Chapter 20

The following character returns from the previous stories:

Bob

Minor Demon, short at 4’-6’’ tall, red skin and horns on his head, gray beard and hair, Seventeenth century clothing, buckles on his shoes

The following new Character appears:

Stewart

Dragon Security employee, 5’-11’’ tall, 200 pounds, 37 years old, brown hair, violet eyes, almost a Dragon

Craig Still has the Narrative

As it turned out, it was just as well that we had left a marker by the statue of General Lafayette, since the Metro stopped running at midnight. We learned this when reading the literature that came with our passes.

“What the hell kind of major city closes down their transportation system at midnight?” an upset Doreen asked when we learned this.

“Apparently this one,” I told her.

“Well, don’t worry about it. Let’s find a good place to transfer from and get to work,” Dallas told us.

“Where?” I asked.

“The roof, silly,” Doreen answered. We went up to the top floor of the Inn. There was an exit to the roof there, but it was locked and had a sign reading ‘Employees Only’. We simply transferred to the other side of the door and went up to the roof. The door there was also locked, but we transferred through it also. Once on the roof, we sent out our Magic senses and located the marker. It was simple as it was the only one that we detected at the Square. There were, however, several other markers at different government facilities in the area near the Square. It appeared that some government agencies had Magic users working for them.

“Probably agencies like the FBI and Homeland Security,” I told my Sisters.

“Maybe, but they aren’t that strong,” Dallas commented. We transferred to the statue of Lafayette in the Square, appearing beside the statue. In the dark, no one would have noticed us, but the Square appeared to be deserted except for a few homeless who were hiding under the trees.

“We’ll take the National Court Building,” Dallas told me. She and Doreen were working together as they were used to doing that. They were also both pregnant, but that wouldn’t really matter in their Dragon form. I took the New Executive Office Building by myself. We transferred to the roofs of our own buildings and started checking them for means of access, and locations where someone could hide, and also from where they would have long range shots at the North Lawn of the White House. We left trigger spells in all of these places. We would know if the spells had been disturbed when we returned for the meeting.

It required some time to cover the entire roof areas of the buildings and then the floor below them. We were all carrying the Amethyst disks that held the spell to disrupt security cameras. All of the windows on the upper floors of both buildings are fixed and would need to be broken out for a shooter to use them. They were also all wired to the buildings’ security systems. Several hours later, we all met at the statue of General Lafayette before transferring back to the Inn in Silver Spring and then down to our rooms.

The second night, I took the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and the twins took the Treasury Building. Again, we had appeared by the statue of General Lafayette. On the third night, I finished up the Eisenhower building, and the twins worked on the Treasury Annex.

We slept late the following morning before checking out of the Inn, retrieved our rental car, and drove back to Baltimore Washington International for our flight home. It had been a successful trip.

Maddy has the Narrative for the

Trip to the Demon-lands

We were prepared to leave for the Demon-lands the same morning that the children left for Washington. The WE being Jorani and myself. We were out on the front lawn preparing to leave when we were accosted, but perhaps hailed would be a better, kinder word, by members of the media who had arrived at my driveway, outside the wards.

“Your Majesty, may we have a few minutes of your time?” a media reporter called over a bullhorn, as we prepared to leave.

“Who are they?” Jorani asked. We were both in our Dragon forms at the twenty-foot-tall level.

“Those are members of the news media,” I replied in an exasperated voice. “They always manage to stick their noses in places they have no business,” I added, and wondered what they wanted now. What had set them off this time?

“We never had to deal with people like that before,” Jorani told me in a perturbed voice.

“We will need to speak to them for a short time,” I told her.

“What is it?” I asked in an irritated voice, as we approached the driveway. I allowed a bit of smoke to escape from my nostrils as I spoke.

“We’ve been led to understand that you will be meeting with the President in Washington in a few weeks. Is there any truth to that story?” the lead reporter asked.

“WE will be meeting with the President after being ignored for the last twenty-five years or so,” I acknowledged.

