“That thing is some kind of... were-snake, or serpent person. I don't know what they are properly, where they come from or how many there are. All I know is that it lured me away, and then it sent that snake to try and kill you.”
She blinked in astonishment.
“Kill me? But why?”
He shook his head as he settled into the driver's seat, buckled up and got them going.
“The thing I saw is malicious. I do not know why it hates me, but it sought to kill you... to cripple me.” He shot her a meaningful glance, and she swallowed and nodded. “Perhaps it understands that I'm extremely hard to kill. But without you—”
“Sssh,” she said softly, laying a hand on his shoulder. His muscles were tight beneath the leather jacket, and she stroked his arm soothingly as he drove them away from there. “You don't have to finish that sentence. It's not happening. You got there in time. Okay?”
His throat worked, and after a moment he nodded.
“Okay.” He drove in silence for a block or two, and then said quietly, “I have to go tonight. I don't trust the eggs to be safe with that snake around. I don't fully understand why, or even what it is, but I don't think it's a coincidence that it showed up there on the first day those eggs were on display.”
“So it has some kind of wild hatred of dragons?” she asked, trying to keep up.
Their already bizarre circumstance had taken a turn for the crazy. And for the frightening. Murderous were-snakes? What next?
“Yes. It may end up hurting the eggs. I can't risk it. They're invulnerable to almost anything — they survived that volcanic blast, or at least the lava and ash falls that covered Pompeii, handily — but maybe that big snake has a way.”
Crap.
“I'm going with you.”
His eyes widened, though he stayed focused on the road.
“It's far too dangerous. You could get hurt, or killed. That thing has already shown it has no problem targeting my loved ones. I'm going alone.”
Her heart felt like it was freezing over when she heard him say that.
“But... if we stay together....”
“Look,” he replied in a firm tone that at the moment, she absolutely hated. “That creature is very likely to be there, and it could have all kinds of tricks up its sleeve. More snakes, some kind of magic, I just don't know. My penthouse is absolutely secure. Please. Just stay where it's safe. I'll come home to you, with the eggs, I promise. I won't fail.”
She pressed her lips together. She wanted to show faith in him, and she knew that on a certain practical level, he was right. But she couldn't stop the creeping fear that after tonight, she would never see him again.
They ate a perfunctory meal of deli sandwiches they picked up on the way, his piled with extra meat as usual. She nibbled her chicken sandwich slowly and finally set the uneaten half aside. Once he had finished wolfing his own portion, they went into the computer room to try to figure out what the creature was that had antagonized them at the Academy, and what it could do.
“Serpent people usually show up in pulp adventure and horror fiction. The Conan novels, Lovecraft, all of that. But the authors originally cribbed them from Etruscan and Egyptian legends. The serpent Apophis, which tried nightly to devour the sun. Demonic figures that turned into giant snakes. But not where they really came from, or what their agenda is.”
“So they're basically just these mysterious monsters that play the bad guy in a lot of ancient legends?”
“You bet. Even in the Judeo-Christian origin story, the original humans were tempted by a talking snake.” He scrolled through a selection of scholarly writings he had keyword-searched, peering at the close-set, scanned type. “Powers vary. Limited shape-shifting, kind of like mine. Strength, hypnotic eyes, a venomous bite. Some have them as having power over reptiles. Others suggest they might have illusion abilities, especially those that let them look like another person.”
“That's really, really creepy.” She laid her head on his shoulder, tired and scared and wanting badly to be close to him. “When do you go, Jason?”
“They won't be done with the sweep of the museum until after dark, so I'll leave then. I'll fly there. They'll be watching for a vehicle.” He looked down at her, and something in her expression made him sigh sadly and lean forward to gently kiss her. “It will be all right. I promise.”
They could not find anything else about the snake-people, but at least they now knew what his old Italian friend had meant when he had mentioned ‘them’ in conjunction with the disappearance of that other dragon. A whole race of fellow shape-shifters, and these ones inexplicably wicked, and the enemies of his own race. The Italian had feared them greatly. As she and Jason left the computer room on their way to the rooftop, she wondered if these serpent-people were the ones responsible for the dragons' disappearance. But Jason was so formidable. If they had managed to drive dragon-kind to the brink of extinction, how had they done so?
She decided against bringing it up. Jason's body was tense beside her as they took the stairs up to his den, and then past it to the rooftop. She didn't want to break his focus on the job ahead with such a.... troubling... idea.
“Is there anything I can do to help you from here?”
“Just... stay safe and keep your phone handy. If I need a ride out of there, I'll call you. Otherwise I'll show up here as soon as I retrieve the eggs.”
When they reached the rooftop, the wind was cold enough that she wrapped her arms around herself for warmth and leaned against him. He smiled reassuringly down at her, but his luminous eyes were hard and businesslike. She turned and kissed him, and they clung together, until he finally, reluctantly, let her go.
He stepped back, and she saw his body darken and swell — and then blur suddenly, looking as insubstantial as a shadow... and then as insubstantial as empty air. The glass-smooth back of a talon brushed invisibly against her cheek — and then the wind from his wings almost flattened her as he leaped up and caught the air. She heard the pounding of his wings dwindle off in the direction of the Academy, and hurried back downstairs, tears in her eyes.
