"I know how you alchemists think! You had to have made an antidote in case you poisoned yourself!" a very angry dragonkin by the name of Ernst Draken roared at Maxine through his communication disc, "Just name your price." Maxine wanted to go take Emily out for a date. In fact, Emily was sitting across from her on the couch while she waited for Maxine to take her out on sed date. As if I would poison myself. Daddy's notes are quite extensive on how to avoid that kind of thing and while I'm immune to most poisons, I still err on the side of caution. Daddy's notes are quite extensive on the precautions needed to avoid self-poisoning. Still, I'm pissed that Ernst Draken had the nerve to bother me right before I went on a date with Emily. I know he has people watching me, so he should know better than to contact me right now. If he had any sense, he would've called me an hour ago. Ugh, I need to put him out of my mind and focus on Emily tonight. To do that, I need to end this call.

"It doesn't matter how you threaten or bribe me. There is no antidote," Maxine replied, "And even IF there were, I wouldn't be inclined to give it to you regardless of the price. I loathe child-murdering psychopaths."

"Fine, then. How much will it take for you to make one?" Ernst Draken asked hostilely, "Everyone has their price."

"I do not appreciate being called a whore," Maxine stated coldly.

"What?!" Ernst Draken asked incredulously, "When did I call you one?"

"Just now when you said 'everyone has their price.' It implies that everyone is a whore and I'm part of everyone," Maxine replied with a frosty tone.

"I...uh... erm...," Ernst Draken stammered and Maxine cut him off, "Find someone else to cure your piece of shit son." She didn't even give him any time to reply as she shut off her communication disc. After taking a deep breath, a smile spread across her lips. Finally, he slipped up enough for me to use it against him. Although, it was a bit of a stretch to use that particular method, but the fucker's been harassing me for three weeks. Although, at this point, it's already too late to even give him something to even partially remove my poison. If I were him, I'd be on the verge of going completely insane and it would take at least a day or two for any antidote to take full effect. At this point, It'd be more merciful just to kill the poor bastard.

"How many times does that make?" Emily asked.

"I lost count after the thirtieth call," Maxine replied honestly. Although, if she really thought about it, she could probably remember the exact number. It's just that she really didn't want to. It would force her to remember the details of the calls as well. It was the biggest downside to having the excellent memory of a cultivator.

"Well, at least, it's unlikely for him to call you again after your latest 'talk,'" Emily said with a smirk.

"Unless, true enough," Maxine said, "So, are you ready for our date?"

"Yes, I was ten minutes ago," Emily said with a hint of grumpiness in her tone, "Where are you planning on taking me?"

"Well, I think we need to get the both of you fed first. I was thinking of that nice high end restaurant that opened up recently. It's serving fresh essence beast meat along with a few other tasty goodies," Maxine said as she stood up and protectively placed her hand over Emily's swollen belly, "And after that, we'll see where the night takes us."

"Sounds good to me, but no flying around or portals," Emily said firmly, "We have no idea what that will do to the baby."

"That's why I had..," Maxine was interrupted by a knock on the front door, "And that would be our driver."

Maxine walked to the front door and opened it to see Vellus Callaran in a three piece suit and tie. "Good evening, Maxine," Vellus Calaran said with a smile, "I'm your limousin driver tonight. I take it that the both of you are ready for me."

"Yes, we are," Maxine said as Emily immediately flanked her. Vellus Calaran moved to open up the back seat door of the limousin and gestured for them to get in. The both of them got into the limo and got comfortable as Vellus took his place as the driver.

"I don't know if I'm being rude, but I'm curious as to who the father of Emily's baby is," Vellus Callaran asked as he started driving them to the restaurant, "As you can imagine, it's cause quite a stir amongst your fans."

"I am," Maxine said with a smirk, "Or rather, my male clone is."

"I ... didn't know that you had a clone at all. Or how it's possible for you to have a male clone as a woman," Vellus Calaran said.

"I used my blood as a base and borrowed my father's Y chromosome to create it," Maxine answered while leaving out the more important details.

"That's amazing," Vellus Callaran said.

"You have no idea how amazing her male clone is," Emily said with a perverted smirk.

"How long until we reach the restaurant?" Maxine asked to change the subject.

"About fifteen minutes," Vellus Calaran replied.

"Alright," Maxine said and was about to have a chat with Emily when her dimensional ring started vibrating, "Damn it. Who's calling me now? Oh, it's Orianna."

