Dragon 1 Chapter 16 (Patreon)

It looked like a snowy Christmas morning as the air filled with falling puffs of the dangerous, addictive drug. Everything seemed to freeze for a moment as everybody watched the massive cloud spread across the warehouse.

There wasn’t anywhere to outrun it. Despite my effort to hold my breath, I soon was forced to breathe in the drug, and my body started to feel really good. Maybe even great.

Enjoying the wave of happiness, I inhaled deeply, but my breath was cut off as I was launched into the air. My body came tumbling down onto my hip with a sharp pain that made everything clear again for a moment. Shaking off the momentary high, I tried to focus harder, but I could already feel myself slipping back into the euphoria.

The damn thing had clearly gone straight from my mucus membranes to my bloodstream and there was a ton of it in the air.

“Zach.” Morgana’s blue face came into view.

“You’re pretty. I bet you’re a good kisser.” I smiled up at her, wondering what her lips would feel like.

My head rocked to the side and my face stung. “Snap out of it. Focus Zach, or you’re dead.”

I tried. I really did. But I could feel my focus slipping away, even as I put all my energy into it. It was like trying to catch a greased up pig, not that I really knew what that was like.

Mmmm pork sounded really good. I licked my lips, surprised when they tasted bitter.

Smack.

“Focus, Zach. I need you. Jadelyn and Kelly need you to get the fuck up and fight.”

The mention of Jadelyn and Kelly helped. They were depending on me. I had to figure this thing out. I dug my nails into my hands, working to use the pain to help orient me. Rolling, I got up, my head spinning in fun ways with the movement. “Up.” I pronounced proudly to the world.

Something hit me in a flying tackle. It hurt almost as much as an airbag to the face, and it was fuzzy. Wait, not fuzzy. It was fluffy in a mangey way. It took a bit, but my mind registered it as a werewolf. “You need to work on your hugs man.” I pushed the wolf off of me.

It looked confused and came swinging again. I’d like to say I dodged that with the skill and grace of a fighter, but I’m pretty sure I just swayed and stumbled out of the way.

I did manage to grab his paw, taking a moment to marvel at just how fuzzy it was while twisting and bringing my shoulder up into his elbow. It snapped and crackled. Now it just needed a pop. That came after, as I managed to continue twisting and dislocated the wolf’s elbow.

It howled in pain right in my ear. It was loud enough to make me even more dizzy than I was already. But what distracted me most was the sickly pack magic that danced around the wolf, a kaleidoscope of orange motes.

I tried to pull my anger into my chest. But it slipped away, and I couldn’t gather up the heat that I’d felt before to breathe fire.

The wolf’s arm clicked back into place, and I went for another rough tumble with him. I ended up on my back with him over me.

Only one idea made it through my fuzzy brain, so I went with it. I used both hands and grabbed onto the bracer Jadelyn had given me like she’d shown me. As I held it tight, magic came to life in front of me like a big round shield.

The wolf pounded against it, but the shield absorbed the blows. Unfortunately, that still left me feeling a bit like a nail being pounded into the concrete floor.

At some point during the nail and hammer byplay, I saw another magic, one I hadn’t seen before, race into the factory.

It was a small man, and one I recognized. Brent shifted as he came into view. His pack magic was far cleaner than these other wolves. It blazed orange like a fire as he became the largest werepuppy I’d ever seen. I was sure he was at least ten feet tall, and that was hunched over.

Brent flew into a rage in the middle of the factory.

Seeing him reminded me of Jadelyn and Kelly, and I refocused on my role, moving my body back in front of the freezer. The wolf that had been attacking me was now torn to shreds, and the fight was focused on Brent.

It wasn’t long before other wolves came charging into the factory, but I could see their pack magic tie back to Brent. Reinforcements had arrived.

I relaxed a bit, considering sitting down on the floor, when their magic caught my attention. Something was wrong.

“Zach are you okay?” Morgana grabbed me by the collar.

“Their magic fireflies are going bad.” I said, pointing to the wolves that had come with Brent. They had flooded in among the airborne drug, quickly outnumbered the remaining grotesque looking wolves. It didn’t matter that the drug had made the enemy pack stronger, Brent’s pack tore them apart with greater numbers.

Bring later explanation forward

Morgana frowned at the scene that was unfolding in the warehouse. “What do you mean?”