“Do you have any idea of what will be covered?” a second reporter asked.

“No.”

“And this meeting will include your entire family?” another reporter asked.

“Yes, OUR entire family will be there,” I admitted.

“Who is this other Dragon with you? He is a different color than those in your family,” a fourth reporter asked, while the cameramen recorded everything.

“This, gentlemen, is my Daughter-in-Law,” I told a shocked group of reporters with a Dragon smile.

“Daughter-in-Law?” one of them asked before understanding what I meant. “Oh yes, you have a Son also,” he added like it wasn’t important.

“Yes, and she is also the Dragon Queen of the East,” I told them.

“East?” several of them asked.

“Yes, East, as in Asia. You may address her as Queen THANGAKILI,” I told them giving her name in Gaelic and finishing with a loud Dragon voice. All of the reporters were glassy eyed on hearing her name, and some even looked ready to pass out.

“We can leave now, dear. It will require some time for them to recover,” I told Jorani, as we turned and moved back to the center of the yard before transferring to the Demon-lands.

The area that we appeared in was still as desolate as when I had first appeared there. There was little to see but the rocks, some brush, and dead and stunted trees. The ground was still broken and pitted. The light was still a red color and was partly concealed by the dust clouds blown about by the hot wind.

“This is a terrible place. Why are we here?” Jorani asked.

“This is just the arrival location. It can be reached from many places in our Reality. I will transfer us to where the minor Demons live,” I told her before casting the spell in Latin. We instantly appeared in the main hall of the minor Demons’ living area. It appeared to be busy presently, and it only required a second or so before one of them saw us and screamed.

“Dragons!!” he screamed in a loud voice and everything stopped for a second before panic set in, and Demons began to disappear or scurry off. It was during that second that I used HALT as a Power Word in Latin. It came out in the Dragon Language.

“Def##!fee,” I shouted, and everyone and everything around us froze in place as the sound of the word reverberated up and down the hall freezing everything. I smiled at Jorani.

“What language did you cast the freeze spell in? I didn’t recognize it?” she asked.

“It was Latin. Gaelic doesn’t work here, as Latin is used exclusively, except for the Dragon language which works everywhere,” I told her, before turning to the nearest Demon.

“Where is Bob?” I demanded.

“You ... you ... you, you’re the Dragon Queen!” he squealed in shock.

“Yes, I am, and if you don’t tell me where Bob is, you will regret it,” I told him in a threatening voice.

“He’s ... he’s up in his room,” the Demon stammered.

“His old room?” I asked.

“No, his new room. Second level, front room,” he told me. I canceled the Power word on learning this, and all of the Demons scattered and disappeared.

“Let’s go up and see Bob,” I told Jorani, but she had another question.

“The word that you used had a very strong effect. Much stronger than it normally would. Why?” she asked.

“I used it as a Power Word. They weren’t covered in the Books that you studied. That’s why I wanted you to study Witchcraft. It would be one more tool in your arsenal of Magic,” I told her, as we carefully climbed the stairs to the second level.

There was a lot of Magic in use on the second level because of the Power Word that I had used. I had brought Mandara, my enchanted sword, with me because of this and drew him as we reached the second level.

“What is that?” Jorani asked, as Mandara grew to its proper size for me at the twenty-foot-tall level.

“This is Mandara. It is a Magic sword that can change size as I do, and It can defeat spells and wards. It speaks to me in my mind. It’s very handy to have when dealing with other Magic users or pesky Dragons,” I told her. I had already told Mandara to locate Bob. We stopped in front of the door that It indicated.

“Open up, Bob,” I called in a reasonably quiet Dragon voice after knocking. The door opened a crack, and Bob peeked out.

“Did you have to do that again?” he asked.

“Do what again?” I asked, puzzled.

“The same thing that you did when we first met here,” he answered. I smiled on remembering the first time we had met in the Demon-lands. “That was nearly twenty-five years ago,” I said with a grin.

