WickedBeast

by Gail Faulkner

  “You did.”

  “Yeah? Explain that to me, but later.”

  Cord carefully lowered her to the sheets. Again he had no control of what was going to happen next, but it didn’t matter. Worshiping her with his mouth from head to toe was a compulsion he had no intention of resisting.

  “I love you,” Kelly breathed as he leaned over her, dropping kisses along her hairline.

  “I know. God help us,” Cord growled as the Wind Witch blew through him. She was pure magic. They were magic. What they had become was new. Creating a life was certainly proof that nothing was as he’d known it before.

  Drawing back, he looked into the eyes of a future that was free. Not free of responsibility, not free of danger, but it was theirs to make. It wasn’t set in some master plan they had no control of. Succeed or fail, they would be the crafters of this future.

  Chapter Fifteen

  A month on a luxurious, private sailing yacht was not a difficult way to cross the Atlantic. Kelly stood at the rail and watched as Minuet and Cord swam with a pod of dolphins. Minuet’s abilities had blossomed at sea, as had her own. They were getting close to the East Coast though and soon they’d have to start acting like normal people again. No more talking with animals.

  Cord glanced up at her and grinned. Of course he knew exactly what she was thinking. He was more a part of her than the air she breathed.

  “We will be back on the water with our friends soon,” he promised, his words carried on the breeze instead of telepathy. “Our job in the glades will not take long.”

  No, not long, Kelly mused. A few hundred miles off the Florida coast she had no trouble detecting wizard signature emanating from the interior marsh. The air told her everything, and the poor, arrogant fool had no idea what he was broadcasting. The man considered himself a grand master wizard and he had many followers who agreed with him. Indeed, he probably was, but he was way out of his league with real witches and dragons.

  It had been disciples of this fellow who had sent the birds. That seemed like a lifetime ago. It was certainly a different age, one where this fellow was probably the baddest thing in wizardness. She felt kind of sorry for the man.

  Cord and Minuet came out of the water and they pointed the sleek, three double-mast yacht at a secluded cove on the Florida coast.

  “He’s an evil soul. How can you feel sorry for him?” Cord wanted to know. “You’ve seen what he does. What he wants to do. Believe me, this time the wizards will not be in control of anything.”

  “Of course not. I just felt sorry for his humiliation factor. He’s about to experience a long fall down the ego ladder,” Kelly responded with a smile.

  “See, and I’m looking forward to making a fool out of him.” Cord chuckled. “One of the perks of this stop. There’s the reason we need you ladies so much. Compassion. I would have done things differently and probably made a martyr of him. Your plan gets his followers out of the way too.”

  “Mmmmm,” Kelly confirmed, and unconsciously smoothed a hand down her belly. There was only a slight bump, hardly noticeable. “What can I say, he’s the guy who scheduled his big show so helpfully. I will never understand that drive to show off. I’d get it if he were trying to conceal what he’s capable off.”

  * * * * *

  Much later that night the boat lay silent and dark as three people floated just above the water to shore. Minuet between Kelly and Cord was thrilled to be joining them. Actually they could not leave her. Even a weak wizard was dangerous. Not to Minuet, the danger was what she would do if threatened.

  There was no way to measure her power, no norm to gage it by, so how could a person express the fact that it was increasing as her control and knowledge did. This part of the coast was thick with would-be witches and wizards, the risk of one them stumbling on an enchanted boat was slim but still too great to be ignored.

  Using a combination of each of their powers, the three of them were outside the human sight spectrum and any supernatural creatures as well. The combination made them something new. It was probably way too cautious, but Cord insisted.

  The plan was simple. Uber wizard had called a hundred of his best buddies to see how splendid he was by showing them he could kill a person with his mind. He was going to torture the person first, all telekinetically, then finally deliver the death blow without actually touching the person. Thwarting his little show would be simple and make him look like an idiot, thus dispersing his followers, at least that was how it was supposed to go.

