“Who knew my brother had such a thing for livestock?” Lizzy said, looking Val over from behind.
Val started to turn back to Lizzy, only to jump again. The smaller woman had moved forward, and now was pressed against Val’s back. Her hand was very firmly squeezing Val’s ass.
“Mmm. Tender, though. Bet you’d taste good with a little seasoning,” Lizzy said.
Val growled and swung back around, trying to bring her hand down like a hammer onto Lizzy’s head. Lizzy stepped to the side and, with a fluid, circular motion, gripped Val’s wrist and added to her momentum, driving Val’s own fist into her thigh.
Val yelped with pain as her muscles spasmed, leg almost buckling on her.
Lizzy laughed like it was the funniest thing she had ever seen, and her laughter matched her eyes. It was broken, lilting up and down the scales randomly. She actually clasped her hands over her belly as if trying to contain it.
“Oh oh ha! All that strength and only the bittiest little training. I thought this was going to be fun!”
Her face instantly shifted from mirth to anger, as if a light switch had been thrown.
“You… SIT!”
The short woman jabbed two fingers into Val’s breastbone, and the force of the blow was staggering. Val found herself stumbling backward, only to crash into one of the chairs. She sat there, stunned, gasping for breath.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve put me through!?”
“What—” Val gasped.
“Shut it! I’m rantin’ here! Girl doesn’t know when to listen to her betters, does she? Stupid cow.”
Lizzy began to pace back and forth, gesturing wildly as she spoke. She only looked at Val occasionally, and seemed to be talking to an audience, or to herself, or some combination thereof.
“Came all the way down here. Used up all my emergency cash. Couldn’t use the credit cards. Oh no, of course not, Mumsy watches those accounts, doesn’t she? Likes to know where her favorite little girl is. All because you and my idiot brother think you can replace me. You can’t! You won’t!”
“What brother?” Val snapped, regaining some of her composure.
“It doesn’t shut up, does it!”
Lizzy looked back at Val, and her eyes flashed. They seemed almost to swirl.
“Nathaniel, you stupid. Who else have you been bumping headboards with? Wait, no, don’t answer that. I so very much don’t want to know. Ugh. And it took me days to find you. Days! What kind of person lives in New Orleans and never walks down Bourbon Street?”
“Shows what you know. Most locals don’t bother with it,” Val said.
Lizzy went still. A moment ago she had been all motion, now she could have been a statue. Her gaze bored into Valerie.
Then, slowly at first, she began to change. She stretched, expanded, till she was as tall as Valerie. Even her clothes seemed to change with her, though Val was pretty sure that was just their cut.
She changed again, milky white scales spreading over her skin. They flowed like water. Iridescent, catching the light and tossing it back like moonstone. Her tongue flicked out, long and forked.
Then again. And in a moment Valerie was looking at an exact copy of herself.
“I can be anything I want. You are already dead, but if you piss me off, I’ll use your own form to rape your brother. So shut it.”
Val quivered with rage, and the armrests of the chair snapped in her hands. Lizzy nodded and smiled at the display, and shifted back into her own form.
“No one knows I’m here. No one is gonna know. They don’t let Lizzy have her fun, especially not if she plans on breaking her brother’s toys,” Lizzy said.
Val surged toward her again, swelling in size as she went. Lizzy seemed shocked by the motion, perhaps thinking Val properly cowed. Either way, Val’s fist cracked into her stomach, a fist nearly the size of a football.
“I am no one’s toy,” said Val.
Lizzy fell, and Val was on her. She struck her twice more before Lizzy began to block. Val managed to grab one of her wrists, and slammed her hand into her face, going down on one knee and trying to pin her smaller opponent.
Then Lizzy smiled, blood running from her smashed nose.
“Oh, good, you can be fun!”
Lizzy shrank. So suddenly and rapidly that she slipped free from Val and slipped behind her in an instant. With Val having gained size and Lizzy losing it, she was now less then half as big as Val. She grinned and slammed her foot into the small of Val’s back, sending her flying through the air.
Val twisted in midair, instincts panicking, and cradled her stomach as she fell.
Lizzy stood still as rock again, nostrils flaring.
“No.”
Val didn’t have time to react as Lizzy jumped at her. She grabbed Val by the hair and by the throat and smashed her head back into the ground. Val’s vision blurred, and she found herself staring up into Lizzy’s eyes.
“Let me see…” Lizzy said, glaring downward.
Her eyes widened and her nostrils flared again. She jumped back from Val and held her fist up to her mouth, looking like a shocked little girl.
“I’m gonna be an auntie?!” she said, her tone a mix of shock and confusion.
Val staggered to her feet.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Val said.
“Sure you don’t. Only person I ever saw that worried ’bout their stomach in a fight was Mum when she had Thor on board.”
Lizzy rushed at her, and Val braced herself, ready to fend off another attack. The last thing she expected was to be hugged about the waist and lifted into the air. Lizzy swung her back and forth, dancing from foot to foot.
“Yeeehee, I’ve never been an aunt!” Lizzy said.
And just like that she again dropped Val, who landed heavily on her rear. Val could only sit blinking as she watched the other woman’s face go through a dozen emotions in an eyeblink. From joy to confusion to black anger.
