Dragons Luck

“Often?”

“Again, there are rumors of more, but nothing I would put any credit into. Plus everything I’ve heard says they only have limited control over their powers. Kind of flighty and undisciplined. Shouldn’t be too much trouble for you.”

Griffen watched as Fly

“Another?” Fly

“Double or nothing?” Griffen said, voice strained.

“Now, why would I let you off the hook that easy? Then you wouldn’t learn anything.”

Fly

“Okay, since my ‘consultant fees’ are mounting up. I’ve been a little worried about security. I can only be in so many places at once. What if something goes wrong?”

“You’ve got a crew, don’t you?”

Griffen winced again, thinking back to his talk with Jerome.

“Let’s just say they are busy elsewhere.”

“Hmm… remember what I said about throwing your weight around? If you are the head dragon, you need to act like it.”

Griffen had run the table. He was aiming on a fairly easy shot on the eight.

“Didn’t I hear a rumor about you and some drug dealers?” Fly

Griffen miscued, and came close to scratching.

Fly

“Only a brief incident,” Griffen said. “Why?”

“Well, seems in this town they would be ideal. Good for thug work. Let’s face it—expendable. And not likely to talk about any weirdness they might see, not to anyone who matters and will listen anyway.”

“I really don’t think I want to end up owing anything to that lot.”

“So make it a cash deal up front, no favors or anything,” Fly

“Well… if things got desperate… maybe,” Griffen said dubiously.

Fly

“Damn!” he said.

Griffen took the cue and very carefully lined up his shot. He looked at Fly

“Only other option would be some type of tag or mental tracer. An amulet or coded ID badges or something like that,” Fly

“Don’t you want another game?” Griffen said.

“Nope. Always quit while you’re ahead, kid. ‘Thus endeth the lesson.’ ”

Griffen watched Fly

He never realized just how it felt.

Nineteen

“You sure are limber.”

Val jumped. She had been sitting out in the courtyard of her apartment complex, thinking of not very much in particular. It was sunset, fading slowly to night. For once her shift at work had been busy, and she had been enjoying the solitude and a little downtime. Only when she had sat down, no one had been in the complex but her.

She looked around, and a figure slipped out from behind a tree. It was a small woman, slim and attractive. She flowed as she moved, every step natural and smooth, a kind of roll to her hips that would have made Val feel awkward. Then she smiled, and even in the dim light Val recognized that grin.

“You!”

Val stood quickly as she recognized the woman who had tried to run her over. This was the first time she had seen her when the woman wasn’t behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. She looked dangerous, deadly. Something about her made Val’s heart beat a little faster. Perhaps it was those eyes.

They were broken, it was the only word Val had for them. Like stained glass smashed and crushed together. Shining as if backlit and filled with malevolence. Eyes that swept up and down her, appraising, judging,… hating.

“Wow, you are bigger than I thought. A real cow.”

“Why, you little pips—” Val started.

“Little, honey—the Statue of Liberty is ‘little’ compared to you.”

Val was throwing a punch before she had even thought about it, long legs rushing her forward as her fist drove for the woman’s nose.

The hit never landed. She moved so fast Val couldn’t track. It was like trying to punch a single raindrop. The woman crouched, Val’s swing whizzing over her head. She straightened then, and gave a little push to Val’s elbow that twisted the momentum of her missed punch and whirled her about, wrenching her shoulder.

“Who knew my brother had such a thing for livestock?” Lizzy said, looking Val over from behind.

Val started to turn back to Lizzy, only to jump again. The smaller woman had moved forward, and now was pressed against Val’s back. Her hand was very firmly squeezing Val’s ass.

“Mmm. Tender, though. Bet you’d taste good with a little seasoning,” Lizzy said.

Val growled and swung back around, trying to bring her hand down like a hammer onto Lizzy’s head. Lizzy stepped to the side and, with a fluid, circular motion, gripped Val’s wrist and added to her momentum, driving Val’s own fist into her thigh.

Val yelped with pain as her muscles spasmed, leg almost buckling on her.

Lizzy laughed like it was the fu

“Oh oh ha! All that strength and only the bittiest little training. I thought this was going to be fun!”

Her face instantly shifted from mirth to anger, as if a light switch had been thrown.

“You… SIT!”

The short woman jabbed two fingers into Val’s breastbone, and the force of the blow was staggering. Val found herself stumbling backward, only to crash into one of the chairs. She sat there, stu

“Do you have any idea what you’ve put me through!?”

“What—” Val gasped.

“Shut it! I’m rantin’ here! Girl doesn’t know when to listen to her betters, does she? Stupid cow.”

Lizzy began to pace back and forth, gesturing wildly as she spoke. She only looked at Val occasionally, and seemed to be talking to an audience, or to herself, or some combination thereof.

“Came all the way down here. Used up all my emergency cash. Couldn’t use the credit cards. Oh no, of course not, Mumsy watches those accounts, doesn’t she? Likes to know where her favorite little girl is. All because you and my idiot brother think you can replace me. You can’t! You won’t!”

“What brother?” Val snapped, regaining some of her composure.

“It doesn’t shut up, does it!”

Lizzy looked back at Val, and her eyes flashed. They seemed almost to swirl.

“Nathaniel, you stupid. Who else have you been bumping headboards with? Wait, no, don’t answer that. I so very much don’t want to know. Ugh. And it took me days to find you. Days! What kind of person lives in New Orleans and never walks down Bourbon Street?”

“Shows what you know. Most locals don’t bother with it,” Val said.

Lizzy went still. A moment ago she had been all motion, now she could have been a statue. Her gaze bored into Valerie.

Then, slowly at first, she began to change. She stretched, expanded, till she was as tall as Valerie. Even her clothes seemed to change with her, though Val was pretty sure that was just their cut.

She changed again, milky white scales spreading over her skin. They flowed like water. Iridescent, catching the light and tossing it back like moonstone. Her tongue flicked out, long and forked.

Then again. And in a moment Valerie was looking at an exact copy of herself.

“I can be anything I want. You are already dead, but if you piss me off, I’ll use your own form to rape your brother. So shut it.”

Val quivered with rage, and the armrests of the chair snapped in her hands. Lizzy nodded and smiled at the display, and shifted back into her own form.