by Aaron Crash
Steven couldn’t disagree. He also felt bad about Mathaal’s ultimate fate. The old guy had helped them, and in the end, he’d been another friend of his father’s.
The waitress came, and they all put in their orders. It was steaks for all, the best T-Joe’s had to offer. They went over the Wenck fight in hushed voices, and Bud kept shaking his head. “You all are tough, so tough.”
The steaks were thick and rare, with juices bleeding out of the red middle. Throw in some Texas toast, a mess of ranchero beans, green beans and bacon, and a pretty good salad drenched in Thousand Island dressing, and the celebratory meal went down easily. Bud drank the beers Mouse didn’t, but Steven was still underage. He was the youngest of them. Ironic. He wasn’t much of a drinker anyway.
Aria sampled everything, but she asked for another order of Texas toast. “It is a wonderful thing, this cowboy bread toast.”
They laughed at that. And it was churro sundaes for dessert.
Aria gazed at her churro quizzically. “Is it a stick of dough?”
“It’s basically a long Mexican donut,” Tessa said. “You haven’t had churros?”
Aria cut a piece off the sweet and swirled it through the ice cream before putting it into her mouth. When she did, her eyes fluttered. “Yes, these are much better than your Donettes.”
“Watch it now,” Tessa said good-naturedly. “Don’t be dissing my Donettes.”
Mouse only picked at her sundae. She wasn’t much for sweets. “Well, Aria, if you want to go full-on greasy, you have to have a funnel cake.”
“Those are donuts unleashed. Funnel cakes are the ChromaticFury of donuts,” Tessa said happily.
Steven thought about what she’d said. Yep. That about summed up how he felt.
“I will look forward to having a cake of funnel,” Aria said. And then she couldn’t talk because she was making quick work of her sundae.
Bud returned them to business. “I found a house for your family, Tessa. It’s in a gated community, really safe, and I hear Liam is working on some warding magic. Is that right?”
Tessa patted Steven’s hand. “Actually, Steven and I are looking into that. We’ve been going over the second volume, and we’ve found some cryptic stuff in it. It’s basically part of the Magica Defensio family of spells, but we need something called AnimusChain to make it work. Problem is—what the hell is AnimusChain?”
“We think we’ll find the answers in the third volume,” Steven explained.
“The third volume of a spell book,” Bud slurred. “Like magic and stuff. You’ve show me the shields and magic missiles. Damn, I can’t believe I’m involved in this. It’s so great. I love you guys. You’re just the best.” The guy had turned into a lovey-dovey drunk. No way was he driving anywhere.
Bud gave Steven a puppy dog stare. “And you, Cool Whipp, you’ve come so far. I still feel bad for being an asshole to you. You forgive me, right? Right?”
“It’s all in the past, Bud. We’re fine. I just appreciate all that you’ve done for us. We wouldn’t have come this far without your help.”
That put a smile on Bud’s face.
Steven paid the bill, and they helped get Bud to his Marriott. He’d get a Lyft back to his car the next morning.
Aria looked longingly at the hotel, but she didn’t suggest that she get a room. No, with Mouse still a target, she knew she had to stay to protect Steven and his Escort if they were attacked again. Aria and Mouse were in the back of the extended cab of the big Chevy truck while Tessa rode shotgun. There was plenty enough room for all.
It was eleven o’clock at night, and Cheyenne had gone to sleep. The houses were dark, and only the streetlights flashed by. Steven turned pensive. All in all, Bud had brought them good news. Steven wasn’t a billionaire just yet, but he had enough money to get Tessa’s family a house and to start construction on the Infinity Ranch.
But Tessa talking about the magical protection made him wonder about AnimusChain and how that might work. He pulled up the skill tree to look down the Veneficium abilities, the right wing of the dragon.
Nope, nothing about AnimusChain. Then he noticed he’d leveled again, which meant he could start trying out Magica Incanto powers. But first, he wanted to breathe lightning—the ElectroArc Exhalant. And there was still the IonClaws ability on the Pugna side. Those could come in handy, surely.
