Of Cinder and Bone

by Kyoko M

  He blinked slowly once and answered with the mildest voice. “Yes, in passing.”

  “Well, the Super Soldier serum basically kicked all of his metabolic processes into overdrive and put him at absolute peak physical condition, meaning he could utilize everything in his body at maximum capacity at all times. The downside was that it was basically impossible for him to get drunk because his system processed the alcohol too fast for his body to become inebriated. Pete’s growth rate is so extreme that it’s most likely why you can’t inoculate her any longer. She built up an immunity to it and so her body just eliminates the chemicals now.”

  “Odd comparison, but I get the idea. What are we to do about it, then? We have to be able to study her up close to find a cure. If she keeps attacking everyone and we can’t put her under, how do you propose we get the data?”

  “Easy,” Jack said as the elevator dinged and the doors parted. “I’ll do it.”

  They walked into the bare concrete hallway. “You are aware she decapitated a man earlier this morning?”

  “Yes.”

  “If you go in there, it’s quite likely she’ll attack you.”

  “She won’t,” Jack said as they reached the end of the hallway. “Dragons imprint on the first thing they come in contact with. There were even rare occasions in history where they’ve been domesticated. She remembered me by sight and scent. She won’t try to bite my head off.”

  “And you’re willing to bet your life on it?”

  Jack pressed his left hand against the glass of Pete’s cell. Once more, the dragon uncurled from her position on the floor and serene humming vibrated through the air.

  “Yeah,” he said softly, smiling a little. “I am.”

  Yagami glanced between the dragon and her creator, then sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He gestured to Watsuki and said something in Japanese. Watsuki disappeared around the corner and then returned, handing Yagami something small and cylindrical.

  “Is that a grenade?” Jack demanded.

  “Relax,” Yagami said, stepping as far back as the hallway would allow. “It’s a flash grenade. It’s insurance in case she kills you and tries to charge the glass again. She dislikes loud noises.”

  “Your faith in me is very reassuring.”

  “As always.” Yagami nodded to Watsuki, who motioned for Jack to go up to the door. He swiped a key card yet again and punched in a number. An alarm blared and beeped as the door slid aside. Jack took a deep breath and stepped into the cage. The door shut behind him and bolted itself shut with an ominous clank.

  At full height, Pete stood over six feet and seven inches tall. Her shoulders and back were level with Jack’s shoulders and her head peaked above his by several inches. Her wings had folded neatly into the groove of her spine, much like a swan’s, and her three-inch black claws scraped and clicked on the concrete as she crept closer to him, her forked tongue flicking the air to taste his scent.

  “Hey, girl,” Jack said, standing stock still as the large reptile drew near. “Rough day, huh?”

  She lowered her snout to his shirt and breathed him in, blasting hot air across his neck and jaw, methodically smelling his torso, arms, and legs one at a time. She left his face for last and Jack winced as her sharp two inch-long fangs grazed his cheek. After a paralyzing long moment, the dragon settled down on her haunches in front of him, blinking slowly and humming in steady intervals, almost as if she was purring.

  Jack licked his dry lips and held out his hand, palm flat, the way he would if he were approaching a large, stray dog. The dragon sniffed it. Then she sneezed.

  Jack winced and wiped the thin film of mucus off on his coat sleeve. “Alright, well, I had that one coming. Are we even?”

  The dragon made a chittering sound. “Good to know.”

  He glanced sideways at Yagami, who looked as if he’d swallowed a mouthful of broken glass and then suffered a lime juice enema shortly thereafter. “What do you need from her?”

  “Unbelievable,” Yagami muttered before speaking louder. “For now, we need a blood sample.”

  Jack stared. “You want me to stab an unstable six-foot-tall, ten-foot-long dragon with a huge needle in an enclosed space?”

  Yagami offered him another razor-thin smile. “You asked.”

  “I hate you and everything you stand for.”

  “Understood.”

  Jack palmed his face. “When’s the last time you fed her?”

  Yagami checked his watch. “About four hours ago. Why?”

  “She might not notice the pain if I draw blood while she’s eating. Ever had a cat? They get distracted when they eat.”

  Yagami rubbed his chin. “That might work, but if you’re wrong, then her mouth will be free to bite your head off.”

  “Thanks for reminding me,” Jack said mildly. “But I’ll take my chances. She can just as easily eviscerate me with her claws anyhow. I need to buy myself some good will here.”

  “Very well.” Yagami gestured to Watsuki and he left, returning a few minutes later with a large bucket of whole sturgeons and a syringe.

  “Are you sure about this?” Yagami asked.

  Jack nodded. “Hell, no.”

  Yagami punched in the code and swiped the key card. The door clicked and slid open. Pete eyed the large Japanese man stepping into the cage, and her purring switched immediately to a rumbling hiss emanating from her throat and nostrils. Jack laid a hand on her neck and the hissing died down. Watsuki set the bucket in front of the dragon and slipped Jack the syringe before beating a hasty retreat.

