by K. A Knight
They climb out of the car and head my way, looking around my vehicle until they spot the missing door. The one holding a notepad pushes up the thin glasses perched on his crooked nose and gapes at the car then me.
“Sir, do you know how fast you were going and that you are, erm, missing a door?” he questions, his voice high and confused.
“I am decorating.” I shrug.
“The car?” he presses, his eyebrow rising.
“Yes, it’s called fashion,” I retort, mimicking human terms I have heard before.
He shares a look with his partner, his eyes narrowing. “Sir, can we have your license, and can you please take a seat in our car?”
“I don’t have time for this!” I snap. “I have a dragon to find and then probably kill, then I have to go to the cold, cursed, mystical mountain to find the sleeping court so they can deal with their subjects so I may retrieve my mate and have lots of sex.” I throw my hands in the air.
They both step back, holding their hands out. The one with the glasses watches me as he raises a radio. “Car 418 to control, we found the escaped crazy, standby for more details, we may need backup and sedatives. He is completely loopy.” He then looks at me with a patient smile on his face. “Sir, come with me, we’ll get you back to the hospital down the road, okay? Maybe there’s a dragon there?”
“No, the dragon is that way!” I jerk my head over my shoulder with a frown.
They share another look and then he pulls a black baton from his side. “Come with us. Don’t resist, make this easy for yourself, kid, they can help you. You must be missing your medication about now, hmm?”
“Medication…kid? Did. You. Just. Call. Me. Kid?” I roar.
“Sir!”
I don’t have time for this. Striding towards them, I punch one square in his face. He falls to the ground, his eyes closed and face pale, blood running from his nose. Jerking, I hiss as electricity races through me. I look down and raise my eyebrow at the black object sticking in my chest. A wire connects it to the other officer.
“That was stupid,” I tell him, and then using the wire I drag him to me. He yelps and tries to get away, but I smash his face down on his car and let him drop to the tarmac.
Frowning now, I gaze around, knowing I can’t leave them here. So I hoist one over each shoulder, head to their boot, and open it. I put them inside and lock it. There, that’s better.
“Car 418, check in, how did the capture of the patient go?” comes through their little radio in the car.
Picking it up, I press lots of buttons. “This is car 418, we have been knocked unconscious.” There, that was nice of me.
A crackle sounds, then barked, panicked talking from multiple people. “418 is down, I repeat, officers down!”
Whistling, I head back to my car and slide in before I set off again.
I drive for over two hours. I have to stop twice more to pinpoint the dragon’s location, and each time it seems to be weaker until, when I halt a third time, I can’t feel it. Sighing, I head to where I last felt it and pull over, having to shift on the side of the road to fly over the trees and up to the top of the hill. Circling in the clouds, I notice an unmoving dark form on the side of the hill. It’s too big to be a human or a bear, so it must be the dragon. Shifting as I land, I walk towards it on human legs, but the smell reaches me first, making me growl.
Death.
Then blood.
There was a fight, and it’s clear now that the dragon lost.
Jumping down the ledge it is on, I glower at the scene before me. One of its wings is bent and hanging over the rocks. It is covered in blood and talon marks. The face is curled inwards, even in death, and its skin is black like burnt coal. Bloody gashes are carved across its body. Its tail is broken off, the end missing. That, more than anything, tells me this was another dragon’s doing.
This dragon fought with another then fled to die? It doesn’t make sense. Crouching down closer, I try to search for anything I have missed. The talon marks are long and wide, so it was a full-fledged dragon, a powerful one too. Widening my senses, I search for any threats, but I don’t even find the trace of another animal nearby.
So, did this happen in Klasfor and then he broke through to escape into these lands? He was probably afraid the dragon would come and finish him off, but it looks like his wounds did before the other one could.
It makes this easier. This was a lost challenge, that is all, even though it is strange to find the body here.
