Dragon Greed

by Kelly Armenta

  “Lexi,” Gareth growled holding me tightly, “it all happened too fast.” He breathed near my ear, “There was nothing you could have done for either of them.”

  I cried for several minutes, and then finally pulled myself together enough to ask, “How did they get in?” I glanced around slowly realizing my men had quietly joined us. I searched from face to face, feeling my heart beat within my chest as each man came into view. My head dropped on to Gareth’s chest after every one of them had been accounted for. Several were covered in blood, but mostly it was fine ash that layered their hair and clothing. “Is anyone injured?” I breathed and Gareth smoothed back my hair.

  “Lord Amras will need his arm set, and Lord Cael has a wound upon his back, but the rest are fine,” Jace assured me softly from where he knelt beside us. “Lexi… there is something you must see,” he breathed and I raised my face from Gareth’s chest where I found his sapphire blue eyes shadowed with sorrow.

  “Show me,” I told them and took a deep breath while Gareth rose from the sand with me in his arms, and carried me to a body which I did not recognize. The man was large and well made. He had short dark brown hair and was wearing jeans and a button up shirt with a collar. He’d had a blade through his chest and his head was nearly severed, his body sliced to ribbons so there wasn’t much of him that was not covered in blood.

  Nick was standing near and he raised his pale eyes to me, a look of horror on his face. “I am so sorry,” he said. “Valentine must have gotten to him before he came here. He must have somehow let them in,” he breathed and I stared down at the remains of one of my potential mates.

  I motioned to be put down and slid to my knees on the sand. I reached for him and lifted an eyelid, then sat back in shock. He had two other blades embedded in his body and I reach for the one through his chest. It came out of him with a strange sound as blood oozed up from the wound. I held the blade in my hand and stared down at it blindly. A high keening noise erupted from my throat as what had happened seeped into my consciousness and I realized that Valentine had caused us to kill my Blue. I swayed upon my knees in the sand and closed my eyes.

  My head dropped forward on my neck and in my mind I pictured the roof of the club and thought how very much I wanted to be there… right that moment. I felt a familiar lurch and opened my eyes to the fog shrouded night. I screamed out a name and immediately launched myself into the air, shifting as my powerful wings shoved me into the clouds and quickly out of sight.

  Chapter 15

  Like an arrow I flew through the mists toward downtown and the Civic Center Plaza. In my mind rage burned and I chanted a name over and over again. The closer I got, the louder I chanted until it was nearly a continuous scream. I landed on the roof and tucked my wings under me, then shifted and stood in the dark. I didn’t think I would have long to wait and I wasn’t wrong, as a cool breeze settled over me almost immediately. “I want you to kill him,” I told him tightly, not even bothering to turn around. “Name your price.”

  “You smell of blood and death,” he breathed, and moved around me as if he was one with the night. “Who is it you wish me to kill?” he asked softly as his hand reached out to brush my cheek and came away wet. “Who is it you cry for?”

  I held out the knife I still clutched in my hand and he stared down at it silently. “He made us kill my Blue,” I breathed, my voice sounding hollow and nearly as dead as the Dragon I’d just left on the sand in our caverns.

  “Gareth is dead?” Claudius breathed sharply and I sucked air into my lungs and gave myself a shake. My mind stuttered at the horrible possibility before I clamped down on it and reined in my run-away imagination.

  “No!” I nearly yelled, then got a hold of myself and managed to respond more calmly. “No, the one that was… made for me. Like Marcus and Dane and Roa’. I did not yet know him, and now… now it is too late for my Blue, but not Marcus and the others.” I breathed and my eyes found his.

  In the light from the dome I could see his face, he looked deep in thought. “Valentine?” he finally asked and I nodded, staring back at him with my heart in my eyes. His arms reached for me and I collapsed against his chest.

  “Kill him Claudius. Kill him for me and you will have… this Queen’s favor. I will be your friend and more. Only do it quickly before any more of my Court is harmed. I cannot protect those I have not yet gathered, and I cannot bear to lose those I have.”

