BEEP-BOP.
I followed the others back into the shop. Derek went in first and hightailed it to the back. Then Sparks, who went looking for him.
Lynnette followed, and I went in after that.
The rude, arrogant dragon shifter followed me in.
The others all started babbling at once until the dragon guy came into sight. Then they shut up.
As soon as I saw him, I knew he was a dragon in human form. It wasn’t just the markings I saw—I mean, they were a complete giveaway—it was the smell too. It smelled like the one we had found, although it had been dead. Even in the haze of having just been turned by the VAMP2 virus, I could vividly recall the slightly musky citrus odor of the dead dragon as it had hung still fresh in the air, just like it was with this man in front of me.
There was no denying that he was attractive—tall, broad-shouldered, and with a smoothly deep voice that probably sounded pretty sexy when he wasn’t so pissed—but that was really the last thing I needed to be focusing on.
I held up my hand to try and get everyone to quiet down. Derek obviously hadn’t disappeared as he went back to the door, flipped the sign to closed, and drew the small blind that covered up the glass.
“Okay, look, first off, how about some introductions?” I said. Everyone, even rude assholes, had names, right? “I’m Katie. This is Lynnette, the shop owner. That’s Nova, Frankie, and Penny,” I said, pointing at them each in turn. “Behind you is Sparks, and then we have Derek.”
I stopped talking and turned to the dragon.
“I’m Jevyn,” he said. “And even though I know your names, it doesn’t mean you all aren’t being idiots.”
Well, good to see he’d had time to calm down.
Since the moment he’d arrived, I’d been wrestling with something, and it wasn’t how good looking this guy was. He was a dragon. Unless the one we’d found before was some kind of magic creature with unique blood, this dragon, Jevyn, even in his human form, could very well be the answer to our prayers.
The thing about it was that I couldn’t, at least as things stood, imagine for a moment that this irate guy was going to sit there patiently and willingly while we opened up a vein and drained off some blood.
I just didn’t see it happening.
I mean, I didn’t like his attitude, but he didn’t seem dangerous, and there was only one of him and eight of us—well, seven, because best not count Derek, or actually six and a half if you discounted Sparks a little—anyway, plenty of us to try to take him down.
I didn’t want to act like a predator, but I had to think of the survival of myself and my friends.
What was truly bothering me was something that had only just occurred to me.
What if we had to kill a dragon to get the blood we needed?
That for me was one big-ass step to take, and not something I really wanted to think about.
First things first, though, I needed to make sure I kept him here.
The way he was looking at me—suspicious, lots of sideways glances—and the rest of the group told me that probably none of this would be easy.
“Lynnette, is there somewhere we could all go so nobody can see us from the street?”
I turned to look at her once I’d spoken. Although I didn’t have a clue if she was psychic or not—or knew a spell that would let her be, or actually anything about the kind of magic she did—I was hoping that she understood what I was trying to do.
Lynnette let out a major huff. “The only place here is the cellar. I let Derek use it as an apartment, so if he doesn’t mind, I suppose we could go down there.”
I turned to look at Derek.
He had obviously heard, as he was nodding like crazy and had a broad smile on his face.
To say I was surprised would be putting it mildly. I’d have thought anyone so anti-social wouldn’t want people in his space.
“It’ll be like a party,” he said, hopping from foot to foot like he needed to pee.
“The cellar it is, then,” I said. “Derek, you show everyone the way. Jevyn, it’ll be better if we’re out of sight. Too many people knowing what’s happened might bring SCAR down on us.”
“What’s SCAR?”
“Supernatural Crime Action and Rehabilitation,” I said. “Basically, death squads for anybody in the supernatural world who they don’t want around or who may be breaking laws. Now that you’re here, you probably fall into that category, so like I say, the cellar will be best.”
“I’d like to check it out first, if you don’t mind. For all I know, this could be a trap,” Jevyn said, poking his head around the corner of every aisle as he moved through the shop.
“I don’t mind at all.” In fact, it couldn’t have worked out any better. I was good in a fight, but I’d never fought a shifter before. I didn’t know for sure if I could have overpowered him.
“Derek, could you show your new friend Jevyn to your cellar?”
Derek nodded vigorously and followed a couple of steps behind Jevyn, just out of reach. Holding my hand up for quiet, I put my finger over my lips and carefully followed them into the back of the shop. It was dim, and there was barely anything in the space, just a couple of big old sofas and a table with a pentagram burned into the top of it. Spooky, but handy.
Derek pulled a black curtain to one side and stood back. He swung the door open, revealing a whole load of darkness beyond. “It’s through there, the light switch is on the wall, and watch out for the stairs. They creak. Are you my friend, Jevyn?”
Jevyn turned his head and stared at Derek, a puzzled look on his face from what I could see in profile. He shook his head, stepped inside and onto the first step, and switched on the light.
I dashed out, yanked the door out of Derek’s feeble grip, and slammed it shut behind Jevyn, leaning on it with all my weight. “Lock the door, Derek,” I hollered.
He stepped back, his hands held over his ears, a look of horrified fear in his face. Damn, I’d forgotten the no-loud-noises rule.
