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When the time was right and our parents had gone off to another of their charity functions, Grandad Archer showed up out of the blue and knocked on the door like it hadn't been twenty years since we'd laid eyes on him. Not even coming in for coffee – heck, barely saying, 'Hi', Old Man Dragon, as he's known by all, told all four of us that it was time to go. Funny thing is, we just went. No questions asked. We packed a rucksack, walked out the door, and never looked back. All of us just knew it was the right thing to do.
Out of the Swamp of Nowhere, USA, we flew all night on the back of Granddad’s golden Dragon to the Isle of Skye, Scotland. There we met our Clan – our true Family - learned who we really were and trained to be Guardsmen.
As shocked as we were, there was no denying how right it felt. It was as if we were reborn on that day. Like everything finally made sense – especially the way each of us felt for our own very special Brown Witch.
(That part wasn’t easy. Oh, hell, no, like I said, I missed Violet every minute of every hour of every day. It was hard as hell to be away from her and to know she thought I might be dead. However, it was necessary, and now, I will spend my whole life making it up to her. Okay, I got off track again. Back to the story…)
And we weren't the only ones. Some of our cousins had been through the same thing – born without Magic, felt the call of a Mate they couldn't claim, and had no clue they were blessed by the Universe until that all-important knock at the door. No, they didn't all have shitty parents, like my brothers and me, but not a one of them had it easy.
Anyway…
Being with our Clan, with Grandad, and finding out who we really were was the best thing that ever happened to all of us, second only to knowing that someday I would be able to claim Violet as my own. To be called upon to be the Universe's Winged Warriors, to be part of the honorable, loyal, and fearsome Dragon Guard was nothing short of miraculous. It was a true honor to find out that we, and all our kin, were part of the greatest Brotherhood in Supernatural history - tasked with protecting not only all Others but humankind and the Earth itself.
Well, not mom and dad, but you already guessed that. My parents couldn’t be trusted to take out the trash, and unfortunately proved to be even worse than we thought as time ticked on.
I know, I shouldn’t say what I’m about to say about the two people who made my life possible, but I call ‘em like I see ‘em and so will you as soon as you have all the facts. Those stupid assholes, aka Big Daddy and Mother Archer, literally had some grand plan to steal Molly’s Magic – that’s Nate’s Mate and a Brown Witch to boot - along with all the Enchantment in the whole Brown Family Coven (The strongest and most revered Witches in the entire world and beyond.) and to extract the secret of the Sacred Pumpkin Molly protects by using the blackest of sorcery. They actually thought they could escape reprisal from the Powers That Be and the Authority of Others by hiding behind evil Magic and parlor tricks.
Those idiots - my parents only because I had no choice - had gris-gris bags and spells and talisman, chicken bones, and the corpse of a Raven for the Goddess' sake and who knows what else. Who cares?
The point is, they were willing to sacrifice Molly to get what they wanted - and let me tell you, even thinking about harming a Brown Witch is one of thedeadliestsins an Other can commit. That Family – those very special Enchantresses - were all blessed by the Universe and the Great Goddess long before they were a gleam in their daddies’ eyes. Each has a special destiny that keeps the world turning and all its inhabitants happy, healthy, and none the wiser to the evil that lurks in the shadows.
Best of all, this generation – my and Vi’s – is when the Brown Witches are Mated to the Archer Dragons. Talk about good luck. Hell, I’m livin’ in high cotton, my friends. Violet always has been and always will be the only woman for me. She is the light to my darkness, the beat of my heart, the other half of my soul, and my reason for living, and that, you can take to the bank.
(Sorry, about that. Just the mention of my Mate and my mind gets me all muddled. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah…)
In the end, Nate led the charge and we got there in time. Molly was saved. Mom and dad went to one of the deepest Pits of Hell to be Satan’s Kitty Box Cleaners for the rest of forever and the Authority of Others got to put a big red X through the pictures of Big Daddy and Mother Archer on their wall of Supernatural Most Wanted posters.
