The Black Dragon

by Allyson James

  "I'm a witch, Lumi, no one will touch me. If you're so concerned get down there and meet me. I want to talk to Axel, pin him to the wall if I have to. He knows a hell of a lot more than he lets on."

  She clicked off the phone over Lumi's protests. As the bus rolled toward her, she punched another number into her phone and waited for Caleb's roaring voice. She needed as many allies as she could get. But neither Caleb nor Lisa answered. She left a message for one of them to contact her as soon as they could.

  The bus ride was interminable. Though she reasoned that it would take her longer to return to where she garaged the car, drive downtown, find a place to park, and then find the bar, it didn't help her impatience with the crawling bus. It was full and stopped at every corner, people taking their time getting on and off. Two stops before the one she needed, a large group of ganglike kids piled on and the bus driver refused to budge until they settled down.

  Saba leapt to her feet and elbowed her way off, tossing a tranquilizing spell over her shoulder at the kids. The bus began moving as she jogged away, but she knew she'd move the last two blocks faster on her own feet.

  Lumi was nowhere in sight when she reached the bar called Gary's, but she plunged inside, peering into the gloom. She realized instantly why Lumi advised her not to come here alone—only men sat at the bar and tables and none looked like milk-and-cookies types. Half a dozen toughs with scruffy beards filled the back room, straightening up from pool tables as she hurried inside.

  "Hi, sweetheart," one called. "Looking for someone?"

  Saba ignored him, searching the room for Axel, whom she did not see. Why was everyone suddenly so elusive?

  A man came in behind her, but it wasn't Lumi. She didn't recognize the wiry man at first, but he stopped behind her and said, "Don't worry, it's Wallace."

  She remembered the two homeless men near her office building that Malcolm recruited to watch over her. Wallace had had a bath and a meal or two since yesterday, but still he didn't look very protective.

  The men in the bar didn't seem impressed with Wallace, either. Less so with Lumi, who came bursting in, panting, "You should have waited for me."

  "I was in a hurry."

  Saba looked over the bar patrons, men with hard eyes that glittered, all assessing her. She had the feeling none wanted to chat about why she liked tea ceremony.

  "I'm looking for Axel," she announced. "Is he here?"

  One man got to his feet, and she sensed Lumi and Wallace shrink a little behind her. At any other time she'd be amused at the thought of two grown men hiding behind a diminutive half-Japanese girl in a bar of dangerous-looking men, but right now finding Malcolm had foremost importance.

  "If he's not here, do you know where he might be?"

  "Why do you want to know, girlie?" asked the man who'd first spoken. He had graying hair and the grim look of someone who'd experienced much and cared about little.

  Saba drew quick and dirty energy from deep inside herself and mentally traced a circle around her and the two men behind her. A protective nimbus rose, one that would be visible only to another witch but which the men here could not penetrate.

  She sketched a pentagram in the air and sent it toward the man who'd addressed her. "Just tell me."

  "He should be here any minute." The man looked surprised as the words came out of his mouth. The other patrons seemed disappointed he hadn't played with her a little longer.

  "Good. I'll have a beer while I'm waiting."

  She stalked to the bar and thunked her purse on a stool, daring the startled barman to say a word. He looked questioningly at the other two men and she shook her head, knowing Malcolm wouldn't be happy she'd brought either of the two recovering addicts into a bar. Wallace and Lumi didn't argue, simply settling in, silence on either side of her.

  "Saba-chan!" Axel's voice boomed from the pool room. "You should have called, I'd have met you somewhere besides this dump."

  She noticed the other men give Axel a respectful berth as he crossed from the back room to the bar. This place might be dangerous, but not for Axel. She had the feeling the imp went where he wanted and did what he wanted with very little stopping him.

  In a low voice, she told him about Malcolm going off with the white dragon and disappearing. Axel lost his grin. He took a swig of the beer that waited for him on the bar and wiped his mouth. "We'd better find him then."

  "I also want to ask you about the witch you took us to meet," she said, pinning him in place with her gaze. "Did you know before we went to the house that she was dead?"

