by Aaron Crash
“So you want it all, too,” Chazzie said.
Steven had heard the twins. He knew what to say next. “I want it all, Chazzie. And I want it now. Not for myself, but to make the world a better place.”
The Wayne girl relaxed into him and exhaled. “And that my friend, is the right answer.”
That night, Steven was feeling strong enough to Skype with Liam Strider. Aria had bought a new laptop in the city. The internet was spotty, but they finally found a good connection.
The Yellow Ronin’s familiar blond hair and golden beard filled the laptop’s screen. He listened closely as Steven told him about his vision, the wasteland, and what his father had said, or would say, about their future. It felt like an odd version of time travel to Steven.
Liam frowned. “Humans destroying the planet? During the Cold War, your father obsessed about nuclear war,” Liam said. “But now there seems to be other forces at work. I can see why he kept everything he was doing a secret. Our future isn’t on this world. It’s clear now. And what we are doing is more important than ever.”
Steven agreed. But would every Dragonsoul fight him to the death? Or would he find allies at some point?
“Why would my father encrypt the third volume?” Steven asked. “How could he do it?”
“I have no answers,” the Yellow Ronin admitted. “However, my guess? Your father was a powerful sorcerer. You’ve seen for yourself how truly remarkable divination magic is. He is protecting us, perhaps, giving out information slowly lest we make some critical error. We must trust his judgement.”
“I do,” Steven said, “but it’s frustrating.”
When he told Liam the key words to trigger Samael’s Lash, Liam shook his head. “The word ‘Excrucior’ was used by a Roman poet named Catullus, in a poem that starts with ‘Odi et amo.’ I hate and I love. Interesting. Excrucior means ‘I am tortured.’ As for ‘Pax aeternam’? The Latin is wrong. But it roughly translates to ‘peace forever.’” He paused. “If only we could have peace forever.”
“I’m working on it,” Steven replied. “But war first. A lot more war.”
Steven had heard from Bud. Wyatt Gunn had claimed the Texarkana Primacy for himself. And for now, the greenish-black bastard had the vassals to keep it.
THIRTY-TWO
Javier Jones shoved Wyatt Gunn against the dumpster in the Corpus Christi alley. He’d lured Wyatt out to a secret meeting. The fool had come alone.
It was the week before Christmas. And though Javier himself didn’t celebrate human holidays, he found himself in a giving mood. He had the perfect present for a friend.
Wyatt had claimed the Texarkana Primacy for himself. Carlo Bart was dead, and Wyatt had married Maria Diablo and six of the dead Prime’s other wives. This went against Dragonsoul law, but Wyatt didn’t care. Since Carlo Bart’s death, Steven Drokharis hadn’t officially taken ownership. And if the little shit didn’t like it, he could come to Corpus Christi to contest the situation.
But Javier Jones didn’t like Wyatt Gunn, and he’d be damned if he was going to have him as his pinche neighbor. Wyatt was a dead man, but before Javier Jones did his second good deed for Steven Drokharis, he wanted some information first.
Javier gripped his macuahuitl, a wooden club with shards of obsidian hammered into the sides. He’d enchanted the obsidian, so it was sharp enough to cut through DarkArmor. A hickory-colored haze surrounded the rock-studded bat. He bashed Wyatt in the face, stunned him, then slammed a necklace over the usurper’s head. The silver chain had a chunk of lodolite hanging down the front. The gemstone gave off the same smoke as Javier’s club.
The enchanted lodolite would stop Wyatt from shifting. It was powerful magic, the very limits of what Javier could do. He wasn’t as skilled as the late Carlo Bart Baxter. The now deceased Dragonlord had been legendary.
“Hey, ese, if you tell me who taught your former Prime his skills, I might let you live,” Javier said.
“Fuck you!” Wyatt tried to get up.
Javier sank the obsidian edge into Wyatt’s calf. Blood sprayed, and Wyatt went back down, screaming. Javier grinned. Three in the morning, in a back-alley corner of Corpus Christi? No one was going to be bothering them.
Javier had a bruja who was good at divination magic. Not as good as Steven’s Sabina, but that woman had powers that transcended what normal Magicians could do.
