by Bob Dattolo
When the lightshow cleared, I was hovering mid-air above them, with the gathered students seeing the nightmare of one dead dragon and two that now will never fly again. I should kill them; I know I should.
Instead, I forced them to shift back to human without anyone knowing I did it.
Once they were back, huddled together and crying, I landed, making the ground rumble with more magic.
“Victor Rodriguez. Maria Rodriguez.” They barely looked at me. “You hunted me across the entire United States. Now you found me. I graciously offered you an out earlier. $50 million and an apology. Here’s your second out. No, your third. Because I didn’t hunt you down and kill you when we fought in LA. This is my third offer to you. $100 million. Each. Plus an apology. You have two days to get me the money or I add you to my list. You, and anyone you go to for protection. I will find you. I will drain you. I will take everything you have. Get me the money and your apology. And the next time you think about coming back to me? Maria? You still have one wing I can collect. Victor? You ever want to go through life missing your balls? How about your fucking jaw? Take your scars showing just how fucking stupid you are and get the fuck out of here. If I can see you in five minutes, I have to assume you’re going to attack me again. And that would make me angry. So far? I haven’t been angry. Your time starts now.”
How fast did they move? Honestly, slower than you’d think. They barely made it out of my sight at the five-minute mark. They were struggling to move. They may not have wings in their human form, but their backs are torn to hell and back from the damage done in their dragon form. You can see their shoulder blades where a wing was taken off. Well, one for her. Frankly, the damage from his bite is probably hurting her worse. She’s having trouble walking.
That makes me smile.
The kids around me are staring in utter horror. I’m pretty sure none of them ever pictured any of us making it out of a fight with three shifted dragons. Especially with a sneak attack by dragon breath to start it. Only a water mage or water dragon could have made it through that without having some sort of spell ready. Well, unless they were a dragon in dragon form. Then possibly. It all depends on how much of it would have broken on the scales.
“I’d like to make a point to everyone here.” I shifted back to human and turned again. “A number of you have already jumped on the bandwagon of hating me because of what my parents did to me.” I looked over to the huge dead dragon, “I’d like to point out just how not a stricken I am. I may have the last name. I may have been one. But now? No, not any longer. So, by all means, continue picking on me. Continue the little plans and plots that even I’ve heard of about how to get me into a challenge. By all means, please continue. Then, before you decide to really kick it off? Maybe think back to this colossal fuck up and try and figure out if your plan is really gonna work. For those of you that are new? Talk to the others that were here last year. Those weren’t the first shifted dragons I’ve fought and walked away from. They’re the first that’re gonna pay me a fuck ton of money, though.”
The group parted as I headed for the dorms. I didn’t intend to go in, I was only heading there because two very familiar faces were in the doors. Eva’s got a sheet wrapped around her but is obviously naked. Tiffany’s as naked as I am.
“Hey, girls. You have like another hour and a half. I’m gonna go flying for the rest of the time. Go have some fun.”
Neither of them responded before I shifted and jumped up, rocketing for the sky.
Chapter 21
I flew away from the school, feeling good and bad about what I just did. Why both? Good because I won. Bad because…it shouldn’t have come to that. Why do people hate me for no reason? For what happened to me that someone else did? It’s like seeing those stories about girls that are thrown out of families because they were raped. Are you fucking kidding me? Do you throw people out when their car gets stolen? Or someone robs them? Or, I don’t know, cuts in front of them in a line? Why the fuck you’d walk away from them under some un-fucking-believable idea that sex is so naughty that someone forced into it is tainted?
You gotta be kidding me.
But I digress.
So, yeah, I’m of two minds about this. None of that should have happened. They went and hired a ringer to fight me? How? Why? I don’t get how he could have pushed me into a challenge. There’s no way that I know of that he could have done that without me buying into it. I don’t get what their plan was. At all. Or his.
And now they’ll never fly again.