  The event was taking place at an abandoned sugar warehouse. They had just stepped in the door when Minuet gasped. She didn’t do it audibly, they were just as invisible as they’d previously been, but both Cord and Kelly heard her shock.

  “What,” Cord asked telepathically.

  “Him has dagon.”

  Kelly and Cord were scanning the crowd, the dark corners of the filthy building, the rafters, everywhere and couldn’t find a dragon.

  “Where is it?” Kelly asked calmly.

  “Besides him.” Minuet pointed at the makeshift stage. “Dagon is hiddy, like us.”

  “Does it see us?” Cord wanted to know.

  “No. Feels us,” Minuet said softly. “Feels me. Dagon running away.”

  “Don’t let him out of your sight! We’ll follow you. Minuet, we must capture him or he will use another human to create this same evil. He needs it like I need you and your mommy,” Cord flashed to her.

  He should have explained this. Should have told her how other dragons were different than he. It’s just he thought there would be more time. If she were a little older, maybe the complete evil would not be so horrific. Right now he needed her to follow the dragon only she could see.

  He’d been fucking wrong about something else. There were old dragons walking the world, not just him and the other two like him. It had been supremely stupid not to suspect that. An excuse for the stupid was why he’d never run into anther dragon.

  Well shit, here was why. This one knew how to shield from him. Stood to reason there would be others who had figured out the plan and found a way not to starve into elemental sleep, keeping sentient by consuming only the minimum. Using humans to create the emotions they needed. Never stepping beyond that line so he or the other two guardians suspected a dragon.

  Minuet hesitated and then she was after him, Cord and Kelly flashing with her.

  “Wizard no hurt lady?” Minuet wanted to know as she took them after the dragon.

  “It was always the dragon, honey. The guy is not a wizard without him. We’ll make sure the lady is safe,” Kelly explained to her daughter. “But we have to catch the dragon before he gets too far away. Can you put in him a castle like you did Harrison?”

  One a.m. in the morning, deep in the everglades, Barbie’s Dream Castle sprang up in the marsh, complete with a roaring dragon thrashing inside. They were much farther than human hearing could detect them from the warehouse. Scanning the area said there wasn’t a human for over fifty miles in any direction. There was no one he could be calling, no human or immortal, so why the roaring?

  Allowing the dragon to see them, Cord asked conversationally, “Why the racket?”

  “Pain,” screamed the dragon. “Why torture me? Kill me, I beg you!”

  “Torturing you? You deserve it but no one is torturing you,” Cord responded, puzzled at the dragon who continued to writhe and howl as if they were removing his organs while he still lived.

  Minuet started to tremble, her emotions clear to them as she empathized with the dragon.

  “No, baby, don’t connect with him.” Kelly dropped to her knees and turned her from the castle, trying desperately to distract Minuet’s soft heart from the hideous scene.

  Suddenly there was silence. Not even the night animals made a sound. They all looked at the glowing pink castle. Kelly and Cord could hear the dragon breathing in deep gasps. He was lying facedown on the castle floor, unmoving. In human form, he was filthy and disheveled. His clothes
were old to the point of rags that appeared draped over a boney frame.

  He was the first one to speak. “What the hell did you do?”

  Cord looked down at Minuet and Kelly. “What did we do to him?” he asked Minuet.

  “Him fixed.” Minuet smiled at Kelly then Cord. “No more crying.”

  “Minuet, what did you do?” Cord asked. “You’re not in trouble, but it is very important. Tell us exactly what you did to him.”

  The man figure in the castle slowly stood up. “What is she?” he demanded.

  “We hurts him berry much. I change his,” Minuet paused and looked her mother pronouncing the big word slowly, “orraahs.”

  “Oh.” Kelly smiled reassuringly at Minuet. “You made him shine?”

  “No, silly,” Minuet laughed. “Shiny must come from him heart. Can’t gives it. I jus helps him know he wish it. Our shiny hurtted him until he wished it.”

  “What is she talking about? What the hell are you all?” the dragon snarled, but his gaze was focused on Minuet.

