Lloyd nodded, jumping into the air. His wings beat powerfully as he hovered in the air, waiting for his step-brother to join him. Seconds later, Foster floated into the air, his wings barely moving. Without a nod of his head, Lloyd shot forward, his body slowly transforming into that of a large, albino dragon. His wingspan lengthened even further. Remnants of blue flame flared from his nostrils as his neck elongated and stretched. His tail whipped out, its razor-sharp barbs slicing through the air. Armored scales glittered in the powerful sun.
Still at near the den, Foster was adjusting to his dragon form. Lloyd had already rushed past him, nothing more than a white speck on the horizon. Foster grinned, a soft growl emerging from deep within his throat. With the powerful beat of his wings, there was a tiny sonic boom that propelled him forward until he was trailing on Lloyd. It didn’t take long for him to edge ahead of his step-brother.
Lloyd growled when he noticed Foster surpass him. He tried to catch up, but no matter how hard he flapped his wings, it was hopeless. Foster might have been the smallest dragon among their kind, but he was the fastest. No one could ever hope to catch up and he was already miles ahead, his shiny black scales cutting through the wind like butter. His sleek neck streamlined his flight as his thin tail worked as a rudder, navigating his movements with sharp precision.
In no time at all, he would be in the world of humans where he would find a mate before his brother could even dream of winning the bet.
***
Foster landed in a wide-open field. His claws dug into the ground as his tail swished back and forth through the tall grass, cutting it down. He took a long whiff of the air, picking up the scent of the countless humans that inhabited this part of the world. His nostrils flared and a few red flames emerged from his mouth as he belched. Craning his long neck, he looked up at the dark sky, waiting for his brother to arrive. The minutes ticked by and Foster grew restless.
Finally, he transformed back into a man, his body slowly shapeshifting. He straightened himself out and fixed his vest. He reached inside and grabbed a phone from the inner pocket. He turned it on and started fiddling with it. He had bought it on his last excursion to the human world. He had learned how to use it fairly quickly and was quite proud of the fact. The only problem was, he didn’t have anyone to call or text. So, most of the time it just gathered dust in his den. But tonight, Foster was confident that he would finally snag a girl’s number and put his brother to shame.
With the phone in hand, he sat down. He took a picture of the nighttime sky, admiring the stars that decorated the vast black canvas. The moon was hanging high overhead, casting a silvery light over the landscape. Foster zoomed in on the sphere and took another picture. Bored, he fiddled around with the filters, enhancing the picture with minuscule details.
Just as he was about to publish the photo to social media, there was a loud thud a few feet away from him. He glanced over, watching his step-brother fold his large dragon wings into his back. Lloyd shook himself, his bulky chest on display. He let out a huff of air and blue flames escaped his snout, coming dangerously close to the grass that surrounded him.
Lloyd looked away, his powerful barbed tail swishing back and forth. As Foster got up, the large appendage nearly clipped him, but luckily, he ducked just in time. “Watch where you swing that thing!” Foster shouted. Lloyd’s ears twitched slightly before he turned around, his eyes narrowing in Foster’s direction. His forked tongue slithered out as he licked his snout and moved closer, nudging Foster who was pushed back as a result. In his human form, Foster was no bigger than one of Lloyd’s large paws.
“Could you stop messing around already?” Foster crossed his arms over his chest, looking irritated.
Lloyd chuckled but finally complied. His wings folded into his back and in a blur of body parts, Lloyd was back to his human form. He rolled his shoulders and moved his jaw side to side as if trying to put together the pieces of his body. “What’s the rush? Are you that eager to lose?” Lloyd teased.
Foster rolled his eyes. “You’re all talk, you know that?” Scoffing, Foster walked over, trudging through the tall grass. In the distance, the two dragons could hear speeding cars crossing the freeway.
“Where are we going anyway?” Lloyd asked, jogging to keep up with Foster who was effortlessly speed walking.
“I hear this new nightclub opened up. It’s supposed to be the hottest new place in town. Ironically enough, it’s called The Den.” Foster chuckled.
“Any chance it's run by dragons?”
