“Elliot, you look well,” Eros said.
Cliff’s breathing quickened as he scanned Eros up and down with fervence, his hands shaking so badly that he might drop the gun entirely.
“Dad.”
13
Jon
Don’t look down.
I strained to hold my position in the scaffolding above the stage. I could reach the massive domed cage from here, suspended thirty feet over the floor, but my nerves were set on edge from the daunting height. Every glance at the emptying stage below stirred a wave of nausea.
The band had departed for a ten-minute break, but I couldn’t make my move yet. Not until I got the signal from Lee.
On hands and knees, I shifted just a little closer to the cage, where the dragon was curled up, facing away. Heat radiated off its coiled body, all muscle wrapped in armor-like scales. A seed of awe mingled with my caution. What a surreal creature—something I’d never thought I’d see before I died, even in the mix of ghosts, vampires, and all manner of insidious beasts we crossed paths with so often.
I gripped the edge of the metal platform and leaned my head to the side, scanning the milling crowd below. Lee was on the opposite side of the room, playing his part and giving a sycophantic laugh at something the women on either side of himwere eager to share. He fit in a little too well here, I thought, but even from a distance, I could spot the faintest tinge of tension to his charm, the hatred simmering beneath his smile.
And then it happened: he whispered something to the woman on his right, his body pressed to hers, a hand pulling at her waist. She recoiled, mouth agape. The man beside her lunged at once, shoving Lee. It seemed our mark was married. Lee moved like he was a bottle deep, motions clumsy as he retaliated. He elbowed others off him, clearing room to deck the husband across the face. The man stumbled back into the cocktail table, sending towers of glass flutes and champagne shattering in a deafening roar.
“Not your first time, is it?” I muttered, then refocused on the task ahead.
I steeled myself. I needed to be quick, brutal—and not shatter my fucking legs when dismounting.
I moved into the light, grabbing the padlock fixed to the dragon’s cage. The resulting metallic clamor of my pick and tension rod manipulating the inner workings made the dragon stir. A low, curious growl rippled the air like thunder as it lifted its head. A pair of eyes like golden fire stared back at me.
Ay, coño.
Those eyes were ancient, terrifying, otherworldly. I tore my gaze away. The lock.Focus on the lock. The commotion below was already dying down, security arriving to remove Lee.
Click.The sound I’d been fighting for. I swung the padlock off and tossed it behind me, sending it skittering across the scaffolding. I flung open the door and immediately scrambled toward the ladder.
But the dragon didn’t dive to attack me. It didn’t do anything at all.
The fifteen-foot creature was growling low in its throat, facing the open door like it couldn’t trust the offered freedom.
“Come on,” I urged, waving a hand. “Come out, get out of here.”
The dragon folded its wings protectively over its body, eyes narrowing to slits.
Captivity might very well be the only thing it ever knew, but there was no time to dwell on what its captors had done to it. Lee had been seized by guards and was being dragged toward the door. He couldn’t sweet-talk his way out of this one.
I desperately scanned the platform. A barbed iron poker lay beside the cage, something I hadn’t noticed before. No doubt it was used for behavioral corrections. It reminded me of the Louisiana outpost, a memory that was further sullied by my recent tangle inside the Pit. This was all too similar to the iron rod I’d been forced to defend myself with against my own girlfriend.
Girlfriend? Lover?Neither seemed exactly right for what Sylvia and I had, something that spanned to a cosmic, fated resonance.
With some effort, I forced away the image of Sylvia’s impish smile, her cheeks flushing as I whispered sweet things to her.
Not now, idiot.
I snatched up the poker, murmuring an apology to the beast before thrusting it twice into the dragon’s side.
Its jaws opened, emitting an ear-shattering screech that made the very air tremble. The cage swung violently as the dragon shot into motion, taloned feet scrabbling over the metal floor with more finesse than should have been possible for something so massive.
“Shit!”I leapt backward and rolled, narrowly dodging a pair of snapping jaws as long as my arm.
I dove for the ladder, taking two rungs at a time. The entire scaffolding shook as the dragon squeezed free and launched into the air. I jumped the last five feet, landing unceremoniously onthe stage below. The room exploded into chaos as the dragon feebly flexed its wings, gradually taking to the air. Fire sparked behind rows of needle-like teeth, another roar rattling the room.
