Beowulf St. George was the most feared dragonhunter in existence. The fact there weren't that many dragonhunters and most people who were alive didn't know that dragonhunters existed did make that qualifier slightly less impressive, but...it remained true.
He had slain dragons on five continents -- from pale whites in Antarctica, to smug silvers and golds lurking in the depths of the Chinese megacities, to greens that slithered in the shrinking rain-forests of South America.
He had done it all to keep humanity safe from the deprivations of the scaled beasts. The wyrms, born of Satan, which existed only to sin.
The other dragon hunters at the table with him should have bowed to his plan.
Instead?
"Are you sure waiting is the best idea?" Samson asked. He was the man who had failed in his task to smash the eggs in the first place -- if Samson hadn't failed, then this whole conclave wouldn't be required. "We should attack, now, while they're still weak, while their protector remains pathetic."
Before Beowulf could respond, one of the other hunters cut in. Gideon Hunter wasn't the best of the dragonhunters, but he was quite possibly the finest swordsman that Beowulf knew. He was a broad shouldered, muscular man that made even Beowulf look like a scrawny twig by comparison, and his bland features concealed an almost psychopathic glee when it came to cutting, slashing, stabbing and cleaving into scaled flesh.
"I say we use the mundanes against them," he said. "They stole from a bank. They're vulnerable to the federal government. It would be...amusing...to see this Bayers child sent to prison for theft, leaving his dragons open for our righteous fury."
Soft murmuring came from the other dragon hunters. Beowulf sighed, and shook his head.
"Gentlemen," he said, quietly. "You don't understand the situation we're in. We've never before seen this kind of formation of dragons before -- normally, a clutch is attuned to the chromatica of the mother. But instead? This is the
most diverse
clutch of dragons we have seen in nearly a thousand years. We have two chromatics, two metallics, and the rarest of all breeds: A stellar dragon." He shook his head, slightly. "Need I remind you all of what almost happened in the 50s, with the solar dragon that was hatched in New Mexico?
The others nodded, Samson looking grim.
"And more, Jeremy Bayer is an enigma. His life has more unanswered questions than I trust -- what kind of a teenager can hold down two jobs after school? Who is this mysterious father of his, vanished without a trace a few years hence?" Beowulf stood and began to pace back and forth. "And his mother? She is hiding something -- I can tell it. We may be looking at members of the Lineage."
"You can't be serious!" Samson said, springing to his feet. "The Lineage of Dragons was destroyed in the 12
th
century." He shook his head. "I think-" He cut himself off as Beowulf narrowed his eyes, glaring at him.
"What do you think, exactly, Samson?" Beowulf asked, as the other dragonhunters froze, their eyes widening.
Samson looked like he was weighing options in his head. He sighed. "Nothing. Nevermind, Beowulf." He stepped backwards and sat down, while Beowulf glared after him. He turned back to the rest of the dragonhunters, his hands clasped behind his back.
"We must be cautious. Careful. For in that mansion of theirs lurks not merely a red dragon. Not merely a silver dragon. Not merely a copper and a blue. No. There exists all four, with a
cosmic
dragon at their head." Beowulf let the words hang in the air, slowly looking each of the dragonhunters in their eyes. "We cannot know the depths of her depravity. The complexity of her plans. The schemes ontop of schemes ontop of schemes that she has already begun to devise. Against such a terrible foe, we have but
one
strike and that strike must be true...for no one could begin to imagine what evil Nova Cosmos could wreak if she is not stopped..."
***
Penny sprayed popcorn out of her mouth, practically choking as she laughed so hard that she rolled off the couch. Jeremy clutched the popcorn bowl to keep it from being knocked over, while Cinder giggled into her hand, and Skye let out her booming belly laugh. Rayne looked confused.
"I don't get it, they want to eat bugs?" she asked as, on the big screen, Paul Bettany looked deeply wounded, as if he could hear Rayne not getting the joke.
Nova, who had been looking at the space just above the TV for the past half hour, blinked slowly. "Oh, they're on a
boat
," she said, as
Master and Commander: Far Side of the World
continued to play. "I get it now."
Everyone slowly turned to look at Nova, who looked back at them.
Jeremy shook his head as the movie continued to play and tried to relax. That was what this Saturday -- the third day of his life with dragons -- was supposed to be all about. The first day had involved robbing a bank. The second day had involved stealing a mansion and turning the former owners into aid workers using hypnosis. But this day? This day was all about relaxing.
And...well...
The Clark's former mansion, now the Bayer's mansion, was perfect for relaxing. There was a game room with pool tables and snookers and billiards and all the other things that rich people pretended were better than video games. There was the entertainment lounge, which had a massive TV and huge booming speakers that made the cannons in
Master and Commander
sound as if they were really in the room, really going off. There was the massive pool out back, with two hot tubs in orbits around it, and a titanic hedge maze contained in the golf park suitable back yard that the house had claimed for its own.
In short, it was every fantasy that Jeremy had ever had.
