Draconic Amnesty

Chapter 1 - Breath of Life

October 2, 2013

With a trembling hand, Elias reached for the loaded syringe. Wren, his gang’s newest member, curled her fingers around it and stepped back, her bare foot snapping a twig on the manicured grass. “You promised to train me.”

“I will,” Elias said in a gravelly voice, his breathing labored. The lawn’s evening moisture seeped into his jeans.

Her silhouette shifted against the motion-sensing flood light, an arm pointing toward an extension ladder leaning against the house. ”I’ve already removed the gable vent. We can enter through the attic. The owners will be gone long enough for us to —”

“Give it...to me.” He clenched his teeth. In spite of the cool autumn air, a bead of sweat dripped from his eyebrow.

She hesitated, then knelt and extended her arm.

Like a diver struggling to reach the surface, he snatched the syringe from her hand. He sat on the dewy grass and examined his payment — pure dragonspirit, electric blue, the color of bliss.

“Do you need this?” She offered a rubber tourniquet.

Singular focus drowned her question and occluded his surroundings. He rolled up his left pant leg, found the spot he’d identified earlier, and slid the needle into the vein. As he drew back the plunger, as crimson swirled inside the plastic tube, he shivered with anticipatory pleasure.

He injected the syringe’s contents and counted:

One.

Two.

Thr —

He inhaled, as if breathing oxygen for the first time. His nose filled with the smells of nature, the flowers on the rear porch, the smoke puffing from a chimney across the street.

A metallic taste infiltrated the back of his mouth, like pennies. Though unpleasant, the taste wouldn’t last for more than a few minutes.

His ears buzzed — the sound of insects, of a small animal digging in the neighboring yard, of his own erratic heartbeat relaxing into a steady rhythm.

His pupils dilated. The night became like day as objects crystallized: the single-story house, the copse of white oaks, the tall wooden fence shielding the backyard from prying eyes.

And, the sensation of invincibility. It dwarfed pain, transcended emotion. He could still feel — his ghosts in his head still existed — but they didn’t matter; he even welcomed their attempts to penetrate his mental sanctuary. A warm blanket of security enveloped every cell in his body, as if his soul donned a gleaming suit of impervious armor.

He was a Drasper, a habitual user of a class A drug that went by many names: dragonspirit, blue lightning, or simply drasp. For the next eightteen hours, he could do anything. Utterly unstoppable.

Elias rose, stretched, and tilted his head from side to side. Two audible pops knifed the silence.

“Feel better?”she asked, curious...insignificant.

He walked toward the gate leading to the front of the house.

“Wait!” Although she kept her volume low, her voice projected urgency. “You promised to train me!”

He continued walking.

“Stop!” She hurried after him, then, in a conspiratorial tone, she said, “I have more.”

He stopped, turned and looked at her, truly, for the first time. Her defiant eyes, the color of hyacinths, didn’t retreat from his piercing gaze. She had thin fingers, delicate, as if she’d never toiled in the earth, never grappled with hardship. Strands of obsidian hair hung down over her porcelain face, complexion unblemished except for a thin scar that traveled from the corner of her left eye to the center of her upper lip. And her eyebrow ring twinkled, likely a failed attempt at gritty indifference — wholly unsupported by her juvenile personality.

“I have more.” She spoke with less confidence, but not cowardice.

He wrapped his right hand around her neck, a quick movement, one that he completed before she had time to flinch. “Where is it?” He relaxed his grip slightly.

“I’ll bring it each night that you train me.” She made no attempt to resist. “You can even keep the profits. I won’t ask for anything but an hour of —”

He squeezed. “Where is it?”

“I — I don’t have it on me,” she whispered, her voice hoarse.

He lifted her into the air; drasp-enhanced muscles in his track-marked arm bulged. “Where is it?”

She hung limp; her face reddened; her mouth opened and closed like a fish on land.

He returned her to the ground and eased his grip. “Tell me.”

She gasped for air. “If you kill me, you’ll never find it.”

Mildly impressed that she didn’t cry or show signs of fainting, he released her.

This year had been shitty for him. In March, the cost of dragonspirit skyrocketed on the black market. Conspiracy theorists blamed the non-publicized abolishment of Dragontruce — a secret political agreement with ‘dragons’ that supposedly inhabited Antarctica. Complete bullshit.

However, if she had a supply of drasp, if she wasn’t lying, he’d do whatever necessary to obtain it.

She touched her discolored neck and swallowed.  “Elias, was —”

“You’ll refer to me as sir.” He wouldn’t tolerate disrespect from a novice, her drasp supply notwithstanding. “Understood?”

She nodded, then asked in a serious tone, “Sir, was that a test? The choking?”

He stared in disbelief. Either this girl was taunting him or she was an idiot. Judging by the expression of genuine curiosity on her face, he suspected the latter. “Give me your equipment.”

She removed her backpack and handed it to him. He slung it over his shoulder and walked toward the ladder.

“Remain quiet and watch.” He took a deep breath and climbed the ladder. “Don’t speak unless I ask you a question. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.” She climbed up behind him. “Thank you for training me, sir.”

He paused mid-ascent, but didn’t look down. “It wasn’t a test. I would’ve killed you.”

I still might.

***

With white knuckles, Wren clung to ladder’s rungs.

She’d done it! She’d convinced him to train her. And, if things went well, there would be more training sessions, more time spent with him.

She’d waited for so long. So very long. But her wait was over. Although her heart threatened to leap from its cage of human ribs, it wasn’t out of fear or nervousness.

Please...please don’t let him see my smile.