by Aaron Crash
They caught Sixth Avenue to Speer Boulevard and then took a left on First Avenue. The Whipp-Ross Compound was three houses together near Cherry Creek Mall, protected by Uchiko and the Onari Guard.
In the gatehouse, a hooded dark-skinned man waved them through. Building the gatehouse and the gates had been relatively inexpensive compared to the cost of cutting through the red tape. It wasn’t exactly bribery to get the building permits, but then again, it wasn’t exactly legal.
With the amount of money Steven had, and was willing to share, certain government officials grew quite creative with the workarounds they offered.
In the end, getting the compound built had been worth it. The final thing they needed was warding magic, but that meant access to the ever elusive AnimusChain ability off the Mirror-Souled Path.
The three houses were huge, but one was clearly larger with an extra story added. That one housed Uchiko’s twenty-three ninja’s, the half-dragons she’d trained. He still didn’t have a complete picture of Uchiko’s life, or any of the Onari Guards’ for that matter. They were ashamed to talk about what they perceived as their failures. Steven sighed. “Everyone has a secret past except for me.” He drove around to park in front of his mother’s house.
No one replied. They had all been shaken up by what had happened in the Sloan’s Lake chamber.
“I’ll take Zoey to get her tattoo,” Mouse offered. “I’m not much for Christmas festivities.”
That did not surprise him, but he didn’t joke about it. No one else did either. Steven, Aria, Tessa, and Sabina got out of the car.
Mouse drove off with Zoey in the passenger seat. The bear girl waved goodbye sadly.
Not even the sunlight could warm the four that remained behind. A chill breeze blew off the Rockies. Denver traffic seemed hushed.
“I saw the walls change in that chamber,” Tessa said. “Did we screw up royally? Do the Zothoric know we are here?”
“No, mi amor,” Sabina said. “I would know. We didn’t exactly see them. And they did not see us. But they are there. Not legends. But real.”
“What did they look like?” Steven asked.
“Shadows,” Tessa said.
“Teeth,” from Sabina.
“Talons.” Tessa shivered. “I don’t want to think about them or that word I said. But, Sabina, we’ll fight them, won’t we? I kind of saw it. Kind of felt it. But it won’t be here. It will be somewhere else.”
“Si,” the Latina Magician said. “Somewhere else. And not for a long time. Now, I’m hungry, and I need to meditate. I hope someone has a pinche carrot I can eat.” She sighed.
Steven’s mom was home, and Florence Whipp was as distracted and ditzy as ever. But she gave Aria, Tessa, and Sabina great big hugs. Mrs. Whipp still worked as a janitor at Denver’s airport, but now that she had a new family to worry over, she’d cut her hours. Mrs. Whipp’s usually unkempt hair was tied back in a ponytail to show her face, lined and wrinkled but smiling.
And then the decorating began. Outside, it was easy to hang the lights on the roof. Tessa took Steven’s mom over to talk with Jared and her sister, Abby. The guy Abby was dating had asked her to marry him, and she’d said yes. She figured she would change her name from Abby to Abigail, to mark the change.
So they had “Abigail’s” wedding to look forward to. Steven already knew Tessa would work herself to death to try to make it perfect for her sister. It made him think about his Escort and their expectations about marriage. He knew a few of the women were looking forward to it. Aria was very traditional when it came to Dragonsoul culture. She’d want the ring. Tessa? It was a different story for the pansexual, polyamorous, gunslinging Magician.
With Mrs. Whipp gone for the moment, Steven and Aria could hide themselves from human eyes to string the lights on the roof. Thirty feet tall, Steven got it done quick, while Aria assisted.
“What did you do last year for Christmas?” he asked the Indian woman.
Aria shrugged. “A girl in my Economics class invited me over. I spent it with her and her family.” She paused, adjusting her wings. “Christmas in America is very culturally specific. There seem to be a lot of rules. For example, the family said presents are to be opened on Christmas morning without exception.”
“Sounds about right.” Steven carefully looped a strand of lights around a nail. He had to be careful with the claws on his feet, so he didn’t scrape up the lawn. “But every family is going to be different.”
