Could I cross that off my bucket list?
“Drake, you are seriously pissing it off!” exclaimed Lyssa. “I don’t think this is helping!”
Lyssa was right—it wasn’t really making things better, but I hadn’t been able to help myself. Now I needed to remedy the situation. Unfortunately for the viper, it had no idea what fun I had planned for it.
I hopped off its body, and quickly shifted into my dragon form. Not bothering to remove my clothing beforehand, everything ripped and shredded into pieces as my body turned into the giant red beast. I was more than twice the size of the serpent, and I glowered down upon it with glee.
Then I roared. Loud. Right upon its face so that it could feel the intense, wonderful power of my breath. On top of that, I even added a little bit of smoke for good measure.
The snake appeared slightly dazed from the whiplash, but quickly composed itself, and lunged for me. Now I was annoyed. Couldn’t this snake get the hint? I quickly batted it away with my claw and it went crashing into the side of the rocks, sliding down the wall until it lay limply on the ground.
I wiped my claws and grinned at my companions. Easy. Done. Time to get on with things.
“Oh shit,” muttered Jackson. “Umm…Drake? I think you should check this out. Behind you.”
I turned back in the direction of the snake pile, only to find that the serpent was slithering toward me at breakneck speed, and now had grown…
Twice its size?
How the hell did this happen?
I gaped as it grew even bigger before my eyes, and I understood that this was truly a magical creature—no doubt placed in front of the Dragon Oracle’s cave as its guardian.
Soon the humongous rattlesnake was almost upon me. I quickly launched myself into the air, pumping my wings in desperation to get off the ground. The serpent lunged at me with incredible speed, and its fangs sank into my hind leg.
Oh, blood of the gods!
Searing pain immediately shot through me, but I did not roar—oh no. I would never let on how much anguish I felt. Instead, I kicked the snake in the face with my other leg, and it immediately let go. Flying high above, I saw the others stripping their clothes, preparing to shift into their dragon forms.
Jackson took off into the air next. He quickly zipped under the snake’s nose and it hissed loudly at him—the perfect distraction. I dove down and raked my claws against the snake’s underbelly, but instead of the satisfaction of my talons ripping against flesh, they were met with the clonk of something hard, like steel.
I had expected a giant gush of blood and a gash down the serpent’s side, but its scales remained intact.
Lyssa attacked next—oh, and how sexy she looked with fire in her eyes!—but no matter how hard she slashed and clawed, she found no success either. What was this snake, to be so impervious to attack?
Finally, after all the dragons had tried their turn and the viper remained unscathed, I realized we needed to try something different.
Everyone, out of the way! I called to my companions, and then I blasted the snake with a stream of fire. Then I blasted again. Even a third time, just to be sure. Smoke billowed around us, and while I waited for it to clear, I chuckled, expecting to soon be met with the lovely charred remains of this pesky creature.
To my dismay, the smoke remained, and I soon learned the reason why—a giant circle of fire surrounded the area. Trees and bushes burned, and in the center of them, the snake still sat untouched.
Oh gods! I had set fire to this beautiful landscape!
We need to find water to put this out, I sent to my companions as we all flew above the area. And of course, we still need to deal with…him. Or her.
There’s a problem with that, said Trey. He dipped down to hover over the fire, as close as he could without getting singed. This isn’t regular fire. It’s wildfyre. It can only be put out by magick.
Wildfyre? Of course, I knew of this magical entity, but my flaming breath had never before been the cause of it. Yet it made complete sense—we were in some sort of alternate realm, after all. When I looked closer, the blaze was indeed tinged with an unnatural purple hue.
My heart sank a little further in my chest. I had created all this, including the angry monster down below us.
I’m sorry, I sent to Lyssa, hoping she would forgive me. She met my gaze for a moment before she dipped down close to the flames.
