Volos looked up as Attor came into the room, the brothers were now all present, and he could begin. “We have been alerted to an incoming threat,” he stated.

“From who?” Jo asked.

“What threat?” Ladon questioned.

V held his hand up. “If you let me speak…” He grabbed the email from the table. “A fellow dragon not associated with any particular clan has been found injured. He keeps repeating he needs to talk to V.” V took a breath. “The authorities who found him took him straight to the hospital, where luckily a few dragons work, and they were able to get to him and isolate him from public view.”

“Another clan?” Attor sat as he listened.

Nodding, V continued, “By the grace of the goddess, yes. One of the perks of knowing where the clans are. They heard the name V and knew of me. One and one made two, and I got an email alerting me. They are transporting him directly here.”

“Now?” Jo asked.

“From what I understand his injuries are life-threatening, and he’s insisting he must get to me. They should be arriving shortly.” Looking at his watch. “I need you all on standby.” Letting his eyes meet each of his brothers. “I don’t know how it fits, but if someone’s sending me a message by means of violence against a fellow dragon, then we all have to be worried. I need all your eyes looking, if there’s a mark, bruise, hair out of place, I want one of us to have noticed it.” V took a breath to let his words sink in. “I want nothing left unseen.”

A loud commotion from outside the room caused the brothers to run toward the noise. As they turned the corner from the entrance to their quarters, they stopped at the sight of a half-naked human lying on the floor face up, with four strangers standing over him.

“William?” V said as he recognized a dragon from his meetings with a clan on the east coast of America.

William stood, walked over with his hand extended. Grabbing V’s hand firmly with a shake of long-standing friends he said, “Volos, it has been a long time.” His voice was higher than you would expect from a male, but it was smooth and assertive. “I wish it was surrounding a happier reason.”

V nodded. “Indeed, friend.” V shook his hand firmly in return. “These are my fellow warriors and brothers… Attor, Jo, Wyvern, and Ladon.” V pointed to each of the warriors, each bowing their head in acknowledgment as their name was said.

“Warriors,” he said in awe as he introduced his traveling companions. “I bring with me… Louis, Mark and Brendan.” William, as did all the others, lowered to a knee in respect.

“Rise, William, we have no need for formalities here. Tell me…” he pointed to the unconscious male currently lying on his stone hallway, “… who is this man? And what danger could he possibly pose that needed four of you to transport him here?”

“No danger,” William said. “He’s not able to change. So dragging an unconscious body through the water at top speed required more than one,” he continued. “It was agreed that time was of the greatest importance.”

“I see,” V said.

“Who is he?” Attor asked as he bent down in a squat close to the male. Letting his eyes take in any discrepancies.

“His name is Edward Sinclair,” William said. “He’s not affiliated with any clan but has chosen a life of solitude. He isn’t a danger, and by no means rogue. He happily holds his dragon secrets and in turn the secrets of the clans. He just chooses to live as a complete human with no dragon links at all.”

“I will never understand doing that,” Jo said. “It’s like denying who you are.”

“For some, though…” Wyvern spoke from behind them all, “… they feel like a human trapped in a dragon body. I guess it’s allowing the individual to identify as they want.” He shrugged. “As long as they pose no danger to dragons, then I say live and let live.”

“Hippy assed shit,” Jo snorted.

“Not really, brother,” Wyvern said calmly. “There’s quite a bit of research into identity association, and the power or in fact feeling of being powerless, it can leave on the individual.” He tilted his head. “I can print you out some information if you would like to read up on it?”

Jo lifted an eyebrow. “I’ll pass, Vern, I happen to like my beasty side.”

Attor laughed at Wyvern winding his brother up, he looked back to the body and noticed some redness under the tip of the shoulder blades. “What injuries are there?” He looked up to William. “You said the injuries were severe. Before we move him, might be good to know what we are dealing with?”

William looked at the men who had come with him. “Roll him over.”

The three men squatted down. Attor stood up and stepped back as he watched them delicately turn him over on to his stomach.

“Fuck me…” Attor exclaimed in shock.

Volos’ gasp was heard as he swallowed hard against the lump of rage suddenly appearing in his throat. On this man’s back were two massive wounds, running parallel down each side of the spine. The wounds were wide and jagged like they had been hacked at with a rusty hatchet. They appeared to have been cauterized to stop him bleeding out.

“His wings?” V whispered.

“Gone. They have forced a partial change and hacked them off,” William said. “The doctors think he was fully awake and not sedated while it was done. Fortunately, they also think the pain would have rendered him unconscious not long after they started.”

“Who did this?” V seethed through his clenched jaw.

A groan came from the body, and his head lifted up shaking from the effort it needed. Attor immediately went down and helped the man, holding his arm and chest, looking to Ladon who followed as tucked himself under the man’s other shoulder. They lifted him to a standing position.