He remembered how the ShadowStrength skill felt when he cast it against Wenck. That extra power in his muscles had helped him take out the red female. More than that, Tessa’s stunner bullets had really put the big Australian on his ass. Maybe he could’ve shrugged off the attack if he hadn’t been in a weakened state.
“So your mom won’t move?” Tessa’s question pulled him out of his reverie.
“No, not a chance.” Steven frowned. “She doesn’t quite get that everything has changed. Part of her thinks that I’m running some kind of scam and all the money will go up in smoke. My adopted father … Joe Whipp …” He smiled at the name, and the fact that the rambling gambler was not his blood relation. “Joe Whipp, well, he made my mom a skeptic. She is not going to move until she knows for sure I can afford it. On the plus side, she knows how to handle herself. She got away from Mulk and hid.”
“Yeah, my family is never going to be able to do that,” Tessa said. “I know they think I must be dealing drugs or robbing banks. My mom keeps texting me to ask if I’m all right. I tell her I couldn’t be better. That helps a bit, and they’re all excited to move. Especially Jared. He’s going to get the master bedroom on the ground floor.”
Steven nodded. Tessa’s brother was wheelchair-bound, suffering from childhood MS, which was rare. Jared was a fighter though, as tough as they came.
All their phones went off at the same time. A group text, either from Bud, telling them how much he loved them for the millionth time, or from Liam, warning them.
“What is it?” Steven asked.
Tessa reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a big Colt Peacekeeper. “There’s a Magician outside our trailer. Liam says it’s a female, but he doesn’t have much more information. Only that her power is off the charts.”
“No other Dragonsouls around?” Steven asked.
“He doesn’t think so,” Aria answered.
Mouse grumbled, “This is just great. Fight in the morning, fight at night, and you can bet that this bitch didn’t come alone. There are probably a fuck ton of mercenaries working for this Rahaab guy.”
“No,” Aria said. “If the rumors are true, Rahaab eschews the aid of humans.”
“What the fuck does ‘eschew’ mean?” Mouse asked. And none too gently.
“It means he doesn’t like them,” Steven answered. He thought of how Mathaal had called Tessa an ape. When had the three brothers landed on Earth? How old was Rahaab?
With his Escort getting ready to fight, Steven turned into the RV park and drove to their spot. The headlights hit a woman huddled in rags outside the trailer.
She sure didn’t look like trouble, but Steven knew that appearances could be deceiving, especially where Dragonsouls and their Magicians were concerned.
FIVE
“So much for a nice quiet evening,” Mouse grumbled. She and Aria had already undressed. They climbed out of the truck, nude and ready to throw down. “I like it better when I get naked for sex. Getting naked to fight sucks. And not in the good way.”
Steven followed, stripping off his shirt and dropping his jeans.
Tessa came out in front of the truck with a Colt Peacekeeper in her hand. “Magica Defensio,” Tessa said in a low voice. “I got you guys covered. No humans will be able to see you.” Then the barista cast a spell from the Magica Divinatio branch.
Mouse figured it was to see if the homeless woman was alone. A colorful, tattered shawl covered her face. She stood.
Mouse, Aria, and Steven all turned into their True Forms. Seeing three winged serpents standing tall among the RVs and trailers was quite a sight. Starlight gleamed on
their scales and moonlight glowed through their wings. No dogs barked because any puppy around would instinctively know to keep quiet—dragons were about.
“Who are you?” Steven growled, his voice low and deadly. “What do you want?”
Mouse shot forward. She wasn’t going to let the Magician cast a single spell.
The homeless woman was fast. She raised her hands and murmured, “Magica Defensio.”
Mouse screeched to a halt before she hit the green shield shimmering in front of her. There was something familiar about the woman, who was short and curvy. The shawl hid her face, but dark hair fell on her grimy dress. Her muscled legs were planted on the ground in front of the trailer.
“Mouse, wait,” Steven whispered fiercely.
It was too late for that. For all Mouse knew, this homeless woman was an assassin sent by Cassius Pine—the first strike in the inevitable war to come.
Mouse shifted into her Homo Draconis form and feinted to the left. When the Magician shifted her shield, Mouse rolled under it, curling her body into her tail. She was up in an instant, her claws around the Magician’s throat.