The viper lurched toward her, but was suddenly bathed in the glow that emanated from her bracelet—which, to my surprise, had somehow shifted magically with her and perfectly encircled her forearm. In seconds the snake had shrunk to a tiny form, now able to fit in a shoebox. It quickly slithered behind a large rock. Lyssa then directed the glow toward the wildfyre, and soon the tall flames died down to embers.
Relief coursed through me—everything looked the same as before. Trees and bushes, with a valley full of purple wildflowers. And no giant serpent, thank the gods!
We all landed then and shifted back to our human forms. My leg ached like the devil. I tried to ignore it, but simply couldn’t. When I looked down at it, I noticed it had swollen to a disgusting purple-blue.
Oh, now what? It looked absolutely horrid.
The others quickly put on their clothes, and I remembered with regret that mine had been ripped to shreds in my impatience to shift. Well, in my defense, I had been under quite a lot of pressure to fight the monster immediately.
So, I just sat down naked on a large rock.
“I’ve got some clothes in here,” said Ethan, rummaging in his pack. “I brought extra.” He handed me a shirt and pants, and even though they were tight on me, I put them on anyway.
“And here are your shoes,” said Trey. “Your clothes were destroyed, but your boots somehow survived.”
I nodded to him, but kept the boots off for now. My leg hurt too much to think.
Jackson knelt next to me and rolled up my pant leg. He carefully inspected the wound. “We need to take care of this snake bite right away,” he said. “Otherwise things will get nasty.”
Lyssa sat down and snuggled against my side, even though I knew she still must be utterly annoyed with me. I set an entire valley on fire, for gods’ sake! Jackson placed his hand upon the snake bite, and soon his healer energy flowed into me and the pain and swelling in my leg began to decrease.
If Jackson hadn’t been here to help me…oh hell, I didn’t even want to think of what I would do. I glanced up at my companions, grateful for their kindness even though I had clearly made a mess of things.
A huge fucking mess.
“Thank you,” I told all of them. Even Trey.
And I meant it.
13
Lyssa
The path to the cave was rocky and steep, and I was huffing and puffing and quite sweaty by the time I got to the entrance. “Hello?” I called out into the darkness.
No answer. Crap.
Heat from the bracelet burned against my ass cheek, where I’d shoved it in my back jeans pocket. I absolutely refused to wear it any longer. I’d succumbed to its energy and invoked its power—not just once, to find the portal, but twice, to fight the serpent and the wildfyre. When Trey said that only magick could solve the situation—what else was I supposed to do? Let the valley burn? Abandon my mission to heal the fertility stone?
I couldn’t. I had to do everything I possibly could.
But I was officially done with it. Now that we’d found the Dragon Oracle’s cave, I couldn’t think of one reason why I ever needed to use it again. I’d no longer have to deal with the lure of dragon magick, like my sister had.
I didn’t care that the bracelet made me feel freaking amazing. Even now, it pulsed delicious heat and energy through my butt cheek. It was messing with me, for sure.
“Knock it off!” I said. The bracelet pulsed even more, shooting another flurry of goodness through me.
I absentmindedly rubbed it through my pocket as I peered into the cave, hoping I could pawn it o
ff on one of the guys later. “Anyone home?”
Still no answer. I took a deep breath and walked inside, feeling a bit rude by entering someone’s residence without being invited.
My eyes soon adjusted to the dim light of the cavern. Glowing crystals sat upon niches in the tall rock walls and graceful stalactites hung from the ceiling.
Water noises burbled from somewhere, and mixed in with them, someone singing. I listened closely. Yep. Definitely singing, and a woman’s voice, too. I followed the sound and passed by a few doorways that led into smaller caverns, one with luxurious, multicolored cushions, and another with a large altar.
The singing grew louder as I made my way farther into the cave. It was a lovely, lilting voice, and I thought I recognized the lyrics…
Hmm.
Metallica?
I entered a small tunnel, and followed it until it opened once again into another large cavern, this one filled with more glowing crystals and a bubbling hot spring.
A red-haired woman sat soaking in one of the pools. Headphones covered her ears and hard rock lyrics belted out from her perfectly heart-shaped lips.
