She studied her hands, one manicured with smudged white tips, the other with ragged nails and the bizzaro stamp. Neither hand felt like it belonged to her. What should she do? She couldn’t let Joey steal from Alec. How could she get Joey to leave with her before Gino pulled the job at midnight? She didn’t even know what time it was now.
While she washed her hands, she thought hard. “What time is it?” she asked Lil.
Lil pushed at her ear and said something to somebody else. Interesting. Lucy hadn’t noticed the tiny mic/com in her ear earlier.
“Ten o’clock,” Lil said.
Lucy dried her hands. Maybe she could do something to break the thumb access and foul up their entry, set off the alarms when they tried to enter. But then Joey would go to prison. She couldn’t be the one to throw the pitch on his third strike.
Lucy swallowed hard. She had been drying her hands for too long. Lil was staring at her like she was a nut. Little did she know.
“Let’s go see those jewels.” Lucy smiled, overly bright.
Inside the vault, Lil locked the steel door. Bolts engaged and electronics and metal swished closed. When they were alone, Lil took a deep breath and released it slowly. Her brawny frame seemed to deflate with released tension.
“You like it in here?” Lucy stepped to the first case. A gold breastplate studded in colorful jewels rested against black velvet. It had to be Mayan with the crude studding on the edges. The next case held a 15th century Venetian diamond necklace.
“I like it that you’re safe in here.” Lil sat on the second step leading to the balcony.
Lucy’s head buzzed with frustration. Enough with all the innuendos.
“Truth time.” Lucy stopped in front of her. “Why are you wearing a sword? Why do you think I’m not safe out there? What is this thing on my hand?” She turned her wrist in case Lil had forgotten the stamp.
Lil smiled a genuine smile. It softened her features and made her appear like she could be someone’s friend. “You’ll have to ask Mr. Gerald those questions. He’ll be here soon.”
Lucy gritted her teeth. Lil’s response only made Lucy more determined. She was programmed for the ready response of Google, not slow microfiche basement searches. “Am I really in danger?”
“I believe you are.”
“Why?”
“Mother Superior is jumping the gun.” Lil smiled at pun. “I like the Beatles too.”
Lucy put her hands on her hips, but couldn’t help a smile. “Are you calling me a nun?”
“Happiness is a warm gun.” Lil held up her hands. The gesture would have been playful, if it hadn’t made the vein on her bicep bulge and the sword scrape across the stair.
“That doesn’t tell me why you’re carrying a sword—a real sword. I know my metals. That is non-alloyed steel. That sword is old. Very old.”
“Lucy, let it go. I can’t tell you more than I have.”
The door beeped. Someone was entering the exhibit.
Lil jumped up, pulled her broadsword, and pushed Lucy behind her. They stood for the space of several seconds while the bolts disengaged and the door slid wide.
Gino ran through the gap, carrying a wicked-looking curved blade. At his feet, the two exhibit guards lay unconscious, bleeding.
“Gino!” Lucy yelled, aghast to see him. “What are you doing here?”
“You know Ambrogino?” Lil cast a shocked look back and forth between the two of them.
“No. Yes…” Lucy fumbled her response. “He’s bad.” It was a silly statement, but it covered the basics.
“You don’t say.” Lil opened a storage door under the balcony stair and pushed Lucy inside. “Stay there.”
Lucy crouched in the dark space with her knees to her chest. She should be out there, telling Gino to back off, leave them alone. Tell him she wasn’t going along with his plans anymore. She peeked through the crack in the door. Lil approached Gino and said something in the strange language, but Gino backhanded her, knocking her to the ground.
“Lil!” Lucy opened the door and stepped out. This was all her fault. She shifted from right to left foot, trying to override her desire to get back under the stairs and hide.
Gino laughed. Suddenly, he changed into one of the theater beasts. A brown dragon with red lining its eyes, tail ridge, and wing tips. Spiraled horns grew from its head and fangs protruded from its mouth. Lil jumped to her feet and swung her sword at the creature.
