[b][u][center]A Modern Dragon Harem
Chapter 4: Security Issues
Sponsored by Glyn_Wolf
By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]








His horns stabbed through the top of Janet’s car as soon as he got in, and the ride only got more awkward from there. From the adverse effects of his pheromones on her as they rode along – even with the windows down – to the weird looks that she got for one side of her car sagging down without anything obviously there, it was an uncomfortable ride for both of them from Tacoma to Seatac. 

As they pulled into the parking garage, being lucky enough to get a spot near the elevators on the fifth floor, Draconicon got out of the car. He paused, looking back at the driver. 

“You coming?”

“I’d prefer to watch the explosions from a safe distance, thanks.”

“It’s not going to be that bad.”

“It’s going to be you in an enclosed space. That’s a recipe for disaster right there.”

“Hey, you’re not that affected.”

Janet arched an eyebrow, turning her hips and raising the back of her shirt. He blushed, rubbing the back of his head as he was reminded of the mark that he’d left on her. 

It was a dragon’s footprint on the small of her back, and a similar mark had been left on the sole of each foot. He hadn’t even consciously placed them, but the bit of fun they had, combined with the magic that had come out at orgasm, had left its mark on her in a way that he had only fantasized about before. For all he knew, it was indelible even to him, and considering the way that black people had been branded as slaves before…

Well, he felt guilty about it, and he knew that he should. He sighed, shaking his head. 

“I’m still sorry about that.”

“I know, master.” She grimaced. “God, if you could just make it so I didn’t have to say that word…”

“I’ll work on it.”

“Please.” She shook her head. “Besides…even if the pheromones aren’t doing [i]everything[/i] that they did that first time, it still does…something.”

“…You need some alone time?”

“Yeah. Big fucking yeah.”

“I’ll, uh, take a walk.”

She nodded, pulling the door shut and rolling the windows back up. That probably wasn’t going to help with the whole problem of being hit with all the pheromones, but he wasn’t going to argue with her. Not when she had every reason to be pissed, still. 

Instead, he put on the ring and made his way to the skybridge. Seatac Airport was arranged in a crescent curve around the parking garage, with each of the airlines getting a chunk at the first terminal. Eventually, Veronica was going to have to come out through security, and guessing where she was coming in from…

[i]She could have lied about it being Dallas that she was at,[/i] he thought as he walked around the crowds of humans looking for their luggage, coming out of the baggage claim, or just wandering around like the tired zombies that they were. [i]If she did, no way of telling where the hell she’s coming out of, but if she was telling the truth about that…[/i]

Draconicon made his way to one of the arrivals boards on the lower levels. True to form, the planes coming in from Dallas were due between thirty to forty minutes earlier than she had claimed. 

[i]Just like her, leaving room to prepare.[/i]

He smiled slightly, but that still assumed that she was coming in on one of the Dallas flights. If not…

Well, he didn’t have anything better to operate on, so he would have to operate on the idea that it was her flight. First off, though, he needed to find something to clean himself up. The last thing that he needed was to affect her with the pheromones that had claimed Janet. She’d kill him if he did that. 

[i]Duty-free shop, here I come…[/i]

#

Three cologne bottles heavier and about $150 lighter, the dragon went to one of the restrooms out of habit. He knew that he didn’t have to, that he was invisible to the naked eye and that people wouldn’t notice if he took his robe off to apply things, but it was better to keep to habit. If something went wrong, then at least he’d have something to keep him from being immediately spotted. 

He shut the door and leaned back against the cubicle wall, pulling his robe open. His cock had flopped down, no longer hard despite the different temptations that he’d had since getting to the airport. He pulled out one of the colognes, a blue one, and sprayed it over his dick. 

“Nnngh!”

The dragon bit his lips at the sting that came with it, slapping his hand against the cubicle wall a few times before grabbing a giant roll of toilet paper and grinding the mess off of his dick. He kept hissing, kept groaning as he turned the bottle around, glaring at it. 

[i]Aftershave…fucking…aftershave…[/i]

Still hissing in discomfort, he kept wiping his dick down until the worst of it was off, then tossed the bottle away. The scent had stuck around, at least a little, but not enough to completely diminish the musk that he carried. 

