The Dragon God

Chapter Eight

Arthur paced up and down the grand hall. The Dragon God Big, who had always been under the mountain, was dead, which meant that there was a lot of to do in order to take his place. He directed two females to the hoard that would soon be his.

He couldn't be sure what currently lay in the hoard under the mountain. Probably things that had long since been forgotten, even by 'Big'. It didn't matter, really. These things were just a formality. But perhaps there was something in the hoard that would help him to pay off other para-natural communities in the effort of ridding the planet of humans.

Thus far, he had garnered only a little support from some of the clans that respected his own. Others had rebutted quickly, protecting not only their own clans and family lines, but also the humans that lived among them. It infuriated Arthur to the point that he had nearly lost his temper on two members of the Western Faerie Council when they'd refused.

Even he had the sense not to do anything so rash. Humans first. Then others, if it came to that. If he could eliminate the humans, other species would fall into place. Arthur was sure of it.

Power vibrated up his arm from the stone embedded in his hand. He flexed his fingers, turning his palm upright to look at the gleaming treasure. The source of all dragon knowledge. The source of all power.

He felt giddy. The urge to use it again was growing.

Arthur shut his fist tightly. No. He had to be careful. He had to keep his wits about him. The power could devour his entire mind and body if he let it. Though Arthur knew deep down that the stone would be his death, he wanted to fend off said death for as long as possible.

"Arthur." The voice of his wife broke Arthur's train of thought. She was walking through the hall in bare feet, barely making a sound. "What have you done?" She stopped in front of him. "Why have you driven away our son?"

"Your son," he corrected her icily. "And I have done what should have been done long before now. He was always weak. Hiding a human woman like some child with a toy." He sneered before returning his attention to another female with a large bag.

"Take it down into the deep," he ordered.

"Arthur!" His wife reached out to take his arm. When he turned to face her, Arthur took great delight in the fear he saw on her face.

"What do you have to say to me, woman?" he demanded. "Have thanks; your bastard child lives. He ran like the coward he is."

She turned several shades of red before releasing him with a snarl.

"A coward? Like the male who declared war on the most prominent two-legged species on the planet?" she demanded. "What kind of brave act is that? Do you even know what you've done to us? We're open for the entire planet to hunt!"

Arthur didn't respond for a second. Was she so naïve? Had she no idea what those humans had done to their cousins? He grabbed her with his unoccupied hand and yanked her close so that she could see the seething fury under his skin.

"The planet will learn to fear us again, as they did in earlier ages. They will no longer hunt us, because we will drive them back to the brink of extinction, woman. There won't be enough of them to even put a hunting party together. And you. You with your sniveling, pathetic, weak mindset—I have no use for you." He flung her across the room, not batting an eye as she hit a chair and it clattered over noisily. "Begone, harlot."

"You dare!?" The female screeched as she returned to her dragon form. Her tail whipped across the room as several people dove for cover. "Harlot? You call me harlot? Harlot is far prettier than murderer," she declared, bringing a large foot crashing down beside the human form. Arthur didn't even flinch.

A second later, he was equal in size, and snarling in return.

"Do you think I do not know what you did to my father?" his wife demanded. "When he refused my hand to you? Did you think I would never learn?"

"And yet...!" Arthur charged her and pinned the female into the stone floor. "You still agreed to mate with me, despite everything else. So what does this say for you, darling Aurora?"

She howled and blew fire.

Arthur laughed at the way it felt. The power of the God Stone was truly awesome. It prevented the pain of her fire from breaking through his armored scales. This was never a fight he would have picked with her previously. Not because he feared his mate, but because her fire could make even the strongest of dragons take cover at one time in her youth.

Now, she was older and slower, and her fire, though still hotter than any forge of man, was no longer as hot as it once had been.

"You're getting old." He slammed his palm against the female, before howling in victory. The stone glowed. Soon, Aurora began to turn cold. Colder still. She shivered and gasped for air.

Her fire went out.

"Worm." Laughter bubbled up from his throat, even as he felt the power of the stone burn the nerves in his hand. She thrashed, despite it all. If nothing else, Arthur knew that his mate was not one to be trifled with. With or without her fire, stubbornness burned deeply in her veins. She wouldn't stay down unless he cut her throat.

Her tail came up to slap Arthur in the side of the head so hard that it actually made his eyesight swim for a split second.

That was too much. The power of the God Stone told him he could do it. He was the Dragon God now. He had the power over who lived and who didn't.

When he cut her throat, and her blood began to run along the stone floor, Arthur stared. He lifted his head, feeling the stares from those around him before he leaned down and began to drink. Knowledge and power filled him. The stone glowed amber red.

He was truly a god.