Dalton was sure there were things going on around him. What was being said, he had no idea. But he had to sit there, just thinking calmly, or he would explode. Even to himself that sounded overly dramatic, but right now, he was pretty sure that’s what would happen. His head would just explode. He’d just been flamed by a fucking dragon.
My lord? He told Caelin that he wasn’t ready to speak just now. Then I shall. The dragons have marked you and your entire family. You’re immortal.
Dalton started laughing. He stood then and looked at his family, all of them gathered around speaking quietly, and just laughed. It was too much, simply too overwhelming, and the harder he laughed about it, the looks from them got stranger. It wasn’t until someone slapped him that he was able to stop. He sat down on the chair and just held his head in his hands. He wasn’t entirely sure that Kenton hadn’t enjoyed that just a little too much, but he was glad for it all the same.
“Caelin just told me that we’re immortal.” Kenton sat down across from him and asked why he thought that was funny. Because as far as he was concerned, it wasn’t. “I don’t know. I guess it was everything. I have a mate that I love dearly. Dragons that come out when we call them. Said dragons can get hot enough to burn through humans and trees, whichever pisses them off the most, I guess. They can change into this monster creature that can get hotter than what I can only assume hell would be like. And I stood in front of this monster dragon and had him blow flames at me. Could be that I’m a little overwhelmed. I don’t know. What do you think? Oh, lest I forget, I wasn’t harmed by said flames, and my clothing seems to not have gotten any damage from them either.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I think you’re taking this very well.” Dalton snorted as Kenton laughed. It was full of humor, not stress as his might have been. “What else did he tell you about being immortal? Maybe you just heard him wrong.”
He did not, my lord. You’re all immortal. As will your children be. And theirs after them, forever. They could both hear him, and when both Jorden and Grady joined them, he thought they could as well. Any children that come to this family, such as Gavin and any others, will also be given this gift. Your mother as well. Though I have a feeling that she is not all that happy with the idea of being around forever.
“Is there a way to kill us? I mean, immortality is great and all, I guess, but I’m assuming that there is one way that can. I’d very much like to know what it is so I can avoid it in the future. You know, like is being on a train going precisely eighty-three and a half miles an hour and it turns over going to be a part of that equation? Does there have to be seventy-three humans on board, as well as three paranormals? I’m babbling, I think.” Caelin told Jorden that there was only one way, but it would never happen. “How can you be certain? I mean, for all you know there could be a person out there that can do it.”
I am the only thing that can kill you, my lord. I would have to remove your head, burn both parts of your body, then I would need to bleed upon your remains. As I said, you will never die because I shall never end your life. Dalton sat back in his chair, looking at his brothers. You have questions?
“Yes, so many right now that I don’t even know where to begin. Immortal to what? Just death, or do we have this new built in thing that keeps us from harm to our bodies as well? You know, the flames that hit us, we didn’t even have our clothing burned.” Caelin said that nothing would be able to penetrate their flesh, nothing would make them sick, and they would never age. “So we’re pretty much indestructible.”
I’m not familiar with that word, but if you mean you cannot be destroyed, then yes, that is what I mean.
There were no words to say that would make this.... Dalton wasn’t even sure what he wanted at the moment. Answers were there, but he didn’t know the questions. To him, this was getting really weird. He looked at Kenton when he said his name.
“Are you paying attention?” Dalton shook his head. “He said that we have to go and find the next two pieces and bring them to us. The mates will follow.”
“No.” Kenton asked him why not. “Because if we do that, someone will come here watching for any new females coming to the houses, or even to town. What if they have absolutely nothing to do with this other than to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? I don’t think I could live with myself if that were to happen. They’ll be fair game without the added extras that the jewelry can give them. Think about it. Emma would never have known to hide when she did. Seek out medical attention from your offices, and I’m betting that when the building blew up she was in, had he not been there for her, with the ring, she’d be dead. Her grandfather would have made sure of it. All of them, all the mates to us, they’re here simply because the dragon made it safer for them.”
