California Imperium

by Aaron Crash

  Tears tracked down Tessa’s face. He expected her to fall into his arms, but she didn’t. She stood there, her jaw clenched. And damn, she tried to change the subject. “I saw the Dragon Slayer use IonClaws, only she didn’t use it with her hands. She channeled it through her sword. It was deadly. But that was how she got access to HeartStrike and the other Alpherian abilities.”

  Steven wasn’t going to let himself get sidetracked. He lifted a hand to cup Tessa’s chin. He turned her face to him. They stared into each other’s eyes. “I know who you are. You are Tessa Ann Ross, and you’re good. Do you believe that?”

  She glanced away. “I’m trying to believe. But those demons attacked me. And that pale dragon, it wanted to kill me. Even the black arrow archer, whoever in the fuck that was, wanted me dead. Me. And I’m so nice.”

  She laughed, and a little of the old Tessa returned. “I keep thinking about what the Elf Queen said. The Dragon Slayer wanted to save humans, but her good was turned to evil by sorrow. And the Americos Brothers want to save Dragonsouls, but they turned to evil because of fearful desire. That’s the sense I got from her poetically cryptic words. If only we could learn the truth of what happened.”

  He nodded, remembering what she’d said about Arthur: the once and future king lost to time, crippled by friendship, consumed by love. In the stories, Lancelot betrayed Arthur by sleeping with Guinevere. Had that happened? Or was that just the human storytellers getting their facts wrong?

  “In the end, Tessa, we’ll figure things out,” Steven said. “We’re on a quest for the Holy Grail, after all, and I think we’ll get a complete picture eventually.”

  Tessa let her head fall to the side. She laughed, breathed, laughed some more. Then she took him in her arms. “Can you believe it? Us. We’re on a real quest, with knights and dragons, of course, and yeah, I don’t think I’ll feel better until we’ve completely unraveled The Mystery of the Dragonknights and Merlin’s Daughter. We’ve only just begun.” She gently pushed herself away from him. “Let me go check on Aria, our new lucky number thirteen. The torchbearer. It seems all of us are collecting names and baggage.”

  Torchbearer. In his vision of the lake, the Elf Queen had created the torch from the two sais she carried out of the water.

  Steven pulled Tessa back to him. He held her, and they fell into a kiss. That led to more. Tessa had so much tension, so much fear, that she pulled him to the bed, and they made mad, passionate love on the bed. Tessa’s fingernails dug into his back while he was on top of her, inside of her, churning his hips, making them both crazy. And when the Animus finally found them, Tessa called out, her climax violent and powerful.

  When they were done, Tessa kissed him and then retreated off the bed. She seemed lighter than before, and yet, she was still troubled.

  Zoey continued to sleep, her little snores breaking the silence.

  Steven dozed. When he awoke, it was later in the night, near 3 a.m., and another figure stood in front of the window where Tessa had stood.

  Uchiko. She was awake. And she stood bathed in the city lights, completely naked, half of her soft skin, the other half the smooth green scales of a failed Dragonskin.

  She turned to show her serpentine face. Her eye flashed in the light. “I want to give myself to you, my Prime, to do with as you wish. It’s time you knew me, truly knew me. For the veiled mysteries of my past may very well threaten our future.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  SAVEDRA HAD A TABLE in the back of Izzy’s Deli. Growing up among Dragonsouls in Spain nearly two hundred years ago, he’d had few dealings with any Jewish humans. That had been a mistake indeed. If nothing else, he’d missed out on their food for decades, and life was short.

  He and his Willbreakers were contemplating death as they sat at the table. The restaurant was crowded with humans, some famous, some not. The primates loved their celebrities. Pathetic. Daniel had been better, tougher, stronger than everyone in this place. And yet he was now gone, dead, removed from the world. His remains were cremated. Savedra had taken his enchanted lead knuckle-dusters and put them into his arsenal.

  After their beating, they had gone to the brothel to collect Animus and to work out their stress. Savedra had been with three women at a time, and he’d lost himself in the lust.

  After the fucking came the feasting, in preparation for the battle Roy Right promised they’d win. However, there was very little joy or comradery at their table.

