He wasn’t going to stand in the stairwell and argue with her all night. He came down and led the way to the elevator. Pressing the call button, he didn’t say a word. The Fates cursed him with this woman because he missed the shot. Fighting the dragon would be easier than dealing with her.
The elevator arrived and the doors slid open. They stepped in, and he pressed fourteen. The doors shut.
“There’s not even a thirteen on here. How can there not even be a thirteen on here? You do know which floor you live on, right?” Lois gestured to the panel. Her bangs fell in front of her eyes, and she blew them back with the same force with which she spoke.
“I live on the thirteenth floor.” Xan set her bag down and rubbed his eyes.
“Headache? Do you hear voices in your head? Are you hearing them now?”
“No.” His reply was said with a little growl. She was going to drive him insane. Why wouldn’t she be quiet? Maybe if he took on more of a threatening stance. “Aren’t you afraid? I could be bringing you into a place where I’ll lock you up in a cage and torture you. You should be worried about your life.”
“I am worried about my life. That’s why I’m here. Some creatures came into my home and tried to kill me.” Lois’ lips thinned. “I’m going to find out who they are and whom they work for. And you’re my only connection to the answer.” She twisted her head to gaze at him. “Besides, if you were going to kill me, you’d have already done it by now. You might be a hit man, but you’re one of those ones who think they’re doing something good. Out to save the world or whatever. Is it religious? Please tell me it isn’t a religious thing.”
“No.” The elevator dinged and the door slid open before he could say anything more. She wasn’t ready to believe him yet.
“Good. I’ve never liked the whole religion thing. All garble and superstition to me.” Lois continued talking as they walked to the stairs and down a floor. “Miracles don’t happen. God wants you to make your own way. Magic isn’t real. Prayers don’t get answered. People just don’t want to take responsibility for their own lives.”
There was no light bulb in the fixture by the door marked with a thirteen. Xan pushed it open and held it for her. Lois walked into the hall still going on about how magic was for fools. A little smirk quirked his lips up.
“Well, this is antique drab. Might be nicer if someone brightened the colors. Everything’s so dark. And it’s cold. Why is it suddenly so cold here?” Lois wrapped one arm around herself and glanced at the carrier. Huff made a few excited noises. “Yes, sweet. We’re almost there and then I’ll let you out. Which apartment is yours?”
“Thirteen-oh-three.” Xan opened his door just as the door across the hall opened. He tensed, wondering what Meira’s business could be at this time of night. Hopefully it wasn’t with him or Lois.
Meira stepped out, pausing as she saw Lois. She was impeccably dressed, not a hair on her dark hair out of place. Beautiful as she was, she was always too perfect for Xan’s tastes.
“Good evening, Xan, and Xan’s guest.” Meira smiled, red lips glistening with a fresh coating of lipstick. She closed her door behind her.
“Meira.” Xan nodded and put his briefcase as well as Lois’ bag just inside of his apartment. “Out late tonight?”
“Work. You know how it is. You can’t ignore the call.” Meira’s gaze raked over Lois again, grinning a little more at the sight of the carrier. “You two have a lovely night.”
With a little finger wave, Meira walked down the hall. Silent and hips swaying as if she were a model on the runway. She exited into the stairwell without another word.
“Oh my God. Do you know who that is?” Lois gasped, sucking in air as if she finally discovered the ability to breathe.
“Yes. My neighbor.” Xan motioned for her to enter his apartment.
“That’s Meira Harper. You know who she is, right?” When he didn’t answer, she rolled her eyes at him. “She’s the top shoe fashion critic with The Herald. And she wasn’t wearing any shoes!” Lois let out a shriek. “No shoes! She was barefooted. Where is she going with no shoes?”
“Work.” He shrugged.
“Work? At this hour?” Lois snorted and then gasped as her eyes lit up. “She’s like you. She moonlights as a hit man, woman. Is this whole floor filled with assassins? A secret society?”
