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** Curse of the Heart**

Ch. 1 : Shadows; past, present, future

** ** Jake Kreitz was a happy child, despite growing up during a terrible war, his family lived far enough into their territories that they never felt the threat of Mishaka's forces. He was not a human child and that made him a prize for the wretched male gryphal that he had heard so many terrible stories about. The gryphons were not as frightening to the youngster; he had been told that even though they flew for the enemy, they were just regular people fighting in a war that forced soldiers against one another after they had long forgotten who was good and evil. At least on the enemy's side they had forgotten. Jake's people had not forgotten who attacked first, or who deployed the terrible male gryphal against their foes. Gryphons, gryphal, and the gryph, three very similar and very different races. All of them were not a natural race on their world, all of them based off avians and felines combined, and all of them had been created specifically to fight this war. The gryphons were a fine tuned and well designed race, having the strength of their size and the grace of both a feline and an avian , they were a force to be reckoned with in the air and on the ground. The gryph, Jake's people, were a proud race, adamant on their difference from the gryphons. Many tried to call them humanoid, or 'anthro' gryphons and, for all intents and purposes, they were very much that. They appeared to be simply gryphons with a humanoid shape, down to the thumbs and plantigrade feet. They were indeed very proud of being their own race, without ties to another and they were very protective of their status. Jake didn't care for any of that, he was only five years old and all he wanted to do was spend the day with his best friend Jeri. She lived just three houses down form him in their quiet little village with her mother and father, who made some very fine shoes for the humans of the land. The young gryph scampered through the grass of the neighbor's yards like a living shadow. His black feathers were clean and glossy, thanks to his mother's forced grooming. Jake didn't know why she bothered to clean him up and make sure he was brushed every morning, he was just going to get all dusty and mussed up again soon after he left home to play. But she insisted that he be clean and well groomed, in a fresh clean pair of shorts that she kept mending, no matter how badly he managed to rip them up in his little boy-hood adventures. Today they were dark blue denim, with silvery buttons instead of a zipper. Jake stopped at Jeri's door and puffed up his bare, feathery chest and knocked on the white painted wood. Jeri's mother answered the door and looked down at the small boy with a stern gaze. He knew what she was thinking about; the last time they had played together they managed to collapse Mr. Gregory's shed. She was thinking how much of a bad influence he was on Jeri, but truth be told, it was the other way around. Jeri talked Jake into doing most of the rambunctious things they did. "Hi Mrs. Hamilton, can Jeri come out and play," he asked politely, looking the tan feathered female in her cool gray eyes. She gave a deep sigh and shook her head, "Jake, Jeri can come outside if you promise me that you will make her be careful and wont let her do anything stupid. I am so very afraid that one or both of you are going to be hurt in your troublesome games." "I promise I wont let Jeri do anything dangerous. Reyahl was awful angry that we wrecked the shed and he's going to make me help him fix it. Mr. Gregory wasn't very happy either," Jake replied with his wings held tight to his back in a display of shame in his actions. The elder female gave a nod, "Your brother was very right to be upset with you, we were all so frightened when you were trapped in there. You just remember how scared and upset everyone was next time you think to do something like that again. Jeri, Jake is here and he wants you to come out and play." "Coming momma," Jeri called from the next room. In the next moment the young female appeared and wriggled by her mother's leg to give Jake a hug. With her lovely feathers of brown with a mild rusty tint, the color like a fine whiskey, and her soft wing markings of a rather pale gray, even Jake thought she was very pretty already. He would never tell her that himself though, and he wiggled from her grasp, "Eww, cuddly stuff, knock it off Jeri!" "You kids play safe now, and be back in time for supper Jeri,"Mrs. Hamilton called out as the two children started to run off. Jeri called back over her shoulder, "Okay momma!" They scampered down the road toward the pond at the end of town, but before they got there Jake grabbed Jeri's hand, "This way, I have to show you something in the old warehouse." "Jake! So bold today," she giggled as her light dress fluttered a bit about her as they ran. The boy ignored her comment, "I figured out how to do something, but it's a secret so we have to hide it." "Okay, what did you learn to do," Jeri asked as they approached the large empty building. Jake lead her to the back where he pulled the loose board in the wall aside for her, "Wait and see, it's a surprise and it's really cool." "Really? I can't wait to see it then, you never have anything to show off," Jeri giggled as she held her wings tight to herself and wriggled through the hole. Jake gasped as a bit of her dress caught on the wood and tore, "Oh no, your dress!" "Ugh, this stupid dress gets caught on everything. Maybe it's done for at last," Jeri huffed and examined the hole in the bottom hem of her dress. Jake collected the bit of brown material off the wood and tucked it into his pocket, "Maybe your momma can fix it." "But I don't want her to," Jeri complained. Jake gave her his famous 'come on' look, "We don't have time to argue about it. Do you want to see this trick or not?" "Sorry Jake," the girl replied with a small pouting look at her feet, "Will you come inside and show me your trick, pretty please?" She looked up at him with sad eyes and Jake knew he would have fought and won the war all by himself to make her happy, "Alright Jeri, for you. But we have to be more careful, your mom is right about us getting hurt someday. If we keep being stupid something bad is bound to happen." The boy wiggled through the gap and pulled the loose board back in place to cover their tracks. Jeri gave a nod and fell in beside him to hold onto his left arm as he lead her into the dark warehouse. The building was rather rickety with holes in the roof, far beyond the limits of repair and yet still standing. All the adults said the place was dangerous, but they built a new one at the other end of town instead of tearing the old one down. All the kids played in the rows of empty shelves and dusty old rooms when no one was looking. Jake felt it was the perfect place to show Jeri his new-found talents. Jeri rested her head on his shoulder and leaned against him as they walked. They were too young for a boyfriend or a girlfriend, but Jake was well aware that they were special to one another beyond simple friendship and he knew Jeri was aware as well. The way she showed affection to him when no one was around let him know, and he let her know in return by accepting it and being affectionate right back when they were alone. Jake knew that when he was old enough to be ready to have a girlfriend, it would almost certainly be Jeri he asked. This was also assuming either of them even had to ask, the union could even happen without a real transition when they got older. "Jake," Jeri asked as they reached the central chamber of the warehouse where the kids built and maintained a small stove, "I think I might like you." The young male smiled and blushed softly, "I know I like you Jeri. That's why I'm showing you this, so maybe you wont think I'm such a scaredie cat." "I don't think your a scaredie cat, Jake," Jeri replied softly as she let him go so he could begin lighting the makeshift stone stove, "You are careful and smart, and you make me feel safe to be around you. I know you wont let me be too stupid, no matter what trouble I talked you into. You would stop me when it was too dangerous and you would protect me if anything tried to hurt me." Jake smiled as he flipped the flat rock that hid the flint and steel one of the other kids had brought for the stove and began to shove straw and kindling into the stone enclosure, "Just wait, you will believe I can protect you even more than before after you see what I can do now." "I can't wait to see this surprise, what is it anyway," Jeri asked while Jake set to work on turning a spark into a fire. The boy smiled as his spark came to life with a slow smoldering swell that became the first orange blossom of flame, "Oh, nothing big, just this." Jeri gasped as he put his hand into the fire and pulled the flames away from the fuel to flicker on his palm without burning himself. Jake grinned and worked his will over the fire, forcing it to takes simple shapes like spheres, cubes, and the like. The young gryph took a deep breath and prepared himself to stress his abilities to impress is female friend. The fire resisted a moment before it submitted to his will and formed into the shape of a crow standing on his forearm. "Jake this is amazing! Can you make it into something bigger, like a cougar or a bear," Jeri squealed excitedly. "I can try, hold on a second," he focused his will upon the flames once again and coaxed them to grow larger to match the shape in his mind. The flames resisted for a moment before they submitted to his will once more, swelling and filling out the mold his mind had set for them. The fire even displayed the muzzle markings of the cougar he willed them to be, by changing the colors of the flame. Darker red for the bands and white orange for the white spot on the muzzle. Jake was uncertain how it was possible, but the fire cat gave a low growl and a cougar roar. "Wow, this is so intense! Jake, you are simply amazing," Jeri cooed as she threw her arms around him and took him by surprise with a beak locking kiss, slipping her beak around the edges of his and sliding her tongue along his. Jake was so surprised by the kiss, he could only return it, holding her close while his young confused heart hammered in his chest. That was when he heard the rising roar of flames. He broke from the kiss to look around them, it was like staring into the pits of hell. The fire cat had began to stalk around them, walking through the old wooden shelves and setting them ablaze with it's body. "Jeri, we have to get out of here, I can't control this much fire," Jake cried as he pulled her toward the only path out of the inferno around them. Jeri rushed along behind him as she held his hand tightly, "Jake, I'm scared!" The young male lead his friend through the maze of shelves toward the hole in the wall that they had come in. As they ran he caught site of the fire cat out of the corner of his eye. It was chasing them on their left as they raced for the exit. Jake tried to order the cat to fall back, but it resisted his command. He tried again with a more forceful tone to his command. The fire cat replied with it's own voice, :Burn, kill, consume!: Jake felt a ball of ice lodge in his gut when the fire beast's eyes focused on Jeri, "It's after you! I can't control it Jeri, we have to run, run now!" The smoke was growing rather thick in the warehouse, surely some one had seen it billowing out of the old structure. The cat was relentless in it's pursuit and closing in on the fleeing children. Jake tried his best to slow the beast down by throwing what few odd bits of abandoned goods he could find at the cat, but they all passed right through the flaming body of his creation. Jeri coughed and screamed with terror as she pushed ahead blindly in the black smoke, trying desperately to find their hidden exit. They had to be close, they weren't that far into the warehouse, and it wasn't helping Jake to get his bearings to be fighting off his own creation. Jeri was nothing more than a tail tip bouncing in and out of the smoke ahead of him at that point. The young male spotted an old metal bar in the dirt and scooped it up as he ran after his friend. Several places within the warehouse he had seen