The Steel Dragon (Steel Dragons Series Book 2)

by Kevin McLaughlin

  “And that means I’m not a dragon?” Kristen asked, unable to help herself.

  “Physically, you’re a dragon. I can sense your aura and there’s no way a human could have defeated Shadowstorm, but you still read too much like a human for my taste. It might be best to keep you out of this office with Atramento and his mages.” He sneered at the mention of the non-dragons who worked in the building.

  “Do you have an assignment in mind?” Stonequest asked, obviously in an attempt to keep the conversation on track.

  The sergeant nodded again. “I have a job that might work. And by might, I mean that if you abandon this post, I’ll shackle your ankles to your desk in the paper dungeon, Atramento’s influence be damned.”

  “What’s the assignment, sir?” she asked politely and didn’t bother to mention that she could snap any chains as easily as any dragon could.

  “An old-timer—one of the ancients, in fact—has asked for security. There shouldn’t be any real problems. He lives in a quiet neighborhood outside the city and we have no reason to believe his suspicions, but he’s given a tremendous amount to dragon culture over the years, so we won’t simply dismiss him, either.”

  “Who’s the officer on duty?” Stonequest asked.

  “Officer Jasper. I brought him in from Colorado, actually. He’s a good man, Jasper is. He has asked for company, though. Lady Steel, you can go out there and back him up.”

  “It sounds like a cakewalk security job,” Kristen commented.

  Ridgespine squared his shoulders and faced her, his eyes like laser sights. His expression brokered no argument. “Is that a problem?”

  She thought about the ridiculousness of her—the Steel Dragon—tasked with defending a decrepit old reptile. Didn’t Ridgespine realize she’d defeated one of those old dragons exactly because he believed that humans weren’t anything more than cattle to him? But she couldn’t simply dismiss it. Stonequest had gone out on a limb for her. He’d told her to prove herself, and—as boring as it sounded—this was an opportunity to do exactly that. She had defeated a senior dragon—one apparently with powers beyond those of most—so she could handle a security detail. All she needed to do was prove it, and it was far better to do so on security duty than by making copies and delivering coffee.

  “No problem, sir. I love cake.”

  Chapter Five

  The next day, when Kristen arrived at the manor where she was supposed to meet Officer Jasper, she was immediately struck by two things. The first was the beauty of the estate.

  As the gate opened and the SWAT mage drove her up to the front door of the house—house not really being as accurate a term as mansion—she admired the grounds.

  Beautifully manicured topiary bushes dotted the landscape and she glimpsed one in the shape of a giraffe, another of a dragon unfurling its wings, and another two were humans locked in an eternal dance. The snow that dusted the tops of all the bushes only added to the effect. She had no idea how the plants could all look so healthy considering winter was upon them. Splashes of red, yellow, and orange were offset by a hundred shades of green that supported the blossoms despite the snow that was already accumulating. Even the snow looked manicured. The walking paths were all clear, and the spaces between the paths were completely devoid of tracks. Perfectly smooth whiteness was broken only by plants, a fountain, or other landscaping features. If the estate looked this beautiful in the winter, she could only imagine what it would look like in the spring.

  The other thing she noticed—and that she almost didn’t notice at all was a testimony to how beautiful the grounds really were—was the security.

  She first identified the system when she heard the telltale whir of a motor as she stepped from the car and sent the driver away. Rather than diminishing, the buzzing continued, so she glanced up and located a drone hovering above her. A quick glance at the sky revealed there was more than one. They monitored the perimeter of the grounds and darted across the interior as well. More than one was undoubtedly watching her. She had never seen so many in one place before.

  There were cameras too, she realized now that she consciously looked for them. The mansion was absolutely covered in them. She hadn’t noticed them at first because they were tucked away beneath gargoyles or in crevices, but now that she saw them, they were unmistakable. Electronic eyes watched everywhere. There were motion sensors too, but what they interfaced with was anyone’s guess. Lights, undoubtedly, but who knew what kind of security features any unverified motion released in the bowels of the mansion? If not for the freshness of the snow, she would not have been surprised if this was the kind of place that used greyhounds for security.

  Not that it seemed like the system had been tested. The snow was still fresh without tracks marring it, another level of security the owner probably appreciated.

  Kristen approached the door of the mansion and was about to knock when she noticed something moving on the roof. She stepped back, ready to transform and fight, when she realized that it was only a machine. It looked like a satellite dish, except it rotated. She realized it wasn’t for satellite TV but was an actual radar dish. What, does he expect to be bombed by the military? She thought the idea was ridiculous, but then she realized that radar would no doubt detect dragons as well.

  Whoever designed the security for the estate was serious about making sure no one gained access. The radar would detect incoming flying dragons, while the motion sensors and cameras should locate anyone who attempted to breach on foot. She was sure there were hidden defenses she hadn’t seen yet and some of them were no doubt magic. She wondered if the location was networked with invisible laser beams and possibly pressure plates. With a wealthy, paranoid dragon, the sky was the limit.

