would have achieved the exact opposite effect of what he was striving for. The goal was to have her want to spend time with him.
Not to try and have him spend time behind bars. If she wasn’t ready to talk after the fiasco that was Sunday, then he simply had to give her a bit more time. That was the only option that wasn’t creepy or pushy. She needed space, and Rann would respect that need.
Even if he’d bought a brand new suit just for the occasion, so that he could look good for her.
It’s not like I would ever buy a suit for myself. These things are ridiculously uncomfortable.
Shaking his head, he padded forward on the toes of his shoes, sticking to the shadows, staying effectively invisible to Jed, who rarely looked behind him. He wasn’t afraid of being followed, it seemed.
Considering you lied to me, Jed, you probably should.
In fact, Jed had not only lied, but he’d then refused any sort of contact with Rann. As if he knew he was in deep shit and hoped that, if he ignored it, it would go away.
That wasn’t going to happen.
Rann had gone over to the place where Jed had been ‘living’—a low-rent set of apartments that his government subsidy barely covered, but he’d arrived just in time to see his informant leaving. Now he was about to find out just where Jed was going to.
Jed led him deep into the commercial district, finally ducking down between two newer buildings, one a warehouse, the other a workshop of some sort. Rann waited and then followed, ducking low and turning sideways as he wormed his way along a path between empty crates, stacks of piled skids, and more than a few pieces of castoff machinery.
Just when he was beginning to wonder if it was a trap, Jed came to a halt. The pathway widened, stopping out front of a boarded-up, rundown old steel building out behind the commercial shop. It was decrepit and looked like a stiff breeze might knock it over, but it was rather large, and it was hidden from the street. In fact, unless someone knew exactly which set of buildings to come down between, they would never find it.
It was a great hideout. The question that remained, was whose. Rann had an idea, but that wasn’t enough to go on. He needed more information.
Rann walked up to the door and very gently tugged on the handle. It opened freely. He pulled it just wide enough to slip inside, immediately crouching to the ground as he heard voices from deeper within.
There had been little in the way of light outside, but the interior was effectively pitch black. Rann closed his eyes for a moment, letting them switch to night vision. When he opened them again, the interior was displayed in black and white, his dragon gifts taking over.
The door he’d entered from was almost in a corner. A long row of shelving ran straight forward on his right, while perhaps ten feet to his left the outside wall did the same. Boxes of some sort occupied much of the shelving, but Rann could get glimpses and peeks through it.
On the other side, there was simply another row of shelving. Storage was all it was. Rann would have to move to the end of the shelving to get a good glimpse of what was past it. The shadows in his night vision were much fewer at the far end, indicating a light source somewhere off to the right.
Rann slowed as he reached the end and paused when a sliver of space between some of the boxes let him see what lay beyond.
He had to fight back a hiss.
Standing not twenty feet away from him was the former preacher of the Church of the Anti-Wyrm.
Blood boiled in his veins. The man he was looking at was responsible for several acts of atrocity against clan Atrox. He’d kidnapped Claire and then her parents, trying to use them to get Claire to accept the transformation into a vampire. That was just one thing, but in Rann’s eyes, it was enough to sentence him to death.
Usually, he didn’t enjoy killing humans, and in fact did everything he could to save them from the creatures of his world. For this man though, Rann would make an exception.
The Church itself was one of several groups that had arisen after the reveal of dragons on live television. They proclaimed the shifters to be sent by Satan,