Endangered Ch. 04

This one seemed to be particularly potent though, dragons were usually Class 2, especially the young ones. Perhaps it was his unique aspect? Michael could feel his saliva thicken in instinctual anticipation; just the smell of the dragon was a test. He usually didn't feed from men, it was an intimate act after all, but he knew he'd make this exception in the blink of an eye.

"Well," Michael continued, thinking to end the meeting before he became too infatuated. "This is mostly just a formality. I understand you have an appointment in Scotland with Lord Guthrie. I have a car fuelled and waiting for you. I can understand there are always some security concerns around dragons these days, would you like an escort?"

"No, thank you," Lillian said. "I feel anonymity is our best protection at the moment."

"Very well. Then it was a delight to meet you, Christopher, Susan. Lillian, you'll call me if there's anything you need."

Harcot noted that Lillian didn't trust him enough to accept his help. It was probably prudent, he had no doubt she had her job cut out for her trying to protect the dragon. There were plenty who would pay fortunes to have a captive male. It seemed almost foolhardy that she alone had been entrusted the task.

"It was nice to meet you," Chris said with decent American politeness. "If I ever need a change of scenery, I'll remember your offer."

"Delighted." Harcot's smile showed even more of his fangs this time. "Now, you'd better be off, it's at least a seven hour drive to Crieff."

Michael was almost anxious to have them leave now. Once they were out of the room he flashed over to his desk and dialled in a blur.

"Yes," he said down the line. "Get Mary over here. No. Right now!"

He hung up and slumped into his chair a little. His favorite familiar would arrive shortly to assuage his thirst.

***

Sitting in what his body felt should be the driver's seat, Chris was unsettled to begin with. That and they were on the wrong side of the road! However, once he saw how narrow the streets Lillian seemed to glide the late model BMW through with ease were, he was glad he was just along for the ride.

For a while, he stared out the UV shielded window, watching one of the world's great cites flow by. However, after they got onto the highway, he and Susan began reminiscing about car trips they'd taken when he was younger. Soon enough, they broke into their favorite driving game, twenty questions. Lillian even joined in sometimes, usually poaching the answer right out from under Chris's nose with a fiendish giggle. Chris was suitably indignant, but the vampire had such a beautiful smile and seemed to genuinely be having fun; it was too disarming.

The drive so far had been uneventful, but Lillian was alert and anxious. Now they were barely half an hour from their destination, speeding through the deserted Scottish countryside. The car had long ago grown quiet, as the hours passed. Something felt off, like they were being tracked somehow.

It was overcast, thinking about raining, and they hadn't seen another car since turning onto the single-lane road. Lillian realized her mistake as a blue car came speeding into view behind them over a small rise, she should have stayed on the main roads in the public eye.

"We're about to get hit." She slammed her foot on the gas, making the powerful engine roar and startling Chris from his daydream.

"What?! Are you sure?" Chris exclaimed, turning to see the car gaining quickly. "What do we do?"

"We keep driving."

Lillian tried to remain calm. Looking in the mirror she could see at least three people in the car. She didn't know if she could safely target the car with her telekinetic powers; it was large and had so much momentum.

"There's someone trying to kill the engine!" Susan said from the back, feeling the foreign magic around them. "I'll try to distract him."

She focused her own energy around the car, erecting a weak barrier. This really wasn't her thing and she soon realized she couldn't hold out for long. The wizard she was up against was far more powerful.

Just then gunfire raked the back windshield, showering glass over Susan as bullets whizzed through the cabin and out through the front. Susan screamed, loosing hold of her concentration and Lillian felt the car gradually start losing power.

"Stay down!" Chris shouted as Susan started to sit up again, scratched from the shower of glass but mostly just shaken.

Flaming adrenaline blasted through his arteries as his dragon roared in absolute rage. He could already feel his wings growing, his scales rapidly snaking down his back and across his chest, his muscles bulging slightly. Looking back he saw a man readying another volley of gunfire from the backseat window.

"Fuck that!" he shouted before his dragon took over, instinct guiding him to rip and tear his enemies.

From the driver's seat, trying to keep the dying car on the road whilst watching their pursuers in the rear view, Lillian heard him shout just before he vanished into thin air.

