Dragon's Blood (2 page)

No one would know her. She was merely posing as Athena’s friend. People might expect the rock star, Scarlett, with flaming red hair to attend, but they wouldn’t notice mousy Molly in her ill-fitting and otherwise nondescript clothes. That gave her pause. She was wearing the Molly disguise now. She looked nothing like her former self. Yet…the killer had recognized her? How? That scared her almost more than anything else. She’d always felt somewhat safe since she was able to ‘be someone else’.

“What happened before?” Janos asked, interrupting her rising panic. She shook her head. That was something she didn’t talk about. The emotion from that night, the fear and anguish, still drove her to tears after all this time. A child prodigy, she’d started in the music business as a preteen, both writing and performing popular music. She’d been famous, an award-winner, at the top of the world, with her compositions sought after by other stars. At sixteen, she’d started producing both music and movie ventures, but at twentyone, she’d been shoved off the high precipice where she’d dwelt by violence she once could have barely imagined. She’d just performed the last scheduled concert of a tour and had gone back to her hotel room to celebrate with her fiancé Mark, her bodyguards, who were close friends, and her cousin Muriel, who was her best friend and her only family. Champagne and merriment had flowed. It was a joyous night. The hard work of the tour was over and they’d be going home to Southern California where she’d get ready for her impending wedding. She and Mark were due to marry in three months on her twenty-second birthday. In a matter of minutes, every dream she’d cherished had been shattered. Two men had broken into the room. She’d never understand how they’d moved so quickly. The other four in the room were slashed down, killed, then the two had turned to her. She’d run, tripping to get away. Over and over, their knives had sliced into her back. Almost twenty times. How she’d lived no one quite knew. She’d passed out. When she’d awoken, she’d been in critical condition at the hospital and her loved ones were dead. Janos gave a slight nod, as if he read her mind. Silently, he handed her the bag and waited while she made a call. Athena answered on the second ring.

“Where are you?” she asked.

“I’m not coming,” Scarlett replied. “Look, I’ll get there, but not tonight. I…I saw one of them.”

“Oh my God! Please, Scar, get out of town. I can’t lose you, too. You’re all I have.”

“You need me—”

“I need you alive, bonehead! Go! Stay safe for me. Please…”

Scarlett closed her eyes. “I love you, Theenie.”

“Love you, too. Call me when you can.” Athena hung up before Scarlett choked out another word. She snapped shut her phone. Janos took it from her limp fingers. He opened the back, flicked out the battery and, before she could stop him, slid out the SIM card then snapped it like a brittle match.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, outraged that he’d dare to destroy her property. And he was cutting off her most effective means of contacting the outside world. Maybe going with him was a very bad idea after all. Her mother had always told her as a child that danger lurked in pretty packages…and he sure was pretty. He tossed the two pieces, the battery and the useless phone into a nearby trashcan. Then taking her arm, he started down the sidewalk again. “If you want to be invisible, you can’t send up beacons about your location. Your phone is like a homing signal, and trust me, it’s very easy for the wrong people to get their hands on it.”

“What are you? A cop?”

He snorted. “Hardly. But I’m not one of the bad guys, either. C’mon.”

“Why should I believe you? This could be a trick. You could just be taking me to them.”

Janos growled low in his throat.

“The most difficult…” he muttered under his breath. His dark gaze pierced her attitude, deflating it like an old balloon. “These people don’t play games. If I was one of them, you’d already be dead. They don’t wait for privacy, they just kill. And the longer we wait, the more danger you’re in. That one, the one you saw on the train…by now he’s contacted his comrades, and I can promise you, they’re headed here now. They want you dead, and they’ll see it done this time.”

“But there was only one other man,” she said weakly.

“There are many. Two might have attacked you before, but there’s an entire army, and they all want you dead. Now you can trust me and let me help you, or…I can force you to come with me. Like it or not, you’re under my protection.”

An army? They wanted
her
dead? Why? She’d never hurt anyone! “I don’t… Why do they want
me
dead?”

“Because of who you are to my people.”

