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firexdance · 6 years

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Hour left her door open and stepped aside in an obvious invitation for the intruder to leave. “This will not be happening again, actually. I can very easily make a ward against you specifically, this isn’t the first time I’ve had someone break into my apartment, and it isn’t the first time I’ve chased someone out of it either.” The crystal in her staff started glowing an eerie purple black as her magic coursed through it.

“I’m so sick and tired of all this patronizing bullshit from everyone. You think it’s so easy to find a familiar? You think I chose a dragon because I was full of myself? News flash, sweet pea, that’s not how familiar pairs work. Not everyone can just pick their favorite animal. As for my boss who’s been trying to get in my pants since I got here, he already had a partner, he can’t accept another one, despite how big of a power kink he has.” Hour was so sick of this, she got it bad enough from her damn co-workers she didn’t need it from a complete stranger.

“You’re cute, so I’ll give you points for trying. Also stubborn, so there is a slim chance you might even be able to keep up with him.” But she shook her head. She was not going to allow this child so sway her opinion. She raised a hand, sending out a swirling draft of air that slammed the door shut.

“This particular dragon just so happens to be my little brother, and I swore long ago that I would never allow another warlock to hurt him. Morningstar is wild, reckless, irresponsible, acts without thinking, and is barely even an adult by our standards. He is far too high-maintenance for a tiny little thing like you.”

She cocked her head at the glowing staff and smirked. “By all means, attack me. He would never forgive you.”

“You know, that actually makes a lot of sense. Really, it does. At least I know the flare for the dramatics is a family thing.” Hour rolled her eyes and gave up on trying to force the girl to leave the nice way. She kept ahold of her staff and looked at the glowing crystal.

“This isn’t specifically a battle staff, actually. This can stop the use of any magic that isn’t my own. Which means, madam dragon, that I could prevent your fire from causing any damage. I could also use it to restrain you or just make you take a nap should you try to attack me. Of course I do have a few runes in here for purely attack reasons.” Hourglass leaned against the wall and looked back at the girl. “But I’m not stupid, even if I am having difficulties finding out his human form. I’m not going to hurt you, and I have no intention of hurting him either.”

Hour fiddled with the dragon scale necklace at the thought of hurting a dragon, a sour taste in her throat. “Look, I appreciate that you want to protect him, but from what I can tell he isn’t a baby and he can handle himself. It doesn’t matter, maybe you should go talk to your brother and tell him your concerns yourself. Your threats don’t scare me. Door is there, and don’t worry about any hunters, I’m no backwards idiot who blames the destruction from the fire wars in the dragons.”

She stood up, cradling the cat in her arms for just a moment before setting him down in the armchair she was just sitting in. This hadn’t gone the way she planned, and she was at a loss what to do now. It appeared she would have to go straight to Lucifer now, and he was likely to accuse her of coddling him again.

“I will be watching you.” She ignored the door she had entered through, opting for one on the balcony instead. She stepped outside and then turned. “You can claim to be forward-thinking and progressive, but you may want to watch your stereotyping. Not all of us are fire elementals.” She jumped off the balcony, shifting in mid-air, growing larger in form the higher she flew.

Hour bristled, “You just said you were siblings and he’s a damn fire elemental!” She shouted after the dragon. All she had ever heard about how dragons got their element was that it originated from the father. She glares down at the cat that had gotten up to watch the girl leave and shook her head.

“Great, my damn cat is love sick on the girl who broke into my apartment to threaten me. A lot of help you are, you little brat.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice and she turned to return the staff to it’s case. “But hey, now I have a damn name for the dragon. Not that it’s any help.”

There was a loud pounding on the door later in the evening, though Lucifer was still awake. Azazel was yelling on the other side of the door for him to hurry up already.

Lucifer adjusted his travel bag over his shoulder and opened the door with a huff. “If you were any slower you would be walking backwards,” Azazel grumbled before racing back down the steps.

“I will stake you!” Lucifer called after him, turning to lock the door behind him. There was only laughter in response.

“Some of us are trying to sleep!” one of the neighbors below shouted before slamming their door shut.

“I will definitely stake you,” Lucifer mumbled. He hesitated, then turned toward the door to Hour’s apartment to knock.

Hour had been sleeping, peacefully, with Arthur locked on the other side of the door. She was still mad at him for being friendly with the intruder. She groaned as she woke up and grabbed a hex bag from a drawer in her room. She had every intention of giving whoever was causing such an annoyance a bad case of a stomach bug.

When the knocking started she was on a war path, not even thinking to put up her glamour like she normally did. She pulled the door open hard, the hex bag still gripped in her other hand. When she realized Lucifer was at the door she realized what she must look like and pulled the short sleeves of her night shirt down to cover the old silvery scars on her arms.

“Hey, uhm…” She looked away from him and down at her feet. “Look, I don’t know who was making the racket, but if you see them, can you get them to keep it down? I’m trying to get some sleep, I’ve had a hard enough day with the crazy chick breaking into my apartment to threaten me and steal my cat’s love.” She grabbed her cloak from beside the door and slung it over her shoulders, if she was going to have to deal with this, she would rather she wasn’t showing how damaged she was to the whole world.

The moment the door opened, he had already taken in a deep breath to start talking, but whatever he was going to say was forgotten when he was greeted by what was on the other side of the door. He had seen her flustered, and annoyed, and upset before, but she had always been well put together appearance-wise, and seeing her now made him wonder if it was later than he thought it was.

His eyes strayed downward, and upon realizing he was staring flew back to her face, a slight flush coloring his cheeks. Searching for something else to focus on, he latched onto her words, and his brow furrowed, at a loss as to what to respond to first.

Hearing about the break-in, annoyance set in. That sounded like Ash, and she certainly hadn’t told him about that.

“I’m sorry we woke you. Azazel has no tact whatsoever. We’re leaving town now, and will be gone for a few days. Jenkins wants some fire opals from the Burning Caves, and apparently doesn’t trust me to keep up with the paperwork. We can bring some back for you, too if you’d like?”

He hesitated before making his request. Jenkins wasn’t going to be happy about it, but despite making the decision to hire on more help, Hour was still the only warlock he trusted. Surely Jenkins could find it in him to at least be civil?

“We just hired a warlock. It’s more of an experiment, really, to see if having someone give the wards a daily check would be easier than hunting someone down every time they collapsed. She’s incredibly young, though. Do you mind checking in on them every now and then while I’m gone?”

Hour turned her face away and reached up to scratch at the angry red scars on her cheek. His scrutiny was making her want to put on a mask and hide as much of her pallid skin as possible, but she settled for pulling her cloak closer around herself. She didn’t have the mental capacity to hold a glamour, so her scars on her cheeks would just have to stay as they were. Hopefully the poor lighting would prevent him from noticing to the point of asking questions.

The topic of fire opals had her perking up, though, and she couldn’t help the eager nod. “By the fae, Lucifer, you would actually get me some? Aren’t they incredibly difficult to harvest?” She heard that insetting them into enchanted items strengthened the items considerably, that they were some of the best enchanting stones out there- right next to moonstones and obsidian, but she has never witnessed them in action seeing as they were so hard to aquire.

The idea of going to the museum while Lucifer was out of town wouldn’t normally make her smile face as fast as it did, but after how Jenkins had been treating her recently, the thought really didn’t thrill her. And the thought of having a novice warlock on such an important job- one she had been offering to do practically since she arrived in town- didn’t make her any happier about the idea. But Lucifer was asking her, and she already felt the need to apologise for the comments that had set him off earlier. “Yeah, I can check up on her. What’s her name?”

“The trick is to wait til sunset when the fire is the lowest at the mouth of the caves and the opals are at their coolest.” Unless you were a fire elemental who can walk right through the flames and harvest the opals while they were still at their peak in power, but she would hopefully figure that out sooner rather than later. “And, of course, not to upset the local vampires who govern the territory.”

His brow furrowed while he tried to remember the girl’s name. He remembered thinking it was odd at the time, but now he couldn’t remember it. He shrugged apologetically. “I do know she called her familiar Sylvie. It’s a fox, and they should be there in the mornings before opening.”

By now, Azazel was back and tugging at Lucifer’s sleeve impatiently. “Come on, or it will be daylight before we reach the first village!” Lucifer let the little vampire pull him toward the steps, mouthing a thank you at Hour.

Hour thankfully was able to get some more sleep after Lucifer had left, and by the time morning got around, she had gotten enough sleep to not pass out at her desk at some point in the day. She was going to strangle that little vampire next time she saw him, that was for sure. Why Lucifer was going with him, she didn’t know. He was just a historian after all.

Whispers greeted her when she did manage to get to work, dying down when she passed. She caught snippets and nearly laughed when she realized what they were doing. Office gossip and apparently a poll about who everyone thought the dragon might be. Explained why the captain looked so pissy when he walked by. She did manage to find the file on the fox Familiar Sylvie and her partner Thorn. The complaints against Thorn in the file weren’t very promising. She would have to see for herself, but she had a bad feeling about the warlock.

Once she had gotten most of her paperwork out of the way she grabbed a small vial with a menacing black liquid in it that fogged the glass cold. She smiled and went to fetch Kamaer. It was time to start punishing the hunter.

The next day she found herself going to the museum early, testing the door to find it open. “Hello?”

Jinx was fed up with everything. He could usually put up with Azazel’s shenanigans because Morningstar always managed to either cover it up or smooth it over with that silver tongue of his. Now, though, Lucifer was distracted and had not only decided to take an ancient text about historic familiars and warlocks a little too seriously, but he had also decided to play up every stereotype of dragons that ever existed in an attempt to impress a girl. Said attempt had failed epicly and only served to scare her and was even now threatening to expose the entire storm.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Ash was back and was determined to fix everything Lucifer had ‘broken.’ That was likely to turn into a very bloody fight before this was all over, and it would fall to Jinx to nurse the two back to health. He had sent the children out on a useless trip in the hopes that he could have a brief respite, and maybe that inevitable fight would happen while they were gone and he could wash his hands of all responsibility.

Unfortunately, he now had to deal with the warlock they had just hired. Thorn did get the job done, and normally Jinx would have been satisfied with that. That was before one of his brood had decided to take part in that lifestyle, and he found himself examining very closely the interactions between warlock and familiar in an effort to educate himself on what to expect in the future. He did not like what he was seeing.

Thorn never once physically harmed the little fox familiar, at least not that he could see, but she did snap at her when she fidgeted out of boredom and completely ignored her when she was ‘behaving’ herself, or rather, sitting still as a statue, though her eyes darted everywhere in interest. Jinx could practically feel her desire to go and investigate every little corner, and he felt sick at how Sylvie lit up the one time Thorn absently pat her on the head.

This was not what he wanted for his little moonstone, and he seriously started weighing the pros and cons of simply packing up dragging Morningstar with him whether he liked it or not. Lucifer would be furious with him, but all would be forgiven a few decades from now.

The door opened and Jinx scowled when the object of his irritation walked in. “Good morning, Miss Tien. How may I help you?” he said, forcing a polite tone into his voice.

Hourglass smiled brightly at Jenkins. She knew he wasn’t the happiest with her right now, but she needed to assess the pair and what they had done to the museum so far. She had to play nice. “Hey Jenkins. I’m looking for the new warlock familiar pair Lucifer hired. He asked me to check on them, so I’m going to do a full familiar assessment panel since the records say they’re due for one.”

She could feel a change in the magic energy- a different signature. “I also would like to look at any of the work that Thorn has done so far to make sure it’s up to regulation for public enchantments.” She looked around and spotted the warlock in question through a doorway and she narrowed her eyes, trying to make some assessments from where she was.

“I need to talk to each of the pair individually first then as a pair. It shouldn’t take to long and I can tell you any concerning results I find since you are their employer and supervisor. I’ll be sending Lucifer a fire message as well.” Hour turned to watch them and immediately pursed her lips. The warlock seemed to be at ease, but the familiar was a different story entirely. From what she could see, the familiar was tense, and seemed to be trying to take everything in from where she was seated. Almost like she didn’t want to be sitting down. Hour pulled out her Magic Council card and badge from her pack and scowled. She had a feeling of how this was going to go, and what the results would be, and it wasn’t good.

His eyes tightened. He’d be having words with Lucifer when he got back about making arrangements without warning him first, but for now he would have to play along.

“Right this way then.” He gestured across the room, neatly pulling her out of the way of the empty display case as he did so. Lucifer’s fire had apparently gotten rid of not only the dark magic that had leached into it, but also any protective spells that had previously been there. He had already spent yesterday trying to sidestep Thorn’s questions about it- he didn’t need a repeat.

Sylvie had sensed a new magical presence. Her ears flicked forward, and she had already stood up ready to greet the newcomer, but Thorn snapped at her to settle down.

Thorn glanced up from where she was consulting a book and comparing the runes on it to the ones on a stand. “Is there something you want? I’m a little busy here.”

Hourglass noticed the empty display case and her skin crawled- not for something that was there but for what wasn’t. She had placed so many wards on this museum that every inch seemed to linger with her magic. But not that spot. It was like it had been purged of all magic. The only thing like it she could recall was a castle she had encountered in her journey. A castle that had a large dragon skeleton inside, preserved with a dragon fire bath during the fire wars.

She shook out her shoulder and looked at the task in front of her, showing the warlock her badge and Id. “I’m Hourglass Tien with the Magic Council. Sylvie, could you please come over here?” Hour gestured with her hand. “Your employer asked me to check up on you and your file indicated you were due for a familiar evaluation. I have a few questions for each of you individually and then as a team.” She looked between the two and put on an official smile.

“I would like to test your magic tier and then start with Sylvie. May I see your hand?” Hour held her hand out expectantly to the warlock. While a tier 5 or 6 may need a rune for this, she could do it with a simple touch. But, still, she knew the rune and felt the need to lull this warlock into a sense that she was a lower tier than she really was. So she pulled out her charcoal pen with her other hand and smiled.

He busied himself with dusting off the displays while using his superior hearing to listen in. He didn’t much care if it was obvious what he was doing, but he’d prefer to know if there was a problem that needed to be taken care of when it arose, rather than when it was too late.

Sylvie was instantly on her feet and halfway on her way toward Hour before she stopped abruptly to turn around and glance questioningly at her warlock. Thorn waved a hand impatiently, and Sylvie stood at attention beside the stranger.

Thorn closed the book and set it aside. “Shouldn’t there have been an appointment for this?” Even so, she held out her hand as directed, using her other hand to push Sylvie away when the fox stood up on her back legs to get a better look.

Hour noticed the interaction and she was seething. This was classic warning behavior. She had seen it too many times between pairs that eventually had their bond dissolved. But, she still had to get it confirmed, so she took the warlocks hand and turned it over, tracing the rune onto her palm before grasping it firmly. Letting a small tendril of power into the other, completely bypassing trying to connect to the rune, Hour closed her eyes and searched for Thorn’s magic center. It was pathetic in comparison to most of the warlocks she worked with- a 2 or 3 at most.

“It seems the council has reached out to you about setting up an appointment before only to have them be ignored. I informed the group in charge of familiar affairs that I would handle it for them.” Hourglass pulled out a small notebook and drew a quick rune onto a blank page. Ripping out the page she handed it to the warlock. “Alright. Activate this rune for me please and then I will take Sylvie here on a walk while we talk.” She shot a gentle smile at the familiar. If the page combust when activated, then the warlock would be tier 3, but if it didn’t then she was just a tier 2. Either way, Hour figured she wouldn’t be able to combat any kind of truth spell Hour set on Sylvie if the fox consented to it.

Thorn scoffed. “Are you talking about all those fire messages? It seemed ridiculously informal, so I didn’t think it was serious.” She twitched in slight unease when she felt the rune being traced- she disliked having to put up with the Council, but she wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

Sylvie let out an alarmed yip when the paper burst into flames and darted away to hide behind Thorn’s robes, peeking out at Hour nervously.

Thorn let out an annoyed huff and stepped away. “Will you get a grip on yourself? It’s just fire; you’ve seen fire.”

Was that encouragement? It sounded like encouragement, so the fox slowly crept forward again, her movements more cautious than before.

Hour had accepted the other behavior without comment, but this one nagged at her. “You’re a tier 3 warlock and you have a familiar stronger than she should be for a normal fox. Yet you treat her like garbage. All complaints filed against you have been about how uncaring you are for others, including your familiar. They have been about how rude you are, not your familiar. Sylvie is actually explicitly mentioned as being innocent and kind in one of the complaints. Given the evidence I take it this attitude is normal for you. I understand that you’re young, you’re an immature child trying to make a name for yourself. That doesn’t give you the right to treat Sylvie like your pet, or your slave. She has feelings, just like you or me. I want you to keep that in mind while you finish what you’re doing for the museum. I’m taking Sylvie now, and I’m going to give her a nice little tour of this museum while I talk to her.”

Without waiting for Thorn to respond, Hour gestured kindly for Sylvie to follow her. “Come on, I have a couple questions for you.” She lead the fox a little ways away from the room with thorn, taking her towards the ‘kids’ section of the museum. A basic introduction to magic and magical creatures. “Sylvie, I have a request. For this interview, may I put a truth spell on you? It won’t force you to answer any questions, but it will make sure you aren’t lying to me. I won’t apply it if you don’t want me to.”

Thorn was about respond in outrage, but the two were gone before she could.

Sylvie looked hesitantly back at Thorn, but she proceeded to follow Hour. This assessment seemed more important at the moment, even if it upset her warlock. Maybe Thorn would be happier when it was over with.

After Hour asked her a question, Sylvie paused and flicked an ear back in confusion. A few warlocks had directly addressed her before, but Thorn had always been there to respond for her.

She glanced at the doorway, half-expecting Thorn to show up to speak on her behalf. When it didn’t happen, she stepped away from Hour and shifted into a humanoid form, the clothing mimicking what Hour was wearing since that was her only frame of reference at the moment.

“It won’t hurt?” she asked softly. Not expecting an answer to that, she shrugged. “Go ahead. What do I have to do?”

Hour smiled at the girl. “Can I see your arm? I need to put a few runes on. It won’t hurt a bit. It can get uncomfortable if you want to lie when answering, though. It might feel like you aren’t in control of your words. If it scares you, I can cancel the spell at any time.”

She pulled out her charcoal pen and started tracing the runes lightly onto the fox’s arm. She gently stream small amounts of magic through the runes and gave the girl a reassuring pat to the top of her arm when she was done. “There, now it’s in place. You can’t lie, but if you don’t want to answer, just shake your head no. Alright? Ok.” Hour pulled out the question book that had been given to her by the familiar affairs and opened it to the set of questions for the familiar.

“First question- what part of the museum have you wanted to see the most since you got here? From what I can tell, I don’t think you haven’t gotten to see very much of it. I come here a lot, I can tell you about anything that catches your eye.”

Her head tilted, carefully watching every line that was being drawn, the movement of the pen mesmerizing her. She blinked when the warlock started talking again, eyes flicking upward to focus on the words being said.

Her brow furrowed, wondering what that had to do with her and Thorn, but her confusion was driven out of her head when she thought about the answer, replaced by excitement.

“There was a rock- it was shiny and glowy, and the plaque said it came from the stars!” She bounced on the tips of her toes as her mind whirred in wonder. “And the Hand of Glory! Is it real or just a replica? There wasn’t a candle attached. And- and- and there was a painting- it looked like the Lady Earth. She talks to me sometimes, you know.” Realizing she had gone off on a tangent, she shut up abruptly, staring at the ground and feeling heat rise in her cheeks. The warlock had likely only asked for one example. Was this some kind of test? Had she failed it?

Hour laughed brightly and started leading Sylvie down towards the closest exhibit, the moonstone. She stopped a few feet back and made sure Sylvie did the same. “Careful not to touch any of the exhibits unless the plaque says otherwise. There’s a lot of malevolent magic on many of the items. Especially the hand of glory- which is real.”

“These are moonstones, you’ll find Mr. Morrow is rather obsessed with them. They’re often used in magic items because of how easily they store and channel magic.” Hour looked down at her questionnaire. “Sylvie, I do need to get this filled out while we browse, so here’s the real first question. Do you trust Thorn? Do you trust her to save you over anything else?”

Sylvie stared in awe. The stones looked so pretty, and she loved things that glowed.

“Do you trust Thorn?” Sylvie found herself nodding, because it was obvious. Thorn was her warlock. “Do you trust her to save you over anything else?” She stopped hesitantly. She knew Thorn was focused on herself above all else, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, was it?

“I’m supposed to be able to save myself,” she mumbled. Instant guilt filled her as soon as the words left her mouth, and she suddenly grew more intensely interested in the moonstones in front of her. It was the honest answer, but it wasn’t the one she was supposed to give.

“A familiar isn’t supposed to distract their warlock,” she said defensively, hoping that would smooth it over.

Hour wrote down the answer, trying to avoid showing any emotional about it. She didn’t want to make a bad situation worse, but she wasn’t going to sit there and let the familiar believe something so inherently wrong. “Sylvie, you are partners, not master and servant. You are supposed to have each other’s backs, defend each other. A familiar is a consultant, not a distraction. Your thoughts are supposed to matter. Your feelings are supposed to matter. Whoever told you otherwise doesn’t know the first thing about familiars.” Hour put a comforting hand on Sylvie’s shoulder.

“Has Thorn ever hurt you on purpose physically?” Hour already knew the answer to this one, she had seen this behavior too many times, but she still had to ask, “What about mentally or emotionally? Has she ever made you feel bad about yourself?”

She flinched at that word. Abuse. Perhaps it did happen from time to time, but Sylvie was sure it didn’t apply to her and Thorn. Thorn had never once raised a hand against her, after all, and sharp words weren’t that bad.

She stared at the painting, heart pounding. She was starting to wish Thorn had never taken this job. She had a feeling the warlock was going to be furious when they spoke later.

She shrugged. “I don’t know much about my bloodline. My father did shapeshift once to lead some humans away from our den. I can make Thorn’s spells stronger than they usually are, and shield her when they backfire. It takes a lot of energy, though- I have to take long naps afterward.”

Hour wrote it down and put the journal back in her bag. “That’s it. That’s all the questions I have for you. I’m going to deactivate the spell now. I can show you around the museum, anything you want to see. I’m sorry if these questions upset you, it’s not my intention.”

Hour looked at the painting. “Some people say that she’s a fae, you know. She protects all the familiars of the world. The painter said they used to be visited by her in their time of greatest need, or when they needed comfort.” The warlock looked at the fox sadly. “I’ve never seen her myself. I don’t know if my familiar has seen her or not, we haven’t completed the ritual yet.” She smiled sadly. “There’s a bit of a tie up right now. Maybe once I find him you can meet him.”

She stared more intently at the painting. She hadn’t heard that. Then again, her parents tried to keep their kits away from the more civilized parts of the world, so maybe it wasn’t such a surprise.

He glanced back at Hour, an amused smile on her face. “Did you lose your familiar already? You really shouldn’t let him out of your sight until the bond is complete. You might get separated forever.” That much she was aware of- the importance of completing the ritual as quickly after the summoning as possible.

“I think- I think I’d rather get back to Thorn now, if that’s okay.”

Hour shook her head and smiled. “That’s not how it works in most cases. Only in tier 1′s is it important because the familiar can get lost back in their animal side quickly. In my case I actually have the opposite problem. My partner is making me go through trials before he consents to complete the bond. Do me a favor and don’t tell Thorn that, though, alright?” The warlock had a plan for Thorn, and that meant not tipping her off to who she was.

“She’s this way.” Hour tilted her head and lead the way back to the warlock. The next questions were for the other warlock. And then she was going to have the real fun- mind games.

“Thorn, come with me. Sylvie, you can look around but don’t touch anything, ok?”

Thorn was agitated. She disliked the other warlock taking charge the way she had, and she was irritated at the fact that this evaluation was happening without warning. She glowered at Jenkins from where he was working- was he behind this? It was rare for a warlock to do the kind of work the curators were requesting outside of the council. Maybe she should demand a higher price than was previously agreed upon in return for all the trouble she was being forced to go through.

When she saw Sylvie and Hour walking toward her, she felt a spurt of jealousy. Sylvie was only supposed to shift for her! No one else got to talk to her familiar that way. She glowered at the pair, and Sylvie ducked her head, avoiding meeting her eyes.

With a huff, Thorn followed Hour reluctantly. “Is this going to take long? I have a job to do.”

She glanced over her shoulder, eyes narrowing when she noticed Jenkins beckoning to Sylvie and the fox eagerly striding over to see what he wanted.

Hourglass shrugged at the impatient questioning, grinning inwardly. She could take an hour to check all the wards in this building and reset all that needed reset if the wards on the major exhibits were still completely in tact. Normally the major exhibits were the ones that had failing wards, though, and that always took a lot longer. She doubted this tier 3 could even set part of the wards on those. She would have to warn Lucifer.

Setting her pace at a stroll, Hour looked around the exhibits in the museum. “This is only one of two magic museums in the country, isn’t it? The council has a lot of troubles here, especially with the curator. He’s a bit of a trouble maker.” Hour paused in front of the portrait of the dragon and warlock with the moonstone circlets.

“Thorn, may I place a truth spell on you? It won’t cause you any pain, just prevent lying. It can get uncomfortable, but it will make these questions go much smoother and faster. I will take it off should it become too uncomfortable.”

“So I’ve heard. He isn’t quite as stiff as the older one, so I’ll take what I can get.” He wasn’t bad looking, either, he was just too ordinary for her tastes. Running a place like this, he was clearly full of himself and didn’t know as much about magic as he thought he did.

Thorn disliked the idea of any spell being placed on her, but the idea of ‘faster’ and the fact that she really had nothing to hide had her rolling her eyes and nodding her head. Besides, if she refused, this girl might accuse her of lying and they’d have to do this all over again. “Fine, if it will get this over with faster.”

Hour thanked the girl and took her arm to start writing the runes in, streaming in just enough power for her to only be a tier 5. “Mister Jenkins is known for being a reclusive grump, but quiet is good.” She pulled out the questions for Thorn and sat on a bench next to a dragon statue.

“If you don’t wish to answer because you know you are going to lie, just shake your head rather than a verbal response. Any questions you do wish to answer must be verbal otherwise.” She filled in a few basic comments before starting on question one. “Do you see Sylvie as your equal or do you believe her to be above or below you?”

Thorn impatiently waited for her to finish talking and frowned at the line of questioning. She did not recall that being a question a few years back and she vaguely wondered if this girl was even the real deal.

“She is above average in comparison to most other animals,” she said. “She does as I asks and understands the tasks set before her, so yes, she is near enough to being my equal.”

Hour shook her head at what Thorn said. “Not in the magical sense. I know her power level and I know your power level already. I’m talking in the social sense. Whether or not you see her as one would see an inferior.” The higher level warlock wrote a small comment to the side.

She watched Thorn closely, the girl couldn’t be more than 20 at most, and she had the temper of a child to match. Hour couldn’t imagine what Sylvie had to deal with. Plus, considering the behavior… Thorn was probably taking the most outdated and archaic views on familiars there were. Next she was going to turn around and find out that Thorn didn’t let Sylvie even talk to anyone else, not even other fixes, without permission to do so. The conclusion and recommendation were already writing themselves, and Hour wasn’t even half done with them yet.

Inferior… Thorn’s expression cleared with understanding. So this was one of those warlocks, was it?

“You’re one of those bleeding hearts, aren’t you? From the Familiar Protection something, or whatever that group calls themselves these days. Half of them aren’t even warlocks, they have no right to be meddling in things they don’t understand. I bet you aren’t even from the council.”

She crossed her arms and glared at Hour. “I’ve got news for you- familiars aren’t our equals. Without us, they would be nothing.”

“So in other words she’s your slave to be used as you see fit without any regards to her well being?” Hour stated blandly. She made a note on the questionnaire, and not a nice one either. Pulling out her credentials once more Hour handed them over to the girl. She also pulled out her warlock registration card, signifying her tier as a 9, complete with the royal blue color.

A wicked look lit up her face as she conjured up an electric blue fire in her palm and casually started tossing it back and forth, just to show off how complicated the spells she could cast without an incantation were. “I assure you I am a member of the council, and I’m not a member of the familiar protection association, even though I agree with many of their beliefs. You see, Thorn, the problem here is you. You hold a view that was popular back during the fire wars, actually one of the reasons many familiar and warlock pairs went to war against one another during that time. You see them as a battery to be used up and thrown away, but they are living things. They could be living happy lives if it weren’t for people like you.”

Hourglass put out the rest of the lights in the room except for the fire in her hand. “You think you’re oh so powerful because you have power over a fox and you can set pathetic protection spells at best. So I’m going to tell you know, while I have your attention. Start treating her with some fucking respect or you will lose her. She isn’t just a tool, and you have to be able to accommodate her or I will intervene with the familiar relations task force, and they will ask for her opinion before they will ever ask for yours, because newsflash, she has them, and in reality you would be nothing without her. You wouldn’t even be able to have a job as a warlock if it weren’t for her, you wouldn’t qualify.”

Thorn glanced down at the card, then at Hour. “You think this is a game, don’t you? All you people are exactly the same, always lording it over the lower tiers. We struggle just to find work, while there is a line waiting to snap up people like you!”

She may not like this woman, but Thorn wasn’t stupid enough to openly defy a member of the council. She lowered her eyes in submission and murmured, “I’ll try to do better.”

~~~

The trip to the caves was uneventful at best- there was some tension between the two dragons, but they weren’t hostile towards each other. Yet. Ash would try to start a conversation, but Lucifer would only reward her efforts with one-word responses until she finally gave up.

They assumed the trip back would be the same. They had reached the mouth of the caves at high noon, when the flames blocking the entrances were at the highest, making it impassable for most. Lucifer, however, was able to walk right through the flames unscathed. While he was immune to the fire, he was not so immune to the toxic fumes trapped inside, so he needed to work quickly- being picky about which opals to harvest was out of the question.

Hour rolled her eyes, “You think this is about your tier? Seriously? You’re a hypocrite, Thorn. You can’t complain about how higher tiers treat you when you treat Sylvie like crap.” The witch took back her card and turned back to return to Sylvie and Jenkins. “The rest of the questions are simple- factual stuff.” Her voice was cold, she was beyond done with the other witch right now.

~~~

Raven had been following Lucifer since he had left with his little vampire and his surrogate sister. The fire caves were a nice trip, for sure. The pheonix had harvest more than his fair share of the opals over the years- then again, he had also placed some of the seeds that grew the opals, not that anyone could actually get back to reach the first seed he had planted. The gas was even too much for him to get back there sometimes.

So he lay in wait outside the caves and followed Lucifer inside once he saw the dragon enter. A grin on his face, he transformed in side tunnel and stepped out to watch Lucifer, breaking a nice looking opal off the wall absently while he waited for the dragon to notice him, a little hum escaping his lips.

