“Once there was a beautiful Were-chameleon. She was running through my forest and making so much noise. I,” I picked up Audrey and she smiled knowing what would happen next, “I swooped down in my big Dragon form and stopped right in front of her.”
Audrey squealed in joy as I made her fly around the room. She wiggled as I started her descent. I knew she wanted to have me fly her higher but I was nervous that she would continue to wiggle and fall out of my grip. She always had me worried. She hadn’t shown any signs of shifting since her first birthday and she was turning five soon.
I set her down.
“Then wha, Dada? Then wha?” She bounced up and down.
“Then I took a deep breath.” I watched as Audrey’s little cheeks filled up with air. “And roared.” Audrey mimicked a growl. She looked up at me with wide bright blue eyes.
“Like that, Dada? Like that?”
I smiled.
“Exactly like that.” We spent the rest of my birthday playing around the house, and I told Audrey the rest of the story of how I met her mother.
Coy had immediately stopped in her tracks when I found her. Her eyes were wide and she was shaking with fear. At first I thought it was me, until I caught the scent of more of her Clan members. She looked back at me, eyes pleading. I don’t know why she was so accepting of seeing a Dragon; we had been “extinct” for over a hundred years.
Instead, she pleaded with me to take her away from there. She said she would find a way to repay me if only I could save her. I was powerless against her. I was totally entranced by her. Audrey didn’t know what day it was but it hurt less to tell her rather than keeping it in. It was the first day in weeks, months even, that my Dragon was quiet. I didn’t want anything to ruin that.
When I put Audrey to bed, I sat in the chair Xavier had fallen asleep in many times while tending to Audrey. At the thought of Xavier my heart felt emptied out. Everything in me felt hollow. But as much as I knew a part of me ached for him, I couldn’t forget what he and the other races had done. Gargoyles, though were supposed to have honor. They were supposed to keep us all safe.
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I was only twenty in human years. I was barely a young adult in my father’s eyes. Though Dragons were on the council, it didn’t make us all the same rank. We were scattered just like all other paranormals. My family was not wealthy. We lived at the bottom; my father was both a con man and a thief. The rumors of Dragons being able to seek out gold were true, of course, though we never confirmed it. My father had a hoard but his Dragon, much like all the Dragons in our line, were greedy hoarders. They never gave, only collected.
My father’s true mate, who was not my mother, had died three years before he met my mother. People whispered that my father’s Dragon was so possessive that one day she accidentally brushed against a man and smiled. My father’s Dragon came out and killed the man and accidentally killed her in the process. Whether it was true or not, I had no idea. He kept a short leash on both me and my mother. That day was different though.
I was a curious child and left the house without telling either of my parents. I flew to a nearby human village where I changed to my human form and pulled on the clothes I had brought with me. I spent the day exploring. I even charmed a few human girls, making them smile at my jokes and antics. As the light started to fade I flew back home.
Before I even landed, heavy chains leapt from the dark ground and wrapped around me. They were enchanted chains that squeezed tighter the more you moved. I started my plummet to the ground. My right shoulder slammed into the unforgiving half-frozen Earth. I roared out in agony, knowing that I had possibly shattered my shoulder bone. My Dragon was young as I was and echoed my pain. Though we were in his form, he always allowed me to be conscious with him and I returned the favor. We were partners. Now though, now neither of us wanted to feel the pain. I tried to raise our wings to shoot them out but the chains gripped us even harder, pressing the wing bones into our scales.
I cried out for our father when I saw them drag our mother out of the house by her hair. I started to take in the people around me. Tall, noble, Gargoyles. A widely respected race. They weren’t the only ones, though; I smelled the magic of Witches and Warlocks. I smelled Weres scattered around. The Witches, Warlocks and Weres made sense. They were our neighbors, friends, and lived in this village with us. Gargoyles though usually stayed in our bigger cities, in the capital. I thought briefly that my father finally pissed off the wrong people. But from the horrid shrieks of my mother I couldn’t focus on that.
