But that wasn’t all of it.
Maybe it worked weirdly because she was human. Maybe what she felt wasn’t as deep or complex as what she should have felt. But Minerva was getting something. The warmth was just the beginning. Underneath it all was something sweet, an affection that seeped through her veins and into her heart. Were those Saff’s feelings? And there was more. More than Saff entering her so intimately and the gentle caress of her magic…
Closing her eyes and leaning her had back on her pillow, Minerva let the sensation pour over her, like the torrents of a raging river. She saw her abuela beaming at her, that wide smile reserved just for Minerva firmly planted on her face. She felt the pride of her grandmother as surely as if it were her own, the kindness and compassion. And, of course, underneath it all was the concern of the dragon holding onto her.
Eventually, the heat drained from her body as did the riot of feelings. Opening her eyes, she watched as Saff wordlessly scrubbed off the flakes of blood on her right shoulder. The skin there was unblemished. Even a few older scars from her days on the streets of Houston were gone.
“Wow, that’s amazing. If everything else fails, you could be a hell of a plastic surgeon without the surgery in L.A.”
Saff continued to scrub at her arm. “I have no interest in serving human vanity.”
Minerva tried to sit up but Saff put a hand on her good (well better) left shoulder. “I was just kidding. Trying to break the tension. I feel awesome.”
“You will need to rest. Healing can take more from you than you realize. I do not want you to swoon.”
“If I fell, would you catch me?”
“I already have.”
Minerva nodded. “That’s true. Guess, I made a mess of our cover this time.”
“Fear not. I found a drunk human male who was more than willing to tell me everything he knew.”
Minerva snorted. Oh, she bet that dressed up in that form-fitting number, Saff could get any number of men to spill their guts to her. Hell, it would work on Minerva too under different circumstances, and if the lives of all those children in the eggs weren’t on the line.
Saff handed a glass of water to Minerva. She took it, thinking about the eggs, about the men who had attacked them, about being attacked at the beach…
“So, good news?”
“Something even I can look up on a search engine while you gather strength. We just have to find Annette’s. It’s a jewelry shop serving as a front for distributing eggs.”
Minerva whistled. “I know that place. It’s not far from Rodeo, itself. I tried to pawn there once when I first moved here, and they so didn’t want ‘my type.’ I had to run before the cops got there. I mean, granted it was a hot engagement ring… But the guy I stole it from had already stolen it back from his fiancée after he got caught cheating on her with two other women… At the same time.”
Saff sighed. “Humans. Well, get a bit of rest, and we’ll head to the store as soon as it opens. If they have eggs, we will free them.”
* * *
Minerva felt her heart racing at the idea of rushing right back into the fray. If there were a pack of overpowered douchebags at this place, too… She definitely still wanted to save the eggs, but the thought made her more anxious than she’d ever been.
“We will.” Minerva swallowed. “That’s a promise.”
She wished her voice sounded more certain. All she wanted to do was pack up her things and cut out. Just leave the damn state and let someone else take care of the heroics. It wasn’t how she was made, rushing headfirst into danger. Putting herself on the line for the lives of others. Minerva live her life on the edge of society, but she didn’t take risks.
She didn’t know if she could step away from this, though. Not after seeing that poor little girl dead in her shell.
Saff stood and set the cloth back in the bowl. “I still must change and get cleaned before then. When you feel stronger, you should bathe.”
“That your way of saying I stink?”
“You were severely wounded. It is not your fault you’re a bit unpleasant currently.”
Minerva chuckled and then hesitated. It usually wasn’t hard for her to speak, for words to trip expertly off her tongue. Hell, her way with words was how she was able to get through the barriers in her way. She talked her way into more situations than she snuck into, after all. And talked her way out of more messes than she’d gotten herself into.
But somehow, around Saff, her words left her.
“Minerva? Are you alright? Are you sure you didn’t lose too much blood?”
She eyed her pillow again and shivered. “Hope not. I… Thank you.” Her hand had reached out and wrapped around Saff’s left wrist before she realized it. “I think I owe you twice now for saving my life.”
Saff smiled, a rare look from the shifter, and the warmth was back squarely in Minerva’s chest. “I trust you will return the favor. Until then, it was my pleasure.”
Minerva slipped into the bathroom and turned the water on as hot as she could stand. If they were lucky, they would find the eggs at Annette’s snobby, racist jewelry store, and then? Minerva could get away from all of this and get back to her life. She would miss Saffyranae, but she wanted to live to make more mistakes. Jesus, she wanted to get to be old enough to rent a car on her own. If she kept it up, she wouldn’t even see twenty-two.
13
Saffyranae
They had lost several precious days during Minerva’s recovery. Saff had done her best in the interim to listen well to Minerva’s instructions about how to gently speak to humans, to lead the conversation where she wanted it to go. In this, Saff had to admit that she was no apt student. Deception did not come easy to her, nor did it matter much whether the deception was an outright lie, or a misrepresentation of purpose.
“Everyone lies,” Minerva practically groaned. She lay back on her bed in the center of this dilapidated room. Her energy had not yet returned to her. While Saffyranae’s healing had mended Minerva’s wound, the girl had lost a good deal of blood. She was still weak.