  The bartender shot them a startled look, but she didn't care. She'd lay Axel out with an immobilization spell if she had to.

  Axel lifted his hands. "Whoa, stop glaring at me like you'll turn me into a toad. I can't do my job if I'm a toad."

  Witches turning people into toads was an annoying stereotype, but at the moment Saba found it an appealing idea. She leaned closer to Axel, holding his brown-black gaze with hers. "Then you'd better tell me all about it."

  They moved to a table in the corner so they could have privacy. Lumi remained but Wallace shuffled out the door, his job done. The other clientele, disappointed, went back to their pool games, but they watched out of the corners of their eyes.

  "Was the witch's last name Meyer?" Saba asked Axel as soon as they were seated. "Employed at Technobabble?"

  Axel nodded, fingering the neck of his beer bottle. "That's her. I didn't know her well, but when Malcolm asked me for a witch strong enough to help a dragon and willing enough to do it, I thought of her first."

  Lumi looked puzzled. "If you didn't know her well, why was she the first who sprang to mind?"

  "Because when I met her, I read what was in her heart. Ambition, ruthlessness, intelligence, a strong witch self-centered enough to want lots of power. She'd jump at the chance to work with a dragon. Dragons give witches a lot of power."

  "And a lot of pain," Saba said darkly. "Poor woman."

  "Yes."

  "I'd love to find out how you know so much," Saba continued. "But we need to find Malcolm."

  "You don't think he went off with the white dragon on his own?" Axel asked her. "To battle him or something? Maybe they both went back to Dragonspace."

  "No, they can't enter Dragonspace without a witch or Lisa to open the door. The white dragon might have found another witch to create a portal for him, but I don't think so."

  "No," Lumi said decidedly. "They didn't leave San Francisco. I'd know."

  Saba believed him. She remembered exactly what it felt like to be marked by Malcolm, the silver-black threads entwining her mind like steely gossamer. She'd sensed him always, and the brief time he'd returned to Dragonspace without breaking the mark, she'd known how far away he was. And in spite of herself, she'd missed him.

  "Malcolm asked if you'd killed Rhoda and you said no." Saba eyed Axel thoughtfully. "But maybe when Malcolm came asking about her the white dragon told you to pretend to help us and then kill her before Malcolm could question her."

  Axel in no way seemed offended by the accusation. "That isn't logical. I'd have simply told Malcolm I didn't know anyone when he asked."

  "Malcolm can be very compelling. If we could have saved her from the white dragon she would have told us what he was up to. You disappear at the party and suddenly, she turns up dead."

  Axel pursed his lips, considering. "She had been dead more than twenty-four hours when we found her. I got that from the coroner's office. So she died even before Malcolm contacted me."

  "That doesn't mean you didn't kill her." Saba held his gaze with her own. "It means you knew you had nothing to lose by taking us to her, and by doing so, you might gain our trust."

  Axel looked at her a moment longer, something dangerous moving in the depths of his eyes. He was a creature of magic, and this man-shape sitting in front of her was not his true form. The truth of him, good or evil, had not yet been revealed.

  Axel placed his hands on either side of his beer bottle
, threw back his head and laughed. "You are goading me, Saba-chan. On purpose, just to see what I'll do. I know why Malcolm likes you—you give as good as you get."

  Lumi laughed a little nervously. "If you like good debaters, you should meet my grandmother."

  Saba kept her gaze on Axel, but he continued to smile. "I did not kill Rhoda, I give you my word on that. The white dragon did it. I could smell him in the room and on the poor girl's body." His laughter faded, but his eyes remained bright. "I am on your side, Saba-chan."

  The look he gave her was somehow comforting. She read no desire in him—he regarded her as he would a friend or as a brother would a sister. He gave her a nod as though the argument was settled. "Malcolm must be in trouble, or he'd have informed someone where he was going."

  "Malcolm would have?" Saba countered. "You don't know him very well."

  . "He does like to run off on his own," Lumi said glumly. "What about Lisa? She could help find him and kick the white dragon's butt."

