Keith to go with you. Butters, Beanpole, Hernandez, and I will stay here with Amy, Larry, and the two hurt dragons.”

“That sounds good, except we need to move. Jim, Keith, stay with us.”

Kristen looked at Stonequest, Heartsbane, and Windlock. They all nodded, understood that this was on them despite facing a foe who knew more about how to kill dragons than any other species.

Still, there was nothing to be done about it. She turned her dragon speed on and raced up the tunnel with the three other dragons hot on her heels. They outpaced Jim and Keith by a factor of ten. The two men could be heard only starting their run up the tunnel by the time the dragons reached the hotel.

They burst through a door at the top of the tunnel and into a moderately sized room lined with sacks of rice, beans, and flour. A pantry, she thought as she burst out of it and stopped short as two dragon guards in a large kitchen spun to face them.

“Halt! Stop right there,” the woman shouted.

“It’s all right, Crystal, that’s the Steel Dragon. She sent us around.” The other guard smiled. “Did you finish off those chumps? I must say, that’s good news.”

“Hardly,” Kristen said. “Where’s the Council? Take us there.”

“Emberwing gave us orders to guard this passage. We can’t abandon our post—” the guard named Crystal tried to argue but she cut her short.

“There are two mages on guard in there, one of which is insanely powerful, plus well-trained and well-armed humans. That way is safe. We need to make sure that Constance can’t carry out her final attack.”

“Final attack? What are you talking about? No one got past us,” the woman protested. She was armed with a spear and looked like she wanted to use it to bar their path, but the other guard marched past her and beckoned for them to follow. With a sigh, his companion let them through.

“We took the mages into custody but Constance escaped,” Kristen told the two as they walked.

“How?” Crystal asked.

“A teleportation gem. The Steel Dragon thinks the egress gem must be somewhere inside the hotel,” Windlock explained.

“But that would be suicide,” the woman exclaimed.

“It very well might be, but she won’t go down without taking as many of these dragons with her as she can,” Kristen said.

“Where are the members of the Dragon Council evacuating from? One location or multiple?” Windlock asked the guards.

“Evacuating?” Crystal sounded confused.

“We haven’t had any trouble whatsoever since we arrived,” the other guard explained. “Your team did an excellent job containing the mages in the tunnel. Emberwing has the rest of the Council under guard. We were to sound the alarm if anyone but you came out of there.”

“Constance probably planned this,” Kristen said and quickened her pace to draconic speeds once more.

“It makes sense. By only attacking one place, if it failed, there was a better chance the rest of the dragons would gather in another location,” Windlock said.

“Are you seriously considering the idea that a single human, even a mage, can kill more than fifty dragons?” Stonequest asked. “They were tough but not that tough.”

“Their bomb at our security base caught us off guard, but Emberwing is cunning. He won’t let that happen again,” the other guard said. Kristen didn’t have the time nor the brain space to ask him his name.

“Neither of our forces was their target,” she said and increased the pace. “Them failing to kill all of us only proves that they’re committed to their mission. Their room is upstairs?” she asked as the two guards began to lead them up a beautiful staircase in the hotel’s main lobby.

“Yes, ma’am,” Crystal said. “The big doors at the top of the stairs. The ballroom.”

Kristen paused for the briefest of moments and considered the best way to use everyone.

“Okay, you two stay here. That tunnel should be secure, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone try to force their way in. We’ll find Emberwing.”

Before the guards could reply, she raced up the stairs.

As she reached the door at the top, Emberwing appeared ahead of her. Even though he was in human form, the scars on his face made him easily recognizable. A dragon must have done it as any other wound would have been fully restored by his healing abilities.

“You beat them.” He sounded both relieved and triumphant. It was a bummer to dispel both illusions.

“Not the one who matters. How are the evacuations going?” she demanded.

“Evacuations? We haven’t had any reason to begin that. The Council has yet to deliberate.”

“That doesn’t matter right now,” she snapped at the warrior.

“It does to them, but from a security standpoint, it didn’t make sense either. We encountered a tiny force there. It stands to reason there’ll be more stationed around the mountain to fire at any dragons who flee,” Emberwing explained, his chin stiff with evident disapproval.

“Did anyone shoot at you?” Heartsbane sneered.

“No, but that doesn’t mean—”

“You need to get the Council out of here. Now!” Kristen barely managed to stop herself from yelling.

“I—”

“You asked for my advice, old friend,” Windlock said prosaically. “I gave it to you. Listen to the woman!”

Emberwing nodded and returned to the ballroom. Kristen had never been so relieved to hear so much yelling or the sound of broken glass. Good, so the dragons were leaving.

And not a moment too soon.

