city of dragons 07 - fire and flood

by Val St. Crowe

  “You’re kicking us out?” I said to Stan. “Really?”

  “I’m very sorry for the inconvenience,” he said. But again, he didn’t sound sorry.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Now before you start yelling at me about taking off the talisman,” said Lachlan, “just remember that these dragons will protect us.”

  I was nursing Wyatt, who’d woken up only a few minutes ago. We were sitting on the couch in the suite while Lachlan paced near the doorway to the bedroom. The bedroom cut a square into the entire suite, leaving an L-shaped area to surround it. The living area, where I was sitting with Wyatt, was in one leg of the L, and the kitchenette and bathroom around the corner.

  “Right now, they are not protecting us,” I said. “They’re just getting us kicked out of this hotel.”

  “Well, you know that if I put the talisman back on, all those rogues will turn into monsters, and we’ll have to kill them,” said Lachlan. “I don’t expect they’ll let us stay after that.”

  “Yeah, especially since you said they were mentally-challenged relatives,” I muttered.

  Wyatt popped off my breast to point at the window and gurgle.

  I turned to look. There was a dragon outside the window.

  Wyatt grinned, pushing out of my lap and toddling over to the window to get a closer look.

  I groaned. “I thought he’d stop being so interested in them after his powers were gone.”

  “Oh, any kid would be interested in them,” said Lachlan. “Besides, he associates dragons with you. He and I watch you fly, you know.”

  Lachlan was right. I would often go out to the back of the house and jump into the water and shift. Lachlan and Wyatt would stand on the front porch and watch me swoop over the water, fly as high as I could. I rubbed my forehead. I guessed it was okay for Wyatt to be that close to the dragon. It was under Lachlan’s power, after all.

  Lachlan came over and knelt down behind Wyatt. “You see the dragon out there, buddy?”

  Wyatt nodded, a big smile on his face. He pointed and made a string of noises.

  “Did you hear that?” said Lachlan, beaming at me. “He said dragon.”

  “Maybe,” I said. Personally, I didn’t think it sounded anything like dragon. But Wyatt should be trying to start talking soon, I supposed. He was almost seventeen months old. “Lachlan, we have nowhere to stay. Should I start checking online for other nearby hotels? You think any other place is going to be okay with all these dragons?”

  “If you want me to put on the talisman—”

  “I’m not saying you should put on the talisman!” I got up off the couch, feeling frustrated and worried. It felt like we were homeless all over again. First our home was destroyed, then we were kicked out of this place. Why couldn’t we stay anywhere?

  “Maybe we could kill all these dragons ourselves,” said Lachlan. “If I use my gun, I can shoot them all before they hurt anyone.”

  “No, no,” I said. “That’ll be dangerous. And a hassle. And what will we do with the bodies? No, we’ve just got to find a way to hide them at the next hotel. Listen, if you can control them, can’t you make them stay out of sight or something?”

  Wyatt was looking back and forth between the two of us, and he seemed a little concerned. I knew he could hear the stress in my voice and that it worried him.

  I went to him and scooped him up. I kissed him on the nose and said, “It’s okay, boogle-boo. Everything’s fine. Mommy and Daddy are fixing it.” I looked over Wyatt’s head at Lachlan. “We can fix it, can’t we?”

  “Actually,” said Lachlan, “I have an idea of where we might be able to stay.” He took his phone out of his pocket. “I need to make a call.”

  * * *

  The house was old and empty. It was a sprawling one-story ranch-style house. There was a barn on the side, bits of hay peeking through its windows. An old, red tractor stood in the doorway to the barn. We drove up the driveway, and the gravel crunched under our wheels. A lake came into view, surrounded by fields of tall, waving grass.

  “What is this place?” I said, peering out the window of our rented mini-van as we slowed to a stop in front of the garage. Vivica and the boys were in the back. Lachlan was driving.

  “This place, uh, belongs to my dad,” said Lachlan. “But no one lives out here anymore. It’s basically abandoned.”

