by Tanith Frost
It’s not funny, I swear it isn’t. At least, not until I realize how much this fearsome dragon reminds me of a cat trying to cough up a stubborn hairball.
The top half of the body emerges covered in saliva and blood, arms flailing, eyes wide.
“Crush the head,” I say, and Taggryn brings a clawed forepaw down. The skull cracks and flattens beneath his weight, and seconds later, the movements stop.
Taggryn retches again. “That was the worst thing I have ever tasted. And I have fed on harpy flesh.” He lifts a foreleg and scrapes his tongue up its thick scales.
“Taggryn, where did you come from?”
He looks up—or rather, down—from his task, the scales over one eye raised like an eyebrow. “Elsewhere. You knew this.”
“But—” I catch his smile. He’s playing with me. Nice to know nothing has changed. “I’m relieved to see you’re all right. But why are you back? And how?”
He nods back over his shoulder. “Follow my trail and you’ll see. I need to find somewhere to get a drink.”
“No flying, and not too far toward the ocean,” I tell him. “There are a lot of people there.”
Taggryn snorts. “And so it begins again.”
I do as he suggested, walking slowly, held back by the tight, fluttering panic that grows with the magic in the air. There is another rift here. But I’m hoping it’s more than that.
I’m well on my way down the trail of broken trees before I realize Daniel’s not with me. He’s still in the clearing, watching Taggryn’s long tail disappear into the darkness. Only when the dragon is gone does he give his head a hard shake and catch up with me.
“That’s your dragon?”
I smile in spite of the fear crawling over my skin. “Don’t let him hear you call him that. But yes, that’s the one who helped me find the rift.”
“The one who Viktor wanted held captive so he could use his blood to get a human to open it?”
Bonus points to Daniel for listening skills. “The very same.”
“The one you…” He trails off, apparently at a loss for the right words. I didn’t go into details when I filled him in on that part of the story, but I’m sure he understands that what happened between Taggryn and me didn’t fall under the category of making love or anything so delicate.
“He was in human form at the time.” It’s strange that this isn’t the first time I’ve had to offer that very specific reassurance to Daniel. “I hadn’t even seen him as a dragon at that point if that helps.”
He laughs. “I’m not judging you. I think I might actually be impressed.”
My thoughts skip back to last night’s conversation with Gideon, and from there to my questions about what exists between Daniel and me. Love, but what does that mean?
“So you don’t have a problem with—” Suddenly a bright light surrounds me, accompanied by a pair of female voices. I throw my arm up to shield my night-attuned eyes, but not before I catch sight of a camping tent and two humans leaping to their feet. I jump back, and all is dark and silent again.
Daniel looks at me, startled. “What was that? You just vanished.”
I want to obey my fear and run, and it takes me a few seconds to convince myself that I’m not actually afraid of what I saw. “Come on,” I say, and take his hand to pull him forward with me again. “Cover your eyes for a second. It’s bright.”
He doesn’t have time to ask what I mean.
Imogen is now holding the ornate silver lantern that’s producing the soft, warm light—not just in its colour, but actually warm, as if they’ve got a roaring campfire going that I couldn’t feel just a few steps away from where we’re standing now. She’s dressed strangely, in tight-fitting grey pants and a pale blue tunic that reaches halfway down to her knees, topped by a heavy brown cardigan with big pockets on the sides. Her hair, usually twisted into a bun when I see her at work, is pulled back in a long, loose braid that hangs over one shoulder.
The other woman is less familiar to me, but still recognizable. Odette stands farther back, watching Daniel and me warily—and rightly so. Last time we spoke, I was threatening to turn her in as evidence in my case against Viktor, who had hired her to create magical protections for him.
“Aviva?” Imogen whispers. “How… what are you doing here?”
I grin back at her. I guess Team Good Guy is alive and well after all. I don’t suppose Gideon is responsible for this, but I’m sure he’d be willing to take credit.