I watched in horror as they wrapped a black hellebore necklace around her. The flower itself paralyzed her, most people would have to ingest it for the flower to paralyze, but for paranormal creatures it caused paralysis just by touch. She fell to her knees immediately. Before she fell any farther, two Weres gripped her arms. The Gargoyle who had my mother by the hair earlier stood in front of her now. He looked back at me. I would never forget his black eyes. His hair was a deep brown, but what stuck out the most that night was when his tongue wetted his lips. His lips pulled apart into a stretched smile, revealing his all too white, shining teeth. It was almost too causal of a smile. I couldn’t forget what happened next.
His tail slowly unwrapped from his leg as he pulled it back. The whole thing probably took thirty seconds or less but my mind shut down. I took in how my beautiful mother, who had light brown hair and my bright blue eyes, watched me in horror. Though she couldn’t move anything but her eyes, her body trembled as if she knew. Tears leaked down her cheeks. I watched as the sharp, arrow-pointed edge of the Gargoyle’s tail sliced into my mother’s neck. During the process the Gargoyle nicked the black hellebore necklace and it crumbled apart. My mother’s screams then rent the air.
I hadn’t realized that my own followed until the chain grew around and up my neck, much like a snake slithers. It slid across my scales against the grain, causing friction. The chain tightened all the way up and finally clamped my jaw shut. I watched as the blood poured out, but the Gargoyle wasn’t done. He took a rhenium knife and it winked in the moonlight at me. Rhenium was a rare metal that looked almost like silver but had a distinctive smell. It was also the only metal in the world that could truly harm a Dragon. It wasn’t a metal that we could burn off, and it took our strength away. The neck wound started to regenerate but it’d leave massive scarring.
I could see as her muscles that were torn latched on to the broken pieces trying to grow again. Her eyes were open and I knew she was conscious of what was happening.
The Gargoyle noticed the repairing muscles and sliced through the muscles once again, making her entire body jerk. He straddled her as he looked back at me once more. Another smile twisted his lips. He brought the rhenium knife down and it slide through her thickened hide near her heart. Only a blade of pure rhenium could do that. He continued ripping into her flesh while she moaned, the only sound she could produce. All I could see when I closed my eyes was his smile. Those shining teeth against the dark of the night.
I heard it, the gurgling of her blood as she tried to call out. All that I could smell was her blood. It mixed with the scent of the earth as it soaked up her blood. The Gargoyle scent mixed with her blood as it painted his skin. Her blood. Her blood. Her blood.
٭٭٭
Pulling on my cheeks woke me up. Audrey sat in my lap, her knees pressed into my thighs as she placed her hands on my cheeks, pulling them apart and making me smile an unnatural smile.
“Dada smile!”
I picked Audrey up and rearranged her legs so that she was still in my lap but her knees were no longer pressing into my thighs. She smiled up at me expectedly, I smiled for her. Audrey seemed pleased with my smile and hopped off my lap. She ran off to play while I tried to shake off the memory of my mother’s death. Of her murder.
I thought back to the day that Xavier arrived. If I hadn’t been so out of my mind I would have probably killed him the moment I saw him. But then again I knew that was a lie. I thought to when I saw him; while I wanted to believe that I would have hated him, something about his presence calmed me for only a bit. Nothing could fully penetrate the crushing loss of Coy.
But I knew there was something about Xavier that had helped calm my Dragon, had helped tame him. It seemed so unnatural that he could calm the Dragon when one else could. I sucked in a breath. I had to forget him. I had to let him go in order to move on.
That day I spent most of it with Audrey trying to forget old memories and a Gargoyle.
●●●
Three weeks went by, and now it was Audrey’s birthday. I hadn’t wanted to leave her alone for any amount of time, but I also wanted to get her a gift. I wanted it to be a surprise. I didn’t trust any of the humans nearby us, and I sure as hell knew they couldn’t protect her if they had to. I knew that if I wanted to make this birthday special I would have to do something else. I couldn’t bring myself to leave her alone for long after the incident with one of the Clans being so close to us.
Audrey was asleep when I had last checked on her. There was something I knew I could do for her. She loved when I had changed into my Dragon form and took her on small flights. I had been cautious to do it with her because I didn’t want my Dragon to lose control or hurt her. I didn’t think he would, but he had been unstable. His insults had lessened but I could feel him always at the ready to take over the reins if I gave him any slack.
