Raell turned from Drake, shoving his head away from her.
"Cody, escort Drake down to the Cave. He can join you tomorrow morning as we start preparations for the Goddess's Day." She paused, then turned. "But don't forget Drake, you have a training session with Slade as well."
Drake followed Cody down into the bowels of the mansion, the anger still shimmering inside him.
"I'll wake you up again tomorrow morning, alright? It's going to be a long day, what with the Goddess Day coming up."
"What is that?"
"The Goddess Day? It's a day dedicated to the Silver Goddess, the queen goddess of the dragons. However, it's also the day the demons massacred all of the other dragons besides Mistress Raell. They took advantage of the dragons' celebrations to wipe out the entire population. Mistress Raell only survived because her protective escort summoned a portal and threw her into the human realm to hide her."
"So why are we celebrating the day?"
"All other species, outside of humans, celebrate the day of the Goddess. Mistress Raell throws the party as is tradition for her kind, but she does not celebrate it in the wild frenzy the others will. She takes pleasure in their joy, just not in the occasion. And of course, her demon slaves spend the day hiding in the darkest parts of the house. It's not a good day for them to be seen by her."
Drake nodded at Cody, then curled up on the floor of the cell. Cody left, undoubtedly to go back upstairs and rejoin his buddies.
Drake shifted his body, trying to get comfortable on the thin pad. His balls still ached, and he let out a low growl. He didn't want to become a pussy-whipped pet like Cody or Slade, but it was the only future he could see. He was furious, and the novelty of living in the big house rather than the sand arenas had worn off.
He once again dreamed of his former life, this time he was playing with his dog at the lake. He threw the stick out into the lake, laughing as Buck went after it. Feeling something wrap around his ankle, he looked down to see a glittering silver snake coiled around his leg. Yelping, he tried to pull it off, but it bit down in his hand and didn't let go. A second serpent slid out of the lake, wrapping around his chest. Drake panicked as his breathing was cut off, thrashing in a frenzy. The two snakes were joined by a third, which coiled around his throat. He stared into the gleaming silver eyes, waiting for his death.
It didn't come.
Drake couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't do anything besides stare at those eyes. The world outside of them faded into nothing, and all he could see was silver. Silver everywhere. His whole future was silver. He was silver.
"DRAKE!"
Drake shot awake, trembling and breathing hard.
Cody stared at him, his eyes full of concern. "Dude. You were barely breathing and completely ridged. Talk to me, what's wrong?"
Drake gazed down at his shaking hands, the nightmare flashing back through his mind. He'd had nightmares before, but this one took the cake.
"I'm... I'm fine. Just a bad dream, ya know?"
Cody knew he was lying, but didn't press him.
Drake got up and headed to the bathroom. He showered and shaved quickly, then went to the kitchen. Slade stopped him right before he walked into the kitchen.
"Eat quickly kid. We only have an hour to go over the upper back muscles before we are both needed to set up decorations."
Drake just nodded at him, his mind still on the dream. He grabbed a bowl of oatmeal and under Slade's watch scarfed it down. He was shocked by the sheer number of slaves in the room. They reminded him of ants, swarming in a frenzy. Once finished, Slade snagged one of the slaves and the trio went to a side room in the Cave.
"Trapezius?"
"Large uppermost back muscle."
"Deltoids?"
"Upper shoulder and back muscle."
Slade continued to quiz Drake, who answered back on auto pilot.
"Alright kid, you seem to have those down. Now show me how you'd massage a knot in the latissimus dorsi."
Using the extra man as a model, Drake pointed out the muscle then demonstrated the technique that would remove tension from the muscle in question.
Slade went over the rest of the muscles in the same way, roughly showing Drake the correct method when he was wrong, or snapping at him when he took too long to answer.
"Kid, you better wake the heck up. Today is not a good day to operate on half power. This party is the biggest part of the entire year, and it must be perfect. Mistress Raell is watching everything we do today, so you better not fuck anything up."
Drake turned and gazed at Slade, who was giving him an annoyed look.
