I barely saw any of them, barely looked at the faces around me to know if I recognized any of them. I heard them talking amongst themselves, both inside the Barrier and without, enough to know they were worried about me.
There was something else.
Something that wasn’t about me, wasn’t about Black.
Shot him right in the head, using one of those “vampire killer” bullets…
…don’t know if he’s going to make it. The doc’s trying to dig the bullet out now.
Got him in custody next to Charles in that same room…
I didn’t care about any of that.
Not then. I didn’t care.
I felt Yarli then…
She knew.
She knew I was right.
She just didn’t think there was anything I could do about it.
I didn’t think.
I didn’t even care that there were hands on me, or who they belonged to.
I geared into those structures in my light…
…and I jumped.
“JESUS JEHOSAPHAT CHRIST!”
Angel didn’t even manage get out that much.
She didn’t so much as squeak.
She stood there for a few seconds, panting, shaking, pretty sure she’d just pissed herself.
Her wedding dress was gone.
The fancy underwear she’d worn for her wedding night was gone, too.
Cowboy, who’d yelled out those words right next to her, the instant they winked back into existence, no longer wore his tux.
She looked at her husband… her husband, her mind still paused to note.
She focused blankly on his naked skin, his tattoos, his sinewy muscles. He stood directly to her right, stark naked, shaking with shock. She looked him over, assuring herself he was all right… then she looked out over the desert floor.
It was cold.
A wind rose, bringing goosebumps to her skin.
An insane number of stars shone overhead.
She looked to her left, hearing more breathing, and saw Jax standing there, shivering, his arms wrapped around his chest.
His violet eyes stood out on his darkish skin, reflecting starlight.
It struck her, seeing him naked, that Jax was a lot more muscular than she’d realized. He and Holo were comparatively smaller than Black and Jem and most of Charles’ seers, so she’d always thought of him as being on the slim side.
But now she saw the bulging muscles of his arms and shoulders over a lean torso and muscular legs, and found herself getting why Kiko had been gushing over how hot he was, the one time they’d talked about her new relationship over drinks.
Even beyond the fact of who Jax was, or how much Kiko obviously liked him, or what a good kisser she said he was, Kiko also made it clear she found him extremely physically attractive, too.
Angel got it now.
She saw what Kiko saw.
Jax really was kind of hot.
Pushing the thought aside, Angel looked around at where they were.
Then, realizing how they must have gotten here… she looked for Miri.
She found her friend almost at once.
Completely and utterly naked, just like the three of them, Miri walked in a straight line, her black hair still hanging down her back and woven through with tiny flowers. Her strides lengthened as she went. Her feet aimed for the center of the red-rock valley floor.
That’s when Angel heard it.
She’d been hearing their breaths, their low groans, their struggles.
She hadn’t fully heard them, though, not until now.
Part of it was, the dragons were no longer screaming.
The white one sat atop the black one, and both of them were panting.
Then the black one cried out, writhing weakly, thrashing its tail, and Angel looked over, feeling her heart drop into her gut when she saw how big they were.
Angel didn’t know if black-scaled one had seen or felt Miri, but its cries sounded frantic, desperate. They sounded like what they were––painfully obvious pleas for help. The creature didn’t scream even then; the sound it made came closer to a groan. It gasped when the claw around its neck tightened.
Angel watched the creature struggle, trying to pull in air, right before it moaned again.
The moan dropped into a weak growl, a pained, half-breathy gasp.
Angel could hear the pain in it.
More than that.
She could hear him dying.
“BLACK!” she screamed, stepping forward. “LET GO OF HIM YOU PIECE OF SHIT! YOU’RE KILLING HIM!”
She burst into tears.
She could see them almost clearly now, on the valley floor.
Her eyes gradually adjusted, and then everything grew brighter still when the nearly-full moon came out from behind a small cluster of high-flying clouds. Strangely symmetrical rock formations loomed blackly in the distance, cutting into a sky still shockingly full of stars, even now that the valley glowed with moonlight.
That moonlight illuminated the dragons’ bodies, splashing over the red rock cliffs and jutting formations that dotted the plain.
Miri had almost reached them now.
Miri had broken into a run.
Angel didn’t hear her friend yell out, or make any noise.
She hadn’t yelled at the white dragon the way Angel had… but Angel saw the exact instant when the white dragon grew aware of her.
It turned its massive head, panting where it looked down at her.
Unlike the smaller dragon beneath its weight, it didn’t make any other sound while it squeezed its claw around Black’s neck.
Angel couldn’t help herself.
She screamed at the thing again.
“STOP IT! STOP, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!”
The gray dragon turned its head around more, almost like it heard her.
Then it looked down at Miri, who stood directly below it, only a dozen yards away from Black’s flapping wing.
For a long-feeling few seconds, the gray dragon didn’t move.
Neither did Miri.
Angel, Jax, and Cowboy just stood there, oblivious to their nakedness now, holding their breaths as they watched Miri face off with the enormous creature.
Angel had no idea how long she stood there, watching them.
