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“No one knows I’m here. No one is go
Val surged toward her again, swelling in size as she went. Lizzy seemed shocked by the motion, perhaps thinking Val properly cowed. Either way, Val’s fist cracked into her stomach, a fist nearly the size of a football.
“I am no one’s toy,” said Val.
Lizzy fell, and Val was on her. She struck her twice more before Lizzy began to block. Val managed to grab one of her wrists, and slammed her hand into her face, going down on one knee and trying to pin her smaller opponent.
Then Lizzy smiled, blood ru
“Oh, good, you can be fun!”
Lizzy shrank. So suddenly and rapidly that she slipped free from Val and slipped behind her in an instant. With Val having gained size and Lizzy losing it, she was now less then half as big as Val. She gri
Val twisted in midair, instincts panicking, and cradled her stomach as she fell.
Lizzy stood still as rock again, nostrils flaring.
“No.”
Val didn’t have time to react as Lizzy jumped at her. She grabbed Val by the hair and by the throat and smashed her head back into the ground. Val’s vision blurred, and she found herself staring up into Lizzy’s eyes.
“Let me see…” Lizzy said, glaring downward.
Her eyes widened and her nostrils flared again. She jumped back from Val and held her fist up to her mouth, looking like a shocked little girl.
“I’m go
Val staggered to her feet.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Val said.
“Sure you don’t. Only person I ever saw that worried ’bout their stomach in a fight was Mum when she had Thor on board.”
Lizzy rushed at her, and Val braced herself, ready to fend off another attack. The last thing she expected was to be hugged about the waist and lifted into the air. Lizzy swung her back and forth, dancing from foot to foot.
“Yeeehee, I’ve never been an aunt!” Lizzy said.
And just like that she again dropped Val, who landed heavily on her rear. Val could only sit blinking as she watched the other woman’s face go through a dozen emotions in an eyeblink. From joy to confusion to black anger.
“Oh, this is so… I don’t know what… I should kill you both… but.. I…”
Lizzy seemed lost in thought. Val reacted; she grabbed up a nearby flowerpot and stood, slamming it into the side of Lizzy’s head. It smashed against her skull.
Lizzy blinked, still standing and seemingly unfazed as dirt and broken pottery fell from her hair. Val noticed that her nose had healed.
“You know, if you are going to fight other dragons, you need to learn how to make the right kind of claws,” Lizzy said, voice suddenly completely calm.
She reached out and slapped Val, not as hard as she had been hit before, but there was a splash of blood. Val stepped back, hand flying to her cheek. Three short tears marred it.
Lizzy lifted a hand that was now tipped in talons, like a hawk’s. But each bladed claw seemed rough. Val couldn’t get a good look as they shifted away, back to dainty fingers and manicured nails. Lizzy sucked the blood from her fingers absentmindedly, as if she didn’t realize what she was doing.
“This changes things, but I don’t know how yet. When I decide, you’ll be the first to know,” Lizzy said.
Val didn’t know what to do. She was still so angry, but she wasn’t stupid. She had no idea what she could do to faze, much less stop, this madwoman. Lizzy walked past her, heading toward the door out of the complex.
“Oh yeah,” Lizzy said without looking back. “No one can know I’m here. Tell anyone—anyone!—and you’ll force my hand.”
She actually waved as she left. Val just kept staring, hand still held to her cut cheek.
She had never thought of the possibility of an insane dragon.
Twenty
Fly
So far, everything had gone just as anticipated. In fact, things seemed to have been going a bit smoother than he pla
As far as Fly
Even if Griffen didn’t self-destruct, he should lose control of his friends and supporters. He was too young, too inexperienced to wield power without being a bully. What a quaint term, “bully.” As if the world were some child’s sandbox. If Griffen survived, he would soon be looking for a new home. And Fly
Hell, after that little pool game, Griffen was paying for his hotel and travel expenses.
Fly
There was a knock at his hotel door.
Fly
Of course, he never could refuse a good game. He let his curiosity guide him and opened the door.
“Hello, Earl,” Mai said.
Fly
“I should have known,” Fly
“Oh, now, you make it sound like a bad thing I am here.”
“It probably is. Still, let’s go through the motions, shall we?”
“Let’s.”
The two eyed each other for a moment, and Fly
He had no doubts which one he was.
“You are staring,” Mai said with another small smile.
“Ah, yes—the motion. Well, you do look very good, Mai.”
“Thank you,” she said.
She did, too. She was in a dark red dress cut to make one think of a kimono without actually being one. It hung off one shoulder and revealed a lovely expanse of skin. One side was split nearly to the hip, letting her shapely leg slip into the light now and again.
“It’s been a long time,” Fly
“Yes, it has. Shall I say it first, or should you say it?” asked Mai, smile sliding from demure and starting to resemble a smirk.
“Together, I think,” Fly
“On three.”
“One,” said Fly
“Two,” said Mai.
“Three. What is your interest in Griffen McCandles?” they said together, in perfect unison.
Fly