"WHAT?!"

Red stands there, mouth open, gaping at his commanding officer. Five weeks have gone by, and in that time he's shown himself to be invaluable to the tank battalion he was assigned to.

"You heard me, Lieutenant." Sawyer says, his rough face drawn into a deep frown. "Because our esteemed lawmakers couldn't pull their heads out of their asses, the Enduring Flame Project is being scrapped." Sawyer plops down behind his desk. "It was good and it's necessary. The Army just needs a little bit of time to shuffle some words around, reroute funding, get administrative permission, blah blah blah. Look, consider this a one to five week long vacation." He says, grinning. "They did the same thing to the railgun project, but now we're mounting it on ships in the prototype phase. We'll be back in action in no time, so enjoy your time off. Dismissed."

Everlasting Flame

Down Time

Two hours later Red is standing in line to get onto one of the military planes leaving the island. It was being 'temporarily closed.' He just sighs and shakes his head. "Politicians are worthless." He can hear one soldier saying as they start boarding. "We should ship the whole lot of them out in freight." Red can't really disagree with that. Each and every one seemed to be a walking, talking example of the worst humanity had to offer. Greed, corruption, selfishness...the list goes on and on.

"Well, at least we're going to the same place." A familiar voice says from behind. Red turns to see Webb, who grins at him. "Look, let me get a word once we're on the plane." He says. "I got something I need to go over with you." Red nods, at least there was this.

Once onboard, Webb and Red put their gear up and go forward to the cargo section. "Look, I know this sucks, but it could turn out better than we thought." He says, looking around. "Whole world's going to shit. I heard that Germany and France are about to go the way of Greece. When that happens, who knows how it's going affect everything."

Red nods and listens, getting a sinking feeling that Webb was leading up to something that he won't like. "Some big companies are already in a lot of trouble, including the Binom Medical." That's what was going on! Red had told him that was where his mom worked when he was boasting about his family. Webb brings out his little note pad that he brings to every briefing and starts writing. "Fortunately, I'm in tight with a guy who owns another firm; he's the chairman of the board. He asked me to talk with you, saying he'll get your mom employed, but there's a catch, so you're gonna have to talk with him." He hands Red the paper, which has the guy's name, address, and number on it. Red, after reading it, nods. "Thanks." He says.

Twelve hours later the soldiers are all disembarking at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The families are there, smiling, waving flags, welcoming their husbands, wives, sons, and daughters back home. Among the families is Red's family, smiling, waving their flags happily. "So, Webb, where are you headed to?" Red asks Webb as they unload after their soldiers. "Me? Well, I got a girl here in Fayetteville." He says, pointing to the crowd where a nice looking woman was holding up a sign saying "Welcome home honey!" Red nods. "I don't have that." He says. "I'm just gonna have a sister, that's it." Webb grins. "Enjoy it while it lasts. Once you get a woman sinking her nails into you, you won't even be able to look at another woman again." He says, laughing a bit at the end, so glad his woman couldn't hear him say that.

The soldiers manning the barricades, seeing the engines have shut down, open the gates and let the families rush to their soldiers, and Red shakes Webb's hand. "I'll see ya when this all blows over." Webb says, Red nodding. "You bet." He says, and the pair separates to go and meet up with their families.

"I'm so glad you're finally home!" His mother is saying, tears in her eyes. "We missed you so much, and now my baby has come home!" She hugs him to her and squeezes hard enough that it seems she's trying to break him! "Mom...can't breathe...ok...love you too...let go!" She finally does, and he draws in an exaggerated breath, making her laugh a little and dab her eyes. Then Red's dad surprises him by wrapping him in a hug. "Welcome back, son. We missed you." He says, smiling. His sister, just barely into high school, is off the phone for once and smiles, hugging her brother as well.

"So, is my room still the same?" He asks. His mom nods. "We haven't changed a thing since you went to college in Florida." She says. "Come on, let's get home, we have some bad news for you..." She says, her spirits dampened now, "I lost my job. The company went bankrupt and closed most of its American outlets." Red nods. "Yeah, I was contacted by someone about that. He has a proposition that may get you back to work." he says, smiling. This gets their attention, but sadly, Red doesn't know any more than that. Soon they are in the car and driving home. Given the relative quiet of a car driving to a C7 flying, Red is soon out cold.

