The Queen's Flight (Emerging Queens) (7 page)

“Look, Turkey…”

“Turk. Who the fuck is this?”

“I’m the fuck that will end you if you come near Viola again, you little shit.”

“Big words, man. Are you so tough in person?”

“I hope you find out someday.” Sergei hung up and tossed the phone back in her lap.

“I was handling that,” Viola said, pouting at the phone.

“I meant what I said.”

“I know.” She put the phone to her ear.

“If you’re calling him back…” He snarled.

“Relax.” Viola sighed. “I have a voicemail. I’m checking it.” She punched in her security code.

“Hi, Viola. This is um… This is your father. I wanted to… I’m in Ireland. I can arrange for you to take a plane. I’d like to meet you. I mean, I met you. But you were a little baby. Here’s my number. Call me.”

This time, Sergei snatched the phone and flung it out the window.

“Okay,” Viola said, looking at him in shock. “I get that you have super powerful hearing and can’t help eavesdropping in on a private message. But why did you do that? That was my phone.”

“I’ll buy you another one.”

“That’s not the point.”

“One that every loser looking for a free lunch doesn’t have the number to.”

“But that was my father.”

“Are you sure? You’ve never heard his voice before in your life. It could have just been a guy that said it was him.”

Viola blinked. That hadn’t occurred to her.

“You need to wise up before you’re taken advantage of again.”

“Can we stop for a latté?” Viola rubbed her temples. “I’m going to fall asleep. I had a rough night last night, and today isn’t shaping up to be any better.”

He pulled off at the next rest stop and got them both large coffees.

“So what happened after we got separated last night?” he asked.

Viola bit back a yawn and gave him the Reader’s Digest condensed version.

“Those men were from a group called Cult of Humanity,” Sergei said.

“Sounds like something my mother would belong to. She’s probably on their mailing list. What’s their deal?”

“About a thousand years ago, this group stole a female hatchling and sacrificed her to power a spell to stop all female dragons from emerging. A few slipped through the spell, but all in all, there hadn’t been a female born or shifted until Lerisse’s spell shattered the Cult’s spell. A few long-dead Queens emerged from the weave, but most of the Queens are women like you who’d been blocked from shifting at puberty. My guess is the Cult wants a new Queen to sacrifice for a new spell, so the emerging Queens might as well have a target on their backs.” He frowned.

“Are Reed and Jack going to be able to protect all the new Queens?”

“No,” Sergei said. “But they do have a staff and some powerful allies.”

Her fingers were shaking when she set empty cup into the cup holder. “Is there anything good to being a Queen? So far I’ve been kidnapped, shot, and kicked out of my house. Well, the last one wasn’t so bad.”

“You get to rule a territory—of dragons, not humans.”

“So where is my territory going to be?”

“Not my decision. All Queens will report to the Conclave next year and the five current land holders—the original Queens—will assign who gets what. Don’t worry, wherever you get assigned, humans will worship you.”

Viola would believe that when she saw it. “Except for the ones who want to sacrifice me.”

“Few and far between.” Sergei put a reassuring hand on her leg.

Viola almost banged her head on the roof at the electrical jolt that
zinged
through her. He must have felt it, too, because he snatched his hand away.

“Doesn’t seem like that to me,” she said, missing the warmth of his touch.

“Did those two back at the yarn store give you a good deal?” he asked.

“Yes, but it was because I bought a lot of yarn, not because I’m a dragon. I don’t think they believed me.” She crossed her arms.

“Well, when the press comes to interview you, talk up their shop. You’ll make them millionaires. That’s why the sycophants will start coming out of the woodwork. You’ll be given things for free, mostly clothes so the designer can say you wear his or her outfits. And not only the humans. Every stud for the past one thousand years dreams of having a nest of eggs and a family. With only five women breeding, it’s been almost impossible to schedule in the time it takes to impregnate one—especially with a thousand other dragons in front of you. If you need anything? Ask. You’ll get it, gratis.” Sergei snapped his fingers.

“Free yarn?” Viola’s mouth was suddenly full of saliva. “Maybe I can open a yarn store of my very own.”

“Would you be able to sell any?”

“Good point.” Viola took a deep sip of his coffee.

He snatched it back.

