Sleeping Dragons

by Phoebe Ravencraft

  A fresh batch of tears was forming in my eyes. This wasn’t fair. I wasn’t anyone’s damned Chosen One. I wasn’t The Boy Who Lived or the Ringbearer or the God-damned Messiah. I was a twenty-five-year-old woman who just wanted to survive. Why was he pushing this bullshit on me?

  “Sassy,” Felicia said, her voice calm and soothing. She put her hand on mine. “Ash is right: You have to do this.”

  “What!” I said, my head snapping in her direction. “Weren’t you the one who was trying to talk me out of this just yesterday?”

  “Yes,” she said. “But this dragon is evil. If he’s really Dirk McCray, you know this. He’s a bad guy, and all the policy proposals he’s floated will be awful for regular people.”

  “God damn it, Felicia, you’re supposed to be my friend,” I said, the tears spilling down my cheeks freely.

  “I am your friend,” she said. “And friends remind each other who they are.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Sassy, think about your D&D characters,” she said. “You never play a character with Evil alignment. Hell, you’ve never even played one with Neutral alignment. All your characters are Good. You’re a hero, Sass. You always want to do the right thing, fight the monster, save the village.”

  “God damn it, Felicia, this isn’t some game where you can bail me out with Magic Missile if I get in over my head,” I said. “This shit is real.”

  What the hell was the matter with her? She couldn’t really be telling me I needed to act like this was real-life Dungeons & Dragons.

  “I know,” Felicia said. “And it scares the shit out of me. I don’t want you fighting a real dragon, even if you can’t be burned by his fire.

  “But you’re a hero, Sassy. You’ve been one your whole life. You inspire people. You inspire me. You can’t turn away from this.”

  I looked at her like she was on crack. I knew Felicia was on the odd side. I mean, she had an Etsy business making fantasy jewelry and worked at a game store. That wasn’t exactly mainstream. And she definitely was a big Star Wars and Marvel fan, so she bought into all that comic-book hero shit. But was she seriously suggesting I should go through with this? Did she actually think I was Wonder Woman or some shit?

  “Sassy,” Ash said. “I don’t pretend to understand what you’re going through. I didn’t know my father either, but I was raised in the magical world. All this seems perfectly normal to me.

  “But please believe me when I tell you this is really important. D’Krisch Mk’Rai is a threat to both our worlds. The Guild of the Blade will surely kill you without The Order’s protection. And whether you’re the N’Chai Toroth or not, you are Nephilim. You can’t ignore or deny who you are. That will end up destroying you.”

  I glared at him. What the hell did he know about denying or ignoring what you are? I was a woman, which already put me at a societal disadvantage. But I was also a light-skinned Black person, which meant I didn’t belong in either White or Black society. I constantly had to codeswitch to try to fit in. Now, he was going to tell me it would destroy me to deny who I was?

  My shoulders sagged. I wanted to be angry, and I guess I was. But I was tired of running and fighting. And whatever else I felt, I did not want to die. I couldn’t think of a good reason to live at the moment, but it still beat the alternative. Those bastards from The Guild of the Blade scared the shit out of me. Facing them alone, even if it was only once more, didn’t seem cool.

  “Fine,” I said. “But Big Brother Asshole is gonna stay off my back. I am not putting up with any more of his shit. Are we clear?”

  “Perfectly,” Ash said. “And I will protect you, Sassy. I wasn’t kidding when I said The Order isn’t telling you everything. I’ll find out everything they know and make sure to share it with you.”

  I nodded. That handsome face and those pretty eyes were becoming appealing again.

  “All right,” I said. “What’s the plan for kicking this dragon’s ass?”

  Fifteen

  T he plan for killing Mk’Rai turned out to be a lot more convoluted than I’d imagined. I figured the whole idea was for me to sneak into his charity gala and kill him when no one was looking.

  But, no, it was way more complicated.

  “Now,” Director Scott said at our briefing the next day, “as you know, we’ll be infiltrating D’Krisch Mk’Rai’s fundraiser.”

