by Aaron Crash
“He won’t,” Pru agreed. “But sister, he don’t know what we know. If he was smart, he’d stop.”
“You mean the three brothers?” Chazzie asked. “We still don’t know if the Americos are real. Talk about rumor. If they do exist, hell, and they know about us? We’d be in some serious shit. We’d have to put the brakes on all our little endeavors.”
Pru stuck the big machine gun on her hip. Her wings were tight against her back, her tail rested on the hot ground, and she enjoyed the heat. “I don’t see a way around it. Stevie D. has to be our next project.”
“It’s gonna fuck up our summer,” Chazzie sighed. “And you know how much I like the Fourth of July. ’Member that time we banged that one All-American left tackle under the fireworks at the Dallas Cowboy stadium? They was pretty. He was big, hot, and sweaty. We were slutty. That’s a win, win, win, right there.”
Pru shook her serpentine head. “Sister, this isn’t going to just ruin our summer fun. I’d be surprised if we made it to Christmas alive. Carlo Bart isn’t as dumb as he thinks we are. At some point, he’s gonna get suspicious. Besides, he’s not going to go after Stevie alone. He’s gonna make more deals than a mortician in a nursing home to get help.”
Chazzie laughed. “That was a funny one, sis.” She stripped out of her clothes and turned into her partial form, just as pink as Pru. “Hand me that peashooter. I want to see if I can hit the gas tank.”
“You is so greedy!” Pru accused with a lilt to her voice.
“Don’t you know it.” Chazzie snapped in a fresh belt, handling it all easily because she was strong as fuck. “I want it all.”
“And I want it now,” Pru finished.
Chazzie found the gas tank. The Buick never stood a chance, not when the Wayne sisters went after it.
۞۞۞
Steven limped out of his bedroom in the new master suite of the Infinity Ranch outside Cheyenne, Wyoming. He’d just woken up from a nap, and his black hair was mussed. He was in shorts and a Halestorm T-shirt that Tessa had bought him. And he had the sword cane because sword canes were cool.
He checked Aria’s room, Tessa’s room, Mouse’s room, and they were all empty. He knew where they were, though.
It had been weeks since he’d killed Rahaab, and he still wasn’t a hundred percent. That HeartStrike ability had been too much for him. Liam, after studying the third volume more, was surprised the maneuver hadn’t killed him.
It was only because of Mathaal’s dying gift of his own life force. The AnimusChain had transferred Old Matchstick’s life force into Steven. It had been a desperate maneuver, but it had saved them all.
The construction on the Infinity Ranch was done, and it was a splendid thing, a rambling ranch house with a seven-story tower of stone in the center. It was the perfect landing pad for their flights around the Wyoming countryside. Also, the castle was fortified and stocked with guns, the Drokharis Grimoire, and their gold. If they needed, they could retreat inside where there was plenty of food, and water pumped up from the earth below.
The bottom of the castle was the central great room of the ranch and had lots of couches and comfortable chairs sitting on the lush carpets covering the hardwood floor. Rocky columns held the tower aloft and allowed them access, but solid steel doors could rise from the ground to seal off the citadel. Polished wooden stairs twisted up. The central tower was very much like his father’s St. Vrain Aerie, and Steven recalled the doorways at the top, in the backs of the animal sculptures. Where did those doors lead? And would he ever open them?
Not yet. He still had work to do on this world. With Rahaab dead, the law firm fighting Steven had abruptly switched sides. They’d reached out to Bud and his dad and offered to help them with Rahaab’s estate, which Steven now owned. The Novaks weren’t exactly thrilled to be working with Boaz & Jessup, but when they saw the money involved, they quickly changed their tune.
Steven Drokharis wasn’t just worth millions. The “B” word had been thrown around. Rahaab had been on the planet, acquiring his hoard, for fifty thousand years. He’d probably started collecting wheat and chickens when humans first started bartering.
The money felt good. Steven’s first twenty years had been a constant worry about how to pay his bills. But what was better? His Escort was safe. His father was avenged. And when Rahaab had breathed his last, more of the third volume became accessible to them.
