Page 51 of Blood Illusions

Dr. Gould and Justice glanced at each other uneasily.

Damon leaned forward. “You know who? Spill it.”

Dr. Gould didn’t flinch from Damon’s demanding stare. “A few years ago, my team fought a rogue dragon. You might have heard of him. Baka Cosma.”

I rubbed my forehead and dropped my hand. “You mean the Baka Cosma who ran for president, then mysteriously disappeared in Durango?”

Dr. Gould nodded. “Yes, the same. Cosma was a dragon shifter turned bad. He absorbed power from the Unseelie King Garrick and almost destroyed us.”

I frowned. “What happened to him?”

“A powerful purple dragon fought him and weakened him enough for King Garrick and myself to kill him.” Dr. Gould’s voice echoed with pride.

“Who was this purple dragon guy?” Damon asked.

“Not a he. A she.” Dr. Gould puffed out his chest. “And my granddaughter.”

Damon chuckled. “You’re serious?”

“She’s now queen of the Fae,” Justice commented. “She’s not only a dragon, but she’s part Fae and extremely powerful.”

“Not that I’m not up for this family history, but what does this have to do with our pumped-up vampires?” Tim asked.

Dr. Gould’s shoulders sagged as he released a heavy sigh, the weight of the situation clear on his face. “Unfortunately, Baka had a daughter.” His voice was thick with regret.

Tim’s brow furrowed in frustration. “Let me guess. She wasn’t overly thrilled your granddaughter killed her father.”

“Among other things,” Dr. Gould stated. “To make matters worse, Baka had retrieved an obsidian key from the Unseelie world before he died.”

Tim’s eyes widened in realization. “That’s powerful enough to open other dimensions.”

Justice nodded grimly. “Yes, and he gave the key to his daughter before the PMC killed him.”

“And she disappeared into one of those dimensions,” Tim sarcastically surmised.

“Precisely,” Justice confirmed. “We have no idea what dimension she entered. She could open the dimension from her side, but unfortunately, we couldn’t from our side.”

Damon gritted his teeth and clenched a fist. “Great, so Puff the Magic Dragon can fly in and out of dimensions without us knowing.”

“There’s something else you need to know,” Dr. Gould added. “Maci’s not only a red dragon. She’s a shadow dragon. Like her father, she can blend into the shadows, and you wouldn’t even know she was there. She can also shift into another person.”

Tim leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, a smirk on his face. “So this Maci really is Puff the Magic Dragon.”

I shifted nervously. “What’s her game?”

Dr. Gould’s expression sobered. “Revenge. Her father was the only thing she had, and we took him away from her.”

I couldn’t digest what I was hearing. “Are you sure it’s her?”

Justice didn’t hesitate. “Pretty sure. All the evidence points to her.”

Damon’s eyes narrowed as he studied them, his suspicion evident in the tight set of his jaw. “You want to tell us why this shadow dragon is killing innocent people?”

“We don’t know,” Dr. Gould responded with a heavy sigh.

Damon’s gaze grew harder, fueled by doubt and mistrust. “How do we know you’re telling us the truth?”

Justice lifted his chin. “We’ve told you everything we know.”

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