Ashur While we were in the car nothing was said. For the time that we were talking in her dwellings, she told me more than I wanted to know. Information that Father did not tell us about. I fully understood why he did not say a thing. Many of our cousins had been asking us why our father was acting differently. Each time we would say nothing. It was slightly true, we did not know nearly as much as we should have. What bothered me the most was the fact that my father and I had the same mate. It is not the sharing factor that bothered me the most. It was the fact that my father did not tell me. My whole life we have shared everything. This is normal to us … what was not expected was this level of secrecy! If anything Father should have told me! Taking her eyes off the road for a second, “Are you upset that I am mated to your father as well?” Pointing to the road, “Keep your eyes on the road!” Merna only giggled at my order. I knew with her reaction Merna was going to be trouble … a good type of trouble, but trouble nevertheless. “Sharing you is not an issue, is it a problem for you?” I waited for her to respond. As we neared the destination she explained that having multiple partners at the same time was not the problem. The fact it was father and son … that was kind of weird to her. I chuckled a bit while I told her some of the stories of how my father and I would share the same female or male … At the same time. I proceeded to tell her how I was not happy that my father did not tell me. That is when Merna pointed out that the only place where no one could do any type of remote viewing was his personal chamber. It was best that no one knew. At least for now! This made more sense to me, now I could understand my father's paranoid behaviour. As we got closer to the destination, I received a link from Zefer asking me about Tizqar’s whereabouts. I knew that he was to be in the Northern parts. “Do you plan on going home after this?” Merna had reassured me that she had no plans of going anywhere after this. That her chores for the day were completed. I told my sister where to start looking for him and that I was going to be there in a moment. Tizqar was one of the many who could hide and not allow his scent to be found. This was his strength and weakness. His overconfidence in not being found made it easier to get him. For the longest time, I had caught him following me. Finding this out, I told my father of his actions. To add to more suspicion he asked for more shifts, mentioning around Merna’s home. From that point on we made sure he was as far away from the place as we could make it. I was at ease knowing that only our direct bloodline could enter Merna’s domain. Before I left Merna she said one last thing, “tell Chaos I understand why he did what he did. I do not blame him for wanting to protect everyone!“ The moon was at its highest peak when we decided to call off the search. We had assumed that with all of the activity, Tizqar had run off like the coward he was. With work still needing to be done, we sent the scheduled group to guard Merna’s area. Getting back, Ban, Sabit, mother and her mate had more than enough information to back up the claims that had been made. This did not help my brother's situation. I tried to put myself in his spot, thinking if I would overlook this mess. And the truth is … I would not have! It was not one or two reports, there were several coming in at once. A few were families that would disappear without a trace. The pattern was building! One human born would go missing in a blood moon. Then more would go missing, just a fraction. Yet still not enough to catch my brother's attention. But when hundreds were coming in a day all over the realms … my brother should have acted then! In a way I felt sympathy for my brother, it is not often we feel the wrath of my father. With each page he picks up, my father becomes more frustrated and his target was … Kudiya. It was Sabit that broke us away from the task, ‘you need to get to the hybrid’s place now!’ The link had been given to each of us. Portalling to the dwelling, it was a mess inside. This was not how the place appeared when I left. What was more concerning was the amount of blood that was on the floor. My mind was going in all different directions. Father's eyes were wide open. Each of us was thinking the same thing, what happened to Merna? “Aruru, find out what happened here! Kudiya go find Hassun and find out who has been here?” Father placed a hand on my shoulder as the worst thought came to my mind. “If Merna was dead … we would already know!” Father spoke from personal experience. Aruru was using her power to show us what happened. We could see the shadows of the residue energy. A translucent figure of Merna appeared. Tizqar came out of the closet with a dagger in his hand. For a split second Merna appeared shocked that he was there. “Did not think I could