Dragon 1 Chapter 10 (Patreon)

It was hard to make out much through the scope. The inside of the plant was dark, except for an area that had been cleared out and lit with the kind of floor lamps used around construction sites. Between the lamps, clear plastic tents were set up and nearly empty.

Workers hurried about, packing up the last of the paper-wrapped bricks and shoving them into an assortment of bags, from your standard gym bag to a hard shelled suitcase. There was no uniformity, almost like they’d gone bargain shopping for any kind of mobile container they could get.

It felt rushed as they threw everything into a carrier van. There were about six of them left. It felt incomplete.

“They are moving. Either they were tipped off, or someone has really good instincts.” Morgana spat.

I lifted my face away from the scope and handed her the gun back. “Then do we bail? If they know we are coming…”

Morgana shook her head with a dark smile. “No, we’ll do the job, get paid, and tell them their information was bad. If we can find a lead from one of them, that would be ideal.” She rolled off the conveyor, grabbing one of the struts and twisted her way down. She looked intimately familiar with moving on a pole.

I stuffed that thought in the back of my mind and jumped off the conveyor, landing with a thud and no more damage than slightly sore feet. That had been nearly a two-story drop.

“Quiet.” Morgana chided me. I thought I had been quiet, but I reminded myself she and many others had significantly better hearing. “We’ll circle around and hit the truck first. Best to take out their means of escape.” She crouched slightly and slunk across the side of the building. I followed, keeping my eyes up and looking over my shoulder constantly.

The operation came into sight as we rounded on the open bay door that they had been using to move the truck. Distant shouts came from inside.

“Move! Move! We don’t have all night. We need to be gone, now.” A rough voice was ordering people about. No one complained as they all hurried to pack away the last of the bricks into a plain commercial van.

Now that we were closer, I took another look at the few I could see. None had pointy ears, so hopefully, there was no magic to deal with. But the scent of wolves was in the surrounding air. I couldn’t be sure if they were all werewolves. “Weres.” I said quietly to Morgana.

“Humans too.” She glowered into the factory. “We go hard and fast. Count to three and come after me.”

She slipped into the bay door, her gun up on her shoulder as she stood up and took aim. The tip of her gun flashed as a staccato burst of gunfire destroyed the otherwise quiet night.

One.

Morgana moved quickly, her gun snapping from person to person. A quick burst of fire sounded the second she had someone in her sights.

Two.

Blood sprayed into the air as they went down one after the other.

I saw someone blur around the back side of the truck and come for Morgana. I didn’t wait for three, charging from my spot to tackle the vamp into the side of the truck.

The side panel dented as we slammed into it, and the vamp grunted in surprise before she hissed, baring her fangs at me.

Another staccato burst sounded over my shoulder, and the side of her head popped. “Thanks for the assist.” Morgana called, already turning back to the crowd. She’d caught them by surprise and it would seem that only two of them got back up after her first round of fire.

I went to nod, but something outside the factory caught my eye. There were shapes moving in the dark. “I think we have a problem.” I called to her.

Big bipedal shapes came out of the darkness as a line of werewolves appeared. The wolves appeared in a hybrid form, standing tall on two digitigrade legs, their muscles tight even under the fur, like loaded springs. They weren’t that much taller than me, but their perpetual hunch that made them look like they ran as well on four limbs as two was probably misleading.

Then of course, there were the dozen snarling muzzles baring their teeth at me. Can’t forget that.

I heard Morgana’s curse over the gunfire. “I need you to stall them.” She threw her gun down, and I heard the ring of her two blades before I saw them flash. She blurred forward, cutting into two weres that had shifted after the fight had started.

I wanted to watch, but I had my own problems to deal with, apparently. Stall them, she said. Two days in the paranormal world, and I was going to take on multiple werewolves. “I don’t suppose any of you’d like to call it a day?”

All I got in return were growls, and one of the wolves in the back howled to the moon. After that sound, something strange happened. The wolves up front seemed to grow ever so slightly, and their eyes caught the light of the moon and gave off an eerie glow.

More of the wolves in the back started howling and now it was clear the others were growing stronger. Morgana had mentioned they were stronger as a pack, but I didn’t realize till now she meant that literally.

Any hesitation I had burned up in that moment. I couldn’t let them continue. It was now or never.

