She's up to something. I can tell. The more she withdrew from everyone, the more suspicious he was. Late at night he found her in the study, looking on the computer. One night he dared to walk in on her, just to see how she was doing. Immediately she closed out of whatever program she was using. While she indulged his company, it was clear she was anxious for him to leave by how much she fidgeted and glanced at the clock. Ichi was torn. It was obvious she wanted to be left alone, but something in his gut was telling him that wasn't such a good idea. His instincts were hardly ever wrong. If he confronted her, he knew she would get mad and push him further away. Ichi needed to stay hidden.
The problem was Mikko was good at hiding too. Ichi had wandered all around the house looking for her. There were only so many rooms inside of the cozy home Teo and Mikko had grown up in. She wasn't in any of them. The only room he hadn't checked yet was her bedroom and he prayed silently that she was there. He had a note to deliver to her, his loving gesture for the day, and he didn't want it to burn a hole in his pocket any longer.
Ichi knocked on the door and waited, rocking back and forth on his heels. No answer came. He tried again, pounding harder on the wooden door in case she hadn't heard him the first time. Still, nothing. Not even a grunt or a shuffle of feet could be heard from the other side.
Frowning, he tested the door handle to see if it was locked. When it moved under his grasp, he entered the room. “Mikko? You in here? Just scream if you're in your underwear or something. I'll leave. I just wanted to see what you were up to. Kind of bored.” And worried.
There was no reply. He stood still to see if she was anywhere nearby, but outside of the quiet chattering of Teo's younger brothers down the hall, there was an eerie silence. Ichi checked her closet and bathroom just to be certain. A pair of shoes was missing from the closet. The only reason he could tell was because her shoe rack was slightly disheveled. Which might not have meant much to anyone else, but the rest of her room was immaculate. Why would her shoes be the slightest bit messy if he couldn't find a wrinkle in her bedspread? The rest of the closet was perfectly organized and he noticed a few empty hangers.
In the bathroom, Ichi did some more snooping. He welcomed the idea of Mikko walking in and catching him in the act. At least then he would know where she was. Upon opening her medicine cabinet, he saw that there was no deodorant or shampoo to be found.
“She left.” He growled under his breath and slammed the cabinet closed. Storming out of the room, he made his way to the study where Teo was busy playing some stupid game on the computer.
“Stop what you're doing, now,” Ichi barked.
Teo rolled his eyes. “I'll be done in three minutes. Patience.”
“Mikko ran away. Stop goofing off and help me.” Maybe if I spell it out for him, he'll understand. Ichi tapped his arms to emphasize the need to hurry.
“She what?” Teo gasped.
“Ran away, okay? And we need to find her before she does something stupid. See if you can pull up any kind of search history. She was using the computer a lot lately.” Ichi would have done it himself, but he didn't know as much about computers. Checking on a computer's backlog was beyond his knowledge.
Teo typed on the computer, his lower lip between his teeth. “She erased everything she was looking at earlier this week. There is a website from a couple of hours ago. Looks like a map search.” He clicked the search field on the screen. “And she didn't clear her data because the address she was looking for is still here. I mean, assuming she was the one who used this site. My dad was here before I got on, but that was an hour ago.”
“It's something. Write it down and the directions. I'm going after her,” Ichi stated. He went to get his shoes and jacket from the entryway, and then to the guest room so he could grab his pack… which was missing. What a sneak! She took all of my stuff! The only things remaining of his were the handful of mementos he was able to save from the house. All of his survival gear and even some clothing was gone. There was a note taped to where his pack had been.
“I need to end this.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Lee was real. Mikko could hardly believe it, yet there he was, sitting in front of her sipping on a cup of tea. He'd touched her skin when he'd guided her to her chair. His hold on her arm was so gentle, she had a hard time processing who he was. After all, this was the same guy who had been taunting her in her dreams and claimed to be The Great Evil. And while it made no logical sense for her to be in the same room as he, she didn't want to leave.
She watched him drink, not daring to take a sip from her own cup. There was no doubt in her mind that she was supposed to be there, but she also knew better than to trust him.
“Not thirsty?” Lee asked, setting his cup down.
“No, but thank you,” she said.
He crossed his legs and smiled at her. “To what do I owe this pleasure? I'm impressed you found me. That's not an easy thing to do.”
“Something tells me you wanted to be found or you wouldn't have kept visiting me in my dreams, begging me to come to you. There wouldn't have been so many clues.” She briefly met his gaze with her own, but had to look away as the depth of his blue eyes was so powerful. It had taken her a couple of weeks to find him. Each dream she’d had with him, he’d left a new letter or number to the address of the apartment she was currently in. Actually, it was more like a penthouse overlooking Terran City.
“I was hoping you'd notice,” he said, his smile widening to a full-on ear-to-ear grin. “You're smart, but I always knew that. I wasn't allowed to give you my location flat out, but dropping little bits and pieces in our night-time adventures was acceptable. Besides, it's a lot more fun this way, don't you think? Just telling you everything would have been so boring.”
She straightened herself in her chair. “I suppose.”
Lee leaned forward. “You still haven't answered my question. To what do I owe this pleasure? Or rather, why are you here?”
