Chapter 9

Bailey

“They look suspicious,” Freya said, gesturing toward a group walking past our hideout.

I snorted. “All teenagers look suspicious when they’re roaming free from their parents. I’d worry more if they appeared innocent.”

The female shifter snorted. “Some things are the same no matter the species.”

For two days, we’d been hiding in an old laundromat while observing the building across the street where Javier had reported unusual activity. We’d cleaned the space where we sat and small sections of the windows to look out, but otherwise, we sat in a large room full of dusty washers and dryers.

A small shopping center that had been old before the dragons arrived was diagonal to us across the intersection. It used to house a restaurant and appliance store. Most of the large windows had been boarded up at some point, which indicated someone had wanted privacy. Most damaged places in Norman had either been demolished to get rid of the eyesore, fixed up to look nice again, or sat waiting to be assessed.

The place we’d been observing fit the latter. It remained in a state of poor condition with no obvious purpose. Regardless, I might have given up on staking it out if we hadn’t caught someone dropping off a box of supplies the day before.

The woman had appeared paranoid as she parked her bike around the back. She’d peddled up slowly, kept running her gaze everywhere, and didn’t stay long. Since we’d watched from across the street, we couldn’t be certain what she’d carried into the building, aside from a white file box with a lid, or if she’d done anything else in there during the five minutes she’d visited. Freya and I both agreed it wasn’t worth grabbing one person and decided to wait for more of the rebel group to come. No need to tip our hand early.

It was late afternoon on day two, and we’d already been sitting for almost three hours. The still air inside our lookout was hot and stifling. I took a drink from my canteen and leaned my head against the wall. As a slayer, I preferred actively tracking down my prey and hated itwhen I had to wait for them to come to me.

Freya squinted her yellow eyes as she peered through a small, cleaned section of the window. “Some people are walking up the street.”

“Where?” I asked, moving closer to look. We had to share the small rectangle we’d cleared for observing. “I don’t see them.”

“Straight across from us to the east.”

Shifter vision was better than a human’s, but after a minute, I made out three figures walking up the road. They were heading toward the back of our target building. Would they go there? We’d had a few false alarms since beginning our stakeout.

They didn’t act paranoid like the woman the day before and walked casually as they chatted with one another. I’d nearly deemed them innocent when they detoured toward the rear of the building. None of them carried anything, but they moved quickly once they’d entered the back alley. We lost sight of them at that point.

I kept scanning along the street. “Let’s wait and make sure they don’t come out the other side.”

“Agreed.”

We watched and listened for a full minute, but they didn’t reappear farther down the street. They’d definitely gone inside.

“Alright.” I glanced at Freya. “That’s gotta be the guys.”

“Yes. May I rip them apart with my claws and teeth when we get in there?”

I lifted my brows. “It will be hard to question them if you do that.”

She sighed. “Humans are so fragile.”

“Let’s go,” I said.

Since Freya was obviously a shifter, and most people in town could recognize me, we couldn’t move casually toward the building to avoid alarming the three guys inside. They’d react the moment they spotted us. Instead, once we exited the laundromat, we sprinted across the intersection as fast as possible and kicked down the front door. It hit the floor with a loud thud . They came into view as the dust settled, eyes rounded.

“Stay right there,” I said, pulling my sword.

The three men hovered over the white box the woman had delivered yesterday. Apparently, they’d been too busy studying its contents to notice our approach, but their gazes were filled with alarm.

I moved slowly toward them with Freya by my side. She held a long dagger and an expression that said she meant business. Our prey glanced at each of us, cursed, and took off running for the back door. The last of the men shoved the table with the box to the floor so the contents flew at our feet. A bunch of small cloth-wrapped objects scattered across the tile, and I barely managed to avoid tripping on them.

The men were surprisingly fast, but getting the back door open slowed them down. It was old and the humidity had swelled the frame, so they had to pull hard to open it. As they yanked on the knob, I grabbed the closest guy and threw him at Freya, uncaring if her touch burned him. The other two had gotten the door open enough that one began squeezing through the narrow opening.

I barely caught the wrist of the next man and dragged him to the center of the room. With no time to consider another option, I smacked the flat of my sword on his head, knocking him out cold. As soon as I was sure he was unconscious, I took off after the one who escaped.

His steps smacked loudly as he sprinted down the alley in the opposite direction as his group had come. Before becoming a slayer, my short legs hadn’t allowed me to pick up high speeds. After my transition, I got faster, even more so after years of fighting dragons. I could move at speeds I never dreamed of before, which certainly came in handy on days like this.

