by Aaron Crash
The tension of the day and the lust of the night exploded through Pru. The Animus filling her felt so good, as did her clenching sex. She pulled Sabina up. Finally, Pru got her kiss in an explosion of tastes, smells, and feelings. Pru felt how pliant the Latina’s body was, how her breasts pillowed against hers, how full her hips were, and the curve of her ass. If felt familiar. This was another person, another woman, who wanted Pru to use her, to control her, to conquer her.
And Prudence Wayne enjoyed conquests of all kinds.
The kiss was everything Pru had ever wanted. It was soft, then hard... gentle, then insistent. Pru pushed Sabina back onto the bed. The woman spread her legs, but Pru was going to take her time getting down there.
She straddled the Latina’s hips, kissing her, tasting her lips again, and then sucked on her neck and pinched Sabina’s left nipple between her fingers. This was new, amazing, and so exciting. Sabina’s left hand went between Pru’s legs, and that touch, light and fast, hit Pru like a lightning bolt. She almost fell face-first into the pillow. She felt Sabina’s lips twist into a smirk against her neck, the other woman’s breath warm against her skin, and Pru bit her, hard. Sabina gasped, finally surprised by something. Pru grabbed the Latina’s wrists hard. Pru was in control. She worked her way down with her mouth, teasing Sabina’s breasts, ribs, navel, and hipbone with lips, teeth, and tongue.
Sabina tried to free her wrists, but Pru held them tight. The Latina Magician whined, “Let me touch you.”
“You wanna touch me?” Pru asked. “Or do you want something else?”
“Si, I want that, too. Por favor.” Sabina quivered.
Pru kissed the Latina Magician’s thigh. Then the Texan let go of Sabina’s hands. They slid into Pru’s hair, and Pru’s tongue slid in somewhere else. Part of conquering Sabina would be making her come.
Pru instinctively knew what to do. She had the same equipment, and yet this again was different, a whole new experience. Without warning, Sabina arched her back, glowing. She found her pleasure quickly, so quickly, because she too had been wanting this all day, and the Magician needed more Animus after her many Divinatio spells.
Pru couldn’t help herself. She’d pleasured the Magician, and now it was her turn. She licked her way back up Sabina’s body until the two were kissing again. Pru loved the feeling of Sabina’s breasts against her, the energy thrumming through their bodies, the power of the sex between them.
The Texan pulled back and traced a finger around Sabina’s lips. “I want this again.”
“I will give it to you,” the Magician whispered.
Pru rose and eased a knee on either side of Sabina’s face. Gripping the headboard, Pru tried not to cry out when Sabina’s warm, wanton mouth found her quivering wet petals. She didn’t want to be so loud, but she couldn’t help it. Again, her skin glowed, and she wondered what had become of the cruel, calculating Prudence Wayne who only liked men and only liked them for one purpose: to use them to get what she wanted, whether that was a Primacy or an orgasm.
Afterward, Sabina cuddled into Pru’s body, and they held each other.
“I can only do this with you,” Pru said. “Something about you is special. You know what I want. And you know how far you can push me.” She’d slipped into a strange love with the strange Magician, who was both helplessly blind and powerfully gifted at the same time.
“And you can trust me as well, Prudence,” Sabina whispered. “It is something we can share. Just the two of us. Steven understands things like this. He wants us to love each other as well as him.” She kissed Pru’s shoulder. “Welcome to the Drokharis Escort.”
Pru let out a sigh of relief. “Took me long enough, but I’m glad to be here.” The fear of being out of control churned inside her belly. “Okay, that’s a lie. I’m scared shitless.”
“You will always win,” Sabina murmured. “You are Prudence Wayne. If anyone, I should be scared, but I’m not. I can’t see beyond the next few hours, but I know that in the end, Steven will be victorious.”
Pru didn’t understand the words, not until the next morning. Sabina was gone. She’d left a short note:
To the Wayne sisters. I have gone to find the master’s chamber. Savedra knows where it is, and he won’t tell Javier, but he will tell me. I love you both. I love Regina. Yet perhaps the world is more important than the sweet dream of her. Tell Steven that he will forever be in my heart.
Chazzie let out an exasperated sigh. “These fucking bitches. These stupid, fucking bitches. Promise me if I ever go off to face the bad guys alone, you’ll slap the shit out of me before I do.”
