Dragon 5 Chapter 24

It felt like time slowed as Agent Tills’ body was lobbed towards oncoming traffic.

But it was only the briefest moment before we all reacted.

Sabrina launched a red ring of magic that chased down the vampire before he could get far. As the red ring reached him, it sliced right through both of his legs.

She didn’t hesitate after she sent the spell, immediately moving out from behind a car to chase him down.

Knowing she could handle him, I leapt over the divider as a car swerved, attempting to miss the agent. I felt a rush of relief as she came out unscathed, but the big mack truck barreling down the road wouldn’t have the same nimbleness.

“Go low!” I yelled as I landed and punched my foot into the asphalt. Then I expanded my foot into a dragon’s claw and tore into the cement, holding on as I put my hand out towards the oncoming truck.

My hand hit the front fender, tearing right through it as my hand entered inside of it and I could feel the heat of the engine block as I got a good grip on the frame.

The mack truck’s back end picked up, but thankfully it was full of cargo that was weighing it down. All it did was a small hop before the whole thing came to a messy and loud stop as I shoved the engine a good three feet back under the driver’s seat.

“You alright?” I asked agent Tills, turning away from the truck.

“Holy shit.” She whispered, still crouched down on the pavement. “You—you just stopped a truck going sixty miles per hour with your bare hands.”

“We need to go.” My left shoe and the bottom of my pants were shredded as I shifted my foot back to normal, and my right sleeve was torn to hell from the truck. I looked like a mess, and I needed to leave as quickly as possible.

Cars were already stopping, and people were getting out to see if they could help.

I went over to the truck driver, who was pushing down his airbag.

I breathed a sigh of relief that he was moving. But he’d have a nasty headache and a bruise from the seatbelt. The police helicopter was touching down amid the mess, and people were pulling out their phones.

I grabbed a piece of the truck amid the wreck and used it to shield my face as I hopped back over the barrier.

Four uniforms hopped out of the helicopter at the same time and started shouting at people to stop recording and get back in their cars. Another two rushed to the two downed vampires.

“Are you Zach?” One that had been yelling at people to get in their cars turned back to me.

“Yup.” I raised an eyebrow, readying myself for whatever came next.

“I work directly with Detective Fox, and these guys are all good.” The man emphasized the word ‘good’. “What’s the situation here?”

I smiled, glad that they knew about paranormals. “Two vamps, one directly involved in the kidnapping of an FBI agent.” I pointed to the vampire that Larisa was currently pressing to the ground. “Susan Garrison is the prime suspect in multiple murders.”

“Gag and bag.” The cop said to the others, pointing at Susan. “We’ll bring them wherever you want.”

“You know Bumps in the Night?” I asked with a smile.

“Of course.” The cop nodded and made some motions for the others to hurry up.

“What’s that?” Tills asked about the club.

I grinned. “Morgana’s club. I’m going in the helicopter with them. I’m not letting them out of my sight.”

“You don’t just take someone… nevermind. We’ll meet you there.” Agent Tills went back to her car with Sabrina and Trina while the vampires were put in multiple sets of zip ties and tied to the seats of the helicopter.

“Coming with us?” The cop asked, getting in and strapping himself to a seat.

“I’m staying with them. Let’s get out of here.” I pulled a headset on so we could communicate if we needed to in flight.

Despite the cops’ best efforts, there were still some people trying to get pictures of the accident.

I started texting Rupert and Detective Fox, hoping they could get ahead and spin the story.

The paranormal secret was far too close to being exposed. While I knew they’d been covering it all up for years, I worried that we were reaching a tipping point.

The helicopter lifted off, and I hung onto a handle, no longer fearing flying nearly as much as I once did. Having wings helped with that.

The two vampires were wiggling against their restraints, but they stopped once I stared at them.

Susan glared at me. I wondered if she knew who I was.

The other vampire had his pants recently turned into shorts, and his legs below the cutoff looked pale and atrophied. Apparently, he was barely healing them back.

They were both relatively recent vampires.

Neither of them had a headset on, and the helicopter was loud. They wouldn’t be able to hear me if I asked if they’d turned Maddie, but I was ready to rip out their fangs if they were.

I pulled out my phone while holding onto the helicopter with one hand and texted Maddie. If she met us at Bumps, we could quickly use Sabrina’s spell to confirm if they’d turned her.

I started wrapping up my next text and saw Bumps in the Night in the distance. The chopper had made quick work of the distance.

The cops dragged the vampires out onto the roof while several of Morgana’s staff exited, curious about what had brought the chopper down.

“Valorie.” I recognized one of them. Morgana had taken the vampire under her wing after she’d been used by werewolves to manufacture a drug from her saliva. “These two need to be held. Morgana wants them.”

