Dragon's Luck: The Dragonbound Chronicles

by Bryan Fields

  “How do you mean?”

  Nadia looked around to make sure there were no kids in earshot. “It’s her art. People overdosed in a doorway on the Strip, a hooker washing her privates with water from a pothole in the middle of a parking lot, a bunch of people standing around two dead bodies…stuff a kid shouldn’t see, much less be drawing.”

  I was aghast. “Those are on display over there?”

  “No. I was snooping in her portfolio. The ones on display are things like a statue of a blue angel, a white lion shooting craps in a VIP room, and the Virgin Mary shielding a group of kids from drugs and guns.”

  “That’s a relief.” Something tickled at the edge of memory…two women killed…“Nadia, the one with the dead bodies—did it show Fremont Street in the background?”

  “The Fremont Experience, yeah. Have you seen the picture before?”

  “No, but I heard a description of a scene like that on the news yesterday morning. Two women knifed to death and nobody saw a thing.”

  Nadia shook her head. “Coincidence. She did that piece two months ago.”

  “There have been too many coincidences lately. What if it was a precognition?”

  “If it was a precog, I doubt it was her first.” Nadia paused to acknowledge our greeters stepping out to take a comfort break. “No matter the world, having visions is enough to freak anyone out.”

  “It certainly did Joan of Arc no favors.” Another question came up across the booth, so we tabled the discussion.

  Our greeters returned, and Nadia took her turn just before a fresh group of attendees filled the booth. More began surging through the main doors. Afternoon check-in must have started. As I made the rounds watching everyone make new characters, I wondered if Danya’s student really could have foreseen the murders.

  Back at my laptop, I pulled up the Vegas paper’s web archive. The murdered women had worked at the Meadows homeless shelter. I locked the screen and went over to the art exhibit, waving at Rose as I tiptoed past the enraptured children clustered around her.

  The portfolio Nadia mentioned was easy to find. The pen and ink with the two bodies had some additional details Nadia hadn’t mentioned. All the onlookers looked away, staring at anything but the dead women. Each of the onlookers had been drawn in exquisite detail, with easily recognizable faces.

  The info sheet next to the display pieces said the artist was Toni Aguilar, currently studying vocational skills through Meadows homeless shelter.

  I made my way back to our booth pondering the implications. Was the sketch accurate? If so, did this Toni Aguilar see it in a vision, or did she carry it out using the sketch as a guide?

  Chapter Eight

  Abandoned Treasures

  When I returned to our booth, two guys in suits were waiting for me. One was from exhibitor management, the other from corporate legal. “Mister Fraser, we’ve received a complaint alleging you are allowing underage children to play a game with pornographic content.”

  “I’m afraid you’re going to have to be more specific,” I said. “Did the complainant identify the children involved, or give you details on what this pornographic content entailed? Did you question the children themselves, or talk to their parents? I trust you demanded to see some degree of proof before coming all the way down here.”

  “The allegation is one we felt required immediate response. Erotic or pornographic content is not allowed.”

  While we were talking, Shae approached two teenage boys to see if they had any questions about the demo. They huddled together, shoulder to shoulder, trying to block anyone from seeing the monitor. When Shae asked, “How’s it going”, they jumped away from her and she got a good look at what they were watching.

  Shae yelled for me and flicked the monitor off. The boys took off running, right into Vex and Frisco. Vex tackled one and Frisco ran the second right into a security guard. Once the fight went out of them, the boys had the good sense to stay put and look embarrassed.

  Nadia popped the DVD drive open and lifted the disk out with the tip of a pen. “Big Butt Angels 14,” she announced. “Anyone have an empty manila envelope?”

  The lawyer took one out of his briefcase, removed the contents, and handed it to Nadia. He ripped up the papers from the envelope and tossed the shreds back into his briefcase. “I saw those kids walk up to that machine while we were waiting here. It was running the same demo as all the others. I know a setup when I see one. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, Mister Fraser. Enjoy the convention.” With the security guard backing him up, he walked the boys out of the show and took their badges.