That…ugh, okay, I’m of two minds about that, too. On one hand I think it was a perfect way to fuck with them and to send a message to others. Maybe death isn’t all I can do to them. Being a dragon that can’t fly? I’m thinking they’re gonna be mentally broken over that.
That’s the other part. Doing that to them was a serious bitch move. The only plus is that my demand of money? That’s enforceable by law if they decide to kill themselves. Them leaving the fight was based on the payment demand. So if they kill themselves, I can force things. Or, if they try to bury things, I can go after whoever they gave the money to.
The sound of wings through wind let me know that others were joining me. I’m not too shocked to find Parece, Angelica, and Samantha settling at the same altitude and joining my circle.
“Hey. You sure you guys can be seen with me right now?”
Soft laughter from Angelica, “You gotta be fucking kidding me. That was epic. I’m not sure I ever saw anything like that.”
“Seriously, that was fucked. You killed that huge fucking dragon like it was nothing!” Parece shook her head. She’s so close to laughing, but she’s holding back.
“I’m sorry, Samantha.”
She nearly lost altitude when I talked. “Uhh, what?”
“I’m sorry. For what I did to your parents.” Her eyes looked down at the school, joining mine. They’re working on the huge corpse right now. I have no idea how you get rid of a massive dragon body. “I wanted something that they’d remember.”
She sputtered laughter, “You wanted something they’d remember? My fucking God. Do you have any idea who Thomas was?”
“Umm, no idea? Just some massive water dragon.”
“He was a challenge ringer, basically. My parents have used him like a dozen times when they thought things were iffy. He’d come in and tear apart anyone. Everyone. Last I heard, he had over 250 challenge wins. He was powerful as fuck, and you just…walked through his steam and killed him. He’s used that same attack at least 10 times that I know of to win right off the bat. You took it and fucked him up, then tore off a wing? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that happen before in a fight. I peed when I saw that happen. Then…you killed him and went after my parents.” She fell silent for like a dozen huge circles, “I don’t even know what to say to that. I’ve loved and hated my parents in semi-equal measures, although mostly hated. The things they did to me. Said to me. Always having the weight of them being willing to kill me looming over my shoulder? I’ve dreamt about killing them at least once a week since my inducement ceremony. Longer, actually. You just put them in their place. They’re scarred. They have to hate that. They have to. They lived for being gorgeous. Powerful. You scarred them and took away their looks. Their wings? They loved being powerful dragons. Now they’re stunted. Deformed. That’s how they’ll look at it. What you did is fucking vicious beyond belief. I’ve never heard of someone doing that in a fight like that. Ever. Yet it was perfect for them. The money part? I’m not even sure what to say to that. You know they may try to hide the money or may kill themselves, right?”
“Yeah, I figured that part out. Except the way I mentioned the money? It’s part of the challenge. It’s their ticket out, so to speak. They accepted by leaving. Had they stayed there, I could have killed them and wouldn’t have gotten shit. They took my offer and left. That’s enforceable.”
Laughter from her, “Oh my God, I missed that. That’s too fucking funny.”
<
br /> “Just so you know? If they do kill themselves and hide the money by giving it to you? I won’t go after it. If it goes to anyone else? I’ll tear their world apart if I have to to get what’s mine.”
“You…you wouldn’t take it from me? Why?”
“I’d love the money, don’t get me wrong. Which, they have that much, right?”
“Oh yeah. They have plenty. They won’t be broke if they pay.”
“Okay, then I’d love the money, but I don’t want it enough to take it from you. Others? Yeah. You? No. I know you guys don’t really think like that, but I do. At least for you three.”
“Umm, thank you for that? I don’t really know what to think about this. What they’ll do. It can go either way so easily.”
“Do you hate me for what I did?”