She sat up when she saw me and immediately removed the headphones. A look of surprise crossed her face. “Oh, hello!”
“Um…hey. I’m looking for the Dragon Oracle?” I paused, feeling weird to have interrupted bath time. “Sorry to have…disturbed you.”
“Oh, not at all! I just didn’t realize I had a visitor. I think you’re, like, the first person I’ve had come by in over fifty years.” She stood in the water—seemingly oblivious to her nakedness in front of a stranger—and eased herself out of the pool. She grabbed a fluffy towel from a nearby rocky ledge. “Anyway, come on in. I’m the Dragon Oracle.”
“You are? And no one’s been here in fifty years?”
“Nope. Weird, huh?” said the woman, drying herself off. She released the bun from the top of her head and let her long red hair cascade down her back. She shot me a big grin. “My name’s Ophelia. Most people call me Lia for short.”
“I’m Lyssa.” I returned the smile and then stared at her for a second, not only because she was strutting around naked without a care in the world, but also because she wasn’t quite what I had expected. This tall and toned woman was nothing like the timid, waiflike creature I’d imagined.
Lia dug into an ancient-looking chest and came up with a long, gauzy white shift. She held it out in front of her. “So this is what I’m supposed to be wearing,” she said, making a face. “Do you mind if I just put on some regular clothes instead?”
“Sure.” I shrugged, not minding at all. “Whatever you’re comfortable in. No need to wear the dress thing on my account.”
“Cool.” Lia grabbed another nearby pile of clothes, and quickly put on some cut-off denim shorts and a black tank top. She slipped her feet into a pair of flip-flops. “Ready? I imagine you probably want to get started.”
I nodded, not really sure what we were doing, but thrilled beyond words that I had actually found the Dragon Oracle. So, of course I was ready.
“Okay, great. Let’s go out the back way so we can pick up some more supplies. I don’t really have any on hand, since you know, fifty years is kind of a long time.” She led the way toward the rear of the hot springs cavern, and soon we were in another tunnel. “So are you here to speak to the dragon goddess? Or one of the other gods?”
“Dragon goddess.”
“That’s good. Some of the lesser deities don’t like to channel as much. I don’t know why.” She shrugged. “Like they’re too busy or something.”
The dimness suddenly brightened, and when we turned the corner, the tunnel led out into the open daylight, with the meadow below us. Lia continued to tromp down toward the tall grasses and purple flowers, and I almost had to jog to keep up with her long strides.
Far off in the distance I could see my four dragons, in human form, sitting on an outcropping of boulders.
Oh, shit. Was she going to be freaked out?
“So…do you dislike men, then?” I asked, deciding that simply spitting it out seemed like the best tactic.
“Dislike men? Goddess, I fucking love them,” said the Oracle. “Why?”
“Well—I brought four of them with me.”
“Really? Where?”
I pointed in the direction of my dragons. “Over there.”
“Oh, right.” She squinted. “Now I see them. And you have four of them? Gods almighty. You’re a lucky gal.”
I could feel my brow scrunch up in confusion. “But I thought you didn’t like men. That you were afraid of them.”
Lia scoffed loudly. “That’s a bunch of fucking bullshit. Just a rumor initiated by the Oracle Association, I’m sure, to prevent men from coming to visit me.”
“The Oracle Association?”
“Yeah. Just a few cranky dragon ladies. Until recently they called themselves ‘the crones,’ but they updated their title so they could keep up with modernity and whatnot.” Lia rolled her eyes. “Anyway, they’re in charge of whether I’m doing a good job, and the outfits and everything. It kind of pisses me off to find out they’re saying things that aren’t true. You’re not the first person who’s told me that, and quite honestly, it’s annoying.”
“But why—”
“Wooo!” Lia interrupted, running into the tall grasses as we reached the edge of the meadow. She dropped to her knees and began to roll around amongst the flowers. I traipsed in behind her, wondering what the hell she was doing, when suddenly a lovely, sweet smell filled my nostrils.
Oh, mama.