I started to prepare food to take with us. I hoped that maybe today, maybe if I was in my Dragon form then perhaps she would be inclined to change as well. I was so worried that when we had mixed our races that she would be a little bit of both of us but not enough of either of us to ever shift.
It would seem that it was the case, because most Dragons can shift from the day they are born. I knew that Coy had told me that she was a late bloomer, that she didn’t start shifting until she hit puberty. I didn’t think I was patient enough to wait that long to find out if my daughter would, or wouldn’t. I knew my Dragon wasn’t. He had proof at one point that she had the potential, and he wanted me to force it out of her if it took too long. We were not safe, and he wanted her to be able to protect herself.
When I heard Audrey starting to stir I waited for her in the kitchen. She walked in rubbing her eyes and looking like a miniature of her mother. She was a beautiful little girl and I couldn’t help but be proud of her. She looked up at me with shining blue eyes. I picked her up and held her close.
“Happy Birthday, my little survivor,” I whispered. She wrapped her arms around my neck and tried to hug me closer. I laughed when I felt her start to fall back to sleep in my arms. I started to pull her away.
“Well, little one, if you fall back to sleep we won’t be able to go to the meadow.” Her eyes grew twice as big. I tried to contain my laugh. She knew the meadow meant that I was going to take her flying. I hadn’t done it very much and seeing her eyes light up, I thought it would be a good idea to take her more often.
She ran off to her room, and I listened as she started to rummage through her clothes. I laughed lightly, putting a small plate of food for her together. When she came running back out, she was dressed and ready to go. I smiled at her and looked pointedly at her food. She huffed but went to eat. I went to go grab a bag to keep my clothes in while I shifted.
I came back out into the kitchen to see Audrey dragging the basket that I had generously filled with food across the floor. She didn’t even notice that I was in the room. I watched her and smiled.
When she got it in front of the door she ran to the kitchen again. I waited to see what she was going to grab. She came back shoving food in her mouth and holding more in her hands. When she saw me she held up her hand, palm open offering me the food. I smiled and took the bacon from her and ate it.
“Can we go now, Daddy? Now?” She was bouncing on her toes. I nodded, and took her hand. I threw my bag over my shoulder and picked up the basket of food. We had to head through the woods surrounding our home.
“Yes, little one.”
I had Audrey stay close by, but she had often come out here and played so I knew that she knew her way around. I wasn’t as worried for her here; she always seemed at home in nature. The closer we got to the meadow I felt something drawing me there. I wanted to get there much faster. My Dragon had pushed his way to the front, and I cringed at the intrusion that he hadn’t done in many weeks.
“Audrey.” She was about to cross out of the line of the woods and enter the meadow. I moved to grab her before she could get very far. I didn’t want to alarm her so I placed her on my shoulders and headed out. If it was just a human than it would look like I was taking my daughter for a simple picnic, if it was another paranormal then I would be able to have her in my arms and run fast.
I couldn’t stop the nagging sensation that I had to get out to the clearing sooner. My Dragon was restless and forcing his emotions into me. My blood was rushing with the need to move, my muscles were itching. Holding on tightly onto Audrey, I started to run. She giggled a little at the jostling. I got closer and I smelled it.
Cinnamon and spice.
Him.
Mate.
Xavier.
I pulled Audrey off my shoulders and set her down. When I leaned down to look in her eyes I could see the restlessness there. I knew she was excited for what I had originally planned but things were different now. I stared hard into her eyes. I held the top of her arms watching her closely.
“If I say run, you run back to the house as fast as you can. Don’t look back and don’t stop no matter what.” She hesitated and looked at me in fear. I tried to contain the growl that was building in my throat. My Dragon was dangerously close to the surface, so close to bursting from my skin. “Promise me, Audrey.”
“I promise, Daddy.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak right now. I took her hand and we headed into the clearing. I wasn’t prepared to see him. There were so many things that I was feeling that I was having a hard time trying to situate which was the most dominant. I wanted to feel angry; I wanted to be beyond pissed that he would be standing there like it hadn’t been four years since I had last seen him. Of course I knew it was my fault because I had sent him away. He is ours, and you let him go.
