500 Years

Mating Cycles

Dean changed into jeans and a tee shirt as he listened to Cas replay everything he had learned in the last few hours. He pulled up a chair and ate his food as he looked over what Cas showed him on the computer.

"So the high number of missing girls, it has to do with their breeding? What, do they need extra food?" He was mostly just wondering aloud, but Cas responded anyway.

"Sam created an online database where he did something called scanning and put all of the books into files that he then organized into monster types. He gave us all access to it. I'm sure you have it in your emails or something. Anyway, I have been reviewing files on dragons and their mating cycles. It would appear that the breeding cycle is approximately every five hundred years, and now would be the time for the next cycle. I did some research online and it would appear that around the time that dragons fell out of favor with European royalty and the voluntary tributes, they began going on 'virgin raids.' They would burst into convents and steal all of the young novices and nuns, though back then they stole them all at once."

"Tributes? Do you mean virgin sacrifices?" Dean asked.

"That would be correct. This practice went on until the dragons were driven back and eventually decided to use their humanlike qualities to get around undetected. Some dragons, there are legends surrounding them. One such dragon was Kilgharrah. He was called 'The Great Dragon' and, according to legend, advised Merlin on how to best help King Arthur protect the kingdom of Camelot. He was locked in a cavern under the castle for several decades before Merlin released him. It was believed that by that time Kilgharrah was already ancient and knowledgeable in a great many things. He was not of the same mindset as many dragons in that he did not necessarily hate humans. It is believed that Merlin taught him that some humans were trustworthy and it changed his opinion of them. No one really knows what happened to him after his release. He just sort of disappeared." Cas had always liked the stories surrounding King Arthur and Merlin.

"That's all fine and dandy, Cas, but Arthur is a legend and didn't really exist, so therefore Kilgharrah didn't exist. We're dealing with real live dragons now, and we have no idea how many we're up against or how best to kill them without getting ourselves killed in the process." Dean scrubbed a hand down his face and sighed heavily. It had been a long day and though they had made a lot of progress, they still didn't know where to look for the dragons. If they were in the sewers, they could literally be anywhere. Suddenly his phone started ringing.

"Agent Smith," he greeted.

"Agent Smith? It's Officer Nunez. We've had another kidnapping..."