A dragon? In here? Lucy’s body trembled, her breathing grew ragged, and her eyes couldn’t accept what see was seeing. Had Gino somehow joined the Cirque du Soleil show? Her mind skipped over the unbelievable data.
The brown dragon flew a figure-eight pattern near the rafters and roared so loudly, the glass of the jewel cases rattled. Lucy’s heart jumped a beat and her palms left sweat marks on the front of her pants. This was crazy.
Lil jumped on a glass case and swung her sword into the belly of the dragon. Ice seemed to come out of the end of her sword. She was good, like Bruce Lee with a blond braid.
The dragon roared. Blood gurgled off its chest, and it screeched and landed on the ground. It stretched its talons toward Lil, trying to grab her. When Lil swung upward with her sword, the dragon knocked her down. Her head hit the corner of a jewel case, and she crumpled to the floor, not moving.
Above them, the cloth draping on the ceiling burst into flames and fell to the floor.
Heat gusted over her face, tightening the skin. It was a real fire.
Holy Mary, Joseph, and Peter.
The dragon picked up Lil in his claws and shook her like a rag doll. Still Lil did not move. This was too much. Smoke hit Lucy in the face and she coughed.
“Hey, stop this!”
The dragon pivoted his head. It dropped Lil to the ground and trudged toward Lucy. Its spiked tail swung behind it like some crazy dinosaur animation. Jewelry cases shattered into piles of glass and steel.
“That’s enough!” Lucy yelled. Flaming curtains and brocade paper crashed to the ground. Ceiling sprinklers turned on and water poured from the ceiling like a torrential storm.
The dragon stopped a few feet from her. Its lips pulled back to show yellow fangs and black gums dripping with saliva. It inhaled deeply and then blew out, coating her in a foul liquid that smelled like rotten eggs and stale smoke.
The steel door beeped and swished open. Alec and a small army of black-clothed guards rushed inside.
“Lucy!” Alec called.
Lucy wiped water from her eyes and stared at the brown dragon, disbelief paralyzing her.
The dragon opened his mouth and lunged at her. His teeth sunk into her shoulder and he lifted her off the ground. Pain exploded through her body. She saw Alec’s furious face before the floor slammed into her body.
A bigger black dragon came out of nowhere, pinned the brown dragon to the floor, and shook him by the neck. Lucy was so close, she could see the half-circle shaped scales of the black dragon flexing. The brown dragon shrieked, but the black dragon held on, squeezing the other dragon’s throat until it stopped moving.
The brown dragon’s head thudded to the floor next to her. Its pupils dilated to the edges of pink irises and took on the unmistakable mask of death.
This was too real to be fake.
Lucy pushed herself up on her arms and looked around the destroyed room. Her shoulder throbbed. She was hurt. Really hurt. Smoke trailed upward from charred fabric and material, gone soggy with the sprinkler water. Priceless jewels scattered on the floor.
Lil was unconscious.
Could they be real dragons?
She stared at the black dragon. Her mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. The dragon walked forward on all fours, watching her. In a shimmer, he changed into a man.
Alec.
One minute it was a dragon, the next minute it was Alec. Beside her, the brown dragon shrank and turned into a bloodied man.
Gino. Dead.
She scooted to the edge of the stairs.
Alec stepped toward her as if he approached an injured animal, uncertain if she would bolt. His hand reached for her, palm up. She remembered him touching her in a caress. It was the same hand, the same man.
“You’re a dragon?” she whispered the words.
“Yes, I told you so.”
Alec’s face wavered in front of her. In her mind, she heard a rushing sound. A black tide crashed over her, tugging her out to sea. She closed her eyes, welcoming the unknown over the evidence of dragons.
…
Alec picked up Lucy and cradled her to his chest. “See to Lil first,” he told Leo. “Then transfer all the jewels to my private vault.” Alec opened the steel door.
“What about Ambrogino?” Leo asked.
“Burn him so that he can’t regenerate.”
In the hall, gamblers watched Alec carrying Lucy with wide eyes. Lucy was pale, and her breathing was choppy. The three puncture wounds on her right shoulder had to hurt like hell.