Outside the ranch/castle, his Escort and vassals were getting the party ready, but he wasn’t up to being social yet. Leaning heavily on his cane, he climbed the spiral staircase up to the first floor, to one of the libraries. There were no windows in his chamber, since it was so close to the ground and needed to be secure. The rooms above him had arrows slits and narrow windows barred with iron. He and Tessa were working on warding sigils. Once they perfected them, they might be able to add some real windows to the sixth and seventh floors.
Steven clicked on a light and went to the bookcase that held the three volumes of the Drokharis Grimoire. He eased the third volume off the shelf and sat down at a big oak desk. Across the room was Samael’s Lash hanging on the wall. He’d taken it as his weapon of choice, though he hadn’t had time to practice with it just yet. He looked forward to unlocking the whip-sword’s secrets.
Steven opened the book and found the once encrypted pages. He read a little about Merlin, the real Merlin, a powerful sorcerer who might not have been descended from the Dragonsouls or from the Alpheros. What did that mean? His father didn’t say, but it did open a lot of questions. Could there be other entities on Earth besides humans and dragons? It seemed possible. His father did wonder if the Drokharis line had descended from the Alpheros, but he hadn’t been able to solve that mystery.
Steven thought of Tessa. Everyone agreed she wasn’t fully human. Then what was she?
Steven turned more pages to gaze down on the updated skill tree.
Path of the Mirror-Souled Dragon (Second Tail of the Dragon)
HeartStrike
AnimusChain
FleshForge
Path of the Mirror-Souled Dragon (Second Head of the Dragon)
Enchantrix
There were still two hidden abilities on the second head. And there was another section of the third volume that was still encrypted. It wasn’t from Mathaal, and it wasn’t Rahaab, so who was it?
Steven had hit level fifteen, but he wasn’t sure which new ability he wanted to work on. He’d figure that out later. He leafed through the book.
The ink on the page swirled around until it ran together to form words in a tight paragraph.
Does the world want order? Do those in power ever want to give it up? And do humans want to survive, or are they hungry for Armageddon? Humans love the idea of the end of the world. It means they won’t have to get up and go to work in the morning. However, to be truly faced with death? I don’t know. I think hardly one of them ever ponders their own mortality. They are in denial. I would rouse them. At what cost? Am I wrong to think I can bring peace on Earth and good will toward all?
“Revolution,” Steven whispered. He thought it might be his father who was encrypting the pages, but he didn’t know for sure. One more thing to add to the pile of mysteries still unsolved.
On the desk was a topaz dagger that Tessa had pulled out of the undead dragon. Liam had taken a look and cast some spells but couldn’t discern what it was. Steven laid the topaz pen, with its sapphire feather quill, next to the knife. Both seemed to be made of the same substance. Both had been imbued with powerful magic. And that was all they knew for sure.
The dagger had reanimated Nikki Angel’s corpse —that was the name of the widow Rahaab had murdered. Could the Enchantrix ability be in play? Could be. Steven’s father had had access to it, and Steven knew it was how he’d created the topaz pen, which had been a pendant not all that long ago.
Unexpected movement in Steven’s vision made him glance up with a start. His heart hit his throat. “Dammit, Uchiko, you can’t sneak up o
n me like that.”
She bowed. She wore a robe that covered her head, and she kept her face turned away so he couldn’t see her disfigurement. She and the Onari Guard had survived the attack on the Yellowstone Aerie without losing a single ninja. Their tactics had been good. They’d broken Rahaab’s defenses, outmaneuvered his army, and kept them guessing.
“I am ninja,” Uchiko murmured. “I have spent lifetimes perfecting the art of silence. I will try and be louder when I approach you.”
Steven had to grin. “Maybe we’ll put a cowbell on you.” He got up and went to her, but she backed up. She still felt too insecure to let him touch her. He was just glad she’d survived Rahaab’s AnimusChain attack.
Uchiko whispered, “The Onari Guard and I thank you. We have prepared much for the party, but we can’t be seen by your friends and your family. We must keep the secrets of the Dragonsouls away from the humans.”
