The Rough Draft

Alright, I know it's been a while since my last post. I've been working on other stories and I needed to take a break from this one. Now, I actually tried writing this a bit on paper--thinkin it would help me think--but it didn't. This story has consigned itself to type-period.

So.... let's see where we go today....

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"David, there is a whole other world beneath the one you know." Ky turned to him, her eyes glowing purple in the streetlights.

They were walking the city streets, aimlessly it seemed, yet David knew that she was carefully guiding him to Tabitha's friend's house. He knew Skye was taking a circuitous route to alleviate his fears and let him regain his composure.

"There are things that exist only in your darkest imagination," she continued, "things that you would pray to your god to never exist, not even there--in your mind. But they do.

"Most of the mythology has been exaggerated certainly, but the basis of them, those ideas are true. Werewolves, vampirse, shape shifters--they all exist. They roam the streets, preying upon all mankind. They.."

"But what are you?" David asked her, point blank.

She stopped walking and faced him. He could see her mind turning behind her eyes, trying to decide if she could trust him. He started to talk, his mouth falling open to tell her that she could trust him, when she spoke first.

"I am a drakon. We are kin to dragons, such as has not been seen in thousands of years. Humanity has not been kind to them. We were created to be the guards for the dragons, to walk freely in both races. We hold two true forms-both our human skin and our dragon bodies. It is not perfect though." She snagged her coat in her hands, twisting it around. "We are given the ability to fly in both forms, and we must cover our smaller wings with thick long jackets."

"How did you do that thing back at the club? I didn't see it, but I felt it. This wave of heat boiled through the door and walls."

"We are weaponed with fire. Even in human form, I am mostly dragon, David. Don't ever forget that."

"Can I see your wings?"

Ky laughed, "Not now David. We are in public and it would be unseemly. Perhaps later I will show you. For now, we have other work to do."

"Fine." He grouched. "But what were those things at the club? You called them feeders."

"Feeders are the offspring of vampires and humans. Vampires are not like the vampires you see in movies and books today. They are immortal, given eternal life upon their 'turning' at the hands of a master vampire. However, they do not come back just pasty skinned with fangs. They are pale, indeed, but it is only from the lack of sun in their lives. They have fangs, to help them tear the skin of their victims open. But all their other plumbing works just as well. They can eat regular food, when they choose to, if it is necessary to maintain the facade of normalcy. They can only do this sparingly, perhaps once every few months. They will digest the food normally and excrete it as you would. We do not understand why, but when they digest normal food, they are given back the ability to procreate. A vampire can still get a hard one when it wants to," David laughed and she chuckled with him. "Yes, they can, David. However, they shoot blanks. Female vampires do not ovulate. However, if they eat a meal they are given sperm and eggs that can be procreated.

"When a male or female vampire eats a meal, and then has sex with a human, a child will be born. It is almost always this way. The birth is terribly hard and the woman who is pregnant with vampire offspring usually dies. A female vampire who bears a child survives every time. These children are feeders. They are not eternal, and they could be human if they truly desired it. They must eat regular food, they can procreate any time, and they can walk in the day if they so choose. But few do. Most are born with a need for blood, a need that is not necessary as it is for a vampire. They choose to drink the blood of innocents. They rarely step out in the sun, not from fear of death, but of a slight aversion. They feel a minor headache when in the sun, but no more. They know from who they are descended and they try to be more like their vampire parents.

"So they kill. They feed on people, then go home to eat a meal at home because they must eat human food as well. They hate their existence. They die of the same kinds of mortal wounds that human die from, but I choose to burn them. It is easiest. They have the strength of their kind, and they have killed my kind before."

She grew silent, pondering the lives of the other drakon in the city.

"So what we saw back there? The club of feeders? What was that?"

"Feeding grounds. They've grown bolder over the years and their number has increased greatly. We're not sure how. We've never seen a feeder actually mate with a human or a vampire before. They either die early or choose not to procreate. I think the increase is from feeders breeding with other feeders. They've started a few places like that over the years--places where humans will congregate and they can feed on them in the shadows. A vampire has dignity and morals, David, hard as that thought is. They do not kill en masse like the feeders do. We do not hunt vampires as long as they keep to the rules, and most do.

"But," she said, smiling as she glanced at the street sign, "that story is for another day. For now, we're here."

They turned and looked at the entrance to an expensive apartment building. A doorman stood in front of large glass double doors. He was dressed in red livery with bright gold buttons.

Only rich people, David thought.

"I don't think we'll be getting in that way," Ky said. "Do you remember what flood she lived on?"

"No. I've never been here before. Tab always said her friend lived in a house, and I didn't realize it was an apartment." He was still looking up at the building, unable to see where it ended. It was a tall building. Its size reminded him at once of all his poor history and inadequacy to love to a rich woman. He felt pathetically small standing there.

"It looks like some reconnaisance is in order. Stay here, David."

He stayed, and watched her walk quickly over to the door man. He couldn't hear the conversation, but he could tell she was asking the doorman a question. The doorman's face leaned down and then slowly cruised back up and he spoke, most likely answering her question. She smiled at him, and left. The doorman shook his head, his cap falling off. He bent down to pick it up, and then looked in the opposite direction of Ky and David. He did not turn around.

"He won't be watching us," she said. "Tab's friend is on the twenty-third floor. That balcony up there is hers. Are you ready?"

"For what? We can't get in, right? Why didn't you try your mind tricks on him like you did the bouncer at the club?"

"Where's the fun in that? You wanted to see my wings, right?" She took off her coat, and gripping it tight in her hands, she grabbed David around the waist. They were standing in a dark corner and at first all he could see where small nubs sticking up over her back.

"Going up? Hang on, David." He grabbed her as they lifted from the ground. He could see her wings spread out behind her and felt the breeze against his face as they flapped and pushed at the air. They were long, at least twice as long as her body laid out horizontally. They were thin and leathery, reminding him of bat's wings, and he wanted to reach out and touch one. He lifted a hand toward her wing and she stopped him.

"Don't do that, David. You'll screw up my flight. We're almost there."

He looked down at the dizzying height and nearly passed out. Her arm gripped tighter around him, it felt like a soft steel bar pressing into his ribs. He relished the feeling.

"We're here," she said as she gently lowered them onto the balcony. The lights were on inside and they peeked through the door.

She started to put on her jacket again, and David quickly reach between the jacket and her wings, running his hand down their length. They were compressed into what looked like long misshappen arms long her back. But they were still soft and felt paper thin.

"How do they hold you up?" He asked as he withdrew his hand.

She chuckled. "Learn about aerodynamics, my friend." She wrapped her hand around the balcony door's knob. It turned easily in her hands, and they heard the audible click of the lock sliding past the door.

"Ready?" She said to David.

"Yes."

She opened the door.