“Wrong answer.” Javier slid the obsidian edges across the back of the douchebag’s neck. The flesh parted easily.
“No, okay, I don’t know a name. I swear!” Wyatt screamed.
Javier inhaled. Hmm, that Animus felt good going into him. The kill would be sweet, like always. “Okay, no name. What do you know? Carlo Bart didn’t come up with that shit on his own, ese. Not a chance. So who taught him?”
“Spider Finger!”
“What the hell is that?” Javier asked.
Wyatt was talking now, giving himself over to his fate. “It’s his little finger. His pinkie. It has two extra joints. Carlo Bart referred to him as Spider Finger. And he said something about forging flesh.”
“FleshForge. I’ve heard of it,” Javier mused. “Anything about the Americos Chambers? Does this Spider Finger have anything to do with them?”
“I don’t know! That’s all I know. Please!” Wyatt then went from panicked to pathetic. “Hey, man, I could help you take out Drokharis. You and I could split up his territory. I’d settle for just Texas, man. How about it? I have six wives and most of Carlo Bart’s army. And Juice Juice. I got him and his Sounder cult.”
Javier leaned in close. “You don’t have any of that shit, ese. Those wives, that army, they all belong to my friend, Steven Drokharis.”
The Latino Prime stepped back. And with a single sweep of the macuahuitl, he took Wyatt Gunn’s head off his shoulders.
THIRTY-THREE
Steven walked out onto the reconstructed deck of his Grand Lake Aerie. It was three weeks after his fight with Carlo Bart, Christmas Eve, and he’d fully recovered from the HeartStrike attack.
Instead of using portal magic to get home, they’d called up Skylar, who flew the new jet from Brisbane to Jaipur. Boarding his own private plane felt surreal to Steven. Holy shit, he owned a jet. And around him sat seven of the most beautiful and powerful women on Earth.
Zoey hated flying, but Mouse held her hand, and Tessa made plenty of jokes. That eased her. Aria had grown up flying around the world with her father, who had not reached out to Steven while he’d been in India. Rhakshor Khat, the Dragonlord of the Maharashtra Primacy, hadn’t forgiven his daughter for dishonoring him by not marrying Rhaegen Mulk. That kind of betrayal went deep.
Though Steven had become a powerful force in American Dragonsoul politics, that didn’t seem to matter. Family was funny that way.
Skylar had flown them from Jaipur to Frankfurt, Germany, and then on to Reykjavik in Iceland. Their final leg brought them to Denver. Somewhere over Greenland, Chastity couldn’t wait anymore and pulled him into the bathroom. It was cramped, but he could check one more thing off his ever-growing bucket list.
Now, Skylar was back in Australia, spending Christmas with Liam Strider and the other Five Widows. Steven planned on visiting them after the holidays. He was looking forward to his first trip to his Queensland Primacy and getting to know the Widows better.
His core Escort, the seven, had decorated the Grand Lake Aerie within an inch of its life. Five Christmas trees, three inside and two outside, and candles and lights and special dishes. It was like Santa Claus had relocated his North Pole pad to Grand Lake and the refurbished mountain lodge retreat.
Tessa’s family was driving in for Christmas Day along with Steven’s mother.
As for Bud, he was going to buzz in late the next day after he did the Christmas thing with his own family.
He’d called Steven with some strange news, however. Javier Jones had sent a messenger service to deliver a cooler to Boaz, Jessup & Novak’s main offices in Denver. Inside the cooler, on d
ry ice, was the head of Wyatt Gunn along with a tasteful Christmas card that mentioned someone named Spider Finger.
Aria nodded in approval at the grisly gift. Tessa had been shocked. But of course she made jokes about Little Finger (Game of Thrones) and Goldfinger (James Bond).
Aria mentioned a movie called Ungli. Then she said something about not pointing a finger at her.
The Indian woman laughed. No one else did. Which made her laugh harder.
Steven was thinking about Javier’s gory gift as he walked to the railing of the new deck.
As dragons, they’d collected some massive boulders and added them under the structure for more stability. And they needed extra support for the huge hot tub that steamed behind him as snow fell. They’d cranked up the temperature, because if there was one thing that dragons liked, it was soaking in extremely hot water. Not boiling. But almost as hot.