He was so matter-of-fact it sent panic racing through her. “What—”

Exploding brick and glass beside them threw her into Janos. His arms went around her like iron as she looked over her shoulder. A swarthy man with glowing blue eyes stood no more than twenty feet away—no! He wasn’t standing. His feet were six inches above the ground while he levitated. His fingers glowed the same blue as his eyes and balls of light surrounded his palms.

What
was
he?

Janos growled, his arms tightening. He seemed to grow taller…and thicker, muscle building against her body. Stunned, she glanced up at his face. A gasp tore from her, ripping from her tight throat like razor blades. Blackish green scales—she could only describes them as scales—cascaded over his face like dominoes tumbling over one another. His head changed shape, becoming more triangular, sharp teeth protruding from his mouth, his nose disappearing. The scales tumbled down his body, covering even his clothing. She screamed when wide leathery wings curved high above his shoulders. As she struggled to get free, they wrapped around her, surrounding her entire body and holding her as tightly as his arms. They blocked out all light, allowing her to only see Janos’ face above the wings enclosing her. But it wasn’t Janos’ face. It was…something reptilian. An impact knocked them back a few feet, and ever through the wings, she felt the energy sizzle over them. Janos roared. While she watched, wide eyed, he opened his mouth. A harsh rumble ground against itself beneath her ear. His chest expanded then his torso curved slightly down, bending her with it. Suddenly, his belly hollowed and a blast of fire shot from him. The light of it blinded her. As the streak of flames continued, the pressure of his wings stole her breath, crushing her into darkness.

“Dragon…” she whispered, the sound lost in the fury above her. “But dragons don’t exist…”

Janos felt his charge faint. It was just was well. She didn’t need to see the charred bubbling mess of the Djinni who’d attacked them. Saints, how he hated the Djinn and the Elvish and their unholy mission to wipe the Dragons from existence. Mature Dragons themselves were nearly impervious to their attacks, but their mates, like this woman, were vulnerable, as were their children. The Djinn and Elvish knew if they killed Dragon mates,

they would in turn eliminate the Dragon race since they wouldn’t be able to reproduce. He took a look around to see if more of their ilk hid in the shadows. He sensed none, but in recent years, they’d learned to mask their presence. Only the clumsy, like the Elvish hunter on the subway, revealed themselves. That man had been too hungry for the slaughter to notice a Dragon stood nearby. When Janos had felt the venomous stare, he’d fully opened his senses and discovered what he should have felt like a spear through his consciousness. A Dragon mate sat just feet from him.

Generally, Dragons sensed mates immediately. Their systems were adapted to finding these women so that their species survived. Janos, however, had been too distracted. His vacation to New York had been interrupted by a special meeting of the Dragon Council, and since he was his clan’s elder, he had no choice but to attend. After this attack, he could easily guess why the session had been called.

This woman was special, and the combined armies of the Djinn and Elvish were out in force to eliminate her. Very few women without the protection of a Dragon survived one of their strikes. Janos intended to learn what had happened, and make sure his charge lived to meet her mate and be united with him. Once that occurred, she’d be safe. His wings slowly unfolded, and he caught the woman up in his arms when she would have fallen. With one last glance around, he soared into the air, his dark form swallowed by the inky night.

Minutes later, he landed on the roof of his hotel, glad that the surface had been deserted and he hadn’t needed to circle until it cleared. As his feet hit the tarred surface, his scales slid away, leaving him in his clothed human form. He gave his head a shake to get rid of his helmet hair then headed for the door that led into the building. The stairwell was empty. Tucking the woman’s head against his chest, he bounded down the two flights to his floor. He slowed slightly as he neared his suite. Urgently, he sent out a message. A moment later, the door swung open, and his wingscion, Jonah, stood there. Janos nodded grimly at him as he passed. Jonah followed. He stood beside the bed as Janos laid his charge on it.

“Who’s this?” Jonah asked as he appreciatively studied the female on the bed. A growl rose in Janos’ throat, and that surprised him. Jonah was his wingscion, the man closer to him than even his three brothers. He and Jonah were a matched pair of warriors, rarely parted, and capable of fighting as a single machine when in danger. Scions shared a telepathic connection that even mates didn’t have. He shared everything with Jonah. Still, the thought of him touching this woman, or even looking at her, made anger twist

violently in Janos’ gut.

