We Interrupt Your Usually Scheduled Story...

....to tell you I'm on a little hiatus. Er, a big hiatus. It's midterms (last week and this week) and I have not had time to bang out the plot issues I've got going on. My life is insane. Sorry guys. Hopefully, I'll pick it up sometime soon. Maybe next week? We'll see.
Have a great week!

Out of Time Chapter 28-- Will the Real Dragoni Please Stand Up

I stood in an old graveyard. I couldn’t read most of the tombstones. They seemed to be in a language I couldn’t understand. Only one other figure was there with me. He was shrouded completely in a long, black cloak. Silently, he crouched by a grave. I peered more closely at the name on the headstone.

Rudolf Dragoni.

I back pedaled. Gordon. The cloaked figure could only be him. He was visiting his father’s grave. How touching.

“I knew if I waited long enough, you would show up.”

Gordon’s head jerked up. Lounging on the headstone of the graves of Gordon’s father and mother was a demon. He looked human, except for the talons on his feet and hands—well, and other demonly characteristics, too. His eyes burned with red fire, and he looked like he had gotten a really bad sunburn all over his body. He wore pants—thank goodness—but nothing else. A pair of wings lay against his back. This was a powerful demon. Only powerful demons ever grew wings.

The demon ran his blood-red eyes over Gordon, who had risen to his feet. “Look at you. You are just a fledgling—not even a full vampire, yet.” The demon grinned. “But you are the spitting image of your father. You have your mother’s eyes, though.”

“Who are you?”

Maybe Gordon’s voice hadn’t changed yet, but that did not sound like him. It was way too high. Maybe he was just really scared. No, it sounded like…

“I am called Vibor.” When the vampire gasped, Vibor grinned. “Yes, I am the one who defeated your father. I have been hunting for you for a very long time, my little friend. After all, thanks to your ancestor, we need you to break Leviathan out of his prison.”

He had his sword out before Vibor could even blink. “I would rather die!”

The demon seemed unconcerned. “What was your name again? Tilly? Tiny? No, Tyren, right?”

I was nearly floored. No. Tyren wasn’t the heir. Gordon was the heir. This little vampire couldn’t be Tyren. That was impossible.

The demon moved before either of us knew what was happening. Tyren brought her sword up to block him. Metal squealed as his talons raked across her sword. It was undamaged, though, and she swung it at his head. They continued in this deadly dance for several minutes before Vibor drew back.

“You are a quick little thing with that sword.”

“My father taught me.”

“Too bad that was not enough to save him. Or your mother.”

Vibor lunged for her, but Tyren was ready. She plunged her sword deep in his chest. Grinning manically, the demon grabbed her left wrist. She tried to free it, but that would cause her to lose her grip on her sword, and she would never do that. He dug his talons into her wrist, and she let out a little cry of pain. As red magic swirled around her wrist, a dragon began to form.

The demon released her, and lay on the ground, coughing and choking on his own black blood. “I told them,” he rasped. “If I failed to capture you,” he was seized by a fit of coughing. “I would mark you with a dragon. Now, they will know who you are.” Blood leaked from his mouth, and his eyes glazed over.

Snapping, Tyren set him on fire. She cleaned her blade in the damp grass. I could see her face now, as she watched the demon’s body burn in her blue flame. She was young, not more than fifteen. Tears streaked down her face. I wanted to hug her, but I was just a ghost in events past. Instead, I stood next to her, silently mourning the death of her parents.

Once the fire had fully consumed the body, Tyren and I examined her bloody wrist. After several thoughtful seconds, she bound it in a handkerchief, and pulled a glove on to hide it.

I bid her farewell and pulled myself into the waking world.

I sat bolt upright. “Noddah, Tyren’s the vampire heir!”

“Duh,” moaned the dragon.

“What do you mean, ‘duh?’ You knew?”

“Of course.”

“How?”

“I am a dragon. We know the vampire king when we see her. Besides, she smells like the heir. Even you noticed her aura of power and command.”

“Yeah, but, you said Gordon was the heir.”

“No I didn’t. I never said that. I almost said he wasn’t several times, but Tyren shushed me. She doesn’t want anyone to know.”

“Why?”

Noddah shrugged his scaly shoulders. “That way no one knows, including Melinda.”

I face-palmed. “I’m such an idiot. I should have seen it from the start. She covers the mark with that wrist-shield-thing.”

Noddah nodded. “It’s probably not a good idea to let on that you know to anyone except Sai.”