She watched a comic-book movie with a wise-cracking vigilante on the big flat-screen to try and distract herself and fill up the time, but she couldn't focus on it, and soon turned it off. She paced through the rooms, she reorganized her clothes a little, she tried a few sketches. But her mind just kept going back to Jason, risking everything to save his lost kin. Jason, in danger against an unknown enemy. Jason, whom technology might somehow expose.
Would she ever see him again? Her lips trembled as her anxieties chewed at her heart.
She was on the verge of tears when she heard a heavy thump on the roof.
“Laurel!” called a muffled voice down the copper staircase. “Laurel, I'm back! I got them!”
Joy exploded through her as she took the stairs at a dead run. Two stories, not stopping once, her heart so light in her chest now that she knew that he was home! She pushed the locking trapdoor up and emerged into the garden, gasping for air but smiling the whole time. Jason stood in human form in the middle of the garden, panting heavily, as if his efforts had exhausted him. She ran into his arms immediately, letting out a little cry of happiness, and he chuckled and cuddled her against his chest.
“I thought I'd never see you again,” she whispered. “I missed you so much.”
His hand slid over the back of her skull, a smooth but strangely dispassionate gesture. She opened an eye and looked around... and saw no evidence of what he'd done with the rescued eggs. She lifted her head from his chest.
“Jason, where are the eggs?” He smiled down at her mutely, and his eyes seemed strangely blank. A jolt of inexplicable fear went through her. “Jason...?”
Wait, she realized belatedly as his grip tightened on her. Why is his skin so cold?
Suddenly his features grew blurry and insubstantial, drifting away like a milky mist... revealing the narrow, dark face beneath. She let out a cry of shock and
fear and tried to pull away, but the grip on her was like steel. The figure from the museum grasped her upper arms bruisingly and leered down at her, its lips curving gloatingly in a way that didn't touch its empty yellow eyes.
“Oh God!” she screamed, and tried to fight, but the creature's strength could not be overcome. Its heavy robes rustled as she fought in its arms, and it let out another rasping chuckle. “What... you... who are you? How d-did you even get up here?”
“I am Lisse,” it said, its voice high and fluting and unnervingly sweet. “And you will find that snakes are very, very good climbers. So much easier to get you to open the door when you were expecting him to land up here. And of course, you were too eager to see him to be at all cautious! Once I had seen him, once I had an image of him, it was not too difficult at all to discover that he owned this building. From there, the approach seemed only logical.”
She stopped fighting, and the grip on her lessened slightly.
“What... what do you want?”
The corners of its enormous eyes crinkled as it stared down at her, but it never blinked.
“I'm actually glad that your mate managed to save you from my little friend today, human. It makes it so much easier to use you as a hostage now! And perhaps, in other ways... later...” She struggled, but Lisse just laughed — a low rattling sound, as mirthless and cold as the rest of him. “Don't be foolish, child. There's nothing you can do to stop me.”
And with that... it changed. Its body blurred into a greenish-brown mist and swelled, coiling around her and above her — until she found herself in the grip of a gigantic serpent, its glaring yellow eyes now surmounting a gaping jaw with two curving fangs the size of scimitars. It opened its mouth wider, as if about to swallow her — and she screamed in horror.
Her breath couldn't catch; the fear took over so completely that her heart ached from beating so fast. Darkness pressed in on her eyes, and the thing holding her captive faded from sight. The last thing she felt was its lipless mouth closing around her, fangs barely missing her as it picked her up and started slithering off with her.
Jason— she thought, and then she knew nothing.
Chapter 10: The Egg Eaters
Back at the Academy, Jason had run into a problem. One he wasn't sure how to deal with. He had disabled the security system by reprogramming it to run in test mode, looping old empty footage of the grounds and interior. He had managed to avoid any staff, staying invisible as he picked locks and made his subtle way up to the third floor. But once he got there, he had seen something very strange: a crowd of security guards, pistols out, standing silently in a half-circle with their backs to the display case with the eggs in it.
Their eyes gave them away: wide and still, unblinking, like sleepwalkers in old movies, but with a strange yellow gleam in them. He remembered the information he had unearthed on the serpents, and guessed it right away: they were hypnotized by the snake, every last one of them. They stood guard over the eggs like heavily armed zombies, and he froze partway into the exhibit, wondering what to do.
They are innocents. I can't just kill them to get to my eggs. He backed off around the curve of the wall, cursing under his breath.
“Is someone there?” a familiar voice said, its tone high with panic.
He looked around — and saw the guard who had called in the escaped snakes, crouching in the nearby doorway to the security room. Jason quickly ducked behind a display case and became visible, then stuck his head out where only that guard could see it.
“It's me! What's going on?”
“Wait, you again?” The man blinked at him incredulously — then sagged with relief, apparently too glad to have backup to be picky about where it came from. “Oh God. I thought I was alone against this mess. There's some kind of monster—”
“The serpent man?”
