“No, it’s not,” Shae said. “Can you change back to being Human? I want to help if I can, but I’m afraid of you right now.” She stroked Rose’s brow and wiped the tears off her cheek. “Can you do that, so we can talk?”
Nadia knelt down as well. “Rose, David is hurt. Please, calm down so we can help him. He needs us. Let us help him.”
I wanted to add my own plea for Rose to get a grip, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was too busy trying to use part of my shirt to hold my arm together.
Rose looked down at me and the amount of blood finally registered. Her eyes changed from fiery red to bright yellow as she looked back to Nadia. “I can’t heal this,” she whispered. “I don’t know how to rebuild him.”
“Tilt his head back,” Nadia said. She pulled a steel vial out of her purse and held it while I drank the contents. It tasted like licorice-flavored ass, but healed me up in a matter of seconds. Nadia tossed the vial back in her purse. “That was my emergency healing potion. You owe me one.”
“Thank you,” Rose said. She looked away from everyone and focused on fixing her face and skull.
Nadia stood up and looked at Frisco, Neko, and Heather. “Ladies, you all hanging in there? No freaking out or anything?”
The girls shook their heads and muttered denials, but their eyes stayed fixed on Rose as she struggled to retract her wings. Inside, she was burning with humiliation and self-reproach over losing control. I took her hand and focused on supportive thoughts.
Nadia followed their gaze. “Yeah, that. Not a problem. Rose let her blood sugar get out of control and needs a few minutes to get normalized. We don’t need any medical assistance. David knows what to do and has everything he needs. We’re just giving them some privacy. We clear?”
Heather shook her head. “What about all the blood? And her clothes? Even in Vegas, you can’t walk around like that.”
“What blood?” Nadia followed the question by whispering something with lots of vowels as she wiggled her fingers over her shoulder. The blood stains, the grease marks on the pizza boxes, the chalk dust on Rose’s pants, and every speck of dirt or grime in the area vanished. She followed it with a stitching gesture and all the rips marring our clothes sealed themselves back together.
Rose wiggled her shoulders, nudging her clothes back into the right locations. “Thank you, Nadia. I, ah…” She looked up at the others in the booth a moment before lowering her gaze again. “I’m very sorry for my behavior. I got emotional being with the children…because I can’t have any. And now my mother tells me…” She stopped and shook her head. “I’m sorry. That’s not important now. I was emotional already, and I didn’t realize how strong my reaction would be. I hope I didn’t frighten anyone.”
“We all work in casinos,” Neko said. “We see people lose their shit all the time. I’ve seen screaming, crying, threats, begging, and praying. I’ve seen one guy shit his pants and another blow his brains out, but I’ve never seen anyone grow wings. If that was an illusion, you should be performing on the Strip.”
“It’s no illusion,” Rose said. “I’m a Dragon. I’m not the only one on Earth. Can we leave it at that for right now?”
Neko looked to the other greeters and shook her head. “I don’t think so. Not until you tell us what happens next.”
Vex looked sideways at Nadia. “We need to know that as well. Someone needs to call the office. Assuming they don’t already know.”
“Random Dragon sightings are not the office’s concern,” Nadia said. “Vex, you and the guys take the ladies out to dinner. I’m sure you’ll have plenty to talk about. Ladies, please listen to the offer and think it over. If you have any questions, come to me. And please, please come to me before you say ‘no’.”
Vex shook his head. “We haven’t had a chance to talk to anyone about getting appr—”
“My blood will answer,” Nadia said. She leaned over to the ladies and added, “Not literally. All that means is that I’ll take responsibility for this. Now, gentlemen, go and do.”
Isaac extended the crook of his elbow to Neko. “Would you care to come with me, Miss Neko? The rules for this conversation say I’m allowed to take you to the best restaurant available, on the company’s tab. Do you have any preferences in being wooed?”
Neko linked arms with him. “Someplace with lobsters. Big ones. I expect to be wooed in style. Big woo. Lots of woo. Extra woo on the side.”
Heather gave Vex and Frisco a look and turned to Gerrit with a shrug. “Guess it’s you and me, handsome. Steak and lobster work for you?”
Gerrit inclined his head and offered her his arm. “As you wish.” They joined Isaac and Neko in slipping out through the curtain.
