Dead and Horny Ch. 10

Once finished, Cyrus stared out at the water for several minutes. When he spoke, his voice was barely audible over the waves. "I doubt he is sleeping in his room," he said, then turned around. "This is a big assumption, but if he can breathe fire, it means that his draconic heritage is likely tied to the ground, like an earth-based dragon. Dragons feel more comfortable in their element, and it wouldn't surprise me to discover that he is holed up in a basement level room, surrounded by piles of cash."

"Seriously?" Dana almost laughed at the idea of Tristan sleeping on a cash pile.

Cyrus nodded. "Dragons may be powerful, but they are predictable. He is far along his dragon evolution, which means he probably hasn't found a good balance between his new instincts and his logic."

"Pardon me for interrupting, but I haven't seen a lot of evidence that you are any good at predicting anything." Lily crossed her arms over her chest. "You and yours have been pretty easy to fool."

Cyrus grimaced, then nodded. "It has been a long time since I have faced a challenge such as this, or you two, to be honest. I can admit with full candor that my hubris has been my undoing. I have no problem telling you what I know, but maybe you should view my words through the lens of an old man who has been doing this for too long."

"Good. As long as we all agree that you're incompetent, I'm happy." Lily sat back on her tail. "So, sleeping in the basement. Go on."

"If he is in the basement, he will have his people watching the doors and concentrated in the lower hallways. When he took control of our women, only one was left standing, and Tasia is a force unto herself. It's likely she will be a trump card, and I have no idea how he intends to use her."

"She isn't a virgin, is she?" Dana wondered if Tristan had already made a snack of her.

Cyrus smirked. "We are hardly celibate. Had to do away with that centuries ago when it caused too many problems." This statement got a chuckle from Lily. "I've never asked, but I've heard rumors, and wouldn't expect her to be chaste."

"Hmm." Lily was now deep in thought. "So maybe go in through the bedroom? He may have a militia, but I doubt they are trained to watch the skies for flyers. They will be concentrated on the ground level, and will undoubtedly be gathered around wherever he is sleeping. We will have to take them out quietly."

"But any noise we make will alert him that we're coming." Dana closed her eyes and pictured the interior of the building.

"I have a spell that will muffle sound," Cyrus added. "But we could also cast it on his men. Even their weapons would be significantly muted, which should keep Tristan from hearing what is going on. When we fight him, we can't be dodging gunfire at the same time, this will already be difficult."

"So what about your friend?" Lily asked. "Kill her?"

"No." He shook his head. "Unless it's impossible to avoid. Maybe you could use your tail to knock her out, but I would ask that you leave her intact, otherwise."

"Fine." Lily's tone conveyed that it was anything but fine. "And after we take down dragon boy?"

"We negotiate. We both want the necklace, so we try to reach a middle ground."

Lily looked like she was going to say something, but Dana held up a hand to stop her. "I think that's the best we can do for now," she said, with absolutely no intent to follow through. There was not going to be a middle ground, and she knew that they would be at odds once Tristan was down. Strangely, she had absolutely no qualms about doing what was necessary to ensure the Dragon Seed remained with her.

"Dana says you have a spell to keep us from going after each other. I suggest you cast it now, so we can move forward with preparations." Lily looked impatient now, like she was itching for a fight. "And no sudden movements, or I'll make you regret pissing me off."

Cyrus held up his hands to reveal that they were empty, then started digging through Amida's pockets. It was almost comical watching him pull out small objects and wands from the shorts that Amida was wearing. The tidy pile next to the dead mage was large enough that Dana wondered why the Order didn't simply make billions of dollars making magical pockets for women's clothing.

Once Amida was sufficiently looted, Cyrus found a flat place in the rocks and drew a circle in the air with what looked like a piece of chalk. He made a series of loops in the air in a triangular pattern, then shoved his hands up through a pair of loops, which tightened around his wrists.

"You both need to do the same," he instructed them. There were four more loops, and both Dana and Lily followed along, but not before Lily placed the tip of her tail against Cyrus' throat.

"This checks out so far," she warned. "But I would love nothing more than a reason."

"I believe you," he said, then began a low chant. The hovering circle glowed faintly, and Cyrus spoke quickly in a language that Dana assumed was Latin.

"It's a typical binding spell," Lily told her. "If you hurt him, it also hurts you. I'm not sure how that would work in your current condition, to be honest, because you're already dead, but it would be bad. Even I would get messed up by such a spell."

"Like you were when you tried to mind meld with the creature in the Pit?" When Dana asked her question, she noticed that Cyrus paused for a moment in his incantations, and she could smell the cold sweat that broke out on his forehead.

