When Midnight Comes

A/N: I’m writing like crazy. See, my internet was taken offline for a while, and the only way to relieve my boredom, aside from pinball, was to write. If I keep this up, I’ll be finished by next month. And I won’t guarantee a happy ending. It all depends on what you, my reviewers, want to see.

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I managed to find a nice hospital that didn’t ask questions, in the slums of the district. I didn’t mind that much, considering I was pretty banged up and my appearance drew some stares. It turned out I had three broken ribs, two broken arms, a gash on my right shoulder and a concussion. The nurses all clicked their tongues sympathetically, asking whether or not I had any family left. I replied that I might have some family left in southern Ireland, but they could certainly not foot the bill.

So, as soon as my casts came off and they informed me that I was free to go, I got out of there as fast as my legs could take me. I shifted to half-form with doctors still on my tail and hauled ass out of the hospital.

I hope I didn’t traumatize the other patients too badly. Not that I ran into them or anything, but seeing a six-foot tall dragon-looking thing could give anyone a heart attack.

I morphed to dragon form as soon as I was away from the city and decided to head to America. Magic was nearly dead over there anyway from what I’d heard. It’s not like I’d run into any old friends who would have akward questions.

By the time I got settled in America with a decent job, albeit in a dingy night club that probably sold half their employees as hookers, I was close to fifty years of age. I didn’t look it. I still looked twenty. It was good, in a way.

I worked part-time as a bouncer, part-time as a musician between acts. I was actually extremely good at detecting fake driver’s licenses. I never did tell my employer my secret. I would always take the license and hold it up to the light for show, then staple it to my ‘wall of shame.’ I loved the look on their faces as I put their license up on the cork board and yelled “FAKE”. Some of the fakes were pretty good, too. Truth spells really work.

Oh, yes, I found someone who could teach me how to use my magic. They said that they had worked with Dragons before, and that it was just a simple matter of wanting something really badly.

That and all the right symbols sketched in the air. And the right words. And concentration. Aw, hell, it wasn’t easy at all. I learned though. He did say that I had a natural grip on my power, more so than anyone he had ever seen.

I eventually had to quit the night club and move to a different state, once I outlived the owner and still looked the same. I guess I should have mentioned that I was immortal, shouldn’t I? Oh well.

I decided on Massecusetts. Why Massechuetts? Boston, of course. So I got another job at another skanky night club. As a bouncer. I had brought my cork board in with my resume. They were impressed.

Plus the boss thought I was cute. He tried to make some moves on me until I slammed him into the wall by his throat and told him that under no circumstances would I have sex with a fat forty year old who was horny on alternate Tuesdays.

The other bouncers liked me even more, then. I made some allies at that club.

I found them all at that place, the people that I would call my family now. They weren’t dragons and only one of them was Sidhe. The only reason we were drawn to each other was because we were all… gifted.

First there was Zarina. I meet her right after I slammed my employer into the wall and delivered that wonderfully colorful speech. She was in stitches by the time I let him down, doubled over and leaning against the doorframe. She was big, at least 5’10”.

“Shoot, girl, that’s the best dressin’ down I seen that boy take in a long time,” she told me once she got her breath back. “Zarina. Used t’ live out in Harlem.” I learned about her gift to control the weather later.

“Girl,” she said to me one rainy night, “Choo be catchin’ a cold out here in this weather.” And just like that, I was dry. I mean, it was still raining all round me, but it was like I was standing under and awning or something. My first ally, the Weather Witch.

Keelin was next. She was the one with Sidhe blood, I think she was half and half. I noticed her when she asked for help one night, and I threw the guy who had been bothering her out into the rain. He was under twenty-one anyway, I don’t know how I missed him when he walked in. I stamp all of the minors.

“Thank you,” she had said to me, quietly so that I could barely hear her over the music. I noticed her eyes hairhair then. Silver, both of them.

“Anything for a Fae. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one of the Folk,” I answered, equally quiet. She grinned to herself and I found myself in one of her illusions. At home in the forests of Ireland. “That’s one of the best I’ve seen in a while, but I think Jack is calling for relief at the door. Let me out?”

“Sure. Go ahead,” she said, and released me. My second ally, the Illusionist.

Tzusami I met one evening as he got off the stage. He was immediately beset by at least four customers. I’ll admit that he’s a good dancer NOW, but back then he wasn’t that good. Plus, he looked like he’d been underfed. Tall and thin with black hair and eyes. You could tell he was Japanese.

So I beat two of them off with a stick and noticed that a couple of shadows had grabbed the others and dragged them away.

