

Perfect Hell

Book 2

By C.A. Caster

Copyright © 2014, By Cassandra A. Caster.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, which is me.

  All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

ISBN 978-0-9924276-1-0

    Her mother had changed the entire world and made excruciating sacrifices.  Today, she lived in a utopian peace where beauty and creativity reined and Pheonix was free of worry and fear....But, wow. She was so freakin bored.

    Her mother's heavy mantle had been slipping onto her shoulders since she was young and she did her duty just as she had been taught.  She pushed the fire from her chest and sent it questing into the morning light every day. It made her hard.

    Nixie was taught to close herself off from the horror that happened on the other end of the serpentine tongues of flame, but she knew.  The avenging fire mercilessly stripped the flesh off the bones of any person, anywhere in the world, that dared commit a heinous crime.

  But in 20 years without evil, people had  become complacent and disgustingly bright and cheerful....it was gross.

    Jamming her fists into her jeans with a scowl, she pushed through the crowds, a dot of black in a sea of cheerful colors.  Making it NOT boring was gonna be her next mission 'cause this sucked.

For my husband who spoils me,

my girls who make me proud, my family whom I respect,

and my friends,

my life is better with you cheering me on.

 I love you all!

Chapter 1 \- Dancing with fire  
Chapter 2 \- Creating   
Chapter 3 \- Fighting   
Chapter 4 \- Molding   
Chapter 5 \- Learning   
Chapter 6 \- Purging   
Chapter 7 \- Dreaming   
Chapter 8 \- Shagging   
Chapter 9 \- Knowing   
Chapter 10 \- Sick   
Chapter 11 \- Friends   
Chapter 12 \- Avenging   
Chapter 13 \- Planning   
Chapter 14 \- Making up   
Chapter 15 \- Plotting   
Chapter 16 \- Twisted   
Chapter 17 \- Daring   
Chapter 18 \- Smiling   
Chapter 19 \- Awing   
Chapter 20 \- Seeking   
Chapter 21 \- Tearing   
Chapter 22 \- Veneance   
Chapter 23 \- Finishing with fire

#### Chapter 1

    Footsteps sound loud and lonely at 3:34 in the morning.

    She liked having the city to herself.  The rhythm of her footsteps conjured music in her head and her shadow danced and stretched, mysteriously vanishing only to reappear in an illogical place, like a psychotic game of hide and seek.

    She stopped and lit her cigarette from a small flame that emanated from her palm.  She let the flame grow and swirled her hand in a complicated pattern. She never tired of watching the flames. They seemed alive.  She hung her smoke from her lip and stretched out her arms, producing an identical flame in her other hand, squinting one eye away from the smoke.

    She stomped her feet, slapping out a rhythm on the pavement, bouncing her head to a tribal beat.  Her hands and arms started to move, sinuous and undulating. The snaking fire flickered, wavering her shadows on the walls of the buildings, making them dance madly.

    She let it go and danced dervishly to the music in her head, her flames lengthening and growing till they were long ribbons, trailing the swirling of her arms. The entire alleyway was lit as bright as day by the flames and her quickening steps clattered, ringing, the streamers of flame snapping and roaring.

    The fire and her stomping made an alien and raw music. The white noise roar of the fire was punctuated by a bull whip crack as she flicked the ribbons behind her, and then thrust her arms forward. As the tempo smoothed out, she let the rope of fire tickle over a runnel of water that trickled down the middle of the alley, as the fire hit the water it steamed, hissing. As more and more of the fire slid into the water, the ssss grew louder and louder, building a wall of steam that diffused the light of the fire so that it created an orange fog in the alley.

    She sped up her smooth steps to a quicker and quicker tempo. The roar of one streamer snapping and the sizzling of the other built to a crescendo until, abruptly, the fire vanished from her hands. There was a quivering silence as the music echoed down the alley into the dark and disappeared. She lunged forward to a crouch, one leg behind her, and blasted a final cord of fire down the alley and pulled it back with her fingertips like snapping a whip.

    She froze there in the crouch, arms stretched forward and fingers back, face on her arms. Her cigarette was long gone. This was what it was all about. The creation of her music was like creating a living thing.  It was a view into her soul. This is what she had in her, what she had to give of herself and yet she gave it to the night city.

    "What the fuck is going on down there?" The man threw opened his window and looked down to see a girl with a mohawk crouched in the gutter.  She stood slowly and casually lit a cigarette.

    "You alright?" He peered down at her warily.  He hadn't seen anyone smoking in a long time, nobody suffered from addictions of any kind nowdays, nor had he seen one dressed like her in nearly, what? 20 years? The days of punk and emo fashion were long gone.

    About 20 years ago the world he lived in had changed.  A beautiful girl had appeared and bitch slapped all the bad people and showed the rest a way to become better.  He could still remember the day he first saw her on TV.

    Traffic had stopped his cab and strands of flame were whipping through the sky all over the city.  He thought that it was a freak lightening storm, but the television in the window of the electronics store was showing a girl with brown hair floating around her, her body jerked as fire poured out of her chest.  People were screaming and running past him.  It was all so confusing.  That night at the bar, a couple of the regulars were conspicuously absent.  The word was spreading.  _'Don't do anything bad 'cause the consequences were real.'_   Since that day, the line between good and evil was crystal clear.

    The girl, Jenika, had been used as a tool by entities from another plane of existence, to build a utopia on earth.  Unbelievers quickly became believers when the skin was sizzled off their bones. That was 20 years ago, today, she was revered as the mother of the new world.

    In this new world, people turned to various art forms to enter into an alternate way of life, even farming had become an art form, in the last 20 years, the world had become a more beautiful, more vibrant place.

    He had written a book about his experiences in his cab, it did ok enough for him to buy his apartment and settle down.  In his opinion, life was better now, even though 98 % of the people out there had taken "goodness" to the extreme and it was now the fashion to be REALLY cheerful and happy.  To him, the way people acted felt false and he kept to his white collar shirt instead of the latest trend of bright garish colors, and he made sure when he smiled, it was a genuine smile.

    He saw her mohawk nod, he couldn't see her eyes in the darkness.  "Good, then knock off the fucking racket." He slammed down the window.  He didn't feel so much like smiling at almost four in the morning.

    She turned and slowly walked down the alley, as if nothing happened.

#### Chapter 2

     Home was a one bedroom apartment with a huge central living space, a small bedroom and a smaller bathroom.  Antique concert posters decorated the walls. Black Flag and the Dead Kennedy's.  They were rare and not at all valuable in todays market. The posters were the only sign of any personality other than the sculptures in various stages of completion that stood in the place of any furniture.  The rest was merely functional. This is where she slept, when she did.

    Phoenix used her fire in a unique way to earn her living.  She found, as a teenager, that her fire could melt or burn almost any substance in the most interesting ways.  Some of her sculptures were by commission, and some of them were pure experimentation.

    At the moment, she was experimenting with tempered sheet glass.  She couldn't fit her latest trial into her apartment, so it had been lifted up to the roof.  She was pleased with the effect on the glass when she smashed one side with one whack from a sledge hammer.  The glass held together, but the spider web cracks created an interesting design.  She played with adjusting the temperature of her fire, and it was beginning to look like something that drew her to want to touch the material, which was her ultimate goal.  She wanted all of her art to facilitate an irresistable need to reach out and touch the piece.  She felt there was something sensual about the soft rolled edges of melted glass and metal, like a womans curves.

    She stood over the bathroom sink staring at the water running down her face and inspected her 'hawk. Still standing. Thank god for clear gelatin, better than any hair gel out there.  She ran a razor over the stubble on the side of her head, sharpening the demarcation.

     Sliding her suspenders off her shoulders, she pulled off the tank top beneath and dropped  it in into the hamper. She stood, naked from the waist up in front of the long mirror and rubbed some lotion on the tattoo that curled up out of the low waist of her rolled up jeans, up one side of her back and onto the opposite shoulder. The fire dragon rested his head on her shoulder in utter contentment. It's clawed hands reached around under her arms and cupped the bottom half of her full breasts. She closed her eyes and massaged the lotion in.  She'd better hurry, the sun would be up soon.

    She made some peanut butter toast and a cup of tea and padded barefoot into hallway, closing her apartment door behind her. Wearing only men's pajama bottoms and a tank top, she climbed the stairs to the roof access door where she took the hidden key from above the door jamb and let herself onto the roof, carefully putting the key in her pocket.

    She had locked herself out up there once before and bothering the building owner was something she didn't want to do again.

    The building owner was Dave Hogan.  He was a recluse. The only time he came out was at night when he would go to the clubs and DJ.  He was famous in the city.  He was also very wealthy due to a large inheritance from his father who was reputed to have been cold and cruel.  He was the cities most eligible bachelor according to many enhanced, ambitious women, but much to their frustration, he did not partake. He avoided all human contact ferociously. He was an orphan because her own mother, the former Hand of God, had struck his awful father down and needing his help as the current Hand of God to get off the roof was very uncomfortable.

     It sucked because he was her idol.  His music poured over her soul like cold satin on a hot day. It made her feel complete. In this perfect new world that her mother helped to create, Phoenix found little that spoke to her and gave her a voice. His music gave her freedom.  He inspired her, his music was always the seed that germinated into her pounding midnight infernos.

    In the clubs at night , Phoenix would lose herself in the crowd, the music would throb and she would close her eyes and let it fill her. Afterward, she would wait in the shadows till she saw him walk home towards their building.  She would wait awhile till he got a head start, so they didn't have to walk together, and then she would light up the city, dancing her way home, adding to his music her own voice, building on it, emulating his moods.

    It seemed like he was the only one that spoke her language.  Few people understood her.  Her parents looked at her tattoos with disappointment.  The world was perfect and she was dissatisfied.

    Phoenix knew that they had made sacrifices, her parents.   Her mother had been _The Punisher_ , _The Hand of God_.  No pressure there, because now she held the mantle, and that was why she sat here up on the roof, waiting to hear the roar of the sun as it appeared from behind the city to smother the sound of lone footsteps in the night.

    The key had been left there above the doorjamb just for her.  Mr. Hogan knew who she was, and knew what she needed to do.  She had rarely met him face to face. They didn't talk.  She called him Mr. Hogan in her mind to maintain a clinical mindset about him.

    Cautious, she never looked into his eyes, lest she see accusations there.  She didn't know if he was angry about her mother's power striking his father down, but she couldn't see any other reason why he would hide from the world.  He was 5 or 6 years older than she was, but he had a wise aura.  As sorry as she was for his loss, she liked the distance as it was.  There was no need for warm and fuzzy communication.

    She padded across to the roofs edge, fondling the huge glass sculpture on her way, and settled into the patio chair left for her, washing down the last of her toast with cold tea.  She lit a smoke, closed her eyes and waited for the sun.  Her mother had taught her to hear the sun.  She said that it sounded like the sun was roaring, but it was really just the air beginning to move, the birds starting to wake, and the world gearing up, but it was a powerful sound all the same.

    Just beyond her consciousness, it came, a sound before a sound, then a niggling buzz, and finally, audibly, it started to grow.

    She laid her arms on the chair, palms up and the flames appeared.  She let them grow till their low roar matched that of the sun. They lengthened, stretching out and she let her mind go, sinking into a deep meditative state. She plunged into the depths of nothingness and set the fire free. The fire came out of her chest, down her arms and leapt off up into the sky, separated into many fibers and snaked, lightening fast around and over the buildings into the distance.

    When she woke she didn't know how long the fire had quested out into the distance, performing punishments to those who, in the last 20 some odd years still hadn't gotten the message that the fire would come and take it's vengeance, no matter what, no matter where.  Humans were humans, no amount of threats would make them smart.

    Being the Hand of God was, for Phoenix, a burden because she didn't believe that the human race would evolve to be it's very best without adversity.  Essentially, the Hand of God had eradicated most human hardships, even addiction. There were still things that were hard about being a human.  People still got sick and old, accidents still happened, and relationships were still difficult because of anger and jealousy, but murder, rape, torture, stealing, abuse, infidelity and other hurtful things were mostly a thing of the past.

    She was taught by her mother to be grateful to be able to rise to her full potential without the difficulties of growing up with hate or violence, or even fear for that matter.  She understood that some people in the past grew up with tragic childhoods, molested or beaten.  Her mother was careful to allow her to see the worlds' changes through her own eyes, making note of the negative aspects as well as the positive ones.

    Jenika had observed that people still tended towards having a negative attitude towards life, despite the sudden ease of living without bad things happening to them.  People had become spoiled, and that, to Phoenix, twisted people as much as did being raised with abuse.

    Nixie knew that the world was easier without all the evil, but she also saw through her mother's eyes that people were beginning to lack character, individualism, and strength.  She believed that strife is where a lot of artistic talent came from.  'Be careful what you ask for.' Her mother had warned, it may come true.

    Her mother, Jenika, was the first Hand of God, but as Nixie got older, Jenika became weaker and Nixie got stronger.  Jenika taught Nixie all she could, explaining her experiences carefully, editing as best she could for Nixie's age. She hated exposing her daughter to evil, but she had to show her what was being done to the murders and rapists and why.

    Nixie was introduced to some of the victims.  She looked into their eyes and heard their stories. She saw the rapists and bad people deny, beg, and laugh, and then she saw them burn. The fire was different for each crime.  But it was what it was intended to be, a punishing fire, and no one could escape, not ever.

    Her mother did everything she could to make it all easier.  Being in the meditative state kept them emotionally insulated from the knowledge of what went on at the other end of the fire, but they had the option to consciously be there or not.  Jenika also taught Nixie how to put it on autopilot, so that she could have a life.  Nixie found it easiest to sit on this roof and meditate while the fire did its thing.  They both hated that they had to do it, but they both did their duty. They leaned on each other for support, and when that wasn't enough, there was dad, Leo, and the extended family.  They were loved and supported.  Nixie, however, was questioning. Was she really doing the right thing?

    Occasionally, Nixie would let her mind fly with the columns of the fire that would race out over the world towards their targets, seeking the guilt in the mind of the offending soul.

    She was curious about what kind of face could be so evil as to warrant a visit from the avenging fire.  She wanted to see what it was that the person had done that was so bad.  Often she just saw a normal face, lined with stress, not unlike any she saw living their lives in her own city, but occasionally, she would see the victim, if her fire was quick enough, and those faces were the reason she kept going.

    The avenging fire quested out less and less as she got older, and sometimes it was easier to not think of the faces of the victims, easier put herself on autopilot.

    The sun was still climbing the sky, it was still early and today was torture day, Sunday.  Every Sunday there was a dinner at Mom and Dad's. Everyone went, friends and family, and she was required to attend. With a smile.  It sucked.  Far too much happiness and cuteness.  A perfect meal for a perfect family and their perfect friends...and her.

    She made her way to her bed, passing Mr. Hogan's penthouse apartment door.  Trying not to be curious about the light that came from below the door and the faint thumping of music in the distance.

#### Chapter 3

    Nixie shouldered her messenger bag as the bus pulled up.  She climbed up and showed the driver her pass.  As she walked to the back of the bus, the 20 some odd people that were on it stared blatantly.  They all looked about the same, their hair was perfect, their clothes were bright and matchy and there was no unnecessary skin showing. They all looked super cheerful.  The whispers started and a few of the passengers moved forward to be closer to the front of the bus. Nixie, as usual, sat in the last row all by herself.  She pretended to not see their stares and with her ear buds in her ears, she ignored their talking as well.

    Within seconds, those that had previously been ignorant as to who she was, now knew, and looked at her with a mixture of pity and fear.  They got bolder as she ignored them and they began to laugh at the way she dressed.

    Nixie was beautiful and overtly sexy.  She stood out from the crowd in every way.  Her mohawk, her tattoos, her fashion punk clothes, and the blasé look on her face only accentuated the fact that she really did not give a shit what these people thought about her.  She kind of liked upsetting these kind of people, she liked making them talk.  She thought it did them good to see that someone broke the social rules and did it with style!  She knew it would make them think.  She hoped it would make some of them brave enough to maybe wear grey in the privacy of their own home!  She pushed the button for her stop and as she filed past the staring, open mouthed people, she held up her middle fingers to each face as she walked by, and bounced happily off the bus.

    She showed up an hour late. She wore denim coveralls with one broken strap hanging over the usual tank top. The coveralls were cut short just below the knee and her well worn combat boots were polished.  A chain connected her nose ring to her ear. She defiantly stood out amongst all the happy summer colors of the rest of the family, but to Jenika, her daughter was still beautiful.

    As a mother, Jenika was supposed to be disapproving of her daughters darkness and apparent anger, but she knew her daughter well enough that even though Nixie looked angry, she knew she wasn't. Dissatisfied maybe, possibly frustrated, but not angry.

    It was a confusing time for today's youth.  It was human nature to rebel, but in a perfect world, the only thing that the kids could rebel from was perfection.  Even Jenika had some residual youth left over after all the dues she had paid for adulthood and she too agreed that, sometimes, perfect was disturbing.

    With all the changes that had happened in the last 20 years, mankind had become cultishly cliquish.  It was the fad at the moment to be bright, colorful and cheerful... and perpetually happy, even though human nature tended to be a bit negative. The result was disturbing and the smiles did not always reach the eyes of everyone.  In addition to wearing happy faces, cars and houses were painted in happy colors , and all music was cheerful or sweet...to make the listener happy.  Nixie had dubbed it 'maniacal happiness'.

    Nixie had always had a passion for music of any kind, even some happy music. She had a talent of making the music that played on the radio, her own.  She would hum her own tune or tap her feet to a different tempo, but it always entwined and enhanced the music that was playing.  In a time of talent and soaring abilities, Nixie was in a league of her own, she took the music that she heard and she made it talk, she changed its mind, and gave it new meaning.

    Most people did not understand Nixie's talent for music like they did her sculptures. Their ears didn't blend her humming to the tune, they didn't hear the emotion behind the beat, they didn't speak her language, and that's why Nixie was frustrated.  For her, it was like living in a country where the language was different and she couldn't communicate.

    Jenika hadn't always understood her daughters music, but her husband, Leo had. He loved showing his daughter how to tap on a glass with a spoon, he showed her how to spin around the room, dancing and swaying as he held her tight.  He was the one who showed Jenika how to talk to their daughter.  Leo and Nixie were patient with her and she came to love to listen to her daughter play in the next room. She learned to hear her daughters mood in the music, sometimes she didn't need to speak, from the next room she could hear Nixie getting tired.

    She wrapped her arms around Nixie, knowing that her daughter would wait patiently till the hug was over. "Nice blue in the 'hawk!" She meant it, the blue was striking, but the purple and black brought out a shocking blue in her daughters eyes.

    "Come in and have something to eat! Sera's around here somewhere." Sera was her mother's best friend's daughter, She and Nixie had been born close together and grew up together in the same neighborhood.

     She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "You've got to see her latest." She took Nixie's messenger bag and hung it on a hook in the closet.  "Dads manning the bbq. He's got some new stuff for you!" Jenika was grabbed by Julie, Larry's wife.

    "Hey Nix!" "Hey Jen, do you have a towel, we've got a spill."

    "Look for dad, baby." Nixie scrunched her face at the kiss and tried to hurry through the party unscathed by touchy people.

    "Hey Leo." Nixie tried to get on the other side of her dad to put him between her any other hugging and kissing.  She gave him the side of her head to kiss and watched him roll sausages around and toss caramelized onions.

    "That's Dad to you." He gave her a stern warning look, it was hardly fearsome on his handsome face.

    She nodded and shrugged. "Mom says you've found some good stuff for me?"

    "Oh yeah, hold this." handing her the spatula, he swerved off before she could say no.  He made it to the house smiling, and nodding at what people said to him, but never stopped to chat.

    He came back minutes later and handed her a CD.  It said 'Retro Dance mix' on it.

    He took back the spatula.

    "Thanks for taking forever and making me cook.  I feel like Horton."  Nixie smiled a tiny teasing smile as he looked confused.

    "Who's Horton?"

    "Dr Seuss. The mom bird left Horton sitting on the egg and he was too responsible to stop sitting on it."

    Leo looked mock shocked, "Did you just tell me that you are TOO responsible?" He pretended to laugh so hard that he doubled over and bumped her into the fence, he hung on her as fake tears ran down his face.  Nixie was mortified at his display.

