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<h3 id="id_Toc366658814" class="block_8">Chapter Fourteen</h3>
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<p class="block_11">The next morning, I forgot where I was and walked into the wall on the way to the bathroom. Great vision doesn’t help if you don’t open your eyes. Cleaned up, I sat in front of the television watching the local morning news to see if my exploits last night caught notice. There was a report of a woman found alive floating in the river. They said she was in the hospital recovering from near fatal injuries, and the ordeal had her hallucinating about dragons and naked knights with hot bodies who dragged her to safety.</p>
<p class="block_11">I could drop any concerns of the locals believing her story now. Mike probably had her believing she made me up before they got to the ER. A sneeze outside of the door caught my attention. I pulled the door open. Greg sat there cross-legged on the ground where Sally had been the night before. His nose pressed into the pavement. Adam leaned against the building with a smirk on his face.</p>
<p class="block_11">I laughed. “Morning gentleman, any reason you’re squatting on the sidewalk, Greg?” </p>
<p class="block_11">Adam answered. “He smelled a woman. I had to remind him we are in broad daylight on a river so he wouldn’t change into a wolf. Instead, he sat down and sniffed the ground. A few boaters took pictures as they went by.” </p>
<p class="block_11">“I needed to know if this was someone I knew. We heard the news from Mike last night. I don’t know Sally, but her three friends are the women I know. Or, knew, before this happened.” He kept his face pressed against the pavement as he spoke. </p>
<p class="block_11">“Let’s get inside before we become more of an attraction then.” I waved them in.</p>
<p class="block_11">“Too late. That woman over there likes what she sees, Cim.” Adam indicated a tourist who’d wandered out on my boat dock. Likely from the French Quarter Market across the tracks.</p>
<p class="block_11">“You aren’t helping,” I replied.</p>
<p class="block_11">He laughed heading to the food in the kitchen. I sat down and checked emails while the news ran a story of strange happenings in an old plantation house recently. I had hoped the news wouldn’t get wind of the chaos at Laythe’s place. The two women across the street probably took video. As long as no one changed out of human form, it should be written off as a family fight.</p>
<p class="block_11">“I partied with those girls one night on Bourbon Street. They never asked for my name, and I didn’t offer it. They called me every day afterwards to see if I wanted to go out with them. Then they stopped calling and I got worried. I asked at the boarding house where they stayed and someone described Narran as the person who picked them up. They checked out by phone the next day.” Greg had a busy morning. </p>
<p class="block_11">“He’s modus operandi hasn’t changed,” Adam noted.</p>
<p class="block_11">“No. Nor has his appetite for young human women,” I said.</p>
<p class="block_11">“They have to know we’re coming for them. Can we just storm their house and free everyone?” Greg asked.</p>
<p class="block_11">“If we storm their homes and no one is there, we end up delayed while Mike clears the charges,” Adam answered.</p>
<p class="block_11">“We can sit out front and make them uncomfortable.” I offered.</p>
<p class="block_11">“I like that idea.” Greg perked up. </p>
<p class="block_11">Adam grabbed a cooler we kept in the kitchen for stakeouts and filled it up. He started working with Wretch and me twenty years ago. He wasn’t the Alpha yet at that time, and had more energy than his pack could handle. He was a superb addition with a quick analytical mind. Wretch referred to him as junior and treated him like family. It was high praise and took Adam a number of years to realize how rarely Wretch let anyone in.</p>
<p class="block_11">We got into Greg’s SUV. It was huge. There was enough room in the back for me to stretch out. I sat back, opened the cooler, and took out a drink. It would be a long day. The first house we parked at was the one Narran rented for himself. The lease had both his and Nitha’s name on it. Mike gave Adam a copy, and I read over it. Nothing stood out. It looked like a typical temporary lease. The house fit him. Garish color combinations, usually reserved for golfers pants, covered a house built to look like an old plantation home. I wondered if he did it to bother Laythe, who despised tacky buildings.</p>
<p class="block_11">The cars we saw parade in front of Wretch’s home were in the driveway. Narran and his sons were talking inside the open front door.</p>
<p class="block_11">“I know what I’m doing,” someone shouted.</p>
<p class="block_11">“You left them out there for too long, you jackass.” Narran yelled back.</p>
<p class="block_11">It sounded like he hit him.</p>
<p class="block_11">“Did he just hit his kid?” Greg was unfamiliar with demon discipline.</p>
<p class="block_11">“He’s lucky he didn’t punch his face in,” Adam replied.</p>
<p class="block_11">“That’s not real,” Greg said. “It’s an expression.” </p>
<p class="block_11">“Where do you think the expression came from?” I asked.</p>
<p class="block_11">He turned to me. “Really?” </p>
<p class="block_11">“They heal with magic in a matter of minutes. Hurts like hell, though.” I smiled at him.</p>
<p class="block_11">Greg wrinkled his brows. “There weren’t any demons around where I grew up. Only humans and werewolves. A few shifters came through town occasionally. I’d never saw a demon until I came here.” </p>