Xan had never understood when people said they wanted to bang their heads against the wall. Now he did. He didn’t think he could bang it hard enough to forget this conversation.
“Okay, no secret society. That’s too boring.” Lois tapped her chin as she walked into his apartment. The living room and kitchen were an open area. Sleek and modern. Everything in white, light gray, and charcoal except for the banners and tapestries on the walls. Their colors were still brilliant even if they were dimmed by time.
Xan closed the door behind them and removed his shoes. He set them in their place neatly with the laces inside rather than dangling out.
“Interesting. Minimalistic with a medieval flair. Very manly. Not quite what I expected.” Lois squatted down and reached for the door of the carrier.
“Perhaps you should keep it inside—” Xan’s request was ignored as she opened the door, and the ferret hopped out, running around excitedly. His stomach tightened as he already felt the need to scrub the place from floor to ceiling.
“Huff likes it here. Usually she’s more cautious about new places.” Lois stood up and smoothed her skirt. “I’ll set up her food and water, and then I need to take a shower. You need one too. You can set up a bed for me as I wash. Is this a two-bedroom apartment?”
“One.” He gritted his teeth.
“You take the couch then.” Lois went into the kitchen. “Unless your bedroom is your dirty secret. Everything else is clean, but it’s a pigsty in there. Or maybe you have a mirror on your ceiling?”
“No.” He didn’t know which he was more offended by: the pigsty comment or the mirror one. He should’ve left her for the dragon.
No, that was cruel. A nattering woman was nothing. He could ignore her. She wasn’t doing any other harm than talking. Here she was protected.
Nodding once, he left her to feed her pet and readied his room for her.
Over the dresser on the far wall of his bedroom, his ancestor’s lance was displayed. A reminder of his duty and in honor of all the men who came before him. Xan didn’t know how old the weapon was. At least one thousand years old. Maybe two.
Tonight he had failed every dragonslayer who had wielded the lance. He fell to his knees. His shoulders heavy and back quivering with the effort of holding himself up. He’d never felt unworthy before, and the emotion threatened to drag him to despair.
A failure he might be in this moment, but Xan would not let the dragon win. Tomorrow he would pick himself up and begin anew.
After he gave himself and the apartment a thorough scrubbing.
* * *
CHAPTER 5
Xan woke with the sun and began his daily exercises. The ferret must’ve thought it a fine time to take a run around his apartment too. He discovered Huff could open box lids and unlatch her carrier door. She could not, however, open the bathroom door.
Lois slept late and demanded coffee with eggs and bacon when she awoke. He invited her to help herself to the fruit in the fridge. When she couldn’t open the apartment door to go to a Starbucks, she stormed into the bathroom, mumbling that she was going to use all his hot water as punishment.
The next morning began the same way. Energetic ferret and grouchy Lois. Lois would pester him with questions several times, but when he didn’t answer, she either watched television or made a mess in his kitchen, which he would then promptly clean.
Throughout it all, Xan debated how to convince her of the truth. She wouldn’t believe his personal experiences. He kept no evidence, photos, or other mementos. Lois was a journalist. She needed hard evidence.
The third morning, he borrowed some tea from Harriet in apartment 13
05. Lois grumbled, but she drank two cups before trying to get out of the apartment again. She screeched at the unmoving front door and ran to the kitchen, grabbing one of the stools that sat around the island. Hefting it up, she charged the nearest window in the living room. The stool bounced off and clattered to the floor.
Lois screamed and pounded on the glass with her fists. Both Xan and Huff watched in silent fascination. Finally she picked up the stool and threw it in Xan’s direction. He leaned to the left and caught it in one hand, setting it down properly.
“I’m going stir crazy in here! How do you open these windows? Let me breathe in the outside air.” Lois pressed her forehead to the glass.
“I don’t have any windows,” he said and prepared for something else to be thrown at him.
