Heat

Heat…

It means something different to everyone.

To a farmer it is the sweat dripping off his brow, the dizziness that comes with the scorching sun and dehydration to follow.

To an Animal, it is the signal, the overwhelming and undeniable urge to create more of themselves.

To Someone who has just broken the law, it is the anxiety of their freedom slipping away moment by moment for the gamble that seems worthwhile.

To me, heat meant something much more literal as I crouched behind a pillar and attempted to hide from the bright greenish flames that shot out at me. I checked my right coat sleeve and it had survived with minimal charring. So many things ran through my mind, one after the other like a waterfall.

I knew the fee was too good to be true.

I really wished Ian were here right now.

Why would anyone make pillars so slender?

I really should have had that slice of pizza before getting on my connecting flight.

I had taken a job to track a stolen statue. The person who had acquired it was of no consequence, but the Dimsti Corporation were desperate to get their hands on the statue. Apparently, whoever had taken it had just waltzed right into their high security vault and slipped right out without being noticed.

Fort Knox would have wept with envy at their security. Whoever did it was good!

Another burst of hot flame came rolling up beside me on my right side. Good grief!

What the Dimsti People hadn't told me, or hadn't known, was that the person who had stolen the statue was a Drakainis, or Dragon shifter ...or Were Dragon.

I groaned internally. It was already too warm for me; I had ended up chasing this led to Greece of all places. I should have dressed better for the weather.

“I'm not here to tussle with you! I just want the statue! Hand it over and I'm gone. As far as I'm concerned, you weren't even here.” I hollered to my would-be assailant.

Another gout of flame, bright blue this time and 10 times hotter, sprayed over my head in response. This person had literally melted a stone column to slag. The burst of flame cut the pillar above my head, the force of it shooting the chunk of rock about 15 feet from me and melting it as it traveled.

Then it roared, and I was lucky my knees didn't give out.

Without realizing it, I had crouched down, closed my eyes and covered my ears. My heart was beating so loud that I didn't realize the thing was hanging its head down until it was almost nose to nose with me until I opened my eyes.

It was black, a shiny iridescent black with bright green glowing orbs where its eyes should have been. The curled horns on either side of its head were gilded and its mouth was a horror show of long and very white sharp teeth. It opened its mouth, for what I thought was to spray me with the gout of flame that would end me, and I throat punched it before it could.

The thing was huge as it tumbled from its perch on the melty pillar.

It writhed there on the stone floor choking and gasping for breath and I seized the opportunity to get it restrained with the zombie powder that my friend and local voodoo witch had given me. It was a thoughtful and very practical gift in my line of work. As the powder worked, the creature gradually ceased flailing and stilled.

“Can you hear me?”

No response, good that means it was incapacitated for the moment. Considering most shifters have a faster metabolism than any human, I needed to work fast. In one fluid motion, I got to my feet and looked around the room in an attempt to find the pilfered statue. I didn't need to look too hard; it was on a raised dais toward the far left of the room. The Dimsti security team had described it as classical Greco Roman, what they hadn't said was that it was really creepy.

It was a crude rendering of what looked like a gorgon but was a snake from the waist down. I rolled my eyes, everybody seemed to get that part of the myth wrong. She was a chick with snakes for hair that could turn people to stone with her gaze.

Naga’s and Lamia’s were half snake, or snake centaurs. I could tell it wasn’t Greek or Roman by the style. Honestly the company had been dupped, oh well that wasn't my problem. I just needed to get paid.

My two main issues were how to get the heavy looking statue out of this room and how to keep that Drakainis from interfering.

“Tow chains or a rock to the head” I weighed my options for subduing the Drakainis out loud.

“I think Neither!” A hissing growl sounded from close behind me. Oh heck, the powder had worn off already. I could feel the creature's body heat on my back, so I spun and tossed another handful of the dust at the thing. It threw its hands up to ward off the powder a few seconds too late “Arrrgh, not this stuff again!!”

