Dominic was awoken by the cold. She yawned and stretched scrapping her claws across the rock floor of the cave. She walked to a small pile of rocks and began to chew one of them. She was still very new to the whole being a dragon thing. Dominic had just turned nine and was staying in a cave just outside of Gotham. The cave was hard to reach by people but when you have wings that doesn't matter. More importantly she was alone with no one to help her with her powers. All she had was her instincts. Dominic knew she had a family somewhere she just didn't remember who or where they were. She stayed in my dragon form most of the time as it made it more comfortable to sleep on the stone floor although she had to fire the stone every night before going to sleep as to keep my body temperature from dropping. Dominc walked over to a small pile of stones and began to chew one of them. She was too young to breathe fire without their aid. That one stone would allow her to breathe fire for a couple of hours. Dominic longed for her fire to come without the aid of these rocks as they were incredibly bitter tasting. She could hear the crickets chirping telling her that night had fallen. She always waited until night to hunt and only hunted wild game. Her purple eyes glowed brightly as she approached the mouth of the cave. She spread her wings and flew above the forest, her purple scales gleaming in the moonlight and her blonde hair streaming out behind her as she searched for prey.
It was a slow night so she returned to her cave much later than usual. She went to lay down not noticing someone else had entered her cave.
"My, my, my, what a stunning creature" said a voice in the shadows.
Dominic bolted for the entrance but out of nowhere a steel door slammed shut in front of her causing her to slide to a stop and slam into it.
"Now, now none of that. I don't want to hurt you I just want to talk. You are intelligent are you not?" the intruder asked.
At this this she breathed fire at a line of sticks on the wall to illuminate the cave.
"Marvelous" he said. It was the scarecrow. "I want to help you reach your full potential" he said.
Dominic tilted her head slightly but didn't say anything.
"I am a scientist you see. I study fear and with your help we will test the limits of fear." Scarecrow informed her.
White fire surrounded her as Dominic foolishly transformed into human form as she could not effectively speak in dragon form.
"How does that help me?" she asked.
Scarecrow seemed surprised at first to see a child standing before him but then smiled as he threw some kind of powder at her. She growled turning back into dragon form in another mass of white fire but the damage had already been done. She felt strange and she began to see scours of vampires and demons rushing at her. It may sound strange for a four-and-a-half-foot tall dragon to be afraid of these things but she was still a little girl underneath it all. She took a step back but it was not to run. The initial reaction was fight not flight. She struck at her visions striking nothing but air. A few times her claws met the stone wall of the cave leaving marks. She even used her fire a few times to no avail. She fought to the point of exhaustion until she collapsed. Her muscles still twitching as if she was having a seizure. This was what Scarecrow had been waiting for.
When Dominic woke up there was a shackle around her neck and that was tethered to the wall. She began to pull on it with what little strength she had.
"Aw, aw you don't want to do that. That's high grade titanium you'll bring this whole place down before you ever break it." Scarecrow said stepping out of the shadows. "You have an interesting reaction to fear. Most people display the flight reaction you on the other hand display the fight."
Dominic growled and snapped her teeth at him. She even tried to use her fire but the effect of the fire rock she had eaten had worn off show she clawing at him. He narrowed his eyes.
"You are but a child who needs to be taught some respect and I can think of no better way to do that than with fear." He said holding out a remote and pushing a button.
Dominic felt a terrible shock and cried out in pain. She hadn't noticed the second collar before but she felt it now. Dominic was shocked over and over again until she could no longer stand. She crawled away from him whimpering and coward at the end of the length of chain. Scarecrow smiled and stopped achieving the desired effect.
"I think we understand each other now." He said. "Now I want you to go out and hunt. If you don't follow my every command well you know what will happen and I will know."
He undid her shackle and she bolted out the entrance to the cave. She had caught a deer that night so she went after fish at a water fall that she knew about. Dominic caught a few and ate them. She then struck out over the forest. She saw a few deer but she did not dive to attack them. She just kept flying as far away from the cave as possible.
"You're not hunting. What did I tell you about disobeying me?" The voice was coming from the collar.
It began to shock her again. It was making it more difficult to fly. Her cries of pain echoed across the forest. She tried to tear the collar from her neck but it wasn't budging.
"There is no point in fighting me" he said. "Now come back to the cave." At first she didn't obey but eventually she did turn back towards the cave and the shocking stopped.