A few hours later, Red wakes up in his own bed, in his own room, and looks up at the ceiling in a bit of stupid amazement. Why am I here? He thinks, then remembers why and sits up slowly. "That's right..." He says, groaning and stretching out. He looks at the note on his desk given to him by Webb, then gets up and grabs it, then takes up his cell phone and makes the call.

"Akashiya residence, how may I help you?" A sweet voice answers. "Yeah, my name's Red, I was told to call here about my mother getting a job." Red says.

"One moment please." The phone is set down. "DAAAAAD! PHONE FOR YOU!"

Red stares at the receiver for a second, wondering how that sweet voice could turn so loud and cold. "Hello, this is Mr. Akashiya." Red can't help but smile. "Hello sir, my name's Red. Captain Webb requested I call you."

"Ah yes, Mr. Redneck. I was looking forward to this. Captain Webb is a family friend. When you came home a while back I recognized magic energy in you, so I enquired after you. After getting me clearance, Webb brought me up to speed about what you are, and I must say I am happy to finally see dragons back in action." He says. Red able to tell that this guy wasn't joking but he wonders...why is he happy to finally see dragons back in action?

"How did you get clearance?" He asks.

"Come over to my estate and I'll explain it to you." He gives his address and Red thanks him, hangs up the phone, and goes out to his own car. He gets in and, after a brief and terrible moment of wondering how the car works, he starts it up and drives on off down the road. As he thought, the guy lived in the mansion that was a fifteen minute drive from his house. Soon enough he pulls up to the gate and is let in.

As he pulls up to the front of the house Red notices that a butler is outside waiting for him. He blinks and stares. He's NEVER had a butler out waiting on him before, so when he parks, he doesn't quite know what to say to him. After a half second of the two of them staring at each other, the butler raises up his hand. "This way, sir." He says, then turns to lead him inside. Red follows along quickly.

"Wow...look at this place!" Red exclaims, looking around in shock. The main room was a masterpiece of showing off the splendor of the mansion. The floor was smooth and shiny, covered in an expensive carpet that the butler tells him is hand crafted. Hanging from the ceiling is one of those REALLY expensive chandeliers, very fine and elegant, seeming to be made out of gold, and sparkling so much his ADD can't help but keep his attention grabbed by it. "How much did that cost?" He asks, pointing at it, trying to get attention OFF his fascination by playing it off as curiosity as to the price.

The butler smiles and clearly wasn't fooled. "That is the model VI 4600 from World Class Lighting. My master got it on sale for just over $16,000. It's slightly modified of course." Red's jaw drops. He could fit most of his education into how much that one chandelier costs! "While you figure out how it was modified, I shall go get my master." Course Red is already right there, staring at the masterpiece and getting all absorbed by it, so he doesn't notice the butler head off. The crystals made the light from the candles flicker and dance! Oh man it was so interesting! The light bounced off the gold of the metals and flickered as well. After a second he notices the difference between most chandeliers he'd seen. The candles were actual candles, burning real fire. But there was no wax. "How could that be...?" He whispers.

"Magic." A female voice says from his shoulder, making him jump. "HOLY CRAP!" He clutches his heart as he shouts. "Don't DO that!" He yells, whirling on her, and is awestruck. This woman, she's DEFINITELY a woman with those boobs, was standing there, a grin on her lips, her silver hair going down to roundabouts her waist, and her red, slitted eyes are focused on him. Those eyes are what gets him most. They remind him of a predator on the prowl. While that would have scared him before, when he was human, now he admires them. "My father is right this way." She says, and leads him up the stairs, Red almost drooling on the way up, and into the main room. Once Red is inside, she closes the door, winking to him just before the door is closed.

"Mr. Red, so good to finally meet you face to face." The same guy from the phone!

"Hello Mr. Akashiya." Red says, going over to him and shaking the man's hand. The guy wasn't half bad looking, he was athletic at least, and he has the same eyes as his daughter. "First, I'll mention how I'm not surprised by your existence. You see, my daughters and I are all vampires." That one catches Red. "Wait, you mean the blood sucking vampires?"

"No, son, the bat that flies around." He says, grinning. "Yes, those vampires. We have a bad reputation because of Dracula but it made our existence easy to hide. Dracula drank blood to survive, we sip to survive. One or two drops and we're good for a day or two." He says. "Anyway, please, have a seat, I must discuss something with you."Anyway, I was born back in what you'd call 'medieval' times. I saw the last dragon that was still awake killed. Unfortunately, those dragons were nothing more than mindless beasts. The true dragons, the dragons my father knew of, were intelligent and gentle of spirit. Those dragons had a civilization. That civilization fell thanks to usurpers inside its ranks. Now you are here, in our modern times, reborn by the government to fight those usurpers.

