"So you're pregnant?" Dave asked with an excited gleam in his eyes.
It was a few days after the Dave's fertile period had begun.
"Yep!" Liana said excitedly.
"You're positive?"
"I am," Liana said.
"I'm sorry for doubting you, it's just that it's something I've wanted for so long," Dave tried to explain.
"So you've never had children before?" Liana asked.
"No, as I told you, I always made sure to avoid penetration doing a dragon's mating cycle, unless I used a condom or used a potion and not because it would have been disapproved of so long ago to have a child without being married, but because there were no guarantees that whatever woman I got pregnant would give me the child to take back to raise with other dragonlings. I might have been relatively young for a dragon back then, but I wasn't stupid. Dragons were a known species back then, as it was back before the dragon hunters other then the odd one here or there."
"So that makes you what around 2000?"
"2,5000 actually," Dave said. "I know you think that's old, but it isn't for a dragon."
"No I suppose not," Liana admitted.
"That you're pregnant is terrific news and it's going to be hard to wait until the child is here," said Dave, grinning hugely.
"I know, I'm excited to," Liana admitted, smiling at Dave's excitement and enthusiasm. "I'm not looking forward to when it's farther along in the pregnancy and woman start having problems being hungry all the time, swelled ankles, backaches and some women even get headaches. What a woman goes through to have children."
"Hopefully, your symptoms won't be too bad," Dave said. "I know having to carry the fetus for 18 months is certainly going to be no picnic. That's double the amount of time then it is for normal supernaturals, but unfortunately, dragons take longer to develop."
"I won't be giving the birth to a baby dragon, will I?" Liana asked anxiously.
"If you mean will you give birth to an egg since dragons hatch after the mother gives birth to them the answer is no. Only dragons that are in dragon form at the time give birth to eggs that then hatch. Since you're human you'll be given birth to a live baby that will transform into a dragonling when they're ready to do so, but usually it's at age of six months or so. We are going to have to keep them out of sight until he or she can control their transformations."
"So we won't be able to do normal family activities for awhile," Liana said and Dave shook his head.
"I'm afraid not," Dave said. "We can however, get Brigid to babysit for a few hours anyway when we want to go out to dinner or just have some time to ourselves. Luckily, dragonlings sleep a great deal of the time and are only up for a few hours every day until they are at least 10 or so and their flames don't develop until about then either so we won't have to worry about being burned or at least you won't."
"Wow! That's really slow development," said Liana blinking at the information.
"Well, I told you dragons aren't considered mature until they're at least 500, so their infant stage is long," Dave reminded her. "We'll be happy for the peace and quiet, because once they enter the stage where they are more active we'll have trouble keeping up with them and also they'll be ravenous every few hours for quite awhile after they've reached ten. We'll have to make sure that we stay constantly stocked up on milk and meat in particular. Luckily, for us the meat doesn't have to be cooked, as they'll flame it themselves or eat it raw."
"We'll have to be careful that they don't burn down the house," Liana said.
"That's why dragons lived in caves, at least until their children were older and knew how to control themselves," Dave snorted. "They stayed mostly in dragon form and what furniture there was wasn't in the nursery. In between mating seasons we live just like anyone else."
"Is there anyway we could create a cave right here on our property? Maybe in another dimension? If what you say is true it'd be very easy for any children we have to burn down the house, once the flame comes in. They won't likely mean to do so, but you know..."
"For the first 10 years that won't be a problem but after that it will be," Dave said seriously considering his mate's suggestion. "It might be possible to create a kind of a cave, one just off from my treasure trove in that same dimension. I don't know that it is," Dave warned, "but it is at least a possibility."
"You know, I've always had a talent for transforming things into other things," Liana murmured. "I suppose it could be considered transfiguration like in those Harry Potter books, though it's always been called metamorphosis instead of transfiguration but basically its the same thing. With your limitless power and also my own I don't know why we can't create kind of a nursery in that other dimension, one where we teach them control."
"And at least it will mean I don't have to create another pocket dimension," Dave said. "That took a lot of power originally."
"Well, you said you created a big space," Liana said smiling. She knew from Dave that the pocket dimension that he used as a treasure trove was quite large and that his treasure only took up a small portion of it, so he had plenty of room to expand.
"Yes, it is, but then I wanted something fairly large as I had no idea how much treasure I would collect no matter what it was," Dave said. "I suppose I did go a little overboard, but it sure does come in useful now."
