Clue and the Sea Dragon (The Clue Taylor Series Book 2)

by Wendie Nordgren

  Terrified, I scrambled away from him and into the room. The door didn’t lock. I pressed my head to the door wondering what I could do. Liam had made sure that I didn’t know where I was. He’d been careful not to let me see outside. I decided not to waste my time crying. I’d feel sorry for myself later.

  I looked around the bathroom. In the fancy black drawers under the black marble sink, there were bottles of perfume and cosmetics that Momma would have loved. There were brushes and hair combs. On a corner of the tub, bottles of shampoos and soaps had been arranged. A small pile of clothing was on top of two thick black towels on the counter. I put them on. Then, a few sobs escaped me. Liam had left me a black gown and robe like something Kiyohime would wear and no panties. I remembered the warm soft blue gown Tadashi had given me and collapsed to the hard tile floor in misery.

  The door opened, and Liam bent down. He squatted in front of me. Then, he showed me a brush and other things I had already seen. I wondered if he expected me to try to look nice. Like hell. I’d rather make Fergus the more attractive and sweet smelling of us. I wished that I had kept Dr. Benjamin’s Komodo dragon poop spray, so I could use it to repel Liam.

  The serpent demon carried me to the dining table and put me in a seat. A large platter of fried chicken and potatoes sat in the center of the table. Liam sat across from me. There were bottles of sweet tea. I downed a bottle of tea and opened a second one. I didn’t remember the last time I had eaten. I ate as slowly as possible. I dragged dinner out as long as I could. Liam placed our dishes in a bag and carried them away in the lift.

  I went to the lift and pressed my palm to the scanner. Nothing happened. I sat on the floor and twisted my engagement ring around on my finger. At least Liam hadn’t taken it, my sea glass ring, or my ankle bracelet. I thought about the bamboo forest where Tadashi had proposed. Concentrating, I tried to slip, but my head began to pound. The gangsters wanted me to be able to slip so I could rescue the Yokai mob boss. Liam wouldn’t keep me weak and drained of energy. Once I was strong enough to slip, Liam would be able to see me. I needed to be able to slip and then teleport. I smiled. I had my plan and would have my revenge.

  Liam returned. Without expression, he picked me up and sat me on the bed. Then, he turned and went into the bathroom. I couldn’t trap him inside because of the way the door opened. I couldn’t get one of the huge chairs through the doorway in order to barricade myself inside either. I took one of the black sheets and rolled myself within it. I wished for the bag of goodies that Winks had left with Mr. Julian. I snorted. The bastards thought they could use fear for Winks to control me. Winks could simply disappear and take me with him. Without Tadashi, I had no reason to stay. My last memory of Tadashi would be of him being struck from the deck by Liam’s tail to fall into the icy waters below.

  Liam exited the bathroom in the nude with a frightening erection. I closed my eyes hoping he’d leave me alone. The bed shifted slightly with his weight. His forked tongue touched my hair. He tugged at the sheet. I held onto the edges with all of my strength. Angrily, he ripped it away. Terrified, I punched, kicked, gouged, clawed, and bit him all while he kept me trapped with his leg over my waist. Exhausted and shaking, I sobbed. Liam had only become more excited. When his tongue darted out, I grabbed it in my fist and yanked. Liam hissed in pain. Then, he came, pumping himself against my hip and leaving a growing wet spot on my gown. The fabric stuck to my skin. Satisfied, Liam pulled me tightly against himself. He kept his leg over my waist and held my wrists in his hands. I cried.

  Chapter Twelve

  I woke up disoriented. Then, I panicked when I remembered everything. “Tadashi,” I sobbed. A loud angry hiss issued forth from the other side of the room. With my vision made blurry by tears, I saw Liam over at the table. He wore a suit. He gestured at the table and then left.

  I drew in a deep, shuddering breath, and rushed into the bathroom. My hands shook as I removed the gown that was stuck to my left hip. I filled the tub with hot water and scrubbed myself. Then, I drained the water and filled it a second time. My thoughts returned to Tadashi. I wondered if it would be so difficult to sink under the water and scream out all of my air. I decided to do it afterwards.

