by Lauren Esker
"You can stop looking like we're going to explode. He's done changing." At least I hope so. There were no wings; weren't dragons supposed to have wings? On the other hand, dragons weren't even supposed to be real, so quibbling about the details was pointless.
"Knowing that you're monsters is one thing." He flicked out his tongue, wetting his dry lips. "Actually seeing it—"
"Stop calling us that," Jen snapped. "Besides, who are you to look down on us? You're one of us, too."
"What?" Offended rage stiffened his face. "How dare you. I'm human!"
"Really? You knew we were shifters just from seeing us across the room—how? We can recognize each other. And I feel that same sense of kinship with you as you're standing there."
"It's not kinship!" His shock and horror was real, she could tell. "I'm not—tainted!"
"Yeah? I've never met anyone who wasn't a shifter but still felt like one. I think you are; you just can't shift for some reason. Or you don't know you can."
"I should kill you where you stand," Marius snarled.
"If you do that," Roxy said from the minibar, "I am afraid I'll have to have you killed too." She knocked back a slug of bourbon and poured out another without hesitating. "They're representing the Molina family in the tournament ... unfortunately. An insult to them is an insult to us. And so forth."
"You would be crossing an organization more powerful than you know, woman."
"Really?" Jen asked. Despite her worry for Lucky, who was still panting heavily in her lap, she couldn't fight her investigator's instincts. "What organization would that be, exactly?"
"Just ... give me that." Marius snatched up the vial, which had slipped from her fingers to the floor, and marched out. He was still limping, she noted with satisfaction.
"I was going to apologize for kicking you in the balls, but I changed my mind!" Jen yelled after him. "And you've still got my clothes, asshole," she muttered.
A tense silence descended, broken only by Lucky's harsh breathing.
"Can you go see if there are, like, complimentary bathrobes, please?" Jen asked meekly. "I think I saw one in the bedroom closet."
Roxy vanished into the bedroom and came out a minute or two later with a terrycloth robe (red, of course), which she tossed to Jen without coming close.
"Do I need to speak to my security people about that man?" she asked.
"It's not a bad idea. I did, uh, beat him up and try to steal his drugs. Long story. And he's got a key to get into our room now. He's in Room 12. Please try to get my pants back while you're at it."
"I'll take care of it," Roxy said. She filled her glass to the brim with bourbon and sat slowly and cautiously on the floor, drink in hand, bringing her to Jen's level while still keeping a safe distance. "How is Lucado?"
"I think he's doing a little better now that he's shifted." She pressed her fingertips against the scaly underside of Lucky's jaw. His pulse seemed rapid, but what did that mean for a dragon, anyway? "At least, I don't think he's getting worse. Can I have a drink of that?"
Roxy held out the glass. Jen took it and sipped. The warm burn of the liquor scorched her throat.
"I suppose getting a doctor would have been ..." Roxy flapped one long hand helplessly. "... unwise."
"People like us ... we have to be careful to avoid discovery." Jen handed the glass back. Roxy took it, but Jen saw her glance down at the rim of the glass, where Jen's lips had touched. "It's not contagious. If it was that easy, the world would be full of shifters."
"People like you."
"People who can turn into animals, yes."
"Werewolves?" Roxy asked, her voice uncharacteristically hesitant. "Do those exist too?"
"Yeah, but they're not like movie werewolves. No silver bullets or full moon nights. They're just like the rest of us. I turn into a gecko, and one of my best friends turns into a wolf. And Lucky's a dragon, apparently." Jen ran a soft caress over Lucky's scaly head. "I had no idea there were any of his kind left in the world, if they ever existed at all. Everyone always said they were a myth."
"I would have said a woman who could turn into a gecko was pretty damn unlikely too." Roxy's attempt at a smile came out as a strained grimace. "Dragons don't seem like that much more of a stretch to me. And if I hadn't just seen him do that—"
"You and me both. I guess even us freaks of nature can be surprised when other freaks show up."
"Vampires?" Roxy asked.
"What?"
"Are they real, too?"
