Dragon Awakened (14 page)

“The Thrall?”

“People get mesmerized just looking at them.”

She leaned against the passenger side of his car. “So I should restrain myself from drooling, as Dragons are apt to do.”

He laughed, because damn it, she had a way of making him laugh like no one else. “Yes, please.” His humor died quickly. “There's one more thing you should know about Grayson. He doesn't like Dragon women.”

“Why not?”

“A female Dragon captured and tortured him for years. I think the experience warped him.”

“Oh, goody. Some guy who can probably incinerate me with a look.” She gestured to her clothing. “But I'm the least seductive person around. Well, not
the
least certainly, but still.”

He got in the car and, when she got in, said, “Don't underestimate your seductiveness, Ruby.” She had other effects on him, too, besides making him laugh. A deep wanting. Throbbing ache. Effects he also hadn't experienced in decades. Or longer. He tended to lose track.

She closed her door. “He tolerates you then? I mean, not because you're…intolerable or anything. Well, you can be. But you being a Dragon and all.”

He simply smirked at her and backed out of the garage. Once he'd closed the door, he sensed their surroundings. “There's magick in the air.”

“Oh,
now
you're being romantic?”

“Not that kind of magic.” He got out of the car and fought the urge to Catalyze. Even though his yard appeared private, he couldn't take a chance that some Mundane gardener was trimming bushes or that someone on a boat was out there with binoculars.

He saw the orb skitter across a branch just as Ruby, who'd gotten out of the car as well, said, “Are you hunting bugs again?”

“Scry orb.” His Dragon led him to a large banyan tree at the corner of the property.

“That's what you killed in the back of my truck, right? The spy orb?”

“Exactly. Which means Smith has found my home.”

“Oh, great.”

He climbed the tree from the back side and spotted the orb perched on a branch. He needed to grab it before it flew away and would then follow them. Obviously sensing his magick, it crept down one of the many roots that grew from the branch back to the ground. Cyn reached down and snatched it, crushing it in his hand with both force and magick. “Let's go, before he shows up to pay us a visit.”

Thirty minutes later, Cyn pulled into a guest parking spot at the Raphael high-rise. Ruby pulled her long braid over her shoulder and stroked the length of it as she looked at the sign. “Hah. The Raphael. I get it. So, what are we seeing this guy about?”

“Grayson is going to take you back in your memories to the night your father went on the run. Maybe you heard something that might help us.”

Cyn had only told Grayson that he didn't want Ruby to go any farther than the moment of impact. He didn't want to take a chance that she'd seen him and buried the memory. He wasn't ready for her to leave him yet.

Because you want her.

I don't want her out there alone.

“Cyntag Valeron to see Grayson Winters.” He showed his ID.

The man checked his screen and gave him a nod. “He's expecting you. Go on up.”

The elevator automatically took them to the twenty-first floor. The mirrored walls reflected Ruby to infinity, the back of her braid trailing down to the top of her waistband, her shirt not quite meeting it to reveal a slice of her skin. Her gaze met his in one of those reflections, jolting his heartbeat. He was glad the door slid open at that moment.

Grayson was already waiting, filling the doorway with his muscular bulk.

“Good to see you, my friend. I appreciate you doing this.” Cyn made the introductions.

Grayson gave Ruby a nod. “Would you like a drink or should we get right to it?”

“Let's get right to it,” Ruby said, rubbing her hands together in what Cyn thought was a nervous gesture.

Grayson motioned for her to sit on the leather couch and then sat across from her on the thick glass coffee table. “I'll need to put my hand on you to establish a connection.”

Ruby nodded, her gaze on Grayson. “You can touch me,” she said in a soft, inviting voice. Her head tilted, and her mouth curved in a smile. “Your eyes are beautiful, with little sparks like frost.”

Even his tough little Ruby wasn't immune to the Thrall. Well, not
his
Ruby.

Cyn's Dragon clawed at his skin.
Mine.
Its tail swished down the center of his back.

Back off. Not ours.

Grayson's big hands rested on Ruby's shoulders. “That's right, just relax.” He turned to Cyn. “Dial back the territorial feelings.”

Ruby blinked, coming out of the spell. “You can pick up his feelings?
Territorial
feelings?”