I dashed for the man, keeping my eyes on his blue T-shirt. He’d gotten enough of a head start that it would take me a minute to catch him, but I didn’t doubt myself for a moment. As he turned a corner, I put on even more speed.

Boom!

A loud explosion sounded to the north, shaking the ground beneath my feet and making my ears ring. Plumes of smoke rose from that direction, but I couldn’t spot the source. What the hell had happened?

As much as I wanted to find out, I couldn’t afford to get distracted.

My prey had slowed his pace and taken the time to glance between the blast location and me with a wicked grin. That mistake cost him. I grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled hard, so he fell on his butt on the cement. Taking my sword, I pointed the tip at his neck.

“Don’t even think of trying anything,” I warned, nicking his skin enough to draw a drop of blood. “You’re going to get up slowly and return to your friends now.”

Annoyance flared in the man’s eyes, but after a moment, he did as I ordered.

We returned to the building and found Freya had the other two men sitting beside each other. The one I hit lay unconscious, and the other gripped his arm where she’d left a mild burn on his skin. No doubt he didn’t want to give her a reason to touch him again.

“What were you guys doing here?” I asked, shoving my newest captive toward his buddies.

He sat beside the one I’d knocked out and stared at the tile with a stubborn expression.

Freya crouched in front of them and glared. “You don’t want me asking the questions.”

Seriously, she was menacing despite being beautiful in her human form. The female shifter could pull off a threatening vibe like no other when it suited her. I was glad to have her as a partner and hoped I never made her angry. It was no wonder Ruari had become a better-behaved man after feeling her wrath enough times.

The guy I’d had to chase down barred his teeth. “None of your business.”

“Did your people have anything to do with that explosion a few minutes ago?” I asked. He’d certainly looked pleased about it when we were outside.

He sneered. “Like I’d tell you.”

“Are you sure about that?” Freya asked, wrapping her fingers around his neck.

When we first started looking for the instigators, we’d agreed to do what it took to resolve the issue quickly. With war coming, we couldn’t afford to waste a moment. They’d taken it to another level when they began trying to kill people and burn homes. I didn’t stop her as she continued to hold the man’s throat in a tight grip. It didn’t even bother me that it hurt him. There was a time when it would have, but I’d grown colder during my years as a slayer. The people I loved received most of my remaining warmth.

He grimaced as his skin reddened, but his gaze stayed angry. “It doesn’t matter what you do to us,” he said in a raspy voice. “We won’t tell you anything.”

I glanced at his buddy, who remained awake, finding him stone-faced and resolute.

“Check his skin,” I ordered, suspicions rising. Something about these guys felt wrong.

Freya used her free hand to jerk up his T-shirt. There was a small dark spot on his skin right below his sternum, and we had no doubt what it meant. He’d been infected by dark magic. In the early stages such as this, we couldn’t sense it even if we were close. Only those who’d carried it a long time had to do something to shield and hide it to avoid detection from a distance.

I stepped closer to him, my sword pointed near his stomach. “I got him. Inspect the others and see if they have it, too.”

The shifter turned to the unconscious guy first, finding another small dark spot on his chest. The third man tried to push her hands away. She knocked him to the ground, pressed her boot to his head, and ripped his shirt away. Underneath it, he wore a thick black vest of indeterminate fabric.

Freya found it too tough to rip—even for her super strength—and had to pull it over his head while he struggled and cursed at her. After rolling him back over, we gasped at the dark swirls covering his skin. The magic had progressed far more for him and covered half his torso. With the protective covering gone, I could sense the dark spell, making my stomach turn. Bile rose up my throat.

While I understood some humans refusing to trust dragons—even shifters—I couldn’t fathom what would drive them to turn on the Taugud and hurt innocent people when we all needed each other to survive the coming horde. Now it made some sense—dark magic.

The Kandoran were trying to undermine us from the inside. Who knew how they pulled it off, but they had to have agents sneaking across the border. The coalition intelligence videos I witnessed months ago had confirmed that the enemy forces controlled tens of thousands of humans for their army.

It appeared they were already recruiting in our territory ahead of their arrival. While I understood the reason for waiting to raise the shield, we needed to get it up soon, or more people would turn against us by the day.

“Go get Javier and tell him it’s an emergency. We need help moving these men to jail cells and extracting the dark magic.” I positioned myself to better guard all three, including the one starting to stir to wakefulness. “Something tells me they won’t walk there on their own.”

The powerful sorcerer was our best bet for getting the job done despite his busy schedule.

She stood, then hesitated. “Will you be okay on your own?”

“I’ve fought multiple dragons simultaneously,” I assured her. “These three will be easy, but if they give me any trouble, I can always kill a couple of them. We only need one to interrogate.”

