Dragon 1 Chapter 30 -END

The past week had been a blur following Chad’s death. The council had swooped in immediately, and the media spun up stories about a drug that was causing people to go wild. In low doses, it was said to have caused hallucinations, and had proven to have made its way into the city’s water supply.

That story was plastered over the front of every newspaper in the city and on constant replay on every television station.

And then a few days later, it became old news, pushed to the bottom of forums as the next news cycle took over and talked about what some politician had said. It proved what Morgana had been telling me.

I’d expected some sort of giant reaction, but nobody seemed to believe the monsters they’d seen with their own eyes were real. There were a few that did, but not enough for public opinion to believe them.

I was shocked at just how successful the council had been in suppressing everything. But I’d gotten used to it.

As I sat having lunch with Scarlett at Bumps in the Night, I looked around at the paranormal dining openly, understanding that while they often lived their lives in the corners and shadows of the real world, they had also found ways to be in the world safely.

“Zach, focus. You missed three classes, and you need to prepare for the test.” Scarlett rolled her eyes at me.

I just grinned at her. “Okay, geek out on me. What did I miss?” It was cute watching Scarlett go on about science. She’d get super passionate and, once in a while, a fox ear would pop out of her hair.

Listening to what she was trying to teach me, I enjoyed the moment. She was one of the best things to come from entering the paranormal world, and she’d become a pretty integral part of my life. Normally, that would make me insecure, but I could tell the feeling was mutual. She’d been clear she wasn’t going anywhere.

We just fit together, like two pieces of a puzzle. Our lives had already become inseparably intertwined.

“Excuse me.” Detective Fox approached. “I hate to interrupt my daughter when she actually studies…” He gave her a fatherly look. “...but I have something for your friend.” He refused to call me Scarlett’s boyfriend, even though we were using those terms now.

“It’s fine. She can listen to it too.”

The detective scowled only for a moment before putting down two file folders. One was an old faded blue and the other a crisp new green. “I managed to track down that report your parents filed when your supposed birth parents dropped by their house. But I have another question. The reports we make for our… discrete activities take a while. I just got it today, and I have a few questions for you first.”

He pulled back the faded blue folder and instead pushed the green one out and flipped it open. I was a little annoyed that he held back my parents’ report, but I understood the man was still skeptical of me.

I looked at what he was showing me. “Yeah, that’s the second drug location we found. It looked like they were just drying a solution into a powder though.” I passed back the photos of the manufacturing area.

“We figured as much, but as the drug is coming off the streets, we think they are done making it. No, I had a question here. You found the girls in this room?” He pulled out several photos of the freezer that Jadelyn and Kelly had been locked up in.

“Yep. Killed two wolves and a human in there.” I answered, seeing the warped metal racks and feeling a phantom pain in my back just remembering the struggle.

“This human?” Detective Fox flipped to a photo. It was the drug dealer, but the image was very wrong. Instead of a body, it looked like… like a flesh suit. Like someone had skinned the guy cleanly from top to bottom with a single cut that went from his hairline to his crotch. It resembled a human skin onesie. A shudder ran through me just thinking about it.

“Gross.” Scarlett wrinkled her nose. “What did that?”

“That’s what we’d like to find out.” Detective Fox tapped the photo. “I’m assuming you didn’t do that?”

“No. I was able to see that he was about to use magic for something, so I killed him. Snapped his neck. What is that?”

“Very dark magic. The kind we kill for. There’s no such thing as a skin walker, at least not a naturally existing one in the paranormal world. However, there are witches and warlocks who use foul magic. It would seem one of them was in town.”

I nodded, understanding where he was going with his questioning. “You think this witch was behind all of this, don’t you? We both know Chad wasn’t smart enough to make this drug, and that dagger wasn’t something he could have come by naturally. All this points to someone being involved in this that had just that sort of understanding and dark magic.” I pointed to the picture.

“I’d feel more confident in that if you’d let us see the dagger.” Detective Fox was not pleased that we had been withholding evidence, but he hadn’t found a way to get it from us yet. I wasn’t going to let that thing back out into the world, no matter how much he asked.

“No.” I wouldn’t entertain the question. I knew enough to know the dagger was dangerous and needed to stay where it was. I’d made sure, along with Morgana’s help, that it wouldn’t see the light of day.

She’d also made me what she called my horde room using her magic. The knife and half a brick of gold, along with the gold my adoptive father and I had panned, were the totality of my current horde, but it was enough for me at the moment.

Detective Fox didn’t like my answer, but we had the same argument before, and it seemed he didn’t want to go at it again. “Fine. Thank you for your time.” He stood up and left the blue folder on the table.

I stared at the folder for a moment in hesitation before Scarlett picked it up and opened it herself. “Oh, there isn’t much here besides a name and a physical description of them.”

“What are their names?”

“Arthur and Marie Smith.” She said, frowning. “I feel like that last name is a lie.”

“Me too. It isn’t much to go on.” I’d hoped for more. I got up and leaned over her shoulder, disappointment setting in at the limited details.

They had insisted on seeing me, but my adoptive parents had stood firm that they didn’t want to confuse me. My parents had made their choice, and they were going to have to deal with the consequences. It sounded like Arthur was on the edge of violence before my dad called the cops.

“It is something. You know they existed, and they wanted to get in touch with you. And they’re likely still out there somewhere.” Scarlett reminded me. “Something is better than nothing.”

I took the file as I sat back down in my seat, feeling like it would likely wind up in my horde room later. It was just as important as a brick of gold for me. “Just sucks. What now?”

“We get you back to studying so you can pass chemistry. Things aren’t usually as crazy as they were last week. We just need to catch you up.” She nudged my book closer to me, clearly wanting me to focus on it.

But my hands found her thigh and started tracing soft symbols on it.

“You are distracting me.” She said, looking at me up through her eyelashes with a breathy look. “We already gave into temptation this morning.”

“Sorry, you know what I am.” I smirked.

And not only that, I’d learned the past week how fleeting life could be. I’d come out on the winning side with the fight with Simon and Chad, but I had no doubt there’d be more. I fully planned to grab what I wanted out of life and make sure I filled my cup. A bit of selfishness wasn’t bad; it was healthy.

I flagged down Morgana, seeing her in the main room. “Can we get half a dozen filets for lunch?

Scarlett lowered her head and whispered. “Zach, that’s pricey.”

“Zach eats for free here.” Morgana’s Swedish accent confirmed.

“One’s for you too.” I offered.

Scarlett buried her face in her hands. “That’s even worse; you are going to eat Morgana into bankruptcy.”

The drow vampiress simply shook her head. “It’s not a problem. I offered it.”

I smiled up at Scarlett. I knew the meat would fill my beast the best, and in turn could do more to help others like I had the week before. It was like on an airplane and they told you to put your mask on first before helping others.

With Morgana, I had no doubt there were more fights and challenges to come that could use my help. There were definitely things in the world that went bump in the night. I may have thought them to be a myth once, but now I knew better.

And I was one of the more powerful paranormals, even if I had a lot more training to go to realize that potential. I needed to prepare to take the monsters on. Something told me there was more riding on me than I even realized. It would seem that danger lurked even deeper in this new world I’d become a part of.

AN: Phew there's the end of this one. I thought about doing a second failure when he and Morgana split, but that felt like it stretched the story too much.

Also look at me. I'm so proud that I wrote a resolution chapter :)