no were to run

by Robyn Peterman

  “I’m going to put Mr. Sleepyhead down for a nap. Lenny wants to talk with me. Will you watch Daniel?” I asked quietly as the little man in question fell asleep on my shoulder.

  “Give him to me,” Nicolai whispered. “He wore my ass out. I’ll nap with him.”

  I gave my baby a kiss on his head and Nicolai a soft kiss on his lips and then I handed Daniel over.

  “I won’t be long.”

  “Take your time. I have a feeling your guys are going to be asleep for a few hours,” he said with a grin and a yawn.

  “Thank you,” I said softly.

  “No Dima, thank you,” he replied as he turned and walked back to our bedroom with my child cradled safely in his strong arms.

  ***

  “Can I ask you a question?” Lenny inquired as he seated himself on the couch and sipped on the hot tea I’d made.

  “Sure. Do I get to ask you some questions in return?” I bargained with pursed lips and raised brows.

  “But of course.” Lenny laughed and placed his teacup carefully back in the saucer. “I might not answer them, but you are free to ask.”

  I rolled my eyes and sat down next to him. “Shoot.”

  “Your powers…have you tried anything other than transport?” he asked.

  “I had no clue I could do anything other than that,” I told him truthfully. “My mother taught me to do it and I’d only ever done it once for practice before I did it in Chicago.” I froze. My stomach contracted like a hot knife had been shoved into it and I felt dizzy and ill. “That’s not true,” I whispered in a strangled voice. “There was one other time, but I think I forgot about it because it was…”

  “When?” Lenny prodded gently. “When was the other time you transported?”

  “It was the day they died. It was how I got away. She screamed for me to transport and I did. I left them all there to die.”

  “Your mother told you to go?”

  “Yes.”

  I stood up and began to pace. I’d not spoken my nightmare aloud to anyone. Ever. But Lenny was my Grandfather. He had a right to know.

  “Go on child. I need to hear this,” Lenny said as he sat forward and gently rocked back and forth.

  There was no way to sugarcoat any of it. It was the most awful day of my existence and it would forever be with me.

  “I heard yelling and screaming and I ran toward it. I knew it was my mother…when I opened the door all four of them were bound in heavy rope and chains and there was blood. There was so much blood and my father had huge knives and hatchets in his hands. He was hacking away at my brothers.”

  “And were your brothers dead at that point?” he asked as he raised his tea to his lips with shaking hands.

  “Yes…no, I’m not sure. There was blood everywhere. I focused on my mother because she was yelling at me.”

  “To go?”

  I nodded and sat back down. My knees had gone weak and my body felt as if it weighed thousands of pounds.

  “I went in to try and save them, but I was so small and my mother kept screaming at me.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Ten. I was ten.”

  “My God.” Lenny swore harshly and pressed his hands to his temples. “Where did you go? What did you do? You were just a child.”

  I heard his question, but I had no intention of answering it. It was over four hundred years ago and it was in the best forgotten past. It was a lonely and desolate time. I tried to never give it a thought anymore. I knew it defined who I was to a certain degree, but it was so damned depressing and degrading. I didn’t feel sorry for myself and I didn’t want Lenny to feel sorry for me either.

  How could I tell the man who was the father of my slain mother that his granddaughter had lived as a Dragon in the wild for a hundred years before she was brave enough to take her human form and try to live among society?

  What would he think if I told him I’d been a homeless human and had to prostitute myself for food and shelter? How do you tell the man who would have wanted my life to have been idyllic that it took me decades before I could talk to people or to be around men?

  Could I explain to my grandfather that once I did find a weyr of Dragons, they beat me so brutally when they discovered my identity that death would have been kinder? Did I explain to him that the reason I was so deadly was because I’d had absolutely no choice? Should I tell him that before I had Daniel I’d considered taking my own life more times than I could count?

  No. I shouldn’t.

  So I didn’t tell him. I told him the softer parts—the better parts—the parts that wouldn’t upset him.

  “It took a long time,” I said hesitantly. “Eventually I realized that knowledge was power and once I’d earned enough money I educated myself. I’ve been to every Ivy League school at least twice—some, three times. I have more degrees and doctorates than I have sense. Of course when you’re immortal, you have a lot of time on your hands and…”

  “It was awful, wasn’t it? The parts you’re withholding…they were awful,” he pressed.

  I inhaled slowly and closed my eyes. I knew tendrils of smoke had escaped from my nose, but I didn’t care. “It’s unspeakable. I’ll leave it at that. But probably no more unspeakable than the years of torture you endured at my father’s hands. Would you tell me about that if I asked?”

  “No,” he said quietly. “I would not.”

  I nodded and poured him a fresh cup of tea as his was now cold. We sat in silence lost in our own thoughts of the past.

  “Are you sure they were dead?” he asked, pulling my mind back to the present.