“I'm not sure,” she said in a soft voice. “To prove something maybe.”
“To prove that you do in fact have feelings for me?” he asked.
His boldness surprised her and she hugged herself as shivers racked her body. Swallowing, Mikko tugged at the hem of her shirt, suddenly aware of how he liked to roam over her figure with his gaze.
She took in a deep breath before speaking. “I don't have feelings for you.”
“Liar, liar, pants on fire. You sure smell a lot like lust right now.” Lee winked.
Heat filled her entire face. “Attraction is different than a feeling. You're intriguing, but we're enemies, right?”
“And yet I've done nothing bad to you. Unless offering tea is offensive now. I see you still haven't had any.” He pointed to her cup. “It's not poisoned if that's what you're wondering, nor would I drug you. There's no fun in taking advantage of you. If you want to be intimate with me, all you have to do is say so.”
“I don't,” she said firmly. “We aren't wed, for one and—”
He rolled his eyes. “A small, unimportant detail. If two people are soul mates, what's the point of waiting for a piece of paper?”
“It's more than that,” she mumbled. In her heart she knew it was true, but her mind did understand his logic.
“Fine, we'll wait.” He shrugged.
“No, there will never be anything happening between us.”
“Why? Because I'm the 'bad guy'?” Lee waved a hand in front of him. “Do you really think I'm evil? We're sharing tea having a wonderful conversation. I lust for you, but I haven't tried to force myself on you. Wouldn't an evil person be trying to hurt you right now? It's all a misunderstanding and a choice. Much like your situation. I mean, we could be reversed. Did you realize that? I am also a pure dragon, born in the city by the sea, with Oceina and Inero blood mixed into my soul. Who's to say I'm not the pure dragon and you aren't the Great Evil?”
Don't doubt. You know better. She clenched her fists together. “Because you'
ve killed thousands of innocent people.”
He nodded, wincing. “I only wanted to impress you.”
“I'd rather have flowers,” she said coldly.
“Noted.” He reached for her hand. “We've gotten off on the wrong foot, haven't we? Let me make it up to you. I'll cook you some dinner, and we'll talk.”
Mikko shook her head. “I shouldn't stay too much longer.”
Whatever Lee said next, was lost to her. Ghosts appeared in the room with them. One was of a pregnant woman, crying in pain on the floor ten feet away to Mikko's left. The next ghost was a young man not too much older than the woman. He sat next to her and held her hand as she screamed. The final ghost belonged to a middle-aged man in priest’s robes. While the woman and priest looked like they were of the Inero, the young man was clearly of the Oceina. The contrast between the woman and priest's tan skin and dark hair and the young man's blond hair and blue eyes was stunning.
“This will hurt, I hope you realize,” the priest said as he approached the woman with a knife.
The woman cried. “I'm already hurting!”
“It will hurt more.” He raised the knife to her round stomach. Mikko closed her eyes so she didn't have to watch what was coming next. The woman's continuing screams were impossible to drown out.
“Our prince is here,” the young man said. “Our master.”
“Monster,” the woman spat. “The baby is a demon.”
“Oh, Maya, do you honestly think I care? We've known all along what he is. You were the naïve one. The stupid one. You never asked questions, so gullible.” The priest laughed. Mikko opened her eyes and saw him cleaning his blade, making no effort to repair the woman's, Maya's, gut.
The young man took a blood-red egg from the priest. “I'll raise him in our ways.”
“No, Wray, please,” Maya pleaded, tears streaming down her face as she gasped for air and clutched her stomach.
“You won't be alive to stop me.” Wray smirked down at her.
Mikko closed her eyes and shook her head, completely forgetting that she wasn't alone in the room. A loud slurp returned her attention to Lee.
“See anything interesting?” he asked.
Tears pooled in her eyes. “A woman died here.”
“My mother.”
“I'm sorry.”
He snorted. “Don't be. She would have tried to prevent me from coming into my full glory.”
“But she's your mother. She was in so much pain.” Mikko couldn't fathom what she was hearing from his lips. How could he not care?
With a shrug, Lee stood from his seat, taking both of their tea-cups with him as he walked into the kitchen. “If you think that was bad, you should have seen the day I killed my father,” he called out to her. “So many great memories.”
Bile rose to her throat as she listened to him speak. “How can you say you're not evil?”
“Because evil is all in the eye of the beholder,” he said, returning to the living room. He stood behind his chair, holding the back. “You were raised to see my actions as bad. I was raised to think the same thing about everything you do. The truth, however, is that I am doing what I can to protect myself. All I want is you by my side. We could do a lot of amazing things together with your power and mine put together.”
She stood. “You're crazy. I shouldn't have come here.”
“And you didn't have to, but you wanted to see if I was real. Why? Because you can't deny there's chemistry between us! That chemistry is magic. Your magic wants to mingle with mine. We could be the most superior of all dragons!” There was a glimmer in his eyes that scared her more than anything he said.
“Powerful, but filled with corruption and darkness.”
“Welcome to the world. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but the human people want to be bad. Why? Because it's so much more interesting than being good. Think about it. They screw up, they're hurting, but now they have a new goal to strive for. Get out of the problem. When things are good, things are boring and monotonous. What's the point?”
