Chasing the Silver Dragon Part One Disconnect

By Beverly Anderson

Silver Dragon has become a bane to the werewolf community in recent years. Designer heroin, one that actually affects were creatures where normal drugs are simply a passing fancy, has infiltrated the St. Louis werewolves. One of these, a young woman named Anna Maddox, wants her brother back somehow from the brink he's standing at. To do this, she reaches out to the ancient order, the Children of Asclepius. Duncan Powell hears her plea and pledges to help her rescue her brother from the streets of St Louis.  

 

He goes to Detective Sebastian Pearce, a member of Unit Zero, the law enforcement agency that deals with supernatural creatures that pose a threat to the peace in the world. Sebastian implores him to leave things to Unit Zero, but Duncan is stubborn and goes down to the Red District to find the young Were. Sebastian and his partner follow and then begin the mission that will either save Kacey Maddox or doom all of them. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Warrioress Publishing
• Release date: May 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224882250

Book preview

Chapter One

The Red District

Duncan Powell stared across the desk at the young woman who had come to visit him. He wasn’t sure exactly what she expected him to do about her problem. He was but a humble alchemist trying to make his way in the world by helping people. He spent most of his days making Wolf Moon potions to help Weres control their shape or the Daybreaker potions to keep Vampires safe from the sun. Of course, he made other, smaller potions. Draughts of healing, salves for burns, and other medicinal supplies. He was the Head Alchemist, had been for a few years now, and was known in Alchemy circles to be really efficient and productive with his time. He also dabbled in experimental potion and transmutation. Though not often done by the average Alchemist, transmutation was essential to someone like Duncan in his position. He knew more than the average Alchemist. Not that the average person would know any of that. The fact that he spent most of his time healing, though, meant that the average Supernatural knew who he was and where to find him. He had become rather well-known in the St. Louis community since he came to the area a few years before.

So, you want someone to help rescue your brother? he clarified, running a large hand through his wavy black hair. It was really too long, but he never had the time to take care of details like his hair. He was lucky if he changed clothes and ate these days. He had a habit of losing himself in his work since he had been an Alchemist apprentice. That fact did not change with time.

Anna Maddox nodded. Anyone. I thought that if anyone could help, it would be the Children of Asclepius.

Duncan chewed his lip for a second and stared at this woman. He gently pushed the black, wire-framed glasses up his nose as his light blue eyes took in her shape and form. Well, she was not really just a woman; she was a werewolf of the Maddox clan, one of the biggest clans in St. Louis. She stood a medium height, with a slender build and long, straight brown hair that she wore in a tail on the back of her head. Her hazel eyes were no doubt striking when she transformed, he imagined, but now they seemed small in her face. He wondered if they had the golden glow that so many werewolves had if they turned some other shade.

I’m not sure you understand what the Children of Asclepius do… he trailed off, realizing his explanation would be ineffective.

I know you help people. She was adamant in her statement. I know that’s what I need.

She wasn’t wrong, exactly. They did help people, but more with healing needs than something like this. The Children of Asclepius were an ancient order that originated in Greece long ago. They were healers and mostly, like Duncan himself, were Alchemists who specialized in treating and caring for Supernaturals like werewolves. They were the single place to get the transformation control potions that most Weres depended on to retain control of their shifting. There was even a hospital called the Asclepius House, hidden in the middle of nowhere Missouri, where the group handled incredibly difficult cases. The other branches where they were based were just called Healing Houses, and that was where Duncan worked now, in the St. Louis Healing House. Of course, to the outside world, the building looked like nothing more than an old apothecary that had gone out of business.

What is it you want me to do? Duncan asked.

Get him out and help get him clean of this stuff!

Silver Dragon? he assumed.

She blinked, a little surprised by the look. Yes, how’d you know?

Duncan sighed at that point. It’s not the first request I’ve had for this reason. I have yet to see a sample of this stuff, so I’m not sure where to begin to help someone get off of it.

Kacey was vulnerable. He’s different, which sets him apart from the others in the clan. I think he turned to drugs to cope. She shifted, looking uncomfortable.

