Warlock

Dragon Keys

Loch sighed and spilled everything. "Her name is Vivian Estrada. She has rotting green scales, bat wings, and she's a draconem-demon mix. She feels a kinship with warlocks so long as they aren't the docile kind. She can stop time and cast her mind across the city to observe anyone she wants. I have her blocked from this area right now. The human organization is called Hancock, and their headquarters are two streets over across from the gourmet dessert shop. A lot of their recruits are the former homeless, but some of them are family members and friends of the people that have been killed. That's all I know."

Skye returned his arm to his shoulder to Loch's despair, then took a sip of hot chocolate. "Why don't you want anyone to know what you are? You don't strike me as someone who would rather be human."

"I've been the last of the ancients for five hundred years now. In my last hundred years in Other society before I left, everyone treated me like an evil god or a weapon. I'm a lazy person. I do things at my own pace, despite the power at my disposal, and leaders don't tend to appreciate that. I don't want to be human, but I don't want to be bossed around, either." He downed the rest of his hot chocolate and glanced back at the café. The creatures within all watched their pixie leader with somber expressions. She must have gathered the important members of each faction. The café was a smart meeting location, he had to admit. The friendly atmosphere promoted peace and cooperation, unlike the grey office buildings most Other organizations kept as their headquarters.

"I suppose that makes sense. Nobody likes to be bossed around. Speaking of which, my uncle wanted me to find something called a dragon key to open the dragon chest he traded some old relics for. He told me to thank my anonymous friend for Baba Yaga's scrutatio orbs, by the way. Those were worth over a million dollars, and they were important enough that the Archives bought them. But as far as the dragon keys, aren't dragons just a fairytale?"

Now they were back in his comfortable realm of conversation. Loch loved relics, hence his two-thousand-item collection. "I have at least a hundred dragon keys. Dragons aren't real, but dragon chests burn anyone who tries to pick their lock or pry them open. You can try out different keys without harm, though. The chests usually contain really important valuables due to the difficulty of creating them, but sometimes people put something ridiculous like a sock in there just to make whoever gets the chest open mad. If the chest is one of mine, then there's just a handkerchief for the finder to cry into after finding no treasure. I never collected gold."

Skye chuckled and shook his head. "It's a green chest with sand glued on in spiral designs. Are you that artsy?"

"Nope. That would be Lord Mortdecai. I used to make fun of him for his... flamboyancy." He glanced at Skye's hand on his shoulder. "I guess I owe him an apology. He was a dryad, so he should still be alive. The chest will probably have jewelry in it. He loved collecting gems, but he never wore any." Loch stood began to walk down the sidewalk.

Skye's face lit up as he sprang to his feet. If Loch was lucky, he could manage to make the naiad forget about his suggestion that he speak to the Hancocks. "Are you going to get the keys now? Can I come with you? Did not you say you live on the outskirts? How do you get there?" His questions stopped when he saw the car. "Wow."

Loch started it up, trying not to laugh at Skye's excitement. "Get in if you're coming. We don't have all day." The overexcited naiad practically leapt into the car, and he continued to gaze around it in amazement throughout the drive.

Fortunately, the lycanthrope cop-wanna-be was not lurking around his home today. He had been coming more sporadically as time had gone by without any overly suspicious behavior from his subject. Loch began to walk along the rows of relics as soon as he entered the building before he realized Skye still could not see them. He took off a layer of shadowing and grinned when Skye's jaw dropped in awe. "Don't touch. Some of them are dangerous."