When someone wrongs me I don’t sit down with them. I blow their fucking heads off.
“I can sense your hostility,” said Vincent. “I understand.”
She gave the troll her lifetime perfected bitch stare. “And I understand why you’re doing this, but it still doesn’t alter the fact that you drove all those people to suicide, and you tried to kill me. I don’t forgive too easily. Or at all.”
“Then why are you here?” Vincent asked. Her voice was calm, no-threatening. “You didn’t have to stay. You could’ve beaten me senseless. I think you would’ve enjoyed that a whole lot more than my tea.”
Tameka tossed her tea cup onto the lawn. “You know what? You’re right.”
She knocked the table over, scattering the tea set and the sandwiches, and punched the troll in the face so hard she felt teeth pierce her knuckles. Vincent howled in pain as she pounced, grabbing her in a head lock. She didn’t try to break free. Tameka knew she could but was restraining herself.
She doesn’t want to hurt me.
“Does that make you feel better?” Red asked casually, still sipping his tea like nothing untoward was happening.
Tameka grinned viciously and let go. “A little. Now tell me everything, and I might be willing to help you.”
Vincent sighed heartily as she poured them all another cup of tea. “Luckily my tea set hasn’t been damaged. If even one of them had been chipped I would’ve had to kill you. They were a family heirloom.”
Tameka thought she was joking until she saw the dark look.
“My wife and I came to Blue City fifty years ago,” Vincent explained. She seemed happy, lost in memories. “Though I was a gruff back then.”
“Gruff?” Tameka queried.
“Gruffs are male trolls, and pretties are female,” said Vincent.
Tameka let that slide over her head for a moment. Transgender trolls were the least odd thing she’d encountered lately.
Vincent went on. “We’d heard the calming effects of the waters here could help with fertility. Verina and I had had trouble conceiving for over three-hundred years and we wanted children so badly. It took years of trying but eventually Verina gave birth to a quartet of babies ten years ago. It wasn’t anything to do with the magical waters, though. We found a human doctor who specialized in troll fertility. He was a witch.” Vincent smiled, obviously thinking about her children. Tameka felt for her. “A month ago my family were going for a check up with the doctor when they vanished. I got an anonymous note a day later, saying they would be killed one by one if I didn’t do as I was told. I refused, and a day later they sent me my wife’s left arm. They tore it from her body.”
Tameka winced.
“What happened then?” Tameka asked. She picked up a cucumber sandwich and bit into it. It was rather good, though a little bland.
“They knew I was halfway transitioning into my female form, so they knew my magical powers would be at their most potent. Trolls have an inbuilt ability to somewhat hypnotize humans anyway. It’s not powerful, but it is enough to convince most they didn’t see a troll and to go on their way. That’s how our kind have survived for so long. That’s why my family and I can live on a normal street. Our human neighbors look at us and see only other humans.”
Tameka nodded. It was a decent ability to have.
“My family’s captors thought that, due to my heightened hypnotic powers, I might be able to convince people on the internet to harm themselves,” Vincent went on. “I tried it and it worked. Then they upped their game. They sent me the name of someone. I was to befriend them on Facebook and stalk them and convince them to kill themselves.”
Vincent wiped a tear away from her eye. The liquid was yellow.
“I thought they’d want one person killed and that was it,” said Vincent. She was frantic now, grieving. “But they keep giving me more people to kill. I tried to tell them I wouldn’t kill more people but then they sent me my wife’s left leg and threatened to maim one of my children next. I had to do it.”
The troll was weeping openly now. Tameka put down her cup of tea and sandwich and enveloped the large creature in a hug. She wasn’t without empathy. Vincent may have killed people, but she’d done so under duress. Red was right. She would have done the same under the same conditions.
Tameka kissed Vincent on the forehead and said, “It’s okay.”
“I don’t deserve your pity,” Vincent wailed.
“You deserve our help,” Tameka insisted. “And now I consider the fact that you tried to murder me several times their fault. I’m pissed at them now. They’re going to wish they’d never been born once I get my hands on them.”
She meant every word. There was still a part of her that resented the troll for trying to kill her but she understood. Vincent wasn’t to blame.
“They sent me a list this morning,” Vincent told her. “There’s five people on it. They went them dead in two days.”
Tameka nodded, thinking. There had to be a way around this. She had to save Vincent, her family, and make sure she herself stayed alive and got to shoot some kidnapping scum in the process. She needed a plan.
I’m all out of ideas.
“Does the dragon shifter have any ideas?” Vincent asked.
Tameka was puzzled. “Dragon shifter?”
“Erm…yes,” said Red. “I’m a dragon shifter.”
9
Tameka laughed.
“What does she finding so amusing?” Vincent asked, perplexed.
“I think she’s been bombarded with too much kooky information at once,” said Red, staring at Tameka with concern. “Or she might be having a stroke. I’m not sure.”
“Are we quite sure she’s human?”
“Sometimes I do wonder.”
They’re deadly serious. Red really is a dragon shifter, and Vincent is a troll, and my sister is a mermaid. Next thing I know President Clinton will turn out to be a fucking fairy.