First, you need to help your family, which I suppose is why you're here. I am prepared to offer your mother a very well paid job as a lead researcher in my medical company. The pay is more than she received at her previous job. Also I am allowed to give you a scholarship when she accepts this position that will pay off the rest of your schooling. The catch is, you must marry my daughter in order for these things to happen."

Red follows all this, nodding, nodding, then blinks and stares. "What? Marry your daughter?"

Mr. Akashiya nods. "Yes." He says, getting up and looking out the window. "I know dragons typically mate with more than one female at a time, and so does she, but she is dead set on being with you for some reason." Red is starting to raise his hand. "Uh...we do?" He asks.

"Yes, though apparently Cynder hasn't taught you about that yet." Mr. Akashiya says, still looking out the window. "You'll have to speak with Moka about why she wants you above all other suitors. My only goal with her is to see her happy. She says she wants you, and I'm offering you, and her, a shortcut to your goals. I will not think badly of you if you decide to refuse for not knowing her well enough, and I'm willing to give you some time to think it over and discuss it with your family."

Red has a LOT to think about on his way home. After all, it's not every day someone asks you to marry their daughter! And if that daughter is that HOT silver haired girl, maybe it won't be that bad. When he opens the door to his house, he immediately goes to find his mother and father to tell them what happened.

"WHAT?!" They both say incredulously. Then his mom starts to tear up. "My little boy is going to get married! Oh my goodness!" She says, tears leaking out. "But I haven't said that yet!" Red says, a bit annoyed that his mom jumped to that conclusion.

"Oh of course you are." His dad says. "I know who Moka is, she came into the shop the other day to have her car fixed. Long silver hair, brown eyes, nice figure. Hell yeah you're gonna marry that girl!" He says, wrapping an arm around Red's shoulder, then whispers into his ear. "Then you're gonna make sure she's in a bikini when we go to the beach or to the pool." Both men start grinning at the thought of her in a bikini.

"I never thought I'd ever see a nerd like you get married, but now it's finally going to happen!" His mom says excitedly, wrapping her arms around him from behind. "Oh my goodness, you're going to have to make me MANY grandbabies!" Red whirls on her. "MOM!" His dad starts laughing his ass off. Red, now blushing, starts stomping back towards his room. "NOT something I wanted to hear from you mom!" He yells back as he opens his door.

"Whatever, just get started making those grandbabies!" His dad calls out, laughing hard.

Red plops down on his bed and staring at the ceiling. He just got home, and now his parents want him to get married?! Mom wants it for the job and for 'grandkids' and dad wants it so he can live vicariously through his son. Oy. "They sounded excited." Red JUMPS out of bed. "What are you doing in here?!" He growls at his sister, who is sitting in his computer chair. "Oh, nothin...Just wondering why you're letting yourself be pushed into an arranged marriage, that's all."

"Who's being pushed into it?" Red asks. "She's HOT, hotter than you. She could easily be a model! And also, she's gonna live for a long time because she's...well..." Red stops himself. He hasn't told them that part yet.

"Well what?" His sister asks. "And what do you mean I'm not hot?" She cups her boobs. "Look at these jugs. You can't tell me I'm not hot!" She says, grinning mischieviously. Red shakes his head. "You're a sister, sister's can't be hot."

"MOM! Red says that I'm FLAT!" She yells towards the door.

"I did not!" Red shouts right back.

Then mom's voice pipes up from downstairs. "Red! Stop picking on your sister! It's not her fault!"

"MOM!" She yells and huffs. She hadn't bloomed until about 17, and had only recently developed her C cup. Before that, she had a little bit over an A cup. She stomps her foot in that way and glares pure hate at Red. "Fine. Go into your arranged marriage with that hussy. See if I care!" She says, and storms out. "I'M NOT FLAT!" She yells down the stairs as she heads to her room in a temper.

Red is grinning. It's so easy to get his sister going about that! Course tonight she's gonna be dressed in a tight little number to show off her chest to prove that she's NOT flat, but whatever, they're used to it. Red goes down to talk to his parents, though, having gotten things settled in his head. "I'm just nervous about this whole thing. I mean, I don't know her, she doesn't know me, what would happen if we don't fit?"

