Nice Dragons Finish Last (Heartstrikers) (34 page)

“So what are you, anyway? Skinwalker? Vampire?”

“Vampire?” Julius repeated, glancing pointedly at the dappled sunlight falling across his legs.

She shrugged and kept going. “Wendigo?”

“Why are you only guessing the
worst
things? Maybe I’m a kind and benevolent spirit of nature?”

“No reason to hide being a spirit in Detroit,” Marci said, shaking her head. “Besides, I’ve felt spirit magic plenty of times before, and it’s nothing like—” She stopped, eyes lighting up in sudden recognition. “Oh my God, you’re a
dragon!
That’s it, isn’t it?” When he didn’t say no, she started bouncing up and down in her seat. “You
are
a dragon! This is amazing! I’ve never met one. Can you breathe fire?”

Julius’s spirits sank lower with every breathless word. “Ix-nay on the agon-dray,” he grumbled. “I’m not legal here, remember?”

“Oh,” Marci said, dropping her voice, though not her excitement. “So
can
you breathe fire?”

“Yes,” Julius said heavily. “But before you ask, I can’t right now. My dragon form is sealed at the moment.”

Marci snapped her fingers. “I
knew
you were under a curse. So how old are you? A hundred? A thousand?”

“I’m twenty-four,” Julius said before she tried to check his teeth.

She gaped at him. “Twenty-four what? Years?” He nodded, and Marci collapsed back in her seat. “I can’t believe it. I
finally
meet a dragon, and he’s a year younger than I am. I have the worst luck
ever
.” She heaved an enormous sigh and sat up again. “So how did your dragon form get sealed? Did you try to eat a great and powerful mage or—”

“Can we not talk about this?”

Marci flinched as though he’d struck her, and Julius immediately feel awful.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “I was sealed under complicated circumstances, and I’m not really up for an interrogation right now.”

“I understand,” Marci said, lowering her eyes. “I don’t mean to be pushy, but I’ve wanted to meet a dragon all my life. Though I guess I’ve actually met two now. Your brother’s a dragon, too, isn’t he?”

Julius nodded, and Marci’s face split right back into a grin. “That explains a lot. I knew nothing human could survive in that lamprey pool.”

He fought the urge to growl. Of course
Justin’s
actions would be explained. He was bold, arrogant, everything a dragon should be, whereas Marci hadn’t even been able to guess what Julius
was
.

“So why didn’t you tell me what you were earlier?” she asked, leaning toward him between the seats. “If I was a dragon, I’d tell
everyone
. Is it because we’re in the DFZ?” She gasped. “You weren’t afraid I’d turn you in for the bounty, were you? Because I’d
never
do that. I mean, who in their right mind would pick money over having their own
dragon
? You can’t buy that sort of access! So do you really make your own magic?”

By the time she finished, Julius’s stomach was clenched in a tight little knot. He’d been warned that humans took the dragon reveal badly, but he’d never expected this from Marci. She was leaned all the way over into his seat now, staring at him with gleaming eyes like he was her prize catch, and suddenly, Julius had to get away.

He couldn’t take this, not today. He couldn’t sit here and listen to the person who’d become the closest thing he had to an actual friend badger him for
access.
E
specially since he couldn’t give it to her without getting her killed, which was what
always
happened to humans who learned too many dragon secrets. Marci wasn’t the sort who’d give up before she knew everything, and Julius didn’t have the strength to tell her no over and over again. But as he threw off his seatbelt and opened the door, Marci’s hand landed on his shoulder.

“Wait! I’m sorry.”

It was the tremor in her voice that stopped him more than her words or her touch, and Julius looked over his shoulder to see Marci staring at him with real fear in her eyes. That would have been appropriate for a human who’d just learned she was sharing a car with an immortal predator, except Marci’s hand was still latched onto his shoulder. Hard. Because she wasn’t afraid
of
him, she was afraid he would
leave
.

“I’m sorry,” she said again. “Don’t go, please. I messed that up. I get overly excited and talk before I think. I didn’t mean to insult you.”

The urge to run was still there, but Julius couldn’t go when she was looking at him like that. “It’s okay,” he said quietly.

Marci shook her head so fast her short hair flew. “It’s not okay. I was being stupid. I’m sure you had your reasons for not telling me, and it was rude of me to push. Especially since the only reason I found out at all was because you let me pull off you back there to save our lives.”

“The life-saving was all you,” Julius said, but Marci would have none of it.

“No way. I couldn’t have done a tenth of that on my own. I mean, I’ve pulled off strong sources before, but touching you was like…” Her voice trailed off as she searched for the words. “Plugging into the sun,” she said at last, her lips curling into a wondrous smile. “It was absolutely amazing. So much concentrated power, and it was
right there
, right at my fingertips. I’ve never felt that strong in my life, and I’m afraid I might have gone a little overboard.”

