The Dragon Master

by Allyson James

  "He can follow if he wants. I will tell you what I find."

  He turned and walked out, his tall body enticing in a tight T-shirt and jeans. When the door closed behind him, Carol rose, suddenly not wanting him out of her sight.

  She'd been with him nonstop for five days, but she'd never once wished him elsewhere. She wanted to open the door and call him back to her.

  "Let him do what he is good at doing," Ming Ue said behind her. "And we will talk about Zhen."

  Carol turned back reluctantly, not sure she wanted a chat over a cup of tea. Ming Ue dragged out a chair and pointed to it. "Sit."

  Carol obeyed, wondering how it was that Ming Ue could still make her feel like she was six years old. "I don't know quite how to say this."

  "About Zhen?" Ming Ue sat down across from her and reached for the teapot. "About how he is a slave to the Order of the Black Lotus? He told me on Sunday when we played mahjong. He confessed all."

  Carol's eyes widened as Ming Ue continued pouring tea without looking up. "What did you say to him?"

  "I was horrified, naturally. I also know that the Order is ancient and evil. It would take someone of much more power than Zhen to resist them."

  "You forgave him?"

  "I did not say that. I am very angry. He caused the death of my daughter. But I also know he had no choice, and it was my fault as well. I was the one who told Zhen that Lian had learned to call a dragon. I must learn to live with that."

  "You're still worried about him."

  "Of course I am, we have been friends for decades. If the Order has taken him, they might kill him or otherwise punish him. And if anyone is going to harm Zhen over what he's done, it will be me."

  * * *

  Chapter Seventeen

  Seth flew over the city, scanning its streets for the distinctive aura of one old mystic. The dragon in him hadn't much compassion to spare on Zhen, but the man was special to Carol and Ming Ue, and Seth would find him for them if he could.

  He was tired. Training Carol to take his fire had been more of a strain on him than he'd thought it would be, but she was becoming good at it.

  Part of him could flow into her now and enjoy all of her body inside and out. The mating when they did this was exquisite. It made him feel more alive than he ever had, but it also zapped him of strength, and he slept for hours afterward.

  He had to be careful, or he'd drain himself and delight in the ebb too much.

  Zhen could be anywhere in this city of so many souls. He might have tried to go to the Dragon Master and been taken by the Order. Or he might be holed up with the Dragon Master, instinctively returning to help the man he'd been bred to serve.

  Seth angled there across the city, seeing the small dilapidated warehouse rushing up at him in the cold sunlight.

  He smelled the incubi before he landed. They surrounded the building that housed the Dragon Master, watching with dark eyes, their leathery wings hanging limp to their heels.

  No human being was in sight, the street deserted. No cars thumped by on the cross street behind him. Chill wind and fog drifted in from the bay, blotting out the sunshine.

  The incubi could have nothing to do with Zhen, or this could be a trap waiting to spring. If it was a trap, Seth thought as he hovered above the incubi, they could have baited it better.

  He morphed to his human self and faced them, not minding that they surrounded him. Seth still had the dragon strength to wipe out a contingency of incubi.

  "Where is the old man?" Seth asked them. "If you know, tell me before I kill you. If you don't know, I'll just kill you."

  No response. The incubi studied him with black voids of eyes, soulless beings, but these had the flicker of intelligence that had bothered him before.

  He stopped when all twelve of them suddenly got down on their knees and bowed their heads. One of them looked up, keeping his submissive posture.

  "We serve the new Dragon Master called Carol," he hissed. "We will be her slaves and help her rid the world of the demon-god."

  Seth knew better than to let down his guard and believe him wholeheartedly. "Why would you care about the demon-god?"

  "Because he will gather his power by consuming other demons. The Order has the old man. They want to use him to trap the Dragon Master called Carol Juan so she will release the demon-god. We will take you to him."

  Ming Ue's restaurant went silent as a tall Asian man walked in the front door. Something oppressive blanketed the room, and the other diners sensed it.