"You could live in that dimension if you really wanted to," Liana suggested. "From what you told me it's certainly large enough for a house of some type, though I don't know how you would get grass to grow. You would certainly be safe from any dragon hunters if supernaturals ever discovered that dragons still existed."
"Perhaps, with magic," Dave suggested. "In any case, if you can borrow some of my power to create a series of caves, something that any children we have won't burn down on accident that would be ideal. By the way, I would never live in that dimension because there's no people. As far as I'm concerned it's just a place to store my stuff. A rather lucky discovery, that pocket dimension, a place that was empty when I found it. Now nobody can access it but me and those I allow, as I made sure of that when I made it my own."
"So you added security, so nobody else could access it, except those you designated," said Liana.
"Oh, there was a very slim chance that anybody would, because alternate dimensions aren't exactly well known, but still, better to be safe," Dave said. "Only those that I allow access can do so without at least being knocked unconscious, if not outright killed."
"I think that's just fine personally," Liana said, as she kissed him into silence and Dave got the hint immediately and kissed her back passionately.
"We should go tell Brigid the good news," Dave said once the kiss had broken.
"She'll be ecstatic for us," Liana said with certainty. "She was certainly happy when she learned that I had agreed to become your mate."
"She just wanted both of us to be happy and neither of us really were," Dave said. "There's a large difference with being happy with life and having a partner that understands you. I had been lonely for a long time and my daughter was well aware of it. That's not to say that I never had sex with a women, but those relationships weren't very long term for the most part. I would've been content to help look after my nieces and nephews, but most of them died because of dragon hunters who didn't care if that dragon had done anything wrong, like eating people. We've discussed this before so you understand what I mean."
"Yes, I do," Liana agreed gravely. "You can't help that your dragon form is valuable in someway, mostly for potions, but if an evil witch got hold of a scale they could control you or at least find out where you were."
"Unless I was someplace magically protected like where my treasure is located," Dave said. "No matter how powerful a witch is they can't locate me in another dimension as it would be like I didn't exist."
"Or like you had died," Liana said.
"I doubt they would believe that," Dave snorted. "They would just wait for me to emerge from wherever I was that was so powerfully protected. Luckily, so long as dragons are careful we no longer exist, except to very few people and that's a good thing."
"I suggest we should go tell Brigid the good news," Liana said finally and Dave nodded.
"Yes, we should and she'll be happy that she's going to be an aunt to whatever you're pregnant with. I'm sure she'll be happy to babysit sometimes."
"You know she will," Liana said, as she gave Dave's hand a squeeze.
~~~Dave and Liana~~~
"So you never have asked how to access my treasure. You know it's in what I call a pocket dimension, but that's it. You've never asked to see it," Dave said, one day, several months later.
"I figured it wasn't really any of my concern," Liana shrugged. "I believed you when you said you had a trove in another dimension, but as how you access it that's for you to know. The only reason I was interested in this other dimension you told me about is so we can perhaps create a series of caves, for a nursery like we were discussing several months ago."
"While I can understand not asking me about security measures you also deserve to know where it is located," Dave said. "I told you that you now have access to it, back when we first got together several months ago."
"I had actually forgotten that but you did," Liana said. "I've been so happy..."
"...It never even entered your mind to ask," Dave finished.
"Yes," Liana said, as she kissed him. "You make me so incredibly happy, happier than I've ever been before, so I'm glad my mother showed up to stop me from making a terrible mistake."
"Still, let me show you how to access it, as you might need to at some point for whatever reason," Dave said, even as he gently held Liana in his arms reveling in her soft skin.
"If you want to, but it's really not necessary, Dave," Liana said.
"Still, I want to show you as you are the one person besides Brigid that I trust. Brigid never goes though, not without my permission. Still, it could be a good escape route if those men ever come after you." It went without saying that even after those men were dead Liana might need to use it for other reasons.
"Alright then, if you really want to show me I won't object, but it's not necessary I promise," said Liana.
Dave simply smiled and kissed her again.
"So I know you hide your piles of gold, jewels and other valuable objects in a pocket dimension," Liana asked curiosity on her face. "I figured that was all I needed to know. I've been curious how other dimensions can exist, as it seems impossible, you know?" Liana said.
