Dragon 5 Chapter 9 (Patreon)

“Hey, Maddie. You were attacked and you’re in the hospital.” I moved closer. She seemed to have control over herself, but her nose wiggled.

“You smell so good.” She moaned, disgust filling her face. “Why the hell do I want to take a chunk out of you?” Maddie tried to hold her head, realizing in that moment that Morgana was still restraining her.

Maddie licked her lips again, tasting the blood that still lingered on them. She smiled at the taste and then frowned, moving her hand up to touch the liquid and confirm it was blood. “Wait, did you just put your blood in my mouth?” She nearly screamed at Morgana.

“That’s some sick shit.” She looked over at me. “Zach, I knew things were fucked up, but what the hell kind of drug cult have you gotten yourself into?” She tried to get out of the hospital bed and come towards me, but Trina was there in an instant and decked Maddie, slamming her back down on the bed.

“Do not approach my king. We do not know if you can control yourself.” Trina stood like a wall between us.

“Control myself?” Maddie’s eyes were wide with a mix of panic and hysteria. “Like you all have control? You throw yourselves at Zach all dinner long.”

“Maddie.” I warned her, trying to keep my voice calm. She’d been through a lot. “I’ve told you before. There are things you don’t understand.”

“Yeah, I’ve got that. But unless you are suddenly going to enlighten me, shut the fuck up.” Maddie snapped.

I paused, realizing she had a point.

Deciding to go for the most direct route, I took off my shirt and handed it to Trina amid a few stares.

“Uh… what are you doing, Zach?” Maddie looked at me hesitantly. “If you’re about to do some sort of weird cult orgy thing, I am so not into it.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m proving a point.” My body crackled as I let my upper body start to shift.

Gold scales rippled down my form as my shoulders broadened and my arms stretched out, claws forming off my fingers.

And of course, my jaw elongated as my face became draconic.

“Wha— HELP! HELP!” Maddie started screaming at the top of her lungs. “There’s a monster!”

I held up my gold scaly claws. “It’s me Maddie, Zach. There are a few things you need to know.”

She pushed herself as far up the bed and away from me as she could, fear shining in her eyes. “What the fuck. This must be a nightmare. What kind of drugs are they giving me?” Maddie looked to Morgana for help.

“Sorry, this is neither.” Morgana undid the clasp on her amulet. As it fell off, she returned to her normal blue self.

Maddie’s eyes went wide as her attention went back and forth between the other two women in the room.

Maeve dropped her glamor and became the cold-looking winter fae that she was, complete with her silver eyes.

“And you?” Maddie pointed a quivering finger at Trina.

“I don’t want to ruin my clothes.” She crossed her arms and scowled at Maddie. “But I’m like my king.” Trina pointed at me.

“Your king?” Maddie looked back at me. “Zach, what the hell is going on?”

“You’re probably starting to get most of it.” I shifted back to normal and took my shirt from Morgana before putting it on. “The world is full of supernatural beings. I’m one of them. So is everyone here, and all of my mates are as well. My kind is rare and endangered. It’s typical for us to have several mates.”

Maddie looked around the room as we stood, letting her digest the information. “This isn’t the drugs? This is real?” She asked. She was calming down, but there was still a frantic edge to her.

I nodded back at her.

“Okay. Okay… this is nuts, but okay.” I could see her thoughts going a million miles a minute before she seemed to settle on her next question. “Why now?”

“That’s the right question.” Morgana said from her side. “We are telling you now because of what happened to you. Feel inside your mouth. Were your teeth always that sharp?”

Maddie pricked herself with her fangs and winced. “No, and I never found myself liking the taste of blood.” It sounded like she was about to cry as she put it together. “Am I… a vampire?”

I sighed. “Yes. You were attacked by a vampire and are in the process of turning. Maeve here thinks there might be a way to reverse the process before it completes, but that would require us to find who did this to you.”

Maddie looked down at her hands and couldn’t look up to meet my eyes. “Okay. So I’m some sort of newbie vampire. What are you?”

“I’m a dragon. Morgana is a drow, which is a type of elf, but she was turned into a vampire. Maeve is a winter fae, and Trina is a dragon like me.”

“What about the others? Jadelyn, Scarlett, Kelly?”

“Siren, kitsune and werewolf.” I answered, ticking off my fingers.

“Are unicorns real?” Maddie asked.

I paused, realizing I had no idea. I turned to Morgana to let her answer.

“No, those are pure fantasy.” Morgana answered flatly, popping whatever dream Maddie had cooked up.

“What about—“

Maeve cleared her throat. “I think you can ask your questions later. We are more curious about who turned you.”

Maddie nodded. “Right. Oh, uh… I don’t know if I can be of much help. I decided to take a shortcut through a kinda shady area of town. One moment I was walking, and the next I was being pressed to the ground. I thought…” She shuddered.