shelves with old rotting timbers on them, if he could break the front supports with the bar he might have had a chance at dispersing the cat. Jake heard Jeri ahead of him as she tried to push the board out for their escape. This was good news, not only were they at their destination, Jake had noticed one of the shelves full of old timbers right near that entrance. He had to find that shelf in time to use it and he didn't mark which side it was on in his head. He could hear Jeri pounding and pushing on the board desperately some where in the smoke as he probed with his bar to try and find the shelf through the heavy black curtain around them. "Jake, it's stuck! I can't open it," Jeri cried with a cough just as he located the shelf he needed. They had to get out soon, even without the cat in pursuit the smoke would surely finish them off in short order. Jake choked a bit on the smoke before he raised his bar and took a heavy swing at the support. The old wood cracked all the way through, but still held it's place to force another swing. The second blow snapped the damaged wood and left the shelves sagging toward the missing leg under the weight of their rotting burden. "Jeri, step aside and get ready to run," Jake cried out as he rushed to the remaining front support for the shelves. The cat came into sight just as he reached his target causing his heart to sink into his feet. He didn't have time for two swings this time, there was only one chance for escape and survival. The young male gryph summoned every ounce of strength he had left and swung the bar against the inside curve of the bowed shelf support. Fortune was on his side as the bowed state weakened the support and sent shards of splinters flying when his bar connected. The old rotting timbers toppled right behind him as he rushed toward the hidden exit, the cat did not escape the toppling lumber. As he had hoped it would, the cat dispersed under so many large solid objects squashing it to the ground. Jake turned and charged at the board that had swelled and stuck with the heat. He could sense what the flames were doing behind him and it did not sit well in the gryph's gut as he slammed his shoulder against the exit. The cat was reforming on top of the lumber as he burst through the plank in a clatter of wood and splinters. Jeri was right behind him, but before she could make it to safety a fiery paw swiped her belly and knocked her back with a terrified cry, "Jake!" "Jeri," Jake cried out as he tried to dive back through the smoking hole where he could hear the heart wrenching pain-filled cries of his closest friend. He was cut short by a strong arm around his belly that jerked him back into the powerful embrace of an older male gryph. Jake fought desperately, he had to get back into that building to save Jeri; he knew what that thing was was doing to her and nobody deserved to die like that. "Jake, stop! You can't go back in there, it's too dangerous," the voice coming from the gryph holding him was that of his older brother, Reyahl. The young gryph looked up into the blue eyes of his brother with a pleading stare, "Reyahl, Jeri is still in there! The fire, it wants to kill her!" "Stay here, let me handle it Jake," the dark gray gryph flexed his wings a bit as he moved toward the hole, the light bringing out his black wing bands quite boldly. Reyahl kicked the planks around the hole to widen it for himself to enter. Jake's heart fell into his feet when he realized he couldn't hear Jeri any longer as his brother searched and called out for her. "Jake! What's going on, where is Reyahl," His mother called out as she rushed up to hold his face and look him over in frantic worry. He resisted her pull, "Momma, Reyahl is in there, looking for Jeri, the fire, it's after her!" "Mom, Jake! What's going on? Why is the old warehouse on fire," Jake heard Thomas, the younger of his two older brothers, calling out. Their mother handed Jake over to her son, the color of her light blue simple cotton dress finally registered in Jake's mind, "Take your brother, I have to put out that fire. Jeri and Reyahl are both in there and I think she might be hurt." Thomas took hold of his little brother and started to back away with him while their mother worked her spell. Theresa Kreitz wasn't any kind of all powerful, earth shaking mage, but she was powerful and skilled enough to handle the inferno in the warehouse. Her spell worked quickly to conjure a rain cloud within the burning building to douse the flames in a focused down pour. Reyahl emerged shortly after it started, he was coughing a bit and hiding something in his wings. "I've found her," he announced with a somber tone before he looked up at the tan gryph holding Jake back, "Thomas, get Jake out of here. He shouldn't see this." The middle brother gave a nod and turned away from the two adults to carry Jake off, using his black banded wings to block the view behind them. Theresa cried out behind them, "Oh god, no! Reyahl.. this is horrible." Jake panicked and struggled like a trapped animal to see what had become of his beloved friend. When he finally managed to catch a glimpse of Jeri, his heart froze and shattered. The flesh on the right half of her head had been burned away to the bone, her lovely wings were nothing more than smoldering nubs, and there was not a feather left on her body. The cat had burned her over her entire body and killed her by burning intensely on her face and head. No, the cat wasn't really even a thing, it was simply an element of fire. Jake had created it, so he had killed her....

* * *

Jake woke up slowly, the dream did not send him gasping and calling out for the long dead Jeri. He had too tight of control on his emotions for that. It was only a dream and a memory that haunted him, one that changed and defined him as he grew and became a man. It was a nightmare, one he had lived decades ago. Gryph didn't normally live so long, but he was in the clump of family deemed close enough to his sister in-law's father to receive the 'gift' given to him for tying up one of the loose ends his current commanding powers had left in their time so many ages ago. One would think that a dragon's life span would be a blessing to beings so short lived as the gryph who shared the span of the human race. This was not true for Jake, he was haunted and hounded by his own past involving Jeri. So deep was the wound that he had to close his heart and lock away a specific part of himself that he never knew and could never reach. Jake gave a sigh and pulled the black comforter off himself to let the cool night air wash over his nude form. The hour was after midnight, but still in an ungodly close proximity. Jake hauled himself out of his bed to slowly walk to his black lacquered dresser, the dim light he kept on at all times showed him his own face in the mirror. It was a handsome avian face that looked back at him, a deep gray eagle-like beak covering the lower portion of his face. His deep emerald green eyes had grown less innocent and more cold, honest, and calculating over the years. Those eyes fit well with the dark appearance his black coat of glossy feathers and well kept fur gave him as it covered his strong, athletic form. Jake possessed the kind of body that just about any girl would love to hold on to, be it in a loving embrace or in the height of lusty passion, the boy had become a rather handsome man. But even after more than thirty years, he had never settled down with a mate for more than a short time. His heart was incomplete without the missing piece locked away from even himself and even at that moment when he looked into the mirror, he saw the boy who had killed his first love when he lost control of his power. His ever vigilant eyes caught the movements of the shadows in his room as they started to elongate and stretch to a spot behind him. This was a feet in the dim glow of the enchanted stone over head, as his room was painted a charcoal gray with black furnishings. From the wardrobe to the weapon rack, and even the chest in the far corner, every bit of furniture was black lacquered for defensive purposes. At night, Jake himself was nearly impossible to visually track in his own home. This was not an enemy invading his home however, he knew the being well and he knew what their presence meant. Jake gave a deep sigh and turned around to face the shadows as they drew themselves up and formed the body of a lovely feral dragoness, "Hello Jade, I can guess why you're here." She did not answer right away, instead she finished forming her body into the lean shapely figure she once had in life. Short horns sprouted form the shadowy head to curve along the shape of what would have been her skull if she was not a being of pure shadow. Long tapered wings grew from her back while her rather long tail snaked it's way from just above her rump. The edges of her body where her visual outline would have been kept a hazy appearance, like shadowy wisps of smoke as that outer edge slipped back and forth between the physical and metaphysical worlds. When she opened her eyes, they were simply balls of green light that rested behind her eyelids. "Hello Jake, my oh my! If this is how you are going to greet me from now on I will have to start making personal visits," Jade eyed his body, particularly his exposed genitals as she spoke in her true lovely voice. The sweet feminine tones were a great relief to the gryph, "Thank goodness you decided to drop the whole shadow pulled voice routine this time. I hate trying to decipher the message when shadow dragons pull that crap." "Well, I wanted to get on your good side, even more so now that I see what you've been hiding under that armor. Frankly if you continued to serve in these duties after this last kill, I could have my only chance to have a mortal friend that I could have any kind of regular contact with. It's cold and quiet in the shadow realm," Jade pointed out with a soft sigh as she ignored even more protocol and solidified herself more firmly so she had a clear outline. Jake gave a nod, "I see, well I wont live too long by your standards if I succeed in this hunt. We should get this business over with if you really want to get into personal matters and conversation. What is the deity, his or her profile, and where have they gone to start shit?" "Of course.. his name a Tulsca, and he is the god of unwanted lust, covering rape, coerced fornication, sexual slavery, and performing unwanted acts during consensual sex. The more forceful and the worse it makes the victim feel, the more he smiles upon the acts of his followers," Jade explained as she stepped over to the weapon rack to stare at the shadow blade that belonged to Jake. He shook his head in disgust, "A rape god, why the fuck would anyone need that for balance in anything?" "Not rape, unwanted lust, and he was appointed because the goddess of love for his world did not have the heart to handle that aspect of the profile that is normally handled by a lust god.," Jade explained in reply before she turned her attention back to the nude warrior across the room. Jake didn't care that she was eying his body, he was comfortable with himself and actually liked Jade as a person on a friendship level but the current subject did have him a bit angry, "Unwanted is still unwanted. Forced sex is still rape, whether it was manipulated or a forced kind of sex after base consent was given, it is still rape to take what you know the other does not want. And don't start on this whole , 'Without Chaos, Order cannot exist.' song and dance. The fact remains that such a deity being needed is still sick and twisted." "Well, you will be destroying him so it wont be an issue for too much longer," the shadow dragon replied with a sigh as she turned her back on him and examined the blade that was nearly an exact match to the one strapped across her back between her wings. Jake felt a twinge of guilt as he noticed her somewhat sad body language, "Jade, are you alright? You seem rather down all of a sudden." "She was my only friend amongst the shadow guardians, or any of the shadow dragons for that matter. She was slain and lost to the realm of exile when she tried to save the world you were on at that time. Miseroth was a nasty one, and you took him down to avenge your lost mate as well as Kirilli. I thought maybe some