AN: Yeah two chapters! Have fun reading!
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I jerked awake. Skye was on my chest with one of my hands clamped in her jaws. When she saw my eyes were open she immediately dropped it and gave me a pitiful moaning sound.
I sat up and she scuttled over into my lap to moan at me again.
I glanced at my hand. There was a large, red intention, but only a couple of teeth prints actually drew blood. I couldn't get mad at her because she was still moaning at me and I was starting to panic because I had no idea what's wrong with her.
"What's wrong?" She didn't look hurt or like she was in incredible pain, but I wasn't an expert on dragons.
She put an image of half chewed meat and her nursing from her mother into my mind. Dragons were breast feeders. Who knew!
"Are you hungry?"
Her stomach gave a loud growl. She moaned.
Surprisingly I still wasn't upset she bite my hand. She had to be starving. How long had she been wondering on her own before she stumbled across me?
"All right. Let me get dressed and we'll figure out what to feed you." I said.
Skye gave a happy chirp and wagged her tail. Snap lifted her head and glared at the hatchling before burying her paws under her nose.
I walked over to my wardrobe and gave a huff. What in the hell was I going to wear? It was kinda of nippy for a tank top, but it was the only thing with a low back that I had. I really didn't want to cut slits in all my t-shirts and well, t-shirts don't sound like something a mystical half-bred/mediator type would wear.
"Crap." I suddenly realized that I was going to have to tell Zoey and the gang about the collapsing veil and it would probably be noble of me to warn the Tulsa Vampyre Council that this was happening too. Then it probably wasn't a good idea for me to come in one of my ratty looking tank tops.
I finally found a sleeveless top that was rather nice and classy looking, I mean only my shoulders are exposed no cleavage or anything like that, and some nice jeans and my calf hugging high heeled boots.
I yanked my pajamas off and pulled on the clothes. I brushed my hair and clipped my bangs back with a purple jeweled clip. I looked at myself in the full length mirror in the wardrobe door.
My stomach rippled, but I had no idea if it was a good or bad feeling. Old Ray was there, my hair still had its blue sheen and slight curl and my eyes were still the same odd amber color, but she looked different. I looked…ancient. The wings, the tats, even the clothes made me look like some ancient protector of earth. All I needed was some kick ass weapon.
Skye warbled at me.
"All right, all right. I'm coming." I said tearing away from my reflection. I picked her up so she could curl around the back of my neck like one of those fox scarf things.
Her nostrils flared as she sniffed the musty, earthy air. She gave a small squeaky sneeze and miniscule sparks shot out of her nostrils.
"Bless you." I said in my kitty voice.
No one was up yet, but I could hear stirrings behind the blankets. I let out a huff of air. What was I going to tell them? Or how much was I going to tell them?
Not about the whole deal thing. They would be extremely noble and tell me to just say no regardless of the threat to their lives. Then I would be dooming them to slow and painful deaths that would end on me surrendering to him anyway.
I shook my head. I needed to not think about it. I was going to make myself sick with worry.
I walked into the kitchen and plopped Skye on the table. She gave another coo/chirp sound and stood behind me as I looked into the fridge.
What do dragons eat? I mean, she breast feeds, but we don't have formula and people don't make dragon formula. Was she old enough for solids? I really hoped I didn't need to eat raw meat and then vomit it back up like birds do. Ew.
This weird calm came over me and began grabbing things without thinking about it. A jug of milk and package of grounded beef stood on the counter while I put a pan on a burner.
Skye climbed up onto the counter to watch me with her big blue eyes.
I poured the milk into the sauce pan and then rolled the ground beef into little balls before dumping into the milk.
"This is really weird, but I'm going to listen to my instincts otherwise you may starve." I told Skye.
She just looked at me with a questioning expression.
"No one has seen a dragon in this realm since the veil was made, I think." I said. "I'm not a hundred percent sure because I don't know when the veil was made and dragons are a big part of medieval myth. But my point is that there are no dragon manuals around so I have no idea if I'm feeding you right."
