Playing With Fire

by C. J. Hill

  While she drove, she listened to the sounds of the dragon enclosure. She usually heard a scattering of roars, thumps, and other animal noises, along with the piped-in music Overdrake used to muffle whatever the vets might be saying. Before long, those noises faded, replaced by the rhythmic beat of dragon wings.

  Was Dirk flying toward their meeting spot on a dragon or was Overdrake out flying somewhere? Dirk wouldn’t bring a dragon to a populated place. If he was the rider, he would leave the dragon hidden someplace and then fly the rest of the way to the meeting spot alone. Whatever the case, he would have his powers turned on and she wouldn’t.

  Tori received several driving instructions from him. Half an hour later, she was in Potomac, Maryland, sitting in an empty parking lot next to an office building—not the kind of secluded location she’d imagined Dirk would choose. One other vehicle sat in the lot, a covered jeep. Last time Tori saw Dirk, he’d driven a black Porsche. She doubted the jeep was his. Still, she got out of the car and texted, I’m here.

  “I know you are.” Dirk’s voice called from behind her. She turned to see him gliding down from the roof of the office building, his blond hair dimmed to brown in the evening light. His blue eyes looked dark too, but she’d looked into them enough times that she knew what color they really were—the cheery, open blue of the sky in summer.

  He wasn’t holding a kennel. Where was Brindy?

  Dirk hovered in the air out of Tori’s reach, watching her suspiciously, checking to see if he could sense any deceit or betrayal in her emotions. “Did you tell anyone you were meeting me?”

  Only Aaron. How was she going to explain that?

  He must have picked up on the spike of guilt. He shook his head in disappointment. “You told someone, didn’t you?”

  “Not the Slayers,” she insisted. “I told a friend I was going to talk to you tonight. It was perfectly harmless. No one followed me. Nobody is lying in wait.”

  He drifted closer. “Did you bring your Slayer watch?”

  “No.”

  “You don’t have anyone tracking your car or phone?”

  “I hope not. That would mean my parents are getting way too overprotective. They’ve already got a bodyguard shadowing me half the time.” She was nervous, and it was making her talk too much. She put her hands in her coat pockets to give them something to do besides clenching at her side. “I came alone, just like I said.”

  Dirk landed on the pavement beside her. She’d forgotten how tall he was, how broad-shouldered. She hadn’t forgotten how striking he was. His looks were memorable.

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Why did you tell a friend you were talking to me tonight?”

  How should she word her answer? She spoke slowly, hiding as much emotion as she could. “I’ve mentioned you to certain friends. Girls talk about guys. You come up in conversation sometimes. It’s a thing.”

  He’d picked up on her evasiveness, of course, but he seemed to come up with his own reason for it. He bit back a smile. “You talk about me to your friends?”

  “Some of them.”

  “Do you tell them I’m the dangerous bad boy type?”

  “Oh, they know.”

  He was smiling still, that easy, casual expression he wore so well. “But I’m charming, too, so that makes up for my bad side.”

  “Not always.” She folded her arms. “And speaking of your bad side, are you holding to your promise that this meeting isn’t a trap?”

  If he had changed his mind and meant to overpower her, she couldn’t do much to protect herself. Not when he had his powers and she didn’t have hers.

  “No trap,” he said. “It’s all on the up and up.”

  “So I won’t end up drugged like Shang?”

  He didn’t flinch at the accusation. “I’ve never wanted you to lose your memories. I can’t say the same about Shang. I don’t mind that he doesn’t remember hating me.”

  She peered around the parking lot. “So where’s Brindy?”

  Dirk pointed toward the jeep. “Over there.” He glided that direction, and she followed. A kennel sat behind one of the wheels, and Brindy lay inside, sleeping. A fluffy pink blanket covered her, and half a dozen small stuffed animals were wedged around the edges. The dog’s muzzle draped over a bright pink flamingo.

  “Brindy!” Tori called, stepping closer.