Steven nodded. His mom and Tessa’s family had driven up, along with Bud and his family. They were celebrating the Fourth of July on the Infinity Ranch. Uchiko and the Onari Guard had moved into the tower. They had a sort of barracks there, and the two dozen failed Dragonskins didn’t mind the close quarters. Luckily each level had a bathroom.
“I’m excited to try your peach cobbler,” Steven said. “I heard you made a bathtub full.”
“Not that much,” Uchiko answered. Her hands came together to be covered by her robes. “And I had to use frozen peaches. It won’t be as good. This fall, I will make it for you.” She paused. “Steven, I have to thank you. For giving us a home. For bringing us into your Primacy. With Mathaal gone, we have nothing.” She broke down, crying. “I can’t believe Mathaal is gone.”
Steven so wanted to go and comfort her, but she wouldn’t allow it. He stood, feeling uncomfortable as she wept. Then he said, “Mathaal wanted us to win. He wanted the world to change. I miss him, too, though. I only knew him a little, but he did so much for me.”
“With him gone, we have no purpose,” Uchiko sniffed.
“You do now,” Steven said. “This is just starting. Every Prime in the world now knows me, and what I can do. They’ve started calling me, but I’m sending them to Bud. This’ll start out polite, I’m sure, but sooner or later, we’ll find ourselves fighting.”
“It’s the nature of the life of Dragonsouls,” Uchiko said softly.
“It is. At some point, I’m going to change that.”
He left to walk back down the stairs. He recalled what he’d read. Do those in power ever want to give it up?
THIRTY-TWO
Steven set his cane against the wall next to the back-patio doors. He wanted to show everyone he was getting stronger. He stepped outside. It was early evening, and today the storm clouds decided to pass over with just some wind and no rain or thunder. It had cooled off the day, and it would make the sunset amazing.
The back doors led to an outdoor paradise built around the garden, the same garden they’d used to summon Mathaal during the battle where they’d kill Rhaegen Mulk. Fountains burbled, cactus and flowers were sprinkled about low retaining walls, and a blue-gray gravel path wandered, creating a labyrinth. On the other side was Sabina’s house—a little kitchen, a little bathroom, and two small bedrooms, one perfect for a baby.
A baby.
Steven wasn’t sure he could comprehend it. Was he really going to have a daughter named Regina? He wasn’t sure he could wrap his head around that. And luckily, Sabina wasn’t pregnant. He’d have to ask Aria more about how that whole Dragonsoul procreation thing worked.
Because of the brutal Wyoming wind, which most of the time came out of the west, they’d put the outdoor living area on the southeast side of the ranch. It included an outdoor kitchen, couches, and a full bar. They’d also added three tall concrete windbreaks designed by Tessa. They looked more like modern art than shelters, waves of cement with dragon letters on them, spelling out the battles they’d survived: The Battle of the Denver Apartment, The Siege of the St. Vrain tower, The Wells Fargo Duel, The Lookout Mountain Massacre, The Battle of Ash Hollow, The Fall of Rhaegen Mulk, The Guernsey Reservoir Gambit, The Battle of Mont-Saint-Michel, and The Yellowstone Victory. It was their history together, and though they didn’t include every single skirmish, Steven loved it.
On the three windbreaks, at the very top, in dragon script were his father’s directives: Gather an Escort, Acquire a Hoard, and Build Aeries. Let Nothing Stop You.
Steven made his way down a concrete path with colorful glass embedded into the stone. From above, that glass made the Draco constellation. He was a Drokharis, after all, and couldn’t break with tradition.
He rounded the corner and every eye was on him.
Tessa was with her mother, her sister, and her brother, who was in his massive wheelchair. Jared had a tiny, withered body, but a large head with big expressive eyes and soft dark hair. His smile was a beautiful thing. Tessa’s sister, Abby, was two years older than her, traditionally pretty, with long brown hair, bangs, and a nice smile. Her mom was a mom, thick around the middle, smiley, and ready to help. She’d cut her hair short and was letting it go gray.
Aria stood with Sabina, helping her maneuver around. The two had gotten closer, now that Aria saw the blind woman gave them a tactical advantage during battle. Yeah, that was an understatement. Mouse was chatting with Bud’s family—his mom, his dad, a couple of brothers and a sister—as well as other people from the law firm that knew nothing of the secret world of the Dragonsouls. At some point, they’d have to be told, but not at a Fourth of July party.
