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I POUNDED ON THE MANOR doors having landed at the entrance without sounding any alarms. Neither Keegan nor Ryane was taking any of my calls, which was strange, especially for Ryane. Her phone never went straight to voicemail, ever. I was growing concerned when the door swung open and I was confronted by Gage, Dodge and Jarod. Gage looked like he had been worked over.
“I need to see Keegan,” I demanded as my wings receded.
“That would be impossible at this juncture, Dragon.” The way Jarod called me Dragon made it sound dirty and pissed me right the fuck off.
“Unless you want me to actually burn this place down around your fucking head, I suggest you get right the fuck out of my way, Vampire,” I hissed, smoke trailing out from my mouth as I summoned up a small flame, letting it dance across my teeth.
Dodge grabbed Jarod by the arm, pulling him from the space between the doorway and I. Gage was too exhausted looking to put up a fight. I went to the pup, concerned. “What have they done to you?”
“Grabbed me outside of the Pepper Pot, said they needed my venom for the Bossman and Ryane. Said the Half-breed stuff would be safer than the full Were-dose would have been. They got her upstairs and him in the basement. They ain’t doing so hot. I can hear them both. She’s crying and he was screaming.”
I put my hand on his holder to steady him and he nuzzled into me slightly. Poor guy really did need more personal contact than I could give him at that moment. I ruffled his hair and gave him my coat as he had none.
“Go, I’ll be okay,” he assured me as I headed up the stairs. I called out for her, trying to raise my voice loud enough that she could hear me through the thickest of walls. Finally, I heard a muffled outcry.
“Sig?”
I heard a metal scrape and then saw along the floor, a hand. It was thin and the nails jagged and broken. “Are you okay?”
She sucked in air through her teeth. “No, but you shouldn’t be here, you’re gonna get hurt. It’s been two days and I’m already climbing the walls. You smell good to me right now... I’m liable to do something stupid.”
“I can’t leave you in there, it’s not right, you- I need my buddy, there’s so much shit going on...”
“Then you have to suck it up.” Her voice was wavering. “This synthetic is really strong; I need to sleep again. Oh, I feel all loopy.” I heard a crash. “Sig!” She fell over, laughing hysterically. I didn’t stay to catch her falling all over herself as she started to strip, I had some respect for the girl, after all.
“I’ll be back for you.”
“Don’t, Sig, I need to dry out. It’s imporntant- Imprnt- It’s crucial that I do this. Do you get me? You are to leave me here, no matter what!”
Her command skewered me, and I felt the compulsion to do as she asked. I didn’t like the feeling of being told what to do. Suddenly, the fact that I had allowed this power to be used for my own gains on more than one occasion occurred to me and I was ashamed.
As I got up off the floor I was confronted by the King himself. He stood in the hallway, blocking my way with his massive arms crossed as though he had been there all along.
“Siegfried, nice of you to finally join us. Where is the other young Dragonborn?”
“She is not with me. Why the sudden interest?” I crackled electricity along my fingertips, I trusted Herlihy about as far as I could toss him, and seeing as he had about three inches and a hundred and fifty pounds on me, it wasn’t far. At least not in this form. My Dragon, on the other hand, could fling him from one end of town to the other without breaking a sweat, but we took the median on trust.
“Aella is a special girl, comes from a special family.”
“You know more about what’s going than you are telling us, don’t you?”
“That is how it is, boy, someone always knows, but I cannot tell you, your fates are yours to choose. If I were to lay it out, you may choose another path, a different path than the one you should and that would be disastrous for us all. I am just here to see that my boy is safe and makes it to his seat in the Senate in one piece. We are pushing him to remember what he can of his captivity from months ago. It’s strenuous, but it will happen. You must let us work.”
He stepped toward me and I didn’t move. I listened as he spoke, he couldn’t command me, although he did try. It sent a tingle into me, but my anger at him was so deep that the bond was weakened. I wasn’t sure if Keegan could command me at this point, or if I would simply serve him out of respect and loyalty, not out of our bond. Having never been officially branded by Keegan, my fealty was always something of an up in the air question. Something he often asked if he still had. As of now, I felt it toward him, even as angry as I was, even as I blamed him for all of the fucked up things that were going on, but what was this other loyalty I was feeling? This rip in my soul? I was being torn in so many directions at once. Toward Aella, then Martine and Greisen, away from Keegan and Ryane. Back toward Ferdinand, who calls himself Alewar...
Do I hold myself to my words or to my flesh and blood, even if that blood does not recognize me?
“You are troubled boy; I can see it in those brilliant eyes. Come, while I may not allow you to see your Master, perhaps I can be of some use to you in another fashion?” Herlihy put out his hand, leading me downstairs toward his parlor. “Perhaps a drink to settle those scales back under the skin?”
I looked at myself, I was flustered alright, my sails were in full form and my scales were all along my arms and throat. Even my face felt thick with them. I nodded, following him silently.
***
IT TOOK FOUR DOUBLE vodkas to calm my body down and settle my scales back beneath my skin. My weapon still itched to be pulled but I could ignore that. It always itched to be pulled, just as my Dragon always itched to come forth. It was another reason I liked to stay bound. I was missing my tape at this moment, my body craved its confinement like air. I hugged myself in its absence. “What do you know of the Dragon mythos?” I asked Herlihy as he sat watching me carefully, studying me almost like a specimen in a jar.
“Very little, I’m afraid. Your kind tends to keep everything very close to the chest. I know the laws and the regulations in place that need to be lifted, but that is about it.”
I nodded, “Yes, well, I’m not here to argue the politics of my oppression. At least not today. Have you ever heard of a Phoenix?”
“Sure, a rare firebird said to be immortal, that when destroyed rises from its own ashes time and again. Pure myth from what I understand, no one has ever actually seen one.”
I took another shot with a short chuckle. “There is an origin story to it that is steeped in the Dragon Mythos, it’s sorta like our version of the afterlife, if we had one. They say that for some Dragons, those who die before their times, who have lost loves and whose souls are connected to this earth, are still full of life and never truly die. That they can be resurrected, brought back, reconnected to those life lines that once sustained them. That they rise again and again in an attempt to find their soul mate once more. They change from Mighty Dragon to the all-consuming Firebird because their passions burn hotter than the Dragon’s greed and envious natures. This is how the Phoenix is born.”
“It’s an interesting tale.” He nodded, swishing his drink. “Why is it pertinent?”
“I had a brother, many years ago, who was bonded to a Pureblood. Long story short, she died, and he soon followed. Well, I saw him tonight, with wings of flames.”
Herlihy sucked in air through his teeth. “That is something, and you believe this really was your brother?”
“I know it was, it is. I know my flesh and blood.”
“Are you so sure about that?” He raised an eye at me.
I stuttered, thinking about Greisen. “There are some things you may never truly know, but when you share as much as Ferdinand and I did, believe me when I tell you I know him.”
Herlihy stood up. “What will you be doing about it and about your boy.”
“My- My Lord, you invade private space.”
“I do what must be done in my home to protect what’s mine.”
“Then let me say that I will do what I must to do the same.”
I thought you might say that.” He reached into his pocket. “If you go to Boston, to the Hunter’s Association, ask to speak with Hans Broadchurch. He can give you some insight. Perhaps more than I am willing to, on some things, he was a friend to Samuel as well as the Archibald Family.”
“Archibald? Wasn’t that Ryane’s mother’s maiden name?”
“Yes, indeed it was.”