“They also insisted on an angel at the top of the tree, not a star. And popcorn seemed to be very important. Strings of popcorn.”
Steven had to laugh at that. “We never did the popcorn thing, but I know other families that did. And we had a star. It was from my mom’s family. Lots of Christmas traditions get passed down.” He finished hanging a strand and took another from Aria’s arms. “So no Christmas in India?”
“More and more there is—especially Christmas trees—but it’s a Hindu country. As Dragonsouls, we were even further removed from the celebrations. Personally, I always found the legend of Santa Claus rather unsettling.”
“A strange man coming down your chimney in the middle of the night? What is unsettling about that?” Steven had to chuckle.
When Steven and Aria were done, both turned back into humans and dressed. His eyes kept going to the gooseflesh on her brown skin. When she bent over, her breasts dangled a bit, and he thought maybe they might find an empty room.
Aria caught him looking and smiled at him. That smile promised a lot. However, Aria was business first, pleasure later. “Maybe another time, my Prime,” she said, still smiling. “You promised to help your mother decorate the inside of the house as well, and we need to get on the road once dinner is over.”
Steven sighed. Money and power only seemed to add to his responsibilities, not take any away.
She left to see about Sabina. Steven found himself alone outside.
A cloaked man, thick around the middle, emerged from the largest house. Steven recognized him as Haru, one of the Onari Guard. The Dragonskin kept his wings tucked away in the cloth and his tail hidden. His face and hands were normal. His feet, though, were claws that he kept stuffed into big black boots. Haru had large lips and expressive brown eyes. Being around so much rich American food was widening his middle. Kind of funny to see a half-dragon ninja getting a bit chunky.
He bowed. “Konnichiwa, Steven-dono. I have come to greet you and give you a report.”
Steven nodded at the word dono. It was an honorific, meaning lord. “Okay, Haru, but normally, I talk with Uchiko.”
“She cannot come out during the day to meet you,” he said. “And she asked that you not come in. She has heard of your new additions to your Escort, and she is happy for you. However…” The man frowned and lowered his head.
Steven had told Uchiko on more than one occasion that he didn’t care how she looked. Uchiko, though, was as proud as she was strong. Throw in a dash of stubbornness and at times she could be completely impossible to deal with.
“However, she doesn’t want me to see her,” Steven finished. “Am I right?”
Haru glanced away. “Hai. Sometimes she is more comfortable with herself than other days. Today is not good.”
Steven frowned. Dammit, he had to find a way to fix things with Uchiko. Either he had to figure out a way to restore her humanity or help her finish the rituals. But everyone said that was impossible. Maybe with FleshForge he could change her one way or the other.
Steven let the Uchiko issue drop. He asked, “Does my mother or Tessa’s family suspect anything odd about you?”
Haru shook his head. “There are five of us who can pass as humans and we are in contact. We do the yardwork and make the rounds. The others roam the compound at night to train and to stay fit. The families do not suspect anything, and we will keep it that way.”
Steven nodded. “Thank you for the report, Haru. Please give Uchiko my best.”
The chubby Dragonskin gave a
deep bow, then hurried back to the Onari Guards’ house. Steven went back to his mother’s. From there, it was a flurry of decorating, setting up the tree, untangling strings of light, taking out cherished ornaments and hooking them onto the branches of his mom’s fake tree. He’d offered to buy her a new one, but she had refused. Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, and Ray Charles supplied the Christmas carols.
Tessa had already decorated the Ross house with her sister and her mom. The barista, Abigail, and Jared all rolled into his mom’s living room. Abigail was traditionally pretty, so different from Tessa’s wild hairstyles, piercings, and tattoos. Jared had a tiny, withered body, trapped in his big wheelchair. He had a large head with big expressive eyes and soft dark hair. When he smiled, it was like he smiled with his whole body.
“Hey! How you been?”
“Awesome. I mean, aside from the whole wheelchair thing,” Jared said, then grinned. The kid had a sharp sense of humor. “I’ve been playing Fortnite on that computer you got me.”
