by Aaron Crash
“That’s my vote as well,” Tessa said.
Aria grimaced. “Of course you are going to agree with Steven. Tessa, you can’t think clearly around him, obviously. His power is pulling you to him.”
“What do you mean?” the barista asked uncertainly.
“Before I kissed him and woke the Animus in him, what did you think of Steven?”
Steven did not like where this was going. And he didn’t like Aria’s fear, because that was the real problem. She was afraid, and she’d rather fight them than give in.
Tessa waited for a second and then answered. “I liked Steven. He was working hard to get ahead. He was focused.”
“But romantically, he meant nothing to you. Is that correct?” A car swerved in front of her, some idiot trying to find a way through the traffic jam. Aria hit the horn and cursed him in a foreign language, probably Hindi or Marathi.
“I’m not sure I want to know,” Steven said.
Tessa opened and closed her mouth. “Well, no, Steven was just a nice guy who came in and cleaned at the coffee shop. I didn’t think he was interested in me. He never showed it.”
“I was shy!” He tried to defend himself from the back seat. Even at their slow crawl, I-70 was coming up. The day had grown warm, and the inside of the car was stifling. Steven felt the fire in his chest and tried to swallow to relieve the tension.
“And then what changed?” Aria asked.
“He stood up to Bud,” Tessa murmured. Her face grew pensive, then a little worried. “And he just … changed. He walked right up to me, we talked, we kissed. Then did more. He got that glow.”
“What glow?” Aria asked.
“That glow that people get when you like them,” Tessa explained. “Sometimes it happens right away, and it’s intense and hot, and sometimes you have to kind of grow into the glow. Believe me, I know about this stuff. I’ve dated a lot. I really like people and sex.”
“That glow was the Dragonsoul in him, drawing his Escort. You are under his spell, Tessa. That is what Dragonsoul males do. They gather an Escort, acquire a Hoard, and build an Aerie. The Animus from their Escort gives them energy to prepare for battle with other Primes and to do the work necessary to grow wealthy and powerful.”
When Aria finished, neither Steven nor Tessa said a word. Tessa sat scowling, while he found himself lost in thought. “What if I don’t want my life to be endlessly fighting for money and Aeries? What if I want something else?”
Aria gunned the engine, swerved through the traffic, pissed off a world of people, and then pulled off to the edge of the freeway where there was a narrow strip of asphalt banked by a concrete wall. “Tell me now, then,” she spat. “If you do not want to embrace your destiny, your legacy, tell me now. I’ve risked everything on you.”
Tessa burst out of the car and marched down the highway.
In seconds, their adventure and their friendship had come unraveled. Steven had no idea what had happened, but he could pretty much put the blame on Aria. And yet, she was just acting out of fear. Of what? He had no idea. He’d watched her fight. She could become a fucking dragon. What could scare her?
“Aria,” Steven said, “in my vision, the Dragonsoul said that I should play the game, but my ultimate goal was revolution. I don’t know what that means, but I do know that I’m not going to be the Dragonsoul Prime you expect. How can I be? I grew up human, and suddenly I’m facing this whole new reality I never knew existed. I’m different. And in the end, I think that’s going to be in our favor.”
Tessa continued to walk farther away.
Aria and Steven watched her go.
“I don’t know if I can join your Escort if you can’t be strong,” Aria said quietly.
“Well, that’s up to you,” Steven said. “I think we should see what the other two Drokharis markers tell us, and then we can all decide. I’ll agree to skip the airport. Since my mom is at work, she’s probably fine. So we’ll go right to Colorado Springs. Now, I’m going to go see about Tessa.”
Steven pushed the passenger seat forward and climbed out of the car. He jogged down the freeway, aware of the eyes watching him. Well, if anyone was searching for them, they weren’t being very inconspicuous.
“Tessa!” he called to her.
She turned. Tears streaked her cheeks. She had a cigarette in her fingers, but she wasn’t smoking it. Then she continued her march forward.
