by Honor James
Seeing a small cafe coming into view, she looked at the massive and shiny motorcycle, her mind automatically filling in what it was, and smiled. It was truly a thing of beauty. Lifting her head, however, she inhaled the scents and sighed. “Oh that smells so good.” Her stomach growled even louder.
He is inside. You will not be able to miss the Dragon that I’m sending you to, her father told her.
“A Dragon?” Cin stopped immediately. “Father, their senses of smell are so acute that he will know I’m not human.”
I know, daughter, but you have to tell him that he needs to trust in the wisdom of the Gods, and if he can’t, tell him to ask Gaia. Gaia will not tell him who and what you are, but she will vouch for you.
“I would hope so. She is after all my mother.” Cinnamon was a being that walked the line of many worlds. She was the daughter of the first deity, of the primordial being that brought all into light as well as the daughter of Gaia, his most beloved Goddess. “All right, I will tell him. I certainly hope that he doesn’t bite first and then ask questions later,” she mumbled and opened the door to the cafe, after trying to figure it out first of course.
She might be ancient, having watched civilizations rise and fall time and again, but she had never really been on Earth before, so something as simple as walking through a door was beyond her.
Once she was inside of the cafe, she inhaled and sighed. “It smells so wonderfully delicious.” She didn’t realize the sight that she made. She stood there, her white-as-snow hair falling in waves past her ass, her icy pale-blue eyes huge in her pale face and the white and pure gown she wore with the intricate gold thread at the hems of the gown.
Turning, she looked to the back of the cafe and took a seat opposite the very, holy mother, very large Dragon sitting in the back corner. “Hello. I’m Cinnamon. Would you mind sharing a meal with me and then perhaps having a talk with me about an issue that will come up for you and your Council, an issue that must be addressed as quickly as possible?” Blunt and to the point. She was rather proud of herself for that.
Nearly choking on his coffee, Talon stared at the female that had parked herself across from him at the booth he was in. Blinking, he wiped his mouth and frowned. “I think you may have the wrong person, Cinnamon.” Interesting name to go with an interesting female. She wasn’t human, not fully anyway. There was an aura of power around her that told him that. Plus the fact she smelled nothing human. There was a hint of her namesake with something clear and sunny. Very interesting female.
Reaching out, she took one of the long things from his plate and frowned, looking at it from every angle, and then sniffed it. “Oh this smells lovely.” She then licked it and took a moment. “Salt. Interesting.” She then stuffed it into her mouth and began to chew. Her face went into instant pleasure, the features softening and a low murmur of delight coming from her. “Oh this is so very good. What is this called? I would very much like this please,” she said and licked her fingers and then lips.
Once more she turned her eyes to Talon. “You are who I want. You are Talon, King of the Dragons. You lead the Council of Gaia. You have noticed that there have been far too many murders that you can’t figure out lately, murders that not even your Dragon nose can detect a scent on.” She looked at one of the things that she had eaten, and it had red goop on it and she took it, repeating her earlier process and sighing in pure delight. “These are truly marvelous. What are they? And I know what you are fighting. You need me in this fight.”
Lifting a slow brow as she started devouring his meal, Talon signaled for another plate. “Those are sausages, and that is bacon.” He pointed at his plate, his eyes never leaving her face. Leaning in slightly, he tipped his head. “I’m going to guess you’re not from around here, are you?” he asked softly. He was betting not anywhere around anyplace he’d ever been. No way could someone be that innocent and yet self-assured. “We don’t speak of such things as the Council, who I am, or anything else like that around the humans.” His voice was a low murmur, but he knew she could hear him easily. “They tend to panic and get all…weird when you start spouting off about Dragons and such,” he pointed out to her when she looked ready to question him. “It’s safer for us all, humans and others alike, to speak of these things only in private.”
“Ah, I understand that,” she said and rolled a fluffy flat and round thing up into a stick. “What is this called?” she asked and took a bite, sighing happily. “I never knew that food could be so very good.” She had missed out on so much. It was truly delightful, and now she understood where her friends that came to the void to wait for such a time that their souls could be recycled came from. “Food. It truly can make a person do such strange things, can’t it?” she asked and took another bite with a smile. “And you need me. You don’t know it yet, but you really do,” she amended happily.
“It’s a pancake,” he stated, watching her. Thankfully another plate was brought to the table, and he set it between them for her to pick at. “Why would I need you, Cinnamon?” he asked suspiciously. Talon did not believe in coincidences, never had, never would. Everything happened for a reason. He just didn’t know what that reason might be that this woman was in his life, especially in the midst of his first vacation in…forever.
Cinnamon smiled and winked at him. “Because it’s time. It’s time that you had me in your life,” she told him. “And because I’m a heck of a lot more powerful than I look.” She shrugged. “Well, when the time comes I will be at least,” she added softly. “And because I know the monsters that hide in the shadows, the ones that you can’t get a read on. The ones that you can’t figure out. I know what they are and how they came about. I know a heck of a lot.”