  After the door closed, Pete stood and dipped her head down, smelling the fish. Jack lifted her head, taking a deep breath. “Alright, here’s our first trust exercise, baby girl. Please don’t eat me.”

  He slipped the thick nylon band off her snout and tucked it in his pocket. Pete didn’t hesitate. She attacked the bucket of fish and devoured each one. Jack swallowed as a couple pieces of meat splattered to the ground, slashed by her fangs. With her mouth now open, he could smell the rotten remains of things she’d eaten before, and his stomach turned as he realized that technically included human flesh.

  He stepped closer to her side and ran his hand down the thick green scales over her chest. He felt the dry cracks and spaces as she continued eating until he felt the thinner pale yellow scales along her throat. Carefully, he uncapped the syringe and hummed a tune, hoping the deep timbre of his voice would further soothe her. He angled the needle along the same grain that her scales ran and stuck it through her skin. Pete’s wings flapped a bit and his heart skipped in its rhythm a couple times, but the dragon continued eating. Jack finally remembered to breathe and started to pull the plunger on the syringe one millimeter at a time.

  Pete nosed the bucket onto its side and stuck her head inside, her dark tongue lapping up the remaining liquid at the bottom. She shifted forward abruptly and Jack stumbled. His shoulder brushed up against her side. The syringe dug into her chest.

  Pete’s head immediately whipped around to face him and her upper lip slid back from her fangs. Jack jerked the syringe free and hid it behind his back, holding his other hand up in supplication. “Hey, girl. Easy. Take it easy.”

  The dragon crept closer and hissed louder, her claws scraping across the concrete and the chains rasping as she went. Jack eased towards the door and stepped over her tail. Cold sweat coated his spine as her jaws parted wider, exposing the darkened gums where the venom lay. “It’s me. I wouldn’t hurt you, Pete. You know I wouldn’t.”

  Behind him, the door unlocked.

  Pete charged.

  Her thick spiny tail slammed into Jack’s legs. He hit the floor on his back, managing to hang onto the syringe so that it didn’t break on impact. She was on him in seconds, her clawed feet pinning his shoulders to the floor. She roared, her tail lashing behind her, wings expanding and kicking up gusts of air around them. The winded
scientist stayed perfectly still, but he was alone in that action; on the other side of the glass, Watsuki had drawn his handgun and was stepping towards the door as it opened.

  “Don’t!” Jack wheezed. “Stay out!”

  “Rhett, don’t be a fool!” Yagami snapped. “She’ll kill you!”

  “She won’t,” he said. “Stay out, dammit!”

  He faced the dragon. “Look at me, you giant gecko. I’m trying to help you. I can’t do that unless you let me up.”

  Pete loosened a horrible growl and dug her claws in deeper, leaning more of her weight onto his upper body. Jack grunted and glared into her yellow eyes.

  “You’re not going to eat me. If you were, you’d have done it the second I walked in here.”

  He lifted his head until it was inches from her dripping jaws. “Get. Off. Me. Now.”

  Pete’s growling hiss slowly subsided and she snorted harshly before sitting back on her haunches. Jack wriggled out from beneath her and straightened his coat. “That’s more like it. I brought you into this world. Don’t think I won’t take you out of it.”

  He marched through the door and it shut behind him. Jack handed Yagami the blood sample.

  “I must admit,” Yagami said slowly. “I have never found you to be an impressive man until now.”

  “Well, that’s just dandy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go splash cold water on my face and vomit a few times.”

  ~*~

  “I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to repeat that.”

  “Keiko-sama is very busy woman, Fujioka-san. I am afraid this is the only available time that she has to meet with you.”

  Fujioka crossed her arms. “And you want us to just climb into her limousine while she heads God-knows where to meet God-knows who about God-knows what?”

  The young man bowed his head slightly. “I apologize for the inconvenience, but she is pressed for time. The only other option would be to reschedule.”

  Fujioka exhaled hard through her nose and glanced at Kamala. “Are you up for this?”

  “Jack’s out there alone and Okegawa could be on his way to him as we speak. We have to find out where they are, no matter what the cost.”

  “I was afraid you’d say that.” She turned back to Keiko’s assistant. “Fine. We’ll get in the damn car.”

  She stepped towards it, but he intercepted her, still wearing an empty apologetic smile. “I am afraid I must insist that you hand over your firearms.”

  Fujioka gritted her teeth. “You’re damaging my patience, boy. We have no guarantees that we won’t be harmed or that this isn’t an elaborate set up. The guns stay on. Period.”

  “Fujioka-san—”

  The tinted window of the limousine rolled down. The boy’s spine snapped straight and he whirled around to face it. “Moshi wake arimasen, Keiko-sama. They do not wish to surrender their weapons.”

  An elegant, lazy female voice floated out from the car. “It’s fine, Kenji. Let them in.”

  “Yes, Keiko-sama.” The assistant stepped off the curb and opened the door, gesturing for the two women to enter. Fujioka slipped in first and Kamala followed. Kenji shut the door and then walked to the passenger’s side and told the driver to get going.

