Dragon's Mate

Author’s Note: This is the SEQUEL to Dragon. Please read Dragon first otherwise this won’t make sense!

Responses to Reviews from Dragon:

Gslinger: Your review made me happy. Why? Because you liked the story enough to be uber-pissed off that I killed Jaidyn, even when I had been planning on a sequel the whole time.

cobraqueen, Fold39Crane: Thanks for the reviews!

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I watched my lover as he slept. Tatsuo, Drago as he was now calling himself, was still lounging in bed even though it was well passed noon. The sun was spilling in through the open widow while the curtains swept inward with the breeze. The streets of France were alive and buzzing with music, something I might have enjoyed more if I were still alive.

It had been less than a week since Tatsuo had killed me and I have been haunting him ever since. I was angry, of course, but as I had learned these passed few days, anger took a lot out of me. It was strange. Even though I was a spirit—ghost—whatever I could still become tired. It took energy to do even the simplest of things, things I had taken for granted when I was still alive.

I couldn’t touch anything, for I passed right through it, and not even Tatsuo could hear my voice. There was no need to eat, no need to sleep, no reason to exist but exist I did. As far as I could tell I was trapped with Tatsuo for all eternity. Bastard…

I moved closer to the bed and stared down at him. He looked completely different now. His hair was now brown and fell to his shoulders while his skin was tanned, making him look like any other teenage boy here in France. The worst part of it all was that I was still attracted to him.

Tatsuo had played me for a fool, drank down my soul, and then killed my body. By all rights I should hate him more than anything but I didn’t. I was angry that he had killed me but I just couldn’t bring myself to hate him. Whenever I tried memories of our time together stopped me. We hadn’t had more than a sexual relationship but that sex had been the best sex I had ever had and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t forget it.

Moving to the window I looked down upon the streets of Paris, the Eiffel Tower looming in the distance. I had never even been out of the state before and now here I was, in Paris, in another country, and I couldn’t be more miserable. I would never see Kian again or any other member of my family. My apartment, my job, my entire life was now forfeit, all for the sake of feeding this beast.

I turn back to Tatsuo and watch the rise and fall of his chest. He was still alive, still breathing. It wasn’t fair, but then again when was anything in this world fair? I clenched my fist and punched the wall but my hand went right through it.

“Damn it!” I kicked it as well but it only had the same effect. The sound of my voice didn’t even awaken Tatsuo from his slumber and I was angry at him for that too. How dare he kill me and then ignore my ghost?! Bastard!

I wanted to hit him, strangle him, do something but I couldn’t and it only served to piss me off even more. Hovering over him I clenched my fists, wishing I had the energy and the form to hurt him. Tatsuo was lying on his stomach, his arms wrapped around a pillow and the sheets strewn about, barely even concealing his naked body. The nail marks I had left on his back had already disappeared and the large, black dragon tattoo was still as prominent as ever and I wondered why he hadn’t changed it.

I knew now that Tatsuo was Ryu and that Ryu was Tatsuo, just like Tatsuo was also Drago and countless others I didn’t know about. Just how many people had he killed? How many souls had he eaten? I wasn’t even sure how old he was, but the one thing I was certain about was that Tatsuo wasn’t human.

No human could eat souls or kill people the way he did. No human could change forms and completely abandon their identity in favor of another. Tatsuo was not human, but if so then what was he? That question still had not been answered.

I wanted to call him a demon, a devil, but that didn’t seem fitting. Even though he ate souls he didn’t seem to be doing it out of malice. If I had to guess, I’d say he ate souls in order to stay alive. That scenario was more appealing than the former. It allowed me to believe there was some good in him, that I hadn’t died without reason.

I unclenched my fists and tried to rid myself of the annoyance I felt. It wasn’t doing me any good to brood but that was about the only thing I could do these days. That and watch. I was getting very good at watching people. Well, one person in particular.