  “You distract her from explaining and she might think you look better as a pink pony,” Cord stated in with a smile. “It should be clear she’s capable, or do you need another demonstration to keep quiet?”

  “Sweetie, how did you help him wish it?” Kelly asked. “Helping anyone in pain is good. How we do it matters a lot. That’s all we are trying to understand.”

  Minuet frowned slightly in her “thinking hard” face. “I look in him like I look in animal. I look for the happy. Him only has a little wishing for the happy. I make it bigger than the wishing for the mad. Now him like Cord.”

  “Like me? What does he have that’s like me?” Cord asked.

  “Him want his family. It was in him, I jus help him wish it most. Now he no mad all a time. Him sad but be happy when him finds family.”

  Cord laughed softly and bent to kiss the top of Minuet’s head. “What a brilliant little miracle you are. That was a very good idea, sweetie.”

  “Now that you’re all proud of the little creature, perhaps you could explain?” the dragon in the castle asked coldly.

  Looking at him, it was evident Minuet’s changes were having a profound effect. He stood in clean clothes, though still slender, he was no longer a starved skeleton.

  Cord turned to the male and regarded him, scanning him ruthlessly as he did so. The male stood completely still, not resisting the scan in any way. What Cord found was something he recognized and yet was a bit speechless at the simplicity of the change that could be so complete.

  Minuet had altered the dragon but not like one would expect. She’d gone seeking in his soul and found a spark of goodness. A tiny kernel of caring. Using what was already within, she’d changed the balance of a few chemicals. Her ability to know which ones to use was the magic. It was that part of her nature that set her so far apart from the rest of them.

  She had taken nothing from the dragon, given him nothing new. Her touch on his soul was profound and so light it was barely there.

  “There is good news and bad news.” Cord stepped up to the imprisoned male. “Good news is I’m not going to kill you. Bad news is you are in love.” Cord chuckled. “You have no idea what to do with it but there it is. Finding the woman who makes you whole will be a challenge. Convincing her to love you even more…ah, interesting.”

  The male scowled. “Dragon’s don’t love. Not part of our nature.”

  “Yeah, that was before, this is now,” Cord stated. “The thing I want you to grasp clearly is I know who you are.” Cord’s form shimmered and changed. In his natural state he stood fifteen feet tall, the white glow off his form almost blinding as he continued to explain the dragon’s new situation. “I can track you at will. Are we clear on that?”

  The captured dragon looked up at Cord then at Kelly and smiled. It wasn’t so much a friendly smile as a knowing one. “Seriously?” he said softly. “She gives you that much?”

  “Try to focus, buddy,” Cord snapped. “I don’t have time to babysit you, but one day you’re going to want some advice and I’m the only guy you know who can give it to you. Don’t disappoint me.”

  Cord changed back to his human form. “Minuet, your new friend can be let out of his castle.”

  “Him doesn’t has a name,” she stated as the Barbie castle dissipated into the marsh mist.

  “He’ll get one on his own. We have to go do something about his former followers though.”

  “Hey, wait a second…” echoed after them as they moved away from the dragon standing in knee-deep swamp.

  “He’ll be fine,” Cord assured Kelly as she worriedly glanced back at the tall man they’d just abandoned. “Minuet’s answer to his pain didn’t exactly strip him of his ability to defend himself.”

  “I know. It’s just he’s so clueless right now,” Kelly said.

  “Small price to pay for all this,” Cord growled as they entered the old sugar warehouse again.

  The crowd had disintegrated into a jeering, churning mass as the man onstage failed to deliver even one of his promised stunts. The woman tied to a pole was too terrified to even weep. The air stank of mounting violence as the crowd lost all respect and consequently all fear of the man who had made himself their grand wizard.

  The one thing this human had taught the people he called disciples was violence. He had ruled by fear and pain, exactly what the dragon controlling him needed. Now the crowd was calling for his subjugation to them.

