Dragon 1 Chapter 4 (Patreon)

We only walked about fifteen minutes off campus before we came upon the bar that Jadelyn had intended, but it was clearly part of the city and not the campus.

Steam rose from a vent in the sidewalk, as the warm subway air clashed with the chilly fall wind. You could hear the SEPTA roaring under our feet. Unlike campus, Philadelphia proper just felt a little grungier, more worn down. Most surfaces were covered in a layer of old coal power plant soot.

But that didn’t stop any of the hustle as people moved through the sidewalks, a constantly flowing stream of humanity, and cars packed the streets in the mid-day traffic.

I smiled, always enjoying myself when I was out in the city. I’d moved out of the burbs and into the city when my foster parents had died. It had served as a good distraction from my melancholy mind back then. I’d grown accustomed to the bustle. Never could I imagine a world where I’d go back to the burbs. I had a feeling the deafening silence would drive me crazy.

“That guy up there. Look closely. Do you see his ears?” Jadelyn was gesturing to a guy about to enter the bar.

I paused, taking the man in, and a bit shocked to see what she was referencing. “I see him alright, what’s he?”

“Elf. I wanted to warn you about them. They hold the largest bloc on the eastern council and a pretty large bloc on the global council.”

She was getting into things I didn’t understand. “What a bloc? Something political from the sound of it?”

“Oh, right. Basics. Okay, so there’s three councils in the states- East, West and Central. Philly is the hub of the eastern section.”

I had more questions about that, but we were close enough that I could see the sign for the bar. On a simple black awning in white letters, it read ‘Bumps in the Night’.

I paused, forgetting our current conversation. “Isn’t the name a little on the nose?” I pointed at the sign.

Jadelyn looked up and chuckled. “You’ll find that most para’s have a little humor about hiding in plain sight. But stop and really think. Before you knew about all of this, how would you take it?”

I opened my mouth and then closed it again. Music, sex, and dancing all came to mind. Not paranormal creatures. I shook my head with a grin on my face.

Yeah, it did have a sort of humor.

“See? You get it. Now come on in.” She walked up to the dark black fire-doors, opened them and waltzed right in.

Over my shoulder, no one paid us any attention, but I felt like I should be more secretive about it.

“Don’t dally, just come in. No one goes to a nightclub during the day.”

“I thought you said it was a bar.” I moved through the doorway, my eyes adjusting to the dark entrance hall.

“You’ll see.”

We stepped through a pair of curtains, and I squinted as my eyes adjusted from the dark hallway to the warmly lit room.

The place was enormous. Black leather and studded detailing seemed to be the primary decor covering the walls, except for a massive decorative mirror behind the bar, and dark velvet curtains over the stage.

But this was just the first room. It looked like the place sprawled back, going down another level to a dance floor. And beyond that I was able to make out glimpses of smaller, more intimate rooms.

But my eyes flashed back to the room I was in, which held a rainbow of skin colors. I tried not to stare, but there were so many supernaturals out in the open, I wasn’t quite sure what to do.

A Satyr was sitting at the bar as if it was just another day, somehow the casualness of it struck me. And nearby him was a big green skinned guy I assumed was an orc eating with a brighter green smaller companion that must have been a goblin.

I started to pick out the ears on a number of supernaturals that came in every shade from normal human pink to dark blue. Others had wings and horns adorning them. My brain was spinning as I tried to take it all in.

The way some of them looked at me made me think I was the oddball out.

It wasn’t till Jadelyn pulled my hand laughing that I realized I must have been gawking.

“Come on. This place is neutral, so safe for the most part.”

“Why Philly?” was the first question that popped out of my mouth.

She shrugged. “Goes back to our history. Well, that and the city is big enough to get lost in, yet so much quieter than New York or DC. But there is a presence of supernaturals in most big cities.”

“History?” That caught my attention.

She found a low table in the corner with plush leather chairs and set her bag down, taking a seat. “Okay, I know I’m dropping a lot on you at once. But the simple answer is that in the 1700’s our secrets started to leak out. We fled all over the world to avoid the church and their hunters.”