  “Are you sure?” He replied in a voice that was taut with emotion.

  “Just tell me what I must do,” I replied and reached for the snaps under my chin. “I only ask that you let me watch him die.” And I pushed my high collar off from my shoulders, exposing myself to him while he gazed down at me through his hazel eyes.

  His fingers rose to stroke the column of my neck and his body tensed against mine. “You have been gone a long time,” and his comment was more of a question.

  “I… nearly died,” I told him softly. “It seems even the Sidhe was not safe for me. I was lost and could not find my way. But even when I did not know my own name, I knew one thing,” I told him softly. “I knew that I would never allow anyone to use me against my will. Take my offering Claudius… I do this willingly. If you but swear you will kill Valentine for me.”

  A low hum rose up from his chest and he lowered his mouth to me slowly. “The Council arrives tomorrow,” he breathed against my neck. “I swear to you, upon my honor, that Valentine will not be alive when they depart.” And his lips and teeth came down upon me.

  I used the chip embedded in my arm to let myself in, and realized as I rode the elevator down to the third level that I had never been in it alone before. In my hand was the knife I’d taken from my Blue’s chest and inside me was a strange new awareness. Claudius had not been the only one to drink and I was having a bit of a problem adjusting to my newly heightened senses. Tonight was but the first step, he had assured me, and what we gained was a minor blending of some of our powers. For me it seemed I could smell and see much better. My sight was improved even past the infrared which I so seldom used. And I could smell that both Dean and Nick had been within the elevator last. It was… disconcerting. I did not know what I had shared with Claudius, he had not said or perhaps he did not yet know.

  In addition to the senses, I struggled to negotiate the memories he had given to me. When his teeth had sunk into my throat, I had given him everything, every hope and dream, every memory of self. He had absorbed them all and had cried out hoarsely from the contact. His aura had flared against me and throbbed with an angry red haze before settling back to a sunshine yellow color. Obviously our sharing caused him great happiness. And when he ripped open his shirt for me and sliced a gash into his chest just below his collar, I had pressed my lips to him and drank his essence down my throat and into my body. With the rich taste of his blood had come a host of memories, more than two thousand years’ worth. He had held me to him while they poured into me and filled me up. Then when I could take no more, he had closed his wound and been content to simply hold me. He had kissed me before letting me go, promising to contact me soon. I had turned and launched myself skyward, back into the fog shrouded night.

  Now as I moved down the hall toward our door, I nodded to the guards, who seemed shocked to see me out alone. I recognized them from the training floor but did not know their names. The man on the left used a card key to open the door for me and I slipped within, pausing briefly when the door closed behind me. Smells assaulted me and I swayed as I reached for that one scent I was looking for… there, I thought and headed toward the kitchen.

  The living room was empty, but every chair was occupied around our kitchen table, which seemed to have grown proportionately to accommodate the additional men. Noise came from nearly every one of them at my arrival. All fourteen turned to look at me in varying degrees of upset. I had hidden the knife behind my back before I’d stepped through the doorway. Now I glanced around the table and moved to my left, coming up behind one specif
ic chair, reaching out with my free hand to grab a handful of white hair as I slammed the knife into Talon’s shoulder clear to the hilt, shoving him backwards.

  “I believe this belongs to you,” I hissed as I held his head against the back of the chair so he couldn’t move. Around me chairs flipped over as men scrambled to their feet. The tip of a blade touched my neck and I smiled and held my ground.

  “Step away from him,” Roa’ breathed from behind me.

  “No!” Talon cried out. “Get away from her.” Roa’ hesitated and I felt the knife removed, then Cursed and Aerandir were suddenly there between Roa’ and myself, blocking him from reaching me again. I twisted the knife slightly, then released it and grabbed the back of Talon’s chair and yanked it over. He made no move to fight back, merely went to the floor with a grunt and laid there still half in the chair, staring up at me.

