Volos had kept the brothers busy all day Monday. He wanted all of us on board with exactly what we knew. What strategies he thought we as a clan should go forth with, and what the plan was if the Nest ever came under attack. V hadn’t appreciated his brother challenging him for the leadership, but he was dragon enough to admit he was perhaps more focused on the settlement of the clan than their safety. Now the clan was settled, and Wyvern had evidence that Q was floating around, he needed to refocus back on security. Attor had done him an immense favor, woken him up, not that he would ever tell his brother that.
Attor was up and out of the Nest early on Tuesday. He wasn’t getting caught up by V and his ‘warriors who plan together, stay together’ bullshit. He’d already been into the workout room, spent all his pent-up energy divided between a hanging bag and a wooden spinning opponent. The bag helping with his need to beat the living shit out of something, and the wooden man—they had nicknamed him Woody, of course—was fantastic at fine-tuning the strategy building component of your fight. Woody looked like a tall coat stand with multiple moving branches. When he spun from side to side, some of his branches would shoot out from the spin. If you weren’t paying attention to him, he would clock you in the head, chest, or shin, whatever wasn’t guarded. Attor worked with Woody a lot, as he felt it kept his brain trained for multiple facets in a true fight.
After a shower, he’d changed into his full warrior leathers and vanished from the Nest. All but one brother was still in their rooms. Ladon was on the sofa tuned out to getting a new high score on the latest version of ‘Call of Duty.’ Attor was confident his brother hadn’t seen him as he went into the chamber and left for the surrounding waters.
Attor felt the rush of freedom as his wings sprung free from the skin that kept them hidden. Some dragons feared the pain of a partial turn more than a full. With a full turn, the beast took over, and the human pain sensation was switched off. A partial was different, though. You had to be strong enough to control your human side and handle the pain. When Attor changed, his spine, ribs, scapular, and hips would snap and reform into a spinal structure that was strong enough to withstand the weight of his massive wings. Add to that the firestorm that ran up his body as a splattering of iridescent blue-green scales partially covered his body. For most clan members it was a very painful experience and one they didn’t do on a daily basis. Most were happy to exist in a constant state of bliss, hidden in the Nest and oblivious to what was happening in the world. That was what they relied on the warriors to do.
Attor breathed through the fire dancing vigorously up his skin. He loved it, it made him feel alive and at one with his beast. Beating his wings a few times in the depths of the dark and cold ocean, he smiled at the water swirling around him, moving to his every whim, curling and caressing his skin with every movement he made.
Attor looked to his hand, written on his palm in waterproof pen were the numbers:
35.6329 N
139.8804 E
A set of numbers he had seen on the paperwork Wyvern had handed out at the last meeting. He knew they were coordinates for somewhere close to the Nest, and seeing they were connected to Q’s name, he thought it would be a great place to start looking.
Raising his head slightly above the waterline, he could see a park of some sort. Checking the numbers on his hand, and using his own dragon inbuilt radar system, he was definitely at the right spot. There were only a few people wandering around, so he climbed up the reinforced retainer walls and changed back. He was still in full leathers, and even though he drew attention from his enormous size, it wasn’t anything like if he had a set of four-meter dragon wings protruding from his back.
Attor walked into the grounds only garnering a brief look from what appeared like some cleaning crew for the park. As he ventured further in, he could see kids’ rides, roller-coasters, and a plethora of shops, shacks, and wagons used for selling products. Some of the shops were beginning to open their doors, and he could smell the food preparation. Guessing it wouldn’t be long until opening hours, Attor didn’t have much time to find out where he was exactly and what Q had to do with it.
“Attor?” a voice said from behind him.
Attor spun with the speed of a scorpion, his knees slightly bent and his hands raised and ready to inflict a deadly blow to his foe. Pausing, he squinted, his eyes looking over a small framed woman, dressed in a bright yellow ball gown that had been torn shorter giving the edge a tattered punk look. A very tight black corset adorned the woman’s tiny waist. Attor’s eyes struggled to not look at her breasts which were being pushed up from the silver-buckled torture device of sixteenth-century France.
“It’s Attor, right?” the woman said again. “I’m Taryn… a friend of Payton’s?”
Attor looked up into her eyes and realized his heart beat faster. All her hair had been pulled up and placed in a messy bun atop her head. Her gentle blue eyes framed by the longest eyelashes he’d ever seen staring at him with kindness. His eyes dropped to her plump red lips as she spoke again.
“I didn’t mean to startle you.” She smiled again softly, taking a small step back, a little worried he was still frozen, poised to attack a potential threat.