Alec could hardly concentrate over the roaring in his head. Lucy had been in danger, almost killed. It was unacceptable, it couldn’t happen again. His father had prepared him to assume the role of King, but he would not, could not sacrifice his mate for anyone.
“Send the doctor to my suite,” he said out loud, knowing Darius would see and hear him in the surveillance room.
He pushed his hand on the security panel that activated the elevator to the dragon floors. Up, up they whisked. The blue cloudless day would have be perfect for flying—flying away with his mate—leaving the dragons and their problems behind.
At the dragon’s quarters, he stepped through the communal gathering area. The festive chatter of newly arrived dragons from every corner of the world stopped. A low hissing, akin to human booing, sounded at the back of the room.
Alec stopped, turning in a wide arc. “Who dares insult my mate?” He pulled Lucy’s face protectively to his chest.
Lin, one of the commanders of the Chinese fold, stepped forward with his eyes downcast. “They meant no disrespect, Jer’ol. They’re young and excited by the ceremony.”
Alec understood Lin’s reasoning, but there was no room for weakness with dragons. He had already put down one blood challenge today—he did not need another. Better to handle the naysayer where all could see and learn not to challenge his authority.
“I ask again.” He set the still unconscious Lucy carefully in a chair and opened his arms wide to the room. “Who dares come into my home, enjoy my hospitality, and hiss at my mate?”
There was a rumble of chatter through the crowd. A young, brash Chinese man stepped forward. “It was me,” the young man said with a heavy Asian accent. “You brought a human among our kind. It is forbidden.”
“The human is my destined mate.”
The man glanced over his shoulder for support from his comrades. “You’re mistaken. There has never been a human mate,” the young man continued in a righteous tone.
“I say she is.” Alec stepped closer, crowding the naysayer.
Again there was hissing from the back of the room. The disrespect was worse than he realized. Alec bumped the young man with his chest, forcing him backward.
“Jer’ol,” Lin said. “I beg your forgiveness of my son.”
“Your father knows the only history that matters here is mine.” Alec smiled wide with feral intensity. “I’ll kill you.”
“I would like to see you try.” The young man fisted his hands at his side and swung for Alec.
Alec easily deflected the blow and twisted the man’s arm behind his back. A hard tug upward dislocated the young man’s shoulder.
The young man cried out and curled into a ball on the floor.
“Please.” Lin dropped to the floor on his knees. “He is my son.” The words were wretched from his father’s heart, an elderly father that Alec knew would not have more sons. The rest of the room followed Lin to the floor like supplicants at Mass.
Leo and Tyren took positions at Alec’s left and right. Alec really didn’t want to kill the kid.
“Al-l-e-ec,” Lucy called from the chair. Her face was blanched and her teeth chattered.
Alec took a deep breath and blew out his rage “Put him in a cell. Let the doctor set his shoulder, but he will not be allowed to participate in the ceremony.” It was a horrible punishment. But the young man would live to see another ceremony and breeding season.
“Thank you, Jer’ol.” Lin nodded, accepting the sentence. “I am grateful.” He thumped his closed fist over his heart. It was the dragon gesture for family, loyalty, and respect.
“You make sure there is no more trouble with your fold,” Alec said before picking up Lucy and crossing the outdoor patio toward his tower.
The wind blew strong enough to knock humans to their knees. Alec rode another elevator to the top of the south tower. Guards followed him to his suite and took up watch outside his door. Leo would be behind that detail. It was good to have careful friends.
“Alec?” Lucy pulled her head back. “Who’re all these people?”
“They’re shape-shifting dragons, like me. They’re here for the mating ceremony tomorrow night.”
“Another party?” She seemed confused.
“It’s more than just a party.” He laid her on his bed and sat beside her. “It is a time when all the dragons in the world come together to join, and begin the next generation.”
“How can you really be a dragon? I don’t understand.”
“The doctor will be here in a minute.” Alec brushed damp hair from her brow. “How’re you feeling?”
“How do you think?” Lucy’s lips were blue and her teeth chattered. She squeezed her eyes closed, like she could make him go away.
