'Man… It's been a while since the weather has been this fine', Rhiannon thought as she stepped out of the laboratory into the fresh evening air.
The sun, that created a cosy warmth, that reminded her it was one of the last days of summer. One could have wondered if the pouring rain of the last few weeks had been nothing more than a fantasy. Being outside felt good, especially after seeing the sun only through windows all day. If it had been any other occupation, she would have regarded it a pity to spent such a wonderful day locked inside. But regarding what she had done the past few weeks she wouldn't have missed a single moment of it. Not for anything in the world.
Despite all the mentally and physically taxing work, she still considered herself one of the most fortunate students in the whole science program of her university. Being one of only ten students, who had been chosen as participants for an internship in the Clan-laboratories. It filled her with pride that she had been part of such a huge project, even if only for a tiny span of time. The world-renowned institution was the one and only scientific institution to study the so-called Clan-mutations. The only one that was allowed to occupy itself with them.
They tried to determine, what it was, that made the difference between monsters and man. At least in the scientific point of view. Morally one could still argue if DNA was really, what determined that. And DNA it was, what the laboratories were mostly working on. A very special kind of DNA. Sure, neigh every laboratory in the world tried to get its hands on material. But to no avail. Not one phoenix-feather or dragon-scale could be bought through official channels. The only way to get those probes outside the clan-laboratories was to be chosen as a partner-laboratory to validate the clan-laboratories results. And even those chosen few, who had been found worthy after a rigorous selection-process were only to research those probes under strict supervision.
But all those repercussions only heightened the scientific appeal. Curiosity was at an all-time high. The same could be said about Rhiannon. The past four weeks had been four of the most exciting in her studies. She had been given the chance to look into the differences between her own and the clan’s DNA. An important step on the road to discover the roots and causes of the mutation. Differences and similarities, that was the focus of the momentary research of the clan-laboratories.
Against all odds there were much more similarities than one would have expected between the DNA of for example a dragon and a human. On the other hand, scientists rooted for a common ancestor. A slow virus infection was the most popular hypothesis right now, an ancient one at that, most likely infectious via blood-exchange. Ancient blood so to say.
Anyway, every fairy-tale-creature or clan-member had a human-form, too. Additional to the form the scientists at the clan-laboratory called main-form. In those moments she was neigh able to believe in the claims that the clans mainly hired clan-members to work for them. It was but a rumour, nothing to fret about, even if most fairy-tales had been proofed to be true by now, it didn’t mean every conspiracy theory was true as well. Nowadays people who had been convinced, that government consisted of aliens, believed it was solely a puppet of the clan-heads, who were said to wield undisputed over their clans’ people. They were ruling Economy and politics from behind the scenes.
‘And if they did…’, Rhiannon thought, ‘It’s not like a human government would be any better than a bunch of immortals, who founded the system…’ Shaking her head she liberated herself from those thoughts. She was tired to the point of sleeping on her feet. The past weeks had been taxing. The scientists’ thorough explanations and instructions hadn’t left any room for mistakes. Steady and perfectionistic like she was Rhiannon had given her uttermost, always 5% above expectations. That combined with her will to learn had made her the top student of the program. Even more so when in her personal debriefing the head of the clan-laboratories himself, Mr. Drake, had extended a job offer to her. She had beamed with pride when they did.
But right now, she was fairly tired. All adrenaline had dispersed. Only ‘normal’ internships awaited her from this point. She yawned. Trying to loosen up the cramps in her back she stretched and bowed herself still standing at the topmost step. Rhia looked back as she descended the broad stairway and admired the buildings architecture for the last time.
The old villa served as a laboratory with highest technical standards on the inside and a century old facade on the outside. It was the perfect mixture of old and new and very fitting for its purpose. Researching century old creatures with the means of modern times.
She figured it would be her last time to work for the laboratories. Despite the offer, she was still one in many. Intelligent, but not a genius. Average grades in exams, clearly not an overachiever of any sorts. The labour market was over-sated with people like her. A successful internship would surely not cut the mark.
No today would probably be the last time she exited this building. She shivered, even though the sun was still shining the warmth now slowly dissipated. An icy wind arose and carried a trace of the October night. But right now, the whole world was clad in gold. One last glance back and then she took off.