“Really? You figuring it out?” Steven had paid a little extra to get the computer slaved to Jared’s chair controls, but he hadn’t been sure how the kid would get on.
“Pfff. I’m in the top ten almost every game, and I won twice last night.” Jared beamed.
Steven grinned and shook his head. Jared had grit. He wondered how they might be able to help Jared. If they could master FleshForge, could they give Jared a new body? What were the limits of their power? And if they could heal Jared, could dragons help heal every human on the planet?
Mouse and Zoey came back from the tattoo parlor. Zoey sat quietly on the couch near the street. Her right hand rested on her left forearm, where she’d gotten the hurricane circle with Liam Strider’s special ink. Now, they were all hidden from anyone trying to scry them.
Mrs. Whipp was amazingly gracious, but at one point, she did pull Steven aside into her big, new kitchen with new cabinetry and a wide marble island. “Steven, all these women, they aren’t just friends, are they? I see the looks they give you, especially the new girl, Zoey. She adores you. She keeps giving you the eye.”
That one word, eye, made him think of the chambers. And the third volume’s cryptic warning about waiting for the next torch.
His mother backed up right away when he didn’t answer. “It’s not my place to ask, Steven. I’m sorry.”
“No, Ma, it’s okay.” But how could he even begin to defend his lifestyle with his mother? This was not how he wanted to spend the day. Weren’t there any bloodthirsty Primes he could fight?
“Okay, here’s the thing…” He couldn’t finish the sentence. He wanted to explain that he wasn’t human, that he was different, but realized he couldn’t say a word. He’d promised the Dragonsoul community to keep Dragonsouls a secret from humans. Bud was his consigliere, so in that case, things were different. But with his mom? Probably better she didn’t know.
“Mom, remember what we said at the party?” he asked.
She laughed. “I hardly remember yesterday!”
“We agreed my romantic life was complicated. Let’s just leave it at that.” However, it wasn’t all that complex. He was in love with ten women, and they were in love with him. And human ideas about possessiveness, jealousy, and monogamy simply worked differently among Dragonsouls.
“I’ll drop it, sweetie,” his mom said. Then she smiled. “I love Tessa’s new hairstyle. I’m not crazy about the color, but I don’t miss the shaving part.”
Steven hugged his mom.
The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. They sat down to a late lunch—the gathering was too big for the dining table, so they ate in the living room. Zoey masterfully threw together a big buffet of food from cauliflower-crust pizza to a tossed salad with candied pecans, cranberries, and feta cheese. She found pot stickers in the fridge, a big bag from Costco, and made several batches. She added a vegetable stir-fry and perfectly cooked rice. In the end, there was so much food that everyone just made up their plates in the kitchen with whatever they liked and then sat or stood and talked with whomever they pleased.
Steven spent as much time as he could with his mom, and she kept her word about letting things lie. Tessa hung around with her family mostly, joking with Jared and giggling with Abigail like they were little girls. Then the meal was done, and the Rosses went back to their place. After they all helped Zoey do the dishes, it was time to go.
They said goodbye and left the house to pile back into Jeeves.
Steven had forgotten about the very mundane human reality of rush hour traffic. At 5:30 p.m., I-25 south was a parking lot. He had to sigh.
“Well, how far should we try to go before we stop for the night?” he asked.
Sabina, from the back, answered. “We will be staying in Raton tonight. There is a bed and breakfast called the Heart’s Desire Inn. I made reservations for us months ago. Steven and I will talk. It will be the last night of peace we will have until we return to the Infinity Ranch.”
Mouse let out a choked gasp. “Worst travel agent ever! Here is where you’ll be staying, and here is a cryptic message of doom and despair. I can only imagine the Yelp reviews.”
“I’m not finished, chica,” Sabina said. “Steven, you should also call the twins when we stop to get gas. They will have something to tell you.”
Sure they do, Steven thought. But could he trust a single word they had to say?