I shook my head trying to dislodge his voice. I wanted to hold onto the anger I felt that day when I found out who he really was. I didn’t want to feel the crawling depression that was filling my heart when I thought about how empty life felt without him. He had filled the hole that Coy left behind, and I didn’t want to admit that I was wrong. That he meant more to me than I ever wanted.
“What do you want?” I asked, hoping my voice sounded strong.
“You know what I want. You have always known.” Xavier sounded so desperate, his eyes trailed over me, and then they looked down at Audrey who was hiding behind my legs. She was so young when he left, I doubted she even remembered him. That only forced me to feel even more regret for what I had done. He was more of a father to her than I was in her first year of life. I looked at him and I saw the hurt in his eyes. He loved Audrey, he loved her as much as I did.
“This isn’t a good time. She only passed away five years ago.” I was more or less saying it for myself. My Dragon was ready to move on, he wanted to move forward. I could feel it in the way that he lusted after Xavier. I, on the other hand felt guilty for falling for another person so quickly after losing Coy. I had been with her for so long. She was my life for so long, how could I so easily trade her for another? Especially when I knew deep down I had killed her.
“And I told you years ago that I just wanted to keep you safe. You don’t have to make this about that. You are in danger here. What happens if the other Clans find you?” Xavier sounded exhausted now. Looking at him, I noticed how disheveled his hair was compared to how he used to always have it perfectly combed. His clothes were wrinkled, and his wings weren’t sitting as high as usual.
You did this to him. You are destroying him just like you destroyed Coy.
“Shut up.” I growled under my breath. He was becoming harder to control. He was becoming unstable.
“Drake?” Xavier stepped closer. I don’t know why, but I let out a vicious growl. Xavier stopped and looked at me. “Dragon?”
My head shot up and I stared at him.
“Gargoyle.” It wasn’t my voice. I hadn’t even realized my Dragon had so much power over me. I didn’t even recognize that he took over. I moved to take the reins when he restrained me. It was like I was chained in my own skin. I had never felt something like this before. Normally when the Dragon took over it was because I couldn’t cope, I couldn’t handle what was happening.
“What happened to you, mate?” Xavier asked, looking cautious now.
“You left.” The Dragon snarled.
“He didn’t want me here. I wouldn’t force myself on him. He needed to come to me.” Xavier’s eyes flashed down to Audrey before making contact with mine, ours again.
“You left.” We roared. He roared. The Dragon couldn’t understand why he would have left us. Xavier broke his heart, his already broken heart. I could feel everything in him now. The Dragon was destroyed after our parents’ death. He hated me for being so weak and not being able to save them. While he had loved Coy on some level, she had given us Audrey and he cared for her. But the way he saw things was so twisted. I had never realized before. We were possessions to him. The greatest jewels.
“I left for him.” Xavier lost control of his voice for a second but he composed himself. I knew he was trying to remain calm since Audrey was still here. She had wrapped her arms around my leg and I could feel her there. I wanted to pick her up and comfort her but I couldn’t even get my Dragon to look at her.
“He never wanted you to leave.” I fought to gain control, the Dragon was becoming unstable. I could feel our skin starting to become too tight. We were on the verge of shifting. If that happened Audrey could be seriously hurt. She was still clinging to my leg. I focused on her little fingers pressing into my leg. I thought of her little face scrunched with worry. The Dragon calmed slightly. He was brimming with rage and it was becoming harder and harder to control him.
He wants to take her away. He wants to take my child away. That’s why he came back. He doesn’t care about us. I couldn’t get the words out of my head. I couldn’t shake the feeling I was right.
I looked at Xavier he was watching me closely but his eyes would flicker to Audrey every so often. I growled, forcing his eyes back on me.
“Has she shifted yet?” Xavier’s voice sounded desperate.
We snapped. All I saw was red. It bled from the corner of my eyes taking over.
“Leave.” I growled. Xavier looked at me.
“Please don’t ask me to do that, please.” Xavier didn’t take his violet eyes off mine.
“Leave.” I roared. Xavier flinched.
“I am begging you, Drake, you need me. And—”
“No. I don’t need you! You want to use me just like the rest of your kind. Liars and murderers.” I turned and swooped Audrey in my arms. I held her tight and started for home. She cried and wiggled but I kept her tight. She wouldn’t leave me. She would never leave me, she was mine. Mine.