Virlaq Kingdom

22

The walk to the outside world was frantic and long. Mallory had forgotten all about his threats and hurriedly ran to keep an eye on his son. Nick and Silver were hot on his trail, also curious as to what havoc a full grown dragon could bring to the city.

Once outside, they saw the true damage. Darius the dragon was rampaging through the street, spitting fire on every tall building he could see. He screeched loudly into the air, causing even more terror to fill the eyes of civilians around them.

People ran in different directions, anything to get rid of the moster in the middle of the street. Cars piled up, crashed and abondened in an attempt to escape Darius. Luckily, they didn't see anyone dead yet and it seemed as if Darius's main targets were empty or non livable buildings.

He smashed telephone towers and street lights, blowing fire into the air to emphasize his point.

"Darius!" his father shouted and the dragon made eye contact with the group, recognizing his dad's voice.

He screeches once more and flaps his wings once again, rising from the ground and appearing in his terrible glory before the them. He lowers his scaley head to his father and blows a puff of black smoke through his nostrils, causing everyone in the group to cough and hack.

"Darius, I can explain everything." he said softly, "We'll go back to office and-"

Another loud screech erupted from the monster to shut the CEO up. "Okay! Okay! Darius!" he pleaded, "I'm just like you, I know you can control it. You're a smart boy, you can handle this, Darry, I know you can"

The dragon squinted so Mallory continued.

"I can help you, sweetheart," he coaxed, "All you have to do is concentrate. Listen to my voice and think about going back to human. It's okay. I'm the same way."

The dragon groaned. It rubbed it's teeth together, trying to form the words, "S-same?"

Mallory smiled, "See, look at you" he sighed, "I knew you were in there somewhere. You've controlled it for this long, I know you can go longer. You're such a strong boy."

"Darius?" Nick piped in, "I-I know I said some pretty terrible things. But some of them weren't true. I think it's time to calm down now."

"Calm... down..." the dragon boomed dumbly.

"Yes, can you do that for me?" Nick smiled that princely smile he used whenever he wanted to charm someone, "You love me don't you? Why don't you change back now?"

"Yes," Mallory also smiled, "Change back into how you were before and we can all go home and be happy again."

"Happy?" Darius repeated and you could hear the doubt in the dragon's voice.

"Yes, happy," Mallory said, "No more medicine, no more lies. I'll tell you all about who you are and people like us. I'm sorry for telling you, you were a vampire. If your turn back, I'll give you a hug and you can forget this ever happened, okay?"

"Yeah, Darius," Nick added, "If you change back, we can work things out. You don't have to hurt anyone."

"Like I said, you aren't the only one," the CEO continued, "I'm a dragon as well. Your Auntie Stella is a dragon... your mom is one. Everyone. Even Silver's father."

Silver's eyes widened as the dragon turned its snake-like pupil onto him. He scowled at Mallory, "Why would mention me when you know he hates me?!"

Mallory seemed to understand his folly, "Dar-"

It was too late. The time for calming down was not now Darius decided and screeched into the sky once more. The screech was followed by a blast of flame that was so hot that they could feel it, even though it was shot up straight into the air.

He turned back to the group at hand and screeched at them as well. The sound waves so strong it almost blew them back. Wasting no time, Darius took one taloned hand and snatched up the human. Silver screamed and squirmed as Darius flapped his wings and took flight.

"Silver, no!" Nick shrieked, but it was too late. Darius had already left the ground once again, this time with Silver in his scaley grasp.

Silver stopped squirming once they reached over a hundred feet up high and opted to scream and cry instead. Feeling hopeless, he tried to coax Darius as the others did but his soft voice couldn't be heard behind the sound of fast wind, flapping dragon wings, and Darius's occasional screech.

Darius opened his wings and made a large u-turn in the sky. That was when Silver realized, they were headed for Dragon Co. once again.

He decided to ride this out until Darius finally decided to let go of him and waited until they reached the building.

Like a giant bird, Darius perched himself over the tall building and held Silver over the edge unenthusiastically.

The dragon growled, seemingly almost pleased. "Die," he growled lowly.

"Wait!" Silver shrieked, "C-can you just talk to me for a bit!"

Darius paused and Silver took that as his cue to speak.

"Listen... I know you don't like me," he started, "the whole world knows you don't like me, okay? And that's okay. You wanna know why?"

The dragon tilted its head.

"Because I don't hate you, and neither does Nick and neither does Klara," he said.

"You may think it's either me or you but... honestly, you're a good guy," Silver smiled "You could meet a guy like Nick. Handsome, kind, and loves you for you. You're right, I don't deserve Nick. I wasn't drooling over him the moment we met and it might've been because he was a vampire but..."

"Maybe that's what he needed?" Silver shrugged, "Maybe that's just a good stroke of fate. That can happen to you too. A good stroke of fate will come your way and when it does, I'll be happy for you."

The dragon didn't move, only stared at Silver uncertainly.

"Darius, you're not a killer. You don't want to kill me," Silver shook his head, "You're angry and scared of losing your first love. That's understandable. Now let me stop you from making a huge mistake. You don't want to kill anyone, do you? You're kind."

They stared at each other. Silver had hopeful eyes, his tears already dried now. Darius sat frozen, holding Silver in his terrible grasp over the edge of 40+ story building.

"D... Do..." the dragon groaned.

"What are you trying to say? 'Do'? You can say it. I know you're in there Darius," Silver encouraged.

"Do... you..." The dragon spoke slowly, "Love... prince?"

Silver's eyes began to tear up again. Lying would be the worst thing to do in this situation, but he had no idea what would come from answering this question.

He closed his eyes with a sad smile, "yes," he said softly, "I do. Very much."

Realizing his fate, Silver let out a cry as he felt himself slip from you the dragon's grasp and start to fall from the top of the tallest building in Virlaq.

***

Nick was running across town, back to Dragon Co. when he saw the thing that made his non-beating heart drop.

Just as he was four blocks away, he saw Silver falling to the ground at a neckbreaking speed. Silver, the love of his life, falling to his death.

Nick used every muscle in his vampire body to propell him forward and race to catch him. He felt sweat drip from his forehead and his blazer fly off of his body because he was moving so fast.

As he held out his hands, he was just in time to see up close the sight of Silver, his first love, plummet to the ground loudly.

Arms still open waiting to catch him, he dropped to the ground where the remains of his fiance lay, completely dead.