Tatsuo—Drago—was a hard person to understand. He was completely different from how he had been before but then again it wasn’t all that surprising when recalling how different, yet similar, Tatsuo had been to Ryu. Of course, back then, the two of them had been ‘brothers’ so their similarities might have stemmed from that.

Drago stirred and shifted in his sleep, rolling over onto his back with the sheets twisted around his waist. His genitals peeked out from beneath them and his nipples hardened at the sudden exposure to autumn breeze. Even now I found him sexy as hell and wanted his body, though I couldn’t do anything about it even if I tried.

Reaching out I placed my hand on his stomach and his muscles twitched in response, his skin breaking out into goose pimples. I wondered if I was cold like ghosts were supposed to be or if he was merely reacting to my energy in a way only a non-human could. I wanted to believe in the latter so there was some hope left that he would eventually become aware of my existence, but my pessimism was getting the best of me.

Really, though, it was hardly fair for anyone to expect a dead man to be optimistic in the first place.

Turning away from him I walked into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I was semi-transparent now but at least I could still see myself, and as disconcerting as it was it would be even worse if I had completely disappeared. My eyes, now like Tatsuo’s, were a bright green and glowed back at me with an unearthly light. I wish I had been more of a geek in life, at least then I might know what the cause of this was.

Science probably couldn’t help me though. Science couldn’t explain how Tatsuo had eaten my soul and it most definitely couldn’t explain how the hell Tatsuo was able to completely change his appearance without the aide of surgery or any type of drugs at all. No, this was supernatural. All of it was supernatural and I didn’t understand a bit of it.

I heard Drago stir in the next room and a few minutes later he was padding his way into the bathroom. It was about damned time to. He was able to choose how he spent his days but I wasn’t. No, I had no choice in the matter. I was trapped with him no matter where he went.

A few days ago, when Drago had gotten on the plane to go to France, I had tried to leave him and stay behind in America but I couldn’t. I wasn’t able to move more than 30 feet from him before a soul wrenching pain stopped me dead in my tracks. After that I no longer felt the need to test my boundaries and stuck close by.

The shower turned on and I watch him in the mirror as he stepped inside, the curtain closing behind him. I debated about watching him for a moment but then decided against it. I couldn’t even get dressed, much less do anything else and of course I hadn’t tried anything like masturbation yet. I was a little freaked out by my own transparency and I had to admit I was also a little afraid I that I couldn’t even do that anymore. Not that it really mattered since I was a ghost, but still.

Looking down at my naked, transparent body I sighed. I now wished that Tatsuo had at least killed me with my pants on so I wasn’t left like this. Apparently once you were dead you were dead and anything that was normally done by humans, like getting dressed and touching clothing, was now out of bounds.

Now ever normal things like walking through the airport had become embarrassing as hell. Even though no one could see me I still felt like all of them were staring and had wanted to get out of there ASAP. Tatsuo, of course, had taken his sweet time and had even stopped to eat.

Apparently souls weren’t enough for him.

I snorted and turned away from the mirror, feeling disgust at my lack of control over my afterlife or whatever it was.

A few minutes later Drago stepped out of the shower and toweled himself off, walking back into the bedroom for what I hoped was to get dressed. It was hard enough being transparent, naked, and ignored 24/7 without having to stare at your equally naked lover all day. I hated being ignored.

Following him into the bedroom I sat down on the edge of the bed and watched as he got dressed. Apparently Drago wasn’t as ‘out there’ as Tatsuo and Ryu were for he wore normal clothing compared to the leather, latex, and mesh I had seen him in at the club. Of course he might have just been wearing it because it was a club but those outfits had seemed more his style than just plain jeans and a t-shirt did.

Adorning just that he left the hotel room with only his wallet and keycard on him and I, of course, was forced to follow him. One good thing about being dead was that I could pass through walls and doors, something that came in handy when they were slammed in my face all because Tatsuo couldn’t see me. I was also grateful that I no longer felt heat or cold because then being constantly naked would be even more of a pain.

