Dragon's Eye (Avery Rome Book 2)

  Avery Rome: Book Two

  Dragon’s Eye

  P.S. Power

  Orange Cat Publishing

  Copyright 2016

  Chapter one

  For a brief moment, Avery was nearly overwhelmed by the scents, sounds and colors around her. The incredible, almost unbelievable, press of bodies that took place as the high school students moved to their assigned locations. The next class, she presumed, rather than going out for battle exercises or on an actual mission. Not even simple ones like repainting the building or helping to prepare the noon meal for the others. Even the concept of the whole thing was more than a bit much for her, if she were going to be truly honest about it.

  Her friends Eve and Edom were right next to her, ignoring the hundreds of students, even as some of them managed to bump into Eve. Not Ed at all, Avery noticed. Then, while attractive, he was a decently muscled black man, who looked about thirty or so. Her other friend was more youthful seeming, lighter skinned, and so attractive that a lot of people were watching her as they passed.

  Feeling a bit self-conscious, Avery patted at her curly black hair. She was wearing makeup that day, since Eve had instructed her on that sort of thing. Normal school girls would be wearing that, unless they wanted to be designated as social misfits. That wasn’t the mission for her at the institution of education, so she’d tried to keep Eve’s rules for being popular in mind that day.

  Her goal, if a self-appointed one, was to attend the human high school and make friends, if at all possible. Without lying to them, in order to fit in.

  To that end she was unarmed, though ready enough to take the fight to these others if need be. That part truly was one she hoped to avoid, however. The kids might attack her for being odd, or even a Shifter, however. That was the reason that none of her kind had come out publicly while in school. Not yet.

  Avery Rome was going to be the very first one. If the commander of the training facility there, the school Principal, allowed her entrance. Given the attacks that had been going on in the last weeks and months from the U.S. government on her people, she would have told herself to leave, before the other students might be injured. If that happened, well, Avery could see it. No one sane would allow a potential danger into their midst like that.

  Her only hope was that the men and women in charge were willing to see that she, personally, wasn’t the issue. She could follow orders, after all. She had years of military training to assure that. A bit nervously she patted at her clothing, making certain she looked presentable before Eve waved for them all to head to the main command center. That space was marked with a black and copper sign that said office on it in large letters. So that no one would be confused, she had to presume. That was actually reassuring, after a fashion. The people there weren’t hiding from her, or using secret language to keep her at a disadvantage.

  The kids, who were dressed much as she and Eve were, left into side rooms about then, with almost none of them seeming to be assigned to the headquarters space. When they got inside, Edom walking in first, his own skin tone pale enough that he matched her, at least nearly, the secretary looked up from behind her desk and smiled at them. Avery knew that was the title of the woman, since she had on a name tag, as well as an identification card with a photo on it. That matched the name on her desk, which had her title. Kathy Levit was the name.

  She was dressed in a comfortable sweater that had been made of at least four shades of blue yarn. To a regular person it would seem like no more than one, or possibly two colors, however. Her own eyes were just better at telling that kind of thing than a Human’s would be.

  “May I help you folks with something?” The lady sounded very warm and almost kind. Her hair was blonde and curly, being shot with silver, but apparent age didn’t stop her from admiring Edom, who was in a very expensive gray suit. He almost always dressed very nicely.

  Being the man in their group, he stepped forward, smiling, with his mouth closed. That way his fangs wouldn’t show by accident. Not that they did normally, but he was, clearly, taking pains to be extra good around all the kids there, so that Avery would have an easier time of it.

  “I think so? We have a one o’clock appointment with Principal Moffet. Avery Rome?” There was a small gesture toward her, which got the lady to tap on the computer behind her desk for a few moments.

  “Ah… Here we go then. Let me call this over to him? It’s a few minutes early yet.” She glanced at the clock, as if they wouldn’t believe her that a busy man like a training facility commander wouldn’t have to keep to a tight schedule. From the scents in the air, it was around meal time, so that could be the reason for the wait as well. She just smiled and nodded.

  It was her that had come to beg a place in his school. Even knowing that she might well be and perhaps should be, rejected. Her records weren’t good, after all, by Human standards. Also, she was a Dragon. That kind of beast was often reviled by many, so prejudice could keep her from gaining a place there. She could see that happening.

  Instead of being offered a seat along the wall, the door to the head man’s office opened almost instantly. A roaring came from inside first, as the large fellow nearly jogged to the thing. His face was very round, but he wore a suit, if not a fine one. He was bald on the top of his head, but had a very manly beard on his face, which made her feel instantly better about things.

  Edom was clean shaved, but also not married, so it was fitting. That left her a bit uneasy most days, since it was just possible that he might have tried to take advantage of her sexually at some point. Except that, of course, he was a man of very fine character, who hadn’t done so much as suggest she clean the house as repayment for living there. She had done it, but no one had requested it of her at all.

  Principal Moffet smiled at them, but after a moment locked eyes with her. His deep blue to her brown.

