Dragon 2 Chapter 8

AN: Okay that cliff on a Friday felt even too harsh for me. I love cliffs mid book to make turning the page for the next chapter oh so satisfying. So here's a deviation from our regularly scheduled broadcast. I'll do MH Sun/Mon.

The dumpster came to a groaning halt in my very large, now clawed hand.

I froze, staring at my right arm, trying to figure out if I was hallucinating. It was huge, covered in scales, but in the darkly lit alley, I couldn’t tell what color. But I knew how it felt.

My arm felt incredibly strong, my fist and clawed hands tore through the dumpster’s exterior like it was paper.

Tossing the dumpster to the side, all I could do was stare at my hands.

They somewhat looked human. I had five digits, but they were off. My thumb had moved closer to my wrist, and my other four fingers had spread out. And all five of them were tipped with razor-sharp claws. Given the test they had just done, they were at least sharp enough to tear through the thick metal of the dumpster.

Finally, remembering I was in the middle of a battle, I looked up at the troll. It stood there, neck healed with a dart in its shoulder, but it wasn’t giving any signs of going down.

Behind me, I heard Kelly gasp. “You’re huge.” Looking down, I realized that while the rest of me was still human, I was enlarged like I’d seen some werewolves swell when they were partially shifted. Based on my surroundings, I’d guess that I had gained another foot of height, and my body had swelled with more mass.

My right arm still dwarfed me though; it hung down; the claws scraping the concrete.

A grin spread across my face. I couldn’t wait to see how I matched up now against a troll. I also wouldn’t mind a little payback for coating me in garbage and smashing my hand with the dumpster top.

Charging the troll, I swung with the biggest right hook of my life.

Even as it blocked, my blow was heavy enough to send it staggering back. I wasn’t on par with the size of a troll, but I easily weighed as much as an average werewolf right now, which was a far cry better than earlier in our fight.

My massive right arm grabbed the troll by the shoulder, my claws sinking into its flesh as I wrenched it to the side and smashed it against the back wall of the butcher shop. Based on the man’s earlier reaction, he was likely shitting himself as he heard the fight continuing to unfold.

But I couldn’t be more excited. Even able to shift this much, I was able to take on a troll. I couldn’t wait to celebrate.

The beast pressed up in my chest, trying to get me to let out a roar of victory, but I clamped down on that. It would draw too much attention here with normal pedestrians on the other side of the buildings.

A new tactic formed in my mind, and I decided to test it out.

I held onto the troll’s shoulder and jerked it away from the wall, tossing it on top of the overturned dumpster. It collapsed under his weight.

“Let me know how you like being wrapped up in a dumpster.” I grinned as I used my right arm to bend the dumpster over his side, trapping his arm. Then I switched to the other side, pinning the troll like an overstuffed burrito. “Now maybe we can get you to calm down, and you’ll pop right out.”

The troll didn’t seem to appreciate that. He struggled, and the dumpster started to give, so I went back to work, wrapping him up good and tight in the warped dumpster.

“Gun please, Morgana.” I held out my right arm.

“Yeah?” she asked with a smirk, handing me the gun.

I didn’t think, instinctively reaching to take the dart gun from her. But my claws sank right through the metal, ruining the gun. “Oh.”

She snorted with laughter. “You owe me a new one. But that was still worth the look on your face.”

Reaching forward, she snagged out some darts and strolled over to the pinned troll, manually stabbing them into him.

I stared at her. “That works, I guess.”

Kelly had managed to push through her shock and was circling me. “Huge. What are you?” She peered at my arm. “Some sort of ancient crocodile? Oh wait, a dinosaur?” She fumbled for her phone, and the bright white flashlight came on, illuminating my arm in the dark alley.

I hadn’t seen the color before, but it was clear now. Under the bright light, my arm glittered with gold scales. They were bright in the center and darkened toward the edge of each.

Kelly’s jaw hung open, and she just stared for a moment before she fell into a crouch and covered her mouth. “No way. No freaking way.” She gasped. Her eyes were still locked on my arm as she dealt with her own realization.

“The color gives it away?” I asked Morgana.

