Craig

by Celeste Raye

  Max landed too and together they began using their talons and teeth to kill the Orcs. Flames erupted and singed everything. The whole world seemed to be made up of ashes and death and blood, and Craig felt nothing but rage, rage that evil lived and that that evil had sent him here and her back to her world.

  I love her. That thought beat into his brain as he dispatched a few more Orcs. I love her, and I sent her away so she would not die here, but I have no idea if she is safe because the city is so dangerous and she is a cop, so she is always in the line of fire. I love her, and she could die while I am over here and can do nothing at all to save her.

  That made him so angry he saw red, and the blood that was everywhere did not help to dispel that redness coating his vision.

  Time stood still. He was so busy taking on the Orcs and looking for one more thing to kill that, when Max grabbed his arm and tried to turn him around, Craig’s reaction was to suck in air and prepare to send fire into Max’s face.

  Max shouted, “Craig! No! It is me! Damn you, do not spit fire at me!”

  Then he was a kid again, playing at training in the courtyard and laughing with the others because he had accidentally spit fire into Max’s face, burning off Max’s eyebrows and the little beard he had been so proud of growing. That memory snapped him out of it, out of the grip of rage and death and the desire to burn everything that got in his way.

  He let the fire down in his mouth and changed. The Orcs were all dead, and he stared at the burning and bloody bodies with bleak eyes. Max’s hand helped to steady him, and he blinked a few times. The rage was as burned out as the fire, but he still felt the ache of heartbreak in his chest.

  Max said, “You did all you could. You did what you had to do because you love her. I told you I get it. I do. But listen to me: we can’t afford to lose one more dragon. I don’t know how the two of us just did this or even survived it. This was stupid. Let’s get back to the castle, okay?”

  “Yeah. I am sorry. You are right. This was stupid as hell. I do not really know what came over me. I just sort of snapped.”

  “That’s love,” Max said with a wince as he looked down at a particularly nasty gash on his right arm. “It makes you so…hell, I don’t know. I get it though; but seriously, save it for when we are greater in number because we really can’t fight like this. It will do nobody any good if the two of us had died here today, and it sure as hell would not do Gina any good if you had gotten yourself killed. So how about we fight smart, and you stay alive because I am sure she wants you back.”

  They changed and flew back into the skies. The sky was clean and fresh and blue. Craig lifted his head, stretching his neck and sniffing deep of the cold and fresh air. The city was ugly, in so many ways. But he had not gone there for its loveliness. He had gone there to help, to be the knight he had been raised to be.

  He belonged over there. He did. Because if there was any world that was in need of a knight, it was that one. He knew that even if the other dragons did not, or did know, and just did not care.

  It mattered to him, his sworn oath to protect human life—and he did not believe that that oath should be only upheld there in the world to which he had been born.

  Gina was a knight. She was. She did not need a knight, because she was one herself.

  And that was a big part of why he loved her so very much.

  She was strong and powerful, courageous and tough, and yet she was also beautiful and vulnerable and sweet. Passionate, so very passionate.

  She was everything he had ever wanted, and he would fight this war, he would, and he would fight smart so he could get back to her, to the life that they might have one day.

  Chapter Nine

  The day was long and tiring, and Gina was feeling that as she headed home through a fine misty rain that had caused the city to go gray and unappealing. Her spirits were as flat and low as the clouds. She was walking along the streets, her feet dragging. Her mood was so sad she could barely find a reason to even keep breathing.

  She knew she was struggling to handle the loss of Craig. It had been a whole year since she had come back and there was still zero sign of him. The station had been told he was on some kind of undercover job, but she knew better. She just did not know who to ask about what was really going on. Clearly someone, a higher up, knew what Craig was and where he had gone, and if she only knew who that was, she would be able to ask after him. But despite all her best snooping attempts, so far, she had not been able to figure out who the person shielding the truth was.

  And that meant she had no idea at all, none, of whether or not Craig had survived the war over there in his own world. Was he dead? Was he alive? Was he ever going to come back if he had survived? Had he decided to embrace his dragon side and remain in his natural world? Had he forgotten about her totally? Had he met some nice dragon lady over there? A hot dragon lady who had made him forget all about her?

  Ugh, what is up with me? I know he is not coming back. If he was, he would have already. I need to forget him, just move on and find someone who gets me. I had plans before I went over there, but now I am just stuck, waiting for a man who might never come back, and that is the dumbest thing I could do.

  Her feet took her down the soggy street, but she still felt like she was stuck in one place. She was stuck in one place, and that place was on the other side of a portal that had been slammed closed behind her and which would not open for her again. That was where Craig was, and he was not going to come back. She had to face that, she knew she had to face that fact, but it still hurt.

  Her heart was broken. There was no other way to say it. She had made a big mistake in falling for him, and now she was here, in her world, with a busted heart and a great sense of loss that just kept slapping her right in the heart. She had a lot of heartache, but not Craig.

