Smoke, Vampires, & Mirrors

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The staircase goes down and down and down, seemingly to the center of the planet. At first, the walls around us are the signature silver-tinted obsidian of the castle, then they turn to rock strata.

The noise begins when the strata goes from brown to black. It sounds like a distant dragon roar.

As we descend farther, I realize the roar isn’t a roar, but the dragon version of snoring.

Before I can ask Claudia about it, she speeds up, leaping five to six stairs in each jump until we reach a musty and cold cave-like opening that leads to another, much bigger space.

“Wow,” I say.

“Yeah,” Claudia replies. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen this place.”

Diamonds, gold, platinum, priceless works of art—the place is brimming with so much wealth and bling it hurts my eyes.

Nero’s Earth treasure trove is but a tiny imposter compared to this vastness. Converted into cash, this treasure might exceed ten years of GDP for a mid-sized nation.

On top of all the loot lies Nero in his dragon form—except he seems bigger than usual, and more majestic.

The roar-snore is coming from him, and at this distance, it’s nearly deafening.

“Earth is on the brink of destruction and you take a nap?” I say loudly. “Seriously?”

Nero keeps on snoring.

Taking off her clothing, Claudia walks over a million dollars’ worth of gold and turns into a dragon herself.

Nero doesn’t show any sign of being aware of her.

Claudia roars.

Nero keeps on sleeping.

With a flash, she turns back and gets dressed.

“Healing sleep that deep is rare,” she shouts in my ear over the snoring. “It only happens after grievous wounds or extremely strenuous activity.” She looks thoughtful. “I didn’t think the fight with Yudo took this much out of him.”

“So what do we do?” I ask, hoping Claudia doesn’t see my blush. I can think of another strenuous activity Nero partook in recently, one that resulted in a crater in the ground and felled trees. Also, relatedly, how much blood did I drink from him last night? Could it have been an amount that equates to a “grievous wound?”

“There’s nothing we can do,” she says. “We go back up and wait.”

“But—”

“It’s for the best.” She puts a hand on my shoulder. “As I was trying to explain before, when a dragon is awoken from this state, he can be crankier than an army of hibernating wool-beasts.”

“Fine,” I say. “Lead me back.”

We go up and into the giant dining hall where we left everyone—and we find them on their feet, getting ready to leave.

Vlad approaches with a concerned expression. “Where is Nero?”

I roll my eyes. “Getting his beauty sleep.”

“He might need a few hours in the best case, a day at the worst,” Claudia says. “He’ll be of more help to you when he’s done.”

“In that case, the others and I will head back to Earth and discuss your vision with the rest of the Council,” Vlad says to me. “Tell Nero that we indeed would like to call in the favors he owes us in order to save Earth.”

“Will do,” I say solemnly.

“How about that drink?” Kit winks at me, then turns into Nero and shows me his/her neck.

“I’m still good,” I say. “Besides, you wouldn’t want to delay your fellow Council members, would you?”

Kit’s pout looks comically foreign on Nero’s face. Then she turns back into herself and joins everyone as they stride out.

“So,” Claudia says when they’re gone. “It’s just us.”

“Yeah,” I grumble. “Are you sure there’s no way to rouse your lazy brother somehow?”

“Not that I know of,” she says.

“What if we go back down and smack him?” I start pacing the room, but the vampire stamina makes it hard to burn off anxious energy in this way.

She cringes. “Even if such a violent approach worked, we’d risk dying in the aftermath—especially you, since you’re not as sturdy as a dragon.”

“What if I give him a kiss?” I say half-jokingly. “That works on sleeping princesses, so maybe it can also work on a sleeping king, or emperor, or whatever he is now.”

She grins. “This might be that one rare case where kissing my brother might not get you what you want.”

“Hey.” I stop my pacing. “What are you trying to say?”

“Nothing.” She walks over to the table and takes a seat. “Come join me. If you keep on walking around like that, you’ll give me a headache.”

Dragons get headaches?

Grudgingly, I walk over to the table and plop into a wooden chair opposite hers.

“Now,” she says. “Since we have privacy and time to kill, can you please tell the story of how you and Nero met?”

I take in a deep breath and exhale noisily. “We didn’t have a charming first encounter, if that’s what you’re after. I have no idea when he first saw me, but I imagine I was inappropriately young at the time.”

Claudia’s eyes bulge.

“Yeah,” I say. “And the first time I saw him, it was at a job interview—so, given the way jobs work on our world, romance was the last thing on my mind.”

