Page 27 of New Nebraska Home (New Nebraska)

Callum

TIME TO JAIL brEAK THE DRAGON

“I can’t believe they took him.” Liz’s voice shook as she spoke. Brock had already grabbed the kid and taken him inside, so I pulled Liz into my arms, holding her and letting her process what had happened.

“Don’t worry, my love.” She trembled at the endearment, but I meant it with all my soul. “We’re going to get him back. It’s going to take a bit for him to be processed, so let’s get the kid to bed, and then we’ll make a plan.” I didn’t know when it happened, but I realized that the damn dragon had become vital to me. It wasn’t the same way I wanted Brock or how I craved Liz, but he was just as important.

She nodded against my shoulder, and I held her for another minute. I was in complete awe of this woman. I didn’t know what she was; she was more than human, but I wasn’t sure what. The only thing I was certain of was that she was stronger than any of us could ever be. How she looked that evil man in the eye and called him out was astounding.

Yeah, I stood up to the detective, but he was a much lower-level vampire. In a fight, there was no contest. I could have had him pinned with my thoughts, stealing his power, curdling his blood. The badge he wore didn’t protect him from that. It didn’t protect him from me.

Still, whatever Liz was, her magic wasn’t strong. She wasn’t a master vampire, elemental, or mythological shifter, yet she was stronger than all of us in ways that mattered. More than that, she made us stronger.

Now it was time for me to be strong for her.

I picked her up, held her against my chest, and used my vampire speed to deliver us to my room in seconds. I didn’t want to let her go, but if I was going to get her dragon back, I needed to work fast.

I lay back in my bed, relaxing against the headboard and arranging Liz in my arms so her body molded into mine. Her head rested on the curve of my shoulder. Her body melted into me, her hands fisted in my shirt.

Running my hand down her spine, hoping to give her some comfort, I grabbed my phone and started making calls.

Osric was first; he was still working on figuring out how to deal with Amelia’s murder, not only as a half-Fae but as she was related to the royal family. What was worse was that he’d already heard that Malik had been arrested, being accused of being a basilisk.

“I don’t understand,” I said into the phone. “He isn’t a basilisk. I know that for a fact. But even if he were, why is that a problem?”

“They were hunted to extinction over a century ago, around the same time as the final witch hunts,” he explained. Liz shifted in my arms, and I knew she was listening to both sides of the conversation. So, I took the phone from my ear and put it on speaker. I wasn’t hiding anything from her, and I wouldn’t pretend to be.

“Okay, why?” I asked.

“Why did they hunt down witches or basilisks?”

“Both,” I said.

“I thought witches weren’t real?” Liz asked.

“Oh, they used to be. Witches, they’re not quite supernatural creatures. They were human, but could manipulate the magic around them. Sort of like elementals if they didn’t have the magic living inside them.”

“What does that even mean?” Liz asked, her nose scrunching up in the same adorable way that Brock’s did when he was confused.

“Well, it was different depending on the coven. The Witches of Roanoke, for example, could make poisons and tonics that had a little extra kick. They could enhance the properties of specific herbs. The Witches of Goldwater could influence the weather, and there are also the Daughters of Salem, who could do all sorts of nifty things. But they, like basilisks, were hunted to extinction. With the basilisks, for good reason.”

“Why were basilisks hunted to extinction?” Liz asked. I tried to focus on the conversation, but my mind was spinning. Could Liz be a witch? Some long-lost descendant of a coven? Is that why being with her made us stronger? I was going to have to ask Osric more about that later. Right now, I had to focus on getting that big, hotheaded dragon out of prison.

“This is fascinating,” I interrupted. “But we know Malik isn’t a basilisk. He’s a dragon.”

“What? A dragon? Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Brock said, coming in and stretching out on my bed beside me. “I saw him shift myself.”

“Interesting. Well, unfortunately, New Nebraska is still setting up its infrastructure in Omaha. It hasn’t gotten to the small towns yet. I don’t know how to help you. Normally there would be strings to pull, and I’d be happy pulling them. But right now, there are no strings.”

“What about the Temple?” Liz asked.

“The who?” Osric.

“The Temple, a local community or organization, or whatever you want to call it. They seemed to crop up around the time paranormals had to move here and they seem to have really gotten followers in the rural areas. But it’s run like a cult, shouting a lot of ignorance about halfling and sinners.”

“I haven’t heard of it. I’ll make some calls now” Osric said, then hung up. I sent him a quick text and asked him if the Fae had any texts about witches who had fated mates with other paranormals.

He sent me back a thumbs up.

We all just lay on the bed in silence, in exhaustion and worry.

Finally, Liz broke the silence with a deep, shaky breath.

“Should I leave? Should I just take Leif and run? I don’t want to go. This is my home, his home. But I am starting to wonder if I am selfish by leaving him in danger. They haven’t come for him yet, but they will.”

“I’m not going to lie. Having you and the kid safe and away from these new fanatics would give me peace of mind. But that doesn’t make it the right decision,” I said. “Groups like the Temple tend to grow if they’re not stopped. I’m afraid that if we don’t stop them, you’ll eventually run out of places to run. I don’t think you’ll be able to go to the other side of the wards around New Nebraska.”

