My Asian Dragon: A BWAM Romance Story (10 page)

Joy
shivered at the thought, and gave Luana a reassuring smile. "You'll
do fine. You're a much better singer than I am."

Luana
laughed softly, her almond shaped eyes rolling. "We both know
they don't care at all about how well we sing."

The
manager stuck his head backstage, his normal flow of yammer breaking
up their conversation. Joy made her way to the back, through the
kitchen where she was able to grab a drink of water. The back door
was open, allowing at least a hint of fresh night air, even if it was
redolent with the stench of the garbage in the alley. Still, for Joy
is was ambrosia compared to the tobacco, alcohol, and sweat stench of
the club itself.

She
was just gathering herself to come back inside when Longwei stepped
out, supposedly taking his ten minute break he was allowed every
shift. The club owner was generous, and Longwei had a small bowl of
rice and fried pork in his hand. Joy smiled. "So, what did you
think of my set?"

"As
usual, I wish I could have been in the crowd," Longwei quietly
replied, eating quickly. "Will you do the same songs for the
later set?"

"No,"
Joy replied. "From what I think the manager told me, the Boss is
coming in tonight, and he wants sexier music, is what he said. I'm
going with some really raunchy stuff from my youth and college days.
Pure filth, but for some reason they were songs people bought a lot
of."

"I
shall look forward to hearing it."

Changing
the subject, Joy looked inside quickly. "How are things at
home?"

Longwei
shrugged. He had to be surreptitious, going back and forth to the
village on almost a daily basis, slipping into dragon mode to make
the journey possible, where he could cover the distance from the
village to Heifei in just under an hour. He was exhausted, and Joy
could see it in his face. "Yingtai is doing better. Your
medicines are helping. The Triad is still being held until we know
what to do with him."

"Do
the elders still want to have him killed?" Joy asked. It was one
of the most contentious parts of the plan, and Joy was glad that
Longwei had finally gotten the elders to promise not to harm the man
until they had gotten more information. Joy thought that, more than
the supposed reason of checking on the day to day operations of the
village, was why he went back so often.

"Yes,
but they are abiding by the agreement," Longwei said tiredly.
"By the way, the children miss you. Ming specifically asked me
to inquire if you are keeping up on your Chinese studies."

Joy
chuckled at the innocent persistence of the girl, and nodded. "Yes,
but I doubt she'll like some of the words I've picked up from the
Triads around here."

Longwei
grimaced and nodded. "Yeah."

Joy
glanced inside, and saw the manager looking around in the back.
"Well, there's the manager. Let me get inside before he starts
wondering. Can you stop by my place later?"

"You
know that's dangerous."

"Being
without you is worse," Joy said softly. Longwei looked her in
the eye for a moment, and nodded, causing her to smile. "See you
later."

Stepping
inside, she headed straight for the manager, who was babbling.
"Listen Joe," she said, using her own chosen name for the
man, "you need to slow the hell down before I can understand
what you want. One more time?"

The
manager repeated himself a bit more slowly, and Joy went with what
she thought was the information he wanted. "Yeah, the new
playlist. Give me five minutes to write it down, and you can start
downloading it quickly. It's not that damn hard."

*****

The
Boss of Heifei was a bulky man, one of the few truly fat Chinese, Joy
had seen in this part of the country, with a greasy pompadour on his
head that looked like he was trying to be an extra in a 1960's Elvis
movie. As soon as he came in the door, she could sense a palpable
change in the atmosphere of the club, as the minor flunkies all
straightened up a little bit, and their posturing took on a servile
quality to the enormous man. He settled himself into a table in front
of the stage, and Joy watched as three of the so-called "hostesses"
immediately scampered over to sit with him, one of them on his lap.
The man's hand went to the poor girl's hip immediately, his smile
revealing rotten, blackened teeth. Joy felt her gorge rise, as she
knew she would have to at least get within talking distance of this
pig of a man.

Luana
was doing her second set, finishing up one song early as the manager
cut her off. Coming back stage, she gave Joy a sad smile. "Good
luck," she said, and Joy could tell that the girl was truly glad
not to be the center of the Boss' attention. It concerned her, as she
knew how desperate Luana was for money to send back home.

Stepping
on stage, Joy tried her mental trick of imagining Longwei, but it
wasn't working. Even from two meters away, the fetid blend of
powerful cologne and body odor wafted off the man, and she
desperately wanted to gag. She knew to do so was dangerous, so she
fought it down, and instead fell into another role. Setting her face
into a mask, she felt herself split into two personalities, the outer
personality that was grinding and moaning to the sounds of Adina
Howard and TLC, while on the inside she was sitting back, laughing at
the obvious way she was playing the man. She could see the bastard
lick his lips, his eyes glistening with lust as she cavorted and
playacted, pretending she was performing just for him. Part of her
realized she was, but not in the intent he thought. She was
intentionally playing him, and she realized the intoxicating power
she wielded in her hands and voice. When the last notes faded away,
the Boss was totally under her control it seemed, as he pushed the
poor girl who had been in his lap off, standing up and applauding.

Instead
of heading backstage, Joy took the small step down to make her way
over to the Boss' table, sitting down next to him with a false smile
on her face. "Thank you for the kind applause," she said,
fluttering her eyelashes.

"You
good singer," the Boss replied, his eyes fixed on her cleavage.
"How long you here?"

"I've
only been here a few weeks, sir," Joy said with mock deference.
She cast her eyes down and put her hands in her lap, the position
squeezing her breasts together more and causing his breathing to
speed up. Joy kept up with her cover story as a starving artist
looking for her big break. "It's a great opportunity you've
given me here."