The other colognes were [i]actual[/i] colognes, ones that did their job by clinging to his scales rather than burning in. He growled under his breath as he left a few sprays of it along his soles and toes, hoping that it would be enough to diminish his scent.

[i]I’m not a rapist, or one of those assholes that needs people to be stupid,[/i] he thought to himself, tucking the two bottles of cologne into his robe pockets. [i]I’m just cursed with this stupid stuff at the moment.[/i]

He left the bathroom after making sure that nobody was coming in, half-walking, half-skating along the smooth floor. Wet feet on polished floor was not a good combination, and for a dragon, with scaly soles that were all too smooth in a lot of ways, it meant that he risked falling over at any given point. 

Checking the clock, he saw that he still had a half hour before the first Dallas flight landed, over in D gates. He tapped his chin, a thought occurring. 

If he was on the other side of security, he could meet her as she got off the plane. It would mean that he was able to spot her as soon as she was free, rather than hoping to spot her before she got paranoid down in baggage claim, and he’d be able to take control of the situation and explain things. 

Of course, that meant getting through security, and despite having the magic ring…Well, he still had to get through without being seen, without bumping anyone, and…

[i]Fuck. It’s the best option, even with that, isn’t it?[/i]

Even so, he went for one of the smaller checkpoints at the corner of the central terminal. He’d hoped that one of them was shut down for the afternoon, but he didn’t have that kind of luck. If only it had been, he might have been able to use his magic to hop from one side to the other, or warp the steel grate that came down to seal it off, or…

But no, he was faced with a large cluster of people that were all lined up to go through. Not as much as on some of the other checkpoints, but enough to make it very obvious that he needed to be careful. 

The black dragon found a gap between two families and wiggled into it, holding himself as carefully as he could between them so that he didn’t touch either. He straddled one woman’s suitcase and felt someone else breathing down his neck from behind. 

In other words, it was particularly unpleasant, but there was very little that he could do to make it better. He waddled forward, following the first family, leaning forward and back as needed as they kept changing position. More than once, he had to waddle particularly fast to keep the pull-along suitcase between his legs, and once he nearly fell over the dividing lines into another family group. 

He managed to save it, but only barely. He grumbled under his breath, shaking his head as the whole ridiculous thing continued. 

By the time they hit the ID checks, he had never been happier to leave someone behind. The dragon walked by the desk, shaking his head all the while. 

He was about to make his way to the metal detector when he saw the guard stop, sniffing the air. The older man blinked. 

“Did someone bring a bottle of aftershave through? Smells like something broke.”

[i]…Great. The ring blocks sight, but it doesn’t block smell.[/i]

And he already knew that it didn’t block sound, either. Janet had been able to talk to him while wearing it, which meant that it wasn’t as useful as he thought. He covered his mouth to stifle his own complaints, knowing that things had just gotten more complicated. 

He grumbled, looking at his way forward. The security design didn’t give him a lot of options, unfortunately. Two lanes of scanners, two different screeners at the end. One for that weird ‘hands over your head’ scanning, and one metal detector. Going through one was basically required, no matter how you did it afterward. The hands over your head one would mean jostling either security or the person in the scanner, for sure, and going through the other one…well, the ring was big enough that it would set of the alarm no matter what else he did. 

Grinding his teeth together in frustration, Draconicon looked back at the clock. Ten minutes left to get to D-gates for the first plane. Not enough time to do it quietly. 

[i]Okay, magic…please work…please, please work…[/i]

Previously, he had been pulling at an intense need, and that was what he did this time, the whole thing tinged with a hint of desperation, as well. The urge to get through, the requirement to make things safe, the need to be through and be with a good friend, to not get caught and not out himself – 

He felt the power, and he pushed it through, and in his desperation, he did something that no mage should do. He let it loose without constraint. 

In hindsight, he was lucky that he hadn’t let loose some monster to cause a distraction, or warp the security forces into some sort of completely different dimension, or something else stupid that would have caused panic and mass hysteria. However, turning the sprinklers in the ceiling on probably was not his best move, either. 

