Dragon Tears (Indigo Apocalypse Novella)

Chapter Thirteen: Well Flaming Dragon Tail, We Talk About Myths And Legends

ZAVALA:
    I turned, staring into the human device called a mirror. My, what was it called, reflection, showed my turquoise eyes, my Drac'on body dressed in human clothes that could be put over my wings and tail. A blue skirt, white shirt and black jacket, both with slits for my wings, which were now wrapped around my body comfortably, tail among them. Though I was a lazy dragon, used to letting my wings trail behind me, when i needed to, I would be proper and preen, and have them neatly folded. I smiled at myself, at the blue-white horns on my head, at the talons. "You're looking," What was that term Holly used, oh yeah, "Sexy." Maybe it would never be enough to seduce Huntor, but it was enough for me. "Talking to yourself, first signs of a crazy person." The Lioness, Briella, walked into my room, staring at me from head to toe. "Good." She noted. "At first glance, you won't be seen as a dragon creature. Have you tried on the hood?" I flipped it up, and retracted my claws. The lioness nodded again, "Good girl, Kitana and Diana are ready for us." She handed me an Indigo crown. At first glance, it could've been nothing but a bit of curved plastic, meant to hold back hair, to be placed just above the hairline, and to hook behind the ears, but we knew different. Briella's gold crown was set in place, a roaring lioness on her back legs set at it's apex. At the apex of my own, was a roaring dragon, blue, just like me.
    I set it over my head, just in front of where my horns were. Hooking the hood over my horns, I looked in the mirror again, and saw a human girl, with too bright eyes. "Perfect." The Lioness purred, and, we moved out. Kitana and Diana, Shadow and Artemis, were waiting for us, each dressed in their mortal clothing. I looked around, but Huntor wasn't anywhere in sight, so, he wouldn't see us off. I knew why my dragon heart fell a little at that, but i ignored it, and did the task at hand. Diana opened a portal, and gestured us ahead of her. We stepped through, and landed a few dozen yards from the fenced off area that would be our gateway back. "Are we going to portal directly there?" The lioness asked. Shadow shook her head, "There's an outlet a few miles from here." Her voice was just a bit deeper, just a bit more vicious. They turned, and we followed, heading deeper into the dark night, with the city lights. Cars passed us, people walking in different directions, completely unaware that they were passing a full-blooded Drac'on, a cat shifter, a partial werewolf, and an Indigo blessed by Artemis herself. Suddenly, I felt my dragon instincts rise, felt my body shift and shutter, as it does, when it knows, we're, being, followed. "Shadow." I said, but as she turned, The Lioness said, "Six following us, thirty feet behind."
    Shadow nodded, and said, "Let's have some fun with this." I grinned, baring fangs, and, we moved down a side street. We rounded block after block, but our followers had no trouble keeping up, no problem walking after us. Soon though, we came to a big area, and I saw an official looking building, and realized we were here, at the place we were supposed to be. I was about to open my mouth, about to ask what we were going to do, but, a knife, pressed, against, my, belly. A similar blade appeared in front of Kitana's belly, a hand holding it. The dragon in me screamed, screamed for bloodlust, to spill blood, but I relaxed, allowing fear.
"No, don't hurt them." Diana's voice was a plea, and she spun, auburn eyes pleading. It was so good even I fell for it. The man, male, behind me laughed and pressed his blade harder against my belly. Briella, no, she was The Lioness right now, same as Diana was Artemis, I had to remember that. "Names." The other four came out of the dark, and it was one of them who spoke the order. The Lioness said, "Lioness." She stepped forward. "And get your paws off my Sissy." The male holding me laughed. "Stand down Bitch." Said one of the others. "Please." Diana begged. "On your knees Bitch, both of you." Without hesitation, The Lioness and Artemis dropped to the ground. "Let see what you all are worth around here. Who are you going to see?" "We came for Aunt Rosa's set, she wanted us to come and see her on live CNN." He laughed. "So you Gardener's brats huh, that makes sense, wandering around here at night, thinking you were clever bitches." I eyed Kitana, who shook her head ever so slightly. "What do you want?" Diana asked. "Raping Gardener's bitches would be perfect." One male said. "Which we'll do, but not now, we'll get them to base first, then interrogate them." I saw The Lioness's eyes glow for a moment. "We aren't going anywhere." She said, her voice as cold as the Snow Kingdom, and as soft as a sexual moan. None of them noticed though, and I saw Kitana nod her head just a tiny bit. Artemis rose, and The Lioness followed. "Oy, back down." Someone ordered. "Both of you." Artemis smiled, and said, "No." Then, I reacted.
