Dragon 2 Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Watching Jadelyn duel, I struggled to stand by and do nothing.

Jadelyn’s life had been in danger and the protective part of me that was my dragon was in a fury that I had stood by and just allowed it to happen. It didn’t make sense to be so protective already. We hadn’t even gone on our first date, yet I found myself struggling not to rip someone’s head off seeing her in danger.

“You okay?” Sabrina asked.

“I think so. Just need to calm down. Watching that did some things to me.”

Sabrina grabbed my arm and pulled me so I wasn’t blocking the flow of traffic. “It’s hard when we watch someone we love fight.”

“I don’t—” I paused. There were certain feelings between Jadelyn and me, but l-o-v-e was an extreme. Although my reaction was stronger than just some crush. I wasn’t sure what I’d call it.

Sabrina smirked. “Come on. They dragged her to the opening ceremony, which is now about to start. It’ll take your mind off it.”

I grunted and let Sabrina pull me along. “I’m working security.”

“Uh, huh? Do you have a post you are leaving?”

“No?” We hadn’t been given any formal instructions. It seemed like they were leaving it up to our judgement. Or rather, we were an afterthought.

“Then come do security over here. You can stand at the back and be just as broody there as anywhere else. I’m sure no one will cause trouble with your grumpy face.” She laughed.

I paused, and Sabrina was jerked back when I planted my feet. “Why are you doing this?”

“Trying to make a friend.” She answered, her laughter dying as her face turned serious. “I wasn’t joking when I said it was hard being new to the magi.”

Nodding, I started up again, dragging her along. “Okay, I guess I could use some friends too. Being the new para wasn’t easy, not until Morgana took me under her wing. I get it.”

“What kind of para are you?”

I gasped in mock horror. “Did you really just ask me that?”

Her face turned red instantly. “Sorry! I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to ask.”

Laughing, I nodded at the booths by the entrance of the area and picked up a pamphlet. “I do need to operate as security, or I won’t feel right. They paid me to work here.”

“That’s fine. I’ll sit in the back by the edge here.”

We made our way to the far right corner of the space. It was a large gathering hall, filled with cheap plastic chairs. The crowd seemed to be flooding its way in, as two magi worked at the front to get the microphone at the podium and a projector up and running.

“Please, fill in towards the front. Plenty of seats up front!” An announcer was calling out.

Sabrina found a seat towards the back, and I positioned myself up against the wall, crossing my arms and generally looking threatening.

Across the way, I could see Scarlett’s bright hair and the very distinct green hair of the Spring and Summer Faerie Queens up front and center.

Once the crowd had largely filled in and there was just a trickle of remaining attendees, Jared, along with the old wizard and a young witch, stepped onto the stage.

I shifted my eyes, wanting to be able to be alert. Based on what I could see, the young witch appeared to be an old woman covered by an illusion.

The old wizard stepped forward, bumping the microphone and getting everyone's attention. “We welcome everyone here to the two hundred and thirty-fifth gathering of the Order of the Magi. Wards are up to keep those who don’t know our secret out, so feel free to openly discuss your gifts within these walls! It’s such a cherished time for us to come together and share our knowledge; I encourage you to take advantage of it.”

He cleared his throat. “Let’s get the boring stuff out of the way.” The PowerPoint moved to the next slide, and I snickered. For a big, bad group of magi, this seemed oddly mundane.

“For legal purposes and potential feuds, the OTM does not sponsor any spell craft that may be learned here at the conference. We must all do our due diligence before using magic.

“OTM does not sponsor nor promote any particular entity for pacts, though information about them may be available at related booths…”

He droned on through a number of legal platitudes, covering his and the organization in the case that someone had an accident related to the information disseminated at the conference.

It felt typical, like I was in a corporate affair. But it made sense; the magi were people and likely had their own lawsuits and grudges.

“Now, for those who might be attending for the first time, we welcome you. We will begin as we always do, honoring our history.” The old wizard stepped back, and the witch, Florita, stepped forward. Unlike the wizard, she had a haphazard number of small charms dangling from her person.

