“You know we’ve been here in San Francisco off and on for several hundred years. And of course you know that we Dragons, especially the drakes can be… territorial?” He glanced up at me when I nodded and went back to playing with the hair at his temples. “In addition to training fighters, we’ve held this land, through whatever means necessary, for a very long time. At first it was Indians, then the Spanish, then claim jumpers and on and on. Fast forward to the time just after the plagues and we found ourselves overrun with non-humans. That’s when we went to the Government for sanction. Because of who and what we are, our obligation included not just eliminating potential threats, but from time to time we are called on to act as ambassadors.”
“To who?”
He reached for my hand and turned my wrist to his mouth, kissing the sensitive skin for a moment. “You would be surprised who has occupied the chairs in that room upstairs.”
“Okay, well that’s all interesting, but what has it got to do with me staying home nights?”
He sighed and pressed my wrist against his cheek. “We may be the only drakes in this area, but we’re not the only….leaders of our respective communities, shall we say. And you have caused a bit of a stir in the supernatural underworld.”
“So the non-human head crooks don’t like me, so what?”
“So my beautiful little naive gold,” Gareth told me, as he released my wrist and pushed himself up. “They’ve called a conclave and we’ll be hosting it.”
“So you have a few folks over for a bitch session. What is that supposed to prove?”
“Well,” he told me calmly, “it was supposed to be an act of good faith.”
Whatever he was hedging about, I wished he’d just come out and tell me. I was having a couple of issues with the fact that he would willingly sit down with the head bad guys, or maybe it was just their lackeys they’d be sending? Personally, it sounded like a great time to clean house. Get them all in a room and eliminate them.
“Much as I’d like to do that…I’m honor bound to offer them safe passage. The rules are very clear. And don’t discount the fact that while some may be criminals, getting rid of them is not necessarily a good idea.”
“What? Is this a case of the devil you know versus the one you don’t?”
He nodded. “Disruption of power tends to create problems on a larger scale. Besides, while they are here they will be under our protection.”
“And what happens if they break your rules?” I wanted to know.
He smiled and I couldn’t help the small shiver up my spine. “Then their lives are forfeit. It is the one thing everyone agrees on. And it tends to keep them on their best behavior.”
“So why is your hosting the meeting an act of good faith?”
He leaned forward and placed his hands on my shoulders, looking me directly in the eyes. “Because Lexi… Jace and I have allowed a hunter to enter our territory and she’s been systematically eliminating our fellow non-humans. We are being called to task for not having dealt with the problem. You might say it’s a question of honor.”
“You haven’t dealt with me and so they are going to slap your wrist? When is this meeting and exactly how long ago was it scheduled?”
Gareth took another deep breath and released my shoulders. “It’s this week and we’ve been planning it for more than a month.”
I had to stop and think for a moment what day it was, not only did I need to start wearing my new watch; I was also going to need a calendar. The world was moving on outside, but time seemed to stretch down here underground. “So what happened two nights ago upstairs ….?”
“…. Has caused chatter but no one has tied the two together… yet.”
“And if they do?”
“We will deal with that when it happens.” And his voice had gone silky smooth and dangerous. “Don’t mistake me Lexi, I will protect you. I’d prefer for it not to come to full out war, but there are several elements living in this city that I wouldn’t mind eliminating.”
“We will protect you,” Jace added from behind me. I’d been so focused on Gareth that I hadn’t noticed his approach. “No matter what! Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to the what.”
I smiled at the two of them. “So do you think if you tell them you’ve found and domesticated me they’ll back off?”
“I think they’d demand we give them your head on a platter,” Jace told me bluntly.
“Or worse” Gareth responded.
What could be worse than killing me I wondered?
“I don’t think you’d like being a demon’s concubine or enslaved to a master Vampire.”
“I thought demons only had power over non-humans that started out human, like Vampires and weres?”
“Normally they do.”
“Then how could I end up as a concubine to one?”
Gareth frowned slightly. “It could be done as easily as slipping you a potion so you are less inhibited and give up your will. Demons are bound by a unique set of rules, they can’t force themselves on others, but they can trick you into giving over your control, in exchange for some power or wealth usually. While they may not be able to control us, there are other less metaphysical ways to lose yourself to them.”
“Speaking of which….” Jace started, but Gareth cut him short with a frown.
“It is immaterial since we won’t be introducing you as the bane of San Francisco’s underbelly.”
“Oh okay, so we’re going with the don’t ask, don’t tell approach. Am I supposed to be your visiting niece from Alta or something?” Alta was an abandoned ghost town in the middle of the Rockies that was supposedly one of several gateways to the Everlasting.
Both of them frowned at me. “It’s too late to hide her,” Gareth remarked.
“Fine, but that doesn’t mean we have to introduce her.”
“They know she’s here and what she is.”
“They think they know what she is,” Jace corrected.
Gareth nodded and glanced at me with a thoughtful look.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “They think I’ve got dangly parts don’t they?”
Jace grinned and chuckled, although I was having problems seeing the humor in the situation.