“No more spells,” Mouse hissed, “or I kill you. You get me, sister? We don’t know you, and we don’t think you’re alone.”
The homeless woman’s shawl fell away as she turned her gaze to Mouse, and Mouse fought the instinct to recoil. She was obviously blind; she didn’t have pupils; round white orbs were inside her eye sockets. But the rest of her face was striking—round, cute, with full lips and a nice curved nose. “Mouse, stop. Wait, please,” the woman pleaded, clearly desperate.
Mouse knew that voice! She transformed back to her human form. “Wait, Sabina? What happened to you? What are you doing here?”
Aria slithered around as Tessa stormed to the Jayco trailer and flicked on the porchlight.
Steven, still a black dragon, approached them and looked Sabina over. “Do you know this woman, Mouse?”
“Yeah,” she answered. “She was one of Mulk’s wives.”
Aria shifted into her human form. “But we thought all of his Escort was dead.”
Mouse nodded. “I didn’t know many of Mulk’s women, but I knew her. Sabina was always nice to me. The others … um … weren’t. Total mean girls.”
“Ugh, I hate mean girls. I’m still traumatized by all my middle school drama.” Tessa shivered. She wasn’t pointing her pistol at Sabina, but she kept the barrel in her general direction.
“Can we go inside and talk?” Sabina asked.
“We can,” Steven said. “Let me get my clothes. When I turn human, I don’t want to get arrested for indecent exposure.”
Tessa keyed them inside while Steven parked the truck. Mouse took out a long peasant dress from her cabinet and slipped it on.
Sabina stood uncertainly in her rags, smelling none too good. Her left hand rubbed at long wounds on her right arm. Something about those scabs unsettled Mouse.
“Sabina, sit. Are you hungry? Can I get you something to drink?” Mouse asked.
Sabina only had the strength to nod.
Tessa knocked her elbow against a very naked Aria. “Wow, Mouse is being hospitable. It’s one of the signs of the apocalypse.”
Aria nodded. “She is like Amitabh Bachchan’s character in that old movie where he is unexpectedly kind to the poor girl. You know that movie?”
“Uh, no,” Tessa said. “But I’m totally going to check it out.”
Mouse ignored the banter. Tessa, though, went to the new espresso machine she’d bought in Cheyenne. “Would you like some coffee? I can make anything.”
“Yes, coffee would be good. I like it very sweet,” Sabina said.
Mouse found some leftover chicken tikka masala in the refrigerator and started heating it up. Aria went to the back bedroom to change.
Soon the Jayco was filled with the smell of coffee and the Indian food.
Steven climbed in, fully clothed once more. He sat on the couch across from the table.
Mouse wondered what had happened to Sabina. She sat there, not glancing around. If she were blind, how could she cast a shield spell to keep Mouse from chomping her to pieces?
“Tell us your story,” Steven whispered. “Why did you suddenly show up on our doorstep?”
Sabina swallowed hard and turned pale.
Tessa set a very sweet caramel latte in front of the Latina and then sat next to her, putting an arm around her. “Let’s not grill her, Steven. Let’s have her eat something. Then we can talk.”
Mouse brought Sabina some ice water and a plate of rice and spicy chicken.
Aria returned, dressed, and they watched the woman gulp down the water, polish off the tikka masala, and sip the coffee. Her color was better, and she looked far stronger.
“You are kind to me,” Sabina whispered. “Why are you being kind to me? I was your enemy.”
“Not anymore,” Aria said. “By the rules of our kind, once Steven killed your husband, you became a part of his Primacy. You belong to him.”
Tessa rolled her eyes. “Ugh, it’s like she’s a piece of furniture or something.”
“It is what it is,” Aria insisted. “But why did you tarry in coming to us, Sabina?”
Steven knew. “She couldn’t find us. We’ve been off the grid, and she might’ve contacted Mulk’s legal team, but Boaz & Jessup would’ve stopped any communication.”
Mouse saw where he was heading. “It was only when I scratched the hurricane circle that she could scry me. Then she made her way up here. Is that right, Sabina?”
