SteamDrives are the lifeblood of our civilization, if you can call the way we live civilized. I still understand the feelings any have toward the SteamDrives and their power cells. I was only eleven when the time of the hunters came to an end and the days of the SteamDrive started. I was one of the lucky ones to have lived to see the end of the dragon's reign of terror. When I was only a small husky in a farming village I watched as the dragon hoard of the realm attacked and devoured the furs of my village, my family, my friends. I was the lone survivor after the Dragon Hunter mages drove them. A full generation has passed us by since those times. Many of the young furs today don't know the atrocities that befell all the furs when the dragons were free. And many fight and protest to free the beasts once again. If only they knew the truth of the horror that those monsters represent.

From the time I was saved I learned several things. First I was taught by the hunters of their trade and skills of magic. They said I was gifted, or tainted by dragon blood. I excelled quickly in the arcane arts, but the practice was short lived when the SteamDrives were developed and the process went from kill to capture. Many of the hunters were shunned and ridiculed for the brutal ways as opposed to the more humane SteamDrive option of allowing the dragons to live and contribute to society. I was young enough that I was able to learn the new trade of engineering, but my mage skills forced me into a profession ot of my choosing. And that new profession is why I was called out this late night.

Some call us biological technicians, other say Dragon Cell engineers. At least that is what they call the best of us to our face, but we know they whispered behind our backs, and why we are treated, and often feared as we are. I am one of the oldest, and most sought after in my field. But when it comes to the point where they call one of us, it is often a last resort, and they have tried all the other healers and engineers. I have no love or sympathy for the creatures that drive the steam boilers of our world, But over the years I have formed a strange bond with them. Some say it is from dealing with the first of them, before they lost their nature and became nothing more than a power source. Others Say it is some sort of sympathetic response to their captivity and pain. I don't really care what it is, or where it comes from, all I care is that this strange ability helps me do my job, and keep the monsters running, living out the punishment for their ancestors, for the friends and family they took from me.

Tonight's job was one I loathe more than any other, but they always pay well to keep me quiet. As usual I followed the dark tunnels to the back entrance of the dragon brothel. The sick fetish sprang up soon after the SteamDrives became wide spread. At first the hidden sites would dismantle Dragon Cells to retrieve the beast from within while the maintained the systems that supported and monitored its life. In the beginning they could only get male dragons from the power cells and use them is shows with other male and female anthros performing lewd acts with the beasts, But is was not long before workers of breeding farms started to smuggle out female hatchlings. The young creatures fetched a hefty price on the underground slave marked, often high enough to justify the risk for the one smuggling them out instead of slaughtering the things. It wasn't long before discovered the just how fertile the beasts were.
This job was at one of the oldest bordellos in the city, one that was reputed to have a vast selection of both full and half Breed dragons. But that mattered little to me, as far as I care they should all be slaughtered and destroyed. I always walked in the back way to avoid the selection of whores that bombarded anyone entering the front door. I pounded hard on the rusty steel door to be greeted by the now familiar set of reptilian eyes looking through the peep slide at me. From within I heard the voice say, "It's the Whisperer again. Should I let him in?" In response another voice answered, "If he is here then he was called. Go get Eric." I pushed past the large bearded dragon as he opened the door. I wanted to be in and out as fast as I could. The energies of the place were more overpowering than any other boiler room in the city. It felt as if my connection extended to those not confined in the cells, of which there were plenty here.
I pulled off my brown leather overcoat and hung it on a nearby steam valve as I approached the egg shaped iron enclosure. I quick inspection of the gadgets confirmed that something was not right. The pulse needle barely moved from side to side as it swayed showing the flow of life within the cell. The Pressure gauge and temperature were both lower than normal for a SteamDrive and Cell this size. I pulled the glove off my right paw as I placed it against the scolding hot metal of the cell. The sound of sizzling could be heard over the hum of the boiler and mechanical systems in the room.
"How can you do that?" came the voice of the young Dalmatian as he walked up behind me. I just shushed the youngling as I leaned my ear against the cell and listened to the sound of the churning liquid within. "She's not using the fuel as she should, and I can't get her to bring the pressure up to drive the generators."
"He," I simply corrected the youngling. I don't know why it got to me so but I couldn't stand when they referred to them as female. Ever cell housed only male dragons and the females that did not get smuggled out we destroyed before they even hatched. "He's dying," I said as I felt the cell quiver at my touch. He knows I am here, and he knows why. "I give him three days, his heart is failing." I don't know why but A tear would always from in my eye when I knew they were not long for this world, and over the years they seemed to be dying sooner, the new generations not lasting as long as the first. "I can mend him enough to last maybe another few days, but you will need to replace him soon." I pulled the glove back onto my paw as I mumbled the quick healing incantation to mend m scorched pads. "It will be the same fee as always."