“What do you want, now that you have disturbed everyone?” he demanded in an annoyed voice.

“Aren’t you going to invite us in?” I asked. “We’re here to talk business,” I added. Bob reluctantly opened the door, and we shrank to twelve-foot-tall after I returned Mandara to Its scabbard. Bob now had a much larger and nicer set of rooms. There was a window looking out on the mall shops below; the furniture looked new and was very clean. There were several other rooms off of the main room.

“Very nice accommodations, Bob,” I said as we entered. He was even dressed better than he had been when we first met. His clothes were better than those his former landlord had worn, but not quite as fancy as the clothes worn by those who hadn’t wanted to talk to us. His shoes even had silver buckles.

“Who is this with you?” he asked on seeing Jorani.

“This is my Daughter-in-Law, the Queen of the East,” I informed him, but didn’t use her Dragon name.

“There are two Queens!” he asked in surprise.

“Yes, one East and one West. WE need to talk to you about acquiring some information,” I told him.

“Information! What kind of information, and what will you pay for it?” he asked, now more interested.

“WE have been invited to meet with the President in Washington. We need to know what is going on in relation to that both in Washington and in Tibet and China,” I told him.

“Hmm,” Bob said as he considered what I had said.

“The Washington part won’t be a problem. There are always people there running their mouths about the latest gossip.

“The Tibet and China parts will be more difficult. We’ll need to enlist the help of the Chinese Demons. They don’t get much work in China itself anymore. There aren’t that many Magic users, especially strong Magic users, there since the Communists took over. They don’t like anything that they can’t control. Since none of their leaders could do Magic, they wiped out most of the Magic users there many years ago. Those still there mostly work for the various Tongs that have survived. Most of the minor Demons now work in other areas of Asia outside of Mainland China where Chinese people have settled. How much are you willing to pay for the right information?” he asked in a snide voice.

“I have two gold bars here,” Jorani said, producing two of the small gold rectangles that she had brought with her.

“I can let you have a yellow diamond of about 30 carats,” I told him. Bob’s eyes glowed on hearing this.

“Exactly, what type of information are you after?” he asked in a more reasonable voice.

“We want to know what the Chinese are planning for us when we meet the President in Washington. Also, who there is in collusion with them,” I told him.

“How soon do you need the information,” he asked.

“We are to meet with the President in two weeks,” I told him.

“A short time frame. How long have you known about this?”

“Only a few days. We were shocked to receive the invitation after being ignored for twenty-five years or so,” I told him.

“We’ll see what we can do. You’ll need to summon me so I can get through your wards. Give us some time to work first though,” he told us.

“All right, I’ll check with you in a week,” I told him before we rose and departed. Back outside in the hallway, we transferred back to the lawn in front of my house.

“Do you think we will learn anything?” Jorani asked.

“We’ll soon know. In the meantime, let’s relax and have a snack. I’m hungry,” I told her. We returned to our Human forms before entering the house where we were greeted by our Familiars who were also ready to eat.

End Maddy’s Narrative

Arriving back in Atlanta around noon on the fourth day, we picked up our car from the parking garage and drove the 33 miles or so (53 km) out to the Dragon Security building off of I-85 north of Atlanta. After parking and exiting the car, my Sisters gave a sigh of relief, as they changed into their Dragon forms.

“Finally!” Doreen breathed after changing. “The trip back was way too long. How do normal women do it?” she asked.

“Most of them don’t travel a lot after the first few months,” Dallas told her twin. She too appeared to be glad to return to her Dragon form.

Of course, our building is sized to allow Dragons to access it, as long as they are only 12-feet-tall. After checking with our Dad, and the twins with their husbands, we returned home to see what the Queens had learned on their visit to the Demon-lands. Naturally, my Sisters needed to check on their Daughters first, and to thank the ladies who had been watching them while we were gone. They were the wives of two of our employees. I also took the time to check on Jorani and see how she was.

On talking to her, I was surprised when she told me how quickly they had completed their assignment. Following that, we went downstairs to await my Sisters and to confer with Mother.