I brought up my booted left foot and it smashed into the male's knee. He gasped and screamed. I grabbed his knife and brought my other hand down, the heel of my hand, right at the spot between his wrist and arm, where they met. His hand opened and fell, a reflex move. I dropped the knife and spun around. I couldn't see anything under the hood he wore, no doubt to scare me. I did a double kick Huntor would have been proud of, into his gut. He gasped and stumbled back. "You BITCH." He shouted the last word, and I thought, "I may have to." I let my hood fall, and unzipped my jacket. For a moment, he stared, eyes going dark with lust. "Well geez, I thought I was a Lust Dragon." This male thought I was about to get naked, just wow. Then, my eyes, started glowing turquoise, glowing like the car lights. Now I could see his face, as my eyes glowed like the spotlights that flashed on behind us. I unfurled my wings, and he screamed in terror. I bared my fangs, and The Lioness said, "Stop playing with it and just do it Mariana." So, I raised a taloned hand, and, as he stared at it in horror, used the other, no talons, to knock him out. "Well shit me dry and fuck me sideways." I recognized Gardener's voice as she clicked toward us on her heels. By now, Shadow was already done with her's, and we stepped together, each of us watching the final four. "Don't." The Lioness said as one reached into a pocket. "Otherwise you'll start something you can't finish." He pulled out his hand to show one of those human weapons, a gun. He aimed it at my face. "Any of you move, and she dies, right here, right now. Now we know what kind of disgusting brats Gardener breeds." "Bastards." Rosa said. The Lioness stepped forward, her eyes glowing gold. "You shoot her, and you're under Indigo Arrest." "There's no such thing as Indigo Arrest." "Oh yes there is." Artemis said. "You fire on us, and you are under Indigo Arrest." The sound of a gun being readied echoed across the CNN courtyard. "Don't be stupid." Someone shouted from behind us. Then, the bullet was fired. It was fired, and froze, an inch from the gun. They had a moment to stare in shock, then Artemis and The Lioness acted, touching their crowns, and changing into their Indigo armor, then whipping out cuffs of silver and gold, just to match their suits. In less than one minute, all six men were cuffed. Shadow turned to Rosa, as if nothing happened. "So, you wanted to talk?" She shook her head. "Well shit, you guys are awesome."
We were in her office, Gardener pacing back and forth. "Fools." She snapped again. "Udder fools, trailing four girls through the city, then attacking them on CNN's doorstep, fools, stupid fools." She paced some more, then stopped. "Well, what did you do with them?" "If you're refering to the bright blue power," Briella said, slouching in her seat. "We sent them to an Indigo cell, where they'll await further instructions by the guards and stand trial." Rosa nodded. "Good good, anyways, I'm glad you made it here. I wasn't sure if Huntor would get my message." "He did." Kitana said. "Well, well, good, just good." For a few minutes, she looked confused, as if now we were here, she wasn't sure how to go on. "You mentioned that there was something important." Diana said. "Yes, yes yes, sorry, this is just all new." She sat, then popped up again. "Look, I told Huntor there was a case this homicide cop I was sleeping with was investigating. He knows my position here, I'm top dog here, and everyone listens to me, but I'm a reporter at heart, so I'll dig for info. But he was adamant about this one. Telling me the usual line, nothing more or less." She sighed hard. "I told him I wouldn't go sniffing, I just wanted the info because it looked like too much for him and his partner to handle. But no, he just kept giving me the line. So I went to his partner and with some pushing, I got it." Her face darkened. "That's why I called you in, I have no idea what could've killed those boys. But it wasn't any human hand. They weren't just killed, they were slaughtered."