The way he was looking at me didn't set right. "You need to come with me Fritz, the master wants to see you." This was going to be a longer night than I had hoped. I followed him through the narrow corridors to his master's office. I was thankful that the continued to use the back passages to get me to our destination. It had been twenty five years since I had seen a dragon outside a cell, and I am not in any hurry to see one again.
He led me into a large, ornately decorated room. If it weren't for the lack of a desk, or the presence of the large makeshift bed of over-sized pillows, one might think it was meant to be an office. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and a large, low table sat between the massive double doors and the lounging area. Behind the bed space was a large picture window that looked over the entrance area where patrons would come select their whore for the night. The room had changed from the more professional setup that was there the last time I was called in. It was obvious that there was a change in management since my last visit.
I decided I would keep a good distance between the low table and myself as I saw the Doberman push off the a few barely clad harlots as he struggled to his feet. "You must be Fritz, The Dragon Cell guy."
"Friedrich Healon," I told him. It irritated me to no end when someone who has never meet me Jumps right in using my friendly name. "And I would prefer Mister Healon when dealing with business matter, which I am assuming this is." I averted my eyes from the small harem og sluts as I noticed the horns on the heads of a few. It was bad enough that his fifth of society made his living off the abominations, but to collect and use them from himself garnered him no points with me.
He pulled up his pants as she walked toward me. "There is no need to be so formal, Mister Healon. We've been doing business for with you for years."
"You predecessor did business with me," I replied as I word on maintaining an even tone. It was apparently true that the half-breeds shared some of the traits of the beasts in the Cells. Without the iron shielding between us I could feel the beat of their hearts, even from the distance. "Why did you bring me up here?"
He sat down at the table, using it as a desk from the looks of it, and waved one paw in front of him, "Come, have a seat."
"I'll stand, thank you."
"If you wish." he smiled at me as he poured a drink from a bronze pitcher and asked, "Care for any? It is some of the finest meat you can get in the city."
I clenched my fists as I tried to occupy my mind and being with something other than the sound of the invading heartbeats. "No thank you," I muttered as I reached out with my mind grasping the one thing I knew would be nearby. The sound and flow of rushing water and steam filled my body, drowning out the connection with the abominations. It felt almost filthy to have such a reaction to them. I never realized how strong the whisper had gotten. I would be certain to refuse the next call from any brothel from now on.
"Eager to get down to business I see. I can respect that." He had a smug look on his muzzle as he spoke. "Young Eric here says the Dragon Cell is finished, He can't understand why it's not working. Maybe you can enlighten me."
"He's dying, It's as simple as that. You'll have to get a new one."
"See, that's why I had them call you. It's your job to fix things like this."
"There's nothing to fix. You couldn't afford it If I did fix him. Just let him die and get a new one. Now about my payment..."
The swirled the golden liquid in his glass as he interrupted me, "Now that's one of the issue, you haven't done anything, so I shouldn't have to pay you."
I smiled as I released my clenched fists. "I think you should have asked your predecessor about me. I don't take kindly to being stiffed and my time is worth a lot of money." I raised my right paw, pulling the flow of the steam and water with it. I snickered as his henchmen and the whore all gasped at the sound of the groaning pipes in the walls and floors. "There is a reason they call me last. Healing was not where my magic began. You are still a young pup. What twenty years? Twenty-two?" I felt my smile branded as Eric fled the room, leaving his master and the whores behind. He remembered the first time I dealt with the owners of this place. "I am Friedrich Healon, Dragon Slayer." I reached forward with my left paw and grabbed hold of the air before me. With a few arcane words I pulled the air from his lungs, and those of the others in the room. "I've killed things larger and more frightening than you with but a meager words and gestures." I released my hold on the world around me as the occupants of the room gasped for air. As the feel of the flowing energies left my body I was suddenly bombarded with something new, fear. I glanced over at the sluts on the bedding as they cowered away from me. The sensation was not only stronger than those from the Cells, it was more defined. I hate the feeling, and it must be due to the antro genes giving the beasts a bit of intelligence and self-awareness.
I looked back at the Doberman rubbed at his chest as he sat up at his low table again and asked me, "What is it you want?"
"My usual payment for my time," I said flatly, "One thousand cukour."
"We don't keep that kind of money on site."
"You should have thought of that before calling me. I can always take my payment in other ways." I just wished he would ask me how, I was dying to claim yet another Dragon soul for my collection.
"Take a girl, any girl," he said as he waved his paw toward the small harem of blasphemous whores.
"I have no use for your abominations," I snarled as I thought of having any kind of use, even as a basic servant girl. "I want nothing to do with half Breeds."
He snapped his fingers as the nonverbal command caused one of his oversized body bison guards to pick up a chain from the floor and use it to drag one of the sluts from the bedding. I couldn't' help but look in the direction of the movement as the white feline hybrid staggered and fell to the floor. If not for the two long, curved horns on her head, scaled belly and chest, and the off spikes on her tail, I would have easily mistaken her for a jaguar. I didn't know if her coloring was intentional or genetic, but her fur was a stark white, clean for what I imagined an abomination whore to be, and her spots were randomly formed splotches of color. I would see a very intentional mark on her shoulder, one of ownership by the brothel, a rainbow paw print, and a red star on her forehead between her eyes.
