The Dragon Coin by Aiden James Read Free Book Online Page A

Roderick and me. The kid, a striking blue-eyed blonde with dimples, smiled sheepishly and ran over to where we stood.
    “You should be more careful, “ I said to him, using the Serbian dialect I remembered from long ago, and prepared for him not to understand, since modern Montenegrin is the official tongue taught in Budvan schools.
    He nodded shyly and took the ball from me, bowing before taking a step to rejoin his buddies, who wore similar awkward smiles. I assumed he had merely read my tone and facial expression, but then he stopped and looked back at us, this time knowingly.
    “Dracul looks forward to your attendance tonight at his palace,” he said, in English delivered with a strong Slavic accent, surprising us. “Return here at midnight. His coachmen will be waiting.”
    The lad ran to rejoin his mates.
    “Hey, wait!” Roderick called after him. “What’s your name?”
    He took a step back toward us and stopped, and the knowing smile turned mischievous.
    “Mortis is my name,” he said.
    “And your family name?” Not sure why it mattered to me, but I suddenly thought this youth might be blood related to our nemesis. “Do you live around here?”
    He laughed as if my question inspired hilarity, and his buddies joined in. Roderick and I glanced at each other, warily.
    “Do you have such a name, Judas?” he retorted, and I scarcely recognized the boy who humbly approached us just a minute ago. “At least my name is genuine, and not a name intended to deceive. Same for you, Mr. Cooley.”
    What the hell?!
    “Just make sure you’re both here at midnight,” he advised, again, when all either Roderick or I could do was stare at him as mutes, dumbfounded. “My master is most cruel when people disappoint him.”
    He turned away and this time the entire group ran back from whence they came. I would certainly understand the expectation of these kids suddenly disappearing into thin air as they moved further down the beach. But we were able to watch their progress until their images grew too faint to track. We missed most of a gorgeous sunset settling in the west as a result. All the while, the foreboding feeling from earlier worsened.
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
     
    The beach wasn’t deserted until shortly after 11:30 p.m., despite an earlier curfew. Not that we waited around the entire evening for our dreaded appointment. Believing this might well be the end of our nineteen centuries of shared existence on planet earth, Roderick and I returned to our hotel room to bathe according to our ancient customs. Then we dined at the Stari Grad after the concierge gave the restaurant high marks. To her credit, the octopus ragu was better than either Roderick or I imagined it would be.
    After sharing a few drinks and reminiscing on seldom visited highlights from each century before the onset of the twenty-first, we drove back to the parking area looking over the beach just before eleven. Three days shy of its fullness, the moon’s bright beams danced on the water, illuminating the dilapidated pier clearly enough to see the dingy from earlier bobbing in the waves at the pier’s far edge.
    We warily approached the pier, listening intently for any signs of activity, either from the living or the semi-dead, awakened once the sun disappeared along the western horizon. Nothing. Not so much as a soft breath or subdued heartbeat reached my ears. The stillness across the entire deserted beach was unsettling, as if all of nature wanted to observe our fate from a safe distance. Only the tide’s waves offered assurance the earth carried on without a care or opinion about us.
    “What time is it?” Roderick asked me, bringing my focus back to the task at hand.
    “You mean the moon dial in your pocket no longer works?”
    He shot me a pained look that I answered with an impish grin. Hey, the moment called for a dash of levity. At least I thought so.
    “Eleven-fifty-seven,” I said, after checking the pocket watch I