Chapter 14

The following characters return from previous stories in this chapter:

Ariana (Arlene)

Dr. Graham’s Daughter, 5’-7’’ tall, 140 pounds, medium size breasts, 750 years old, shoulder length medium brown hair with a touch of gray, coal black eyes like her mother

Moninne

Dr. Graham’s Granddaughter, Ariana’s Daughter, 5’-6’’ tall, 130 pounds, medium size breasts, 500 years old, short brown hair, eyes as black as coal

The following new character appears in this chapter:

Allen

Moninne’s son, only mentioned

Myles still has the Narrative

Two nights after the trip to Chicago with the minor Demons, John and Bob appeared on the parking lot outside of the Defensive Shell around Maddy’s property. It was just before ten o’clock at night when they arrived.

On sensing their arrival, the Nesting Spell immediately raised the Nesting Ward and alerted the Queen and the rest of us to their appearance. Shortly, the Queen and I went out to talk to them. We appeared just inside the Nesting Ward. We could see them very well in the semidarkness. From the looks on their faces, it appeared that they were very upset at having to appear outside of her property, like some Human with no Magic and not on her property like proper Demons.

To make things worse, the Queen did not invite them inside. Instead, she passed both of us through the Nesting Ward to deal with them in the parking area. Since there are a number of solar powered garden lights that outline the parking area, it was easy to see their faces.

“We have brought the agreed upon discount for each of you,” John told us and handed me half of the gold that I had paid him. Bob was doing the same for the Queen. It was easy to see that they were extremely upset by their treatment, and the fact that they needed to return half of the payment to each of us.

“Thank you,” the Queen told them. “We will continue to do business with you when the need arises. WE are sure that you will provide the best service possible in the future,” she told them before they vanished, and we returned to the house.

“Everything okay?” Ken asked when we returned.

“Yes, but they were extremely unhappy. It hurt their pride to have to return even a part of the fee, let alone half of it to each of us. Also having to remain outside of my property like beggars did nothing to help their self-esteem. I expect that in the future they will be more careful of just who they assign to whatever business we conduct with them,” Maddy told her Husband.

“And they will charge higher rates,” I added after a second.

“Yes, they definitely lost face on this deal, and it wasn’t entirely their fault. Still, they should have had one of their more experienced workers in charge of the operation rather than just the two regular workers. They were trying to cut costs, and it didn’t work this time,” she added.

Viv was happy that I had gotten half of the gold back, as she had always thought that I had spent too much. Because this occurred at night, it didn’t interfere with our trips to the Dragon Lands during the daytime to fly.

Eventually, the day arrived for Viv to visit the doctor. She had filled out the paperwork that they had sent her, and we were up early that day and ready to leave with plenty of time to spare.

Maddy would be going with us, as we had never been to the doctor’s office. Our Familiars were also going with us as was hers. We went in her car, a medium size SUV. The doctor’s office was in a large three story medical office building in another town some thirteen miles or so (21 km) from her house. It had a large parking lot that was mostly full when we arrived. We found a parking spot in the third row back that wasn’t too far from the main entrance. Someone had just pulled out of it.

The ground floor of the building was a large open area with comfortable-looking seating. It was an atrium that went up to the the roof and was illuminated by the glass walls that surrounded a part of it. There were several offices and hallways around the periphery on the ground floor that led to other office areas. There were elevators on two sides of the area. Maddy didn’t stop or hesitate and headed for the elevator on the right side of the area. We rode it up to the second floor. The back and sides of the elevator had large windows, and we could see out into the atrium as we ascended.

On reaching the second floor, she turned right and proceeded down a hallway for something over a hundred feet (30 meters) or so before stopping in front of a door with a sign that read:

Dr. Muadhnait Graham

OB/GYN

She opened the door and entered.

