Dragon Lust

by Kelly Armenta

  A little voice inside me asked, since I was going to live there…or at least I thought I was, shouldn’t I know a little more about who I was going to be sleeping across the hall from? I was pretty sure Mi hadn’t left me with them just so I could have my throat slit by some jealous female. Or maybe my being here wouldn’t cause a problem. Yeah right, who was I kidding? No female would willingly share these two; I was so going to be the object of her hatred…whoever she was. And while I might not have ever had a boyfriend before, in school I’d seen the way girls reacted around other girls when they thought they were poaching. So not pretty.

  “Nope, you got that all wrong,” Jace told me abruptly. “I’m not sharing with anyone but you.”

  Beside me Gareth tensed. He may not want to admit it, but apparently some part of him must have agreed.

  Jace punched the button for sublevel 1 forcefully and we rose quickly. Like the bottom floor, the doors slid open onto a lobby area that was nicely decorated, much like you’d find in any office building. The walls were painted a pleasant light yellow color and there was a short bureau against the wall, complete with a humongous bouquet of silk flowers set just below a huge gilt framed mirror that hung on the wall. A couple of deep leather armchairs and a leather bench decorated the room, seating while you wait. If I didn’t know better I’d say I was in some posh high rise lobby.

  Gareth guided me to the nearest door and we stepped into a very large conference room. The table was about twenty feet long and some sort of jet black lacquer material. The chairs that surrounded the table looked like black leather mini thrones on wheels. I couldn’t imagine what sorts of deals were made at that table, but it was all very impressive.

  Neutral art hung on the walls, I suspected as more of a method of not calling attention to the lack of windows than because they were trying to impress the room’s occupants. There was a built in wet bar and fridge on the opposite wall, cleverly disguised amidst the wooden cabinetry that nearly lined the end of the room. I assumed the door led to restrooms and wandered over to check it out.

  “So is this where you decide what type of whiskey to purchase?” I asked in a teasing voice. I guessed correctly and there was in fact a men and ladies room past the door.

  “Occasionally,” Gareth replied, though he didn’t add anything and actually moved to the door and back into the lobby.

  I hustled after him and made it to the lobby as he opened the other doorway across the hall. Through door number two was a very long hallway lined with doors on either side. The end of the hall was open and it didn’t look all that different than the hall leading into their living quarters a few floors down. I made no move to go down the hall, simply stood in the doorway gazing about and counting doors. I stopped counting when I hit forty-five. The first few on either side were padlocked.

  Jace came to lean his chin in my shoulder, snuggling himself against my back as he informed me, “The doors with the locks are storage. We keep supplies on hand down here where it’s cool and we don’t have to refrigerate. The rest of the rooms are sleeping quarters for our guards. The pay’s not great, but we provide housing and food for meals for those that choose to work and live here.”

  “That’s a novel approach,” I replied.

  “You’d be amazed at how little sick time you have to deal with.”

  I imagine that was true. When your boss could come and check up on you at any time, it would be hard to fake being ill so you could surf or play hooky or just sleep in. In all the excitement I’d nearly forgotten the two of them ran a business. It was hard to argue with their logic, but might explain why they were so willing to put me up here, just one more person in need of food and shelter. I wondered if I’d be required to bus tables or deliver drinks upstairs.

  Gareth scoffed and gave me a look that said … I don’t think so. Jace just turned his head and bit my neck, reminding me I was still unshielded.

  “I’m not sure our business would survive it,” Jace said when he was done munching on me. I pushed him off my shoulder and rubbed my neck.

  “Well I’m sure I could control myself if you don’t get me all hot and bothered. I mean, I think I could handle a cute guy without, you know… causing a stampede.”

  Both Gareth and Jace frowned and I wondered what I’d said wrong.

  “No shopping.”

  “I agree.”

  “We have to protect our customers.”

  “Yes, it’s a matter of crowd safety.”

  “She stays below during business hours.”

  “And how do you plan to enforce that?”

