Chapter 2

Chicago has many places to purchase women’s clothes. There were several not far from the hotel that I was staying at. Selecting one of the more prestigious shops, I entered and soon found someone to assist me. The salesclerk was a woman; a fairly good-looking woman in her mid-30s.

“Can I help you?” she asked as I approached her.

“I need to obtain some clothing for my Daughter,” I told her.

“Do you know what size she is?”

“Yes, she gave me her measurements. She has just returned to Chicago and is staying in a hotel here. She was supposed to go for a job interview this morning. After checking into her hotel last evening, she took a shower. On emerging, she discovered that someone had broken into her room and stolen all of her luggage and clothing.

“Fortunately, she had taken her purse into the bathroom with her as it contained her cosmetics and her cell phone. She called me last night. I live in Rockford and drove over here earlier this morning. As you might imagine, Vivian was very upset when I arrived. All she had to wear was a towel,” I told the woman to a doubtful look from her.

“You didn’t have any of her clothes at home?” she asked in a questioning voice.

“No, she moved out several years ago after graduating from high school. She was working in Denver. Unfortunately, the company that she was working for was absorbed into a larger company recently, and she lost her job. After a short time, she received a job offer from a similar company here in Chicago and flew in yesterday,” I told her. “I did bring her some clothes, but they didn’t fit her very well as they were my clothes, which was all that I had,” I added.

“Her Mother didn’t have anything that she could wear?” the woman asked digging for more information. By now, I was sure that she thought that Vivian was my new mistress.

“I divorced my second wife a number of years ago. She’s living in California now with someone else. Even as a child, Viv didn’t get along with her new mother,” I told her.

“What clothing items does your Daughter require?” the woman asked after hearing this.

“A couple of dresses, a few skirts and blouses plus underwear, stockings, shoes, and a large warm coat,” I told her.

“And you have her sizes?”

“Yes, here is the list that she made out,” I told her handing her the paper that Vivian had written her sizes on.

“What is her coloration? It will make a difference in what colors are right for her,” the woman told me.

“I have a picture of her on my phone,” I said and brought up the picture I had taken of her that morning dressed in some of my clothing. The salesclerk examined it for a time.

“She doesn’t look much like you,” she observed, casually.

“No, she favors her Mother, but the two of them never got along even when Viv was a child. She has always gotten along with me a lot better, not that we haven’t had our differences, you understand. She has always been a very independent soul,” I told her.

The salesclerk spent the next thirty minutes or so picking out the various clothing items that I had mentioned. The outerwear was in two basic colors, and the rest was in a variety of colors. The shoes were a dark blue and the nylons were a light shade. The large outer coat was a navy blue, and I also asked her to find a hat to match it.

After nearly fifty minutes, she had everything packed up in several shopping bags with the store’s name on them. She then looked at me expectantly.

“These things aren’t inexpensive. Can you afford them?” she asked.

“It won’t be a problem,” I assured her.

“All right,” she said, as she finished ringing everything up, “that comes to nine hundred and seventy-four dollars and forty-three cents with the tax,” she informed me without a blink. I just smiled, took out my wallet and counted out ten one-hundred-dollar bills.

“Keep the change. You were very helpful,” I told her. She had a very startled look on her face at the cash. I was sure from that, that she was expecting me to put the purchase on a credit card.

“Thank you,” I added as I picked up the shopping bags and turned to leave.

“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “If you need anything further, do come by,” she added. I was sure that she believed that Vivian was my mistress, and that I was a rather wealthy older man. She had seen that there were still many hundred-dollar bills left in my wallet. Also, cash wasn’t traceable like a credit card would be in case I still had a wife.

On nearing the hotel, I moved between a couple of buildings so I wouldn’t be seen and transferred to my room. My sudden appearance there startled Vivian who was now awake, but she soon recovered.

“How do you do that?” she demanded.

“Magic, it’s a fairly simple spell if you have a strong enough Talent,” I told her.

“Do I have a strong enough Talent?” she asked with desire in her voice.