Rhiannon walked slowly through the streets enjoying the sun unwilling to reach her small and empty apartment any sooner than necessary. No one waiting no one caring. No one to share her experiences with. Nothing to do besides tugging in some food and going to bed for an early night. She missed her parents dearly.
They were recently staying at a war zone working as doctors for doctors beyond borders. She sighed. It had been her who wanted to separate. She wanted to have a place called home to stop moving around like a nomad. Only one skype-call apart, but still… it was not the same.
The young and tall woman shook her head with the heavy black curls she had just freed from their ribbon. It felt wonderful to release them, even though she had mastered the art of taming them in a way that neither got her a head-ache nor set them free in no time, it still felt much better to not have them tied back. Her mother always said they were as wilful, as she was herself. Rhia smiled at the thought. It was bittersweet, though, since her mother was still half a world apart from her right now.
Chasing the dark thoughts away, she tried to relive the feeling of success. Today was not the time to be sad, today was a day to celebrate. How many people could claim that one of the world’s most famous scientists had praised their work and offered them a job, even if she still thought of it as a nicety. She would not go and spoil her own triumph with gloomy thoughts. A smile, a really happy one, this time, lifted the corners of her mouth and brought light to her dark blue eyes. She had learned so much in the span of four short weeks.
Doing night-shifts, since she couldn’t wait for the results. Now she could tell apart the clans’ bloodlines by looking at their specific genetic markers and she could already tell if they were keen to produce more or less powerful individuals. Maybe her chances on getting the job were not as faint as she first thought…
Naturally, she had been asked to sign a confidentiality clause before starting her internship. It was so strict that she was not even free to tell her friends about what she was doing, nothing much at least. But that was something she was used to having worked in the medical branch even prior to studying veterinary medicine. But with her prior experience she felt it was different this time, more complicated.
All information was worth a fortune and highly sensitive as well. Rhiannon had been approached by some creeps who had tried to lure her into selling bits of data to them. One of them made her shudder even now. He had followed her home. The feeling of his cold and slimy hand on hers haunted her dreams. Naturally she had thrown him out, her father had taught her well… but still… even if some part of her might have been tried to sell information before, not that that had ever occurred to her, but still… after meeting that creep she would have torn her tongue out before telling anything to anyone. He had tried to threaten her into cooperation. Rhiannon still shuddered at the notion.
This kind information was heavily guarded for a reason. The clans didn't want to be outed by anyone. Not personally at least. It would only have caused another witch-hunt. Like it had when their existence first got published. When a year and a half ago the government suddenly decided to use DNA profiles on their newly developed super-passports, the clans were forced out of their hiding. The press-conference in which a Chinese dragon and a wolf as big as a horse had shown their transformation. They were wearing masks, luckily, so no one would be able to guess their identities. The still proof of existence had been brought for all to see.
The first reaction had been disbelief and the claim it was but a marketing-campaign for some new movie or game, but those claims were soon silenced by scientific proofs. And those undeniable proofs were what created the grand divide. The reactions couldn’t have been more contradictory. One side celebrated a great opportunity for human kind, whilst the other side felt nothing but hatred, rage and fear. And those were the ideal ingredients for a witch-hunt, like they had always been. People simply feared them too much to let them be.
The clan-members were partly human and yet some fractions, amongst them many religious ones, demanded to strip them their human-rights. As if the fact that they knew about their neighbours being something else, or at least the thought they could be something else, proofed them to be a danger. Warlike scenes in so called civilized countries and persecution of innocents were the result. And even as the pressure rose no one saw another dragon’s scale or phoenix’ feather through the whole ordeal. If they were amongst the victims, something Rhia strongly doubted, they died like humans. Blood died the streets crimson. No, the last thing anyone could need was another witch-hunt like that. Thankfully the government thought the same. Laws and press-conferences were able to first sooth and later extinguish the flames of riot.
