Draconess

Chyronex’s POV

I sit in the tavern with my Venatores. We sit at the back near the ale garden, with windows looking out into the green nursery. I sit on the sill, in my yellow dress, I drink wine and eat plain bread with a slice of cheese… I didn’t have much of an appetite.

I chew slowly, while a butterfly lands on my big toe and instead of feeling uplifted, I see two red eyes in the wings, before it flutters off.

Yet another warning.

I stop chewing, then force myself to swallow.

I almost choke and drink more wine.

I put the empty cup on Andoll’s head as she sits just below me at the table. She happily takes it off her head before dramatically throwing it at the nearest bar tender who is innocently strolling by.

The cup hits him in the eye, and he cries out and falls to the floor.

“Where is my goat?!” Andoll yells at him, “I paid for it two moons ago, you thief!”

“That’s not the goat seller,” I roll my eyes in exasperation, “For the last time, Andoll, that’s his twin.”

“Apologies, the cute nut is persistent in getting that goat,” Lixar forks out a gold coin and tosses it to the injured bar tender who catches it with one hand, “May you have better luck with this coin. But I do suggest you get her that goat soon because… well… Andoll will eat your brother alive if he does not follow through... and I may delight my nut in joining her in such a tasty meal – is that clear?”

“Yes, yes… very clear, yes, I will speak to him again… I am very, very sorry… I do not mean to hinder the Venatores… please… I will do something about it,” the bar tender holds his eye and bows to Lixar in thanks of the gold coin, then he walks out to the back for a breather.

“I smell deceit and it smells like moldy cheese,” Andoll whispers, leaning into the pillows and kicking up her feet onto the long bench, she looks up at me with a warm smile, “Cheer up, Draconess. We are the Hunters. We will burn all the bad omens. Then we will create our own luck. It will help when I receive my goat.”

“Mmhmm, I wish it was that simple, dolly,” I look over her and opposite me, Lixar and Rey sit. Zarcar was there but now he is gone.

I immediately search for him, wondering where he went to, and I spot him walking out the back door into the garden, to come up to my window on the outside.

He offers me a hand.

“No fucking in the daytime!” Lix calls out playfully.

“We’re going for a walk,” Zarcar leans in and growls at Lix, “Shut up and drink your ale.”

“I need more blood,” Rey whispers, and his voice is husky, “I’m going to find As… and I hate these fucking crowds… neither can I tolerate your embarrassing rages,” Rey hisses at Andoll, “We are a Venatores, not goat collectors.”

“…neither can anyone tolerate your murderous nature, leech,” Andoll flips Rey off, and he scowls and stands up.

“Look who’s talking, the little innocent who rides a horse c –”

“SHUT UP! If you must know so badly, I require the goat for As’s birthday,” Andoll admits, tearing up, “Okay?! That’s my secret. I am two months late. He will be so sad if he thinks I forgot.”

Rey’s eyes widen, soften… then harden… as he leans over the table and his long black locks flow over into Andoll’s cup of wine, soiling it, “He is a herbivore, darling,” which is a joke as Asmodeus did have a mortal form.

Andoll just glares and says nothing.

Rey walks off, swearing under his breath.

Andoll and Lixar look at one another with knowing eyes.

“Come to the wine cellar, dolly, I want to show you another goat,” Lixar suggests.

“YES, I will take anything I can get,” Andoll gets up, and I warn her as I take Zarcar’s hand.

“There is no goat,” my words instill further anger into Andoll’s cheeks, in the form of a cute pink blush. The Split Soul will unleash her rage on the cheeky Mystifyer, keeping him busy while I talk to my own mate. Then hopefully Asmodeus can punch Lixar in the face for the countless times he has tricked Andoll into fucking by suggesting there was a goat nearby during the last two moons.

Anyway…

Zarcar finally pulls me up to my feet and I slip my hand around his arm and intertwine our fingers as we walk into the lush green pots, growing fast with the warm and wet weather.

