Dragon Bites

by Allyson James

  Gabrielle cocked her head. “Do you have to love the person who gets destroyed, or just know them? ’Cause that lets me out. You barely like me.”

  Mick shook his head. “It means you, Janet, Maya, Colby, Janet’s grandmother and father, Gina, Cassandra, Pamela, Fremont, Nash, Jamison, his daughter and wife, everyone in Magellan, Drake, and pretty much any friend I’ve made in my long life.”

  “Oh.” Gabrielle blinked. “Even Drake? Wow.”

  Drake was a dragon, former toady to the Dragon Council. He and Mick were uneasy allies at the best of times, and I imagined the uptight Drake would not be happy to be lumped in as one of Mick’s friends.

  “All right, Janet, you heard him,” Gabrielle said. “We have to leave him to it.”

  I didn’t budge. Mick gazed back at me, unmoving, but I read a world in his eyes.

  “Who would do this to you?” I asked.

  Behind me, Maya said, “Um, Janet. Maybe him.”

  Him was a man walking slowly toward us. He was tall and wore a dark suit brushed by the few lights in the hall, his silk tie a hue that changed from dark green, to black, to dark red as he neared us.

  His face was attractive, well shaped but with an edge to it, one that said he didn’t give a crap whether people thought him good-looking or not. His hair was dark red, the light above him burning it redder, and a trim beard of darker shade of red framed his face.

  His eyes … I had no idea what color they were. I thought brown, but when he turned to the light, they were black, and then a brilliant green, then gold, then back to brown again. Iridescent, like his tie.

  The man didn’t look any more threatening than any well-to-do man walking around the casino upstairs. His aura, on the other hand, told me a different story. It was ever-changing like his eyes and tie, flashing, flickering, dissolving to nothing to reform again. He smelled of fire and ash, like most dragons, but the bite of the fire was so ancient it was mellow.

  The mellowness did not mean he wasn’t dangerous. The older a dragon became, the more powerful he grew. The three on the Dragon Council were ancient and bad-tempered, but the energy I sensed from this guy was ten times what I got from Bancroft, one of the strongest dragons on the planet.

  Which gave rise to the question—if this dragon were so old and powerful, why had I never heard of him?

  “Oh, my.” Gabrielle folded her arms, leaning against me as she assessed him. “He’s nice.”

  The dragon-man halted about six feet away from us. “So this is the Stormwalker.” His voice was deep and rich, the syllables carefully pronounced, as though English wasn’t his first language. He didn’t have a marked accent, but his speech was careful, almost musical.

  Gabrielle answered him. “Yeah, she’s the Stormwalker, and can kick your ass, so don’t get any ideas. My sister is wicked powerful. I’ll tell her to go easy on you, though, because I have a thing for dragons.”

  The man had been gazing into my face with the rudeness common to dragons, but now he flicked his attention to Gabrielle, his eyes changing to deep black.

  “And this is the goddess-child?”

  “The what?” Gabrielle drew herself up, the crackle of her power rising.

  “Gabrielle,” I said calmly. “Shut up a minute.” I fixed the unknown dragon-man with a steely glare worthy of my grandmother. “Who are you, and why did you force Mick here?”

  His gaze moved back to me, the eyes now dark blue. “Does my well-being depend on my answer?”

  “I can’t hurt you, and you know it.” While I might be a Stormwalker with a good dose of magic from my Beneath-goddess mother, I had a hard time against dragons. Whenever I bombarded Mick with my magic, he absorbed it, deflected it, or threw it back at me. “You’re a dragon. Which dragon? Why haven’t I ever met you before? Or heard of you?”

  “I keep to myself,” the man said, sounding amused. “I’m not surprised Mick never mentioned me—it is an alliance best forgotten. The other dragons don’t speak of me either.” His lips twitched. “For fear I might hear them.”

  I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it couldn’t be good. This dragon didn’t radiate menace exactly—not like the remaining members of the tripartite Dragon Council. The Mighty Three, Colby called them. He didn’t radiate the good-natured energy of Colby either, nor the quiet strength of Drake.

  He didn’t exude anything at all, but he probably didn’t need to. He simply was.