  “Miss Rome? Please come in. I hear that you wish to enroll here?” They were shown into the space, which was tidy, holding a nice, but not rich seeming desk, and several padded chairs which were clearly more designed for function than attractiveness. That was actually perfect for her. A far more comforting thing than if she’d walked in to find the man had a palatial set up for himself. This showed that he didn’t take the funds needed for teaching all for his own comfort, pretty clearly.

  She sank smoothly into the offered chair. Eve and Edom did the same, on either side of her, protectively. The Human man moved behind his desk, being a bit clumsy about it. Then, he wasn’t a fighter or a being with great physical powers, so that seemed correct. If he’d been particularly good at movement it would have seemed out of place. Like a trap.

  This was better, she decided.

  “Yes, sir. If allowed. My records don’t really meet your standards and there are some risks involved in my being here. I think they are small, really, but it isn’t my decision to make.”

  That got the man to furrow his brow, then he glanced at Edom, seeking clarification from the other man there. As was proper. Men led with outsiders, after all. At least among her old people, The Gray.

  Not so much in the real world however, she’d noticed.

  That meant she wasn’t shocked when it was Eve Benson who spoke instead.

  “Avery is a shape shifter. A Dragon, in her case. There have been no openly Shifter school students in with Humans so far. It could be an issue for some. Also, and I think this was her real point, there have been attacks on some of the other groups by the Human government in the last weeks. If that happened here, at your school, the kids might be in danger.” She stopped then and grinned.

  It was a charming thing, that got the man in front of her to smile back, even if her point a moment befor
e had been very real.

  “Of course, that won’t happen. They might try for her coming in the morning, or as she left for the day, but the truth of the matter is that the President and most of the people he commands are on our side, not the attackers. Going after her where kids could be hurt wouldn’t play for anyone, so it’s probably safe that way. Which means that you only have to worry about bullies, name calling and fist fights, if she’s attacked.”

  It clearly took several moments for the chubby man, who was rather pale, to get the idea. Interestingly, instead of shouting no, loudly, and pointing at the door with a commanding air, he sat back, took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

  “Our mission statement is to provide education for any student that’s of age. There’s nothing in that which would let us discriminate based on almost any other factor. Do you have your transcripts with you?” He waved at the papers that Edom had in his hand, carried in a leather folio. It was a very fine thing provided by the Vampire, which was handed over almost instantly, across the expanse of the desk top.

  That meant the man looked at it for a while, finally snorting.

  “This… This isn’t an educational record, it’s a military one… For you, it seems?” He glanced up at Avery then, smiling a bit.

  “Yes, sir. I was at the military training facility for my people, the Shifter Nation, for three years, more or less. I was deployed to the Congo for three months on a mission, so have active service as well as training. I also underwent line walker training, successfully having completed the program.”

  It wasn’t in the file however, which the man clearly would figure out in a few moments. For a second she wondered if it would be better off to have not mentioned that part of things, but Eve nodded at her, smiling.

  “That means she sat in the timeless void between worlds for hundreds of years and learned how to pass between them. Think of it as cut rate teleportation? She needs a node for it to work, so she won’t be popping in and out of classes that way or anything disruptive like that. I think her point here is that she’s a really hard worker, and is willing to apply that to studies here, if given a chance.”

  The man nodded then, looked at her record and then shrugged.

  “Well, this isn’t going to match up with our system, grade wise, but you do seem to have gotten good reports from your instructors over all. Excellent, in fact. We’re just beginning our current term here, so we can tuck you into classes now. As for the rest, well, how do you want to handle that? The Shifter portion of things… If you don’t wish to have it known, I can keep my mouth shut.”

  He seemed to mean it, but Avery swallowed and then shook her head. It was going to be a bit shy seeming, she knew. That was just a part of her. She could fight it, but in the end, if she didn’t work to seem bold, she simply didn’t.

  “No, sir. I’m going to be very forward with this, if I can? Hopefully I won’t be attacked too much. Someone has to go first, so it may as well be me. People need to see that Shifters aren’t a huge danger to them, day to day.” That was her real plan, after all. To show that she was a reasonable person and that attacking her kind wasn’t needed.

  How well that worked was up to the Humans, however.

  The man, Moffet, smiled at her then.

  “All right. We can back you up on that as well. We’ve never had one of the new groups here before. Well, not that I know of. I think the first thing would be to do all the standard paperwork? Sorry, I didn’t get your names, yet? Are you Avery’s parents?”

  She winced a bit, since that wasn’t the case at all. They were her friends, but not beholden to her even as guardians. Asking such a question would point that out very clearly. Too much so, for comfort.

  Instead, Edom nodded. Then lied.

  “Adopted, but that’s right. I know, she does look like she could be our child, but Eve and I are both Vampires, so that doesn’t work very well. You understand? The dead can’t have children of their own. Not biological ones. We tend to do that in other ways, given that.”