“We have the mage!” Crystal said from the bottom of the stairs. Kristen felt her heart both leap into her chest in excitement and plummet in fear. It was great to capture Constance but so obvious a location could only mean that the woman had completed whatever plan she’d gone to execute.

It turned out that the captive was Amy, not the technomage.

“Amy?” Kristen said, not quite sure of her reason for being there and while she feared the worst, she also dared to be optimistic. After all, the girl wasn’t any more bruised or battered than when she’d left her.

“Larry and I got the cuffs on. Those mages aren’t a threat. We left them with Drew and he’s bringing them up the tunnel to the hotel.”

Larry rushed into the entryway, took in his surroundings, and caught his breath. “You…have to teach me…the make your shoes…levitate trick…” he wheezed between breaths.

Amy smiled and settled on the floor. Kristen hadn’t even realized she’d been floating. “We think we know where Constance is,” the girl said.

“Finally, some good news,” Heartsbane muttered.

While the young mage didn’t let her smile slip, her eyes betrayed the terror she felt in her heart. “It’s really not.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

“Tell me again how you know she’s down here?” Kristen whispered as they made their way through a hallway in the basement. She wasn’t entirely sure what to call the level of a hotel that was below the basement and didn’t seem to house anything except generators and apparently long-obsolete gold-refining equipment.

“We combined what was left of our magical strength and were able to detect her. Well, not her exactly but something with her magical signature.” Amy took a deep breath to calm herself. “It feels like…Kristen, it feels like another of those bombs like we found in their base.”

“I’m only glad the two of you were able to notice it,” she replied.

“It was mostly the kid,” Larry whispered. “I gave her some guidance but the power’s all hers.”

“You’re doing all right then?” Kristen asked as they proceeded down the hallway.

“I’m beyond spent.” Amy grinned weakly. “I’m so tired and hungry. Fighting Constance took more out of me than I realized and that bomb earlier today was…well, that was a big drain. And this one feels bigger.”

Note to self. The only person you thought capable of doing something to stop the bomb is beyond exhausted and could barely contain one that was smaller than this.

“There—I think she’s in there.” The girl pointed to an open doorway on the right side of the hall.

Kristen looked at Stonequest, Heartsbane, and Windlock, who all nodded. It was time to face Constance.

She sprinted forward and turned the corner to find her quarry arms-deep in a device that did look frighteningly similar to what Amy had described at the base. A large chamber was surrounded by pipes that led to and from the center of the device but this one had to be the biggest brother of the bomb they’d seen earlier. It was the size of the desk, and rather than having copper piping as Amy had described it, the entire contraption seemed to be made of dragon bones. It floated ominously in the center of the room.

“Get your fucking hands up!” she shouted as she raced toward the assassin.

Constance nodded, withdrew her hands from the device, and held them in the air.

Kristen almost hesitated in her approach—she’d never seen the woman comply with anything—but then she noticed how badly her hands were trembling.

The look on her face was also one of pure exhaustion. There were bags under her eyes and sweat dripped down wrinkles that hadn’t been noticeable before. The mage even seemed to have gray hair that she previously hadn’t.

“I’m coming behind you and I want you to lower your hands slowly,” Windlock said and slid his hands into a pocket of his coat.

“Sure,” Constance said and sounded bone-tired.

The investigator approached and continued to look suspicious despite her obvious exhaustion. She made not even the slightest attempt to struggle when he brought her hands down, nor did she resist when he put a pair of the magic-dampening cuffs on her.

Once those were in place, she fell to her knees and laughed as tears streamed down her face.

“What’s so funny?” Kristen demanded.

“I had less in reserve than I thought,” the woman said and tried to stand but without success. “I used too much magic, but it’ll be worth it. My work is finally done.”

“What do you mean, your work is done?” she asked, although she knew as well as Constance.

As if to prove her correct, the assassin only raised her chin at the device in front of them. “I had barely enough to charge it.”

Stonequest was already studying the device. “It’s made of dragon parts. That seems like a structural issue. This piece of crap probably won’t work.”

“No, no.” Constance tried to shake her head but it simply sagged so her hair hung in her face, drenched with sweat. “It’s made of copper and is coated with dragon parts. Plus, there are more caches—the pieces too small to be used for bullets—placed nearby. It’ll be beyond anything any dragon could ever imagine. And we’ll get it all in High Def.”

“Tell us how to turn it off or you die as well,” Kristen said.

Constance tried to laugh but only coughed out a little blood. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy our cat and mouse game. But the Steel Dragon has clearly shown where her loyalties lie, which means I won't be too sad to see her go down with the Council.”

“You’ll die too. Don’t you see that?”