You are correct, my lord. I had not thought of it that way.
Dalton looked at Grady. He was too calm, too settled for what was going on around them. He asked him what was going on.
“Nothing is wrong, really. The piece, one of them, is close. Not with a female that we can see, but she’s near enough that we can feel her and the piece.” Dalton asked him how that worked. “Not sure. I can just feel the pull of the magic from it, and from the woman. Not her exactly, but the thing that attracts her to it, I think. Like...when you smell something, good or bad, it triggers a memory. Harper and I can see that memory, though we aren’t entirely sure what it means.”
Tell me of it, my lord. Then perhaps I can tell you what piece it might be. Dalton watched Grady, thinking he wasn’t going to do it. Then Caelin spoke again. As the six of you get stronger, so do I. I can remember a great many things now, from the beginning of this quest. The lady queen sitting upon my back when the area around the castle needed to be surveyed. Times with young Caelin, her only child. I remember wars that we fought, those also between her husband, the bastard king, and herself.
“He wasn’t a good man, I’m assuming?” Dalton felt the sorrow from Caelin and regretted the question. “I’m sorry, my friend. I know that you must miss her very much.”
Nay, ‘tis not that. He wasn’t a good man, as you have said. Nor a good husband or leader. My lady queen had much to cover for him in his misdeeds and fights. Affairs that he had, some with a not so willing female. It…I think he said it vexed him to think that a woman had any power, especially over him. He thought, him being a male, that all should bow before him and to do as he said, no matter the consequences that would arise from it. The queen, she never gave him his due as he expected her to. She was a force to be reckoned with at times. Much like the mates that are here now. Each of them, in some way, reminds me of her. Jorden asked what had happened to make her leave him. He thought there no children born from their union. He felt that she had failed him, my lady queen had not delivered him a boy child. Which in fact she had, almost from the first. When Caelin was born, she hid him away with magic so that the king would not corrupt him in any way. He would have too. Made him into his own image. He might well have killed him as well, for I think him to be a good soul, even for one so small.
“So she hid her child away, and then when the king came to kill her, she broke the jewelry up into smaller pieces and sent it around the world. Why? Did he do something more than just want a child from her?” Kenton looked around when he didn’t get an answer right away. “I think I’m not going to like this, am I?”
The day after they were wed, an arranged wedding by their fathers, Prisane, the queen, was found at the bottom of the staircase beaten and bloodied. He had done this, then walked over her broken body to go to his mistress. The king, Butler was his name, he said to all that would listen that she had not satisfied him. That she would not submit to him. I found out later that he wished for her to be strangled while he took her. It was a game for him, and the only way that he could enjoy her. He thought her to be ugly as well. Dalton had heard of things like that. It had a name, but before he could remember what it was, Caelin continued. Soon after this, she found herself with child. By then the castle was in near ruin, and there was no money in the coffers to make repairs for some time. The staff would no longer work in the household when he was in residence. Many of the female staff had been raped, some even killed, by him. She had to pay large sums of monies to the families of the people who worked their fields just to keep the crops and foodstuffs coming in. The overlords who would have paid her to be in their keep were now refusing to pay. They said that Butler was making demands on even their wives sexually. It was too much for them to bear. After a time, it was apparent that he began selling off the things of the castle when she started locking away the cash and jewels that were brought to her from the dragons. Horses would come up missing. Art also disappeared from the walls. Sculptures that had been in the family for generations were sold off for drink and women.
Dalton thought of the things that were in his home. Items his mother had given him when he’d moved out. Treasures such as pictures, ornaments that had been his as a child. There were blankets as well, things that past generations had left for them to share. He didn’t know what he’d do if someone were to take those things from him. They all turned to Grady when he cleared his throat.
“Harper and I are going to the castle in a few weeks, to see what we can do to have it brought to its former glory. It looks really bad from the photos that a realtor sent us a few days ago.” Caelin told Grady that at one time it housed over a thousand people within its walls. “There are no walls left, it looks like. And the castle itself is falling down. I think we might have to start from scratch.”
