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Daegan stood upon the roof of a two-story building under the neon glow of the gigantic wheel structure that rose two hundred feet above the ground. He’d cloaked himself from view the second he appeared to prevent any of those riding the Ferris wheel to see him pop into existence.
Brilliant lights, changing colors continually, lined the spokes and lit up the exterior of the cars holding patrons. Was someone holding Renata hostage inside one of those gondolas?
Media showed up, parking tall trucks and personal vehicles anywhere they could find a spot large enough. Some of the trucks raised tall poles so they could transmit from this location, according to Tristan. Their celebrity people jumped out, fixing hair and straightening clothes, then grabbed microphones. Camera operators followed, finding a suitable place to set up for filming.
They were all headed for Centennial Park, a large open complex created when Atlanta hosted an international sporting event, and pointing cameras at the Ferris wheel.
After a quick walk around the roof, Daegan spotted a place to teleport down behind the building where he could be at road level.
Hiding his abilities in this era tested his patience greatly. Tristan had worked out a series of suitable locations for teleporting without being detected or landing close to a human.
Once Daegan appeared in the dark alley, he hurried around the building to join the crowds moving in singles, pairs, and groups. The only supernatural energy he picked up belonged to his Beladors patrolling throughout the crowd. Some were in uniform as part of Atlanta Police Department or other protective agencies, but more were dressed just like the humans to blend in.
Judging by physical appearance only, Beladors appeared human.
The difference came when it was time to battle a powerful supernatural enemy. If the Beladors knew what they were up against and deemed the action a reasonable risk, they could link their powers and show a more formidable front.
The downside being that if one in the link was killed, they all died.
For that reason, Daegan had ordered them not to link unless they had no other way to survive.
While casting another look at the giant wheel, which had paused at the landing platform to allow people to step out, Daegan bumped into a group of four human men. They smelled of ale and fried food.
One that failed to reach Daegan’s shoulder in height jerked around. “Hey, what the fuck?”
Turning to the angry male holding a half-spilled beer in one hand, Daegan said, “My apologies. I did not take care where I stepped.”
“Not take care ... ?” one guy snickered. “What planet are you from?”
Daegan’s dragon rumbled.
The men looked at his face then his chest. Half-empty-drink guy asked, “Did you make that sound?”
Now he had to explain his irritated dragon. He had no time for this.
Sighing, Daegan pulled out a paper bill. This one had a one hundred on it. He handed it to the one who had lost part of his brew. “Will this buy peace?”
“Shit, that’s like ... ” The beer drinker grinned. “We’re all good.”
Finally.
When they didn’t move on, Daegan crossed his arms and allowed his energy to seep out.
In a few seconds, all four smiles were replaced by expressions of deep concern. The only astute one mumbled, “Let’s get away from the freak.”
This time, they hurried in another direction.
With that handled, Daegan began looking across the landscape again. He sensed more than saw when the large wheel just behind him began to turn.
The speed increased slightly.
Sounds of hands slapping against the glass windows drew his head around. Humans yelled and beat the inside of their compartments as one gondola after another passed the platform without stopping.
He strode over to get a closer look at what might be going on. Two gondolas passed the platform with the people inside quiet, but most of the others were not happy.
Why hadn’t the operator stopped the mechanism?
When the wheel had spun halfway, it paused, but no person walked up to open the doors that had likely been locked from the outside.
Daegan started over to free two women banging on the door and making panicked sounds to be let out when he heard a hideous scream from high up.
The wheel began moving again.
He backed up several steps to view gondolas two hundred feet up paused at the top just starting down.
The dazzling lights on the wheel provided enough glow to see beneath each gondola. The flat underneath had smooth surfaces everywhere except one where a woman in a white blouse and jeans appeared to have the back of her body and limbs glued to the metal surface.
Renata.
If the car continued all the way down without stopping, it would crush her as it reached the landing platform with too narrow a space beneath for a body to clear.
Human spectators began murmuring. An elderly woman gasped. “Is that a body on the bottom of a gondola?”
News crews came running.
Daegan’s heart slammed his chest.
This was no time for indecision. He called out telepathically, I will not allow you to die, Renata. I will teleport you to safety.
The monster won’t let me go, she cried in his mind. Please save me.
Her terror-ridden voice would haunt him forever if he failed her.
Who had her? Daegan brushed that question aside, unwilling to lose her to any predator. Clearing his mind, he first tried to teleport her off the gondola.
Her body and the gondola shook. Those inside screamed and Renata moaned in pain.
He stopped immediately.