“Wait, like the church, like the Vatican?” I clarified.

“Sort of. That’s what it has become, but back then the church was much more… brutal. Anyway, many of the paranormal scattered to the states, some went elsewhere. But the end result was that all the paranormal organizations lost touch with each other. Some formed smaller organizations all over the world, some faded into obscurity to protect themselves.”

I realized where she was going with this one. “Lost ones.”

She nodded, giving me a sympathetic look. “Exactly. It’s easy to forget, given we grew up with the budding internet, but before then, communications across large areas weren't possible. Only now in the last twenty years or so have the para groups started to reintegrate into these larger councils, which has been its own political nightmare.

“So finding lost ones isn’t uncommon. Typically, you’d integrate into one of the existing clans.”

I nodded along, having a little trouble focusing with all the oddities displayed before me. It wasn’t so much that any particular supernatural was making me gawk, but I couldn’t stop taking each in and wondering if I was the same type of supernatural they were deep down.

“It sounds like if it’s political like that, there are sides?”

“You could say that. There are clans. The three big ones on the east coast are Sirens, Elves and the Faerie.” She explained.

“So, what’s with Sirens being in charge, no offense, but that’s not exactly how media displays paranormal society.”

Jadelyn rolled her eyes. “If you think we are a bunch of pretty things that sit on rocks and sing for attention, you’d be dead wrong. We control the sea trade routes, and have for hundreds of years.”

My mouth made a big O at that. “Like all of them?”

She smirked. “Yes. We own all the big shipping companies now. The way my father describes it, we used to be more like some mixture between pirates and merchants. We’d crash our competition while we controlled which boats got where. Eventually our competitors gave up, and we owned all the sea bound trading companies. We’ve kept a tight fist on it all, even if we’ve broken it up so no one really knows.”

I let out a small whistle. If that was true, that was some real old money shit. Like, enough to make her title of a princess not an exaggeration. “And you’re the heir to all of that?”

“Heir to my family, which directly owns much of that.”

Before I could ask any more questions, one of the elves strolled over to our table and set down a large bottle of fancy looking whiskey. It was half gone, and it wasn’t even noon.

“Well, hello princess. I thought you’d run off on us.”

“Can it, Simon. Even if you want to do this now, I’m going to point out my friend here is a lost one who has just come to us last night. Let’s have him see a good side to our culture.”

Simon gave me an appraising look while I did the same. He looked like a pretty boy. He was almost too clean and primped, with buttons on his shirt that glittered like they might actually be made of silver.

“What’re you?” But he didn’t wait for me to answer. “Nevermind, doesn’t matter. Look, bit of advice man to man? Don’t let this little slut lure you into her side with her looks. She’s been whored out to the weres by her dear ol’ daddy. It’s a trick the two of them have pulled a dozen times. Find a strong para, have her lure them into their side, only to pull a bait and switch. If you ask me, I’m rooting for Chad to bend her over before they can pull the switch.”

Jadelyn’s face had become a cold steely mask of forced neutrality, but there was no doubt there was a volcano of fury just under that cold practiced expression.

So far, she was the one paranormal friend I had, and I had no intention of sitting there and watching this guy rile her up.

“Noted. If that’s all, we’re in the middle of a conversation.” I rose to my feet, hoping to tower over him, but only had a scant inch of height on him. It was the pointy ears.

He ignored me and looked at Jadelyn. “Already got this one wrapped around your little fingers, huh? Look at him standing up for you.”

“Enough.” I growled.

His eyes snapped back to me and with a quirk of an eyebrow, he reached his hand out an inch from my chest and stated. “Invoketis.”

Next thing I knew, I was being launched back, like he’d just hit me with a localized hurricane. My body crashed into a thankfully empty table, shattering it and landing in the prickly mess.

That woke my beast up, and it shook its head out, trying to dispel the daze. Getting it together, I pulled myself out of the wreck of the table, more than a little pissed.

“See, he’s fine.” The elf pointed before taking a swig of the whiskey and wiping his mouth.