“At your hands. You’ve never heard of a martyr?”

“Curse you! Amy, you contained a blast earlier. Can you and Larry do that with this bomb?”

The two mages shared a look that made their answer obvious. “At full strength and with Larry’s help, I might have been able to. But after a day like today? I’m sorry, I can’t.”

“Tick-tock, Steel Dragon,” Constance said. “Do you see those black holes at the top of the device?”

Kristen grunted an affirmative.

“When those are all filled with light, time’s up.”

There were eight holes and four of them were already glowing. Before she could ask how long it took one to charge, another blinked on. That only left three.

“Your mages can’t do anything about it, even if they did have the energy,” the assassin said from her place on the floor

Kristen scowled at her and retrieved her radio. “Hernandez, I need you here. We have a bomb we need disarmed.”

“You got it, boss. How long do we have?” Hernandez asked.

In response, another of the black circles filled with light. Two left was not encouraging.

“A minute? Maybe two?”

“It’ll take us more time than that to get there,” the woman said dubiously.

“Shit!” Kristen cursed while Windlock pulled his out radio.

“Emberwing, we need those dragons out of here now. If they don’t get clear, it won’t be pretty.”

“Yes, sir. Most have already left sir, but—”

“Spit it out. We don’t have time to soften bad news!”

“Some of the senior members… Seven of them have locked themselves in a room and are talking about finishing deliberations. I’ll try to…” The sound of knocking at a door was followed by obviously negative replies. “Sorry, sir. They won’t agree.”

“Then break the damn door down!” Windlock snarled. He looked at the device. Two holes still needed to light up, but they wouldn’t remain dormant for much longer.

Kristen had already moved beyond thinking about the Council. If this bomb detonated, they were dead, but so were all the people who had come to help her. So was humanity’s chance at peace. She had to stop it. Fortunately, she had a bomb expert on the radio.

“If its anything like the other one, I think you should be able to deactivate it,” Hernandez said. “I looked at the remains of the one at the base, and I think it’s more like an engine than a bomb. If you can disconnect a portion, it won’t be able to build the pressure it needs to overheat. See if you can use those steel fingers of yours to snap the part that’s not active yet.”

She looked at Constance, who watched her from the floor, but the woman’s expression offered no clues.

Cautiously, she looked at the two tubes with the holes that had yet to fill with light. She wondered briefly if it mattered which she tried to disarm when the hole in one of them lit up.

The assassin began to laugh.

Kristen ignored her and stretched her hand toward the bomb. It would be simple. All she had to do was break a pipe. The Steel Dragon’s specialty was breaking things.

But when she came within a foot of the device, her hand bounced off an invisible barrier.

Constance laughed so hard she couldn’t breathe. “Did you really think I would make it that easy for you?”

She moved quickly around the bomb and tried to touch it from any angle, but her efforts proved fruitless. It was inside some kind of floating sphere of force.

“I’m sorry. I said I would defer to you, but we’re out of time,” Windlock said and transformed into a dragon.

“What are you doing?” Larry asked him, his voice pitched high with panic.

“Something I learned from the Steel Dragon’s book.” The investigator wound his tail around the invisible barrier. Even in his dragon form, he was unable to reach the bomb but that didn’t seem to be his intention. Instead of trying to touch it, he banged his tail against the sphere, which rolled the bomb into his waiting talons.

“That won’t break it,” Constance fumed.

“I know,” Windlock said. He sounded incredibly tired but also proud. “Sometimes, there’s nothing to do but let a bomb blow up.”

He pushed the ball with his nose so it rolled down the hallway to the stairway they’d come down. Before it reached the end, he exhaled a blast of fire that ripped a hole in the ceiling of the hallway and opened it to the basement above it.

Kristen was able to see the last hole fill with light before he closed his talons around the sphere and treated it as carefully as she had handled a greased egg in her third-grade track and field day. The dragon lurched through the ceiling of the hotel’s basement and into the hotel itself.

“He can’t stop it now that it’s charged. Once it overloads, we’re all done. The corrupt Dragon Council has seconds left to live.” Constance tried to shout but mostly coughed on her own words.

She didn’t seem to be lying, though.

A high-pitched whine emitted from the sphere and grew louder and higher by the second.

Kristen raced after Windlock and followed the sound through the kitchen to see that it had shattered a shelf of crystal.

The investigator didn’t release the sphere and simply bulldozed out of the hotel and into the snowy night. His dragon limbs cradled the sphere awkwardly like he tried to hold onto a bubble.

She realized then which page he tried to steal from her. “Windlock, you won’t be able to get clear. Drop that bomb and get out of there.”

