DRAGONBORN

Danny Harbison

Pairing: OMC/OMC

PG-NC17

NEW

CRIT: Critique welcome

Archive: Fine with me.

I would like feedback.

E-mail address for feedback:: cobalt-blue@rockemail.com

Other websites: none yet

Disclaimers: This is my own stuff. I do own it. It deals with gay love/romance and sex. If you don't like that, don't read it. If you live in a state or region where reading this illegal: Leave and come back after you've helped change those kind of repressive laws.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the story of Kymbrall's parents (from my Buffy Story, THERE BE DRAGONS HERE) and how they got together. I hope you enjoy it.

SUMMARY: Dragon hunting in the modern era. Never pass up a second chance for love.

Dragonborn
by Danny Harbison

For the first time in ten years, the dream had returned.

Every detail was as clear and strange as when it plagued his sleep through the long years of adolescence. He knew it was coming before it began. He sensed it in the shadows around him, felt it in the warm southern breeze, saw it in the gaze of his brother Doug's eyes. He didn't fear the dream as much as he was annoyed at its return. It heralded something in his life yet unresolved, and the chaos the resolution would bring.

He found himself in a strange room, with brazier ensconced stone walls. The smell of blood and fire and death all around him. Curled in the shadows on the other end of the room was a great black mound, much taller than himself. The mound elicited a sense of hatred and fear from himself.

He knew the room intimately,. It was a knowledge that came from a familiarity with the room itself, not the dream. He'd been here often. The memories were not pleasant and brought forth a self loathing-but for the life of him he couldn't remember any of the details. He could feel the hard polished stone floor under his bare feet. He could feel the intense heat that rose from the mound as it writhed in it's death throes, and those undulations brought a deep sense of satisfaction. The heavy steel sword in his hand dripped with a black ichor, and his muscles ached from it's use. This was his work.

His head too ached, from the use of the phyre- the power given to him by his former masters, the power that they'd casually ignored for these long centuries, the power he'd turned against them, for their eons of abuse. It was justice that he, the eldest and most highly prized of the warrior slaves, had struck the death blow to Kaja Nel, the Dragon Queen. He had fought her, with iron and phyre, and he had won, turning the very power she herself had granted into the instrument of her destruction, and the end of the domination of the dragons over mankind.

Now she raised her great head and he could see the wounds, he'd inflicted on her- both physical and psychic, and was surprised she could still move. Her voice came in a low rumble interspersed with the sound's of bubbling as she slowly drowned in her own blood. "Slave, this is not over. You may have won for now and stolen my power, but the war is yet over." A wracking cough interrupted her, and then she continued, "Even now, my kind go their sleep, deep in caves never dreamt of by man. When they awake after the coming destruction, they will hunt your kind till they can once again take up the reigns of your species. No being born of woman nor hatched of dragon will be able to end this war between our peoples.

Forever will the plague of the Wyrm be upon man."

Then the dream ended, and Sean awoke. He could hear the quite sounds of the night around him. The sounds of his childhood growing up in the country called to him. Bittersweet memories flooded his mind, and he knew he would get no more sleep this night. He slipped out of his room, and out onto the porch.

It was well past three in the morning, but the night was warm, and he didn't feel the least bit cold standing in only a pair of running shorts. There was a great darkness across the land, and only the stars were out to light his way. This far from the city, when he looked up, Sean could see the Milky Way in all it's glory spread out before him. It was peaceful and quiet and afforded him the chance to consider his options.

He understood the dream to be a warning. Not in the same sense as the oatmeal-heads he'd known in college who were always looking for something mystical in their dreams, but that it was telling him there were things in his life bothering him. That until he dealt with them, the dream would return again and again. Sean knew enough about psychology to have a basic understanding of the field, but was no expert. He knew very well how his mind dealt with life.

He was a very analytical person and was always digging for answers and patterns. He liked his life in nice neat little packages, and the chaos these crises created bothered him.

"I thought I heard somebody out here," Marie's voice interrupted his star gazing. "What are you doing up so late?"

Without turning he replied, "I could ask you the same question." He tried to hide the irritation in his voice at being disturbed.

"I got up to feed Anthony. What about you?"

Turning around he faced his sister in law. She was wearing a nightgown that left little to the imagination. It clung to her ripe body, disappearing into the secret lines of her form. There was a hungry look in her eyes. Sean suddenly realized how the rabbit felt under the hawk's gaze. "I couldn't sleep."

She leaned back against the railing, "maybe you need a little something to help you." It was an open invitation, and Sean knew it.

Suddenly the uncomfortable silence was broken by the sound of a voice clearing. They both turned quickly to see Tyrone, Sean's dad standing in the door. Marie bolted past him, and Sean slowly turned his back on his father, I'll move into my new place first thing in the morning."

"That might be a good idea. Is there something you want to tell me?" There was an ominous hint to his voice.

"About what?"

His father joined him at the rail, "Like about what just happened- or didn't happen. How long 's it been going on?"

Sean knew what his dad thought. If their roles were reversed, he might draw the same conclusion. He felt a little hurt that his dad would think that of him- he was not his brother. To be completely honest with himself, he didn't even find Marie that attractive. Not that she was an ugly woman, the opposite was true, but the very thought of being with someone who was so intimately connected to his brother bothered him greatly. "Nothing is going on, Dad. Hell, I've only been home three days. I don't see how anything could happen in that time."

"Then why do you want to go?"

"Because we both know that it will happen again and again, and eventually if I don't give her what she wants, she'll turn on me. That would just cause more problems with Doug."

They both knew he was right. Marie was the kind of woman who if she couldn't get what she wanted, she'd try to destroy it. She'd gone after Doug, and finally realized the only way to get him was to get pregnant. When Brittany came along and Doug had done the right thing, she realized that she was trapped. Doug wasn't the catch she thought he was, and now she was lonely. "I still don't like it. If you ain't done nothing wrong, then don't run. This is your home too, and she has no right to try to come between brothers."

" Doug and I aren't all that close anyway. After the first few days, it's all we can do to be civil to each other. We're too different and too much alike. It'd be best if I just left." Sean was surprised at the profound sense of sadness he felt over that prospect. He'd never been that fond of his family while growing up, but now as he faced this latest crisis he felt the need for family, and resented Marie for taking that from him.

"Do what you got to Sean. You ain't been home much since..."

Sean could sense the regret in his father's voice. After his parents divorced, Sean and his dad didn't get along well. It took a long time for him to grow up and realize that most of the things his mother had told him about his father was garbage A way to hurt his father by turning kids against him.

"Dad, it's not like I don't want to be here. It would just be best if I didn't give the situation a chance to cause problems. I know I haven't been around much. I've wanted to, but the Navy had other ideas." In twelve years as a pilot he'd risen to Commander's rank and had even gone through the prestigious Top Gun school. That meant a lot of time isolated from his family. He'd missed more holidays, and birthdays than he cared to remember, but it had allowed him to resolve a lot of issues about his feelings over his parents divorce.

"Well you know you've always got a place to come to here."

"I know Dad, but I've got some other things to work out too. Things I'd like to get a handle on before I start classes again. I'll head out as soon as it gets light. That way I'll be up and gone before she's awake."

"Do you need any money?"

"No, I've still got a good nest egg in my savings. But what I could use right now is a glass of tea."

________

How can people call this entertainment? Nicole thought to herself for the hundredth time. It's morbid. She looked around the room again. The club was packed with people- all dressed in black and completely in their personas. The lighting was low and the air was filled with a strange mixture of tobacco and incense. Couples, trios, and singles were gyrating on a dance floor to a Goth band. A nearby group was discussing Elizabeth Bathory as if she were alive and in the next room, and likely to come over and have a cup of God only knows what with them at any time. This is the Society for Creative Anachronisms meets Anne Rice. If I really were a vampire I don't think I'd hang out with this crowd. But then again, it would be a perfect hiding place for a wyrm. Nobody would question unusual behavior, and he or she could use the phyre to dominate anyone who did.

