free chapter 7/7
Ryker
The bear wasn't as big as it could have been, but it would add to my freezer just the same. I cleaned and cut it without much thought as I dwelled on my supplies instead. I was running low on salt and butcher paper, maybe I could pick both up on my way back from Moscow. After all, I should have a hefty pocket of coin with me by then, if everything went according to plan. Not that I necessarily needed another bounty, but it would always be in my nature to want more.
More important than the supplies at my cabin, was finding out why Danica landed halfway across the world when she was trying to go somewhere in the United States. Whoever gave her that botched activation spell may have been legitimately bad at her job, or she may have had an ulterior motive. On top of that, I could tell Dani was lying about the wolves chasing her. Not that I had to worry about a pack or two coming after my bounty, I'd tear them to pieces first. But I was more concerned to know why they would want her in the first place. First vampires, now werewolves.
I sighed and tossed the last flank in the freezer. Washing my hands, I walked down the hill to the spring for my usual post-hunt soak. These thoughts were for later, when I could talk them out with Gavin.
I could smell her from here. Vanilla soap and the fading scent of sandalwood. It must be a scent from wherever she came from. Chicago, or her home. Under it was the distant scent of her blood. Spicy and familiar, but infuriating because I couldn't place what was familiar about it.
I reached the bottom of the path and snorted.
She had fallen asleep, her bandaged shoulder sinking into the water and her mouth was slightly open as she snored lightly.
I'd give her a chance to fix herself up before I got in. I stepped on a fallen branch deliberately, snapping it with a light crack in the air.
She startled awake, her eyes wide and I could hear the flutter of her heartbeat.
"Aw shit." She wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand and grabbed one of the sweaters from the dry land behind her. "I fell asleep, didn't I?"
"Looks like it," I said, removing my jeans and kicking them to the side as I slid in the water. She was preoccupied pulling the sweater over her head.
"You don't have to ruin my good sweaters you know," I grunted. "I don't think it's going to be the same after getting it wet like that."
"Well I'm here for the warmth, I didn't sign up for a co-ed hot tub. I've made that mistake before," she said, laying her head back on the bench. "Just one drink Dani! It'll be fun Dani! We're all going to trespass and skinny dip on enemy coven lands Dani!"
I chuckled low as I stretched my arms out behind me, sitting across from her in the spring. "Your friends don't sound like a good influence."
She shrugged. "Maybe not but it was fun as hell."
"Enemy coven. Didn't you say you weren't in a coven?" I asked casually.
"I'm not. I hang out with an asshole warlock sometimes and he's the one poking around other territory. Besides, a coven of witches isn't going to call another coven the enemy," Dani said, and dramatically swooned to the sky. "After all, we are all daughters of the beloved mother and should love our sisters as our own family."
"You don't sound convinced," I smirked.
She made a fake gagging sound. "Let's just say they don't practice everything they preach."
"I see."
"Yup."
"For someone who wants to stay out of the magical community so much, I wouldn't expect you to befriend a warlock," I said.
"I guess he's a special case." She sighed and sank a little farther into the water, hissing as her shoulder went under and propping it back out of the water. "Fuck, that better not get infected."
"The way you treat it that might be exactly what happens," I said.
"Eh, I've had worse." She shrugged, then eyed me with suspicion. "I'd bet you've had your fair share of bumps and bruises too. Any stories to share?"
She was prodding for information. I grinned. Maybe we could both get a little something from the other. After all, it didn't hurt me one bit if she found out what I was. I had only valuable information to gain from her.
"I suppose when you've lived as long as I have you accumulate a scar or two," I offered. "I suppose I could tell you a story behind a scar or two, if you answer a question in return."
"Hm." She looked me over as much as she could through the steamy water. Enough of my chest was exposed that I knew she could see a few of them already. "Do I get to pick the scar?"
"Sure." I smirked. "You pick a scar, I'll ask a question, and if you answer my question I'll tell you how and when I got the scar."
"Alright, that sounds good to me." She bit her lower lip with a wicked grin and studded my right arm. I knew exactly which one she was going to ask about before she even opened her mouth.
"That one." She pointed to a small cluster of raised marks near my elbow.
"Are you sure that's the one you want?" I grinned and she scowled at me.
"No head games, asshole. I pick that one," she insisted.
"Alright, then tell me about this troublesome warlock," I said.
"Who, Jerod?" She grinned. "An asshole with a liver of steel and a penchant for breaking rules that annoy him. He's a pretty strong warlock but he's very low in their ranks because he keeps pissing off his coven leader with cheap pranks and stirring up territory disputes."
"Trespassing to skinny dip?" I asked.
Dani snorted. "Yeah, among other things. And he knows freaking everybody in the city, I swear. A night out with Jerod is a guaranteed regret the next morning. You'd think he'd have no friends left, but he's too charming for his own good."
"Sounds like more trouble than he's worth," I grunted, annoyed by the very idea of someone like him.