  The cop in her briefly tried to pick the security system apart. If someone understood the camera zones, perhaps did something about the backup generator that was undoubtedly hidden somewhere on the grounds, and came in on foot, it might still be possible to get through. The owner of the mansion no doubt understood this, given how he’d requested a security detail despite all his high-tech defenses. The attention to detail implied someone who was competent, though, which made her wonder if he had actual reason to worry or whether his paranoia was completely unfounded.

  Her dissection of the security system would have to wait, however, as the front door opened and a dragon strode down the steps of the mansion.

  He had gray hair and wrinkles around his eyes, and if she had not felt his aura, she might have doubted that he was a dragon at all. He wore a dark-blue suit, was a little soft around the middle, and had a kind smile on his face. “You must be Lady Kristen Hall, the Steel Dragon.”

  “Yes, sir,” Kristen replied and assumed that this was the other officer because it seemed unlikely that the owner of the estate who’d installed all the security measures would have answered the door himself.

  “I’m Jasper—oh, Officer Jasper these days.” He winked, then said in a lower voice, “Damn bureaucrats.”

  She smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Officer Jasper.”

  “Oh, Jasper’s fine, Lady Steel. Really, it is.”

  “You can call me Kristen.”

  “Of course, Kristen. Do you mind taking a tour in the cold before we go inside?”

  “It makes sense to me.”

  “Right this way,” Jasper actually offered his arm like he was a gentleman from the Victorian era. She realized that he probably was and more besides that. Most dragons were at least a couple of centuries old, and with his age showing so clearly on his face, she imagined he was even older. He might have been a gentleman in countless ages, his manners and etiquette older than most living things.

  As they made a circuit around the manor, he pointed out cameras and motion sensing devices that she had failed to notice and chatted amicably. “I’ve done this for quite a while, you know. It’s funny. They add all this technology, vats of burning oil, crossbows, machine guns, and even drones, and they still need living b
eings to manage it all. I guess I’m lucky, really. It’s good to still have a job.” He chuckled.

  She tilted her head and studied him curiously. “Wait, you’re a dragon who actually needs a job?” Kristen knew that Stonequest worked, but he seemed to do so because he wanted to. She had never seen a dragon who was anything but excessively wealthy.

  Jasper chuckled again. Every time he did so, it made her smile. He was the least dragon-like dragon she had ever met. “Technically, I’m an ancient.”

  “Which means?” she asked, unable to help herself.

  “Which means I’ve been around a long time.”

  “How long?”

  “In human terms? It becomes somewhat tricky to keep track after a while. You try to remember all the centuries, plus all the people still around, and it can be too much. But well, in human terms, let’s see… Do you remember Julius Caesar?”

  “Yes, obviously.”

  “I worked security for him.”

  “Wasn’t he murdered?”

  “Yes, ma’am, but not on my watch. The history books were right about that much anyway. His own kind got him in the end, not dragons.”

  “So, dragons do intervene in human history,” she said and although she meant it as a question, it came out as a statement of fact.

  Jasper raised an eyebrow, the gentleman’s version of a shrug. “I suppose so. We share a planet, after all, but the Dragon Council’s had a non-intervention policy for a long time. There was a time when we ruled as gods on this earth, but we fought amongst ourselves far more in those days. That, of course, wasn’t good for the humans we ruled. I was proud when the Council adjusted its intentions. Since then, most dragons are only interested in accumulating power and wealth in both dragon and human society. It’s a better game than war between flying, fire-breathing gods.” For a moment, he seemed to lose touch with the present like he was lost in a memory of a battle that had taken place long before humans had recorded history.

  Kristen gave him a moment before she asked gently, “A game?”

  “That’s how I see it, yes.”

  “I don’t think controlling most of the wealth on the planet and wielding power in every circle or group that matters is a game. That dragons can even think about it in those terms speaks to the privilege they’ve enjoyed over humanity for eons.”

  “True enough, true enough.” Jasper’s disarming chuckle followed. “I guess I simply meant that it seems like a fool’s game to me. I never bothered to try to make my fortune. I have a two-bedroom apartment in Denver—I like the mountains—but it’s not crammed full of gold or treasure or anything. I don’t own any estates or pieces of companies like so many of the ancients do. I guess in that way, we’re the same. You live out of an apartment, right?”

  “Sure, in Detroit.”

  “What’s that like?”

  Kristen regarded him quizzically. “Didn’t you say you had an apartment in Denver?”

  “Yes, I do, but I paid for it when the apartment complex was built about forty years ago. You weren’t even born, and then you grew up with human parents.”

  “You’re not asking me about my apartment, are you?” Kristen stated.

  “No. No, I suppose I’m not. I haven’t heard a story like yours for a very long time. Dragons getting lost simply doesn’t happen anymore.”

  She nodded. Stonequest had said the same thing. Her family and friends had finally adjusted to what she was and it was sometimes difficult to remember that the rest of the world had not yet caught up. “When was the last time it did?” she asked.

  “Centuries ago. Before the new world and old world were connected like they are now. Dragons knew about the Americas then, of course. Some of us lived there, but there was still so much wilderness in the world.”

  “And dragons would come out of it?”

  “Even then, no, not really. Sometimes, dragons would rebel against the political establishment of the time.”

  “Like they’d fight against human kings for democracy?” she suggested.