Jenkins and Sylvie were deep in discussion, the little familiar’s eyes wide at what he was telling her. They were staring at an ordinary-looking hat, and Sylvie reached out to touch the bright green stones embedded into the rim, reluctantly pulling her hand back at a warning from Jenkins.

~~~

Don’t be greedy. That was what Jinx had told them not once but three times before leaving. Looking around now it wasn’t hard to see why the older dragon had felt the need to stress that. There were glowing crystals everywhere, and the hoarder in him wanted them all.

Lucifer tilted his head, his eye caught by a particularly large opal about the size of his fist, and he reached out to grab it. A noise distracted him, and he turned to see the source, scowling when he noticed he wasn’t alone.

“You again. I really ought to eat you.”

Raven laughed and started pulling at another decent sized opal in the wall. He was a lot more comfortable in here than the dragon was apparently, but he didn’t really care. This cave was the heart of the phoenixes after all, and it was designed to make it uncomfortable for anyone who entered. Even other phoenixes.

“Oh, come on now young dragon. I can’t be so horrible. I am, after all, helping you gather opals. I just want to talk at you while doing so, so don’t interrupt me or I won’t give them to you.” The phoenix stuffed the opals he had already picked into his pocket and began picking at another, trying to find the best grip.

“I’ve heard a lot about these trials with the dragon as well as you as a human from my dear hourglass girl. I won’t go into any detail but I will warn you again. You are going to break her heart, not necessarily on purpose. She’s not going to bridge the gap formed for you. She’s not even going to want to be anywhere near you. It’s going to be up to you to fix it if it’s going to be fixed. It says a lot that she trusts you as she does, don’t blow it.”

A low growl emitted from the back of his throat. He had already been irritated before he got here. The whole trip had been tense what with him pointedly ignoring Ash now that he knew she wasn’t just here for a friendly visit, and Azazel had disappeared sometime in the night without telling either of them where he was going.

There was a part of him that was secretly worried Azazel was going to leave them, because he had chattered excitedly about finally visiting a city populated entirely by vampires. If he and Ash were on speaking terms, she likely would have told Lucifer he was worrying over nothing.

He might have been tempted to take his frustrations out on the phoenix anyway, but then the damn bird mentioned giving him more opals. Lucifer did like gifts, and he only had to eye Raven’s slightly bulging pocket before making up his mind to humor him for the moment.

“I made this last trial easy and she still hasn’t figured it out- I don’t think she will.” Disappointment crept into his tone- he had been hoping this would work out. He had dived into this on impulse without even consulting Jinx about it first and look where it had gotten him.

“Even if she doesn’t put it together, others are beginning to suspect. We’ll have to leave again. If you don’t bother us, then we won’t bother you. We’ll stay away until she’s long gone.”

Raven shook his head and chipped out around a nice sized opal on the wall, using a little bit of fire on his fingers to loosen the grip the stones had. When it popped out of the wall it sent out a brief flare, a good sign. He considered pocketing the newest stone and just dropping the stone off at Hour’s and letting her assume it came with Lucifer’s gifts. It was better than her finding out he was more than just a raven familiar at this point and allowed him to be able to ensure she got a powerful stone. Sage wouldn’t appreciate his true nature getting out to her, not yet. He wasn’t sure why.

Raven tossed the stone to Lucifer instead, watching the stone catch the light of the other gems. “You miss the point. You think you have given her an easy task, but instead you have sent her on a quest to find out what your human form has hidden from her, you have asked her to find out in what ways you have lied. I know you have seen the depth of her problems regarding trust. I know you find it difficult to trust people in very similar ways. In her eyes, you will have played her the fool.” The phoenix chewed his lip. “I know she will never forgive me for not telling her the extent of my… powers. While I have hidden it longer, I only hid a portion of the truth, not all of it as you have.”

“You haven’t asked something easy of her, in fact I believe you have asked her to do the hardest task you have asked yet.” Raven shook his head and turned back to the wall. “I wont ask you to leave, it would do no one any good. I just want you to understand that for a bond to form, if you want a bond to form, you’ll have your own trials to face, little Morningstar. Now, here, have these.” Raven handed Lucifer all but one of the stones he had in his pocket. “You have about ten more minutes before you get sick from the fumes, I suggest you leave the caves soon.” Like that, Raven turned and shifted in an eruption of blue black flames, flying out of the caves on wings of black fire.

He restrained himself from launching into a tirade- he didn’t know this creature, he didn’t have to explain himself to him. He turned back to his task, stubbornly pushing himself to his limits until the fumes made him dizzy and his vision blurred. He stumbled toward the entrance of the cave, guided only by the bright flickering of the flame.

Ash caught him as he nearly fell on the other side. “You idiot, you stayed too long. Are you sick? Can you see me? Where does it hurt?”

“I’m fine!” he snapped, a little harsher than intended. “Let’s find Azazel and get out of here.” He figured that by the time they found the elusive vampire it would be nightfall. Just what was Azazel doing that was taking him so long?

The way back to town was slower than their way to the caves- Lucifer’s sense of direction was off and he felt sick to the stomach. He growled every time Ash had to gently pull him in the right direction when he veered off-path, but he let her, because even he knew he’d get lost otherwise.

“Ash! Lucifer!” there was a blurry form in front of him that sounded like Azazel, but that couldn’t be right- the sun was still up.

Lucifer frowned, trying to process what was happening, but Ash spoke up for him. “Azazel, how are you here? The sun is still up.”

“I noticed. Listen, we have to leave now. I brought our bags, so no need to waste time but we really need to go.”

Lucifer sighed, a sense of foreboding settling on him. “Zaze, what did you do?”

Hourglass pushed the drawer to the filing cabinet closed and stood. She hated paperwork, but it was better than dealing with James or the betting pool going around the office. She had been greeted with stares from the rest of the precinct when she had walked in and had managed to overhear a few spinets of the conversation as well as a few bets being made. They were trying to figure out who the dragon was, good for them. She was willing to pay everyone in there a gold piece if it meant she could figure out who it was quickly.

Hour hadn’t really shared much about the dragon, so the fact that some of the assumptions going around were so outlandish was rather amusing. She actually had to stop herself from laughing when someone assumed that the dragon had to be the baker because the dragon smelled like cookies.

Hour had been avoiding the museum since that first day, seeing the dynamic between the new recruits made her sick to the stomach. The days were rather boring without Lucifer around, and Raven had left already, apparently his partner needed him to run an errand for her. Arthur had been sulking since Scarlet had left a few days after showing up. James, on the other hand, had been laying it on thick, trying to get Hour to give him a chance, despite how pissed with him she was.

She noticed her friend Talia with her familiar Winston over by the coffee press and stood to head over. Just what she needed.

Azazel shuffled his feet sheepishly, then raised one hand for them to see. All Lucifer could see was something red glinting in the sunlight, but Ash could see more clearly and let out an exclamation. “Azazel, is that a sun ring? Where did you get it?”

There were shouts in the distance, and Lucifer could see movement some distance behind Azazel. He closed his eyes in resignation. Jinx was going to be furious if he heard about this- however, if they escaped this unscathed he wouldn’t need to know. “You stole it,” he said flatly. “How many are after you?”

“Too many. Let’s go!” Azazel grabbed Lucifer’s hand and started pulling him into the forest, thinking it would offer them more cover. However, before they got far, a voice rang out.

“Hand over the thief and we’ll let you go in peace!”

Well that wasn’t going to happen. Lucifer pulled Azazel behind him, and by unspoken signal, the vampire climbed onto his back, years of practice at this particular maneuver allowing him to keep from falling even while Lucifer shifted into the largest form he had available. Beside him, Ash was doing the same, and within moments they had lifted off into the air.

They hadn’t gotten very far when there was a beam of light from the ground that slammed into Lucifer’s side. Normally, it wouldn’t have done much more than push him off slightly course, but the effects of the cave fumes had left him too slow to react and he crashed to the ground. Above them, Ash let out a shriek of rage.

“Hey Talia, how’s the partnership with the local police going? They finally coming around to the fact that you know what you’re talking about?” Hour grinned at the only other warlock in this place she actually seemed to like being around. She and Talia had worked together before on cases, since Hour hadn’t had a partner and Winston preferred desk work over field work. Winston tended to only join Talia when she needed to perform a spell, and even then he seemed to appear out of nowhere at the last minute.

“Oh please, they are more full of themselves than Captain Kamaer is. I swear the testosterone in that building is thick enough to choke on. Every time I walk in there I have to cast charms to stop random people from hitting on me. I actually had to cast a creepy crawly charm the other day because some over eager creep decided he just had to grope me.” Talia shook her head, her large curls bouncing around her face. “How about the dragon, huh? You figure out who he is? Winston keeps trying to brainstorm who it might be, so far he has said that one douche bag you’re always complaining about from your apartment, the library assistant, and the old guy that works at the museum. I don’t think it’s any of them though.”

Hour considered her words and perked up at the new topic, wondering what Talia thought. Talia had always had good intuition in the past, maybe she would be helpful now too. “Who do you think it is, Talie?”

“Hmm, let’s see. Who has a hoard of his own that we know of, who’s private and has trust issues, and seems to never be around when the dragon shows up?” The other warlock paused and hummed before she started ticking off on her fingers, “The old guy at the museum, the banker, Johnny from the bar, and frankly the one I think is most likely:” Hour stiffened and nearly dropped her mug of coffee, “The museum owner, Mr. Morrow.”

Lucifer picked himself up off the ground, and Azazel shrank back, using the white dragon’s size as a shield. The angry mob was coming their way, but they seemed to have a warlock among them because Lucifer couldn’t possibly get knocked out of the sky by a vampire.

It didn’t matter though, because Lucifer was furious, as evident by the unexpected spurt of flame that shot out and incinerated at least half a dozen of them. That wasn’t good enough for him, so he took a deep breath, preparing for a larger and far more destructive fire. It should have killed them all, but somehow the flames were stopped by an invisible shield.

Ash landed beside them with a hiss, her body letting out a shudder. Azazel darted underneath one of Lucifer’s wings, covering his ears, and the witch threw up another shield. She had miscalculated, however, because Ash did not bathe them in fire like her brother had. Instead she let out an enraged shriek, the force of it automatically killing the creatures nearest to her and knocking out the rest.

Ash nudged at Lucifer, checking to see if he was alright. He was tired, but at seeing some of the vampires start to he hissed.

“Don’t.” Azazel spoke up, creeping out from under the wing. “You’ll regret it later.”

Ash rumbled in agreement, moving to block his view of the beings that had him so agitated. “It’s time to go, little brother.”

Azazel slid back onto Lucifer’s back, and Ash waited until Lucifer unsteadily lifted off into the air before following.

Hour found herself on the roof that night, her thoughts thundering through her head as she sat there numb. She doesn’t remember much of work after talking to Talia, other than waving it off because “that’s ridiculous, he wouldn’t do this to me.” The witch pulled her cloak tighter around herself as she searched the sky absently, her eyes tracing Ignis. She had absently asked what the dragon’s favorite constellation was, and he had answered. And Talia had been right, he had always been busy or not around when the dragon appeared.

And the hoard, dear god the hoard. It was like the liar had been an extension of the museum. How had she not caught on to that fact sooner? It had been staring her in the face, this whole time, and she hadn’t truly seen it. When it came to Lucifer it was like looking through rose colored goggles, she didn’t think he could do to her what the dragon was doing. She didn’t believe he would drag her around and terrify her and use her like he had.

The dragon knew her too, trusted her. Azazel had said so, when he was delivering the message that kept him away from a food source for a few days. “I will return when I am ready. I will know when you are finished.See that you don’t keep me waiting.” Gods, he had told her that first time they met that he knew her, that day Lucifer had turned her down because of an important meeting. Because he would know when she was done, she told him everything. He had used her to get back part of his precious trove.

She felt something warm on her face and the burn in the back of her throat as it became hard to breath. A sharp ache took over her chest, making each sharp breath feel like a million sharp needles. The choked sob that escaped her throat was loud in her ears, but no one below would have heard her. The feeling of betrayal overwhelmed her.

“This is your plan for me? To teach me he was right? Tell me that trust is a weakness?” Hour grabbed a stone and threw it as hard as she could, not hearing it fall to the ground way bellow. She tore of her necklace, the one with Espérer’s scales, and held it as if to throw it, even taking large steps closer to the edge, preparing to throw it. Her arm fell as large sobs tore out of her throat, her knees giving way under her. She slowly sank down until her forehead touched the ground, the necklace clutched to her aching chest as she cried ugly tears.

Akihiko said trust is a weakness, and love was crippling, had this been what he meant?

The trip home was much quicker than the journey to the caves, mostly because they decided to keep flying through the night so as to get back faster. Azazel had to constantly talk to Lucifer to keep him awake, and Ash continually needed to nudge him when he veered off course.

They had to shift a good distance away from the town and walk the rest of the way, which was tiring on all of them. They arrived in town several hours before dawn. They agreed not to tell Jinx about their trip until morning, unless Lucifer started showing more adverse effects from the fumes of the cave. Lucifer insisted he was fine, just tired, so Azazel went off to find himself something to eat and Ash headed to the hotel she had been staying at.

“Mr. Morrow, you’re home! Won’t you come in for a quick cup of tea?”

It took him a moment to register the fact that someone was talking to him- it was the little old lady who lived on the first floor, the owner of the building. Lucifer shook his head apologetically, the movement sending the room spinning.

“There is a shift in the air. Great change is coming!”

Lucifer ignored her cryptic words; she said odd things all the time, and everyone pretty much pretended it was normal. He stared in dread at the stairs. It seemed like a long way up, tired as he was, but there was a bed waiting for him at the top, and with that pleasant thought in his mind, he slowly begun to climb the stairs.

Hour didn’t realize she had fallen asleep on the roof until she woke up shortly after dawn, shivering cold and eyes burning. A sneeze that sent a rock flying told her that, oh great, she had to have a fever. Just what she needed on top of everything else. Thoughts still whirled around in her murky head and she pulled herself down to her balcony with feet that felt like they were made of stone.

She ignored Arthur rubbing against her leg as she pulled herself inside the apartment, not even making the effort to go to her room she just collapsed onto her couch, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch over her to cover her. Arthur ran off and a moment later came back with a corked vial of green liquid in his teeth, setting it down on the table in front of her. It was one of her cure-all potions that she kept out for moments like this because Arthur could grab them for her. A huge benefit of having a familiar around was that he still had the intelligence of a human and he knew what potions were what.

Hour rubbed Arthur’s head in thanks and took the potion, shriveling her nose at the foul taste as she drank it. She shivered again and waited for the potion to start working, pulling the blanket closer around herself.

Too lost in her thoughts, she didn’t realize she had left Espérer’s scales on the roof.

Jenkins had been waiting for Lucifer when he arrived at the museum. How he already knew they were back was beyond him. He probably would have been at his apartment if they didn’t think it would be odd to be visiting so often outside work hours.

Despite insisting he was fine, he had been dragged to one of the storage rooms where Jenkins proceeded to give him a full checkup. The effects of the poison were nearly gone and nothing Jenkins said could convince Lucifer to go home and sleep the rest of it off.

Lucifer travelled through the tunnels that connected their lairs to the museum, claiming he needed to change out the moonstones. When he returned with a bag full of particularly interesting gems, Jenkins was busy lecturing a group of kids who appeared to have attempted to sneak into the adults section of the museum.

When Jenkins was finished, he returned to find Lucifer at the moonstone display, trying to decide which one to set out. Jenkins sighed in exasperation. “For Helios’ sake, Lucifer, just pick one. No one even notices the difference when you change them anyway.”

By the time Hour was feeling better, she had moved past the sorrow stage and straight into anger. She could work with anger. She had been trained to work with anger. She dressed in a dark blue tunic, one she knew Lucifer had appreciated in the past. She left the laces at the top untied, exposing her throat. She cursed as she realized her necklace wasn’t around her throat and darted up to get it. When she was up there she ran her hand over a scar on one of the rocks, from the dragon’s claws. Her lips pursed, she retied the leather string around her throat, the broken leather not as long as before and now sitting at the collar of her throat.

She turned on her heels and stormed down the stairs, grabbing her stylus, cloak, and the staff from beside the door on her way out. Before she closed the door, she decided to go grab something else. She went back inside and grabbed an old box out of the top of her closet, an ornamental dagger tucked inside that she hadn’t taken out in years. One of the only things from the traffickers that she still had. She slipped the sheath and the dagger onto her belt and left, the door closing with a resounding click.

The museum seemed different in her eyes as she walked through it, the click of her staff on the floor sounding like thunder in her ears. She got a few wary glances, and when a mother caught sight of the staff and the dagger, she saw a few kids being steered away, not that Hour blamed them. She had come dressed for a war, after all, and right now she felt like taking on a few armies. She gave Jenkins a look that promised danger as she spoke. “I need to talk to Mr. Morrow. Privately.”

Thorn had been making a fuss the moment she realized Lucifer was back, demanding to know why her employer had seen fit to leave her at the mercy of the ‘caretaker.’ Lucifer had been a bit startled, because she had seemed sweet and even-tempered at her interview. Sylvie had sat perfectly still a little distance away, safely out of the way of her warlock’s explosive temper.

Lucifer had glanced questioningly at Jenkins, wondering what had happened between the two to make her this upset. Jenkins shook his head, at a loss as to what to say. On the one hand, firing her was in their best interests- it wouldn’t do to be seen as supportive of such a dynamic. But on the other hand, he had grown fond of the little fox and was afraid of what would happen to her if no one was around to help her.

Jenkins was about to grab Lucifer to haul him away on some made-up matter that needed his urgent attention and perhaps spare him from the girl’s abrasive personality for a little longer, but there seemed to be a commotion in the main room, so he turned instead to see what the issue was.

His heart sank when he caught sight of Hour. Her presence her was likely to send Thorn into a rage, and that was the last thing anyone needed. But when Hour demanded to speak with Lucifer alone, he hesitated. Judging by the look on her face, it was easy to guess what this was about.

Glancing at the adjoining room, he could hear Thorn’s voice starting to rise, but he was also picking up on Lucifer’s irritated tones. It seemed that no matter what choice he made here, he would have to leave Lucifer at the mercy of an angry warlock.

Turning back to Hour, he took in her attire and choice of gear. This would not do at all. “I will get him, but I cannot allow you to bring weapons in here. We have not threatened anyone, and you are not on official business that requires weaponry to be involved.”

Hourglass tapped her foot impatiently, rolling her eyes at the ruckus coming from in Lucifer’s office. Couldn’t Thorn at least cast a sound cancelling spell before she went all ape shit? Apparently not. Either way, Hour wasn’t going to wait for the tantrum to end. She made a few jerky movements with her hand and smirked at the immediate peace that came from Thorn finally shutting her gods forsaken mouth.

She then turned back to Jenkins, plastering a pleasant smile on her face. “She and Sylvie have a meeting scheduled with the council of familiar relations tomorrow at noon, I suggest you make sure she goes or I will have to come back here with a full arsenal of weapons to detain her until a hearing can be scheduled. On official business, of course.”

The witch then adjusted her grip on the staff, one hand drifting to lightly touch the sheath of the dagger, not the pommel. More protective of the item than ready to use it. She had brought it to prove a point, as a prop in her story so to say. She just wanted Lucifer to know what he put her through, she wanted to show him how using her like a puppet effected her. And that meant opening up to him about her past in a way she never had before.

She shifted on her feet, her hand a vice like grip on her staff. “Jenkins, I don’t know what has your trousers in a twist recently, I really don’t, but you know better than anyone else that I would never hurt a hair on Lucifer’s head.” She took a deep breath and said her next words carefully, looking Jenkins in the eye, “Either go get him, or come take them by force and go get him. I promise you, if you go for option number two, it won’t turn out well for you.”

“It’s cute that you actually think you stand a chance against me.” The air immediately surrounding the two of them changed, growing more humid. “It only takes a drop of water to drown a being- do you know how much of the human body is just water? I could pull every bit of moisture out of your body by force, or perhaps I’ll simply send it all directly to your lungs; the choices here are endless.”

He glanced at the office. Thorn appeared to have stormed out; likely to return when the silencing spell had worn off. He turned back to the warlock in front of him. “You think Lucifer’s largest form was terrifying? He’s barely an adult by our standards. Compared to me he’s like a kitten. A dragon never stops growing, and I was born in the immediate aftermath of the Fire Wars. Compare that to Lucifer’s meager two centuries, and maybe you’ll get just a slight idea exactly what you’re dealing with.”

He wasn’t exactly giving her a fair picture of her current situation, he knew. Lucifer’s growth rate was far slower than an average healthy dragon, so the picture he was giving her wasn’t truly accurate. Still, he decided being underestimated could only be a good thing.

“I am the closest thing he has to a father, and I will protect him with everything I have. Go then, but be assured that if, when you leave, I find him suffering from anything other than the poison he is currently recovering from, you will not live to see another day.”

Hour felt the shift in the air and perked up. This was interesting, and explained an awful lot about the whole situation around her. She stifled a bitter laugh. She had seen so much posturing from dragons these past couple days that she was getting used to it, and for some reason seeing that they were protecting Lucifer wasn’t shocking in the slightest. Maybe the fact that he was young by their standard was.

She let her outward demeanor change, grabbing the sheath and dagger from her belt she gripped them tight in her hand and acted almost nervous as she looked at the door. “If you want to come in to make sure I’m not going to hurt him, you can, but don’t say anything, and don’t tell him I know anything yet. Okay? If you try, I will put a silencing charm on you, and believe me, I can.”

The witch moved to the door, her feet hesitating every few steps. She was a good actress, when she needed to be. She used the hand with the staff to push open the door and stepped inside.She took a second to trace a small silencing rune on the door, and then purposefully hesitated slightly before she approached Lucifer’s desk and laid the dagger on top of it.

“I, uhm, I heard you were back. The landlady told me when I saw her. I was hoping we could talk?”

He had breathed a sigh of relief when Thorn finally left and promptly started shuffling around on the desk looking for her application form. She had had some good references on there and he hadn’t looked further, but now he wanted to actually talk to said references this time.

He grumbled under his breath as he started searching through drawers and shelves. It appeared Jenkins had reorganized while he was gone and now he couldn’t find anything in here.

There was a faint vibration in the air, the way it tended to do when new runes were being drawn. He frowned- he was quite sure he had dismissed the girl for the day- but then he relaxed when he saw who was walking in the door.

He turned back to his search, turning to the bookshelf this time to pull out books to see if anything had been slipped in between the pages. “You’ve met the new employee, haven’t you? Does she behave like this often? She seemed different at her interview.”

He heard the sound of something metallic being set on his desk and he abandoned his task, curiosity winning out over responsibility. He stared at the dagger and then at her. “I think I can spare a few minutes. What’s on your mind?”

“Yes, I met the lovely Thorn.” She rolled her eyes,” She is rude, pompous, callous, self centered, and abusive to her familiar. If it were up to me, the council should break the bond.” She had written most of this down on her report to both the council and the copy she had given Jenkins.

The witch turned and started pacing the length of the room, her now free hand running through her hair as she did so. She was frustrated, that was for sure. She was frustrated and annoyed and angry and still so hurt by everything. “I need you to just listen, okay? This is going to be hard for me, but I can’t shake this feeling that in all the time I’ve known you I haven’t really told you the truth, and I can’t claim to trust you when you don’t know everything so I owe you at least that.”

She took a deep breath and started fiddling with the necklace at her throat. “When I was 7, my parents were killed in front of me by a bad group of people. They killed everyone that stood in their way, and their leader was- is a power hungry son of a bitch. They’re traffickers, and they kidnap, capture, and sell anything of value they can get their hand’s on: stolen items, magical creatures, and people.” She couldn’t help the shudder as she remembered the screams, remembered the pain and the taste of magical and death constantly entwined in the air.

“They took me. For years they tried to train me to be one of them, the leader tried teaching me the dark magic he wasn’t powerful enough to do on his own. They beat me and tortured me and branded me, because they thought it would break me.

My uncle was one of them. He is responsible for why my parents died and why I was there because he sold them, us, out. That dagger is his. I got it from him when I escaped, I grabbed it when he tried to use it on me. I was 12. Raven found me, helped me, and I changed my name and moved as far away as I could get. And now I’m here.”

He sighed in disappointment. He’d hired her because he thought it would be easier than hunting down a warlock every time they needed a top up on protection runes, but he had also been hoping spending time around the pair would ease Jinx’s mind about this whole ordeal. From what he was hearing and what he had witnessed this morning, it had likely done the exact opposite.

The Thorn problem was forgotten as he watched her start pacing the room, brow furrowed quizzically. She seemed agitated, and he couldn’t imagine why- or even why she had come to him about it. Then she started telling her story, and he grew even more confused, but there was an anger hidden beneath it on her behalf. Were it anyone else, he might have waved it off or pretended not to listen, but he rather thought they were starting to become friends.

He managed to keep his face free of any expression, not really wanting to distract her from whatever had brought her here in the first place. He glanced at the dagger as it made its way into her tale, and then he looked up at her.

“Why are you telling me all this?”

“I’m not done.” She stated smoothly in response, whirling around and taking her necklace off. She set the necklace down next to the dagger. “Do you know what those are?” She didn’t give him a chance to guess before quickly moving on. “They’re dragon scales. He was five. I know because, he hatched a week or so after I arrived, and he died a year before I escaped. The boss forced a false familiar bond on him, drained his magic right out of him. He never even took human form.”

“They put him in my cage with me, because he would only calm down around me. They made me take care of him, watch over him. They punished me when he died because they thought I could have done something.” Tears were falling from her eyes now and her voice had raised to a near shout. Her voice fell to a whisper as she continued, “These are all I have left of him, and I carry them around on my neck all the time as a reminder of what I lost, because I loved that dragon, he was the closest thing I ever got to family in there, and he died on my watch because I could do nothing.”

“I made a promise to myself that night that I would never let Akihiko get his hands on another dragon and that if I ever found another dragon I wouldn’t let anything, anything happen to them on my watch.”

“I want to ask you, two questions, Lucifer. Just two. Did you have fun?” She took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes, “ Did you have fun jerking me around? Making me your puppet? Manipulating me into doing something even Akihiko couldn’t?”

“Was it worth it?”

He stared down at the necklace. He knew exactly what they were, even if they were smaller and a different color from the one he himself had been given so long ago. His gaze grew distant as he briefly remembered the raised hopes it had given him, only to be dashed when he found out it was a dead end.

He blinked, forcing those dark thoughts to the back of his mind and focusing on what she was saying. Dredging up the past never did anyone any good, and nothing proved it more at the moment than listening to Hour.

“I never asked you to do anything you weren’t capable of, and I never asked you to kill anyone. I don’t need help crossing off my enemies.

“It’s about time you finally put it all together; I was afraid I would have to spell it out for you. Although I am not sure what you were expecting; riddles…games…puzzles…it’s what creatures like me do. It’s in our nature, and it isn’t as if you had no choice in the matter. I gave you a way out, and you refused.”

Hour hastily brushed away the tears in her eyes, annoyed that they were there. Annoyed that she was crying over this. She had cried enough last night, hadn’t she? But the bite of the betrayal was still there, the memories from the story still coming up raw. She was wounded, she was hurt, she was breaking at the seams and Lucifer just sat there acting like he wasn’t at fault for this. Like he hadn’t taken her trust, crumpled it up, and thrown it back in her face. She was a fool, and he seemed to want to make sure she knew it.

“Creatures like you, huh?” She snorted, “Are you talking about the cold blooded reptile part or the heartless manipulator part?”

“Good gods, Lucifer, you still don’t get it!” She grabbed the damn scales and the dagger and stormed towards the door, pausing before yanking it open. “ I trusted you! I loved you! And you threw it in my fucking face without considering the consequences!”

She yanked open the door, calling over her shoulder with venom as she stormed out, “Stay away from me, Mr. Morrow! I want nothing to do with you anymore!”

It had been some weeks, and Lucifer had not bothered Hour, as requested. Jinx had suggested maybe she needed some space, and Lucifer had tried his best despite the fact that they were neighbors. No, he did not go out of his way to avoid her- that was going too far- but he had stopped finding excuses to ‘accidentally’ cross paths with her and hopefully that was enough.

Thorn had somehow miraculously passed whatever tests the Council saw fit to give her. Lucifer wasn’t clear on the details. He wanted to dismiss her entirely, but Jinx had somehow developed a soft spot for her familiar, so Lucifer had hired a second warlock instead. They had carefully gone through the extra channels this time, and Lucifer had made it clear that he could dismiss either one of them at any time. That seemed to be all it took to keep Thorn in line- at least out in public anyway.

In his spare time, he threw himself wholeheartedly into studying different plants in order to further develop his plans to add a greenhouse- sometimes pouring over books at the library, and sometimes going to the local herbalist, Brigid, for input.

Still, he found himself missing Hour. It had been refreshing being able to talk to someone outside his circle of close ones, someone who was willing to learn and also help fill the gaps in his knowledge.

It was for this reason he found himself staring at her door when he got home one day, actually considering knocking and thus breaking the seemingly long silence between the two of them. He stepped in front of her door, but changed his mind at the last minute, opting to instead hang a leather pouch with a pair of decently sized fire opals on her door handle, and then retreating to his own apartment.

Hour was miserable. At work, she kept up the charade that she didn’t know who the dragon was, went about seemingly happily. And if someone questioned why they spotted her taking the long way to work to avoid passing the museum they didn’t comment on it. She had even gone on a date with the captain, much to the chimera’s surprise and joy.

She acted like she was happy, but she was going through motions like she had those first few years after she had gotten away. Inside she was hollowed out in pain. Her emotions were a wreck, so she boxed them up and hid them in the back of her mind before leaving for work in the morning, having to fight tears every time she looked across the hall.

She had even gone so far as to ask the land lady if there were any other apartments open in the building for her to use instead. After the questions that brought up, she started looking elsewhere in the city, but couldn’t find anywhere, so she resigned herself to the thought that she would get over this, she would survive. She always survived.

She heard the shuffle outside her door, it was her day off so she was home and could very easily feel the warning from her wards. When she heard the door across the hall click she went to check what had been left. It was those stupid fire opal he had promised her- obviously a peace offering.

She dropped them outside his door still in the pouch and closed her door behind her with a resounding click, glad that the silencing charms she had put in her apartment hid the ugly sobs that came from her throat.

The moment he stepped into his apartment, he found that it wasn’t empty. His sister was inside- packing? Bewildered, he stepped closer to watch what she was doing. “Ash, are you trying to evict me from my own home?”

“This isn’t home! And no, I’m helping you pack. The whole familiar thing didn’t work, right? So it’s time to hit the road again.” She hummed cheerfully to herself.

Frowning, Lucifer reached out and pulled her away. “I don’t need your help.”

She huffed. “Fine! I’m going to see if I can catch one last glimpse of the cute kitty next door.” She stalked out to the shared balcony outside.

“Be careful!” Lucifer called after her. “He’s so small you might accidentally swallow him.” There was no answer, so he was left to his own thoughts. He couldn’t deny that she was right. They couldn’t stay much longer, but he didn’t want to leave. He had put so much effort into the museum and was genuinely excited about all the ideas for new additions. Had all that work been for nothing?

Hour looked up at the sound of Arthur’s angry meows. He only did that when he was feeling protective and there was something to protect from. The cat had been rather protective and cuddly with her for the past few weeks especially, ever since the night she spent on the roof. He knew something was wrong, even if she didn’t tell him what exactly had happened.

He was meowing at the balcony and Hour stood to go see what was going on, shivering at the ward’s alert traveling like a cold wind across her skin. When she saw who it was she opened the door to the balcony and then went to busy herself in the open kitchen, making a pot of tea. She knew she looked like crap from the crying and the fact that she hadn’t gotten dressed out of her sleep clothes yet. She hadn’t changed for anything but work for a while now. Her cheeks were a raw pink with her scars in plain sight, the gnarly mess they were. She didn’t have the energy or will to keep the glamour up, or to pretend like she was okay.

“If you’re here to threaten me to stay away again, don’t. You have your wish. I’m not going to tell anyone, either. If you’re here to hurt me, I just ask that you don’t hurt Arthur, he’s done nothing to deserve it.” Her voice was bland, emotionless as she worked, not even looking up to see the dragon’s reaction.

Ash stepped inside tentatively. She had come to see the cat one last time, and now she had seen him. But despite how she felt about this woman, her conscience wouldn’t let her just leave her like this.

“This moping about is doing you no good.” She stepped inside the kitchen. She was quite familiar with this place, having given it a thorough search once before, and since Hour was already aware of that, there was no need to hide that fact.

“Seriously, all this over a man? He’s a child!” Opening cabinets, she grabbed a few different herbs and spices and added them to the pot. It was a recipe she’d picked up on the road, and it had never failed to give her the energy boost she needed for her travels. Now granted, it was nearly sundown, but a more calming tea seemed to be the last thing this girl needed at the moment.

“Please.” She snorted, shaking her head to dismiss the girls words, “I know you don’t like me, so don’t pretend otherwise, and don’t make his actions seem trivial because he’s just a child in your standards.” The witch stepped back and let the dragon do what she wanted, not really caring about what exactly she was doing to her tea. Maybe the dragon was poisoning it, maybe she was giving her sedatives to make her more pliant. Hour didn’t care.

“Just-” she took a deep breath,”- please. Do whatever it is you came to do, then leave. I’ve already told him, and Azazel, and Jenkins to leave me alone. It’s a simple request so why is it you- the one who doesn’t know me at all- can’t seem to understand that?”

Hour poured the hot water into the pot with shaking hands, letting the herbs steep for a minute while she gathered two cups and the sugar and cream. She motioned for the dragon to make her tea how she liked it while pouring her own cup, no sugar and no cream. She didn’t have the energy to make it the way she normally liked it, all it was for her right now was something warm and wet.

She tilted her head, considering. She might regret this, but then again, the witch had already made it clear she was through with them all, so maybe it wouldn’t hurt anything.