Once the magic is restored to the family you will not have as much work to do. Dalton wondered at that, but Caelin continued with his story. One night, after many years of hardship, Prisane heard from the magic that Butler had a mistress that was full of child. She was to be the next queen, Butler told the town, and that they were to pay her homage. The town was already taxed too much; they had no more to give, especially not to a woman who would only demand more if they had it. When asked about the current queen, Butler told them that she would fall dead by the next week. The lady queen then set to work to get the household and her son ready.
Dalton could almost see the man’s anger when he found out that not only was the queen gone, but so were the riches that he assumed would be his. Greedy men, ones like this king, were what had made him hate his job, despite all the work he’d done so that everyone was safe. The dragon continued as Dalton felt his heart break for the terrible mess things had come to back then.
We worked through the nights, the queen and the other dragons, when he would be off with the women. Sometimes we would not sleep, just so that we could use magic to save as much as we could. Money was hidden away. Jewels that had been in the family for so long no one knew who it had belonged to first. Paintings too were stashed in places of safe keeping. And at the end, the jewelry that I forged for her was brought to her so that I might enter it to keep me safe for the generations that would follow. Dalton thought of what he was saying. Money? Jewels and paintings? He wondered aloud if they were still around. Yes, all of it. And once we are all one, the jewels together, then their hiding places will be revealed. The magic that hides them was buried deep within the sparks that made me. You and the other McCades, all that come after this generation, will never have to worry about such a thing again.
As they sat there, the four brothers, Caelin asked Grady again what his memory of it was. The pull of the piece that was close enough for him and Harper to feel. Dalton had forgotten about it, he was so wrapped up in the story.
“It’s hard to describe. It’s memories. I can almost see the day that the young son was born. The room that was cut off from the castle so that the king wouldn’t find them. Harper said she could feel the labor pains. They weren’t as bad as her having the child, but she could feel them.” Grady laughed. “It’s like we’re right there with them when he was born. But this pulls…it’s like right there but just beyond them.”
That would be the grounds behind the castle. There is a cave there. I used my own magic to make it safe for them should they ever need a reason to run. I think that young Caelin, he hid there until a time when he could be free of his father’s wrath. And there is, hidden deep behind it, a room that was to be used for my queen to raise and to play with her son. Dalton wondered how that would be considered close. I would think, however, that you are only feeling a place that would be like her own sanctuary. Perhaps there is a cave close by, maybe the new miss will be staying in it?
“There are several caves surrounding the land we live on. One of them…I think it’s about ten miles from where Grady and Harper live.” Dalton stood up as he continued. “How about we go and look into it? It’ll be better than sitting around here waiting for something to happen, don’t you think?”
“Not today.” They all looked at Jorden. “I’m sorry, but I can’t get away right now. We have to leave in the morning for Paris. I have that show that I set up months ago. Harper and Grady are joining us; we’re going by the castle to have a look at it. And I have no idea why I think this, but we have to be together to find her. If that’s even the best course of action. Like Dalton said, it might be better if we let her come to us. Just to be safe.”
Dalton had forgotten about Jorden leaving, what with all the other stuff going on. But they did make a pact, sort of, not to go looking on their own. It was just too dangerous. Even though they were immortal, they might be hurt or lost screwing around in a cave. So it was settled…they’d go look for it, because it was on their land, when the rest of them returned. Dalton hoped the next mate would be all right where she was.
~~~
Ronny wandered around his new home. It wasn’t the one that he’d wanted, but it was pretty close. He supposed that he should have taken better care of his cash than to go out and have a couple of parties, but he’d learned his lesson now and he had his house. And it was nicer than his mother’s. Which to him, was very important too.
