by Paula Mabbel
******
The atmosphere in the room felt thick and intimidating. The last time that Toby had walked into a meeting he’d been welcome, but his entrance was only met by frost now. He took his seat next to the blonde-haired witch, but she acted as though she couldn’t see him.
“What are you doing here?” David asked him with a tone full of accusation.
“I wanted to know how your search went. I’ve been thinking about my reaction, and it was wrong. I should have trusted both you and the group in your decision to capture the dragon. I shouldn’t have questioned your methods. I was just eager to meet with the dragon who I thought had saved my life. Surely you can understand that?”
“I can, but you must learn to trust those who know more than you. This is not the first dragon we have gone to capture, and with good reason.”
“This is not the first dragon you have come across?”
“It is not.”
“Did you manage to find the dragon at Southside?”
“We didn’t. He’d gone before we arrived, and we couldn’t find his trail.”
“That’s a real shame,” Toby said slyly. “I would have liked to meet with a real dragon. I’m sure you can understand the lure considering the similarities that I share with them,” Toby explained as he gestured up to his eyes.
“We have all been curious about that,” David said as his eyes fixed onto Toby’s. “If you wish to speak with a dragon, I’m sure I could arrange a meeting. You will need to promise something in return, though.”
“Anything.”
“You must share with the group what he tells you. He has refused to speak to us over the many years that we have held him, but you might be able to draw words from his vocally dry throat.”
“You have my word,” Toby agreed quickly, although he had no intention of sharing anything with the group.
“Then follow me,” David said as he walked away from the group and into the darkness.
Toby followed him warily. He’d never been this far back into the bar before. He’d never had a reason to. The sound of David’s footsteps quickly became his marker for where to step as the blackness consumed him, and then David’s footsteps stopped and a heavy-sounding lock could be heard clicking into place.
A bright white light filled Toby’s eyes with a blinding pain before it slowly calmed and he was once again able to see. He peered into the room slowly and noticed the single metal chair that had been bolted into the ground. A man was sitting in the chair. His brazen orange eyes looked deranged. His long nails had curled around his fingertips, and his long hair was matted.
“Be careful, and don’t get too close,” David warned, pushing Toby into the room.
Toby watched as David closed the door, and the he turned back to the shell of a man who was sitting in chains in front of him. “Can you speak?”
The man said nothing.
“I know your brother, and he’s been searching for you,” Toby said in the hope that it might reach some part of the man that his madness had left behind.
The man still said nothing though.
“I know Jenson and he is looking for you. I’m a friend, we want to help,” Toby said slowly as he edged closer to the man.
The man lifted his eyes from the floor. He looked at Toby curiously, as though he’d never seen a man before. Toby could see a calculated look in his eyes that didn’t suit the madness that otherwise filled his image.
“Bring my brother to me,” he croaked. His throat sounded tight. His voice sounded weak. He dropped his eyes back down to the floor and made it clear that the conversation was over.
Toby knocked on the door, and it was opened quickly. “He refuses to speak,” Toby said convincingly. He shrugged his shoulders and then let them fall, as though he was deeply disappointed.
“I thought as much.” David nodded in a knowing kind of way and then led the way back to the group.
The meeting lasted another hour before Toby could slip back into the city. He walked quickly away from the bar, but kept his eyes behind him. He was unsure whether the group had truly bought his act, and he wanted to be sure that he didn’t lead them straight back to Jenson, who was still staying in the old house. He turned a corner and the house filled his sights. He checked behind him once more before he walked up the stairs and pushed open the heavy wooden door that worked more like a jigsaw piece.
“It’s me,” Toby called out into the darkness. “I’m back.” His calls were met with a long stretch of silence before the creaking floorboards gave away Jenson’s location. “You know, most people reply when that’s called out,” Toby ranted as he walked into the small makeshift living room.
“I’m sure they do,” Jenson said dryly. “What news do you bring?”
“Jeez, give me a chance to sit down first.”
“I’ve been searching for my brother for over ten years. Do not expect me to have patience now that I’m so close to finding him.”
“Well, you’ll be somewhat happy to know that they do have him. I’ve seen him and, I’m not going to lie, he isn’t in a good way. He wants to see you. He asked me to bring you to him, and I think between the two of us we’ll be able to get into where they are hiding him.”
******
Jenson wanted to go right away. He didn’t want to waste another minute with plans, when the basic proposal was to blast their way into the bar. His legs felt itchy. His fingers were tapping against anything and everything they could reach, but his better sense was trying to quiet his urge to fly out of the building.
He knew that Toby knew more about the group than he did. He knew that he needed to understand exactly who he was up against before he went in with his fire blazing. He looked at Toby with a deeply frustrated sigh. “I’ve been waiting so long. How much longer is this going to take?”
“I’m not sure. We need to make sure that we’re prepared. I mean, they’ve managed to keep your brother locked up in that room, so reason suggests it is pretty dragon proof.”
“It’s so frustrating to know that he’s been so close for all of this time. I could have saved him sooner. I could have helped him, but then that night at Southside. I couldn’t let them kill you, and even with your blood you wouldn’t have survived much longer.”