“When things are good, people are happy and thriving!” she countered. “You don't need to be bad to be entertained!”
He shrugged. “Depends on who you ask, I guess. Have you ever tried to do something different than what God wants from you? What makes you so sure He's got all the right ideas to begin with? Who made Him the boss? Don't you think it's kind of selfish for a deity to demand you worship and love Him? It's not fair! From the beginning of time it's been 'God this' and 'God that'. Praise be to the most holy. Blah, blah, blah! What about me?”
Mikko's heart pounded so hard it was almost deafening. I am in a room with the Devil himself. She understood why she had to see Lee. There was no other way for her to realize the truth. She would have succumbed to his charms eventually, and all would have been lost.
Pity filled her heart. “You shouldn't have ever cared about glory or power. Love is enough.”
“You've stayed too long,” Lee sneered. Lunging toward her, he grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground. She barely missed having her head cracked open against the corner of the table. His hands wrapped around her neck and tightened. “You were supposed to die in the hunter attack. I didn't pay them to not succeed at killing you.”
She struggled underneath his grasp. Spots formed in front of her eyes. The only hope she had at defeating him was her magic, and lucky for her, she had his weakness within her. Focusing only on the Terran magic Teo had given to her, she conjured up green fire that engulfed her hands. Desperate, she pressed her hands against Lee's chest. Smoke sizzled off of him as his shirt disintegrated under her touch and she burned his skin. He howled and let go of her. For good measure, she gave him a solid kick to the groin before scrambling away.
A loud thud could be heard against the door. “Mikko, are you in there?” Ichi's voice yelled.
“Stop, don't—” she yelled back. A fireball flew toward her and cut her off before she could finish the thought.
Lee growled. His entire body was covered in magenta fire. It didn't burn his clothes. The only part of his outfit that was missing was the big black mark on his chest she had put there. Instead of his pretty blue eyes, she only saw piercing red pupils glaring back her.
“Nice trick, witch,” he snarled at her. “I didn't know you had Terran within you. Too bad you're still too weak to beat me. That's what happens when you live in the dark.”
The flames around Lee concentrated into one large orb of magenta light that rivaled the sun. She could feel its heat from across the room. Lee released the ball, hurling it at her. The front door to the penthouse was knocked off of its hinges. Before Mikko even realized what was happening, Ichi was covering her body with his own. His face was only inches away from hers. Even though he winced as if in pain, he still wore a smile.
“F-found you,” he said.
Mikko gasped. “You've been burned!”
“I'm okay because you're okay.”
She helped him roll off of her. With a grunt, she was able to lay him on his stomach so she could examine his wounds. No scarring could be found on his body, just a soft pink that was slowly starting to fade back to his normal pale flesh color. She lifted her gaze to see what Lee was up to. He was gone. Ichi passed out.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Pretty sure I got hit by a bus,” Ichi mumbled, rubbing his eyes. When his vision adjusted and was no longer blurry, he noticed he was in an unfamiliar setting. The room reminded him of a hotel, and when he looked out the window, he saw the ocean.
“Hello? Anyone here?” he called out.
Mikko stood in the doorway. “You're awake and actually coherent now.”
“Something like that.” He lay back and groaned. “Where am I? Back in Oceina, at your grandma's?”
“No, we're in Shanrea,” she said, sitting down in a nearby chair.
“Shan-what?” He rubbed his forehead with one of his hands.
She grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. �
�Shanrea. My mother grew up here. We're at the Shanrea Grand Hotel. Five days have passed since your encounter with Lee.”
“Five days!” Ichi's eyes widened and he sat up again. Immediately he regretted it as blood rushed to his head, causing him to see spots and become light-headed. With a gentle hand, Mikko eased him back onto the bed again.
“Yes, five days. We have been here for one. Leaving Terran City was complicated. There's civil unrest in the entire nation. Flying out was near impossible.”
“Why don't I remember any of this? Have I been unconscious this whole time?” He scowled at the idea. The blast of fire hadn't been that bad, had it?
Mikko brushed some of his hair to the side. “You've been… a shell. Your body would awaken, but not your mind. It must have something to do with Lee's dark magic.”
“Who?”
“Lee, the man who was attacking me when you found me at the penthouse.”
That part Ichi remembered. He had gone to the address Teo had found on the computer. When Ichi had heard her scream, he'd broken down the door. There had been pain, a flash of light, and then nothing but darkness. No dreams, nothing. He wouldn't have believed her when she said no time had passed if she hadn't seemed so frightened.
Slowly, he sat up once more. “So the people of Terran are rioting, is that what you're telling me?”
She nodded. “Lee started a war in retaliation. I know he's behind it even though I haven't seen him since the day he attacked — not even in a dream. That worries me. It's good to see you back, so I'm going to focus on that instead.”
“Is everyone okay?” he asked quietly.
“Uncle Tyson is still in Terran. He created a diversion so we could escape. Teo was able to get his fiancée and bring her with us. Correction, they're married now. The whole thing went quickly.” Mikko smiled softly.
Ichi laughed. “We should get married.”
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