  The man stiffened a bit then, his face going through several different permutations. What he was thinking didn't really come out however, though the flavor of his words told her a lot about what he was considering. It was mainly worry about being attacked suddenly, even as he realized that Edom and Eve weren’t being threatening at all. They seemed really normal. Like most parents. More polite than some, it seemed.

  Avery was, as in most cases, the odd one there.

  Meaning Moffet finally smiled at them.

  “Oh? Not a problem. We just need names and contact information for the files. Let’s take care of that?”

  The whole thing took about an hour, made longer since they had to dig for several pieces of information about her. She didn’t have a Social Security number on record at all, for instance, which in the end had to be left off the paperwork. Her family, The Gray, didn’t do that kind of thing, not being beholden to any government.

  The school day was over by the time everything was finished, meaning that she didn't have to attend a class that day. Instead she was given a list of supplies that would be needed, as well as a map of the building to memorize and a schedule as to where she had to go for class duties at different times of day. Thankfully she had a watch, or that part would end up confusing her. She, and apparently all Dragons, just weren’t that great with the concept of time. What she could do was look at numbers and count, acting when they told her to, even if she didn't really sense the passing of such things in the same way as others.

  The Principal shook all of their hands on the way out.

  “I’ll arrange for you to speak to your home room class in the morning? Tell them what you think they should know about you and I have no doubt that the rumor mill will have it all over the school by the end of the day. If you have any problems, make sure you report it here instantly. We don’t need issues. Oh, let me… I need to get you an I.D. Keep this on you while you’re here, constantly. It needs to be visible. For security reasons.”

  That was different for her, but she nodded at the idea. If their base needed that kind of security, then she’d do her best to operate by the protocols in place. It took a bit, since the man wasn’t the one who operated the machinery needed, but there was a simple laminated identification card for her with a hole in it so it could be worn constantly each day, before they left.

  On the way out, Eve smiled at her. It was a bit forced seeming. Everything coming from a Vampire was that way, since they didn't really have the same emotions as most beings did, but this one was designed to seem that way, Avery thought.

  “You don’t have to do this, you get that right? No one in the world expects you to be more than a line walker. Heck, if you just wanted to sit around reading or playing video games, you’d probably get at least a few years before anyone thought anything of it.”

  That was, Avery knew, simply the truth. As hard as it was to believe. Several people had told her basically the same thing so far at least. That her obligations to others were well and truly paid up to date with them. Except of course, that her true nature, being a Death Serpent, a Dragon, meant that she could never truly balance that kind of thing out with the world. She fought off a wince then, since she knew, pretty solidly now, that it wasn’t the truth.

  Dragons were just as good as anyone else. She, too, was as worthy as anyone. The Gray had been a nest of bigots and prejudiced supremacists. They were also wrong. Every being had a place and value. It might not always be apparent, of course, but it was there, if you searched for it hard enough.

  Instead of arguing about the idea, she smiled at her best friend, Eve. She was closer to her in a lot of ways than to anyone else in the world. Edom was right in that mix as well. She lived with them after all. So it was down to them, Commander Hart from the training base and then her new friends. Rebekah, Scotty, Steve and Tyler.

  They had a band, which was actually pretty good.

  Those were, more or less, her people. The one
s that had chosen to stand by her, even if they didn’t have to. There were some others who might count as well, eventually, but she wasn’t as sure of them yet.

  So, she nodded at her friend then, walking out to the now empty parking lot.

  “I know. Still, I need to fill my days somehow. It’s either do this, or get a real job.” Her words managed to be nearly playful for once, getting a laugh from the other two.

  Eve sighed a bit, a wash of light pink energy moving in and out of her from the world around her as she did it.

  “You’re working at the bookstore today?”

  It was true, though her part wasn’t about books, as interesting as those could be. She was up for line transfer work, since Zack, the Demon who ran the shop, seemed to like her for that kind of thing. Avery was being paid a lot for the effort, even if she only had to work about twelve hours a week.

  “From four to eight, today. It’s Trollienkeine Tuesday, so it might be busy for me.”

  Eve was up on that one, but Edom wasn’t really, so he made a questioning sound at her as they climbed into his small, very sporty and expensive, red car. It was, she’d been assured by Eve, the sort of thing that would have gotten Ed laid, if he cared much about that kind of thing. Possibly with offers coming in, even if he wasn’t.

  She explained the concept of the new program to him, which had actually been the idea of the Demon at the shop. He couldn’t, for various reasons, allow himself to give away much of his time or efforts for free. Avery however was a Dragon. Also a millionaire already, which wasn’t hard to do for a line walker. So she could donate her work to groups that couldn’t normally afford that kind of thing, like the Trollienkeine. They were a good people, who weren’t actually poor, but they didn’t really use gold for anything, or a lot of other non-useful metals. That meant they didn't have a lot of money at hand. What they did do was go off on heroic journeys, quests and that kind of thing, in order to help others. It was just part of their culture.