The waiting room that we entered wasn’t all that large. There were ten chairs spread over the right side of the room, and there was a receptionist’s desk on the left side. There was also a door in the wall opposite the entry door. Maddy and Viv went over to the receptionist’s desk to speak to her while I remained near the entry door and watched our Familiars. Al, Maddy’s Familiar, led ours over to the chairs, and they all jumped up on chairs and settled down for a catnap.

The receptionist was a young-looking woman, and she had been speaking with Maddy and Viv for a time before she noticed me over by the door.

The strangest thing happened then. She had been chatting normally with Maddy and Viv, but on looking at me, all of the color drained out of her face, and she appeared to be very startled. Rising from her chair, she made an excuse to Viv and Maddy before quickly disappearing through the door in the back wall of the reception area. I looked over at the others.

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” Maddy replied. “We were talking to Moninne when she suddenly became very upset and excused herself to hurry into the back,” she told me. “I had never seen her leave her desk area before no matter what had occurred,” she added.

Moninne returned after five minutes or so with two other women. Both were older than she was, and one was much older. They all bore a family resemblance, I noticed.

“There!” she said in a loud voice pointing at me. “Scan him,” she directed following that. Neither Maddy, Viv, nor I had any idea of what was going on. This was an OB/GYN’s office, and I am a male. Why would they be interested in me, I wondered. All three of them, however, spent the next several minutes with their gaze fixed on me.

“Yes,” the oldest woman finally said. “You are correct, dear. He is one of us. Where did he come from?” she asked, leaving me, at least, even more confused. In the meantime, Maddy had moved over to speak to the three women.

“Is something wrong?” she asked the oldest woman, who was apparently the Doctor.

“No, my dear Maddy. Everything is very much alright. It’s just that we are all startled by what you have brought us. Let us all retire to the office, and we will try to explain what has occurred, and why we are so amazed by what has happened,” the Doctor told her before turning to the receptionist.

“Moninne, if there are no other appointments for the next hour or so, close the office and join us in the back,” she told her before saying more.

“Everyone come with us, please. This will require some time to explain,” she continued before going through the door the other woman had opened and down the interior hall. We all followed, even the Familiars, but the three of us were even more confused now.

We soon came to a small office after passing several rooms and work areas. There were chairs for Maddy, Viv, and me plus two others for the Familiars. The Doctor took her seat behind the desk and the other two women stood behind her. While everyone was taking their places, Maddy made the introductions.

“This is Doctor Graham,” she informed us, indicating the oldest looking woman.

“Behind her on her right is Ariana, her Daughter,” she continued indicating the next younger woman.

“And last is Moninne, her Granddaughter,” she finished indicating the receptionist.

“I have no idea why they were so startled, or why we are all back here presently,” she added. The Doctor was smiling, but the expression didn’t look good on her.

“We were startled as Madailein stated, because we have discovered something that we never expected to see,” the Doctor told us before trying to continue.

“It is something that we have hoped to see for nearly the last five hundred years or so, but we have always been disappointed. You have no idea how disappointing it has been to ... to always find...,” but the Doctor couldn’t go on as she appeared to be overwhelmed by whatever had startled them. Ariana patted her Mother on the back to comfort her before starting to speak.

“What Mother was trying to say is that you have no idea of how disappointing it is when you bear a child and discover that they do not share your ability to live a very long life. That they will only have a short Human lifetime. That all of your hopes and dreams for them and yourself not only have not but will not come to fulfillment. When that happens over and over again, you begin to lose hope and turn angry at all of those who are having their hopes and dreams for healthy, happy children come true. They are all short lived, but they don’t know anything about that,” she told us before falling silent too.

“And then one day someone walks in the door and your life changes. That happened with Nicolae,” Moninne told us taking up the story from her Mother.

“Nicolae who has lived even longer than Grandmother, but who looks to be not more than thirty-two or so, was persuaded to donate some of his seed. Mother and I both became pregnant using it. We each now have children who will live, at least, as long as we will and perhaps even longer. Mother had twin Daughters, and I had a Son and a Daughter who are nearly twins, just slightly different. All four of them are a joy to be around although they are only just over a year old.