“Yeah, gold isn’t exactly a common color in the animal kingdom.” She rolled her bright red eyes. “Kelly, you are going to have to keep this a secret. Now that you know, you also know what it would mean if word gets out.” Morgana fixed Kelly with a stare.

“He’s a dragon.” She seemed like she was on the brink of hyperventilating. “He’s a freaking gold dragon.”

Realization lit up in her eyes. “The talk about gold. Oh shit, territorial. Dragons are possessive, yeah, okay. Things are starting to make a little more sense.” She rocked on her heels as she pieced it all together.

Happy I didn’t have to hide it from her anymore, I decided to let her process while I figured out how to get clothed. I was currently standing naked in the alley, my clothes shredded and hanging off of me did little to make me modest. “Morgana, pull the van up to the alley, and we can get these guys loaded up? And then maybe take me back home so I can get a shower and a change of clothes?”

I saw Kelly’s eyes flick up to my hips in interest, but I ignored her. I had a feeling she was also piecing together the strong dragon libido that seemed to be a well-known characteristic.

“No. You aren’t getting in the van.” Morgana shook her head.

“Come on. I’ll scrape off a little gold from my hoard and we’ll get someone to do a full cleaning. You won’t have to smell me past tonight.” I promised. Now that I had shifted, and the problem had been dealt with, I wasn’t feeling particularly spiteful. Although I was ready to be home and clean.

I turned to Kelly. “How do I shift back?” I held up my massive right arm. “And now that I’ve done this, how do I fully shift?”

That seemed to snap Kelly out of her thoughts. “Do not shift all the way right here. You’d squish us both. How big are you?”

“I have no idea. Raised human, and only recently figured out what I am.”

Kelly let out a mad, cackling laugh. “Chad picked a fight with a dragon. Oh my god, the sheer idiocy.” Tears squeezed their way out of her eyes as they pressed shut, and she held her stomach as she lost it. She was definitely becoming hysterical.

Apparently, me being a dragon had been too much.

“Wait. Scarlett knows?”

“Yes. Morgana, Scarlett, and you are the only ones. Well, Chad might have realized it at the very end, but you know, I kind of smoked him.”

Kelly’s eyes went even wider, and the blood drained out of her face. “I was baiting you to breathe dragon fire on me this afternoon.”

“Yup.”

“Thank you?” There was a little fear in her eyes now.

“I mean, I’m not some loose cannon you have to worry about. I’m not going to go around killing and pillaging all of Philly.”

She looked to Morgana for verification. “He’s fine. Relatively harmless, at least compared to most dragons.”

“Is their reputation that bad?” I asked. All I really knew so far was that the king of dragons apparently lived in Dubai.

Morgana winced. “Yes. They have a violent reputation. Everyone talks about the Bronze King in Dubai, and he’s mostly just an unrepentant cad that likes to collect every kind of woman he can get his claws around. Others? They’ve smoked entire cities in anger.”

“I might have a little ball of anger in me, but I can’t imagine going that far.” I paused, my mind starting to go down the rabbit hole before I pulled it back. “But Kelly, back on topic. How do I shift back? As cool as this arm is, it would be way more convenient to have my human one back.”

“Just relax, let it all go.”

As she said it, I realized a part of me had still been tense, like a ball of tension in my shoulders.

Taking a deep breath, I worked to release that tension. As I did, I could feel the shift as my bones reorganized themselves. It felt like the pressure right before you popped a knuckle, a little painful, but followed by a sense of relief as everything settled back to where it was supposed to be.

I smiled down at my now human hands before looking back up at Kelly. “Do me a favor? Grab one of the trolls. Morgana, car please. I want to get out of here.”

Morgana gave me a smirking salute before heading off to the van. “Yes, boss.”

Kelly still stood there, staring at me. I added, “This doesn’t change anything, Kelly. I’m still me.”

Kelly gave me an incredulous look. “This changes fucking everything. I don’t think you appreciate how big a deal you are. Not just Philly, but the entire global paranormal world will ripple when it comes out that you are a dragon. And you’re not just any dragon. You’re a fucking gold dragon.”

