Page 186 of Scars Like Wings

“Cole and Cody, Zaria is the priority. I want her taken alive by any means necessary. Totally fine if the bitch gets tortured in the process, but I need her breathing. The witch is secondary. If we capture Zaria, we can get all the information we need about the witch and anyone else she’s working with. Am I understood?”

“Copy that,” Cole and Cody said at the same time.

Quinn glanced between me, Simone, and Maisie. “What are the odds that you girls would leave this to us?”

“I’m sure I can speak for all three of us when I say low as fuck,” Maisie replied. “What can we do?”

Quinn shook her head, a nerve flicking in her jaw. I loved how much she loved to be in control. “I suppose we don’t have time to argue. Distract the witch as much as you can so we can take Zaria. Once we have Zaria, we’ll help take?—”

Quinn never got to finish. Something crashed into the barrier and burst through it, crashing into everyone in the elevator and sending us to the floor. It was Rhois, shifted back into her human form with healing cuts on her skin and open slashes to the fabric of her outfit. The cuts, I noticed, were healing slower than they should.

“If I had known I was going to be dealing with a fairy freak, I would have brought some iron along! Now, I just have to findout how many stabs with this sword it will take to kill you!” Zaria cackled like a cartoon villain on the far side of the Vault.

“This little bitch is really starting to piss me off,” Rhois snarled, her fury coming off of her in waves before looking toward all of us. Her rage shifted to concern. “Are you all okay?”

“I was about to ask you the same question,” Simone said. “What happened?”

“Isidora was in the Vault when someone attempted to break in. She called me and Journee up to help, thinking it was better safe than sorry. By the time we arrived, she was fighting the huntress and blood fitch at the same time.”

“Excuse thefuckout of me, ablood fitch?!” Maisie exclaimed. “A witch-fae that can use blood magic? That’s a thing?!”

“Blood magic?! But that’s forbidden, even among water beings,” Simone gasped.

“Oh, hoofed bitch! Come out, come out, wherever you are! I know I didn’t toss you that far! I’m sure those wounds aren’t healing quickly, either!”

I growled, sensing Zaria and her sword closing in on us.

“Could someone please explain to the folks at home what in thefucky’all are talking about?” Cody groaned as he tried to get up. “And I suggest we make it quick.”

“Blood magic is one of the few types of magic anyone can practice, but a magical being using it amplifies its already incredible power. Blood fitches and witches who use blood as a source for their magic can use aspects of the blood to control people and wield it as a weapon. It is very strong, especially with the right blood, but magic like that, that takes away anyone’s will, comes at a high cost. It’s unnatural, ancient, and brings only corruption and darkness,” Rhois explained as Quinn and I helped her stand.

Maisie’s eyes widened. “The right blood? Does that mean?—?”

“Dragon blood? That and more, actually.”

Wait, did she saydragon blood?

“OMG, I can actually talk about that now?! Thank fuck! The whole ‘not talking about shit’ is annoying. How else am I supposed to do my witty banter?” Zaria materialized in front of the elevator with thatfuckingsword. My growls echoed off the elevator cart, sounding loud even to my ears.

“You’d have to have wit, first of all,” Maisie said under her breath.

Zaria ignored her. “Honestly, Quinn, love, I don’t know how you date outside of hunter circles, especially a fucking lizard.”

My dragon quieted for the first time since we entered the Archive. I locked eyes with Quinn, whose eyebrows were just as furrowed with confusion as my own. Had Zaria just outed me to Quinn? Also, was Quinn a—? My brain struggled to comprehend so much all at once. Zaria must have caught onto this because she burst into loud rambunctious andgratinglaughter.

“Oh, my fucking god!You two don’t know! Oh, what did I do to deserve this gift?! Okay, let me dumb it down for you two.”

Zaria pointed her sword at Quinn, making me growl on instinct despite all my confusion. “Quinn here is a huntress. She comes from a family of hunters that date back to when hunters were created.”

Zaria directed the sword at each of Quinn’s cousins in turn. “Every member of Quinn’s little family are hunters, trained at birth to carry on the traditions.”

She then angled her sword at herself. “I am also a huntress. Now, my family does it for the money, hunting whatever is worth the most fortune. That usually means dragon-shifters and other rare shifters like them. Now, my ancestors were not built for dragon-hunting, but I like to think that we have gotten just as good as the Hesse family line. We got good enough to arrange a union between us, right, lover?”

Quinn threw one of her daggers at Zaria, but she deflected it with her sword. Before the dagger landed on the ground, it rotated and came back toward Zaria of its own accord. Guessing this, Zaria turned again and veered the dagger off track before it returned to Quinn handle-first without a drop of blood on it. Quinn sneered, but Zaria clicked her tongue.

“Now, now, we both know that a hunter’s weapon can’t kill another hunter. Besides, we haven’t even gotten to the best part! So, get this, you scaly freak. Quinn’s family specifically hunt dragon-shifters, but they will kill anything with a pulse for the right price—oh, I’m sorry, as long as it meets theircode. What is it again, lover? ‘Kill those who have killed? Hear, observe, speak, execute?’ It’s some bullshit like that, right?”

Before Quinn could say anything, Zaria pointed her sword at me. My snarl filled the entire elevator cart. I could hear the others behind me cry out at its volume, but I didn’t care. Zaria stared at me with her contacts that were as fake as she was, looking down on me like I was an insect to be stepped on. It fueled my rage that was boiling just underneath the surface. “Which leads to you. This hussy here is a dragon-shifter from a long line of dragon-shifters, including ones that have killed hunters in front of witnesses.Shehas killed hunters in front of witnesses. You, Quinn, are dating abounty, which means money in my pocket and some nice revenge for killing your little cold-blooded whore?—”

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