“It is narrow-minded of you to hold us to your ridiculous human standards. We do not dance around in circles- we see what we want and we go after it. Morningstar, for instance, grows tired of moving from place to place. He did get a little carried away, and chose outdated material as guidelines, but he saw a way to get what he wanted and put it into action.”

She leaned over to give the cat a pat on the head and then stood up. “I on the other hand want to get them all out of here as soon as they stop dragging their feet. Speculations are running wild and it is time we moved on.

“Next time you meet a dragon, keep in mind that while they look human they may be perfectly harmless, but once they shift, there is a slight personality shift as well. It might keep you alive a little longer.”

She turned back towards the balcony. She had given her brother enough time to think- it was time to see if it had done any good. Before leaving she turned one last time. “I do wish you luck in finding a familiar. Perhaps try not to aim so high this time?”

Hour stayed silent, listening but at the same time she barely heard a word being spoken. It’s not that her head was full of any other thoughts, or that she was trying to ignore the other. She just didn’t care, and she really wanted left alone. So she let the girl talk and let herself zone out, her face resting at default and her mind blissfully blank. Her tea grew cold in her hands, but she didn’t care.

When Scarlet said she was leaving, she looked up. “Get out,” she said weakly, “Just get out.” She didn’t want this to keep getting brought up with her, she didn’t want to keep being reminded of what she had lost all over again, and she didn’t want the heartbreak to keep hitting her over and over while she was still down. She was tired, she was oh so tired. Maybe, once he left, she would be able to move on. Maybe she would heal from this whole thing. Maybe some day she wouldn’t have a hole in her chest where her heart should be.

Once the girl was out of sight, she moved to put away the unused sugar and cream, the cup going in the sink to get washed. Hour’s tea joined it soon after, only about half of it having been drank.

As night rolled around, Hour found herself sleepless and went up to the roof to look at the stars, Arthur following her and curling up in her lap. It was cold, so she had a cloak drawn a round her, hiding her face and her hair in it’s hood. She had been avoiding the roof recently, but the urge tonight had been to pressing to ignore. Her eyes were locked on one constellation though, and she couldn’t seem to tear her eyes off of it.

He had finished unpacking everything Ash had ‘helpfully’ packed away. He was starting to feel smothered by her and her constant meddling. He had expected her to have left town by now, but this was the longest she had stayed put anywhere in well over a century.

He stared at the journal Brigid had given him, detailing all the different plants she had found did well indoors. He picked it up as well as a sketchbook where he had been drawing countless ideas for the greenhouse. He stepped out on the balcony and hesitated. He wasn’t sure whether it was fresh air he wanted or a long evening flight.

He climbed the stairway to the rooftop and stood at the very edge of the roof, his mind still not made up, but then he heard a sound and whirled around, somehow managing not to lose his balance.

His eyes widened in surprise. “Don’t get up!” Realizing that sounded like an order, he raised one hand in a gesture of peace. “I mean, you don’t need to get up. The roof is more than big enough for the two of use.” As he spoke he stepped away from the ledge, careful not to come any closer to her than he already was. Sitting down tentatively, he opened both the journal and the sketchbook, making an attempt to not look her way.

She didn’t notice when he joined her on the roof, nor the wet trails down her face. She was pathetic, a voice in her head told her, she had cried more in the past few days than she had in the past few years. She shifted her arm to wipe at her cheeks and Arthur made a sound of protest, unhappy that she had taken her hand off his fur.

Then he spoke and it was like the roof crumbled beneath her, she couldn’t have moved even if she wanted to. She had ignored him and actively avoided him for weeks, and her stupidity bringing her to the roof had ruined it and torn open the barely healing wounds.

And unfortunately, he was right. The roof was huge, there was more than enough room for the two of them. So she sat there, silently, her hand shaking as she ran it through Arthur’s fur. Her heart pounded in her ears and she turned away from him, making sure her unglamoured face was hidden from him. She didn’t have the resolve or the concentration to put it up at the moment, but she still didn’t want him to see her looking so raw. Strange, considering she didn’t care if Ash saw them.

The light was dimming, but Lucifer could still see just fine in the dark, and in the present company he no longer had to hide odd abilities he happened to have. The stars were twinkling innocently in the sky, and every so often a cloud would drift across the moon. It should have been a peaceful night, but instead there was tension.

Almost against his will, he found his eyes drifting over to his neighbor and her cat. They looked quite cozy sitting there together. He glanced back at the paper in front of him and found to his consternation that he had somehow sketched out her silhouette. Mumbling under his breath he flipped a few pages, but it was clear his concentration just wasn’t there.

He should say something, anything, he thought. Just how long did a human require to have space from someone they were fighting with? He had always ignored humans’ squabbles so he had no idea. “I may have gotten a little carried away,” he said quietly, staring intently at a description of a creeping vine.

Hour hadn’t stopped shaking. She couldn’t stop. She was barely holding herself together to stop the tears from breaking through again. She kept her eyes trained on the stars, trying to avoid letting them look at the beautiful blues that she could feel on her. She wouldn’t let herself forgive him, not after he had terrified her and used her. She couldn’t.

Keeping herself in check she jumped at the quiet sound of his voice, the hood of her cloak shifting at the sudden movement. She opened and closed her mouth, debating on whether to respond. On one hand, it might give her more closure, on the other hand she was afraid of lowering the walls she had slammed up to protect herself.

Instead she turned enough for him to see the glare in her eyes, her face mostly obscured by the hood of the cloak. She didn’t know if she was daring him to continue or threatening him to shut up and leave her alone. She didn’t know which one she hoped for more.

“I needed time to convince Jinx that we didn’t need to pack up and leave every time someone looked at one of us oddly, and to do that I needed a way to keep him from promptly dragging me and Zaze far away from here. He would have, you know, the instant I told him what happened when you performed your ritual.”

He had long since given up on drawing new blueprints and was instead doodling idly on the paper. “Invoking the ancient trials seemed the best way to do it. If you’d accepted, we would both have been obligated to see it through unless one of us gave up on it. By the time Jinx found out about it, the first trial had already begun and there was nothing he could do about it.”

The drawing had started to take on the shape of a deer. He paused briefly, and then started adding wings to it just because he found the image pleasing. “Ancient draconian is very difficult to decipher. I can speak it just fine, but reading it is an entirely different story. In the end, Helios had only written a single paragraph about dragon trials- apparently he didn’t think it important enough to elaborate.”

He glanced up at last, finally facing her. “You people are so small. It’s easy enough talking to your kind when we look like one of you- you view us as equals then, and we respond in kind. But how on earth does a dragon have a conversation with a human? Can you even hear us? You’re so far on the ground. And you have to be very still, because they spook easily. In all the times we had spoken before, you seemed to genuinely like dragons. I didn’t understand why you were afraid.”

He finally shut both books, brushing the charcoal off his hands. He scooted closer to the edge of the roof. “It was so thrilling, flying in the sunlight, the way we were meant to. I lost myself in it, and in so doing I forgot that there was another person involved in all this.”

Hour let him talk, and somewhere in the time she was listening Arthur decided to get up, leaving her lap vacant and cold. Some part of her wanted to take this as what it was- an explanation, an almost apology, but the other part kept screaming in her head that this was an excuse. An excuse for his actions, his behavior. And a stupid old book by an old dead dragon- she had heard of it of course- as the source of this mess. If she weren’t so tired she would be ticked. She would be throwing something, preferably heavy and painful, at him.

She didn’t move from where she sat, but her eyes closed as a wave of exhaustion hit her. She was tired- oh so tired. Tired of thinking, tired of feeling, tired of being sad and angry and hurt. She was tired of ignoring what was happening around her. And she was physically exhausted. Every time she slept without tonics she had nightmares (Lucifer getting beaten by the traffickers, bound in chains; Lucifer on the ground, white scales bloody as a hunter killed him; Finding Lucifer a paralyzed statue by some sick wizard while she could do nothing). And with the tonics she could hardly call it sleep she woke up so unrested.

“I was terrified of getting it wrong and paying for it. Just because someone loves lions doesn’t make it safe to suddenly wake up in a lion’s cage.” She spoke eventually, not opening her eyes. It wasn’t a concession, she told herself. It wasn’t giving ground to him. She was stating what should have been obvious. But it felt like she was giving in even as she said it, breaking the wall of silence she had been giving him. She was too tired to care at the moment.

“I never asked you to do anything you weren’t capable of.”

Something still wasn’t right, he knew. Later, he’d ask Azazel how humans properly apologized to each other, but at the moment he wasn’t entirely sure what he had to apologize for.

He drummed his fingers absently on the tiles beside him, and his hands somehow found the dip from his disastrous first landing. “I’m sorry about the roof,” he finally offered. “And for almost setting you on fire that one time. And for nearly ripping your arm off at the agency, though I don’t think you ever noticed that. That damn flower does things to me.

“But I won’t apologize for keeping this a secret from you- I never would have told you if it weren’t for all this. We would have left in a few years anyway, so there was no point.”

Hour shook her head bitterly. He apologized for everything except what he had done wrong. And the secret wasn’t what she wanted- no, needed- the apology for either. She could understand the need for secrets. She had seen what had been happening since word of a dragon being in the area got out. There were hunters left and right coming in, and they had been dealing with the ones that were causing problems. The others were just there, a thick presence that was waiting for an opportunity. Eventually they would all leave, she hoped for sooner rather than later.

“If you want to apologize for that kind of stuff, go apologize to Jenkins or Scarlet or Azazel or even yourself. They were the ones you endangered by almost publicly getting yourself marked dangerous. But if you’re going to apologize to me for something, how about figuring out where you actually screwed up.” Hour Pulled at her cloak, gripping it in white knuckled fists. She wanted to get up and go downstairs, but that would mean getting closer to Lucifer to get to the stairs to her balcony.

“Whether you leave in a few days or a few years, you and your flock can leave me alone, as I’ve said earlier.”

He smirked in amusement at the idea that she thought the others were in any danger that they could not easily dodge. “You think I put them in danger? These hunters, they come equipped to take a single dragon down. They do not have what it takes to face all of us at once.”

He felt a flash of irritation and he stood up. “A group of dragons is called a storm, not a flock. We are not birds. Surely even you are aware of the importance of using the correct terminology lest you insult the wrong entity.”

This conversation seemed to be going nowhere and he was losing patience with it. The idea of an evening flight was beginning to sound more and more appealing. “I am not a mind-reader. I cannot fix a problem if I don’t know what it is. Either tell me what it is that you are actually upset about, or continue to wallow in your own self-pity.”

He started unbuttoning his jacket, intending to leave it behind for fear he would lose something in the pockets when he rematerialized it later. All the while he mumbled a few rathor unsavory things under his breath about humans and their ridiculous expectations.

Hour started laughing hysterically. “Wrong entity? Wrong entity? Who are you fooling? You’re a large fire breathing reptile, not a god.” She turned away and looked back at the sky, it wasn’t pissing her off at the moment.

“Wallowing and mourning are completely different, but you wouldn’t know that. Someone wallowing in self pity would be waiting for the asshole to come around. Someone wallowing in self pity wouldn’t cut the piece of shit out of their life. Someone wallowing in self pity would roll over and tell the person where they fucked up so they could get a superficial apology. Last I checked, going on dates and arranging to try and form a bond with someone else isn’t wallowing, it’s moving on. At least James is upfront about what he wants and has human emotions.”

Hour pulled herself to her feet in a burst of adrenaline, stemming from anger. “Figure out where you screwed up, or don’t. You could always leave, Scarlet seemed to like that idea. Maybe your- what? Your mom? Your sister? Maybe she’s right. Maybe it is about time you left, I’m not exactly holding you here.” The witch stormed past him and made a bee line to her balcony stairs.

He dropped the jacket carefully over the top of the journal and drawing pad, rolling his eyes at her rant and tuning most of it out. Angry was good. He could deal with angry people. He did not know how to deal with people who were in the state he’d found her in when she came up here.

Apparently he wasn’t going to have to deal with her anyway, as she started to head for the balcony. He hadn’t been entirely ignoring her, though. However flippant he had been about her comments, he couldn’t deny that these hunters were indeed a problem.

Which was why when he stepped off the edge and shifted, he chose one of his smaller forms- slightly larger than the cat, because there was no way he was going to let the little furball surpass him in size, even if he wasn’t going to stick around long enough for it to matter. What was it Ash was always saying? Smaller moving targets are harder to hit.

In his moment of recklessness he had forgotten how brightly his scales glistened in the moonlight. He had only a split second’s warning- a familiar whoosh of air- before he twisted in midair to avoid the arrow that came flying through the air to embed itself in the siding that separated the two apartments. He tumbled clumsily through the railing and onto the balcony, hissing furiously up at the offending weapon.

Hour was almost all the way down the stairs to her own balcony when the smaller than expected reptile managed to find it’s way under her feet, sending her tumbling to the ground. Her cloak caught on the railing and pulled off her violently, leaving her in just her night gown. She grit her teeth as she turned to look at the house cat sized dragon and scoffed. “Unbelievable. Are you really that desperate for me to stop ignoring you?” She glared at the small reptile and pushed herself to her feet. She yanked the cloak off the railing in time to see an arrow hit the glass of her living room and bounce off. Thank the gods she had put the strength charm on them. She grabbed the arrow off the balcony and looked at the dragon.

“Stay here, pipsqueak.” She ordered after a second of grumbling. She dipped inside the apartment and back out after grabbing her combat staff from the case by her door, the gemstone eyes in the ornamental dragon gleaming with magic buildup.

“Don’t think this changes anything.” She said before taking a running leap over railing of the balcony, the spell to slow her decent already forming on her lips.

He let out an indignant squeak when he was nearly crushed underneath the human and had half a mind to bite her. Could she not watch where she was going? It appeared that if he wanted her attention, this form was the way to go. However, this wasn’t the time nor the place to think about that, so he filed the tidbit of information away for later use. Then she disappeared into her apartment and he was alone. He felt trapped and exposed out here, and he turned to the balcony doors that opened into his own apartment. Annoyingly they were closed and required opposable thumbs to open.

Then she was running past him and jumping off the balcony. Startled, he crept to the edge to stare, unexpected relief filling him when he saw her fall was slower than natural.

But now the oddest feeling was coming over him- guilt. Whoever it was, they were after him. Why was she throwing herself between them? She had already made it clear she wanted nothing to do with him. This was his problem, therefore it was his responsibility to help. Somehow. He crept along the balcony, trying to find a good point to jump off.

Hour landed lightly on her feet and glared at the archer down the street. An arrow whizzed by her head. It probably would have hit her if the archer had any semblance of aim.”That’s one account of poaching, two accounts of threatening an officer of the magic council, one account of public endangerment, and one account of trespassing. Am I forgetting anything?” She called as she approached, the staff clicking on cobblestones.

She was pissed off- both at Lucifer and the poacher- and she was honestly not in the mood to put up with this shit. Two harsh clicks on the ground with the staff and purple fireballs lit up the street between her and the hunter. Another arrow came at her and she side stepped it easily, shaking her head. “Three accounts of threatening an officer of the magical council! Let’s keep trying to shoot me, the punishments only wrack up.”

She funneled some magic from the gems into the runes lining the staff, the first rune swirling up a whirlwind around the poacher, the second bringing the balls of fire around to circle him. “If you hadn’t realized, you are under arrest.”

Lucifer tilted his head slightly- she seemed to have everything under control. Maybe everything would be all right after all. But then he saw movement from between the buildings some distance behind her. It appeared the hunter wasn’t alone. His wings fluffed up anxiously, unsure how to warn her without distracting her from her current quarry. Perhaps he could distract the hunter instead.

Mind made up, he clambered up on top of the rail and waited until the second person was almost directly beneath him before dropped, wings tucked in, into a dive. He landed on his unsuspecting target’s face, digging his claws in, causing the man to scream and drop his weapons while scrabbling at his face.

The man finally managed to get a good grip on the creature attacking him and toss it aside. Lucifer picked himself up off the ground, wings twitching nervously. The man was so tall- Lucifer’s eyes darted in every direction, his every instinct screaming at him to get away from here. Admittedly he hadn’t thought this far ahead.

---

Hour whirled around at the commotion, staring at the small dragon and the other hunter as the hunter threw Lucifer off of him. Two poachers? How much paperwork was she going to have to do at work tomorrow? She would be lucky if she made it to her dinner reservations with James. She cast a binding spell under her breath for the hunter in the whirlwind, and if the cracking in the ground was anything to go by, the vines were doing their work. She would just fix the road in the morning.

That done, she released the whirlwind and approached the other hunter with rage in each step. “You too, you’re under arrest for poaching and trespassing. Are you dumb enough to try and attack me too?” She said as she got close, her staff raised to swing at him like a baseball bat. It was well reinforced with magic, so even if she beat the fear of the gods into him with it it wouldn’t break.

Looking over at the dragon, Hour sighed. “I told you to stay put, but just like everything else you don’t seem to listen or care about what I think.” She was being petty, she knew she was, but she didn’t care. It was his fault they were in this mess currently to begin with. He was just lucky she was still awake.

---

Lucifer hopped up on the edge of a flower pot and hissed, wings fluffed out and spread in an effort to appear bigger than he actually was. The man did not seemed at all intimidated, just a bit confused at being confronted by a creature that was much smaller than expected. Lucifer considered calling for his family- one shrill whistle would have any nearby dragons scrambling to his defense, but before he could do so, Hour had finished up with the first poacher and was now approaching the second.

The man raised his hands in defeat- his weapons had already been dropped, so there wasn’t much he could do. “I do what I have to to take care of a bigger threat.” He glanced down at the dragon, realizing it couldn’t really be described as a bigger anything. “Clearly there is an epidemic here- this appears to be some kind of breeding ground for these monsters. You are all in danger.”

Lucifer’s wings flattened and he shrank back at her beratement, and he let out a soft chirp. He had helped at least a little, hadn’t he? He jumped down and did his best to hide behind the flowerpot. The danger seemed to have passed for the moment, but he was still very visible here on the ground, thanks to his ridiculous coloring.

He glanced up at their apartment building, debating the best way to remove himself from this particular situation. If he went back the way he came, there would be no doubt in anyone’s minds just where he came from, although it was possible they would assume he was there because that’s where she was. On the other hand, everything down here was so much bigger than he remembered and he didn’t like it.

---

Hour rolled her eyes and summoned more vines to bind the man. “In danger? Epidemic? I assure you, the only epidemic we have in this town is prejudiced assholes like you making assumptions based on false information. As for people in danger, I would say it’s only poachers like you and your friend here who are in any danger, and it’s not from pipsqueak over there.” The witch pushed the now vine wrapped man closer to his accomplice and secured the vines together wrapping them around a sign post to keep them in place until morning.

“Now, I hope you two have a nice night, but me and my partner over here were in the middle of a conversation before he decided to storm off like a child and get himself shot at. I’ll be taking him and leaving, I’ll escort you two to the station in the morning.” Hour turned away from them, satisfied that the two poachers weren’t going anywhere for the night, and looked down at the tiny dragon. Shaking her head, she leaned down and picked him up like one would grab a squirming cat- pinning all the flailing limbs to his side before he can escape.

“I am not in the mood to deal with any more poachers tonight, so you are going to stay inside where you don’t glow like a firefly.” She hissed quietly to the small dragon as she stomped up to the building and pushed them both inside and then up the stairs. She didn’t say anything else until she reached the top floor and dumped Lucifer on the ground next to the bag of fire opals. “Goodbye, Mr. Morrow.”

Her door closed behind her with a soft click.

---

He spent most of the night and a good part of the morning seething- he had been hoping to eventually go on his planned flight once the coast was clear, but she had effectively trapped him inside the building. It had taken a while before he managed to muster up the energy needed to shift back, but by then it was nearly dawn, and the town’s early risers were beginning their day.

There had been no point in going to sleep, and so he had decided to get ready for the day as well. It would have been a day like any other, except Azazel had excitedly dragged him off to some ruins outside of town he had found some time ago. He hadn’t thought much of the place at the time, but that was before he had gotten to see it in daylight.

Stepping into the place, Lucifer could see why. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he dated the place as pre-fire wars, possibly well before the different races started turning against each other. The architecture appeared to be of dwarven design, but some of the furniture was of fae-make if the faint hum of wild magic was anything to go by.

The historian in him faded away to be replaced by the dragon in him when he caught sight of the bits of stained glass scattered about the floor. Glancing up at the jagged edges of where the ceiling used to be, he could see that was where the glass had come from. He let his imagination run wild for a bit as he tried to envision what it had looked like before, but he soon gave up in favor of gathering up the more interesting-looking bits of glass and pocketing them.

The sun was starting to sink lower in the sky, so Lucifer suggested they grab a late lunch. Azazel looked hesitant, so Lucifer prompted, “Strawberries, Zaze. You can actually have them fresh for once.”

Azazel’s eyes gleamed with excitement. While regular food gave him no nourishment whatsoever, it didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy a treat now and then. Usually the produce wasn’t as fresh, though, by the time he was able to venture out to get a bite.

Knowing he had already convinced the little vampire, Lucifer had already started making his way to Veilmont’s version of a high-end restaurant. It was just the place that had a bigger variety of food, but no one really cared.

There was a slight altercation at the front desk, as the hostess was unwilling to allow a ‘cursed creature’ in the establishment, but all it took to let them both in was a well-worded threat from Lucifer that hinted at how easily someone with as much money as him could shut this place down for good.

He calmly ignored the stares as they were led to their table, well aware of how much Azazel looked like a younger version of him and what gossip that usually caused when they were together, opting instead to smile indulgently at the excitement the vampire seemed unable to hide.

---

Hour had luckily finished up with the paperwork early- maybe it was because everyone around her seemed to get the hint that she didn’t want bothered. Or maybe it was because Talia helped by processing and making record of them. Either way, she managed to get through the paperwork for the two thugs that had attacked her and Lucifer early in the afternoon, and she managed to escape the confines of the office not long after. James was hot on her heals, his hand resting on the small of her back while he escorted her out of the building. ‘Like a gentleman should’, he liked to say. Sometimes she felt like reminding him that a gentleman should also keep his fingers farther above the waist than he had a habit of doing.

Still, she was glad to have the distraction. It was easy with James- the pretending to be okay thing. It didn’t hurt so much, in fact sometimes she could find some of her smiles weren’t fake at all. He made her smile, made her laugh. Made her feel not so broken. She was all to ready to just take the easy way this time, make herself open up to James despite all the warning bells going off in her head at the risks.

The restaurant that James picked out was one of the more popular places in town. It wasn’t like the cafe that Hour hadn’t been able to make herself go to for the past month or so, it was nicer, more comfortable, stuffy. It wasn’t the kind of place Hour really went to very often. She of course knew of the place, and knew that they had a great selection of food. So when she spotted a few comfort foods from Farous, she jumped at the chance.

The food was just arriving when there was a commotion at the front, and Hour turned to see what was going on, only being stopped by James’s hand on her arm. “Ignore it, Horatia. We’re not on duty.” The chimera laughed and leaned back, satisfied when Hour settled back in her chair.

Only to perk up again when the hostess came back escorting Azazel and- “Oh gods, I do not need this right now.” The witch adjusted her cloak on her shoulders, tilting her head to hide her face as much as she could without it being too obvious.

“Oh, Mister Morrow! What a lovely surprise!” Came James’s sing song cry as he notice Lucifer, and Hour gave an internal sigh and plastered on a fake smile.

---

He’d seen them, of course, the moment the hostess led him and Azazel past the front desk. He was still a little irritated with Hour, and beyond angry at the captain still over the dragon whisper event, but they were in public so he had his mind set on ignoring them.

The captain disrupted those plans immediately by calling out and drawing attention to them, and really, did he not know how to behave in a restaurant?

“Why Kitten, this is a surprise. I had no idea a law enforcement officer could even afford this place. I’d think a nice green pasture would be more to your taste.”

Azazel’s eyes widened and he frantically tugged at Lucifer’s sleeve to pull him away before things could escalate any further. Lucifer smiled pleasantly gave the captain a little wave before allowing himself to be led to their table. The whole point of coming here was for Azazel’s benefit, after all, and Lucifer wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of that.

“We can come for strawberries tomorrow,” Azazel mumbled, twisting the sun ring on his finger so that the stone wasn’t visible.

“And let him win? Don’t be ridiculous,” Lucifer scoffed. “Now tell the lovely waitress what you would like to drink.” He smiled and winked at the waitress who had just arrived at their table, causing a light blush to appear on her face.

---

Hour could taste her date’s fury at the comments from Lucifer and she grabbed his hand tightly, drawing his attention to her. “Ignore him, James, he’s just jealous. You have what he doesn’t for once.” The witch turned back to her meal, picking at the broiled pigeon as she tried not to think about Lucifer and Azazel. Side by side she couldn’t believe he had fooled her- they could have been father and son.

Hour was so wrapped up in her own thoughts, she didn’t notice James flag down a server. The chimera was grinning with delight as he motioned the waitress over. “Can I get a Dragon cake for the boy over there? A gift.” The Hybrid knew that Lucifer and Hourglass were arguing about something, and he didn’t have to think to figure out what it could be. Ever since she had given up on finding the dragon, Lucifer hadn’t been around. It was an easy conclusion to come to- the curator had finally broken her resolve in finding the ever elusive beast, and she was angry at him for it. The dragon cake was just a fitting reminder of what had sent Hour spinning into his arms in the first place.

As the waitress passed with the chocolate cake, James sent a smirk over to the museum owner, a dare in his eyes. “Excuse me, I have a Dragon cake here for your son, courtesy of the gentleman in the booth over there.” The woman’s charming words floated back to the table and had Hour’s head snapping up, her face gone pale as she looked over at her date.

“James, what part of ignore them didn’t you understand!?”

---

Azazel had opted for a simple glass of water. Lucifer, having more expensive tastes, went for the specialty raspberry champagne cocktail.

“Sooo…” Azazel spoke up while they waited for their drinks, desperate to talk about anything that would distract Lucifer from causing trouble. “Heard there was an altercation at your apartment building. Why am I hearing it from the gossip mill and not from you?”

“I was going to tell you later. It only happened last night,” Lucifer mumbled sullenly.

Azazel’s response was interrupted by the waitress arriving with a dish they certainly hadn’t ordered. At her explanation, Lucifer’s brow furrowed. “My son- oh!” He let out a long sigh, kicking Azazel under the table to keep him from interrupting. He lowered his voice. “I’m afraid chocolate makes him sick. Do you think there’s a patron here who would appreciate a complementary dessert?”

“Oh! I’m sorry!” the waitress looked quite horrified at the mistake, and Lucifer briefly felt sorry for her getting dragged into the middle of this. But he wasn’t sorry enough to put the finishing touches on the game the chimera had begun.

“I do feel awful for refusing a well meaning gift.” He beckoned her closer and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Do you think you can put their meal on my tab? But don’t tell them it’s from me. I’d prefer to remain anonymous.”

Her eyes widened at the request and she nodded. “And what would you like to eat?”

Azazel immediately piped up with his request for a bowl of strawberries, and Lucifer glanced at the menu and ordered the lightest plate they had, without the meat, of course. Humans truly did deplorable things to their meat and he wanted nothing to do with it.

She took their orders and subtly took the cake away, and Lucifer watched as she set it at the table of an older gentleman sitting alone in a corner.

---

Hour made it through her meal quietly after the little show of power from James, sitting back and letting him feel oh so powerful. If someone asked her, she couldn’t really honestly tell them that she liked him. She wanted to like him. That’s why she had suggested that they form a familiar bond. She wanted to like him, wanted to be happy with him, but she wasn’t. If anything, this dinner only helped point out just how unhappy she was with him. Yes he was helping, but she was just as broken with the tape covering the cracks as she was with them bared for everyone to see.

She jerked her cloak around herself as she stepped out onto the cobblestone path, waiting for James to settle their check with the waitress. She didn’t notice when James came out fuming himself, she just got right up in his face, jabbing a finger into his chest. “You cannot act like that! I don’t care how much you hate him or how jealous you are that he had my attention for three years! Newsflash, James, it’s over between me and him, okay? He broke my heart, and I’m not giving him the chance to break it again. So you need to drop it, because you’re only hurting me by bringing him up.” The witch hastily wiped at her eyes and whirled around, storming away.

“Tien!” James called, but Hour kept walking, “Horatia!” A strong arm grabbed Hour’s arm and stopped her in her tracks. “Horatia, stop. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that, it was petty and shallow and you must think very poorly of me for it. I’m sorry.” The chimera massaged the inside of her wrist softly, tugging gently on her arm to pull her into his arms. “Forgive me?” He asked, tilting her head up with one finger under her chin. At her nod he swooped down and gave her a light kiss. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

---

Lucifer waited until Hour had gone outside, watching Khamaer intently, smirking when the good captain attempted to pay for their meal, nodding his head in his direction as he passed their table.

Azazel kicked him under the table, and Lucifer reluctantly tore his eyes away, shrugging sheepishly when the vampire glared at him. “How many times must I apologize? Basing my human form on you was a mistake, but there is nothing that can be done about it now.”

“That’s not what I-” Azazel shook his head. “Moving on. There are wild rumors going around town about your little stand-off last night.”

“It wasn’t a stand-off!” Lucifer protested. “More like a slight disagreement. There was barely even any action.”

Azazel raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “That doesn’t stop the rumors. You need to talk to Jinx and Ash about it before they hear it from someone else.”

“Tomorrow, I promise.” Azazel looked doubtful at that, but he knew it was the best he was going to get, so instead of arguing more, he stood up to go. Once outside, Lucifer’s attention was caught by the altercation between the couple in the distance, eyes narrowing. Grumbling about temperamental dragons, Azazel forcibly pulled him away in the other direction, thinking they could take the ‘scenic’ route home and give Hour time to get settled in before Lucifer got home. “I think you’ve gotten in enough trouble for one night.”

---

Hour didn’t invite James up, instead bidding him farewell in what once was the foyer of the grand mansion. The witch tucked her hair behind one pointed ear with a tired exhale and started the long climb of the stairs. The doors to her apartment closed behind her with a soft click and she leaned against it with a soft sigh, not noticing her silent intruder watching her with eyes that glowed faintly in the pale light of the setting sun.

“Oh, little one, how the world has hurt you.” Hour jumped up at the soft voice but didn’t move to do anything else, not feeling overly threatened for some reason. In fact, she felt rather relaxed. She sought out the source of the voice only to find a vaguely familiar man- ethereal, majestic, otherworldly. He reminded her of something she had seen in Lucifer’s museums, in the statues and paintings.

“Do I know you?” She asked softly, almost afraid to reach out or move suddenly. “How did you get in here? My wards…”

“Aren’t meant to keep the likes of me out.” The stranger turned to look at the witch with soft violet eyes, “Your mother told you that your hair came from an angels kiss, I remember.” He made a gesture with his hand and a flower appeared there- a little pink wildflower that used to blanket the ground in Farous during the spring.

“Who are you?” Hour asked more frantically, common sense starting to set in and fear starting to creep into her voice. This man was a fae, she could tell. He reminded her of the girl in the bunker.

“I am a friend.” The fae tucked the flower behind Hour’s ear and cupped her cheek gently. “Little Fire heart, you are in so much pain, but you must find balance between forgiveness and anger. My child, The spell finds the perfect match, not the easiest bet.” The fae placed a gentle kiss to Hour’s forehead and just like that he was gone, a smell of fresh herbs floating on the breeze.

In the morning Hour chalked the whole experience up to some weird dream, and the little pink flower sitting on her coffee table was just a coincidence.

---

There were rumors flying everywhere. Most of them agreed that Warlock Tien and her familiar had fought their first battle together in the dead of the night, but from there the stories varied. A few claimed they were hopelessly outmatched against an army of necromancers but miraculously prevailed, and some said the dragon was gravely injured and would have perished if not for the timely intervention of the warlock.

Ash managed to connect the rumors to the two hunters who were arrested earlier, but she and Jinx were quickly growing concerned: where was Lucifer? He had been gone all day. Normally this wasn’t an issue, but the timing was suspicious.

A search of the younger dragon’s usual haunts turned up nothing, and Jinx was steadily growing more and more frustrated. He was ready to tear the entire town apart, but there was something productive he could do in the meantime. Just who did these hunters think they were, daring to attack a dragon? An example needed to be made.

Dragon sightings were rare enough that most places weren’t warded against them, and at the moment, the Agency was no different. It was no trouble to slip inside the holding cells in the dead of the night in the form small enough to evade most security measures.

The first one was fast asleep on his cot. Jinx wanted so badly to wake him up so he could see his doom, but he couldn’t risk alarming the guards. Human lungs were made up of about eighty percent water, and Jinx proceeded to freeze all of it and use the icy shards to tear him apart from the inside.

He moved on to the next cell, but the other hunter was already dead, a miniature red dragon preening her wings in the middle of the room. She stared at Jinx smugly. “Did you really think you could have all the fun without me?”

Jinx chose not to dignify that with an answer, instead leaping for the cell window and flying off into the night.

---

Hour arrived to work to find a stack of paperwork on her desk and a note saying to go down to the holding cells. Knowing immediately that something had happened, something bad, she bid goodbye to her plans for the day, perhaps the week if she couldn’t figure out what had happened right off the bat.

In the cells, Hour was greeted by Talia first, the tier 4 warlock was manning the door with her familiar, keeping out anyone who wasn’t supposed to be down here until the investigation was over. “It’s… different. Boss can’t figure out what did it. Just go in, maybe you’ll have a better idea.”

Hour nodded and grabbed her gloves from her cloak pocket before hanging it up and taking a step into the room. She could tell they were waiting for her before they started laying too many spells, but even then the room was saturated with magical energy, and as she approached the cells with the two bodies, two rather non human energies. One was particularly old, and it gave Hour a sense of dread as she probed it.