The walk down the hotel hallways was a horrible experience in itself, but walking down the streets of Paris was even worse. There were people everywhere and just like at the airport I felt like all of their eyes were on me. Like that emperor with his ‘invisible clothes’ or however the story went.

I really wish I had some damn pants.

Drago walked around for a while, window shopping or whatever he was doing, before finally entering a clothing store whose name I couldn’t even begin to pronounce because it was in French. I didn’t think he had any money on him but for some reason that just didn’t matter. I had seen him use some sort of magic on the employees of everywhere he had ‘bought’ something from, making them think he had paid when he actually hadn’t. Everything was free for him and it just wasn’t fair.

Sighing, I watched as Drago tried on various clothing and tried not to seem too interested in watching him change. Not that there was anyone around who could see me, but still. I was supposed to be mad at the man and I found it disturbing that I was more frustrated than anything else.

I would never see Kian or my family again, but while I would miss them I knew they were taken care of. My family had each other and Kian had his own family and then Haruko. But, out of all of them, I think I’ll miss Kian the most. Already I missed having him by my side and felt horrible that he would be the one to find my body. He shouldn’t be forced to deal with something like that, not again.

When he was 16 Kian had lost his little brother to an infection. Carlow had been only 10 at the time. Earlier that year he had broken his leg and apparently the doctor hadn’t sanitized the wound properly which quickly led to infection.

The infection had spread quickly and Carlow had gotten sick. Kian’s family had no idea what the cause of it was, thinking it was flu or something like that, but one day when Kian went to wake his brother up he found that he couldn’t. Later an autopsy report told them exactly what had happened and they then sued the doctor for his improper treatment.

The money didn’t matter to them though. Carlow was gone and there was nothing they could do about it. And even though there was no possible way it was his fault, Kian blamed himself for Carlow’s death. He thought he should have known something was wrong and done more to help him. Never mind the fact that the infection had remained under the cast and out of sight, which none of them could have know. He still blamed himself and not even I could convince him otherwise.

That’s why I had no doubt that my death would be hard on him. I knew he would blame himself for it and I didn’t want that. It wasn’t his fault, it was Tatsuo’s—Drago’s—whatever, but of course he didn’t know that and thus would only blame himself.

I clenched my fists, annoyed once again by my lack of control. It was frustrating. Everything was frustrating now-a-days and Drago was the cause of it all. I wanted to hurt him, I really did, but I couldn’t. It was physically impossible for me now. Maybe I would be able to eventually or at least have some other sort of effect on him but for now I was helpless and I hated it.

Drago cleared his throat and my attention was drawn back to him. He was wearing what looked to be some fancy, expensive, French apparel that I would never have been able to afford when I was alive. It was annoying.

It felt like Drago was being rewarded for killing me.

He adjusted his collar and scrutinized himself in mirror. His eyes were now pale brown instead of the vibrant green I had come to expect. That green still haunted me. It had been the last thing I had seen before I died and as much as they frightened me I was still irrevocably drawn to them.

Moving behind him I caught my own eyes in mirror. The same as his used to be. I had to assume that this green was the natural color of his eyes and that the pale brown was just a cover-up—an illusion—Just another part of this disguise or persona.

I was surprised to find that I missed them, though I really shouldn’t be. They had consumed so much of my thoughts when I was alive that it was only natural that they should continue to haunt me even after my death.

I wanted to see them again.

I wanted Drago to return to being Tatsuo, or even Ryu, but mostly I just wanted to see those eyes again and feel them upon me. A shudder ran through me at their remembrance. The expression I loved the most was the one Tatsuo/Ryu gave me while we were fucking, those bright, green eyes boring into mine.

Drago disappeared back into the dressing room and this time I didn’t bother to follow him. It was so hard to be around him constantly, especially since I just couldn’t get a grasp on what I felt for him. There was anger, frustration, lust, and many others that I couldn’t even begin to sort through at the moment let alone understand.