“Poor souls.” The vampire came forward and roughly handled Susan while a guy came forward and did the same to the other. “Morgana breezed through a bit ago. I’m not sure where she is at the moment.”

“I know where she is. I’m going to go get her. Bring them to the gym?”

Valorie made a face and nodded.

“We should get back. Let the Detective know if you need anything else.” The cop that was in charge gave me a respectful salute, followed by a nod, and they quickly rose back into the air.

I followed the staff back down into the club and moved through the spatial maze until I reached the Atrium and my room within it.

Lifting my mattress, I poked my head into my hoard to see an array of my mates. The dragonettes save Larisa, and one surprise.

Maeve and her assistant had been pulled down, and they were waving their hands over my gold.

“Hands off my gold.” I growled at the two fae.

“We heard there was an elemental and were curious.” Maeve replied, standing up.

I glared at her and then shifted my gaze to Jadelyn. “Does she have a plushie?” Now knowing that was the sign for a ‘harem hopeful’.

Jadelyn blushed. “Maybe?” she avoided meeting my eyes.

“Fine.” That confirmed my suspicion. Maeve had not only started working her way into my heart, she’d been also working through my harem. “Come on out, girls. We found one of the vampires at the center of this whole mess; I need some help to get answers out of them.”

“The coast is clear?” Polydora asked.

“No, they are still at large, but I feel pretty comfortable with you guys in Bumps. Between all of you, I don’t think there is anyone who is going to touch you. Sabrina, Larisa and Agent Tills are on their way. I’m going to go fetch Maddie.” I laid out my immediate plans for them and pulled my head out from under the mattress, moving quickly through the atrium to the portal that led to my apartment and stepping out into my room.

Maddie and Frank were talking outside at the table when I opened my door.

“Oh Zach. Good timing. I… uh… Frank agreed.”

“He knows?” Frank asked, frowning at me. “You have this big secret that I have to marry you to know, and he already knows? Wait, did you two get married? That is not the type of harem I was talking about, Maddie.”

My roommate was freaking out, even if he’d agreed to it.

“Frank. I’d never do that to you.” I replied, trying to calm him down. “It’s complex, but it sounds like you are on board? This is a big decision. You are bound to Maddie forever, no take backs.”

“Yeah man. I love Maddie. I’ve been with enough girls to know when one works. She’s my ride or die. Wait, do I get a harem with this secret?” He looked at me with a face full of hope.

Before Maddie dashed them. “Absolutely not.”

Cutting through the awkward tension, I jumped in. “Okay, so if he’s going to find out anyway, you might as well bring him with us. We need to check two… vampires we have in custody to see if they turned you, Maddie.” I hesitated to say the word around Frank, but it was time he knew, too.

Frank did a double take between the two of us. “Vampires?”

“Come on.” Maddie grabbed his hand. “Let’s see what you think of vampires.” She dipped her head, letting her hair cover her face. “Because things like vampires and werewolves are real.”

Frank was stunned, but Maddie grabbed his hand, pulling him along. I led the two of them back into my room and through my closet, back into the atrium.

“Wha-what?” Frank stammered as he looked around at the atrium, but allowed himself to be pulled along. “What just happened?” He was barely forming coherent sentences as his head kept spinning.

“We are going to see my harem of supernatural creatures, Frank. Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you now that Maddie has taken you in. Though, should you tell anyone our secret, it will be Maddie’s head on the chopping block right next to you. And I don’t mean that as a metaphor.” I explained, wanting to make sure he knew the implications.

“Harem?” Frank perked up, clearly listening to the wrong part of my warning. “Wait, this is your secret to creating a harem!” His eyes shined with joy. “What are you Zach?”

I huffed. He had gotten over that shock quickly enough. “A dragon. Come on, through here.”

The door led out of the quiet atrium and into Morgana’s club. It was midafternoon, so it was still relatively quiet, no loud blasting music and no patrons.

“It’s Bumps in the Night.” Maddie informed him. “Morgana’s club.”

We went down several floors and through the twisting maze of Morgana’s club to find my ladies all circled around two vampires in the padded gym we used for sparring.

Both vampires were still heavily zip tied and sitting in chairs. It looked like I hadn’t missed the fun.

“We just got here.” Agent Tills waved at me. “Ready to get started with questioning?”

Frank was staring from woman to woman. “Elf, werewolf, foxgirl, blue elf or wait, is that significant? Wait, what’s Jadelyn?”

“Hi Frank.” Scarlett waved at him while her twin foxy tails swished behind her. “Morgana’s a drow, underground elf. Jadelyn is a siren.”

My roommate just turned to me stupefied before making a ‘nice’ hand signal and winking.

“Sabrina, could you use Maddie’s hair for the spell?” I urged the succubus to get started.

