Dirty lying dragons, p.9
Dirty Lying Dragons, page 9
Her words stung more than they should have. Dani looked torn, and hurt. It stung to see the betrayal in her eyes. What the fuck was wrong with me? I’d done far worse in my line of work than offend a witch. But this witch was Dani, and I cared.
“What is it you want?” she asked quietly. “Why bother using bait? If you’re so strong, why not just kill them and save all those witches he’s captured so far?”
A couple of wet tears fell from her cheek, spattering at her feet.
“This is just one branch of a bigger tree,” I said. “I don’t trust them, and a powerful vampire like Apollo can’t go unmonitored. We go there, find out what we can, and take you right back. You won’t even see Apollo, just some distant vampire coven in Russia that’s willing to ship witches over to him.”
She closed her eyes and wiped the tears away on the sleeve of her borrowed sweater.
“And your promise to get me home,” she said softly. “Was that bullshit too?”
If it was, it wasn’t anymore. “No, now it’s your choice. I didn’t know a witch was going to land in front of me, and I didn’t know that witch was going to be you. I’ve told you all of it now, and we’ll do whatever you want. I can get you home a dozen different ways, take you straight to an embassy or a coven or wherever you want to go. But if you’re willing, I’d still like to get to the bottom of the vampires’ plan.”
Her eyes watered, either from my confession or from the biting temperatures. “Apollo will kill me. The wolves he sent after me will find me. It’s going to be really fucking hard to trust you after what you just said.”
She was right. I dropped to my knees on the ground at Dani’s feet, plunging my claws in the soil on either side of me, an ancient pledge the significance of which would be long lost to all but any other dragons that were still out there kicking. Her eyes grew wide but her mouth stayed closed as she observed.
“I swear on my fire. I swear to you, Dani. Trust me, and I will deliver you home safely,” I vowed. “I swear on my fire. I swear on my life. Dani, I promise. If you can trust me, I will protect you with my life so we can find out what’s going on. If you choose to go home, no vampires involved, I’ll swear my life to that instead. Whatever you want to do, I’ll make it happen.”
My head remained bowed. I was a coward, afraid to look at her expression. She may not know exactly what kind of vow I’d just offered her, but she was smart. She’d know it was significant, coming from something like me. Our path forward was in her hands now.
“Living as a human was supposed to be the safer route. What’s the point of being a witch, when we’re at the bottom of the supernatural food chain? None of Mom’s spells and trinkets kept her safe. What keeps you safe is staying out of it altogether.”
“You have to know that’s not true,” I said. “I’m sorry for what happened to your mother, but you can’t cut off what you are. You’re sharp, Dani. You can master your own magic if that’s what bothers you.”
“You don’t know that that’s true,” she said.
“You don’t know that it’s not.”
Her shoulders sagged with the weight of the day. No, the weight of Apollo over her. She had taken her chances without magic, and it still hadn’t worked out for her.
“If I trust you, you had better not let me down,” she said. “I want to know what he’s doing too. I’m not the only one I’m worried for. Promise me you’ll get the other witches out too.”
“I can do that,” I said.
“All right,” Dani whispered. “We have a deal.”
We hiked through the pleasant landscape, catching up with Gavin on the way. When we travel, Gavin and I don’t stop for breaks, not even for food. I thought Dani would complain as I handed her a strip of jerky, but she accepted it without a word. I guess she didn’t want to subject herself to the cold any longer than she had to. And something satisfying settled in my chest when she wanted to walk close to me. I knew it was because of the temperature, but I still enjoyed it.
Just as the sun had topped the trees around us, a sliver of pavement came into view. We reached a small gravel parking lot that led to an empty field intended for a model airplane enthusiast club. It had been abandoned for years now, and was already Gavin’s favorite place to leave his car before coming my way.
“Well, here she is.” Gavin patted the hood of a black jeep. “Don’t scratch the paint.”
Dani eyed the muddy and rusted piece-of-shit car, deciding whether Gavin was serious or not, then climbed in the back.
I got in the front passenger side and turned to Dani. “Scoot over behind Gavin.”
“Why?” she eyed me with suspicion.
“All right then,” I didn’t answer her before I pushed the seat all the way back until I was practically lying down.
“Hey!” She barely scooted out of the way in time, and I got comfortable with my feet on the dashboard and my head almost level with Dani’s shoulder.
“Was that necessary? If we wreck you’re gonna get your feet chopped off,” she grumbled.
“He’ll be all right, Dani,” Gavin chuckled. “Remember, he’s a very old dusty lizard; he needs his naps.”
I growled playfully and crossed my arms behind my head, using them like a pillow.
“How long to Moscow?” Dani asked.
“Three days or so?” Gavin shrugged. “I’ll try to drive fast.”
And I grinned and braced myself for his takeoff.
Gavin barely let the gears hit their proper slot on the shift as he bounced from Reverse, to Drive, to the top gear speed in a few heartbeats. I knew he drove like this, but Dani wasn’t prepared at all.
Her bag went flying onto the floor and she let out a small panicked sound as she clutched at her seat belt, which had only barely been clicked into place on time.
“What the hell, you crazy bastard? Are you trying to kill us?” she cried out.