Jadelyn was standing now, and her eyes had changed into a cool silver. The neutral mask she’d been wearing was gone, replaced by a look of barely contained violence.

In that moment, I didn’t feel like containing my violence. I could feel it bubble up inside me, like a volcanic rage was going to come spewing out of my mouth any second.

“Enough.” A new voice projected across the room. To punctuate the shout, Simon’s whiskey bottle shattered, and a knife quivered where it had found its new spot in the table. “You know better than to start something here.”

From a balcony above, another elf stepped out. Her skin was a beautiful azure blue and her hair was a bundle of silver strands tied up behind her head. She stalked down the stairs so fluidly that it was hard to believe she was in tall black heels with leather pants and a corset.

The whole room was quiet as she glared on her way down.

The silence was only broken by Simon quickly stating. “He started it.”

“Ah, of course. Because he stood up? I can see how that would be so intimidating.” She gave him a bored look. “I heard it all. He’s a lost one, recently found, yet you decided to provoke him and hit first.”

There were gasps throughout the bar and looks of disgust were thrown Simon’s way.

“I was only trying to educate him about the skank that was luring him into her clan.”

“And you’d accept him with open arms. I’m sure.” The blue elf rolled her eyes.

Simon still held the neck of the broken bottle and lifted it to his lips before glaring down and remembering it was gone. “Of course. The elves are magnanimous.”

“You dare say that to me? Get out.” She snapped, and I barely caught the swift motion of her wrist before Simon’s clothing tore, and another knife wobbled in the wall behind him.

Turning pale as a sheet, he must not have liked his odds, because he hurried out of the bar after that. His swift exit seemed to only embolden the whispers in the bar, as a number of elves got up and scurried after him.

The leather-clad elf approached me, somehow suddenly in front of us. I looked to where the stairs had been, trying to figure out how she’d crossed the entire floor in the brief time I’d been looking away, but her voice drew me back. “I’m sorry. He likes to antagonize people. Almost more than drinking.”

Seeing her up close, I realized she had a pair of fangs protruding from her lips. “I’m Morgana.” I’d been sure she was an elf, but the fangs made me pause.

“Uh. Zach.” I did my best not to stare into her cleavage that was pressed up on display.

“Hey Morg.”

“Jade. Sorry about Simon. You know when he comes back I can’t bar him from here.” Now that she was speaking naturally, she had a clear Swedish accent.

Jadelyn wrinkled her nose. “It’s fine. But I don’t want to talk about him. I brought you our friend here, brand spanking new to the para world.”

Morgana gave me a once over and leaned in, stretching her neck as her nose brushed the soft skin of my neck. She sniffed, then her tongue lapped against my skin, tracing a path along my jaw.

It sent my blood straight south, and I cleared my throat to hide my awkwardness. “What are you doing?”

“Seeing what you might be.” She came up and smiled, showing off her fangs.

“Oh. Oh! Sure go ahead, sorry I just…”

Jadelyn and Morgana giggled like two girls sharing a secret. “Oh, no, it’s okay. That was hot.” Jadelyn got out. “You just have to get used to Morg. She does everything her own way.”

Morgana shrugged. “I like leather, and I like sex. No reason to hide it.” She turned back to me. “But unfortunately, I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting whatever you are before.”

My hopes for an easy answer plummeted.

“I could always take a nibble, and see if it’s something I’ve tasted before.” Her fangs caught the light a little, and suddenly I was very aware that I had no idea what she was.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but what are you?”

She smiled. “Good answer. You should always try to understand not just who, but what you are dealing with in the para world.” She pulled up another chair to our table and sat down, crossing her legs. “What I am has a little bit of a story to go along with it, so you might as well get comfortable.”

I took the cue and sat down as did Jadelyn.

Morgana snapped a finger, and a server seemed to materialize from behind me. “Two beers and one of my special vintages. He really roused my hunger.”

“Of course.” The server sped away with unnatural speed.

“Vampire?”

“Him? Yes. Me? Not so simple. I started off as a dark elf, but was turned into a vampire.” She saw my look of interest and chuckled. “Yeah, sounds great. I get that.”

