Griffen looked at his sister carefully, mind racing. Pieces clicked into place, and he found himself nodding without realizing it.
“We forget sometimes,” he said. “Being a dragon is more than just how we act or what we can do. It’s what we are. I’ve never seen you this upset, and that’s because Nathaniel attacked something that every dragon seems to deeply love. In their bone and blood.”
“Power,” Valerie said softly, and nodded.
“So you wait. You plot. You think! And when the time comes, you will make Nathaniel feel every inch what you are feeling now,” Mai said.
“Yeah. That I can do.”
Valerie’s eye gleamed, but it was a gleam Griffen knew and was happy to see. She was still pissed, but her spark was back. Silently he hoped Nathaniel had the good sense to never, ever come within a thousand miles of Valerie again. For his own sake.
“And in the process you are living your life, building your own power back, growing and learning. So that when the time comes you will already have moved so far beyond this that he is nothing but a tiny flea to you. A flea you will squash anyway, because you are a dragon, and we do not tolerate vermin.”
Mai’s eyes burned, too, as she spoke, and that was an entirely different spark. One that Griffen wasn’t sure he was comfortable with at all. He wondered just how long Mai had been waiting for her own retribution, and just how safe it would be to be near the two female dragons, as allies.
He decided to change the subject.
“Now, where the hell did you get a shotgun?!” he said.
“Oh, umm…Gris-gris gave it to me. Just in case.”
Valerie flushed a bit, and it was such a change in her that Griffen was almost happy enough to drop the whole thing right there. Almost.
“We live in the French Quarter, behind security gates, and under protection. And you need a shotgun in your closet that you couldn’t even get out quickly?”
“Hey, I didn’t say the idea was great, but it was a present,” she said.
“And just where were you marching off to with it?”
“He pointed out his condo to me one time when we were out walking,” she said. “I figured I’d start there.”
“Sis…”
“Leave your sister alone, Griffen. In fact, I think it is time you let her alone for the night. She needs to decompress,” Mai said.
“What about you?” he said.
“If she doesn’t mind, I will stay with Valerie. We will have girl talk and ice cream and single malt scotch. Important healing things. No men allowed.”
“Hey, that doesn’t sound half-bad,” Valerie said.
“Okay, okay, I can take a hint. Hell, it’s not like I ever got dinner. Val, you sure you’re okay?”
“No, but I will be.”
Griffen nodded and left. Mai watched him go, but Valerie was looking down at her hands. When the gate had shut, Mai let out a long sigh.
“Men. They have no understanding of closure.”
“Huh?” Valerie blinked, surprised by the change of tone.
“Come. We shall pay Nathaniel a little visit.”
“What about all that crap you just said about power and waiting?”
“I meant every word. That does not mean you let the little shit slip away scot-free thinking he is safe. Leave the silly gun. It won’t come to violence. But you deserve more resolution than ice cream.”
Valerie looked at Mai closely, and slowly smiled. She nodded and stood, heading into her apartment to grab a coat. And maybe to run a comb through her hair. Never let them see you less than perfect. Mai grinned, and whispered to herself a bit breathlessly.
“Besides, if there is one thing all dragons crave besides power, it’s drama!”
The two didn’t have much trouble getting into the building. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Mai didn’t have any trouble getting past security gates and locks. Valerie wondered more and more about her brother’s ex, but was more intent on the current goal. That goal was clear. To confront Nathaniel, and let him know she was no longer under his thrall. Also to let him know there would be a reckoning in the future.
They climbed the stairs to the top floor of a fairly upscale condo, one that in the Quarter could easily rent out for twenty-five hundred dollars plus. The two looked at each other as they reached the actual apartment door. Mai smirked, and stepped to the side, gesturing that it was all Valerie’s.
Usually it is not practical or often possible for an ordinary person to kick a door in on one go, but Valerie had motivation.
The door slammed open and stayed open. The two strode in, both looking utterly confident. As if they owned the building and anything, or anyone, inside. Mai hung back a few steps, letting Valerie take the lead, but it had been agreed between them that Valerie would not be left without backup. Mai was perhaps enjoying her role as wingman a bit too much.
The place was well-appointed, but empty of personality. All the furniture had to have come with the apartment, laid out with a designer’s touch and not a trace of personal warmth. Likewise the art and decoration. There wasn’t a single sign of the man who lived here. No personal pictures, not a spare book on the table, not even a dish in the sink.
It could have been a show apartment, completely unlived in. For a moment Valerie thought that was just what it was. Then Mai nudged her and brought her attention to a small coffee table.
Sitting on it was a string of pearls, and a bamboo rose.
Valerie picked up a piece of boring statuary, and brought it down on the pearls as hard as she could. The rose splintered and flew through the room as so much shrapnel.
“I always liked violence in women,” a gruff voice said from the doorway.
The man blocked out the doorway, and was not Nathaniel. He had the build of a linebacker, or a very dangerous marine. He had to have been six foot six, with short blond hair and a nasty glint to his eye. Valerie drew herself up to her full height, but she didn’t have his bulk. She rarely felt dwarfed by anyone, and though he wasn’t that much bigger than she was, he managed.
Mai, a doll compared to either of them, was more used to it, so took a step forward and spoke first.
“Was that in, or to?”
The man ignored her and took a step forward, still blocking the main exit entirely.
“I had wanted to be sitting in the chair waiting for you. Maybe with the curtains drawn and a single lamp for back light. But Brother wanted you to find his little gift first. He always was too soft.”
“Brother? Nathaniel?” Valerie said.
“Yes. You may call me Thor.”
“Or you could call him what his mama named him. Theodore,” Mai said.
The big man, Theodore, turned his head to glare at Mai. The expression made it quite clear that graphic and nasty and not particularly imaginative things were happening to her in his head. She didn’t blanch, or appear to react at all, but just glared back. After a time he turned back to Valerie.
“If the Asian slag says anything about my ma again, I toss you both out of the window,” he said.
“What do you want?” Valerie said.
“What I want doesn’t matter. Not in any of this. Ma said to watch Brother’s back, I watched his back. And he still gives me shit for jumping the gun with your other boyfriend. The little card runner. Not that it matters.”
“What did you do to Gris-gris?”
Valerie took a step forward, anger starting to boil back. Theodore, or Thor, looked marginally impressed. Or