More laughter, “No. Not even close. The part of me that loves them knows that plenty of people hate them. That someone could have challenged them and killed them pretty much every week of my life based on things they’d do. I don’t hate you in the slightest. Honestly, it may make my life a lot easier. I’ll be shocked if they kill me now, even if I test poorly. They’re imperfect, so they may want me to become the face of things. Not that I’ll do it if I can help it.”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t want their life. I enjoyed meeting stars and things like that, but their work? It’s a mess of organized crime, threats, people disappearing, and all sorts of crazy shit like that. People see Hollywood and think it’s this amazing place. Tinsel and bright lights and all of that. Yet it’s way closer to the Godfather based on what I’ve seen in my life. Back to what you asked? I wouldn’t have hated you if you killed them. Taking money from them? Not even remotely. Honestly, I’m more upset at how close I came to being a stupid bitch last year.” She snorted, “Your open challenge came at a perfect time. I was so close to trying to get you into a challenge. You were too much of a mystery, but I figured most of the one side was bullshit and luck. Then you gave me an open challenge and it really made me sit back and try to figure out what I was missing. No one would do that in our world. So, yeah, thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome. What now, though? We’re staying apart for a reason. Did you tell anyone down there why you were coming up?”
“No one asked specifically, but we let it out that I wanted to talk to you since people figured out they were my parents. Angelica is here to keep things civil.”
Angelica smiled my way, “What can I say? I’m all about the civility.”
We flew together another half hour, then we headed back down, separating a little before landing. We’re going to continue with the secretive ally thing and see what develops.
No one stopped me in the hall on the way to my room. I only saw two people, though, so take that with a grain of salt. Opening my door let me see two things. The first is that someone tried to hit my laptop with a spell to shred it. I can tell because it’s glowing slightly. Still in one piece, too, which makes me smile. The second is that the girls are semi huddled on the couch together. More Tiffany on Eva, but I can tell that it’s still mutual. Eva is dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, although I can tell that she has nothing on under it. I can also tell that they’ve been together. Just not recently.
“Ugh, you didn’t come back and finish the deal? C’mon, I gave you a bunch of time!”
Eva looked a little sick to her stomach at my question but didn’t answer.
Tiffany pulled away a little but kept her hands on the freaked girl, “She wasn’t in the mood any longer.”
“I’m thinking that was my fault. Sorry about that.”
She took in the glowing laptop, “Can you tell me about your laptop and stuff? We were sitting here, and the place lit up like a fucking lightshow. It’s been glowing since them.”
What to say? “Magical protections. Like with the grimoires when you touch them.”
“You’re one fucking frightening girl, you know that?”
“I don’t try to be.”
“You don’t try to be, you’re funny as hell. You come across like you’re weak as fuck, then…we caught the entire fight. You walked into that thing like you didn’t care at all. Like you knew you could handle everything they hit you with. He hit you with everything in that breath. You shoulda been dead. Crazy dead.”
“I’m resilient. As for being worried? A bit. I’ll tell you what I told people last year. I don’t care if I die. That takes some of the worry out of things when you have that mindset.”
“Yeah, nah, it’s more than that. You handled them like a beast.”
“Thanks?” They’re still sitting together, “You want me to leave so you can get busy?”
Eva sat forward, “Can we go back to your room?”
Tiffany didn’t respond at first. We can both smell her fear, “Yeah,” she finally nodded, “we can do that.”
She grabbed her clothes and left without getting dressed, Eva close behind her. Ookay, she’s really freaked about me now. Wonderful. No idea what that’ll mean. I guess we’ll find out.
Now, who fucked with my stuff?
I checked everything. Twice. Nothing has been touched. The spells are still intact. Everything is where it’s supposed to be. Yet the protections on my desk were triggered. I sent out some power and reset everything. The glow tells me what was targeted. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to figure out how to tell who targeted. Yet someone out there is hurting right now. The spell attacks back, just a little. Again, I wasn’t sure how to get it to do something specific, which was my original goal. Maybe tear out some teeth. Something crazy visible. Instead, it gives them electric shocks like the manual spell and maybe hits them a few times. No idea if that part worked or not. I don’t know anyone that would be willing to test that for me.
No one interrupted me through the shower. Not even anyone in the other room. Makes me wonder when we’ll officially meet. I’m guessing not right now.
