* They are a part of our history, and part of us has always been missing without them. * And as it turned out, even the Lesser Dragons had a bit of hero worship for the chosen of Shadow Wing. They kept bringing her rabbits or small deer as offerings, extremely glad that Shamira could not gain weight in either form. She passed most of these morsels onto her young charge, who was still in need of a name.
* A name will come to him, * Katar thought, * or at least that is the way it is for us. * He looked admiringly at the baby of a dragon that was already more than three times his own size. * It is strange for us. For a human, it would be like getting a chance to meet Cleopatra or Genghis Khan. For better or worse, they shaped human history. *
* You’re well read, * Shamira replied.
* We stole some books from a group of missionaries who had overstayed their welcome. We did not have many, so we had to study each of them at length. *
“Oh my God, THAT’S Shamira?!” intruded a familiar voice.
Shamira swung her giant head back around and saw her donors Kira and Arthur standing next to Shane in the door of the barn. They were staring at her like she was the winning lottery ticket.
Clara grinned. “I explained everything to them on the way over.”
“We have the coolest vampire EVER!” Arthur shouted. “Is it okay if we come closer? I mean, if your . . . uhm . . . friends don’t mind?”
The Lesser Dragons glanced up at Shamira. She was the boss dragon. * You never need to be afraid of me, * she thought.
“You do realize you’re the size of a Greyhound bus now, don’t you?” Arthur asked, his eyes still wide.
Kira looked behind Shamira. “And you’re not the one I’m nervous about.” The young dragon had come over and was poking its head around Shamira’s body and looking suspiciously at the newcomers. He had seen vampires, weres, faeries, and . . . well, whatever Archimedes was, but these were his first humans. Shamira sent him a definite “don’t hurt them” vibe, which the youngster seemed to take to heart. Shamira lay down and put her head next to her donors.
* This is hard, * she complained.
“You’ve been killed, turned into a vamp, survived fight after fight, been tortured, turned into a dragon, and THIS is the hard part? Looking after a baby?” Kira asked.
“In her defense,” Archimedes said, looking up from a conversation she had been having with one of the smaller dragons, “this ‘baby’ can eat a Volkswagen. And I’m serious about that. Shamira had to make him put it down before his jaws dislocated in an attempt to swallow it whole.”
The young dragon’s head inched closer and took a deep sniff. Then strangely, he simply cocked his head and sniffed again. He sniffed both very nervous humans and then . . . nuzzled Kira?
“Hey there, big guy!” Kira said, going instantly into a what-an-adorable-baby/pet mode that people often exhibited. She reached out and stroked his nose, encouraging her husband to do the same.
* That’s . . . unexpected, * Shamira thought. * That’s the best reaction he’s ever given a new person. *
Renata had been discussing some things with Shane, but she looked up and said, “Well, they do kind of smell like you.”
Archimedes immediately perked up, looking excited enough that he might pop a blood vessel. “Of course! They are your Renfields, correct?”
Shamira looked over at Tabitha who provided an affirmative nod. Shamira shrugged, or as close to a shrug as a dragon could do.
“The baby smells your blood in them. It may see them as . . . well, family.”
“Yes, call me Aunt Kira!” the woman said, rubbing the creature’s nose and cleaning some dirt out from its scales. The young dragon looked delighted at the attention.
‘Great,’ Shamira thought. ‘Now I have to deal with baby-talk too?’
“Poor Shamira being neglected?” Clara cooed, rubbing the scales behind Shamira’s eyes. It felt annoyingly good. It was annoying also that this was the most action she was able to get for the foreseeable future. It seemed that the young dragon knew when she was not around, causing it to wake up if asleep and immediately come looking for her.
* This was not how I was expecting to spend my time after Lacroix was taken care of. * She saw the younger dragon bow its head, obviously sensing her irritation. She mentally sighed and sent it reassuring vibes, then encouraged it to go out the tank with the Lesser Dragons for a quick dip. It was obviously excited about the prospect and made it all the way to the door before looking back, waiting for the alpha dragon to lead the way.
Shamira contained her frustration and sauntered toward her young charge.
“Hold on a moment,” Archimedes said, then turned to Kira and Arthur. “Would you mind accompanying the dragon to the swimming hole?”
The two humans looked at him questioningly. “Is that safe?”
“I just want to see if he’ll follow you since you’re effectively ‘children’ of the vampire dragon. Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you. He just may not follow you.”
Kira and Arthur shrugged and headed outside while Shamira mentally nudged the baby. She superimposed notions of her and her authority on them. It looked nervous, but she reminded it of where the tank was and where she was. It was not far. Finally, youthful exuberance overcame shyness and off it went.
Shamira shifted back into her bipedal form. “Yay!” she said collapsing into a chair, “Babysitters!”
“I think that most of the time, he will still be your responsibility. Like most children, he will wander from his mother’s legs sometimes, but will quickly come running back if spooked.”
“I’m not his mother,” Shamira whined pitifully. “I can barely handle being an aunt most of the time.”
“You best be used to it,” Archimedes reminded her. “No one else, not even the Lesser Dragons, is capable of controlling the child for any length of time. Your Renfields are simply temporary fixes, albeit fascinating ones.”
“Speaking of that,” Shane said as he wandered over to sit next to her, “I have a proposition for you.”
“Proposition?”
“About Arthur and Kira. The Tribunal has informed me that my house will be taking over full control of Lacroix’s territories rather than finding an outsider to come in. This means another expansion. Your donors have shown themselves to be resourceful and invaluable, and I would like to offer to bring them over.”
Shamira was stunned. “What? I mean . . . wow! I don’t think I’m the one you should be asking though. I’m not going to coerce –”
“Of course not, but they are your donors and your Renfields. I was rather hoping you would do the actual honors.”
“What?! I can’t! I’m not old enough and . . . and I’d have to kill them and if we’re wrong about my power then –”
“We’re not wrong,” the Representative said. “We had your blood examined by a blood witch just in case, and they confirm that you have the power. In all ways except actual age, you are a full vampire.”
Shamira closed her eyes. “I . . . I don’t think I can risk it. I’m an unknown, and I won’t gamble their lives on that.”
Shane leaned back in his seat. He wished his enforcer shared his confidence, but did not fault her at all for this stance. “I understand.”
“May I make a suggestion?” the Representative asked. “There are many on the waiting list to be brought over who will die of illness before they even receive consideration for being turned.”
“Wait, there are people who are just waiting –” Shamira objected, but she was cut off when Shane raised his hand.
“If we were to bring over everyone who knew of us and wanted to join our ranks, the earth would groan with their weight. We have always had to keep our numbers under control.”
Shane knew Shamira well enough to head off her reaction. “We are not attempting to blackmail you,” he told her. “This is not ‘Save someone or we’ll let them die.’ They will die anyway. I am being allowed to bring another dozen or so members into my extended house. You could extend that number by two.”
“Lord Stapleton,” Clara said, almost admonishingly, “this is Shamira’s first break in dragon-guarding duties in over a week, not to mention everything else over the last month.”
“Indeed,” the Representative added. “It is unfair to burden her with more worries when she has dealt with so much.”
Shane closed his eyes. “Four months,” he said quietly, the opened his eyes again and looked at Shamira. “You have only been amongst us for four months.” He rose and kissed her hand. “They’re right. If you didn’t handle everything life threw at you, I might remember that. You should relax. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?”