Dragon 5 Chapter 4

"Buckle up.” I advised the others as I clicked my seatbelt into place.

We’d hopped into Morgana’s armored minivan, which, despite the normal look, had been outfitted to match a tank’s intensity.

“You are a dragon. A car crash is barely going to hurt.” Trina crossed her arms.

“Just wait until you see Morgana’s driving. This is so you don’t fly out early.” I patted my trusty seatbelt.

Sabrina seemed to take my advice more to heart, quickly buckling her seatbelt and chanting a few words under her breath to enchant it.

Morgana frowned at me, speaking in her swiss accent. “What you see as careless driving is just highly skilled.”

Trina paused, and while still trying to appear nonchalant, I saw her quickly buckle her seatbelt. “I still don’t understand why we couldn’t take the red one.” Trina had seen the other sexy luxury cars Morgana owned and was not at all impressed with the minivan.

“That one barely seats two.” I said. “Besides, this thing is actually pretty decked out. Morgana’s goblin friends in Sentarshaden gave it enchanted siding and an engine that requires Morgana to buy enchanted drive belts. Otherwise she’d strip them instantly.”

I had grown an appreciation for the ugly vehicle after watching bullets bounce off of it on numerous occasions.

Morgana started the engine with a roar and immediately slammed her foot down, gunning it out of the stall.

She managed to nearly hit three of her beautiful sports cars as the van swerved its way through the garage.

Trina was hanging onto the oh shit handle for dear life. “Warn me first.”

“I did.” I replied, trying to hide my smugness but failing. “Happy to be wearing that seatbelt now?” I managed to contain the laugh bubbling up my throat, but only barely.

“Watch it. I’m the one who’s supposed to patch you up if something goes wrong. You want to stay on my good side.” Trina smirked right back at me, twirling her hair. It fell over her shoulder in a messy braid. She looked cute as she played with it, swirling the light brown hair just over her tan shoulder blades.

She’d gone casual, but cute for the night. She’d paired jeans with a white top and a plaid shirt, but she’d tied the plaid shirt just under her chest. My eyes were drawn to where it pulled tightly across her breasts.

I found my dragon perking to attention as I became more self-conscious, remembering Sabrina was in the car.

Looking up, I met eyes with her, wondering if she was feeding off me. She could see where my mind was going and her face became slightly frantic. “I wasn’t!”

I looked to reassure her just as Morgana spun the wheel and took a sharp turn, my body flinging against the side of a car. I grumbled over at my beautiful mate, who seemed quite pleased with herself.

Looking back at Sabrina, I went back to trying to make her feel more comfortable. “We talked about it, Sabrina. It’s all good.”

“What are you two talking about?” Trina frowned, looking between Sabrina and I.

Morgana looked into the rearview mirror, taking in the blushing succubus and pieced it together. “Putting on a show for the succubus, love?”

“I told her it is okay. Everybody has to eat.” I replied.

“Wait.” Trina’s mouth gaped. “She’s feeding off of you? I didn’t think she was part of your harem yet.” The copper dragon looked more than a little jealous.

Sabrina’s face got even redder still. “I’m not part of his harem. He just puts off a lot of lust and… I just take little sips.”

Trina calmed and turned to the succubus with a big grin. “Poor girl. I understand your pain. His lust has to be delicious. After all, he’s the dragon king. I’d love a taste of him myself.” She winked at me.

Sabrina’s blush spread to the tips of her ears and down her collar.

“Cut it out. Don’t tease her.” I growled at Trina, my chest rumbling louder than my size made it seem possible.

“Apologies my king.” Trina was quick to get serious and bow as low as she could, strapped into the seat. “You’ve brought her along, so I simply assumed you must be adding her as one of your mates.” The small quirk of her lips told me she was still intentionally messing with Sabrina.

“Eep.” Sabrina squeaked and sank down in her seat, apparently trying to make herself smaller.

I rolled my eyes at Trina, but continuing the conversation seemed like it was just going to make Sabrina pull more into herself.

“Buck up buttercup. She’s just messing with you. Don’t give her the satisfaction.” Morgana turned around in her seat to comfort the succubus, keeping one hand on the wheel. The van was roaring at a solid eighty miles and hour through the streets.

“WATCH THE ROAD!” Trina screamed and pulled her legs up while clinging to the oh-shit-handle.

“Oh, relax. There’s barely anyone out at this time. Besides, didn’t you say a car crash would barely hurt a dragon?” Morgana huffed a sigh as she turned back to focus on the road, the car lurching as she hit a curb on her next turn.

I heard Sabrina muttering a few more enchantments under her breath, holding onto the seat belt as she rode out the current blush spread across her face.

Letting silence settle across the group, I relaxed into the seat as best I could with Morgana’s driving, letting my mind wander.

