I fell hard on the dirt and heard another thud not too far from me. When I could open my eyes, I found myself on the dirt road to a familiar, two-floored manor. My brother, Gustavo, was to my right, wiping the dirt off his face; he, without a doubt in my mind, had faceplanted when we were thrown out of the portal. The few times we are forced to travel, just the two of us, were always more chaotic since neither of us had an affinity with s.p.a.ce-magic and our strength would destabilize any tunnel a trinket could create. We were both covered in a layer of blood and grime since we hadn"t had the chance to bathe while we were in the Rift. It had been nearly three days of killing wave after wave of goblins and hobgoblin and we were both exhausted."I swear, the next time Alice drops us a goblin mine without telling us before... look at me, I"m filthy!" I complained.
"How many crystals did you get?" Gustavo asked.
I touched my ring with my thumb as I sunk my mind into the s.p.a.ce within. I did a quick sweep of all of the crystals all the monster crystals and replied, "Five thousand or so."
"I need an exact number!" he complained.
"What? Must you compete with your poor, older sister in everything? You already won the manor," I teased.
"How many?"
I sighed and tossed him the ring, "Seven thousand, five hundred, forty-three."
"G.o.d d.a.m.nit!" he yelled, quickly scanning the contents of the ring then he tossed it back.
"My powers are perfect for swarms of enemies, you know that," I said as I caught the ring.
Gustavo grumbled as he stood up, but he never actually said anything. I stood up as well and looked at my black scaled hands. I closed my eyes as I took a deep breathe in, trying to calm my blood. Unlike my brother who had awoken abilities and magics related to swords and shields, my powers came from the bloodline of a dragon corrupted by chaos energy.
I was currently in my first form which covered me, head to toe, in black scales that could block bullets. My two horns on my forehead were a foot long and looked like they were carved from polished obsidian. My eyes were slightly larger and pure gold in color with diamond shaped pupils. My hair had turned crimson and the tips of my fingers had sharp talons that would change color depending on what spell I was channeling.
It took a few minutes, but I was able to shift back to my "human" form. I still had my horns, but they were only about three inches long. My skin was unnaturally pale, almost white, which was further accented by strange, black runes that wrapped around my muscular body. The only thing that was still the same before my bloodline awakened was my black hair and blue-green eyes.
"Alright, I"m good," I said as I finished the shift.
"Then let"s go!"
My brother and I walked up the dirt road and pushed open the doors to Dawn Manor, our home. As soon as we stepped in, we were stopped by a stone golem and we were each handed a cleansing scroll. With a chuckle, we both tore the scrolls and were bathed in a light sky-blue light. When the light had faded, both of us were completely clean.
"So, what are you going to do tonight?" Gustavo asked.
"Lounge around the onsen until I fully relax then bed," I replied.
"You should come us to the movies!"
"Thanks, but no. I really just need to unwind."
"Melissa and Terri will be disappointed," he insisted.
"I"m not interested in being a third, or in your case, ninth wheel. Go, live out your harem fantasy that every straight man in America are dreaming of," I said in mock exasperation.
He could only give me a wry smile as we walked into the main room where most of the residents were sitting, awaiting our return... well, more specifically, my brother"s. I could only shake my head as every eye in the room focused on him. In the past three years, with all of the changes that had happened to me, from growing horns to being abducted by the government, I still couldn"t understand the change in my brother"s charm which effect nearly every woman to cross his path, especially those brought to the manor. For some reason, they all found him irresistible while I still found him the airheaded, yet lovable, little brother he had always been.
"I"m going to go relax. I"ll see you tomorrow," I said quickly then escaped out one of the side doors. I noticed a few frowns from the girls, but I didn"t give them a chance to object. My brother would have to be enough to handle them for the night.
I made my way through the familiar halls, stopping by my bedroom to grab a change of clothes, before I headed to the onsen out back. Most of the house was in a western style, like any house in America, so the onsen was something outplace, yet drew you in. There was always a thick layer of steamy mist hovering above the water which warmed the small area fenced in by bamboo. I noticed a familiar presence right away as she was being skillfully ma.s.saged by a stone golem in the shallow end of the hot spring and letting out a series of contented coos. Trying to suppress the blush I knew was creeping over my face, I undressed and slipped into the deep end. Despite trying to be quite, the woman stopped the golem with a hand before scooting over and sinking into the deep end. She had obviously been waiting on me since the first thing I did after a mission was soak in the hot springs for a while. Alice gave me a playful look as she waded over and cornered me.