Snowflakes whirled down from the sky. Tessa had shoveled the deck, but only after Mouse burned off the top layer with her Inferno Exhalant. Having dragons around sure was handy.
Chazzie and Pru walked out in winter coats. The twins had replaced the white coats they’d had in Texas. Zoey emerged from the house naked but then shifted into her bear form. She came across the deck and snuggled up against him. All that fur and body heat would keep him warm.
The twins stood at the railing watching the snow pile on the sleepy pine trees around them. The flakes muffled the noise.
“Should I sing ‘Silent Night’?” Pru asked.
“Don’t even try, sister. I’ve had about enough of Christmas carols,” Chazzie said. She knocked an elbow into Steven. “What are you thinking about, my Prime?”
“Javier’s present. And Spider Finger,” Steven answered. He rubbed at the stump of his missing pinkie.
The twins had used their intel network to investigate. There were a ton of rumors and hearsay, but they’d found one solid lead. One of the Sounders who’d fled the cult said that Carlo Bart had been working for Spider Finger. The mysterious Dragonsoul was the power and the intelligence behind Carlo Bart’s assassination attempts.
“It’s always going to be like this,” Chazzie said. “This is the game. It’s not pretty, and most of the time, it’s not fun—”
Pru interrupted. “Except when it is. Yeah, Stevie, you have another motherfucker in the shadows gunning for you. But the good news? Javier Jones gave you the Texarkana Primacy. He certainly could’ve claimed it for himself.”
Steven was aware of that. Javier had shown him he was both brutal and loyal. But had they moved from wary competitors to true allies? Only time would tell.
“Not Stevie, sister, Steven,” Chazzie corrected.
Pru rolled her eyes. “Whatever we’re calling him now, Juice Juice is going to want revenge.”
“You bet he will,” Chazzie agreed. “And I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Maria Diablo or those rogue wives. Them bitches are going to cause trouble. You could put out a bounty on them. You do own them.”
“No, I don’t,” Steven said. “I don’t own anyone.”
Zoey let out a growl and shoved him with her huge body.
“I take that back. I don’t own anyone who doesn’t want me to,” he said, though he still hoped that Zoey would find it in herself to be brave and confident on her own.
“Who do we hit next?” Pru asked. “You know, we haven’t seen Clete Sariah in years. Maybe he grew an extra-long finger. I’d say the Deseret Primacy is next on our list.”
“Oh, come on,” Chazzie said. “If we’re on a roll, let’s just take out Roy Right and Louis Laloux. I hate those sleazy bastards.”
“Sin Cities Primacy and the French Swamplands Primacy?” Pru raised an eyebrow. “Them sleazy bastards play the game well. It certainly would be tons of fun taking them down.”
Steven didn’t disagree. “But we’re going to offer an olive branch first. The fewer Dragonsouls and vassals we kill, the larger our army will be when we fight the Zothoric.”
Chazzie laughed. “Yes, you’ll get more flies with honey than with vinegar. We’ll offer them the honey, make it a sweet deal, and then if they dick with us, we’ll drown them in vinegar.”
Steven wasn’t sure how he could form alliances, but Aria and the twins had some ideas. The terms might be a bit brutal, but Steven was coming from a position of power. That would help him in the coming months as he grew his territory. He’d already added countless vassals and nearly five hundred thousand square miles to his holdings, which encompassed most of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and parts of Louisiana. His empire stretched from the Canadian Rockies all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and across to the Appalachian Mountains. He’d have to police that area for all supernatural activity and make sure his vassals stayed in line.
His life had become a lot more complicated. At least his Escort was getting along.
He turned. Lights glowed along the eaves of the lodge and around the hot tub. Some of the lights were encased in ice, and that only made them prettier.
“Let’s get inside,” he said. “Tessa has this eggnog thing she’s doing.”
“I hope she’s done with cookies.” Chazzie patted her stomach. “How many different kinds did she and Zoey make? At least a dozen. She is not helping me keep trim.”
“She made thirteen different cookies,” Pru said. “However, after the cinnamon brownies, I lost interest in eating anything else. Tessa is certainly magic in the kitchen.”