“We the magi draw our lines back to the days of old, when paranormal creatures walked the world unobstructed by global news and cameras at every corner.” Her eyes slid happily to The Council’s group.

The slide shifted to an image of a dragon. “Praise to the dragons who shared their knowledge with our ancestors and gave humans magic. The dragons watch over us.” She bowed her head in reverence.

I was startled at that last part, looking around at all the somber faces as the entire crowd nodded, bowing their heads and repeating after her. Only the paranormal remained quiet.

They were literally worshiping the dragons.

“For those who haven’t studied the ecology of magic in our world, dragons pump the very source of magic into our world. As such, they are sacred. Praise be to dragons, for they not only gave us magic, but they continue to sustain our ability to perform it.”

The crowd murmured ‘praise be to dragons’ and nodded along. Even Sabrina was following, and for some reason, a chill went through me watching it.

Caught between my surprise at their reverence and my swirling thoughts on dragons, I lost track of what they were saying as the witch led them through a small history lesson. I was pulled back into the moment as she stepped back and the crowd went quiet.

Jared came forward then, putting his hands on the top of the podium leaning into the microphone. “Now that our history is done, what about the future?!” He asked the question with enough excitement to energize the crowd.

“Magi are a force to be reckoned with in the world. There is so much we can give back to our communities. So much we can achieve. We can use magic to help heal the world!”

A loud throat clearing caused him to pause and pulling the whole room into silence. The Summer Queen spoke. “While maintaining secrecy, of course.”

He echoed her. “Of course. But still, so much can be done, hidden under the guise of technology.”

I didn’t have to see the paranormal groups' faces to know they weren’t fans of this idea. There was a palpable tension in the room as he continued his speech full of vague messages of hope for what magic could do. It was meant to be inspirational, but it might have just put a target on his back with The Council.

The session wrapped up, the crowd sufficiently energized.

Jadelyn and the others were immediately mobbed as soon as it ended, and I wondered just how bad that would be if they all knew what I was, shuddering at the thought I moved on.

“Want to hang out for the rest of this?” Sabrina asked, coming back over to my side.

“Sure.” It wasn’t like I had a better plan than wandering the convention. “So what was that about dragons? You guys worship them?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Lots of lip service mostly, not a lot of action. But dragons did give humans their first experiences with magic. Every influential family has a story about their great great great grand-pappy having been taught magic by some dragon.”

“Why though?” I frowned. I wondered why the dragons would take the time to give magic to humans.

“To defend their land? Maybe use the human mages to make gold? I don’t know; I’m not a dragon.” She emphasized the end like it was the most absurd concept, and it was everything I could do not to smirk.

But based on the way she talked about what the dragons taught them, it sounded more like someone teaching their pet rat a trick rather than really imparting knowledge. Dragons no doubt treated humans like pests running about, especially if they didn’t have much in the way of weapons back then.

“Ever heard of a family taught by a gold dragon?” I fished, wondering if I could glean any insight about my potential family from their lore. Although, I wasn’t positive color was hereditary, but it would make sense.

She shook her head. “Not that I’m aware of. I feel like someone would be shouting it from the top of the convention if they were trained by a gold.”

“That big of a deal?”

She scoffed. “Yeah. Golds and reds are the top dogs of the dragon lore. But I haven’t heard of any of them in real life. There’s less than thirty dragons in existence, and only a few of them are commonly known.”

“The bronze in Dubai.” I agreed, having heard of him from Morgana.

“Yep, in one of my mentor's books, they say it is because of him that we even have a rough estimate of how many there are.”

Our conversation was interrupted as a hooded man with a pentagram shoved a pamphlet into my hands as we strolled by. “Ozak the black is looking for new warlocks. It’s far easier than studying, and you can tap more power than a sorcerer.”

