by Aaron Crash
The Wayne twins, still Homo Draconi, stood in front of the army.
It was Chazzie who let out growling laughter. “Well, Carlo Bart, here he is, Steven Drokharis, all alone and feeling lonesome. Just like we promised.”
Steven smiled. “So this is the mousetrap. Shit, I wish you would’ve at least provided some cheese. Hey, Carlo Bart, you want to talk before you kill me? Or should we just start fighting right away?”
Steven and his Escort had faced such overwhelming odds before when Rhaegen Mulk had emptied his arsenal for the Battle of Cheyenne. However, they’d had Mathaal in their back pocket, the ultimate secret weapon. For the Battle of Yellowstone, Liam Strider and Uchiko and the Onari Guard had played vital roles.
For this fight? It was just his core Escort, including Zoey, whom he’d not seen fight before, other than in visions.
“Why would I wanna talk to you?” a big, deep voice broke through the night. “You’re here to die. Don’t make no sense to talk to a dead man.”
“You are a cowardly piece of shit, aren’t you?” Steven kept his voice strong and confident. He’d like to avoid the chaos of a battle, but that probably wasn’t going to happen. “I was thinking you and I could duel at dawn. That would give you one last night alive.”
The Morphlings parted, their armor clinking, their big bodies shifting.
Carlo Bart Baxter came forward in a blue silk suit with a white shirt and no tie. He must’ve exhausted several million silk worms to spin that much material. His hulking frame was as tall as the Wayne twins in their partial form. Sterling silver rings dotted with turquoise gleamed off his hands. His high-and-tight haircut made him look like a Dallas Cowboy linebacker who now owned the team.
The Wayne twins had taken a few steps back. It was just Steven and Carlo Bart in front of the shack, surrounded by a hundred stinking bodies. Those Morphlings needed a bath. How had Zoey tolerated the stench?
And the biggest stinker? A big wereboar with bristly hair drooping from his spitty muzzle. He was the biggest pig, the biggest shifter, of the batch. It had to be Juice Juice in his silver armor.
“A duel at dawn?” Carlo Bart boomed laughter. “Why not high noon?”
“It’ll be too dark,” Steven replied. “I want to watch you die.”
More laughter. Even his minions tittered.
“Dark at noon?” Carlo Bart strutted around Steven, who was a full foot shorter than the monstrous Prime. “What they teach you in that college, boy? Noon and midnight aren’t the same.”
“You’re right. I get so easily confused,” Steven said. “So let’s do pistols at dawn. No armies. Just me against you.”
Carlo Bart stopped in front of Steven. He shouldered off his suit coat and let it drop. He then undid his cuff links. “If you want to fight, what about right fucking now?”
“I don’t have the Animus for it,” Steven lied. “It was a long flight in. And you want me at my fullest, right?” This was the plan, to get Carlo Bart alone. According to the Wayne twins, this was only one part of the Texarkana Prime’s army. He’d be calling in the rest, which Steven wanted.
Carlo Bart unbuttoned his shirt. He was mostly smooth with only a bit of hair on his chest. His arms, though, flexed with powerful muscles. He dropped his pants.
“I said fight,” Steven said with a smirk. “Don’t you even think of trying to kiss me.”
“Yeah, we’ll fight,” Carlo Bart said. “But I didn’t want to ruin my suit. I’m still trying to get the magic right, so we can change and not be naked. I can do it for my jewelry, but not clothes just yet. But I don’t mind being naked. I like it, especially when I fuck my twins.”
He shifted into a dark blue Homo Draconis. His dragon scent was surprising sweet, like cotton candy melting on a campfire. He slithered behind Steven and slammed a clawed hand on Steven’s back. Steven exaggerated the stumble forward. He kept his feet. He didn’t turn to attack. It wasn’t the time to fight yet. His Escort was still getting into place, thanks to a little forgotten scroll they’d found stuffed in the third volume. Everyone had forgotten about it except for Steven and Tessa.
Carlo Bart’s snarl deafened Steven. “Chastity, Prudence, I want Steven to see what he was never gonna have, no matter how much you two flirted with him. Shift back and show him your titties one last time.”
