Shade woke to the sound of somebody banging on his door. He growled through clenched teeth and rolled out of his bed. Whoever was at the door better be prepared to deal with his anger. He had just returned home a couple hours earlier from a two week long scouting mission in the Care'Os desert.

  Shade stomped down the stairs in no great hurry, wearing nothing but loose-fitting pants. His chest and large arms were bare, showing the black scales along the back of his arms, up his neck and down to the middle of his back. Beneath his messy midnight hair blazed a pair of golden eyes set pleasingly into his strongly sculpted face. Sticking out of a hole at the back of his pants was a silky black wolves' tail, bristled slightly with his annoyance.

  Just as he reached his door, the person behind it began knocking again. "Enough!!" Shade snapped at the door, trying to rub out a burgeoning migraine building in his skull, his beasts snarling behind every thought. Not enough sleep...

  Opening the door, he glared into the mid-day sun, growling just so it knew who was in charge. Even this early in spring it was very hot, one of the perks of living near the Care'Os Dessert. Shade liked the heat, it was the dragon in him, cold always made is scales itch and creek.

  "What!?" He snapped at the dead man who had woken him. Or, at least, Shade was plotting his death at that moment.

  "Nice," drawled an annoyed voice that Shade recognized immediately. Sure enough, once his eyes adjusted to the noon sun he saw Lucas, one of the kings many children. Lucas was not in line for succession, as he was a bastard son and just about his entire family would have to die for him to even have the slightest claim on the throne. Not that the younger man cared all that much. As a matter of fact, he was one of those uncommon submissive males amongst the daemon race.

  That was probably the main reason Shade didn't mind his company as much as he did most people, who he tended to threaten with decapitation on occasion. Unlike most, Lucas seemed to take Shades aggression as a bit of a joke on the whole. "Its good to see you too..." said the prince.

  Lucas may be a sarcastic, philandering, annoying, and passive but he was essentially much Shade's only 'friend'. At least he was the only one who could spend more then three minutes in a non-formal setting with Shade and not piss himself or secretly plot how they could kill the old war vet.

  "I just got home Lucas!" Shade growled to the younger male "Let me sleep!" Sade turned to go back to bed, in no mood to spend the afternoon drinking and watching the flirtatious prince talk to any and every Daemona he could find. But, before he could even go a single step, Lucas grabbed his arm.

  "Wait!" He called "The king sent me this time. I swear!" He added releasing Shade and taking a cautionary step back.

  Doing his best not to let out a frustrated roar and scaring half a city block back to their homes, Shade said calmly "What does he want now?"

  "No clue." Lucas said cheerily, apparently coming to the conclusion that Shade wasn't going to throttle him now. "He just said that I was to take you to the palace, and that it was very urgent. He seemed to think you were less likely to gut me over a place page..."

  "I still may gut you yet." Shade grumbled, stepping aside to let Lucas into his home.

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  Lucas really didn't look like your typical prince. He didn't wear outrageously pompous clothes or a lot of jewels, nor did he carry himself like he was better than others. The kingdom saw him as the 'Peoples Prince'. He could, literally, show up at the most run down pub in town and everyone would welcome him like an old friend. He was roguishly handsome, with wind swept honey-brown hair, robin's egg blue eyes, and a relatively strong build. Even though he wasn't likely to get into a fight, palace life required him to learn how all the same so despite his lay back attitude he could hold his own.

  He, unlike most Daemon males, looked almost human. Most males go quite flashy during their Forming, especially the current generation; but unless you looked really hard, Lucas cold be any human male. The only visible sign of his Daemonism were the very faint lines along both sides of his neck- gills. One of Lucas' two spirits was a fish... not very manly. His other spirit, a Pegasus, gave him wings as well, but- like most winged Damon- his wings were hidden magickly till they were needed, then they would burst from his back in a flurry of feathers.

  Despite not being very flashy, Lucas's beast actually gave him pretty impressive diversity. He liked to joke that no matter the location, land sea or sky, he could make a speedy get away. True to his personality, Lucas could adapt to any environment.

  "Just let me get dressed..." Sade sighed running a hand through is messy black hair.

  "Sure thing..." Lucas mumbled, tossing himself onto one of Shade's rarely used sofas and rolling his eyes. "Take your time. Its not like you've been summoned by the king or anything!"

  Shade didn't even acknowledge Lucas's snarky comment and returned up the stairs to his room. He stormed around, throwing on some clothes that he thought might not offend the king too badly. As a personal rule, he never wore his old commanders uniform despite the kings suggestion on several occasions that it would be most appropriate. The uniform contained too many memories that he wished to forget, or at least not spend much time dwelling on. Besides, he wasn't a commander any longer, not one on duty at least. He no longer worked with the Clans, instead he went out with the Desert Scouts and made sure that none of the enormous monsters out there caused any trouble for Vairem.

  What exactly could be so pressing to risk angering Shade anyway? Most people went out of their way to avoid him, not summon him when he's had no sleep. Shade very much valued his sleep- and people very much valued their lives- so normally people respected Shades need for sleep. So what would the king need?

  Satisfied that he looked and smelled better than a homeless dwarf, Shade returned down stairs to retrieve Lucas. Thankfully, the trip to the palace was a short one. Shade lived very close to the Trade district near a main road.

  The first half of the walk was in silence; Lucas knew better than to antagonize Shade when he was in a mood, Even if he was probably the only one who could get away with doing so, unscathed.

  Shade was widely know as a war hero, heart throb, yet rather unbalanced. He was the type of male the Daemona whispered to their friends about –what would a night with him be like? Would they be brave enough to ask?- But wouldn't even consider as a serious, long term partner. More often than not mothers warned their children to stay clear of him, not that Shade had ever- even once- attacked a female or a child. He had shouted though... so he guessed they had good reason to be cautious. No, really, Shade was clearly one step away from going feral, just like their enemies of old. Everyone knew he didn't want to hurt them, but perhaps there would be a time he could not help it...

  Since the war Shade's control was always on the edge. The beasts gnawing at the chains he so painstakingly placed. More than once he had to resist the urge to chase his prey in the desert, on all fours, and plunge his aching fangs into its neck.

  "So." Shade said calmly, breaking the silence at last. They were passing a butcher's shop and Shade's mouth watered at the sent of the meat, his wolf howling in his head. "You have no clue what your father wants with me?"

  "Nope." Lucas said with a smile, glad that he wouldn't have to walk in solemn silence the whole way. "He looked very agitated though. Maybe even excited?"

  "Strange..."

  "Yes. A bunch of his advisors were in the room too. Something is defiantly up..."

  "I better be getting paid for this." Shade growled. Lucas laughed.