devil 04 - the devil you know

by Cheever, Sam

  He gagged and gasped under my hand at his throat.

  I pulled the power forward, letting it shimmer on my fingertips. My eyes narrowed in joy as I savored the surge of power warming and rolling its way through my body. My skin began to pulse as I held the energy inside and I licked my lips, enjoying the look of pure fear throbbing in my victim’s eyes.

  The scent of urine filled the air.

  “To Hades with you fool, for God hath tired of you.”

  A cold, soft hand clamped around my wrist and warmth touched my back. Darma’s angry voice filled my ear, her breath tickling across my face. I was dimly aware of her presence, beyond the throbbing of power through my body. “Stop, Astra. Pull it back. He’s not worth the stain on your soul.”

  I chewed my bottom lip, doubt sliding in to disrupt my power high. The power started to thin and scatter. I shook my head and gathered it back up. “He needs to die.”

  “No, Astra. He needs to live to remember how it feels to be helpless, a victim. Just like he’s made probably countless others feel. He’s a puny bully, Astra. That’s all.”

  The power pulsed hard at my fingertips. I was a single breath away from releasing it. The level of power I’d accumulated in my fingers would vaporize the human quivering beneath my thighs.

  It was overkill.

  On some level my mind realized that.

  On some level, buried deep beneath the raging power, I knew I didn’t want to kill the human. I knew Darma was right.

  Damn! I hated when Darma was right.

  I shook my head. The guy beneath me cried out as a thin stream of power leeched from my fingertips, burning his skin and sending the smoky scent of cooked meat into the air.

  “Stop it, Astra!” She pulled on me, trying to drag me away from the creep on the ground. But power-drenched as I was, she had no hope of pulling me away. She stood with an angry rush of breath and I could hear her stomping a foot angrily.

  A smile slid onto my face. My power dimmed.

  “I’ll tell Myra what you’ve done, Astra. What do you think she’ll do?”

  The power scattered and started to slide away. I didn’t try to recapture it. Standing up, I turned to face her.

  Her pretty face was nearly purple with rage. Her hands were on her hips and she glared at me from under lowered blond brows.

  “You’re gonna tell on me!” My voice held a certain shriekish quality that was decidedly unattractive.

  She nodded.

  “We’re not five years old, Darma.”

  “No we certainly are not, Astra. Which is why I would expect you to show more restraint. He’s just a pathetic bully. You were prepared to vaporize him. Get some perspective, Astra.”

  “You’re welcome, dammit!”

  As if I’d reminded her of what he’d done, she reached up and touched her pale cheek, which had started to darken to an ugly purple. She shrugged and, then, glancing behind me, her pretty blue eyes widened.

  “Bitch!”

  I spun and grabbed the pipe the creep swung toward my head and wrenched it easily from his hand. Then, casting my sister a defiant look, I swung it hard at his midsection, enjoying the crunching sound as it connected with his ribs.

  He went down hard, gasping for breath. His face was a curious green color.

  I dropped the pipe and turned away, striding angrily down the street, toward Darma’s house.

  “See, Astra, that’s what I mean, perspective. You didn’t hit him in the head with the pipe, you hit him in the stomach. Extreme pain versus death.” She patted me on the shoulder and grinned. “I think I’m finally wearing off on you.”

  I stared straight ahead, my face vibrating with barely contained fury. As my sister preened and skipped along in smug satisfaction, I fantasized about smacking her around.

  “I should have kept the damn pipe,” I murmured crankily.

  Chapter Four

  Welcome to Olympus Air

  An adopted charge doth call our miss, and engage her in a quest,

  The dragon queen has fled the coup, abandoning her nest.

  I need you, mother Tweener!

  I jerked awake, glad to have been pulled from another lust-filled dream starring all the wrong people.

  Glynus?

  Hello, mother Tweener.

  What’s wrong?

  Our world is under attack. Mother and Father have gone into battle. I’m scared. I haven’t heard from them in several slides of the sun across the sky.