Then, the door banged open. "That was locked." Gardener snapped, then froze as a big man came in, face hot with ire, a thinner man came in after. I saw something flash in Briella's eyes before they went blank. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT." The man raged. "NO," He let loose some of the most beautiful colorful language I'd ever heard. "I am doing what you should be David." Gardener snapped harshly. "I'm consulting the Indigo, because your stubborn ass won't, they could have information to help." "No group of children can do a damn thing." David raged. I took a closer look at the other man, boy really, he had to be Huntor's age, or just a bit older. He had a backpack over his shoulders. "I'm not enlisting the help of kamikaze kids, of kids who think they know a thing or two about murder, children who think they are devil-may-care and can do as they please." "David." Rosa's voice was strained. "We need help ok, we need experts." "Which is why the FBIs are getting involved." He snapped. "No, we need experts on this, no human could have done that, could've killed like that. We need experts who can give us answers. The FBIs and Global shit can't do anything, they don't know what we're dealing with." "And they do?" "Show us." Kitana said coolie. "Show us, and we'll tell you." The boy lowered his pack and David snapped, "Fine Jacobs, go right ahead." Briella visibly jerked at the name, and her eyes glowed with recognition. Jacobs however didn't notice, as he reached into the pack, and pulled out four photos, and laid them on Rosa's desk. Kitana and Diana both looked at each other, faces going dark. Briella took one look, and her face lost color, eyes glowing. I took a look, and felt my food wanna come back up. The boys, the teens, they weren't just slaughtered, but ripped apart. There pieces missing, organs that were shredded, bones that were crunched. I pushed down my repugnance, and looked at it from a dragon's view, just like my brother taught me. I traced a finger over one of the bodies. "This is no human act." I said. "No," Kitana said darkly, the wolf close to the surface. "This is the work of the Ragni Di Morte."
"Holy shit." Gardener stepped back several feet until she was sitting in one of her many chairs. Briella looked confused, same as Jacobs and David, but Gardener, she looked like she recognized the name. "The Ragni Di Morte are nothing more or less than myths and legends." I said. "They haven't been seen for centuries, the Snow Queen herself murdered the Dark Queen and has her fangs as trophies." Kitana shook her head, and tapped her crown. In a flash of purple, she was in her armor, and she pulled something out from her belt. When I saw it, I felt my food coming up. I gagged, trying to keep it in. "Those, those, those, those are, they are,—"Ragni daggers, yes." She said. "Taken directly from the source." She turned to David. "You need to hand this over to us right away." "Like hell I am." He said. "This is no task for—"These are creatures that have no morals but their own craving for blood." She said, voice going as cold as ice, and just as hard. "I've faced a full army of them, a full on armada of them. Do you know how much an army is? Hundreds, I've slaughtered hundreds of them along side Huntor. You recognize the name, don't you." This she asked to Gardener. Gardener nodded. "Italian is my second language, I know three. That, that means Spiders of Death." Now Jacobs and David went pale. Kitana nodded. "What, what, what are they?" David asked. "Gigantic spiders, spiders with a god complex, sociopathic creatures with a god complex for their ruler," She turned to me, "The Dark Queen." Now I lost my food. Briella came over and brushed her hands over my back, my neck, comforting me. "No, no, no, not, not, not—"Very true." Kitana said. "Very, very, true."
"These are gigantic spiders, the size of horses, sometimes your city buses. They can speak perfect english, along with their native language, both of the Indigo tongues, and their hideous language. The only way to kill them is to gut them, or take off their heads. You can get the legs, but since their legs are barbed with several inches worth of spikes that are poisonous, you won't be able to kill them. They have eight eyes, one on each leg, but two on their head, both football shaped, and thats how they are able to communicate, understand, plot and plan, they have a brain that is horrifyingly developed and they have crazy strength and can create webs the size of mountains." Diana nodded. "Gardener's right, you need our help, severely. If you don't turn over this case, at least let us partner you on it. If you don't," She said as David opened his mouth. "Then they'll kill you. These are creatures of darkness, beings who know how to hide, who know how to stay silent, who can stalk prey without their knowledge. You aren't anywhere near the apex predator, she is." Diana gestured to Kitana. "She's the Uccisore Della Morte." "Slayer of Death." Rosa translated with awe. "Kitana is the only one who can stand against them and survive, survive, alone. She can slaughter an armada full and live. You need our help, hell, you really need us to take control of this one." By now, both David and Jacobs sat heavily, and put their heads in their hands. "Holy shit, holy, fucking, shit." David raised his head. "Look, uh—"Artemis." Diana supplied. "Artemis, like the Greek goddess." She nodded. "Well, Artemis, we, I, appreciate this, but, simply, my Commanding Officer would never allow me to ask for help, especially the help of kids." "I understand, but know this, if you don't, this city will die, and so will the rest of the world." "What do they want?" Jacobs asked. "World domination." Kitana said. "They wanna rule this world, and raise their Dark Queen." "And I guess that's, bad." David asked. "There are no words to explain just how bad." Kitana said.