“Obviously you and I have different definitions of what windows are then.” Lois banged another hand against the window before dragging her feet to flop onto the couch. “You’ve come in and out of that door, but you never lock it that I can tell. Does it have fingerprint recognition on the knob? Is there a secret keypad? Seriously, I need to get out of here. I need coffee and real food. And then I need some goddamn answers!” She leaned forward and hit the cushions on either side of her. “I thought you were going to explain it all. I’ve been incredibly patient with you. And all of your stupid notes and maps are in some other language.”
“You’ve been going through my things?” His back stiffened.
“Of course I have. I told you I was going to find out what’s going on. You aren’t talking to me. All you do is sit around shirtless and read your stuff. Or do some shirtless push-ups. Or shirtless meditating. Do you need to do laundry?” Lois folded her arms and sat back. “Don’t you even have a computer I can use?”
“I’ve been giving thought as to how to show you the truth and preparing myself for the battle to come.” Xan stood up and returned the stool to its place in the kitchen. “As for a computer, yes, I have one. I’m surprised you haven’t asked before. The couch has compartments under it. My laptop is in the center one.”
“Oh.” Lois stood and lifted the cushion. Spotting the container under the couch, she bent over and retrieved it. A laptop and several other gadgets sat neatly in shaped foam padding. “This is more like it. It’s like finding treasure.”
A rush of excited energy zipped through Xan’s body. Yes! That’s how he was going to show her dragons were real.
“You won’t need it, though. I’ve decided the best way to prove to you what’s going on is to show you. We’re going to take a little road trip.” Xan hurried to his room to grab a change of clothing. “Let me shower first and then we’ll be on our way.”
On their way out of town, he stopped at a Starbucks to end her hounding and tried to stop thinking about the ferret they left alone in his apartment. They stopped at three more and a Wendy’s before they made it over the border into Kentucky.
“Please tell me you aren’t going to show me the hillbilly origins of the Governor and how his monsters crawled out of a swamp.”
“No.” Xan was almost amused by the comment. “I don’t know where the Governor came from, and I can’t get into his estate now. The security is even too much for me. Yet I can show you what was left by another like him.”
“And like him you mean like those bastards who tried to kill me?” She peered at him over the rim of her cup before setting it down in the car’s passenger side drink holder.
Xan had been holding back telling her. He’d planned on doing so, but only after showing her physical evidence. They had half an hour to go before they reached Mammoth Cave. If she was going to laugh at him, it might as well be in the car than crawling through the caves.
“No. The creatures that tried to kill you are his offspring.” There was no subtle way to work up to it. “The Governor is a dragon. The ones in your apartment were dragonkin, his offspring. He mates with human women, and if they’re lucky, they’ll survive the pregnancy and produce a son. They’re more than human, but nowhere near as powerful as their father.”
He glanced at Lois. She wasn’t laughing yet. Her face was growing red, though.
“Now just wait a minute. A dragon. Randall Whittaker is a dragon and he has monster children that go around killing for him. A dragon.” There was five seconds of silence, and then she screamed. “What the fuck? You are crazy! Do you even hear yourself? There’s no such thing as dragons! I waited three days for answers and this is what you give me. Stop the car. I want out. You’re insane.”
Xan made sure the locks were activated. He remained silent as she tried to get her door open. When she swung her arm to hit him, he caught her by the wrist and held her in place.
“Miss King, I do realize this sounds unbelievable. That’s why I’ve been trying to find the best way to prove to you the truth of it.” He gingerly let go of her, preparing himself for another strike.
“And how in the world are you going to prove to me the Governor is a dragon? You’ve already said you don’t have video or pictures or any sort of evidence.” Lois huffed.
“I have no proof of the Governor’s true identity, but I can prove to you dragons exist.”
“And that’s why we’re going to Kentucky? Really. Kentucky is the proud home of the dragons?” She growled and banged her head back against the headrest.
Xan took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was no easy task he’d taken on. He knew this from the beginning. Especially hard with such a stubborn woman.