Frisco grabbed a chair. “I’m staying. We can talk later, but I’m not going to leave Shae alone here.”
“Fair enough,” I said. I got to my feet and held my hand out to help Rose up and into a chair. I gave Nadia a nod. “Thanks for cleaning the place up and fixing our clothes. Useful spells to have on hand in a crisis.”
Nadia snorted. “Those were cantrips. Most of the proper spells I know are combat-related.”
Rose asked, “Can we discuss all that later? I’d like to talk to Shae about her family for a few minutes. She did promise.”
“I’d kind of hoped you’d forgotten.” Shae grabbed a chair and sat down next to Rose. “It sucks that this kid doesn’t have a family, but it could be the best thing for her. To answer your question, yeah, my birth parents decided I wasn’t worth keeping. Child services placed me in foster care when I was eight because of the level of violence between my birth parents. The court set out a bunch of conditions my parents would have to meet to get me back. My parents decided it was too much trouble and they were better off without me. The first family I got placed with didn’t want me long-term, but the second family did. They adopted me, and they’re the best people I could have wished for.”
She looked down at the floor. “Shit, I hate this. All I want to do is go back to our room, smoke my entire supply of weed, and order room service.” She grasped Frisco’s hand to keep hers from shaking. “A year after I was placed, my dumb-ass bio-father, totally shitfaced, drives through a chain-link fence and falls thirty feet into a flood channel. Bio-mom emptied their bank accounts and moved. She never even asked about getting me back. I don’t know where she is, and I don’t care.”
Rose shook her head. “My people have adoption and foster parenting as well. Even if both parents were to die, other members of the family or even family friends would step forward. No child of my people would go through life alone and unwanted. The idea of a parent just…
discarding
a child on a whim…it’s horrible. I can’t understand how it could be allowed.”
I said, “Rose, how many times does a Dragoness rise in a mating flight? Three times in a thousand years? You can’t afford not to treat hatchlings as precious treasures. I hate to say it, but Humans have too many children to care for them the way Dragons do theirs.”
Shae nodded. “Probably true, but beside the point. Rose, sometimes parents make bad choices, but you can’t judge them on that alone. I know how much all this hurt you, but I think you should focus on how you can help a kid in this situation. Ranting about burning their parents won’t help the kids any.”
Rose looked away, but nodded. “What can I say? Burning things is what I do. I’m just sorry I lost my composure. What can we do for this Toni? The girl whose art we were talking about?”
“Find her a good home,” Shae said. “She could use job training, too. The Meadows shelter is old, and not the kind of place you can get an education.”
“Danya may be taking care of that,” Nadia said. She peeked out through the curtains for a moment and let them fall back into place. “My spell is holding and the crowd is thinning out. I think we should call it a day.”
Frisco said, “Not yet. I want to hear this offer you all were talking about, and maybe a word or two explaining what the eff is going on here.” She seemed calm, but her hands shook.
Vex stood up. “This is the part where I take both of you out to dinner and give you a well-rehearsed speech. I had to take a six-week class to learn to give it properly. I hope you’ll be suitably impressed.” He offered his hand to Frisco, along with a damn charming smile.
Frisco sat back and folded her arms. “I’d want to hear anything you have to say right here.”
“I want some lobster,” Shae interjected. “Lobster make everything better.”
I said, “Frisco, Rose is a Dragon from another dimension and we really are engaged. I’m Human. I’m from Earth. There are other Dragons out there, and we can talk about that sometime if you’re interested. That’s all I have to offer right at the moment.”
Nadia started packing her purse. “I appreciate you being curious, Frisco, but please listen to Vex first. I’ll be happy to talk to either of you afterward.”
Frisco wasn’t moved. “I want to know what’s going on before I go anywhere. Lobster or no lobster.”
Nadia sighed. “Frisco, what’s going on is Vex is going to offer you a job. An excellent job, in fact. If you need to go to school, the company will pay you to go and pay for your classes if your grades are good enough. If that doesn’t pique your interest, say so now and I’ll use a spell called
Retcon
to erase every memory of the past four hours. You’ll go back to the life you had this morning, and you’ll never know a world with magic and Dragons exists right under your nose.”