The government used logic and the people belief in DNA-profiles. Even though they had been the spark to light this conflict, they were also the means to extinguish it. Even a layman could see they were mostly human. One could see this fact the first moment one was looking at their DNA profiles. That and the fact they had lived amongst ‘normal’ humans for centuries without any disturbances. It didn’t drive out all of the fear the human-society harboured, but it definitely laid the groundwork. People wanted to go back to normal.
The mistrust remained, since everybody knew instinctively: Their DNA was the most human trait of theirs. Of course, they were mostly sporting a human form and took part in society without being recognized. But looking at their other features that had been published a year ago one would not believe that they were living among human society all along. They were no ordinary people but dragons, phoenixes, vampires, werewolves and so on. With all advantages and very few of the drawbacks the legends talked about.
But as much as their arrival in the lime-light changed society, it didn’t seem to have much of an impact on the way the clans lived. Hidden in plain sight. Yes, their outing had been a forced one. Used to be living in secrecy for the past centuries they had to step in the spotlight of public interest. Unwilling but forced by the new passports that featured a DNA mark. Press and public were excited. Nearly 10 percent of the so believed human society was not actually human. Fairy-tales were at least partly true. And yes, horror-stories as well.
Several organizations were looking for data on those magical creatures that wore human faces. This knowledge was used to create fear, uproar and opportunities. Opportunities for those who tried to use those powers for themselves. But since the clans were keeping to themselves and didn’t ‘prostrate’ themselves in public, how some religious groups had called their first appearance, people carried on with life and forgot the immediate ‘threat’ of the clans as they kept still. The first shock had passed in the course of a year. Quiet and a new balance seemed to be slowly setting in. All new but nothing changed at all. A new status quo. People accepted or better ignored the clans’ existence. Many repressed the memory of them existing at all, a tendence, which seemed to be deliberately promoted by the clans themselves.
Right now, only fans and Otaku were openly interested in the clan-members. They planned conventions and tried to rope them in. But the clans remained, as they always were, passive on the outside and secretive. They carried themselves aloof, even arrogant. Disappointing fans and keeping their distance to the mortal society. Rhiannon kept on wondering, whether that was the right course of action. Maybe even contra productive, since now that the cat was out of the bag anyway, there was no turning back time and a part of her thought that they might fare better in the future if they had some good press on their side. As a hedge of sorts. Because it didn’t matter how strong dragons and phoenixes were individually, if they were outnumbered by such a huge margin and had to deal with modern weapons on top of that.
Only half a year prior another scandal once again flared the public interest in the clans. Some tiny paper got the biggest story in their history, when there young and highly motivated journalist Rachel Green, got her hands on a discarded document. Its content was roughly that the inner circles of the governmental structures had been long informed about magic and the clans. Some people even uttered there that those circles were consisting of those unholy creatures as they called the clans. It seemed like those people wanted to take out the Hexenhammer (Malleus Maleficarum), which had been used to condemn many an innocent life with its unfair and tendential way of questioning. And fanatics really wanted to practice burnings. Rachel Green who only wanted to bring truth to the people hadn’t thought of the consequences of her discovery and was highly shocked. But thankfully the middle-ages were long gone. Though the people spreading the news were less than trustworthy, their message did hold truth.
The cooperation indeed was real. Government, military and secret services had long taken advantage of the special abilities of clan members. Obviously. They deliberately admitted it later on.
Of course, there had been scientific studies too. The most popular study stated that the genetic changes e.g., the ability to transform into a dragon was a sort of non-contagious slow virus infections changing some part of the DNA. However, an irreversible change like that might work. Giving the ability to swap forms like clothes. Rhiannon snorted thinking that they merely scratched the surface of the topic. She kicked some lose rubble aside. The girl didn't even know how it got there, the only stain on the perfect pavement. 'This little piece of rubble is the whole amount of human knowledge of the world we are livin' she thought.
It slowly got darker as she walked through the streets which were bordered by nice brick house and tiny gardens. The bricks were still warm and emitted and nice atmosphere. Roses and hydrangeas completed the picturesque scene. Nice cosy homes with people living their own lives without much of a disturbance.
As the sky got darker so did Rhiannons thoughts. She thought about her parents.
