Seth next.
Because she already had his name infused in her thoughts, she barely had to reach for him. She sang one note, and his fire flowed around her like molten wire.
He was searching for the Dragon Master. She sensed Saba through him, the witch's purple aura hovering in the background. Malcolm wasn't with them. He'd been far, far away, in Dragonspace.
Carol. Seth's word was a whisper, almost tender.
Have you found him? she asked.
Not yet.
Carol drew the threads of his name out like a song, loving every pitch, every nuance. She studied what she held, and then as she had with Caleb and Malcolm, tried to let it go.
She turned over the tiles, but instead of the blank ivory backs, she found the red dragon etched there, too. Before she could stop it the name tightened around Seth and began to pull.
He resisted. The Dragon Master in her laughed and pulled harder.
She felt Seth come to her, the fire between them like a tightrope. His outline appeared in the curtains of the doorway, his face dark with rage.
"Not yet," he growled.
Come to me. Carol pulled at him, and he drifted across the floor until he solidified beside her. Zhen and Ming Ue looked distressed, and Shaiming blinked.
"Not yet," Seth repeated, more forcefully. He smelled like wind and water like he always did. "You aren't ready for it yet."
I want the power of the fire dragon.
It will kill you. Let me go.
"He is right, Li Mei," Zhen said, springing to his feet. "You must not take him until you can control your power."
"I don't understand. I'm trying to let him go, but I want to draw him into me instead."
"You must resist," Zhen said in agitation. "You must be very strong to withstand the combined power of the Dragon Master and the fire dragon."
"I'm trying. I don't know how to let go."
"Send him back to where he was. Send him back now."
"I can't. I want to take�"
Carol closed her hand around Seth's sinewy forearm. A shock jolted through her, similar to what she felt when they made love, then sudden power so raw she thought her fingers would sear off.
Zhen looked scared to death. "Send him away, Li Mei. Anywhere. Now."
Seth began to dissolve into flame, not the usual string of fire he liked to become, but fire that outlined his human body. His eyes filled with deep, intense pain.
"Now, now!" Zhen shrieked.
Go. The power inside Carol gave Seth a strong push, and he suddenly dissolved and was gone.
* * *
Chapter Twelve
Seth flew free again, arrowing over the city and the glittering Bay Bridge that linked it to the inland cities. Beyond that, a few hundred miles east, he felt mountains, sharp and tall like those of his own home.
If he was free, he'd go there and see them, if he didn't simply tear back to Dragonspace.
Carol had nearly commanded him to give her his dragon fire, and Zhen had been right to stop her. She wasn't ready to handle his power. The first night he'd met her, when he'd been enraged that she'd called him forth and bound him to her, he might have let his fire kill her and be done.
He stopped the thought�no. He remembered the softness of Carol's body under his when he'd pinned her against the car, the startled look in her eyes, the scent of her that still drove him crazy. He'd never have hurt her, and he didn't want to hurt her now.
He flew back to the place where he'd vanished from Saba, the first of Danny Lok's addresses he and Saba had stopped to check. He didn't see Saba's car there, which meant she'd sensibly left instead of trying to investigate on her own.
Seth streamed into the empty building before he solidified, to find himself in another dark and cold place. The earthquake damage had been a little more severe in this part of town, likely because the buildings were run-down, many of them abandoned.
Seth looked about the small empty building and wrinkled his nose. A dark cloying odor permeated the room, something that spoke of more than disuse or decay.
Seth silently sent a tendril of flame above him to light his way and began to explore. In a corner he found a wooden trapdoor set in the floor, with enough broken slats to let through a draft of fetid air.
When he reached down and pried the door up, the stink hit him hard. Holding his breath, he propped open the door and sent his flame down into the darkness.
The sickly-sweet smell of death had wrapped around the musty smell of damp. Seth peered into the hole for a long time, then made himself test the wooden stairs.
They seemed stable enough, and he started down, ready to turn to flame if they gave way. At the bottom he found a rubble-strewn basement.
