More Than I Was Looking For

I pulled the key from my pocket that I’d taken from the plastic bag of Naomi’s things. And headed up to the apartment I’d found Drake and the human in. I think his name was Gordon but I hadn’t technically met his so I didn’t remember really.

The fourth floor was empty, well save for the homeless man sleeping under the stair well. The stench of body odor was the only thing I could smell. It wasn’t pleasant. I unlocked the door and the soft scent of burning wood greeted me. It was definitely a dragon den. It made me wonder what Naomi collected as i walked through her living room. I opened myself to the patterns around, there would be indications of hidden things in the patterns and that’s what I wanted to find since Naomi hadn’t told me where the safe was, only the combination. Next time I’ll have to remember to ask.

But it wasn’t hard to find, it was located behind a painting in the master bedroom. And i didn’t need the combination either I could see the pattern without it, and if I couldn’t I could just melt the hinges off anyway.

Inside there was a lot of things, more than just the USB drive. Mostly papers. I didn’t search through the papers but I did move them around until I found the drive I was looking for. That was when one of the envelopes caught my attention. It had Drake’s name on it.

Inside was a Stock voucher from way back and a letter written in elegant Dragon script. I’d learned to read it along with others, but it was rusty. I hadn’t used it in ages.

But I was pretty sure it read:

Dear Drake,

The Dragon has tasked me what is surely a suicide mission, but he says it’s for the greater good and he is my leader, my mentor and everything that I know to be true. Just as you will know yours, I know mine. I’ve collected many of these old documents in my years with the Last Phoenix, and at the last appraisal it was worth one million dollars. This should be enough to see you well off in life, go to college and start a family in the even that I’m not around to see you through it. Should you need it The Golden Clan offers sanctuary to netherdragons like you. They can teach you. Know that I love you baby boy. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you.

Love your mama

I folded the letter up and stuck it back in the envelope. I pulled out the rest of the papers and carefully stacked them together being careful not to damage any of them. I had found Naomi’s hoard. I wondered what she had here and if any of it needed to be returned to its rightful owner. I’d have to do the research before making any decisions.

I found a document case sitting on a desk full of more old things and put what I had in the safe inside and took it all. It was all Drake’s and he was going to be mine. I didn’t feel any guilt about taking them. The Venatori would likely just burn the place down, everything else inside.

Drake’s small room was down the hall. I could smell his soft smokey scent and stood staring at the all the small things, a bed, a dresser, toys all over the floor. I didn’t know how i was going to do this. How was I going to take care of him? How was I going to get through this mess? I took a few pictures of the room with my phone and then grabbed a bag and stuff the toy car collection into it. I found another to stuff his clothes into. The only two things left that showed use was the blue blanket and the ragged snoopy dog. Both which I carried in my arms. I looked like I was going on vacation. Or moving out. But Drake was.

My stomach rumbled and I realized I hadn’t eaten anything today. I’d had coffee but that was it. My day was such a fucking mess. But I felt a little better after having two heart to heart conversations. I’m sure Ant and I would later, and Sage would probably try to get me to talk about it too. Tomorrow was my birthday. What the fuck was I going to do all fucking day by myself. I was pretty sure Alex wasn’t talking me. But I stopped in to one of my local lunch places and grabbed a sandwich. I sat down at an outside table with a bottle of water.

The sandwich was a usual, chicken salad on rye, light mayo with tomatoes and avocado. Like everywhere else, I can in regularly and ate the same thing. It made me think of Alex and how he had accused me of being selfish. Of the things we’d fought about. I sighed as I opened up my text messages and saw no response from Alex. But it didn’t stop me from sending him another one.

N: The joys of childhood. Look at the mess in my future.

Tony said to uncomplicate me. There was only one way to uncomplicate me, as Dorian would say, write it all down. I opened up a new doc on my phone and stared at the page. I titled it. ‘All The Things You Wish You Knew About Nox Sétanta’ and that was as far as I got before my phone rang.

Nox

Hey Ducklings, my name is Nox. I am first and foremost a fictional character escaped from the mind of my creator AJ.

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