Yellowed aging newspapers piled about two inches high by the fireplace, but other than that nothing was in this room but discarded nails on the walls outlined by lighter versions of the wall paper in shapes of picture frames.
Ms. Midnight was on a mission and bulldozed her way into the next room followed closely by Sully, while a more cautious Summer followed. When Ms. Midnight turned a corner, Summer lost sight of her for a moment. A noise behind Summer turned her head as she entered the room, running smack into the back of Ms. Midnight.
In front of her a cloud of green smoke swirled. It oozed out to the sides making a solid form—most noticeable, a pair of golden eyes. The orbs stared at the two women in the dimness. The eyes first appeared at normal a level for a person, but they were moving upward and growing larger with the increasing green smoke.
It took up more and more room, filling what looked like a kitchen and small dining area. Ms. Midnight took a step back trying to avoid the green eerie smoke moving towards them. With lightning fast speed, the eyes suddenly became part of a large, scaly horned head. Hundreds of sharp yellow teeth showed on the jawline of the head and a red light emanated from what Summer could only assume was the throat of the beast. The red light grew to orange, then yellow and then…FIRE! Flames came at the women from a serpentine flame thrower.
In that instant, time slowed to a crawl. Summer watched the flames morph into snake-like tongues, licking and tasting the air and inching closer and closer. Ms. Midnight spoke in the same speed as the fire came. It was deep and distorted by the slowness. Her arms moved sluggishly in front of her and appeared to Summer as if she were reaching out to the oncoming fire. Summer heard herself scream a warning in the same deep, slow, distorted manner.
A low, thunderous noise came from behind Summer. Still in mid-scream she turned to see Sully running towards her in slow motion. Her scream turned to panic. What is he doing? Her scream was interrupted by her own words “NO!”
The flames reached Ms. Midnight. Her hands came together in a loud clap as if an atomic bomb erupted. The sound deafened everyone in the room and it dawned on Summer that this came from Ms. Midnight. Energy radiated from her clasped hands sending out a shockwave in all directions, including Summer’s.
Sully’s front paws landed on Summer’s chest, knocking her out of the path of danger. The dragon was thrown backward through the wall and out of sight, debris raining everywhere, making it hard to see and breathe.
When Sully was sure Summer was out of danger, he went to Ms. Midnight as she sat propped up by the wall. A lick on the cheek opened her eyes and she started to assess the area around her. Summer was quickly at her side making sure she was not hurt. Aside from a conk on the head and being covered with a thick layer of dust and debris, she seemed in good condition. She helped the old woman to a standing position then a large black cat sauntered in from a room to the left as if the commotion had disturbed his nap.
*****
“Well, it’s about time you came to rescue me,” he said in an indignant, disgusted manner. He daintily walked through the debris to Ms. Midnight and sat beside her shaking one paw after another of unwanted rubble. Sully lunged at him in excitement and before Morti could move, Sully had given him a long gooey lick from paw to the tip of one ear leaving his fur sticking straight out.
“Gross. Control your beast. I’m not a lollipop. I’m a—” Morti said in revulsion, but before he finished Sully licked him once again from nose to ear and then grabbed him by the tail and picked him up.
Morti’s arms and legs thrashed and flailed frantically in every direction, claws fully extended and ready to meet anything they could get close to, but they could not penetrate a hellhound’s thick fur and skin. He hissed and spat at Sully as he swung back and forth beneath his jowls, when finally Morti gave up and just hung there, upside down, giving the evil eye to Summer and Ms. Midnight, who were trying hard to hold back their laughter.
“There’s nothing funny going on here,” Morti said, directing his comment to Ms. Midnight. He continued speaking to Sully, “The tail is not a toy. It is not meant to be a leash or a strap for carrying. Now put me down, this instant, you horrid creature.” Morti’s words trailed off as Sully happily trotted out the front door and back to the cottage with his newfound prize.