“No can do, kiddo. If I drop it now, it won’t be as far away as it needs to be. You taught me that at the party when you saved my life. If I drop it, the whole damn mountain might come down.”

Over the radio, she could hear the whine of the device. The keening pitch grew louder and higher until it seemed that was all she could hear.

Still, Windlock talked to her as he pumped his wings and tried to fly higher and higher. “You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save others. How can I do less than that?”

“I had a vest!” she yelled into her radio, but he either couldn’t let go of the speaking button or wouldn’t as he didn’t seem to hear her.

“You must continue your fight. You have the right of it. Dragons and humans can destroy one another or learn to coexist with mutual respect. Those are the only two options, although I guess I’d prefer the latter course.” He chuckled, an ominous sound when mixed with the piercing shriek of the bomb that drew ever closer to destruction. “You gave me faith, Kristen Hall. Steel Dragon, you can save both races of your heritage. You’re the only one who can.”

“Windlock! Dammit, Windlock, drop the bomb! You’re far enough away. Windlock!”

Kristen continued to yell into the radio even after the device exploded high above the hotel and the surrounding mountainsides. The flash of light was as bright as the sun and reflected off the snowy mountains. It cast everything in an eerie, harsh light for a moment before the shockwave radiated out, struck the mountains, and caused snow to avalanche down almost all of them.

The windows of the hotel rattled but none broke, neither from the shockwave nor from any errant shards of dragon.

Everyone was safe except for her mentor and one of the most respected Dragon investigators in the world.

Windlock was dead.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Kristen didn’t let herself cry for Windlock, although others did. Stonequest had shed a tear or two and Larry wept inconsolably, but she couldn’t, not yet.

Instead, she helped to escort Constance to the main entrance of the building. There, they met the rest of the technomages still under the guard of the human SWAT team as well as the two wounded dragons. Emerald’s eyes were healing. He still couldn’t read text but he could see well enough to help watch the prisoners. Despite their magic prowess and work to try to destroy dragon kind, they hadn’t fought against their captors. Apparently, Constance was the devoted one.

When the entire team was together again and she was finally convinced that the threat to the Dragon Council was over and the spark that might start a war extinguished, she let herself mourn Windlock for a moment.

She hadn’t meant to, but she hadn’t really had a choice.

Once everyone was safe and Emberwing’s guards were called to reinforce the security to ensure that the mages wouldn’t break free, Kristen made her way up the stairs to the ballroom. She wanted to check on the dragons who’d decided to remain behind.

Halfway up the steps, she stopped, frozen in place because she wondered what Windlock would have done in this situation. She thought he’d treat this as he did everything else with cool, calculated indifference and that he’d try to convince the Dragon Council not to do anything rash without weighing all the evidence. Then Kristen remembered that he was dead and she’d been unable to go further.

She stood on the stairs, her tears streaming down cheeks so scratched and bruised that even in her steel form, her wounds could be seen. Her mind couldn’t believe he was dead. After everything he’d done for her, she thought bitterly, he’d finally done too much. She silenced the thought, though. To stop the violence Constance tried to commit, she would have done the same. Only now did she see how cruel that decision could be for the people she was doing it for.

“Are you all right?” Emberwing asked and placed a scarred hand on her shoulder.

Kristen nodded, wiped her tears, and forced herself to return to her regular skin.

“I think I will be.”

“He was a real sonofabitch,” he said and rubbed the scars on his face absently. “He does things to folks, makes a mark…” Emberwing chuckled as if he’d made a joke he hadn’t meant to. “He changed you. I can tell. He was a good dragon.” He sniffed and grimaced and she wondered if he’d maybe shed a tear too for his old friend.

After a long moment of silence, he said, “I told the Council what happened.”

“What’ll happen to Constance and her mages?” she asked.

“They’ll be interrogated, then executed for their past murders,” he stated.

“There should be a trial,” she said and surprised herself with how much she felt like that was the thing that needed to happen.

Emberwing raised an eyebrow. She couldn’t really tell from his scarred face but she thought it might have been in disbelief. Either that or he was actually impressed. “Tell that to them yourself, Investigator. They want to see you and thank you for saving them.”

She nodded and continued to the second floor where she pushed the big door at the top of the stairs open to reveal the ballroom. Within, eight dragons were seated at a large table in eight ornate chairs. Behind them, the wall and windows were destroyed from the escape of the other members of the Dragon Councils. The floor of the ballroom—still shiny even in its current condition—had been severely scratched by the massive dragons claws all pushing off it to take flight.

Yet the eight council members still held themselves with the pride of kings and queens. Their clothes were like snapshots of periods of history from the world, pristine despite the destruction all around them. While the wall behind them was missing, the room was still warm as if the eight dragons before her radiated more than enough energy to fill the area.

