Sleeping Dragons

by Phoebe Ravencraft

  Thirty-five

  A s it happened, I didn’t get to keep any of the treasure. Mk’Rai had a massive hoard of gold, silver, and copper coins going back centuries. Based on the look of it, a lot of it was from the golden age of piracy. Draconic bastard likely stole from pirates and the European vessels that plied the waters of the Caribbean in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, hoarding it in his secret cave.

  He also had a mind-boggling collection of jewels, statues, and other artwork. Most of it was neatly arranged in trunks and other containers. Mk’Rai may have been a slob when it came to his eating habits and general cleanliness, but he made damned sure his treasure was kept carefully. Clearly, he only cared about pretty things and money. Fucking dragons.

  Despite the fact that I had singlehandedly taken down Mk’Rai and rescued Ephraim, thereby saving The Order’s secrets and preserving its position as the police of the magical world, they wouldn’t let me have anything I found. D’Krisch Mk’Rai was dispatched by The Order officially – I was an agent of theirs, working on their behalf, despite not actually being a member. Therefore, everything was catalogued and impounded.

  I managed to swipe a gold doubloon, stuffing it into my pocket when no one was looking. I mainly kept it as a souvenir. It was probably worth hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars. But I had no idea how you went about selling that sort of thing, and if I tried, there would be all sorts of questions I didn’t want to answer about where I’d gotten it. Plus, I figured The Order would find out, and then I’d be in a world of shit.

  So I sat on my small scrap of treasure, rich but unable to buy anything. That fit right in with the rest of my life.

  Ephraim was pissed. Not only did his big move to play the hero and show me up fail miserably, he had to be rescued. By me. I slew the dragon just like Daddy had intended, and Ephraim got to hang on the wall, unconscious and in need of a girl to save him. It was the most perfect administration of instant karma I’d ever seen.

  Of course, that also made Big Brother Asshole dangerous. If he’d hated me before, he despised me now. I’d gotten his glory and stolen his manhood. Sure, it was all his fault for acting like a jackass back at the charity ball, but he was never going to see it that way. He would blame me instead. That would be easier than admitting he was a failure.

  And that gave me another good reason to put The Order in my rearview. Not that Ash saw it that way.

  “Sassy,” he’d said as we sat having coffee at Java Jive one final time. “You have tremendous power. You’ve only scratched the surface of it. You’ll be safer if we explore those abilities together.”

  I laughed at him.

  “You’re just trying to get closer to me,” I said.

  He blushed in that insanely cute way that lit a fire inside me. I couldn’t help but smile at him. Ashrael Shinoch was devastatingly handsome and charming in his awkward way. It would be fun to play around with him for awhile.

  “No, I . . .” he stammered.

  The cute factor increased by a thousand-fold. So did my desire. His swarthy skin tone and glittering black eyes were completely disarming. I had to fight hard not to drag him back to my apartment right then.

  “Ash,” I said, “The Order is bad news for me. If I join, they’ll be able to watch me closely.”

  “They’re going to watch you anyway,” he said.

  “I know. But from a distance. You can’t see as much detail from out there. And that’s how I want it. I just want a simple life, you know?”

  He frowned. Those beautiful eyes searched me. I looked away before my resolve crumbled.

  “I’m sorry, Sassy,” he said, “but you can’t have a simple life. You’re important. You’re Nephilim, and you have tremendous power. That will catch up with you, no matter how hard you run.”

  “Yeah, well, there’s nothing wrong with getting a good head-start.”

  “Sassy—”

  “Ash, I’m not joining The Order. I’m not joining the magical community. I’m going back to my life. The Guild of the Blade’s contract was rescinded. D’Krisch Mk’Rai is dead. Ephraim is rescued and back safe and sound. There is nothing more for me to do. In fact, it’ll be better for me and The Order if Ephraim and I are as far from each other as possible. I don’t need his shit, and he’ll do something stupid if he feels threatened by me. The best thing is for me to go back to teaching Kenpo and selling games and pretending to not know about any of this.”

