Free Dragon's Fire by Dara Tulen Page B

but he'd saved the settlers from a very pissed off necromancer who'd fallen asleep on the boat and woke half-way out to sea. Then, there was my father's side. Despite their Jewish heritage, the Fausts had stayed in Germany to fight against the Paranormal Beings Hitler had recruited. They'd nearly been wiped out by the time the war ended. Only my great-great-great grandmother and her infant son had made it to America. There'd never been a doubt in my mind as to what I would be doing with my life.
     
    We didn't talk constantly and, during one of the silences, Judah had finally fallen asleep. I waited until we were just outside the city limits before waking Judah. I'd insisted he catch a few hours while I drove the last leg. I'd gotten a whole four hours while he'd driven, so I was good to go. Besides, he'd shifted three times in twenty-four hours, fucked twice and been attacked once. That was bound to wear anyone out.
     
    Once he was coherent, I gave him the rundown on what we were going to do. “There's a warlock here, Malane Lundos, who's helped my family in the past. He's a good guy, you know, for a warlock,” I grinned. “If anyone knows who did this, it's him.”
     
    As we entered the French Quarter, I began to tense. What most people didn't know was that New Orleans had been controlled by a very powerful coven of vampires since before it had been New Orleans. Hunters had tried to wipe them out but not had ever succeeded. Finally, in the forties or fifties, an uneasy truce had been made and hunters stayed out. The coven policed the creatures within their borders and only took blood from the willing, or so the agreement went. Hunters used informants, some human and some not, to make sure the truce was being kept. Malane was one such informant.
     
    I parked the car, then leaned over the back of the seat to retrieve as many weapons as I could discreetly carry.
     
    “Expecting trouble?” Judah asked.
     
    “Stay close by me,” I didn't directly answer his question. “A lot of things here don't like me.”
     
    Judah didn't argue, for which I was grateful. When I stepped out of the car, I had to look around to get my bearings. I hadn't been here since I was fourteen and never on my own. A pang of sadness went through me as I thought of how safe I'd felt with my parents and Baethan watching me and Liam.
     
    The memory came to me slowly, but it came, helped greatly by the recent addition of a sign that read 'Warlock Extraordinaire Malane Lundos.' The Revealing sure even changed New Orleans.
     
    I pointed at the sign. “It's down that alley way.”
     
    Judah followed me as I hurried along the sidewalk. I got my usual share of looks, but most of these had nothing to do with my appearance. I had a bad feeling that all of the unwanted press I'd received was going to get me into trouble when I was trying to fly below the radar. Judah and I were halfway down the alley before it happened.
     
    A pair of djinn appeared from the shadows to block the path. No djinn – the 'd' is silent – looked like those cartoons that come out of a lamp, or like any old TV show with gauzy clothes. Their features and bodies were human, but that's where the similarities ended. They all had either jet-black hair or none at all. Their eyes were a gleaming silver and their skin a strange grayish-blue that made them look like walking corpses. They were actually responsible for most zombie sightings. They'd even used it to their advantage, getting hunters to go after necromancers for crimes the djinn had committed.
     
    “You are hunter,” the taller of the two spoke in a gravelly voice, his accent thick. He was fairly new to the country, probably having left the Middle East within the last century.
     
    “I'm here to see Malane,” I put my hand behind my back so that my Rutger was accessible. It wouldn't kill them, but it'd slow them down. “I just need some information. I'm not looking for a fight.”
     
    The smaller one rattled