King Karik Korinth
When I kissed Vanessa, I had a feeling that I had never experienced before. It was complete euphoria. I had never felt this level of happiness in my entire life as a weredragon. Considering that I was two-hundred-years-old, that was a long time.
I knew that there was something to her. I didn't know if it was something special to do with humans interacting with Veruka or if it was just her specifically. But I knew that there was something going on, and it was worth looking at.
Vanessa was kind enough to find a home for myself, Jex, and Azlo. It was in a house next to her own. It had been empty and abandoned. She had told me that many of the houses in the village were empty. When the Clenok cyborgs first started to attack, many humans evacuated to military bases, leaving entire towns empty. It was a good house. I thought it was very comfortable considering it was completely different from what we had on Tivoso. This home was comprised of two stories. She had told me that it was very old, and the floors were made of wood. The walls were made of wood. There were lots of windows made of glass, and she said it was in a style that she called country. I thought it was charming. The bedrooms where we slept were located on the second floor, and the bottom floor was the communal spaces like kitchen and sitting areas. Behind the house was a very large garden with a fence. But most importantly, the house had a good view of the south side of the perimeter wall. It was a good place for my soldiers to keep watch.
The bed I slept in was comfortable, but I did not get a lot of sleep. It was because I could not stop thinking about kissing Vanessa. I replayed it over and over in my mind. I could still feel her warm body against mine. It was going to be hard to get through the night. I wondered what she thought of me. She had seemed to be into reciprocating the action of kissing, but she had pulled away for some unknown reason. I wondered if the feeling of euphoria that I was feeling was also something that she was feeling inside of her as well? I didn't even get the opportunity to ask her.
The next morning, Vanessa offered to give me a tour of the village. I agreed to it without hesitation. Not only did I need to examine the village in terms of military necessity and knowing a plan for a good defense, but I also wanted to spend time with her. We agreed that Jex and Azlo would stay in the house in the backyard. I instructed them not to shift into dragon form and fly around. Vanessa thought it was best that the humans did not see them flying in the air as they might take it as an act of hostility. I agreed with it. The humans weren't ready. They were still divided. Half of them felt that we were there to help and the other thought we were there to invade. We did not want to aggravate the opposition.
“Are you ready for our walk?” Vanessa said as she stood on the porch of the house.
“Yes, thank you. After you,” I said, looking at her outfit. She was wearing a very long black skirt with layers to it. There were lace-up boots on her delicate feet, and she wore a maroon sweater. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail on her head. She looked gorgeous. I had to force myself to look away from her body because I was becoming aroused again.
“So this street that we are on is mostly abandoned. People chose to take up residence closer to town. I like being on the outskirts. It is more peaceful and private. But as you can see, it is very close to the wall. So if we were to encounter an invasion from this side, these houses are very vulnerable,” she said as we walked toward the wall.
“Yes, I can see that. I am anxious to walk along the perimeter of this wall,” I said.
“Yes, we can do that. There is a path for maintenance that goes all the way around,” she said.
“There are four that are in charge of coordinating, but they are not really military men per se. They are more engineers and are the ones that designed the fence and the electrical coils that go with it. I can introduce you if you like,” she said.
“Yes, I would like that very much. It would help my army to know what your existing defense is, and we can figure out how to use it to our advantage,” I said.
“Then I will have to wait for you to believe me since the army is far from here,” I said.
“Come this way. The path along the perimeter goes into the forest in this direction,” she said.
“I lived in a nearby major city called Atlanta. My husband Blake and I were on vacation in the mountains when the city was attacked by the Clenok Clenok cyborgs. We knew that we could not go back there. So we made our way to the nearest military base. But when we arrived, we were only there for about an hour when the Clenok cyborgs came for it. In hindsight it was a stupid place to go. Of course, Clenok cyborgs would be attacking the military bases, that is obvious to me now. They would want to take out our army as soon as they possibly could. But we weren't thinking that way. We were only thinking about shelter and protection. We had heard rumors about isolated villages like this one that were beginning to build walls and that were removing computer systems so that the Clenok cyborgs could not track them. But we thought villages like that were being crazy. But when the Clenok cyborgs attacked the military base, Blake and I made a run for it. We were running toward our truck. He was shot and fell dead immediately. I was in a panic. Then a group of people pulled me away from him. It's hard for me to remember the rest because I was in such a state of shock. But I remember being in a truck with them, a very big one. They drove and drove until we came here. That's it,” she said with tears in her eyes.