This earthquake or a previous one had cracked the brick walls, and in one corner was a pile of dirt, bricks, and beams. In front of it were damp green smudges that glittered under his flame, all that was left of incubi.
"He was here, then," Seth whispered.
He wondered, as he crouched near the three stains, whether the earthquake had killed the incubi or Lok's hirelings had. There was no way of knowing that or whether they'd been the enhanced incubi or the usual brainless variety.
Help me.
The voice rasped in the air around him, cold and desperate and terrifying.
Seth stood up in a hurry. He'd heard the voice before, recognized the black aura that went with it, groping toward him with sticky threads. But the threads were thin, weak, and broke off as soon as Seth stepped away from them.
Carol, he whispered.
Her answer came loud and clear. Seth ? Where are you?
Ask Saba. He slid aside one bit of rubble and stood looking down with hands on hips. I think I've found the Dragon Master.
Carol hurried out of the Junk Man's shop over the protests of Zhen and Ming Ue.
"I have to go," she said. "If he's found the other Dragon Master, he can't face him alone."
Only Shaiming seemed to understand. Her quiet cousin nodded to her and said in his soft voice, "Go to him, Li Mei."
Carol wasn't foolish enough to try to drive with the limb-relaxing sedative Zhen had given her. She called Axel, who popped in out of nowhere at the front of the store.
"Will you stop that?" she snapped at him. "What if someone saw you?"
"People see what they want to see," Axel said amiably. "Where are we off to?"
Carol gave him the address Saba had related. Saba had wanted to go with them, but Carol wouldn't let her. If the Dragon Master was there, along with the Dragon Master's henchmen, Saba would be in too much danger.
Axel popped out again and returned in a few minutes at the wheel of Carol's own car. In the shop doorway, Zhen watched in distress as Carol slid into the passenger seat, but he didn't try to stop her.
Axel roared off, narrowly missing a car in the tight alley. He bounced them up toward Union Square, then down again to Market Street, nearly bottoming out the car on the intersections.
"Would you be careful?" Carol held onto a strap and watched, white-faced as he cut in front of a cable car.
"I love driving in San Francisco," Axel said, grinning widely. "Like in a Dirty Harry movie."
"This isn't a movie," she shouted as they slammed through another intersection and dove down the next hill.
"No, I mean, I was in one of the Dirty Harry movies. I drove one of the stunt cars. Those were good times."
Carol gritted her teeth and directed him down to the small warehouses Saba had told her about. Axel got them there without wrecking the car, and Carol crawled out, the adrenaline rush of the drive canceling out the effects of the sedative.
Seth was nowhere in sight, but the door to the warehouse was wide open. Axel stopped her before she dashed inside, and firmly led the way, Carol close on his heels.
"Whew," Axel said, holding his nose. "What died in here?"
"Incubi," Seth rumbled.
He stepped onto the floor from an opening in the corner, his way lit by
an orange flame that danced over his head. "Three of them. I think other things are dead down there as well�rats and other vermin."
Carol's heart throbbed with relief upon seeing Seth's tall, upright body. He'd dressed again in the jeans and long raincoat he'd worn to Ming Ue's.
"And the Dragon Master?" Axel asked. "Is he dead, too?"
"No."
With that cryptic comment, Seth descended into the hole again and Axel followed.
"Oh, no you don't," Axel said when Carol started behind him. "Let us be the super heroes, and you be the sidekick. You stay up here and don't come down unless we say it's all right. And even then, be suspicious."
Carol chafed with impatience, though she had to admit she didn't want to descend into that horrible stink. She waited in the cold, pulling her coat closer about her, trying not to worry.
She occupied herself musing that this had been one of Danny Lok's properties. She wondered what he'd used it for�it had been emptied some time ago.
It was creepy up here, anyway. Through the open door she saw the gray light of the winter day and her gleaming black car incongruous in the empty parking lot. A target of opportunity if she ever saw one.