“Yes, you do, but you have a lot of Magic to learn before you try to transfer. You will also need to learn to visualize where you want to go. It’s more complicated than it looks,” I told her before putting the shopping bags on the bed, which she had made up.

“Go ahead and change in the bathroom. We’ll go out then and pick up whatever else you need and a couple of suitcases,” I told her.

“Did you pick out all of these?” she asked while examining the clothing.

“No, I found a friendly salesclerk, and she picked out everything after I showed her your picture,” I told her before she left to change. Emerging some twenty-five minutes later, Vivian was the picture of loveliness.

I transferred us both out to the location where I had transferred from previously. After picking up my car, I drove us out of the downtown area to a more suburban location where we could shop with less attention than we could downtown. There were still a number of things that Vivian needed, and they were easily obtained in the large strip mall where we stopped. We also had lunch there. During lunch, we discussed the available options.

“We could leave today, if you like, or we could wait until tomorrow morning, if you would rather travel during the daytime,” I told her.

“Just where are you planning on going, and why should I go with you?” she asked in a reasonable voice.

“I live in Tennessee. I have a house and land there,” I told her.

“Are you a musician? There are a lot of them that live there,” she asked in an interested voice.

“No, I’m not a musician. I was in custom furniture before retiring several years ago,” I told her.

“What part of Tennessee do you live in then?” she asked. “Not out in the hills, I hope,” she added.

“No, my house and property are outside of Chattanooga. There are a number of Dragons down in the Atlanta area, but I have avoided them so far. When you become a Dragon, WE will visit them,” I told her.

“You seem to have all of this planned out in advance. What if I don’t want to be a Dragon?” she asked.

“What else will you be?” I asked in return. “You have a strong Talent but know no Magic. If you come with me, you can at least study Magic and have that skill. You would only become a Dragon, if you finish the Sixth Book. It tells you so on the first pages of that book. I hesitated for over a week before making up my mind,” I told her. “Oh yes, you will also need to learn to fly, if you are a Dragon,” I added.

“Fly! Like a bird?” she asked.

“No, like a Dragon. At my largest, I stand forty feet tall, and have a wingspan of over a hundred feet,” I told her.

“You said at your largest. May I presume that you can be several smaller sizes?” she asked in an interested voice.

“Yes, there are several sizes between eight-feet-tall and forty-feet-tall,” I acknowledged before remembering something else. “Dragons come in different colors. I’m a dark Green Dragon, and my Dragon name in Gaelic is Uilephist. You don’t want me to say it in the Dragon language, as it would knock out everyone near us,” I told her. Viv hadn’t even blinked when I said my name in Gaelic. Just hearing it would knock out many people, or make them unsteady at least, but not her. This convinced me that she was definitely Dragon material. I really needed to convince her to go with me.

“What color was I last night when you healed me?” she asked, again in an interested voice.

“It was dark enough that even my Dragon vision couldn’t tell what color you were, and I was a bit busy at the time making sure you had healed up to pay a lot of attention,” I told her. She sat there for a time thinking before saying anything.

“All right, I’ll go back to the hotel with you and stay the night. I will have made up my mind by the morning,” she agreed. We returned to the hotel following that, and I transferred her and our purchases back to my room there. I then returned to the front of the hotel, entered it, and moved up to the front desk there.

“I’ll be checking out in the morning. I completed my business today,” I told the person there after identifying myself and giving them my room number. Up in the room, Vivian had the news on the television when I entered the room. The story presently being covered was the remains of the seven bodies discovered that morning in the park.

“There is presently no more information on the seven burned, actually incinerated, bodies found in the park in downtown Chicago this morning. All that remained were ashes, as the fire had burned not only their clothing, but all of their flesh and even most of their bones. It had to have been a very hot fire to do this, but the police and the fire department have no idea of how it could have been done out of doors, as it normally requires a large industrial furnace to burn a body that thoroughly. The police are continuing their investigation but have little hope of identifying the victims. If someone you know is missing, please contact the police,” the announcer said before the station went to a commercial.

“You weren’t exaggerating! You really did incinerate them,” Viv said on looking up at me.

