Something detached in her wondered why the other Dragon Master had called a fire dragon specifically�not a golden, a black, or whatever other colors were out there. Of all the dragons in Dragonspace, and the three dragons already in this world, he'd called Seth. Why?
Carol looked pleadingly at Seth. "Help me."
He hesitated a long time. The power in her urged her to snatch him to her�he'd have to obey without question. Carol banished the thoughts with effort.
Seth walked quietly to her and took her hand. His touch was warm against the chill and for a moment she clung to him and enjoyed it.
They left the warehouse together, Seth silent as they went to the car. He helped Carol in, then climbed into the passenger seat, still not speaking.
Seth laid his hand on her knee as she drove back to the street, his touch comforting. But Carol couldn't relax and let him soothe her, because she had no idea whether he touched her because he sensed her distress or because he'd been compelled to through the bond of his true name.
* * *
Chapter Seven
Carol went to bed when they reached her apartment but Seth knew she didn't sleep. She hadn't spoken on the drive home, and now she lay alone in the bedroom, her breathing light and shallow, wide awake.
Seth stood at the window in the living room, watching the street outside. He saw nothing but humans of the city walking briskly home in the dark, a small group of them laughing and talking as they made their way up the hill. Vehicles bright with lights swept up and down the street, becoming fewer as the night wore on.
The Dragon Master he'd seen in the shimmering column puzzled and worried him. The man who'd called him long ago should have been dead and dust by now, but the voice had been similar, though not the same. The old Dragon Master had been cruel, but he'd been human, not tainted with other-worldly evil as the being in the column had been.
Seth thought about what had happened all those years ago. The Order had wanted the Dragon Master to call forth their demon-god so they could beg him for more power. The Dragon Master refused. The Order put pressure on the emperor, who in turn commanded the Dragon Master.
The Dragon Master had used Seth and four other dragons to release the demon, in a horrific scene that Seth had never forgotten. The sticky threads from the column gave him a similar chill, stirring old memories.
The Dragon Master had then turned on the Order and either killed or banished the god once it came forth. How he'd done it, Seth still wasn't sure. The Dragon Master must have used Seth's fire, but it was all a strange blur.
He only knew that suddenly he'd felt the bonds of his true name lift and disappear. He'd groped along the threads, bewildered, but he'd found the gossamer strands of the Dragon Master snapped and withered.
The only explanation for that was that the Dragon Master had died.
Seth hadn't waited around to ask questions. He'd felt the pull of Dragonspace, his fire had created a door in the thin way between the worlds, and he'd gone.
He'd later mildly wondered if the other dragons had escaped, and he assumed they had. He hadn't much cared�he'd been a young dragon then and the only thing that mattered to him was to make certain his territory hadn't been taken over.
Now Seth wondered about the fate of those dragons, whether they were happily sunning themselves in Dragon-space or had died at a dignified old age or had remained trapped in the human world.
Back then, the walls between the worlds had been thin, and he'd been able to exist as a dragon here. Now the fiber between the universes was thick, and this world didn't want to see him in dragon shape. He imagined the reason he could still turn to fire was because shooting fire could be explained as long as no one looked too closely.
But this summoning and binding was different, and not only because of the passing of time. Carol's touch, her music, the look in her eyes was completely different from that of Sying, the middle-aged Chinese man who'd made Seth feel every moment of his slavery.
Carol had loved Dragonspace. He'd felt in their connecting threads her dart of joy when he'd flown with her over his home.
He tried to tell himself it was all illusion. Carol had proved she could tighten the bond whenever she chose. It was dangerous to trust her, and yet he craved her every moment.
Seth had never touched another being in his life. Even when he'd been here before, he'd allowed no one to touch his hide and he'd stayed as far away from humans and the other dragons as possible. It was what dragons did.
Now that he'd touched Carol he didn't want to stop. He couldn't believe that human body temperature could be so warm. His own fire could flare to incandescent, but it was nothing to the warmth of Carol's hand on his cheek.
