Endangered Ch. 06

"No," he simply stated.

Annabel, Claire, and Susan looked befuddled but Petra and Lillian, having had more experience with Being politics quickly connected the dots.

"I'm sorry, Chris. If it helps, I wasn't involved in the decision. At least John objected but the Synod overruled him. I thought it was a terrible idea too, at least to begin with," Michelle apologised.

"That's because it IS a terrible idea," Lillian hissed.

"I won't do it," Chris was adamant, anger rising inside him like billowing smoke. "If this is some sort of petty revenge for what happened with the Synod the other day, they can shove it right up their asses."

"Wait, they want Chris to do it?" Annabel caught up.

"Yes, and you can be sure that it is aimed as a punishment," Lillian said. "If not a round-about death sentence."

"There's just no way I'm agreeing to that. The publicity would ruin all our lives and put us in so much danger it isn't even remotely funny. I'm about to be a father for Christ's sake," Chris' dragon was becoming startlingly unsettled as his mind raced. He was being backed into a corner, choices taken away from him. He couldn't do this, he wasn't strong enough to protect them if this was forced upon him.

Immianthe fluttered out of his bedroom into the dining room just then, stifling a tiny yawn after being awoken by the kerfuffle.

"Master, what's wrong? You're making ripples in the Ether," The sprite murmured.

Chris just grunted in frustration, his mind busy trying to come up with ways to get out of this.

"Sorry, Immi. Look, everyone just calm down and listen to me for a second," Michelle pleaded. "I was worried about it too to begin with and I know it will expose you all to danger, even me. Just think about it though. Chris, you're actually perfect for the role and I'm sure that's what the President was thinking when he put your name forward, not out of malice."

"I don't care if your President is in love with him, it's my job to keep him safe," Lillian smouldered.

"Exactly! Everyone knows it will expose him so he's going to have the best protection money and magic can buy," Michelle countered. "Chris is a dragon, he's young and newly a Being, he's powerful, handsome, and he's already in a healthy relationship with a human. He can relate to regular humans because he was one not so long ago. He's also kind and good-natured. It doesn't get any better than that for this role, you'd have to be blind not to see that."

"Let's put aside the direct danger of all the crazy's out there knowing exactly who and what I am for a minute," Chris muttered dangerously. "You want me to become some sort of poster boy? Our life stories would effectively be turned into entertainment. How are we supposed to live our lives?"

"Chris, don't you see? If you play this right, you'll be able to live your life however you damn well please," Michelle begged.

That caused a long pause.

"What do you mean?" he asked warily.

Michelle looked around the room, trying to judge the level of support she could find, surprised that only Annabel wasn't looking at her distrustfully.

"I meant what I said. Think movie star meets politician. If you use this to your advantage and navigate whatever hurdles come up along the way, you will gain neigh untouchability on both sides of the Revelation. You'll be able to name your price and use this to slingshot yourself into any career or position you can dream of. Yes, everyone will know you and some people might try to target you but there are people out there right now who deal with that every day because with worldwide influence and recognition, comes immense power."

"Not to mention that we'll be doing some good for everyone, Being and Human," Annabel added quietly.

"Have you two lost it?!" Chris exploded. He couldn't help feeling incredulous, surrounded, and betrayed. It showed in his tone. "It's bad enough that Beings want to dice me up to use in spells, you want to put a bulls eye on my forehead for every nut and religious freak out there who I guaran-fucking-tee you will think I'm some sort of devil-spawn once this comes out."

Something about this triggered Michelle. Where had her confident, self-assured dragon gone? The dragon who had stood up to the most powerful conglomerate of Beings on the planet in her defence? It made her so angry. Couldn't he see that sacrifice on the personal level was exactly what it would take to make the Revelation work at all. He was in flight, she needed fight.

"Listen to yourself," she scoffed, not considering the words as they spilled from her mouth. "Buck it up, cowboy! All that shit is going to happen anyway when this comes out. You were what? Going to bury your head in the sand? This is an opportunity. Christ! Who'd have thought a dragon could be such a pussy!"

"Michelle!" Petra warned from across the table as she felt the stirrings of a vast amount of energy coming from the boy.

"No!" Michelle snapped. "He needs to hear this. This was always going to be hard, Chris! Everyone has to give up something to make it work. Think of my colleagues who lost their lives for this. I almost lost mine as well, and instead I was basically committed into slavery! What are you willing to give?!"

There was a solid second of pure silence as everyone held their breath and all eyes turned towards Chris.

Michelle's hand rose to cover her mouth, her mind catching up to her tongue and attempting to stem the flow. What was wrong with her?

The air shimmered around him, sizzling as if sitting above black-top on a summers day. He wasn't conscious of how much energy he was drawing. He felt trapped, backed into a corner and attacked by unseen dangers. His dragon raged, they weren't strong enough to protect their Brood. Not with this shoved upon them, not like this.

A collective gasp broke the silence at the dinner table as he simply disappeared in front of their eyes, a deep, sad growl the only trace he left behind, echoing in the room.

Everyone turned back to Michelle, who shrunk in her chair under the intense and varied emotions she saw in the eyes of the other women. Compassion, rage, sadness, disbelief, and most surprisingly, a delighted twinkle.

The high-pitch melody of the sprite's giggle broke the silence.

"Good work, human," Immianthe squeaked as she fluttered her wings in preparation to follow her master. "Silly dragon, he needed that. Fear not sisters, I will go to him!"

***