“You don’t have any furniture. Don’t think you’re taking any of mine, Ronny. I’m going to be letting out your room now that you’ve moved out. So I’ll need that.” He wanted to tell her they were his things, but he just moved into another room. His mom had insisted on coming with him today, and he had regretted it from the moment that he’d picked her up.
Almost as soon as they’d pulled up, she’d complained about how the yard needed care. That there were too many windows, and who did he think was going to clean them. Then she asked him about how he was going to keep it up, it was too big for just one man. On and on she went, just as if she had any say in what he was doing.
“I purchased a big house so that I could spread out if I wanted.” She just shook her head, something he’d just noticed that she did a great deal when he did something he liked and she didn’t. “It’s my house, Mom. Why can’t you be happy for me?”
“I’m happy for you, Ronny. I am. But however do you think you’re going to pay for this every month, and the utilities that go with it, by just looking for those pieces of jewelry? You know that they’re probably not even real.” He told her that they were real, he’d looked it up. “Yes, so you told me. Hundreds of years old and no one has found them yet. But you think you will. No matter what you say to everyone else, Ronald, I know just how dumb you really are.”
He hated her for that. For her thinking that he was a fool. That she called him dumb. Ronny knew he was far from that. He knew that she did too, she just wanted to make him mad. Right then and there, he decided not to tell her about the money that he had used to buy the house. As he made his way to the upper floors he thought of the conversation again with the man last night.
Ronny had been at the mall, looking for new sheets for the bed he was thinking of buying. The man didn’t poke him with a knife or a gun this time, but there was still something extremely threatening about him.
It bothered him a little too that he hadn’t seen the man’s face as yet. He did know the voice now. It was dark. A strange way to describe someone’s way of talking, but that was just how it made him feel. Like it was something richer than dark chocolate, but there wasn’t any sweetness in it. Just the opposite as a matter of fact. He told him to stand still, not to move a single muscle or he’d be dead. Then he gave him orders, like Ronny was nothing more than a slave to his needs.
“Here is what you will do, and if you do it well, then money will come to you again. I will tell you where to go to find out if a piece is real or not, and you’ll get it. By any means. I know that you’ve killed before for this venture. So I figure that you won’t be squeamish when you have to murder in the name of riches. And there will be too. More than you can ever spend in your little life.” He said that he might need travel money. “You are not getting any more cash until I can tell whether or not you’re going to be helpful to me. ’Tis not my problem that you have been a fool.”
“I had to buy some things. I told you, I had expenses.” Ronny hadn’t tried to turn and look at the man this time. He was actually afraid to see him. But the man needed him, and Ronny was going to make sure that he knew that. “If you would just give me the rest of the ten million that you said you would, I could do a lot of looking for you.”
The blow to the back of his head hurt. And when he planted his face in the table he’d been standing near, he had to use all the discarded napkins to clean up the blood from his nose. The man was angry, so much so that Ronny was suddenly afraid.
“You’ll do as you’re told or you’ll end up with the rest of the fools that thought they could outsmart a curse. You’ll go for the pieces as I tell you. I’m running out of time. They have only the one piece to get other than the one that I have.” He heard the man growl low. “You’ll be paid enough to get there, stay for a few days, then return. And upon returning, I will give you more cash. That’s the only way you’re going to get any more until this thing is finished.”
After he’d been left there, his nose bleeding still, Ronny wondered what the man would do if he simply said no, that he wasn’t going to play by those rules. But he knew if he did that, the man would have no trouble killing him. There was danger around him that said he couldn’t care less what Ronny wanted.
So tomorrow he was going to go to the airport, pick up an envelope from a locker, and take this trip. He had no idea where he was going or how long he’d be gone, nor did he have any idea what he was supposed to be looking for. The man had also told him he had the jewelry all fucked up too. There was still a single piece out there that Ronny thought the family had.
He entered the area that he’d called the jewel room. Ronny had taken all his notes down when he’d been packing at his mom’s house, and carefully numbered them so that they’d be hung in the right order. Ronny had so much more space in this house that he had spread out his worksheets to go all the way around the empty room. And there were enough blank pages now that he could add notes as he went. He stood at one of them now, with the things that had been told to him from the Dark Man. That’s what he’d been calling him, Dark Man.