“Surely Cyn told you about the whole Dragon-beast territorial thing, especially considering what I'm picking up between the two of you.”

Cyn kept his expression neutral. “I'm her protector and teacher, nothing more.”

Ruby hitched her thumb toward Cyn. “What he said.”

Grayson took in their earnest expressions and shrugged. “Look, you don't have to pretend around me. I pick up feelings; I don't judge them.” Grayson focused on Ruby again. “Go back to the memory you want to explore. I'll be there, but try not to pay attention to me. It'll yank us out of the memory.”

Ruby sank against the back of the leather couch as her eyes closed. She was tough on the outside, but Cyn sensed something could shatter her protective shell and crumble her. He drew closer and watched as Grayson put her into a hypnotic state. What exactly was Grayson picking up from him? What Cyn felt for Ruby was foreign, like the rash she had described, an itch somewhere deep inside him.

“Daddy, what's going on?” she asked in a little girl's voice. She listened, as he must have given her some explanation for their last-minute trip.

“Who's he on the phone with?” Grayson asked in a soft voice a minute later.

“Darren, his lab partner. We go to their house a lot. They sometimes have me over so my parents can go out on a date.” Ruby smiled. “Magda, his wife, says I'm her surrogate daughter. She pretends I'm her daughter sometimes.”

Cyn moved closer yet, eyeing Ruby's tensed hand on the couch. He had an insane desire to hold it.
Resist
.

Ruby frowned. “But Daddy's wigging out, telling Darren, ‘Brom was right. What we're doing is dangerous. I've destroyed everything. I'm taking my family and leaving.' I can hear Darren yelling, but I can't hear what he's saying. Then my mom's taking me down into the cabin, telling me it doesn't concern me.”

Cyn said, “That's enough, Ruby. We've got what we need.”

She shook her head. “I need to see more. Maybe I saw the man who murdered my parents.”

“All you'll see is the Dragon. That won't be enough to identify him.”

Cyn's chest tightened, drawing Grayson's attention to his pain. The frost glittered in his eyes. He knew Cyn played the part of an assassin during his tenure as a Vega. He'd probably figured out why Cyn didn't want her to go too far.

Grayson removed his hands from her shoulders, and Ruby snapped out of the memory.

“Why did you break the connection?” she asked Grayson.

“I can only hold on for so long.”

Poor Grayson was picking up Ruby's disappointment and Cyn's tangle of emotions. Hopefully he also sensed his gratitude.

To make sure, he gave Grayson a subtle nod. “I told Ruby I would introduce her to the Vega who was assigned to kill her parents. But right now she has to focus on what's important, like saving her life.”

She pushed up from the couch, her mouth in a pout. “I just wanted to see him, a tiny glimpse.”

Cyn led Ruby to the door, turning to Grayson. “Thank you for your help.”

“Anything for a friend.” Grayson's eyes narrowed. “You've changed since the last time I saw you, what, five years ago. You were easy to be around. You're not anymore.”

Hell. Before he'd been flatlined, emotionless; that's what Grayson was saying. And now? It was probably best that Cyn didn't know.

“That too will change.” After Ruby stalked out of his life.

“What did that mean?” Ruby asked when they were once again closed inside the elevator. “Why aren't you easy to be around anymore?” When he didn't answer, she got right up in his face. “Is it because the previously unfeeling Cyntag Valeron has feelings now? Feelings he's afraid to admit?”

She had no idea the courage it took him not to act on those feelings, and yet, she called him a coward. He steeled that courage and pushed out the words, “I have no personal feelings for you.”

The elevator door opened, and they walked out to his car in silence. She leaned against her door, facing him. “So you would have no problem if I, say, approached Grayson for a date. You were right. He's friggin' gorgeous and—”

Cyn reacted before thinking, grabbing her wrists and pinning them against the car. “Don't do that.”

“What? Make you jealous? But you have no feelings for me, so you couldn't possibly get jealous.” She raised her eyebrow, an impudent spark in her hazel eyes. “Or could you?”

“You're trying to rile me up so I'll expose my feelings? Is that what this is about?”

“Yes.” She glanced down where he held her wrists. “I'd say it's working.”