get in did you? I am a lot stronger than you, that is for sure!” I could see how Merna’s mind was working, we were all thinking the same thing too. If only those had are direct bloodline to my father, how was it possible that Tizqar could pass … unless. “She never said who the father was, she was sleeping with several males at the time.” Our father said in a whisper as his eyes were on the dagger that was held by Tizqar. “That is a conversation for another day father!” Zefer pointed out the obvious. Merna did not say a thing as she studied Tizqar. It was clear that she knew him by sight and name. She also knew that he was a traitor. While the scene was playing out for us to see, all I could think about was why did I not stay with Merna. I could see it in Tizqar’s eyes he was thinking that Merna was going to be an easy target. What I could not tell was how Merna was going to respond. The fighting started with Tizqar lunging towards Merna. Three times Tizqar swiped the dagger back and forth, each time she was able to block his attempts. On the fifth attempt, the dagger was driven into Merna's side. Merna’s nails grew longer, grabbing Tizqar by the head; she pulled him down to her level once he was in position; she cut his throat with her nails. The expression on his face was someone who realized that he just met his match and was paying for his miscalculation. Tizqar fell to the floor as Merna pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Cancer I made a huge mistake … I am hurting badly … the dagger is still stuck in me … no he is dead … we made a big mistake … Chaos and myself … I thought Tizqar was Chaos’ nephew or something, yes I knew Tizqar was a traitor … only direct bloodline is to get past my security … of course … do you think I would have made this mistake if I had known … thank you!” Merna dropped her phone down on the floor. Her breathing was rapidly coming in and out. Slowly she lowered herself to the floor. No sooner after she was laying down on the floor did a male barge throw the door. The male ran over to Merna. Merna gave the male a name, Sagittarius. After Sagittaruius uttered a string of swearing, the male was on his phone. However he was talking to them, he was giving them information about what was happening. The male bellowed, “Merna!?” “Sagittarius! How are things going?” “Better than you!” “Ah … yeah at least you could say I got the point this time!” Merna was chuckling. “Merna … No!” Sagittarius only shook his head.Once he pressed a button on his phone he placed it near Merna. “How badly is Merna bleeding?” A female's voice could be heard. “Well doc, it looks like it is a heavy bleeder … but I think it is manageable!” Merna uttered. “It is good to hear that you are doing fine, my name is Jenny … Sag’s wife. Could you tell me how big the blade is?” Merna made a funny face while Sagittarius was ripping her shirt. “Bastered said he was eight inches, fucker lied, I know three inches when I see one!” There was chuckling coming from the phone, “I see you say jokes when things are stressful, I can work with that. Sag … did the blade go straight or on an angle?” “It probably went in straight but was pulled up!” Merna had let out a lung full of air. “Tizqar was making sure that this was going to be a slow and painful hit. He wanted to make sure Ashur and Chaos lost their shit!” On hearing my father’s name Sagittarius made a questionable face, “What do they have to do with this?” “I have multiple mates!” Merna was quick to reply. “Wow!” We heard from the phone. A black bird flew into the still open door. In front of us, the black bird transformed into a male. “Draco!” Merna said the name. “Glad you could join us!” All of our jaws were gaped open, the black birds were stories that were told to us as children from our mother. The neruppu paravai were considered to be dead. Our eyes bounced from Draco to Merna. “Is it possible?” I asked out loud. “Yes … No … Maybe!” My father was as beside himself as the rest of us were. What stood out about this male was that even though he came into the scene as a black bird, his humanoid features were that of a dragon. A paravai by itself is rare to have a hybrid paravai and dragon … this has not been heard of except in fairy tales. Sagittarius was looking at Draco, “Constellation?” “Yep!” Draco knelt near Merna, “We have to make this quick, there is a hoard coming this way from the west side, not far from here.” “Did they have a black dragon symbol?” Merna asked.