Dragon Mine (A Hidden Novella) (5 page)

“Normally its creator must destroy it in a long, arduous process, standing in the same circle in which he created it for protection. In that man’s case, the creator was gone. A Deuce had to stand in the circle and summon the same god who helped create it. The Deuce emerged from the wreck of the house having destroyed the tulpa, but he was not allowed to share how it was done. The gods need to feel necessary. Powerful. Not many Crescents worship them anymore. So they take their power where they can get it.”

Nana’s eyes narrowed as she probably realized why Elle was asking.  “You are not to try destroying the tulpa yourselves.”

“What about with the gods’ help? If Dad created this thing, he probably approached Goron.” Elle turned to Kirin. “He’s the Deuce we descend from.”

“You know how risky it is to approach a god, even one of our own heritage. They play us like chess pieces.” Nana glanced up and made a circular gesture of reverence. “With all due respect.”

It was believed that the gods paid little attention to Crescents unless they wanted amusement. Or were being worshipped or called upon. But no one knew how much they really watched their offspring.

Elle pulled the journal cover out of the bag. “I found this too. I think it’s Mom’s diary, but I couldn’t ‘see’ anything more on it, either.”

Nana took the cover and stepped far enough away so that Elle couldn’t grasp onto her arm. After a moment, she said, “Huff tore out the pages and burned them. Not as part of the ceremony, but in anger. I couldn’t see any of the writing.” She handed the cover back. “I don’t remember hearing about a journal. He would have mentioned it.”

“Maybe Dad recently found it.” Elle turned to Kirin. “I bet something in there sent him over the edge. Like confirmation that she and Stein were having an affair. Nana, what happens to the tulpa if we leave it at the factory? Will it fade away?”

She shrugged. “It might. We must give your father time to return. Stay away from the factory, Ellie. This situation is more than you can handle.”

Kirin stepped up beside Elle. “She’s right. We don’t know what that thing can do.”

Nana’s eyes softened, the first time Elle had ever seen an expression of respect aimed at Kirin. Even if he was placating her with lies. He wasn’t going to sit around and wait until her father came back any more than she would.

E
lle tried not to let her gaze slide to Kirin as she drove back to her father’s. “I’m staying at Dad’s place, in case he comes back.” She glanced at him. “You going back to your place?”

He scrubbed his fingers through his hair. “Wish I could. I sold it after we broke up, fresh start and all. I’m doing a short-term lease in Atlanta, hoping the firm I’m working for will renew my contract.”

“How is it, living so far from the Field?”

“Boring,” he said, and she swore he was a little surprised that the word had popped right out. “Yeah, it’s boring as hell.” He met her gaze. “No magick. My Dragon hates it.” He settled back against the seat with a resigned expression. “I’m going to get a hotel room someplace not far from you. If that tulpa went to my pop’s place, it can go anywhere. And it knows us now.”

The thought of it coming to find them startled her. Her fingers tightened on the wheel. “You should stay at my dad’s.” She’d run the words together, reluctant to utter them. “We should stay together. For safety. You don’t know if it was your power or my orb that sent the thing away. If it comes after us, we know combining our magick will send it off again.”

She saw him staring at her from the corner of her eye but kept her focus on the road. “This is about figuring out what’s going on and nothing else. No talking about the past or being naked unnecessarily. Got it?”

“Are you talking about
you
being naked, ’cause I’m fine with that.” He shrugged. “Just saying.”

She snorted. “You know exactly who I’m talking about, the one who has no modesty.”

“Modesty is for sissies.” He tugged at his collar. “Besides, clothes are constricting.”

When they had gotten back together after college, Kirin spent a lot of time naked, coaxing her to do the same. She’d loved the freedom and decadence of lying around nude in her apartment or his.

Suddenly the collar of her shirt was tight, too, but she stopped herself from mimicking his tugging action. She couldn’t believe she was sharing this small space with him. Or that she’d suggested they stay together.

Inside the house a short while later, it felt a thousand times strange having Kirin there. She’d showed him the guest room and was now pouring them iced tea.

Kirin picked up a note on the kitchen counter. “Miss Ellie, do NOT clean the dishes. Is what I’m paid for. I bring you some Puerto Rican food tomorrow, fill your tummy. Signed, E.” He peered at her from beneath a raised eyebrow.

She snatched the note from him. “Esmerelda, the housekeeper. She leaves me meals that just need to be reheated. I love her.”

His gaze settled on the dish rack sprouting a couple of pans, a plate, and a glass. “And yet, you still didn’t listen to her.”

“I can’t leave dirty dishes for someone else to clean.”

His mouth quirked in a smile. “Same Elle I used to know.”

“No, I’m not. I’m completely different.”
Completely immune to your charm, too, unlike that girl who lived and breathed you.

He held her gaze, flames flickering in his eyes. “Is that so?"

