Smoke and Flame (Rise of the Dragons Trilogy Book 2)

by N. R. Hairston

  It took another ten minutes, but finally we were all lined up and ready to go. Reid stood beside me, hand in mine. “If the Gracstors have direct contact with the Yango, like the Litvan do, then maybe we can question a few, see what we can find out.”

  I nodded, but if Brad and Melinda hadn’t known any more about the dragons, then I doubted any other Yango did either, however, Kyla had had the dragon porter, so that was something.

  “Just be careful,” Vonda said, standing in front of us, looking everyone over. “And don’t take any unnecessary risk.” Had she met Coen? He seemed to delight in doing just that.

  We said our goodbyes, and then Trout opened the portal that would hopefully lead us to the end of our journey for Lantana, and maybe to the start of a new one for the dragons.

  Chapter 21

  We stepped out of the portal and into a large hallway with a high ceiling and many doors. Up ahead, the merry sound of laughter filtered to our ears.

  Fletcher looked at his watch. “From the intel I got, something is supposed to be going down now. I just hoped we arrived in time.” He craned his neck toward the noise. “If she can summon like you say, there is no way she’ll be anywhere but at Raco’s. He’s very particular about who he deals with, and your sister fits the bill.”

  Iago walked toward the noise, and we followed. It’d been Trout who’d opened the portal, so perhaps, Fletcher had told him where to go. Either that, or he didn’t really have the ability to do so as he’d claimed. I looked at him as he talked to Iago, and knew it was something I’d be finding out before he went home for the last time.

  We stopped outside a large room with high ceilings, covered in raindrop shaped chandeliers. There were no doors, but we saw large rounded out entrances into the room every few feet. The walls were painted a delicate blue with white stripes, which matched the tile on the floor perfectly.

  Over fifty tables covered in blue linen where spread throughout, each with four accompanying chairs. The men and women at the tables were dressed in long flowing gowns and tuxedos, looking like they were all ready to attend an upscale ball or dance.

  One table sat in front of the room, with three people at it. The first was a tall man with brown hair that reached down his back. His eyes held a seriousness, yet to me, he looked hateful. Then there was a woman with long brown hair piled high on her head, who looked just as treacherous. The last was a man with black hair and a sick grin on his face.

  Beside their table was a woman, who looked to be about twenty-six, twenty-seven. She stood in the same powerless bracelets that Iago had had on when we’d first met him, a sad look on her face. She had brown skin just like his, and her purple hair was done up in a mohawk, that kept falling in her face.

  Iago’s muscles tensed, and his fists curled at his side, letting me know that this was his sister. We’d finally found her. I let out a big breath and realized until this moment, I hadn’t actually been sure Iago would ever see his sister again. How relieved I was to have been wrong.

  The man with the brown hair picked up a piece of bread and threw it at her. It smacked her in the face, and she flinched back a bit, before training her features to go blank.

  “That’s Raco,” Fletcher let us know.

  “You will fetch,” the man said, getting up and going to stand in front of her, a sneer on his face. “But first.” He clapped his hands, and a large whiteboard dropped down from the ceiling. On it was a picture of a man in a blue business suit with a pair of black shades on.

  Raco addressed the crowd. “Neil Wright. Net worth, twenty-two billion and we want it all.” The crowd cheered, and he licked his lips and went on. “As usual, our take is seventy-five percent, and the rest will be divided equally amongst yourselves.”

  Having heard enough, I started to move forward, eager to get this mess over with, but Iago put a hand on my arm and stopped me before I’d made it two feet. “We need to know what we’re dealing with,” he said.

  He was right, so I stepped back and watched some more.

  Raco turned to Lantana, his eyes hard and mean. “We have your brother Iago in the basement. He’s alive at our discretion.”

  I looked at Iago, who stood stock-still watching. They thought they could control her by making her think they had her brother, what a surprise they were in for.

  “Summon Neil Wright here, now!” he commanded her. “Him and his whole family, so that he can watch us kill them one by one until he gives us what we want.” He walked a little closer, menace in his every step. “It’s his family or yours. How do you choose?”

  “Lebro doi!” Iago said loudly, causing every head in the place to snap our way. He walked into the room, mouth open, green mist shooting out of it, binding them all in place.

