The Dragon Master

by Allyson James

  "Lisa is here," the manager said in her low voice. She was a mirror image of Carol, a pale woman as calm as water. Used to be a mirror image, Carol thought darkly. Carol's calm had deserted her and hadn't returned.

  "Lisa?" she repeated.

  Silver dragon, something in Carol hissed. The power of the fire dragon is great, but the silver dragon would be legion.

  Carol gasped and pressed her hands to her head. "No. I can't see her."

  "She's worried about you. You should let her take you home."

  "Tell her to go. Tell her not to come near me."

  The manager looked as though she agreed with the paramedics. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital? You're still in shock. They can give you medication."

  Carol shook her head. "Tell Lisa to send Axel to take me home. Only Axel, no one else."

  The manager looked doubtful, but made her exit. Carol was the boss.

  Carol closed her eyes and tried to still the clanging in her head. She wished she knew where Seth was, but she deliberately halted the music of his name. If he returned now, who knew what she, the Dragon Master, would make him do?

  She pressed her hands to her temples and waited with small patience for Axel to arrive and take her home.

  Seth flew. He shot high above the clouds that had moved in to cover the city, sun dazzling on a blanket of white. He was fire, but his dragon body flickered in and out as he moved over the vast ocean.

  Once upon a time, dragons had been able to easily exist in this world in their dragon form, a fact Seth well knew. But as centuries passed, humans had lost their belief in magic and dragons. Because of this, the universe stuffed dragons into a form humans could handle, dragon natures transforming into a device or tattoo on the dragon's body.

  But occasionally, in private and in the presence of those who believed without doubt, a dragon could form into his true self. Malcolm had told Seth that he and Caleb sometimes flew over the ocean, taking care not to be seen. At least Malcolm took care, the black dragon had added in a dry voice. Caleb was a show-off.

  Seth had the advantage of his fire. He could become flame anytime he wished, not bound by corporeal frames like the black and golden dragons.

  His dragon came alive now, his hide flickering and dancing in the sunlight. Flying here was not as good as slip-sliding through Dragonspace, but it felt wonderful to stretch his wings and glide over the updrafts from the ocean below.

  He felt a slight tug of his true-name bond to Carol, but it had loosened. He was still tethered to her, but she was letting the tether play a long way out. She was giving him a taste of freedom.

  The dragon in him wanted to laugh and simply fly. The human that Seth had become dipped his wing to make him head back to the city. He knew Carol hadn't been physically hurt by the encounter, but he wanted to touch her. hold her, and assure himself that she was all right.

  He soared over the clouds, his dragon form dissolving into a string of fire as San Francisco came into view. There was beauty in the city spreading on the rugged, rocky coastline, the tops of the huge red bridge that led to it poking through the clouds.

  He knew where Carol was without having to search for her aura. She'd gone home.

  His bond pulled him unerringly to the tall, ornate house on Russian Hill, and he became a stream of fire so fine he could fit between the molecules of glass in her window. He landed on his feet in the middle of her living room, his body solidifying with a rush.

  Carol sat on the sofa, her stocking-feet tucked under her, her head on a pillow. Axel stood up when he saw Seth, his usual good-natured grin absent.

  "I got her here, but she's upset," Axel said. "She's not used to death."

  Carol raised her head, her eyes pools of fear. "Seth, don't come near me. Go to Lisa�have her send you back to Dragonspace."

  "You know I can't. Not while you hold me."

  "Why not? I won't call you. I'll leave you alone." Her voice held a note of panic.

  "The bond would hurt me. I'd always be pulled to you, and I'd search for any way to get back to you."

  Her face fell, and she dropped her head back to the pillow. "Seth, I'm so sorry."

  Seth turned to the ever-handy box of clothes and chose another pair of jeans. "I prefer bondage to you than to the other Dragon Master."

  Axel nodded. "Carol is prettier."

  "I agree."

  "It's not funny," Carol said. She reached for a tissue on the table next to her and wiped her eyes. "I felt the thing inside me come alive. I wanted Seth to kill them all�I wanted to command it, like Seth was an attack dog. It was horrible."

