The Demon's Game (The Guardian Series Book 4)

by Rain Oxford

  “What are you?” I asked unceremoniously. “I can smell you’re not human.”

  She glanced around us. “You shouldn’t say things like that. I have a happy life here; don’t ruin it for me.”

  “But I’m not… either. I’m not trying to betray your secrets, I just want to know.”

  “I’m fae,” she whispered. “You should know that.”

  “I don’t know what fae is. I’m a dragon.”

  “I know. I could sense a dragon moved in a month ago and have been waiting for you to introduce yourself.”

  “What do you mean, introduce myself?”

  “The fae and dragons have been allies for all of history. Couldn’t you sense me?”

  “No, not until now. I don’t know anything about fae.”

  Fae are not native to Duran. From what she says, I believe she thinks we are an Earth dragon. She could be great assistance to us, but if we tell her we are not from Earth, there is a chance she will tell us to leave.

  Worth the risk or not?

  Leave it for another time when we can speak with her in private. When the boys have been taken to school, perhaps.

  “I would like to speak with you later on the matter, but I need to go now. Can I come back in a few hours?”

  “Sure,” she said.

  Ten minutes later, I was on the phone. It rang and rang until a man finally answered. “Hello?” he asked.

  “Hello, is this Taylor?” I tried to remember the phone etiquette Dylan taught me.

  “Yes.”

  “My name is Mordon. I’m calling because I heard about your… ability.”

  “I do not respond kindly to threats.”

  “I’m not threatening. I’m new around here and I have the same ability. I need to know how you manage without a desert around.” There was silence for a minute until I thought that maybe the call was dropped. Dylan told me that was a downfall of cellphones.

  “There’s a coffee shop on Fourth Street. Eli’s Java. It’s run by some friends of mine. Meet me there in half an hour.” His voice met with an irritating ring until I pushed the “end” button. Divina had left shortly after showing me how to use the phone, so I locked up and made my way down the street. I had to ask several people for the way, but everyone was very friendly and knew where the coffee shop was.

  I was freezing by the time I arrived at the little place. It was warm and dim inside and the smell of chocolate, coffee, and cake was strong. Comfortable looking chairs and couches lined the walls, and square tables were placed randomly. Instead of the overhead lights I had grown to despise, there were electric lamps on tables and tall ones by the chairs and couches. There were only about a dozen people, most with laptops or small computer units Dylan had told me were tablets. He said a person could read almost any book ever written on Earth on those tablets. I really wanted one.

  The counter was glass and displayed an array of sweets, such as cakes, pies, and cookies. While they smelled very good, I actually didn’t like anything very sweet. Behind it, two people waited to take orders. Against the far wall was a menu painted in white across a black surface which, of course, I couldn’t read.

  “Can I help you?” the woman asked.

  “Do you have tea?”

  “We do. We have Earl Gray, white tea, Chamomile, Jasmine, green tea---”

  “That one, please. Green tea.” It was the only one I recognized.

  “Small, medium, or large?”

  “Medium.”

  “Okay. That will be one seventy-five.”

  I had no idea if that was a lot of money or very cheap, but I pulled out the walled Dylan gave me. There was paper money, which was extremely weird, and coins, which he hadn’t given me because he said the paper money was worth more. I studied the green papers, all wrinkled and worn. How paper money held up was a mystery to me, but if that was his culture…

  I was stumped. I recognized the number one, five, and ten, but there were two others and I had no idea how they added up to the number she gave me. If one seventy-five meant a hundred seventy-five, then she had to have meant the coin money. Otherwise I didn’t have enough money, and that didn’t seem realistic.

  I wanted to ask Dylan, but if he was in the middle of surgery or something, I didn’t want to be the cause of someone’s death.

