Lotus17

Hey folks! This is part of the Santa’s Secret Transfic Stash Volume 4 bundle from the holiday! I’ll post this chapter now, and the rest in following weeks. If you wanna check it, as well as tons of other awesome stories, out, please give the bundle a look!

For a dragon, there was little that was more dangerous than letting someone close to your neck. On every dragon, from the day they shatter through their egg, is a single scale that grows in the opposite direction of every other. This scale, growing just under a dragon’s chin, is softer and more vulnerable to weapons or magic than any other part of their body, and they protect it with every fiber of their being. 

Most dragons go their entire lives without letting anyone touch it, not even a mate. To let someone come that close to you is to invite death, some say. Others say it is a natural instinct to protect your weakest parts. These dragons tend to see every relationship as transactional, a path towards continuing to live in wealth, power, and comfort.

But some, a rare few, of dragonkind ignore their instincts. They let love or complete and utter trust take over, and they are often rewarded with the greatest feelings one could ever have, both physically and emotionally. Their love or trust with their chosen person or people extends far beyond what many could conceive of, and those bonds often become unbreakable. 

Which was exactly what happened to my parents, about three centuries before I was born. All three of them—two dragons and a vampire—were still just as deeply in love with each other as they had been on the day they wed. Baba and Papa showed their scales proudly to both one another and to Mother. Even in their human guises, when around the comforts of home they refused to hide their beautiful, shimmering red scales.

Growing up, it had felt almost impossible to compare to. In the face of the three of them, everything about my life felt dim. My scales didn’t glow as brightly, my fire didn’t burn as hot, and none of my relationships could remotely compare to the kind of trust they felt for one another. Every time I brought things like that up, one or another would say something like “you’re your own person, don’t live your life comparing yourself to others,” or “we’ve lived for centuries, what you’re seeing is the end result.” While it all meant well, it did absolutely nothing to help.

This led me down a long path. Years passed in the blink of an eye. An excitable and adventurous childhood faded into a more neutral and bored teenage years. As I grew older the world seemed to shrink away from bright lights and brilliant colors, and instead put a soft grayscale filter on everything. Neither my large and bulky draconic form nor my humanoid form offered me comfort. Once again my parents told me this was a possible growing pain, so I believed them.

Before I knew it even those years faded away. Every year I waited for the moment everything would begin to fit, but it never did. My scales still looked wrong, both of my bodies looked and felt too bulky, everything about me just didn’t make sense with what my brain told me. 

And now I was trapped in a life that felt so hollow compared to everything I’d grown up expecting. I spent more and more time with humans, looking human, just so that I didn’t have to deal with seeing anything of my draconic parents in the mirror. They reached out, once in a while, but I rarely responded in a timely manner. After all, they had all the time in the world. My whole life was barely a blip on the radar that was their lives, they could afford to wait a week before I texted back.

Besides, there was something far more presently important to me: My roommate Ian and the gift I was getting him for Christmas.

It was a small and silver necklace, with a beautiful ruby pendant shining brightly as the centerpiece. It glowed with an aura that shouted ‘magic’ to the entire world, not that the world cared.

In the old days, back when my family had only just bound themselves together, such magic would have been astounding to most, and unbelievable to the rest. The magical and mundane worlds were meant to be separate, a line expressed by thousands of dragons, witches, and others too afraid of their power being jeopardized by a change in the status quo.

When the twentieth century hit its stride with not one, but two mundane world wars, the community decided it was time to speak up. It was a slow process, starting with only those who would not frighten humanity back into the dark ages. Things started dangerously, with several hurt or killed due to irrational fears, but within a few decades things stabilized. The abnormal became normal.

By the time I was born, it would be hard to imagine life without the two worlds colliding. There were buildings dedicated to supporting werewolves on the full moon, shelters designed with wards against abusers, and even places where you could find yourself with a dragon roommate.

Ian never complained. When we first met and he caught the shimmer of the scales on my neck, he was obnoxiously curious. He almost tried to touch it, just once, before I grabbed his hand and growled. He apologized the next day, and ever since had been a model roommate. For almost two years we lived together, with next week’s Christmas celebration marking an almost exact anniversary.

In that time, he became my closest friend. We joked together, stayed up far too late watching movies or playing games, and eventually grew close enough that we could tell one another almost anything. I still held some of my most shameful cards close to my chest, but Ian was far more of an open book. More than once, he cried on my shoulder after a bad breakup with a partner, or vented about how weird he felt in his skin. The last thing was almost enough to make me want to come clean.