He liked her smell, her taste, the smoothness of her skin. He wanted to lie against her and savor the feeling of her along his body.
He had no way of knowing whether these needs were true or part of his enslavement. The doubt made him hesitate to trust himself.
Her plea for help in the warehouse had nearly killed him. He'd wanted to scoop her up and carry her to Dragonspace where he'd curl around her and protect her forever.
As it was, all he could do was hold her hand until she felt calm enough to drive home, and then stand here in her window like a guardian while she finally slid into sleep in the other room.
Seth saw something that wasn't quite human move in the darkness. It came stealthily but purposefully up the sidewalk, then entered the house through the door below.
He recognized the demonlike aura and opened the door of the apartment, waiting as Axel climbed the stairs.
"Everything all right?" Axel whispered as he entered. "Carol sleeping snug?"
"She is now," Seth answered in a low voice. He closed the door. "It took her a long time."
"Poor kid. Her grandmother expects her to bear up, doesn't remember that Carol is still so young."
"Carol is stronger than anyone understands," Seth said. "Even herself."
Axel moved to the kitchen and opened Carol's refrigerator. "What about you? I'm a creature of the night, but dragons have to sleep sometime."
"I don't seem to need to yet."
"You're still adapting. How's that going?" He rummaged through the refrigerator. "Huh. No beer."
Seth leaned against the counter as Axel turned to explore the cupboards. "The black dragon showed me much of the city."
"Well, Malcolm knows all about the human world. He was stuck here for eight hundred years. Witches bound him to get their revenge. Poor guy."
"Now his mate is a witch." Seth observed. "And he lives here by choice."
"One of life's little ironies." Axel peered into the open cupboard. "You know, she has nothing to drink but tea, water, and white wine. How does she live like this?"
Axel started to explore another cupboard, but Seth closed his hand on Axel's shoulder. "Don't."
"Hmm? Oh." Axel's smile flashed, revealing pointed teeth. "I like you being so protective. Makes my job easier." He opened the refrigerator and quickly extracted a bottle of water.
"What is your job?"
"To make sure we don't have to protect her from you."
Axel gave him a pointed look and wandered back into the living room. He planted himself on the sofa and crossed his booted feet on the coffee table. In his leather jacket, jeans, and motorcycle boots, he looked much like the young men in a Japanese gang Malcolm had pointed out to Seth last night. The only thing that set Axel apart was that he didn't have the same young anger and arrogance in his eyes.
"I'd never hurt her," Seth said.
He remembered that he already had hurt Carol, had bruised her arm when he'd clasped it the first night. But he'd not understood then how much physically stronger he was than she.
"Yes, well, Carol's pretty special," Axel said. "She has a brain, and she doesn't understand all this paranormal stuff. If her grandmother had prepared her from childhood, she'd have been ready to step into her power, instead of having it blindside her."
Seth agr
eed with Axel, but he also understood Ming Ue's fear of seeing grief in Carol's eyes. "The old woman was trying to shelter her."
"I know." Axel guzzled some water and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Something I wanted to ask you about dragons. I know that goldens are warriors, so I can understand why a mage would want to capture one. Black dragons have intelligence that would put anyone in Mensa to shame. But what do fire dragons do? You can change into flame�very interesting, but what advantage does that give a mage?"
Seth knew exactly what a fire dragon could do for a mage or a Dragon Master. Carol didn't know, and he sensed that Ming Ue, for all her knowledge of dragons, didn't know either.
"We have great magical ability," he said.
"I figured that. What kind of magical ability?"
"Nothing I can explain."
Axel's dark eyes narrowed. "But a mage who enslaved a fire dragon would have a huge advantage?"
"Yes."
"And that's all you're going to tell me?"
"That's all." When Carol was ready, she would know, and then Seth would truly be in her power. Either that, or the power of the fire dragon would kill her.
Inside the bedroom. Carol's breathing changed. He felt the shift in the threads swirling in his brain, the shimmer of them dimming.
