by Ophelia Bell
“There we were, wondering why the hell this crazy old woman insisted on sitting at the bedside of a complete stranger and singing to him. We humored her and sang along, of course. She could’ve been dying. But when Gus opened his eyes and looked at her, my grandmother, Susannah Dylan, just nodded and said, ‘Yep. You’re the one’ and kissed him squarely on the mouth. They healed each other, these two, and Mom and I got to see first-hand what love at first sight really looks like.”
The room erupted in laughter and cheers once more. Bodhi’s shoulders shook as he gazed down at the couple, particularly at the man, Gus, and said, “You never knew what hit you, did you man?”
Gus stroked his silvery goatee and laughed. “When it’s that good, you never see it coming,” he said, then pulled Susannah into a deep kiss.
“Needless to say, these two knew they belonged together and at their age they also knew there was no time to waste. So I want to toast the happy couple, for taking the chance and grabbing hold of love when Fate chose to give them one more chance to have it.”
He lifted his plastic flute and everyone followed suit, some with similar glasses, others with coffee mugs and others with nothing but glass jars filled with bubbly alcohol. Someone shoved a glass into my hand and I glanced at the guys to see that they’d each been given their own mismatched cups that they were lifting into the air with the others.
When Bodhi climbed down after the toast, he made a beeline to me and before I knew it he’d pulled me into a tight embrace. His warmth and scent enveloped me, so similar to Ozzie, yet so different—earthier despite the sense of being surrounded by the ocean breeze.
“Thank fuck you found me. I worried I’d never see you again.” With my face buried against his chest and his strong arms nearly squeezing the breath out of me I could barely speak. After a moment he loosened his hold and leaned back. “Sorry I didn’t mention your part in everything. I wasn’t sure you wanted the attention.”
“It’s all right. I don’t need credit. Seeing them happy and whole is enough.” I turned my head toward Susannah and Gus, who were working their way through the crowd greeting guests. Music from a stereo began to play and a moment later Maddie was beside her son with arms open wide for me.
“Thank you, sweetie. We owe you everything for helping Mom get better.” She swept me into a gentle hug, her faint orange blossom scent wafting over me.
“It’s my job,” I said, realizing for the first time that it was the truth. Someone had to protect these people, and that someone had to be me.
“Who are your friends?” she asked, eyeing the three guys with open interest and a single lifted brow. “Handsome. Not exactly um, you know, human?” She whispered the last word in my ear.
“Not exactly,” I said, laughing. “Any chance we can borrow Susannah and Gus and talk someplace private for a few minutes?”
Maddie nodded and left to track down her mother. I stood facing Bodhi awkwardly for a second while he stared back at me with an expectant look. Finally, he gave a little shake of his head and chuckled.
“I’m Bodhi Dylan,” he said, shooting his hand out to Rohan so abruptly I realized with a twinge of shame that I’d completely failed at the very simple social task of introducing them to each other.
“Sorry! Bodhi this is Rohan, Keagan, and Llyr. And everyone this is Bodhi. He’s . . . well we can sort all that out in a few minutes.”
“Great to meet you!” Rohan said, yanking Bodhi into a big hug. Keagan and Llyr’s responses were a bit more formal and businesslike but for some reason their auras both flared as if they were threatened by him.
Maddie returned with Susannah and Gus in tow. The hounds were still at their heels looking smug and flush with magic and for all the world like they had no better place to be. I resisted the urge to yell at them or sing at them. I didn’t want to look like a complete crazy person in the middle of a crowded room.
We followed Maddie up the stairs to a sunlit parlor on the second floor that had a view of the boardwalk and the ocean beyond.
“You look wonderful!” I said to Susannah, happily accepting her hug. When I wrapped my arms around Gus, he laughed and returned the embrace with fervor.
“I don’t know you, but Susie seems to think you’re pretty important. I can see you and those three hulks are . . . let’s just say special. Am I allowed to ask?”
“Considering I’ve got questions too, I’d say so,” I said. “What I want to know is how you two managed to heal your souls.”