“Yes, Dragon Fire burns very hot. It didn’t take long to consume them,” I admitted. She sat there for a time in thought before turning back to me.

“I want to make a phone call. I have to know if it really was my Daddy that you took the coat from,” she told me.

“If you know his number, go ahead and call him,” I told her pointing to the phone on the desk in the room. She dialed the number and a few seconds later a cell phone in one of the pockets of the overcoat rang. Viv dropped the phone and burst into tears. She was inconsolable for some time.

Later that afternoon, she looked up at me with tears on her cheeks and asked, “Why? Why would he do that to me?” She sounded so forlorn, that it took me some time to answer her.

“Tell me how your affair with him started. Maybe we can determine why he did that from the facts,” I told her, but wasn’t sure it was possible to determine his motives.

“My Mother disappeared just before my fourteenth birthday. She just vanished. The police looked for her. Daddy was a Captain in the police at the time, and the commander of the precinct that we lived in. He wanted to be in charge of the investigation, but the Superintendent of Police wouldn’t allow it. He transferred Daddy to a job at police headquarters downtown. Daddy still kept close track of everything that the detectives were doing. They never found anything and to this day don’t know what became of my mom. They never found a body or any evidence of what happened to her. It’s like she just vanished into space,” Viv told me, and there were tears running down her cheeks. Taking her into my arms, I held her while she cried. She had come willingly into my arms. When she seemed better, I had a question for her.

“How long had your parents been married?” I asked.

“They were married when I was eight years old,” she told me.

“Then, you realize that he wasn’t your biological Father?” I asked.

“Yes, but he was the only daddy that I ever had,” she replied in a lonesome voice.

“The man that I took the coat from had absolutely no trace of the Talent, or of being able to become a Dragon,” I told her.

“Yes, I know,” she said.

“We will never know how strong a Talent your Mother had, but she must have had some Talent, as yours is very strong,” I told her.

“You haven’t mentioned how the sex started yet,” I reminded her following that. She sighed and I released her.

“My fourteenth birthday had been a real bust. With Mom missing, and Daddy at work downtown, as the Superintendent kept him too busy to interfere in the investigation, there was no one at home or any party or celebration. I had been just moping around the house for several weeks, crying a lot, and hoping to hear something. Daddy came home one night and found me lying on the sofa crying.

“What’s wrong, Viv?” he asked.

“I want my mama,” I cried.

“They haven’t found anything yet. I checked this evening,” he told me before he sat down on the sofa with me. “Sit over here next to me,” he told me and pulled me up to a sitting position. I sat next to him for a time, and he put an arm around me and held me. I must have fallen asleep as the next thing I knew; he was shaking my shoulder. “Come on Viv, it’s time for dinner,” he told me and led me into the kitchen to eat.

“The same thing happened over the next few days, and it soon became a routine. He would come home and comfort me then we’d have dinner. He also began rubbing my back to make me feel better. After that, he had me start sitting on his lap while he held me and rubbed my back. After a while he started rubbing more than just my back, and I could feel the bulge in his pants when sitting on his lap.”

“What else was he rubbing?” I asked, interrupting her.

“He was rubbing my breasts. I’ve always had nice breasts. They started growing when I was eleven. They were a nice size by the time I was fourteen. After a few days of rubbing them, he put his hand inside my blouse. I didn’t have a bra on as his rubbing them felt very good. After that, he would play with my breasts every night before dinner.

“He was getting home earlier now, and there was time after dinner before we went to bed. I got him to play more with my breasts, but he soon found another area to massage ... down between my legs. It felt very good when he rubbed me down there. We did that for a short time before he wanted to do something else.

“One night, he took me back to the living room and sat me down on the sofa. “I want to try something else tonight,” he told me before he reached up under my skirt and pulled my panties down. He had already been doing that for a week or so when her rubbed me down there. That night, however, he didn’t massage me with his fingers. He used his tongue. I nearly went out of my mind the night that he first licked me. I moaned and screamed and thrashed around. The orgasm at the end nearly knocked me out. Daddy had my juice all over his face when he finished,” she told me and was breathing hard from the memory.