by TR Cameron
Finally, she stumbled outside with Fyre, who’d waited at her aunt’s home while she visited the bank, and found Dasante. He took one look at her and brought his magician patter to a quick close, then guided her over to sit near the fence. Quietly, he lowered himself beside her, his longer legs resting against hers. The Rottweiler Draksa sat on the opposite side of her and looked at the passersby. D snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Hey. Earth to Cal. Are you in there?”
She laughed. “I’m here. It’s…so much to take in.”
“Tell me.” She explained the day’s happenings to him. He listened quietly, although he did hold a hand up for a high-five at the revelation of the money her parents had left her. When she had finished, he said, “Okay, so you’re basically the same as you were yesterday but with a little extra cash and some stuff to research during your free time, right?”
When she considered it that way, it all seemed much more manageable. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
“But maybe you could be different now, if you wanted to?”
She shrugged. “I don’t think that’s something I want. I like my life, at least when idiots aren’t trying to mess with my people.”
Fyre barked in her face and Dasante laughed. “He appears to feel differently.”
Cali scowled. “He’s a whiner and seems to be of the opinion that my room at the boarding house is too confining. It’s not my fault he’s so damn big.”
Her friend laughed again. “That is a problem. You should have adopted a smaller pet.” She’d told him she was concerned about safety and had decided to get a tough dog. He had no idea that the truth was the other way around—that Fyre had essentially adopted her. “There are apartments in my building that aren’t too pricey. And I know the owner.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “It sounds sketchy. Are all the other tenants as strange as you?”
“Yep. It’s totally your kind of place. You’ll fit right in.”
She turned to her “pet.” “How about it, Fyre? Should we have a look?”
His bark was clearly an affirmative and drew a laugh from them both. Dasante said, “There you go. Clarity.” He stood and brushed his pants off. “Now get off your butt and gather a crowd for me. Tonight, after work, you can come over and take a look at it.”
“You got it, D.”
The evening had been a good one. It was busy enough that she didn’t have much time to think, brought healthy tips, and had Zeb’s beaming face behind the bar as he served and talked and generally stayed in motion from the first customers to the last. When she left, he was smoking his pipe across from the elderly wizard, and she was fairly sure their animated discussion was a rehash of the most recent game night.
Cali shook her head and held the door for Fyre. She’d never been to Dasante’s home so she had to rely on the mapping software on her phone. It led her generally north and east. Her current abode was more directly east. It took a half-hour of walking before she began to see buildings that looked like they might be apartments and another ten minutes to find the right one. It was in a block of tall buildings with stairs that led to entrances on the second floor. She guessed there were probably two units on each of the three living levels, plus storage on the ground floor.
The front door buzzed to allow her to enter in response to her text to Dasante. She climbed the stairs to the top and found two doors. The one on the right was open, and her friend stood inside it, eating a sandwich. Beside it was a closed door with a small for rent sign hanging from the knocker. He took the last bite, chewed quickly, and swallowed, then grinned. “You made it. Good.” He gestured to the other apartment. “I have the key.”
She looked into his apartment as he stepped aside. A short hallway seemed to lead into a combo living-dining area, and she saw a door beyond that. He was back after a brief moment and let her into the other unit. It was sparsely furnished with only a sofa and coffee table in the main room, a stool near a kitchen counter, and a bed frame in the bedroom. Still, it was several times larger than her room at the boarding house. Plus, she wouldn’t have to worry about timing her showers around other people. Fyre jumped on the couch, collapsed onto his side, and seemed quite content.
Cali shook her head with a smile and looked at Dasante. “What’s the damage?”
He shrugged. “About two hundred more than what you said Mrs. Jackson charges.”
Her eyes widened. That’s totally doable. “Seriously? Why? Is it haunted?”
With a knowing laugh, he replied, “Like I said, I know the owner.”
She folded her arms. “Who is it?”
A look of momentary discomfort flickered across his features and he scratched the back of his neck. She wasn’t a particularly insightful analyst of body language, but the sense that he didn’t want to answer was unmistakable. After a few seconds, he sighed. “My mom’s husband owns the building.” He was quick to add, “I pay rent and all, but I also help keep things fixed around here and have a say in who gets places when they’re open.”
After a moment, she nodded. “Kind of like my arrangement with Sensei Ikehara. I get it.” He looked relieved. “Are you a good neighbor? And are pets okay?”
He laughed. “Yeah, one of the other tenants has a dog. Much smaller, though.”
A thought entered her brain and once there, she couldn’t make it leave. She knelt beside the couch. “Hey, buddy, I have the idea you want to do this.” He growled happily and wriggled into the padded fabric. “But I think we have a particular secret that needs to be revealed before we say yes, don’t you?”
He opened his eyes and stared at her upside down, then rolled off the edge to land on his feet. His gaze locked on hers, and his head shifted slightly toward Dasante. She turned and said, “Okay, D. Try not to freak out.”
He looked from her to Fyre and back again. “Is he, like, going to bite me or something?”