“What is all this?” He looked at his mom when she joined him in the jewel room. “Oh Ronald, please tell me that you’re not going to continue this. You have to find a real job. That pays you actual money. You aren’t moving back in with me, not when the bank takes this all from you. Or if the government takes it for nonpayment of taxes.”
“I’m not going to lose anything. I told you, this will be a huge payoff. Why must you always be so negative when you speak to me?” She just shook her head and walked around his room. “I’ve got a partner now. He’s really helping me out in getting closer to the end of this. You’ll see, Mom, I’m going to be famous one day soon for finding what others couldn’t. People are going to be talking about me for decades, see if they don’t.”
“Sure they will, Ronny. Famous for losing it all because you didn’t know how to take care that you had a job.” She was forever harping on him about a job. He did have one, he told her. “No, you have a hobby. And one that is going to have you lose this nice home.”
“You think I have a nice home?” She nodded and patted him on the cheek, just a little too hard. But he was willing to forgive her for that if she said it again. “You should see the other rooms, Mom. The master suite is bigger than your living room and kitchen combined. Come on, let me show you.”
“I can’t today, Ronny. I have to get back and start supper for the live-ins. They wouldn’t like to be put off just because my son has a house that is too large for him.”
He watched her walk away, heard her going down the stairs. “I wish I could shove you down the stairs and break your neck.” He shivered when he thought of how easy that would be, but just let out a long breath. If he could kill her, which he wasn’t saying that he couldn’t, he knew that it would be something that made her suffer. As she had done to him all his life.
Going out to his car, another new thing he’d purchased, Ronny thought of what he was going to do tomorrow. He was supposed to kill someone. While he was only a little nervous about that part, he was really excited about having another piece of the set. Ronny was thinking of ways that he could keep it for himself, but since the man had sent him for it, he wasn’t sure how to make that work. Other than just lying to him.
Ronny thought of all the things he was going to purchase when he got his next allotment of money as he drove his mom home. It would be a nice payoff too. And he was going to be much better at how he spent it. No more parties where he invited everyone. And there wasn’t any need for him to buy a second house. Unless it was in another country. That would be nice.
There were men that he knew of that could make a replica of about anything. It had been his plan to have a piece made that looked just like the one he picked up. That was until he found out how much it would cost. Even fake shit took money. But he’d figure out something. He was a smart man, regardless of what his mother said about him.
One guy wanted nearly ten grand just to consider it. Another told him that it would be five thousand, but he wanted to make another for himself. He didn’t even care what it looked like, but he collected old things and sold them off cheap. That wouldn’t do, not for this project. There were too many people out there, he told him, who were looking for it.
From the looks of his house, he really had been a collector, of everything. Mostly trash, as far as Ronny was concerned. And he had a real fetish for things cut with a chainsaw and made into animals. Bears mostly, but they were everywhere. They parted ways even before Ronny could show him the piece he thought he might be looking for.
Ronny dropped his mom off at her home and made his way into town. He’d been there before a couple of times, but now that he had a house here, close to the McCade family, he wanted to get to know the area. He’d read somewhere that little towns that had diners were great for getting information. They knew everything about everyone. He was hoping for a nice meal and some good gossip when he parked in front and headed inside.
The waitress, Milly her name tag said, asked him what he wanted to drink as she handed him the menu. After ordering tea, he opened it up to look. There were three entries on the thing; breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Ronny flipped it over to see if this had been a mistake. He asked her about it when she returned.
“Nope, you get to pick what you want off there and I’ll tell Cook. He’s not into making up a list.” He asked her what there was to choose from. “Breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We don’t have nothing fancy.”
“Okay, so do I get like meatloaf or roast for dinner?” She just stared at him. “How about side dishes. What are they?”