The scent enveloped me and oh, yeah, it was probably the best thing I’d ever smelled in my life. Rich. Delicious. Intoxicating in a way I could never begin to describe.
I took a rolling dive into the flowers and then lay on my back. Batting at a purple blossom, I laughed, watching as it bobbed to and fro.
Next to me, Lia laughed as well. “It’s the dragongrass.”
“The what?”
“The stuff that we’re lying in. It’s like catnip for dragons.”
Ohhh my goddess. Grabbing a handful, I brought it to my nose and breathed in the fabulosity.
“So…you were asking me a question, I think,” said Lia. “About why the crones don’t want me to have men here?”
“Yeah,” I said, flopping onto my stomach so I could have the wonderful scent pressed right up against my face. “Why is that?”
“Well, the Dragon Oracle has to be a virgin. The moment an Oracle loses her virginity, a new one must be chosen.”
“Okay. So you’ve never—”
“Nope. I’ve done lots of stuff with guys, but never any penetration. I’m a virgin—a seven-hundred-year-old one, to be exact.”
Holy fuck! Seven hundred years and no sex? I propped myself up on my arms to gaze at her in amazement.
“What the Association doesn’t know, though, is that I actually can’t have sex. I’ve tried, trust me! I’m good at being the Oracle, but honestly, it’s not that great of a gig. I hang out in a cave, for fuck’s sake. And besides, every girl needs a bit of loving from time to time.” She blew out a big breath and plucked off the blooms of several purple flowers. She tossed them into the air and let them float down upon her face.
“So here’s what happens,” she continued. “Every time a guy has gotten close, I’ve been like oh, gods, yes! This is finally happening! But then it’s like some kind of fucking force field. An evil, magical chastity belt. It’s hard to explain…the penis just sort of bounces right off.”
I made a face, picturing that in my mind and thinking that sounded like a horrible end of a date. “Ugh. Sorry. That sounds awful.”
“It’s okay.” Lia got to her feet. “Come on, let’s get going.” She grabbed a huge bunch of the dragongrass and tucked it under her arm, and then yanked me up with the other.
“Wait! Nooo…” I protested, wanting to stay in the meadow all day. But Lia’s strength surprised me—she had absolutely
no trouble dragging me back to the cave. I followed her through the hot springs room, and then to the altar room near the front entrance of the cavern.
She arranged the dragongrass into two smaller bundles, and then invoked the word for fire in the ancient dragon language. “Vatra,” she said. Bluish-white light flared from her hands. She ran her hands along the grass and it immediately dried. “Easier than hanging it to dry for a week,” she explained with a wink.
She placed the bundles into two small vases on the altar, and then lightly touched each. “For the dragon goddess,” she said, to no one in particular. Light once again flared from her hands, and the dragongrass glowed with fire, then began to smolder, sending smoke swirling all around the room.
Lia selected a large cushion and sat down on it. “You sit right there,” she directed, indicating another one across from her.
I was about to do as she asked, when suddenly the cushion hissed.
“Shit!” I exclaimed as the rattlesnake uncoiled itself from the top of its napping spot.
“Oh, Zeverini, just chill the fuck out,” said Lia, leaning over to easily scoop up the snake in her hand. She gave it a little kiss on top of its head and draped it around her neck. “I don’t know why he’s so upset.”
Oh, well I did. If I were the snake, I wouldn’t much enjoy dueling it out with a hotheaded dragon. Drake, to be exact. “I don’t think he likes me or my mates very much,” I said, plopping my butt down on the now empty cushion. “One of my dragons used him as a punching bag and then tried to incinerate him.”
“Ohhh,” the Oracle said, understanding crossing her face. “Zev was your challenge. Got it.”
“He’s not everyone’s challenge?”
“No. It’s different for each person, depending on their situation. Sometimes it’s huge scorpions. For others it’s vultures. Some people don’t have a physical obstacle, but have to solve a puzzle instead. That kind of thing, you know? Tell me…how did you solve your challenge?”
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