“She’s taken,” Janos grated.

Jonah threw his hands in front of him, laughing. “Okay, I get it. She’s your mate. I won’t touch her.”

“She’s not mine.” The thought that she might be… Something unfamiliar seemed to shift sideways inside him. Could she be? No way. Distraction or not, he would have immediately recognized her on the subway if she was his mate. And she wouldn’t have fought his protection so obstinately. Mates, human or not, recognized each other on a visceral level. They knew. This woman was
not
his mate.

“Uh-huh. Whatever you say,” Jonah murmured.

Janos scowled at him, and Jonah laughed. The two of them were like darkness and light, one intense and one lighthearted. It was often the way of scions. They were two halves of one unit, each equally complementing the other.

“Jonah, don’t start with me…”

His scion rolled his eyes then tilted his head forward. “Whatever you want to believe, My Elder.”

Janos looked at Jonah’s bowed head, still uncomfortable with the formality. It was only a few years since his parents had crossed over to the home dimension for a short trip and had never returned. When it had become apparent they weren’t returning, he’d ascended to the position of clan elder.

Most times he and his scion were just Janos and Jonah, and their banter flowed naturally, full of easy ribbing and fraternal intimacy. But when it came to serious matters of duty and service to the Cruentus Clan’s Elder, Jonah addressed him formally. It was damned inconvenient. Servitude interfered with the bond of two wingscions, but there was naught he could do about it. Though Jonah had leave to treat him as familiarly as Janos’ brothers, and he was revered as the scion of the elder, by law, he was required to display deference in official matters. Mates and their protection were just such a matter.

“We’re alone. Don’t do that here,” Janos sighed despite protocol. “I have to meet with the council. Protect her while I go to that damn meeting.” He reached out and placed a hand on Jonah’s shoulder. Silently, he transmitted what had happened and the woman’s situation in a fraction of the time it would have taken to relay it verbally. Jonah’s eyes went wide, and he glanced at the woman on the bed. “Damn,” he whispered then let out a low whistle. “So they screwed up before and now they’re coming after her like a cleanup crew.”

Janos nodded. “It was an Elvish on the train and a Djinni on the way here. Saints know how many are in the city looking for her. She must be high on their hit list if they’re working together so closely now. Albus and Selena must have closed the rift between their peoples—at least temporarily.”

Albus, the leader of the Djinn, had once broken Selena’s heart. The leader of the Elvish had never forgiven him, and their races had fought for years. But both hated the Dragons and sought to eliminate them. When he’d realized on the street that they’d combined forces…

Not good. Not good at all.

“Their union matters naught. We are stronger. And they know it.”

“Our strength will wane as our numbers dwindle.” Janos looked at the woman’s limp form. “I wonder which of our kind will end up with her. His long wait is over.” His heart lurched in his chest. It would be a lucky Dragon who claimed her. Janos still searched for his own mate. Someday, he’d find her as well. Until then, he’d continue to protect those who belonged to others. It was his blood vow, taken upon his ascension to power. Jonah arched a brow at him. “Yes, I wonder.”

“She’s not mine.”

“So you say.”

“I would have known immediately if she was.”

“My Elder, I beg your pardon, but you’ve listened to one too many Dragon tales. In my recollection, mates do not immediately recognize one another.”

Janos crossed his arms over his chest, peeved with his scion. “Who?”

Jonah held his hand in front of him and started ticking off the couples a pair at a time.

“From our clan: Your parents, my parents, Elselijn and Maleke, Norissa and Danthony, Shahla and—”

“Okay, okay,” Janos interrupted. “Fine, so mates don’t always know. I tell you, she’s not mine.” He thumped a hand over his heart. “I’d know it here.”

“What about here?” Jonah asked, tapping a hand over his own fly. Janos glared at him. “Watch over her while I go downstairs to the council meeting.”

“As you bid, My Elder.”

He shook his head at Jonah’s tone. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“No rush. I’ll take good care of her.”

Janos growled at his innuendo, though he knew Jonah wouldn’t touch the woman. He headed for the door. He wasn’t appropriately dressed for an official council meeting and