Best of all, I was given the green light to court, woo, and basically beg Violet to be mine forever and ever amen. Thank the Goddess, it didn’t take much convincing – just a trip to the Valentine Nebula on the other side of the Galaxy – but my girl’s worth that and so much more.
Now, you’re caught up. And I hope you can see why I feel the way I do about anything that reminds me of my parents. Now, back to the important stuff…
Like I was sayin’, I knew what day it was and that the blast of black Magic was how we’d been tossed into a cave – just not why or exactly where. And then there was the question running around my mind and flying out my mouth in response to Bernie’s shrieking, jumping, and pointing.
“Are you sure that’s Cupid? I don’t think that’s Cupid. That looks like…”
Reaching out to grab Violet as she raced towards the misshapen, swaddled in thick cobwebs, lumpy as a two-hundred-pound sack of potatoes, non-moving pile of ‘something’ wearing what ‘might’ have been the God of Love’s crown, I scooped my Mate’s running feet off the ground, held her close to my chest and ordered, “You cannot touch whateverthatis until we know for sure whatitis.”
“It’sgotto be Cupid, Geckobutt,” Bernie sassily snorted, her curly tail swishing back and forth in the opposite direction of her frilly red tutu as she strutted across the long narrow cave we’d been tossed into. Turning to the side and lifting her back left hoof parallel to her front left hoof leaving her standing on the tip of a single hoof, she added with a sneer, “That’s his crown, isn’t it, you Scaly Snothead?”
“It looks like it, but…”
“What do you think, Vi? Please tell me that all the blood has not rushed from your brain, too,” the Pig demanded.
“Well, umm…” Violet hesitated, her big brown eyes sliding back and forth between Bernie and me as she tried to decide who to make the maddest.
Shrugging, the movement making her shoulder rub against my chest, caused Esau, the Dragon King with whom I shared my soul, to happily grumble,“I hope she never stops that. Damn, I love when that little Witch gets all up close and personal,”the woman I loved more than life itself finally made up her mind. “I’m sorry, Bernie, but Mick’s right. I can’t really tell. It’s covered with… with… with…”
Throwing her hand in the air and flitting her fingers towards what very well could’ve been the God of Love in mummified form, but something was telling me was mostassuredly not, she added, “…thatstuff.Yeah,It's the right shape, but I just… Ummm, well, I just can't tell for sure." Pulling her shoulders as close to her cute little ears as she could, my little Witch eeked out, "Other than that, I just don't know, Berns. Sorry."
“You don’t know?” Bernie railed, all three hooves that were still in the air waving around like she was auditioning for Air Traffic Control at DFW. “How the hell do you work for a guy for hundreds of years and not know what his crown looks like? Have you not been paying attention? Did whizzing through Time and Space scatter your brains more than they were already wrecked? Do I need to come over there and give you a smack?”
“Hey!” I growled, glaring at the Potbellied Pig as I let the flames of my Dragon King burn brightly in my eyes. “What have I told you about threatening Violet?”
Refusing to look away or even so much as blink, I narrowed my eyes and waited, daring Bernie to speak. Silently counting, I got as far as three before the Cherub cursed to be a Potbellied Pig threw her front right hoof even higher in the air before slamming all four of her not-so dainty paws onto the rock floor and huffing, “Fine! Okay! Whatever! You deal withher.” She pointed to Vi with the very tip of her little mauve snout. “Goddess knows, I’ve had enough.”
Turning her very round, very pink body until she was facing me completely, she gave a bow with the bend of her right front leg then a snap of her head to the side. “Is it okay with you if I go stand over by that wall while you and the brain trust figure out our next move, oh Great and Wonderful Grand Poobah of all things Smoky and Scaly?”
“Bernie.” It was Vi’s turn to growl. “What is your problem? We’re all in the same boat here…”
