Sleeping Dragons

by Phoebe Ravencraft

  As we turned the corner, Ash’s eyes popped open wide.

  “Sassy! Look out!” he cried.

  Before I could even register that he was trying to warn me about something, he pushed me so hard I went down, banging my elbow and hip on the concrete. My sprained wrist, which had been feeling better, complained loudly. I turned to cuss at him, when he was struck in the chest by two wires. He seized wildly and collapsed.

  My self-defense instincts kicked in. I jumped to my feet, searching for the threat. A few feet from Ash, a woman dressed all in black leather – pants, boots, jacket – held a taser.

  She cursed when she realized she’d hit the wrong target. I charged her.

  The assassin dropped the taser and yanked a giant knife out of her coat. I had no idea if it was magical or not, but I was not waiting to find out.

  As she brought the knife to bear, I feinted to her left. She twisted her hips to meet the fake attack. I drove my best sidekick through her knee.

  It only takes fifteen pounds of pressure to break a human knee, and if you do, the person will never walk right again. My foot hit the joint with the power of a sledgehammer. Her knee made a sickening sound as it bent in a way God hadn’t intended. She screamed horribly and went down every bit as hard as Ash had.

  I had no time to question her or check on Ash. Behind me, a rumble like thunder roared in my ears. I whirled to see a hole in the universe. Flames seemed to burn in midair, and they were surrounded by crackling blue energy.

  A gargantuan dog leaped out of the aperture and charged me.

  It was obvious that thing was not of this Earth. It had huge, sinewy muscles larger than any dog I’d ever seen. It had blood-red skin, an enormous maw lined with knife-like teeth. Its eyes glowed black, and flames licked at its paws.

  The gate through which it had entered this plane vanished. A short distance away, Mr. Punk Rock chanted a spell.

  It’s amazing how fast your brain can think in situations like this. It was obvious to me that he was the asshole who had summoned this fiend from beyond, and now he was using magic to control it. Damn, I was tired of him.

  But before I could deal with him, I had to worry about his pet. The vicious monster was racing straight for me. Like a wolf, it launched itself at my throat.

  I dropped to the ground, and the canine monstrosity sailed over me, landing a few feet away and skidding to a stop. It whirled around and prepared to charge me again.

  Fortunately, I’d hit the deck close to where I’d dropped my sword. I rolled left, grabbed the katana, and unsheathed it one fluid motion. The dog renewed its attack. I got to my feet.

  Once again, it thought to go for my jugular. I had other ideas.

  I dropped to one knee, then drove my blade up into its guts. It cried out mournfully, then burst into flames. Like a burning plane, it crashed to the ground a few feet from me and disintegrated into a blast of fire.

  And then those flames reshaped themselves into the form of a dog. A second later, the beast was back as if it hadn’t been harmed at all.

  “Oh, shit,” I said.

  I had no idea if I had any ability to destroy this damned monster or not. But what I did have was a sword that didn’t seem to be effective. I needed to switch tactics.

  Mr. Punk Rock kept chanting furiously. All I could figure was that he was the key. Maybe if I could take him out, I could get rid of the dog.

  The fiend was not interested in letting me do that. It charged me a third time.

  This time it was smarter. Instead of trying to get me in the throat, it leaped lower, anticipating that I would once again try to duck under it, and it would be able to get me at last.

  But whether it was my years of training as a Kenpo black belt or my Nephilim combat reflexes, I saw what it intended and reacted appropriately. I stepped aside and brought my katana down hard on its neck, decapitating the foul beast.

  Once again, it exploded in fire. But just like the first time, the flames roared high, formed themselves into a canine shape, and transformed into the hellish dog.

  Damn it! I needed to do something to slow this bitch down and get to its master.

  A black van was parked across the street. I ran for it. The dog gave chase as I’d expected.

  I put my back to the vehicle, raised my sword, and waited. Sure enough, the dog came straight at me and launched itself, again aiming about waist high. I rolled to my left.

