Dragons Luck

She looked around, and a figure slipped out from behind a tree. It was a small woman, slim and attractive. She flowed as she moved, every step natural and smooth, a kind of roll to her hips that would have made Val feel awkward. Then she smiled, and even in the dim light Val recognized that grin.

“You!”

Val stood quickly as she recognized the woman who had tried to run her over. This was the first time she had seen her when the woman wasn’t behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. She looked dangerous, deadly. Something about her made Val’s heart beat a little faster. Perhaps it was those eyes.

They were broken, it was the only word Val had for them. Like stained glass smashed and crushed together. Shining as if backlit and filled with malevolence. Eyes that swept up and down her, appraising, judging, . . . hating.

“Wow, you are bigger than I thought. A real cow.”

“Why, you little pips—” Val started.

“Little, honey—the Statue of Liberty is ‘little’ compared to you.”

Val was throwing a punch before she had even thought about it, long legs rushing her forward as her fist drove for the woman’s nose.

The hit never landed. She moved so fast Val couldn’t track. It was like trying to punch a single raindrop. The woman crouched, Val’s swing whizzing over her head. She straightened then, and gave a little push to Val’s elbow that twisted the momentum of her missed punch and whirled her about, wrenching her shoulder.

“Who knew my brother had such a thing for livestock?” Lizzy said, looking Val over from behind.

Val started to turn back to Lizzy, only to jump again. The smaller woman had moved forward, and now was pressed against Val’s back. Her hand was very firmly squeezing Val’s ass.

“Mmm. Tender, though. Bet you’d taste good with a little seasoning,” Lizzy said.

Val growled and swung back around, trying to bring her hand down like a hammer onto Lizzy’s head. Lizzy stepped to the side and, with a fluid, circular motion, gripped Val’s wrist and added to her momentum, driving Val’s own fist into her thigh.

Val yelped with pain as her muscles spasmed, leg almost buckling on her.

Lizzy laughed like it was the funniest thing she had ever seen, and her laughter matched her eyes. It was broken, lilting up and down the scales randomly. She actually clasped her hands over her belly as if trying to contain it.

“Oh oh ha! All that strength and only the bittiest little training. I thought this was going to be fun!”

Her face instantly shifted from mirth to anger, as if a light switch had been thrown.

“You . . . SIT!”

The short woman jabbed two fingers into Val’s breastbone, and the force of the blow was staggering. Val found herself stumbling backward, only to crash into one of the chairs. She sat there, stunned, gasping for breath.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve put me through!?”

“What—” Val gasped.

“Shut it! I’m rantin’ here! Girl doesn’t know when to listen to her betters, does she? Stupid cow.”

Lizzy began to pace back and forth, gesturing wildly as she spoke. She only looked at Val occasionally, and seemed to be talking to an audience, or to herself, or some combination thereof.

“Came all the way down here. Used up all my emergency cash. Couldn’t use the credit cards. Oh no, of course not, Mumsy watches those accounts, doesn’t she? Likes to know where her favorite little girl is. All because you and my idiot brother think you can replace me. You can’t! You won’t!”

“What brother?” Val snapped, regaining some of her composure.

“It doesn’t shut up, does it!”

Lizzy looked back at Val, and her eyes flashed. They seemed almost to swirl.

“Nathaniel, you stupid. Who else have you been bumping headboards with? Wait, no, don’t answer that. I so very much don’t want to know. Ugh. And it took me days to find you. Days! What kind of person lives in New Orleans and never walks down Bourbon Street?”

“Shows what you know. Most locals don’t bother with it,” Val said.

Lizzy went still. A moment ago she had been all motion, now she could have been a statue. Her gaze bored into Valerie.

Then, slowly at first, she began to change. She stretched, expanded, till she was as tall as Valerie. Even her clothes seemed to change with her, though Val was pretty sure that was just their cut.

She changed again, milky white scales spreading over her skin. They flowed like water. Iridescent, catching the light and tossing it back like moonstone. Her tongue flicked out, long and forked.

Then again. And in a moment Valerie was looking at an exact copy of herself.

“I can be anything I want. You are already dead, but if you piss me off, I’ll use your own form to rape your brother. So shut it.”

Val quivered with rage, and the armrests of the chair snapped in her hands. Lizzy nodded and smiled at the display, and shifted back into her own form.

“No one knows I’m here. No one is gonna know. They don’t let Lizzy have her fun, especially not if she plans on breaking her brother’s toys,” Lizzy said.