"She's dreaming," he said.
"I'm staying put then." Axel leaned back. "Incubi slide in on dreams."
Seth nodded. He was so wrapped up in Carol, he'd feel if any incubi tried to reach her through her dreams, and he'd be ready. He almost wished they would come so he could have the joy of killing one. Demon bones crunched so satisfactorily.
Carol dreamed of boulders. She drove along a stretch of highway, skirting a high dark cliff. She passed a yellow watch for rocks sign and glanced up at the metal mesh that covered the naked side of the hill.
She'd been driving this road for years and had never seen so much as a pebble come tumbling from above. But tonight the slice of her BMW's headlights caught a trickle of gravel and then several boulders flew down toward the car.
Carol shrieked and swerved, plunging the car into the ditch on the other side of the road. Beyond the ditch, the hill dropped into a canyon, dark, silent, and deep.
Damn. She'd just had the car serviced and the tires replaced�there went that hard-earned money. She pulled out her cell phone to call roadside service.
"Carol, there are more."
Carol turned her head and froze. Her mother sat in the seat next to her, her face young and smooth, like the pictures Carol had of her propped on the dresser. Lian Juan had been Carol's age, twenty-eight, when she'd died.
"Mama?"
Carol had dreamed of her mother before, but usually in remote, vague visions. In the dreams her mother was always far away and waving, or waiting for Carol somewhere, like at a BART station or on the deck of a ferry. Carol would run to meet her, but by the time she reached the spot her mother would be gone.
She'd never had such a vivid dream of her mother. Lian wore a white shirt, the seat belt a black slash across it. She gave Carol a scared look from her almond-shaped eyes.
"More are coming, Carol. You must drive away. Hurry."
"The car's stuck."
"Hurry. Please."
Tears wet her mother's face, and Carol reached out and touched them.
She jerked away in shock. Instead of an insubstantial dream she felt warm flesh, the damp of tears, her mother's breath on her fingers.
"Mama." She sobbed the word. Carol yanked off her own seat belt and flung her arms around her mother. "Mama, I miss you so much."
Lian held her close, and Carol heard the steady beat of the other woman's heart. "More boulders are coming, Carol. You have to stop them."
"How can I stop them?"
"You have to get out of the car and do it."
Carol held her mother harder. Not even in dreams had she been able to feel the warmth of her mother's body, to hear the voice she so faintly remembered from childhood.
"Please, Mama, stay with me."
Her mother gasped as a boulder struck the hood of the car. "Carol, hurry!"
Carol dashed tears from her eyes and saw a huge pile of boulders at the top of the hill poised to fall on them. Moonlight gleamed on their surfaces, making them almost glow.
Carol wondered why she dreamed this. Was she reliving the car accident? She'd never known exactly what happened, only that she and her parents had been driving back to San Francisco from Monterey. She couldn't remember any of it, and Ming Ue had never told her the specifics of the crash.
Had they been on this dark stretch of highway with boulders raining down from above? Had the Order of the Black Lotus decided this was how her mother the Dragon Master would meet her death?
Not this time. Carol slammed open the car door and got out, her high-heeled shoes sinking into mud. She kicked off the shoes and climbed stocking-footed out of the ditch onto the road.
From inside the car, her mother watched worriedly as Carol raised her hands toward the boulders. "Stop," Carol told them.
As if on cue, the rocks started to fall. Carol flattened her palms, and the first boulder bounced away as though hitting a hidden shield.
The next boulder did the same, and the next, each flying clear to plummet into the canyon below. Carol felt the strain in her wrists and arms, the jolt as they smashed against the shield.
The boulders came faster, two and three at a time. Sweat trickled down Carol's back, and her arms began to shake.
The rocks were black and jagged, like the hillside, crumbling and breaking as they struck Carol's shield. Debris rained on her face, cutting her flesh, but she braced her feet apart and held her hands firmly.
Triumph surged inside her as each bolder deflected away. This time her mother wouldn't die. This time they would survive and go home to Ming Ue's, and her grandmother would cry to see Lian safe and sound again.
