Year of the Dragon (Changeling Sisters Book 3)

by Heather Heffner

  “Seems like a pretty chill guy in my opinion.” Miguel shrugged. “Says he’s lived his whole life on Jeju Island and recently moved to Seoul to find a job.”

  “Jeju-do, which is currently under siege by an evil green mist,” I said flatly. “Something doesn’t add up.”

  “Boss,” Rogelio warned, just as glass shattered. We turned to see a boisterous group of businessmen stagger down the stairs from the second story. They laughed as they sloshed their half-full beers down their dark trench coats. Their hats were pulled so low that I couldn’t make out their faces.

  Miguel sighed. “Excuse me. Time to go tell these fools that this ain’t a fraternity.”

  I returned to watching my sister fret over Taeyang. “He seems so much warmer,” Raina whispered, twisting a napkin in her hand as Tae laughed with the man beside him and ate another nacho. “Do you think this second Khyber—the original Khyber—has something to do with the return of his soul?”

  I stopped and stared at my sister in wonder. It made sense. Khyber had destroyed the souls of his brothers that night on Seorak San, but not his own. All vampyres were obsessed with finding their souls, that part of them that was severed upon their unnatural transformation. What if it wasn’t just to guard them jealously, like Donovan had done? What if it was because of something far more marvelous, that their souls had the power to recall their former lives before they had been untimely ripped away?

  “How’d you get so smart?”

  Her mouth quirked. “I paid attention in school. Ever heard of that, ’Lalli?”

  I tried to shove her, but she dodged. Damn her lightning-quick reflexes. I thought dragons were supposed to be slow and clumsy.

  Raina’s gaze softened as it returned to the vampyre boy she’d bonded with during her captivity in the spirit world. “He just looks so…alive. Do you think it’s possible, Citlalli?”

  I sniffed the air. He hadn’t smelled dead so far, but maybe Siwoo’s cologne had made me nose-blind. I stretched out Wolf’s senses, absorbing the laughter of children and the mouth-watering scent of sizzling fajitas. There, beneath it all, was something old, rotten, and oh-so overpoweringly dead.

  The kitchen door swung open, regaling my face with the stench of festering flesh. My heart froze, and I leaped to my feet. “Spooks!”

  Just then, one of the drunken businessmen ripped off his bowler hat. His neck extended to reveal a leering smile, empty black eyes, and a pale face that had been painted red. He gave a high-pitched cackle and then shoved my brother down the flight of stairs.

  “Miguel.” I was off and running, but a sharp cry made me turn. The man sitting next to Taeyang shrugged out of his trench coat to reveal a similar painted face and hands. His arms were long and bendable as if he had no bones. In one swift second, he’d wrapped them around Taeyang’s neck.

  “Save our brother.” Raina streaked past in a ripple of silvery-blue scales. I made for the staircase, Wolf’s claws extending. Panicked patrons screamed and dashed for the door, and I spotted more shadowy shapes lurking outside. My heartbeat drummed in my throat. How many Spooks were there? I’d never seen this large of a brood before, particularly after Queen Maya’s death. Which vampyre prince had rallied them?

  “Citlalli!” A fellow server, Jung Yeon, was cowering in the corner with her tray over her head. I dashed over.

  “Call the cops and open the emergency exits. Get everyone out, Jung Yeon!”

  A guttural roar rose by the stairwell, intensifying the screams of the young children in the restaurant. I herded several shaking families toward the emergency exit and then glanced over my shoulder. The group of Spooks who had ambushed Miguel on the stairs was scurrying around in a fury, several sniffing up and down the wooden steps. My brother had vanished into midair. I gave a sigh of relief, thanking God I’d had the sense to pass on the Dokkaebi invisibility cap to him.

  The red-painted Spooks heard my laugh. Growling, one balanced on the wooden railing and then launched himself at me. Fur rippled down my spine and I met him halfway. Wolf’s fangs tore out his jugular. Demon howled in ecstasy as black blood dribbled down my chin, and I gave chase after the others. They scattered like crows, taking wing down the hallway toward the back office.

  Glass shattered behind. I whirled around, yellow teeth ready, to see Rogelio staring slack-jawed at the limp Spook that Raina had just blown through the bar. She raised her hands, ready to call up more wind, but then relaxed when she saw me.