  I climbed out of bed and headed for the personal hygiene room to shower. Are you coming to get me?

  I’m nearly there.

  See you in a few minutes then.

  Thank you, mother Tweener.

  I climbed into the shower tube. “One hundred degrees, full power, half soap.” The water shot on and I slid under the pulsating jets, sighing happily. Hot, soapy water sluiced over my head and body, warming me and igniting my Settling. I wondered where Dialle was at that moment and considered trying to find him later, after I’d dealt with the Black Dragons’ problem.

  I suddenly realized I’d been promoted—somewhere along the way—to being the savior for yet another world. Apparently I wasn’t busy enough saving humankind over and over again, now I had to deal with saving the dragons too.

  By the time I’d pulled on a soft, formfitting black sweater and slacks and tugged on some boots, Glynus was back in my mind.

  Are you ready to go?

  Almost.

  I pulled a few clothes into a small bag, which I flung over my shoulder, and did a quick pass through my living space, making sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. It was possible I’d be gone awhile.

  Are you on the roof?

  Yes.

  I headed up to the roof and emerged into a light drizzle under an overcast sky.

  Glynus was waiting as patiently as she was able, being young for a dragon and still prone to fidgeting. I was always a little shocked when I saw her these days. She’d grown considerably since the day I’d first acquired her.

  She’d been a tiny baby then, capable only of uttering the word “bluerp” and belching smoke. Her inability to speak didn’t last long, however. It ended abruptly when she started parroting any swear words I uttered. Within days she sounded like a galaxy sailor on Earth leave.

  Her fondness for the words “shit” and “frunk” didn’t win me any motherhood awards from my family and friends. Fortunately her ability to speak words out loud went away as she grew. Now she and I spoke only telepathically, as I did with her mother and father. That saved me some serious embarrassment whenever she came out with some weird Astra-ism that was totally inappropriate for her age and station in life.

  It happened frequently.

  Glynus was a gawky adolescent now. Though at thirty feet tall and approximately fifty feet long, adolescent wasn’t the word that popped to mind when seeing her. Her wide chest was covered with opaline scales, which sparked with pastel cream, rust and gray light as she moved, and her top line, which would be a deep onyx black when she was full-grown, was a beautiful charcoal gray.

  But it was her eyes that were truly arresting. They were a deep violet, fringed with thick lashes as long as my pinky finger.

  Glynus was a princess. Next in line for the throne. Her mother the Queen had given her to me to rear among the human population. Hoping her experiences with people would ensure the continuing prosperity of the black dragon race alongside humans.

  For all her regal beauty, however, Glynus was still a kid at heart. When I emerged from the stairwell, she started hopping from foot to foot and spewing excitement fire from her nostrils.

  I threw myself behind a huge metal box and rolled, narrowly missing being toasted alive.

  Oops! Sorry mother Tweener.

  I peeked over my protective barrier. “I guess I should have worn my flame retardant jumpsuit, huh?”

  She giggled behind a massive paw with six-inch-long curved claws. You can come out now, mother Tweener. I promise I won’t r
oast you.

  I leapt over the box and ran, springing onto her wide back as I used to do when she was younger.

  Glynus giggled and lifted her wings with excitement. Hold on, mother Tweener. Her massive wings pounded the air, blowing my hair around my face and nearly driving me right off her back. Debris lifted out of the crevices and corners where it had been caught and flew in all directions. I had to duck as a large dead bird swung toward my head.

  I grabbed the base of her wings and held on, lowering myself as we lifted off in preparation for that first powerful gust of air slamming into me.

  The ride was a bit rocky until Glynus climbed to a height where she could level off and skim gracefully along the air currents. Then I released my hold on her wings and sat up, enjoying the bird’s-eye view of the world below us.

  The nearest air car was miles beneath Glynus’ wings. They looked like bugs buzzing from place to place.

  Okay, Glynus. Tell me what’s going on. I need to know what I’m stepping into.