  "I called but she wasn't home. I'll ask her to help, but I don't want to wait."

  "Lisa?" Axel asked with interest. "You mean Lisa Singleton who is the mate of Caleb the golden dragon?"

  Saba blinked. "Do you know everyone in town?"

  "Only the important people." He sobered, his look turning remote as though he listened to distant voices. "I think Lisa is busy right now. In fact, I know she is. Very busy."

  "How do you—" Saba broke off as her phone began to ring. The readout showed it was Caleb. She answered it. "There you are," she said in relief.

  She listened to Caleb's hurried speech, his voice rumbling and growling and worried. Abruptly he clicked off, and Saba turned back to Axel, wide-eyed. "How did you know?"

  Axel shrugged, looking unhappy. "I have a knack for these things."

  "What?" Lumi demanded.

  "Lisa is in the hospital," Saba said numbly. "She just had her babies, four weeks early, and they don't expect either her or the children to live."

  * * *

  Chapter 12

  High above the bay, Malcolm shifted to ease the ache in his shoulders while his mind hummed with thought. The white dragon was out there in the city seeking Saba and wreaking havoc, but he knew Saba would even now be recruiting help. She knew powerful magical people who would surround and protect her—Lisa, Caleb, Ming Ue, Axel, plus the people Malcolm had recruited. She'd find Malcolm or he'd get away—it was just a matter of time.

  He wished his heart could wrap itself around the idea as well as his logical brain did. Despite his calm reasoning his very human anger and fear ate at him. Saba was vulnerable, the white dragon hunted her, and here he was trussed up like a duck. He hoped Saba had sought out Lisa immediately, because as strong as Saba was, she was no match on her own for a dragon. He had terrifying visions of her being torn apart by the white dragon, her broken body left in a tangle as the witch Rhoda's had been.

  He needed to break the chains and leave this place. Once before in the human world he'd changed to his dragon form, a form which could easily shatter the chains and Jet him fly away. As soon as the white dragon had vanished, he'd tried to call to mind the exact feel and shape of his dragon-self, to push it up through his human skin to become what he really was.

  The pain had been so intense he'd blacked out and come to himself dangling from his wrists seven-hundred feet above the water, the chains straining against his weight. He'd pulled himself back to the ledge, panting and sweating in the cold. He'd have to plan—and wait. The wind buffeted him, his heart gnawed at him, and more plans whirled through his brain.

  As he spun out his thoughts he saw, far out over the glittering city, a silver light flash once, then it was gone. He stared at the hole of darkness where it had been, knowing the light had been magical, but not certain what kind.

  He continued to watch. A tiny beam of light drew upward over the city, indistinguishable to anyone not looking directly at it. The light sharpened into a point, then it turned and glided smoothly toward Malcolm.

  Malcolm's perch lay not far from the city, though he sat high above the fog and in bitter wind. He watched the point of light become iridescent swirls on the wind, drawing closer and closer. It rose above gathering patches of fog and brightened almost unbearably, and Malcolm had to shield his eyes as it came close. The entity reached the tower and began to loop and dive around it, flitting and swirling like it was having fun. It flew past Malcolm, its laughter like the singing of wind chimes.

  Malcolm wet his parched lips and tried to speak. "Silver dragon."

  The words came out a croak, barely decipherable, but the thing seemed to understand him. Soft laughter swirled around him.

  "I am she." The voice was female.

  "Good. Break these damn chains and get me back to the city."

  "I cannot." She swooped around the tower and threaded herself over his body, nothing but insubstantial silver light. "I am not here, not really."

  "Lisa?" he asked.

  "Is that her name? No, I am not Lisa, but I am she, if you know what I mean, black dragon."

  "I haven't the faintest damn idea what you mean. If you can't break the chains, at least go after the white dragon. Keep him away from Saba."

  "I cannot," she repeated. "I can travel through time and space but not manipulate anything in my path. You are strong to be able to see me."

  Malcolm watched her in surprise. "So you are the true silver dragon—the essence of her."

  "I am the original silver dragon, or at least her spirit, from thousands of years ago. I have come to help. She is dying."