The lifestyle of a nomad had been hers since her early childhood. Always abroad always the new kid in town the freak at school. New cultures new people but in one way they were all the same. Distrust towards strangers. Fear of the new. The bizarre. But since fear isn't the nicest emotion to feel people often swap it with anger and disgust towards the unknown.
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Being bullied is a state one gets never used to. It stings every time. But one gets better at avoiding. Avoiding bullies, avoiding others and subsequently avoiding possible friends. A child once burned shies the fire. And she hadn't been only burned once. That left her with an attitude her mother had described as highly cynical and fatalistic. But at this point her daughter didn't even care about the worries her mother voiced. Better loneliness than treason. That was the reason Rhiannon did totally understand the clan’s reaction towards public attention. None. They didn't trust others for they had been persecuted- more than once.
It wasn't the first time after all that fear of the unknown lead anger and disgust at a totally different level in comparison to school bullying. Fanaticism and being the crown of creation lead to several sad occurrences in human history. Skin colour, religion and lesser differences had been misused as a reason for cruelty. To trample the unusual and procure more power for the leading group.
Her gaze wandered up to the now appearing stars. Streetlights lit up and the laughter of people sounded incredibly joyful to her, a part of her wanted to join them be a normal and happy girl for once. She sighed; the darkness of the things she had seen would keep her apart from that. Her dreams and waking hours were haunted by pictures of death and despair, yes, that was what people thought of, when she said her past haunted her. But actually, those things were only a small part of her problem. The main cause of her misery was something she was ashamed of. Her nightmares didn’t feature battlefields and lazarettes, no they were full of schoolrooms and faceless students and teachers, who made fun of her. Of her being different. A painful smile ran across her face, as her mind wandered to the moments, she hated herself for. Moments in which she had hit them in return. Fought back in the meanest ways possible, using words but still… she had felt like a monster… always knowing where to hit, to hit them hardest.
Maybe that had been the spark that had lighted her interest in the different, the bizarre. Her parents had warned her not to end like Rachel Green, torn apart by greater forces. Not to poke into that wasp nest. But to no avail, she still spent much of her time researching it. So, it was only natural for her to become interested in the clans, once they were discovered. Like a moth attracted by the light, her mother had said. Something she couldn’t fathom, as her parents would usually support even the craziest ideas of hers, but not this time, as if they had deep-running resentments against the clans themselves…
Suddenly, whilst still caught in her train of thoughts, a loud bang coming out of a narrow pathway startled her. She jumped and her mind, that knew all the strings of a country in war made her immediately look for a way to get away or a place to hide. The conscious part of her instead looked for the cause of the bang.
Another bang could be heard, followed by a groan of pain. Her instincts let her freeze in spot. In any crisis zone she would have already had run for cover, but in here it would be seen as a case of non-assistance, if she failed to at least look for the cause. Maybe the sound has only been someone who had fallen off a ladder or something.
Hesitatingly and cautious she looked around the corner of the house that bordered the pathway, the bang had come from. Still contemplating about running the last few streets home and calling the police, she cursed herself for letting her phone run out of energy earlier. The little hairs at the back of her neck rose, when she heard another painful groan. Then she could see what was happening and it made her feel sick.
There were four men in the pathway three clad in black standing over a youths, maybe 17 or 18 years old, in jeans and a light-blue t-shirt. The leader of aggressors held a sword in hand pointing directly towards the boy’s Carotis. The other two fixated the youth’s arms and legs rendering him unable to move. It felt surreal seeing a sword in use in times of firearms, she had once been threatened with a gun, but still this sword didn’t feel outdated or less threatening than any gun could have been. It sent icicles down her spine.
The boy bled out of a huge wound at the back of his head, where they had tossed him against the huge metal container he was lying in front. That should have been the cause of the bang, which had startled her. His face, too, looked heavily injured with a swollen-shut eye and bruises all over. Even out of her position she could clearly see a bloodied line divided the front of his shirt. Blood kept on seeping.
Every fibre of her being cried at her to run, to flee into the relative safety of her flat, but her feet wouldn’t move as if rooted to the spot. The breath she still held burned in her lungs whilst her heart sped up to a staccato fuelled by her panic. Again, she cursed herself and her mobile for being unable to call for help.
