Dragons & Demigods: A Montague & Strong Detective Novel (Montague & Strong Case Files Book 6)

by Orlando A. Sanchez

  I pressed my mark and hoped Karma was taking a vacation. White light shot out from the top of my left hand and everything came to a stop slightly out of focus.

  The smell of lotus blossoms wafted by my nose, the scent laden with citrus and mixed with an enticing hint of cinnamon. This was followed by the sweet smell of wet earth after a hard rain.

  “Shit.”

  “You and your friends kept me busy in London,” said a voice behind me.

  It was Karma.

  “You’re welcome?”

  I turned and braced myself in case she felt like sharing one of her slaps of steel. She was dressed in a black leather power suit, only the bottom was a mini-skirt instead of pants. Leather knee-boots with the word BITCH etched into the sides gleamed in the street lights.

  “It wasn’t a compliment, Splinter.” She was doing ‘severe librarian’ and wore her hair in a tight bun along with a thin pair of glasses. “Is that a Kragzimik?”

  I nodded, still expecting one of her jaw-cracking greetings. She grabbed me by the face and squeezed. I saw stars and my vision tunneled in before she let go. Her hazel eyes gleamed, daring me to stare back. She looked female, but Karma was the personification of causality. I risked madness looking into those eyes for too long.

  “Yes, I think he’s trying to eliminate magic-users and supernaturals.”

  “You’re getting closer,” she said and tapped my cheek, causing stars to bloom in my vision, again. “How is he going to do it?”

  “The neutralizer. He plans to strip magic-users of their ability.”

  “Boring,” Karma said, sitting on one of the large stones. “You’re a detective. Do better.”

  I let the facts sift through my brain.

  “Kraggy used Bad Luck Sal to convince George to attack the dragons and get the neutralizer, but he is a dragon.”

  “Which means?” She tapped the top of her knee.

  “George doesn’t know Sal is working for a dragon. This explains why drakes aren’t trying to shred us now.”

  “Why does the Kragzimik want the neutralizer?”

  “It’s not to strip the magic-users of magic.”

  “Go further.” Karma shook her head and stared at me. “This is a dragon.”

  “He wants to strip magic…period.”

  She gave me a smile that chilled my blood and made me take a step back in fear.

  “Well done, Splinter.” She gave me a golf clap and stood. “Now you’re starting to see the picture.”

  “Can he?”

  “Can he what?”

  “Remove magic?”

  She looked over at the Kragzimik and tapped her chin.

  “I don’t know. Do you plan on letting him try?”

  “No, I need the neutralizer, and he has it.”

  “Had it,” she said, pointing at my hand. A blue crystal about the size of a golf ball shone in my palm. “How did you? Why?”

  “Reasons,” Karma said. “Just remember, not everyone is subject to the construct or absence of time.”

  “What does that mean?” I pocketed the neutralizer.

  “You don’t always have ten seconds, Splinter.” Karma walked away and disappeared.

  I headed to Monty, who was down the street, when a searing pain blossomed in my right side. I looked down to see a blade protruding from my side.

  “Mr. Strong,” Kragzimik said while removing the blade, “you have something that belongs to me.”

  I drew Grim Whisper and fired. My rounds never reached him. Time was still stalled. He grabbed me by the neck and started to squeeze.

  “How can you move through time?” I managed between gasps.

  “An insignificant flea like you would never understand the intricacies of the power I wield. Time, as you understand it, is a primitive construct.”

  He flung me forward and I bounced painfully next to Monty and the incoming Salao and George.

  “This is why you want to remove magic? You think only you deserve to wield it?”

  Kragzimik raised an eyebrow. “Impressive.” He stepped on my chest, crushing ribs. “Even stupid beasts can have momentary epiphanies, I suppose. Magic and its use is for me and my kind. It has been this way for eons.”

  “Thanks, Kraggy,” I wheezed, wondering how long ten seconds was in dragon pain-land. “That clears it all up.”

  He punched me in the face. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth. There was no hot flash, no repair of the cuts and bruises. My curse didn’t work outside of time.

  “I’m literally out of time.” I laughed to myself.

  “You find this funny? You see your human friend, George?” He grabbed my hair and turned my head to face George. “He’s going to die knowing he helped the very creatures he detests. Once I erase all magic, we will address the hybrid abominations, like this one.”

  He twisted my head to face Salao.

  “He’s a demigod, and he helped you,” I managed after spitting some blood.

  “He’s an abomination, and he served my purpose. I allowed him to serve a greater cause than his petty existence.”

  I tried to speak but found myself short of breath. “Are all dragons,” I said in between wheezes, “such monumental assholes?”

  He smiled, and I knew the end was close. “Aren’t you wondering why you haven’t returned?” Kragzimik asked with a sneer.

  “Now that…that you mention it, the question has crossed my mind.”

  He pulled me close. “I’m going to keep you in here until you breathe your last breath. Once you’re gone, I’m going to kill your upstart mage friend and the mongrel. Then I’ll start with the mutations. Vampires, werewolves, and any supernatural creature that contain even a sliver of magic will be neutralized.”