I have no choice though, I have to perform last rites. Unlike the fairy tales based on dragons and shifters, we don’t shift back to human flesh when we die, instead the human body stays trapped inside. We die as we fight, either in dragon or human form. But we can’t be buried as dragons, and to ensure we pass over to Valhem where our gold and wildest desires await, we must have last rites executed. To not do so is a grave insult, reserved only for outcasts and the disowned.
I don’t have the proper tools here, not the blessed knife and bowl, but I will have to improvise. To walk away without performing them would not sit well with me, even if this dragon is unknown to me. I was once their king, and that drive to protect them does not simply fade, it is ingrained into me.
Pulling out the knife I stole from the angry fallen, I slice along my palm and walk around as much of the body as I can, letting droplets of my blood drop onto the body.
“Incremento dislesi, I, Askaliarian of Klasfor, King of the Great Dragons, release your spirit. Relsa spirto, continue your journey, rider of the skies.” After I speak the ritual words, I step back, watching the blood start to sizzle as it melts through the thick outer shell of the dragon. Where it does, I spot the pinkened skin of the human inside start to emerge. It takes a few minutes for the dragon to melt away, and with it, the dragon’s spirit is released, which is now at rest and allowed to move on.
All it leaves behind is the human body. A lot of dragons believe that because we are born in dragon form and spend a lot of our early years stuck in that shape, it is our true form and the human side is our shift. I think we are born of both, which is why we bury the human body or burn it.
Crouching, I turn the corpse slowly to see the face, and when I do, I sigh. I knew him. His short, shaggy dark hair is familiar, as is the royal slope of his nose. He was a mere boy when I left. He used to follow me around the palace, trying to fly, always wanting to shadow me. I often showed him attention. It is sad he is dead. He was strong and proud, everything a dragon should be. That pride is probably what cost him his life. Picking up his body, I hold him delicately as I jump back to the top of the hill. I lie him down and trace my finger over his face. “Sleep now, my friend, your ride is through. I will meet you in the next life.”
Changing my hands back, I dig through the ground with my talons until I have a grave. It’s a good spot, high in the clouds where he liked to fly, and it won’t be disturbed. It is also where he fought his last fight. A noble dragon, laid to rest.
Shifting my hands back to human so I do not disturb or harm his body, I lay him in the grave and cover him in soil, patting it down until it is secure before sitting back on my haunches. I stare sadly down at the grave. It is a reminder of how long I have been gone. He was grown, a true dragon. I wonder what else has changed.
I shouldn’t think about it, that is not my home now, I left for a reason.
For her, before I even knew she existed, and now she needs me. They do not. I whisper goodbye before shifting and launching back into the sky. It is time to head to Rejek and the sleeping council.
They will come with me, I will give them no choice.
They will fear me, because with the way I am feeling now...they dare not refuse me.
“So the vampire doesn’t have a name?” Dume asks, lovingly stroking down my back.
“He either doesn’t remember it or isn’t choosing to, who knows, I might have to pick one because I can’t keep calling him vamp,” I muse.
Dume appears to be thin
king, his hand stilling on my back. “What about Jair?”
“Jair?” I repeat in confusion, and he peers down at me, his eyes flashing red.
“It means to eat death, it is what they used to call the vampires when they were forced to feed on the dead and dying competitors in the fighting rings when I was a prisoner. They were quite literally eating death to survive,” he explains.
“Jair.” I let it flow from my tongue. “I like it, I will ask him.”
Just then we hear footsteps heading our way, so I leap to my feet and look at the chains and groan. They are obviously pissed at me for killing a guard and are still trying to break me and the vampire. They are coming to drag me away again, and I have to convince Dume to pretend to be chained. If they knew he wasn’t, they might hurt or even kill him. He does it begrudgingly, his nostrils flaring and his eyes narrowing as I wink and saunter towards the guards.
“Let’s go, boys, another fun day of torture ahead!”
One of them glowers at me and grips my upper arm, dragging me out and slamming the door behind me. “Ooh, rough, I like it, make it hurt, daddy.”
