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“I’m telling you—patrol sucks.” The Nightshade was standing next to a wolf shifter. He was speaking in French, one of the five languages that Andre spoke fluently. They were standing some distance from a collection of trailer homes. The trailer homes sat in the middle of ten acres of land owned by a local who used them for rentals.
Andre perched in a tree above the pair, trying to keep his power from leaking out and alerting them to his presence. He was completely still. He had slowed his breaths and heart rate down to keep them from betraying him.
“Bah! No one knows we’re here,” the wolf said as he pulled a cigarette from his pocket. He lit it and took a drag. “Tomorrow, we can leave after they send the demands.”
It looked as though Sean had been right about this evening. Andre made a mental note to thank the wolf.
Go! Lisa’s voice sounded inside his head.
Silently, Andre dropped out of the tree behind the pair. He had a knife flying for the wolf before his feet touched the ground. The knife embedded itself in the wolf’s chest. He went down with a grunt.
The other Nightshade turned to face him, and his face blanked in surprise. “You!” The word came out in heavily-accented English. He went for his gun, but Andre moved lightning-fast and slammed his fist into the other’s face.
Andre followed the other man down to the ground and pummeled him until he lay unmoving on the ground. Then, he reached down and broke the Nightshade’s neck.
He dragged both bodies back into the shadows where no one would find them. Someone would move them after the rescue was over.
Clear!
He received Lisa’s and Sean’s acknowledgment that they were clear as well. Shapes detached from the shadows surrounding the collection of trailers. Only Sean’s mercenaries were in on this act. This was for expediency since they were the most experienced in missions like these. Sascha’s people were on standby a couple of miles away.
If Lisa and Sean had their way, he would be back there with them. But Andre refused since this involved Simone’s mother, and the dragon herself couldn’t be there.
His part of the mission was to find the Nightshade in charge and take him out. With something this important, the one that Raphael had would be powerful. With the amount of Raphael’s people killed in the past couple of weeks, he should be hurt by now.
He sent out a pulse of power to see if he could sense someone powerful. And bingo! There was someone near his strength in what they marked as the main trailer. There was also the presence of a shifter inside, probably Imka. Lisa, my mark is in the main trailer.
Good. Imka is in there as well. Sean, our surprise is a go. Lisa’s mental voice was the same odd, detached tone she got when violence was imminent.
The bone conductor mic in Andre’s ear clicked. “Everyone, clear the area around trailer five. You have thirty seconds.”
Andre was on the opposite side of the collection from the trailer that the group gave the alias trailer five. He moved back another couple of hundred yards, in case the surprise was what he thought it was.
A minute later, trailer five exploded. The boom from the explosion shattered the quiet night. They were far enough out from the nearest town that it would take a while for the local emergency responders to arrive. Plenty enough time to take care of the riffraff.
He shook his head to get rid of the ringing from the explosion. The night was completely lit up by the flames erupting from the burning trailer. Pieces of the structure rained down around it. Some flaming bits landed on the other trailers. Whoever was inside was dead.
People boiled out of the other trailers, trying to see what was going on. Their shouts rang out over the noise of the fire.
“Go!” Sean’s voice sounded in the mics of the raiding party. Everyone in their group charged out of the hiding spaces and attacked.
Pandemonium ruled the area as both sides started fighting. Andre slipped out of his hiding spot and headed for the main trailer. He wrapped the darkness around himself so that no one saw him. That was an ability of the strongest Nightshade—to use the night as a shield. Only a Nightshade as powerful as him could spot him.
Slipping around the fighters, he approached the main trailer. He could hear two voices inside. A male and a female. The male voice was telling the female to stay put. Andre smiled. It was nice to know he was in the correct place.
The door to the trailer opened, and a tall man stepped out dressed in jeans and a buttoned-up dress shirt. Andre wondered for a second if he thought he was going to a club but then shook it off.
The man raised his hands up, and they started glowing. Then, the fire in the trailer started dying down. Andre cursed violently under his breath. Raphael had sent a fire starter!
Fire starters were rare Nightshade who could control fire as their primary power. There were less than one hundred known in the world. Most Nightshade rulers who had them in their territory required that the bonded ones have children so that they would pass the gift down.
Within seconds, the fire had died, and there was only glowing metal left in the trailer. Andre sped up his approach towards the main trailer but was too late to stop what happened next.
The Nightshade snapped his fingers, and a ball of fire hovered over each of his palms. With lightning-fast motions, he threw the fireballs at a pair that was also charging for him. The pair were Lisa and Sean.