“We’re on a bit of a mission,” I say, unwilling to reveal more until I know what Odette’s doing back here. “But you… You found Taggryn. How?”
Imogen nods toward Odette. “I really went looking for her, mostly. You were leaving. Things were bad around here, and I’d done all I could on my own to help. Seemed like time to shit or get off the pot, as my grandmother used to say.”
“And you just happened to find Taggryn?”
Imogen shrugs as if it’s no big deal. “Finding Odette wasn’t easy. I needed the backup.”
“Backup?” Taggryn’s human voice comes from behind the tent where I hope he’s been putting clothes on. He emerges dressed only slightly less strangely than Imogen and Odette, in dark pants and a white shirt with leather laces holding the front closed. “I was not your side-swipe.”
“Sidekick,” she corrects.
He crosses his arms and glowers at her from behind the tangle of long hair that’s fallen forward over his eyes. “If anything, it was I who—”
“Enough!” Odette says. “You two can bicker later.” She turns to Daniel and me. “We have other things to discuss.”
No one speaks for a few seconds, and Taggryn’s stomach rumbles. “I can think of one,” he mutters, and his expression brightens. “Have we come to a place with hamburgers?”
Odette gives him a sharp look. “We’re not going anywhere with them until we know it’s safe. Perhaps some introductions are in order?”
Through all of this, Daniel has been watching and listening. He’s ready for a fight, standing with his feet planted firmly and his fists lightly clenched, and probably looks threatening to anyone who doesn’t know how much scarier he can be when he puts some effort into it.
I nudge him with my elbow, and he relaxes, obviously with conscious effort. “Odette, this is Daniel. He’s a vampire. Works for Miranda.”
Odette shifts her weight and stares at him. “Is that going to be a problem?”
Daniel knows who she is and what happened—what she was doing for Viktor and how little choice she had in it. He also knows she ran away when her testimony could have prevented much of the danger I was in after her disappearance. He also also knows that she’s responsible for the incredible tenacity of Helena Slade, the vampire hunter it took him decades to finally see defeated.
We haven’t discussed the possibility of Odette’s return. This could go either way.
“That depends on why you’ve come back,” he says, his voice calm and even. “It sounds to me like you made a clean getaway. Why return at all?”
“I’m only here to see Imogen safely home.” She rolls up one sleeve, revealing bandages on her arm. Looks as if she found a way to pay a smaller price for opening the gaps between worlds. “We attempted to return through the established rift but found it in a state of near-collapse,” she says, meeting his gaze more easily than most would in her situation. “It was safer to use what I’d learned in my time in that other world to enlarge a smaller but more stable rift we found some distance away. I can’t say I’m surprised we ended up here. This area has always been particularly thick with magic.”
“We also came back to experiment a little,” Imogen adds, excitement clear in her voice. “We’ve been here for days, playing with magic to see how it works differently in this world.” She looks over her shoulder at Taggryn, who’s doing his best to stare Daniel down. It doesn’t seem to be working. “He’s right, though. I could use some real food.”
“Hold on,” I say. “What do you
mean your time in that other world? You only left a few weeks ago.”
Odette and Imogen exchange a look. “We were surprised, too,” Imogen says. “We’d realized that time works differently over there—when I arrived, it had been years since the dragon-man had disappeared, and he’d only been here a few months.”
“The dreaded dragon-man,” Taggryn mutters, lips barely moving beneath his heavy facial hair.
“Legendary, even,” Imogen agrees. “Literally. There weren’t many people around who even believed those rumours were true. But that’s also because so many of the witnesses died when…” She bites her lip. “It doesn’t matter. What I’m saying is that I was there quite a while, and Odette was there for far longer. It was weird to come back here and find it not even Christmas yet. That’s right, isn’t it?”
“We’re almost there,” Daniel says. He turns to Odette. “You’re not back to finish any work you left unfinished?”