“May I present Lady Kristen Steel,” a dragon with the appearance of an extremely well-kept, silver-haired man said. Decimus Aurelius wore a silver tuxedo and black tie, the same as he had the last time she had seen him. It seemed a lifetime ago that she’d saved his life from another of Constance’s bombs and he’d knelt before her and sworn her a debt.

Kristen stepped forward and bowed. “Thank you…er, Lord Aurelius—sir,” she added hastily. “But it is Lady Hall, as that was my father’s name.”

“Forgive me,” Aurelius said easily. “May I present Lady Hall to your lords and ladyships.”

The others exchanged glances and pulses of auras too rapidly for her to follow at the use of her human name, but no one spoke.

Decimus Aurelius sat at his place at the table. Of all the dragons in the world to find in this room, she couldn’t have asked for much better. She wondered if he’d stayed because he felt he owed her a debt or if it was because he trusted her to stop Constance. It didn’t seem like the time to ask.

Instead, she saluted as she’d seen others salute members of the Council. Windlock had shown her how—not a pleasant thing to remember.

“Lady Hall,” another dragon said, this one in the form of an older human woman with long silver hair who spoke in an accent that might have been from somewhere in the Arab world. “I am Lady Shimmerclaw. I speak for the Full Council, and I would like to congratulate you on behalf of this deliberative body for your quick action.”

“Congratulate me?” she responded. She thought a big thank-you-for-saving-our-fucking-lives was more in order, but she didn’t tell Lady Shimmerclaw that.

“Indeed!” another dragon interjected. He was a jowly man in a tight coat with brass buttons. His accent placed him as northern European. “Without your swift action, this meeting might have had to be held in the snow. I daresay we might have lost a couple more of our members.”

The dragons continued in that vein for a while and told her how well she’d done and how courageously she’d acted. All of it felt phony to her like they thought they were the president pinning a medal on a police officer for saving a kitten in a tree.

As they made the rounds of congratulations, another dragon came in through the window. He landed and despite having faced Constance and her technomages, Kristen felt a pang of fear. His form was terrifying, hardly more than a skeleton with skin wrapped tightly to it, the color of leather left out in the sun. He transformed into a man in a black suit with an oddly marked face, pulled out a ninth chair, and sat.

The dragons welcomed him as Lord Boneclaw—an odd name to be sure, although in human form, he didn’t seem any more or less imposing than the others. He too held himself with god-like confidence. The group returned to their congratulations.

The only ones who didn’t have a vaguely condescending tone were Aurelius—who genuinely and profusely thanked her—and Lord Boneclaw. He said little, although the way he appraised her made her almost feel violated. She felt like he was looking at her as if she were a piece on a gameboard to which she didn’t even know the rules.

“I would also like to officially honor Investigator Windlock,” Shimmerclaw said and once more took control of the meeting once every dragon save Boneclaw had said their piece. “We will definitely be sure the history books will show that it was his heroism and sacrifice that saved us all.”

Kristen had to bite her tongue at that. It made her want to rip into these fat cats. Windlock hadn’t needed to die. For one thing, they could have taken the threat seriously from the beginning. Or they could have continued to assume there was a threat until they’d actually cleared the hotel. Windlock would still be alive if either of those options had been chosen.

She said nothing, though, and chose not to ruin this small honor they tried to bestow on him, but she was quietly furious.

“Investigator, we look forward to working with you further and wish you the best success in finding out if this mage had any more allies.” Shimmerclaw nodded at Kristen—an obvious dismissal—and turned to the other dragons.

“Now, back to the matter at hand,” Shimmerclaw said as if Kristen had already left. “I’m quite sure all of you talked with all of your other council members before this meeting, so the eight—”

Boneclaw cleared his throat.

“Pardon me, the nine of us present can vote on what we should do about the threat these weapons pose to the security of the Dragon State.”

“I speak for the North American Council when I say we do not believe that dragons should go to war,” Aurelius said. “The dwarves are to our north, no one else’s, and they will not like it. Furthermore, many of the attacks—and indeed, most of them—took place in North America. We have the most to lose and therefore our opinion should be heeded. We have Lady Hall to stop any more of these mages. War is not wise.” He nodded to Kristen at the end of his speech. At least he still cared that she was there.

Boneclaw cleared his throat. “With all due respect, Decimus, you do not speak for the North American Council as I disagree with your assessment completely. These mages have proven themselves to be a real nuisance to security. They must be crushed before their attempts at chaos can go any further.”

“Decimus, do you really still hold to these arguments despite this last attack? You saw the explosion as well as us,” Shimmerclaw said. “If Windlock had not done what he did, we might have all perished. Surely some of our other members would have. I am not sure we can still seriously consider peace. What says the council?” She looked around at her peers.