Leaning back in her booth she sipped her wine. Letting her mind reach out tentatively, she slowly looked for the tell-tale signs of phyre. It surprised her to find two or three with some genuine talent here. Not enough to warrant investigation, but surprisingly potent. No wonder some of these people are drawn to this kind of thing. It makes their life more bearable. It gives them a fantasy to explain the unexplainable.

She caught a brief glimpse of what she was seeking. An old wyrm carefully masking herself. Keeping a tight reign on her power.

"Probably just recently awakened." Alex voice bade her mind return.

"How long do you think she's been awake?" she couldn't help wondering aloud.

"Probably not more than a few weeks. Her mind is still half asleep, or she'd have detected us by now," his voice was quiet so as not to be heard over the crowd.

"In this place we don't' have to whisper. They expect strangeness here. It's part of their masquerade," she told him playfully.

"It's weird."

"That's like the pot calling the kettle black. How is their masquerade any different from what we do?"

"What we do is real. We don't go around pretending to be some angst filled monster who should be pitied because society can't understand our needs. We preserve society, we don't see ourselves as some kind of enlightened predator who treats humanity as a mindless herd," his voice echoed a similar feeling she was trying very hard to suppress.

"Really? Why don't you go up to one of them and tell them about Tyr and the phyre. Tell them that we're Dragonborn and are hunting a wyrm who just woke up after several decades of sleep. You might find them completely capable of stepping into our reality."

"Yeah, but our reality can kill."

Nicole nodded in the direction of a woman casually sucking on the wrist of another patron, "So can theirs. If she's not careful there's no telling what she could pick up doing that."

Alex looked on in shock, "That's not just dangerous. It's stupid." Suddenly his eyes widened.

"There she is." He indicated a woman across the room who stood out. In a sea of black she wore a crimson dress. Her pale blonde hair and deeply tanned skin was in stark contrast to the pale skin and black garb of the patrons of the Masquerade. Nicole felt her dragonmark begin to burn, as the woman exited through a heavy velvet curtain.

**She's seen us! ** Alex shouted to her mind in phyre-speak.

"Let's go." Nicole slipped from her booth with Alex on her heels. Weaving through the crowd, and smoke made it difficult to keep their eyes on their target. Nicole avoided using the phyre-sight to track the wyrm. She wanted to give her quarry as little information about her pursuers as possible.

"If she gets to open ground she can true-form on us and we could be in trouble." Alex was right. Nicole had no desire to face a true-form dragon. Five tons of armored fire breathing reptile was not her first choice of dance partners. Better to keep her pent up where she had to keep her size reduced.

The men were big. that's for sure. They'd have intimidated most people by their sheer presence, much less the fact they'd blocked the door, but Nicole wasn't most people. Neither was Alex. "Ms. Drake doesn't want to be disturbed," intoned the blond on the left.

"Ms. Drake is already disturbed." Alex always was a smart-alec.

Nicole didn't have time to play games with these guys.

**Move. ** she commanded with her mind as well her voice.

Suddenly the men's eyes glazed over and they stepped to one side as Nicole and her brother brushed past them. "You do that so well."

"Shut up."

"Look!", Alex pointed to the end of the darkened hall where a door lit only by the exit sign slowly closed.

An itching at the base of her skull warned Nicole of danger.

Stopping at the door, she warned Alex to get back against the wall.

She'd learned a long time ago to trust her instincts and they'd keep her alive. Drawing her automatic she motioned for Alex to join her on the other side of the door.

"I'll take high and you take low," Alex said.

She nodded in affirmation, then under her breath, "Let's go!" as she kicked the door open.

The fight was quick and clean. Two quick shots each from their silenced weapons dropped the wyrm's guards before they could fire a round. The woman herself seemed to be unsurprised. She had enough room in the trash strewn alley to true form, but seemed to have no interest in doing so. She simply sat there on a low wall concealing a trash can and watched the two slowly advance.
Finally she broke the silence. "Hello children. I've been waiting for you."

Nicole could hear the calm in her voice. "She's up to something."

*"Yeah, but what?"* Alex's voice answered in her mind.

"Of course I'm up to something. Aren't we always up to something? But this time, I think you'll be willing to let me go."

"Oh, and what ever gave you that idea?" Nicole could hear the incredulity in Alex's voice.

The woman slipped down from the wall, and slinked her way over toward him. Her movements reminded Nicole of a snake. They were sensual, carrying more than just a hint of danger. Stopping only inches from Alex, she slowly ran a finger down Alex's chest toward his abdomen, stopping just south of his waistline. "Because I know where there is something you want."

Are you ever off base. Nicole thought to herself.

Alex grabbed the woman's hand and pulled it from his fly.

Nicole could see the dragonmark on the inside of his wrist begin to glow from the physical contact with a wyrm. "I don't think so."

Turning to face Nicole, the woman pulled her hand free, "Oh, not that. I'm sure you've been conditioned to resist those kinds of persuasions. Too bad, you don't know what you'd be missing."

"I'm sure I don't, " Alex replied, his voice dripping with ice. Nicole understood the source of the discomfort. Alex had no bond mate. "Your destiny lies elsewhere." the Oracle had told him when he emerged for the third time from the place of mating with no bond mate. All Dragonborn were expected to bondmate and continue the line of phyre, so mankind would always have a defender against the power of the wyrms. No other mind would accept Alex.

Sensing her advantage, Drake continued. "We could fight here. I'm weak from my long convalescence, and possibly could die.

But if I did, the whereabouts of a certain child who disappeared from your Baton Rouge Stronghold thirty years ago would die with me." She stopped almost on top of Nicole.

"You know where the lost one is?" Nicole couldn't believe what she was hearing. The loss of that child had spelled the end of that stronghold, and eventually the city itself to the dragons. "How do you even know about that?"

"I know a lot about it. I know that a child disappeared on the day of its birth from Baton Rouge, and you have been unable to find it for all these years. I know that it was male child and that your Oracle read that he would possess immense power. I know where he was taken and what happened to him. I even know the name of the man who is sole possessor of the knowledge of his exact whereabouts," she answered with a reptilian smile."

"You still haven't answered her question," Alex reminded her. "How do you even know about the child?"

The woman who was a wyrm turned and faced him, "Because, my little singleton- you know that condition won't last forever- I was there when he was taken."

By Tyr's sword, you live dangerously. He's been on edge ever since we returned to Birmingham, and you've got to go and taunt him. "If that's true then you know we can't let you live. No wyrm has ever been inside a stronghold and survived." Nicole told her.

"If you kill me then the child's location is lost forever," her voice was smug. "I don't think you can take that chance. After all he's just now coming into his power. Do you really want to turn such a powerful force loose on an unsuspecting world? If he attracts too much attention, there are those of my kind who will hunt him down and kill him for the sheer joy of it." She turned her back to Nicole, almost daring her to strike.

"How do we know you're not lying. It wouldn't be the first time," Alex echoed her own thoughts.

"We're not all cut from the same cloth you know. If I wanted you dead, then I'd have true-formed by now, and incinerated you. There are those among us who would end this war and try to rebuild our lives. We're loosing you know- both sides. As we slowly manipulate the media, and drive you from your strongholds, you are hunting us down and stealing our phyre. Fewer eggs are fertilized each mating cycle because we cannot risk staying in true form, lest we be discovered. You yourselves find it harder to stay a cohesive force because the government and media are delving further and further into your cover organizations. You have to divest your holdings as the government wants to regulate your private affairs.

Hell, we can't even find a private place to go and hack each other to bits anymore." There was a bitterness in her voice that reached to Nicole's soul. Something told her that this dragon was telling the truth.

"But why kidnap one of our children?" Alex asked.

"Don't you think we have Oracles too? We were reading the signs before you climbed down from the trees. We are the ones who gave you the phyre in the first place. Our seers knew the importance of this child from the night he was conceived. They saw him and one other as the instrument through which the war would end."

