Cody felt soft hands gently rub his head, he opened his eyes slowly and stretched, he grimaced as his neck strained, "How long was I asleep for?" Cody asked Sarah who was rubbing his head affectionately.
"Only a few hours, How do you feel?" Sarah asked as Cody watched Beatrice enter with a large container.
"Still sore, what time is it?" Cody asked as Beatrice put the container down in front of Cody, he saw that it was a giant smoothie.
"Nine twenty three," Beatrice answered as she left the container and pulled out a large straw and said, "Before you eat I want to check something."
Cody nodded as he felt the brace on his neck shift, after a few seconds a cool feeling washed through him starting from his neck, "I recharged the brace, your bones are all healed and everything looks to be in the right place, your muscles are going to take another few hour, going to feel stiff but after your done this you can go but I strongly suggest you spend the night here."
"I will, thanks again for all the help," Cody said quietly before he drank the smoothie, Cody perked up tasting the sweet fruity blend.
"Don't thank me, it's my job and my pleasure to help people who are hurt," Beatrice answered as she walked to her desk in the corner saying, "I'll be heading home soon just need to do some paperwork."
Cody nodded and he drank, Sarah slid around and sat on her coils in front of him, saying quietly, "Hello."
Cody waved while drinking the smoothie, "I talked with Minerva for a bit, She's still on the fence about joining but is considering it heavily, She likes everyone and is thankful for helping but she enjoys moving around and never really settles down for to long," Sarah said as she reached out and held Cody's front paw.
Cody nodded while drinking, after he finished it he sighed with satisfaction and said, "Whether she joins or not is up to her, I just want to make sure she's safe if she decides not to stay."
"She knows that," Sarah said as she moved the empty container to the side and moved closer to Cody asking, "What do you plan to do after we get home?"
"Not much other then the usual, take care of the sanctuary and plan for things, I might go see Minos and talk to Izzi about the business plan and see if we can work together, I've also want to check in on factory and see how it's going, I get the feeling somethings coming soon and I want to nip it in the bud," Cody explained as he used his other paw to gently rub Sarah's arm.
"Sounds like fun, do you want me to do anything to help?" Sarah asked him.
"Only thing I'll ask you is that you stay safe and tell me if you're feeling off," Cody answered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christopher was sitting in his chair looking out at the sunset pondering how his life got to this point, the office door opened and his secretary said, "Sir Herman Hewitt is here, he doesn't have an appointment and he brought a business proposal."
Christopher sighed heavily before saying, "Send him away."
The secretary nodded and closed the door, after a few moments the door opened again and a large man walked in ignoring the secretary who was following him, "Sorry but I'm not leaving until we have a nice talk, I know people are jumping ship but I think I can save all this, just read it," Herman said dropping the files in front of Christopher and sitting down across from him.
"Please just leave, I'm not in the mood for any bullshit, every single one of my business partners have left me, every contract I had was broken they all paid for the contract just to leave, why the hell would you want to hire me?" Christopher said, looking defeated.
"Because of everything you just said, I though the hunters would stick with you regardless of what happened, since they left and Amell has told people your someone that can be a good business partner, but as usual people don't want to take risks, I like to gamble and I know the type of person you are, So read the papers and talk," Herman said.
At the mention of the hunters Christopher grumbled and waved his secretary off, "Leave us," Once she closed the door he said, "The hunters left me because I hold no value, my uncle was a member and they help him now. Not even they want to mess with the dragons of business," Christopher said, picking up the file.
"That's unfortunate but only proves my next point, the Hunters are cowards and idiots who think their better then everyone until they're proven wrong then they hide and and pretend it didn't happen, I've been in business with the Dreacons for a long, long time and I know how they work, I'm here because I want to fuck with the Dreachons a bit and plus I need a new company to help with delivering my goods," Herman said leaning back.
Christopher read the papers and after a few moments looked up and said, "You want me to take over your deliveries, for the next ten years, in return for the first year you'll provide some financial aid to help keep my company afloat, this sounds too good to be true...Why help me?" Christopher said, whispering the last part.
"I'll answer you with a story," Herman said before standing up and walking to the window, "A long long time ago, before this city even existed there was a young boy who walked the piers and sold oranges, lemons and other citrusy things to sailors for a few cents. That boy kept it up as he grew older, eventually buying farms and orchards, after a few more years started making wine, cheese and other dairy products, then the war started, and as a man I had to help."