  “So that’s who you called?” I said. “Your dad?”

  “Uh huh,” said Lachlan. “He says it’s fine if we stay here for a while. I’ve got to turn the electricity back on and the water pump and all of that, and we’ll have to drain the toilets and defrost the fridge when we leave, but other than that, we’re good here.”

  “Wow,” I said. “Are we going to meet him?”

  “Who?”

  “Your dad.”

  “I hope not,” said Lachlan. “I told him we didn’t need any help out here, that I had it handled.”

  “Does he know about his grandson?” I said.

  Lachlan took a deep breath. “Look, I think I told you that my dad and I don’t really get along, didn’t I? So, uh, it’s better if there isn’t any contact between us.” He opened the door to the mini-van and got out.

  I turned to catch Vivica’s eye. “Well, he seems sensitive about it.”

  Vivica shrugged. “We both know what it’s like to have a crappy family.”

  It was true. After my parents had died, I’d been raised by my grandparents, who were snobby, shallow people who cared more about appearances than anything else. They weren’t the kind of people who I wanted to spend time with. Maybe Lachlan’s dad was just as awful. The thing was, Lachlan basically never talked about him.

  I got out of the mini-van and helped Vivica with the boys. When we freed them of their car seats, we set them down on the dirt driveway, and the two went waddling towards the house, where Lachlan was standing at the door. He was bent over a flower bed next to the doorway. There were no flowers in the flower bed, however, just a few garden gnomes.

  Lachlan picked up a gnome and took a key out of its foot. He fitted the key to the lock on the door and opened it. “Come on!” he called to us.

  The boys both giggled and picked up the pace, running for the door.

  I cringed, waiting for one or both of them to fall down, but they made it safely to the threshold and climbed through the door. Within seconds, Vivica and I caught up to them.

  We emerged into a carpeted foyer. Ahead of us was a hallway stretching into the house. To the right, a big closet. The doors and the walls were painted a light cream color.

  Lachlan was standing at the end of the hallway. He had a breaker box open, and he was switching things on. He smiled at us. “I lived here when I was a teenager. We had a different house growing up, but I spent years in this one. We moved in here when I was maybe fifteen.”

  “It’s nice,” I said.

  “Dad used to have cows,” said Lachlan, pointing in the general direction of the barn. “Hell, who knows, maybe he still does.” He stepped away from the breaker box and flipped a switch. The light in the hallway came on. He grinned. “Come on in.”

  Vivica and I each snagged our sons and positioned the toddlers on our hips.

  Lachlan led us to the end of the hallway. We emerged into a room with a drop-down lighting fixture over a round, wooden table. “This is the dining room,” said Lachlan. “I think there’s a leaf for the table in that closet out by the doorway, and we might need it.” He squinted at the table and then looked at us, as if he was trying to picture all of us around it. He pointed to his right. “Through there is the kitchen. I should go plug in the fridge, actually.” He loped through the doorway and we all followed.

  The kitchen had beige tiles on the floor, and a wallpaper runner around the wall depicting tomatoes and bottles of olive oil. The stainless steel refrigerator stood open, displaying clean, empty shelves. There was a good amount of counter space between the stove and the sink, and there was a dishwasher. It was a nice kitchen.


  Lachlan disappeared behind the refrigerator. A moment later we heard the familiar humming noise as it came on. He reappeared and then gestured at the fridge. Using magic, he shoved it back against the wall. Then he went over to the sink and turned on the tap. Water sputtered in gasps and then came out in a fast stream. Lachlan grinned. “Good.” He came over and kissed me on the forehead before striding out of the kitchen again and back into the dining room.

  “Bedrooms are this way,” he called.

  We followed him.

  The living room was to the right of the dining room. Off the dining room was a sliding glass door that led to the back yard.

  Lachlan led us down a hallway leading back to three bedrooms. They all had beds in them, but no bedspreads or sheets. One just had a single bed.