“It will be another three days before we have the first report from Bob,” Mom told us after going over what she and Jorani had done, and then hearing the results of our trip. On those three days, we prepared some of the things that we would need for the trip to D.C. Jorani and I also went flying for a time.

Mother summoned Bob on the evening of the third day after our return from D.C. Bob instantly appeared, and I was surprised by how he was dressed, even though Mom had told us that he had moved up in importance in the Demon world.

“You have no idea of how popular you are with the lowlifes of the world,” Bob told us on appearing, surprising us.

“Popular?” Mom asked.

“Oh yes, the Chinese have a couple of groups of assassins on their way to Washington, and that doesn’t include those the Guoanbu is sending,” he told us, smiling. “And that doesn’t include the others who are also on their way to cause trouble,” he added.

“What others?” we all asked.

“When the story broke about you meeting with the President outside on the lawn, we started picking up whispers about others being interested in the meeting. In addition to the Chinese, the Russians, the Iranians, and ISIS are preparing assassins to go to Washington for your meeting. We’re still checking, but they appear to be the major players. None of them approached us or the Major Demons for help. They all appear to want to handle this internally,” he told us with a grin.

“So, we need to worry about more than snipers,” I said.

“Oh yes, from what we have learned, they are planning multiple ways to attack not only you, but also the President and other government buildings while you are there,” Bob told us with a big smile at our discomfort on hearing this.

“We will need an update before we leave,” Mom told him when he appeared to have finished.

“When will that be?” he asked.

“In five days,” she told him.

“We can do that, but we’ll expect to be paid then, just in case you don’t return,” he told us and was obviously enjoying himself.

“Payment on the final report,” Mom agreed before Bob vanished.

“We appear to have our work cut out for us,” Mom said after checking that we were alone and casting a silence spell around us.

“We are going to need to take more people with us to secure the place that we are staying, and where we are going. Foreign visitors have a secure Embassy to stay in, but we don’t have that. We will need to secure the hotel where we will be staying, and the vehicles we will be using. We’ll also need to speak to the D.C. Police and alert them to the problems that we expect. If it only involves normal people and not Magic users, they may be able to handle it. I noticed that Bob didn’t say anything about them using Magic,” Dad told us.

“We will need to take our strongest employees with us in case there are any Magic users involved. We will also need to alert the Secret Service and the Capitol police,” Mom told us.

“That could leave the business shorthanded,” Dad told her.

“Our people will need to work overtime for a while. We will make it up to them when this is over. We will also need to notify the hotel where we are staying of the early arrival of our security people and arrange for rooms for them. We’ll need to move our own vehicles up there also. Those on the security detail can take them with them. Who should go?” Mom asked.

“I believe that it should be Craig, Keith, Steve and four of our employees plus me,” Dad told her. “You ladies are not in any condition to be traipsing around D.C. looking for terrorists,” he added.

“You should also take a couple of our employees along as security when you fly up to D.C. We’ll meet you at the airport with transportation. We’ll keep in touch by cell phone,” he told our Wives.

“Yes, we’ll need at least one security man to push Jorani’s wheelchair,” Mom agreed.

“So, take three security men,” Dad told her.

“All right, and we’ll eat in our rooms rather than going down to the hotel’s restaurant or to an outside one,” Mom agreed. Following that, she personally called the hotel where we were staying and made the arrangements for the security people who would be arriving in two days. I was worried about Jorani while I was gone.

“Will you be all right?” I asked her.

“Yes, I can remain in my Dragon form much of the time, but I don’t know about flying on an airplane that way,” she told me in a worried voice.

“You might be able to change to your eight-foot-tall size for the plane travel,” I told her, as they would be traveling on a chartered plane. We would need to check out the pilots before they left.

