Dragon Blood

by Madelaine Montague

  “Do you know where you are, Special Agent Madison?” the man asked in a clipped, professional voice.

  Marlee blinked at the man, wondering if she was supposed to know him, feeling a flicker of alarm when she didn’t recognize him. “A hospital?” she guessed, startled to discover her voice was little more than a hoarse croak.

  The man glanced at the woman beside him. “I’m Special Agent David Fox and this is Special Agent Marge Strouse, Agent Madison. Do you know why you’re here? Do you remember anything that happened?”

  Marlee’s alarm increased. “What happened?”

  Fox frowned. “That’s what we’re trying to find out. You don’t remember anything?”

  Marlee blinked at him and turned to look at the woman, searching for a clue. A vague memory surfaced and she puzzled over it, trying to decide if it was really a memory of part of the nightmare she’d kept having. “The bear ….”

  Again the two exchanged a look. “We found a bear.”

  Marlee’s heart jerked in reaction. “You found a bear?”

  “I think you’re going to have to give her a little more time before you question her,” another man said, moving forward abruptly until he was within view. This man was dressed like a doctor.

  Marge Strouse and David Fox both looked annoyed but finally shrugged and left to Marlee’s relief. The doctor checked her and scribbled on a clip board. “How bad?” Marlee asked anxiously.

  The doctor frowned, seemed puzzled. “You’re going to be fine. You were suffering the effects of exposure when they brought you in, but nothing dire. You should be good to go by tomorrow.”

  Marlee gaped at him blankly. “But … the wounds?”

  Something flickered across the doctor’s face. “You didn’t have any wounds,” he said slowly.

  Shock washed over Marlee like a tidal wave. No wounds? Was the bear attack just a nightmare then? And if that was a nightmare, what had happened to her?

  ———

  “What in the fuck has been going on here?” Gabriel demanded when he returned to the lair and discovered his brothers, Eli and John, had recovered enough that they’d begun pacing the cave furiously and Luke, Joshua, and Aaron were standing guard.

  The violence that rumbled in Gabriel’s voice pierced the seemingly endless, rambling chaos of conflicting thoughts in Eli’s mind and he halted abruptly, staring at his brother and wrestling with the urge to attack him. It was the very violence of his feelings that finally shook him from his intent. They’d had their differences over the years. There’d been plenty of times that he’d wanted to beat the shit out of him, plenty of times he’d tried, and even a few when he’d succeeded, but it had never crossed his mind that he wanted to kill his brother.

  A vague sense of nausea washed through him. The confusion from before assailed him again. Struggling with the resentment of being questioned, prompted by it to focus, he cast his mind back over what had happened.

  “We heard the challenging bellow of a bear and a woman screamed—the woman we brought here,” he said slowly. “By the time we got there, though, the bear had already mauled her.” He stopped again, swallowing sickly at the memory. “I thought she was dead already and ….” He stopped again, frowning.

  “The bear challenged us and brought our beasts to the fore,” John added when Eli stopped. “We killed it. Eli went to check on the woman, but I could see she was dying and there was nothing we could do. I reminded Eli that we’d agreed not to interfere in the affairs of men, but he was determined to try to save her and I ….” He glared at Gabriel. “We couldn’t just fucking leave her there, Gabe!”

  Gabriel’s lips tightened. “So which of you had the brilliant idea of bringing her back to our lair?” he growled.

  Eli glared at him. “I did!”

  Gabriel’s hands flexed several times as if he was struggling with the urge to plant his fist in Eli’s face. “Then what?” he asked tightly after a few moments.

  Eli’s face tightened with rage as he stared at his brother. After a moment, though, confusion flickered through him again. He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Fuck! I don’t remember a hell of a lot clearly after I realized she was going to die if we didn’t stop the bleeding. It was just …. I think my beast was still in control. It seemed like bathing her wounds as we do ours was the thing to do.”

  Disgust flickered across Gabriel’s face. “And then fucking her seemed like the thing to do after that?”