Draconicon slowly turned his head up as the water washed down on everyone, all the different passengers rushing to cover their electronics and their bags so that they didn’t get washed away and drowned out. Security quickly started the process of shutting down the different devices they had to protect them. 

Best of all, a gap opened. The soaked dragon walked through, grumbling under his breath once more as the cloth of his robe stuck to his back, folding one of his wings over his head like an umbrella as he wiped his eyes clear of the mess. 

The security checkpoint closed almost immediately after that, but he was on the opposite side, at least. He shook his head, making his way to another of the travel shops, and hoped that nobody saw the towel that disappeared off the rack, or the one that followed when he realized that he needed more than one. 

The robe had to come off, tossed over his shoulder, and he used the towels to improvise a kilt of cloth. It wasn’t great, but the robe was utterly soaked, and it needed to dry out before he could wear it again. 

Five minutes, now. 

Draconicon shook his head, not wanting to attempt any more magic for now. He would just be soaked on the way to D-gates. 

#

The first flight hadn’t had anyone that looked like Veronica on it, and the next one wasn’t due in for another little while. The black dragon sighed, leaning back against the chairs in the waiting area. 

[i]This is going to be as boring as the airport always is,[/i] he thought to himself. [i]Who would have thought getting turned into your own character would ever be boring…[/i]

Not him, that was for sure. He had expected things to be weird, yes, but boring? Not at all. 

He looked around, people watching as he tended to do. Most of the other humans – [i]Already thinking of them as the ‘humans’ rather than the people…Jesus…[/i] – had gotten on the plane after the others had deplaned, but there were still some around that were just lazing about. Probably those that had grabbed a seat while waiting on another flight further off in the airport, he supposed. 

Yet, as he sat there, he could see that they were starting to shift in their seats. Some would just shift their position, while others would twitch their hands a bit, as if reaching for something before they stopped themselves. Others still were pulling at their clothes, but it wasn’t until he saw the first boner that he realized what was going on. 

The impromptu shower at the checkpoint had washed off the cologne, and now his pheromones were filling the air again. The black dragon slapped a hand against his forehead, and everyone jumped at the sudden SMACK that filled the air. 

[i]Fuck…fucking fucking fuck…[/i]

Draconicon got to his feet, pulling his towel kilt a bit tighter around his waist, but the damage was already done. He could see that more than a few men and women had their eyes glazed over, and those that had looser clothes were starting to surreptitiously fondle themselves. Not blatantly, not like they had turned into sex-crazed maniacs, but rather like they had stopped caring about whether they were seen. 

Inhibitions were lowered, shame was removed, and urges and wants were pushed forward. Sometimes, that would make for a more honest society. Other times – 

“Hey…”

One of the men was leaning over a woman that was sat a few chairs away. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, the sort of wrap-around that always ended in a boob-grab, and this was no exception. She pulled away, but not by much, blushing rather than getting angry. 

“Heh, come on. I want some sex. You’d have fun, too.”

“No, no thanks.”

“Come on. Just lemme have a little…”

“Tempting but…no…”

It was interesting seeing the effects of the pheromones without him taking part in it. People were definitely horned up, and the mousey little woman that was getting ‘flirted’ with was no exception. There was definitely a wet, hot scent coming from her, and Draconicon knew what that meant. Despite that, she was making a definite no clear to the other man. 

Unfortunately, without shame, that meant that he was still not getting it, still more in touch with his needs than with what others wanted. 

“Come on. Just a handjob, huh? No harm in that right?”

He was reaching for his pants, and that was it for him. Draconicon narrowed his eyes, standing up and marching right over to the human. He grabbed the guy – someone in his mid-thirties, slightly chubby, definitely someone that had room for time at the gym – and pulled on his shoulder, dragging him away. There was a yelp of surprise, followed by a bit of squirming, but nothing that the dragon couldn’t handle. 

“Hey, what? It’s a ghost…there’s a ghost in the airport!”

“Oh, shut up…”

The pheromones were keeping the people in the waiting area too relaxed to freak out, but he imagined that it wasn’t something that would last for long. He dragged the too-forward man into one of the bathrooms, shoving him into one of the stalls before coming in behind him. Then, and only then, did he take off the ring. 