  “You can call me Titus,” the dragon said in his rich voice. “Janet Begay.”

  Titus would be short for the multisyllabic names dragons had. Mick’s was Micalerianicum, which he thankfully never expected me to say.

  I didn’t wonder too much how Titus knew about me, because while Mick was a very private person and rarely spilled the details of his life, everyone in the magical world knew I was his mate and soon to be his wife. Titus probably already knew about my Beneath magic, my hotel, my friends, my relationship with Mick—everything.

  What bugged me was that I’d never heard anything about him. Not from Mick, not from the other dragons. Why not?

  “Pleased to meet you,” I said in a flat voice. “Are you the reason Mick is in a cell, and fighting for his life?”

  “No,” Titus said smoothly. “Mick is.”

  “I know Mick is here because he’s too damned honorable for his own good,” I said angrily. “I meant—are you the one he made the bargain with? And why?”

  “To answer your questions in order: No, and it’s none of your business.”

  “It’s dragon business, you mean.”

  “Only because Mick and I are dragons,” Titus said. “This has nothing to do with the dragons in Santa Fe who think they run the world. This involves Mick and me, and Mick’s life. He owes a debt. He’s paying it, and I’m assisting him.” Titus looked us over, his gaze taking in Maya, assessing her and the threat she might pose. I saw his dismissal of her as human and harmless. “Why don’t you three ladies go enjoy yourselves? Mick will join you when he’s done.”

  I stepped up to Titus. He was a foot and a half taller than I was, and his eyes held the coldness of a vast, forgotten cavern. “Let me understand. You’re compelling Mick to fight demons and who knows what else with his strength alone, and you expect me to go off and play until he’s finished or dead? How can he possibly win without his magic? That demon nearly killed him.”

  “But it did not,” Titus said. “Dragons are strong, even in our human forms, Ms. Begay, amazingly strong. You know that.”

  “Don’t humor me. You’ll pit him against deadlier and deadlier creatures until he can’t win, won’t you?”

  “Would I?” The glint in his dark eyes was unnerving. “And if you stay to watch, you’ll be tempted to reach out and help, and then Mick would forfeit the match. That means with his life.”

  “Who would kill him?” I demanded. “You? If you’re hot to see Mick go down, why don’t you fight him yourself?”

  Titus gave me an unruffled look. “That was not the agreement.”

  “He means he’s afraid,” Gabrielle said. “He knows if he and Mick go one-on-one, he’ll be nothing but a dragony smear on the floor. This way he can get Mick killed without having to mess up his suit.” She edged closer to Titus and brushed a finger over his pristine sleeve.

  Titus’s gaze flicked to her before returning his focus to me, and his lips quirked into the ghost of a smile. “Your friends are protective, Ms. Begay. Interesting. That one doesn’t even have any magic.”

  He gestured to Maya, who lifted her chin and stared right back at him. “Because I have a boyfriend who won’t give a shit who you are if you do anything to me.” Nash Jones was a magical null—a man who could absorb magic, even the most deadly, and negate it without it harming him. But he could be killed physically—a dragon could easily crush the life out of him.

  “Janet.” Mick’s voice rolled from the cell. “I’ll be all right. Let me finish this, and we’ll go out on the town.”

  He meant to be re
assuring—Relax, baby, I got this—but I was anything but reassured. Dragons were complicated beings. There was more going on here than a simple payment of a debt, I was sure of it.

  Dragons are also enigmatic to the point of madness. There’s nothing they enjoy more than not explaining a situation.

  I shot Mick a frown and turned back to Titus. “Tell you what. You let Mick go, waive this debt, and I’ll let you live.”

  Titus studied me without alarm. “You have just stated you can’t hurt me.”

  “Not with my Earth magic, it’s true. But I wield more than that, and I have Gabrielle as my backup. How about you release Mick, and I’ll make sure Gabrielle doesn’t turn you into a pile of ash?”

  “Aw.” Gabrielle rubbed Titus’s sleeve again. “I wouldn’t do that. He’s cute. I could enslave him a little, though, if you want, make him be a good dragon.”