Pru couldn’t say a word. Sabina was gone.
And Pru had fallen hopelessly in love with her. This certainly wasn’t going to help her fear situation any. The dread lay like an iron horseshoe in the pit of her stomach.
“Guess we need to call Steven and tell him we lost his prophetess. Yeah, that’s not going to go over well.” Chazzie mimicked the call. “Hey, Stevie, we kind of lost Sabina. She pulled a Mouse. Does the name Regina mean anything to you? Yeah, we don’t know either. Loud lesbian sex happened, and then she beat feet.”
Pru winced. She simply couldn’t have that conversation with Chazzie, not yet.
Then she saw that there was writing on the other side. She turned the paper over.
You will need Javier’s help. And you will need Ducky and Rat.
“How does she know about Ducky and Rat?” Pru gasped out the question.
“Fucking crazy crystal-ball bitches.” Chazzie blew her hair out of her eyes. “Well, at least this next part should be all kinds of fun. You know Ducky and Rat just love to party!”
Chapter Twenty-Four
ABNER SAVEDRA WALKED across the Thousand Step Beach with his Willbreakers. The Pacific Ocean crashed onto the sand under a cold sun, and there was a chill breeze that had scared off the beachcombers but hadn’t touched the surfers riding out in the waves.
The six men fanned out behind him. The mansions in the distance clung to the cliffsides. He didn’t have an Aerie there, but he had one in Venice Beach and one in Malibu.
Savedra glanced at the bracelet covering his scarred wrist. Roy hadn’t freed him yet. He hadn’t released Jem Osprey either. Little comfort there, but at least the NorCal Dragonlord was suffering along with him. Not being able to shift was uncomfortable, and while he had access to his spells, he preferred fighting with IonClaws. He liked getting close and smelling the dragons he killed. Standing back and tossing spells seemed dishonorable. Yet what could be more honorable than winning? He had to remind himself of that.
Boyd, his Magician, had cast several Incanto spells to try to get the lodolite bracelet off the SoCal Dragonlord but had failed. Christopher also tried, but Christopher was still coming up through the ranks as a Magician. A strong, squat, nasty-faced man, Christopher wielded a stainless-steel baseball bat and powered that up using his spells. He was as much a brawler as he was a wizard.
The Willbreakers were fighters all right, but Daniel, a Warling, was maybe the best.
While Savedra liked all his Willbreakers, he had a soft spot for Daniel. He’d been a streetfighter in Canada and made his way south, looking for a fight, always scrapping, and when he’d found the underground fight scene in L.A., he made a name for himself—so much so, Savedra had recruited him. He’d never seen a Warling with so much Animus and such a love for battle. Daniel worked hard, worked in gratitude, and would work himself to death if Savedra didn’t insist on the kid taking a break. He was blond but shaved his head and had green eyes all the girls liked.
Savedra and his Willbreakers found the entrance to the cave, but standing in their way was Roy Right, in his Santos de Cartier aviators and his silver douchebag silk suit. He stood on the beach, in front of the cave entrance, with his wrists crossed, and on those wrists were two watches, one Rolex and one Patek Philippe. They were the kind of watches the CEO sold to you directly and probably threw in a hand job, since you were paying so much for th
em.
Savedra cocked his head. “Hey, Roy. Funny to meet you here. I was going down to check on the Americos Chamber, you know, the one you used to kick Steven Drokharis off our continent. The one you accessed without my permission.”
“It’s my continent,” Roy said, and his voice was odd, less downhome American, crisper and more precise. “Or was. But that, my friend, was a long, long time ago. Mathaal owned it all for a while, after that, but he cracked like a fucking egg. You never saw such a sight, a mad Alpheros casting Enchantrix and breathing RealityFire. As fearsome as Mathaal was, he lost himself in the end. Yet Rahaab would’ve retained both his memory and his powers. Why didn’t he reduce the Drokharis child to ashes and save us all the headache?”
Savedra spat. “You might as well be speaking another language, Roy. I don’t care about any of that. I want you to take this bracelet off me, or I’m going to go down there and start destroying the Americos Chamber until you do.”