  She sighed in my mind.

  The Mount has exploded into chaos. The Queen of the Reds is in an uproar because her oldest daughter was attacked and killed. She declared war against us in the belief that we were behind the attack. Of course we knew nothing about it until the skies started boiling with red dragons and blood began to be spilled on our beautiful meadow.

  Does your mother have any ideas who might have been responsible for the attack?

  Glynus turned and fixed a worried violet eye on me. She and my father cloistered themselves in the throne room and discussed it for hours. When they emerged they declared their intention of visiting the Red Queen. I couldn’t get them to tell me what they’d decided. All they would say was that it was better if I knew nothing.

  So they went to see the Reds.

  Glynus nodded. That was almost three passages of the sun ago. And I haven’t heard a word of how they fared. She snorted angrily, spewing impotent smoke through her wide nostrils. If the Reds have harmed my parents, they will know war as they’ve never known it before.

  Beneath my thighs her muscles tightened and bunched in anger. Her wings slammed the air and our speed picked up noticeably.

  I suddenly realized my little girl was growing up. And she had a temper. I was glad I was on her side. Patting her on the shoulder I said the only thing I could say. “We’ll find them, Glynus. And if they’ve been harmed, I’ll fight at your side to avenge them.”

  * * * * *

  Unlike the black dragons, who lived in a beautiful meadowland overseen by a giant sparkling waterfall, the red dragons roosted in the stark, jagged rocks high on the opposite side of Mount Olympus. The approach to their queendom was stunning and ruthlessly efficient but decidedly intimidating.

  Per royal protocol, Glynus approached the Queen’s caverns directly, without stealth, showing her lack of aggression by her visibility and guileless approach.

  As a result, with every mile we came closer to the reds’ caverns, we picked up a couple more guards. Until, as the yawning face of the royal caverns opened up before us, we were a single black dot in a surrounding sea of red. From a distance we probably looked like a giant poppy.

  Glynus flew toward the largest cavern, directly in the center of hundreds of smaller caves, and stopped, hovering in midair, as the largest pair of red dragons I’d ever seen converged on the entrance to the Queen’s caves and blocked our approach.

  What followed was a harsh, guttural exchange in the dragons’ natural language, which I didn’t understand.

  To me it just sounded like a series of barks, coughs and roars.

  I got the gist of it though. Basically the guards said, “Halt, who goes there?” and Glynus responded, “Get the hell out of my way or my mother Tweener will kick your fat asses.”

  When two enormous pairs of sparkling black eyes focused on me, filled with malevolence, I decided a quick foray into Glynus’ beady brain was in order. What did you say to them, Glynus?

  I simply reminded them that you were the legendary dragon fighter.

  Glynus’ mother the Queen had anointed me the dragon fighter. I never really figured out why. I’m thinking she needed an extra warrior at the time so she created one. Frunkin' wonderful, I responded. The two giant reds were eyeing me as if they’d like to be the ones to end the legend of the dragon fighter…by ending the dragon fighter.

  The one on the right flipped a wing in my direction and demanded something in its guttural tones. Glynus responded in kind, her elegant snout swinging back and forth in a negative head movement.

  At least that I understood.

  She puffed herself up, lifting her wings aggressively, and barked some more orders at the two guards.

  They responded by flinging fire at us.

  Glynus dropped ten feet in the air to avoid the flames. Apparently forgetting me. I suddenly found myself airborne, without a dragon between my thighs, and looking at a wall of flame.

  I screamed as the fire touched my skin and then gasped as a hard, muscular arm snaked around my waist and yanked me backward, against an equally hard chest. I looked down and saw a thick, muscular thigh, clad in stretchy black material, and beneath it, red scales.

  Somebody else was joyriding on a dragon. And from what I could see of him. he was yummy. I tipped my head to try to get a glance of him, but the red moved restlessly beneath us and I almost slid off. My Settling sparked as a broad hand spread across my midsection, holding me firmly against his body.

