Scales (Avery Rome Book 1) Read online

  Taking the phone without asking the older woman brushed her short gray hair out of the way.

  “Borden? Peterson here. There should be a brown door, three down on that side? To the left of the main entrance as you face it. We can be in place there in… Call it two minutes? Call us back if there seems to be a trap. We’ll move out now.” She handed the phone back, not waiting for confirmation that the FBI woman understood her.

  She did most likely, but Avery had to think that Lang was being a bit brisk about the whole thing. Eric was a bit better, actually waiting for the woman to get into place before hanging up.

  For her part, Avery just moved to the node and held out a hand. To Lang first, since they were going into the Shifter Embassy. That made sense, given that a familiar face would seem less like an invasion force than if Lars or Bey were taken through first. Not that it made a difference, since she had them all over to the new location inside three minutes. They were all there by the time anyone came into the back at all.

  Interestingly, it was a familiar seeming person who found them. A Bat Shifter. He was male, but otherwise looked a lot like Calley Hale. It took Avery a second, her mind moving at a glacial pace, but by the time he smiled at everyone, she recalled his name.

  After all, she’d been at battle camp for three years, solid. Nearly that. Everyone was required to go annually, unless they were on active duty, deployed somewhere in a danger zone. They had more than one camp location, around the world, but Avery had to figure she’d managed to meet about half the Shifters in North America or so. Not that she knew all of their names.

  “Chi?” She wasn’t that certain, since it was a funny name, but the small red haired and freckled man moved in directly and gave her a hug. It was strange, but he seemed to mean it.

  “Rome! Grandma Peterson! Friends as well. I didn’t hear you come in.” He smiled at them, seeming pleased that they were there, if a bit confused by it all.

  Lang spoke quickly.

  “We’re using this as a secondary escape plan. You know Avery here?” She seemed interested in that idea, for some reason.

  The small, quick moving man nodded and touched her arm, holding it.

  “We were at camp together… Two years ago?”

  The Elder lady nodded then, since it really did make sense.

  “She’s the new Shifter line walker, so we were able to come through the node. You heard the commotion? They’re trying for Bey here. The Vampire. We’re going to sneak out the back, if that’s all right? We should have transport waiting.”

  There was a car pulling up in the right spot, with no crowd already waiting for them, so Avery nodded, even though no one was paying attention to her. Not until she spoke.

  “I think it’s here? We should go.” The only problem was that the thing outside wasn’t big enough for them, she didn’t think. Lars was just too huge for it. They were going to need a truck, or something like an SUV in order to pack the Trollienkeine around with them.

  Rather than have an issue with suddenly appearing people, Chi just hugged Avery again.

  “This way! Through here. Sorry about the mess. We don’t normally use this space. I guess we can now? Are you going to be working here, Rome? Or out of headquarters?” He spoke as if the natural place for her to be would be there. With him.

  Then it was clear he was more than a little interested in her. It wasn’t right, since he was too good for her, but she didn’t mention that, since so far doing so had made everyone a bit cross with her.

  So Avery walked, speaking only when they were just to the door in the back. It was brown painted metal. Steel, of course. She could feel it before she got there, bits of magnetic energy and electricity playing over it. Visibly. All metal did things like that though. She normally didn’t notice unless the object was large, however.

  “I don’t know? Nothing is really set up yet. I’m living in Vancouver, Washington?” She thought that was the case, anyway.

  Chi the Bat man winked at her.

  “You should consider working from here anyway. Let me get you a card… I can clean the back up. Make it nice. Get some extra food in. Maybe a bed in the back?”

  Interestingly Bey bowed in his direction.

  “That would be a wonderful plan, if you can attract her to your location here. I do not wish to detract from your chances, but we should be leaving, lest the mob find us ere we make our escape?”

  Chi ran off, but came back a few moments later, with a card that had his name on it. It proclaimed him an associate, rather than anything loftier. Not everyone could be the Ambassador.

  Just before they made it out the back, several other people walked into the room, including a dark skinned man, who had a huge animal form inside of himself. Avery was pulled out the door by Lars, since they had to move quickly.

  Which, as she’d guessed wasn’t going to work all that well. The mousy haired woman from the FBI was in a vehicle that was simply not going to work for the Trollienkeine. On the good side, no one had come outside to see them yet. They were still probably watching the Yoghurt World and Ambassador Norret.

  Lang Peterson moved back to the door and pounded on it several times, which got the black man to answer. She spoke before it was all the way open.

  “We need something that Lars can ride in. Anyone have a truck?”

  The door opened, which had the man coming out instantly, Chi right behind him.

  It was the Dragon man who spoke, his voice low as he watched Avery closely.

  “This way. You can use my van. It should be large enough. You have a license?” He was speaking directly to her, which was odd, given she looked fairly young. She did have one however. On her even.

  “Yeah…” She got it out, so he could see she wasn’t lying. As he took that in, he handed the keys over, waving for Lars to follow along.

  After a grunt, looking at her license as they walked, the man nodded.

  “Avery Rome? I’ve heard about you.” There was no indication about what he knew, of course.