It didn’t feel like much time passed before we were pulling up to a well lit club bouncing with music and a bright neon sign ‘The Bloody Mary’, complete with a little blood drop.

“I thought they’d be… I don’t know, a little less obvious.” Now that I was a part of the paranormal world, I just couldn’t understand how it wasn’t obvious to everybody else.

“Surely you’ve noticed by now that the best way to stay hidden is to be right under their noses.” Morgana got out of the car. “Besides, I know the owner. He’s a little flamboyant.”

Sabrina perked up, curiosity shining in her eyes. “I thought you weren’t friendly with the vampires.”

Two steroid chugging goons stepped away from the door and flashed their fangs at our group.

“I never said I was friendly with them, just that I knew them.” Morgana replied over her shoulder as she sashayed up to the club’s bouncers like she owned the place.

“Morgana Silverwing. What the fuck are you doing here?” Goon number one stepped forward. But it was goon number two that made the fatal mistake of touching my mate.

As his hand descended towards her arm, I moved towards him faster than he could dodge away without giving away his nature in public. He was face to face with the pavement a moment later.

“My. Mate.” My chest rumbled deep enough to make the window panes buzz.

It was everything I could do to leave him and the current limb in my arm intact. Every part of my dragon instincts wanted to crush him. My beast butted its head inside my chest, thrashing around.

“Hey man. Wait… fuck.” The first goon held up his hands, his eyes going wide. “You’re the…” He paused, realizing there were onlookers. “King.”

“Yep! And my mate.” Morgana clarified helpfully, looking smug as shit.

“Okay. We can fix this. Jack, if he lets you go, you’re done for the night. I need you to get out of his sight as quickly as possible. Got it?” The man in my grasp nodded ever so slightly, and the man still standing turned to speak to me.

“We apologize for the slight. It’s in our culture to rough house given our extreme healing. He did not mean to insult you.” As he finished, I had to admit, the respect was helping my dragon calm down slightly.

I felt Morgana step up to me, pressing her body into me. “It would probably be more trouble than it is worth to make a mess here, Zach. And I’m sure he’s very sorry.” She smirked down at the vampire on the ground, who nodded at her statement.

“Fine.” I shoved off of him and straightened my shirt. “Let’s go.”

Jack was on his feet and rushing away at normal speed.

Goon number one gave me a friendly smile that showed off his fangs. “Come on in.” He parted the velvet rope, and we cut the line.

“I need to talk to Ricardo.” Morgana got down to business as soon as we were walking through the doors, the doorman walking in behind us and making sure the vampires checking IDs didn’t make the same mistake.

“Ricardo isn’t in charge anymore.” He replied.

Morgana paused in her steps. “Is he dead?”

A suave looking man with a few too many shirt buttons undone swooped in. “Not dead, but at times, you have to know when to take a curtain call to survive. Isn’t that right, my dear Morgana?”

The new man tried to grab her hand to pull her close, but she drew it away before he could snatch it.

“Ricardo, you can’t be that friendly. My mate might misunderstand and not realize that you are just from another time, with different greetings.” Morgana stepped back, making the vampire bring his attention to me. I caught his attention quickly.

“Rumors are true?” His nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. “Yes, that’s the smell of a powerful dragon. It is an honor to meet you.” He tucked one hand to his chest, the other behind his back, and bowed. “Forgive me, the old Italian ways are still alive and well with me.”

“Boss, he nearly killed Jack for putting a hand on Morgana.” Goon one coughed into his hand. It was a not-so-subtle whisper; I heard it easily.

Ricardo chuckled and patted his back. “Well, we’ll just have to entertain our guests properly, then. Morgana, we have a show about to start. Come, join and watch. Then you can talk business with our new leader.”

“Fine. But we’ll need a booth.” She was already making her way towards where she wanted to sit.

Our host graciously bowed. “Of course, after you.” But she was already strutting away, making him hurry after her.

I followed after my beautiful mate, taking my time to scope for any threats in the area as I walked beside Ricardo.

“So, if you stepped down, who’s in charge now?” I asked Ricardo.

“Deniz. He came over from Turkey. He has the support of some of the blood lords, and enough power that it was easier to give way to him.” Ricardo made it sound far simpler than it actually was.

But the fact that this vampire was from Turkey certainly got my attention. That was the same area that had shot down one of my dragons, and the dragon in me stirred forcefully. I could only assume Deniz was related to the group that had attacked.

My dragon wanted blood, but I was a king now. I needed to understand more of the facts before I acted.

“So, what kind of show are you putting on?” I made small talk as I continued to scan around.

The patrons of the club seemed heavily clothed in leather and latex. A guy walked past me with a ball gag in his mouth and a pair of leather pants that were far too tight for him.