I chuckled. “Of course Sai knows.”

“Sai knows everything,” Noddah whispered eerily.

“So when Tyren gave you to me, I really should have been honored? I mean, the vampire king doesn’t just hand out dragons, right?” I still couldn’t believe Tyren was the heir, much less the ruler of vampire kind.

“Correct. Tyren was following her ancestor’s example. Torin and Celestine saved the vampire king’s life, you know. Together, the three of them drove Leviathan into his tomb.” 

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

~~~~~

At the end of that day, I still couldn’t believe it. “How did I not know?” I asked myself for five thousandth time.

Henry tipped his chair back and eyed me thoughtfully. “You keep saying that. Why?”

I pretended to be suddenly interested in my Freshman English text book. “No reason.”

“Is your fake girlfriend with some other guy, or something?”

I stared at him, confused. “My fake girlfriend?”

“Yeah, what was her name? Tatiana?”

I stared at him for a full ten seconds. Then, it clicked. “Oh. Oh! No, no, nothing like that.”

“Then what? Miss an answer on a test or something?”

I rolled my eyes. “No. Just forget it, Henry.”

“Your mom is disowning you?”

“No! Drop it!”

“Annalise won the spelling bee again.”

I glared at him. “Tyren is the vampire heir! There. Happy?”

He stared me like I had just sprouted a third head. It had the desired effect, though. He did shut up. For about ten seconds. “Right. I’m still trying to get used to all this magic stuff. Who’s Tyren, again?”

“My friend. Now, hush.”

To my surprise, he did.

-------

EEP!

I told you this was exciting.

Raise your hand if you called it--or comment, since I can't see your hands. Hopefully no one did.... unless you're one of those poor people who know me all too well.

Yay, Tyren! She's my favorite. And M.C. And Noddah. And Sai. And Tatianna. I like them ALL. Except Gordon. I don't like him.

Sooooo, I've had two cups off coffee, one can of Mountain Dew, and one cup of Dr. Pepper. I'm still falling asleep. Sigh. Junior year is hard, guys. It's seriously kicking my butt.

Weel. I hope you guys are staying awake better than I am!

Have a great week.

~CP

Out of Time Chapter 27-- When Do We Eat?

“Hey, Noddah, you brilliant dragon, you.” He landed on my head. “Can you find the floating base and tell Julian that we have a wounded Tyren down here?”

“Sure thing, Emmy.” The little dragon spread his wings and vaulted into the sky.

While he searched for the fleet, I secretly fed Tyren some of my energy. To distract her, I asked, “So how did you get captured, anyway?”

She sighed. “I was back at the underground base, retrieving something I had left, and I was ambushed by a large scouting party.”

“What on earth were you getting?”

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “In all the confusion, I left this there.”

It was a map of some kind. “What is this?”

“The Tower of London.”

“You weren’t planning on attacking that, were you?”

She shook her head. “No, no. I just wanted the layout in case we were ever able to rescue Tatiana’s parents.”

I smirked. “Right. So much for the cold-hearted vampire.”

She scrunched her nose at me. “I am cold-hearted, and do you remember that.”

I grinned. Just as I was about to reply, Julian landed his whizzer next to us. Lifting his goggles to the top of his head, he beamed at us. “All aboard! There’s only room for one, though. I can come back and get you, M.C.”

I shook my head, nearly causing Noddah to miss his usual perch. Grumbling, he settled on my hair. Patting him, I explained, “I left a freaked out sister and roommate. I’ll catch you guys later.”

I helped Tyren into the back of Julian’s whizzer. Once she was in, she hugged me fiercely. “See you later, Mikhail.”

I hugged her back. “Yeah, see you later, friend.”

She grinned and waved. Julian beamed and nodded to me. Just as the whizzer took off, blue light engulfed me.

When the light disappeared, I was greeted with the familiar surroundings of my own room. Henry and Annalise jumped off my bed.

“What on earth happened?” Henry got out right before Annalise screamed.

I was relieved my parents were out of the house. “What?” I asked her.

“There is something on your head.”

I’m fairly sure Noddah waved. “Oh, that’s Noddah. Don’t mind him.”

“I’m a dragon,” Noddah announced.

“Thanks, Noddah. Anyway. What’s up, guys?”

“’What’s up?’” my sister shrieked. “My brother disappears, is gone for, like, seven minutes, then returns wet, bloody, and roughed up!”

I looked down. I was quite the sight. “Oh, don’t worry about it.” I tried to leave.

However, between threats to tell mom and irritating demanding, Annalise got it out of me. Annoyed, I shoved my hands into my pockets. Henry and my sister stared at me in silence.

I spread my arms, “What? No objections?”

