Dragon 7 Chapter 33 (Patreon)

I took a sip of my coffee, trying to look inconspicuous as I watched.

“Thank you for meeting with us.” Helena stood up to shake the hand of an older woman, who must have been the Associate Director. Her hair was going gray, and she wore it like a badge of honor with her shoulders back and standing ramrod straight.

I lurked just a table over at the coffee shop.

It was the coffee shop across the street from Detective Fox’s station. We needed the door to the Atrium for this plan. That and being across the street from a police station would make her feel more secure.

I was sipping my Dragon King special, even if it had fallen off the ever-changing chalkboard menu in the hip coffee shop.

“I must admit, the cloak and dagger invitation had me worried.” The Associate Director flattened her pants as she sat down in the booth with Helena and Agent Till.

“Sorry for that. We need you to meet someone, and they are a little flighty. But they have a lot of answers as for why SAC Norton went off the deep end,” Till explained.

“You already said that. That’s what got me to come here.” The woman was complete no-nonsense. “Norton left a mess. He broke hard rules, and it seems like he had an obsession with people with no criminal record.”

Helena nodded to Till and got up out of her seat. “Then follow me. We need to head to the back room.”

The woman glanced around the shop, and I made sure to keep my eyes low, focusing on scrolling through my phone to fit in with the rest of the hipsters.

“Fine.”

Helena led them to the employees only door that actually led to the Atrium. Unfortunately, a flashy portal with wild fae magic would be too much. I doubted she’d walk through it if I made one. So we’d decided to lead her to Faerie through the Atrium.

That was my cue.

As soon as the Associate Director was through, I slipped out of my booth and followed them. My entrance to the long hallway didn’t go unnoticed. The Associate Director had paused in the hall, frowning and turned back to me.

I took off my baseball cap. “Sorry for the secrecy.”

She recognized me instantly. “You. Well, if there’s someone that might be able to make sense of Norton’s mess, the man he was obsessed over might do it. Talk.” She crossed her arms. I had to admit, though she was a smaller woman, she could make herself quite imposing.

“There’s still a little more you need to see before I start talking. Helena, please continue,” I urged them forward.

Helena took another step, but the AD didn’t budge.

“No. We talk here. There’s no one around, and I don’t like that you are giving my agents orders.” She crossed her arms and planted herself in the spot.

I sighed and rubbed at my forehead. “You are making this more difficult than it needs to be. We are going to walk through that door right there.” I pointed down the hall. “It will open up into a park ranger station in Wissahickon Park. Then we are going to walk down to a ravine and the scenery is going to change. Once you are there, I’m going to ask you to swear to secrecy three times. If you agree, I’ll tell you everything.”

She snorted. “You are as crazy as Norton seemed to think.” She shifted, though, to look at the two agents. “Are you two in on this joke?”

“Miss,” Till groaned and looked up at the lights in the ceiling before she took her badge off and her gun, handing both of them to her. “I swear on my badge, my entire career. You need to do this so we can put an end to this. He’s already going out on a huge limb for you with this offer.”

“I read your file. Career agent.” The AD took the badge and gun. “You’re done if something happens. My assistant knows I’m meeting with you two if this ravine is a burial site.”

“It isn’t. I promise.” Till sighed, looking pained at losing her badge and gun. “Fuck me. Let’s get this done.”

She took the lead and marched down the hall past Helena. The angel shrugged and went after her. The Associate Director paused only to glare in warning at me.

I gave her my best disarming smile. “After you.” The last thing I was going to let her have was an opportunity to bolt.

She marched after the other two agents and paused in the doorway, staring out at the ranger station. She first seemed to notice the window that showed the park beyond.

“There was a parking lot on three sides of the coffee shop,” the woman observed.

“We aren’t even on that side of town anymore,” Till added as she kept going.

Curiosity must have gotten the best of the Associate Director because she followed Till out of the Park Ranger station. She touched a leaf on a tree as she walked, turning it over in her hand. “This is real.”

“It will get a little wilder before things will start making sense,” I warned her. “This way. The ravine was the center of the big fire and the large number of missing people reported that night.” I knew she had to have looked into the files from the vampire battle if she was checking Norton’s work.

“Norton was obsessed with that night.” She nodded.

“I know. That night doesn’t make sense, not until you understand a few other things. There are secrets that have stayed hidden for a long time.” I followed behind her, ready to catch her if she bolted.

Dragging her into Faerie wasn’t going to help earn her trust, but I’d do it if I had to.

The Associate Director followed Agent Till down the ravine and between the two trees twisted together. When Helena and Till disappeared, she stopped dead.

“What happened to them?” She glanced back at me, her body language coiled, ready to act.

“I told you it was going to get more weird before it got better. Walk through. You cannot outrun me.” It was clear she was thinking about escaping.

