Daughter Of The Dragon Princess(15)

***

Mal had no clue where he was apart from the fact that he was on the  floor and bloody uncomfortable. What the hell was he doing on the floor?  Then the whole thing came back.

The fight at the farmhouse, his use of magic, and finally-Lily.

Shit.

He could have sworn she was about to turn. He had done the only thing he  could, and drawn in her fire, but the effort had taken more power than  he'd had left.

He'd fainted.

Fainted?

Dragons didn't faint. He just hoped he hadn't been out long. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. "Lily," he called.

"I'm afraid not," a masculine voice replied. Not Lily then. Mal stared  at the ceiling a bit more. He had a horrible feeling things were about  to get a whole lot worse.

"Mal?"

He came up on one elbow and looked at the man in the chair.

"What does Mal stand for anyway?" Cole asked. "You don't look much like a Malcolm."

"Malachite," he muttered.

"Yeah, I remember now. Isn't that like a lump of rock?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Hey," Cole said, "don't get grumpy with me, Sleeping Beauty. I got out  of a nice warm bed and drove over two hours to get here."

"Why?"

"Because your lady friend said you needed me, and you know how us cops  love to feel needed, especially in the middle of the night."

Mal sat up, raking his hair back and rolling his shoulders to ease the  stiffness, but he realized he felt better. He unwound the bandage from  his wrist and found the wound almost healed, just a clean red line.

"We didn't move you," Cole said. "We couldn't-too heavy. But the doctor said you'd be okay where you were."

"Doctor?"

"Yeah, Lily said you'd collapsed, so I called a doctor."

"Lily phoned you?

Cole nodded.

Mal glanced around the room, but they were alone. "Where is she?"

"Long gone."

"Shit," he muttered. "How long exactly is ‘long gone'?"

"Well," Cole said peering at his watch. "She phoned just after two-thirty and said she was on her way out. It's now after five."

"Shit," he said again. He had to find her. She was unprotected. There  was a whole load of sorcerers after her, and that was just the good  stuff. Hell, she'd almost turned. What would happen if it occurred  again, and he wasn't there to control it?

Pushing off the blanket, he stood up losing his towel in the process,  which appeared to be the only thing he was wearing. Ignoring Cole's  expression of surprise, he stalked to the bathroom. He found his clothes  and pulled them on-at least the blood was dry. His short knife was also  there and he strapped it around his waist.         

     



 

Cole was still sitting in the chair when he came out. "You want some breakfast while we talk?" he asked picking up the phone.

Mal's first instinct was to get out of there and after Lily, but he had  no idea what her next move might be. He was sure she wouldn't involve  anyone else-she knew how dangerous these people were, and she had no  contacts in his world. What could she do? Why had she run off? She must  have known he would die protecting her.

Yeah, a little voice whispered in his head, right up until the point where you handed her over to that asshole, Vortigen.

If he'd done what he should have, and not told her anything of  Vortigen's true nature, would she still have run? But he'd had to tell  her. He couldn't let her meet him without some forewarning. It was  irrelevant now. He had to find her. Cole could help with that, and  besides, he was ravenous. "Yeah," he said. "Order me two full breakfasts  and two pots of coffee. Large."

Cole raised an eyebrow but called in the order. "So," he said, putting down the phone. "What's going on?"

"First, I think you should call in my vehicle, see if we can't locate Lily."

"Your vehicle?"

"The keys are gone. I presume she's taken it. Tell them to find her, but don't apprehend."

"Why?"

"She's not only taken my vehicle, she's taken everything in it."

Cole's eyes widened as he took in the implications of that. "She's got weapons?"

"Just a few," he replied dryly. "On the up side, I don't think she knows how to use them."

"Jesus," Cole muttered. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Exactly, and I don't want Lily harmed if it comes to a shootout. So just tell them to call it in if it's seen."

"Okay, give me the details."

He got up and made the call, then turned to face Mal. "What happened? What was wrong with you?"