Glances were exchanged between the various members along with more pulses of aural power before the jowly dragon spoke again. “I think I speak for most of us when I say that for Investigator Windlock and the two dragons murdered in that tunnel, the humans must be culled. They have gone too far. Of course, we should exercise caution and only cull those who pose a political or security risk—and maybe some of the more troublesome celebrities too, probably—but leave the workers, craftsmen, electricians and the like as unharmed as we can manage. I would hate to see more than fifty percent losses in the working class.”

Shimmerclaw nodded at this but there was something in her expression that Kristen couldn’t quite place. She almost seemed disappointed that the rest of the council had agreed with her. But no, that wasn’t quite it, Kristen thought as the dragon looked at each of the members. She seemed to want to see which of them really did agree that it was time for war.

Obviously, Boneclaw and the jowly dragon wanted action while Aurelius was against it, but how split were the others?

Shimmerclaw apparently wanted the answer to this question as she put it to a vote. “Then let us decide democratically what we shall do. May I remind you to vote not for political gain but for what is right. Whatever we decide will be binding, for all dragons follow the will of the Dragon Council.”

“All dragons follow the will of the Dragon Council,” the other eight dragons responded in chorus, even Aurelius. Even though he didn’t look pleased at the prospect, he looked like he took the oath quite seriously.

“Wait!” Kristen yelled, no longer able to help herself.

“Forgive Shimmerclaw. Perhaps she was not blunt enough given your upbringing,” a dark-skinned female dragon with a shaved head said, “You are dismissed.”

“That’s it? You’ll vote to go to war just like that?”

“It won’t be a war but a culling,” the jowly dragon explained ponderously.

“That’s disgusting. All of you are disgusting!” she shouted, no longer able to keep her aura in check. It lashed out like hot flame and the dragons recoiled at the uncouthness of it.

“If you would all get off your thrones and pay attention, you’d know that you don’t have to go to war. If you’d notice what’s going on, that people—human beings—are fed up and sick of your kind—our kind—hoarding the power, we wouldn’t be in this mess. You treat humans like cattle and sheep until they to dare stand up for themselves, then you treat them like weeds. It’s disgusting. All of you—”

“Are disgusting, yes, we got that part,” Aurelius said, although at least he was still smiling.

“Are you quite finished?” Shimmerclaw asked her. She seemed to be shocked by the impertinence of someone speaking to her so. The dragon probably hadn’t had anyone so much as fart in her presence for fifty years.

“No! As a matter of fact, I’m not,” Kristen answered, quite amused that the Council member had invited her to speak once again, whether she’d meant to or not. “Also, frankly—as my dad used to say—I’m not sure you’ll win this scrap. We raided a mage base today. Did you read Windlock’s report? Let me summarize it for you since it looks like you’ve been busy here eating hors d'oeuvres or whatever. The technomages had a dragon chained underground for more than twenty years—a dragon like me. They harvested its body to make the weapons that have killed dragons.”

“We read the report,” Shimmerclaw said and sounded ashamed.

“And we didn’t appreciate the vulgarity of it then any more than we do now,” the jowly dragon said, quite affronted.

“Well, that wasn’t all we found,” she went on. “That mage base we raided revealed other locations as well. There are more cells like Constance's, each of them with their own captive dragon and each producing as many dragon bullets as they can and as quickly as they can. If it comes to war, humans will have thousands of dragon bullets. They already have thousands of dragon bullets, but if it comes to war…” She laughed darkly. “That’s all Constance wanted. If dragons attack people, the technomage terrorists win. They reach out to the army and soon, we have fighter planes armed with dragon bullets. Grenades manufactured with dragon scale fragments. We have every hunter and gun-rights enthusiast in America carrying bullets to kill us. Is that what you want? Because a vote to cull humans is a vote to cull yourselves.”

Kristen took a deep breath to say more and realized that one, she needed to breathe again after all that, and two, she didn’t have much else to say.

While most of the dragons did nothing but mutter about her impertinence, Aurelius looked intrigued. “What would you have us do?” he asked.

No one else paid him much mind, but when Shimmerclaw repeated the question, all the side chatter stopped.

“What would you have us do?” she asked. “Do you truly have an option that can stop war?”

She was proud of herself for not letting her jaw hit the floor. Her hope had been that they’d vote no, not turn to her for a solution, but she didn’t hesitate long before she seized the moment she was given, short though it might be.

“Give me the job,” she said.

“Pardon?” Shimmerclaw said and a smile grew at the corners of her mouth.