Well, so much for getting everything she wanted. “So let’s say I survive the Cult. How do I go about picking a Protector? I’m not going to take a consort. I’ve got shitty taste in men.”

Sergei shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “You might want to choose one anyway. Otherwise the choice will be made for you. Your main duty is to help procreate the dragon race. Our numbers have thinned in the past thousand years.”

“I’m going to be a Mommy?” Viola put her hand on her stomach, not sure how she felt about that aside from overwhelmed.

She’d pretty much given up the settling down with anyone after her disastrous relationships. Now, it seemed she was going to be pregnant without having to worry about getting a husband first. Her mother would shit a brick sideways—or would if Viola wasn’t dead to her already.

“I am going to be able to ease into the relationship, right? I’m not real good with sleeping with someone I just met. I usually have to give them a motorcycle or put them through medical school before I really get screwed.” Viola watched his reaction out of the corner of her eye. He didn’t like that. She was touched. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone got mad on her behalf.

He cupped her cheek, and she leaned into the touch. “You can say no to anyone you want. There will be a wide range of willing candidates to choose from.”

She licked her dry lips, and shivered when his eyes narrowed on his gesture.

Leaning in closer, Sergei stopped inches from her lips. “They’ll be lining up for you.”

Viola pressed her mouth to his. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it wasn’t the hot flash of sensuality in his kiss. Wet, hot. Viola could taste the sugar of the coffee on his tongue. Her arms wrapped around his neck. He wasted no time slipping his hand up her shirt. She bit his lip when his fingers brushed her nipples over her bra.

He growled and her hand dropped to his lap where his hardness was straining against his leather pants.

“This is about to go nuclear,” he ground out.

“Okay,” she whispered.

Sergei pushed her away. Gently.

“I figured you could jump the line. Or me.” There was that devil—or in her case, the goat on her shoulder talking.

“You deserve someone who’ll be better in court. I’m not the type of guy who plays well with others. You’ll be better off with another stud.” Without looking at her, he put the car into gear and took off on the highway.

How could he appear so unaffected, when her nipples were about to cut a hole in her sweater?

“Unless it’s someone like Smythe,” Viola said, repressing a shudder. Thinking about that fiasco killed all the sexy thoughts. “Then it’s good-bye freedom and hello violence.”

“He wouldn’t have raped you.”

“You don’t think he would have gotten sick of me whining and thrashing about and just done the deed?”

Sergei glared at the road for such a long time she thought he wasn’t going to answer. Despite the coffee, her eyes were starting to close and she yawned behind her hand.

“No,” he finally said, his voice jerking her awake. “He knew what it was like to be forced and not to have a choice in your bed partner. Cassandra, the Queen your father left your mother for, likes to choose studs based on how unwilling they are to share her bed because of the novelty of it.”

Viola gasped. “Couldn’t he have said no?”

“Not to a Queen. Deny a Queen at your own peril. Death is the simplest punishment. Torture and humiliation is the preferred one. Exile, if she is feeling gracious that day or if you had served well in the past.”

“If there were only five Queens and thousands of male dragons, why didn’t the male dragons revolt?” Viola couldn’t imagine why they would put up with that. They had the power and the numbers.

“Harming a Queen is usually a death sentence from the other studs. If we lost even one Queen, we’d be facing our own extinction.” Sergei’s bitterness was palpable and Viola could feel his frustration.

“So the emerging Queens are going to topple their power.” The realization came to Viola slowly, and it brought a chill of fear. Because they had more to lose, the old Queens were far more dangerous than the Cult.

Sergei nodded.

“There are a lot of bitter male dragons out there, aren’t there?”

He didn’t respond.

“Some would want revenge, wouldn’t they?” Viola prodded when he didn’t answer.

“Possibly.”

“Great. With my luck, I’ll find every stud with a chip on their shoulder looking to even the score.”

“Keep thinking those positive thoughts,” Sergei said.

Viola’s response was cut off by a truck crashing into the driver’s side and pushing them off the road. Sergei’s body slammed into her, causing her head to smack the window.

The truck followed them off the road and onto the grassy incline. Sergei reversed the car, but bashed into a familiar Humvee. They whiplashed forward and the truck banged into them, upturning the car. They rolled over and over again. She heard Sergei swear repeatedly, as she fumbled for the door handle and tried to shield her head with her arms at the same time. Bullets tore into the body of the car. It wasn’t until she was on the verge of losing consciousness that she realized he hadn’t been swearing, he’d been screaming, “
Shift
” to her.