She was almost relieved when Seth called up the stairs, "Carol, please come down."
She stepped to the trap door. "Are you sure? Axel told me to be suspicious."
Seth wrapped his thoughts warmly around her. "Be careful, but come."
Nothing dire happened as she descended. Seth and Axel waited for her near the pile of rubble, which they'd cleared part of. Carol gasped.
In the middle of the rubble lay the column of glass that she and Seth had seen in the warehouse a few streets south of here. It lay on its side, stretching wall to wall as though each end had been attached to the bricks.
In the middle of the column was the figure of the man they'd seen before. His hands were pressed to the glass and he was whispering.
Help me.
"The Dragon Master," Seth said quietly.
As soon as they uncovered him, Seth felt the other Dragon Master tap-tapping at his thoughts. Free me. Please.
Seth sensed the tendrils again reaching for him, tiny snakes trying to twine around his brain. They met with the fiery tendrils of Carol's thoughts and backed away.
"He's in there?" Carol asked, trying to peer through the thick glass.
"Something is." Axel cupped his hands around it. They could see the outline of a human body, but it was very faint.
Help me.
Carol stood up suddenly. "Are you hearing that?"
Seth nodded, but Axel looked puzzled. "Is he trying to talk to you?"
"He wants us to free him." Seth pushed his hands into his pockets, trying to shut out the desperate voice. Sying couldn't still be alive�that was impossible.
"He sounds scared." Carol said, resting her hand on the glass. "I wonder what happened."
Seth wondered as well. He'd never found out the fate of Sying the Dragon Master; Seth had only awakened free. He felt a tiny trickle of evil from him now, though not as sharp as when they'd seen him in the larger warehouse yesterday.
Carol studied the column with a mixture of fear and interest. "If we leave him here, what happens? Will more incubi come to serve the Dragon Master, or will they abandon him?"
"Who the hell knows?" Axel said. "If we make the building fall on him, will he die?"
Seth eyed the thick column. It looked like glass, but it was likely something held together by a magical field. "I don't think so. He'd be buried here until someone else dug him out."
Carol shivered. "That would be horrible."
Axel put his hands on his hips. "What do we do with him, then? It's not like he'll fit in Carol's car."
"I don't know," Carol answered. "I'm trying to decide if he's more of a danger if we leave him or hide him somewhere."
"The ocean," Seth said.
"Sorry?"
"I could carry him over your ocean and drop him in. He would be difficult to reach there."
He felt a shudder from the column, and a twinge of horror, but the deep ocean might still the voice.
"Could the incubi find him and bring him up?" Carol asked him. "I don't know anything about them�can they swim?"
"They are creatures of air and fire," Seth answered. "They don't like water, but in this human world, you have solved the problem of such things."
"Like boats and scuba." Axel barked a laugh. "An incubus in scuba gear. I'd love to see that."
Carol gave him an impatient look. "What I mean is, are we solving the problem by getting rid of him, or simply staving it off? How long before the incubi or the Order of the Black Lotus find him and make him powerful again?"
Seth had a solution, but he wasn't sure Carol would like it. A fire dragon's power could destroy the column and also the man inside.
Axel watched him, his dark eyes glittering. He'd guessed what Seth wanted to do.
"Carol," the Baku said. "Why don't we stroll out to your car?"
"Why?" she asked sharply.
"It stinks in here, and you need the air."
Carol looked from him to Seth. "I'm not stupid. You and Seth want to destroy this, don't you?"
Seth sent his threads to soothe her and found her brittle and resistant. "It's the best way."
"How dangerous is that? Is there a chance you'll be hurt, or killed, or enslaved in the process?"
Seth couldn't lie to her, because she'd know instantly through their bond. "There is a chance, yes."
"Then forget it."
"Carol," Axel said in a reasonable voice. "Look at it this way. If Seth kills the big, bad Dragon Master, there's no more need for you to hold him. You can let Seth go, he can return to Dragonspace, everyone's happy."