Her fight or flight instincts were on high alert. Humans didn’t do well with the unknown, and it was like she was staring into a void of uncertainty right now.

“What makes you think I can’t beat you in a straight up fight?” The older woman was feisty.

“In a few minutes, I want to have this conversation again.” I smirked. “But I promise, you are safe. I just need you to step through. Then I’ll ask you to keep a secret three times.”

“Why three?” She wanted answers before she’d take another step.

“Because three is magical. Move.” I stepped closer, and for a second, I thought she was going to run, but she took a deep breath and stepped through the trees. She wanted answers, and she knew it was her best shot.

I followed after her, stepping into Faerie a few seconds after her.

“Okay… Fuck, she’s running.” I watched as she set out at a dead sprint across the plains we’d been dropped into.

“Going to let you get this one.” Helena watched with her partner as their boss ran across the plains.

I threw off my shirt and pants, tossing them to Helena. “Have those ready for when I shift back.”

“What do I look like, one of your nymphs?” she scowled but held onto the articles of clothing as I started running, shifting as my feet pounded on the grass. Those feet quickly became claws and I fell over onto all four.

The Associate Director had clearly stayed in shape. She was making like she was a seasoned marathon runner.

I had to reign in my dragon instinct at seeing running prey, but I let them out a little as I roared and started bounding after her.

The look on her face when she looked over her shoulder and saw me was priceless. The Associate Director fumbled and fell. She rolled to a stop at the bottom of a hill.

I closed the distance in several large bounds before I loomed over her. “Associate Director. I believe I told you not to run.”

Her mouth flapped open several times, and I absolutely preened at stumping the woman who only a few minutes ago was so sure of herself and her position in the world. “You?”

“Hello.” I held out a claw for her to shake. “Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Zach Pendragon, though people in certain circles know me as the Dragon King.”

She took my claw for what it was, and we shared an awkward handshake. “So. Uh. Three times?”

Apparently, seeing a dragon was enough to make her take what I’d said earlier more seriously.

“Yes. Please say thrice that you will hold what we discuss here secret. You will not discuss it unless you are absolutely sure there are no prying eyes or ears, and the other parties are all aware.” I towered over her and waited.

“I swear to treat the information I’ve received with you today as the highest level of classified information and to tell no one outside of those already aware.” She repeated it three times.

I smiled. Honestly, it was going a little better than I’d expected. Part of me had thought it would end in me carrying a screaming Associate Director into Faerie over my shoulder.She seemed to be taking the new information seriously.

“Are you about to eat me?” she asked.

“No. I’m smiling.” I frowned at her.

“Stop it.” She looked at my maw. “Can you go back to being just a tall, imposing man?”

I turned my head. “Helena, can I have my clothes back?”

Helena had a pair of angel wings sprouted from her back, and she was gliding to us.

“Oh. She’s an angel.” The Associate Direct watched her. “Agent Till, what are you?”

“100% human.” Agent Till was jogging to catch up and breathing hard. “I got wrapped up in this during the park fire incident.” She was doing her best to not sound winded.

I pushed my dragon back, and my bones crackled as I shrank. My scales retreated under skin, and Helena put a wing up to block my nakedness from her boss as she tossed me my clothes.

“How did you find out?” The Associate Director asked Rebecca Till.

“Got locked in a freezer when a demon and some vampires went after my partner.” Till hooked a thumb at Helena.

“How did that go?” The Associate Director was still on the ground, but she was staying seated.

Helena rolled her eyes. “Zach saved me.”

“What was that?” I cupped my ear. I couldn’t resist teasing her for actually saying it. She had denied it up and down that day.

I found a spear pressed against my throat only a moment later.

“If you need your ears cleaned out, I can just chop them off and let them regrow,” Helena threatened.

Till was stepping in between us, gently pushing the spear away. “The two of them don’t always get along. There are a lot of tricky politics among the paranormal.”

“That’s what you call yourselves?” the AD asked, seeming calmer by the second. Maybe we weren’t seeming quite so alien now.

I cleared my throat and straightened my shirt. “Yes. There is an organization called the Philly Council that leads the paranormals in the city.”

“Why Philly?” she asked.

“It's a point of convergence for a few things. This here”—I gestured around—“is the Faerie world. There’s only a few stable entrances between our world and this one.”

“And there’s one in the park.” The Associate Director’s eyes were moving quickly as she started to piece information together. “Then the fire? Was that related to this entrance?”

I sat down with her. “Yes. There’s a lot of history to sort through behind all of it. But for that incident, a rogue vampire bloodlord was working with a demon from Hell. They were importing illegals and turning them into young vampires to use as shock troops to try and invade Faerie.”

“So, a paranormal terrorist plot?” the AD tried to confirm.