For a second I worried I’d have to explain what I meant, but they didn’t seem confused by the question. Still, they both shrugged.
“I know what you mean,” Susannah said. “My energy came back as soon as the attacks happened to Maddie and Bodhi, but something just wasn’t right. I wish I could tell you what Gus and I did that changed everything, but yesterday was all such a blur, what with my daughter and grandson coming back and insisting we leave the hospital. I couldn’t leave without Gus once I knew he was one of us, and especially not after we woke him up and I looked into his eyes.” She shook her head as though reliving the moment, her eyes sparkling with pure joy. “We went straight to the Justice of the Peace and got hitched. Bodhi was right, there was no sense wasting time as old as we are. After that, well, all I can say is that we woke up this morning and the world was just brighter.”
“Didn’t you do something for us after you left?” Maddie asked. “Bodhi and I weren’t sure we’d have the strength to leave the hospital. After you told us to go, we made it as far as Mom’s room again and nearly collapsed. Mom distracted the nurses, telling them we were just tired, but I could feel my strength seeping away bit by bit. But then it just stopped. I wouldn’t say we were exactly fine after that, but I knew we wouldn’t die. I thought for sure you’d done something to help us.”
I eyed the hounds briefly, perplexed yet again by their disinterested behavior. They seemed perfectly content to just hang out around Susannah and Gus, despite the fact that Rohan’s dragon soul was in the room and still marked by one of them.
Rohan collapsed into an arm chair with a groan. I cast a concerned look at his pale, drawn face and went to him. “You don’t look good. Let me help.” I cupped his face in my hands and he tilted his head as though in submission. He sighed softly as I urged some of my magic to flow through my hands into him. When I turned around again, I was greeted by utter stillness and the wide-eyed stares of four humans.
They may have been bloodline, but they likely had never seen a display of magic like that before. Rohan’s complexion visibly warmed and he sat back. “I got bit yesterday,” he explained to them. “Me and another dragon named Willem. We’re bloodline too, and for some reason, these creatures Deva can see seem to have a particular taste for us.”
“Creatures?” Gus asked with a worried frown. He rubbed a hand over his midsection, a sign that he somehow remembered his own attack, even if it was only subconscious.
“They look a little like dogs,” I said, then proceeded to catch Gus up on the theory I had about the hounds. I didn’t know why they bit, or why their bites only seemed to affect a single victim at a time, but thus far I knew the bites transferred and they left behind a mark that left a heavy darkness on a person’s soul, judging by how Bodhi and Maddie were affected.
“And only you can see them,” Gus asked, scrubbing a hand over his silver-stubbled chin.
“They respond to me, at least if I use the right words. Songs seem to work.” I stopped, not wanting to admit how utterly lost I was as to any useful information about these creatures. I frowned down at the hounds. “They’re in the room now. Nobody else at this party’s been attacked, have they?” I asked, already knowing the answer. If someone new had been bitten, I was sure Rohan’s soul would have stopped bleeding magic.
The rest of the room tensed and everyone darted wary glances into the shadows. Gus pulled Susannah tighter, the taffeta of her skirts rustling against him. “Where are those little shits?”
; I gave him a bemused look. “Sitting at your feet like they belong there.” I pointed to the floor beside Susannah where the creature with the blaze down its face sat. The one with the booted paws sat beside Gus.
The old man frowned down at the floor, his gaze fixed about a foot wide of where the thing actually rested. “And they’re just . . . what? Waiting for a new victim?”
“I don’t think so,” I said cautiously. “I get the sense they’re just soaking up the love between you two. They look . . . happy.”
Gus and Susannah shared a look and Susannah’s mouth twitched. “Well there is a good bit of that here,” she said, her ruddy cheeks reddening slightly.
I shrugged helplessly. “I just don’t know what the hell they want. Not why they did it, or how to stop them from doing it again. Or why I’m the only one who can see them.”
Gus shifted over to a sofa and sat, pulling Susannah down onto his lap. She giggled and snuggled into him. “You say they look like dogs, right?” he said. “And now they’re just soaking up the love where there’s love to be had. Makes me wonder if whoever their master is maybe doesn’t treat them too well. Maybe they’ve run away and gone wild. They’ve forgotten how to be normal dogs, and all it takes is a little love to remind them how to behave.”