Remembering the surge of righteous vengeance that had bled into him when she’d crushed the other mage, Julius wasn’t sure overboard was the right word. He would have picked “
mad with power.”
He didn’t say so, though, because Marci already looked guilt stricken enough.

“I’m so,
so
sorry, Julius,” she said, letting go of his shoulder at last. “Not about what I did—I would have burned them all if I could—but because I hurt you to do it. I’m sorry for all of it, actually. I’m sorry I sucked you into my mess of a life, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth about the Kosmolabe earlier, and I’m
very
sorry I went crazy with the questions just now. I’ve been curious about dragons forever, and finally getting to talk to one was more than my brain could handle. But I’ve got it together now, and I promise I don’t think of you as my own private dragon resource center. I’ll never ask you another question again if you don’t want me to, just don’t go. You’re the nicest, most considerate person I’ve ever met. You deserve much better than I’ve treated you, but I promise I’ll be better. Just give me another chance. Please?”

The
please
pulled him right back into the car. He closed the door and sank back into his seat, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms. It wasn’t a question anymore of whether he would stay—there was no way he could do otherwise after that—but he didn’t know what to do about the rest of it, especially the part at the end. Because when she said
nice
and
considerate
like
they were the best compliments she could give, he wanted to
be
those things. He wanted to be the person she thought he was, the one who deserved that warm, sparkling look in her eyes, and that was a serious problem. It was one thing to tell Justin he was done pretending to be a good dragon, but if Julius started actually trying to be what she said, he wasn’t sure he’d be a dragon at all.

He sighed and shifted his fingers to peek at Marci, but she was still staring at him like her whole life hinged on his next words. His did too, he realized, because whether or not he managed to sort out his own mess, staying with Marci meant he was going to have to tell her the
truth, and Julius wasn’t at all certain she’d feel the same way after she heard it.

“I’m not going to go,” he said, dropping his hands to face her at last. “And I’m not mad at you, either, just overwhelmed. I should have told you what I was before now, but I was afraid to, and not just for the reasons you think.”

Marci frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Our two species don’t exactly have the best history together,” he said, trying his best not to fidget. “Most humans see dragons as either a threat to be eliminated or a power to be tamed and used, and with good reason. We deserve all the fear and mistrust aimed at us. Dragons see humans as pets at best, and you don’t want to know about the worst.”

Marci arched an eyebrow, and Julius scrambled to add, “Not that
I
see you like that, of course, but I’m a little different from the rest of my family. I’m also in a lot of trouble with them right now, and I don’t know if I can protect you if they find out you’re with me.”

“You don’t need to protect me,” Marci said, pulling herself straight. “I’m—”

“A very good mage,” Julius finished with a smile. “Believe me, I know. That’s not what I meant.”

She still looked miffed, and he blew out a breath, trying to think how best to explain this. “Dragons think of things in terms of tools and ownership,” he said at last. “So long as you were just some random mage I hired, you were a tool, which is the safest thing to be. You don’t kill someone and then go break his hammer out of spite. Now that you know what I am, though, things are different. Even if I claim otherwise, my family will see you as
my
human from here out, which means when they target me, they’ll also target you.”

She nodded. “And since you’re in trouble, you think that’s going to happen.”

It was practically guaranteed seeing how Justin had already told their mother that Marci was Julius’s. “That’s why I didn’t tell you. Just knowing that I’m a dragon is enough to make you a liability, and I’m not a big enough threat to keep others away if they decide not to tolerate it. It would have been a lot safer for you if we’d broken the contract as soon as I realized Katya wasn’t at that party, but I needed your help, and I—”

“And you didn’t want to leave me to face Bixby alone,” she finished, grinning.

He’d been about to say that he liked her, but if she wanted to see it that way, that was fine with him. “I’m afraid I’ve only made things worse now. You think Bixby’s bad? He doesn’t even touch the Heartstrikers.”

Marci gasped. “You’re a
Heartstriker
?”

He blinked, confused. “You’ve heard of us?” Most humans didn’t know one clan from another.

“Of course I’ve heard of you!” she cried. “I was a little girl who grew up obsessed with magic and magical creatures in Nevada. The entire southwestern US is Heartstriker territory. You guys were my home team. Wait, so if you’re a Heartstriker, does that mean the Bethesda I talked to on your phone last night was
the
Heartstriker?”

When Julius nodded, she sucked in a breath so fast he worried she’d hyperventilate. “I talked to a
great dragon!
”

“You were almost
killed
by a great dragon,” Julius snapped, grabbing her hands. “This is what I’m trying to explain. Even among dragons, my mother is considered ruthless and prideful. She’s had humans killed for wearing the same dress as her to a party. If Justin hadn’t grabbed the phone last night, she probably would have ordered me to kill you just for daring to speak to her. I’d have had to do it, too. I can’t disobey a direct order from my mother.”

Marci didn’t look cowed in the least, and Julius let out an enormous sigh.

“See? This is
exactly
what I’m talking about. Dragons and humans don’t mix. Dragons and dragons barely mix.”