by Dyan Chick
The room was minimal, two queen sized beds along a wall, a chair in the corner, and a small television on a dresser were the only furniture. Every muscle ached and even the brown bedspreads looked inviting.
It was an odd sensation to be walking into a hotel room without a bag. None of us had a change of clothes, or even a toothbrush. Though I think I was tired enough to skip it even if I had brought an overnight bag.
Tavas didn't waste any time stretching out on one of the beds while I stood awkwardly in the center of the room with Dima and Alec.
I heard the deadbolt snap into place behind me and then the sound of the bathroom door closing and knew we'd have a minute or two without McKenzie's interference.
Moving closer to Dima and Alec, I looked at my friends with concern. Alec looked paler than usual, and Dima was still a mess from the spider. "I'm so sorry I dragged you both into this."
"Hey, none of that," Dima said. "We signed up for this."
"No, you didn't," I said. "Not this."
Alec squeezed my upper arm softly. "It's okay. I'm glad I'm here."
I heard the shower start from the bathroom. We had more judgement-free time. "You need to eat."
Dima moved Alec's hand off my arm, then clasped it in hers. "I told you, I'd take care of it."
She walked him over to the chair in the corner, where she sat down. I turned away, not wanting to watch Alec behave like a vampire. The blood drinking thing had always turned my stomach.
"Why don't you sit down." Tavas patted the bed next to him.
I hesitated. Then, Dima let out a moan and I knew Alec was feeding. Wincing, I walked away from my friends over to Tavas and sat down next to him, keeping my back turned away from the vampire's dinner.
"We all have our vices, you know," Tavas said, probably in response to me trying to ignore the discomfort the blood-drinking was causing me.
"Some of us more than others," I said. "You can break this connection, can't you?"
He rested his head on his hands, elbows out. His blonde hair was dirty and streaked with blood but his eyes still sparkled. Despite it all, he hadn't lost that mischievous look in his eye. He stared at me, intensity in his gaze that made me uncomfortable. It was too intimate. Though I supposed there wasn't much he could do that would be more intimate than living inside my head.
"Is that a challenge?" he asked, sitting up so our faces were inches from each other.
I glared at him, heat rising to my face as I felt his warm breath against my skin. "You need to stop this."
"Why?" he asked. "I like being in your head. I can see why James found it so appealing."
Of course he'd know about that, and of course he'd bring it up. "That was different."
"The only difference is that you invited me, he took it." Tavas stretched back down on the bed again as if he couldn't tell that my heart was racing. As if he didn't know that he was getting to me.
I pushed the thoughts away, knowing that nothing inside my head was private. I stood up and stared down at the Fae. "You might have been invited, but I'm asking you to leave, now."
He yawned, covering it lazily. Then, he rolled up to a seated position and shook his head. "I can't."
"Why?" I asked.
"I'm not the one who bound the connection."
"What the hell does that mean?" I asked.
"You know that favor I owed James?" he said with a smile.
"The one you didn't follow through on?" I asked.
He stood, pressing his body against mine. He was trying to make me back down, so I held my ground, unmoving.
Lowering his face so his lips were next to my ear, he whispered, "James connected us while you were in contact with him during that little spell you did. He asked me to keep you safe. If I succeed, I no longer owe him. Of course, if he dies, I no longer owe him.”
Before I could react, Tavas slid past me. He went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Staring at the closed door, I wondered about this new information. If James was the one who forged this connection, was he the only one who could break it? If something happened to James, if we weren't fast enough to save him, was I going to be stuck with Tavas in my head forever?
Shaking my head, I turned away from the closed bathroom door and the sound of the shower running.
I hadn't even noticed that McKenzie, Dima, and Alec were staring at me in silence. How long were they watching me? Had they been listening to Tavas and me?
Based on the looks on their faces, they'd heard at least part of our conversation. McKenzie's eyebrows were raised in a judging expression. Dima's mouth hung open, and Alec was blinking too much. They were all waiting for me to say something. "I don't want to talk about it."