I charged into the wolves, relying more on my beast’s instinct than any sort of skill I had with fighting, which was essentially none. Cracking the first wolves’ jaw, I sent him flying into a heap, but there were many of them. They quickly closed ranks on me. Good thing I was a whole lot more sturdy than a few days ago.

Punches landed on me, and claws raked across my skin as I tried to block anything that I could. It hurt, but I gave as good as I got, slowly taking down a wolf here or there with my swings. Unfortunately, they seemed to get back up as fast as I could take another down. Meanwhile, their claws left deep scratches, my skin tougher than it used to be, but they were still wearing me down.

That frustration built up in my gut, condensing and becoming fiery anger. This time, I knew what was happening in my body. But I couldn’t get clear of them to get a good shot, and they were surrounding me, so I did the next best thing and breathed straight down.

Fire washed over my feet harmlessly, but it slammed into the floor, melting the stone under my feet and washing outwards. Look, if fire is hot enough to melt stone on impact, let’s just say I was throwing a wolf meat barbeque. The orange and gold flames consumed the wolves and the front half of the van, turning the engine block into shiny play-dough.

Yelps and pleading howls mixed with the roar of flames as the night lit up with the few wolves at the edge that tried to escape. I didn’t let up; my beast wouldn’t let me. It was angry, and nothing these wolves could do was going to stop it. Turning my head towards the runners, I finished the lot of them.

The smell of smoke and char filled the air as I finally let up on the breath, revealing the damage I’d done. One particularly large wolf managed to wobble to its feet. He must have been at the edge of the destruction to have survived, even with their healing. Blacked skin cracked, revealing tender pink flesh beneath it. Even as it glared at me, I could see those cracks closing and it healing.

“You’ll pay for that.” The wolf said in a guttural tone as it fell to all fours.

I scented him, or tried to, but all that filled my nose was the overwhelming smell of barbequed wolf. And if I never smelled a barbequed wolf again, it would be too soon. It was a nasty smell. Next time I’d need to remember to bring some sauce and spices.

The wolf turned and ran, and I couldn’t help but notice that his tail had curled under his legs. Either way, it was far faster than I could hope to be.

“Well, I guess that’s one way to stall them.” Morgana flicked her blade and blood spattered on the floor. She regarded the running wolf, but didn’t give chase.

“Did you know that would happen?” I asked, feeling suddenly like I was strapped with hundred pound weights. My body sagged.

“Hoped we’d see something. Though…” She looked around at the dozen or so dead wolves that were starting to change back to humans, humans that were just as crispy as their wolf bodies. “I’d hoped to take someone alive.”

The ground underneath me was already solid again, red hot and warped for its efforts. Sadly, my shoes and the bottom half of my pants didn’t make it.

Movement caught my eye, and the vamp that Morgana had shot had her face regrowing. “She looks like she might be healing.” I pointed her out. “Should I give her some blood?”

Morgana’s face became a frown. “I don’t think that’s wise.” She sniffed at me. “Your blood smells absolutely delicious. Even I’m having some trouble being around you. That little baby would be stuck on you like a leach if she got a lick. Not to mention, the bite may affect you.” She gave me a look over the top of her nose.

Right, vamp bites are addictive. I’d rather not go down that route.

“Got something in the car for her then?” I asked.

“Yeah, under the driver's seat in the van, there should be a case. Go get it. I’ll watch over and do a quick sweep.”

I pulled myself together and hurried out to the minivan. Thankfully, it had been left alone. I pulled out the case Morgana had mentioned. Popping it open, it had five small vials of red liquid. I closed it and hurried back to Morgana, opening it and setting it by the vamp.

Morgana snapped one of the vials and poured it down the vamp’s throat. She was still healing, but slowly.

Feeling awkward just standing there, I decided to make myself useful and scope the area, keeping an eye on everything. As I walked through, taking in the scene, a part of me wished I had decided not to. Morgana had mowed down the half a dozen or so people on one side of the van. The two wereswolves that she’d taken on with her blades… well, they were entirely unrecognizable. I was just barely able to get a look at the heads. One was a balding man I’d place in his fifties and the other young, maybe not even old enough to drink yet.

I wandered back over to Morgana.

“Morgana? Is this operation related to the pack that Chad leads?”