  "I wanted to kill him," Seth said pulling on the jeans over his bare legs. "He almost did kill you." He thought of the weapons trained on Carol, the dull explosions as death flew straight at her. "I'm not sorry."

  "I'm not sorry you saved my life either. That's not what I meant."

  Axel broke in. "You were threatened, and the mage inside you responded to the threat. You used the weapon you had most handy, which was Seth."

  "Is that what I do? Use dragons as my personal arsenal?"

  Axel sighed and sat down on the couch. "Carol, sweetie, it's a bitch being a magical creature. You can do powerful things, and you wonder if you have a right to. The fact that you wonder is good. It means you're compassionate and aren't about to destroy the entire city just to prove you can." He paused. "If you do decide to destroy the city, will you leave my favorite deli on Van Ness alone? They have great pastrami."

  "Please stop joking about this. I'm scared."

  "You need me to joke. Isn't that why you asked me to bring you home?"

  "No, I asked because Malcolm is right. If I'm a Dragon Master, that means I control dragons. What if I decide to take over Lisa, Caleb, and Malcolm? What if I want to use them as weapons? What if I get them hurt or killed?"

  "Dragons are pretty tough."

  "Axel."

  Seth folded himself to sit on his heels beside the sofa. He put his hand on Carol's cold fingers. "He's not wrong. Dragons are very strong, and we recover swiftly."

  "So it's all right if I use you? You didn't feel what was inside me. It scares the crap out of me. Because�" She trailed off. swallowing hard.

  Seth stroked her midnight hair, as always loving the satin feel of it. "I'm not unhappy to fight for you."

  Axel watched him with a speculative look in his brown eyes. "Neither am I. And I'm not bound to you, Carol."

  Carol didn't answer. Seth saw that she'd given up arguing, not because she agreed but because she was too tired to make them understand.

  Seth continued to stroke her hair, even leaned his cheek against it. Axel got off the couch, shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather coat.

  "I'll leave you two alone, then."

  Carol sat up swiftly. "I don't think you should go."

  "You need to work things out. I'm not far if you really need me�just call for a Baku, and there I'll be."

  Axel winked, gave a fluttering-finger wave, and vanished. A rush of air filled the space he'd been with an audible pop.

  Carol shivered and lay back down again. "I wish he wouldn't do that."

  Carol buried her face in the couch pillow and tried to shut out the clamor in her head. She heard Seth's music mixed with her own. plus the jangling of the Dragon Master within her. She thought with black humor that she ought to rent a concert hall and give a performance.

  "You shouldn't stay," she said.

  "Yes, I should."

  Seth's warm touch drifted across her skin. It felt so good, so comforting, but the magic in her wouldn't let her enjoy it. The Dragon Master within was whirling in triumph at having caught such a fine specimen of fire dragon.

  "Axel is the only one I can trust myself around," she said. "He's not a dragon."

  "He has a true name, though." Seth's voice was warm and deep. "All living beings do�his is just more unusual."

  "Terrific." The worry bit deeper into her gut. "Maybe none
of my friends are safe from me."

  Seth said nothing. His dragon strength flowed through his thought threads, singing through her aura.

  "It scares me, Seth," she whispered. "I realize now I've always been this way. People thought I was driven and motivated and all those things they say about you when you're an obsessed overachiever, but it was this inside me." She put her hand on her breastbone. "This need to use anyone and anything to succeed. I don't like it."

  Seth slid his hand through her hair again, saying nothing.

  "I was afraid of the Dragon Master when I saw him in that warehouse," she went on. "Now I'm afraid of me."

  Seth still didn't answer, and she knew there were no answers.

  He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his bare, solid chest. The red curls there tickled her cheek, and his heart beat strong beneath her ear.

  "You should hate me," she said. "Maybe deep down inside you do, but you can't tell me."

  "No, Carol. If I hated you, I could make it known in many ways. I'm a dragon, with a dragon's temper. I could make your life hell."