Her music darkened, and she drew a tense breath. "It's not that simple. Even if I wanted to let Seth go, I don't know how. And what's to say we won't be hunted down by enraged incubi or the Order? How will that be safer?" She broke off and looked at the column. "Besides, he's asking for our help."
Axel shook his head. "You're a sweet woman, but misguided sometimes."
"The male solution to everything is to kill it," she said. "A woman's strength is her ability to step back and think about it first. We know there are more solutions to problems than just one."
"Oh, very nice," Axel snorted. "Well, Ms. Businesswoman of the Year, what does your ability to think about it tell us?"
Carol gave him a withering look. "I don't know yet." She stopped. "Yes, I do. Seth, can you put a mark on this place? You know, like the ones on my apartment?" She traced her finger in the air.
"Keep him here, you mean?" Seth asked. "And keep others away from him?"
"Sure. If we need to store him somewhere, why not here?"
She looked excited, her eyes sparkling. Axel regarded her skeptically. "What if this Danny Lok's relatives want the building for something, or decide to tear it down next week?"
"That's easy," Carol said. "I'll buy it."
Axel ran his gaze over the ruined basement. "Buy it? It's kind of a dump."
"A good investment. You never know when an area will be gentrified. Or I can use it to warehouse goods for my restaurant, or turn it into an Asian grocery store or something. Many possibilities."
Axel eyed Seth and shook his head. Carol surveyed the room without dismay, having clearly decided what she wanted to do.
Without speaking, Seth turned to the walls around the Dragon Master and began to mark them. The symbols he traced flared out with a touch of fire, then settled into quiet shimmers.
Axel shook his head one more time but joined him, overlaying dragon magic with his strange purple-hued Baku magic. Axel didn't have to physically touch the walls to mark them�he simply looked at them and muttered under his breath.
"I can see those," Carol whispered in delight.
Axel chuckled. "Welcome to my world."
"Shouldn't we stand him upright?" Carol motioned to the column that still lay on th
e floor.
Seth had no interest in making the Dragon Master comfortable and no interest in touching the column with his dragon magic. It was massive, and he had no idea whether such a magical thing could be moved at all.
"Best to leave it alone," Axel voiced Seth's thoughts.
Carol opened her mouth to continue, but the roar of a car engine came to them from above. "Crap," Carol said, and started up the stairs.
Seth grabbed her before she'd reached the third one. "No. Listen."
Doors slammed and footsteps sounded in the warehouse above.
"Time to depart," Axel said. He looked at Carol.
"I can get her out," Seth said. "But not through solid walls. I need to be upstairs with the door open."
Carol's warm body rested against him, her hair temptingly brushing his nose. She looked back up at him, putting her lips in reach. "Why don't we see who it is, first? It might be my grandmother and Shaiming worried about us. They weren't happy with me leaving."
"The aura is wrong," Seth said in her ear.
"Incubi? Can they drive?"
"It's human, not magical. At least, not much magical."
"How about if I go check it out?" Axel said. "I'm pretty scary."
Seth snaked his arm around Carol, ready to surround her with his flame and carry her away. He moved aside to let Axel pass.
"Oops, too late," Axel said.
Men came pouring down the stairs. They were human and dressed like Danny Lok and his bodyguards. All of them had hard faces and dark eyes, and one had helped shoot the restaurant.
"Hi," Axel said. "Did you come to join the party?"
The first two on the stairs hesitated a split second, then came on down. They carried weapons, though they held them in neutral positions.
One man pushed his way to the front. He was larger and heavier than Danny Lok had been, and possessed a dark magic that made Seth's skin crawl. He stopped, feeling the marks that Axel and Seth had placed over the room.
"The Dragon Master is ours," the man said in clear English.
"Finders, keepers," Carol said. She was shaking, but her voice came out steady.
"You have no idea what you've gotten into, girl. Surrender to us and give us the fire dragon. You don't know how to use his power without killing yourself."
The Dragon Master Page 13
