Chapter Twenty-Eight

Toni, Hannah, Ellen, Maggie, andKimberly stashed the Pathfinder they'd stolen from the community in a mall parking lot, then Alex picked them up. It took three trips to get all twelve of them – five women and seven children – to the Mission Beach bungalows they'd rented, but hiring a van or taking a cab wasn't a smart option for women going into hiding.

Toni cried in Alex's arms as they stood in the doorjamb of one of the bungalows while the four other women bustled about getting their children settled into bed, since it was actually nighttime for them. Her mood was the lowest it'd ever been. She was never going to see Jacken again. Escaping ??ran? made that official. The other Dragons would go back, but she wouldn't. She would move out of California, far away from those who sought to hunt her, and try to heal the huge emptiness that threatened to consume her. She'd do it, although it'd take some time. Say, an eternity or two.

Alex, being Alex, just let her cry in silence, even though he probably had a million questions. After she'd wept herself dry, she took a long, hot shower, then curled up in a chair next to a window with a view of the sea, a mug of hot cocoa cupped in her palms. With the other Dragons arrayed around the room, on beds and a couch, Toni told her brother the whole amazing story: her kidnapping from Scripps Hospital, the town of ??ran?, the circumstance of her being a Dragon – probably Alex, too – blood graphs, tattoos, glowing eyes, Fiin??, Om R?u. And the vampires, of course. Alex took it all in silently, just absorbing, while Ellen, Hannah, Kimberly, and Maggie eyed him carefully. By the end of it, Toni felt utterly spent. She couldn't believe she'd only been gone for eighteen days; it felt like months. A lifetime.

Toni set her empty mug on the small round hotel table that stood between her and her brother and rubbed a weary hand over her face. It was dusk now, the setting sun turning the ocean into a lake of molten gold. God, how she'd missed sunsets. But then … she knew she'd also miss the clean, earthy smell of the air in ??ran?, the low, singing sough of wind through a few special wormholes, the shiny black lava rock that decorated some of the cave walls, and … other things.

She reached up and snapped a lamp on. "So do you think I'm crazy?"

"No, actually …." Alex shook his head, then even laughed. "Truth is, nothing has ever made more sense to me in my life."

Maggie pulled a small tin box out of her tote bag. "He is being suspiciously calm."

Alex smiled. "Yeah. In fact, check this out." He jumped to his feet and crossed to his duffle bag, rummaging a book out of it. "Something told me I should pack this. Now I'm glad I did." He set the book on the table in front of Toni.

She peered down on it, and, "Wow." She'd never seen anything like it. The cover was grainy and tan-colored, a blue crescent moon and star shimmering on it like an ethereal deep-sea creature.

"Open it," Alex said.

She did as the other four women stood and gathered around to look, too, and "Wow," again. A replica of the dragon tattoo was right on the front page, Roth's mansion on the next, though looking more like a castle, and people, drawings and drawings of gorgeous people, all of whom looked vaguely familiar.

"That's them, isn't it? The vampires?"

"Yes, although not exactly." They were probably the ancestors of the people currently in the community. "And they're called Varcolac." Had she just corrected her brother on the terminology for a real, live vampire? Toni pressed a hand over her eyes and groaned. "Christ, Alex, this is just so …. Are you sure I'm not insane? Deep down, I've been hoping I was." Her brother chuckled, and she looked at him again. "It's all true, isn't it?"

He gave her a lopsided grin. "Looks like it."

She blew out her cheeks. Yes, she'd known that already, hadn't she?

"Don't feel bad," Maggie said, crossing to Alex and holding out the tin box to him. "It took me till my first bite to truly believe. Want a cookie?"

Alex adjusted the set of his glasses as he peered into the box. "What kind?"

"Macadamia chocolate chip."

"Oh, definitely." Alex took one.

Hannah plopped back down on the couch, looking drawn and pale. It was clearly taking a toll on her to leave the community she so adored. "I knew right away. All of the Varcolac exude a kind of animal essence, don't you think?"

"Yep," Ellen said, sitting next to Hannah. "That's what got me, too."

Toni was still skimming the pages of the strange book. "How did you find this anyway, Alex?"

Alex sat down with his cookie. "When I was fifteen, I pried up a floorboard in my bedroom to hide my reefer stash from Mom. The Book was just sitting there, like, shazaam, it'd been patiently waiting for me to find it."

She arched her brows, but that was her only reaction. She probably wasn't allowed to think that scenario was weird, considering her recent experiences. She ran her fingers over the strange lettering on the page. "Do you know what language this is?"