  I dried off. I owed it to Tadashi to avenge him. I dried my hair while using the brushes to turn the ends under the way Momma used to do. Using my memories of watching her, I used the make-up to darken my lids and lashes. Then, I applied a lip color that matched my lips. Perfume went on my bruised wrists and on my ankles. A new see-through black negligée and robe awaited me. I put them on.

  At the table, Liam had laid out a carafe of coffee, breads, and fruits. I picked up the carafe and a cup and sat. Last night, after I had finished crying, I imagined Liam’s spirit energy flowing from him to fill me as though it were semen flooding from his penis. It was sick, but it had worked. My fear and feeble attempt to fight him off had so satisfied him that he hadn’t noticed.

  Clearing my mind, I concentrated on being in the cabin of the speedboat and felt myself slipping. Opening my eyes, I smiled, poured myself a cup of coffee, sniffed it to check for irregularities, and then drank it. Feeling centered, I went out into the boathouse and unfastened the boat from the dock. There was no one in sight. I started the boat, figured out where I was on the navigation display, and tried to pretend that I was driving Winks’ transport. After I got the hang of it a little, I went as fast as the waves would allow.

  It didn’t take me long before I was slowing and looking for a berth in Dorado’s marina. I slowed and stopped near some men who were painting a boat. Pouring myself another cup of coffee, I stepped out of the cabin. They stared at me. “Hey, secure this for me, please?”

  I sipped the coffee. Then, I closed my eyes and concentrated on Kiyohime’s living room. She pulled back and shimmered as though preparing to attack when I materialized in front of her. Guards lifted their arms and prepared to shoot.

  “Hold!”

  I stared into her red slit-pupiled eyes allowing her to see my heartache. The cup fell from my hand clattering and rolling. “You have been betrayed. Liam plots with your prisoner and three men to destroy you. Liam killed Tadashi, took me, and held me prisoner.” I described the men to her. Kiyohime seethed with rage. I told her their plan and about the pictures of Winks.

  “What do you want in return for this valuable information, Little Mouse?”

  I stared at her. The ache in my throat made it too hard to answer. I thought about saying that I wanted to watch as she destroyed her enemies, but all I could choke out was, “I don’t want to live without Tadashi.”

  Just then, Liam arrived freezing in his tracks when he saw me. Kiyohime transformed and struck out wrapping coil after coil of her serpentine body around Liam. They exchanged angry hisses. Shimmering into her human form with her long loose black hair brushing against her butt, she said, “Idiot. Yes, they let you have her when I did not. Are a few days more with her enough for you? If you aid my enemies further and banish me, the girl will end her life.” Liam stared at her and stared at me. “If you aid me against my enemies, the girl will end her life. Have you not learned the power of a woman’s heart? You think to give her pretty trinkets and keep her? You killed her when you killed her mate. Bring me the heads of my enemies, and I will attempt to thwart her will.”

  Liam went to his knees at Kiyohime’s feet and bowed his head. Then, he stood and turned. Her other servant went with him. Kiyohime walked over to me. Her breasts bounced as she walked. I laughed.

  “Usually, when I’m near you, a little song runs through my head called, ‘Please, Don’t Eat Me.’ Now, I don’t care.”

  “Hush, Little Mouse.”

  “Fuck you!” I shoved her away when she tried to comfort me. “If I hadn’t freed you, Liam wouldn’t have been freed, and then he couldn’t have taken Tadashi from me. I hate you!”

  “Everything will be okay. Come. Sit down, Little Mouse.”

  “I am not a mouse!” I lunged for Kiyohime, grabbed ha
ndfuls of her hair, and yanked as hard as I could. She didn’t budge. I let go of her hair to slap her. She grabbed my hands, crossed them in front of me, and walked me to her couch.

  “Bring me a robe and blankets,” was all I heard before I started shaking. Kiyohime gave whispered commands, or else I was distant from everything in my own mind. Vaguely, I noticed as Kiyohime wrapped me in a blanket and draped another one over my legs. I stared at the fire.

  “Kiyohime?”

  “Yes?”

  “Do I have mononoke all over me?”

  “No, Little Mouse. There are none.”

