Dragon 5 Chapter 2 (Patreon)

"Ah, there you are. My favorite son-in-law.” Rupert slapped his hand on my shoulder as he caught up to me after the council meeting.

I raised an eyebrow. I was pretty sure I was his only son-in-law, unless he had another hidden daughter somewhere.

“I have something I’d like to talk to you about.” Rupert cut through my silence. “I was thinking about hosting a welcome party for the dragons that just moved into the city. I’d invite the rest of the council with the hope that it might help ease the tensions a little.”

“Sounds good. Just let me know when.” I waved to my father-in-law and wrapped an arm around Jadelyn’s waist as we headed out of the room.

As soon as we were out of eyesight, she buried her face in her hands. “He’s going to go over the top. He always does. Expect something ridiculous.”

“Like what?” I asked, suddenly more apprehensive about the party.

“Last time he did something like this, he had a two story ice cream sculpture made. The time before that it was an actual cake house.” Jadelyn just sighed.

While it certainly wasn’t the point she was trying to make, I was most interested in how a house could be structurally made out of cake.

But Maeve walked up, disrupting my cake house thoughts. “It must have been magic.” I concluded, turning to Maeve.

“Of course. Most things are magic.” Maeve smiled. She was trying to seem warm, but her cool blue skin and frosty silver eyes made that difficult.

She was right. The simple answer was magic. “Probably. What can I do for you Maeve?” The Fall Lady was clearly trying to make amends for her mother. And if I was honest, it was working. So far, she’d proven herself honest and helpful.

“The Queens and I would like to invite you and the other dragons to a small celebration.” Maeve stated as her attendant stepped forward and handed me a formal envelope. It felt thick, like an expensive wedding invitation.

I didn’t fail to notice how the attendant brushed her hand along mine, lingering just a little extra.

“Inside the fae realm?” Jadelyn asked while I was distracted.

I stared at her attendant, feeling myself drawn to her. Despite being covered in a sheer outfit, there was a mystery to her. I opened my mouth to speak, but Maeve voice shook me out of my daze.

“No. Of course not. We will close off a section of Wissahickon park for everyone to use.” Maeve glared at her attendant. “Do not attempt to glamor him. If you offend him, I will not protect you.”

The sudden swell of desire I had popped like a soap bubble.

“My apologies. He’s absolutely teeming with desire; it was in my instincts.” The attendant quickly stepped back and bowed her head with a flutter of her lashes at me.

I wasn’t entirely sure if it was an accident.

“She’s a nymph.” Maeve explained. “Please do not hold it against her.”

I blinked away the moment of brief confusion. “It’s fine.” But even as I said it, I felt a bit of anger boiling up inside of me. I didn’t like being manipulated. It was yet another reason I wanted to learn more magic.

And it had me more concerned about being in a room with the fae.

“Zach?” Kelly had come around the side and prodded me. “Don’t tell me the little nymph got you.”

I snorted. “No. The little fae just surprised me. My dragon is quite the little horndog, after all.” Focusing back on Maeve, I answered her previous questions. “No, I won’t hold it against her this time, and thank you for the invitation. I will do my best to attend, though I would ask the fae be warned ahead that I dislike magic being used to manipulate me.”

“Of course. The rules of hospitality will be kept. Though, it is a fae event. You should still be careful.” Her eyes wandered over to Jadelyn.

“We’ll make sure the dragon king knows the rules. The last thing we need is for him to be roped into breeding little fae nymphos for the rest of his life.” Kelly spoke up instead of Jadelyn.

Maeve winced the slightest bit at the lack of tact, but I just smiled.

“Wonderful.” Maeve bowed slightly and excused herself, pulling her nymph assistant away with a tight grip.

Jadelyn let out a soft sigh. “She must care about that nymph.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked, surprised at Jadelyn’s revelation.

“She barely reprimanded her. She even protected her. Maeve’s had that same assistant for… as long as I can remember. Winter and Summer have a new assistant nearly every season.” Jadelyn replied.

I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but I had to admit Maeve actually having loyalty to someone was a plus towards us being able to work together. “So she might have some redeeming traits?”

“Maybe. But regardless of her, you’re going to be attending a Fae event. There are rules and cautions you need to take.” Jadelyn squinted at Maeve’s back.

Polydora snorted. “The dragon king doesn’t need to worry about fae glamors and promises.”

Despite her confidence in me, I’d learned from Ikta that I could be swayed. And the glamor incident with Maeve’s assistant only reinforced that. “Let’s add it to my independent study. Thank you for helping me navigate that invitation.” I kissed Jadelyn on the cheek, ignoring the wave of jealousy from the dragonettes.

“Your teachers for independent study deserve some credit as well.” Jadelyn chuckled, no doubt feeling some of their auras.