She just purred.
I stirred the meat and milk mixture, which actually didn't smell as bad as it sounded, and Skye peered into the mixture.
She looked at the stove and put the image of a small dragon breathing fire from the inside of a metal box.
"Um. Upwalkers in this realm use a magic called electricity."
Question mark.
"It's sort of like…um…harnessed lightening." I said. "It makes everything in here work."
An image of mini suns were placed in my mind.
"Uses electricity."
She rubbed her front paw over her nose.
I dug through the cabinets and dug out a cup and found a pair of leather gloves. I cut off the tip and then bound it to the top of the cup. What I got was a decent baby bottle.
"I guess it'll work." I said.
I poured the milk into the bottle and put the meat onto a plate. I sat down cross legged on the floor.
"Come 'ere Skye, I gots breakfast for you." I said sloshing the liquid in the cup.
She scuttled off the counter and curled into my lap on her back. She immediately began suckling.
This warm, motherly feeling enveloped me. It was just cute and…and…and… it was just cute, okay. It was so cute I was almost in tears. That's only happened a few times, mostly when I watched the Too Cute show on Animal Planet.
When she finished the milk she gave a manly belch.
I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. Who knew such a tiny little thing could belch that loud? I grabbed the plate and set in down in front of her.
She looked at me.
"What?"
She warbled at me.
"It's fine." I picked up a small ball and offered it to her. She sniffed it and then gobbled it down. "See fine."
She warbled at me again. I looked at her. She looked at me, then the plate, and then back at me.
"You want me to hand feed you?"
She wriggled her little body and chirped.
I sighed. I picked up another glob of milk covered meat and offered it to her.
"I have not had you long enough for you to be spoiled." I told her as she snatched the meat out of my fingers.
"Raven?"
I looked up and saw Aphrodite, Darius, Zoey, and Stark standing the doorway. I saw others sleepily peering into the kitchen. The sleepness vanished when they spotted Skye.
"What the hell is that?" Aphrodite asked.
"A flying salamander." I answered. Skye nuzzled my hand and I picked up another piece of meat to give her. She swallowed the meat and licked her lips with a purple colored tongue. She sniffed the air and then turned to see the fledglings and vampyres staring at her.
She let out a warble and hid behind my back.
"What are y'all standing around for?" Stevie Rae asked.
"Ray has a dragon." Zoey said.
"A what?" Kramisha asked.
"Come 'ere Skye. They're not going to hurt you." I said.
"You named it?" Aphrodite spat.
"She was already named. Skye's just a nickname." I said as I stood up to put the meat onto the counter. Skye wrapped her front legs around my leg and I could feel her trembling.
"They're not going to hurt you." I told her again.
"I'm more worried about her hurting us." Aphrodite said.
"She's just a baby. She can't do much damage." I told her as I bent down to hold her against my bosom. She felt more comfortable in my arms and peered at the gathered who were staring at her. I sat down in a chair and stroked her spine.
"Where did you find her?" Stark asked. He pulled Zoey out of the doorway so the other fledglings, my brother, and Stevie Rae could come in and gawk at the silver growth on my chest.
"I came across her in an alley." I said. "I couldn't leave her. She is just a baby. She doesn't even know how to communicate with me via words, only pictures and feelings."
Damien walked over, his eyes were still puffy and red looking and it made my heart ache looking at him, and offered two fingers for Skye to sniff. She relaxed and licked his fingers with her purple tongue. He giggled and scratched the top of her head.
"She's kinda cute." He said breaking out into a smile for the first time in a long while. Evidently those big blue eyes were magic for the soul.
Everyone seemed to visibly relax. They sorted through the cabinets looking for breakfast munchies. But Rephaim paused and studied my face.
"Ray, what happened to your face?"
He came over and turned my face so he could look at my left cheek. Someone gasped. "I thought it was a weird shadow." Someone whispered. He touched my cheek.
