Here in Heaven

Chapter 4

Gannon Goldbourne fought back the urge to bury his face in his large hands but he couldn’t stop the heavy sigh of resignation that escaped his lips. The video that was playing on the large screen was now just an image of a giant wall of fire. The council member that had been sent to deal with the issue let the video of the fire go on for a few more seconds before she turned the screen off.

She didn’t say anything right away. Instead, the woman just sat back in her chair and stared at the men in her office with her large bright jade green eyes. Gannon was not privileged enough to know the woman’s first name. She only introduced herself as Councilwoman Attor.

Even with his keen sense of smell, it took Gannon a moment to determine what sort of shifter the councilwoman was. He had never seen a dragon with his own eyes before. And the fact the council sent her instead of the vampire that usually supervised their region was unsettling enough that it had even an Alpha like him wanting to squirm in his seat.

Gannon tried not to stare at the woman. But dragons were rare. Almost extinct. This might be the only time in his life he ever had the privilege to meet one. Her skin was tanned from the sun. And her face was youthful. Guessing from that alone, she appeared to be not much older than his son. But her long white hair revealed her true age. Being a dragon, she was likely hundreds of years old. Gannon was fascinated by her. He only wished his introduction was under better circumstances.

“Councilman Lewis told me that he’s already issued you both several warnings,” she said. Her voice was low and had a slightly gravely rasp to it. Gannon supposed rough vocal cords came with the territory when one had the ability to breathe fire.

Gannon nodded his head. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Daniel Darko did the same. The man was tall for a warlock. His long black hair was pulled back from his face and gathered into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. Unlike Gannon, who had come to the meeting in nothing more than a fitted t-shirt and jeans, the warlock king was dressed to the nines. The man was wearing a custom-tailored designer suit. The suit was solid black, as was his shirt and tie. His designer sunglasses were tucked away in the inside pocket of his jacket.

“I think it’s clear from the video that my coven only retaliated after we were attacked,” Daniel announced, “the animals responsible should be punished.”

Gannon shot the other man a dirty look. But he kept quiet and waited to see what the dragon woman would do. Her green eyes began to glow slightly brighter than before. She was looking towards the Warlock King but her focus was not on him. It was on Trevor Black, his nephew, that was standing behind him.

“Is that true, young man?,” she asked, “was this attack on your people unprovoked?”

The glow in her eyes increased. And that’s when Gannon realized why this particular woman was sent instead of their usual councilman. She was a truthseeker. The young warlock’s eyes began to glow in response to the dragon’s power. He was fighting her. Trying not to let the woman into his mind. His eyes brightened, glowing almost as bright as pure fire for a moment. Then the light in them went out. They were back to the young man’s usual hazel brown.

“No,” Trevor blurted out, “that’s not true. I started the fight. I exploded a blue slushie all over one of them.”

At his admission, the glow in the dragon’s eyes dimmed, returning her eyes to their still brilliant green. The woman shook her head in disgust. But the boy’s uncle was even angrier than the councilwoman. Daniel Darko was assuming a very casual body posture before his nephew’s admission. Now his body had gone rigid and he was practically shaking with anger.

Daniel felt his fingernails digging into the flesh of his palms. Not only was he just made to look a fool in front of Gannon Goldbourne. His nephew was acting like an even bigger fool. Trevor was heir to the Midnight Shadow Coven. The largest and most prestigious coven on the entire continent. And he was out fighting with wolves. In front of humans. OVER A f*****g BLUE SLUSHIE!

Daniel was out of his chair in a flash. The man grabbed his nephew by the throat and lifted the younger man off his feet. He pinned Trevor against the wall, choking him. Gannon turned and exchanged a questioning glance with his own nephew. Mikey shrugged and gestured with his palms up. His opinion was clear. If the warlocks wanted to choke each other out in the council office, who were they to stop them?

“I WILL NOT HAVE THIS DISRESPECT IN MY OFFICE!”

The dragon woman was up and out of her chair. Though it wasn't directed at him, Gannon could still feel the powerful aura that was radiating off the woman. He never felt anything like it. Her body temperature increased substantially. Enough that she was making the rest of the room warm. Daniel let go of his nephew immediately. The young man dropped to the ground gasping for breath.