“This one, how did he die?” She asked softly, looking at where James was sniffing around the room in his chimera form. Water manipulation. The answer was supplied mentally, and Hour took a deep breath. “The other?” Air.

“So we’re dealing with Elementals of some kind, I’m not sure what, but it’s not a warlock. The water Elemental- it’s old, very old. The Air Elemental is younger, but it’s still experienced. I don’t know if I can track them, but I’ll try.” Hour turned to leave the scene, one hand over her mouth. She already had an idea of who it could have been, Lucifer had stressed so many times that dragons weren’t all fire elementals after all.

---

Opening hours had come and gone, but Jenkins refused to open the museum despite the occasional cluster of upset patrons gathered outside from time to time.

“He’s fine,” Ash said. “We’d know if he wasn’t, wouldn’t we? Three or more makes a storm, so we’d be able to sense it, right?”

Jenkins shook his head. “We’d need one of each element to sense each other, and we are missing earth.” But he was supposed to be setting an example, so he sighed heavily. “But you’re right. He’s probably off travelling- without telling anyone his plans, as usual.” At this point, he wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince, Ash or himself.

At that moment there was yet another knock at the door and he scowled. Striding over to the door, he yanked it open. “Can you not read? We’re closed today!”

---

Hour didn’t like going anywhere without a staff of some sort, but she figured going to the museum she would probably be better off going unarmed just this once. She didn’t even have a dagger on her.

Her heels clicked on the stone steps as she climbed the stairs to the museum and she rapped the door impatiently, not caring for the patrons who saw the sign and gave her a funny look. She certainly saw it herself, she just didn’t care.

“Mister Jenkins! We need to talk!” She said cheerfully, pushing the door open further with a little gust of magic. She held her arms out wide to show herself as unarmed as she stepped inside and let the door close behind her.

“Hello Scarlet, glad to see you here as well, saves me a trip.” Hour took a deep breath and lowered her arms. “Did you know the precinct had a break in last night? Two elementals. A water elemental, an ancient one at that, it’s power was rather frightening, and a wind elemental. They came in and killed the two poachers that attacked a mutual… acquaintance of ours. I was hoping you could inform him for me?”

---

Jenkins took a step back, somewhat startled at the unexpected cheerfulness after all the doom and gloom he had spent the past couple days imagining.

Ash’s eyes narrowed, a nasty retort on the tip of her tongue, and Jenkins opened his mouth to say something, anything, to cut her off before she dug them into an even deeper hole.

Before either of them could say anything, the door with flung open again and both older dragons’ demeanor brightened visibly at the the familiar scent that drifted in along with it.

“Jiiiiiiiiinx, why are we still closed? It’s nearly noon!”

And just like that, Jenkins’ mood shifted, anger being mixed in with the relief. He stalked over to Lucifer, those few steps looking menacing enough that the younger dragon backed away in concern, trying to figure out what he had done wrong.

“Where have you been? People were saying you were hurt, a couple said you were dead, and you weren’t anywhere to be found at all yesterday.”

Lucifer’s expression cleared in sudden understanding. “You know better than to listen to random human chatter.” At Jenkins’ thunderous expression, he quickly looked down. “Zaze and I found some ruins several miles outside of town. Jinx, this place is ancient! It predates the Fire Wars, and it used to have a beautifulstained glass ceiling, I want to try to recreate it for the greenhouse-” Behind him, Azazel cleared his throat, cutting Lucifer off before he bored them all with yet another convoluted history lecture. “And then we had dinner and went home. I was going to tell you about it today, I promise.”

Before Jenkins could snap back, Ash spoke up. “Can we have this family conversation when there isn’t an outsider present? This really isn’t any of her business.” She glared at Hour as she spoke.

Lucifer peered around Jenkins, only just noticing the museum’s only visitor. The excitement of yesterday’s activities faded from his eyes, to be replaced with a more formal demeanor that he saved specifically for he needed to be professional. “Ms. Tien! And to what do we owe the pleasure of this visit? We haven’t broken any regulations since the last inspection.”

---

Hour crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from Lucifer, not saying anything as he went on and on about how great his day was. It wasn’t like she could expect him to have his life on pause.

A sour look crossed her face and she cursed at Scarlet for bringing up her presence. She wanted to be ignored as long as possible, maybe that way she could have disappeared- if she were a tier 10 she could have tried a dematerializing spell. Sure they only worked for short distances, but it would have taken her outside the museum doors unnoticed, and then she could avoid Lucifer like the plague some more. Yes that sounded like a solid plan. Maybe she could try and get reclassified once she partnered with James- the bond with him might give her enough magical energy to bump to a tier 10. Maybe.

“You’re right, Scarlet, this is none of my business. In fact my business here is complete. Please pass on my message, I would really appreciate it. I’m sure he would be glad to hear the news about his gracious saviors.” She barely kept the bitterness out of her voice, but that didn’t mean she sounded happy. The witch was done with this whole situation- done with the dragons and the vampire and all the stupid secrecy. “Have a nice day.”

She gave Scarlet and Jenkins a nod and brief forced smile before spinning on her heal and making a bee line for the door. She didn’t want to be here anymore, and she didn’t want to play nice with Lucifer if she didn’t have to. If that meant ignoring him all together in his own museum and pretending he hadn’t entered or even spoken to her? So be it. She didn’t care.

---

Jenkins whirled around, eyes flashing angrily, and within moments the door and the windows were covered in a thick layer of ice. “First of all, we are not your courier service. Deliver your own messages, if you even have the backbone to do so. Second, if you are going to pretend to be an advocate for dragons, the least you can do is show a little respect.”

“Jinx, I don’t think-”

Lucifer abruptly stopped speaking when Jenkins rounded on him. “You have made a mess of things here, and you are steadily making it worse. This town is infested with hunters and until they’re gone, I expect you to check in with me at least once a day. Do not make me try to track you down again.”

“That- that was partially my fault,” Azazel spoke up, shuffling from one foot to the other nervously. “I didn’t think we’d be there so long-”

“You are older!” Jenkins snapped. “It’s time you acted like it. Stop dragging the other two into trouble. As for you-” he turned to Ash. “You are to stay out of this whole affair and let Morningstar handle his own problems like the adult he is supposed to be. Now both of you get out of here. Take the private entrance.” He shoved Azazel and Ash toward the door that led to the storage rooms and, coincidentally, the secret exits.

Jenkins turned back to Hour and Lucifer, glaring at each of them in turn. “You two are going to stay here and sort yourselves out, and I’m not letting you leave until either you-” he jammed a finger into Lucifer’s chest, giving him a slight shove backwards- “have managed to fix this mess, or you-” he glowered at Hour- “have convinced him that leaving Veilmont would be in his best interests. I don’t care what happens, as long as something changes around here. I suggest you hurry, it will get a bit chilly in here before long.”

With that, he stormed off after Ash and Azazel, taking care to seal that entrance behind him as well.

---

Hour could feel the color drain from her face at the surge of magic in the room, leaving her shaking from both the bite of frost in the air and the left over crackle of the ancient magic. At least she knew which dragon was which now. She cast frightened eyes at him and stumbled back from the door, knowing immediately that if she tried to touch the ice it would be cold enough to burn her. Instead, she pushed herself up against a wall and warily watched him on his tirade.

Hour watched Scarlet, Azazel, and finally Jenkins leave and swallowed heavily. She didn’t want to be trapped in here, let alone with Lucifer, and she certainly didn’t need to be forced to talk to him.

The witch pulled her cloak tightly around herself, the thin material doing very little to help against the chill radiating out from the door. She pushed herself off from the wall wordlessly and headed further into the museum, away from any of the obvious signs of ice and away from the source of all her recent problems.

It took about twenty minutes of her walking around and dodging Lucifer for her to realize she was getting nowhere fast, and her breath had started to fog in front of her.

She settled herself down on the couch in Lucifer’s office eventually, her cloak and arms wrapped around her to try and preserve warmth as much as possible.

---

He stared in dismay at Jenkins as he left. It was ridiculous, because it was usually enough to spend time with the fraction of his hoard that was available here, but now that access to his lair was cut off, he had a sudden intense desire to go take a nap surrounded by the main hoard.

He attempted to ask Hour why she had come here in the first place, but she kept avoiding him, so he decided to let it go- for now. Obviously they were going to have to speak to each other at some point, but it didn’t necessarily have to be right away.

So he went into the child-friendly section and started to rearrange all of the exhibits in alphabetical order. Jenkins wouldn’t be happy about it, but if he was going to lock Lucifer in here without any forewarning then he had it coming.

Once that was done, he decided to see what his companion was up to. He stepped inside his office and surveyed her for a moment. “You’re being a bit childish, you know,” he informed her. “I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising, given the company you keep these days, but you’re better than this.”

---

Hour snorted at the irony in the statement. Her, childish. “You have no right to criticize my behavior. I told you to stay away from me, I’ve just been trying to live up to my end of the coin while still doing my job. Why do you think I’m even here? I’m certainly not here for you.” the witch spat, her crimson glare shooting daggers at the dragon. her hands formed fists in her cloak.

Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down, her head hanging between her shoulders. “Jenkins and Scarlet killed the two poachers who were in booking in the magic council last night. The poachers were unarmed and sleeping in their respective cells, awaiting lawful punishment. They were arguably helpless and hadn’t provoked an attack. That’s why I was here. I was trying to warn them that if the council found out it was them, then they would be labeled as dangerous. I’m sure you know what happens when a dragon is labeled as dangerous and it’s whereabouts are known to hunters. They were unbelievably foolish.”

Hour didn’t look up to see Lucifer’s reaction. If a magical creature was labeled as dangerous by the council, they lost the council’s protections, leaving them free game for hunters, and council members weren’t allowed to do anything. It was like a cop telling a bounty hunter not to arrest a wanted felon.

“Scarlet and Jenkins seem eager to leave, and frankly it’s far too dangerous for any of you to be here anymore. The poachers are everywhere, and now the council is going to be looking for the elementals that killed the two in the precinct. I can only distract them for so long before they get someone else to take a look.” Hour took a deep gasping breath and closed her eyes tightly, tapping her foot nervously. “I think you should leave Veilmont.”

---

He knew Ash had been concerned about the hunters in town, and they were making even Lucifer nervous, but he had always seen Jinx as an unshakeable force. It didn’t seem like him to act without thinking. If Lucifer had been there with them, he could have cleansed the area of their magical signatures. Then again, if he’d been here, maybe they wouldn’t have felt the need to do something so reckless.

He shook his head- it was useless thinking of all the what-ifs. What was done was done, and all he could do was focus on now. “They were eliminating a threat. You overestimate the usefulness of the council’s protection. How does one benefit from the protection of a government that is unaware of one’s existence? And hunters do not fall under the council’s protection unless they are in custody.”

He stepped past her to open Jinx’s private icebox, pulling out a jug of apple cider. He poured some into a large glass mug and wrapped his hands around the mug, letting some heat emit from his hands to slowly warm it up.

“Thing is, hunters aren’t the only ones to hear about a dragon apparently settling down here. We are social creatures, even if current circumstances force us to wander around alone.”

Deeming the cider warm enough, he pushed the mug into her hands. Moments later he was shrugging out of his coat and draping it around her shoulders. Because of where it originated from, the cold would eventually get to even him, but he was sure he could withstand it longer than she could.

“Do you think we like moving from one place to the next? Some like to travel, but no one likes being driven out. Things need to change, and it’s high time we all stopped waiting for someone else to make that move.”

He hesitated, eyes dropping while he considered how to put his next thoughts into words. “I don’t know what I did wrong, and I’m tired of asking. I realize now that manipulating you into doing things that technically only benefited me is no way to begin any kind of relationship, and maybe I should have come clean when you first cust the summoning spell.

“But I know you. You want to make a difference just as much as I do. Just because the trials didn’t pan out the way either of us wanted, doesn’t mean we can’t at least be-” well, not friends, it was too late for that, but maybe- “allies.”

---

“The council protects against poachers Lucifer, poachers. Hunters are legally allowed to do what they do, and they are highly trained to handle it.” Hour was shaking her head as she said this. “I know the council isn’t infaliable, it’s why laws are very lose around what qualifies as provocation- so magical creatures can defend themselves- but what Scarlet and Jenkins did? Lucifer if the council finds out what Jenkins and Scarlet did… it doesn’t matter if you want to stay, this place will be flooded with poachers and hunters alike, you’re going to be given no choice but to leave. It would be suicide to stay.”

The witch sipped at the warm cider and groaned in appreciation. She herself couldn’t perform any spells that created heat- yes she could create fire, but it was a heatless fire without any fuel to transform into heat. All it was was light.

She accepted the coat gratefully and adjusted it on her shoulders to trap as much heat as she could. It was warm from his naturally elevated body heat and she nestled into it with welcome relief.

“You don’t know what you did wrong- and yet you can carelessly admit it like it’s nothing. You manipulated me. You made me do things I would never have done of my own free will normally- even if they weren’t your intentions you should still feel sorry for putting me in that position to begin with. I killed someone Lucifer, don’t you get that? I spent 6 years being tortured by a maniac trying to manipulate me into killing for him, and you got me to do it for you in under a week.” Hour sniffled a little bit and looked up to meet him with a bitter smile and laugh. “And you’re not the least bit sorry about that. I’m sorry, Lucifer, but I can’t. I can’t work with someone like that.”

---

“They came here equipped to kill one undersized young dragon,” he said quietly. “I expect they could even succeed, if it was just me. But all three of us? The last thing the council would want is to turn this into a battleground.” But he was done arguing this particular matter. That was a problem for Jinx to take care of since he was the one who started it.

“I am not going to apologize for something I didn’t actually do!” he snapped. “I told you to retrieve the circlet. I never told you to kill anyone.” Calm, calm, he needed to calm down before he did something he regretted. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, willing himself to calm the fire that was threatening to burst out in response to his rising temper.

When he opened his eyes again, they had taken on a serpentine shape that was slowly turning back to human, but he had managed to bring the inner flames down to a simple heat that radiated outward from him. “It was just a warlock and his kid. I felt pity for them, which I already know was stupid on my part so don’t even say it. I let them into my lair, but they took more than they were supposed to. It was only supposed to be them, and it was a mistake not to investigate the matter before sending you into it. But what you did was self-defense, and if you weren’t so wrapped up in the fact that you killed them, you’d realize that. Are you truly telling me that you wouldn’t kill someone who was trying to end your life?”

“I…do regret stirring up old memories that you’d rather forget.”

The last was said quietly, barely above a whisper, and he turned to go. He’d just admitted to a moment of weakness, which was never a good idea. He could handle her anger, but he did not like the idea of being seen as anything less than the cold merciless beast that everyone perceived his kind to be. It was high time he figured out which entrance would cause the least structural damage to melt down. Perhaps Jinx was asking a bit much of them.

---

She bit the inside of her cheek and swallowed a sob, “You didn’t actually do, huh? You didn’t put me in a position that ended up requiring me to end someone’s life? are you really going to claim that? Because actual events claim otherwise. It may not have been your intentions, but that doesn’t change the fact that it happened. Are you really so arrogant you can’t admit you screwed up and now I’m suffering for it? I’m having nightmares about killing him. I see his face in my dreams.” She rocked back and forth in her seat, eyes squeezed shut as she sucked in desperate breaths. “Why are you so heartless that you can’t admit that you are at least partially at fault for that?”

Hour didn’t respond to his apology. It was minimal at best in the list of his other grievances. He still hadn’t apologized for misleading her or manipulating her, and he was nowhere near off the hook for the necromancer. “I don’t want to forget. I want to move on. It’s hard to move on when the past repeats itself.” She thought back to her uncle and had to visibly shake herself out of that train of thought. It never lead anywhere good, and right now she didn’t have the time or the energy to put up with the mental breakdown it guaranteed.

She looked at him when he turned to leave and stood to follow, setting the mug of cider on the table in front of her. “Where are you going?” She asked quietly, vulnerably. There was no heat in her voice, just curiosity and maybe a well hidden quiver of fear. If he needed to think, then fine, she had no problem with that as long as he came back before she died of hypothermia (probably not, but it was getting pretty cold), but if he was going to try and find a way out she wanted to leave the museum as well.

---

“Well since you’d rather curl up and feel sorry for yourself instead of making yourself useful, it falls to the heartless one to get us out of here. You’re welcome.”

He swept out of the office and down the hallway that led to the main room and glanced at all the ice, considering where the best place was to start. The windows were out, since cold and heat didn’t mix well with glass. The double doors were also out, since they were custom-made and required Jinx’s delicate touch to undo without causing major damage. Which left the back door.

He scowled. They were technically supposed to provide an accurate record of the building’s layout, and they had conveniently left out a few things in case they needed to make a quick exit that no one knew about, as well as hide the less legal objects they acquired. The last thing he wanted was to let a council member see it, even if it was just Hour.

Grumbling under his breath, he stood in front of the door, laying both hands flat against it and beginning to generate more heat to melt the ice away.

---

Hour shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe I ever thought you could have been human.” She shrugged out of his jacket and left it on his couch before following. She didn’t need his charity, even if it meant she was freezing cold. God, why did it have to be this cold? Couldn’t he just transform and terrify them into a corner and make them talk if that’s what he wanted? Or pick them up and cart them off to some inescapable island for a day or 2? She was freezing!

The witch didn’t have to much difficulty following Lucifer, it was just a matter of following the foot steps in the thin layer of frost that had taken hold on the floor, making it semi slick in some places.

Hour followed Lucifer to a door she hadn’t seen before- she hadn’t really bothered to look at the layout of the building in great detail so it didn’t really surprise her if she had missed it. She didn’t say anything as he set to work, letting him have his space and his time. Instead she slumped down against the wall, her knees drawn to her chest and her cloak and arms wrapped around both to try and keep warm. She didn’t feel like talking at the moment, and it wasn’t like she could lend a helping hand without burning the door itself to a crisp, so instead she just sat there in silence, thinking. What would her parents think. What was gonna happen if this didn’t work. What was she going to do if they really were trapped.

She wasn’t a fan of her internal answer to that last one, and she already hated the conversations she was rehearsing in her head. None of them really ended well for her.

---

It didn’t take long before he was invaded by her presence again. Just what did she hope to accomplish by sitting there?

He didn’t know how long he stood there, all he knew was that he was starting to get tired, and he was also getting cranky from the water that was running down his arm and soaking his sleeves. He caught himself almost nodding off, and he shook his head to wake himself up. He needed to do something, anything, to keep himself awake. So he started talking, saying the first thing that came to his mind.

“You’re incredibly dense, you know. I started laying the groundwork from the moment the first trial began. It should go smoothly, I thought, just sprinkle some clues here and there, and you would put it together in no time.

“Your precious captain suspected something before you did. Taunted me with that damn flower of yours and I nearly shifted right inside that miserable excuse your precinct calls a bathroom. I didn’t, because unlike him I think with my head and not a very different organ, but trust me, if I had, my first order of business would have been to squish him like the insect he is.”

There was a slight crack, and he eased up slightly on the force of heat he was generating lest the door broke under all the pressure.

“My point is that you’re ruled by emotions, and that is your downfall. Emotions are a weakness, and weakness gets you killed. What is the point of a law enforcement officer who can’t even see what’s right in front of her?”

The ice started to fall away, and minutes later he was finally able to grab the knob and pull the door open… only to come face to face with another wall of ice. He sighed and let himself drop to the floor- right into the puddle of water that he hadn’t noticed gathering at his feet.

“I give up. And I’m all wet now, and it’s your fault. If you weren’t having this ridiculous tantrum-”

---

The witch pushed herself to her feet and stomped over to Lucifer, the harsh slap ringing in her ears. She was furious. “You accepted these trials to. You put me through this. Just because you are too reptilian to realize that I am not without limits is not my fault, it is yours.”

“How could you say that? You sound just like him!” She hissed. She muttered a curse under her breath that turned the water in Lucifer’s clothes into thick, sticky, black slime. Hopefully it would be enough to keep him stuck for a while. It would turn back in about 10 minutes, but she wanted to disappear first. “And for the record, I noticed. I noticed and wrote it off because I trusted you not to betray me, manipulate me like that. I was wrong. And now I know better.”

“If you want me to be as heartless as you then fine, you win. You have two weeks to leave Veilmont before I tell the council that it was Jenkins and Scarlet who killed the poachers. And I’ll make sure the Hunters know to come prepared for dragons.” Hour cupped a hand over her mouth to stop the sob from escaping before she ran. She didn’t want to resort to blackmail, she didn’t want to be anything like the person Akihiko tried to turn her into and yet… Here she was. A killer and a blackmailer. What next? Would he somehow get her to torture someone for him?

He’s not Akihiko, he’s not Akihiko, he’s not Akihiko. Maybe if she kept repeating it to herself she would start believing it. Right now all she could think about was the fact that they were practically quoting each other.

---

He let out a string of curses when he was confronted with the sticky mess that made it difficult to move, especially after she uttered her threats and ran off before he could respond.

It took him a few seconds before he noticed it had finally disappeared. He got gingerly to his feet, shaking his limbs out experimentally to reassure himself that he could still move properly. Then he turned his attention to tracking Hour down.

It wasn’t that difficult- the place was so enveloped in cold that he only had to zero in on the only other source of heat apart from himself. He grabbed her by the back of her cloak and yanked her backward, pinning her against the wall and putting just enough pressure against her throat to make breathing slightly difficult.

“I’m sorry, do you get that? Yes, I manipulated you and set up the chain of events that led to you doing something you didn’t want to, but that is all on me. I did that; they have done nothing to you. I don’t care what you do to me, but don’t you ever threaten them again or I will end you.”

He released her before he could succeed in strangling her. It was a very close thing, as the threat to his family had finally hit home just how serious all of this was and his first instinct was to eliminate said threat.

“You do not get to claim to hate the idea of killing people one minute and then throw them to the wolves the next. And don’t even try to pin that last one on me- your choices are your own.”

---

Hour shrank back against the wall, pulling in on herself as she focused on breathing. She hated what she was becoming, hated it. She hated how much it resembled what he wanted her to be. And he was right- she was doing it herself now. She was trapped in here and frankly a small part of her itched to keep egging him on. Maybe he would follow through on it. But that was no way to honor her parents.

“You aren’t sorry, Lucifer, you’re just so protective of them that you’ll say anything, anything to make sure I don’t live up to my promise.” She choked out a bitter laugh that turned into a quiet sob as she hung her head. “Jenkins said to get out of here we had two options- either work out our differences or for me to convince you to leave. So congratulations. I found a way to make you leave. At least we know you have a heart, even if it is frozen over so no one else can get in.” Hour pushed him off her and rubbed her throat.

“You know, I’ve had plenty of people threaten to kill me in my life, some have even attempted it. No one has ever gotten close. They chain me down and throw me in cages, they beat me and torture me, but I get out and I survive to live another day. So please, Lucifer, come at me. I’ve made peace with my death. It’s been a long time coming.” Hour found herself leaning against the wall looking up at the stupid portrait that clued her into this whole mess- the one with the dragon bond pair and their circlets. They looked so happy. How could she have been so naive to have hoped for that?

---

“And there you go, doing it again. Making it all about you. I am trying find even ground with you, but apparently it’s a waste of time because you seem determined to wallow in your own misery.”

He knew Jinx, though. He would never act without thinking, and he certainly wouldn’t give Lucifer the option to stay if he didn’t have some way to keep himself out of trouble.

“I hate to burst your bubble, sweetheart, but you haven’t convinced me to leave in the slightest. In fact, you’ve only made me that much more determined to stay. Go ahead and send your best, but know that we will fight with everything we have, and there will be collateral damage. I’ve put too much time and effort into this place to give it all up just because your feelings got hurt.”

---

“I don’t want even ground, Lucifer!” Hourglass screamed. “I don’t want peace! I don’t want to get along with you! I don’t want to forgive you! I don’t want to trust you! So yes, it’s all about me, because for once my wants are going to be taken into account and I’m not letting you tell me that they aren’t!”

“I’m not your sweetheart!” Hour shoved her way past him and towards the main entrance. “Fuck this. Fuck all of this. Fuck you. Fuck this museum. Fuck this town. Fuck this door!” The witch grabbed her charcoal stylus and started angrily scratching out a rune into the surface of the wood. It was large, and complicated, and would probably take her about half an hour to sketch out the entire thing.

“If you are so very desperate to convince me, Lucifer, you have until I finish this rune, which by the way is an explosive rune.” Hour kept her eye on spreading the charcoal, ignoring the burn of her fingers when she had to smudge it into the freezing cold wood. “If you aren’t going to leave, and I’m resorting to living like this? Then so be it, I’ll leave. You get to stay, and I never have to see you again. Seems like the perfect even ground to me.”

---

There was another retort just on the tip of his tongue, but he held it back in favor of following her to the main entrance.

“I’m not asking for your trust or forgiveness. You don’t have to like me, but all your inconvenient attempts just to avoid me aren’t going unnoticed. If you can at least return to an appearance of normal, then I’m sure I can manage to keep a low profile until these hunters leave.”

A ripple ran up his spine, his wings itching to simply burst out in protest at the idea that he was essentially confining himself to the ground, but like it or not, this was the safest way to ride out the new wave of visitors without provoking some confrontation.

“You’re right, you know. Human emotions are beyond me. We can pass as such so long as we keep our distance, but when it becomes necessary we have Azazel to explain things to us. He was human once, so that has to count for something.”

He reached out, hoping maybe he could do the job himself and hopefully save the door from some serious damage, but all he managed was a few sparks before they sizzled out.

---

Hour was glad she had the rune to focus her energy on as Lucifer actually seemed to be trying to reason with her. Not that he was doing a good job, but still. She was beyond tired of the pain at this point, and now that she had decided, she was determined to follow through with leaving.

“Good start.” She said after a moment of silence, swatting a stray ember away from a line of charcoal. “Not good enough.” She gave a harsh stroke on the charcoal before moving on to the next part. She was starting to lose feeling in her fingers at this point, but she pushed through.

Her magic was already starting to rise to the surface in recognition of the rune she was drawing, which was good, because chances were she was going to pass out the minute the spell went off from magic exhaustion. She may be able to cast it, but it was a close call. At this point she just wanted to get as far away from Lucifer as quickly as possible, at any cost.

---

Lucifer sat down next to the doorway, carefully watching her progress. He was already beginning to feel the familiar tickle of energy, but he was reasonably sure that he’d have enough power to dispel the magical energy before she’d finished.

“Why? You have a good life here- friends, colleagues who respect you, stability. They aren’t going to fire you. Why would you give all of that up?” Confusion crept up in his voice. This was something he genuinely did not understand. He’d give anything for that kind of security- even now, in spite of his stubborn will to hold on to this, he knew that it wasn’t a guarantee. Why would she throw all that away?

“You know you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything like this. Veilmont is the exception rather than the rule.”

---

Hour shook her head and kept going a bitterness pulling at the corner of her mouth. “Why. Let’s see. I don’t actually have friends here, not close ones anyways. Not anymore. Talia and Winston are colleagues, and James… Well, we both know he’s only into me because he gets a tilty over my magic.” The witch made an obscene gesture with her hand to clarify her point before continuing with her drawing.

“As for stability, I can get stability any where I go. I’m a tier 9 warlock. In the magic council it’s hard to get places, but in a private practice? Selling spells and abilities? I could make a fortune. Just because it’s not what I want doesn’t mean I can’t.”

“I would give this place up in a heartbeat if it means I get to be happy again. Because I’m not happy here, and I’m not happy in the private practice. I’m sad, and miserable, and I don’t care if it means I’m a weak, wallowing human in your eyes, but security and stability mean nothing to me. I’ve never had them, I’ve never needed or wanted them. All I’ve ever wanted was to be happy, and now I’m not. So yes. I’m ready to move on to somewhere new where maybe, just maybe I can be happy again.” Because I thought I had that with you, and it turns out it was just another illusion.

“It’s just another town. The sooner you realize that the sooner you stop getting attached.”

---

“Easy for you to say. You don’t have what is potentially centuries stretched out in front of you, constantly being hunted,” he said bitterly. “Wilderness is slowly being overtaken by civilization. There are fewer places to hide.”

“We were there, at Grey Gulf. The shining city by the sea, where all races could live together in peace and the apparent inspiration for this place. History books tell you that a secret organization of slayers entered the city and attacked, leading to a month-long battle which destroyed the entire city. What actually happened is a little different.” He paused for a moment. He did not want to relive this, because it almost always let the doubts about this town creep in, but he needed her to not only understand just what made Ash and Jinx break into the precinct, but also the significance of him even striking up a friendship with her.

“There was a shapeshifter on the loose, murdering what they considered the weaker of the city. The Mage Circle was at a loss as to what to do, and the body count was rising, so they released the slayers from prison, and together they created a device that detected magical creatures. The shapeshifter could be anyone, you see, so they might as well execute all the magical creatures in the hopes of getting the one that was causing the trouble.

“It wasn’t a battle- it was a massacre, and it was started by a group of warlocks. But, as always, history is written by the victors.”

He shivered slightly. It seemed that the cold combined with his wet clothes was finally beginning to get to him.

“I am sorry. For everything I’ve put you through. You might think I’m just saying that to protect them, and maybe I was the first time I said it, but I’ve had time to think about it, and I honestly don’t think you’ll go through with it. You came here to warn them, after all. I don’t believe you would be so petty as to put someone in danger for your own personal gain.”

---

She knew the story of the Grey Gulf Massacre- most of it, anyways. She knew who the group of slayers were and who the shapeshifters were. She knew who was in the magic circle at the time who had let it all happen without doing anything to stop it. She knew about the device that had been destroyed a few years after the fact by people who realized the horror of what had happened.

But Lucifer was right- she hadn’t known the circle had put the slayers up to it. Sure she had her suspicions that the history books weren’t saying everything, but that didn’t mean she knew what they weren’t saying. The witch paused to turn and look at the dragon out of the corner of her eye. “If you hate mages so much, why did you accept my offer to begin with? Why did you respond to the summons? You could have told me to find someone else.” She looked back to the rune and continued drawing. It was almost done, just a few details to go.

“I’m actually starting to believe that, but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to accept your apology. Not now. Not after everything. It’s not enough.” She took a step back and surveyed the door with a calculated hum before stepping back in to fix lines and details.

“For the record, I’d say you have about 5 minutes left and I’m still leaving.”

---

“I couldn’t stop myself. I was being pulled and nothing I tried could stop it. If you were anyone else, I’d have tried to kill you right there.” He cringed inwardly- he knew that wasn’t helping his case at all. “That sounds bad, but we’ve spent a lifetime confiscating any information out there that can be used against us.”

His eyes narrowed as he stared at the rune. He couldn’t just let her destroy a perfectly good (and expensive) door and draw unwanted attention. He didn’t have enough energy replenished at this point to cancel out the spell, but he might have enough to weaken it. He was hoping it wouldn’t come to that, hoping he could talk her out of it. Either way, timing was everything.

“You were different. From the moment we first met, I tried to keep my distance. But you weren’t like any other new recruit, lording it over everyone and trying to prove themself to their superiors. You offered to help.

“The Gulf’s ending was-” terrifying, a nightmare, an atrocity. He cast around in his mind for a way to put his thoughts to words without revealing just how much it still affected him after all this time, and he settled on “- not ideal, but what it was before that was beautiful. Getting to know you made me realize that with the right people, it could have turned out exactly the way it was meant to.”

He stood up, eyeing her carefully. This was it- if he was going to interfere with the spell, it had to be now, but he wanted to give her a chance to choose not to do it herself. This would draw attention, and he didn’t know how to explain this if she went through with it.

---

A shudder ran up her spine. He was dangerous- he kept reminding her of that. She could live with that though, she was dangerous too. Her magic was dangerous, and she could defend herself. Maybe not after she drained herself activating this rune, but normally she was just fine at it.

“You may want to step back for this. For the record, I hope your new neighbor likes dragons.”

Settling herself with a hand on either side of the rune, Hour started to gather her energy around her. The buildup made her skin itch and her fingers twitch. Once she felt close to breaking with magic she channeled it into the door with a massive push.

Everything seemed to pause for a second an Hour furrowed her brow, brushing her hands together to get rid of any charcoal powder. And then everything seemed to move in slow motion, first she was thrown back by a blast of ice cold power that lifted her feet off the ground and sent her into the far wall, then she noticed the thick sheet of ice envelope the door, and then it all went dark.

When she opened her eyes again she was still in the museum and she let out a groan at the headache. She much have hit her head when she was thrown back against the wall. “Water magic. How could I be so stupid?”

-----

He attempted to muster up all the fire that he could, but he could immediately see that it wasn’t going to be enough. Still, he could at least minimize the damage, could he not?

But then there was a change- the air was charged with a very familiar energy, and at the same time the wards on the door flared. For a moment he stared, fascinated at how the two different types of magic were mixing together. But even if both energies were working to achieve the same end, it was a rather volatile mixture, and he realized this wasn’t going to end well for her.

“Hour, I think you should-”

But it was too late. Suddenly she was blasted backward, and he was stepping forward to attempt to take the brunt of it, frowning as he was showered in tiny ice crystals that melted on contact. He seriously needed to get himself dry somehow.

“Warlocks,” he sighed. He stared at her still form, not sure what he was supposed to do. He was no healer, and he had no way to get ahold of one. While he was still debating whether or not to move her to the couch in the office, she stirred.