"Yes,
I see," the man replied, his elementary English failing him
either through lack of ability or mind clouded with lust. She heard
him order some drinks, and his hand settled on her knee as a scared
waitress brought them over. With the drinks, and a new act stepping
on stage, the Boss turned his attention towards other business. Two
other men came over and joined them at the table, arrogant enough for
Joy to tell they were still high ranking Triads, but were still
subservient to their Boss.

Over
the J-pop sounds of the girl on stage, the men discussed various
items, and Joy was thankful for the language lessons she had been
taking. She was able to pick up more of the conversation than any of
the men knew, and what she heard shocked her. As soon as the Boss was
drunk enough, she excused herself, pleading needing to go to the
bathroom, and slipped into the back. She found Longwei washing
dishes, and she tapped him on the shoulder, heading out the back
door. "Get your stuff," she said, looking nervously inside.
"We need to get home now."

"What
do you mean?" Longwei asked. "What did you hear?"

"The
Boss had me sit at his table," Joy replied, "and pulled two
other men over. Longwei, they're nervous about the two men he sent to
kill me not coming back. Thankfully the Shanghai description was very
sketchy, they only knew I was a black woman. He told the other men to
send another group, larger this time, to take care of the entire
problem. Longwei, he's sending a death squad to the village in three
days."

Longwei
nodded, and looked down the alley. He looked at Joy, who took his
hand. "Let's get out of here. He thinks I'm in the toilet, and I
didn't bring anything I need here."

"Okay,"
Longwei said, glancing inside the back door. Nobody was paying
attention, so he quickly led her down the dark alley and into the
street. Joy knew they were an incongruous sight, the curvy black
woman in a slinky dress holding hands with a dirty man in a
dishwasher's apron, but it didn't matter. If they could make it just
a few more kilometers, they'd be able to get out of the city.

*****

Traveling
back to the village was the most thrilling experience Joy had ever
felt. Longwei had led her back to her apartment to change quickly
into some jeans and a t-shirt, ditching the trampy heels for her now
comfortable work boots she had brought from the city. They had left
everything else behind, except for a cheap tablet computer Joy had
bought for storing information. Slipping it into a small backpack,
Longwei had led her out of the city in plain sight, taking the city
bus system to the train station, and getting on the local train to
the tiny city of Lu'an, just a bit closer to the village.

Stepping
into the borders of Lu'an, Longwei had turned to Joy, slipping out of
his t-shirt. "After I change, climb on," he said, looking
around. They were in an industrial park, but there were few lights
around, and no cars.

Joy
watched as Longwei shifted into his dragon form, her breath still
catching in her throat at the sight. Picking up his discarded
t-shirt, she climbed on his back, just above what she assumed was his
shoulders, or at least his dragon equivalent. He reared up, allowing
her to wrap the shirt around his neck like a harness, his throat
solid and unyielding against the pressure. From where she was now
perched, she was at about the height of a car, and Longwei took off
across the countryside, darting over grass and rock smoothly.

The
closest impression that Joy could think of was riding a motorcycle.
Longwei in dragon form was remarkably fast, making turns and
adjustments almost faster than she could perceive the need. Different
from a motorcycle though was the warm feeling of his blood rushing
through his body, and the sensual undulating ripple of his muscles
beneath her. It was unique, and in its own way sexy.

But
for Joy, the most fun part was the speed. The wind rushed by her,
broken up only slightly by the Longwei's blunt snout, and she
realized he was actually slowing down to allow her to not be thrown
off by his progress. It wasn't even midnight by her estimation when
she saw the familiar shape of the village temple in the light of the
almost full moon.

"We
have to do that again," Joy said as they approached the temple.
"Is it always so thrilling."

You're
the first person I've ever let do that,
Longwei replied through his mental link.
And
yes, it was very nice. I will be happy to let you do that again.

"But
first, we have a village to protect," Joy said, turning her eyes
back towards Heifei. "And if what I heard was correct, we only
have a few days."

Longwei
and Joy's report to the villagers sent everything into a frenzy.
Gathering everyone inside the temple, Longwei laid out the situation,
his mind laying out the plan he had thought of during the cross
country dash back to the village. He had filled in the details of his
plan as they traveled, using his mental link.

We
have the best chance to avoid the loss of life if we can shift the
attackers off the roads and into the surrounding woods,
Longwei had said.
There,
I can use my dragon form to eliminate more of the gunmen while
keeping the villagers safe.

"Are
you bulletproof in dragon form?" Joy asked, thinking of the last
attack. "I swore that guy couldn't miss from that range."

No,
I am not invulnerable,
Longwei replied.
However,
I am much faster than human eyes can track, and can use that to my
advantage. However, enough things coming from enough angles, and my
skin can tear just as easily as any other creature's. Then, it's just
a matter of my body mass.

"Body
mass?"

Imagine
shooting a grizzly bear with a small rifle. Unless you hit in a vital
spot immediately, all you've done is create a very angry bear.

"Will
the Triads know this, and prepare accordingly?"

Let's
hope not.

The
plan was pretty simple, in Joy's opinion. All of the children and
those unable to fight were to retreat to the temple, deep within the
protection of ancient walls. Those who could fight would be in the
woods with Longwei, even though all they had were two rifles.

The
main element of the defense was to use the time they had to prepare.
Joy and Longwei both had long experience with action movies, and
mined every bit of pop culture between them for ideas.

The
first thing to eliminate was use of the road leading into town. A
group of twelve villagers started digging a trap in the road, where
the forest pushed in on both sides, one of the only choke points on
the approach to the village. If they could cause the attackers to
dismount from their vehicles there, they could force them into the
woods. Smaller teams of villagers dug up smaller man sized traps
throughout the forest, each villager older than eight responsible for
at least two traps. While it hurt Joy's heart, each man trap was
lined with sharp sticks, like a tiger trap. There would be no taking
prisoners this time.