one with such a just heart could be a good friend in her stead. Now I find you blaming me for the existence of something I don't agree with at all, and you are forcing me to defend him when he has hurt one of my fledgling guardians," the shadow spoke softly with a rather artificial control to her tone. Jake felt a sickening knot in his gut that forced him to start walking toward her, "Who was it?" "Beletran, she sought to prove herself on what seemed like an easy target but his whip was able to seize control of her body and allow him to violate her in every way his followers have ever done to a living person," she replied with a shaky voice. The gryph reached the shadow dragon and wrapped his arms around her from behind to hold her tight in a comforting embrace, "It's not your fault Jade, Beletran was young when she died and she has not been a shadow dragon for more than a year. She still has the foolhardy youthful feeling of invulnerability, this should teach her that she is not as invincible as she thought. She is strong and will recover, but she will certainly be more cautious in the future." "I know that Jake, I just.. I just feel responsible and angry at both her and this foul mockery of a deities station," Jade sighed with frustration as she rest her hands on his. The gryph rubbed his cheek against hers, uncertain of the natural comforting gestures of her feral species prior to the event that earned her place as a shadow dragon, "I know Jade, and I am sorry it felt like I was blaming you for this god's existence. I would never believe that you would do such a thing, you're my partner and I trust you fully." "Thank you Jake, that means a lot to me," the shadow dragon rubbed her cheek back against his, "I have to ask though, if I were anthro instead of feral would you be more interested in my previous suggestion?" He thought for a moment before he replied, "I would be lying if I said no, I would indeed be quite a bit more interested. Most of the problem is that I find you beautiful as a feral, but not arousing, ferals lack the things and the shape that gets my dick hard. But beyond that, you are my partner and I don't want to ruin that. We are friends and more but we could never be real lovers let alone mates. You have to live amongst the shadows with rare time away, and I can not live within the shadow realm until death.." "None of that is a worry, I understand we can't be more than what we are Jake," Jade turned in his arms to look him in the eye with her odd emerald glows where eyes would have been, "I just want a partner and friend, perhaps a little sex every now and again if you were hard and willing. As for my being feral, I'm a shadow dragon silly. My form can easily be more suitable for you and a direct anthro reflection of my feral beauty as well." She slipped out of his arms by dissipating into a shadow form and flowing over to his dresser to reform in an anthro shape, lean and athletic, with a very sensual curve about her hips and lovely toned abdominal muscles showing faintly along her belly. Gorgeous round and firm breasts graced her scaly chest with sexy D-cup peaks. She still had the basic shadow dragon traits, pure black scales that were rather smooth and polished in texture yet reflecting no light. Her eyes remained those odd glows behind her eyelids, not a true eyeball, more like energy balls filling the eye sockets to keep the insides from being observed. Jade flexed her wings behind her for a moment as she ran a hand down along her side, "My, I do make for a rather lovely anthro dragon.. will this suffice?" Jake could feel the blood flowing to his member as it started to swell and slowly stiffen at the sight of Jade's anthro form, "Yes, that will do so very nicely. I would say that some good angry sex would help you vent and comfort you, but I'm unsure if this is just for show or if you shadow types can really have sex." She simply smiled at him and turned around to begin unbuckling her sword and sheath to remove them from her back and chest. The whole while she kept her tail curled up and to her left to show off her beautiful toned rump to the male gryph that was eying her. Jade laid her blade on top of Jake's dresser before she turned around and walked toward him with a hungry gaze and a sexy sway to her hips. He could feel his member standing a bit out from his body as he was coming close to being fully erect at her displays. The dragoness reached up with her hands to gently caress down his chest as she slowly sank to her knees in front of him, her warm breath wafting over the head of his member. "Tell me Jake, are all gryph this wonderfully large," Jade asked as she brought her hands down to lift his fully erect ten inch spire for her tongue to trace along the under side. He groaned softly as her tongue felt incredibly warm and wet against his sensitive flesh, "Mmm.. no, I happen to be blessed with a decent endowment. I must ask though, is everything as wet as your tongue?" "Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough," Jade smiled up at him before she kisses the head of his cock and began to suck harder until she drew the hardened flesh into her mouth and muzzle. Jake gave a soft groan of pleasure as his partner's mouth began to slide back and forth along his hard shaft, coating it with a glistening layer of saliva. He caressed her head softly as it bobbed against his groin while her tongue stroked over his hard flesh within her tightly suckling mouth. Her eyes were closed as she moaned every so softly at the taste of him in her mouth, her hands caressing and grasping at his rump to hold herself close to him for her oral enjoyment. The gryph began to breath a bit heavier as the shadow dragon's attentions on his member were growing increasingly more intense. He reached down and grasped her short subtle horns to hold her head for his hips to begin rocking against the tight suckling lips of her mouth, thrusting his cock into her wet muzzle. Jake held his ground against the tantalizing teasing of that longer more mobile tongue of the dragoness for as long as he could, managing a nice run of thrusts into her mouth but it was more than he was accustomed to. It wasn't too long before he was leaking precum onto her tongue and feeling a bit weak in the knees. "Mm, Jade, I need to sit down. Your tongue is just too much," he finally admitted as he gently pat her head. She smiled and sucked as hard as she could on his hard shaft as she slowly pulled her lips back to pull off the head with an little pop of the breaking suction, "Mmm, alright. Lay back on the bead and I'll finish snacking on this beautiful cock, then we can get down to the business of really using it." "Hmm, that does sound rather nice. I can't wait to see you just let out all that frustration on my lap," Jake grinned at her and started to step away toward his bed. "Wait," the dragoness grasped his hand and stopped him as she slid her other hand between her legs to sink two fingers into her warm wet sex for a few strokes and brought them back up near his beak, " A taste before you go?" Jake held the offered hand gently and licked softly and slowly at the lovely coating upon her fingers while she kissed and licked at his hard shaft, "Mmm, a touch sweeter than normal. I suppose shadow women can have sex after all. I hope you really wanted this." "I have no doubt that I want this, now get on that damned bed already," Jade hissed with impatient desire as she sat on her knees with her legs spread as she grasp and rubbed her own breasts, watching the male eagerly. He was certainly in the mood to please the sexy female that was nearly writhing with desire in his bedroom floor, so Jake quickly moved over to his bed to lay back on the black comforter. The gryph stared down his belly at the shadow dragoness stalking toward him with a very hungry look in her eyes as they stayed riveted on his hard cock standing tall and proudly erect for her sexy for. Jade settled at the foot of his bed to lean her muzzle over his hard cock as she opened her mouth a bit and snaked her limber tongue to curl the tip around the head of his waiting shaft. Warm slick saliva began to leak down her tongue and over his member as she worked up a bit of a drool over his sexual lance. Once she had thoroughly coated his cock in her saliva, Jade leaned her head in to lick up the little bit that had dribbled onto his balls before she sat back up and squeezed her firm breasts around his slick shaft. A soft groan escaped his throat when she began to stroke those large luscious breasts along his member as her scales on her chest were softer than they appeared and every bit as smooth as the eye could perceive. Her saliva was more than enough to lubricate his shaft for her bobbing chest to stroke him in a soft tight embrace that put him into an incredible level of sexual stimulation even before her lips wrapped back around the head of his cock. Jade must have been too ravenous for his masculine appendage to hold back, instantly giving the head as hard of a suck as she could while bobbing up and down along his shaft. It was so much so fast, and Jake was just too over stimulated to hold back in the least. He did manage give her a courtesy warning and gentle tap on a horn, "Jade, I'm going to cum, now!" She smiled as she pulled her mouth off his twitching cock with a hard suck and that pop of breaking that suction. Jake gave a deep grunt as he exploded onto her chest and between her breasts, spurting ropes of his sticky cum over those black scales. Jade cooed as she stroked her breasts over his fleshy hose and used him to smear his cum all over her breasts. The dragoness' hard nipples toyed over the leaking head of his member as he started to come down from his orgasmic high. His partner rubbed his cum into her scales with her hands as she watched him breath heavily from his release. He knew she wasn't done with him yet, those eyes were too hungry and far too eager for her to be finished with a simple tit fuck. He wasn't disappointed when she moved up onto him and turned around, showing off her sexy round rump with a seductive swaying and rolling of her hips. Jake couldn't himself, that body was simply too perfect and wrapped around some one he generally liked as a person. He had to have her, as much as she would give and take from him he had to have it. Jade held her tail high and to her right to let him see her form while she held his cock up to rub her rump and sex against it from behind her, "Well big birdie, let's see what that thing can do inside me hmm?" "Mmm.. it's waiting just for you, sexy scaly girl," Jake grinned at her as he rolled his hips a bit to help rub his cock against both her sex and tailhole. She nearly purred with a soft moan as she raised her hips against his shaft and nestled the head of his cock between her warm wet lips and rocked her hips down his hard spire with a deep moaning cry, "Ooh! By the Lord of Realms, such a deep snug fit. So wonderful!" Jake watched her warm wet lips as they kissed the tip and then swallowed his entire cock. They were as black as the scales around them and so was the flesh of her folds as they gripped his hard member so tightly. She was so wet with her slick nectars that he slipped up inside of her with such ease, even with her impossibly tight passage. That warm wet sensation was so incredible, he had never felt a girl like that around his cock before. It was by far his best vaginal entry he had ever experienced and they had only just achieved initial penetration. Jade began to raise and lower herself on his hard member, grinding her hips against his lap on every seating fall. He reached out and grasped her hips to help press her down onto his cock in an attempt to make her increasingly hard bounces even more intense for both him and her while she rocked and swayed her his to twist her tight walls about his shaft. Jake eyed her body as she moved up and down along his member with every muscle in her lean form working to move her body and her sexy rump flexed and tensed with the effort of working her walls around his spire. Jade panted heavily with effort and pleasure, deep moaning cries escaping her throat as she vented her frustrations on his cock in such a delightful manner. The sight of his own gray skinned shaft glistening with the vaginal nectars of his partner as it rapidly