  Titus gazed at Gabrielle’s finger brushing the fabric of his coat, his expression unchanging. He wasn’t worried about her, which worried me.

  Dragons are very much Earth magic—grounded in power as old as the bones of the world. Beneath magic, on the other hand, came from the time before this Earth was created, older and white-hot. Dragons were nearly indestructible, but only nearly.

  “Janet.” Mick’s rich voice wove the syllables of my name. “Trust me.” He gave me the words he’d been telling me since he first met me. “Be patient, and all will be well.”

  I searched for any hint that he didn’t mean it, was trying to pass me a message, but I found none. He really believed he could survive.

  “Seriously?” I demanded, glaring at him through the grating. “You want me to walk away and let this asshole let loose any kind of monster on you just to see how you defeat it? If you can. While I do—what? Sit in the audience and chew my nails? Try to stop myself saving you? Or go dancing with Maya and Gabrielle and leave you to it? Screw you, Mick.”

  Mick returned my gaze, unblinking, but I noted that his eyes were still black, his dragon eyes. When he was relaxed, his eyes were a deep blue, beautiful like a deep lake in the sun.

  I had to choose. Let Mick keep his honor and fulfill his bargain—and maybe die—or fight Titus on the spot to get him free?

  I opened my mouth to give him my decision—Gabrielle and I would dust this guy, and I’d grab Mick, and we’d run—when a couple of things happened.

  First, I noticed Maya had wandered down the hall and was talking to someone in a soft but adamant voice on her cell phone.

  The incongruous surprise that she’d found a signal down here and my curiosity as to who she’d be calling was drowned out by the second thing—the noise of a wall exploding behind me, and the roar of a giant, crazed being as it broke out of its cell and hurled itself toward us.

  Chapter Four

  A nightmare filled the corridor, all eyes and sinuous body. It couldn’t rise to its full height, so it stretched its bulk lengthwise, like an enormous snake.

  “Woo!” Gabrielle yelled. “Everyone get behind me!”

  She ran at the monster, her hands full of white magic, her feet moving with a dancer’s grace. She wanted to fight it single-handedly, I realized, and expected the rest of us to take cover.

  Forget that. But I had no storm to help me, Mick was in chains, Titus only stared mildly down the hall, and Maya, though she’d sensibly fled the other way, was still on her phone.

  Gabrielle sent a ball of crackling white Beneath magic to the dark, sinuous body of the demon. It had a dragon-like head, though thinner and narrower, and pointed teeth sticking out around its snout like an alligator’s.

  Gabrielle’s magic struck. The creature whipped itself out of the way at the last minute, and the magic bounced off the ceiling and plummeted downward. The demon whacked the ball of brilliant light with its talon, then screamed when the talon burned.

  The creature dropped, fixing its red eyes—all eight of them—on Gabrielle.

  She laughed. “You wanna play, do you?” She gathered a more intense ball of magic, one that would bring down the ceiling and probably most of the hotel above us, and drew back her arm like a major-league baseball pitcher.

  “No!” I yelled at her.

  Chains exploded in Mick’s cell. He charged out, flinging away the manacles as he strode past Titus, who did nothing to stop him.

  Mick wore not a stitch, his torso caked with dried blood and covered with abrasions. The demon caught a whiff of the blood, snarled, and started for him.

  Gabrielle leapt out of the demon’s way, her feet connecting with the wall. I scrambled past Mick and Titus as the demon whipped past Gabrielle, heading for Mick.

  Mick waited, his eyes black in the gloom, arms outstretched, as though ready to embrace the demon as it came on. He snarled a very dragon snarl that was nothing but noise to me, but the demon abruptly halted, blinking its eight eyes at Mick.

  Gabrielle, the crazy woman, launched herself from the wall and landed on the demon’s back. The demon roared, whipping its head this way and that, trying to find the flea clinging to it. Gabrielle loaded her hands with magic, ready to plunge her power into the demon.

  Mick snarled again. The demon swung around once more, fixing on Mick as though it understood him.

  Gabrielle raised her hands high, Beneath magic glowing around them. “Stop!” I shouted. If she struck, she’d get hit with the magic too, like a person tasing herself by holding on to her tased victim.

