Windy City Dragon

by Genevieve Jack

  Tobias’s gaze shifted in her direction. “When I first came here from Paragon, I didn’t think my kind had ever been to this realm before.”

  She laughed softly. “I admit I didn’t think you existed before Maverick’s.”

  Tobias gazed up at the bones of a brontosaurus. “My first clue that my people might have a shared history with humans was when I read a book on Greek mythology at university. The mythology of my kind includes many of the same characters as your Greek mythology, although some of the specifics are different.”

  “Greek mythology? Zeus, Hera and the like?”

  “Yep.”

  “Not what I would associate with dragons.”

  “Oh, but our origin story includes Greek figures. As the story goes, a daughter of Helios named Circe made the first of what I am. Legend has it that the first dragon was woven from the fabric of the universe by the titans. Back then, dragons were carnivorous beasts filled with magic and unable to shift into this form.” He pointed at himself. “At that time, dragons were hunted for their hides and for the magic they carried in their blood, flesh, and bones, not to mention for the treasure that all dragons hoarded. Our numbers dwindled. Dragons were forced into hiding, into caves and remote places. That is how the first dragon, Balthyzika, ended up on an island called Aeaea, an island where the goddess Circe made her home.”

  Sabrina tucked her hair behind her ear. It had been a long time since she’d studied Greek mythology, but she remembered a little about Circe. “She was a prisoner there, wasn’t she?”

  “Yes. An outcast of the gods. Aeaea was her island, protected by her sorcery, and therefore an ideal place for a dragon to hide. One day, the goddess Circe asked Balthyzika for a single scale to use as an amulet to protect her son. Dragons can make themselves invisible. A dragon’s scale when worn around the neck can render the wearer invisible as well. Circe had powerful enemies, deities who’d sworn to kill her firstborn. Balthyzika was a wise dragon. She agreed to help Circe, but in exchange for her scale she asked the goddess for one thing in return.”

  He stepped up to an alcove showcasing a smaller set of bones, but Sabrina’s attention was locked on Tobias. “What did she ask for?”

  “Balthyzika knew that Circe was a talented witch, especially gifted at transformations. She asked that all dragons and their progeny be able to take the form of those who hunted our kind. This form.” He pointed to his chest.

  “Human form.”

  “Yes. But in Paragon, there are no humans. This form is also the form of elves, witches, gods, and goddesses. So in our mythology this shape is simply referred to as soma, which means our two-legged form. I was fascinated how closely this story mirrored human stories of Circe. Still, I thought it was a coincidence, until I found this.” He pointed at the exhibit they were standing in front of: a large flat fossil with an imprint of a skeleton in the stone. The dinosaur itself was about the size of a duck and had… feathers. She read the plaque mounted near the exhibit.

  “Caihong juji was discovered by a farmer in northeast China. Although small in stature, this newly discovered species of dinosaur from 161 million years ago had perfectly preserved bones and feathers. Analysis revealed that Caihong juji had a crested head and brightly colored feathers that shimmered iridescent in the light. Its name means ‘rainbow with the big crest’ in Mandarin.” She shifted her gaze to Tobias. “I didn’t know dinosaurs could have feathers.”

  “When I first came into this exhibit, it was disturbing to me how similar your dinosaurs’ bones were to dragon bones, but I found one huge difference. All your carnivorous dinosaurs are theropods. They walked on two legs. Dragons are four-legged carnivores. If we are related to these beasts, it’s a distant relation. But this”—he pointed at Caihong juji—“this still exists in Paragon.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I know this creature. It lives still in the jungles of my homeland. My people sometimes keep them as pets. We call them kalitoos.”

  “Oh my goddess.”

  “This is proof that at some point, millions of years ago, our dimensions, our histories, intersected.”

  “That… that’s incredible.” What he’d revealed to her suddenly made her eyebrows shoot up. “Wait, are you saying that if you shift into your other form, you’re as big as a dinosaur?”

  He nodded. “Roughly.”

  “Holy shit,” she mumbled under her breath. She took a step back despite herself.

  “Sabrina…”

  “It’s a lot to take in.”