Right down to...
"More soda for everyone!" Morgan said, cheerfully, as she sauntered in.
Dressed, of course, in a frilly french maid outfit that had a skirt that ended right at the point where if she bent forward, she'd flash her panties, with a font that clung to her generous breasts, and with the little...head thingy that french maid outfits had. It had a name. Jeremy had no idea what it was, but it complimented Morgan's brand new cat ears, in the same way that her skirt was hugely benefited by her having a flexible, living tail that...
Ah...
"Y-You, uh, know..." Jeremy said, trying to look up and above Morgan's head as she walked past him, holding out the tray of soft drinks to the dragons. "You, uh, don't have to wear the maid outfit."
"Funny, that's not what your boner says," Morgan said, grinning at him.
"Eyyy, got him!" Skye said, leaning forward to smack her palm against Morgan's -- the catgirl maid holding her hand out down low for the silver dragon.
Jeremy made a face. He was still processing the fact that Morgan B. Clark, one time world's worst bully and hugest jerk in Jeremy's life, had actually been a closeted trans-girl who had had a major crush on him and was externalizing internalized transphobia and mistaken internalized homophobia by dunking his head repeatedly in a toilet. And that she was now a catgirl. A catgirl who lived in his house. A catgirl that none of his relations found particularly odd thanks to draconic magic. Nova had described the spell as 'it's fine, don't worry about it' and, thus far, that had been how it had worked.
If his sisters, Jess and Jen, were wondering
where
their former boyfriend (dating them had been part of pre-catgirlification Morgan trying to vent her feelings about Jeremy without catching 'the gays') had gone, neither of them had seemed particularly worried about it. Nor were they confused by the fact that they had a catgirl maid living in the house. Same with his Mom!
"I am serious, though," Jeremy said as Morgan handed him a new cup.
"And I'm serious," Morgan said, holding her now empty tray against her belly. Her grin was shy, and her canines were sharp. "I like being a maid! I get to make up for everything I used to do, wear pretty outfits. Get oggled by the hottest boy in school..." She licked her lips subtly, her heterochromic eyes glittering playfully. Jeremy squirmed under her expression. "And the really shitty chores are all done by magic! It's basically win, win, win, win!"
Nova gasped.
Everyone looked at her.
"The twins are heading for the lockers," she said, her voice faintly distracted.
Jeremy tried to get out of the way -- but he was too slow to stop Penny and Skye from scrambling over his lap, knocking the popcorn bowl from his hands, and leave him sprawled on his back as the door to the room creaked open and closed, disturbed by the momentum of four dragon girls sprinting out as fast as they could. Morgan had leaped backwards with...well, with catlike reflexes and ended up poised, one footed, on the rim of a vase that was on a little decorative plinth by the door, seemingly put there purely out of spite. The vase wobbled under her weight, but Morgan kept her balance for the few seconds it took for the door to swing shut, before backflipping off and landing with her arms spread, as if to say 'tada.'
The only dragon girl who hadn't left was Nova, who blinked as she looked around herself. "Oh, are we not watching the movie anymore?" She asked as, behind her, cannons roared with deafening volume. Jeremy snatched up his controller and paused the film, then shook his head.
"I wish they'd stop doing that," he said.
"Turning into kittens so they can run into the locker room and oggle your sisters taking showers?" Morgan asked. "Watching their supple, nubile bodies glisten and glimmer under hot water, while they take turns soaping up one another's backs?"
Jeremy narrowed his eyes, turning his head to face Morgan, who looked at him as cute and innocent as she could imagine.
"Is that what you wish they'd stop doing?" she asked, then actually fluttered her eyelashes at him.
"I think so, yeah," Nova said, nodding as she did so, standing up. "Come on, Jeremy." She took his hand and started to drag him towards the door -- and while Nova may have looked like a willowy Ethiopian girl covered in glitter and dressed in a white shift, she had the strength to bend steel. So, Jeremy was dragged along his heels towards the door, while he pointed at his eyes, then pointed at Morgan.
I'm watching you, catgirl,
that gesture said.
Morgan waved after him. "Have fun you two!"
Once they were in the corridor, Jeremy did look at Nova as she dragged him away from his room -- forcing him to start walking. He breathed a huge sigh of relief when they didn't head for the stairs and the locker room, but instead started to walk to the eastern wing of the place. "So, uh, what's up, Nova?" He asked, curiously, walking with her so she'd stop almost dislocating his arm.
Nova looked at him as if she had forgotten him. "Oh! Right! You're going to make love to me," she said, casually, as she came to a wall that had a window on it looking out at the gentle rolling suburbs beyond. She walked through the wall as if it was made of smoke, and when Jeremy tried to draw himself back, he found himself pulled into the wall and, together, they emerged out somewhere very bright and
very
cold. The freezing, stabbing feeling of a thousand tiny needles slammed into Jeremy as his eyes went blurry. He opened his mouth to choke something out, but instead all the air rushed