“What if I go to the police?”
“Same thing, but with a three-day hold and observe due to psychotic and violent behavior.” Nadia shook her head. “Frisco, doing that would threaten my family. Please don’t even joke about it. I like both of you a lot and you’re in a good position to do great things with your lives.”
“What if I want to learn to do magic?” Frisco sounded less hostile, but still suspicious. “Can you teach me to cast spells, like this
Retcon
?”
“There’s one way to find out.” Nadia gave her a thin smile. “We lock you in a room with a table, a chair, and a candle; and you stay in there until you either light the candle without touching it, or you start screaming and clawing bloody strips out of your skin with your nails. It can be a little rough on Earth, but if you have the talent for magic, you’ll succeed.”
“You’re kidding.”
Vex pulled an ATM receipt out of his wallet and held it up between two fingers. A second later, the tip of it burst into flame. He blew it out and crumpled the paper up. “It took me thirty-eight hours to light that damn candle. How about lobster now and screaming at candles later?”
Frisco nodded. “Just tell me this. Are you Human?”
Vex shrugged. “Seven-eighths. Is that close enough?”
Shae stood up and slung her purse over her shoulder. “Frisco, either move your ass or get out of the way so I can hit on him. Dinner, now.”
“Fine. Dinner. And you can get your own seven-eighths Human studmuffin.” Frisco took Vex’s proffered arm, but Vex lingered a moment.
“Shae, if you’d like, I can have someone meet us at the restaurant. It’s just a matter of a phone call.”
“What kind of someone?” Shae didn’t sound convinced, but she wasn’t objecting to the idea, either.
Vex brought up a contact on his cell phone and tapped a code out on the key pad. “The best match available, based on your interests.” He handed her the phone. “Select your preferences or type them in, and the person who fits them best will call my phone back. Just be honest.”
“Great…” Shae muttered. “A blind date service that delivers.” She entered her responses and handed the phone back to Vex. “I hope your cyber-yenta has a better track record than my aunt Nancy.” She followed Vex and Frisco out through the curtains.
Nadia sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I should file a claim for half of the recruiting bonuses the guys are going to get. Ah, well, they need the money more than I do.”
Rose snorted. “So what? They would have nothing if not for you. Claim what’s yours.”
“Nah. Besides, you and David are worth more than all four of the girls combined.” She slung her purse over her shoulder. “It’s close enough to dinner time. Why don’t we head on up and get our orders started?”
“Right behind you,” I said. Just as the guys had done, I offered Rose my arm and, together, the three of us left the exhibition hall.
With Money, One Is a Dragon. Without It, a Worm.
The door behind the VIP check-in didn’t exist. The wall was smooth, weathered marble, festooned with moving ivy. No gaps, seams, or handholds marred the surface. No card readers, either. I thought we must have gotten the directions wrong, until Nadia walked around the VIP kiosk and through the wall.
Rose and I followed her lead. Once we cleared the kiosk, the secret was revealed. The outside wall and the elevator hallway wall blended together, creating the illusion of a single solid surface. The moving ivy hid the transition and pulled the eye away from the hallway.
The elevator only went up three floors, and opened into an oak-paneled lounge with a self-service bar and a concierge desk. The lady behind the desk said, “Good evening Miss L, you and your guests are expected in your parents’ suite.” She turned to me and asked, “Sir, would you and the lady be so kind as to swipe your card keys? It grants you access to this area while Mister and Mrs. C are staying at the hotel, and lets us know where to reach you in case of an emergency.”
And gives them a lead in case the silverware comes up missing.
“No problem,” I said. I swiped both cards and smiled.
The concierge smiled back and placed her hand on a palm scanner. Two heavy oak doors swung open, revealing a glass-walled hallway. “Have a wonderful night. Please let us know if we can do anything to make your night more special.”
“How much to have a tiger lounging by the hot tub?” I couldn’t help it—the question just popped out.
Our concierge chuckled, nodding her head. “You’re not the first person to ask. Five grand a night, with a refundable twenty-five thousand-dollar damage deposit, and there will be two handlers with the cat at all times. They will bring a gold leash and let you walk the cat through the casino if you’d like. Let us know if we should book one for you. A bear is also available, but he tends to scare people away.”