    "Dad! It's not THAT funny."

    He straightened up as if nothing happened, face rearranged into a bored look and calmly said, "I know."

    She looked at him like he was crazy.

    "There's some headphones in my desk." He said out of the side of his mouth.  He knew what she wanted. She grudgingly pecked him on the cheek and he watched her mohawk weave away through the people like a shark fin.

    The mix was retro all right.  It was disco.  The rumor was that everyone had hated disco.  But it had never been filtered through Nixie's ears.  Until now.  There was sex in this music.  It had...groove.  She could use the foundation of this music and translate it into her own language. It gave her ideas.

    She stood in her dads office with her eyes closed, she was lost in reinventing disco when the door slammed open and a little blond doll stood in the door frame. There was a smile on the dolls face, but it wasn't a friendly smile.  Behind the doll stood a huge guy with a young looking face. The face looked confused.

    "What the fuck do you think you're doing in here?" The blond snatched the headphones off Nixie's ears. Nixie winced waiting for the phones to catch her nose chain.  They didn't.  The dolls bitchy face morphed into a smile and she bumped Nixie's shoulder with her own.

    "Hey Ser, 'Sup?" Nix was calm and dismissive.

    She gave Sera a listen to the music playing.  Sera nodded. "You can do something with that?" Nixie nodded and glanced at the guy in the doorway.

    Sera  was oblivious to the guys presence.  "Hey, I'm glad you're here, I'm going to The Pearl next weekend, wanna come?"

    "Hey yeah, maybe." Nixie didn't meet her childhood friends eyes cause she probably wasn't going to meet her.  She looked around Sera at the guy, obviously curious as to who he was and why Sera wasn't introducing him.  She raised her eyebrows at him like, 'What?'

    "That means no.  Damnit, Nix, what's going on with us?" Sera looked desperate and hurt.

    "You're just running with a different crowd now, Ser." She leaned again, looking around Sera at the big invisible guy.

    Sera had gone off to college like all good little girls do to learn the art of interior design.  Since then, Nixie felt the void getting bigger.  Sera was in her element, she was finding a path and a voice for her talents, she had new friends, but Nixie, well, her path wasn't so smooth and clear.  Sera and her friends wouldn't be caught dead in Nixie's kind of club, it was too wild and scary.  Nixie was sad that her friend was growing away from her, but part of her was happy that she didn't share the same tribulations, she wouldn't wish that on her friend.

    "Nix, my friends would love you!" She was pleading, but her face wasn't sure.

    "Sera, I love you, but I can't play "monkey in the cage" for your friends, you know I need to keep that part of my life private. You can't put me on display."

    "You're the one putting yourself on display, Nix, you can't have a foot high mohawk and not have people stare at you!"

    "I'm outspoken.  Having a mohawk is like crying in public.  It puts my emotional state out there for all to see.  It says, 'I'm frustrated and confused.'  It also says, 'I think this is pretty, and fuck you if you don't like it.' " She looked around Sera at the guy standing there with arms slack at his sides. '"What it doesn't say is, 'fix me.'" She finished, pointedly looking her friend in the eye.

    "Sera, who the fuck IS this?" She pointed at the guy, with an upside down finger.

    Sera half looked at him as if remembering that he was there, and rolled her eyes. "Nobody." Nixie looked around her again and raised an eyebrow at the guy in a  'Are you going to take that?' kind of way.

    "Now Nix, maybe we can work this out if we plan something regular." She had already forgotten the guy.

    "Like how 'bout we meet here on Sundays, have dinner, and then ride the bus to your place and we can hang?" Sera was trying really hard but Nixie knew that it would probably happen once if it did at all.

    "How 'bout you leave the guys home on Sundays and we just hang here? Let's start there."

    The guy behind Sera rolled his eyes at the plural 'Guys' and stormed off.

    "Wow.  He really can take a lot of shit. You should keep him around." Nixie said sarcastically.

    "What's his name?"

    "I don't know!" She did but she didn't care enough to tell Nixie.  She wanted to try to keep her friend and she was getting pissed that Nixie was distracted by the insignificant guy.  Nixie was right, meeting here was easier and it really was the only thing that would work. She just wanted to hang on to their friendship.

    "I'll come to The Pearl with you next weekend, and that's it." Sera bounced on the balls of her feet like an excited little girl, and threw her arms around Nixie.

    Nixie went to put the headphones back on, shrugging and pointing her elbows at Sera in defense. "Hugging. You're hugging way too much.  Piss off woman!"

    Sera softly took the headphones away from Nixie and put them behind her back with one hand and with the other, firmly presented the door.  Her way of saying 'Get out there. Right. Now.'

    The people that came here to her parents house on Sundays had a standing invitation.

    Nixie thought of this as "Torture day" but she liked these people, she just didn't like the hugging and kissing and constant comments on her clothes.  People had even tried to give her replacement clothes, as if she would just magically see the light and become one of them.  They were great cleaning rags.

    These people were responsible for the world changing. They had ridden the wave that swept over the world and changed it forever. This was her mother's support group, these people were friends in the truest sense of the word and each one of them was extraordinary in their own way.  Nixie loved them like family and respected all of them. They had gone through hell with her mother.  But they were her mother's friends and she felt apart from them.  Different from them.

    In a way, Nixie was jealous that she herself didn't have a group of friends like this to share life with.  It was one of the things she blamed the perfect world for.  She believed that these people forged their friendships out of hardship and adventure. Today, because of them, there was no hardship, and this kind of friendship was difficult to obtain without it.

    In a perfect world there was little to fear other than sickness and accidents. There was no hate, anger was redundant.  Nixie believed that some of these negative aspects of life nurtured individualism, personality, and strength.  She felt that the world was changing for the worse.  People were weird and winey.

    She had read about the holocaust and found that she could not sympathize or conjure any sad emotions for these victims because she had never known hopelessness and fear. To her, that was inhuman.

    She knew that when she walked alone at night through the city she was safe, it was something her mother wasn't able to do as a child. Sometimes she felt afraid of the dark, but she knew it was simply fear of the unknown.  When she first told her mother about dancing through the city at night, she saw in her mother's eyes a memory, and when she asked her mother to explain, she said that it would be too hard to put that kind of fear and loathing into words.

    Nixie didn't want to lose her humanity.  Compassion, and conscience came from negative events. Without them what do we become?  She saw it in Sera's treatment of her latest boyfriend. She didn't care whether or not he came or went.  It wasn't that she was unfeeling, and she wasn't always like this, her  consideration and empathy was just slipping away little by little along with many people her age.

    Nixie watched these people laughing and telling stories and she wondered what would happen if she just stopped using the fire.  She often watched people from a distance and she saw a definite difference between the interaction of these people and the people her age at a party.  There was consideration here. The eighteen and nineteen year old kids she knew, couldn't get a word out sideways due to all the bloated egos. They pretty much stand around and talk about themselves, posing and preening.  It was really hard to like them, get to know them, or even tell them apart because they all try so hard to look like each other that it's almost as if they wear identical uniforms.  It creeped her out.

    If she stopped roasting people, could it be that a tragic event might happen and people would become people again? She doubted it, but she did know, that as a child of the new world, it was hard to get behind the punishing of bad people when she really didn't understand the pain the bad people caused.

    She saw pictures of her mother at the pinnacle of her term and she was fearsome with her face contorted with hate and fury.  Nixie had never known hate as bottomless as that.  She just performed the punishing's out of a meditative state.  She wondered how her own daughter would handle the mantle, if she ever had one.

    Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sasha, her adopted grandfather, discreetly rise and slowly walk to the door.

    ' _Sneaky bastard'_ She thought. _'He's trying to escape unnoticed.'  _She waited to see if his invisible ninja skills worked and went to rise after him as he rounded the corner, when she saw her mother whisk after him.

     ' _Busted_!' She hurried after her mother to watch him get caught, so that she could take notes on how NOT to sneak out.

    As she closed the door behind her, she saw her mother reach out to touch his shoulder as he neared the end of the walkway.  He wasn't very fast with his old man shuffling, he hadn't gotten very far.

    Suddenly, like a snake, he whipped around grabbing her mothers wrist and simultaneously dropping to the rocks. Equally as fast, Jenika countered by slapping his hand away from hers and grabbing down at his other wrist, she spun down, under and around taking his hand behind his back as he crouched close to the ground.  Being taller, she had to bend to pull his hand behind his back and she found herself off balance.  Sasha, unlike an old man, lunged forward, using his back to lift Jenika up and throw her forward.  She allowed the motion to follow through, landing on one hand and cart wheeled upright again, but as she landed and spun to face her opponent, he was already launching a flurry of blows to her head and chest that she blocked and countered in her own attempt at landing a blow.  Hands and feet blurred back and forth and Nixie watched the furious battle with her hands pressed to her lips, not wanting to be concerned, or to cheer in her awe.

    She had never seen her mom be so cool! She had seen her dance with her fire and it was achingly beautiful, but in its own way, this too was beautiful, the way they seemed to match each other's every move and calculate the next. They landed a few blows each here and there and suddenly, Jenika dropped and swept one leg around and under Sasha's knees, she caught him on the wrong foot and he went down on his left hip, hard.  Jenika stood above him, hands on her knees, panting and grinning.

    "Did ya break a hip old man?"

    Nixie ran up and knelt by Sasha. "Mom! You could've hurt him!" She checked his face for blood and said, "Grandpa, are you ok?"

    Jenika snorted and said. "You actually fell for that little old man bullshit?" She laughed and stood brushing her hair out of her face with one hand and held the other out to Sasha. "Sucker!"

    Nixie knew that he hated to be called grandpa, but had forgotten in her concern. Now, she realized she had just salted his wound by seeing his defeat AND by calling him grandpa.

    "Sorry Sasha." He grumbled and fell back into his cantankerous old man routine, rubbing his sore hip.

    Jenika stood inspecting her bruises, chuckling. "Pretty sneaky, Grandpa!" Sasha gave her a sour look.

   "How come I've never seen you do that, Mom?" Nixie's eyes were wide and impressed.

    Jenika grunted. "Is that what I have to do to impress you? Get a couple of bruises?"  She walked to the steps at the end of the walk and sat on the top one.  Sasha sat next to her.

    Nixie was excited about learning something new about her mom and she stood below the steps and pretended to shadow box with herself, making fake karate noises.

    Jenika watched her daughter go from a sarcastic pile of attitude to an excited little kid.  She was still young.  She looked at Sasha and he read her mind and shook his head.

    "No! Absolutely not! I'm too old, hell, She's too old!"

    "Look at her Sasha, she's still a kid!"

    "Flat out no."

    "What are you guys bickering about?" Nixie didn't get it.

    "Look Sasha, fighting will soon be a forgotten sport.  No one needs the skill of fighting anymore. The art will be lost unless you pass it on!"

    "Oh darn! No more bruises, broken bones, and blood! That's the most important part, can't forget about the blood! What a shame, what a complete loss!" He sassed her.

    Jenika gave him a warning look.

    He looked at her incredulously.  "Are you serious?"

    "It's not only the fighting, it's the discipline, it's the respect, it's the strategy, the confidence!"  She smiled sweetly, "And of course, the quality time with you!" She batted her eyelashes sarcastically.  "You always did say that it was the answer to everything!"

    He struggled to his feet and hobbled around the still boxing, karate chopping Nixie.  "Blow it out your ass!"

    "Nixie, go home and pack a bag. You're going to go stay with grandpa for a couple of weeks."

    "Ninja, please!"  Her cheekiness was ignored.

Jenika turned to go in and that was her final word. That was when no one, not even dad, kept arguing.  The Mother of the new world had commanded.

#### Chapter 4

    Sasha's mountain cabin was not a cabin, it was a mansion.  It was filled with people every year for the 4th of July.  Some camped nearby, some stayed in comfort.  It had been a tradition for all of Nixie's life. She and Sera had explored every inch of the cabin and the land around it, it was a special place.  But now she felt like this was a bit extreme. No one there but Sasha.  He wasn't even her real grandfather.  He lived a solitary life up here in the mountains.

    She DID like that he didn't talk much, and as long as she was doing what she was told, he left her ear buds in her ear. If she didn't do as she was told, he actually smacked her upside the head and it hurt! She had no doubt that if she pushed it, he could kick her ass.  He was just that grumpy. She was also glad to get out of going to Sera's club with her, but she sort of missed their verbal sparring.

    Sasha had a beautiful structure built not far from the cabin.  The hut was octagonal and had no walls.  Huge pine trees towered above, and a bubbling brook coming from a small artesian well, lined with huge ferns, passed by.  There was a small wooden bridge that crossed over the brook and into the hut.   It was here that Sasha gave Phoenix a crash course on his form of martial arts, Jing Wu.  The movements were beautiful when he performed them with a lifetime of practice.  He taught her five positions a day. She practiced the five positions for the first half of the day, then lunch, then she would combine those five moves with moves that she had previously learned.

    Sasha wasn't concerned about perfection, he just wanted to keep her moving.  He found her retention for the information he gave her amazing, but her execution left a lot to be desired.

Occasionally, she would get one down pat and he would have a glimmer of hope, but, she was too old and not serious enough.  He kept it up because, despite her bad attitude, she showed respect for him and did what she was told.  He suspected that if she hadn't respected him, she would have used her power to kick his ass from the beginning. He liked that she valued learning and used her acid tongue only after she understood what he was saying.  He knew she wanted to be there just as much as he wanted her there, but he found her company tolerable, even humorous.

    The Entities who had given this power to the world must have known that Phoenix would inherit it.  Sasha wondered what they knew that he didn't, because in his world, structure reined.  Phoenix was unpredictable and brash.

    The Entities had once been human, but they had been reincarnated so many times, using each other and the world around them to educate themselves, they had acheived a higher plane of existence.  By living life over and over, they used the collective knowledge of all their lives to ascend to a godlike existence.

    Sasha felt that it was much like the knowledge of the internet.  By being able to have information about anything at ones fingertips, the amassed knowledge was akin to having godlike powers as well.  For the human race that was cheating a bit and he knew they were too infantile to skip all the steps and move ahead four paces to become as all-knowing and powerful as the Entities, but Sasha was hopeful that one day humans would acheive a balance where they were able to quell the negative aspects of their nature.

    Sasha felt that Nixie was here on his mountain to find something out about herself that she could use to vanquish the dissatisfaction that she wore loudly on her person.  If she didn't, he reckoned he would have to kick her butt despite the fact that she had powers.

    Sasha showed Nixie where her mother used to sit in a spot overlooking the valley below.  She would wake up every morning in the dew covered grass when her fire was done, and sit and listen to the treetops sway in the wind.  There was always a crow or two up in the tree calling out, they seemed to stay in that area.  Phoenix liked to think that they enjoyed the view of the blue valley below as well.

    Nixie kind of liked the physical exertion. She had only been there a week and had a week to go, but she found the paces Sasha gave her, soothing.  She knew that when she got back home there would be a test and she didn't relish going up against her mom like she had seen Sasha do. It looked like it hurt. She didn't think she'd ever stop being sore. Thank God for all the dancing she did or she would have been paralyzed.

    She was half glad that she was able to get out of going to the Pearl with Sera, but she knew that her not going just drove another wedge between them.  Nixie did not have a childhood memory that Sera wasn't part of. They were close as sisters and Sera had kept her grounded through all the pains of growing up with the Hand of God as a mother and the unusual problem of fire coming out of her chest.  Nixie had helped Sera grow up with a wheelchair bound mother and a best friend, herself, who blew fire out her chest.

    She loved her friend, but in a way, Sera was the epitome of everything that she felt was wrong with humans. Sera dressed the same as everyone else, she blindly picked an art form that she felt embodied her oneness with society, she maintained that blissful look on her face that, at the moment, was all the rage, and she refused to express her true feelings, the only feelings she expressed were the ones she felt made her the same as everyone else. Happiness. Contentedness. It was all so very fake and inhuman.

    Sera wanted to be part of something, she wanted to belong and she was afraid to step outside her perceived comfort zone. The worst part of it all, was that she tried to sell it all to Nixie. She was embarrassed by Nixie. She tried not to be, but she was, and it made Nixie sick to her stomach.  Nixie felt like she was watching her friend turn into a plastic clone right before her eyes, and Sera had the audacity to be embarrassed of HER?

    Sera was a vamp.  Meaning that she was naturally sexy. Sex seeped out of her pores.  In a world where everyone had a skill or an art form, Sera was unique.  Nixie was amazed by her and hated that Sera felt that she had to try to deny her natural talents.  No matter how hard she tried to squelch it, it always leaked out.  One of the reasons that it was a shame that they were growing apart was that Sera and Nixie could be themselves around each other.

    Nixie changed her playlist, put her ear buds in her ears, and assumed the beginning stance. The music started and she pantomimed out a choreographed set of complex moves.  It felt right when she didn't think about where her body was going, but her practicing was clumsy with the newest moves.

    With her knees bent and her back straight, she stepped forward, willing herself to stay exactly on balance. One arm set in a defensive position, the other in an offensive position.  She practiced switching the designation of her arms back and forth, trying to make her left as strong as her right. She closed her eyes and played out the choreography in her mind, allowing her feet, arms, and hands to flow as smoothly as she could. The music and the paces melded. She found a rhythm and she flowed over the mats, a combination of trance and disco booming in her ears.

    She knew that she was being lazy and only performing the paces that she was comfortable with, but she also knew them well enough to fill in the blanks with her own movements, using the music as a guide.

    Deep into the song, she imagined she was alone in the dark city in the middle of the night. She produced her flames out from her chest, up and along her arms to her hands, and flung them up. Each flame bloomed out like a massive flower and lengthened into a column, taking the shape of her imagination.

    As she watched the fire, she noticed that it really did look like a lotus flower.  She pushed a little with her mind and the fire obeyed taking a more clear flower shape!  Why not? If she could adjust the temperature with her will, why not the shape?  In the past, the fire was always a thread, a ribbon, or a column because that was how her mother had taught her.

    She willed the flower to become a horses mane, but the horses face looked more alien, Nixie frowned with concentration and found the badly formed horses face frowned as well.  She laughed and it too looked delighted, but it was so badly formed that it looked kind of freaky, it looked more like a dragon.  Nixie stopped laughing and looked at her creation with wonder.  It wasn't a horse that her mind had created, it was a dragon! It looked exactly like the one on her back that had been part of her for several years now.

    Nixie screwed up her face in concentration and soon she stood staring into the eyes of a dragon made of fire. It had a voluminus shaggy mane that spit flames in every direction, expressive eyes, and teeth like needles.  Nixie turned up her headphones and started to dance and the dragon started to move its thick powerful body to match her movements.

    If the dragon hadn't been her creation, he would actually have scared the crap out of her. She played with his size and temperature and found that he was anything she wanted him to be. She loved that the temperature of the flames would change the color of the dragon, at his hottest, he was white, blue, and purple, and at his lowest temp, he was red, yellow, and orange. Others colors swirled in and out of the blues and reds. He was beautiful and terrible!

    She imagined herself dancing in the midnight city with a thick, sinuous dragon made of fire. She and it teased each other, seducing each other.  She with her stiff mohawk, and it with its whiskers of blue, green, and gold. They faced off, circling each other.

    The fire dragon shook it's great shaggy head in challenge and flecks of flame flew in all directions.  It's long back arched and wound around itself like a twisting snake.  He was exquisitely beautiful.

    She smiled playfully at the dragon and took a threatening step towards it.  It stepped back and to one side as if to test her strength on that side.  It seemed to smile a dangerously intelligent smile back at her through its fire dripping teeth.

    "You want some of this?" She said out loud to it.

    It responded by whipping its coils over and around and into a striking position.  It's fiery girth sounded heavy and real on the floor of the dojo.

    With the apex of the music in her ears, the beast charged her, she leapt and launched a one footed kick that flew her horizontally through the air, her dominant foot aimed at its head, the other following through, spinning her over herself till she landed back on the dominant foot and using the kinetic motion to spin around into a second roundhouse kick.

    As fancy as that was, the dragon was faster. As she spun in the air it swooped under her body and as she landed on one foot, it wound itself up her leg and body and followed her round house with its loops till she was enveloped in a spiral of fire.  She felt it's coils compress her.  She felt the heat without getting burned, she was immune.