Despite being clearly disappointed, Nero’s sister drills me for more info. Soon, the interrogation pivots, and I end up telling her all about my recent adventures.

“The Council forbade you from indulging in your greatest passion?” she says disapprovingly when I get to the part where they told me not to perform magic ever again or else.

“Yeah,” I say, frowning at the memory. “They don’t want humans to learn about the existence of the Cognizant, and though my illusions are not utilizing my powers, I can still grow more powerful if the humans worship me just so.”

“I’m glad our humans know who and what we are and that we don’t have those stupid Councils.” She grabs a nearby goblet with wine. “I’m surprised Nero put up with all that nonsense.”

“I’d say he adjusted to Earth well,” I say. “He’s one of the wealthiest and most powerful beings on Earth—and you know what that means for dragon powers.”

“Still.” She sips her wine. “I don’t think I will like Earth.”

I raise my eyebrows. “You say that as though you’re going to go there.”

“Of course I’m going to go,” she says. “It’s not just Nero who owes everyone a favor. If it weren’t for you and the others from Earth, I’d still be in that cage.” Her expression momentarily darkens, but turns sunny just as quickly. “Besides”—she grins—“this fight sounds like it will be a lot of fun.”

“Fun for a dragon, maybe,” I say. Then, choosing my words carefully, I ask, “What was it like, to be a prisoner for so many years?”

The dark expression is back with a vengeance, and I immediately feel guilty for prying.

“I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” Claudia says after a beat, her voice strained. “If it weren’t for books and revenge fantasies, I would’ve lost my mind.”

The door creaks, and Pozoj walks in.

“There you are,” Claudia says, her gloom gone without a trace. “Sasha was just telling me about her skills as a conjuror.”

“A what?” he asks, joining us at the table.

“How about I show you?” I say, deciding to cheer up Claudia with my favorite pastime. “Do you have this here?” I take out my deck of cards and spread them on the table.

“That looks like a Tarot deck,” Pozoj says. “Only they’re all wrong.”

“I’ll have to show you something where card values don’t matter,” I say and shuffle the deck. “How about this?” I split the cards in half, turning one half face up as I keep the other half face down.

I then shuffle the cards in this tipsy-turvy fashion, so that the interlaced cards are a mix of face-up and face-down at random.

“Now how long do you think it would take to sort out this mess I just made?” I ask as I do some secret moves that are made that much easier with my newfound vampire dexterity.

“Three minutes,” Claudia says.

“Two,” Pozoj adds.

I wave my hand over the cards, then spread them ceremoniously.

As if by magic, every card is now facing the correct way.

“That can’t be,” Pozoj exclaims. “Are you an illusionist on top of seer and vampire?”

“I’m not,” I say. “At least not that kind of illusionist.”

“Do something else,” Claudia says greedily.

I strain my brain to recall more effects that don’t require much knowledge of the card values and proceed with a mini show that makes me realize how much I’ve missed performing like this.

Their reactions are outstanding—in part due to the fact that there are no sleight-of-hand magicians on this world, but also because these guys don’t have TV or computers, so their attention spans are way longer and standards for entertainment are way lower.

Maybe I can stay here with Nero and become his court magician à la Merlin? That would be almost as cool as my own TV show—maybe even cooler in some ways.

Wait, what am I thinking? Earth is in danger, and I’m already looking for a new world to settle on?

My keen vampire hearing informs me that someone new has stepped into the room. Then I hear Nero ask, “Where is everyone?”

I guiltily hide the cards and turn to face him.

That nap did his body some serious good. He looks radiantly healthy.

And as a side effect, sexy as hell.

“They’ve gone ahead to Earth,” Claudia says, standing up. “I will go get ready for our journey.”

“You what?” Nero narrows his eyes at his sister, then looks accusingly at me.

“I’m joining Sasha’s quest to save Earth,” Claudia says in a tone that seems to imply, “And I dare anyone to try to stop me.”

“This sounds like a family matter,” Pozoj says, backing up. “I’m going to go.”

“No,” Claudia says imperiously. “You’re coming with me.”

“Sounds like I am.” Pozoj rubs his chin.

“Let’s go.” Claudia grabs his hand and drags him out at a speed that would dislocate the shoulder of a non-dragon.

Nero watches them leave with an unreadable expression on his face, and I can’t help feeling like I’m in big trouble—for no reason.

“I’m also going to Earth,” I say firmly when he turns to face me. “Don’t even think about locking me up somewhere for ‘my protection.’”

There.

I said it—and will defend my stance with everything I’ve got.