Wings of Blood Page 9

  “It’s the tunnel we use to get vehicles in and out of the valley,” Aaden explained with a frown. “It was caved in from the war, but we had other priorities before digging it back out. I chose to lessen patrol on it for that reason,” he added grimly. “A mistake, clearly.”

  So now we had a probable exit point. Not that it helped all that much. Once out, whoever had taken Siro and Adara could have taken them anywhere.

  At this point, I was almost certain Siro and Adara were together. Perhaps to help keep Adara under control, perhaps because they’d met up again and happened to be together. It didn’t matter why.

  “Keep me apprised,” I told Aaden as we made it to the clear area.

  He nodded. “I will,” he agreed. “Stay safe.”

  I nodded. I would stay as safe as the situation allowed.

  We changed and I led the way into the air, launching myself off the ground with a hard thrust of my feet and wings.

  Eli’s city was built at the bottom of a wide mountain, nestled at the base of it. Built to curve around the natural contours of the section of land, it was ultra-modern in a way that clashed with the surroundings. It fit with Eli’s personality. It wasn’t entirely practical, but it showed the wealth his flock enjoyed, which was likely his priority.

  I had deliberately not sent a message ahead before flying out, not wanting to warn him of my arrival.

  The guards watching the sky saw us immediately, flying towards us aggressively. But they toned that aggression down immediately as they recognized who was actually invading their territory. The attack quickly became an escort to the ground.

  When we landed in the half moon shaped landing area—again, more pretty than functional—I saw that Eli wasn’t there to greet us.

  “We did not know you were coming,” Bren said when I asked where he was. “He sends his apologies that he was not here to greet you,” he added smoothly.

  Eli wasn’t someone who traveled a lot. He enjoyed the power and luxuries he had at home too much to venture away often.

  “Where is he?” I demanded.

  “Out on business,” Bren answered. “But you are welcome to stay and wait, though I cannot guarantee when he will be back,” he said apologetically.

  “I see.” Every internal alarm I had was ringing. “You’ve heard Adara is missing? And a teenager named Siro?” I asked, though I knew he did.

  He nodded, his expression concerned. I didn’t trust it an inch.

  “Yes, we heard the news. The flock is aware and keeping an eye out for them both. Very unfortunate business.”

  I nodded. Unfortunate business. That was one way to look at it.

  “Would you mind if we had a look around?” I asked, though it wasn’t really a request.

  “Of course,” he murmured easily. Too easily.

  I knew right away we wouldn’t find anything, just from his reaction alone.

  That didn’t stop me from touring the city, speaking to the people I passed. I wouldn’t mind making Eli squirm a little at sticking my nose in his business, but I didn’t have enough evidence to simply ransack the place, and I couldn’t do it without a better reason than a bad feeling in my gut. It would completely destroy the rapport I was trying to build with the flocks. And it might endanger Adara and Siro even more to anger Eli in that manner.

  That didn’t mean I couldn’t set up a watch.

  “Igna,” I murmured. “Assign a few people to keep on eye on Eli’s flock. Alert me if anyone spots him.”

  “Of course,” Igna agreed. “I’ll do so immediately.”

  Good.

  I wasn’t going to abandon this hunt so easily.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “All done!”

  I flexed my hand as the chipper Dr. Fearson rolled away with another batch of my blood.

  At this rate, there wouldn’t be anything left to tap into in just a few days.

  I was really starting to question the doctor’s expertise in the area.

  Maybe it was because she just didn’t care, despite Eli’s admonishment to keep me breathing for now.

  As usual, the doctor simply turned her attention away from me when she had what she wanted. Not that I wanted to spend any more time around the relentlessly cheerful doctor than I had to. Her demeanor only made the whole process creepier. She definitely had more than one screw missing.

  As soon as she rolled her cart away, Kal and Pele immediately came over and escorted me right of the lab.

  I took a deep breath and fought of the wooziness that threatened to descend as soon as I stood. Every time I felt a little better, they just took more of my blood and I felt like shit again almost immediately.

  This was what they wanted. A blood factory. I had no idea what they were doing with all of it.

  Back in the room, Siro rushed over to help me over to the bed.

  “How much blood do they think you have in you?” she asked, her face pinched with worry. “They aren’t even letting you fully recover before they take more.”

  “Enough to fuel a jet, apparently,” I said, taking a deep breath. I smiled at her. “I’m fine. Just a little light headed.”

  Truthfully, I didn’t know how long I could take this for.

  The door opened again and Pele brought in a tray of food. I hadn’t eaten that long ago, but they seemed to be trying to avoid a repeat of what happened before by just feeding me more. I guess it was nominally successful, though taking less of my blood in the first place would have been better.

  If I’d been human, I wouldn’t have lasted this long. Phoenixes were made of sterner stuff.

  “If you took less of her blood, you wouldn’t have to keep shoveling food down her throat,” Siro pointed out angrily as he neared.

  I would have told her to watch what she was saying, to not draw attention to herself.