“She could shimmer,” Gareth offered.
“She’d have to be someone else, not the ugly little brown thing she’s been.”
“I’m not ugly!” I snapped at him and had to restrain myself from smacking him when he looked at me like I was an idiot.
“Whatever,” Jace told me with a dismissive wave. “You can’t be her.”
“Why not? No one will even notice me.”
“Because if they track you back to your Mother, your poaching will be the least of our worries. I don’t think you want to end up as sushi in some lab do you?”
“Oh yeah, that.” Funny how my other problems just sort of overshadowed that one. “If I can’t be Plain Jane anymore, why can’t I just stay like this? It’s not like I’m going to be able to hide what I am. I can’t exactly mask my smell.”
Gareth and Jace glanced at each other. “How did you manage to survive without being outted sooner?” Gareth questioned. “I would have thought someone somewhere would have commented on it…that it might have raised questions?”
I thought about it for a minute and then replied. “I think it helped being with Mi and my Mother. And Dragons aren’t that common, besides most people just see what they want.”
“All true,” Jace added. “But if I had to guess, it had more to do with the way you looked than anything else. Let’s face it; no one would have suspected you were Dragon looking the way you did. I don’t believe any of us have ever been accused of being homely.”
Chapter 18
“We need to take care of some business upstairs,” Gareth told me. “Nothing life altering, I just need to do some scheduling and Jace needs to handle payroll issues. Will you be okay for a few hours?”
“Sure,” I told him, snuggling down on the bla
nket. “I think I might just take a nap here and then go unpack my stuff… or what’s left of it,” I muttered.
He leaned over and pushed back a lock of my hair before giving me a kiss on the cheek. “Rest now and we’ll be back in a little while. Spot will make sure no one bothers you while you sleep.” And then he rose and walked toward the door leaving me with Jace.
“We will need to speak to Nick. As head of Security he deserves to know some of what he is dealing with. I trust him and believe you can too. In spite of what you might believe, he was very impressed with your abilities upstairs and I think he will ask you to assist with training, I hope you accept. Those folks upstairs may be called on to fight beside you. It will help if they respect and trust you. Let Snick know when you are ready so I can send Nick down. I’ll leave it up to you to decide how much you want to tell him.”
He had pulled his clothing back on, and instead of leaning down to kiss me, he knelt and pulled me into his arms. Laying his cheek on my head he whispered, “More precious than gold, and I suspect you’ll be just as hard to hold on to.” Then he kissed my lips and while my head was still spinning, he gently released me and was striding through the door.
I watched him go, and then closed my eyes. It had been a full morning, and I still hadn’t had any coffee. I was so going to have to talk to Areth about that, I thought, as I settled more comfortably on the sand and allowed myself to drift off to sleep.
I smelled smoke… no brimstone. Opening one eyelid, I found myself staring directly into one huge white eyeball. Apparently Spot had crept onto the blanket with me while I’d slept. Well at least part of him had anyway. Most of him was still on the sand, just his head and a good portion of his neck actually fit. He was lying on his belly with his face even with mine. Ever had the feeling someone was starring at you while you slept? Must have been what woke me.
Realizing I was awake, he made soft cuffing noises and blew his warm breath over my face, causing the tendrils of hair at my temples to blow backwards in the mini breeze. “Whoa boy, no singeing the eyebrows,” I told him playfully, then reached out to give him a scratch above his eye ridge where I knew he liked it best. He made more happy noises as I sat up and straightened my robe, probably thinking I was going to join him for a swim or a rousing game of keep away. Come to think of it, I was probably lucky he hadn’t stolen my robe while I was sleeping…. he was such a thief!
Spot grumbled when I got up, then he scampered back to the water, flinging sand and blanket all over me. I stood there and brushed at my face and decided what the heck, I could use a swim to loosen my muscles anyway. After my workouts earlier and then sleeping on the sand I was just a little tight. Dropping my robe I ran into the water after him. Spot let out a honk and dove under the water. I chased him down and grabbed his tail, letting him drag me under the water and halfway across the pool before I let go and surfaced. He disappeared for a few minutes and when he came back, sure enough he had my shoe in his teeth.
A good hour later I drug myself out of the water, giving Spot a last scratch as I grabbed up my robe and headed for my room. I was in serious need of some conditioner for my curly mop and a comb before I met Nick and filled him in on my life’s story. Well at least part of my life, the less people that knew about my test tube beginnings the better.
My room was dark and cool and devoid of any boxes. Areth had been here and unpacked for me. Obviously that wasn’t all she’d done since my room was now decorated, and while I couldn’t be certain… it just looked bigger. The color scheme had changed too. No longer was it bare floor and rock walls with a bed to one side. Now the beech colored hardwood floors gleamed warm and rich in the low lighting, covered here and there with throw rugs. Two of the walls were paneled in a similar wood and one was draped in folds of gold and the palest of blue and green. The bedding had been replaced in a similar color scheme done up in broad stripes. A new dresser sat against the wall, complete with vanity, and I could see that several of my pictures had been set up on it. Against the last wall was a floor to ceiling book case made out of a wood painted dark red. There were books on the shelves and all sorts of knick knack and cubby holes. And I could see that many of my treasures had been placed in special holders. On one end of the book case a built-in desk was set up, complete with drop lighting and what looked like a brand new PC and large flat screen monitor mounted directly onto the wall.