  “This was my bedroom,” said Lachlan. “Dad took all my stuff off the walls, though.” He laughed a little. “You think we could put the cribs in here for the boys?”

  “Um, probably,” I said.

  He nodded. “Yeah, and I think there are towels and linens in the closet across the hall…” Whistling, he strode over and tugged the door open. “Yup. There we go.”

  I followed him and looked over his shoulder. The closet was fully stocked with sheets, blankets and towels. “Why doesn’t your dad live here anymore?” I said. “Why didn’t he sell the place?”

  Lachlan squared his shoulders. “Well, this was the last place we were all together. He and my mom got divorced, and they both moved out of this house. It was supposed to go on the market, and they were supposed to split the proceeds, but Dad never sold it. I think back then, he was doing it to be an asshole. Just didn’t want her to get anything, you know? But then she died, and… well, I don’t know. He just leaves it here.”

  That was right. I remembered Lachlan telling me that his mother had died of cancer. He didn’t talk about it often, but he’d shared it with me.

  I placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. Is it hard for you to be here?”

  He turned to me, smiling. “Actually, no. It’s, uh, it’s nice. I have good memories of my mother here. It’s nice to have good memories.”

  I hugged him.

  He kissed me on the forehead again. “So, this is better than a hotel, right?”

  “Definitely,” said Vivica.

  * * *

  Of course, there was nothing in the kitchen, so I knew that another grocery trip was in my future. But since I didn’t feel I had it in me to cook, I insisted we order in. Lachlan knew of a restaurant that had good breakfast, and he called in an order and then went to pick it up. Apparently, nothing delivered all the way out here at this house. It wasn’t far from town, but it did seem really isolated.

  Texas seemed to have a lot of open space, however. Coming from the east coast, and having spent most of my life in cities, I wasn’t used to all the space. When driving out here, there had been long stretches in which I had seen nothing but grass and telephone poles. Maybe an occasional cow. And it was green and lush, too. I had sort of expected Texas to be a big, barren desert or something.

  “Oh, we got desert,” said Lachlan when he came back with the food. “Anything you want, we’ve got in Texas. We’ve got beaches. We’ve got mountains. We’ve got desert. We’ve got places where it snows and snows in the winter. We got it all.” He grinned, sounding proud. His drawl was sounding more pronounced by the minute.

  “Listen to you, little Texan patriot,” I said. I liked this side of him. I didn’t think I’d ever really seen him this way.

  He shrugged. “It’s a pretty awesome state is all.”

  I laughed. “Maryland’s a good state too.”

  He shrugged. “Eh… it’s okay.”

  I rolled my eyes at him. “Did you bring breakfast or what?”

  “Definitely,” he said. “I left the bag on the dining room table. I was coming in here to show you where the plates and silverware were.”

  “That would be helpful,” I said. “Thanks.”

  He crossed to the cabinet above the sink and tugged it open. “So, there are plates right up—” He broke off, wincing.

  “Lachlan?” I started for him. “Are you okay?’

  He doubled over, grunting. All at once, his entire body turned red. I don’t mean red like a blush, I mean bright red, like a fire engine. His face stretched and contorted. It was as if there was something inside him, and it was straining to get out.

  I screamed.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Lachlan straightened, and his features settled back in their normal places. His skin tone faded back to regular. “What?” he said. “Why are you screaming?”

  I pointed at him, unable to form words. “You—you—”

  “What?” said Lachlan. “I’m sorry. Did I scare you? It felt a little like a bit of heartburn is all. Hurt. I mean, I haven’t had heartburn since I became a vampire, but maybe the blood I picked up on the way home is different? Everyone eats jalapenos around here, you know. Maybe jalapenos can get into your blood stream.”

  I just sputtered.

  Vivica appeared in the doorway. “What’s going on?” she said.

  “I don’t know,” said Lachlan. “Penny freaked out.”

  “Because your skin color changed,” I said.

  Lachlan raised his eyebrows.

  “You turned red. You looked like one of the members of the Blue Man Group. Only red.”

