by Rachel Aaron
“You never know,” Julius said. “I’m not saying it isn’t a gamble, but if I’m going to be taking risks, I’d rather take them doing what I think is right. That way, even if I do get ripped off, at least I’ll know I wasn’t the one being a jerk. ”
Marci stared at him a moment, and then she threw up her hands. “Fine,” she said. “It’s your money. You want to pay the good karma fee, that’s your choice. ”
The fact that she thought it was an idiotic one was clear from her voice, but Julius appreciated the gesture all the same. “Thank you, Marci. ”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, looking away. “Just never try and take that good nature to Vegas. You’ll get swindled down to your underwear before you can blink. ”
That was a risk he was willing to take. For the first time Julius could remember, he actually felt good about something. Not just okay or not bad, but really, honestly good about his decision not to use his unexpected superior position to squeeze Katya’s alligator shaman for all he was worth. And when Ross returned with his co-chair—a stern, middle-aged Indian woman with shed snake skins woven into her hair—Julius greeted them with such a smile that the lady actually looked taken aback. This only made Julius grin wider as he settled his shoulder against the wall and dug in for some good, honest, old-fashioned haggling.
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***
An hour later, all parties were satisfied, and Julius was no longer an impoverished dragon. That wasn’t as good as being an unsealed dragon, but he was ready to call it a win.
The shamans had started out wary, but once it became clear that Julius honestly wasn’t trying to rip them off, the pace picked up enormously. In the end, Ross’s circle kept all the lampreys, and Julius received an immediate cash transfer of twenty-five thousand dollars, ten of which was actually for the big one, which Ross explained was full of magical components his circle needed for their wards.
“It’s not enough, really,” Ross admitted with a sigh. “Large, unique creatures like that are almost priceless. You could probably sell it for thirty thousand easy if you called in one of the big magical component suppliers from the Upper City. We can’t afford to pay that, of course, but you’ve been very upfront with us, and I wanted to make sure you knew the creature’s real value before you signed it over, just in case you wanted to pull out. ”
“Thank you, but ten thousand will be fine,” Julius said, keeping his voice low so Marci wouldn’t overhear and fly to his rescue. “I meant it before when I said I thought you were doing good work down here. Also, have you seen that thing?” He jerked his thumb over at the bus-sized corpse of the giant lamprey that five mages were currently weaving a spell around in an attempt to finally lift it all the way out of the water. “Not exactly something I can put in my pocket. If you count that in, I think ten thousand for a monster I don’t have to pay to move is a very fair deal. ”
“Fair indeed,” Ross said, sticking out his hand with a genuine smile. “Thank you, Julius. ”
“Thank you,” Julius said, shaking his hand firmly.
As soon as he’d settled everything with the mages, Julius hurried back to Justin. He’d fully expected his brother to get bored and leave once it became clear Julius was serious about not attacking the humans. When he hadn’t, Julius had started getting nervous, but his brother had actually been remarkably patient, sitting against the wall and snarling at people who got too close. From anyone else, such behavior would have been surly. From Justin, it was practically an audition for sainthood, and Julius wanted to thank him before the miracle ended.
Justin didn’t look up when Julius approached, just gave his sword a final swipe with the cleaning cloth before sliding the blade back in its sheath. “Well?”
“All done,” Julius said. “They’re paying us—”
“Screw the money,” his brother said. “What about Katya?”
Julius shook his head, and Justin lifted his eyes at last to give him a look of such deep disappointment it actually hurt.
“I don’t understand you,” he said, rolling to his feet in one smooth motion. “You’re not stupid and you’re not a coward. You can even be bold if someone pushes you. You’ll never be a really good dragon, but that’s enough to be an okay one if you’d just stop dicking around. But you won’t. ”
“I—” Julius began, but he stopped when Justin held up his hand.
