I didn’t hesitate as I reached the edge of the pool, simply dragged her in over the edge into the deep end, holding her under while I was able to keep my head above the surface. Her weight, like a rock, sunk immediately and I merely had to hold her under until she stopped moving. Trolls may be tough on land, but none of them can swim and you can only hold your breath for so long. Even Trolls needed air to breathe to stay alive.
When I felt her heart stop beating beneath my foot, I raised my head and let out a piercing scream that reverberated off the surrounding walls like some huge echo chamber. I left her there as a final insult, made my way to the edge of the pool, and heaved myself out of the water.
The entire episode hadn’t taken more than a few moments and everyone was either picking themselves up off the floor from where they had dived for safety or were simply staring at me in shock. I gave myself a shake and lifted into the air, figuring I’d just cement my status with a victory lap. I came in for a landing and shifted as my feet touched down, stepping dry and completely dressed before Jace and Gareth and realized not everyone was as pleased with me as I was with myself.
Both men looked shocked and disheveled, as if they had been wrestling while I’d been busy eliminating the competition. I could only assume that Gareth had tried to intercede and Jace had prevented him from doing so. I took a moment to look them over and decided that neither had understood the seriousness of the situation. Had they honestly thought I would allow a Troll to share housing? Granted I’d never gone Troll hunting before, but that didn’t mean I had to tolerate living with one. And it wasn’t like she had been on her way toward me to shake my hand and play nicey nice.
“You just…” Gareth sputtered, waving an arm toward the pool.
“I didn’t think you’d actually kill her,” Jace commented.
“What, you thought I’d just stand there and let her kill me first?” I demanded, placing my hands on my hips and quickly becoming annoyed with them. “You thought….what, that you could put the two of us under the same roof and expect we’d all live in happy harmony? And you’re how old?” I demanded, my voice actually rising so that it carried out over the floor. “How incredibly stupid can you be! My God I just killed that … that thing! You couldn’t even freaking warn me it was in here! And this is how you plan to protect me?” I huffed, stomping up to them and poking first one then the other in the chest with a stiff finger. Obviously I was having some sort of post traumatic syndrome, since I was actually shouting. I never shouted. I would not feel guilty about protecting myself!
Taking a step back, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath…count to ten, count to ten. My voice dropped to a whisper as I finished, “Are there any other nasty surprises you’re hiding, or have you made a big enough fool of me for the day?”
Jace sucked in air and reached for me. I neatly sidestepped him and held up one hand. “Don’t touch me,” I warned, slamming shut my shields and actually enjoying the fact that he jerked in pain. By that point I was too angry and hurt to tolerate his hands on me. “Obviously I can’t leave so could you just take me downstairs? I’d like to be alone.”
Gareth and Jace got into an argument, nearly coming to blows, as I watched in stony silence. When it was over, it was Nick that led me back to the elevator, using his card key to access the doors. Neither of us spoke as we rode the elevator, but when he opened the door from the foyer, he held it slightly closed until I glanced up at him. He searched my face for a moment then cupped his hand below my cheek, catching the golden teardrop that had slipped from my eye to trail silently down my face. He held it in his open palm before curling his fingers over it oh so gently, as if it was a precious treasure. And perhaps it was, Dragon tears being so rare.
He let the door close as he reached for me and I went into his arms, needing the comfort. We just stood there in silence, he resting his chin on my head while my body shook and cried out my heartache. When I finally got control of myself he let me go, giving me a lopsided grin before turning efficiently to the door and once again scanning it open. He stopped me again when I would have stepped through.
“Thank you,” he told me, giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze.
I looked at him and wondered why he would be thanking me. He must have seen my confusion because he continued, “for eliminating the most dangerous threat to their security.”
Ah, so it wasn’t just me that thought having a Troll hanging around wasn’t a great idea. They tended to be self-serving and not at all trustworthy. Not to mention, again, the entire mortal enemy thing. What had Gareth been thinking!