  My sister crashed her hands to the demon’s hide, plunging magic into its body.

  The creature howled, and Gabrielle screamed, shuddering as though she’d been struck by a thousand volts. She slumped forward, the magic dying, but she didn’t fall. She lay flat on the demon’s back, and I heard her faint laughter. “Wow, what a trip.”

  Mick growled more sounds at the beast. The demon raised its head, eyes filled with pain, and met Mick’s gaze in understanding.

  It turned itself around, somehow managing to squeeze itself down like the snake it resembled, to navigate the narrow hall. Gabrielle remained limp on its back as it slunk toward the cell it had broken from.

  I turned to Mick, my eyes wide. “What the hell did you say to it?”

  Titus answered for him. “He explained the consequences.” Titus hadn’t moved during the entire encounter, and now he brushed off his coat sleeve as though annoyed by a speck of dust. “Every being here has come of his or her own accord, to fulfill a contract. She knows what will happen to her children if she breaks out and flees.”

  “Her?” I asked, staring at the retreating creature. “Children?”

  Titus gave a brief nod, and Mick’s expression told me he knew this too. “She signed the contract,” Titus said.

  “Aw.” Gabrielle’s voice drifted down the hall. “Poor snaky.” She patted its hide. “How about we kill Titus and blow this joint?”

  She was talking to the demon, I realized. I heard the creature growl, a sound like Mick had made. Gabrielle cocked her head to listen, then she nodded.

  “Yeah, I like that idea,” she said to it. “Close your eyes.”

  “Gabrielle!” I yelled, but too late.

  She let loose. Magic left her fingers in streaks of lightning, streaming along the walls in a blast of white fire that had me hitting the floor. When I climbed to my feet, I saw that Gabrielle’s magic had burst open every cell door. I heard chains shatter, creatures bellowing in surprise and pain.

  Mick sprinted after the demon with Gabrielle still clinging to it. Another deluge of Beneath magic burst from Gabrielle, the air so bright I had to duck away and fling up my arms to shield my face. Even Titus flinched and closed his eyes.

  I lost all track of Maya. Hopefully she’d headed upstairs and the hell away from the hotel.

  When I could see again, it was to watch Mick leap to the demon’s back and reach for Gabrielle. I dashed after them. Mick was resistant to Beneath magic, but resistant wasn’t the same as immune.

  I didn’t make it two steps. The creatures Gabrie
lle had freed flowed from their cells, bellowing and shrieking. They filled the corridor with not only a crush of bodies but also a stench of excrement mixed with brimstone.

  Many of the demons crashed their way to the far end of the corridor, seeking a way out, breaking down walls as they went. Others slithered around the creature filling the hall, Gabrielle riding it like a bronco buster, and headed for me.

  No, not me. Their rage was focused on Titus, who turned to face them, his eyes still screwed shut from the bright flare of Gabrielle’s magic.

  Well, shit.

  If Titus died, would Mick and the rest of the arena’s combatants be released from their contracts? Would they hurry quietly home, or would the demons burst out into the hotel upstairs and wreak havoc, with Gabrielle spurring them on?

  Mick turned and shouted at me. He put magic into that yell, so I could hear and understand: “Save Titus!”

  No time to ask him why. The adamance in Mick’s command jolted me—he’d never ask without good reason.

  In the second after Mick’s shout, I was throwing myself between the surging demons and Titus. I dug deep inside me for the Beneath magic Gabrielle tossed around so easily, and slammed up a wall of it in front of me.

  The demon leading the charge smacked into the energy and screamed as its hide sizzled. It bounced away, whimpering, and the others halted uncertainly.

  I faced a motley crew of beings from every hell ever opened. Some were human shaped, some flickering from man to animal and back again—skinwalkers. I saw giant beasts and small ones, the smallest of them raising its claws to shoot streams of liquid at the magic shield. The liquid slid ineffectually down my barrier but burned into the concrete floor like the strongest acid. Smelled like acid too.

  Titus regarded me in surprise and with a little more respect. “Hmm. I should put you into the arena.”