The Wayne twins did as they were told. Tails disappeared, as did wings. Claws became delicate fingers. Scales became smooth, freckled flesh. A Magician cast a spell that lit them up in an unforgiving light. Chazzie’s eyes showed her doubt and pain. Pru’s face was expressionless. Her eyes were dead.
Not that Carlo Bart would notice. He only leered at their bodies.
“Look at them, Stevie. Oh, I bet they made you feel like a king, promised you their never-ending loyalty, and got your dick as hard as Chinese algebra. But no, they’re mine. Forever. See those rings on their fingers? That means something among our kind.”
Steven clenched his teeth. This asshole behind him didn’t deserve Chazzie and Pru. He would never fully appreciate their gifts. Chazzie was right. Carlo Bart might be powerful, but he was a stupid fuck, and he wasn’t going to agree to a duel, not unless he was pushed into it.
Damn, this next part was going to be equal parts sheer brutality and delicate surgery. But Steven looked out over the army he was facing down, and he knew only a fraction of Carlo Bart’s forces were there. He wanted them all in Odessa when he removed their Prime from the world. And even if he could kill all of Carlo Bart’s vassals, he wouldn’t want to. In the end, he needed them alive.
Yes, every soldier would be important in his conquest of the North American continent and then in his battle against the Zothoric. The demons had wiped out the Alpheros. Steven wasn’t going to let that happen again, neither to the Dragonsouls nor to the humans.
Avoiding a full-on battle royale with Carlo Bart’s armies would also keep his Escort safe. At some point, their luck was bound to run out and one of his wives would die. Steven didn’t want that to happen. He’d seen the grief in Liam Strider’s face often enough to know that losing one of his Escort would damage him, maybe beyond repair.
No. Orchestrating the showdown with Carlo Bart might be risky, but in the end, it was the best course of action for them all.
He only hoped the twins would survive it.
“Ready to die, Stevie?” Carlo Bart growled in his ear. The Texarkana Prime’s talons glowed with painful incandescence. IonClaws.
“Tessa. It’s time,” Steven said softly.
The sound of a revolver cocking, that mechanical click, came from behind Carlo Bart. The sound of a hammer being pulled back echoed through the night. That was one of Tessa’s impossible pistols, getting up close and personal with the Texarkana Prime’s back.
TWENTY-TWO
Steven stepped away from Carlo Bart.
“What the shit?” the Texarkana Prime hissed. His IonClaws faded away. Even with SerpentGrace, he couldn’t have cut off Steven’s head and dodged the gun in his back, held by Tessa, who’d been invisible by the entrance of the shack.
The first of many surprises.
Lightning hit the metal sides of the Blowtorch from two dragons that appeared in the night, one scarlet and one amber-colored. The skeins of electricity licked up the sides of the bar to flash-fry the three Dragonsouls on top—three of Carlo Bart’s wives, smoked like three Swisher Sweets.
The smell of bitter almonds and sewage was caught in the wind. Morphlings at the back began to cough as the miasma of poisonous gas caught them. One werebear shucked off its armor to puke on the ground. A werewolf coughed up blood and then pieces of his lungs. A wereboar went insane, slashing at anything that came close as he suffocated from the Toxicity Exhalant, compliments of Aria and Mouse.
“Never again!” a monstrous growl thundered from Steven’s right.
Zoey came bounding in, nine feet long, and two thousand pounds of bear. She lowered a shoulder and rammed another bear, cracking his neck. She rose and mau
led a Magician before he could utter a single spell. Behind Zoey walked Sabina, eyes gleaming. With her green force fields, she kept them safe from spells, guns, and claws.
“What the hell?” Rage clamped Carlo Bart’s jaws down. “What is this?”
“This? This is why you don’t fuck with Steven Drokharis or his Escort,” Tessa said. “You want to trap us? No, we trap you.”
Aria and Mouse were back to back, both breathing fire and creating a whirlpool of flames around them. A red shield and a yellow shield flickered at their sides. Gunfire had erupted, and the air around them flashed as bullets glanced off their force fields.
Sabina had an assault rifle in her hands, standing next to Zoey. A Kevlar-clad Warling sped to knife the bear. His speed was enhanced by SerpentGrace and he moved in a blur. But Sabina fired once, aiming not where he was, but where he would be, a foot ahead of him. The bullet struck his throat, and he went down.