"You fought in world war 2?" Christopher asked.
"No not that one, I fought in the war of 1812," Herman said looking back at Christopher who looked shocked then confused.
"My company was ambushed while moving by the Americans, most of us died quickly and we killed a few in return, I was shot in the heart but I didn't die. Instead a deep unsatisfiable hunger grew in me and so I ate without thinking, that day I ate every american soldier and all the surviving canadian ones," Herman said looking regretful, "When they found me my wounds healed and I was praised as a hero who survived an ambush and killed the enemy, a general by the name Louis Dreachon found me and explained to me what I was. I'm sure you can guess what I am now," Herman finished as he sat down.
Christopher stared in shock as he answered, "You're a zombie."
Herman sighed Heavily, "No zombies are what people think nowadays but the original term is simply undead or ghoul, I prefer undead."
"I see, that still doesn't tell me why you want to help me?" Christopher said, leaning back looking at the man in front of him with a mix of curiosity and fear.
"Who did I say I met in my story?" Herman asked.
Christophers eyes bugged out as he answered, "Dreachon."
"Correct, I've known that family for two hundred years, some of the family heads I loved and were good friends with, others I disliked and a few I hated, Amell I would consider a good friend. His father was someone I loved to hate, an asshole but a good person so long as he was on your side. I dislike that mans style of business and Amell has his own but what he did to you was what his dad taught him. I'm reaching out to you mostly as a 'Fuck you' to Amells father. So do we have a deal or not?" Herman asked, reaching a hand out.
Christopher looked at the contract then at Herman and sighed, he reached out and shook his hand, "I'll accept the deal, better to die on my feet then on my knees and all that."
Herman laughed loudly and walked to the door saying, "I'll have my people reach out to your people, once things are settled we can start getting you out of this hole you're in."
After Herman left Christopher sagged into his chair and looked at the contract, he mumbled to himself, "What have I got myself into."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cody stretched his arms out and twisted his neck feeling nothing wrong, "I still can't get over the fact that I healed so quickly."
"Benefits of being a dragon, rapid healing and higher durability, Had you been anything else you'd probably be in a wheelchair for life," Beatrice said as Cody put on his clothes from behind a curtain.
Cody opened the curtain looking at Beatrice, "I know, I'm thankful for that, is the house aware that I'm going to be there for breakfast?"
"Yes, they're waiting for you before they start," Beatrice answered as Minerva walked by sipping from a blood bag looking annoyed.
"How long will you be here?" Cody asked Minerva.
Minerva shrugged and took another sip grimacing, "Does drinking hurt?" Cody asked, looking concerned.
Minerva shook her head and made a 'gross face' then used her thumb to point at him then the blood bag and made a 'so good' face, "So because you drank my blood all other blood is gross?" Cody asked, looking skeptical.
Minerva nodded quickly, then chugged the bag and looked at Cody with a hunger that made him shiver, "You drink his blood again you'll die," Beatrice said, taking the empty bag from her and handing her another.
Minerva sighed and walked towards a chair sipping at it, "When can she talk again?" Cody asked Beatrice while watching Minerva.
"With how she's progressing I'd say maybe one to two days, her digestive system, while miraculous due to abilities to sift anything, also works against her because healing her takes ten times longer. The only way to make it faster would be to use suppositories," At the mention of suppositories Minerva flinched and looked down sipping at the blood loudly, "Butt as you can see she doesn't like that idea to much," Beatrice said as Cody giggled as her pun.
"Can she come back with us? Or does she need to stay here?" Cody asked as he started towards the entrance to the Dragons nest.
"I would prefer her here for one more day but she could go with you and Sarah," Beatrice answered.
"You want to stay here for another day?" Cody asked Minerva who after a few moments of thinking nodded.
"I'll get someone to bring her back to your place tomorrow," Beatrice told Cody as he left the medical cave and entered the main path where he ran into Amell, "Hey dad, I was just about to join you in the house."
"That's good, one moment," Amell said walking Past Cody, Amell saw his dad and yelled at him, "Hey dad, Herman says 'Fuck you, I won,'"
Jerald yelled back, "Tell him 'I won the game and you still owe me money you fuck head,'"
"Will do," Amell said before turning around and walking with Cody out of the nest.
"Who's Herman?" Cody asked, looking confused.
"An old family friend from the eighteen hundreds," Amell answered with a smirk.