The boulders came faster, harder, each one larger than the last. Carol's hands were raw, her shoulders aching.
"Stop them, Carol," her mother shouted from the car. "'Stop them."
Tears flowed down Carol's face to mix with the blood. There were too many, and they came too fast. They poured over her, rolling past to land on the car.
"No," she screamed.
Dirt rained on her face and blinded her. She heard rocks hitting the car, the hood, the trunk, the roof. Glass crumpled with a tearing sound, and her mother cried out.
Carol swung back to the car. She grabbed the door handle to pull her mother out, but the door frame was bent and the door wouldn't budge.
Her mother banged on the window, screaming, blood streaming down her face.
"Mama," Carol shrieked. "No, don't leave me again."
She pulled on the door, and Lian pounded on it from the inside. But the glass wouldn't break, and the boulders kept falling. Her mother was being slowly crushed.
Carol screamed mindless words, beating and beating on the glass. She felt a darkness well up around her, heard laughter, and a whisper: Come to me.
Beyond the car, not affected by the boulders, stood a tall man with white hair. He was naked, his hair a ghostly white, with tiny white feathers at his hairline. Leathery wings rose from his shoulder blades and whispered in the night along with his voice. Follow me, and I will make your dreams come true.
"Mama," Carol screamed once more, clawing the window. Inside, her mother went still, her white face streaked with blood.
"No," Carol moaned. She balled her fists and banged on the car roof, her hands hurting and bleeding. She screamed once more, loud and long, and found herself beating her pillows in her lamplit bedroom safe in her apartment.
Strong hands closed on her arms, and she instinctively fought them.
"Carol." Music slid around her. She smelled wind and the night, and she turned to find herself against Seth's hard body.
She held onto him, breathing the scent of musk, wind, and the fabric softener from his T-shirt. He rubbed
his hand along her back, fingers strong through her nightgown. She felt his lips in her hair, but she didn't close her eyes to enjoy it. She'd had enough of darkness.
Across the room, someone softly belched.
Carol jerked from Seth to see Axel grab something dark out of the air and raise it to his lips.
"Ah?." He wiped his mouth, then turned around and grinned at Carol. "I love a good nightmare."
The fuzziness cleared from Carol's brain, and she realized she was sitting in bed in a torn nightgown with two men in her bedroom. She hoisted a blanket to her chin and glared shakily over it at Axel. "What are you doing here?"
"Eating your nightmare."
"What?"
"I'm a Baku. A Japanese god who eats nightmares." Axel shook his head in mock disbelief. "Didn't your grandmother teach you anything?"
"Sorry, it never came up."
Axel chuckled. "My work here is done. I'll leave you two kids in peace."
He waved once, politely keeping his eyes averted, and disappeared with a pop. Carol gaped in shock, but there had been so many shocks today that Axel vanishing into thin air was a lesser wonder.
"I felt the incubus come," Seth was saying, his voice low in her ear.
"The white-haired thing with wings?" Carol drew a breath, but the horror and grief of the nightmare had dissipated. Axel's antics, whatever he claimed, seemed to have drained the dream of its power.
"I saw my mother die again," she whispered. The immediacy of the shock had receded, leaving her with profound sadness. "I don't know if that's what happened when I was a little girl, or if the boulders were metaphors for things I've had to face."
"Or the other Dragon Master trying to wear you down." Seth stroked her hair. "Even kill you."
"It was only a dream."
"Someone sent the incubus to take you. He could have sent the dream as well."
Carol's heart gave a throb of fear. "Is that possible?"
"Axel destroyed the dream and left wards to guard against others. The Dragon Master can't try again, not here."
Carol glanced at the window and saw a silver mark just above the window frame. Others lingered above the bed and the door. Burned over these were marks of red fire surrounded by black. They weren't really on the wall, she somehow understood, but she could sense the marks pulsing with power.
The Dragon Master Page 8
