Dragon Marked: Supernatural Prison #1 (11 page)

“The argument in question, of which I have six witnesses who testified
under truth…” His slimy voice gave me the worst feeling in my gut, like period
cramps only a zillion times worse. “Was about Jessa, and whether she was free
for Markus to pursue. This upset Maximus Compass to a visible degree, and we
believe at the time of his death the victim was on his way to the Lebron home.
It was at this point he was intercepted by the four Compasses.”

Ah shit-damn. Not good, everyone knew the Compasses were hot-blooded over
me; it was starting to look more like a real motive. Kristoff had a few more
bits and pieces of evidence, like the magical trace forensics which found proof
all of them were at the scene. Hair, scent, even a fingerprint. Of course that
was to be expected – we all were there, we’d gone and gawked liked morons when
we should have stayed home. But too late to worry about that now.

When he was done, it was Louis’ turn. I could see Jo and Jack tightly
gripping hands as they watched their boys. Each of their sons had touched their
brow and saluted two fingers to their parents upon arrival, a supernatural sign
of respect. They followed that with a wink for their mother. Their confident
swagger did not seemed to have lessened Jo’s worry. 

I’d always known that Louis was impressive, but today … damn, he was
unbelievable. Piece by piece he tore the previous argument to shreds. His voice
was calm, his stance relaxed, and as always the power that rode his words
spread throughout the entire room. He had alibis for three of the four –
Maximus was keeping that day’s events to himself. Probably involved a woman.
Louis then pointed out the obvious regarding evidence at the scene, which wasn’t
even the kill spot. I could see Kristoff’s face darkening as each of his points
were turned around. If the quads were cleared of charges, he would look like a
fool, since he was the one to make the huge scene and arrest them on trumped-up
charges. Finally, after a tense fifty minutes, all the facts were in, and all
we could do was wait for the magical verdict.

It took forever. I fidgeted, twitched in my chair, and drove Mischa crazy
by knocking into her.

Finally the book delivered the folded paper. Kristoff reached out and
took it. He looked down for a second before flipping it open.

No expression crossed his features. He lifted his head.

“Not guilty,” he muttered, before throwing aside the white slip and
storming off the stage.

The hall erupted with delight and uproar. I wanted to jump up and down
and scream a little, but before I lost my shit I turned and took in the room.
My eyes alighted on the many faces. Most looked excited, but there were a few
with neutral or unhappy stares. Kristoff obviously, and Giselda, who’d been 
near the back of the room; also a troll, two pixies, and another vampire – who
was vaguely familiar but I couldn’t remember his name. Strolling closer to
them, I tried to scent the emotions, but there was so much going on in the room
I couldn’t get anything clear. There were traces of guilt and anger coming from
someone, but the mess of emotional resonance made it impossible to pinpoint
who.

Finally I decided to just catalogue each face closely, for future
reference.

As I turned around, the guards were removing the cuffs to free the quad’s
hands. I strode back to where my family was excitedly waiting. Jo was
practically vibrating on the spot, and only Jack’s hold on her kept her from
flying off into the ceiling.

Then they were in front of us. Jacob and Tyson gathered their relieved
mother into a hug. Maximus got to me first, wrenching me up and crushing the
life from me, along with a few ribs and some happy tears. He handed me over to
Braxton, and as his spicy, masculine scent wrapped around me, I felt the
constriction on my chest finally ease. I wasn’t alone anymore. I buried my face
in his hard chest.

“We have a shitload to tell you.” Braxton’s words in my ear sent ominous
shivers down my spine. I could tell that this was going to be bad. “And don’t
lose it, but I have to go back into the prison.”

He’d better be freaking kidding me. I just got them back from there.
Pulling away, I narrowed my eyes at him, followed by my eyebrows. He just
flashed me some dimple before turning away to join the celebrating crowd. With
a huff I focused on the pair next to me. This wasn’t the place to start
demanding answers. Maximus and Mischa seemed to be having some sort of intense,
silent conversation, using only strange facial expressions. I watched them
closely for a few moments. What the hell were they doing?

“Looks like you owe me a date.” I swiveled to find Louis at my side. His
enigmatic features were relaxed, but lots was going on in his eyes.

I crossed my arms across my chest but didn’t move away. He was close, I
could feel the power surrounding him.

“Looks like I do,” I murmured.

“I’ll collect soon,” he said, running a single fingertip along my cheek.
His touch left the slightest burning path in its wake. And then he was gone,
leaving via the now-open doors.

I blinked rapidly, clearing the vapidness his mere presence had created
in my head. That sorcerer was way too powerful.

Braxton left his mother and was at my side. “What was that all about?” he
said.

Jacob and Tyson were right behind him.

The boys hugged me, distracting from his question. Well, distracting me, Braxton
never moved. He had me locked in his blazing blue eyes. I knew he would wait
forever for me to answer.

I waved my hands at the stubborn ass. “Louis asked me out and I said I’d
go if he got you four out of prison.” I shrugged. “It’s just a date.”

His nicely shaped black eyebrows narrowed in over his eyes. “You shouldn’t
promise shit like that for us.”

What was his deal, it wasn’t like I sold a kidney. Which I would have.

“It’s no big sacrifice, he’s hot and powerful. Sure, I hate picking magic
from my teeth, but I’ll cope.” I dismissed the conversation with another swish
of my hand.

I heard an exhalation of breath but he didn’t say any more.

After the
trial we convened back in our house. Jonathon had called a meeting. Maximus was
explaining what had happened during their week in Vanguard. Finally he reached
the moment this morning where they were led from the cells and thrown into a
magical step-through – a portal that joined two places – and ended up at the
hall for their trial.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to have us imprisoned again,”
Maximus finished, leaning forward from where he sat on the bottom step. “We met
a sorcerer who converses with the dead, and word on the other side is that we’re
a threat and someone will stop at nothing to keep us from taking over the
council.” 