Zarcar’s navy and silver robe, covers his official uniform as the King’s Advisor. I feel pride being on his arm.

“Tell me your secret,” Zarcar murmurs to me, “It burdens you.”

“I am feeling sick about the coming night,” I admit to Zarcar, while my free hand trails over the maiden hair ferns we pass by, “This feeling of foreboding… I feel like a demon is coming... I feel like someone will die.”

“The full moon shines tonight… the gates are opening to Hemon,” Zarcar reminds me, “…so you are probably correct, but we will hunt any vermin that scampers out of hell. So, what is the real problem? The secret Chyronex, to tell me now is better than letting it grow into something else I cannot combat…” so I gather he already knows it is a threat to us all.

“You will punish me when I tell you, but I will tell you,” I squeeze his hand and give him a cute smile, but Zarcar does not smile. He keeps his expression as neutral as Asmodeus. Sigh, here goes nothing, “I did something this morning, oh so recklessly – but in an effort to contain the coming bad omen. I, on my own, opened a portal to hell in the Shadow Green,” I refer to the forest opposite our residence, just outside and below our windows, “I went into hell,” I wait for Zarcar to blow up on me, but he stays quiet – because he wants to hear all, “And I met a new demon. He caught me. It’s called a Lycan. A wolf beast, with mortal blood. My instincts are never wrong and my instincts told me he was the new threat to the Venatores. The Lycan let me go, but I know he let me go to follow me… not right away, but I would have left a scent trail. This demon has pheromones that delay, dampen and thwart my power. Feminine power. Female power. Which means he can combat witches. I have a coven to protect. They already want to fight it.”

“You told your coven before you told me?” Zarcar picks up on this, absolutely infuriated, he shakes his head and keeps walking, his hand tight in mine, “Of course,” he growls under his breath, “What could be more important than telling your own witches versus your Mystifyer about a specifically masculine threat. Combat with this creature will be male to male. And you keep this a secret for half a day, wallowing in your instincts – when I could have been planning a response this entire time. And Hemon… you went into Hell, none of us have ever attempted something so stupid,” Zarcar stops walking, I see his Adam’s apple lower and rise with his agitation… his cheek twitches, “Right…” he proceeds to walk us forward, his mind racing with the fury I’ve ignited. Shit.

“I would have told you, as I just did, I was just thinking to myself. Also I warned the witches first because they are most at risk,” I speak plainly, “Do not be upset at me for that. Going to Hell, I understand that anger. But everything else is not warranted.”

“We are a Venatores,” Zarcar answers me, quietly, but he can’t even look at me as he walks out of the Garden and into the streets of Uldaya, he turns us back to the Palace and we walk north, “Why would you go alone?”

“Because the devil made me his target,” I admit, “And I wanted to get ahead of his threats this time. Ahead of his meddling.”

“It’s been a while since I was… your Keeper,” Zarcar murmurs, quietly, “Without a war against demonic entities, there was no need to tell you how to be after the first Surge was over. But everything is changing, and you’ll need to obey my word again. Your death will be on me if I let you do something so foolish as entering hell again, while a creature designed to end you, comes near. A lack of discipline on my behalf… coupled with your wonderous and gentle nature could be enough to seal your fate. Knowing you, Chyronex, you’ll attempt to tame it. A masculine threat will bend you, that is the devil’s aim here. You must stay with me now. Even if you disagree with my harsh response I cannot let you die so stupidly –”

“So you agree,” I pull my hand from his and I stand in front of Zarcar, putting my hands on his chest, stopping him in his tracks, my eyes wide, “You agree the threat is back… and that there could be another Surge of Hemon. Last time it was to impress me. This time it might be to kill me. We don’t even know how many Draconess’ are left, and don’t lie to me like Lixar and tell me it’s all fine. They’re all dead, aren’t they. We are the last Venatores. Zarcar. Aren’t we?”