"So we find out the real reason why we had to rescue this Fae, then?" McKenzie said.
"There is nothing going on between Tavas and me other than an unwanted bond," I said.
"It didn't look so unwanted to me," she said.
"You don't know what you're talking about," Alec said.
Just then, Tavas came out of the bathroom in only a pair of boxers. His long, blonde hair was wet and clean, his skin still damp from the shower. It had been a long time since I'd seen a man in this little clothing and to be honest, he didn't disappoint. He could have passed for a sculpture of a Greek God with his chiseled pectorals and prominent six-pack.
He smiled, the crooked grin of a movie star who knew everyone was checking out his flawless muscles.
Realizing that I was staring, I looked away. "Would you put some clothes on, please?"
"I rinsed them out, they're all wet, besides, I know you don't mind." He walked past me to get to the bed, then pulled the covers down, then sat on the edge of the bed. "Big day tomorrow and I really don't want to die in a bad teleportation spell. Might be time to get some rest."
"Dima, McKenzie, you two can have the other bed. I won't subject either of you to this degenerate," I said.
Tavas settled into the bed, propping his head up on some pillows, still smiling at me.
I stomped over to the tiny closet across from the bathroom and opened it, relieved to find an extra blanket. I tossed it on the bed, then walked to the alarm clock next to the television. It was two in the morning and I could feel the pressure of the time ticking away to get to our friends in time. Knowing I was tired enough to sleep for a solid ten hours, four was going to have to be enough. "Everyone okay with six a.m.?"
A few murmurs of agreement came from behind me as I pushed the buttons on the clock. As tired as I was, it still felt like too much wasted time to stay here and sleep at all. But Tavas’s mocking came from a place of truth. I had been successful with the teleportation spell twice now, but history was littered with mages who had hundreds of successful teleportations under their belt and still had the one bad day.
Dima walked by me on her way out of the bathroom. She'd stripped down to a tank top and her underwear and I looked down at my blood and fennel-paste covered clothes. Then, I looked over at my bed-mate for the night. Tavas was unapologetically staring at Dima as she crawled into bed.
Shaking my head, I took my turn in the restroom. I was going to have to live with the dirty clothes for another day.
Clicking off the light, I walked carefully in the dark to the bed where I knew Tavas would be waiting. I really hoped he could handle being a gentleman. Maybe I'd be lucky and he'd be asleep already.
Climbing on top of the covers, I pulled the extra blanket over me and turned so my back was facing the Fae.
"Don't worry, I'll be on my best behavior," Tavas said.
His words came across as sincere. There was none of his mocking tone. I still didn't trust Tavas and I definitely didn't like him, but there was something in the way he spoke those words that made me believe that there might be some good to him somewhere. It was the same feeling I'd had when I let myself trust him in Realm's Gate. James trusted him, so I went along with it. In my naivety, I'd ended up betrayed and nearly captured for a crime I didn'
t commit.
"Sorry about all that," Tavas said. The words were so quiet, I wondered if I had really heard them.
I knew he could read my thoughts so he knew that even though I was lying there focusing on breathing slowly, I wasn't actually asleep. But I wasn't ready to accept his apology so I said nothing.
The bed rocked and squeaked as Tavas moved around, then all was quiet.
25
Panic shot through me as a buzzing sounded from somewhere nearby. It took me a minute to break through the grogginess in the dark to remember that I was in a hotel room and that today was the day. The day we had to save our friends from the Dragon-Bloods and whatever their intentions were.
Someone turned off the buzzing and I turned over in the bed and found myself eye to eye with Tavas.
"Good morning, little dragon," he said. "Sleep well?"
Throwing the blanket off of me, I sat up without responding to him. I felt like I hadn't slept at all. It seemed like only minutes had passed since I turned that alarm clock on.
