Dragon Something Ch 1 (Patreon)

I'm not sure what the formal title of this will be. Urban is growing in popularity and today I was ahead enough on Dao 2 that it was a fun write day. I'm toying with titles like Dragon's Descent or Dragon Lost. We'll see what I end up with, but this may enter the official writing rotation at some point, so tell me what you think of the first few chapters.

Do you ever feel like there’s something primal inside of you, like a beast that occasionally wakes and rattles the cage either for a chance at a hottie or to punch a duche?

Well, I’ve felt that way for a very long time. I thought it was normal, some animal part of the human brain that lingered from evolution. But this is the story of how I learned I wasn’t exactly human.

It all started that night in the club.

Dance music was pumping out of the speakers as a DJ made exaggerated flicks on a sound board and bounced to the beat of his own music. He was pretty good, but let’s be honest, you don’t go to the college bar dance floor for the music.

It was late enough that the floor had that dried beer tackiness under my shoes as Frank and I danced around together like two goofs.

Malinda was there with us, but had left to go get another drink. She and Frank were starting to hit it off, and I was feeling like a third wheel.

That was when the hottest woman I’d ever seen walk past and that beast inside my chest went absolutely nuts. I’m talking crazy, slamming against the cage of my chest, begging for a piece of her.

Platinum blond hair, a loose silk shirt that bunched precisely at her impressive chest and she had the gall to wear the tightest pair of white jeans I’d ever seen. They looked like they were painted on.

“What are you doing?” Frank yelled over the music.

I’d take a step to follow her and realized now how stupid that had been. She was so far out of my league; it wasn’t even funny.

But that beast in my chest slammed even harder, rattling in its cage, begging me to chase her down.

“I’ll catch up with you later Frank.” I said before I even knew what was coming out of my mouth.

I followed her through the crowd, squeezing through dancers on the floor, until she found an open place and started twisting and dancing on her own.

She couldn’t be alone here, right?

Yet she danced there alone in a sinuous dance that called to me and my inner beast clawed at to join.

I threw caution to the wind and stepped up to her and started dancing. Not too close, mind you.

She must have felt me nearby, because she shifted back, grinding that ass of her tight white jeans into me and leaned her head back, letting out the most beautiful voice, just a single note that seemed to reverberate through me.

That beast in my chest for the first time in a long while was completely still. It almost seemed happy in that moment just to hear that single note from her throat.

But that was when her eyes went wide and she looked up into my face. Then past me in shock and maybe a little horror.

Behind me was the colleges quarterback, Chad Brodie, showing off his muscles in the tightest shirt I’d ever seen on a dude. The two plastic drink cups in his hands squished and shot their contents up into his face.

That only seemed to make things worse as his eyes glowed with anger.

Like, they really fucking glowed.

Things were getting strange, and I was feeling a little in over my head. Okay that’s a lie. I felt like I’d just been dropped in an ocean of shit.

“Run, I’ll deal with this.” The woman said. Again her voice just tickled along everything inside me. But she turned to Chad and another one of those soothing notes came out of her mouth, and Chad’s eyes dulled.

I turned and left. Chad had a record on campus. Rumors floated around him that seemed to get hushed out real quick, supernaturally quick.

They say he’s sent more than one guy to the hospital. Some never came back to school. Some might have not even made it back to their families. Yet all of those rumors went to ground hard, like someone was purposefully trying to squash them.

He was also an all-star football player that was going to leave college a year early for an early seed spot in the NFL. He was crazy good and part of our two year winning streak.

I needed to get the hell out of there. Don’t pass go, don’t collect my two friends. I Just went out the side exit for the bar.

Shit, that had been crazy. I took a deep breath, feeling the stress build and leave.

“Ha.” I barked a laugh at everything and got a few odd looks from drunk passerbys.

It would be a great story for Frank tomorrow.

Speak of the devil. My phone started blowing up.

DUUUUUDDE WTF was that.

Right, he’d probably watched the whole thing, I realized.

Hell if I know, but I think I’m done for the night.

Zack, we can be out in a few minutes.

I rolled my eyes. Maybe it would be good for those two to be alone for a while. I’d been feeling vibes that Malinda might be into Frank.

No, you two have fun. Make a move on Mal. I need to go cool my head, anyway.

The beast inside my chest was furious with me. Thrashing in my chest because I fled from the conflict. I took one look down the college bar street and decided maybe it would be best for me to just make the trek across campus and cool off.

School just got started a few months ago, and the nights were cool and crisp, in the height of fall.

I stuffed my hands in my pockets and started the familiar walk, down the bar street and through the large stone arch into campus proper.

It was a little creepy with all the class buildings dark and the campus abandoned except a few others like him that were taking the fastest route across campus to where ever they were going.

But such was life. We all took the fast route, even if it was a tad creepy.

“Raaa.” A charging yell came from my side, as I just had a moment to see Chad barreling at me before he tackled me to the ground.

My back stung as twig scrapped into my back and my chest burned as the wind was knocked out of it.

