Courts and Cabals 2 Page 4

  “You smell of Fae, but are not Fae. You smell of the snack, and the half-blood . . . but,” her eyes slid down to Lilith’s unconscious form, and I gulped when I saw they were a vertical reptilian slit. “I know her.”

  I hadn’t realized a pressure was holding me in place until it was gone. I wouldn’t have been able to run even if I wanted to. “What the fuck are you?” the realization coaxed a drop of pee out of me.

  Thankfully, whatever she was, she couldn’t read minds. She looked down at Lilith with something approaching affection, and then looked up. The hum of the chopper’s blades was getting closer.

  “Let’s retire to my home for tea and introductions,” she swept her arm regally at the mini-mansion. “If you wish, I can carry her?”

  At her request, I gripped Lilith tighter and brought her closer to my chest. “I got it,” I tried to sound appreciative, but utterly failed. Whatever she heard in my tone; it made her smile.

  Without her magic holding me in place, I was able to move. I sprinted toward the porch, propelled more by the fear of her than the team of UN operatives in the chopper.

  “Fuckin’ wait for me, stupid mother . . .” Dani cursed as she hauled ass to catch up. Her face was still whiter than a new bedsheet, but she’d gotten back some of her sass. When she reached the porch, she grabbed on and didn’t let go. “I can’t believe we were stupid enough to come here,” her eyes were still wide, and she jumped at the sound of the door creaking closed behind them.

  Before I could ask her what she was talking about, the woman was back among us with tea and biscuits. She placed them on a table that looked like it belonged in a museum and not in someone’s living room. In fact, there were a lot of things that looked way too old and expensive to be in someone’s home.

  I laid Lilith down on the couch, where Dani and Xamira hovered protectively over her as the woman poured the tea. I scanned the room, and my eyes locked on a rusted old . . . something. It looked like a mix between a gravy boat and a tea kettle. Whatever it was, it was old. I found myself reaching for it without thinking. Something about it drew me in.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the woman’s voice broke the trance I was in. “The Djinn are notorious tricksters. The wishes they grant always do more harm than good.”

  I didn’t know what a djinn was, but the warning in her tone was enough for me. I stepped back as she held a cup of tea out to me. I accepted it with a cautious look and sniff. That made her smile.

  “If I wanted you dead, you would have been the moment you stepped across my wards, not-quite-Fae,” she laughed, and it sounded like a rumble of thunder before a tornado. “But where are my manners, she waved me to the couch, and took a seat in a chair across from us.” She still looked like a predator who’d cornered her prey, but the sense of impending violence that had been with her earlier was gone.

  “You may call me Via, and this is my home,” she began the introductions.

  “I am Xamira, Daughter of Aden, of the Venetian Cabal,” Xamira began.

  “Dani Underwood,” the dwarf answered rapidly, not meeting the other woman’s eye.

  “Cameron Dupree,” I stated lamely, but I caught her eyes sparkle in recognition.

  “So, you’re the one all the fuss is about,” she leaned forward in her seat, which made us all lean back. “That one’s mother is mildly obsessed with you, and that isn’t necessarily a good thing. It does explain why you are here, and why that incessant, metal insect is buzzing closer and closer,” she glared at the ceiling. “What is wrong with young Lilith?”

  I blushed involuntarily. I wasn’t about to tell some stranger I force-fed her my cum. Xamira wasn’t sure how to answer, and Dani was keeping her mouth shut.

  “She smells . . .” Via took a deep breath, “full of power; too much power.”

  “She is,” Xamira answered. It was the best way to phrase the situation without getting my dick involved. “Can you help?”

  I felt like it was dangerous to ask this woman for help, but we were down our supernatural heavyweight, and the roof was practically vibrating from the sound of the approaching helicopter. It didn’t seem like we had a choice.

  “She reeks of you,” Via’s tone wasn’t accusatory, but there was something else there I couldn’t identify. “So, I’ll ask your permission before I help.”

  “Do it.” Indecision was weakness to this mysterious woman, and I didn’t want to show any more of it.