  “Ha! No, Lady Hall, quite the opposite, in fact. But if they tried to interfere and other dragons stopped them, communities would sometimes leave, vanish from the cities and trade routes, and go so far into the jungle or the desert or wherever that no one could sense their aura. Sometimes, they’d have dragonlings and sometimes, those dragonlings would return to society with the rest of us. But even then, we all understood where they came from. You’re…”

  “Different. I know. Look, I can tell you what I’ve told everyone. Someone came to my parent’s house one night, pounded on the door, left me on the doorstep, and vanished. My parents moved to another city with me for about a year. When they returned, they pretended I was my mom’s and that they’d moved because it had been a difficult pregnancy. I didn’t even know I was adopted until my powers started to manifest themselves.”

  “And you don’t know who the woman was?”

  She wanted to tell Jasper the truth that she knew exactly who the woman was—her Aunt Christina, her dad’s sister. After dropping baby Kristen off at her brother’s house, she had been murdered that same night in a sloppy car accident that was later covered up. She wanted to tell him that her Aunt Christina probably wasn’t her mom either and that she had worked at some kind of bioresearch lab that had been funded by dragons, but she’d only just met him. It was a secret she’d kept close to her breast since she’d discovered it, and she wouldn’t betray the origins her parents had worked so hard to obscure for so long.

  “I don’t know who my mother was,” she said honestly.

  “It’s quite the mystery, isn’t it? A dragon from nowhere, with no contacts or relations to speak of.”

  “Well, that kind of sounds like you,” she said, hoping to move the conversation back to him and his past rather than hers.

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. You said you didn’t have any political connections, but here you are, working guard duty at the nicest mansion I’ve ever seen. Do you mean to tell me you got this job because you let Julius Caesar get stabbed?”

  Jasper smiled. “My resume’s a part of it, and like I said, it didn’t happen on my watch. I’ve done security for other dragons for a long time. One thing most agree on is that we shouldn’t kill each other except in ritual combat, and even then, it’s better to defeat your opponent than kill, obviously.”

  Kristen nodded. She’d defeated a dragon in combat, but she hadn’t spared his life.

  “Anyway, people know that about me. I have an honest reputation, you could say, and I’ve made some friends over the years. Windfire and I—he’s the dragon who owns this place—go way back.”

  “Is that right?”

  “Oh yes. We both came to this continent around the same time and managed to keep in touch despite following different paths. Windfire’s a real ancient, mind you, not like me. He has the connections and the wealth but has been a recluse for decades. It was something of a surprise when he reached out to me.”

  “Why do you think he contacted you?”

  “You know, at first, I thought that maybe he was merely throwing me a bone. We hadn’t talked in years, and out of the blue, one of his servants contacted me about a security contract. I accepted it and looked forward to talking to the old windbag—don’t call him that, by the way—but when I got here, well…”

  “He’s obviously not simply doing you a favor, not with the security cameras and the drones.”

  “That’s exactly right. I thought this gig would mostly be me drinking tea with an old friend, but I hardly see Windfire. He doesn’t like to come outside anymore and always goes on about telescopic lenses, real-time satellite feeds, and drone technology. He says they can see him and that they’re watching. Especially on sunny days, he’s a wreck.”

  “He sounds paranoid.”

  “He is. Which is odd for a dragon. When you’re a fire-breathing creature capable of flight with a healing ability unlike any other species on the planet, there’s not much t
hat can harm you.”

  Kristen knew that there were undoubtedly still things that could. She’d been hunted until quite recently by a dragon assassin who knew how to hurt dragons. “Do you think his paranoia is justified?”

  Jasper shrugged and tried to smile but the wrinkles around his eyes failed to crease. “Between you and me, dragons don’t become paranoid. It’s not part of our nature, but then again, neither is Alzheimer’s disease.”

  “Do you think he’s losing control of his mind?”

  “Honestly, I’ve been here a week and haven’t seen a damn thing. Birds don’t even land on the grounds, not with the drones buzzing about. I think that…well, it pains me to say it but we’re partners so I might as well tell you. I’m worried that Windfire might’ve lost his marbles.”

  She sighed and thought about the paper dungeon. It had been busywork, but it had also been in the heart of the Dragon SWAT security building. She could have pumped Atramento for information about mages and maybe fit some training time in with the other members of Stonequest’s team. The reality was that she could’ve proven herself to a whole building full of powerful dragons but instead, she’d lost control, taken the established way of doing things personally, and ended up out there, tending the concerns of an ailing dragon so old that—despite living for thousands of years—he was finally sinking into senility.

  She liked Jasper but hanging out with a kindly old security dragon was not enough of a reason to leave her human friends on SWAT.

  “Are you all right?” he asked. “I can see something’s troubling your aura.”

  “I’m fine. I had simply hoped for a little more than…well, a dragon who’d lost his marbles.”

  “Ah. Don’t think of it like that. Think of it as an opportunity to get away from the office.”

  “I’ve been at the office for one day.”

  “Ah, well—”

  Kristen didn’t hear the rest of what he said. Out of the corner of her eye, she’d seen movement. Something had vanished into one of the topiary hedges.