“Okay, Sassy,” Ron said.
“I think maybe you should leave and come back later, Dave,” Felicia said.
“What?” Dave and Ron said in unison.
“I think Dave should come back at a more convenient time,” Felicia said. “We’ll have plenty of games left then. Maybe you should pick a time Sassy won’t be working, Dave.”
Stunned silence fell over the store. Ron had no idea how his two female employees had just hijacked the atmosphere, but he knew he wasn’t in control anymore and had no idea when things had changed.
As for Dave, his look was similar to Ron’s, except angry. His pasty, fat face flushed red.
“You know you’re a real—” he began.
“Call me a bitch and see what happens to you,” I said.
I squared my shoulders to him. He faced me, fury pouring off him. But every regular and staffer at the store knew I was a black belt, and Dave had seen me carrying my katana to and from work. I didn’t have to go as far as making a criminal threat for him to know it was implied. After a few seconds, he quailed.
“Fine,” he said.
He turned around and went to the door. He put his hand on it, pushed it open, and turned back.
“You need to do something about this, Ron, if you want me to keep shopping here,” he said.
“Yeah,” I said. “Cuz we don’t have the best and deepest selection in town of the things you want. Oh, wait a second. Yes, we do.”
He scowled hatefully at me. Then he finally left.
I sat back down and started quietly checking in dice again, acting like nothing had happened. You could have heard a fly cough.
After several seconds, Ron tried to reassert control.
“Sassy, we need to talk,” he said.
“Not right now we don’t,” I said. “Right now, you need to leave me the hell alone. That is, if you want things to settle down and go well for the rest of the day.”
He gaped at me while I checked in dice. We’d gotten like twenty sets, and every damned one of them was different. It was easy to sit there working quietly and pretend I was ignoring him.
Eventually, he decided he didn’t want that fight and returned to helping his customer pick out the right Pathfinder books. She grinned at me.
See? Women know.
Felicia’s customer decided on Ticket to Ride, made his way to the counter, and checked out quickly. As soon as he was gone, Felicia came over, sat across from me, and started working on the playmats and card sleeves.
“So,” she said, trying to sound casual. “Bad night?”
“The worst.”
“Want to tell me about it?”
“Not at this moment.”
I waited until Pathfinder Lady had made her purchases. Ron looked at me like he wanted to scold me. I scowled and shook my head at him. After a moment, he went back into the office. Felicia giggled.
“You know he’ll make you pay for that,” she said.
“Yeah, he’ll probably dock me a shift on the next schedule and make me deep-clean the bathroom or something.”
Felicia nodded sympathetically. She locked eyes with me.
“Okay, tell me what happened,” she said.
I sighed for a third time. I didn’t really want to talk about it. In the light of day, with other people around, it sounded stupid, insane even. And there was so much that I hardly knew where to begin.
“I was attacked again last night,” I said.
“Oh, my god! Are you okay?”
“I’m sitting here aren’t I?”
She frowned.
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” she said.
“I’m fine.”
“Bullshit,” Felicia said. “What happened?”
I ticked off the last of the dice on the packing list and grabbed the price gun. When I had the dials set correctly, I started stickering the cubes.
“The demon came back,” I said. “He brought friends.”
I proceeded to tell her in low tones what happened – how I’d nearly gotten myself killed, how The Order showed up, how I was whisked off to their secret headquarters and told I was a half-angel.
Felicia’s eyes grew wider with each revelation. It didn’t take long before she ceased checking in merchandise and just listened to my story.
“Oh, it gets better,” I said. “They want me to slay a dragon.”
“Like, a real dragon?”
“Exactly like a real dragon.”
“How can anything like a dragon exist without people knowing?
“I’ve got no damn idea,” I said. “They didn’t explain that part. But they said the reason these assassins keep coming after me is because the dragon found out I can kill him and they were recruiting me to try.”
“Wait,” Felicia said. “So they’re actually responsible for these attempts on your life?”