“Do you really?” he asked curiously and fought the urge to smile. Odd, he’d never had that reaction with a stranger that knew too much about him before. Not that he usually allowed people who knew too much about him or his people to live long enough to be amused, but still, the fact was…she amused him. “Eat up and we’ll talk later,” he advised softly. Talon had a really bad feeling his vacation had just taken a header. The others were going to kill him.
Chapter Four
Cinnamon sat back, her stomach completely full and now feeling another odd sensation, sleepy. “Thank you for feeding me. I really don’t mind paying for it.” She held out the gold doubloon that she had pulled out earlier to pay for their meal. “I was told that gold was the current currency that is used. I assure you these are very real.” They had been given to her by her father, and he would never send her with anything that wasn’t real. “Or should I use jewels?” she asked instead and cocked her head to the side, watching Talon, King of the Dragons, as she spoke.
“Gold is a currency if you’re buying countries or contraband,” he murmured, pulling out two twenties and dropping them on the table. Getting up, he pulled his leather jacket on once more and looked to her. “Coming?” he asked. She looked about ready to have a nap, which wouldn’t do until he got some answers out of her, and unfortunately, that meant returning to base. They were going to kill him.
She moved up and out of the booth and slipped her hand into his. Giving him a grin, she looked up at him adoringly. “I have a lot to learn, don’t I?” she asked. “Will you help me? I’m going to help you, so you should help me in turn, right?” she asked as she skipped along at his side.
He was seriously considering getting his head checked. The woman was bending his mind nine ways of Sunday, and he really didn’t know what reality was anymore. Guiding her outside, he led her to his bike and then stopped to look at her. “Where are you from, Cinnamon?” he asked softly. He needed something from her and since she was damned good at avoiding answering anything she didn’t want to, he was really looking for clues, hints, tells, any-fucking-thing.
“Same place as you, from my mother,” she told him evasively with a smile on her pretty bowed lips. “I’ve seen the entire world, every square inch of it.” She looked at the bik
e and ran her hand over it. “I’ve so wanted to ride one of these. They look like so much fun. Is it freeing? The sense of wind in your hair, nothing around you but the possibilities of what could be?”
“It has its moments,” he drawled quietly as he watched her. “Where did you come from, Cinnamon? And if you tell me your mother again I will leave you here,” he said flat out. “I’m on vacation, and this”—he waved a hand at her—“is creating a serious crimp to my plans.” Gods damn it, he had the same urge to kiss her as he did when he first spotted her, but he pushed it down viciously and listened to the Dragon, who was highly suspicious of her when it didn’t feel the need to jump her bones and give her the orgasm of her existence.
She became very serious and shook her head. “I can’t tell you that. Not yet,” she admitted with a heavy heart. “I hate to tell you that, I really and truly do, but that’s the truth. I can’t tell you yet where I come from, but one day I will be able to. One day when I reveal who and what I truly am I will tell you, but only you, everything,” she whispered and stepped back. “You need me, Talon. You might not know it, but you do. You need me because the Vampires, Minions, and worse that Chaos has created are soon going to begin attacking closer to you. They are going to go for those of the Paranormal Protection Unit, and I’m the only one that can help you save your men. Without me, without my help, there won’t be any left and, without them, no more bond-matings. The lines will die out and Chaos will rule.” She flushed and felt ill. “I’ve told you too much now.” She turned to look around and stepped another step from him as the skies began to darken in a storm. “You should leave now,” she whispered and took another step toward the woods. She would draw them from the humans in the diner. “Ride like the wind, Talon, King of the Dragons,” she said and then began to run for the forest, praying she would have the time to draw the Minions of Chaos to her instead of the humans that they would so readily feast upon.
Staring after her dumbly, he frowned a moment later and growled, a scent hitting his nose. Danger was close and permeating the air. Tipping his head slightly, he let the Dragon’s eyes show him more than his human ones ever could. Odd heat signatures, low range, lower than a human’s were closing in on the female. Not good at all. “Fuck me,” he grumbled and jogged after her. No way was he leaving her alone with all those bodies heading right for her.
Cin smiled as they began to circle her. Holding out her hands as if she were completely defenseless, she said, “You really don’t want to do this. You need to go back to your Coven Masters and assure them that the plan that they have been tasked to do is detrimental to their health.” She eyed each of them. “There is goodness in all of you. You all have a choice to serve the light, to come out of the darkness, but it has to be your choice. Will you choose to fight with me?” She gave them the chance, would always give them the chance.
When they attacked en masse, she sighed. “Really, boys? Ganging up on a girl?” she teased and twisted, turned from their grasp, and as she came back around, pulled the hidden sword of light from its perch on her back. “Do you want to try again?” she asked softly. She wasn’t in Angel mode, just simply holding the sword that would be as deadly to them as the sun was. “Well, come along, gentlemen, time is wasting here, you know.”
She felt him then, felt Talon coming through the trees, and held out a hand. “No closer,” she demanded of the Dragon King. Turning back to the circling six, she sighed. “I really do hate to kill. It goes against every fiber of my being. I was created for life, but you aren’t giving me choices here, boys.” When they attacked again, she didn’t hesitate. No questions, no remorse. She lifted her sword and slid from one to another, slitting one throat, another belly, any knick of her sword causing them to bleed.