“I am sorry to hear that. That is traumatic. I too lost a wife five years ago. I have had more than one wife in my lifetime. But that is the way of the Veruka,” I said.
“I understand,” she said, wiping a tear away from her face. I put my hand on her back to console her. We walked together in silence. I could not stop looking at her face. Her fear and sadness was getting to me. I wanted to hold her close and take her pain away. It was hard for me to do my job, analyzing the perimeter fence. No matter how much I looked at it to get an idea of what I was dealing with, I kept looking back at her face. Every now and then she wiped a tear away. I regretted asking her the question that made her so sad.
“So tell me what you have heard from the humans since we showed ourselves to them. When do you think it would be possible to shift into dragon form in order to fly around this perimeter so my soldiers could get a look at it?” I said.
She perked up. She liked work. She liked thinking. I could tell this much.
“That is a good question. I think we should wait two or three days so that they can get used to having your presence here. Maybe in the evening I can walk with the three of you into the town square. That is where they gather to speak and socialize. I think that if they speak to you in person they will see that you are just a caring being. Keeping yourself a mystery will only cause rumors. Then maybe a day after that, you can show them how you shift. I am sure they will find it fascinating. More than that, it is something entertaining. This town is very boring considering that we all know each other and do the same thing every single day. Even though it is a big village we do live in a prison. It is hard for us; you must understand,” she said.
“Yes, I do understand. I have all the freedom in the world to fly around on our planet. I can get in our ship and go from a galaxy to galaxy. If I had to live in one small space my soul would crumble and die. I feel for you and the humans,” I said.
“That sounds amazing. Being able to travel from galaxy to galaxy and have adventures and see the universe. I can only imagine,” she said with a smile on her face. The sadness was gone.
“I think this plan of yours is a good idea. We will follow it. We will not shift until we have made friends with the humans of the village. We will take it slow,” I said. We were now in the forested the area of the village. Tall pine trees surrounded us. We were alone.
“No. I don't think so. I think it is fascinating. I would very much like to see it, if you don't mind,” she said.
“All right, Vanessa, if that is your request, then I will grant it,” I said with a smile.
“Move back,” I said as I backed away from her, putting several feet between us.
She stepped back as well. This was going to be fun. Then in a flash, I shifted into weredragon form. My wings folded out from behind me, stretching the full five feet. I felt the rapid change of my skin hardening into a form of dragon scale on my chest that was barely visible to the human eye but was evident upon touch. I opened my eyes and looked at her. Her mouth was wide open. She said nothing but looked at me up and down. Then she walked to me slowly. I stood proud and tall at my full nine feet. She got closer and closer. Then she stopped inches in front of me. She walked around me, slowly looking at my form. It was starting to turn me on to be examined by her. I remembered kissing her, and I strained myself to not do it again.
She came around and stared directly in front of me. She tilted her head back and looked up at me. She looked so small and delicate underneath me.
“Yes,” I said, and the sound of my voice was thick and husky; I did not expect it to be.
She picked up her hand and placed the palm of her hand on my chest. She gasped.
“It is hard. It is sparkly like glitter, but it is hard to the touch,” she said.
Then she moved her hand as she walked around me to the right. Her hand trailed down my abs and back up to my chest as she walked around and then her hand was on my arm, then on my back. Soon both of her hands were on my wing, touching and caressing it. She continued moving around me until she was on my other arm. Finally, after this slow torture, she came around to face me once more. Both of her hands were on my chest and moved up to my shoulders and back down again. I didn't know who was touching me. Was it the doctor touching me out of medical fascination or was it the human woman touching me out of desire?
“Vanessa, your touch is… Your touch is driving me crazy,” I said in a whisper. She tilted her head up and locked eyes with me.
“Me too,” she said. That was the only validation I needed. I put my arms around her back and pulled her body against my chest. My lips pressed upon hers. But this time, I was not going to let her get away.