“I don’t want Mother to eat you,” he went on, belting his sword back onto his hip. “We’ve been together our whole lives, and while you can be a total buzzkill, you’re also the brother I dislike the least. ”
Julius’s eyes widened. That was the nicest thing anyone in his family had ever said about him. “Thank you. ”
“Save it,” Justin growled. “I’m only telling you all this so you’ll understand why I took Bob’s ticket to the DFZ. I thought if I came myself to keep an eye on you, I could make sure you didn’t screw this up too badly. But after sitting here for a hour listening to you being so, so…”
“Reasonable?” Julius suggested.
“Nice,” his brother spat. “Roll over, play along, suck-up nice. Seriously, you were practically submissive to that human. I almost threw up. ” He shook his head with a sigh. “I just don’t know what else I can do for you. It’s like you’ve got a faulty connection in your brain that makes you buddy up to humans instead of dominating them. ”
Julius shrugged. “Is that really so bad?”
“Yes,” Justin growled, stabbing his finger at the mages fishing lamprey bodies out of the water. “If these people knew what you actually were, they wouldn’t be your friends. They’d be terrified, as they should be. Because if they weren’t scared, they’d be trying to kill you and sell you for parts. ”
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Julius shook his head. “It’s not like that. ”
“Isn’t it?” Justin asked, stepping closer until he was looming over his brother. “You might be a sheep in wolf’s clothing, but never forget that, to the humans, you’re just another monster with a bounty on its head. We’re all monsters to them, and they will punish us for it every chance they get if we don’t give them a reason to run away. In this whole world, your clan is the only thing you can trust, so if I were you, I’d worry less about pleasing a bunch of short-lived mortals who will never accept you, and more about pleasing us. ”
Julius longed to point out that he’d been trying and failing to please his family his whole life, but it wouldn’t do any good. Justin was already turning away.
“Thank you very much for your help tonight,” he said to his brother’s back. “I owe you. ”
Those were heavy words between dragons, but Justin just shrugged. “I’ll add it to your tab. ”
Julius had no doubt of that. From the moment he’d learned how to talk, Justin had been able to recite every debt he was owed and why. He could still do it, too, though it took him over an hour to get through the list these days. Every dragon in the Heartstriker clan seemed to owe Justin for something, but while he collected favors with a vengeance, Julius had never heard of him cashing any in. Some Heartstrikers, the ones who didn’t know Justin very well, though he was storing them up for some kind of massive power play in the future. Julius, however, was far more inclined to believe that his brother had simply never encountered a problem he didn’t think he could take all by himself with one arm tied behind his back.
He watched Justin haul himself up the now-dried metal ladder without a word. Since his brother didn’t even seem to be pretending at humanity anymore, it took him ten seconds to climb the thirty-foot wall and vanish into the pipe at the top. Fortunately, all of the mages were too busy cleaning up lampreys to notice. All of them, that was, except for the one who mattered.
“How did he do that?”
Julius looked over to see Marci standing a few feet behind him, staring up at the now-empty metal ladder with a look of pure wonder. It was the sort of thing that would take a very clever explanation to cover up. Unfortunately
, the best his tired brain could do right now was, “Justin is special. ”
Marci gave him an odd look, and for a moment, Julius could almost feel her adding up all the impossible things Justin had done. But as he braced for what seemed like inevitable disaster, Marci just turned away, shifting her wet bag higher on her shoulder. “Let’s get out of here. ”
Julius nodded dumbly, following her over to the water where the shaman who’d been tasked with escorting them back to the surface was waiting. But as they were climbing into the repurposed canoe that would take them across the lake, Ross ran over and stopped them.
“Wait!” he called. “I wanted to give you this before you left. ”
Before Julius could ask what, the alligator shaman pulled out his phone and gestured in the air. A second later, Julius’s own phone buzzed, and he pulled it out to see a new entry had been added to his contacts, fronted by a picture of a smiling Katya standing in the arms of an equally happy-looking Ross.
“That’s everything I’ve got,” the shaman said quietly. “Her most recent number and all her old ones, just in case. My info’s in there, too, so please call me if you find her or if there’s anything else I can do. ”
The shaman’s change of heart was so surprising, even after such a long, strange night, Julius couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Why?”