    It's enormous head looming over hers, it roared like a lion right into her face and she screamed right back in defiance. The snake slid its girth between her legs and its weight pressed in on her breasts. She gasped in a breath as she suddenly got hot. She allowed herself to feel the sexy closeness of the fire on her body for a moment and then stubbornly pushed the fire snake away, unwinding herself and threw a volley of blows in its direction.  It roared in good humor as it paced the tiny human, stalking her and giving her openings to land chops and kicks.  Smiling at her as if she were a foolish child.

    She was covered in sweat and panting hard as the music was winding up to its grand finale and she jump kicked, coming down on a sprinkling of sweat on the mat, slipping and falling over a twisted ankle. Her ear buds hanging, she clenched her teeth and squeezed her ankle.

     The pain spiked through her leg and her concentration on the dragon faltered.  The great dragon faded and shrunk until it was only as thick as her thigh, it slid up her leg as she sat, over her hip and up her back, across to the opposite shoulder, reaching around her ribcage, cupping her breasts with its claws and rested its head on her shoulder.  It became one with her tattoo.

     Sasha watched the two beings that were one, fight.  Or was it dance?  The power that emanated from both Nixie and the dragon of fire was a sight to behold. There was a aggression to the dance. And a sexuality.  There was a love between them.  Sasha knew then that he had witnessed Nixie find a new way to express herself, a new way to dance, and then taking it much further, she had put a face on her alter ego, Sasha approved, he was proud of her imagination.  It wasn't about fighting at all.  Sasha had always believed that his martial arts was the answer to everything, apparently he was right.  He left to fetch some ice.

    On the morning before she left, Sasha gave her a riddle.  He said that somewhere near, there was a piece to her puzzle.  The piece she looked for soared with the crows.  "Find that piece before you go."  He tucked a piece of paper into his pocket.

    "Ya know what ol' man? No. I've always hated the wise man in the movies talking in riddles, I know that the journey is half the battle, but right now I'm sore and tired and I think that if you don't just friggin tell me, I'm gonna let this one go.  I figger if it's important, you'll just tell me."

    Sasha shrugged as if she had a point, he hated that too.  He took out the piece of paper and handed her a note written in her mother's hand.

    "My daughter, I know you are looking for answers. This will help. Climb to the top of the old crow tree.  Love, Mom"

    Nixie climbed and climbed.  She had to be careful because the crows seemed to poop on every branch.  They really did spend a lot of time in this particular tree.  She had thought that the view was gorgeous from the bottom of the tree, but as she climbed the view became wilder and more breathtaking.

   At the top of the tree she found a silver necklace made up of a couple hundred rings.  Each ring was different from the other.  It was the necklace of Morhan.

    She remembered her mother telling her the story of Morhan, and as a child, she had always imagined Morhan swathed in shimmering robes, walking with little birds on her fingers and bunny rabbits bounding around her ankles.  It was nothing but a story then.  As she held the necklace in her hands, the sheer weight of the reality of the story hit her. She was Morhan now, just like her mother before her.

    Each ring had been worn by a woman who helped those less fortunate than herself.  Each woman had changed lives, and saved lives.  They had made their mark on the world.  She looked down at the silver ring on her own finger, whose life had she changed, or saved?  All she knew she learned from her mother but she didn;t have any real experiances of her own to pass on to anyone.  She had allowed The Entity to deliver punishment through her, but directly, she had done nothing.  She had used her imagination to change the fire into the image of a fearsome dragon, and that was pretty cool, but maybe she needed to find a way to make her mark on the world, if she didn't, she didn't deserve to wear this ring.  She carefully rubbed the tarnish off the rings with the hem of her shirt and made sure the necklace was secure from the thievery of the clever crows.

    As she climbed down, Nixie reflected on the necklace, the legacy belonged to her and her mother now.  Telling her how to find it was her mother's way of telling her that she was ready for a next step.  She smiled, knowing that her mother was "handling" her because she was difficult, and she knew it, and she knew that the next step was to make her mark on the world, perhaps even save it from its own stupidity.

#### Chapter 5

    "Meet me on the roof." That was the ominous text message her mom had left, as she packed to go back home.  She wouldn't get there till late, her mom would have already let herself in and cleaned up the place for her.

    She hated it when her mom cleaned her house.  It was one of those annoying things a mom would do because she wanted to help... and snoop.

    Nixie knew that her mother would challenge her to see what she had learned,  she wouldn't trust that Sasha would do as he was asked.  She was impressed by her mom's combat with Sasha, but she wasn't ready for hand to hand combat with her, the temptation to use the fire was too tempting.  She was stronger than her mother now, she had to be careful.

    Nixie had spoken to Sasha about the dragon, he promised to let her show her mother in her own way.  Her own way was to try to school her mother.  She was going to try to use her wits to turn the tables on her mother, in an attempt to show her that she was no longer a kid.  She wanted to shock and awe her mom with her own adaptation of the fighting art.  She also wanted to impress her mother, because deep down, that's what all kids want, for their parents to be proud of them.

    It was a long drive. Luckily, the drive down the mountain was in the last of the daylight, because Nixie usually rode the bus everywhere, even though she had her mom's old challenger, she wasn't the most confident driver.  She used the time to plan out her revelation to her mom and tried to plan for every contingency.  She went through her playlists and picked out the perfect song. Unfortunately, she would be tired when she got there. Her moms ass kicken would be a moment indeed! She chortled to herself as she imagined her mom flat on her ass with a surprised look on her face.  She intended to knock her on her ass and then dance her way out of her mother's revenge.  She hoped that mom would be impressed enough to not dole out payback.

    Sure enough, the little apartment was clean.  Nixie smiled because she had been clever enough to place personal items where her mother could easily find them, in hopes that she would feel embarrassed enough to stop cleaning.  Her vibrator was where it should be in the nightstand drawer, the vodka still in the freezer, but her little stash of pot was sitting conspicuously on her coffee table.  Mom's way of saying, 'I now know about this.' Too bad she wasn't really a bad girl. She made a mental note to buy some leather bondage items and hang them in the closet.

    Nixie took her time putting her clothes away, and making a cup of tea, knowing her mom was up on the roof waiting for her.  She counted on her mom knowing that she was home, the powerful rumble of her Dodge Challenger was unmistakable even all the way up there.  She wanted to use as much psychological warfare as possible, and making her mom wait was part of it.

    When she was ready, she dressed herself in a skintight body suit and her combat boots, She slung a wide belt low on her hips to allow for a wide range of movement, and to that, attached a small personal stereo, with amazing speakers that pumped out the most awesome true sound.

    She stood inside the propped open door of the roof access and took a couple deep breaths.  She shook out her muscles and bounced a couple of times on the balls of her feet.  She pushed play and threw open the doors and bounded out into the open.

     She stood in her fighting stance waiting for the onslaught.  It didn't come, but she felt eyes on her. She was being watched.   _'Perfect!_ '

    The music started low and slow, thrumming and building.  Maybe she could avoid the impending physical battle if she could capture her mother's attention and distract her.

    Nixie started to move with the music, going through her paces.  No attack.  She closed her eyes and let go.

    The music moved her and she moved the dragon, pushing him out and letting him grow to an intimidating height.  The dragon paced slowly stalking around her with the music, it was reining in its power with considerable effort.  It shook and trembled with aggression.  It's massive, menacing head, above hers, teeth like needles, stretched, twitching lips aching to bite her.  This wasn't play fighting this time.

    The tune was sexy and vicious as she suddenly launched her attack boldly at the dragons face.  She punched and kicked at the beast experimentally, and then bounced back. It kept its distance waiting for the moment to strike.  Suddenly, she saw an opening as it was loosening its coils and she danced in close.

    She kicked and cart wheeled.  Fighting the dragon, attacking it and then lightly escaping it's snapping jaws.  It roared and reared, throwing flames onto the rocks of the roof.

    She knew that she was supposed to be fighting her mother, but she thought her mother would grant her leeway if she were to see her fighting THIS foe.  She knew her mother would see that she had merely changed the look of her avenging fire and willed it to perform, and she had hope that it looked terrifying and real.

    The dragon had turned its back as it swirled out and away to regroup and come in for more, but a pause in the rush of the music was coming and Nixie threw herself through the air at the back of the monster and caught a handful of flame and clamped her knees down on it and held on. The beast bucked and twisted and scraped at her but she held fast.  The dragons bulk crashed into the sheet of glass she was working on and it fell over, breaking in two as it hit the gravel.  She thought for a moment she had the upper hand, as she rode it like a bronco, but it was too thick and too ethereal.  It wound on itself and she found herself under it, slipping around to its belly. She felt the rocks bite into her back and tear through the thin film of her body suit.  It used its weight to hold her down and again she felt its thickness between her legs.

    It ground down on her molding to her every inch, she had to turn her head to the side, to avoid inhaling flames.  she was glad she was immune to her own flames.         The music had subsided to nothing but a rumbling heartbeat of a pulse that was increasing in tempo, and the dragon of fire was grinding on her, like a lover trying to get a response. Her nipples pressed hard on the tight fabric, and her panties went slick from the thick massaging of the serpent holding her down, its weight pressing her painfully into the gravel.  Her helplessness added to the excitement.  It was only the fact that her mother was watching her being turned on by a horny fire dragon, of her own construction, that she started to fight back.

    Suddenly, there was a commotion next to her, and a part of her thought that her mother had come to her rescue, and that maybe they could fight off the dragon together, but she saw something big smacking at the dragon and she let its image falter.

    It was a blanket.  Someone was hitting the dragon with a blanket like they were trying to put out the flames. The dragon was weakened enough by her surprise to allow her to push it off and roll away. She scrambled to a crouch and screamed in its face.  She attacked just as the music exploded into its final round.

    _'Punch, punch, punch, block, duck, kick, kick, spin_!' She said the moves in her head just as Sasha had taught her.  The beast was backing away! It was roaring its frustration, trying to find an opening to ensnare her.

    Out of the corner of her eye, just as she was about to deliver a spinning kick, she saw someone, and it wasn't her mom! Her kick sputtered and she stumbled.

    He was shielding his face from the heat, and he looked a bit upset.  It was Dave, the building owner. Her idol.

    She stopped and stood staring at him, completely forgetting about the dragon.  She clicked off the music and when the dragon rose up to its full height and screamed at Dave for his intrusion, she held out a quieting hand to the monster and it obeyed, snuffling its anger.

    "What are you doing here?" She approached him cautiously, not knowing how he would react to her fire. "Mom?" She called out, looking out into the shadows around her.  Her mom didn't answer.  She wasn't there.  She never had been.

    Dave never took his eyes off the dragon and Nixie could see that he was shitting his pants.

    "I asked you what you were doing here?" Nixie motioned for him to be calm.

    "I thought I was saving your ass, from getting....Fucked up."  He said in a slightly shaky voice.

    Nixie looked at her fire dragon and saw how intimidating it must look.  She snapped her fingers in a commanding way and the dragon slunk and shrunk and spiraled up her leg under her body suit to its place on her back. Its form bulging under her body suit as it moved up her body. Dave raised his eyebrows as her breasts were cupped.

    "Weird."

    Nixie was dying of embarrassment.  All this time she thought she was going to school her mom with how smart she was, and instead, her mom had set her up.

    "How did she get you up here?" Nixie was pissed at her mom, her lips were tight and her voice was quiet and dangerous.

    "Your mom came by to take care of your place while you were gone and told me that you were going to be gone till next weekend." He shrugged. "I thought I had the roof all to myself until you smashed through that door."

    Nixie just wanted to get off that roof and get out of this situation. "Yeah well, sorry to interrupt." She started walking to the door, but she paused.  "Thanks for trying to rescue me from myself."

    She strode to the exit door and went to throw it open.  It didn't move. With her back to him, her shoulders slumped.  "You have got to be fucking kidding."

    He pointed to the rock he had used to prop open the door.  It was on this side, no longer propping the door.

    He turned his back and shuffled back to the lawn chair.  Sitting heavily he said.  "Well, you might as well come over here and explain what THAT was."

     Nixie sat on the edge of the roof and watched his face.  This had been a long silence. A conversation between two people who were not used to other people, is usually held in their heads.  She struggled to find the words to start talking.

    She had always seen him with his eyes closed, headphones on, playing his music for the bouncing crowd. This was a different look on his face.  She had never seen his attention on anything other than music, now it was on her.  She knew he studied her face as she did his.

    She liked his face, but wasn't sure if it was him or his music she liked.  He had a body that looked like he worked out a lot.  Probably in front of a mirror.  Maybe it was that he was so distant.  He was the white buffalo.  No one could have him. Women always wanted what they couldn't have.

    She wanted to ask him things, but to her, he was like a god and you never questioned a "god".

    "Are you going to stare me to death or are you going to talk?" He looked annoyed.

    Nixie decided that it would be prudent to just ask, instead of worrying about what would happen if she did.

    "Your dad was punished." She looked him directly in the eye.

    "That's a statement.  I was waiting for an explanation." He said after a moment.

    She rolled her eyes and looked out over the city. _'Evasive. This conversation is going to take forever if we keep acting tough in front of each other._ ' She thought.

    "What was he punished for?" She asked the question.

    Dave's answered with controlled aggression. "He killed my mom. He was a vile drunk."

    Nixie didn't react other than to blink. "You're welcome." She said bluntly after  a pause.

    Dave spluttered with fury and threw his beer bottle so that it crashed into the side of a wall.  He thrashed his arms like he wanted to hit something, but he just sat there, impotent, instead. The image of the massive dragon still lingered.

    The silence got longer.  She was right, there was some unresolved blame hovering in him. Nixie knew that she and her mother had done nothing wrong. The Hand of God was only a tool. It was nothing personal, but she still saw the damage in his eyes, and the fury. She could see that he was grappling with blame. She knew where the blame belonged, but she was sitting right here, and his father was not. She waited.  It was getting cold as the sweat dried out of her clothes.

    She pushed forth the fire and let it play around them, forming a cage of ribbons, chasing around, darting and tagging. It was alive and childish in its energy, the warmth felt good.  The light made their faces glow.  Dave leaned cautiously away from it, till he realized it was just warmth.

    When his mind had argued itself down to the plain truth that it was not the fault of Phoenix or her mother, but that his father carried all the blame, he finally said, "Thank you." as he looked away.

    She nodded and looked off over the city and began.  "My mother sent me off to learn how to fight.  Instead,  I found a dance and something to dance with.  I expected her to test me up here tonight."  She scratched the dragon on his head where her shoulder itched.

    "My mom is pretty fucking smart! She's trying to teach me the lesson that I should never underestimate others.  She's trying to teach me to face my fears." Nixie paused. " I was going to turn the tables on her and introduce her to my dragon.  I was going to show her that I can turn a fight into a dance." She was pissed that her mom had duped her into learning yet another lesson, and stole her fire, or robbed her of her impressive display. It would've been cool!

    Nixie showed her rare dimples that destroyed all implications that she was tough.

    "I was going to show her that I'm smarter than she thinks I am, and braver, and creative too. I wanted her to be proud of me. I wanted her to be surprised that I had anticipated her test of my fighting classes, and came prepared with my own surprise.  She used you to trick me.  By facing you, I've faced my fears.  She knows I'm more afraid of you than I am of her."

    Dave blinked at her, surprised that he was even a consideration of hers. "Why are you afraid of me?"

    The dimples came out again, as she looked at her hands in her lap. "She knows I love your music.  She knows your dad is gone, and she knows that you avoid people."

    There was more to explain, but Nixie was feeling overwhelmed.  She avoided heavy emotional conversations at all costs and this is the longest one she's had in years.

    "How can you be afraid of me, you have a vicious ...dragon?" He knew what she meant, but he had had enough as well.

    "That was an amazing piece that you were, ah fighting....dancing to." He admitted.

    Nixie brightened. "I mixed it using some disco my dad put together for me!"

    Dave smiled at her sudden exuberance.  He imagined his face cracking.  It had been a long time since a smile had graced his face. He had seen this gorgeous girl fighting a dragon of fire. He had seen her close her eyes and her face flush with passion as the demon pressed itself onto her.  She seemed to be tough and unapproachable when he had seen her in the past, but he had only seen her as the new Hand of God. A tenant, or a clubby.  The guy in him had seen the big tits and the smooth curve of her twenty year old hips under her careless punk clothes, but at this moment, in the glow of this light, he saw a softer side.  A side he might want to see more of.... But no.  His smile disappeared as he came to his senses. ' _This is NOT a good idea_.' He scolded himself.

    "Hey, any chance you can use this fire of yours to get us off this roof?"

    Confused by his sudden reversal of friendliness, her dimples went away with the moment and her eyes went dark.

    "Sure.  Why not?" Back to being a cast iron bitch, she stood and strode to the door.

    She raised both arms, wrists together, fingers out and she blasted the door right off its frame. Her stride never faltered, she was pissed that she let her guard down.  Never again.  Fucking dimples.

    He watched her go. He was surprised that she took it so hard when he put the brakes on. Now he was sorry he had done it.  He should have been more courageous and taken a chance on getting to know her.  His first encounter with an amazing girl like her and he fucked it up just like he always did.

#### Chapter 6

    Nixie was pissed at the world. Her mom for setting her up, Leo for not stopping her mom, Sera for being a traitor and not being true to her own nature, and Dave for being cool and untouchable.  Being sexually frustrated pissed her off.

    Her answer to all stress was to go to the rave night clubs with her friend Scarlette and dance till they got kicked out.

    Scarlette was exotically hot.  She stood an impressive 6' tall, she was luxuriously stacked and her full lips always carried a wicked knowing smile. Tonight, Scarlette was wearing a light metallic blue crocheted dress that was more holes than it was material. The back of which draped low down her back just above the crack of her ass, it clung to her hips like it would fall at any moment.  Her blond hair was styled in a retro Rita Hayworth style, dipping over one eye. Everything about Scarlette was naughty and the guys stopped to stare as two walked in and went straight for the dance floor.

    Nixie loved to party at the clubs with Scarlette because she was a low maintenance friend, they kept an eye on each other, but they were solitary hunters for the most part. They each determined their own desire for how much interaction they wanted from each other, but normally, their goal was to catch a buzz and dance the night away.

    Dave was supposed to perform at The Judas, so they decided to go to the Meeting.  The dance floor there was massive and they packed it in every Friday and Saturday nights.  The music was pretty good, but admittedly, not as good as Dave's.

    Nixie had put on fake eyelashes, a pair of stripper heels that wrapped up her ankles, and a long silver silk V neck t-shirt dress that barely covered her ass.  She wore nothing under it.  The shirt draped beautifully between her breasts and clung lightly to her hips.  She called a cab and was on the dance floor with Scarlette by midnight sharp, bypassing all the cold people in the long line outside.  A perk of being a stone fox and the Hand of God.

    It felt good to lose herself in the grinding crowd, it was unbearably hot.  It was easy to let the music lull her into a semi meditative state,  she moved however the music wanted her to.

By two am she was slightly drunk and the music was getting better.  She and the other dancers were soaked with sweat and the club staff was spraying water onto them.  The crowd cheered for more.

    Nixie found herself dancing to a song that turned her on.  She was surrounded by beautiful people, who were sweating and enjoying the sexy music along with her.  She saw a guy in front of her, trying to dance with her.

    He was wearing a wet white t shirt that stuck to his tight stomach.  She reached out and pulled the soaking t shirt away from his body and pulled it up and over his head.  He didn't seem to notice as she threw it behind her.  His drunken glazed eyes were locked on her breasts, and she could see him mouthing the words, "Oh yeah."  Her hands found themselves around his back and she brushed her nipples against his chest.  He tipped his head back, lips parted as he danced with her.

    Nixie didn't care who he was, and didn't want to get to know him,  she just wanted his body to use as a tool to dance to this song.  She let him push one of his legs between hers and they touched each other and danced.  He started to kiss her throat and she moaned as his rough stubble scraped over her soft skin.  That was more than she needed, she dug her nails into his shoulders and rode him. He had a firm grasp on her ass and she leaned back away from him and sunk her own teeth into her arm as she came.  When he pulled her up again, she was done with him.  She kissed him and turned away into the crowd to dance somewhere else.

