Chapter Twenty-Eight
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Damien parked in front of the SBP warehouse near the LA docks and shut off the engine. There were no other vehicles or signs of people, giving the place an eerie feel since it was late morning. Where was everyone? The dread in his chest told him this was a bad idea, but allowing Jac to come on her own also did not sit well.
“So you think she’ll be here?” Jac said.
“There’s no telling. She’s not answering her phone either.” Truthfully, Cimil could be anywhere right now, doing only gods knew what.
They got out of the car.
“Are you really sure about this?” Damien asked.
Jac nodded. “I know it sounds crazy, but when I realized Dash was gone, something inside me just…broke.” She sighed. “I can’t explain it, but I think I was always drawn to him, not Heebie or his mating call.”
It was possible the two were soul mates. “I have heard of stranger things. I only caution you that once your life entwines with Cimil’s, the crazy train won’t stop.” He paused in front of the entrance. “You can still walk away.”
“It’s too late for that. She’s the reason I got that bartending job and met Dash and Heebie.”
“Whatever happened to the dragon?” Damien asked.
“I killed him last night. Death by snake.”
Interesting. “Sounds painful.”
“Yes,” she said happily. “And he deserved it. He threatened my animals, my family, and he killed Dash.”
“Point for the good guys, then.” He tried the door, but it was locked, so he knocked.
After a long moment, no one came to the door.
“I don’t think anyone’s here. We should go,” he said.
“No,” Jac argued. “We can’t leave until we know for sure. Maybe Cimil’s inside working and can’t hear us.”
“Arrgh. Fine.” Damien went to his car, grabbed his lockpick set from the trunk, and went to work. He inserted the pick and then the tension tool until he heard a click. “Success!” He loved that sound. “Are you ready?”
Jac nodded, so he pulled the door open. She marched in first, and he hesitantly followed, knowing there could be anything inside—cages filled with clowns, Cimil’s legendary hoard of ThighMasters, or an ocean of bouncy houses. Nothing was off the table when it came to her.
They entered the warehouse, stopping to take in the cavernous space. The warehouse had fifty-foot ceilings and canned lights that ran along the rafters. Hundreds of capsules, which resembled tanning beds, were lined up in neat rows.
“This is bad.” Without counting, there had to be three hundred or more machines.
“Are those how she makes the bodies?” Jac asked.
“Those and a lot of dragon yolk and semen.” Damien had actually seen these machines before when Cimil promised to change his life and free him from his demon.
What he had not known at the time was that Cimil had been hell-bent on bringing the demons and their chaos back to earth so the gods would be forced out of retirement. She believed his rage demon knew how to reopen the portals, and in exchange for the demon’s help, she promised him his own body. The plan didn’t work out, of course, and his demon was ultimately squished by Maxton. A long story.
Damien walked through the center of the room, noting the whirring sounds coming from the machines. Guess this is plan B. New gods, an army of whatever was inside these pods, and a total Cimil takeover. What wasn’t to hate about this plan?
“This is a lot of bodies,” Jac said. “I wonder which one will be Dash’s.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” he said. “I am sure Cimil has plans for these and won’t part so easily with them.”
A loud clank in the back of the warehouse caught their attention.
Quietly they approached a metal door that led to what was probably a walk-in freezer.
“Someone’s inside,” Jac whispered.
Only one way to know for certain. Damien opened the door, and a gust of cold air hit his face.
“What’s that?” Jac gasped, pointing inside.
Perched on the edge of an open crate was a small blue dragon, about the size of a turkey, with a red tuft of hair sticking from the top of its little scaly head. The rest of the crates had been tipped over and broken into. Along the walls were dozens of steel drums with labels that read super jizz.
Damien arched a brow. “That is a lot of cum.”
She pointed in horror at the dragon again. “Is that thing mine?”
It was an ugly little monster and looked nothing like her, but there was no denying the red hair. “Congratulations, you’re a mother,” Damien said.
They both watched as the blue dragon grabbed a red egg from inside the busted-open crate and gulped it down.
“What do I do?” she asked. “He’s eating all the eggs.”
Hell if he knew. “Close the door?”
“No. You said Cimil needs those to make bodies.” She began waving her arms at the dragon. “You. Out of here! Shoo. Go! Bad dragon!” Jac rushed at the thing, and it took flight, rushing past her.
They both watched it soar into the rafters and perch over the machines.
“Do you think he got them all?” she asked.
“I really don’t know.” Damien didn’t see any unopened crates.
“What am I going to do?” Jac said. “Cimil won’t be happy.”
Damien was about to tell her that this entire thing smelled of another Cimil scheme. The deranged goddess would probably put on a big show, claiming that Jac’s baby had derailed Cimil’s huge plans. Then she’d offer Jac some sort of deal in exchange for one of these bodies.
“We should go,” he said.
“I can’t leave that dragon free. He’ll go outside and start hunting children. Dash told me that’s all they eat until they’re big enough to go for grownups.”
How the hell was this his problem?
Suddenly, the tiny thing headed for the exit. He rammed right into the door and bounced onto the floor.
“It’s trying to get out,” Jac said as the dragon took another pass and failed. It was too light to push the door open.
“Ha. You’re not going anywhere, you baby-snacking shit!” Jac said.
The tiny dragon gave her a look and opened its mouth, expelling a huge fireball across the warehouse in their direction.
Jac and Damien jumped out of the way, barely escaping the impact.
Damien hit the concrete floor with a thud!
Dammit, now my suit’s dirty. “What a little asshole,” Damien said.
“Just like his father.”
Jac hopped to her feet quickly and then froze, her eyes locked across the room.
“Is it preparing to fire again?” Damien asked, sitting on the floor and dusting off his sleeve. “Your kid needs a spanking.”
“No!” Jac held out her hands, talking to the dragon. “Don’t you do it.”
Now what? Damien got to his feet just in time to witness the dragon spitting fireballs at the machines. Whatever they were made of caught fire quickly.
“No! Stop!” she yelled. “Stop!”
But the tiny thing kept going, seemingly delighted by its ability to project flames from its mouth.
One by one, the machines were being engulfed in flames.
“We must go, Jac,” he said.
She looked up at the ceiling. “No sprinkler system?” She huffed. “We have to stop him.”
“With what?” he asked.
“Don’t you have anything in your car?”
“Just a harpoon. It’s in case the Russian mafia comes for me,” he said.
Jac gave him a strange look.
“Long story.”
“Go get it!” she barked.
He sighed, not at all in the mood for this drama.
He left through a side exit, grumbling bitterly. Just as he stepped outside, the little dragon swooped over his head, disappearing into the sky.
Mmmm. That can’t be good.
“Oh no.” Jac came up beside him. “He’s loose!”
“It appears so.”
Suddenly, there was an explosion inside.
“Shit!” Jac turned to go back in, but Damien grabbed her. The flames were blocking the door.
“It’s too late, Jac. I’m sorry.”
She collapsed, bawling facedown in the dirt.
Damien genuinely had true pity for the woman, but he felt jealous, too. He would never know what it was like to love someone so deeply, would he?
“Come. Let me buy you some pancakes,” he said.
She glanced up at him. “Pancakes?” She returned to bawling.
Women are so very strange.