disappeared into her warm, wet passage was simply mesmerizing to the gryph. Both their bodies worked hard together, his hips thrusting up to meet her falling thighs as his cock dived to the deepest reaches of her narrow vaginal tunnel. The hard downward force of their lusty dance made the bed creak and groan in protest of the strains they were putting on the wooden frame and box springs. Jade wailed with her cries of pleasure as she danced upon his shaft, her breasts bobbing in and out of view at the sides of her chest with the desperately needy motions of her writhing body. Jake grunted heavily with every fall of that heavenly female sex on his eager cock, feeling his balls growing heavy with his building orgasm. Jade suddenly pulled off his cock with a panting gasp and shake of her head, "No.. hah.. not yet.. I don't want you to cum yet.." "I can appreciate that," Jake replied with a nice squeeze to her firm rump, "I wont complain about more time in your nice tight body. It is simply divine." She smiled back at him before she crawled backwards over his chest to present her dripping wet sex to him while she breathed soft warm puffs of air over his slick coated shaft to help keep him nice and hard. Jake wasted no time in grasping her with his hands on the small of her back as his tongue slid from his beak to caress over her puffy black folds. The shadow dragoness gave a soft gasp of pleasure as his tongue traced along her crease and between her folds to tease that sensitive flesh while she very lightly teased his cock with the occasional kiss or lick to keep him stimulated while he cooled down. Jake grasped her hips tightly as he pressed the curve of his beak against her wet sex as he probed her passage with his tongue, lapping eagerly at her warm slightly sweet nectars. Her hips rolled as her body reacted to the stimulation and bringing soft moans from her throat and chest as that wondrous tongue worked at her sensitive nethers. He could feel her warm lips wrap around his hard shaft once again as she took him into her mouth to suckle lightly on his long member, swallowing down the dribbles of precum that had formed on the head of his cock. Jade didn't keep her mouth around him for long at all before she pulled off to look back at him with a sharp moaning gasp as he slide his tongue up to flick and swirl against her warm puckered tailhole. She seemed shocked, but she did not pull away from his tongue either. Instead she rocked her rump against his beak and moaned softly under the naughty assault of his warm wet tongue as he probed and flicked it against her tight passage. He normally wouldn't tongue any female's anus, but she was a shadow dragon, she didn't even eat let alone excrete waste from her rump so there was no question of her state of cleanliness and hygiene. Jade pulled away suddenly with a hissing growl, "Enough, I need it, finish us both Jake, fuck me now with all your might!" She quickly turned herself around to rest on her hands and knees with her legs and rump hanging over the edge of the bed in a perfect position for a rear assault. Jake was quick to sit up and run his hand down the under side of her raised tail to caress over her warm puckered tailhole and her lovely wet sex. The male gryph stood and turned to look over the back of his shadow dragon partner with his cock aching to slip into any of the two warm tight entrances to her body that were well displayed on her perfectly curved rear. He grasped his shaft and rubbed the tip against her wet folds with a rocking and nuzzling motion to tease her while putting on a face of still being calm and in control of his desires. Jade moaned softly and rolled her hips a bit for him, even trying to rock back a bit onto his rock hard member. He was quick to deny her that penetration with a little slap on her rump to signal her to behave. Jake moved a bit and released his shaft to rub the side against her tailhole between her cheeks, probing lightly at that tight puckered passage. Jade gasped and quickly turned her head to look at him, "No Jake, not there please. I don't want you in there." "Don't like how it feels to be fucked in the ass huh? A pity, that is a beautiful ass too, but I will respect your wishes. I am going to tease it though, I wont fuck it, trust me," Jake replied as he gently rested the head of his cock against her tailhole and wiggled his hips a bit to nuzzle at her forbidden passage without risking pressure. She murred softly as he teased her hole, "No, I do love how it feels to have my ass taken. I would in fact cum a lot faster for you if I let you hump on my rump. The problem is that I do not enjoy the way I feel when I'm being taken in such a loveless lusty manner. It makes me feel like a dirty whore to be used for fucking and tossing aside." "I would never do that to you, your ass is safe around me," the gryph lowered his cock, letting the head rub along her groin as he pulled it away from her tailhole to her warm wet sex where he slipped into her again, "Mmm, but I can dream that perhaps you will realize that my presence in there would be because of a mutual care between us and not make you feel like a slut." Jade didn't say a word, instead she just rocked her hips for him to work his cock with her wet walls as she waited for him to begin thrusting into her hungry folds. The gryph grasped her waist tightly as he drew back slowly only to jam his hips against her rump and drive his hard shaft to the hilt within her hot wet sex. The fit was so perfect and her body was so beautiful and so ready for him, Jake couldn't hold himself back. He gripped her waist even tighter and threw himself into every thrusting advance to send a jolt of impact through her body while his shaft forced her walls to part roughly around the head of his member. The dragoness clenched her teeth around the intense sensations and lowered her chest and shoulders a bit to press herself back against his rapid thrusts with deep throaty moans. Jake leaned his shoulders back a bit to give himself a better view of her wet sex flexing around his hard member as he jammed it into her body. The sight of her rump jolting with the shock of his hips colliding with her only made him want to hammer into her even more. Jade let her jaw open and her cries of pleasured passion sound freely from her throat as her partner's strong thrusts rocked her and the bed wildly. Jake was mildly thankful of his own decision to not have a head board, else his neighbors might have thought something much less intimate was going on. He began to feel the rising pressure building in his balls as the sexy draconic form danced about on his shaft while he drove it into her with every ounce of lust and strength he could muster. Jade's cries of pleasure cover the slick sounds of we flesh rubbing tightly together as her sex gripped him tightly through his heated pummeling advances. He could feel her peak rising in the increased wetness of her air tight folds, particularly when her nectars started to run down his balls as they bounced against her thighs. His balls ached with the need to release his seed, but he fought against it to wait for her as much as he could. He couldn't believe for a second that she was satisfied if he didn't make her cum and that was simply unacceptable. The dragoness gave no sure signs of how close she was before she suddenly gripped him like a vice and soaked his balls with a rush of her warm feminine cum. The scent of female release was heavy in the air and upon him when he finally pressed his cock as deep as he could into her body with a deep groan that audibly marked his orgasmic release as the head of his shaft seemed to explode inside of her with his hot sticky cum. Jade leaned back into his body, causing Jake to reach out to assist her with a hand under her left breast so she could sit in a kneeling position on the bed without pulling off his gushing shaft. They each angled and leaned their necks in unison to catch beak and muzzle for an interlocking kiss, caressing one another's tongues in a tender passionate display to each other. There was emotion there, Jake would be blind to not notice, but it was one neither could pursue any further than friends and occasional lovers. Jade wrapped her tail around his torso, just under his wings, as his member slowly leaked the last of his seed into her warm passage. He was reluctant to leave her amazing body, but he couldn't very well stand there all night until he softened. Jake pulled his still hard member from her freshly filled sex, leaning back a bit to watch every inch of his glistening shaft emerge from below her rump. The dragoness slowly slumped forward onto the bed to pant and hum softly in the after glow of the intense encounter. She used her tail to push him onto the bed with her, although he did move on his own to climb onto the bed next to his partner. Jake smiled at her before a thought finally struck him, "Oh hell, do you have triggered fertility, sterile, or are you always in season?" "It's a little late to ask that, Jake," Jade replied with a rub to her own nethers, "You can relax however, shadow dragons cannot breed in their shadow dragon state. I am compatible with you though, I just need the permission of the shadow council and my commanding officer to leave my shadow state and return to my mortal form once again." Jake gave a snort of laughter, "So political red tape is your version of a condom?" "Well, since we're immune to diseases, regular and sexually transmitted alike, I suppose it does have the same effect," she smiled with a playful look in her eyes, "What would you have done though?" He sat up and stood to walk back to the head of his bed to lay back down where he had been before his dream had stirred him, "First thing I would do is go back to bed like I am now. Care to stay with me for the night?" "I would enjoy that quite a bit," Jade grinned like a young girl and crawled up to him to slip her feet under his sheet and blanket. The gryph pulled her close with an arm under her shoulders, "The second thing I would do, is stand by your side to face everything that would surely come from such a massive screw up as getting a shadow dragon pregnant. Probably starting with telling Queen Sarrocco that my seed is growing in a high ranking shadow guardian." "That's so sweet Jake, no wonder you hold my heart so easily," she rested her head on his chest, where he could feel her warmed cheeks that marked her blush, "We can't pursue this, but perhaps we can enjoy parts of it until you eventually find a mortal woman to love." Jake took a slow breath, "You would be fine with all that, the non-relationship and letting go of it when I find a real mate?" "Yes, I could easily do so. I am your partner first and foremost , Jake. The love I hold for you is one that can be sated by seeing you happy and whole in life," Jade replied quietly, "Besides, we are partners, we don't need to be mates to be close. Most partnerships are closer than most marriages after all." Jake blinked down at her for a moment, "Oh hell no, if you're going to say stuff like that you better climb back on my cock and say it while we fuck. "Jake! Don't be silly, you've cum twice already," she scolded, "I don't want you hurting yourself over something like this." He gave a snort as he pulled her up onto him, "I'm a warrior by trade, in very good health with quite a bit of sexual experience under my belt. I can handle one last run before we sleep. Even though you don't need to sleep." "Mmm, I don't need to eat, nor do I feel any natural urge to mate," Jade gave a small gasp as she slid herself back onto his hard shaft, "But some things are just so wonderful to indulge in from time to time." Jake only grinned up at her as he grasped her waist to press his hips up against her thighs and plunge his weary girth into her wondrously rare silky grip. The dragoness matched his advance as they began to move in time with one another, bringing their bodies together in a more tender dance than the previous lusty engagement. Jake wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her close as she leaned over him to roll her hips onto his driving member. Her tail coiled tight around his left leg as they rocked together, bringing the slick entry motions of his hard shaft into her wonderfully wet passage. They looked into one another's eyes as they