“My blood?” Toby asked Jenson with a quizzical look.
“Surely you know?”
“I know that I’m not quite human,” Toby shrugged.
“You’ve got dragon blood in you. It’s the only explanation for the eyes,” Jenson said, as though that was obvious. “You’re not a pure breed though. You’re not like my brother and I. You’re kind of the result of what happens when a shifter fools around with a human. You’re a strong one, though. Most of you half breeds don’t get the eyes.”
“So is that it? Is that all I get? A pair of bright orange eyes?” Toby seemed unhappy with the explanation.
“Probably. I mean there are ways of boosting what you have, but they can be pretty dangerous.”
“What do you mean ‘boost what I have’?”
“I mean like boost the magical qualities that you already have. You would have more than just the eyes, but none of it will be strong enough to be noticeable.”
“How dangerous would it be?”
“You’d be risking your life,” Jenson said flatly.
“Don’t you think that would be helpful, though? I mean they could already be expecting you to arrive, but they’re not expecting two dragons. What will it take to boost my powers? What do I need to do?” Toby had a wild look in his eyes, but Jenson could tell that he meant it.
“You have to boost the magical DNA in your body,” Jenson explained.
“What, like an injection?”
“No, it’s not quite like that. Magic has its own special DNA patterns. If you’re born with them, then being intimate with other magical creatures can boost them. If you aren’t then there is nothing that can be done.”
“I have to be intimate with a magical creature?
”
“If you want to boost whatever powers you might have, then yes.”
An awkward silence fell in the room as Jenson watched Toby’s thought process run clearly across his face. He arrived at the place that Jenson had thought he would, and he couldn’t help but smile.
“Will you?” Toby asked him.
“If that is what you want,” Jenson said carefully.
“I think so,” Toby stuttered.
Jenson could tell that he would need to take control. Toby had fear in his eyes. It wasn’t a fear that had been born from walking into a situation that was wrong for him. It was a fear of this being his first time with a man, and Jenson knew just how to sooth that.
He reached out and slid his hands underneath Toby’s top. Toby’s skin was hot against his fingertips as he gently drew light circles around his hardening nipples. “I’m going to need you to tell me if I’m going too fast,” Jenson whispered, as he brought his lips to Toby’s chest and replaced the gently traced circles with kisses.
Goose bumps were rising up on Toby’s skin. Jenson could feel them against his lips as he lowered them down onto Toby’s stomach. He could feel Toby’s breathing getting jagged as he roughly dragged in the air around his mouth. As he ran his tongue against the line of Toby’s pants, Jenson could feel the heat from below his waistline.
He brought his hands up slowly and unfastened Toby’s belt. He could feel Toby’s jeans start to slip down his toned ass, and he gave them a gentle pull so that they would fall all the way to the floor. His lips were still moving down. He could feel Toby’s hardness pushing against his chin. He brought his kisses to the tipping point and then he opened his mouth and ran his hot tongue down Toby’s throbbing dick.
He could feel the muscles in Toby’s legs tensing. He sucked harder and faster. He was getting close. He could feel the pre-cum slipping out and sliding across his tongue. He stopped and pulled the hardness out of his mouth. He could see desperation in Toby’s eyes as he looked up to meet them. Jenson smiled.
He stood up straight and walked around, so that he could push his front up against Toby’s back. “I’m going to need you to relax,” he whispered softly into Toby’s ear. He unfastened his pants and started to stroke his own throbbing hardness that was screaming out to be pleasured. He moved forward and thrust himself slowly into Toby. He could hear Toby’s breath getting caught in his throat. He pushed a little further and then reached around, so that he could fuck Toby from the back and the front, and then he let his inhabitations go.
He stood afterwards with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and smoke rising up in small clouds. “Does your throat feel hot?” he asked Toby, who hadn’t spoken since he’d exploded all over the dirty and dusty floor.
“It’s on fire,” Toby croaked.
Jenson smiled. He couldn’t help it. If Toby’s throat was burning then that meant that it had been successful. He could feel a small wave of guilt playing through his happiness, though. There was a side effect to a successful boost that he had failed to mention. He looked at Toby, who still looked a little shaken by everything that had happened—and was still happening—to him. “I have to be honest with you,” Jenson said, because Toby would find out soon anyway.
“Honest about what?”
“There’s a side effect to an effective magical boost that I never mentioned to you.”
“What is it?” Toby asked with a look of panic. “What did you hide from me?”
“It’s okay, you’re not going to die or anything,” Jenson said in the hopes of calming Toby down. “It’s just that, when you boost your magical DNA, it means that you’re carrying more than you should. If it all stayed inside of you then it would burn up and burn you up in the process, so our bodies have evolved to solve the problem. Congratulations,” Jenson finished a little dryly.
“Congratulations?”
“You’re pregnant.”