The Draksa gave her one of those looks that conveyed more than words ever could about how unappreciated he was and dispelled the illusion to reveal his true form.
Despite her warning, her friend backpedaled into a wall before his brain caught up with his reflexes. She stepped forward and put her hand on his arm. “It’s okay. Really. He’s still the same being, you know, only in a different costume.”
Dasante shook his head. “What is he?”
“A Draksa. Part dragon, part lizard, all Atlantean.”
“And why do you have him?”
She shrugged. “He kind of adopted me. It’s a long story. Anyway, I thought you should probably know about him before you agreed to let us move in next door.”
He stared in something resembling awe, and she imagined that she had worn a similar expression the first time she’d seen Fyre. “Can I touch him?”
She looked at the Draksa. “Fyre?” He bobbed his head and pushed against Dasante’s hand as it ran down his flank. They stayed like that for several minutes before her friend pushed to his feet.
“So, are you in?”
“Just like that?”
He nodded. “Just like that.”
“Then we’re in.”
A broad smile broke out on his face. “Fantastic. He’d better not snore, though. I need my beauty sleep.”
Cali groaned and slapped him gently on the back of the head. “Trust me, there’s no amount of rest that’s gonna fix your face.”
He laughed. “I can already see that this will work out great.”
Chapter Sixteen
Saturdays were always exhausting, even when she wasn’t moving out of one place and into another. She was at the dojo especially early to make sure it was ready because Ikehara had begun to sneak in a little earlier each day for their sessions to give her more instruction. Cali guessed that he thought he was fooling her from the small smiles she sometimes caught on his face. His extra effort deserved the same from her. At this rate, though, we’ll eventually start our training days at midnight.
After battering her best efforts at def
ending with her sticks against his jo staff, he’d had her put them together to fight with matching weapons. That had gone even less well. His teaching style was predominately to explain and then demand mastery, which wasn’t a leap she could always make perfectly. Practice, he said, was to help her get there faster by learning from her mistakes. Her skills had markedly improved, but the training always pointed out that she had considerable room to grow.
Afterward, her aching hands and body had made it through a normal class, followed by connecting her old and new places with a portal so she could shovel things from one to the other. She planned to let Mrs Jackson know she was gone only after the fact and would leave her an extra month of rent to cover finding a replacement tenant. That plus her security deposit would give the woman more than enough time. Both she and Fyre were excited to move into a bigger apartment, and he’d said he thought living next to Dasante would be fun.
That had kept her busy until the moment she had to leave for work and portaled to the Tavern basement. Nine hours of customer service later, she found herself out on the street behind the Dragons, where she breathed in the night air gratefully and embraced her first occasion of relative peace that day. Damn, I hate Saturday nights.
The relaxing interlude was shattered by the appearance of a portal about ten feet from her. She was already backing away when five virtually identical men in hoodies, dark braids, dirty jeans, and angry expressions stepped through. Each held a weapon—three for crushing and the other two for cutting or stabbing, all of them close-range choices. The first said, “There she is,” and surged into the attack.
Of all the nights to leave Fyre at the apartment, this is the one we choose. He’d wanted to stay in the apartment and learn the sounds of the new place. The second thing to echo in her mind was an internal scream. Run, stupid!
She snapped into motion and pounded down the alley that ran behind the Drunken Dragons. It was late enough that when she turned onto the street that led toward the Quarter, there were few people around. That would change as she got closer and maybe she could lose them in the crowd. If it had been two on one or even three on one, she might have taken her chances with them. But five was too many for comfort.
As it turned out, that handful was only there to chase her to the hunters. Another two foes appeared out of nowhere, which forced her to turn aside and run toward a group of buildings she didn’t recognize. Her pursuers hooted and hollered as they chased her like baying hounds would have done. Cali had a split second to decide whether to cut to the left, cut to the right, or sprint to the building ahead. She chose the last option and decided that if she could make it through the partially open door and yank it closed, she’d have enough time to summon a portal and get the hell out of there.
She wedged her body into the opening, pushed against the chain that permitted only a small gap, and had the presence of mind to thank fate for not making her the voluptuous bombshell she’d occasionally wished to be. Once inside, she dragged it closed and leaned against it with a sigh of relief. After only a second, her brain yelled a warning. Move, Cali. They might have another doorway. She raised her arms and moved them in the correct pattern to summon the travel circle, willing it into existence with her magic. A faint outline appeared in the air like the line of illumination left behind by a child’s sparkler.
Then, for no reason at all, it vanished. She frowned and cast the spell again as she focused more intently to bring it into being. This one dissipated before it had even begun. She cursed, dropped into a crouch, and activated the flashlight on her phone to survey the location. Add night vision to the list of spells I need to learn. A dark laugh emanated from somewhere nearby and the voice that followed it was equally grave. “There is no need for that, little girl. We have all the light that’s required.” A series of electrical snaps accompanied his words and florescent lights above came to life. They revealed that she was in the shell of a building. It had originally had three floors, but the top two had apparently collapsed and left large holes except around the edges. The debris had been pushed to the side fairly recently, judging by the marks in the dust and dirt, to create an open space in the center of the main floor.
