Amber- Shadow Witch Read online

  It took me three more tries, but eventually I could spin it out. Subjectively it took me about five weeks. But it was worth it. I was in spy heaven right now. I let time speed back up and released my magic and got back to my stakeout. Damn, I didn’t bring coffee…

  It was about an hour later when all hell broke loose and I nudged my sister through the necklace as I watched.

  Forty mil rounds were raining down from the sky and completely tore up the dragon’s camp. They had to have an AC130 up there. Dirt was launched into the air making it hard to see, but the results were unmistakable. There was definitely a large plane up there raining down hell. Eventually it stopped and the smoke cleared. I only saw two bodies, both clearly dead. It looked like the black and one of the reds.

  That meant there was a red, blue, and green left. Did they go after the plane? Stupid question, of course they did. Cassie appeared a few minutes later, right before the three landed back in camp as dragons.

  The green growled, “I’m in charge, any arguments?”

  Huh, I guess the red that died was his main competitor.

  I explained what happened to Cassie while the green waited for an answer to his question. It took about three minutes before the red and blue spoke.

  Red said, “I’ll follow you.”

  Blue replied, “As will I.”

  Green ordered, “Good, the cowardly human that ordered this sneak attack needs to be taught a lesson in honor. We go to D.C., wipe out the White house, and then scatter. Stick to the cities, do damage when you can but avoid the witches until it’s time to take out the enchantments.”

  Cassie muttered, “That’s not good,” as the dragons took to the skies.

  I snorted, “I’m supposed to report, but those dragons will be there in seconds, there isn’t time.”

  I opened a portal and stepped out on Pennsylvania Avenue while sending the info to Mom, Grams, and Cat. My sister appeared beside me, and not a moment too late. I gathered my magic and brought a storm. No wind or rain, just an electric storm. I knew the dragons were close when multiple missiles shot from the roof of the White house.

  The problem was, to my perception they were terribly slow compared to the approaching dragons.

  “I got the green one,” I muttered as I called down lightning strikes.

  I was able to strike it at least twenty times before it got close enough to send out its breath. I flew straight up fifteen feet avoiding the attack as I called down more strikes from the storm. It was more than poison gas, it was thick and corrosive, I could see it dissolving the sidewalk and metal fence surrounding the White House lawn.

  I felt his natural shields go down and I struck with a gravity ball. I didn’t overreact this time and limited the damage, merely crushing his heart and the surrounding organs, the body fell into the street, making a huge pothole and totaling three parked cars.

  The blue was fighting my sister, ice against fire and lightning. She didn’t bother with the storm, rather she launched lightning from her hands, mixed with a thin spear of fire. It wasn’t even hard to do and I wished I’d thought of it.

  I felt his shields go down and the dragon… folded like a piece of paper, wavered, and disappeared. Not like my sister disappears, more like an explosion of light particles. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what she did to it. The red was nowhere to be seen, he must have fled. When my sister turned to me she had tears in her eyes and a look of such utter sadness that I felt tears on my own face.

  Oh shit, she’d never killed anything before.

  “Cassie?”

  She shook her head, “I didn’t want to kill it, I tried to send him home, the same way I move through space. It works on inanimate objects just as good as it works on me. But even with the shield down he… fought my magic. It… twisted him and ultimately destroyed his body.”

  I pulled her into a hug, “I’m sorry Cass, I really am,” my voice broke.

  I could feel her pain, horror, and despair that she’d taken a life. I’d forgotten what it felt like the first time, and if I was any judge she was taking it harder than Dawn or I did. Worse, she had done it for me, to keep me safe.

  “Freeze!” yelled an authoritarian voice behind me.

  I felt Cassie stiffen in my arms and took three long deep breaths before responding.

  “Okay, what now?” I asked politely.

  I could feel the panic coming off the officer behind me.

  There was no answer so I said reasonably, “Follow procedure officer, call it in. You know you’re not supposed to try and apprehend supernaturals.”

  Although why he would apprehend the people that saved the White House is beyond my understanding. He was just really freaked out, and I didn’t have time for it.

  I felt him calm a little and relaxed.

  “You’ll be okay Cass, I promise.”

  She nodded against my neck, but showed no intention of ever letting go. I supposed this was just a good as place as any to report when the government caught up. Honestly I wish she could just disappear, she shouldn’t have to deal with all the crap coming.

  She sniffled, “Thanks sis, I’ll be okay. I just wish I knew what went wrong. Suppose it just doesn’t work with other people. What if I’d ever tried to move you before now? The thought scares me.”

  Huh, she must be listening to what I’m thinking.

  She nodded again and then took a step back and looked over my shoulder at the cop.

  “He’s still got his gun out.”

  I shrugged, “It makes him feel more secure, I’m okay with that.”

  The cop asked, “What happened here?” in an almost normal voice.

  I replied, “Three dragons tried to blow up the Whitehouse, my sister and I stopped them. Although the third one is still out there somewhere.”

  Someone cleared their throat, it was Smith.

  Jones said harshly, “He’s not cleared to know that.”

  “Oh right, sorry Jones. Quick, throw a towel over that dragon the size of a semi, that way no one sees it.”