With a thought, Maxine pulled out her communication disc and was immediately greeted by her sister, "Hey, Maxine. I got a look at those blood samples you sent me a few days ago and what I found is not good." I sent her Reena and Lucas' blood to see if there were any kind of bloodline curses coursing through their veins. And Orianna was terrifyingly capable when it came to hexes and curses in the previous timeline. The shit that she told me that she did still makes my blood run cold just thinking about it.

"Define not good?" Maxine asked.

"Not good as in multiple curses. There is a curse of extreme aggression, a curse to lower intelligence and even a unique curse that makes it harder for them to become a beastkin," Orianna explained. I thought it was always odd why the dragonkin were so rare. Those fucking dragons must've placed a curse on the hydra species when the realize that they couldn't win without heavy losses and made it so the lesser species would help them keep the hydras numbers down. And to top it off, the dragonkin probably didn't like the competition any more than the dragons did and they put a curse of their own.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Thank you for letting me know, sis," Maxine said. Now, what will I do with this knowledge? I could share it with

"There is more," Orianna said, "These curses were extremely difficult to find. I looked over those samples a dozen times before I found them. What's worse is that the curses cannot be removed without knowing exactly how they were applied in the first place."

"Damn," Maxine cursed, "But do these curses effect Hydrakin?"

"Only one of them does. The curse that amps their aggression and even then it's considered very mild compared to the original effect," Orianna answered.

"There is that at least. Thanks again for looking into it so thoroughly," Maxine said, "I'll talk to you later."

"Talk to you later," Orianna said happily as she ended the call.

Maxine looked up at Emily and she looked angry, very angry. "You know, I've never actually seen you this angry before," Maxine remarked.

"Are you going to tell the Alliance about this?" Emily asked with cold fury.

"I'll tell the high elves about it," Maxine replied, "They already have a grudge against the dragonkin and they're better equipped to use that information."

"Good," Emily said before she started some breathing exercises in an attempt to calm herself down.

"Just a heads up, but I think that our date will be interrupted," Maxine said in annoyance when she sensed Alistair Draken at the very edge of her spiritual sense.

"You'd think they'd take the hint," Emily angrily remarked, "Maybe, you need to 'discipline' him."

"I would love to, but I've been advised not to do that unless he tries something stupid," Maxine replied, "And if he's dumb enough to really annoy me, I'll just teleport him away." Onto a massive pile of cow shit. I know where one is too for just this occasion.

"On another topic, have you heard from the Alchemist Association?" Emily asked.

"No, I havn't actually," Maxine said as she furrowed her brow in confusion, "In fact, their spies went quiet nearly a month ago. I guess they're afraid of my latest poison." Not that I can blame them. But perhaps, I should've mentioned that there is only one vial of it in existence and that I'm the only one that knows how to make it. Well, daddy could probably figure it out if he wanted to, but he's more inclined to kill rather than give someone a fate far worse than death.

"Probably, it's nightmare inducing just thinking about what it does to people," Emily said.

"No kidding," Maxine answered, "Which is why I didn't make much of it and why I never wrote the recipe down. I can't risk anyone getting a hold of it. I can't trust the judgement of others with something so cruel."

"You should destroy whatever is left of that poison," Emily said firmly.

"Already did," Maxine answered honestly. Creating a flame hot enough to incinerate it completely would've been dangerous had I done it on Earth, instead of the moon. I might've accidentally ignited the atmosphere.

"That's a relief," Emily said calmly and she glanced outside the window, "Oh, it seems we've arrived. Although, I wonder what the owners were thinking when they called it the Silver Lady. A fan of yours, perhaps?" Emily flashed a teasing smile at Maxine.

"Probably, but they're one of the few places in the state that can cook essence beast meat without ruining taste or dispersing the energies lingering in the meat," Maxine pointed out as Vellus Calaran opened the door for them.

Maxine got out first and helped Emily exit the limousine by extending a hand. However, as they walked inside, Maxine's mood soured immediately. Alistair Draken was waiting inside for them. Still, she ignored them and walked straight host and said, "We have a reservation under the name Maxine Cinderson."