It was a good thing that the human was drunk on musk pheromones. If he looked like he wanted to faint while completely zonked out, Draconicon didn’t want to think about how bad it would have been if the human had been sober. He glared into the other man’s eyes, poking him in the chest. 

“Did you go to school?”

“Huh?” the human asked. 

“I asked, did you go to school? I doubt it, because you sure didn’t understand one of the most basic words of the English language.”

“What…what are you…”

“No. What does that mean?”

“…No?”

“And what does that mean?”

“That…that I should…”

Draconicon pushed him back, and the human stumbled over the toilet, falling back with his head against the wall. 

“It means I should stop…it means…means I should stop doing…things…”

“Uh-huh. So, what do you say when I do this, huh?”

Quick as lightning, he grabbed the human’s crotch, squeezing his balls just hard enough to send a thrill of pain right up the human’s spine. The man gasped, arching his back. 

“Ack! No! NO!”

“Uh-huh. And what does that mean?”

“It means stop, it means stop!”

“Yes, it does. And that’s what I’m going to do.”

He pulled his hand back, shaking his head as he looked down at the human’s pants. They were wet, but not with piss. Pre, probably, and more than a little bit of it. 

[i]Fucking hell, and I thought I was a pervert…[/i]

Draconicon shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to start getting into this. Fun as it might be to start messing with someone, to work out some of the building libido that he was feeling, he didn’t have time. 

“You stay here. Just…lock the door and jerk off quietly until you feel normal. And don’t tell anyone about what you saw.”

“…Okay.”

“We understand each other?”

“We d-do.”

“And no?”

“Means no.”

“Good boy.”

He opened the stall and left, shaking his head as he did. It was not the best day, not the best deal, but it was better than what might have happened. And he still had time, judging by the clock at the far end of the bathroom. Sliding the ring back on, he rejoined the crowds in the main room. 

As he found the waiting area for the next flight, he couldn’t help but feel a bit surprised at himself for what he’d done. Not so much the standing up for someone else, as that was something that he had done before, but more…

More how personal he had gotten with it, how far he had pushed that particular boundary. He had never gone that far with someone before, and the idea that he had the power and the physique to do that much…

Well, it kinda felt good. It felt like he had something that he could work with to make things better. If the magic stuff didn’t work out, then he had the body to be a superhero, at least. 

[i]Heh, a superhero. Let’s not go that far. You haven’t even figured out how you’re going to live a normal life just yet.[/i]

And that was something that he had to figure out if he was going to do anything besides survive. Dragons weren’t exactly supposed to exist, after all, and he had already made the mistake of claiming a slave when he had no intention to. He had Anya that he had to deal with, making sure that she was okay and finding a way to get her into the states as fast as possible, and he had Veronica to meet, make sure that things were okay with her, and then dealing with the rest of his friends…

It was going to be a busy few days, that was for sure. 

The next flight landed, and this time, he did see her. She was wearing her usual jeans, jacket, and vest, head down but with same brilliant intensity that was always there. Most people wouldn’t have seen past the tiredness, but he did. 

[i]When she finds out what I can do...[/i] he thought, chuckling to himself. [i]Well, if she still wants that. For now, let’s see if I can find a way to reveal myself without showing off to everyone.[/i]

His phone was still working, despite its earlier shower, and he pulled it out, typing into it. 

[b]I can see you right now. Just off the plane, gate D8. I’ll meet you around the corner of Hudson News, in the little alley leading down to the turn to the bathrooms.[/b]

He saw her pick up her phone, look at it, and then casually peer across the room. To anyone that didn’t know her, it’d look no different from an idle look around from her phone to make sure that she was still going the right way, but he knew her. She’d be cautious, paranoid. Probably more paranoid with that message, but he couldn’t afford to have her go out to baggage claim without seeing him. 

He got up, and as he did, he realized that she was following him with her eyes. No, not him, but his footprints. 

He was still wet, still wet enough to leave marks on the floor, and they were not human footprints. She stared at them for a moment or two, and he wondered if she was starting to believe the truth. 