I grunted. We hadn’t gotten very far in our lessons. At the moment, we were still in the basics of magical theory. Sabrina, a succubus studying under a world renowned wizard, had been the one to help most in magical theory. She’d seemed happy to be able to teach me what she knew. She loved experimenting with magic.

“Come on. We need to go find Morgana. Apparently we’ve been getting jobs that need taking care of.” With my new schedule, it had been harder to find time to spend with Morgana. She ran a nightclub, helped out new vampires coming into town, and ran her mercenary business. Finding time when she was free, and I wasn’t needed for something required us to be deliberate.

But I loved our time when we were together, so it was easy to prioritize.

Reaching out, I was able to sense the direction of the mark I’d placed on her when my dragon had made her a mate.

I walked through the Atrium, the space Morgana had made to connect various paranormal locations in the city. Stepping out into her club, it was too early for the club to be raging. At the moment vampires, goblins and some other less welcome paranormals busied themselves working.

I could still sense Morgana, but she wasn’t nearby.

“Where is Blueberry?” Kelly asked, trailing after me.

I had a pretty long tail of women at the moment between Kelly, Scarlett, Jadelyn, and the dragonettes. I was only missing the Highaen sisters and Morgana. “You can grab a seat at the bar; I think she’s deeper in the place.”

When I had first stepped into Bumps in the Night, I had been shocked to find out it was bigger on the inside than it could possibly be.

Magic, or more specifically, Morgana’s spatial magic, made it that way.

When someone got vamped their magic changed, Morgana was unique in her spatial magic outside the celestial plane.

But her magic likely had something to do with the fact that she still had a connection to her elven root tree, which happened to be supporting a portal to the celestial plane.

She hadn’t figured out a way to solve it beyond locking the tree up in a space rigged to collapse if the angels tried to use the portal, thus locking them out of earth.

As I walked down the steps to the next section of the club, it sprawled out before me. Non-paranormals likely thought the club just extended underground as they walked further and further into the club.

The area, usually filled with dancing patrons, was currently well lit and being prepped.

I continued on, taking a left turn on the third floor, noticing the burlesque dancers practicing on stage. I gave them a wave as I ducked into an employee only entrance, feeling space warp around me.

The bar was a fucking spatial maze, but I just focused on the mark I’d given Morgana and followed it through.

After another half dozen rooms, a training dojo, a kitchen, and even what looked like the first floor of a housing complex, I finally entered the garage.

Dozens of sports cars lined the stalls, and all of them were Morgana’s. Another vampire was currently waxing one of the sleeker models, but my attention moved quickly off that vampire and onto the beautiful drow working at a table in front of a wall of empty foam shapes. Normally it held a small arsenal of weapons.

“Cleaning your own guns?” I asked as I strolled over to her.

“I feel more confident in them that way. Nothing ruins a mission better than an idiot mixing up a firing pin.” She glared in the direction of the young vampire who was waxing the cars, and he suddenly went into double time on each stroke as he avoided eye contact.

Trying not to laugh at his discomfort, I picked up a Glock and got to work helping her clean her weapons. “That makes perfect sense.”

I wasn’t really a gun guy, but I’d gotten used to the handguns out of necessity working with Morgana. Claws and fire were much better weapons if I needed to kill someone.

“So, what brought you down here?” She glanced behind me, her interest growing. “No entourage?”

“I haven’t been that distant, have I?” I frowned at the gun in my hand before looking back up at Morgana.

“You’ve been busy enough that you had to miss several missions.” Morgana’s red eyes bore into me.

I wanted to refute her, but I knew she was right. I put the gun down on the table and moved closer to her. “You’re right. I need to rein the other distractions. Getting Herm and the dragonettes settled took a lot of time, but that’s done. I do have some new social responsibilities popping up though. Rupert and Maeve want to throw a party.”

“Together?” Morgana nearly dropped her gun.

“No. Oh god no. That would be… a disaster. Separate parties.” Just the idea of Rupert trying to share the spotlight as host with the Fae Queens and Ladies made me chuckle.

I wasn’t sure who would win out, the Fae Queens or Rupert’s wife, Claire.

“That could have waited for tonight. Something else?” Morgana waited.

“Yeah. Council stuff though. I’m far more interested in getting you to come with me on two dates.” Giving her my best grin, I tried to not make my visit entirely about business.

Morgana leaned over and kissed my cheek before nuzzling my neck and letting her fangs scrape at my skin.

Her narcotic venom made my skin tingle, and it was entirely my own reaction as I felt myself hold my breath in anticipation of the bite.

She waited for a moment before sitting back, simply leaving a lingering kiss on my neck.

“Tease.”

“We have company.” Her eyes shifted to the vampire that was waxing her cars. “Later, I want to ride my dragon.” The bedroom eyes she gave me made me want to ignore the lingering vampire in the room.

“What was the council business?” She asked, dumping a cool bucket of water on my libido.

“Vampires. With all the paranormal flocking to Philly, a few vampires have apparently been harassing the fae.”

