Dragon 3 Chapter 8 (Patreon)

Sitting in the crate, we rumbled through the templar’s security and moved deeper into the campus. I had time to let my thoughts wander. Naturally, I started wondering what was happening back in Sentarshaden.

I hoped Kelly would get the answers she needed to help the pack with their fertility issues. Even though she pretended that it didn’t bother her, I knew that by making her an alpha, I’d given her an extra burden. Wolves were pack animals. They were all still in college, but many of them would soon crave having children.

I trusted that Jadelyn and Scarlett would be fine on their own. If there was any trouble, they seemed to have an ally in Tyrande. Although Tyrande was probably busy with her own issues trying to keep Yev safe.

I still couldn’t believe there was another dragon. And she hated my dragon’s guts, even if she didn’t know it.

The way my instincts seemed to take over, I knew it was only a matter of time before I didn’t hold them down and she realized it. I’d have to own up to my mistake when we were back, before it got worse.

I ran my hand over my face. That was a conversation I was not looking forward to.

But if I pulled it off, and she didn’t hate me, there was a chance she might help me. She seemed to have a better grasp of her dragon form; she even had wings. Maybe she could help me realize more of my dragon potential. I would be nice to have someone else going through the same shit.

My thoughts continued to wander until the truck halted suddenly, and my face smacked my face into the side of the box.

I froze, waiting for somebody to react, but nothing came. I listened as the tarps were thrown off the cargo, and they started unloading.

When it was my turn, I braced.

They picked my crate up, tossing it off the bed of the truck unceremoniously.

Biting my tongue with the sudden drop and thump on the ground, I held back a surprised yelp and squeezed my eyes closed, trying to hold everything in. They must have been pretty sure there weren’t explosives in my crate, or they just didn’t care.

“Boys, leave them here. The armory will unpack them. We have a job to get ready for. These RPGs will be great for taking out a dragon. A chromatic deserves nothing but being put down.”

A sudden fear that they knew I was here clenched in my gut, even though I had a feeling it wasn’t me they were talking about.

“I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she’s shot down.” One of the men made a noise that sounded like he was miming firing and an explosion. “We haven’t had a dragon hunt in ages.”

“You’re a terrible shot. I doubt you’ll be the one to take her down.” Another laughed.

“You all need to hurry up or you’ll miss the last deployment for the mission.” A gruff voice barked.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” There was more banter about their excitement at hunting a dragon as the voices drifted off away from me.

They referred to the dragon as a female, confirming my suspicion. They were talking about Yev.

This was the dark side of what it meant to be a dragon. Some wanted to protect you, and some wanted to hunt you.

It sounded like the templars were more than eager to go hunt Yev. Even with the Highaen family behind her, the templars were willing to go after her.

Sitting there in silence, I waited, wondering if it was time to break out of the crate or not.

Deciding to at least prep, I scooped up all the water bottles and stuffed them back into my spatial artifact.

I waited a few moments longer, listening for any noise. When none came, I decided it was as safe as it was going to get.

Bracing myself in the box, I pushed at the top. I applied steady force against it, but the nails didn’t seem to budge.

Leaning away and pressing in a bit more forcefully, I traded off stealth versus progress.

A few hits later, the nails finally gave, and I was able to get some progress pushing the nails out of the top.

While I pushed, I realized there was something on top of the lid, so I did my best to keep my balance and lift the box up evenly as I poked my head out.

Surrounding me were more crates. It seemed they’d stacked them up just outside a pair of bay doors.

Thankfully, we were on a part of the compound that didn’t seem to have any foot traffic.

Not seeing or hearing anybody, I decided to go for speed. I moved up, letting the box on top drop off to the side, and moved quickly over around the nearby boxes.

“Morgana.” I hissed as I walked around the crates. “Which one are you in?”

“Here.” A crate spoke, and I beelined over to it, popping off the lid and pulling out my partner.

The crate tipped as she came out, making a bit more noise, but I didn’t much care at that point. We needed to get moving, anyway.

Morgana looked pale, and not just because she had normal skin still. Trying to help her stand, I realized she could hardly hold herself up.

“Come on. Point me in the direction of your tree.” I kept scanning the nearby area, waiting for somebody to come investigate the noises.

My body jolted as the bay door next to us began humming. It slowly lifted up, exposing two pairs of feet and voices.

I pulled Morgana down behind a stack of crates as the doors continued to rise.

“Fuck’s sake. Those boys made a mess of it.” A woman’s voice spoke.

“What do you expect?” The second spoke.

I knew our time was short. At this point, they would have seen the tipped over crate. And when they realized it was empty, all hell would likely break loose. And based on Morgana’s current limpness, she wasn’t going to be much help in a fight.