This ritual continued over the course of several weeks slowly breaking her. Some nights she went out and other nights she remained chained in the cave. She lost count of the number of days she was a prisoner. On the nights she was allowed out of the cave Dominic was ordered to do seemingly meaningless things like leave large claw marks in certain trees or leave a torn apart kill near a path. Dominic didn't know it at the time but these acts were inspiring tails about a ferocious man eating beast living in the woods. She was hardly ever allowed to hunt and as a result grew increasingly thin. Dominic was aware dragons had telepathic capabilities but there was never anyone close enough besides Scarecrow to test her abilities on. She wanted so badly to use her fire as most nights were cold and restless without the use of her fire rocks. They were just out of her reach. Scarecrow obviously didn't know what they were or he wouldn't have left them so close to her.
One night she was ordered to fly to Gotham city and terrify people in the park. As expected people freaked out screaming
"It's the beast."
"Roar for me my pet." Scarecrow commanded.
She did as told.
"Now dive them."
"Someone is going to get hurt here." Dominic thought to herself.
As she dove at an individual she tried her telepathy. "Dive right" she communicated and the person did.
Dominic wasn't sure if that was a coincidence or not so she tried again. The same thing happened. She had gotten it. She wanted to celebrate but the boys in blue arrived. They aimed their pistols and shotguns at her.
"You need to get them to run or they will kill you" said the Scarecrow.
She landed and charged them. A heftier one not in uniform but instead a trench coat yelled open fire and they did. Some of their shots hit Dominic and they hurt but none penetrated her scales. The police officers scattered as she neared them and she jumped over the ones who hadn't moved and their cruisers. Dominic made a wide arc to turn and face the police again.
A black car screeched to a halt in between Dominic and the police.
"It's about time he showed up." said the Scarecrow. "Now listen carefully my pet I want you to tear him apart. Show Gotham that you are to be feared."
It was now or never to know for sure if her telepathy was as good as she hoped it was. Batman charged. Dominic closed her eyes and focused on him.
"Wait don't come any closer he wants me to hurt you and he'll hurt me if I don't. Please i don't want to hurt anyone! I'm scared!" she communicated.
Batman stopped. Dominic kept her eyes closed and lowered her ears fearful of what would come next.
"Hold up" Batman told the police "Somethings not right."
"What the heck do you men Bats?" asked the officer in the trench coat.
Dominic opened her eyes and laid down.
"Like that." Batman relied.
"What's your name? he asked walking towards her.
"Dominic." she replied scooting backwards.
"Are you talking to that thing? The guy in the trench coat demanded.
"She's communicating telepathically Bullock so you can't hear her." He told the officer. "Your voice sounds strange how old are you?" He asked her.
"I'm nine." she said.
"What are you doing I said tear him apart!" yelled the scarecrow over the collar.
Batman narrowed his eyes. "That sounds like the Scarecrow." he said walking closer.
Dominic froze in place.
"Fine then we'll play that game again." he threatened.
The collar began to shock her. She screamed in pain shattering the windows of the police cruisers. Dominic leapt up backing away from Batman before launching herself into the air.
It was hard to fly but she had to get away from people before she did something stupid. She felt a line of some sort loop around her ankle. At first she thought she had snagged something when she took off but she felt someone climb onto her back. It was Batman. Dominic was having trouble keeping both of them in the air , espesially with the collar shocking her. Batman raised one of his batarangs and slammed the sharp point into the collar. The shocking stopped. It was much easier to fly now. Dominic sped up heading straight back to the cave. Her only thought being that she had to get back there before the shocking started again. Batman was still on her back but she didn't care. He jumped off just before Dominic landed in the mouth of the cave. She did not look for Scarecrow. She instead laid by her shackle as she had down countless times before.
"Disappointing" Scarecrow yelled "I give you one simple command and you disobey. And now your collar has shorted out."
He took off collar off but had forgotten to put on the shackle first. He began to examine the collar.
"This has been tampered with" he said shocked. "You stupid child!"
He struck her causing her to yelp out in pain.
"Give it up scarecrow. It's over!" It was Batman.
"Take him child he has invaded your home and means you harm" said Scarecrow as he stepped behind the dragon.
Dominic stood up on her shaky weakened legs.
"You don't have to listen to him" Batman yelled "You are free from his control."
Dominic blinked trying to process what she was just told. She reached her hand up and rubbed the tips of her claws over her neck where the collar had been.
"He's right I am free." Dominic thought to herself.
"Free? She will never be free of me. I am the master of fear she is but an instrument." cackled the Scarecrow.
Anger rose from deep within her. Her spirit no longer felt broken. Dominic wheeled around snapping her teeth at the one who had enslaved her forcing him to back away from her. He had a look of shock on his face
"Fear hah! I'll show you true fear. She was communicating so everyone could hear her. "The first mistake you made was chaining me up. The second was starving me Dominic growled as she advanced towards him.
