Chapter 2
*All characters copyright Eric Huston. Dragon Isle, Billy Brown, Babe Cleave, Sarah Jovi, Ralf Rance-Gray, and dragon species copyright Poseidon-Simons. Gareth copyright John Harbaugh.
Dranith circled Billy’s lab. Deciding that he was pushing it enough as is, he landed quickly. Babe’s sensors picked someone at the door. [Lifeform detected. Scanning… Scanning… Lifeform identified: Dranith Kellroth. Abnormal energy signature detected, Analyzing… Analyzing… Identified as energy signature emitted by Reaver.]
“Don’t you ever leave that thing at home?”
“Would you ever leave your power pack at home?”
“No, but… that thing’s dangerous!”
“So are you, Mr. One-man armored division.”
“Whatever. Billy’s been driving himself insane trying to figure out what that thing is.”
“Oh, I thought he went insane twenty years ago, when my siblings were born, and my father didn’t let him “study” them.”
Billy had aged rather gracefully, still looking like he was in his late forties. But, he looked his age today. He had half a cup of coffee in his hand, and looked like he had been up all night. “Well, you showed up. I guess that’s something.” He got up, and waved Dranith over to a table, with the creature laid out on it. “I managed to find something out. You say you killed it last night, around ten?”
“Yes…”
“Well, this thing reacts chemically like a body that’s been dead over a month! And human-like, as well! The fact that it looks like a human stumps me more than anything! Maybe I should ask Gareth about this…”
“What makes you think that he knows anything?”
“Well, he IS a human. He might know if something like this has happened to the humans before.”
“I’m not sure that he would know about it if there was anything. He focused all his efforts on finding the Isle, remember? He may have never paid attention.”
“Well, at least we might find out something. What?!” The body dissolved into the shadowy dust, leaving no indication that anything was there at all. “What the? What just happened?”
“Umm, it disappeared?”
“Thanks for stating the obvious! Ugh… you are SO like Drannus. That’s exactly the kind of thing he’d say.” Sarah walked over from some monitors that had just gone blank. Even at her age, he could easily see why Babe was in love with her.
“Well, it did. Hmm… when I cut it, that same dust had sprayed out of it. Maybe it’s like its blood or something. It carried a scythe, and its eyes glowed with a pale light. The clothes looked like they were dyed with blood. When I killed it, the scythe dissolved in the same way the body just did.”
“I wonder how many of the recent disappearances could be attributed to it?” Billy paced around. Dranith’s cellphone rang. He picked it up, and Angeline was on the other end. “Hey, sis.”
“Where the hell are you!”
“No need to shout! I’m at Billy’s lab, trying to get away.” He lowered his voice. “You know how he is.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot. Trying to “study” you again?”
Dranith turned to the others. “I’m sorry. This sound incredibly interesting, but I have to leave.” He ran out before anyone could say anything in objection. “Sorry, sis. I had to cut and run. No, he wasn’t trying to “study” me. Tell the others to watch themselves and their kids. There are “things” running the streets now.”
“What “things?””
“Humanlike monsters that are eight feet tall and carry a scythe to match. Me and Babe saved someone last night from one of them.”
“Okay, I’ll pass the word around. Hmm… lemme guess, that “someone” was a female, and you have been in her presence recently.”
“Are YOU psychic now?”
“No, I just know what Drannus would’ve done in your position.”
“But wasn’t he…”
“Other than the fact that he was utterly devoted to Gareth’s daughter, he would’ve done the SAME thing you did.”
“Yeesh. It seems like my family knows what I’m going to do before I do it!”
“Well, if you had been born as part of a set of triplets with him, then you’d know how to predict him. He could predict us as well as we could predict him. And, if you really must know, what gave you away is that you said “someone,” not “this guy,” or “a kid.” It was just vague enough to make it clear you saved someone, but not clear enough who you saved, like you wanted to hide it.”
“Oh. Well, I’m on my way now.”
Daren fiddled with his tailblade and some metal toys, balancing them on the tip of his blade with his magnetic powers. “When’s Uncle Dranith gonna be here?”
His father, Ralf Rance, replied, “I don’t know. Your mother says he’ll be here any minute.” <And when “Any minute concerns Dranith, it can be anytime from the next few seconds to next week!> There was a knock at the door. “I’ll get it.”
It was Dranith. Ralf opened the door for his brother-in-law, but he kept on knocking. And he wasn’t moving any of his limbs. Accustomed to strange thing happening ever since he married the female he thought was his cousin, this didn’t surprise him. “Very funny, Dranith.”
“You’re no fun. I liked you better when you were skittish.”
“You get used to strangeness in this family.”
“Good point. The only “normal” ones of us are my mother and you. But, you’re not strictly normal, either. You’re a Claw-Mountain dragon cross, and yet you still have a child, and you have two mini-lungs.”
“And all of your family is part black and electric. And you are nearly a one-man sideshow, with all the tricks you can do.”
“They’re a lot more potent than mere tricks, Ralf. You should know that.”
Daren heard the conversation, and rushed over. “Uncle Dranith! Uncle Dranith!”
“Hey, Daren. What’s up?”
Angeline finally was ready to leave. “Okay, dear. I’m ready.” She turned to her son. “Now you behave for your uncle.”
Dranith silently mouthed “Yes, mom” as Daren said it. <If I’m like Drannus, then she’s most like her mother-in-law and Mom. But it’s ANYBODY’s guess who Darius resembles.>
Ralf and Angeline walked out the door, and Ralf called out to his son, “Daren! Be good for Uncle Dranith!”
“I will, Dad.”
<Go, go! I’ve done this for you two before. I only ended up half destroying the Island.> They finally closed the door, and walked down the streets, hailing a carrier.