I thought about Morgana’s investigation into my last name, and how she thought it meant I might be related to the once true king of dragons. Logically, a gold dragon sounded like a big deal. But was that it?

The beast pressed against me in my chest, almost like it was telling me there was still more for me to discover about myself.

I took that as a good sign and just let it be. Being able to shift my arm was a win for now, and I didn’t need to paint a larger target on my back.

And I was more hesitant now than ever after hearing about the violent reputation. The last thing I needed was having the current king of dragons getting pissed; I was not ready to fight a dragon with hundreds or thousands of years of experience on me.

“Can you keep this quiet? I’m trusting you.” I stared into Kelly’s eyes, seeing my own slit eyes in their reflection.

“Yeah. But I get why you can’t be our alpha now.” She sagged. “Dragons have harems, and they don’t share their women.”

I nodded. “For what it is worth, I’m sorry. You and the other girls are lovely and I was definitely tempted, but…” I gestured to myself. “Dragons don’t share like a pack does.”

Morgana’s van pulled up as close as it could to the alley. Kelly and I quickly each grabbed a troll and threw them in the back. I climbed over the trunk into the back seat while Kelly went around and got in the passenger seat.

“Okay. Time to get rid of these two. Then back out for more.” Morgana kicked the van into gear, and I could see the moment of panic in Kelly’s eyes as she scrambled for her seatbelt and held onto the oh-shit handle for dear life.

***

I slumped into my seat in biology the next day. Even my lumpy, book-filled backpack seemed like a welcome pillow. Maybe I could just rest my eyes for a few seconds before class started…

“Psst. Class is starting.” Jadelyn hissed in my ear.

I jumped up, blinking. “Huh?” Jadelyn was sitting next to me, her signature white jeans blindingly bright along with her straight platinum blonde hair. It made her seem almost too immaculate, like she was untouchable. Then again, she was pretty much a modern day princess.

“It looked like you could use a little rest. I saw a report this morning. Seven trolls last night. You helped more than a few paranormals too.” She looked impressed, and I slid my bag to the floor, rubbing at a drool spot.

Something about how she said we’d helped several paranormals stuck out to me, though. I knew the butcher shop had been a vampire, but had the others been paranormal run businesses too? What were the odds of that?

I filed that way to think about later. Morgana could help me look into it.

“Thanks, I look forward to swamp troll migration being over and being able to sleep again.” I grumbled, pulling out a notebook and clicking my pen to the ready. “But enough of that. Are you still good for our date tomorrow night?”

She gave me a winning smile. “Yes! Scarlett told me you made her life easier, and she’s helping out. Truthfully, that she’s involved makes me far more comfortable.”

“Of course. Scar is your head of security.”

Jadelyn regarded me with a searching look. “That isn’t what I meant. It makes me more comfortable going out with her boyfriend.”

Oh. OH!

“That too. I thought you would have known that Scarlett is pushing me to date other women.” I lowered my voice on the last bit, still concerned with what the general population might think.

“She told me. But having her involved in planning our date means something. So, care to tell me where we are going? She wouldn’t spill.”

I smirked, and Professor Vandal cleared her throat. “Oh look, class is starting.”

She jabbed me playfully with her pen. “You’re lucky I need to pay attention to get good grades in science.” She opened up her own notebook, which was almost painfully organized. There were tabs carefully separating meticulously structured notes. Most of the tabs were business and finance classes, but there was a little heart next to biology.

Pretending I didn’t see that, I focused on Professor Vandal as she started pacing up at the lectern and going through her lesson.

Class was another lesson that felt redundant from high school, but that was about par for entry level college courses.

As class wrapped up, Jadelyn gave me a friendly hug and an excited wave before promising to be there tomorrow.

As I walked out, I realized that for once I had some free time. With no plans for the afternoon, I decided to take a catnap before heading out with Morgana once again for swamp troll clean up.

***

With my new ability to partially shift, the trolls weren’t nearly as much of a problem, and I could actually do something when Morgana told me to hold them down.

Though I still struggled to initiate it, my right arm came when I needed it. Kelly had said it would just be awkward partial shifts at first.

