Breathing Fire

And so I found myself dumping some money into a slot machine as I waited for the cocktail waitress to make her rounds. I got lucky. Casey just happened to be working my section of the place. Her face broke into a big smile when she saw me. She nearly skipped her way over to me in her excitement. God, had I ever been that young? Not in this lifetime.

She wore a black and gold cocktail getup that exposed her midriff and left nothing to cover her ass but some fishnet pantyhose and a string. She was sporting the bad boob-job that so many professionals in Las Vegas had adopted.

I was shielding my bruises for the sake of not drawing attention to myself, though people seemed to stare my way no matter what I did. Being blond and around the six foot mark tended to make me stand out.

“Hi there,” she said, as she got closer. “Just here for slots?”

I smiled at her. “I came by to see you, actually.”

She beamed at me. “One second. Let me go tell my boss I’m taking a break. I have a fifteen minute one coming up, but they won’t notice if I slip out for thirty.”

She pulled out a smoke the second we stepped outside, lighting it. She offered me one, and I declined. I knew I’d never get lung cancer, but I just couldn’t stand the things.

“Some druids came and paid me a visit today. Heard any gossip about anything to do with our shop?” I asked bluntly.

She froze, the cigarette actually falling from her hand. “Shit, yeah, I have. Been meaning to tell you about it. I guess someone who visited your shop claimed that you were magic-users. Some old hag, looking to get a reward, I hear. Joseph told me about it because he knew I went to the shop a lot, wanted to know if I noticed anything unusual.” She laughed nervously. “Crazy, right? I figured they’d go check out your place and see that she was scamming them.” I was watching her face while she spoke. She never met my eyes once.

“Why’d you cross me, Case?” I asked her softly.

She burst into tears. “I didn’t mean to, I swear. Joseph used something on me. I was talking, telling him things I didn’t want to. I figured you’d get out of whatever trouble they made for you. I know you’re really strong.”

I let my shields down, showed her my battered face and arms. She sobbed harder, apologizing over and over. I put my shields back up. Normally, I avoided using magic around humans like the plague, but it seemed the damage was already done here. “Why couldn’t you at least give us a heads up?” I asked her.

She was shaking her head. “It was like I said, some old w-witch-hag got to them first.” Witch-hag’s were a particularly nasty class of witch. They always looked like ancient old hags, regardless of their age. Their youth was the first thing they sacrificed to gain more power. After that, they got even more desperate, sacrificing countless other things. The rogue hags were even less particular, sacrificing humans or even whatever Others they could get their hands on. It alarmed me a bit that one had been aware of me, but not me of her. Luckily she hadn’t been a rogue, or she would have done worse than gone to the druids. If a rogue hag knew what I was, if they had even an inkling, and got the jump on me, with any knowledge of how to bind me, she would harvest me for parts. There’s nothing a rogue hag would love more than getting ahold of one of my kind.

Casey continued. “Then Joseph was questioning me. I’ve never seen him like that. He was ruthless. I’m not sure I ever really knew him at all. I’m so sorry,” she sobbed, backing into the side of the building and sliding down into a crying heap.

“What all did you tell them about me?” I asked quietly.

“Everything I knew. Everything you’ve ever told me, or that I’ve noticed on my own.” She was curled up on the ground now. “What can I do to make it up to you?”

I felt a little sick at heart, but I was too practical to overlook a good opening when I saw it. “You can’t, Case. But you can call me if you hear anything. Keep me up to date on anything you find out.” I was walking away as I finished, Casey a mess on the ground of the alley behind me.

“Are we still friends?” she called after me.

“You tell me. I don’t have a lot of friends. Is this how you normally treat them?” I ignored her pitiful sobs and walked away.

Well, I’d learned two useful and unfortunate pieces of information with that errand. One was that Casey’s boyfriend was on to our little chats, probably had been for awhile, if he had resorted to be-spelling her. The other was that, whether they wanted to or not, Mav and Michael wouldn’t be able to just forget that I existed. It was obvious that the attention of more higher-ups had been caught. On the bright side, if Dom was one of those higher ups, I was pretty sure I would know it by now.

I was speeding down Tropicana Avenue when it started again. I started to tremble. I barely pulled over before I lost control of my body. A familiar force pushed against my mind, and this time I didn’t fight it.

At first I didn’t understand what I was seeing. It was all wrong. “I should not be looking at you like this,” I told my other form. The dragon was more beautiful than I had realized, gazing at it from the outside for the first time. It was all glowing, shifting colors, as it’s long form writhed in agony. It’s eyes were the same palest aquamarine I had in human form. “Why is this happening?” I asked it. It didn’t answer. It was hard to pull my eyes away from it’s entrancing beauty, but I did for a brief moment, and I perceived that all that surrounded us was an inky blackness. Suddenly, all of that blackness turned to a shinning silver. Water seemed to surround us at every angle. It laid it’s body on the shifting ground, head nearly touching me. Was it going to sleep, or laying down to die?