Morgana winced. “Fucking idiots. Sounds like some fresh blood getting a tasty whiff. They can never control themselves around fae and dragons. But if they’re that fresh, that also means someone is turning vampires in the city.” She wrinkled her nose, and her hands blurred as she put the gun back together in record time. Once it was assembled, she lovingly slid it into its spot on the wall with a satisfied, fang filled smile.

“I’m guessing there are rules around turning vampires?” I prodded.

“You don’t make fresh vampires and walk away. They are the maker’s responsibility until the new vamp can get things under control.”

“Like when you tell a human about the paranormal?” I tried to connect it to something I knew.

“Exactly like when you tell a human about the paranormal. Though they become vampires, as far as the council and everyone else is concerned, they are governed the same until they get their legs underneath them.” Morgana explained.

I nodded. That made sense. When I’d first been inducted into the paranormal culture, I’d wanted to tell my roommate. But apparently then he would have become my responsibility forever. It was too vital that the paranormal remain secret with all the weapons non-paranormal had now developed.

If he had betrayed the paranormal community, it would have fallen on me. Usually telling a non-paranormal was accompanied with marriage.

“So, whoever is turning them, if that’s what’s happening, would be held responsible for them attacking the fae.”

“Yep, they’d be in epicly deep shit.” Morgana clarified. “The queens would have the right to kill the vampire that created the attacking vamps. Trick is, vampires don’t exactly register their new fledgeling vamps, so it can be hard to prove who was their maker.”

“So how do we find who made the vampire?” I needed a way forward on this case. I had given my word to the council.

Morgana grinned. “You need a live vamp and a wizard. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that the ones that attacked the fae aren’t alive anymore.”

Given what I knew about the fae, that seemed like a solid guess.

A race who spends their entire lives either preparing for, or in, an eternal war weren’t exactly merciful. The Winter and Summer courts were constantly at war, balancing out the other and keeping the seasons regulated.

“Also, the council made it sound like I’d been slacking on a few jobs?” Morgana had implied something similar, and it said something that I’d been so busy I wasn’t even aware I’d missed any.

Morgana shrugged. “The elves gave me a battery of tasks. Most of them are bullshit. One stuck out though.” She pulled her phone out of the spatial pocket she kept in her bra. “Sex demon attack. I only thought to bring this one up because of your friend. If she got sloppy, she needs a reminder to clean up after herself. Or if it’s not her, we have another fun sex demon running around the city.”

Morgana gave me her phone.

On it was the corpse equivalent to a dried out prune that had been left in the sun far too long. “Shit. This is a sex demon kill?” I couldn’t even make out the gender of the corpse. “Kind of disgusting.”

“They inflame lust and use it to drink the person’s mana. It does about the same thing to a man that it does to a woman.” Morgana made an intense slurping noise. “They don’t look like that until a few hours after.”

“This person literally orgasmed all of their fluids out?” I stared at the picture in disbelief.

“No.” Morgana laughed. “The sex demons drink people’s lust. Though I’m sure this person might have literally cum a bucket’s worth before they died. They stop retaining moisture for some reason after. You could ask your friend for more. I don’t know it all. Demons aren’t exactly forthcoming on the specifics. But different demons feed on different emotions.”

“Then how do you know this is a sex demon?” I asked, still staring at the photo, unable to pry my eyes away.

“Because it happened in a crappy motel and they weren’t beaten black and blue. The investigators also found the body with clothes scattered around the room and an unopened wine bottle.” Morgana said it dismissively, as if it were a foregone conclusion. “All adds up to sex demon.”

It certainly did sound like the person had been having a good night before they were turned into a shriveled up prune.

“Keep me updated please. I know I’ve been busy, but after dinner tonight, I’m coming with you on whatever mission you have.” I insisted.

Morgana nodded. “But the van won’t seat a dozen.”

“There aren’t a dozen of them, and I’ll only bring one.” I knew that would make her happy. I’d figure out how I was going to convince the dragonettes I only needed one bodyguard later. The trickier part would be not having a bunch of hurt dragonettes at who I chose to come with me.

“Fine.” She replied, grabbing the next gun to clean. “But take a nap first. We’ll go hit up some of the vampire haunts and see what we can find. That means we can’t even start before ten, so get some sleep while you can.”

Something about Morgana’s lip caught my attention, and I leaned forward, kissing them and pulling her closer.

The guns and tools on the table rattled as they were displaced. Very little got in my way when I wanted to have one of my mates.

Morgana took a deep breath and shouted. “Rick, get the hell out of here.”

He didn’t need to be told twice; he darted out of the room with vampiric speed as I lifted Morgana up. Her fangs danced along my neck once more, teasing me.

I growled, and I could hear her satisfied smirk. I smacked Morgana down onto the table, bending it slightly with my force.

She ground herself into me.

“Don’t be gentle.” She cooed in my ear as her nails scraped down my back.