He thrusts me away in disgust, and I laugh as I tumble into another guard. “No? What about sir? Does that make you hard when you watch them scream and bleed?”
They ignore me then, tugging me back down a familiar path, only this time I keep my eye out for Griffin, but he is nowhere in sight. I hope he’s okay. If any of those winged fuckers hurt him, I’ll eat their souls and wear their bodies like a dress as I fuck up their friends.
The door is opened, and I’m tossed inside before they shut and lock it and walk away. Turning with a grin, I wink at the vamp who is waiting for me. He watches me with hungry eyes, still suspended in his chains. They have taken the guard’s body away, but blood covers most of the room. “Hello, sexy, miss me?” I tease.
“Dawn,” he rumbles, his lips around my name making me shiver. His fangs flash in the dark and I lick my lips, remembering how good his bite felt.
Running my finger across the wall, I saunter around the chamber, keeping out of his reach as his eyes track me, his body not moving an inch. “Another fun day of torture for us both, but I have something to run past you first.” I stop and look at him for a moment. He says nothing, not a big talker, this one, but that’s fine.
“I don’t know if you don’t remember your name or you simply don’t want to use it, so what about Jair?” I suggest. “Apparently it means to eat death, apt, no? I like it.”
“Jair?” he rasps, his eyes far away for a moment. “I have had many names. My human one died with that body, the one they called me as I decimated kingdoms and armies no longer holds meaning, and the one they called me after only reminds me of their hate...Jair. I like it, it comes from you, my fresh start. My saviour and future, Jair. I am Jair.”
“Jair, it suits you,” I reply and step closer, running my finger down his face. He leans into the touch, his eyes closing, his fangs hanging over his lower lip as I trace around them before pricking my finger on one. He groans as I gasp, blood forming on the tip. Eyes flicking open, he watches me hungrily as I press it to his mouth.
He sucks it between his lips, his eyes on me as he laps at my blood, drinking it from my finger. The draw seems to link to my clit which starts to throb in time with each pull of his mouth. Panting, I watch him with lust filled eyes, wanting that mouth on my pussy. Imagining the threat of his teeth as he did that to my clit…
“Jair,” I whisper breathlessly.
He pops my finger from his mouth, and his eyes bleed to black as his lips tip up in a snarl. It sends a shot of lust and fear through me. This is a feral man, I love it.
I step back, and his growl increases until his arms suddenly dart forward. The chains creak and then snap, the manacles still around each wrist. He moves fast, lunging at me.
Grabbing me, he tosses me onto the floor and follows me down, blanketing my body as he wrenches open my thighs. He presses his hard cock to my pussy as he twists my head to expose my throat. Snarling my name, he sinks his fangs into my throbbing vein, making me scream and buck beneath him as he starts to feed.
Each draw of my blood has me rubbing against his cock, wanting him buried inside me, both fangs and cock. He must get the hint because he glides his cock across my wet pussy, teasing me as it bumps my clit and makes me moan. He groans, ripping his mouth away and looking at me. His eyes are still black and my blood covers his lips and chin.
“Yes,” I growl, gripping his hair and dragging him down. He comes willingly as I cover his lips with mine, licking my blood from his mouth.
He kisses me hard, our teeth clashing as our tongues duel. The kiss is frantic and hungry, and he tears his mouth away, panting before he leans down and laps at the blood trickling from his bite. He kisses down my chest, crawling lower until he’s between my legs.
Holy fuck, yes.
“Eat me, Jair,” I demand.
He yanks my thighs farther apart and stares at my wet pussy, his tongue darting out and tracing across his plump lower lip. I groan, fuck, that’s hot. Especially with his fangs still hanging down, he looks like he could kill me and I would gladly let him. I would die happy with his cock buried in me, his fangs draining me of my blood.