  John glanced at Eli uncomfortably.

  “Yeah! It did!” Eli snapped angrily.

  “It wasn’t really a decision,” John said angrily. “I don’t know what the fuck happened. It was … like a fever, like some kind of … madness. At first I was focused completely on just trying to keep her from dying and the next thing I knew I had this … urge that I couldn’t shake. She was in heat, gods damn it!”

  Gabriel’s lips tightened. He glared at his brothers for a moment and finally turned away.

  Stalking to a rocky ledge, he settled on it, turning what they’d said over and over in his mind.

  “She wasn’t in heat,” he said finally. “I’ll admit something strange came over me, too, but I wasn’t so out of it that I would’ve mistaken her scent. She wasn’t a dragoness. She was a human and humans don’t go into heat.”

  “Something happened!” Eli growled. “I know gods damned well it wasn’t just my fucking imagination! I smelled her arousal! I smelled her egg!”

  “I smelled it, too,” John said after a moment. “All I could think was that I had to have it.”

  Gabriel glanced at the others questioningly.

  Luke shrugged. “They’re right. I smelled it, too.”

  Joshua frowned. “Maybe it was them healing her wounds?” he said thoughtfully. “Has anybody ever done that before?”

  Aaron stared at him blankly. “What the hell could that have to do with it?”

  “They both did it!” Joshua snapped. “I don’t know. Maybe it confused the scent?”

  “Not that I think that explains it,” Gabriel said slowly, “but there might be something to it. Have any of you ever tried to heal a human like that before?”

  They all glanced at one another questioningly and finally admitted they hadn’t.

  “But it worked?” Gabriel prompted. “I would never have thought it would.”

  “You saw her. Honest to gods, Gabriel, the bear had mauled her something god awful,” John said a little sickly. “I don’t know how she survived long enough for us to try it.”

  Gabriel got up. “Well—maybe we’ll figure it out … sometime. In the mean time we’re going to have to keep a low profile until the humans calm down and stop looking for answers.”

  He fixed Eli and John with a hard look. “Can I trust you two to steer clear of the damned humans until this dies down?”

  Eli glared at him angrily. “We aren’t hatchlings,” he growled. “I’ll admit I screwed up … to an extent. I know it’s a damned poor idea to get too close to the humans—ordinarily. This wasn’t an ordinary situation, though, and I’m damned if regret helping her.”

  “I’m sure fucking her half to death really helped her recovery,” Gabriel growled sarcastically.

  Eli flushed, but as much as he wanted to knock Gabriel’s teeth down his throat, he was uncomfortably aware that his brother had a point. He would’ve liked to know why he had gone from concern about her to a grim determination to plant his seed in her, but it wasn’t likely he was ever going to figure it out. There wasn’t a hell of a lot they had figured out by themselves.

  It seemed to him that their mother might have given them a little more to go on.

  He immediately felt guilty at the thought. She hadn’t had a lot of time to pass them any of the knowledge they needed beyond the bare essentials for survival. If he felt resentment, it should be focused against the damned humans for taking her life before she had the chance to nurture them, not their mother.

  “Eli’s right,” John said tightly. �
��I tried to talk him out of it, reminded him of our pact, but I didn’t want to leave her out there to die either—and she would have. The humans wouldn’t have found her soon enough to save her. But you’re right. It’s done. We did what we could for her. We need to focus on damage control now. It’s too soon to make another move. There’ll still be humans alive that could remember us.”

  ———

  She was pregnant?

  How in the hell could she be pregnant, Marlee wondered, too shocked to take it in?

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes,” the doctor informed her, his expression carefully neutral. Four to six weeks along as near as I can tell at this point. If you could give me the date of your last cycle I can calculate your due date.”

  “But … I can’t be pregnant!” Marlee exclaimed. “I haven’t even had sex in months, damn it! I haven’t had a damned date in damned near a year!”