"If you ladies would follow me," the host said as he lead them to a table. To Maxine's displeasure Alistair Draken was following them and giving Maxine pleading looks. As they sat down, Alistair Draken got on his hands and knees as he silently begged Maxine with his eyes for the antidote. He's throwing his pride away to help his cousin. I actually feel for him, but there isn't much that I can do. Truth be told, I did try to make an antidote, but I lack the skill to actually do it. However, what I made can ease up one of the effects somewhat. Although, I doubt he will thank me for this later.

Maxine audibly sighed and in an exasperated tone, said, "I'm far better at making poisons than making antidotes, but I do have something." She tossed a small vial towards Alistair Draken. He caught it with surprising care. "It won't cure him, but it'll at least allow him to communicate with people within a few feet of him. That's be best that I can do with my limited experience. Be warned. There will be an additional effect to that serum." Technically, I'm not lying. I know that it will cause him to have random bouts of itchiness as long as the poison is still in effect. Also, this serum may or may not make it harder to cure entirely.

"Thank you," Alistair Draken said gratefully as he bowed his head once more and swiftly left. Wow, he didn't even ask what the side-effects are. He'll regret that later.

"I didn't think you had it in you to do that after what that man did," Emily said.

"I didn't," Maxine said, "All I did was give his closest relatives a front row seat as they listen to Rigel Draken's descent into madness. I would've preferred to spare them that, but they asked for this themselves."

"Why have I never heard of anyone with full body paralysis going insane then?" Emily asked.

"Many of them won't have an intense itch that keeps appearing and disappearing at random," Maxine pointed out and tried to warn Alistair Draken about the side-effect via spiritual sense. Unfortunately, all of her attempts to warn him fail to get through the hull of his ship. He wasted no time getting to his ship. Now, what happens is his own fault for not asking what the side-effect was.

"What?!" Emily asked in surprise.

"Yeah, Alistair Draken was in such a rush to get out of here with that serum that he failed to ask what the side-effect was," Maxine admitted, "And I've tried to let him know through spiritual sense, but so far, I havn't been able to get through to him."

"Hopefully, he realizes that before he gives it to his cousin," Emily pointed out, "Having an unreachable itch is bad enough, but not being able to even wiggle to alleviate it would be maddening."

"Tell me about it," Maxine agreed and tried to change the subject, "On another topic, how's work? Is your pregnancy causing any issues yet?"

"Work is fine and aside from loosing a bit of potency to my healing, there is nothing out of the ordinary to report," Emily answered.

"Good," Maxine said, "Just be sure to pay attention to your cravings."

"I know," Emily said with a smirk, "This is like the fourth time that you've mentioned something along those lines today. Stop worrying."

"I can't help it," Maxine admitted as several horrid memories flashed by in her head.

"Is it because of what happened in your visions?" Emily asked.

"Partially," Maxine answered.

"And the rest?" Emily asked.

"Nerves," Maxine said honestly, "I'm anxious about becoming a parent." Although, I do have some experience handling small children from raising Silkie, but nothing when it comes to infants.

"We still have quite awhile before we need to worry about that," Emily pointed out, "And both of your mothers have offered to give us a hand during the first few months."

"I'm surprised grandma Victoria hasn't offered," Maxine commented, "As far as I know, she's either with Orianna right now or on her way. She's practically ecstatic to see her great grand babies."

"Can you really blame her?" Emily asked, "She literately didn't know either of you existed ten years ago and now she's going to be a great grandmother two times over in less than a year. If I was her, I would be smiling ear to ear for months, if not years."

"You forgot about her overenthusiastic affection," Maxine pointed out, "I've been the victim of her hug tackles. She accidentally broke my nose more than once. If there weren't any skilled healers nearby and my impressive regenerative abilities, I would've had a crooked nose."

"Yes, you've mentioned that before," Emily remarked, "Oh! It seems our dinner has arrived, but I don't recall ordering anything."

"I had it arranged while I made our reservation," Maxine said as a fish fillet with a salad and very generous sized piece of key lime pie were set infront of Emily, "I selected a meal that would both taste amazing that would be beneficial for our baby. I also included your favorite desert, key lime pie." Maxine's meal mostly consisted of several kinds of meat dishes and a very large slice of lemon meringue pie.

However, before she could dig into her dinner, she felt a vibration coming from her dimensional ring. She didn't even have to look to know it was Alistair Draken. Of course, he decides to call me when my food arrives. At least, it's soon enough that I can tell him what the side-effect for that serum is now. Might as well get this over with.