Tameka composed herself. She didn’t want to appear hysterical in front of the troll and the dragon.
“Prove it,” she dared him.
Red looked around the small garden with dismay. “There really isn’t that much room here to transform. I don’t want one of my wings knocking you over.”
“I’ve been through worse these past few days,” she said, not wanting to show how excited she really was. “Prove it. Now.”
He stared down at her, obviously reluctant to prove anything, but she wouldn’t back down. Tameka knew he was telling the truth. He was a dragon shifter. Yet she had to know for certain. She had to have tangible proof. The fact that she’d worked with him for years and he’d lied to her would come later.
“Don’t mess up my hydrangeas,” Vincent complained.
Red walked into the middle of the garden, stepping on a discarded cucumber sandwich. He watched her the entire time, his gaze penetrating and dangerous and a little flirty. Tameka liked it when he was serious. It gave her chills.
“Is this going to take all day?” Tameka asked him teasingly.
She was about to tease him further when he stretched his arms out and a huge red dragon popped into being. She staggered back, falling onto the grass, as Red’s cold, black nose sought her out. He sniffed once, twice, before backing away a few yards.
Red sat back on his haunches, pulling in his wings. His neck was short, his skin an array of glistening blood red scales. His wings were leathery, of a lighter red, going more towards pink. His head was covered in small spiked horns, all gleaming lethally in the sun.
“Am I dragon enough for you?” Red asked.
His dragon voice was rough, like a bar tender who’d breathed in second hand smoke for fifty years. His eyes were the same as his human eyes, though; exactly the same. Those haunting eyes had stared down at her in more than one lucid sex dream.
“My ruby red dragon,” she whispered. “Fantastic.”
“Can I turn back now?” asked Red. “I feel a little conspicuous out here.”
/> She pulled herself to her feet, staring at the magical sight before her. The dragon’s clawed feet were digging into the grass, gouging huge holes in the soil. His chest was rising up and down. His heart must be the size of her entire body.
“How are you talking to me?” she asked, still mesmerized. “Your mouth isn’t moving.”
“It’s a telepathic thing,” he explained. “Most normal dragons can only talk with humans through a talking-to-animals spell, but I’m…special. Old.”
“You don’t look a day over thirty.”
He laughed. “I’m thousands of years old.”
“Fuck off.”
Red grinned. On his dragon form it was disturbing. “It’s true.”
Tameka reached her hand forward, pressing her palm against his nose. It was warm to the touch, dry, and a little leathery. He sniffed her, sending huge gusts of air that threatened to topple her afro. He was a cute dragon. Dangerous, certainly, but cute.
“I’d love to ride you so hard my thighs catch fire,” she whispered.
I’d often thought that about his human form.
“You cannot ride a dragon!” shouted Vincent, affronted.
Red shook his huge head. “You want to ride me? Tameka, you can’t ask to ride a dragon! I thought you were better than this, holding to societal stereotypes. That was racist.”
Tameka backed away. “I’m sorry! I…I didn’t know.”
Red quickly changed back into his human form. The look of disappointment he gave her made her feel like a wanted criminal. How was she supposed to know you weren’t supposed to ask to ride a dragon?
“Stop looking at me like that,” she snapped, feeling embarrassed. “I didn’t know.”
“Well now you do,” said Red, still angry. “Don’t let it happen again.”
Tameka looked away, wishing she could turn into a dragon herself and fly away from this awkward scene.
“What now?” Tameka asked them.
They were sat back at the picnic table again. An awkward silence had stretched between them since the incident. Red wished he hadn’t acted so appalled with Tameka when she’d suggested riding him. He was just surprised. She didn’t know his society. She didn’t know dragons thought the very idea of a human riding them was sickening and degrading. It was akin to an ant asking to ride a human.
“Do you want to ask any more questions about me?” Red asked.
“Not really,” said Tameka sulkily.
Shit. I’ve really upset her.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just…dragon riding reminds us of times we’d rather not think about. A long time in the past there was a period where dragons were enslaved. Humans rode us like we were simple minded horses. We gained the respect we deserved and shucked off our chains. There may have been a war or too involved. The memory of that time is still raw in our collective memory.”
“I understand,” Tameka admitted. She batted a smile his way. “I’m sorry.”
“You’ve nothing to be sorry for.”
She smiled and raised her tea cup to him. He clinked his own against it.
“So when do we rescue Vincent’s family?” she asked them.
She wanted this over with. Vincent’s family shouldn’t have to suffer any longer. Besides, she wasn’t sure whether Verina had any limbs left to tear off.
Vincent glared at them with deadly intent as the troll said, “This is the thing…Red and I already discussed the plan.”
“Vincent left a message online, saying she’d caught a dragon shifter snooping around and killed him.” Red lowered his eyes. “They should be coming to collect my body right around now.”
Tameka leapt to her feet, ready for action. It was then she noticed a red laser dot hovering about around her chest area. She prepared to leap to safety as she heard a gunshot.
10
The bullet grazed Tameka’s shoulder, imbedding itself in the grass, shredding the turf. She pulled her gun out of her holster and prepared to fire back when Vincent placed her hand on her shoulder, motioning for her to stop.
