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THE SUBURBS
Draca could nearly fall on her knees and thank whoever was out there for
her luck. But that would pose an even stranger site than the trio made now.
Draca looked wistfully at Ryuen and knew she would have to leave her bond
behind. There was no chance they could walk freely when the bright dragon was
with them.
'Honey,' she told him, 'How about if you go back to The Rave? I can
search on my own with Kale.'
"Can I play with
Rixi and Kao?"
the dragon asked, already excited at the idea of going back.
'Sure, just ask Ravenna if there are any problems.' Draca answered and
then thought of the line to her dragon how lucky she was that Ryuen was
playful. Never did he feel neglected when she was away and had to leave him.
When Ryuen had vanished she turned to Kale and smiled, "Can you show me
the way? It's my first time in LA."
Kale looked baffled at the woman, a few years younger than him that lived in a
world entirely different from his. There was no smiling and getting somewhere.
Everywhere you went you had to fight. If there was luck it was brought on by
training and care. And now this woman who he had searched for for his entire
life didn't once consider that he might not want to go with her.
When he looked at her again however, he couldn't just bluntly say no. There
was something in her posture that made him want to ask her more about her
family and history... the effect of years of search maybe, or was it something
else?
"Come on." he sighed and led her out of the alley and on the street.
"I heard I had to watch out for gangs." Draca smiled, "I think
it was exaggerated though. It can't be as bad as they told me."
"No, not quite." Kale said not really wanting to make
conversation.
The address Draca had given him was well out of the more dangerous parts of
the city. The suburbs could hardly be called dangerous. besides, thieves
seemed to shy away from overly-tattooed people. It was something Kale had many
times gotten advantage from. But he hadn't always escaped so easy.
There had been a few times, once or twice when his looks hadn't been enough
protection in the gang-neighbourhoods. Of course he was walking there at
night, no-one was safe at night anymore. And then he had had to fight. Maybe
he could have solved it by shifting and scaring his opponent witless, but that
felt like a coward's way out. Doubtless the way this Draca handled her
battles. No, then Kale was proud that he could manage himself in battle.
"It's not much further." he mumbled and then entered a broad lane
with trees at the edges. A ghastly example of playing pretend, according to
him.
"I guess I'll be going now." he continued, not all too eager to
leave this woman behind. He still hadn't gotten a chance to ask her some
questions. Partly his own fault of course.
"Won't you stay?" Draca asked. "My father said to bring as much
of our kind as I could find. There have to be more around here. Haven't you
ever felt that you were close to someone?" Draca asked, trying to explain
why she wanted him around, "Haven't you ever been sure that you could
find them, if only you looked hard enough?" she sighed, "I must be
sounding crazy."
For a moment several emotions played to get to his face. None reached their
goal. Kale had long since learned to control his face. But the words she had
spoken reminded him of his own feelings. Finally he managed to make a
reassuring hand gesture and said: "A tad, but I will stay."
Draca sighed in relief. Before she could thank Kale, a noise at the gates of
one of the houses alerted her. A young man ran out, maybe 20 years old which
fitted the description Zaldoon had given her.
"Mikhail?!" she tried.
Mikhail looked up when he heard his own
name being yelled. When he saw the odd couple standing in front of his house
he first thought that maybe, just maybe he had pissed someone off and they
were now here to have vengeance.
A moment later he realised how stupid that was, most likely the effect of the
book he had been reading, a thriller set in modern day, right here in LA about
some gang-conspiracy. Carefully -it never hurt- he walked to the strangers.
When he got closer he noticed they were tattooed in their face, something very
unusual, but also something that brought back memories. His mother had had
something like that, a remnant from her hippie days she had always claimed to
outsiders.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"My name is Draca, I am your cousin." the woman answered, "and
this is Kale, a friend who has showed me to your home."
Mikhail looked doubtful. He knew all his cousins from his father's side. They
lived only streets away. This woman was not one of them. He knew however, by
her tattoo that she must mean his mother's side of the family. But how could
he know that was true? It was not like he could ask her anymore.
"My father asked to bring his sister his greetings. Can I speak to
her?"
"She left." Mikhail said a bit bitter.
"How familiar.... how old were you?" she asked.
"15."
"Well then you got to know her 5 years more than I knew my father and 10
years more than my sister knew him. I'll have to tell him the old hider genes
are still very very active."
"Hider genes?"
"Draca, not me, the first Draca was a spy." Draca said, "Neat
isn't it, like We're all part of a story."
"Why are you here?" Mikhail tried again.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm here to get to know you and your brother and make you
an offer."
"What kind of an offer? I'm not going to do anything illegal."
Mikhail hastily said.
"We'll get to that. Where is your brother?" Draca asked.
"Out back..." Mikhail said reluctantly. If this woman was who she
said he was, then maybe she could bring him to his mother, though apparently
she herself didn't know where else she could be. But if she wasn't... yeah
what if she wasn't? There were no people around that would suspect him to be
an alien, in fact he was as normal as anyone else, and he would remain so for
at least another year. That was one of the few things his father had told him
about the reason why his mother had left. Pretending that she had died wasn't
easy.., sometimes it seemed more real than the truth.
The woman Draca was already headed toward the back yard. She walked through
the little gate as if she indeed was long lost family. But that didn't mean a
thing. Shrugging Mikhail followed her through. He looked back only once to see
if that other one was following too. When he saw he was, he stopped looking.
That guy was rather creepy.
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