Dragon Awakened(55)
“He had angels, right?”
“Yeah, but he didn’t have a lot to say about them, only that they had a weapon that looked like some kind of light.”
“Legend has it that Luca, the supreme god of Lucifera, sent angels to police the situation after the gods became physical. They became physical, too. I imagine it was hard to resist temptation with gods partaking of carnal pleasures all around them. The angel/human offspring are called Caidos, which is ‘fallen’ in Spanish. They tend to keep to themselves for good reason.” As she started to open her mouth to no doubt ask why, he added, “Which I will not divulge.”
“Not even later?”
“Not even then.”
“Do they have wings?”
“Sort of. Like our tattoo that becomes Dragon, their tattoo becomes wings. Not feathers though. More like energy.”
She shook her head, her eyes wide. He enjoyed her reactions. Everything was old to him, but it was new to her, whether beautiful or terrifying. “What you do need to know before you meet Grayson is that he’s a very old and powerful Caido, so don’t piss him off.”
“Now why would I go and do that?”
He raised his eyebrows. “You have a way about you.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, probably ready to say something acerbic. But she may have remembered some of the things she’d done, because she only said, “I promise I won’t hold a gun to his chest.”
“That’s a start.” They walked into the garage, and he popped the trunk, then took her bag and set it inside. “Not that you’d survive a second after that. The only reason I didn’t wipe you was because I knew who you were.”
“Awfully nice of you.” The sarcasm melted away. “Though now that I know what you are, I feel quite lucky.” She meant it.
“Caidos are also sensitive to emotions, so try to keep yours tamped down. The emotional Dragons—Citrines and Carnelians—are particularly troublesome, and you, Ruby, are a Carnelian. And don’t get caught up in the Thrall.”
“The Thrall?”
“People get mesmerized just looking at them.”
She leaned against the passenger side of his car. “So I should restrain myself from drooling, as Dragons are apt to do.”
He laughed, because damn it, she had a way of making him laugh like no one else. “Yes, please.” His humor died quickly. “There’s one more thing you should know about Grayson. He doesn’t like Dragon women.”
“Why not?”
“A female Dragon captured and tortured him for years. I think the experience warped him.”
“Oh, goody. Some guy who can probably incinerate me with a look.” She gestured to her clothing. “But I’m the least seductive person around. Well, not the least certainly, but still.”
He got in the car and, when she got in, said, “Don’t underestimate your seductiveness, Ruby.” She had other effects on him, too, besides making him laugh. A deep wanting. Throbbing ache. Effects he also hadn’t experienced in decades. Or longer. He tended to lose track.
She closed her door. “He tolerates you then? I mean, not because you’re…intolerable or anything. Well, you can be. But you being a Dragon and all.”
He simply smirked at her and backed out of the garage. Once he’d closed the door, he sensed their surroundings. “There’s magick in the air.”
“Oh, now you’re being romantic?”
“Not that kind of magic.” He got out of the car and fought the urge to Catalyze. Even though his yard appeared private, he couldn’t take a chance that some Mundane gardener was trimming bushes or that someone on a boat was out there with binoculars.
He saw the orb skitter across a branch just as Ruby, who’d gotten out of the car as well, said, “Are you hunting bugs again?”
“Scry orb.” His Dragon led him to a large banyan tree at the corner of the property.
“That’s what you killed in the back of my truck, right? The spy orb?”
“Exactly. Which means Smith has found my home.”
“Oh, great.”
He climbed the tree from the back side and spotted the orb perched on a branch. He needed to grab it before it flew away and would then follow them. Obviously sensing his magick, it crept down one of the many roots that grew from the branch back to the ground. Cyn reached down and snatched it, crushing it in his hand with both force and magick. “Let’s go, before he shows up to pay us a visit.”
Thirty minutes later, Cyn pulled into a guest parking spot at the Raphael high-rise. Ruby pulled her long braid over her shoulder and stroked the length of it as she looked at the sign. “Hah. The Raphael. I get it. So, what are we seeing this guy about?”