Dragon Kin

03

Victor

I grabbed the man they called Ben, by the back of his neck too hard. He passed out.

The two women didn't see me — I believed. The younger woman had defensively turned her head to avoid the blow, while shielding the older woman — That was kinda brave, really. The older one's view was blocked by the younger one stepping in front of her.

I hadn't planned it that way, but I would accept the win, with grace.

I dropped Ben on the roof of the two story building across the street, and alighted next to him.

"Well done Victor," Ocean said, stepping out of the shadows to be seen. "What are you planning to do to him?"

I sucked in a fast breath through my teeth, and folded my wings away. My tail slithered back into my spine. "Not sure. Might just leave him here. Hungry?"

"I could eat," Ocean said.

Ocean was one of those beings who was so good looking, that when people passed him on the street, they looked around as if searching for the punch line — or perhaps a hidden camera. He was simply unreal. Surreal. His blond hair was honestly the color and texture of white corn-silk. You could cut silk on the edge of his cheek bones, and his teeth made you wonder if someone was directing light on them all the time. His deep blue eyes were large, round and expressive. The kind of eyes poets fall into and suffocate.

It was annoying, to tell the truth. If it wasn't for our decades of friendship, I couldn't stand to be around him.

"But," he said, "you're not serious, are you?"

"About what?"

"Just leaving him here?" Ocean said, turning a bit and putting his hands behind his head. "That's so ... lazy. I mean, why bother being a vigilante if you're going to do a half-assed job?"

"Huh," I grunted. "I thought I was known for doing a half-assed job."

Ocean cocked his head in thought, and then shrugged. "It's not something you're supposed to be proud of."

"Yeah, well, I'm not supposed to be kind either, and we can see how that turned out. By the way, why are you here?"

"Why do you ask questions you already know the answers for?" Ocean asked, lowering his arms. "I'm here to bring you back of course."

"They can do without me a while longer. There's a Regent in place," I said, though I had no intention of returning.

Ocean laid back into the air. With him now floating as if on a recliner, he placed his hands behind his head again. "What if I told you that I was the Regent?"

I was looking down at the human, Ben, and froze. My mind dims to blank. "Why? Do you think you might say something like that, soon?"

The human began waking up. His hand began twitching first, and then his eyes behind his lids began moving.

Ocean closed his eyes, "Like you said, it's only temporary."

The human's eyes fluttered open, and I kicked him on the side of his head. He went under again. "How did they talk you into that?" I asked, turning to face him.

"Talk me into...?" He laughed. "They paid me. That's all it took."

Now it was my turn to laugh, "They might have put you in that position to spite me and shame me back to the throne. But they wouldn't pay you to do that to them."