“The ugly wolves had dirty pack magic. I think it was the drug; now Brent’s wolves are being exposed.” I tried my best to focus while I spoke, but I could feel my focus slipping in and out. My adrenaline was wearing off.

“Hold on.” Morgana disappeared, coming back with one of the masks and wrapping it around my face. “Hopefully we can keep you from getting any more in your system.”

Behind her, the last of the grotesque wolves was killed, and Brent and his pack started closing in on us. When I looked at them now, I no longer saw their magic. My eye must have returned to normal now that the fighting was done.

Looking up, I noticed Jadelyn’s father entering the warehouse, with Chad next to him. He waved to Morgana, who pointed both groups at the freezer. Brent tore open the door and one of his packmates came out a second later carrying Kelly.

His big wolf head turned and sniffed me before he marched out.

Chad hurried in and collected Jadelyn, carrying her like a princess. Something about it wrankled me. “Coming in at the last second and pretending to be the knight?” I said, skipping that oh so important filter between the brain and my mouth.

I blamed the drugs.

“Excuse me?” Chad asked, turned slowly with a scowl on his face.

“Ha. Boys. Why don’t we get Jadelyn out of here before there is more trouble.” Rupert said, trying to cut the tension.

His statement didn’t seem to cut any of the tension in Chad, who walked over, clearly intending to kick me while I was down. As he made his move, I caught his foot, but I didn’t use it against him while he was holding Jadelyn. We stayed like that for a moment, staring each other down, before I let it go with a bit of an extra shove.

Morgana moved quickly, her blades hovering in the air at Chad’s neck. “Get out. Now.”

Rupert grabbed Chad by the shoulder and hauled him away with an apologetic look at Morgana. “He’s riled up from Jadelyn getting kidnapped. Let’s not spill any more blood tonight. Take your charge and see to him, Morgana. We’ll get people to come and clean this mess up.”

The drow vampiress turned back and lifted me off the floor, using her shoulder to support me. I was impressed she was able to hold my weight. Everything hurt, but at least the drugs made focusing on that pain difficult. It all slipped through me like sand through a sieve.

“Come on. Let’s go before I have to kill that puppy alpha.” She said.

I snorted. “Puppy alpha.” I hoped I’d remember that when I came to.

***

“I feel like shit.” Were the first words out of my mouth when I woke up. It felt like my throat was full of tar, and I was sure there were elephants taking turns sitting on my head.

“The drug seems to be out of your system.” Morgana sat on a chair a few feet away from my bed, an IV bag hooked up next to her.

Scattered thoughts went through my head as I tried to piece together what had happened. I could put together most of it, although the memories were a bit addled here or there. “We got the girls out okay?”

“Yes, both of them made it out okay. I wanted to ask what you remember about ‘their fireflies were going bad’.” She said it with a smirk.

I looked around, realizing I was in the room that Morgana had said was mine in the Atrium. Gold dragon motifs were everywhere. The lamp between me and Morgana was a dragon winding around a mountain and holding the lightbulb in its mouth. “Where did you find all of this dragon decoration?”

She shook her head. “Not important. The bad fireflies?”

I struggled to remember what I’d seen. “Their magic. That’s the fireflies. To me, magic looks like a collection of little balls, kind of like bubbles or a tightly clustered group of fireflies. I saw Brent and his packs. It was different from the omega wolves. It looked healthy when they had first entered, but when they were tearing the others apart it…” I struggled with how to describe it. “Their pack magic became dirty, oily almost.”

Morgana nodded. “The wolf in the freezer. Did you get a good look at his magic?”

“Yeah. His was very dirty, more like sludge, once I had Brent’s to compare it to.”

“What about Chad’s?”

“Didn’t get a look at his magic. Oh! But I did notice something else. When I was looking at the wolf in the freezer, I saw the link between all of the wolves moving, coming towards the factory. I think it must have been the omega’s alpha. It was tied to him like Brent’s wolves were to him. Did he show? Did we get him?”

Morgana shook her head, her silver ponytail thrashing with the motion. “No, just the wolves you identified before the fighting started. Given what we saw with the wolves, the council is taking this more seriously. Rupert and Brent are throwing considerable manpower into having this drug ring tracked down and stamped out.”