    The music was as hot as the dance floor and she blinked the sweat out of her eyes and pulled her dress away from her body.  This was her kind of music, like it was made just for her. Through her half opened eyes she thought she saw someone familiar but then lights changed and smoke obscured her vision.  She looked into the crowd and saw Scarlette sneering down at a guy groveling at her feet, maybe he was just dancing, but Scarlette stood above him looking like his queen.  Tonight she would be just fine if Nixie took off.

    Nixie was cold and she chose to not dance home, the cabbie turned the heat way up high for her and she tipped him extra.  It had been a therapeutic night of dancing and she found she was less angry at the people around her as she slipped into bed.

#### Chapter 7

    Nixie stayed in bed for two days. Her wet dreams always featured a massive, shaggy dragon of fire. They fought each other until, exhausted, they fell together in a heap of snarls and moans. Making love sometimes softly, sometimes rough.  She would awake twitching and spent, covered in red welts and scratches.  In the shower, covered in soapy bubbles, her vibrator pretended to be Dave after they made up and gave in.

    It was weird for her to have so much sex on her mind, but it helped take her mind off how bad she felt, her orgasms soothed her and gave her comfort.  Actually,  it was a little more than weird. She decided to call her mom and let her know what a crappy idea that had been. The phone rang and rang.  Damn! She had forgotten what day it was. Torture day again. Why were there so many Sundays?

    She called again and let it ring until someone answered.

    "Hey Leo."

    "That's Dad to you. How was your time with Grandpa?"

    "Don't call him grandpa, Leo."

    "Right. So, you're not coming again, I take it?"

    "Actually, Dad, I'm not. I'm still coping with the gargantuan mistake of facing my fears up there on that roof and I'm trying to decide whether or not I should move to somewhere else. That's how well Mom's little science experiment went.  So if you would like to have her call her wounded daughter and give her some encouraging words, that would be great."

    "Crap, I'm sorry sweetie. I told her that messing around with your private life was the wrong way to go."

    "Yeah. Oops." Nixie sighed, she knew they were trying to do her a favor. "Hey Dad?"

     "Ya sweetie?"

    "Thanks for the music. It was what I needed."

    "No problem!" She could hear that she had just made his day, maybe his week.  Her mom would call her back, he would make sure of it.

    She settled down with her toast and tea and waited the ten minutes for her dad to relay the message and for her mom to tear herself away from the Sunday bbq.

    "Ok go!" That was mom's way of telling her to start telling the story, but be quick about it 'cause she had guests.

    "What the fuck were you thinking?"

    "Well, I was thinking that you would meet the guy you were interested in, and talk to him, and get to know him and then maybe get laid so you wouldn't be such a sourpuss all the time!"

    "Mom!" Nixie was completely grossed out that her mom was being so...she stopped and thought about it. "I'm not a sourpuss!"

    "Yeah, ya are! You're worse than Sasha, who is here by the way, which is where you and your cranky face should be. What happened?"

    Nixie forgot that if the two of them were to get in an attitude contest, her mom would win, every time.

    "He almost opened up and then he came to his senses and clamped down, but not before I opened up and made an ass out of myself by fawning all over him like a groupie."

    "You? Fawning?" Her mother snorted. "You don't even know how to fawn! What you're telling me is that you showed him your dimples and he realized that you were human and he ran."

    "Yeah and then I got pissed at myself and blew the door off its hinges and took off."

    Nixie could hear her mother trying not to laugh. "God, sweetie, you are such an apple and I am such a tree! I used to try to be stronger than a human,  just like you, but it's impossible." She sighed. " That poor guy you like, has had a hard life and he's just scared to get close to someone, you have to go slow."

    "Mom! Don't you see that its why I like him! He's had a hard life and it makes him different. That's why his music is unique!" His father left him emotionally injured and he has closed doors to protect himself. My life  with fire hasn't been easy either, and I feel a kinship with him. We have music in common as well!"

    "Darling you have in no way had as hard a life as that boy! Your life has been harder than some, like Sera, but don't think you know what he's going through.  If you really want to get to know him, be gentle, and be persistent, and for god's sake, be respectful of his doors!" She laughed at her own play on words. Then went serious.

    "I expect you to be here next Sunday, no excuses."

    Nixie wouldn't let it go. "Mom, were people better then?"

    Her mother was silent a long time.  She was remembering.  Struggling.  Contemplating how much she should say.  She opted to not say much. Now was not the time to explain evil in great detail.  It was not the time to tell her daughter about the grey ghetto where men of authority paid small sums to rape young girls for the weekend.  There was a bbq going on in the next room.

    "No sweetie. They were not better. Trust me on that."

    There was weight in her mother's voice.  How could she explain that in order to give man a perfect world, there had to be sacrifices, maybe true happiness was one of them.

    "Here's my advice to you about your guy.  Make it easy on him.  Be here on Sunday."  And she hung up.

    Nixie went to sleep again and she wasn't even tired.  She dreamed of a scene cast in a million shades of morose grey.

    There was an exodus of people trudging, weary and sad, along a wet dirt track. They carried their belongings on their backs or led great shaggy cloaked beasts that pulled heaping carts.  Despondence and hopelessness in the mud and the rain.

    Curious about the great shaggy beasts, she raised the cowl of one of the closest ones and peered in at its face. Under the dirty grey cowl there was a hairy dragon.

    It lifted its eyes and looked deep into hers,  she saw an absolute sadness that pierced clean and sharp right into her heart like a needle of ice and made it ache.

    The dragon allowed her to see it's true form.  It showed her that it was allowing itself to be a beast of burden.  Its eyes rose towards heaven and it rose up into the sky, leaving behind its burden.  It soared up high and rolled, and as it rolled, it transformed to light, first ice blue, then white, and as it rolled and exploded into brilliant light, the light plunged into the roof of an old stone barn. No one else saw this, but she knew she was meant to.

    She knew that there was a meaning to every part of this dream.  The dragon could not have been more obvious, he was making it as simple as he knew how, but to her mere mortal mind, she couldn't decipher it's meaning.

    She woke remembering the dream.  The sadness of it lingering along with the distinct feeling that she was supposed to know something.

    Her mom said that she should make it easy for him. She didn't know what that meant, because frankly, she was having the hardest time deciphering even the most parochial explanations. So, since she didn't have a clue, she decided to be direct. All he could do was say no, which she doubted he would, cause, well, let's face it, who would say no to her?  She put on a dog collar and walked up a couple of flights of stairs and down the hall. She stopped at Dave's door and pounded on it.  She had to pound for awhile because he slept all day and came alive at night like a vampire.

#### Chapter 8

    Nixie heard him wake up and cuss at her from the other room.  She pounded some more.  "God fucking dammit!"

    He ripped open the door and was about to tear the villain a new asshole and then he stopped, mid scream. "For fucks..."

    Nixie stood there wearing a dog collar, heels...and nothing else.  She was nothing but curves.  Her breasts were perky despite their weight and swelled into a ripe tear drop.  Her trim was shaved all except for a Hitler mustache.  Her  silver shoes were only just tall enough to make her exactly his height.

    He instinctively put up a hand to stop her but she stepped forward and his hand ended up on her breast.  She kept walking towards him, he stumbled back into his hallway and up against the wall.  He stood there with his mouth open, his morning wood at full attention, thanking its lucky stars, that for once, it was in the right place at the right time.

    "Hi." She said.

    He couldn't function. It was too early and he was too surprised. There was too much to process on the emotional front and the fact that she was... and the fact that she wore a .... and....she was naked....all those thoughts vanished and left him alone with the naked girl.  He was really trying hard to say 'hi' back, but his morning voice just left him mouthing the words.

    Nixie stepped forward and covered his mouth with hers. One hand went to his chest and the other found wood. He managed to make a strangled moan as his lurching mind tried to decide what part of her delicious body to touch first.  He found himself wondering as he returned her forceful kisses, why the mohawk, designed to be androgynous, only made her more erotically feminine. He decided that she looked more naked than naked.

    He had morning breath and a day old beard.  It was good.  Nixie liked him real, and preferred him naked.  She tugged down his lounge pants and fell to her knees in front of him.

    "Shit, shit, god no, stop!" He found his voice.  She didn't stop and he panicked and grabbed her dog collar and hauled her to her feet.  Her lips were glossy and he kissed them, sucking them dry.

    "Too fast." He managed and backed her down another hall to his bed.  They didn't get that far, he stumbled over her and she caught herself on the wall and he ended up behind her. He sunk his teeth into the hot dragon on her shoulder and followed its clawed hands to her heavy breasts. She was whimpering hot and frustrated, forcing her ass against his hard cock.  She had one hand behind her firmly wrapped around his shaft and was trying to guide him to where she wanted him to go.

    Dave struggled to keep himself from losing it, he wanted to consume as much of her as he could before it all ended.  He felt a desperate need to push up on her soft body, with his own coarseness.

     He spun her around pressing her into the wall with his entire body.  He wanted to press her through the wall, it felt so good to crush her.  She was soft everywhere, and she was hot and wet where he wanted her to be.

     He growled as he smashed into her and she clutched at him trying to get him in her.  His hard on found a place against her freshly shaved pussy that made her stop struggling and as he kissed her, his cock was grinding her clit in the perfect place that made her eyes roll back and her fingernails dig in, he kept it there and forced her against the wall over and over as her whimpers turned to yeses, and then oh gods, and then she was cuming.

    He picked up her still quivering body and carried her to his bed, where he dropped her on her back. She quickly rolled to her knees and spread wide for him. He didn't think he had ever seen a sexier sight.

"C'mon, Hurry up." She begged. He obliged, sliding his fingers into her collar and pushing into her tightness.  It only took a couple of strokes and he went to heaven for a second.  He froze there trying to preserve the moment.

    In the sweat glistening off her shoulder, he thought he saw the dragon wink at him, but he didn't care.

#### Chapter 9

    Nixie stood naked in his kitchen drinking a glass of water. She had never been in a penthouse apartment before and she kind of thought it would be cooler, but it wasn't, it was just like hers, only bigger.

    Dave had the same style that she did, functional. _'I have got to do something with my walls_.'She thought.

    Dave came behind her and caressed her ass and she turned to face him.

    "Hi. " He said.

    ' _Gotcha_.' She thought.  For the moment though, her need was satiated.  She fought the urge to roll her eyes and tried to be what he wanted her to be, which was loving.

     Nixie knew she was less romantic then most men, she had needs, and she did what she needed to do to get her needs met. That's why she loved the anonymity of the night clubs, she wanted and she got, on the dance floor, in the alley, or up against a car. Then she moved on.  Rarely did she stop to consider her partner.  It wasn't a regular thing, mostly her vibrator did the trick.  The problem with her attitude was that men were intrigued by her disinterest, and more often than not, fell in love with her.

    This time was different.  She didn't so much as feel romantic, but she usually didn't shit where she ate, so to speak, and Dave, well, he was her white buffalo.  She was an admirer of his.  As he held her in his arms, she tried to imagine forever with him and she tried to want it.  She tried to imagine being comfortable with him. She decided to take it one moment at a time.  _'This time, I won't run'_ She promised herself.

    She had pursued him and got him, now she had to do something with him. She felt a small panic in her stomach, that because she was so detached, she may be falling victim to the same trap that Sera had fallen into, the one that she was beginning to see as all wrong. The one where people were becoming less human.

    She looked at the handsome face in her hands and knew he was a lonely, tortured soul,  and she reached into herself and pulled out some dusty bits of compassion. She showed him her dimples and he pulled her into his arms.

    "Dave, do you wish that my mom had never punished your dad?" She held her breath and waited.

    He went hard and cold. He hesitated only for a moment. "No, I know she was just doing her job. I just wished I had the opportunity for revenge."

    "Would you have?" She didn't look at him. She let him have his privacy.

    "Probably not. He was my dad, he was all I had left.  I was more afraid of being left alone than I was of him." He stayed cold, but didn't move away.

    "I like you because you have been damaged. I know that sounds sick, but I can't bear what the people have become. They are surface and fake and not at all feeling or real." She risked a peek up at his face. It stayed hard. She wanted it to soften.

    "You feel deeper and that makes your music sing in a language that I hear. Your music sounds like my dragon looks, does that make sense to you?"

    He softened at that. "Are you still going to walk home alone?"

    Startled, she looked up at him.  She didn't know he knew that she waited for him to leave first, so that he would get home first.  Now he was intriguing her.

    Abruptly he turned and went into a room that had stairs going down.  He had taken over the apartment below him and opened up the ceiling. He had sound proofed that apartment and built a mixing studio in it. Now _that_ was cool, the benefits of owning the building! The result was soaring sound that went up and filled his penthouse.

    "If my music speaks your language, then listen to this." He pushed buttons a sat back waiting.

    From above, Nixie stood looking down on him, and watched him close his eyes. When the music started, she backed up against the wall, out of sight of him, and she slid down on the floor and closed her eyes.

    The music swelled and hit her with aching sadness.  In her mind's eye she saw a woman with sad eyes trying to smile at a young boy.  Nixie knew it was his mother.  The scene morphed into a grey road, on a grey day, with huge grey, shambling beasts.  They stepped in time with the music.

    The Dragon had the same sad eyes as Dave's mother.  Soaring up, the music followed the huge dragon as it rose and rolled away into the light, the image of Dave's mother lying dead on the floor, free at last, took its place.

    Nixie swallowed back her sadness and her fury at his mother' s death, her tears spilled over and she softly banged her head back against the wall to help ease the raw emotions.  She saw what the music meant to Dave, and she saw part of what the dragon was trying to tell her.  In its cryptic way, it showed captivity and sadness. Then it showed escape or release.

     Dave's music was talking about his mother, the dragon was showing her life.  She knew it didn't mean only one simple thing, but instead many things and could be applied to many instances.  For instance, the human race was becoming less human, that could be the sadness in its eyes, and when it lifted up, shucking its burden, that could mean that  the human race was lifted up and out of its shackles of conformity. Well, it could mean many things, but the dream was too vivid to dismiss.

    Nixie crawled to the edge and looked down.  Dave was freely letting his tears fall.

    "I see her." She whispered.

    He sat for a moment and then startling her, moved quickly to tap a few buttons.  Again, he sat back and waited.

    This time the music swayed, sultry.  It made her hips want to move. The smoky background music was tribal, reverberating in her heart. The layers of music oozed sex. Nixie had heard this one before.  Laying naked on the floor, looking down into the well of Dave's studio, she let the music take her.

    She was on the dance floor, lost in a sea of bodies.  It was unbearably hot, but no one stopped dancing.  She pulled her sweat soaked dress away from her body as she swayed, feeling random hands on her hips, feeling consumed by the beat, knowing it made love to only her. Her lips parted, eyes barely open, she glimpsed a moment of Dave in the DJ booth watching her, his hips matching the rocking of hers.  It had been for her.  She had thought it her imagination. This was her song! It embodied her sexuality.  It was low, slow, and dirty, and she loved it!

    She jumped up in a sudden change of mood, and started to dance.  She pushed  a small version of the dragon out and it spiraled down to Dave where he sat.  He felt the heat on his face and opened his eyes to see the dragon dancing in front of him! He laughed in delight and stood to dance with it!

#### Chapter 10

    In the lighting booth high above the stage, he sat and watched the group of girls below. His cock was so hard it ached. He tried to stroke the ache out of it, but it was unrelenting.  He pumped harder and harder until the veins stood out in his thickly corded arms. Sweat stuck his thin t-shirt to his rippling stomach.

     Usually, his own muscled body was enough to get him off, as long as he slid the razorblade along his thigh as he jacked off in front of a mirror.  He didn't have the blade or a mirror at this moment, so the aching persisted.  Frustrated, he punched his knee and then his penis and started abusing it again.  He watched the girls below giggling, their breasts jiggling as they joked around with each other.  His attention focused on their smiles and their young tits, confined in their bras. Sometimes bulging, crushed by the movements of their arms, sometimes blossoming free. He liked the full, juicy ones the best. The blond one was ripe and full.  The girls themselves were invisible to him.

    He closed his eyes and imagined the blond smile pulling off its shirt unhooking the bra and the luscious breasts springing out of their confines. He stretched the tip of his tongue out to the hard pink nipple and flicked it. His hand found his balls and squeezed hard, bringing tears to his eyes.

     In his fantasy, he filled his mouth with flesh, sucking as much of it into his mouth as he could, all the while the smile hovered at the edge of his vision. This smile was key.  It was acceptance, it was permission.  It said, ' Go ahead, I like it.'  Because so often in the past, it said, 'No! You're hurting me! Stop!'

    The ache started to subside and he massaged his big cock quicker.  His teeth started to close on the juiciness and then when he could bite down no longer, he started to grind his teeth. The smile said, 'Yes, Yes!' As he imagined tearing the breast with his teeth , he imagined blood gushing forth and grabbing a fistful of ass, his cock finding wetness and pounding in and in. Concentrating on stroking and squeezing the head of his penis, he finally came, his body tensed to get the most out of his tiny, unsatisfying orgasm. It was enough, for now.

    The group of girls turned to watch the shirtless, sweaty guy strut out from left stage, past them and down the steps.  As he passed, he smiled with brilliant white teeth at Sera.  His arrogant smile said, 'I know you want me to fuck you like a beast.'  She blushed and watched his tight ass go down the steps, and slowly saunter  away.

#### Chapter 11

    Phoenix pulled her trembling muscle car to the curb in a no parking zone.  She stepped out and looked around for the building she was supposed to find Sera in.  This was not her idea of tons of fun, but she was going out of her way to make Sera forgive her for not going to the club like she promised.

    That didn't mean she was going to behave.  If she had to go to a college campus and tolerate the simpering bitches Sera called friends, she was going to make it as interesting as she could.  She donned her "College campus outfit" which consisted of black heels with silver spikes, torn panty hose, a super short school girl skirt, and a white long sleeved shirt that was two sizes too small, and a red tie.

    She purposely bent down to pull her ankle bracelet out of her shoe, letting the wind blow the back of her skirt up around her waist, as a group of guys walked by, carrying their gym bags.  Their laughing paused as they watched her ass walk away.  They had never seen anything like it on this campus.  The bravest, trying to follow her as his friends dragged him back, laughing.

    Sera and her friends were putting on a production of "Puff the magic dragon" for the local school kids soon, and she invited Nixie to come watch.  She wanted to introduce Nixie to her friends and was hoping that Nixie would think that college life looked fun.

    Nixie felt that she was doing Sera a HUGE favor letting her show off her "Hand of God" best friend.  She arrived in the middle of rehearsal and planted herself in the front row with the people who held the clipboards.

    She made a big scene entering the theatre, walking down the aisle, and stepping over all the people already in their seats, saying loudly, "Don't mind me! ' Scuse me, pardon me."  everyone stopped and stared open mouthed at her as she made herself comfortable.  She looked around at everyone staring at her as if they were so rude. "Carry on!"

    Only Sera smirked.  She knew Nixie was trying to shake things up.  She winked at her friend and continued with her monologue.

    Nixie had to admit, the nerds had done an awesome job on the set.  They all sat on boxes and ate their lunches and watched the actors, talking quietly with each other.  One of the girls glanced at her and she pointed to the set and gave the girl a thumbs up with a wink.  The girl blushed and looked pleased that Nixie had noticed.  She just made a fan!

    Even though the set looked great, it didn't distract from the atrocious acting, and Nixie started to get bored and then irritated.

    _'Was this going to go on forever?'  _ She shifted uncomfortably, and put in her ear buds.

    _'The wooden dragon was cute, but her dragon would be more realistic!_ '  She thought as she tapped her feet to her music.  Because she had her head phones on, she didn't hear that she was tapping her heels loudly.

    The lead actress slapped her script on her thigh, forgetting to be perky.  "Do you mind?!"

She glared at Nixie. Nixie didn't hear her but she saw the angry face. She took one ear bud out.  "Huh?"  "Quiet, Please!"  Nixie grimaced in mock apology, and mouthed the words,  "Sorry."

Sera gave her a look that that said  "Stop it."

    The nerds offstage smirked, enjoying the heckling of the bitch on stage, they obviously didn't like her much.

