Dragon 5 Chapter 8 (Patreon)

“So, what do you exactly do for Silverwing Mercenaries?” Agent Tills asked as she pulled smoothly out of the parking lot.

She drove a nice car, but it wasn’t Morgana level nice. If I had to guess, the BMW was used before she bought it, but it wasn’t that old of a model. She was practical and focused on functionality, not appearances.

“Mostly settle low level disputes. It isn’t flashy. Lots of sitting in cars, trying to find people.” I undersold our day to day work.

“Who are your clients?” Agent Tills asked in reply.

“I’m afraid I can’t just give out that sort of information. Mercenary-Client Privilege is of the highest importance.” I joked.

The side eye glare I got from the agent told me she wasn’t amused; she clearly wanted the answer to her question. “You said there are some things you can’t tell me. Is that one of them?”

“Generally, it is a poor habit to share that sort of information. But there’s one I believe you already know. I’ve done some work for the Scalewrights.”

“That’s how you met Jadelyn and the two of you became involved?” Tills pushed further.

I chuckled. “If by involved, you mean committed for life, then yes. We’ll have a formal wedding sometime in the future.”

“Just like that?” She asked.

“Yep.” I had a smug grin plastered on my face as I remembered my siren’s wedding with Jadelyn. That had been a night to remember.

Tills scoffed. “Wipe that grin off your face.”

“No. She’s beautiful, and I smile when I think about her.” That was a good thing. My mates made me happy.

We had pulled off of campus, and I could see the hospital rising above the other buildings a few blocks over.

“But you have other women. At least, reports have you being very friendly with Morgana Silverwing, as well as a cheerleader from your school. Jadelyn has to be too proud to let that slide. What would happen—“

I cut her off. “If she found out about Morgana, Kelly, oh and her bodyguard Scarlett? She already knows. And she is okay with it. Scarlett was the one to push her towards dating me.” I explained.

Tills sounded like she was choking on something. “That’s ridiculous.”

I took the comment in stride. It would have looked ridiculous to me as well not too long ago. But now I felt differently, and I could not care less what she thought. “It’s my life, and I’m happy.” I folded my arms behind my head with a smile that I just knew would piss her off.

“So, what do you call them?” Tills asked, pulling up at a stoplight just a block away from the hospital.

“My harem.” For the first time, the word sounded natural to me. “Mine.” I added, growling a little.

She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

“Who says you have to?” I turned to her with my face set. “I don’t understand why you are married to your job, or why you decided to become an FBI agent. Do we really have to understand each other?”

She stared ahead through the red light as it turned green. Despite the green, there was a moment's hesitation before she put her foot on the gas. “Then just one more question. What is between you and my partner? Is she going to join your harem, too?”

This time I laughed so hard that I had to hold my stomach. “No. We were on opposite sides of a situation. She wronged one of my women, and until any bad blood is settled, I’m more likely to rip Helena’s head from her shoulders.”

“If you kill my partner, I’ll come after you.” Tills warned me with a squint of her eyes, making small wrinkles form at the corners.

Tills was probably beautiful even a few years ago, but the years were wearing on her. The job had worn her down if I had to guess.

“Agent, if you come after me, you’ll die. If your entire agency comes after me, they’ll all die. Ask your partner. She knows what I can do.” Tills had pulled up to the curb, and I hopped out. “Good talking to you.”

“Wait, you don’t just—“ She started to protest, but I hurried into the hospital, checking my phone for the room number that Frank had sent me.

Finding the elevator, I went up to the fifth floor and hurried down the hall.

Even before I got to the door, I knew something was wrong. I could hear Maddie screaming inside.

I nearly ripped the door off its hinges as I dashed inside, finding two nurses holding Maddie down. But what caught my eyes first were the fangs she was flashing at them as she screamed.

A nearby doctor was measuring out a dose in a syringe as I stood, my brain trying to comprehend what I was seeing.

Maddie’s eyes moved instantly, fixating on me as she inhaled deeply. A look of hunger crossed her face as her struggling redoubled.

“Zach!” Frank leapt up from a chair and rushed me, throwing his arms around me in a crushing hug. “I didn’t know who else to call. Maddie’s gone crazy! She had been muttering something about figuring out what was wrong with you and getting your blood tested as she charged off. And then the next thing I know, I’m getting a call that she’s been mugged. I don’t know what they did to her, but it’s like she’s some animal!”

“Frank.” I grabbed his shoulders and rooted him to the floor. “Slow down.” I was still processing what he was saying, dread filling my gut. I waited for Frank to get ahold of himself before I moved over to the bed next to Maddie.