  But Pele diverted his attention to her as he set the tray down on the table he’d shoved in front of me with his foot, the light apparatus on wheels to make it more mobile.

  This was exactly the opportunity I’d been waiting for.

  When my grandparents passed, I’d partially fallen into the trap that many hurt teenagers fell into. I started hanging out with the wrong crowd. Nothing too bad, just some underage drinking and hanging out in questionable places, with a side of occasional shoplifting and pick-pocketing on the busy streets of the city. I’d had naturally light and quick fingers, meaning I’d never been caught at it, even when my friends had gotten in trouble.

  I hadn’t used that particular skill in quite some time, but I found it was like riding a bike.

  “Watch your mouth, little girl,” Pele warned as he straightened, turning back to the door.

  Lighter one watch.

  I gave Siro a look now that I had what I wanted and she shut her mouth instead of saying whatever ill-timed remark she’d been about to throw out this time.

  Pele stepped out and closed the door a little more firmly than usual.

  I waited about thirty seconds to make sure he wasn’t coming back in, then pulled the watch out from where I’d hidden it under the table.

  Siro’s eyes widened as she saw me access the messaging option. “Adara!” she whispered, glancing at the door with an uneasy expression. “Where did you get that?”

  “From our friend Pele,” I murmured as I typed in Sven’s contact.

  Getting another look outside the dome had helped me narrow down which dome I was likely to be at, judging by the terrain. I couldn’t cut it down to one, but I was pretty sure it was one of two.

  I kept the message short. I didn’t have much time before the guard realized his watch was gone. We were all too used to checking our messages for him to miss it.

  Sven,

  It’s Adara—I hate polyester with a passion. Eli and his people have Siro and me in one of the city domes near Ashur’s territory.

  We’re fine.

  I heard a mutter outside the door and quickly hit send before deleting the outgoing message from the
log and going back to the home screen. I’d wanted to write so much more, but I needed to make sure he got it—

  The door burst open and Pele stormed in with a snarl.

  “Bitch!” he growled, not even pausing before he backhanded me hard enough that I fell back against the bed, the watch falling out of my hand.

  There went his concern for my health, I guessed.

  “What the hell did you think you were doing?” he demanded, checking the screen on the watch quickly. He shook his head. “Weren’t even able to do anything,” he said in a disgusted voice, looking up at me. “Pull something like that again and you aren’t going to get just a love tap,” he snarled. “That goes for both of you,” he added, shooting a look at a white faced Siro.

  He stepped back out of the room and slammed the door shut.

  “Psycho,” Siro muttered shakily, her hand touching my shoulder gently. “Are you okay, Adara?”

  I sat up, flexing my jaw, wincing as I touched the already throbbing side of my face. That was going to leave a mark.

  “I’m fine,” I reassured her. “Got a message out to Sven, hopefully,” I said in a low voice.

  She pumped her hand up into the air in silent celebration, her eyes lighting up.

  I really hoped it went through. And that he saw it. I’d added the bit about the polyester so he would know it actually was me. “Come on, Sven,” I whispered under my breath so Siro wouldn’t hear.

  She needed the hope, not my doubt.

  I just hoped I could deliver on it.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sven

  I did a thorough but not outright rude search of Eli’s territory. It was a fine line.

  Nobody attempted to stop me. I almost wished they would. I could use an outlet for my frustration, which meant it was probably good that they didn’t.

  But it did leave me with all my frustration intact and no progress by the end.

  Bren offered to put us up for the night, but I politely declined. I wouldn’t be able to stop looking over my shoulder the whole time we were there. Even if Eli wasn’t involved, Bren wasn’t a staunch supporter of mine. He wasn’t vocal and angry about it, as he was a political animal, but it was no secret he wasn’t thrilled with the new regime.

  None of the old guard who’d been in Emberich’s good graces were.

  “Let me know when Eli arrives,” I told Bren as I readied to change to my phoenix form and fly back to Aaden’s territory for the night. It was too late to fly back to the capital and I didn’t want to be so far from things right now anyway.

  “I will,” Bren agreed. “Have a safe flight.”

  I nodded, murmuring my thanks. Then we were off into the skies again as I attempted to re-route my brain.

  Progress was stalled. I needed to come at this from a different angle.

  Okay.

  If I assumed Eli was behind this—which my gut said he was—where would he hide Adara?

  I didn’t know what his end game was, but he wouldn’t want to be caught in the act before he was ready. He needed to keep Adara and Siro somewhere that would be out of my reach, somewhere it would be more difficult to look. So, most likely not in any phoenix territories.

  There were three options.

  Neutral territory, in isolation. That would be a nightmare to locate without more information.

  In dragon territory.

  Or with the humans.

  Hmm.

  When we arrived back at Aaden’s, I immediately went to the room he’d assigned me to try to figure out what to do.