  We were sitting in the same meeting room. Ephraim sat at the far corner, looking sullen. Let’s just say he hadn’t been happy to see me. I considered that a big win. The little shit thought he’d made sure he got to be the dragon-slaying hero by spraining my wrist. Oops. When I walked in, Big Bro looked like he’d just shit his pants. It was great.

  Speaking of my wrist, I had it wrapped in an Ace bandage. It ached and my knuckles were sore, but it was doing okay secured. And despite needing to wrap it, I was not about to otherwise let on I was damaged. I acted like nothing had happened and the injury was no big deal.

  Ash sat two chairs away. Despite the fact that I trusted him just a little bit more after last night’s revelations, I didn’t want to be too close to his pheromones. I was half-convinced that the reason I was here at all today was because his sex-demon powers had clouded my thinking. I didn’t need him confusing me further.

  Erin was there too, but as far as I could tell she wasn’t on the team. I don’t know what that was about, but given that she’d treated me well yesterday, I was comforted by her presence.

  “With credentials provided by Agent Shinoch,” Scott went on, “Ms. Kincaide and Captain Silverman will arrive as guests. Agent Shinoch will be onsite in one of our vans, providing computer and magical assistance.

  “Ms. Kincaide and Captain Silverman will circulate through the guests until you make contact with Mk’Rai. At that point, Captain Silverman will engage the dragon, enabling Ms. Kincaide to slip away.”

  “Excuse me,” I said, raising my hand. “How exactly is that going to work?”

  “Mk’Rai and I are associates,” Ephraim said. “We know each other on a professional basis. That’s why I was the perfect choice to act as the assassin. I could get close to him without him becoming suspicious.”

  My eyes went wide. They were associates?

  “What do you mean, ‘associates’?” I asked.

  “D’Krisch Mk’Rai may be a dragon, but he has professional contact with The Order,” Scott said.

  “Most of it not good,” Ash added.

  “Not good?” I said.

  “Mk’Rai flaunts The Veil on a regular basis,” Erin explained. “We frequently meet with him to reprimand his actions and discourage many of his designs.”

  “Including this run for Congress he’s contemplating,” Ash said.

  “It’s the reason we’ve decided he needs to go,” Erin said. “He’s crossed one too many lines.”

  “Then just how is Brother Ephraim here going to ‘distract him’?” I asked.

  “Not all of The Order’s dealings with him are negative,” Ephraim said as though I were stupid. “He’s a rival but a respected one. I’ll offer him a deal that will interest him.

  “And he’s arrogant enough to believe that we won’t really do anything about him pushing the limits of The Veil,” Ash said.

  “Because we haven’t really done anything to date,” Erin said.

  I shook my head. This was already getting stupid. There were much better ways to pull this sort of thing off in my opinion.

  “When she is free of Mk’Rai, Ms. Kincaide will go downstairs to the dragon’s vault,” Scott went on. “Agent Williams will arrange for the security measures barring the vault to have been disabled. Thus, Ms. Kincaide should have no trouble entering the vault.”

  “Doesn’t this guy have security?” I asked.

  “He does,” Scott said.

  “Then doesn’t it sound like I might have some trouble entering the vault?”

  “I’ll be in the truck, guiding you, Sassy,” Ash said. “I
’ll have hacked into the security system. Not only will I be able to monitor your progress and keep you informed of any patrols, I’ll be sending a false loop of the halls in question to the security station, so they’ll think no one is there. You’ll effectively be invisible to the guys watching the monitors, and I’ll make sure you don’t run into anyone.”

  I nodded. It still sounded stupid, like there were too many things that could go wrong. But at least they had thought of this pretty obvious hole in the scheme.

  “Inside the vault lies the Jeweled Dagger of Constantinople,” Scott continued. “Mk’Rai keeps it locked in a case. Ms. Kincaide will use a decharmer to defeat the safeguards.”

  “Hold up,” I said. Ephraim sighed at me interrupting again. “A what?”

  “A decharmer,” Ash explained. “It’s a magical device designed to dispel all magic on an item. You’ll use it to basically hack the protective wards and shut them down.”

