Dragon Consultant

by Mell Eight

  Dane looked down, unsure of what he was expecting to see. Mercury's big bronze eyes were looking at Dane. There wasn't any calculation in Mercury's gaze. Once most people found out just how powerful Dane was, they always started thinking about what great things Dane could do for them. Except for Mercury, apparently. Dane also didn't see any fear, which was even more surprising. Mercury was just looking, taking in Dane's facial features and whatever expression he was wearing at the moment. In fact, Dane wasn't certain if he didn't catch a touch of lust there, although that could just as easily be from his libido playing with his imagination. Mercury's eyes slowly slid closed and his head tilted until he was using Dane's shoulder as a pillow, and then he fell asleep in Dane's arms. Dane had to swallow hard in reaction; the intimacy was almost too much for him to handle.

  "Watch out for the glass," Dane warned the kits following him, trying not to get ahead of himself when it came to Mercury. What Dane thought he saw in Mercury's eyes might just have been delirium. There was no way Mercury felt safe enough in Dane's arms to relinquish control to him. There was no way Mercury wasn't judging him and his abilities and already planning his escape route. Too many other men in Dane's life had proven how relationships with Dane worked over and over again. They got what they wanted and then left, often in fear of what Dane could do. When Mercury woke up again, he would come to his senses.

  Dane tried not to let himself dwell on any possibility that Mercury might somehow be different from all the others, but damn it, it was hard. It had been so long since Dane had held a man in his arms and even longer since he had real feelings involved. Still, this wasn't the time or the place. There was too much to do to let himself drool over Mercury now. Once he was able to toss Jacobson's place and then start laying plans with whatever he found there, he could return to letting his foolish hopes dominate his thoughts.

  "I need to follow up on Jacobson," Dane explained to the kits as they traversed the field full of broken glass and approached the front door. Dane would have to get a cleanup crew here before the kits got themselves hurt. "He might have information in his office or his house about where the air dragons are being kept. We need to get to it before anyone else does."

  Copper hurried forward to open the door and everyone trooped inside. The banister overlooking the foyer was shattered. It looked like Mercury had thrown himself in dragon form from the sitting room up there and through the front window in order to confront the intruder before he could get near the kits. Dane needed a new banister anyway, given how quickly Chrome and 'Ron had been chewing through it. Mercury had only accelerated the process.

  They walked up the stairs and down the hallway. Copper's door was flung open as they got close and Chrome and 'Ron spilled into the hallway. 'Ron was crying and Chrome didn't look too far off from following her.

  Chrome swallowed heavily to clear his throat. "Is Daddy okay?" he asked softly, his voice rough with suppressed tears. "We heard the glass shatter and Daddy yelling."

  "He's fine," Dane reassured them both. "He's just sleeping. He worked too hard at keeping you safe. How's Copper's egg?" he asked to distract them. Copper had already slipped past them into his room to check.

  'Ron looked proud of herself. "We held it tight so it wouldn't roll when everything started shaki—"

  "It's hatching!" Copper screamed.

  Dane couldn't help dashing forward, careful of Mercury slumbering in his arms as he fit through the door. The rest of the kits scrambled into the room around Dane. Copper was kneeling on his bed amid the nest of blankets and pillows. In the center was the red egg. It was rocking back and forth as a spiderweb of cracks formed and grew on the surface. It wasn't long before it was more crack than shell, and with a sudden pop, the shell fell to pieces around a dragon even tinier than Lumie.

  The dragon blinked as it looked at everyone watching it. One eye was red and the other blue, Dane saw with horror. The dragon's scales matched. Some were red, others were blue, and even more had both colors swirled together as if a painter had tossed paint recklessly at a canvass and called it art. The oversized wings curled on the dragon's back were also swirled with both colors. There wasn't any purple on his body, so the colors hadn't mixed at all. It was beautiful, but terrible. Dragons didn't come in multiple shades.