I hated to take it that far since they might be innocent without the dark spell on them, but I wouldn’t risk my safety or anyone else’s. If they got away, they could report back to the rest of their group, which would undermine our hard work to catch them. We needed to know how many others there were and if those were infected as well. The sooner this problem got resolved, the sooner we could get back to war preparations. Time was running out.

“I won’t take long,” she vowed.

Not wasting another minute, she left the building. From the broken doorway, I caught a glimpse of her flames as she shifted. Freya would get there faster by flying, hopefully finding Javier quickly.

***

Two hours later, we had the three men in prison cells. The old jail in Norman had been destroyed, but they’d built a small one in a building near the courthouse that could hold up to twenty people. At the moment, there were only two other inmates.

“Do they have any idea when Javier will return?” I asked.

Several of his people—not sorcerers—had come to assist us. They’d brought potions that knocked the three men out, and we’d transported them with a wagon. It would be a few hours before they woke up, so they lay passed out on mattresses on the floor for now.

A woman in her thirties with short brown hair shrugged. “He and a few others left yesterday evening. They’re establishing the new section of the shield in Shadowan territory, and it’s a lot of ground to cover. It will be at least a couple of days before they return.”

That was just my luck. We’d missed him leaving, and now I’d have to track down another sorcerer to do the job. They were all busy lately, and it wouldn’t be easy. The last time I spoke to Morgan at the fortress, he said all the ones there had major projects consuming every waking moment, and they’d be unavailable for a while.

“Maybe Danae can help us,” I said, thinking I could stop by her house. It was evening now, so she might have gone home after performing a shift healing people at the medical center.

The brunette gave me a quizzical look. “Didn’t you hear? The hospital was attacked today—maybe from the same group as these men.” She gestured at the ones in the prison cells. “They blew up the front entrance and part of the emergency room. I didn’t hear that she got hurt, so she’s probably caring for other victims.”

“Seriously? The hospital?” I asked, shocked. I remembered hearing the explosion earlier but hadn’t figured out the location. My mind had been on capturing the bad guys.

“Afraid so.”

That place would be vital for taking injured humans during the war. It was well inside Taugud territory but close enough to the border for transport. They’d started construction on a new hospital complex west of the interstate that would have been just outside the shifter territory, but it wasn’t completed before the invasion. The Kandoran spies must have figured out where we’d take our wounded within Norman and used people on our side to target key infrastructure.

It explained why they invaded each territory slowly, according to intelligence reports. They worked to undermine the people living in the targeted land first so that they were weakened and lacked resources. It was far more cunning and tactical than I’d expected from an evil horde.

I worried for my friend, hoping she was alright. If Danae had been hurt badly, word would have spread since she was well- known and loved by the community, but she could have had light wounds. As soon as I could get away, I’d check on her and see if she needed anything.

“Okay.” I rubbed my face. “Are the guards here enough to keep an eye on these guys until we can get help removing the dark magic?”

“Yes, and we have wards we’ll activate. Once those are in place, no one can get in or out except the person who set them—not even those with dark magic,” she said with confidence.

I frowned. “Wouldn’t you need a sorcerer to raise them?”

“Nope. Javier chose the guards and keyed the wards to them, so we have total control.”

That was smart.

On the other hand, we’d have to ensure none of them were infected, orthe security measures wouldn’t matter. At least everyone present—besides the prisoners—had already been cleared. The guards would also be careful to check the people who came for the following shifts.

“All right. I need to check on Danae and then head back to the fortress. Hopefully, I can find someone to clear the infections in our prisoners soon. It might take a day or so, though.”

It was getting late. I knew my odds of finding anyone this evening were slim, so I didn’t want to give any false hope that it would be tonight.

“They’ll still be here,” the woman reassured me. “We run a tight ship.”

I hated that we couldn’t wrap the problem up sooner. Then I remembered the box we’d grabbed earlier after putting the wrapped objects back inside. A hum of power emanated from the direction where we set it in the hallway. Everyone was too nervous to go near it again until a sorcerer could check everything and ensure none of it was dangerous.

“Store that somewhere safe,” I said, gesturing at the box. “It would probably be a good idea to let Javier look at it all when he returns and let him figure out what to do. For all we know, they’re magical explosives.”

The woman’s face turned horrified. “Yeah, uh, I’ll show you a secure place to put it.”

I couldn’t blame her for not wanting to handle the box herself, but we needed to wrap up our business quickly. Now that I knew Danae may have been hurt—and possibly others I knew—I needed to get going.

Picking the box up carefully, I looked at the guard. “Lead the way.”

She kept a healthy distance from me as she led me to another area of the building.