Page 24 of A Dagger of Twisted Starlight

Big Ask

Blake

We were backin my father’s office.

The broken pieces of furniture and trash on the floor had been cleaned up. As was all the blood I had on my face and clothes.

I could still taste the copper. It made me shiver as I sat on the couch next to Xavier. He placed a reassuring hand on my leg, which helped some of the tremors. Warrick sat in a chair while Cass paced in an anxious circle.

I’d never killed anyone before. I’d never seen so much death before. Today eclipsed the traumatic memory of seeing my stalker killed, making that day seem like a fluffy little dream in comparison.

We waited for my father, who was still being debriefed.

“That was wild.” Warrick took off his glasses and blew a puff of air at the lenses. He cleaned them off with the clean white shirt he had changed into.

“Thank you for protecting my mother,” I said, still gratefulafter being told that Warrick was the one who had gotten her out to safety before running back in to help the others. “Seriously.”

“No thanks needed,” Warr said, smiling. “Besides, she held her own. She saved my ass when a shifter crept around the corner and took us by surprise. She dropped a huge vase on the sucker and gave me enough time to restrain him.”

“She is a pretty kick-ass woman,” I said. I’d felt a swell of relief when Warrick told me my mom was safe. If anything had happened to her, I would have been ruined. Completely devastated.

“You did really great out there too,” Xavier said to me. He grinned, looking as if he’d just come in from a brisk job and not a fight for his life. After the chaos of the last few hours, having him sitting next to me made me feel oddly reassured. More so than expected for just having a client-bodyguard relationship. I didn’t question it. I just let myself relax into it, fighting away the sensations of teeth tearing through skin, fur getting caught in my throat.

I gagged.

“You okay?” Xavier asked.

“Yeah, I just, I need some water. That’s all.”

Cassius walked over to the minifridge hidden inside the mahogany desk and tossed me a water bottle. “Here, drink up.”

“Is there anything stronger in there?” Warrick asked, looking over his glasses. “Maybe like moonshine? Tequila? Anything?”

“Just water,” Cass answered. “I don’t think you want the vice president getting hammered during work.”

“This is true,” Warr said and slumped back into his chair.

I chugged half the water bottle in one breath. Some of it spilled down my chin. I wiped it with the back of my hand and chugged some more.

“Did either of you spot a trigger? A tell that an attack was imminent?” Xavier asked. Even though he wasn’t in dragon form, I still felt that imposing presence in the room with us. I could tell he wanted to stretch his wings and take to the skies, where he could hunt down whoever had tried to escape.

“Nothing,” Cassius answered. “It all happened so suddenly.”

“And what about that red-eyed one?” I asked. Those were a pair of eyes I wasn’t going to forget anytime soon. They were vicious. They radiated with violence.

“He appeared to be the leader,” Xavier said.

Warrick nodded in agreement. “Who happened to have Dragonsbane with him. Just like in Joshua Tree.”

“His jacket also had the same emblem.”

“So the attacks are linked, then,” I said, realization sending a cold chill down my spine. I didn’t want them to be related. I wanted the desert attack to have been a one-off. Maybe they had taken too many shrooms and tripped hard enough to attack me without realizing I had a dragon flying directly above me.

The heavy door to the office opened. In walked my dad. He appeared shaken. Two Secret Service agents paused at the door. My father asked for them to stay outside and keep guard. He shut the door and turned to the small group.

“Is everyone okay?” he asked.

Nods throughout the room. Even Xavier was okay. His puncture wounds rapidly healed due to his dragon genetics. The deep and bloody injuries were the size of quarters, nolonger bleeding as his skin stitched back together. He wore a black tank top that still had some scatterings of blood.

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