“Today another miracle happened when all of my hopes and dreams walked through the office door and just stood there,” Moninne finished and was looking directly at ME! I was shocked beyond belief.

“ME!” I asked.

“Yes, you, Myles,” she answered.

“What ... what are you saying?” I asked in a weak voice, afraid of what she was going to say.

“You are my Grandson, many times removed. I’m not sure which of my children you are from, but YOU are all that I had hoped for over the centuries. You carry an active gene for a long life. Some call it immortality, but you will certainly live at least as long as Grandmother Muadhnait and perhaps even longer as you are also a Dragon,” she told me with a smile.

“I will no longer be alone. I have a Grandson who has a Wife, and she will soon have my Great Grandchildren. Additionally, I now have two long lived children of my own,” she continued in a very satisfied voice. I was shocked and found it hard to believe what she had said. Both Viv and Maddy were looking at both her and me as if we were strangers.

“I thought it was amazing when Nicolae and Dr. Graham turned out to be nearly the same age, but this is even more amazing. Didn’t you know anything about this, Myles?” Maddy asked.

“No, this is the first I’ve ever heard of anything like this. My Mother died at age 80. She raised me as a single parent. I never knew my Father, but he did leave Mom a good deal of money. In spite of that, she always had a job, so we were never hurting for anything essential. I was 55 when she passed away,” I told them.

“So your Father was a Green Dragon?” Viv asked.

“As far as I know, he was as I’m a Green Dragon,” I told her.

“What Moninne said is true,” Dr. Graham said to take us back to the previous discussion. Apparently, she had recovered from her emotional overload. “You carry an active gene for a very long life as well as an active Dragon gene, much as Nicolae does. Your wife, Vivian, carries a double active Dragon gene, and she too will live a very long time, perhaps longer than the four thousand years that I have heard that some Dragons can live.

“Then there are the Daughters that she carries. They both carry the double Dragon gene from the two of you and also the active long-life gene. However, they are not identical twins. They are Fraternal twins. They will be very much alike but will have different abilities and talents. It appears that Vivian produced two eggs a short time apart, but probably not more than a half hour or so. Both were fertilized, and they will be born at the same time as most twins are, but they are not identical by the definition of the word,” the Doctor told us. Again, we were all amazed by this revelation.

“You’re sure of this?” Viv asked in a startled voice. “You haven’t even examined me,” she added in frustration.

“During the discussion, I examined both of you down to your DNA level. Ariana did also for a part of the time, and she will back me up,” she told her. “Don’t worry, young woman. We will all take very good care of you and your Daughters, as they will be our many times Great, Great Granddaughters,” she assured Viv.

“We want both of you to visit us often and to bring your Daughters when they are old enough. It will be an interesting experience to have family as long lived as we are,” Ariana told us.

“Yes, Grandson, do come to visit often, but not when we are at work. I will give you our address before you leave,” Moninne told me. I didn’t know what to think. I had never had a Grandmother, let alone a Great Great Grandmother. And certainly not one who looked like she was only in her early twenties, but Maddy had told us that she was 500 years old. I needed to stop thinking and return to the present, as Dr Graham was still speaking.

“We will see you again in four weeks, Vivian. Just continue eating as you have been for now. There will be no charges for any of the visits as you are family, if a bit distant,” the Doctor told us and smiled again. It didn’t become her this time any more than it had the first time.

We all stood then, and Moninne led us back out to the reception area. She made Viv’s next appointment and gave her a card. She also gave me a card with an address written on it following that. As I accepted the card from her, she reached out and took my hand and pressed it against her face. There were tears in her eyes when she looked up again.

“We will need to get to know each other better in the near future,” she told me before releasing my hand. I was shocked again. It was going to take me time to get used to having relatives, especially relatives as old as these were.

We said very little on the way out of the building and out to the car. I merely followed Maddy and Viv. My head was aswarm with thoughts and worries that this meeting had left me with.