  The doctor gave her a speculative look. “I don’t think it’s immaculate conception,” he said dryly. “The test was conclusive. We can take more blood and run the test again, but I’m guessing the results are going to be the same. I wanted to get more blood anyway. We didn’t get enough to run some of the other tests I wanted. I’ll send somebody in here to take blood and then you can get dressed. When you’re dressed, come to my office and we can discuss options.”

  Bastard, Marlee thought furiously when the doctor had left to allow her to dress. She hadn’t had a hard enough time getting through the damned academy? Now she was pregnant and hadn’t even reported for her first assignment?

  That was going to look just fucking great in her file!

  She was going to be lucky if she wasn’t flying a desk for the rest of her career—which she hadn’t even started, damn it!

  She’d come through the rest of her physical with flying colors—even her psyche evaluation—which was saying something considering ‘the incident’ a couple of weeks earlier—but that wasn’t going to count for shit now!

  And what kind of tests did he need to run that hadn’t already been run for that matter, she thought as the lab tech drew more blood? She was done with her physical! She’d already gotten the results on that.

  It flickered through her mind as she left the examination room to simply take off and ignore the ‘invitation’ to discuss the matter further. She needed to think and she was too upset at the moment to think straight. About the only thing rambling around and around in her mind, replaying over and over, was the doctor’s announcement and her frantic attempts to figure out how it was possible.

  It was the half formed hope that the doctor would offer her a way out of her dilemma and the anxiety that ignoring the subtly worded order would make matters worse that turned her toward the doctor’s office. She sat down in front of his desk when she arrived, fidgeting with her clothes and then trying to assume a front of professional detachment when she heard the doctor heading toward the office. Instead of entering and settling at the desk, however, he merely poked his head in. “Just a moment.”

  Frowning, Marlee glanced at him and caught a glimpse of another man standing in the hallway just a little further away.

  Despite her turmoil, several things instantly flashed through her mind. First and foremost was the fact that the man looked completely out of place. The second impression was a conviction that he was a government man, although she couldn’t decide what had given her that impression, and the third was that he looked vaguely familiar.

  It was enough to shove her anxiety about the doctor’s announcement to the back of her mind and bring a cold wave over her. Although she wasn’t certain what had jumpstarted her sense of threat, she was keenly aware that the adrenaline pumping through her wasn’t something she should ignore. Her instincts were well honed by her training, now, although they hadn’t been exactly dull before or she wouldn’t have been FBI material to start with.

  She couldn’t place the man, although she strained with her memory until a dull throb began in her head. She’d seen him, though. She didn’t know where or when, but her senses were telling her he was some sort of threat.

  And she didn’t think that would’ve been the case unless she’d noticed him more than once before, however peripherally, and in a situation where he was as out of place as he was now.

  The doctor looked more nervous, if possible, when he entered the office with a file.

  More in possession of her own facilities now, Marlee realized with a leap in her pulse that he’d been nervous when he examined her.

  She watched him warily when he settled at his desk and opened the file he’d brought in, scanning the documents. It seemed to her, though, that he was already familiar with everything in the file and was merely using it as a ruse to gather his thoughts.

  “There isn’t much here regarding the debriefing after the incident in the park,” he said finally.

  “Because I didn’t remember much,” Marlee said a little stiltedly.

  He lifted his head and studied. “Is that still the case? Or have you remembered anything?”

  Marlee wrestled with the urge to point out to him that he’d told her the pregnancy would be the topic of conversation. Wariness finally won out over her instinct to tell him to shove his questions up his ass. “Nothing new,” she said neutrally.

  He nodded. “It says here that you thought you’d been attacked by a bear.”

  “That’s what I thought. I remember seeing one. I guess I fainted.”

  “What do you think might have given you the impression that the bear had attacked?”

  Marlee stared at him blankly, trying to think of a response.

  “There wasn’t a mark on you, I mean. A lot of blood—no wounds.”

  She shrugged uneasily. “I’m afraid I don’t remember anything else—nothing to explain it.”