“Save your bullets,” she warned.
Tameka prepared herself as three figures walked towards them from the side of the house. Two of them were men of Asian descent, whorl shaped tribal tattoos etched on their foreheads. They looked like twins. The other was female, white, her black hair in a short beehive. Each one of them carried a huge rifle in their hands.
“The dragon shifter doesn’t look dead,” the female said.
The left Asian twin said, “We can take care of that.”
Red stepped up to them, walking past a shocked Tameka. She had never seen him display such brazen fearlessness before. It was a huge turn on, even though he was probably about to get a bullet in the head.
“Do you really want to make an enemy out of the dragons?” Red asked them politely. “It would be a grave mistake.”
“It doesn’t bother me either way,” said the female. She looked towards Vincent and smiled, showing off a row of silver teeth. “I’m going to enjoy slicing up what’s left of your wife for this, troll. She makes such orgasmic noises when she’s in pain.”
Vincent roared in grief but didn’t move. She had the sense to know confronting these maniacs was a death sentence. Tameka admired her restraint. If someone had hurt her family she would’ve made the torturer suffer for all eternity.
“Do you have an offer?” the female asked.
Red nodded his head. “I am a personal friend of the prime minister. I can give you anything you want.”
Vincent looked to Tameka, who shrugged. She had no idea whether Red was who he said he was. Why did the dragons have a prime minister?
The assassin stepped forward. “My name is Adella, and what I want is to spend the rest of my life killing people for money. I like my job.”
Tameka winced when she noticed the assassin woman lick her lips. It was as if the very thought of killing pleased her sexually.
I’m going to throw up.
“A bit of a psycho, aren’t you?” Red asked, grinning. “I like that.”
He’s flirting with her.
Red took a deep breath and said, “The Prime Minister will keep all three of you in his service. He can pay you double what your current employers are paying you. We could do with some competent assassins in our employ. You seem to fit the bill nicely.”
“Intriguing,” said Adella. “I’m interested.”
“But we want to know where you are keeping Vincent’s family, and we want to know who your employer is. There’s no deal if you don’t give us that.”
Adella nodded, chewing over Red’s generous offer. Tameka kept her eyes on the two assassins behind her, silent and still, like robots.
Huh. Maybe they are robots. You never know these days.
“Are you sure the rime minister will adhere to anything you offer us?” Adella asked. “Are you sure he’ll listen to someone like you?”
Red nodded. “Of course. You have my word.”
The twin assassins turned to look at each other. A conspiratorial glance passed between them before they both opened fire. Adella fell amid a hail of bullets, her body shattering, blood and bone splinters bursting into the air. Tameka dived for the grass.
Red roared as his body was peppered with bullets. Vincent threw herself to the floor, hiding behind the picnic table. He couldn’t see what had happened to Tameka. There was so much blood and gore flying through the air for him to see. Poor Vincent’s ancient tea set was turned into splinters.
“Tameka!” he shouted.
He saw her crawling across the grass towards him, wading through what remained of the female assassin. He grinned, knowing she was safe, before turning into his dragon. The assassins stopped dead.
“Tell me where Vincent’s family is or I’ll let you live!” he threatened.
Tameka stood up, pressing her body up against the side of him. He was warm.
The assassins trained their guns on him again and fired. The bullets bounced
off his scaly hide. The crumpled ammo fell to the grass.
“Tell me where Vincent’s family is or I’ll let you live!” he told told them again. “I’m not going to tell you again.”
“You’re not really going to kill them, are you?” Tameka whispered.
One of them pointed their gun towards Tameka. Red roared with fury and charged forward, snapping the assassin up in his sharp jaws. He screamed in terror, using his hands to try and pry the jaws apart. One bite broke the man’s neck.
“Red!” Tameka shouted, horrified.
He let the corpse of the assassin drop to the floor. Where Red had sunk his teeth into the flesh there were rows of bloody bite marks.
The other assassin dropped his gun and made a run for it. Red ran forward, using the back of his massive head as a bludgeon to knock him down. He roared and prepared to bite again before noticing that the man was knocked out cold.
They thought they could fight a dragon? Idiotic humans.
He changed back into his human form, ignoring the dead bodies sprawled about. The only thing that concerned him now was finding Vincent’s family, which would lead him to whoever had been killing all those people. Still, the fight had been good, marvelous even. He hadn’t chomped down on human flesh in such a long time.
“What do we do with him now?” Vincent asked, emerging from behind the picnic table. “I think we should kill him.”
“They know you betrayed them,” said Red, thinking. “Your family is in danger.”
“You shouldn’t have killed him!”
Red shook his head. “We’ll find a way around this. I promise you.”
Tameka tried wiping the gore from her top but it wouldn’t budge. She’d never seen someone die in such a gruesome, horrific fashion before. She felt dirty.
Vincent pulled out her mobile phone, panicking as it rang. She never even noticed the broken remains of her precious tea set.
“It’s them!” she said frantically. “They’re going to kill them.”
Tameka sighed and grabbed the mobile. She was the only one here with some tact left over. It was up to her now.
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