Author’s Note: Here’s hoping this release doesn’t get delayed like last time – when I uploaded the first part of the rewrite (which basically just changed Amtheryn’s motivations), a moderator blocked it because of the non-consensual content, which hadn’t been changed. Fingers crossed that this doesn’t get similarly delayed.
Amtheryn awoke several hours later, in the middle of the night, to Skylar beating against his belly, screaming in rage. Growling softly in annoyance at his interrupted rest, Amtheryn moved his wing and lifted his head, looking down at the half-naked, angry girl. She put her hands on her hips, defiant despite the scent of fear that practically rolled off her. Amtheryn carefully stood, changing back into his Human-like form. Skylar stalked towards him, thunderous anger sketched across her face, and she slapped him as hard as she could across his face. While the blow hardly moved him, Amtheryn recognized the intent behind it.
Before Skylar could strike him again, or pull her hand away, Amtheryn reached out, snagged her wrist, and roughly pulled her to him, his other hand closing around her throat. The girl tensed, her own free hand flashing up to his wrist, eyes wide as she realized the danger a Dragon – even in Human form – posed.
“Thou wouldst do well to remember thy place, little Human,” Amtheryn growled.
Anger flashed again in Skylar’s eyes, and she started to beat on his arm with a fist. “My place is at home!” she shouted, “with mom and dad! It’s at school this fall, and on the swim team! I’m not going to roll over and be the fuck slave for a goddamned dragon!”
He snarled, lifting her off the ground. “Thou art mine!” he hissed, squeezing her neck dangerously. “My mated Human, my prized treasure! Do I need to teach that to thee again?”
Skylar’s eyes went wide, fear mixing with her anger, but at the same time, her nipples hardened, her clitoris shucked its hood, and the walls of her sex became slick. Amtheryn huffed a small laugh at her reaction. “Thy body seems to understand,” he remarked, then dropped her, pushing the girl to the ground and lifting her legs up as he knelt between her thighs, his member thick and hard again.
Skylar gasped, opening her mouth to reply, but was brought up short when the Dragon sheathed his cock inside her with one forceful thrust, her protests replaced with a cry of pleasure as she arched under him, her eyes squeezing closed at the pleasure. Once he was fully within her, Amtheryn kept still, allowing his cock to pulse and flex inside his treasure. Taking a deep, ragged breath, Skylar opened her eyes and glared at him. “Y-you did something to me,” she accused, her voice cracking and hiccuping as his cock twitched inside her. “You… put something inside me when you bit me, you fucker!”
Amtheryn purred in pleasure, rocking back slightly, an inch or so of his cock emerging from the tight, warm confines of Skylar’s pussy before he slammed back in, drawing a gasp from the girl. He leaned in, appreciative of her flexibility, and nuzzled her neck, enjoying the way she writhed and tensed against him. He softly nipped her neck, then suckled her earlobe for a moment. “Mating venom,” he quietly confirmed, rocking back and thrusting again, this time producing a whine from Skylar. “It marks thee as mine, imprinting all of me on thy senses.” Another languid, powerful thrust, a drawn-out moan of pleasure answering. “It also prepares thee to be mine – to become the mate of a Dragon.” Another small rock, answered by a small orgasm, Skylar tightening beautifully around the Dragon’s cock, her voice shaking as she let out a squeal. “Few beings can be claimed by one of my kind without the aid of such venom. Even now, with what little thou have within thine body, were I to rut, to truly mate thee, thou wouldst surely break from the strain, for breeding thou wouldst take many hours, possibly days.” He thrust again just as Skylar began to come down from her first orgasm, gently sinking his fangs into her neck and injecting a tiny amount of venom, sending her into another climax, her body shaking as she arched against him, whimpering. Her arms and legs wrapped around his powerful frame, holding on tightly, her fingernails digging into his back.
Amtheryn extracted his fangs from her neck, gently laving the marks on her neck. He kept still inside her, allowing her to recover for a brief moment. “B-Breed?” Skylar finally asked, before gasping in ecstasy as Amtheryn ploughed her soaked sex again.
The Dragon hummed confirmation, a note of eagerness in his voice. “Yes,” he hissed. “I cannot wait for the time that the venom has taken full root within thy body; for the time that it wouldst be safe to breed thee.” A low, soft sound – almost a growl, almost a purr – rumbled in his chest as he imagined it. “A child of our loins would be a magnificent creature indeed.”
Skylar managed to glare at Amtheryn for an instant before a long withdrawal of his cock caused tremors throughout her body. After the return, another sharp thrust, she managed to whimper, “Taken root… you mean… y-you changed me e-even more than just m-maki-ing me horny?”
Amtheryn chuckled, leaning down and nuzzling her ear again. “Wert thou not able to see me clearly when thou didst awaken, despite my wing blocking the light of the stars and moon above from thine eyes? Wert thou not kept warm despite the cool of the night, despite the state of thy clothing?”
Skylar’s eyes popped open with a gasp, though they closed quickly as Amtheryn began to steadily thrust in and out. “D-damn you,” she groaned, “I h-hate you! You – unf! – you took me away… awa… ahhhh… from every… thing I knew and… ahh… changed me into…” she screamed in frustration, weakly beating his arms before arching and giving a different kind of scream as his finger found her painfully erect clit and roughly massaged it. As she came down from her orgasm, tears were soaking her cheeks, and she shook her head. “I’m not your fucktoy!” she shouted.
“No,” Amtheryn agreed. “Thou art my treasure, my priceless possession, my beautiful consort.”