  The dog didn’t open her eyes. She was breathing, but unconscious. Tori put her hand on the top of the kennel. “What’s wrong with her?”

  “She’s just sedated. I figured she’d freak out less about flying that way.”

  Tori wished Brindy were awake. She wanted proof that her dog was all right, and she wanted to assure Brindy that she was safe now.

  “The stuffed animals are from Bridget,” Dirk said. “Oh, and she drew this for you.” He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her. It was a crayon rendition of a smiling girl standing by a brown dog. Blue hearts filled the rest of the paper.

  “It’s Bridget and Brindy,” Dirk said. “She wanted you to know how much Brindy will miss her so you’ll bring her back to visit.”

  Tori refolded the picture and put it in her pocket. “Tell her thanks, but I won’t be visiting any time soon.”

  “I’m sorry my dad did this.” Dirk shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, looking uncomfortable. “He’s so used to getting what he wants by force, I don’t think it ever occurs to him there’s another way.”

  “Another way to intimidate me?”

  “Another way to keep you out of the fight. When I made him promise not to hurt you, he felt he had to find other methods of persuading you.”

  Dirk made it sound so civilized, like his father had a polite disagreement with her. “He threatened to feed my family to dragons. Is that sort of thing all right with you?” Really, how could Dirk be this way? How could he hand her cute pictures from his sister and then casually explain his father’s motives, as if it were okay to brutally kill innocent people?

  “I’ve told him to leave your family out of it, just like I told him not to kill your dog.” Dirk gestured at the kennel to prove that Brindy was safe. “He listened to me about Brindy. He’ll leave your family alone too.”

  Tori folded her arms. “Your father told me that if I didn’t stay out of his business, he’d make my parents watch my sister’s death. You’re saying he didn’t mean it? How am I supposed to believe that?”

  Dirk shrugged apologetically. “I never said he wasn’t mad at you.”

  “Mad?” she sputtered. “He told me how dragons killed their prey. You don’t do that unless you mean mad as in insanely sociopathic.” She held her hands out, palms up, pleading. “Come back with me. I know a safe place you can go.” She meant with his mother. Given half a chance, Bianca would take Dirk.

  He reached over and picked up the kennel with one hand as though it weighed nothing. “I’ll help you put Brindy in your car.” The dog weighed over a hundred pounds without the cage. The ease with which he carried it was a reminder that Dirk had his extra strength now, a reminder that he was dangerous.

  He strode to her car, opened the back door, and slid the kennel onto the seat.

  “Now let’s go somewhere better to talk.” He held out his hands and drifted off the ground, a signal that he wanted to carry her.

  She shook her head. “I never said I would go anywhere else with you.”

  Another shrug. “You never said you wouldn’t.”

  She took a step backward. “I don’t think our agreement requires me to tell you all of the things I won’t do.”

  He grinned, gliding nearer. “I don’t know—it seems like a reasonable assumption. I told you I wouldn’t lead you into a trap, so I presumed we were listing things we wouldn’t do. And while we’re on the subject, I won’t go salsa dancing, or visit abstract art exhibits, or run away with you to Vegas.” He looked upward as if reconsidering. “Okay, maybe you can talk me into Vegas.”

  “Dirk—” she started.

/>   He didn’t let her finish. In one swift motion he flew over, swept her into his arms and took to the sky.

  Chapter 34

  The cold night air rushed around Tori. She tried to twist out of Dirk’s embrace, but her right arm was pinned against him, and he had hold of her left. Kicking was useless against his strength. All she could do was slam her head into his shoulder in protest. He didn’t even wince at this action.

  Without her Slayer powers, she couldn’t hurt him, let alone get away. And even if she could break free from his grasp, they’d already flown too high for her to keep trying. The parking lot was shrinking beneath them, becoming perilously small.

  “Put me down!” she yelled. “You said you only wanted to talk!”

  She was frustrated with herself as much as she was with him. She’d trusted him and come here without backup.

  “And we will talk,” Dirk said. “At a different location. Hey, I’m sweeping you off your feet. I thought girls liked that.”

