and I drew the wings in around me like twin shields.
“Back up,” I growled. Saffron did so, and I hunched over further, letting the mana bleed out into the religious marks on my knuckles. The other vampires flinched, but Saffron just stood her ground. “Give me a minute to calm down, and I’ll hear your plea.”
“Thank you, Dakota,” Saffron said.
I couldn’t tell whether she really believed she was in danger, or was playing it up for effect. Regardless, the mana streaming out through my hands started to balance the Dragon, and I began to straighten, drawing it in slowly, hands still shining with unearthly light.
The lich rose and stood by Vladimir, muttering something. Vladimir nodded, with a light chuckle. After a few moments, Scara and Iadimus rejoined them, hanging a bit further back, shielding their eyes from the light coming from my hands.
“I now believe that she was capable of taking the writer,” Scara said.
“Agreed,” Iadimus said.
“Of course she took out the tagger,” the lich said dismissively. “You should have known that when she teleported out of here, much less when the tag exploded.”
I was now standing fully straight, but the head of the Dragon was still whipping about, giving me a headache-inducing double image of the room. The freestanding wall had been completely destroyed, the outer columns were cracked, even the ceiling was damaged.
Impressive. Time to play this up.
“I have a few things to say,” I said, clenching my fists until the tattoos on my knuckles blazed. All the vampires flinched-except Saffron, and, interestingly, the lich. “First, get Darkrose out of that thing, right the flying fuck now.”
Everyone stood frozen a moment, then the lich flicked his hand at Darkrose’s cage. Guards began to free her. I was so glad that the Dragon hadn’t knocked the weight down on her while it was flailing. Saffron smiled gratefully and ran to Darkrose’s side as they got her out.
“Second,” I said, turning my attention to Scara, “leave my daughter out of this. No one even mentions her name, and don’t take that as an excuse to call her a stray, not ever again. She was never here, and had nothing to do with this plague.”
“But,” Scara said, clearly afraid, but unwilling to drop the matter-or drop her hand, which meant she still meant me harm. “But if she was a tagger-”
“I’m not finished,” I said. “The master tagger was Tully’s mentor, but duped him into drawing tags that were part of a master spell that required werekin blood. Tully was almost killed by one of his own pieces, which elaborated itself into a trap just like the one here on that wall.”
Scara lowered her hand, ever so slightly.
“If you are really convinced of that,” she said, “you must have some proof.”
“I have proof, a copy of the tagger’s blackbook,” I said, counting on Tully to find me one. “A dossier of all the tags, my notes, and how I deduced there were three taggers but only one master. Even proof that I took out the Streetscribe. I can take your men to the cavern.”
“Yes, of course,” she said. “Once I have seen proof with my own eyes, I will consider the matter closed, and order my soldiers to dynamite the cavern to eliminate any remaining-”
“You’ll do no such thing,” I said firmly. “You will have to send trusted human witnesses, and if I catch a single stick of dynamite on a one of them I’m going to shove it up their asses.”
“But,” Iadimus said, “if we cannot see-”
“This is for your protection,” I said tightly. “No vampire, vampire wannabe, or anyone who even smells of vampire is to approach the inner sanctum of vampire-draining magic.”
“Agreed,” the lich said. He seemed amused, even muttering asides to Vladimir as I spoke. “But what about the suggestion to dynamite it? Even you seem to think it is still a threat.”
“Before we make any irrevocable decisions about the cavern,” I said, relaxing the Dragon slightly, “we’re going to collect enough evidence to tell us what we’re left with. If you can’t find an Edgeworld crew with skills to photograph it properly, we use my contacts with the DEI.”
“We will not allow you to bring in outsiders,” the lich said slowly.
“I’m not done,” I said, flexing the Dragon’s wings, “and I do not want to have to do this again next week having destroyed our best evidence. The tags were part of a genocide engine. Designed to exterminate vampires, using human and werekin blood to balance the magic.”
“Is that even possible?” Iadimus asked, looking at his magicians.
“Oh, yes,” the man said. He had gone pale. “Obvious, really, now that she said it.”
Both Iadimus and Scara seemed to draw back, and I continued, “Bad enough, but the magic was corrupted, a misreading of forbidden Incan magic. The collected intentions of the victims were slowly incarnating a demon.”
“A… demon?” Vladimir said.
“Demon, alien, small-g god, what have you,” I said. “My scientists from Georgia Tech assure me this magic uses advanced concepts not likely to be hidden lore or backwoods graphomancy-it’s more likely to come from another world or dimension.”
“Your… scientists,” the lich said.
“When I said I’ve been studying it for weeks, I meant I’d been studying it for weeks,” I said hotly. “So we don’t throw away our best chance to figure out what the hell it was and what it was trying to do before my scientists and your magicians have a chance to look at it.”
“Agreed,” the lich said, and Scara hissed, but reluctantly. Iadimus nodded.
“Agreed, then,” I said. “And if we do decide that the cave is still a threat and that dynamiting it will help, we find out where the fuck it is before we blow it up-I have no desire to topple the IBM tower and kill fifty thousand people in Midtown.”
“I do not care how many humans have to die to protect vampires,” Scara said.
“You do care, because this is the twenty-first fucking century and the DEI will find you,” I said. “And when they do, they’ll find that I’ve found you first and pulled your fucking heart out. I did not save your life just so you could go on a killing spree.”
Scara’s lips parted in a vicious snarl. “You did not save my life-”
“Be silent,” Iadimus said. He looked over at the lich. “We were more stable at five-”
“Now now, not in front of our guests,” the lich said, staring at me, wrinkled dead face smiling and amused. “You make a good point, Lady Frost,” he said, voice velvety smooth, “but why, if you have destroyed the tag and the tagger, do you not think this is over?”
“Because only tags connected to the network will have been destroyed,” I said, pointing at Demophage’s body, which had spilled out of its coffin and yet still smoldered with glowing rainbow wisps. “Any other tags may still be active, and some of them have components of the spell. Worse, the tagger’s designs are self-replicating, and self-elaborating.”
“No,” the lich hissed, recoiling from the magic flowing off Demophage’s corpse. “No, we cannot have this again. We must destroy them-”
“ If you can,” I said. “But each and every one of them is like a Venus’ Flytrap for vampires. You’re going to need help: knowledge of the tagger’s designs, and even photocopies of the tagger’s blackbook, are now spreading through Atlanta’s graffiti community.”
Scara snarled. “We will not permit it! We’ll track them down and destroy them.”
“What? What did I just say about killing sprees, and now you’re talking about sending vampires out against magicians who can use them as a power source? No,” I said… and my idea took full shape. Very firmly, I said, “ I forbid it.”
“You… forbid? ” the lich said incredulously.
“I forbid it,” I snapped, flapping the Dragon’s wings. “If you could have dealt with this you would have done so. You had to call me . You may rule the vamps, the Bear King the weres, and Buckhead the forest, but where the use of magic is concerned I’m in charge of Atlanta.”
The lich just smiled and nodded. “A bold claim,” he said. “I am prepared to accept it. But you do not know what a mess you are stepping into.”
One of Iadimus’ magicians cleared his throat. “My Lord… the Wizarding Guild will have something to say