Skylar tensed at that, becoming stiff and surprisingly unresponsive to Amtheryn’s gentle rocking. Then she suddenly went lax, and opened her eyes slightly, tears still flooding her vision. “Please stop,” she whispered.
The dragon’s first instinct was to take the request as defiance, and punish her with more pleasure. But something in her tone, her expression, her limpness made him reconsider. After a long, tense moment, he slowly withdrew from her wet confines.
The girl let out a shuddering breath, then rolled onto her side, curling up slightly. Amtheryn simply watched her, his head slightly canted. “Is that all I am to you?” She eventually whispered. “Just another trinket, an object, only worth whatever pleasure you can get from me?”
Amtheryn frowned, confusion settling across his expression. “Thou art not simply a trinket to be hoarded,” he said. “I would not keep thee with mine other treasures, beautiful as they and thee are. Thou art far more precious – though I canst sayeth the reason, for I know it not. Thy mere presence in my lair brings me great pleasure, for my lair and my life are much improved by thine addition. Possessing thee is as possessing perfection.”
Skylar curled up even more. “But I’m not a thing,” she said, her voice shaking. “I’m not a prize to be claimed, an object to be owned. I’m a person, Amtheryn, but you treat me like a pet, or a prize. Don’t you understand that I have things I want to do, dreams to fulfill?”
“Canst thou not do those things, fulfill thy dreams and be my consort as well? Can I not possess thee and have thee be happy?”
“Not if I can’t leave. Not if I don’t have a say in anything.” She looked up, and Amtheryn was surprised by the anger, the hate in her tear-reddened eyes. “Not if I’m nothing more than a toy, a possession for you to do with as you see fit, my consent not needed.”
The two were silent for a moment. Then, “Thou speakest much of ‘consent.’ It meaneth agreement, permission, acceptance, yes? Yet thou refusest to provide these things, and thus thou art unhappy. Why doth thou not simply ‘consent’ to what I propose?”
“Because I don’t want what you propose!” Skylar snapped, her voice rising in anger. Then she took a deep breath. After a moment, she slowly sat up and faced Amtheryn, her legs crossed. “Imagine,” she said in a softer voice, “that another dragon, a bigger, stronger dragon, came and told you it wanted your treasures. You couldn’t fight it off, and it refused to negotiate, to try and compromise. So, since you were weak and it was strong, it came in, took all your treasures, and as it was leaving, told you to just accept how things were. How would you feel?”
Amtheryn snarled. “Enraged.”
“Why?”
“My treasures belong to me. It hath no right to take what I collected!”
“Exactly! And like that dragon would have no right to steal your treasures, you have no right to steal my personhood, my autonomy. Don’t you see that?”
The snarl on Amtheryn’s face slowly faded, replaced by a thoughtful look. “Thou dost not enjoy being here? Thou dost not enjoy mine attentions?”
Skylar blushed. “I-I… Amtheryn, it felt really good, yes – the parts after the start; you’re really big and I’m… I was a virgin; so that hurt. A lot. But as physically pleasurable as… receiving your ‘attentions’ is, it still hurts, emotionally, that you do it without caring about my freedom, my happiness. If I could take it all back and make it so you never touched me, I would. You raped me, Amtheryn. There really isn’t anything worse than that, other than death, and even that is debatable. All that pleasure is nothing compared to the fear and pain you caused me, the freedom you stole from me. Do you understand that?”
The dragon was silent for a minute, his gaze unfocused. Eventually, he met Skylar’s eyes. “I think I do. Is there a way to fix this?”
The girl sighed deeply. “It depends on what you mean by ‘fix.’ I… I’m not sure I could ever agree to what you want, Amtheryn. I can’t just be your pretty little treasure, staying here with your gold and jewels or whatever it is you hoard, waiting around until you feel like fucking me. I’m a person; I want to go home, see my parents, my friends again. I want to graduate from high school, go to college, get a degree. I want to go to state, or even nationals with the swim team. So if you mean ‘fix’ by finding a way to make me okay with being only your treasure, your possession, then no. There’s no way to fix this with that outcome. But I could maybe forgive you for all this if you… if you let me go. If you stopped trying to claim me. I might – might – find it in myself to forgive you if you left my life and never came back.”
“I can never have thee with thy consent?”
Skylar looked away with a tone of concern on her face, then took a deep breath before looking back at the dragon. “Probably not. The past day has been the worst of my life, Amtheryn. And you caused it. Maybe, sometime in the future, I could forgive you for what you did. You are really young, and it’s clear that you do care, if in a… well, a sort of fucked-up way. There’s a tiny, minuscule chance that I could fall for you, if the past 5 minutes are what you’re really like: someone who’s willing to listen, to try and understand, to treat me like an equal. If you could honestly repent your… your evil actions today, truly realize what you did. But it’s not likely. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forgive you.”
Another long minute of silence passed before Amtheryn stood. “I must think upon what thou hast said,” he murmured. Without waiting for a response, he walked away, transforming before he reached the shore of the island, and with a powerful driving of his wings, flung himself into the air. He flew without direction, his mind consumed by turmoil.
He wanted his treasure, his Skylar, to be his, to stay with him and belong to him alone. And while initially he hadn’t considered her as a person but an item, the past day had slowly changed that perspective. It was when she had asked how he would feel to have his treasures stolen from him that truly made it clear to him, that had gifted – and cursed – him with empathy for another life. As he flew through the dark, cold sky, he imagined how he would feel in her place, stolen and mated with without his consent. The shudder that was his response threatened to send him plummeting from the sky for a moment, and even once he stabilized, his heart felt as though it had fallen away from him.
