Chapter 1

*All characters copyright Eric Huston. Babe Cleave (The Protector), Billy Brown, dragon isle, dragon species all copyright Poseidon-Simons

 

<Always in the middle of a job! SOMEbody has to go and scream! Sometime I hate my conscience.> He raced down the streets, heading toward the screams. When he got there, he found something very unexpected.

 

He saw something that looked like a human. Or, had been a human at some point in its existence. It was very tall almost eight feet. It had half its face covered, and its whole body was clothed in blood-red cloth. It also carried a scythe to match its size. “Oh crap!” It turned to face him, the red dragon female cowering further back in the alley. It didn’t make any noise, just stared at him with dead eyes.

 

            <Well, time to go to work.> Dranith drew his sword, a massive six-foot long blade, black and gold, with a runic inscription reading REAVER. Dranith blocked the downward strike of the… thing he was facing. He turned the scythe aside, and got in three clean slashes before the thing fell over and died. It didn’t bleed, but a shadowy dust seemed to flow out every time its skin was punctured. The scythe became part of that dust, vanishing without a trace.

 

<Hmm… I’ve never seen something like this before.> He looked at the body, seemingly desiccated like a mummy. Dranith heard jets, and looked up to find the Protector descending next to him. “Well, I took care of everything here. This thing was attacking this female.” As he said this, the female hurled herself at Dranith, wrapping her arms around his neck.

 

            “Oh thank you! You saved my life!” She squeezed him tighter.

            “Umm, miss, I can’t breathe!” Dranith choked out. She let go her death grip.

            “How can I ever repay you?” Dranith thought of several ways. “Hold on a second, please.” He turned to the Protector. “Ever see something like that?”

 

            Babe’s scanners couldn’t come up with anything. “Nope, I’ve never seen something like this before. I can’t identify what kind of lifeform it was, or what it’s made out of. I’ll take this back to Billy’s lab. I’ll call you in the morning with the analysis. Billy is gonna JUMP on this the second he sees me coming in the door with it.”

 

            Dranith turned back to the red dragon female. <Don’t make it TOO early in the morning.> “So, what’s your name?”

            “Tara.”

            “Well, Tara, I think I found a way for you to repay me…”

 

            The phone woke him up. Again. Tara was still sleeping, and Dranith didn’t want some idiot calling him early in the morning waking her up. The sun glinting off his golden plate scales, he got up and picked up the phone.

 

            “Yeah?”

            It was Billy. “Dranith, I’ve been up all night trying to figure out what this thing is, and, well…”

            “Do my ears deceive me? Has something actually STUMPED you, Billy?”

            “Yeeeeah, pretty much.”

            “HAHAHAHAHA!!! Of all the years I’ve known you, Billy, NOTHING has ever left you in the dark! And now that something has, it’s sure to be a big blow to that ego of yours.”

            “No need to tie my wings up any further! In any case, I want you down here as soon as possible. I want you to give me as detailed a report as you can on that thing.”

            “As soon as possible? But I had other things planned for this morning!” He looked at Tara’s sleeping form.

            “Ugh… well, I suppose it’s about time you got yourself a girlfriend.”

            “How did you… Babe. He told you, didn’t he?”

            “Alright, you’ll get here when you get here, then. But as soon as you can pull yourself away, get your golden plated ass down here!”

            “Yeah, sure, whatever.” He hung up, and moved over to the bed. He kissed Tara gently, and she stirred. “Good morning, Tara.”

            “G’morning.” She kissed him back.

            “I have to go in for work in a few hours. Why don’t we take a shower, and I’ll make you some breakfast.”

            “That sounds nice.”

 

            After the shower, Dranith dressed and headed off to the kitchen. His apartment was large for one person, but then again, he had a job that paid very well. Bounty hunting, though dangerous, was incredibly lucrative if you lived to see the money. <That’s gonna bring my water bill up. But, it was worth it!> He got up and started to make a breakfast that his sister had shown him how to make. Thinking of her, a thought struck him. “That’s right! She wanted me to baby-sit for Daren today!” Oh well, he thought. Just one more thing on his to-do list for today. He was able to finish breakfast in about ten minutes, and he was definitely pleased by the compliments he received from Tara.

 

            “Mmm! This is good! Who showed you how to make this? Your mother?”

            “No, actually my sister did. Which reminds me, she asked me to baby-sit for her kid.”

            “Oh. How old is he?”

            “Seven. Her husband wants to take her out for the day, so I offered to do that yesterday. And, maybe afterwards, you want to go to dinner with me?”

            “Sure! Here, I’ll write down my number for you.”

 

            Considering how things had been going the last few days, things were definitely shaping up. It was the weekend so there wasn’t really anyone in the air this morning, making his trip to Billy’s lab much easier.