I shrugged. “Yeah, that’s close enough. They planned to destabilize Faerie and in doing so gain a massive foothold in America.”

“The fire?”

I scratched the back of my head. “That was the Philly Council and me. I set fire to the army of vampires, and then my mates and I dealt with the remaining terrorists,” I used her terms.

The Associate Director frowned at me then glanced up like she was remembering how big I had been. “So, you killed them?”

“Yep.” I didn’t try to hide it. “We don’t really have the capacity to put paranormals with dangerous abilities in a prison and wait through a lengthy trial when they caused so much damage and risked our secret. There is a system for smaller issues, but it’s archaic. I’m talking duels to the death to settle shit.”

The AD picked at a piece of grass and played with it in her hands. “Why tell me?”

I glanced up at Helena and Agent Till. “Because just this year, we have had two people on the inside know, and they’ve been invaluable. They helped through the problem with the park fire, and Norton proved to me that investigators will pick up enough to know there’s something to go after. In this day and age, we are going to struggle to continue to hide forever.”

The AD glanced up at the two agents and took Agent Till’s badge. She threw it back to her. “So, when you two solved the human trafficking operation, that was to cover this vampire plot?”

“They were party to human trafficking.” Agent Till happily put the badge back on her belt. “But they were using the trafficked humans as blood bags for this growing vampire army and turning them when they got too weak.”

The Associate Direction made an ugly face. “I want an unofficial report of what you two have actually done.” She then turned to me. “What do you want out of this?”

I help up my hands. “I’m not here to tell you what to do. You are clearly a capable woman in your own right. I’m pretty sure that, with this knowledge, you could come up with a better plan than me.”

She snorted and her face actually cracked into a smile. “A man, a king no less, that doesn’t tell me what to do. Now I believe in magic.” She barked a laugh. “Okay. I can do something for now. But I won’t be over Philly forever.”

“If we need to have another sit down with the SAC that does take over, I just hope you’ll pick someone that can have this conversation equally as calmly. For now, I just want to make sure we don’t create another Norton. I don’t want to have to explain more dead agents.” I held my hands up.

She became serious. “He’s dead?” A waring expression clouded her face.

“Carl and Lopez too,” I told her. “Carl died in some woods and Lopez died in the boat. But he died luring me into a trap to kill me. Norton died here in Faerie. They were given powers by an ancient paranormal and were cogs in the machinations of another.”

“These two others, have they been taken care of or are there threats still in play?” she asked.

I pursed my lips. “One yes. The other, we can’t reach. They’ve been dead for thousands and thousands of years. They are able to reach into our world from time to time. We injured him. Hopefully, he needs to regain power.”

She rubbed at her head. “That sounds just as tricky as dealing with other countries.”

“Yeah, except the other country in this instance could flatten even my dragon form if I wasn’t careful. Talking full on nuclear-level power, not even sure nukes would take down a titan if it crawled out of Tartarus.” My words settled over her brow like a dark cloud.

“For now, I’d like to get back to my car…” She trailed off and looked around. “… I think I need to think on things.”

“No problem.” I snapped my fingers and opened a portal midair to the manor. “This way. You can take a portal from my place back to the coffee shop.” I led her through.

She hesitated walking around the portal and inspecting the glowing edge. “Can you make these anywhere?”

“I’m still limited,” I said, not lying, but also exaggerating to give her some comfort that I wasn’t about to start using it for things I shouldn’t.

As soon as we got on the other side of the portal, she stopped and stared, and I nearly facepalmed on the spot.

Nymphs were walking around casually through the manor wearing bikinis. It seemed they’d been encouraged by how effective it had been on the yacht.

“Dragon King!” One bounced to my side. “Is there anything I can get you?” she asked the question with an undertone of innuendo.

The Associate Director coughed into her hand.

“This way.” Agent Till directed her away. “There are some cultural things you might have to get used to if you meet with Zach much. Dragons… well… they have harems, and his is quite large.”

I heard the AD ask Agent Till if she was part of the harem, but then my focus was taken by Helena.

“Thank you.” She frowned but then quickly bounced up and pecked my cheek with a kiss. “That was good. I think some real good will come out of you sharing our secret with her.”

I had to bite my tongue. I didn’t want to spoil the moment of her actually being nice. “You too. You put your neck out for me and I appreciate that.” I kissed her cheek in turn. “Now go back to being feisty. Otherwise, I think I’m going to miss wrecking some furniture with you.”

She scowled at me and glared at the nymph out of the corner of her eyes. “I have no idea what you are talking about. Fucking Dragon King only has sex on his mind.” She stormed off.

The nymph sidled up next to me. “She’s really pent up. If you need to get ready for her…”

I laughed, rubbing the top of the nymph’s head. “Not right now. There’s a lot more to do today. Where’s Nyske?”