Old Haunts

MADDIE

The skeleton quarter.

My old neighborhood.

I walked the side streets and back alleys, expecting to find new faces. To my surprise, everyone still seemed to be hustling the same corners.

It used to be a blast walking through this part of Requiem City. Shooting the shit with Darshan and Harry.

Looking for the next easy target to bump into before slipping away with their hard-earned cash.

But that thrill was no longer there. It seemed like everything else in the world had changed except this place. As if there was some unspoken rule that it needed to stay the same.

I acknowledged a familiar face, but I tried to keep my head low. I realized that it had been so long since I'd been seen here that my sudden appearance might draw too much attention.

Then again, that might be a good thing. If I was going to find a job, I'd need a little nudge in the right direction.

But fuck if I knew what the right direction was…

A homeless man held out a rusty tin can, hoping for money. I checked my pockets and gave him the only change I had.

It was the least I could do while I pursued a life of thievery.

But something about the homeless man caught my attention. His eyes almost seemed to glow beneath his scratched sunglasses. I was ashamed to find myself staring.

“Sorry,” I said hastily.

“The gods thank you,” a deep baritone voice called back.

He smiled, showing a mouthful of rotten teeth.

I took no time hightailing it out of there. The energy he gave off wasn’t bad...it was almost otherworldly. I was totally unnerved.

As I continued walking, I couldn’t help but feel that I was being watched...that every face was a human mask hiding a dragon beneath.

~Great.~

~I do one nice thing for a person and now I'm paranoid.~

~Those dragon twins have really done a number on me.~

A chilly breeze shot down the alleys, and I hugged my jacket closer. The sun was shining, but in the skeleton quarter, it never seemed to matter.

Maybe this was the wrong choice. If I could get a newspaper and check out the classifieds, would it make me feel like I'd given up my old life completely? It was probably best that I couldn’t find a reason to go back to my old ways.

I had some idea of what prison might be like thanks to the Dobrzyckas. They caged me up like an animal. If the experience had taught me anything, it was that I never wanted to be behind bars again.

“Well, well. Look who’s back in her old haunts,” a familiar voice called out.

~It couldn’t be!~

I spun around to see Darren smiling at me.

He was the same old stick as always, but no longer the gaunt, empty shell he’d been as Adara’s sex slave.

He’d managed to put on some weight, though not much. Dare I say, he looked like he might actually be healthy for a change.

I couldn’t hold back my smile. It was nice to see a familiar face. We'd both been through a lot, and he was one of the few who really knew what being with a Dobrzycka was like.

“Never thought I’d see you here again,” he smirked.

“Never thought I’d see you again—ever,” I admitted. “Adara seemed to have your balls in a vice. Like...did she ever do that?”

Darren’s smirk faded at hearing that name.

“Adara,” he spat. “Yeah. We definitely have a lot of catching up to do. Had any lunch?”

***

~SPLAT!~

The ketchup and mayo slipped through the wrapper and plopped onto the ground.

I was sure it was all over my face and probably even my clothes.

I didn’t care.

The burger was so damn good. I was lost in the heavenly taste that filled my mouth with every bite.

It must have been longer than I thought since I had had anything to eat. Come to think of it...I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten.

Darren seemed to notice, too, as his eyes never left the scene unfolding across from him.

“I didn’t know those burgers were ~that~ good,” he said.

“Neither did I,” I replied.

He chuckled.

“Just like me when I left,” he mumbled, looking away. “Didn’t realize how much of an empty vessel I was until I got out on my own.”

It couldn’t have been that long. A few weeks at most. But as I'd noted earlier, Darren was looking different.

More alive.

No collar and leash were choking his neck.

Less of a blind follower and more of a leader. Not to mention the black leather jacket and tats actually fit this version of Darren much better.

I slowed down my ravenous eating and finally took a breath. This time Darren was still staring at me, but not out of disbelief. I could tell he had something to say.

“How did you leave?” I finally asked.

Nothing broke the ice like diving straight for it.

Darren sighed.

“I didn’t leave as much as get kicked out,” he said. “Not gonna lie—it sucked. But after a while, I realized that maybe it was for the best."