    Rosa Gardener's office was large and elegantly designed. She had what humans called sitting areas all over, sat upon rugs with little small tables of rich wood and glass. They ringed the main area where her desk held attention in front of a bank of windows. A glass table stood on either side of the wood desk, a huge red egg on each. David was sitting on one of those chairs, colored with a rich kind of red. Similar chairs were everywhere, arranged neatly so they all faced her desk. We were all sitting now, the clean up crew mopping up my vomit. "What else?" David asked. "What else are we dealing with here?" "I don't know." Kitana said. "The Ragni Di Morte are the only ones I can answer to, any other photos?" Jacobs nodded, and brought out more. "These have, different wounds." "That's more than six." Briella cut in sharply. Jacobs nodded sadly, "Yes, twelve." He laid the photos down, and Rosa swore. "Those look like—"Vampire wounds." Kitana said coldly. "They're in league with the spiders." She turned to Diana, "Remember him?" She nodded. "Great, of course he's back." But before any of us could ask, Kitana said, "You're going to hand over the case to us, now, and we're going to handle it, they're ours, have been since they wanted to join our city. Any refusal will constitute in an act of war." David paled further. "Since I saw first hand what just four of you can do, I'm going to officially deny your request and say we won't accept your help." "But unofficially." Gardener cut in. "Unofficially you're all a part of the team until we take these monsters out."
    "Easier said than done." Briella said, but she rose from her seat, and so did the others. I, who was already standing, stepped forward. "You made a good choice David, you need the Indigo, and we need to bring justice for our people, and send a message to the Dark Queen." He nodded again. "I'm sorry for underestimating you all, and to you Rosy, for barging in like this." "Meh meh, you had probable cause." He laughed at that, and asked Kitana, "What's the first steps?" She took a breath, "The spiders are a formidable force that only comes out during the dark or near dark. They like splash and will make a big scene, unless ordered to do otherwise. From what you've shown me, these spiders are doing just that, splashing, causing confusion and corruption, discord and chaos. They want humans to fight one another, want you to blame each other for the unexplainable. They know this, and will use it against you. The country is already broken because of the Indigo and Keeper war, so, they are going to keep killing Indigos to throw more suspicion on you." "How can we stop them?" He asked. "Short of blowing them sky high, you have to understand them first. They'll have a hide somewhere, a hive, underground, they have to feed, they'll feed on humans and other large animals. They won't risk making a portal back and forth and get spotted. They have a hive here, underground, and will lure humans into their midst." "The Subway tunnels. Shit the full on Metro, if they use that they can travel underground virtually undetected." Rosa said.
    "So we get men down there, men patrolling the tunnels armed with explosives." David said. Kitana shook her head. "They have a fear effect, their bodies will shock the humans before they could even get a blast off. These things are your worst nightmares given flesh and speech. They can get into their minds, see their greatest fears, or turn them against each other. If that doesn't work, then their own speech will terrify your men, and they'll just have to herd them into their traps." "So far Indigo, I've heard nothing but bad news." Kitana nodded. "What she's saying," I cut in. "Is you need their immortal enemies, the Drac'on." "The what?" David asked. "Drac'on." I said, pointing to myself. "Ragni Di Morte fear us, fear our power, we bring light to their darkness. Especially the Molten Drac'ons. Fire and darkness, blue water against darkness." "I'd presume that's what you are?" I nodded, spreading my wings. "Our species goes back thousands of years, and the spiders were always our enemies. We can face dozens of them and still win. A Drac'on can fight twenty and win. You need us to go down there with you, we can light the dark, are able to fight them, are immune to their persuasion and are able to get in close." "Weren't you the one who said they were myths?" David asked. I nodded. "Yes, but if the myths were, are, true, then the legends of the ancient Drac'ons are true, and they faced off with the spiders, and won."