  “Excuse me,” the woman said, lowering her voice. I realized I had laid my money out and was staring at it, clueless. “If we’re talking about something expensive, like a camera, one seventy-five would mean a hundred and seventy-five. If we’re talking about something cheap, like tea, it means a dollar and seventy-five cents.” She pointed out the papers with the ones. “If you can’t count change, then one dollar will cover any of your change, like the seventy-five cents. So in this case, you use one of these for a dollar, and one for the seventy-five cents. Then I will give you back a quarter, which is the remainder of that second dollar.”

  “Thank you,” I said, giving her the two dollars she was talking about. “How did you…”

  “We’re all friends here.”

  I realized then how foolish I had been. The strong smells of the sweet cake and bitter coffee overwhelmed my senses so that I didn’t bother to scent the woman. When I did, I smelled dragon. She and the man beside her were dragons.

  “You need to get a debit card. It’s a plastic card that will do all the money counting for you. My name is Adalia, by the way.”

  “I’m Mordon,” I answered.

  “So what brings you here?”

  I didn’t want to betray anyone’s trust, but I scented no malicious intentions from her. “Taylor.”

  “Oh, cool. He’s back there in the chair in the corner.”

  I turned to look in the direction she indicated. Sitting in a cushioned chair in the corner was a man who looked to be in his late forties. He was thin, athletic without being bery muscular, and wore a suit like Dylan did when he went to work- before he changed into scrubs. The man had dark brown hair like Dylan’s, but it was a little shorter. His face had hair too, though it was very short. His eyes were gray.

  Adalia handed me the tea and I made my way to the man who I hoped was able to help me. When I approached him, he looked up at me from his book.

  “Duran… It’s been a long time since I saw one of yours.”

  I gaped and he laughed before standing. He was a little taller than me, but he wasn’t imposing. I scented him instinctively and Rojan relaxed. Taylor wasn’t very powerful or old compared to Rojan, which was only to be expected. The Earth dragon was friendly, which was more than I could say about most Duran dragons, and more importantly, he was kin.

  Perhaps it was a little backwards that Rojan and I were so cautious about a possible threat to Dylan and the boys coming from a dragon… when they were constantly involved with gods.

  “Your purple eye. I’ve only ever seen it once and that was because an old girlfriend of mine was from Duran. She had the same purple, but it was in both her eyes. We can speak freely here; everyone here is a dragon.”

  “I didn’t realize dragons here formed large clutches.”

  “Earth dragons still form small clutches, but in this town, we are more like a pack. We each grew up to leave our nests and never made one of our own. We found this small town and seemed to converge here. It was friendly. There are fifteen of us right now. Eli and Sophia over there will have a kit soon, but they aren’t going to break off into their own little clutch. As much as our kind was hunted, we want to be able to protect our children in larger groups instead of just twos or threes.”

  “I can understand that. Do you all know about dragons from Duran?”

  “Everyone here knows there are other worlds because some of us were friends with the Guardian of Earth. I assume you met him since you’re from Duran.”

  “Yes, I have.” Taylor was referring to Dylan’s father and predecessor, Ronez, who I met twice. He was dead, but I didn’t think it was wise to divulge that information just yet. If anyone wanted to targe
t the Guardian of Earth, it was better that my brother’s identity be kept secret. These people may have been kin to my dragon, but Dylan was my clutch.

  “Is anyone else here from Duran?”

  “No. About ten years ago, Ronez brought a couple of twin boys to me, but we hadn’t formed this group yet. The boys were five and very… mischievous. Their antics got us noticed and hunters found us. We would have gotten away, but one of my dearest friends betrayed us and the boys were caught.”

  Twins are so rare, Rojan commented. What bloodline did they originate from?

  I repeated the question to Taylor.

  “They were descendants of Adraman.”

  Kaled’s evil cousin. They were descendants of a powerful, dark bloodline full of murderers and misfits. Their line brought a sneer to the face of every dragon and shame to my line. Kaled was revered. Adraman was just as powerful, but he was known for killing and terrorizing dragons and people alike. He was absolutely insane. Supposedly, he was betrayed by his mate, which is what caused him to go feral, but there are no excuses for his kind.