  Via smiled, put down her tea cup, and approached. Xamira stepped away, and Dani practically jumped behind me. Via ran her hands over Lilith’s sleeping face, and down her naked body. It was almost possessive. Then, she slithered up Lilith’s buxom frame. It would have been hot as hell if Via wasn’t so terrifying. Her eyes were back to reptilian slits, and I couldn’t help the flee sensation my hindbrain produced.

  Eventually, Via came to rest on top of Lilith; face-to-face. She opened the succubus’s mouth with fingernails I noticed were about an inch too long, and unnaturally pointy. She took another sniff and met my gaze with a toothy grin that told me she knew what my jizz had done. Despite the knowledge, she opened her mouth and placed it above Lilith’s. Their lips never met. In fact, all Via did was take a deep breath. At first, nothing happened. Then, it looked like little embers floated up from Lilith’s face into Via’s open mouth.

  “My, what a big mouth you have.” I’d seen stuff on national geographic about animals that could unhinge their jaw so it opened wider. At the moment, Via’s jaw looked like it could swallow Lilith’s head whole.

  The single ember became two, then a dozen, and then an avalanche of sparks shot from Lilith into the older woman. It lasted maybe five seconds before Via’s mouth snapped shut and she sat up. Her eyes were normal, but they were a little unfocused, and my jaw dropped as she reached up and squeezed her breasts.

  “Exquisite.” The rumble that came out of her throat could be construed as a purr, but I couldn’t think of a cat big enough with a purr that made your bones rumble.

  Her eyes locked with mine, and seemed to draw me in. I took a step, and would have walked right down her gullet if Lilith hadn’t sat up and screamed like a banshee.

  “Look out!” her hands flashed, and emerald fire erupted from them.

  Via hissed as she stepped in front of the flames. The fire stopped when it touched her flesh, and her robe was vaporized under the intense heat. Her body glowed for a second as the fire died away, and while my eyes were initially focused on her erect nipples, other aspects of her quickly came to the forefront of my mind. First off were the scales. Select portions of her body were covered with them. They glowed red under the fading heat before disappearing all together. One second, she looked like something that had crawled out of the core of the earth, and the next, she was a normal, naked, but extremely fit woman.

  “I would take it as a courtesy if you didn’t burn down my home, child. That would be ironic to say the least,” Via waved off the inferno like it was nothing.

  Lilith’s eyes were wide and panicky for a few seconds as she took in her surroundings. Once she saw me, Dani, and Xamira, she relaxed a tad.

  “Good, you didn’t eat her,” she pointed her thumb at Dani, and I felt my jaw drop.

  “Fuck you too,” Dani replied by displaying another finger.

  Via rolled her eyes, and gestured for Lilith to join her in the kitchen. We all started to follow, but Lilith waved us off. Apparently, this was above our paygrade. With them gone, Dani seemed to be able to fully freak out.

  “No fuckin’ way I’m getting out of here alive. No fuckin’ way,” she paced back and forth, looking at the kitchen door like it was going to eat her.

  Xamira leaned against the wall, but her eyes never left the door, and she didn’t look much happier.

  “What the hell is going on?” I asked, trying to act casual as I took a seat in the chair Via had vacated. I used one of the pillows to cover my junk and give me a modicum of privacy.

  Dani stopped and g
lared at me. “That’s right, you don’t know shit about my people,” she let out a breath and tried to regain control. “What do you think Via’s full name is?”

  The question surprised me. “I don’t know, Olivia?” I ventured a guess.

  Dani just laughed and Xamira shook her head. “No, it’s not Olivia,” Dani drew closer. “Try, Vesuvia.”

  “Vesuvia, like Mount Vesuvius in Italy. The one that destroyed Pompeii and all that?”

  Everyone knew about the eruption that destroyed the Roman city. They’d even made a movie about it with the guy from Game of Thrones.

  “Okay, her name sounds like a volcano that killed thousands of people,” I had a bad feeling where this was headed. “So, whoever named her has a hard-on for history,” I shrugged.