  The cop actually laughed. My sister barely managed a smile.

  I sighed, “So I assume you want an update? Where do you want it?”

  Smith replied, “Just come with us miss Price, and miss Price. Officer, you should call this in and get a blockade going.”

  I turned and we followed down the street to their car.

  “Are you guys sure you need my sister?”

  She looked at me gratefully, but it didn’t help.

  Smith said, “I’m not letting you two out of my sight.”

  I couldn’t help it, I laughed and I couldn’t stop as I slid into the backseat. My sister looked confused at my mirth so I passed her the memory of my last car ride with Smith and Jones.

  Of course, here I was in jeans and a t-shirt again. Maybe next time I’d fight in a skirt and a nice blouse…

  Chapter 14

  We pulled the same trick, this time no coffee though, it was about one in the morning and it was time for sleep, not coffee. Still, I was in a cream white skirt and a blue blouse, I’d even taken the time to brush out my hair. Maybe when I looked in my mid twenties I wouldn’t worry about showing up in jeans and a t-shirt, but until then…

  I sent to Cassie, “They will ask us if we can find that last dragon, be vague about how.”

  She replied, “Why?”

  I sent back, “We don’t want the government knowing we have a way of identifying the location of every supernatural on Earth. They’ll want it for their toolbox and that would be very bad.”

  I could feel her work through all the implication of my statement, after a minute or so she nodded.

  Cassie seemed better in that she wasn’t in shock anymore, merely extremely sad and guilty. I felt like I lost something precious, she was always the bubbly happy one, the innocent one. I wondered if I’d ever meet that sister again. Hopefully with time I would.

  It became obvious we weren’t going to CIA headquarters, so I sent my boss a text
with bare details of the night. We wound up in one of the government buildings close to the pentagon. They escorted us inside and into an interview room.

  Jones asked bluntly, “So what happened, you were told to stay out of it.”

  Huh, and he’s the one I liked.

  “Well, we continued our surveillance of the dragons. Other than that we weren’t getting involved. That’s when your AC130 showed up and rained hell. Unfortunately you only managed to kill two of them, that left three pissed off dragons. They decided to make an example and destroy the Whitehouse.”

  I looked him in the eye, “They are fast Jones. We had less than a minute before they’d be at the Whitehouse, there was no time to take a piss, much less call and report to someone. So we went to Pensylvania Avenue and killed two of them. The third took off, so there is still a dragon out there somewhere.”

  I broke eye contact, “That’s pretty much it. We could have stayed out of it, but honestly that sounds kind of dumb doesn’t it? Considering the President was in danger. Then the cop showed, and then you guys a minute later.”

  “You killed two?” Smith asked.

  I clarified, “I killed the green one. Cassie killed the blue one. The red retreated.”

  Jones asked Cassie, “What happened to the body?”

  Cassie cleared her throat, “It was destroyed.”

  Smith barked, “How.”

  My sister flinched and right then I’d had enough.

  I stood up, “We’re done.”

  Smith glared, “No you aren’t, answer the question.”

  I shook my head, “You barked at my sister like she’s the enemy. Is this a debriefing, or an interrogation? Fuck you!”

  I thought about putting him to sleep, but I’d probably get arrested for assault.

  I opened a portal home and gently pulled Cassie with me while ignoring the shouts to sit down…

  Cassie looked at me, “Calm down, you shouldn’t have done that.”

  I blew out a breath, “We saved the President, saved the Whitehouse, and that asshole treats us like were terrorists.”

  Cassie snickered, “Yeah, but that’s not what set you off. I won’t break you know.”

  I sighed, “I know. So let’s find out where red is. I have half a mind to let them deal with it, but that’s petty.”

  Cassie nodded in agreement and pulled out the enchantment. A model of Earth came up and we quickly found the red.

  Cassie asked, “Isn’t that stupid?”

  I nodded in disbelief, he was back at their camp.

  Cassie built one of those spy spells, and we saw the red dragon sitting in the field like a statue. Apparently he wasn’t sure what to do, so he went somewhere familiar. It was actually kind of disturbing, how much of a slave they were to their instincts. Any intelligent creature should know better.

  Cassie asked, “Should we…”

  I nodded, “I’m going to offer him a chance to go home first though, if he’ll listen. Thing is, if we know he is there, so does the government. I don’t want to walk out there into the path of something.”

  Cassie did something to the spell.

  “Hello.”

  The dragon growled deeply and looked around.

  Cassie continued, “I’m not there, I’m talking to you through magic. We wanted to offer you the chance to go home instead of continuing this. You are the last one here, and you can’t hide from us.”

  He growled low, “I’m no coward.”

  I replied, “There is no cowardice involved, this isn’t an honor challenge to the death, it is a skirmish in a war. There is no dishonor in quitting the field of battle when you’re overwhelmed. We can open a gate to send you home.”

  He was about to reply when he was hit by a missile. The explosion was quite spectacular, but in his dragon form a red ate fire for breakfast. The concussion while not overly damaging did make an impact, but not enough of one.

  He roared, “Trickery!” and flew off.

  Cassie breathed, “Crap.”