“Well, considering there’s a dragon on your head, and you disappeared right before our eyes, we can’t really question any of it.” Henry shrugged. “I do have one question, though.”

“Okay,” I said warily.

“Tatiana isn’t really your girlfriend?”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, for silver’s sake. No, no she’s not. I just said that to get you off my back.”

“Okay. Just wondering.”  He  paused. “So, you do need a girlfriend.”

I groaned. “No, I do not!”

“Okay, okay. Have it your way.”

“Any other questions?”

“I have one.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Noddah?”

“When do we eat?”

My pocket vibrated. I checked my phone. “Mom says, ‘Chinese sound good tonight?’”

“Sushi?” Noddah asked hopefully.

“No, silly, that’s Japanese,” my sister responded. “Yeah, sounds great!”

“Sounds good to me,” Henry said.

Noddah shrugged. “As long as it’s food.”

 “Yeah, but you still have to hide under the table.”

“Aw!”

I glanced at my roommate and sister, wondering if they knowing would make my life easier or more difficult. Oh well, no going back now. I decided to make the best of it.

Henry, Noddah and I returned to school a week and a half later with fond farewells from my family. Even I got a hug from Annalise. Maybe this whole thing had helped us to understand each other. Besides, she sort of fell in love with my little ball of scales and fire.

As I returned to classes, and got back in the routine of college academics and stress, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something big was brewing on the horizon. Whatever it was, it wasn’t sunshine and lollypops. It seemed that my journey with Tyren, Tatiana, Sai, and Julian was drawing to a close. 

------
Hey! Sorry it's late! Yesterday was insane.
I love Noddah. I wish he was real so he can ride on my head and make me laugh. And set people I don't like on fire.
I'm so excited! The next chapter has a major plot reveal! Hopefully none of you will have seen this coming.
Well, until next week!
C.P.

Out of Time Chapter 26-- True Friendship

Sulking is one thing that I’m really good at. Once we got back to my house, I locked myself in my room. I sat on my bed and sulked.

First, I was only liked in 1888 because I was the mage heir. Here, I was despised for having magic. I couldn’t win.

Who was I really, anyway? Was I the mage heir, or was I that average guy? Surely, I was a combination of both, right?

My dragon patted my head from under my hat.

My sulking was interrupted by someone knocking at my door. I ignored it. However, the two people on the other side were not going to leave me alone.

“Hey, M.C., can we come in?”

I ignored Henry.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to upset you, alright. You’re right. You did save my life.”

“M.C., c’mon, dude. Open the door.”

I sighed it wasn’t their fault. I had been sort of moody all break. I slipped off my bed and opened the door. “Look, it’s fine. I’m just dealing with a lot of stuff right now.”

My sister pushed past me and sat on my bed. “Like what?”

“Just friend stuff.”

Annalise snorted. “What friends?”

Henry frowned. “I don’t think that’s helpful, Annalise.”

“Right, sorry.”

“Look, it’s fine, okay. I’m just—”  I huffed. “Having magic isn’t all sunshine and lollipops. It’s hard. People expect me to do great things with it.” I waved in frustration. “And, I mean, what if I can’t do it? What if I’m not good enough?”

My sister sighed. “M.C., you’re a great mage or whatever. You’re—“ She stared at me. “—glowing blue!”

I stared at my watch. I hadn’t activated the magic. Ever since my near-zombie experience, I had avoided 1888 like the plague. I didn’t want to face them knowing that they probably only like the mage heir part of me. “That’s weird.”

“What do you mean that’s weird?!” My sister shrieked. “Don’t you know what’s going on?!”
        “Well, yeah, but, I didn’t activate it.”

“Activate the what?” Henry asked.

 “The time-warping watch. I usually activate it with my magic, but it’s doing it by itself.” This was taking longer than usual, as if it was having trouble locking on Tyren. Suddenly, my head jerked up. “Oh my goodness! Something must be wrong with Tyren!”

“What?!” Henry and Annalise exclaimed.

And they were gone.

It was dark in London, and raining. Visibility was about a zero. I reached for my goggles, but realized they weren’t there. I hadn’t planned this trip, so they weren’t in my pocket.

Surely Tyren couldn’t be far, though. I scanned the area around me. I stood on top of some poor Londoner’s roof. Great. How was I supposed to get down? I listened carefully, but all I heard was the rain smacking any surface it touched.

Lovely. How was I supposed to find the vampire on a night like this?