  Carol recognized him though she'd never met him: Benedict Fai, a Chinese businessman originally from Hawaii, who had a heavy presence in banks and mortgage companies. He often appeared in newspaper write-ups about large charity events, and his wife was a well-known philanthropist to the homeless and the displaced.

  Two weeks ago, Carol wouldn't have noticed the darkness surrounding him, but today it flared at her like a neon sign. He looked uncomfortable, obviously bothered by the dragon marks.

  "Can I help you?" Ming Ue asked primly.

  "I came to talk to Ms. Juan. Will she see me?"

  Fai stripped off his leather gloves and shoved them into the pocket of his thick woolen coat. The words were cast in polite tones, but he obviously expected Carol to say, "Yes, of course."

  Carol knew the game. She'd never played it as Dragon Master to demon worshipper, but she'd done it often enough in the business world.

  She motioned for Fai to sit down. "I have a few minutes to spare. Perhaps you would like a cup of tea?"

  "That would be fine."

  Ming Ue thumped over to them. "He's not drinking a drop of tea out of one of my cups. We'd have to throw it away."

  Carol personally agreed, but she kept her thoughts to herself. "We'll have to do without the tea."

  "It makes no difference. You know who I am?"

  "Mr. Fai, isn't it?" Carol asked, keeping her voice neutral. "I also know now that you are in the Order of the Black Lotus."

  "I have that honor." He shrugged out of his coat to reveal a black cashmere business suit beneath. Carol speculated that the cost of the suit could have funded several of his wife's soup kitchens for a month.

  Fai noted her assessment and inclined his head. "I am a wealthy man and enjoy a wealthy man's trappings. I've come to talk to you about the Order and tell you a little about it."

  "An organization of organized crime?" she asked, quirking her brows.

  Fai looked pained. "Please do not lump me into the same category as men like Daniel Lok. Lok was a criminal, a lowlife, and his cronies are no better. But yes, they are also in the Order. It's inherited, you see, stretching back generations to the original Order. Much like you being a Dragon Master is inherited."

  "And this should turn my sympathies to you?"

  "Of course not. I am here because I want to put a face to the Order for you�one other than a crime lord's. There are many like me�businessmen with wives and families, who inherited the position through no fault of our own."

  "There's more to it than that," Carol said. "Evil leaves a taint, and the threads of it are all over you. I know you feel the dragon marks, which are created to keep such evil out."

  "Yes, well, the magic in me is very small, which is why I was able to cross the threshold."

  "Which is why they sent you," Carol corrected him.

  "Which is why I volunteered." He placed his hands on the table, revealing well-groomed nails, a large wedding ring on his left hand and a diamond-studded band on his right middle finger. "Our organization is not a collection of black hats, men sitting around a table rubbing their hands and contemplating mindless evil."

  "Just men thinking about extortion and murder."

  He raised his hands, showing palms free of calluses. "Again, please don't lump me with the likes of Daniel Lok. You have heard of me, I know, and not only about my work to help the downtrodden of this city. While many mortgage companies are diving into bankruptcy, mine have remained running sensibly and steadily.
I have children to raise and a wife I love, and I have no wish for greed to destroy me. I am in the Order because I was born to it, and I use its power for good."

  Carol couldn't restrain her anger any longer. She felt a dark tendril of Dragon Master magic snake out of her. "Murdering my mother was using its power for good?"

  "I knew nothing about that," Fai said quickly. "I hadn't inherited my power then. It was twenty-five years ago. But the Order has always maintained that killing Lion Juan was a mistake."

  Ming Ue exploded. "A mistake? The cold-blooded murder of my daughter was a mistake?"

  Fai winced. "What happened between Dragon Masters and the Order in ancient times should remain ancient history, in my opinion. Nowadays there isn't much use for good versus evil, is there? Not that I consider Dragon Masters good, myself. They have a power of destruction much like the Order has. But the demon-god is trapped, and the power he once gave the Order has waned. I used what powers I was given to build my business and help others, like you have."