  He placed a hand over hers on the railing. “You’re the first person I’ve shared any of this with.”

  “I am?”

  “Yes, you are. Who else could I trust? Who else would believe me?”

  She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “You can trust me.” Her eyes locked with his, and his energy was so strong she could feel his heat against her skin. It would be rude for her to drain off that energy without permission, but she was tempted. Even the roasted-almond scent of it made her mouth water. She swallowed.

  He leaned toward her, his sapphire-blue eyes growing darker until she thought if she tripped she might fall right into their depths. “I wanted to share this with you because I like you, Sabrina. I want to give whatever this is between us a chance.”

  She took a deep breath and smoothed her hair behind her ear. Now was the time to talk to him about who she really was. All she had to do was tell him that she was vampire royalty and they needed to be discreet. “I…” The word petered out on her tongue. Why couldn’t she speak?

  His lips were close, his shoulder brushing hers as they leaned on the railing in front of the exhibit. She parted her lips, ready for him to kiss her.

  Quite suddenly his gaze shifted away from her and his full lips curved into a scowl.

  “Tobias?” She followed his line of sight to a shabbily dressed man who was staring in their direction. The vibe coming off him was nothing short of deadly, but it was the tattoo on his neck that made her skin prickle.

  “Isn’t that the man from Maverick’s Café?” he whispered. “The one who shot at us?”

  Sabrina’s memory flashed to the shaman on his knees in front of her. To the identical triangular symbol he’d worn tattooed on his neck. Why hadn’t she put two and two together? She grabbed Tobias’s hand. “We need to get the hell out of here. Now!”

  Chapter Nine

  Nostrils flaring, Tobias took in the scent of the man with the neck tattoo as he tugged Sabrina by the arm, weaving between the exhibits. The stranger was a werewolf, no doubt about it. Tobias hadn’t noticed before in Maverick’s because the scent of roasted coffee had masked his odor, but now the stink of wolf was unmistakable. He’d already shot at Sabrina once. Tobias didn’t plan to give this asshole another chance at hurting her.

  His dragon roused, his protective instinct causing him to put his body between her and the stranger. He guided her deeper into the exhibit. “There. The tour group.”

  Tobias remained pressed against her protectively as Sabrina blended into a large group of elderly tourists.

  “No. We need to get away from people.” She tugged at his hand. “I don’t want anyone else hurt.”

  “What does this guy want?” Tobias dodged behind a man in a heavy wool coat and glanced over his shoulder. The shifter glared at him through the sea of gray hair.

  “He wants me dead.”

  He tugged her arm. “Why?”

  “There’s something I need to tell you. I… My coven retaliated against an attack by his pack. We wiped them out. As far as I know, he’s the last of them.”

  “Fuck.” Tobias broke into a jog, leading Sabrina toward the exhibit exit. “So he’s out for revenge?”

  “Yes.”

  “Their tracking abilities are legendary. We need to go somewhere to cover our scent.”

  Sabrina shook her head. “We will never lose him. Werewolves can smell a cheese doodle at the bottom of a tar pit.”

  Bounding d
own the hall, Tobias dodged into an area labeled Plants of the World. “There’s a stairwell in the back,” he whispered.

  Thankfully, this exhibit was almost empty. His footsteps fell in time with Sabrina’s as they weaved in and out of the models of exotic plants. He stopped short when he saw the door to the stairwell.

  Sabrina swore.

  A sign was posted on the door, Closed for maintenance. Tobias jiggled the handle. Locked.

  “Where do you think you’re going, Princess?” The man with the tattoo stood behind them, holding a dagger in his hand like he knew how to use it.

  Tobias slid in front of Sabrina and growled. He’d never been a warrior. Even in Paragon, he was a sparring partner for his brothers, nothing more. He’d never won a match in his life. Gabriel could knock him on his ass with one swipe of a bo staff by the time they were teenagers. No, Tobias had always been the quietly speculative one, a trusted confidant to his siblings and occasionally a trickster. As dragons went, he was far more confident in his wit than in his abilities as a fighter. Still, at the moment, he was sure he could tear the man to shreds. His inner dragon had his teeth bared, and although Tobias hadn’t shifted in decades, he was ready to do so.