Almost.

But no, I wasn’t so brave. I couldn’t tell him the truth about my own body, because of one simple fact:

He was jealous of me. Of my inhumanity. Of my being a dragon. All of it merged and became an anchor that I could almost feel weighing him down every time he looked at me. For ages, I wasn’t sure what to do. 

And then I found the necklace. It was in a corner shop known for selling magic trinkets. I didn’t even mean to go in, the ruby necklace on display had just been so pretty that I had to see it. The werewolf shopkeeper knew the focus of my attention the moment I set foot in the store. All it took was her telling me it was a Pendant of True Form for me to almost rip it from the mannequin. It was perfect. 

There would have been other methods of helping Ian’s body match his soul, of course. There were plenty of rituals and potions out there with those very effects. However, most took changes one day or week or month at a time, slowly molding one’s body into the form they most desired. A Pendant of True Form skipped all that, looking into someone’s mind to find the perfect body for them. They were exceedingly expensive, but if Ian didn’t deserve this then no one did.

When Christmas Day came, I was more excited for Ian’s present than I was about mine. The very idea of seeing him realize what it was and watching his body mold itself into his true form was intoxicating.

I let my legs bounce as we exchanged gifts. His gift to me was sweet enough that it warmed my blistering heart: a set of pairing rings, so that I and someone I chose would always feel as though we were side by side, no matter where we were. I didn’t have anyone like that, but the gold and emerald rings were going to make a gorgeous addition to my hoard.

Unfortunately, Ian was hesitating to open his present. He recognized my obvious excitement, and once he grinned I knew what he was up to.

“What’s got you so excited, Ollie?” He asked as his hands hovered over the gift. He hadn’t even touched the wrapping paper, yet.

I shuffled in my seat, and gave my best glare. When he immediately laughed, my expression collapsed into a pout. “I just think you’ll like your gift. If you open it.”

“Oh? And why would I be excited, dear Ollie?”

Bastard. “Because it’s a good gift, okay? I know you’ll love it.”

“I’ll love it, will I?” His hand finally touched the box, before he slowly and gently began removing the wrapping paper from the box. It was agony.

 But oh, that agony was worth every second. As soon as Ian pulled the necklace out of the opened box, he recognized it. The look of shock on his face was quickly replaced with that of pure joy. “Is… is this..?” He trailed off.

“It is,” I confirmed with a smile. 

“But… how? A pendant like this costs thousands. I’d know, I’ve looked it up!” He asked as he breathing increased in pace. “My gift was barely sixty bucks!”

Was that what this was about? My brow furrowed as I tried to understand the reaction. “I don’t understand. Is it not good?” I thought it was amazing, personally. Was it not good enough? Had I made a mistake?

Ian shook his head the moment the question left my mouth. “No, I… Ollie, how much did this cost you, really? I don’t think anything I have could match up to this.”

I shrugged. “I dunno, $6000 maybe? It wasn’t nothing, but I’m a dragon. My hoard is jewelry. I have money.”

He clearly didn’t like that answer, but didn’t argue. “I guess, but are you sure you don’t want this for yourself?”

I recoiled at the thought. “No, no way. Ian, bud, it’s for you. It’s a gift. Please, use it.”

I needed him to remove the temptation from me, because he wasn’t wrong. I so badly wanted to put the necklace on and see how I changed, but I couldn’t. If nothing happened it would have broken me.

If Ian noticed my own feelings, he said nothing. Instead he took a deep breath, and waited not one second longer before pulling the necklace over his head.

It glowed a brilliant red once. Then twice. And then the ruby gemstone exploded as magic enveloped my friend. 

The light that followed was enough that I had to close my eyes. It was brilliant enough to be actively painful. Once I opened my eyes, I couldn’t believe what I saw.

A dragon sat before me, with our couch and the Christmas tree ruined, both crushed under the weight of a massive red dragon. His scales were brilliant and bright, and I could see the flames dancing within them. Brightest was the ruby scale sitting on his neck, reversed like any other dragon had. His eyes were now a beautiful gold, and the look he gave me made me quiver in my seat.

As he stared right at me, all I could do was shake in my unbroken half of the couch. I had one thought above all others.

Oh no, he’s hot.