“Are ya daft? I’m not spendin’ three days on the road.” Gavin cackled happily behind the steering wheel. “We’ll get there in two. Keep a hold of yer tits, we’re goin to Moscow!”
Chapter Eleven
Dani
Imagining what the vampires would do to me was not great for my ability to sleep. We’d gone over the plan about thirty times, and still I was a nervous wreck. A determined nervous wreck though, as we approached the more populated stretches of road.
The trip was exhausting, and I was surprised to wake up to daylight considering I didn’t remember drifting off in the first place. I rubbed the rest of the sleep from my eyes and wiped off what I imagine was a rather attractive spot of drool from my cheek.
Gavin was driving at a relatively safe speed for once, and Ryker was still reclined practically into the backseat next to me. He was resting his eyes but when I stirred, he opened them and gave me a smirk.
“Morning, firecracker,” Ryker rumbled.
“Where are we?” I asked, and glanced at the clock on the front dash. It was flashing zero o’clock so unless we were having an extra-sunshiny midnight I assumed it wasn’t working.
“Not too far now, three hours out maybe?” Gavin said.
“How long was I out?” I asked, a hint of distress creeping into my voice.
“You missed breakfast,” Ryker said. “We were going to stop for lunch soon, and we should be in Moscow before dinner.”
“I’m stoppin’ at Daliah’s the second we get there,” Gavin said.
“Daliah’s?” I asked.
“A bar. There’s food too,” Ryker said. “Gavin bitches about it, but I’ll buy him a drink first thing and he’ll be too piss-drunk to care.”
“That’s a deal right there, Ryker.” Gavin grinned, picking up speed and I reflexively clutched my seat belt in a death grip.
Gavin continued to drive like that for a while, though nothing like he had the afternoon we’d left. I guess the guys didn’t feel like chatting either, because after a few minutes of silence Gavin popped in another old rock album and blasted me with guitars and drums through the speakers as we flew down the road.
A bag of chips for lunch and a few hours later, we finally, finally found ourselves on the outskirts of Moscow.
I watched the buildings go by as they became more densely packed. We were definitely reaching the land of suburbia that surrounds most cities. One good thing about it was Gavin was forced to slow down to match the rest of the cars.
“About there,” Ryker said, turning off the music. “Plenty of time. It will still be a few hours before the leeches are up and moving.”
The leeches. Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself of all the reasons I needed to do this. If something like a dragon had any interest in stopping Apollo, I could help make the world a much safer place for people like me. Witches, outcasts, weak magic users. If I could help make that happen, it would be worth it.
We twisted and turned around the neighborhoods until finally reaching a more commercial area. It wasn’t at all what I had expected Moscow to look like. I guess I pictured those colorful round dome-shaped buildings from the textbooks that I admittedly hadn’t paid much attention to in school. Instead, I was met with smooth, clean lines of offices and storefronts. If it weren’t for all the signs being in Russian, I would have thought I was back in Chicago.
We made a sudden turn into an alleyway and drove down the narrow space between tall buildings, making the sky appear much darker than it was on the main roads. Then, it opened up and revealed a good-sized parking lot and Gavin pulled in. The air became charged with power, and my mouth went dry. The magic in the air kept this place separate, different from the street just feet away from us. I bet there were wards to repel wandering humans from coming in.
The mix of cars parked here was interesting, to say the least, from motorcycles to luxury sports cars to junky sedans that were older than me. I could only imagine the collection of clientele that this place must have inside, and about the only guarantee I had about them was that nothing here was going to be human.
“Is this Daliah’s?” I asked skeptically.
“Sure is.” Gavin parked and turned off the engine.
Ryker got out of the car, and so did Gavin. I followed suit as they headed toward a cellar entrance that had no signage or windows to it, just a worn red door and a welcome mat that read no humans in bold black letters. Most actual humans would probably think it was a joke, but to me and any other creatures that weren’t it was a clear indicator of who to find inside.
“A supernatural bar,” I noted.
“I’m not drinkin’ in a place where I can’t tell my best stories, and all my best stories involve knives and wolves and how to put them together,” Gavin scoffed.
One step deeper in the magic, I guess.
Ryker pushed open the door and as we walked inside, I got a good look. The room was clean but had such a large amount of decoration cluttering the walls that I felt sorry for whatever being was responsible for dusting. Trinkets and folk art from every part of the world stared down at me. Masks, strings of beads, hand-painted fans, sketches of magical creatures, hand-blown glass items, colorful clay sculptures, and much more were attached to the sage-colored walls or sitting on thick wooden shelves.
A bar took up the entire back section and my eyes flicked up to the shelves, comparing them to Dad’s place. I instantly recognized this particular establishment’s taste in alcohol matched mine exactly. Alcoholic content high; taste quality irrelevant.
“Nice,” I muttered under my breath, watching the girl behind the counter top off a pint of something amber-colored and slide it down the bar to a seated warlock, who immediately started to drain it like his life depended on it. A pang hit my chest as I missed my best friend. Jerod would love this place. Jerod would wreck this place. Jerod would wrap the patrons of this bar around his charming little finger.
