The Knight of Her Dreams (Dragons and Dreamphasers) (46 page)

Her light appearance was
almost a total contrast to her husband’s dark hair and features—which both
their sons possessed—and his often grim expression that followed him
everywhere.  Discord bore no gray hairs yet either, the trace of a five-o’clock
shadow grazing his chin, but since the mystical magic area surrounding
Chavernos aged all people somewhat slower than planets like Earth, this wasn’t
too surprising.  His brown eyes fairly blazed as they gazed upon his youngest
son now, and his eyebrows tightened.

“Chaos informed us that
you’ve gotten yourself into another of your famous predicaments, and insisted
we get the information from you,” continued Discord.  “I thought given your
age, he must be exaggerating, but apparently if your words bear any truth
regarding talk of murdering someone, it would seem he was absolutely right.”

“I was speaking
hypothetically, and I have no intention of killing anyone,” Dominick replied
finally, his eyes slowly narrowing.  “But I’m sure I’m not the only one to hold
the opinion that Chavernos wouldn’t regard Dual Arrovill’s death as a great
loss.”

His father sighed
knowingly, as Dominick’s enmity with Dual had gone on for many years.  Not to
mention, he’d heard plenty of stories regarding the assassin’s other dark
dealings as well.  In this, he could understand his son’s vehemence.  “Fair
enough,” he agreed, resting one hand on his shoulder.  “But the last place I
want you is rotting away in some prison for the better years of your life. 
Now, you mentioned some woman before, which I can only assume is part of this
new anger towards Dual.  Care to explain?”

It took less than ten
minutes for Dominick to appraise his parents of the situation.

And less than ten seconds
for Discord’s explosive response.

“Another dream-state
woman?” he growled.  “No, don’t stop me.  I want to make sure I’m hearing this
right.  You intend to
marry
a woman who exists millions of miles
away on Earth?”  Not letting Dominick reply, he continued, “How many times have
I told you and Riff to stop abusing your powers this way... a million at
least?  Yet you just
wouldn’t
listen, so now this impossible
situation is the result!”

Warp touched his shoulder
gently.  “Dear, don’t you think...”

He flashed an angry stare
upon her.  “Don’t you
dare
tell me you’re going to condone our
son’s recklessness in this supposed engagement of his!” he growled.

Not one to cower, and
certainly not to her husband, Warp set her chin to return his expression
twofold.  “Now see here, Discord,” she said coldly, “Dominick is my son as
well, and just because he doesn’t have the ultimate role models for a father
and grandfather doesn’t mean I’m going to hold that against him now.  Now pipe
down and keep that angry lid on your head for five seconds!”

Folding his arms with
another grumble, he turned away from both, and especially his wife’s icy
stare.  Warp was never an easy woman to facedown when angry.

Softening her expression
towards Dominick, she smiled slightly.  “I agree with your father that I’ve
never been too happy with what you’ve used your powers for in the dream-state
either, but despite this, I hoped you might find a woman to love.  Even if you
met her in a dream, I assumed you’d then seek her out on Chavernos in reality. 
I suppose after all these years, I never gave much consideration to the notion
that you might find her on Earth.”

“The possibility wouldn’t
have seemed real to me once either,” agreed Dominick.  “But despite our
challenging beginning, I can safely say that I love Julianna more than life
itself, and I’d go through the demonworld and back to be with her always.  I’m
sure she means as much to me as Dad does to you.”

Warp cast a quizzical eye
at her husband, whose responding gaze challenged her to voice a sarcastic
reply.  Instead, she smiled understandingly.  “Yes, then I imagine this love
you feel is strong.  And since even Chaos approves of her, I’m sure she’s more
than worthy.”  Gesturing her open hands toward him, she continued, “Now, how
can we help?”

“Chaos seems to think that
the dragon sorcerer Lendric might be able to bring us together.  I need to get
in touch with him immediately, if he can be reached.”