“Yep,” I said. “Nice of them, huh?”
“Holy shit.”
“I haven’t told you the best part,” I said, my sarcasm drenching the table in front of me. “They were also recruiting me, because the guy who runs the thing is my dad.”
“What!” Felicia cried.
“Keep your voice down.”
“Sorry,” she murmured. “So leader is your father?
“Uh-huh. That dead guy the police were asking me about? That was my dad. He had my address in his pocket because he was looking for me.”
“Oh, my god, Sassy, that’s terrible.”
“No, it’s worse than that. He wasn’t seeking me out because I was the daughter he lost twenty-five years ago. He was the one they sent to recruit me, because I have the magic power they want.”
Felicia looked sad. I could see the barest hints of tears forming in the corners of her eyes. I wished she wouldn’t do that. If she was too sympathetic, it was gonna turn me into a blubbering mess.
“The hits don’t stop there,” I said. “Turns out I have a half-brother by this guy too. He’s also in The Order, and bonus: He’s a real prick. He hated me before we even met.”
Felicia’s eyes were so wide I thought they might fall out of her head. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she could form words.
“Why?” she finally managed.
“Hell if I know,” I said. “Maybe he’s pissed his daddy cheated on his mama with mine.”
“Jesus, Sassy. I’m so sorry. That’s like the worst day ever.”
“You ain’t kidding. So I was not taking any shit from Dave the Creeper today. Maybe not ever again. I’ve had it with his foul ass.”
Felicia nodded. She reached across the table and took my hand.
“Sweetie, I’m so sorry,” she said. “I know you’ve wanted to find out about your dad your whole life. This is a shitty way for it to happen, and then to have him killed right before you meet. . . . Listen, if there’s anything I can do, please let me know.”
God damn her. I was about to start sobbing in the middle of the store. Of course, I knew all this. Didn’t she think I hadn’t thought about it all night?
“First of all,” I said, “stop calling me, ‘sweetie.’ You’re my best friend, not my mama or my girlfriend. Secondly, I don’t want to talk about my daddy issues here. Maybe not anywhere, but certainly not here. So please, back up off me a bit.”
Felicia looked like I’d slapped her, which I suppose I sorta had. But it was self-defense, I swear. I couldn’t bear her being so kind to me, and I really didn’t want to lose my shit here at The Dragon’s Lair. I’d already come to close to it by putting Dave the Creeper in his place.
“Sorry,” Felicia muttered.
Shit. Now, I’d hurt her. Nice going, Sassy. She’s the only real friend you’ve got, and you had to go and punch her where it hurts.
“It’s okay,” I said, forcing a smile onto my face. “Sorry I was so harsh. I’m just kinda effed up over all this, you know?”
“I know,” she said. “I totally get it.
“So what happens next?”
; “After I get off work, I have to go to their place to start training to kill a dragon.”
“Wait, you’re actually gonna go through with it? After what they did?”
“I don’t have much of a choice,” I explained. “The dragon hired these assassins to kill me. I’ve gotta take him out to get them off my back.”
“But why can’t they do it themselves?”
I told her about how I was supposedly immune to magic, so the dragon couldn’t burn me. And I told her how Ephraim apparently wasn’t good enough to kill him, so they wanted me to do it.
“That explains why he hates you,” Felicia said.
“Maybe,” I said. “I don’t know, though. There was something else there, you know? I could feel it. He’s got some serious mad-on about me.”
“All the more reason for them to find someone else to do the job,” she said. “Seriously, Sassy, with all you know, why are you going through with this?”
“Mainly because I don’t trust them. These people got me targeted for assassination in the first place with their carelessness. The only person I trust to fix it is me.”
“But you don’t know anything about slaying dragons.”
“The hell I don’t. I’ve read The Hobbit. I play D&D and Skyrim. I know something about dragons.”
“Sassy, you can’t know that real dragons are anything like the ones in the game.”