"Take her, as collateral." He said, obviously not understanding my point.
"I said I have no use, living or dead for a half Breed."
"She is well trained, one of the most skilled..."
I cut him off quickly as I blurted out, "One of your most used. And I have not care for that skill from her or any of her kin. Those of dragon blood have only two uses in my book, fuel for our fires and fertilizer for out food. I have never let one live that was not part of a SteamDrive, and I don't see any reason to start now."
"You don't understand Mister Healon," the Doberman said as he leaned back on his elbows with a bit of a triumphant smirk on his muzzle, "You take new, and keep her until we have your payment, minus the time spent with her of course."
I jerked the chain out of the bison's paws, pulling the girl off her hands and knees and flat out on the floor as I said, "I will take her, for now. I will return, for all of my payment. I might even bring her back to you if she survives the night. You don't understand where you stand in this... arrangement... I am untouchable. I can bring your world crashing down around you, and they will do nothing to me."
He stood up in anger and shouted at me, "You have no idea who my father is. I can have you..."
As he yelled I reached forward, feeling the flow and beat of his energies. I grabbed hold of the force that was his beating heart. As I squeezed he fell silent and dropped to his knees. "I don't care who your father is. No one threatens me. I have no love for your kind or what you do. And I have no fear of anything that you can think of to throw at me." I felt his life flickering in my paws as I continued. "Before you were born, when I was only a pup, I stared into the eyes of my enemies. Ancient dragons that make the beasts that fire your boiler and fill your brothel look like mere babies. I burned them to the ground, and I will not hesitate to do the same to you."
I released him and watched as he fell to the floor holding his chest. "You will have my payment for me when I return." I jerked the chain around the harlot's neck as I told her, "Get you your feel anathema." As she stood I beheld her nude body. "Bring her clothing to the boiler room. I can't take her like this."
As I pushed past the door they led me in though I saw Erick. I immediately through the chain into his paw as I said, "Take her and lead up back the way we came."
He grudgingly took it from me as he said, "You are brave to threaten Baronet Granville. He is the son of one of the senators. He took over when took over when Karen Keyal refused to let him have his way with the girls. No one has seen Karen since." He looked over his shoulder at me and asked, "Is... is it true, are you a dragon slayer?"
"I was, a long time ago." I felt the half Breed's fear and confusion flowing through me, almost as if it was my own. I turned abruptly and face the abomination as a nearly yelled, "What are you afraid of? They ensured your life... for now." I watched as she dropped to her knees and covered her face with her arms. My own body shivered momentarily as the most powerful feeling of terror tore through me. I reached down and grabbed her by the steel collar, the closes I had been to anything of dragon's blood in nearly twenty five years as I held her face close to mine. My fur touched the scaled of her neck, and I felt her body quake in my grasp. "Look at me. Open your eyes and look at me, or I will burn the flesh from your bones right here." I felt the flame insignia on my paw heat without giving the activation word.
She looked up at me obediently. I could tell she was well trained to her profession, but the look in her eyes was sheer terror. And her look was echoed in my very bones. Never had I been so affected by my link to the dragons. I looked into her crystal blue eyes, and my mind was immediately assaulted with a storm of visual thoughts and fears. I closed my eyes and shook my head as I was knocked by the almost physical onslaught of mental imagery.
"Sir, Are you okay?" the Dalmatian said as I looked up at him from the floor.
"I'm fine. Just get her dressed so I can get out of here." I rubbed my head determined not to let her, or what she was get to me. As I dusted myself off and waited for the delivery of clothing for the half Breed. She rested quietly on the dirt covered floor, lounging with her legs to one side and her torso held up with one are, almost as if she was on display. I had never been up to the business parts of the dragon brothel, but she had been trained with the same mannerisms of any working girl.
Soon to felines arrived with what looked like a burlesque dress. As they dressed her, I could see the raised front of the black fabric with the white floral pattern. The back of the skirt bell flowed down to her ankles. The top covered her just high enough to cover her breasts just above the nipples. The top itself was not much more than a corset. They didn't bother to give her any undergarments, not that they would have any on hand in an establishment such as this.
As the two cats finished dressing her they handed me the chain that remained attached to the steel slave collar around her neck. I took the lead from her paws and jerked the half Breed abomination to her hind paws. As we approached the door to the tunnels I draped my duster over her head and body, to cover her horns. "Hold your tail, I don't want anyone to see those spike. The less I have to deal with tonight the better."
She obediently did as she was told, holding her tail in front of her, well concealed in the duster. Her combination of fear and sadness that filled her expression almost pulled at my heart. The girl was being pulled from everything she knew, and given to me, one of the few furs that would rather her existence never have been.