The Demon's Game (13 page)

Why are you stopping? Dylan isn’t hurt, it’s just
phantom pains from his healing,
I thought to Rojan. As much as I wanted to
help Dylan, I knew Rojan needed more time after being cooped up in the little
apartment.

And we can heal him.
Instead of shifting back,
Rojan took flight again and headed for the mountains. He changed the color and
shade of our scales as we reached the outer limits of town, blending in with
the grey clouds and dark sky. Luckily, Rojan was wise enough to land in the
forest instead of actually trying to fly through town. It took some maneuvering
with our long wingspan to land without tearing down trees. We then faced the
predicament of finding clothes.

Taylor had followed us from the gathering and landed
behind us, though not nearly as easily. The wings of desert dragons were not as
durable as those of a forest dragon, and without that advantage or Rojan’s
experience, Taylor ended up with some major scratches for his effort. He
shifted, which healed some of the damage, but the discomfort was evident on his
face.

“What’s wrong? Why did you leave?” he asked.

“My brother needs help.”

“Another dragon?”

“No, he’s sago. He’s sort of my adopted brother and
he’s my best friend.”

“How do you know he needs help?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Rojan said, taking over.
Whereas Dylan loved to subject-hop until his opponent became confused and
distracted, Rojan hated being delayed. Of course, this was a time when I had to
agree with my dragon. Dylan may not have actually been injured, but he was in
pain. The more time I wasted talking with Taylor, the longer Dylan had to hurt.

“At least get dressed before prancing through town!”
Taylor insisted.

“With what?”

As if on cue, one of the smaller forest dragons came
soaring through the trees. She was black as the sky and kept low to the trees,
but anyone with an interest in astronomy and a little luck could have seen her.
She had long, sturdy legs and a short wing span that forest dragons were known
for. When the dragoness landed, her scales lightened to a deep green, which
matched her eyes perfectly. It was a primitive form of camouflage; unlike my
bloodline, she couldn’t change the color of her scales, but she could darken
them.

After landing in front of me, she shifted. The bundle
she clutched became conspicuous as her body shrunk and green scales became
smooth, lightly tan skin. She was as beautiful a woman as she was a dragon; her
wavy hair was dark brown and framed eyes as green as they were in her dragon
form. She had a sleek, athletic figure with a sweet, youthful face.

Rojan could just stare, for she looked almost
identical to his mate.

I scented her instinctually. She was about as far
from Emiko in personality as she could get. Where Emiko was conniving and
greedy, this woman was kind-hearted and giving. This was the kind of woman who
volunteered her time to help others. Emiko, on the other hand, was absolutely
innocent in appearance, but she has literally tried to stab me in the back.

“I figured something was wrong so I grabbed your
clothes,” she said, holding out the bundle.

Rojan shivered, withdrawing further from my
awareness. She even sounded like his mate and I felt his deep misery at her
loss take its hold again. From previous events that reminded Rojan of his dead
mate, I knew it would be days before Rojan would even talk again and my dreams
would be full of memories.

“Thank you,” I said, trying not to touch her as I
did. Between Dylan being in serious pain from healing people and Rojan becoming
depressed at such a vivid imitation of the lost love of his life, I was in for
a long night.

“I’m Sydney,” she said, pretending not to watch me
dress.

“I’m Mordon. You weren’t at the barbeque.”

“I was late. I know you’re in a hurry, but do you
want to get dinner sometime?” she asked.

“Yes,” Rojan suddenly said without warning. The speed
and ease with which he pushed my consciousness aside and took over my body was
a little worrisome, but I trusted Rojan… I had to, actually. The eagerness in
Rojan as he agreed to meet with this woman worried me even more; Rojan was
never eager about anything but flying.

Emiko isn’t going to be happy,
I thought.

What does Emiko matter? The relationship we have
with her is hostile at best. If a stronger dragon existed, she would choose him
instead. Furthermore, neither of us promised her anything and she expects
nothing more from us.

No, we’re not officially exclusive… but I feel
like we’ll hurt her if we went out with someone. She may be a cold hearted,
manipulative little slime, but she’s a woman, and they have preconceived
notions about things like this.

