“So let me get this straight,” Justin said when he’d finished. “A human gave you a false address, and you let him get away with it?”
“It’s not like that,” Julius said quickly. “I don’t think Lark did it on purpose. Katya probably just gave him a dummy address to keep people off her trail. Sheison the run.”
“No excuse,” his brother growled, popping his knuckles. “He lied to us, he has to pay. I say we go back there and squeeze him until something useful pops out.”
“I’m not doing that!”
Justin gave him a disgusted look. “Why? Because it’s notnice?”
“Because it would be pointless,” Julius said. “Look, if Lark was trying to trick me, he’s long gone by now, and if he wasn’t, then he doesn’t know anything more than he’s already said. Either way, hunting him down isn’t going to help. We don’t need violence, we need a professional who knows what they’re doing. There are guys who make their living tracking people who don’t want to be found. I know one, actually.”
“That’s convenient,” Justin said. “What’s his clan?”
“He’s not in a clan. He’s human, one of my old gaming buddies.”
Justin rolled his eyes. “What is it with you and humans?”
“Ilikehumans,” Julius reminded him. “Anyway, he might be able to get us a lead on Katya using the picture Lark gave me. I just need to get some money together for his fee and—”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Justin said, putting up his hands. “You’re going topayhim?”
Julius blinked. “Of course. He’s a professional.”
“He’s ahuman,” his brother snapped. “Humans serve us. Get that through your skull. You’re a Heartstriker, adragon, an ancient and fearsome predator. You should be making people fall at your feet for the honor of doing your bidding, notpayingthem, and definitely not letting them lie to you without repercussions.” He turned away with a huff that sent a thin line of black smoke curling from between his lips. “This is exactly why Mother kicked you out, you know.”
“Well, what else am I supposed to do?” Julius cried. “Fly around bellowing for Katya to come out and fight me?”
“You could go back to that party and start shaking down humans,” Justin said. “She’s supposed to be with an alligator shaman, right? Someone there knows him, so stop being a pushover and go make them talk.”
Julius paused. Going after the alligator shaman wasn’t such a bad idea, actually. Still. “I’m not going to interrogate a bunch of drunk mages,” he growled. “No one’s going to be intimidated by asealeddragon any—”
A loud, pained squeal shot through the air, making both brothers jump. Justin recovered immediately, but Julius was still reeling when he whirled around to see Marci standing beside her car. Her right arm was out in front of her, like she’d just finished throwing an underhanded pitch, and the first bracelet on her wrist was glowing like a spotlight in the dark. That was all Julius caught before he started to run.
He got halfway across the street before he remembered to drop his speed to a believably human rate. He still made it to Marci’s side in seconds, hands up and ready to take on whatever it was they were fighting. But there were no goons waiting in the shadows when he reached her, no armed thugs threatening to attack. Instead, Marci jogged over to the curb and bent down to grab something black, furry, and unmoving out of the storm drain.
“What is that?”
The sharp question made him jump, and Julius looked up to see Justin standing right beside him. Naturally, he wasn’t winded at all from the run, though he did look a little disgusted by the thing in Marci’s hand. For once, the brothers were in agreement. From what Julius could make out, it looked like Marci was holding a rat the size of a terrier, but no rat he’d ever seen had fangs like that. Or five beady eyes, all of which were still twitching as Marci hoisted the thing aloft like a prize fish.
“It’s a crater vole,” she announced proudly. “I’ve never seen one this big!”
Julius recoiled in horror. “And you’retouchingit? I thought they were poisonous.”
“Oh, very,” Marci said. “Why do you think I roasted it first? Well, microwaved, to be precise.” She nodded to the first bracelet on her wrist, a blue plastic ring which was still steaming slightly. “The Thaumaturgical code of safety and ethics forbids the use of magical combustion in urban environments, which eliminates most combat fire spells. So I created a variation on the college staple ‘No-Microwave Microwave’ spell that does basically the same thing, only without the actual fire part.”
Julius gaped at her.“Why?”
“Because the microwave spell is horribly underutilized as a mere cooking charm,” she replied authoritatively. “As you see, the weaponization possibilities of a spell that instantly boils water particlesinsideorganic matter are potentially—”
“No, no, I understand that part,” he said. “I meant, why did you randomly kill a crater vole?”
Marci blinked at him. “For the bounty, of course. Crater voles are an invasive, non-native species. DFZ Animal Control pays three dollars for every one you bring in.”
“Hold up,” Justin said, stabbing his finger at the smoking mutant rat in her hands. “You killed that thing forthree dollars?”
“Hey, three dollars is three dollars,” Marci said, hefting the heavy carcass as she walked back to her car.
Justin stomped after her. “But three dollars isn’t even worth the drive to turn it in. Why not go after the bigger bounties?”