Chapter Nine

Viola was aware of the cold floor first. It seeped into her aching muscles. Her bruises had bruises. Pain followed. A few bare bulbs gave off a dusty glow. Hay seemed to be stuffed up her nose. She sneezed and that started the blistering headache.

Great. I’m freezing, hurt, and my allergies are kicking in.

Then she remembered the car wreck and opened her eyes. She was in a large barn, and it took a few minutes to see more than dim shapes. Dirt and grime covered the walls and rotted grass, and garbage littered the floor. It appeared horse stalls had been removed and replaced with two immense cages. She was alone in one of them. It was big enough to fit Reed and Jack in their dragon forms in it.

“I think she’s coming around.”

Viola forced herself to lie limp on the floor and closed her eyes. She heard two men approach her cage.

“Damn it. She’s still out. She would’ve shifted if she was awake, like this one did.”

A thunder pounding of bullets deafened her. Viola bit her tongue to keep from crying out. Were they shooting at Sergei? Was he dying?

“What happens if she won’t shift? We need her as a dragon for the sacrifice.”

The other man spit into the cage. “She’ll shift or we’ll torture her until she does. Nature will take over.”

“Do you think there will be enough left of her that we can sell some parts off? If she’s got horns, they’re paying half a million dollars a pound. They grind it up as an aphrodisiac.”

Viola’s stomach turned.

“The skin is where you make the most money. Dragon leather is better than Kevlar. But you need magical blades to get it off their bones.”

“Ain’t got any of them.”

“We may be able to trade some parts for one.”

Viola tried not to react to their casual words of slaughtering and dismembering her. But she felt a shudder coming on.

The door to the barn creaked open. “Hey, Chris, we need you up at the house. Alberto can babysit two sleeping dragons all by himself.”

“Okay,” the non-spitting man called back. “Give a holler when she turns into a dragon. Or if you need me to help her shift.”

“Will do.”

When the barn door closed Alberto said, “I know you’re awake. Get up or I’ll put a clip in you, too.”

Viola opened her eyes. He was a squat, mean-looking man wearing stained overalls. He carried a huge rifle that was pointed at her. Slowly, she got to her knees and when the room stopped spinning, she pushed up to her feet.

In the cage next to her was Sergei. He was coiled into a ball, like a purple armadillo. This close, she realized the silver tiger stripes on his body were scars, not markings. She wanted to pummel whoever did that to him.

“Sergei, are you okay?”

“Don’t worry about him, he’s not dead yet. I just shot him with some depleted uranium rounds to take the mean out of him.”

“I don’t know what that is.” Viola rubbed her shoulders in an effort to stop her teeth from chattering in cold terror.

“Specially made anti-tank bullets. Usually they go into machine guns.” He waved his impressive rifle at her. “Like the kind you mount on a helicopter. But these bullets can go into a hand-held rifle. You can find out about that first hand, or you can be a good girl and turn into a lady dragon.”

Viola knew if she shifted, it was all over. At least as a human, she was denying them what they captured her for. “I’m worth a lot more to you alive than dead,” she hazarded. “I mean you may get some cheddar for selling my toenails, but once they’re gone that’s it. I can set you up for life.” Of course right now that meant all the yarn he could knit, but he didn’t have to know that.

Alberto cocked his head and came up to the bars. Viola backed up. He leaned against them. “What are you offering?”

“I’m going to be given a territory next year. I’ll have plenty of wealth to pass around.” She spoke fast, doing her best to hide her nervousness. “Money, women, all the beer you could drink.” What the hell did psycho, redneck, dragon killer cultists want anyway?

“Tempting. It’s almost worth it to keep you alive, hoping we’ll find another Queen to sacrifice.” He seemed to consider it.

“Why do you want to sacrifice us? What did we ever do to you?” Viola spat out, sounding a lot like her goat head.

“It’s nothing personal,” he reassured her. “Earth belongs to humans, not dragons. The dragons’ time has passed. They should have died out with the Crusades, but our treacherous ancestors made a pact with them. And centuries later, we’re still their slaves.”

