"Thank you, sir." Not for the first time he appreciated having Joe on his side.
"I'll check on you later."The line disconnected.
Lian put his phone away and faced Bourne. "Just because I'm willing to do medic work for the dragons, don't think I'll let you do whatever you want."
Bourne stood up, towering over Lian.
"Your support is far away. What do you bet I can do all kinds of things before they show up?" Bourne's face mottled with fury.
Lian realized the man who'd run his medical center like his own personal fiefdom hadn't expected Lian to do anything about his actions. He'd really thought Lian would fall into line like everyone else.
Fury shot through him and a low growl built in his throat. "If anything happens to me, they will crucify you, Dr Bourne. I might not be that impressive on my own but I'm not as alone as you seem to think."
Too angry and tempted to do something that would get him kicked out of the medical society, Lian turned on his heel to leave Bourne's office. He didn't expect a punch in the back of the head that sent him reeling.
"No!" El shouted.
Lian spun around, gripped Bourne's arm even as the other man tried to hit him again. Disoriented, his head throbbing, Lian did the one thing he vowed to never do; he used his power as a weapon. Instead of pushing his abilities to heal, Lian yanked, his magic clamped on its new energy source and began to literally suck the life force out of Bourne. When Bourne's eyes rolled into the back of his head, Lian released him. When Bourne collapsed, horror overtook Lian.
"Oh my goddess, what have I done?" Lian's body shook from shock at his actions.
"Run! I'll take care of everything," El said. "I'll tell the team what happened when they arrive. You can't be here when he wakes up. If he wakes up."
Lian scanned Bourne with his magic. "Oh, he'll wake up. I didn't take that much." He shouldn't have taken anything. He'd signed an oath to treat all life as sacred. He shouldn't have used his abilities that way."
Still shaky over what he'd done, Lian ran out of the medic hall. The buildings flew past Lian as he ran. He didn't know where to go. His heart screamed he should go to Nevair, but he couldn't put his lover in that sort of situation. He had already ruined the man's virginity; he didn't seek to destroy his reputation too.
Panting, Lian stopped in the middle of the street, searching for a landmark and trying to subdue the panic bubbling up inside. Nothing looked familiar.
"Crap, I'm lost." Luckily his communicator had a mapping device embedded inside. As soon as the team from the council arrived they could find him with his handheld. The society tracked all their medics devices in case of kidnapping or if they went missing. For a second, Lian considered tossing it aside, but resisted. Eventually he'd have to face the repercussions from his actions.
Lian examined the less than shining buildings and the cracks on the paved surface. Water ads promoting a new kind of vitamin water for dragonkin caught his eye. It had a picture of a smiling pregnant woman with dragon eyes. Lian thought the ad was kind of creepy but maybe it appealed to its target audience.
Noise drew his attention across the street. A fenced off field had kids zooming back and forth. A gasp left Lian's lips as he watched.
They were flying.
A dozen teens were on flying boards, whipping across a playing field where a complicated game of balls, hoops, and synchronized movements continued before Lian's shocked gaze.
Compelled to get a better look, Lian walked up to the fence surrounding the play court. The fast turns and daring acrobatics of the players enthralled Lian when he watched them whip through the air as easily as if their feet were on the ground.
"I gotta get one of those boards," he whispered, watching one particularly adventurous soul did a complete 360 in the air. The other team members whistled and shouted in appreciation.
Lian determined there were two groups, shirted and un-shirted, with six kids on each side. From the looks of them, none were older than eighteen. Fit, young, and flexible, they flashed through the air like beautiful birds. Their boards were in all different colors and conditions, some scratched and worn, others shiny as new coins with names of sponsors plastered across the bottom. Lian caught sight of another water advert with a young man holding a bottle. Apparently vitamin water was a big seller on a desert world.
Just when Lian became used to the ebb and flow of the players zipping by at fascinating speeds, two collided midair. Before Lian's horrified gaze the boys flew off their boards following the ominous sound of bones crunching. They tumbled to a tangled heap on the ground.
"Shit." Lian ran to the injured, his magic flaring when he scanned the damage done.
"I can't move." The kid on the bottom screamed while the one on the top lay disturbingly still. The other players dropped from the sky like birds to cluster around the pair.
"Let me through," Lian shouted, "I'm a medic."
A kid in a white shirt and black leather pants met him halfway, shoving the others aside and blocking his path. "We don't trust no medic, they don't like dragons."
"Get the fuck out of the way," Lian pushed the kid to one side.
Reaching the broken bodies, Lian placed his palm on the kid on top to assess the damage. Concussion, broken hip, bruised ribs and a few crushed toes, he could wait.