Now on the other side of them with Talon on one side and her on the other, she said, “I warned you all.” She watched then as they began to scream, well, the ones who hadn’t received the mortal wounds, only the nicks from her sword. “May the cosmos accept you into the nothingness once more. Come back as peaceful beings. Come back and know love,” she whispered quietly and dipped to the ground to clean her sword before putting it back into its hidden sheath.
Staring at what she’d done and then at her, he closed his eyes wearily and turned to leave. He really didn’t need this shit. Walking back to his bike, he frowned when he felt her following, sort of. Did he really want her around? She was a trouble magnet obviously, and he really didn’t need this kind of crap on top of everything else he was dealing with. Maybe he could just dump her on someone at the base…Now there was a plan.
Cinnamon hated that he had to see what she did. She hated taking lives, more than anything else, but it had to be done. “Those are what you are facing,” she commented softly off to the side of him. “They are only a small fraction of what is coming for the bond-mates of Gaia’s children,” she whispered. “If there were anyone else I could tell, I would.” She looked up at him, hurt in her eyes. “Because it’s very clear you would rather put me off on another. However, I must give this information to you. I’m very sorry, Talon, but for a short time your life will be entwined with mine.”
“I don’t like being lied to even through omission. That is what I’m opposed to, Cinnamon,” he told her, stopping and moving to stand nose to…well, technically air, but…whatever. “My life and the lives of everyone that is mine, those I consider mine or who are friends and associates, are at risk, and all I’m getting is the runaround. If I wanted that, I’d call up some government agency and be put through the spinner by them.” He stared down at her. “Trust is a two-way street, darling. You want my trust, but I can’t give it if nothing is extended in return.”
“And I can’t give you the full truth yet. I can give you a bit more, but I can’t tell you what I am, not yet,” she whispered with tears falling like diamonds from her eyes. “I want to, you have no idea how much I want to, but I can’t. Once it’s voiced what I am and that I’m here”—she shook her head—“the monsters will come out even more on the hunt. Once it’s known that I’m on Earth.” She shook her head. “When we are able to talk without another overhearing, I will tell you all that I know about the things coming for the bond-mates. But if it’s too much for you, then I will simply have to do what I can to save them, alone.”
Licking his lips, Talon stared at her for a moment. “Are you saying you’re bound by rules as to what you can and can’t say to me?” he whispered. At her nod he cursed internally and rubbed his eyes. “Well that’s entirely different, Cinnamon,” he said gently. He knew all about rules that held your tongue. With a seer for a mother he knew just how dangerous saying the wrong thing could be. “All right, I will leave who you are and where you came from alone for now as long as you swear to Gaia you will tell me eventually and all of it. Deal?”
“I swear by Gaia that I will tell you absolutely everything when the time comes.” She felt the zing of her promise. She felt the full weight of it on her shoulders but could tell he couldn’t feel the shift in energies around them that tied her to her word, a vow made in her mother’s name. “For now, I truly think we should head to your base. Your men need you and the information that I have.”
“They are more likely to kill me than greet me with happiness,” he told her honestly. “I’m on vacation, the first in too long. I actually only managed”—he checked his watch—“a whole five hours.” Had to be a record of some sort.
“Sorry,” she said and stepped back. “Maybe you should just go ahead and go on your vacation? I don’t want to get in your way,” she muttered honestly. “You should go and enjoy your time,” she said softly. “Because when your vacation is over it’s going to be the start of one heck of a fight, one that will determine if Chaos rules or Gaia continues.”
He really did want to go, but if he did that he’d feel guilty. “No,” he murmured, “we’ll head to the base. It will be better that way. I couldn’t relax knowing even that”—he waved a hand to the woods—“little b
it without at least warning them. I can always head out again after everyone has been alerted.”
She nodded. “Yes, it is very good to get the word out to all of them,” she stated. “They all need to know to protect their bond-mates, and we will also need to try to find the bond-mates that belong to the rest of Gaia’s children,” she whispered. “Because he has somehow forged an alliance with another for finding the bond-mates, and we need to be able to get there before he does.”
That didn’t sound good at all. “Did you want to ride with me back or did you have your own transportation?” He couldn’t recall if she’d had her own ride or not. She’d have to…wouldn’t she?
“I would like that.” She smiled and shrugged. “I don’t have transportation that I can use.” She had her wings, but if she brought them out, then all hell would break loose, and she would rather that not happen. “Are you sure that you are all right with this, Talon?”
Looking at her, he finally nodded. “I’m not thrilled with what we have to tell the others.” More her than him since he knew next to nothing on the subject. Moving to the bike, he handed her the helmet and waited to see if she knew what to do with it.
Cinnamon looked at the helmet that he passed her and then up to him. “What is this? Am I supposed to put something in it?” When she had watched humans, they had never had anything like this with them. “Is this a weapon of yours that I need to keep safe?”
Staring at her for a moment, he burst out laughing as he took it from her and pulled it over her hair. “It’s to keep your head safe in the highly unlikely event that I crash us.” With that in mind, he shrugged out of his leather jacket and held it for her to slip into.