  She just nodded, since it was either that she was the Shifter line walker or that she was a murderer.

  He went on then.

  “I’m Clyde. Clyde Fellows. Ambassador for New Mexico. Try not to wreck my van? If you can help it, I mean.” There was pointing, so that she could see what he meant. It was pretty large and nearly empty in the back, so Lars could fit.

  It meant sitting on the floor, but after a moment of getting her accustomed to it, Clyde walked off, not even mentioning that he was a Dragon. The only other one of her kind that she’d ever met.

  After that she had to pull around, getting a feel for the strange vehicle she suddenly had command over. It was a bit odd, the man just giving her the keys like that, but it also made some sense. There was clearly an important mission going on.

  As an Ambassador, it was part of his job to make sure they could do what was needed. Apparently even if it might cost him his car.

  Avery decided that being careful would be a good thing to do.

  Chapter nine

  It was nerve wracking, driving behind Agent Borden. She wasn’t trying to shake Avery off, at a guess, but her weaving in and out of traffic was still kind of hard to follow. Avery had Lars in her vehicle, taking the rear position. The smaller car in front of them, which was a light tan color, compared to the white of the van, held Lang and Eric.

  Bey was on foot, running alongside them on the road. Walking, actually. He was easy enough to see as he darted from one hidden location to another. The man used everything to his benefit it seemed. If she weren’t so worried about becoming lost it would have been fascinating to watch. Instead her attention was forced onto the road, her mind darting. Trying to figure out what the insane Human was going to do next.

  When they got to the crime scene it turned out to be a hotel. A real one. Where they were supposed to check in, instead of actually being where the murders had happened. That got a mixed response from the group. Lars felt it was a waste of t
ime, but understood that Humans had different needs than his people did.

  The Vampire in their group had appeared so rapidly it almost seemed like he’d ridden with them, even if it wasn’t true. Why he’d insisted on going by foot she didn’t know. Possibly it was that Borden drove like a mad woman. That meant Avery had driven less well and safely than she should have been doing in order to keep up. If so, the Vampire had known that it was going to happen.

  That some Vampires had powers like that was a known thing. It was one of the reasons they were considered better than Humans, even if they couldn’t change shape. Parking carefully took a few moments, so there was an active discussion going on when Avery sauntered over, Lars behind her, walking hesitantly. Probably due to the fact that there was about to be an argument. Everyone there seemed to get it, except for the Human woman. Borden.

  “The AIC suggested that you stay here tonight. In the morning we can hit the most recent crime scene. Go over the photos and data at the office, I mean.”

  Eric Weise looked at the woman like she was an idiot. Lang managed to growl, but didn’t clench a fist at the women. Bey, for his part, merely looked curious.

  “Ah… I think it might be best to go sooner than that? Some factors, such as scent trails, might well fade in that time. I, personally do not need to rest.”

  Borden started to grind her teeth, her slightly fat face flat and expressionless. She was dressed in red, the outfit seeming dressy, while also managing to be a bit ugly. Not that any of what was going on was her job to think about. Avery was just there to help move people around. If that took an extra day or two, she’d live. Especially for what she was being paid for it. She might not know how to handle money, but in her entire life no one had ever mentioned millions as a small sum.

  The FBI Agent shook her head. Then she looked away, checking out the other cars in the parking lot.

  “Look, I’m not supposed to mention this, but we don’t really need anyone butting in on this. The FBI knows how to do basic investigations. You aren’t really wanted. If it wasn’t for the Coalition of Nations breathing down our necks you wouldn’t be here now. We don’t have time for this kind of shit. So shut up and get out of the way, or I will send you packing. Understood?”

  Interestingly, everyone seemed ready to fight except for Avery and Lars. The giant man simply laughed. It was a booming thing, kept softer so that no one would be alarmed and go directly into combat.

  “Agent Borden… Perhaps it is not the greater part of wisdom to begin a battle with those who cannot lose against you? You are dangerously close to starting a war, not knowing. Perhaps an apology would serve to fix that? Did you misspeak? I know that often I have done so, in life.” The words were a bit of a rebuke, but at the same time the giant moved in front of her, protecting her with his own body.

  Avery did the same, as Borden spoke again, shaking her head.

  “This is bullshit. You know what? No. Get the fuck out of my way, now, or I’ll arrest you all for obstruction!” She sounded very angry. Her face looked it too, which became clear as she went for her weapon. In this case it was a nine millimeter.

  Thankfully. Since several things happened at once then.

  Lang moved in low, her body flowing past Lars, who wasn’t nearly as quick as she was. He also had to reach down to catch her, which didn’t work very well, since he clearly hadn’t really thought violence would be happening.

  Eric stood back, but wasn’t being helpful, going for a weapon of his own. That went off, producing a blast of silver energy at the same time that Borden fired. Her nine made a sharp report, both lines of force managing to hit Avery. One in the back, the other in the face. The bullet hurt more, entering her body like it did but at least the energy blast sluffed off of her well enough.

  Bey sent out a line of intent, which was almost impossible to notice. Avery who was falling for the most part, managing to get in the way of his rush well enough to take a fist to the side of her head. That really hurt. There was a rushing sensation as the world moved around her, which ended with noise and blackness.