  “How could you even ask me that?” I demanded as I jumped up in distress. My teacup clattered to the table and broke in to tiny pieces. “Don’t you think if they weren’t dead they would have found me?” I yelled as flashes of my wretched existence passed before my eyes. “My mother would have found me—she loved me. My brothers would have saved me from the horrific hell on earth I lived for hundreds of years. That is the most hateful question you could ask me. Why would you say that?”

  Lenny went ashen and looked like a very old man for a brief moment. He stood and wrapped his strong arms around me as guttural, animalistic sounds left my mouth. His soft words sounded like white noise as I tried to get a grip on my rioting emotions.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered over and over into my hair as I shook and tried not to be ill. “I’m so sorry. You will never be alone again. You have my promise and my love. I’m so sorry.”

  I held on to the man whose life had been just as affected as mine by what happened on that day. His tears mixed with my own as he pressed his cheek to mine. In my heart, I understood his question. I’d prayed for hundreds of years that my mother and brothers had somehow survived my father’s brutality, but I’d given up hope. Hope can kill you just as easily as a blade. It takes longer though, and is far more painful.

  “It’s okay,” I said as I held tightly to my grandfather. “I prayed for the same for so many years until I couldn’t pray anymore. I’m sorry that I…”

  “No, child. I’m sorry. I had no right to open up painful wounds. It’s just an old Dragon’s wishful thinking…It’s inexcusable. It will never happen again.”

  “No Lenny, it will happen again and it should. At some point I will have to tell Maria and Daniel these stories and I want you with me. Never in my life did I think I would have a family. I have one now and I will defend it with my life. And that means you, too. I know you’re a magical freak,” I said with a weak laugh, “but you need our family as much as I do.”

  “You are correct.” He sighed heavily. “And just so you’re aware, you are a magical freak yourself. Over time, I will teach you just exactly how freaky you are.”

  “I look forward to it.”

  “As do I,” he said with a smile. “Now go back to your boys. I have some work to do.”

  Lenny kissed my forehead, helped me clean the broken pieces of the cup and then left in a poof o
f purple smoke. I had to sit for a bit before I had the energy to put on a happy face for my guys. I could fool Daniel, but not Nicolai.

  Taking some cleansing breaths, I made a promise to myself. Most of the time I tried not to think about my mother and brothers anymore—that was wrong. I would honor them by being happy. They would want that for me just as I would have wanted it for them if the tables were turned. I had everything to live for and after tomorrow their deaths would be avenged.

  Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.

  Chapter 23

  “We’ll go in first,” Pat said as she and her Cow sisters did jumping jacks and pushups. “We can clear every outside guard and sniper off their perch with a few well aimed assbombs.”

  “Any that don’t disintegrate after the first gaseous anal attack, we’ll nail with machine gun like farts that will kill em dead as a doornail,” Francis added with a grunt and a thumbs up.

  “Shouldn’t take more than six minutes and thirty-four seconds,” Pat told us as she did some nightmare inducing leg lifts.

  “Outstanding,” Lenny said much to the delight of the Cows while the Dragons were utterly dumbfounded and stunned.

  We’d left Daniel with Granny, Dwayne, Junior and a contingent of fifty well trained Dragons in New York two hours ago and flew to Michigan where my Father’s main compound was located. Lenny had provided magical cover for the hundred and fifty members of our Dragon army so we could fly undetected in daylight. The eight Cows rode on our backs and their Vampyre mates flew along side.

  It was difficult leaving my baby, but I knew I was doing what had to be done. I prayed that I would come back to him, but if my father was dead, Daniel’s future would be safe. I would trade my life for my son’s in a heartbeat.

  “Are you positive they’re women?” Nicolai whispered in my ear. “I just don’t see it.”

  “Maybe they’re both,” Maria offered with a shrug. “They do have boobs.”

  I elbowed both of them in the gut and swallowed my laugh. We were lucky to have them. It would save lives and hours of fighting. We had the chance to take out the outer protection ring in one enormous and odiferous blast. My father would never expect it and the plan, as bizarre as it was, bought us time.

  We were about three miles from the compound and we’d all gone back to human form.

  “Now, I’m just gonna suggest all of you good people either hold your noses or you can take one of these here handy dandy gas masks we brought along,” Pat offered politely as she nodded to her undead mate.

  The Vamp blew her a kiss and began passing out the masks. The Dragons accepted them gratefully and whipped them on so fast it was funny.

  “Four minutes after the initial blast, it’s safe. You can’t die from the aroma anymore,” Francis explained. “That’s when you shift and strike.”

  “Will the um…aroma be gone then?” Elaina inquired.

  “Oh hell no,” Pat said with a snort of laughter. “It’s gonna smell like butt-hell for about a week round here.”

  “I’m sorry, did you just say butt-hell?” Elaina asked in a choked voice.