  “Clue? Clue?” I looked from the fire to Mr. Julian, who shook my knee from where he crouched in front of me. “Hey, kid. Are you okay?” I shook my head. “I sent a friend after Winks.”

  “Sit beside her,” Kiyohime ordered. Sometime later, Liam and her other servant returned carrying three reusable bags that they placed at her feet. She looked inside of each of them. “Very good. They are just as she described.”

  I stared at the blue bags with their red handles. “What store are those from?” I asked. Mr. Julian patted me on the back in an awkward attempt to be comforting. He was afraid. I wasn’t. I couldn’t take sitting there any longer. “I’m sorry,” I whispered to Mr. Julian. I grabbed his hand and slipped. “You didn’t like being there either. I don’t want to be in the same room with Liam until I know how to kill him.” I had teleported the two of us to a back corner of the Two Moons. I sat down at an empty table far from the bar in the hope I wouldn’t be recognized. “Buy me a coffee with some vodka in it, please?”

  I stared at the white drink rings on the tabletop. Mr. Julian came back with two coffees and a bottle under his arm. “Take a sip.” I lifted the cup he put in front of me, but my hands shook so badly that I spilled coffee on the table. “Oh, good. You made room.” He poured a little from the bottle into my cup. I sipped and put it down. He added some more.

  “What should I do? Should I go try to find him? How long has it been? Would the pirates have gotten him out?” My eyes flooded over, and I could feel snot running onto my upper lip.

  “Blow,” Mr. Julian said as he held a silk square under my nose. I blew, and he wiped my nose. “Drink your coffee.” I took a sip, and he added more vodka to it. “Have a little more,” he suggested.

  Soon, all of my concentration was on making the cup touch my mouth straight and not slanted. I frowned into the last spoonful or so in the cup. “It looks like tea,” I observed.

  “Try this one,” Mr. Julian said as he traded me.

  I thought the table moved, but it was me. My face was resting on it. Someone else sat down.

  “She is drunk,” Dorian said.

  “Yes, she brought us here. Earlier, she attacked Kiyohime.”

  Dorian’s large hand covered most of my forearm as he shook me. I turned my eyes up to see him which was a mistake. They blurred and spilled over. “Clue, I am taking you home.”

  “No, Dorian. I have to stay. I have to figure out how to kill Liam. He took Tadashi from me,” came out as a high-pitched whine.

  Dorian pulled me into his arms and carried me from the Two Moons. “Okami do not die. Okami can be injured.”

  “Wait. What? Is Tadashi alive?” All of my anguish poured out with my words. Dorian fastened me into the passenger seat, got in on the other side, and made the landscape a blur on the way to Scorpius.

  “He is alive but injured. He communicated with me not long ago. I was preparing to search for you when a messenger arrived from Dorado for your father.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Several miles down the coast from Scorpius in a small port town.”

  “Oh, Dorian, drive faster.”

  “We are going to the Wisteria.”

  “No! If he’s alive, I have to be with him!”

  “We will wait. He will return to us.”

  “What is wrong with you? I thought you were his best friend. You’re just going to leave him out there alone and hurt?”

  “He is not alone. The pirates pulled him from the water and now hold him for ransom. As soon as he heals, they will no longer hold him.”

  “If you won’t help me, Daddy will.”

  Dorian shook his head. “Colwyn is with Lord Tanaka and Elan Tavora.”

  “So, go to Tavora Shipping.”

  “They have gone out to sea to aid the ocean spirits against Umibozu.”

  “Daddy?” I asked in a small voice as the flesh rose on my arms and legs. Dorian drove into the Wisteria’s parking garage. Then, he got me out and carried me inside. “What do the pirates want?”

  “Credits.”

  “How much?” I asked fearing we wouldn’t have enough.

  “Five thousand credits.”

  “What? Did I just hear you correctly?”

  A deep rumbling laugh sprang from Dorian’s chest that I could feel in my side. “They believe that Coco Bear is your beloved pet and that either your father or fiancé will pay the sum to return him to you. Tadashi never changed form in their presence. It is the Blue Sea Dragon who is a boy that they fear. Tadashi is the one they should fear. He is learning much by listening. We communicate, but they hear only barking and howls. I must tell him you are safe. Stay here. Bathe. Rest. I will have food sent up.”

