No Such Thing as a Dragon - Exclusive

by GRP

  Before long, I found my eyes growing heavy and Aaron motioned for me to lay down on him. Placing my head on his chest, he stroked my hair back from my face as he stared down at me.

  “I'm sorry, Jess,” he said. “I really am –”

  “Hush,” I said, pressing my fingers tip his lips. “It was our first fight. I'm sure it won't be our last.”

  “God, I hope not,” he said, kissing my fingertips.

  I drifted off to sleep in his arms, feeling better about things.

  Chapter Seven

  Ozaryan

  “What did you say?” Fei asked.

  After my encounter with the Shongtal in the coffee house, I'd confided in him about what the creature had proposed – leaving out the part about my attachment to Jessica, of course. That was exactly why we didn't mingle with the humans, it was too easy to get attached.

  “What do you think I said?” I asked. “I told him to go to hell.”

  “Well, I knew you wouldn't make a deal with it, but seriously – what was it thinking? What made it think it had the leverage to make that kind of a deal?”

  “Beats me,” I said.

  Even though I knew what kind of leverage it thought it had. It wanted to use Jessica against me, thinking it had me over a barrel.

  “I bet you enjoyed that kill,” Fei said.

  “Yeah.” I left it at that.

  Fei didn't have to know I didn't have the balls to kill it – not yet at least. I wasn't making a deal with the creature, but I was letting it think I had. I considered telling Fei, but I wasn't sure he'd understand. And if I went to the King, he'd see through my story and ask what the creature had over me. I would have no choice but to admit my feelings for her.

  I had to do this alone. And I had to work fast in order to save Jessica.

  Later, when I was walking my territory, I stopped by Perky Beans and glanced inside. Jessica wasn't working the counter. Knots clenched tight in my stomach as I walked inside and a guy whose nametag said Richard greeted me with a smile.

  “Welcome to Perky Beans, what can I get for you today?”

  “Is Jessica off today?” I asked.

  “No call, no show,” Richard said. “What a shame too. She'd been here forever.”

  “Wait, she just didn't come in?” The hair on the back of my neck stood up. “No call, nothing? And she was supposed to be here?”

  “Yeah, something like that,” Richard said. “Hey, do you want to order anything or not? There's a line starting to form and I'm the only one here, so if you could –”

  I looked behind me and saw that a few more people had drifted in. But with my stomach in knots, wondering what had happened to Jessica, I had to ask a couple more questions.

  “Do you have a phone number,” I asked. “Or an address for her?”

  “I don't think I can give that information out, sir.”

  “A last name? Anything? I believe she may be in danger!” I shouted, slamming my fists into the counter, causing it to crack.

  The poor kid just stared back at me with a terrified look etched upon his fac. His cheeks had colored and he looked like he was about to cry, but he finally managed to open his mouth and speak.

  “Murphy. Her last name is Murphy,” he said. “All I know is she lives with her best friend, Chelsea, nearby. Like down the street. At the corner of 115th, I believe. That's it. I really hope she's okay. She's so nice. And pretty. But mostly nice –”

  I turned and walked from the coffee shop, wishing I could shift and use my wings there in the city. But with it being daylight, I had to rely on my feet to get around. The good news was that she lived nearby – a few blocks away. If the kid was right.

  As I ran down the street, to the corner of 115th, I stopped at the apartment complex right on the corner and looked at it, opening my senses, searching for Jessica – or the Shongtal. I couldn't sense anything outside, but knew that didn't mean anything. I walked inside, scanned the mailboxes for any sign of a name or a hint as to who lived where, but there was nothing.

  Nothing but the scent of a Shongtal.

  I could smell it all the way down in the lobby of the building. Following that odor, I took the stairs two at a time until I reached the fifth floor. I followed my nose until I got to the apartment it seemed to be emanating from – 506 – and yes, there was obviously one of them in there. Was I standing in front of Jessica's apartment though? Did that mean the roommate was the husk and not Aaron? I didn't know, but I was damn sure about to find out.