[i]One way or another, she’s going to believe it after seeing me,[/i] he thought as he walked down to Hudson News, one of the bigger stores in the Seatac airport. He ducked down the side, leaned against the wall, and rested his hand against the ring. It needed to come off as soon as he saw her, or there was no way that he’d be able to sell this. 

He waited, and waited, and waited, and half-worried that she was not going to show up. He looked up at the ceiling, but resisted the urge to run out into the open again. He waited, waited – 

And then almost got a cane to his ribs. He was just out of reach, feeling the bump of it rather than the royal wallop, but he grunted anyway. 

She followed, moving around the corner as he pulled the ring off. The cane came back, raised, but not striking. 

Not yet. 

“You…okay…You’re a dragon. Or at least, someone in an insanely good costume. Do you have a zipper?” she asked. 

“Do you think I’d be standing here in a bunch of towels, soaking wet, to sell a costume at the moment?”

“Possibly not.” She looked him up and down. “You talk like him, at least. You got any proof?”

“What’ll it take?”

“You know.”

“…Permission to lean in?”

“Granted.”

He leaned down, and whispered. Her eyes widened, the cane twitched, and she had to lean against the wall. 

“Oh god. It’s…it really happened. You actually…oh god…oh, fuck…”

She held a hand over her mouth, and he could see more than just the emotions playing over her face. He could see the fear, the anger, and more powerful things pushing at the back of her head, forcing their way forward and just as quickly forcing their way back. He was quiet, letting her have her time, keeping an eye out over the top of her head. 

“I’m going to put the spell back on now. If you keep looking at me, I won’t disappear, but I won’t be visible to anyone else.”

“Right. Right. Make me look crazy…I can deal with that…We can deal with that.”

He took her hand, giving it a squeeze, then put the ring on. He felt the tingle and shimmer of its power, and he disappeared. 

“How?” she whispered. “How did you…”

“I don’t know. Drac appeared while I was working, asking me if I wanted the power to write my own story. I became him, and – hang on.”

He reached into his pockets, pulling out the cologne bottles. Spraying them against his neck and along his waist, and particularly against the towels, he left the hallway a veritable stink zone of artificial smells, but at least it put out his own pheromones for now. 

Veronica waved her hand under her nose, shaking her head.

“You had to do that?”

“Pheromones, remember?”

“Goddamn mother-fucking skunk-farts…”

“Those would probably smell better, to be honest.”

“You ain’t fucking kidding…god…”

She kept waving her hand around, coughing at the smell, shaking her head. He couldn’t blame her. He didn’t like it either, but it was the only way he trusted himself to be able to carry on a proper conversation. 

“I didn’t mean to shut you out of this whole thing, but I wanted to make sure that things were stable here before telling you. That said, I’m pretty sure that you can make it a hell of a lot more stable than I can.”

She nodded. There was no question there. 

“So, here’s the situation. I got turned, security lady turned up. I accidentally ended up fucking her –”

“Goddammit, Drac.”

“Hey, blame Anya a bit for this, too. She wanted to watch. Anyway, the security lady got claimed, marked as mine – again, not something I meant to do, just happened – and then you called. That’s about what we’re up to right now.”

“Nobody else knows?”

“Just Anya, you, Janet – the security lady – and whoever else Anya has told.”

Veronica nodded, looking down a bit. She twitched her head slightly to one side, then the other, barely more than the tiniest flicker of movement, but he knew what it meant. She was listening to the others. 

“Ready to get out of here?” he asked. 

“Hmm…”

“Hmm?”

“Is this Janet with you?”

“Yes, she’s waiting in the car.”

“You trust her?”

“Not much, but she can’t disobey, so, there’s that.”

“Good.” 

“Oh. Hello, Tobias.”

“Yes. Hello.”

Her voice had dropped a bit, not quite so much as an octave, but definitely deeper, gravellier and growly. It wasn’t the first time that he had seen Tobias, not by a long shot, but it was good to hear him again. 

It wasn’t a surprise to see him in charge, either, as they turned to walk down to the baggage claim. Tobias wasn’t ‘front’ the same way that Veronica was, but he was the more ruthless and, one might say, pragmatic of the bunch. In a situation like this, Veronica might have stayed in charge, but considering paranoia and protectiveness, he wasn’t surprised that Tobias had come out. 