  That got a laugh out of Dani. A sad laugh, but it was better than complete fear. “She wasn’t named by anyone. She is named for the event that birthed her.”

  “Birthed?” I scratched my head, before a little tidbit of information I’d learned a long time ago resurfaced. “Oh shit,” my face paled, and I couldn’t believe I’d consented to her lying on top of Lilith.

  “There it is,” Xamira shook her head, embarrassed that it had taken me this long.

  I gulped as the words finally came to me. “Via is a nearly two-thousand-year-old dragon.”

  “Got it in one,” Dani fought back a shiver and collapsed onto the couch as far away from the kitchen door as possible.

  If you wanted to get technical about it, dragons fell into the shifter species; but that was like saying an eighteen-wheeler and a jalopy were both powered by internal combustion engines. It was true, but no one would consider them the same. What’s more, full blooded dragons were extremely rare. As Dani had pointed out, they were born of the fires of the earth itself during a volcanic eruption of sufficient magnitude. The last dragon to be born was back in 1980 during Mount Saint Helen’s eruption.

  I’d never seen a dragon before, and neither had most humans. They kept to themselves and their horde, “which explains why there is a bunch of old, expensive shit in this house,” I suddenly became very conscious of where my hands and feet were. Dragons were famous for protecting their horde . . . with extreme prejudice.

  From what I knew, the legends had been pretty accurate about dragons; although, Saint George had likely never killed one. They were one of the strongest preternatural species; fast, tougher than all hell, and with shifted forms that could dwarf aircraft carriers. Like most magical things, they grew stronger with age, and considering how long earth’s volcanos had been erupting . . . I shivered to think about what that meant. Thankfully, for mankind, dragons also didn’t give a shit about mundane squabbles as long as they didn’t intrude on the dragon’s horde or privacy. I don’t think the UN had ever set up a dragon hunting division; likely because it was a futile waste of money.

  “How . . .why . . .?” I struggled to understand why we were here, but then the kitchen door opened.

  “. . . and thank you,” Lilith finished whatever they’d been talking about. “Cam,” she waved me over, “Via has agreed to help us if she can have a moment alone with you.”

  I froze like a deer in headlights. Armed with my new knowledge, my body rebelled against the thought of being alone with her. Lilith frowned at my hesitation, but Via smiled that toothy smile that nearly had me peeing myself again.

  “I promise no harm will come to you,” Via sounded bored as she turned on her heel and vanished through the door. I didn’t follow.

  “Dragons don’t lie,” Lilith explained as she gave my shoulder a comforting squeeze.

  “Don’t or can’t?” I asked. There was a big difference.

  “Don’t,” she repeated. “when you live so long, your word has to mean something. If she says she won’t harm you, she won’t.” With that settled, Lilith slapped my ass to get me moving.

  I entered the kitchen cautiously and found the dragon waiting at the island table. The kitchen was a mix of black and white marble, subway tile, and expensive stainless-steel appliances. Via might be old, but she clearly liked the finer things.

  “Sit, young warrior,” she waved to the chair next to her. I took a seat, but instinctually leaned away. That amused her. “Don’t fret, I don’t usually bite,” I notice the qualification she added to technically be telling the truth. “All I want is a good sniff,” she leaned in and did just that.

  The hair all over my body stood up as a wave of magic passed through me. Surprisingly, my dick wasn’t standing at attention like every nerve in my body. Her magic was different than Lilith’s, and I smelled charcoal for some reason. I sneezed as the scent became overwhelming.

  “Aren’t you a conundrum,” she leaned back. “I can see why Lilith’s mother is obsessed. It has been a long time since I’ve met one of your kind.”

  “What?” all nervousness fell away at the comment. “You know what’s wrong with me?”

  That made her laugh her rumbling, terrifying laugh. “Wrong? There is nothing wrong with you. There is something very, very right about you, young warrior. In time, you will learn that, but beware,” her tone dropped. “My old friend always has plans of her own. She is a spider and her webs will snare you if you are not careful.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” exasperation saturated my reply, but Via had already snapped her fingers and the other three women joined us.