  He didn’t say anything for several seconds. I tried to meet his gaze as he studied me, but I just couldn’t do it. The smell of his pheromones was already making me want to jump him. If I looked at him, I would do anything he told me to.

  “I’m just worried that someone will decide to take you out, that they’ll think it will be safer if you’re dead, even if you’re not a member of the magical world,” he said at last.

  “Aw, Ash,” I teased, “you make it sound like you have a crush on me.”

  He blushed darker and sat back.

  “No, I . . . Damn it, Sassy! You’re not listening to what I have to say. You can’t totally walk away. It won’t matter to whoever wants you dead. Your life will still be in danger.”

  I smiled. It was nice of him to think of my well-being that way. Then I hardened my heart.

  “Ash, you’re still on the inside. You’ve got my number. If something happens, if you find out someone is making a move against me, you can text or call me. You can warn me.

  “In the meantime, I need my own life.”

  “Assuming I find out in time to warn you,” he said.

  “I have faith in you.”

  He sighed, defeated.

  “Fine,” he said. “But if something happens, you need to promise to let me know.”

  “Cross my heart,” I said.

  He grimaced and nodded. I left before I could submit to the urge to invite him back to my place. I wanted him too badly, and that presented a whole different kind of danger. If I slept with Ash, I wouldn’t be able to leave all this behind me.

  Instead, I walked away, leaving him staring after me.

  Felicia and I had a Long Talk. You know the kind.

  “Look,” I said. “I really like you. You’re my best friend in the world. I need you in my life. But right now, that’s all I want. I just can’t . . . I just can’t give you the other things you’re looking for.”

  She stared at me for several seconds, those beautiful, brown eyes boring into me. At first, I thought she might cry. I was kind of prepared for that, but I was really hoping not to have to deal with it.

  “Bullshit, Sassy,” she said.

  Now, that I was not expecting.

  “What do you mean, ‘bullshit’?” I said.

  “I mean, if you don’t want a relationship, I get it. You’ve got hangups. You’re afraid of intimacy. You’re afraid of betrayal. You like boys and girls, but you’re afraid choosing one over the other on any kind of permanent basis will trap you somehow. Hell, for all I know, you want to be able to mess around with Ash just to see if a sex-demon is good in bed.”

  “Please!” I said, pissed.

  Did she not understand that I had deliberately turned my back on Ash?

  “Whatever,” Felicia said. “You’re afraid of getting into a relationship with your best friend, even though she’s the one you always run to for advice or when you’re hurting. Even though she’s the one who you’ve admitted has given you the best sex of your life. Even though she’d die for you.

  “And you can do that. And I’ll even accept it. But don’t hand me this bullshit about how you ‘just can’t give me what I’m looking for.’ You’re everything I’m looking for. Just as you are. Right now. You don’t have to change or grow or find yourself or give me anything you aren’t already. You’re just afraid.”

  God damn it. Now I was the one tearing up. How the hell did she do that to me?

  The hard stare she’d been giving me softened. Her blonde hair caught the sunlight and made her look angelic,
like some sort of spirit sent to comfort me.

  “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I don’t mean to hurt you or make you cry.

  “I also won’t let you lie to me by lying to yourself. I want you, Sassy. That’s never going to change. If you don’t want to date right now, that’s fine. I won’t force you. I won’t give you some sort of ultimatum. I’ll just be your friend.

  “But you should figure out what you’re really afraid of and why. Because it’s just going to keep you unhappy until you do. And you deserve better than that. You deserve joy.”

  I wiped tears away. I swallowed, trying to get the lump in my throat to go away. Felicia was too good a person. I didn’t deserve her.

  “I can’t, Felicia,” I said. “I’m not ready.”