  Javier Jones was supposedly going to meet Savedra at the deli, but now, the SoCal Prime hoped the desert rat didn’t show. He had lost all patience with Dragonlord political games.

  Savedra ate in silence, as did his men. Pastrami, corned beef, dark rye bread, pickles, potato salad, macaroni salad, coleslaw, French fries, and onion rings were brought and devoured as quickly as they arrived. The food was good; it was always good at Izzy’s. It gave him sustenance and renewed his vigor for life.

  The blind woman who came in struck him immediately. Sunglasses hid her eyes, which put him on edge considering his recent experience with Roy Right. A short skirt and tight top accentuated her curves. She moved regally, feeling along with her white cane. Waitstaff helped her to a seat, and she ordered.

  Such dark hair, such lovely skin, a bit pale perhaps, but nothing he couldn’t overlook. She reminded him of his dead wife, Francesca, because of her beauty and because of how she carried herself.

  Boyd noticed her as well, the black man frowning, a crease forming between his eyebrows. His own sunglasses hung from the collar of his open shirt, a dark maroon silk button-down. This was SoCal. Sunglasses were part of the outfit. Boyd slipped them on and muttered, “Magica Divinatio.” The purple light shining from his eyes was muted.

  “What do you see?” Savedra asked.

  Boyd had a low, deep voice. “She is a Dragonskin. She is a powerful Magician as well. Such a combination is rare. And yes, she is blind. Yet she can see you, Mr. Savedra. I know nothing else. There is a circle of ink in her skin. It hides who she is.”

  Savedra stood, swept up his iced tea, sweetened as if he were in the Miami-Dixie Primacy, and left his men. He made his way through the humans and sat down across from the beautiful, blind woman. She’d ordered a single bit of coleslaw and some tea. Odd choice, since the entire menu was full of flavor. She didn’t need to worry about the calories. As a Dragonskin, she’d need as much food as possible.

  “Hola, chica,” he said and sipped his tea. “You are trespassing in my Primacy. I want to know why.”

  The woman removed her sunglasses and put them on the table. Her irises were colorless. It wasn’t as if she had cataracts, no, her eyes looked normal in every way, except they were devoid of any pigment.

  “You don’t know me.” She smiled, and he felt himself moved by her emotion. It was part happiness, part relief, and yet disappointment was in there as well. She exuded a certain humility. Nevertheless, power surrounded her. It was a potent combination.

  “I don’t know you. But you are a Dragonskin, are you not?”

  “And a Magician,” she said. “Each role was a hard won. A victory, surely, but after the joy of the struggle comes the sorrow of loss. You know about each, Abner. I know you do.”

  Of course she knew his name. This was his fucking Primacy after all. “You came in here to talk to me. Well, talk.”

  “Shall we talk about Francesca?” she asked. “For she was your joy.”

  Savedra felt his lip curl in rage. “Do you think I won’t pull you out of here and beat you? Do you think you are safe among these monkeys?”

  “Oh, I’m not safe. There is no safety anymore. There never was, really, but we could all pretend. Now we can’t. I spoke of your joy. As for your sorrow? That was winning the SoCal Primacy, for you conquered it all too easily, but holding it was a never-ending fight with Jem Osprey. You don’t even know who I am because of your obsession.”

  “You’re hidden,” Savedra said, pondering his options. He could take her out and force t
he truth out of her. Ignore her. Kill her. All were on the table. “Are you with Roy Right?”

  “No, I’m not.” She paused. Her hands fumbled, searching for her tea. He reached and helped her find her cup.

  The electricity on her skin shocked him. He felt feelings stirring up inside of him, feelings he’d thought long dead. If only she didn’t look like Francesca. If only he knew more about her. If only Roy Right hadn’t killed Daniel.

  “You are wrong about the struggle,” Savedra said, trying to find some anchor in the strange situation he found himself in. “Fighting Osprey for this land has given me meaning. I lost one Primacy and a wife, and I shall not lose another. But you are a bruja. You know about that.”

  “You only ever wanted one wife.” She paused. “Your love is deep, consuming, and strange for a Dragonsoul. You only ever wanted Francesca.”