Red's mom hmmms. "Then have her stay with us for a week or so and see if it does work." She says, smiling. "That reminds me, though. She's not human is she?" Red blushes and shakes his head. "She's a..vampire."

"Oh, well I figured there was something super...VAMPIRE?!" She says, staring at him. "Those exist?!" Red nods. "Nobody's died around their house or anything and there are no unexplained disappearances in town mom, they're not like the movie vampires." He explains, which does absolutely nothing to calm her down.

"She's been by my shop plenty during the day. Obviously she's not one of those monsters that sucks people dry and leaves them bleeding on the ground." He says.

"You're ok with this?!" She asks, staring at her husband, who nods, sipping some of his Budweiser. "Yup, perfectly, she was a nice girl when I talked to her the other day at the shop. Knowing what she is doesn't change that."

Red leaves his parents arguing, liking the idea of her living with him, here, how she would normally be living, for a week. He picks up the phone and calls Mr. Akashiya to give him the message. About an hour later, there's a ring on the doorbell. "OH MY GOODNESS!" His mother exclaims, just barely able to be heard from upstairs. "YOU want to marry my Red? Please, come in, come in!" Red makes it downstairs and almost slams into his sister, who raced him downstairs and stopped short upon seeing Moka, who is blushing at the reception.

Red dodges by spinning to the side, catches his toe on the carpet, falls onto his side onto the tile going into the kitchen, skids the floor into the kitchen, then jumps up and pokes his head around the corner to look at the door. Moka was standing there, having watched the whole thing happen behind his mother as she moved to let her come in. "Uh...are you ok?" She asks him. Red grins and scratches behind his head. "Sure...No sweat." He says, ignoring that his sister is giggling at him.

She has a single pack slung over her back in military fashion. "So, where's our room at dear? I'll go and put down my stuff." Now it's Red's turn to blush. "This way." He says, and quickly leads her up the stairs, staying in front of her so she can't see his blush. He can, however, hear her soft giggling, which makes him blush more. He's oh so glad now that his mom kept his room clean. The only thing on the floor was his footlocker that he had brought back with him from the base.

As he goes over to move it aside to give her room to put down her bag, she comes in and closes the door, then looks around at his room, then at him. "You know I've wanted this for a while now." She says, smiling. "Ever since I learned you were a dragon from your sister." She says, smiling. Red blinks at her. "That's why..."'

"Oh, of course not!" She says, interrupting him. "I wanted to know you since high school, when you stuck up for a friend of mine in the hallway." She's waving her hands. "So don't get the wrong idea. This isn't for some power trip or for dad's 'wanting a good lineage' thing..." She stops herself, just barely, and forces a cough. "Can we start over?" She asks, trying to look innocent.

Red can feel that drop of sweat running down the side of his face. "Nah, you're fine." He says. He'd done that once or twice in college and in high school, just started babbling. It was good to know this hot girl had some human aspect to her. She sighs. "I'm sorry. It's just, well, when dad told me that your mom got out of work, I laughed and told him he should trade you marrying me for him hiring your mom." She smiles. "It was a joke, but he took it seriously...and I'm glad he did!" She says, quickly, seeing that Red was tilting his head...again.

For his part, Red is a bit surprised. He had thought she'd be uptight, arrogant, all that stuff, but she's not! She's...normal. Moka, for her part, seems to pick up on what he's thinking. "I'm not quite what you were expecting, am I?" She asks, smiling. "I'm no different than any other girl, save I take care of myself. What all hot girls want more than anything is what any other girl wants, a guy to care for, friends to have fun with, and a home to go home to." She walks over and sits down on the footlocker he had just moved. "So, why don't you tell me what you want to do and we'll go from there." Red thinks about it and grins.

It's mighty quiet over there. Red's mother is thinking, fifteen minutes later. There were no loud noises, no shouting was happening, no video game noises, nothing to indicate anyone is in the room. She sneaks her way over and puts her ear next to the door. Still nothing. She cracks open the door, then blinks and then smiles and leans against the door frame. Red was in his bed, with Moka right there next to him, both of them dead to the world asleep, in their clothes still from that morning. She would have taken them to be a normal couple, until Red draws in a deep breath and lets it out, a puff of smoke coming out of his nose and drifting out the open window. She slowly closes the door and goes back to the kitchen.