  “Folks, check all the demo units for unauthorized software. Shae, Vex, Nadia, good job. And thank you.” I turned back to remaining suit. “I’m going to pretend this incident never happened. Whoever you got your information from is a clueless oaf, and this pathetic frame-job isn’t worth my time or yours. I’d hate to see someone lose their head over this crap.”

  The suit nodded. “Agreed. I appreciate your understanding. If you will excuse me, I need to make sure this matter is documented and resolved as a false report. Please enjoy the rest of the show.” We shook hands and he left the booth.

  Vex waited until the suit was well out of earshot. ‘“I’d hate to see someone lose their head’? No disrespect, man, but you need more practice making veiled threats.”

  “It wasn’t a veiled threat,” I said. “It was a regular, right out in the open threat.”

  Vex raised an eyebrow. “Well, carry on then.”

  Nadia put the compromised unit back in demo mode. “They went into the BIOS and enabled the DVD drive. The BIOS password hasn’t been changed, nor has the keystroke combo to switch out of demo mode. Someone gave them that information.”

  “Mitch.” I took a series of deep breaths, counting backward from thirty before I said anything. “Change the passwords and key combos on all the systems.” I wrote out two copies of a new twenty-one character password and gave one to Nadia. I made sure none of the others saw what we were entering. It isn’t paranoia when someone actually is out to get you.

  An hour later, Rose bounced back into the booth, flopped down on a folding chair, and pulled me down next to her. “I’m so high right now,” she announced. “Those kids are all so great! I feel like I’ve eaten too much candy. They listened, and laughed, and made me talk in funny voices.” She snuggled up to me, rubbing her head against my shoulder. “All but that one Danya brought back. She’s kind, but frightened. She’s so sad. It runs through her like a river. She reminds me of someone I used to know…but never mind about that. It’s just my mother licking the hive again.”

  “Does that mean she’s sticking her nose in somewhere it isn’t wanted?”

  Rose nodded. “Yes. It’s not important, though. We were talking about that child. What could make her so sad?”

  “If her art is any indication, she’s had a rough childhood. She has great raw talent. I hope it can give her a chance to have a future.”

  “If she has the talent, I’m sure her family will see to it she gets the proper lessons.” Rose started to stretch, but stopped when she felt my reaction. “What’s wrong?”

  “She doesn’t have a home, and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have a family. Her bio sounded like she was on her own.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean she may be living on the street, or at least staying long-term at a homeless shelter. She might be a runaway, or her parents might not have been able to cope with her problems and abandoned her. It’s sad, but it happens.”

  Rose looked confused. “Why would…how could a parent abandon their child? Don’t they understand what a gift they’ve been given? A child isn’t a piece of trash to be thrown away. That’s sick.” Her hands started shaking and her skull distorted, pushing her face forward into the beginnings of a snout. One cheek puffed out, then pulled tight against the scales forming under her skin. “What kind of parents could abandon their children? Miserable, ungrateful, u
nspeakable savages. I’ll find them. Find…Burn! Burn them all!”

  I pulled her to me, thinking calming thoughts for all I was worth. “Rose, not here. Take yourself home. Rose! You need to portal home.”

  She couldn’t hear me. Emerging talons burst her fingers from the inside, splattering me with blood and bits of flesh. The serrated inner curves of her talons ripped through my bicep. I stifled a shout, but it was the worst pain I’d felt since training at Stonewall. With my good arm, I tried to pull her under the backdrop curtain and into the space behind the booth. I couldn’t budge her.

  Another convulsion went through her arm and her talons dragged me sideways. Her head was still only half-Human, tears pouring down her cheeks and becoming lost in the scales running down her neck. Her eyes were still Human, because Dragons can’t cry. Through the tears, she was still ranting in Draconic, and heads were turning our way.

  In the middle of the booth, Nadia chanted the last stanzas of a spell. She swept her arm from left to right in a broad arc over us, and everyone staring at us remembered they had somewhere else to be. Vex and Frisco pulled the curtains closed while the others pulled the demo machines out of Rose’s reach. Shae stepped toward us, flinching as Rose’s wings ripped through the skin on her back and shredded her shirt. Her talons convulsed again, flaying my forearm to the bone. Black splotches filled my vision, leaving me near to passing out.