Nick smiled at me and gave me a wink. “It was nicely done and nothing to be ashamed of. You were right; she would have slit your throat in a heartbeat. I suspect the only reason she hadn’t slit their throats was because she wanted something badly.”
Obviously I hadn’t been thinking clearly and suddenly it just clicked, the security measures, the guards, the onsite housing, the huge work out area and the bloodless nighttime visitors…not exactly a coincidence. Wow, how naive could I be? “Hey Nick,” I asked, wondering just what was going on around here, “those pesky bloodsuckers that made a house call last night…that had nothing to do with me, did it?”
Amazing! Nick went from friendly to stoic in less than a second. I’d spent way too much time hanging around base medical hospitals growing up to not recognize that look. It fairly screamed x-Military. It was the look that said…you can pull my nails out and I won’t talk.
“Now, no need to go all Jar Head on me,” I told him with a tired smile. “It’s not like I don’t have my own baggage. And by the way, if the boys haven’t told you yet, it’s considerable. If they don’t get around to sharing the finer points with you, come see me and I’ll give you the details. Obviously you take your job seriously and apparently I’ve become part of it.”
“Thank you,” he told me, thawing slightly, “though you don’t do so badly yourself.”
Strong praise, especially, I suspected, coming from him. “Yeah, that’s me, able to leap tall buildings, stampede entire crowds, and kill female Trolls all in a day’s work.”
He actually grinned and held the door open for me. “It’s Green Beret, not Jar Head,” he told me, as I walked through the door and down the hall.
Chapter 13
I am soaring, my golden wings stretched out to capture the currents as I ride the cool black velvety night air. Stars twinkle across the sky, a full moon edging over the tops of tall pines laid out below me and reflecting off of the ocean water lapping the shore. The moon is a dark red, caused by the pollution still being pumped into the atmosphere despite the Elves’ best efforts. Humans will never learn.
The feeling of freedom is incredible, and I twist my body into a spiral, looping several times, the tips of my wings just missing the treetops. I can feel life everywhere. A family of fat gray squirrels stirs in their nest as I pass. Off to my left a herd of deer freezes, alert to my presence, their hearts accelerating and fearful as I, a hunter, pass over their heads. But tonight I only need to fly, to throw myself across the sky and taste the scents on the damp night air.
And then I am not alone. Looking up, I see a dark shadow plummeting down from above. Fear clenches at my heart and I veer sharply left. The shadow is closer now, dropping from the sky like a stone heading straight to me. Black wings, black body, cloaked in night, its size eclipsing me. An anguished cry escapes my throat as I plummet to the ground.
Silver arms reach out to catch me, cradling me against a muscular chest. Multi-faceted eyes gaze down at me from a sculpted face. I am no longer in Dragon form, my golden body and wings having shifted. Above us the black beast bugles an angry scream which splits the night and chases gooseflesh across my naked skin. I feel its anger pressing down on me, pressing in on me, invading my mind. I close my eyes and bury my face against my protector’s chest, breathing deeply of his sharp musky scent, letting him fill my nostrils and sooth my burning throat and lungs.
I op
en my eyes and I am in a cavern. I can feel the weight of the Earth pressing down on me from above, comforting. The clean smell of rich dirt fills my senses. I am surrounded by Dragon, cradled gently against the soft belly of a huge silver beast. I can feel its warmth pressing into my back. Turning my head, I gaze into his huge silver eye and thoughts of love and caring overwhelm me. A golden tear slides down my cheek and is flicked away by the Beast’s tongue. In my mind I hear him speak my name, telling me I must go. Turning, I wrap my arms about his body, clinging to his strength. No! Please don’t send me away, my mind screams. Yet I am torn away like a leaf in the wind.
I woke in the dark, thrashing about with someone leaning over me. My initial reaction was swift as I sent my fist into their kidney and followed up with a raised knee. A startled curse filled the air and an additional set of hands reached for me. My breath was coming in gasps when Jace leaned his face in to mine and yelled my name, effectively stopping my struggles while Gareth flopped over onto the bed beside me moaning in pain. I suppose the knee to his groin wasn’t pleasant.