He smirked. “I may not be an expert on the matter, but I seem to recall you saying that was an explosion rune, was it not?”

“I’m going to check and see if the old furniture is still around, and I think there’s a tinderbox in the office. Humans light fires with those, don’t they?” It was always included in emergency kits, but Lucifer had never seen a use for it seeing how he could start fire without any extra help. But then he had never depleted his own reserves to this extent before, either, so maybe it wasn’t as foolish as he had previously thought.

-----

Hour let her head hang in defeat. She couldn’t do this anymore- she couldn’t put up the false bravado, she didn’t have the energy for it, and she couldn’t sit here and deal with Lucifer acting like this was somehow funny. So she sat there, shivering in a puddle with her breath fogging. At this point her clothes were soaked through, but she couldn’t do anything about it. Sure, she had a rune in the cloak she could activate to get most of the dripping water out, but she didn’t have any magic left after the blast.

She tried grabbing hold of the wall and pulling herself to her feet to no avail and she realized with a start that she couldn’t feel her legs- either from the blast or from the cold or from the magic depletion, maybe all three, she was numb from the waist down, making walking an impossibility. The witch let out a quiet string of curses and started trying to rub some warmth into her legs, trying to feel something, something, anything. Nothing.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat like that, but eventually Lucifer came back and she was a right hot mess by the time he did, cursing a storm and rubbing and slapping tiredly at her legs with a lethargic desperation as the temperature and the magical exhaustion started catching up with her.

“Can’t feel m’ legs, can’t walk.” She mumbled as explanation, her eyes half mast.

-------

Lucifer’s amusement at Hour’s failed spell wore off very quickly as his search for something to keep them warm stretched on. There was plenty of wood to burn due to his last round of furniture destruction, but there was no way to light it. He rifled through Jinx’s emergency kit for something that could help, and he couldn’t find anything that looked even remotely capable of creating a flame.

He attempted to generate a fire himself, but he still couldn’t manage more than a few sparks. Irritation at the whole situation was setting in once more as he made his way back to where he had left his neighbor, and now he scowled when he saw her predicament.

Without a word, he scooped her up into his arms, not caring about any protests she might have made. His walk back to his office was slower due to the thin layer of ice on the floor and the extra weight in his arms, and he grumbled under his breath about the fragility of humans the whole way there, but he eventually did reach his destination.

He deposited her on the couch and tucked his jacket around her. “Still can’t do anything with this-” he let sparks fly from his fingers to demonstrate “-and I don’t know if Jenkins even has anything to light a fire the mundane way.”

Working for the council had perks, Hour had to admit, one of the few was being a well payed women, despite being a women. Many weren’t as lucky as she, but she wouldn’t sacrifice this for a minute. But it wasn’t just luck that got her position, it was also her great talent for the arts of magic and the fact that she was incredibly powerful in the community. Which was why she was currently in the Lobby of her luxury apartment complex, a spell page in one hand and a basket of supplies in her other. Her boss never told her what kind of familiar she was going to be summoning, but it wasn’t going to stop her. It wasn’t like her boss was going to try and get her killed by summoning a dragon or something.

One man spouted jeers at her, the man from the second floor who had opposed the magic protection bills. Rumor had it he had a golden dragon claw on a stand in his house, a hideous offence to the magic community. She payed him no heed, though, and continued with what she was doing, painting the runes onto her body and laying out the supplies she had gathered- including the rare flower she had had to find, sibilum draconis- and beginning the chanting she was required to do for the spell, while sitting in the middle of the supplies.

She sat for over an hour repeating the chant, but nothing happened. No one showed up but her regular neighbors. No familiar came in that she could tell. Nothing. Whatever she had summoned seemed to just- reject her summoning. She was packing up her things when she noticed the only neighbor she shared the top floor with- Lucifer. “Hey, Lucifer.” She sighed, her shoulders sagging as she pulled her pack of supplies over her shoulder. “Boss gave me a useless summoning spell again. Guess I’m destined to be without a familiar, huh?”

He would have preferred to spend all his time sleeping or eating, but humans worked for a living, so that was what he had to do as well. Now he was ‘home’ and could spend the rest of the day lazing around. He was burrowed deep into a pile of blankets, staring almost trance-like at the flame of a candle sitting on a windowsill. He had just opened the window and was debating slipping out for a short flight, when he felt it. There was a tugging sensation, and he was being pulled against his will by some unseen force.

He attempted to fight it, but it became more persistent. He stood up, the blankets falling into a heap at his feet. There was another tug, and he stepped over the blankets, growling under his breath about careless sorcery. He grabbed a knife before stalking out the door and down the stairs, because whatever this was, he wasn’t going down without a fight.

He stopped in the lobby, where a handful of neighbors had gathered, peering at the sight within. He took one look at the supplies scattered around the woman and tucked the knife out of sight. He tilted his head, studying the paper, but giving no sign that it was familiar to him. “Perhaps your boss should check his sources. Do you need help cleaning this up?”

Hour looked defeated as she put out candles and stacked them back in her basket. She pulled at her tunic slightly, a frown on her face as she motioned to the supplies scattered around her on the ground. “I don’t even know what the damn spell was supposed to summon, it was just a spell for a familiar. Next time boss gives me a spell, I’m not wasting my pay checks on the ingredients. I can’t keep getting my hopes up like this, I just need to accept my defeat.”

“Could you? The help would be marvelous. I’m not even sure how I managed to carry it all down with me honestly.” She rubbed the back of her neck and picked up the rare flower. “I mean really, what the hell is this stupid flower even supposed to do? I’ve never seen it in any other spell, let alone a summoning. It’s name means dragon whisper but really.” She tossed it haphazardly into the basket, moving onto the next item, a pile of onyx and quartz rocks, which were standard for summoning as they represented balance, but still, they were heavy. Not to mention the hundred different colored candles the damn spell required.

“If you could help with the candles, I would be in your debt. It’s easy enough to light them with a spell, but I can’t put them out without putting out the candles lighting the walls.” Hourglass was stooping down and picking up the rest of the supplies, She had another basket for just the candles sitting off to the side and used a small tendril of magic to grab it and set it next to the group of candle lining the center of the yarn pentagram she had tacked to the floor with putty.

“Sometimes familiars take their sweet time arriving, I’ve heard. You shouldn’t take it so hard.”

He had been Summoned, which shouldn’t have even been possible. His kind, what was left of them, had spent precious time tracking down every record of spells strong enough to have any effect on them. Here was evidence that they weren’t thorough enough. What else could have slipped through the cracks? It was through sheer luck that he happened to live in the same building as one of the people who had attempted such magic, else he would have been found out the moment he showed up here.

He stared, mesmerized, at the flower- it gave off a faint scent he couldn’t quite place. He shook his head and turned his attention to the candles, kneeling down so he could gather them up.

“Magic isn’t always reliable. Are you certain it’s a real spell?”

“I guess… I guess I’ve just been waiting for so long, and I’ve been rejected by so many, I just don’t know if I even want to try again. I try for a weak familiar and I’m too powerful. I’m not compatible with half the magic creatures that I can summon. What’s even the point of wasting my money and my magic on it anymore?” Hour finished picking up the ingredients and started helping Lucifer with the candles.

Some of the candles had burned down past salvation and she threw them away, but the rest went into the basket. She answered his question with a frown on her face. “Everyone sees magic as being like technology, but it’s not. It’s like living thing, it’s fickle but it’s always there. It like some people more than others, and it obeys those people. Spells are just ways to concentrate that magic to do what it needs. Magic leaves it’s own residue on spell books and spell pages, and some more powerful witches and wizards can feel the aura. This page is seeped in it, so I trust it is, despite how old the magic is.” Hour tucked the page into the protector she had been given and set it in the basket with the rest.

She noticed him looking at the flower. “It smells weird, doesn’t it? I’ve never really smelled a flower that smells so strongly of smoke and ozone at the same time, but from what I researched it’s supposed to smell different to everyone.” She wiped some sweat from her brow and sighed as paint flecked off. She had almost forgotten about it. “You said that sometimes it takes familiars a while to respond to a summons…. Do you think they might still come? Is this some kind of trial? Do any of them still do trials anymore? Besides the illusive dragons, of course.”

“There is always a trial. A few are very particular, but these days they usually only last few minutes, which makes people believe they are a thing of the past. If you are not compatible, however, you might as well be screaming into the void for all the good it will do.”

He stared intently at the paper. It looked weathered from use and one edge was jagged, as if it was torn from a book. The question remained whether the page alone had escaped the dragons’ search or if there was a whole book lying around that presented a tangible threat to them.

He took hold of the heavier of the baskets and stood up. “Shall we get these objects upstairs? No doubt you will want a good rest after all that effort. I imagine it is exhausting regardless of its success.”

Hour shook out her pure white locks, her eyes betraying how tired she really was at the moment. She was glad he was willing to help her, and she was grateful he grabbed the heavier of the two baskets as well. “Even then! If this is some kind of trial I want to know why they don’t even show up. I would rather know then be caught blindsided. I’m risking my job if I can’t get a familiar. If I lose my job I lose what’s left of my fractured life. I lose my apartment, I lose access to the spell books in the library. I everything I’ve worked for, gone. They can’t have a witch without a partner on the streets.”

She grabbed her own basket and headed for the stairs. She didn’t have the energy to run the magic powered lift right now, so they would have to go up the old fashioned way. she shouldered open the door and held it open for Lucifer before starting up the stairs.

“I can barely feel my magic at this point, it’s gone dormant for the night. It was a strong spell and after so long… I’ll be surprised if I don’t collapse as soon as I get in my apartment.” Hour gave a small laugh. “I probably need a shower still too, I’m painted in berries and ink.”

“If you did not notice anything resembling a familiar, it is possible they live nearby, perhaps in their natural habitat. If they do not show up by tomorrow, I can help you search for them if you like.”

He trudged after her up the steps, the effort hardly bothering him. He was supposed to be only human, however, so about two-thirds of the way up he made a slight show of being out of breath.

When they reached her door, he took the other basket from her so she could unlock it. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Hour didn’t look at him at the offer. There was no point looking for a familiar you didn’t know what even was. “Thanks for the offer, Mr. Morrow, but trying to find them would be pointless and a waste of time. Both mine and yours. If you want to come over and help me start packing tomorrow, though, I wouldn’t exactly mind. Like I said, if this didn’t pan out I wasn’t going to try again.”

She opened up the door to her apartment with a sigh that was part exhaustion and part sorrow. This lovely apartment, with wrap around glass windows in the main room, showing off the glorious mountains, wouldn’t be hers for much longer.

“Thank you for the help Lucifer, I’ll see you tomorrow? For the museum tour, I mean. I- I gotta go get washed up so I can get some rest for work tomorrow. I have to hand in my report, after all.”

He set the baskets down on the nearest flat surface he could see and started slowly backing toward the door, having no wish to linger without invitation.

“I do hope to see you tomorrow. We’ve got a new exhibit- a real Hand of Glory. It was difficult to acquire, and my top experts and I believe it’s genuine this time.” He realized he was babbling and abruptly cut himself off. He did so love to talk about his treasures, and it tended to put people off.

He stepped back on the other side off the door. “Try to be patient with yourself. Details are easy to miss if you aren’t looking in the right places.”

Hour smiled at the excitement flaring to life in his eyes. She loved how open he was about his passion for his work, it was something that few people had. Something she shared with him, she liked to think. She loved her job, and she would be sad to see it go. But she couldn’t change it now, she wasn’t going to try any more summonings, and she couldn’t keep her position without a partner.

The cryptic advise confused her, but she thanked him anyway before bidding him farewell and sinking back into her lair, her workshop, her home. The next day she rose to find her magic had bounced back after some good sleep, and her workday, while uneventful, was only relieved by her extra long lunch break.

She bounced up the stairs to the museum with a smile on her face. The magical history museum was one of the town’s greatest treasures, especially to the magical community. She slipped in whenever she could to see all the artifacts. It was even how she first met her reclusive neighbor. “Mr. Morrow!” She called to him as she saw him. “You said you got a new exhibit yesterday, any chance I could see it first?” she asked, biting her bottom lip in anticipation.

He was being harassed by a trio of angry mothers; apparently they found some displays too offensive to allow their children to see. He had tried to explain that the brief description of exhibits was clearly written on the pamphlet if they had only bothered to read it, but they did not seem willing to listen to simple logic.

Hearing his name, he turned immediately, glad for an excuse to leave the woman. Paying no heed to their protests as he ignored them completely, he strode across the room to greet the newcomer with a smile.

“Of course, anything for one of my best patrons. It’s right this way.” As he led her to the display in question, he stole a glance at her. He was pleased to see she was looking much better than she did last night, if if a bit harried, but he wrote that off as usual work stress.

He stopped in front of the admittedly gruesome artifact. It appeared to be nothing more than a severed hand, even if if was partially encased in a rusted gauntlet. The base of the case was engraved with runes that, while not keeping it from being stolen, would fill any would-be thief with intense guilt until they had righted all past wrongdoings.

“What’s the verdict? Does it live up to expectations?”

Hour lit up when she saw the hand, and then her expression soured as the annoying mothers caught up to them. She had seen them arguing with Lucifer, and she could see how prissy they seemed to be, in their nobles clothes. She stood out for her gender, she knew, but not for her status. She wore men’s trousers and poet shirts, a red petticoat with black and gold mage runes embroidered into the fabric slung around her shoulders. She wore the apparel of a powerful mage, something not many women could boast.

“This is a museum of Magic, M’Ladies. It isn’t always pretty.” Hour silenced the woman with a wave of her hand and sent them on their way with a gust of air, pushing them out the door. She smiled in satisfaction and looked back at the case of glass and Lucifer. “My apologies, she had a foul temper and I hold a lack of patience for the trivial insults. Now- this glory.” She pointed at faintly pulsing blue symbols lining what little was left of the rusted metal.”It’s amazing, but what do these runes mean?” She could feel the magic, malevolent in nature, coming off it and frowned at the fact that she could feel it. “I can guarantee you it’s real. You should let me in some times to place a new rune in the base, it’s full of malevolent energy, there would be problems if it corrupted someone. How did you manage to even find one? These things were burned in the Fire wars.”

She looked over at the museum owner, genuine interest shining in her eyes. He had an impressive collection and she loved seeing every artifact, even the ones he kept in the vaults bellow the building. They never ceased to fascinate her and frankly, she loved helping him with her magic whenever she could. He wasn’t gifted with magic, and for someone without it he certainly admired the magical world more than most she had ever met. If she could guess, he even rivaled scholars of the order of Merlin in some knowledge.

“Did you get the candle with it or did it come by itself?” She blushed when she realized she was probably asking to many questions, but she couldn’t help it.

He blinked and tilted his head slightly at the unexpected show of magic. “I prefer them over the man who brings his son here every week just to show him everything he should not do. I hope that boy turns out to be a powerful sorcerer just to spite him.”

He watched her carefully as she examined the display, glowing in pride at her awe. He reached out and pulled her back when she drew a little to close to the case for his liking. “No one has been able to get that gauntlet off. One of my assistants was overcome with horrific hallucinations after touching it with regular gloves. We aren’t sure whether it is cursed itself or if it simply absorbed some it. It only came with a locket that had a more powerful effect. Whatever the case, that is the only thing keeping this beauty intact.”

He gently tugged at her arm to draw her away. There was a reason there was an adults section in the museum, after all. Some things needed to be observed in small doses. “We got a delivery of ancient texts, if you’re interested. Most are just old explorers’ journals that we’re still going through, but you may see something of interest.”

Hour obeyed his touch , backing away from the obviously dangerous artifact without any protests. “I wasn’t talking about on the gauntlet, I was talking about the base of the display. I’m not even willing to touch that thing feeling the magic radiating off it. It’s just so wrong. Are you sure it isn’t an artifact from the wars? some of the rogue warlocks went to great lengths to… preserve themselves once they were faced with execution.” She withdrew her sight from the object. She could come in some other time to copy down the runes to try and translate, but that would have to take place over a matter of days.

“If you want I can put an even stronger enchantment on the display to prevent theft, this thing does not need to get stolen. The magic I feel off it is beyond anything else you have in this entire museum. That is a disaster in the wrong hands.” She took a deep breath once she was away from the hand of glory, not realizing she had even felt the pressure on her chest.

A wide grin grew on her face at the chance to see more new texts. One of the few things she was more passionate about- old spells. Plus, if she could pin point any magic touched journals then that meant she got the first opportunity to see them. “You had me at ancient texts.” She practically shook with excitement. Maybe if she got outright fired, or if the other job proved to miserable, she could try applying here. She wouldn’t mind being surrounded by magical treasures all day long. With a start, she slapped a hand over her mouth when she realized she had voiced her thoughts out loud.

“I honestly don’t know. The person I got it from was a bit sketchy on the details. She didn’t stick around long. It would serve a thief right if he got his intestines sucked out or something equally satisfying.” He shook his head. No one needed the violent turns his thoughts took at times.

He smirked in amusement at the mortified look on her face. “I could always use a magic user on staff. Gods only know how overpriced your people are downtown. But I wouldn’t discount your current job. You’re powerful enough; you might be able to get an extension of some type.”

He led her through a door with intricate designs that blended nicely with the wall but was still obvious to anyone looking for it. It’s purpose wasn’t to hide anything, after all. “Careful. The bottom step is coming loose.” He stepped on it, easily keeping his balance due to several years of getting used to the stairway getting worn down.

There was a hallway at the bottom. The doorway closest to the steps was carefully labelled Probably Not Dangerous, and it was this room he stepped into. It was a jumbled mess inside to anyone who didn’t know how he worked, but he liked the idea that only he knew exactly where everything was. He stopped in front of a rickety table that swayed slightly under the weight of papers and books stacked on top of it. “Here they are. I had a bidding war with the library over them. They aren’t very happy with me.”

Hour beamed at the thought, “You could also do good having someone who can cast strong enough spells to contain corruption. You see I’m not that interested in protecting thieves, I’m more worried about innocent bystanders who get caught in the corruption. Don’t need to have murders being possessed by rogue magic. There is a reason the magical items of Daedric priests and convicted warlocks got destroyed.” She floated herself down the last step, grabbing her charcoal pen from her pocket and crouching down by the step, sketching a quick ‘strengthening’ rune into the step and then letting a slip of magic be absorbed by it.

“Free of charge, no worries.” She said as she straightened up and followed him into the room, eyes going wide at the sheer amount of ARTIFACTS. She gaped. Light beaded on her skin before rising up into a ball above her head. There was some light, but this illuminated the room in all it’s glory. Books stacked on books, pots stacked haphazardly, stacks and stacks of intricate carvings. Scrolls stacked high on tables. Stacks on mirrors and portraits. It was…. fantastic. A sculpture stuck out to her and she reached out to it. Her fingers barely brushed it before her vision was over taken by a single image.

Wings blanketing the sky, scales stark against a cloudy blue sky. Eyes like blue crystals gazing straight into her, like it could see straight through her. She gasped as the vision cleared, snapping her hand back from the statue and darting over to the table Lucifer was at. It had been so realistic, but why was she getting visions of a dragon?

“Oh I bet they are, maybe some day they can get to read them through a glass case, like they make everyone else do when they get their hands on magic texts. Assholes.” She kept a bright smile on her face and cast a quick spell to bring a book down that was higher than she could reach and setting it on the table without touching it. She slid on a pair of cloth gloves and picked up the text. “Is this… Dragon skin? What the hell kind of collection did you find?” Hour ran a hand over the smooth scales, careful not to go against the scales so as to not cut her skin open on them.

“That’s assuming they ever allow them to see the light of day again. Bunch of stuffy old men deciding what the public is and isn’t allowed to read.” The scowl on his face stated quite clearly what he thought of that. People of all ages should be allowed access to anything they wished to learn about.

“Creepy, isn’t it? Makes my skin crawl. What is wrong with regular leather? I would get rid of it if it weren’t for what was inside it. Or rather, what isn’t inside it. The pages appear to be blank, but I believe there is more to them. We found it in a box that had six different locks.”

He lifted a large marble urn off of a chair with ease, so that she could sit down if she so wished. He set it down next to a glass case and returned to the table. “These came from that eccentric old hermit who passed away a few weeks ago. He had a bit of an obsession with magical creatures. And ghosts, for some reason, but that came in his later years.”

“You mean James Welbourne? Sweet guy, shame he died. I can’t believe he had this locked away, the man used to go on and on claiming the dragons weren’t as rare as people thought. He said we even had a few in town, the crazy man. He loved them, so why on earth would he have had something so hideous as this in his collection?” Hour wrinkled her nose at the journal and turned it over in her hand, bringing the light down so she could see it better.

“It’s certainly something that should be closely examined, it probably has a concealing rune on it somewhere.” She carefully opened up the pages and held her hand about half an inch from the parchment, trying to feel for any traces of magic a rune might put off.

On the back page she found something. “Here!” A small rune hidden in the top corner. With a small tendril of magic, she fed the rune, revealing the pages covered with notes and runes and directions. “It’s a spell book. Don’t know what on yet, I would have to translate it, but a spell book all the same. Considering the time period these things were made I wouldn’t be surprised if it were unsavory.” She set the book on the table and jumped when the writing vanished.

“I guess it only shows when the person feeding it is actually touching it. Well, now we know how to read it at least. I can figure out how to break the rune later so it permanently stays open for reading, but it might take me some time, I don’t think I recognize the rune itself.” She pulled down the next book, this one not covered in dragon skin. It looked to be just a regular travelers journal and the inside proved to be the case. Grabbing an inkwell, blank parchment, and a quill, she sat on the offered seat. “Translations paraphrased or direct?” She asked him. She enjoyed this work sometimes, especially in her periods of frustration, and she wouldn’t mind giving him copies of her notes so that he could display them accurately.

“Yes. Crazy.” He personally hadn’t cared for the man, and he had fallen away from Lucifer’s radar when the people dismissed his claims as the ravings of a madman.

He felt a sense of relief when the dragonskin journal was out of sight for the moment. “Direct, please. I can paraphrase later when I’ve decided whether or not to just leave this down here. Are you sure you have time to do this? You only came to see the new display, not do extra work.”

He tilted his head slightly, eyes flicking toward the door. His sharp hearing could pick up a commotion going on upstairs that might require his supervision eventually. “Will you be all right by yourself for a few minutes? I need to make sure no one has died or anything up there while I was absent.”

“I can do a page or two now, I’ll have to continue later. I got an extra long lunch time because You know me and the Museum.” Hour smiled and looked down at the book, pulling a pair of glasses from her pocket and set the translation runes in place before slipping them on. The black lines on the pages swirled and blended before separating out into plain text that she could read. Dipping the quill in ink she set to copying the text, waving Lucifer away without looking up when he asked to do so.

After about half an hour she stretched and removed the glasses. She had gotten through about two and a half pages and she cast around looking for Lucifer, standing and setting the journal and quill down. “Mr. Morrow?” She asked.

She grabbed her bag and jacket from where she had taken them off and looked around, expanding her witch light above her so it illuminated the whole room. The dragon statue drew her eye as she pulled off her glove, setting it on the table without tearing her eyes from the statues. “Mr. Morrow?”

The cranky women were back; this time with law enforcement and accusations of assault. He crossed his arms and glowered at them, not even attempting to hide his disgust. He would never understand human females and their inability to fight their own battles. He spoke with them in short sentences, making it clear what he thought of their intelligence.

When the officers were satisfied enough to leave, Lucifer directed an assistant to start closing up. He was no longer in the mood to play gracious host to ignorant humans today. He tested the bottom stair as he headed back down; still a little loose, but no longer in danger of detaching completely from the stairway.

He stepped inside the room. He lay a light hand on Hour’s shoulder. “Leaving already?”

Hour jumped at the tap to her shoulder and whirled around to see Lucifer. “How do you even manage to do that? You’re like a ghost sometimes with how sneaky you are.” She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, lips pursed as she glared halfheartedly at the man.

Shaking her head she said, “Sorry to say, but I have to go, my boss wants to meet with me about the… incidents of last night’s summoning.” She snorted and clicked her tongue in annoyance. “He’s probably going to try and give me the spiel about not giving up again before handing me another expensive and pointless ritual.”

She ran a hand over the shelf nearest her lightly, black painted nails catching on scratches and chipped paint. Gathering her courage she considered her next words carefully. “Uhm, Lucifer, I had a question…. Would you like to have dinner with me sometime? Like a date, I mean.”

“You are a lousy listener. It could get you in trouble someday. Just because you have cute little parlor tricks doesn’t mean you don’t need to pay attention. I was making quite a bit of noise coming back.” He absently poked at a mirror, watching as a rippling effect spread across the surface.

“I am always up for dinner. Any date is fine, as long as it is later in the evening. Not tonight, though. Something came up that I absolutely must attend to as soon as possible.”

He turned away from the mirror and stepped into the hallway, pulling out a ring of keys so he could start locking the museum up for the day. “Is there anything else you needed before we go? I’m closing early today.”

“My magic is not a parlor trick!” She snapped glaring, but following him out all the same. Hour pulled her hair out of the tie, letting it cascade down her back in a snowy blanket. “It’s not like I have the senses of a dragon, Lucifer. I’m completely human.”

She blushed as she scrambled for words to clarify her intentions, getting flustered. “I’m- that’s not what I meant. I meant as a romantic date- but I’m- just forget I said anything, I’m being stupid.” she shook her head and averted her eyes from his face, staring at the ground. She really should have expected something like this. Regular people didn’t like Witches, even the ones who were the most interested in magic.

“I’m okay, I think. Thank you for showing me the new exhibit. It’s fascinating. I guess I’ll see you later? At the apartments, I mean.” She shouldered her bag as she started climbing the stairs, still not meeting his eyes. “Uhm- Bye.” She turned and practically ran out of the Museum, shame coloring her cheeks as she made her way back uptown to her work.

He stared after her as she ran off, confused as to what had just happened. With a shake of his head, he turned and went back downstairs, going straight this time, to the hidden door at the end of the hall which opened to a tunnel that led straight through the mountains to his lair.

He shifted into his much larger dragon form and stood at the mouth of the cave deep in thought, for once ignoring the mounds of sparkling treasure surrounding him. At last he made up his mind and lifted off into the sky, heading straight back into the city.

The people below were like ants from this distance, and they were looking up at the sky in awe. He reveled in this blatant openness, of not needing to keep out of sight, and did a complete backwards loop in the sky out of a sudden desire to show off.

He landed on the roof of the building, a few tiles knocking loose and tumbling to the ground as he settled himself. He positioned himself so his serpentine head was closest to his neighbor’s window and his long, muscular tail draped over the other side of the building. His scales, normally an unblemished white, now reflected the glow of the afternoon sun. Paying no heed to the people gawking below, or even to the one annoying neighbor on a lower floor who went into an immediate tirade, he rested his head on his forearms and closed his eyes, waiting.

Her meeting went disastrous. Her boss said wait, consider it, give it time. But she was done waiting. She wasn’t here to be some toy to be batted around from desk to desk to make room for people with familiars. She wasn’t there to get sympathy. Unfortunately for her her boss wouldn’t give her the paperwork she needed, so she just left early, stopping by the markets to pick up food for dinner. She wasn’t in the mood for anything huge, so she just picked up some treated meat and bread before heading home, her cloak slung over her arm and hair falling out of the hair tie she had put it back into.

She didn’t even notice the dragon on top of the building at first. Not until the bastard from the second floor pushed her and started yelling obscene things at her, pointing at the dragon that seemed to be sleeping atop the building. A dragon. Her boss really was a crazy bastard. She silenced the man as she stared at the dragon, mouth open in shock.

“Mighty Drake, may I ask your purpose here?” She called out to him, using the wind to carry her voice. She had to be polite, anything else could end in disaster. Frankly, if this really was about the summoning she doubted she would be alive at the end of the week, let alone finishing that translation for Lucifer at the museum. She would have to go edit her will at the bank it seemed, if she even made it past the day. No one had managed to partner a dragon in a century without having prior experience. She was a dead man walking.

Blue eyes opened, and he peered down at the ground. There was a man on the ground practically hopping in agitation. His voice was rather grating and Lucifer was tempted to roast him alive where he stood. There were more important matters at hand, however, and he instead focused on the one who stood patiently watching him.

He stretched, almost cat-like, and jumped off the building, landing directly in front of her and making a slight indent in the ground beneath him. If this went well, it seemed he would have to work on softer landings.

He spread his wings out as far as they would stretch, causing the people who had gathered to skitter backwards in alarm, lashing his tail from side to side as an extra precaution to ensure they would be given ample space, before allowing it to rest, forming a jagged ring around the woman in front of him.

“You called, did you not?” he snaked his head downwards, so that he was eye-level with her. “Now I summon you. I am judge, jury, and executioner, and the trials have commenced. I am offering you mercy just this once, however. Should you choose to back out now, you will be spared the consequences of failure and I will leave, never to return.”

She stood frozen as the massive tail wrapped around her, leaving her no way to escape without getting closer to the dragon. Face to face, she could hardly tear her gaze away from his eyes, the light sky blues capturing her attention as he spoke, a melodic deep voice throwing her in a loop. It wasn’t what she expected from a giant winged lizard the size of a building.

He was here for her. She had managed to summon a dragon. She had lived throw the summoning process itself, something that had killed others in the past. The dragon was giving her a chance. Her heart was beating like a rabbit in her chest, but she remained standing firm, not betraying her elation nor her fear.

“Indeed I had, Mighty Drake,” She swallowed as she hastily gathered her words so as not to seem an idiot. She was talking to one of the most intelligent creatures on the planet, after all. “I accept your trials. What is it you wish to test of me?” She stood as tall as she could, despite how her legs had started to shake. She was a fool not to accept the mercy, but she wasn’t going to pass up this chance. If she died, then who would really miss her? Lucifer? He had already shown how he felt about her. Her boss just wanted to use her, she had no family, all she had was a cat.

Why not take the risk and stand the chance of being able to have someone to work with? Why not be able to keep her dream job she’s been working for for as long as she could remember?

“It would seem you have power. But perhaps it was just a fluke. After all, you certainly weren’t expecting this.” He flicked the tip of his tail threateningly as one of the bystanders bravely ventured closer, and their brief spout of courage fled completely. He then peered deep into red eyes with a piercing stare, surprised at her acceptance but satisfied with the determination he found there.

“There is a monster at the edge of the Southern Wood, by the river where the trees do not shed their leaves.” Was it a monster? Perhaps not. But it was a particularly powerful warlock who kept helping himself to Lucifer’s treasure in the mountains, and that was monstrous enough in his eyes. “They possess a circlet made of moonstone. Return it to me, that we may see what you are capable of.”

This was perhaps not the best, or perhaps proper, way to go about the trials, but he did not see why he shouldn’t kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Hour stood firm as the dragon flicked its tail, eyes only flicking to make sure the person was okay. She knew very little about dragons except that they didn’t like humans that much due to the fire wars, and they were very picky about the witches and warlocks. She also knew they were one of the most powerful familiars that weren’t extinct. They were up with Sphynx, Chimera, and Wyverns.

Pulling at her cloak, Hourglass nodded,” Alright. Do I have a time frame for this? How do I return it to you?” She asked brazenly, crossing her arm over her chest. She was terrified, yes, but she wasn’t going into this blind. It wasn’t like he was going to venture into the forest with her to tell her what to do. The trials were about proving herself, but that didn’t mean he had to send her in without any information when the sun was already falling behind the mountains.

She had been hoping for a quiet night at home, maybe practicing a few spells or packing up, but she hadn’t accounted for a damn dragon finally showing up to it’s summoning.

A low, irritated growl reverberated at the back of his throat. Humans and their incessant need to know every little detail! He flexed out his claws while he mustered up what patience he had left.

“I will return when I am ready. I will know when you are finished.See that you don’t keep me waiting.”

He lifted off into the air, his tail spikes catching on the end of her cloak as it uncurled around her, barely missing the flesh of her face as it whipped past her. He flew far above the clouds before shrinking to a smaller form and landing on the roof of the museum, fast enough that his silhouette wasn’t clear, and small enough to be mistaken for a bird.

He slipped through a hole in the roof created specifically for this, ready to close his eyes and forget about the fact that he had just set familiar trials in motion without consulting anyone about it first. He had done extensive reading on the subject; surely that was enough.

Hour tried not to move but her breath caught as the spikes tail whizzed past her face, a small patch of her cloak caught in it. Once it was out of sight she collapsed to her knees on the ground, staring at it pointlessly as she wrapped her head around what had just happened. A dragon. A fucking fire drake was performing the trials. She might as well as set herself on fire now, stick an apple in her mouth, and lay at his feet like a suckling pig. Chances of her coming out alive were slim to none.

Still, she stood on shaking legs and gathered her items into her arms, making her way into the building, ignoring anyone who tried to talk to her and floating herself up to the top floor. On her way she made a checklist of things to do and grab. She would have to get a dagger and staff for the monster, maybe a pocket spell book. Some pre-made enchantments would probably be needed, not to mention a pack of food in case it took longer than she anticipated.