Throwing one of the most recent trolls into the back of the van, I shifted back. This time I was prepared with a pair of baggy sweatpants, and I had taken off my shirt beforehand. “Morgana. What are the odds that this place is paranormal owned?” I looked at the clothing store we were behind.

“Low. Paranormal makes up a very small fraction of the city despite our prevalence in your life recently.” She replied easily.

“Jadelyn said something to me today. That last night, we helped a number of paranormals. It got me curious.”

I could see the wheels turning in Morgana’s head, but she replied. “Not our problem. Tell the council, and they’ll likely get Detective Fox to look into it. If he thinks it is a problem, then he’ll hire us.”

Based on the way she was now eyeing the business next to us, I had a feeling she would look into it on her own. I’d piqued her curiosity.

Not calling her on it, I moved over and nudged the troll into the trunk, making sure I didn’t smash her foot with the lid. “Okay. We need to get ready for tomorrow, don’t we?”

Morgana let out a grunt of acknowledgement. She was clearly oh-so-thrilled with the idea of spending more time with the magi. So much so, that I was worried we’d have a few dead magi before the end of the convention.

But I pushed on. “So. Anything I need to know before I dive into this convention?”

“Be careful of warlocks. They have a screw loose. All of them, if given the opportunity, would love to dissect and study you. So please, do not shift.” She waited to make sure I acknowledged the request.

“Got it. Don’t shift. Can I shift my eyes to see magic, though?”

She paused. “Sure. Just no arms. The gold scales give you away. The eyes should be fine. What else?” She tapped her lips.

“Can you explain warlocks a little more?”

“Wizards and witches train, sorcerers have natural talent, and warlocks are like someone who took out a loan on power, skill or both. Which also means that warlocks can be forced into things to keep their magic because of this loan. I should say that not all of them are necessarily evil, but the way they gain and maintain power often opens up corruption.” She paused with her hand on the van door. “Their patrons are powerful, often unique paranormals.”

“Demons?” I asked.

“Demons, angelics, old forgotten deities, or even powerful faeries.” These caught my attention. We hadn’t dealt with many of these paranormals yet, and I had yet to see many of them.

“Are those all here in Philly?”

“No. Most of them live off plane. Heaven, Hell, pocket dimensions, and, of course, the Faerie Realm. But there is a big connection between our dimension and the Faerie here in Philly.” She noticed my interest in that particular group.

“Got it. So they’re a bunch of heavy hitters. What do they get in return for helping the warlocks cheat with magic?”

“A worker drone. They sort of translate that magi’s intent into magic for the warlock and bolster the human’s magic, and in return they have control and can get the magi to do what they want. It isn’t like mind control, more like a geas.”

“That sounds… terrible.”

“Yeah, it’s not ideal. The warlock knows what they are bargaining for, at least contractually, though application can get tricky, especially with the faeries. There was this one deity that became popular a while back, Akhlut, that was popular among warlocks.”

“Why is that?”

“He’s an old god of the Inuit. Pretty much forgotten, but came from a simpler time. He just wanted small tributes in exchange for power.” The way her lips curled up told me there was a punchline to this one.

“Fine, what was the tribute?”

“Socks.” Morgana burst out laughing.

I didn’t get it. “Socks?”

She nodded and got herself back under control. “He had magi doing small calling spells to steal individual socks from mortals because he didn’t want pairs. Oh, and they had to be used.”

Something clicked in my head. “Wait. Like these warlocks were stealing socks? Just single socks?!”

“Yep, as tributes to Akhlut, some of those warlocks stacked up quite a bit of favor and power. But not all patrons are so simple; most require much harder tributes.”

I was still reeling from what she’d said and had to ask a clarifying question. “Do socks go missing in your dryer?”

“No?” She sounded confused. “There are wards on my bar. Most para have things like a simple ward to prevent unwanted spells and guests.”

Getting in the car and leaning back, I couldn’t believe it. “That the paranormal world doesn’t have missing socks in the laundry might be the weirdest thing I’ve heard yet.”

Morgana chuckled as she started the van. “Just wait until you hear about the hydra mating rituals.”