Jevyn hammered against the door. Loudly. I wanted to tell him to hush because he was scaring Derek, but I didn’t think it would make much difference.
Lynnette appeared in the back room.
“Lynnette,” I said as calmly as I could. “Could you get the key from Derek to lock the door?”
She looked at me. Her arms were crossed, one eyebrow was raised, and she looked mighty pissed.
“Why should I? What about my payment?”
“What?”
“I was supposed to get everything we found on the other side.”
I very nearly yelled at her that it was all her and Derek’s fault that we didn’t get through the rip, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to send Derek into another blind panic.
“Can we talk about that in a minute when you get the key from Derek and lock this door? I’ll explain everything, including what you get out of it. Please.” The door rattled behind me as Jevyn pushed hard against it. I wedged my boots on the floor as hard as I could and pushed back, calling on all of the considerable strength the VAMP2 virus gifted me with.
“Please?” I said again.
Lynnette rolled her eyes, unfolded her arms, and approached Derek, who was whimpering in one corner of the room.
After talking to him quietly for a couple of moments, she turned away and produced a key.
“He says you’re not being very friendly.” Lynnette flicked her thumb over her shoulder at where Derek was crouched.
“I’m sorry, Derek. I’ll explain in a minute.” I looked back at Lynnette. “The door?”
Lynnette walked up and turned the key in the lock. It must have been some lock because it held the door completely still, even when Jevyn was trying to batter the door down from the other side. Perhaps it was imbued with magic.
I relaxed against the door for a moment while I got my breath back and then swished the curtain back over to try and deaden the noise. It seemed to help. I looked questioningly at Lynnette.
&nb
sp; “It’s a magic curtain. It blocks all the noise. Derek likes to play heavy metal, loudly.”
“I thought he didn’t like loud noises,” I said, wondering about the contradiction.
“Loud noises, not loud music. It sends him to sleep. He struggles with insomnia, he says.”
I shook my head. It didn’t seem to make sense, but with my head in a spin, not a lot did right then.
By then the rest of the group had made their way in.
“What’s going on?” Nova asked.
“Everybody grab a seat,” I said.
“What did you do with the cute guy?” asked Penny, sitting on one of the sofas and sinking almost into it. I guessed it was soft.
I didn’t answer. I needed to make sure everyone was listening first.
Sparks went over to Derek and squatted down next to him, not touching of course, but as close as she could. She showed him what she was doing on her screen, and after a few moments, Derek was quiet.
Eventually, everyone was sitting. Frankie was looking as though he was having the best time with Lynnette jammed up against him on one side and Penny on the other, while he sat back, knees apart and his arms over the back of the sofa, one behind each of the women.
Lynnette didn’t really look as though she had too many objections, but Penny kept making little displeased noises whenever Frankie moved.
I stayed, standing.
“Okay, so we need to talk,” I said.
“You breaking up with us, Katie?” Frankie said with a chuckle.
“Frankie, listen, this is serious. We need to talk.”
“About my pay?” Lynnette asked, looking hopeful.
“Yeah. Eventually. But we need to talk about something else first.”
“And what would that be?” Nova asked, seeing how serious I was.
“We need to talk about what to do with Jevyn.” I didn’t want to talk about harming him, but that was one of the things we had to decide. We always made decisions as a group.
“Why?” Nova was being as insightful as ever. He knew I would already have thought this through, but he was asking for the others.
“Because, when you guys look at Jevyn, what do you see?”
“A hunk,” said Lynnette, provoking another chuckle from Frankie.
“A very irritated but also very attractive man?” Penny ventured.
“I guess,” said Marty, who had barely said a word through the whole event.
“You okay, Marty?” I asked. “You’ve been kinda quiet.”
“I’m fine. Can we talk later?”
I gave him a confused look. “Uh, sure thing. Anyway, you all see a man, but I see—”
“A dragon,” Sparks said from the corner.
Derek nodded in agreement next to her.
“Yes. A dragon. Jevyn has the exact same markings as the dragon we found and took the blood from.” I said that a little quieter in case Jevyn could hear.
“So, if Jevyn is a dragon, he would have dragon blood. What we have to decide is, if he won’t give up some blood voluntarily, what . . . measures we might need to take. Any thoughts?”
I looked around at everyone, while they looked around at each other.
“Well? Anybody?”
“He’s my friend,” said Derek from the corner. “Please don’t hurt him.”
Chapter Ten
Katie
Lynnette’s shop
Boise, Idaho, Earth
“OKAY,” I SAID, walking purposefully across the hard floor of the back room. “What you’re all saying is that you want me to talk to the guy first. Is that right?”
Everyone nodded except Sparks, who was too busy keeping Derek entertained. Kindred spirits, even if Sparks wasn’t quite as socially awkward as Derek.
“I think we should kill him and be done with it. If we have to drag him around with us, somebody is bound to ask why and want to know who he is. And it’d be a hell of a lot kinder than letting SCAR get a hold of him,” Sparks said, not looking up.
Wow, that was pretty brutal. But she had a point.
Derek shot her a pained look before the game snagged his interest again.