"He's just now experiencing the transition? There's another? Who?" Nicole's mind raced with possibilities. If this-he would of course no longer be a child- no, man was only now coming into his power, after thirty years he would indeed be powerful. The stronger the phyre, the longer it takes the body to adapt to its presence so the later it shows up in life. Most Dragonborn experience their first inklings of power in their mid-teens. Hers and Alex's phyre didn't become evident until their early twenties, and they were among the strongest of the Dragonborn. Now this wyrm was not only telling her that the lost one possessed power that hasn't been seen since Tyr led the Dragonborn from slavery some fifteen thousand years ago but that there is another.

"Oh yes, child. There is another whose life intertwines with your lost little monkey. I'm unsure of even the other's gender, but they exist at a nexus in destinies. Their lives converge, separate, and the converge again into a single destiny. From their lives stems the end of the war. "

"So this other person would have to be neither born of woman nor hatched of dragon, because we know that the lost one was born of woman," Alex said. "Sounds like cloning to me."

"Perhaps. I know little of primate technology. What I do know is that it is unclear as to who will survive- the Dragonborn, or the Dragons, but mankind's fate hangs in the balance." If your kind survives then, man will slowly be bred to the phyre. Should ours be the victor, then the primates would once again be our slaves. Considering our diminishing numbers, I suspect the former."

"Then why tell us this? It only makes your death that much sooner." Nicole had to know.

"Because there are those among us who want a third option.

One where Dragons and the Dragonborn both survive. An option where we can live in our true-form, not these ugly phyre consuming shells," she indicated the lush body she had offered Alex earlier. "We took the baby in an attempt to raise him to believe in our ideals.

Unfortunately, not all Dragons felt that way, and they attacked us.

Most of our little band were killed, and the child was carried off by one of our human allies. Only he knows where he hid the child.

It's his name I offer you in return for my life."

"How do we know this isn't some elaborate lie so that you can escape?" Alex asked.

"Come now, my little singleton," Nicole saw Alex wince at the word, "search your heart, you know I'm telling the truth. Besides, if you let me go, I'll give you my true name. If I'm lying, you can find me with that and finish the job," the woman offered.

Nicole knew the dragon was desperate. Giving up her true name would make her vulnerable to any Dragonborn using the phyre against her. "How do you know, we won't come back and kill you any way?"

Drake sighed, "Because you will be needing my help in the future. If you find the lost one, then my people will want you dead, and I suspect there are those among the Dragonborn who won't be too pleased with your discovery." She once again gave Nicole one of her cold reptilian smiles. "You'll definitely need my help. I kind of like that, enemy warriors banding together to save both their people. Sort of like in a novel."

"Great, we've got a Dragon who thinks she's David Eddings," Alex said to no one in particular. Then he turned his gaze on Drake. "OK, who's the contact?"

"First, do I have your word that you will let me leave unmolested?" The question was almost moot. Nicole knew that Drake knew, they'd agree.

"You have my word that neither I nor my sister will harm you. Keep your name to yourself, If I want you, I can find you," Alex told her, before Nicole could say anything. She could sense a change in his mind. As if something had suddenly dawned on him.

He's getting cocky on me. I wonder what he's up to? Nicole thought to herself.

"Does he speak for you as well, Assassin?", Drake asked.

With some reservations, Nicole found herself answering, "I'll go along with Alex. If he screws up, then that's just something else he'll owe me."

"Great, now that we're all agreed," she rubbed her hands together, "head northwest of this city on Highway 78 about forty five miles. On the 69 Highway, between Jasper and Oakman, just over the Oakman's side of Lost Creek Bridge, there's a small house on a hill to the right. The man who lives there's name is Marion Leveaux- Tell, him Drake sent you. Tell him, I said you're the ones I said would come." Nicole watched her produce a small coin from her bosom. She tossed it to Alex. "Give him this. He'll help you."

______

Sean set his bags down on the plain dorm furniture, and looked around the little apartment. It was small and unimaginative. A combination kitchen, living area as the front room was dominated by a grey fold-out couch and a table with four chairs.

In the little hall leading back to the apartment's two bedrooms and bath was a desk area complete with book shelves built into the wall. With a little work, Sean could make it look more like a home.

Not that he'd really had one over the past twelve years.

He'd lived in single officer's housing and on ship for most of that time, and had never accumulated very much furniture or material possessions. There just wasn't room for it on ship, and no one to take care of it when he was gone to sea. Outside a few suits of clothing and a small collection of fantasy and science-fiction books, the only real possession he had was his truck. It was sort of depressing. He felt like some vagabond, with no roots or family.

Running into Fred FitzGibbons right after deciding to go back to school had been a stroke of luck. Fred had been his head resident when he'd done his undergraduate work here, and had always looked out for his former students. When Sean had mentioned that he was looking for an apartment, Fred told him about the opening for Head Resident at this dorm. Within a matter of a few days, he'd been hired for the position. In return for riding herd over a bunch of freshmen, the University was willing to give him this apartment, and half off on his tuition- not a bad deal. When he'd told his dad that he had a good nest egg built up, he wasn't exaggerating. His expenses had been minimal in the Navy, so he'd saved and invested a large portion of his pay. He found himself with enough money to go back to school as well as purchase and furnish a large home if he so desired. He didn't really need the job but old habits were hard to break.

In reality, working toward a Masters degree in Aeronautic Engineering was just his way of holding the world at arm's length while he worked out his personal problems. "Well, I can afford it. After all, I don't have a family to support, or even a girlfriend to get in the way," he thought to himself. "It's just the three of us, Me, Myself, and I," his voice echoed off the bare walls.

"Now that's the life, if you ask me," a strange voice came from the front door. Turning around he saw a young man in his early twenties standing at his door in a pair of baggy shorts and a tee-shirt. He was holding a football in one hand and a beer in the other.

"What? Oh, yeah, I guess it is," Sean answered more to just be saying something than really meaning it.

The stranger put his beer down and offered his hand to Sean, "I'm Revel Boyd, one of your Resident Assistants." He had an infectious smile, and Sean felt himself relax.

"I'm Sean Fey. It's good to meet you," Sean took the hand.

It was a firm grip, but not overbearing.

"Fred called me and told me you were moving in. He wanted me to show you around. He said that you were grad student. What's your field of study?"

"Aeronautic Engineering."

"Ooh. Tough major. Want to be a pilot huh?"

"No, I'm already a pilot. I want to design aircraft."

Revel seemed surprised by that revelation. "Cool."

"Is that your standard choice of beverages for wandering around the dorm?" Sean indicated the beer.

"Uh no, not normally. Is it a problem?"

"You tell me?"

"Well, since the dorm doesn't open until tomorrow, I figured it'd be OK."

"Fine, just keep it in your room after today."

"Cool."

This is definitely going to be an interesting year, Sean thought as the two headed out into the building. It didn't take him long to figure out that there was more to this job than University was willing to admit. The hall had a hundred suits on twenty floors, each suite holding six students, Sean realized that he'd be responsible for six hundred hormone driven eighteen year olds. With a staff of forty Resident Assistants, he was outnumbered over ten to one. He felt safer in the Gulf War with the Iraqis shooting at him.

After finishing his tour, he thanked Revel, finished unpacking and headed out to get something to eat and do a little shopping. If felt good to be back in Birmingham. Living with his mom in Hueytown, just outside of the city, he'd grown up here. He knew his way around, and headed out to some of his old haunts.

He didn't have a lot of old friends to get in touch with.

Most of them had moved on with their lives. Larry was now a minister in Mississippi, Joe was the President of Bessemer Southern Business College, and Kyle had been killed in a car crash two weeks after graduation. Heaven only knew what had happened to the few girls he'd ever gone out with. As an adolescent he'd been somewhat plain and skinny. Puberty didn't help a lot -for some reason, instead of gaining grace and strength like his class mates- he'd only become more and more gangly. Finally in a last ditch attempt to get a grip on his rapidly changing body, he took up karate. It helped some, and best of all it kept the bully's off his back. Still, he hadn't been exactly what his mother would call a good catch -and God, she'd reminded him of it enough- and in the throes of dealing with his budding sexuality on top of his other problems, he just didn't feel like dating. The few friends he did have were above his social class, and he sometimes suspected that they saw him as some kind of charity case- the boy who was trying to improve himself- yet, he was still grateful for even that little acceptance. Then again he always had been a strange boy, caught up in his own fantasy world, and that probably had a lot to do with turning people off.