That is her problem.

I didn’t agree, but Rojan was much older and wiser
than me. Plus, he knew more about dragons and dragonesses. Besides, it was
highly likely that Rojan would lose interest in Sydney, because there was no
way she really acted like his mate.

I was still pondering this as I started through the
dark streets, ignoring Taylor and Sydney as they followed. While Rojan and I
weren’t familiar with this town, I could always sense how to find Dylan. We
made it back to the apartment and I entered to find Dylan asleep on the couch.
He was so tired he hadn’t even locked the door.

He grunted as I rolled him onto his back and sat
beside him. As soon as I touched him, his magic flooded my system and my own
fire responded by pouring into him. It wouldn’t burn him. For some reason, he
couldn’t heal himself with his energy without cycling it through me, but my
fire could heal him, too.

His pain lessened enough for him to settle into a
quiet sleep. I locked the door, got a blanket, and covered Dylan up before
going to bed.

*          *          *

As soon as Dylan left the next day, I returned to the
coffee shop to talk to Taylor. The atmosphere of the café was different,
cautious even. Rojan bristled as everyone snuck glances at me if not ogled me
outright.

Adalia handed me a tea, but when I started getting
out my wallet, she said, “On the house,” which was entirely confusing. It
seemed to be a way of saying she didn’t want money, though, so I put my wallet away.

“Good morning, Mordon,” Sydney said, appearing as if
out of thin air by my side. Adalia gave her a scowl and walked back behind her
counter.

Rojan started his odd purr he used when Emiko did
something he approved of, which I cut off fast enough to make it sound like a
huff. I didn’t want her getting the wrong impression. “Good morning,” I said.
Whatever Rojan would have replied with was better left unsaid.

“Why are your eyes multi-colored in person form, but
straight blue in your true form?” she asked.

I wasn’t aware my eyes were blue in dragon form. My
blue eye was from Rojan’s genetics and my purple eye was from my mother’s, so I
guess it made a little sense. “It’s normal where I come from,” I lied.

About this time, I realized Taylor was trying to
sneak out the door. Since meeting him, he had acted honorable and trustworthy,
so it made no sense for him to avoid me. “Stop!” Rojan barked with all the
authority of a king. Taylor froze before turning slowly to face me. “Outside,”
Rojan growled.

I handed my tea to Sydney. Everyone else backed away
from me, Taylor, and the door. Taylor darted out but waited obediently for me
to join him outside. He wouldn’t look me in the face.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I know who you are… sir. I recognized your true
form, so I went through some of my old books last night.”

“I told you, my name is Mordon.”

“If that is the name you go by now, Rojan, I won’t
tell anyone. There is a little difference in your person form… I guess the
artists portrayed you wrong, but there is no mistaking your dragon form. You
even told me you were descended from Kaled. Besides, I could tell when you
shifted that you were thousands of years old. You are the oldest and most
powerful dragon alive on Earth or Duran.”

I didn’t know if that was particularly true. Rojan’s
childhood friend, Marnd, was probably still alive, and although Marnd was
definitely less powerful than Rojan, surely some of the dragons from his day
survived. We had killed Rojan’s sister when she proved to be a dangerous enemy
to our family.

It was no longer an option to have this man as a
friend; he was now a threat. Rojan warned me time and time again that being
half dragon would get us killed, for it was all about the bloodline to a
dragon. If the dragon considered me a reincarnation of Rojan or even Rojan’s
son, I would be regarded with honors. If they considered me half sago, half
dragon, I would be regarded as inferior and would be hunted.  The only way to
protect myself now that Rojan’s identity was revealed was to scare the younger
dragon into silence.

“Very few people know who I am. If you start
spreading this information, you and those you tell will die,” Rojan growled. My
eyes shifted until I could see Taylor’s soul. He wasn’t perfectly innocent, but
he was an honorable dragon who tried to never hurt anyone. I could see the fear
churning in him, but no betrayal.

“I won’t tell anyone who you are. I don’t know why
you keep it a secret, but I won’t tell. Please, you can trust me.”