And they had little time to lose.
Regardless, Saff recognized that without learning what Minerva had to offer, she would only destroy the slim lead they had before them. She wouldn’t so often luck into someone who would give up their secrets so easily.
“Dragons do not lie. I suppose we also aren’t as thin-skinned as humans—“
“Literally,” Minerva joked.
“Because passing comments are not taken as insult, generally.”
“Well, my dear ice warrior, you’re going to have to learn about the time honored human tradition of passive aggression. We don’t say things to each other’s faces, and then we get mad about it.” Minerva shrugged. “What can I say? Humans are lesser beings, I guess.”
“I never said that. You are just… different.” Saff shifted herself where she sat on Minerva’s bed. “If I cannot understand you, the fault is mine.”
Still, it wasn’t as though dragons never lied. There were always individuals, regardless of species or creed, who would deceive and twist reality to their own benefit. However, her people did not value such things. Dragons did not write epic poems of men who would go around blinding someone, and then tricking them into being unable to get help. Dragons did not exalt those who could best swindle those with less into giving them more.
It was all beyond Saff’s ken. Regardless, she had to try to understand, for the sake of the children who might yet be.
“I lost you.” Minerva nudged Saff with her foot.
Saff smiled hesitantly. Her chest grew heavy with guilt when she enjoyed being around Minerva. It seemed wrong to have any pleasure while their children suffered.
“I am listening, Nerv.”
“Isn’t your shapeshifting a kind of deception?”
“Of a kind. It isn’t an illusion, if that’s what you mean. We shift part of ourselves into a pocket dimension of our creating, and then transform the rest.
If you touched my skin, it would still be soft, and not scales.”
As though she’d taken Saff’s words as an invitation, Minerva reached over and felt over the back of Saff’s hand.
“And silky soft, too…” Minerva pulled her hand back and crossed her arms over her stomach. “People would murder for skin like yours. Or maim, maybe.”
“I have no doubt.” Saff rolled her eyes and looked toward the window. “Let’s go over my part once more.”
“Right. Now this time, be pushy, but not fearsome!”
“I shall try.”
Finding Annette’s Fine Jewelry had not been a difficult task. With minimal guidance from Minerva, Saff had been able to search on her computer and get directions, pictures, and reviews. She’d even read some of them out loud to Minerva, who had laughed a bit at some of the stories.
“The customer is always ridiculous. Ugh. And the richer they are, the worse they get.”
“Is that so?”
“Dragon commies don’t have problems with retail, do you? And you don’t lie, so you know if someone brings something back, it actually doesn’t work?”
“Pretty much.” Saff had smirked. “We definitely do not have a holiday dedicated to trampling others in order to acquire the newest objects for a lesser amount of gold.”
“Black Friday is not a holiday. It’s a national shame.”
Normally, Saff would have taken this statement gravely. Now that she was accustomed to the cadences of Minerva’s speech, she had simply laughed.
Their research had led them to Annette’s storefront. It was a standalone building with two stories. Once Minerva had begun to improve, she had pulled the floorplan from the city’s files, revealing several back rooms and a basement.
That was their objective. The two of them entered, Saff first, and Minerva trailing to make it seem they were not together. Saff approached the jewelry counter, near the high end necklaces. Minerva moved over to a relatively cheaper rack of earrings.
The saleswoman zeroed in on Saff, while ignoring Minerva, as Minerva had said she would.
“Glamorous looking white lady? That’s a commission,” Minerva had said. “You’re bait.”
“My highest aspiration in life,” Saff had replied, please to get a laugh out of Minerva.
Saff kept her eyes on the jewelry as the saleswoman hovered. Was this Annette? She could be the owner, or simply someone working there. While moving her fingertips lightly over the glass, Saff drew in a deep breath, reaching out with her senses. Something was deeply wrong here. She couldn’t put her finger on it. She had never sensed magic this askew before, but it was quite close, and it was… sickened, somehow.
“How can we help you today?” the woman asked. “I’m Mary.”
Saff looked up and gave her a pleasant smile. This woman wasn’t culpable here. She had to tell herself that.
“I’m picking out a birthday gift for a friend. She’s a bit particular.” Saff pointed to the necklaces. “Could I see that one, and… that one of the case?”
Mary got her keys and opened the case.
Saff kept up the conversation, answering questions about her fictional friend and what she normally wore. Meanwhile, Minerva had disappeared. When Saff glanced at the corner of her eye, her partner was gone.
14
Minerva
The doorway in the back of the store led to a hallway. And that hallway led to perfectly normal offices and a perfectly normal stock room. Upstairs appeared to be nothing more an apartment and an office. Minerva moved silently, knowing that a jewelry store would have a camera, and the block she’d set up to make them record nothing but static wouldn’t last for long. A jewelry store also ought to have guards. There had been one at the front of the store, but he was watching the exit. Where were the others?
When she couldn’t find the entrance to the basement, Minerva feared this might be a dead end. Would they go back to step one of their investigation if that drunk guy didn’t know what he was talking about? She wished she’d been able to get more intel herself.