“What?” Liz sat up so she could look me in the eye.

“I can taste the magic in your blood. I don’t know what you are, or if you were also a halfling or maybe a witch’s descendant, but if I can taste your blood, the wards the Fae put in place can detect it and stop you from leaving.”

“You’re kidding me,” she said.

“He isn’t. When you’re upset, I can feel your magic,” Brock said. “I don’t know what you are, but I think it’s something we should figure out once we get the dragon back.”

He was right. Our priority needed to be getting Malik back. I didn’t feel as strong if he wasn’t here, and with the threats in place, I wanted as many strong, able men protecting this house as possible. A fire-breathing dragon on the roof couldn’t hurt.

Eventually Liz’s exhaustion hit and she fell asleep. I managed to convince Brock to stay at the house and keep an eye on Liz and Leif. He wasn’t happy about me going out alone, but when I showed him how I could stay invisible for longer periods of time now, he finally agreed.

I started off in a jog toward the town center, then picked it up to a run. Before I knew it, my legs were a blur under my body, propelling me along the sidewalk. My vamp speed had always been fast, but never over such a sustained distance. I could have given a Ferrari a fair challenge, the way my legs were pumping. What the hell?

When I rounded the corner that would take me to the police station, nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. The Temple had taken over the town square. They had signs proudly identifying themselves, and had lined the square with massive shipping containers that were being used as makeshift prisons. What the fuck. People were being handcuffed and thrown into these ramshackle cages.

I shifted to invisible, not wanting anyone to see me or recognize me. I was careful not to touch anyone as I slowly moved through the crowd and tried to figure out what was happening.

There were townspeople wandering around with literal torches in their hands and malice in their eyes. This was not the tiny, peaceful town that Brock and I had chosen to start our lives over again in.

It didn’t take me long to realize that the people who were zip-tied and tossed into the containers were all halflings or in interspecies relationships.

“What are we going to do with all the filthy sinners?” one wolf shifter asked, with way too much excitement in her voice. I was sure her name was Karen, and she lived down the street from the house.What a bitch.

I moved closer to see who she was talking to, and it was none other than Zmei himself. He looked a little too smug, and that was when I noticed something was wrong with Karen. Other than the obvious mental illness, her eyes looked… wrong. Her pupils were tiny, and it looked like she couldn’t focus on a single thing, her gaze bouncing all around her.

“Well, you’ve done a fine job rounding up the first batch. I think they would make a fantastic sacrifice. At first light, they burn.”

“Burn?” The excitement in Karen’s eyes made my heart freeze. They were going to burn innocent people for no real reason. They hadn’t broken any laws, they hadn’t got a trial. This was a witch hunt. No, worse than that. Witches had trials, even if they were fake.

This was going to be a massacre if we couldn’t stop it.

As quickly as I could slink through unnoticed, I moved through the crowd to the large shipping containers. Holes were cut in the sides towards the top for ventilation. So, as quiet as a cat burglar, I climbed up to look. The thin metal cut into my hands, but I shrugged off the pain, desperate to help in any way possible.

The first container had over a dozen children, several looked like regular humans but they were probably part shifter and on looking closer I saw several had light pink rings around their eyes.

Halflings.

The following shipping container had couples, most of whom were clinging to each other and paired off in couples of different species or human and paranormal.

Several of them had tears streaming down their faces, and I was willing to bet the children in the next group belonged to them. What I didn’t see was Malik.

He wasn’t here, but he wasn’t a halfling, nor was he in a committed inter-species relationship. I jumped down, making a silent promise to come back and do my best to free these poor people.

Malik had to be my first priority, not just for Liz, but if I was going to save these people, I would need his help.

The police station was all but abandoned. A few cops sat at their desks around the precinct, but they were more absorbed into whatever they were reading on their computers. It was simple for me to stay invisible and sneak into the holding cell area.

Malik was there, sitting on the floor. His legs stretched out in front of him, and his head tilted back against the wall, eyes closed.

“You ready to get out of here?” I asked, making him jump.

He looked around with wild eyes, and that was when I noticed the bruises on his jaw. Someone had managed to get a few good punches in.

I made myself visible, and the look of relief on his face was almost palpable.

“Is Liz okay?”

“No,” I said honestly. “She isn’t going to be okay until we are back with her and her brother is safe.”

“I don’t know if these freaks are ever going to let that little boy, or anyone else, be safe. These organization people are fuckin’ crazy.”

He wasn’t wrong.

“Let’s deal with one thing at a time,” I said. “Where are the keys?”

“It’s the twenty-first century.” Malik deadpanned. “They are electronic locks. You need the right code and fingerprint.”

Fuck, how was I supposed to get him out of here?

Someone started to open the door so I went back to being invisible, figuring I would try and find a way to get Malik out. Then Zmei walked into the cell with a wicked grin on his face.

“Miss me, dragon?”