  Lantana’s eyes bulged when she saw him, and I couldn’t tell if she was happy or upset. “I should kill you,” Iago said, his voice low and full of disgust. “I should kill you for daring to think you could control one such as my sister.”

  “No need for theatrics,” a voice said, entering the room from the right, and my head whipped around in that direction, because I’d heard that voice before. Kyla walked into the room dressed in black pants and jacket, her heels clicking across the floor as she walked.

  “Yango!” Trout said, and held up his hands.

  “No,” I said, my voice loud. “This is Kyla, the one who tried to stop Brad and Melinda. She’s hunting down the Yango who invaded your world and bringing them to justice one by one.”

  Trout put his hands down, but his demeanor was still alert and distrusting. I didn’t blame him. If I’d had the history with the Yango that he did, I’d probably feel the same.

  “My team will handle this,” she waved her hand around at the crowd still frozen in place. “Let’s go somewhere to talk.”

  Lantana shot a wary glance at Kyla as she walked our way. The power stripping bracelets were still on her wrists. I shot fire out of my mouth, hoping I could burn them off like I had with the ones Iago had worn. They started to smoke, and the smell of burned metal filled the air, as they quickly melted away.

  Lantana looked at me in surprise but nodded her thanks.

  I understood her reaction, but what I didn’t get was the knowing look on Kyla’s face.

  “You pick the world,” Kyla said. “We have much to talk about.”

  I turned to the others, asking them what they wanted to do. This was about the best help we could get. Who else knew the Yangos better than another Yango?

  Iago and Coen nodded. Trout raised his hands to open a portal, just as more Yango filled the room, making them all tense.

  “No need to be alarmed,” Kyla said. “They’re all with me, making sure this,” she waved a hand at Raco and the other criminals in the room, “doesn’t happen again.”

  Trout opened the portal, and I stepped through, not sure if we were doing the right thing, but knowing that we at least had to try.

  Chapter 22

  Trout led us to a beach with blue water and white sand. As soon as everyone was out of the portal, Lantana rounded on her brother, who was leaning on Trout, his face looking tired and drawn, speaking to the fact that maybe he hadn’t fully recovered. “You’re going to kill yourself using that much energy. You didn’t have to do it! We could have fought our way out of there.”

  She looked to Trout. “And you let him do it!”

  He held his hands up. “Who can stop your brother when he wants to do something? Tell me who?”

  She gave him a look that said she wasn’t buying it, then turned to Coen. “And you.” She jumped into his arms, and he laughed and swung her around, holding her tight.

  “Been slinging you about since we were six years old,” he said, his eyes bright with merriment.

  She favored him with a smile and then turned back to her brother. “Thank you for coming to get me. I knew Raco didn’t have you. I knew it.”

  “Nice of you to bet his life on what you thought you knew,” Trout said dryly, causing Coen
to hit him with a sour look.

  So, Coen and Lantana were close, which shocked me a little, but if they’d known each other since they were six, I guess it was to be expected.

  “Did anyone hurt you?” Iago asked, and my mind immediately went back to red and black hair from Fletcher’s world. I wondered how much longer they’d stay living if she said yes.

  She shook her head. “Was roughed up a bit, but I can handle that.” She gave her brother a curious look as if trying to get to the depth of his question. “Nothing happened that I can’t come back from. Not even close. I was sold a few times, tossed around some, before finally ending up where you found me.” She held her hands up in front of her. “No harm done.”

  Well, I was glad she could be so cavalier about it while her brother was running around trying to rip out spines. Speaking of brothers, I cleared my throat and asked a question that was none of my business but just like with Vonda, I would protect those closes to me no matter what.

  I looked to Coen. “Is there’s something you need to tell my brother?” My eyes cut to Lantana who laughed disbelievingly.

  “We’ve been best friends since we were six years old. If he’s involved with your brother,” she looked at Coen, as if the thought itself was ridiculous, “then neither have anything to fear from me. Coen likes cock, I know that, and even if he didn’t, he doesn’t have the type of cock I like to sit on, so let’s just leave it at that.”

  Okay. I turned to Fletcher because apparently interfering in my sibling’s love lives was a trait that came naturally to me. “Don’t lie to my sister. If you don’t ever want to see her again... If you plan on leaving and not coming back—”

  “It’s none of your business,” he spat out. “But I haven’t lied to your sister about anything.” With that he turned, walking as far away from me as he could get. Great! Seemed like I was doing nothing but making friends today.