He'd rather bury himself in his Star Trek novels, comic books and studies than dealing with most people around him. Finally realizing that he stood no chance of survival in the world of his parents, he threw himself into his studies and applied for every scholarship and grant he could find, he was determined to become the first in his family to graduate high school much less go to college.

By the time he reached college, a confused and determined young man living in a world of shifting fantasies borne of science fiction and comic books with a tenuous grip on reality, the job that puberty had started was finally coming to fruition. He was beginning to put on weight and fill out, with his features actually becoming handsome.

Unfortunately his new found freedom from the oppressiveness of his home-life threatened to be short lived. Even with the grants and scholarships, the resistance he was getting from home made staying in college difficult. Toward the end of his sophomore year he was faced with the prospect of not being able to return for his junior year.

He did the only thing he could think of, and visited the Naval ROTC offices at his school. After a series of tests and a lot of thinking he weighed his options and decided that if he wanted to stay in school some more sacrifices had to be made. After spending the summer in an accelerated training program he added military science to his class load and joined the Navy Reserves.

The added class load gave him even less time for a social life, and he became the professional student and officer, never dating and happy for the chance to not have to deal with the conflicting feelings he felt inside. After two more years of under-graduate work, then flight school and finally Top Gun, he had risen to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and left the Reserves, banishing the demons of his fantasy world to his past with a strong sense of chagrin. He now had time to deal with that part of him that would no longer be denied.

He could no longer hide from himself by getting lost in his work. There just were too many hours left over from his day and nature was beginning to take it's course, and like Ellie May Clampett, lately nature was getting more and more insistent about it. Even worse than that, the fantasy life he took so long to put behind him was coming back to haunt him, now.

_____

The intense heat of the late August sun beat down on the Old 69 Highway. Nicole couldn't help but notice Alex's strange silence for the forty minute trip to Jasper. It made her nervous with him being quiet for the whole distance. She knew something was bothering him, and had an idea as to what it was, but he wasn't saying. When he was ready to talk about it, he would, and there was no use in trying to force the issue. Nicole made it a point to give Alex's personal life a wide berth, ever since he threatened to break her neck if she tried to set him up with anyone else. He dated little to none, and as far as she knew had never been out with the same woman twice.

She almost missed the drive-way in the silence, and had to turn do a U-turn to get back to it. The house was actually a double wide trailer with a small deck covered by a corrugated fiberglass roof serving as a porch. An older black man exited the house and looked toward his visitors. His hair was cropped short and was peppered with grey. His alert eyes belied his relaxed form as he leaned one arm against the support. "Can I 'elp you folks?"

He's got the poor black man in the South bit down pat. Too bad, I've lived here long enough to know how much bull it really is, Nicole thought to herself. "Yes sir, I'm Nicole Jackson and this is my brother Alex Stone," she indicated where Alex was coming around the front of the car. "We're looking for a Marion Leveaux. Does he live here?"

"That'd be me, missy. What can I do fer ya'?" the soft Southern drawl sounded like something from an Oliver Stone movie.

Reaching into her pocket and tossed him the coin, "Ms. Drake sent us."

Catching the coin out of the air, he looked down at it like it was about to bite him. Without acknowledging them, he turned around to face the door and then said, "Come on in." The fake
southern accent was completely gone now.

Inside the trailer was mercifully cool and shaded, a sharp contrast to the environment outside. The living room was dominated by a large desk with an old typewriter sitting squarely in it's middle. Shelves lined the walls packed with books of all shapes and sizes. Large stacks of books scattered around the floor created a minotaurian maze that had to be navigated to reach the desk. Sitting next to the desk, was an small refrigerator, slightly ajar, a single glass of ice tea sitting on it's top. Next to it on the floor was a waste basket overflowing with discarded and crumpled papers. "You
folks'll have to excuse the place. I'm writing the Great American Novel."

"It's perfectly all right Mr. Leveaux. You should see my brother's place." Nicole told him trying to be disarming. The old man smiled back at Nicole as he sat down behind the desk, making it clear that he knew what she was doing. She was telling the truth though, Alex really was a horrible housekeeper and had more books than God scattered around his apartment back in Ashland.

Nicole watched the man pass the coin through his fingers as he seemed to be debating his options. Finally, seeming to come to some conclusion, he looked up at her, "I take it you're here about the kid." He gestured toward the couch across from the desk, "Please, sit down, while I think this thing through."

Quick and to the point. Nicole liked that. Even if Leveaux didn't know exactly what was going on, he knew enough to cut through the usual small talk most people feel necessary even after they've made up their minds on an issue. "Yes sir. Ms. Drake said you knew where he is," she told him as they sat down.

He leaned back in his chair and pulled a large book from the shelf behind him, "I know where he is all right, Ms. Stone. But to be honest with you, I'm not sure I should tell you." Something in his voice told Nicole that there was more involved here than an old man's desire to be difficult. Unfortunately, Alex wasn't paying as much attention.

"Just who do you think you are?!" He half rose from the couch. Nicole could sense turmoil in her brother. Something about being back in central Alabama had set him on edge and he obviously was thinking none too clearly.

She reached out to hold Alex back when they both suddenly felt a force pin them the to the couch. Briefly, Nicole saw the phyre flare around Leveaux as his spell went off. It caught her completely by surprise. " Just who do you think you are boy!? Comin' to my home and raising your voice at me. I didn't say I wouldn't give you the name. I said I wasn't sure I should."

If the spell had caught Nicole off guard, it infuriated Alex. She could sense him gathering his phyre. If she didn't head it off soon it would get nasty. There weren't all that many people in the general public who possessed the phyre. It tended to be genetically linked, traveling down the father's line, passed to son or daughter. The 'born tried to keep up with individuals who might have such power. It was unusual for someone with only a 'born father to have the phyre, but it sometimes happened. Occasionally a child was lost, or a 'born would commit an indiscretion. Society had a name for children born out of wedlock. The dragonborn had a name for phyre-powered individuals who were not a member of their orders. It was the same name. "Bastard."

Leveaux raised an eyebrow at the word. "You're probably right Ms. Stone. To tell you the truth, I 'm not sure who my daddy was. It may have even been the master's son. My momma always said he had an eye for the slaves. But then again, slaves weren't allowed to marry in 1837, so I would have to be a bastard." Somewhat surprised by the revelation of his age, Nicole smiled back nonetheless. It wasn't unheard of for someone with the phyre to live that long, but it was unusual this day and age. Such a long life attracted attention, and attention was exactly what both the dragons and the dragonborn wanted desperately to avoid. Drake had been right when she'd said that neither side could find a private place where they could go and cut each other to pieces anymore. Both sides of the war had become too deeply interwoven into mankind's civilization, and long lives attracted attention even more than unaccounted for bodies.

Leveaux wasn't aware of what the word meant- at least not in the context she'd used it. "That's not quite what I meant Mr. Leveaux, but for now we'll go with it." It occurred to her that he also wasn't aware of exactly who he was dealing with. He might not even know that Drake was a dragon. No matter, he did know where the kid that disappeared from the Baton Rouge stronghold was, and that made him too important to let Alex kill in pique of anger. "Where's the person we're discussing Mr. Leveaux? Tell us and we'll leave you alone to write your novel. Soon, he's going to need help dealing with what you've already mastered, and if he doesn't get it, he could be dangerous to himself and others."

If he was just coming into his phyre without anyone to show him how to control it, then he would have to be scared out of his wits. For the 'born, the phyre is cherished and nurtured, but left uncontrolled it was also feared. That's why the phyre-bond is considered so sacrosanct. When a phyre bond was forged between a couple, it guaranteed that children who had it would be the result of this union, and knowing that a child would be phrye powered, was half the battle in teaching him to control it. "Why shouldn't you tell us where he is?"