My mate’s eyes deepen with his own knowing.

He slowly picks up both my wrists and he takes them off his chest, to tell me his truth.

“You are correct,” Zarcar finds it hard to say the words, and he moves past me, striding fast.

It’s the first time he has admitted this out loud.

I keep up with him.

I am silenced momentarily because… if he truly agrees, he must know.

He must know without doubt that this is the case.

If we are the last Venatores, we are the last Dragons on Earth.

“What secrets have you been hiding from me?” I ask my mate, out of the blue, putting my hand back on his elbow.

Zarcar pulls away from my grasp and I see pain in his eyes.

I try to hold him again, but he snarls as he turns into an alley and moves us back into the shadows, away from the crowds. Zarcar grabs my wrist and pulls me closer to him.

“19 years ago, when we came to Uldaya, I arrived first and I found blood,” Zarcar admits this, for the first time.

“What do you mean, blood?” I ask, searching his eyes, “…Torrent…?”

“Just blood,” Zarcar murmurs, “Like black magic. So I read Torrent’s notes, before he disappeared. I didn’t know what to make of it but maybe I know now. He found a moon priestess, he gave her a temple… of her own… he was taken by her beauty and her mind. Her name was Srebrenka. His last notes were that Srebrenka was not a moon priestess… but some kind of ‘Luna’. A witch marked by the devil. She reported being harassed by pure blooded demons, a wolf kind… Torrent’s very last entry was that he’d look into it for her. I have had a suspicion that he was killed. Now you’re telling me you’ve met a wolf beast, a demon with mortal blood. You’ve confirmed to me that those demons Torrent possibly encountered are breeding with mortal kind. The demon you saw, must be the spawn of the demons who killed Torrent. Even his Ash of Eden did nothing. They’re different, they run on different rules of nature. The devil must be infusing his own magic into our species to corrupt us from the inside out. Our magic is exclusionary to us, sweetheart. The bad omen you are thinking of, is not designed to hurt you. It is a bad omen for all of mortal kind. This is a new kind of attack. A demon army will not come here. He wants these new demons… or a few like it… to integrate into society. To cause chaos. We have maintained control, peace… the devil doesn’t like peace. This is a war on our peace.”

“This is… much more serious, then,” I am not angry Zarcar hid this from me, as it’s nothing we could prepare for or understand. These demons were brand new. Unknown, “We are all in danger.”

Zarcar calms down as his own burden is released… and now while in the shade, he puts his cool palm against my cheek, speaking in his deep melancholy way, “Not if we keep each other safe, I will make sure your witches stay in their beds tonight.”

“They’re my daughters, I couldn’t cope if any of them were –”

“I know, sweetheart, as they are mine,” Zarcar looks troubled though, his black eyes are distant, even as he rubs his thumb back and forth along my cheek bone, “I will post guards as lookouts, nothing will get into the palace, or out.”

“I am worried as Uleya climbs the vines like I, she copied me since she was a child and hasn’t stopped since,” I whisper, “Guards on the outside too.”

“And Asmodeus will patrol the perimeter, as he was hell-born, he will have better senses than us to spot this new danger,” Zarcar nods at me and I also calm down, slightly.

“I don’t want to lose anyone I love,” but as I speak my worry, Zarcar brings his other hand to my left cheek, and he holds my face up and steady with both hands now.

“I will begin training the armies to defend against this new phenomenon… Lixar, Rey, As and I will hone our best magic… and you and Andoll and your witches… will listen to me. Do as I say. I will protect you all,” Zarcar looks stressed that I will disagree.

But I nod and he kisses my forehead as I wrap my arms around him, squeezing him tight.

I trusted my Mystifyer, he was the best dark sorcerer in the country.

But I still felt sick.

Something terrible was going to happen… tonight.

The moon herself was going to let the demon through.

What happened next may just be fate.