“It is a little more risque here than my shows.” Morgana admitted.

“Your tame little dances? What’s the fun if there isn’t blood and semen spread across them by the end?” Ricardo laughed as Morgana slipped into a nearby booth.

Across the way, there were two women fawning over a man, but I could tell he wasn’t the predator of the group. His eyes were glazed over as the women showered him with kisses and licks before sinking their fangs into his neck.

“Lovely place.” I commented dryly.

“When you live as long as some of us do, vanilla gets boring and you start to branch out.” Morgana shrugged before looking to the other two for support.

Trina held up her hands. “Don’t look at me.”

Sabrina just ducked her head, the blush on her face seeming to become permanent.

A woman walked up to our booth in a latex bunny outfit and leggings with a few tears in them. “What can I get for you guys?”

“Do you have anything sanguine and from the 80’s?” Morgana asked.

“We do, a Roma Gerindalt. Will that do?”

“Perfect.”

The bunny waited, turning to me. “And you?”

“I’ll take a Moscow mule.” I ordered, hoping I wasn’t about to get Russian animal blood in a vampire club.

“Cosmo.” Sabrina spoke up.

Trina just ordered a beer.

“Cosmo. Huh, never would have guessed.” Trina commented.

Sabrina just scratched the back of her head. “It was the first thing I could think of. I didn’t want to make her wait for me to come up with something else, and I hate beer.”

Sabrina was such a puzzle to me. Her nature should make her an extreme extrovert, but her personality definitely leaned the other way.

A drum roll sounded as I scooted closer to Morgana in the booth.

Spotlights flared and shrank in onto what I had thought was an empty table with a tablecloth as we’d walked in. But as it became lit, I realized it was a circular bed placed on a pedestal.

A young tatted up man walked into the lights, holding a chain. And on the other end of the chain was a woman crawling on her hands and knees as he led her up to the bed.

“Morgana, uh. She’s human, and he’s very not human.” I looked at the scene with my dragon eyes.

“Yeah, she’s probably going to get fed on.” Morgana said offhandedly before twisting to look at me, a bit of sadness in her eyes. “This is a good chance for you to see exactly what vampires think of humans.”

“Not much.” Trina snorted.

The bunny server girl came back with our drinks and passed them around. She was human, and I wondered how long she’d last.

I welcomed the distraction as the man on stage began wrapping the woman in the chains. She moaned and groaned with ecstasy, and I noticed Sabrina wiggling a little in her seat. The room was probably full of sexual energy.

The man on stage pulled the chains tight, causing her breasts to jut forward and shake before he bent her over the bed and sank his teeth into her thighs.

“He’s drinking from her?” Trina asked Morgana.

“Yes, the thigh is a quality spot. It’s easier to hide the bite marks than the neck.” Morgana stared at my neck.

“Down. You’ve had enough. Maddie saw the blood after you nibbled on me at dinner.” I grumbled over the screams of the entertainment.

I was ready for it to be over. While the other patrons seemed to enjoy the display of bondage, it felt forced to me. There wasn’t any chemistry between them.

Trina looked on with interest until she noticed I wasn’t watching. Sabrina’s eyes were focused on absolutely anything except the stage.

“It is strange that after everything I’ve been through, that this isn’t very interesting?” I commented.

“It makes perfect sense. When you can have me, or any of a half a dozen gorgeous ladies, I’m not surprised that a plain girl doesn’t interest you.” Morgana tossed her hair with a smirk.

I laughed, pulling her tightly against my side. “You’re right. That must be it.” I leaned down to kiss the top of her head while my eyes continued to scan the room. I wanted to locate the Turkish vampire.

“Calm down.” Trina put a hand on mine. “Your eyes are shifting.”

I nodded, appreciating her intervention. Taking a deep breath, I tried to change the conversation. “So, is anyone here tasty, Sabrina? There’s got to be a lot of lust going around.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Nothing compelling. Mostly the vampires are hungry, and the horny humans are like trying to subsist on air.”

“Compared to my king, they would all be like eating dirt.” Trina agreed. “So, you should work with me to woo the king into our bed. That way, we can both enjoy him.”

“Cut it out.” I rolled my eyes at Trina. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the woman slump down on the bed, looking very pale.

Looking over, I watched as several men came and picked her up, carrying her off deeper into the club. Nobody seemed concerned, and I hoped that meant she would recover just fine.

Before I could ask Morgana, I saw the man that had been part of the show have an attendant whisper in his ear and look our way. He took a deep sip of a drink before slightly turning in the direction she indicated, taking us in.

Taking another long sip, he put the drink back on the table and stood.

“Ah shit.” I connected the dots. “I have a feeling we’re about to meet Deniz.”