Roy’s face showed no emotion. “Bruno failed. He’s on his way back here. I have a Magician named Theresa... Terese, maybe? Or is it Terezi? I can’t remember. She says that Steven will find out about this location here. And he’ll come. I say we ambush him. What do you say?”
Savedra held up the bracelet.
“Very well. Animam tuam libera.”
The minute he said the words, the bracelet snapped open. Savedra flung it off his arm and shifted into his True Form, a black dragon with muddy colored scales across his back. He stank of frankincense, which was ironic, because he’d never liked churches nor the religion of the humans. Savedra unloaded his rage, turning it into ShadowFlame, bathing Roy Right with the Exhalant.
And yet, Roy wasn’t there. He’d been there, he’d said the words, had freed Savedra, but then he was gone.
His voice drifted in the wind. “Oh, Savedra, we are too far in bed together for such a betrayal. I will take one of your Willbreakers, but only one, to drive home my position.” Then the voice changed, spinning into the American caricature Savedra was used to. “Y’all done fucked up, hoss.”
And then, in the middle of them, a golden-orange dragon with a black face unleashed hell on them.
Savedra felt the Animus yanked out of his core. What the shit? He hurled himself at Roy, who said something, a strange word. Roy’s tail split into three lengths, all studded at the tip. Savedra tried to trigger DarkArmor, but he wasn’t fast enough. Roy slapped the tails into Savedra’s head, sending him back into the sand.
Christopher pumped Animus into his bat and went to hit a home run, with Roy’s head being the ball. He never had the chance. Roy lunged across the sand and Christopher’s bat was plucked out of his hand. And then Umbra, Roy’s super-fast Escort, hit him with an enchanted staff. He went down, and Umbra took off running, her form hard to follow. The tips of her staff made long trails of orange light as she sped around.
Roy split in two, or seemed to, and suddenly they were fighting two yellow-gold beasts. Boyd hurled purple javelins into one of the Roys. At the same time, Henry had his fighting knives out, and he slashed at the golden scales. Both the magic missiles and the knives passed right through the dragon. The real Roy stamped a hand down onto the sand. A wave of gold energy hit them all at once in some kind of mass effect Impetim spell. Savedra had never even heard of such a thing.
And how had Roy ripped into his Animus? Savedra had never witnessed the kind of magic Roy had. The Sin Cities Prime wasn’t a simple American Dragonlord. He was something ancient and awful.
Without his Animus, Savedra turned human and had to scramble back to avoid getting crushed.
Both Eckles and George still had enough energy to turn into huge wolves. Dark orange flashed into their snouts, first one, then another, as Umbra sent them back onto the sand with her wicked staff. She then sped away.
Daniel let out a pissed-off grunt. On his fists were his enchanted knuckles, loaded lead weights with a devastating kick. He stormed forward, arm back, to drive his fist into the golden-orange dragon’s side. If he hit just right, Daniel could break most of the ribs in Roy’s side.
He never made it.
“This one,” Roy said. “I will choose this one to kill.”
Roy lunged forward and crunched his jaws down on the Warling’s body. He spat out the upper half and swallowed the rest.
He then cast another spell, and Savedra felt his strength leave him. That was familiar—ShadowStrength—but he and the five surviving Willbreakers were all being affected. Usually, the caster had to focus on a single target.
Roy placed his front claws on Savedra. The black-headed beast drove his face into Savedra’s. Something was wrong with his eyes. No, wait, they weren’t eyes, but gems, diamonds. That was why Roy in his human form always wore sunglasses. He was missing his eyes.
“I can hold my own against Stevie,” Roy Right hissed. “And I freed you. Once he is dead, the deal remains. Jem Osprey gets California. And you get the entire Drokharis empire. I will even promise to back you against Spider Finger. I would like to know more about him, but then again, we should probably be more concerned with Morty Flint and Louis Laloux. Those two will come at you. I will help. Are we agreed?”
To say no was to die. And Savedra knew he’d found an ally that could easily defeat the other Dragonlords in America, if not the world.
“Agreed,” Savedra muttered. Oh, it hurt. He would mourn Daniel, but the Warling had given his life for the cause. Now Savedra knew what he had in Roy Right, who was far more conquistador than clown.
He could find another Warling to train to become one of his Willbreakers. Finding an ally as powerful as Roy Right? Savedra knew he might live another thousand years and never, ever, find a Dragonlord as powerful or as ruthless.