She needed to be sedated, and the two men were having no luck holding her down. I grabbed her shoulders, pinning her to the bed. “Nurses, steady her arm for the doctor.”

They looked relieved for me to take over. I had a feeling her strength had taken them by surprise. Vampires were a lot stronger than they looked.

The doctor got the syringe in her arm and pushed down the plunger. It was only moments later that Maddie started slowing down. By the count of ten, she was relaxed, her eyes distant and her eyelids fluttering down.

“Thank you. But you can’t be in here.” The doctor told me.

I scowled at him enough to make him back up. “She’s my best friend, and he’s my roommate. I’m not going anywhere.”

The doctor muttered something under his breath, but he headed out of the room, leaving me with a frantic Frank and a passed out Maddie. I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to figure out what to do next.

“Maddie.” Frank said weakly as he came up on her other side and put a hand on her shoulder. “Zach, I don’t know what to do. They said it was drugs, but Maddie would never do drugs. Definitely never do them without me.”

I sighed. I’d only gotten a glimpse of her fangs, but the sinking feeling in my gut said that Maddie had been turned. But I couldn’t tell that to Frank. “It’ll be okay. I think I know what is wrong. Let me text a few people.”

Frank looked like he was about to cry, but he didn’t ask questions. He simply nodded.

For once, my secrets didn’t matter, just the solutions I could give him.

I stepped away to text Morgana and Trina.

Pausing one more moment, I texted Maeve. If someone had an ancient cure for vampirism, it might be the fae.

As I texted her, I groaned, realizing her party was the next night and Rupert’s was the night after. This was shit timing.

Texts sent, I tucked my phone into my pocket and was about to go inspect Maddie further when the door opened.

Agent Tills entered the room.

“What are you doing?” I growled with enough force that she actually stopped.

“Investigating. You seem to be at the center of some of this mess. Plus, I don’t have any leads to follow at the moment until my partner gets back.” Agent Tills gave me a tight smile that told me I was firmly in her crosshairs.

As much as I wanted to throttle her and kick her out of the room, I held myself back and focused back on Frank. She’d only dig her heels in deeper if I made it clear there was information she could gather. So I just let her linger in the room.

“Frank, you said something about my blood?” I focused back on my roommate.

He dipped his head. “I told her it was a stupid thing to try. She said she had a little of your blood.” Frank grabbed her purse and started going through it before pulling out a paper towel in a ziplock baggie.

I touched my neck, remembering when she had wiped a little of my blood off my neck at dinner the previous night. “Fuck. They said she was mugged, but that’s her purse.”

“Exactly.” Frank held the purse up higher, as if it were the key piece of evidence. “They didn’t take anything. She called me saying she’d been attacked. When I got there, her shirt was a little torn, but everything else was fine. Well… except for her. She was wild. She kept trying to bite me while I brought her to the hospital.” He frowned in concern.

“Did she bite you? We should get you checked out.” I tried to hide the anxiety I was feeling.

“No, she didn’t bite me. She just scratched the hell out of me.” He showed me his arm, which looked like a cat had gone to town across it. “I buckled her into the back seat of my car, and the nurses helped me when I got here.”

My phone pinged. The three ladies confirmed they were on their way.

I shot a quick response that we had two humans here to make sure they didn’t come in such that they’d give the paranormal secret away. If Maeve ripped open a portal, it would be hard as hell to explain.

Morgana was the first to arrive, wearing her amulet that made her look like a blonde swiss model as she strutted in wearing her classic leather pants and corset.

“Oh. Agent… Tips was it?” She smirked at Tills.

“Tills. Morgana Silverwing, what are you doing here?” Agent Tills replied gruffly.

“Zach asked for my assistance.” Morgana’s eyes flitted to Maddie on the bed, and she frowned. Walking over, Morgana lifted Maddie’s eyelids. She checked a few other places, but I could tell she was just covering for her inspection of Maddie’s mouth.

“Hi, Morgana. Can you help her?” Frank asked with a pleading face.

I turned to the agent. “Please, this is a personal matter. I’d appreciate it if you gave me some space.” I paused, realizing I needed Frank out of the room as well. “Frank, why don’t you go with her? I have a private doctor and another friend coming in to look at her. Let them do their work, and then, when they have something conclusive, we can figure out where to go from there.”

Frank frowned. “You have a private doctor?”

“Yes, now go. Please.” I was feeling the strain of not being able to tell him what was wrong with Maddie. We were best friends; I hated keeping something so important from him.

As they left, Maeve came into the room, followed shortly by Trina.

The door closed, and I felt magic from Maeve wrap around the room.

“No one can hear us. Zach, what happened?” Maeve asked.