Understanding what he had to do, Amtheryn turned his attention outwards, and was surprised to find that he was approaching his lair, having come about unconsciously as his mind had tilted inexorably towards the conclusion he had arrived at.
Tucking his wings, the dragon plummeted towards the earth, knifing into the water of the lake. A roar, one of heartbreak and rage and regret, erupted from his powerful maw, and was followed by a blaze of violet flame, boiling the water around him. What the physical pain of his first transformation had not done, the emotional anguish of his realization had.
Turning towards the surface, Amtheryn emerged from the lake, transforming as he left the water. Skylar stood as he approached, her face colored with startlement.
Amtheryn stopped several feet away from her, unable to meet her gaze as he looked at the ground for a long moment before closing his eyes. “I will return thee to where I stole thee from… and shall not invade thy life again.”
Skylar’s lips parted in surprise, then she smiled sadly at the dragon. “Thank you, Amtheryn.” She paused, a hesitant look on her face. “Just… when you take me back, could you maybe not hold me in your talon? Or fly so high? It was really cold last time.”
“Thy blood, infused by my venom, will keep thee warm. However, should thee wish it, thou mayest ride upon my back.”
“You, er… you don’t mind? I would’ve thought you’d hate to be ridden…”
A small growl slipped through Amtheryn’s control. “To be ridden is an act of great trust, great intimacy. Even for my consort, it would requireth years before I wouldst permit it!” Amtheryn paused, seeming to shrink into himself as he continued in a soft voice. “However, the insult, the sin I have committed against thee… it demandeth great restitution. I wouldst sacrifice my wings if I knew it would but erase the evil I hath committed.”
Skylar stared open-mouthed at the dragon, surprised by his remorse. “Amtheryn…” she began, but stopped when he abruptly turned from her.
“We should go now,” he stated quietly. “I am sure thy sire and dam art greatly concerned for thy safety. Especially after thou didst speak with thy dam using thy device.”
Without another word, he transformed, positioning himself as low as he could so that Skylar could climb his shoulder and mount just behind. After gathering her things and putting on her shirt and shorts, the girl climbed up slowly, afraid to cause him pain. Even once she was situated astride his back, she didn’t grip him with much strength. With a soft snort, Amtheryn spoke, the Draconic tongue sounding as a symphony of unfamiliar syllables, each seemingly formed of the most beautiful sounds imaginable. His voice resounded, even with the quiet tone he used, seeming to echo in the girl’s head
“Thou wouldst be wise to hold on tightly.”
Skylar gasped as she understood the alien language, then yelped and clutched onto the dragon as he took a step forward, then leapt into the sky.
The girl held on for dear life, her fingers buried in the feathers of his shoulders, afraid she would slide off his back and plummet back down to earth. Then, after a few moments, she realized Amtheryn had leveled off, and slowly opened her eyes and sat up.
And gasped at the view.
Astride a mighty dragon, Skylar flew over the clouds, the moon, luminous in its full face, shining across the land from its perch high in the sky. The stars were even clearer than they were at her family’s lake house, and she gazed with awe, not even realizing that she should have been freezing and breathless, as high up as they were.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, unaware that her words reached Amtheryn’s keen ears. He considered a response for a long minute, winging ever towards their destination.
“Shouldst thou ever wish to view the heavens from on high, you need only ask. If this brings thee joy, I would give it to thee as often as thee wish.”
Skylar jumped slightly at his unexpected words, then frowned. “But I don’t know where your lair is, Amtheryn. How would I ask?”
“We are bonded, as a consequence of my sin. Thou needest only call to me with thy heart, and I shall hear thee.
“Yet know that such a call carries with it not only thy words, but also thy feelings. Should thou callest me in such a manner, thine every feeling at that moment shall be known to me.”
“Is that even…” Skylar began to protest the idea, but stopped herself, smiling.
Unable to see her smile, and still thinking she doubted his words, Amtheryn called her. It is indeed possible.
Skylar gasped as his voice appeared in her head, and as his amusement came to her, clearly from her ignorance of magic. But then, tears formed in her eyes as she felt something deeper. The regret, the pain, the heartbreak that the dragon felt from his actions.
Not knowing how to respond, or even what to think at his remorse, Skylar stayed quiet, and Amtheryn did as well, content to allow her to enjoy the view, though with the knowledge she now had, that enjoyment was over for that night.
A few hours later, Amtheryn spoke again. “We near thy lair in the forest.”
As high as they were, Skylar couldn’t see, Dragon-Touched sight or no. Slowly Amtheryn descended, the trees below them growing ever-closer. After a few minutes, Skylar saw a house through the forest, the lights on and… was that a police car out front?
Suddenly, she realized that Amtheryn meant to land right beside the house. “Wait, Amtheryn! They’ll see you! You should land away from the house!”
“While mine instincts, and the knowledge of my forebears insist likewise, my heart tells me elsewise. Hast thou a story thy sire and dam would believe? Dost thou truly wish to lie to them? Even should thy and my and mine ancestors’ fear be realized, and thy kind hunt me, the world is vast, and there are sure to be many a place I can flee to should the need arise.
“And I owe thy sire and dam apologies as well.”
Before Skylar could try and protest more, Amtheryn began to churn his wings, carefully – if quite loudly – working his body into the space between the trees and the house. After several moments, he landed with a great thud, then knelt down for Skylar to dismount.
“What the he…” in the doorway to the house, a pair of uniformed humans, one male and the other female stood, hands on guns holstered at their hips, eyes wide. Behind them, another pair of humans stood, equally slack-jawed. Skylar spotted the two behind the uniformed ones, and nearly jumped from Amtheryn’s back. “Mom! Dad!”
