The Hunt

You're Worth It

“Your brother seems to think highly of your abilities,” Yakir said, laying on the bed on top of the comforter.

“Eavesdropping is below you, iyar dorakt(rude beast).” she said, laying her body across the bed. He had sat up with his elbows supporting him as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Realizing he hadn't understood her slip into Ikrean she added with a shrug "Hey you call me things I don't understand all the time."

Yakir thought it over before shrugging and laying flat once more  "He does not see the problem in you going to face an insane dragon on your own?" Yakir said steering the conversation back on her brother.

"I have my beasts to help me."

"Unless you have another dragon up your sleeve I can't see how you will manage it.

"If you would be my dragon I would."

    "If I was your dragon I wouldn't allow you to do such a stupid thing." he said and they both froze at his words. He grumbled before placing one hand behind his head as the other hand lay lazily on his chest. "You said your pets will help you. How does that work exactly?"

    Zirri touched the crystal necklace around her neck. She traced the black cage that held it on the black chain that laid draped around her neck.. She smiled fondly before speaking. “My family are great believers in using magic and technology to further our ambitions. My necklace is magic. It sends whatever I want into another dimension, if you will, inside of it so I can recall it for use at another time.”

    That was like his tattoos. He could draw weapons and supplies from his tattoos as long as it was represented somehow on his body. Her method was a lot less artistic but then again he could only tattoo so much of himself. “So you carry your precious beasts around your neck?”

    “That is correct. You’re such a smart beast.” she said giddly “Anyhow, the brother you so graciously brought up helped me design a pod system for my beasts. They all thrive in different environments and I hated the idea that one of my beast will eat one of the smaller ones so thus the idea of pods was born. I help set the environment, closely matching where I found them. I touch the necklace and call out or think of the beast I wish to appear and they come out of the necklace. Once they serve their purpose I send them back and they are automatically placed in their pod. I can send my consciousness in the necklace to work with and care for my beast. I can bring you in to see it if you like. My sister-in-law loved it.”she said sleepily

“I don’t think so Prihaala, the more you talk the more convinced I could never be one of your beasts. I would hate to go for a visit and end up trapped.”

    She was lying on her stomach but sat up on her elbows to scowl at him. “I wouldn’t do that. You might wreak havoc on my pods and endanger my other beast. I told you, you are different and would be handled differently.”

“A pet is a pet.”he said with a yawn.

    “My goal is not to have a pet dragon. As you have reminded me every time you have seen my face dragons can’t be tamed. You, complicated beast, still have a consciousness that regular beast do not. Your humanity is still intact until you become feral anyway but, by then you are unmanageable. No, dragons would be a beast tamers partner at best. They must be wooed into an agreement of partnership. I cannot tame you but let me be a partner to you and our bond will help me acquire your beast soul. I can’t take it from you like I could any other beast, you have to give it to me.”

“So, you will almost die to get a necklace for me simply to be my partner and a tiny bit of my soul?”

    “It won’t take from your literal soul but, yes that is the gist of it.” she said straightening on the bed so she was lying down on her side next to him but far enough to where they were not touching. He turned to his side to look at her.

“Is it really worth all of this trouble?” he asked.

She gave him a small smile as her eyes began to drift closed. “I have never hunted anyone like you.”

“Dragons?”

    “Anything with a sense of humanity. Creatures such as those are usually difficult to tame and usually need to be broken first, which is cruel and undeserved. I have my beast soul abilities and it is even more difficult to receive a beast soul versus simply taking it. So until recently I could honestly say I did not believe it was worth the effort.”

“Then why are you being such a pain in my ass?”

    Zirri wanted to know that too. She was going through a lot of trouble for the rude beast but the memory of the dragon she had stumbled across in the storm came flooding back to her. She had never seen such a dragon before. She had been instantly captivated by him. Even with the superpowered society they were apart of, people still were hesitant to approach dragons in their true forms. Zirri had been drawn to this storm dragon and knew she had to have him no matter what. Her groggy drunken mind could not force so many words out at once clearly so she simply said “You’re worth the trouble.”

