The Demon's Game (12 page)

“We’re all friends here.”

I realized then how foolish I had been. The strong
smells of the sweet cake and bitter coffee overwhelmed my senses so that I
didn’t bother to scent the woman. When I did, I smelled dragon. She and the man
beside her were dragons.

“You need to get a debit card. It’s a plastic card
that will do all the money counting for you. My name is Adalia, by the way.”

“I’m Mordon,” I answered.

“So what brings you here?”

I didn’t want to betray anyone’s trust, but I scented
no malicious intentions from her. “Taylor.”

“Oh, cool. He’s back there in the chair in the
corner.”

I turned to look in the direction she indicated.
Sitting in a cushioned chair in the corner was a man who looked to be in his
late forties. He was thin, athletic without being bery muscular, and wore a
suit like Dylan did when he went to work- before he changed into scrubs. The
man had dark brown hair like Dylan’s, but it was a little shorter. His face had
hair too, though it was very short. His eyes were gray.

Adalia handed me the tea and I made my way to the man
who I hoped was able to help me. When I approached him, he looked up at me from
his book.

“Duran… It’s been a long time since I saw one of
yours.”

I gaped and he laughed before standing. He was a
little taller than me, but he wasn’t imposing. I scented him instinctively and
Rojan relaxed. Taylor wasn’t very powerful or old compared to Rojan, which was
only to be expected. The Earth dragon was friendly, which was more than I could
say about most Duran dragons, and more importantly, he was kin.

Perhaps it was a little backwards that Rojan and I
were so cautious about a possible threat to Dylan and the boys coming from a
dragon… when they were constantly involved with gods.

“Your purple eye. I’ve only ever seen it once and
that was because an old girlfriend of mine was from Duran. She had the same
purple, but it was in both her eyes. We can speak freely here; everyone here is
a dragon.”

“I didn’t realize dragons here formed large
clutches.”

“Earth dragons still form small clutches, but in this
town, we are more like a pack. We each grew up to leave our nests and never
made one of our own. We found this small town and seemed to converge here. It
was friendly. There are fifteen of us right now. Eli and Sophia over there will
have a kit soon, but they aren’t going to break off into their own little
clutch. As much as our kind was hunted, we want to be able to protect our
children in larger groups instead of just twos or threes.”

“I can understand that. Do you all know about dragons
from Duran?”

“Everyone here knows there are other worlds because
some of us were friends with the Guardian of Earth. I assume you met him since
you’re from Duran.”

“Yes, I have.” Taylor was referring to Dylan’s father
and predecessor, Ronez, who I met twice. He was dead, but I didn’t think it was
wise to divulge that information just yet. If anyone wanted to target the
Guardian of Earth, it was better that my brother’s identity be kept secret.
These people may have been kin to my dragon, but Dylan was my clutch.

“Is anyone else here from Duran?”

“No. About ten years ago, Ronez brought a couple of
twin boys to me, but we hadn’t formed this group yet. The boys were five and
very… mischievous. Their antics got us noticed and hunters found us. We would
have gotten away, but one of my dearest friends betrayed us and the boys were
caught.”

Twins are so rare
, Rojan commented.
What
bloodline did they originate from?

I repeated the question to Taylor.

“They were descendants of Adraman.”

Kaled’s evil cousin. They were descendants of a
powerful, dark bloodline full of murderers and misfits. Their line brought a
sneer to the face of every dragon and shame to my line. Kaled was revered.
Adraman was just as powerful, but he was known for killing and terrorizing
dragons and people alike. He was absolutely insane. Supposedly, he was betrayed
by his mate, which is what caused him to go feral, but there are no excuses for
his kind.

“Surely you don’t know of their bloodline,” Taylor
said.

“What?” I asked.

“You’re grimacing. Ronez told me their bloodline was
infamous, but you can’t be old enough to know it.”