  I knocked, and at first, there was no answer.

  I knocked again.

  “Jesus, who's knocking this early in the morning,” a voice called out.

  Female, but not Jessica's. The door swung open, revealing a girl who was bleary-eyed and had hair sticking out in a million different directions – like she'd just woken up.

  “Jess, did you forget your keys again,” she asked, rubbing her eyes before finally looking up and seeing me. “Oh, hello there. Sorry, I thought you were somebody else.”

  I said nothing, but forced my way into the apartment and pushed it to the ground. With the creature stunned temporarily, I kicked the door shut and jumped on top of it, pinning it to the ground. Of course, it tried to pretend to be human and scream, but it was too late. My hand was over its mouth. It looked at me, its eyes narrowing, but the hatred for me burned brightly.

  “Tell me,” I said, breathing heavily into its face. “Where's Jessica? What did you do with her?”

  The creature bit me, hard. I winced, didn't get off it. Instead, I balled my hand up into a fist and drove it into the stomach of the husk. It gasped for a moment and then looked at me with a malicious smile on its face.

  “I don't know what you're talking about, Warden.”

  I backhanded it, rocking its head to the side. And for the first time since we'd met, it showed its true colors by snarling at me.

  “Again,” I asked. “Where is Jessica?”

  “She's fine, you idiot,” it said. “Your deal with my master is in place. We're not going to hurt her. We have no desire to so long as you hold up your end of the bargain.”

  “Oh yeah? Then where the hell is she?” I snarled. “Because she didn't show up at work today?”

  I wanted nothing to do with the creature – nothing but to watch it die a painful, miserable death. Out of the corner of my eye, something drew my attention. I turned and saw a photo of the creature's human form, with Jessica, in a picture frame that said BFFS. Best friends forever. Which meant that this was probably Chelsea. Her roommate.

  The creature I spoke to was right about picking those closest to her, and there I was, facing her best friend. Only it wasn't really her best friend. Not anymore. Replaced by something more sinister and evil than anyone on this planet could ever imagine.

  “She's with her boyfriend, moron,” the creature said, spitting at me. “Probably too busy screwing him to show up to work.”

  She was with Aaron. I'd suspected he'd been inhabited by the Shongtal, but I wasn't sure. I couldn't be sure of anything. But I needed to find out where they were at. I need to find out if she was okay. If she was safe.

  If I found her – I could protect her. I could kill the creatures and be done with it. No deals. Nothing of that sort. I wasn't about to let them run free in my territory while I looked the other way. The rage in me burned brighter than the fire that flowed through my blood. I was Lightning Clan and not somebody to be trifled with.

  The Shongtal were going to learn that. Very soon. As soon as Jessica was safe, I was going to have a field day and put a big dent in their numbers in my territory.

  “Where is that?” I asked.

  The creature shrugged. “Don't know, don't care.”

  I knew that was crap. Nothing these creatures said could ever be trusted. They lied as easily as they breathed. But there was also no way I could make it talk. I stared into the girl's eyes, knowing that girl – Chelsea
was her name – wasn't the one looking back at me and I wanted to destroy it.

  I slipped my dagger out if its sheath, holding the curved blade firmly to its throat.

  “If you kill me, the deal is off with my master,” it hissed.

  “There never was a deal to begin with,” I said.

  For the first time, I saw fear in its eyes. But only a flash, until it snarled at me. “Kill me and Aaron will kill your sweetheart,” it said. “How about that?”

  I winced at its words. It was a risk I had to take. Looking around the apartment, I thought I might find something – his last name, a phone number, something that would tell me where to find Aaron and Jessica. But if I let the creature go, it was a certainty that it would run and tell the others. Besides, I couldn't leave it inside of Jessica's best friend. I couldn't do that.

  “I'll find her,” I said. “I'll find her and save her; don't you worry about that. I'd be more worried about yourself right now, because I'm this close to slitting your damn throat.”