Volos walked to him. “Edward?” he asked. “My name is Volos. I am the leader of the Apalala clan Warriors, you might know me as V.”

“V?” the man’s word was mumbled. “V…,” he repeated. “V!” he exclaimed with urgency, his body shooting upright, only the grimace on his face showing the incredible pain he must be feeling.

“Yes, son, V…” Volos said quietly. “You have a message?”

Edward was panting hard, his chest pumping in and out as he struggled to make his brain and mouth work on the same circuit. “You’re in danger…” he said on the exhale. “They know…” Agony tainted his every word. “They are coming…”

“Who?” V said. “Who is coming?”

They stood, holding their breath with what seemed like a lifetime of silence when suddenly he shook Attor and Ladon free of their hold on him. Edward stood bolt upright, his body rigid like a trunk of a tree, and he slowly extended his arm and pointed to V.

“Witchcraft,” Volos said with haste, his hands extended to his brothers. “Stand back.”

Edward’s eyes had gone pitch black. The tip of his finger pointed firmly at V’s chest. “Prince Volos. Son of King Basilisk. First in line to the throne of the Apalala Clan…” Edward’s voice was suddenly dark, raspy, and carried a blackness that threatened to invade your very soul if you let it.

Edward under a heavy spell continued, “You cannot hide. It’s only a matter of time before we find you. But the one thing I promise you is, we will find you.” Edward’s mouth continued to speak as if he was controlled by remote. “We, the phoenix, will not rest until every scaled beast is dead.”

Jo quipped in, “Feathered fuckers, bring it on.”

“Who sent you, Edward?” V asked the body that was once contained Edward, but he feared right now, did not.

“The bringer of death. The leader of the phoenix. The holder of a mighty blade that will eventually take your head…” He took a breath. “Q sent me to tell you he sees you.”

V watched the man carefully, the tiny tremors started at his fingertips, and slowly traveled up his arms to his chest, and within a few seconds, his entire body was shaking violently.

“Get the fuck out of here,” V shouted. “Out! Get out… he’s going to blow,” his voice boomed like gunfire rebounding around the rocks.

The brothers and guests all turned and began to run.

A loud explosion caused them all to crouch and dive for the floor. A slurry of blood, fragments of bone and chunks of meat flew out, hitting the walls with a thud, and then sliding down to the floor. It covered the backs of the men who had attempted to run.

Attor stood, his back entirely covered in the blood of a fallen dragon. “Q sent us a human bomb?”

“I’ve never seen anything…” Wyvern shuddered, the feeling of warm blood-coated pieces of flesh sliding down his skin made him want to gag. “To use a body… as a bomb?”

V nodded as he wiped a chunk of flesh off his arm.

Attor said, “Q is desperate. This is an act of desperation.”

“I don’t think so,” V said, his tone remarkably calm, for just having a body explode all over him. “Look.” Picking up a small silver ball which had hit the wall with such force it had embedded itself a quarter inch into the solid rock. “It’s a tracker.” V placed it on the floor, lifted his foot and stomped as hard as he could. The small ball shattered under the heavy weight of his steel boots.

“We have to assume he now knows where we are. An attack is imminent,” V announced to his brothers. He looked at Wyvern who was wide-eyed and silent. “Wyvern, get the cleaners up here. This needs to be fixed then get yourself cleaned up.” Wyvern nodded and took off.

Looking to the rest of his brothers. “Shower, then a meeting. There’s no time to waste.”

Ladon, Attor, and Jo all left quickly. The need to remove Edward’s blood from their skin was a top priority.

V looked to his guests from America.

“I didn’t know. We wouldn’t have brought him here…” William stuttered. “I didn’t know…” His head was shaking as shock began to set up camp. “We wouldn’t have—”

“William,” V said firmly, waiting for him to lift his head and make eye contact. “I understand. This is not your fault. If you would like to follow me, I will show you to where you can clean up. We’ll then give you some food, and you can be on your way back home. This is now a highly dangerous situation and one you will want to be far away from,” V stated, his body and mind now functioning on autopilot. “Follow me.” He nodded as the clean-up crew arrived and winced with a look of shock at what they were being asked to clean up.

It will be a long time before the image of a fellow dragon exploding in front of him will leave his mind. With every blink, he saw snapshots of the finger tremor, his skin beginning to bubble, the debris flying through the air. Swallowing hard against the lump in his throat, he stood tall and walked off with a false confidence for the benefit of his guests and brothers.

Clean up first, he said to himself.

Clean up first. Think, chanting as he pointed the men to the showers in the gym.

Clean up first, then think and plan.

Clean up first.

Clean….

Fuuuccck, he screamed silently to himself.