  Jace actually smiled. “I say we sacrifice ourselves to ensure she’s too tired to leave the bed.”

  “I say we skip the second floor.”

  “We need to know.”

  Gareth just sighed and nodded. “You’re right, let’s go see.”

  Go see what I wondered, giving the long hall another glance before turning back to the elevator.

  “You went to school?” Jace asked, clearly picking up on my earlier thought.

  “Sometimes, my Mother didn’t want me to, but Mi felt it was important that I be exposed, I think that’s the actual word she used, to other individuals my age. Personally I think Mi needed a break from me and shipping me off to school for six or seven hours a day gave her more napping time. I didn’t mind, I got to meet all sorts of races, and non-human schools have some of the finest curriculums, especially since they re-instituted corporal punishment and can actually concentrate on learning.”

  “What does that mean?” Jace asked his face and voice sounding puzzled.

  “Corporal punishment… you know spanking and rapping knuckles with rulers. Well that’s what they used to do to humans; it means a whole different thing to non-humans… sensory depravation rooms for the Weres, films of pre-plague industrialization for the Elves and chambers where the sunlight surrounds a small circle of darkness in the middle where Vamps are made to stand.

  “Sounds barbaric,” Gareth remarked.

  “Yeah well you try to control a couple hundred non-humans and see if that works for you without some type of promised punishment for bad behavior. I tell you, you couldn’t pay me to be a teacher, that’s one tough job!”

  “So,” Jace continued, “Mi was responsible for your instruction.”

  “Yes, but it wasn’t like we sat around in fields of flowers all day and she just yapped at me. Though heaven knows she did enough of that. Just so you don’t think I’m illiterate or anything, I have a business degree from Harvard.”

  “You went to school at Harvard?” Gareth demanded skeptically. I wasn’t certain I liked the sound of surprise in his voice.

  “Actually I never stepped foot on their campus.”

  “Then how did you manage to get a degree?” Jace questioned.

  “I challenged the courses and passed the tests,” I shrugged.

  “That must have been difficult?”

  I just smiled at them, “I was seventeen at the time.” I couldn’t help bragging slightly; after all there aren’t a lot of seventeen year olds that achieve their Masters Degrees from any college, let alone one of the Ivy League schools.

  We’d been standing in the elevator chatting for several minutes with the doors open to the second level. Both Jace and Gareth gave me startled looks and finally stepped out into the now familiar looking lobby area, though this lobby was unadorned with bare floors and rock walls. There wasn’t even a door, just an archway that led to a narrow hall that appeared to bend back on itself so that you couldn’t see where it led.

  The air had a unique tang of musk that sort of hung there invading everything. I licked my lips and concentrated on the smells surrounding me as I stepped from the elevator. The smells reminded me of….a school playground, must be all this reminiscing. No, it definitely smelled like a mixture of sweaty wolf, and cat among other non-human smells. The air tasted like the club upstairs last night without the cloying scent of perfumes to distract from the heady smel
l of male sweat. I licked my lips again and turned an inquiring look at Jace and Gareth, who both seemed a little tense as they watched me closely.

  Whatever was down that hall had them worried. And judging by the smells coming from that direction, whatever it was might well have given them cause for concern…before last night that is. I wasn’t kidding earlier when I said I could control myself. At least I hoped I could. I tilted my head to the side and did a little self-check. Nope I wasn’t having that overwhelming urge to have sex sex sex that I’d been living with for the past six months. Interesting, you would have thought I might have noticed its very lack, what with it occupying my nearly every waking thought for so long. Hmmm. Nope, no urge at all.

  “Do you think that’s a bad thing?” Jace asked in a somewhat worried voice.

  “I don’t know,” Gareth answered, a frown creasing his brow.

  “We didn’t… break her or anything. Did we?”

  “Maybe it’s that she’s satisfied.”

  Jace gave him a pained look. “Say it isn’t so.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “We could…ah check?”