  Shae got down on her knees and touched Rose’s cheek. “Rose, I grew up without my family. It happens. Sometimes it’s for the best.”

  Rose bared her teeth. “Did your parents cast you out? Did they decide you weren’t worth keeping?” She took a ragged breath. “All those people who want children, trying everything they can think of to get pregnant. It’s not right. It’s not fair!”

  “No, it’s not,” Shae said. “Can you change back to being Human? I want to help if I can, but I’m afraid of you right now.” She stroked Rose’s brow and wiped the tears off her cheek. “Can you do that, so we can talk?”

  Nadia knelt down as well. “Rose, David is hurt. Please, calm down so we can help him. He needs us. Let us help him.”

  I wanted to add my own plea for Rose to get a grip, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was too busy trying to use part of my shirt to hold my arm together.

  Rose looked down at me and the amount of blood finally registered. Her eyes changed from fiery red to bright yellow as she looked back to Nadia. “I can’t heal this,” she whispered. “I don’t know how to rebuild him.”

  “Tilt his head back,” Nadia said. She pulled a steel vial out of her purse and held it while I drank the contents. It tasted like licorice-flavored ass, but healed me up in a matter of seconds. Nadia tossed the vial back in her purse. “That was my emergency healing potion. You owe me one.”

  “Thank you,” Rose said. She looked away from everyone and focused on fixing her face and skull.

  Nadia stood up and looked at Frisco, Neko, and Heather. “Ladies, you all hanging in there? No freaking out or anything?”

  The girls shook their heads and muttered denials, but their eyes stayed fixed on Rose as she struggled to retract her wings. Inside, she was burning with humiliation and self-reproach over losing control. I took her hand and focused on supportive thoughts.

  Nadia followed their gaze. “Yeah, that. Not a problem. Rose let her blood sugar get out of control and needs a few minutes to get normalized. We don’t need any medical assistance. David knows what to do and has everything he needs. We’re just giving them some privacy. We clear?”

  Heather shook her head. “What about all the blood? And her clothes? Even in Vegas, you can’t walk around like that.”

  “What blood?” Nadia followed the question by whispering something with lots of vowels as she wiggled her fingers over her shoulder. The blood stains, the grease marks on the pizza boxes, the chalk dust on Rose’s pants, and every speck of dirt or grime in the area vanished. She followed it with a stitching gesture and all the rips marring our clothes sealed themselves back together.

  Rose wiggled her shoulders, nudging her clothes back into the right locations. “Thank you, Nadia. I, ah…” She looked up at the others in the booth a moment before lowering her gaze again. “I’m very sorry for my behavior. I got emotional being with the children…because I can’t have any. And now my mother tells me…” She stopped and shook her head. “I’m sorry. That’s not important now. I was emotional already, and I didn’t realize how strong my reaction would be. I hope I didn’t frighten anyone.”

  “We all work in casinos,” Neko said. “We see people lose their shit all the time. I’ve seen screaming, crying, threats, begging, and praying. I’ve seen one guy shit his pants and another blow his brains out, but I’ve never seen anyone grow wings. If that was an illusion, you should be performing on the Strip.”

  “It’s no illusion,” Rose said. “I’m a Dragon. I’m not the only one on Earth. Can we leave it at that for right now?”

  Neko looked to the other greeters and shook her head. “I don’t think so. Not until you tell us what happens next.”

  Vex looked sideways at Nadia. “We need to know that as well. Someone needs to call the office. Assuming they don’t already know.”

  “Random Dragon sightings are not the office’s concern,” Nadia said. “Vex, you and the guys take the ladies out to dinner. I’m sure you’ll have plenty to talk about. Ladies, please listen to the offer and think it over. If you have any questions, come to me. And please, please come to me before you say ‘no’.”