  The man’s nostrils flared and a laugh started deep in his chest. “You’re a shifter. Not a wolf. Something else. Something exotic.”

  “Don’t come any closer. You don’t want to find out.” The roar that thundered from Tobias’s chest could have come from a T. rex, and his throat felt hot. He was close, very close, his body trembling with the need to protect. Sabrina’s hand landed on his back. Worried he’d hurt her in the shift, he tried to rein the dragon in but couldn’t stop a set of talons from slowly extending from the first knuckles of his hands.

  “You don’t know what she is, do you?” the man said. “Her coven would cut off your head and bathe in your blood. Vampires don’t like shifters. Chicago vampires don’t tolerate them within coven boundaries.”

  “Shut up,” Tobias said. He didn’t recognize his own voice.

  Sabrina moved around Tobias’s outstretched arms. Her fangs dropped and she looked positively feral. “What do you want from me?”

  “Retribution.”

  She scoffed. “Your pack murdered my mother. My coven retaliated. You got what was coming to you.”

  He snorted. “Is that what your dear old dad told you? I hate to break it to you, Princess, but that blood debt was paid decades ago. Not only did we excuse your father’s beheading of Frenwald in payment for his crime, we turned over his father to pay off the blood debt, and then we left your territory. It was your father who broke the treaty and slaughtered our kind on our own land.” The dagger trembled in his hand. “I am the last of my line. I will avenge my pack.”

  “Liar.”

  “Am I?” the man said through his teeth.

  Tobias glanced between Sabrina and the werewolf. She was staring at the man’s dagger, tears forming in her eyes. It wasn’t fear he saw in her expression but something else. Something he didn’t fully understand.

  “You want your revenge? Then have it!” To Tobias’s horror, she spread her arms wide and stepped forward.

  “No!” Tobias lunged for her, but it was too late. The werewolf stabbed the dagger into Sabrina’s chest, then withdrew it quickly like he might repeat the motion.

  Heat tore through Tobias, tore him in half, and then he was standing over her, looking at the werewolf from a perspective only possible in his dragon form. His jaws snapped, his teeth impaling the wolf’s shoulder.

  “Let him go.” Sabrina’s soft, pained voice came from between his paws.

  Tobias flung the wolf away from her and he disappeared at superspeed. He tried to see how critically Sabrina was injured, but in this form his body was too big. He stilled out of fear he might inadvertently crush her. He needed to shift, but it had been so long and his dragon didn’t want to go back in its cage.

  He was still wrestling with his inner beast when a family of three rounded the corner. Tobias froze. He tried not to blink.

  “Damn, that one is realistic,” the dad said.

  “Looks like a dragon,” the mother said.

  “It’s a nodosaur,” the boy said, rolling his eyes. He stuck a Slim Jim between his teeth and tore off a piece. “They found it in Alberta, Canada.”

  “Oh, that’s right. Looks like the display is under construction.” The father pointed toward the sign on the door to the stairwell behind him.

  “Do you want to get some lunch?” the mother asked.

  The family wandered off toward the exit. As soon as they were out of sight, Tobias closed his eyes and willed his heart to slow. Back in the box, he thought. He concentrated on his human form—it was in there, somewhere. A flash of searing heat flowed through him, and then he had the distinct feeling of turning inside out. It wasn’t exactly painful, but when he was finally in his humanoid form, he was naked and covered in a slick of mucus. He turned himself invisible.

  “Tobias?” Sabrina pressed her hand against the wound in her chest.

  “I’m here. Covering our tracks.” He dug his cell phone and wallet out of what remained of his pants. There was nothing else identifying about his clothing. He shoved the scraps into a garbage receptacle.

  “Get me out of here. There was something on that blade. I’m not healing.”

  He looked back at her, at the flow of blood oozing through her fingers.

  He scooped her into his arms, casting his invisibility over her, and kicked open the locked stairwell door. Ignoring the tools and paint cans lining the stairs, he descended and raced for the exit.