********
The day had rushed past Toby in a blur of dizzying thoughts and preparations. His body felt as though it was on fire. It had ever since he’d been intimate with Jenson. It was like his blood had started to boil, but it wasn’t wholly uncomfortable. He’d noticed a steady increase in his vision, too. Dark places weren’t so dark anymore, and he was able to see to a much farther distance than he ever had before. It was pretty cool, but Toby couldn’t shake the worry of what Jenson had told him. He was pregnant now. Did that mean that he was going to have to step up and be a father?
“You know this really is something you should have told me about before we started,” Toby said grumpily when he felt a shift in his stomach.
“I should have told you about what?” Jenson asked, as though he was oblivious to the life-changing news he had given Toby earlier in the day.
“That I’d end up pregnant; I mean, that’s a pretty big secret to keep.”
“I didn’t keep it a secret. I just forgot.”
“You forgot?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, I’ve had a lot going on recently if you haven’t noticed. So, I forgot. I remembered to tell you that there were risks. I don’t get what the problem is.”
“The problem is that I’m going to have a magical baby. A magical dragon baby. What do I do with that information? What do I do when it’s born?”
Jenson laughed. It seemed amusing to him that Toby was getting so worked up about it. “You need to calm down. You’re not going to have a baby like regular people do. You’re going to lay an egg, for starters. That egg is going to take like five years to hatch, so you’ve got plenty of time to brush up on your fathering skills.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Dragons don’t just pop baby dragons out. They lay eggs, and those eggs take time before they hatch. It’s the job of the mother, which in this case would be you, to ensure that the egg survives and hatches.”
“So, I’m going to have to protect an egg?”
“Well, yeah, but it’s your egg,” Jenson pointed out.
Toby’s head turned to the back window quickly as an unwelcome noise pulled his attention away from his fretting. He looked back at Jenson and noticed that he’d turned to look out of the window too. Toby could feel the thick air around him moving in waves as something disturbed it. The sound of wood splintering underfoot confirmed and intruder, and both Toby and Jenson darted for the front door.
Toby could feel his heart hammering against his chest. He had always liked to run, but he’d never run like that before. He could feel a tremendous force pushing through his legs as the outside world started to blur around him. He glanced over to Jenson, who seemed to be keeping up without breaking a sweat. “Who do you think that was?” Toby asked without slowing down.
“I don’t know, but I recognize the smell. It was at Southside when I went up there, but it had been faint.”
“What does that mean?” Toby asked him as he tried to fit the puzzle together in his mind.
“I think the staff at Southside were shipping off creatures to this group, and I think they might still be doing it. My brother went to Southside before I got there, and he was captured. They never had a chance with us because of the fire, but if you had survived their attack then I have no doubt that they would have captured you too.”
Toby thought about what Jenson was saying. He didn’t want to admit it, but it made sense. He’d spent a few months in Southside, and during those months they’d been regularly inviting a “doctor” over to examine him. He’d noticed the other kids going missing too, but he’d always thought they had managed to run away or they’d suffered at the hands of the staff to the point of no return.
Toby had spent a lifetime blocking out the thoughts of Southside. It was the darkest moment in his history, and he didn’t feel comfortable returning to it, even in his thoughts. “I think I saw the flyer there, you know,” he said as they finally started to slow down.
“The flyer?”
“For the group. It was pinned up on a noticeboard in the entrance. The week befo
re I started going to the group I had this crazy dream and I saw the leaflet. I knew that I was probably going insane, but I thought I’d check it out. I mean, I’d tried everything else to find you. I found them and realized the leaflet in my dream must have been real, but I couldn’t place where I’d seen it, until now.” Toby’s face was full of worry. He could feel the missing pieces of the puzzle falling into place. He could feel how close he’d been to suffering through the same fate as Jenson’s brother, and the realization sent icy shivers down his back.
“Is this it?” Jenson asked when they’d come to a stop outside of the bar door.
“That’s it,” Toby said. He took a step back from the door.
Jenson joined him about an arm’s reach away from the door. They both started to draw breath into their lungs before they melted the cold right out of the air and blasted the door with fire that was hotter than the center of the Earth.
******
The bar was silent. The air was unmoving. It was clear to Jenson that whoever had been occupying the space was gone. He walked further into dingy room and tried to breathe shallowly so that the damp wouldn’t fill his lungs and extinguish his inner fire. He reached a bunch of tables that had all been pushed together and noticed one of the mugs was still warm to the touch. “They haven’t been gone long,” he whispered to Toby.
Toby shook his head. “I think it was them at the house. You need to follow me. Your brother is through here,” he said. He tilted his head and started to walk down a dark, windowless corridor.
They stopped at a door. Jenson could hear someone breathing on the other side. The breathing sounded jagged, as though the person’s lungs weren’t taking in enough oxygen. Jenson could feel the rage in his stomach starting to volcano out as he tried to blast the door.
“That won’t work,” Toby said as though he’d always known that for certain. “They’re keeping a dragon locked in there, so your dragon powers aren’t going to break down the door.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Jenson snapped, realizing they hadn’t planned for this scenario.
“This,” Toby said, as he pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked the door.