  “Are you both okay?” Miguel reappeared from the corner, hurrying over with the invisibility cap clenched between his pale knuckles.

  “Yeah.” Raina glanced at my growling form and then wiped a hair off her forehead from where it had gotten stuck in her half-manifested scales. “We’re not the target.”

  “He is.” We all turned to regard the thoroughly stunned Taeyang sprawled on the floor. He extended a quivering hand to touch my hairy foreleg and then recoiled.

  “W-w-wolf.”

  I glanced at Raina and Miguel and then licked my paw. Taeyang may have been an insider at Yong Enterprises and its secret spirit world experiments, but I supposed this was the first time he’d actually experienced someone’s shift.

  “Wear this.” Miguel unceremoniously plunged the Dokkaebi cap over Taeyang’s head. “Think invisible thoughts.”

  “Rogelio fainted,” Raina announced, rising from checking the bartender’s pulse.

  “He’ll get a raise when he comes around.” Miguel hurried to lock and bolt the doors. “Everyone else out?”

  I barked an affirmation.

  “Who the hell invited them in?”

  Raina glanced wryly at the overturned hostess stand littered with menus. “Well, we haven’t exactly trained the servers to check for undead patrons.”

  “I’ll add that to the agenda for the next all-staff meeting. Which way did the bloodsuckers go?”

  I yapped, finally eager to get back to the hunt, and padded toward the back office. Color drained from Miguel’s face. “Mami came in earlier to work back there.”

  We exploded into action, sprinting down the hallway. Raina stayed at Taeyang’s side, whispering comfortingly to him.

  “Air,” I caught her saying in Korean. “Imagine yourself as air.”

  Taeyang’s sightless eyes stared in her direction, but then something in them seemed to calm. He nodded, relaxing, and just like that—he vanished.

  Cool and collected like the old Khyber, I thought as Raina and I shared a glance. He still trusts her, too.

  We burst into the back office to find none other than Spiro. He pressed an ancient, three-foot-long sword to Mami’s throat. The stooped, greasy man smirked and then shimmered, his body slimming and his shadow lengthening to include two beating wings. When he’d finished his transformation, a hardened soldier with remorseless coal-gray eyes, golden wings that flickered as if on fire, and slightly sharpened teeth stood before us.

  Raina gave a sharp intake of breath and named the unfamiliar vampyre prince: “Santiago.”

  “My, my, three of the Alvarez siblings show up for work today.” Santiago’s gunmetal gray eyes glittered as they aimed at each of us in turn. “If only I’d known that threatening mommy dearest would encourage attendance. I had my doubts. Why, Mama Alvarez didn’t bat an eyelash over firing the weremutt.” He grimaced as molten saliva pooled around my jaws and dripped on the floor. “Although I can’t say I’m surprised.”

  “I knew your Spanish sounded like something out of a history documentary,” Miguel snapped, taking a step closer. “Since your memory seems about as rusty as the rest of you, let me bring you up to date, princeling: your precious queen is dead. Standing in front of you is the wolf who did it, and she’s brought friends.”

  “Sí, her lizard sister; I’ve heard.” Santiago amusedly looked Raina up and down. “The lost daughter of Mun Mu emerges: the so-called legendary Spring Dragon of the East. I look forward to using her hide for my boots.” Spooks began to drop noiselessly down from the cei
ling like dead leaves, and Santiago’s smile grew. “You see: I, too, brought friends.”

  I counted eight in all. Eight frothing mad Spooks, their corpse-like skin as white and wrinkled as dried husks; their hands and faces stained war red. Wolf was clawing inside my head, going absolutely crazy in the presence of so many undead, while Demon hissed in my ear: Alpha. You know it is time.

  Wait, I cautioned her. We shouldn’t play our whole hand at once. Amazingly, I felt her purr of respect. Disgusting. A wolf did not purr.

  “My Compañia Rojo.” Santiago regarded the grinning corpses with as much warmth as he could muster on his cold, dead face. “We have been together since our war campaigns under Cortés. Do you like their make-up? Every time they kill, they paint their faces with their enemies’ fresh, hot blood. That way they can always taste their victims and savor the memory of their fear before they perished. It is said never to slaughter cattle when the herd is frightened because it provides tough meat. We disagree. We like it when our enemy’s flesh dies writhing in anguish.”