  Sabrina couldn’t remember losing consciousness. She’d blinked on the stairwell in the Field Museum and awoke in a soft white bed in a spotless room remarkable only for its clean, uncluttered decor and contrasting dark furniture.

  “She’s waking up,” a woman said beside her.

  “Thank the Mountain.” She turned her head to find Tobias, dressed in jeans and a fleece, leaning over her. He slid his hand into hers and brought his lips to her ear. “I know you’ve been trying to get into my bed since you met me, but don’t you think this is a little extreme?”

  A laugh bubbled from her chest, and it hurt so bad it brought tears to her eyes.

  “Knock it off, Tobias,” the woman beside him said. Her piercing blue eyes assessed her as a doctor would a patient. “Sabrina, my name is Raven. I’m a witch, and I’m helping Tobias heal you. Where does it hurt?”

  Sabrina didn’t miss Tobias’s grimace when Raven called herself a witch. She understood the reaction. On any other occasion she would question the witch’s presence in vampire territory, but currently she was in no condition to bite the hand that fed her. If the woman could stop this pain in her chest, she’d take the help. Besides, the one called Raven had a kind face. Maybe she was being naïve, but Sabrina trusted her.

  Sabrina opened her mouth to try to relate that her chest hurt and that she was having trouble breathing, but no sound came out. Black dots circled in her vision.

  “The amulet isn’t working.” Tobias reached for her throat and removed a white disk that shone in the light with rainbow colors like mother-of-pearl.

  For a moment she wondered what it was, then the pain distracted her from wondering anything. She closed her eyes tightly against the searing wave that burned in her veins. When she opened them again, Raven was peeking under the bandage on her chest. The dark-haired woman frowned.

  “What’s going on, Raven?” The muscles in Tobias’s jaw twitched.

  “I’m not sure. You say she was stabbed with a dagger. Do you know what it was made of?”

  “No. It looked metal, silver colored. Maybe it was silver?”

  “Silver might slow healing in a vampire. I’m not familiar enough with vampire anatomy to know for sure, and I wouldn’t know where to start to research effects on a vampire hybrid like Sabrina. It’s festering worse than it would if she were human.”

  “What if there wa
s some left in her?” Tobias asked. “Maybe he poisoned the blade with liquid silver.”

  Sabrina wished she could speak. Silver didn’t hurt her. Not like this. Thanks to her human side, she could wear silver jewelry without irritation. Even full-blooded vampires could tolerate some silver, although it did weaken them. This was more than weakness. Whatever the wolf had stabbed her with was killing her.

  As Sabrina watched helplessly, the witch dug in a bag on the nightstand and retrieved a glass vial. She pulled out the cork, then lowered the glass to her wound. Sabrina cried out as Raven dug her finger in the lesion and scraped a sample of the blood, ooze, and grit into the container.

  “You’re hurting her.” Tobias rounded the bed and pressed a clean piece of gauze over the oozing lesion. His worried face came close to Sabrina’s. “Shhh. You’ll be okay. We’re going to take care of you.”

  “There’s something poisoning her, Tobias, and I don’t have the spell to determine what it is.”

  “What do you mean, you don’t have the spell?” Tobias asked over her.

  Sabrina closed her eyes because the black dots were getting more persistent.

  “I mean I absorb magic and none of the spells in my memory are right for this task. Is there an occult shop in Chicago? I need to research this. Maybe ask for help.”

  Tobias frowned. “I… I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?”

  “I’ve been living as a human for hundreds of years. The occult is not a hobby of mine.”

  Raven rolled her eyes. “It is now.”

  Sabrina swallowed and willed the words over her lips. “Bell… and… Candle. Edgewater,” she rasped. The witch there was a friend of the coven. She was on the payroll. No witch knew vampires better than her.

  Tobias smoothed her hair back. “Shh. We’ll take care of it.”

  “Does that mean anything to you?”

  Tobias nodded. “Yeah. Edgewater is a neighborhood here. Bell and Candle must be a shop. I’ll find an address. I’ll stay with her while you go.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and started typing furiously.