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Posted by Jonah on May 23, 2009, 12:59 am, in reply to "Dragon Holiday, part 4"
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And yet, Susan had sought Seth out voluntarily after her violent treatment by the dragons, struck the bargain with him to become a pet like Val if he would protect her. And the police dispatcher had played her role well, even eagerly, in the months since.
Maybe, Val thought, Susan had a deep-seated need to be dominated and taken care of by an alpha male just as she did. But being submissive did not always mean the same as being helpless. For some, Val knew, submission was much less about being forced than about a willing surrender.
But dangerous or not, Val was very grateful for Susan’s presence, for having a real friend she could share everything about her life — especially her life with Seth — without having to hold back. And she didn’t want her friend to leave now. “Don’t go,” she said softly. “Please. I-I don’t want to be alone, the only human alone among four man-eating dragons.”
“Seth will protect you,” Susan knew.
“Seth will not be able to watch them all the time. I don’t trust the others not to try something if he becomes distracted. That skinny black dragon is quicker than hell, Dax is built like a brick shit house, and that goggles wearing dragon is just psycho.”
Susan stood for a long moment, hand resting on the latch to the back door, thinking it over. Then her shoulder slumped, and she turned back inside just as the pulse oven dinged. “Fine. For you Val. Okay? But if they try anything like last time....”
Val spontaneously hugged her, truly grateful. Susan hugged back.
* * *
The females carried another lamb into the front room, the male dragons still conversing about the dangers of humans.
“Keeps one humble,” Shadow interjected into the already flowing conversation. “And realistic because no matter how much you want your revolution to succeed you need to always remember how dangerous the humans can be.”
“Bleh,” Goggles said, waving a hand. “Who’s to say we wouldn’t have developed nukes and other weapons ourselves, given enough time? Humans were at a stone-age level of technology for hundreds of thousands of years. What happened to them eventually would have happened to us, much sooner I think.”
Shadow shook his dark-scaled head. “We’ve no way of knowing that. And ... damn, I’m hungry.”
Shadow and Goggles feasted, and Seth got the women to do another round of lambs for all of them, and then another.
Afterward, the women hovered near Seth, staying a good distance away from the other dragons. Still, the males were all gorged and sedate, and the atmosphere was surprisingly relaxed.
Too relaxed, perhaps. When Susan was returning from the bathroom, Goggles snaked a meaty claw down and drew her close. “Hey, Chocolate, want to satisfy my other appetite — again?” he said with a hearty leer.
Susan said nothing, only reached quietly behind her back.
Dax’s eyes widened in alarm. He reached out, and smacked Goggles hard on the back of the head with enough force to make him let go of Susan. Goggles roared out in irritation, pounding the side of the table hard with his fist. Dax just sat there, and shot the tech-wearing dragon a hard, remanding look.
Not that it was much of a contest, truthfully. Goggles backed down pretty quickly, ducking his head and rubbing at the spot where Dax had struck. “What was that for?” he asked in irritation.
“Seth’s property, remember? You said you would respect that.”
“Yeah, yeah, okay.” Goggles said, glancing over at Seth, who had risen from his chair when Susan had been grabbed. With his claws extended and his teeth bared, it was very obvious what he thought of Goggles’ actions, and what his next action against the other dragon would have been had Dax not wisely intervened first. Only when Goggles promised it wouldn’t happen again did Seth sit back down.
Susan took her hand off the gun in her back pocket. Suddenly, she felt a large scaly hand over hers. “No, show them,” Seth said gently. “I want them to understand completely, so there is no more trouble like this.”
Susan turned and looked back at the dragon, then nodded. She slowly drew her side arm out and held it up for all to see.
Goggles swore at the sight of it. Shadow knitted his brow. “So she has a gun,” said Dax. “Probably would have just made Goggles mad, from the size of it....”
Susan shook her head. “This isn’t an old style firearm. It’s a new ETC pistol.”
“ElectroThermal Chemcial,” Goggles muttered loudly, pulling his eyepiece up to get a better look. “Uses a liquid propellant much more potent than the old solid charges. That pistol looks like a nine millimeter, but probably has as much punch as a .45.”
“Plus I’m using liquid core penetrator ammunition.”
“Raptor Christ!” Goggles said, shifting in his seat, apparently uncomfortable with the very idea of that, and how close he came …
“Explain,” Dax told the tech-minded dragon. “I’ve never heard of those.”