enjoyed the union of bodies once again. Jake felt warmth inside, a tender caring love for his partner, but it lacked that extra spark that one would feel for a true mate. She was wonderful and he could potentially be happy with her for the rest of his days, but she was simply not the one he needed to be with. "You know, some partnerships.. ahh.. are closer than most marriages," Jade cooed at just the right moment in their love making dance that it sounded wonderful and not the slightest bit creepy or out of place. Jake gave a bit of a playful growl as he pulled her down against his chest and rolled with her to rest over her in a missionary position, "I know that all too well, but sometimes the right person in the right role can make all the difference in all things." Jade wrapped her legs around his waist as she grasped at his back to writhe in pleasure beneath her feathered lover while he rocked his hips nice and hard against her thighs. The gryph nuzzled his beak against her neck while they both groaned in near unison with the rising pleasure of their coupling. The weary male was coming quickly to his third release within the wonderful flexing grip of the dragoness' wet sex. She grasped tightly at his shoulders as he drove his hard shaft into her with even greater force, his balls bouncing against her rump with the rapid rocking of his hips. Her moaning cries of pleasure were pleasing to his ears, the tight slick grip of her sex built him up quickly, and the warm wet feel of her fluids of arousal added just the right thrill to the entire event. He couldn't hold back any longer, the gryph pressed his shaft as deep into his partner as he could manage to let his orgasm strike him and send his seed surging into her depths once again. The dragoness moaned softly at each warm pulse of hot wet cum he sent into her womb. The two warriors looked into one another's eyes as they finished the height of their tryst. "Thank you Jake, for this wonderful night," Jade whispered softly as he slipped slowly from her body to lay next to her, "I haven't felt this kind of warmth, or even this lovely in a very long time." Jake pulled her close to him to hold her tight, "You need a real mate, Jade. Perhaps Taoul, he seems like the kind of strong and respectful fellow you could enjoy being with. I bet he'd be a real beast in bed once you talked him into it." "I bet he would, if he had any mating instincts," she shook her head at the idea, "He's one of the first shadow dragons, Jake. He has been around since the beginning of time, before the first mortal realm was created. He has witnessed the creation of the sub-gods that tend each realm's pantheons." The gryph just stared at his partner, "What? You don't like older guys or something?" "No, it's not that," the dragoness searched for the right words for a moment, "Taoul is, well, he's attractive but he was never made to mate or to love. He's the first warrior and guardian and he was created specifically to BE that and nothing else." Jake shook his head back at her and touched her cheek softly, "I think you're wrong about that, in fact I know you are. Taoul has loved before, but he gave her up to return to her mate in life." "When did you talk to him to learn this," Jade asked with a rather puzzled look on her face. He smiled, "I didn't. I happen to know Gilded Heart, the lady who held his heart. Before you ask, she has confirmed that they didn't do any of the fun stuff." "Okay, you gabby old hen, enough match making," she gave a mock scowl at him as a ball of shadowy energy surrounded her hand, "I believe it's time for you to sleep for your big day." Jake frowned, his blade was too far away to reach, leaving him defenseless against her spell, "I hate when you cheat like this." "It's for your own good, you need rest before you take on this challenge," she pressed the black energy ball into the back of his head to bring him rapidly spiraling out of consciousness, "You're good at what you do, the best, but you can be beaten when you get arrogant and drop your guard.

* * *

Morning had come and was leaving when Jake woke up from his spell induced sleep. His bed was empty, however Jade's scent was still fresh on him and his bedding. There was a warm spot on the bed right against him where she had been not long ago. It had been an interesting night to say the least, and he was very uncertain what would happen with them from here. The gryph turned his comforter aside and slide himself from his bed to his feet with the nagging wonder about what his partner would do about his suggestion. He hoped she would pursue that ancient and lonely warrior, they both deserved the warmth and peace they could bring one another. Jake stood up and stretched his back, the tell tale scent of old sex was heavy upon him and he was certain a mission from the Shadow Council would mean an audience with the queen of Chiersaldohl since he was technically a member of this world's military. That meant he would have to shower, having that scent upon him was rather disrespectful to such an important person as a queen. Not to mention that she was as much a warrior as anyone out there, despite her petite appearance and sweet demeanor, and she certainly wouldn't miss the chance to pick at him for such an aroma. His furred feat carried him through his room to the bathing room directly across from the foot of his bed. This room was different from the rest of his house as it was decorated in small black and white marble tiles set in a checkerboard pattern. The pattern made it impossible to conceal one's self when entering the bathing room. Other than the pattern, there really wasn't much to his bathing room; just a long counter with his feather combs and brushes, the mirror behind that, a toilet, and the shower chamber with the glass wall and door. Jake knew he was simple in his decorating tastes, but he preferred himself that way. There was nothing worse than a loud and trendy house, a guy just couldn't relax in such an environment. He reached the glass door to the shower chamber and grasped the chrome knob to open it. His mind was wandering and he knew it, it was time to get focused on the task ahead of him and mentally outline some places to begin his hunt once he made it to the world in question. The cat-houses were not as good a choice as most would have thought, all his previous experience with those proved that the girls loved getting new customers and the johns certainly weren't forced to go there. The street walker's haunts were a more likely prospect with many of them forced to do so to survive and often being raped or even killed. Jake turned the crystal knobs for the hot and cold water to adjust the temperature until he was comfortable with the water soaking into his feathers and fur. His hunt would be rather difficult this time round just by the very nature of the god he was after. All his leads by environment were all the dark and seedy little holes that the common thug would hide out, where those who would enjoy following a god of unwanted lust would blend right in. The gryph stared at the red and blue tinted crystals that controlled the flow and temperature of the shower water while his mind tried to unravel the task at hand and make things a bit more linear in his deity hunt. He was getting lost in the puzzle already and he just couldn't afford that, so he reached for the bottle of feather shampoo and squirt a pool of it into his left hand. The queen would be waiting to hear from him, of that he had no doubt, and it just would not do to make such a lady wait. She was a rather busy dragon with an entire world to run and oversee, one warrior who wished to get lost in his own mind was a rather poor excuse to throw off her entire schedule. Jake rubbed his hands together to get a lather started before he scrubbed the specialized soap into his feathers, starting with his head. Somehow that action brought the police to mind, he would have to try and get their co-operation to study unusual rises in reports of rape and even domestic violence. Jake wasn't unclean, aside from the sexual residue from his dance with Jade, so he made a point to keep his washing quick in general with special attention to his genitals. He realized a problem he had not thought of previously; he wasn't briefed on what kind of society he was walking in to. Jake wasn't sure what kind of gear he would need to bring with him to deal with the inevitable cult that always followed these invading deities. Using the correct equipment wouldn't be a problem for him, he was well trained in both technological and arcane weaponry, it was simply a matter of upholding divine treaties. This hunt was already off on a slow start and he hadn't even finished his last shower before departure. Jake let out a soft sigh as he began to rinse the shampoo from his coat. There really was no good lead to think about following to make the hunt flow in any definitive direction. His prey would not raise an army for conquest, they would not construct alters of sacrifice, and they sure as hell wouldn't be erecting a temple. No, the very nature of Tulsca would make him elusive and very secretive, along with his followers. The gryph tapped the crystals twice to turn the water off with a heavy sigh. This assignment was already very frustrating, but it had to be done and like all things in life he would have to start at the beginning. The queen was waiting and that simply would not do, he opened the shower door and reached for the first of two towels hanging on the nearby rod. Jake took care when he dried his feathered top half, making sure to make only strokes of the towel that went with the grain of his feathers to prevent breakage. His fur was easy to tend to, he simply scrubbed at it with the towel until it was only mildly damp. This was only the first stage of grooming his coat, next he had to brush in the light oils that would keep his feathers conditioned until his natural oils replaced them. He managed this with a rather course toothed comb designed for feathers with an added enchanted bonus. The comb repelled the water before it's path and left the feathers completely dry behind it with only a very light coating of the scented feather oils he kept in a small seal-able tub on the bathroom counter. It was a scent he enjoyed, light with a spicy earthy aroma to it, very much not a cologne that would be over powering and normally feminine to the warrior. Jake didn't have time to let his fur dry, so he took the enchanted comb to that section of his body as well, combing his belly, back and legs to dry and groom them as well. Now that he was dry, it was time for him to put his clothing and armor on so he could appear in public without getting himself arrested for indecent exposure. Not that the queen would mind outside of law and protocol, she was as bad as any male warrior in her ranks beyond her general grace and professional appearance. She would never touch a male other than her mate, but she would give a look and never let the unfortunate soul live down their appearance in public for as long as they should live. That was something Jake just couldn't accept, aside from the time spent in shackles for the crime of public nudity. He hung his towel back on the rack that rested just outside the shower chamber and set his comb back down and examined himself briefly in the mirror to make sure his coat was presentable for a professional meeting. He was not vain by any means, he simply took care of himself and kept himself clean and healthy for the sake of discipline and conditioning. It was no surprise that the gryph that stared back at Jake from the mirror was a handsome creature with glossy black feathers and fur covering his body and making his emerald green eyes almost glow. He was ready for his armor, so he stepped out of his bathing room to make his way over to the wardrobe cabinet to the right of the door as he exited the checkered room. Once he reached the cabinet he grasped the silver knobs and opened the black lacquered doors to reveal his black leather armor resting on the stand and hooks inside. There was a chest piece on the rack, bracers, shin guards and thigh covers. There were no covers for his upper arms, he simply did not like them as they were uncomfortable and limited his movements a bit. Every last piece of the armor was black leather with a