Shit, it makes me wetter imagining him doing that. Once upon a time, I would have cringed at these thoughts, at crossing that line between pain, pleasure, and death and playing with it...but now? I crave it, I want it. I want him to try and kill me, to bring me untold pleasure as he does.
He lies between my thighs, his long, lean fingers tracing through my wetness, and his eyes meet mine as he sucks his fingers into his mouth. Jair closes his eyes for a moment as he moans my name. “You taste like death,” he whispers.
Fuck.
Reaching down, I clutch his hair, dragging him towards my pussy and making him laugh. “Now,” I demand.
The first touch of his tongue against my slick folds has me bucking, pushing my pussy to his face. His hands dig into my thighs, keeping me still for his attention. I’m at his mercy and it only makes me needier. I’m so close to coming already, all it would take is…
Yes.
His tongue dives into my pussy before pulling out and flicking my clit over and over again. Some men tease, play, but he doesn’t. He demands my pleasure, forcing it from my body as his fingers dive into my channel, stretching me, pressing against those nerves inside.
Grinding against him, I watch him desperately, my eyes wild, breath panting. My whole body tingles, and I try to resist the rising heat, but I can’t. I’m so close, so close...
He turns his head and bites my thigh, making me scream in release. It comes over me so suddenly, the pain making it so much stronger, my back actually bows. Rearing up over me, he grabs my legs, throws them around his waist as he lines up his cock, and pushes inside my still clenching pussy.
Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I drag him back down, turning my head to offer him my neck. He laps at my vein as he drives into me again and again, his cock slightly curved so it hits that point inside me. It’s brutal, raw, and dirty.
It’s fucking.
It’s claiming.
His cock is almost cold, and the sensation of that icy caress inside my molten heat causes me to cry out and clench around him again, wanting it. Wanting to feel that ice-cold touch everywhere.
“Bite me,” I beg, wrapping my legs higher around him, making him slip farther in until he’s bumping my cervix. That touch of pain, coupled with him dragging along my nerves has me climbing back up to another release, and I want to reach it with his fangs buried in me as he drains me dry.
“Jair, bite me!” I scream.
He growls, pushing my face down as he buried his fangs in me once more, the flash of pain melting to red-hot pleasure that tracks down my throat, to my chest, and then meets his ice-cold desire building in my belly, twining together. The heat and ice leaves me with nothing but a hole for him, keeping me locked in that sensation as it fl
ows through me repeatedly until suddenly, it explodes in a firework of ice and lava, sweeping me away as something clicks into place.
A bond.
My eyes fly wide, he’s my mate!
His teeth leave my neck as he grunts, burying his face there as I feel his cum fill me, his hips stopping. Panting, we lie there, wrapped in each other’s arms with blood dripping from my neck, cum from my pussy, and a smile curving my lips.
Leaning up on his arms, he stares down at me with a smile as he pushes my sweaty hair away from my neck and gently cups my cheek. His touch is so opposite to how he just fucked me.
“Well, I didn’t expect that,” he remarks, and I swallow, my throat dry.
“Me neither,” I reply, my voice hoarse. I feel a bit weak from the blood loss and my thighs are shaking still, but it was worth it. “We are mates,” I mutter, as much for me as him.
“I felt it, I felt you click into place. That part of me that had always been missing, like when air comes back into the room or when you feed and it just feels right. Your edges match mine perfectly, sealing me, rebuilding me to make me whole again. I have been waiting all my life for this, for you. My heart once belonged to another. It’s damaged and used, but it’s yours, as is my soul. They always belonged to you.”
“And it will always be theirs as well. Your daughter and wife. I will never replace them. It’s not a competition, you can still love them and me. I’ll share that space with them, I want to see them in your memories, see how they made you into the man I met here.”
“Dawn.” His eyes mist and he sighs, resting his head against mine. “That was a lifetime ago. Sometimes I feel like it happened to someone else, but thank you.”
His eyes go to the blood, which is dripping slowly from my neck, and he winces. “Sorry, let me heal that.”