Chapter 17 #2
“Who’s Astaria, and how does she know Velma?” Noah’s patience held on by a thin thread.
“She’s a selkie who can see hints of the future.”
The answer Noah sought pinched his lips into a flat line.
“Selkies are real?” squealed Joslyn. “Think she’d do an interview?”
I mean, legit question, wrong time. “I think we need to focus on mega dragon.” I glanced in its direction, and despite the distance, I had no trouble seeing the beast still lounging in its volcanic cradle of magma.
“You called it The Destroyer, which might be apt. When we talked, it mentioned it planned to eat.”
“Did it tell you its favorite snack?” Tigger bounced, his wings fluttering. “Mine is cheesy poufs, although, cookies, ice cream, and chips are kind of my faves, too.”
“Apparently, it used to nosh on dinosaurs, but since its arrival caused the ice age that wiped them out, humans are now on the menu.” I grimaced.
“Caused the ice age?” Alistair’s brows almost met his hairline. “Guess its longevity explains the size.”
“My understanding is it eats until it almost wipes out all life, then naps. Wakes. Eats. Naps. Although, it napped longer than usual this time. Something about its drones abandoning it.”
“Drones? Did he mean servants?” Abaddon queried.
I shook my head. “The way it explained it, they’re actually its children.” I paused before adding. “Apparently, it doesn’t need another dragon to make them with because it threatened to use my eggs to make a new batch.”
“But your eggs are tiny and fragile and… human.” The one called Pollita practically sneered the last bit.
“Yeah, that didn’t seem to be a problem.”
“Do you mind backtracking to the comment you made about its arrival.” The purple dragon sounded quite perturbed. “Was it not born here? Because I had always assumed our ancestors were dinosaurs, and, like the early Cro-Magnon, developed intelligence and other abilities as part of that evolution.”
“It claims to be an alien,” I stated without any kind of preamble. “Says its meteor, egg, whatever the fuck you want to call it, crashed here on Earth.”
“Where did it come from?” The query came from Tigger.
I shrugged. “It didn’t say. Although, it did confirm it was the only one of its kind to land here. Something about their appetite making it unfeasible to share.”
“We’re aliens?” Abaddon’s consternation emerged clearly in those two words.
“Perhaps originally, yes,” Purple answered. “But given what Velma has told us, we are the product of the original sire mixing its DNA with that of local organisms. Which, given how long ago that happened, makes us as native to this planet, as humans.”
“Native, and yet we’re the ones who have to hide,” grumbled Abaddon.
“You said you came here to stop whatever that thing is. How exactly do you plan to do that?” Left unsaid: You’re kind of fucking small to be fighting it.
Alistair’s lips once more pinched. “Now that it’s freed from its prison, I wonder if it would be open to conversation.”
If you want to talk, bring my servant. If you want to live, bring the other humans. I’m hungry.
We all blinked. Dragons included.
Alistair looked especially discomfited. “I was not aware you could hear us.”
Obviously. The dry reply. Now hurry up. I am literally starving.
The dragons eyed my friends in a way that had me waving my arms.
“Hold on a second. No one is getting eaten. You hear me?” I shouted in its direction. “You can’t have my friends.”
And who will stop me?
I pursed my lips. “The military, for one.”
They’ve not yet decided what to do about me. Apparently, I pose a perplexing problem for world leaders.
“Is that why no missiles have been fired?” snapped Noah.
There is concern I might feed off them. There has been some mention of Godzilla and nuclear radiation. A valid concern.
“You eat nukes?” I exclaimed.
Everything is energy. But the fleshy kind is the tastiest.
The beast had revealed something interesting. The governments were figuring out how to attack. Meaning, we had to stall, somehow. Give them a chance to muster a plan.
Alistair cleared his throat. “It occurs to me we haven’t been formally introduced. I am currently known as Alistair Graham.”
A paltry title.
“I am Abaddon.” The ebony thumped his chest. “A mighty name for a warrior.”
Warrior? No mistaking the snicker which led to Abaddon sulking.
“What is your name, sire?” the dainty Persephone asked.
If I were to say it, the fleshy ones would die, blood streaming from every orifice. But if you insist—
“No!” Alistair yelled.
Perhaps another day. In the meantime, I need a name. While The Destroyer does have a certain appeal, I rather prefer the one given to me by the American government: Leviathan.
“The mightiest of creatures,” I murmured.
Exactly.
“Who deserves recognition,” I said slowly as an idea formed. A bad one but, right now, there didn’t seem to be many good options. “What would you say to giving us an exclusive interview to broadcast to the world?”
“What?” Too many voices said it at once for me to differentiate.
An interview? The query was both curious and amused.
“Here’s the thing. Right now, everyone is looking at you and thinking, damn, he’s a big bastard. What if his plan is to go on a rampage and tear down cities and eat everyone?”
I do not rampage.
“But you are planning to eat people, which means there’s going to be strong opposition. Everyone is going to be looking for a way to kill you.”
They won’t succeed.
“Meaning people will be throwing their lives away in vain. Which is where the interview comes in. We’ll introduce you to the world, and you can clearly state your intentions and also advise them that resistance is futile.”
“Isn’t it morbid to want to broadcast the words of a genocidal monster?” Noah sputtered. “You’d kill everyone’s hope.”
No, I wanted to buy time. The mega dragon might be cocky enough to think he couldn’t be defeated, but this same arrogant beast had been trapped inside a mountain because he took a long nap.
However, I couldn’t say any of this out loud.
“When else will we get a chance to let the world know what’s going on? ”