  She sighed and walked faster. The rain started to spill from the sky in heavier drops that quickly turned into a deluge, which just seemed to mirror her current mood. Everything was wrong and dismal, and she knew she should be running toward home, getting out of the rain, but she could not seem to make herself care about it.

  She did not turn toward home. Instead, she kept walking. Her hair and clothes were soon soaked, but she did not care. Every single day since she had come back she had been sure that day would be the day that he came back to her, to her world. She kept waking up excited and going to bed disappointed, and it was time for her to come to grips with the fact that they were over.

  She had known that for months now. The fact kept coming at her with every passing day. He was either dead, or he had decided not to come back. It was just that simple, and whatever had been between them, it was gone. Or at least it must be gone for him because he had not come. It had still been there for her. She loved him, and she was not a woman who gave her heart lightly or easily. It was equally hard for her to take it back, and now she was paying the price for keeping her hopes up for too long.

  The rain grew colder and she kept walking. She watched couples dashing through the rain, huddled together under umbrellas, and she knew she wanted that, she wanted to be a part of something more than just herself. She wanted to love and be loved, and one day she wanted a family.

  But she would never have any of that if she did not do something to finally shake Craig out of her heart and off her mind. If she did not move on.

  She finally turned herself toward her apartment. The side streets were dim, overhung with the curtains of the rain and the dusky gray light filtering down from the sky. There were few people about, unlike on the avenues and loneliness set in, making her feel even more depressed.

  She reached her building and let herself in. She shimmied out of her wet clothes and went to the bathroom to take a good, long and hot shower. The spray helped to center her, and when she got out, she took her wet clothes to the small washing machine, a real luxury she was always grateful for, and tossed them in and started the machine. She went to her narrow galley kitchen and rummaged around i
n the fridge, but she had forgotten to do some shopping, and what she had in there did not look all that appetizing.

  She padded, naked, back to her small bedroom and found a pair of sweats and a comfortable shirt, then she used a delivery app to order food. She took a seat on the sofa and turned on the TV and began to surf the channels.

  She paused, and her mood started to lift a little. She was ready. She was. She had not wanted to let go of him. Of course not. He was everything she had ever wanted in a man, but he was not a man. He was a dragon, and he was a dragon who was in his world.

  A world she would never belong in. She was not Christy or Heather. She did not want to live in a place like that one, no matter how beautiful it was or how much she loved the dragon who had yanked her into that world. This was her world, and it was time for her to live in it again, no matter how sad or hurt she was over his absence. He was not there anymore, and he would never be there ever again. That was his world. He had fled from it, but when he had gotten back to it, it had been easy to see how much he loved it.

  Her food came. Gina ate and then went to bed. On the ceiling, little patterns of light danced and scraped. The sound of traffic filtered in through the windows, drifting up from the street and from the apartments around her. She finally went to sleep, but not before promising herself that the next day was the first day of her life without the possibility of Craig being it, and she would be okay with that.

  Chapter Ten

  Craig sighed as he looked down at the people seated in the Great Hall. He was weary, his entire body ached, and there didn’t seem much point in denying that he was flat out tired.

  Thanks to Blake allowing Christy to use the dragon fire in his heart, the first tide of the Orcs had been turned back, but there were always more Orcs. The fire had saved them, yes, but the Orcs had begun to rally almost immediately.

  The bands were smaller and less prepared for war, but they were also really pissed off that their fellows had been killed off by the dragon fire. They also knew that the dragon fire could be used only once in a few centuries. Blake had no more to give, and he was the only one who had the heart that would allow itself to be taken and used and not cause his death.

  So, every day was a struggle to contain the tide and keep the people who depended upon them, as well as himself, alive. The high walls surrounding the castle kept the Orcs out, for the most part, but occasionally one or two managed to breach even those defenses only to die in the courtyard.

  It was an uneasy thing, never knowing when the Orcs may band together again and in great numbers. The last Great War had ended with a massive bang, and the Orcs had fled, but that had not happened this time. That they had not was troubling. The Orcs never did anything without reason, and retreat was not unknown to them.

  But the Orcs were not his only worry. He knew time had passed over in the other world. How much, he had no way of knowing, but he did know that it had been too long. Gina was probably already over him. She had likely moved on. Not that he could go back yet; they had closed the portal for the same reasons that their ancestors had—to keep any more evil from leaching in and forming new Orcs and other vile creatures that the evil alone could create.

  But he wished he was done here and that he could leave. That the portal was open.

  His attention was diverted by Max, who asked, “Have there been any sightings of the Orcs today?”

  Blake sighed. “Yes, and by my section of the woods.”

  His section of the woods. What Blake meant was near the home he had grown up in and hoped to one day live in again. That they had all fled to the castle and lived there together was often a source of tension for the dragons. They liked the castle and the protection it provided but centuries of living together, no matter how spacious the home, was wearing.