I never noticed anything on the way back to Maddy’s house. This meeting had changed and destroyed all of my carefully made plans for the rest of my life. Well, destroyed may be too strong a word, but it had certainly changed all of my carefully laid plans for my life and Viv’s. I had planned and provided for everything until I passed away. I had thought that I could live to be a hundred or so, and had sufficient money, stock and other things to support the two of us until then, and to leave Viv comfortable in her old age.

Now all of that was ruined. How was I going to finance a life that could extend for another thousand years or more? Nicolae had been accumulating and saving for his future for centuries and undoubtedly had acquired sufficient wealth to accomplish that. How was I supposed to do that? I had some resources, but they were not that extensive. Even as the ‘Fixer’, I could never make enough to survive for that long. Nicolae’d had a number of different jobs to keep him busy and to add to his financial stability. I had been in custom furniture. While I had made good money, I couldn’t count on that to continue to be profitable. I would need other sources of income and for a very long time, but WHAT, I wondered.

Of course, Maddy, as the Dragon Queen, had all of that treasure in the Nest, and while it was valuable and would continue to increase in value over time, it was hers as the Queen. She already had a large family and wasn’t likely to share it with those outside of her family. They also had the Security business which brought in money and supported both her family and those working for them. But how long would it continue to do so? What new invention over the next couple of decades might eliminate the need for it, I wondered.

This wasn’t solving my problem, however, and I had no idea of what to do. I finally decided that I would need to investigate many alternatives to find a way to continue to earn money for the long haul. On top of all of that, there was the prospect that as a Dragon I could live for four thousand years. This was even more incomprehensible, and I had no idea what to do about it. I would need to discus all of this with not only Viv but with Maddy and many others but not now. For now there were other things to do.

That afternoon in Chicago, Tony was learning just how hard it was to obtain any help from the local Magic users. He returned to his apartment in a foul mood.

“Goddamn the bastards,” he shouted at Lou in a loud angry voice, as he slammed the door closed after entering the apartment.

“I take it that you didn’t have any more luck than I did,” Lou said as Tony poured himself a large double to drink. Lou had only gotten back himself a few minutes prior to that.

“No, the bastards won’t even talk to me. Not even the Voodoo and Black Magic practitioners. They all seem to know who I am, and just refuse to even listen to me,” a very upset Tony told his chief lieutenant.

“I know,” Lou said with a sigh. “The word is out on the street. Between our guys, Bender’s guy, and Schmidt, everybody involved in Magic knows about the Major Demons that the ‘Fixer’ can summon. None of them want to have anything to do with someone who is that powerful,” he continued.

“Well, what the hell can we do?” Tony demanded in an irked voice. Lou shrugged in reply. After a short time, he did have something to say.

“One guy that I talked to did have a recommendation,” he hesitantly told Tony.

“Well, what the hell is it?” Tony demanded still in an aggravated voice.

“He said that you would need a Dragon, an Old Dragon, to do anything about the ‘Fixer’,” Lou told him and paused. “He also said that the cure could be worse than problem. Old Dragons are notoriously hard to get along with and are as liable to incinerate you as help you,” he added after a few seconds.

“How the hell is that any help? How would we contact a Dragon?” Tony demanded.

“I asked him the same question. He didn’t have an answer,” Lou told him.

Tony continued to drink and brood for the rest of the afternoon.

That afternoon following lunch, Viv brought up her concerns in our room.

“You’re worried about something, Daddy. I can tell,” she said.

“Yes ... I’m worried about our financial future, Viv. I had everything worked out to take care of us and our children. It would have even taken care of you after I was gone. After the meeting today, all of that is in ruin. How do I prepare to live for another thousand years or more instead of the thirty-five years or so that I expected?” I asked. Viv smiled up at me, as I had stood and was pacing as I talked.

“It will be alright, Daddy,” she told me. “We’ll figure it out. We have plenty of time,” she told me, as she also stood and kissed me. I had to admit that her attitude was infectious, and I felt somewhat better with her in my arms.