  "You mean it isn't hell already?"

  "Not really. I could fight you, trash your house, terrorize your friends, fly free until you jerked me back. I couldn't hurt you or get away, but I could make sure you hated every minute of having me on a leash."

  "So why don't you?"

  "Because of this."

  He cupped his hands around her face and slanted his mouth across hers. The now familiar spark leapt between them, kicking in her adrenaline and pouring energy back into her body.

  With energy came a hunger. She needed this dragon and his fire, wanted to drag everything he was into her.

  Seth jumped as she bit his bottom lip, then he kissed her back, his lips bruising. She grabbed his wrists, kissing him as she slid off the couch onto him. She used her weight to press him to the carpet, and he didn't fight her as they both went down.

  She remembered her visions of him with chains around his wrists, the sly smile he'd given her over his shoulder. She raised his thick arms above his head, pinning them as she went on kissing him.

  She let go of his wrist only to grab the waistband of his jeans and twist the button open. The zipper went next, and his hardness welled out between the parted fabric.

  Seth's entire body went rigid. Carol felt him shift from a man who'd been indulging her to the dragon that could make her life hell if he wanted. He growled and snared her wrists in a bruising grip.

  She'd never wrestled with a man before. Her lovemaking encounters had all been sedate, two people mutually deciding what tame thing they'd do before they got into bed and did them, no surprises.

  Seth rolled her over onto her back, his weight on top of her, and shoved his knee between her legs. He pinned her arms above her head like she'd done with him, playing, but also deadly serious.

  "Tell me to stop," he said. "You can tell me to do whatever you want, so command me to stop."

  "I don't want you to stop."

  "Be very sure." He leaned to her, his eyes dark, this beautiful, wild creature in her power.

  "I'm sure," she whispered.

  His teeth scraped the skin at the hollow of her throat, then he jerked her shirt open to her waist. Carol tried to reach between them to touch him, but he grabbed her wrists and pinned her hands again. "No."

  She struggled, but he wasn't about to let go. He licked across her cheekbones, tasting her eyelids and the hollows of her temples.

  His hot tongue, rough on her skin, was one of the most erotic things she'd ever felt. She chased his mouth with her own, but he moved quickly, never letting him catch her.

  Down he licked to the valley between her breasts, then he pulled at her bra with his teeth. "Off."

  "You'll have to let me up."

  He rolled away from her. The loss of his weight and warmth was hard to take, but she sat up and tugged off her shirt. She reached around and unhooked her bra, then he pulled it off her before she could.

  She expected him to cup her breasts, maybe lean to suckle them, but he pushed her back to the carpet. He licked her again, not spending any more time on her nipples than the rest of her, then he nudged her to roll over onto her front.

  The carpet prickled her stomach, an odd contrast to his hot tongue flicking over her shoulders and down her spine. He licked to the waistband of her skirt then she felt the buttons loosen and the fabric slide down and off her legs. She wore thigh-high stockings underneath, and Seth spent time wriggling his tongue beneath the lacy elastic bands.

  "Why do you wear so many clothes?" he hissed as he pulled at her panties.

  "So when it's windy I don't give the city of San Francisco a thrill."

  "I want these off."

  Carol started to tell him he'd have to let her up again, but he solved the problem by breaking the waistband elastic and tearing the panties in half. Elastic still gripped her thighs, but Seth spread her legs, the panties no longer hampering him.

  He lowered his weight on top of her. His jeans were gone, and nothing lay between his hardness and the flesh of her buttocks.

  "Seth," she said, curling her hands into the carpet.

  He parted her folds, which were scalding and wet, and next she felt the huge blunt tip of him slide inside.

  "I can't," she whimpered.

  "Command me to stop." His hand was heavy on her back, then his teeth grazed her ear. "Make me do what you will."

  She went silent, pressing her lips together to stem her words. She knew damn well she wanted him to take her, hard, right there on her ultra-expensive Oriental carpet.