suede finish glinting with the polished steal ribbing that reinforced the leather. Jake picked up the leggings first, the only piece of his armor with any kind of padding to it as they were set on leather knee-length shorts with a soft cotton lining. He stepped into the leggings and pulled them up so that the hard leather cup fit over his most precious and tender portion of his anatomy. Once they were in place he pulled his tail through the hole in the rear and buckled them where they opened just to the right of the cup. Jake picked up his chest piece next and pulled that over his head, feeling the hard leather segments as they passed over his crest. Those very same segments allowed him free motion while they kept him protected as much as possible without being too restrictive for his agile style of fighting. He kept the buckles loosely fastened while he had the piece stored for easier use, such as the present. He slipped the steel buckles loose and tightened the straps down to fasten the armor in place before he picked up his bracers and slipped them over his hands and forearms. These were the only pieces that were not padded by his own feathers and fur, the scales of his forearms were tough enough that he felt no discomfort or impact against the unpadded armor. The braces only covered the backs of his hands and his forearms, rather than being a full glove style like many of the soldiers of the allied forces liked to use. Once he buckled the bracers in place, it was time for his shin guards. Jake reached into the wardrobe and plucked the first guard from it's peg to slip the elongated diamond shaped leather plate over his left shin. It was a perfect match for the shape of his calf and shin, hugging snugly to his leg even before he tightened the straps and buckles. Once he had completed the same task for his right shin, Jake turned and stepped away from the wardrobe, He moved with out a single creak of leather, which most assumed was from the effects of a spell or enchantment on his armor. This was not the case, no magic was involved at all with his armor, only good maintenance and practiced grace. His current destination was the stand that held the only piece of his gear that had any kind of power to it, the coveted shadow blade that was entrusted to him by an old ally. The blade was not unique, there were a great many shadow blades among the realms; but only three existed that were in mortal hands. Jake approached and reached for the plain black leather scabbard of the blade that had slain more than two hundred deities and countless horrors they had summoned to protect themselves. The power of the blade was in it's purpose and intended wielders, able to strike down any being and deliver them to the void realm known simply as the realm of exile. With entities of tremendous power, the blade absorbed and dumped the power into that very realm where no being could feel, think, remember, or act. The weapon would cleave and shatter any energy shield, be it arcane, divine, or technological in nature. All that power in one weapon and it was utterly useless if the wielder was not skilled enough with a blade to make it count. Jake's real secret power was the strength and skill of his own body, not the blade he slung and strapped across his back, over his right shoulder. Once the blade was securely strapped on his back, Jake stepped back to the wardrobe where he reached into the bottom and picked up the neatly folded fabric hidden against the black surface. Soft silk caressed over his hands as he unfolded the fabric to reveal the robe he used to cover his armor and often times his face. He pulled the black fabric over his head to let it cascade down his body and cover his entire form, the hood was even large enough to accommodate the handle of his blade without showing it's presence. Only his hands and his unshod feet would reveal he was anything but what everyone else around him was. Like all gryph, he had plantigrade feet and could easily wear shoes or boots like any human, but he chose to rely on the tough pads that his kind shared with gryphons and the great cats that made their lower base. His wings stayed folded against his back, hidden under the loose fabric. The robe had snap buttons along both sides and up to the collar along the left side so it could easily be pulled away by a hand or a sudden flash of his wings. He was ready to attend an audience with Queen Sarrocco, he would have to make haste so as not to be any more tardy than he already was. Hopefully the dragon monarch would not hold it against him.

* * *

The throne room of the palace where the queen of Chiersaldohl resided was a rather large place, intended for dragons in their full size. Windsong only ever allowed two dragons to be at their natural size in her throne room, the great golden general Arduk and his second in command, the great silver male named Glimmer. When she had first met the captain of her royal guard and his second, she had wondered about the silver's name. He told her flatly that his parents were not very creative. Her two primary guards were rather similar in shape and build and they stood so still during their duty that most new delegates thought them to be large statues rather than the metallic fire and ice dragons they truly were. The slim female didn't really need their protection, she had taken the throne from a tyrannical conqueror in defense of another world to begin with. The red scaled fire dragoness of Skanshial had no idea that slaying the old king in true head to head combat would earn her the right to the throne of an entire world. She expected resistance the day she first arrived, instead she was praised and welcomed with great enthusiasm as the savior of the world and it's peoples. To the very day she stood waiting for the rather tardy Jake Kreitz, she maintained that opening respect and love from her new people. "My lord," a well dressed human in a brown tunic and cloak with green trousers called the attention of the scarlet scaled queen as she stood in thought next to her throne, "Forgive the intrusion, but it has been reported that a new disease has broken out in the eastern continent. People are at risk of death without aide." A heavy weight nearly crushed her heart as she had to ask her first question, "How is the world population?" "It is at a well manageable level my queen, plenty of room for several generations of growth without over crowding," the rather high ranked clerk replied. She turned her bright blue eyes upon the clerk, "And what of the population in that region? Are the cities over crowded; is there famine about the continent?" "No my lord," the human replied with a bit of a frown, "The population as been steady ever since the onset of the war with the Bohrauk." Windsong let out a sigh of relief, "Dispatch a team to combat the disease, have Master Healer Kaimen head the efforts. Contact the head mistress of the central arcane academy and requisition a team of mages for gating and environmental sterilization." "Somehow, that title sounds more impressive when I know it is held by my own niece," a dark robed figure spoke as he made his way along the red carpet that lined the white marble floor of the elaborately decorated throne room. Windsong hated the decorations, but it did hold up an appearance of economic stability to outside dignitaries. All the alabaster pillars with their golden and silver vines set in the smooth pillars. The walls were a rare rosy granite that only seemed to occur naturally on Chiersaldohl; oddly enough on the eastern continent. Most of the old tapestries had been of the ancient beast that ruled the world with an iron fist, thus they were removed and locked away. In their place were ancient depictions of heroes of the past so distant, most had forgotten them. Among the newer hangings was a collage of her own victory over the dread wyrm who built the very palace she called home. Jake walked quickly, but she decided to keep her mouth closed and give him a hard stare the entire way down the carpeted path. The black horns that graces her head with their short dainty upward curve seemed to home in on the gryph. "I've been waiting for you Mr. Kreitz. Jade came to me bright and early with news of your new assignment, and yet here you are in the afternoon. What do you have to say for yourself," she scolded the gryph. Jake bowed deeply to the dragoness, "My apologies your grace. Jade came to me at an ungodly hour to brief me on the mission and one should note that Shadow dragons don't sleep." Windsong eyed the robed warrior for a moment, "You were up late having sex. I can't blame you for that, I have had my late nights with Jikari on more occasions than people think." "I'm fairly certain I could have lived happier without that information," Jake replied with a bit of a nervous shuffle under the amused gaze of the lithe feral before him. Windsong knew she wasn't visually intimidating in the least, but that didn't stop her from extracting amusement from her subject for her undue wait, "Are you to say I am repulsive, and the thought of anyone engaging in intercourse with me is disturbing?" "Ah, no my queen, it's just that a great many try not to think of their attached monarchs in such a fashion to avoid the wrath of their nearly as powerful lovers. That excludes the fact that it does make meeting with or being briefed by said figures quite awkward," he replied with a measure of self discipline as he forced himself to stay calm and focused around her. The nervous behavior of Jake Kreitz, hunter of deities and bold point of mockery for many a lesser leader, was so very satisfying when she was annoyed with him. The young queen, for she was rather young by the standards of dragon life span, unfolded her wings from around her front half to reveal the lean curves of her feral form and the bright sun yellow scales of her chest and belly. Her actions were not out of a desire to show off, but rather out of wish to free her hands so she could pat the gryph on his hooded head. "Good boy, but next time you spend a night with a girl before you are to come see me, please don't over wash your bits, the scent of soap coming from your lower regions is as much a flag as to leave her scent on you," she smiled sweetly at her warrior. "So that's how you knew, I should make a note of this," Jake replied dryly. Windsong smiled a bit, "Well, that and Jade apologized for keeping you up all night. Impressive work landing that one, she is a looker and a hard one to impress." "It wasn't like that, we just shared in a bit of release before we started this hunt," he corrected her before she made any suggestions, "It is likely the last time either of us will get to see or feel sex without blackmail or some twisted perversions attached. We are chasing a god of unwanted lust after all." The queen nodded and turned her attention to her golden general who sat rock solid behind her , his full natural size making his powerful frame seem even more impressive as he stood several dozen feet in height even in his quadruped sitting position. He and his second made quite the contrast to the lean queen who stood rather small in stature for a Shialan dragon, which shared general size and shape with the Saldohlsian dragons. In fact, Jake himself was taller than her by nearly an entire foot at her current size. That ratio was not because of how small she had made herself, the divine spell that the shadow dragon Tehkalas had created for her gave her a direct human size ratio. The massive golden scaled male gave her a nod and a quick warm smile that she returned. If it had not been for Arduk, she would have fallen to her death with the drain she experienced in the battle she had with the former ruler of Chiersaldohl, and ever since he has been her personal guard, friend, adviser, and somewhat of an uncle or older brother. "I wish I could join you on hunting such a vile thing, but I cannot leave my place here for such a long period of time," she sighed softly as her talons clenched, "I have had WindWhisperer secure information for you, as well as transport. It is a technological society you are to be dealing with, not too advanced either. Powder type projectile weapons, scalpel level medical technology, dependent on fossil fuels, but they do have limited transmultiversal travel capabilities. The GA has been studying