I brushed him off, but I looked at the pamphlet. “Holy shit. This is a demon, and he’s recruiting warlocks with pamphlets? How is this okay?” Turning it over, I saw a contract of sorts written out in fine print right next to a picture of a happy man surrounded by wealth. I nearly laughed aloud at how the clause about potential for accidental death was right next to the gleeful image like the fast speech warnings after a drug commercial.

Sabrina spoke like an old man. “You youngins have no respect for the way we used to do things. Phones have ruined all the young magi. You just buy things without looking because you want them now.” She spoke normally. “He blames consumerism and instant gratification on people turning into warlocks. But I want to learn the actual magic theory from him. The right way.”

It made me laugh. “That’s your mentor’s take on it?”

“Yeah. He’s a crotchety one.”

“Mine too.” I threw out, thinking of Morgana’s insistent need to push me.

“Excuse me?” Morgana cleared her throat. I paused in my step. Of course, she happened to be around at that moment and her pointy blue ears picked up our conversation.

Sabrina’s jaw dropped as I felt Morgana lean against my side. “M-Morgana?!”

“The one and only.” She did a bow and added a small flourish, enjoying the attention.

Looking around, I realized most people were staring at her as they passed, and there seemed to be a small fan club hanging in the wings. A few were taking selfies with her in the background.

“Oh, my gosh. I’ve read the accounts of the battle of Bastov.” Sabrina’s eyes were wide as she stared at Morgana.

I turned to my partner. “What’s the battle of Bastov?”

She waved it away. “That was four hundred years ago, and I was a baby vampire with a grudge. I had a mean streak back then.” She raised her eyebrow as she said ‘back then,’ daring me to challenge that she still did.

Sabrina nearly choked. “Mean streak? You snuck out of a besieged city and killed hundreds, leading to a break in the siege. Some of the accounts say that was one of the first steps in pushing back the church’s crusade across Europe.”

Morgana shrugged. “They had it coming. Don’t let the church fool you. Several hundred years ago, they were more militant than petty tyrants. It was either believe or die.”

I still hadn’t gotten the scope of what happened back in the 17th century. Morgana had been there and apparently was turned during what became a bloody war between the church and the paranormal. “You know, I still don’t know much about that time period.”

“Boring war. It’s always the same. Two sides fight, thousands upon thousands of the less fortunate die, all just because of the two dick bags that started it. The end.” Morgana gave me a level stare that told me to drop the conversation.

She really hated to talk about that part of her past with me. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to hide something from me or just not relive it. Could it really be that gruesome?

“But how did you get tangled up in it? Don’t drow live underground?”

“Inside mountains.” She clarified.

Sabrina was more than happy to pick up and add some details. “Her people stayed behind thinking they were safe, but they were smoked out by the church's forces. Morgana fled and was turned, only to become a hero for the paranormal.”

Morgana leaned in close to Sabrina. “I fled and sought help only to be turned into a tool or an abomination, depending on who’s talking.”

I already knew about how she was caught between the elves and the vampires. Elves refused to believe that they could be turned, so in their warped logic, that held true if they claimed she wasn’t an elf. Vampires, on the other hand, wanted to raise her up to snub the elves.

A complicated situation, to say the least. One that I knew was best to avoid. “So how about these warlocks, Sabrina? Any of them like to wear skinsuits.”

Morgana gave me a look that told me it wasn’t the smoothest transition in the world, but I was curious. And it got us off the sensitive topic.

“Eew. No. Skinsuits?”

I pulled out my phone and opened up an email from Detective Fox. “Like this.”

She gagged a bit as she saw the photo. “Oh my. That’s… disgusting. Was someone in that?” She looked away from the picture.

“That’s the theory. Morgana and I take on work among the paranormal community, and this showed up when we were taking down a corrupt group.”

Scrunching her face together, Sabrina seemed to toughen her resolve before looking back at the photo. “That’s bad stuff. If you send it to me, I can talk to my mentor?”

Morgana stepped in. “Do you think he’ll have an answer soon?”