She looked around at all the dead wolves. “Packs are often of the same age group. The kids from one pack tend to set off on their own and reform a new pack with other weres of a similar age. But these… they are all different ages, all different walks of life.” She shook her head in answer to my question.

The vampire below her took a deep breath and looked at the both of us before taking in the scene with wide eyes. “I swear I had nothing to do with this.”

“That’s pretty hard to believe.” I said, crouching but making sure to be far enough away that I might have a chance to react before she got to me.

“I just wanted to escape. I know. Let me show you the others.” She started to get up, and I backed away, throwing Morgana a questioning look.

She nodded at my unasked question. “Go ahead and lead us then.”

The vampire got to her feet and wobbled for a moment against the van. I braced, expecting to dart off, but that never happened. She just pushed herself along the van and over to a large heavy duty door that was just as rusted as everything else in this damn place.

“Help me with it?” She tugged on the door and it creaked but didn’t budge.

Stepping up and letting Morgana cover my back, I grabbed the handle and placed my foot on the wall next to it and heaved. The door groaned and crackled with flakes of rust, but swung out. Inside was too dark for me to see, but Morgana gasped behind me.

“She’s telling the truth. Free them.” She pushed the vampire forward, who didn’t hesitate to dart into the room. Morgana raised her gun and a light came on, showing me what was beyond the door. Several vampires were chained up with gags, forcing their mouths open.

“What is—” I stopped my question as I already realized the answer. The gags were making the vampires drool into pans. “This is how they were collecting what they needed for the drug?”

The first vampire was already trying to undo their restraints. One of the vampires came free and sniffed at me before licking their lips and lunging. But he was far slower than Morgana, and I managed to catch him around the back of his neck.

There was the brief beastial instinct to snap it, but my humanity won out and I just held him in a vice grip. “What do you want me to do with him?”

“Snap his neck.” Morgana shrugged. I looked at her incredulously. That really felt like overkill.

She raised an eyebrow at my look. “He’ll recover in a few minutes, and it’ll teach him a lesson.”

Right, vampires. I let my beast win out and snapped his neck, dropping him to the floor and stepping away cautiously. The rest of the freed vampires were rubbing where their bindings had chafed them. As they looked us over, I got looks of dread, but they seemed to look at Morgana with a twinge of hope.

“Alright, you stay. The rest of you, get the hell out of here. If I catch any of you doing anything remotely illegal, I’ll hunt you down.” Morgana jerked her head, but then spoke again before they could get too far. “Grab him and take him with you.”

They disappeared into the night without another word.

“Just letting them go?” I asked.

“Don’t need nor want a bunch of hungry vampires hanging around you. Let’s get our friend back to the club and we can talk.” She turned her focus to the vampire. “Got a name?”

“Valorie.” The female vampire stated.

“Come on then. I’ll drive us back to the club, and we can get you something to drink while you talk.”

The vampire bobbed her head excitedly before I saw her nose flare. “What is he?” The way she looked at me was an intensity somewhere between flirting and hunger.

I answered before Morgana. “You don’t get to know. And if you try to bite me…” I let my eyes drift over the mess of cooked corpses. “You may not like the results.” The beast inside of me let out a smug roar, like it was proud of my assertion. I was too, if I was honest.

“Understood.” Valorie swallowed and followed after Morgana.

The leather clad drow vampiress was putting a phone to her ear. “Two two four eight Kilbourn. There’s a big mess that needs cleaned up. Yes, lots of wolves, humans and drugs.” Even while talking, she pulled one of the bricks from the back of the van and stuffed it in the duffel as she slung her gun into the bag and zipped it up. “Yes, the job is done.”

I wanted to argue that the job was not done. We might have performed the narrow scope of the job that Morgana was given, but we did nothing to solve the greater issue of this drug ring. But I was too exhausted to do more than crawl back into the van, and this time, I didn’t even care about Morgana’s wild driving.

***

We got back to the club and Morgana’s helpers appeared to take everything she had, including the vampire Valorie. “I have some clothes for you. I figured you might need them after we do our jobs.” She waved for me to follow her through the maze of her club.

We passed through the club proper. It was dark, lit by blacklights, and the thumping of music and people was in full swing. Even with my ripped and singed clothes, I got more than a few girls staring at me with hungry eyes that begged for me to come introduce myself.