It seized up and flopped over. “Why?”

“Because I don't fancy dying Drakainis.”

“I wasn't going to kill you. I was trying to scare you away.” It wheezed a bit.

“Good Job.” I narrowed my eyes at it and checked my powder, about half the bag left. Not enough to make this work unless I ran. I couldn't run because I wouldn't even get my flight reimbursed if I didn't bring in this statue, and I couldn't exactly afford it.

I dug out my taser and pressed it up and under the scales at the thing's heart.

“Wait!!” It sounded panicked. It had good reason to be, no matter how tough you are, if you receive a direct shock to your heart it's gonna drop you for a while. How tough you are makes the difference between whether you get back up or not.

It wouldn't kill the thing, most likely, but it would knock it out for a while. Maybe long enough for me to do my job.

“Wait, please wait!!” It cried.

My finger left the trigger, and I waited. There was something about its tone that made me stop. It sounded afraid and helpless, And I never enjoyed that sound from anything.

“Alright Drakainis, why …why should I wait other than you are getting a chance to roast me like a marshmallow?” I kept the taser where it was and stayed calm.

It took a deep breath “Because I am not trying to hurt you. I just need to do what I came here to do and then I will let you go.” It looked frustrated.

“And just what did you come here to do?”

“To destroy it.” Its head sagged back against the rock, and it looked like the thing was absolutely exhausted. I could relate.

“Destroy what?”

The creature let out a deep sigh “The creature. The statue. The basilisk.”

I squinted at it and hooked a thumb over my shoulder at the crude gorgon lamia hybrid statue “You mean That one?”

“Yes” it looked frustrated.

“No offense bud, that thing is somebody's weird artistic reimagining of a gorgon. That isn’t no basilisk. I think you have the wrong statue pal.” I grumbled.

It groaned audibly “Basilisk, Cockatrice, Gorgon, it has gone by many names. It is the original Basilisk, Menialle. She was the first of her kind. A gorgon to the Greeks, then various other monsters under other names and in different lands.”

I chewed that over ”Ok, but Gorgons don't have a lower snake half. They were human looking except for their gaze and their hair.``

“The most famous Gorgons were half human. Hence their mostly human appearance. The true gorgons looked much like that statue. They and their allies the Grea almost wiped the Drakaina out once upon a time. I was a newborn at the time.” It looked deeply uncomfortable at the memory.

“Why? Why go to war with such a powerful species?” I was genuinely curious.

“Territory, resources. The usual.” It spoke with confidence.

I pressed my lips together for a moment, if what this thing said was true it was very worrisome, I voiced my questions “Ok, so how did the original gaze of stone get turned to stone? Why was it sitting in the Dimsti Corporation's high security vault, I'm now doubting they are just art aficionados even more than when I first took the job, and do they have any idea what this thing is?” I felt myself frown deeply. This was gonna put a huge crimp in my plans.

It stared pointedly down at the taser still lodged up under its scales, I looked pointedly back, it sighed “The roosters crow or any high pitched frequency at the proper tone will paralyze a Gorgon and effectively turn it to stone. They can also enter a deep sleep that mimics petrification should they need to.”

“Oh wow. Why?”

“Any number of reasons. Lack of food, danger, needing to go into hiding due to all of the trouble that they regularly cause.” It shrugged.

I eyed it “Does the Dimsti Corporation know what that thing is?” In truth I already knew the answer. Why else would they have sent me to fetch it. My question was what did they hope to gain from it?

It looked at me resolutely ”Yes. They know. They specifically searched for and excavated it in Warsaw. They hoped to wake her and study her to hopefully use it as a weapon. Some of our people are employed by Dimsti and they tipped our elders off about this project. Its codename is Gorgon Born.” It crossed its arms then.

I felt my eyes widen “Even if they have special equipment, they can't hope to keep that thing contained, let alone docile enough to make use of. It sure as heck doesn't sound like it would cooperate.”