Viola shook her head. “That’s not true.” These cultists were crazy. How was she going to get out of this alive when there was no reasoning with him?

“Flip through any magazine, what do you see?”

“A Kardashian?” Viola guessed.

“Your kind. Our whole culture is centered around you. You’re worshipped like gods. But you’re not immortal.”

“Let Sergei go. He’s not like those dragons. He’s only in this mess because of me.”

Alberto laughed. “Why? So he can kill us? So he can report back our location and numbers? No. Any dead dragon is a good dragon.”

From behind him, she saw Sergei uncoil slowly, soundlessly. Darting a glance back to Alberto, she knew she had to keep his back to Sergei.

“I was human a few weeks ago. I was just like you. I didn’t ask for this.” Viola tugged down on her sweater. Alberto’s gaze tracked the pop of her cleavage, when the sweater dipped.
That’s right, pyscho, look at the pretty boobies and not that big lizard behind you.

“Then you can understand our position. Your death will have meaning. The high priest will secure the spell so no one will be able to undo it. There will never be another female dragon born or hatched for all of eternity. And it will be because of you.”

Sergei’s tail whipped through the bars of his cage, the barb on the end punching into the back of Alberto’s neck, freezing him in place. Alberto’s mouth opened and shut a few times, but nothing came out. The rifle clattered to the floor seconds before he toppled over. His body convulsed twice and then went still.

“Is he…” Viola stuttered.

“As a door nail,” Sergei rasped. “Can you reach the rifle?” He had collapsed, his breath rattling like a pebble in a can.

Crouching down, her fingertips only grazed the butt of the rifle. Little by little, she inched it toward her. Pulling it into the cage, she held it by the barrel. It was hot, even though several minutes had passed since it was fired.

“What do you want me to do with it?”

Sergei rumbled a growl. “If any other Queen asked me that question, I’d have a different answer. But you need to shoot the lock off your cage so we can get out of here.”

“Can’t you do it?”

“Do I look like I can fire that thing with these?” He swiped his claws across the cage bar, making a sound like nails on chalkboard.

“Switch back.”

“I can’t, yet. I need some time to heal, and I’ll do it faster in this form.”

Viola hefted the rifle. It was heavy and awkward. “What about the ricochet?”

“Don’t worry. Only another dragon can kill you.” Sergei’s head wobbled and he rested it on the floor.

“Are you all right?”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“If they couldn’t kill me, then how were they planning on sacrificing me?”

Sergei stared at her.

“What?” She didn’t like the crazy rage in his eyes.

“That’s a damn good question no one has ever asked. They either have a dragon traitor working with them or a Magus from the Order of the Dragon Slayer. They mentioned magical blades, so maybe one of them can kill a dragon.”

“Here’s another damn good question.” Viola tamped down the hysteria rising inside her. “Won’t the bad guys hear me shooting up the place and come to investigate?”

“Yes, even though they might think Arnoldo is shooting at me.” Sergei staggered to his feet.

“Alberto,” Viola corrected.

“Who gives a shit? Shoot the lock,” he ordered.

Viola regarded the rifle. “I get the basic principle. Point it at the lock and pull the trigger, but I’ve never fired a gun before.”

“It’s a rifle.”

“Who gives a shit?” Viola heard the shrill tinge to her voice and attempted to ground herself.

“Tuck the stock close to your shoulder to help with the recoil. Take a deep breath before you pull the trigger and, for Nidhogg’s sake, don’t put your finger on the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.”

“Sorry,” she said, moving her finger.

“You must have seen this done in movies.”

“I’ve also seen someone fly a jet, but that doesn’t mean I have my pilot’s license.”

“It’s an immovable object at point-blank range. Shoot it.”

“You don’t have to shout,” she muttered, cradling the gun in her arm. She walked up to the lock and pressed the barrel to it.

“You might want to step back a bit.” Sergei coiled himself into the ball and rolled out of the way as much as the cage let him.

She did and managed to keep the barrel of the gun steady. When she was sure she wasn’t going to miss, she took a deep breath. Bracing herself, she turned her head away and pulled the trigger.

Bullets spit out, hitting the lock plate and rebounding. They whizzed past, missing her by inches. The rifle bounced and kicked back into her breast. She shrieked at the pain and nearly dropped it. Fortunately, she remembered to take her finger off the trigger. The locking mechanism was slag. Kicking the door of the cage open, she staggered out.