Getting in her apartment, she launched into a flurry of activity, casting some spells to cut up her meat and bread while she worked on the spells she would need and gathered up her stuff. After what felt like hours but could only have been an hour at max, Hour was out the door with a pair of hiking clothes on and a warm cloak thrown over her shoulders. It was black velvet with green filigree runes sewn into it, setting runes of silence and protection. Her bag held a few breakable vials of spells, and a dagger was sheathed at her hip, and a wooden staff was clutched in her hand, the top a blue crystal encased in what looked like a dragon’s mouth while wings flared out of the sides. Fitting, yes, but also powerful. It had cost her a fortune to get, but it also produced a litany of different powerful spells when prompted.

As she locked the door to her apartment, she turned to see Lucifer and jumped. She hadn’t expected the other to be home yet, but he had said he was closing up early. “Hey, Lucifer. If anyone comes looking for me, can you tell them I’m out? Something came up…”

He had expected all the excitement to last much longer, but then again, how long did he think it would take to send someone on a quest? He could have simply left everything to his underlings rather than shut it all down, but since it was too late, he might as well go home. It might even be nice to curl up under his pillow for the rest of the night.

He arrived at his apartment just as the door across from his sprung open, and he tried to make enough noise to not startle her since she seemed a bit distracted.

She looked just a bit out of breath, and hastily put together, as if she was in a rush. What caught his interest, however, was the bag and staff. It was larger and a bit more full than usual when she went to work, and he could feel the power that emitted from the staff even from where he was standing. He hadn’t expected her to set out so soon. He he really come across as that impatient? Ah, well. It was too late now.

“Work emergency?” He furrowed his brow in what he hoped came across as a politely confused expression, although she appeared to be too agitated to notice. “Well, I’ll see you later, I suppose?”

“You could call it that.” Hour mumbled as she adjusted her cloak on her shoulders. “I should be back by morning, thanks Mr. Morrow.” She didn’t mind telling him what was going on, but she didn’t want him to worry about it. She had already sent a fire message to her boss calling out, so she didn’t have to focus on getting home so she could get some sleep. Hell, maybe if she survived this she could introduce the dragon to Lucifer. After all, the man was interested in the magical arts. She would just have to survive the trials first before she planned anything.

Her cloak billowed out bellow her as she floated down to the bottom floor rapidly. She nodded to her neighbors as she passed before sliding out the doors and taking off for the woods.

By the time she had found the warlock’s hut by the water, she had already figured out the dragon had meant the monster to be a thief. This time, she was alert, her ears and eyes pricking to even the slightest movements. She caught sight of the concealed warlock just a moment before vines were snaking up her calves. With a flick of her hand she dismissed them, striding towards the other mage and forcing him to his knees with a quick spell, the staff in her hand lighting up as she channeled the power through it. A fireball streamed at her face and she was surprised to see another warlock coming out of the cabin and a third sitting up in a tree. Cursing under her breath she cast a circle of flame around herself and the one already in front of her, grabbing two vials from her bag and tossing them at the other mages. The spell wasn’t meant to last long, but it did the trick as the other’s fell to the ground asleep. The man in front of her was a necromancer, and she wasted little time on him, sucking the air from his lungs and setting him aflame from the inside out. Next she turned to the woman at the door, a familiar by the looks of it, and according to the law she was as equally guilty for not stopping the man. Hour ended her life quickly, snapping her neck with a fast but complicated spell, eliminating the pain as well. The third person was just a boy, only around thirteen or fourteen. She didn’t have the heart to kill him, so instead she bound him tightly with vines and then turned the vines to metal. She couldn’t tell if he was a familiar or a warlock, so she inscribed spells to contain both before she started searching for the gem.

Eventually she found something in the boy’s bag- a moonstone head adornment with swirls of metal twining to make the tiara. Once she found it, she sat outside the shack for some rest, watching the stars and wondering if the damn dragon really was watching, all the while waiting for the boy to awaken, as his companions had already been done away with, hidden in the shack with the door closed and sealed.

He watched her go, and stalked into his apartment, grumbling under his breath as he flung open the doors of his wardrobe. There wasn’t much in here in the manner of clothing, as that he could conjure easily out of nothing, which left room to store other things he didn’t want unexpected visitors to see. Shoving objects aside, he dragged an old dusty mirror out. With a quick fire-polishing, he was good to go. Leaning the mirror against a wall, he called up the image he wished to see. He drifted in and out of sleep while he waited for her to reach her destination, and when she did he sat up straight, eyes narrowed and unblinking while he watched her fight.

When it was over, he finally allowed himself to give in to sleep. When he woke up a couple hours later, the moon was high in the sky, and no sound came from the building apart from the peaceful slumbers of the tenants who lived within. He climbed onto the window ledge and jumped, shifting into his reptilian form in midair.

He landed at the edge of the riverbank, a sweep of his forearm knocking aside a couple saplings that were in his way. With the tip of his nose, he nudged at the boy before turning his gaze on Hour.

“Took you long enough.”

Hour jumped awake at the first breeze of wind and was awake enough to glare daggers at the dragon as it came closer. It was well past high-moon already and if he was going to scold her about taking forever, she would throw a rock at his head.

Sure enough as soon as the dragon opened it’s mouth, she was seething. “Oh you pretentious self serving rude ASSHOLE.” She growled. “You send me on a trip in the dead of night to kill a warlock, his familiar, and his son, and then come back here scolding me about how long I took? Do you have any idea how long I’ve been sitting here?!” She slammed into him with as large a gust of air as she could, pushing some of the larger trees behind him to the point of cracking and breaking.

“Let’s get one thing clear right here and right now. I am NOT some toy you get to play with, dragon or not. I am NOT going to break ANY laws for your stupid trials, which means you are very lucky the warlock was a damn necromancer. And you do not get to act as if I am some ignorant fool!” Her hair was lighting with the static gathering around her, creating a halo about her head.

A crash of thunder sounded above in the clouds as her fiery eyes bore into the dragon. “Do you understand me you overgrown reptile?!” She was pissed, and fuck if she was going to let him treat her like garbage, threat of death or no. If she was going to die like this, then the least she was going to do was keep her dignity. “Now, if you need me, see me tomorrow. I’m going home, giving this boy to the police, and getting some damn sleep. Apparently you’ll know where to find me.” Not even remembering to give him the circlet, she grabbed the boy and placed him on a pocket of air, directing him back through the forest and ignoring the giant scaled beast that apparently lacked manners.

A low growl rumbled deep within him, and it soon turned into a roar. Moments later, his jaw opened wide and he sent a jet of flames after her. While it did not touch her, it did set the forest around her on fire. Lifting off once more into the air, he headed in the opposite direction, thinking to take his frustrations out on a herd of deer he could smell in the distance.

Well-rested and well fed, he was in perfect spirits when he headed into the museum’s vaults in search of a particular item. Shoving piles of treasures aside, a wicked grin crossed his face when he caught sight of a medium-sized box that was shaking of its own accord. Ignoring the incessant rattling inside, he carried it upstairs. He was attempting to put his jacket on the best he could with only one free hand when the door opened.

He stilled for an instant when he caught sight of who it was, still slightly irritated over yesterday’s events. The expression was gone as quickly as it came as he mustered up a smile he usually reserved for customers. “Back already, I see! Is there anything I can help you with?”

Hour felt horrible the next morning as she stumbled into the museum, beating herself up for acting so rashly the night before for the dragon. She had been horrible to him, even if he hadn’t been the kindest to her either. Frankly she was surprised he hadn’t killed her then and there. She had taken the boy back into town and dropped him off at the the police station without a problem, but once she had gotten back to her apartment, she could barely sleep.

She eventually gave up and started tinkering around her workshop, but it didn’t help any. She still couldn’t help the sick feeling in her stomach. Eventually she gave up on that too and instead, dawned some nice comfort clothing- a dark blue tunic and black trousers with a gold cloak draped over her shoulders. She was out of her apartment quickly, hair a white halo about her head. When she got to the museum she had to convince herself to go in. What she didn’t expect to see was Lucifer appearing to be about to leave.

Suddenly it didn’t seem that important again and she was about to leave, but then he noticed her and she couldn’t help how she refused to meet his eyes. “I’m- I was just hoping to talk, but if you’re busy then it’s really not that important.” She kicked her feet slightly, but didn’t turn to leave like she was tempted to.

He finally managed to get his arm through the other sleeve and made an attempt at buttoning the jacket the best he could with one hand. The task proved to be too intricate for his impatient mind, so he settled for simply pulling the jacket closed.

He tilted his head slightly and studied her. She didn’t look too well, and she was acting shy all of a sudden. He thought back to their recent interactions, trying to remember if they had gotten into any arguments or such recently apart from last night.

Then he remembered what had transpired here yesterday. This was a bit awkward. He had no desire to encourage anything between them before she found out what he really was, but it had not been his intention to push her away, either.

“I was actually just going to drop something off for the head of the agency. You could walk with me if you like, or I can just wait. I’m in no hurry.”

Hour took a small breath of relief and nodded. “Yeah, I can walk with you. I have to go brief my boss anyways. That’s what I was hoping to talk to you about.” Yesterdays conversation hadn’t even crossed her mind, her shame too focused on how badly she had screwed up.

“You know how you told me not to give up on that familiar showing up? Well, he did, and I managed to mess it up within the night.” she was cursing herself inside, feeling more hopeless than she had felt when she hadn’t thought anything would come to the summoning. “That’s why I was rushing out of my apartment when you saw me, he sent me on a task. He made me kill a necromancer to get back a little circlet.”

“My boss gave me the summoning spell for a Dragon, Lucifer, and I went and opened my fat mouth against him and pissed him off. I didn’t even get the chance to give him the tiara he told me to get.” Her mind was kicking her, throwing in her face just how badly she had screwed up.

“I don’t know if I can face him again if he shows up. What am I supposed to do?”

“I did hear some chatter about a dragon.” He shouldered his way through the door, holding it open so she could walk through.

He thought carefully on the words at their “first” meeting yesterday and could not recall ordering her to kill anyone. Seeing how a necromancer was involved, however, he supposed she didn’t have much choice in the matter.

She wasn’t exactly wrong about angering a dragon, but he was still slightly displeased about the whole ordeal so he automatically dismissed the thought of soothing her worries on that front, no matter how much he wanted that tiara back in his lair where it belonged. Right now, though, she wasn’t addressing a dragon. She was just seeking advice from Lucifer, the eccentric museum curator.

“Did he give you a means of contact? If not, I doubt there is anything you can do except wait.” He frowned, deep in thought as he considered how to help her without seeming too sympathetic to the dragon. “We may be able to bully the library into giving up some of their books on magical beings, I imagine you’ve already read everything your agency has to offer on the subject.”

Hourglass rubbed her arms through the sleeves of her petticoat, looking away from Lucifer to try and put a smile back on her face. She didn’t need to ruin his day with her problems. He had better things to worry about then her likeliness to have a shorter lifespan than previously anticipated.

“You’re right, I’m probably jumping to conclusions too soon anyways.” She looked back at him as they walked, a forced smile on her face. “I doubt the library is going to be so kind to let you get into their collection after you bought that collection right out from under their grubby little hands, but I certainly would appreciate it if you could help me arrange it.”

Hour finally noticed the package and furrowed her brow. “What do you have for the head of the agency? I didn’t realize we needed anything for any cases going on.” She couldn’t imagine they really needed anything unless a new case came in while Hour was off traipsing in the forest for the dragon.

“The head librarians, no. But one of the assistants owes me a couple favors, and the other one just does whatever I ask for some reason. Within reason, naturally.”

He stumbled on an uneven groove in the sidewalk, nearly losing the load in his arms in the process. Grumbling slightly, he shifted the package slightly so he had a better view of the ground in front of him.

“People don’t seem to know whether magical items they find belong at the museum or at the agency, so they usually just guess. This dish set has a nasty habit of biting people who try to use it, but holds no historical value whatsoever.” He shrugged, a little half smile crossing his face. “That, and I was accused of conspiring with known fugitives. Again. So I’m showing my appreciation for their hard work.” And venting his anger for someone having the audacity to casually give away magic that had an effect on dragons, but she didn’t need to know that.

Hour let out a laugh as Lucifer stumbled, covering her mouth to stifle it. “Thanks, Luci, it means a lot that you’re willing to help.” She brushed a strand of snowy hair out of her eyes, not even realizing she had slipped up and used the nickname she only called him in her head. “You sure you don’t want me to help you with that? Seems like the curse might be throwing off your balance through the- hopefully warded- Box.” She pressed her lips together, teeth biting the bottom lip.

“I think this is the first time you’ve actually had one addressed directly to the boss, did he accuse you directly this time?” She raised a playful eyebrow at him. She didn’t know why she relaxed around him so much- or why he was able to completely turn her mood around so quickly- but it was a relief. “I think he deserves more than a bite from this particular dish set, though. I think he should be burned after giving me a spell to summon a dragon of all things. I think I might just let him have a taste of my magic for this one, or maybe just send that guy from floor 2 after him. I’m sure he’d loooove to sink his teeth into a chimera.” It wasn’t a secret that her boss was a familiar rather than a warlock, but no one cared.

Hour stopped outside the doors to her work building- one of the only buildings in town with a glass door. Heavily enchanted to prevent vandalism, of course. “After you, mister museum man.”

Luci. He mouthed the word a couple times before shaking his head and glowering at her. “I have superb balance, thank you very much. It’s the city council that is to blame, pouring more money into useless border patrol than into simple maintenance.” He punctuated his rant by kicking aside a loose piece of stone that was in his way, rather than step over it like everyone else was doing.

“Your charming leader signed his name on a document that allowed a surprise visit from his minions that put off quite a few potential patrons. Anyone would be upset.”

He frowned at the doors. “Shouldn’t it be ladies first?” He tugged at the door handle with some difficulty due to having his hands full. “A little help please? I’m a guest here, after all.”

Hour rolled her eyes and used her magic to push the door in. “Push or pull door, the or being the important part. Besides, most people wouldn’t exactly say I’m very lady like in the first place, in fact I think half of them would demand my job if I was.” Hour followed Lucifer inside and let the door swing closed behind them. From the front desk a small cat transformed into a human- the secretary and familiar to the evidence room guardsman.

“Horatia Elien Tien what the hell did you get yourself into?! And don’t tell me the god damn historian is the dragon or I might just have the boos fire you myself! The whole station has been filled to the brim with panicked reports about a dragon and then you up and disappear?! James is going to have your head for this one!” The young man was hissing, slit eyes gleaming despite the fact that he had already transformed.

“Mister Morrow isn’t the dragon, Winston, and I’m going to see the captain now, no need to get your whiskers in a twist. Besides, James is the one who gave me the damn ritual without telling me what it was to begin with. I have every intention of feeding him his own tail if I make it through these damn trials- and then feeding him to the dragon for good measure. Do you think giving it food will make up for my idiocy last night? He seems like he would like a nice juicy goat.”

“I personally think you should avoid further insulting the beast. Predators would rather hunt than be fed.” He set the package down on the desk. It gave one shake of its own accord before remaining still.

He raised an eyebrow as his gaze rested on the desk. “You’ve redecorated! At least someone is still sensible around here. To be fair, I did write a note to the effect that the last delivery should be opened immediately, so the blame rests entirely on your own head. Come to think of it… can cats even read?”

He grinned, thoroughly amused at the idea of causing a panic. He had been so entirely focused on Hour at the time that he had not noticed the reactions of any witnesses. He made a mental note to pay closer heed to his surroundings next time. “If you can’t manage something as simple as track down something as large as a dragon, then perhaps a change in management is in order. Old age happens even to the best of us. Where is the little crossbreed, by the way? Is there a bell to summon him with?”

Hour grumbled at Lucifer’s comments, a soft “I never said a a dead goat” escaping a little louder than the rest. While Lucifer continued talking to Winston, Hour saw James walking around in the cubicles, and stormed towards him. “Captain Kamaer!” She called, her face settling into a stone cold mask of anger. He had played her like a fiddle. It wasn’t exactly secret that the chimera practically worshiped dragons, nor that his dream was to have a warlock strong enough to bond with one beneath him, but that didn’t give him a good enough reason to use her the way he had. Sure she was strong, but he as now risking her life without even telling her what she was getting into.

“Miss Tien, I thought you took the day off. What is Mister Morrow doing here?” the Chimera was staring directly at Lucifer as if he knew something no one else did. From her pocket, Hour pulled out the flower she had to get for the spell and threw it at his feet.

“Congratulations, James, you’ll probably be losing your best damn officer by the end of the week because you couldn’t just tell me what the fuck the spell summoned. I would give you this too but it’s probably the only reason I’m not dead yet!” Winston seemed to be about to reprimand Hour for the outburst but quick as a whistle, Hour cast a silencing charm. She pulled the circlet from her jacket as well and held it up so he could see it. “Next time don’t send someone into a possibly life threatening situation without a little warning you utter jackass.”

Catching sight of the captain, Lucifer straightened up, but Hour was already storming across the room. Deciding to wait this out so as to let nothing distract from his reason of being here, he leaned against the desk, picking up a pen and idly doodling on a piece of paper sitting on the desk.

A tantalizing scent assaulted his senses, and he glanced up in time to see that accursed flower fall to the floor. His nose twitched and his brow furrowed, still annoyed at the idea that a tiny little plant could have such an impact on his behavior.

His attention was drawn to a glint of light and his eyes narrowed at the familiar object that was grasped in Hour’s hand. He could feel a low inaudible growl building in the back of his throat as he battled against the sharp instinct to return what was his to his lair. The desire to rip off the arm that was keeping his treasure from him was very strong, and it was only the sudden heat building at his fingertips that snapped him back to attention.

He was back on his feet in an instant, pen and paper falling to the floor. As all eyes were drawn to him, he curled his fists tight. “Where’s your washroom? I don’t feel so well. I think I’m going to…” He rushed off in the general direction of said room, guided by vague memories of his last visit here.

Hour heard the crash and whipped around to look. With a small curse she pushed the circlet into her pocket once more and shot a glare over at the captain. “This conversation isn’t over, got it? I’m not done with you.” She moved to run after Lucifer and see if he needed help, but a hand on her elbow pulling her back stopped her. She hissed and yanked out of the captains grasp, magic twitching in her finger tips.

“Let me, I’ll make sure mister Morrow is alright. as for your outburst we will discuss it later, in my office, after mister Morrow has left. I suggest you wait there.” The captain was calm as he spoke, the dragons whisper flower twirling between the pads of his fingers. He walked on before Hour could stop him, gliding down the hall to the washroom which he pushed open with his foot.

“Mister Lucifer Morrow. You know, I recognized you weren’t human off the bat. So what are you? Unicorn? Manticore?” He paused as he tossed the flower onto the ground in front of Lucifer, “Dragon?”

James approached closer, right into Lucifer’s space as he crushed the flower underfoot. “Doesn’t matter, Miss Tien doesn’t know the power you have, even if you stink of it. But pass on a message if you do see the dragon, would you? At the end of the day she belongs to me, and it would be wise to keep that in mind.”

Once he was finally alone, Lucifer allowed himself to lean against the wall, drawing in an unsteady breath. He opened his hands, staring at the angry red blisters that had appeared on the palms from his barely successful efforts to keep the fire contained without anyone noticing. He let water run over the wounds until they finally faded away and turned his attention to calming himself. Deep steady breaths.

It shook him how close he had come to attacking someone he considered almost a friend. It had been years since he had lost control like that, and longer still since he had done so in front of other people.

His nose scrunched up. There it was again; that curious scent, drawing nearer. His heart skipped a beat as panic started to rise. Of course she would come to check on him; he had claimed to be ill after all.

The door opened, and in walked not Hour, but the captain. For a moment relief set in, until the man’s words started to register. The flower made yet another appearance, and irritation rose- would he never be rid of that thing? The scent grew stronger as it was crushed, and the irritation gave way to anger.

In an inhumanly fast flash of movement, he was gripping the captain by the throat and whirling around, slamming him into the wall. “You can bark orders all you want to your own underlings, but I am not one of them and I am certainly not your messenger. Find the dragon and tell him yourself, if you have the spine to do so!”

Releasing the man, he stormed across the room, yanking the door open with a crash and seething with a barely-controlled rage.

A sick grin split James’ face. He wasn’t afraid of what Lucifer could do, not in his human form. And if he wanted he was free to transform, the other might not have the option if he was so set on keeping his other form a secret. All of a sudden, Lucifer was gone and James could breath again- not that he ever couldn’t.

Hour’s head snapped to attention when she heard the crash, magic jumping out and creating a ball of water in her hand. Most times when there were fights a fire somehow broke out, so it was really a force of habit. When she saw it was just Lucifer she banished the water and stepped in front of him, a placating hand out in front of her as she searched him with her eyes, checking to see if he was hurt.

“Lucifer, Lucifer calm down. What happened? Do you need me to walk you back to the museum? The apartments?” She was going to kill the captain that was for certain. Lucifer had run in there looking sick, not like he was about to murder someone. All thoughts of the dragon went out the window as Hour met Lucifer’s eyes, trying to catch his attention enough to try to help calm him down.

“Do you want me to send a fire message to Jenkins?” Jenkins worked at the museum, he was Lucifer’s second in command from what she could tell. She personally found him unnerving but Lucifer seemed to trust and depend on him and that’s what mattered at the moment.

He shuddered to a halt when he realized he was in the open again. A tiny part of him was disappointed but a larger part was relieved to note the visible absence of the small trinket. This made things far less complicated. His head was already slightly clearer, but his brief conversation with the chimera had still rattled him.

He shook his head, forcing his voice to sound calm. “That won’t be necessary. I think I’d just like to be out of this place already. Although, if you’d let Jenkins know I’m on my way, that would be lovely, thank you.” It was an innocent sounding message, but Jenkins would know something was up if Lucifer was notifying him of his impending arrival.

As he passed by the desk, he laid a seemingly idle hand on the box, sending a wave of heat through it- not enough to be visible, but just enough to rile up the cursed dishware inside. As a frenzied rattling rose up inside the box, Lucifer turned his attention to the secretary. “Do be sure that gets to your fearless leader, will you? I picked it out especially for him.”

Turning around, he gave Hour what he hoped was a reassuring smile, even as he stepped backward toward the door. “Perhaps I’ll see you later? I would love to know what kind of reception my little gift inspired.”

Hour grabbed a piece of parchment and scribbled a short message on it and then adding the rune to the back before she conjured a small flame and the parchment went up in ashes, swept away by an invisible breeze. She grabbed Lucifer’s arm and met his eyes but paused before saying anything, chewing her gums.

“I’m…. You know you can talk to me right?” She pinched her lip between her teeth and looked away. “I’ll come to your apartment? I can renew that waterproofing enchantment on your windows while I’m there.” The air was tingling with the energy of an approaching thunderstorm, so catching it early would be better than having to go around during the day while the electricity was screwing with her energy.

She took a step back and released Lucifer gently. “ I hope you feel better, you looked pretty green earlier. Get some rest. Kamaer is trying to get my attention, so I better go.” She shuffled on her feet for a second before grabbing the box of dishes none to gently an turning to go to the captains office. She pushed it into the captains arms as she pulled open the door, anger returning in stride now that she wasn’t focusing on Lucifer. “It’s a gift, your hands only.” she didn’t say who it was from, standing with her hands braced on a chair leaning slightly forward. James walked on looking at the gift in interest as he rounded his desk and sat in his chair, a look of almost boredom upon his face.

“I’m just going to point out you said you were willing to try anything and you didn’t ask what it was you would be summoning. You’re powerful, Horatia, probably the most powerful person in this building. If anyone were able to survive a dragon’s trials it would be you. I believe in you. You should believe in yourself, too.”

“James that isn’t the problem! You put me in a dangerous situation with no warning! You manipulated me to achieve what you wanted! You think I don’t know that you want a dragon in the agency?! You think I don’t know about your fascination with the fire wars?! Congratulations. Now I’m completely unprepared, and the damn Dragon is pissed at me because I went and opened my big fat mouth!” Hour huffed and ran a hand through her hair.

“Horatia- Hourglass. Look at me. Has your magic responded with hostility to the dragon? Did it jump to your defense when the dragon appeared? Or is it reaching out? What does your magic want?” James spoke softly as his eyes met hers, his head bowed slightly.

“How my magic is acting is none of your damn business, Captain, and it doesn’t make up for this. I could die for this, you understand that right? Whatever. I’m going home now. I have to find a way to give the damn dragon his jewelry back.” She straightened and pulled open the door to the office, slamming it closed as she left. She paused outside the office, watching through one of the windows as the captain unpacked the dishes, a smile lighting up her gloomy mood as one of them literally bit him, small cuts appearing on his hand with every dish he touched. Cursing could be heard and then a crash as one of the dishes hit the floor. After the main show, she left without a word to anyone else, heading straight for her apartment like she said she would.

“I did something I shouldn’t have.” That was what he chose to open with while he tried to figure out how to ask Jenkins the question that had been bothering him the whole way here.

The older dragon merely raised an eyebrow. “What else is new?”

Lucifer’s eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t you tell me there were plants that could affect us?” he demanded, his tone accusatory.

“Not ‘plants.’ Just a single plant.” Jenkins corrected with a smirk. The smile faded however as the implications of the question sunk in. “Oh dear. Were there people around?” The younger dragon’s jaw clenched, which Jenkins took as a yes. “Do you want to try contacting Ash? I’m sure we can get that mirror working this time.” With a low growl, Lucifer shook his head. He did not have the patience to put up with the quirks of a magic mirror that was missing a piece. “Hmm. Back room it is, then. I do believe there is some furniture you didn’t manage to destroy during your last tantrum.”

He spent the next couple of days avoiding his neighbor and behaving himself for a change so as not to give the agency a reason not to send anyone over to the museum. He was ashamed of anyone having seen him liked that and needed time to pull himself together. He swore he wouldn’t allow them to catch him off guard like that again.

His plan of avoiding his problems was disrupted when he was delayed at the bottom floor of the apartment building by the little old lady who insisted on handing out freshly baked sweets to everyone who passed. A pair of neighbors were blocking the doorway during their long-winded praises and thanks. Lucifer was seriously debating the merits of simply shoving them all out of the way, when something in the air shifted.

He turned to greeted her with an exasperated smile. “Someone’s been doing some early baking. Who even gets up that early by choice?”

Hour felt bad. It had nearly been a week since she had so much as glimpsed Lucifer. Initially she thought that he had gone on a trip for work- there was that mages weapon that showed up at a museum in Farous in the north that Hour was considering going to see. But by the way Jenkins had ushered Hour out with a claim that Lucifer was ‘too busy to put up with a pesky little witch’ she figured he was probably either avoiding her or something actually came up.

To say she was slightly surprised to see Lucifer in the hall being held up by the woman in the apartment below hers was an understatement. She hid a small smile and shook her head at his usual antics. She was probably just playing up what wasn’t there in the stress from the lack of contact the dragon was providing.

“Oh, I don’t know maybe someone who’s celebrating the birth of her grandchild.” Hour smiled and approached the woman, offering her congratulations and making small talk as she herself accepted a small pouch of the treats. She easily talked her way through the hall by making the excuse that she had to go deliver her morning tonics. The side job she had no problem doing for the extra cash.

She waited just around the corner for Lucifer, a small smirk playing against her mouth as she tossed the bag of sweets between her hands. “You know, I’m pretty sure Miss Moriss wont bite if you said you needed to get by politely.” She pushed herself off the wall and walked beside him, kicking her legs out as she stepped, arms clutched behind her back.

“Whatcha been up to? I tried stopping by the museum earlier this week to check some of my enchantments to make sure they stayed in place, but Jenkins shooed me away.”

“Easy for you to say. She keeps trying to convince me to give a lecture or two at the academy. I am a historian, not a teacher.” He slipped his new acquisition into one of the many pockets in his coat and redid the buttons.

“We’re starting to draw up plans for the next renovation- that time of year is just about here again. And pestering Myers. He moved his tavern closer to the center of the city, which means the old site next to the museum is just gathering dust. I have competition, though, so I have to stay on my toes if I want that expansion.” An almost predatory grin flashed briefly on his face at the prospect of a new challenge.

He fell into step beside her. “You know the head librarian is out of town this week? It shouldn’t be too difficult to sweet talk the assistants into giving us access to the restricted books in the back room. If you’re up for it, that is.”

“Another renovation? Lucifer you get one every spring!” Hour laughed and looked at him with amusement lighting her gaze. “How you don’t own the entire building complex yet I have no idea but at this rate you have more money invested into historical objects than the bank has in it’s vaults. Hell, you might be giving the dr-” She cut herself off before she could finish the comment. She wasn’t going to bring up the dragon right now, it was a sure way to sour her mood. “the landlord a run for his money, and he owns half the real estate in the city.”

“If you want some help with dealing, I’m willing to put up some wards on the new site for him if he cuts you a deal. Wards are pretty easy and I like your museum too much to not see what you would put into the extension.” Hour stopped next to an apartment and pulled out a small vial, placing it into the mail slot, along with a note detailing the directions.

Hearing about the prospect of getting into the library had Hour whipping around to look at him, walking backwards to keep up. “When? I’m basically free until I can get this thing with the…. trials figured out. The captain is refusing to assign me anything at the moment in case anything happens. I mean, maybe not right this second as I do have to finish my deliveries, but other than that.”

“Give it time; I can be patient on occasion. One day I will be mayor and own this whole place and Kitten will retire, thereby making you captain. We will rule the city with an iron fist.” He winked at her playfully to show he wasn’t serious at all. He had no intention of ever getting cozy with politicians.

“I might just take you up on your offer. You know the other guy wants to set up a butcher shop there? The smell alone will drive all the business away.” He wasn’t above sabotage to get his way, but if he could close the deal without drawing suspicion he and Jenkins can get straight to work without being delayed by law enforcement.

“I need to visit the carpenter to see about getting some furniture replacements made, and then I’ll have some free time. Perhaps we can meet up for lunch and then stop by the library?”

Hour grinned at that, shoulders shaking with silent laughter. He certainly knew how to lighten the mood. “The metal fist in your museum is good enough for me. I hate paperwork enough as it is, I don’t need to be saddled with even more. Could you imagine me sitting at a desk all day? I would be a total grump.”

“A butcher? Who? I know a better place than next to your museum for them to set up shop. There was a little bakery near the south shore market that got closed down after the owner died. Francis was talking about it when he came in to put up the new listings. I can get you a copy of the information to give to your competition, instead. That way the price doesn’t get jacked up in a bidding war.” She tossed a snowy wave over her shoulder as she back walked, head held high.

She let out a surprised squeak as she found herself on the floor, the heal of her boot have caught the edge of the carpet and brought her down hard on her butt. Her face lit up like a tomato as what happened caught up to her. Lucifer was right there and she had just made a fool of herself.

“Uhm- uh- y-yeah Lunch sounds- Lunch would be- Yea. How about…uh… How does high noon sound- at that little fish and chips place- the- uh- the Spinners hook!” She stuttered through the embarrassment and got to her feet, eyes trained to the ground in front of her.

“Not that I don’t enjoy a good healthy fight, but it does take the fun out of it when the prices get raised. Despite popular opinion, I don’t actually like spending more than I need to.” Just enough to make everything match his expectations. In spite of his words, he was very picky and very sure of what he wanted, and since he had the resources to spare, he might as well use them.

He blinked, startled, as she flailed until she ended up on the floor. With lightning quick reflexes, he reached out to catch a bottle that had fallen out of her pocket as she went, not knowing whether or not it was dangerous to let it hit the ground and break. When one spent time with warlocks, there was no telling what manner of objects they were carrying around. Not that he had room to talk, of course, with the ridiculous amount of pockets he had on his coat.

An amused smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he stared down at her. He made a movement as if to help her to her feet, but she managed just fine on her own.

“Well, then it’s a date, Miss Tien. I think I can manage high noon. I will see you later.” He stepped past her, but before leaving he turned. “I do believe you can stay upright much longer if you were walking forward. Evidently you do not have eyes in the back of your head. Just a suggestion.”

Hour sputtered at what his words entailed, the pink tint not leaving her cheeks as she avoided looking him in the eye. She pat her pockets and noticed one of the vials missing. She cast around but couldn’t find it. With a sigh she rubbed her temples and cast a tracking spell, watching the green string light up in front of her, leading to Lucifer who was halfway down the hall already. She would have to get it later, her dignity didn’t know if she could handle facing him right now.

Hour managed to not break the vials as she delivered the rest, going back up to her apartment after the last drop off to get her regular coat and cloak, the slight nip in the air meant she needed the additional layer. She also grabbed her translation glasses for the library, just in case they need a new one. The tiara she had been carrying around in case the dragon showed up was also secured in her coat, just in case.

She arrived at the Spinners Hook with some time to spare, so she spent some time outside with the little kids in the nearby park, creating little figures in the air. A fire dragon here, an ice butterfly there. She even made a pretty flower crown for one of the little girls. A soft smile lit her face as they ran back to their parents in glee. She didn’t miss the suspicious looks she got from the parents, many mundanes still thought that warlocks were the devil incarnate, but she was glad she could at least make the kids happy.

With a small sigh, she got up and made her way to the Spinners Hook.

He spent the morning arguing with the carpenter. Jenkins wanted matching mahogany furniture, and since Lucifer was the one who ruined what they had he felt it was only fair to give him what he wanted. In the end, Lucifer grew fed up with the whole ordeal and set up a meeting between Jenkins and the craftsman.

He left the shop, breathing in the fresh air and thoroughly relieved to be outside again. Slipping his hands in his pockets, he felt something odd and his brow furrowed. Pulling it out, he sighed in exasperation upon realizing it was one of his neighbor’s bottles.