Just as she was beginning to worry, though, Minerva felt a pulse. A little flutter of a heartbeat—no, dozens of heartbeats—and she knew exactly where to go.
She checked her watch, then doubled back down the hallway. The floorplans had been wrong. She was so irritated with herself for wasting time like this. A moment later, she was back at the office. She cast a quick look around the room and went to the bookcase. She felt over the sides of the door. Most hidden doors in a home would only take a tug, but here, there had to be a latch of some kind. She looked behind the books and then knelt before the closed cabinets at the bottom.
Sure enough, under the top panel of the right cabinet was a button. Upon pressing it, there was a thud behind the bookcase, and Minerva was able to pull the bookcase out to reveal a staircase.
There, Minerva hesitated. Prickles of anxiety rolled down her skin. Now that she’d found it, she really ought to slip back out while she could. Saff could come back later to retrieve the eggs. The job would still get done.
Minerva stood frozen in the doorway. She was blocked by the vivid image of her own shoulder sliced open. There had been some tight spots over the years, a few scrapes and more than a few bruises, but she’d never seen her own muscle tissue splayed apart. Her hand covered her mouth as she took deep breaths.
Saff can handle this, she told herself. There have to be guards, somewhere. Saff is strong. She’s practically Superwoman compared to these guys. Get out of here now.
Her palms were slick as she squeezed the doorframe. Trembling, her foot stepped back from the stairs.
But she couldn’t leave. Those little fluttering heartbeats. All those little eggs. She could still remember what it had felt like for that one baby girl, pressed to her and pulsing in time with her own heart. She had been locked up in that closet, and Minerva’s energy must have felt so enticing, so secure.
Minerva had no choice. She pushed the image of her wound aside and hurried down the steps. She’d wasted too much time hesitating. With every step, the feeling of these little lives grew stronger. Like they were calling out to her. She knew then that she could never leave them.
Once she’d reached the bottom, Minerva leaned over to them and studied the multicolored eggs. Each one looked slightly different, and each was beautiful. Her throat grew tight as she counted them. Only seven here. That either meant that those up top only kept a few on hand at a time (much like keeping a certain amount of cash in a store to prevent big thefts), or Annette and Desmond were only one arm of something much bigger.
She rubbed her brow, trying to think how this could go down. She was going to have to hide until they locked the place up for the evening so Minerva could let Saff in later.
As Minerva scouted around the basement, a sound rose up and startled her. She nearly jumped out of her skin. It wasn’t footsteps, though. It was a knocking. And a low, guttural moan.
The sound dissipated, and it was silent once more. Minerva stood perfectly still, cocking her head to the side. It occurred to her again that there should’ve been guards down here. Why weren’t there?
The knocking sound began again, followed by another moan. It rattled on painfully as Minerva was drawn closer. Something was down here with them, and it was coming from that closet near the clutch of eggs. It was like nothing she’d ever heard.
“Hang in there, kids. Aunty Nerv’s got this,” she murmured, holding a hand behind her instinctively.
The noise stopped again just as her hand was on the handle. She opened it, slowly and peered inside. It was completely dark, but the smell assaulted her. It was like rotting meat, and she suppressed a heave.
Her fingers fumbled by the wall and flipped on a light.
For a moment, Minerva couldn’t identify the thing before her. A rumpled pile of clothing. Sagging flesh. Viscous black slime oozing out of every crevice. The moan rose up again, and the thing jerked its head, looking around with eyes that seemed to have
melted in its skull. What did it see?
Minerva recoiled. It was a person. It had been a person.
She ran back up the stairs.
15
Saffyranae
“Saff!”
Saffyranae turned swiftly. That was Minerva. Why had she deviated from their plan? Thinking quickly, Saff faced the two humans in front of her and lowered the temperature drastically. Mary fell to the floor, holding her arms, and the guard stumbled. Weakened, they were much easier to will to sleep with a gentle push of magic.
As she swept out of the back door, she let the temperature rise again, so they wouldn’t die of hypothermia while she was disposed.
“Minerva?” Saff called.
“Get down here quick!” Minerva shouted.
This was so far outside of the stealthy prowess Saff had come to expect of Minerva that she could only obey, following the voice down the open staircase. Her heart leapt when she saw the eggs, but fell again as she was faced with the odor of death and the expression on Minerva’s face.
“He’s dying. He’s… It’s? I don’t know what…” Minerva covered her mouth and stepped away from the closet she had emerged from.
Saff nodded and cupped Minerva’s face for a moment, meeting her eye with confidence and strength. Whatever had frightened Minerva, Saff would handle it. She entered the room.
“Can you heal him?” Minerva’s voice had grown small.
Saff knew the answer immediately but said nothing. She knew what she had smelled when she entered the store. She had recognized it on the salesgirl. What had progressed in this unfortunate soul had taken root in Mary as well, if not the guard soon, too.
Saff pushed back her emotions like so many unneeded somethings and knelt before the wasted creature. The flesh sagged on his bones like a deflated balloon. He was hollowed out, eaten from inside, and Saff suspected she knew what might have done it. She’d never heard of such a thing, but she was not yet so old to have seen the full reach of darkness and corruption.
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