Steven ran up to her. “Tessa, look, I had no idea I had any sort of power over you. I wouldn’t have taken advantage of you like that. I’ve had a crush on you since I met you. This is all a dream come true, but I would never manipulate you.”
She whirled back to him. “How can I be sure? Aria was right. Before that night, even after you saved my life, I was all like, ‘Steven is nice but not boyfriend material.’ Then, suddenly, we’re having sex, and I’m thinking about marriage and babies and forever. That’s not just the glow. That’s fucking voodoo for someone like me. Losing my dad, watching my mom take care of my brother, I take forever seriously. I know what it means.” More tears streamed down her face.
What could Steven say to any of that? He considered joking about how he wasn’t sure he could get her pregnant since she was human, and he was a Dragonsoul. But he instinctively knew that wouldn’t fly, not right then.
The sun beat down on them, and the air was full of smog from the cars creeping along. In the distance were police officers, an ambulance, and a helicopter. There had been an accident, which explained the traffic jam.
The two stood on asphalt, surrounded by concrete, in the middle of a big city that apparently had more than just people, pets, and rodents in it. There were dragons as well.
The enormity of his situation hit him hard. “Tessa, I’ve been a Dragonsoul for three days. I don’t know what forever means. I don’t know if I age like a human, if I can get sick, or anything. You’ve seen me and how I am. You know even if I could cast some kind of love spell on you, I wouldn’t know how to do it. I’m the worst Dragonsoul ever.”
Tessa laughed a little. “Not the worst. You saved my life over and over. And that just makes it worse. It makes me feel even more for you. Suddenly, I can’t trust myself or my instincts. That’s scary, right?”
Steven nodded. “I can’t imagine it. If you need to take some time away, Aria and I can drop you off at your apartment.”
“No, you can’t. I’m fridge material, remember?” Tessa crushed the cigarette in her hand and dribbled the paper and tobacco onto the freeway. “I’m in this. I want to be in this with you, with Aria, even though she’s having trouble being open with us. It’s just …”
“It’s just what?” Steven asked.
An anxious expression lit Tessa’s eyes. “I want this all to be real. As real as what I’m feeling for you. It’s all been so outrageous that when Aria said I might be under a spell, that made so much sense. It explained everything. And then I thought maybe I’d gone crazy.” She paused and chewed on her lower lip for a beat. “Am I crazy?” she asked tentatively.
“As crazy as I am,” Steven replied softly. “And I can turn into a dragon.”
Tessa sniffed through her tears and laughed.
Someone honked. Some asshole screamed, “Kiss her already!”
Steven lifted a hand. “Should we listen to them? If you can’t trust some douchebag ordering you to do shit from his car, who can you trust?”
Tessa took his hand. “I’ll kiss you because I want to. I have to believe that.”
Steven smiled. “And I’m letting you kiss me because you want to. If I thought for a second you didn’t have a choice, I’d stop this right away.”
Their bodies met, their arms circled each other, and they kissed right there on I-25 in front of God, the Department of Transportation, and everyone.
When their lips finally left one another’s, Tessa whispered, “It’s going to take me a while to get used to this, you know?”
“Yeah, I know,” Steven said. They walked back to th
e car.
Aria got out and motioned for Steven to take the wheel. “You can drive. I trust you. If you want to get to the airport and see your mother, we’ll do it. I’m sorry … for everything.”
Steven grinned at her. “I can’t speak for Tessa, because she’s her own person, but I will take you up on the offer to drive. Me, in a Mercedes, get out of here! It’s about as outrageous as me having supernatural powers.”
He got behind the wheel, Aria got in back, and Tessa rode shotgun. The barista reached around and the held the Indian woman’s hand. “We can be patient, Aria. You’ll tell us about yourself in time.”
“I will,” Aria murmured. “I promise.”
Back on the road, they made it past the accident and were back up to seventy-five miles an hour as they rushed toward Colorado Springs. The car, though, really wanted to do ninety. No, make that a hundred. Steven kept having to pull off the pedal. This vehicle was made to go fast, without a doubt. The highways in Germany didn’t have speed limits. His father—well, his adopted father—had told him that. Joe Whipp had been all around the world, running schemes, working scams, and throwing cards.