Maddie didn’t hesitate for a second, pulling out a hair and handing it off.

“What’s she?”

“One of the best wizards around.” I said without hesitation, but I didn’t miss how she blushed all the way to the tips of ears with a smile as she got to work. “As much as I love you both here, this might be a little messy for you two. I really just needed Maddie’s hair.”

Maddie glanced at me. “Will they die?”

“If one of them is the one that turned you, then absolutely. They will die.” There was a cold edge to my tone. “Do you want to go back?”

Frank didn’t miss my words, though. “Turned? Maddie…” His words trailed off.

Maddie grabbed his hand. “Come on down this way. I… I have something to tell you.” Her voice broke a little, and I could tell she was anxious. But Frank loved her. I had a feeling they’d work it out.

My friend and recently turned vampire gave me a small shake of her head. She wasn’t going back to being human again.

Frank took her hand with a glance over his shoulder at me. I just gave him a wink of encouragement and a little shooing motion. The two of them had a lot to talk about as they moved off to a connecting room.

Once they were out of sight, I motioned for Polydora to watch over them.

The last thing I needed was a dead roommate because Maddie lost control.

“This will take a minute.” Sabrina commented, still etching a chalk circle on the ground. “But I don’t even need them to be alive for this to work.”

The male vampire struggled when she said that, but Morgana was there in an instant, stabbing one of her wicked, curved swords through his spine.

“Don’t even try. Where is Ricardo?” Morgana hissed.

He mumbled around the gag in his mouth.

“You have to ungag him first, Blueberry.” Kelly threw up her hands. “I swear, you always jump ahead.”

Morgana laughed. “Why don’t you get the gag out then furball? Seems appropriate.” Morgana pricked the man again, as if she was just going to keep stabbing and asking questions, even if he couldn’t answer.

Kelly rolled her eyes as her hand became clawed. With a single swipe, the cloth wrapped around the vampire’s mouth broke and fell down around his shoulders.

“You fucking bitches I-“ Morgana’s blade went through his lungs and stopped him short.

“Okay, maybe you were right Blueberry, just keep stabbing. Eventually, he has to give in, right?”

Sometimes I forgot how brutal my beautiful mates could be. They had grown up among the paranormal, where violence was far more common.

Even my two princesses stood around with hard grimaces on their faces. They didn’t like it, but they weren’t about to stop it.

It was the dragon’s reaction that bothered me the most. They looked… hungry for more.

“Zach. You don’t get effective information from torture.” Tills whispered in my ear.

I kept my voice low. “They don’t want information from him. Morgana wants to show Susan what she’s in for unless she talks.”

The agent was uncomfortable, and it made me smile that she was the least comfortable with the violence.

“Got it. I’m going to take a walk.” She headed off to the restrooms as Blueberry and Furball continued their biplay of injuring the vampire before he could even talk, as if it were a game to them.

I realized that I wasn’t as horrified as I used to be at the violence.

My mind wandered back to Sentarshaden when the silver slave asked me to eat him to increase my power. It was about that time that the violence made sense.

There was a cycle of life and power that required violence and death. I had become part of it. More than that, I had embraced it when I ate the silver slave and used his power to rescue Tyrande.

Maybe when this was done, I needed to go talk to Tia and Bart. I wanted to understand how they held so much power and didn’t let it change them.

The idea that power corrupted absolutely wasn’t so farfetched to me anymore.

Staring down at my hand, I couldn’t help but imagine it coated in the blood of what I’d already done. And as dragon king, it would no doubt grow worse.

“Zach?” Sabrina got my attention. “The spell is done.”

“Do it.” I told her, coming out of my musings. There would be time for that later.

She pushed her mana into the enchantment to get it started, and once again a red mist floated up above the spell, questing about like a dog sniffing.

It didn’t take long before zeroing in on the man and lingering there as it grew brighter.

“What’s that?” He screamed, trying to wiggle away, but Kelly put a foot on his chair and kept it from moving.

We all knew what that meant. He was the vampire that had turned Maddie.

My body crackled and people moved away from me as my jaw shifted, growing larger. My torso ripped open my shirt as it grew to support my head. I let myself shift to about the size of the kitchen table.

There was no hesitation. My jaws slammed close around the vampire, chair and all as I chewed and swallowed before shifting back. I had a ruined shirt, but it was worth it.

Maddie had already decided to become a vampire and we’ve brought Frank in on this. I didn’t need the vampire’s fangs anymore.

Tills was on the other side of the room with her hand covering her mouth. Apparently, she hadn’t gone far.

But this was what I was. I was tired of hiding my nature.

“Susan Garrison. Talk now or die.” I tore off her gag.

AN - huh. I... *checks notes* am now officially 20 chapters ahead of patreon because I've been cooking away at SSV 3. I think that's a new record for me.