  Carol tasted bile in her throat. "Your opinions on right and wrong don't mean much in the face of my mother's murder."

  He sighed. "I know that. I do regret her death, believe me. If I thought you would accept compensation I would offer it to you, but I know you won't."

  "Why did you really come here, Mr. Fai?" Carol said in a hard voice.

  "To honestly extend an olive branch. Feuds are bad for business, and as I said, I have a family. My daughters are eleven and thirteen. They're doing so well, and my thirteen-year-old is a soloist in her school choir this year. She's so excited."

  "Which of them will inherit your place in the Order?" Carol asked curiously.

  "Neither. It only passes to the males of the family. My brother is next if anything happens to me, and then his son."

  Carol rolled her eyes. "Oh, of course."

  Fai made an apologetic gesture. "The Order was created in the days before women were acknowledged to have intelligence. The powers the demon-god gave us have not changed with the times, I'm afraid."

  His silky smooth voice grated on Carol's nerves. "Why are you still in the Order, if you think its ways are outdated and you don't want to be associated with crime lords?"

  "Not my choice," Fai said. "The power was bestowed on me at my father's deathbed twenty years ago. He told me all the secrets of the Order, the power filled me, and it's never left me. I was twenty-five at the time. I've never been able to get rid of it, no matter how much I try, and I decided to turn the power to good. I've been very lucky, I admit."

  Carol studied him, a successful, handsome man in his forties, well-dressed and quietly confident. He no doubt had a very expensive car and perhaps a driver waiting for him outside.

  "Does you wife know?" she asked. "And your daughters?"

  "No. It's not something I want them to know about. I married for love, Ms. Juan. I didn't need a society woman with her daddy's money to help me�I had my own success. We've had a happy marriage, and me having this power hasn't marred it."

  "And if she did know that you were the consort of a demon-god, what would she say?"

  Fai barked a laugh. "I'm not a consort of anyone. My ancestor was given this power, and I inherited it. I know my wife very well�we were high-school sweethearts. She would think as I do, that I should use this power, no matter how dubious its origin, for good."

  Carol had no doubt he told the truth. Likely his wife hadn't an inkling of what the Order of the Black Lotus was about. She doubted the woman would believe the story even if she did know it. Dark Orders and demon-gods and Dragon Masters didn't exist in the world of most ordinary human beings.

  "I still wonder what your purpose was in coming to see me," Carol said. "Extend the olive branch, you said. You want us to work together, but why do you? What exactly are we supposed to be doing together?"

  Fai's dark eyes glittered. "Keep a bloodbath from happening, Ms. Juan. The Order doesn't want you dead, you see. Danny Lok went after you without the Order's sanction�he was a loose cannon."

  "A bloodbath?" Carol repeated, her skin prickling.

  "Some of them want you to help them open the trap and let the demon-god out again. I personally would be grateful if you'd keep him in. The fire dragon is a wild card in all this. He could be a weapon of great destruction, both to the demon-god and to the Order. I am here to ask that you send him back to dragon-land or wherever you conjured him from before things get out of hand. The members of the Order who want the demon-god freed also want to use you and the fire dragon to smite their enemies."

  "Smite?" Carol would have laughed if the situation weren't so dangerous.

  "An old-fashioned term for an old-fashioned problem. As you can see, not every member of the Order sees eye-to-eye."

  "Where is Zhen?" Carol asked abruptly. She knew Fai could fence with her for hours without him committing to anything. He was good at the game.

  "Ah. That is the other thing I came to see you about."

  Carol waited, and Ming Ue leaned on her cane and glared at him.

  "Some members of the Order have Zhen. A simplistic trap to make you come forward, leverage to make you release their demon-god if necessary. As I said, I would not like it if you did this."

  "Where is he?" Carol repeated.

  "I can take you if you like. I believe your fire dragon has already gone searching? If so, that's a bad thing, because if trapping the old man didn't work, they are perfectly prepared to capture your fire dragon."