Lisa had a sword in her hand, and she batted the fireball away from her with it and into the side of another trailer. The second fireball streaked toward Sean. Sean attempted to dodge out of the way but was blocked by one of the enemy who pushed him back into the path.
The fireball hit Sean in the center of his chest armor. The wolf shifter lifted in the air, flying back about twenty feet before skidding another ten feet. He didn’t move once he stopped, and there was smoke drifting up from his chest.
“Sean!” Lisa’s scream of soul-ripping terror rang over the sounds of battle.
Andre didn’t look again at the fallen shifter. He pulled his gun out from his belt and started shooting as he put on a last burst of speed. The Nightshade jerked as several shots hit him in the chest. The flames that were forming again in his palm died out, and he fell. He wasn’t dead. A few gunshots weren’t enough to kill one that powerful.
The darkness that covered Andre shattered as he slid to a stop next to the fallen Nightshade. A mercenary from Sean’s group ran up. “I’m covering you, sir.”
Andre nodded at him. While he wouldn’t lose situational awareness, it was good that he was being covered while he dealt with the intruder. He holstered his gun and pulled the sword from the sheath on his back.
The fallen Nightshade’s chest rattled as he tried to breathe. His chest was a bloody mess, and his shirt was ruined. Andre knelt beside him. The Nightshade’s eyes tracked him.
“You made a serious mistake targeting my shadow.” Andre grabbed a piece of bloody fabric and tugged it aside. The wounds were already closing. He wouldn’t drag this out. The chance of him regaining control of his fire power was too great. “Tell those already in hell I said hi.”
He stood and lifted his sword high in preparation for severing his head from his neck.
“Wait! I can give you information,” the Nightshade coughed.
“Too bad I don’t want it.” Andre brought the sword down, cutting clean through the neck. The Nightshade’s head rolled away from his body. He looked around the area. It looked as if the fighting was dying down, and his group was the victor.
He touched the mic in his ear. “Someone get a medic in for Sean and the others, stat. I’m going in for the dragon.”
“On it,” Daniel said over the mic.
After sheathing his sword and reloading his gun, Andre ran up the stairs and entered the trailer. He held his gun out in front of him as he scanned the main room of the trailer. The room was filthy, food and trash littered over every available surface. He could only smell one being in the trailer, and it was a dragon shifter.
“Imka Williamson? Are you all right?” Andre didn’t advance farther into the trailer. He didn’t want to run into a dragon shifter who was trying to defend herself. “Simone sent us to find you.”
There was a rustling in the back. “I’m in the bedroom. Is it safe to come out?” a female voice called out.
“Yes, it is.” Andre lowered his gun but still kept it ready in case someone else was in the trailer with them.
He could hear a door opening. A petite dragon shifter peeked her head out of the hallway into the main room. It was Imka, and she looked nothing like the sleek woman he remembered from Detroit. She was wearing a ratty t-shirt and torn jeans. She had pulled her curly hair back into a ponytail. Her turquoise eyes were wary.
“Lord Silversbane? Where’s my daughter?” Imka stepped out into the room.
“She’s back at Desert Rose Estate waiting for you.” He decided not to mention that Simone was in no shape to talk. They needed Imka to cooperate in going back with them.
“I heard fighting. Are the ones that captured me dead?” Imka tried to peer out of the window, but the curtains were blocking her view. It sounded like the fighting had ended outside.
“Yes.” Before Andre could say anything else, he heard heavy wingbeats outside. He had a feeling he would not be happy about whoever just showed up.
Imka’s eyes widened as she heard the wingbeats. For a second, panic crossed her face before it was replaced with confusion. Andre noted it but said nothing.
Come outside. It was Matt. And bring Imka with you.
“Lord Silversbane, we have company!” the mercenary announced from outside of the door. “The area is secure.”
Andre motioned for Imka to proceed him outside. “It looks like reinforcements have arrived. We should have you reunited with Simone soon.”
The dragon shifter looked as if she’d rather stay in the empty trailer. She took a deep breath and then walked past Andre to the door. Andre holstered his gun and followed behind her.
“My lord, the dragons are that way.” The mercenary pointed off to an open area to the right. Andre could see four dragons just outside the perimeter of the trailers. The moonlight gleamed on the scaly hides of the dragons.
But one dragon drew his attention. Sitting on the neck of Matt in a saddle were Sascha and Simone. And Simone did not look well at all.