1
Lyra Slade stepped into Dragon Arts, a felt bag clutched in her hand.She took a moment to soak in the familiarity and safety of the lobby area, the walls a deep blood red with dragon symbolism reflected in the murals.My second home.Heck, she’d helped finance this place with all the hours she’d spent at the dojo sparring and learning how to control her Dragon.
Glesenda, who managed the class schedules, smiled as she looked up from the computer.“Back for more classes, sugar?”She checked to make sure there were no Mundane humans around, a habit all Crescents had.“Or just need to let your Dragon loose?”
The soundproof, windowless Obsidian Room, where they could stretch their wings and flex their talons, stirred Lyra’s Dragon.Play,it growled.Or fight.Fight good, too.Her fingers brushed her right hip where she felt it pawing at her skin.Not now.More important things to do.
To Glesenda, she said, “I’d love to, but I need to talk to Cyntag.”
Glesenda nodded to the Sapphire Room, where a class was under way.“Go on in.He’s almost finished with class.”
When Lyra slipped in and took one of the chairs at the rear of the room, a couple of the male students on the mat glanced her way.Embers flickered in their eyes, something only other Crescents could see.Crescents traced their ancestry to Lucifera, a mystical island in the Bermuda Triangle.The island’s inhabitants worshipped Dragon gods and magick Deuce gods.More than three hundred years ago, the gods took advantage of a confluence of natural events that allowed them to become physical.Inevitably, the gods and humans fell in lust and created human children who had a sliver of godly essence.Dragon Crescents bore tattoos, the manifestation of their beast that let their Dragon essence connect with their physicality.Mundanes could see the tattoo, but only a Crescent could see it move or blink or flick the tip of its tail when it was agitated…which hers was doing at the moment.She’d seen cats do the same thing when they were annoyed or watching prey.
She tapped her hip.Stop that, you.
Cyntag acknowledged her with a nod.Most female students swooned over the Dragon sensei with the black hair and dark eyes.Yeah, she’d swooned, too, back when that kind of thing mattered.Before her life completely sucked.
When the class finished fifteen minutes later, Cyntag headed her way, wiping the back of his neck with a red towel.“I take it from your anxious expression that you’re not here for a little extra sparring?”
“I wish.I have a much bigger request.”
Rather than tensing, he actually seemed to relax even more.“How can I help you?”
“I need an angel.”
He arched an eyebrow, and a sly grin spread across his handsome face.“You’re coming to the wrong place, sweetheart.”
“Oh, I’m not…” She was rarely thrown off, but then she saw he was teasing her.“A Caido.I’ve always considered them angels.”Not that she’d interacted with them much.Once in a while one would come into the bakery, but the conversation covered croissants and cookies and not much else.
Caidos were loosely grouped in with Crescents, holding the essence of fallen angels who were sent to oversee the gods on the island.They, too, became physical and fell to the temptation of lust.
She opened her felt bag and pulled out a platinum feather.“I need to find out whose feather this is.It was in my father’s bedroom, which was trashed.And he’s missing.”
Cyntag took the feather, turning it at an angle to study it.“Could this have anything to do with the woman who went missing a few months back?There was some speculation about his involvement, rumors of an affair.”
“I know Pop had nothing to do with Tara Becker’s disappearance.And I don’t believe they were having an affair.”At least she hoped they weren’t.But you had your doubts, didn’t you?
Cyntag was turning the feather over in his hand.“Do you know what these feathers mean?”
“I don’t know much about Caidos, which of course is their intention.The big mystique makes them superior, aloof, and sometimes rude.”
“Caidos stick to themselves.Trust me, they have their reasons.”He handed the feather back to her.“This is a fighting feather, called a dhagger.When they invoke their angelic essence, they can pull one out and use it like a knife.”
She went cold at the thought of her father facing a pissed-off Caido.“So maybe this guy wants his dhagger back.I’d like to deliver it personally.”She ran her finger along the edge, feeling it nick her skin.
“Do you want me to check into it?”
“No, but thank you.I’m going to investigate this angle on my own.I asked Kirin to come down from Atlanta to help me.Right away he runs into Ellie, and it turns out her father is also missing.I’m sure the two disappearances are related, but he’s not sharing what they’ve found.He’s either trying to spare me or protect me, but no way can I sit around waiting when he knows damn well I can handle anything.”She took a breath, realizing she’d spilled all of that out in one long stream.
She pulled out her cell phone and brought up a picture she’d taken.“I think whoever left the feather might own this car.It’s been parked at the curb near my pop’s house since he went missing.Initially I thought it was the neighbors’, because they own a used exotic car business.Then I got to thinking about it being connected to my pop and asked.It’s not theirs.”
Cyntag extracted his phone from a duffel bag and punched in some numbers.After an initial greeting, he said, “Do you know a Caido who owns a deep purple Lamborghini Gallardo?”He nodded as the other person spoke.“He might be in trouble.”He listened for a few more seconds and then signed off.“Grayson thinks the car belongs to Archer Grant’s brother.He’s going to call Archer, but you can head over to the Raphael high-rise in downtown Miami where he lives.Your name will be at the desk, and the security guard will send you up.”
Who was Grayson?Or Archer?But before she could ask, Cyntag held up two fingers.
“Two things you need to know about dealing with Caidos.Tamp down those emotions.I know Citrine Dragons have a hard time with that, but Caidos shut down when confronted with drama.That’s why they don’t associate with Mundanes or Crescents.”
A yellow Dragon tamping down her emotions?Oh, boy.“I’ll try.What’s the second thing?”