    That was it for Nixie, she needed this torture to be over soon.  It was everything she could do to not stand up and walk out on Sera.  She knew she would never make friends with this crowd after that, but she really didn't want to anyway.

    As the practice went on and on, Nixie started to notice the girl that had scolded her, was being a bitch to everyone, putting them down and bossing them around.  Nixie was starting to really not like her.  She especially hated the way the chick did it with a phony cheerful smile on her face.

    Nixie pulled out a lollipop and stuck it in her mouth.

    Sera stepped on scene, she was supposed to be a bad guy.  Nixie watched her performance, which was so so, and laughed at her friend who was really trying hard.

    She stopped and the bitch was saying something, with a smile on her face, to Sera and Sera's face had lost its thin veil of cheer.

    She pulled her ear buds out to listen and caught the tail end of,  "...so, if you could just act better, that would be great!"

    Nixie smashed to her feet and shoved out her fire with a flick of her fingers.  Her dragon leapt up on stage and swirled around Sera's feet and placed itself between Sera and the bitch.  It hissed at the girl.  Everyone screamed, some ran, some froze.

    Nixie pushed passed the clipboard people again and stood in the aisle.

    She addressed the lead actress. "Be a good girl and tell me why my dragon wants to eat you?" She stood there, in her school girl outfit, sucking on her sucker, with one hand on her hip.

    The bitch just stammered, holding her script between herself and the snarling serpent, as if it would save her.

    Nixie looked around at everyone questioningly,  "Anyone. Anyone?"  She looked right at Sera, but Sera had never seen the dragon and she was busy inspecting it, she was unmoved by the attack, knowing that her friend wouldn't truly hurt anyone.

   The nerd girl tentatively held up a shy hand.  "You. What's your name?"

    "Sadie."  The girl said bravely.

    "Sadie, why does my dragon hate this chick so much?"

    "'Cause the cow is a stupid, mean bitch?"  Her friends laughed.

    "Right that!  You get a sucker!"  She took a lollipop out of a tiny pocket on her shirt and threw it to the girl.

    Nixie looked at the bitch and then at Sera, who was reaching an experimental finger out to the dragons head, completely ignoring the indignation of the bitch.  She looked appreciatively at Nixie and pointed at the dragon, "This is new!"

    "I know, right?"  Nixie grooved a nod at her friend.

    "Do you mind?"  Nixie asked her friends permission to teach the bitch a lesson.

    "Yeah. Ya probably shouldn't.  We kind of need her for this part."

    Nixie held out her fingers to Sera about an inch apart.  "How 'bout just a little one?"

    Sera looked at the bitch who was still acting holier than thou, and really not learning her lesson even knowing that the Hand of God wanted to kick her ass.  She shook her head,  "Nah! I don't think she'd get it."

    "C'mon Sera! You don't need her that bad, she's an atrocious actress!  Sadie can do much better, I just know it!"  She giggled,  "Even **you** aren't that bad!"

    Sera stuck out her lip.  "Bite me Nix, I said no!  She's my friend!"

    Nixie slung her messenger bag over her shoulder,  "No actually,  I'M your friend."  She stuck her sucker back in her mouth and turned her back, snapped her fingers, and walked up the aisle to the doors.

    The red dragon bristled it's green and purple whiskers and smiled a slow evil smile like no other dragon of fire could.  It slithered away from Sera's feet towards the bitch in a roundabout way, it's eyes never leaving the bitches eyes.  The bitch was frozen with fear, she couldn't move to get away from the stalking dragon.  It's head swayed sure and strong on it's long reptilian neck as it leered in her face, rising up to eye level.  It moved like a cobra, back and forth, its eyes locked on hers.

    "Nixie! Don't!"  Sera screamed angrily across the theatre.

     Nixie didn't even turn around,  "Too late! But I do think she will be as nice as pie from now on!"

    "Bye bitches!"  She gave a farewell wave over her shoulder and crashed out of the doors.

    Smiling it's greasy smile, ever so slowly, the dragon extended its chin towards the bitches face, slowly almost gently, it stuck out its tongue and licked across the forehead of the paralyzed bitch, there was a quick smell of burnt hair   She squealed and stepped back.   The dragon pulled back it's amused smile to inspect it's work, looking pleased with itself.

    Suddenly, the dragon ceased it's slow movements.  It snorted flame to the side like a laugh and zipped to Sera's side where it nuzzled her quickly with its warm face, like a friendly dog and flitted away after Nixie.

    Sera watched it go and when she turned back to apologize to the bitch, she screamed a quick scream!  She covered her mouth in horror and took a step back.  "Ah!"

    "What?! What did it do to me?! Am I bleeding?!"

    The rest of the cast saw what Sera had seen and they gasped.  Most of them tried hard to not laugh!

    The nerd that did the makeup held up a mirror and waited for the bitch to find her. She didn't try to hide her amusement!  The bitches eyebrows were mostly gone!

#### Chapter 12

    Nixie set her beer on the table and pushed her chair back on two legs with her feet on the table.  Most of the people in this bar were dressed defiantly in black. The hairstyles did not scream with sweetness.

    She scanned the people, most were like her, dissatisfied, but some were posers and easy to pick out. They were the ones that wanted to belong to something cool, but didn't. They liked the implied danger of being different.

    The only one that truly didn't belong and didn't give a shit was Sera. She sat, prim in her baby blue pedal pushers, her pink fluffy sweater, and her 5 inch heels.  Her hair was perfect.  So was her makeup, and the vapid look on her face. She sipped a pink martini.

    "Sorry about your friend." Nixie wasn't sorry and Sera knew it. She was going to punish Nixie for embarrassing her in front of her friends by sitting here in this bar and making everyone uncomfortable.

    Now she sat in her sanctuary, and Sera was making her pay. Nixie tried to look unperturbed, but Sera was winning, everybody was staring.

    It wasn't only because Sera looked like a pearl in the mud with her bright and cheerful colors in a sea of black leather and chains, it was also because she was animated as she talked about her latest interest, and she was hot! Sera dripped sex. Everything about her screamed, ' _I'm the girl for you!_ ' It was her favorite thing about herself, and she was not shy about it around Nixie.

    Nixie always thought, that in a world of artists, Sera was missing her calling. She had foolishly chosen interior decorating as her form of expression, because her friends all did it. She was skilled at putting a room together, but she was highly underestimating herself.  Sera was the Gloria Jean of the modern world. Every movement she made was distinctly performed to stir something in someone. Whether an arch of a foot, a way of sitting, even a mere blink could be made sexual. She was a master. If Sera wanted you to lust after her shoulders, you did, you had absolutely no choice.

    So here she sat, playing the yummy good girl in a room full of men and women who hated her and wanted her.  Nixie could smell a bar fight. She smiled, shaking her head slowly into her beer. ' _Good ol' Ser, nothing changes.'_

_    _ Nixie tried to listen to Sera, but she really didn't care about the guy or his shiny teeth.  She hadn't mentioned Dave to Sera, she couldn't bear all the cooing and sex questions.  It was, frankly, none of her business, and Nixie had learned the hard way to not introduce Sera to any of her interests, it was **not** the way to keep a guy.

    It wasn't her fault, she just consumed men like a locust would a field, it was her nature. Nixie had actually found ways to use Sera's gifts to her own advantage. People tended to say yes to Sera where they would otherwise say no.

    She kept one eye on the full bar, especially on the couple by the door. The lady noticed that her man couldn't keep his eyes off Sera's tits. She was actually taking his chin in hand and making him face her. He kept glancing back. She was getting pretty pissed. Her other eye watched Sera for hints as to when to nod or insert an exclamation so that Sera would feel like the attention was on her. It was hard work, but she was used to it, this was a normal occurrence when Sera was out in public. Sera knew that Nixie would never let anything happen to her, and she took all the license she wanted.

    Sera acted like she didn't notice the fight on the other side of the room and didn't miss a beat, but she knew full well what was brewing.  She also knew Nixie wasn't listening.

    "...And when he walks, it almost touches his knees!!!"

    " Uh huh."

    "Nixie. What the fuck? We are supposed to be having a beer together, and you are off thinking about something else?....Or, is it SOMEONE else?"

    _'Damn! She always has a nose for when I'm getting laid.'_ Nixie thought, covering her guilty look with a gulp of warm beer.

    "I thought that we were here so that you could punish me for my little addition to your play."

     "No! I just want to hang out! I miss you Nix!"  She put on her most adorable pout.

      Nixie laughed at her humorlessly. She wasn't falling for it and she really wasn't in the mood to play anymore. She finished her beer and set all four feet of the chair on the floor.

    "I'll get us another round and you can tell me all about him!" Sera held a finger up in the air for the bartender.

    ""No. I'm out. I've got things to do. You and I both know how this story ends." She glanced under her arm at the fuming chick, and her ever defiant boyfriend. _'Here it comes.'_ She knocked her head in the crook of her arm _. 'Crap. Too late.'_

_    _ A storm appeared on Sera's pretty face. She was going to get her revenge if she couldn't visit with her friend. She fake yawned, stretching her arms up and arching her back so that the fuzzy pink sweater slid up and pulled tight. Nixie had to admit, she couldn't tear her eyes off Sera's body either and she was straight as an arrow. _'Here we go._ '

    The boyfriend across the room stood up and grabbing his girlfriend by the elbow dragged her to the door and tried to throw her out. But she was too fast for him and she slipped under his arm and charged right at Sera with murder in her eyes.

    Nixie stood and holding her hands out in a 'leave me out of this.' kind of way, she stepped back. Sera looked truly shocked that Nixie wasn't preparing to help her like she always did.

    Nixie looked her right in the eye and said.  "Time for you to clean up your own mess, sister, this game is old."

    Nixie knew Sera would be fine. She could fight dirty just like a seductress could, without lifting a finger.

    In a split second, Sera shot Nixie a look that said she wasn't speaking to her ever again, and quickly scanned the room to find her champion. She had already picked him out long ago when they first entered. She had assessed the entire bar with a glance, picked out the most dangerous looking guy, and winked at him as she passed him to her table. She had given him a tiny glance now and then through three beers, to make sure he stayed hers and saved him for just this moment. She located him just behind her and she stepped into his arms like a helpless kitten.  He sprang into defense mode just like she knew he would.  He would take a punishing for her, and while he was busy, she would slip out and be long gone. It had been done before.

    Nixie hopped on the bus and propping her feet on the seat in front of her, put in her head phones.  She felt slightly guilty for leaving Sera, but she was increasingly becoming weary of being used. She wished she could talk to Sera about Dave, but she knew it would never happen, the conversations always reverted back to Sera, and _her_ men, and _her_ life. She was useless as a friend.  Nixie sent out her threads of fire and they quested, finding nothing. Sera was fine.

#### Chapter 13

    The rooftop door had been replaced.  Nixie walked out into the middle and stared up at the stars.  She was twenty years old and she felt older.  She turned up her music and started to stretch.

     She picked a slower song and assumed the starting position.  She felt the warm slither of her dragon sliding off her back and down her leg. Tonight he was a partner, not a foe. They stepped together and in unison, started to dance incorporating Jing Wu, floating over the roof.  The dragon was a gentleman , he was as graceful as smoke.  When the song eased to an end they stood, face to face, staring into each other's eyes, Nixie panted slightly.

    "What do you think?" She asked it.  It listened, but did not answer.  She walked towards the edge of the roof and she paused, thinking.  The dragon flowed after her, staying near her side.  The sun was coming up soon and tonight she didn't feel like waiting for it.

    "What happens if I just don't do it?" She queried the dragon. She tried to see the answer in its eyes but it looked out over the dark buildings, as if thinking.

    "No, really? I want to know. What happens if I just stop punishing people for awhile? Let them feel again? Remind them of how lucky they are?"  She grabbed the dragons fiery face and made it look into her eyes.  All she saw there was a mirroring question.  It didn't know, because she didn't know.  Another song started on the forgotten ear buds hanging on her shoulder. It gave her an idea.

   " I'm going to repurpose you." She instantly decided and turned away from her lawn chair and stalked to the door.

She lay awake staring at the posters on her wall. She wanted to make music like Dave did. She wanted to talk to people and have them hear her, and to understand.  She wanted them to watch her dragon dance and feel the raw power of his freedom! She wanted them to want to be like her him, powerful, free, and awesome.

    She fell asleep with his warmth curled at her back.

    She brought coffee to her idol.  He refused to get out of bed.  She put the coffee on the dresser on the other side of the room and made a big deal of slurping hers as she sat in the window seat, trying to plan out how to ask him.

    "Come over here." He whined patting the sheets next to him. She wasn't in the mood and wanted to get the day rolling, so she sat in the window and waited. She contemplated using her dragons tongue  to singe his morning beard off to save time, but thought that would scare him unnecessarily, and it would take time to calm him down.

    "I didn't punish anybody last night." She confessed.

    He was silent for awhile but she had gotten his attention. "Why?"

    "I think I'm done doing that." She waited.

    He thought and didn't respond.  When he didn't, she said.  "I have a different idea of what I want to do with my life and I was hoping you'd help me." He raised his eyebrows.

    "I want you to incorporate us into your show."

    "Us?" He stretched and rubbed sleep out of his eye with the heel of his hand.  Nixie tried to ignore how inviting his body was.

    "The dragon and I." She continued, hurriedly, swinging her legs around to face him.  "I'd be so honored, and you wouldn't have to do anything different than you normally do, just give me a stage."

    "Is this why you screwed me?" He swung his legs over the side of the bed and got slowly to his feet and shambled to the bathroom.

    "Of course not!" She was instantly angry at the suggestion. "I only got this idea last night."

    He didn't close the door as he peed. She was impressed that he wiped with a tissue before he walked back, searching for the coffee.

    "Is this why you WON"T screw me?" He watched her over the rim of his cup.

    "What's with the screwing track?"

    He shrugged and shuffled back to his bed. "I'm a guy and I'm awake." He said matter-of-factly.

Phoenix rolled her eyes.  "I'm not screwing you because I'm not in the mood."

    He smiled at her.  "Can you get in the mood?"

    She stood and walked out the door and down the hall.  She instantly made up her mind that she didn't need him and she was already picking out a playlist in her head by the time she had gotten to the front door. As it was closing behind her, she heard him yell.

    "Fine! I'll do it! It's a goo..."  And the door slammed on his words. She was not going to beg. She needed him for other things, but not this, she was sorry she asked.

    Nixie was at a point where she felt she needed some input from someone other than her mother, because she knew what she would say. Sera was busy playing the simpering bitch, Dave was busy being Dave, the dragon knew only what she knew, Sasha felt that Jing woo was the answer to everything, and she was inclined to think he was right and accepted that counsel,  But she still wanted the security of finding someone that wouldn't judge her, that would try to understand why she didn't want to be the punisher any more. There had to be someone who saw the direction people were headed and have a solution.  There was only one other that spoke her language.  Leo.

    "Hey Dad."

    "Dad? What did you do?" He accused.

    "Nothing. Not a thing." This is not what she called to talk about.  She and Sera were both over the incident and poor dad was always behind on the latest.

    "That's not what Sera says, what did she do?"  Leo knew Sera was a trouble maker.  He'd seen some of her outfits, or lack thereof.

    "Leo, that's old news, we're fine now. Sera tried to use me for her amusement, and I didn't let her."

    He paused soaking that in, then he got it, this was one of THOSE calls. The ones where she wasn't calling "Leo",  she was calling her daddy.

    "Wanna come over?"  He said, trying to sound nonchalant.

    "Sure. How long you gonna be there?" Trying to sound nonchalant.

    "Oh! It's a late one today, I've compiled some Middle Eastern reports and now I've got to get them sent out before tomorrow.

    "Ok, But leave me a parking pass, I'm going to drive over."

    "See you soon!" Leo felt super important as he called down for a pass for his daughter.  He was so proud of her, he even liked how she shocked his coworkers!  His next call was to Jenika.

    "Guess what?" He was so excited! He loved it when his little girl needed him.

    When he told her, Jenika was worried about her little girl, because it had to be bad for her to want to talk to one of them. She was also proud of her husband that he was the one Phoenix needed! She knew he was over the moon!

    Leo's office was a big glass thing downtown, but luckily it had its own parking garage because Nixie didn't like to parallel park.

    She liked making her dad feel important, she knew he was thrilled that she called. She didn't feel vulnerable enough to seek him out very often, but he was always there for her mom when the Hand of God thing got too heavy.  He was sweet and logical, and he listened without offering too much advice. The perfect guy.

    The traffic was going the other way and she got there pretty quick, but it was getting late, most of her Dads coworkers would be gone by now.  She was glad because she hated to be introduced to the same people over and over. The parking attendant eyed her Challenger appreciatively, as she rumbled through. She really hated to drive because her 'hawk brushed the ceiling, a bus was more comfortable.

   " Hey Leo." They knuckle bumped to avoid the hug, and went to his office.  It was a big office that had a couch and bookcases with books that he had actually read! It was comfy, she liked the smell of it, it smelled of coffee and paper.

    "So, what's up?" He continued to put his papers together and immediately set himself into listen mode, ignoring all the small talk.

    "So, I want to take a break  from all the punishing."  She launched. She had been practicing this in her head.  When her Dad just looked at her, she kept going.

    "I think it'll take awhile for people to notice because they're used to it now, and I think there are so few bad people left that it really wouldn't be a disaster."

    Leo kept his voice level and emotionless, cautious because he knew she wasn't asking permission, she was telling him. "Why do you think that you need to stop?"

    She took his elbow and pointed down at the street. There was a park on the other side.

"Look at them." He did. "They all look the same, they all act the same.  They have become sheeple.  They are lacking some human attributes that come along with a life of struggle.  We are supposed to be emulating the entities that gave this power to us, by creating a perfect world and creating artistic beauty within it. "

    "Look at your friends, and you and mom, then look at Sera and I.  You all have a bond, they have struggled together.  Look at what Sera did to me the other day! She started a bar fight because I played a joke on her and her friends. She did not care that she broke up a relationship between two people and that people could have gotten seriously hurt!  The bar fight didn't even have anything to do with me, she was just looking for an excuse to wield what power she has, because she's bored. To me, that's not a perfect world!"

   " Me, and people my age, have never had anything really bad happen to us.  I think that maybe Martin and his church may have been right, there should be a balance of good and evil. "

    Leo saw her point, but knew that she was wrong. He tried to convince her.

    "I see what you're saying sweetie, but before you make up your mind, you need to try to see both sides."

    He pointed at his chest.  "Growing up I had a good life. I was bullied a little, I had tiffs with friends, girls broke up with me, but nothing bad ever happened to me.  It just so happened that I became a good person, and I was lucky to avoid drugs and crime. It was a fifty fifty shot that that was how I'd turn out, some of my friends weren't so lucky."

    "Your mother , on the other hand, was also a good person and was quite lucky, until one day a man went to her house and murdered her mother in a horrible way.  She found her mother in a pool of blood, Nixie.  What if you went home right now and found your mother the same way?"

    "You are lucky to have me and our extended family to be there for you if something happened to one of us, but she didn't have anyone else other than Alana."  He sat on his desk and tried to look like he didn't feel passionate about this subject.

    "That man took her world away, and later bad men took Alana away, Honey, they cut her in half with machine gun fire.  Is that the kind of thing that you want to start happening again?

    "'Cause I'll tell you something, your mom and a lot of people will strongly disagree with you.

    "You have to see that while there are consequences, no one will take anyone you love away from you. Sure, accidents happen, but the chance of someone hurting one of us is nil. "

    He put a hand on hers.  "Baby, I know you wish the world was more.... human, but I'm here to tell you that being human isn't always a good thing.  Just promise me that you will look for other alternatives.  You know there is always a choice, and always a different way, give it time and I'm sure you'll come up with an alternative."

    Nixie saw all of his rationale.  She still believed that she needed to do something that would shock people enough that they would change their ways.  Her own mother had shocked people into fearing the flaming vengeance by going on TV and even performed a public execution.  Nixie didn't want to execute anyone, she just wanted to let nature take its course.  On the other hand, her mother had also performed a light show for the world and made man become more of an artistic creature. Which had been more effective? The answer in Nixie's mind was, unfortunately, that fear had been more effective.