  “Surely you don’t know of their bloodline,” Taylor said.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You’re grimacing. Ronez told me their bloodline was infamous, but you can’t be old enough to know it.”

  I grinned. “If we get a chance to fly together, you will understand how old I am.” While I had only lived for thirty-two years, Rojan was over three thousand. His was also the most powerful bloodline left alive and his family was one of the first to learn to shift. “I am descended from Kaled.” Well, Rojan was. “Are you all desert dragons?”

  “I am, and Graham is. Most of the others are forest dragons, but a few are water dragons. Sophia, Leo, and Julia over there are too mixed to be labeled as one or the other. Marco…” Taylor lowered his voice. “His blood is said to be tainted somehow. He learned to shift as a kit, and then got stuck. He can’t shift back into his dragon form, but he can always feel the desperate need to.”

  I knew the frantic need myself, and I was only half a dragon.

  “There are a few who aren’t powerful enough to shift into their person form,” Taylor continued.

  “Where do you go to shift?” I asked.

  “Past the mountains to the north there is a lot of open land without trees to hinder the wings. We meet every few days and go flying. We’re supposed to meet tonight. Do you want to go with us?”

  “I would love to. I have to visit with someone for a little while this morning, but I definitely do. When and where do I meet you?”

  “Here at four. It’s quite the drive, but we normally do a barbeque before we go flying.”

  “And you’re sure the others don’t mind me being from Duran?”

  “Our race was hunted nearly to extinction because we were different from people. Dragons have to stick together if we want to survive. It doesn’t matter that you’re foreign; you’re a dragon. You are one of us. Hell, Jessica, the woman in the blue sweater, is human. Her mate was a dragon who was killed by hunters. We took her in because we believe in protecting each other’s mates.”

  “Wait… A dragon mated a human? How? We can’t breed with them.” Well, at least a full blood dragon can’t. I was neither a person nor dragon, so it was likely that I could never reproduce.

  Rojan acknowledge my thought with a grumble. There is more sago blood in us than dragon blood. If your mother had not cast the spell she had, your body could have assimilated my blood, but it would not have been enough to keep you alive. Her spell ensured that you integrated both her power and mine.

  Which absolutely explains why I’m a mediocre wizard at best.

  There is no dragon that can use nominal energy, and there is no wizard who can use dragon energy. This is where your weakness lies, as well as your strength.

  Stop speaking in riddles, dragon.

  Listen more carefully, child. If it were not for my blood, your wizard power could rival that of any mortal on Duran. You are fortunate to be the most powerful dragon alive and still be capable of conducting decent mortal magic. Dragons have enough problems with fertility, and we are not compatible with people. I am sorry, but even if our blood is sago enough to reproduce with people, success is unlikely.

  I don’t blame you. Besides, I’ve never desired children like Dylan. I’m perfectly happy being there for Dylan’s kids.

  In that case, you are ignoring another dragon and that can prove dangerous.

  Taylor was giving me a concerned frown. “Are you alright?”

  “Yes, sorry, I was just thinking of something. You were explaining the dragon’s human mate…” I prompted.

  “They were working on adoption. You can’t help who you love and nobody has the right to judge you for it. What about you? Do you have a mate?”

  The image and scent of Rojan’s mate flooded my head. She had been killed less than a week before my birth and while I never knew her personally, I knew everything about her. There wasn’t a day in the past ten years that Rojan hadn’t thought about her. Rojan was so much a part of my soul that I shared Rojan’s love for his dead mate and children. “Not anymore.”

  * * *

  I knocked on Stacy’s door about an hour later. She was as pristinely dressed as she had been that morning, down to her heels. “Come in, Mordon,” she invited. She closed the door behind me and I scented her again.