We all had a lot to do with the schedule moved up. We had already rented a Mercedes passenger van for transportation in D.C ... That way we could all travel in one vehicle and not have to worry about being separated in traffic. We would need another one now for our security personnel. Fortunately, we were able to arrange it quickly. Money talks, and we had enough to talk very loudly. As soon as we took possession of them, we warded both of them heavily. Our wards were better than normal armor and had no added weight to slow the vehicles down.

Two days later at eight in the morning, the Security Detail loaded up and headed up I-85 for D.C. and the hotel where our party would be staying. We were basically on the road for eleven hours, counting stops for gas and food. There were enough of us to switch off driving, so no one got too tired.

Arriving at our hotel, the Capital Hilton, at a bit after seven that evening, Dad and most of the others went in to get registered while Keith and I remained to park the vehicles. The hotel had valet parking, and two of them insisted that they had to park the vans.

“Neither of you will be allowed to drive these vehicles, or to be alone with them,” I told them.

“The hotel’s regulations require us to park the vehicles,” the first parking attendant insisted, pissing me off.

“Perhaps you would like to argue that with my Dragon,” I said and instantly changed into my Dragon form at the twelve-foot-tall level. So did Keith. Both parking attendants just stood there slack jawed in shock on seeing this.

“Now, where do WE park?” I asked in a Dragon growl.

“We’ll show you, sir,” the first one whispered, as Keith and I returned to our Human forms. We both cast additional wards around the vehicles after parking them.

“Make sure that we always have access to our vehicles. You wouldn’t want us to have to destroy anything blocking us in,” I warned the parking attendants after we carefully parked the vehicles because of their height. We both then transferred to the lobby of the hotel to find Dad in his Dragon form at the twenty-foot-tall level.

“Perhaps my Dragon will convince you that we are the security element for the Dragon Queen,” Dad was saying in a loud Dragon voice, as he exhaled smoke at the people behind the registration counter. It appeared that they had doubted him. Keith and I resumed our Dragon forms also as did Steve. With four Dragons standing there, the other guests and the hotel employees present all made as quick an exit as they could.

Even as the Dragon Security Team was checking into their hotel, the opposition was arriving or had already arrived. The Chinese sniper teams of four members had flown into LAX in Los Angeles and then flew to Dulles International near Washington where they were met by representatives of the Chinese Embassy. A second Chinese Team of six had flown into San Francisco and then transferred to Baltimore-Washington Airport where they were met by another group from the Chinese Embassy.

The Guoanbu Team of two men had flown into Seattle and then flown to Reagan Airport in Washington, where they were met by the Embassy’s Guoanbu Security Chief.

The Russian Team of three had also flown into Seattle and then transferred to La Guardia Airport in New York City where they were met by the Russian Consulate’s Security Chief.

The Iranian Team of four men had flown into Newark’s Liberty International using Jordanian passports and were met by fellow conspirators who took them by interstate to Washington.

The ISIS Team had already entered the country illegally from Mexico. They had been sent in on a different mission, but had been contacted by their superiors who changed their mission.

Dad was still upset when we reached our rooms.

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea for our Security Team to be split up. Those running the hotel should have given them rooms around ours,” Dad complained. He had been very upset when told that the others on the Team would not be in rooms near ours. It required Steve and me to calm him down and accept the decision.

“It could be a good thing,” I had told him and repeated the argument again. “This way if there is trouble here, the others can come up behind those causing the trouble and take them out,” I repeated.

“Suppose both of us are attacked at the same time?” he asked again.

“You know that our guys can use Dragon Magic to defend themselves just as we can. Their rooms will be warded just like ours are. They can also transfer just as we can,” I reminded him again. Dad finally exhaled, but still remained stubborn.

Mom had a suite for herself and Dad. Each of the rest of us had a large room near her suite. Jorani and I had the room opposite Mom’s. Dallas, Doreen, and their husbands had rooms on either side of the hallway before ours. Keith, Steve, Dad, and I checked all four rooms very carefully before warding the walls, floor, and ceilings.