  “You’re never ready, Sassy. No one ever is. There are bumps in the road and problems people can never foresee. Neither of us knew you were Nephilim or that the creatures we imagine in Dungeons & Dragons were real. But we dealt with that, and we’ll deal with anything else that comes up – whether we’re a couple or not. Please don’t throw up unnecessary shields.”

  “God damn it, Felicia, why can’t you take ‘no’ for an answer? Don’t you get what an asshole I am? I piss everybody off. I’m hell to live with. I’m not a good relationship partner.

  “And I can’t afford to lose you. If we start dating, and I do the things I always do, you’re gonna learn to hate me. I can’t let that happen. I need you too much.”

  Once again, she stared at me with those pretty eyes, that lovely face. The look of sorrow and sympathy she wore made me furious. I wanted to scream at her, tell her to go to hell, anything to make her stop being so nice to me when I didn’t deserve it.

  “Okay,” she said. “I told you I won’t force you, and I won’t. It’s your life. You get to decide how to live it.”

  Then, before I realized what she was doing, she stepped forward, snaked an arm around my waist, and kissed me – deeply, wetly, passionately. I wanted to push her away, but I couldn’t. That kiss was everything I needed. I returned it.

  After a few seconds, she stepped away. She met my gaze and smiled weakly.

  “That’s what you’ll be missing,” she said. “It’ll be here when you’re ready. I love you, Sassy.”

  And after that, things went back to normal, or at least what passes for normal in my life. Ash and The Order vanished into the mist of the Ohio River fog like they’d never existed. Felicia and I went back to playing D&D as if magical creatures were just stats in a roleplaying game. My monk made Tenth Level. I resumed teaching Kenpo, and Kai pretended to forget about me hurting a student.

  At the Dragon’s Lair, Ron eased up on me. Dave the Creeper returned to purchasing at his previous rate, but thankfully he only came in on about half my shifts instead of all of them. And he hit on me less. So there was that.

  By Thanksgiving, it seemed hard to believe that any of this shit had happened. No demons or wizards tried to assassinate me. There were no more dragons to be slain. It was easy to think I had imagined the whole thing.

  But sometimes, my father would visit me in my dreams. He would tell me I had a destiny to fulfill and that this was not the end, that I had important work to do and to stop hiding from it.

  I always told him to fuck off. Mama hid me from him for a reason, and Mama knew best.

  If only that had been true.

  Epilogue

  C allista stood before her master, averting her eyes to avoid burning in his poisonous gaze.

  “I understand the leaked video of your performance as Stormy Williams copulating with the dragon in disguise has already been viewed over one million times,” the master said, his voice the screams of children.

  “Yes,” she said. “Once The Order fed the media the lie that the bodies of both Dirk McCray and Stormy Williams had been found in the wreckage, the morbidity factor of watching them fuck posthumously triggered a surge in interest. We’ve made tens of thousands in subscription fees from our various porn sites, and we’ve implanted malware on hundreds of thousands of computers. The revenue from those efforts should start coming in soon.”

  “Excellent,” the master said. “What of your project with Ephraim Silverman?”

  Callista smirked. She quite enjoyed crowing about her successes, but this one had been so easily accomplished even her demonic heart found it shameful to take pride in it.

  “I have become his girlfriend with minimal effort,” she reported. “All it took was a sympathetic ear and an appetite for deviant sexual behavior. His resistance melted quickly.”

  “And he is unaware you are the same succubus who posed as Stormy Williams, the person who betrayed them and led to his failure?”

  “Completely. I have pretended to know nothing of the magical world. Indeed, I made the approach under mundane circumstances, forcing an ‘accidental’ meeting at the clothing store where he likes to shop. After a few dates, I pretended to be embarrassed to ask to him to do exactly the sorts of things in bed he desires. Once I whetted his appetite, his imagination has . . . expanded considerably.

  “As far as he knows, a chance meeting while shopping has brought him the woman of his dreams. And because he thinks I am a normal mortal, not a magical creature, he is unguarded emotionally.”