Damn, but she had him twisted up inside. He leaned so close that their noses almost touched. “Ruby.” This time he could hear that intimate tone she'd been accusing him of.

“Yes, Cyn.”

“Don't toy with my Dragon. Trust me, you will not like the price.”

W
hat
was
the price of toying with Cyn's Dragon? Ruby wondered as he drove like a maniac through the city streets. He'd cranked the stereo, and a rock band was singing about being bad company. That fit Cyn right about then, so she decided to back off from provoking him further. The price might be crashing the car.

Cyn was cool, calm, inured to things that would freak out others, like, say, demons, or a woman holding a gun to his chest. So inciting a reaction in him satisfied her on some deep level. Ooh, how he'd gotten pissed—no, territorial—when she'd talked about Grayson. Sure, the Caido was gorgeous, but Cyn was the man who did it for her.

What was the deal with her Dragon Prince? Well, not
her
prince.

“What's this Darren's last name?” Cyn asked.

“I can't remember. They were simply Aunt Magda and Uncle Darren, though I knew they weren't real family. I'd hate to think he's Mr. Smith.”

“He's the one person who might know what your father was doing.”

“Or not. I can remember Darren's snide comments about my father being secretive about his work. It seemed to really bother him.”

“Right now he's the only lead we have. If he isn't behind this, maybe he can shed some light on the people behind the private lab they both worked for.”

“Let's go by the Yard,” she said as they approached one of the nearby exits. “I don't have a lot of things from my childhood, but I do have pictures of my parents. I'm pretty sure Darren and his wife are in them. Maybe there's a last name on the back. And I'd like to eyeball my place, make sure everything's all right.”

“That place means a lot to you, doesn't it?”

“It's my life, my livelihood. Where I spent time as a kid when the world was good, and where I grew up and learned responsibility. And it's my one link to my mother.” Damn, her voice had quivered. “This Mr. So-called Smith knows about the Yard, no doubt.”

Cyn must have picked up on the emotion in her voice because he gave her a soft smile and switched lanes to take the exit. “Which is why we have to approach it very carefully. We have to assume something's waiting for us. You can sense magick, if you tune in to it.”

“So we can tell if there's a demon lurking around?” There was some relief in that.

“Yes, but there are ways to mask it, too. And some aspects of the Hidden don't give off a signature.”

“Yeah, that's great.”

As he pulled onto another road, she said, “Yesterday you advised me to never kill out of high emotion. You described the feeling of someone's blood gushing over your hand as something you knew firsthand.” She'd been holding a letter opener to his chest. It seemed surreal now, and so long ago. “You said we shouldn't go there then. Can we go there now?”

He looked like he was going to say no, but he released a breath instead. “Being in the Guard is like being in the military. Sometimes it's kill or be killed.”

“What kind of people did you have to kill?”

“Those who violated Rule Number One. Crescents who succumbed to the lure of their magick, which means they lose their conscience and start using their powers for bad. Demons. Dragons infected by Red Lust.”

“What's that?”

“Remember when I told you about Breathing Dragon, how Dragons can take each other's power? When I healed you, I Breathed out, sending my essence into you. If you kill a Dragon, you can Breathe
in
their essence and assimilate their power. You have to be very careful if you manage to kill an old soldier like me. Take more than you're ready for, and Red Lust throws you in a bloodlust frenzy.”

“Oh, boy, that sounds like fun. Think I'll pass on that whole Breathing thing.”

“No, take the power, if it comes to that. You need all you can get.” He drove slowly past the Yard, doing that magick-sensing thing probably.

She tried to see past the sentimental aspect of the Yard and focus on anything out of the ordinary with her sixth sense. It was her ordinary sense of sight that zeroed in on the gap in the front gate, right next to where she'd hung the
CLOSED FOR A FAMILY EMERGENCY
sign she'd made before they left. “Someone's here.”

She could
feel
Cyn's energy snap tight. Weird. He pulled way off to the side and killed the engine.

She whispered, “Demons don't have to unlock gates, do they?”

He shook his head.

“Maybe we'll get lucky enough to find the Deuce behind the demons.”

Cyn's eyes flared with bloodlust as he searched the Yard beyond the fence. “I hope so.”