“I don’t think so, but maybe. Either way, I’m sure it’ll be bursting with human females ready to fall for me.”
Lloyd just laughed. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”
“Just you wait,” Foster answered confidently. Without another word, the two dragons made their way to The Den.
***
The nightclub was situated in an old, remodeled warehouse. It was spacious and well decorated with chrome tables, a sleek dancefloor, and state of the art sound system. Despite the name, there was nothing in the whole establishment that hinted at dragons, which disappointed the step-siblings.
Their eyes took in the setting. There were so many bodies pressed together on the dancefloor. Around the bar, inebriated people clung onto their liquor with a tight grasp. In the back, couples were huddling together on the sofas. Overall, everything looked normal. The music was modern and upbeat, the tables sticky with spilled alcohol. Clothing was tight, sweat-soaked, and very promiscuous.
“Anyway. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” Foster winked, a playful grin on his face.
“Huh?”
“Well, if I’m going to have my fun with a woman, I don’t want to see your ugly face again.” Foster teased.
Before Lloyd could lash out at his step-brother for the insult, Foster was already gone, edging his way into the crowd. It quickly gobbled him up. Lloyd caught nothing more than the slightest glimpse of a woman’s body pressing against Foster’s, her red miniskirt riding up her leg, exposing her luscious thigh.
Lloyd couldn’t help but stare as his hormones got the best of him. Instincts flared up inside of him as his core body temperature rose a few degrees. Quickly, he stepped toward the dance floor, determined to win the bet.
He approached the girl with the red dress and grabbed her wrist, pulling her close to his body. Immediately, she pushed away and slapped him across the face. “What do you think you’re doing? Get your hands off me you brute!” She screamed at him, trying to overcome the music.
“I think you’re very attractive,” Lloyd said as if she hadn’t slapped him at all. “Let’s dance.” His voice was deep and guttural as he leaned down, his lips coming close to her neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist.
“I said let go of me!” She growled, her nails digging into his arms.
“Do you not want to dance with me?” Lloyd asked, seemingly confused.
“I already said no. How many more times do I have to tell you?” The woman’s voice was high-pitched and whiny at this point.
Lloyd let go of her and she slipped into the crowd, disappearing. He stood there, perplexity plaguing his thoughts. “What did I do wrong…?” He whispered to himself, trying to figure out why the woman in the red dress didn’t like him.
As the music changed, he shook his head. He wouldn’t let one little hiccup get in the way of him beating Foster. Puffing out his chest, he walked into the crowd. Unlike everyone else, his body was stiff and rigid. He kept accidently stepping on other people’s feet. Dirty glances kept coming his way as he barreled toward the center of the dancefloor.
Once there, he quickly found himself surrounded by women. He grinned and started to dance. His movements were awkward and jerky like he hadn’t danced a moment in his entire life. Some people gave him strange looks before a woman with bouncy purple curls walked up to him. “What are you doing out here all alone, handsome?” Her voice was soft and sensual, as she pressed herself against his body, letting th
eir hips rock together.
Lloyd smirked and rested his hands on her waist as he moved as little as possible. He looked down at her small, round face and button nose, thinking she looked a bit like a pixie. “My name’s Annabella.” She introduced herself, her arms slinging around his neck.
He grinned. “I’m Lloyd.” He leaned down, his face now dangerously close to hers. “I think you look very attractive. Would you like to be with me?”
Annabella raised an eyebrow in question. “What do you mean?” She rested her fingers on the nape of his neck but pulled back almost immediately. His skin was hot to the touch. “Are you okay? You’re really hot.”
Lloyd misinterpreted the woman’s words, thinking she was giving him a compliment. He grinned, a row of uniform white teeth flashing down at her. Before she could do anything to stop him, he was kissing her. His hand tangled into her hair, pulling at it, but something gave away.
The woman shrieked, part of her hair detached from her skull. “You ruined my extensions!” She looked horrified, holding the strands of hair in her head. Her fists pounded on Lloyd’s chest in distress. “You monster! Why did you have to do that?” There were tears of rage bubbling up in the corner of her eyes before she ran away, her voluptuous hips swaying side to side.
