The Pearls (24 page)

“Yes we are but we have not turned yet
, it is not safe to turn here in the US or basically anywhere. Have you ever seen anyone with red fleck in their eyes, or felt the pull as we call, it is will be a little fainter that what you feel now? Well let me ask you this, you feel us four do you feel another?”

“Yes there is someone below us. The feel of him is fainter but there is someone there. But no we
have never seen red flecks in someone eyes.” Tia said

“Yes we have what is a
half-blood down stairs. You see there is something of a war going on. There is a Blood Dragon named Aldrich who wishes to be King. He has killed all our parents and all of our families. He has sent his half-blood children, which are in the hundreds, to hunt all of us down. There were three of them that came to a cabin we were staying in, to kill me and Justine, and take Zoe. You see, Zoe and I are Pearl Dragons. By heritage we are the King and Queen. We do not wish to rule over you, but your Dragon, as well as theirs, is designed to listen to an order. I will never order you to do something that I know is against your wishes. However I will, and she probably will too, we will order you to do something if that something puts the rest of us in danger. Anyway Aldrich wants Zoe, because he caught her father twenty two years ago, days before Zoe was born. He is holding him hostage. A Pearl Dragon is the only Dragon that can turn another full or half-blood with a bite. Soul mates, which you two are, and full-blood can turn with each other. As I know you figured out. Couldn’t resist the bite instinct could you?”

Tia ducked her head with a smile on her face and John sat there beaming. A goofy grin plastered on his face.

“So wait, you are our King and Queen?” Tia asked

Zoe and Kaiden nodded

“And you’re telling me my parents were murdered? That John’s parents were murdered? And you have one of them mother fuckers down stairs?” She stood and her anger was very obvious. John stood to join her and they went to move.

“STOP!” Kaiden boomed loud and
Tia and John froze mid stride. “You will not hurt him, we have him tied up and taken care of. He is the only one that knows the location of his father. We have made a deal with him and we fully intend to keep it until his father is dead and Zoe’s father is freed.” Kaiden said, he was getting frustrated with these two. They were so young.

“Now before I tell you anymore I would like to know about you two. Where did you come from? And what are your full names? I have a contact
that can help us track down your information.”

“You just pulled some King shit on us didn’t you? We didn’t want to stop but we couldn’t help it. I thought you said you didn’t want to order us around.” Tia was furious and John looked just as mad.

“I told you I will not order you to do something that is against your will. Meaning I wouldn’t order John to go make babies with random women, I would not order you to go fight alone. I do not want to order anyone around I want us all to be a family, friends at the least. I want everyone to get along. You two are young and you are letting your emotions guide you instead of sitting back and seeing the bigger picture.” Kaiden told them

They settled down and were silent
. Mateo was watching and listening, Zoe stood and walked to Kaiden. She wanted to calm him down. She could feel his frustration. Mary went to get some drinks and Gabe moved to sit next to Justine. The air was thick with animosity and Zoe did not like it.

“Tia and John I am Zoe and I am very happy to meet you. There are four more sets of Dragons that we need to find. Kaiden and I are the Pearl, Justine and Gabe are the Onyx, you two are the Fury. That leaves Water, Earth, Blood, and Fire to find. We know the name of the female Blood Dragon. We are looking for her first I think. Her name is Vivi and she is the younger sister of the man downstairs. Please trust me when I tell you that I don’t like him being here as much as you do. But we need him. I need him. I need him to get my father back. You see
, up until a couple days ago Justine and I had no clue what we were.” Zoe tells them her whole story and they listen intently. Zoe is trying to show patience and let them warm up to them. She figured out quickly that dealing with a Fury is truly exhausting.

Justine and Gabe share their stories and as Kaiden starts his Mary asks them if she should make dinner. They all shake their heads and she goes to the kitchen to cook. Zoe excuses herself to go to the restroom and checks on Blake at the same time.

The safe room is actually a small bedroom. There is a bed a toilet and sink and some shelves with food. Blake is chained to an anchor bolted to the middle of the floor. He has enough room to get between the toilet and the bed. He doesn’t have the headphones in and Zoe gets nervous for a moment, she steps inside and closes the door. Then she realizes why he doesn’t have them in. The room must be sound proof. She quickly opens the door and steps back out she tells him dinner will be soon as she leaves.

Once she is upstairs
the smell of the food cooking assaults her nose and she is instantly hungry again. She takes a seat next to Kaiden as he is finishing his story.

Mateo is in awe of all the information he is given. His eyes dart all around the room. As Mary hands him a plate he is brought back to reality. He digs in greedily as he hasn’t had a home cooked meal in four years by this woman.

Tai and John look a little more relaxed when Marry hands them plates of food. She then hands everyone else plates and sits to enjoy hers. They make small talk during dinner. Gabe finishes his first and makes another plate to take to Blake. When he returns he sits next to Justine and kisses her head.