Anyone—or any
thing—
could hide behind the thousands of items in the Yard. Her projects and investments and splurges, like the fifties toy car, could all be harboring some evil being. She and Cyn slid through the gap and walked side by side down the center of the Yard. Ruby found the old Dodge Dart and then the owner of said car, Nevin, who appeared to be painting his Cadillac Fleetwood table. She sighed in relief at the same time that Cyn muttered, “What the hell?”

“I know, it's shocking to see Nevin working when he's supposed to be taking time off.” Except Cyn hadn't meant that kind of
What the hell?
because he didn't know Nevin was a lackey.

Which meant he was referring to something else.

Nevin walked out of the booth several yards away, pulled down his respiratory mask, and called out, “You startled me.” He wore the same relieved smile she'd sported a moment before. “I came to pick up something and didn't see anyone here. Figured it'd be okay if I worked on my Caddy table.” His smile drooped. “Why are you looking at me so strange?”

Not at him but at someone peering above a stack of flattened cars a short distance behind him. A stack more than ten feet tall. Ruby automatically clutched Cyn's arm. “What is it?” she whispered. All she could see was the top of a head with wild brown hair and a hint of eyes.

Cyn was laughing, only it wasn't an amused kind of laugh. It was one of those
I can't believe it
kind of laughs, which she knew was not good. “A tulpa. I can smell it from here. Damn, I haven't seen one of those in years. Get rid of the Mundane.”

“A…tulpa?” she spat out on a vehement whisper. “You didn't tell me about tulpas!” She vaguely remembered Kade mentioning the word, and Cyn telling her “later.”

“It's one of those things that doesn't emit a magick signature because it's not real.”

The ten-feet-plus-tall human-looking creature stepped out from behind the stack of cars. Two cats scattered, but the tulpa thankfully paid them no mind…because it was focused on her.

“It looks like a kid!” Ruby whispered. “A huge, demented girl with
pigtails
!” She forced a smile as Nevin approached, but her gaze was on the tulpa. “Nevin, you have to go now.”

He wiped his arm across his sweating brow. “I will, as soon as I'm done. I get it now, why you're all excited about seeing something go from junky to shiny and pretty. This is gonna look so cool.”

The tulpa pushed a stack of carburetors Nevin had been talking about welding together as an art form. He spun around as the stack crashed to the ground, his mouth gaping.

Could he see the tulpa?

“Holy heck in a handbasket, what—” He spun back to Ruby. “Did you see that? The whole stack just tipped over. What if someone had been standing beside it? You were right, Ruby. I should have done something about that before now.”

And that answered that. Nevin walked toward the stack. Ruby tugged at his arm the same way her Dragon tugged at her to Catalyze. “Nevin, it might fall more. Don't go near it.”

She looked up,
way
up at the tulpa. The “it” she was really talking about smiled down at her. There was something oddly familiar about that smile. It wore no clothes, its body a vague mass of flesh-toned substance. And yes, it smelled like a sponge that had been sitting in dirty water for weeks.

The tulpa sniffed at Nevin, then flicked his head. Nevin stumbled at the impact, his hand to his head as he looked for what had hit him. “What was that?”

Ruby hauled him backward. “Remember when I said there might be trouble? Well, there's trouble.”

He rubbed his head, confusion on his face. “Is that what hit me? What knocked the carburetors down?”

“Yes.” She led him to his car, looking back to see Cyn standing between her and the tulpa, trying to keep it back. In human form, he didn't have the power he would as Dragon. “Nevin, you really have to leave now.”

“Should I call the police?”

“No, definitely not. I don't want to involve you. And I don't want you hurt.”

He looked pained, glancing over her shoulder at Cyn. “Ever since that guy came on the scene, you've been acting weird.”

She wanted to laugh. Ever since Cyn arrived, she
was
weird. “Trust me, it'll be okay. Go. Bye.”

He got into his car and pulled toward the gate. Cyn was throwing things that were awaiting restoration at the overgrown girl. A kid's bike bounced off the tulpa's hip. A Sunoco sign hit the tulpa's arm and made it frown. He was goading it, leading it farther back into the Yard. Away from the fence where someone could see them Catalyze, she suspected.

“What kind of world did I end up in?” she muttered, locking the gate behind Nevin's car and turning to join Cyn.