  Santiago flashed a smile full of sharpened teeth and pricked Mami’s neck with his blade. “Give us the Korean boy and this is not the fate that will befall your mother.”

  Mami glared straight ahead, her hands curled into fists on her lap. Her eyes flicked to mine, and she gave the briefest, most imperceptible shake of her head. A growl built up in my chest.

  “You know full well who that ‘Korean boy’ is,” Raina spat defiantly. “You lost the Were War, and now you’re desperate. You’re only the fifth eldest vampyre prince, after all. Capturing Khyber’s soul won’t bring him back to you; it will only bring his wrath.”

  Santiago laughed. All three of us tensed as his sword skittered up and down Mami’s neck, drawing tiny pinpricks of blood. “From what I have observed tonight,” the vampyre prince drawled, “Khyber’s wrath means nothing more than throwing nachos over a bad referee call.”

  A stainless steel machete whipped through the air and buried itself in Santiago’s forehead, causing his sword arm to whip up. Without hesitation, Mami dropped to the ground and crawled underneath the table.

  My heart picked up pace in my chest; out of hope or trepidation, I did not know. For from out of the shadows stalked none other than the eldest of the Vampyre Court himself: Crown Prince Khyber. His smoky gray-blue eyes churned dark like the heart of a storm, his jet-black hair curled around the harsh features of his face, and his scarred skin gleamed pale like intricately carved ivory. This towering, brooding creature with wings as black as midnight looked a gaunt shadow of the young, cheerful Korean man he’d been earlier, enjoying the soccer game.

  “I apologize on my soul’s behalf,” the elder vampyre told his bleeding brother. “I shall have a chat with him about that later.”

  “Khyber!” Raina blurted. I was thankful I was a wolf at that moment; too many emotions welled up hot and ready behind my eye. This was the—thing—I had split the pack over. I had chosen to give Khyber a second chance over Rafael’s plea for revenge and gotten myself stuck in a life bond with the wretched undead prince that would cost me God knew what. However, at that moment, watching light flare to life in Raina’s eyes, I remembered why I had stayed my hand: Khyber, the enemy, had sided with Raina in the Vampyre Queen’s palace. Thanks to him, my sister was still alive.

  Plus, anyone who tried to behead Santiago with a machete was good in my book.

  “Mweo?” The soft “what?” bubbled up from the corner. To my horror, I realized that Taeyang had removed the invisibility cap, no doubt stunned by hearing his same voice echo from a decidedly less handsome, rugged version of himself that came with wings and fangs.

  Santiago ripped the machete free from his forehead with a flourish. He ignored the black blood that dribbled down into his eye. “Have a talk with your soul about stupidity while you’re at it, traitor,” he sneered, and then launched himself across the table.

  Khyber seemed slower than I remembered, but he still threw himself in Taeyang’s way just in time. Unfortunately, Santiago was now doubly armed, and he whipped that fancy conquistador sword around as if it were as light as a stick.

  I howled at Miguel, something along the lines of: Get Mami and yourself out of here! However, I didn’t have time to see if he got the message. The fiendish crimson-faced Spooks vaulted over the desk with seeking elongated fingers. I tore through the first one easily enough, but then three more knocked me to the ground. Their fangs ripped through my guard hairs, and one of them clawed at my remaining eye. I growled, struggling to buck them off.

  Raina saved me. She called up the winds with her hands and sent two of the Spooks spinning into the file cabinet. The last Spook sprang at her and thwacked against the glittering armor of her dragon scales. The sapphire-blue hide sprang up to encase her from head to toe. Another Spook attacked, and Raina lashed out with pearly white claws, her dark eyes broiling with the amethyst hues of her inner Were.

  Khyber and Santiago were a blur in the corner. Black wings danced with gold as they wrestled across the floor, their eyes drained of emotion and their mouths horrible black holes with gleaming white fangs. Santiago recovered his sword and bombarded Khyber with a lightning-quick flurry of thrusts, but Khyber had an infinite amount of patience. Parrying with the knife-sharp feathers of his wings, the elder Vampyre Prince waited until the last possible second before his eyes were swallowed up by blackness, and then he seized Santiago’s wrists in his Death Grip. Santiago was forced to drop his sword and tumble away before Khyber’s deadly touch severed his hands from his arms.