“Mm hm,” she managed, though with him so close, she felt exactly like that girl. Her heart thrummed, and her throat went dry. She was his mate, his chosen. His earlier words swirled through her, physically pulling her toward him.

His head lowered, and his mouth parted slightly. She saw the same ache in his eyes that she felt in her body.

“Kirin,” she whispered, trying to make herself step back, to at least tell him to stop looking at her like he was going to kiss her.

He brushed the back of his hand against her cheek. “Elle.” Kirin said her name softly, lovingly. He drew his hand down her neck, a touch so light and so overwhelming all at once.

She’d experienced this before, the world melting away to leave only them. “Kirin, I…I can’t do this.” She finally gathered the strength to move away. “Things are too complicated.”

“It’s not that complicated, what’s between us.”

“You couldn’t be more wrong.”

He paused, as though readying another argument. Maybe he saw her stubbornness on the subject, because he pushed back from the counter. “I’m going to take a shower.” He started to unbutton his shirt as he turned toward the doorway.

“Tell me the truth.” Her words stopped him. “Do you think your father did something to harm my mom? My father obviously believed that, if he’s done this.”

Kirin appeared to consider the question. “Stein could be an ass, and he had a temper, but he would never have hurt a woman.”

“But if they were having an affair—”

“My father wasn’t in love with your mother.”

“How can you be so sure?”

He continued unbuttoning his shirt. “When you’re in love with someone, you have a glow, a streak of happiness. Even when you told me your rule against dating a fellow employee, it didn’t change how I felt when I was around you, didn’t stop me from thinking about you every second.” He dropped his hands, his shirt now hanging open. “In the days before Tara disappeared, Pop wasn’t unusually happy. Nor was he angry, like she’d broken things off.”

She had to push past his words about how he’d felt back then. “So if they weren’t having an affair, what was in that journal that made my father so angry at Stein?” She wanted Stein to be culpable in some way to justify her father’s rash actions. “I’m sorry my father set this thing in motion.”

“We aren’t responsible for the sins of our fathers.”

“I never blamed you for anything your father might have done. I just want you to know that.”

He nodded, a somber expression on his face. “I know, Elle.”

She heard his footfalls up the stairs and waited for the door to close. She probably had a good thirty minutes, if he still liked long, hot showers. After writing a quick note, she set the pad on the counter where he’d see it and turned to leave.

“Oh!”

Kirin was leaning in the doorway, shirt off, top button on his jeans undone, wearing the expression of a parent catching his kid sneaking a candy bar. “You’re going to sneak off to the factory and approach this Goron, aren’t you?”

“How did you figure that out?”

He pushed away from the frame and walked closer. “I know you, Elle. A warning isn’t going to stop you from doing what you’ve set your mind on.”

Her gaze slid over his broad shoulders and down the beautiful red Dragon across his chest. It ran its tongue across its lips, breaking her out of her perusal.

He strolled past and picked up the notepad. “Dearest Kirin, I am still the maddening girl you fell in love with years ago, still running away from you, and still denying that I need you.”

She snatched the note and, for a really dumb second, checked to see if she had written such a thing. Oh, was he messing with her head! She balled up the note. “If my father did something to your father, I need to get to the bottom of it. I want to find them both.”

“Alone.”

She shook the note at him. “Well, obviously. That thing wants to kill you, not me. Going without you seemed safer, and I wasn’t going to be there long. I just need a few answers.”

“If it were that easy, Roz wouldn’t have warned you against it.”

“P’shaw.” One of Nana’s words.

“So you were sneaking off alone to protect me?”

“Yes. Walking in and seeing that thing fighting you…”

He actually smiled. “Scared you. Because you do care about me.”

“Of course I care about you. I did love you once, and I don’t want you dead.”

“You care about me. It’s a start.” He pulled his shirt on. “Let’s go talk to this god of yours.”

She let out a breath. “Fine.”

They both sank into their thoughts on the drive over, Elle’s dark and conflicted. Kirin’s too, if his expression was any indication.

As soon as he got out of the car at the factory, he was on alert. “It’s here. Even heavier than before.”

“Great. We probably pissed it off.”

The energy changed as soon as they stepped into the reception area. Shadows came to life, whispering near her ear, “Woooomannnn.” Goose bumps flared, and she jerked to the side and into Kirin.

“Did you hear that?” she hissed.

His gaze speared the darkness. “No, what?”

Had it said “woman”? She felt the cold air sucking past her. Breathing her, as though it were…sniffing her. “It’s here. I mean,
right
here.”

In seconds, Kirin had stripped out of his clothes and Catalyzed, nostrils flaring and strong head moving back and forth to sense the creature. In both human and Dragon form, his jaw was sharp. Although his eyes became catlike with vertical slits, she still saw Kirin’s eyes in there, too.