Mal shrugged. "I was tired. I guess I just passed out."

Cole frowned. "Yeah, I know, and if you tell me what really happened,  you'd have to kill me. That excuse is getting a little worn out." He  paused. "Lily said you don't work for the government."

"And you believe her?"

"No. You've got way too many inside contacts, and too high up, not to be  in there somewhere, but I'd love to know why Lily thinks you're not,  and just what her involvement is in all this. All I can think of is  terrorists, but she doesn't fit the profile in any way."

"Lily's innocent. She just has some information that a few people would  kill to get. My job is to keep her safe until she can give it to the  proper person."

"And that would be?"

"No one you know."

The detective appeared about to argue, but at that moment there was a  knock on the door. Room service. Mal sat down, and started eating. Cole  watched in silence, and then picked up his own fork. "Lily said you ran  into my suspects last night."

"Just how long were the two of you on the phone? I'm finding it hard to believe I actually slept through all this."

"Long enough." Cole shrugged. "So, my suspects-talk."

"I arranged to hand over Lily last night, and we were ambushed at the meeting site."

"Which was where?"

Mal gave directions to the farmhouse. He had no reason to hide it. The  sorcerers would have cleaned the place up. They had no more wish than  Mal to draw attention to themselves.

"And my suspects were among the people ambushing you?"

"I don't know," Mal replied. "I've never seen them before. But Lily  seemed pretty certain that she saw the men who had picked her up." He  finished his first cup of coffee, and poured a second. He was feeling  better. He wanted to get out there. Find Lily. Save Lily. He glanced up  to find Cole watching him, his expression more than a little  uncomfortable. "What?"

"Lily said something else. I'm just a little conflicted about bringing it up."

Mal shrugged. "Go ahead."

"She said to ask you about dragons."

"What about them?"

"How the hell should I know what about them? She just said to ask you."

Mal shrugged again. "She's under a lot of strain."

Cole studied him, lips pursed. "And that's all you're going to say on the subject?"

"What do you want me to say?"

Cole rubbed a hand over his face. "I get the feeling that there is a lot more going on here than anybody is telling me."         

     



 

"And you think it's got to do with dragons."

"No, I don't fucking think it's got anything to do with fucking  dragons," Cole snarled. He took a deep breath, then another. "Sorry, but  Lily's not the only one under a lot of strain. I lost two good men,  Mal, and twenty-four hours later, I am no fucking closer to finding out  who did it. Or why."

His phone rang. He picked it up and listened. When he put it down, he  was smiling. "Our girl's been spotted. She's heading north on the  motorway. Come on."

"Where are you going?" Mal asked suspiciously. He did not require company.

"Well unless you're planning to walk after her, I'm coming with you. Or  rather you're coming with me as it's my car we'll be driving."

Mal gave in to the inevitable.





Chapter 9





Lily pulled into the car park of a roadside cafe and closed her eyes.  She didn't dare sleep. Her only hope was to keep ahead of whoever might  be behind her. Plus, she had to phone Joe. The clock on the dashboard  showed it was just after seven, but he was a farmer, and they always got  up early. She pulled her cell phone out of her bag and climbed out of  the car. Stretching, she reveled in the warmth of the newly risen sun.

She punched Joe's number into her phone, and he picked up straightaway.

"Joe, it's Lily-Lily Palmer. I wanted to ask you a favor."

She explained what she wanted and Joe was more than willing to help. He seemed quite excited about the whole thing.

"I'll give the professor a call," he said. "I'm sure he'll see us. He loves talking to anyone who'll listen about the stones."

A pang of unease went through her. She hated involving anyone else in  this, but after all, they were going to visit some harmless old  eccentric whom Joe had known all his life. What could go wrong?

After arranging to meet in an hour's time outside the pub in the  village, she sat down on the grass verge enjoying the warmth of the sun.  Without letting herself think too hard, she pulled the card with Cole's  number from her pocket, and punched it into her cell.