“Give me the job of stopping these mages before we go to war,” she said and her thoughts gained momentum. “I’ll create a team to solve this existential threat to both our species. We can all agree that both humans and dragons are at risk if war happens. A task force with both sides included will be able to find a better solution to a threat to us both.”

“Do you truly think working with common humans will be of value?” Shimmerclaw asked. She sounded more intrigued than anything, despite the rude words.

“We’re all alive because of a mixed-species team,” Kristen said with a shrug. “I would bet it will work again. Give the job—and the responsibility—of this to me.”

“And if you fail?” Boneclaw asked. He didn’t seem particularly bothered by the idea of her failing to prevent a war. He didn’t seem indifferent either but…eager. Kristen decided that it wasn’t the eerie name and strange dragon body that made her dislike Boneclaw. It was the way he looked when he spoke about war.

No one else moved. All eyes watched the tension build between Boneclaw and the Steel Dragon.

“I dunno.” Kristen shrugged. “If I fail, I can see that war will probably be inevitable and neither side will rest until the other loses. I know you think it will be you who wins, but I can think of quite a few humans who would feel the same way. But it won’t come to that—not as quickly, anyway—if you let me try to stop it.”

“Then we vote,” Shimmerclaw said.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Kristen left the Council meeting in a state of disbelief. She found her friends—human, dragon, and mage—waiting for her outside.

They all cheered when they saw her, but she couldn’t share their enthusiasm.

She was quiet and even subdued as she closed the door to the Dragon Council meeting behind her. It clicked shut ominously.

Jim stepped forward first. “Are you okay? It sounded kind of…loud…in there for a while. You had us worried.”

From their smiles, it was obvious that they had been able to tell it was she who had done the yelling.

All she could do was nod absently in response. Her mind was awhirl. Seeing all her friends there—especially Larry—without Windlock gave her an intense, overwhelming feeling of grief. She hadn’t realized how much he’d meant to her and now, he was gone and he’d never know. The grief mixed with the sense of what was coming and the responsibility she’d been given—no, the responsibility she’d asked for.

“They voted for it,” she said.

“For war?” Jim sounded horrified. The expressions on everyone’s faces said the same.

“They voted to put me in charge of hunting the rest of the mage cells. I’m going to…that is, I have to stop them all. I’ll free all the captive dragons—my…my siblings—and end this threat to both dragons and people.”

“How long did the Council give you?” Stonequest asked. “Before they decide to cull the humans?”

“That’s sick,” Butters interjected.

“That’s how they think of it,” Heartsbane said. “They’ve been in power too long to view humans as a threat.”

“They said if anything else happens, they’ll reconvene and vote on it. Until then, I’m in charge.”

Silence hung in the air for a second before Stonequest uttered a whoop of triumph. “Kristen, that’s amazing. The Council didn’t set you a deadline for this? For them, that shows a ton of confidence.”

“They said I’d have to report back in a week,” she said dubiously. “They want to know how many cells the technomages have, where they might be, and what continents they’re on. I need to have answers.”

He nodded, still impressed.

Jim was less enthusiastic. “So basically, you’re talking about going up against a damned army. A number of small armies, in fact. Small, magic armies.”

“I know.” She shook her head at the idea. “I know it’s crazy, but Windlock was right. It has to be me. Now that the Council has given me this opportunity, I won’t blow it.”

Drew put a hand on her shoulder. “At least you know you won’t be alone, right?”

“Huh?”

“This is too big for you to mess up and too important. I’m in,” he said and smiled.

“Seriously. We can’t let the rookie mess this one up for the rest of us,” Keith said to an echo of “You’re the Rookie,” from the rest of the team.

“I’m in too,” Jim said.

“Of course. We are as well, right, Beanpole?” Butters said.

Beanpole shook his head as if to show how crazy he thought it was, but he was smiling. She thought that was a yes but wouldn’t push him.

“I’m with you too,” Amy said. “I said I’d be your mage and I meant it.”

“I guess you’ll need a dragon,” Heartsbane said begrudgingly.

“Or two,” Emerald added.

“You guys…thank you… Really, but this is too much.” Kristen was overwhelmed. “To do this right, it’ll be more than a job and I can’t ask you all to commit that much time to this. Plus, I can’t afford to pay anyone. I can hardly afford to pay Amy.”

“You can pay me less,” the mage protested.

“You don’t need to worry about all that,” Larry said and stepped forward. His eyes were red and puffy from how much he’d been crying.

“What do you mean? Even soldiers get paid,” Kristen said.

“So pay us.”

“Okay, I looked at how much investigators make. It’s good—better than being a human cop, for sure, but it’s not enough to support you all.”