She shudders. “Based on what Imogen told me about events prior to her joining me, I’ve been hoping my previous employer would be a non-issue.”
“Viktor’s no danger to you now,” I tell her, and she relaxes visibly. “And we could use your help—both of you. All three of you, maybe. Imogen, you remember what I told you about Viktor and why it would be dangerous for you if he became high elder of Maelstrom?”
“Because he’d want to see magic and all other non-vampire powers destroyed as well as any living creature connected to them? I remember, sure. Kind of a big deal.”
She speaks flippantly, but it’s impossible to miss the tension in her voice. I never gave her as many answers as I probably owed her given what she did for Miranda, but I did make the dangers clear when she agreed to help us.
“Viktor’s gone, but that hasn’t changed.” I’m speaking to both of them now. “The clan that wanted to use Viktor as a puppet to control this territory is coming for us. And if they take power here, humans like you won’t have the option of fleeing to other lands. Their leader has his sights set on eliminating powers that oppose ours wherever he finds them, turning the world into a paradise for vampires where the void reigns unopposed.”
Imogen pales. “That’s not just going to be bad for people like us, is it? That means everyone.”
I nod. “Eventually, yes. It could take generations. Centuries, even, especially if he meets resistance from other clans. But he’ll do it.”
Daniel glances at me, and I know exactly what he’s thinking—that it might not be all that difficult once other vampires feel the heady rush of pure, unopposed void and realize they could achieve the same in their own territories if they learned from him. Lachlan doesn’t want to rule the world. He just wants to shape it, and if Maelstrom and its powers fall into his hands, he might have a clear path ahead of him.
No magic. No fire. And someday, no light.
Odette crosses her arms. “What would you ask? Protection for yourselves, like what Viktor asked of me?” She shakes her head. “I swore I was through with that. Even if I agreed with your cause now, offering protections to near-immortal creatures would set you up with the sort of power no one can be trusted with.”
I want to object, but can’t. Not when I imagine what would have happened if she’d done for me what she did for Helena Slade, making me as good as invincible as long as I wore her magical markings, and if, so protected, I’d gone down the dark path that tempted me during my time with Lachlan. I’d have been the ultimate weapon for his cause, completely unstoppable.
And sure, I’m against him now. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be wrong again or change in the centuries I hope to spend in this world. And it doesn’t mean that everything I’ll want in the future will be for the good of all. And if I don’t deserve that power, I can’t say others do, either. Not even Miranda.
“Okay,” I say. “What about something temporary? Protections on locations we’re occupying, on our base of operations in the city. On our battlefields, if it comes to that. Nothing we can abuse permanently, just help getting through this crisis.”
Odette’s lips narrow. “I don’t know.”
I look to Imogen. “And a few curses wouldn’t hurt if you’d be willing.” She wrinkles her nose, and I remember what she said the first time she told me about her magic—that harmful curses have a way of coming back on her. “Or just some restoration for the troops,” I add quickly.
Daniel pulls the car keys from his pocket. “Tell you what. I’ll give you my word that we won’t take you to Miranda until we have absolute assurance of your safety. There are no guarantees vampires will accept your help even if you offer it, but it seems worth a try. A deal like that could give you freedom to pass between two worlds in relative safety if that’s what you want. We’ll put you up somewhere safer and warmer than this until we’ve spoken to the council. And first, a meal.” He notes the slightly panicked looks on the two human faces, and his lips twitch as he holds back a laugh. “For you. Just you. Not us.”
Imogen pulls her aunt aside, carrying the lantern with her. Taggryn joins them, casting threatening glances back over his shoulder that are directed entirely at Daniel. Taggryn knows I’m relatively trustworthy as vampires go, but he’s had enough terrible experiences with others that I can’t blame him for wanting to gain and hold the upper hand when he meets a new one.
When they’ve moved a short distance away, the light vanishes completely, and we can no longer see or hear them. We could walk right into the tent without knowing it was there at all.