My best chance was to use surprise to my advantage and take them down before they could cause a commotion.

As they approached the empty crate, I braced Morgana, leaning her against the nearby crate instead of my body.

I leapt out of my hiding spot, moving directly for one woman.

“Holy—” The woman’s voice cut off as I tackled her, my hands stretching out and grabbing the other templar and pulling both women to the ground.

It was a quick tussle as they tried to toss me off, but I was already shifting slightly, adding on another hundred pounds and using all of my strength to pin them.

I had my knee on one’s chest and my hand around the other’s throat.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but you just signed your death warrant.” The older of the two wheezed from under my knee.

“Your base is in an inconvenient location for me.” I grumbled as I lifted my weight, slighting before slamming it back down on her chest and knocking the wind out of her.

As they continued to fight me, I struggled, the heat of the battle lessening. I didn’t want to kill them, but I also needed to keep them from alerting others. Morgana needed all the time she could get.

My heart clenched with my fist as I broke the neck of the younger woman.

I breathed deep, knowing it was what would give Morgana the best shot.

The lady under me saw it, and the horror of her own death reflected in her eyes as I turned my attention to her and quickly broke her neck as well.

“Morgana, think you can fit into their uniform?”

I hadn’t noticed the uniforms before, too busy killing them. But they both were wearing the same thing, so it seemed like a good way to blend in.

Morgana practically crawled around the boxes, using them for support to get over to me. “Fuck, yeah. Give me a minute.” She dropped her pants right there and started to undress the older lady.

I checked the younger one before stuffing her into my old crate.

Morgana finished undressing the older lady, and I stuffed her in Morgana’s crate, sealing them both up and adding them to the stack.

“That should buy us some time.” I said. “Now, where’s your root tree?”

She looked up, tilting her head around, but not looking directly at anything. It seemed like she was almost listening as tried to find it. “That direction.” I started moving, but her hand grabbed my arm.

“Wait.” She looked back through the bay doors, her voice wary.

I turned, ready to take on whatever threat there was. Following her eyes, I noticed for the first time what was just inside those bay doors.

It was a warehouse full of munitions. Everything needed to outfit a small army was inside, ready to go.

“We don’t have time.” I told her, thinking she wanted to pick up a few new toys.

“No, not that. Although, yes, I’m sure there would be a few fun new toys we could pick up.” She smiled at the thought, but then focused back on what she was saying. “I was thinking that it would make a very nice distraction if the place went up in a fire.”

Catching her idea, I grinned. “We’ll add these crates.”

While we worked, I asked her, “Were you able to pick up on their conversation from inside the crate? It sounds like they were hoping to go after Yev.”

“Yev?” Morgana asked.

“The green dragon that just revealed herself in Sentarshaden.” I realized she might not have seen the news.

“Idiot.” She spat, and I felt my cheeks burn. It was my fault that she’d ended up showing her secret to the masses. “We’ll talk about that later. We need to move.”

Grabbing the crates, I was no longer concerned with hiding my strength. I tossed them through the door, thinking the wood would be the perfect fire starter. Once they were inside, I just barely breathed a small plume of fire over them.

I could have sent the whole thing up in flames, but I wanted it to burn slowly. Hopefully, the alarm would go off in a few minutes once we were clear.

Grabbing Morgana, I helped her stay standing, practically dragging her in the direction she’d indicated.

When we rounded the Armory’s corner, the campus came alive. Many more people were moving about. Most were uniformed, but enough weren’t that I didn’t stand out.

“Which one?” I asked.

She pointed to a low squat building. It was about three stories tall, and its architecture looked far more ancient than the rest. It had a roman fort look to it, like it was something I’d see on the history channel, while the others were bland, but modern construction.

Although, it was a roman fort with intense security.

“Was that there before?” I asked.

“Nope. But it’s been four hundred years since I’ve been here. The portal to the celestial plane was right next to my tree. Makes sense they’d build something on top of it. I’m surprised my tree didn’t get uprooted in the construction.”

Making our way across the busy street, I tried to take our time, hoping the armory would soon explode and give us the distraction it was supposed to be.

But with every step, it became clear we wouldn’t get that lucky.

We made it all the way to the building before the man at the door stopped us. “You can’t go in here.”

His brow pressed down as he looked us over more thoroughly, not recognizing either of us.

Before he could say anything else, my fist connected with his gut. I stepped closer and jabbed hard enough into his gut to crack concrete.

He tried to block it, but I was a dragon. His arms did little but snap under my strength.

The guard wheezed and feebly tried to paw at me, but I’d just broken his wrist and several of his ribs. I’d likely crushed a few internal organs as well, based on the way all of his strength left him after just a few moments.