Her jaws closed around his arm.
"I now I am hungry for flesh."
She saw a look of true fear in his eye. "I, I know who you are I've seen your face!" Scarecrow stuttered.
"Doesn't matter I'm alone in the world and no one is dumb enough to come after a dragon." Dominic growled throwing him against a wall before pounced rolling him across the ground.
She sank her dagger like teeth into his shoulder and raked her claws across his back drawing blood. He was screaming. Dominic felt a cable encircled encircle neck. She stopped her attack. With her teeth still in flesh she growled at Batman in a warning.
"You don't have to do this." he said. "It's not a path you want to go down"
Dominic sighed heavily knowing he right. Deep down she didn't want to hurt him. She was just scared again and hurting. She threw the scarecrow at him.
"Take him and just leave me alone!" she said as she cut the cable from her neck with her claws.
The Scarecrow grabbed Batman. "Get me out of here! she's crazy!" he begged.
Dominic began to retreat to the back of the cave.
"Wait" Batman called, "What did he mean by seen your face."
"My human form. I used it when he first came to my cave to communicate with him since my telepathy wasn't very good. It was stupid of me to do." she sighed.
"You're a child you didn't know any better Batman said. "What will you do now?"
"I'll leave this place tomorrow. I just want to sleep right now." she said.
"I thought you said you were starving" Batman commented.
"I am but I'm too tired to hunt and I don't want to scare anyone else tonight." the dragon stated.
"Don't worry about it" he said" I'll take care of it but you should probably be careful about using your powers." And with that he turned to leave dragging Scarecrow with him.
Dominic picked up one of her fire rocks and chewed it. She burned a sleep circle in the rock and laid down. It had been a long time since She had felt this kind of warmth. Dominic dreamt of food. It was so real she could smell it. Dominic woke with a start. She could actually smell food. She got up and went to the entrance of the cave. There was a large pot full of pot roast stew and the largest roll she had ever seen. Not wanting to be seen Dominic used her tail to bring the pot and the roll into the cave. It was still warm as she drank it. Dominic had to drink it slowly to keep from being sick. It was so good that she ate all of it. She even licked the pot clean. As Dominic ate she caught a familiar scent. Batman's but there was also an unfamiliar scent. She waited until dark to track this scent. She ended up tracing it back to a large mansion on a hill. Dominic set the pot on the front step knocked and hid. An old butler answered the door. He looked around then picked up the pot. He then picked up the stone with a carved thank you note Dominic had set in the pot. He smiled and closed the door.
Dominic headed towards the forests of central city carrying only a few fire rocks and a necklace with three consecutive circles as the charm that she had always worn with her. Since there weren't very many caves in that area She decided it was best to stay in human form most of the time. She still hunted at night just to be safe. One night she caught a glimpse of some very strange looking wolves run through the clearing below her. One of them, a red wolf, paused to look at her then continued on with the pack. Dominic went to sleep that night in my tree not giving the wolves a second thought. She didn't wake up until the next morning. She jumped when she realized she wasn't in the tree anymore. She was in a bed in someone's house. Dominic scampered out of bed and made a B line for the window it was locked. Before she could unlock it the door opened and a woman stepped inside.
"Ah I see you are awake." She saw the fear in Dominic's eyes. "It's ok don't be afraid."
The woman held her hands up in surrender.
"I will not hurt you. My name is Rowena and I too am very different." Rowena had dark toned skin deep brown eyes and shoulder length dark brown straight hair. She was wearing a red dress.
"You are like me?" Dominic asked.
"Not quite dear I am a werewolf and you are what's called a draconidaes. Someone with a dragon form and powers if you will. The territory in which we found you belongs to my pack." Rowena informed her.
"I'm sorry I didn't know I'll go." Dominic stuttered.
"Oh no child, I want you to stay. Being different and alone in this world can be very dangerous. You see I want to teach you what I know about our world. My late husband was a draconidaes and I know some things about it."
Dominic hesitated
"There is one other thing you should know. You have wolf blood in you. That makes you special." Rowena said walking over and putting a reassuring hand on Dominic's shoulder.
Reluctantly the dragon agreed to stay.
There were six other members of the pack. There were Rowena's two sons Sam and Alex. Her sister and brother in law May and James, and two unrelated members of the pack Sarah and her son Martin (Marty for short). Rowena was the alpha of this pack so Dominic lived under her rules. Dominic grew to trust and love her pack mates. She even began considering them her family and she hunted with and learned all she could from them. More importantly she felt safe here.