“Was that necessary?” Jace asked calmly, nodding his head at Gareth who was still breathing heavy and trying not to hold his manly parts.
I covered my face with my arm and tried to regulate my breathing. The dream usually left me disoriented and it was going to take a few seconds to settle my reactions. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t worry about Gareth’s discomfort just yet; I was too busy with my own.
“Next time don’t grab me,” I mumbled from under my arm.
“Gareth couldn’t wake you,” Jace responded, as he sat himself next to me on the bed.
“Yeah well, you’ve been warned.”
“Does this happen often?” Gareth wheezed from beside me.
I turned my head and glanced at him, noticing that he was fully dressed, in different clothing than I had left him upstairs. I looked at Jace who was also in different clothes and wondered what time it was. I’d come back to my room and passed out on my freshly made bed, after a lengthy swim with Spot, who hadn’t minded my tears and who had cheered me by frisking around in the water with me playing tag and racing me from shore to shore. He’d received a good scratching with the sand for his efforts. “Yes,” I admitted, then pushed myself into a sitting position and wrapped my arms around my knees. I had carried my clothing back from the pool and laid them across the foot of the bed. In the light from my bathroom I could see that they were gone.
“I’m sorry I bothered you. Were you just going to work?” I asked, pushing back my now dry hair and realizing that it must be later than I realized if my hair wasn’t still damp. I was so going to need to get a clock.
They glanced at each other. And Gareth’s voice was nearer normal as he informed me. “We ah….felt your distress,” he told me cautiously as if he thought I’d be worried about the fact that I’d been broadcasting again. Or maybe he thought I wouldn’t like that the two of them could hear me through a couple hundred feet of rock.
Did I? Hmmm …no real downside there, after all if I had been in trouble it was nice to know someone could hear me and would come running. “It was just a dream,” I told them, smiling a little to let them know I appreciated that they cared enough to worry.
Jace frowned at me as if he didn’t like what that implied and reached over to slip a lock of hair behind my ear. “Or course we care,” he chided.
“Would you like to talk about it?” Gareth asked.
I shrugged and rested my cheek on my kneecap. “It’s just a dream I’ve been having for a while. It’s always the same.”
“The ah… the black. Have you ever actually seen him? Outside of your dream, I mean?” Gareth asked quietly.
“No, I’ve never seen either of them; you two are the only Dragons I’ve ever met in person,” I told him, my eyes watching his face as he frowned. Hmmm, compressing his cupid bows again I thought, and then sat up straight when he grinned at me. I was so not letting him off the hook that easily.
He gave me a lopsided smile and said, “I’m sorry, doesn’t unmanning me count as punishment enough?”
Jace ignored the two of us and responded, “He goes by the name Dane. He’s a bit of a bastard young and very cocky.”
“Something was different about him. Now I suspect he didn’t cross over,” Gareth added meaningfully.
“He showed up in our club over a year ago looking for someone.”
“He wouldn’t say who.”
My eyes swung between the two of them as understanding dawned. This Dane person was one of my potential mates? And he wasn’t only stalking my dreams, but maybe me too. Oh that couldn’t be good.
“He had an Irish accent. I’d have pegged him as Black Irish thug like, if you get my meaning. Made our customers nervous and not in the same way you did,” he added when he saw the startled look I shot him.
“You didn’t like him because he had that little Jaguar you were dating all hot and bothered.”
Jace shot him a disgusted look and replied, “He seemed a little too intense to me, driven or something.”
Gareth nodded to agree, ignoring the look Jace gave him. “Very intense.”
Oh goodie, arrogant and a thug. Not exactly my perfect date material. Not that I’d ever been on a date, but I wondered how dear old Dad would feel about that.
“Hmmm,” Gareth replied to my unspoken comment.
I glanced at him sharply and asked the question I so needed an answer to. “You know him don’t you?” I demanded eagerly.