Several large paintings hung about the room, one depicting Dragons in flight, and I could tell from the second moon in the painting, that this was not a memory of this world. In the picture the skies were filled with flights of Dragons of all colors and shapes. It was an awe inspiring picture and I knew I could spend hours just tracing the flight patterns and picking out each individual Dragon’s characteristics. It was amazing.
Hanging next to it on the wall was another large picture, and this one stole my breath with its sheer color and beauty. I walked to the painting and just stared at it, amazed at the detail and fineness of the individuals portrayed. It was a picture of Faerie like I’d never dreamt. Depicted on the canvas were all manner of creatures, but the painting was dominated by a group of Elves dressed in the finest of garments, laughing and singing as they danced to music played for them by a red gold haired woman whose back faced me as she played her flute, a golden flute, a golden flute that looked just like mine. I turned slowly toward the bookcase and the center where my flute rested on its velvet covered holder. The section had a light that shone directly on the instrument, sending reflections bouncing off the shiny surface and onto the sides of the knick knack area so that it looked like it was radiating light.
I glanced back at the picture and felt a premonition run up my spine. I shook it off and wandered over to the last picture, possibly the most disturbing of all since it was a portrait of me….surrounded by quite a few men. Yet there were only five that I recognized, Jace and Gareth stood to either side glancing down at me, their faces in profile. Jace had his hand on my lower back and Gareth held my hand in his. All of us were dressed in evening attire. The men wore tuxes and I was in a ball gown of palest gold, off the shoulder and cut low. I looked like a princess with a circlet of filigree gold holding back my red-gold tresses. Jace’s vest and cravat were emerald green, Gareth’s was royal blue.
Directly behind me stood the man from my dreams, the one that never failed to catch me when I fell from the sky, there to comfort me. His hair was swept back from his temples and his eyes shined proudly. Both hands rested on my shoulders and I couldn’t help noticing the platinum colored wedding band on the third finger of his right hand. I couldn’t help noticing it because it was the male version of the one that my Mother wore on a chain around her neck. Apparently this was my Father, and I stared at him for several minutes. I supposed you could say I was looking for answers. I sighed and ran my finger over his face, wishing I knew where he was.
My gaze shifted to the other men spread out behind me and across the room, some standing, others leaning against walls or chairs with their arms crossed, all of them wearing tuxes, their vests and cravats in various shades. All of them had their faces in darkness. It wasn’t that they appeared headless for you could clearly see that they were glancing toward me, it was more that they were in shadow…unknown, their features hazy. Yet it was clear that they were each individuals, in different shapes and sizes, just faceless. I counted ten. Apparently these were my custom designed mates. There appeared to be two that were spatially closer than the others. One was clearly red and the other, just slightly behind the red, was black… I guessed this must be Dane. I leaned toward the painting trying to make out features, unfortunately it didn’t help. The best I could say was that the red was slightly smaller than Dane appeared. Not in height but in bulk. Jace had described him as Black Irish; I would have said he looked like a bruiser. One I wasn’t particularly looking forward to meeting.
At my feet were four other men, all kneeling with their heads bowed. One was clearly an Elf, and though his face was av
erted, I could tell by the shape of his ear and the color of his skin. He had pale blond hair held back in a leather strap. There was one other man with pointed ears but he was clearly not Elf, though what he was I couldn’t say. The shape of his body and the black color and rough texture of his hair indicated to me that he was something else. He was actually the closest to me. Next to him knelt Owen, the only one of the four whose face I could see and whom I recognized. The last knelt between Owen and the one closest to me. This man had swarthy skin with long black hair that was tipped in silver and swept the floor. His face was in profile and I could swear there was just a hint of red in his eye. He reminded me of a full size male version of Areth and I had to wonder if he wasn’t part demon. All of the men kneeling were dressed as assassins, complete with weapons that I could see, and probably several that were hidden.
It appeared that Areth had decorated with my future in mind.
I showered and got my hair under control. I pulled on the sleeveless rust colored dress with matching sweater left on my bed, and headed to the living room. I was fairly certain that Nick would be waiting for me since I’d mentioned needing to chat with him while I’d been dressing. Actually I’d been opening and closing my dresser drawers wondering if I’d find anything in them or if I’d continue to have everything laid out for me. Sure enough, what I found was spare sheets and bath towels. Not exactly what you’d expect to find in your underwear drawer but I suppose Areth was serious about serving me and hey, who was I to complain?
Nick was standing in the hall looking at our Dragon picture when I came through the door. He shifted slightly and watched me walk to him. “Hi there. Looking for me?” I asked as I walked up beside him.
“This is amazing,” he replied and turned back toward the picture.
“It just showed up yesterday.”
Dragon Lust Page 20