I used my body to try to hide the attack from the pedestrians behind us, and Morgana grabbed his shoulders before he crumpled to the ground, making it look like some sort of hug.

It was all quick and casual, just as Morgana had taught me.

If we kept it subtle enough, people may not notice. Large, quick movements drew attention.

Boom.

An explosion sounded behind us and shook the ground. The armory had officially become a distraction. I rolled my eyes. It was about time.

Sirens went off on the campus and people scrambled. Nobody was looking our way, as people were screaming orders and pushing towards the explosion.

Pretending to be in the same hurry, I grabbed the guard and tried the door, but it barely moved. There seemed to be magnetic locks keeping it closed. He probably had a badge, but going through his clothes would take longer.

“Hold him.” I handed him off to a weak Morgana, but I needed both hands for what I was about to do.

Digging my feet into the ground, I pulled on the door with my might.

It wasn’t so much a test of my strength as a test of my ability to keep my feet planted as I applied so much force to the door.

The door crinkled, the aluminum warping as the lock tried to hold. I smiled, pulling harder until the magnetic brick of the lock tore off the door frame.

Luckily, the noise wasn’t very noticeable with all the chaos happening outside. It was a madhouse as the armory’s fire was pouring out the doors and the leadership was trying to put purpose to the chaos that came from the sirens.

We slipped inside with the guard. So far, we hadn’t been detected, but the door frame would catch the eye of some passerby.

Another enormous boom rocked the compound, setting off a second wave of yells and screams outside.

We started moving forward, but two large, square jawed men quickly blocked our path. Their expressions as they took in Morgana and I said they thought they had the advantage.

“Bad idea trying to sneak in here.” The first man cracked his knuckles. I waited for him to make the first move, ready to show him how wrong he was if he thought he could take me.

He threw a fist, and I couldn’t keep the grin off my face as I matched him, waiting to hear his fingers snap.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Our fists met, but he was not only remarkably strong, he was far more durable than a human.

“Cherubs.” Morgana spat, throwing down the human guard and baring her fangs. “Think of them like shock troopers for the celestial army.”

“Put those fangs away or you are going to regret it, vampire.” The second cherub squared up to Morgana.

But Morgana was no ordinary vampire. She rushed him and failed to dodge his fist, getting hit with a punch she should have been able to dodge. She stumbled, then blurred onto his back an instant later, her fangs sinking into his neck as she shook her head, widening the wound and slurping like a fat kid at a juice box.

Morgana desperately clung to him. That moment of speed had used all her strength. Yet drinking from the Cherub also seemed to give her a small amount of strength.

“I guess that makes you mine.” I threw another fist at the first cherub, packing a little more strength behind it.

He blocked and shifted backward, picking up a buckler and a gladius from just inside a door.

He put them on like he’d done it a million times before. In one fluid motion, he was armed as he raised his shield and blocked my next punch. My fist only left a small dent on the silver shield.

That was no ordinary metal.

“You’re strong; must be a shifter.” He swept the gladius in arcs in front of his body, warding me off and trying to get closer to his ally.

Morgana was stuck on the second cherub’s back. She was like a tic, still sucking even as he threw himself into the wall, trying to dislodge her.

But she didn’t care. Celestial blood was the best thing to stave off her current condition, and she seemed more than willing to take advantage of the opportunity.

I wrapped my arm in golden scales underneath my jacket and surprised my opponent, blocking his sword as it slashed down.

I used the moment of shock to my advantage. Shifting my hand, I grabbed the gladius and pulled back, bringing him in closer.

My jaw clicked open, and I washed his face with dragon fire.

He might be a cherub, but dragon fire is potent. I braced in case a second attack was needed, but it wasn’t.

He went limp and fell to the ground, his head a half consumed lump of char.

Satisfied, I turned to see how Morgana was faring.

She was still stuck to her opponent, who seemed to be losing his strength as he flailed helplessly on the ground. His eyes had taken on a glazed sheen that I assumed was from the narcotic in her saliva.

I waited, watching her back for any newcomers who might show up.

Soon she pulled her fangs off his neck and looked up.

I picked up the gladius and stepped over, removing his head for good measure.

“Feel better?” I asked.

“Much, actually. But them being ready for us isn’t a good sign. They’ve likely put this building on lockdown.”

I shrugged. We expected we’d be exposed at some point. For now, we just needed to get to the tree. And our chances had gone up now that she was a bit stronger. “Let’s get moving.”

Morgana tilted her head once more, working to locate the tree, and then we were off.

She led us to the left, down a hall that appeared to arch in one big circle around the building.