"Ow!" I said. It was like his touch unleashed the dam that held the pain back because my cheek was suddenly throbbing.
"Ray, what happened?" Stevie Rae said with big blue eyes.
I chewed my lip while Rephaim filled a baggie with ice.
"I…uh…kinda ran into…um…Damascus."
I thought everyone had been stunned when they saw Skye, but that was nothing compared to the reaction everyone gave me bow.
Evidently Zoey or Stark had told everyone about Damascus because they were all staring at me with pure shock, almost like they couldn't believe I was still here after running into the Immortal who was looking for me. It was so quiet I could hear everyone breathing.
"You ran into Damascus?" Darius said slowly.
I nodded.
"And he struck you?" Rephaim said hotly. He handed me the baggie and pressed the ice to my face.
"I sorta sassed him."
Stark face palmed.
"You think you would get a clue to watch your mouth." Aphrodite said.
"That's funny coming from you." Erin said.
Shaunee giggled. But before she could give twinly remark Darius interrupted her.
"Why did he let you go?" Of course Darius was the one who got to the heart of the issue.
I shrugged. "Not sure." I lied. I couldn't tell them. I should, but I couldn't. They were already probably stressing about the fact Neferet would probably like them dead. No need to mention this as well.
"He wanted my help finding something."
"What?"
I took a deep breath. "He told me that there's a veil that prevents mortals and immortals from traveling between the two realms. But it's collapsing and he wants me to find this key that would (a) prevent that and (b) allow him to open and close portals between the worlds at will."
"And you honestly think he was just a concerned citizen?" Aphrodite sneered.
"Yes Aphrodite, I'm that thick headed and stupid to believe him." I snapped. "He hit me. Last time I checked concerned citizens don't hit people whose help that would like to have."
"Why you?" Rephaim said.
"He mentioned Kalona a lot." I admitted. "I don't think they got along whenever they had met. Also, he told me that because I'm the mediator I subconsciously know where this key is." I shrugged. "Maybe he thought by letting me go off to do my own thing that I could figure out how to tap into whatever I need to and find that key for him faster than if he stuffed me in some danky basement."
Rephaim had put a hand on my shoulder during my little speech and his grip had tightened. I realized that right now we were both the only family for one another right now since Kalona had sorta of disowned us. We were a couple of misfits.
I started humming the misfit song in my head.
"And Dominic just had to leave this morning."
Stark had said it casually, but that didn't stop my heart from clenching and the scars from festering.
Zoey turned to face him. "Dominic left?"
"He said an old friend had called him and was in a real tight jam."
Zoey looked at me for confirmation.
"Yeah." I sighed. I hoped that they couldn't see me falling apart. "He didn't want to go." Rather true, or at least he told me that he didn't want to leave me, but I still wasn't too sure if I believed his words or not. "But he's known me for what, a couple of weeks? He's not my Warrior or Guardian. I told him I would be fine while he goes deals with his old friend." Old friend. How long has he been Damascus's heir? And why couldn't I bring myself to tell them that? It could be I was embarrassed I let him get so close and manipulate me. A tiny little voice suggested that I was protecting him from my friends.
Wrong! If I was protecting anyone it was my friends. Obviously Dominic had gone to some lengths to keep his masquerade as a traveling vampyre so me just outing him could cause some back lash towards my friends.
"No solo flying." Stark ordered.
"You can't tell me what to do!" I said. I shoved and swallowed all my mixed feelings over the Dominic thing, but I think I might have to sneak up to my room and have bit of a cry.
"Raven." Rephaim said. I took the chance and looked up at him. "Please."
"Fine." I said. My voice had turned hoarse. I was scared. More than I hoped I was letting on.
Rephaim hugged me and I clung to one of his arms. Skye nuzzled my arm.
"Come 'ere." Stevie Rae wrapped her arms around both of us.
I laughed. I was so gratefully to have all of them. But there was that awful inkling that I would be the cause for their deaths.