  “This isn’t the place,” Gareth warned sternly.

  “It’s been hours since she looked at us like she did last night.”

  “It hasn’t been that long.”

  “It seems like it.”

  “We’ve been distracted.”

  “That didn’t bother her last night. Hell, a dozen Vampires didn’t distract her!”

  Gareth shot me a worried look to which I gave him a bright sunny smile. Hey if they wanted to know they could just ask, I was having too much fun watching them worry over their problem to feel the need to help resolve it.

  “I think it’s our houseguest.”

  Gareth growled low. “I’m not discussing this now.”

  “You’re going to have to. She has a right to know.”

  “No!”

  “Then she stays with me,” Jace told him bluntly.

  Gareth sucked in a breath and turned his back on the two of us. I shot Jace a worried look only to find he was grinning. I bit my lip as he winked at me, wondering what game it was he was playing at. Before the two of them came to blows, I simply stepped around Gareth and headed down the hall at a fast walk. Not subtle on my part, but then no one had ever accused me of being subtle, so what did I care.

  I nearly made it to the bend in the hall before Jace captured my elbow in his hand. Gareth was right behind him and actually stepped around me as Jace edged me to the side so he could pass. Either they didn’t trust me, or they wanted Gareth to go first to protect me…from what I wasn’t sure.

  The hall stretched on for another thirty feet or so, the smells getting stronger the closer we got to the end. Inside me Goldy rolled over in her cave and wrinkled her snout as she sat up and glanced around. One word slipped from her, Food? And I nearly stumbled as we reached the opening. Goldy had never expressed interest in feeding before, not even during my teenage rebellion phase when we snuck out for midnight flights. That she would do so here, underground, was more than a little disturbing.

  Jace’s grip on my elbow tightened slightly as we reached the opening and Gareth moved to the side. I sucked in my breath, nearly gagging on the smell as my gaze traveled over the huge cavern below us set up like one gigantic gym or training area. My eyes swept from left to right, taking in the climbing wall and what looked like an obstacle course, boxing ring, floor mats, and weight training area complete with pommel horses and ceiling rings. Big ceiling fans rotated slowly circulating the air, and I could see vents in the walls, apparently overworked but still pumping in fresh air. I had wondered.

  In the very back was what looked like an Olympic sized three-lane pool? And there were people everywhere, mostly men but there were some women, too. Everyone was busy sparring, wrestling and lifting weights; some were running on the smooth track that circled the entire space.

  “Wow!” This made the workout area I’d set up in my basement look very small indeed. I was suddenly excited at the prospect. I’d grown up working out daily with whatever sparring partners Mom could dredge up for me from local dojos.

  When I’d been about eight, I’d gone through an awkward stage and both Mom and Mi had decided that marshal arts would be a good way to learn balance as well as self-defense, something they both agreed I would need. My training wasn’t classical, since I’d been forced to learn from whoever was available. Consequently, my sparring style was a mixture of everything from old school boxing, learned from an Irish Werebitch in Chicago, to the more classic forms of marshal arts taught in dojos across the US.

  “I think she approves.”

  “She doesn’t seem bothered by them,” Gareth responded, and I could see some of the tension ease out of his shoulders and back as he walked toward the four or five stairs that led down to the main floor below us.

  I smiled at Jace and pulled my elbow out of his grip so I could follow after Gareth. He let me go reluctantly, almost as if he was hoping I might have had a different reaction. Poor man!

  People were starting to notice us. Those closest to the stairs had stopped what they were doing to turn in our direction. I watched the women closely, wondering if my hall mate might be among those here in the room. Our arrival created a wave of disruption that quickly spread until everyone stopped what they were doing to look at us.