“Skylar!” the woman cried, pushing past the front two with her husband close behind. The three met midway between the house and Amtheryn’s body, and the dragon watched, a mixture of sorrow and joy coursing through him.
After several moments, Skylar’s parents remembered the dragon, and their attention turned back to him, even as the uniformed humans remembered themselves and quickly moved forwards, hands still ready on their weapons.
Amtheryn ignored the officers, instead facing Skylar and her sire and dam. “My words are heard by you alone, Skylar – the venom in thy blood grants thou that gift of understanding. Pray relay my following words to thy sire and dam.”
Skylar frowned. “Why not transform into your human form?”
“I have come to apologize, and to seek forgiveness, though I deserve it not; to do so while wearing a disguise would be evidence against the truth of my words, the honesty of mine intent. Thus do I speak in my true form, in mine own tongue.” When the girl nodded, he turned his attention to the two. “I am Amtheryn, and I am to blame for thy daughter’s abduction, and for the theft of her innocence. In my youthfulness and thoughtlessness, I causedst both her and thou great suffering. For that, I am filled with eternal sorrow. Were I not alone, I would offer thee my life in recompense; however, alone I am, and I cannot in good conscience forsake my bloodline for any reason. Shouldst thou think of any boon I can give, as restitution for my sin, thou needst only ask.”
He waited as Skylar finished relaying the message, her voice stumbling once when he mentioned her rape, which the other four present noted, their expressions hardening. Skylar’s mother frowned once the message was finished. “How come you can understand him?” she asked her daughter.
Skylar opened her mouth to reply, making several false starts, before Amtheryn spoke again. “When I sinned against her, I created a bond with her, which grants her the ability to perceive and understand my tongue, as well as other… gifts.”
The woman stared open-mouthed for a moment before looking at her daughter. Beside her, her husband swallowed. “You said you would grant us a… a boon in payment for the… for your ‘sin.’ What do you mean by that?”
“I know little of humans and their desires and needs. Mine ancestors’ memories are from ages long past, and it is clear that what may have sufficed then may be inadequate, if not irrelevant now. I can offer the riches of my lair, gold and jewels collected over my nine years and shall collect in the coming years; or the bounty of my hunts; indeed, shouldst thou wishest it, I shall even fly and fight in your name – though once again, any action thou mayest demand of me that wouldst like as not lead to my demise, I wouldst refuse.”
All of the humans’ eyes widened at Amfheryn’s offers, but after only a moment, all eyes turned to Skylar, who seemed to shrink from the attention.
“Just… just go,” she all but whispered, refusing to meet anyone’s gaze. “Leave, and… and keep your promise.”
After a brief pause, Amtheryn bowed his head, eyes closed. “As thou wishest.” When Skylar didn’t deign to translate, but simply turned and quickly fled towards her family’s lake house, her dam following, Amtheryn too turned about, readying to take flight.
“Wait, that’s it?” one of the police officers, a male, exclaimed, indignation clear in his voice. “He apologizes and just walks?”
“Shut it, Bennet,” the other officer snapped, her words nearly emotionless, though Amtheryn could hear hints of several different emotions, condescension chiefest among them. “He’s a dragon – what’re you gonna do, tie him up with all the fishing line within five miles?”
“Girl said he had a human form, right? Cuffs should fit on a human form, even if he’s big.”
The female officer sighed. “Bennet, if the dragon can transform into a human form, wouldn’t it make sense that he could also, I don’t know, throw fireballs around or teleport or something? And besides, you wanna be the one who gets offed or put in some dark hole if the suits learn that dragons – or at least a dragon – exist and decide to keep it a secret?
“But he does have a point,” she continued, her words aimed at Amtheryn, who paused in his preparations to take flight, craning his neck about to look at the woman. “How do we know you won’t make any more trouble?”
Amtheryn considered for a moment, glancing towards the house that Skylar was now safely within, then back at the officer. With a silent sigh, he turned around, transforming into his human form – still utterly nude, causing blushes in the three humans and a muted, “fucking hell,” from Bennet.
“My sin was born of ignorance, youth, and pure selfishness. While I am yet ignorant of many things regarding your kind, and am but a few hours older than when I sinned against Skylar, she did open mine eyes to my folly. I shalt not make a similar mistake soon, though as I must eat I shall like as not take from the herds of human farmers should the forest and plains yield less than what I require. But thou mayest rest easy – I shalt not abduct any more maidens from their lives. Indeed, it is mine intent to remain far from humans going forth.” He made a grimacing smile. “Mine ancestors wert right to caution against becoming involved with thy kind.”
The woman crossed her arms, thinking for a long moment. “I’d like to believe you- in fact, I do believe you – but while you and Skylar seem to be satisfied with the justice that you two worked out, the law that I uphold isn’t. At the same time, we can’t exactly stick you in a jail cell and call it good, and I don’t even want to think about how to satisfy giving you a trial by a jury of your peers would work. So I’d like to propose a compromise.”
She paused, and Amtheryn nodded, his interest piqued, and his desire to not allow his instinctual reactions – which had caused this whole situation and were now seething at the insinuation that a mere human would dare to pass judgment on him – to rule him.