  “Are you ready to begin your journey?” the dragon asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Ready.”

  “I want to get the fuck out of here,” the three women replied in their own way.

  Via ignored Dani and made a circular motion with her hands. More embers flashed into existence. They formed a circle and started to swirl. They increased in strength and speed until a roaring fire blazed in a circle with a black nothingness at the center. I had an idea what the hell was going on, but none of the legends ever talked about dragons being able to do this.

  “I can’t get you all the way home. They will be able to identify the powerful surge of my magic at both points,” Via shrugged, like being an enormously powerful being was an inconvenience. “I’ve masked the exit point with another, scheduled ritual. You should be safe for a while, and you’re fairly close to your final destination.”

  “Thank you, ancient one,” Lilith bowed before being the first to step into the six-foot blackness at the center of the fire. Her naked, bloodstained ass simply vanished.

  Dani was next, and Via made a snapping noise with her teeth as the dwarf sprinted past. The dragon laughed at the wave of fear that followed Dani into the blackness. Xamira walked through next, leaving just me and the dragon.

  “Why do you torment Dani like that?” I felt something stiffen my spine enough to challenge her. Dani was my friend, and I didn’t like people fucking with her.

  Via just lifted an eyebrow and shrugged. “We dragons love our mountains, and a good mountain is hard to find. A lot of the time they were already occupied.”

  I’d read Tolkien’s The Hobbit and knew all about Smaug.

  “We always won,” she said proudly, “so it’s instinctual for the dwarfs to fear us. Its ingrained in their DNA just as much as their affinity for metals.” She was not apologetic for the thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of dwarfs her species had killed over the millennia.

  I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to meet another dragon. “Thank you for your hospitality,” I gave her a bow, and stepped through the portal. Just because I didn’t want to ever meet another one didn’t mean I was going to be rude to the only one I knew.

  “Good luck,” I caught the whisper of her final words as my world turned on its head and magic pummeled me like a pinball before dumping me somewhere else.

  ***

  Commander Feng felt the flare of magic seconds before the modified Blackhawk crossed the wards. “Turn around!” he screamed; in a tone his team had rarely heard from him. They’d felt the wards too, but thought nothing of them. He knew bette
r. There was a scent to them he was familiar with.

  The pilot banked the helicopter hard to the right and quickly circled out of the area. On Feng’s orders, he put the bird down a good quarter mile from the edge of the wards. “Everyone, stay here.”

  They objected to him going alone, but since he knew the targets were gone, there was no use endangering the rest of the team. It took him a few seconds to cover the distance, but she was already waiting for him by the van. He approached cautiously, respectfully, and with his head bowed in subservience.

  “Great Vesuvia,” he didn’t list all the titles she’d accumulated over the last two millennia. It would go on for a while. The dragon before him had been very active during the first thousand years of her life. Most of her prefaces went: “Destroyer of . . .” insert place here.

  “Hatchling,” she barely acknowledged him.

  It would have irked the Commander if it was anyone else, but he held his tongue. He was approaching his four-hundredth birthday, but anything under a thousand years was a hatchling to the old ones. It didn’t help that she could smell his diluted blood. He was dragonspawn. His mother went by the name Samantha today, but she was known to her kind as Samala. She wasn’t even half the age of Vesuvia, and was considered, improperly so, as a bit of a whore by other full-blooded dragons. She had many dragonspawn children. Feng’s father was a Chinese philosopher during the Ming dynasty, and Feng had half a dozen younger brothers and sisters that he knew about.

  Dragonspawn qualified as shifters, just like their full-blooded parents, but they were far weaker. Where his mother’s true form measured several hundred feet from snout to tip, Feng’s was simply a tall, scaled, hybrid mix of dragon and man. He was a force to be reckoned with compared to most supernatural creatures; but he couldn’t go up against someone as old as Vesuvia. Not even his whole team stood a chance.

  “Where are the children?” he asked.

  “Gone,” she answered simply. “No one told me you wanted them,” something in her tone told him she wouldn’t have given them up anyway.