"I know it seems rather impossible, which is what makes it the perfect hideaway for my trove. Also, that doesn't mean that there aren't hundreds, even thousands of other dimensions, some with life just like ours. There are ways to get to these dimensions, but you have to have the key and the knowledge is not easy to come by on purpose," Dave explained. "The magical government doesn't want people to know how to get to another dimension for it could be dangerous. A weapon could exist in that dimension that doesn't exist here that could devastate hundreds, even thousands. Not all dimensions are the same, some are farther behind, others are farther ahead technology wise, but each one has its own unique flavor."
"You sound like you've traveled to these other's dimensions, not just the pocket dimension you told me about, but one with the actual people," Liana said.
"I have, but I prefer my life here in my original one," Dave said.
"I always knew you were powerful and being able to go to other dimensions if you want just proves it," Liana said.
"It's not something I do anymore," Dave said. "It takes a lot of power for one thing, something, I admit I have in abundance and for another some dimensions are rather violent and don't welcome strangers. You don't want to know what they could do to you or to me."
"So this pocket dimension just existed and you decided to store your treasure there? Somewhere where nobody, but you and Brigid could get to it?"
"Well, other people could get access to it if they had the proper instructions on how to do that and also the power or even knew it existed," Dave said. "Still, here's how you do it."
Dave walked to one of the walls in the room they were in and raised his hand saying some words that Liana didn't recognize. She thought they were in a now dead language, Cyrillic perhaps. It was probably something so obscure that she'd never know what language it was unless Dave told her. She couldn't see Dave picking a language that still existed today, no matter how rare, so that somebody might be able to figure out how to access his trove, even if Liana doubted they would get very far because of the security measures Dave had mentioned that he had put in place.
Suddenly a glowing doorway appeared and Dave turned back to her gesturing her forward.
Liana came forward without hesitation knowing that Dave would do nothing to harm her and entered a bright space filled with mounds of gold, silver and gemstones. There were also objects d'art that would likely be extremely valuable if they were ever sold, not that she could see Dave doing that but it was just something that had entered her mind.
"Wow, Dave! This is spectacular," Liana said, as she gazed at the mounds of gold and silver.
"I'm glad you think so," Dave said grinning in satisfaction at Liana's rather glazed look.
"How can I not?" Liana asked as she turned to Dave who was standing just inside the doorway looking rather smug. "I mean I've never seen, so much money in all my life and I know all this gold will translate into the far more then is piled here. Just one of these gold coins, which I can see is a doubloon is probably worth hundreds, even thousands of dollars. You have a vast fortune, just in what is piled here and that doesn't even include, all the paintings of other objects d'art."
"Several billion at least," Dave said waving a hand negligently, as if he didn't care that he had a vast fortune here.
"Money doesn't really matter to you," Liana said in wonder.
"No, it really doesn't," Dave shrugged. "This was all gathered when I was just a young dragonling really. Dragons grow slowly as you know and although they look adult at 18 in their human forms they are still considered quite young and immature by dragon standards. Even 100 is still young by dragon standards and dragons really aren't considered fully grown until they're at least five centuries, as I told you months ago. Young dragons have this urge to collect as much treasure as they possibly can and it often doesn't matter what kind it is. Gold, silver gemstones, valuable objects like golden goblets or paintings, it can even be something that gains value over time like baseball cards, movie posters, or signed autographs from famous stars, even artifacts from ancient cultures can be considered valuable."
"So it's not necessarily gold that a dragon lust after," Liana said
"There will still be some gold objects coins and things, but it might not be a dragon main area of interest," Dave shrugged. "Every dragon I have ever met was different and although most of the ones that come from two dragon parents lust after gold, gems and other valuables, those that get together with a powerful supernatural and have dragonlings tend to lust after other things. There's nothing wrong with this, as collecting baseball cards aren't likely to get you murdered, because not many people realize the value of them if sold in the right market."
"But baseball cards can be extremely valuable to a collector," Liana said.
"And so can other objects as a lot of things take on value after awhile," Dave said. "It all depends on what people take an interest in."
"You're a full dragon, so you have to do traditional dragon hoard," Liana said, as she looked around.
"Yes," Dave said, as he watched amazement and enjoyment appear on Liana's face.
"I can see why you couldn't afford to pay me so much for that necklace I brought you, not to mention the other pieces," Liana said, as she looked over at a shelf of ancient manuscripts that were likely quite valuable. In fact, she would bet money, that most if not all of them, were out of print and had been for quite some time. Centuries for most of them probably. "No wonder you didn't try to cheat me like most people would do. With the money you have accumulated here and not just in the obvious gold and silver, you don't need to worry about anything when it comes to creature comforts."
