Chapter 28
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
Dimitri
A few days after Katya stormed back into and out of my life—for now—Uri slams the front door and storms over like only a pissed-off Russian man can. “What the fuck, dude?”
I raise an eyebrow. “‘Dude?’” It sounds as strange as Uri calling me “Bro.”
“He’s still alive!”
“Lots of people are still alive. I’m going to need you to be more specific.” I take a long sip of my coffee. Uri doesn’t get frazzled like this often, so this is a fun treat for me.
“I asked you for one favor, one time, because I was sick and didn’t want to do a transatlantic flight with a fucking head cold.”
Ah yes, the sniffles of doom. Oh, the gears start to click. A few years ago, Waverly—who I now fully understand and see why she’s so important to Uri—called him, sobbing. Apparently, some guy broke her heart. Seeing Waverly bust Uncle Andrey’s nose on the tarmac when we arrived in the U.S., I understand how hard it must be to break her heart at all. Uri asked me to finish this guy, make him choke on Waverly’s tears.
“Yeah, I didn’t kill him.”
“Obviously. He’s opening a tattoo shop around the fucking corner.”
I roll my sleeve, gazing at the orange and red octopus tentacles. “Should I get another one?”
“Fuck you, man. I want an answer.”
I shrug. “I don’t know. He looked so sad. Not like some careless monster who hurt your cousin, but like he was broken-hearted too. I thought maybe the pain was enough punishment.” I point to my arms. “And I got a really cool tattoo, so win-win.” I raise my eyebrow. “Wait, did you think he gave me a tattoo, then I killed him so I didn’t have to pay?”
Uri throws his hands up in defeat. “I don’t know how your fucking brain works.”
Oh, but I know how his works. “So how was dinner with your dad?”
He grumbles as he leans his elbows on the counter, pushing his hands through his hair. “Awkward, but fine, I guess. We talked about sports and shit—basketball mostly. Thank God Waverly was there. At least she acted like a buffer for us. Mom’s no help since she moved back in.” He sighs. “Mom asked if I’m seeing anyone. And saying no was the most honest answer I could give. Between healing and trying to understand where I fucking belong, having a mouth on my dick is the last thing on my mind.”
I shrug. “You could come to the club. We could get someone to watch Ian.”
“Bro, that club is like S-level sex, and I’m basic at best right now. I need to work up to that.”
I frown. “Don’t ever ‘bro’ me again. Fucking Americans.” I take out my phone. “Isn’t there an app you can use? ‘Gays for Beginners’ or something?”
“That’s not a thing.” He glances up at the ceiling and taps his chin. “Or at least, I don’t think it is.” He pulls out his phone and types something. A few seconds later, there’s a chime. “Shit, there is. Or, at least according to Alana, she has a friend working on one. It’s in the alpha phase.”
“Alpha?”
“Um, it has a different meaning in the computer world. It means beginning development.”
I nod. “And Alana has friends other than us?”
“I know, I’m offended too.” He walks over and turns on the TV. “Waverly’s demanding that we watch this show The Knights of the Night .”
And just like that, slight forgotten.
Over a week, we watch every episode of Waverly’s favorite show. Sure it has epic battles and political intrigue, and a fucking incredible magic system with characters with complex backstories, and boobs. Lots of boobs. But what gets me is the love story. There’s this pirate king, he’s a shifter, the last of his kind, lonely except for the two other beasts that occupy his head—the Monster and the Dragon. There’s a far off village that’s being tormented with a plague, and rumor is he has the cure. One hundred percent villain. Until this woman tricks him and ends up on his ship.
Over the course of three seasons, they fall in love. The Monster adores her and the Dragon finds her amusing. Hell, even the entire crew respects her. One night, he’s sent into a rage and attacks the woman, stabs her repeatedly and tosses her overboard. The Monster is horrified, and the Dragon torments him. His crew imprison him, until they realize he was drugged by the Kingdom’s corrupt leaders. The Pirate King attacks the Kingdom’s armies, navies, and every shipping vessel. Then he returns to her home village, which is barely surviving, with the cure for the plague. The fucking son of a bitch had it the whole time.
He’s my favorite character. I found a lot of personal connections with him. Between the bad guy with the soft side, falling in love with a woman who’s using him, but for a greater purpose—I get it. Until the bastard kills his love. I would never ever hurt Katya like that. It’s amazing how you can see yourself in a character and feel violated when he does something contrary to how you would behave.
Waverly comes over the night of the season finale wearing a Knights of the Night sweatshirt. “Adam is out of town. He wanted me to wait for him to watch the finale, but he also forgot to pay the internet bill, so I can just act surprised when I watch it with him later.”
I’m pouting, arm crossed, glaring at the screen. Fucking Pirate King Jerk—I can never pronounce his name right anyway. I smirk a little when he tries to transform into the Monster or the Dragon, so one of them can take control, but they both ignore him. “You must suffer for your sins, no respite for you.” Good. Fuck that guy.
There’s a flashback of the attack told from the view of the Dragon, witnessing and unable to do anything. It’s fucking heartbreaking. Uri’s wiping his eyes and Waverly is ugly crying. The camera changes points of view and we watch her body sink into the ocean, a trail of blood following her descent. A shark swims by, turns to attack, but veers away at the last second and swims off in the opposite direction.
The Pirate King’s lover's broken body glows in the darkness of the water.
“OH SHIT!” Waverly jumps up, knocking over a bowl of chips.
The body glows blue and morphs.
My heart races as I latch on to Uri’s arm. “No fucking way.”
Uri leans forward like he could jump into the screen and be whisked away into their world.
The Pirate King’s transformation music plays, but instead of cello and strings like it normally is, a choir of women’s voices echoes through the speakers. As she turns into a blue fucking dragon.
Her eyes open and she pumps her wings, swimming after the shark. Her voice is distorted, but the closed captions make it clear what she says.
“Revenge.”
The three of us jump to our feet and start screaming. “She’s alive!” Uri yells.
“He’s not the only shifter,” Waverly sobs.
Stuck in our fandom euphoria, none of us notice Ian coming out of his bedroom. His Ninja Turtle shirt is faded and his hair sticks up at all ends. He speaks in Russian because he’s tired. “What’s wrong?”
I point to the TV. “A character we thought was dead is really alive and a dragon.”
Ian blinks at me a few times and turns his head to the TV and then back to me. “Um, is she real?”
My phone rings. Saved by the bell. “It’s Aunt Alana. Do you want to talk to her?” I offer as I slide the little bar over on the screen.
Ian closes his eyes, and when he opens them he's more annoyed than confused.
Before he can take my phone, Alana’s voice carries through from the other end of the line. “Are you fucking watching this?”
“I know! I thought it was weird back in season one when she was talking with the Dragon but no one else ever did.”
Alana squeals with excitement. “I can’t believe they’re taking the story in this direction. I was convinced they weren’t going to follow the books.”
I cover the phone with my hand and glare at Uri. “There’s books!? How many?”
Waverly pipes in, “Like seven.”
Ok, there is no better feeling than when you discover something new and you think you’ve consumed all the content, only to discover there’s more. “This is the greatest day of my life.”
Ian picks up a chip off the table and scrunches his nose. “Because a fake person didn’t die.”
“And turned into a Dragon,” Uri offers.
Ian glares at us and exhales. “I’m going back to bed. Some of us have school in the morning.”