I nodded. “I mean, double immortality, right? Extra strong? Doesn’t sound too bad. But guessing there’s more to it.”

Morgana gave a throaty chuckle. “First of all, elves aren’t immortal. They are just long lived. We’ll never know if vamps are truly immortal, because they kill each other too much. Suffice it to say though, that both of them hate each other’s guts.”

I paused, considering that. My guess is the mixing of their para types didn’t happen very often. “So neither were a fan of your mixed status?”

Jadelyn swallowed a laugh as Morgana continued. “You could say that. The elves swear they can’t be turned into such vile creatures. So in their minds, the fact that I was a vampire means I never was an elf.” She rolled her eyes. “And then the vampires love to get a rise out of the elves, so they love to use me as a prop to prove that the elves aren’t as pure as they think they are. It’s a mess. But I do tend to get along better with vampires than elves.”

She raised her hand just before the server reappeared and placed a champagne glass of bubbling red liquid in her hands. “Cheers to your first toddling steps into the para world.”

I took the offered beer and clinked it with her glass, taking a tentative sip of the overly hoppy beer before putting it down. She drank deeply from her glass and set it down.

“Is that blood?”

“Going right for the jugular, I see. Not exactly. It is made with blood, though. We still drink fresh, but long ago we used the same tactics that humans did and tried to ferment our drink of choice. Technology has only made such dabblings easier.”

I nodded, interpreting that it was some sort of champagne-like blood. Not exactly what I expected, but it made sense that they’d find some sort of interesting drink over the years.

“If you’re curious, you can take a sip. It won’t hurt you.”

I paused, initially hesitant. But I wanted to learn more about the world, and to do that, I’d need to experience more. I picked up her glass and barely let it pass my lips. It was like a super sweet champagne, but riding underneath that flavor was a heavy metallic taste that hinted at the blood. The aftertaste wasn’t entirely pleasant, but I had a feeling it likely was to her.

“It’s an acquired taste, I know. But after you drink blood for centuries, something without that tang just seems empty.” She took her flute back and took a small sip before putting it down.

Morgana seemed laid back and in no rush. But I wanted to know more. “So, Jadelyn said you’d be able to give me an introduction to the para world.”

“You brought him to me? I thought you’d pick him up quickly.” Morgana looked to Jadelyn, surprised.

She shrugged. “I made a very poor first impression of him, and now so have the elves. I’m trying to make it right, I guess you could say.”

The drow vampire gave a small snort. “You couldn’t have given him that bad an impression.”

“I mean, I don’t have much of a gauge for bad, but it definitely wasn’t pleasant. Sounds like everybody here seems to know who Chad is?” I asked.

Morgana nodded, her eyes showing increased interest. So I continued. “Well, I bumped into Jadelyn at a bar, and Chad didn’t seem too pleased. I left, but he chased me down and tried to pick a fight.” I took another sip of my beer.

“Oh my. Yet you stand here before me looking healthy. Don’t tell me you won the fight with Chad?” Morgana seemed surprised now, and gave me her full attention.

The intensity of her attention made me blush; I scratched the back of my head, feeling a braggart saying it out loud. “Yeah. I beat him; my beast helped though.”

“You sure you don’t want to drag him to your clan for the intro?” Morgana asked.

But Jadelyn shook her head. “I have a feeling trying to force him to do anything is a poor idea, and I know once my father heard that Zach completely trounced Chad, he’ll try to sink his claws as deeply as he can into Zach.”

Morgana licked her lips. “Then I accept. Zach, I’ll be the one teaching you the ropes about the para world. Do you accept?”

I paused. The way she said it had a formal edge to it that set off alarm bells in my head. Something about who taught me seemed important. “What does that mean?”

She nodded, clearly approving of my question. “Well, I’ll be responsible for you. And after that incident with Simon, if they want recompense, they have to go through me for it.”

“Wait what? He was being an ass.”

She sighed. “This is why you need someone to show you around. For what you did, he could very easily request a duel.” Morgana paused and looked me in the eye as she elaborated. “To the death.”

AN: Things are starting to get interesting.