"So what are you going to do about the men that are still after you?" Dave asked Liana quietly.

"I don't know," Liana admitted. "I don't want to have to keep running until they die, which could be another hundred years or more even, since some supernaturals live a long time. I also don't want to stop having to use my magic. I could continue to wear this concealment charm, but really, I'd just like to deal with them. Why do you ask?"

"Because I want you to know the farther the pregnancy progresses the more likely it is that the concealment charm you're wearing to protect yourself from them is going to fade," Dave said. "The baby is going to take more and more of your magic and while you'll still have power thanks to the fact that I'm a dragon and we are connected ever since we both drank that potion, that doesn't mean that minor magic like concealment charms won't fade as the baby you're carrying sucks up a lot of your magic as it grows as I warned you about before I got you pregnant. This is one reason why a dragon's mate is always somebody extremely powerful if they're not a dragon themselves, because any babies take a lot of magic to develop from both parents. We are connected as you know, which means that you can use my magic if necessary."

"I haven't felt tired or anything yet," Liana said. "I would certainly feel tired if the baby I'm carrying was sucking up my magic as if it was milk."

"Not necessarily, not unless you tried to use a great deal of magic," Dave said. "Your magic doesn't have anything to do with your normal life energy. If you tried to do some sort of major spell, especially this late in the pregnancy, then you would definitely feel the affects much more so than normally. Not minor things so much, but major spellcasting is out until after the baby is born."

"Well, I have no reason to do magic, especially not a major spell that will exhaust me right now anyway," Liana said. "I'm not saying I won't want to sometime in the future, but right now, I don't really need much magic at all."

"Which is good, because using too much could harm you and the baby, so I would suggest you not do more than a few minor things unless absolutely necessary, like to protect yourself," Dave suggested.

"I'm used to not doing major magic anyway, because it could be noticed by the wrong people. That's the reason they caught my mother. She was careless and showed she had a lot of magic to the wrong sort of people. She told me so, when I talked to her in my dreams. She got away for a few years, but they finally found her as you know."

"Yeah, magic like that is often noticed, unless it's heavily shielded or done very carefully with the bare minimum of power needed. Not always just a lot of the time," Dave said. "People who are criminals always want such major power on their side, so their always on the lookout for people like your mother. Either that or the government wants you to work for them if they happen to notice your magic display. Powerful people aren't usually left alone unless you have powerful protection or you learn to conceal your magical signature."

"Well, you're certainly that, because, even if people don't know how much power you actually possess that doesn't mean that you aren't wealthy, even without all that treasure in that pocket dimension that you use as a trove," Liana said.

"Yeah, those that are rich can often get away with things that others can't," Dave admitted. "I think we should go ahead and deal with that gangster that's after you. Alright, he might not be a gangster like in the normal world, but I consider him so. As far as we know his operation isn't all that big, though it could be and we just don't know it. It's possible he's trying to expand to other supernatural cities and he needs somebody like you to do it. Somebody with a lot of power, that can use that power to threaten people who otherwise refuse to cooperate. Sometimes mere thugs aren't going to get some people to do what they want for whatever villain they're working for. They could have some powerful protection for instance. I can think of a lot of different ways to use somebody with your enormous power base if I happened to be a criminal."

"Believe me, I've already thought of that possibility," Liana shuddered. "If he also knows about my ability at potion making he might want me to do some dark potions that he could kill a lot of people with. There are so many possibilities and every single, one of them makes me shudder. There really aren't that many people that can do really complicated potions, as it takes a certain knack and precision."

"So don't you think that this boss should be dealt with? You can never live your life in freedom until he is," Dave told her and she nodded because she totally agreed.

"At least not until after he is dead," Liana agreed. "How do we get rid of him though?"

"Well, first you remove your concealment charm or just let it fade," Dave explained. "I'm sure that this guy has minions scrying for you and once your concealment charm has faded or you cancel it I suspect that he'll send thugs after you within a day or two. He might even show up himself eager to get his hands on you after all this time, as you've been running from him for 18 years, even if you were concealed from his people for a lot of that. If he doesn't we can always question his minions before we get rid of them."

"You mean kill them don't you?" Liana said not as upset as she should be at the future loss of life. She had been on the run for so long or at least in hiding, because of this criminal boss that she couldn't make herself feel sorry that his minions were soon going to die and also himself.