Bud himself was catching up with some of the staff from the Coffee Clutch. Tessa had invited them, since she loved people and needed friends to dance with.
Steven searched for his mom but couldn’t find her. Liam Strider, however, was holding court and talking with three lady lawyers at the same time. They were definitely giving him the eye, and Steven hoped Liam would find it in himself to get over the loss of his Escort fifty years prior.
For a long time, Steven hadn’t been able to understand the Yellow Ronin’s reluctance to get back in the saddle, but now, with his own Escort? He could see it. Aria, Tessa, Mouse, and even Sabina had become incredibly important to him.
Liam excused himself from what could be a harem for the Ronin and did the grilling: hamburgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, and sausages of all kinds.
A team of caterers—humans, not ninja lizard people—came out and served food. Sabina only ate the salads, still in the rituals to become a Dragonskin.
Soft music pumped through hidden speakers, a killer sound system because Tessa loved music and come to find out, she loved to dance. She’d insisted on a top-of-the-line stereo system for them.
Five beautiful women stood in a circle with drinks in their hands. Skylar Blacke had come to him, had knelt before him, but Steven had told her to stand up. Yes, he’d just inherited five women who seemed eager to join his Escort, and he was eager to have them. Aria was on his side. She wanted him to sleep with the new women to ensure their loyalty.
However, there were logistics to consider.
Most importantly, the widows weren’t ready to jump into bed with Steven. According to Mouse and Sabina, transitioning from one Prime to another wasn’t an easy thing. However, Skylar made it clear that Cassius Pine had been an asshole and deserved to die. One of their favorite things was to have Mouse retell cutting the former Prime to pieces with the Slayer Blade.
Steven wanted to build another house on the property for his five new Escorts. They had the room, but zoning was going to be a pain in the ass. He knew the construction teams were already calling the Infinity Ranch a compound. Like a cult. And he was the leader. Tessa didn’t help make it any less weird. She was quick with the purple Kool-Aid jokes. Steven suggested a Mind Wipe for the construction workers, but Aria didn’t think that was a very good idea.
For now, the five women were staying in Rhaegen Mulk’s old Aerie in downtown Cheyenne. And slowly, Steven was having
a meal with each of them. He felt he could trust them. And yeah, the idea of sleeping with them certainly had him buzzing.
Steven filled a plate and ate two hamburgers, three hot dogs, and six sausages with sauerkraut, mustard, and sweet pickle relish. Liam had also thrown on some pork ribs, so Steven had a rack. Of course, his Escort, mostly Mouse, made fun of him for eating so much.
As he ate, he kept an eye out for his mom but didn’t see her. He went looking and found her, out front, sitting in a chair. Their driveway was full of cars and trucks, but Steven had to smile at the battered old Ford Bronco II, the Orange Crush. And the new rusted Suburban that Tessa had named the Poupon.
“Are you okay, Mom?” Steven asked.
His mom had done a pretty good job with her makeup, but she had frizzy hair, and he knew she was embarrassed by her red, big-knuckled hands. They were the hands of a working woman. Even though Steven had more than enough money in his hoard to take care of her, she hadn’t quit her job cleaning at the Denver International Airport.
Florence Whipp glanced up at him, confused. “Steven, this is all so much. And you bit a coin to get this? Or real estate? I don’t understand anything.”
“Yeah, Mom, it was an investment we made in internet money, Bitcoin. And yes, real estate. Bud and I made a lot of deals and got a lot of prime property really cheap.” He grinned at the pun. Prime property. Yeah, and he’d gotten it cheap because he’d murdered the dragons who’d wanted to murder him.
His mom’s eyes filled with tears. “I need to keep my job!”
Steven bent and took his mom’s strong hands. “You can. We talked about it. But what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
She smiled through her tears. “You’ve done it, Steven. You’ve become successful. All of your hard work has paid off.”
Steven felt his own eyes fill. “No, Ma, our hard work. Without you, I wouldn’t have made it. You made so many sacrifices for me. If you want to keep your job, you can.”