"Nothing that bad, but it would disable me. You too, probably, which means he would have a chance to take the seed and run." When Cyrus stopped chanting, the glowing ring shrunk down and glowed briefly on their wrists. "It's like a temporary friendship bracelet," Lily noted, looking at her wrist.

"Until sunset," Cyrus said. "Plenty of time, should we succeed."

"Then let's get started." Lily extended her wings. "Get the clock to shrink down so I can carry you both. I'll take Dana up first, then come back for you."

"Why not take me first?" Cyrus asked.

"Because you still need to pick up all this shit," Lily replied, indicating the magical treasures scattered about. "As much fun as it would be to watch you play pocket clown car, I want to strike while the iron is hot."

"Fair enough," he replied.

"Need you to look away for a moment," Dana told him. "Tick Tock can only change when nobody is looking."

"Fascinating," Cyrus muttered, then turned away from the mimic. "We've never had a chance to confirm how a mimic works, but quantum locking is a leading hypothesis."

Dana rolled her eyes. She hadn't really thought much about the mechanism by which Tick Tock functioned, but always found it annoying when people attached the word quantum to anything. When she closed her eyes, Tick Tock shifted about, and she opened them to see that the mimic was now a backpack. She slid the mimic onto her shoulders and gave a thumbs up to Lily.

"Ready to go," she said, and Lily wrapped her arms around Dana's waist and took her into the sky. They moved out to sea, and once they were about a mile out, Lily began a slow climb into the sky. Dana looked down into the inky black below, and wondered if the sharks were still about.

When they began their approach, she worried that Tristan's militia might be monitoring the skies with night vision, and that a sniper's round would find its way into her head. Or perhaps they would have drones on patrol, and their entry would be spotted right away. Multiple possibilities went through her mind, and it wasn't until they touched down by Tristan's pool that she realized that there was nobody nearby. Upon touchdown, the two of them crouch-walked up until they were hidden by one of the pillars.

"Looks like Cyrus was right," Lily said. "I don't see that asshole in his bed."

"Are you doing okay?" It felt like an odd question to ask the succubus, but she was getting a strange vibe from Lily.

"I'm eager to dish out a little retribution is all," Lily said, her dimly lit features serious. "Now wait here until I get back with numb-nuts, and we can go slay ourselves a dragon."

Dana nodded, and watched as Lily scurried over to the wall and tossed herself over the side. She didn't even hear the splash over the sound of the waves and wind, and wondered if anybody had spotted the succubus on the way down.

It had taken them maybe fifteen or twenty minutes to get up here, which meant she had a little bit of time to kill. She was tempted to go snoop around Tristan's bedroom, but thought better of it. There was too much at stake to risk being discovered over a stupid decision.

She caught the scent of roses and freshly ground red pepper and frowned. The scent was dim, yet growing stronger, and when she peered around the column she hid behind, she was disheartened to see that Tasia walked into the room. The knight was covered in soot and blood, and her eyes were intensely focused on the balcony.

"I know you're out there," she said, her words barely audible through the glass. She drew her sword and flipped it out to reveal the razor-sharp edge that previously removed Dana's arm. "I set wards."

"Oh, fuck me," Dana whispered. She heard one of the zippers rustle behind her and stuck her hand behind her back to the now open pocket of her backpack. When she reached her hand inside, she felt an intense cold followed by the sensation of a metallic handle being pressed into her palm.

Tasia stepped out onto the balcony, and Dana moved further away into the shadows, keeping her own sword in its smaller form. If she could remain hidden, maybe she could stay hidden until Lily came back with Cyrus and the three of them could take Tasia down together.

The knight gritted her teeth, and her cold eyes glowed as if lit from within. She swept her gaze over toward where Dana was hiding and readied her weapon.

"There you are." Tasia swung her sword casually, then took a step toward Dana. "This time, I'm going to cut you into so many pieces that no amount of witchcraft will bring you back."

I really hope you enjoyed that chapter, and I hope you are getting excited for what promises to be the team-up of a lifetime! It's a deal with the devil, and things are about to get hot and messy in the Black Palace!

I want to thank you again for reading my stories. I spent a lot of time on them and trying to weave major narrative threads through multiple chapters, and I definitely appreciate all the kind words and excitement they generate. I try to read all the comments, but with so many chapters out, I miss a bunch from older posts. If you absolutely need me to see something, send me a feedback form! I read them all (eventually) and will do my best to keep giving you fun stories in my monster-verse!

~Annabelle Hawthorne