by C. V. Hunt
Then there are elves and dwarves. They’re good people. They tend to keep to themselves. Both are crafty with their hands. Elves can communicate with animals easily. The dwarves I’ve met are very good artists.
It’s kind of like the whole universe, and all its realms, have to keep an equal ratio of good and evil. You, as a dragon, are the referee. Your job is to make sure that the balance doesn’t go too far to the evil side.
I cradled her face in my hands and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and stared into my eyes. A fire ripped through my body. She started to pull me down to the bench again. From beneath the table all I could see was the legs of nearby dancers.
You’ll have to wait until we get back to the hotel to seduce me. Otherwise we’ll get arrested for public indecency, I told her. So the question is, are we going to eat tonight? Or are we going to skip?
She looked around the club. One or two?
One for you will be fine. I’ll just take the aura, I told her.
“I think you should eat too,” Ash said.
“You’re just trying to fatten me up.”
“Hey, more cushion for the pushin’.”
I laughed as she looked around the club.
A girl in her mid-twenties walked toward us. She was dressed in black and had long black hair, a lot of black eye makeup and bright red lipstick. She abuses her toddler, Ash thought. The girl stared at Ash through vacant eyes.
I stood, and let the girl in to sit between Ash and me. Ash spoke to the girl, convincing her that we already knew her. No one else paid any attention to what happened in our isolated booth. I grabbed the girl’s hand and held it.
Ash leaned toward the girl. I looked around. No one was watching. Careful, I thought. Make it look normal.
The girl’s fingers buzzed with vibrations, then Ash froze her stiff with a thought. Ash raised her hand to the girl’s ear, as if she were telling her secrets. She bit down gently just below the girl’s ear. Ash began to feed. I closed my eyes and pulled the aura. I felt the girl’s body go limp. Ash laid the teetering head to the side, as if the girl had passed out.
Ash sat up, leaned across the girl, and kissed me. I tasted the blood and it made me hungry in more ways than one. I felt the fire in my chest.
“We need to go,” I told Ash. I could barely contain myself. She smirked at me as we left the girl hidden in the dark booth.
**********
The day before the meeting that would determine our fate. Ash and I went to a secluded wooded area. She’d grown tired of smoky dark bars, and wanted to be out in the light, but away from people. I wasn’t that thrilled with the daylight. It bothered my eyes more than hers. But it was what she wanted. We drove down a country road to a deserted house. The snow had melted and the ground was soft. The temperature was cold but not freezing. Behind the house lay a dense woods. We walked into the woods, and went about a mile.
Why am I so tired? She thought.
“Because you’re still cold-blooded,” I said out loud. “Your body is trying to hibernate. Whenever we spend a lot of time out in the cold you’ll get lethargic.”
“Hm. Never thought of that.”
She walked up to a tall tree with a trunk at least three feet in diameter. When she pushed, it fell right over, hitting other trees on the way down. She made it look easy.
“Okay,” I said. “That tells us what you’ve got. I might be strong but not that strong. We should get you warmed up.” She gazed at the felled tree, then shrugged. She followed me back to the car. We were as ready as we’d ever be.
Chapter 16
NO REGRETS
I tried to divert her attention from our possible fates by showing her the new life she’d taken on. The premonitions seemed to be fading. Now when I saw them it was like looking through a window rather than stepping into a scene. They were more like distant echoes of the past than meaningful stirrings of the future.
When the day of our meeting at the mall came I knew I couldn’t take Ash. She wasn’t ready for a public shopping center. I hoped this wouldn’t compromise the Quatre’s plans. I felt that we could still make it out of this situation alive, but I knew that any smart bookie would’ve set the odds against us.
I woke up early and packed our stuff into the car. I had been through this once before, so I knew the drill. We had to get on the road, only then would they give us instructions. There would be directions to a plane or train. We would wind up at an undisclosed location. Along the way some people would have pieces of the puzzle, but no one person would be able to get us to the Quatre.
The Quatre never disclosed their location until they had to. They had several safe havens throughout the world and were constantly moving from one to another.
I woke Ash so that she would be ready for the meeting. I planned to have her stay in the car as insurance. I knew she could take care of herself if someone decided to make a preemptive strike.
During our travels I’d bought sewing supplies. After she showered I got them out and helped her alter her clothes. We slit her jeans in the back to accommodate her tail, and she selected a belt. She would need one now to keep her pants up. We slit her shirt from the bottom to just below the neck on each side, and hemmed the borders to keep them from fraying. We then attached two buttons to keep the middle flap down. To cover her wings she always wore the trench coat. The wings folded close to her back, and the trench coat lay pretty flat.
I was fastening the back of her shirt as she asked me, What will they want to do?
I turned her around to look her in the eye. “More than likely they want to kill you,” I said. “Up to now there might’ve been a chance that they would just want to get control of you, and use you in some kind of power play.” I pointed to her horns. “But now that you’ve changed they’ll want to kill us both.”
That’s another reason I wanted this. She looked down at herself. I wanted to make sure that it was all worth it. If I’m about to die, I want it to be for a damn good reason. She looked back to me and showed me her fanged smile. And it must be with you.