them from sensor scans for about a month now. One of their drop marine commanders and his squad are to make ground fall for a quick first hand look in the next few days, I have secured a ride and gear from them." Jake gave a nod, "That will be most helpful, but I must ask, where is your mage and your mate? They are normally always present at your side." "Jikari is representing Chiersaldohl at a meeting on Galsten to discuss a possible extension of the alliance to dragon nations that had been saved during the Slayers war. WindWhisperer is retrieving your temporary squad leader," the queen replied before she turned to look at her throne, made to be laid upon by a feral dragon, which was just fine since she was one. Jake nodded gently and eyed the golden framed seat, "So then we were waiting anyhow. Well good, that gives me time to finally ask why you have never sat or lounged upon your throne." "The throne belongs to Chiersaldohl, I may be the queen but I am not of this world," Windsong replied as she stepped up to the rather ornate seat and caressed the deep crimson velvet, "Until every native born being on this world has sat upon this throne, I simply do not feel I have the right." The gryph cocked a brow at her, "And yet you feel it is okay to take up the mantle of the monarch and rule this world?" "By their traditions, I was crowned the moment their former ruler fell under my power. I didn't really have a choice in the matter, it was thrust upon me at a rather young age," she replied as her eyes traced the lines of the dragon's heads that were molded into the arm rests of the rather ornate throne, "Besides, unlike most rulers, I can run this world better if I don't sit on my ass all day." Jake gave a bit of a grin, "I suppose it serves better for your mate as well since he gets ot see it all day too. I jest, although, if I had a humanoid girl who looked as good as you do for a feral, I wouldn't be able to or even wish to pry my eyes away. He is a very lucky dragon and should count his blessings every day." "That is very kind and flattering of you, but luck had nothing to do with his conquest of my heart. He is a very good male and he got what he deserved for his service to all the realms. It just made things all the much sweeter that he is so very handsome as well," Windsong replied with a bit of a haughty tilt of her snout. The gryph looked at both the guards, whom he knew on a personal level as well, "If he is as good a male that you say he is, then it is just that one of your great service, sacrifice, and deed has come to nest with him. Only one like yourself could ever be worthy of such a person, and I know of his deeds during the slayers war. All is well on that front, now to see what kind of heir you two will produce." "I'm afraid that may never be, it is not yet certain but we do suspect that I may be too powerful to clutch," the queen replied with a sad sigh, "I hold too much energy and the healers suspect that it is killing off my eggs the instant they begin to form. I don't even get to lay empty shells to know what it feels like to come that close to being a mother." Jake looked down at the carpet, "I'm sorry, my queen, my niece has the same problem. I understand what you are going through, even if I cannot imagine the pain and frustration it must cause." Arduk looked up and strait ahead for a moment as if he were listening to something, even though Windsong could not hear it with her enhanced senses, "My queen, lady Renshin has returned with our GA guests and word from Lord Jikari." "Thank you general, I will hear the news from WindWhisperer directly," Windsong replied with a turn of her gaze to her gryph soldier, "Mr. Kreitz will meet his escort in the outer hall, I do believe it is time for the daily visit from the local school and I do not wish a military gathering in the presence of children." Jake cocked his brow a bit, "You still do that? Doesn't that give anyone a time frame in which you will be too busy to attend to anything?" "My cabinet is rather competent and trust worthy, but should a situation be so dire that I must attend to it I am always available," the queen gave a slight snort that flared her nostrils for a second, "Before you bring up safety issues, remember who and what you are talking to. There is not an assassin alive that could begin to challenge me enough to pose any threat to the children in my charge." The gryph shook his head, "I did not question their safety, my lord, I already know they would be safer here than in their parents own care. I can only wonder what you do when they come to see you." "Today I think we shall lounge in the garden and I will tell a story of Sirus and Tehkalas so they may learn from the lives of heroes past," she replied dismissively as Arduk and Glimmer stepped onto the black tiles before them to trigger the enchantment that would reduce their size to something more human friendly, "Something about being nestled in for a mid day's rest with a group of little ones and a heroic tale sounds rather appealing. You are dismissed Mr. Kreitz, go and catch your plane." Jake bowed to her as the door at the entrance of the throne room opened to reveal the lovely form of Windsong's personal mage and godmother, along with a very young human girl in a gray jumpsuit style uniform and short blond hair. She couldn't have been older than nineteen, obviously a rookie by her age, and a pilot by the wing emblem stitched to her right arm. The dragoness that accompanied the young lady was a sky dragon, turquoise in primary color with an emerald green belly to which her primary color blended into seamlessly. True to her breed of her species, WindWhisperer was very delicate in build, being very petite with very fine scales that provided no more armor to her body that human skin. They were so fine in her reduced size, one would have to look to an old earth lizard known as the banded gecko to find a match. Her eyes were a very bold shade of violet, like twin amethyst orbs set in her skull. Windsong paid little attention to the human soldier, not for any form of distaste or disrespect, but rather out of joy in seeing her closest companion once again. "Good word from your dear mate. Things look far better than expected, with some opposition of course," the elder female spoke with a very soft and nearly musical tone that surprised a great many. Windsong smiled back at her mentor and beloved childhood caretaker, "He and my father have always been good at rallying the wings of our kind. I am confident we shall have a great deal of new allies by the time they are done. But where are my manners? Greetings young lady, who might you be?" The girl snapped to attention and held her right fist over her heart, the GA salute, "Pilot Samantha Ashberry Ma'am. I was sent to retrieve one Jake Kreitz to bring him aboard the Orion before we depart on our mission to Geksten." "So you are not the commanding officer of the ground unit that will be dropping in," the queen asked with the twitch of an ear. Samantha seemed to freeze in place for a moment as she struggled to find the appropriate response, "N-no ma'am. The captain felt it best if the veteran ground troops were well rested before this mission began, so she handed down retrieval to myself as a, 'greenhorn with wet wings,' as she put it." "I like that one, well Jake, try not to over awe our young runner with tales of your conquests on your trip, I have some catching up to do," the fire dragoness waved her dismissal at the gryph. Jake cocked a brow, "I thought you had children to tell tales to." "That too, for which you have made me terribly late," Windsong replied with a bit of a huff, "Good hunting Mr. Kreitz." The gryph took his dismissal before the queen began to get annoyed, which she was thankful for. Children could be a handful, and even more so when one was already irritable. She simply did not care to be grumpy for the children, they were coming to meet the queen and see that she is just a nice and caring person rather than the hard strict leader that most assumed she was. All there was to do for Jake now, was to hope and pray he had a successful hunt to return home from.

* * *

The air in the cockpit of Samantha's treefrog class fighter was a bit small to play taxi with, although it was larger than that of the pocket-wing fighters that most pilots favored. Those crafts could only accommodate 2 passengers and the pilot, while Samantha's bird could hold three passengers. Even with the two empty chairs, the extra body in her normally empty space made it feel cramped and rather small. Her instruments blinked numbers and status messages at her from the holographic displays before her, most of which were indicating normal operating conditions. The fuel and oxygen mixer on her left secondary thruster was off by a fraction of a percent, nothing that would effect her in any noticeable fashion but certainly worth having the computer monitor for changes. The flight visual screen showed nothing but space and stars as they traveled through the vacuum of space with Chiersaldohl far out of sight, save for a spec of light in the distance. This is all they would see for a good hour or so until they reached the Orion. The great war ship was holding position at their jump point until Kreitz arrived to be briefed on the landing party's arrival plans. Most of Samantha's diagnostics and gauge reading was to distract herself from the status of her passenger. It was true that Jake Kreitz was indeed a bit of a big name around the alliance, not so much as Sylvyn, Dracco, Queen Sarrocco, or High General Vertrabere. This was, however, a more modern warrior with a wide spread reputation that she herself had studied during her training days not so long ago. To know that some one with the exploits to be in current history was riding in her craft was something that sent a thrill through her spine. Samantha tried to take her mind off of the very thought by bringing up an external view of her fighter. "Something's off in the mix, just taking a look for any external damage," she announced to her passenger, who could easily see the extra viewing screen. A strand of her blond hair escaped her helmet to tickle her forehead apart from the rest of her short head of hair. The rookie brushed at it as her craft came into view on her secondary screen. The tree-frogs weren't the most stylish of aircraft, basically the square cockpit with two broad wings on either side with a rather aerodynamic flow from wing to cockpit. The skin as heavier than the pocket-wings but the armaments were also far heavier as well making the tree-frogs slower and harder hitting. They did not have as many aerobatic tools in their arsenal, but a good tree-frog pilot could match the pocket-wings in a dog fight. Where they truly shined brightest was their total amphibious capabilities and engaging larger targets that required heavier fire power. All twenty two photovalic cannons and eight missile launchers were fully functional under water; the propulsion system would simply switch to a more aquatic friendly method of movement. The external visual scan revealed no external damage, the image coming to a stop at the call symbol on the right side of her cockpit. A smiling blond pixie in a blue skirt winked back at the pilot to bring a smile to her own face. She loved her craft and her call sign, she always wanted to be a pixie when she was little. "Fairy huh? Interesting call sign for a tree-frog," Jake observed from his seat behind her. Samantha shook her head, "No, it's a pixie, my call sign is pixie." "Interesting name for a frogger," the robbed and hooded passenger replied dryly, "I suppose it does explain the short hair, not that it looks bad on you at all." The pilot looked at her passenger for a moment, "I am uncertain if I should thank you or put a bullet in your smart ass." "It was a compliment, I assure you," Jake said calmly with absolutely no sign of concern about his body or his voice. Samantha was disarmed by the calm behavior of the warrior, "Oh, well, thank you." Another long moment of silence passed before Jake spoke again, "You are not a very talkative girl are you?" "Forgive me, but I did a report on you during my time in the academy. I am trying to remain professional and not rattle on with a million questions of rumors and technique," she replied with