Alec stood near the television, holding a tray of paper coffee cups. "Good morning."
I smiled at the sight. "You found coffee?"
There were definite perks to keeping a vampire around. He didn't need to sleep so he'd apparently left to find a place where he could get us coffee in time for our early wake up call.
Dima leapt from her bed and grabbed a cup from him, then planted a kiss on his cheek. "You are a saint."
She took a drink. "Not bad."
"How is it, that you of all people, are a morning person?" I knew we had a lot to do but mornings were not my forte.
"Wanna come back to bed?" Tavas asked. "We could cuddle."
"And with that, I'm up," I said, scooting to the end of the bed so I could avoid contact with Tavas.
McKenzie was up now, too. She was moving slower than Dima. "Thanks," she said as she grabbed a cup of coffee from Alec.
Alec set the tray down on the table and pulled one of the cups out, extending it to me.
I took it from him. "You are quickly becoming my favorite vampire."
"I've spent enough time with you now to know how seriously you take coffee. Besides, we need you in top shape today for the teleportation," he said.
My stomach clenched at the words. It wasn't like it was a surprise, that was the plan all along. And it wasn't just the teleportation that was making me nervous, it was the fact that we were going to charge in and try to save our friends from unknown foes today.
"We're going to need a plan," I said, glancing at Tavas.
"Are you asking me for help?" he asked.
I shrugged. "There has to be a reason why you're here, right? I mean, the Oracle said we needed your help and James asked for your help."
"True," he said. "I suppose I should let you all know what you're in for. I mean, it's possible this is the last thing any of us will attempt."
"What is that supposed to mean?" McKenzie said.
"It means that we're going against the Dragon-Bloods on their ritual day, trying to steal one of the two things that were required for their ritual to be successful."
"Explain," I said. "For real this time."
For a moment, Tavas's expression shifted from his usual sardonic smile to a weary frown. Then, he fixed that smile back on his face. "It's the day of the rising. They've been waiting for a long time."
"The rising?" McKenzie asked.
"Right," Tavas said. "I forgot, the Mage Order kept all of this from you. Not a surprise, really."
"Why do you say that?" McKenzie said.
"Stop," I said, holding up my hand to McKenzie. "No side stories this time." I turned to Tavas. "Explain this rising thing. We need to know what we're getting into and how to get our friends out."
"Especially since it seems like they have eyes on us," Dima said.
Tavas lifted an eyebrow. "You think they're tracking you?"
"Possibly," I said. "Keep going."
"I can see why James likes you so much, you're really very alike," Tavas said.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I lifted my eyebrows, silently encouraging Tavas to move on.
"Okay, okay. Give me a second." He stood and walked to the bathroom, coming back out with his pants. He pulled them on, then stood there half-dressed.
I focused on staring at his face, not letting my eyes dip down to his impressive torso.
"The rising is a ritual that can be completed only when the dragon comet is passing by. That's going to happen tonight." He paused, as if waiting for one of us to say something. Nobody spoke.
"They're trying to raise a dragon from the dead," he finished.
"I don't get it," I said. "How do the missing mages and James play into this?"
"Blood sacrifice," Tavas said.
"To raise this dead dragon?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. "You know, to rule the world, conquer everything, that old narrative."
"Seriously?" Dima asked.
Tavas shrugged. "The dragon wars never ended, they've just been biding their time until they could start again."
The hair on my arms stood on end. This was bigger than I feared. This wasn't about people who wanted to play at magic. This was about finishing a war that had started thousands of years ago. Suddenly, all of the fear James had been feeling made sense. If he was part of the key to giving the Dragon-Bloods what they needed to open this conflict back up, his staying hidden was bigger than just wanting to stay out of it.
"Okay, so that's what Chester was talking about," I said, wishing he had been exaggerating. "Now what?"
"We go, we break in, we get them out," Tavas said. "I'm not sure what else you want me to tell you."