Slade noted the glazed look in the kid's eyes, but turned back to the lesson.
Drake tried to focus, but the dream kept relaying in his head, and every time it only made him angrier. He noted the beaten looks on the slaves that went by, the way they lowered themselves to the women who walked past. They looked empty, as if they had nothing left inside but the orders of those who held the leash.
He didn't want to be like them.
He wouldn't be like them.
The lesson drawing to a close, Slade noted that the glazed look was gone, replaced now by a swirling tempest. Raell's going to have her hands full with this one, he thought to himself.
Drake followed Slade back upstairs, where the rooms were slowly turning into massive party rooms. Silver lights and glittering curtains hung from the ceiling and tables and dance floors were being laid out in the biggest rooms. Drake spotted massive speakers, lasers, even a disco ball.
Slaves rushed by with dishes and table cloth, others carried food and drinks. The sheer number of men running around surprised Drake, and he wondered how Raell kept them all in check.
The idea hit Drake so hard he nearly ran into Slade.
How did Raell control everyone?
Yes, she had a massive scaly dragon form and superpowers, but there was no way she could control a massive slave rebellion. If he got 50, no, 75 slaves or more to rebel, Raell would never be able to round everyone up. There were other men who felt like he did; Drake was sure of it.
Drake planned his idea as he stacked glasses. He'd start networking and find who wasn't completely broken. He'd act like a beaten slave to throw Raell off, all the while weeding out other angry and rebellious men for his cause.
Drake paused as Raell swept into the room, her feet clad in tall riding boots and her clothing slightly dusty from outside. Jai and Aubrey flanked her, their bodies covered from sweat.
Raell looked around the room, taking in the decorations and party equipment being set up. She took in the men hurrying around, her senses picking up the anxiety and fear of the men rushing around her. Her vision briefly flickered to pick up heat, each slave glowing in yellows and reds, with swirling heat trails showing where they had been. Her ears triangulated every noise, from the panting of the two slaves who had ran beside her on her morning horseback ride to the fluttering heartbeat of the birds in the trees outside.
Together her senses allowed her a 360-degree view of her world, making her what many called the "perfect" hunter.
But sometimes it was overwhelming, and today was one of those days. Raell rumbled deep in her chest and headed upstairs. Jai and Aubrey headed off to shower, two distractions leaving her mental image.
Raell swept into her room, hitting the switch that opened the massive glass doors. She changed forms and stretched her wings out, relishing the feeling. Walking outside, she swept her wings down, taking off and propelling herself into the sky. She powered herself upwards, through the clouds and beyond.
Looking down, she watched as the mountains below turned into hills and then into fields. Occasionally she spotted buildings, some new and some slowly crumbling into the ground. She did her best to ignore the latter, trying as always to not recall how flying over the buildings used to be, back when she wasn't the only one in the skies.
Below, Drake was watching two men who were stringing lights in a corner of the room. Both kept shooting dark looks at the trainer in the room overlooking the decoration and whispering to each other. He slowly worked his way over to them, finally grabbing some of the lights and meeting them in the corner.
"Hey."
The pair looked at him with super suspicious looks before answering.
"Hey man. The lights are done in this area. Try over by the entryway."
Trying to play it cool, Drake ignored the hint.
"Y'all have just spent a while in this area so I wanted to make sure you didn't need more lights. Wouldn't want anyone to think that you are up to no good now." Drake gave them a sideways smile that would have rivaled a snake's.
The men shot each other scared looks.
"Hey man, you didn't hear nothing from us. We're just setting up lights. There's nothing to say to Miss Becky over there."
Drake smiled wider. His suspicions had been right.
"Chill you two. I have an idea, and I'm looking for guys like you..."
Drake explained his plans to the surprised men, watching with amusement as their jaws dropped lower and lower.
***
Raell drifted below the cloud level, approaching a massive structure perched on a lonely mountain. She noted the fine cracks that were slowly breaking down the towering stone walls, remembering her years as a hatchling flying around behind them, not even aware of the world outside of them. How simple life was then.