  Vex shook his head. “We haven’t had a chance to talk to anyone about getting appr—”

  “My blood will answer,” Nadia said. She leaned over to the ladies and added, “Not literally. All that means is that I’ll take responsibility for this. Now, gentlemen, go and do.”

  Isaac extended the crook of his elbow to Neko. “Would you care to come with me, Miss Neko? The rules for this conversation say I’m allowed to take you to the best restaurant available, on the company’s tab. Do you have any preferences in being wooed?”

  Neko linked arms with him. “Someplace with lobsters. Big ones. I expect to be wooed in style. Big woo. Lots of woo. Extra woo on the side.”

  Heather gave Vex and Frisco a look and turned to Gerrit with a shrug. “Guess it’s you and me, handsome. Steak and lobster work for you?”

  Gerrit inclined his head and offered her his arm. “As you wish.” They joined Isaac and Neko in slipping out through the curtain.

  Frisco grabbed a chair. “I’m staying. We can talk later, but I’m not going to leave Shae alone here.”

  “Fair enough,” I said. I got to my feet and held my hand out to help Rose up and into a chair. I gave Nadia a nod. “Thanks for cleaning the place up and fixing our clothes. Useful spells to have on hand in a crisis.”

  Nadia snorted. “Those were cantrips. Most of the proper spells I know are combat-related.”

  Rose asked, “Can we discuss all that later? I’d like to talk to Shae about her family for a few minutes. She did promise.”

  “I’d kind of hoped you’d forgotten.” Shae grabbed a chair and sat down next to Rose. “It sucks that this kid doesn’t have a family, but it could be the best thing for her. To answer your question, yeah, my birth parents decided I wasn’t worth keeping. Child services placed me in foster care when I was eight because of the level of violence between my birth parents. The court set out a bunch of conditions my parents would have to meet to get me back. My parents decided it was too much trouble and they were better off without me. The first family I got placed with didn’t want me long-term, but the second family did. They adopted me, and they’re the best people I could have wished for.”

  She looked down at the floor. “Shit, I hate this. All I want to do is go back to our room, smoke my entire supply of weed, and order room service.” She grasped Frisco’s hand to keep hers from shaking. “A year after I was placed, my dumb-ass bio-father, totally shitfaced, drives through a chain-link fenc
e and falls thirty feet into a flood channel. Bio-mom emptied their bank accounts and moved. She never even asked about getting me back. I don’t know where she is, and I don’t care.”

  Rose shook her head. “My people have adoption and foster parenting as well. Even if both parents were to die, other members of the family or even family friends would step forward. No child of my people would go through life alone and unwanted. The idea of a parent just…discarding a child on a whim…it’s horrible. I can’t understand how it could be allowed.”

  I said, “Rose, how many times does a Dragoness rise in a mating flight? Three times in a thousand years? You can’t afford not to treat hatchlings as precious treasures. I hate to say it, but Humans have too many children to care for them the way Dragons do theirs.”

  Shae nodded. “Probably true, but beside the point. Rose, sometimes parents make bad choices, but you can’t judge them on that alone. I know how much all this hurt you, but I think you should focus on how you can help a kid in this situation. Ranting about burning their parents won’t help the kids any.”

  Rose looked away, but nodded. “What can I say? Burning things is what I do. I’m just sorry I lost my composure. What can we do for this Toni? The girl whose art we were talking about?”

  “Find her a good home,” Shae said. “She could use job training, too. The Meadows shelter is old, and not the kind of place you can get an education.”

  “Danya may be taking care of that,” Nadia said. She peeked out through the curtains for a moment and let them fall back into place. “My spell is holding and the crowd is thinning out. I think we should call it a day.”

  Frisco said, “Not yet. I want to hear this offer you all were talking about, and maybe a word or two explaining what the eff is going on here.” She seemed calm, but her hands shook.

  Vex stood up. “This is the part where I take both of you out to dinner and give you a well-rehearsed speech. I had to take a six-week class to learn to give it properly. I hope you’ll be suitably impressed.” He offered his hand to Frisco, along with a damn charming smile.