Getting out had me wondering what to do. It’s still pretty early and I’m wired on power, so I’m at a loss. I could go for another flight. Maybe head into town. I just don’t want to do that right now. With the kind of luck I swing, a dozen people would try to challenge me just for the hell of it. A bunch of first year kids looking to get powerful quickly or maybe someone in third year that wants a boost.
Ugh.
That makes me wonder just how strong I am now. Power is like a bottle shaped like a V. Sort of. When you’re weaker, you’re down in the narrow section. If you drain someone, you go up quickly. Once you get to a certain point, it takes a lot to make you go up any big chunks. Given the dragon’s penchant for killing people in challenge, I’m thinking he drained all of them. Does that mean I just drained more than 200 people’s worth of power into me? I don’t feel like I did. That could just be because I’m in a wider section of the V, so to speak, or…maybe he didn’t drain everyone? I don’t know that I believe that part. I just don’t get it, though.
Instead of getting lost in everything, I went out for a walk. It’s starting to get cool already even though the sun’s still up for maybe another 40 minutes. More vague comments from people as I mosey along. Nothing too novel. No threats. Most people have a wary vibe going. Even the negative comments are kinda weak. Not quite hidden, just nowhere near what they were before.
The coffee place is decently empty when I arrive, which lets me get a hot chocolate and head over to an out of the way table with a good view out the window. As much as being in Florida was a huge thing for me and really hit me in the feels, there’s something about being here that’s simply amazing. It makes me feel alive in ways that I haven’t really felt anywhere else. I’m thinking because it just calls for flying. Head out and just glide along, watching the countryside scroll under you. It’s picturesque here as long as you enjoy trees and wilderness and cool hills and things.
Which I apparently do.
It’s warring in me with the desire to feel sand between my toes.
Two fami
liar scents interrupt my thoughts just before someone sits at the next table. It ends up being three people. Two are my neighbors, hence the scent familiarity. I haven’t spoken to them before, but I’ve heard their names in classes. Cleo is an ice dragon. Her light blue eyes are amazing against her dark skin. She has crazy kinky hair that I’d love to try to style. Not that I know how to do it. In the slightest. I can’t even style my hair. Next to her is Stacey. She’s a fire mage. Seeing the two of them together is kinda interesting to me, especially since Cleo is from the islands, while Stacey is from Britain. Or, from their academies. The third person with them is Cesar. He’s a water dragon. His darker blue eyes work well with his dark skin, too. He has dreads, which I think are awesome, especially since the stripes in his hair are individual dreads. Now that’s a look I haven’t seen before that works really well with our weird attributes. He’s from the islands.
Each of them are staring at me as I sip my hot chocolate. “Hey there, fellow students! How about them sports teams?” No answer. “Does Montana have any pro teams? I have no idea. Unless it’s curling?”
They exchanged looks before Cleo spoke, “You really are like this all the time? I thought everything I’d heard from others was…I don’t know, a joke?” She has a cool voice. Deeper than you’d think for a girl. Almost soothing, in a way.
“If by like this you mean kinda random? Yeah, more so than people realize. I keep a lot back even though it probably seems like I don’t. I’ve had to do that a lot in my life. Now that I don’t? I figured why not let it out? Give it some sun? Maybe it’ll grow into a beautiful tree and I can get some syrup out of it.”
Cesar blinked slowly, “What the fuck does all of that mean?”
His honest question got me laughing, “Sorry. I just meant that I let it out more now that I can. It keeps me entertained and helps hold back on the anger.”
I’m not sure if they were expecting a real answer there, yet I gave one. Their looks tell me they’re kinda lost.
“So, if you didn’t want to stop by and talk about sports teams, of which I know nothing. Or…weather? It’s a cool 73 degrees today, mostly sunny, with sunset coming somewhere just before 8, I think?” I shrugged, “If I had a green screen, I might be able to whip up some weather pattern charts. Not that I can draw, but you know what I mean.”
