Puck Flare’s roar was no small thing, and from the sound of it, the Tinas concurred. I could feel the heat and I was outside of the building. The sound of screams and slapping followed. Had he set them on fire? If they stop, drop and roll they’d live, but…
“You have almost outlived your usefulness,” he hissed as the women moaned and whimpered. “What happened to Peter and Paul? You told me to plan a bogus meeting to throw the Sheriff off and now they’re not here when I need them,” he roared.
“They’ll be here,” Tina #2 assured him, sobbing.
“Peter has the formula on him and I need it now,” he said coldly. “This operation will go up in flames, pun intended, if I don’t have their assistance. If something has happened, I will burn this town to ashes and use you three as kindling.”
“Well, that would suck the big one,” Junior whispered in my ear as he slid his hand over my mouth and thankfully trapped my answering scream on its way out.
“Why can’t I smell you?” I whispered as I punched him in the chest.
“Ouch.” He rubbed his pecs and I rolled my eyes. “I added a new compound to the tanner. Completely erases scent. Vamps can’t even detect it.”
He was brilliant, but he was alone.
“Where are the others?”
“We had a little situation at the station.” He grinned and chuckled. His calm amazed me.
“Spill,” I said as I pulled him to a safer spot behind another broken down building.
“Your buddy Dwayne did the mind meld thing and it went a bit awry.”
“Oh god, is he okay?” The thought of losing Dwayne was incomprehensible to me.
“He’s fine. So are Hank and your granny,” he added quickly. “But the Dragons…” He winced and gagged.
“What?”
“They’re not so fine.”
“Define not so fine,” I said.
“They exploded.” He turned a greenish hue and I backed away just in case he felt the need to hurl.
“How in the heck did they explode? Are they dead?” Was this some kind of Dragon trick?
“Oh, they’re dead alright. Dwayne mumbled some Vampyre voodoo and the Dragons’ skin started bubbling and before you could say, Dolly Parton’s built like a brick shit house, they blew up like a freakin’ bomb. Their guts are spread all the way from Main Street to Hangman’s Trail.”
That was a full six blocks. Impossible. I actually felt the need to hurl. I settled for a small gag and attempted to compartmentalize the visual. Also impossible.
“Dwayne did that?”
“Yep. Yep, he did.” Junior shook his head in wonder. “No clue how we’re gonna explain that one to the humans. Lots of community activities coming up; the Watermelon Festival, the Treasure Hunt, the Potato Sack Olympics…It’s a damn mess and smells like hell.”
“Septic,” I muttered. “Tell them city septic exploded.”
“Might work.” He nodded. “Saw the girls. They told me what was happening. Crazy shit. I wanted them to run, but they were having none of it.”
“I know.” I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. “Apparently the Dragons at the meeting in town had the formula on them. I do believe what they’re trying to do is a three Dragon job. If they don’t come back, and clearly that’s not happening, Puck will incinerate the town.”
“Caught that part,” Junior said as he carefully handed me a squirt gun. As I examined it, wondering if he’d lost his mind, he grabbed my wrist and immobilized me. “Shit’s dangerous, Essie.”
“It’s a squirt gun.”
“Yes, Einstein. It’s a squirt gun. A squirt gun that has a liquid in it that will inhibit a shift—stop it completely. The one thing we can’t let happen is to allow a Dragon to shift. None of us stands a chance against a pissed off psychotic flying reptile the size of a football stadium.”
He was correct. Wolves were deadly, but Dragons beat us on size alone…not to mention the fire thing.
“Did we happen to get the formula before Dwayne blew them up?” I asked.
Junior rolled his eyes and grunted. I took that as a no. Did it matter? Dragons were notoriously selfish and greedy—at least that’s what I’d always heard. There was a very good chance each of them had played a specific role and didn’t show their hand even to each other. It would certainly ensure they needed each other. Or to be more precise…wouldn’t kill each other. It would also explain why Puck was so furious they weren’t back yet.
Holy hell, I didn’t want to be around when Dragon Puck found out they’d been turned to goop.
“I need to go in there and douse the Dragon right now,” I said.
“You’re almost correct,” Hank said from behind me. Junior slapped his hand over my mouth and stifled my screaming again for the second time in five minutes. Hank had definitely used the self tanner too. “But I’m sure you meant we. We need to go douse the Dragon and then tear him to shreds.”
I glanced over at the man who made my world right and I grinned. “Yes, I’m sure I meant to say that.”
“What about the she-wolves?” Junior asked.
Hank put his finger to his lips and pointed. The Tinas were making their way back to the holding room where the girls were. Their hair and clothing was singed and they appeared shell shocked and pissed. Crap.