"Boss, what is it?"
Hoxsons' voice sounded muddled and far away. Thorne could hardly believe what he was hearing. He shot his hand up in the air, silencing Hoxson and the rest of the crew gathered around him.
There's no way that's…
He closed his eyes and listened again. The voice moved through thoughts like the recollection of a speech in a dream. It was almost ghostly, like something from another world.
But the more he focused on it, focused on the words, the more he realized that it was just what he'd thought.
It was Adelaide.
"I'm hearing something," he said. "Feeling something."
"I hope it's a ‘something' that gets us closer to that traitor fuck," said Mick. "I'm ready to take that little shit apart limb-from-limb."
"Keep the chatter down," said Corvo. "Let the boss concentrate."
Thorne… spoke the voice in his mind. Find me…
He stood up, his eyes wide open.
"Midtown," he said. "She's somewhere in Midtown."
"Doesn't exactly narrow it down," said Jace. "Tens of thousands of people there."
"Maybe it does," said Corvo. "Only a handful of elder dragon families in the city, and each one's got their own dominion."
"And who's in Midtown?" asked Hoxson.
"The Van Hornes," said Thorne.
"And how the hell do you know this, boss?" said Mick.
"I don't know how to explain it," he said. "But I can hear her."
He knew this had something to do with the pregnancy, the baby inside of her. It connected them in some way. It was the only explanation he could think of for why he could hear her voice in his mind, why it seemed to pull him in a particular direction.
"Then what's the plan?" said Mick. "We storm the Van Hornes’? On a hunch?"
"It's the only option we have," said Thorne.
But, at that moment, he realized something. The Abruzzi were dead, and as far as the rest of the crew was concerned, what happened to Adelaide from here on out was none of their business.
"I don't know if this is all bullshit," said Thorne. "But I'm going. It's the only chance I have, and I'm not going to let it slip through my fingers."
He turned to the rest of his crew, making eye contact one-by-one.
"But this isn't any of your fight. This is my business, and I won't hold it against you if any of you don't want to risk your neck for this girl."
The answers were instantaneous.
"Not a fucking chance, boss," said Corvo. "You're storming this place, I'm going in right with you."
"We've been working as a team for this long," said Hoxson, "no sense in stopping now."
Jace and Mick nodded in agreement, and the matter was settled.
"But how're we gonna do this?" said Jace.
"Simple," said Thorne. "We do it medieval-style: storm the front gates."
***
"She's what?" the voice of Harold Van Horne boomed through the throne room.
"She's…pregnant, sir," said Aurelius, his tone heavy with fear.
Adelaide stood still as a stone. She'd known it was only a matter of time before the Van Hornes found out about her secret, but she wasn't expecting Aurelius to crack so soon.
"You…little tramp!" said Cecelia, looking upon Adelaide with a haughty expression.
"What a goddamn mess," said Harold, standing up from his seat and pacing back and forth.
"And it's progressing fast – very fast," said Aurelius. "Something about the ancient blood is accelerating the gestation period. It's only been a week since conception, but she's already the equivalent of almost two months along. At this rate, she'll be giving birth in a little less than a month."
"And the sex?"
"A boy," said Aurelius.
"Perhaps if it were a girl I could marry her off and forget about it. But there's not a chance in hell that I'll let my first-born son be that of another man!"
Harold turned his gaze to Aurelius.
"And you…" he said, raising a finger. "You had a simple job, to make sure that this girl was brought to me ready for my plans. And you couldn't even do that."
"How was I supposed to know she'd be... a whore!"
"Silence!" shouted Harold. "I was a fool to trust a traitor to do the job properly, and now I'm left to clean up your mess."
But before he could say another word, a klaxon sounded through the room.
"What the hell is that?" said Aurelius, looking around.
"It's…the alarm," said Harold, turning his attention to a display nearby. "Someone's breaking in through the lobby!"
Thorne! thought Adelaide, a smile creeping across her face. He's here!
"What?" hissed Cecelia. "Who on earth could be breaking into our tower?"
"I have no idea," said Harold. "The Abruzzi clan is gone, and no one else knows of our plan."
"No one but…" said Aurelius.
"Whoever they are," said Harold, "they're cutting through our guards like a knife through butter."
Just then, a series of booms sounded out from somewhere in the distance. Then there was silence, followed by a banging on the massive doors leading to the hall. Adelaide looked around, seeing looks of shock and fear on the faces of all of those around her.