  “And if I had her, I would give up all else.” He hadn’t meant to say that. And he found he didn’t want to hurt this trespasser. However, he couldn’t let her leave, not with the coming fight. “Who are you with? Javier Jones? That is likely, since he said he might meet me here.”

  She shrugged. “It wouldn’t be prudent for me to reveal my alliances.”

  “It wouldn’t,” Savedra agreed. “If you said you were one of Jem Osprey’s wives, I would kill you on the spot.”

  She kept silent.

  The truth hit him. He reached and grabbed her wrist. “You are with him, aren’t you? You are in Steven Drokharis’s Escort. He split you up, like a fool, and you are here, trying to find—”

  “Magica Divinatio,” she whispered, eyes closed so the humans around him wouldn’t see her magic. With her other hand, she latched onto his arm. She’d fumbled to find her cup of tea; she had no trouble finding his skin.

  “Joy and sorrow, Abner, they are at the very heart of life. Gracias. I have what I need.”

  He’d been lured in, seduced, and betrayed. “Henry!” he yelled. “SerpentGrace, now!”

  “It’s far too late for that. Magica Defensio.” The blind woman shifted into her partial form. She was hidden from the eyes of the humans, but she knocked over tables and spilled people from their chairs as she dove forward. Savedra went wheeling.

  She exploded out of the front windows in her True Form. She shed glass off her thick emerald scales. The scent of sage and lavender hung in the air.

  Savedra was lost in the debris and screaming humans, as were his Willbreakers. A woman cried out, “Terrorists!” Another blamed Satan. That was closer to the truth.

  The SoCal Dragonlord had no doubt the witch had stolen the location of the master Americos Chamber in the sea caves near Thousand Steps Beach.

  Good. Roy Right had wanted the ambush, and now he had it.

  All they had to do was wait.

  ZOEY WAS AWAKE AND growling at Uchiko.

  She regarded the giant wolf with cool eyes. “You have forgotten, Zoey. I am a part of Steven’s Escort.”

  The wolf shifted into a woman with sleepy eyes and a hurt look on her face. “I’m so sorry, Uchiko. You surprised me. I didn’t recognize your smell at first, and you came in so silently.”

  “I am ninja,” she said.

  “Zoey, I’d like some time alone with Uchiko.” Steven didn’t frame it as a question. It came out as a rough demand.

  And the bear girl took it as such. “I’ll just leave then. It’s fine.” It wasn’t. No woman had ever said “it’s fine” like that and meant it.

  Zoey stomped away without another word. She slammed the bedroom door behind her in a huff.

  Steven paused for a minute. She hadn’t cried, she hadn’t begged to stay, she’d gotten pissed and left. In a strange way, it felt like progress.

  Then, stranger yet, Zoey burst back in. She went up to him, her face a mask of anger. “I know you’ve been talking to everyone about me...Tessa, Mouse, everyone.”

  Steven wasn’t going to point out that so far, Zoey had mentioned only two names. That would’ve been suicide.

  Zoey was breathing hard, chest rising and falling. “I know I have problems. I know I’m clingy. But I’m going to change. I’m going to be the best Zoey I can be. Because I have to be. You have to be. We all have to be the best or nothing will ever change.” She grabbed Steven, kissed him, and then turned to slam the door again.

  Steven had to take a moment to take all that in. What had just happened?

  Uchiko didn’t notice or didn’t care. She turned to face him. “You took my Animus from me during the fight. You needed me, and I was there.”

  Steven went to Uchiko. Outside, a plane was coming in, bound for Incheon or Gimpo, its lights flickering in the night sky. “I’m so sorry. I was desperate. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “You do not understand. I feel honored.” Uchiko’s eyes, one human, one serpentine, rested on him. “Even after you learned a little of my past, and my failures, you still trusted me. You trusted in us.” A small smile crept onto her face. “You have treated me gently, and it’s not something I’m used to. At times, I assumed you thought I was too weak to really be useful. Yet during that fight with Bruno Illick, I became your tool, your power, your life. You believed in my strength.”

  “Bruno?” Steven asked.

  Uchiko nodded. “I will tell you all now. For our time might be short. You trusted me to be strong. Can I trust in your strength? For you will have much to bear when I am finished.”