  The beast crashed headlong into the side of the van, putting a severe dent in it. The crazy-ass animal yelped in pain and went down. It didn’t get up, temporarily stunned.

  Yes! Now to deal with that damned wizard.

  I scowled at him and charged. A brief look of panic flashed across his overly pierced face, and he started casting another spell. Remembering how he’d taken my sword the other night, I tightened my grip on the weapon so he couldn’t pull that shit again.

  Instead, he raised his hand, twirled it a few times, then pointed it directly at me. A bolt of lightning fell from the sky and struck me on the head.

  Twenty-four

  M y mind went totally blank for several seconds. All I could see was white.

  Then I felt myself on the ground. What the hell had happened to me?

  I could hear every sound for miles. I heard cars on the freeway, the couple that lived below me arguing in Spanish, the footsteps of people two blocks away, the sound of someone ordering a double latte at Java Jive.

  When I opened my eyes, I was lying in the street. Every nerve in my body was alive with electricity.

  Holy shit. Had I really just been struck by lightning? Why didn’t I feel bad? Why wasn’t I dead?

  I got to my feet and felt energy coursing through me. It was like I was some sort of human circuit, and current was passing through me at a blinding pace.

  And it felt good.

  Every positive emotion you can imagine passed through me – joy, happiness, comfort, excitement, surprise, and a hundred others I couldn’t even name. I’d never felt better in my life.

  What happened?

  Behind me, that strange, fiery dog was charging again. I heard the scrape of his claws on the blacktop, could feel the huffs of his breath as he put himself in motion. I knew the second he launched himself at me.

  In my hand, the katana crackled with power. It seemed to glow like a lightsaber.

  Without thinking, I spun, bringing the sword around in a wide arc. It hit the dog just below the neck. With a flash of blue light, my katana cut through the beast from sternum to tail.

  The top half of the fiend erupted in fire. The bottom exploded. A moment later, hot coals hit the asphalt and smashed into ash.

  This time, the dog did not reform. I stared at the ashes, waiting for them to perform their phoenix-like trick, but they simply scattered on the wind.

  I suddenly felt spent – like there had been some powerful thing inside me, and every last molecule had left. I dropped my arm, and the tip of my katana clanged on the street. Lightheaded and confused, I looked this way and that, making sure there were no more threats.

  That’s when I caught sight of Mr. Punk Rock. He stared at me with his mouth hanging open, his eyes wide. Despite his piercings and his idiotic beard, he looked weak and worried, not badass. Every muscle of his face asked the same question my mind was still trying to figure out: What the hell just happened?

  He snapped out of it before me, his slack-jawed expression replaced by one of terror. He started casting another spell.

  I raised my sword and charged him like some sort of berserker barbarian. He waved his arms frantically trying to finish the magic. I still had fifty yards to go. Would I be able to get there in time?

  A gunshot echoed across the street. Mr. Punk Rock lurched, and blood appeared on his grey hoodie. A quick look of almost-comical disappointment flashed across his face before his eyes rolled up in his head, and he collapsed to the pavement. His spell, whatever it had been, fizzled.

  I turned to look behind me. Ash had re
gained his feet and was lowering the pistol he’d used to drill my assailant in the chest.

  “Jesus, are you okay?” I asked.

  He didn’t look it. His curly hair stood on end from bring tased, revealing tiny horns on his forehead I hadn’t seen before. His dark skin was pallid. He stood unsteadily, leaning against the wall of my building after holstering his gun inside his jacket.

  “I’ll live,” he said. “You all right?”

  “I think so,” I replied. “Thanks.”

  “For what?”

  “For saving my life. Twice.”

  He nodded as though it were nothing.

  “What’s with the horns?” I asked.

  That familiar, embarrassed expression returned at once to his face. He put up a hand and smoothed his bangs down to conceal the horns.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I don’t . . . I wear my hair longer to hide them.”

  “Why?”

  “People tend not to react well when they see evidence that you’re a demon,” he said. “Even if you’re only a half-breed.”