I knew what she thought and wanted nothing to do with that train of thought. Thank god it hadn’t happened. “Can you be more specific about where you were when you were attacked?” I urged her.

“Can I see my phone?”

I didn’t know where it was, but I pulled up a map on mine. “Here.”

“Okay. I got off the train here and was headed to this location. I think I cut through here.” She backtracked her route on my phone.

Taking note of the spot, I dropped a pin and shared it with Morgana.

“Thank you. That’ll help us.” I tucked my phone back into my pocket.

“What happens to me now?” Maddie suddenly was brought back to her present situation.

I hesitated to give her hope, but she needed to know all of her options. “Well, you are in the middle of your transformation to a vampire. Morgana could answer a lot of your questions. But what concerns me the most is that it sounds like whoever sired you has the ability to keep you under their control unless they die.”

Maddie’s eyes widened, but I continued. “Given that you were just attacked and turned, and we’ve had other vampire attacks in the city, my guess is the two go hand in hand. And Morgana and I already accepted the job of removing whatever is causing our vampire problem. I’m going to find them and take care of them, Maddie. I won’t let somebody control you.” She sagged just the slightest bit in relief.

“But I'm going to stay a vampire?” She asked.

“We don’t know yet. Maeve thinks that there’s a way to help revert you, but we’re not positive. And to do it, I’ll need to kill the person who attacked you.” I looked away when I talked about killing. Though I’d come to terms with it, I knew that Maddie wouldn’t understand.

“You kill people?” she asked quietly.

I nodded. “Paranormal society is a lot more violent. I actually was forced into a duel to the death on my first day learning about it. That was back at the beginning of the school year.”

“Scarlett?” Maddie asked, starting to piece everything together.

“She and Morgana helped me adjust. I was born a dragon, but… never knew I was one until I got into a fight with Chad after the bar that one night.”

Maddie’s eyes went wide, and she covered her mouth. “I remember that night.”

“Yeah…” I trailed off. “That night I kicked Chad’s ass, and he went all werewolf on me. Still kicked his ass, but that was the start of it. It has been a bit of a whirlwind.”

“Yeah, having girls trailing behind you calling you ‘my king’ must be really hard.” Maddie’s snark was back in full force, and it made me smile. It meant she was doing better.

Trina cleared her throat and started in on a very serious tone. “Because he was born the king of dragons, he has a large amount of responsibility. I am part of an honor guard that helps protect him; he is very important to our kind.”

Maddie blinked, shocked by her tone. “So, what is so important about him?”

“I’m a sort of dragon that is a mix of all the colors. The dragon population is important for the paranormals, and several of the colors have completely died off. Through me, I might be able to restore them.”

“Wait… like kids?” She frowned. “How does that—“

Maeve cleared her throat. “I’m glad to see you are doing better, but you have decisions to make, and we all have work to do. Zach, I hope you will still have time to attend the party tomorrow night.” Her eyes flickered to me again, and I realized I might have dropped some new information when I spoke of multiple colors.

“Of course. I am happy to meet the fae formally as the dragon king. My honor guard will be there as well, and I’ll bring along the other dragons in the city.” I turned back to Maddie. “Morgana will stay with you and answer your questions. I need to go tell Frank that you are okay.”

“Frank!” Maddie tried to get out of bed, but Morgana held her down.

“He’ll come in as soon as he knows you are well. But we must talk. Either we resolve your condition or you become a vampire.” Morgana warned her before she put her amulet back on. “Do not talk of the paranormal and resist the urge to bite him. You will kill him if you do in your present state.”

Maeve returned to her human glamor and dismissed the magic around the room.

I joined her, and we stepped outside the hospital room, Trina trailing behind us.

“Zach.” Frank shot up from where Tills was talking to him. “Is… is she…”

“She’s awake and wants to see you.” I didn’t even finish my sentence before he bolted past me and into the room.

Tills and Maeve’s assistant remained out in the hall with us. The nymph looked like a secretary about to shoot a porn video in her glamor.

“Agent Tills, I would like a momentary word with you.” Maeve stated, motioning for the agent to follow her.

I had my suspicions as Maeve pulled her away, but I was distracted as her assistant got close enough that her chest brushed me.

“I wanted to apologize for earlier.” She was close enough that her sweet scent hit me like a potent aphrodisiac. Her hands touched my chest like the softest silk.

Fuck, she wasn’t even using her magic. Just her person was that alluring.

“No need. I think I understand your nature better.” I replied.

She pushed her lips into a pout that made me want to lean down and see if she tasted as sweet as she smelled. “My mistress would not like it if I couldn’t earn your forgiveness.”

The nymph looked slightly away, but glanced back up at me through her eyelashes. “Do you forgive me?”

“Yes. What is your name?” I realized I didn’t even know that.

“Evelyn Daexisys Flutterwink.” She gave me a brilliant smile that made my heart flutter, and she winked as she said her last name. “You may call on me anytime you wish. I’ll serve you in any way you desire.”