<p class="block_11">He needed further education before he could be counted on in a fight. “Adam, if we have to go in, Greg stays out here and drives off. I don’t want him fighting until he’s better trained. We can get Wretch to teach him the fine art of demon baiting.” </p>
<p class="block_11">“Demon baiting?” Greg was curious.</p>
<p class="block_11">“Large egos come with all of that magic so insulting a demon is easy. Insulting one into fighting you takes a bit more.” </p>
<p class="block_11">He looked disappointed. One of Narran’s sons stormed out of the door walking around the house on the wraparound porch yelling into his cell phone.</p>
<p class="block_11">“He hit me. Where are you?” He yelled.</p>
<p class="block_11">“Nitha,” Adam and I said at once.</p>
<p class="block_11">He went around back.</p>
<p class="block_11">“Where’s this mythical land of no demons, Greg?” I asked.</p>
<p class="block_11">“Vancouver, Canada. We lived out in the woods by ourselves. My parents, my two brothers, and I lived in a house on a lake surrounded by mountains. We ran every night without any fear of being seen. The area is beautiful and private.” </p>
<p class="block_11">“Why did you leave if it was paradise?” I asked.</p>
<p class="block_11">Adam was quiet and focused on the house. He might’ve known the answers.</p>
<p class="block_11">Greg fixed his eyes on the house. “My parents were cast out by the pack. They never told me why it happened. When I hit maturity, they gave me money to leave. I wandered around the northwest for a while. Enjoyed Vegas for a year and then moved down here to New Orleans. I need to live on the coast.” </p>
<p class="block_11">“Where are your parents?” If they angered their local pack, or worse, broke a pack law, he could be hunted. Even here. </p>
<p class="block_11">“They’re still in Canada. They moved north and are living in the woods as wolves. I haven’t heard from them in a while.” He missed them. </p>
<p class="block_11">I turned to watch the house. A truck sat in the driveway with wheels coated in mud. It smelled of swamp as I rolled down my window. One brother came outside and hosed off the truck. When he climbed into the truck bed and kicked down the tailgate, I could see blood caked in the grooves. There was a cooler up against the cab, and he pulled it to the tailgate as the third brother came outside and got it.</p>
<p class="block_11">“Body parts?” Greg asked.</p>
<p class="block_11">I nodded. “From the smell, they are fresh.” </p>
<p class="block_11">“Why don’t we go in after them? Or rather, why don’t you two go in after them?” Greg was happy to push us into danger. He would need to lose that fear for me to trust him. </p>
<p class="block_11">Adam answered. “We can’t do anything for those victims. Our focus is on preventing any new ones. With Cim here clearing out the last living victim from their cabin, we at least know they don’t have anyone there today.” </p>
<p class="block_11">“We hope.” I wasn’t sure this group wouldn’t replace Sally and her friends as soon as they found out she was gone. </p>
<p class="block_11">My phone rang. I rolled up the window and put it on speakerphone. “Hello?” </p>
<p class="block_11">“It’s Angie. The total of body parts we know are missing adds up to a complete human body with a heart and spine missing. I’m going to assume they don’t need a brain for whatever they are planning?” </p>
<p class="block_11">“They haven’t needed one this far,” Adam said from the front seat.</p>
<p class="block_11">“Mike called me this morning, and there are more people missing. He’ll get a description to you two as soon as the sketch artist finishes. The newest victims were taken outside of a bar in the middle of the street. A lot of drunken witnesses make finding them more difficult.” She hung up.</p>
<p class="block_11">“Do you think we just saw the new victims’ parts?” Greg asked. He didn’t look well.</p>
<p class="block_11">“No. They like torture. The new victims are either at the cabin, which they know is no longer secure, assuming they saw the news that Sally got out alive.” They had taken so many people at that point it was possible they wouldn’t know their names.</p>
<p class="block_11">“I had heard about demons killing humans for fun. Until a few days ago, I didn’t believe it,” Greg said.</p>
<p class="block_11">At least he didn’t look nauseous. If he was going to help us, he needed to be able to see humans strapped to tables. Wretch might scare him more than the sights of human torture.</p>
<p class="block_11">“Do we go in?” Greg asked. “Or do we stay out here the whole time?” </p>
<p class="block_11">“We stay out here. They know we’re here. I’ll have a chat with Narran if he comes back out.” I wanted to scare the bravado out of the demon. He was the weakest in the family. </p>
<p class="block_11">The son on the phone with Nitha earlier walked back to the front door and went inside. There was shouting, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. The boys were talking over one another. Then Narran walked outside talking on a cell phone.</p>
<p class="block_11">“Has he ever had a talk with a dragon?” Adam asked.</p>
<p class="block_11">“I think it’s time he gets the personal pleasure.” I stepped out of the truck.</p>
<p class="block_11">He noticed me as I walked over to him, but neither his body language nor the cadence of his voice changed. No sign of fear as I approached bothered me. I wanted him to fear me.</p>
<p class="block_11">The voice shouting at him from the phone was Nitha’s.</p>