  It sneezed as the dust from the disintegrating egg fell around it. A gout of flame erupted from its mouth. Everyone instinctively jumped back, even Copper, despite the fact that his own magic should have taken care of any fire hitting him. The flame froze in midair and fell, shattering on the ground like an ice sculpture. The baby yawned next and curled up in Copper's nest with its head resting on Copper's knee, and then fell asleep.

  "What's his name?" 'Ron asked softly. There was awe in her voice. She clearly didn't understand what those bastard scientists had done to the dragon. Fire and ice mixed together in one. It was unnatural, and yet she was right all the same. He was a dragon just like the rest of the kits. He had a terrible past and his magic was messed up, but then so was Lumie's, and Lumie was adorable.

  "I don't know," Chrome whispered back, sounding just as reverent. "He's so pretty. Why couldn't my scales look like that?"

  "Alloy," Dane decided, looking again at the flames melting on the floor. He was a mix of two different elements to create one whole: an alloy.

  "Alloy," Copper repeated with a firm nod. He and Nickel were old enough to understand why Alloy was different, but they were young enough and stubborn enough not to care. Dane would have to emulate them, he decided. Yes, Alloy was a different sort of dragon, but Dane was a different sort of creature himself. Alloy had a difficult life ahead of him, but they could be his loving family and support him when things got rough. Dane had never enjoyed that luxury, so it would be nice to provide it to Alloy and the rest of the kits.

  Which reminded Dane. "Let me put Mercury in bed. You guys stay with Alloy while I go after Jacobson's notes." He turned and left the room, heading further down the hall to Mercury's room. Dane got him safely situated under the covers and forced himself to walk away. He wanted to climb into the bed with Mercury and hold him while he recovered, but Dane had a feeling that might get him punched in the face when Mercury woke up. Instead Dane walked back into the hall and firmly closed the bedroom door behind him.

  "We're going with you," Nickel said abruptly. Dane jumped in surprise and spun around. Nickel and Lumie were standing together in the hallway. Nickel looked stubborn, as if he was going to get his way regardless of what Dane wanted. Lumie was sucking on his thumb.

  "Fine," Dane sighed. Mercury had wanted him to take Nickel with him anyway, and Lumie was Lumie. If Dane didn't take Lumie with them, he had a feeling Lumie would find some way to follow anyway. Dane walked up to them and bent down to place a hand on each shoulder, and then he let his magic take them away.

  Dane had snuck into the regional headquarters of the SupFeds before. The local government had wizards and other creatures on their payroll that had shielded the building, but these shields Dane could work his way through. With Lumie in tow, he didn't even need to try. The shields didn't register their presence. Once Lumie was old enough to fully understand how his powers worked, he really would be a formidable and dangerous person.

  They reappeared inside Jacobson's private office. As the director of the SupFeds, he had all the privileges someone of his rank had earned, including a private office. A large wooden desk dominated the space. Dane zeroed in on the stack of files next to a sleeping laptop. Nickel wandered towards a large filing cabinet on one wall while Lumie toddled in a different direction.

  The computer required a password to access so Dane closed the top and tucked it under his arm. Dane had spells that would crack the laptop open in a few hours. The stack of papers was mostly red tape and trash reports that were passed around government offices to keep all the employees informed of various policies and events. Dane moved to the desk drawers next.

  "Anything?" Dane whispered to Nickel as Nickel rifled through the b
ottom drawer of the filing cabinet. He wasn't quite tall enough to reach the top, although he had shattered the lock keeping the drawers closed.

  "Unruly selkie," Nickel read slowly. "Mad werewolf. Nothing about dragons." He was probably reading the regular supernatural cases Jacobson was in charge of overseeing.

  Dane turned back to the desk, pulling open the first drawer to find a stapler and other basic office supplies. The second drawer was just as useless and, after feeling both drawers for their dimensions, Dane realized there wasn't a secret compartment. He stood to go help Nickel when he noticed Lumie standing by a blank stretch of wall. Lumie was staring upwards, thumb still in his mouth. His free hand reached out and he slapped the wall in front of him. A panel popped open above his head. It had been so well concealed Dane hadn't even noticed it was there, but Lumie had seen it easily. The little scamp. Dane ruffled Lumie's hair as he hurried over to see what Lumie had found.