  The interior of the limousine reminded Kamala of a classy nightclub. The walls were red velvet and the lighting was dim on their side, creating an air of intimacy. There was a mini-bar to her right with a few shallow sake cups and a large ceramic bottle. The leather didn’t squeak beneath her weight, and hugged her body as if she were wearing it. Silence wrapped them like a blanket, and she realized the limo had soundproof walls.

  Keiko Sugimoto sat across from them, her long legs crossed, the spotlight above her head shining on the folder in her lap. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail at the nape of her neck and she wore thin, rectangular glasses on the edge of her fine nose. Accents of red jumped out of her outfit: the blouse beneath her black suit jacket, the bottom of her stilettos, the lipstick on her thin lips, the glittering tips of her fingers, and the beaded earrings dangling from her lobes.

  She glanced at the two women across from her. “Yōkoso. What brings you to me?”

  Fujioka arched an eyebrow. “As if you don’t already know.”

  Keiko offered a familiar thin, joyless smile. “Humor me.”

  “Your brother has orchestrated a massive plot with an endgame we are unsure of. Aside from stealing Dr. Anjali and Dr. Jackson’s work, he has also endangered both their lives while in the company of several distasteful people. At present, we have reason to believe he had Dr. Jackson kidnapped and brought to him for reasons unknown. We need to find him as soon as possible.”

  Keiko sighed quietly and closed the folder in her lap, setting it aside. “Sadly, I am not surprised to hear my onii-chan has made even more poor decisions than attending the institute instead of staying in Tokyo to accept the role he was meant for. Especially since he is in the company of those who are beneath him.”

  “Like Okegawa?” Kamala asked.

  Keiko nodded and reached for a glass, filling it with filtered water. “I will never understand why Yagami humors that gutter rat. He can’t see that he’s a big fish in a small pond, and that it will get him eaten someday.”

  She sipped the water and examined the red mark her lipstick left on the polished glass. “What are you willing to trade in turn for any information I surrender?”

  “What is it that you want?”

  “Many things,” Keiko said. “That’s why I asked. You need to understand that the price will be rather steep. What stake do you have in this fight, Dr. Anjali?”

  “What does it matter?”

  Keiko’s dark eyes sharpened into a glare. “You are a scientist, are you not? What experiences do you have with the world you’ve just entered? You’re not like Fujioka. She’s lived here for years and she knows what you are involved in now. I’m surprised she even agreed to this meeting because I’m quite sure she’s already deduced the outcome. Why do you care what happens to Dr. Jackson? Aren’t you just his lab assistant?”

  “What do I owe him?” Kamala said. “I suppose that’s the big question. After all, if I wanted to, I could just return to Cambridge and salvage what’s left of our project. We’re friends, of course. I’ll never forget the way we met. He was in the lab when I came in to do the interview for the position. I walked through the door and he just stopped dead and dropped his coffee on the floor. He apologized about a thousand times for being clumsy and I helped him clean up the mess, but I never forgot the way he looked at me. I could tell he was worn down by the applicants before me and he couldn’t find someone who understood the obsessive, almost neurotic way he pursues information, and I was unlike anything he’d ever seen before. When we spoke, he listened, and I don’t mean in that patronizing way that men often listen when they want to have sex with you. He heard me; heard where I’d come from, heard where I wanted to go with my life, and in spite of any doubts he might have held, he believed it’s what I wanted and what I was meant to do. He hired me on the spot that day. He was the first man I ever met who respected me fully and didn’t have some sort of ulterior motive; no mountainous ego to climb, no reason to distrust my skills and my knowledge because of the color of my skin. I have worked with dozens of top minds in the medical and scientific world, and not one of them even holds a candle to Rhett Jackson. I believe in him because he believes in me. I trust him because he trusts me. I protect him because he protects me.”

  Kamala leaned forward, her smile acidic. “So tell me where your brother took him or I’ll spend the rest of my life finding a way to destroy you and everything you hold dear.”

  Keiko watched her silently for a long handful of seconds and then drained her glass. “You will surrender your personal notes and anecdotes about the processes by which you were able to procure viable samples of the dragon’s DNA. You will include specific sou
rces of information which allowed you to create dragon eggs. You will list every species whose DNA can be recreated with modern technology, and applied to your creation system. You will give my research company full access to any further pursuits of the dragon resurrection project. It will be non-negotiable indefinitely.”

  “Done.”

  “Very well. Sign here.” She handed Kamala a pre-written itemized document of everything she’d just said. Kamala signed without hesitation.

  Keiko withdrew her cell phone and made a brief call. After a minute or two, she hung up. “Dr. Jackson is being held at the research and development facility in Kanagawa, up in the mountains. It will take you over an hour to arrive, so you had better get going.”

  She flipped a piece of paper over and wrote an address on the back, handing it to Fujioka. “The facility is well-fortified and I am sure Okegawa is on his way with his men. It will not be easy to recover him.”