  I nodded. That made sense to me. I was proud of my Black heritage, but there were times being mistaken for a White girl wasn’t such a bad thing.

  I returned my gaze to the scene of the attack. I still didn’t have a good idea what had happened. There was the joyous, electric feeling of life, followed by the sheer emptiness that followed after I killed the dog.

  “What was that thing?” I asked.

  “A Hellhound,” he said. “The assassin must have known his magic wouldn’t work directly against you, so he summoned a fiend to do the dirty work.”

  I was about to ask how I’d been able to kill it, since it hadn’t worked the first two times, when the woman who’d tased Ash and tried to knife me moaned. My head snapped around in her direction.

  “Oh, yeah,” I said. “I forgot about you.”

  I strolled over to her, dragging the tip of my katana on the street to intimidate her. Her breathing was labored. The bottom half of her leg was going in a direction it wasn’t supposed to.

  She pushed herself into a sitting position and shucked off her jacket. Tattooed to her arm was a wicked-looking knife – the kind with a wavy blade you see in fantasy movies. She touched it with her right hand, and it glowed red as she pulled if off and made it real. I stopped just short of her and gave her a wicked look.

  “That doesn’t work on me,” I said.

  “I know,” she replied.

  Then she plunged the dagger into her own heart.

  “Shit!” I screamed.

  Involuntarily, I stumbled backward. The woman was instantly covered in her own blood. It gushed from the wound, out of her mouth. Her eyes rolled up into her head, but her lids didn’t close.

  I wanted to vomit. I’d never seen anyone die before Ash shot that wizard only moments before. Even the photo of my father hadn’t seemed real. It was just a picture. It was like watching a movie.

  But this woman had committed suicide gruesomely right in front of me. I knew at least ten different ways to kill someone with my Kenpo. But I’d never seriously thought I’d have to use one.

  And these people had tried to kill me. That woman had planned to tase me, so I couldn’t resist, and then knife me to death. If Ash hadn’t seen her and protected me, I might be dead now. And the wizard had summoned a fucking Hellhound to rip my throat out. I still didn’t know how I’d beaten that thing. And Ash shot the guy dead.

  The enormity of everything that had just happened overwhelmed me. I dropped my sword. My head started spinning. My stomach churned. Dear God, what was happening to me?

  I was on my knees in the middle of the street before I came to my senses again. Ash had his hands on my shoulders.

  “Come on, Sassy,” he soothed. “You’re going to be all right. Let’s get up out of the street.”

  Somehow, that penetrated. The street in front of my building wasn’t very busy, but getting run down by a random car would really escalate what was suddenly a shitty day.

  I let Ash lift me to my feet. He scooped up my sword, and the two of us staggered over to the sidewalk.

  “There,” he said. “That’s better.”

  I nodded as if that were actually true. He leaned against the building for a few seconds.

  “Where the hell is the surveillance team?” he wondered.

  That was a good damned question. The Order had specifically put a team on my building so The Guild of the Blade couldn’t jump me like that.

  I nodded in the direction of the van that I’d tricked the Hellhound into crashing against.

  “Is that them?” I asked.

  He examined the license plate.

  “Yes,” he said.

  The two of us crossed the intervening distance in only a few seconds. I could tell as soon as we got near it that something was wrong. Aside from the dent the Hellhound had put in the side of it, there were strange scorch marks on the back. On the curb, by the side door, was a small pool of blood.

  “Ash,” I said, my voice covered in fear.

  He ripped the door open with a grim look on his face. A dead agent tumbled out onto the curb. Already spooked, I screamed. I kind of hated myself for that, but I was too damned freaked to avoid it.

  But that wasn’t the worst of it. The inside of the van was covered in gore. There were blood, entrails, and body parts strewn everywhere. And the smell was horrific.

  A low moan of terror slipped out of my mouth. I felt myself backing away from the van, but my eyes would not leave the monstrous contents.

  “Shit,” Ash said. “That wizard must have summoned the Hellhound inside the van. Poor bastards never had a chance.”