“You’ve seen everything in my mind. You know what we’re up against. I won’t go down without a fight.” I grabbed her chin. “You’ve given me something worth fighting for. I will do everything that I can to keep you unharmed, but from the look of it, you’ll be able to take care of yourself.” I kissed her. “We need to go.”
I put on my holster. I knew they would take the gun from me, but until then I preferred to be armed. I put on my black hooded jacket.
As I watched to make sure no one was looking we hurried to the car. Once we were inside I gave her a blanket and a pillow, and she huddled down. She arched her wings out so she could sit more comfortably. After I’d checked out at the front desk, we drove to the mall. The whole way there I kept one hand on the wheel while she gripped the other. She looked at me, as if to apologize for the mess her identity had caused. I squeezed her fingers.
Once we were in the parking lot I looked for a space far from the entrances. As long as Ash had to stay in the car I didn’t want anyone bothering her. I gave her one last look, shut the car door, and walked to the entrance. Inside the mall most of the older people stared at me. It was one more reminder of why I wanted to leave the conservative Midwest. As I reached the food court overlook I saw another vampire nodding to me. I assumed he was my contact.
He had the look of a henchman, tall and muscle-bound. He leaned back against the railing, arms crossed, holding an envelope in his fingers. His bleach-blond hair was pulled into a low ponytail, and he watched me through the lenses of sunglasses that were too small for him. With his spray tan and muscles bulging from under a T-shirt and ripped jeans, he looked more like a body builder than a vampire. No human would guess, but I knew him by his aura.
I reached the railing, and stood next to him. I looked out at the food court as he kept his back to it. I rested my elbows on the railing
His voice was deep, but not threatening. “Where’s the gi
rl?”
“Waiting for me to come back with the instructions.” I watched as the people below chatted and munched on processed food. They would never know how lucky they were in their ignorance.
The spray-tanned vampire handed me the envelope. He sighed. “There’s everything you need for the next step. I hear you’ve done this before.” He smirked. It was no secret that I’d been incredibly lucky to walk away alive the first time, but no one met with the Quatre twice and survived.
I took the envelope and walked out the way I’d come in. Outside I glanced in the envelope: a map to a private airport, along with instructions. I shoved it into my pocket, and headed to the car.
Ash seemed to shrink under her blanket. She was shivering. She’d kept her cold-blooded trait. Her skin was always cool to the touch and her temperature fluctuated with the environment around her. I feared that if her body temperature dropped too low she might go into hibernation. “You could have started the car and run the heat, Ash,” I gently chided her.
She peeked from under the blanket as I started the car. “It’s okay. I’m curious about everything—including how cold might affect me. I wanted to see what would happen.”
I handed her the envelope. She took it with trembling hands. Her teeth chattered as she spoke: “What’s this?”
“Directions to a private airport.” I drove through the parking lot and turned onto the main road.
We’d been on the road awhile when Ash finally grabbed a book of CDs. She flipped through them, found what she was looking for, put it in the player, and selected the song she wanted. It was The Used’s “I Caught Fire.” Jessica had loved that band, and hearing them made me sad.
We drove for an hour until we reached a building in the middle of endless cornfields. To passersby this structure would look like a hangar for crop-dusting planes. Two men stood in a hangar entrance waving at us to pull in.
Ash looked worried. I laid my hand on her thigh. “It won’t happen here. Read them.”
“They don’t know about my change,” she said, her voice on the edge of panic.
We pulled into the building and parked in the space they indicated. Nearby was a small aircraft.
“Stay here,” I said. I got out of the car and examined the private jet.
The two incarnates approached me. They wore plain street clothes: T-shirts and jeans with tennis shoes. Both men were werewolves. I felt a pang of grief for Jason. The bald one was shorter than me. He wore a goatee and a closely-cropped mustache. The other was six feet, clean-shaven, with short spiky blond hair. Both were medium build.
The one with the shaved head spoke: “What’s the hold up? Get your stuff and the girl and get on board.” He had a gruff Latino accent.
The blond peered in the back window to see Ash. He stepped back. ”Something’s not right,” he said. “She’s no shifter. She doesn’t smell right.” He glared at me.
I glanced from one to the other, then settled on the short one. “Look, this girl is fragile and the last thing I need is you guys making her uneasy.” I looked back to the blond. Did he really smell something, or was he just talking? “You need to be careful,” I told him. “You might upset her, and we don’t want that…do we? I think we all know what a dragon is capable of.”
The blond spoke to the shorter werewolf. “I would have never come if you’d told me…”
“Shut up!” The shorter man snapped.
On cue Ash opened the passenger door. I took her hand, and helped her rise gracefully from the car. She kept her head down. I turned to see the blond with his mouth agape. The other man’s face was flush with anger.
The bald man spoke quietly: “What have you done? You are in some big fucking trouble.” He stomped toward us. I could see the muscles in his jaw constrict as he ground his teeth.
Ash’s wings started to twitch as she shrunk from him. I grabbed her wrist to steady her, but it was like touching a statue.
The angry bald man cursed, his brown eyes freezing into shock. “What the fuck...” He grabbed the collar of her trench coat and yanked it.