Leveaux leaned back in his chair and with a negligible wave of his hand Nicole felt the pressure on her dissipate. "Because, the guy's been through pure hell as it is. I don't know what you guys were thinking, but the family- if you could call it that- you had me arrange for him to become a part of", his distaste for the situation apparent in his voice, " almost killed him. I don't know what you people have in mind, but I think you screwed up royally there."

Nicole could sense that Leveaux just went up in Alex's estimation. She could feel him release his grip on the phyre. Then she turned her attention back to the man in front of her thinking to herself, For someone self taught, he's good. He'd made a fine member of the orders, he still might if he doesn't cross Alex too much. God, I have to get him to get his head on straight about that. It's been twelve years , and he's still hiding from it.

As if bidden by her thoughts, Alex spoke up, worry and anger in his voice, "you mean physical abuse?" That's the way it was with the Thorns, and the Blades. Suggest somewhere that a child or a woman was being abused and they'd be half way out the door before they even knew where the victim was. That was the real tragedy about Alex's situation. He would make an excellent father.

Leveaux shook his head, "No, not that kind of abuse. It was more psychological, or even cultural. They stifled every instinct in his body. They ridiculed the things he was good at as unimportant, and valued those he was slow to develop. His mother made it clear almost every day of his life what a disappointment he was to her. He was like Raphael surrounded by black velvet paintings of Elvis."

Nicole could sense Alex's amusement at that remark, if not the situation. Leveaux continued, "I don't know why you decided that this was the family to raise that kid, but if his parents hadn't divorced when he was ten, he'd either be dead now or committed. I've never seen anyone fight quite like him. The whole world was stacked against him, and still he not only survived, but actually found a way to become somewhat successful. Once he gets his head on straight 'bout a few things, he's going to do rather well I think. "There was a pride in the old man's voice that made her wonder if he hadn't found some way to make life a little easier on the boy.

Alex obviously wasn't taking the news very well, "Just tell us where he is Mr. Leveaux. Because of your obvious concern for our lost brother, I'm inclined to leave you out of this mess. We weren't the ones who put him anywhere. We're the ones he was stolen from."

That revelation, clearly made an impression on Leveaux. He sputtered for a second as his eyes grew saucer sized, "you mean you're ...." Nicole wondered if Alex hadn't planned it that way.

Confused her brother may be, but he knew how to manipulate people.

It probably came from being a shape shifter. Quickly the old man wrote something down on a piece of paper and reached to hand it to Alex. "Here, he just moved to this address," he told them, confirming Nicole's earlier suspicions about his relationship to the boy.

"I'll take that," Nicole darted in and took the note before Alex could take it. "Dragonborn Mr. Leveaux, Dragonborn. I don't know if you've heard of us or not, but it might be a good idea to forget if you had. The situation in the war is somewhat unstable now, and things are bound to get nasty. Involvement in it might not be good for your continued health. I'd suggest you take a vacation and finish your book. Say, somewhere in Florida or such a place."

The old nodded, seeming to understand, as Nicole looked down at the name and address on the note. Surprised, she looked at Alex, "Well, well, little brother, it seems that good ol' Murphy has it in for you. You're never going to believe who it is."

_____

Sean was depressed. Birmingham and he had changed a great deal since he was here last. His old haunts didn't hold much for him anymore. Either he'd out-grown them or they'd become something he didn't like. Downtown used to be so much fun and full of life. Now, he didn't feel safe leaving his truck parked near the park much less walking the short distance from there to the old gothic building that housed the library. The city seemed dirtier and meaner than he remembered it. Maybe he was looking at it through the rose colored glasses that are the memories of youth, but some how he didn't think so. Mayor Arrington's policies had not been kind to the city.

After spending more in one trip for clothes than he'd spent in the entire past years in a JC Penny's that wasn't there a dozen years ago , he came home frustrated and angry. He'd gone by the Western Star in Bessemer, one of his favorite places to eat as a teenager, and found it closed for repairs. Finally, after placing an order with Pizza Hut he set to the business of unpacking his few belongings. The more he looked at the boxes the more depressed he became.

"Is this all I am? Is this all I have to show for the past twelve years. A sea-bag of clothes, and a dozen boxes of books and models?" The dry voice of logic told him differently. He had his pilot's license. He'd flown the most powerful aircraft in the world.

He'd come in for perfect landings on the bucking deck of a carrier in rough seas. He'd flown over thirty combat missions in Gulf War.

He'd lived more in the past twelve years than most people do in an entire lifetime. Unfortunately, he wasn't listening to logic.

Other things were distracting him. Things like, his vision sometimes going strange on him, where people started to look like they were on fire. Then there was that last mission before he came home. By all rights he ought to be dead. Nobody lands a plane in that condition, no matter how good of a pilot they are. Things were getting strange in his life, and having to leave his dad's place wasn't helping.

He was hoping to use this chance to go back to school to stay with his dad, and maybe try to rebuild their relationship. They hadn't even started talking to each other until Sean was ready to graduate high school. Of all the things in his life Sean regretted, letting his mother keep him and his dad apart all those years was in the top two.

After their divorce, she'd done everything in her power to drive his dad away. She'd filled his and his brother and sisters heads with lies about their dad. She'd hounded him at home, at work, and even accused him of non payment of child support to the point that he'd had to leave the state just to keep a job. Then she'd turned around and told his children what a rotten father he was, because he wasn't in their lives anymore.

It'd taken Sean ten years to figure out exactly what was happening. How after his dad was gone, his mother saw him and his brother and sisters as a nuisance. Something to get in her way of doing what she wanted. Sean was the only person he knew of in the fifth grade that had a seven o'clock bed time. Mainly because his mother didn't want to bother with him.

As he'd grown older, he saw other changes too. How his mother was trying to re-live her youth through her children. How she'd thrown his brother Doug at every little girl she thought might sleep with him. How she'd hounded him about not ever having a date, or constantly reminding as to why no girl would go out with him. By the time his sisters hit puberty, she was throwing them into the dating scene long before they should even be thinking about boys. Sean remembered one time in particular, when he'd returned home for a weekend to find his fourteen year old sister sharing a bed with her boyfriend with his mom's full permission. Worst of all the guy- who she would eventually marry- was at the time nineteen years old, and technically an adult.

His relationship with his mom really started going down hill when he decided to go to college. She thought he should find a job and a girlfriend, settle down and start making babies, and forget wasting his time on college. She accused him of getting above his raising." All he could do was think to himself, "God, I hope so."

It was about this time that his dad came back into his life. Funny thing. His dad was the original red-neck, but he supported Sean's decision to go on to college. He didn't have a lot of money, but he helped out when he could.

He and his dad began the process of healing the damage done ten years earlier by his parent's divorce. Sean had hoped to continue that process now that he was home from the Navy. For some reason he felt the need for his dad's approval. It was important to him, and he didn't really understand why. Unfortunately, Doug and Marie were getting in the way of that. Sean didn't begrudge his brother a place to live in his hard times, only his wife. The woman's attempt at seduction cost him his chance at continuing the healing process with his father. He was going to need emotional support from somebody, in dealing with the feelings he'd been having lately. I just hope dad can deal with this new phase as well as I hope he can. If not, then I guess, I really will be on my own. What is it about men in my position needing the approval of their dads?

A knock on the door pulled him out of his reverie. Walking over to the door, "Good the pizza's here," he said to the air.

"Hi Sean, remember us?" the short dark haired woman at the door said to him. For a moment, he couldn't place her, then he saw the tall grey eyed blond behind her, and it came crashing back in on him.

Suddenly he was hurled back twelve years. Back to a night at his mom's house, when he'd come home for spring break, and brought a friend with him. A friend he felt closer to than he really felt comfortable admitting to himself. He and Alex had been out with some of his friends. They'd been drinking, probably more than either one had realized. As they sat up in the living room, everyone else in the house sound asleep, they'd talked. Talked about school, talked about friendship, and talked about women. What they didn't' talk about, was what had been on Sean's mind for months now. What Sean had been afraid to admit to even himself, not to mention this young man who'd become his best friend.

