I Raised A Black Dragon

A hand clamped on her shoulder and forced her around. Noah found herself face to face with a bearded man who towered her. He leered at her and shoved her away. 

“Don’t just stand there by the window, daydreaming! Do your job and fetch me a whiskey and ice, now!” His sunken eyes were heavy with sleep deprivation. And he reeked of alcohol and that all-too-familiar deep lavender scent, strong enough to give Noah a slight headache.

“Get off me. I’m not a waitress here.” Noah tried to yank the man’s arm off her shoulder, but he refused to listen or let go. No matter how hard she dug in her nails, he did not budge. As a last resort, she gathered saliva in her mouth and spat directly into his face.

“You little brat! I’ll teach you a lesson for not respecting your elders!” The man wiped the spit away using the back of his hand and balled it into a fist. He raised it into the air, his face twisted with rage. 

With a yelp, Noah flinched and held up her arms in an attempt to protect her face. As she did, she could feel a surge of magic flowing through her body, starting from heart and spreading through to her fingertips. She barely had time to react before her hand moved on their own accord, her fingers twitching and magic surging from her palms. 

Confused, Noah cautiously lowered her arms slightly to check on what had happened. The man’s arm, the one that was about to punch her, was suspended in the air. Wrapped around them, barely visible save for the light sheen they gave off, were spectral ropes that stretched up to the ceiling. Noah stared in shock, wondering how she was able to accomplish such a feat when magic was blocked within the walls of the hotel. 

“What is this? What did you do?!” The man roared, thrashing his arm around to try and free it. He used his other hand to try and pull it free from the ropes, allowing Noah to take a step back and analyze the situation. 

And then the answer dawned on her. Ordinary magic, the type that as most common around the land, was regulated. But her magic came from Muell, which was a rare form: dragon magic. Such magic was harder to keep tabs on, and as such was not as tightly controlled. 

Noah stared down at her hands and then back at the man still trying to free himself. Fortunately, everyone surrounding them was engrossed in their games to notice the man now turning red in the face as he loudly demanded what was going on. 

“Oh, please shut up! ” She snapped at the man, who instantly became limp. The spectral ropes vanished into the air, causing the man to collapse to the floor in a lump. Staring in horror, Noah quickly dragged him over to the window and propped him up like he was gazing out at the scenery. 

And then, she spotted a mark behind one of his ears that turned her blood cold. 

An R that had been crossed out. 

“This symbol…” Noah racked her brains. An R is the mark engraved on humans, or the real forms of the replicas. However, the symbol had been crossed out. “Does this mean that he is defective? Or, at least, not in use anymore…” Noah said as she traced her fingers over the mark. As she pondered, an ominous speculation struck her. “Is this place the source?” she muttered.

Leaving the man where he was, she walked as nonchalantly as possible over to a table where a poke game was in full swing. One of the men was shaved bald, so Noah aimed to walk behind him. As she passed, she glanced down to check behind his ear.

There, clear as day, was the same mark. The R that had been crossed out. Next to him, the man also had the mark. Noah weaved deeper into the gambling ring, horrified to see that nearly everyone bore the crossed-out R. 

Now at the point of hyperventilating, Noah scuttled back to the window. She bumped into several tables, earning her some choice words and cursing from disgruntled patrons. 

“Sorry, just need to get some fresh air.” She nervously chuckled as she squeezed between two chairs placed closed together. At the window, she went against the boy’s advice and opened it a crack to breathe in some welcome fresh air. With the unconscious man staring at her with his glassy eyes, she covered him up with the curtain and tried to calm her breathing.

For this many humans who had once been replicated, and were now all gathered in the illegal ring, how many replicas were roaming around free? She closed her eyes, praying for Kyle and Muell to finish with the assassins and reach the hotel before it was too late.