“Those are the things that you get with your main course. Haven’t you ever been out to eat before?” He told her he had, plenty of times. “Sure couldn’t tell. Now, you tell me which meal you want and I’ll have Cook make it for you. Them sides you was asking about, they’ll come with whichever meal you order. On the side of your plate, or if he’s feeling really good, on another whole plate.”
Ronny told her to bring him dinner. It was nearly six now, so the timing was right. However, since he had no idea what he might get as his dinner, he just sat back and watched what the other people were eating.
He noticed that there was some work going on in the little place. He saw tape, bright pink, around a place where a table had been, he was sure. A couple of boxes in the corner had Bench Seat printed on them. Ronny thought they were for the diner, or perhaps knowing this place, for a car somewhere that needed them. This entire town was really fucked up.
A man at the counter was bent over his meal, so Ronny had no way of knowing what he’d gotten. The coffee smelled really good, and he decided that if he did get a good meal out of this, he might have some pie and coffee too. He didn’t remember seeing it on the menu, but he could smell coconut or something like it around.
When someone sat across from him, he started to object when the man laid a prettily wrapped box on the table.
“Hello.” Ronny nodded and put both his hands on the table when asked to. He had no idea why he did it without question, but he did think he’d be hurt if he didn’t comply. “Good for you. It’s very nice when someone can follow instructions, don’t you think?”
“I don’t have any money.” The man told him not to lie, but said he didn’t need his money. “Then what’s with you sitting here like we’re friends? I was only having a meal here.”
“You’ve been with someone that has been playing around in the dark magic.” He sniffed the air right in front of him. “Yes, it’s all over you. Who have you been playing with, Ronald Webber?”
“It’s Ronny, not Ronald. No one calls me that.” The man just laughed. “What’s this about? You the police? I’ve not done anything wrong, so whatever you got a beef about, I didn’t do it.”
“Who is he, this man you’ve been touched by?” He asked him who he was talking about. But instead of answering him, he changed the subject. “I have a gift for you. A lovely one or a bad one, it will depend entirely on what you decide to do.”
“I feel like I’ve been put in one of those whirly things at the fair. Talking to people in this town can give you a headache.” Milly came and sat his food in front of him. Ronny just stared at it before looking at the man. “I ordered dinner. That’s all. I asked her what it would be, and she said...how the hell am I supposed to eat all this? Dinner was only eight bucks.”
She’d given him four of the biggest pieces of fried chicken he’d ever seen, golden brown and looking as crisp as a twig. Mashed potatoes he’d bet were homemade with real potatoes. There was a side plate too, overflowing with green beans with chunks of ham. Fat thick noodles in a creamy gravy, and sliced tomatoes that even smelled fresh. Milly returned to put a basket of rolls in front of him, a crock of butter, and honey too. He looked up at her when she asked him if he needed anything else.
“No. I think my new friend here can join me. Can you bring him a plate too?” She looked at the man, then back at him with a frown. “Never mind. He can just eat what I don’t. Thanks, I think we’re all right now.”
Milly looked at the man then back at him again before shrugging and moving off. He wanted to call her back, ask her how much more he was being charged for the man. Ronny had a feeling they’d filled his plate like this because there were two of them and he was being charged double.
“She can’t see me. No one can but you.” Ronny told him he didn’t care who saw him or not, but he was hungry. “You go on ahead and eat. I’ll tell you what I know.”
The chicken was so juicy that he moaned. The potatoes were indeed made with actual potatoes, and not flakes like his mom used. He was buttering up his first biscuit—there were six in the basket—when he looked at the gift. It bothered him for some reason that it was sitting there.
“Is that for me?” The man said that it was. “I sure could use me some more cash if that’s what is in there. Otherwise, I don’t want whatever it is.” The man nodded, but said nothing. “You said you were going to tell me what you knew. What is it?”