Lloyd could feel the hostile glares of some of the other women that surrounded him. Quickly, he forced his way out of the dance floor and headed toward the bar. Obviously, he would have to rethink his approach to women. One thing was for sure: human women were very different from dragon females.
Sighing, he sat down at the bar. He eyed the bartender expertly mixing drinks behind the counter. He sniffed the air, smelling the alcohol he used. It was weak, not even close to the potency of Dragon Ale. He shook his head and examined the bottles, wondering what he should ask for.
“Can I help you?” The bartender finally addressed him after a few minutes.
“Sure. I’ll have some of that vodka on the top shelf.”
“How do you want that?”
“In a glass,” Lloyd answered. “Full.”
“Are you sure…?” The bartender gave him a strange look, like Lloyd had three heads.
“I don’t care. Just get me some of it.” Lloyd shrugged.
“Okay.” Gingerly, the man grabbed the bottle and poured some into a small shot glass.
“Is this all?”
“That’s a regular shot. Do you want another?”
“Give me three more.” Again, the bartender looked wary but complied when Lloyd pulled out a large bill from his wallet and placed it on the counter. Luckily, Foster had been kind enough to give him some human money before they entered The Den. “That should be enough, shouldn’t it?”
The man nodded, quickly pocketing the money before placing all four shots on the counter. Lloyd grinned and picked up the small transparent glass in his hand and tilted his head back, letting the liquid run down his throat. There was a slight tingling sensation that tickled his mouth, but it paled in comparison to the burning sensation felt after drinking a pint of Dragon Ale.
Unsatisfied, Lloyd downed the rest of his shots in quick succession. “Have you already resorted to booze?” A voice sounded to his left. Lloyd turned to see Foster sitting down beside him, a grim expression on his face.
“Things haven’t exactly gone according to plan… let me guess, you’re here to gloat that you’ve already found ten women who want to sleep with you?” Lloyd suggested. He eyed a bottle of whiskey that was within his grasp and contemplated taking a swig.
“Sadly, no. Things haven’t been going too well for me either.” He sighed. “But, I did discover there are a lot of whelps around here.”
“Really? I didn’t see any of them.” Lloyd pointed out.
“Yeah. The lesser dragons are everywhere. Maybe that’s why it’s called The Den, but they’re trying hard to blend in with the humans. They have taken on human customs pretty seriously. They even talk with a slight accent.”
“I see… that’s strange. I wonder what they’re doing here.”
“Probably the same as us. Trying to get laid.” With Foster’s words, the two of them sighed at their own failure. It looked like no one was going to win the wager.
Chapter Two
The two men lingered at the bar, drinking copious amounts of alcohol that had little to no effect on their bodies. The bartender couldn’t fathom how they weren’t drunk out of their minds by this point. He expected them to slur their words. For their cheeks to turn red and ruddy. For them to stumble and act childish, but it never happened. Despite the shot glasses piling up around them, they seemed completely sober.
“You see that?” Foster whispered, his back against the counter and a glass of whiskey in his hand.
“Hmm?” Lloyd swiveled in his stool, looking out at the crowd.
“That whelp right there is passing around Dragon’s Breath.”
“What?” Lloyd narrowed his eyes, his pupil’s momentarily turning into slits. To his surprise, he watched two normal-looking men passing a bag full of crushed red petals. “I can’t believe it… so the whelps are in here to sell drugs?”
“Seems like it.” Foster shook his head in disgust. “Leave it to the whelps to get caught up in a dishonest business like that.”
Suddenly, right after the bag was handed off from one whelp to the next, the receiver dashed off. He collided with the wall of people, trying to wiggle his way through any opening that might appear. It was obvious that he had no intention to pay for the drugs he had just gotten.
The dealer quickly grabbed him by the neck, slamming him into the ground. In a flash, the dealer’s fist recoiled back and made contact with the buyer’s face. A hiss escaped the buyer’s lips as he reached up, his nails growing long and claw-like, trying to lash out at his attacker.