Cold sweat drenched the back of her shirt. Suddenly the wind that had blown in her face changed direction and cooled her back further. She shivered. Then one of the guys clad in black raised his head searching and sniffing. As if he could smell something in the air. Like a hunt dog. Then he looked into her direction. A cool feeling, that had nothing to do with physical cold, ran through her veins. ‘Please don’t let him see me’, she silently begged.
The leader raised his voice in an unmistakable threat. 'You are gonna tell us now, who you are searching for. Otherwise, you are forcing my hand... I really don't want to break both your arms. That would be a painful experience, even for you, my dear little prince. Even your healing abilities won't lessen that pain for a couple hours. You wouldn't want to have your royal mother worrying about her little star... It's been a dump decision of hers to send a whelp like you into our area. But maybe she doesn't even know about your little adventure... Does she?' he asked with a cruel smile.
The blond boy looked at his opponents with an icy gaze keeping his mouth shut as the swords tip drew a little blood, only cutting the skin, no further damage. The leader led the swords edge across the prince cheek living a red stream. Wincing he said ' never. I am never going to tell you.'
The leader smiled at the answer. He had hoped for it. 'Why shouldn't they have a little fun before they got what they were here for?’ He thought. Playing with one of those darned arrogant dragons was definitely not business as usual. He looked down on his prisoner, lying helplessly at his feet, and said 'shame. Well, if you keep on being stubborn, I am going to test your self-control a little more. Let's have a look... How do you think you can keep up your human guise when I start slicing you? I think there have been the first few scales on your cheek. Am I right, dearest? A nice sparkling bright shade of blue just like those eyes of yours, little dragon. Maybe it would be safer for the person you are guarding not to change into a raging monster in her neighbourhood... Don't you think so?'
The boy bared his teeth in a predatory way. Sharp fangs appeared and retracted again transforming into human teeth. His eyes looked suddenly much less like a human’s and began to reflect the street-lights. ' He is a predator. A dragon. I got to get away.' Rhiannon thought panicking. But her feet still won't move. Her heart raced in her chest. Fingers got slippery.
The boy seemed to be panicking too. His loss of control seemed to be a clear indication that his instincts got the better of him. Scales appeared and disappeared again. He spouted ' You won't get away with that. Nobody is going to believe in your innocence.'
The leader chuckled cruelly and answered mockingly. ' Right my dear nobody is going to believe us. How could they believe us? A bunch of heroic vampires sacrificing their own safety to keep a raging monster at bay. I forgot all the nice romantic stories they are publishing about your kind. You're always the dramatic heroes afraid to hurt your beloved woman... Oh wait that's our cover not yours... Weren't you called the beast the incarnation of the devil in the Bible? Right pup, no one is going to believe our story. Remember we're in Europe not in Asia.' the leader knew he got his target cornered. Either he would comply and tell them which human scum was supposed to join the dragons or the little prince would transform and be killed in action. Which would of course be very opportune for the vampires aim in the council of clans. If they didn't do anything wrong tonight they were definitely in for a reward. He smiled happily at the boy who fought both them and himself on the losing side.
That was the moment of Rhiannons demise. The leader slightly turned his head to his companion and nodded once. Next moment a cold hand lay on her shoulder. The retainer that had smelled, of that she was sure, didn't even hold her fast, but she knew there was no way out. He led her to stand next to his leader.
'Oh, hello little cat. Don't you know curiosity kills the cat? What am I supposed to do with you right now?' the leader asked her in a playful way. Another pawn at his hands, Lestrat, the leader chimed. His cold gaze sizing up his newest toy. Rhia shuddered. 'let's see if a little pain on your side loosens up his stubborn tongue.' Lestrat laughed happily. His sadism would be totally satisfied in a while. It hadn't been this long since he had been turned but he had moved up ranks fast. He had the right attitude to please his clan-chief.
'Let her be. I will cooperate. Don't hurt the innocent.' the boy gave in his facial structures more draconic than ever. He seemed too tired to fight any longer. Broken. Even though she feared for her life seeing a proud dragon broken like this made things worse. It felt wrong.