“SIT DOWN,” she ordered. Daniel sat. “You were called here because your young coven members won’t stop fighting on human territory and you have the audacity to come into my office and start fighting here!”

The dragon woman returned to her chair. She brushed a stray lock of her silver white hair out of her face and smoothed down the front of her dress, trying to regain some composure.

“I apologize for my outburst,” Daniel told her. “I expressly ordered my nephew not to start another fight with the wolves. Especially in front of the humans.”

Gannon maintained as much control as he could over his facial expressions. Pack wolves were physically unable to disobey a command from their Alpha. He always assumed that it was the same for warlock coven members and their king. But now he realized that was not the case. If Daniel Darko knew he was giving his enemies new information about the inner workings of his coven, Gannon doubted the man would have spoken up. Either way, Gannon decided his best course of action was to keep quiet and see if the man would reveal anything else.

“You may punish your nephew in any way you deem fit,” the dragon told him. “You may NOT do it here in this office.”

Daniel nodded his agreement to her rule and apologized again. He was quite rattled after the woman’s abject display of power. Daniel never encountered a warlock with magic stronger than his. And that was before he married Julianna’s mother and absorbed her magic. That more than doubled his powers. Now there was no one that dared to challenge him. No one except Gannon Goldbourne and his filthy wolf pack. And now this dragon woman. He never felt power like that. Power that made him feel small and insignificant. It frightened him. And he didn’t like that at all.

The dragon woman opened the top drawer of her desk and pulled out a slender gold case. She opened the case with a metallic click and withdrew a cigarette. Holding it between her fingers, she lifted the cig to her lips and blew, lighting the end of it with her flaming breath. She put the unlit end to her lips and pulled a long drag of smoke in, holding it in her lungs for a moment before she blew it out in a gray cloud that slowly dissipated into the air around her.

“Here’s what’s going to happen now…,” she announced. It was clear from her tone that the mild entertainment she was getting from this meeting had long since worn off. “The fighting is going to stop. There will be no more incidents like the one yesterday. If this happens again, I am going to call the offenders into my office.” She paused, taking another slow drag from her smoke and blowing it out. “I am going to burn them. And then I am going to eat them.” She looked back and forth between the Alpha and the Warlock King, gauging their reactions to her rather gruesome announcement. “Is that clear,” she asked.

Gannon nodded his head. From the corner of his eye he could see that Daniel was doing the same. How long this forced truce would last was anyone’s guess. His only concern at the moment was getting out of this dragon woman’s office before she got hungry for lunch.

“You are all dismissed.”

Gannon got up quickly, his chair scraping against the floor in his haste to leave. All four men emptied themselves out into the waiting area outside the office. There was a moment of awkward silence before Mikey spoke up.

“Truce?,” he offered, extending his hand out towards Trevor Black.

Gannon was only a little surprised at the young man’s actions. Mikey was his nephew, the son of Gannon’s younger sister. And though he could be a fearsome fighter when necessary, the boy took after his mother in personality. And she was a gentle and caring person. There was no doubt in his mind that Mikey was sincere in his desire for peace.

Trevor looked down at Mikey’s outstretched hand like it was a disease. Gannon was shocked when the young warlock stepped forward and started to reach out with his own hand. But just before their hands touched, Trevor yanked his hand back, holding it up with his middle finger pointed up. The boy’s evil cackling laughter filled the room as he disappeared in a poof of red smoke. Daniel’s eyes began to glow red and just as quickly as his nephew, he was gone, leaving only a bit of smoke behind.

“I tried,” Mikey sighed with a shrug of his shoulders. Gannon nodded and wrapped his arm around the younger wolf’s shoulders, wondering when the young man had gotten taller than him.

“You did your best,” he reassured the boy, “You’ll make my son a fine beta one day.” Mikey smiled and hugged his uncle back. The truth was, he meant what he said about a truce between their groups. The feud was so old most of them didn’t even know how it started in the first place or what it was about. He was tired of fighting over nothing. They walked towards the elevator together.

“...speaking of my son,” Gannon added, “where the hell was he when all this was going on?”