  Seth followed the incubi as they flew between reality and darkness, traveling on threads of thoughts and dreams. Seth in his fire form could mimic the way they slipped through, but it was very different from slip-streaming through Dragonspace. In Dragonspace it was a joy�when he emerged with the incubi he felt unclean.

  They led him not to another seedy warehouse but to a lush house on a high hill with panoramic views of the city and ocean beyond. All but one disappeared, and he led Seth into the shadows of darkening fog.

  There were five men inside the house. Seth placed the aura of each one, including the faint, terrified one that must be Zhen's.

  "Kill them," the incubus whispered, his breath foul. "Kill them here, and then I will take you to more."

  Incubi had one-track minds. The house had been demon-marked, which would make it difficult for Seth to get in but not impossible. The men were in the front of the house, so Seth stepped quietly to the unlighted back door.

  High shrubs and the gathering darkness hid him from any curious passers-by as he whispered his fire into the locks. The door opened a crack, showing him a dark, empty kitchen.

  A car swung up the drive, its headlights dying before they could sweep light over the house. Seth sidestepped off the back porch and hid in the shadows.

  The car was Carol's, and Carol got out of it. With her was a tall man in a long coat who carried the same dark aura as the men inside the house.

  In fury Seth sent a fiery thread to her, his music harsh and angry. Touching her mind told him she was afraid but also determined. I'm all right, she whispered.

  There are four men inside with Zhen, he sent back. Get back in your car and drive away.

  This isn't what it seems, came her thought, and then she went silent.

  Seth swore under his breath as Carol and the other man, oblivious to their exchange, approached the front door. The man knocked politely.

  Seth changed to fire and swarmed in through the open back door, solidifying in a cavernous living room behind the men who had turned to face the front hall. Zhen was upstairs, but Seth would have to pass the men of the Order to reach the stairs, and right now he was more worried about Carol.

  "Mr. Fai," the man who'd opened the front door said. "What a pleasant surprise."

  "I've brought the Dragon Master." The man took off his coat and gloves and hung the coat on a hook of an ornate coat rack. Carol kept her raincoat firmly buttoned.

  The man who'd opened the door, the same one who'd confronted them at the
small warehouse, chuckled. "I didn't think you deigned to associate with us Mr. Fai."

  "Not generally, no," Fai answered calmly. "But I heard of your scheme to capture the Dragon Master, and I thought I'd bring her to you."

  "I won't argue." The man's gaze swept over her. "She's very pretty."

  "I hear you want me to help you free your god," Carol said coldly. "I think it's a bad idea."

  The dark man gave Fai a puzzled look. Fai shook his head. "I said I brought her. I never said she'd capitulate to your demands."

  "She needs to or the old mystic dies."

  "How very dramatic," Carol said.

  Her voice was steady and icy, but her uneasiness screamed at Seth through the bond. She was poised to run, but she wasn't sure what the Dragon Master in her would do if they chased her or caught her.

  Seth pointed silently at the ceiling, feeling Zhen's aura in the room above.

  "Zhen," Carol shouted up the stairs. "Are you all right? Can you come down?"

  Seth heard a shuffling above then a door creak open. After a long time, Zhen's voice came from the top of the stairs.

  "Leave me here, Li Mei."

  "Don't be heroic," Carol snapped. "I'm taking you home."

  "I am not heroic; I am ashamed. I was a coward, and it will be justice if I am the first thing the demon-god consumes."

  Seth felt Carol's growing impatience. "We'll talk about it later. Right now, you need to come down here, because I'm not doing anything these people want until I see that you're all right."

  There was another hesitation, then more shuffling, and Zhen made his slow way down the stairs.

  Seth sensed the trap spring. From the warding marks on the house came the dark threads of a spell. Sticky blackness oozed through the air, twining its way toward Carol.

  The man she'd come in with, Fai, looked startled, then grabbed his coat and bolted out the front door. Zhen froze on the stairs, sucking in his breath.

  Seth wasn't certain what the spell would do, but he sensed Carol's power weakening even before the threads reached her. He turned to fire and sailed across the room, landing behind her.