'How chivalrous. A beauty in need. That's all I need to break your stupid clans’ stubbornness. It is a shame how predictable you human lovers are. No fun in interrogating a lovestruck idiot like you. Is she even a friend of yours? Or just a random passer-by? Maybe even our target... ' the Lestrat inquired thoughtfully playing with his sharp nails on the soft spot of Rhia’s neck. 'This game will be even more fun than I could've dreamt of...' Lestrat thought delighted. ‘But even though, I will keep her to ensure the truth in your words… and wouldn’t it be a shame to be offered such a beautiful little plaything and not to play with it? But I will have to be a little more careful than whilst playing with you… humans are so easy to be damaged or worse… so better be sure to be more talkative than before, little dragon.’ Lestrat said and smiled like a Cheshire cat.
Rhiannon could feel his anticipation and tensed even more. She didn't even dare to move a finger. ‘I guess my parents were right about the clans being my demise... Maybe they are really monsters beyond salvation, even if this dragon-prince tries to save me…’ she thought as she painstakingly tried to force down the tears that threatened to flow. They would only make it more fun for that sadistic monster of a vampire that held her in his clutches. She straightened her back and drew a deep breath. Rhiannon would not go down without a fight.
‘Ah a fighter. Maybe I will leave just enough blood in your veins to become one of us, little cat. How would that be? Being an immortal princess of the night. Lord Tepez has always been into the strong ones, maybe he would care for another mistress.’ The leader smiled and let out a throaty laugh that let the tiny hairs on Rhiannon’s neck. She gulped.
‘I won’t allow you turning her into a leech. I would rather kill her myself.’ Mero cried in a fanatic tone that made clear, that he meant every word he said. Even in a moment like this she couldn’t keep herself from admiring the strength and healing abilities of the clan people. Both his eyes were healed again. He was beautiful, but his words made her shiver inwardly. No doubt he meant them. Not that she cared becoming a vampire, but sucking blood still sounded better than rotting six feet under, in her opinion at least.
‘Oh Ho… and I thought all the spirit has gone to your brother. Still not the black prince, but still, hadn’t thought you had it in you. Rumour has it, that you are not even a Royal dragon after all. A mere knight in terms of power. A weakling they say…’ The vampire chortled with a sardonic. His words surely hit the aim as Mero’s features grew even more draconic. Blue scales spread visible on his cheekbones, his eyes were now inhumanly bright blue, his pupils slitted. As an answer the two vampires bared their fangs, their ears became pointed and their hands morphed into claws. Rhiannon shuddered, as she feared that she was going to be a collateral in the fight that seemed to be inevitable.
She had to get away from here. Cautiously she tried to free herself from the vampire’s grip, only to have him tighten his claws around her upper arms in a painful way. No chance to escape. Discouraged she led her head drop. Right now, only a miracle could save her. Her ambition to go down fighting retreat into far distance.
‘Ah there it is the famous self-control of the dragon clan.’ Lestrat laughed out loud, seeing the dragon-prince struggle. It was not going as he had planned out, but that didn’t mean it was bad in any way. Ever since his transformation Lestrat had felt a certain interest in playing with people’s emotions, it fascinated him. Lord Tepez had told him it was a normal development. Lestrat couldn’t say whether that was true or not, but it really didn’t matter. All that mattered was to satisfy his curiosity. He smiled as he wondered how this situation might turn out.
His instincts let him doubt it would end without a fight. The probability of the dragons finding out about his little tete-a-tete with their younger prince rose with every passing minute. But that fact only increased the thrill. He smiled and thrust his sword into one of the wings of the boy at his feet. Mero gasped in pain, that wound would take a good time to heal and hindered him effectively from retracting the wing. Lestrat knew as much, he loved the thrill of literally poking a dragon.
Rhiannon on the other hand couldn’t care less for thrill in her situation. She felt her heart tighten in her chest. 'I wish it was a movie of sorts. Because right now that would be a perfect moment for a heroic entrance. I don’t want to die.' she thought bitterly. Her gaze was fixed on the puddle of blood red and gold in colour that spread under the young dragons back. He wouldn't be able to help her in any way. That was if he didn't lose control and became a problem as well. Despair threatened to drown her. She wasn't able to do anything either.