"Nope, just shapeshifters. And we're really not that different from you. We're still people. We hurt and bleed, we age and die. It's just that we have a few benefits along the way."
Lucky's head twitched in her lap, jaws opening and closing as if he was trying to speak. He blinked, and his third eyelid drew back, leaving the green and gold eye with its slitted pupil looking up at her.
"Lucky? How do you feel?"
He blinked again, and gave a deep sigh that made Roxy flinch and scramble to her feet, as if she expected a gust of fire would follow.
Could he breathe fire? Jen decided to save that question for later. Instead she asked, "Do you think you can shift back yet?"
He gazed at her for a moment before she felt him tense, and the dragon-shape collapsed inward, dwindling rapidly to human size. This time it was the sort of swift, painless transformation she was used to: scales melting into soft flesh, horns and tail sinking into his human body. In a moment she had his human head in her lap, and he was sprawled naked on the bathroom floor in the shreds of his destroyed clothing.
"Lucky?" She bent over him anxiously. Her hand still cupped his now-much-smaller face. His skin felt cool to the touch, but not cold. "Can you hear me? How are you feeling?"
"Terrible," he croaked. "But ... I'll live. I think." He blinked a couple of times. "I heard voices. Was Roxy here—when I—"
"Yes, Roxy was here," Roxy said. Jen looked up; the mobster was standing over them, looking down at Lucky with a speculative expression. "I won't lie, Lucado. I'm still trying to absorb what I just saw. Nothing in my life ever prepared me for this. Still ... you won your game, didn't you?"
"Yes." Lucky reached out a hand and blindly patted the bathroom floor. "There's a token around somewhere ... it gets you into the next game."
"This?" Jen asked, spying a large wooden disc beside the toilet. She stretched to pick it up.
"That," Lucky agreed. "Afraid I didn't stick around to find out when the next game is. I had other things on my mind."
"I'll find out," Roxy said. "And there's something else I need to know, Lucado." She crouched beside them. There was only a slight hesitation before she placed her hand on Lucky's chin, turning his face toward her. "Earlier, you said Lux might have done this. Do you know that for sure?"
Lucky cleared his throat. "It's only a guess. If he was involved, he went through an intermediary. Guy named Yegerev. Don't know if that's his last name or nickname or what. He's Russian. Blond. And he was in the Hathor Room at my table. That's all I know."
Roxy's smile had knives in it. "That should be enough. I'll find out what this Yegerev knows."
Lucky started to raise a hand as if to stop her, then let it fall.
"Hey!" Jen called after her as she started to leave. "Order room service for us, would you? I could really go for a burger. And coffee. Tell them to bring the pot."
"Pants, room service, and coffee," Roxy said dryly. "Anything else while I'm at it?"
"No, I think that's everything."
"It'll be along soon." Roxy closed the door behind her.
Jen leaned her head back against the wall. One of her hands was still idly brushing through Lucky's hair, as she'd been petting his scales when he was a dragon. She didn't feel like stopping. He didn't try to make her.
"You haven't asked any questions," Lucky said at last, quietly.
"I saw you turn into a dragon. That's fairly unambiguous."
"I would have thought you'd have questions."
/> "Oh, I'm sure I'll have a million of them soon, but right now, I think I'd like to sit here for a minute."
"Okay," Lucky agreed equably.
She went on stroking his hair. After a moment he said, "You know, not to break the moment or anything, but the floor's kind of cold."
"Oh, jeez. Sorry. Where do you want to go? Bedroom?"
He nodded. Jen helped him up, with an arm wrapped around his ribs and his other arm across her shoulders, and guided his wobbling steps into the bedroom.
"You're really okay?" she asked as she lowered him onto the bed.
"No. I feel like hell. But I just need to sleep it off. We're pretty resistant to toxins, especially in our natural shape."
"Natural shape?" It was out before she could stop it, alarm and all.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Lucky raised his head out of his hands and looked up at her. "You saw me change."
"Well, yes, but ... my gecko isn't ... I mean, it isn't any less me, but we're born human. Shifters, I mean—my kind of shifter. We don't usually start shifting until later. Is it different for you?"