Jason slipped over to him and crouched next to him so they could whisper, even though the hypnotized guards seemed oblivious.
“Yes! He came through while we were finishing up checking for the escaped snakes, and he just started staring into people's eyes! And every time he did, they'd get that weird yellow glow to their eyes and go like... like... the guys out there! Completely hypnotized! He almost got me too! The only reason my mind is still free is that I hid in the earthquake booth!”
Jason swallowed.
“Where is he now?”
“He left. There was — look. It's all pretty confusing....”
Jason reached over and put a hand on the distraught man's shoulder.
“What's your name?”
“Evan.”
“Hi Evan. I'm Jason. Good job keeping clear of the snake. Look. Just tell me everything you can that might help me figure out what that... thing's... plan is. I'm going to try to stop him. It. Whatever.”
“Well, it went like this. He hypnotized every guard on shift and brought them here. He had been trying to break into that security case with the fossil eggs things in it over there, but that glass is the same kind they use in the President's car. We use it for anything irreplaceable. The guy started yelling at everybody, demanding to know who had the display case key. But none of them did.”
“Where's the display case key?”
“I'm the supervisor. I've got it. God, I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't been able to hide from that thing!”
Oh, thank God.
“You have the key? May I have it?”
Evan blinked.
“...Why?”
“Because that thing wants to destroy those eggs, and the best thing we can do to lure it away is get them out of the case and away from your guys. Where is the snake exactly?”
“I don't know exactly. I just heard him say ‘fine, Ember will melt through that glass handily, with the right motivation’. And then he took off in that fancy car he had parked outside. The guys just... stood there, and keep standing there, like they're waiting for something.”
“They are. They're waiting for me.” Jason's jaw worked and his eyes narrowed. “Look, as much as I'd like to tell you that I know how this thing's powers work, the whole ‘hypnotic gaze’ thing is brand new territory for me. I don't know how to snap them out of it. But if I can stop that thing or distract it enough, maybe they can break free.”
Evan nodded, just looking relieved to have some backup with any kind of a plan.
“So what do we do?”
“I'll slip past the guards and get the eggs out of the case. Then I'll need you to hide them until things boil over. Once the snake gets back, I'll jump the damn thing. Hopefully killing or wounding it will be enough to free your guys.”
Evan stared at him, then shook his head.
“Don't know how you plan to get past the zombie patrol, but it's a better plan than I've got.” He rubbed his face, and then looked up at Jason. “Who... are you to this guy?”
“He's trying to kill my family. I don't really know why. I'm kind of... cut off from my roots.” He smiled sadly, and couldn't meet the man's curious gaze for a moment. “If there's a blood feud or something involving these creatures, I didn't know about it until now. Just know... I can destroy him. If it comes to a fight, get your people out first, and leave the monster to me.”
“What about the eggs?”
Jason swallowed.
“He can't be allowed to destroy them. Whatever happens. We have to move them, hide them, before he gets back from wherever he has gone. Then I can use them to lure him someplace where there aren't innocent people around.”
I don't know how the snake thinks it can make me melt open the case with the eggs in it, but I want them safely away before that creature even has a chance to play its hand.
Evan nodded.
“Okay. Let's get to it then.” He pulled a single, strangely shaped key with a microchip embedded in it off his belt. “Keyhole's in the back of the case. You slide it in, give it one full rotation, then leave it in place so it can do the data read.”
“Understood.”
He took the key in a slightly shaky hand — and then Evan had his wrist in a firm grip. He looked up at the man, and saw Evan staring hard into his eyes.
“You're not going to hurt my guys, are you? This isn't their fault.”
“No. No, it is not.” Jason met his gaze steadily. “I've no plans to do them any harm, outside of perhaps a few bruises.”
Evan let him go.
“Good. Good luck, then.”
Jason nodded and palmed the key, then slipped back behind the display case he had used before. He turned invisible again and strode toward the crowd of empty-eyed guards.
None of them had moved; even the normal shifts in weight from standing too long were now stilled. They were like statues that breathed.
He wondered if they would even feel pain in their current state. He hoped that they weren't aware of what their bodies were being forced to do.
Damned snake. What are you up to? You target innocent people and try to use them to cripple me! Why do you want those eggs destroyed? Why do you hate my kind?
He started running halfway across the room, feeling his wings stretch from his back — and then leaped, gliding toward the ceiling. He drew his feet up, clearing the tops of the guards' heads easily and then folding his wings as he landed on top of the case. His knees took most of the landing, the case just rattling a little as he settled on the unbreakable glass.
It seems I owe humans another debt of gratitude. Without this armored glass and Evan's quick thinking, the snake would have gotten to the eggs before I even got here.
He changed back to human form, and jumped to the ground, then stepped behind the case, feeling around for the narrow key slot. He found it near the base, and used the key. The guards still faced outward, away from him, like machines on standby.
Maybe they didn't have much autonomy without the snake around. Moving as quietly as possible, he waited until he saw a green light go on next to the keyhole, and heard a soft click from inside the case.
Bound to Change: A Limited Edition Spring Shifter Romance Collection Page 67