After warding and checking all of our rooms, Dad and I went to check the rooms of the rest of the Team, while Steve and Keith checked all four rooms again. The rest of the Team had rooms on a different floor of the hotel. They had four rooms together for those with us and those coming with Mom and our Wives. The children were remaining home and being watched by two of our employees’ wives. They had even brought their children with them, so they could all play together. None of our Familiars had come with us, so they could help watch the children.

Stewart was the one in charge of the rest of the Team. He has a very strong Talent and is close to becoming a Dragon. He just needs to learn a bit more Magic. He had already had the other men check all four rooms, and they had warded the walls, floor, and ceilings. Dad and I checked the wards, but they were our Dragon Security Wards, and they had been cast good and tight, as the guys were all familiar with them from using them daily at work.

“Get settled in the rooms, and we’ll all go down to eat when you are ready. Just give us a call on the radio,” Dad told them before we returned to our rooms.

Later following dinner in one of the hotel’s restaurants, I took Dad, Steve, and Keith down to Lafayette Square and explained again what my Sisters and I had set up in each of the buildings around the White House. None of the spells that we had left had been activated yet, but we could detect each of them when close enough. Following that, we returned to our rooms to get some sleep.

In the morning, we were all up early and had breakfast. At nine o’clock, I went to get one of the vans, and Dad and I went to talk to the D.C. Police. Steve and Keith took the other guys to look at the area around the White House that we had gone over last night. With our Dragon sight, we’d had no trouble seeing everything. The others would require daylight for the trip. They would also be using the other van to check out the route we would be taking from the hotel to the White House. Because of all of the blocked off streets around the White House, there didn’t appear to be a direct route there from our hotel.

At the D.C. Police headquarters, we asked to speak to someone in charge of official visitor security after identifying ourselves. We met with a detective who was on the security task force.

“You are the Head of Security for who?” he asked Dad on meeting us.

“I’m the Head of Security for the Dragon Queens on their visit to see the President,” he told him.

“Dragon Queen?” the detective asked, before remembering something. “There was something on the news about that, but I didn’t pay a lot of attention to it,” he said but didn’t seem all that interested.

“Both Dragon Queens will be visiting the President in a few days,” Dad corrected him.

“Both! There’s more than one?”

“There are two. One for the Eastern Hemisphere and one for the Western Hemisphere. They have been meeting in Atlanta for the last several weeks,” Dad informed him.

“Is this an official visit? I haven’t heard anything about it,” the Detective said.

“No, it’s a private visit at the request of the President,” Dad told him and showed him a copy of the official letter. The detective looked at it for a time before returning it.

“We only get involved if it’s an official visit,” he told us in a snotty voice.

“That’s fine. We are here to warn you that there may be trouble during the Queens’ visit.”

“Trouble! What kind of trouble?” the detective asked, more interested now.

“We aren’t entirely sure, but the Queen’s sources have indicated that individuals from several countries may cause trouble during the visit,” Dad reiterated.

“We can’t do anything until there is a definite problem,” the detective told us.

“We are just informing you of the possibility of trouble. If something occurs, We will handle it,” Dad told him.

“Is that a threat?” the very touchy detective demanded in an upset voice. Dad just smiled, and three seconds later he was standing there in his Dragon form at the twelve-foot-tall level.

“We are all Dragons and will deal with those who attack us. If you continue to be uncooperative, that could be your people too,” Dad told him and allowed smoke to drift from his nostrils. The detective and the others in the area just stared at him in shock.

Next, we visited the FBI. Their building wasn’t far from police headquarters. Their representative was a bit more interested but didn’t offer any help. Finally, we checked with the Secret Service. They were a lot more interested in what we had to say. They put us in contact with the Special Agent in charge of White House security. We had a very interesting and productive chat with him.

Later back at the hotel, Steve was really steamed about D.C. traffic.

“What a godawful mess,” was the first thing he said on returning.

“Have you determined how to get to the White House from here?” Dad asked his son-in-law.

“Yes, sir, but traffic is terrible, and it will be hard to keep the vehicles together,” Steve told him.