“Oh, this is so… I don’t know what… I should kill you both… but.. I…”
Lizzy seemed lost in thought. Val reacted; she grabbed up a nearby flowerpot and stood, slamming it into the side of Lizzy’s head. It smashed against her skull.
Lizzy blinked, still standing and seemingly unfazed as dirt and broken pottery fell from her hair. Val noticed that her nose had healed.
“You know, if you are going to fight other dragons, you need to learn how to make the right kind of claws,” Lizzy said, voice suddenly completely calm.
She reached out and slapped Val, not as hard as she had been hit before, but there was a splash of blood. Val stepped back, hand flying to her cheek. Three short tears marred it.
Lizzy lifted a hand that was now tipped in talons, like a hawk’s. But each bladed claw seemed rough. Val couldn’t get a good look as they shifted away, back to dainty fingers and manicured nails. Lizzy sucked the blood from her fingers absentmindedly, as if she didn’t realize what she was doing.
“This changes things, but I don’t know how yet. When I decide, you’ll be the first to know,” Lizzy said.
Val didn’t know what to do. She was still so angry, but she wasn’t stupid. She had no idea what she could do to faze, much less stop, this madwoman. Lizzy walked past her, heading toward the door out of the complex.
“Oh yeah,” Lizzy said without looking back. “No one can know I’m here. Tell anyone—anyone!—and you’ll force my hand.”
She actually waved as she left. Val just kept staring, hand still held to her cut cheek.
She had never thought of the possibility of an insane dragon.
Twenty
Flynn was very pleased.
So far, everything had gone just as anticipated. In fact, things seemed to have been going a bit smoother than he planned. He had half worried he would have to have Mose removed before Griffen would open up to him. Only to find that the boy’s current mentor had been distancing himself.
As far as Flynn was concerned, he had set Grif
fen’s course perfectly. The chances were good he would self-destruct. Especially if he actually believed Flynn’s ideas and tried to do something as foolish as ally himself with the local drug dealers. Humans, no matter how tough they were with other humans, were just not equipped to monitor a supernatural conclave.
Even if Griffen didn’t self-destruct, he should lose control of his friends and supporters. He was too young, too inexperienced to wield power without being a bully. What a quaint term, “bully.” As if the world were some child’s sandbox. If Griffen survived, he would soon be looking for a new home. And Flynn would be ready to extend an invitation to California, complete with job offer. Now that he had set the lad on a path to power.
Hell, after that little pool game, Griffen was paying for his hotel and travel expenses.
Flynn figured he didn’t really need to stay in New Orleans any longer. Oh, he could do more damage, or finesse things a bit more. Still, Griffen had his card, if the young idiot remembered where he’d put it. He could always call for more sage advice. It was about time Flynn packed up and let nature take its course.
There was a knock at his hotel door.
Flynn looked suspiciously toward the door. Someone wanted something? Just when he had been on the verge of packing his suitcase? Flynn had been at this game far too long to believe in coincidence.
Of course, he never could refuse a good game. He let his curiosity guide him and opened the door.
“Hello, Earl,” Mai said.
Flynn took a step back, surprised despite himself. He had, of course, heard that McCandles had contacts with a representative of the Eastern dragons, but Mai? She smiled, a bit demurely, and stepped into the room. She brushed against his arm as she passed, and the scent of jasmine clung to her skin.
“I should have known,” Flynn said, frowning.
“Oh, now, you make it sound like a bad thing I am here.”
“It probably is. Still, let’s go through the motions, shall we?”
“Let’s.”
The two eyed each other for a moment, and Flynn shut the door. There was a tension here; there always had been with Mai. He always thought that it must be the same type of sensation two chess masters felt when they played. Well… one chess master, and one very promising amateur.
He had no doubts which one he was.
“You are staring,” Mai said with another small smile.
“Ah, yes—the motion. Well, you do look very good, Mai.”
“Thank you,” she said.
She did, too. She was in a dark red dress cut to make one think of a kimono without actually being one. It hung off one shoulder and revealed a lovely expanse of skin. One side was split nearly to the hip, letting her shapely leg slip into the light now and again.
“It’s been a long time,” Flynn said.
“Yes, it has. Shall I say it first, or should you say it?” asked Mai, smile sliding from demure and starting to resemble a smirk.
“Together, I think,” Flynn said.
“On three.”
“One,” said Flynn.
“Two,” said Mai.
“Three. What is your interest in Griffen McCandles?” they said together, in perfect unison.
Flynn laughed, a rich, honest laugh. Mai pretended to blush, but her eyes glinted. He knew she was enjoying this as much as he. She walked over to the little table in the room and sat down, crossing her legs and letting her skirt slide loose to the thigh.
“I asked you first,” she said, and stuck out her tongue like a child.
“Of course you did.”
Flynn shook his head and took the other chair. He steepled his fingers, and the two watched each other, silence stretching into minutes. They both knew the game very well, and old rules stated that whoever talked first, lost.
“Of course,” Mai said, as if reading his thoughts, “I have made a career out of breaking old rules.”