She created a blue orb for its power as well as the glow it cast over the room. “I don’t feel the creepy energy now.”

“It moved back, but it’s still here.”

She eyed the darkness, wishing it would make itself visible. Then again, maybe not. It seemed the tulpa was gathering strength to materialize again. “If my dad used driftwood to summon Goron, maybe there’s some left. I didn’t see any in his office, so let’s check in the shop.”

Kirin was light on his feet and graceful for a creature larger than her horse. He pressed close to her, his scales cool and smooth against her arm. The spines along his elegant back stood straight up like flames. The spray of “feathers” were rigid rather than flat against his head. Smoke wafted from his nostrils with each rough breath. He was in full fight mode.

“I’ll watch, you search.” Kirin’s voice, only lower and rougher.

He moved like a feline predator, shoulders prominent with each step, back feet stepping exactly where his front feet had been. Kirin’s scales reflected the orb’s light in a muted glow. She did feel safer with him. She also felt afraid for him.
Get in, get out, before the tulpa materializes
.

She took in the huge space. Where would she hide wood? She walked to the far right corner, where shelves were stacked four in a row. She crawled through the bottom shelves to the one in the back where dark, oblong things that looked like snakes lay.

Please don’t be snakes.

Her orb floated nearby, illuminating a stack of thin branches.

“Found it.” She grabbed a couple and backed out.

“Good job.”

She wasn’t about to admit she was more nervous about the next part. Then again, she didn’t have to when he said, “You’re nervous.”

“How can you tell?”

“Dragons can pick up the scent of emotion. Fear. Arousal. Even nervousness.”

“Good to know.” Not. “Okay, I’m a little nervous. No big deal. I’ve never approached a god before.”

“They don’t exactly like us Crescents. We’re a reminder of their weakness, an abomination of god and human. We are to be tolerated and toyed with, never helped without a price.”

“Then I’ll pay the price.”

“How does this work?”

His regular voice. She turned to find him in human form again. Now the orb’s light cast a blue glow on his golden skin, washing over his shoulders and the contours of his pecs.

She focused on the branches. “We go into the circle, and I summon Goron. The circle should protect us from the tulpa.”

She shuddered at the memory of that wet whisper in her ear. She let the orb float and snapped her fingers, creating a flame that lit the branches.

He gestured to his naked body, which made her gaze follow his hand and take in his glorious male form. “I suppose I should wear something, out of respect. I'll put on my briefs. That way I can Catalyze without taking the time to strip or shredding my clothes.” He nodded toward the front office. “Come with. I don’t want you here by yourself.”

She turned away as he pulled on his black briefs a minute later, listening to the slide of fabric against skin, fully able to imagine it. Not that she was imagining it. No, not at all.

Back inside the circle, she said, “We must kneel. Deities demand submission.” She glanced at Kirin, who, no surprise, had a stubborn frown. “If you’re going to do this with me, you have to submit. On your knees.”

“Well, when you put it that way…”

“Kirin!” she whispered.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Once they were in position, she raised her arms. “Goron, my revered ancestor, I beg your audience.”

Nothing.

“Goron, please come to aid your progeny.”

Still nothing but the wild crackle of the wood.

“Goron!”

She jerked at Kirin’s harsh order. Before she could reprimand him, an image appeared in the smoke above the flames, an old man with long white hair and beard.

“Who dare—” Bushy eyebrows arched above swirling black eyes that shot an angry glare at Kirin. “A Dragon?” But his expression morphed to one of interest. “A Dragon on his knees. How interesting.”

Kirin bristled beside her, and she hoped he would check his temper and pride. He looked beautiful there, back straight, arms at his sides with hands fisted. Behaving himself for her.

“We require your assistance,” he said, looking at her to handle the request.

Elle nodded in thanks. “I am your ancestor.” She hadn’t even realized she’d created a small orb in her right hand which she rolled between her fingers.

“Hmph.” Goron sized her up. “I consider none of you my family. The human female who seduced me,
she
is your ancestor.”

“It takes two to tango,” Kirin said. “Your Deuceship.”

Those bushy eyebrows furrowed in irritation.

“Excuse him, please,” she said, shooting Kirin a quelling look. “He is here to protect me.”

“From me?” Mirth saturated Goron’s words.

“No, from the tulpa my father created. My father came to you, didn’t he? Huff Becker asked for your help to create a tulpa.”

Goron scratched his beard in thought. “Yes, Huff the Becker.”

Her heart gained twenty pounds. So it was true. “Can you tell me the purpose of the tulpa?”

“I didn’t concern myself with who he wanted to harm. I liked his rage against someone whom he felt had wronged him.”

“Stein,” she said on a breath. “Do you know where Stein Slade is?”

“You think we gods sit here and watch you as though you’re entertainment?”

“Yes,” Kirin said. “That’s what we’ve heard.”