"Yes, I do, because this guy whoever he is has caused you a lot of pain. He killed your mother, which forced you to run and live on the street in order to survive," Dave pointed out in a growly tone. "That alone would be enough to get revenge for, but he'll only continue coming after you until he is dead. People like that don't suddenly change their spots, as the saying goes. Once he is dead we can quietly slip away, move somewhere else perhaps, or just live our lives quietly right here."

"Won't that have the law after us?" Liana asked.

"No, you know the government of sorcery, doesn't really pay much attention to that kind of thing. I'm sure they know all about this guy that's been chasing you and they'll consider it no great loss I'm sure if he winds up dead, so long as we don't get a whole lot of people killed. They won't care if we kill all of the men working for this guy, and will think it an acceptable loss. They will think that the men who worked for him accepted their fate the minute they started working for a criminal organization. A lot of major criminal bosses and the people that work for them come to a sticky end and the government doesn't do anything at all about tracking down the perpetrators, so long as innocents aren't caught in the crossfire and it isn't someone noticeable like somebody who's wealthy or prominent in society. The government might even be trying to find a way to bring this guy down, but if we do it for them they aren't going to care who does so."

Liana nodded in agreement with what Dave said. She knew how the government worked. Even in the normal world a lot of law enforcement didn't care about people who were supposedly guilty of many crimes if they were taken out by one of their own men or by an outsider. They sometimes didn't bother to track down the person who killed someone who was guilty of a lot of crimes murder, extortion, bribery and many more, so long as they were subtle about it and left no evidence behind.

Oh, they would put in a token effort just to please their bosses, but would eventually shelve it in the cold cases file. Who cared if some criminal who'd had people killed, extorted a lot of money from business people was murdered? This didn't happen with every law officer but a great many of them didn't care who killed some criminal boss, so didn't bother putting in the effort to find the culprit. Of course, unfortunately, a lot of times someone took that boss's place, usually a second-in-command

"Alright then," Liana decided. "Normally, I'm against such a loss of life, but I'm also damn tired of hiding, never able to relax completely. This guy had his thugs kill my mother when she wouldn't cooperate, as I know they figured that I had inherited her power as it happens a lot. You know it's also the major reason I was so leery about getting involved with anyone. I just didn't want to put whoever I was involved with in danger. Trust was also an issue."

"In this case, they were right," Dave said and Liana nodded in acknowledgment of that.

"Yes, they were, but they couldn't have known that, not for sure anyway, though I'm sure they would've found some use for me, even if I hadn't inherited my mother's enormous power. They probably figured that a kid would be easier to manipulate, since I was only 12 at the time they finally found us," Liana grimaced in distaste.

"Except you ran instead and I'm sure they weren't expecting that," Dave chuckled.

"I don't think they really were, as they certainly didn't have anybody to stop me from slipping away. I knew every exit out of the house and I simply slipped out a window," Liana said smiling. "How they knew about me I have no clue unless he had been spying on us for some time but I would think that mom would've noticed that."

"They likely finally managed to scry you, because maybe your mom's concealment charm or whatever spell she had up to obscure herself and you from farseeing spells faded for some reason. I don't think they would've managed to find you otherwise, because I can't see them knowing much about the normal world," Dave said.

"Even if they did the world is a big place and they could look in every city in the world and still not likely run into us so long as we were careful. I think you're right, that whatever spell mom had up started to fade. Maybe it had to be renewed every year or every few years and she simply forgot to do that," Liana said.

There were spells that could conceal whole families or places, but all of them had to be renewed sooner or later. They were very draining and costly, but they could be done and Liana's mother had certainly had the power to do one all on her own.

"That's certainly possible," Dave agreed. "You can also put such a spell into an object and depending on how much power you put into it it could conceal a large area."

Liana hadn't considered that, but Dave was right so she nodded.

"Normally, I'm against killing to, just so you know, but I also know that sometimes it's necessary and I will not hesitate if it's to protect those I love. If we were in the normal world away from supernaturals I would be more careful about how I went about it, because the rules are different there. However, I will never let anybody harm you or any children while I draw breath. I lost almost all of my family to dragon hunters and I won't lose you and the child you are carrying as well as that would destroy me. I wouldn't be alive very long if you were to die, barely minutes and I wouldn't want to be. We are connected now as you know so if you die so do I and I could no more stop it than I could stop the sun from rising every morning."