Sabrina waved her hand around her. “He’s here somewhere. I’m sure I’ll find him at the closest pub once this is done. He’s probably in some back room smoking and talking with a bunch of other old men.”

“I’d love at least something to go on.” I included the image in a message and handed my phone to Sabrina. “The mess that they caused killed dozens and then stranded two wolf packs.”

She took the phone but kept her eyes on me. “This thing killed two wolf packs?”

“No. It manipulated an alpha into doing it.” I clarified.

“Oh.” She looked down and after a moment of hesitation, started typing, ending with the little sending whoosh before handing it back. “I’m not going to get roped into anything dangerous, am I?”

Taking my phone back, I gave her my best reassuring smile. “No, we’ll take care of any information that comes from this. But given you’re asking around about a killer, probably best to only ask people that you trust?”

She opened her mouth to argue and then thought better of that idea. “That makes perfect sense. I’m just going to show this to my mentor and see what he says.”

Somebody new stepped in front of us. Taking him in, my guess was he was another warlock. “Maxakeen the Pink invites you to explore the pleasures of her patronage.” He shoved a pamphlet in my hands that Morgana promptly plucked out.

“Oh look Zach, this one is a succubus. Right up your alley. Maybe you should think about it.” Morgana teased.

I snatched it out of her hands only to see succubus porn on the inside folds. My eyes widened, and I had trouble looking away. But it was more out of curiosity than lust. I promise.

“See, that really does interest you.”

Sabrina took the pamphlet from me and tossed it into the trash. “Don’t bother. They all want something, even if it is years down the road or seemingly minor.” Her cheeks were flushed, and I had a feeling she’d gotten a glimpse of some of the images inside.

“Or they just want his seed. His copious amounts. Did you know his girlfriend has been taking tinctures to heal herself down there because Zach here is so vigorous? She even is trying to get another girlfriend for him who can share the load with her. Who knows, maybe a succubus could really take the edge off Zach.” Morgana teased me, watching Sabrina’s reaction.

Sure enough, Sabrina’s ears were blazing bright red. “You have multiple girlfriends?”

“Just one at the moment.” I scowled at Morgana. “But yes, I am also starting to pursue Jadelyn.”

Sabrina covered her mouth before uncovering it just a little to whisper. “You have a… harem?”

“Yes, he does, darling. His girlfriend is in desperate need of help.” Morgana teased.

Sabrina stood there, flustered, for a moment before she just turned and bolted. I sighed, watching her go, before turning back to Morgana. “Happy now?”

She gave me her toothy vampire grin. “Very.”

“Well, don’t go scaring all my new friends away. My love life is none of your business, unless you’re offering to get involved?” Sabrina had been plain and immediately in the friend zone. I had been hoping she would be someone I could commiserate with about normies and not make it sexual. Morgana just had to stick her nose into it and make it weird.

“Don’t offer what you aren’t willing to put up.” Morgana arched one of her silver eyebrows and smirked.

“Oh, stop being such a damn tease, Morgana.” I swatted her away. “I was making a friend, and you scared her off.”

Morgana just kept smiling. “Oh, I’m almost positive she’ll be back.”

But she didn’t come back for the rest of the convention. I spent the remainder of the conference patrolling the place looking intimidating. It was some of the easiest money I’d ever made.

A few times, as we walked around, some young woman would get the nerve to walk up and try to talk to Morgana. When she didn’t outright kill them, there’d usually be a mini stampede, and it would take forever to get moving again.

I listened to all they called out and said, learning more about her. Based on the crowd, she had a reputation of being both a bloodthirsty monster and also a badass role model for young women.

How exactly those two paired together was beyond me. Maybe if Sabrina came back, she’d lend me the book she read about Morgana’s battle.

AN: So the Faerie have 2 big queens, the summer and winter. Then their daughters are spring and fall. I was trying to think of something besides 'queen' to call the daughters and failing. Though it feels like they should be something lesser than the other two.

PS - I love Morgana.