<p class="block_11">“Tell your bitch I should’ve snapped her neck the other night.” Shifting, my eyes turned fire red, the scales on my face emerged, and when I smiled the full set of dragon teeth opened to let out my forked tongue. I licked his face seeing his pupils register fear. “I’ve been to your cabin, Narran. You’re techniques are still old world leaving enough mess to attract every predator in the area. Your sons will die before you, and then I’ll drink your soul.” </p>
<p class="block_11">As I spoke, he started to smell afraid, sweat beading up on his forehead. His wife was silent on the phone that now hung forgotten in his hands. If she did love him this might taunt her out of hiding so Wretch could grab her in the open. </p>
<p class="block_11">“Your wife will be next on my list.” I grabbed the phone from him. “We’ll record their deaths for you. You’ll know we’re on our way the moment you receive the video.” </p>
<p class="block_11">His phone snapped closed with a twist of my hand. The phone number displayed on the screen committed to memory, I slipped it into his pocket patting the side of his face as he fumed. Back in the truck, Adam and Greg tried to hide their amusement. We drove back to the warehouse in silence as Greg peeked over his shoulder at me every few blocks with a frightened grin on his face.</p>
<p class="block_11">Once inside, I crossed that house off the list of potential’s for holding victims.</p>
<p class="block_11">“The house had no smell and we didn’t hear any sounds of struggle. I doubt that house has a basement. It’s built too close to the river and likely on a cement slab. We will need to double back and get the cooler of parts so Angie can send them to the families of the deceased.” </p>
<p class="block_11">Adam nodded in agreement. “We need to split up tonight and check out the other houses.” </p>
<p class="block_11">“What do I do if there are victims at the house?” Greg asked.</p>
<p class="block_11">“Arcane Court law is different than human law, Greg. If you find a living victim, you set them free. Kill anyone who tries to stop you.” It was a rule Wretch and I wrote. We loved it. </p>
<p class="block_11">“Our judges are demons and dragons’ so killing the guilty saves time.” Adam added.</p>
<p class="block_11">“No trial?” Greg sounded surprised.</p>
<p class="block_11">I shook my head. “If you have any question of what to do, secure the situation, get any innocents out of there, and then call us.” </p>
<p class="block_11">“Cim, where did you grow up?” Greg asked.</p>
<p class="block_11">A fair question I hadn’t been asked in a long time. “My grandparents fought with Boudicca to keep the Celtic lands out of Roman hands. However, when they realized the Romans were going to win, they flew to Mexico. They started a completely new population. My parents met and made a life in a quiet, unassuming jungle village. We lived along the Yucatán Peninsula along with twenty others of the dragon clan.” </p>
<p class="block_11">“Are your parents still alive?” </p>
<p class="block_11">“Yes, they are. Still in the jungle and away from humans because we don’t age after we reach maturity. Not physically.” I dared him to ask the question with a stare. </p>
<p class="block_11">“Mentally?” Adam stepped in for Greg. </p>
<p class="block_11">I smiled at him. “It’s an option, but not a requirement.” </p>
<p class="block_11">“Do they call you? I can’t imagine my mother calling for centuries.” Greg shivered.</p>
<p class="block_11">“Not often and for that exact reason. We talk when we can. They aren’t tech savvy. Even though Wretch set them up with some great equipment. I don’t think they turn it on.” </p>
<p class="block_11">“Well, they were born before modern technology,” Greg said.</p>
<p class="block_11">“So was Cim. He was born four hundred years before cars.” Adam teased.</p>
<p class="block_11">“How did you get around?” Greg asked.</p>
<p class="block_11">“I have wings, Greg.” </p>
<p class="block_11">“Oh yeah,” he replied.</p>
<p class="block_11">Greg laughed. “Seven hundred years ago, the world was different. The air was cleaner without cars or trucks but it took forever to get anywhere, unless you had wings. The population has exploded. Now we have cars, planes, computers, and everything else we take for granted. Cim can remember before any of it existed.” </p>
<p class="block_11">Adam loved teasing me about being centuries old. “You make me sound as old as Wretch.” </p>
<p class="block_11">“How old is he?” Greg asked.</p>
<p class="block_11">“We don’t know. He doesn’t tell anyone his age.” Adam used to guess based on Wretch’s comments. If he guessed right, Wretch never told him.</p>
<p class="block_11">“He didn’t tell you?” He asked me.</p>
<p class="block_11">“No. I don’t ask either. My guess is one thousand and change.” I knew it was closer to twelve hundred. </p>
<p class="block_11">Greg focused on the road trying to hide the widening of his eyes. I guess to mortal beings a thousand years was a long time. My parents are much older and consider Wretch an upstart who hasn’t matured yet. I agreed on the maturity end and didn’t think he would get any better, no matter how long he lived. </p>
<p class="block_11">Adam pushed Greg out of the door before he could ask more questions leaving me at the warehouse. I fell asleep replaying memories of a childhood among the native Mexicans where I flew overhead. I can still hear the echo of the children’s laughter and joy as they clapped and asked me to do it again.</p>
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