  When Avery woke up, Bey was next to her, caressing the side of her face gently.

  It had been a bit, since she’d changed to her cursed dracoid form already. That always took her about two minutes, meaning that the damage had to have been pretty bad. She was whole of course, since that was how Shifting worked. It was magical after all, not strictly physical in nature. Her clothing was destroyed, but probably had been from being shot and then nearly killed by Bey. The blow that had come at her had done that, she didn’t doubt.

  For one thing, she was in the middle of a car now. The remains of one. It looked like a bomb had hit it. Standing up she glanced down at her body. Her arms and legs were fine. The scales were her normal deep black, reflecting light pretty well since it was bright out. Her talons were perfectly sharp, which was a problem at the moment, since she really couldn’t touch anything she wanted to keep whole. Her body had definition to it, but most of that showed as muscle. That and lady bits between her legs. Even that was covered with scales though, so wasn’t really much worse to look at than a woman in a tight bathing suit.

  The car, which she realized had been the one that Borden had been driving, wasn’t going to work again. She’d seen vehicles used for target practice that had taken the beating better.

  Her voice was incredibly deep in her current form. Her face was longer, which made saying things difficult at the best of times. It was possible, but certain sounds weren’t happening. Better, she was naked in a hotel parking lot and twelve feet tall. Much too big to hide for long. She was about to complain about her clothing, when Bey moved back toward her. Smiling.

  “I’m most sorry, Miss Rome. I allowed my anger to get the better of me and erred. I shall make reparations.” He didn’t seem upset for some reason, though he was being polite.

  She nodded.

  “Clots. Car.” She waved at herself, for the clothing portion of the discussion. Then the mess that was the car. She could say that one however, so the Vampire got it.

  Blinking slowly, he bowed.

  “At once. Now that it seems you will be well, we should address the difficulty we were having? Agent Borden was about to die, I believe?” He sounded really nice saying that, but snorted a bit when Avery shook her head, noticing the FBI woman was standing there, her weapon still drawn.

  Oddly enough pointed at her, instead of Bey. That was about right, given he was clearly so fast she wouldn’t be hitting him.

  “Everyone freeze! You’re all under arrest!” She was shaking, her eyes white around the colored bit in the center. That was blue, Avery noticed. She didn’t know what color her own eyes were at the moment. She’d never actually checked. Distracted by the thought she moved to pick up what was once a side mirror from the wrecked vehicle she was still standing in.

  The metal and glass thing didn’t disintegrate, but it was damaged from where she touched it. Her strength was a lot greater in her current form. Enough that handling anything was dangerous at the moment. She could see that her eyes were a shining, but solid black color.

  Dropping the mirror, she waved at Bey then, trying to move him back. After all, killing an FBI agent would bring troubles for them all. Probably leading to a lot more death before the whole thing was over. In this case that would be Humans, doing the hard dying parts, almost exclusively.

  Lars hadn’t been wrong though. Borden had nearly started a war. In fact, even if she walked away unharmed that day there might be one anyway. Vampires in particular weren’t known for being kind to their enemies. Pulling weapons on them was kind of going to put everyone off, too.

  Lang Peterson glanced at her, then looked at the others. She managed to smile at them, all except the Agent.

  “We could handle this better than we have so far. Agent Borden? We have diplomatic immunity, to prevent such… Bigoted behavior. Also, while your department is a fine organization, I would have to recommend that disregarding th
e abilities that are represented here might be a poor plan?”

  The FBI lady looking no less afraid, moved back two steps, then stopped.

  “What?”

  The older Shifter smiled then, nodding.

  “We got off to a poor start here, which we can fix now. I believe that Avery was just seeing to a replacement vehicle for you? The Vampires are paying for that, which is a grand gesture, since the whole situation is your responsibility. As it stands you’re badly misplaying things here. You can say what you wish about my aid, perhaps. Disregarding what a Master Mage can do toward locating fugitives or the guilty is… Insane, to be blunt.” She smiled, which was wintery, dry and still a bit upset.

  The older woman hadn’t started to change however, meaning she wasn’t injured and probably had great control over herself.

  Waving at Lars, Peterson went on.

  “The Trollienkeine are noted for being some of the best trackers in existence. Outside of their homeland, which is in a different reality, none are better than Lars here. To have the honor of a duty, they hold contests. They don’t just send whoever is handy, only those that earn the privilege by beating out everyone else. Us Shifters are good at that, finding people. None of us could claim to be better than Lars, however.” When she looked at Bey, the woman actually bowed. It looked off, but was apparently polite, since it was done back by the tiny man.

  “We also have the killer of the Vampires with us. Bey is the one they send to put down armies of the undead when the need arises. People with centuries of practice in hiding and working from the shadows. I think that you’ve missed the truth of the situation badly. Your entire organization would be hard pressed to match any of these men in this task. With all of them being here, I have to think that you’d want to gain their help.”

  Avery nodded, since it was about what she’d heard over the years. Not about Lars’ people, but the other two. If Lang said it was the truth however, it probably was.