This, however, brought me back to the one remaining task that remained to be taken care of ... namely Tony Tuminelli.

“Yes, we’ll work something out. There is time enough for that, but that is new business. I still have one item of old business to take care of ... Tony Tuminelli. He sent those four men to bomb our house. He had help from several other people. Tony needs to be removed and perhaps that will put the fear of Dragons in the others,” I told her.

“When will you be doing that? Can I help?” she asked.

“Shortly,” I told her. “I need to go to Chicago and check on the street rumors. That could take a couple of nights. YOU, young lady, need to continue on book 5. You will need to know what is in there. Not necessarily to use it against someone, but to prevent or counter others using it against you,” I told her.

“Yes, I know. I’ve been working on the book. I don’t like what I found in there,” she told me with a heavy exhale.

“It is rather dark,” I agreed. “But there are those who will use it to get what they want no matter who it hurts,” I reminded her.

“Will you be gone all night?” she asked in a plaintive voice, returning us to the previous subject.

“No, mostly just in the evenings and for a part of the nights. I’ll mostly just be listening in the shadows. Street people are good at spreading gossip and rumors,” I reminded her. We sat and talked with our Familiars for a time following that. Viv went down to help Maddy with dinner after that while I prepared to go to Chicago following dinner.

Fortunately, there is an hour time difference between Atlanta and Chicago, so there was plenty of time for a leisurely dinner and to still arrive there in the early evening. Viv was disappointed that I didn’t want her to go with me.

“It’s just a reconnaissance visit,” I reminded her. “I’m just going to see what the gossip is,” I added.

Arriving in Chicago in the alley near where my hotel had been at about eight in the evening, I found that it was as cold as I remembered. Wearing my normal winter ‘Fixer’ outfit would keep me warm. Casting a glamour of a tall, thin homeless man around myself would conceal my identity and allow me to move around easily and blend in with the majority of those in the poorer areas of the city.

Passing a liquor story on my way to my destination, I called two large bottles of cheap wine to me. One I sent to the Timeless Zone, and the other I used a part of to flavor my breath and perfume my clothing. On reaching the area where the homeless usually gathered, I went to a street with several eateries that were less expensive than most locations. The food wasn’t that good, but it was better than nothing. There were also some kitchens run by charitable organizations near there. I would try both if necessary.

Both locations proved to be less than informative, as those eating there were too busy with their food to talk much, and those in charge didn’t want them taking up space for new customers or thinking they had found a home. So much for my first plan. However, the night was still young.

After spending more time checking out the area, I joined a group of people in a partly vacant lot. Most of the building here previously had been torn down but a small portion remained and provided some shelter from the wind. There were eight people sitting around a burn barrel made from half of a 55-gallon drum. There was a fire going in the barrel, and it provided quite a bit of heat.

Still having the mostly full bottle of wine allowed me to join the group. They had been talking about something else when I joined them. After a short time and sharing some of the wine, the discussion turned to something that I was more interested in.

“I heard that Tony Tuminelli was out looking for Magic users today,” one of the men said.

“Yeah, I heard that he was out looking, but I also heard that it didn’t do him any good,” another man injected.

“Of course not,” a hard looking older woman added. “Everybody has heard about those he sent to deal with the ‘Fixer’. They have been drunk and crying in their beer about what had happened to them. That asshole Schmidt went to the Magic users outside of the city, I heard. They wanted nothing to do with this ‘Fixer’, or so the rumor goes,” she finished and took a swig from the bottle of wine.

“I heard that someone told him he would need the help of a Dragon to deal with the ‘Fixer’. That didn’t sound like good advice to me,” another man told the group. We had been joined by several other men and two women who added what they had heard to the discussion. After carefully bringing out the other bottle of wine, I handed it to one of the newcomers and continued to listen. From what they said, it appeared that the original story had been greatly embellished in the many retellings. When nothing new or interesting had been brought up for a time, I slipped away from the group, as I had learned what I wanted to know.

