City of Dragons: Of Flesh and Blood Read Free Page A

alley. I’m tired and hungry. I just lost my wallet chasing this asshole; and if I get off him, he’s going to run. Ask for Garrett, he’ll vouch for me.”
    And by the look on their faces, the cops were totally impressed.
    Not.
    Rent a Cop said, “I’m not going to ask you again. Get off the boy, or I’m going to shoot your scaly ass.”
    Boy? Farley narrowed his eyes at Inoata.
    Before Farley could lay out any threats for the Faerie to take home, a snap-crackle-pop sounded off near his left ear, and he was thrown to the side, helpless against the spasms seizing up his limbs. Inoata leapt to his feet and stamped the waffle pattern of his combat boot into Farley’s jaw before he took off.
    Farley tried to go after the guy despite his body putting up a protest, but the cold end of Kennedy’s Derringer swung in his face. “Stay down, lizard boy.”
    Chubby Buddy rolled Farley over, gave him another quick pat down. He pulled Farley’s wallet from his right pocket and tossed it on the sidewalk. Farley glared at the piece of traitor leather and wondered when the damn thing had migrated to the other pocket. Didn’t matter now, because Inoata was long gone and the rent-a-cop twins were snapping on the cuffs.
    Farley glared at the two men. “Wow, you must be really proud of yourself. Think they’ll give you a promotion? Upgrade your plastic badges for a real metal one?” A shoe came down and smashed him in the side. “Aw, fuck…” Farley turned his head so he could throw a dirty look at Chubby Buddy. “Damn, and I thought maybe you were the nice one.”
    “Shut the hell up.”
    “Why? You gonna hit me with your bug zapper again?”
    The answer to Farley’s question landed right on the back of his neck, and his face kissed the pavement.
    About five times.
    When Farley opened his eyes again, he was looking at a pair of shiny black shoes and spitting out pieces of his teeth. Blood gushed out of his nose and froze to the ground.
    “You gonna keep flapping that yap of yours, wyrm, or have you had enough?”
    Farley rolled his eyes up at Kennedy. “Is there a choice C, ‘cause to be honest, I’m not real comfortable with…”
    The next volt struck him behind the ear and sent him thrashing into the gutter. Wet street garbage clogged Farley’s nose and mouth, and he spit. Chubby Buddy grabbed him by the foot and yanked him back onto the curb, sandpapering his chin and face against the pavement as he dragged Farley to a patrol car. No one asked Farley to watch his head as they tossed him into the back.
    Three tazer hits in less than two minutes. That had to be a record. Farley tried to roll over on the hard plastic seat but wound up sliding onto the floor board. He laid there because getting up required the cooperation of his legs, and they were on strike.
    If the Rent-A-Cops hurried, maybe they could get him to the Atlanta PD and Haley could take him out for lunch. Maybe if he was really lucky, Garrett would feel sorry for him and let him have the rest of the day off.
    Yeah, right.

Chapter 2
     
    Haley picked up the assignments left on her desk. Bauer stuck his head in the door. “Do you have a minute?” A month in the hospital had been a give-and-take for Bauer. As in giving ten years and taking twenty pounds.
    Haley waved him in.
    Back in September Bauer wound up in the ICU after complications from a dose of anti-venom. Brenda, his wife, had come to Haley in secret and asked for her blood to save him. In spite of the fact that Haley knew it was against his religious beliefs, she’d given it to Brenda. Bauer still didn’t know what his wife did. And that was the way Haley intended to keep it.
    Bauer sat down on the edge of a desk. “I’ve got a pair of Kin down in the Tank I need you to talk to.”
    Haley raised an eyebrow. “A pair?”
    Bauer scrubbed a large brown hand over his short crew cut. “Yeah, they’re not real talkative. We think they might have come off a chuck-wagon somewhere.” Chuck-wagon