Suddenly out of the blue, Alex had crossed the line. One moment they were talking about Lori, this girl who was chasing Alex and suddenly Alex was talking about Sean. Talking about Sean in ways that Sean wanted, but was afraid to admit. Without thinking Sean had lied, he was flattered, but not interested. That lie was number one in the top two things he regretted most in his life. Deep down in his heart, he'd let what he wanted more than anything in the world, slip away from him, because he was afraid of what it meant. Now those regrets came crashing in on him. They'd come back to haunt him."Nicole!" he said smiling, but his eyes never left the man behind her. He looked past her to the taller man, and suddenly he felt his voice tighten. He forced himself to try and sound as neutral as possible, "Alex." He'd aged little in the past twelve years. He still had that youthful look of a college kid.

"Can we come in or have you forgotten all those southern manners you used to talk about Sean?" Nicole was kidding him. He could tell that she sensed tension between he and Alex. Sean didn't know how much her brother had told her of that conversation, he had never told anyone.

"Uh, sure," he moved out of the way and directed them into the room piled with now empty boxes. Then without realizing what was happening, he felt himself slipping back into old habits he'd had in college. The one he fought so hard to get rid of. The old fantasy world he'd been so careful to bury in his past, as he crawled his way back to reality, "Why bless me Doctor, what beams you into this neck of the woods?" He immediately regretted the line from Star Trek.

Nicole gave him a strange look. Alex just stood there with that look of the walking wounded on his face. Something told Sean that this wasn't just a social visit. Alex didn't want to be here, and he could hardly blame the man. Sean himself, was uncomfortable with the situation. Sean wanted to deal with this in his own time, but it seems that Murphy had other ideas. "To what do I owe this unexpected surprise?" The question was directed to Alex.

Nicole answered. "We need to talk, Sean." She looked back at her brother who was trying to bore holes into Sean with his eyes. "Something has come up and we think you should know about it."

Sean looked at her surprised, "What is it?" Something in their eyes told him, that what ever it was, it wasn't pleasant. Sean realized that he was actually frightened. These two had changed over the last dozen years, and he wasn't sure that he liked the change.

Sean closed the door behind him. He saw the way his two old friend's eyes darted back and forth around the room, memorizing where everything was located. Sean had seen other men with that look while in the Navy. Seal team members usually. People who's lives depended on knowing every detail of the world around them constantly. Nicole turned to face him, "I'm not sure where to start this, Sean."

"How about at the beginning?" Sean knew it was a pat answer, but he couldn't help himself. "Like where you two disappeared to right after spring break?" Try as he might he couldn't keep the hurt and accusations out of his voice.

Nicole turned and looked at Alex and then back to Sean, "Believe it or not, that actually has something to do with it," she gave Sean a strange look. As if she were looking right through him. Suddenly he felt as if the temperature in the room went up.

His eyes blurred in front of him, and for a brief moment, she and Alex seemed to be engulfed in some kind of living flame. Then, as quickly as it begun, it ended, and his vision returned to normal.

Shaking his head, trying to clear the cobwebs he suddenly felt, he looked at Nicole, "What's this all about Nicole?" She and Alex were both giving him a strange and startled look now. Something had surprised them. Sean looked back over his shoulder "It's about you Sean. It's about what you are, or at least will be." Nicole's voice dropped to almost a whisper. He could sense a pleading in it that wasn't there before. Like she was both happy and scared all of a sudden. "I need to ask you some questions first Sean. Can I get you to answer them without an explanation first. I'll answer any questions you have afterwards, but I need to get these answers first."

Sean nodded his head, and looked over at Alex who appeared to be as uncomfortable as he, "As long as you understand that there are some questions I can't answer."

She must have mistaken his look to Alex as something else, "I'll admit to some curiosity about what's going on between you and my brother, but that's not what I'm after."

Sean shook his head, "No. That's not what I mean. I can't answer any questions about certain aspects my military career." He smiled as an old joke came to mind, "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

Nicole smiled at his attempt at humor. Alex remained unchanged. "Okay. Fair enough." She took a deep breath and let it out slow, "All right here goes. Have you noticed any changes in yourself lately?"

Sean smiled at her, "Nikki," he found himself using that old nickname, "I went through puberty at about eleven. Those changes occurred a long time ago."

"Be serious Sean. We're trying to save you a lot of grief here." Alex snapped at him. His first words since he'd arrived.

Sean returned his gaze and was about to say something, but Nicole cut him off. "I'm sorry Sean, could you excuse us for just a moment." She looked at her brother, "Alex, I want to see you in the hall." She half dragged him out the door by his jacket before Sean could react.

He heard low voices as if they were arguing in the hall, but couldn't make out what was being said. Sean looked around the room in confusion. This wasn't going well. He'd hoped he'd eventually run into Alex. He wanted a chance to eventually try to work things out with him about that night so long ago, but it didn't look like he was going to get a chance. The man was just too upset about the situation. Sean was surprised that Alex would hold a grudge for that long, he'd hoped better of him than that.

Walking to the back bedroom, he turned on the window unit.

Sean was used to heat, and high humidity, but for some reason he found himself sweating like a bride-groom on his wedding day. "This is not like me." He turned toward the door, and for a brief moment, he could make out two fiery outlines through the door. Then they were gone again, and he was left with a buzzing behind his eyes. "I'd better see a doctor about this. I've never had trouble with my eyes before."

Nicole and Alex came back into the room after a few moments.

It was obvious that Nicole was in charge, and Alex looked sufficiently chastised. "I'm sorry for snapping Sean. It's been a long couple of weeks and we've had some disturbing news.

Unfortunately you are caught up in it. We're still friends I hope."

He offered Sean a hand, and smiling-what to Sean at least thought was the genuine article.

Sean was surprised at how much those words meant to him. For some reason, the thought of finding out that Alex might still hold a grudge after all these years really disturbed him. He still cared for this tall man who'd disappeared out of his life so long ago. He took Alex's hand and smiled, "I never knew the question of us not being ever came up." Sean willed himself not to think about the hand in his and what he felt there, or thought he felt there, or hoped he felt there.

Alex smiled back. "I didn't either. But we really do need to know if you've noticed anything strange about yourself lately."

Sean thought for a moment. For just a brief instant he wanted to blurt out, exactly what had changed about himself lately, but instead he only shook his head, "outside of some strange lights I've been seeing lately, nothing really."

Alex and Nicole looked at each other. It confused Sean, "it's nothing really. I just looked like certain people were on fire at different times. I think it might be eye strain, because I always get this strange buzzing in my forehead when it happens."

"Sort of like the muscles on the inside of our eyes are contracting and expanding in rapid succession?" Alex always did have a way of putting things biological in words people could understand.

Sean nodded his head. Alex continued as he walked over, picked up the hard bound book on a chair, looked at it briefly and smiled, as he held it up. Sitting down he said, "I can remember when you bought this series. You lay in our dorm room all weekend and giggled. You were almost impossible to live with, giggling and reading excerpts you thought I might think funny aloud."

Sean nodded and took the book, "Yeah, as I recall you threatened to make me eat it if I didn't shut up." He smiled and lay the book on the table, "yeah it feels something like that."

"Have you noticed anything else strange. Heard unusual voices, or maybe things seem to move when you aren't looking," Nicole picked up the questioning as if she sensed that he and Alex would start reminiscing about old times if she didn't step in.

"Nothing that I can really talk about, Nikki." He couldn't tell them about the incident with the Hornet. That was still technically classified. "All I can tell you is that I was almost in a plane crash a few months ago. I should have been in a plane crash, but wasn't"

Nicole gave him an understanding look, "One of those things you can't talk about, right?"

Sean shook his head, "yeah."

"So there has been something."

All Sean could do was nod his head, as he felt reality slipping away from him. A feeling he didn't like. It would be too easy to let the old fantasies come back and dominate his life, destroying his hard fought for stability. "Nicole, I'm not sure I want to talk about it."

"Why, Sean?" she asked him.

