Chapter 8

The following new character appears in this chapter:

Cassius “Mad Dog” Harper

Florida, Leader of the Southern Florida Hogs motorcycle gang, 6’-3’’ tall, 245 pounds, 41 years old, long dark brown hair, hazel eyes

During the time it had taken to transfer Keith and Steve to Atlanta, Felipe had been very busy locating and questioning those who remained from the three locations where the Dragons had struck. Those from the club were still under the spell that the twins had cast on them and remembered nothing. Those from the hotel were very hard to locate and many had disappeared. Still he managed to locate a few from each location and piece together what had occurred.

From this beginning, he managed to track down where the twins had stayed. He and those working for the Cartel weren’t afraid to use demands, threats, and actual violence to get what they wanted to know. They learned the twins’ names, address, and who had paid for the room.

Rosetta had, of course, seen the Dragons on the news when they apprehended the sniper, as had half of the people in the country. Her surprise on seeing them had been very real, but she was still determined to have her revenge on them. When Felipe reported their names and address to her, she spent considerable time determining how to achieve her revenge. Eventually, she decided on an opening move and summoned Felipe.

“We need more information,” she told him. “However, we should not use anyone associated with us to gather this information. We need an independent source to gather it, but one that we can trust or at least control.” Felipe spent several minutes considering who they could use, before smiling.

“There is a motorcycle gang that deals drugs for us. They have always been dependable, or as dependable as those type of people are. We could send them up to Atlanta to do the spying. They will probably know others who can help them there,” he told her.

“A good idea, but they must be careful. These people are very dangerous. You saw on the news what they did to that fool of a sniper. You were also there when they destroyed our holdings in Miami. Make sure that they report to someone not directly connected to us. I want to know where they live and what they do. What about that office that they have in Miami?” she demanded.

“We have tried to gain access to their building, but have not been able to. They have those Dragon Wards around it, and normal Magic users are unable to affect them. Also, the Witches cannot pass through them. We have learned that the Witches have also been alerted or warned to avoid us and to warn others about us. They are very hostile to us now,” he told her.

“What Witches are you talking about?” Rosetta demanded in anger.

“All of them. We could get none of them to work for us,” he told her. Rosetta was shocked by this news.

“All of them?” she asked.

“Yes, they claim that the source of their Magic has been threatened if they do anything for us,” he told her.

“How can that be? The Magic exists for all who have the power to use it. There is something else involved. Find out what it is,” she demanded. Behind her and unseen by anyone, the Spirit of Witch Magic smiled before leaving the wall that she had been observing them from.

Felipe did as directed, but found that Witches were not easy to threaten, as they used their Magic against those he sent. They seemed to have stronger than usual Magic also.

The other part of the plan appeared to work much better, at least at first. It had only required a little persuasion and some drugs to convince part of the motorcycle gang to travel north to Atlanta to spy on the women and their family. There was no mention to them of their being Dragons. There was some delay in their departure while they recovered from the drunken and drug bash they held before leaving. It had been arranged that they would report through one of the local Tampa police who was on the Cartel’s payroll. Their arrival in Atlanta coincided with Keith’s and Steve’s arrival there.

I awoke the following morning feeling FABTASTIC. Steve and I had gotten to know each other intimately last night. He had pushed all of my buttons and rung all of my bells. I was a completely satisfied woman when we awoke. I was sure that Keith and Doreen had just as satisfying a night as we’d had, as both of us had wards around our rooms so as not to disturb others. There had only been a bit of Magic in the house last night. We were all still feeling fantastic during breakfast.

“We need to get you acquainted with the area, so you know what is available here and how to find it,” Doreen told the guys during breakfast.

“Just where are we?” Keith asked.

“We’re east of Atlanta proper. This used to be way, way out in the country, but in the last hundred plus years, the city has expanded in all directions, and we are a lot closer to Atlanta than previously,” Doreen told him.

“We’re still somewhat out in the country, just not as far as we used to be,” I added. Following breakfast, we showed the guys around our house before taking them outside to show them the area that we lived in.

“Whose house is that?” Steve asked, pointing to the next house on our side of the road.

“That’s Craig’s house. The house and property across the road are our mother’s,” I told him.

“There seems to be quite a lot of open land around your houses,” Keith commented on looking around at all of the fields and pasture land surrounding our houses.

“If you go a quarter mile or so in any direction, you’ll find plenty of development in the form of subdivisions or townhouses. All of this open land around us is because no one wants to build close to Dragon Country,” Doreen told them with a giggle.

“Dragon Country?” the guys asked in confusion. I sighed at the need to explain.

“When we were eight, Doreen and I made some signs. Two of them read: ‘Welcome to Dragon Country’, and the other two read: ‘Leaving Dragon Country’. We put them up on the side of the road just inside our wards and our mom’s wards so the drivers could see them. When our mom saw them, she made us take them down. We put them in the house and forgot about them for several years.