In the middle of that area stood an imposing man with dark skin and an inky mustache and beard, the latter braided and neatly styled. Muscles rippled under his tight black t-shirt, and he wore matching tactical-looking pants and boots beneath it. He rolled his neck as she studied him and smiled, displaying white teeth. “It’s about time you got here. I was getting bored waiting for you.” The realization that she’d been herded to this location washed over her, and she sighed loudly.
“You should have sent an invitation. Or, you know, texted me.” She walked carefully forward, not wanting to spur him to action. Damn, I wish Fyre was here. I seriously need to learn that whole telepathy thing. One more item for the list. “So, I’ll go out on a limb here. You’re Atlantean?”
He nodded. “Your city is quite nice, though. Once it belongs to us, I might decide to stay above the waves for a while. The people here are weak, but they could provide interesting…diversions.” She had no idea what he imagined as he looked off into the distance and definitely didn’t want to know. Ever.
“So, what’s the deal here, then? A quick chat? Because we could have done it over a drink or something.” In a place less conducive to killing me, maybe.
He uttered that laugh again, this time colored with condescension. “Hardly. Tonight will be your last among the living. You have sixty seconds to prepare yourself.” A rustling in the shadows remaining at the periphery of the room preceded the appearance of several more people, all but one in the standard uniform of the Atlantean gang. The final individual was a woman in a simple dress wearing a necklace with arcane symbol charms hanging from it. Her aura of mystical power swamped Cali despite the distance between them.
I bet you’re the reason I couldn’t portal out of here. You blocked me somehow. Wench. At first glance, she’d thought the woman might be the same one she’d fought in the Shark who’d almost spitted her with a spear, but this was someone different. There was a cruel twist to her lips that the suited woman had lacked.
She spent ten precious seconds searching for a way out, but all the ground floor exits had multiple bodies in front of them. It was frighteningly clear that she’d never be able to get through before her opponent killed her. She looked up, but the roof was flat without even a skylight to crash through dramatically—assuming she managed controlled flight, which was far from certain. The tall windows that filled the walls of the second level seemed like a potential option but given the level of planning that had brought her there, she was sure someone would cast a spell to stop it.
I guess I’ll have to kick his ass, then. She rolled her neck in an unconscious imitation of his action and stepped a little closer to him. Why he’d chosen one-on-one rather than letting the overwhelming numbers do the work she didn’t know, but at least it suggested the possibility of a way out—assuming the others would let her be after she’d defeated their champion, of course.
Thirty seconds remained, but it only took half that time to catalog her limited options. The charm necklace encircled her throat, but lacking the proper activation word, it was only a fashion accessory. Moving that to the top of the list, check. She was never without her bracelets, so she had that going for her, at least. And…that was basically all. Damn. Not good. She lifted her phone. “I’ll set this over to the side so it doesn’t get broken while I kick your ass.” Laughter from all around answered her, which was welcome because it meant they didn’t notice the nine-one-one text she sent to Detective Barton. There was hardly any chance the police would arrive in time to help, but it was the only backup plan she had.
She returned to the center and stood ready. “All right, meathead, let’s do this.”
He grinned. “You’re not likely to provide much of a challenge, but that doesn’t matter. It will still be a pleasure to battle you, and a win is a win.” He
said something in a language she didn’t understand and raised a hand, beckoning her to make the first move.
Okay, Cali, no holding back. It’s him or you, and there’s a sarcastic dragon waiting at home who needs you to take care of him so failure isn’t an option. She surged forward with a shout.
Chapter Seventeen
Her attack was a feint, of course. Given that her fighting style was all about responsiveness and using the enemy’s own power against them, accepting the invitation to take the offensive was a clear path to disaster. She halted the charge midway as soon as he began to react. His smooth glide to the side gave her room to circle and she did so.
His laugh was irritating, which was no doubt what he intended. “Are you scared, little girl?”
She willed her sticks into existence and the flow of the magical substance over her hands brought a measure of comfort. “Hardly.” Her weapons solidified and she twirled them once. “I’m simply not interested in playing your game. I like mine better.”
He nodded. “Fair enough.” He whirled his arms and struck the top of one fist with the bottom of the other. As he drew them apart, a glowing weapon appeared in the gap and eventually expanding into a classic trident.
Cali groaned. “Could you be any more stereotypical? From now on, your name is Jason.” His face twisted in confusion and she rolled her eyes. “Momoa. You know, the actor? Aquaman? Never mind. I take it back. He’s smart, so clearly, you’re not him.” She stamped a foot toward him but he failed to react. Damn. “Are we simply going to stare at each other all night? Maybe you’d prefer rock-paper-scissors? I warn you, I’m really good at it.”
The man shrugged carelessly. “You can’t beat me with words, little girl. Are they all you have?”
