Where Rob had touched my elbow, his sweat had soaked through my shirt. Unlike the rest of my arm, which was reddened from exposure to the heat, the skin he had touched remained unblemished. I glanced around, but saw no sign of the dae. The thought of him boiled my blood.
Despite my irritation with him, I spent a long time staring at my elbow, wondering what was going on and why Rob, who had invaded my apartment and kept showing up at the absolute worst time, didn’t make me break out in rashes or hives when he touched me.
Narrowing my eyes, I considered whether or not I could capture him, study him, and find a cure for my affliction.
If he was going to be underfoot and in my way, at least he could be useful.
I grimaced at the fire-scorched ground, which reminded me that no matter how much he annoyed me, he had prevented me from sharing Claudia’s fate. I’d choke on it, but the next time I saw him, I’d thank him—and make certain he was fully aware I was not his property and would never be his property.
I had survived living in the fringe without completely selling myself, and I had no intentions of changing that now. Maybe Kenneth had enough blackmail material on me to force me to help him, maybe he interfered too much with my goals, but I fully intended to break free of his hold on me, even if I had to put a bullet in his head to accomplish it.
So far, he hadn’t asked me to do something I wasn’t willing to do, and until that day came, he’d probably keep toying with me, seeing how far he could push me for the fun of it. When he found out his precious list had burned with Claudia, he was going to be annoyed.
Why did all of the men in my life have to be so damned insufferable? Was it really too much to ask to meet someone nice for a change? It didn’t help I couldn’t touch anyone. Every time I was interested in someone, reality hit hard.
How could I explain I was so defective I couldn’t actually tolerate touching them? I came across as standoffish and distant, and would-be friends slid away to cautious acquaintances.
Rob was no different; elite didn’t become friends with people like me. At least he was honest enough in his view. To him, I really was nothing more than property.
By the time the police ushered in the next wave of hopefuls, my mood had bottomed out. In a numb daze, I dutifully recorded information and sent disappointed dae on their way.
Likely frightened by Claudia’s fate, the first two batches didn’t have a single fire-breather. Shifters once again proved common, with werewolves topping the list. Cats came a close second, and I had a feeling there would be a lot of half-breeds running around in short order if the posturing in line was an indication. I did my best to ignore the too-obvious flirting going on.
It wasn’t their fault I couldn’t play their game.
The sun was dangerously low to the horizon when the police halted the stream of dae. Relieved I hadn’t had to condemn anyone else to the elite, I packed up the laptop, and bracing for the worst, I marched to the dean’s office.
The main administration building was all but deserted. I tapped on the dean’s door and was relieved when the man answered. I let myself in, fixed my stare on the floor, and approached his desk.
“Set it there,” the dean ordered, and I glanced up in time to watch him gesture at the edge of his desk. “I heard there was some excitement.”
I set the replacement laptop on his desk, clasped my hands behind my back, and took several deep breaths so I could keep my voice even, quiet, and appropriately respectful. If I made a bad impression on the dean now, I’d really be in a lot of trouble. He had the power to eject me from the college without a chance for repeal. “Yes, sir. Fire-breathers seem to have some difficulty controlling their abilities.”
What did the dae call their powers? My ignorance once again bothered me, and the only helpful dae I knew specialized in cleaning floors and cabinetry. Colby’s limited vocabulary didn’t help matters any, either.
The dean laughed. “Abilities. How politically correct. Still, it’s as good a term as any. It’ll do. Yes, fire-breathers do have rather volatile skills, don’t they? I was told of the one death. Were there any other incidents?”
“Minor ones, sir,” I replied.
“Define minor.”
“A singe here and there. Overenthusiastic fire-breathers lack control.”
“I noticed you only sent those with controlled skills over. Was there a reason for this?”
I hadn’t just sent those with controlled skills, but correcting the dean wouldn’t do me any good. I took a moment to consider how best to explain my decisions on who to send to him. “Yes, sir. I made the assumption that those who would be elevated to elite status would need to possess immediate, usable abilities. Fire-breathers who can’t control their skills, sir, are more of a danger to those around them than an advantage on any sort of team, especially within military and police forces. Without a full disclosure on the types of skills possessed by the dae, it was a best-guess situation, sir.”
The dean drummed his fingers against his desk. “Interesting. Were military and police use your primary motivation?”
“Until we have a better idea of the rarity of certain dae skills, sir, it’s very difficult to determine what is—or isn’t—a useful ability.” I wanted to grab the laptop and smash it over the dean’s head, but I forced myself to stay still. Getting annoyed with his questions wouldn’t help me. There was a decent enough chance he wasn’t even criticizing me, although I couldn’t tell for sure.
“How do you plan on determining the usefulness of abilities?”
The dean’s question was a trap; if I answered just right, I’d emerge unscathed—probably. If I didn’t, I’d sour my chances of being able to work with him and keep him happy. Sucking up to the elite sometimes paid off, but as often as not, they didn’t want the peons and minions wasting their time.