  He was kidnapping her. Earlier, when he promised he wouldn’t, why hadn’t she sensed deceit? “How did you do it?” She suddenly wanted to know this information as much as she wanted to be on firm ground again. “How did you lie without me being able to tell?”

  “I didn’t lie to you,” he said. “I’m not kidnapping you. I’m just . . . borrowing you for a while.”

  “That’s arguing semantics, and you know it.” Was it so easy to fool the counterpart lie detector? Why hadn’t she figured that out before?

  “I’m doing this for your own good,” Dirk went on. Below them, buildings looked like blocks lined up in rows.

  She tried to free her arms again. Couldn’t. “I left a note for my parents telling them everything. If I don’t come back, they’ll know who your father is and what he’s doing. They’ll know your dad has me.”

  Dirk must have reached the height he wanted. He leveled out, heading toward the Potomac River. “You’re so quick to abandon faith. You don’t need to be that way.” He shifted her in his grip, slipping one arm under her knees and letting her back rest against his other arm. “If we keep going straight, we’ll come in range of my dragon, and your powers will turn on. Then you’ll have the strength to fight me, although let’s be realistic—we both know how that match would turn out. I’m bigger and stronger and can call a dragon to help me. So let’s agree not to fight, okay?”

  “Seriously?” she asked, disbelief giving the word extra bite. “You’re taking me somewhere against my will and then asking me not to fight you?”

  “I want to show you a dragon without having to haul you there kicking and screaming. That’s all I’m planning to do tonight—show you that dragons aren’t the monsters you think they are.”

  Monsters was a pretty accurate term, but she still felt the relief kicking in. He wasn’t bringing her to his father. She would have her powers soon. And she might even get Dirk to tell her something about controlling dragons.

  They flew over homes, yards, and twisting streets. Darkened, silent places that stared back at them, unaware. “I’m asking you to be open minded for one night. Then you can go back to your car. And if you’re not convinced, tomorrow you can go on hating dragons. Just give me your word that you’ll come peaceably. Otherwise I’ll have to come up with another way to do this, and I’d rather not.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “I haven’t let myself plan that far,” he said. “If I’d planned a serious kidnapping, you would have detected it.” He tilted his face to the side to better see hers. “Of course, that doesn’t mean I can’t make those plans right now. I could probably find some lonely tower to lock you up in. It worked for Rapunzel.” He had the nerve to grin at her. “So what’s it going to be? Are you coming willingly, or do I have to invent a nefarious plan B?”

  Tori desperately wanted to learn about dragons from him, but she didn’t like this arrangement. She didn’t like being tricked and forced into whatever he was planning. He’d proven she couldn’t trust him. What else might he do?

  “I’ll come willingly,” she said. “As long as you promise to let me go home afterward.” She agreed before she could think of other things she might do instead. Like fight him. Or call Jesse on her cell phone so he could contact the other Slayers. Or kill his stupid dragon. That was the trick. Say it while you meant it.

  Dirk smiled. He believed her. “We’ve got a deal.” They’d reached the river and he turned to follow its trailing waters. “I brought Khan tonight. I’ll show you how to ride him. You’ll love it.”

  She doubted that, but she’d be as nice about all of this as possible. Dirk could sense her emotions, so if she was genuinely feeling nice, he’d teach her more.

  “I’ll give dragon riding a try,” she said. “But I can’t promise to love it.”

  She forced herself to think of the good times she’d had with Dirk. The letters he’d written to her after camp when she’d been lonely for her Slayer friends. How he’d saved her life more than once. How he helped the Slayers defeat the first dragon—Dirk’s own dragon—and warned them about the second attack, giving them time to prepare.

  Dirk wasn’t a villain at heart. He was a good person who’d been brainwashed by his father.

  And he was her counterpart.

  She relaxed in his arms and even laid her head against his shoulder, using his warmth to protect herself against the cold rush of wind. He smelled of aftershave and smoke. Dragon smoke, she supposed.