  I nodded, “You can say that again. I think it almost worked. He might have gone if…”

  She closed the spell and we watched the globe for a while. He was simply flying around, not stopping anywhere long enough for us to try again. Luckily that limited the destruction he was causing. He’d taken out a few cars, an odd house or two, but never stopped long enough to really wreak havoc.

  Cassie asked, “Should we chase him?”

  I frowned, “I can’t fly that fast, can you? He must be approaching mach four between his slash and burns. I’m pretty sure he’s hardly even trying to go fast either. We need something that will make him stand and fight, but I don’t have a clue what that would be.”

  Cassie sighed, “Maybe we could get advice from Rafe? Bring Dawn up to date?”

  I shook my head, “They haven’t committed to magic world yet, if the info get’s leaked again by someone in their clan, they may decide we’re the bigger threat and attack us first instead.”

  She snorted, “So we want them to attack magic world?”

  I shook my head, “The goal right now is for them to get a clue. But failing that yes, if they attack magic world we can help them there. Can you imagine hundreds of dragons destroying city blocks by sneezing? Flying so fast we can’t catch up? No, the magic world has better defenses, magical defenses around their towns that Dawn is making even stronger.

  “Also, it’s a hard thing to think but better them than us. In the long run, we can win it there and not face them here.”

  Cassie looked a little sick, but didn’t disagree.

  I felt much the same way, it was mercenary thinking, but it was also true. It would minimize the death toll, and those deaths… well they wouldn’t be ours. Not unless one of us dies while trying to help that is.

  Cassie shook her head.

  I put my hand on her shoulder and spoke gently, “I know sis, I know. But we didn’t start it. The dragons are the ones going to war, the human magic world is the one that let it get this far by their actions. All we did was try to help. I’m sorry, but we need to do our best to keep the main war away from our world.”

  Cassie nodded.

  She whispered, “I think I’m going to head home, if you figure out a way to stop him, and need help, let me know. I need to… digest all this, and the fact I killed something… someone tonight.”

  I nodded, “If nothing else, he’ll have to rest sometime.”

  She replied, “Okay sis, I think your paranoid about not filling in Dawn but you’re the spy in the family. If that world gets attacked though I’m… I need to think. Take the enchantment, I have another.”

  She gave me a hug and kissed my cheek, “And be careful, no matter what happens, I can’t lose you sis.”

  She smiled tremulously and then simply disappeared.

  I felt tired, and I wanted to see Lia and Terry. The first problem was easy, I used magic to restore myself. I didn’t like to do it, but it was safe enough as long as I didn’t exceed seven days without sleep. Hopefully red would stop and rest before that time was reached.

  The second two I was kind of screwed on. But I did need to feed, I wasn’t nearly as drained as last time from the fight. My shields hadn’t even taken a hit, and I had plenty of personal energy left, but it was like an itch I couldn’t scratch. I’d seen Lia last, so I skimmed a club to fill up and headed to Terry’s for a quickie while carrying the enchantment around which I’d topped off as well.

  He was asleep, and I felt a little guilty, but not enough to stop me. I decided to just take him in my mouth. I knew the feedback from his orgasm would trigger mine through both my inner succubus and empathy. It wouldn’t be as good as normal marathon sex, but it would take care of my physical needs after feeding. That was the best I could do while under dragon watch.

  He really didn’t seem to mind at all, and I kissed him thoroughly before going back to my apartment. Time dragged as I stared at the enchantment. I had thought it was really cool at first, b
ut now I was starting to hate the thing. I went into the kitchen and brewed some coffee. I’d been on stakeouts before and knew it wasn’t the enchantment I was really mad at; I wanted to be back in Terry’s bed.

  I watched as he bounced from country to country. I had my tablet out and it was actually creating quite the panic out there in the world. There were reports of downed jets from multiple countries, missiles fired that simply couldn’t reach the dragon, and of course all the fires and destruction of property.

  Ironically, it was the looters and rioters that caused the most damage. Keeping the dragon a secret was completely out, although even the best pictures had some blur to them, the dragon simply didn’t stop long enough to get caught in film, much less so I could portal over and engage.

  If that damned missile hadn’t come out of nowhere none of this would have happened, we’d be a dragon free world and I’d be… well, asleep most likely. The death toll mounted. One damn dragon and the world was in a panic, I wasn’t sure what to do, I couldn’t do anything. He flew too randomly for me to just get out in front of him for an ambush.

  To be fair it was no one’s fault, they didn’t know I was dealing with it, and they did their best to kill it. My phone started ringing, it was my boss. I looked at the clock it was only six in the morning and a Sunday.

  Crap, I was supposed to train Lia yesterday. Well, she knew what I was doing.

  I picked up, “Yes sir?”

  “Get in the office, Smith and Jones are both losing it, they said you took off during a debrief.”

  I snorted, “It was more like an interrogation sir, a very hostile one. I guess it was my thanks for saving POTUS.”

  He growled, “Just come in and talk to them, I’ve already given them shit for pulling you off the street without so much as my leave.”

  “Yes sir, but I’m watching and waiting for the dragon to settle down somewhere I can kill him. That’s going to be hard if I’m at the office.”