Read city of dragons 02 - fire storm for Free Online Page B

Dungeon?”
    “I don’t think so, but after they drink your blood, everything’s really fuzzy. A couple times, I haven’t even been sure how I got home,” said Timothy.
    “Great,” said Lachlan. “Just great. I’m sure that you realize this little activity of yours is dangerous.”
    “Dangerous?”
    “What do you think happens if one of the vampires can’t stop?” said Lachlan.
    “Dragons can’t die from blood loss,” said Timothy, snorting. “If it got that bad, I’d just shift.”
    “As long as you were still conscious,” said Lachlan. “And from the sounds of it, you lose track of yourself a good bit of the time.”
    Timothy furrowed his brow. “No way, man. Vampires can’t kill dragons. Dragons are way more powerful than vampires.”
    “Where is this Dungeon place, exactly?” said Lachlan.
    * * *
    Lachlan banged on the door of The Dungeon, which was a tiny bar tucked away in a strip mall downtown. The doors were locked up, and it said that it was closed, but he was banging on the door anyway.
    “They aren’t here,” I said, chewing on my thumbnail. Ever since the revelation that whatever I’d experienced with Lachlan was nothing more than a high, I’d been feeling so embarrassed, I wanted to go crawl back under the covers of my bed.
    He ignored me. He kept knocking.
    “Lachlan,” I muttered.
    He didn’t acknowledge that I’d even spoken.
    “They’re closed,” I said.
    He let his hand fall to his side. He shook his head.
    And then the door opened. A goth-looking vampire poked his head out. He had jet black hair and smeared black eyeliner. “We’re closed.”
    Lachlan shoved his badge in the vampire’s face. “Just here to ask some questions.”
    The vampire straightened up. “There’s nothing illegal going on in this place.”
    “Really?” said Lachlan. “Then you aren’t killing dragons?”
    “What?” said the vampire.
    “You drink the blood of dragons here. You deny that?”
    “Hey, I don’t personally drink any blood at all,” said the guy. “I’m human.”
    Lachlan gave him a bland look. “Of course you are.”
    “And nothing like that happens here,” said the guy.
    Lachlan got his phone out and flipped through until he found the picture of Fletcher. “You ever seen this man?”
    “No,” said the guy, barely looking at the picture.
    “Look again,” said Lachlan. “He’s missing.”
    The guy glanced at the picture again. “Never seen him before in my life.”
    “What happens if one of the little sessions here goes too far?” said Lachlan. “What happens if one of the vampires takes too much blood?”
    “Nothing. That doesn’t happen,” said the guy. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
    “Sure, you don’t.”
    “No idea.” The guy surveyed us both. “We done here? Am I being detained?”
    Lachlan rolled his eyes. “If you killed him, I’m going to find out.”
    “I didn’t kill anyone,” said the guy. “I think you should go.” He started to close the door, but he did it slowly, waiting for Lachlan to stop him.
    But Lachlan just put his phone away and backed up. “Have a nice day, sir,” he said in a caustic voice.
    The guy glared at us. He yanked the door shut.
    * * *
    Lachlan jammed his sunglasses back on his face.
    “Are you okay?” I asked him. I was sitting in the passenger seat of the car with him. The previous interrogation had been atypical for him. He was usually in control of himself. He was casual, collected, calculated. This time, he’d only seemed angry.
    “No, I’m not okay,” he said. “That dumb kid got himself killed by a bunch of stupid vampires, and I don’t know how we’re going to prove that. How can we even place him at the scene?”
    “Look, we don’t know what happened,” I said.
    “It seems pretty obvious, don’t you think?” he said.
    I stared out the window at the sky. It was gray today, as if it was going to rain, but it wasn’t raining. Just humid and windy. “I think maybe