  That did nothing to quell the panic that was shooting straight up from my guts to the top of my brain. They could do that? They could open a gate inside a vehicle? Could they do that inside an apartment from the street?

  “Oh, God, Ash,” I blubbered. “Oh, God. They’re going to kill me. They’re going to kill me.”

  I have no idea why I suddenly was going to pieces. They’d tried to assassinate me twice before. But those incidents had ended with me getting away. This was just straight luck. If Ash hadn’t seen the assassin with the taser, I’d be dead. If I hadn’t consented to let him walk me to my door, Ash wouldn’t have been here to save my life. I’d be dead.

  “They’re gonna kill me,” I cried. “They’re gonna kill me!”

  Ash grabbed me by the wrists and pulled me close to him.

  “Sassy, get ahold of yourself,” he said.

  “They’re gonna kill me!”

  “Sassy!”

  He enveloped me in a strong hug. His arms wrapped tightly around me, securing me in a protective embrace.

  “Listen to me,” he said. “You’re safe. The Guild only makes three attempts before rescinding a contract. This was the third attempt. They won’t try again.”

  “But you said Mk’Rai would keep trying,” I wailed.

  “He won’t get the chance,” Ash said. “The Guild will inform him they failed to kill you. He’ll have to come up with a new plan. And tomorrow, he’ll be dead. You’ll kill him tomorrow.”

  I’d kill him tomorrow? Was he serious? He still wanted me to go through with this?

  “Listen, Sassy, tomorrow night, it will all be over. The Guild will not try again, and Mk’Rai will be dead. No one will want to hurt you after tomorrow night.”

  I tried to hear his words. I tried to internalize the comfort he was providing. But it seemed to come from so far away. By the time it reached me, it was diluted, ineffective.

  “Now, you wait here for a moment,” Ash continued. “I have to make a phone call. Can you do that for me?”

  I nodded dumbly. I had no idea if I was telling the truth.

  Ash let me go. He dug into his pocket and produced his phone. He tapped in a few numbers, then put it to his ear.

  “This is Agent Shinoch,” he said after only a couple seconds. “There has been another attempt on
Sassy Kincaide’s life.” He paused briefly as the person on the other end asked a question. “She’s fine. I need a cleanup crew outside her apartment. They need to be here ten minutes ago. It’s a mess here.”

  He paused again, his eyes darting around the scene, looking for anyone who might have seen what happened.

  “No, they’re all dead,” he said. “We need a new surveillance team. Proof the van against spells.”

  He listened to the other end for perhaps another minute.

  “That’s fine,” he said. “I’ve got Ms. Kincaide. I’ll keep her safe until the team arrives. But seriously, get them here now. This place is a God-damned mess.”

  He ended the call and stuffed the phone back in his pocket.

  “Cleanup team is on its way,” he said. “Within an hour, it’ll be as if nothing happened here. I’ll stay with you until they arrive.”

  “Ash,” I said. “Will you spend the night?”

  The words surprised even me as they left my mouth. This was not who I was. I didn’t invite strange men up to my apartment unless I wanted to bed them. And I was not at all interested in having sex tonight. I also was no scared little girl, who needed protection from a man against the evils of the big, bad world.

  But all the death I’d seen tonight had me seriously shook. I wanted someone I trusted to stay with me. I’d probably feel stupid and regretful in the morning, when the light washed away all the evening terror. But right now? I wanted someone I thought I could count on if shit went sideways.

  And Ash had saved my life twice in the space of five minutes.

  “Sassy are you sure—”

  “Yes!” I said. “Nothing’s gonna happen. You’re gonna sleep on my couch, assuming either of us manages to sleep after tonight’s freaky shit. But I don’t want to be alone.”

  He stared at me for several seconds. I tried not to look weak. I failed miserably.

  “Okay,” he said. “No problem. Lead the way.”

  I picked up my sword and sheathed it. Then I collected my things. Ash got the dress. Good thing it was in a bag. I didn’t want to think about what it would look like otherwise. As it was, I would probably have to iron it. I hated ironing.