“Sometimes, criminals are allowed out of prison early, on parole. If they prove they can behave themselves and be upstanding members of society, they can stay out of prison. If not, they go back. I’d like to do something similar here: your little justice ritual with Skylar earlier can stand, and you can go about your business, but to make sure that you don’t cause trouble, you and I meet once every week so I can keep tabs on you. Since you can’t exactly fly into town, I’ll go to wherever it is you live, which serves two purposes: one, I’ll know where you sleep, and if it turns out you can’t be trusted, I’ll have actionable information to use against you, since I can’t really arrest you; and two, I’ll be able to record that information where you can’t find it so that if you’re really untrustworthy and decide to kill or abduct me, someone else can follow my breadcrumbs to you, and take care of you. Is that agreeable?”
Amtheryn’s opinion of the woman, which had been steadily improving since she first spoke, shot up as he watched her fearlessly and straightforwardly lay out her proposal, even explicitly threatening him. He smiled, an amused, predatory grin. “My lair is 74 of thy miles east-south-east of here, and 42 miles south-south-east of the nearest human town. A bowl in the earth in the middle of the forest, with a small lake and an island with a tree upon it, and a cave. Is that sufficient directions?”
The woman repeated back his words, jotting the instructions down on a small notepad. “Be there in two days, around noon.”
Amtheryn nodded, turned and walked a short distance away, then transformed. With another glance at the police officer – whose name he realized he hadn’t learned – he beat his wings and took flight, turning back towards his lair.
His mood, which had slightly improved when speaking with the bold officer, plummeted as he recalled the events that led up to that exchange. When he finally reached his lair, he settled into his cave, a pall settling over his mind.
And with only thoughts of self-loathing and despair, the dragon slept, quickly plunging deep into his own mind, beyond meditation, beyond even the days-long rests he had taken regularly over the past nine years. His pain – which he knew was self-inflicted – drove him to seek an escape, and he found it in the blissful oblivion of sleep.
*****
Officer Deborah Desiree Mason – or ‘DeeDee’ to her friends – let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding as she watched Amtheryn disappear over the treetops. She wasn’t sure she really believed what had transpired in the past ten minutes.
“You’re fucking insane.”
The fear – and awe – of talking to an honest-to-god dragon evaporated in an instant. Peter Bennet, her hotshot newbie partner, has a way of doing that with a handful of words. The guy had more balls than sense, and if Deborah had anything to do with it, bullies like him wouldn’t ever get a badge and a gun.
Unfortunately, it was not up to her. “What would you suggest, Bennet?” she snapped, glaring over at the chubby, greasy-haired blonde man.
He shrugged. “A bullet in the eye.”
Deborah clamped down on a ballistic reply. It wouldn’t help. Instead, she turned to the other man still in the yard, Davis Ferguson, Skylar’s father. “Assuming she doesn’t mind, I’d like to talk with Skylar. Given what seems to have happened – and the… fantastic situation surrounding it – I think she could use someone to talk to, and I don’t think we should risk her talking with an actual therapist.”
Davis grimaced, and opened his mouth to say something, but was predictably interrupted by Bennet. “What, don’t wanna cause a fuss so you want to waste our time? Fuck that, shift’s over in 30, and it’s at least 45 minutes back to town. We’re leaving.”
This time, both Deborah and Davis glared at Bennet, but it was Davis who responded. “You can talk to Sky, and take the guest room, Dee- er, Deborah. Candace or myself can take you into town in the morning.”
Deborah smiled at the man, someone she did regard as a friend – though she was infinitely grateful that he didn’t use her nickname around Bennet. “I’ll take you up on that. God knows, but Skylar could use all the support she can get, and given the situation…” she shrugged helplessly.
Davis nodded, and Deborah gave Bennet a withering glare. “You heard the plan. See you Monday.” And with that, she turned and followed Davis into the Ferguson’s lake house, only barely catching Bennet’s muttered, “Bitch.”
Deborah stopped by the guest room – which she was quite familiar with after several yearly vacations with the Fergusons – dropping off her gear and jacket before looking for Skylar. She found Candace and Davis fretting outside the girl’s room.
“She didn’t lock the door,” Candace explained, “but she clearly didn’t want anyone in there; kept insisting for me to leave her alone.”
Deborah nodded, a grim frown tugging her lips downward. “You two go sit down somewhere, try to relax – she’s back, and she’s safe. I’ll see if I can help her feel that way.”
The two glanced at each other and nodded, then made their way into the house’s living room, quietly talking to each other.
Deborah took a deep breath, trying to recall her limited knowledge of therapy and how to deal with sexual assault cases. She wasn’t a therapist, but some social work college courses and some talks with friends who were therapists gave her hope that she could at least make things better for Skylar.
Giving a gentle knock, Deborah opened the door. “Skylar?” she softly called. “It’s DeeDee. Do you wanna talk?”
“Sure.” The glum reply startled Deborah , coming from the opposite side of the room from the bed that she had expected Skylar to be in. Turning, Deborah saw that the girl was sitting in the rather large windowsill of her room, gazing up at the tree-veiled sky, hugging her legs to her chest. Deborah sat on the other end of the windowsill, looking at Skylar for a moment before joining her in sky-watching. “The view was so much nicer from up there,” Skylar murmured after several long moments.
Deborah turned back to Skylar, but didn’t say anything. For her part, the girl continued to look at the sky. “It doesn’t feel real, even though he left only a few minutes ago. The past, what, two days? They seem like a dream.” Skylar’s head dropped, her forehead laying against her knees. “And the thing is, I can’t figure out if it was a good dream, or a nightmare.”
Deborah opened her mouth several times, trying to figure out how to respond to that, and eventually settled on, “How do you mean?”