  “Sounds like a busy week.”

  He tightened his grip around my neck, causing me to choke. “As long as you’re alive, you will be in here with me. I will take your life in the smallest of measures, savoring each moment.”

  I still had the neutralizer in my pocket. If I knew how to activate it, I would. Instead, I would have to settle for the next best thing.

  Kraggy shoved me back, and I landed next to Monty. I got to my feet shakily and stumbled, leaning on the frozen Monty to remain upright.

  “That’s what I figured. Just wanted…wanted to make sure.” I was going to take a chance. If I timed it wrong, it was the last chance I would take.

  I drew Ebonsoul and Kragzimik laughed. “Your blade can’t even scratch me.”

  “I know. It’s not for you,” I said, plunging Ebonsoul into my chest.

  THIRTY

  TIME SNAPPED BACK into place. Monty looked down and saw the neutralizer in his hand. I had placed it there when I leaned on him for support.

  “Kill them!” I heard Kragzimik yell. “Get me the neutralizer!”

  “Tag, you’re it,” I managed before falling back. Peaches rushed to my side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  I was tired and my body flushed with heat, I knew it was too little too late. Ebonsoul wasn’t a normal blade. Plunging it into my chest severed the time loop Kragzimik had created. The only downside was the ‘plunging it into my chest’ part.

  Monty raised the neutralizer and yelled some words I couldn’t understand. The blue crystal blazed in his hand, converting night into day for several seconds. I had to close my eyes against the light.

 

  Peaches winked out, but I didn’t see where he winked back in, hopefully around Kraggy’s neck. The thought made me smile. I heard the drakes begin to fill the street.

  “Sal, what the hell are those things doing here?” George asked, firing at the drakes. “You set me up?”


  “You stupid human, of course I used you. I only needed you for the neutralizer.” Salao extended a hand and unleashed a flame orb. It punched through George’s armor and George, knocking him back. “That is better than you deserved.”

  Salao turned and focused on Monty.

  I pulled out Ebonsoul. I may have been going out, but I wasn’t going to die on my back. A pair of rough hands grabbed me under the armpits and dragged me closer to Monty.

  I started to struggle, trying to get away, but I couldn’t get leverage. Whoever had a hold on me had a grip of iron.

  “Quit your kicking lad, or I’ll feed you to the drakes,” said a familiar voice. “I told my mule-headed nephew to call me before you engaged the dragons. Didn’t I say it before? I said if you find an enclave, you call me first…first.”

  “Uncle Dex? How did you get here?”

  “And what did I say about demigods? I gave you clear instructions, the both of ye!”

  I knew he was upset when his speech started getting old Englishy.

  “We didn’t want to expose any of you to danger.”

  “Oh, and the three of you were going to handle a Kragzimik, a demigod, and an army of drakes on your own, were ye?”

  “We had a plan.” I saw Monty blasting drakes in every direction. Peaches had reached Kragzimik, who remained in human form, probably from the neutralizing blast. Both of them were circling each other.

  “Your plan was what?” Dex growled, looking around. “Last ten minutes, then die?”

  “A little longer than that, maybe twenty. Dex?”

  “What!” he snapped and gestured, flooding my body with golden runes. I was feeling better by the second.

  “How did you get here? And did you bring help?”

  “I’m a Montague and, unlike my proud nephew, I know when to bring an army. Let’s go, boys!”

  A deafening roar went up into the night. It didn’t sound like drakes, but I wasn’t certain they were friendly either. That’s when I saw a sight that confirmed I had lost too much blood. Hundreds of tigers leaped off the FDR and onto the street below. They tore into the drakes, rending them to pieces all around us. I managed to get to my feet just as Kristman Dos approached Dex.

  “We got the drakes, go put down the dragon.”

  “Aye, Salao is roaming about,” Dex answered. “He was in the neutralizing blast. Why not give him a taste of his own medicine? We need him alive though.”

  “I’ll make sure he runs into some bad luck of his own.” Kristman nodded, looked around, and made some signals with his hands. I saw a group of ten tigers peel off from the main group and target Salao. He was going to have some serious bad luck.

  “Where’s the neutralizer?” LD’s voice came from behind me. “We need it now, or all this is for nothing.”

  “Monty has it.” I pointed to his location and LD was gone, only to reappear next to Monty. He was gone again a second later. Roars from behind made me turn.

  Peaches had reached planet size, which normally dwarfed everything around him, except this time he was facing Kragzimik, who was no longer in human form.

  Kragzimik had grown, considerably. His teeth were easily the size of my arms. His claws, which raked grooves in the cobblestones, were the size of small cars as he stretched his body along the street. He narrowed his yellow eyes and shook his body, which was covered in black scales tinged with red.

  I looked up and resisted the urge to turn and run away screaming. My opinion hadn’t changed. Dragons—up close—were truly, unmistakably, petrifying.