Summer’s eyes met Ms. Midnight’s and they had a hearty laugh before they remembered there was a dragon to deal with. The hole in the wall rained dust and debris for a long while before settling. Intermittent ceiling chunks falling kicked up the dust again. Carefully, Summer made her way through the rubble helping and guiding Ms. Midnight as she did.
Chapter 16
They spied a crumpled form at the base of one of the many trees that lined the front line of the forest. It was not large. It was not green. It didn’t even have glowing golden eyes, horns or scales. It was a human man—a very handsome man, with dark hair, sky blue eyes and black blood oozing down his shirt.
“Hunter?” Summer said as she made her way to him. “What…? I thought you—”
“Were a demon? I lied to you,” he said wincing as he tried to straighten himself to meet her eyes.
“But why?” she asked.
“To disguise my true intentions,” he admitted.
She peeled back the bloodied shirt and saw the stitches had ruptured and there was very little healing.
“You told me you were a fast healer and that this was completely healed.”
He tipped his head to one side and said, “Another lie.”
“Was anything you told me true?” she asked angrily as she sat in front of him to look at the new damage to his old wound. She assessed his injuries and then suddenly asked, “Are you going to hurt me?”
“No.”
“It didn’t look that way to me back there,” she said sharply.
“I had to make it look good, didn’t I? After all, I am a dragon,” he said then looked at Ms. Midnight and continued, “Besides, I knew who I was up against.”
Ms. Midnight stood with crossed arms, scowling at him and said, “It’s true. If he wanted to kill us, he would have used something stronger than ‘the breath of a dragon.’ I’m not sure I could have prevented him from killing us if that was truly what he wanted,” Ms. Midnight admitted.
“I’m confused. What was your intent then?”
“I can guess, if you like?” Ms. Midnight said when Hunter didn’t say anything right away.
“Be my guest,” he said wincing again. When Summer gestured for him to give her his shirt so she could try and control the bleeding, he shook his head and said under his breath, “don’t bother.” She insisted and he finally gave in.
Ms. Midnight said, “Given that I have not seen nor heard of any dragons in eons, I would guess you are the last of your kind.”
He nodded. Summer held pressure on Hunter’s wound as she looked from Ms. Midnight to Hunter.
“You came in search of the RAT in hopes he would have some way of helping you,” Ms. Midnight continued. “It doesn’t take a genius to assume the most powerful witch family affiliated with the BROOM would be the guardians of such a vessel as the RAT.”
“Yes,” Hunter said as Sully trotted up holding Morti by the scruff of his neck between his teeth. Morti looked hilarious—his hair stuck out everywhere in stiff tufts from the dried drool that acted as a sort of crazy styling gel. Summer asked him to get her medical bag for her, which he quickly retreated to obtain, Morti in his mouth.
“What is the BROOM?” Summer asked.
Ms. Midnight said, “The BROOM is the Brotherhood of Reformed Order of Magic, dear. Given I’m the last of the Midnight family, you came here.” She looked straight at Hunter. “You stole the RAT and killed Ms. Ash who was guarding him, which is how you ran into Summer.”
“YOU killed Sully’s mother?” Summer said, appalled.
“Yes,” he said sadly.
“In his defense, he couldn’t possibly have known that she just gave birth to the pup a few days earlier,
” Ms. Midnight stated. Hunter did not meet Summer’s eyes. “Then you took the RAT and tried to get what information you could from him. I don’t envy you that. Morti is an arrogant, annoying creature. I’m sure you inflicted no more torture on him than he did on you.”
Hunter tried to laugh but it was too painful.
“But something tells me that you did not act on this alone,” Ms. Midnight surmised.
“Why’s that?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. There’s something though, maybe the remorse I sense in you,” she said speculating.
“It’s true. I was contracted to capture the RAT for another party,” Hunter admitted.
“But you didn’t hand him over, why?”
“I hoped I could get the information I needed without getting the RAT killed,” Hunter answered.
“What do you care if the RAT is killed or not?” Summer said.
“Oh, trust me, dear, he cares. And I’m guessing this was a last ditch chance at whatever it is you hoped to do, or you wouldn’t have made such a deal, am I right?”