I nodded. The threat was clearly real after everything that had happened the past few days. It was no longer a small problem of a few rogue wolves and a drug that would make humans ask questions. Something very wrong was going on. Something that was powerful enough to believe they could take the council’s children and get away with it. There was going to be more blood.

I startled as a new thought crossed my mind. “Wait, what time is it?” I had a date I needed to get to; I hoped I hadn’t already stood Scarlett up.

“It’s four in the afternoon. You slept through the morning.”

I searched around for my phone, realizing that I was naked under the covers. “Morgana, did you undress me?” Heat dusted my cheeks.

She smirked at my embarrassment. “Yes. I also bandaged you and set up an IV. You heal quickly. Not vampire or werewolf quick, but something that would take weeks only takes a day. You should stay in bed.”

I shook my head. “I have a date. Tonight.”

“Oh, would this happen to be the Fabulous and Foxy Scarlett?” Her eyebrow arched and she pulled a phone out of her pocket. Clearly Morgana had been looking at my phone while I was out, if she knew what Scarlett had put her name in as in my phone.

“In fairness she put that down.”

Morgana just gave me a chuckle and handed me the phone. “It’s fine. Go on your date tonight, but take it easy. I’m sure there are nice enough clothes in your closet here. I happened to see some of those texts. You can meet her here at the club. Promise I won’t intervene… much.” She gave me a pat on my leg and stood to leave. “Glad you are feeling better. Let me know if there are any side effects from the drug.”

She spun around before she left. “Oh, and before I forget. There’s your payment for the last two jobs.”

A gold brick bigger than my hand sat on the side table next to me. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. “Is that really gold?”

“Four hundred ounces. I only accept payment in gold. That’s your half of four payments.”

I did the math quickly. “You are getting half a bar per job. Rupert offered you an entire gold brick to save Jadelyn.” Holy crap, no wonder she had a garage full of expensive cars. I didn’t know what this brick was worth, but it was far more than I’d make in a year even if I was an expensive specialist. “What do I do with it?”

“If you’d like, you can sell it to me. I’ll handle everything and convert it into cash. I just thought, you being a dragon and all, you might like the gold.”

The metal did call to me, but it was nothing like the gold I’d dug up with my father. “Take it and cash it in for me. I wouldn’t know what to do with it.”

“Can do. I’ll get your information from you later. Rest up.” She left with the gold brick, leaving me alone with my phone buzzing again. It was another text from Scarlett. Rather than text back, I decided to call.

“Hey, is this the Fabulous and Foxy Scarlett?” I asked. She laughed, and I could have sworn there were other voices in the background.

The phone clicked, and I could hear it shifting. “You did not just call me saying that.” I could practically hear her blushing.

“Was I on speaker?”

“Yes… It’s a sorority thing. God, that was embarrassing, but sweet.”

“Good.” I swung my legs off the bed and suppressed a groan. “I wanted to apologize. I worked late last night into the morning. I actually just woke up.”

“Oh.” There was a mixture of surprise and relief in her tone. “Now I feel stupid. Don’t read those texts.”

“It’s fine. Consider them forgotten. We still on for the date tonight at Bumps in the Night?” I pulled out a casual suit from the closet and held it up to my chest. It was simple, just a black suit with a white shirt. It might be overdressed, but I could always take the jacket off. And if I left a few buttons loose, it should read casual enough.

“Yeah. My friend and her date are excited to go. What are you going to be wearing?”

“I was just looking at my closet. The place seems pretty nice. I hear they do a decently fancy dinner before the club starts. I was thinking a suit with no tie?”

There was that background noise again, was I still on speaker?

“Do that. Please?” She asked, a slight pitch to her voice made me think she had a big smile plastered on her face.

“Your wish is my command.” I smiled into the phone. I was smitten just talking with her. “Okay, we should hang up before I run out of my limited conversation topics. I’ll meet you at the club at seven?”

“How about eight? I couldn’t get a reservation before then.”

“What if I told you I could get you a reservation there any time of the day you wanted?”

She snorted. “Do you have some secret I need to know about?” My gut dropped and felt like it had been punted back up into my throat. I did have a secret. Shit, what was I doing?

“Zach?”

“Yeah, sorry. No big secrets. I just know someone.”

“Sure, then we’ll do seven.” There was an awkward pause. Wrapping up calls was always awkward, and of course I panicked.