"Do you know how many of these Dragon-Bloods we'll find? Or what kind of security they'll have? Or if they have magic or weapons?" McKenzie asked.
"Why would I know that?" he said. "I'm along for the ride as much as the rest of you."
"How are we going to do this?" McKenzie asked.
The alarm buzzed again and I jumped, turning toward it.
"Sorry, had it on sleep instead of off," Alec said, pushing a button on the clock to silence it.
The sound was a reminder. We'd been standing here too long. If we were going to do this, it was now or never. "It doesn't matter. The point is we have to do this."
My friends looked nervous, and I didn't blame them. This is what we had set out to do from the beginning. All the other adventures along the way had been to get us to this point. "It's time."
The tugging sensation from teleporting subsided and I took a deep breath before opening my eyes. Letting out a sigh of relief, I stared out the window at the sight before me. We were in a dirt parking lot surrounded by trees. I hadn't killed us during teleportation.
Leaning back against the seat, I took a moment to calm my nerves. Every time I teleported, it felt more like a gamble. There were only so many times you could get away with doing that before you made a mistake.
If I cast the spell correctly, we were at the Devil's Canyon trailhead in the Angeles National Forest. According to James, there was a mine nearby and we'd find the missing mages there. I hoped he was there, too, though he hadn't told me if he was.
The last thing I wanted to do was crawl into a poorly constructed tunnel left over from the California gold rush, but I didn't come this far to back out now.
"Now what?" Alec asked. He'd sat in the driver seat even though we hadn't started the car.
"We find the mine, I guess," I said.
"Great plan," McKenzie said. "I'm sure that's not going to backfire on us."
"You have a better idea?" I snapped.
"Have you seen the magic Morgan can wield?" Alec said, opening the door. "As long as she's on our side, I'm not worried."
"While I appreciate your confidence in your friend," McKenzie said, "teleporting is hard work. She's probably going to need time to recharge."
Usually, that was the case, but after this round of teleporting, I didn'
t feel weakened the way I had in the past. Deciding to test my magic, I whispered a spell and all of the doors to the car flew open.
"Or not," McKenzie said.
"I'm feeling great," I said. "In fact, I haven't felt this energized in a long time."
"Good," Tavas said. "That means we're close."
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"Because when a magic user with dragon blood is around the dragon that awakens them, they get a boost. And it wasn't just James they took. They took my wild dragon, too."
"Wait, these guys are strong enough to capture and hold a wild dragon?" McKenzie asked.
I glanced at the head of security for the Mage Order. Her face was drained of color. She looked afraid.
"You've all heard the stories about the Dragon-Bloods, right?" Tavas said. "Those stories came from somewhere."
"How are we going to do this?" McKenzie asked.
I wasn't sure what prompted me to say it, but the words tumbled out of me, "We split up."
"You can't be serious," Alec said.
I nodded. "I am. We have a better chance if there's two groups of us. That way, if one of us goes down, we have a back up plan."
"But we don't have any plan at all," Dima said.
"That's why it might work," I said. "Remember, they have someone watching us. How can they predict what we're going to do when we don't even know ourselves?"
"I'm not going with him," McKenzie said, staring at Tavas.
Tavas covered his heart with his hand. "Why, head of mage security, are you afraid of me?"
"Stop," I said. "McKenzie, you go with Dima and Alec. Do whatever it takes to find the missing mages and get them out of here."
"And James?" Dima asked.
"If you find him, get him out, too," I said. "I'll go with Tavas, we'll do the same thing. We don't know where the entrance to the mine is or what security they might have in place."
"If, by some miracle, we succeed, meet back at the car," I said.
"That's great, but how long do we wait and how do we get back if you keep the keys?" McKenzie asked, hands on her hips.
I tossed the keys to McKenzie. "Any mage worth her salt can start a car without the keys. Whoever is here at dusk gets the car. Whoever isn't here is on their own. Got it?"
