Page 144 of Scales ’N’ Spells: Volume One

“Where are you based?”

“Don’t worry about it,” the other mage snapped.

Fine, so they weren’t conversationalists. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t looking for friends.

They continued a couple of short blocks until they reached a relatively empty parking lot. Tori glanced around, uneasiness crawling along his skin as he noticed that this part of town didn’t have as many pedestrians. There wasn’t even an employee watching over the pay-to-park lot.

“So, umm…store is actually outside town, but not far,” Leon tossed over his shoulder at Tori. “We’ll just hop in van and take ride over.” He jerked his thumb toward the plain white, windowless van they were drawing near.

Oh, hell no. He was pretty sure he’d seen this horror flick more than once. And he was not some dumb, trusting college kid on his way to get hacked into little pieces and fed to someone’s pet.

His steps slowed, and he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, trying to keep his posture relaxed while wrapping his fingers around the tiny glass vial of captured sunlight. It was one of the last damn ingredients he had on him. He’d carried it as a sort of security blanket, hating the idea of being completely defenseless and yet never really expecting to need it.

Leon quickly unlocked the van and rolled the side door open with a loud, metallic rumble. He turned and looked at Tori. The man’s expression was all wrong. It was like he was going for sympathetic or maybe apologetic, but there was this strange twist to his lips, like he was inwardly laughing at Tori.

“We don’t know you. We have to blindfold you and tie your hands,” Leon said.

“For safety, you verstehst,” his companion tossed in.

“We don’t know you or your clan,” Leon continued. “We have to protect our own people.”

“Yeah, umm…I don’t think I’m comfortable with this.” Tori took a step backward, and the other mage’s strong hands immediately clamped down on his shoulders. A sickening surge of fear and panic rushed through him, threatening to knock the air from his lungs. This was wrong. All wrong.

Tori dug his heels into the concrete as best he could, refusing to move forward another step. Gravel on the pavement kept his sneakers slipping. “How about we just meet somewhere else? Like maybe that big park in the middle of the city. I can give you a list of what I need. Anything you can lay your hands on would be appreciated.”

The words poured out of him faster and faster as his eyes darted from Leon to the edges of the parking lot and back again. He was alone. Anger mixed with the swirling vortex of fear in his chest, causing beads of sweat to form on his skin.

How could this be happening? He was no one. His magic skills were pathetic, and they were kidnapping him? There was no sign of any other city dwellers and no damn dragon.

Why did Baldewin have to pull his ninja stunts now and completely disappear? The one time a dragon would actually come in handy, and the guy was nowhere to be found.

Of course, this was probably what Tori deserved. He hadn’t believed the dragon. He’d thought he could do this on his own, and he was wrong.

Leon stopped trying to hide his smile and turned his attention over to his companion. He barked something that could have been German, but Tori wasn’t sure. It certainly didn’t sound like “Let the idiot go,” because the guy’s fingers bit down into his shoulders as he started to force Tori toward the van. The bastard had several inches and at least fifty pounds on him. No matter how hard he tried to resist and jerk out of his grasp, he found himself one step after another closer until Leon was grabbing his arm.

There was no way in hell he was getting into that van. He didn’t have a clue what they had planned for him, but it was obvious it wasn’t good.

He jerked one arm free of Leon’s grasp and swung wildly at the man. Leon dodged, and his friend roughly cuffed Tori on the back of the head. The world went white for a second, and he blinked rapidly to bring everything back into focus. Both men were now grabbing at him, trying to stuff him into the van.

Tori struggled harder, kicking, punching and clawing at anything he could reach to break free. The vial of sunlight remained clenched in his left fist. He’d have only one shot at using it. He couldn’t miss, couldn’t fuck up, or they would have him for whatever they planned. It would be his luck that he’d blow himself up in the process.

Twisting one last time in their arms, Tori used his thumb to pop the cork from the vial before throwing it toward the front of the van. He pushed what little power he had behind it, focusing on the spell. The glass shattered, and for a heartbeat nothing happened. Had he missed?

A fireball exploded out of the engine block, and Tori nearly cackled. It was a damn impressive sight. Way more of an explosion than he’d been expecting. At least, that was the first thought in his mind after he stopped flying through the air. He was thrown free of the two mages and landed hard on the pavement. Pain shot through his left hip, knee, and shoulder as he rolled a few more meters.

Slower than he wanted to, Tori pushed himself up on his skinned palms and knees to find half the van belching up black smoke and fire. Unfortunately, Leon and his companion were getting to their feet faster than Tori. Their smirks of secret amusement were long gone, and they looked more inclined to take Tori apart than use him for whatever their grand plan was. That was not necessarily better, but at least now they had no shot of taking him anywhere.

Tori scrambled to his feet, wincing at each movement. He couldn’t stay here and face them both. He was outnumbered and had no useful fighting experience.

But he didn’t need to.

Baldewin was there.

And the dragon was fucking pissed.

Tori had barely gotten upright when Baldewin swooped in like some dark, avenging angel. His handsome face was twisted with rage as he delivered a series of lightning quick blows that had both mages crumpled on the ground, bleeding and moaning in pain. Tori was sure he’d never seen anyone move so fast or with such lethal dexterity. Baldewin was a ninja dragon. He had to be.

The second the mages were at least temporarily incapacitated, Baldewin was at Tori’s side, quick hands checking to make sure that he was all in one piece. The dragon opened his mouth to speak, but his head jerked around at the sound of approaching sirens. Someone had called in the explosion. They were about to be surrounded by police and firefighters.