"We're born this way," he began, at which point a brisk knock on the door of the suite interrupted them.
Jen ran to open it, tightening the belt of her robe around her. A redcap with a room service cart waited on the other side. "Thank you, this is lovely," Jen said without bothering to see what was on it. She pulled it inside and shut the door in the woman's face. Belatedly, she realized that she possibly should have tipped. Or not. If they're working for Lux, they're probably getting paid a bundle.
She stopped in the act of raising the tray's silver cover.
And if Lux is out to get us, is the food safe?
Okay, that way lay paranoia. Paranoia and starvation.
"Lucky," she called. "How sure are you that Lux was involved with poisoning you?"
No answer. She went quickly to the bedroom door and looked in. He'd collapsed on his side.
"Lucky," she gasped, and ran to him. That asshole, he'd been sicker than he let on—
But he was breathing, and when she felt for a pulse, it was strong and steady. He'd just fallen asleep or passed out. Shifter healing, she thought, looking down at him. Even normal shifters were drained by it. He must have used a tremendous amount of energy fighting off the poison.
She manhandled him into a more comfortable-looking position and pulled the covers over him. Then she brought her burger (neatly arranged on a plate with a garnish of parsley), a large cup of coffee, and a magazine into the bedroom. She could eat in here just as easily as out there.
Just to be on the safe side. Just in case.
Chapter Ten
Lucky woke in bed, with a warm weight against his side. He propped himself up on his elbow and saw that it was Jen.
She was wearing the bathrobe and lying on top of the covers, turned onto her side with her face toward him. Her lips were parted in sleep, her hair spilling around her head on the white sheet like ink swirled in milk.
He couldn't tell what time it was or how long he'd been asleep, only that the room was dim, lit by the homey light of the bedside lamp. A magazine had slipped out of Jen's fingers onto the bed.
It made him think of their first night on the ship, when he'd started to take her to bed and fallen asleep instead. Looked like he was making a habit of suddenly collapsing in front of her.
At least she's getting used to disappointment early in the relationship, he thought, and couldn't help laughing.
Jen's eyes popped open. "Wha," she mumbled. She raised a hand and touched her face. "Shoot, I was drooling, wasn't I?"
"It was the cute kind of drooling."
She scowled at him and sat up. "Oh, ugh. I hate napping. It makes me so foggy. My sleep schedule is totally fucked. You want food?"
He tested out that thought. "Maybe later. Right now I'd rather have a drink of water. And a shower."
Jen hopped off the bed and vanished. She was back a minute later with a bottle of water, cold from the room fridge.
"I didn't mean you had to get it for me."
Jen cracked the seal on the lid and handed it to him. "Enjoy it while it lasts, dragon-boy. My clothes appear to be back, by the way. I would have loved to be a gecko on the wall for that conversation between Marius and Roxy."
Lucky winced. "Yeah, so ... all of that. Happened."
"It did, I'm afraid."
"Were you actually naked?"
"Yes," she said, a bit defensively.
At least it wasn't his subconscious acting out. "Do I want to know why?"
"Um, because I shifted and stole a vial of Dragon's Tears from Marius. It's a long story. He knows I'm a shifter now, by the way. And he knows you're, uh—"
"What I am."
"Yes," she said, meeting his eyes sturdily. "Though I still don't know what he is. Marius, I mean. He's definitely something. I found a codebook in his room along with the drugs I stole—tried to steal, I should say; he has them back now. And he's fast like we are."
"Do I want to know how you found that out?"
"I had to beat him up to steal his drugs."
"I keep thinking I should stop asking questions, but—"
"I tried asking nicely!" she protested. "I was trying to help. And I still think he's some kind of shifter and just doesn't know it. He acted horrified when I suggested it. Maybe he comes from a society where shifters are supposed to be evil, or something."
"You beat him up and stole his drugs. I'm thinking that's not going to give anyone the best impression of you, Jen."
"I never claimed to be an ambassador for shifterkind." She gave him a light push. "Maybe he's a vampire. Are there vampires?"
