Midnight_Nightmare Dragons

by Terry Bolryder

  So she quietly finished her dinner, steeling herself to deal with him afterward.

  When he was done, he leaned back in his chair, putting his napkin aside. He looked down his nose at her, and she noticed, like everything else, his nose was perfect. She could have put a ruler along it, unlike hers, which was broken when she was younger and had taken a hard spill while chasing a neighborhood bully.

  But she liked her nose. It added character to her face and fit her now as a part of her.

  She didn’t need to be perfect. Not for him.

  “So what were you doing at those scenes if you weren’t executing or watching them?”

  “I’m not sure what you mean. I’m allowed to be anywhere in this city at any time, same as everyone else.” His mouth quirked slightly in amusement, and Lillian felt her eye twitch.

  “It’s too much to be a coincidence, and you know it,” she said angrily. “And now you’re just being annoying.”

  “Takes one to know one,” he said. “You’re the one who broke into my building and won’t seem to accept any explanation for why I do what I do.”

  “You haven’t given one.”

  “Yes, I have. I said it’s up to coincidence. I go as I please, and I just happened to be at these scenes when things happened.”

  Her eye twitched again, and she scowled at him. “Look, I appreciate you having me here. I appreciate dinner. But why ask me here if you weren’t planning to tell me anything useful?”

  He leaned back farther, crossing his arms, which bulged with powerful muscle. “You said you weren’t going to stop if I didn’t, remember?”

  She bit her lower lip. “That’s true. And I’m still not going to stop until I have answers.”

  Nathan sighed. “Your answer is that there is no deeper meaning to these photos. I’m a philanthropist. Why would I be stalking at night and causing problems?”

  She shook her head and faced him boldly. “You tell me.”

  “I just did. I’m a philanthropist. I don’t have time for the kind of things you’re suggesting.”

  She frowned, glaring at him. “Oh no. You can fool anyone else, but not me. The whole world thinks you are some kind of innocent angel sent to help us, but none of them are watching you like I am. They’re missing something vital. Something wrong about you.” She leaned forward, intertwining her fingers and mimicking his earlier position. “And I’m going to find out what that is.”

  He looked taken aback, finally, and stood abruptly. “I think we’re done here for the night.”

  She eyed him in shock. “What? But you haven’t told me anything.”

  “I’ve told you there’s nothing to tell, but you wouldn’t believe me. And I don’t see how we can have a pleasant night together if we can’t agree to let our disagreements go.”

  She tightened her hands into fists. “It’s not about disagreements. It’s about finding out the truth.”

  He walked over to her side of the table and set a hand down in front of her, trapping her against the chair. “You really want to know the truth about me?”

  She nodded.

  “You aren’t going to find it over one dinner.” He straightened and walked over to a window that looked out at the drive. “I had hoped to have you stay for dessert, but it seems nothing I can say will convince you I’m not some kind of monster.”

  “I never said you were a monster.”

  He sent her a wolfish grin that didn’t reach his eyes. “Not in so many words.”

  “But I do refuse to accept that these are coincidences,” she said. “And that you are the mild-mannered philanthropist everyone thinks you are.”

  He clasped his hands behind his back and nodded, still looking out through the window. “And nothing I can say will convince you.”

  “Right.”

  He turned to face her. “Then what if I prove it to you? If you aren’t going to be satisfied with an interview or the truth as I give it to you, then what if I allowed you to shadow me? I’m in need of a personal assistant. I assume you would fit the bill.”

  “I’m a writer. I—”

  That wolfish grin was back again, and she found it distinctly unsettling on such a handsome face. “I’m sure your boss could allow a short sabbatical, for the sake of the scoop of a lifetime.”

  She stood abruptly. “You’ll give me the scoop?”

  “I’ll let you see that there isn’t one,” he said. “Though, you are welcome to expose whatever you can find.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “But why are you doing this? You don’t seem to enjoy my company, and—”

  He crossed the room more quickly than she’d thought possible, and she found herself backed up to the table once again. He had the feeling of some kind of ancient predator, and she felt her breath catch as he came close.

  He put a hand up as if to touch her hair, and she flinched back, making him drop it.

  “Whatever gave you that impression? I would enjoy spending time with you.” His eyes raked over her. “Getting you worked up and frustrated is interesting, too.” He took a step back. “And of course, engaging in this little battle of wills we have going is not at all boring.”

  “Are a lot of things boring for you?” She glared at him. “Because you have everything of value?”

  He froze at that, his cocky smile fading slightly. “No.”

  “Then why do this? Why play with me? You don’t want to tell me the truth, and you could hire any personal assistant.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “And you better not be up to anything funny.”

  He raised a brow in amusement. “And you wouldn’t be up for that?”

  “No,” she said sharply. “I stay professional with my stories.”

  He stepped closer, a subtly spicy, sexy scent coming with him. “And you aren’t attracted to me?”

  “Irrelevant.” The whole world was attracted to him. He didn’t need her to be.

  He reached up and did touch her hair this time, twirling a strand lightly. She held still for him, feeling a bit like a rabbit caught by a wolf.