"Chris, get back here!"

In the Ether, Chris flapped his untried wings with all his strength, jumping up off the floor as he thrust down. His body phased straight through the roof, rising a few meters into the shadowy purple world before he flapped again, gaining more height. He didn't even think about his actions, just let the rage guide him. They were attacking him, putting Susan and Lillian in danger. They would die for it.

As he rose into the Ether, he slowed, the pursuing car was almost underneath him so with an inhuman shriek, he merged back into the Norm; tucking his wings in, he dove straight for its roof, impacting it a crash as it dented and the back windshield shattered in return.

Glancing at the mirror, Lillian saw the trailing car swerve sharply before regaining control.

"Holy shit," she managed, as she caught glimpses the devastation being unleashed by the vengeful dragon on top of the hapless car.

"Chris? Where's Chris?!" Susan panicked from the back as she noticed her son was missing.

"He's about to kill them."

Lillian tried to drive and watch the action behind as well. There were flashes from inside the car, gunfire through the roof. Susan turned her body, clutching the headrest, to see Chris recoil, a bullet grazing off the tiny scales on his arm and travelling up through his right wing's flight membrane. The purple figure reared back, his furious howl reaching their ears. Suddenly a bright purple orb grew in his hand, spluttering and casting the roadside trees in otherworldly shadow as they sped past. Susan watched in awe as he slammed the blinding purple ball down through the roof, melting a hole.

Chris pushed off the car, once again taking flight to soar a little behind the erratic chase vehicle. His injured wing pained him, the wind stretching the punctured membrane, but he paid it no mind, he was unstoppable. Inside there was a brief panic as the orb hovered for a second, pulsing ominously. The mage managed to erect a barrier before the blast hit, shredding the three other occupants with magical shrapnel. Without a living driver, the car quickly left the road, plowing through the low vegetation until it impacted a larger tree with a satisfying crunch, followed by the ticking of cooling metal.

"Stop! Stop! Go back," Susan urged, seeing the brilliant flash of purple light, shards of purple exploding outwards, splintering into the air and vanishing as the car swerved off the road.

Lillian, in complete control of the car again quickly slowed, skidding onto the slick verge as she made herself invisible and leapt from the car into the light rain, sprinting back up the road. Susan brushed glass off herself quickly and ran after her, desperate to make sure Chris was okay.

Lillian arrived to see the dragon ripping the passenger door off, yanking a barely conscious mage out as he tore through the seatbelt. His shield hadn't saved him entirely; having been disintegrated in the blast, he'd felt the full impact of the crash.

"Who sent you!" the dragon yelled, barely an inch away from the man he held so easily by the neck.

The man mumbled something unintelligible before trying again. It almost sounded like he said "no choice."

"What was that?!" the dragon bellowed, loosening his hold.

"I said fuck yourself," the mage gurgled.

Before he knew he'd done it, the man's neck broke with a sickening crack. He let the body fall, slumping limply into mud by the wrecked car.

Lillian's invisible face broke into a wry smile, it seemed the dragon had plenty of backbone when he needed it.

Susan panted as she arrived, watching the body fall and Chris take a startled step back, realising what he'd just done.

Lillian rushed forward to examine the car and its dead occupants as Chris took in his surroundings. The inside was a mess, blood mist still thick in the air where the shrapnel had hit the three men's bodies. She sniffed, smelling the mage and a Werewolf, but surprisingly two humans as well.

Ignoring the blood - she didn't want to drink from these degenerates anyway - she rummaged their ripped corpses, pulling out IDs. Checking for familiar tattoos on the humans, she found none. She even stripped one naked, slicing through his clothes with her extended black claws, but found nothing other than an armed forces tattoo at his shoulder.

Something was wrong. They had government ID booklets, as well as military issue pistols, not to mention the sub machinegun lying spent in the back. These men weren't registered familiars; they were humans, government humans. So what the Hell were they doing attacking a dragon with a mage and a werewolf driver? Was someone using unregistered familiars inside the government as their own personal army?

She quickly got out her phone and started videoing everything: the car, the men, the ID's, the weapons, reciting her observations as she went. She even went over to video Chris, taking in his bruised bullet graze and wing puncture. His blood was hard to resist out in the open but the light rain helped and she was focused on her job. Besides, they needed to get out of here fast.