Next, he lifted his hands to use kinetics to break the gondola away from the wheel then teleport the entire thing along with her body to another location where he’d land it on the side. That way, he could prevent the car from crushing Renata. Then he’d dash to the dark and teleport to the same place.
Humans would lose their minds, but with that wheel turning, he had few choices. Sen would just have to deal with wiping all the minds of this crowd.
Daegan would worry about fallout later.
His teleportation attempt caused the whole wheel structure to shake and cracked the foundation. Panicked human faces plastered to the clear windows. Their mouths opened, screaming in terror.
The crowd yelled and pointed. “It’s falling!”
He didn’t dare try to teleport the wheel structure after that. Instead, he pointed power at the base, pushing the wheel gently back into place.
Someone had clearly used a powerful majik to attach Renata to the bottom of the gondola and to insure no teleporting could save her.
Daegan would pay heavily for his next decision, but he could not watch her die.
Standing in the middle of humans, he teleported to the roof of the car just below Renata. He came back into view standing with his feet straddling a motorized box mounted on top of the one he’d landed on.
The crowd sound died sharply, then they began shouting like mad. He ignored the ruckus below and focused on the only thing that mattered.
Keeping Renata alive to free her.
Dragon king! Shouted in his mind. I am Vincent and with six Beladors below the Ferris wheel. Tell me what you need.
He told his man, Try to stop the wheel from turning. If not, just keep the humans back and prevent them from using a weapon on me if they panic.
Yes, sir.
Daegan doubted even he could stop this wheel at the moment without knowing what majik had been used.
A yellow glow of energy outlined Renata’s body. Daegan sidestepped to keep his balance on the moving gondola beneath him. He feared waiting until this roof lined up better with the surface of where Renata stared at him wild-eyed.
She had green eyes, like Jennyver.
Renata would be crushed under the landing platform in eighty feet.
Using his kinetics, he leaped up to grasp a metal bar at the base of her gondola, his body hanging by one hand.
More humans screamed and yelled. Powerful lights turned up, blinding him. He slapped a kinetic hit at the light beam, smashing it.
The crowd roared and panicked, running everywhere.
Renata had sixty feet.
Her voice broke when she called into his mind, Please don’t die dragon king. Ask someone to tell my fiancé I am sorry and I love him. The Belador who called for me to come here to help will know him.
I will not leave you, Renata. Stay strong.
The monster has me ... her words cut off as if someone choked her. Renata’s eyes and mouth froze. Her face turned a dark shade of red.
Muscles in Daegan’s arm burned with the strain.
Fifty feet.
Renata’s head rolled forward.
Daegan shoved a hand on her shoulder, testing to see if he could break the ward or chain of power holding her. His arm lit up a brilliant yellow color.
Energy attacked his power.
Renata screamed in his head then suddenly quieted. When she turned her face to him this time, a horrible glowing face replaced hers. Needle-sharp teeth smiled.
The monster spoke in Daegan’s head. I have you, dragon.
Daegan couldn’t pull his hand free.
The creature’s power bound his energy in place.
Everything around Daegan paused. All sounds died. Not even the wheel moved.
The voice that came out of the monster now sounded thick and gravelly. “She is mine, dragon. If you want her and the others back, you will bring me two volumes of the Immortuos Grimoire.”
“What are you talking about?” Daegan shouted. He tried teleporting. Nothing happened. He called his dragon to the surface. Ruadh growled, but the sound came from far away.
Out of Daegan’s reach.
The hideous face turned furious. “You have lived thousands of years and claim to not know of this ancient book of majik? You lie.”
“I don’t!” Daegan shouted. “I have no idea what you speak of.” He racked his mind for a way to yank himself and Renata away from this monster. She’d named it right.
Hideous black holes stared at him. “Find those volumes or the blood of your people will run everywhere.”
“Where do I even start to find these books?” Daegan kept talking to buy time. He called up his power again, but this glowing translucent being had his energy bound.
What was this thing?
The filmy yellow head shook. Black eye sockets now burned with red fire when it screamed, “Your people stole one volume twelve hundred years ago and gave it to VIPER. Start there, dragon!”
Daegan mentally raced for questions. “Who are you?”
“I am master of the Imortiks,” the being bellowed loud enough to rouse the dead.
Imortiks meant nothing to Daegan. Power burned his arm and sent spikes of pain shooting through his chest. He shouted back, “I cannot find anything while bound here. Free me and the woman.”
“You have a fortnight to deliver both volumes to the center of Oakland Cemetery or Imortiks waiting to walk this land again will bond with the bodies and powers of your Beladors. Know this, dragon. I make the same offer to other powerful beings. I possess their followers, too. The first leader to bring me both volumes will receive all those I capture.”