  Dragon territory would be a last resort. Yes, it would be difficult for me to search, as we had more of a truce than a real alliance at this point. But the very reason it would be difficult for me to search would make it difficult for any phoenix to try to enter dragon territory, let alone try to kidnap and stash someone there. They would likely be incinerated as soon as they crossed territory lines.

  Which left humans, if I didn’t count isolation, which was also possible. They would be much more difficult to track all alone.

  Humans wasn’t easy, either. That didn’t narrow it down to an easily searchable number. There were multiple city domes, and even more if I counted those that could be reached after more than a day’s flight.

  “Shit,” I muttered to myself as the ding of an incoming message reached my ears. I had the urge to ignore it, but I checked it anyway. There could be news about Adara, though my hopes weren’t high.

  It was from a blocked sender.

  I clicked on it right away and devoured the message at least five times before it sank in. I felt the cool wash of relief, the edge of my desperation softened slightly.

  Adara was alive, as was Siro.

  I’d been functioning so far by assuming that was the case, but confirmation of that fact helped re-focus me. She’d included that bit about the polyester so I’d know it was her.

  Adara had also managed to give me a location, or at least narrowed it down to a manageable level. I didn’t know how she’d been able to accomplish that.

  My first instinct was to message her back, but I didn’t know who else would see the message. I was guessing she’d gotten this to me through illicit means, ones her captors would not look at kindly. Tracking a blocked sender would be time consuming if it was possible.

  I forwarded it to one of my technical men anyway, just in case, then switched to a different track.

  I didn’t know much about city domes beyond the amount I needed to know to keep the phoenixes safe and our businesses thriving, but I knew someone who did. Someone who might now a little something about the city domes near the Dragon Lord Ashur’s territory.

  I opened up a new message.

  Mia,

  Adara has been kidnapped, along with a teenager named Siro. She managed to get a message over to me letting me know she is in a city dome, likely one of the two nearest Ashur’s territory.

  I could use some advice on how to proceed.

  Sven

  I sent the short message. Mia didn’t usually take long to reply, and she didn’t disappoint this time.

  Sven,

  I did hear about it, but hoped it was just a rumor. I’m sorry to hear it isn’t.

  I have just the man you need to talk to. He’s human, but he has a lot of experience with tricky situations. I trust him. I’ll let him know I’m sending you his way.

  Jacob Austin.

  She listed his contact information.

  Jacob Austin.

  I sent Mia a word of thanks and immediately sent a message to Jacob. I trusted Mia to steer me right. The more I’d gotten to know her, the more I appreciated her forthrightness and her sense of morality. It was clear-cut. I knew where I stood with her.

  I never thought I would count a dragon—even someone part dragon—as a friend. Mia was more phoenix than dragon genetically, but she was fully enmeshed in dragon society.

  I opened up a new message.

  Jacob,

  I need help finding two missing people. All I know is that they are likely in one of two city domes.

  Can you help?

  Sven

  I didn’t sign it beyond my first name. I wasn’t trying to hide my identity, but I wouldn’t lead with it either.

  I got a message back just as quickly as I’d sent one out.

  Sven,

  Mia told me she recommended me.

  Give me the details.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Come on. Time to visit the doc.”

  I sighed. I was really getting tired of this.

  If we got out of here in one piece, I knew I was going to be dreaming about needles and blood for quite a while. I had something to focus on this time.

  I’d been paying close attention every time they took me to the doctor, and I’d noticed something. While we’d originally had two guards in front of our room, they’d gotten complacent quite quickly, and now we only had one. The guard who was on duty took me out of the room, as Pele was doing now,
and locked the door with a deadbolt from the outside.

  Cheap and effective, and it negated the necessity of adding everyone’s retinal scans or fingerprints, which the newer locks required. They weren’t worried about us picking the lock from the inside, not with a guard directly in front of the door.

  Not that I had anything to pick the lock with anyway, or the skills to do so. As kids, my friend Tommy had always been the one with the magic touch for locks, which meant I didn’t have a whole lot of experience with them.

  However, a lock meant a key. I’d been keeping my eyes peeled for some ever since. I thought I’d found them last time I’d been taken to the lab, though I hadn’t had a chance to grab them.

  Kal was usually the guard that came with us to the lab as back up when Pele took me there. Last time, I’d seen the edge of a key ring poking out of his pocket, or what I hoped was a key ring.

  He’d brushed up against the wall and I’d heard the faint clinking of metal against metal, but I hadn’t been able very well. Still, I needed to take the chance. If I could grab the keys and get them to Siro, she could perhaps use them to get out of the briefly unguarded room the next time they took me to get my blood drawn.

  This was all assuming there were actually keys in his pocket and that one of them was for the lock on our door. It wasn’t a perfect plan, or even close to it, but it was all I had.

  I glanced over at the sitting area where a few of the other guards tended to congregate when they rotated keeping the watch on the warehouse. There were three seated there right now, which was usually the case.

  The only door I’d seen anyone leaving through was the same one they opened for us to drive through. But in that door was the outline of a smaller door, one meant to walk through I was assuming.