Steven sighed.
“No airport?” Tessa asked.
“No airport,” Steven said firmly. “Aria is right. If my mom’s safe at work, then I need to focus on figuring out my end of things before I talk to her. She works best if I can give her some cues that might trigger her memory.”
They zoomed through Castle Rock, which always made Steven think of Stephen King. He’d read some of the famous author’s books, but mostly, he knew about him because so many people always wanted to spell Steven’s name with the “ph” and not the “v.” Yeah, no.
Aria let out a long breath from the back seat. “I want a CornNut. Or something. I know you want to know the truth of your past, Steven, but I think I want it just as much.”
Steven turned on the radio and flipped channels until Aria got frustrated with the constant switching. She jammed herself between the seats and hit the satellite radio option. They settled on the “road trip” channel, which had a good variety.
But Tessa tsked her. “Dude, first rule of the road? Driver gets to choose the music. Obviously, you’re not American.”
“Nor am I human,” Aria insisted. “And I would’ve been fine if he chose a station, but the constant switching? Very annoying. I will add this to things I need to learn about American human life. So, the driver chooses the music and CornNuts are road trip food, and Donettes are a thing.”
“A definite thing,” Tessa said happily.
Steven enjoyed their banter and then said, “I thought the first rule of the road was no one rides for free. Gas, cash, or ass, which one is it going to be?”
“That’s insulting,’ Aria said wearily.
“And it’s not your car,” Tessa added. “Besides, we did pay Aria with ass, and it must’ve been good because she’s still with us.”
“Very insulting,” Aria repeated.
As they got closer to Colorado Springs, Steven activated the pendant and the fireburst appeared downtown, at a big hotel called the Hotel Antlers.
He turned into the parking garage, frowning all the way. Not only did he not want to scratch the paint on the Mercedes, but he realized the problem they were facing.
“Okay, geniuses,” he said, shaking his head. “How are we going to find the right room in a building full of rooms?”
“Ooh, a puzzle,” Tessa said smiling. “This is all so Da Vinci Code. Could this get any better?” Despite her doubts about her attraction to him and Aria’s secrets, by the excitement in her voice, it was clear she was having the time of her life.
SEVENTEEN
They parked, Tessa grabbed the Drokharis Grimoire, and they walked into the lobby. The hotel was super fancy, and Steven realized this was his life now. He’d stayed in a few motels, mostly budget places where you didn’t want to look too closely at the floor or consider the last time the sheets had been washed. Those crappy rooms had lines of black mold in the bathroom tiles and surly night clerks. His dad had known most of the owners, and so they’d stayed for cheap. The few vacations Joe Whipp had taken his family on were mostly so he could play poker and not feel too guilty for abandoning his family.
A real peach, was Steven’s dad.
Aria walked over to get some berry-flavored water in a tall, glass water dispenser. Every man in the place watched her walk, their eyes full of desire. A thrill buzzed through Steven. They wanted her, and he’d seen her naked, had been with her, intimately, though they hadn’t had sex yet. Other men checked out Tessa, who hugged the big leather-bound tome to her chest. And there Steven was, with both of them. Was this really his life now?
He couldn’t turn on the pendant map, not in public. What were they going to do? Another puzzle.
Aria came back carrying three plastic cups full of the water. They sipped it, considering their next move.
“Any suggestions?” he asked Aria.
“If this was an Aerie, we should go to the penthouse suite. That would be where Drokharis would’ve set up his residence.” She walked over, garnering more stares, to the desk clerk, who immediately got nervous because she was so pretty.
Steven threw Tessa a glance. “Do you know everyone is staring at you?”
The barista rolled her eyes. “No, they’re drooling over Aria, clearly. I’m just the interesting sideshow girl.” She changed her voice to mimic a dude’s. “Look at her, Ms. Emo. Didn’t I see her on SuicideGirls.com?”
“That’s not true.” Steven hooked an arm through hers and they went to the front desk. “You’re superhot, Tessa. Like amazing. Believe me. And what’s Suicide Girls?”