  “What do you do for work?” I asked. She smelled clean, like she didn’t interact with a lot of people, but there was no fear or anxiety, so she wasn’t hiding inside all day. Although everyone had selfish thoughts, which I could easily scent, it wasn’t until their intent was realized repeatedly that it became ingrained in their soul. Stacy was a fairly good person.

  “I’m a literary agent. I mostly deal with my clients online, but I have to do a lot of traveling. I also have several clients locally, including one who is agoraphobic.”

  “I… I don’t know what a literary agent is. I know literary means books and agent is a person who represents a business or people.”

  “I represent authors. When I find a talented author, I get them the best deal with the best publishing company for their book and the format of their book. I also deal with editors and lawyers. I love this town because I can be more involved in the process. Of course, I would make more money somewhere like in New York, but as a fae, I can’t live there.”

  “What is a fae?” I asked.

  She sighed. “Sit.” I sat on the leather couch and she sat on the coffee table across from me. “There are many subspecies of fae; fairies, elves, sprites, changelings, and even some darker beings. I am a fairy, but we are the only ones who refer to ourselves as fae, as we are the originals and most powerful. We used to have tribes numbering in the thousands.”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Humans, mostly. The elves were jealous of our power, though. They are blood drinkers and can absorb the power, life force, and memories of those they kill. Fae are peaceful and strictly vegetarian. We are much like human wizards. We all have natural powers from the time we’re born, but we have to learn to use them. Some of us are more powerful than others. Elves, however, would rather steal power from others.”

  “How did you stop them?”

  “The dragons came. Long ago, right after we lost half our race in a particularly nasty war with humans, dragons came to our rescue. Actually, they had their own problems. This was the time when they were hunted. They had nowhere to go, so we gave them shelter and they protected us against the elves. See, we could easily hide ourselves and the dragons from humans, but not from the elves. We could feed, shelter, and heal dragons while they could deflect the magic from the enemy. We worked so well together that after a thousand years, even newborn dragons and fae were drawn together.”

  “It’s your scent.”

  “Yeah. Dragons are drawn to fae by the scent and fae are drawn to dragons by the dragon fire, which cannot hurt us. It is our nature to seek the dragon fire becau
se it meant salvation to our ancestors. There is a gathering of dragons in this town, but we stay out of each other’s way.”

  “You don’t like them?”

  “I’m the only fae around and I just want to be left in peace. I have never met an elf before, and I don’t think I ever will. I’m happy to have you as a neighbor, but please treat me as a human. I just want a normal life. I want Drake to live a normal life.”

  * * *

  At four, Taylor met me right outside the coffee shop to take me through the mountains. It was a beautiful trail, but I was itching to get to shift. Fortunately, Taylor wasn’t any more in the mood to talk during the ride there than I was.

  The field and the large lake were stunning. A tent had been set up with grills in front of it and the smell of steak was in the air. Adalia and Taylor introduced me to the others, though it would take time to remember all their names. I was given a plate with steak and chips and a beer, which I thought was disgusting and poured out. The food was good and I enjoyed meeting fellow dragons.

  Of course, one particular dragon was sitting off to the side, glaring at everyone. Marco apparently insisted on joining the outings, even though he couldn’t shift, only to snap at anyone who showed him sympathy. The dragons unable to shift into people joined us and wasted no time before introducing themselves to me. I was able to understand their dragon snorts and grumbles, which was still very odd to me.

  When the sun set, a change fell over the gathering. People stripped bare right in the open and started shifting. Most were the smaller variety of dragons, such as forest dwellers with short, stout wings and short, lithe bodies. Taylor shifted into a golden dragon almost as large as Rojan. I was last to shift. After setting aside my own clothes, I let Rojan’s true form take shape. My bones snapped, stretched, and reformed, my skin became hide, and I grew larger. I kept my eyes closed for most of it because it was a little nauseating to watch.

  The dragons all stared in wonder for so long it became awkward. I knew they could now feel Rojan’s power and age. Trying to avoid any questions, I took flight. The others followed, but Rojan took over and I let my worries go.