Dragon Story

By the time they arrived at the emergency room, I had a pounding headache and had thrown up three times. It took the both of them to get me inside. Once the nurse took sight of me, she helped the men carry me into triage.

\"You poor dear, let\'s get you some help.\"

I nodded weakly and promptly threw up on her shoes. As my stomach was already more than empty, all I got up was bile. It burned my throat and lips, and I grimaced, and blacked out.

I awoke to a steady beeping noise. I turned my head and braced for pain, which, thank the gods, did not come. I focused my eyes, and was surprised to see Mourn. He smiled when he saw me, standing up to come to my side.

\"You are a hardy one.\"

I struggled to sit up, clutching his offered hand. \"Thanks. What happened?\" I pushed the little button on the bed rail that brought the head of the bed up and lay back, supported, but still sitting up.

\"Your concussion was worse than we thought. They had to hospitalize you, and have been waking you up every hour for the past two days.\" That last came from Liam, who came up on my other side. He touched my face, gently, and shook his head. \"I am sorry I didn\'t spot it sooner, Angela.\"

I frowned at him, but couldn\'t ask anything as the nurse came in. Her eyes swept over Liam and Mourn, and she sighed. I was betting someone had a crush. Looking at those two, I knew it. They were worth a stare of two. Hell, even three.

\"I am glad to see you up and smiling. We were worried about you.\" Mourn and Liam moved to the side as she checked my vitals. \"You, actually, are doing great, so it seems. Follow the tip of my pen with your eyes, please.\"

I did as she asked, always the willing patient. Doctors and nurses were doctors and nurses because they had training to be so. They knew what they were doing, so I never gave them any grief over it. She nodded to herself. \"You will need another x-ray, but I don\'t see why you can\'t go home today.\" She spared a glance at Liam and Mourn, watching silently, and smiled again. \"You have the most beautiful brothers, Angela.\" The nurse winked at me then and left without another word.

I frowned and looked over at Liam and Mourn. They both wore the same amused condescending look. \"You are both sidhe, right? Are you using glamour on them?\"

Liam and Mourn turned to look at me. \"Yes, in fact,\" Mourn said, fielding the question,\" we use our glamour to hide how we truly look.\"

\"So how I see you is not how you look?\"

Mourn looked at me and laughed. \"Our glamour doesn\'t work on you. You are immune, due to not only your sidhe blood, but to your dragon blood as well.\"

That last took a second to register. \"Wait. Dragon blood?\"

Liam cleared his throat. \"The dragon\'s that were after you two days ago are royal guards. They do one thing; guard the royal dragons bodies.\" He looked uncomfortable. \"They must have been looking for you. Because of your blood.\"

Oh. \"But, but, aren\'t dragons huge creatures who breathe fire and ransack villages for gold and princesses?\"

Mourn and Liam exchanged amused looks. \"Yes and no.\"

\"Yes and no how?\" I was getting tired of playing twenty questions. Mourn leaned over and placed a finger against my lips, shushing me, just as someone came into the room.

\"Hello, I\'m Robert, and I\'m here to take you to get your cat scan.\"

I nodded. \"Okay.\"

\"Your brothers will have to wait, but we\'ll have you back in no time.\"

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing as he helped me into the wheelchair and took me out. Mourn and Liam my brothers; yeah, right.

The cat scan seemed to take forever, and I was glad for the umpteenth time that I wasn\'t claustrophobic. the technician helped me get back into bed and left with a smile and a wink. This was getting weird.

\"So, how do you guys look right now?\"

Mourn smiled. \"I have red hair, though not the vibrant shad yours happens to be, and darker green eyes. Liam has, I believe, reddish black hair and pale green eyes.\"

\"Minus all the glowing you two all but do, I take it?\" I was a little surprised that they only glowed for me. Even with their glamour, they must have been handsome. Without...damn.
\"So you can\'t see the others glamour?\"

\"Well, I know it is in place, and if I focus, I can see a shadow of it, but neither one of us is good enough to fool the other. Few of the sidhe can. It is a rare talent among us.\"

\"Okay. So you two really are that beautiful.\" They both nodded. My eyes fluttered shut, and I yawned. Mourn walked over and lowered the bed to where he knew I would like it. \"Sleep a little more. You can use it.\"

I nodded, and fell asleep.