"I don't blame you," Liana said. "I'm much of the same mind actually. I will do everything in my power to protect my family. I'm not some pacifist that will put my family at risk by trying to negotiate with terrorists. They wouldn't listen even if I tried, or why would they have been so persistent if they were at all reasonable? Alright, they might not be terrorists in the traditional sense, but they've certainly terrorized me and likely others, so to me they are terrorists. He's like the boogieman that I expect to pop out at any moment and say boo before dragging me into hell."

Dave didn't laugh at Liana's description, because his mate had been terrorized for a long time at the idea of being a prisoner to this man and his thugs. He was sure that she'd had many nightmares over the years about being taken prisoner and forced to do this shadowy boss's bidding and as a child she would not have been able to fight back, but now she was an adult and she could.

"I'm surprised you're not laughing at my description," Liana said looking at Dave, studying his expression.

"I would never laugh at you for something you went through. You were only 12 when you had to go on the run and hide in order to avoid capture, so I'm sure that you were terrified a lot of the time. I wouldn't be surprised if you had horrific nightmares about your mother's murder about shadowy figures coming for you."

"I did," Liana said surprised at his accuracy.

"I've been around a long time, long enough to know that the mind is still not fully understood. Children often block things out if they're traumatic enough, but you didn't do that. No, you were able to think logically enough that you knew you had to run, that thes cumbags wouldn't care that you were a child, they would still have forced you to work for them, put slave collar around your neck if you fought to much, one you would never be able to take off on your own. You knew that your fate would be worse than death if you fell into their hands, so you ran, even though that was a dangerous option itself."

"Certainly better than slavery," Liana muttered.

"Yes, I have to agree it is. I'd rather die as a free man then as a slave or a prisoner," Dave said with intense vehemence and loathing in his voice.

"I doubt anybody could keep you contained for very long," Liana snorted. "They would have to have very strong damping spells on whatever cell they put you in and I doubt very much it would be enough to suppress all of your magic. Most supernaturals aren't as strong as the two of us, so there would be no reason to have extra strong dampening spells on any cells."

"Unless they knew in advance at who they were getting," Dave said.

"Now there is a sobering thought," Liana shuddered. "Still, you've been keeping the fact you are a dragon secret for centuries, so I don't see you getting careless now."

"True enough," Dave agreed. "It's rather ingrained at this point to be careful. I'll be showing my true form to others very soon though, but they'll be dead soon afterwards if I have my way."

"I have no doubt you'll succeed," Liana said confidently. "You're form alone will no doubt terrify them and they'll be dead by your flame or your claws soon after."

"Well, if the boss is a no show I'm going to have to keep at least one of them alive, so we can question him. You'll have to mix up some truth potion."

"I doubt he will show, though it's possible, but I think deep down he's a coward and likely won't show unless he absolutely has to," Liana said.

"I have to agree," Dave said respecting his mate's intelligence. "Most criminal bosses that have a lot of minions don't like to put themselves on the frontlines and not necessarily because of cowardliness, though that's a common trait among them. They could just prefer to remain unknown, as they are less likely be caught if they're a total mystery, except to their employees, who would never imagine betraying their boss because of the consequences."

"I hadn't considered, that but you're right. The boss's employees are either loyal, because they are terrified of the consequences of betraying the big man or because the big man rewards them in someway for their loyalty."

"Or they can simply enjoy the work that they do so much they they are happy to work for such a man, a man that allows them to indulge themselves as much as they want," Dave said and Liana shuddered at that, as Dave was quite correct.

"He needs to be gone so we can live our lives the way we want," Liana said quietly and Dave nodded in agreement.

"He does, which is why I suggested it in the first place. He'll never stop trying to get you under his control or at least it's not likely considering how long this boss been after you, so it's better to kill him before that happens. At least you won't have to be terrorized by the possibility of being his slave anymore," Dave said.

"That would be such a relief," Liana said quietly. "I would still have to be careful on how I used my magic, but at least I wouldn't have anybody hunting for me anymore."

"You have to remember that you're not a child anymore and they can't just force you to do something you don't want to do, just because they're stronger. You couldn't fight back as a kid because they could've easily overpowered you, but you're an adult in the fullness of your power now, not a child that is easily controlled. You could blast them into oblivion if you really wanted to."

"That's true and I don't think I would feel guilty at all considering..." Liana said.

"Considering that they've been after you ever since they murdered your mother when you were a kid," Dave finished. "You have every right to fight back against being forced to do things you really don't want to do. Just because they haven't attacked you ever since you got your concealment charm doesn't mean that my argument doesn't still apply, because they'd be after you in a heartbeat once that concealment charm fades," Dave said.