She cried out. Once her arms were free of the coat, she sobbed, clinging to me. She didn’t like anyone—not even this man—looking at her as if she were a monster. I drew my gun and pointed it between his eyes. Her wings surrounded me and her tail wrapped around my leg as if she were afraid he was going to do to her what he’d done with her coat.
I glared at him. He stared, shocked. I drew her head close to my neck. She cried and gripped me. She buried her face in my chest, muffling her sobs. If I shot this guy, it would be fatal, maybe for all of us. She kept clutching me as I talked: “You will not upset her again or I will fucking kill you.”
The blond trembled. With his gun trained toward me, we were left in a Mexican standoff. I kept his short friend in my peripheral vision.
As the taller one gave me back her coat, I allowed him to take my gun. Ash wept. I soothed her. I hit the button for the trunk, then draped Ash’s coat back over her shoulders, directing her to go to the plane.
“They think I’m a freak,” she whispered as we climbed into the plane.
They got our bags from the car, argued between themselves, and finally tossed our stuff inside the plane after us. The short one boarded and headed for the cockpit, while the blond stuck his head in the portal.
“The flight will take close to thirty hours,” said the blond. “We’ll make a couple of short stops. There is a bedroom in back with a full bath. Make yourselves comfortable.” He closed the exit door. It felt as if he were sealing our coffin.
The seating area was decorated as a living room with overstuffed recliners and all beige furniture. We had leather-upholstered, first-class plane seats. We walked through the living area and kitchen toward the bedroom.
Ash’s face was streaked from her black tears. I laughed. “You look like a kid who’s been playing in the dirt.” I wiped a tear from her face and showed it to her.
“Here’s the bathroom if you want to wash up. I’ll get our bags.” I helped her with her coat, then watched her fold her wings in to go into the bathroom.
I turned to find the blond standing by our bags, staring at her back as she closed the door. It was times like this that I hated being so short.
I picked up our bags and looked up at him. The top of my head was level with the bottom of his nose. I gave him a frozen stare and said: “You will not humiliate her or make her uncomfortable. She can, and will, read your thoughts.”
“Really?” With that he turned and walked out. The plane began rolling out of the hangar.
The bedroom where I put our bags had a queen-size bed and a small vanity. There was also a flat screen television.
Ash sat on the bed. “I’m sorry for the way I acted. That guy…I read his thoughts…he just…”
“It’s okay.” I sat beside her and took her hand.
The plane stopped at the base of a runway. A stern voice came over the speaker. “You have five minutes before we take off.”
“That means we have to sit in those first class seats and buckle up,” I said. Once we were seated the plane started again, and moments later we were in the air.
When we leveled, she looked at me, her eyes sparkling. “I’ve never flown before.”
“My heart flies every time I kiss you.” I placed my hand behind her head and pulled her to me.
She giggled. That must be the cheesiest pick-up line I’ve ever heard. We kissed. As our lips parted she said breathlessly: “But it’s working.” For a few more moments we kissed passionately, then we retreated to the bedroom. There we watched TV.
“They think they know what we are doing back here,” she giggled.
“Maybe we should give them something to talk about,” I growled. I moved closer to her and kissed her on the neck, pretending to bite her. I growled and snarled.
She laughed and pushed me away. Now they’re certain what we are doing and they’re jealous.
I grabbed her chin and brought her
face to mine. I breathed in her scent. “You find amusement in my uncontrollable love for you.” I kissed her hard.
“Yes.” She laughed breathlessly as she broke away from my kiss.
“Are you happy with the decision you’ve made?” I asked.
She frowned. She turned and lay on her stomach with her head turned toward me. What? You have second thoughts? She asked. You don’t want me?
No, I thought, that’s not it, and you know it. I couldn’t leave you if I tried. I belong to you only. My heart and soul. It’s just that…you got so upset when they pointed out what you’ve become. I just didn’t know if you regretted it. I ran my hand through her hair.
“I will never regret any decision that I make if it keeps me with you.” She closed her eyes.
I let her look into my mind to see how happy she made me. She smiled. Her breathing slowed. She slept.
I lay down beside her and ran my hand down her arm as I watched her. I thought I heard her whisper but her mouth didn’t move. As I leaned closer I heard conversation. Our foreheads were nearly touching. I closed my eyes and realized I was seeing her dream. I was happy to see myself there, but soon my feelings turned to fear. What was worse was that the fear made sense. I pulled away from her. She had no peace, not even in sleep.
I was tired. I slept too.
Chapter 17
STILL KICKING
When I woke up I decided to take advantage of their bathroom, if only to wash my face. I walked into the living area, and found the man with the shaved head sitting in one of the recliners. He stroked his short goatee as he glared at me. I did my best to show no emotion. Ash had already indicated that she didn’t like this guy. I agreed, but I refused to let him get to me. I went into the bathroom, washed up, then came back out. He hadn’t moved.
I checked the bedroom. Ash was still sleeping. With nothing else to do I decided to find out what I could about the bald man.
Acting as if I owned the place, I sat down across from him, and met his scowl head-on. I said nothing. After what seemed an eternity he asked, “Why did you do it?”