"Are you ok?" Susan asked tentatively, reaching out but afraid to actually touch her son. If she was honest, after witnessing what he was capable of, she was terrified.

He turned and saw how worried she was, shivering there in her t-shirt as a light drizzle fell.

"I'm fine, Mom." Chris assured her, collecting her in his arms he held her close as Lillian wrapped up her examination.

Susan, still shivering, clung to his warmth as her adrenaline high died, leaving her feeling weak and tired and a little sick. He extended his wings again, wincing a little as the bullet hole was stretched. But then he wrapped them down and around, making a little shield for her. The droplets of water pattered against it lightly.

"Who were they?" Chris asked.

Lillian spoke as she worked to get various close ups of the men's marred faces. "These humans may be unregistered familiars, but are definitely government security. MI6 or whatever backroom agency they come up with every other month. The Werewolf I have no idea, and we'll never get anything out of the mage now."

"Sorry," Chris said gravely. "Perhaps I shouldn't have killed him. I didn't mean to really."

"No, we don't have time to drag him along. The humans are the important part anyway, I can't think of any reason they would be here. It's really illegal to have unregistered familiars and these guys were obviously aware of us."

Lillian rolled one of them over onto his back to video him. Half of his face was missing, shaved clean off by several shards of Ether. "You certainly did a number on them."

Even Lillian was astounded at the gruesome destruction in front of her. The car hadn't fared any better than the men, peppered with jagged tears and holes, metal hadn't been a barrier to the purple shards.

"I kind of went nuts, huh? Fuck, I don't even understand half of the shit I did."

Chris was worried that he seemed to have a complete lack of empathy towards the men. He'd just killed four people and at the moment it seemed to matter less than the fact that Susan was cold and shivering. Perhaps he was a sociopath, or maybe he was just in shock.

"You did well, Chris." Lillian stopped to reassure him. "You defended yourself and us, possibly even saved our lives."

"I killed four men, Lillian." Chris's voice raised more than he intended. "And I'm finding it hard to care. That's not normal!"

"Why should you care?" Lillian snapped back, frustrated with the dragon's instincts constantly at odds with the kid's perception of his world. "We don't have time for a little meltdown. This is the ugly side of our world, the kill or be killed side. You can come to terms with that when we aren't still in danger out in the open!"

The expression on his face made her regret the harsh outburst. It really was a pity he couldn't remain as he'd started: normal and nice and innocent.

She softened her voice, but maintained her point firmly. "You were attacked. It's their fault they underestimated you, not yours. Would it make you feel better if they'd succeeded? If Susan or I was killed?"

"No," he mumbled.

"That's what I thought. Now, get your mother back in the car, we need to go."

Lillian was almost done, just doing a final check to make sure there was no obvious evidence of magic on the bodies.

Chris steered Susan back down the road, holding her close with his uninjured left arm. Thankfully no other cars passed by, or they would have seen a large, purple dragon-man tenderly guiding an attractive woman into the back of a shot-up car. He laid himself on the back seat, hopefully out of sight, and had Susan lie on top of him, safe from the broken glass underneath him before shutting the door. It was cramped and awkward for his large body but they didn't have far to go.

"Don't you ever do that again," Susan said from her perch on his chest, looking down into his reptilian eyes and thumping him weakly with her fist. Her clothes were wet and cold but his body was warm against hers and he held her tightly despite her scolding. "You had no idea who was in that car or what they were capable of. Lillian's here for a reason, that's her job."

"They were about to shoot at us again Mom, I couldn't risk that." Chris ran his hands up and down her back soothingly. "I'll always defend us, it's my nature to protect."

"That's stupid," Susan sniffed. "You could have died!"

"Shhhh, we're fine," he consoled, leaning up to kiss her lightly. She eventually calmed, snuggling into his cream coloured neck as she shook quietly, outraged at the world for being so violent.

Lillian was soon back in the car and they sped off. To anyone who looked twice, the bullet-ridden car had no occupants whatsoever. She dialled as she drove, only waiting a few seconds before the drow answered her emergency number.

"We've been attacked on our way to the dragons," Lillian began without preamble. "A wizard and a werewolf as well as what I'm assuming were two unregistered familiars."

