Dragon Heat (5 page)

response, giving him more access to her lean, gorgeous body. Another

groan, but this time Hikuro realized it was coming from him. He had to

have her
now
!

‚I’m sorry,‛ she whispered faintly against his ear.

‚Wha

shoot down his spine. His muscles spasmed in response, and then there

was only darkness.

Dyam was tired of this nightclub. After Hikuro had strangely

deserted him and carried the blonde woman up to his private quarters,

Dyam had returned to his whiskey-infused blood and finished the chess

game by himself. He got their waitress’ attention and gave her the

international signal for ‚one more‛ with his index finger. She promptly

obliged, bringing him another triple dose of Springbank diluted in the

same amount of fresh blood. Dyam took a nice sip of the dark golden

liquid and sat back on the couch. He did not understand why his friends

enjoyed this place. It was full of desperate humans looking for a cheap

escape from their miserable empty lives and vampires looking for easy

targets. Contrary to popular belief, vampires could not turn humans; one

was either born a vampire or not, just like any other being. There had been

some cases among sujha families where the vampire gene remained

dormant and skipped a generation or two, scaring the hell out of the

unsuspecting non-vampire parents. Vampires did not have to kill a

human to get their nourishment, either, but there were a lot of vampires

who lost themselves to bloodlust, and that’s when things got complicated.

And places like the Cascade offered the perfect conditions for

complications.

Killing humans was strictly prohibited because it attracted too

much attention to the vampires’ existence. Dyam had once asked Hikuro,

who was much older than him, why the vampires hadn’t conquered the

human race and lived freely on Terhem Viahta. It’s not like they depended

on humans; vampires could survive off any kind of blood as long as it was

taken from a body with a beating heart. Hikuro had explained that

thousands of years ago when all the races roamed freely on Earth, the life

scale tipped when vampires and dragons started battling for world

dominance. There were no restraints when it came to feeding the vampire

and draconian armies. Large animals, like aurocks, giant deer, and sea

cows were the first choice on the menu, mainly because only one of them

could feed an entire brigade. When those beasts were hunt down to

extinction, the other supernatural communities started to put pressure for

a truce on the two battling races. After realizing that if they didn’t stop

they would probably extinguish all life on Earth or maybe because their

mighty armies could not fight for long off small animal or human bloods,

the dragon lords and vampire kings agreed on a peace treaty and returned

to their lands.

By then, humans had evolved and defied their natural inferiority

with cleverness and ingenious inventions. They had built entire cities

made of stone and lived off plantations, a feat never seen before, for even

the magical creatures survived on what the environment provided them.

Dragons and vampires, blinded by their arrogance, realized what was

happening a little too late—humans had discovered an incredible weapon:

steel. And so the supernatural races like the vampires, the dragons, and

the fae wisely decided to draw back to their nests and observe the strange

race that dared defy the natural laws of life. They were all dumbfounded

by the humans’ clever ways of changing the environment to suit their own

needs: building cobblestone streets for better access and multi-story

edifices to maximize space; creating amazing inventions like the steam

train, electricity, and the telephone. So instead of fighting the humans, the

magical races slowly started to live inconspicuously among them and

enjoy the benefits of human inventions.

Dyam took another sip and closed his eyes to enjoy the delicious

amber liquid burning down his throat. He could feel the music vibrating

in his body cells, hear bodies rubbing against each other, and smell the

scent of sweat, a jungle animal, and lust in the air.

Jungle animal?

Opening his eyes, Dyam sat up straight and inspected his

surroundings.
What the fuck?
He tried to shake it off and remind himself

that there was no way a jungle animal could have been in a nightclub in

the middle of Soho, and it was probably just the whiskey talking, but no,

he wasn’t mistaken. His Cherokee inimă,
his soul, could sense it, smell it

faintly in the air. He took another deep breath and stood up.

Going to the balcony, he scanned the dance floor below, then the

bar, the fake waterfall, and the swimming pool. Nothing. He could not see

any jungle animal or any animal for that matter, not even a bird. And then

he turned his attention back to the second level and saw her. A tall,

olive-skinned woman with short spiky hair wearing a crimson top and

matching miniskirt talking to the vampire bouncer by the elevator. She

was just inches away from the guy. A dim light green radiance seemed to

be glimmering off her eyes. The vampire bouncer with all his mass of

muscles did nothing to stop her when she whisked by him and got into

the elevator.

Turning on his heels toward the back of their VIP area, Dyam

spotted Joel, who was now enjoying the redhead’s mouth on his cock. His

friend was not going to like him very much, but they had to find out what

the fuck was happening.

‚Joel, we gotta go.‛ Joel didn’t even flinch. Dyam tried again. ‚Joel,

something’s not right. We gotta go.‛

This time, his friend opened one eye. ‚Dy, buddy, this is not a good

time.‛

‚I know, but I think there’s a jungle animal inside this nightclub.‛

Okay, even he could see the insanity of his remark.

‚What?‛ Joel sat up straight but did not motion the girl off his cock.

‚What do you mean there’s a jungle animal in the club?‛

‚She was getting inside one of the elevators. I think she is going to

the third floor.‛

‚She?‛ Joel asked, with an impish smile on his face. ‚Dy, my man,

it is probably the remains of your Cherokee inimă begging for some

release.‛ Joel leaned back on the couch with his hand on the girl’s head,

encouraging her to go deeper.

