Chapter 15 #2
Interesting. “Is that normal for burials?”
“It’s common enough for mercury dragons, as they don’t usually live long enough to accumulate expansive hoards or heirloom pieces unless it’s handed down from their parents. Black dragons tend to be rather gaudy about their grave goods, second only to us gold dragons.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes over the rivalry between the two dragons. “Let’s say I have a very pretty gun and wish to be buried with it. Would that be allowed?”
“Of course. The gun must be empty of ammunition before burial, but that’s the only requirement.”
Interesting. “Pascal, remind me to make a list of things going with me to my grave. I must rile my surviving family with the ruthlessness of my requests.”
“Your derringer nestled in your bra?” the black dragon guessed.
“That’s only the beginning of the things I’m going to demand.
Purple nail polish is going to be up there, and the bottle has to go with me so I can touch up my nails in the afterlife.
” I snickered at the thought of making a bunch of ridiculous final requests for my burial.
“Can you tell me what was unusual about Mr. Merorie’s burial? ”
“It was a closed casket viewing and funeral, and her clan opted to lower him into the ground themselves.”
I grimaced at the thought of dealing with a stolen body, which they would have easily been able to hide through handling the casket themselves. “What’s the best way to get this casket out of the ground without damaging anything?”
The steward pointed at Pascal. “He shapeshifts and digs. How many shifts have you had, little hatchling?”
“Only the one. My parents have firmly established themselves in the self-discovery camp, decreeing I have to figure out how to shift on my own.” Allowing myself a growl of irritation, I placed my fists on my hips. “Frankly, some clues would be nice.”
“It would be good for the little hatchling to stretch her wings and legs and help you dig,” the steward commented with great amusement. “What do you think, Pascal?”
“We could establish a temporary truce to yank their chains, Jorge. I like it. Nobody is going to notice she’s been shifting and playing around in here, and digging will do her a bunch of good.
It’s been a mess the past few days, and knowing those tyrants, they haven’t given her any hints on the reality of her situation. ”
“Reality of my situation?”
“Your color,” he replied. “It’s simple. You get to decide which color you are—or colors.
If you want to embrace them all, you can just view yourself as a chromatic dragon.
You’ve been believing yourself to be a purple for most of your life, and that’s what everyone is expecting of you.
But you can choose your primary color—or you can declare you have chromatic tendencies.
You can even opt to be a primary color and a chromatic.
There’s a black-chromatic dragon in Europe, but her scale color has very little black, which confuses everyone.
If you go by her scale color, she’s a pink with purple, cyan, and orange tendencies with an iridescent sheen and a few stray scales of her other colors. ”
The steward guided us to an open space with a singular headstone. “This is Howard Merorie’s burial site. She placed him close to the center of their plot, and I am assuming the spot next to him in the center is for her. We have not been given any word on her burial.”
“What’s left of her is in frozen storage at the moment,” the black dragon announced, and he crouched in front of the rather sparse headstone, which only included his name. “Do you know why this only has his name?”
“Madam Merorie claimed that her love for him was eternal and had no dates.”
It pained me that the evidence of her madness had taken root so swiftly after her husband’s loss. “How long was it between death and burial?”
In the United States, viewings and funerals tended to happen between three and ten days after the deceased’s date of death, although some opted to wait longer.
“Three days. She had the body prepared at the funeral home of her choice, a place owned and operated by one of her relatives.”
Wait. The mercury dragons had a funeral home? Nothing in the clan’s documents had mentioned a funeral home.
Judging from the way Pascal’s eyes narrowed, the funeral home was news to him, too. I dug out my tablet from my purse, retrieved the stylus, and began taking some notes. “Can you provide us with more information on this funeral home?”
“Certainly. We have the transaction records, the contract, and the signed terms and conditions for what we expect from the bodies. We also have a waiver indicating the funeral home is responsible for any and all damages resulting from failing to properly prepare the body for interment. After we have a look in his casket, we can go into my office, and I can photocopy everything for you. I already have the files pulled out.” Jorge flashed the black dragon a grin.
“I do enjoy yanking your chain when you do grace us with your presence, Pascal.”
“The round goes to you,” the FBI agent replied with a wry smile. “What do you know about the case?”
“Beyond that madwoman deciding it was a good idea to go after a Ramons hatchling? Not much. I’m guessing she decided to dabble in necromancy based on our conversation.”
“Her whole clan was in on it. As they induced Kinsley’s first shift through trauma, she’s the inheritor of the estate and anything left after victim payments.”
Jorge whistled. “That’s quite the inheritance.
” The steward pointed at a nearby patch of untouched grass.
“The mercury dragons bought a lot of the lots here. That’s a set of twenty belonging to a different member of the Merorie clan.
I’m going to guess they’re recently deceased judging from the commentary.
There are probably at least sixty open plots belonging to mercury dragons, but there might be more.
I can do a complete audit for you once you’re done here.
As soon as you give me the appropriate paperwork, I can have the plots transferred into your name, Kinsley. ”
I began counting headstones, realizing the place had more space than I thought, capable of handling hundreds of burial sites. “This is a lot larger than I thought it would be.”
“This is only part of the grounds, too. There is an entire catacomb complex underneath the upper cemetery. This cemetery predates Dragon Heights. Actually, there are a few of your relatives buried in the catacombs if you’d like to see them.
Your mother’s great-great-great-great grandmother’s memorial is here, her husband’s is also here, and your father has a few of his ancestors honored here. ”
My eyes widened. “How long have they been here?”
“They’ve been interred here for a few thousand years.
That’s why the placement of the cemetery is a little odd.
Everything was built around this when Death Mile was being constructed.
Back then, it was the original Cemetery Ward, but times changed when the mortuaries and research hospital were built.
It was generally understood if you were volunteering to be part of the efforts at the hospital, you were not leaving this ward alive.
Mind you, it was considered an honor to be part of the research efforts when the hospital was new.
It still is, but people are quieter about it—and the hospital does general care and emergencies now as well.
Haunters didn’t used to be a problem here, not until the hospital changed its operations to handle trauma care. ”
I could understand how that might happen. “Has this cemetery been responsible for any hauntings?”
“An excellent question, but not as far as I’m aware. It’s always possible, though. Pascal, do you want to initiate her shift?”
“You should. You golds are gentler about it, and I want to take pictures so she can see herself and make educated decisions about the types of magic she pursues. And if some of the more troublesome black powers awaken, I want to be able to assist her. Enzo is already involved with her, but he’s more like her parents, and the last thing she needs right now is worrying she’s going mad because she’s hearing things she’s not expecting to. ”
“That’s an understatement.” I saved my data, put the tablet away, and regarded the men with wide eyes. “You can really help me shift?”
“We can,” Jorge confirmed. “Transforming is truly a case of mind over matter. You need to want your other shape badly enough. When hatchlings aren’t confident of their color, shifting is more of a challenge.
Older dragons, like us, can help you along.
If you are a chromatic, you’ll struggle more than most, but you might also unlock a hybrid form, which can be highly useful.
Think of the hybrid form as a human with scales, wings, and a tail.
Depending on how advanced you are at transforming, you might have other traits, stronger legs, talons for nails, and so on.
Most don’t even attempt to try for a hybrid form until they’re at least three or four hundred years old, and it’s taught by another hybrid.
Should you have any relatives willing to teach you the art, you will find yourself snatched, given lessons, and returned in a few weeks.
If your family likes your mate, they’ll send him taunting notes so he knows who stole you away.
If they don’t, well, he’ll get the fright of his life until he proves himself to be a capable male.
Expect your family to be difficult. They’re always difficult. ”