“We’re going to Mammoth Cave. It’s the longest cave system in the world. A good portion of it has yet to be explored.” Xan motioned to a billboard advertising tours as they passed it. “I have a map of some of these unexplored sections. I’ll be taking you to a dragon’s den.”
“You’re taking me into a cave with a dragon? Not that I believe they’re real, but are you doubly insane?” Lois gasped as her hands flapped around her head.
“There’s no dragon there. My father killed it years ago. But,” he said and gave her what he hoped was a reassuring look. “There’s plenty of evidence it lived there.”
“Like what? Its body?”
“I’m not sure. Dragons decompose at a pretty fast rate. Also, dragons are magical creatures. Mages and their ilk highly prize any parts they can find. It’s why the general public doesn’t know of their existence—”
“Yes, yes. Enough of the lecturing. I want real facts. Let me just process the fact you’re taking me to a dragon’s lair.” She picked up her coffee again. “I think I much prefer thinking you’re nuts.”
Lois remained silent after the last comment. Xan had been praying for her to be quiet for the past three days, but now that she was, he wanted to know what she was thinking. The theories she came up with ranged from weird to way out there, but they were always amusing. Her passion for finding the truth was admirable. When the fire lit her eyes, her beauty shone like an avenging angel.
And why was he thinking about this? He needed to focus. The caves were close. They had quite the crawl ahead of them.
* * *
CHAPTER 6
“You want me to what?” Lois stood visibly shivering. Her helmet was a bit big and sat forward on her head so the light pointed down instead of at the hole in the cave wall.
“It’s actually a very short tunnel. Don’t let the turn in it deceive you. Once we get through, we’ll be in the lair.” Xan felt goose bumps along his skin. A splash of mud streaked along Lois’ cheek, but he wasn’t sure how to tell her without her freaking out even more.
“I don’t care how short it is. It’s underwater. In the dark. And it’s freezing!” Her teeth chattered to prove her point.
For the first time since the dragonkin attacked, Lois looked vulnerable. Since his mother had passed away when he was a baby, Xan had grown up around men. Weakness was not acceptable. He wasn’t sure if he should offer to comfort her or push her to do it. She was a strong woman, and she didn’t like him.
“This is the only
way in since my father sealed the dragon’s entrance.” Xan stepped into the wall. The cold making his body go rigid for a few seconds. “I’ll go first and you follow behind me. Would it help if you held my ankle?”
“Nothing is going to help.” She snapped. “Let’s just do this.”
Okay. No helpful offers.
Xan knelt down, peered into the hole, and took a deep breath. He plunged into the water and pulled himself forward through the tunnel. His fingers trailed along the slick rock. As he rounded the bend, the current picked up and swooshed him forward faster. Eight feet later, he came out and stood.
Three feet away from a cliff’s edge.
There had been no note on the map about that. He’d have to add it himself later.
Lois suddenly burst out of the tunnel and kept swimming forward. Her head popped up, and she gasped for air just as she started to go over the edge.
Xan dove and grabbed her left ankle. She shrieked as she realized she was about to go over a fifty foot underground waterfall and then screamed again as he yanked her back. Pulling her out of the water and away from the edge, he held her tight against his body.
She was a tall woman, but even then, her helmeted head only came up to his chin. Her hands clutched his wet shirt as she shook from head to toe. He was going to tell her she was all right, but he kept his mouth shut, afraid his voice might ruin this moment. Infuriating as Lois could be, he found he liked her in his arms.
His heart beat fast, and it had little to do with the exertion of the cave crawl. Warmth spread through him and chased away the chill. The roar of the waterfall dimmed as he focused on her breathing. Quick but calmed.
Her face was hidden from view, but it flashed across his mind’s eye. There was a dimple in her chin that sometimes appeared. He’d noticed that the other day. And she wore only a pair of simple silver earrings, but she had holes for two more on each lobe. She must’ve been wild in her youth. But it was her eyes that always drew him. Bright and keen. Never missing anything.
1303 The Dragonslayer (The 13th Floor) Page 3