They were floating around in my mind constantly, so much so that I could barely be sidetracked with anything else. I swear I’ve repeated myself at least a hundred times by now and I don’t even want to think about how many more times it will happen over the course of my ‘afterlife.’

Sighing heavily I leaned against the wall next to the mirror and waited for Drago to get done shopping and wondered if this is what it was like for boyfriends who were forced to go clothes hunting with their partners. I hadn’t had a boyfriend/girlfriend in a long time and even when I had I had never gone shopping with them before. Now here I was, in Paris, waiting for my lover/murderer to hurry up and pick something out.

Well, at least I didn’t have to carry any of his bags around.

Hell, I didn’t even have to wear pants! I snorted in disgust at my own amusement. What I wouldn’t give to be wearing pants right now…

A few hours later—a few long hours that is—Drago finally seemed to be done shopping and was now sitting in front of a café drinking coffee. He had dragged me around to several different stores today for all sorts of clothing and personal effects that I had to wonder if he’d even use. Back in America Ryu had had that ’57 Chevy “Black Widow”, a rare and expensive car from what I knew about it, and he had just left it there without a second thought.

I wasn’t even sure what I was peeved about most; the fact that he had so carelessly abandoned the car because of the car or because he had so carelessly abandoned the car because we had had sex in it. True, after we had had sex I had been tired as hell and could barely stand up but that sex in itself was certainly a memorable occasion. At least for me it was. I was no longer certain about Tatsuo—Drago’s—feelings on the subject.

That was something else that was bothering me; just what the hell was I supposed to call him now? This persona was obviously Drago but I knew him best as Tatsuo and Ryu. I tended to bat between Tatsuo and Drago more often because Drago is who he is now and Tatsuo was the one who killed me. But, with my scattered thoughts, I just couldn’t decide between the two.

I wish I knew what his real name was. That would make this so much easier, but since he was a supernatural creature he could be infinitely old and could potentially have countless personas. I mean, does he even remember what his real name is? I’m not sure I’d be able to if I had to constantly change my appearance, my entire life, after feeding on a soul I needed to survive.

That was another thing. I did understand his reasons for killing me but I still wasn’t happy about it. I supposed that I was just still stuck on that whole ‘why me’ binge when I should be grateful that it was me instead of someone I cared about. I had no doubt that Kian would have gone after Tatsuo or Ryu himself if he had been the one that was chosen. I don’t know what I would have done if he had died like I had.

I leaned on the table in front of me and tried not to pass though it. It was strange, sometimes I passed through things like this and sometimes I didn’t. Like if I tried to hit it my hand would go right through but if I tried to simply touch it I could. Not that I could actually feel the table but I knew it was there.

It was something that was real while I was not.

Stopping myself from engaging a philosophical debate I instead started staring at Drago. His eyes were always attentive, always watching. Its like he was constantly searching for something but he didn’t know what it was or how to get it. Hell, he probably wouldn’t even recognize it when he found it.

His fingers were shorter now, neatly manicured with almost obsessive like perfection. They curved around his coffee cup despite the heat and brought it to his lips without waiting for it to cool. Whatever he was he could obviously handle scalding hot temperatures.

Glancing around I once again noticed all the attention we were getting but of course they weren’t looking at me. They were looking at Drago and I had to admit; his new clothing did look flattering on him and brought on more than a few lustful stares, including my own. And, just like at the bar with Ryu, I wanted nothing more than to take Drago back to the hotel room and keep him for myself. I didn’t want anyone else to put their hands on him.

But I knew it would happen eventually and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Drago would have to feed again and he’d probably end up doing the same things he had done to me, only this time he’d do it with someone else. I wondered if by consuming another soul I’d get to move on, allowing the next to take my place, or if there was just something weird about me that kept me here, attached to my lover and murderer.

If something had to happen I hoped it was the former, because I really didn’t want to stick around knowing that time after time Drago would have sex with someone else, eat their soul, and then change who he was. I was starting to think of him as a partner or at least an exclusive lover and I just didn’t want to deal with everything that came with that. If I were to be honest with myself I’d have to admit that I was afraid. I was afraid of relationships and afraid of getting hurt.