“It’s like you said,” I replied. “All these myths came from somewhere. This stuff didn’t just get thought up recently. So if fantasy creatures and magic are real, then the tropes should be too. If I know how to kill a D&D dragon, I must know something about how to slay a real one.”
Felicia shook her head. I could tell she wasn’t convinced.
“Look,” she said, “I get that you only think of me as a friend, but I love you. I don’t want to lose you.”
I should have been pissed at her for leveraging her feelings for me. But I just couldn’t. She touched me. I believed her when she said she loved me. She loved me in that pure, true way – the storybook-love way.
“I love you too,” I said. “Just, you know, as a friend.
“But you’re not gonna lose me. You know I’m the baddest ass around.”
“Sassy, you almost got killed by a demon. Twice. This is a dragon we’re talking about.”
“You know what they say about ‘almost.’”
“Just be careful. Please?”
I sighed and looked into those deep, brown eyes. For a moment, I thought I should let Felicia have what she wanted. I should become her girlfriend and let her take care of all the parts of me that hurt too much to talk about.
But I just couldn’t do it. Things were getting more complicated by the second for me. The last thing I needed was to make them messier between Felicia and I. And the truth was, despite my bravado, I wasn’t convinced I could slay this dragon or that I was immune to his fire. I couldn’t risk hurting Felicia worse by giving her what she wanted and then getting myself killed.
“Promise,” I said, hoping I wasn’t lying.
We went back to checking in the shipments. Ron had the good sense to leave us alone. Felicia kept stealing glances at me when she thought I wasn’t looking. I could see the worry and the fear in her eyes.
But this bad day was just getting started. Things were about to go sideways.
Eleven
T he Order sent another of their black, terrorist vans to collect me. I’d just left work and started for the bus stop, when they offered me “alternative transportation.”
Twenty minutes later, I was sitting in a conference room at Order HQ. Brinson was already there.
“Welcome back, Ms. Kincaide,” she said.
She wore a blue tunic with The Order’s symbol on the breast and the usual black pants and boots. Her red hair was tied back in a ponytail.
“Hi,” I said. “Call me, ‘Sassy.’”
“As you wish, Sassy. Call me ‘Erin.’”
“Cool,” I said.
I dropped into the chair next to her.
“How was your day?” she asked.
“Shitty. Yours?”
“Better than shitty,” she said with a wry grin.
This woman was all right. I might have misjudged her last night. She had the right sense of humor.
The door to the room opened and Ash walked in. As soon as I saw him, I knew I would have to change my underwear again. Damn, how did this guy get me so hot just by showing up?
He was dressed in a red tunic and the same pants and boots as Erin.
“So, what?” I said. “Are you guys like Star Trek, where your shirts are color-coordinated to your department?”
Erin and Ash looked sheepish. I laughed.
“Holy shit, they are?” I said. “So, what, Erin’s blue. Is that ass-kicker? And what’s red?”
“Security,” Ash muttered.
“Oh, damn!” I said with a guffaw. “So you’re a real, Red Shirt! Man, you better not go on any missions. You’ll be the first one shot!”
Both Erin and Ash continued to look chagrined. Ash’s mild blush made me even hotter for him, but I was too busy laughing at them for it to make me uncomfortable.
Director Scott and Big Brother Asshole walked in as my fit of laughter was finally dying away. Ephraim shut the door with an unnecessary bang and sat down in the first chair available by the door. Scott took up a position in the front of the room, and Ash slid into the chair next to me. Damn, he smelled good! Musky and sweet, it was intoxicating.
“All right, let’s get started,” Scott said. “Welcome back, Ms. Kincaide.”
I waved at him. He keyed a remote and the whiteboard came to life behind him.
“Now, let’s talk about the nature of the mission,” Scott said. “As we’ve discussed, our plan is to slay D’Krisch Mk’Rai while he is here in the U.S.”
“He gets around?” I asked.