  He soared toward a group of wooded islands that spread out in the middle of the river, breaking it into channels. Tori felt a surge of energy—the rush of her Slayer powers turning on. Her vision grew crisp, and she could make out the shapes of the individual trees below. She must be close to the dragon, would reach Khan within a few minutes.

  “I can fly by myself now,” she told Dirk. “Let go, and I’ll follow you.”

  He didn’t loosen his grip on her. “I like holding you.”

  “Who’s not trusting who now?” she asked. “Are you afraid that if you let go of me, I’ll be able to outfly both you and your dragon?” She settled back into his arms. “Maybe you have a point. You’d better carry me.” She knew Dirk couldn’t resist a challenge.

  “I’ve already proved I’m the faster flyer,” he said. “I got away from you on Halloween.”

  “No, I kept up with you until my powers faded.”

  “I let you keep up with me because I wanted to talk to you.”

  She pulled her right arm away from his chest and wrapped it around his neck. “Go ahead and tell that to yourself if it helps smooth your ego. I know how important that macho stuff is to guys.”

  “Fine.” He shifted her in his arms, took her hand, then let her loose to fly beside him. She could have broken his grip and darted off, maybe even zoomed away from the river and lost him. She didn’t.

  Instead, she flew beside him, gliding lower through the night as they headed toward a long island. Hundreds of trees grew on it, all looking like bunchy, jagged silhouettes. From the shore, the trees probably did a fair job of hiding the dragon. But from above picking him out was easy.

  Khan was large and black, resting like a cat sunning itself. His wings were folded to his sides, and his tail snaked through several trees. As Dirk and she approached, he lifted his long neck and watched them lazily, unconcerned.

  Alarm bells went off in Tori’s brain, ringing warnings. Every instinct told her to fight or retreat. The memory of the last two dragon fights flashed through her mind in a panicked blur of images. The fire and screeches, the claws and teeth, all hurtling toward her. The smell returned too, oily and wild—the scent of something before it bursts into flame. She stopped in the air, making Dirk yank backward.

  He pulled her forward. “Don’t worry. I have control of him.”

  She reluctantly let herself be towed along. “How do I know that?” She needed to press the issue, not because she didn’t believe him, but to get Dirk to tell her how he controlled a dragon. “That thing
could kill me with one bite.” She felt like she’d already drawn too close.

  “I’ve been working with dragons since I was a kid,” Dirk said. “I know when I have control.”

  She could make out the diamond-shaped covering on his forehead, a casing dragon lords used so the dragon’s signal wouldn’t inadvertently create more Slayers while outside.

  Khan’s large golden eyes followed them as they descended, tracking their movements. Cat eyes, with the same inherent smugness. Even though the dragon showed no signs of aggression, Tori couldn’t think of him as anything but fifty tons of different ways to die.

  “I went into Kiha’s mind once,” Tori said. “But I couldn’t control her.”

  “It wasn’t that you couldn’t control her; it was that my dad wouldn’t let you. Big difference.” Dirk led Tori toward the ground. They landed in front of the dragon, only a few feet away. Close enough that Khan could have taken them out with one claw. Dirk kept hold of her hand.

  Tori completely forgot what point she’d been trying to make. Her whole body went stiff, taut with energy. A voice came to her mind—her own voice this time—shouting at her to rocket away from this place. She took deep breaths to calm herself. Dragons could smell fear in sweat and adrenaline. She wasn’t doing herself any favors by acting like a potential dinner.

  Khan lowered his head toward Tori. She flinched, straining against Dirk’s grip on her hand.

  He pulled her closer to him, perhaps to keep her on the ground. “It’s okay. Khan is just getting your scent like a dog would. He’s curious about you. Think of him as a big poodle.”

  “Poodles don’t want to eat you.”

  “Well, you never know. They might.”

  She didn’t laugh.

  “Watch.” He turned to the dragon. “Raise your front leg.”

  The dragon lifted one of his massive feet from the ground and held it there, claws limp.