“It is, mi amiga,” Sabina said quietly. “I’ve been searching for you. I didn’t go to the lawyers, though. Everyone thinks I am dead. Because of … because of what they did to me.” She touched the wounds on her arm again.
“Magica Cura.” Tessa cast the healing spell, but the wounds didn’t close over.
Mouse was shocked. That shock deepened as the Latina told them about the portal that had opened in the Colorado Springs Aerie. Lava had dripped into her eyes. It was only magic that kept her from dying.
Then her story got even worse. Sabina talked about Gideon Scaramanga using his steak knife to wound her and get her Animus as they both cast the Divinatio spell. “He thought he killed me. I woke up in a field, surrounded by the corpses of the convicts he’d killed. Even Mulk thought I was dead—not that he cared much. I was ugly now, with my strange eyes. At least they aren’t stone anymore. Before they could bury me, I climbed from the dead men and hid, for weeks now, searching for you.”
“Why couldn’t I heal your wounds?” Tessa asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” Sabina shook her head sadly, dark hair flapping.
Mouse was impressed with her strength. If their places had been reversed, Mouse would’ve been weeping rivers.
“But you can see a little, right?” Mouse asked. “When I attacked you, you were able to summon a shield right in front of you.”
Sabina closed her eyes. “I use the Magica Divinatio. It allows me to see, but sometimes I see the future, so fighting is difficult. And my heart is so tired in me. I have lived a very long time with very little Animus.”
Tears leaked down Tessa’s face. “This is so awful. I’m so sorry. But if you join Steven’s Primacy, things will be different. He’s not like Mulk. Steven’s a good man.”
“He is,” Mouse said. She gave Steven a long look, but he got shy and turned away. He hated when people praised him.
“Do you want to join us?” Steven asked.
Sabina didn’t answer for a long beat. When she did, she answered honestly. “I have no other place to go. My family is all dead, killed by Mulk. Five years ago, he made a play for the Sonoran Desert Primacy. I was given to him as a peace offering, and yet, that failed to stop him from murdering everyone I loved.”
“This has got to stop!” Tessa’s voice was fierce. “Steven, you want to bring revolution, and this is where we’ll start. No more trading women around like Monopoly property.”
“If you want, I can give you money,” Steven said. “You can live on your own. You’re human. You could live a human life. Is that what you want?”
Sabina shook her head sadly. “I do not know my own heart. I am troubled. I am sad. Sometimes I think Gideon did kill me, and I am but a ghost.”
“Let’s get you showered,” Mouse said. “We can rest tonight. After a good night’s sleep, the world will look different. I promise.”
Aria agreed. “Yes, sleep. Liam will alert us if any more Dragonkind show up.”
Instead of escorting Sabina to the community showers, they let her use the trailer’s shower, however cramped. She came out smelling far better, and she looked better—gorgeous even, despite her strange white eyes. Mouse knew why Mulk had accepted her as a peace offering. She was older, but that age had given her an almost regal beauty.
Mouse and Tessa combed out her hair until the dark curls were free of snags. Mouse could see the connection between Tessa and Sabina immediately, and she felt jealous of the barista. She made friends so easily; her good nature and inner beauty drew people in. If only Mouse had those qualities. Sarcasm and alcoholism hadn’t exactly made her popular.
Mouse eventually left the trailer to let Tessa and Sabina talk. Outside, Mouse felt better. The fresh night air helped clear her head. Thanks to Steven and the other women, she didn’t even think about finding booze. Mouse was changing, but there were times she still felt so alone. She gazed up at the night sky. Would she ever really fit in? She wasn’t sure. But like Sabina, she had nowhere else to go. The thought made her sad. And for the millionth time, she swore to be nicer. She felt like a snark addict.
She returned to the trailer and helped Tessa make the table into a bed for Sabina. All tucked in, the Latina fell right to sleep.
Mouse got into her own bed, exhausted. It had been a long, long day. She immediately found herself dreaming, trapped in a nightmare. Cassius Pine was outside, circling the trailer, scratching at the metal with his claws. “I’m coming to get you, Melissa. I killed your friends. I’m going to come in there and kill you.”