“Neat trick, that,” I commented as I walked with him to the dressing room.

“So you saw it? Usually it’s too dark or they’re too drunk.” He answered. “Yeah, I use it to get out of small scrapes. I may dance, but I’m NOT a whore.”

“Understandable. Look me up sometime, we’ll do lunch.”
“Sure.” My third ally. The Shadow Master.

It took me a while to find Yumiko. This was probably because she took care of herself far better than the other employees I had met, the exception being Zarina. She worked as everything. Musician, dancer, stripper, hooker… Her morals were shot by the time she got to the club. She was also Japanese, and her English was minimal at best.

So the only reason I found her was because I nodded off by the door on a particularly slow night. And that’s when the dreams started.

They were extemely vivid and had her signiture written all over them. She was trapped and couldn’t get out. I managed to wake myself up and walked around back of the club, where I found a gang of hooligans roughing her up.

A few spells took care of them. “I got your message, in the dream,” I told her.

“Arigatou,” she answered. I dug through my limited supply of Japanese that Tzusami had taught me, but finally resorted to English.

“You’re welcome. Come back inside.” My fourth ally, the Dream Weaver.

Then came Mary. She stuck out right away. She was new. Bright red hair and green eyes. Irish blood in her somewhere. Looking at her reminded me of my mother. I found her kicking some customer’s ass in a corner one day and hauled her off the chick.

“What is with you?! Do you want me to tell the boss to dock your pay?” I shrieked, recognizing her as an employee right away.

“That bitch, she kidnapped some kid and gave her to a child rapist! And she knew it! And you’re a dragon! Let GO!”

“Rekan ability, huh? No matter WHAT you read, don’t go attacking customers. I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t be a very good bouncer if I didn’t stop fights. You can kill her outside.” I snapped.

“You… All right. Sure. I’ll go wring her neck once I leave. That kid was a good girl.” She answered. I was a little baffled at her quick acceptance.

“Um, you want to do lunch?”

“After I cover my tracks,” she said, making light of the fact that she was going to murder someone. She scared me, but I didn’t really care anymore. I could take care of myself.

“Tommorrow at one, at that café on the corner to Brook Avenue. You know which one I’m talking about.” My fifth ally, the Rekan.

Jesi I found as he walked through the door one night. He watched as I checked his license, grinning. When I handed it back to him, he grinned even wider.

“Nice truth spell. I was wondering how you got to be so good,” he said to me.

“You see magic, don’t you? I thought you were giving me a funny look. There’s a few in the club who’ll be using it. I suggest the pull a veil over your vision or you’ll be blinded. I’ve warded all my friends.” I answered.

“Pretty nice thing to do. Maybe we should get together for a drink some time?”

“Sounds good. Give your number to Zarina. You can’t miss her.” My sixth ally, the Seer.

Thomas took me the longest to find, probably because we had entirely different jobs. He was the bartender, I was the bouncer. His job was to get me in trouble. I took exception to this and confronted him on it.

“You see this?!” I yelled at him, jerking the teen’s hand in question under his nose. “It’s the ‘under twenty-one’ stamp. It’s my job. You’re supposed to check the fucking stamp before you serve the fucking drinks, got it?! You’re NOT checking aou’rou’re going to get ME fired!” I finished, baring my fangs at him and letting the kid’s hand drop back to the bar.

“Hey, I just wanted to see how long it’d take for you to catch on. You’re pretty sharp, I’ll give you that. Cool fangs, Nanut Dracil,” he said with a wink.

I immediately stopped growling and stared. He had called me ‘Darklands Dragon’. In MY language. “You know? How did you find out?”

“I pulled it out of your head. You have the worst sheilds of anyone I’ve ever met. And you’re shocked. Calm down, have a drink babe,” he smiled and winked at me.

“You shameless flirt. I suppose you’re an Empath. Wait, no, Empath and Telepath. How else could you have read my mind?”

“You’re good. Lunch? I heard you talking to Mary the other night. She’s crazy, you’d best stay away from her.”
“Yeah. Brooks Avenue, one o’ clock.” My final ally, the Empath.

We all got to be pretty good friends. They accepted me for what I was and I accepted them. We were happy, for a time. A closely knit family for four years. The only thing that marred our lives was the occasional burning of my scars and us having to bail Mary out of jail every other week. I was confident that Myshinek would never be able to find me in the U.S.

How wrong I was. I curse myself for that now…


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A/N: Sorry about the cliffhanger and the choppiness of this chapter.