'Please Robin Hood, Kim Possible... whoever speed up and save us.' she thought helplessly. As if summoned a swoosh resounded. 'Wings' she thought 'maybe the boy’s family'
The vampire must have thought the same. He pushed his underling aside and gripped neck fast. Right now, he could break it like a dry twig. Like a panicking animal’s her eyes widened as fear ran in cold streams through her veins. Never in all her years in war zones she had felt this frightened. 'Damn. I got carried away while playing.' Lestrat thought and knew that he would have to sacrifice at least one of his minions to get away. He had to decrease his collaterals if he wanted to become a vampire general. Such sloppiness didn’t help him reach his goal. 'Well one can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.' he thought. His mission had failed.
Lord Tepez had often told him not to be so harsh to himself. He had only been a full-fledged vampire for 12 years. And his clan thought of him as outstanding, but still this was a serious case of bad luck. If his feeling wasn't completely wrong, the one rushing to the scene was one of the mightiest dragons around. The brat’s big brother. People said he was even more unpredictable than Lestrat himself. That meant right now he had to decide which course of action he should take. Pushing the boy further into transformation, making his brother deal with the fallout of this situation and escape or play a little and sacrifice his minions to escape later, which had the advantage of the possibility of gaining information. He smiled he hadn’t liked them anyway. And he still had his little pawn at hand. His gaze wandered up towards the dark sky.
A dark figure appeared. Black wings and scales a dragon in his draconic transformation. Not human form and not dragon form but a disturbing mixture of both. A killing machine for close quarter fights. Without further ado he used his wings, the very same limb every fiction depicted as weakest part of a dragon as a deadly weapon and decapitated the to vampire minions. Then he shook of the dust that was the only thing that remained of them. But it was not the act of the killing, that made her insides freeze. No, it was the casualty the black prince possessed whilst taking a life was what made her shiver most. ‘That is really a godless way to treat a life, seeing this display I can related to the churches view on them. They really act like monsters.’ She thought. They, both the dragon and the vampire were treating her and the minions like replaceable pawns. ‘The church is right, they are monsters, but so are human warlords and assassins.’ She thought and wondered hoe she could think of such things in her situation.
'You won’t let her go. Will you?' the newcomer asked without any visible emotion. Lestrat shrugged as if unperturbed and answered ‘Nope. I like her.’ But Rhiannon felt his uneasiness his fear towards this dragon. ‘But I might trade her for a way out. You have your brother already, don’t you? And your timing was impeccable as always, he hasn’t told me anything. So, no hard feelings… are there? You vented your anger on my minions, didn’t you? But if I was in your shoes, I would spend some time on educating that whelp, he fell into my hands like a ripe apple.’ Lestrat knew he was playing with fire, but it was his only way of getting out of this situation mostly unharmed. Protectiveness. He intentionally played the dragons instincts for he knew how strong those clan-instincts were. Lestrat just needed to push his opponent into the right direction to create an opening for himself to flee. Looking into the black prince’s eyes he could see his contrahent weighing his options. And then there it was a slight contraction of the slitted pupils. The black prince would agree, of that Lestrat was sure, but he was also sure he would be apprehended.
‘I agree to your proposal. But you will come with me and we will take this to the council.’ The black prince stated seriously. His eyes fixated on his opponent’s, trying to pin him down with his stare.
‘Morgan! You can’t let him off this easy! He hurt me, brother.’ Mero cried, which earned him a cold stare from his brother.
‘Let it be, already. Don’t you think, you have done enough? Getting yourself caught and civilians involved. Again. Don’t you think?’ the black prince, Morgan growled through his dragon fangs. Even Rhiannon felt the ice in his voice, there was more than a little resentment and disappointment between these brothers. She gulped. This tension was toxic for this situation.
‘Well, if you are not sure, I will just do this.’ The vampire said and broke her neck in a single movement. Rhiannon could feel how he tossed her aside like a broken puppet. ‘Shit!’ Morgan said and jumped to her side. ‘Don’t die.’ The black prince said and everything went black.