  Cord turned Kelly and Minuet from the scene, taking his family outside. In the distance, sirens were screaming their way to the remote structure, but there was no possibility they’d arrive before there was blood on the floor.

  “Cord,” Kelly said softly.

  That was all it took. He knew what she wanted. Her compassionate nature required they stop violence before it began. If it were up to him, they would leave this place and let the wizard experience his reward. But that was not the world Kelly and Minuet lived in. It was not the world he’d allow anywhere near them, so it was his responsibility to ensure…something.

  Returning to the warehouse, he materialized onstage beside the wizard, all fifteen feet of him in blazing white. White wings for good measure. Abruptly there was utter silence. The crowd drew its own conclusions and eyes darted to the wizard and back to the glowing being.

  Right, they would think that. Cord scowled at the crowd. Looking down at the wizard, he spat on the man’s head. The wizard fell to his knees in terror.

  Cord allowed a flame to light on the tip of his finger as he pointed at the kneeling, crying wizard. “You are a liar,” he stated in a booming whisper. “And a thief. You have broken every Commandment and defiled every life you touch.” Looking up at the crowd, Cord breathed in and allowed himself to expand. The humans stumbled back as far as they were able.

  “Do you follow this idiot pissing himself before you?” he demanded.

  No response, but all eyes looked at the puddle around the wizard’s knees. He was probably not the only guy in here that terrified, yet that act of cowardice before them sealed their opinion of him.

  “Then go.” The sirens could be heard by the humans now. They left in silence, melting into the everglades amazingly fast. Cord shifted to his human form and strode to the woman onstage.

  “The police will find you here in a second. You must press kidnapping charges. Do not admit to seeing anything supernatural, his story will convict him. All will be well with you now,” he promised.

  She nodded and he shimmered out of human view as the police burst in the door.

  The fact that the local cops had raced here with sirens blazing told Cord that at least some of them knew exactly what was going on in the warehouse. They expected to find it empty. The tied woman onstage and wizard still kneeling in his own piss were a surprise. One they could not ignore as State troopers noiselessly arrived on scene.

  Time to go.

  Back on the yacht, they silently cruised out into the open ocean.
The air dragon and Wind Witch had no need of the motor attached to the old-world sailing yacht. Nor did they need the crew that usually came with a vessel this size.

  Cord was seated on a deck lounger with Kelly in his arms. Minuet slept soundly in her cabin below as they left the Florida coast.

  Cord kissed Kelly’s forehead and asked, “Where would you like to go?”

  “Thought we were headed south to help Legion and Molly,” she murmured, far too content to lift her head.

  “No need. Minuet just showed us what to do with an awakening dragon,” he stated. “It was a risk to expose them to Minuet in the first place. I showed Molly and Legion what she did. Molly can do it easily. Well, not exactly like Minuet did, but very close. Molly is also able to see if there is no spark of compassion in a dragon and take the correct action. Teaching Minuet to be an executioner is not something I could permit.

  “We still have to come up with a fix for the hole in the ozone but the danger isn’t as critical as it was. There is a new problem though. Might be quite a few males looking for their mates soon. I’m guessing they will each need a witch.”

  Kelly lifted her head to turn and look at Cord in alarm. “Dragons looking for witches? Don’t you think we’ll have some trouble with that? I mean, it just seems dangerous.”

  Cord grinned at his Wind Witch and kissed those worried lips. He’d meant to kiss her briefly but should have known better. Much later his answer to her question was whispered in her ear. “It will be incredibly dangerous, for the dragons.”

  About the Author

  Hello everyone. If you’re reading this, I hope it means you’ve enjoyed reading one of my books. If you have some other opinion of them, feel free to lie to me anyway. I hereby absolve you from all possible guilt and consequences for flagrant, adjective-saturated lying to the author.

  I’m a chronic fantasizer. Every good romance novel ended too soon. After a while, I started making up stories when I had a few minutes to while away. So now, instead of sitting around with a blank look on my face, I’ve taken to writing them down.