“I’m sorry to you, too,” Draconicon said as he followed behind, riding the escalator out of the baggage claim behind his old friend. “I don’t like keeping secrets, but I didn’t want to leave you guys out of pocket for something I was still figuring out.”

“I hear your apology. I understand it. You were still wrong.”

“Probably. That’s why I’m apologizing.”

“Thank you. Where is the car?”

“Across the skybridge, fifth floor.”

When they reached the elevators, Tobias turned to him. Their facial muscles twitched slightly, and Veronica ended up looking out at him at the end of it. 

“We talked about this before, didn’t we?”

“…Yep,” Draconicon said. 

“You asked me what I wanted if this ever happened.”

“Your body back to the way it was.”

“[i]Our[/i] bodies the way that they’re supposed to be.”

“I’m working on that sort of magic. It’s…Heh. It’s different now than when it was just a fantasy.”

“If you can figure it out…”

“You’re first on the list.”

“After Anya,” she said. 

“After Anya, if she wants to go first.”

“Yesssss. Thank you.”

The elevator opened. Draconicon looked around the corner, and was somehow not surprised to see the window of the car open, a leg hanging out it, and the sound of moaning filling the air. The dragon slapped one hand over his face, looked down at Veronica and shook his head. 

“I’m sorry. I thought she would be done by now.”

“What are you – hoooo, wow.”

“Yeah. That’s the pheromones.”

“I can see why you were using the colognes. Holy shit.”

“Yeah…hang on.”

Wading through the smell of cock and masculine pheromones and dragon musk, Draconicon walked up to the car and whacked on the window a few times. Janet jumped, her cheeks burning bright enough that one could see it through the windshield as she opened the doors. She was still pulling her pants and panties back up when Veronica walked over. 

“So, Janet, huh? Outdoing Janet Jackson with that kinda show.”

“Oh yeah? And who the hell are you to talk? Who the hell are you, anyway?”

“I’m the guard dog.” 

Veronica smiled, and it was the sort of smile that you only saw when you realized that you had done something really, really stupid, and that you were only keeping your throat in its proper place because the thing smiling at you was very, very well trained. She shifted her cane from one hand to the other, huffing slightly and clearing her throat, but nonetheless, she projected the same energy, the same [i]power,[/i] that Draconicon had always known her to have. 

“See. We’ve been friends a very, [i]very[/i] long time, and I’ve promised my dragon here that I will always make sure - very, very sure - that he stays safe. And, as long as he listens to me, then there won’t be anything more secure than what I make for him.”

“What are you, some kind of architect?” Janet blinked, turning back to him. “She’s not, is she?”

“Well...depends on how you define architect,” the dragon said, shaking his head. “At any rate, back in the car. We have a long ride home, and a lot of decisions to make.”

“First things first. Check the car for bombs.”

“...If it were anyone else, I’d argue, but...” He shook his head, kneeling down by the side of the car. 

“You can’t be serious. I’ve been in this car the whole time. There’s no way -”

“Uh, way.”

Janet coughed, ducking down to look under the car beside him. Sure enough, there was a bright red light blinking at the back of the car, lodged right between the rear tires. 

“How...how the…”

“I suggest we all get away from the car, now. Like, now. Right now.”

“Hey, I’ma hobbling already, run bitches!” Veronica shouted. 

He did, dragging Janet with him, even as she lost her pants and shoes in the process. They barely got to the other side of the elevator when the bomb went off. The shockwave went through the elevator shafts, missing them, but the rest of the explosion rattled the concrete garage around them. Fire, smoke, and more billowed up, marking the spot. 

“...Police are probably gonna be here soon,” he said in a voice that was far calmer than he felt. 

“Yeah, probably,” Veronica muttered, grunting as she pulled herself back up. “Fuck, that was the good knee.”

“I’ll carry you.”

“What about Janet?”

He looked down at her, shook his head. 

“Out for the count.”

“Well...one thing’s for sure. You listened.” She smiled. “Thanks for that.”

“You know what you’re talking about. Ugh...let’s get to a hotel. We’re gonna need some privacy, I think. And not for that!”

She cackled all the way out of the garage. 













[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]