The sound of his voice and the look on his face didn’t sync with his words… He was still hurt by Adara dumping him. Hell, who wouldn’t be?

Sex with dragons was downright intoxicating.

But one can’t live off of orgasms and domination…

“I’d say it’s definitely for the best,” I replied. “But why the sudden change? She seemed so happy literally fucking the life out of you.”

For a second, his face registered annoyance, maybe even aggression. He sipped his soda and took a deep breath.

“Well,” he sighed, “it might’ve had something to do with you.”

My cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

“Oh,” I said. It was all I could muster.

“They were definitely not happy you—what was it—jumped onto the back of another dragon?”

“So, you heard that story…” I muttered.

“I was worried their shouting would knock down the whole building,” he said, shaking his head. “And once they caught sight of me slinking around their penthouse, they gave Adara a choice: set me free or give me one last ride before they ate me whole."

“I didn’t know my choices affected you too,” I admitted.

~Well, fuck. It seems like I can’t do anything right…~

“Eh,” he shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I was ~really~ starting to hate having sex every few hours." He said with a chuckle. It wasn't quite as convincing as he'd have liked.

“And you?” he asked. His eyes tried to penetrate me. “What made you jump out of the penthouse suite and brought you crashing back down with the scum of the city?”

“A big dose of reality,” I replied.

That wasn’t the whole truth. And from the look on Darren's face, he knew as much.

Then again, what was real anymore? Everything in Requiem City was on a constant swivel. One moment it leaned toward the absurd—before swinging back to the all-too-real.

“How does it feel not having two dragons telling you what to do?” he asked.

It didn’t sound so much a question as a statement.

Darren and I weren't the best of friends, but he knew me enough to understand how much I hated being bossed around.

“It feels...okay,” I said. “Maybe sometime soon I’ll start to feel like my old self.”

“We’ll see,” he replied.

Yeah. I guess we will…

“But that means you don’t have the Dobzyckas’ black card anymore,” he added. “So, that raises the question...what are you doing for money?”

I took a moment to respond; making sure that this wasn’t some cosmic joke. Getting fucked silly by Adara hadn’t given him some ridiculous mind-reading powers, had it?

“Unfortunately, that’s an issue,” I said.

“Then it really is lucky that we met today,” he smiled.

Why did that worry me so much? This was exactly what I was hoping for.

“I’m just the luckiest, I guess,” I replied.

“If you need some moolah, and don’t we all,” he whispered, before reaching into his pocket. “Then I’ve got just the thing.”

Darren pulled out a vial of none other than—

~Overhead.~

“I know your last experience with this wasn’t the best,” Darren said. “But I’m nothing like Dominic. God rest his wretched soul.”

“You want me to push ~that~?”

“This is a best-seller. It pushes itself,” he replied with a wink. “Whatever you sell—which will be damn near all of it—just give me a thirty percent cut and the rest is yours. No more living off the Dobrzyckas…”

I couldn’t argue with that.

Without realizing, my head was nodding ~yes~.

This could be a terrible decision...but at least I wouldn’t be under the thumb of the Twin Leading Breeds anymore.

Would I?

STORM

Maddie took the small briefcase filled with Overhead and shook Darren’s hand. Then she turned around and walked right past me…

My disguise was brilliant—a homeless man asking for spare change. She’d nearly looked into my eyes. Had it not been for the sunglasses, my cover might have been blown.

I walked farther into the alley until I was bathed in the shadows of the late afternoon.

Within seconds I ripped out of my ragged clothes, shifting into my massive dragon form.

The world around me began to bleed color until everything was grey. My giant wings carried me through the colorless streets of the Shadow Realm, right to the pool that showed the entire universe.

I touched down next to Silver and shifted into my human form. She gave me a long kiss that aroused my entire being.

“Did she take it?” she asked.

I nodded, unable to hold back my smile.

“Soon she will meet them,” I said. “And then the wheels of fate will begin to turn until they can no longer stop.”

“Then your visions are true,” she whispered into my ear, giving it a nibble.

“Everything our kind has been waiting for will start to come true,” I said.

The future of Requiem City was no longer up for grabs. It was in the hands of a young woman who did not know her own real power…

At least, not ~yet~.