Page 55 of To Match A Dragon's Fire

Small towns like this could govern themselves without being checked, especially when the larger government had bigger worries on their hands.

When martial law was enacted, this town used it as an excuse to rob travelers on the road and force some of the less established families outside county lines so they could seize their land.

Maybe Earth was right.

It was time for a cleansing.

That wasn’t my call to make, but it didn’t mean I had to do nothing. I’d been planning to have a talk with their leader anyway. Ember’s arrival expedited things.

“Be a good lad and go fetch the sheriff for me.” I dropped the deputy near the back door of the building where the flames wouldn’t burn him alive before he could finish my requested task.

Thankfully, he was a smart one.

I hated it when humans tried to rebel and act bigger than they were.

He took off running with the radio pressed against his lips, calling for the town’s sheriff.

The door to the records office was unlocked and I sniffed the air, sensing it was empty of anyone who might try to get in my way.

I hummed a little tune as I walked to the filing cabinets. My solar-powered battery bank was in the travel bag in case I needed to turn on the computer to search through the system, but towns this size sometimes had paper trails and I had a feeling I might find what I was looking for in here.

Being a registrar myself, I was appalled at their organization system. The filing cabinet was out of order and nothing made sense.

If I were a book of receipts, where would I find you?

The humans are coming.

Ah.Right there.I pulled the ledger out of the bottom drawer in the clerk’s desk.

Hillary Roberts’ signature was on the deposit slips for every check coming in over the past…

I stopped flipping pages when I saw Ember’s name, red tinting my vision as smoke and shadows curled around me.

The back door to the building burst open. Booted footsteps came pounding down the hall.

“Drop what you’re holding and put your hands up!” the stout human shouted.

Sheriff Roberts stood in front of his office door, directly across the hall from the clerk’s office, breathing heavy and stinking of day-old sweat as he huddled behind a team of men dressed in bulletproof vests. Their human guns pointed at me.

I smirked. “No. I don’t think that I will.”

And that’s when I decided that the town didn’t need a City Hall building anymore.

17

Ember

Dancing Dishes

“He’s outside.”

“Aww! He brought flowers.”

“Let me see.” Harper elbowed her mom and Riley so she could get to the blinds. “He didn’t bring us any chocolate.”

“You know he can probably hear you,” I whispered harshly, feeling my heart jump around my chest. They gave me a look saying they knew and didn’t care.

I rolled my eyes as I pulled open the door.

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