Ross sighed, running a hand through his thick curling hair. “Because I’m really worried about her, and because you seem like a decent guy. She’s only been my girlfriend for a week, but she’s amazing, and if she’s in trouble, I want to help her. I told her as much all the time, but she just kept saying she didn’t want me to get involved. Now she’s gone, and I can’t help, so if you can, I don’t want to be the one who messed it up. ” He blew out a worried breath. “Just promise you’ll let me know when you find her, okay?”
“I will,” Julius said, and he meant it. Because whatever his brother said, it wasn’t as simple as dragon versus human, clan versus the world. Whether Ross knew what Katya actually was or not, his concern for her was real, as was the trust he’d just shown, and Julius was determined to make good on it. Because when Katya’s shaman clapped him on the arm and waved goodbye, that warm, happy feeling from before had come back in spades. For the first time in years, maybe ever, Julius felt like he’d actually done something right, and greedy dragon that he was, he wanted more.
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Once they’d crossed the underground lake, it was a short trip through the mage’s compound up to the surface. As Lark had described, Ross’s people did indeed have an amazing setup. In addition to the bomb shelter, they’d sealed up and converted almost a mile of old electrical tunnels, turning the dreary cement corridors into a lively warren of homes, casting rooms, and observation cages for an enormous variety of magical animals, most of which Julius couldn’t begin to name. He fully expected Marci to try and wheedle a more thorough tour out of their guide, but she didn’t say a word.
She’d been oddly silent for a while now, actually, but it wasn’t until they got into the brightly lit elevator that would take them back up to the street level that Julius saw why. Marci was exhausted. Her dark brown eyes had huge shadows beneath them, and her normally olive skin was an unhealthy grayish color. The combined effect made her look terrifyingly mortal, and Julius suddenly felt like a heel for pushing her so hard.
Her car was right where they’d left it, parked on the curb across from the warded “storm drain” that was actually the shaman’s front door. Since Marci was clearly in no shape to handle even an automated system, Julius volunteered to drive. She agreed after a token resistance, flopping into the passenger seat with an enormous yawn. By the time Julius had said goodbye to their guide and gotten in himself, she was asleep, curled up with her head tucked against the window.
The sight filled him with tenderness and surprise. Nothing, not even animals, fell asleep next to a dragon. If Justin had been here, he would have claimed this was just more proof that Julius was officially the saddest excuse for a predator to ever live. For Julius, though, it was a precious sign of trust, and the more he thought about that, the more determined he became to make sure it was not misplaced.
Moving slowly so as not to wake her, he keyed in their destination, sending the old car up the curving ramp to the brightly lit skyways. It was nearly three in the morning, but the Upper City was still hopping, and the elevated roads were crowded with sleek, driverless cars, some of which didn’t even have passengers. Since Marci’s ancient autodrive wasn’t as quick on the pick up as the newer models, Julius ordered them to the far right. When the rusty sedan was safely locked into the slow lane, he pulled out his phone to do a little business with his newfound wealth, starting with a message to an old acquaintance.
He had plenty of time. Traffic was moving at a decent pace, but unlike the grid roads of old Detroit, the upper city skyways looped and circled in on themselves in ways Julius, and apparently Marci’s GPS, didn’t really understand. As a result, it took them almost forty minutes to reach their destination. Marci woke up when they turned in, blinking sleepily as the car pulled to a gentle stop in front of an absolutely massive superscraper right on the bank of Lake St. Clare.
“The Royal Hotel?” she asked, craning her head back to look up the building’s cliff-like side. “Are you trying to spend all your money at once or something?”
“It’s not that expensive,” Julius said, getting out of the car.
Marci got out too, yawning as she walked around to the driver’s side. “Thanks for letting me nap,” she said, holding out her hand for the keys. “I guess I’ll get in touch with you later, then?”
