Shared By The Dragon Clan: Part One

SHARED BY
THE DRAGON CLAN

Part One

 

 

Rosette
Bolter

CHAPTER ONE

 

 

Tired and afraid, Stacey Caversham
was strapped to her seat at the back of the chopper. She was wearing a state
issued orange jump suit; her ankles and wrists were handcuffed; her hair was a
total disaster and she hadn’t eaten properly in weeks. From the cockpit she
could hear the pilot indicating to the head of security that they were
approaching the island, and soon they’d be landing. The dark skinned security
guard next to her sat back in his seat and fastened his straps accordingly.
From a pair of sunglasses he glanced over at Stacey, almost menacingly, and she
tried to look away.

If only he
knew,
she
thought.
If only he knew I’m innocent…

Stacey was
innocent.

In spite of
that, this morning she had stood up in front of an entire court room full of
people, and had been found guilty of the murder of her roommate, Teresa. The
prosecution didn’t have more than circumstantial evidence – the neighbors had
overheard the pair of them arguing, video footage confirmed she was the only
one in the apartment at the time, and the most damning of all – Teresa had
posted on Facebook she was afraid Stacey would kill her.

The truth
seemed obvious to Stacey – Teresa had thrown herself over the balcony and made
that post about Stacey just to get back at her. What they were arguing about,
didn’t seem important now … But in any case the judge had sentenced Stacey to
twenty years in prison.

Or…

“Or you may
try your luck on Firebound Island,” the judge had said.

What had
momentarily seemed to be a wash of devastation, now offered a faint glimmer of
hope.

“Firebound
Island…?” Stacey repeated.

“You’ll be
placed in the hands of the dragon clan residing there, for a period of one
year. However I should warn you, if you decide on this option, it is very
unlikely you will survive that long…”

Of course,
The Firebound Dragons. They were reasonably new to the area, having migrated to
the island only a few years back. Part of their peace treaty with the human
state was that females sentenced to prison terms of one year or more would have
the option of being enslaved to the dragons for a significantly reduced amount
of time. Stacey knew little of what happened to women who found themselves in
such a position – but a sentence in jail for twenty years seemed far too
horrific that no matter how afraid she was of the dragons, it seemed like the
better choice.

“So be it,”
the judge decreed. “You’ll fly out after lunch.”

And now,
after only an hour on the chopper, they were getting ready to land on the island
below.

“How should I
be with them?” Stacey murmured to the man in sunglasses next to her. “How can I
make them treat me well?”

“I wouldn’t
have the faintest idea,” the guard replied. “I’ve never met with them before.
No one on this aircraft has.”

“But how is
that –?”

“You’ll see.”

 

CHAPTER TWO

 

 

The chopper landed on the roof of a
building surrounded by forest. The security team departed the plane with
Stacey. Beforehand the guard with glasses unlocked the handcuffs around her
ankles, and switched the handcuffs on her wrists so her hands were cuffed from
behind. Two men in front of her, and two men behind. The afternoon sun was
roaring with heat as their shadows moved underneath it. There was little cover
to be had until they made it inside.

 Once there, the
journey did not stop. It was a warehouse type building, with dim artificial
lighting. They moved through a metallic railing until reaching a spiraling set
of stairs, which took them to the concrete floor. Surrounding Stacey here, she
saw tables with computers, and work benches with tools. A cloud of dust
permanently hung in the air.

The head of
security singled out the guy with sunglasses. “Stay back with the prisoner.
We’ll make sure the path is secure first.”

The guard
nodded.

The remaining
two men followed their leader out towards a shed like door which had been
fastened shut with a crowbar. They removed it and stepped outside, leaving
Stacey alone with the guard.

“So have you
taken other girls up here before?” she asked, breaking the silence.

“Many times.”

“Do you ever
… bring anyone back?”

“That’s not
my detail.”

“But some
girls do come back, don’t they?” Stacey mumbled. “I mean, you are aware of that
actually happening.”

“In some
cases.”

Stacey
breathed a sigh of relief. “Phew. I was really worried there.”

She tried to
smile at him, but still he showed no emotion. He’d given her the answer she
wanted, but all the same she wanted to be completely certain.

“In what
cases?” she finally asked.

The guard’s
head tilted. “I once heard about a woman making out of here alive after three
days.”

“What?”

“She’d been
given a year for tax fraud. She decided to come here instead.”