Gareth just shook his head and I turned hopeful eyes to Jace who had a look of apology on his face. “We don’t know him,” Jace responded. “Though I didn’t sense any… ah.” He waved his hand and I just looked at him in confusion.
“He means he didn’t sense any urge on the Silver’s behalf to mate with you,” Gareth finished for him.
That was a big leap, assuming every male would want to mate with me and therefore those that didn’t couldn’t be what… normal? Or had to be my father by virtue of the fact that they didn’t have sex with me? I may have been born at night, but I was pretty sure I wasn’t born last night! I think I actually made a scoffing noise.
Jace frowned at me and might have said something but Gareth interrupted him. “I think the main point is that we’ve never met the Silver. And for all we know, he could be your father, or one of the ten, or one of any number of Dragons that crossed over. There aren’t that many that settled here, but that isn’t to say that they aren’t out there. I didn’t get any sense of where the dream takes place. It could be anywhere on this world.”
Jace frowned and offered, “Actually there aren’t that many places where pine trees and oceans combine. In fact, if I had to guess I’d say it was somewhere along the West Coast, maybe up into Canada or even Alaska. You said your father went into hiding….maybe he crossed over into Canada. That would have prevented the majority of his enemies from tracking him. He could have flown over the border with none the wiser and found some nice forested place to make a den…go into deep sleep or just merge in with the population and carry on his testing in private.”
I sighed, “I suppose.”
“And,” Jace added, “we also know we don’t like the Black, he’s simply not good enough for you. And since your father isn’t here, you’ll just have to take our word on that. If he shows up again, we’ll give him the bum’s rush.”
I frowned and informed him, “If he shows up again I have to meet with him. No matter how much you dislike him. I don’t have the luxury of being picky. That’s the deal.”
Jace and Gareth both frowned at me. “Yes that was the deal,” Gareth responded. Jace just grunted.
“Get up and get dressed,” Jace told me briskly as both he and Gareth slipped from my bed.
“Why?”
“Because we are taking you out to dinner. You did say you’d never been on a date before?” And at my nod he continued. “So hop in the shower and doll yourself up while we go change. We’ll wait for you out
in the living room.”
“But what about the club, don’t you need to work?” I asked their backs.
“It’s under control,” Gareth responded over his shoulder as he pulled the door shut behind him on his way into the hall.
I sat on my bed for a moment wondering what had just happened. Had I been asked out on a date, or had I just been informed I was going? Hmmm… mostly the latter I suspected. Maybe because they weren’t sure I’d say yes to the former. Smart men! I was still miffed with them, but apparently they’d been willing to forgive me for slaying the Troll if I would forgive them for not warning me. Maybe it was best to let it go. Water under the Troll Bridge and all that, I thought, then chuckled at my own joke as I hopped off the bed and headed to the shower. I was so going to need help. I wondered if Areth or Snick did hair.
It took me a while, but between the three of us we managed to get me presentable. It turned out that both Snick and Areth did hair. Between the two of them they spent more time arguing over what to do with me than it actually took them to do it. I glanced at myself in the mirror before leaving the bathroom and gave them both a smile.
My hair was swept up off my neck and piled on my head with some sort of chopsticks which Areth assured me could also be used as weapons, since they were very pointy and made of wood. I suspected they were the upgrade to Jace’s hairbrush. My lashes looked incredibly long and the shadow she had used on my eyes made them look huge. A shinny lip-gloss drew attention to my lips and balanced out my cheekbones, which with my hair up looked pronounced. My skin was the warm color of golden honey, and blended well with the dress that Snick had reverently carried into the restroom and helped me into. Like the pictures in the front room, it was a mixture of gold, green and blue. Starting at the neckline in gold and darkening through various shades of green to darkest blue at the flirty hem. The dress ended just above the knee and tended to swing freely when I walked. The neckline was low and prohibited me from wearing a bra. The back was…non-existent except for golden cording which held the dress in place and prevented me from flashing too much breast when I moved. Tiny little panties that matched the overall color scheme accompanied the outfit, as well as dark blue high heels.
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