“That’s because they’re almost as new as the ETC weapons themselves. You know how normal armor piercing rounds use a solid metal core for the bullet? These new bullets have the same thing, but the interior contains electrochemical reactants that turn the core molten in mid-flight.
Dax lifted his opened palms outwards. “What does that mean?”
“Basically, it means that the bullet delivers a tightly-concentrated jet of super-hot molten metal to the target. It will rip through most personal armors like they aren’t there, and they do pretty hideous internal damage too. It’s the newest toy the humans have invented. It’s called a Dragon-Stopper round.”
Susan nodded, confirming everything Goggles had said. Seth patted her approvingly on her rump. She obediently returned her gun to her back pocket and sat back down beside her master.
“Pit bull,” Dax observed wryly.
Val suddenly understood. Seth had not liked his previous encounter with Dax overly much. He disliked Dax having so much control over what had happened, even if things worked out best for Seth in the end. So he’d taken on Susan, and let her — or perhaps even encouraged her — to toughen herself up, and to get a weapon she could easily handle that could take out dragons. The leverage between the two alpha dragons was now much more even.
“Cool!” Shadow said while everyone was contemplating their own awkward silences. He looked much more closely at Susan for the first time since arriving, his eyes darting up and down her form. When Susan noticed, he looked away.
Susan blinked twice in surprise. Did she actually see a dragon acting ... shy?
* * *
The morning went on without further incidence, Seth enjoying the company of the other dragons, they all spoke candidly in the living room. The human women did their best to tend to their needs, knowing happy dragons were gentle dragons.
Both girls sat on Seth’s lap, them enjoying the close contact, Seth enjoying displaying his pets as his territorial claim as an alpha dragon. “I — well, I’m not going to pretend it didn’t make a nice change, having a steady dragon in my life…” Val said in response to a question from Shadow.
“You call Seth steady!” codded Susan.
The dragons hiss-laughed loudly. Both girls looked at Seth frown, savoring the pleasure of teasing the large male. Val tilted her head up, warmly kissing him on the lower jaw. Susan did the same.
Dax tilted his head quizzically at them, watching the display of affection between the girls and their master. “Do you think you could settle down with a human?”
The homeowner grumbled contentedly. “I thought I’ve done that already. Having a couple of human pets is more than satisfying enough for my home.”
“And you two,” Dax said, “you’re both okay with that?”
Susan just shrugged noncommittally, but Val nodded her head with great enthusiasm. “Oh yes. I know my place and welcome it. I love how powerful and pure and self-assured dragons like Seth are. Besides, I had my share of real whackos before meeting Seth.”
“Like who?” asked Susan.
Val rolled her eyes. “You know the two dragon brothers, the ones who live on Post Street, half a mile beyond where it turns into a dirt road?”
“Miles and Mozes? The ones who drive the pick up truck?” said Susan.
“No — no, hon. I’m talking about the ones who hang out at the Rancid Rider…”
“Oh, the um, Klaas brothers? I don’t remember their names.”
Val nodded. “I met them at the Rider a few years ago. I’d just moved to Lake Charles and was looking for some interspecies fun when I came across these guys at the bar. I went home with them. These guys were nasty.”
“Val, you never go home with a dragon!” said Susan, making a convulsive sideways glance, surprisingly forgetting for a moment that other dragons where in the room.
“I know, hon, but I was new to this whole having-sex-with-dragons-thing and I thought they all could be trusted....”
Dax snorted. Goggles and Shadow followed with loud hisses of their own. Seth remained conspicuously quiet.
“… The ones in my old home town were pretty nice.”
The perky blond got up from Seth’s lap, and moved casually across the room. “Now, now,” said Val teasingly, grabbing Dax’s arm, standing on tiptoe, and this time kissing him on the side of his snout. “Maybe I wish I’d known you a few years ago, maybe you could have saved me all the trouble of showering off all that nasty dragon piss. Their stuff really stunk, too,” she said teasingly, hanging playfully on his arm, trying to minimize the impact of her regrettable encounter with the dragon brothers.
“Three years ago I would not have hesitated to eat you, erasing your existence from the world, my dear,” said Dax seriously, approximating a very toothy, wide grin a few feet from Val’s smooth and vulnerable face.
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