“Evelyn.” Maeve’s voice was like shattering ice. “Get off him. We are leaving.” The fae lady watched me for a moment to see if I was upset.

“I will see you both tomorrow. Maeve, Evelyn, was just asking for my forgiveness.” I tried to not make trouble for her assistant.

Maeve only narrowed her eyes and tugged Evelyn away.

Trina chuckled behind me. I’d forgotten she was there with Evelyn in front of me. “I think she was asking for a little more than that. What a hussy. Don’t blame either of you, though.”

Rubbing my forehead, I started to grow concerned about the party coming up. “Are they all like that?”

“We should probably give you a cultural crash course for class tomorrow.” Trina replied, keeping her words generic as Agent Tills returned her focus to me.

The agent looked at me and shook her head. “I have no idea how you do it. But I have other things to worry about right now. Don’t think we are through.” She turned sharply and left in the opposite direction of Maeve.

“Got the attention of an agent, too.” Trina gasped playfully and covered her mouth. “Maybe there is hope of you single-handedly repopulating the dragons.” She barely suppressed her laughter.

“Laugh all you want. When I have you pumping out eggs and laying on your brood for centuries on end, we’ll see who’s laughing.” I returned the playful banter, but the look in her eyes told me that Trina was hungry for at least parts of the image I presented.

“You’d give me my own brood?” She asked hopefully.

I shrugged. Thuun had explained dragon reproduction to me. It had made me feel like I was back in third grade getting a talk about the birds and the bees.

Dragon women nested with their eggs as they waited for them to hatch, but my other mates would follow their own gestation process. Their dragonic heritage would come through later in their lives. It was like how Yev appeared like a high elf from her mother.

Trina was still staring at me with her dark baby-crazed eyes, waiting for an answer.

“We will both live a very long time. I’m in no rush, but I assume I will eventually give in like the conclave expects and take you all into my family.” Relenting, I realized it was just a matter of time.

She stepped forward and kissed me on the cheek. “Thank you. Hearing that gives me a lot of relief. Even a few years isn’t much time for me. Though if you want to relieve any of your stress, I’m more than willing to help sooner.” She winked just like the nymph had, a smile breaking across her face.

Not wanting to interrupt whatever Frank and Maddie were going through, I sat down and Trina joined me. “Then tell me a little more about yourself. Your parents were raised in ancient Rome, and your upbringing was pretty strict from the sound of it.”

She snorted. “They were very much stuck in the old ways. A lot of the old dragons are rooted in the past. We go on a survival trip to teach us independence.”

“Tell me about that. Would you be in wolf-filled woods where you had to fight for your life?” I imagined a movie I’d seen once.

“Nothing that dramatic, but there were elements of it. If there’d been a wolf, I would have just shifted and eaten it. Actually, I wish there had been a wolf.” Trina looked wistfully at the ceiling. “No, I was sent out into the desert. It was mostly about finding an oasis and digging a den nearby so that I could hunt creatures that came to the water. I learned more about the cycle of life and balance in the world.”

“How so?” I pushed her to continue.

Trina sighed. “You can very easily over hunt an oasis. As a dragon, I need a lot of food and can consume far more than I need. In order to survive, I had to learn how to nurture the oasis and the population while feeding away from it.”

“Brutal. But I can see how that would be necessary. If you tainted the area around the oasis with blood and death, nothing would come.”

She nodded. “I toasted a few oases before learning that lesson myself. After I came out of that, though, I knew myself better. I went back to college, then med-school. Then I became a doctor and worked my way through a number of specialties as I reinvented myself over the years.”

Brass dragons like Trina had death magic, but that also meant they could stave off death and heal. It made sense that she went into medicine.

“What was your favorite specialty?” I asked.

“Surgery is fun. I like being able to actively do something, you know? Giving meds and doing check ups only to send them to a specialist or surgeon to get the actual treatment is boring.” She shrugged.

I chuckled. “No, unfortunately I don’t really know. My life has been much shorter than yours, but I can imagine that being active in a solution is far more preferable to just passing it further along the system.”

As I said it, I realized I was echoing a lot of my recent feelings as I sat in council meeting after council meeting.

Maddie being in the hospital spurred me on to solve the latest vampire crisis myself. There might be council meetings and parties still required of me, but I was ready to get my hands dirty.

The desire built up in me, and the beast rattled his cage in my chest, demanding he be let out to track and hunt.

“What do you say about a little trip? I’d like to go get a look at the area where Maddie was attacked before we go to the council tonight.” I grinned.

Trina’s own grin mirrored mine, and I realized just how savage she could be “Time to hunt?” Her eyes gleamed.

“Something like that.” I got up and pulled her along with me as I shot Morgana a text, telling her that I’d see her at the council meeting. My beautiful drow vampire would not be pleased to be left out, but Maddie needed her more.