Instead of answering immediately, I considered the question. The rushed answer was to analyze the data I had gathered today, isolating the most common abilities, and removing them from the equation. However, the rules had all changed. Before the dae had shown up, protestors had made a lot of noise without being much of an actual threat. With a sudden surge of people who could light things on fire by breathing on them, any protest could turn into a lethal one.
Abilities capable of preventing destruction or loss of life seemed a lot more useful to me than human torches.
Saying so without insulting the dean would be the challenging part. “With the high number of fire-breathers, sir, useful abilities would inclose those capable of countering flame. Strong fire-breathers have their uses in military and police roles, but considering how dangerous they can be, they can cause more harm than good. Those capable of limiting the damage caused by more dangerous dae should prove more useful in the long term. Those with uncontrolled abilities run the risk of killing themselves, as we’ve seen today. I made my selections based on how they might be able to help now while still remaining useful in the future.”
Talking so casually about someone’s death left a sour taste in my mouth, but I couldn’t do anything to change what had happened. Claudia had made a choice to show off. It wasn’t my fault she had burned.
The guilt I would carry involved those I had sent to the dean. Maybe they’d become elite, but I had my doubts on whether their elevation would be a good thing—for them. They’d be tools of the government, and they went hoping for a better future for themselves.
If I had a dae, I’d probably be just like them, too. But I didn’t. They’d be elite, but at what cost? What would they have to do to earn their place in the uppermost caste?
“You’re smart, Miss Daegberht. I like that. Since you seem to have a reasonable grasp of what we are looking for, take the laptop with you. I will have some files sent to you through your student account. Turn them into something useful and use it for the interviews tomorrow. I’m expecting good things from you. Dismissed.”
The sun had sunk below the horizon by the time I escaped the dean’s offic
e. A pair of police officers, both werewolves in their bipedal wolf forms, stood guard outside the double doors of the administration building. They took one look at me and moved to stop me.
“You will need an escort,” one snarled at me, showing off all his teeth. At least, I thought it was a he—I still hadn’t been able to figure out how to distinguish male and female werewolves, or if they even had genders in their transformed state.
“The dean had some questions. I’m sorry to bother you,” I replied.
“Doesn’t he always?” the cop complained, shaking his head. “Where do you live, Miss?”
“Off-campus housing. It’s across the street from the gates.”
“I’ll take you myself, then. That’s a short enough hop. Hold down the fort, Misha,” he growled out, jumping to the ground rather than taking the steps. I followed at a sane pace, wondering how many bones I would break if I attempted to skip all twenty of the stone steps.
Probably all of them, considering how my day was going so far.
“Consider the fort held,” my escort’s partner replied, snuffling. It took me a moment to realize the werewolf was laughing.
Werewolves moved fast; I took three steps for every one of my escort’s, and by the time we reached my apartment building, I was bathed in sweat and ready to call it quits. The cop waited long enough for me to get inside before he darted across the street, jumping over a car rather than waiting for it to pass.
Being a normal, ordinary human in a world full of monsters sucked. Were there any other regular people left? The President’s speech led me to believe so, although I wondered how long we’d survive.
Not all dae would be like the vampire tattoo artist, who had a vested interest in not killing his clients—and fellow black market runners. I had heard his warnings loud and clear, and after what had happened to Claudia, there was definitely something to his warning about human-seeming dae being among the more dangerous.
I liked living, and I had worked too hard escaping the lowest castes to get eaten by a monster. I trudged up the steps to my floor. Despite everything, I was better off than I had been before the dae showed up. I had a refrigerator full of food, enough cash in my pocket to last a few weeks, and I hadn’t gotten fired by the dean on my first day.
I unlocked my door, stifling a yawn as I stumbled into my apartment.
The unicorn was back, standing in my kitchen and snorting at Colby. I had no idea one word could convey so much, but Colby was discussing something with the other dae. The unicorn seemed interested enough in my macaroni and cheese’s dialogue.
I sighed, closed the door behind me, and headed for the living room, coming to a halt two steps later.
A man with webbed wings, feathers instead of hair, and a spade tail lounged on my couch feeding grapes to a dragon perched on his knee. Clear and golden jewels decorated the dragon’s hide. It stared at the grape held just out of its reach, its tail lashing back and forth.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I closed my eyes and sighed. “Unicorn, check. Macaroni and cheese, check. Naked, winged man on my couch, check. Dragon, check. Am I missing anything?”
“Mommy!” Colby squealed, and several seconds later, something a little wet and rather squishy collided with my shins.
“Hello, Colby. Would you care to explain what, exactly, is going on here?”
“Mommy,” was the solemn reply. I’m sure a wealth of knowledge lurked in his single word speech, but it was beyond my understanding.
Too tired to argue, I decided it didn’t matter what was going on—or why. I was probably better off not knowing. I opened my eyes and turned my attention to the dragon on my other guest’s knee so I wouldn’t get too good a look at what I was missing. “Please tell me there is no one in my bedroom.”
The dragon stood up on its hind legs, fanned its wings, and chirped, “But lying is unbecoming, Miss Daegberht.”
Great, my unexpected guests knew my name. “My bathroom?”