  He must have decided her silence was a go-ahead, because he nipped her ear again and pressed himself fully inside her.

  Carol heard the music swell at the same time he slid all the way in, spreading her. He was so big, and in this position, every inch of him pushed at her.

  When he began to pump, she closed her eyes, trying to find the control that had dominated her life. Seth's fire was destroying it, breaking her control into a million glittering pieces that flickered away before she could catch them.

  She found herself screaming incoherently into the carpet. Seth balled his fists next to her and drove into her in silence.

  Carol felt like she was coming apart, but Seth didn't stop. He rode her fast, driving into her so furiously that her body inched across the floor. He pressed one hand on her back to steady her.

  "Do you like me doing this?" he growled. "Do you want to command me to do more?"

  "Seth, I can't�" She trailed off as climax built up in her, and she shouted, twisting on his hard piston of a cock.

  The room began to shake. Seth gasped a breath as his own climax hit him, then his seed shot into her, scalding her as much as his fire.

  He fell down on her, breathing hard, as the cupboards in her kitchen started to rattle. Plaster trickled from the ceiling in a fine rain, sticking to Seth's wet skin.

  It took a moment for Carol to realize that the rolling and shaking of the room had nothing to do with them. She tried to sit up, but Seth was still inside her, his body pinning her.

  "Earthquake," she said, and he nodded. Seth had her on her feet in a heartbeat and began pushing her toward the front door.

  "No." She grabbed him and towed him to the doorway of the bedroom. "We stand here."

  Seth was naked, sweating, his penis still thick and heavy. Carol held onto the door frame, facing him in black thigh-high stockings and nothing else. She started to laugh.

  "What is funny?" he asked.

  "If we're buried and they find us like this, they'll know what a racy life Carol Juan really had."

  "We won't die here," Seth said with conviction.

  "You can turn into fire and fly away. Why don't you?"

  His stare burned. "If I go, you go."

  The building gave an extra hard shake. Across the room, her heavy bookcase teetered forward and crashed to the floor. The cupboards in the kitchen jerked open, spilling t
heir contents.

  And then it was over. Outside, car alarms were going off, people were shouting, calling to each other, and sirens began to wail.

  Inside the apartment, all was stillness. Carol laid her head on Seth's chest and exhaled in relief.

  The Dragon Master turned in his tight prison as the earthquake stopped, but the thick magical walls still held.

  He'd thought this time it would crack for certain, but the rolling ceased and the glass remained unbroken.

  The incubi were dead, though, beams from the ceiling having fallen on the three that guarded him. They had disintegrated into a pool of green ooze, which stank even through the thick glass wall.

  The human called Danny Lok was dead, too, killed by Carol and her fire dragon. One of the human hirelings had returned to tell the Order what had happened. He'd stood in front of Sying's column, his olive face covered in sweat, his dark eyes wide, and told them of the fire.

  Idiots. The fire dragon's power wasn't simply flame�any dragon had the power to burn. Seth hadn't used a tenth of his power; the weak human Lok had died of fright and frailness.

  It hurt Sying that Seth's exquisite power had been denied him, but at the same time he felt a frisson of pride. Carol Juan was his descendent, after all.

  The Order had killed Carol's mother before she'd been properly trained. That was a shame. Lian Juan had been a woman of much potential, and she could have taught Carol the ways of her power.

  The fire dragon was a weapon that the Dragon Master had wielded before, and he longed to wield it again. If he could fuse with him, he could escape his prison, destroy the evil, and keep it from the hands of the Order.

  But Carol controlled the fire dragon instead, and Sying couldn't reach her. The frustration of that was bitterness in his mouth.

  The fire dragon's power would consume her. She needed him, Sying, to help her. He had to make her understand that.

  Come to me, he whispered, searching for the fire dragon with his thought threads. Bring Carol with you, and we will slay our enemies together.

  His call reached nothing.

  The Dragon Master sighed and drew his hand away from the glasslike wall. The Order would succeed in destroying Carol and the fire dragon together, and if that happened, there would be no hope for Sying.