"Utter gibberish from what I've been told. But," he lifted a single shoulder, "I can read some of it. Before today and your story, though, it never made much sense to me. I mean, when I read that you and I were Dragon royalty, I really didn't understand the –"

"Wait." Kimberly held up a hand. "What? Did you just say royalty?"

Alex smiled widely. "Yeah…get this. According to The Book, Toni and I are both descended from some royal lineage of the ancient Dragons." He brushed cookie crumbs off his hands, then reached across the table to flip to a different page. "See?"

Ellen, Maggie, Kimberly, and Hannah moved to hover over Toni again.

Toni studied the page. "My God, these people kind of look like us, Alex."

"Bizarre, huh?" Alex pointed to one of the pages of gobbledygook language. "From what I've been able to gather, there were two main lines of Dragon monarchy, which came into being because their bloodlines were able to stabilize the population, erasing a lot of genetic problems that were starting to show up. One line went off to breed with the Varcolac, the other with humans, which ended up making people like you and me. Apparently, we're very rare." He glanced at her curiously. "Did the others know the full extent of your genealogy?"

"I doubt it." She couldn't imagine Roth not using information like royal bloodlines to try and pressure her further into reproducing with his people.

Kimberly sucked in a sudden breath. "This is great! You're the answer to our problems, Toni."

Toni frowned. She didn't like the sound of that. "What do you mean?"

"Varcolac culture only allows those of royal lineage to hold positions of authority, right? So with your royal bloodlines you could become co-leader of ??ran? with Roth. Ha!" Kimberly clapped her hands together. "The Dragons would finally have representation." Kimberly swung around to look at the other women. "We don't need to negotiate any more than that, you guys. Once Toni gets into power, she can take care of the rest."

"Hold on a minute," Toni butted in. "It was never the plan for me to go back with all of you."

"I'll go with you." Alex said quietly.

She whipped her head around and gaped at her brother. "For the love of God," she bit off low on her breath, "now who's the insane one?"

His expression sobered. "I think you'd agree that, outside of you and Mom, my life has been damned empty so far. Yours, too, from what I can tell. I don't want to go back to it."

She pressed the heels of her palms against her forehead and let out a long moan. Why was everyone so determined to screw up her plans?

"Think about it," Alex went on. "Our whole lives, both of us have been the square pegs in the round holes. We've never fit in. Me, with all of my strung-out rebellions, and you … do you have any close friends at all, even one?"

She dropped her hands and lowered her head, the familiar pain of that relentless loneliness throbbing in her chest.

Hannah stepped closer to Alex. "You'd feel like you belonged in ??ran?," she promised him.

"I bet she's right," Alex aimed the comment at Toni. "We're not part of this world, sis. That's been the problem all along, we just never knew it. We belong in theirs."

Hannah added another two cents. "It's the same thing we've been trying to tell her."

"Just give her a moment," Kimberly said.

"For the love of God," Toni hissed, snapping her head up. "Do you have any idea what you'd be giving up, Alex? Regular access to the sun, your plants, a successful career, Friday afternoon racquetball with your –"

"All of that's meaningless if I'm alone. Hell, I'd live in zero gravity on the moon if it meant sharing my life with someone I loved. And I'm never going to find that special someone here. I'm sure of that now." Alex reached across the table and took ahold of one of her hands. "What do you want, sis, huh? To be just another widget-hematologist up here, or to really make a difference down there? To have a chance at falling in love down there, or to continue to have one meaningless affair after another up here? Or no man at all, which is pretty much what –"

She jerked her hand away from him. "I did fall in love, Alex, that's the freaking problem." She thrust to her feet and paced away from the table, heat building in her face. "You want to go live in ??ran?? Fine. Go. These women will gladly take you there. But I can't survive spending every day of my life living next to a man I want with every fiber of my soul, but can never have."

Hannah brightened. "Who?"

"Jacken," Maggie answered, putting the lid back on her cookie tin. "Isn't it obvious?"

Apparently not to Hannah. The pleased look fell off the librarian's face, replaced by an expression of aghast incredulity. "Jacken?"

Alex set his forearms on the table, clasping his fingers in front of him. "A man who you can't have, Toni? Nuh, uh, the dude doesn't exist."

She exhaled a frustrated breath, tears springing into her eyes. "This isn't just a matter of me wearing a tube top and hot pants or sitting on him until he cries uncle, Alex. The man is half Om R?u, which means he has an incurable genetic defect. Incurable as in, there's nothing I can do about it. Do you understand? I can't just change the laws of science and nature to suit my love life."

"I'm not buying it. You've got a stubborn streak in you a mile wide, Toni." Alex shrugged, his hands still clasped. "If you really want this dude, then find a way to get him."