    Yakir wanted to roar out his frustration but the little pain fell asleep while he had been struck by her statement. You’re worth the trouble? Who goes around telling someone something like that and just falls asleep. Why won’t she just give up on him? All this talk of bonds and partnership had made him exceedingly uncomfortable altogether. He wasn’t about to try to figure why it made him uncomfortable. He turned his back on her and turned off the light and went to sleep.

    Yakir woke with something warming him other than the thick comforter. When did he even get under these? He realized he was lying on his side under the cover but there was a princess cuddled up against his chest one of her legs were over his leg and his hand was on her ass. He had unconsciously followed through on that touching her ass thing. When the hell did she even get this close to him. He became distracted by all the soft parts of the princess against him. If he didn't want to get away without disrupting her, he would squeeze the handful of ass in his hands but he resisted temptation. He looked down at her. When she was asleep and not talking about making him a pet she really was quite an attractive female.

    My goal is not to have a pet dragon. Her annoying, low, seductive voice rang through his head with the words. She was stubbornly pursuing this hopeless cause but he had to admire her tenacity in which she was doing it. He, in all honesty, did not tell her about his mother’s amulet for her to get in her head to go get the damned thing but he saw that him trying to stop her only put her life in danger. That’s why he had given up last night after she got off the phone with her brother. Her brother had no idea she was going to do this before he let her get drunk with no information. That means before her encounter with him nothing bad enough for her brother to forsee was going to happen. Yakir could admit that he would like for her to continue to live long enough to be her annoying princess self.

    He felt surrounded by the princess. He was not at all pleased by the sensations running across his skin where she touched him. He couldn’t imagine why he was reacting to her the way he was. Whatever the reason, he needed to get away from her so he can stop reacting to the sweet yet spicy smell of her and her soft body that seemed to fit perfectly to his. He growled and in an instant got from under her and replacing the space in her arms with a few pillows. She stirred a little but fell back asleep quickly.

    Yakir went to the closet and grabbed his duffle bag. He slung it over his shoulder and headed towards the balcony. He stopped and looked back at the sleeping form in the bed and felt compelled to help her just a little more than he had already. He sat the bag down and made a wooden box appear in front of him streaming from his body in a black liquid haze. He opened the box and it had a few heirlooms. He took a ring out that his mother had given him and his brothers. She had told them their rings were connected to the amulet and that is how Yakir knew where his mother had been taken when she was kidnapped. It would help lead her to where she needed to go and since he couldn’t fit it and it was just sitting in a box he figured she could borrow it on her fool’s quest.

    And she will have to come find me to return it. The thought sprung into his head before he could stop it. He growled and shut the wooden box and it was gone in the same black liquid haze it had came in. He left the ring and the hotel key card with a note and then quickly stripped near the balcony. He stuffed his clothes in his duffle bag and it disappeared in the same haze as the box. He opened the balcony doors and quickly went outside and closed the door trying to avoid waking her up. From there he let the familiar thrill of being in the middle of a storm take his mind off the storm raging within. Transforming into his true form he quickly took to the skies to be among the storm.

    Zirri found herself starting awake because of the loud boom of thunder as lightning lit the dim hotel room. She could hear the rain hammering at the hotels exterior as the wind was blowing so hard she could clearly hear it blowing. Then she heard a booming roar. She looked next to her and sure enough Yakir was gone.

     She got out of the bed and searched for a light and her clutch. Once she obtained both she found her phone and wanted to curse herself when she saw that it was approaching noon. She wouldn’t have guessed how late she had slept being that it was dark outside from the storm that had finally hit Surora. She found herself at the decent size balcony but did not walk into the rain. She stood at the glass doors and saw a dark dragon shaped figure in the dark clouds at lightning lit the dark sky. He was out there playing in the storm. She smiled at the fickle beast. She turned and the glint of a silver ring caught her eye. When she reached it, she noticed the note and room key. The note read:

The ring will lead you to the amulet. Bring me back my ring!!! And turn in the room key for me.

    She scowled at the note. He was still as rude as ever. She picked up the ring and slid it on her middle finger. She instantly felt a pull toward Anilorac. This was going to be exceedingly useful to her and since he wanted it back it must have took a lot for him to relinquish such a gift to her. She was determined to return his ring and his mother’s amulet to him. With that small gesture motivating her forward she gathered her things and left the hotel room. After turning in the room key she called a taxi service to come and get her.