Audrey Wright

The prisoner didn’t want to drink. She clearly didn’t want to do much of anything but die. I didn’t want that. It wasn’t fair. We weren’t going to hurt her. We just wanted some answers.

Then again, she had killed that other dragon because he had been about to flee. He had turned his back on their leader. Would Jeremy kill her because of her incompetence?

“Why do you want to die?” I murmured, smearing my blood on her lips. “Why do you want to leave Jeremy?”

She shifted slightly, head still drooping, but I knew I had hit a nerve. She wasn’t too far gone yet that she couldn’t hear.

“If you love him so much, you need to stick around,” I encouraged. “The venom in your claws, whatever you’ve done, human blood will heal it.”

Her eyes widened, and she tried to jerk back, but Damon held her shoulders, Francesco the back of her head, and I could tell blood entered her mouth. She tried to spit it out, but my arm prevented her, and she swallowed.

Despite their hold on her, she jerked her head away from my wrist. It was amazing how quickly the blood worked as a cure.

“You had no right to heal me,” she said angrily. “I have failed him. I deserve to die. I will die!”

“And that is unfortunate,” I said, trying to sound sympathetic. “Jeremy is a phoenix, right? He told me so himself. He won’t die.”

She glowered at me and kept silent.

The guys slowly stepped away from her. The female was glowering at the floor as if it personally offended her. I met their gazes and shifted to look at the door.

Damon nodded, and I smiled, appreciating that he was willing to listen and trust me on this. Francesco, on the other hand, hesitated. I jerked my head toward the door and gave him a look that said Now. He smirked, a thought clearly going through his head, but now wasn’t the time to ask him, and he followed Damon out the door.

I refocused on the woman and knelt in front of her. If she wanted, she could try to choke me, but the fight had gone out of her. She was a shell of her former self, and I hated to see that. All because she had failed the man she loved. Granted, she loved an asshole who killed countless people and had supposedly gained the power of immortality. Even so, I felt sorry for her. She believed her love would kill her. That was terrible.

“Or maybe he would die,” I mused conversationally. “He will just be reborn in the flames, right? Is that how it goes?”

After a moment, she nodded.

“So, Miguel helped him then.” Damn it. That was all my fault. If I hadn’t been captured, Jeremy wouldn’t have died. “Is he stronger after he’s reborn?”

She hesitated.

“Your love is going to kill you,” I said. “We aren’t. We want you to live.”

“There’s no point,” she muttered, glancing away. “You can’t win. He can’t die. He will hunt me down. He’ll free me from your jail and then kill me.”

“You think he would go to that much trouble?” I shook my head. “No. We’ll keep you safe.”

“Why?” she asked in disbelief. “I wanted to kill you.”

“Do you still want to?”

“Yes,” she said, but she said it with reservation. She was so utterly resigned that she hardly seemed like the same person.

“Do you know how Jeremy became a phoenix?” I asked.

The prisoner refused to speak.

“Did you help him become one?”

She shook her head slightly.

Progress. Perhaps. Could I trust her? She could be lying, and I would have no way to know.

“He must be the most powerful being on Earth,” I mused. “How does that make you feel, knowing you love someone so formidable?”

"Like you care at all about him or me. You claim you want to keep me alive. You don't. You actually were able to harm dragons. You. A human," she spat out. "And your three-headed monster killed the rest of them. You all have blood on your hands."

“So we were just supposed to roll over and die for you all, not defend ourselves in our own home. The lot of you came to our house specifically to fight.” I rubbed my chin and tapped my foot. “But wait, you weren’t supposed to kill me, were you?”

She scowled deeply.

Pissing her off might not be the best choice, but I was growing a little upset. Usually, it was best to allow a suspect a chance to have silent, to let them fill it in, to see what they might give up willingly before digging deeper. We didn’t have that luxury, and the stakes were so much higher right now. Too many lives were at stake. I couldn’t risk waiting days or even weeks for her to trust me.

“Did Jeremy think that your force would be enough to kill any of them?” I asked. “Or did he just want me captured again? I don’t’ know. I find that hard to believe that he would resort to the same trick twice, considering it hadn’t worked out as planned the first time around. If he really wanted all of the leaders did, why not come himself? He doesn’t need to fear death. Why not send his entire force?”

The prisoner said nothing at all.

I stood and retreated two steps. “Would you like something to eat or drink?” I asked.

“Besides your blood, you mean?”

“Yes,” I said sheepishly.

When she said nothing, I left the room and made her a can of soup. The fridge was stocked. Miguel must've gone shopping, but I didn't want to spend too much time making food. She had to be starving, and I felt bad that I had questioned her without giving her something to eat first. A can of Italian chicken and vegetable soup would have to do.

I carried in the bowl and a glass of water.

She held up her shackled hands. “Can’t exactly feed myself easily with this,” she said.

“I know. I’ll feed you. I handed her the water. “I’m sorry about all of this.”

She harrumphed.

Carefully, I fed her a few bites. She was clearly starving.

“Do you have a name?” I asked, expecting her to ignore me again.

“Of course I do.” She hesitated. “Patrice. Patrice Simmons.”

“Nice to meet you, Patrice. I hope you aren’t a vegetarian.”

Patrice almost cracked a smile. “I don’t think it’s possible for dragons to be vegetarians.”

“Good. If you’re still hungry after this, I can get you something else. Maybe a sandwich.”

“We aren’t friends,” she warned.

“But we don’t have to be enemies,” I countered.

She had no answer for that.