  “I thought I was immune to magic,” I said.

  “You are,” Ephraim said. “The box isn’t. If you open it without first disarming it, you’ll set off whatever traps he’s placed on it. And whether the spells affect you or not, the alarm will be triggered.”

  I tried to think of some clever insult, but nothing came. This was getting stupider by the second. They wanted me to use a magic item to defeat magical safeguards? What the hell did I know about that?

  “Why do I need this jeweled dagger?” I asked.

  “The dagger was commissioned and purchased in Constantinople in 1096, during the First Crusade,” Scott explained. “A Gallic knight by the name of Bertrand de Noble had it made by a Byzantine artificer as a gift for a loyal squire.

  “However, the squire had been bought by a rival lord, Gerard de Bleauchamps. Upon receiving the knife, the squire murdered his master with it. He reported the deed to Bleauchamps, presenting the bloody dagger as proof that it had been done. Following the first rule of assassination, Bleauchamps murdered the squire. Enamored of the dagger’s beauty and craftmanship, he kept it.

  “After the fall of Jerusalem in 1099, Bleauchamps returned home to what is now southern France. But in addition to murder and assassination, Bleauchamps had a taste for young women. When his wife, Marie, discovered he was bedding his chambermaids, she murdered him with the very same dagger he’d used to dispatch his rival, Noble. It being the early Twelfth Century, women assassinating their husbands for the crime of marital infidelity was looked on poorly. Marie was executed for taking justice.”

  “Figures,” I said.

  “From that point forward, the dagger was considered cursed. Anyone who wielded it, died by it. It has exchanged hands numerous times over the centuries, but its owner always meets a bad end, often by the dagger itself.”

  “Then why would anyone want it?” I asked.

  “Even it weren’t cursed, its value is hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of dollars,” Scott said. “The craftsmanship is extraordinary, and the jewels alone are worth a fortune. It is also plated in silver and is in excellent condition for a weapon of its age. Add in the legend of the curse, and becomes a priceless work of art. An artifact with a story behind it – especially one as sordid as this – is coveted highly by collectors.”

  “And dragons are greedy bastards,” Erin added. “D’Krisch Mk’Rai couldn’t possibly resist having something like the Jeweled Dagger of Constantinople in his collection, despite the danger. Indeed, the threat to his life that possessing it means raises its value in his eyes. He intends to be the owner who breaks the curse.”

  I shook my head. This was ridiculous.

  “And that’s why you’ve decided it will be the end of him,” I said.

  “Precisely,” Scott said.

  “It sends a message,” Ephraim added. “No one is above The Order.”

  “Y’all are some serious assholes,” I commented.

  Scott sighed. He clicked the next slide in his presentation.

  “Once you have the dagger, Ms. Kincaide, you will leave the vault, sealing it back up,” he said. “You will then slip upstairs to Mk’Rai’s bedroom.

  “Agent Williams, meanwhile, will have feigned illness and retired early. She will meet you in the bedroom, at which point you will switch clothes with her.”

  “Uh, what?” I said.

  “Being a succubus, Agent Williams can shapeshift into any human female form she desires,” Scott said. “She will switch clothes with you and take your appearance. You will then hide in Mk’Rai’s bedroom, waiting for him to come up after the gala. Disguised as you, Agent Williams will leave the event with Captain Silverman.”

  “When Mk’Rai retires for the night, you will assassinate him with the dagger, just as Marie did Gerard de Bleauchamps.”

  I blinked at him in sheer awe. Was he serious? Was this the actual plan?

  “You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I said.

  “I’m sorry?” Scott said, obviously confused by my reaction.

  “This is the stupidest plan I’ve ever heard,” I replied. “Y’all have seen too many James Bond movies. This is convoluted, complicated, and just plain asinine. I can’t even count the number of things that could go wrong.”

  “I told you she wasn’t up to it,” Ephraim commented without looking at me.