"How would I know? Wait." Memory was trickling back. "Was Roxy there?"
Jen nodded.
"How'd she take it? The, uh. Dragon thing."
"Okay, I guess," Jen said. "I don't think she's going to try to put us in a zoo or anything. She just seemed really baffled. I guess I can't blame her."
"Yeah, about that." He picked at the label on the water bottle, not looking at her. "How are you taking it? The dragon thing."
Jen sat down on the edge of the bed, bouncing it. "I wish you'd told me, instead of me having to find out the hard way, but I can understand why you didn't. I have a million questions which I'm managing to contain with a heroic womanly effort. Are you up for answering any of them before I explode?"
"Soon. Right now, I really want a shower."
He felt much better after brushing his teeth and standing for a while under pounding hot water, letting it soak out the lingering ache of illness. When he got out of the bathroom, bundled the other complimentary bathrobe, he discovered room service had come and gone. A plate with a steak and a baked potato was steaming on the coffee table. Jen was dressed, he noticed with a trace of regret, and she'd stretched out on the couch with a magazine.
"I thought you'd want meat," Jen said. "I usually do when I've been healing. There were burgers earlier, but yours got cold."
"Huh." His brain was still running at half speed as he sat down. "Are those shredded scraps of fabric in the bathroom what's left of my clothes?"
"Yeah, afraid so."
"Awww, dammit. I loved that jacket."
"I'll take you to the shopping arcade in the morning, and you can buy another one, equally tasteless."
He hadn't been hungry until he forked up the first bite of steak, and then it was all he could do not to fall on it facefirst and tear it apart with his teeth. He inhaled most of the plate's contents, barely slowing down enough to chew. When he was finally able to come up for air, he looked up at Jen, who was making herself a fresh pot of coffee from the replenished basket of coffee things. "How long was I out?"
"It's a little after nine p.m., ship-time. Which reminds me that I have no idea what time zone we're in."
Lucky thought about it while he chewed another bite of steak. "We're probably headed south. I doubt we've crossed too many time zones, but if we ca
me far enough west, we'll be across the International Date Line."
Jen sat next to him on the couch. "Do you think we came that far?"
"I don't know. Depends on how fast the ship is moving. It's so huge, it can't be that speedy, but it also doesn't ever stop." He tried to do the mental math, but gave up. Without a map, it wouldn't help to know how many miles they'd traveled anyway. "We're somewhere in the Pacific, I guess."
"Thanks, genius. I worked that out on my own."
Lucky grinned and finished the last of the steak. "Thanks. That was a good idea."
"Anytime! So." She stretched out her foot and poked him with it. "Dragons. Spill."
"We're sure the suite isn't bugged, right?"
"As sure as we can be. Roxy's guys just swept it this afternoon. Oh!" She sat forward. "We both have a lot to tell, I think. But I want to hear yours first."
"There's not much to tell," he equivocated desperately.
"Really? How about you start with how you were lizard-sized when I first saw you, and filled the whole bathroom today. You can change size?"
"Yeah," he said, reluctant. Talking about this to someone else was weird. "What you saw earlier was about as big as I can get. We all have a natural version of our shape, the one that's easiest for us to shift into. That was mine."
"Are there more of you?" Jen asked, quivering with eagerness. "No, no, there'd have to be. You can't be the only one. How many? No, you probably wouldn't want to tell me that. Do you—"
He stopped the flow of words by leaning over to place his fingertips against her lips. "Hey. I answered a question; now it's your turn. Who won the bet?"
"Bet?" she asked, temporarily blank before comprehension dawned in her eyes. "Oh, yeah. That bet."
"The window was open, wasn't it?"
"Yes, fine, the window was open. How'd you do it?"
"I'll get to the 'how' in a minute. Right now, do I get to collect my winnings or not?"
"Fair enough, but then you'll tell me about dragons." And she pursed her lips and waited.
Her obvious lack of enthusiasm deflated him. "No, I didn't mean ... I don't want to make you. If you don't want to—"