What do you mean, he’s different? Duncan wondered what that meant exactly. Different was not good in a clan of traditionally minded werewolves.

She put a hand to her mouth for a second. He’s born male but more female than that.

So, he’s transgender?

That would be surprising. Werewolves didn’t usually struggle with gender identity. Of course, this meant that being anything besides the gender they were assigned at birth left them vulnerable to becoming outcasts from the clan. It was backward thinking but common enough among the bigger clans. The smaller clans tended to be more open-minded.

Not female, but I guess he says he’s something called nonbinary. Like, he says he’s not really all the way male or all the way female. He likes to dress in women’s clothes and wear wigs and stuff like that, but sometimes he just wants to lie on the couch in a hoodie and be a ‘dude,’ as he says. It just depends on the day. She swallowed hard. But either way, the clan gets being one or the other; they don’t understand this. He’s been an outcast for years for this. I think he got involved in human drugs to relax, you know how they don’t affect us very long, and he somehow got hold of this Silver Dragon. And now he’s disappeared down in the Red District. I can’t find him, so I need help.

Duncan sighed again. How could he not help in this situation? He could be intimidating if he wanted to; he rarely chose to be. At over six feet tall, he was a big guy. He wasn’t exactly the most muscular guy in the room, but he wasn’t a beanpole like many other alchemists. He didn’t talk about it before he became an apprentice, but there was a time when he wanted to be a different person. Of course, that thought brought up the memory of how he became an apprentice to the Head Alchemist that came before him.

He had been fourteen. He was a tall, muscular kid for his age, almost five ten already, and had spent much time lifting weights in school. He had a natural musculature that attracted attention, and he had attracted the wrong people’s attention. Being young, alone as a foster kid, he didn’t have a lot of friends, so when a group of kids older than him asked if he wanted to hang out, he’d said yes. He didn’t realize the trouble coming his way. They wanted to meet by the river one night, and he thought it was odd, but he’d gone, curious about what they wanted to do at the river. He didn’t know it was to make a meal out of him. They were a group of Weres, young delinquents who had formed their own pack and wanted to break free from the oppressive rules of the clans. They wanted to initiate their pack bond in blood to do that, and they had chosen Duncan.

It was said that to create a new pack, a group of Weres needed to gather under the full moon, bless each member with the blood of a sacrifice, and then share the heart of the sacrifice. This had not been done in centuries. One of the young Weres had been researching old traditions and found that that was the only way to get a new pack blessed by Gaia and acknowledged by the Mystic Ring. This old information no longer existed since the Mystic Ring banned human sacrifice and the use of humans as food sources. These young Weres, though, did not realize this. They only knew they wanted to unite as a pack, and this was the only information they had access to since the truth of creating a pack was shrouded in mystery to the general populace of Weres.

Duncan went there, and at first, everything was fine. They talked, joked, drank beer, smoked cigarettes, and shared some weed. Duncan wasn’t sure what he’d done to get in with such a cool group of people, but he was enjoying all the attention. Then, at midnight, the oldest one announced it was time. Duncan had asked what it was time for and was told, for his death and their rebirth. He was confused, but then all twelve of the people present began transforming into their hybrid forms. He was truly scared but also fascinated because he had just opened his eyes to the supernatural world beyond the Mirage.

Things got blurry then, either from the drugs and alcohol or from fear, but he remembered one of them grabbing him by the shoulder and leaning in to bite his neck with his powerful jaws, and then he was on the ground, blinking in surprise, as a man in robes decorated with strange symbols was sternly talking to the young men and women of the group, now returned to their human forms.

This man, the Head Alchemist named Figaro Demontes, eventually came to kneel beside him, asking if he was okay. He barely remembered the discussion that followed, but he remembered being more excited than scared and told Figaro that. He explained how cool it was and seemed to forget his life had been in grave danger. Figaro chuckled and asked if he wanted to return to the Alchemy lab. Duncan had gone, and after some tests to see if he had the aptitude for Alchemy, Figaro took him on as an apprentice, calling him his prodigy.

He shook