  “It doesn’t have anything to do with me being ‘up to it’,” I said. “It has to do with me wanting to walk out of there alive and not wanted by the police. Why the hell would I break into the vault during the party to steal the weapon I’m going to kill him with, when I could just bring something with me?”

  “Because there will be security at the point of entry,” Ephraim said. “No one will be allowed to enter armed, and because Mk’Rai is a dragon, he will have staff taught to recognize magical weapons as well.”

  “Then what about this decharmer thing I’m supposed to use?”

  “It will be disguised,” Scott said. “The staff won’t realize what it is.”

  “Then what about this switcheroo?” I went on. “Maybe you haven’t noticed, but Stormy Williams is about six inches taller than me. She may be able to take my form and fit into my clothes, but I’ll never fit into hers.”

  “We can arrange for her to have a change of clothes for you,” Scott said.

  “But why do it at all?” I asked. “If you’re going to assassinate him in his sleep, why not have the succubus do it? She’s got the code to get into the vault. She’s going to leave it open for me. Unlike me, she’s going to actually get into bed with him. There is a much better way to do this than for Ephraim and me to try to sneak into a high-profile party like a charity fundraiser, steal an incredibly valuable artifact while the party’s going on, switch places with his girlfriend, and then murder him after everyone’s gone home. Seriously, Dan Brown wrote this plan. What is the matter with you people?”

  “The role of a succubus is seduction,” Scott said. “Her job, her raison d’etre is to use a person’s sexual desires to corrupt them, even bring about their own undoing. They do not kill. That’s not their function.”

  “Well, maybe it’s time for your sex-demons to learn a new skill set!” I practically shouted.

  Erin laughed. I was really beginning to like this woman.

  “I don’t think you understand how things work in the magical community,” Scott said.

  “You damn right, I don’t!” I said. “Much as I hate to agree with Big Brother Asshole here, he’s right. He knows Mk’Rai and can get close to him. He’s the perfect assassin if your Stormy the Succubus doesn’t have the guts to do it herself. Why involve me at all?”

  This was actually a test. Thanks to Ash, I knew damned well why they wanted me to do it. But now I had an opportunity to put these guys on the spot. Would Scott or anyone actually ’fess up about what I was doing there? Or would they continue to keep me in the dark?

  “We’ve already explained that, Ms. Kincaide,” Scott said. “You are immune to Mk’Rai’s magic. You are therefore more likely
to succeed in the assassination. Your combat training is an added bonus, as is your non-membership in The Order.”

  “Oh, I see,” I said. “So this is Mission: Impossible. If I fail, you’ll deny you had anything to do with it.”

  “Precisely,” Scott said.

  God damn these people. Not only did they want to cut me loose if anything went wrong, but they continued to lie about what I was doing there.

  “Sassy,” Ash said, “I will arrange for the security footage of your presence anywhere in the mansion other than where you are supposed to be during the party to be wiped. There will be nothing to connect you to the murder.”

  “And we will plant sufficient evidence to make the police think Stormy Williams is the killer,” Erin added.

  “And since she can shapeshift,” Ash said, “Stormy Williams will cease to exist. Our friend will never take up that appearance again. She’ll essentially disappear from the face of the Earth. The murder will go down as one of the great unsolved crimes in history.”

  I shook my head. I couldn’t tell if it was good or bad that Ash was playing along with the lie of omission about me being their prophesied destroyer. I supposed it was better, since it meant that they wouldn’t know how much I knew. But it still made me feel like there was some big swerve they weren’t telling me about.

  “This is too neat, y’all,” I said. “Something is going to go wrong. What happens then?”

  “We’ll adapt,” Ephraim said. “But if you do your job correctly, nothing will go wrong.”

  Ha. Nice. So one hundred percent of the responsibility for pulling this shit off was on me. Except that I had no control over anyone else’s actions – including the security team’s. We were asking for trouble – them for concocting this wild plan and me for going along with it.

  “And I suppose this is the only way for me to get away from you people,” I said. “If I don’t pull this off, Mk’Rai will continue to try to kill me. But if I do get this done, that’s it. We’re done. We go our separate ways.”