Grumbling to myself about inconveniences, I closed my eyes. Sai had once spoken of a sort-or sixth sense. It was that sense that made a person’s hairs stand up on the back of their neck. It was that sense that told you someone was behind you. A mage had stronger senses.

I used that sixth sense to search for Tyren’s aura. After several minutes of searching, I huffed and gave up. I couldn’t find her. I couldn’t find the confounded little vampire.

Well, duh. I couldn’t find her because I wasn’t searching for her like a friend would. Mine was a duty search. A friend would be able to find his friend’s aura with no problem.

So, I closed my eyes, and searched for my friend’s aura. Maybe they just drew closer, or maybe my little trick worked, but I suddenly became very aware of her aura. It was flashing, like a dying light. I felt a shot of fear jolted up my spine. She was in trouble.

I expanded my mind. She was flanked by quite a few demons and even more zombies. She was definitely in trouble.

I had to get off that roof. Running to the edge, I looked down. All I could see were a bunch of clothes lines. Oh, crap.

Looking back in the direction of Tyren’s aura, I learned one thing about myself: I was crazy.

No time to think. Taking a deep breath, I jumped. As the ground shot towards me, I grabbed the nearest clothes line. I caught it just in time. It made a squealing noise, so I let go. I plummeted to earth again. This time, I missed the next clothes line. I was terrified for about two seconds, but then I got caught on the next clothes line down.

Mumbling about my life choices, I dropped the final five feet to the ground. Right. I was on the ground. Now, I could actually do something.

I needed some sort of plan.

I could see them, now. There were no fewer than three winged demons. Six zombies flanked the vampire, boxing her in. All I could see of Tyren was the top of her head. However, I could tell that she strode with her chin lifted in the air. This simple task was taking a lot of strength. They must have her wrapped in silver.

There was no way I was just blasting them all with light. I was already zapped from my fight earlier that afternoon—not to mention the mall trip, ug. I couldn’t fight all these guys with my main vampire tied up.

Her light was dimming, and I couldn’t just clap my hands together and say “I do believe in vampires, I do! I do!” Plus, we were pretty close to the Tower of London. Tyren and I were running out of time.

So, time to put my new found crazy to use.

I leapt into a sprint. None of them had noticed me yet, so surprise was on my side. Well, no for long, though. As soon as I exploded from the alley, the demons noticed me. Shooting the two zombies closest to Tyren down with magic, I burst into the little parade. The vampire let out a little yelp we I scooped her up and threw her over my shoulder. Before anyone could so much as draw a weapon, I was using my momentum to shoot out of the parade and down a street.

Suddenly, I felt fueled with energy. With the rather disgruntled vampire over my shoulder, I raced down my chosen street. Naturally the winged demons were giving chase in the air, while their grounded underlings were running behind me.

“Hey, Emmy, they’re catching up.”

I nearly dropped Tyren. “Noddah! How did you get here?” I puffed.

“I’m still under your hat, smarty pants.”

I darted into an adjoining street and set Tyren down. Tugging off the hat, I exploded, “Well, why didn’t you say anything when I was having trouble finding Tyren? Or when I jumped off that roof? Or shot through that demon group?!”

Noddah ruffled my hair with his warm breath. “You were in a bad mood.” He leaned down so he was looking in my eyes. “Besides, when someone is going about things the wrong way, sometimes it’s best to let him figure it out on his own.”

I sighed. He was right. If he had just told me how to look for Tyren, or found her for me, I wouldn’t have learned. It wasn’t as if he had completely left me to my own devices. That burst of power was him, not me. Still, something in my chest ached.

“Look, I really hate to break up whatever is going on between you two, but I really do not think the demons are simply going to give up.”

I looked down at the vampire. She had slid to the ground and was leaning heavily on the wall of the building next to us. Quite a bit of silver wrapped around her arms and neck. She looked very weak.

I dropped next to her. “We have to get this off you!”

“No time. Take Noddah and get out of here.”

I was already burning through the chains with the equivalent of a magic laser beam. “I did not jump of a blinking building, rain on a demon parade, and sprint like a mad creature to leave you here.” The silver continued to snap under my magic laser beam, but it was taking a really long time. “Noddah, can you get us out of here?”

“Sorry, Emmy. I can’t carry both of you, yet.”