  A deep voice rumbled against my ear. “Sit still, woman.” Then he raised his voice and addressed the dragon guards. His words were unintelligible, spoken in the guttural dragon language, but the results were obvious. The two dragons dipped their snouts and lifted their wings, clearing the cavern entrance immediately.

  Glynus suddenly surged up in front of us. Her beautiful eyes sparking with anger. Return my dragon fighter to me immediately!

  An impossibly deep rumble started under my ear and I realized it was laughter. You’ve been careless with her, Princess. I was merely saving her from being toasted alive before crashing painfully to the rocks below.

  One of Glynus’ thick legs slammed downward, as if she were stomping her foot. I recognized the movement. I’d seen it hundreds of times over the two years she lived with me. If your stupid guards had not attacked, I would not have had to take evasive maneuvers, Dragon Slayer.

  I peaked an eyebrow. Dragon…Slayer? I was immediately jealous. His title sounded scarier than mine. I tried to crank around and look at him again and finally managed, though I was basically hanging over his arm and out into nothingness to accomplish it.

  As I looked up at him, my rescuer looked down at me, grinning. “Hello, Dragon Fighter. My Settling roared. I clenched my thighs together in self-defense and tried to force a disinterested look onto my face.

  In my current state that amounted to wiping drool from my chin.

  “Hello, Dragon Slayer.”

  He grinned and I think I came on the spot. His mouth was wide, with a full, biteable lower lip, and filled with perfect white teeth. His canines were slightly enlarged, like a Royal’s, and his eyes were gold with black flecks. His skin was a deep golden color and his hair was midnight black, cut very short, military style.

  The short hair emphasized a strong jaw and densely muscled neck.

  A dusky stubble covered his cheeks and jaw. But it didn’t hide the dimples that made an appearance when he smiled.

  “Are you all right?”

  I blinked. “Huh?”

  He lifted a hand to my forehead and frowned. “You’re burning up.”

  “Tell me about it.” I murmured.

  He frowned just as a stream of fire flashed past his head.

  Oh yeah. Glynus.

  Return her to me right this minute, Tweener!

  Well frunk me to Hades and back on a stick. Another Tweener.

  * * * * *

  You realize we’re swimming in pee, dodging turd sharks right now, Glynus?
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  She sighed in my mind. Yes, mother Tweener.

  That Queen looks mighty pissed.

  She does, yes.

  What are you gonna do about it?

  She glanced at me and smiled, showing several rows of scary-looking teeth. I was hoping you’d take it from here.

  Just great! The dragon barges into the enemy camp making demands and flinging accusations around and then she wants me to clean up the resulting mess.

  I glanced at the muscle-bound, incredibly yummy Tweener who’d saved me from a fiery death and carried me into the Queen’s caverns on the back of his fiery red steed.

  Okay, that might have been a little too much.

  The fiery red steed was really a slimy lizard, but the hot factor stays the same.

  I forced my mouth closed and licked my lips, doing a drool check. I was glad nobody but me was aware of the series of mini-orgasms my body was flinging at me whenever I looked at…or smelled…or heard…or heard about…him.

  Well, unless they noticed the vibrating and slavering.

  Step forward, Tweener.

  I blinked and looked at the Slayer. He jerked his head toward the enormous dragon crouching at the back of the cavern.

  I widened my eyes in a “Who me?” look and he chuckled, flipping a hand toward the queen again. Sighing internally, I stepped forward. You owe me big time for this, Glynus.

  Yes, mother Tweener.

  I moved to a spot just outside the swing-span of the queen’s spiked tail and dropped to one knee, bowing my head. Your Highness. Thank you for allowing us to come before you.

  The dragon inclined her elegant head slightly. Her massive wings fluttered once, the only sign of her irritation. And I am thanked for my hospitality with accusations and hostility.

  I glanced briefly at Glynus. She is young, Your Majesty, and very worried about her parents. I beg you forgive her for her harshness.