I didn’t know a thing about how feral dogs behaved, but I’d heard stories about feral dragons. After witnessing Rohan’s behavior the day before, I understood how dangerous that could be. If we hadn’t replenished his magic, he’d have lost his mind and devoured us, then likely terrorized the entire West Coast until someone took him out.
A shiver threaded down my spine at that thought and I reached for his hand, grateful that Keagan and I had managed to help keep him sane.
“Maybe you’re right.” I squatted down and reached out a tentative hand to the hound with the blaze—the one that had bitten Rohan, and Bodhi before him. “Is it love you guys need? Or something different? Please help me understand what it is you’re after.”
The hound’s ears perked up and it took a step toward me, head outstretched. I held perfectly still, hoping for some revelation from its behavior. A glowing violet tongue slipped out and grazed like velvet fire over my knuckles, leaving them tingling from the immense power that the creature seemed wholly crafted of.
Then it lifted its nose and sniffed, tilted its head up and let out an eerie, warbling howl. Bodhi jumped out of his seat with a curse. Rohan’s head whipped around to the sound, then he rose too. Both men closed in on me and when they were within inches, the hound’s howl faded.
“What the fuck was that?” Bodhi asked. “It was like a fucking song stuck in my head, and a sensation like I had a rope tied behind my eyes pulling me to you.”
“It’s still linked to you both in a way, I guess.” I gave the hound a perplexed look. It tilted its head back and forth, as though waiting for me. Then seeming to grow too impatient, it stepped forward and shoved its nose into Bodhi’s hand, then turned and repeated the process to Rohan.
“Give me your hands,” I said, reaching out to each man. They placed their palms against mine and I squeezed and looked back at the hound. “Is this what you wanted?”
The creature made a low chuffing sound, its tail lifting slightly and swaying back and forth.
“I’ll take that as a yes. I’m not sure what it means, but it likes that we’re in contact.” I held onto the two men for a few seconds longer, oddly reluctant to let either of them go. Bodhi squeezed my hand lightly and I glanced at him, warmed by his tender smile of gratitude. He let go of my hand and I impulsively sank back into Rohan’s arms, needing his comfort after losing that contact with Bodhi, no matter how brief it had been.
The dragon slipped his arms around me and nuzzled my hair and the hound ambled around the room as though hunting for something, its nose raised in the air. It passed by Keagan with a dismissive snort, but paused at Llyr, a low growl rising up in its throat. I couldn’t help but smile at the random thought that it seemed to understand me well if it reacted to Llyr the way it did.
“It’s by me, isn’t it?” Llyr asked, straightening up in response to my gaze. “What’s it doing?”
“I don’t think it likes you much,” I said. “Good puppy, now leave Llyr alone, all right?” I held back a laugh at Llyr’s scowl. “You aren’t bloodline, so you have nothing to worry about.”
“The hell I’m not,” he shot back. “All you saw were the members of the bloodline who came after Meri. Did you ever think to look for the ones who came before? I’m not part of Meri’s bloodline, but I am part of Dion’s. All the satyrs are. So don’t fucking encourage the beast, all right?”
“I’m sorry.” I stiffened, chastened by his words.
“I get that you want to learn how they work, but please don’t use them to carry out your own misplaced vendettas.” He slipped out of the room, leaving me at a loss and not sure why I suddenly felt like crying.
Rohan’s arms tightened around me. “He’s the one who’s jealous,” he said.
“If he wanted me, he wouldn’t have told lies about me,” I said bitterly. My face heated when I caught the interested looks of Susannah and the rest of her family. “Ah, anyway, I’m pretty sure they’re not a danger to the rest of your family, but I’ll keep an eye on them. You guys should go enjoy your party.”
Gus and Susannah departed and I watched them go, both hounds at their heels.
“So am I off the hook? I don’t feel any different.” Rohan gave my hip a squeeze and I glanced up into his golden gaze, then down at his abdomen, wishing for a different outcome but knowing nothing had likely changed.