Before anyone had a chance to react, however, the doors blew open, an explosion ripping through the front doors. Then, a pair of crashes sounded. Adelaide turned on her heels and saw that two silver dragons had smashed through the enormous windows behind the thrones, the two beasts landing at both sides of the Van Hornes. Her heart raced, and her eyes locked onto the billowing clouds of smoke at the front of the throne room.
Footsteps sounded as the dragons in the room snorted and stomped. And through the smoke strode Thorne, Jace and Mick at his side, a look of grim determination on his face.
"Just what the hell is going on here?" called out Harold.
But Thorne's only response was to withdraw his pistol, take aim, and fire a pair of shots to both sides of Harold, the bullets pinging off of the throne. Harold let out a shriek before ducking behind his seat, grabbing Cecelia by the hand, and taking her with him. Then, Jace and Mick shifted, and the room was surrounded by dragons. The few guards stationed made moves to defend themselves and the Van Hornes, but once the Talons shot fearsome glares in their directions, they quickly dropped their weapons.
"How…" said Aurelius from his position in the center of the circle of dragons who had him surrounded.
"She called, I came," said Thorne, anger burning in his narrowed eyes.
Adelaide's heart sang as she realized that Thorne had come for her. Springing up from where she'd hidden, she ran to Thorne's side.
"You OK?" he said, quickly looking her over.
"I'm fine," she said. "I can't believe you're here!"
"Neither can I," said Thorne.
"It's the goddamned blood!" shouted Harold, peeking out from behind his hiding place.
"My God," said Aurelius. "The girl's got more power than we'd thought possible. She has a true connection to our kind."
"Enough of the bullshit," said Thorne. "I don't know what kind of deal you made, but it's over. I'm taking her back, and you all can stay out of the way, or die."
"Not a fucking chance," said Aurelius. "I've been planning this for too long for you to ruin everything at the last moment."
Adelaide's heart pounded as she realized that violence was inevitable. Thorne gently pushed her behind him, shielding her from whatever might happen.
"Whaddya say, boss?" said Aurelius. "One-on-one?"
The crew all shot Thorne a look, as if concerned that he might take him up on the challenge.
"Let's do it."
Thorne shifted, his mighty dragon form towering above all the rest. Aurelius shifted moments later, and the two beasts stared each other down for a long moment. Then, Aurelius reached behind him quickly, grabbing the seat that Harold was hidden behind and tossed it at Thorne. The chair bounced harmlessly off Thorne's chest, but distracted him long enough for Aurelius to rush in and attack. He swiped his claws through the air, grazing Thorne's chest and carving three red lines into his silver scales.
Thorne roared, and Adelaide gasped as she watched Thorne react to the onslaught. Aurelius took advantage, running in and grappling with Thorne, attempting to pin him down for a final attack.
But Thorne was just too strong for him. He easily repelled the grapple before shooting out a jet of flame directly at Aurelius' face. The fire burned him badly, turning the silver scales on his face a deep, melted black, forcing him to close one eye.
This was all the opening Thorne needed. Adelaide watched as he rushed in, shoved Aurelius down to the ground, and slashed at his face. Aurelius let out a pained roar just as Thorne raised his foot, bringing it down hard on the dragon's neck.
The roar cut off abruptly, and Adelaide knew, at that moment, Aurelius was dead. She watched as Thorne took one last look at the body before shifting back to his human form and approaching the Van Hornes, who were still huddled together in fear.
"So much for the power of the elder families," said Thorne. "One dead, one hiding like scared rats."
"Are…are you going to kill us?" said Harold.
Adelaide watched as Thorne looked over the pair, a disgusted look on his face.
"I should, for what you've put me through," he said. "But there's no sport in cold-blooded murder. So help me, though, if you come for Adelaide or me, we'll be back. And so help me God, if we storm into this room again, you won't have time to beg for mercy."
He then cast a disgusted glance at Aurelius' body.
"I'll leave you with cleaning up this mess."
Thorne cast his gaze toward the night sky, the wind from the shattered window blowing cool through the room.
"Shifted flights are usually a no go," he said to Adelaide. "But I'm willing to make an exception."
Adelaide nodded.
"Let's go."
He shifted and she climbed onto his back. Moments later, Thorne, the rest of his crew in tow, was tearing through the night sky. Adelaide held on tight to the body of her lover, never wanting to let him go.