“Not now.” Morgana whispered in my ear and pulled me along.

I rolled my eyes, but let her lead me through the maze. “Will I ever be able to make my own way through this place?”

“It’s purposely built to confuse and hide itself. I spent many many years building it to do so.” There was a wry grin on her face. “Oh, the 20s were a fun time. I loved the looks on the cops’ faces when they tried to bust me.”

It always threw me when she casually mentioned times far before she should have been alive, given how old she looked. I was curious about her history, but I figured I’d learn more with time.

From what she’d implied earlier, she was even in Europe during the disaster that was the 17th century for the paranormal world. I imagined there were some pretty dark stories from that time period.

Crossing through a doorway, we stepped from the dark thumping bar into a quiet, cozy area in warm wood tones. The contrast from the dark rowdy bar was like a slap in the face. The warm wooden area branched off in dozens of directions. It was bland yet welcoming.

It reminded me of the vibe walking into a family doctor’s office. “This way. If you ever end up back here, that way is the club.” She pointed to a door that had the bouncy lights of the club dancing like they were trying to come underneath the door. “This way is my wing, and where I’ve set up a room for you.” She pointed to a stone door that looked like it belonged in some old world castle capped with gargoyles.

“The rest of them?” I asked, having trouble focusing on just how far the corridor went.

“A service I provide to many. A nexus of sorts. People call it The Atrium.”

“The Atrium.” I repeated, working to remember it. “And anyone can just walk into your area?”

She smirked and wiped a finger across a cut on my shoulder before putting it in the gargoyle knocker's mouth and puncturing her finger to drip a drop of her own blood. “No, but you have access now.” The knocker's eyes glowed for a moment before she opened the door and walked inside. “Clean up, get dressed, and I’ll meet you back here.”

Her nose flared in a way that reminded me of the vampires from earlier, and her face struggled for a moment.

“Alright.” I said quickly, stepping into the room she had gestured towards.

The room was far more opulent than I’d expected. There were dragon motifs in brass. At least I hoped it was brass and not gold, as the main decoration. Had she set this up for me in just a day? The closet was filled to the brim with an assortment of clothing that would fit me, but with no particular sense of style. I did notice it leaned more towards formal wear; there were more than a few suits hanging.

I shook my head at those and instead went for a t-shirt and jeans with a nice-looking jacket that wasn’t quite formal, but fitted well enough that it wasn’t sloppy.

The place was even fitted with its own private bathroom, the shower head a dragon breathing a spray of water once I turned it on. She’d definitely stuck to a theme.

Undressing, I felt my phone and pulled it out. Curiosity got the better of me and opened my maps. I had a full five bars, but the dot that said where I was kept yo-yoing between Bumps in the Night and drifting off to the east. I waited, but it never settled, moving around continuously.

Putting the phone away, I got cleaned up.

The water ran down my body, quickly becoming dark and grimy from soot and blood by the time it pooled near my feet. I watched it, a bit of a numbness settling over me. I wasn’t clean anymore. And not just physically. My soul had blood on it. The beast thrashed in my chest, berating me for looking down on myself for killing.

Despite its protests, I still felt conflicted. I’d been training to save lives. And somehow I’d gone from that to kill maybe a dozen para that night.

I’d skipped right over blood on my hands and gone straight elbow-deep in blood. Watching the dark soot rinse from my body down the drain, I wondered if I’d feel clean again. I questioned if I’d just sent my ability to be a doctor and take the Hippocratic oath down the drain as well.

***

Morgana eventually collected my sorry ass from my room and dragged me through another door in the atrium and into an amphitheater lit with dramatic lighting. High up in the surrounding ring sat dozens of figures. We apparently were the main attraction standing down on the floor of the structure.

Many of them were hidden thanks to how the lighting was set up. Only their silhouette was visible, by design I assumed. No doubt they could see each other, but Morgana and I were in the lower half. “This is the council.” She whispered in my ear.

I nodded, doing my best to pick my mopey self up and square my shoulders. I doubted I wanted to appear weak in front of this powerful group. And I wanted answers for why they hadn’t sent more people, and what they were going to do to stop the entire operation.

The beast rallied with me, encouraging that I take over this room.