  But then he released her and stepped back. “I won’t force you. But if you ask me, I won’t say no either.”

  “I won’t ask you.”

  “Stubborn, I like that. So what do you say to my deal?”

  “I work with you and get full access?”

  “You can follow me all day. In the evenings, too, if you like. All I ask is to be alone after midnight.”

  “Ah. For your women.”

  He was quiet, but it was clear he was firm on this point.

  “Fine, whatever,” she said. “So what, I just show up to work with you?”

  “For one week. You’ll have full access to my files, my philanthropy, my office, my building. You can dig for dirt all you want. And at the end of the week, if you can find nothing to back up your story, you drop it. Deal?”

  She slowly nodded, just now realizing what a wealth of information would be at her fingertips. Nathan had to be crazy to suggest something like this, and she still didn’t understand his motives.

  But she could feel the start of something exciting just at the edge of her fingertips and couldn’t afford to let go.

  “Fine, I accept. Mr. Lancaster—”

  “Call me Nathan.”

  “Nathan, I… I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  He walked her to the door and opened it for her. A part of her wanted to stay here, reticent to leave. The other part still felt in danger and was relieved to feel the cool night air against her cheeks.

  She turned back to face him. “Thank you for dinner, Mr. Lancaster. You aren’t anything like I expected.”

  He gave her a cool smile. “Life rarely is.”

  Then he closed the door behind her, and she walked down the stairs with a shake of her head, wondering what awaited her in the morning when she saw him next.

  * * *

  After the little journalist left, Nathan sank against the door in relief.

  She had a way
of calling to him. To the monster inside him, making him feel as if he were bursting out of his skin. He’d never felt anything like it, and he wanted more.

  He let out a low sigh and walked up the stairs toward his bedroom, wondering how his brothers were dealing with the new changes in their lives.

  No more expectations. No more reasons to be good or save humans or fight the darkness.

  Yet Lillian was a puzzle to him. She made him want to fight for something good, protect her even though he knew it would have no benefit for him.

  It confused him.

  He’d been keeping track of everything so long that it was odd now to do things without a ledger.

  He supposed when he saved Lillian’s life, he would mark that down, too.

  He walked through his bedroom door and crossed over to his bathroom, ready to take out his contacts.

  He grinned as he held back the skin of his eyes and slowly pulled out the lenses, revealing the crimson shade of his irises underneath.

  What would Lillian think if she saw them in their true state?

  Perhaps then he really would seem a monster.

  Still, her assessment was eerily accurate. He was nothing like the world thought he was. He was always hiding his true self from everyone, including his own brothers.

  The world could never know his true nature, and Lillian was unlikely to uncover anything now that he wouldn’t be going on his nightly runs to help humanity in its fight against the darkness.

  And yet…

  He rubbed his eyes as he crossed over to his window and then opened it, letting in cool night air.

  The night was still young.

  He took a deep breath, scenting and hearing things from miles away, always one of his oddest powers. He heard a faint scream in the night, only an echo on the wind.

  He took a deep breath, thinking about the next morning when he would get to work with Lillian, get to tease her and see that little blush work its way up to her pretty cheekbones.

  He’d never been so fascinated by a human, and now he got to study one up close. He had no reason not to now that his other plans had been derailed.

  Besides, he’d already decided to save her, and it would be much easier to make sure no harm came to her if he kept her within reach.

  At night, he would still manage to watch her, but it would be without her being aware. He would have to be satisfied by that.

  He sat on the windowsill and raised one knee, resting an arm on it. What was it about Lillian Goss that was getting to him? She was, for all intents and purposes, a normal human, yet she was getting under his skin in a way no one ever had.

  He supposed Dare and Theo would laugh if he told them, and a part of him wished he was close to his brothers so he had someone to talk to, relate to. But after so many years apart, focused on their separate missions, it was too late for that.

  The only person he could trust was himself.

  A gust of unusually warm air brought the scents of the city to him, and he could almost taste a sense of impending catastrophe.

  His eyes went to his cloak hanging on a hook by his bedside.

  Perhaps he would hunt tonight, once the clock struck midnight.

  Chapter 4

  The next day, as she crossed the street to Lancaster tower, Lillian couldn’t believe she was actually going to work for the Nathan Lancaster.

  After how last night had gone, getting a job offer was the last thing she’d expected, even if it was a temporary one.

  And now it would be her job to root through the crap and the masks and see just what it was Nathan was hiding.

  She was wearing a suit today for once, needing to actually look professional, and she felt extra stiff in the tight skirt and heels with her fitted jacket. She practically had to hobble her way onto the curb as she looked up at the giant, glittering building in front of her.

  It was quiet, and she could see there wasn’t much going on in the lobby behind the glass doors ten feet in front of her.

  But just as she was about to reach them, she felt something grab her arm, jerking her to the side and out of view of the lobby.

  She turned to see a man in a faded brown coat with a ruddy face and watery eyes, along with alcohol-laced breath, holding tightly to her jacket.