"If they get that collar on me though..." Liana's voice trailed of, as she visibly shuddered.

"Then I would make sure you didn't do anything you regretted, until we could kill the person that controlled the collar, so that it would release you automatically," Dave said.

"And that person would likely be this mysterious boss that's been after me since before I was officially a teenager. I like it," Liana decided, "and it will finally get me out from under the yoke of this boss that I don't even know the name of."

"And then we can either stay here or move somewhere else depending on how things shake out," Dave said. "There are plenty of other supernatural communities all over the world. There is quite a large one in Scotland for example."

"I'd rather stay here. This is where Brigid is after all and she is my best friend."

"Brigid might decide to come with us," Dave said. "She used to traveling around with me, as I would close the shop for a month or so in the summer when she was a child."

"Well, if she does I won't mind the move, as I haven't had a chance to open my shop yet. I can set up shop anywhere and the supernatural community in Scotland sounds perfect. To tell you the truth this city holds nothing but bad memories for me. Oh, I have a few good memories, but not very many. Meeting Brigid and you are two of the few highlights. What about your shop though?"

"I'll just open up somewhere else," Dave shrugged. "I can close this location easy enough, although since I own the building nothing will be able to use the building unless I sell."

"Maybe you could hire someone to handle it instead of closing it," Liana suggested. "After all, Rossi Jewelers has been there in that location for centuries. It would seem rather strange if you just closed it without a decent explanation, especially if you showed up somewhere else."

"That's a good point," Dave considered. "I could likely get somebody to run the store for me and just tell them I was going to open up at another location, that I needed a change. I don't really need to give a reason as it's nobodies business. A lot of people are surprised that Rossi Jewelers isn't a chain anyway considering how long we've been around. I've certainly proven that the original store is successful, so I wouldn't have any problem with opening another branch at wherever we decide to move to. I doubt that most anybody would even notice that I was gone."

"That will only last until the ones that come to your jewelry store more than once realize that you're no longer running it," Liana said.

"True, still, I don't think it'll end up on the 6 o'clock news," Dave said. "Some people might be curious, but not curious enough to worry about it, as supernaturals don't stay in one place for their whole lives. So long as there's no hint of foul play the story will be dropped in a few days."

"No, I don't think it'll end up on the news, it will ripple within the community though, because Rossi Jewelers has been there for a very long time that it's practically a historic monument," Liana giggled, then turned serious and added, "I just want a future away from having to be on my guard all the time, away from prosecution."

"That's what everyone wants and deserves," Dave told her quietly. "To live their lives the way they want so long as they aren't breaking any laws or harming anyone. I want a life with you, one where we don't have to worry so much about men coming after you or me for that matter, just because I refuse to leave your side. We'll take care of this and then be able to live the way we want."

"We had better be prepared for anything as I'm not sure what kind of resources this boss has," Liana warned him. "Who knows how many slave collars he has for instance. If he has more than one slave collar, considering they are supposed to be very rare, how many other resources does he have in order to capture me? Don't just assume that you'll be invulnerable to anything he tries, just because of your nearly limitless magic and immense strength. He might not be able to hurt you seriously, but we don't know for sure, do we?"

"A good point. I'll make sure I'm careful," Dave promised.

"You had better be, because if you're dead I'm dead and so is this child I'm carrying," Liana reminded him placing his hand on her belly that was still flat, but wouldn't be for much longer, as she was nearly a year along now.

"It's better to get it out of the way now, even though you're nearly a year pregnant," Dave said as he rubbed her belly lovingly. "No dragonling is going to survive on their own when they're first born, as just like any normal child they depend on their parents to feed them and change them. Brigid would try her best to look after our son or daughter, but they're many things that she just wouldn't know how to do different from taking care of a normal child. It would likely only end up getting her killed along with the baby and she'd likely be dead for harboring a dragonling after they tortured her for information on where they came from. Those dragon hunters of the past were merciless and I can't see new ones being any different. They would do nearly anything for a profit and while young dragons don't have scales for quite awhile as they take time to grow that doesn't mean that their blood at least isn't valuable, once they change into a dragon for the first time at six months."

"I bet you anything they would keep our child a prisoner until they got too big to deal with safely and get as much blood as they could," Liana said her voice broken with grief.

"They grow slowly, as I said before and they would have to be like 100 years or so before the child would be too big for them to deal with safely in their dragon form."