I blew out a breath. “My roommate and friend have been getting suspicious of my recent activities, including my growing harem.”

I held up the baggie. “It sounds like Maddie here took a paper towel with some of my blood and wanted to test it. They think I’m involved with drugs.”

Morgana lifted Maddie’s lips to get a look at her fangs. “Looks like she’s started the transformation to a vampire. Someone fed her their blood.”

Maeve shook her head. “This is why it is bad for the paranormal to be too close to the mundane. Or we should eradicate all vampires. The pests can barely contain their urges.” Her eyes flicked to Morgana. “Not you, of course.”

But my blue mate waved off Maeve’s comment. “She hasn’t finished the transformation. To do that, she’ll need to drink a decent amount of blood. Her body will need the mana to finish the transformation. She’s running low on her own stores and getting desperate. And if she doesn’t complete the transformation, she’ll die.”

Trina looked at me. “What do you want to do, my king?”

“Is there a way to stop this?” I asked all three of them.

“You could kill her.” Trina offered simply confirming my worst fears.

Morgana shook her head, but Maeve pursed her lips in thought.

I realized Maeve might have an answer for me. “Maeve, what do we need?”

“We have records of a cure for early vampirism. Most of it is pretty simple. The hardest part is that you need the fangs of the vampire who turned her.” Maeve tapped her lips. “It has to be the one that turned her; there’s a connection between them.”

Morgana snorted. “That’s a myth.”

But Maeve didn’t give in. “I can only tell you that there are records of fae using it successfully. The Blood Lords have worked to remove it from even our records. Besides, many would wish to make the transformation. Immortality is a heady draught for humans. Before you try to take it from her, you should give her a choice.” Maeve looked a little sheepish, knowing that she was critiquing me. But I appreciated the clearer perspective she brought to the situation. My head was still in scrambles.

“No, you are right. She should have a choice. I just… rushed ahead on things. Uh… how does it work as for the paranormal rules if I expose myself to her at this point?” I asked.

Trina cleared her throat. “She’ll forever be a part of the paranormal community now. Even if Maeve’s concoction works, she is already paranormal.”

Maddie stirred in bed, groaning and rolling around.

Trina picked up her chart from the foot of the bed. “Yes, she’s very paranormal. She should not even be able to move yet. Her partial vampire nature is kicking in and removing the sedative from her system. We need to make a choice here soon.”

“We will need to kill the one that turned her, anyway.” Morgana said, stepping up close to Maddie’s head. “The one that turns a vampire has power over it. Regardless of her choice, they will need to die for your friend to be free and to prevent her from being used against you, which I won’t let happen.”

“Used against me?” I asked, surprised at her leap in logic.

Maeve nodded. “At this point, we must consider that the vampires are making a move on our city.”

“Why Philly?” I asked.

“The fae.” Trina replied quickly. “There are a limited number of places where the fae realm connects permanently to our world. Philly is the only one I know of.”

“We keep them secret on purpose.” Maeve replied. I could tell that she was worried. “There is much power in the fae world and in its people that could be used by others. It must be protected. But we also cannot seal ourselves off; we must remain connected or else we would have no support when something like this happens.”

I cringed, hating that my conflict with the church had led to this imbalance. But it was clear the vampires had just been waiting for their opportunity.

“We’ll figure this out. We are having another council session to discuss this tonight. Vampires running around turning people is not okay.” I’d send messages out through Rupert to insure we had a council session.

“No, but she was likely targeted because she was carrying your blood. That very well might have tempted a vampire beyond their ability to control themselves.” Trina pointed out.

“Either way, the city has a problem on its hands, and we need to work together.” I reiterated, looking at Maeve.

Maeve bowed slightly. “You will have the fae’s full support, and I know you can obtain the sirens’ easily enough.” She smirked a little.

I nodded, already forming a plan in my head.

I turned away ever so slightly as Maddie’s eyes popped open, and she lunged for me.

Morgana had her restrained and slammed her back down on the bed before I could even react. “Be a good girl and have a drink.”

There was no intelligence in Maddie’s gaze, but Morgana cut herself and dripped some of her own blood into Maddie’s mouth.

That was all it took for Maddie’s focus to switch to Morgana. Her tongue wiggling out of her mouth, trying to catch the blood as she slurped, like she was trying to suck Morgana’s blood out at a distance.

It was completely animalistic.

“She’s starving. The human brain nearly shuts down when a human is starving; it is the same thing. A little blood should help her regain some clarity.” Morgana let her blood continue to drip.

True to her words, Maddie started visibly calming. Soon, she was licking the blood off her lips, confusion entering her eyes. “Where am I?” Her wide eyes moved around the room until they found me. “Zach?”