“Who else has
made it out of here?”

“The longest
… time a woman has been known to survive here … was a week…”

“A week? Only
a week?”

“The thing
is,” the guard explained, “we don’t know if the dragons really killed the girls
who didn’t make it out. Or…”

“Or?”

“Or they just
decided to keep them forever.”

The door then
opened and the head of security stuck his head in. “We’re good to go.”

The guard
nodded to Stacey and she started walking towards the door. Soon she was
outside.

The clearing
around where the building was situated was very small. There was barely any
grass between the walls of the compound, and the trees themselves. There was a
pathway around the right side of the building which would stretch of for a
while. This is where Stacey was led.

She turned to
the guard behind her. “Where are we going now?”

“To the
fence?”

“What fence?”

“That’s where
you’ll be taken. You’ll have to wait there.”

“Will you be
there with me?”

“Keep your
eyes in front,” the guard said, refusing to answer her.

The fence was
only a few minutes away. Soon on the horizon Stacey would see its great mass
stretching out. It was tall – twenty, thirty feet off the ground perhaps. When
they reached front of it, she saw that there were two iron doors blocking the
continuation of the pathway beyond the fence. She noticed a sign hanging
nearby.

 

HUMANS NOT
ALLOWED

 

“Okay,” the
head of security said once there. “You can undo her handcuffs now.”

The guard in
sunglasses, stepped forward to release them. They hit the ground with a clunk
and he stooped over to pick them up. Stacey stepped away, shaking warmth back
into her hands.

“You’ll have
to wait here now,” the head of security said. “Eventually they’ll come for
you.”

“What do I do
until then?” Stacey asked.

The guards
were stepping away.

“Just stay
put,” the head of security said. “It’s the safest option for you.”

They then
turned, and began to backtrack.

“Wait,”
Stacey called to them. “Guy with sunglasses.”

The guard
turned.

“Come here
for a second, would you?”

The guard
looked to his commander, and the head of security nodded.

The guard
then moved forward a few meters back so she could speak to him.

“We don’t
know each other, but I want you to look me in the eyes when I say this,” she
said.

“Okay,” the
guard said. He took off his sunglasses to show that he was genuine.

“I’m innocent
of my crime,” she said.

The guard
attempted to smile, and touched her shoulder lightly. “I’m afraid, that doesn’t
matter now.”

“No,” Stacey
insisted. “It really does.”

The guard put
his sunglasses back on, and turned away from her. “You belong to them now.”

Stacey
watched him and the others disappear in the brightness of the sun’s rays, and
it was only after they were gone, that she realized she could have made a very
big mistake.

 

CHAPTER
THREE

 

 

Unbeknownst to the girl, she was
already being watched by the dragons – and she had caught the eye of one in
particular. He was the Head of the Dragon Knights, an elite unit whom worked
directly for the Lord of Firebound Island. Upon the highest branches of a tree
some many yards away, Zane Hunter sat perched, holding a telescope to his eye.
He first started at the ground below her feet, as she stood motionless. Slowly
he moved his way up. In spite of the hideousness of her outfit, he could tell
he liked the body she had underneath her clothes. She wasn’t petite. She was
young – but her figure was more of a woman’s than of a girl’s. Zane was
satisfied by that. Judging by the color of her neck, she would have very pale
skin underneath her clothes. Something about this suggested to him, she was not
the typical, sexually prepared seekers who often wound up here. No … For her
sex was a sacred ritual. Something secretive. Private.

Zane watched
her eyes. The gentle wind moving through the edges of her hair. She was just
standing there. But she was out of breath. Anxiety. Fear. She had not even met
him yet, but the very thought of him inside her head, was terrifying enough.

“Well then,
my little blossom,” Zane murmured under his breath. “What is to become of thee
here? Hast thou the desire to learn? Hast thou the desire to please?”

Zane jumped
from the tree willfully, and landed on the ground below a moment later, sending
shockwaves through it. He raised his head, smiling … a predator’s smile. He was
still consumed by the thought of her fear – so much so he could see it running
all over body, through her bloodstream. And now he wanted it, out there, live
and wild in front of him.

And … If she
was not afraid…

If she could
look him in the eyes and be something more than a quivering fairy…

Well. Perhaps
he would like that even more.