I didn’t think Jevyn would be that much of a problem. In his situation, taken from his home world, he’d probably be grateful for any help we could offer him. We were happy to help him—for a price. I didn’t want to hurt him, but if we did, then it would be for a good reason—protecting and providing for ourselves. It was a matter of survival, and that was always our number one priority.
“I think it’s only right,” Nova said. “We’ve been through all the options, and short of all of us going down there and killing him, I don’t see what other option we have. I mean, I know we’ve occasionally killed zombies for money, but they’re really just the shells of the people who used to occupy those bodies. Killing a dragon who also takes human form? That’d be pretty damn hard. I don’t see that as anything but the absolute last resort.”
Lynnette tsked. She was sitting next to Frankie who, it seemed, was starting to take quite a shine to the black-clad witch. I figured she was still pissed about losing her chance to cross into the world of the dragons and gather up a bunch of loot, but I didn’t feel any urge to deal with that right then. She would just have to sulk. And keep away from Frankie.
“Right. That’s it then. I’ll go talk to him,” I said.
“You can’t go down there alone, Katie. There’s no telling what he might do,” Penny said. She’d taken an emery board out of her purse and was busily filing her nails as if we weren’t in the middle of a crisis.
“So, you wanna come with me?” I asked, giving her a doubtful look.
“I will,” Marty said quickly before Penny had a chance to answer.
I couldn’t quite work out what was going on with Marty. He’d gone very quiet, but he also seemed to be overly protective of me too. I was grateful to have the big guy watching my back, but trying to work out what was going on in his head was another thing for the back burner.
I nodded my acceptance of his offer. If this Jevyn tried anything, he would have to get through Marty first.
I walked over to the curtain and drew it back. The hammering on the door had stopped. When I put my ear to it, I could just hear his heartbeat—a unique quirk of vamp senses that probably had something to do with our blood-seeking natures—and it sounded like it was steady and calm, which could mean he was waiting to pounce on anyone who came in. Or fry them to a crisp. Maybe. I had no idea if dragons actually breathed flame.
As far as I could see, there was only one way to find out. I turned the key that Lynnette had left in the lock and gently opened the door. The light was on, but I couldn’t see any sign of Jevyn at all. Mind you, I couldn’t see a lot of anything but the stairs down, so no surprise there.
“Hey,” I said quietly. “You down there?” I waited for a reply, but all I could hear was breathing and a heartbeat. I was hoping he might reply so I could tell how upset he was with me.
“No, I went home already.” Okay. He was pissed. I didn’t really blame him.
“We need to talk. I need to tell you a few things.”
“Will you be letting me go?” His tone was bored teenager, but he’d already given away that he was pissed.
“That depends. Maybe. Probably.”
“Make up your mind.”
I sighed. “We probably will. It depends how our talk goes.”
“How is that different from what you said the first time around?” The voice was coming from the depths of the cellar. The light from the backroom only penetrated a few feet in but enough to see a light switch on the concrete wall. I wondered where the switch for a heater was. It was freezing down there.
“I dunno. Listen, I’m going to come down with one of my friends. We just want to talk. So no getting crazy.” Or dragon-flamey. “Okay?”
“I won’t. I mean there’s nothing to go crazy about, is there? You open a tear, pull me through, throw me in a cellar like a prisoner, all in th
e first thirty minutes of me arriving. All perfectly understandable, truly.”
“Is that what you really think, or are you just being sarcastic?” I asked. I didn’t know the guy, maybe he was a bit . . . simple?
There was no reply for a second or two, and then he said, “I’ll leave you to work it out.”
“I’m gonna turn on the light. Good?”
He grunted something and muttered under his breath. I couldn’t make out what he was saying. I turned the light on anyway.
Marty went first, which was what I’d expect given his current fit of overprotectiveness. He kept waving me forward as he walked, which I thought was odd as I had every intention of following him anyway. Once we reached the bottom of the steps, I took a look around. It was actually quite a neat space. A double bed against one wall—presumably for if Derek ever got lucky, very lucky—a desk with a lot, and I mean a lot of computer stuff on it, a couple of cupboards, a pair of dressers, a sofa, a small kitchen area, and a door that I assumed led to a bathroom. The white painted concrete walls were adorned with superhero movie posters and a couple of family pictures by the look of them, featuring a much younger looking Derek.
Jevyn was sitting on the sofa, looking very relaxed, which I was pleased about.
Marty stood up, watching closely while I sat on the foot of the bed, opposite Jevyn.
“Hi,” I said, hoping a bit of small talk might cheer him up. He didn’t look pleased, which I guessed was understandable given the circumstances.
“You want to talk? Talk,” he said. Small talk over.
“Yeah.” I ran a hand over my hair.
“About why you put me down here in the dark?”
“Well, kinda.”
“There you go again with your kinda, maybe stuff again.” Jevyn shifted a little on the sofa, and Marty took a step forward. I put my hand up to suggest that everything was good. I got no sense of impending danger from him, and my sense of impending danger had become pretty well refined.
“Sorry.” I stood up a little straighter. “Look, let’s start fresh and see what we can work out between us. I’m Katie.”
“Jevyn. Not particularly pleased to meet you.”
Chasing Legends Page 7