“When we were older, we found them in the house and were shocked at how crude and ugly they were, though we had been proud of them at eight years old. Doreen took them outside and incinerated them,” I told the guys.

“How were you able to purchase the only two houses near your parents’ house?” Keith asked. Doreen smiled at him before answering.

“The people who lived here previously were tired of all of the noise and the arrival of those here to see our Mother. There were Dragons, Wizards, and various police groups. There was a lot of noise from Dragon names and spells. They had needed to replace their windows several times when the glass was broken out. They moved out and tried to sell the houses, but no one wanted them. Finally, Mom bought them for a fair price. They needed a lot of maintenance, but she had them fixed up, and we got to live here at least part time starting when we were eight. We didn’t move in full time until we started college,” Doreen explained.

Following that, we drove them around the area in our car so they could get an idea of what was available and where to shop. We had left our Familiars with our parents last night and retrieved them on returning.

The members of the Florida motorcycle gang began to realize that this would not be the easy job that it had been presented as when they stopped at a biker bar well south of Atlanta. They were met with suspicion and distrust by the locals there.

“We’re just passing through,” their leader told the locals.

“Make sure that’s all you do,” several of the locals warned them.

Later, when they arrived at the biker bar just south of Atlanta, where they were to meet their local contact, they received the same reception. The locals here weren’t just suspicious and distrustful, they were also surly.

“What the fuck you doing so far from home?” demanded the big biker who seemed to be the boss there.

“We’re supposed to meet a contact here,” the Florida boss told him. Things were quiet for a time following that. He had already made a call to the contact before they had arrived there. She soon arrived. She was a short woman at about 5’-6’’ tall and about 145 pounds of muscle with black hair and numerous tattoos. She quickly spotted them among the locals. On spotting their leader, she moved over to him.

“Let’s move to the backroom, but just the two of us,” she told the Florida boss.

“Right,” he agreed. She then turned to the barkeep.

“Couple of drinks to the backroom,” she told him, as they moved toward the rear of the building.

“Right, now what are you here for?” she demanded once they were seated at the old wooden table in the backroom. “They contacted me but never told me why you were coming,” she continued.

“Listen Ph... !” the Florida boss started but was quickly cut off.

“No names here,” he was told in no uncertain terms.

“Okay, no names, What the hell is it with the people here?” Florida demanded.

“You’re from out of state, so everyone is suspicious of you. You think you are big and bad. Maybe you were back home. Watch out here though. You may run up against some guy or female who looks weak and helpless. Don’t be fooled. This isn’t like southern Florida.

“The Atlanta area is thick with Magic users: Wizards, Witches, Ley Line users, and if you are really unlucky ... Dragons. Any one of them will be more than you can handle. Trust me on that,” she told him. “Now, what are you here for?” she demanded again.

“Stay cool, babe. We’re only here to get information on a couple of chicks and their family for some people. We’ll be here for a few days and then be gone. It won’t be a problem,” Florida man assured her.

“A couple of chicks? What are their names and why are you looking for them and their family?” she wanted to know, but was interrupted by the arrival of a number of drinks. She had the first one.

“Their last name is Kavanagh; Dallas and Doreen Kavanagh,” Florida told her after the barkeep had left. On hearing this, she looked like she had been hit in the face by a bat.

“Fools!” she said loudly in disgust. “Take my advice, mate. Go back to Florida ... now. You don’t want any part of them,” she continued in a thickened accent and an urgent voice.

“What the fuck’s the problem, asshole?” Florida demanded in an upset voice.

“You could not have picked a worse target! Go home,” she urged him in a stern voice.

“You act like they are the boogeyman or something,” Florida said with a laugh.

“The boogeyman? NO! The Kavanaghs aren’t the Boogeyman. They are the Demons that you would send out to deal with the boogeyman and remove him,” she told him in a low strained voice before downing another of the drinks that had been brought in for them. There was silence for a time following that. Finally, she looked back at him with a question.

“Do you know how parents in the Atlanta area scare their kids when they are bad or misbehaving?” she asked in a much calmer voice.

“Why would I give a fuck?” he asked in an uninterested voice.

“Because it directly bears on who you are looking for,” she told him.

“Okay, I’ll bite. How do they scare them?” he asked.

“They tell them that the Dragon Queen will come and turn them into lizards, and they will be eating bugs for the next thousand years. Everyone here and around the world saw the video when it happened. It’s shown here every Halloween. In the video, the Dragon Queen turned three men into lizards and sent them off to live in some desert area for the next four thousand years. The Ley Line Wizards made the video and sold it world wide when it happened some twenty years ago, and it’s still seen here every fucking year!” she told him in a somewhat upset voice.