  “Excuse me?” She tried to jerk her arm away. “If you need something, let me go and I’ll give it to you.”

  Instead, the man simply grabbed her other jacket sleeve and pulled her down closer to face him. She recoiled from the booze on his breath and tried to get him to release her, but it was no use.

  He was locked on. “It’s the end of our world! You work for the nightmare!” His eyes were panicked, his body rigid, and she wondered who she could call to come help him. Clearly, he was seeing things or off his rocker or—

  “You need to let me go.” She didn’t want to kick him in the balls since he already seemed to have enough wrong with him, but she really didn’t think it was safe to just let him keep on grabbing her like this. “Or I’m going to scream.”

  “You must escape! You can’t work for a creature of the dark!”

  She continued to try and jerk out of his grip but looked up at where he was staring with that half-insane glare.

  “Creature? You mean Nathan Lancaster?”

  He nodded avidly. “The second coming! The nightmare walks among us!”

  Was this guy some sort of anti-capitalist or something? She’d never met anyone who thought of Nathan as anything other than an angel.

  She began to get impatient and pulled a little harder, trying to extricate herself without hurting the man. She didn’t think he meant any harm, and he was only trying to warn her. She supposed it was her soft heart that kept her from simply kicking him as hard as she could.

  “Okay. Okay. The nightmare. I get it. Let me go now.”

  But he had a surprisingly firm grip for an old guy who appeared to have a blood level of about one hundred percent booze.

  He jerked her closer. “I can’t let you go. Babylon’s whore. Jezebel. Feeding that monster—”

  “And that’s enough.” A calm male voice came from behind them as she felt herself firmly plucked from the crazy dude’s grip and set behind a large, male presence.

  She looked up, recognizing the finely cut Italian suit, the dark hair, the cocky shoulders.

  Nathan didn’t bother to look back at her. Instead, he faced the man. “You again. I told you not to come back here. I got you help. You need to take it.”

  The man let out a hiss in response, shrinking back as if Nathan had burned him. “I don’t need anything from you, creature!”

  And with that, the man turned on his heel and ran, scuttling down the sidewalk, throwing them a panicked look before disappearing down a side street.

  Lillian rubbed her arms and let out a sigh, noting her body was still shaking.

  I guess I was more scared than I thought.

  Nathan whirled on her. “Why didn’t you attack him sooner?”

  “I—”

  He caught her by the arm and pulled her into the building, looking around him to make sure no one was following. He passed the main elevators and walked to one at the end with a gold door.

  He pulled a card from his pocket and scanned it, and the door opened. “My private elevator.”

  She walked in, still feeling oddly chastised, and leaned against the wall. “I was fine.”

  “You didn’t look fine.”

  She eyed him curiously. “You say you’ve seen that guy before?”

  He nodded, a look of regret in his deep-blue, almost black, eyes. “I have. He needs help. I hope he gets it.” He looked down at her. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded.

  “I still don’t understand why you just let him hold on to you.”

  “He has a firmer grip than I would have thought,” she said, brushing at her jacket sleeves, trying to feel normal again.

  “For what it’s worth, I don’t think he would have hurt you, but
you can’t just let men grab you like that.”

  She glared up at him indignantly. “Look. We aren’t all six-four and built like a Greek statue. I didn’t ask to get grabbed.”

  “Next time, do something sooner. You were listening to him.”

  “Well, that’s what I do. Even crazy people. I’m a journalist.”

  “As long as you’re working for me, don’t,” he said firmly.

  She folded her arms. “I’ll do what I want when I’m not at work.”

  He leaned down, glaring. “Even put yourself in danger?”

  “If that’s my choice.”

  With a sigh, he leaned back against the wall. “You’re going to be trouble, aren’t you?”

  “I guess. What did you want me to do? Kick him in the nuts for trying to talk to me?”

  His eyes narrowed to glittering slits. “For touching you.”

  A shiver moved over her skin. For some reason, it seemed he cared who touched her. He shouldn’t.

  “Anyway, thanks for finding me. How did you know I was down there?”

  He sighed. “You aren’t the only one stalking me. When you didn’t show up early, I wondered if crazy Bill was down there bothering people again. He’s decided I’m a danger to society, and he has to tell everyone. But he hasn’t grabbed anyone like that.”

  She snorted. “Maybe he has a point.”

  “No.”

  “You do show up at practically every disaster.”

  He gave her a look of frustration. “Does it ever occur to you that I could be helping?”

  She blinked innocently. “No.”

  He threw his hands in the air, shaking his head. “Of course not.” The elevator dinged as it reached their floor, and he put out a hand to keep the doors open as she walked out.

  This was a different floor than she’d been on before, and there was a beautiful mahogany desk sitting in a waiting room in front of a matrix of offices ensconced behind glass doors.

  “Wow,” she said. “This is where you work?”

  “Right,” he said, pointing at the desk. “And that’s where you work. You’ll have access to all my files on that computer.”

  She frowned. “But what about your office?”

  “I don’t do office work or filing or computer stuff.”