Caught Red Handed

D tried his best to keep things under control, but it seemed to be in vain. When he felt bones start to pop and break he knew there was no choice but to use plan B. Luckily, Larian wasn't as dumb as he acted most of the time and had prepared a plan B. Once he realized he couldn't stop the transformation from coming D darted away from the class under Larian's watchful gaze. He was heading straight towards the storage facility set aside to house the monsters Larian had brought in or more specifically the one they'd left for D to eat if he couldn't control himself.

Jane lugged the heavy bucket of water cursing the head of the cleaning staff for giving a scrawny girl the job of moving so much water to the laundry room. "She's just mad that I'm being fed well now. She's been sleeping with one of the teachers for over a year and still hasn't gotten hardly anything out of it. Stupid jealous old…" Her stream of curses were interrupted when she spotted something so strange it made her stop suddenly soaking her legs as the bucket spilled over. D, her D, was running. In the last month, she'd seen him going all over the places with that strange new teacher the others fawned over. Or the Dorm Mother, or that spoiled rich girl that was always trying to claim to be his girlfriend. But in that time she'd never seen D move at anything faster than a forced trudge. Yet here he was practically sprinting.

It was a habit for her to watch for anything out of normal, that was how she found dirt to blackmail people. Yet oddly for the first time since she started working at the school, she smelled dirt on someone and her first thought wasn't of blackmail. Putting down her bucket she gathered up her long soaked skirts and sprinted after him. At first, she was planning on hanging back, She'd learned that D was particularly hard to sneak up on. But when she caught a glimpse of his normally blank face bearing a grimace of pain as he stumbled around a corner she threw caution to the wind.

'What is this odd sensation?' She pressed her fist to her chest as she followed after to witness him pushing his way into one of the school's storerooms. Seeing him grimace in pain made her chest feel tight and she didn't know why.

**********

D shoved his way past the doors to enter the storeroom as the bones in his face cracked and healed reshaping. With a ripple scales spread and small bone spines started growing along his cheek. Teeth widened and sharpened into serrated blades as he moved over to rip the door off the only occupied cage. Inside the Grean was curled up in the back of the cage shivering. When he reached in the gopher-like creature tried to dart away but wasn't fast enough. It took only a few heartbeats for D's teeth to sink through fur, flesh, and bone to find the juicy organs within. Only after the terrified creature went still in death and he'd swallowed down several mouthfuls of organs did he sense movement.

Standing in the doorway was the little servant girl whose name he never bothered to learn. Her eyes were wide as she clutched her skirt in one hand still. Her mouth was slightly open and D prepared to lunge at her the moment she started screaming. Though he'd been feeding her for the last month he felt no real connection. Just something he did to make his own life easier, she cleaned his room and he didn't have to let the other staff down from his dorm's wall or ceiling constantly. Plus most importantly, it cost him nothing.

**********

Jane slipped into the storage room curious what her D was doing. 'Maybe he found something good that he could take? Normally these storage rooms are locked up tight… at least they were every time I tried to get in.' Inside the storage room was completely dark and during the few moments it took her vision to adjust from entering outside she listened to the strange sound. A soft animal-like squeal that was suddenly silent and sounded like someone eating. 'Oh, he just hid some food away? I can't believe he didn't share… well I guess I wouldn't have…'

Her vision cleared and she saw D hunched over near a cage eating hastily in a similar manner to how she'd done the first time he gave her food. Only… something wasn't right. When he looked her way her mind went blank. In his hands was a small creature that looked as if it had been ripped open. Blood dripped into a tiny pool at his feet and his face was covered in gore. 'His face….' That was her first thought. Half his face was covered in black scales and small bone spikes while his eyes looked like two pools of silver with cut gemstones of inky darkness floating in them.

In that instant, many things went through her mind. None of them were the thoughts she expected. Normally her first thought would have been to blackmail him. Maybe to run away from this monster eating something alive in front of her. Instead, her first thought was 'Is he ok?'

"Um, does it taste good?" Her voice barely trembled and she could see the tension leave his body. Only then did she realize how much danger she could have been in.

"Yes." Although he looked different his raspy voice was the same as always.

"Oh, I think I'll stick with chicken myself though. I heard that is what they are serving today. Will you still have some for me?" She tightened her grip on the wad of cloth in her hand feeling oddly uncomfortable yet not out of fear. 'What is wrong with me? Chicken? I don't know what is going on but I could blackmail him now! I finally got my dirt on him.'

Wracking his brain D finally remembered her name. "Yes. Jane…. You won't tell?"

Her heart thudded once powerfully in her chest when he said her name for the first time. "No." She answered honestly without thinking. "I mean… If you keep bringing me food." Realizing what she'd said she quickly added feeling a desperate need to act normal.

"Ok." He stood up and she noticed he was now much taller than before his uniform stretching to contain him. Yet in the few steps, it took him to move to a nearby bin and drop the corpse in it his body shrunk back down to his normal size. The strange scales disappeared in a ripple across his flesh as did the bone growths. Other than the bloody smears on his face and hands he looked like she was used to, just her normal D.

"Crap. I have to go finish hauling water for the laundry. But… I'll be by to clean your room like always." Remembering that she still had to finish her work she left out. Even she wondered why the strange encounter hadn't bothered her more. 'I just need time to think is all.'

Back in the storage room D cleaned up before returning to his class. After thinking about the strange events that had just occurred he shrugged. 'If something happens I'll deal with it then.'

**********

Far to the west of Gelian kingdom were the burning waste. It was an inhospitable land of endless sparkling white sand. Few living beings knew that once long ago the entire region had been a lush paradise or that the sparkling sand was the bones of angels ground to dust. No one could imagine an army worth of divine beings being slain in such a spot or their remains so defiled. Yet, it was true, and worse still the one responsible for it, still made their home in that horrible land. Sand bounced around and shook as a tremor spread through the desert. Slowly several huge dunes of sand bulged out then fell away revealing what lay beneath. Metallic scales like sheets of bronze hammered out covered a form that pushed itself up. It had slept for so long it was buried beneath the unnatural sand.

Pulling itself out of the sand the behemoth of a creature was hundreds of feet long and despite its long slumber, its scales flexed as muscles stretched beneath them. Although it had no wings the giant scaled creature would never be mistaken for a lizard. Anyone who laid eyes on it could think only one word, Dragon. Turning its carriage-sized head towards the east a forked tongue slithered out to taste the air several times. It glared at the eastern horizon for a long while before it took the first of many thunderous first steps eastward.

**********

Larian spotted D as he returned and motioned for him to come to him. "Feeling better?"

"Yes." D rasped out. It took him a while to debate on telling Larian about the cleaning girl or not. Mostly he just thought telling Larian would cause trouble that would be more annoying than it was worth. Still in the end he spoke up. "But someone saw me eating."

Larian was half paying attention, after all since D was back things were fine, right?

"Good good. We can test your new… WHAT?"