“The man that is going to get you killed wants you to head west and retrieve a piece of the McCade fortune.” Ronny said nothing, but paused in his eating. “You’ll never get it, I’m afraid. It’s already with the owner, or will be soon enough. I would imagine that any day now she’ll be coming here and handing it over to the McCade men, and live happily ever after.”
“How do you know she got it? For all you know, it’s still sitting there just waiting for me to get.” Milly refilled his tea glass and asked him if he was all right. “Yes. Just fine and dandy, thank you. Would you bring my friend here whatever he wants?”
Milly just stared at him, then smiled. “You want me to bring your little friend a dinner too? I’ll have to charge you for it, even if he doesn’t eat any of it. You sure are nice to your…friends.”
“I’m afraid she thinks you quite mad. I’ve explained to you that no one can see me. You’re only making a fool of yourself by talking to others about me. Just tell her that you’ve changed your mind, that you have no friend.” After Ronny repeated what he’d been told to say, Milly walked away. Ronny asked the man what was going on. “I told you, I’ve come to tell you what I know and to keep you from getting killed over this. Not that I think you’ll heed my warning. But I should like to tell you to move on from this. You will only be killed in the end.”
“I see. Not really, but let me recap things so we’re both on the same page. You’re a person that nobody can see, and you’ve brought me a gift. You also think, and I have no idea why, but you think I should just not do as I was asked, such as go and get a piece of jewelry, on your say so.” Ronny snorted, as his mom had done to him a million times. “I don’t know, buddy, but I think you’re the one that is quite mad. Tell me again how I’m not going to get to the jewelry before the woman does.”
“She will have it sooner than you can go out there. If you make it that far. The dragon, he’s been talking to her, but she is being most difficult. I think she’s having a hard time of it.” Ronny said they all were. “Yes, but I believe she feels she is all alone, and will be forever. She won’t be once she gets here, but she doesn’t know anything about the McCades.”
“You mean these men, this family that are supposed to be dragons?” The man grinned and nodded. “And you expect me to just believe this. That there are not only dragons around, but that I should just do as you say.”
“If you wish to live, yes. But I have a feeling that you’re not going to do any of these things, are you?” Ronny pushed his now empty plate away and pulled the last biscuit out of the basket. “I’m glad you are having a nice meal, Ronald, but I must ask you, is it a good final meal? It will be, should you not listen.”
“Who are you?” He said that he couldn’t tell him that. “But you think to give me this thing and to warn me off from the man who has said I’d be rich.”
“When put that way, yes, I can see where you’d think he was going to follow through. But let me tell you something.” Then he simply morphed. The little man sitting there was gone, and in his place was a monster. “I don’t think you want to mess with me.”
He swiped at Ronny’s face, and the claws of the man sitting across from him—a fucking dragon—just barely missed his face. When he opened his mouth, Ronny felt his bladder let go, hot liquid spreading not only down his pant leg but his ass too. Then as suddenly as the dragon was there, he was gone.
Several hours later—he had no idea how he’d gotten there—Ronny found himself in a large building. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling. Dirt was all over the floor. His pants were soaked, his shoes were missing, and he had the package in his hands. Laughing, spurts of it spilling from his mouth, he opened it.
The gun spilled out of the box. It was a nice one. He flipped it over in his hands several times, looking for anything that might be wrong with it. Some sort of clue as to where it came from. The serial number was gone. Not like it had been filed off, like he’d seen done to some he’d bought, but simply gone. The note, written on thick expensive paper, was tucked in the ribbon on the top of the box.
“To end the deed.”
Ronny wasn’t sure what that meant. End what deed? Standing up, he tried to mull over the meaning behind the note, and decided that he didn’t really care. He had a job to finish.
Almost as soon as he exited the building, he knew what he wanted to do. To hell with the man with the cash, and the other one with the gift. Ronny decided to get himself a piece of the jewelry. And he knew just where a few of them were. Yes, sir. Ronny was going to hold a piece of what was going to make him rich. And thanks to his new friend, he had a gun to do it with.