  It grinned at me and then opened its mouth. Its screams – or rather, Chelsea's screams – echoed throughout the apartment, and I prayed no one would call the cops. At least not before I was done finding out what I needed to know.

  I needed to get to Jessica, and I needed to get to her fast.

  Chapter Eight

  Jessica

  “What time is it?” I murmured, rolling over to face Aaron, who was in bed next to me.

  “Don't worry about the time,” he whispered, kissing me softly. “Just sleep, Jessica.”

  “I have to be at work –” but my voice trailed off as sleep took hold of me once more.

  I knew I was tired. I'd felt completely drained the night before. Exhausted. But this was not like me. I didn't even know what time it was or how I'd gotten into Aaron's bed in the first place. But it was so cozy and warm, I didn't want to leave.

  So, for whatever reason, I didn't fight it. I just gave over to the soothing hand of sleep. Even though I knew, somewhere in the back of my mind, I needed to be at work. But I pushed that away – nothing else mattered in that moment besides sleep.

  “There, there,” Aaron said in a soothing voice. “There you go. Just sleep.”

  I don't know how long I slept, but a loud knocking woke me up. It startled me and I sat up, my heart racing. I stared wide-eyed at Aaron who once again, told me to go back to sleep.

  When I looked at the clock, it said it was closing in on one in the afternoon. Adrenaline rushing through my veins, I jumped out of bed, but Aaron grabbed me and pulled me back into it.

  “What are you doing?” I said. “I need to get to work?”

  I rushed around, looking for my clothes, but I was dizzy and still felt very sleepy. The knocking on the front door got louder, until eventually there was a full-out crashing sound coming from the front room. It sounded like somebody had kicked the front door in.

  I was confused – and my current fuzzy-brained state only added to that. I had no idea what was going on. How I'd managed to sleep until one in the afternoon – or anything else that was going on. I knew I should have been scared by the sound of the door crashing in, but for some reason, all I wanted was to go back to sleep.

  “Dammit,” Aaron said, in a voice that didn't sound exactly normal. “I'll be back. Don't leave, you hear me? Just get back into bed.”

  “What's going on?” I asked.

  “I said, don't leave,” he said, his voice unusually abrupt. “Stay here. Don't move.”

  Aaron rushed out of the bedroom before I could ask any more questions. I looked at the bed and felt the urge to crawl back under the covers. I was content to stay there, especially not knowing what was happening in the other room, but then I heard a voice.

  A familiar voice.

  “Where is she?”

  Was that –

  “She's not here.” I heard Aaron respond.

  “Don't lie me, I know she's here,” he growled. “Where is she?”

  Yes, it was – it was Ozy.

  Then I heard a crashing, screaming and noises unlike anything I'd heard before. Scary sounds, hissing, growling and screeching. It sounded less like two men fighting, and one man fighting an animal. I walked to the door, still feeling woozy. I held onto the bed, then the dresser, to hold myself up as I made my way to the doorway. Who was he looking for, I wondered? And why all the noise? What was happening out there?

  As I made it to the doorway, I was met by Ozy. He looked at me and I saw his face fill with utter relief.

  “What's going on?” I asked, feeling unsteady on my feet. “Ozy, how do you know Aaron?”

  Ozy hesitated, then looked at something behind him and back at me. “It's a long story, Jessica, and you're not going to believe me anyway,” he said. “But trust me, that man isn't your boyfriend. That's not Aaron. At least not anymore.”

  I wasn't sure how I hadn't noticed before, but he had blood splattered on his face. Was that Aaron's blood?

  I started to wobble on my feet, and Ozy reached out to help me, but I pulled away, suddenly fearful of the man who'd come into the coffee shop nearly every day. The mysterious man I'd been drawn to. Was he a killer?

  “You've been drugged,” he muttered. “And we need to get out of here, now. Before it comes back with friends.”

  “Before what comes back?” I mumbled. “What are you talking –”

  But before I could finish, I saw what he meant. Aaron was behind him, but he wasn't alone. Others were with him.

  Others who frequented Perky Beans. Familiar faces.