Long enough to be terrified Black was dead.
Long enough to be terrified Miri would get herself killed, too.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere…
…the white dragon began to change.
Angel watched in disbelief as its lumpy, gray-white skin began to bubble and morph, turning smoke-like, exuding light in flashes as it began to change back. She noticed for the first time that the larger dragon didn’t have scales at all, not like Black did. Instead it had rough, almost elephant-like or rhino-like skin. Coarse and bumpy, it made it look more like a dinosaur, and less like whatever Black turned into.
Somehow, it made that dragon more terrifying, that it looked so misshapen and ridged, with that white and gray mottled skin.
Black’s iridescent black scales were beautiful in comparison.
He looked strangely perfect in his dragon form, almost like some snakes… specifically like a black cobra Angel had seen once in the San Francisco zoo, which looked to her child’s eyes to be carved out of black volcanic rock.
Angel watched as the white dragon continued to morph and flash, as light-filled smoke billowed around its form.
Then it was shrinking.
It was definitely shrinking.
Angel saw the exact instant its massive claw released Black’s throat, and then Black’s dragon was gasping, fighting for breath, writhing from its back over to its stomach.
The gray-white dragon fell, sliding down Black’s snake-like, gorgeous scales like they were a glass slide covered in water.
Angel watched in disbelief as the white dragon continued to fall… growing smaller… then smaller still… until it wasn’t a dragon at all.
&
nbsp; It was a man again.
Or, she told herself, it was man-shaped again.
Whatever the hell that thing was… it definitely wasn’t a “man.”
She stared at him, even as she felt herself starting to relax.
She was still panting, half in shock, but she told herself everything would be okay now.
Black was still alive.
Badly hurt, yes, but he was alive.
Miri could reason with that dragon thing, now… and with Charles in custody, they could send the dragon-man away. This time, it might even stay away. Angel knew all of that was probably a pipe dream. She stared at the strange, handsome, very naked man with the brown hair with the silver streak in it, and wondered if there would ever be an end to this shit.
They still hadn’t even dealt with Charles’ seers.
Those same seers were still locked up in the basement of the Raptor’s Nest.
She wondered if Black would want to keep this thing collared and in custody with the rest of them, along with Charles and––
The black dragon lunged.
It lowered its head so swiftly, Angel’s eyes barely caught the movement.
Before she could take a breath, those powerful jaws snapped.
They closed around the man who had been the white dragon so swiftly, he seemed to disappear.
There was a loud crunch.
Then the black dragon raised his head, opening his throat.
There was another crunch.
Then another.
Then another.
Angel stared up with Cowboy and Jax… fascinated, sickened… completely unable to look away. They watched Black crunch with seeming abandon through bones, flesh, muscle, sinew, skin, blood, hair.
Then the sound of a long throat moving in a satisfied swallow reached her…
…and for a long-feeling few seconds, the desert was quiet.
31
Just A Little Longer
I heard the door open behind me.
I felt him come in, but I didn’t turn around.
My eyes never left the man on the hospital bed in front of me.
Even so, I felt something in the core of my being relax when his warm hand fell on my shoulder, when he wrapped his other arm around my waist and squeezed me against his chest.
“How is he?” he murmured softly.
I finally looked away from Nick’s face, glancing at my husband from only an inch or two away. “They think he’s out of danger,” I said softly, exhaling as I leaned into him. I looked at Nick, then out the window at the view of the Sandia Mountains in the distance.
Nick was in a hospital bed.
But of course we couldn’t take a vampire to a hospital.
We were still at the resort, but we’d converted one of the rooms into a quasi-medical center.
Black hadn’t needed it, funnily enough.
He almost died.
He told me he’d been more or less teetering on the verge of unconsciousness and probable death, when he felt me jump out to that desert.
He joked that I pushed the dramatic save thing a bit far that time.
He teased me that it must be my love of the theatrical.
That I liked living dangerously.
That I clearly hadn’t liked the wedding ceremony as much as he had.
Basically I was never going to hear the end of how I almost let him die.
He’d probably be complaining about it on his death bed.
“Probably,” he murmured, kissing my temple.
Either way, Black made a full recovery from his own wounds.
Despite him almost dying, despite the white dragon clawing him up, biting him, ripping chunks out of his dragon skin and flesh… Black was completely fine, if utterly exhausted and borderline drunk-acting when he came back to his seer form.
Something in his dragon-y make up meant he was more or less healed when he transformed from the black-scaled dragon back to being Black again.
“So he’s all right? He’ll live?” Black said now, soft.
I sighed, looking at Nick.
Deathly pale, most of his face covered in bandages, he rested on top of a salmon-colored sheet, as still as a corpse.
I gestured a yes in seer. “It was damned touch and go, from what I heard… but he’s supposed to be out of the woods.”
Black nodded, kissing my neck.
Thinking, I pointed to my head.
Shouldn’t we be talking this way? I asked, using my mind.
I motioned towards the chair positioned just to the left of the bed where Nick lay.
Another body sprawled there, next to Nick’s.