FOURTEEN
Chastity and Pru Wayne were on their boat when Chazzie’s cell phone rang, playing “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” They’d had a bellyful of Carlo Bart Baxter and needed a bit of time off from scheming. They were in the Gulf of Mexico with Corpus Christi’s lights glittering on the horizon.
They’d been shooting skeet. The scent of gunpowder lingered in the air over the salty sting of the seawater lapping at the side of the boat. Everything else was dark water and starry sky. Pru lounged naked on one of the sofas on the deck. She’d turn into a pink Homo Draconis every once in a while, feel that rush from the fire within, before turning human again to sip her Atrial Rubicite in the big can. They both loved that raspberry beer. Yeah, but they’d brought a case of Bud Light as well because that just made good sense. It had been a hot day, nearly eighty, which was unseasonably warm, but that meant a good evening for floating and drinking on their speed boat which was, in essence, a mini-yacht.
Chazzie didn’t recognize the number, but she answered with a cheery, “Hello?”
“Hi, this is Steven Drokharis. You gave me your number.”
“Hey, Steven. This is Chastity Wayne. You call to flirt?”
“No, I’m calling because dragons with Republic of Texas tattoos keep trying to kill me. I survived the second attempt on my life. Two had the Texas tattoos. Is your Prime trying to kill me?” he asked.
Chazzie stood. Her pink bikini clung to her curves. She walked to the bow where her sister was lying and turned on the speakerphone. “Hi, Steven,” Pru cooed. “Notice I didn’t call you Stevie? My sister and I are very trainable.”
Chazzie rolled her eyes and mouthed, Be careful!
Steven wasn’t a typical Prime who did most of his thinking with his dick.
“Hello, Prudence,” Steven said. “So, information?”
Chazzie heard a huge whoosh of something on the phone, highway traffic? That sounded like a semi going past Steven. And was that the click and clunk of someone getting gas?
“Where are you calling from?” Chazzie asked.
“Gas station. From a payphone. Where I am doesn’t matter. One of my Magicians said that you might have information for me.”
Chazzie and Pru had contacted a Magician of their own, Cactus Bill, who was unaffiliated with Carlo Bart. Cactus Bill had given them a tip on the Chicago hit, but he hadn’t seen anything more. Only the fact that the twins were in danger and shit was about to get real. Well, duh. Playing poker for peanuts didn’t get the blood flowing. Playing poker for body parts? That captured your interest quick, fast, and in a hurry.
Steven laughed. “Yeah, I’m not going to give away my position. Still not a lot of trust between us.”
“No trust, probably no love, but when are we going to share some lust?” Pru asked.
Chazzie again mouthed to her sister, Be more careful!
Another laugh from Steven. “Well, wouldn’t sex just complicate things? And you two have the rings on your fingers. I think your Prime would know if we did anything. That also makes me think that you’re not ready to jump ship yet.”
“But we warned you about that trouble in Chicago.” Chazzie used her thumb to caress the wedding band. “You can trust us.”
“I’ve had other dragons want to make deals with me,” Steven said.
“Yeah, Cassius Pine. The way we heard it, you and Mouse cut off his bits ’til you couldn’t cut no more. Got you five new wives in the process. Ain’t that a good deal?”
“It was,” Steven said. “How many wives does Carlo Bart Baxter have?”
Chazzie and Pru looked at each other. Pru shrugged and waved a hand, giving her sister permission to reveal the confidential information. This was a definite betrayal.
Chazzie talked troops. “He has thirty-five—no wait, Connie Kant has dropped out of sight, but that makes thirty-six.”
Pru, of course, couldn’t resist. “We’re his favorites though.”
Chazzie hoped they were, but she wasn’t about to reveal any of their doubts.
“What about his other vassals?” Steven asked.
Chazzie went on. In for a penny, in for a pound. “Oh, a couple hundred hangers-on… Magicians, Morphlings, Warlings. Probably should add that two of his biggest baddies are Maria Diablo and this crazy-ass dragon named Wyatt Gunn, with two Ns. Kinda overkill if you ask me.”