I shook my head. “No. I don’t think this changes anything except giving you a short reprieve.”
He pressed his lips together and nodded. “Until the honeymoon is over, I guess. I’ve been to a few turul weddings before. When a pair of true mates find each other, you’d think a whole bevy of Gold dragons flew in and breathed magic smoke on the occasion. That’s how much love and happiness floods the place from their bond.”
“They aren’t turul, though,” I said. “They’re human.”
“True, but that couple are two of the truest mates I’ve ever seen, and there is most definitely turul blood in this family. They’re bloodline so it’s possible. Hell, it’s likely I have a little too. There aren’t many dragons who play music.”
“You play music, man?” Bodhi asked, perking up. He glanced at Keagan who gave a slow nod.
“We dabble,” Keagan said.
Rohan snorted. “He’s being modest. We pretty much live and breathe music.”
“Shit, I thought you two were just rabid Fate’s Fools fans.” Bodhi gestured to Rohan’s t-shirt, the pale gray cotton pulled tight across the dragon’s chest displaying the winged emblem superimposed atop the eye of a hurricane. Keagan’s shirt was black with the name of the latest album, “Fool’s Folly” written across the chest with the stylized Fs extending across like banners in a high wind.
“Brother, we are Fate’s Fools,” Keagan said. “At least as of three weeks ago when we made it official.”
Bodhi’s aura flared so brightly he looked close to orgasm, but his excitement was not quite the same as sexual arousal. Beside me, Rohan’s big body shivered with amusement barely held in check. Bodhi admirably got himself under control and with a grin and a nod said, “Fucking rad! You guys want to jam?”
“Only if you’ve got a bass guitar for this guy,” Rohan pointed at Keagan. “If so, we’ve got ourselves a band.”
The three of them headed out the door, chatting about gear and music while Maddie and I fell into step a few paces behind.
“You’ll stay for a while won’t you?”
“I think we should,” I said. “Being able to keep an eye on the creatures might help me understand them more. And the music seems to help the ones who’ve been bitten.” Not to mention the general happiness pervading the day had everyone’s energy merged in a way that amplified the power in the place. If t
he hounds really did soak up love, and that kept them docile, this was the best place for all of us.
“Good,” Maddie said with a relieved, though exhausted smile. She looked sad, her aura shimmering in a gray-blue haze that made me impulsively stop and hug her. She let out a soft “oh” and accepted my embrace. When I released her she said, “Thank you. I needed that.”
“There’s an after-effect,” I commented. “Of the bites, I mean. I saw it in Susannah yesterday, and you and Bodhi both have it now. Scars on your souls. I want to find out how to make those go away. I wish Susannah could tell me what she did.”
Maddie let out a long sigh as I followed her through the kitchen filled with milling partiers, and out to a narrow grassy yard where a multitude of children played. Inside the house I heard the familiar sounds of musical instruments being tuned and someone goofing around on the piano. Maddie smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“I’ve been alone a long time,” she said, finally coming to a stop at a stone bench beneath a blossoming tree. “But it wasn’t until yesterday that I ever truly felt lonely. It’s the kind of loneliness that leaves a cold, dark ache that simply being around friends doesn’t ease.”
“You and Bodhi’s father didn’t work out?” I asked, perplexed by how transient human relationships seemed to be from stories I’d heard.
Maddie pressed her lips together, shaking her head. “Bodhi’s dad was here and gone in a blink. We thought we were in love at the time, but I learned as quick as I could say, ‘I’m pregnant’ that it was all a lie. That’s how my dad was too. Neither Mom nor I ever expected we’d find real love in our lives, besides the love we have for Bodhi. And I never really felt the need for it, either. Not until now. Now, it’s like a piece of my soul got cut out, and I don’t think I’ll get it back unless I find someone. Do you understand?”
I swallowed and started to nod, then shook my head and sat down beside her with a sigh. “I don’t know, Maddie. And I know it sounds ridiculous, but I wish I did understand. Because that would mean I had a soul to lose to someone.”