Valerius tended to agree, though Landry had stood up to him about Caden but she hadn’t been sure back then that Caden was the ninth Dragon Shifter. He wasn’t sure that she would have been so virulent in her support if she had known. After all, she had given Caden up to Jasper.
“She’s a good person. You don’t know her. She’s just had bad influences in her life,” Caden mumbled. “Turn left here. Her parents’ place is at the end of the block. Ranch style house with green shutters.”
“We’ll park half a block away. They would not have been able to reach here yet,” Valerius said. “We’ll see them if they come here.”
Valerius pulled the SUV over to the side of the road, careful to be as far away from any street lamps. He turned off the engine and lights. Darkness filled the interior of the SUV. All of the blinds of the house’s windows were drawn, but there were still several lights on. One in the front room and another in a television room. The flickering blue-white light of a television identified that space.
Valerius wondered what it would be like for Landry’s parents, thinking that all of their children were dead, while staring at the television. Was the television watching occurring because the parents wanted to dull themselves to the pain of losing all of their kids? Did they stare at it vacant-eyed? Maybe they didn’t believe their children were dead. Maybe they had been told that Landry and her brothers would become Shifters and that had happened. What joy they would experience having their children return. Except it wouldn’t be their children. It would be the Behemoth.
The engine’s ticking was the only noise for a moment, but Illarion could not help but banish the silence.
“Again, what is our plan?” Illarion asked.
“You’re hoping for a fight, aren’t you?” Valerius sighed.
“Aren’t you? I am sick of this sitting and waiting while the Behemoth dances all around us, killing people,” Illarion said with a shake of his head.
“Yes, I see your point. But whatever action we take must be careful. We don’t know what we’re dealing with,” Valerius said, even as he, too, wanted to bust some heads.
“It seems to me,” Caden said, “that we have a couple options here if Landry and her brothers are not hurting anyone. First, we can watch them and follow where they go from here. Or the second option is Illarion’s, which is that we capture and imprison them. Even if the parts of the Behemoth can leave them, at least we’ve freed them from that creature.”
“Hopefully, the Spirit is not the only thing keeping those bodies alive,” Illarion said with a grimace.
“Do you think that our Spirits could inhabit our bodies without us?” Caden’s eyes widened.
“No, because there are too many Spirits who would make that choice,” Valerius said with a shake of his head.
“Mephous and I are completely aligned, but it took a great deal of time for Mephous to find me,” Illarion stated. “Mephous is not a patient creature and would have acted before if it thought it could. So I guess my idea is shit.”
Illarion chortled, enjoying that idea, for some reason.
“How long would it take to get here from the Below?” Caden asked, checking the time. “Thirty minutes walking at least, right?”
Valerius nodded. “That is if they are walking. They may have vehicles.”
“Right.” Caden sighed.
“That gives us time to talk!” Illarion grinned.
Perhaps I spoke too soon about how it is a good idea you befriending Illarion, Caden, Valerius sent over their bond.
Caden laughed, but said, “Okay, Illarion, what do you want to talk about?”
“Sex,” Illarion stated.
“W-what?” Caden twisted around in the seat to look at Illarion. He unclipped his seatbelt.
“You and Valerius are the first and only Dragons to--to mate,” Illarion explained. “One of the others thinks that our mates may be imprisoned in the Behemoth. So--”
“You want to know what sex is like with another Dragon Shifter?” Caden filled in.
“I am not discussing sex with you, Illarion,” Valerius growled.
“There is a big helix rotating over your castle. Everyone is talking about your sex life,” Illarion said as he also pointed outside the window to where the helix still slowly spun.
“He’s got a point, Valerius.” Caden looked amused.
“You want to discuss this with him?” Valerius’ eyebrows lifted.