Without thinking, Lloyd walked up to the scuffling whelps and pried them apart. Their eyes grew wide when they recognized the dragon prince. Their legs dangled in the air as Lloyd held them in the air. “You two should be ashamed of yourselves.” He growled, his voice dark and malicious. “I should have you imprisoned for your crimes.”
As Lloyd displayed his strength, a crowd of people surrounded him, watching him as he held two grown men in either hand like they weighed nothing at all. Rumors started to spread around.
How is he doing that?
How can he pick up two men at the same time?
He must be on steroids or something.
Maybe he’s one of the bouncers.
Before Lloyd could bash their heads together, Foster appeared, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Put them down. You’re making a scene.” He whispered through clenched teeth. He smiled at some of the people that were watching them with wide, fascinated eyes.
Foster looked down, spotting the bag of Dragon Breath on the ground. He was about to grab it when a third whelp swooped in and snatched it. Instantly, he disappeared as he ran through the nightclub, making his way for the exit. Foster was hot on his trail in a second. His body moved like a well-oiled machine, his arms pumping and his feet crashing against the floor. His messy brown hair fluttered with the speed of his movement. Before anyone could even realize what was going on, Foster tackled the third whelp to the ground.
“Give that back!” The whelp screamed, reaching for the bag. His eyes were bloodshot and his features pale. His pupils were thin little lines. This whelp was an obvious addict who would do anything to get his fix.
“Fat chance.” Foster scoffed. “I wouldn’t let vermin like you even come close to this ever again. Just be glad I caught you and not Lloyd. He would’ve made minced meat out of you.” The whelp gulped at the mention of Lloyd’s name. His fingers shook and he stood there in Foster’s gasp, trapped.
Suddenly, he snapped. He lashed out at Foster. He grabbed hold of his hair and pulled on it hard. Foster, taken by surprise, howled with pain before he kneed the whelp in the stomach. The addict recoiled, but quickly regained his posture and rammed his body into
Foster. They collided into a table. It broke under the weight of their bodies as they rolled around, throwing punches at each other.
The whelp hissed and fought with all his might, but as Foster grew angry, his nostrils flared and a puff of black smoke rushed out of his mouth. It encased the whelp’s face, burning his eyes. The lesser dragon clutched his face and backed off before Foster got up, pinning his arms behind his back. “One more move and I break your fingers one by one.” He whispered into his ear, his grasp tightening around the whelp’s wrists until he whimpered with discomfort.
“What’s going on here?” The crowd had dispersed by this point, put off by the violent fight scene. Emerging from the crowd of people still gathered around the fiasco, a woman with white-blond hair and a body full of luscious curves appeared.
Lloyd and Foster both stared at her at the same time. Lloyd nearly licked his chops when he saw the big beautiful woman that appeared before him. With her hands on her wide hips, she stood with an air of confidence and power that he was immediately attracted to. He could feel his body reacting in ways that were foreign to him. He gulped down the fire forming in his stomach as his eyes ran up and down her body, taking in her every inch.
A few feet away, Foster was fixated by her plump pink lips and perfect face. She had a smile that could kill. Her eyes sparkled like jewels as she looked around, amused, glancing from Lloyd to Foster. “What are you boys up to?” She asked once more, her lips slow and seductive as she formed her words. Foster found himself staring at her face for longer than he intended, his cheeks turning red as she finally made eye contact with him. It was only for a fleeting second, but it was enough to send his heartbeat into overdrive. He looked away, and studied her white hair, appreciating the softness of the curls framing her heart-shaped face. Her skin was a milky white. Flawless. Plump, kissable lips, pursed in a soft pout. Light blue eyes the color of the sky. Foster moved his eyes down to her chest. It nearly spilled out of her shirt. He stared at the soft-looking skin that almost seemed to have a certain shine to it, wondering what it would feel like cupped by his palms. Eventually, he broke his gaze and his eyes wandered along her every inch, her every curve. He nearly licked his lips just looking at her. The woman had a voluptuous hourglass figure with hips that begged him to dig his fingers into. Foster gulped. This woman was perfect.
A Secret Baby for the Vampire Page 69