All eyes are on Tia and John as they wait for them to begin talking. John notices first and has a mental war. He can feel that Tia is comfortable with these people. He knows that she needs a family more than he does. It is his own feelings that get him to talk. He has grown up with a family
, not your normal family, but none the less a family. But it is the feeling of belonging which he has never felt that gets him to talk.

As Blake sits up to grab the plate from Gabe he is overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude and belonging. These people are showing him a different side of what he knows of Dragons. It is so different than he would have treated on of them, and very different then how he was raised. He longed to be the Dragon his father was, not the evil side, but the Dragon itself. He was going to run as soon as he was turned. Blake always searched for way to get free, even if they hurt someone else.

John takes a deep breath and looks up into their curious eyes.
He grabs Tia’s hand turns to her and kisses her long and hard. She looks into his eyes and tells him she approves of what he is about to do.

“I grew up on an oil rig. My family for all its worth are a bunch of roughnecks. My father found me on the main platform where the helicopters and such land. I was in a huge pile of ash. Somehow flowers grew in that ash too on a metal deck. There was another pile of ash and flowers on the other side of the deck and there was a letter in a water proof bag that had just my name written
on it, Johnson Avery Santana.”

“
Anyway my father took me in and cleaned me up. He had kids before that were taken from him, so he just kept me. No one asked and no one cared to question him. So I grew up around a bunch of big bad mean men. From a young age I knew I loved to fight. Even as a young boy I was easily angered and hotheaded.”

“
When I turned fourteen I got into it with one of the biggest guys on the rig. I beat him. After that the guys started taking me to the fight ring. It’s like a warehouse in town and well you fight and they place bets. The roughnecks make a lot of money and they love to bet on me.

Then one day this pretty little girl walks in the room and I was shocked, I just stood there still as a board,
something in me was pulled to this girl and I could not take my eyes off her. I guess, I get the term you guys used, the “Pull” this girl definitely had a pull. Well the guy I was fighting took me down. The next thing I know this little thing is pulling a two hundred pound man off me and she knocks him out. She made eye contact with me and it was all over. Love at first sight and I am only seventeen.” John laughs

“
My dad is pissed but I don’t care this girl was made for me and you guys confirmed it. Well a month ago we kind got reckless as always and well ended up doing it. We kind of got rough and bit each other. Next thing we know we are outside in a field completely naked and something is changing. It didn’t hurt we just both got really warm. Then we were these huge Dragons.”

“
We were too freaked out to move and once we fought the urge to take off we were human again. We have learned that it hurts not turning. And well since we haven’t actually flown yet we just shift to alleviate the pain. We haven’t told anyone but Mateo. He talks so much of you Gabe that we thought maybe you were a Dragon too and he knew. So we showed him, he freaked out, and then we knew we made a mistake. And now here we are.” John looked at all of them again. “Now I am thinking it was a good mistake, but still I am sorry for putting your life in danger Mateo, we never meant to do that.” Mateo bowed his head at John’s apology.

“Thank you John, that helps us know you a little more. Do you know what state the rig was near at that time
? So I can let the lawyer know. See our parents have all left information of some kind with a lawyer so far. We are hoping that yours did too. That is the only reason I need the information. Your date of birth won’t really matter in this case there is no record of it I assume?” John shakes his head no.

“At the time it was near Alaska.” John told Kaiden.

“Justine, can I talk to you a minute alone?” Tia asks her

“Sure, let’s go outside. Baby and John will you watch over us
, but let us get out of ear shot please?”

“Of course, my love.” Gabe answers her

Tia and Justine walked out the back door and headed towards the pond. There is a bench that looks to be far enough out of ear shot of the guys. They both sit and Tia looks at her nervously.

“John knows about my past but, well
, how were you able to just tell us how you have been hurt?”

“Trust baby girl. Zoe is like my sister as you know
, she saved me. You are still young, you haven’t dealt with your demons and that is fine. But baby girl you are now this age forever.” Tia looks at Justine in shock. “Oh we haven’t covered that yet have we?” Tai shakes her head no. “Well honey when we turn we freeze and pretty much don’t age ever again. We can be killed, but you will never get sick and old and die, you are now sixteen for hundreds or thousands of years, hopefully.”

“Really? You’re not joking at all are you?”
Tia was excited to be young forever, but what was still ahead of her made her nervous.

“Since I have learned what I am and well it’s only been a
couple days, I have faced my demons in this time, and I embrace this life. Zoe is a great girl and you seem to be too. Really I am letting my guards down because I want what Kaiden says. I want to go to Ireland and start a family. I want to be happy. If you are too afraid to tell us the worst, just skip those parts, we don’t need to know now. As long as John knows, that is really all that matters to me. But the more you tell us, the more we understand you as a person.” Justine tells her feeling like a big sister right now.