  He nodded again. “They did find a mutilated bear not far from where you were found. Did you know that?”

  A fresh wave of cold washed over Marlee. She hadn’t been told that. “Actually, nobody mentioned it before. Do you think there was a connection?”

  He frowned, seemed to wrestle with something. “Some of the blood on your clothing matched the bear’s.” He paused. “You didn’t notice any … strange lights? Sounds?”

  Strange lights—strange sounds—animal mutilation. Feeling abruptly as if she’d stepped out of her body and was looking down at the scene playing out, Marlee connected the dots and realized the doctor was hinting about reports of alien visitations.

  And he was connecting her pregnancy with the incident! She knew abruptly, with absolute certainty, that he was, although she hadn’t connected it to the incident in the park.

  Because he had suggested she was four to six weeks pregnant and the incident had only happened a couple of weeks before.

  And he’d just been talking to a man who looked like he worked for the government!

  And she thought she’d seen the man at least once before.

  “The only thing that sticks in my mind was the sound of the helicopter they brought in to airlift me out of the park,” she said slowly. “I think I must have been unconscious.”

  “That’s another curious thing, though,” the doctor said. “Nothing was found to explain the period of unconsciousness you apparently experienced.”

  Marlee shrugged with an effort. “Well, if I figure it out, I’ll let you know. Could we discuss the pregnancy? It isn’t too late to consider terminating it, is it?”

  He looked taken aback. “I’m not sure you’re in any state of mind to consider that right now,” he said tightly. “Why don’t you go home and think about it? Make an appointment on your way out and we’ll discuss options at the next appointment.”

  Despite the fact that the doctor’s reaction to her question about terminating the pregnancy pretty much confirmed her fears, relief at the offer of at least temporary escape flickered through Marlee. “I guess you’re right. I’m still in a state of shock.” She grimaced. “You know, I’d forgotten ab
out a hook up I had not too long ago—not that that makes me anymore inclined to go through with this. I don’t even remember the guy’s name.”

  “Well, you should think long and hard about it before you consider taking that step. We didn’t find any sign of disease, but it’s dangerous to have unsafe sex these days. Regardless, I have to tell you I’m not inclined to terminate what appears to be a healthy fetus for anything less than rape. It was consensual?”

  Marlee felt her face reddening, but she doggedly pursued the lie she’d manufactured, even though she could see he didn’t believe it for a moment. “Uh … does drunk count?”

  The doctor smiled thinly and got up, her cue to take her leave. “Poor judgment, unfortunately, isn’t an excuse.” He forced a chuckle. “If it was, half of us probably wouldn’t be here.”

  Marlee was marginally reassured when she didn’t see any sign of the man she’d seen in the hallway, but only slightly. She was under surveillance—probably had been since she’d been released from the hospital after the incident. She’d just been too focused on her own concerns to notice.

  Not that that was an excuse for not noticing, she thought angrily!

  She’d hoped when she was done at the doctor’s office that he was going to give her a clean bill of health and she could go to work. Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen—now. By the time she got to her apartment, she’d considered the situation obsessively.

  Still more than half convinced it was purely paranoia, she combed her apartment for electronic surveillance nevertheless.

  It didn’t help her feelings when she found what she was looking for.

  How insane was it that her own government was watching her … and because of some crazy idea that she’d been … what? Abducted by aliens and impregnated?

  She should have felt like laughing at the absurdity. Instead, she was terrified. Except for those bizarre, erotic dreams that she’d been having since the attack, she hadn’t been with a man—which meant they weren’t dreams at all if she really was pregnant!

  ———

  It had been touch and go for a while, but Marlee began to slowly relax when she realized she’d made a clean getaway. It was unfortunate that she hadn’t had enough cash stashed in her apartment to carry her and had had to go to the bank and clean out her account. That had been a dangerous move, but then again, leaving a ‘paper trail’ behind her if she discovered the cash she had wouldn’t cover her expenses would’ve been much worse.