  “Uchiko, you are a part of us. You’ve been a part of us ever since you helped us defeat Rahaab.”

  The mention of that name put a shadow on the ninja’s face. Her human eye filled with tears. “I have to tell you everything, in one great rush, as if pulling an arrow from one’s flesh. One great act of will.”

  “I’ll listen. I won’t use magic. I trust you, Uchiko.”

  Uchiko inhaled, then started, talking fast. He knew if she stopped, she might never speak of it again. “Niwashi taught me to be a ninja. I slew Muramasa Gin, the daimyo who had defeated my clan and shamed my family. By that time, my mother and father were dead, the clan in shambles. No one believed they could send in such a perfect assassin to kill the daimyo. And no one suspected me, for I was shy, meek, and a frail woman. Also, I had an alibi. I was with my handmaidens all night. They didn’t hear me leave. They didn’t see me leave. For I was one with the shadows. When I kissed Gin, even as my knife drank from his heart, I knew my life was complete. I killed him, but at the same time, I murdered my reason for living. I could have died that night. Perhaps I should have died that night.

  “A life for a life. That was the arrangement I made with Niwashi, and I would honor it. I would meet the gardener at night, and all night long, I would go through the rituals to become a Dragonskin. All day long, I would act the grieving widow, for all knew I loathed my family and my name. I pretended that I gladly embraced the title of Muramasa Uchiko. A lie. All lies.

  “Niwashi was in hiding, frightened of the Dragon Slayer. Niwashi’s enemy also feared for his life. I told the gardener, my teacher, that I was strong enough to complete the rituals, but I was not. My will died on the night Muramasa Gin died. And so, I faltered, and while I clung to my honor, I soon realized I could not fulfill my promise to him. And on that autumn night, with red leaves floating through the wind, in the light of a full moon, when I tried to transform into a Homo Draconis, I... I failed. And I became as you see me now.

  “Niwashi laughed, he wept, he beat me, he held me. And then he told me of his enemy, living on Mount Kitu, in a palace Aerie there. He said that my broken life meant nothing, and then he said it meant everything. He left. To where, I do not know. I have never found him, and perhaps he has forgotten about me.”

  Uchiko smiled the saddest smile Steven had ever seen. And yet there was a strange kind of happiness in it as well. “No one knows this story, Steven. I have held it inside of me for a thousand years. I swore oaths that I would never reveal this next part. But the dragon I promised is long dead, and what is one more fail
ure?”

  “You’re too hard on yourself,” Steven said. If Tessa were around, she’d call that the greatest understatement of all time.

  The ninja went on. “I went to Mount Kitu. I found the Aerie of Niwashi’s great enemy. I was silent when I walked the great stone halls. I was darkness itself as I crept to the bedchamber, heated by steaming pools, by the Earth itself. On a bed of gold lay Niwashi’s enemy, the dragon who even my master feared. All feared him. For it was Rahaab, the Alpheros, the father of Dragonsouls, in his True Form.”

  Steven couldn’t believe it. His mouth must’ve fallen open. Uchiko closed it with her claws.

  “Rahaab told me that I should keep this secret to the grave. He swore me to silence. But he is dead, and I have no honor.”

  “Quit saying that,” Steven snapped. “You are not perfect. It’s not the same thing.”

  She caressed his cheek with her talons. “I will not argue. I crept up to Rahaab’s bed. My cloak covered me, covered my face, hiding my dishonor. He was a giant sleeping, and I had my katana. I found his throat. I raised my blade. Niwashi told me my life meant nothing, that it meant everything, and I was going to do this one last task and then let myself die forever.

  “Rahaab’s eyes opened. He saw me. And he did not move. He said, ‘Kill me. End this fear. End my guilt. End this suffering. Please.’

  “I was so taken aback, I faltered. My cloak fell back, and Rahaab saw me as I was, a failed Dragonskin, and he roared and flung me back, and he laughed, and he wept. He then said I would serve him, and he would use me to do the most terrible tasks, for I was a pathetic, twisted creature, and he would have me do the work he wouldn’t give to his most miserable of vassals.