He grabbed her hands. “Lucy, look at me.”
She opened her eyes a sliver.
“I know it is hard for a human to believe. But I am a dragon. And you are my destined mate.” He spoke the words slowly, giving them time to sink in.
Lucy shook her head and pushed her face into the pillow. “This is all a bad dream.”
A knock sounded at the door. The doctor entered the bedroom and stopped at the foot of the bed. Eyes downcast, he waited for Alec to acknowledge him.
“She was bitten in the shoulder by a fire dragon.”
The doctor set aside his black medical bag. “May I examine her?”
“Yes.” Alec went to the windows and gazed out on the patio. This morning, dragon couples had mingled in every corner of the roof patio. Now, not a single soul could be seen. Word had spread he was in a killing mood.
“She’s a human?” The doctor’s words were incredulous.
“Is that a problem?”
“No, Jer’ol,” the man stammered. “I care for humans in my regular practice. I just didn’t expect to see her here.”
“She’s my mate.” Alec crossed his arms.
The doctor put on gloves and pulled back Lucy’s torn brown sweater. Lucy gave a moan but kept her face turned to the pillow and her eyes closed. “These bite marks need cleaning and stitches. She’ll need a round of antibiotics. The risk of infection is very high with humans. She’ll be in some pain.”
“Fix it.”
Suddenly, Lucy sat up and grabbed the doctor’s suit lapels. “You’ve got to help me get out of here. This man is holding me against my will.”
The doctor whipped his head toward Alec and then gently disengaged Lucy’s fingers. “I’m sorry you’re scared, but you’re in good hands here. You are the Jer’ol’s mate,” he said, excitement in his voice.
“I’m his prisoner,” Lucy insisted.
The doctor looked perplexed and busied himself removing his gloves. “I’ll just collect my supplies and return.” The doctor left without meeting Lucy’s eyes.
“Testa di merda,” Lucy said and fell back against the bed.
A surge of admiration rushed through Alec. His mate was a fighter. She had seen her first dragons and been mauled, and still she was trying t
o escape. He sat beside her and lifted her chin. She was pale and shaking but her eyes were alive with anger.
“You were pretending to be sick?”
Lucy yanked her chin away. “No. My shoulder feels like it’s been ripped off. But I’m not staying here with some delusional cult.”
“Every one of the dragons is here by his or her own choice.” Alec wished they had time for her to understand that they weren’t a cult. He wished she were safe on her own, so that she could choose to be with him. But he didn’t know who else Ambrogino may have swayed to his side, and the young Chinese dragon had been too bold by half.
Lucy would have to stay. Whether she liked it or not.
“I’m sorry. I know you don’t understand yet,” Alec said gently. “But you can’t leave. There are people who might want to hurt you.”
“I. Am. Leaving.” Lucy’s face was a pugnacious blend of stubbornness and certainty.
“No. You. Are. Not.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lucy fingered the cell phone she had lifted from the doctor. A maid had taken her torn clothing so that all she wore under the thousand thread count blue sheets was her underwear. The bra strap on her right shoulder was torn where the creature had bitten her.
Fear and indecision clenched her stomach tight. What sins had she committed to wind up mauled, nearly burned to death, and now a “guest” of an apparent dragon cult leader?
She’d heard of vampires and werewolves—zombies were even popular now—but dragons? She glanced at the phone in her right hand. The hand stamp that had been faint in the spa was now vibrant red, blues, and greens circling a black dragon. Where was St. George when she needed him to kill—what did you even call a bunch of dragons?
A flock? A herd?
Lucy shook her head. A horde of dragons, in the middle of Las Vegas, and no one noticed?
Crazy.
Perhaps the creatures in the exhibit really were theater dragons. Was that possible? Could it all be an elaborate hoax? The fire and water had scorched her and drenched her. Her injury was no joke—her shoulder throbbed with each beat of her pulse. Lucy flipped through the data: the flying, the fighting, the pink death eyes…and forced a number, 60%. She turned the percentage over in her head to see if it stuck. It did.
Luck of the Dragon Page 13