Shaking his head, he slip the vial back in his pocket and headed toward the Spinner’s Hook. There was a group of children running around, and he reflexively reached out to catch a ball that was thrown his way. He tossed the ball in the kids’ direction without even looking their way and stepped past them.

Arriving at his destination, his hand reached out to push the door open at the same time as someone else, his hand resting on top of theirs. Glancing up, he realized it was Hour. With a sheepish smile, he withdrew his hand and stepped back. “After you.”

Hour ducked her head and pushed open the door. It was self seating so Hour lead them over to booth style seat by the window overlooking the park. The view out the window had a good shot of the mountains as well, the snow tipped peaks rising in the distance serving as a border to the neighboring kingdom.

A waitress came over and took their drink orders immediately and once she as gone, Hour turned her attention to Lucifer. “I don’t know if I’ve said it yet, but thank you for helping me and offering to get me into the library and all that, it means a lot, especially with everything dangling over my head right now.” she ran a hand through her hair and smiled a tired smile at him.

“This isn’t the time for that stuff right now, though.” A shit eating grin split her face,”Have you ever been here before? Best fish and chips place in town, and they make a killer peach cobbler too.”

“Oh, don’t thank me yet. I’ve been itching for an excuse to get into that back room, and we don’t know that we’ll actually find anything that will help you.” Much as he was professing that this trip was self-serving, however, he likely would never have gotten the motivation to attempt this what with the museum keeping him occupied.

“Once perhaps? A few years ago. I don’t often venture away from my work. Still, you can’t go wrong with sweets.” Not to mention he wasn’t really supposed to let people get that used to his presence. He made exceptions for pushing at people who annoyed him.

His gaze drifted towards the mountains, automatically focusing on the two distant peaks that hid from view the one that hosted his lair, idly wondering if it was time to switch out the museum’s current displays for fresh artifacts. He broke out of his reverie when his drink was set in front of him. He glanced across the table, color rising in his cheeks at the thought of being caught daydreaming, and he attempted to cover it up.

“So, you’ve got yourself a little bit of a vacation. That must be nice.”

Hour watched him as he stared off into the mountains. The more she thought about it, she realized that he didn’t let himself relax like that, at least not that she had ever seen. That was only the side thought to the way he looked with the sun hitting his face the way it was, highlighting the soft tones of his skin.

She let out a small laugh when he turned back and blushed. Waving a hand as if she were brushing the comment away she shook her head and looked down at the table. “It’s not really a vacation…. I can barely relax the way it is. At this point it feels like I’ve got my head stuck in a guillotine waiting for the mighty drake to drop the line.” she snorted and swirled the spoon in her tea, avoiding meeting his eyes. Thinking about it, she was glad Lucifer didn’t take her up on the idea of a date. It meant one less reason for someone to miss her.

“But I’m not going to get into the dragon right now, I’ll be spending enough time trying to work those issues out later when we go to the library.”She searched her brain for something else to talk about and her mouth opened in a silent ‘oh’.

“Hey, This morning did you happen to pick up one of my potion vials? I tried to complete my rounds but I couldn’t find it. The only place I could have lost it was when I -uh- When I took the tumble.” It was her turn to have the blush rise to her cheeks as she brought up the unfortunate incident.

He reached into his pocket, pulling out the object in question. One corner of his mouth lifted in amusement as he slid the bottle across the table. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You can’t be a graceful little bird all the time.”

Catching the scent of food, his head tilted slightly and his eyes slid to zero in expectantly on the door to the kitchen until it opened moments later. He waited patiently for the waitress to set their plates in front of them before speaking again. “What do you think about a greenhouse? It might give my nastier patrons a place to go when the main attractions offend them. Unless I add magical plants. Maybe I’ll even find one that will swallow them whole.” A wicked grin spread across his face. “I can hardly be blamed if someone doesn’t follow instructions properly.”

Jenkins naturally thought it was a ridiculous idea. He couldn’t see why they couldn’t simply plant a garden if Lucifer was so dead set on having magical plants around. “The only problem being that it can’t be so easily moved around when we want to renovate. Plants don’t seem to like to be moved. A bit rude of them.”

Hour examined the vial before pocketing it as the food came. “If the main attractions offend them so much they shouldn’t be visiting a magical museum in the first place.” She shrugged as she took a bite of the food that had been set down in front of her. “I mean, it would be a nice addition, maybe on the roof, but don’t do it for the prissy brats who can’t show respect for other people’s heritage.”

“Plus if you put it on the roof it shouldn’t have many problems if you need to do a renovation- unless that renovation means adding another entire floor to the building. But that’seems a bit overkill for a reno.” Quirking an eyebrow she considered the idea “Plus if you get some of the rarer plants that are used in spells and potions you might be able to harvest some of them as they grow and sell it for additional profit. Lord knows there are some plants out there worth a fortune for just a little bit.”

The rest of lunch was filled with similar small talk, gossip about rare artifacts and magical items and museum exhibits across the area opening. When the check came Hour grabbed it before Lucifer could try to pay for it himself. “My treat, you’re already getting me into the library.”

He raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t like he was struggling to get by. But moments later he merely shrugged, never one to turn people down when they were offering to pay for something. Slipping his jacket on, he walked outside with her toward the library, pointing out odd cloud formations to pass the time as they went.

The moment they stepped through the door, the assistant was in front of them, blushing even as her eyes went wide in nervousness. “Mr. Morrow, you shouldn’t be here! You know you’ve just been banned from the library!”

“Vera, I’m here on an urgent mission. Let me in just this once? No one has to know.” He gave an apologetic shrug and put on a little half smile that usually got him whatever he wanted.

Vera wavered for just a moment, then she shook her head. “Matron will be so angry!”

Knowing a simple please wasn’t going to cut it this time, Lucifer quickly changed tactics. He placed his hands on Hour’s shoulders and gave her a slight shake. “Look at this poor girl! She has a death cloud hanging over her head and she’s shaking like a leaf! All we want is to have a visit in the Room.”

When the girl still hesitated, Lucifer tilted his head, brow furrowed in a feigned look of pure disappointment. “Vera. Do you really want it on your conscience forever because you made this one little decision that could be the difference between life and death? Knowledge should never be denied to anyone for this exact reason!”

Vera sighed and pressed a little brass key into his hand. “Fine. But don’t tell Matron I let you in.”

Lucifer gave her a blinding smile. “Vera, you are my hero!” Dropping the key into Hour’s hand, he led her to the back of the library where there was a locked iron door. “That wasn’t so difficult, was it?”

Hour watched the exchange with barely concealed mirth, especially when he started shaking her shoulders. She could barely hold in the laughter enough to nod along to what he was saying. He may have a taste for the dramatic, but Hourglass herself was a horrible actor, at least when the situation didn’t hinge upon her ability to play a part.

As she entered the room she let out the laughter and wiped the tears of amusement out of her eyes. “That poor girl is absolutely in love with you and a total fool to top it all off. An urgent mission? Life an death? Really?” She took a deep breath to calm herself and watched him. “Even a library of information stands no chance against dragon fire. All the books would burn.” She said it as lighthearted as possible despite the fact that her heart fell in her chest.

“Now! How about we dig into some books, hmm? What are you looking for in here so I can keep an eye out while I search.” She spoke while slipping on her translating spectacles before starting down the first row of the old texts.

Most of the books lined up on the shelves lining the wall were old and worn, the bindings made of different leathers- some of them even dragon hide or chimera skin, there was even a feathered cover on one of the books on griffins. The one that unnerved her the most was the one book on warlock physiology she saw with human skin binding- from a warlock based on the faint trace of magic coming off it.

“So Lucifer, how did you get banned from the library this time? They can’t just ban you because you out bid them on a book collection.”

“Is this not urgent? We are on a time limit after all. What if our beloved Matron has a change of plans and has to turn around and come straight back home? I am certain your charming boss will jump at a chance to arrest me.”

He shut the door behind him and stared at the books. He had not expected to get this far and needed to take a moment to gather his thoughts. His mind immediately latched onto the thing that had been bothering him for the past couple weeks: her flower, the accursed plant that started all this to begin with. He could not find mentions of it anywhere, and he could not find a way to ask Hour or any other knowledgeable person about it without raising suspicion. History was supposed to be his forte, after all, not plants.

“Magical plants. I encountered one in my work that I did not recognize and can’t find information on it anywhere. I don’t want to be surprised by it again.” That was as close to the truth as he could get. “And possibly broken magic mirrors. Jenkins and I cannot find the missing piece to the one we have anywhere.”

A sick feeling roiled in the pit of his stomach when he saw the bindings on some of the books, and he had to take a step back for a moment in order to let the feeling pass. Why did people feel the need to skin magical creatures for something as mundane as book bindings? There were spells that did the job just as well.

“I have been accused of tampering with the wards that keep cursed beings out. They were weak enough that magic was not needed to break them, so anyone could have done it, but since I was here at the same time that a vampire found his way in…” he let his voice trail off and gave her an impish grin. “They couldn’t prove anything, but a book was stolen, so they had to take action somehow. I’m sure you had to have at least heard of the fiasco. I got to meet your adorable little owl and her charming partner. Those two are new, aren’t they?”

Hour listened even as she read title after title on the spines of books. They were probably going to be there for a while, considering how many books there were to look through. “Oh James is a drama queen and he knows it too, and even if he did find us he wouldn’t arrest us. I’m too powerful of a witch for him to arrest and he’s all about fairness. If he doesn’t arrest me he wont arrest you. At least, this time.”

Hour pulled a tome off the shelf that had curling vines on it- an illustrated book on magical plants. It was big enough that it should be all he needed to find the plant he was looking for. Setting it on the table in the center of the room, she dusted her hands off. “I have a book similar to this that focuses more on rare plants at home if you can’t find what you need in this one. It’s how I found that stupid flower for the dragon summoning.” Going back to the shelves, hour continued her search until she found a book on dragon behaviors. Grabbing the big book off the highest shelf in the room seemed to be a poor idea- considering she almost dropped it pulling it off the shelf. She did manage to cart the tome over to the table though, and she set it down with a huff.

“If you mirror is missing pieces, I can always track them for you. If I can’t find them then you might want to actually look into finding a way for it to work again without them.” Hour ruffled her hair and took a seat in one of the provided chairs, flipping open the book to start trying to find what she would need to placate the angry flying reptile.

“Oh my gosh, that was you?! They were probationary agents that James took on. That was their first job- they were terrified when they came back. they thought because they couldn’t catch the kid who did it they were going to be fired.” with a jolt Hour snapped her eyes up to look at him.

“Hang on a second- Don’t tell me you know the little eternal ten year old! He’s as big a pain in the agency’s ass as you are!”

“Odd that this is in here. You would think they would want people to be aware of which plants to avoid. I have come across quite a few people who were strangled to death by the sentient vines in the mountains. If they had only had a bit of sugar water on them, they would still be alive.”

He fell silent for a moment, flipping idly through pages and weighing the pros and cons of having this book go missing from the library as well. Anyone could waltz in here like they just had and con the librarians into letting them in here.

“You are never going to catch him so long as you continue thinking of him as a kid. He is older than almost everyone in this town.” His voice trailed off as he reached a section in the book devoted to plants that affected magical beings. Bypassing the chairs completely, he slid down to the floor and leaned against the shelf instead. “Zaze and I go way back…” he murmurred absently, his mind no longer on the conversation. After a few minutes of reading, he shook his head and looked up at her, realizing he had drifted in the middle of a conversation. “I’m sorry. Were you saying something?”

“Most of the people who end up injured in the mountains end up that way because they didn’t even try to do research before going out there. There is a book out in the main library that has all the local flora and fauna with illustrations and warnings. It was one of the first things I checked out the first time I came to the library. The reason that one is back here is because the cover is enchanted. The vines are currently trying to grow over your fingers.” Hour laughed and pointed at the book in his hands. The enchantment itself she recognized- completely harmless but would still scare any regular patron who didn’t expect it.

“I’ve never even tried to go after him- not worth it. I can’t say I’ve met him before either. I’ve only ever heard about him. He’s quite the topic around the agency when he starts causing trouble.”

Hour sighed and went back to her reading but paused when something occurred to her- “Hang on, you said almost. How many immortals do you know in this town? I mean I realize you’re probably one based on the fact that you haven’t aged a day in the three years I’ve known you and no one knows that much history and looks like their twenty, but how many can there be? This town isn’t that big.”

When he asked her to repeat she laughed and shook her head. “I was asking how many immortals you knew in town.”

“There should be a section in the library specifically marked for magic-related books, rather than shove them all back here to be forgotten.” He took a moment to adjust his grip on the book, disentangling one hand from the spine so he could turn the page. “If they were as dangerous as they think it is, then it belongs at the Agency.”

He blinked, startled as he was suddenly faced with a picture of the plant that was currently the bane of his existence. The illustration showed a rather life-like image of a cluster of the flowers, which almost gave off the illusion that they were moving in the wind. Although, judging by what kind of book it was, anything was possible.

He tore his eyes away from the page to fix his companion with a sharp, calculating stare. Years of experience told him to be careful what he shared, but they were trying to form a partnership which meant some level of trust needed to be shared, even if she wasn’t yet aware that he was the one she was attempting to form a bond with. “There are only a handful in town,” he said at last. It wasn’t the answer to her question, but it was more than he would give anyone else.

His eyes flicked downward and he nodded his head at the book in front of her. “Any luck so far?”

Hourglass narrowed her eyes at the response but let it go. She had other things to worry about besides the dodgy answer on the subject. The book she had in her hand was the last of 3, the other two being dead ends with nothing about behavior of dragons in them. She really just wanted to have the answer magically appear for her, but she new better. No spell could find information for her.

“No luck, most books containing accurate information about dragons doesn’t contain anything on their behaviour and instead only on their physical aspects and abilities. This books says it has a chapter on their behavior, but I can’t find it. It jumps from 12 to 14.” She sighed. “ This is no-” she cut off after finding the single page of chapter 13. A single paragraph characterizing how dragons we’re finicky, clever, and behaved much like humans or snakes. “Great. I’m no farther forward than I was before. Did you get everything you needed at least?”

“That’s too bad. People with enough interest in the more dangerous creatures to be of any use would much rather hunt them than write about them.” He glanced down at the page he was reading and then closed the book with a shrug. “I have a name, at least, which means I now know of other places to research. Plants are so much easier than people.”

He stood up and cast a glance out the window at the setting sun. “Where did the time go? I need to tell Jenkins he has an appointment, preferably before the person he is meeting arrives.” He gathered up her pile of books along with his own and started putting them back on the shelf.

He hesitated, thinking of the private library at the museum. He gave himself a mental shake; the book on familiars he had read said nothing about needing extra preparation, and it was best not to test Jenkins’ patience at this time. “You got through one trial already. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Hourglass gathered up the rest of their things as well as the key they needed to return to the assistant librarian before they left. Pushing the chair back into the desk, she turned to watch Lucifer and the way his shirt strained when he reached up to a higher shelf.

“I could have put that back up with my magic you know.” She stated, crossing her arms. Once the last book was on the shelf she led the way out of the room, giving the key to the assistant as she passed. The sun outside showed that it was well past noon, and Hour needed to get to the markets soon if she had any hope of picking up her order from the herb merchant.

“I wish I had your confidence in me. I barely made it out of that last one alive because of my big mouth, what makes you think I wont do it again and get my head bitten off?” She shook her head and adjusted the bag on her shoulder, the tiara inside feeling like a brick.

“Tell Jenkins I said hi, would you? I think he’s feeling left out as a of late. Been giving me the silent treatment.” She forced the laugh as she turned to head down the street to the markets, hoping the merchant wasn’t already gone for the day.

The town was so tiny from here- he had only had one chance to see it in daylight a couple weeks ago and he had been distracted at the time. Now, even though he had a purpose today like he had then, he took his time to enjoy the view.

Despite his outward show of confidence in front of Jinx or Hour, he still feared this would all blow up in his face and they would have to go on the run- again. He had taken a big risk without consulting anyone about it beforehand- if it soured, it would take a long time to regain his family’s respect again.

If it went well, though, daylight flights like this could become a regular occurrence, and what a wonder that would be…feeling the sun on his back as he flew as high as he wanted…

He dropped lower, seeking out a very specific building- ah there it was! He had been to the agency countless times, but never like this. It was quite thrilling being amongst others in his natural form.

He landed on the ground in front of the doorway, a little harder than he had intended as he caused an indentation to form on the ground underneath him. He took a moment to inspect it- it did not look very big, so perhaps it wasn’t so bad- before settled down to wait.

Hourglass heard the whispers for the first half hour and ignored them- her coworkers were always whispering about something, but once the building shook she huffed and looked up from the paperwork she had been filling out. It was bad enough Kamaer had finally decided to assign her to the case of the immortal child in the midst of these dragon trials, but now by the sound of that crash she was going to have to go fix the pavement outside seeing as she was the only one on duty at the moment who knew the spell to do so.

She finished the packet she was on and pushed away from the desk, a fire lighting in her eyes as she grabbed her bags and charcoal stylist. If it was another griffin, she was going to scream. The damn things were horrible to deal with, and they had the horrible tendency to be pompous and cryptic at the same time. Not to mention last time came around they turned into their human form randomly and proceeded to try and feel Hour up. That one had ended up donating a few of it’s feathers to Hour’s potion supplies after she nearly neutered him.

Hour was looking through her bag for her small tea candles when she got to the glass door and when she looked up with the candles in hand she back tracked so fast she fell, her scream catching in her throat. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. She was so dead. The dragon was going to eat her for dinner and that would be the end. A hand on her shoulder had her actually letting out a scream before she realized it was just Captain Kamaer.

“If I die, I want my ashes sprinkled in the forest around Farous, only leaving a little bit that I want sitting on your desk.” She hissed as she calmed down enough to pull herself to her feet to go face what would likely be her death.

Oh why did she have to open her mouth in the forest?

The tip of his tail tapped impatiently, making a loud thud each time it made contact with the ground. He whipped his head around to growl at a dog that had bravely ventured forward to investigate, huffing in exasperation when the creature turned and ran off whimpering, tail tucked between its legs.

Once more, bystanders were gathering in clusters, whispering among themselves, their voices an irritating buzz in his ears. A puff of smoke in their direction ensured they gave him the space he wanted, though he kept a wary eye on them, just in case they tried to do anything foolish.

Large blue eyes narrowed as he heard the flurry of activity from inside and at long last the door opened. He fixed her with his gaze for a long beat, then two beats, then three, and then four, until he was satisfied that he had held her in suspense for long enough.

“Well? Do you have what I asked for?”

Hour refused to meet the dragon’s eyes, or leave the safety of the doorway. She was trembling where she stood and she had to be paler than a ghost. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the bag from around her shoulder and tossed it at the dragon’s feet.

“It’s in there. Take it and go, You’re disturbing the peace of the town. If you wish to come speak to me again, come in your human form, I know a mighty drake such as yourself is capable of taking one.” If her voice wavered as she said it she tried not to notice. Nor did she take note of how she felt like she was going to collapse on the ground again.

She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and reacted before the attacker even reached the dragon. A hunter that had come in to town a few days back was left suspended in the air by vines that Hour had called out of the ground, the spear falling uselessly to the ground and getting wrapped in it’s own set of roots before any other idiots could try something.

Turning back to the dragon she sighed and pulled her quivering outstretched arm back in. She was too tired to deal with this. “Unless there is something else you need, mighty drake?”

“No.” He nosed at the bag on the ground, a satisfied rumble emitting deep in his throat as he felt the familiar energy of the moonstones embedded into the tiara within. His first instinct was to snatch it up and go, but there was a more important agenda at play here. With great effort he pulled away from his and turned back to her. “It is part of a set. I would prefer it if you would return it to where it belongs. I’m sure a warlock of your skill can wrangle up a simple tracking spell.”

He lowered his head so that he was at least eye level with her, studying her carefully. “Perhaps get some sleep first.”

He turned with a low growl, fixing the hunter with an angry stare. He tail swept back and forth in irritation, serving the double purpose of ensuring that he was still given an adequate amount of space. There was a low hiss as he prepared to roast the hunter on the spot.

Hour groaned internally. Now he wanted her to track down the dragon’s lair too? What else could he possibly have to test her on before this whole thing was over? She did not come closer to grab the bag, and mentally she was already going over all she would have to get to track down the dragon’s lair, let alone the item the tiara matched. She would most likely have to track down a rare herb she had run out of a month ago.

She almost thought she heard concern in his voice when he told her to get some sleep, but that was absurd. He just wanted her not to collapse in the forest and lose the tiara before she could return it. He probably didn’t care if she died, honestly. He just wanted his collection complete, and someone to do his work for him.

The hissing sound had her alert, eyes widening at the dragon. “Stop!” She shouted at him, he may be able to destroy her without a problem, but that didn’t mean she was going to sit idly by while he broke the biggest rule of magical law. “You kill him and you will never be able to work for the magical council. Plus, every magical law enforcement officer will know to look for you and will have kill on sight orders. The fire wars still scare people, especially the council. The council will punish him for poaching as well as attacking a warlock’s familiar. Don’t screw up your life over this low life.”

Anybody who was still standing near the hunter had already skittered well away for fear of getting caught in the crossfire of the dragon’s wrath. A shudder ran the whole length of Lucifer’s body, and he shot a jet of flame mere inches to the left of the hunter.

There was a slight twitch of unease, and he gave his head a great shake and let out a loud roar to cover it up. Years of avoiding hunters or killing them on sight when cornered could not simply be erased, and it made his skin crawl just being near one and doing nothing about it. He was now desperate to be as far from here as possible.

He let his tail curl around Hour possessively for just a moment. “Do not rush yourself.”

With that, he spread his wings and lifted off into the air, flying straight toward the mountains.

Hour watched him carefully, so carefully. Willing him not to do anything rash, and her heart plummeted when the shot of fire shot out. Dammit! The flame cleared and she couldn’t believe her eyes. They hunter had some singed clothes and hair, but he was otherwise unharmed, having fainted from fear the moment the dragon had turned to him.

She squeaked when the tail wrapped around her and was afraid he was going to try and take her with him when he took off, but then he was gone and she was still on the ground. The confusion washed over her and left her just standing there dumbly for a few minutes. She had no idea what the move meant, but she was starting to think it was protective based on his words.

She quickly ducked down, grabbed the bag, and looked over at the unconscious hunter, letting the vines drop him from where he was hovering about three feet above the ground. A touch on her shoulder had her whipping around to see Kamaer coming out with a couple of the other council members, saying they would take care of the hunter.

As she set to work on fixing the ground she remembered the sour look on Kamaer’s face when he glanced up at the sky to check if the dragon was still around.

His only thought was to get away, far away. His mind was solely focused on that single goal, all his other plans and responsibilities completely forgotten for the moment. He remembered meeting a hunter once, with a shield that was made from the skin of two different dragons. Though there had been no shield today, it was that image which drove him forward even now.

It was quite some time before he took notice of the sound of a second pair of wingbeats, much larger than his own. Moments later a familiar scent filled his senses, and he slowed down, allowing the older dragon to match pace with him.

Jenkins said nothing, merely flew alongside him until Lucifer finally grew too exhausted to go much further, and he dipped lower to land in a forest below.

Hourglass pulled open the door to her apartment slowly, a frown on her face. She had been preparing to leave for 2 days now, and the lair was at least a 2 day hike one way. She had multiple little bags of the ingredients for the spell she was using, as the spell wore off after a few hours.

She looked at Lucifer’s door with a sad look in her eye. She wanted to talk to him, but she hadn’t seen him. Even the museum was closed at the moment. She had already talked to Winston and he was taking care of Arthur while she was gone. She had wanted to ask Lucifer, but the man was obviously not in town anymore. It probably upset her more that he hadn’t said anything to her about leaving in the first place.

She slung her bag over her shoulder and grabbed her staff from beside the door, her magic immediately attaching itself to the crystal. She was more than prepared for this, she knew that, but she was still nervous. What if the dragon was waiting for her at his lair? It would be the first time truly alone with him. She didn’t know what would happen. But it didn’t matter, she needed to get rid of this stupid tiara before the dragon got angry.

Her door closed with a deafening thud, and she started walking.

A deer was flung on the ground in front of Lucifer. The deer was not quite dead yet, and the movement brought the white dragon out of his listless haze. He blinked at the animal, startled.

“Eat,” Jenkins ordered.

Lucifer glanced at the deer and turned away, resting his head once more on his forearms. A thump on his head seconds later made him growl softly. It hadn’t been hard enough to hurt him, but he still cast an offended look in Jenkins’ direction.

Jenkins was not ruffled in the slightest. “That wasn’t a request.” He lifted his tail threateningly, indicating he was fully prepared to keep going until the smaller dragon conceded.

With a huff, Lucifer snapped the deer’s neck and finished it off in two gulps. He moved to settled back down, but Jenkins growled. “Go find yourself another one.” Lucifer let out a low whine, but Jenkins merely nudged him to his feet.

The forest greeted Hour like an old friend as she picked her way through the underbrush, following the little line of blue light that only she could see. The early morning light filtered through the canopy and she watched as the pollen and dust motes danced through the rays. It was oddly peaceful, she thought, that nature was so calm even while she had turmoil raging inside her.

She walked all day, only stopping to pick some berries off a bush she recognized. She knew she would have to save what food she would have as much as possible, rely on what she could find in nature as much as she could. She brought enough bread to last a week, but the cured meat she had brought would only last so long.

That day turned to dusk, she found a clearing by a fish-filled creek and decided to set up camp. The trout in the creek were easy enough to catch, and as she roasted them by the fire she started thinking about the dragon. More specifically, what kind of food he liked. Did he like berries? Fish? Grain? Deer? If she survived to the end of the trial, she would have to ask him.

He had managed to catch a rabbit and even snapped up a bird mid-air. It might have been enough in one of his smaller forms, but at his current size it was barely even an appetizer. It was, however, enough to reawaken his natural hunting instincts enough to try for larger game.

He found a herd of deer grazing, perhaps finally calming down after Jenkins had scared them earlier. He swooped in and grabbed a doe in his jaws before they had quite realized what had happened, and by the time the herd started running, it was already too late.

Feeling much clearer in the head, he took some time for a refreshing flight high above the clouds. He returned later that evening to find Jenkins dozing by a stream. Lucifer paused long enough get himself a drink of water before curling up beside the larger dragon. Jenkins’ only sign of acknowledgement was lifting a large blue wing to drape it over his companion before falling back into a slumber.

Hourglass woke up to the sound of birds singing a song above her and she groaned. The ground was hard and she would probably regret not having laid down on a softer place or at least collected up a bed of dead leaves like she normally would. Still, she got up and set about getting something to eat before she started her hike again.

As the day progressed, Hour noticed that the line was pointing towards a cliff side she could see over the canopy of leaves when she passed through clearings. Knowing her luck, the cave would be some ways up the cliff side, if not at the top.

Her fears came true as night fell and she was left gazing up at the rocky side. “Oh for FUCKS SAKE!” She screamed as she saw just how high up she had to climb before the blue light disappeared into a rather large opening in the side. A large opening that looked tiny from where she was standing.

Lucifer awoke to a splash. The sun was high in the sky, indicating it was probably noon or later. Jenkins was on the other side of the stream across from him. His silver-and-blue tail swept across the water, sending another spray of water at Lucifer.

Lucifer shook his head and stretched. His head tilted and he let out a playful trill, dropping into a crouch. His tail flipped back and forth as he prepared to pounce. Jenkins, however, was more than ready, and he flipped the smaller dragon easily into the stream.

Lucifer shivered at the sudden drop in temperature, but he was out of the stream moments later to chase the other dragon through the forest. They spent the afternoon frolicking through the forest and settled down that evening to rest by the stream, watching the fish swim by and occasionally snapping some up to eat when the fancy struck them. They both lifted their heads at a distant noise at one point, but deciding it was no threat, went back to watching the water.

Hourglass woke up much more refreshed than she had the day before, but as she looked up at the cliff side she felt her heart enter her throat. If she fell from that height without having a spell prepared…. She didn’t let herself linger on the thought as she pulled out what she would need to climb, glad she had brought some rope with her.

She wrote a sure grip rune onto both of her hands as well as onto the rope and hook she had in her bag. She also took the time to write the rune of binding into the knotted rope.

That done she ate some food, not sure how long it would take her to get all the way up the cliff. she could see a few places to take rests on the way up, but it would still take a while to reach each one. She slung her staff over her shoulder to rest on her back, not wanting to leave it at the base of the mountain. She used her magic to get the rope all the way up to the cave and hooked it into the rock.

Her heart in her throat, she hooked her boot into the first ledge she could find and started climbing.

It took a dragon a couple hours to get here; with his vampire speed, and the aid of the secret tunnel that ran between here and the museum, it didn’t take Azazel much longer than that. He had no idea how long it would take someone on foot going the long way around. If he had to venture a guess, Azazel would have estimated about double the time it took a dragon to fly.

He was well off the mark. It was at least a day and a half before he could smell the warm pulsing blood of a mortal, and a few more hours before he could hear her. He had sated himself so far with the blood of animals, but that was not enough for him. He needed human blood, and soon, so he was rather impatient by now.

He had the overwhelming urge to watch her ascent now that she was so close, but the sunlight at the mouth of the cave had confined him to the shadows. When he finally caught sight of her silhouette, he waited for her to get a good look around before speaking. It was an impressive hoard, after all, and Morning Star would be a little irritated if he didn’t let her get a good look.

The scent of her blood was too tantalizing, however, and he needed to send her on her way before he lost control and attacked her.

“I thought warlocks were faster.”

Hourglass was panting when she was finally able to throw herself into the cavern mouth. She had been climbing for hours. When she finally managed to get her feet underneath herself she created a ball of fire in her hand so she could see around the cavern. Her breath was still heavy as she walked around the cavern, looking at all the artifacts and jewels.

There was a staff- the most beautiful staff she had ever seen- in a glass case. She was reaching out to touch the glass when the voice sounded and had her jumping out of her skin. She swung the ball of fire around and her eyes landed on-

A boy?

He looked to be about 12, but that wasn’t the eerie part about him. He looked just like a child version of Lucifer. She took a step back, her ankle coming into contact with the base of the case. “Are you the dragon? I must say I imagined a much more… magnificent human form.”

He grinned, flashing his fangs at her. “Are you saying I am not magnificent? But no I am most certainly not a dragon. The one you were probably expecting is off somewhere hopefully recovering from his little panic attack.”

He gave an exaggerated bow. “I am Azazel, night child extraordinaire. I believe my reputation precedes me.”

He stepped aside, revealing a black velvet cushion, upon which rested a silver headdress embedded with moonstones, clearly made for a large being. The craftsmanship was very identical to that of the tiara in the bag. “I believe this is what you were looking for.”

“The hunter… it scared him that much? Did I make it worse with what I said?” She was honestly worried about the dragon. The last encounter had been different, she just wasn’t quite sure what had changed so that the dragon seemed almost concerned about her.

It was amusing though, that that vampire that infuriated everyone else would end up greeting her at the dragon’s hoard and helping her return the item that had been stolen. It was a better first meeting than her arresting him though, that was for sure.

Her eyes caught the giant headdress and her breath escaped her in a soft “oh”. It was gorgeous she approached it without thinking, her hand reaching out to run along the giant moonstone in the center. She pulled the tiara out of the bag and set it beside it and then realized what it was. Lucifer had a painting of a dragon and warlock pair on display at the museum that had the dragon and warlock wearing a nearly identical set.

“This set…. it’s a dragon bonding set, isn’t it? I thought these were all supposed to be destroyed during the fire wars. What’s he doing with one?”

“We usually pack up and leave once hunters start showing up. It’s more of a kill or be killed way of life. He’ll be fine.”

A slight breeze wafted inside and he scrunched up his face. He then carefully stepped around her so that her scent wasn’t updraft. Turning away, he ran his fingers idly along a silver harp, humming softly to himself.

At her question, he whirled around and studied the set intently. Was that what it was? He had no idea himself, though it was possible the dragons were aware of it. “That was part of a much, much older and long-dead dragon’s hoard. We were looking for something” -someone- “else and we stumbled on a pile of ancient treasure instead.”

He clasped his hands behind his back nervously- maybe he’d be okay if he held his breath?

“It should be an easier trip down, yes? He won’t come to you again. You’ve got to find him now. The clues have been all around you all along. He’s been living in this town for a few years now. It’s amazing how you can walk right past people you know and never even suspect the secrets they’ve been hiding. Then again, most only see what they want to see.”

Hour picked up the larger of the set and ran her fingers over the engraved runes and embedded moonstones. “Dragons are supposed to be immortal. I’m going to guess it didn’t die by accidental or natural causes?” The words left a bitter taste on his tongue. She didn’t like the thought of any dragons dying, even when they scared her or threatened her.