"Nope. Barely, but nope. Now come on, I answered your question. How'd you get that scar?" she asked.
"Shotgun, maybe eighty years ago. I was chasing a vamp through some countryside but when we started fighting on some farmland the farmer shot at us both." I chuckled. "Wouldn't have done enough to scar if I weren't already so spent from chasing that leach for two days."
"So you're like a hundred or so?" She asked.
I shrugged. "Sure, why not."
"That's not even close, is it?" She frowned.
"I don't know, why don't you pick another scar and see what you find out?" I smiled.
She rolled her eyes and went back to inspecting my skin. She pointed to a jagged cut near my collar bone. I was surprised she even saw it, it had faded over the years.
"That one," Dani said.
"Well you found one of the old-ish ones," I said. "Then tell me, witches can only be born of witches, right? Who is your mother, is she still alive?"
"Her name is Calendula, and she's not alive," Dani answered, with no emotion either way about the fate of her mother. She could have been telling me the time for all the concern she showed. The alarming part of it was that I smelled a slight lie on her, but it smelled a bit like the truth too.
"Are you sure she's dead?" I frowned.
She shrugged. "Fine, she's alive."
I still smelled the hint of a lie, and the truth too.
"Which one is it?" A slight growl crept in my voice. "Is she alive or dead?"
"She's something in between, but I haven't seen her in a while so I can't be sure that she's still in that state." Dani yawned. "No more stalling, what's that scar from?"
I clenched my jaw a moment but let it go. Her 'in between' answer was the truth, but I didn't want our little game to end just yet so I didn't push her any further on the matter. I let out a breath and pointed to the scar.
"That little one?" I asked, she nodded. "That one is from a bar fight in Constantinople with a pretty nasty demon."
"Istanbul?" Her eyebrows shifted together in thought. "You mean Constantinople, don't you?"
"Yup," I said. "Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire. He spilled my drink too. I paid good coin for that."
"Constantinople?" She repeated, realization dawning on her. "How long ago was that? Holy shit. What the hell are you?"
I snorted. "You're really slow for a witch, you know that?" I asked. "If you pick the right scar you'll eventually stumble across the truth."
She snapped her jaw shut and rose out of the water a little. "Stand up. Let me see them all."
I raised an eyebrow but obliged. I stood, the water only barely covering the tops of my thighs. I spread my arms out wide so she could get a good look.
She studied my chest, inspected my stomach and sides. She was certainly concentrating on what scars might be old enough or bad enough to tell her what she wanted to know.
I heard the faint and deliberate snap of a twig behind her. I didn't let it show on my face, and she didn't seem to have heard it. I just smirked and let her continue with her inspection.
"Haven't you found one yet?" I teased.
"Shut up, you," she grumbled. "I'm thinking."
Then, her eyes trailed down.
"What is on your skin here?" She reached out a hand and brushed a small patch of hard but smooth gray-green dots that began just below my navel and grew larger as they trailed down.
"What do you think it is?" I asked.
She yanked her hand back, presumably after she noticed they kept trailing down. "Do you have some kind of disease on your dick?"
A huge laugh boomed behind her and Dani turned white and jumped about a foot in the air.
Gavin, the asshole, was sitting not too far behind her and leaning against a tree. He was holding his stomach and laughing his ass off.
"Shit, lassie," he had noticed we were speaking English and answered appropriately. "Diseased dick, that's right beautiful that is. Diseased dick!"
As Gavin continued to enjoy a full-bellied laugh, Dani had turned and backed as far away from me and Gavin as she could while staying in the water.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Danica, this ginger asshole is Gavin," I said. "Gavin, this is Danica."
"Aye, Danica." Gavin wiped a stray tear from his eye and extended a hand to Dani. "Nice to meet you. What are you doing hanging out with this dusty lizard for?"
She seemed to accept Gavin enough, or maybe she recognized the name, because she timidly reached out to shake his hand. "That depends, what do you mean by dusty lizard?"
"Dense one, aren't ya?" Gavin grinned. "As funny as it would be, his dick isn't diseased. Those are scales, lass. Yer looking at one of the last Dragons."
I hadn't thought it possible, but Dani paled even further.
"Dragon?" she breathed out. "The dragons have been gone for centuries."
Gavin gave me a pointed look. "You tease, show the girl, would ye?"
My fun finally over, I sighed and climbed out of the spring. I yanked my jeans back on but not before Dani got a good eyeful of scales.
"What the fuck?" I heard her whisper.
I rolled my shoulders, and with a strained grunt, I ripped a pair of wings through my skin in one swift movement. You'd think after all this time the bite would be gone, but it wasn't. At least the cold air soothed any sting until it faded, which it did fairly quickly. The cool breeze felt nice on the membrane between my bones.
The look on her face was delicious.
"Hello Danica," I said with a grin. "My name is Ryker, I'm a dragon."