    "Dad, people don't seem to change unless they experience something catastrophic.  What  could I do that would be an equivalent to evil, that's not evil?"

    "What if you went in the other direction, just like your mom did, and tried to do something  to inspire people?"

    Nixie looked at her dad.  He was trying so hard to be diplomatic. He was right, other things should be tried first. Nixie knew she was a full on kind of girl and he was cautioning her to be careful, he was also not telling her to do it. She knew no one else could change the world en masse, other than her.

    "Dad. Look at me, do I inspire you?"

    He did look at her. She was tough, and proud.   "Yeah actually, you do!"

    She had gotten that from her mom, and her recklessness, but she had gotten her common sense from him.  She was strikingly beautiful.  She was...Impressive.  It gave him an idea.  He started to pace holding up a finger at Nixie for her silence as he thought, then picked up his phone and pushed a button to call someone.

    "Hey Toby. Hey, when is that FarmAyde concert that you and Sage are organizing, happening?" He listened.  "Ok, I may have a favor to ask, but I'll get back to you. Thanks."

    He hung up and paused, putting the last of his thoughts together.  Nixie was a bit leery of the maniacal smile of satisfaction on his face.

    "What?"

    "Ok, maybe I have an answer to your problem."  She narrowed her eyes at him.

    "Go on..." Apprehensive.

    "Toby and Sage are organizing a concert fundraiser for the World Farming Community.  This concert includes some of the hugest bands of today.  It's televised to the world.  What if you performed your music?"

    "What does farming have to do with me?"

    "It's not the farming, it's the venue.  Don't you see?  This could be your opportunity to blow people away. Make them see life as exciting, dramatic, and even scary! Show them through your music that being an individual is cool!  Make them want to dress in black, Baby!"

    Nixie laughed at him.  He was so cute when he was being stupid.  There was no way she was getting up there alone, besides,  people usually didn't understand her music and music alone was not enough to open the thick minds of the population.

    "Nice talkin to ya Leo, let's do this again real soon." She gathered up her messenger bag and headed for the door, but not before she caught the hurt and disappointed look on her dads face.

    "That's not nice Nix.  It's a great idea, you're just a fuckin chicken, or maybe you just don't want it bad enough?  Maybe you're just like all the other posers that just want something to whine about."  He threw his phone into his briefcase.

    "Oh, woes me, the world just isn't perfect enough for me!" He mocked. "Have you ever thought that maybe it's not the world that's imperfect? Maybe it's you, maybe you're just projecting your dissatisfaction on everyone else?"

    She paused with her hand on the handle. ' _Crap_.'

    "It is a good idea, Dad.  I'll think about it."  She opened the door.

    "Well, don't think too long, 'cause this thing happens in less than two weeks, and the

Huffman's are superheroes, but they can't do a redo."

#### Chapter 14

    Nixie parked her dull black muscle car into her spot and climbed the stairs to her 5th floor flat.

She had had enough of people for awhile.  A shower and lots of sleep was on the agenda.  Somehow, everything seemed different after a long nights sleep.

    When she rounded the corner to her door she saw Dave sitting against it.  He looked like he had been there awhile.  She rolled her eyes and hung her head back in exasperation.   _'Not now!'_

    "Dave?  Did I make a mistake with you?"  She leaned against the wall across from him and propped her heel on the wall.  "'Cause you sitting in front of my door looks messy and complicated with feelings and shit, and I hate all that."

    "I wanted to tell you that your idea was a good one, and I wanted to say I'm sorry about the sex thing." He didn't look at her.

  _   'Gross! Way too many touchy feely things going on lately.  Remind me why I talk to people again?"_ She asked herself.

    She knew if she faced this it would go away faster. Sighing, she slid down the wall and touched his toes with hers.

    "Look, Dave.  This is pretty uncool of you to sit here and get all mushy on me.  First of all, it _was_ a good idea, and it took me a lot of guts to ask you.  Second of all, never apologize about wanting to screw.  Got it?"

    He blinked at her. He was surprised it was that easy and was mad at himself for feeling queasy all day, going over his apology over and over, when she had just forgotten about it the second the door slammed.

    She acted like a guy.  That was cool.  He looked at her sitting there wishing she wasn't and he felt bad that he had pulled such a girlie move.

    "Ok." He said and went to stand up on his stiff legs.  She rose first and held out a hand to help him up.

    "Come in and apologize." She opened the door and let him follow her in.  She threw her bag on its designated chair and crossed the room while stripping off her shirt.

    "Coming?" She asked as she walked into the bathroom.

    _'Oh! Yes! Yes, he was_!" He hurried after her.

    The water was hot and felt good on the emotion tensed muscles.  They helped each other massage out the rest of the kinks with conditioner, even though there were no kinks in her boobs.

    Nixie drew in an audible breath and quivered as he went to his knees and slid his big hands up the backs of her legs to her ass.

    She put a foot up on the side of the tub to allow him access and placed her hands on the walls to steady herself.

    Dave started slow, pressing his forehead against her, his fingers slick with conditioner slid softly deeper and deeper into the crack of her ass.

    When his tongue finally slid along the outside of her lips running his tongue over the prickly stubble, she was panting with her head back.  He probed as deep as he could go, taking his time until he ran out of air and then went back for more after he took a deep breath. Then sucked his way back up to her clit, where his tongue circled softly and slowly where she wanted it to go.

    He was being too gentle on purpose, teasing her, taking cues from her little cries.  She grabbed the back of his hair and he let her grind herself onto his face.  His fingers still soft on her ass, massaged quicker.  He was struggling for air by the time she finished pounding her pussy into his face, using his hair as a handle, crying "Oh god! Oh my fucking god!"

    He held her around her waist until her knees quit shaking and then she pulled him to his feet,  and turned around for him, bracing her hands on the wall.  He was in a slow mood today, he just wanted to enjoy feeling every inch slide in and out.  He loved the look of her arched back, her tiny waist and swelling hips.  His hands hooking on her hip bone, he let his head impale her softly until the squeezing pushed him over the edge.

    'Nothin' better for stress.'  Nixie thought as she rubbed the towel over her limp 'hawk.

#### Chapter 15

    Nixie was in deep thought as she applied the clear gelatin mixed with a tiny bit of water to her trimmed 'hawk.  When it was set, it would stay straight and solid for days on end and then wash out quick and easy. She let Dave spray paint it using cardboard to separate the colors. He had way too much fun.

    Her dad was right as usual, and as soon as she got over that, she started to think of the possibilities.

    "You know how you said my idea was a good one?" Dave looked up from scrolling through her iPod. "Yeah?"

    "Well, how far are you willing to go?"

    He shrugged. "Whatever."  And he meant it, little fazed him, he didn't even look up.

    "I want to shake up the world." She looked for hesitation, it didn't come.  "It'll be scary?"

    He sighed and put down the iPod and crossing his hands in front of him, he looked at her and waited with a bored expression.

    Nixie poured into her issues with people and she told him that she wanted to show them how to be themselves, individuals.  She told him about Sera and her fucked up games, and she told him about her talk with her dad... And then she told him about her dad's idea.

    If he would do this, she wouldn't have to be alone, Dave would be there with his music, and so would her dragon. There was nothing to gain if she passed up this opportunity, and technically, she wouldn't lose if it didn't work, she would merely entertain the masses.  She supposed she _could_ embarrass them, but with Dave's music and her dragon, that was a tiny possibility.  Besides, she was hot!

    "One question.  How do we get on the roster?" He stuffed his hands back under his armpits, expecting to stump her.

    She surprised him by saying.  "That's the easy part."

    It was very late, but she called her dad anyway, "I'll do it. Can you set it up?" Was the message she left.

    Her dad did set it up, but he made her call Sage and Toby personally and thank them.  Her mother's best friend was a powerhouse of organization, she and her husband worked together seamlessly on multiple charitable causes, their power was staggering. Nixie hadn't thought of the consequences of such a favor, but not unlike a mob boss, Sage demanded a favor in return when she needed one. Nixie hung up feeling as if she signed a deal with the devil, but she and Dave were in.

    They had eleven days to prepare.  They both agreed that the music was paramount and the rest would fall into place.  Nixie explained to Dave that the point of this was to shock and awe.  They needed to pull off a life changing event for these people in eleven days. Nixie suggested that she only listen to the completed song once and not plan the dancing, she thought that it needed to be raw and impulsive, not rehearsed or choreographed.  Dave looked dubious, but he had seen her dance, there was no problem there!

    They locked themselves away in Dave's penthouse studio and ate take out, until  Jenika and Leo knocked on the door with real food.

    Jenika pulled the Mom card and made them stop for dinner, and while they ate, the parents listened to the plan. They ended up staying until late at night, actually providing some good ideas to the process.

    Jenika suggesting that they start the music in the latest happy fashion and then morph from there, dragging their listeners down the rabbit hole and into a new world. That was an excellent idea and easily implemented.

    Sera called and wanted to come over and introduce them to her latest, but she didn't express any interest in meeting Dave or seeing what they were up to.  As Sera was trying to complain about her new beaus disinterest in sex, Nixie told her to fuck off and hung up.  Sera tried to call back, but Nixie turned off her phone.

    On their way home, Jenika and Leo talked about their daughter, her new beau, and her new mission.

    "She's right you know.  People have really gotten creepy." Leo said.

    "Yeah, they do need a wakeup call.  I think this concert is a good idea!  I just hope it'll be enough."

    "Dave's pretty good."  Leo said.  "I think he's a good fit for Nix.  She seems less...sarcastic with him."

    "Mmmm.  I wonder if he can beat her in a staring contest?"  Jenika wondered.  Leo blinked and then remembered that that was how they met, and laughed.

    "I don't think **that's** what he's good at."  He waggled his eyebrows at his wife.  "It certainly wasn't your strong suit!"

    "He owns that building you know."  She said.

    "Actually, I think he owns many buildings, and some businesses.  I think that's how he plays at the raves, He owns the party buildings."

    "Really?  I didn't know that."  Jenika looked impressed.  Dave seemed so humble.

    "She's not performing the punishing's, is she?"  Jenika asked.

    Leo paused, not wanting to get in the middle of his two women.  "I don't think so.  But I haven't heard anything."

    "Do you think I should?"  She looked at him for answers.

    "Can you do it so that she won't know?" He glanced at her, uncertain.

    After a pause she said, "Feels like a bit of a betrayal, though."

    "Maybe just the really bad ones?" He shrugged. They had worked pretty hard and sacrificed quite a bit to get the world to this point.  The point where the new generations didn't know the horror of the evil that man could do, enough to not believe it ever existed.

    Two days to go and it was a tense moment.  Nixie had not heard the track in its entirety.  She had listened to the layers separately and helped arrange them into an order, but this was the moment that she would hear it all together.  Dave's music had many layers, it's power came from individual pieces that built upon each other like a building with a foundation, many floors and a roof.

    Nixie led him out into the night.

    This was his first time walking the early morning streets with her.  He knew that she danced home because he had doubled back one night, to go to a nearby all night diner, and he had passed the alley she was in. He had stood dumbfounded in the shadows watching her dance like a fairy dancing to savage music around poles and over garbage cans.  She was lit up like a Christmas tree, fire snapping out of her every pore like lightening.

     She wanted him to hear and see what she saw.

    "Have you ever heard these footsteps before? Did you know you could hear yourself walk?"

    He shook his head, he always had headphones on.  If he didn't, he really hadn't paid attention, but he heard it now.  The footsteps were boomed and echoed, the sound of water dripping was clarion clear.  The acoustics at night were amazing.  Nixie whispered to him from the other side of an alley and he heard her clearly.

    Ignorant to the sleeping citizens of the city, she pushed play and the sound of the rising sun came, and from behind that came a happy tune.  It was the kind of tune that made most people bounce, but Nixie was immune she stood completly still.  From behind the bouncy tune came a beat and Nixie started to move, imperceptively at first, The beat pulsed and Nixie blasted into flames and was gone, she had become part of the music.

    Dave watched the awesome sight with tears in his eyes.  He had never seen anything so beautiful, even more beautiful than his first witness of her midnight dancing.  She heard what his music said and she translated and amplified it.  She was exquisite.  He loved her and it didn't even scare him.

    "This is going to work!" He thrilled.  "This is actually going to fucking work!"  He couldn't help himself,  he yelled,  "Whoo hoo!" Down the alley after her!

Dave was bouncing he was so excited!  She wasn't as sure as he was, but then the fate of the world rested on her shoulders, not his.  Nixie had not performed the punishing in 12 days.  She hadn't had the time or the attention span to watch the news, which was always so very happy.  She was secretly dreading one of her parents watching the news and finding out that she was slacking off.  Sera had called repeatedly but Nixie ignored her, she definitely didn't watch the news, so she had nothing to say that Nixie was interested in.

    She walked home under his arm, quietly thinking after it finished playing.  It was an amazing song but it was a hard call because she didn't know if this one song would get the message across.  She couldn't know what the reaction would be. She had to be the one thing that tipped it off the scales. No pressure there!

#### Chapter 16

    Finally! He was alone and safe behind his triple locked door.  The Smile was wearing him out with Its constant chatter and expectations.  He just wanted to be close enough to It to be near the breasts, nothing else.  It nauseated him that It threw Itself at him like a greedy whore.  He didn't want to be involved in a relationship, it was just easier for him to imagine doing as he wished to the breasts when he was near, and the smile was freely given. He knew what he really wanted would bring the fires of vengeance down upon him, he had always been careful to keep his desires hidden deep in his mind, only in his fantasies did he act out what he most desired.

    He stripped off his clothes and admired himself in the full length mirror.  _'God! He was magnificent!_ '  He lovingly traced his fingers along the ripples on his stomach.  He turned and rolled his arm and bunched up his bicep just the way he liked it.  A shiver ran through his body when he traced the shallow cuts on his thigh.

    Mother would have hated the Smile, just like she hated everything.  He didn't much care though, she wouldn't have to meet It.

    Father, on the other hand, would have loved _this_ Smile.  He would have encouraged It to touch him and he would smile real big at his discomfort.  Father would smile even bigger when he cried.

    Father always said how much they looked the same.  At first he was flattered and proud to be just like his dad, but as he got older he began to hate the similarities.

    As they both got older, instead of looking amazed and impressed at their likeness, Father's smile disappeared, it was replaced with jealousy.  Father had Dorian Grey syndrome, he was obsessed with youth.

    When father's smile finally came back, it was mean and jealous.  The new smile only came when he would trace his fingers over his sons muscular body, where his own muscles used to be.

    "This one."  He would say with quiet awe. "I used to have this muscle." His fingers tracing up and down. He didn't want Father to touch his muscles.  He didn't want him to be sad anymore.

    He hated it when Father used to say, "I used to be a stud like you."  Or, "Go ahead touch his arm, he doesn't mind."

    Father drank more and more.  He got meaner and meaner.  By the time he entered high school, Father had stopped working and started drinking full time.  His mother left, and father didn't even notice.  He was glad, she was lazy and she hated everything, including him.  She acted like he was as disgusting and pathetic as Father.

    One day after football practice he came home to find a trashy looking woman sitting on the couch.

    "Look what I got for you, Son!"  Father tried to say around his bourbon soaked tongue.

    The woman giggled vacuously.  He stared at the woman and Father alternately.  He tried desperately to guess what would happen next.  He could tell it would be bad.  It was.  Father made him allow the prostitute touch him while he watched.  He had cried.  Father liked the tears and smiled.  His father would sit in his old armchair and stroke himself watching his son as if he were watching himself.  It became regular thing.

    The women were appalling, but he learned to enjoy himself through his fantasies.  He made the women smile at him, as if they wanted him.  It helped.  If their teeth were bad, he demanded that they close their lips and smile.  He imagined them feeling lucky and grateful.  He imagined them enjoying it and smiling their appreciation.

    Father told the girls what he liked, he wanted to keep his son happy so that he could imagine himself with the women. It gave him pleasure to see the women enjoying the muscular body.

    He learned to hate women.  His body was more beautiful than theirs, and they were not there for his pleasure, they were there to make his father feel young again.  He was mortified to become aroused in the presence of his father, because it turned father on and it felt so wrong.

    He found that every time he got aroused it became harder and harder to make the pressure go away.  He absolutely refused to allow his father see him orgasm.

    It helped him to not think of them as women, it was easier to think of them as things, that helped him perform the job of pacifying Father's vanity.

    He loved to bite them till their smiles faltered.  He loved the softness of their breasts, it gave him comfort, made him feel snuggly, he loved it so much, he wanted to consume it.  He was always mindful of the avenging fire.  He found the limits of each "Thing" and he behaved himself.  But in his fantasies, he did as he pleased, tearing with his teeth, finding the release he was constantly denied.

    His life changed his junior year.  He came home to find a young smile, a little older than he, sitting in Father's lap.  Its boobs were big and soft.  It had been educated on what he liked.  It was really bouncy and eager, and seemed glad that it was him It was there for, and not Father.

    He tossed his backpack to the side and took It quickly, Father was yelling at him to slow down, but he was caught up with the jiggling.

    _'This one might be the one that gave him the satisfaction he desperately needed._ '  His need for release had grown to a frenzy, his orgasm stayed just out of reach,  He was mindless in his frustration.  The ache had grown deeper and deeper but his release was never satisfying, no matter how hard he tried.  He wanted his father to leave him to this thing so that he could finish!

    It kept its smile steady until he started to nibble, and it faltered.  He scared it when he grabbed Its throat and growled into Its face that It needed to keep smiling.

    It caught him unawares, but the fear in Its eyes excited him!  Hope sprang forth, he sunk his teeth into the breast, reaching and tearing towards his orgasm.  It screamed and slapped him away hard, bringing up Its knees.

    "Freaks! You're both fucking freaks!"  Its smile was long gone and an angry, grossed out look replaced it.  His own fury scared him and the disgusted snarl of Its lips stopped him in his tracks.  Father screaming his rage at being denied, and It was screaming in fear.  He turned and ran. He could hear Father freaking out, all the way down the block.

    Hours later, when he felt that Father would be safely passed out, he crept back in.  It was dark and  foul smelling in the living room, there was an expectant electricity in the air. He needed to see what the smell was, but he was afraid flicking on the light would wake Father.

    He stood in the dark listening for his breathing, he heard nothing.  He quaked with exhaustion and fear.

    He held his breath and tapped on the light and was assaulted by the horror of Father's still smoking body.  Near Father, lay the dead body of the Smile.  Father had killed It and then been punished by the avenging fire.

    His first reaction was shock but immediately after his second reaction was delight!  _'Ah! How fantastic! Father wouldn't be waking up after all, and bonus, he would never have to entertain him ever again!'_

    He laughed out loud like a child.  Then he saw how the breasts were carelessly being crushed by Its arms.  He grabbed the dead man's carcass and tossed it to the side, away from the Smile. He grinned as he carefully uncovered the lovely breasts.

    He frowned as he realized its position wasn't right. He straightened out Its body, but It still didn't look like he wanted it to.  He dragged It over till It sat against the sofa. The Smiles head was a little in the way of his view, but the breasts were right.  Instead of being flat, they hung in a beautiful tear drop shape. _'Nice.'   _ He cupped a breast and lifted it, letting it fall and watched the utter beauty of it swinging back into place _._

    He couldn't resist, he absolutely had to touch his lips to the breasts. They were cold by now, and there was no smile, it didn't feel the way it should.  He tried again and again, he even tried a nibble and a bite, but it was no use, he needed the smile.  He punched It and screamed his frustration. He needed release.

    He stood and collected himself.  _'What would a rational person do in this situation?_ ' He asked himself.  He decided that he didn't want problems with the pimp, so he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

    He tried to use his most innocent voice when he told the coroner that his father and his father's  "friend" were gone.

    "My name is Dillon Emerson, I have to report a cleansing and his victim."

    There was no use for police anymore, there were police that looked for lost children and basically helped the community with squabbles.  But murders were always solved.  If a child or belongings were left behind, the police would go through the correct channels, and make sure everything was fair.

    Dillon told them that his mom was on a flight back from a business trip and that he would be just fine, and after promising to fill out paperwork and get it back to them, they left him to drive to the airport to "pick up his mom."  Instead, he drove to a buddies house and played video games for a couple of hours.