As we walked, we came upon a pair of glass sliding doors that were far too modern for the rest of the roman decor.

Stepping up, the doors opened automatically, and we saw what was behind them.

Bodies of paranormals were strapped to autopsy tables, men standing above them, cutting into their bodies under bright light and documenting their findings.

The room was modern, covered in sterile surfaces and white linoleum.

I had to hold back my revulsion and keep my focus, but it was hard when looking at the scene in front of us.

Three white lab coats were working, ignoring the alarms as we burst in.

They were as unperturbed by our entrance as the alarms. “We don’t need to evacuate.” A lady turned her nose up at Morgana, thinking she was another one of the templars.

I didn’t think twice as the gladius in my hand planted itself firmly in her throat. The way they were openly dissecting paranormals made me disgusted. The beast inside me roared with vengeance for the paranormals as I killed her.

As her body slacked to the floor, the other two finally became alarmed and alert.

“Get out. This place will be crawling with angels in just a minute.” One of them warned us, trying to put on a braver face than his body language suggested.

“Kill the other,” I told Morgana.

I stepped up to the one that had spoken. “Speak quickly. What is this place?”

Taking a step closer, I pressed him into a corner. As he staggered backward, he stumbled, spilling a tray of scalpels.

“The most beautiful science ever. We have direct access to angels and all sorts of paranormals.” He turned to the side, and I realized one wall was a large viewing window into the center of the building.

And that center appeared to be a beautiful courtyard.

In the middle sat a beautiful white willow standing nearly three stories tall, the biggest willow I’d ever seen. It felt unique and ancient, as if untouched by the modern world. Morgana’s tree was beautifully wrapped in subtle magic.

But what captured my attention next was what was butting up against it.

A glowing portal stood next to it, a flowing anomaly in the very fabric of the world. The tree’s trunk and one of its branches made up half of the arch, the other half the arch were white bones.

“Beautiful isn’t it? The holy tree. We don’t know what is different about it, but it radiates magic. And it has served as an anchor to the celestial plane for as long as we’ve studied it. We’ve managed to reinforce it and widen the portal with fresh dragon bones.” The scientist puffed up his chest, clearly proud of the achievement. “If we feed that portal paranormals, we can balance the mana enough to allow through celestials. There has to be balance, but we’ve been working to bring through the army we need.”

I felt my rage increasing as he spoke of fresh dragon bones and paranormals like a resource rather than living beings, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was either confident or just that in love with his work.

I turned to Morgana, who was licking the blood of his fellow scientist off her hand. “Is that your tree?”

But I didn’t need to ask the question as I took in the way that she was staring at it, mesmerized.

“Yes.” she replied, stepping forward towards it.

“Your tree?” The scientist scoffed. “That’s been ours for—” My gladius got stuck in his throat, and I let him and it fall to the ground.

“From what he said, it sounds like your tree is now part of their connection to the celestial realm.” I worried about what that would mean for the rest of the world.

But it seemed Morgana knew where my mind was going. “Don’t stress too much. The celestial and hellish realms are different from the fae. Things can’t pass freely from one to the other. There has to be an exchange. When they tried to bring an archangel through, it required the death of several dragons.”

“Like a sacrifice?” I asked.

“Close enough. They need to displace the space they take up on earth. Like, when you pour out a bottle of water and air bubbles in. Otherwise, the bottle would collapse in on itself. They need to keep mana in the celestial plane; it’s what keeps the plane’s structure. Otherwise, the celestial plane would be like a deflating balloon.”

“So, can we just smash it?” I asked, leaning on my go-to solution.

Her face shuttered in an instant. “If you touch my tree, I’ll kill you.”

I held up my hands in a surrender gesture, knowing better than to come between her and her tree. It would seem that we were at an impasse with solving the larger issue. For now, we’d have to be satisfied with healing Morgana.

Looking around, Morgana grabbed a nearby tray and smashed it against the viewing window, trying to break it. Unfortunately, it just bounced right back.

She let out a frustrated grunt and raised the tray up, about to try again.

I grabbed it mid-air, stopping her and looking down at her when she glared up.

“Let me.” I gently stated.

She frowned but nodded, dropping the tray.

I stepped over, ripping a desk off the floor. The drawers fell off as I hoisted it up and used it like a battering ram.

This time, the window shattered, and I threw the desk on the grass, marring the otherwise serene scene.

We stepped through it, careful of the broken grass, and entered the courtyard.

Luckily, the other walls of the courtyard were stone. Only the lab’s viewing pane and a door down the hall seemed to access the area.

I turned to Morgana. “Do what you need to do. I’ll make sure no one bothers you.”

But even as I said that, more square jawed goons were picking their way through the lab we had just left behind.