  Dorian put me down in Tadashi’s bedroom. In the bathroom mirror, I frightened myself. My tears had made a mess of the make-up I had applied. I balled up the negligée set and threw it into a corner. First, I took a hot shower and scrubbed. Then, I filled the tub and soaked. Feeling a bit more sober, I drained the tub, wrapped one towel around my hair and another around my body, and slipped.

  In my bedroom, I dressed in black. In the basement, I selected a blaster rifle. In the kitchen, I drank a bottle of sweet tea and ate a muffin. Then, I went to the garage. I took the transport away from Scorpius and in the opposite direction of Dorado along the coastal road. As soon as I passed the last home, I accelerated. I didn’t slow until a town came into view.

  Lowering the windows, I listened while scanning the marina for the Black Bounty. Finding nothing, I moved onto the next town. I stopped at a tiny café in the shore side community. It had a restroom and strong hot coffee. A couple of old men were eating and complaining.

  “Be glad your implant needs fixing. Those young fellas have a dog that keeps waking me up with its howling. I need to get some sleep.”

  I ordered some chicken and sat to eat. When the man left, I followed him. The old man lived on a houseboat, and not half a mile away the Black Bounty was docked. I drove along the gravel road and parked in front of it. Long green grass and trees lined this part of the coast hiding it from the main road. I released the safety belt from the blaster rifle in the seat beside me and got out.

  Declan saw me first from where he worked on damage to the hull. He raised his hands up when he saw the rifle. I aimed at his toolbox and fired. The blast jarred my shoulder, but I didn’t miss. The toolbox scraped off the dock, spun a couple of times, and splashed loudly into the water. Declan took me more seriously. I followed him aboard.

  “What was that?” Fergus asked. I blasted the cup he was holding out of his hand. He held his hand to his chest. Confusion, anger, and pain warred for control of his face.

  “Where is Coco Bear?”

  “Fuck, Clue! Why’d you have to go and shoot me?”

  I took aim at the railing and fired. Bits of wood and plasti rained like confetti down to the water’s surface. “Better?” I asked.

  “Are you fucking crazy?” Fergus asked.

  I heard barking. I smiled and took aim at Fergus’ crotch. “No, but I have been drinking. Carefully, put Coco Bear in the back of my transport.”

  Fergus said, “The doctor said to keep him still and comfortable.”

  “Then, get every fucking pillow on your stupid fucking ship and put them in the back first.” When they didn’t rush to do it, I aimed and blasted off more railing.

  “Shit! Alright! Alright!�
�� Fergus said. Then, Fergus, Declan, and Pony started making a nest in the backseat of the transport.

  “Where is Will?”

  “At the doctor’s. That’s why we need the credits,” Fergus answered.

  “You should have asked.”

  “Who? Tavora’s gone. Your boyfriend’s family is loaded. I thought he’d be eager to come to your rescue by saving your dog. I guess he was busy saving you from that creep.”

  “Yeah, thanks for coming to help me, pirates.”

  “We couldn’t. We got here under our sails. The Black Bounty isn’t going anywhere until she’s repaired, and I’m down two crewmen until Will recovers. Look, we tried to defend you out there. There were too many of them, and that Liam was too much. The mermaids, they were real. Weren’t they? That boy changed into the sea dragon.” The pirates stared at me for answers. I tossed Fergus a credit chip.

  “There’s your ransom. The back of my transport had better be comfortable. If he so much as whimpers on the ride home, I’m coming back with a bigger blaster.”

  Declan led Tadashi out of the wheelhouse. He had a pressure bandage around his middle and a gel wrap on his left front leg. He limped over to me. With a cry, I fell to my knees sobbing. Coco Bear licked my tears.

  “We can carry him on a blanket for you,” Fergus offered.

  Coco Bear growled at him. I stood with my blaster rifle on my shoulder and wiped my tears on my sleeve. A long loud howl sounded from somewhere nearby. Coco Bear stopped near Fergus, raised his leg, and peed on his ankle.

  “Shit!” Fergus said.