  “Yep, she sure did. Thankfully we don’t have taste buds so we can’t smell it. You people aren’t as lucky,” Francis chimed in as we all smiled and nodded numbly. “A word to the wise. Stay behind us until we give the okay. I’d hate to kill someone on our team if an air biscuit misfires.”

  That left us all speechless—and kind of green. We were the deadliest species alive and we were terrified of butt-hell…

  “All right then,” Nicolai said with a slightly detectable wince. “Everyone will stay back until the Cows secure the outer perimeter. As soon as we get the go ahead, the units will divide and surround the main compound. That’s where we expect he will be.”

  “He’ll be there,” I said. “His War Room is in there.”

  “Unit A is in first,” Nicolai continued. “The rest will follow in ten minute intervals unless otherwise instructed. Unit E will stay outside with the Cows the entire time and take out anyone who runs from the buildings. Stay Dragon when you’re outside the structure and go back to human when you enter. Am I clear?”

  The army nodded their assent. Pat raised her hand and waited patiently to be called on.

  “Yes, Pat?” Nicolai asked.

  “You want a few of us inside with you? It can get a little dangerous with the anal acoustics indoors, but it can be done,” she said.

  “We did it by accident once at an AC/DC concert. Blew the back wall completely off the auditorium,” Harley, one of the tougher looking Cows, volunteered. “̓Course the irony there was it was during You Shook Me All Night Long.”

  “Oh my God,” I choked out through my laughter. “Are you serious?”

  “Nah,” Harley said with a chuckle and a shrug. “But it’s a great story. Right?”

  “That it is,” I agreed with a shudder.

  “It was actually during Back in Black, but Harley just loves irony so she likes to put a little spin on it for fun,” Pat added as she gave Harley an affectionate punch in the arm. “She’s a real jokester.”

  “Okay then,” Nicolai said as he scrubbed his hands over his face and tried to move the conversation back to business. “Ten minutes and we move. Make sure all of your chips are in the on position and you’re dialed to the correct frequency for your unit.”

  Junior’s brilliance knew no bounds whatsoever. He’d developed insertable chips that allowed us to communicate with each other. He was concerned because they were a prototype and hadn’t been tested, but Nicolai convinced him to let us be the guinea pigs for his experiment. The chips were placed under the skin of our inner wrists and stayed in our bodies even through a shift. All we had to do was talk into our palm area and we could communicate.

  Tapping the device put us on different channels. It was fallible, but it was the best we could do. Because the Resistance had been together as long as they had, Nicolai was able to communicate to everyone through mind speak. However, the Dragons weren’t capable of answering back.

  Nicolai hadn’t been successful with touching my mind yet, but I assumed that would come with time. At the very least Nicolai could let our people know when to strike if the chips went down.

  Cade landed in the middle of the group along with several other Dragons and quickly shifted back to human. “It seems there are quite a few loyalists staying with the King. I’d estimate about fifty on the outside alone,” he reported. “Fully armed and ready for an attack.”

  “Weapons won’t work on us,” Seth said with a shake of his head. “What is he thinking?”

  “I think they’re anticipating an attack by all sorts of Weres—or possibly humans,” Lenny said. “God knows our reputation among the other species is nothing to be proud of.”

  “He’s right,” Nicolai said tersely. “Did you spot any Shifters other than Dragons?”

  “No,” Cade said. “We combed the area. If anyone else was here we would know.”

  “What about the press?” I asked.

  “Junior’s people sent out some false information and every news outlet that was here is now on their way to Idaho,” Maria said with a grin.

  “Why Idaho?” I asked, perplexed.

  “Why not?” she shot back.

  “You know, fifty flying freaks shouldn’t be any problem at all,” Pat said. “I’ve personally taken down thirty all by my lonesome. With all eight of us blowing stinkies, they don’t stand a chance.”

  It was all I could do not to laugh. We were talking life and death here, but the Cows’ pride in their bizarre weapon lightened the somber mood and I embraced it as a good omen.

  “If there are fifty on the outside there’s a very good chance there are fewer than that on the inside,” Elaina said as she studied the maps of the interior. “I’d have a difficult time believing he’d be able to keep a large group now that he’s in total financial ruin. If the map is accurate, we only have the foyer and one large hallway to get through if he’s in the
War Room.”

  “If he’s not there now, he will be once the explosions go off,” I said with confidence. “Creatures of habit like my father rarely try something new.”

  “We just have to hope there’s less than fifty inside,” Nicolai said. “Get to your Units. Lenny are you ready to fly over and cover the area?”

  “I’ll do my best. I’m going for the five mile surrounding radius. If we can glamour that much ground well enough we don’t have to worry about the US Military coming in,” Lenny said.

  “Am I capable of helping you?” I asked. “Do I possess that magic?”