    Dillon never told anyone that his parents were gone, he simply kept living as he always had, his father's checks were deposited into his account and he functioned like an adult.  The only thing different about his life was that he was free of his father's sick demands.  Life was good except that he still couldn't obtain a satisfying orgasm, Father had taken that from him.

    There was something special about this Smile, he could feel it.  Its smile made him feel loved and safe, if he could only find a way to get what he needed from It without It becoming angry.  It would also be convenient if he could get what he wanted without having to listen to It or fuck It.  His lip curled in disgust at the thought.

    Dillon put his boxers on and bounded down the stairs five at a time to his workout gym in the basement. He turned on the TV to the local news and started his workout.

#### Chapter 17

    They had spent a leisurely day,  going out for breakfast and doing a few errands, now they were set up and waiting for the cue to go out onto the stage.

    The Very Close Dwayne's were just wrapping up their set, they were the hottest thing on the circuit at the moment.  They were fun and danceable, Dave had made friends with them, which Nixie had thought was weird because he had always been such a solitary soul.

    Sage and Toby were fantastic at keeping them calm because they had done a million charitable functions and they were funny and relaxed to the very end.

    All of Nixie's family and friends were there to give moral support, they even had their own section so they could see the show.  It was nice to see them dressed to the nines, Nixie's friends shook out their best leather, and her family, well, they  stayed with the latest cheerfulness.

    Nixie expected Sera to not miss an opportunity to attend a concert in her usual over the top form, but she wasn't there and she wasn't answering her phone.

    _'She must be pretty pissed to miss an opportunity to have all this attention_.'  Nixie thought.  _'If that's how she feels, then she can fuck off completely.'_

    She looked across the room at Dave, he was reading a magazine.  He was absolutely fearless and Nixie drew from that.  From the first day they started working on this, Dave was easy to work with.  There was no attitude from him, he was completely unbiased.  He gave straightforward opinions, and they were honest and true.  She was grateful she had him.

    On this piece of music, he had pretty much thrown it together just as if he had it up in his brain the whole time, that it was just waiting for the right moment to be whipped together.  It was seamless and raw, it abused the listener with its violence and stroked their passion into a hot sweaty froth, and then jerked out some illogical emotions.

    Nixie had an idea in her mind as to what she wanted her fire to do, but it was all in theory, she would let her own nature take over, it was a risk but she knew it would work, Dave's music was just that good.

    "Go!"  The man with the headphones sent them to their positions on the stage.  Dave behind his tower of equipment.  Nixie to her side of the stage, out of sight.

    The main stage was in two pieces, when their gig was over, the stage would be pulled apart to the right and to the left behind the curtains to be dismantled while the next act would go on in the center, without the long wait.

    The concerts had gone on all day, different bands played on multiple stages from noon on, by this time, the crowd was drunk and tired, but most had stayed to see the favorite band of the night.  Dave and Nixie were taking the place of the 'Dwayne's'  last song. They both watched the man with his headphones as he counted with his fingers down from ten.  Dave winked at her and disappeared into his own world.

#### Chapter 18

    Dillon was quietly raging as he drove the car.  The Smile was becoming quickly not worth it.  He had driven It around all day, getting It's hair and nails done for the concert, where Its friend, The Hand of God was to appear.  The day was nothing but one big complaint.  He had never seen this smile be so annoying.  He wanted to beat It to death, but he only smiled as he quietly imagined punching Its face in.

    The only reason he was still sitting here is because of the dress It wore.  It had dressed him up like a child's doll and then gone in the bedroom, where he could still hear it whining and complaining through the door.  He had made up his mind to punch it till it was quiet, but when It opened the door and stood there in that dress, well, he couldn't do anything other than stare.

    The dress was made of the finest raw silk in orchid purple.  It was nothing but two long scarves, joined just below the hip bone in the front and just below the dimples above its ass, it's gossamer fabric hung to the floor.  There was a hair thin silver chain draping between Its breasts and Its deeply carved back was naked.  Its soft belly was circled with another of the fine chains, a tiny charm dangled just at the top of the cleft of Its ass.  It looked lovely with its hair piled carelessly on its head.

    If only It could have stayed quiet.  He reached out to touch the pretty doll, its skin so white and pure, but It smacked away his hands and continued whining.

    They were running about an hour late, and It was finally bustling him.  He gripped the steering wheel hard.  It was incessant with Its talking, not once did Its shrill voice stop pounding into his inner peace.  It was complaining about Its friend, Nixie, the one performing tonight with Its fire.

    In the background of his grinding teeth, he heard It say,  "...And I think she's a fool, she hasn't punished anybody in two weeks, and she says she's not going to punish anybody anymore, she..."

    Dillon blinked a few times as the meaning of what she just said sunk though the agony of her voice, and the scraping of his teeth, into his mind as it madly sought escape.

   "It's not Punishing people anymore?!" He said to himself.

    "No, dumbass, SHE is not punishing people anymore."

    Dillon slammed on his brakes and he spun the car around in the middle of the busy street.  Horns blared and It started screaming at him that he was crazy.

    "We're late, stupid! What are you doing?"  It screamed frantically.

    He righted the car and aimed it back at his house and punched It hard on the jaw.  It got real quiet as It passed out.

    Dillon could not stop grinning.  _'This is a dream come true_!'  He thought. A tear slid down his face at his happiness at this very moment.

     _' It was time for him to get what he has always wanted._ '  He choked out an emotional laugh.

    He had to make this perfect. He would set this up to be something to remember always.

    He started to plan.  It had to be restrained so that It couldn't ruin anything.  It also needed to be quiet, he couldn't stand anymore of Its voice.  He had to figure out a way to make it smile the way he liked it, but he would figure that out when he got to that point.

    He chortled with excitement and glee. _'YES!!! I am going to fuck this thing till I cum all over the place!'_   His mind got greedy. _'It's been such a long time coming that maybe I can do it again and again!'_

_    _ He glanced over at the slumped Sera and shouted at her.  "OMG!!"  Mocking her whiny voice.  He laughed like a little kid.

    He carried Its unconscious body down to the basement and laid It unceremoniously on his workout bench.  He hurried to get all the equipment pushed to the side so that he could have It right where he wanted when It woke up.  He had installed bars for his pull ups and his hanging crunches so he knew they were sturdy.

    He never had the need to restrain anyone before so he had to search for something to tie Its hands.  He found telephone wire from way back in the 1900's, still lining the ceiling,  some duct tape, and some bungee cords. He used it all.

    He hung It up on the bars at eye level, making sure to fondle and grope all of its body through the soft silk, grinding on it when he could.  The excited grin was starting to make his face hurt but he just couldn't stop.

    Next, he arranged the huge mirror so that he could see It and himself at the same time, and then he stroked himself, waiting for It to wake up! He wanted to surprise It.

    _'Wait! How could he forget?_ '  The smile! He had to have the smile!

    He raced up the stairs two at a time, which was hard with a hard on, and ran to his car, he yanked open the door and grabbed Its purse.  He dumped it in a corner of the basement and located the lipstick he was looking for and he carefully applied the lip stick all over Its face to look like a smile, even when it wasn't.

    _'Good enough!'  _ He smiled proudly at his ingenuity.  She was waking!  He quickly stripped off his clothes and waited for her to be impressed.

#### Chapter 19

    The curtain opened and a spotlight illuminated Dave behind his deck.  The crowd was surprised.  Only a few recognized him.  The was silence punctuated by some confused rustling from the crowd.

    Quietly, she heard it come, the sun.  The powerful rumble grew to a deep vibration in the center of her being.  It hovered there like it would stay all night, but from behind the sound of the sun came a plucking, cute tune that was made famous by "The Very Close Dwayne's."  Softly, at first.  The crowd roared its approval.  They were on a page they understood now!  They screamed, their hands in the air .

    _'That's why he made friends with them!_ '  Nixie gave Dave a wink that said, 'You're so clever!'

He smiled at her and nodded like, _'You know it_!'

    The nifty little tune grew and the vibration of the sun diminished and the little song soared out front.  But, it was slightly different, it was changing! There was an underlying beat that had been added. It was a black beat brimming with testosterone. It corrupted the little song as it got stronger.

    As the beat in the background became more forceful,  the little song got rangier.  The crowd faltered, hearing something new, their dancing was becoming less sweet, more soulful.  Some people stopped altogether, listening harder, trying to imagine where it was going.

    The background beat slowly morphed the little song into something raw and hard.  The throbbing making the crowd slow down and put hip into their dancing.  They were hooked, eyes lighting up with heat.  Hands started to touch.  The smoky beat started to overshadow the cuteness,  the dancers were grinning like wolves.

    Nixie strode slowly out onto the stage, and crouched.  One hand on her knee, fingertips on the stage.  She waited for the music to need her.  A spotlight snapped on and highlighted her.

    A murmur waved over the crowd of thousands as people started to notice the woman on stage.  She was splendid, crouching there.  Her mohawk was bright as the spotlight pierced through it.  She wore stiletto heels with thin straps that wrapped up her strong ankles.

    As she slowly stood, catlike on the dark stage, a spotlight followed her.  She paced, slow and strong away from the crowd and stopped with her back to them.  The hungry beat pulsed.

    From her palm, a small flame appeared and she casually lit a cigarette.  She tilted her head back as she blew out that first drag.

    An image of her appeared up on four massive screens so that the audience could see her up close.  She looked like they could reach out and touch her.  It was then that they realized that she wore nothing but shoes and a tattoo.  The tattoo was red, orange, purple, blue, and green, it was a fire dragon.  It's clawed hands reached around from behind and cupped her breasts, the claws obscuring her nipples, its body coursing down her back, and the slender tail wrapped around one leg, down to her ankle, its head rested on her shoulder like a lover.

    The crowd screamed its approval of her nudity.  She ignored them and smoked her cigarette.

She turned her head as if listening to something, and the music began to change it up, becoming more aggressive.  The crowd started to clap with the beat.  She stood still, her back to the crowd, resisting.

    At first, one thought it was a figment of their imagination, but it looked like the dragon blinked.  Then its head arched up off her shoulder, separating off of her shoulder and instead of a 2D image, it became 3D and very real!   The dragon was pulling itself off her skin, leaving it's twin behind and catching fire!  The crowd gasped collectively.  The dragon slithered along Nixie's arm like a snake, dropping from her outstretched hand to the stage floor.  She pulled on her cigarette casually as if it was merely a friend walking into the room, and watched it become.

    Nixie's dragon rose up above her till she was only as tall as its back, it kept her wrist circled with the tip of its tail.

    The swaying of the music was irresistible now and she took a last puff of her cigarette and flicked it off the stage where someone crushed it out.  Nixie smiled a tiny teasing smile at the dragon and bent her knees, swinging her ass in time with the music.  She was inviting the dragon to dance with her.  She danced seductively around it like it was a strippers pole, but it stood there watching her,  defying the tempting throb of the music.

    The dragon wound it's tail around her as she danced, occasionally pulling her gently with its tail to see if it could change her direction.  She stepped into its arms and grabbed the shaggy flames around its great head, and kissed it.  The dragons coils had enveloped her and she tried to push them away but they held her firm.  The music changed abruptly and became rough.

    Nixie started to struggle and the dragon raised its head up high and roared at the ceiling.  The roar was so loud it overpowered the music and the crowd, it shook the structure of the stage.  It made people scream in terror.  They were suddenly not sure if this act was safe.

    As it roared, Nixie broke free from it and jumped over the coils and backed across the stage and set herself into a defensive posture, ready to fight.  The dragon lowered its head at her and roared it's challenge at her face.  Its entire head shook with the effort.  It spit flames at her.  Nixie screamed her vengeance right back at it and started running at it.  The dragon balked at her courage and flicked its tail.  It still had her wrist in its grasp and the tiny flick ripped her off her feet and sent her hurtling in the air.  The crowd, now very afraid, screamed but stayed, watching.

    Nixie felt herself flying and extended her arms to catch herself, she curled at the last moment into a somersault that loosed her wrist from its grasp. Without breaking stride she launched herself viciously at the dragon, kicking and punching with her teeth bared.  Nixie used the beat of the music to mount her offensive, her movements were smooth and beautiful.

    She had taken it by surprise and it spread huge fiery wings that washed heat over the crowd.  It flew up just out of her reach and circled around to regroup, whipping its head around to keep its eyes on her every move.  It flew past the back of the audience and landed clumsily amongst her family.  People screamed and scrambled away.  But Nixie's family and friends knew they were in no danger and held their ground, giving the dragon his space and giving the rest of the audience courage.  Nixie locked her knees waiting, hands ready.  Panting, she watched the creeping dragon slither towards her, down off the upper deck and around the aisle.  It had an evil smile on its smoking face.  It wanted to eat her.  She strengthened her stance and she smiled back, _'Pussy.'_

    The music got sexy.  Nixie loved the hot smoky beat that made her want to grind her hips.  She started to dance again,  seemingly forgetting that she was in the middle of a furious battle, swept away by the pumping of the music.  As she danced in her Jing Wu form, the dragon looked confused.  It approached her warily, climbing up onto the stage until it was up on her.  It sniffed curiously, but still she ignored it as if the music had her in a trance.  Again, she invited it to be her partner, not her foe.

    The red and orange dragon touched her experimentally with its massive snout, and when she didn't react, it quickly coiled her up in its flaming body and slid itself over and around her. Nixie lost herself in a dance that was more like making love to the dragon and music that surrounded her.  The audience watched, holding its breath in fascination as the naked woman writhed in the coils of the beast.  It lifted her body in the air watching her admiringly as she arched her back trustingly in its grasp.  It set her lovingly down and looped itself to one side as it watched her dancing with her tiny hands sliding up her own body.

    It happened in the blink of an eye.  Only the music was a clue to the attack from the side.  Out of the corner came a enormous blue flame, it sped over the heads of the audience straight at Nixie, She only had a moment to register surprise before she was struck from the side and knocked to the edge of the stage where she lay stunned.

    Above Nixie, rose a purple and blue dragon, it opened its jaws and bared needle sharp teeth dripping fire.  Again the audience screamed with terror.  This time some people climbed back over chairs to get farther away.

    Nixie lifted her head off the floor weakly.  She had not had time to win this dragon over.  She raised a hand in vain to fend off the striking blue dragon.  She could feel the hot air that was being pushed in front of its strike like the air in a subway.  But the blue dragon disappeared as quickly as it appeared,  Nixie's vision was to slow to register the red dragon tackling the blue one away from her, saving her from its lethal bite.

    The two dragons crashed into the far side of the stage and off on to the tarmac.  On the floor in front of the crowd, the dragons entwined in a desperate struggle for superiority.  It became eerily quiet other than the raging of the flames as they struggled, both dragons straining to gain the upper hand.  Twisting and writhing together like mating snakes.

    They began to twitch as they tired, the red one began to vibrate and then to shake violently, the terrified crowd leaned in entranced by the duel, forgetting their fear. Everyone watching thought the red one was about to die, and Nixie scrambled frantically on all fours and threw herself off stage onto the backs of the two struggling beasts.  She tore at the blue dragon with all that she had, but she was so small and insignificant, that she made no difference.

    The shuddering of the red dragon increased to a supernatural vibration as it felt her trying to help and she was thrown back up on stage.  The audience was on its feet leaning forward, trying to see the battle on the ground in front.

    Nixie started to shuttle forward again towards her red dragon, but it managed to shake so violently that it shook the blue one off , crushing it into the barricade.  It spread out its red orange wings again and rose to hover above the recovering blue dragon below.  The blue and purple dragon screamed its fury up at the red one and bristled, making itself brighter and bigger.

    The red dragon swooped down and encircled the panting, tearful Nixie in a loving, protective gesture of farewell and then rose back up into the air spinning her around as it left her, she reached her hand up to try to stop it.

    The red dragon paused high above the arena for a slight moment as it roared in defiance.  The blue dragon was trying to mount the stage, its eyes locked on the weeping Nixie, who was still reaching out for her red dragon to come back to her.

    The blue jerked it's head around when it heard the roar coming from above it.  It looked up just as the red dropped out of the sky, jaws gaping open, flying so fast that it became a blur.

    Everyone flinched as it seemed the two flaming dragons would collide, no one could believe their eyes when the red one opened its massive jaws even wider and consumed the blue all the way down to his tail, and rose, pregnant and heavy with its kill, to hover precariously above the audience.

    It floated there above everyone, undulating, its eyes, looking into the camera and being displayed on the huge screens above the stage for all to see, were sorrowful.  It had consumed one of its own.  The sadness in those eyes was so poignant, that sobs caught in the throats of everyone there, it choked them.  As the emotional crowd watched, the lump inside the red dragon shrank and blue and purple colors ran through the red and orange of its shaggy coat.

    Nixie stood at the edge of the stage reaching her hands up to the dragon pleadingly.  The music was gone, all that was heard was the white noise of the dragons flames.  The dragon swallowed, rolled its eyes heavenward, and rose rolling and becoming brighter than the eye could bear.  There was an explosion, and the dragon disappeared into a shower of warm water that rained down on all the witnesses.

    In the silence,  Nixie could hear her own wracking sobs.  The falling water mixed with the tears of the audience.  Nixie stood and she walked to the center of the stage where she waited for the audience to compose itself.

    When she spoke, her voice was clear and distinct.  "Look at yourselves.  Look at what you have become."

    Nixie stood before the stunned audience extraordinary in her oblivious nakedness.

    "This little skit that we performed here tonight was to show you how to feel emotions that you have not felt in a very long time.  We want you to see that feeling awe, and fear, and wonder, makes a person feel alive. Happiness and joy are only two emotions that humans feel and it is wholly unnatural to deny all other feelings."

    She paused, looking around the audience.  "Are you happy with who you are, the same as your neighbor?"

    Naked, she strode to one side of the stage, and held out her hand to present Dave.  "This music was created by Dave Hogan."  He bowed.

    "And these."  She produced the two dragons, one on each side of her.  "This is what I can do."

    She stood between the two dragons and she set her hands on them, one of them shook his great head, like a wild animal. "I am not like you and you are not like me!"  She looked out over the crowd sweeping her eyes over everyone.  "You can do things that I cannot."

    "I challenge you." Her voice rang over the silence.  "Take back your individuality. Become human again. Show the world how to feel the entire spectrum of emotions.  It is not human to bind ourselves up into one emotion.  Happiness is not everything."  She stepped back and the two dragons stood and circled each other in a tighter and tighter circle until they red mixed with the blue and they became one.

    Nixie was about to let it shrink down and become her tattoo again, but the dragon halted and it snapped its head around, gazing off into the distance as if listening.  It snapped its head back to her and gave her an alarmed look and bunching its muscles up it crouched and then launched itself, unbidden, off up into the sky.  She stood, confused. That was not part of the plan.

    The crowd, uncertain, was about to applause,  but seeing the look of worry on Nixie's face as she searched the crowd for her mother, they stopped and watched as Nixie's face went slack.

    The dragon grew in size till it was the thickness of a oil tanker and charged off into the distance, taking Nixie's consciousness with it.

#### Chapter 20

    Dillon was thrilled at Its reaction when it awoke.  It screamed when it discovered its bondage and demanded freedom.  It saw his hard cock in his fist, and it began to struggle.  The more it struggled, the more its breasts wobbled.

    "Doesn't It want to fuck me now?"  He pumped his cock till the muscles on his arm tightened.  "What's the matter?"  He mocked.  "It couldn't wait to do me before?"  It struggled and the lovely silk parted, the little silver chain that held the fabric loosely over the breasts, fell to the side, useless.  One breast was exposed and he moaned.  "Oh yes! Beautiful!"

    It started screaming and he was starting to lose his momentum, so he grabbed the duct tape and he wound it around its mouth.  Then he wound it around three more times to be sure, explaining to it, matter-of-factly, that it really did have an annoying voice.

    "You know, you really do whine a lot....I mean a whole lot, it made me want to smash your face in."  He stated all of this conversationally.

    The Smile went quiet.  It must have realized Its error.  He stood looking at his prize, the best thing that has ever happened to him.  He didn't care what happened in the future, he simply wanted to make the Now perfect.  He frowned.  The smile was gone.  He looked around for the lipstick and he retraced the smile over the tape!