Skylar snorted. “I know. It’s so fucked up, isn’t it? I was abducted by a huge, terrifying mythical creature, held against my will, and raped, but he did this… he put this…” She took a deep, shuddering breath, hugging her legs tighter, buried her head a little deeper. “When he… did it, he bit me. Injected me with some sort of… he called ‘mating venom’ or something. And the second that shit hit me, everything was… hell, everything is more sensitive; my sight, my ears, my skin, I mean,” she let out a nearly crazed laugh, “I can smell so much about you right now, DeeDee. And it… it… I think it, like, imprinted him on me, like with some baby animals and their parent. I feel… I don’t even know what I feel about him.”
A long sigh, then Skylar looked back up at the sky. “When I finally got him to stop, to talk… he’s not a bad pers… he’s not bad. Not evil. Just… he completely lacked empathy. But when I explained to him what it had been like, got him to see what he was doing… he taught me how to ‘call to him with my heart,’ and when he demonstrated… my god, the pain, the guilt, the anguish he felt for what he had done.” Finally, Skylar turned to face Deborah, and the woman was shocked to see tears flowing down Skylar’s face. “He wasn’t exaggerating when he said he would’ve let us kill him as payback if he knew for certain that it wouldn’t make his kind go extinct. I think he would’ve been okay if we locked him in a specially-made prison that would torture him for the rest of his life. He said he’d give up his wings if it could fix what he had done. And as much as I hate what he did, I felt his remorse, Deborah. He hates himself so much. And even though I told him it would be hard to forgive him, once he opened his heart to me like that… he’s like a child – he’s only nine for god’s sake, whatever that means in dragon-years. But I don’t think he’s ever spoken to anyone else before, he was never socialized, never had to consider others. When I got him to see what it was like, what he’d done to me, it was like talking to a child, teaching them that stealing someone’s toys is wrong. It’s just so confusing!”
With a sob, Skylar collapsed against Deborah, crying in frustration. The woman froze for a moment, startled, but then gently held the crying girl, stroking the back of her head. She didn’t speak – she didn’t have the slightest idea of what to say – so the only sound was that of Skylar’s soft crying.
After several minutes, the girl sniffed, her sobs stifled, and she slowly sat back, eyes red and downcast. “I… I’m going to go to sleep. Thanks. For… for listening.”
Deborah smiled kindly. “Of course. You’re like a niece, or a little sister to me, you know. Practically family.”
Skylar gave a short laugh. “Ha. We hardly look it.”
DeeDee had to snort at that. It was true; where the Fergusons – all three of them – were pale-skinned and tended towards blonde or ginger hair, Deborah was dark of both skin and hair, her amber eyes the only bright color anyone could see of her, unless one counted the shine that reflected off her pitch-black, shoulder-length hair that was perpetually pulled into a bun. She was several inches taller than Skylar, nearly six feet even, and much curvier than the ginger girl, despite her efforts to slim down in the gym nearly daily – her hips, butt, and tits just wouldn’t shrink down, though the curves were thankfully not too egregious, and were compressed quite nicely under a sturdy bra and her uniform.
Deborah winked at the girl. “I’m adopted anyways, nobody would have to know it wasn’t by your folks.”
Skylar rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now shoo. I want to sleep.”
Giggling, Deborah did so, calling a soft, “Good night,” before she shut the door behind her. Outside the woman took a moment to let out a long breath. Her mind whirled as she tried to comprehend what Skylar had said. The girl’s apparent willingness to forgive Amtheryn was… odd. Disturbing, really. The dragon had raped her, for god’s sake, and while Deborah could understand the reasoning behind Skylar’s arguments – thoughtless youthfulness was believable, though absurdly unusual in this case, given the size and verbal maturity of Amtheryn – she was concerned by just how willing Skylar seemed to be to forgive him. The talk of ‘imprinting’ and his ‘mating venom’ certainly didn’t help.
Shaking her head, Deborah went back to the guest room, stopping by the living room where Davis and Candice were still talking with muted voices to let them know that Skylar seemed okay, given the circumstances, and was sleeping, but would probably need to figure things out for herself. Not exactly lies, she reassured herself as the three made their ways to their beds. The whole situation was just too crazy, DeeDee decided. Hopefully some sleep would help to make things clearer.
Despite her racing mind, DeeDee fell asleep within moments of lying down.
* * * * *
The ringing of a doorbell and rapid knocking woke everyone in the lake house early the next morning. Well, nearly everyone – Deborah heard Davis calling out to the visitor from the kitchen. Early riser that he was, he probably was making breakfast for everyone. The scent of pancakes that dragged Deborah the rest of the way to consciousness confirmed it.
Hopping out of bed, the woman stretched, then headed out towards the main room of the house – where the kitchen, living, and dining rooms were – hearing Davis and a woman’s voice coming from that way. Turning the corner, she came up short.
“Nanase?” she blurted, interrupting Davis’s hushed words as he made pancakes.
The new woman looked over at Deborah from where she leaned against the kitchen counter and grinned. “Ohayou, Dee!” the half-Japanese woman, Candace’s half-sister, said brightly.
Deborah blinked at Nanase for a moment. “I thought you were in Japan?”
The petite woman chuckled quietly. “I was. But…” she paused, glancing at Davis, then back at Deborah. “I think I should wait until my sister and Niece are here.” Another look towards Davis and the growing stack of pancakes. “And after we’ve all had breakfast,” she added with a grin.
The sound of bare feet slapping on the floor caused the three to turn and watch as Candace emerged from the hallway, her eyes going wide. “Nanase? What are you doing here?”