“No,” Black said, softer than before. “Believe it or not, that would wake him up faster. He’s the reason I was speaking out loud.”
I nodded.
Biting my lip, I began, “About Dex. What are you––”
“I’ll deal with Dex, doc.”
Black’s voice came out as a soft warning.
I considered arguing, then nodded, reluctant.
He was right.
He and Dex went back decades.
I knew Black would do the right thing with him.
I knew Black loved him like family.
Still, I loved Dex, too.
“I won’t hurt Dex, doc,” Black said, softer still.
I heard the grief in his voice and shivered, gripping his arms where he held me. Nodding, I wiped my eyes when they stung, clearing my throat.
“What about the big bash?” I made my voice deliberately lighter. “Was a decision finally made on that?”
“It was a unanimous vote,” Black whispered in my ear. “We’re all staying here. If you have to meet with the London crew again… if they’re really insistent that it can’t wait… you can do it long-distance for now.” Pausing, he added, “We’re holding off on the seer wedding party until he can make it.”
Black nodded towards Nick.
Pulling me tighter against him, he pressed into me from behind.
“Which sucks,” he grumbled. “I’m putting off my wedding night for a goddamned vampire… again. But I guess I can wait a few weeks more.”
“A few weeks?” I turned my head. I went on in a bare whisper. “So we’re keeping to the no-sex thing until after the seer ceremony?”
Black winked at me, flashing one of his killer grins. “And the psychotic seer drug-party. Don’t forget the psychotic seer drug party, doc.”
I rolled my eyes. “Is it a good idea?” I murmured. “Us being out of commission that long? You know I can’t be as effective long distance.”
Black tilted his head sideways.
I felt him concede my point, without changing his mind.
“It might be good to let everything just breathe a bit, doc,” he said finally. “Maybe we were rushing things before. Maybe we should be less directive. Less control-freakish. Let humans come to all this in their own time… at their own pace.”
Pausing, he added more softly,
“Anyway, we’ve gotten rid of the serious threats… for now, anyway. It might be good to let everyone have a few weeks of peace. No headlines about seers. No headlines about dragons. I’ve asked Brick to tell his people to lay low, too… at least until the holidays are over.”
I nodded, my mouth pursed.
Looking back at Nick, I felt myself give in.
Truthfully, I wanted to let things go for a while, too. I’d just been worried that was me wanting to hide from all this, that it was me avoiding responsibility.
“I really would like him at the seer thing,” I admitted.
“Of course you would,” Black said, kissing my cheek.
“I could tell he wanted to go,” I added. “With Jem officiating part of the ceremony with Yarli now, he’ll probably want to go even more. If you really think it’s better to wait on the other stuff… meaning the world leaders and whatnot… then I’m okay with the rest of it. Even the no sex part. Assuming you’re really okay with that…”
> I let my words trail.
Black heard the implied question there, and hugged me tighter.
“Seems like we should,” he said softly. “I mean, without the seer thing, we’re only kind of half-married from the point of view of seer tradition. Besides, the other seers will be ridiculously disappointed if we don’t do it after all this. Most of them have never been to a real seer wedding before… they’re all geeked up about it now. Cowboy sounded pretty enthused, too. Even Kiko sounded intrigued.”
Pausing, he smiled, shaking me a little.
“And we’re going on a real honeymoon after that… right?”
Thinking about his words, I nodded.
I admit, the sex part was a serious bummer.
Black wasn’t the only one in pain.
But I liked the idea of having something to look forward to.
“Anyway,” Black whispered. “Jem’s taken charge of the traditional cakes now, too, so we can’t do that part without him. Yarli confessed she’s not really comfortable doing it, even with Jem’s help, since she’s never officiated at a wedding ceremony before. She really wants him to take the lead on the whole thing. I guess imbuing food with different Barrier spaces is kind of a specialized skill. Jem trained under the Adhipan in the Pamir, so he knows all that stuff. Yarli, not so much.”
Black snorted a low laugh.
“Oh, and turns out, he’s supposed to be the one to do it, anyway. Apparently, Jem is older than Yarli, if you can believe that. He’d been holding out on his age with us a bit. According to Yarli, by all rights, Jem should be a bit of a gray-hair.”
I grunted, rolling my eyes. “You weirdo seers and your non-aging.”
He shook me a little. “Says the weirdo seer… with the best friend who’s a vampire… the vampire who won’t ever age at all.”
I grunted again, but didn’t argue.
Black looked at the seer we’d just been talking about, who was crashed out on the hospital chair next to Nick’s bed. His eyes were closed. His fist propped up his jaw on one side, creating an indentation in his face.
“Should we go?” Black suggested softly. “So we don’t wake him?”
I nodded, still looking at Jem.
I felt a pain come to my heart as I studied the seer’s handsome face. Exhaustion, fear, and worry were written all over him. He’d been half out of his mind, ever since he found Nick on the grounds of the resort, most of his face missing.
Black Of Wing: A Quentin Black Paranormal Mystery Romance (Quentin Black Mystery Book 14) Page 27