  The dragon raked Peaches across the side and whacked him with its tail, sending Peaches across the street.

  Monty ran up to my side. He was looking a bit rough as he gestured and formed several white-hot orbs.

  Dex formed a wall of orbs and grinned at Monty.

  “What are you waiting for? You plan on living forever!”

  Dex rushed at Kragzimik. Several large groups of weretigers, more than I could count, joined him and Monty. I felt the ground tremble and a cloud of sausage breath enveloped me, making me choke.

 

  I winced at the XL voice in my head and nodded. I remembered Monty’s advice about weaknesses.

 

  We raced at the Kragzimik. I grabbed Peaches’ collar and we blinked out. We blinked back in mid-air over Kraggy and fell.

 

 

  Peaches’ eyes glowed red and he unleashed his omega beams on the Kragzimik, who looked up.

 

 

 

  I angled my body toward the Kragzimik who whipped his tail around and caught me in the midsection. I bounced on the street for a few seconds before rolling to a stop.

  I was about to get up when a hand grabbed my shoulder. I whirled with Ebonsoul, ready to perforate whatever grabbed me, when I saw it was George.

  “You look like shit, George. Maybe you should sit this one out.”

  “I’m sorry, Strong.” He reached under his armor and pulled out a long faintly glowing device covered in runes. “Let me make this right.”

  “What the hell is that?”

  He gave me a grin and coughed, spitting up blood.

  “Synthetic entropy bomb. My dragon contingency plan, keyed to my energy signature. I just need to get close.”

  I held out my hand. “We can do it. You’re in no condition to get near that thing.”

  “No, I saw what you just did. Your hound dropped you over it. I can do that. You just need to distract it long enough for me to get close. Besides, I’m the detonator.”

  “It’s too risky. If it sees you…it’s over.”

  “Then make sure it doesn’t see me. I need to do this, Strong. For Cassandra, for me. Please. Let me make it right. I’ll plant it and get clear.”

  We both knew that was a lie. He wasn’t planning on getting clear of anything.

  “There’s another way. There has to be.”

  “You know there isn’t. Look, I can do this. You owe me, Strong.”

  Kragzimik was holding his own against Dex and Monty, throwing up shields and countering their spells with blasts and orbs of his own. The weretigers attacked relentlessly, but the dragonscale proved to be too much, even for them. Every few seconds, Kragzimik would swat a handful away from his body. They couldn’t keep that up all night.

  Periodically, Kragzimik would cast and more drakes appeared, keeping the majority of the weretigers engaged. George was right, we needed to shift the balance of this fight. End it, if possible.

  “Goddammit,” I cursed under my breath, and George smiled. “You wait for my signal before you launch, you got it?”

  “Wait for your signal,” he said and grabbed my arm. “Thank you, Strong.”

 

  Peaches XL appeared a second later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  They blinked out a second later.

  THIRTY-ONE

  I RAN TO where Monty stood firing orbs at the dragon.

  “We need to get and keep its focus on us,” I said, firing Grim Whisper.

  “Do tell,” Monty said, unleashing a barrage of orbs at the dragon. “What did you think I was
doing?”

  “We need a void vortex,” I said, my voice hard.

  “Are you insane?” He shook his head. “Do you see how many weretigers are around us? They’ll die.”

  “Not a real one. Kraggy needs to think it’s real. Can you do that?”

  “And what are you going to do? Convince it to surrender?”

  Dex looked up into the night sky.

  “Bloody hell, we can do it, lad.”

  Dex began gesturing and Monty joined him. Most of the weretigers were busy with the drakes. Kragzimik looked down and laughed.

  “You would sacrifice your pitiful lives and this insignificant city in a failed attempt to stop me?”

  He unleashed a flame blast. I pressed the main bead on my mala bracelet, materializing my shield, and deflected the blast away.

 

  Dex and Monty kept gesturing and I noticed a corsolis take shape near Kragzimik. How they created one while starting a void vortex made me wonder, but I couldn’t focus on it for long.

  A black vortex started forming around Kragzimik. It started to take shape, and then it collapsed. I saw Monty and Dex back away, slowly at first, and then run. Kragzimik looked down at me and laughed.

  “Run, vermin!” He looked around, gestured, and summoned more drakes. “There is nowhere to hide. Only now at the end, do you understand.”

  “You’re right,” I said. “You’re too powerful for us.”

  I saw George land on Kragzimik’s head and started backing away. I noticed all of the weretigers had cleared away.

  “Cower before me! I am your rightful ruler! What are you?” Kragzimik looked up and tried to swat George off. “Begone, insect. How dare you?”

  George gave me a nod and closed his eyes. A white flash filled the sky a second later. Kragzimik screamed as the entropy bomb undid his body.

  I ran and felt the energy wave gain ground on me. The ground started shaking, and I realized it wasn’t because of the entropy bomb. Peaches was keeping pace next to me.

 

  I grabbed hold of his collar, and we blinked out. We reappeared about ten blocks away with everyone else.