It was around eleven thirty when I left the group and headed toward the area where I had learned that Tony had his apartment. Arriving there, I carefully checked the area for any guards or lookouts that he might have posted, but found none.

Appearing outside of his apartment on the top floor of the building, I checked again but found no sign of any guards. A scan of the apartment with my Magic senses revealed that there was only one person in his apartment. It appeared that he was alone. After changing my appearance to the younger man that his men had seen, I transferred through the door to find a very drunk Tony passed out on the sofa in the living room. There was an empty whiskey bottle on the floor near the sofa.

“My – my,” I thought to myself. “Tony deserves the headache he is going to have in the morning. I believe that I’ll return then and deal with him while he is still hungover,” I decided.

From Tony’s living room, I transferred back to the small parking area on Maddy’s property. Viv soon arrived to lead me through the Nesting Ward.

Up in our room, I filled Viv in on what I had learned, and what I had decided to do about Tony.

“In the morning, I’ll return to Chicago and deal with a hungover Tony. The stuff that he was drinking before passing out will leave him with a massive hangover. It will also be late morning before he is able to get up and know what I have planned for him,” I told her.

“What are you going to do with him?” Viv asked.

“After seeing the Demon Lands, I believe that I will leave him and his hangover there. He will simply disappear with no warning, and there is no way that they will be able to determine where he went. He will simply be gone without a trace,” I told her with a smile.

“I want to go with you,” Viv immediately said. “I want to see what this turkey looks like, and I want to see the Demon Lands also,” she added. I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea, but she had achieved her Dragon by herself, and she knew more than enough Magic to have done that.

“Alright,” I agreed after a few seconds. “WE should get to bed then, as we will need to be up reasonably early in the morning,” I added. There was some heavy kissing and petting after getting ready for bed, but that was as far as we went, putting off having sex for the night and were soon asleep.

We were up the following morning at a reasonable hour, after a good night’s sleep. At breakfast, which Viv helped prepare, we informed Maddy of our plans for the day. She had some advice for us.

“You could leave Tony near the arrival location. The Demons pass through there all of the time on their way back from wherever they have been. One or several of them may find him there, and make him their slave, especially if he is still as drunk as you have said. OR, I could lend Mandara to Vivian, and IT could take you to the plateau where young Dragons were taught to fly. It is a very desolate area. He wouldn’t survive there for long,” Maddy assured us.

“I kind of like the idea of Tony being some Demon’s slave for years rather than just allowing him to die in some wasteland,” I told her with a smile.

“It’s your decision, but yes, having him be a slave to a minor Demon or Demons for many years does have a certain appeal,” she agreed.

We were ready to leave soon after breakfast. I had on the winter clothes that I normally wore as the ‘Fixer’, while Viv was wearing jeans, a wool shirt, and a thick jacket, as it was still wintertime. Out on the parking area near Maddy’s house, I transferred us to Tony’s apartment in Chicago.

Appearing in his apartment, it was obvious that Tony was no longer on the sofa. It appeared that he had gotten up and then thrown up everything left in his stomach, as there was a big mess on the rug near the sofa. Not only that, but Tony had then passed out and landed face down nearly in his own vomit. He was lucky that he hadn’t drowned in it. I was sure that it was the last luck that he would have today.

“What are we going to do with him?” Viv asked on seeing his condition.

“We are going to need to move him before waking him up. I don’t want to remain here too long. Someone could come to check on him, and I don’t want anyone to know that we were here. I can move him and us to the warehouse that we used. We were there the other night. There wasn’t any surveillance or listening gear there,” I told her.

“That’s good, but there is surveillance equipment in this room,” Viv told me.

“WHAT!” I shouted in shock. I had never bothered to check for any last night when I was here. I had never considered that Tony would have his own apartment under surveillance. Sending out my Magic senses, I quickly located the equipment. It was in a small unused bedroom. Viv had cast a Freeze spell on Tony while I was doing that.