Steven Drokharis would never be able to stand up against an ancient beast like the golden-orange dragon with the black head and diamond eyes. Nothing could.
STEVEN SAT IN ONE OF the comfortable chairs that faced the master bedroom’s floor-to-ceiling window. The mile-high view showed him the Han River, the lights of Seoul’s skyscrapers, the flow of traffic, the zip of a train racing down the tracks heading to other parts of South Korea. The thrum of all those souls, their Animus, reached out to him. He was getting more and more sensitive to the mystical energy.
Tessa filled him in on what he’d missed while he’d been unconscious. They were in one of Rahaab’s secret Aeries, at the top of one of South Korea’s tallest buildings. It was Bud who had found it for them. He was back in the States with Denise and Fimi. They’d flown home first class. However, Steven could only imagine how much Bud had complained. He could hear his lawyer, “What? I have to fly a commercial jet back to the States? Sure, first class, whatever, but I have a fucking Gulfstream, my own Gulfstream. This is such bullshit.”
Ha. Bud. What a douchebag. Steven wondered if Denise and Fimi would get tired of his posturing. Maybe not. He had no idea how that all might work.
Steven was hungry, but in a distant way, as if food were more of a nuisance than anything. Skylar had taken him and his Escort north, to Seoul, in the Dashell R. Jet. They were on their way back to the United States, because the Wayne twins and Sabina were close to finding a way to end his exile.
Zoey, in her wolf form, lay on his feet, curled around the chair.
Tessa stood to his left, holding herself, dressed in a white gown, as if she were some supplicant in a religion. Her feet were bare, her toenails painted red to match her fingernails. She had a tattoo of a happy little bear waving on her ankle. She’d been a carefree Denver girl when she’d gotten it done. Now her cares weighed her down.
“Uchiko hasn’t woken up yet,” Tessa murmured.
“That’s my fault.” Steven pinched the bridge of his nose. “I used AnimusChain, and while she wanted to help, I’m not sure she understood what that meant. I feel terrible about it. But let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about you.”
“And my vision?” Tessa laughed bitterly. “You were shown the first ste
ps to the Holy Grail. I was shown murder. My ancestor... she was the Dragon Slayer. You can’t imagine her anger.”
“Was it a woman?” Steven asked.
“I think so.” Tessa touched her face. “She had a mask on, a weeping woman mask, and underneath that, no beard.” She sighed. “I’m Merlin’s daughter, he’s a dude, and the Dragon Slayer was a girl, and I’m their awful offspring.”
In all his visions, Steven had not been shown the Dragon Slayer. And yet he could almost picture her weeping woman mask.
Tessa swallowed hard and continued. “At first, she did it out of revenge. For what, I don’t know. And then? She did it because she enjoyed it. Sometimes, if she had the time, she would make them suffer. But she wasn’t always like that.”
“Any idea who the Dragon Slayer was?” Steven asked.
Tessa shook her head. “No. She wore heavy robes and the weeping woman mask to keep her identity hidden. She did have a sword, though, but mostly she used magic. You and I are powerful, Steven, but even her simple spells would put us to shame. And she was human. I know that. She never shifted, not once.”
“I’m sorry,” Steven said. “This must be hard on you.”
She sighed, brokenly. “I loved being Merlin’s daughter. But being the Dragon Slayer’s daughter as well? It scares me. Maybe I like killing too much. Maybe I like the power too much. Maybe I’m bad, Steven.”
“No, you are not bad.” Steven got up. Zoey was sound asleep. When he left, she curled back up around the chair.
He went to stand with Tessa, their faces a mixture of colors from the glow of the city’s lights. “Look, Tessa, we have a bunch of mysteries going on, but there is one thing I know for sure. You are good. You are the best of us. Mouse would die to be able to make friends like you do. We can’t be held responsible for the scumbag relatives we have. You know about Joe Whipp. He raised me, and he was an irresponsible gambler, probably an alcoholic, a total waste of a man. It didn’t take long for me to see who he truly was. And I swore I would never be like him. I would be a man of my word. I would be there for people. I would work harder than everyone else to take care of the people I loved. It doesn’t bother me that you’re the daughter of the Dragon Slayer. I will stick by you, Tessa. I love you.”