I was whining. I heard it in my voice, but I was powerless to stop the way my voice wavered. Tears burned in my eyes. If I couldn’t go into my bedroom because of unwanted guests, I at least wanted to take an undisturbed bath.
“Oh, yes indeed, Miss Daegberht. It would be rude to occupy your bathroom right after you have come home from work. Very discourteous of us.” The dragon stretched out its neck and shook itself like a dog. “Please do enjoy your bath, Miss. Do take your time, as it will be an hour or so before dinner is served, I’m afraid.”
It was rude to take over my bathroom but not my bedroom? I counted to ten, and when the urge to hit something didn’t fade, I counted to ten again.
I did so several more times before I could speak without snapping and snarling like a werewolf. “I see. Thank you.”
Maybe they were uninvited guests, but I would be polite.
It was much safer to have good manners when my guests could probably kill me without putting too much thought into it. For a long moment, I considered turning around and braving Baltimore after curfew. Could the city at night really be more dangerous than my apartment and its out-of-control, dae-spewing refrigerator?
I had my doubts, but instead of screaming my frustration like I wanted, I retreated to the relative safety of my bathroom.
Chapter Nine
With the help of the medications prescribed to treat my assortment of burns, I felt almost human by the time I finished soaking. I was tempted to stay in the cool water longer, but I had turned into a living prune, which aggravated my already raw skin. Hiding in the bathroom wasn’t going to make my problems go away. I was no closer to figuring out what to do about my uninvited guests, but I’d deal with the problem one way or another.
Maybe if I politely told them to get out, they’d listen.
Dressing in my smoky, soot-stained clothes didn’t thrill me, but I did it anyway. I wasn’t about to leave the bathroom wearing nothing more than a towel. Careful to avoid staring at my reddened face in the mirror, I gathered my composure, reminded myself violence didn’t solve all that many problems, and left the relative safety of my bathroom.
The vampiric tattoo artist was wrestling on the floor with the still very naked man with bat-like wings and his spade tail. The vampire was nice enough looking, but his competition, with a sheen of sweat on his dusky, nude skin, was worth staring at, so I did, my eyes wide.
Heaven and hell rolled around on my carpet, and my frustration was overwhelming as I wondered what I was missing—and weighed the risks of finding out. My face burned, and I spun around before I did something I’d regret—like get anywhere near two sweaty men with sinfully pretty bodies.
My life simply wasn’t fair.
“Really, you two are being quite rude to our hostess. Do put an end to that nonsense before you damage something—or embarrass her any further,” the dragon scolded, and from the sound of its voice, it was in the kitchen.
With the way my day was going, it was probably romping with my macaroni and cheese and the unicorn. There was only one good thing about my situation: neither Rob nor Kenneth were around to witness the insanity.
Kenneth would find some way to use it against me. Rob would probably try to push his absurd claim he owned me. Of the two, I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to avoid more. Kenneth brought a lot more problems with him, but he was a familiar, comfortable annoyance.
While Rob hadn’t actually done harm to me or put my livelihood at risk, when he showed up, things got dangerous. It was a miracle I still had my hair after my close brush with Claudia, and I had no idea what would have happened if Rob hadn’t decided to snap the neck of the pink-winged werewolf.
I decided both were trouble, and a smart woman avoided trouble whenever possible. Making Kenneth’s sort of trouble go away was simple enough, if I could pull it off. All I had to do was recover his money and find his drugs. Terry Moore was dead, but I could sniff out his past with a bit of work.
There was something calming about planning for the future and
taking steps to protect myself. I drew a deep breath, held it until my lungs burned, and slowly let it out. Escaping Kenneth’s clutches was the first step to finding my place in the world.
The strange dae making themselves at home in my apartment were merely an inconvenience. I dealt with those all the time. That two of them were naked and attractive made no difference in the grand scheme of things.
Inconveniences were dealt with, filed away as bad memories, and ignored whenever possible.
“If you’re going to be guests in my apartment, please wear clothes,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. While my skin was still too tight and sore from so much exposure to heat, I no longer felt like an overcooked roast. If I saw the cops who had recommended the cream—and made sure I got it on the government’s dime—I would have to thank them.
The stuff really worked.
“Mommy!” While Colby’s vocabulary was limited, I had no trouble recognizing the laughter in its voice.
“Clothes, please,” I said, and I was quite proud of my even tone. I was torn between laughter and tears at the absurd ruins of my life. Why couldn’t I, for just a few minutes, be like a normal woman?
Lily could—and would—have joined both men on the floor without a second thought. I didn’t want to be jealous of her, but I couldn’t help it.
She could have anyone, and if the unblemished skin of my elbow was any indication, the only man I could touch without consequence thought I was a piece of property.
“Yes, please do put your clothes on, you inconsiderate louts. This is not your home. Go play with each other in private. I certainly do not wish to see you two like that. I apologize for them, Miss Daegberht. Youth these days. They simply do not know their manners, do they?”
“Not at all,” I agreed. Did I count as a youth to a dragon? It probably didn’t matter, since they had invaded my apartment. “Are you planning to return to your own homes tonight, or will I need to make sleeping arrangements for you?”
The Dawn of Dae (Dae Portals Book 1) Page 9