Sean saw something pass between Alex and Nicole. The raven-haired woman seemed to nod in acknowledgment and stood up and walked to the other side of the room. Alex took her place and put a hand on his shoulder. "Sean, does your not wanting to talk about it have anything to do with all this." He indicated all the books and models around him. "Does it have anything to do with that stuff you told me about when we were in college?"

Sean just sat there, as his past came crashing back on him. He blushed lightly as he thought about the question. Of course it was why he didn't want to talk about it. He'd put a lot energy into banishing those particular demons. Fantasies woven into his life about a secret war between dragons and a race of humans with pseudo-magical powers taking place under the noses of mundane life.

Fantasies devised to let him survive the hell that was his childhood. Fantasies that although useful as a survival skill, hurt him socially, and had to be excised from his mind before he could ever succeed in life. "Yeah Alex. That's exactly why I don't want to talk about 'em." Suddenly he was angry. Angry at himself for letting things go this far. Angry at Alex and Nicole for showing up and dragging him through it. Angry at the world for not being the way he dreamt it should have been all those long years ago. Most of all, angry at himself for what he felt or wanted to feel in Alex's hand on his shoulder.

Nicole looked startled. Alex just smiled at him, "Good. I thought I'd have to hit you there to get a reaction out of you. I've never seen you this withdrawn Sean, I know something is bothering you, and I think it has to do with something weird going on in your life."

"Yeah, weird Alex." He turned his back on his old friend. It was the only way he could hold on to his anger, and right now he needed his anger to beat back the tide of insanity that threatened to crush him. He felt like lashing out at something. Anything, just to keep the anger at a peak. "You know, you've got some nerve showing up like this now. You disappear over night, and let years go by without calling, writing or anything Now you show up on my front door asking me if my life is weird. Of course my life is weird, look who I've got for friends."

Nicole broke in, "Are you two about finished with this self-pity party. I've got some things to discuss with you Sean, important things. I came here expecting to find the bright intelligent man I knew in college, and instead I find a depressed, washed out pilot who quit before he ever got started. Tell you what, when you can find the old Sean Fey let me know. I need to talk to him. This one turns my stomach."

That did it! Sean spun on her, his anger becoming white hot, as his vision blurred, he felt himself rise off the ground, and begin to glide toward her, "Washed-out! Quit before I got started huh. I'll show you quit, Little Miss Look Down Your Nose At Me! You have no idea where I come from or what I've gone through. You, from your privileged background. You who never had to worry about where you were going to get money to eat on next week." Some dry part of his brain registered the model next to his hand just melted, but not the angry part. Not the part in control.

Alex just stood there with his mouth agape as Sean advanced on Nicole. She backed away warily, "Really, Sean. You have no idea, how that I'm better than you because I'm poor and ignorant routine that is so prevalent in the South grates my nerves." She stepped over a box of books as she backed toward the sink, "What are you going to do about it you ignorant, in-bred, red-neck? Hit me?"

Sean felt himself drift down toward the floor, finally hovering a few inches above the rapidly scorching linoleum, till he was less than a foot away from her. He saw her flinch from the fire that seemed to surround him, "What makes you think you're worth the eff..." Suddenly it hit him. His world went spinning around him and finally he gave into the blackness.

Part 2

Alex couldn't believe what he just saw. "Are you outta' your mind, Nicole!" He rushed over to the fallen form in front of him. "I don't know which one of you scared me most, you and your let's make him angry, or him suddenly igniting like that! One of these days you and I are going to have to have a long talk.

Sometimes you go too far."

"Shut up Alex," she replied. He could hear the fear in her voice as she leaned against the kitchen counter. Alex could tell that she was coming down from an adrenaline high. "You may be right though. I may have gone a little too far that time. I really think he was about to kill me." She caught her breath and went over to the couch.

Alex continued to check on Sean. There was a stream of blood running down the side of his face where he hit his head on the table corner when he fell. Alex brushed the strawberry blond hair away to see the extent of the damage and was stunned. Before his very eyes, the wound began to close. He could see small lights dance along the wound as Sean's phyre healed the damage. "Uh, Nikki, if there were any doubt about Sean being what we thought he was, there's none now."

"I know Alex. Believe me, I know. But I was fairly sure anyway. There were a couple of times there where he was literally flaming." Then as if to realize that her words could have a double meaning she looked at Alex sheepishly. "Wanna tell me what you two were talking about with all this sci-fi stuff."

Alex lifted got a couple of cushions from the couch and put them under Sean's head, "Sean and I used to talk about our families a lot. Once, after his mom had visited and they'd fought he told me about this fantasy world of his. Evidently it was some kind of coping mechanism he used to escape from his home life, which I gather was pretty awful." He looked over at his sister. "It was about being something very similar to dragonborn. He called it Dragonkin."

"And you never saw fit to tell me or anyone in the Orders about this?"

"Look it was Sean's fantasy, and to tell you the truth, I didn't want to drag him into our world. His life had been hard enough on him. I didn't want to hurt him anymore than he already was."

Alex at that point knew that she knew. "How long?"

"How long what?"

"How long have you known about...?" He couldn't finish the words.

"How long have I known that you were gay?" she smiled. "Most of our adult life. I was just wondering when you were going to admit it to yourself. You know there are times when you aren't exactly on stealth mode on the old gaydar."

Alex was shocked. His deepest secret was suddenly not a secret. He didn't know what to say.

"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone until you want. Is that what all the nervousness is about? Were you two lovers or something?"

Alex shook his head thinking, If only it were that easy, but said, "No. As a matter of fact, he turned me down the night before we left for our birthing. To tell you the truth sis, I've never had any kind of lover." Alex was surprised that he was willing to admit that.

"You mean you're a virgin!" Nicole was obviously surprised.

"You don't have to make it sound like I'm leper or something," he was hurt at Nicole's reaction. "I just haven't found the right person."

Nikki smiled at him. "Okay, big bro, I won't tease you anymore."

"How would you like to have to face somebody who once turned you down?"

"To tell you the truth bro, I usually try to have them seduce me. It's easier on the ego that way." Alex couldn't tell if she was kidding or not. He knew that she'd had a few lovers before she met her husband Zack, but never paid that much attention to how many or how far she went with them. He gave his sister the room he thought she wanted and hoped for the same from him.

"I'll have to keep that idea in mind next time."

"Well, you could practice here," she indicated the unconscious form of Sean.

Alex was genuinely shocked, and he knew it showed on his face. He would never do that to Sean. He respected him too much for that kind of chicanery. Besides, Sean had made it clear that he wasn't interested twelve years ago. "No, Nikki. I can't play that kind of game."

Nikki simply nodded as if she knew something he didn't. "All right. What now? It seems we found the lost one. Granted he was right under our noses the whole time," her voice changed slightly, "and someone knew something was different about him and didn't tell anybody. Still, what do we do with him now?"

Alex shrugged. "One thing we got to explain to him what's going on." He looked over at Sean, "Tyr's phyre! Can you imagine having that kind of power and no idea what's happening to you? No wonder he was going out of his mind."

Nikki gave him one of her I know something you don't looks, "More was going on than just his phyre manifesting Alex. Something else is affecting him. I think he really needs a friend right now."

Alex knew better than to ask what she was talking about.

When she got into one of these moods, she was impossible to get a straight answer out of. It was also when she did her best work. His sister was nothing short of brilliant. She had one of the sharpest minds of all the 'Born, and combined with a level of telepathy, unheard of since the Sundering, she was one of the best operatives the Order of the Shadows had. Most people didn't understand just how effective a telepathic assassin could be. They tended to under-estimate them, since their phyre had no physical manifestation. One didn't make that mistake twice with Nikki. The first time usually meant you would never make another mistake again. "I'm not sure how he's likely to accept us now," Alex was surprised to realize that there was some resentment toward his sister over what she just did to Sean. "He never had that many friends in college, and somehow I don't think that situation has changed very much now."

Nikki looked around the room. "I'd say not. This isn't exactly the kind of apartment you'd expect a thirty four year old man to have. More like an 18 year old computer geek."

"I expect better manners from my guests, General," Sean's voice came weakly from where he lay.