    David rose and paced, nodding every now and then. "I can believe it, understand it, but just because I do, doesn't mean the department will. Shit, shit we have a whole new deal on our hands, demonic spiders, vampires, shit, dragon people. Ok, here's how this will work on our end, you need a task force of sorts, your top people, top fighters, Indigo, human, dragon, whatever. Top fighters, then, they need to meet up with our task force, and, then, we have to start planning, if you're right, these monsters won't stop, they're trying to reach a goal, we need to stop them before they get there." Kitana nodded. "We'll take this to Huntor, and he'll decide." I didn't bother saying Huntor might have been, hell, freaking dragon tail, he might be too involved with Sydney to be able to help, Kitana would know that. "Remember Indigo, top, fighters, you aren't just fighting demons, you might have to fight the department too." "You'll also have help from the media." Gardener put in. "We'll do our best to alert the public to the threat." "Good good, also, try, I know it may never go through, but try to put in a curfew, I don't care what it takes, try, get everyone off the street and out from the underground by sundown." "That'll be very very very sticky, but, we'll try." "I'm going to put out an Amber Alert now." Gardener said. "Get people aware at least there is danger happening and to get in doors now, hell, fucking shit Dave they could be out there right now, webbing someone up like some kind of evil Spider-Man." She turned to Kitana, "They do use webs right, you said that." "Yes, though we haven't seen them use it, we believe they use it to make their dens and traps, they wouldn't waste it on prey when fear and herding is so much more fun. Most likely, they're underground, using those tunnels to hunt their prey." Rosa's eyes shown with fear, "The homeless, they live in those tunnels, live down there every day and night, they, they, holy God, holy dancing Jesus—"Then they're already lost." Kitana said gently. "Most likely they already started to comb those tunnels, memorizing them, they can attach themselves anywhere, climb over walls and the ceiling. All they'd need is to literally walk over their heads, they wouldn't know what hit them." Gardener's face went sheet white. "All those people, all those lives, gone." "There's gotta be a way to save them." David said. "There has to be a way." Briella shook her head. "If those humans are down there, truly homeless, they're already dead, if what she says is fact, then they're gone, hunted and used for their meals."
    "I'm sorry." Kitana said gently. "But if they're there, then the spiders will have already killed them. Save those who can be saved, they'll expect you to send search parties down there as soon as you realize what's going on. How long has this been going on?" "A month and a half." She nodded. "Then they aren't expecting you to know, but don't doubt they have back-up plans, emergency escapes back to the Indigo world just in case." "Ok, ok then, we wait for you, you go, pick your best, get a message to Gardener, and we coordinate through her." "Great," She rubbed her hands together, even though her face was still pale. "It'll be like I'm an owl from Harry Poter sending covert messages to the Auras of the Ministry Of Magic." "The what?" I asked. "A book series." Briella cut in. "A good one." Kitana shook David's hand, and Gardener's Then Jacobs. Briella started that glowing eye thing I do, staring at Jacobs, though again, he didn't notice, or, want to notice. He started putting the photos back into his pack and said to us all, "Thank you, very much." "Will they go further down?" Gardener asked. "If so, Jacobs, maybe you should alert Amelia and Becky down in Florida." Briella physically jerked, her face again showing recognition, and perhaps a bit of fear. Jacobs nodded. "Yes, yes I will alert them, maybe Hailey can come up, or, she'll want her in the Symbol for protection." "She can try." Diana muttered. "From the last war, something tells me that she will have nary a chance of ordering that girl if there's a fight to be had, even against spiders." Kitana shook her head. "No, she'll listen, I know Hailey, she's one of us." So with that, plans were officially, unofficially made for the Indigo and Washington PD to work together. Hopefully, this wouldn't get us, all, killed.