Contagion

Surprise, surprise!

Contagion and Zombie were sitting side by side at the altar in the Shrine, right in front of them was a small but detailed image of the Plaguemother, the magic of the place suffused the air, but even so her and her mate's magic weren't fusing, there was no shimmering light, no mist indicating the beginning of a clutch of eggs forming, it was true that the two of them never tried, but with Undead it worked fine and he was as much alive as any of her mates!

She let out a sigh of frustation and glanced at Zombie, her poor mate was also distressed, he also was able to mingle his magic with Necromancer before and it worked!

"I don't understand..." He said in his low voice, she didn't either.

"I know what I'm going to ask will sound stupid, but are you sure you were born male? Maybe the whole dying thing changed you, but the core of your magic is still female?" She tried, it was unhead of, but many unheard things happened in the plaguelands, the fact that they were alive as a matter of fact.

"Hm, I don't know, it worked with Necromancer and didn't with Undead when we tried."

A sly smile spread on the Mirror's face, it looked more feral than anything, but she knew her mate saw it as it was, teasing and light hearted.

"Oh you did try with Undead too hm." She teased and couldn't help her laugh when he blushed. "Don't worry my love, I tried with Necromancer too..." Her smile dimmed a little. "The fact that the magic to create life is tied to our gender always seemed ridiculous to me."

Before either could speak a raspy voice reached their ears.

"Loves of my unlife..." A very dead-looking yet charming spiral flew in their direction, looking more like he was floating than anything and landing right beside them. The undead mirror smiled and kissed back her other mate, seeing Undead right after talking about him made Zombie blush even more (how he was able to do such a feat was beyond Contagion - he was dead for the plaguemother, he was too cute to be allowed).

"I sensed your distress, are you both alright?" Her lovely spiral asked in his raspy, slow tone, he was the opposite of his kind, he was lethargic most of the time, spoke little unless they were his mates and was seeing sleeping more often than not and all of them loved him just the way he was.

"We were trying to make a clutch of eggs." She said with a sad smile. "It was supposed to be a surprise for you and Necro, but..." Instead of saying what happened she looked at Zombie, he understood and they tried once more.

Both of them released their magic and concentrated it on the altar, right where the eggs would appear if it worked... their magic circled each other, but didn't fuse, dissipating in the air and leaving them both feeling sad and empty for a moment.

"Oh..." Undead said and they both looked at him with expectant eyes, did he knew why they were failing?

"Who would have thought..." He said a small smile tugging at his lips, for any other it would seem more terrifying than anything, but for her he was beautiful. "It seems you two are related, like distant cousins or something like that..."

Contagion's four eyes widened at her mate's words and she looked at Zombie, he seemed as surprised as her, she was an Earth dragon and he was Plague, but still...

"Your magic don't feel so alike, like siblings or first-cousins do, but still the familial scent lingers..." Undead pulled them both in a hug and Contagion let him, wrapping her own arm around the slim frame of her mate. "Worry not my dearies, I'll call Necromancer here and we shall have two clutches ready until tomorrow, our family shall always grow."

If Contagion tighetened her embrace or if her other arm reached Zombie and pulled him closer, well, neither of her mates complained, it would be even more perfect if Necro was with them at that moment.