“I love you for not knowing.” She kissed him on the cheek. “I’m okay with them looking, but compared to Aria? Not one in a thousand girls could compete with her.”
“There’s no competition. You both are equally amazing.” He took her hand and squeezed it.
At the desk, the clerk was sputtering, “Ma’am, I assure you, we only have fourteen floors and seven executive suites. All of the suites are currently booked. I really want to help you, but I’m not certain I can.”
Aria reached into her purse and withdrew a slender leather wallet. She withdrew five one hundred-dollar bills, wrapped them around her American Express card, and gave them to Jimmy, the desk clerk. “Have all the guests checked into every single one of the penthouse suites? If not, I would like to book one, or at the very least, I’d like to see it for my next trip. My father in India is very wealthy, and he is looking to create business in Colorado. You do take American Express, correct?”
“We do,” Jimmy muttered, holding the credit card in one hand and the cash in the other.
“The cash is for you, because I know you really want to help me and my friends,” Aria said evenly.
Steven felt stunned. He was watching a bribe happen, right there, in front of him. His dad had talked about greasing people’s palms, but this was the first time Steven was seeing it with his own eyes.
Jimmy went from pale to the color of a royal flush. He blinked. “Well, ma’am, not all of our guests have checked in yet. If you were quick, with your, uh, friends, you could see the presidential suite on the fourteenth floor. But you’ll come back in say, twenty minutes?”
“A half an hour,” Aria said. “My lovers like to take their time. You’ll need to change the sheets. And who knows, whoever has the suite booked might cancel.”
Tessa pulled Steven close to her and gripped his butt as if to punctuate what Aria had said.
Jimmy blinked and gasped like a fish out of water. “I, uh, will let housekeeping know. And perhaps, I can … I will do … maybe … yes.”
Aria patted the desk. “I’m not sure what that means, but can I have the key card please?”
Jimmy got them set up, and they were off into the elevator.
Steven’s head was still whirling at what had just happened. Aria hadn’t just stunned Jimmy the d
esk clerk, but him as well. And Tessa had played along, but she wasn’t giggling or laughing. It was just like another day in the life of a Dragonsoul. On the fourteenth floor, the elevator car dinged, and Aria led the way out. She swiped a card, and the two big doors opened automatically, showing them a suite even bigger than the one they had stayed in the night before.
“So this is what money gets you, huh?” Steven asked, mystified.
“Just one of the perks of that whole ‘acquire a Hoard’ part being a Dragonsoul,” Tessa said. The suite had two massive rooms on either wing of the central living area, which contained a view of the Rockies, a kitchen, and a sunken floor. The bathroom was large enough for a jacuzzi in the middle—burbling and hot.
“This is how the other one percent lives,” Steven said. “Too bad we can’t stay here tonight.”
“Perhaps we can. But for now, we need to find the Drokharis Aerie.” Aria stood in front of the bookcase searching for a hidden lever, but this place didn’t have the same sconce in the wall.
They all scoured the room, searching for a way up, but there were other rooms on the fourteenth floor. What were the chances the suite they were in led to a secret loft? Not good.
Tessa pulled out her phone and started scrolling through screens. “I’ll do a quick history check. Built in 1964, and yeah, fourteen floors. Officially.”
Steven lifted the pendant out of his shirt. The topaz wasn’t glowing nor was it warm. It was just a normal gem at that moment.
Aria went to the window and slid it open. There wasn’t a screen. “We are very lucky,” she said. “Normally, this would be sealed. But I have an idea. It was clear Jimmy had no idea about any kind of hidden floor or secret loft. So, I believe it remains hidden from human eyes. Luckily, I’m not human.”
She kicked off her shoes, dropped her purse, and swept off her dress and underwear. Standing naked, she backed up and dove out the window. In midair, she whirled and changed. For the first time, Steven was watching her become her True Form, the next level of transformation. Her body shimmered, growing brighter as her skin became scaled. Wings erupted from her back, her arms and legs grew longer, and her fingernails and toenails became gleaming obsidian talons.