"You, neutralized them?" Reyla said calmly, although her heart raced slightly. She assumed correctly that she wouldn't be receiving the phone call if the situation wasn't resolved.

"He did," Lillian looked back towards the dragon, comforting his mother in the back seat. "It was all over in just a few seconds."

"How?"

"The dragon surfaced and he phased and flew onto the car chasing us, then let off some sort of explosion inside it. It was magnificent."

Reyla mulled this information over for a few seconds. So he was an instinctual fighter, she'd suspected as much. Again, she considered her luck to have him land so fortuitously in her lap.

"If you're in the clear for now, try to make it to the dragons. They'll provide safe haven overnight but I want you back here tomorrow. Try to be unpredictable in your movements. Unregistered familiars, the Synod is going to have a field day. This stinks of bounty hunters, I never should have let him leave my territory."

"Okay, I'll send you the evidence I collected soon. Get someone to start looking into the humans."

"Keep him safe, Lillian." Reyla's voice had a sharp edge that even managed to be transmit across thousands of miles.

Lillian hung up, knowing nothing more needed to be said for the moment. She would protect the dragon, with her life if necessary, she didn't need to be told that.

She began uploading the video and photos to Reyla, her inhuman speed and dexterity came in handy now as she multitasked, speeding down the wet, narrow roads.

Lord Harcot seemed genuinely surprised by the attack when she called him. Lillian was inclined to think he wasn't behind it however, you could never quite tell over the phone. Harcot would arrange for a cleanup, it would be hours until the crew arrived so they would have to work to mislead whatever investigation the human authorities started. She kept the evidence she'd collected to herself, their IDs, a small sample of each of their blood, the memory of their scent, and the video recording. She would get to the bottom of this herself if needs be.

Examining the scene in her mind again, it was impossible to place the two humans. There was absolutely no way they could be there. They must have known the Secret, yet they weren't familiars, not registered at least. It didn't make sense, the play was especially foul. The vampire also realized she might have been in trouble if the dragon hadn't stepped in. The mage was quite powerful, had been carrying vials of death's bane potion, and the Werewolf had a wooden stake strapped to his thigh. They'd been prepared to fight a vampire. In combination with automatic gunfire from the humans, it would have been an interesting fight.

Speaking of fights, there was no doubt in her mind now that the dragon could. Perhaps he lacked a little finesse but he certainly made up for it with style and brute force, not to mention that fucking Ether grenade he'd set off. She'd never heard of anything like that before.

They drove as fast as safely possible. It was more important now to distance themselves and reach the safety of Lord Guthrie's property than to not be noticed. Susan was very cold in the back as freezing air streamed through the broken windows. Chris tried to keep her warm, holding her between the back of the seat and his body but she shivered miserably in her damp clothes.

Soon enough they pulled up to the wrought iron gates and Lillian got out to use the intercom.

"Lord Guthrie, this is Lillian Kozlov, we've been attacked on our way here. Please let us in immediately." She looked around nervously but didn't have to wait long for a reply.

"Good heavens! Of course," the gates clicked and began rolling open. "Drive all the way to the end of the road, you'll be safe here."

Another five minute drive through low woodland had them outside a large, surprisingly modern house. A middle aged man and woman came rushing out, and another woman waited by the door. Extracting himself from the car, Chris sensed the two dragons for what they were: kin. The female took her mate's hand and beckoned Chris forward reassuringly. Standing up to his full height, he strode forward with Susan still under his arm as the light rain continued.

Their meeting was somewhat tense, the young dragon and the older couple examining each other for a few moments. Lord Guthrie could tell the youngling was on edge. From the state of the car and the healing bullet hole in his wing, their attack had been quite traumatic. His half-form was magnificent, however; the epitome of a dragon male and his coloring was indeed that of the Ether.

"Hello, Christopher, I'm John Guthrie." He spoke with a thick Scottish brogue and carried himself as a Lord might, even as he had to tilt his chin up to meet Chris's eyes. He was short, wiry, and tough looking but his peppered brown hair gave him an air of sophisticated middle-age even though Chris knew he was ancient. His blue gaze felt piercing and yet somehow calming, it felt like he was meeting long lost family.