  There was a small glass bottle full of a shimmering, rainbow-colored liquid on top of a pile of full file folders. The liquid felt like tainted dragon magic to Dane, which meant Lumie had found Jacobson's stash. Dane tucked the bottle into a pocket and the folders under his arm with the laptop. One last look through the compartment showed Dane had emptied it. He shut the panel.

  "Do you see anything else?" Dane asked Lumie, who shook his head. Nickel had closed up the filing cabinet when he saw what Lumie had found. He also shook his head. "Then let's go to Jacobson's house and see if he left anything there." Dane took hold of both kits and let his magic pull them away.

  CHAPTER SIX

  He's a god. That was Mercury's last thought before he had fallen asleep. Dane wasn't a genie, he wasn't any other supernatural creature Mercury had ever encountered, and there was a good reason for that. Gods didn't descend to earth very often, and when they did, they usually didn't stay and open up a consulting firm. But there was no other explanation for the sheer amount of power Dane had let off when he so decisively and easily ended the battle.

  After that last thought, Mercury had fallen asleep. He had been too exhausted to stay awake and wonder. Now that he was awake again, Mercury still didn't want to think about it. Dane was beautiful and powerful. He was a god. He could have anyone he wanted. Why would Dane want a lowly bronze dragon that had spent most of their acquaintance asleep while his kits had done their best to drive Dane mad?

  Instead of dwelling on the impossible, Mercury focused his attention on his surroundings. He was back in bed, warm under the covers, but he wasn't alone in the room. He could sense Copper as well as a dragon he didn't recognize. Dane and Nickel were in the sitting area near the bathroom door, their low voices filtering over to Mercury, although he couldn't hear what they were saying.

  Mercury slowly opened his eyes and even more slowly sat up. He didn't feel any worse than he had the last time he had woken up in bed. His body still felt like it was recovering from a bad illness. His magic was also depleted from the battle, but it was slowly recovering with the rest of him.

  "So you think it's a warehouse on the Chesapeake Bay?" Nickel asked Dane sharply, his voice rising loud enough that Mercury could overhear them.

  "There's a good chance," Dane replied before their voices dipped lower again. They were bent over a stack of papers while a laptop smoked alarmingly next to them. Since the smoke was alternating between the colors of pink and orange, Mercury felt it was safe to assume Dane had a hand in whatever was destroying that poor piece of technology. Copper was sitting at the end of the bed. He was holding something, Mercury realized, and was looking at it avidly.

  "What are you holding?" Mercury asked, wincing at how rough his voice sounded. He had been screaming during the battle, he remembered, as his spells fought against the intruder's encroaching magic. It was no surprise he was hoarse now.

  Copper jumped in surprise, but he eagerly moved closer so Mercury could see. "This is Alloy," he explained, holding out the small kit so Mercury could see. "He hatched yesterday after the battle was over."

  "Oh," Mercury gasped, looking at the red-and-blue dragon in shock. Alloy sneezed and piece of ice shaped like a flame fell onto the bedspread and started melting. "Oh," Mercury couldn't help repeating. Alloy was certainly beautiful, just as Lumie had insisted. Lumie stirred in the bed next to Mercury, not that Mercury had known he was there until just that moment. He was asleep with his thumb in his mouth.

  Mercury reached out to run his hand down Alloy's scales, marveling at their color. He would curse whoever had done this to poor Alloy later. For the moment he enjoyed the fact that Alloy had hatched at all and that Copper had the little brother he'd always wanted.

  "Dinner's ready!" Daisy's voice called from the hallway. "Anyone who wants to eat needs to come now!"

  Nickel put down the papers he was studying with Dane and hurried to the door. Lumie also popped up, fully awake, and scrambled down the bed after Nickel. Copper carefully moved off the bed with Alloy in his arms and slowly left the room. After a few seconds, all of his kits were gone, leaving only Mercury and Dane.

  "I think we've found the facility where they're holding the air dragons," Dane said softly as he stood and walked over to Mercury's bedside. "We're going to check out the site early tomorrow morning before the employees come in to start work and end up getting in the way."