Liana turned from studying the bookcases that held, several thousand books at least and turned to where there were multiple wine racks with countless bottles of wine and all of them were likely worth a fortune.
"I wouldn't have cheated you anyway, because I built my store on honesty," Dave shrugged. "Most people might believe that I'm a descendent of the original owner, one who believes in the same values, but most never know that I'm the same one that started the store centuries ago."
"Have you read these books?" Liana asked curiously.
"Of course, I have or I wouldn't have placed them here," Dave said simply. "You're welcome to read them to, as while they're ancient it's just as if they were new, because I had a spell built-in to the bookcases that keeps the books just as new as when they were first bought."
"I wouldn't want to ruin something so valuable," Liana protested, even while she felt honored that Dave would let her read these ancient tones.
"I do have some more contemporary books in another case, ones that aren't as old," Dave said.
"So I see you have thousands of bottles of wine here," Liana said changing the subject. "Do you ever drink any of them or are they just for show?"
"Yes, I do," Dave said calmly. "I have thousands of bottles though, but since I'm not an alcoholic there's enough here to last me probably for the rest of my life. There's no point of collecting them if I don't enjoy them."
"Why put them in here though if they're not something you keep around?" Liana asked.
"Well, for one thing I have access to my trove as you called it from anywhere I am. It doesn't matter if I am in say Japan or Australia I can access it and it's certainly more convenient than having wine in a location that I'm not at when I want to drink one of them."
"So you could access your trove from anywhere even in the human world?" Liana asked.
"It would have to be done under cover to make sure no humans saw as they are not allowed to see what I'm doing, but yes, I could if I wanted to. The pocket dimension is technically, attached to me so it travels wherever I do."
"However, did you manage that?" Liana asked in astonishment
"Because technically the pocket dimension doesn't exist in this realm and therefore, it can be accessed from anywhere in the world so long as you know the proper incantation. I suppose it's not really attached to me, it just isn't in this dimension. It isn't somewhere you can travel physically without saying the proper spell that opens the doorway to grant access. I added several powerful spells of my own for security reasons and I guarantee you that no one can access it except those I allow."
Liana considered that and then nodded as that did make sense.
"That makes sense," Liana said finally. "I'll take your word for it, because I don't know a thing about traveling to other dimensions. I didn't even know other dimensions existed before you told me."
"It's not exactly very common knowledge," Dave said. "Serious scholars would likely be the only ones to know besides dragons. Maybe some of the weirdest supernaturals as well, ones with very strong powers and that are reincarnations of God's. The supernatural government doesn't exactly spread that other dimensions exist widely."
"I can understand why," Liana said. "Just think of the chaos someone could cause if they had the power to go to another dimension and then brought back some kind of powerful weapon that then killed thousands.
"So how are you feeling?" Dave asked and had been ever since the Liana had gotten pregnant. It had been just over four months now and Liana had a long way to go before the baby was born.
"I'm fine. I've hardly had any symptoms so far," Liana answered honestly. "To tell you the truth from what you've said I don't expect to have any symptoms until I'm at least nine months pregnant maybe even a year, which is right about the time you believe I'll start to show under my clothes at least."
"This is just what I remember from my sister's pregnancy a very long time ago now," Dave said. "Unfortunately, my nephew was killed when he was only 50 years old. 50 might seem old, but even for a half dragon and that's quite young."
"I'm so sorry Dave," Liana said genuinely sympathetic. "It doesn't matter how valuable dragon's are for their blood and their scales and their claws. What happened was way out of line and those dragon hunters had no reason to hunt you down unless you were destroying villages or killing people."
"I won't say that some dragons didn't do that, but most of us just wanted to live our lives," Dave said with an ancient sadness in his voice.
"So you all got a bad reputation because of a few," Liana said.
"That was only part of it, sweetheart," Dave said. "The other part was that those that did potions that were evil or at least dishonest didn't mind buying dragon parts on the black market illegally. So long as there is a demand for such things there are going to be people that try their best to supply it, mostly because of the money they would make.
"We were unaware of the true danger until the events that nearly wiped us out, but I guarantee you, that dragons are more than aware of the viciousness of the other species and they won't have such a easy time trying to kill us, as dragons if they ever discover that we didn't completely die out hundreds of years ago.