  Blake added, “I saw something else too.”

  The entire gathering stiffened. Max, his dark hair gleaming under the lights, set a protective arm around Heathers shoulders. “What?”

  Blake looked up and down the length of the table. “Fey.”

  Craig sucked in a long breath. “That’s not possible. They left this world long ago and vowed never to return.”

  “I know, but they are here. I saw them.”

  Max frowned, “When?”

  “Not ten minutes ago. That’s why I came in; well, that and dinner.” Blake toyed with the glass near his hand. “I think they are heading for the castle.”

  Craig said, “They have never been friends of ours, but they have never been enemies either, exactly. They hate the Orcs. Why would they come?”

  Blake shrugged. “I don’t know. I made sure there were no Orcs nearby to swarm them before coming inside. I think, maybe, we should go out to meet them and make sure they get to us safely.”

  Aura interrupted, “Why would we usher them into our gates if they intend to side with the Orcs?’

  Blake pointed out, “We don’t know that that is their plan.”

  Aura retorted, “We don’t know that it is not their plan either. Right now, we are at war, and any sudden arrival by any race should be looked upon with a wary eye.”

  Max snapped back, “You are wholly correct in that thinking. However, I am inclined to agree with Blake. We need to stop treating all other species but what is here as our enemy. We have larger concerns, you know. We are all sitting here behaving as if the world we left behind is immune to evil and the worlds between are too. We go to get them.”

  Craig stood. He said, softly, “And at some point, dearest elders, you are going to have to agree to changes being made here. If we are going to survive, if we are going to keep going, we can’t keep turning our backs on the humans in the world from which we sprang, and we can’t afford to keep dismissing their weaponry either.”

  With that parting shot, he left.

  Chapter Eleven

  Gina dashed into the station, her hair shedding water. It was raining again, but she had barely noticed as she had run the entire way from her apartment to the station. She grabbed Jack and said, “He’s back!”

  Jack groaned, “I know. The Gripper. Jesus Christ, I thought this guy was gone already.”

  “Yeah, me too.” She hurried to her desk, slicking her wet hair back with one hand. “Goddammit, I had the files right here.”

  Jack tossed a file to the top of her desk, “I got them right here.”

  Gina groaned and shuffled the files around. There were so many of them! “Where’s the fresh body?”

  “Down by the docks.”

  She frowned. “Wait. Last year he left one by the river. He never repeats.”

  Jack nodded. “Yeah, I think he made a mistake. Maybe it’s all starting to run together for him now.”

  Maybe. Or maybe it was not a mistake at all, but a taunt. He was known for them. “We have to go to the body.”

  Jack said, “They’ve already done the scene. It’s raining buckets so they had to work fast to get what they could. She’s in the morgue.”

  Dammit. She hated the morgue. It was one place she could honestly say creeped her out. She said, “Autopsy already ordered?’

  “Oh yeah. But it will be a day or two.”

  “We don’t have a day or two!”

  Jack was busy, flipping through a file he’d taken from the stack. His forehead was furrowed with thought. “It’s been a hell of a week. There was that ten-car pileup and bodies flying around it. There was that double murder up in the west side and—”

  “Okay, I get it. Murder. Lots. Dead bodies. Lots. Autopsy has to wait.” Ugh. This should take first place in any line but the Gripper, well it was a pretty sure bet that they would never catch him so of course their body was shuffled to the back of the line.

  Now more than ever, she missed Craig. There was no way he would sit back and just let that happen. He would go down to the morgue and insist that the body be gone over first or at least figure out a way to get it moved ahead in line. He would…he would already be on the go. Screw the files, time
to put your feet on the ground and find something. At least look.

  She had to get to the morgue Se had to get all the evidence, and she had to figure out who the Gripper was. She had a sense that this was not going to end well, and she was right, because it never did.

  Jack said, “Hey, last year you were looking for those two missing women. Did any of that ever pan out as a connection?”

  She looked up briefly from her desk drawer, where she was stowing a file and hunting for her rain poncho. Why didn’t she ever take it home? She had to start; hell, she would not have been so drowned if she had. She closed her fingers around the slick blue mass and pulled it out. “No, it was unrelated, and they’re fine. They just live somewhere else now.”

  Her heart ached at that. She had told herself she was starting over, and she was, but damn she still missed him! Especially now, especially in light of the Gripper coming back to stalk the city yet again. Day one; six to go. Two more bodies waiting to be found unless she found a way to stop that serial killer.

  Jack said, “Damn. Well, we should get started.”

  “Yeah.” She was distracted, her hands trying to smooth out the musty smelling poncho and get it over her head. She finally did and grimaced. The smell was bad but it really was wet out there.

  They began to head out, Jack right at her heels. The rain had increased, and the heat that had been promised by the early showing of spring was gone. Gina shivered despite the poncho and said, “Let’s head to the morgue first. Maybe we can talk the coroner into doing a fast track on the vic.”