I grinned. “If we get a chance to fly together, you
will understand how old I am.” While I had only lived for thirty-two years,
Rojan was over three thousand. His was also the most powerful bloodline left
alive and his family was one of the first to learn to shift. “I am descended
from Kaled.” Well, Rojan was. “Are you all desert dragons?”

“I am, and Graham is. Most of the others are forest
dragons, but a few are water dragons. Sophia, Leo, and Julia over there are too
mixed to be labeled as one or the other. Marco…” Taylor lowered his voice. “His
blood is said to be tainted somehow. He learned to shift as a kit, and then got
stuck. He can’t shift back into his dragon form, but he can always feel the
desperate need to.”

I knew the frantic need myself, and I was only half a
dragon.

“There are a few who aren’t powerful enough to shift
into their person form,” Taylor continued.

“Where do you go to shift?” I asked.

“Past the mountains to the north there is a lot of
open land without trees to hinder the wings. We meet every few days and go
flying. We’re supposed to meet tonight. Do you want to go with us?”

“I would love to. I have to visit with someone for a
little while this morning, but I definitely do. When and where do I meet you?”

“Here at four. It’s quite the drive, but we normally
do a barbeque before we go flying.”

“And you’re sure the others don’t mind me being from
Duran?”

“Our race was hunted nearly to extinction because we
were different from people. Dragons have to stick together if we want to
survive. It doesn’t matter that you’re foreign; you’re a dragon. You are one of
us. Hell, Jessica, the woman in the blue sweater, is human. Her mate was a
dragon who was killed by hunters. We took her in because we believe in
protecting each other’s mates.”

“Wait… A dragon mated a human? How? We can’t breed
with them.”
Well, at least a full blood dragon can’t.
I was neither a
person nor dragon, so it was likely that I could never reproduce.

Rojan acknowledge my thought with a grumble.
There
is more sago blood in us than dragon blood. If your mother had not cast the
spell she had, your body could have assimilated my blood, but it would not have
been enough to keep you alive. Her spell ensured that you integrated both her
power and mine.

Which absolutely explains why I’m a mediocre
wizard at best.

There is no dragon that can use nominal energy,
and there is no wizard who can use dragon energy. This is where your weakness
lies, as well as your strength.

Stop speaking in riddles, dragon.

Listen more carefully, child. If it were not for
my blood, your wizard power could rival that of any mortal on Duran. You are
fortunate to be the most powerful dragon alive and still be capable of
conducting decent mortal magic. Dragons have enough problems with fertility,
and we are not compatible with people. I am sorry, but even if our blood is
sago enough to reproduce with people, success is unlikely.

I don’t blame you. Besides, I’ve never desired
children like Dylan. I’m perfectly happy being there for Dylan’s kids.

In that case, you are ignoring another dragon and
that can prove dangerous.

Taylor was giving me a concerned frown. “Are you
alright?”

“Yes, sorry, I was just thinking of something. You
were explaining the dragon’s human mate…” I prompted.

“They were working on adoption. You can’t help who
you love and nobody has the right to judge you for it. What about you? Do you
have a mate?”

The image and scent of Rojan’s mate flooded my head.
She had been killed less than a week before my birth and while I never knew her
personally, I knew everything about her. There wasn’t a day in the past ten
years that Rojan hadn’t thought about her. Rojan was so much a part of my soul
that I shared Rojan’s love for his dead mate and children. “Not anymore.”

*          *          *

I knocked on Stacy’s door about an hour later. She
was as pristinely dressed as she had been that morning, down to her heels.
“Come in, Mordon,” she invited. She closed the door behind me and I scented her
again.

“What do you do for work?” I asked. She smelled
clean, like she didn’t interact with a lot of people, but there was no fear or
anxiety, so she wasn’t hiding inside all day. Although everyone had selfish
thoughts, which I could easily scent, it wasn’t until their intent was realized
repeatedly that it became ingrained in their soul. Stacy was a fairly good
person.

“I’m a literary agent. I mostly deal with my clients
online, but I have to do a lot of traveling. I also have several clients
locally, including one who is agoraphobic.”