"We were complacent and believed that we couldn't be killed off in any great numbers, but we were wrong and we will be more careful in the future. Those that are dumb enough to get caught and killed well that should be a lesson to those that remain. Sure, occasionally some knight would be lucky and knock one of us off, but that was only one among hundreds."
"You survived so that means that you weren't as complacent as the others," Liana said.
"No, I could see the way the tide was turning," Dave said his expression still sad, "but you try to convince a dragon that trouble is coming, especially when they don't want to hear it and you'll learn that it's nearly impossible. The ones that survived saw what was coming and so managed to survive just like I did, though whether they're still alive or not I don't know."
"Dragon hunters and other evil individuals nearly knocked out a whole species, just because your blood in particular is so valuable," Liana said shaking her head.
"And so is just about anything else when it comes to dragons. You get enough of our scales and you can make a whole suit of armor that will protect you from a lot of things that would otherwise kill you," Dave said. "Our scales are damn near impenetrable, though it won't block everything."
"That was something you told me back when we first met. So what do you want a son or a daughter?" Liana asked, changing the subject just to get that look of sadness and despondency off Dave's face.
"It doesn't really matter what we get, as we'll have plenty of chances to have more," Dave said. "I don't really care actually, because hopefully, we'll have another chance with this cycle of the moon before my period of fertility is over for the next 3 centuries."
"I won't guarantee that I'm willing to have another considering how long pregnancy for dragon's lasts," Liana said. "I probably will be willing to have at least one more, but we'll see, before I give you a positive answer."
"That's fair," Dave said smiling a little. "We have no idea how tough this pregnancy is going to be on you after all, so I can understand not wanting to commit to having another until you know."
"This pregnancy is definitely longer then other supernaturals, so we'll definitely have to see how much my back aches or my feet swell before I agree," Liana said, as she continued to look around the massive treasure trove, though her look of shock at the massiveness of it had faded somewhat.
"I could stay here forever," Liana said finally, as she took a seat in one of the comfortable chairs that Dave had dotted around. "You have so many treasures here. I see what I think is a Ming vase in the corner and while I'm no art expert, I believe that some of those paintings are by Picasso and van Gogh, which is something a museum would be glad to get their hands on if they are originals."
"They are and you are correct on who painted them," Dave said. "I'm surprised you recognize such things as you didn't strike me as one that was into paintings or art."
"My mother loved art and she took me to the museum more than once back in the normal world," Liana said. "I still remember those trips fondly and how she told me that this one was by van Gogh and another one was by Picasso. She loved teaching me about art history and I'm sure that would have continued if she had lived. As I said, I'm no expert, but I remember what my mother taught me."
"I'm sorry I won't get a chance to meet your mother, at least not until we are dead, as she sounds like she loved you a lot," Dave said.
"She did and I miss her still," Liana said.
"Of course you do, as you never forget or stop loving someone, just because they are no longer with you. I still remember and miss my family, even though they've been dead for a very long time," Dave said.
"Not all your family," Liana reminded him gently and Dave nodded.
"No, not all my family, as now you are my family along with Brigid and also this baby that is yet to be born," Dave agreed smiling.
"I can't believe that I'll still be fertile 300 years from now," Liana said, as she rubbed her belly unconsciously.
"Because you're lifeforce is attached to mine you'll still be as young as you are now for many centuries and in fact, until the end of your life, like the last couple hundred years. You won't start showing your age for many years. You would never guess how old I am unless you look in my eyes and believe what they tell you."
"They do say that eyes are windows to the soul," Liana quoted.
"True, but not many people believe what they see," Dave said softly.
Liana continued to explore the trove for a long time, but finally, told Dave she was ready to leave.
"You can come back anytime you want," and Dave said. "I'll teach you spell to enter and also the one to get back."
"I can't see me coming here without you, but I'll be happy to accompany you anytime you want to come," Liana said.
Dave nodded and said nothing knowing that Liana would become more comfortable with visiting his trove on her own if she wanted to over time.
Dave did the spell to exit the his trove, because you never left the door to such a place open for anybody to enter.
The glowing door appeared and Dave and Liana exited nearly together. Dave turned back and said the spell to close the doorway and the light faded.
"Well, shall we head to bed?" Dave asked with a smile.
"Sure," Liana agreed kissing his cheek and then taking his hand. "Thank you for showing me your treasure. I was quite impressed honestly."
"You're quite welcome," Dave said kissing her on the lips before leading her up to their bedroom, so they could both get some rest.
~~~Dave and Liana~~~