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I WOKE UP TO THE SMELL of something burning, which only proved to remind me that all of my prized possessions were, in fact, destroyed. “Rotten Dragon,” I muttered to myself as I looked out the window into the back yard. There they were, the culprits. I watched as they threw the last bits of what, I assumed, was the bed into a large bonfire. I shook my head and went back to the room for something to wear, figuring a shower might ease me up. After falling completely apart in Ryane’s arms, I let her lead me like a child out of the room and into her bed. Her pull on me wasn’t something I could wholly understand, when I was with her I seemed to give up my position of authority. She had somehow become my superior, even as I continued to push my own will upon her. As I was pondering this, I walked across the now empty center of the room and the floorboard buckled under my weight. There was a hollow in the floor. I stepped back off of it and then back on and the floor groaned under me with a thick and heavy creak. Well, isn’t my curiosity peaked? Hmm. I wondered what Samuel was hiding from everyone.
I knelt down, but the boards wouldn’t come up easily. Fuck it. I slammed my fist through the floor, snapping the wood like a knife through butter. It was obvious that Samuel hadn’t touched whatever was down there for a long time. I peered down into the hole I’d made and find, to my surprise, a large duffle bag. Ripping up the remaining floor, I slid the bag to me, coughing from the dust. The scent of lavender and jasmine hit me as I opened the heavy bag.
Inside was an arsenal. Guns and knives which looked to be tri blades. Silver, gold and iron. All deadly to the Otherkind. I was careful as I pulled the knives from the pack, the last thing I wanted was a wound that wouldn’t stop bleeding. Ryane didn’t have the supplies that are needed to treat a cold, let alone a silver wound. At the bottom of the bag were several files and books. Upon closer inspection, I found that the books were journals, hand bound and written by... Ryane’s father? Henry Ravencrest’s name was scrawled across the top page. I flipped through one carefully as the pages were worn by neglect and time. It appeared to be a chronicling of Ryane as she was growing up, notes about how cute she looked on her first snow day, followed by a picture of her and a light haired woman with Ryane’s penetrating blue eyes. They wore matching little blue snowsuits with white fur trim and white boots. I flipped the picture over and it read: Vanessa and Ryane, December 18th, 2003, my beautiful girls.
A smile worked at the corner of my mouth as I turned the pages, seeing her as she grew up. Her awkward teen years, even with braces and pigtails, she was beautiful. I put the journal down, looking at the thick file still in the bag. Something about it rubbed me the wrong way. I reached out for it and noticed the header that tagged its top. 11/22/15 Ravencrest, Vanessa.
If it was what I thought it was, then I wasn’t sure I wanted to read it, yet there I was, lifting it to me and letting the file fall open. The top was the photos of the crash. The truck was capsized and the hood torn asunder. The doors, although greatly burned, showed signs that they were covered in scratches and deep impressions. At first glance they seemed to be the result of the truck rolling down the embankment into the water, but as I looked a second time, I realized these marks were from claws. Five large claws. That was impossible.
She was attacked by Guardians, there was no denying it, but that meant that it had to be an order. Samuel wasn’t blowing smoke when he had called her death a murder. The file read like the usual cover up, truck lost control, flipped. Vanessa was pinned inside with massive injuries as the truck burned. According to the coroner report, by the time EMS responded there was nothing they could do, she was gone. Her body was recovered but there was little left to identify, the fire having destroyed most of her. As I flipped through the file, I noticed notations in Henry’s hand, question marks about the state of the body. It seemed he was working on investigating by himself. It read like a madman who didn’t believe she was actually dead, even though the DNA claimed otherwise. The notes just kept pointing to the Senate, names I knew, scribbled and crossed off, including my father and Leonas Calder.
I took the file and getting up from my space on the floor, I shoved it into the drawer, retrieving my cell phone from the top of the dresser. I scrolled through it until I found the number I needed. It rang several times before he picked up.
“Yes?”
“Father?”
He cleared his throat. “Now is not a good time boy,” he whispered. Where ever he was, he didn’t want them knowing he was talking to me.
“Maybe not, but we need to have a talk. There are things that require your more delicate touch. Please come.” With that I hung up the phone. I couldn’t bring this to Ryane, not unless I could answer the questions she would have. Like why her father was so obsessed and why my family was on his radar. The rest of the bag, I would give her. It was a connection to her parents, it would distract her so I could look deeper and perhaps find out just why her mother had been targeted by a family with Dragons.
***
THEY WERE DANCING AND play fighting in the yard when I finally came down, having showered, shaved and put on clean clothes. They didn’t notice me right away as I leaned into the patio door frame, the duffle slung over my good shoulder. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have sworn they were the ones in love. The free way they related to each other, joked and spoke was not the relationship I had with either of them. Having watched enough, I decided to make my presence known.
“So this is what you two get up to when I’m asleep?” I pointed to the bonfire. “You just burn what’s handy, do ya?” I teased, walking over to Ryane and kissing her before she could speak. She ran her hands up into my hair and gave me a nibble on my chin as I lifted her and swung her around once before putting her back down.
“Well, it was better than putting it on the street.” She smiled up at me, and I noticed she had the smallest of lines at the creases of those beautiful blues. Happy lines, forever etched into her. Regardless of the pain and misery she had experienced at such a young age, she had found her reasons to smile and gain those little lines. I touched her face, tracing them with my thumbs and kissed her on each eyelid, pulling a sweet little chuckle from her as she grasped my wrists.
“What is it, baby?”
“Nothing, I just realized how much I really do love you.”
“Uh, huh. Just now, by the light of this fire, did you?”
I nodded, watching Sig as he blew on the fire, reminding me of the children’s story of the big bad wolf and the three pigs. I couldn’t imagine him having had anything to do with Vanessa’s death, but it was certainly a family that had a Dragon. Perhaps, if I talked to him, he would know who still had them in the family, but would talking to him lead to Ryane finding out? Was I willing to take that chance? I’d decided it was best to do as I had planned and leave it to my father. Unless I felt it needed, I would keep Sig and Ryane both free of her father’s suspicions.
“Hey Sig?” I called to him and his eyes slid over to me.
“Yeah, Boss? What do you need?”
“My carriage house rebuilt before the end of the break. Think we can manage that?”
He tilted his head left and right, doing the calculations. “Depends on how much money you want to spend and how much you plan on doing yourself verses a contractor. But I don’t see why not.”
“Good. As my First Guard, you will be responsible for getting it underway. I can have some sketches done by the end of the week. I want to start immediately afterward. Is that understood? Get it all done right and your forgiveness is assured.”
“Good to know, I was so worried,” he chided me, blowing a smoke ring.
I let out a laugh with a shake of my head. “You were that confident that I’d let it go?”
“Nope, but I was sure Ryane there would make sure you did. Something tells me that you can’t refuse that little minx.”
I chuckled as she wrapped her arms around my middle, laying her head against my back. “Indeed, I can’t resist whatever it is she’s offering, so long as it’s her world.”