“No, she would not. I need to destroy her now. She is close to waking herself, I can sense it. Menialle was the mother of their race, and she would wake the rest of her kind. It will be a nightmare on earth. We Drakaina have not recovered enough from the last skirmish with her people to be any kind of a force against them. They will run unchecked.” It looked pretty tense.

“Why should I believe you?”

“What reason do I have to lie?” it blinked at me…or tried to. In truth I had been feeling something very off in the air. It wasn't coming from the Drakainis in front of me either.

I slapped my forehead “I really need to get paid for this job! Rent is due and I am this close to getting my lights and water turned off. “ I groaned loudly.

“Is that the only reason that you took this job?” It sounded curious.

“Yes.” I replied more grumpily than I would have liked.

“Did the Dimsti people stipulate that the statue had to be in one piece?”

I thought for a minute ”No, they didn't! Hunh”

It lowered its head a little and looked at me “Menialle is only vulnerable when she is petrified like she is now.”

I looked at it, it had somehow rolled to a sitting position without dislodging my taser.

“Do you have everything that you need to destroy it now?”

It nodded “Yes, everything is here. The second full moon will rise in a little less than an hour and Menialle will wake. I had hoped to be done before now.”

“If I let you up, do you promise not to kill, maim, eat or in any way hurt me?”

“Yes. I swear upon my family name, Larkos, that I will do no harm to you, and I will let no others do harm to you while I am present. I, Alexandros Kivian Larkos, swear.” He put his hand out for me to shake. I said a silent prayer that he kept his word and put my hand in his and shook. Then I removed the taser.

“What is your name?” he asked as he rose from the stone flooring.

“Imogen. Imogen Waters.”

“You should leave Miss Waters.”

“I will wait outside then.” I got to my feet and dusted myself. Heading towards the entrance of this ruined temple, I could feel the oppressive pressure begin to fade. Once outside I heard a clang, a roar, a series of bangs, and the roar of flames. The temple lit up from the inside a blue, white with tinges of purple.

A few minutes later a very tall, dark-haired man came walking out of the temple carrying a sizable chunk of rock.

“Alexandro Larkos, I presume?”

“Correct Miss Waters. Not many have seen me in my other form outside of my own people, I apologize for the circumstance of our introduction, they were …less than pleasant.” He gave a small bow, and I could see that his eye sockets were empty and there was scarring around his ocular cavities.

“Your eyes?”

“They were taken in a battle with a Gorgon.”

“I'm sorry.” I genuinely was.

“Thank you, but it was a long time ago. Since then, I have made good use of the inadvertent gift that the creature granted me.” He smiled then.

I nodded” What is it that you're carrying?”

“Menialle’s heart. She and most of her kind are nigh indestructible. But they can never regenerate without their hearts. We will lock this away so that no one will be able to find it.” He sounded resolute.

“Probably for the best.” I stared past him at the temple. “Is there anything else left?”

“Only stone melted to glass. Have you called the Dimsti representatives?”

“I will once you leave. “ I looked at the heart again and realized that it was actually red within the stone matrix, and it was beating “Is that alive?” I shuddered.

“Yes. Once it is encased in crystal it will be rendered completely inert. I must go Miss Waters. Thank you, know that you have earned an ally on the Drakaina today. Should you need us in the future, please let us know.”

“Thank you. How will I contact you?”

“Just call for us on the wind, we will find you. There are many of us Miss Waters, so we are never very far.” With that he smiled and shifted right in front of me.

He shot up and out of sight. I was awestruck. I was also very glad that I had trusted him.

I pulled out my cell and phoned Dimsti security. They weren't going to like it but considering our contract and what they had tried to do, I wasn't very concerned with their opinion of me.

There was some yelling and grumpiness, but they told me to wait for the chopper at the temple and they would bring me home. I stared at the ruined temple and thought about just how much my world had opened up today. As I contemplated things my little brother Ian called “You Ok Immi?”

“Not at all little bro, not at all. Wait till I tell you about the day that I have had.”