“Fuck you.” Chad punctuated his displeasure with a punch to the side of my head that left me dizzy and and my ears ringing.

Badum Badum

Besides the ringing, I could hear my heartbeat powerfully and it felt like something was changing. Something big.

My turn.

A deep, gravely voice spoke in my head, and it felt like my whole body rumbled with its words.

Your turn. What the fuck?

I rolled back and got my feet under Chad before I kicked and launched him off. There was a rumbling growing in my chest, and I realized I was growling.

No little pup will pin me down.

Chad looked dumb struck as I stood up and squared off against him. Now he was growling too.

The woman was there at the side, panting. “I apologize. Chad, heel.” She demanded. Clearly Chad wasn’t quite as alpha as he put out if she was going to whip him like that.

“Go crawl back to your master. Before you get hurt.” My voice was deep, and it was like watching one of those TV shows where you just knew that was the wrong thing to do.

No, I didn’t want to say that. It never ends well when you egg on the jock.

But I wasn’t in control.

Chad roared and… shifted. His spine crackled like someone had just stepped on bubble wrap. His face became beastial and he sprouted fur over his arms.

If I’d been in control of my body, I would have been picking up my jaw from the floor. Was Chad a… werewolf?

Someone pinch me.

I was stepping into something crazy tonight. Either I had been slipped something at the bar or the world was a lot more weird that I ever knew.

What I did know was that the beast that always resided in my chest was out and perhaps my best hope of making this out alive, so for once, I let it lead.

“Heel!” the woman demanded and punctuated it with a piercing whistle that made me dizzy.

Chad tottered over, and I thought it was over for a second before he launched himself at me.

Fangs and fur streaked at me and I sidestepped in a blink and grabbed one of his out-stretched arms before spinning him in a circle and slamming him down on the concrete hard enough to shatter that sidewalk paver.

“Pathetic pup, you should learn to respect your betters.” I growled over him and placed my foot on his chest, starting to lean down on him with my weight.

“Please spare him. I am Princess Jadelyn and my family would compensate you for the damage done here today.”

She sounded important, but just then I learned the beast gave absolutely zero shits.

“Silence. This is retribution. You should both learn your place in the world.” I or he… I wasn’t sure if I was going crazy just yet… pushed my foot down on Chad’s chest. I was going to kill him.

Jadelyn screamed, and the air rippling out of her mouth.

I jumped and rode the wave of sound several yards away from where Chad lay. My ears were ringing, and I felt the warm trickle of blood coming out from one side.

Hey, uhh beast. Can we get out of there? That scream will have people running here and that’ll be more trouble that we need.

There was a deep rumble in my chest, and unwillingness.

I felt that it had at least listened to me. Hey, lets get out of here and talk. I think we need to have a nice long chat.

Yes, we do.

That seemed to satisfy it more than an idea of running.

I turned my back to the pair and started walking away before something clicked and I was back in control of my body. I almost stumbled, but turned it into a glance behind me.

Jadelyn was staring at me in horror. I had done something completely out of her expectation. Her eyes tracked me even now as I stared back at her.

A smirk came across my lips. I just couldn’t help it.

I felt like a fucking badass.

Of course, that all ended when my body wracked with pain, and my head spun. I focused on moving one foot in front of the other and getting out of there.

It felt like pain was catching up with me and I wanted to get back home and lock the doors.

The rest of the trip back to my place was blessedly uneventful, but my chest and head continued to ache.

The scream of a siren is very powerful indeed. That we walked away from it is worthy in its own right.

I checked to make sure Frank wasn’t home before talking to myself.

“Well, it hurts like a bitch.”

It will pass. We have other things to worry about. The pain in your gut is not from her.

“Then what is it from?”

Me. You need to eat. Your body is going to change rapidly.

Now that the beast said it, I could feel that ache in my chest was coming from my gut. I’d thought it might be from getting throttled, but the more I focused the more I realized it was from my stomach.

Opening the fridge, there wasn’t much besides Frank’s half a box of pizza from the other night and condiments. No other real food.

“Sorry Frank, but I’m starving.” I pulled out a slice of the greasy cheap pizza, but even cold it tasted better than anything I’d had in a long time.

You’ll need more.

“How much more?”

Several times what you have there.

I wasn’t going to do a grocery run at this hour. So I pulled out my phone and used an app to order three large pizzas.

“What now?”

You eat, and then you sleep. I am tired as well.

I wasn’t sure why, but I got the sense that the beast curled in on itself and settled down after that.

“Did you just go to sleep on me?” I asked the empty apartment and when there was no reply, I felt stupid.

The pizza came, and I surprised myself when I pounded down all three of them and still felt like I had room for more. My stomach felt like a bottomless pit and the pizzas were just a drop in the bucket.

I gave up though and headed to bed. It wasn’t like I was going to die from malnutrition, right?

Sleep came quickly as soon as I put my head down. I only woke once during the night when Frank came home and drunkly yelled for me. He must have got the hint because things went quiet till a rhythmic pounding beat against his wall.