“Then take Tyren—“

“Absolutely not! I am not letting you stay here to get captured!”

“Oh, right, can’t do that. I’m the mage heir. Gotta keep the mage heir safe,” I grumbled sarcastically.

Noddah thwapped me with his tail.

My tone was not lost on the vampire. “What do you mean by that?” She asked weakly.

“Nothing.”

“Yes, you meant something.”

“Emmy, hurry! They’re getting close!”

Another chain snapped. I was going to have to be careful with the ones around her neck. She hissed in pain when I pulled one too close to her skin. “Sorry,” I muttered.

“M.C., what is wrong?”

“I said—“ I pulled some of the chains off of her. “—nothing.”

“Something is wrong. You are angry.”

“I’m not.”

“Emmy!” The dragon leapt off my head, shifted in size in mid flight, and tackled a descending demon.

“You are. You are angry and hurt. Why?”

“It doesn’t matter.” I yanked the last chains free of her neck. Dark red burn marks crisscrossed her skin.

With my help, Tyren stood. “It does matter.” She drew her sword and skewered the first of the zombie runners. I was glad none of the bad guys had removed her sword from her hip. They probably figured it wouldn’t be much use to her when she couldn’t reach it.

We stood back to back. Worry ate at my gut. She was leaning heavily on my back. I was tired, she was week, Noddah was dueling it out with a demon nearly twice his size, and more were coming. We didn’t stand a chance.

“Why do you care?” I snapped as I shot a bolt of light into the demon battling my dragon.

Tyren was silent for several seconds. “Are you really asking me that?” Someone groaned then flopped to the ground, and the vampire removed her sword.

I snorted. “Yes, Tyren, I am.”

“M.C., you are—“

“The mage heir!” I ducked, pulling her down with me. The demon Noddah had so effectively set on fire hit the wall behind us. The little dragon dove, setting a zombie on fire. “Yeah! I know that! Thanks!”

“I fail to understand why you are upset.”

“Do we really need to do this now?” I played bowling with a ball of light. Several zombies got out of the way, but one was blasted to the ground. He didn’t get up.

“Yes, yes we do! You are angry with me for some reason unknown to me!” One of her knives found its mark in the neck of the demon I was shooting light at. It gurgled and dropped from the sky. One demon to go.

I didn’t answer, too focused on blasting the last demon. He refused to die. I just kept blasting him and blasting him, but it wasn’t getting through.

“Mikhail! Please, talk to me.”

I paused in my blasting. Sighing, I resumed. “Fine. If you really want to know. You only care about the mage heir!”

I could tell she was confused. “Yes. So what is—“

“Yeah? Well what if I wasn’t the mage heir? You didn’t care before you knew.”

“Mikhail,” she said softly.

Finally, the demon died. Well, he sort of exploded in a ball of light. Anger does things, you know. “I thought you were my friend!” I blasted the last zombie. He sort of exploded, too.

“Mikhail, I am your friend.” She groaned and collapsed. I caught her, and we slowly sank to the ground.

My eyebrows knitted together. “Hey, are you alright?”

She smiled. “Just weak.” Then she looked at me, eyes big and open as she search my face. “What made you ever think that I only cared about the mage heir part of you?”

I looked away. “I just—I mean, you never really said it. And…” I trailed off.

“Mikhail, I am profusely sorry that I ever left you in doubt of my friendship. You are one of the few people that I completely trust with my life.”

I learned later that that was the vampire equivalent of a strong friendship.

I looked away from the earnest look in her dark eyes. I felt very ashamed of myself. How could I ever have doubted her? “I’m sorry. I should have known.”

She shook her head. “No, Mikhail. You are correct. I do not show emotions very often. However, I do have one thing to ask. Before, you seemed to know that I care about you. Why are you suddenly questioning that?”

My face heated up. “It’s just something Melinda said.”

“That witch!”

Tyren’s exclamation was so violent, I jumped. My eyes flew back to her face. She seemed furious.  I later learned from the ever-helpful Tatiana that calling a woman a witch was the worst insult a vampire could deal out to any given female.

Her anger evaporated. “I am truly sorry, Mikhail. Melinda was only attempting to poison your mind.”

I sighed. “Well, it worked. I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”

The vampire waved her hand. “Do not concern yourself. It is my fault for ever leaving you in the slightest doubt.”

“Don’t worry about it. Friends have misunderstandings all the time.” I grinned at her, and she grinned back.

----------

Hello!
So, M.C. and Tyren talk out M.C.'s doubts. Yay! Happy day.
Welp. I have homework to do, so have a great week!
~CP