Zoey wheeled. Though she couldn’t claw through the armor covering the Sounders, she could pick them up, which she did. She latched onto a werewolf and hurled it into the fire Aria was spewing. The wolf cooked in the steel covering him.
The woman Warling with the tattoos and shaved head went down on a knee and fired at Steven.
He caught her barrage with his own shield. A Magician peppered him with Impetim blasts. Those long lines of crackling blue energy never hit him but winked away in flashes of pink. That was Tessa’s shield.
Juice came thundering forward to get to Steven, Tessa, and Carlo Bart. The Morphling’s hooves kicked up dirt before he rammed his head into another force field. He dropped into the dirt, unconsciousness.
“How many fucking shield spells do you have going?” Carlo Bart breathed.
“A lot,” Steven answered. He was sweating. The air had heated up from the Inferno Exhalants, the violence, and all the bodies. “Call off your army. You and I will fight at dawn. This is only a few of my wives. Shamhat and Hwedo should be here any minute.”
At the mention of Rahaab’s wives, Carlo Bart cursed. “Fuck.”
Not that the two female Dragonsouls were on the planet anymore. Liam had opened a portal into… somewhere… and those two were gone. But Carlo Bart didn’t know that. He’d assume that they’d joined Steven’s Escort as the spoils of war once Rahaab was slain.
“And the Five Widows are about five minutes away,” Tessa added.
That was a riskier bluff.
Tessa, though, knew that. “Liam Strider sure is good with portal spells. Oh, he’ll be here too, the Yellow Ronin. You might not know it, but he can make the most amazing grilled cheese sandwiches.”
Carlo Bart’s dragons had joined the fight and were trying to electrocute Zoey and Sabina. Their shield spells were only going to last for so long. Steven recognized a big black male with green-edged scales. It had to be Wyatt Gunn. Next to him rose a black-and-orange female, Maria Diablo. Both had been with the Dragonsouls that had attacked him in Chicago.
And in human form, they would have the Republic of Texas tattoos, which had kept them hidden from the scrying of the Wayne sisters.
Speaking of which, the twins had switched into their True Forms and were circling Aria and Mouse. The two pink dragons were breathing ArcticWind, but that cold was melted in all the fire. It looked like the Wayne sisters were trying to attack, so that was good.
“Call them off!” Steven ordered.
They’d discussed having Tessa just shoot Carlo Bart in the back. However, the Wayne twins said there was be a good chance his troops wouldn’t stop and would kill Steven and his Escort out of spite. They’d done well to survive an initial attack, but they’d lose a real battle. Also, the twins both agreed that murdering Carlo Bart in cold blood wouldn’t win the hearts and minds of the Texarkana Prime’s vassals. No, to really secure Carlo Bart’s Primacy, Steven had to kill him in a duel.
Only the Texas dragon wouldn’t be playing fair. Neither would Steven.
“Enough!” Carlo Bart thundered. “Wyatt! Maria! Juice! Stand down!”
Juice was just getting to his hooves, shaking off his unexpected collision. He grunted and sat back on his haunches.
As for the collection of black dragons attacking Steven’s Escort, they all shifted into their Homo Draconi forms. The Morphlings, Warlings, and Magicians retreated from Zoey and Sabina, who looked oddly cool holding an M16 with the huge bear behind her.
Zoey let out another roar. Boars, bears, and wolves crept back.
Aria and Mouse took flight, escaping. They’d been wounded and scorched but were okay. Sticking around wasn’t a good idea, though.
Zoey and Sabina made their way to Steven. Tessa had both of her Peacekeepers drawn, keeping one barrel on the Texarkana Prime and the other on Juice.
Carlo Bart stepped away, became human, and began to dress. “Well, you are a surprise. Figured out my little trap and made one of your own. Nicely played. Seems a bit convenient. Maybe my twins are playing us against each other. Did they tell you I would come?”
Steven made sure to lock gazes with the big man. “Them? No, I didn’t believe their act for a second. Actually, it was Javier Jones. He’d been down in the Americos Chamber below, and he said there wasn’t anything special there. It got me thinking. I figured this was a trap and planed for it.”