“Lendric?” Discord jumped
in.  “Oh, Chavernos... Son, something tells me you might be better off
remaining engaged to this Julianna across a distance, lest you accidentally end
up in the real Limbo...”  Warp’s meaningful jab to his stomach winded him into
silence.  “Ever the violent type,” he said with a grimace.

“Only when called for,” she
replied sweetly, turning back to Dominick.  “That isn’t a difficult request.  I
can use my powers to send us to his residence.”

“That must have been
Chaos’s assumption,” Dominick said through a smile.  “I’m glad I can count on
him now.”

“Was there ever any doubt?”
asked Discord.  His son cleverly avoided mentioning the incident of the other
night, not wanting to start further trouble, merely shaking his head once
without answering.  “I just hope Lendric can be counted on.  After all, despite
his best intentions, his magic doesn’t always do what it’s supposed to.  I’ll
never forget the time he opened the annual Barokka Festival many years ago,
planning on conjuring up rainbows in the background.  Instead, he only
delivered the rain part... complete with thunder, and lightning, and high
winds,
and
a hurricane...”

“And stop calling for
trouble!” snapped Warp.

“Hmmm... if I recall, Trouble’s
on your side of the family,” he laughed, turning towards the sky innocently.

Unfortunately true, she
thought sullenly, struggling to stick to the issue at hand.  “You realize of
course that my powers are limited, and I can only teleport us as far as the
cavern’s entrance to Lendric’s domicile.  To actually get to him, we’ll have to
ascend the pathway through the cave, dealing with whatever bars our way to the
inner door.”

“I understand,” Dominick
replied with determination.  “If it comes down to fighting whatever creatures
are in there, I’m willing to take them on alone.”

“No,” whispered Warp,
shaking her head, resting her hand on his shoulder.  “This time, you won’t be
alone.”  Giving him a quick smile, she added evenly, “Your father’s going with you.”

“
What?
”
exclaimed Discord.

Warp gave a short laugh,
before turning to him.  “I’m just kidding, dear.  You’re not obligated to see
Lendric as well.  But as for me, I will go too, since I wish to see our son
safely to his destination.”

“The creatures in that
place can’t be
that
bad,” he mumbled in reply.

“Why, Discord, do you mean
to say you’d consider...”

“Oh, hell, stop making a
fuss about it, and get us to outer Chavernos!  At least Lendric might be able
to stifle our son’s headstrong nature and your sharp tongue for a while.”

Clasping his mother’s hand,
as she likewise took hold of Discord’s, Dominick whispered in her ear, “Thanks,
Mom.”

She merely squeezed his
hand with a smile, as glittering lights surrounded them, moments before she
sent them on their way.

*****

“Now then, Miss Sherborne,”
began Roger, lifting his menu, “The sky’s the limit today.  What would you like
for lunch?”

Having said little while
he’d driven them to this restaurant, Julianna glared at him now.  He had an
inflated ego if he believed an expensive meal would erase the anger she felt at
his placing her job in jeopardy, let alone the past humiliations he’d subjected
her to.

“I’m not hungry,” she
growled, folding her arms and turning away.  Less than an hour and she’d be
free to return to the comfort of her desk.

  “A pity,” he sighed,
clicking his tongue.  “Almira will not be pleased, Miss Sherborne.”

“Knock it off with the
phony business act, Roger!” she exclaimed.  “You had no right to interfere with
my job today, so back off in the future.”

Roger sighed once, resting
his head on one arm as he glanced at the menu.  “You wouldn’t meet with me
otherwise, Julie.  I felt I had little choice.”

“You brought that on
yourself,” she hissed, pulling her chair back to stand.  Roger grabbed her arm
before she could do so, his eyes boring into hers.

“You know, you always were
stubborn, even when we were teenagers,” he said, shaking his head.  “Whenever
we had the slightest argument where you felt you were in the right, you made it
practically impossible for me to get back in your life.  Like that time when
you put me on ice after hearing a rumor I’d kissed another girl during study
hall.”