    "Perfect!"  He shook his head admiringly, "You really do look gorgeous!"

    He laughed hysterically at the look on the Smiles face when It realized that he was looking at himself in the mirror and not her.

    He flexed his bicep and rolled it watching the contours. "God yes!"  He carefully turned his body to and fro, watching his every move in the mirror.

    "Mmmm! Beautiful."  He watched as his brown skin slid along Its pearl white skin and how his muscles bunched when he squeezed Its ass.  He watched his tongue dart out and lick Its nipple, wanting him to press his handsome face into its fluffiness.  He ground his cock against It, moaning.  His licking became nibbling and he could feel It becoming wet.

    _'It wanted him, even like this!_ '  The thought excited him more and he included a soft bite now and then amongst his nibbles.  _'Oh god, this was going to be it!_ '

    "Come on Dillon, slow down, That's a good boy!"  His voice deepened by his lust. He sounded just like how Father used to sound.

    He watched his gorgeous body slide up and down the luscious softness of the Smiles voluptuous body.  The sight of his muscles straining to be against Its body was almost too much for him, he could feel it lurking, the release that he sought, just out of reach.

    The Smile started to whimper, and he imagined it in the throes of passion, he stroked and licked it into what he thought was a frenzy.  He was starting to cry out and gasp.  ' _Here it comes! do it at the right moment_!'  He had a mouthful of breast and his teeth were itching to bite down!

    His cock found the wetness and he pushed and his teeth clamped down hard as he pumped against the hot wet Thing.  It screamed in his ear, so loud that he didn't hear the rush of the fire coming for him.

#### Chapter 21

    Nixie used the dragons eyes to see where it was going.  It flew like a fighter jet, winging around buildings and skimming trees.  Houses flashed by, lit for a split second by the fire she looked through.  She had only seen through the fires' eyes when her mother was teaching her how.

    The dragon seemed to be in charge at the moment, and that was bad, it must be something that was akin to her being on autopilot.  She wasn't sure she wanted to see where they were going, but the dragon was taking her along for a reason.  Stupid, cryptic dragons.

    Looking down at her daughter on the stage in wonderment, Jenika was bursting with pride!  Tears traced down her cheeks, along with thousands of other people either there and witnessing or watching on television.  The message was clear, " _YOU can do amazing things!"_

    She was proud of her daughter, but she was also proud of the person standing there, naked for all to see.  She was proud of the human, able to create such wonder.

    As she watched her daughters face for some sign of satisfaction, she saw it change, her daughter had looked at the dragon as if it was talking to her, and then she had looked up into the stands in shock, and she knew her daughter was looking for her, for her guidance.

    This wasn't part of the show, this was real.  There was an ounce of fear on her daughters face before it went slack and Jenika knew it was bad.  She glanced around her group to make sure they were safe and she noticed that Sera was still gone. She had thought that Sera would be fashionably late.

    In that very instance she knew Sera was in trouble.  Her eyes met Sages and she grabbed her best friends hand, and tilted her head back.

    Jenika's eyes closed and her hair started to rise.  Thin ribbons of fire burst out of her chest and she sent her consciousness up with them, whipping into the sky.  They followed the fire dragon as it bobbed and weaved through the sky.

    She saw the dragon do a loop and it barreled towards a house in the suburbs.  It didn't slow as it neared the side of the house.  The house splintered apart as the fire dragon plowed through the walls.  It curled its entire self in the living room and bellowed with rage.  Arching its back and tossing the roof off.  Its claws and teeth started to tear at the floor and she dove to help it.

    Jenika, with a little effort formed her fire into a dragon as well, and together the massive beasts tore off the floor and into the basement.

    Nixie saw the fire next to her and immediately recognized her mother in the flames.  She saw her mother try to form her own fire into a dragon as well, she fizzled at first but then it caught and flared to life and started to rip and tear.  Together, they felt invincible, until the floor was pulled up and they saw Sera tied with her hands above her head.

    Sera was barely dressed, and her left breast was savaged and bloody.  Her mouth was bound and she was screaming against the tape at the sight of the dragons.

    At Sera's feet kneeled a muscular man, screaming at the dragons with bloody teeth.  Nixie's dragon saw the blood and screamed with all her might at the man.  Her dragon tore away the houses foundation in its uncontrollable fury.  Its dripping jaws darted at the man's face and the fire that was its jaws, bit down on flesh and shook like a rabid dog.  The man's body was tossed to and fro with the savage force on his face until the flesh released.

    Jenika's dragon slide down into the basement and coiled protectively around the struggling Sera.  She breathed fire carefully on the bonds around Sera's wrists, and used a single razor claw to slice the tape off her mouth.  The dragons fire did not burn Sera, she was family.

    Nixie had the man backed into a corner and he was swinging a pipe at her dragon's face.  She laughed and her dragon rumbled in interpretation.  She wanted to dismantle him right here and now but she knew somewhere behind the fury there was a logic to waiting. She wondered how to cage him without hurting him. She looked at her mother for guidance.

    Jenika saw her daughters dragon look at her quizzically, and she used her mind to surround Sera in a cage of fire, the ribbons crisscrossing to contain her.

    'Ah! That's how you do it!'  Nixie thought and tried to cage the man.  He screamed in agony at her first attempt, she had the fire too hot, but she lowered the temperature to that of hot water and she leaped the heavy body out of the splintered house and into the air.

    Jenika watched her daughters dragon push off from the basement and climb into the sky pulling a smoking cage.  She couldn't open her wings properly in the basement, so she crawled out and then took off, carefully carrying the terrorized Sera.

    The audience watched Nixie stand vacantly, while Dave ran to her side, trying to get her back.  They knew that there was something terribly wrong when the former Hand of God shoved fire out of her chest as well and stood there like her daughter below, vacant, with hair swirling above her.

    This is something that had not been witnessed in almost 20 years, and definitely not together.  People stood in awe murmuring to each other.  Fifteen minutes had gone by and someone started to chant.  "Hand of God, Hand of God!"  The chant caught on and spread through the crowd until the stadium thundered with it.  The chanting went on for ten more minutes and someone pointed up to the fire in the sky.  Then everyone was pointing.  It came.

    The great red dragon dropped its cargo at Nixie's feet and she came alive.  The dragon settled unto the stage and looked up into the sky expectantly.

    Another red dragon came, this one gently setting a girl at a man's feet in the stands. As the crowd watched the man, Doctor Lewis, set about caring for his patient, oblivious to the dragon perched on the rail at Jenika's side.

    "Jenika, I need this cleansed and cauterized, right here, like this."  Doctor Lewis pointed to the wound on Sera's breast.  Jenika's dragon sniffed and then licked the wound, following Doctor Lewis' instructions. Sera cried out and the audience gasped.  It had been a long time since they saw what one person could do to another.  Thousands of hate filled, accusing eyes turned to Nixie's captive on the stage, and settled on the dragon circling the naked man on the stage, its eyes held murder in them.

#### Chapter 22

        Nixie stood before the audience with her head bowed.  She didn't know where to begin.  Being a hard ass wasn't going to help her here.  It was getting late and everyone was tired.  It had been an emotional roller coaster of a ride, and here is where it ended.

    "I was wrong." She said clearly.  She paused for a long time, trying to say it right the first time.

    "I thought that people could not be worse than they are."  She looked into the crowd and sought out Sera.  "Apparently they can be worse than I ever imagined, and beyond."  The red dragon lost control for a moment and lashed out with its razor teeth and took a chunk out of the man's arm, the force yanked him to his knees screaming, his blood splashed the stage.

    She took a deep breath.  "Sera, I'm so very sorry. You paid for my mistake, you didn't deserve this."

    "I thought that if people felt some fear, some heartache, that they would be shocked into being human again.  I hate this phony happiness. The cheerful colors are atrocious. "

    There was nervous laughter in the crowd, people felt free to agree.  One guy took off his cheerful orange shirt and tossed it away! Apparently he hated that color! People laughed hesitantly.

    "I wanted my dragons to scare you, and then for you to love them, and then to cry for them.  I wanted you to see something beautiful other than rainbows and butterflies.  I wanted to instill change in you so that you would cast off this silly, fake persona and care about one another again.  I had hoped for compassion, and empathy.  But in doing that, I didn't protect one of my dearest friends."  She held her hands out to Sera in apology.  I wrongly thought I could trust man to finally be good without my punishments.

    She turned to the naked man, who was now standing defiantly against the dragon, blood dripping from his fingertips.  He was unselfconscious and covered nothing.  The dragon snarled at him and took a swipe with its claws.

    "What have you done?"  Nixie addressed him asking for all to hear.  The man simply ignored her, challenging the dragon to kill him.

    "Oi! Dumb ass! I asked you a question?"  Nixie smacked him upside the head.  The dragon sniggered at him, and he turned and screamed in Nixie's face so hard that all the muscles in his body strained.  He was a ball of pent up frustration and he was about to blow.  He started freaking out, screaming unintelligibly at her.  She got the words 'insignificant' and 'whore', but the rest was screaming and spit.

    Dave stepped forward a cracked the man across the jaw with his fist.  It didn't faze him, he merely screamed even harder, dried blood flecking off his chin.  His face was turning purple.

Dave stayed between the man and Nixie like he could protect her, and the dragon sat to the side blinking at the tiny fool.

    "Lotta help you are."  Dave sassed the dragon.  It snuffled and shook its head.

    Nixie turned to the section where Sera was.  "Hey Ser! Is this the guy with the shiny teeth?"  She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at him.

     In the distance, Sera weakly shrugged, like, ' Yep. That's him.'

    Nixie look incredulously at the crowd.  "Shiny teeth.  That's why she dated him."  The crowd laughed.

    " Babe, You and I have got to have a talk."  The crowd laughed again.

    "It's your call, Sister, he walks or I roast him right here and now."

    Sera was crying, she held her thumb out and she paused for a moment and then pointed it down at the floor.

    Nixie turned to the panting young man.  He was out of his mind.  She didn't even think he really knew what was about to happen to him.  He was still ready to fight.

    "What's your name?"  She demanded.

    "Dillon. My name is Dillon."  He knew at least that.

    "Do you know why you are here?"

    "I don't fucking care!"  He screamed, cords straining in his neck and spittle flying from his mouth.  "Give It back! I'm not done with It!"

    "Well, you'd better care, because I'm about to rip you to shreds for what you've done!"  She said it with a small sad smile.  With that, the people who didn't want to watch started grabbing their things and they hurried to the exits.  Some stayed.

    "I'd like to see you try, you fucking whore!"  With that, Dave tackled him to the ground and bounced back up to his feet and started kicking Dillon in the ribs.  Dillon curled around himself and Nixie put a hand on Dave's arm to stop him.

    "Dillon, For the crimes of rape, assault, kidnapping, torture, and stupidity, I sentence you to death.  Mainly because you dared fuck with my best friend."

    Nixie tossed a dismissive hand at him and without a look backwards she walked away.  The dragon perked up.  Its attention was only on Dillon.

Dillon finally saw his own end in the dragons smile.  "Smile for me baby." He whispered.

    With a twitch, the dragon leapt from its casual, unconcerned posture into a tornado of fire.  It struck at Dillon with the lightening speed of a snake and wound around him like a crushing python.  Dillon screamed and screamed.  At first, defiantly, and then in fear and pain.

    The dragon opened its fire dripping fangs in his face, its snout darted forward and it took a bite out of his shoulder,  it tossed the bloody piece to the side and kept snapping in for more.  Dillon was struggling against the flames wrapped around his body and the vicious tearing at his face, neck, and shoulders.  He was getting weaker and the red dragon finished it, there was a flare and then silence.  The dragon unwound the body and let it fall, smoking to the stage.

    Nixie and the dragon bowed to each other  and it slid up her leg and became one with her tattoo again.

    She grabbed Dave's hand and together they said,  "Goodnight everyone!"  There was a pause as all of it was absorbed and then the crowd started to applause.  People were already standing in the excitement, but they stayed standing and applauded as Dillon's body lay smoking in the background, and Sera was being carried down the stairs on a stretcher.

    Jenika's dragon flew up from its perch on the rail, looped and swooped low over the heads of the audience and was sucked quickly back into her chest.

#### Chapter 23

    It took hours to get out of there.  It seemed surreal to go back to a normal life after a night like that.

    Reporters had begged for interviews, but Jenika was the one that was in charge of PR and when she told the reporters that they would talk later, most of them knew that was the final say.  In the past, some had pushed it and learned the hard way.  The rumor was that it was best to not poke the bear, especially the mama bear, and the story would come to them as soon as it could.

    Dave looked very uncomfortable that so many people were in his house, but that's the way it worked out.  Apparently, Nixie came with family.  Who knew?

    They all wanted answers and Dave could tell that Nixie was wishing she was alone.  He had tried to comfort her, but she pulled away.  Leo gave him an understanding pat on the shoulder.

    It was clear that no one was leaving without Nixie's explanation and apologies, so Nixie cleared her throat and addressed everyone at once.

    "I'm really tired and I need to do a lot of thinking, so I'm going to lay it all out and then I'm going to tell you all to fuck off, all right?"

    Jenika stepped forward and grabbed Nixie by the arm, shaking it.  "That behavior is completely uncalled for young lady."

    She pushed Nixie up in front of the group.  "You have endangered Sera, all of us, and all that we've worked for."

    She waved her hand across everyone in the room.   "These people are your family and you are going to stop acting as if we are the enemy.  You yourself said that your friends have no depth, no bond, yet you ignore those of us who do.  We are all here for you! Whether you like it or not.

    Nixie knew her mother was right.  She had screwed up.  She had dragged Dave into it too.  She had no other option but to apologize, quickly, before she lost all those who really did matter.

    "You're right, I am sorry.  I never meant for Sera to get hurt, I'm deeply sorry for that."  Sera had gone home with her parents and Doctor Lewis, who had sedated her.

    Nixie did her best to explain what she had wanted to accomplish and why.  They all nodded.  They understood, they had seen the weirdness that was becoming the norm.

    "I'm sorry everyone, but I haven't punished anyone in a long time."  She looked down at her feet.

    "Well, actually."  Her mom raised her hand tentatively.  "I knew you weren't, so I did it for you."

    Nixie wasn't surprised, her mom knew everything.  She glared at her dad, who shrugged in a  'Well, you're not as scary as she is.'  Kind of way.

    "Then how did he get Sera?"

    "Neither of us had done the punishing's yet today.  Sera said that she told him that you weren't doing it anymore, and that's when he took her back to his house.  He had never done anything bad because he was afraid of the fire."

    Nixie understood the trust that Sera had in her to keep her safe and felt even worse.

    Steven, a long time friend of the family, was one of their brightest and best, stepped forward and spoke for all of them.

    "Nixie, we see in humans what you see.  But, we also know, and now you know too, that man can be a hell of a lot worse than what they are now.  I think that with the lesson that you learned tonight, you are going to have to grow up and accept our help."

    "Being the Hand of God is not something that should be done alone.  The emotional weight is too much for one person, and that is why the Entity pushed your mother into surrounding herself with us, her support group."

    Steven put his hand on Martins shoulder.  "What you both did tonight was incredible.  The dragons were ingenious, they pulled the concept of God out of the way and replaced the idea with something mystical, something that makes the imagination soar!"

    "The idea of God, or good, can sometimes make people to want to be and act the same.  These dragons were just fantastical enough to be revered and feared as gods, but unique enough to set people free."

    "You stood up there, being yourself and being proud of it.  You showed them that they can be as amazing as you are, that they can create something as fantastical as your dragons, by being individuals.  You showed them how to be cool again."

    Nixie was embarrassed by the praise, she wanted it to be over.  She looked over the faces surrounding her and saw all the people that had helped her mother through all the hard times and realized that they, and their children, were standing in this room _with_ her.  Only a few of these people were her own friends, including Dave.  She had been jealous of her mother's connection with these people, but now she realized that it was no small gift that she had inherited an army of people that were individuals, uncorrupted by the sheeple.  They had been here for her all along.

    Nixie walked over to her mom and actually gave her a hug.  "Thanks Mom." Jenika melted.    "Thanks everybody, again, I am sorry."  She gave her dad a hug too.  He beamed.

    "I'll see everybody on Sunday, Ok?"  And as she walked her mom to the door she said,  "I'll see you over at Sera's tomorrow."

    Jenika stole one more hug from her daughter.  "Nix, thanks for teaching me how to make a dragon.  You're so clever to have thought of making the fire your own."

    Nixie nodded, her mom was proud of her again and she had been forgiven, and that was what all kids wanted from their parents.

    Nixie closed the door behind all her family and she leaned against it, exhausted.  Without a word, Dave took her hand and led her to his bed.  Normally, she would have insisted on her own bed, but She couldn't protest.

    The dragons were a sensation.  Jenika had given an interview and had shown a clip of Nixie dancing with her dragon.  It was going to have to be enough for the public.  She allowed the cameras to get a close up of her own dragon as it sat patiently for the cameras.  From those photos sprang video games, action figures, and stuffed animals.

    Jenika never allowed reporters near Nixie, she hoarded Nixie's privacy viciously.  Even Richard Maguire, a famous reporter who was a friend of the family, was never able to interview her, even though he had bounced Nixie on his knee at one time.

    The world was getting a makeover, but it was slow.  People still tended to gravitate towards fads, but that was normal.  Fads identified generations, some were more embarrassing than others.  People were less creepy, and that gave Nixie some satisfaction.

    Sera went into therapy and came out less vivacious than she had been, but everyone thought that she was still smokin hot, she was just ...classier.  Nixie and Dave convinced her to leave the interior decorating program and sign up for acting classes.

    Dave became a rock star instead of just a local idol, and he managed to do it without having to hang out with a lot of people.  He donated most of his money to FarmAyde, to repay the debt to Toby and Sage, the philanthropy mafia.

    Dillon became famous too.  His name became a common household word, meaning Bogeyman.  There was even a horror movie where The Dillon was running amok while the dragons were on vacation.  They wanted to make a movie called "It", but that was shot down by Jenika and an army of influential people, including a famous writer that created the fear behind the title.

    Nixie sat on the roof early every morning  with her toast and her tea and protected the world from all the Dillon's that popped up.  The only thing that really changed is that she now looked forward to Sundays. She still danced anonymously on the blue lit dance floors of the night clubs, but she went home to Dave when he wasn't traveling.  She still kept her little apartment so that she could feel independent, when he was away, or when he sent her away for being bitchy.

    The dragon stood next to her as she sat in her lawn chair on the roof.  Together they looked out over the city.  Red skies preceded the coming sun, and Nixie shivered and snuggled into her blanket against the cold.

    The dragon half looked at her, noticing the shudder and flared slightly pushing warmth at her.  She smiled a small smile of thanks and reached a fond hand out to absently comb its shaggy mane with her fingers.  Without taking its eyes off of the red and pink sunrise, it moved sideways and rested its forelegs on her feet like a dog.

    Something kept taking her mind off of the beautiful sunrise.  It was as if she was forgetting something, or not noticing something obvious.  The dragon at her feet made her feel safe and she tried to not let it bother her.

    'Life was good, there was nothing to worry about.'  She reminded herself.  She closed her eyes as the sun came, and the dragon readied himself to surge up into the sky.  She started to let herself fall into the depths of her subconscious, when she started to notice a white light growing in the corner of her vision...

#### About the Author

   I'm supposed to write something about myself on this page, but as I think about what makes me different and interesting, I realize that I'm probably a bit like you.  I consider myself a pushme pullyou, and often I think of myself as Sisyphus.

   I have friends and family that I both like and don't like, I'm smart sometimes, and sometimes not so much,  I'm a fool, but I try to be good to others, I have had a hard life, but my life is good, the driver in front of me is always a dumbass, I have strong opinions based on my experiences and my upbringing, but I respect they are different from the opinions of others, and I'm proud of humans and disgusted by them as well.

   If I were to write my own fortune cookie, it would read.

   Life is like a river with a strong, turbulent current.  Some people let the current drag them under without a fight, some keep their heads above water and go with it, others swim with all their might and fight it, and there are some that hang ten and boogie into the sunset!

   Just remember, you are not swimming alone.