Carlo Bart rumbled laughter and drew his suit coat over his shoulders. “You’re a smart little fucker, aren’t you? Well, I’m going to come back tomorrow morning for the sunrise, and I’m going to kill you. I’ve talked to people. You’ve relied on your Escort from the beginning. Without the Hindu bitch and this whore Magician, Edgar Vale would’ve cut you apart. Well, me against you? I’ll take you down before breakfast. Then, I’m thinking sausage, biscuits, and gravy sounds good.”
The Texarkana Prime then struck. He was fast, so fast. Zoey had drifted close, back to being human, and he snatched her by the arm and whirled her about. She was a big girl, but Carlo Bart was bigger and stronger. His dragon arm shredded his suit coat. IonClaws blinded Steven.
“Two can play the hostage game,” he snarled. “I’m taking this bear bitch with me. Hey, Wyatt!”
A man with a long yellow beard and a shaved head walked through the Morphlings. Wyatt was naked and muscular. “Yeah, boss.”
“Show this little son of a bitch your ring.”
Wyatt Gunn held up his hand. On the ring finger of his right hand, a big ruby pulsated.
“That’s my heartbeat,” Carlo Bart growled. “Wyatt will know the minute it don’t beat. I don’t trust you a bit, Stevie. Remember, I die, she dies.”
Steven’s own heart fell. This wasn’t in the plan, but it didn’t change things. Not a bit. It only complicated them a little.
Sabina’s eyes continued to glow. And she laughed.
He’d ask about that laugh in a minute.
Chazzie and Pru, in their True Forms, landed next to their Prime. For a second, it seemed like they might try to free the Morphling. Instead, they closed ranks, guarding Carlo Bart, whose IonClaws were so close to Zoey’s throat they burned her.
“You have nice magic items,” Steven said. “I think I might be a little jealous.”
“As you fucking should be,” Carlo Bart snapped. “Yeah, I got a little knowledge of the arcane arts, and I’m getting better at it every day.”
“Remember, I die, Zoey dies. I’ll bring her back with me so she can watch me kill you. Then I get her and all your bitches. Don’t worry, I got so much pussy, it’ll take me a bit to get around to them. But they’ll like it once I do.”
Carlo Bart backed away, a twin on either side. Juice came up, along with two other armored boars and three bears to guard the Prime’s front and back. Meanwhile, Wyatt Gunn and Maria Diablo as well as a few other dragons shifted to carry off the dead.
Zoey managed to turn her face to look at him. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but her blue-green eyes weren’t pleading for mercy. When they gazed into Steven’s, he saw courage there, and trust.
Sh
e knew they would save her.
Once they were gone, Steven asked Sabina why she’d laughed.
The Latina Magician shrugged. “Something Mouse will say, later, once you and Zoey aren’t in Texas no more. It’s funny.”
“So the portal will work?” Steven asked.
“Si, but not much else will. Not like how we want it to.” Of course, she didn’t have much more information than that. The incomplete prophecy put a bad feeling in Steven’s belly.
TWENTY-THREE
The waiting was going to kill Chastity Wayne.
Less than fifty miles away, in La Sombra, Texas, Carlo Bart had an old Aerie, one he didn’t use much. A big house sat on acres of scrub brush. It was like a third-world drug lord’s mansion, with gaudy statues, two swimming pools, and more rooms than an apocalypse cult could use during the end times.
But it was a perfect base of operation for a campaign in Odessa.
Chazzie and Pru were in their black lingerie, both on edge, as they left the master bedroom and walked out onto the balcony. The pools shimmered like emeralds trapped in concrete. Mist swirled because the temperature had dipped, and they’d jacked up the temperature to just shy of boiling. They’d also turned on every light in the place, and all the guard towers were full of Carlo Bart’s vassals. More were on the way. The Texarkana Prime was calling in every favor, every mercenary, and every wife.
Their prisoner, Zoey, was in the basement, in a locked cell created just for that purpose. Three doors and two sets of keys separated her from the open desert. Carlo Bart was conferring with Maria Diablo and Wyatt Gunn in his office. The twins hadn’t been invited. Not good.
Wyatt and Maria were loyal enough, but if given the chance? Wyatt would love to grab up power with Maria by his side. The two were inseparable. And some said they were banging like bunnies. Unlike the twins, Maria hadn’t gone for the whole marriage thing. Carlo Bart tolerated it. Did he get off on it? Chazzie didn’t think so, but then most everyone had their own kinks to deal with.