  I barked happily and prowled after the remaining Spooks. An unusually tall one waited for me, and something like intelligence narrowed his eyes. He watched me approach with caution and then snapped off a table leg.

  “Die, dog,” he snarled, before launching the makeshift javelin at my chest. I didn’t have time to react. But Demon did.

  My black wolf shape erupted in rubicund flames, the fires of an ancient demon fox spirit known as the kumiho, and the table leg disintegrated.

  Demon howled Her victory. I tried to rein Her in, but my muscles were already exerted from fighting. She overpowered me easily. Padding toward the remaining four Spooks with Her tongue hanging out in a haunting grin, Demon erupted, sending a barrage of fiery arrows streaking down upon the huddled vampyre underlings. I heard their wails but couldn’t see them; the smoke screen was too thick.

  “Victory!” I heard Santiago crow. I rounded in his direction just in time to see the Spanish vampyre prince break loose from Khyber and dash to stand in front of the office exit. He mockingly saluted me. “Burn in the hell it is your destiny to create, Fire Wolf!”

  Then he was gone, but not before he’d locked and bolted the door from the outside.

  Khyber slammed his shoulder against the barricaded door, but it was half-hearted. Taeyang sank to his knees beside his vampyre twin and touched his shoulder questioningly. Khyber curled up into a ball, his wings shriveling from the heat of the blaze. I burned with no ordinary flames, I knew. And fire was one of the surest ways to kill a vampyre, besides beheading and a stake to the heart.

  The roar of a dragon pierced the smoke, and then the small office shook with the fury of a small thunderstorm. Warmth flooded my chest, and my golden eye refocused in the middle of the sudden downpour. Raina.

  Demon receded, pouting. I staggered back into human form and fell to my knees. Through the misty haze, I caught sight of Raina standing above me, offering me her leather jacket.

  I accepted it gratefully. “Have I ever told you how thankful I am that you don’t take after me?”

  A ghost of a smile crossed Raina’s face. “Not nearly enough.”

  Someone kicked the door in. Raina and I braced ourselves, but it was only Miguel and Mami. They dashed toward us with blankets and a fire extinguisher.

  “Ay no,” Mami moaned upon catching sight of her ashen files.

  “Dios mío, woman,” Miguel muttered. “Quit crying over the paperw
ork and think about what we’re going to tell the cops. This vampyre attack wasn’t exactly subtle.”

  “The police can wait,” a cool voice replied. Wincing, I opened my good eye to see Khyber step forward through the smoke, fully recovered with Taeyang in tow. The vampyre prince regarded me for the first time since he’d finally reappeared to protect his soul, and the look wasn’t kind. “We need to have a talk, dog. Alone.”

  Chapter 18: Khyber Returns

  ~Citlalli~

  A media firestorm had descended on our little alley of Itaewon. Mami stood at the forefront, spinning an increasingly tall tale about the prejudice foreigners faced setting up businesses abroad. Miguel stood beside her with his arms crossed, trying hard not to roll his eyes.

  I watched from the rooftop, my wolf ears picking up the soft rustle of wings behind me. Vampyre Prince Khyber strode up to survey the crowd below, the temperature dropping in his presence.

  “He is something, isn’t he?” the exiled prince said softly, watching Taeyang’s eyes flare golden under the onslaught of camera flashes. Raina stood supportively at his side, but her shoulders were slumped. Every now and again, her gaze drifted up toward the rooftop where we stood. I knew how deeply Khyber had wounded her by barely giving her a nod of acknowledgement.

  I folded my arms. “Great, my life partner’s in love with himself.”

  “I didn’t know if it would work.” Khyber prowled the rooftop, his raggedy wings twitching restlessly. “I studied with Maya when she divided herself into her four life stages. However, I pushed it farther. I just split myself in two. And into that second half…I poured my soul.”

  “Taeyang is your opposite in every way,” I said. “He heals while you kill. He can walk in the sunlight while you slink around in the dark. He’s kind while you’re a jerk. And he is utterly gorgeous while you—”

  Khyber raised an eyebrow. “Careful how you finish that sentence, dog.”

  “Oh, insulting your looks is where you get touchy?”