“Fascinating,” Daniel says, speaking under his breath. For all we know, they can still hear us. “That’s magic, is it?”
“It is, but not the kind they do—or not what they did when they left.”
I have so many questions for Imogen.
They return a few minutes later, bringing light and warmth with them. “We accept,” Imogen says, “on a few conditions. Taggryn wants his own hotel room, and ours needs to be pet-friendly. And vampire un-friendly. No one can know where we are. And you’re paying for it. And if we help, we’re getting paid for that, too.” She looks to Odette, who gives her a quick, approving nod.
Imogen has learned a few things. I hope most of them are more useful to us.
“Agreed,” I say.
I could discuss it with Daniel, but this isn’t his area of expertise. I’m the one who brought Imogen in before, who made a dragon an ally. I’m the one Miranda gave permission to follow my instincts, and keeping these three in my back pocket is definitely where those instincts are leading me right now.
Imogen stows the lantern in the tent. “It doesn’t work once we get too far from the magic of the rift,” she explains, “and Rory needs it here until we come back for him. We can come back after we get food, right?”
Of course she took her cat along for her journey to another world.
Daniel nods, and we head for the car, taking the long way around, avoiding the paths more mundane humans might be using.
I don’t know exactly where the new rift is, but I feel it as we pass. Stars appear in front of my eyes, and my throat feels as if it’s closing, choked with thick, aching terror. I take Imogen by the arm and pull her with me as I hurry ahead of the rest of the group. A vague memory surfaces—magical blood in me, sickness, a symbol hastily scrawled on my arm that kept me alert long enough to offer instructions that kept me safe.
Once we’re a short distance away and I can take a breath to speak, I lean in closer.
“I’m not going to ask Odette for protections,” I say quietly. “But if you’re willing, there’s a small personal matter I might need your help with. Can we talk later?”
“Sure,” she says, sounding uncertain.
The sensations ease further as we make our way down the cliff until I’m certain the effects are less here now than they were before that stronger exposure. Maybe I had it right back at the old rift, and exposure is the key.
But if Imogen agrees to help, I might just have found a faster and far less painf
ul shortcut.
13
It’s truly amazing what can be accomplished before midnight when days are at their shortest. We’ve finished off seven zombies and found potential allies to help with the rest of the island’s defences. Daniel got a call from Eric as we descended the cliffside trail and learned that the others had taken down the suspicious home invader before the police got there. We’ll need to wait for answers on the other body, but if we’re right about that one as well, it’ll mean we’ve eliminated the Twillingate portion of the invasion. After all of that, we should still have time to find a fast-food restaurant that isn’t closed yet.
And fast food it must be, or at least take-out. The longer we stay in one public place, the more likely we are to be noticed.
When we reach the car, everyone but Daniel pauses before we climb in. He’s driving—that’s a given. But the car’s back seat isn’t huge. Though we’d all likely be most comfortable with me riding shotgun, it’s not going to work.
I motion for the humans to get in the back and pull Taggryn aside. It’s chilly out here—I let Imogen borrow my coat, and Daniel gave his to Odette—but we need to talk. I have one thing on my mind, but the feel of his arm beneath his thin shirt—hard muscle, the faint outlines of the scale-like scars that dot his forearms—reminds me of another question.
I narrow my eyes and look up at him. “You’re volunteering to remain in human form?”
He reaches up beneath his long hair and scratches at the back of his neck. “It seems practical. This rift is close to human civilization. There would be trouble if someone saw a dragon about.”
“To put it mildly. But—”
“And as I move away from a rift, I lose the ability to change my form. So my choices are to remain a dragon with no freedom to explore my territory, or accept this form and do something that may be more interesting.”
I’m actually impressed. But then, I guess he’s had plenty of time to reconnect with his dragon side over the time he spent in his own world.
“Why come back at all, though? You got what you wanted. You went home. You got to be a dragon full-time with no asshole vampires to push you around.”