a bit of pride mingled with embarrassment. The male pulled back the hood of his robe to reveal his eagle-like head, "Well now, I do not mind properly educating some one as to the truth of matters." "Well. I suppose one of the bigger once is that you practice some form of necromancy," she asked cautiously. Jake blinked a moment at that first query, "Not even close if I were sleeping and having a nightmare about it." "I don't know how that came about then, probably some corpse twitching and some yokel thinking you animated it," Samantha shrugged off the rumor. The gryph seemed to be watching her face in the reflection of her instruments, "It probably stems from speculation on the form of mancy type power I do hold. I don't talk about it or use it much at all, so people speculate and jump to conclusions." "What do you mean mancy, I've never heard it termed like that before," the pilot eyed the reflection of her passenger's face to try and figure out if he was watching her or not. Jake shook his head, "It is a form of magic that has less weave control and more spiritual connection to a specific element that causes it to obey one's will to mimic spells of that elemental type without ever weaving a single strand of energy. Necromancy is not a true mancy, it is just another school of true magery that can be studied by anyone. I would also like to point out that the classic litch and undead controlling necromancers that most know of are actually the lower end of the talent pool for that particular school. The true nature of Necromancy is magic dealing with souls specifically, which the dead have the easiest souls to contact and manipulate." "You sure do know a lot of the lesser known facts of magic for some one who has studied and been certified in so many forms of martial and mundane combat," she observed. He gave a small snort of amusement, just shy of a small laugh, "My Niece is Shadow Kreitz, head mistress of the Central Arcane Academy. We have a very close relationship, very sibling like rather than uncle and niece." "Your strange in-depth knowledge makes a lot of sense. There is one other rumor about you that I am curious about, a social one rather than one of ability," Samantha bit her bottom lip a bit as she mustered the courage to ask the next awkward question. The gryph cocked a brow at her, "Most social rumors are false, so I expect to be dispelling a nasty one when you ask it." "People say that.." she hesitated for a moment as she blushed a bit, "They say that you are rather promiscuous and that you are so quick to bed a girl that you do not wear clothing or undergarments beneath your robe." Jake stood up and moved closer, "Well now, I bet you'd love to find out, how about I show you." She felt her heart pounding in her chest as she nearly panicked, this was not what she meant to get at in the least as he grasped her hand an pulled it toward him, "No! I don't even like men, I'm a lesbian!" The gryph ignored her discomfort and protests, "You asked already, this is the bed you have made for yourself." Her other hand began to slide down her left side toward her side arm until her drew her hand into his robe where she felt the hard cold steel ribs and the hard leather armor plate over his belly. "Those rumors are entirely false. I am an adult male who is indeed living with a heart, mind, and body; so I will take a girl to my bed or take to hers but I am not a sex fiend to seek it constantly. I have to be of the mood or irritated enough that I need an outlet," he explained as he let her hand go and returned to his seat, "You never would have reached that nine either. If you think you need to hold some one off with a threat o force, do not hesitate and let them close, make your display early." Samantha felt a chill down her spine, "Are you always this indifferent about everything?" "Yes," he replied simply, "My turn to ask, you said you like girls. Do you have one of your own?" She felt herself go cold with embarrassment at the rather personal question, "Um, no not yet. There is this one girl, but I'm afraid to make an advance. How embarrassing would it be if she wasn't of the same mind you know?" "Make you a deal," the gryph looked away from her reflection back out to the stars, "You come to me with her on your arm, and I will tell you everything that the records did not cover. That includes my hidden abilities that I wont use." Samantha froze with shock and disbelief, "But, why would you be willing to share such secrets with me, let alone use them as a lure to improve my love life?" "The one reason you wont be able to discern on your own is that you remind me of some one I respect, the rest you can likely add up all your own," Jake replied with a nod to the stars in the viewing screen, "I believe the Orion is coming up." He was right, the intimidating behemoth of a star ship was growing rapidly in the viewing screen. Nearly everywhere one could look along the massive hull was some sort of weapon, from photovalic cannons of various size and purpose, to various sized and spread rocket arrays. It was a rather long vessel with a girth to hold her armaments and crew with plenty of space to carry refugees to safety. The actual measurements of the ship was more than 60 miles in length with a twenty mile girth. More than 5 times the size of the old Aurora class ships that began the GA's space and multiversal travels. Her size was important for her purpose, the Orion was a brand new design and make of ship; the Armageddon class warship. There were two others like her that had been built over the past twenty years, all three sisters were christened on the same day. A fresh crew that had trained on other ships was at her command, with a captain who had spent years as a Junior captain behind her senior officer, Captain Andriel Starshine. Crew and ship were all on their first mission together with this run, which normally would not have called for a warship of such power and intimidating presence as the Orion. This world they were going to was shown to be hostile towards humans, however. Trouble was anticipated and High General Vertrabere wanted to make sure any thoughts of engaging the GA as an enemy would be squashed at the display of their technology. So here she sat, prepared to recon a world not nearly as advanced as their society, her sixteen forward cannons set in their tracks, ready to deliver massive crushing volleys of photovalic fire powerful enough to crush any ship they had encountered thus far with a single volley. The shape that carried such powerful weapons was that of a rather large aircraft with short stubby wings at the rear, very much lacking in style of appearance. Samantha was rather convinced that the raw power of the vessel more than made up for it's lack luster shape as she activated her com, "Hailing vessel Orion. This is pilot Samantha Ashberry, requesting permission to dock. I am returning with the designated passenger." "Well howdy Greenhorn. You didn't say the magic words, so I think I'm going to let you stay out there for a moment and think about how you wish you were a real pilot," the male voice that replied was genuinely mocking and a bit whiny in it's pitch and tone. Samantha heaved a deep sigh as her long running bully stalled her mission, "God damn it Geoffrey, this isn't a game. I've got an important passenger on board that needs to head to our destination for an important assignment of his own, quit stroking yourself and open the landing bay doors." "Well, sounds like the little girl thinks highly of her little gopher mission, should we let her in on this big important taxi service," the male asked teasingly to another, presumably in the same room as him. Jake reached over and muted the com, "I hope you don't mind, but I've had enough of this asshole and I would like to prove the importance of your 'passenger'." "If you can put an end to this, go right ahead. Pixie, com system free access," she was more than happy to let some one else deal with her long time adversary. The gryph stood up and leaned closer to the microphone array hidden amongst the instruments, "Jake Kreitz contacting Thomas Raduk, Tom if you're there I got a bit of a problem with a shutter jockey that I think you can help with." There was silence for a moment, allowing Samantha time to try and think of where she had heard that name before, "Jake, is that really you? What the hell are you doing on GA channels?" "Hey Tom, I have a hunt on a world you guys are checking out, but this dumb ass shutter jockey has a problem with the pilot giving me a ride to the ship I'm to travel on. I was thinking maybe you could help me rattle his cage hard enough to knock his over inflated nuts off." The voice was familiar to her as well, but she just couldn't place it as the two men spoke, "Alright, what ship and what do you need?" "The Orion, and I just need you to be yourself as you listen in when he demands clearance. I can read this guy in my sleep," The gryph replied. Samantha was starting to get frustrated with herself, as the conversation was making this man sound important and high ranking somehow, "Well hell, me and my boys are stationed on Orion to extract recon groups if shit and fan should meet. Go ahead and start in on him, I have my ears open and my mouth ready." Jake gave Samantha a nod and she reactivated the line to Geoffrey who was still going on, completely oblivious to himself being muted, "..ittle bitch!" "If you're done trying to impress your boyfriend, I need to get on board the Orion so I can begin research on the world we're due to drop on in seventy two hours," Jake barked his interruption like a true commander would have during training. Geoffrey was clearly taken aback by the tone with which he was addressed, "And just who the hell do you think you are?" "A direct guest of the captain and Queen Sarrocco of Chiersaldohl, I have a hunt to conduct for the Shadow Council on Geksten," the gryph replied with a rather curt and commanding tone. The voice on the com grew furious, "Well then smart ass, what's your clearance code tough guy?" "Two names? Must have strained yourself on that one. My clearance code is JK-HK-99537855114-IA," her passenger showed signs of amusement in his eyes as he gave the clearance. Geoffrey did not sound the least bit amused, "You lying sack of shit, there's no way. That's a Hell Knight clearance code. How did you get this code, explain quickly before I have security board that craft." "He got it when he completed the Hell Knight's training and was certified to be in my squad. Last I checked my boys, even the inactive ones, out ranked any shutter jockey. But since you seem to think you are Vertrabere himself, I think I'll step in as an unquestionably higher ranked officer. Commander Thomas Raduk, CM-TR-HK-8875466515476-CL. Now open the god damned door before the captain and myself come down there to stomp a mud-hole in your ass," Raduk snapped with real command behind his words. Samantha felt her heart skip at the unit that was named, the Hell Knights, she should have recognized the commander of the most prestigious and skilled squad in all the GA. Those men were not men, they were true fighting machines made of flesh and bone, with nearly unparalleled skill in all forms of combat. If Jake were a certified inactive Hell Knight, there would have been nothing she could have done if his previous joke had not been. It was also not noted in the records on Jake Kreitz that he was trained to be a member of the most feared unit in any technological military force. The importance of the people they were dealing with struck Geoffrey just as hard as it had struck her as well, "Y-yes sir! Sorry sir, it wont happen again sir!" "I already knew that, because I was going to make a report directly to my superior about your behavior," Raduk's threat held weight that even Samantha could feel, because there was only one man that ranked higher than the Hell Knight commander and that was the high general himself. The instruments light up with a nav-mark leading her to the open landing bay, as she started to take them in the pilot blurted out a thought she had not intended to, "He's just pissed that I refused his dick in high school." "Well, some guys can't handle being rejected. I think you did good to refuse that one, lesbian or not," Jake replied as his final comment before they landed.