He was now in Nevin's territory, which meant general chaos. Stacks of parts, walls of crushed cars ready for scrapping. She circled around the edge of the Yard and came up behind the thing. She gave him a nod. He was safe to Catalyze. To be clear, she did.

So did he, his scales shimmering in the late afternoon light. Cyn lunged forward lightning fast, taking a bite of the tulpa's flesh, then another.

“Ouchie!” The tulpa swiped at him, missing by a fraction. “Bad Dragon!” it shouted, shaking its pointed finger. Just like a kid. It turned as Ruby crept up from behind and kicked a stack of cars, sending them crashing down. Ruby scurried back.

“Tulpas are Thoughtforms,” Cyn spoke as though he were merely conversing with himself. “Not terribly smart but capable. Created by a powerful mind, given an agenda that they're pretty single-minded about. But they like the killing part.”

“It looks weirdly familiar.”

“It's you, Ruby, at the age you were when Mr. Smith had your parents killed. Sick bastard must have gotten it from the newspaper article. He's trying to screw with us.”

“Ohmigod, I see it now. My hair. My eyes. How am I supposed to kill
myself
?” she squeaked. Yeah, it definitely screwed with her.

“Don't let it mess with you.” Cyn approached, drawing its attention. But he looked as disturbed by the image as she was.

The tulpa picked up one of the carburetors from the pile and threw it at him. Cyn rolled out of the way, and it reached down for another one. Ruby took advantage of its distraction and started to jump on its back, but it turned toward her. The damned thing threw that carburetor at her. Ruby ducked behind a rusty Ford truck with an inch to spare. She actually felt the air as it whooshed past and crashed into something behind her.

“Ruuuuby,” the tulpa called in a singsong voice, “come out and play with me.”

It started to pick up the truck—the whole damned truck—when it spun around as Cyn obviously attacked. The truck dropped back down again, narrowly missing Ruby's foot. She scooted out and jumped onto the tulpa's back, plunging her talons into what felt like rubbery flesh. As long as she didn't look at it, she could kill it.

“Naughty Dragons!” it shouted, slapping its hand behind it and flattening Ruby.

Cyn swung his tail in an arc and stabbed the tulpa's stomach. It wailed in outrage and thrust its hand toward him, knocking a stack of flattened cars so hard that the stack started to fall. Ruby screamed as cars rained down on Cyn.

Before she could think to help him, a hand slammed down on her. The breath left her lungs as she fell to the ground, landing on her back. The tulpa lifted its foot and stomped down right over Ruby. She could do nothing but hold her talons as stiffly as possible, making herself into a big sandspur. The foot came down and jerked back up again, followed by a childlike scream.

Ruby had still suffered the brunt of the pounding, her body aching as she tried to get up. The tulpa clutched its foot and hopped over to a flattened car. Ruby saw the cars shake as Cyn tried to free himself. The tulpa smashed the pancake down on top of the moving piece.

“Bad tulpa!” Ruby shouted, pulling herself to her feet.

The tulpa scrunched its face up. “No,
you're
bad!”

Ruby needed to keep the tulpa's attention while Cyn tried to extract himself from the pile. In giving the tulpa her childhood look, Smith had also given it a child's behavior.

Ruby countered with, “No, you're bad.”

Was
Cyn trying to extract himself? Or was he badly hurt? She flicked her gaze behind the tulpa, seeing a Dragon's hand reach up and grab on to the edge of a car. When the tulpa followed her gaze, Ruby rushed forward and sank her teeth into its leg. Bad idea, though, as it kicked in an attempt to throw her off. She clutched the thick stalk with her talons until a big hand grabbed hold of her and plucked her away from its leg.

The tulpa lifted her to within inches of its face—Ruby's face—and scowled. Then it spun as Cyn obviously did something to it. Suddenly Ruby found herself the battering ram as she rushed down and smashed into him. They both tumbled to the ground in a heap of arms and legs and tails.

“You all right?” they both asked.

After giving each other a quick nod, they got to their feet and faced the tulpa. It was picking through a huge pile of various parts, grabbing up a handful of fenders and throwing them at Ruby and Cyn. Like a child in a temper-tantrum frenzy, it kept scooping up headlights, rims, and pieces of jagged metal and hurling them.