“You mean Windlock didn’t tell you?” Brockton asked. He had the first smile she’d seen on his face since his boss had died.

“Tell me what?”

“That old bag of wind…and after all the times I said I would tell you and he kept saying no. He must have planned this in case he died because he knew how badly I wanted to tell you. That sonofabitch!” Larry laughed at his old boss’s death and Kristen was quite confused.

“Larry, please explain why you think Windlock dying was funny?”

“Because he knew I’d be a wreck if he died,” he said and grinned like a fool, an odd look with still-wet cheeks and his red puffy eyes. “He knew this would be the only thing to cheer me up. He told me he told you. I still can’t believe this.”

“Spit it out, Larry,” Drew said.

“Windlock filed a new will just in case. He wanted to make sure Kristen continued to have whatever resources she needed to fight her battles, even if he was gone. Kristen…he gave you everything.”

She tried to smile at the mage. He’d lost so much…but Windlock hadn’t really been rich, had he? “You mean…like, the cases in his office.”

“No, no. Windlock…well, he was quite old and fairly wealthy. He paid me his entire investigator wage and only did the job out of a sense of duty. You…you have a castle, Kristen, land, and a pile of gold.”

She couldn’t do anything then but break down and cry.

The fresh wound of losing Windlock was still too raw and his gift too precious. She couldn’t believe that he’d sacrificed so much for her.

Now, she had everything she needed—wealth enough to build her own army and equip it well and enough allies willing to help.

He had given her everything to complete the mission she’d pursued since she’d first learned she was a dragon. Kristen Hall, human woman and the Steel Dragon, was finally ready to fix a world that had been broken for far too long. Or, at the very least, not allow it to shatter beyond repair.

THE STORY CONTINUES

The story continues with book ten: Ties That Bind, coming soon to Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.

BOOKS BY KEVIN MCLAUGHLIN

Steel Dragon

(with Michael Anderle)

Genesis Draconis (Book 1)

Scales of Justice (Book 2)

Dragon Rising (Book 3)

Dragon Swat (Book 4)

Terror Obscura (Book 5)

Never Cage a Dragon (Book 6)

Dragon's Party (Book 7)

Dragon Rescue (Book 8)

Destruction Imminent (Book 9)

Ties That Bind (Coming soon)

Dragon’s Daughter

(with Michael Anderle)

Never A Dragon (Book 1)

Dead Dragon New tricks (Book 2)

Thicker Than Blood (Book 3)

Dragon Fire and Pixie Dust (Book 4)

The Cult of Tiamat (Book 5)

The Sum of All Magic (Book 6)

Adventures of the Starship Satori (Space Opera blended with military SF)

Finding Satori - prequel short story, available only to email list fans!

Book 1 - Ad Astra: Book 2 - Stellar Legacy

Book 3 - Deep Waters

Book 4 - No Plan Survives Contact

Book 5 - Liberty

Book 6 - Satori’s Destiny

Book 7 - Ashes of War

Book 8 - Embers of War

Book 9 - Dust and Iron

Book 10 - Clad in Steel

Book 11 - Brave New Worlds (2019)

Book 12 - Warrior’s Marque (2020)

The Ragnarok Saga (Military SF)

Accord of Fire - Free prequel short story, available only to email list fans!

Book 1 - Accord of Honor

Book 2 - Accord of Mars

Book 3 - Accord of Valor

Book 4 - Ghost Wing

Book 5 - Ghost Squadron

Book 6 - Ghost Fleet (2019)

Valhalla Online Series (A Ragnarok Saga Story)

Book 1 - Valhalla Online

Book 2 - Raiding Jotunheim

Book 3 - Vengeance Over Vanaheim

Book 4 - Hel Hath No Fury

Blackwell Magic Series (Urban Fantasy)

Book 1 - By Darkness Revealed

Book 2 - Ashes Ascendant

Book 3 - Dead In Winter

Book 4 - Claws That Catch

Book 5 - Darkness Awakes

Book 6 - Spellbinding Entanglements

By A Whisker (short story)

The Raven and the Rose - Free novelette for email list fans!

Dead Brittania Series:

Dead Brittania (short prequel story)

Book 1 - King of the Dead

Book 2 - Queen of Demons

Raven’s Heart Series (Urban Fantasy)

Book 1 - Stolen Light

Book 2 - Webs in the Dark

Book 3 - Shades of Moonlight

Other Titles:

Over the Moon (SF romance)

Midnight Visitors (Steampunk Cat short story)

Demon Ex Machina (Steampunk Cat short story)

The Coffee Break Novelist (help for writers!)

You Must Write (Heinlein’s rules for writers)

BOOKS BY MICHAEL ANDERLE

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