Zoey let out throaty noise, half growl and half harrumph.
Pru laughed and patted the bear. “You’re magic too, Zoey. The only healthy cookie came from you. Applesauce instead of sugar. Clever.”
The four escaped the chill and walked back into the house, Zoey becoming human once more. In the living room, a fire crackled, throwing light and heat into a happy, warm space. Across the room stood the biggest of the Christmas trees, fully decorated with lights, ornaments, and garlands. Colorfully wrapped packages loaded the bottom. Zoey so wanted to open hers, but Aria said the rules were clear: presents were to be opened on Christmas morning. The werebear took it in stride.
Tessa and Mouse tried to rebel. Aria insisted they wait. She prowled in front of the tree like a dragon guarding her hoard.
The twins, though, sent Sabina to distract the Indian woman with a few drinks. The Wayne sisters then grabbed their present for him, and he secretly opened it in the corner by the fire. Inside the box were all eight of Carlo Bart Baxter’s sterling-silver-and-turquoise rings.
He glanced up questioningly.
Chazzie grinned and kissed him softly. She tasted like Christmas cookies. “While you were in your HeartStrike coma, we pulled them off his fingers.”
“Do you think I can use them?” he asked.
Pru gave him a sphincter-puckering glare. “Of course. Once you figure out the magic. It’ll give you and your Magicians something to do.”
Speaking of which, Tessa was in the kitchen, brewing up magic. “Okay, everybody. We have eggnog lattes, eggnog shakes, or eggnog with rum. Three guesses who wanted the hooch?”
Aria came tripping over to him, scattering the twins, who didn’t want to get caught breaking the Indian woman’s rules. Aria leaned in close. “I love Christmas. It’s a pagan thing. Totally stolen by the Christians. Kiss me.”
Drunk Aria. It was a thing.
Steven kissed her. “I’ll do the eggnog latte,” he said to Tessa, hiding the rings under a chair. Aria went back to help their spellcasting, gun-slinging barista.
He wanted to stay up late to do a little research on the Americos Chambers in his Primacy. He and Liam had been sending emails back and forth with different theories. Which remined him that he needed to send Merry Christmas emails to the Five Widows in Australia. Juggling his growing Escort would be challenging.
And he wanted to call Uchiko. She wouldn’t come to their Christmas gathering, but he’d been thinking about her a lot. He would not stop researching until he found a way to help her and the Onari Guard
finish the Dragonskin rituals.
Sabina came over to sit by the fire, sipping from a tall glass. She’d gone for the rum option as well. He moved next to her and rubbed her back. She’d passed the first round of rituals, but she wasn’t done yet. She could do partial transformations, she could become a Homo Draconis, but she still couldn’t achieve True Form. However, the Latina Magician was well on her way. Steven was proud of her.
When they all had drinks, Zoey lifted her glass. She wore the jeans that didn’t fit her, her hair was frizzed out, and she could’ve won an ugly Christmas sweater contest. Yet, Steven thought she was beautiful.
Zoey cleared her throat and tried to calm herself. Being the center of attention clearly unnerved her. “I would like to make a toast. To my new friends, my new lovers, and to our family.” Her voice broke. “When I was part of the Sounders, Juice wanted us to lose ourselves. The me is the we. That was cult stuff. But with us? I can be me. But I’m glad we’re a we.”
“Isn’t that from a Dr. Seuss book?” Mouse muttered under her breath.
They toasted, talked, and Steven found himself out in the hot tub with Aria, kissing her. When Tessa, Sabina, and Zoey came out to join them, they had to turn the heat down a bit. Then the five came together in a celebration of skin, heat, water, and snow. Watching the cold air steam off the naked bodies of the women filled Steven with wonder. The twinkling lights caressed their beautiful skin. It was the best Christmas Eve of his life without a doubt.
Later, they turned off the big lights, left the Christmas lights on, and sat in the living room, watching the fire burn low. Women begin to drift away until, just before midnight, Steven found himself alone in front of the fireplace. He thumbed through the third volume of his father’s spell book. Throughout the big house, the seven women in his core Escort slept, either alone or together.