“I hope it didn’t go to waste, a dragons hoard is precious to them, which means it meant something to someone a long time ago. It’s a window to that person. From looking around here I can tell the dragon likes magic, and sparkly things, and history.” She looked around again, setting the headdress back on the pillow. She had the feeling that this wouldn’t be the last time she saw it.

She looked at the vampire and tilted her head at his behavior. She pulled out a vial she had packed just in case she ran out of food. It was a worst case scenario, to fight off the itch of starvation but wouldn’t give any nourishment. She tossed it to the vampire. “Drink this. You look hungry, it will get rid of the effects until you can get a proper meal, and it will make you stop looking like you want to pounce on me. It will last probably about an hour for you, maybe less.”

The words had her perking up and staring at the vampire like he had a second head. “Wait wait wait, are you saying I know the dragon already?”

“Ohh, and music! Mustn’t forget the music. It’s how we met.” He picked up a simple wooden tambourine that seemed out of place among all the sparkling jewels and gold, giving it a little shake.

He set the instrument down just in time to catch the vial she threw to him. He gave her a doubtful look, then shrugged his shoulders and downed the contents. His eyes widened. “That is much better, thank you!”

He walked to the entrance of the cave, and turned to wait for her expectantly. “You do know him. It is a small town, after all.”

He sat down, feet dangling casually over the edge of the cliff. “One more thing. Do not come back here unless he says it is okay. Entering a dragon’s lair without invitation is considered one of the worst offenses you can commit against them. He must already trust you a lot if he let you come here in the first place.”

Hourglass nodded her understanding and gave one last look at the staff in the case. She wondered if she would ever be allowed to use it or even hold it. She went over to the vampire looking out over the ledge and realized she could see the town from here, could even pick out the apartment building. More specifically, she could see Lucifer’s apartment, still dark. She wondered if he would be back by the time she returned.

“You know him well? The dragon, I mean. Why doesn’t he scare you? I’m terrified of him. He makes me feel so… weak. I’ve never felt weak before. Not even when I was ignorant to my nature and i was terrified of what would happen to me, I never felt this… this defenseless.”

How can he trust me when every time I open my mouth I say something wrong? How can he trust me when I can’t do anything right? This is probably the only time I’ve managed to do a trial correctly and he’s not even here to see it! She hung her head in her hands and took a deep breath before getting to her feet. She wrote a rune onto her arms, legs, and cloak.

“Thank you for all your help, I hope when this is all over I’ll see you again. Maybe next time you wont be so hungry, yeah?” With that she muttered the words to the spell under her breath and jumped off the edge of the cliff. The wind caught her cloak and she drifted down slowly, touching down lightly on her feet.

“It’s the size, definitely the size. I met him when he was only a hatchling, you see. Good luck!” He watched her, making sure she reached the ground safely, before turning to head for the exit in the back of the cave, cleverly hidden behind a large bookcase.

Jenkins, meanwhile, was blowing gently on the water, making the ripples form into little shapes while Lucifer watched in fascination.

“We should be heading back soon, you know,” he said as he made a pair of watery rabbits chase each other in circles. “We can’t stay here forever.”

Lucifer reached out slowly to touched the water, trilling with pleasure when one of the water shapes leaped onto his foreleg. “There’s a hunter,” he said at last, speaking for the first time since they’d left town.

“A hunter who is now locked up,” Jenkins said gently.

“What if they let him out?” the smaller dragon’s voice wavered slightly.

“Veilmont is not like the Gulf,” Jenkins said firmly.

“What if it is?” Lucifer asked.

“Then we will raze it to the ground. All of us. Together,” Jenkins promised, his voice fierce.

Lucifer was quiet for a few more minutes. “Okay, then. let’s go.”

Hour took less time returning to town than she did on the hike out, only taking about a day and a half. When she finally returned to her apartment she sighed, tempted to knock on Lucifer’s door, but not wanting to disturb him in case he was getting some rest, if he was even home yet at all.

She rested her hand against his door softly, her head making a quiet thump as she rested it against the wood as well. “I’ve got so much to tell you… I wonder if you could help me with this last trial too… Like you have all the others.” Her voice was soft as a feather as she spoke, but she knew not to expect a reply.

She pulled away from the door and opened her own to head inside and unpack from her trip. She could talk to Lucifer when he got back. She could find out why he ran off so suddenly.

And now that she was back, she could take care of that hunter. She had asked Kamaer for the privilege of dolling out the punishment. It was her familiar that had been attacked, after all.

Lucifer trudged up the steps to his apartment. It had been a long flight, especially when he had been reminded of how long they had been gone. There was so much catch-up work to be done at the museum what with it closing without warning, but he really didn’t want to think about that right now. What he wanted was to sleep, for many days, perhaps.

He paused when he reached Hour’s door. He had yet to talk to Azazel, and no way to even know if she had even left yet, or how it went if she did. He paused, thinking maybe to knock on her door, but it was late and he figured she wouldn’t want to be bothered.

He stepped inside his apartment instead. He glanced at the bed, but the thoughts of the trial had him far too antsy now, so he stepped out onto the balcony instead. He turned and climbed up the side of the building. When he reached the roof, he stared at the mess in horror. It hadn’t looked this bad when he was in his dragon form. He ran a hand along a claw mark, wondering how he could fix this subtly.

With a sigh, he shifted until he was lying on his back. The movement, however, had sent one of the tiles crashing loudly onto the balcony below. Please don’t wake up, please don’t wake up… He closed his eyes in defeat when he heard the sound of footsteps inside.

Hour had been unpacked for a while now and was quietly reading on her couch. An old book about the fire wars that she had been recommended by Jenkins a few months back. She really should have started reading it earlier, so far it gave her more insight into dragon behavior than any of the library’s books had.

The crash had Hour jumping up, hoping no one had gotten hurt. When she looked at the balcony and saw the tile she realized what must have happened. The only way to get up to the roof was through either her or Lucifer’s balcony, which meant Lucifer was home. On the roof. Possibly hurt, if anything else had fallen. She probably should have fixed the bricks a while ago.

She grabbed her stylus and gathered up the bits of brick that had fallen and climbed up the steps leading to the roof to join him. He was laying down, eyes closed and if it weren’t for the look on his face and the relaxed position he was in, she would have thought he had been hurt.

She set the brick and stylus down gently, just looking at him quietly for a few minutes before she decided to say something, “Hey. How was your trip?”

“Stressful. I hadn’t expected to be gone at all, let alone for a few days.” The excitement over even the trials had faded away by now, and he was just ready for it to be over by now so they could take the next step, whatever that was. The books hadn’t really gone into detail over how warlocks bonded with their familiars.

He opened his eyes and gave her a rueful smile. “I didn’t wake you, did I? I’m so sorry. I wasn’t expecting all this.”

He sat up so that he could move over to make room for her. “And how has your week been? I heard they finally let you come back to work.”

Hourglass sat down next to him as he moved, looking out over the expanse of forest and mountains, and the gorgeous starry sky that unfolded before them. The crickets chirping in the night air made it all the more peaceful.

“you didn’t wake me. I was reading a book Jenkins had suggested me, I’m too wired to sleep even though I’m exhausted.” A laugh tugged at her lips. “The dragon did this the first time he came to visit me. I just haven’t been up here to fix it yet. I’ll probably do it before we go back down. At least take care of the bricks before they crack someone’s head open.”

“My work let me back, yes, but then the dragon came to visit me there too. Kamaer made me go home, promised me that I could dish out the punishment to the hunter that showed up though. I got 2 days of rest before I left to go visit the dragon’s lair. Oh Lucifer you would have loved it. There was so many cool artifacts. Apparently that tiara I had was part of a dragon bonding set- identical to the one in your painting actually. I just got back earlier today.”

“It is a bit of a mess, but don’t rush yourself.” He frowned, remembering saying almost those exact words to her a few days ago. He laid back again with a tired sigh, staring up at the sky. It felt like he had screwed everything up, but he could forget that for the moment and just let it be for now.

He listened to her talk about his lair with a little half-smile. He did like it when other people showed appreciation for the same things he did. “It sounds like your week has been much better than mine. What-” he almost didn’t continue on the subject that had driven him out of town in the first place, but he shook his head and plowed on. “What is going to happen to the hunter?”

Hour liked it when he smiled. “I probably shouldn’t tell you too much about his lair, but I’ll just say this. He had the most magnificent staff I had ever seen, what I wouldn’t give just to touch it. I could feel the power coming off of it… It was beyond anything I’ve ever felt possible to come off a staff.” She leaned back on her hands but tensed at the question about the hunter, rage coursing through her.

“The law states that I can give any punishment short of dismemberment or death before we throw him into the cells to rot for the 10 year period he’s been sentenced to. I’m most likely going to whip up a living nightmare potion for him for the first part. Then I think I’ll give him the most painful tattoo of his life, right on his arm. I’m debating whether to give him an agony rune or a weakness rune. Either way he’s never going to be able to hunt again, even after he gets out. He wouldn’t be able to hold the weapon, let alone hurt anyone with it. I get to do one more thing to him, but I think I might ask the dragon once I find out who he is.” She paused,“ oh yeah, that’s right, I forgot to mention. My last trial for the dragon is that I have to discover who he is, based on criptic clues that Azazel gave me.”

“I suppose you could always ask him about it later.” Not being warlocks themselves, they had no use for such objects, but even they could feel the power of it. Such power seemed too dangerous to allow just anyone to get their hands on it, which was why a significant portion of his hoard would never be displayed at the museum.

“It sounds like you’ve thought very carefully about this hunter.” All his worries had been answered in their brief conversation, and without them nagging at the back of his mind, he could already feel himself beginning to drift off, the stars becoming blurry lights in front of him. “It’s a beautiful…night…” he murmured.

Hourglass watched him as he started to doze off, a soft smile on her face. “It really is, isn’t it?” She used her magic to connect some of the constellations in front of them with glittering lines. “I wonder if the dragon is outside right now, looking at the sky like we are. I wonder what constellations he can name. I wonder what his favorite one is…” She laid down and stared at the sky, her hand outstretched in front of her as she traced the designs lighting up the sky.

She looked over at her sleepy companion and hummed to herself. “I think he would like you, you know. You have such similar… interests…” A frown furrowed her brow as a stray thought crossed her mind. But that was crazy, if he were the dragon I would know. He wouldn’t hide something like that from me, not for so long. It’s probably one of the regular patrons at the museum, I’ll ask him later.

He stirred, blinking his eyes open. His sleep-addled brain was already searching the sky to answer her question. “There. Ignis- the great bird who swallowed the sun and…” he shook his head, trying to remember the old legends Ash had told him. “He swallowed the sun and moon and bathed the land in fire and ice and gave birth to the first creatures of magic. He was the first phoenix.”

He sat up once more and watched said constellation for a couple more minutes before casting her a sidelong glance. “I should be heading inside now. I’m falling asleep and you want to fix the roof. Thank you for that. by the way- I’m glad it was you who heard the noise and not one of our less friendly neighbors.”

Hour listened as he explained it, her magic going and outlining the constellation he pointed out. Raven had told her the story before, she recalled, and she smiled at how Lucifer’s sleep addled brain simplified it down so much. It was endearingly cute.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Lucifer. And who else would come up here? The douche from 2B? He doesn’t even have a balcony for a brick to fall on to.” She laughed and got up, offering the man a hand. “I have a lot to talk to you about, I’m hoping you’ll be able to help me think when neither of us are tired.”

Azazel had been at it again- stole another book from the library and asked Lucifer to hold onto it for him until the uproar over it had died down. Now here Lucifer was, trying to hide the book in between various stacks of paperwork in his arms, all while being questioned about the whereabouts of his ‘thieving little friend.’ He had been politely deflecting the questions up until then, and needless to say, he was not at all pleased about the name-calling.

“You ought to try Lune Court. He has a few friends there,” he told the official who was questioning him. It was a blatant lie, of course, but Lucifer knew perfectly well that a pack of werewolves had recently taken up residence there and it wouldn’t be a fun visit this close to the full moon.

He turned as he caught sight of a new visitor walking toward him. “Hour! It is a great pleasure to see your lovely face! How can I help you?” He called out, clearly dismissing the warlock he was just speaking with.

Hourglass had been watching the encounter with amusement, and if she didn’t hate the library so much, she probably would have plucked the book from the paperwork and handled the situation from there. Instead she waited until she heard him sending the official after the werewolves to approach them.

“Aaron, don’t worry about the werewolves. The old hag probably just lost her book and is making a big fuss about it. Again.” She rolled her eyes and looked over at Lucifer once the other warlock had left, her hand held out in front of her. “Which one of your friends took it this time? Don’t tell me Jenkins, you used that excuse last time.” She was in a much better mood than she had been these past few weeks, and a triumphant smirk was in place on her lips.

“I was coming to visit you, actually, I had a favor to ask.”

“Seriously? After all that you’re going to go all professional on me?” He scowled and his arms simply tightened around the bundle in his arms. “I owed Zaze a big favor, and I really don’t want to fuck this one up. It isn’t fair that werewolves and vampires are banned from public services, you know.”

He brightened when she said she was here to see him. Had she figured it all out already? But no, she was asking for a favor. “So, if you’re just visiting, that means you’re off-duty, right? So you can just let this slide. I promise I’ll make him return it when he’s done.”

“Me going ‘all official’ on you would mean I would have to arrest you and take you down to the station.” She held a hand on her waist and lowed the other one. “I’ll let it slide, only because he seems like a nice kid from when I met him. What did he do for you that you owe him you almost getting arrested for being in possession of stolen property anyways? Musta been something big.”

“I do need some information from you though, to help out with this trail. I need some of the records for your regular visitors. The dragon had a lot of magical historical artifacts and I’m thinking he might have a lot of interest in your exhibits.” She gave her best puppy dog pleading eyes.

“I sent him to deliver a message, and he got trapped without a decent blood supply for a couple days. He’s still a little cranky about it.” That was as close as he could get to the truth without outright blurting out everything, and he was reluctant to feed her any more lies than necessary.

He relaxed, but then his brow furrowed at her request. How had she not connected everything yet? He had been careful to lay out all the clues nice and neatly over the past month. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt. Since this isn’t official business, though, you’ll have to look at them here. I don’t really have extra copies. My office is this way.”

He set the papers down on his desk, sliding the book into a drawer and locking it- he would put it in one of the storage rooms later when they closed up. Opening another drawer, he pulled out a very thick book- most of their records were written in Jenkins’ barely-legible scrawl, but he was not concerned with being helpful with what he viewed as a useless endeavor.

Hour furrowed her brow at those words. The timing lined up but…. no, she would know if Lucifer were a dragon. She shook her head to clear the thought. He would never betray her trust like that. “He’s a good friend to be willing to do that for you and only expect you to hide a book in return.”

Hour followed him eagerly, her eyes lighting up at being able to look through everything. She wanted to get this trial over and done with as soon as possible. “Thank you so much, Lucifer! I’ll pay you back for this, I promise.” She didn’t waste any time and immediately started digging into the records, her face blanching when she saw just how bad some of the handwriting was.

After about a half hour she set it down on the table. With a defeated sigh. Not only could she barely read it, but not even the most recent records had anyone repeating but herself, Azazel, and one person she had never even heard of before. Hour left the office and went to go find the historian, a sad smile on her face. “Thank’s Lucifer, but it’s a dead end. I’ll still pay you back though.”

“Are you kidding? He’s going to complain about this for the next decade.”

Settling down on the edge of his desk, he started on the stack of mail Jenkins has shoved into his arms this morning. Mostly compliments and suggestions, but there was one memorable letter where a woman was complaining that her child was now studying magic, and if Lucifer didn’t take action to dissuade the kid, then she was pressing charges. With an amused smirk, he tossed that letter into the fireplace.

Thoroughly bored and not wanting to sit still a moment longer, he got a bottle of their best scotch off of a shelf and left to go bother Jenkins, who immediately confiscated the bottle and sent him off to do inventory. Which Lucifer was a little irritated about- wasn’t he the one who was in charge here?

He turned at the sound of her voice and attempted to appear regretful. “I’m sorry about that. And you don’t need to bother; I’m always happy to help.”

Hour leaned against the doorway, watching him doing what looked like inventory, his handwriting was much better than the writing in the book. That meant that Jenkins must have been the one doing all the records. She laughed at the thought.

“You know, Jenkins’s handwriting really doesn’t fit him. You would think it would be calligraphy-esque, but it’s more like chicken scratch.” She moved to join him in the room with a half smile. “Ah, it’s ok. I’ll find who the dragon is eventually. It’s only a matter of time.” She leaned back against a pillar to watch him.

“What are you doing anyways? I’ll help you if I can.” She wanted to help him, after how much he was willing to do for her. “I would ask who you think the dragon might be but… I don’t know, it seems kinda like that would be cheating. I will take your advice on where else I could look for clues, though.” She gave an impish grin, “ Either way, I doubt you’re the dragon. You wouldn’t lie to me for so long about that. ”

“He prefers reading to writing. He does make an effort when it truly matters, but visitor records aren’t all that important.”

He stopped in front of a case with a cursed book, his eyes making note of the darkening aura that indicated that the wards keeping it contained were unraveling rather rapidly. Bringing in warlocks constantly to maintain it was beginning to get expensive, so he wrote in a note to have it removed later this week.

He cocked his head, his mind already running through what he could replace it with. With a blink, he realized she was talking, and he tuned her in again. “Inventory is a bit boring. We make sure all the wards are intact and decide which exhibits are worth the effort of keeping around.”

His shoulders slumped as she mentioned the dragon yet again. He had the overwhelming urge to just shake her until she figured it out. “You’ll find him,” he said with more confidence than he really felt.

She watched him do inventory on the items and tilted her head. “Seems… Tedious.” She wrinkled her nose and looked around at the exhibits. “But I guess it does let you move the displays around, keep the museum interesting and new.” She didn’t know how he was able to sense when a ward was failing- probably part of whatever had made him immortal that she was determined not to ask about.

“You know, you probably have some cool gems in that storage room in back that you could put on display. Like that enchanted statue or some of the old books you bought at the auction.” She hummed, “ and, some of your really old exhibits that you haven’t had up in ages and probably won’t ever put up again, you could probably sell those and put the money towards getting some new stuff. You should start with that really inaccurate book on dragons that you had on display when we first met!”

He stared at her in disbelief. Really, he was starting to wonder why he hadn’t just let this whole thing go in the very beginning. They could both happily be getting on with their lives without this hanging over them.

“Sell them? Sell them? I went to a lot of effort to gather it all in the first place. Why would I want to sell it?” The very idea offended him. Why should he sell his treasures to some idiot who hadn’t even earned them in the first place. “These things come from all over the world and were a real pain to get to. Why would I give them to some undeserving collector who didn’t even have to lift a finger to get it?”

Drawn by the sounds of Lucifer’s agitation, Jenkins appeared suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, and lay a hand on Lucifer’s shoulder. “Hey, easy there, easy.” Jenkins cast an annoyed glance at Hour. “Perhaps you should go do your own job, lady, and let us do ours.”

Hour was taken aback by the reaction and held her hands up in surrender. She didn’t think she would get that kind of reaction out of him, not even close. It was kind of startling. “I’m… Sorry. I didn’t realize how difficult it must be to get the exhibits. I probably shouldn’t be talking about things I don’t know or understand. I’m sorry.” She chewed on her lip and rubbed her arm.

When Jenkins came in and started yelling at her, though, she felt annoyance claw it’s way up her throat. “Jenkins I don’t know what I did to piss you off, but I am not here to be stomped on like a bug. I’m here trying to help where I can, so show some fucking respect instead of yelling at me with no explanation of why.”

“I’m sorry, Lucifer. I won’t say something like that again. I’ll see you later.” She cast one last glare at Jenkins before quickly making her way out of the museum. Apparently she wasn’t wanted or needed there at the moment anyways.

Lucifer was startled when she started yelling, and then he was angry. He opened his mouth to put a stop to that, but Jenkins tightened the grip on his shoulder in warning.

He did not respond to her and studiously went back to inspecting the displays. After making sure she was gone, Jenkins attempted to get Lucifer’s attention. After getting only silence, he merely stood by his side and made quiet comments about the different exhibits.

“This- this ward shouldn’t be collapsing. This is the third time this week.”

Lucifer turned around to see Jenkins narrowing his eyes at the cursed book. “Hmm. I’ll put in a formal complaint in the morning.”

Jenkins shook his head. “It isn’t going to last that long. We need to take it down tonight at the latest.”

Lucifer cursed under his breath. He had been hoping it wouldn’t be a late work day.

Hourglass didn’t feel like going to work, so she found her feet heading towards the south shore instead. She didn’t notice when the soft sound of wings following her transformed into a set of footsteps walking next to her. She really wasn’t in the mood to notice much of anything around her, actually. Her head lost in thoughts.

It took all of ten minutes before the other got tired of the silence and grabbed her arm to stop her. She tried to shrug the grip off, but it did no good. “Hour, Hourglass, stop. Something has you pissed but you can’t run away from your problems that easily.”

“Let me go, I’m not in the mood for your sagely word of wisdom right now.” Even as she said it she could feel herself slowing down and tears pricked at her eyes.

“Come here, my little Hourglass girl.” He said softly pulling her into a hug. She didn’t hesitate to put her arms around his middle and bury her head in his chest as she started crying.

“Where the fuck have you been, Raven?”

“Come on. Out you go.” Lucifer reached under the table and dragged the kid out by his suspenders.

“Five more minutes. Please? I don’t want to go home.”

“I don’t care about your preferences. We’re closed now. Out.” He made a shooing motion at the kid.

Lucifer locked the doors behind him, and turned to see Jenkins giving him a disapproving look. He glanced at the retreating figure of the child and rolled his eyes. “Don’t look at me like that. I could have just tossed him out the door, but I didn’t.”

Jenkins sighed and held out one of two pairs of protective gloves. “Let’s just get this over with, shall we?”

Hour found herself later that night sitting on the roof, leaning against Raven as she stared out across the town. Her eyes were swollen and puffy from crying, but she had managed to tell Raven all that happened since he had left.

“If I ever get to meet this mighty dragon I have every intention of giving him a piece of my mind. He should be trying to be nice to you, not trying to scare you shitless.” Raven was rubbing her arm soothingly but she pulled away.

“No! I’ll be fine, you don’t need to go put yourself in danger for me.” She frowned even as she said it. “Besides, the last time I talked to him he seemed almost like he was worried about me.”

“Fine, fine, I’ll drop it about the dragon, but I will be talking to that museum assistant, Jenkins I think you said. He certainly owes you an apology.” Raven had that knowing look in his eye as he said it, and Hour wondered what exactly he had in mind though she let it drop.

The moment the glass case was opened, there was an immediate change in the atmosphere. Their moods automatically dropped, and they found themselves snapping at each other every other minute. It was possibly just his imagination, but Lucifer thought the sky outside had grown even darker than it already was.

But then Jenkins was dropping the book into the protective box and the air immediately lightened. Taking a deep relieved breath, Lucifer turned to cleanse the case in a layer of flames. It was runed to be impervious to be inflammable, of course, but dragonfire was good for getting rid of magical remnants, good or bad.

“Do you want to go get something to eat? That old cafe down the street changed its menu. Could be interesting.”

Jenkins narrowed his eyes. “You overdid it last time and got sick. How about a hunt instead?”

Lucifer grinned. “I bet I can catch a good-sized deer before you can even catch it’s scent, old man!”

Jenkins glowered at him, but he was satisfied that tonight, at least, the younger dragon wasn’t going to be attempting to ingest questionable food.

Raven felt the wash off magic and felt himself bristle, already able to pinpoint the source. He may be immune, but others in the town weren’t. He subtly lit his finger in Black fire and traced a rune into the fabric on Hour’s back. It wouldn’t appear on the cloth, but the magic outline of pheonix fire would be there to protect her from whatever had spread over the town.

“Hey, it’s getting late. Let me take you inside.” He said gently. Nudging her with her shoulder and then getting to his feet, pulling her up with him. He placed a gentle kiss to her forehead before leading her down the fire escape.

“Do you have some place to stay? You can stay here if you want.” She was adorable when she was worried, but Raven had something to do and already had a little cabin out in the woods for himself to stay at.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?” He waited for her to go inside before climbing back up to the roof and transforming into the giant bird most people assumed to just be a raven.

They flew above a cover of clouds, Lucifer playfully nipping at Jenkins’ tail every now and then. Once they were deep enough into the mountains they flew closer to the ground. Lucifer caught a scent and immediately dived to investigate. The blue dragon let out a hiss of warning, but the younger was already to far away to listen.

Annoyed, Jenkins circled the area to make sure there were no impending threats before he, too dropped lower until he landed on the ground. He’d be having words later about scouting for danger before jumping into the fray. Really, Lucifer was old enough to know better by now.

He could not hear him, but he could still smell Lucifer just up ahead, so he ambled off a little ways away so as not to disrupt the other dragon’s hunt.

Raven had spotted the dragons in the distance and didn’t hesitate to approach them, flying below the cover of the clouds so as not to crowd them. When the smaller white dragon descended, Raven followed. The older one he had met before, he could catch up with him later. For now, he focused in the white one.

He entered a steep dive before he landed in a tree and transformed. Resting leisurely in the tree and watching the dragon.

“You know, that little witch of yours has herself in a tilt right now. I just sat up on the roof with her for probably 3 hours while she went on and on about you.” Raven twirled one of his feathers in his fingers. “You can do away with the big scary dragon look now, I have a good idea of who you are and I don’t plan to get in the middle of how this trial is gonna end. That’s going to be your shit storm to handle.”

He could hear a heartbeat coming from a hollow log and his eyes glinted in amusement at the futility of hiding in such a defenseless place. He blew a puff off smoke into the log to flush the creature out and then gave chase.

He was distracted by the sound of wings- smaller than him, and maybe even bite-sized? His muscles gathered in preparation to jump, but then it changed shape in front of him. Lucifer jerked back in surprise, and then he sent a spurt of fire straight at the tree.

“Keep your beak out of affairs that do not concern you.”

Raven straight up laughed, his body shaking as he let his hand play in the dragon fire. “Oh you innocent child. I’m afraid your fire isn’t going to do anything to someone who’s very existence is fire.” Raven jumped down and brushed a bit of ash off his singed shirt.

“I’m afraid this does concern me, actually. She means quite a bit to me, and you mean quite a bit to her as well. Now come, come, let’s do away with the facade. Show your human face. Talk like gentlemen. Do not worry, I won’t reveal your secret unless you reveal mine. See, she doesn’t know what you are, but she also does not know the real truth about me either, and for the time being I would prefer it to stay that way.” Raven conjured a ball of black fire in his hands and looked at the dragon.

“Ah, It doesn’t matter. I just want you to know, when she finally finds out who you are, it’s going to hurt her. A lot. I want you to think long and hard about how much you care about her, because at the end of the day you’re going to be the one having to prove yourself to her if you ever expect to even be friends.”

He stared, entranced by the dark flame. Then he blinked and the moment was gone. He growled and whipped his tail toward the insolent creature. If fire didn’t affect it, maybe he could at least get some satisfaction in knocking it over.

“You are mistaken. This is no facade. The form you take on now, however, is.” He glared at the being in front of him. No doubt Jenkins had already had his fill and was now looking for him, while he was wasting time speaking to this thing. “You should know better than to interrupt a dragon’s hunt. I suggest you leave, before I crush you like the insect that you are.”

Raven rolled his eyes and stepped out of range of the tail, laughing. So predictable, he acted just like his mother did when she was annoyed. “I must say you are most probably correct, after all our true form is our soul, not our body.”

The phoenix concentrated for a moment. “Look for food towards the east, you’ll have better luck. And think about what I said, about my little Hourglass girl. She’s been hurt by a dragon before, I don’t think she deserves to have that memory corrupted by betrayal as well.” Raven let himself burst into black flame in his transformation, mostly to show off his beautiful iridescent plumage before he let the fire die out and became a plain looking raven once more as he flew back towards town. He would catch up with the elder dragon later.

She stalked through the town, exuding pure confidence and paying no heed to the stares as she passed. Her stride never faltered despite the fact that she was wearing high-heeled boots and was dragging a muscular body much larger than herself behind her. Her victim looked like he had been through hell and back, whereas she didn’t have a single scratch on her.

She stepped through the doors of the magical agency, pausing only to rip a wanted poster off a bulletin. She slammed the paper down on the secretary’s desk. “I’m here to collect a bounty,” she announced.

Hourglass was just trying to pass by and get her paper work done when Winston called her over, having spotted a woman dragging a man behind her approaching the doors. Hour was honestly impressed and she waited at the desk for him, letting Winston go collect some files while she handled the bounty hunter, as it turned out.

Hour looked at the poster then at the man and raised an eyebrow. “I mean, it’s obviously him. Good job breaking his nose.” She winked at the girl and straightened up. “I’ll take him, then we can go take your statement and fill out the paperwork so we can get you your reward. Sound good?” She switched to her official role, grabbing one set of paperwork for the hunter to fill out, the rest of the work being set aside for her to grab. “Stay here, fill this out, and I will be right back to take your statement.” Hour removed the metal cuffs on the mans wrist and cast some vines in their place, handing the metal ones back to their owner before disappearing around the corner to holding.

Ash crinkled her nose as she glanced at the papers. This was the less glamorous part of the job. Since it appeared she might wind up staying for a while until she fixed her brother’s mess, however, she needed funds that did not require her to draw from her stash of treasures.

She set to filling out the paperwork, her sharp hearing allowing her to listen in on the office gossip going on around her. When she finished, she leaned back and carefully studied her surroundings. It was always good to know all the details of a place on the off chance one would need to make a quick exit.

“I don’t suppose you could point me in the direction of the nearest tavern? I think I might stay a couple days.” Knowing her brother, it would be more than a couple days, but that was more than anyone needed to know.

Hour grabbed her paperwork and motioned for the woman to follow her. “Uhm, there’s a place in south shore market. From here you just follow South street.” Hour motioned for the girl to sit in the chair across from her desk and took her own seat. “The Tavern is called Faery Bites, the owner Janet has a room upstairs she rents out to travelers.”

Hour wrote in her information on the front of her packet and flipped it to the second page. “Before we proceed, I must inform you legally of your rights. You have the right to privacy, which means you do not have to answer any of the questions in relation to your identity if you so wish. You also hold the right to refuse bounty services, which means you don’t have to answer any questions regarding the arrest but in doing so you forfeit payment for the arrest. You also reserve the right not to incriminate yourself, you cannot be arrested for any crimes you may have committed in trying to complete the arrest. Any outside crimes you confess to you can still be charged for.” Hour handed the paper with the disclaimer over to the bounty hunter to sign, “Please sign here to acknowledge that you understand your rights and are allowed to leave here at any time.”

Ash only half-listened to the spiel, having already heard it almost a dozen times already by different people. With delicate looping letters, she signed the document with the persona she had spent the last couple years building up- Scarlet Ashburn.

“Anything else?” She was quite anxious to be out of here and settling in before she spoke with this girl alone- and she had no doubt this was her target. She could catch Lucifer’s scent on her quite clearly. The strength of it worried her- had he fucking imprinted on this girl on top of all this familiar nonsense? If he had, then it was already too late to convince him to give it all up- the only shred of hope left was to talk some sense into this warlock.

“Just finish up on the statement, the personal information you wish to divest, and then sign. We’ll review it and then get your payment ready, you can pick it up at any point tomorrow. For now, we have a portion of the bounty for you. It should be enough to keep you comfortable until we can get the entirety to you.” Hourglass shuffled the paperwork in front of her. The rest was up to the council to fill out.

Hour had felt uneasy since the bounty hunter had left the precinct, her nerves on high alert like she has been in the days after she screamed at the dragon. She could hear her co-workers gossiping about her last trial with the dragon, and she already knew there was a betting pool going around. With a sigh she pulled her stuff together to leave the precinct, only pausing outside the door when the feeling of being watched grew stronger.

Ash paused at the top of the stairs, glancing from one apartment to the other, before finally making the decision to pull out her lock-picking set. Letting the others know she was here could wait till later; she’d much rather get this over with before her brother’s protective instincts kicked in. He wasn’t stupid; he’d know exactly what had drawn her here the moment he saw her.

She saw the wards shimmer just before the door opened and shrugged, stepping inside. It wasn’t as if she didn’t want the apartment’s resident to know she was here.

She did a thorough search of the apartment to make sure she knew exactly where every possible weapon was (and even scoffed in disdain at the poor taste in fashion when she opened the closet). She paused to absently scratch a cat between the ears before lowering herself into an armchair to wait.

Hour hated feeling so on edge, but something was wrong. Something at home- oh shit, my wards. She paused in her walking and started running, getting to the apartment in half the time it normally would and tapped her foot patiently to wait for the winch to recognize and connect to her magic. Getting on to her floor she practically threw her door open and stopped.

Sitting on her arm chair was the bounty hunter from the precinct, and sitting on her lap was Arthur. Wonderful guard cat you are. She rubbed her temples and grabbed her staff from the case that only her magic could open. “Okay, I have no patience for this at the moment. Let go of my cat and get out.”

In response, Ash merely rubbed the cat’s head in slow, gentle circles. “If you keep going as you are I’m afraid this is going to become routine. I would much prefer it if it wasn’t however.”

She ignored the presence of the staff. Spells and curses typically took a good deal more power than usual to affect a dragon than it did for most beings, and Ash figured that would give her enough time to either get out or shift before the warlock tried to hit her with a stronger spell.

“So you’re the witch who thinks she can tame a dragon. I am here to ask you to stop. There are plenty of other creatures out there you can make into your familiar. I saw the looks your dear captain was giving you at the precinct- I am positive he would jump at the chance.”

#long post #fire dance

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firexdance · 7 years