The doctor came in sometime later, as I was just waking up. \"Well, Angela, you heal remarkably fast. I am surprised. You are free to go. The nurses will come in with the discharge papers.\" He watched Mourn and Liam as they came back in, a look in his eyes that I was used to seeing in females. He lusted after them, too. It was almost funny.


Mourn drove us home. I expected him to drop Liam off at his house, but we went straight to my apartment. I didn\'t say anything, really I didn\'t mind, taking into account what had happened. But I couldn\'t see how Liam could help me with this.

No one spoke until we were in my apartment. Then, it was me who broke the silence.
\"Tell me everything you know about dragons, and how in the hell I could be one.\"

Mourn draped himself over one end of the couch, while Liam sat down on the other end. Neither one met my gaze.

\"That is a tall order, Angela.\"

\"One perhaps I can answer.\" The speaker stepped out of the hall, smiling. He was tall and broad shouldered, with long dark wavy hair falling just past his shoulders. His eyes were startling, a bright green gray color that a cat\'s eyes sometimes are. I looked to Mourn and Liam. I couldn\'t read them. They had pulled their masks down around them, shutting me off. I turned back to the man.

\"Who the fuck are you?\"

He laughed. \"Didn\'t they tell you anything, Angela?\" His tone was mocking. \"I once knew them, too, much better then you do now.\"

I knew what he was insinuating, but I didn\'t care. \"Tell me why the hell you are here, and leave. I don\'t have to put up with this shit.\"

He walked towards me, glided, really. He moved like a cat, with a boneless grace that only age and skill can give you. He walked around me in a circle, finally coming to a stop in front of me. \"I am here to escort the princess home.\"

I didn\'t like the way he said princess, like it was a curse.

\"Why?\"

He licked his lips, smiling down at me. \"You are the last living heir to the throne. You could be a queen of the most powerful people in the world.\"

\"Maybe I don\'t want to be a queen.\"

\"Then you will be fucked by every royal page until you bear a new heir for us.\"

I liked that thought even less. He smiled at me again. \"Now, will you come?

Your...friends...are also welcome.\" His eyes flicked to Mourn and Liam. I looked as well, keeping the man in my line of sight. Mourn was still draped over the couch, but Liam had risen.

\"Why? You tried to kill her two days ago.\"

The man laughed. \"Those fools overreacted when faced by a royal heir. They are being punished for almost killing the wench.\"

\"You said I\'m a royal heir, right?\"

His eyes flicked back to me, frowning. \"Yes.\"

I stepped back and backhanded him, hard. his head snapped to one side, and he growled. Before I could react, he had grabbed my hand and jerked my towards he body.

\"But you don\'t know where I stand.”

I tried to get away, but he had both my hands pinned behind my back, and he was stronger than a human.

\"Let her go, Deven.\" Mourn had finally stood up, coming towards us. \"Either tell us why you are here, or leave.\"

Deven let me go, and I stumbled backwards, falling against the door.

\"Our king is sick, dying, and has fathered no heirs. The only other of his line, he found out, was a fucking half breed mortal in a line he had been trying to exterminate for the past hundred years.\" That last was spit out, as if it tasted bad. From what I could gather, I bet it was. \"That is why the guards almost killed her. They hadn\'t been told she was the last living heir. They thought she was to be killed, like the others.\"

I frowned at that. Mom had died on a lone stretch of highway at four in the morning. They had said she had fallen asleep.

\"You didn\'t kill my mother.\"

He flicked his gaze back to me. \"I didn\'t personally, no.\"

\"She died, asleep at the wheel.\"

\"Really?\" He laughed. \"If you wish to believe that, the believe it, even though that is not how it happened.\"

I wanted to be angry; my mother had died when I was a baby, just barely a year old. I had no memories of her, and had always felt cheated in school when the other kids talked about their mom. But I couldn\'t be. I suddenly felt old, older than those standing in my living room.

\"What do you want me to do?\"

\"Come, meet your long lost family, and discover pleasures that have been denied your mortal body.\"