“Yes, you have. Whereas I have made them work for me. To answer the question that you did not ask first”—Flynn paused to stick his tongue out at her, then winked—“the boy shows potential. I would like to harness that potential.”
“Of course you would. And I would like to see him harness his potential,” Mai said.
“What, with nothing in return?” Flynn asked.
“Well, he is fun in bed.”
“Marry me, Mai,” Flynn said.
For the first time Mai’s expression dipped to a frown. Flynn smiled, knowing he had scored a point; it paid to deviate from the script now and again.
“We have been down that road. Not a chance, Earl.”
“You know I hate to be called that,” he said.
“Of course,” she said.
“We would have been absolutely terrible for each other.”
“Perhaps. You will never find out now will you? That is what you get for courting my father, when you should have been courting me.”
She stood and smoothed her skirt into place. Flynn remained seated, though he knew he could prolong the meeting if he stood. If he would meet her halfway.
“I thought you should know—now that I know you’re in the game, I will undo whatever it is you have set in motion,” Mai said.
“If you can. I always could check your moves in the past.” Flynn nodded to her.
“But, as you said, it has been a long time.”
Mai began to move to the door, then paused. When she turned, her smile was back on her face. She reached down her dйcolletage, and drew out a small envelope.
“Oh yes, this was taped to your door. Sorry if I peeked.” She handed it to him, smiled once more, and left before he could open it. He shook his head, looking at the door. Well, the game was now worth staying around for at least. He opened the envelope.
The contents were even more surprising than Mai’s presence.
A Knight of Swords tarot card.
He half growled to himself and chucked it in the wastepaper basket. He wasn’t irritated by the card so much, but by the puzzle. Had the minx really found it? Or worse, had she brought it herself?
Could Mai know he’d hired George?
Twenty-one
Val didn’t know what to do.
It had taken a day for the cuts on her face to heal to thin pink lines. It had been a day where she had avoided everyone. A day when she looked inside, tried to figure out what she should do. What she could do.
Her first reaction was to protect her brother. The thoughts that followed that were more convoluted. Which protected Griffen more? Telling him about the threat of Lizzy or heeding her warning? And somewhere in the darker parts of Val’s mind, she wondered if she was really protecting him at all or if she was just afraid.
That thought she pushed quickly away. What filled her wasn’t fear, it was anger. Every time she thought about that fight, brief though it might have been, her hands tightened into fists and her jaw clenched. If only she knew where Lizzy was. If only she had reason to believe that this time there was a chance that things would be different.
She had spent a lot of time in the last day staring into her mirror. Watching the cuts on her face. It seemed that they almost healed as she watched, the speed of her flesh knitting just slightly slower than the eye could follow. As if she could watch for just a second more and actually see the change. But she always blinked eventually, and when she looked back… well, who could be sure?
So much for not believing in being a dragon. As if a brawl with a shape-changing psycho bitch hadn’t been enough for her. Something inside Val shifted suddenly. Her worldview, and self-image, changing ever so slightly.
They looked little more than scratches now, those cuts from those odd claws. She was tired of hiding. She needed to move, to walk, to center herself. Valerie hit the streets.
She didn’t think about where she was walking. She just walked, still sorting through her own thoughts and emotions. However, unlike her jog a few days ago, when she had tuned the world out, she only let part of herself sink inside now. She
seemed almost hyperaware of the people she passed, instincts judging each for level of threat, and rational mind backing up the judgments with a second glance.
She was just so angry. Furious. On the brink of true rage, and the sad thing was that her anger wasn’t aimed toward Lizzy. She was angry at herself. Valerie always thought of herself as so strong, so confident. She had devoted a good chunk of her life to being as fit and competent as she could be. It wasn’t the fact that she lost that bothered her. It was how badly she lost, how little she had fazed Lizzy. She should have done something more, hurt her more.
Valerie needed to recenter.
She realized just where she was a few doors away from her destination. She hesitated for only a moment, then decided to trust her feet, trust her instincts. She walked up to one of the security doors that marked the entrances to the French Quarter apartment buildings and rang the top buzzer.
It was a few minutes before Gris-gris opened the door and looked at Valerie in surprise. She hadn’t even thought of what time it was, and didn’t now. She had her hands on his collar and her mouth against his before he could even say hello.
He still hadn’t had a chance to speak as they moved inside, the security door closing behind them.
* * *
Uncounted hours later, Valerie lay atop Gris-gris. She idly nuzzled at the hinge of his jaw and shifted her weight subtly, back and forth. Testing his… stamina.
Gris-gris moaned softly and ran his fingers down her long spine, tips of them playing against her tailbone.
“You don’t quit, do ya?” he said.
“Mnn, probably not,” she said, and bit lightly into his shoulder.
Other small marks, from harder bites, decorated his dark skin. Still moving idly, languorous, she slipped to his side, one leg curled around his. She couldn’t help gently licking at one of the half-moon-shaped marks.
Gris-gris reached down and gently cupped her chin, drawing her face to his. She was taller than him, but curled against him as she was, her eyes were level with his. Both pairs were slightly unfocused, heavy, but his also held a touch of concern.
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