The time frame dawned on Daegan.
He had fourteen days to find some ancient volumes of majik or Belador bodies would be overtaken by these Imortiks. How much more difficult would Imortiks be to kill when they inhabited his Beladors?
The glowing being vanished along with Renata’s body.
Power surged through Daegan’s arm and more pain blasted through right behind it.
Time spun up again.
Everything moved normally, including the wheel.
His dragon roared inside of him. Fire burst around Daegan’s hand. Tall flames crawled up his arm.
Ruadh battered Daegan’s insides, demanding to be freed and burn their enemy. His dragon pushed hard to the surface. Daegan’s back split as wings began emerging. Locking his muscles, he stopped the move half-formed.
Not now, Ruadh, Daegan ordered. Pull back!
His wings stayed as they were.
The worst that could happen would be for his dragon to become stuck halfway into a shift.
Ruadh roared, fighting to escape.
Daegan shouted telepathically again. Wait, Ruadh. The enemy is gone. We will kill everyone if we shift now.
Ruadh growled and rumbled loud as a tornado being held in place.
The wings pulled back inside Daegan’s body. Fire would not kill him in human form, but flames engulfed the gondola.
A woman and child inside the gondola above his arm cried and shouted for help.
Wind swept passed his face, feeding the flames as the ride rushed quickly toward the ground.
Daegan called to his Beladors telepathically, Clear a spot I can see.
A round open area immediately appeared, surrounded by his Beladors with arms outstretched to block anyone from interfering.
Now free of the Imortik master, Daegan hoped this would work. He teleported the woman and child from inside the gondola to the ground.
Vincent jumped forward to help the dazed woman and child stand, then the team lined up, passing the pair to safety as an ambulance raced up with lights flashing and a siren whining.
More emergency vehicles screeched, rushing toward the Ferris wheel area from two directions.
That’s when Daegan realized the wheel had ceased turning. Still clinging to a support bar thirty feet in the air, he swung his body and dropped to the ground, then walked over to his men.
Ambulances spewed medical personnel who began caring for the woman and child. Mouths gaped open, the crowd clearly in shock. Some knelt and held their hands in prayer.
Humans would not forget what had happened.
No explanation would fix this. Even wiping minds would not remove the cameras filming it all live.
Vincent walked up to him with his face tense. “This is all over the news, sir.”
“I know. Good job, Vincent,” Daegan said and gave the team a nod of appreciation.
The woman being cared for came out of her stupor, grabbing her daughter protectively to her. She pointed at Daegan and screamed, “Demons! They’re not human!”
More shrill sirens filled the air. Atlanta Police Department flooded the scene. Some were Beladors, who would place protecting Daegan above themselves.
Daegan sent a blanket telepathic message to those of his in the area. If your identity as a Belador is still hidden, then continue as you have. I need nothing from you but to remain safe.
He heard a series of acknowledgements, indicating there had to be another twenty Beladors present.
Daegan had always known when to battle and when to retreat. He told Vincent, “Gather the team and bring them with me.”
Clearly receiving telepathic orders, the men rushed to follow Daegan, who walked them toward the dark spot behind the building where he could teleport them out undetected. No point in making this any worse than it was.
They’d made fifteen steps when four police cruisers rushed up the street he’d been heading toward.
A blinding array of lights flashed.
Car doors flipped open and officers spilled out, standing behind the doors with weapons drawn.
Floodlights hit his group from behind.
A man using a mechanical horn called out in a shaky voice, “Stop and put your hands in the air.”
Daegan turned to a small army of law enforcement with impressive-looking weapons held ready to shoot. A helicopter flew fast toward the scene on its way from the center of the city with yet another searchlight beaming down.
He forced himself not to smash the lights.
Heavy-duty trucks roared up from the only other escape route on one side.
Vincent explained, “Those big trucks and the helicopter are part of a SWAT team, sir. Specially trained law enforcement with high-powered weapons. They will not allow us to walk away alive if we confront them.”
Daegan had not heard of SWAT teams, but he had no problem assessing the danger they were in.
“Tell the men to prepare to teleport,” Daegan ordered in a furious voice.
“What about the humans seeing us, sir?”
Daegan’s gaze rolled over the crowd that had silenced. Humans stared at them as if Daegan and his men had butchered children in front of them. The curious pushed close to get a look at strange beings.
“What about them, Vincent? Preternaturals are officially exposed to humans.”
Daegan had greater problems than exposure right now.
He and his men vanished.