After a quick repeat of her exchange with Deborah, Candace went to fetch Skylar, seeing that Davis was almost done with the pancakes. After a couple minutes, mother and daughter returned, Skylar smiling wanly at her aunt. “Hey, Nan,” she murmured, sedately going to the woman and exchanging hugs. Deborah thought she caught a brief flash of some emotion cross Nanase’s face during the hug, something dark and scary, but it passed too quickly for the policewoman to be sure.
As the hug ended, Davis announced that the pancakes were all ready, and plates, forks, and syrup were passed around. Breakfast went by quickly, though everyone eyed Nanase, curiosity burning within them, while the petite half-Japanese woman tucked into her meal like a starving woman. In the subdued atmosphere, the only words spoken were to ask for someone to pass the syrup or a napkin, and to quietly compliment Davis on the pancakes.
Afterwards, once the dishes had been rinsed and placed into the dishwasher, everyone retired to the living room; Davis and Candace sat together on the couch while Deborah and Nanase sat in chairs to one side, and Skylar curled up in a big, cushioned chair to the other side of the room. All eyes went to Nanase, who glanced around at the others before giving them a small smile. “Well, I suppose there’s no point in beating around the bush: I know you all met a dragon, and that Skylar was… Awakened by it.”
Stunned silence greeted her words, but the woman ignored it, instead looking right at Skylar. “And from what I gathered from the mood here and what little your father told me, you did not consent to the… encounter.” Deadly venom entered Nanase’s voice, her kind face slowly morphing into a barely-contained scowl.
After a brief moment of staring – still in shock – at her aunt, Skylar merely nodded, drawing her legs in closer to her chest. Nanase hissed in anger, then held up a hand as Candace leaned in, a question on her lips. “I’m sure you have many questions, neesan, and I’d be happy to answer them all in time, but I left some duties in Japan to come here and am on something of a tight schedule, so you’ll excuse me if I give you the short version.” She waited until Candace nodded before continuing. “Davis told me that the dragon – Amtheryn, was it? – said that Skylar has dragon blood in her, passed down from you. This is true. She, you, and our mother are all what is called Dragon-Touched. As am I, though unlike you and Skylar, both of my parents were Dragon-Touched, and my blood has been Awakened for, oh, twenty years now. No, mother didn’t know, though my father planned on telling her… but that was before she became ill.
“Regardless, I’m getting off track. As Deborah noted, I was in Japan until a few hours ago – I teleported to an apartment I keep in town and drove here early this morning.” Nanase paused, smiling at the return of everyone’s shocked expressions. “No, I am not a wizard, nor a witch, warlock, mage, or anything like that, though the various nuances and differences between all those terms is more than we have time for right now. Suffice to say, dragons aren’t the only fantastical things that exist. As for how I knew to come here today…” she smiled sheepishly. “Shortly after my blood was Awakened and I began to learn how to use magic, I placed minor divination charms on the three of you,” she explained, indicating Candace, Davis, and Skylar. “They only told me if you were exposed to anything magical or if your blood became Awakened. Which, normally, would be a thing worthy of celebration.”
Nanase sighed sadly, looking over at Skylar. “But what happened yesterday is not something to be celebrated. If you can bear to, I would like to hear it from you, mei,” she said, her voice soft as she addressed her niece.
Skylar looked down for a moment, then took a deep breath, nodded, and described the past two days. She glossed over the rape, haltingly explaining the bite and ‘mating venom’ before moving on to her talk with Amtheryn after. As she spoke, Nanase’s expression became darker and filled with venom.
When Skylar fell silent, Nanase stood and went to the window, glaring out at the woods beyond. The other four shared glances, but kept quiet, waiting for the seething woman to speak. Finally, after several minutes, she turned and looked at her niece. “Can you imagine his lair? Clearly, as though it was a picture?”
Skylar blinked in surprise, thought for a moment, then hesitantly nodded. “I think so. I didn’t see the cave, but the little lake and island were very scenic and memorable. Why?”
“I’m going to speak with him and pass my own judgment on him, and teleporting would be the swiftest way to get there. The only problem is that I, or someone I’m teleporting with, need to know the destination in great detail. I hate to ask, but…”
Skylar shook her head, interrupting her aunt. “No, it’s all right. I… I actually want to see him again. To talk…” She trailed off, blushing as everyone looked at her with confusion and concern.
Nanase frowned at the girl, but nodded. “Very well, then let’s…”
She was interrupted again as Deborah spoke up. “Actually, as long as Skylar is going, I’d like to come along too. I came to an agreement with the dragon that I’d sort of be his ‘parole officer,’ so to speak, and it couldn’t hurt for me to show up a bit early.”
Nanase stifled a laugh, giving her friend a look of disbelief. Seeing that the policewoman was serious, she shook her head in amazement. “Alright then, you can come too. Though I have to wonder, just how were you going to ‘show up’ before I arrived to teleport us there?”
“He gave me rough directions on how far and in what direction his lair was from here and from town,” Deborah explained.
With a glance to each other, Candace and Davis both sat forward, about to speak, but Nanase held up a hand to forestall them. “No. I’m sorry, but there’s no reason for you two to come as well. Skylar has to come because I need a guide to get to the lair, at least this first time; you have my word that she’ll be the first one back if things become dangerous. She’s also the one most affected by all this, and she has the right to be there. Dee is a police officer, and has a deal with the dragon already, crazy as it is. But you two would only be there as moral support, and if things did become dangerous, it would be two more people for me to try and teleport back here, which could use up precious seconds. So please, leave this to me, and trust that I will keep my niece safe.” When the two gave her mutinous looks, she sighed. “Neesan, Davis, I don’t think that things will be dangerous, but if they do, you’ll just get in the way. Of all of us here, Skylar is probably in the least danger – as far as mortal danger to life and limb is concerned – followed by myself, since I can use magic. With just the three of us, if the dragon acts up, I can easily teleport us back. With five, that’s not so sure, and the chances of someone being left behind in a hurry is high. So please, stay here. I promise I won’t let anything happen to Skylar.”