“Yes,” he said as Sully trotted up with Morti still in his mouth and Summer’s case hanging from his tail.
“Good boy!” she said, taking her case.
“Good boy indeed!” Morti said. “Now is someone going to get me out of this mammoth’s mouth?”
Ms. Midnight shook her head no, followed by Hunter and Summer. “Well, isn’t that just perfect,” they heard him say as Sully trotted off happy as a lark. “You’ll be sorry. I’ll make you all pay for this torture.”
Summer started to clean and suture Hunter’s wound.
“You see, Summer, dragons can’t exist without magic. In my own opinion, magic shouldn’t exist without dragons. Dragon magic is some of the most extraordinary magic there is. What is it your employer promised you?” Ms. Midnight asked Hunter.
“They said with the RAT’s help my mate could be brought back to life,” Hunter said.
“My poor, sweet dragon…you do realize now that they lied?” Ms. Midnight said sadly.
“But they said—” Hunter said in desperation.
“I’m sure they said all kinds of things, but it is impossible. If magic could bring back the dead, don’t you think everyone would bring back their loved ones?” Ms. Midnight explained.
“But there’s a spell, I’ve seen it…” Hunter implored.
“Yes, my dear. There is a spell. A spell of the darkest of all magic. A spell that was bound in death in which a reaper was deceived into giving an evil witch the words to bring back the dead, but, darling…what comes back is not who we remember our loved ones to be; only the body comes back. Their soul, the essence that makes them who they are and what we loved, does not.”
“I can live with that,” Hunter said.
“No, darling, you can’t. No one can and no one should. There is no love or light of any kind in the shell that comes back. There is only darkness, death, and evil.”
“How do you know?” Hunter said.
“I know and I wish to God I didn’t. I knew the evil witch who attained the spell from the reaper. I saw what he did with the spell and what came back in the place of the witch’s loved one. I saw it. I experienced it. I knew all the people involved and more importantly, I know how it ended and believe me, that is not something anyone should ever have to live their lives knowing.”
Tears rolled down Hunter’s face. He knew Ms. Midnight was telling him the truth. He was the last of his kind and there was nothing he could do about it. Ms. Midnight gave him a moment to mourn the hope that had driven him to this task.
“Can I ask who was your employer?” Ms. Midnight said.
“You can, but I think you may already know. I also think I should tell you that they know about Summer,” Hunter said.
This statement seemed to unnerve Ms. Midnight but she tried to cover it with a question. “What do you mean, exactly, when you say they know about Summer?”
“I mean they know she has magic. It wasn’t my intent to reveal anything to them I didn’t have to, but when they contacted me last, they wanted to know why things were taking so long. They didn’t know I already had the RAT at the time, but I figured they’d be checking on me soon. I told them there was more than one witch to contend with, not to mention a hellhound protecting the household. They questioned me to no end about the second witch. I told them what I knew, not knowing what I later learned from the RAT. I didn’t know.”
“You couldn’t have known. No one knew,” Ms. Midnight said sadly.
“What are you talking about?” Summer said. “I’m not a witch.”
Hunter and Ms. Midnight exchanged a look. “There are many things that need to be shared, now that the cat is out of the bag. I had hoped we would have more time. I promise we will talk about this more in the days to come, but now it is imperative I know who your employer is,” Ms. Midnight said anxiously.
Summer was tying the last knot of the sixteen stitches she sewed to close up Hunter’s wound. She could tell that Hunter was apprehensive to say the least, but the look on Ms. Midnight’s face in lieu of the answer had Summer nervous as well, even though she wasn’t entirely sure what was going on.
Hunter took a deep breath and exchanged a glance with Summer before he said, “The Macabres.”
*****
Apparent by Ms. Midnight’s reaction, the name Macabre was one she feared. She went off muttering to herself, shuffling towards the confines of her home. Summer felt this was best. At the very least, the woman had a pretty eventful day. The name was not one Summer knew, but it seemed even taboo to Hunter.