“What are you talking about? You’re staying here, too. ”
He paused, waiting for her to be excited, but Marci was staring at him like he’d just told her she was going to Mars. “You want me to go to a hotel with you?”
“Not like that,” he said quickly, face going hot. “I’m getting you your own room. My treat. ”
Marci’s expression of frank disbelief morphed into one of cautious skepticism. “Why?”
“Because you’ve been invaluable to me tonight,” Julius said honestly. “And because the idea of sleeping in a bed while you go back to that cat graveyard you call a house is more than my conscience can stand. Just leave the car to the valet system and let’s go check in. ”
Marci narrowed her eyes, clearly waiting for the trap. When it didn’t appear, Julius finally got the look he’d been waiting for: the beaming smile of pure delight. The sight warmed him right to his toes before Marci dashed away, tossing her trunk open and grabbing a fraying gym bag in a frantic explosion of energy. This plus her overpacked shoulder bag left her pathetically weighed down, so Julius, who had no bags, offered to carry something. After a short protest, she let him, handing him the gym bag with another smile that made him feel like the best thing on the planet.
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This being a waterfront hotel, there was a real, old-fashioned check-in desk staffed by actual human clerks even at this hour of the morning. It was such an anachronistic sight, Julius was half tempted to ask them for a room just for the novelty factor. But despite her renewed energy, Marci looked worse than ever under the lobby’s elegant lights. Also, their filthy clothes were already drawing the hairy eyeball from the clerks, so Julius resigned himself to checking in the normal way: through the kiosk system via his phone’s AR.
By the time they walked across the marble floor to the elevators, he’d bought them two connecting rooms overlooking the water. He grabbed their key cards from the dispenser in the elevator on their way up. When the doors opened, he gently guided Marci down the hall. “I’m going to order some food,” he said as he handed her the key card to her suite. “What do you want?”
“Anything,” she said dreamily, opening the door and staring at the huge room with its sweeping view of the lake like she’d just opened the gate to fairy land.
He smiled and put her bag down beside
her before walking one door down to his own room. As soon as he was inside, he pulled up the room service menu and ordered them breakfast. He also ordered himself a few things through the hotel’s automated concierge service, including a full set of new clothes. His had been on their last legs when his mother had burst into his room yesterday, but while they’d survived the fight with Bixby’s men and his dust-up with Chelsie, the trip through the sewers had completely done them in.
Fortunately, waterside hotels were famous for their ability to get anything in a hurry. The porter brought up a bag containing new jeans, underwear, and a fancy shirt made from a fabric Julius didn’t even recognize before their food could even arrive from the kitchen. The moment Julius was sure everything fit, his old clothes went straight into the trash, never to be spoken of again.
Thirty minutes later—showered, shaved, dressed in new clothes, and bearing the breakfast tray that had just arrived, as well as a special package that had come up with his other purchases—Julius knocked on the door that connected his room to Marci’s, opening it when she answered only to find an empty room. After a quick look around, he found her in the bathroom, cutting her hair in front of the huge mirror with the trimming scissors from the complementary shaving kit.
The gym bag she’d grabbed from her car must have been full of clothes, because she’d changed into a loose UNLV t-shirt and pajama bottoms so faded, Julius couldn’t make out the original design. He could, however, clearly make out the shape of her legs underneath, and he quickly looked away before she caught him staring.
“I’ll be done in a sec,” she said, wrenching her neck around to get at the hair on the back of her head. “I’ve been dying to straighten this mess out for days. ”
Julius cleared his throat and walked over to put the tray down on the table by the window. “I hope you didn’t pay whoever gave you that haircut. ”
“Trust me, this wasn’t my first choice,” Marci grumbled, carefully trimming the wispy trails of hair above her eyes into something like bangs. “Do you have any idea how long it took me to grow my hair out? But Bixby’s mage was using it as a material link to track me, so I had no choice. I chopped my ponytail off and used it as bait to lure his goons into my house. Then, when they went inside after me, bam!”