"Nowhere to run to now, Becca," Alice said with a mischievous chuckle.
"I"m not running anywhere, Alice, I"m just trying to relax," I replied as I closed my eyes, trying to tune out her teasing.
A warm body pressed against mine as Alice whispered in my ear, "I can help with that." Chills were sent down my spine as my mind buzzed. I clenched my jaw and gave her a look as I opened an eye. She chuckled and backed away with her hand raised in surrender. "I was just checking," she said with a small smile.
Alice was a unique existence within this manor of "special individuals" as, if she was to be believed, she was over five thousand years old, although she looked no older than twenty-five. Her body was a beautiful bronze with soft curves and widen hips. She was the one who helped the government finds us, acted as the liaison between those in the house and the government, and also organized all of our missions as well as having an understanding of each of our powers. My brother and I were her favorites which resulted in a lot of this kind of teasing, but after three years, we had an understanding.
"I feel like there is something else you wanted or else you wouldn"t still be hanging around," I said after a while.
"I just had some information that I thought you would be interested in, but I guess I don"t have to tell you," Alice said with disappointment as she moved back towards the shallow end.
"That"s fine then," I replied with a smile as I closed my eyes and floated on the water, relaxing my body.
"d.a.m.n, you!" Alice whined as she splashed water at me.
I laughed as I righted myself then pushed forward, catching her in my arms. With my brother gone for the night, there was no doubt in my mind why she had tracked me down and she was upset that she wasn"t getting her way. I pressed her against the wall and kissed her neck then gave it a playful nip. "You know better than to come me right after I get back. I can"t fully control my strength and you are waking the beast."
It was only after looking into my eyes, which I knew had, once again, turned golden with diamond-shaped pupils, that she gave a sigh and gently pushed on my shoulders. I released her and drifted backwards. Although she wasn"t bothering me, she continued to linger close by which was unlike her.
"What"s up, Alice?" I asked after a few minutes.
"We will be having a new member join soon," she said with a sigh.
"Another woman, then?" I asked with a sigh of my own, understanding Alice"s implied meaning.
"Yes," she grumbled.
Another woman meant yet more compet.i.tion for my brother"s time, so she wasn"t happy. It was mostly thanks to Melissa, and her empathic abilities, that had helped keep the girls from fighting over Gustavo, but there were also girls like Alice who would seek me out for companionship sometimes. Living trapped within my brother"s personal harem was difficult enough with eight women pinning over my brother"s affection, but adding a new one would stir up trouble for a while. Thankfully, one thing that everyone living in the house understood was that we were all stuck together. The world was changing faster than anyone outside these walls knew and the only way they had a chance was if they banded together.
"When will she be here?" I asked.
"Tomorrow, my vision came two days ago while you two were gone. Her name is Katye and she is from Australia."
I whistled, "Boy, the government sure are quick about scooping people up. I still don"t get how they can abduct people in other countries."
"That"s why I chose America to set this all up, they will do what they want... that and most of you were here anyways," Alice said with a shrug. I continued to float, but after a while, Alice grew bored. She waded over to my side and said, "Leave your door unlocked tonight."
I opened my eyes and smiled up at her as I said, "I always leave my door unlocked."
She gave me a greedy kiss, but it was quickly quenched as she pushed me underwater. She was blushing as I popped back up and laughed. She splashed some water at me then climbed out of the hot spring. I watched her leave then returned to my floating position. Even though my bloodline was suppressed, it still affected me. Random outburst of anger used to be my biggest problem, but after a drunken night with Alice, my temper had mellowed out, only to be replaced by "different" urges. Alice had been the one on the receiving end of the few... "episodes" I"ve had which was why it was so unusual for her to come to me now, but with a new woman appearing soon, it made more sense. Right now, all I could do is pushed aside all of those thoughts and focus on suppressing my bloodline.