“I… I don’t know what a literary agent is. I know
literary means books and agent is a person who represents a business or
people.”

“I represent authors. When I find a talented author,
I get them the best deal with the best publishing company for their book and
the format of their book. I also deal with editors and lawyers. I love this
town because I can be more involved in the process. Of course, I would make
more money somewhere like in New York, but as a fae, I can’t live there.”

“What is a fae?” I asked.

She sighed. “Sit.” I sat on the leather couch and she
sat on the coffee table across from me. “There are many subspecies of fae;
fairies, elves, sprites, changelings, and even some darker beings. I am a
fairy, but we are the only ones who refer to ourselves as fae, as we are the
originals and most powerful. We used to have tribes numbering in the
thousands.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“Humans, mostly. The elves were jealous of our power,
though. They are blood drinkers and can absorb the power, life force, and
memories of those they kill. Fae are peaceful and strictly vegetarian. We are
much like human wizards. We all have natural powers from the time we’re born,
but we have to learn to use them. Some of us are more powerful than others.
Elves, however, would rather steal power from others.”

“How did you stop them?”

“The dragons came. Long ago, right after we lost half
our race in a particularly nasty war with humans, dragons came to our rescue.
Actually, they had their own problems. This was the time when they were hunted.
They had nowhere to go, so we gave them shelter and they protected us against
the elves. See, we could easily hide ourselves and the dragons from humans, but
not from the elves. We could feed, shelter, and heal dragons while they could
deflect the magic from the enemy. We worked so well together that after a
thousand years, even newborn dragons and fae were drawn together.”

“It’s your scent.”

“Yeah. Dragons are drawn to fae by the scent and fae
are drawn to dragons by the dragon fire, which cannot hurt us. It is our nature
to seek the dragon fire because it meant salvation to our ancestors. There is a
gathering of dragons in this town, but we stay out of each other’s way.”

“You don’t like them?”

“I’m the only fae around and I just want to be left
in peace. I have never met an elf before, and I don’t think I ever will. I’m
happy to have you as a neighbor, but please treat me as a human. I just want a
normal life. I want
Drake
to live a normal life.”

*          *          *

At four, Taylor met me right outside the coffee shop
to take me through the mountains. It was a beautiful trail, but I was itching
to get to shift. Fortunately, Taylor wasn’t any more in the mood to talk during
the ride there than I was.

The field and the large lake were stunning. A tent
had been set up with grills in front of it and the smell of steak was in the
air. Adalia and Taylor introduced me to the others, though it would take time
to remember all their names. I was given a plate with steak and chips and a
beer, which I thought was disgusting and poured out. The food was good and I
enjoyed meeting fellow dragons.

Of course, one particular dragon was sitting off to
the side, glaring at everyone. Marco apparently insisted on joining the
outings, even though he couldn’t shift, only to snap at anyone who showed him
sympathy. The dragons unable to shift into people joined us and wasted no time
before introducing themselves to me. I was able to understand their dragon
snorts and grumbles, which was still very odd to me.

When the sun set, a change fell over the gathering.
People stripped bare right in the open and started shifting. Most were the
smaller variety of dragons, such as forest dwellers with short, stout wings and
short, lithe bodies. Taylor shifted into a golden dragon almost as large as
Rojan. I was last to shift. After setting aside my own clothes, I let Rojan’s
true form take shape. My bones snapped, stretched, and reformed, my skin became
hide, and I grew larger. I kept my eyes closed for most of it because it was a
little nauseating to watch.

The dragons all stared in wonder for so long it
became awkward. I knew they could now feel Rojan’s power and age. Trying to
avoid any questions, I took flight. The others followed, but Rojan took over
and I let my worries go.

At least for a few hours.

I could feel that Dylan was tired and using his magic
strenuously long before his pain started affecting Rojan. Although it was more
of an ache at first, I knew it was much worse for Dylan. This wasn’t a normal
day at work for him; something must have happened at the hospital. Rojan
landed.