Tyson was grim-faced as he stood near the doorway. He hadn’t spoken much,
but I could feel the rage he was working to conceal. “Apparently if you’re
convicted of a crime you automatically revoke your rights to being council
leader.” He sucked in deeply. “But that’s really not the most important part.”

Damn, what could be more important than someone trying to strip them of
their rights to be council leaders?

“There were these rumors flying around the prison that the breakouts from
all over the world … well, it was to do with the dragon marked. That they’re
being freed and the dragon king is going to rise again. Word is Vanguard is
next. Supposedly there are marked in there, members from all different races
and … even kids.”

I was actually shocked to hear that the marked were imprisoned. I’d
always thought the marked were killed. But I couldn’t remember if I’d ever
actually been told that; had I just assumed it? I raised my hands and rubbed my
eyes as I worked to conceal the astonishment I felt.

Silence descended over the room. Lienda had excused herself a while ago,
but there were still plenty of us here to be taken by surprise. Could this be
true, and wouldn’t my father have known? He was council and had information on
the prison. Plus, he had two pretty big reasons to be interested in dragon
marked.

“Dragon marked…” Jo broke the silence. “We were led to believe that you
were just in a holding area?” She was agitated, shifting in her seat. Jack
tightened his arm around her. “Are you telling me the entire time you were in
the main supernatural prison?”

I could understand her dismissing the rumors for the more important fact
that her sons had been hanging around with dangerous criminals.

Maximus strode across the room and knelt in front of her, taking both of
her hands. “Don’t worry, Mother, we were perfectly fine. We were in the main
prison, but for the most part we could stay together and watch each other’s
backs.”

“With all the criminals,” I blurted.

“Yes,” Jacob said, from his position against the wall.

Jonathon interrupted. “Back to the dragon marked. What makes you believe
that could be true? I’ve been to Vanguard many times, toured the different
sections. I’ve never seen anything like that. And there are no children in
there. You know we don’t imprison our young.”

Truth
.

In America, if a supernatural committed a crime under the age of
twenty-two, they were trialed and punished, but did not enter the prison
system. Instead they served house detention, rehabilitation, and various
spellings, depending on the severity of the crime.

Braxton rested his arms along the back of the couch. “There were these
vampire transfers from Europe. They had all of these stories about the
breakouts, that those freed were all marked, and that the escapes were
orchestrated by two females.”

Girls? For reals? A part of me thought that was kind of awesome. Two
females taking on all of those prisons. And if they were freeing the marked,
well, I was all for that.

“They were sure there’s dragon marked in Vanguard … somewhere,” Braxton said.

I hadn’t forgotten his words from before. “Why do you want to go back
into the prison?” I’d heard nothing in their story to indicate a reason for
this insanity. 

He took a deep breath. “Okay, I don’t know if this is off topic or part
of the same thing, but despite the fact we don’t imprison children, there
was
a kid in Vanguard. A little boy … his name was Nash.” I could feel my face
tightening as confusion flooded my body, and I wasn’t the only one with a
scrunched up face. “He used the sewerage system to move around the different
areas.”

I exchanged a glance with my father. Really, how was it possible that a
child could be in Vanguard? Could there really be dragon marked in there
somewhere, hidden away? And if so, how did the boy get free?

Braxton was still speaking, his words picking up in urgency. “He’s six
years old. He wouldn’t tell me much about himself or why he was in there. He
just said he was small enough to fit places that others couldn’t. It took him a
couple of days, but he started to trust me. He told me how to get into the area
that he lives, and I promised if I could I’d try to break him out.”

Great, Braxton’s need to be a hero was probably going to get him killed.

Jack sat straighter in his chair. “You think he’s marked? You can’t free
the dragon marked.” He usually didn’t pull rank on his sons, but it looked as
if he might now. “There is a reason they’re locked away.”

I kind of saw red on that one. “That’s bullshit. A stupid scary story
from over a thousand years ago is not a good enough reason to lock away
children for their entire lives.”

It was hitting close to home now. I apparently bore this stupid mark. It
didn’t make me want to go out and gather an army. So I assumed the rest felt
similarly. Although, the murder and imprisonment of dragon marked was not going
to make them particularly sympathetic to the supernatural community. As always,
people created their own enemies. These extremist actions would probably be the
reason the marked rose up against the supernaturals.

“I never saw a mark on him, Dad.” Braxton’s voice was low. “He was just a
little boy, he deserves a damned chance to run in the sun and play with kids.
Vanguard is not the place for children.”

“So how are we going to get in and free this child? Do you know the way
back?” I asked, my eyes locked on Braxton. I knew nothing was going to change
his mind now, he had that stubborn look on his face. All that I could do was
tag along and make sure he didn’t get himself killed.

Mischa jumped in. “I want to help,” she stuttered. Her nerves were
palatable; I could smell her sweat, see it beading her forehead. But she spoke
truth, she did want to help. I wondered why. Maybe she had a soft spot for
kids. Or was she wondering, like Jonathon and me, if there really were marked
in there.

Maximus growled. “Personally I never want to set foot in there again. But
I always have Braxton’s back and this is something he needs to do.”

Braxton’s voice went really low. “I won’t leave him behind.”

I’d never noticed Braxton having a particular affinity for children, but
I could see that this one boy had made an impression.

Jack rubbed at his temples. “How is it that your Nash has evaded
detection from everyone but you for all these years? What if it’s a trap?”