  Reid stood beside me an amused smile on his face, shaking his head. Kyla walked up to the two of us, while Iago and the others brought Lantana up to speed on all that had happened since she’d been gone.

  “Where did you get the dragon porter?” I asked Kyla, feeling the outline of it in my pocket. She wasn’t getting it back. She’d have to fight me if she tried.

  “Relax,” she said, waving a hand. “It’s useless to me. I only had it to study its design, but only those with dragon DNA can use it.”

  “Where did you get it?” Reid asked, apparently not taking into account what she’d just said, and what it meant.

  “An antique shop on a little ancient world that I visit from time to time. I’d heard that you had to be dragon born to use it, but I had to test it for myself before I believed it. None of that matters, though. You were able to use it, which means somewhere in your line, you have dragon DNA.

  She turned to Reid. “Have you tried to use the porter independent of her?”

  He shook his head.

  “Then I don’t know about you, or why your body reacted to the jump the same way as hers did. It should have killed you, yet it gave you dragon powers as well.”

  “It still may kill us,” I said. “That was one of the reasons we wanted to find Brad and Melinda.” A hollow feeling hit me in the gut, and I gulped and told myself not to think about it, about them. “They’re dead now.”

  “I’ve been watching from afar,” she said. “Following your portals. Trying to figure out how you command the porter the way that you do. The dragons are all dead. Yet here you stand, with wings and fire breath.”

  My mind went back to the time we’d spent on Emor in prison. So, she’d witnessed all that and done nothing? “You didn’t think to help us at any point?” I asked, heat rising to my face.

  “If you grow legs and feet yourself you can run on your own. How well will you fight the rogue Yango if you can’t even break out of a jail cell? What use are you to me, if you can’t even do that?”

  “Look, lady,” I said, and Reid put his hand on my arm to calm me.

  He turned to Kayla. “We need to find out more about the dragons. What can you tell us?”

  “You want to know if you’ll grow scales or suffer from the same disease that took them out?” She shrugged. “I don’t know, but you have an amazing gift, the both of you. If you’ll help us fight the rogue Yango, take them down, I promise I’ll do everything in my power to help you find the answers you need.”

  I looked to Reid. We were already on this quest anyway. Iago and the others deserved justice, and I saw no reason why Reid and I shouldn’t be a part of that, especially if she was willing to help us like she said.

  Reid nodded, which was all the confirmation I needed. “Okay,” I said, looking at her. “Promise to help us, and we’ll do whatever we can to bring your people back under control.”

  She gave me a wry smile and pulled out a small porter. “We’re not ready yet. I’m still gathering alliances and mobilizing forces. I’ll find you when it’s time to move.” With that, she opened a portal and stepped inside.

  I waited until she disappeared, then turned to Reid. “Did we just do the right thing?”

  His eyes strayed to the spot she’d been standing. “If we didn’t. We’ll find out soon enough.”

  After Lantana had been brought up to speed and everyone had caught up, I opened a portal and stepped into Todd’s living room, stopping cold at what I saw there.

  Sitting on the couch, dragon wings out and flapping, smoke coming out of their noses and ears, were two men and a woman. “Hello,” the woman said, looking at me. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

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  Other Titles by N. R. Hairston

  Magic and Mischief Series

  A Magical Reckoning, Book One

  A Symptom of Magic, Book Two

  Chronicles of Magic and Mischief (Novellas set in the Magic and Mischief world):

  Cursed Magic, Book One

  World Breaker

  Rogue Magic, Book One

  World Breaker Beginnings (Novellas set before events in World Breaker, though you don’t have to read one to read the other.) Read this series for free when you join my mailing list, here.

  Rebel Magic

  Stolen Magic

  Crooked Magic

  Rise of the Dragons

  Fire and Ash, Book One

  Smoke and Flame, Book Two

  Dust and Cinder, Book Three

  Acknowledgements

  A special thanks to my beta readers, and editors for making this book what it is. Thank You!

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  About the Author

  N.R. Hairston resides in Southern Virginia with her family. She enjoys writing, reading, cooking, and spending time with her loved ones.

  Please be on the lookout for upcoming books by N. R. Hairston.

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