  "I have to come with you," Mercury insisted. If there were any dragon kits there, he and Nickel were the only ones they would trust. They were more likely to attack Dane than listen to him.

  Dane didn't argue, which meant either he had come to the same conclusion or Nickel had explained it to him. Before either of them could say anything more, the door opened and Daisy bustled inside. She was carrying a large tray with two equally large and steaming bowls perched on top. She pushed the smoking computer aside with her elbow and placed the tray on the table in the sitting area.

  "Up, out of bed," she said sternly to Mercury. "Ya won't get yer strength back lying there all the time. Ya can make sure he doesn't go splat, ya hear, Boss," she added to Dane before hurrying back out of the room to return to where she had left the kits momentarily unsupervised.

  Mercury was hungry and eating would help his magic and his physical strength replenish. He pushed back the covers and slowly climbed out of bed. Someone had dressed him in a fresh pair of pajama pants. He had shredded the old pair when he had changed shape. He had also destroyed Dane's front window, he remembered with a pang of guilt.

  "I'm sorry for destroying your house," Mercury said softly. He had been so worried about what his kits were doing that he had never thought what he might do.

  Dane just shrugged. "It's happened before and I'm sure it will happen again. Don't worry about it."

  Mercury's progress from the bed to the sitting area was slow, but he felt stronger than yesterday. It gave him time to think of a response. Once he was sitting and Dane had removed the papers and smoking laptop so they had the table to eat on, Mercury turned to Dane.

  "You have to let me repay you for the damages," Mercury insisted. "I could have used the front door."

  Dane passed over one of the bowls of stew and a large chunk of bread before replying. "I have a feeling if you had taken the time to use the door, the house wouldn't have been standing at all by the time I got here. Besides, I'm fairly certain that you and your kits will do much worse to my poor house over the next few years."

  "Years?" Mercury asked, unsure if he was hearing Dane correctly. Surely he didn't expect or even want them to stay for that long.

  "Only if you want to," Dane added quickly.

  "Want to?" Mercury repeated awkwardly. Did Dane want them to stay? Dane's shoulders had slumped at Mercury's words as if he were hearing rejection. He was practically hiding behind his bowl as if he were embarrassed for assuming Mercury would want to stay.

  "I didn't think you would want us around for much longer," Mercury said, repeating his own thoughts out loud. "After all the trouble we've caused you, I would think you would want us as
far away from you as possible."

  Dane's head lifted away from his stew to look at Mercury. "I like having company," he said hesitantly. "And your kits aren't the worst critters I've had running around."

  "Would you like us to stay?" Mercury asked boldly, suddenly aware that Dane didn't feel like he could ask Mercury that question. It was as if Dane were imposing on Mercury instead of the other way around.

  "Would you want to?" Dane asked, his voice still hesitant and unsure. "I'm not exactly good company."

  Dane wasn't talking about his personality. He also didn't seem to know just how devastating his smile could be to Mercury or about Mercury's thoughts on whether Dane would be very good company in and out of bed. He was talking about his powers, Mercury realized suddenly.

  "I don't care that you're a god," Mercury insisted. It was the truth. He didn't care about Dane's powers in the least. All he knew was that he wasn't worthy of being Dane's companion. He was only a bronze precious dragon. Dane should find another god to love.

  "I'm only the son of a god," Dane said sheepishly, "but that usually scares people away."

  "Doesn't scare me," Mercury replied around a mouthful of stew. It was good stew too, fragrant with spices and tender beef. Dane was blushing, Mercury noticed quickly as Dane turned back to his stew with a touch too much haste. "It doesn't," he reiterated. "I… You're too pretty to be scary." Mercury had almost said he liked Dane before he had caught himself. He wasn't ready to admit that just yet, especially when he had no business liking the son of a god.

  Dane dropped his spoon back into his bowl and stared at Mercury in surprise. "I'm pretty? Have you looked in a mirror lately? You're the pretty one. I'm the one who has to hide behind a glamour so I don't scare everyone around me away!"