The tables and booths were almost all full, and just about every kind of creature one could imagine was in them. A few demons, a couple of witches—I stood to Ryker’s left in the hope that they wouldn’t see me and start trouble—warlocks and a few fae, and your average assembly of werewolves.
“I’ll get ’em,” Ryker said and headed to the petite girl at the bar.
“Absolutely not, yer gonna buy that bitter shit like last time,” Gavin complained, then turned to me. “I’ll get us on the right track, you find a table.”
“And food please! Anything resembling a vegetable.”
Gavin winked before the two of them disappeared into the crowd around the bar. I swept my eyes around the tables until I found an empty one.
Sliding into a seat, keeping my awareness up as much as I could, I noted it didn’t look like we were sitting near anything particularly troublesome. To my left was a petite woman by herself; to my right a table of guys minding their own business. Yellow eyes—a pack of wolves, most likely.
But I was being left alone, and that was just fine by me. Until a stout man with a blond buzz cut knocked into my chair on his way to the table of wolf shifters next to me. He glared down at me as though I was a piece of shit he had stepped in before turning to put two pitchers on his table with his buddies.
I clenched my fists under the table. What I wouldn’t give to put him in his place, but here I didn’t have the magic to back me up. To level the playing field.
“What a brute.” The petite woman from my left piped up, her American accent familiar.
Her hood was drawn, obscuring her face in shadow. Her bright eyes and a peak of orange pixie cut made her look young; not that it meant she was. Not in this crowd. The startling thing about her was that I couldn’t place what she was, and that usually meant power. An upsetting amount of it, as far as I was concerned.
“Hello there,” she said with a smile as she raised her glass. “Care to join me?”
I hesitated, not sure what manner of being I may offend if I said no. “I’m waiting for someone.”
“That’s okay, we can talk from here until they get back.” She had mischief in her eyes and wore it like a familiar accessory. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Probably not great. “Is that fine with you, Miss Witch?”
Yeah, not great.
“Sure . . .”
“Oh, excuse me.” She grinned and practically transformed before my eyes. Not physically—she kept most of her features the same—but her ears elongated, something shifted in her eyes, and tiny fangs protruded from her lips. I was hit with a burst of cinnamon to my nose.
“Fae?” I asked.
“You may call me Caroline.” She beamed. “A pleasure to meet you.”
“You may call me Dani,” I offered in the safest way to greet a faerie. If one wasn’t careful, you could give up your true name or worse.
“Oh, I know,” she said. “I’ve been waiting here for you. I have presents.”
She has what?
“I don’t understand, have we met before?” I asked slowly.
“No, but we will again. Before I forget.” She pulled a small bag from her pocket and tossed it to me. “You’ll need all of those things so be sure not to lose them.”
“Okay?” I said.
“I mean it, it’s essential. The fates are going to weave us together, you and my people.” The intensity of her eyes was a bit much, but if she was a fae then she was telling the truth, since one of their limitations was an inability to lie. A chill ran down my arms, leaving goose bumps in its wake.
“Fate?” I asked. I believed in it, always had and always will. But I didn’t like it being brought up, not so directly and not from a stranger.
Her smile softened. “I get ahead of myself sometimes. Muddled timelines up here, you see.” She tapped her head with long fingers. “Let me try this again. Dani, I’ve come to meet you because I feel compelled to. I know you have a path ahead of you that I can’t alter and I can’t fully see, but on the other end of it you and I will meet again and be of great help to each other.”
“Are you prophetic or something?” I asked.
She shook her head with a laugh, but it wasn’t really an answer. “I have a lot going on, we’ll leave it at that. So, about the bag, pinky promise?” She stuck her hand out to me, little finger extended with a pout to her bottom lip.
I eyed the bag she had tossed on my table; it looked harmless enough. Still . . .
“No. Personal rule. I don’t make deals with the fae,” I tried to say as inoffensively as I could. Her eyes sparkled with amusement.
“Smart rule. Too bad you’ll break it,” she murmured. “Nice to finally meet you in person, Dani. Now, I’ve got some international court business to attend. If only I didn’t have to see Katia’s face for another century . . .”
“Wait,” I said. “What do you mean I’ll need the things in this bag?”
“I don’t know the whole story, just snippets.” Caroline shook her head. “But I can tell you one thing: my people are going to be key in your future survival and you’ll be a part of ours. I’ll try to find out more before then, if I can.”
My fingers gripped the seat of my chair tighter as I stared at this faerie, telling me I was about to be mixed up with her people. “Looks like your friends are coming back. Take care, Dani. I’ll see you later.” She stood, dusted off her clothes, and left with a wink.
“Hold on—” I started, but Caroline made herself scarce as Gavin and Ryker spotted me at the table. The guys carried three mugs and a pitcher between them, as well as plates, including a bowl of veggies. They headed over, and most creatures within arm’s reach of the dragon shifter leaned out of his way as he passed. Could they tell what he was, or were they just sensing how powerful he was? The dragon sat down, sliding mugs to me and Gavin while the latter plopped the pitcher in the middle of the table with a satisfied sigh.
“Ahh, that’s what I’m here for.” Gavin grinned.
