City of Dragons: Of Flesh and Blood Read Free

dodged a pickup truck, and bolted between two more cars. Horns blared, but he didn’t care. His eyes were on Inoata who was now on the other side of a line of parked cars. The MARTA station was only a hundred yards away, and there was a good chance the bastard would duck down into the subway and lose Farley in the crowds. “Give it up, asshole…you…are…mine…”
    In one last surge which ripped his ACL, Farley cleared another car and slammed into the Faerie, taking him down.
    “You son-of-a-bitch!” Farley slammed his chelae into Inoata’s scrawny shoulders and bright red blood welled up around his fingers.
    The Faerie let loose with a girly scream. “I didn’t do it. I’m innocent!”
    “You lied to me!” One hard shake was enough to rattle the guy into silence. “The manifest you gave me was bullshit, and I don’t appreciate bullshit!”
    Inoata’s green eyes peeled wide, and the ripe luscious scent of fear rolled off him in waves. Normally, fear was a flavor which stirred Farley’s
need
. But everything about Faeries was foul, including their flesh.
    Inoata did some more useless pawing and clawing with his dainty four-fingered hands. “Rupa said you work for the cops, and that if I gave you anything, he’d have my ass on a platter.”
    Farley leaned in, letting the little piece of shit have an up-close-and-personal with his tiger-sized choppers. “You fuck-wad. Every flesh trader in the Dens knows who I work for. How the hell do you think I know when and where the shakedowns are going to be?” A deep growl rolled out of Farley’s chest, and Inoata’s whimpers turned into a full-fledged wail. “Now, I want that manifest. The right one this time, or I might just have to hold my nose and chew out your throat!”
    Up ahead, the early morning commuters emerged from below.
    Inoata craned his head back and threw out his hands, flapping them like a pansy. “Help me! Somebody help me! Man-eater! Man-eater!”
    Farley’s head snapped up to see a lot of nervous Human eyes staring at him. This was so not what he needed right now. And if that didn’t beat all, here comes the cavalry in the form of subway rent-a-cops.
    “Shit!”
    Inoata squeezed out a high pitched giggle between his gasps of pain. “You are so fucked, wyrm, you are so--”
    “Shut up!”
    With their guns drawn and barking out cliché lines like “down on the ground,” the transit cops looked more like stunt doubles on some low budget cop show. “Get your hands up, wyrm.”
    Inoata making himself look like a helpless victim wasn’t difficult considering he was barely five feet tall and had the build of a teenage Human.
    Farley retracted his chelae and held up his hands, but he kept his body firmly planted on top of the POS.
    “Look, I’m a CFKR informant. This Faerie is wanted for questioning.” He started to smile but thought better of it. After all, nothing says you-can-trust-me like fangs.
    Rent-a-Cop Number One looked like he was about to have a heart attack or an aneurysm. Farley couldn’t decide which. His face was blotched red over purple as he gasped for breath. Funny thing, his chubby buddy bringing up the rear wasn’t half as taxed. Looked a lot saner, too.
    Over Excited did some waving with his gun. “Down on the ground, now!”
    Farley said, “Check my wallet.” The two cops looked at each other, then Farley. Chubby Buddy must have drawn the short straw because he took the lead and inched in. “Left coat pocket.”
    The man gave him a quick pat before dipping in his hand for a feel. “It’s empty.” Chubby buddy backed up.
    Farley glanced around as if he might see it lying on the side walk. His wallet not only had his Center ID but his last fifty bucks. “Shit, it must have fallen out.”
    Over Excited moved closer. Which meant his gun moved closer. “On the ground, wyrm!”
    Farley checked the rent-a-cop’s name tag and said, “Officer Kennedy, I need you to call the Center. I’ve spent four days in an