  “I pulled that from the chest of my Dragon, a Blue that you helped to murder. Tell me why I should not banish you from my Court?”

  Talon’s pale pink eyes stared up at me and he neither flinched nor lowered his eyes. “Your Majesty, none of my throws was intended to kill. He could have changed at any time to heal his wounds. I do not know why he did not shift, or why he allowed the bloodless one standing near him to rip out his throat. But it does not matter… either way he would not have survived.”

  I stared down at him and considered his words, my eyes sending golden sparks over the pale grey shirt he wore, a shirt that even now was turning dark red as the blood oozed out of his wound. “Why would he not have survived?” I demanded, my voice echoing around the silent room.

  Talon blinked and shifted his eyes to Gareth who had stood from his chair and taken several steps toward me. He was standing possibly five feet from me with a shuttered look on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. My eyes met his and he stilled, and then replied for Talon. “Because there can only be one of each color for your Court,” he replied, “and I would not have stepped aside to give him my place.”

  I stared back at him and felt the horror creep over me as I struggled to breathe. Only one of each color… my eyes moved over those in the room and settled for a moment on Jace who looked… determined. “If a Green comes, I will fight and kill him,” he replied calmly to the question in my eyes. “I was your first and I will not give you up, not even to one created for you. I know I told you I would share you… and I have,” he told me indicating the rest of the men around the room. “But even I have limits.” I pulled air into my lungs and turned to Dane, who stared back at me calmly then nodded once. I reached for the back of the chair next to the one Talon was occupying and watched my knuckles turn white.

  “You will not kill my Gray,” I told Talon softly. “We will find a way, and you will not kill him. I forbid it.”

  My words enraged him as the knife in his shoulder and pulling his chair over had not. His eyes went Dragon and whirled in agitation as he stared up at me. “I will hold my place,” he growled. “I will not hand it over to another simply because you tell me I must. You have no right.”

  “Your Majesty,” Stela spoke in a soothing voice. “Your Court will consist of only the strongest.”

  “So you will kill my men because they are young and perhaps not as strong as you?” I demanded, my golden eyes turning to look at him in disbelief.

  He held his hands out palm up and looked back at me calmly. “It does not have to come to that. But we will not allow another near you when the time comes. It will not be a matter of wanting or not wanting. Only of doing, as we will all be… beyond reason by then.”

  When the time comes, I thought and chewed my lip at his words. The time was coming soon. Already I’d gathered six of the ten. With Roa’ it was seven. “Is this why you hold Roa’ back?” I breathed glancing down at Talon, who suddenly had a problem meeting my eyes.

  “Your Majesty, I would not see him killed,” he replied softly, and behind me Roa’ made an angry sound but said nothing.

  I turned to Owen and Kit, who were both watching me closely. “Should the need arise, you will be responsible for getting anyone not a part of my Court out. If it is true as Stela says, then I will need you to put them someplace where they will neither interfere nor be hurt. I cannot have them injured. If they are in fact weaker, then I must think of my sisters, for whom they may yet be suited.” Just in case the four Princes I returned with from my all girls escapades, don’t suit.

  “It is not only during the rut,” Stela added, giving me a strange look. No doubt wondering what I meant by my wayward thought, he shook his head slightly and told me, “Should a Bronze appear, you will either send him away, or I will. I will not tolerate you entertaining another of my color.” Then he crossed his arms over his chest while I stared back at him in dawning horror. My eyes moved to Gareth and I was shocked to see him nod agreement.

  “We,” and he indicated Jace and himself, “have allowed the others because it has not been an issue. But it soon will be. Should your White, Brown, and Copper arrive they will be accepted also, assuming they are worthy. After that...?” he told me calmly and shook his head. “You will not be allowed to interfere. We will handle it amongst ourselves, as is our way.”