I let my eyes shift back and took over again. As an
added incentive, I stepped towards him and leaned my hand against the brick
wall. This caused him to back into the wall, which I was currently charring. My
fire wasn’t actually hot enough to damage the brick, only enough to leave a
mark. The dragon’s eyes were huge. “Good. Then nothing unfortunate should
happen to you.”

He nodded and I turned to reenter the café. “Is your
brother okay?” he asked. “You looked really worried last night.”

Rojan released the mound of tension when Taylor
showed concern for Dylan. “He is much better. He just had a bad day at work.”

“Where does he work?”

“He’s a doctor.”

“He isn’t Dr. Yatunus, is he?”

Rojan growled again and Taylor shrank back. “You know
too much about me and my clutch.”

“I just… it’s a small town. My deputy had to go to
the ER two weeks ago because he got shot in the chest. They turned him over to
the new doctor. I was worried, but they said Dr. Yatunus could work miracles.
Everyone said he would have died otherwise. He’s at home, well into recovery because
of the doctor. When I met him, I could tell he was a powerful wizard, but he
seemed to have no idea I was a dragon.”

“Why was your friend shot in the chest?”

“I’m the sheriff. Can’t you tell?” he asked, pointing
out his uniform.

His shirt was sort of tan and his pants were dark
green. There were badges on his shirt and a thick belt. Only then did I see the
gun holstered in his belt. Still, it took me a few minutes to figure out what
he meant by “sheriff.”

“Oh, you’re a cop. You weren’t dressed like that
yesterday.”

“No, it was my day off yesterday.”

“So if you’re working today, I guess that means you
don’t want to go flying.”

“I’m working late today, so I can’t. You can use the
field, though. Or, you can take Sydney. Her father keeps that field clear of
humans and she spends a lot of her time out there.”

Once again, I had to prevent Rojan from making an
overly approving sound. “I’ll probably do that. I should go back in; my tea is
getting cold.”
My tea that Sydney is holding for me.
I went back inside
and Taylor went to his car, probably heading off to work.

Sydney and I sat in chairs facing each other and
talked. I really couldn’t tell her anything about myself, but she had plenty to
say about herself. Although I wasn’t actually listening the entire time, Rojan
was. After an hour or so, she offered to drive me to the field to go flying
with her. Obviously, I accepted.

I spent the rest of the afternoon and late into the
evening with Sydney. By the time I made it back to the apartment, everyone else
was in bed.

*          *          *

I took the boys to the bookstore an hour and a half
after Dylan left us to go back into work. Dylan had wanted to be here, but he
took his responsibility seriously. As Ron ran off, the epitome of excitement, I
considered telling Dylan he should get his son one of those tablets with books
on them. The Guardian may have had trouble with electronics, but Ron seemed to
manage just fine, judging by the computers he passed by in the bookstore.

My first clue that something was wrong was the silence.
Within a couple of minutes, the packed store cleared out. I went in search of
the boys and when I found them, Rojan drew his hottest fire. The boys were both
unconscious and being tied up by six guys in black leather clothes. I struck
the first with fire and while he was screaming, I struck the next man with
lightning. Although he quickly went down, the man on fire launched himself at
me.

He landed on top of me, but I pushed up with my legs
so that he rolled right over. I pinned him and was about to finish the job when
there was a sharp blow to my head. I rolled onto my back, disorientated, and
started to shift.

One of the men stood over me and held out his hand as
if warding me off. A heavy pressure fell over me until my shifting was painful.
Unsure whether to bear the pain and finish shifting or return to normal and try
my hand at the training my father forced on me, I hesitated. That was the last
I was aware of my surroundings for a while.

*          *          *

I woke in a weird sort of lab with dim lights. The air
was cold and wet, which would have been comfortable to anyone who wasn’t a
dragon. It was too clean to be a dungeon, yet too dingy and empty to be a
medical facility. I was lying on a bed with my arms and legs spread, chained to
the metal frame. I shivered violently enough to rattle the chains, but when I
tried yanking on them, they wouldn’t break. Unlike Hail, I wasn’t much stronger
than a regular sago. I couldn’t shift because contorting my body long enough to
reach full dragon form would likely do more damage to me than the chains.