  Callista smiled in satisfaction. Ephraim was a mean lover. He’d likely never had anyone submit to the humiliation he craved to inflict. He had no idea how weak he was making himself.

  “Will he do what we hope?” the master asked.

  Callista frowned. That was a harder question.

  “His hatred of Cecily Kincaide is deep and strong,” she said. “It can be manipulated to into true evil. But it will not be accomplished swiftly or easily. He remains loyal to The Order and his duty as he sees it. In time, this can be twisted. But he is a long way from betraying the people for whom he works.”

  “That is well,” the master said. “Our next moves require patience.”

  Callista scowled. She didn’t like it. Manipulating Ephraim Silverman was fun, especially since he didn’t know she was the very same demon who had brought about his current misery. But there was a larger problem.

  “I sense Captain Silverman is not the only person who despises Cecily Kincaide and wants something done about her,” the master said, reading her thoughts.

  “I don’t understand why we are waiting to destroy her,” Callista said. “She has forsaken The Order. She doesn’t understand her power. She is weak now. If we wait to kill her, she may awaken to her true nature.”

  “And you would like to punish her for hurting you.”

  Callista ground her teeth. Yes, she wanted to knock that bitch in the dirt. She wanted to bind her with her own entrails and slowly peel her skin away until the agony drove her mad.

  “She is clever, Master. She defeated three attempts by The Guild of the Blade to assassinate her. She escaped from D’Krisch Mk’Rai’s vault before she could be gassed. And somehow, she slew the dragon, despite him being at the height of his power. We need to kill her before she becomes dangerous.”

  The master chuckled, a sound that reminded Callista of humans drowning in boiling oil.

  “All that you say is true, dearest Callista. And you are correct that by rebuffing The Order, she has made herself weaker.

  “But time is our ally. The more days that pass from her triumph over the dragon, the less real it will seem to her. The more her guard will come down. And then, when she is unprepared, when she has forgotten who she is, she will be much more vulnerable. When that time comes, we will send assassins more sure and less overconfident than The Guild of the Blade. They will not fail.

  “Then, with the N’Chai Toroth eliminated, our reign will begin.”

  “Yes, Master,” Callista said.

  It wasn’t the answer she wanted. But it was still a promise of revenge. Soon, Cecily Kincaide would be burning in Hell. And then Callista would have her fun.

  Dear reader,

  Well,
Sassy slew D’Krisch Mk’Rai. The dragon is dead, and she’s back to what passes for normal life.

  But it can’t last. The Order isn’t done with her, no matter what Ash says. No, taking out Mk’Rai was just the beginning. Now, they’ve got a whole new problem for her to solve:

  A vampire. A really old vampire. A sociopathic vampire, who’s gone off the deep end.

  Did I mention that the sexual tension between Sassy, Ash, and Felicia goes from a warm simmer to a fast boil?

  Yeah. Things are about to get hot in all kinds of ways.

  Are you ready to take on an out-of-control, three-hundred-year-old bloodsucker?

  Are you ready for our love triangle to get steamier?

  Are you dying for more of Sassy’s trademark snark?

  Then tap this link to preorder High Stakes (Available March 7!) to continue reading Sword & Sassery today.

  The butt-kicking has only just begun!

  Love,

  Phoebe

  P.S. (The only thing authors love more than coffee and chocolate are reviews. They’re fuel for sales and self-confidence. If you liked Sleeping Dragons, I’d be really grateful if you’d take a moment to review it. Here’s a link. Thanks!)

  Tap here to preorder High Stakes, available March 7!

  Sleeping Dragons

  Sword & Sassery

  Book 1

  An Urban Fantasy Adventure Novel by:

  Phoebe Ravencraft

  Copyright 2019 Phoebe Ravencraft

  All rights reserved.

  Cover Design by:

  Covers by Juan

  For Jill – your faith, support, and love are unlike any I’ve ever known. This dream is only possible because of you. You’re my hero.