  "Who is dying?" Malcolm asked in alarm. "Lisa?"

  "The white dragon poisoned her, and the children, too. I must help."

  Malcolm stared at the silver entity. "How could he have poisoned her? How did he even get close to her?"

  "Subterfuge," came her helpful reply. "He slipped poison into her human body, which she might have survived, but there were the babies…"

  A sudden vision flashed before him of Lisa and Caleb in a dark room full of tables and candlelight—a restaurant. Lisa putting her hand to her stomach and half rising from the table, Caleb springing up beside her, the other diners turning to look. The maitre d' hovering anxiously, someone talking rapidly on a cell phone. Caleb arguing with Lisa, she shaking her head and saying, "No, the babies…"

  He caught a feeling of shame from someone in the open-view kitchen, a young man with the white dragon's mark around him, and then the vision was gone.

  "Son of a bitch," Malcolm whispered.

  "I have come to help," the silver dragon said in her musical voice. "But I simply had to discover why a black dragon was perched up here of all places. Shall I tell Lisa where you are?"

  "If you would," Malcolm said, trying to hold on to his patience. The silver dragon lived a bit removed from all other dragons—all other beings—and regarded life as a long string of curiosities. Malcolm supposed she had that luxury because the silver dragon was the most powerful being in the universe.

  But the white dragon, with his actions tonight, had just doubled his own problems. If he thought killing Lisa would help him, he was a fool, because now Caleb would hunt him, and Caleb never stopped. Golden dragons were not to be taken lightly, bred for battle in ancient times when dragons could still exist in the human world. Goldens were not thinkers by any means, but when they wanted another dragon dead, they'd hunt that dragon until one or both of them died.

  "I must go now," the silver dragon chimed. Her insubstantial form flowed from Malcolm in a string of colored lights. "I feel the golden dragon's grief. They need me."

  "Tell Caleb to wait for me and not to do anything stupid. Not that he'll listen."

  She laughed and swirled around him once more. "I will convey the message."

  She shot away into the darkness, swifter than thought, then disappeared into a pinpoint somewhere above the city. Up on the tower the wind blew cold around Malcolm, and damp patches of fog thickened below him to cover t
he bay.

  Saba actually got a taxi to halt for them by lifting her hand and sending sparks of magic to stop the cab in its tracks. Tires squealed and the smell of rubber bit into the night that was fogging up fast. The taxi driver sullenly waited for Saba, Axel, and Lumi to pile in.

  "Remind me not to piss you off," Axel said to her.

  The cab raced into traffic. Driving fast in San Francisco was always a hair-raising thrill. Movie producers loved to take advantage of the steep hills and intersections that were mere platforms breaking up the near-vertical streets. The cab strained itself up Nob Hill and around the corner and down to rush toward the hospital Caleb had named.

  They reached it, a small private medical center to which Lisa had been going for prenatal care, after a swift and bouncing journey. Axel paid the fare, digging out a wallet loaded with cash. At the front desk Saba inquired frantically for Lisa, got a room number on the third floor and then was told that only Lisa's husband was allowed to see her.

  The three of them went upstairs anyway, Saba impatient at the slow elevator and wishing she had the magic to speed it skyward. They finally emerged into a waiting area to find Caleb crammed into a seat made for a much smaller person, his elbows on his knees, head in his hands, his golden mane of hair shielding his face like a curtain.

  Saba dropped into the chair next to him. "Caleb."

  He looked up. His blue eyes were wet, tears unashamedly leaking onto his cheeks. "She's in surgery."

  Saba put her arm around him. Lumi sat down opposite them with Axel at his side.

  "She's very strong," Saba told Caleb, trying to sound reassuring. "Remember how magical she is."

  "You didn't see her. We were in a restaurant and all of a sudden she turned very white and said she was in pain, then she started to bleed. I wanted to take her to Dragonspace, to my cave where she could heal, but she insisted we come here, because she was worried about the babies. They did a C-section to take the babies out, but Lisa never woke up, and they're trying to find out what's wrong."