“I look forward to seeing the Fabulous and Foxy Scarlett tonight. Talk to you later.” I reused the same joke, but at least she laughed before she hung up.

The beast coiled in my gut, snorting at my awkward send off. “Well a lot of help you are.” I chided the beast and started to get ready for my date.

***

A quick ask of Morgana had gotten someone’s reservation ‘lost’ and ours bumped up to seven. But it had also given her even more details on the date to nose her way into.

“Oh come on. You look great, stop fussing with your cuffs.”

I tugged at my shirt sleeve again. They kept disappearing under the cuff of the jacket when I moved. “I know. Just a little nervous.”

“Your Fabulous and Foxy friend will no doubt be coming. I’m as excited to see her as you are. You’ll stay for the party portion of the night, right?” She grinned wide enough to show off her fangs.

At the moment, Bumps in the Night was warmly lit up, showcasing the large wooden bar and illuminating the tables under soft warm light. Each of the tables had their own candle to add to the ambiance. People had started filling the tables, and the air smelled of steak and expensive wine.

At the moment, it looked like a five star restaurant, with prices that put a single person’s meal in the triple digits. But I also knew that it would transform faster than a werewolf when the clock hit nine, and a speakeasy club in the back would begin to take center stage.

I was kind of interested to see the transformation.

“Is that her?” Morgana asked from our vantage up on the balcony. We’d stayed out of sight while the lights were on full blast. Morgana apparently waited until the club was darker to walk around, but I still didn’t understand how her blue skin wasn’t noticed.

“Shit, it is.” I checked my phone. She was fifteen minutes early.

“She showed up early. She must be eager.” Morgana whispered into my ear, but when I turned, she was gone. I wondered if she was trying to be so spooky, but my focus was entirely on Scarlett.

Hustling down the stairs, I came up behind her. “I see I’m not the only one who showed up early.”

“Zach.” Scarlett’s face split into a blinding smile as she came up to my side, having to look up to make eye contact. “My friend and her date ended up a little delayed, but I guess that gives us a little time to ourselves?”

Scarlett looked absolutely stunning. I’d been in such a rush that I hadn’t taken the chance to really look at her. She wore a short green dress that was tastefully long enough for the nice dinner we were about to have, but enough of a dipping neckline that I knew I’d have to work on keeping my eyes on her face during the night.

She laughed, clearly seeing where my eyes had gone. “You approve of the dress?” She was biting her pink lips and the little sparkle of mischief in her eyes said she was enjoying the attention.

“You look absolutely lovely.” I looked her in the eye, wanting her to see how much I meant it.

She blushed heavily, tucking her hair behind her ear as she looked around. “Let’s see if our table is ready?” Her voice squeaked a little, clearly still feeling a bit nervous.

I offered my arm, and she hooked hers through mine as we walked up to the hostess’ podium. Scarlett had styled her hair from wavy to full on curly tonight and it bounced against my arm as she leaned against me.

The hostess looked up from her podium and gave us a genuine smile as her eyes opened wide. “Mister Pendragon.” She stepped around the podium and snapped up two menus. “It’s our honor that you are here tonight. Please come with me.”

Scarlett gave me a cocked eyebrow in question.

Damnit Morgana. I looked up towards the balcony, swearing I spotted her for a brief second. I had no doubt she was amusing herself.

“This will be your table. Best seat in the house.” The server led us to a four person table that would have a fantastic view of the rest of the establishment and a window if we wanted to people watch those going by.

The hostess pulled out Scarlett’s seat and handed us menus. “Please, ignore the prices for tonight you two and your guests. We are so pleased to have you tonight, Mister Pendragon. The owner has said everything is on the house. I’ll bring you two some of our best wine, a 1963 Chateau D’Yuvore, in a moment. Please feel free to wave me or any of the servers down should you need anything.”

I wasn’t a wine snob, but if the brand required her to say it in a french accent it was probably way over my normal budget. Since Morgana was going this far, I wasn’t going to turn it down. But as I looked across the table, I had Scarlett’s full attention.

“Spill.” Scarlett pushed down her menu and hissed across the table. “That’s a five hundred dollar bottle!”

I could have sworn I heard Morgana’s throaty Swedish chuckle from somewhere deeper in the club.