  I shook my head, convinced I was dreaming. I had to be. There was no way this was happening. There was no way this was real. A dream was the only way to explain what happened next.

  Ozy pulled out a blade – long and curved, and looked at me.

  “Look away, Jessica,” he said. “You're not going to want to see this.”

  But I didn't move fast enough. I watched as Ozy spun quickly, his blade leading the way. I watched as he cut the head off Sam – a guy who came in every few days and ordered the same black coffee with just one packet of sugar.

  He was a simple, sweet guy. And now he was dead.

  I tried to scream, but the sound caught in my throat. My heart was thundering in my chest and I was shaking so hard I felt like I was having a convulsion. As Ozy looked back at me, his eyes glowed red as if there were fire in them. He looked like a demon of some kind. He looked evil.

  I backed away until I bumped into the bed, and then crawled back on it, putting my back against the headboard. Part of me wanted to cover my head, to pretend this wasn't happening to me. To go back to sleep and wake up in a normal world, with my boyfriend snuggled up next to me.

  The white carpeting in Aaron's house was stained red with blood, and for some reason, that's all I could stare at. I tried to tell myself it wasn't real, even as the sounds around me became too much for me to handle. I clapped my hands over my ears and tried to shut it all out. To go someplace in my mind that wasn't there.

  I looked back up in time to see a shadow, something I couldn't explain, flying toward me at lightning speed. I screamed, and Ozy lunged at it, slicing through it with his blade until it hissed and disappeared. I stared wide-eyed, not sure what I'd just seen. A ghost? A demon? What? What in the hell was that thing?

  “What was that?” I asked, my voice trembling as hard as my body. “Oh. My. God.”

  That's when I saw Aaron – and yet, I could tell by his eyes that it somehow wasn't Aaron. He was bloody, staggering, and looked like he was about to die. Ozy looked back at me, shook his head.

  “I'm so sorry,” he said. “Just know that this is not Aaron. This is not your boyfriend, Jessica.”

  He turned back around and drove the point of his blade into Aaron's chest. Blood poured out of him as he screamed in pain, his eyes locked on mine. It wasn't Aaron. It couldn't be. It wasn't until his screams stopped that I realized I'd been cr
ying out along with him, begging for it to stop.

  Begging to just wake up from this nightmare.

  But as Ozy wiped his blade clean, I knew – I knew it was all real.

  “We don't have much time,” he said. “There will be more of them coming soon. And we need to get you out of here. I can come back later, with backup, but for now –”

  “Aaron –” was all I could mutter as I stared down at his lifeless body. Staring at the hole in his chest and the pool of blood around him. “Oh God, Aaron.”

  Ozy reached for me, and I wanted to fight. I wanted to get away from all of this – including him. But I had no fight in me. Ozy said I'd been drugged and the way I felt, I believed him. They made me so very tired and unable to resist, I collapsed into his arms. Ozy picked me up like I was as light as a feather.

  “Where are you taking me?” I asked him.

  “Somewhere safe,” he said. “Somewhere far away from all of this.”

  He ran out of the apartment, but instead of going downstairs, he went up. To the roof. Once there, he looked at me and then looked around. He looked worried. But he also looked resolved.

  “You're going to see something you never thought possible, but please, Jessica, don't freak out,” he said. “I'm going to save you, so come with me. No matter how scary I might look, come with me.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “I'm not human, Jess,” he said. “I'm a – it's a long story, but basically, I can change. I can become a dragon –”

  “Whoa, wait, no – okay, I'm done,” I said. “This is getting too weird and I'm seriously ready to wake the hell up now –”

  As I was figuring out how to either wake up or escape from the roof, I watched as Ozy looked up and held his hands out. I watched as he became something else before my very eyes. My eyes grew wide and a yawning pit formed in my belly as he literally transformed into a dragon. A freaking dragon. A mythical animal that wasn't supposed to exist – and yet, there it was. Standing in front of me. The creature – Ozy – turned his eyes to look at me and I couldn't breathe for a moment.