  “What’s the Blue Man Group?” said Lachlan.

  “How do you not know the Blue Man Group?” said Vivica.

  Lachlan shrugged. “Just don’t.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “They’re like these performers who use PVC pipe to make music and— never mind. You changed color.”

  “Well, maybe I got a little red in the face, but it wasn’t anything serious,” said Lachlan. “I feel fine now.” He reached into the cabinet and took out three plates. He handed them to me. “You don’t want to give the boys plates, do you?”

  I shook my head. The boys both had booster seats with trays on them. The trays were attached and couldn’t be hurled onto the floor, unlike plates. “You don’t get it,” I said. “You didn’t look normal. You looked… And your face. Your features started stretching. I thought something was inside you, and it was going to burst out of you.”

  Lachlan made a face. “Okay, that’s weird.”

  “Yes,” I said. “Yes, it is.”

  He opened a drawer and started getting out silverware. “I wonder why that happened.” He shrugged. “Oh, well.”

  “Oh, well?” I repeated.

  He started whistling again. He headed out for the dining room. “We better eat before it gets cold,” he threw over his shoulder.

  I just stood there, holding the stack of plates and feeling so, so confused.

  * * *

  Lachlan and I stood at the door to Debra and Steve’s house. It was time to get down to business and deal with the reason we’d come to Texas. At some point, one of us was going to have to knock.

  I had volunteered this activity for us instead of grocery shopping, because I didn’t want to set foot in another grocery store at the moment. Meeting Debra had seemed like a good alternative at the time. But now I felt a little ill, as if the breakfast Lachlan had brought home wasn’t settling properly in my stomach. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to meet this woman after all.

  Lachlan didn’t seem eager to talk to her either. He kept smoothing his shirt and fiddling with the edges of his tie.

  Was he worried about his appearance? Did he want to look good for this woman? Suddenly, jealousy stabbed me in the gut—cold and green and overwhelming. Sure, I didn’t want to be this woman. I didn’t want to have gone through the tragedies she’d gone through. But if Lachlan still had feelings for her, I would not be able to handle that. Some part of me would want to jump on her and pull her hair and scratch her like a diva high school student. I tried to take a breath to steady myself.

  Lachlan fidgeted with his tie.
>
  It looked fine. What was wrong with him? My nostrils flared.

  He lifted his hand to knock on the door.

  My stomach knotted up. I waited.

  He lowered his hand, letting out a noisy breath.

  I turned to him, eyebrows raised.

  He gestured to the door, as if to say, Be my guest.

  But I didn’t knock either.

  We’d been standing there for several minutes at this point. If anyone was watching, they’d think we were utter idiots.

  And then, abruptly, the door opened.

  And there was a little girl standing there. She had red hair and big, big brown eyes. “Hi,” she said.

  Lachlan cleared his throat.

  I parted my lips.

  Another little girl appeared next to her. The girls weren’t identical, but they looked enough alike that it was obvious they were siblings. “Mommy!” the other little girl yelled. “There are people here.”

  Behind the girls, we could see a living room. A couch against the wall. Stuffed bears and dolls littering the floor.

  A woman with sandy hair pulled into a sloppy ponytail came hurrying into the room. She had the same brown eyes as the little girls. They were big, almost swallowing her face. She was a little on the plump side. Not fat by any stretch of the imagination, but thick around the middle. Even though I wasn’t exactly super thin these days, I was relieved to see that she was heavier than me.

  And then I felt like a horrible person for thinking that.

  Debra pushed past the girls and opened the door. “Lachlan,” she said. “You’re here.”

  Lachlan shoved his hands in his pockets. “Maybe I should have called first.”

  “Come in,” she said, opening the door wider.

  Lachlan and I stepped inside the living room.

  Debra began picked up toys from the floor.

  “Don’t worry about that,” I said.

  She looked up at me.

  “I’m Penny,” I said.

  Her gaze flicked from my face to my left hand, where my engagement ring encircled my ring finger, and then back to my face. “Debra.”