My fear had kept me from experiencing a lot of things while I was alive and now there was nothing I could do about it. It was just another thing to be angry at Tatsuo for. For showing me that I could have had something meaningful with someone but I didn’t. I had stopped trying and I had stopped caring. Kian was right; I had needed someone else in my life.

And now I was stuck with Tatsuo. Ironically my murderer has become the single most important person in my life—afterlife—whatever. He has been constantly on my mind and rarely out of my sight. We could hardly be separated, even if he had no idea I was with him.

Well, he had to have some idea that I was with him, he had consumed my soul after all, but I doubt he knew the extent of it. If he did he was in for one hell of a bitch-fest if I ever found out he had ignored me on purpose.

Growing suspicious I glared at him for a moment before realizing I was acting like an idiot. Drago didn’t know I was here and even if he did there wasn’t much I could do to make him admit it. Rambling on was just not something I did, ever, and even if I tried I doubt I could find that many things to talk about. So annoying the hell out of him by talking was basically out and that left me with practically nothing, exactly what I had started with.

Drago opened a newspaper he had gotten from somewhere and started reading it, leaving me without even the pleasure of staring at him. Sighing I tried to read the back and then remembered that it was in French and that I couldn’t read French. Damnit.

Leaning back in the chair I almost fell out of it when I leaned too hard and passed right through the back. Cursing I leaned foreword again and tried to entertain myself by poking the back of the news paper. Most of the time my finger passed through it but sometimes I was able to hit it, though sadly it didn’t have much of an effect at all.

After a few minutes of that I got bored with it and crossed my arms to pillow my head, watching the people walk by. Just like in America there really were just too damn many of them. All of them talking, singing or making some kind of noise that disturbed the utter silence that I normally preferred. There was just something about human voices that annoyed me. Digital I could handle, but once dealing with them in person…

I’d just rather not have to.

Quieting my thoughts I tried to get in a few moments peace and before I knew it I was slipping out of consciousness.

I awoke to a tugging in my chest and looked up to realize that Drago had vanished. I couldn't believe I had actually fallen asleep, but I had. Getting up I looked around for the man but couldn’t find him in the crowds.

The tugging on my chest became more insistent and I knew that he was getting closer to my distance limit. Closing my eyes I tried to calm myself down and then started walking. When I had tried to leave Drago earlier, and the soul wrenching pain had occurred, I had no idea where he had gone and had worked myself up into a mild panic after realizing this.

Then, in a state of confusion, I ran blindly around the airport, somewhere I had never been before, and somehow I had managed to run right into him, literally. He didn’t notice of course, but once I was back with him the pain had stopped. And after that I was able to calm myself down enough to realize that even without knowing exactly where he was I was able to find him with relative ease once I stopped thinking about it.

The same thing was occuring now. After a minute or two of walking the tugging stopped and I opened my eyes to find Drago standing in front of another store, staring at a piece of jewelry that had caught his eye. Walking closer I saw that it was a dragon pendant, much like the one on his back, and it was wrapped around a small vial that was shaped like a fang. It looked like it held blood in it.

Sighing I placed my hand on his back to keep track of him, though I knew it wouldn’t do me much good. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t know I was here, though it seemed like everything else was. A shiver passed through his body and I glanced at him for a moment before turning back to window to meet his gaze.

Freezing I kept staring at into his eyes and realized that they really were looking back into mine. I heard his breath catch for a moment before he shakily released it. The staring went on for what felt like an eternity until someone bumped into him and the spell was broken.

Turning around Drago quickly walked off back in the direction of the hotel, his bags banging against his thighs and that of others as he forced his way through the crowd. Halfway there someone yelled at him and he slowed down, his expression forming the usual crooked half smile of Drago’s as he apologized and then kept going at a normal gate. He acted as if nothing was wrong now, but I knew better.

He had seen me.

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