Julianna shrugged once. 
“Why not?  It was true.”

“No it wasn’t,” he
protested.  “Which is exactly what I’m talking about.  Even now, you’re still
holding grudges for ancient arguments that weren’t even justified!”

“Justified?” she hissed. 
“Was it justified when I caught you with your precious Marilyn, and then she
moved in with you afterwards?  No, Roger.  Maybe I made some errors in judgment
when younger, but that’s not why I don’t want to see you now.  It’s your recent
deceptions that locked you out of my life.”

“I see,” he said icily. 
“And are you saying you’re so perfect, you’ve never made a mistake you wished
to change?”

She sighed, feeling very
much as she had around Chaos.  “No, I’m not,” she replied.  “But that doesn’t
mean I should be subjected to forced meetings with you, when I happen to be
seeing someone else.  So why don’t we forget all this, go back to the office,
and…”

“Just a second!” he
growled, his eyes dark.  “Backtrack to this mention of someone else.  Who is
he?”

Julianna bit her lip.  She
hadn’t meant for that to come out the way it did, since she had no proof to
back up Dominick’s existence.  Still... maybe she could tell him part of the
truth.  It might get him to stop bothering her.

“I met him a few months
ago, and we’ve been seeing each other for a while now.  His name is Dominick.”

“Dominick... Dominick
what?”

“Westbrooke,” she supplied
hesitantly.  “Now do you see why I’ve been reluctant to get together with you
again?”

“Hold it,” he interrupted,
raising one hand to silence her.  “Westbrooke.  That name doesn’t ring a bell. 
Is he from this neighborhood?”

“Not exactly,” Julianna
said carefully.  “Look, Roger, I don’t see how this is any business of yours.”

“If it concerns you, it
is.”

Great
, she thought. 
As if I
want your concern anymore.
  Spying a flash of movement, her eyes widened
upon seeing Marybeth standing several feet away.  Answering the silent question
in her eyes, her friend gestured towards the back, earning a nod from Julianna
before she disappeared.

“I find it very
coincidental that you mention this new guy all of a sudden, when until today,
you’ve made no mention of him,” Roger told her.  Wary of his new hostility,
Julianna slowly began pushing her chair back again.  “Where are you going now?”
he demanded.

“To the ladies room,” she
said through a forced smile.  “Do I have his majesty’s permission?”

Growling once more, he waved
his hand in a dismissive gesture.  “We’ll continue this discussion when you get
back,” he decided.

Sure... in your
dreams
, she thought, as she
strode to the back.  Shutting the bathroom door behind her, Julianna turned to
Marybeth thankfully.

“I’m certainly glad you’re
here,” she sighed.  “Roger’s beginning to get on my nerves with his
third-degree questions.  How did you find us here?”

“It wasn’t difficult, since
Almira began ranting about your leaving with her prospective client.”  She
grinned slowly.  “Or should I say, prospective male companion.”  Even Julianna
couldn’t withhold a smile at the thoughts conjured up by that again.  “As soon
as I overheard the name of the restaurant, I raced here on my lunch break to
get you away from that egotistical excuse for a man.”

“It’s appreciated, but what
about Almira?  She won’t like it if I stand up a business client.”

“Roger’s business has
nothing do with
actual
business, and if Almira needs an excuse,
just say you were food poisoned and had to leave without paying your respects.”

“Food poisoned?” laughed
Julianna.  “I haven’t even eaten yet.”

“Then just tell her you
started to feel sick.”

“Well... Roger does tend to
inspire that in me these days.”  She smiled conspiratorially.  “All right, I’m
convinced.  Let’s go.”

Fortunately, at the time
the pair decided to sneak out, Roger was busy discussing his order with the
waiter, allowing them to escape his notice.  When a more than reasonable time
passed though, he suspiciously called the waiter back again.

“I was dining with a
red-haired woman in a velour top, about five-foot-five, with a beige handbag.” 
The waiter nodded in recognition.  “Good, you remember.  Did you happen to see
where she went?”