The two still weren’t happy, but nodded their assent. Satisfied, Nanase motioned Skylar and Deborah to stand and join her. Everyone stood, Candace and Davis standing by, holding each other in concern while their daughter and friend joined Candace’s half-sister. “You all be safe,” Candace said, her voice stern.
The three gave them small smiles of reassurance, and then Nanase walked her niece through what she needed. “Picture the lair in your mind. It doesn’t have to be perfect, in fact, you don’t even need to picture the whole thing. Just recall what you can, what you saw while there. Hold the memories in your mind. When you think you have it, squeeze my hand.” Then she took Skylar and Deborah’s hands in her own while the girl closed her eyes, concentrating. After a few moments, she squeezed her aunt’s hand. The three felt a prickling sensation, then a feeling as though every atom in their body was being pulled in a different direction.
And suddenly, they were standing outside, in a forested area. Around them, the earth rose up nearly a dozen feet, creating a bowl. Water lapped nearby, forming a small lake, or a deep pond, in the middle of which was a small island with a solitary tree. Nearby, a buck looked up from its grazing, watching the three newcomers warily. Also nearby was a large hole in the ground.
Deborah and Nanase looked at Skylar, who swallowed and nodded. Nanase glanced around, her eyes narrowing, before she focused on the hole, the entrance to a cave. “He’s in the cave. Sleeping, I think.”
Skylar and Deborah started forward, but Nanse held them back. She pulled a small notebook and a pen out of thin air, then concentrated for a moment before scribbling something down and tearing out the sheet, casually tossing the notebook and pen into the air, where they vanished. She held the paper to Deborah. “These are the coordinates here – much better than using cardinal directions and distances, wouldn’t you say?”
The police officer’s eyes widened as she looked at the GPS coordinates, then back at Nanase. “How…” she began, but cut herself off, shaking her head and smiling with a slight chuckle. “Magic?”
Nanase flashed a quick grin. “Magic,” she confirmed, before focusing back on the cave. “Stay close,” she instructed the other two. “From what you’ve told me, I don’t think he’ll attack us, but if he does, you need to be able to touch me at a moment’s notice so I can teleport us to safety.” Only once her companions murmured their understanding did she start forward, generating a small ball of light as they entered the dark cave.
They walked for almost a minute, the cave sloping down and curving to the right, before they entered a larger, almost egg-shaped cavern. Laying curled up to one side was the dragon, Amtheryn. He didn’t stir. In fact…
“He’s… he’s not breathing!” Deborah gasped.
Nanase frowned, walking forward briskly, but slowed when, with a deep rushing sound, the dragon started to inhale, his chest rising. After over a dozen seconds, he exhaled, then stilled after a dozen more.
Slowly, Nanase laid a hand on the dragon’s side, her eyes closed as she concentrated. “He’s sleeping,” she said. “Almost like a True Sleep, but…” she withdrew her hand and shook her head, eyes opening as she stared at the sleeping dragon in consternation.
“True Sleep?” Skylar asked, keeping her distance from Amtheryn.
Nanase looked over at her niece. “Dragons basically have two different modes: ‘awake,’ where they stay awake for long stretches of time and sometimes sleep for any amount of time between hours and days, and sleeping – what’s called ‘True Sleep’ to differentiate from the shorter naps they take when awake. True Sleep lasts for months, potentially years, and several occur between key points in their lives. The first happens a decade after hatching…” she trailed off, frowning at the dragon once again.
“Amtheryn is nine years old. Maybe he started early?” Skylar suggested.
But Nanase shook her head. “Maybe he did, but this isn’t a True Sleep. For a True Sleep, a dragon first gluts itself with prey for almost a week beforehand, then seals the entrance – or entrances – to its lair, to keep from being discovered while they sleep. These are instinctual things, much like the few ‘mandatory’ True Sleeps, and are never not done. And while sleeping, the dragon breathes slowly and deeply, usually one constant breath over the course of a minute or two.” The dragon took another 30-second breath, and Nanase shook her head again. “Not these short, shallow breaths – well, short and shallow by dragon standards.”
“Then what is he doing?” Deborah asked. “Could he just be taking a ‘nap,’ as you put it?”
Nanase’s frown deepened. “Possibly, but I doubt it. Dragons retain a good bit of their perceptions and awareness of the world while they nap – he would know we were here, and likely would have awakened to confront us, especially with Skylar being here.”
“Maybe he’s hiding from us?” Skylar asked. “Like when a kid throws a temper tantrum and pretends to be asleep, ignoring others?”
“Possibly, but again, I don’t think so.” Nanase sighed in frustration, holding her chin and beginning to pace as she thought. “This feels like a True Sleep, just all wrong. It’s almost as though…” she trailed off again, coming to a halt and slowly raising her head to stare at the sleeping dragon. “No,” she breathed out in disbelief. “Would he really… could that…”
“What?” Skylar asked, the worry in her voice surprising everyone, herself included. “What is it?”
Nanase turned to her niece, her lips slightly parted in surprise at her own revelation. “He’s entered a True Sleep, yes, but not a mandatory one, nor a normal one,” she said, her voice slow and grim. “He’s entered the Final Sleep. He’s dying.”