“Yes!” “We do not have to worry that would be Chaos’ crew” Merna closed her eyes for a moment. He kept his hand on her head, “Do not worry kid, we are going to get you the help you need.” Draco took one look at Tizqar and then back to Merna. Sagittarius was telling Draco that they needed to stop the bleeding so that they could take Merna to Jennifer. As Draco was ripping the remainder of Merna’s shirt Sagittarruis was pulling out the blade while pushing gauze into the wound. “Do you know who that was?” Draco asked Merna. “I thought Tizqar was Chaos’ nephew but I was wrong … He was teamed up with Parppavar. If I had known he was here, I would not have allowed Ashur to leave … I know ashur would have loved to get his hands on Tizqar for sure … possible Zefer.” Draco made a funny expression that appeared to be disbelief, “Tizqar is a …” “Moron!” Merna said quickly. “That too but I was going to say second to fifth generation dragonborn! He should have been stronger than this!” “HIs arrogance was my key to success!” Speaking louder, “Jennifer … I was able to get the wound filled, we just have to wait for Pisces and Cancer to get here!” “I have the table ready and my cousin is on his way with the rest of the medical supplies. There are going to be more injuries to come!” Just as they were getting Merna ready to move two more black birds flew into the house. Like Draco, they shifted. Merna mentioned their names Cancer the older male and Pisces a young man. “The door needs to be shut and windows covered … we have incoming!” Merna informed the group. “We need to get rid of the body!” The older man said. “First we will deal with Aqua … then we will clean up the body!” The older male raised his brow while glaring at Draco. “I did not realize you called the shots!” “Aquarius just took down a black dragon … on her own … that was second to fifth Gen. She earned that title among the Constellations!”“As much as I like lying around, we need to move before Parppavar sends more my way, I am not feeling the greatest today. I have a black room that can get us anywhere. All you have to do is think of the person or place that you want to go to. And big bada boom you will be there. But we need to go now!” “Pisces!” Everyone said the young man's name, but Merna. Pulling out a flask he took the lid off. Summoning the water, “whatever you do, do not fight me!” The kid told Merna. Cancer wandered around the place, from the back, he yelled at the group that he had found the black room. At the same time, Pisces was manipulating the water to wrap around Merna and lift her off the floor. Pisces had full control! “I need to get Merna to drink the sedative before we leave!” Sagittarius told Pisces. Manoeuvring her so that she would be able to drink the liquid. Sagittarius told Merna what was going to happen. Without hesitation, she opened her mouth and the bottle was tipped. Drinking the liquid, she started to count backwards from ten. Struggling once she said five, by the time she muttered three Merna was asleep. “My big sister is a fighter!” Pisces chuckled. Draco snorted, “of course our queen would be … she would have to be to take on a higher ranking black dragon!” He sounds proud of Merna Merna made a sound that appeared to be of a bird. “We have to move faster, she is trying to shift!” Draco said to the group. “She is like you Draco!” We heard from the phone, “one part dragon one part paravai!” The whole group appeared shocked, except Pisces and Cancer. ‘How much do they know?’ I wondered to myself. Slowly they moved towards the black room. One at a time everyone went into the area. “Draco you are the only one that knows how to use one of these things! Do your magick!” Cancer told him. “I should have known!” Zefer muttered, with Aruru agreeing. “Everyone hold onto your last dinner, dragon vortex’s are a lot stronger than the average mage portal.” Draco chuckled darkly.The bastard knew what the others were going to experience. “This time yesterday Draco!” The old man commanded. The group disappeared! At that point, Aruru discontinued her spell. It was obvious what happened after the group got Merna to Jenny. We already knew they disposed of Tizqar’s body. If Tizqar had been honourable we would have demanded the body back for a proper ceremony. In this case, his body can rot into filth for all we care. “I now know why I would have pushed Merna away!” Father started. “Merna is a paravai. But not just any ordinary paravai! When a dragon and paravai have an offspring the chances of a phoenix being formed is … very high! They are the rarest and in many ways the strongest, feared by many.” “She is a human born hybrid that is a bird!?” Kudiya spoke up after being quiet for so long. “You hatchling!” Aruru glared at Kudiya as if he just hatched. “Did you not see what they said? No human born is able to shift! Dear beloved brother … sometimes I believe you were dropped on your head one time too many!.” “Enough!” Our father roared, “Merna is in a great deal of trouble now … so are we! We have to find out if there are any more phoenix and if so how many. When one appears, that is not a problem … several means there is a war coming.” Father glared at me, “phoenix’s are the master of death! They are feared and worshipped at the same time! By the look of things we have just seen two in one location!”