Lifting his eyes back to meet hers, he coughed and stood back up straight. With a slight nod of his head. “My apologies, Taryn, you just… I just…” He fought to find the right words. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I work here,” she said, and with a sweep of her hand she planted a huge smile on her face and said, “Welcome to Tokyo Disneyland. Hope you have a magical day.” Her professional voice had an animated edge to it, a character of sorts. Her wide smile of super white straight teeth, and an extra sparkle in her bright blue eyes made her look like she’d stepped straight from a movie. Albeit a dark and twisted version of the Disney movies he was used to. Her dress looked like it was straight out of the cover shoot for #PunkedDisney, her makeup was bold and seductive, and she was sporting some serious ink down her left arm and leg, and from what Attor could see there wasn’t much skin left untouched on that side of her body.
A rumble of soft laughter rolled up Attor’s chest. “How many times a day do you have to say that?”
“Too many for the pay I get.” She laughed.
His body lit up with a weird sensation at the sound of her laughter. It was as if he was about to fight for his life, but instead of imminent danger being the primary driver, his body was on fire with the need to touch her. He desperately wanted to bury his nose in her hair and smell her scent, logging it into his memory banks forever. Attor’s hands began to sweat as he forced them to stay at his sides. They were begging to touch her, to feel the soft silkiness of her pale, smooth skin under his fingertips. Shiiit, Attor swore to himself, feeling himself starting to grow at the thought of touching her naked flesh. I swear lil’T… you make yourself known right here, right now, I’m going to cut you off myself. Threatening his penis with castration made the requested shrinkage follow fast. Taking a large breath, he exhaled and asked, “Worked here long?”
“Huh?” Taryn looked back, momentarily distracted by a staff member walking past. “Yes… no…” She shrugged. “Not quite a year. Don’t know which column that falls under.” She laughed. “Trust me, it’s almost like dog years. You know… when one human year is seven dog years?”
Attor nodded and laughed. “Indeed. I can imagine. Especially with that greeting. I mean it is…” he shrugged, “… so sweet. Each ticket should come with a discount to a local dentist.”
Taryn snickered. “Right!” She looked around again. “Well, as unexpected…” she paused in her thoughts with a tilt of her head, and she repeated the same choice of word, “… unexpected as it was to see you again, I have to start my shift.” Pulling out a small watch from between her breasts, she checked the time and stuck it back down deep in her cleavage.
Her sudden laugher made Attor look up. He hadn’t realized he was staring at her breasts with the look at a five-year-old in a candy store for the first time. “Fuck,” he chastised himself. “Taryn…” Attor hated himself right now. He hated his breast loving self, and his own stupid immature inner child. “My most humble apologies. I didn’t mean to…” lowering his eyes to the ground, he couldn’t believe how rude he was. “I didn’t—”
“Attor,” she cut him off with a cheeky wink. “It’s okay, it’s part of my job. I’m not here for my brains.”
“I’m sure your brains are extremely sexy,” Attor murmured too fast for his brain to stop it.
“You bet your sweet ass they are, but not needed for this job.” Turning her head, she saw people walking through the now open gates. “I have to go.” Her eyes flicked up to see Ms. Cinders staring at her from an office window a few floors up from where she was standing. Taryn gulped loudly. “I got to go, now!” Flicking a look back to Attor, who had followed her eyes up to the imposing blonde woman whose eyes were presently threatening bodily harm against his as-of-yet unaware mate.
“That’s my boss. She’s very cranky and looking for a reason to kick my ass out of here. So, yeah…” She smiled quickly. “Later.” Turning she did a small skip and twirled over toward the awaiting customers, her arms sweeping and swooping as her skirt lifted and twisted in a beautiful Beauty and the Beast type dance she displayed on her way over.
Attor was mesmerized momentarily by the graceful way her body moved, it was like music was playing, but she was the only one who could hear it. He lifted his eyebrows in admiration, perhaps fate wasn’t an entirely jacked up bitch like he had referred to her last night. Taryn was a truly beautiful woman. And if it wasn’t for the ‘wanted for murder’ part, she’d be perfect.
Turning to go, he glanced back up to see the blonde woman still staring. The only difference was she’d gone from staring at Taryn to now him. Attor stood up taller, his shoulders sliding back to create the tallest and most intimidating height he could. He knew she was Taryn’s boss, but that meant shit to him personally. She held his gaze for a moment too long. Attor tilted his head as it registered something was different. At the very moment his brain clicked, she vanished from view. A noise from behind him caused him to turn, a small brown-haired child was walking toward him with a bright smile on the small male’s face.
“Prince Charming,” the child’s voice squealed with excitement.
“Not in this lifetime, kid,” Attor scoffed, as the kid’s parents bundled him up and scuttled away from the tall, dangerous looking male. He smirked, at least all humans were stupid because he was obviously not now, nor would ever be, a prince charming to anyone.
Attor looked around, the woman was gone from the window, and Taryn had danced away from his line of sight. Too many people were in the park now, so he decided to go and grab some food. Maybe he’d come back later when it was closed. If he could resist following Taryn home to see where she lived that was.
Shaking his head, he grinned. “Work first, Attor,” he said quietly. “Work first.”