“Not quite the way you imagine, but, yes, Ms. Kincaide,” Scott answered. “As you may have surmised, a dragon is an enormous, winged beast. That sort of thing would be easy to spot for even the least intelligent individual. Part of a dragon’s magic is its ability to assume a more mundane form. In the Twenty-First Century, the vast majority of remaining dragons take on the guise of humans.”
“Most dragons maintain two or more homes,” Ash put in. “They have a lair, where they keep most of their hoards, and satellite homes they maintain in their human disguises.”
“Correct,” Scott said. “D’Krisch Mk’Rai’s true lair is in Jamaica.”
“Classy,” I commented.
“He maintains a human home here in Cincinnati, where he masquerades as Dirk McCray,” Scott said.
My heart stopped cold in my chest. Did he just say what I thought he did?
“Dirk McCray?” I said. “Like the Dirk McCray? Of Lexie’s?”
Lexie’s was like a cross between Spencer’s and Hot Topic. They sold a ton of geek-branded stuff and sex wear. How they got the license for it no one could figure, but you could get officially licensed teddies, bustiers, panties, catsuits, and underwear for your favorite fandom. They didn’t sell sex toys, and they had the usual assortment of t-shirts and paraphernalia. But if you had a bedroom fantasy about doing Wonder Woman or Rey or Black Widow, Lexie’s could outfit you. And knowing that geek girls don’t always come in traditional sizes, they had lots of things for BBW’s.
Dirk McCray had stores all across the Midwest and on the East Coast. He was ridiculously rich.
“Yes, why?” Scott asked.
“That dude is way too high profile!” I practically shouted. “There’s been talk about him running for Congress! You can’t expect me to assassinate someone like that!”
“Fine,” Ephraim said. “Leave it to the professionals.”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re professional or not,” I said. “You take out this dude, you’re gonna be all over the news. That’ll mess up your Veil pretty effin’ bad.”
“Sassy, calm down,
” Ash said. “We have a plan.”
“Calm down? Are you fucking crazy? Do you know what happens to people who assassinate high profile moguls and politicians? They get the death penalty. It don’t matter if you’re immune to magic. They use perfectly mundane methods to kill your ass.”
“Ms. Kincaide, please listen,” Director Scott. “All that you say is true. We have accounted for these issues.”
“Uh-huh,” I said. “Tell me how you’ve accounted for the press blasting the story of the founder of Lexie’s being murdered.”
“We already have an agent inside,” Scott said.
“Are you aware that Dirk McCray has a girlfriend?” Ash asked.
“Yeah, he’s got some lanky model girl who hangs on him like a tree ornament,” I said. “So what?”
“She’s one of us,” Erin said.
I opened my mouth to retort, but I wasn’t sure what to say.
“Like you how?” was what I settled on.
“She’s a succubus,” Ash said.
“A succubus?” I said. “You mean like a sex-demon?”
“Yes,” Scott said. “Incubi and succubi emit pheromones among their other magical powers. It helps them seduce their targets and tempt them into doing what they want.”
“You’ve got some familiarity with them already,” Ephraim said, a cruel smile on his face.
“What do you mean?”
“Oh,” he said, feigning surprise. “Hasn’t Ash told you?”
I turned and looked at Ash. He blushed, his dark, Middle-Eastern skin flushing crimson. His eyes dropped to the floor.
“God damn, Silverman, you are a bitch,” Erin said.
“Told me what?” I said.
“I just thought my sister had a right to know,” Ephraim drawled. “After all, she’ll be working closely with us. She should know who her teammates are.”
“That’s quite enough, Captain,” Scott said.
“Tell me what?” I demanded.
I was damned sick of ugly surprises They’d been coming at me non-stop for two days, and I had had enough of it.
“I’m a half-breed,” Ash said.
“Half-breed?” I said. “What the hell does that mean?”
Ephraim called him that last night. It was obviously an insult, but what made it a bad thing for me?
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