She helped Hunter to stand and offered him a place on her couch for the night after they had a little something to eat. She felt sure Ms. Midnight would probably offer him a room in the mansion, but she thought it best to let Ms. Midnight absorb all that she had heard from Hunter and let that sit for a while before confronting her with more questions.
Summer lay in bed that night confused by all she heard and seen that day. She had a ton of questions but truthfully she was glad for a little time to wrap her head around what had been thrown at her.
A witch? Why did they think she was a witch? Why did it matter if this evil family, the Macabres, cared about her being here? She was certainly no threat to them. Of course, then there was the fact that Hunter was a dragon, not a demon—and not just a dragon, but the last dragon.
As she rubbed the item on her necklace she realized if he was a dragon, she was carrying a part of him around on her neck. That seemed a little creepy and she instantly released the scale, letting it drop to her chest.
Sully was content with his new buddy and was not letting the cat out of his sight—not for a second. The cat was not getting away anytime soon either. Sully had a paw on his tail and he rested his head across Morti’s belly and back. The cat was NOT happy, but was in no position to do anything about it.
At first he pleaded with Summer to help him, but when that failed he just incessantly complained. Even Sully got tired of his whining, so he set his other paw on Morti’s head, making it impossible for the cat to open his mouth to speak. A few grunts and groans were heard before Morti finally gave in and went to sleep.
*****
Summer got ready for work quietly, letting Hunter sleep. Sully had the upside down cat in his mouth ready to go to the clinic, but Summer insisted he needed to leave the cat at home. As if his little hellhound heart was breaking, he sadly released the crabby cat with extremely crazy hair with one last lick. The cat scrambled for the mansion like any captive animal might.
When Sully and Summer arrived at the clinic, Nick was dropping off Tori. They both headed to her and Sully, which surprised Summer. Nick rarely got out of the car and even more rarely ever talked to Summer.
“Hey, Summer,” he said sadly with his hands in his pockets.
“Hey. What’s up?” Summer said, wondering why Tori and Nick looked so sullen.
“It’s Jackson,” Tori said. A flood of memo
ries from the day before and the fight between Hunter and Jackson came back to her. It seemed like days ago after what happened last night.
“Oh, is he okay?” Summer asked.
“He’s physically okay…” Nick said sharply.
“Oh? Well, that’s good,” Summer said, ignoring his harshness.
“You really need to talk to him, Summer,” Tori implored.
“Why? I can’t ever get a straight answer out of him,” Summer said.
“Not everyone is an open book!” Nick said. Tori pushed him away with a palm to his chest; obviously this was Tori’s way of telling Nick to take a breather. He sulked to the car and seated himself in the driver’s seat.
“Look, I know he’s been evasive, but he’s really torn up. I think if you were to talk to him now, he might reveal why he’s been the way he’s been,” Tori said.
“I don’t know, Tori,” she said.
“Please?” Tori pleaded.
“Fine. Tell him I’ll meet him at the park for lunch, if he wants,” Summer said.
“Good. That’s perfect. Thank you,” Tori said, hugging Summer and then running off to tell Nick and say her goodbyes.
Summer watched as Tori spoke to Nick. They really were good together. She had a way of calming the beast in him and knew how to talk to him. He seemed incredibly grateful for this. She caressed his hair and yanked one of his ears, making him smile, then kissed him goodbye. She’d never seen Tori so in sync with a guy and it was really nice.
Tori made her way to Summer and even gave Sully a scratch on his ear while she called him “Slobber-puss” and opened the door to the clinic. Too bad she had to talk with Jackson, because she really would’ve liked talkinh to Tori about last night’s events.
Chapter 17
Nick and Jackson were waiting at the park when Summer and Tori arrived. Nick seemed to be in protective mode standing stoically, his arms crossed against his chest. Jackson was partially leaning, partially sitting on the wooden picnic bench staring off towards the woods. The boys had chosen a shaded table whereas Summer and Tori usually sat in the sun on the grass to eat. When the two pairs came together, Nick picked up Tori by the waist, bringing her up to his height and kissing her. Jackson on the other hand never made eye contact with Summer when she approached.
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