  Most of the faces looked expectant as if Gareth and Jace joined them regularly and that there might be an opportunity to test their skills. Others noted my arrival and exchanged speculative looks with their neighbors. I noted their faces pegging them as the type that might need a little one on one with me on the sparring mats to engineer some respect. We’d come back to that later, I promised myself, as I continued to glance about the room. It was no different than stepping into any dojo anywhere, and I was used to being sized up and found wanting. Usually because I was playing Plain Jane and didn’t look all that. Today I suspected it was because I came wearing a dress, my hair in disarray from our earlier encounter with Spot, being propped up by Jace. A misleading first impression if ever there was one.

  Of course, not everyone reacted like I was some bit of fluff. Across the room I picked out at least two of the men that had been on the landing last night, though I didn’t see the man that had actually shot me. Lucky him. Those two weren’t making eye contact; in fact their body language nearly screamed submission when my glance swept over them. I wasn’t sure if it was their submissive look or the sudden feeling of imminent threat that caused me to hesitate on the stairs. I just know that it pulled my gaze sharply to the right in time to see a very large, very angry woman heading our way, and I had no doubt I was about to meet the occupant of the room across the hall. She of the tight leather, spiky short blond hair, and amazing lack of spatial hygiene.

  Jace passed me on the steps, coming to stand directly below me. I lifted a hand to rest on his shoulder, not to reassure myself as it might have looked, but so that I could push him out of my way if I needed to. Judging by the look on her face I’d probably need to.

  Gareth took a step toward her and I growled at him, deep and low and threatening. The sound caused my hair to stand on end and I’m not sure which of us it shocked more. But after looking at my face he gave a nod and took back the step so that he was no longer standing between me and the oncoming freight train. If I was going to live here I was going to have to prove myself, and I flashed him a grateful smile, letting him know I appreciated his understanding and consideration.

  Jace, on the other hand, wasn’t nearly as accommodating and refused to give in to the subtle pressure I exerted on his shoulder. I wanted him to shift to the side, out of my way, but he planted his feet and refused to be moved.

  I sighed in irritation but gave up and simply stood there as calmly as I could, given the look of absolute hatred being aimed my way. Inside me Goldy tensed and lifted her muzzle again, running her tongue over her teeth as if trying to erase a nasty taste fro
m her mouth…Troll! She whispered and flexed her claws at our mortal enemy. Trolls and Dragons do not get along. That would explain…..a lot. I turned to look at Gareth in shock. He’d been sleeping with a Troll? No wonder Jace was having issues….good grief! I suddenly had the urge for a bath... the very thought made my skin crawl! No way were we sharing Gareth with a Troll! One of us was going to have to go, now!

  I felt a piercing sense of joy from Jace as he moved to the side. Apparently my reaction satisfied him and he shifted out of our way, moving off the stairs to stand with arms crossed, face covered in a smug smile. Gareth lifted his hand in my direction and might have taken a step toward me, but it was too late. This time both Goldy and I were in complete accord, as I dove off the step and shifted mid-air. One stroke of my wings and I was on her, carrying her to the ground in my claws, my weight forcing her onto her back.

  She let out a roar and swung at my leg with a large fist. I flexed my claws, squeezing her chest, and reached for her neck with my teeth, wanting nothing more than to tear out her throat. She managed to get a forearm between us and I felt extreme satisfaction as the bone gave with a loud snapping noise. She started screaming obscenities at me and I flapped my wings once, lifting myself slightly before I slammed back onto her, stopping her foul mouthed utterances in a grunt, as I momentarily cut off her air.

  She wrapped her legs around my front foot and started squeezing. Trolls are very strong and hard to kill so it wasn’t a surprise when the pressure caused me to hiss in pain. I just wanted this over as quickly as possible. One less Troll in the world would suit me just fine. I let go of her arm and glanced up, my gaze focusing in on the water at the other end of the cave. She was too heavy to fly with, but I managed to flap my wings as I wrapped my claws as far around her torso as I could get, then started running across the floor, dragging her over mats and knocking over whatever apparatus happened to be in my way. People dodged for safety as we limped-ran the length of the room, my wings pumping at my back, her screaming at me and trying to bite, kick and claw me while being dragged along.