  The smell of testosterone suddenly filled the room and I blinked and shook my head as it crashed into me, nearly overwhelming my mind. My tongue licked at my lips and I unpeeled my fingers from the chair and took a slow step backward. A low humming came from Talon and spread to Stela, then Dane. Gareth and Jace watched me closely and I shook my head again and placed one foot behind the other. I felt… hunted and could feel my heart accelerate within my chest as their eyes bore into me. The now sudden feeling that I needed to flee crept over me and I took yet another step backward, while Gareth’s arms dropped to his sides and his fists clenched.

  “Lexi, don’t move,” he growled softly, and I felt my eyes widen and froze in place. Talon rolled to his hands and knees and made that warbling noise. I swallowed heavily and slowly moved my eyes to him. “Where did you go tonight?” Gareth murmured.

  “And what have you done to yourself?” Jace added, and as I moved only my eyes to him, I realized his were whirling frantically and he looked like he was struggling to hold himself in place.

  “Step back from her… do it now!” Talon growled and I heard the whisper of feet as Roa’ moved away from me. I could actually smell his scent getting fainter as he shifted away from the door behind me.

  “This should not be happening,” Stela added in a deep urgent voice. “It is too soon. But her reaction is intoxicating.” Dane made a strangled noise in his throat and I found myself taking quick, nearly panting breaths as I struggled to ignore the flight reaction their scent was causing in me.

  “I need to go,” I whispered in a small frightened voice. “Can I go?”

  “My Lady,” Cursed spoke softly, almost directly behind me. “Your aura is pulsing… you must calm yourself. They cannot take much more,” he whispered and gently wrapped his arm about my waist. I found myself held tightly against his chest. “Feel my heart,” he breathed against my ear and the incongruity of his words pulled me back from the edge of panic. “Close your eyes and feel me breathe against you.” I stiffened slightly and he murmured soft and low. “Close your eyes… trust me.”

  Kit made a rude noise and from across the room said, “You only trap her within her panic. Here let me try. Little Johnny comes home and tells his mom; today I got my first blow job. His mother is very mad and tells him to go to his room and says when his father comes home he is going to have a serious talk with him. A couple hours later Johnny’s dad comes home and his wife says go talk to your son, he just got his first blow job. So the dad goes upstairs and says to his son, Johnny I hear you got your first blow job today? Johnny goes yep. The dad asks Johnny, so how was it? Little Johnny says ok, but I still can’t get the taste out of my mouth.”

  Startled silence met his story so Kit tried another. “Ok, ok … Little Johnny went to the drugstore fo
r condoms. He walked up to the druggist and asked. Sir, can you tell me where the ribbed condoms are? The druggist asked, Son, do you know what condoms are used for? Sure do replies Johnny, they keep you from getting venereal diseases. Okay, said the druggist. Do you know what the ribs are for? Little Johnny thinks for a minute, then looks up at the druggist and replies. Well, not exactly. But they sure do make the hair on my goat’s back stand up.”

  “What is a blow job?” Aerandir asked in a confused voice… and I couldn’t help myself I was suddenly laughing hysterically.

  “Kit!” I finally moaned when I could speak without gasping. He chuckled when my eyes met his across the room. “That was just terrible. Where do you even hear these things?” I muttered.

  His merlot colored eyes flashed and he smiled at me and replied, “I was a civil servant in Hell, Mistress. It was a very boring job.”

  “Hmmm,” I replied and turned to glance at Aerandir, and with my shields lowered I pictured Cursed as we were earlier while he leaned over me and I had used my mouth to pleasure him until he came for me. “That is a blow job,” I replied while Aerandir’s eyes widened and around the room several people shifted, as if their pants were suddenly too tight. Cursed’s arm tightened around me and he rubbed his chin against the top of my head.

  “I am almost afraid to ask what is a condom,” Aerandir replied while I smiled and turned to look at Gareth.

  “Sorry, that I cannot help you with as I’ve never actually seen one,” I informed him as my eyes moved over Amras. I frowned suddenly and pulled away from Cursed, who let me go reluctantly. I had forgotten that there were injuries to heal. I moved around the table, passing several of them who merely watched me curiously as I was intent upon Amras.