 

 
CHAPTER FOUR

 

 

Stacey didn’t have to wait for long
before she saw the tall dark shadow moving across the ground. She watched it
merge with her own shadow, and for a moment she might have guessed she was
still alone there, for there was no sound in the air other than her own deep
breaths. But then the shadow spread out to reveal it’s true shape. She twirled
around to face him, almost in time with something. A distant song. An echoed
dance beat. The dragon shifter’s head was large enough to block the sun.

And close
enough to her.

“Hello,” she
began. “I’m Stacey Caversham.”

He was
smiling at her. Just staring. Just smiling.

For a moment
she was confused by his silence, and then at once she understood it. He was
watching her for a reaction to his own appearance – He wanted to see what she
made of him –

And well. He
was dressed in black and silver armor with the emblem of a red dragon on his
chest… He had the physique of a warrior, but his face had softer features. As
if he had never been in battle. Or at least never been wounded.

His eyes were
gentle, yet piercing.

Impassioned,
yet disturbed.

No matter how
he looked before her now – no matter how he spoke to her or behaved – Stacey
had the feeling that whatever judgment she would make of him would be
incorrect.

Because it
wasn’t the full story.

“I’m going to
call you Blossom,” he said abruptly.

“Pardon me?”
Stacey returned.

“Blossom.
That’s what I’m going to call you.” He took a step towards the gate. “My name,
is Zane Hunter. I’m Head of the Dragon Knights.”

“Pleased to
meet you, Zane,” Stacey murmured.

Zane blinked
coldly. “You are going to call me, Master. You’re Blossom. I’m Master.
Understand?”

“Oh,” Stacey
replied. “Do I have to?”

“Why does it
make you uncomfortable?”

“I don’t
really know,” Stacey mumbled. “I’m just not sure where it’s going.”

“Right now,”
Zane said, “you are outside of this. I don’t have to let you in. I can just
walk away. Leave you to find your own path on our island here. I wonder, what
would become of you? Any thoughts?”

Stacey shook
her head.

“Who you were
before this moment – forget it. We’re not interested in who you were, and what
you’re used to being called. We have certain … roles that need to be filled.
One such that is for me to entertain a little Blossom. You see, I want to like
you. Because I’m a really nice person. Do you follow me?”

Stacey nodded
her head slowly.

“It’s really,
in a way, no worse than how you’d have been treated if you had elected to
complete your sentence in your homeland. There, you’d just be a number to them.
And you’d have to fit in, and follow the rules, and address people as you’re
expected to. Make sense?”

“Okay,”
Stacey said. “I guess.”

“So who are
you?”

She
hesitated. “I’m Blossom.”

“And who am
I?”

“Master.”

“Excellent,”
Zane said. “Wasn’t that hard was it? Now take off your clothes and give them to
me.”

Stacey’s jaw
dropped. “What?”

“I need your
clothes, before you can come in. Please don’t tell me you’re attached to them.”

“But I’m not
going to…” Stacey trailed off.

“Speak up, I
can’t hear you.”

“I … I don’t
have any other clothes.”

“I don’t have
any other clothes, Master,” Zane corrected.

Stacey
winced.

“Say it.”

“But I don’t
have any other clothes, Master.”

“I will
provide you with clothes. But first I need the ones on your back. Do you
understand?”

Stacey
nodded. Her lips were twisting inward.

She put her
hands down to unbutton the jumpsuit. First button. Second.

Then Zane’s
expression changed. “Stop.”

She stopped.
Her hands were trembling.

“My delicate
little, Blossom. Where are my manners?”

He then
turned so his back was facing her.

She
recommenced the removing of her clothes.

“I can tell,”
Zane said in a quiet voice, “I’m going to have to be really, really nice to
you.”

Soon,
Stacey’s jumpsuit was at her feet, and she was down to no more than her
underwear. Zane put his hand through the gate and opened his palm, back still
turned.

“Give it to
me.”

She handed it
over.

Immediately,
Zane flung the garment up into the air high above him. He opened his mouth and
out shot a ball of fire, which ripped through its target, sending little more
than shreds floating back to the ground. Zane walked a couple of paces to
retrieve the remains.

He then
walked backwards to the gate and pushed them back into Stacey’s arms.

“Put it on,”
he said.

Before her
the jumpsuit had transformed into a sparkling green gown, that both fit and
felt perfect for Stacey to wear.

Zane turned
back to face her.

“Now, there’s
a woman,” he whispered.

Stacey
blushed.

Zane opened
the gate.

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