“I can’t hear anything,” she shouted, the words muted over the tinny ringing in her ears.

“Hurry up,” Sergei snarled. “And get out of here.”

She heard that. How was it he was louder than gunshots?

“I’m supposed to shoot my way out of here like Annie Oakley?” Her voice came out husky and she cleared her throat. “What about you?”

“I’ll be fine.”

Viola didn’t buy it. “Can you squeeze out the door if I shoot it up?”

“No more than you could squeeze through the bars of your cage. Go. You’ll have the element of surprise.” He angled his head toward the door. “I’ll be out of here in a few more minutes. I just need some more time. Time you don’t have. Just keep firing and spraying lead.”

“They’ll shoot back.”

“And it will hurt. And you will take damage. But you won’t die. They will. Don’t shift until you’re out of bullets. Keep running. Flag down a car. Tell them you’re a dragon. Have them call the dragon embassy and confirm your name if they’re skeptical.”

Viola tried to process everything he was saying.

“Go,” he snarled.

“I’ve never killed anyone. I don’t even kill spiders. I take them outside.”

“I can’t help you. You have to save yourself.” He shook his head. “Get to freedom. I’ll find you.”

“How?” It was against every instinct she had to leave him behind.

“Once I’m strong enough, I can bend these bars so my human form can squeeze out.” His calm voice soothed her nerves.

She didn’t believe him. If he could have done that or picked up the cage, he would have done it by now. One of the doors to the barn flung open. Viola sprayed bullets in the general direction, chewing up the mildewed walls. The door slammed closed.

“Now, you’ve done it. They’ll prepare.”

Viola placed the weapon on the ground. “Then so will we.”

“What are you doing? Don’t change. That’s what they want.”

“Shut up,” she hissed at him. “I’m trying to find my happy place.”

“Your mind is broken.”

“I’ll break you,” she muttered.

“Better Queens than you have tried.”

Dandelions, cotton candy, getting out of this mess…
Damn, why wasn’t it working?

The door cracked open this time, and several little metal objects came bouncing down the length of the barn.

“Grenades,” Sergei said dispassionately.

She flinched as Sergei’s tail swung through the bars of his cage and coiled around her legs. With a big yank, he pulled her off her feet and dragged her behind him and the cage.

Instead of an explosion, white gas hissed out of the containers. Sergei turned and pressed his face as close to hers as the bars will allow.

“If you get out of here, I will buy you an alpaca farm.”

Viola choked on her laughter as the gas hit her lungs. She shook her head and concentrated. Her body expanded into her dragon form. It was as easy as a handsome man offering to buy her an unlimited supply of yarn. What could be better than that? She could almost kiss him for being so brilliant.

Her red head puckered up its goat lips and planted one on him through the cage.

“I have no control of that,” she said, grinning.

“Shift back! This is exactly what they wanted.”

“This is a prison break.” She whirled her tail into the bars, denting them.

Sergei blinked at her, stunned, then shook it off, using his strength to tear out the loosened bars. “We’ll never get enough of them moved.”

“Shut up and keep pulling,” Viola said, slamming her tail over and over into a bar until it crumbled. The gas was filling up the space, but in her dragon form, her heads were far above it. The barn doors opened and she trumpeted a battle cry that had the humans wincing in pain. They were wearing gas masks and carried guns.

Leaving Sergei to work the bars of his cage, she thundered toward the men. Twisting, she used her tail to bash through the crowd, scattering them.

“Eat tail, mother fuckers!” Goat shouted.

“Surrender!” Horse said.

“Out of the way!” Viola caroled and bashed her tail every which way. She flung her bulk into the far wall and, to her surprise, crunched a dragon-sized hole in the side. Chaos reigned as the men struggled to regroup, but her snapping heads and lethal tail swipes decimated them. Bullets chased her as she turned and ran full out back to Sergei’s cage. They punctured her thick skin, gouging in like splinters, only to be pushed back out again. It hurt, but she didn’t let it stop her. Hissing, she lowered her shoulder.

“What are you?” Sergei asked as her bulk hit the cage and moved it several feet toward the wall. The bolts on the floor that anchored the cage down came loose as it skidded.