"But how would they force him or her to stay in dragon form instead of human?" Liana asked.

"I don't know for sure, but I'm sure they're spells out there that could do it," Dave said. "What I do know is if that happens it will be very dark magic to force a dragon to stay in their bigger form and not be able transform, as it's instinctive."

"They could brainwash him a her, you know," Liana mentioned. "That's what I would do if I was the evil sort. Brainwash them into believing that I was a free as I liked so long as I gave blood and scales to the evil guy on a regular basis. If they raised our child from a babe and treated them decently then they would probably be willing to do anything that they wanted thinking that they were doing some kind of great service to mankind. I doubt that they would be allowed to learn the real reason that they wanted the blood or the scales."

"Now there is a high possibility," Dave shuddered. "They would basically be a prisoner of their captives will, even they didn't realize that they were prisoners. That kind of technique takes patience and years to develop, and who knows if this criminal that's after you has that kind of patience."

"I think they do, as he would've given up looking for me a long time ago if he didn't have patience," Liana said.

"While that's true, we don't know they haven't. I don't believe they have, because men like that never stop coming after what they want until either they have obtained it or it is no longer available for whatever reason," Dave said.

"You're likely right, I don't believe whoever's after me is going to stop wanting me for my power at least," Liana agreed. "So should I go ahead and cancel my concealment charm or should we wait?"

"I would go ahead and do it," Dave said. "I have no doubt that they'll be upon you within 48 hours and probably much sooner. You're already a good fighter, due to your years on the street where only the strong survive. Still, I'd like you to stay out of it and let me deal with whatever thugs come, since you're pregnant right now and only six months from giving birth."

"No way, mister," Liana denied immediately. "I might not be able to use much magic due to the pregnancy, but I'm going to be there fighting with everything I am. I have every right to fight for my freedom and while you might be able to handle them alone I have to be there."

Finally, Dave sighed and nodded seeing that his mate was determined. He couldn't blame her really, even if he wanted her to stay safe. She had been terrorized by this mysterious boss that had killed her mother for more than 18 years, even if a lot of that had been in hiding.

"I know you want to protect me, but you have to remember that if you die I do as well. Alright, you're damn near invulnerable in your dragon form from anything they could likely throw at you, especially since they don't know you're a dragon, but what if you get hurt seriously? I could help support you magically until your dragon healing powers come into a effect or if you're hurt really seriously, until we can get somebody to heal you enough that your own healing powers can finish the job."

"Alright," Dave finally said nodding, because Liana was very right and he couldn't really keep out of this fight without knocking her unconscious and tying her up and that would leave her vulnerable, as one of this bosses men could get past him and to wherever he had stashed her.

Liana opened her mouth all you then shut it again when she realized that Dave was agreeing with her.

"Well, that was easy," Liana said looking at Dave in surprise.

"When you're right, you're right," Dave said, kissing her tenderly. "My inner dragon wants to protect his mate and his child, but also realizes that you have a right to fight these men who you've been hiding from for nearly two decades and who you ran from before you got that spell to hide. The only way I could get you to stay out of this fight is to knock you unconscious and tie you up and there's no way I'll leave you vulnerable just in case one of the thugs gets past me."

"You would be in very deep trouble if you did that," Liana warned him.

"I did consider it for about five seconds and then discarded it," Dave promised. "I know better, it was just an instinctive, first reaction."

"Alright then," Liana said being able to sense that he was telling the truth, so she dropped it.

"Should we invite Brigid to this battle? She's good in a fight. I trained her myself so I know," Dave said.

"We probably should, though I hate putting her in danger," Liana sighed. "But we could use all the help we can get, as I have no idea how many men that this gangster can get on short notice. It might be only half a dozen, which I'm sure you can handle on your own or it could be 20 or 30. We know next to nothing about my enemy, but I don't want to risk asking questions, especially since I don't even know his identity."

"Yeah, he's been very good about keeping under cover," Dave growled. "I could go directly to the source, kill him, if I only knew his name and where his headquarters was."

"We'll soon have that information," Liana said. "So let's get ready for the fight of our lives."

"Yes, lets," Dave agreed kissing Liana passionately knowing that it might be one of the last times he ever did so. He had to have faith that he, Liana and Brigid could take care of a few thugs, but still, it wasn't a sure thing, even if the risk of failure was very small due to him being a dragon.

~~~Dave and Liana~~~