Alex winced at that. He's slipping back into that sci-fi mode again. I wonder if he ever really got out of it. At least he saw himself as the good guy, and Alex could think of worse role-models to work from than Superman. He went over to his friend, "How you feelin' pal?" He offered a hand.

"Anybody get the number of that aircraft carrier?"

Alex could see the confusion in Nicole's face. "What aircraft carrier?"

Alex smiled as Sean answered, "The one that hit me. It had to be in the CVN range at least."

Helping his friend to his feet, "CVN 65 I think." Sean gave him a surprised look. He could see him start to say something but then decide different. "That was the right number wasn't it?"

Sean nodded his head, and Alex could tell he immediately regretted. He went to the freezer and got a few ice cubes. Handing them to Sean, "here chew on these. They'll take away the head-ache." Alex knew that right now Sean's head had to be pounding. His body hadn't yet adjusted to the presence of the phyre, and manifesting it under strong emotion tended to wrack the whole system.

"Could someone explain to me what just happened?" Then he looked at Nicole, "and you my little Nikki get a spanking just as soon as I an figure out which way the room is finally going to decide
to spin."

Trying to concentrate on the task at hand and ignore what he was feeling in his heart, Alex smiled and guided his friend over to the couch, "You can do that later. Now we've got to talk, Sean."

"You mean he can try," Nikki said, and Alex wasn't sure she was playing.

"No I mean he can do it. I'll help. That was a pretty nasty thing to do to a friend Nicole. There had to be a better way."

"Not with you and him dancing around each other like a couple of wounded tigers there wasn't. Besides, it all worked out for the best anyway." Alex watches as Nicole's eyes shifted to phyre-sight and was puzzled. Obviously she was seeing something that he wasn't.

"Just somebody tell me what's going on, and please, please convince me that I haven't completely lost what little sanity I had left."

Alex smiled, "Welcome to the Hidden War my friend. Welcome to the world of the Dragonborn."

"That's Dragonkin, Alex and it's NOT funny." There was a wounded sound to Sean's voice. Alex knew that he was talking about the story line of Sean's fantasies.

"No Sean, it's Dragonborn. You only had it half right."

Alex thought to himself, "Actually you had most of it right. Just the wrong name." He thought to himself for a second, "You know, come to think of it, I like Dragonkin better myself."

"Great, we'll inform the Orders that we're undergoing an official name change because Sean Fey and Alex Stone don't like Dragonborn." She shrugged and smiled, "What the hell, Dragonborn has only been used twenty millennia or so. I'm sure they won't mind."

Sean was looking at them like they'd lost their minds. "What are you two talking about?" He seemed to be slowly convincing himself that it was all a bad dream. "Did I pass out or something? I had the strangest dream."

"It wasn't a dream Sean. It really happened."

Sean looked at him like he was crazy. His voice changed, suddenly he was very alert, **What, just happened then?** Alex heard the voice in his head. Damn, he was already using phyre-speak.

**You mean besides the fact that you just floated across the room, probably with the intention of killing me. Then, after recovering from your little fainting spell started using a limited form of telepathy to talk to Alex, **Nicole's mental voice cut through his.

Sean nodded wild eyed, and then said verbally, "Yeah, that."

"Oh, nothing much. Just that you're the long lost child stolen from the Dragonborn stronghold in Baton Rouge and are prophesied to be the instrument of the destruction of the Hidden War." Alex smiled. He loved dropping these little bombshells for Nicole to have to deal with. The look she gave him was withering.

Now that he thought about it, it did sound suspiciously like a bad Anne McCaffery plot.

"Sounds good to me Alex. When do we start?" He couldn't tell if Sean was joking or not.

"You seem to be taking this rather well. No screaming, no yelling. No breaking down in hysterics," Alex replied, not sure what to expect next.

"No, none of that," Sean shook his head and Alex knew he regretted it. "So what you are telling me is that all those dreams I had as a kid, and that whole mythical world I used to develop in my head, is reality, and I just didn't know it." His voice started to sound dangerously unhinged. "That there really are dragons out there and really are people with this power to fight them?" His voice was beginning to waver.

Alex nodded his head, "Something like that. I'm not sure how you knew about it all. It may have something to do with what the dragons did to you, or maybe something along the idea of Jung's collective unconscious. I just don't know. I do know that you seemed to have tapped into the reality of the situation without ever being aware of it." Alex warily watched his friend. Something strange was going on here. Sean was taking all this too easily. He knew his friend was pretty tightly wound and didn't think that twelve years as a pilot would change much of that. If anything it would exacerbate it.

Sean stood up and walked across the room to the sink. "Exactly what DID the dragons do to me?" he began to fix a pot of coffee.

"Well, for one thing they kidnapped you from Baton Rouge the day you were born. Then they arranged to have you placed with a foster family, where they could control where you grew up and how you would come to see them." It sounded lame even to Alex.

"So what you are saying, is that I'm some kind of changeling stolen from my rightful parents and raised among the barbarians."

Sean sounded unconvinced. "Can you prove any of this?"

Alex was stunned. Maybe Sean wasn't as befuddled as he thought. "What kind of proof would you want?"

"I don't know. Maybe show me a dragon, or prove to me my parents aren't who I believe they are." Suddenly something came to mind, "If this is true, that means my parents really are dragons or dragon sympathizers. I find that hard to believe. Especially my mother."

"I don't think so Sean. It's not hard to manipulate people and records. It's very possible and even probable that your parent's don't even know that you're not their son." Nicole answered.

"Maybe not for you, but I still want to see some proof. Something tangible. Not just stories and half remembered dreams." Sean continued. Alex could tell that he wasn't buying it. Hell, he wasn't sure he would either. He'd lived almost his entire adult life as part of the dragonborn, and he still had trouble with some of the concepts. Finally he'd had to come to just take some things on faith. But then again there were some things that could be proven.

"All right buddy," Alex smiled to himself, "you want proof. I think I can give you proof." He stood there and concentrated for a second until he could feel the familiar buzzing at the base of his skull. He pictured the form of a large tiger in his mind. He thought of how the muscles and bones were connected. Once the image was firmly ensconced in his brain, he projected it onto himself.

He could feel his muscles begin to shift, and his bones reform themselves. Suddenly the color drained from the world and he felt himself drop to all fours. In the corner the lamp flickered as Alex knew he was draining some of the energy from the electrical wiring of the building to provide him with the two hundred or so extra pounds of mass. Odors sharpened as well as his hearing. He had become a Bengal tiger.

Across the room, he could see the shock on Sean's face. He padded over to him and nuzzled his hand, and then licked the salt from it. A strange musty odor came from his friend, and Alex chuckled to himself. It came out as a purr. He'd forgotten about that. The first time his phyre had ever kicked in, it's had a similar effect on him. Sean had the luxury of being fully clothed though, so he was spared the embarrassment of spilling himself all over the ground.

Alex once again pictured a form in his mind. This time that of a eagle. The transition was somewhat easier, because he was shedding mass not gaining it. He felt his bones hollow out and his arms change shape as his finger elongated to become the pinions of wings. He bounded into the air and landed atop a book shelf half stacked with novels and models. His sharp eyes picked out every detail of the room. Finally, he leaped down and in mid flight shifted back to human form.

Alex watched Sean closely as he went through his forms. He had chosen each of them very carefully, to play on his friend's innate interest in science fiction and fantasy, taking forms from the Beastmaster movies. Most shape shifters were limited to one form.

Sometimes two related forms. From such dragonborn were the legends of werewolves and other lycanthropes forged. Alex was unique among modern shifters. He had more than a dozen different forms memorized and could change from one to another with little to no effort. So far he could keep eleven different forms ready for use, but more than that, and he started to forget the details of each one.

Sean finally found his voice, "Uh, okay. So maybe you're not playing games with me." He started to sit down on the couch when the doorbell rang again. Sean gave the young woman with the pizza a twenty and hurried her out of the apartment without waiting for his change. He set the box on the table and never bothered to open it as he watched Alex and Nicole warily. "What do we do now?"

END PART 3