Joel was probably right, but Dyam could not shake off the certainty

of what he had sensed. Deciding he could not just sit around and forget

about it, he started toward the elevator. The bouncer was still on the same

spot.

‚Did you see who she was?‛ Dyam asked while checking which

floor the elevator had stopped on.

The bouncer looked at Dyam, blinking fast. ‚Who?‛

‚The woman, the tall woman, wearing a red top and mini who had

just passed by you.‛

The bouncer looked up to the nothingness and smiled broadly—he

actually smiled! Dyam was overwhelmed by a smell of fresh rain on

autumn leaves.

‚Oh, that woman. Yeah, she

said.

What a waste of space he was.

Taking a deep breath, Dyam walked past him and took the stairs.

When he reached the door to the third floor, he stopped and unlocked his

senses again. Yes, she had been there. Opening the door slowly, he put his

head out into the hallway and checked the surroundings. The coast was

clear. Closing the door soundlessly behind him, he scanned the long

corridor. There were only four apartments on that section—a true

testament of how exclusive that part of the nightclub was. A small

pathway at the far end lead to the south wing. The area was dimly lit by

long amber lights. The black carpets and crimson walls added a ‚what

happens here, stays here‛ feel to the decor.

Dyam took a few steps to the right with the intention of checking

the doors for suspicious sounds, but the soft
thud
coming from the south

wing stopped him midway. Silently, he started toward the sound, but

when he got to that section, it was empty. The smell of rainforest was

stronger there. Following it, he realized the scent draw a direct line

between the fire exit, located at the end of the corridor and one of the four

exclusive apartments on that wing. Looking up to see which door it was,

Dyam’s heart went straight to his mouth.

It was Hikuro’s private quarters.

Without a second thought, Dyam burst inside the room, his knife

steady in his hand, ready for battle.

Hikuro was sprawled on the floor by the couch, motionless.
Fuck!

He scanned the room for potential attackers hiding in the shadows; then

he went to check on his friend. Hikuro’s head was still attached to his

body.

Thank the Soartas
.

Dyam released the breath he had not realized he was holding and

tried to wake his friend up. Nothing. Hikuro was out cold. That was when

Dyam saw a small envelope on his lap. Pulling his phone out of his back

pocket, he punched the numbers. Joel had better take this.

After a few more tries, his blond friend decided to pick it up.

‚There better be a whole fucking jungle invading the club, buddy.‛

‚Hikuro is down, unconscious in his private quarters.‛

‚I’ll be right up.‛

The phone disconnected, and in record time, Dyam heard footsteps

in the corridor. A second later, Joel was by the door, his Heckler & Koch

9mm positioned to put a nice hole in the middle of any motherfucker who

dared cross his path. ‚What happened?‛

‚I don’t know. She was gone when I got here.‛ Dyam rolled his

unconscious friend to the side to check for any injuries.

‚Are you sure it was the woman you saw?‛

‚She was not a human female. She was a jungle animal. I’m not

sure which one because I never got to look into her eyes. But I followed

her distinct scent of rain forest leaves here.‛

‚How the fuck did that happen? A female knocking Hikuro out?

That’s impossible.‛ Joel helped Dyam lift their unconscious friend up.

‚I know. It is a disturbing thought. The other piece of this puzzle is

why.‛ Together they put Hikuro on the chaise lounge. ‚I think we should

go to the king. Look what I found.‛ Dyam took out the small envelope

and handed it to Joel, who opened it and read the note inside.

‚What the fuck? What’s this supposed to mean?‛

‚I don’t know. But I think we were not supposed to know.‛ Dyam

held Hikuro’s hand and dematerialized out of there.

One a.m. He had been waiting in the stupid alleyway for thirty

minutes already. If his brainless associate did not show up in the next

three minutes, he would make sure he regretted not being punctual. The

hell with it, he would make sure his associate paid for it regardless. The

alleyway stunk of human feces and dead animals, typical in this part of

town. East Flatbush, New York, was not known for having rose-smelling

streets.

Headlights blinded his vision, and he had to turn his head slightly

to see his associate heading his toward him. When the green sedan was

just a few feet away, he stepped out of the threshold he had chosen to hide

from the view of curious neighbors and waved for his associate to stop the

car.

‚You’re late,‛ he said bluntly. He regretted having chosen a

half-human to do the job. He usually hired vampires or dracos, but this

one had shown an interesting extra keenness for his bounty-hunting

assignments.

A short plump man nearing his forties stepped out of the car and

closed the door with a
thud
. ‚The bitch was harder to get than I thought.‛

His associate had the audacity to open his unbuttoned flannel shirt and

show his torso which bore a number of scratches. ‚She put up a hell of a

fight.‛

Ignoring the exposed torso, he walked toward the back of the car.

‚I wonder what gave you the erroneous idea that I give a fuck. Open the

trunk,‛ he commanded, accentuating the dark vibrato in his voice.

His associate obliged with a small ‚Yes, sir‛ and opened the trunk

to reveal a female vampire inside. She was gagged with a cloth that

looked like it had been taken from a mechanic’s office, her hands and feet

were tied up with silver chains, and she had an ugly black eye and a few

bruises on her arms that were already healing. Her wide eyes were staring