by Sariah Skye
He snorted. "How ladylike."
I rolled my eyes.
He heaved a big sigh. "I don’t know; I just feel like I’m failing you. It’s my job to keep you safe."
"Gabriel, I’m a dragon. There isn’t much out there that can harm me," I said with a chuckle.
"Yes that’s true, but this was killing you, and you were helpless to stop it," he said sternly, looking straight into my eyes. "That should give you an idea of how dire this is, yes?"
I winced, feeling sobered. "Yeah, I…"
Gabriel scooted closer to me on the bed. "Leo, when I thought you were dying, I—" He dropped my hand and put a warm palm to my cheek. I felt the electricity current flowing through me, down to my core and a smile escaped my lips even though I tried to fight it. I nuzzled my cheek in his hand, I couldn’t help myself, it felt warm and comforting.
"You scared the crap out of me. Like, seriously I’m still shaking," he said, lifting up his other hand to show his trembling.
I frowned. "I’m sorry."
"It’s not your fault!" he exclaimed, dropping his hand away suddenly and shifting around. "It’s mine. When I felt this awful presence I should have done more to stop it. Learn about it. Find out what the hell it was!"
I grasped his shoulder and spun him back around to face me forcefully. "Dammit, Gabriel! What could you have done? You did all you could for me! You came in and saved me, somehow, and you still barely even know me! Your life is going to turn upside down because of me, someone you barely know!"
Gabriel softened his pout, he opened his mouth to say something when his phone started ringing—or at least I think it was a ring, it started playing some loud song about "radioactivity" or something that caused me to jump. "Sorry," he mouthed and started talking into the phone. "Daniel, it’s about fucking time!" he yelled angrily into the phone. He sat back down next to me and I lay down, listening to Gabriel’s end of the conversation.
Gabriel began to sound alarmed. "Are you serious? Really?" He let out a huge sigh, and put his palm over the mouthpiece and turned to me. "This is bad."
"Yeah it is. You realize you have a mute button, right?" I pointed out sarcastically.
Gabriel blinked once and scowled. "Anyways."
I snorted and couldn’t hold back a laugh. I could hear laughter coming from the phone too.
"This isn’t the time!" he yelled back into the phone, poking at a button and setting it down.
"I’m sorry," I said, seeing the severe expression on his face. "Really."
He sighed again. "Once again. I called Daniel last night to see if he had seen anything, if he had any idea what could be going on and he had a…bad vision."
"Bad? What do you mean?" I questioned, getting serious.
"A death vision," he said.
"A what? Like, the death card in tarot!?"
A voice hollered from the earpiece on the phone. "The death card doesn't necessarily mean death, oh pink one!"
"Then what does it mean?" I yelled back at him, loud enough so he could hear me from a couple feet away over the phone. "A trip to the Bahamas?"
A peal of laughter sounded from the phone. "Oh, she's funny too!" Daniel tittered. I was surprised by how similar they sounded—I guess it's reasonable, they were twins. The only difference was Daniel seemed to have a lilt in his tone as he spoke. At least, from what I could hear on the phone.
Gabriel groaned. He put the microphone part of his cell right by his mouth and shouted. "Don't instigate, bro!" I heard Daniel yelp on the other line and this time Gabriel did hit the mute button after demanding "Hang on," before turning to me solemnly.
"It’s bad, Leo. Really, really bad," he said sternly. "A death vision happens in a seer when something monumentally bad is going to happen. He had one two days before the World Trade Center attack on September 11th happened."
I winced. I wasn't here for that event but, I'd seen the footage. Positively horrifying. News of it even traveled quickly to the dragon realm. It was...nasty business. Quite scary what humans are capable of; I sometimes could see why our dragon ancestors chose to separate from them.
"What happens during the vision?" I asked.
"It’s not good, but it depends on each one. Last time all he heard was people screaming, he felt like he was falling and he ended up having a huge seizure," he explained. "That’s why I couldn’t get a hold of him last night, because he was at the hospital getting checked out after the seizure."
I gasped, covering my open mouth with my fingertips. "Oh no! Is he going to be okay?"
He nodded. "Yeah, our uncle just took him out of precaution but he’s fine. They couldn’t even tell he had a seizure really because it’s nothing physical, it’s magical."
"Wow. So this isn’t good right? What did he see then?"
"Not much, really. Just a lot of panic and a lot of…darkness."
"Like me?" I squealed.
"We think so, with how we are tied to you…" he trailed off. "But that also means we think that it could mean your death."
"Well according to you, I almost died last night," I said. "Doesn’t mean it’s going to happen again, right?"
"I wish I could be sure," he said, audibly frustrated. He scrubbed his palm over his face and let out what sounded like a low growl. My dragon was proud of it, actually. "I have no idea what that was last night. But it was bad. Really bad."
"Maybe you killed it?" I offered, glancing over at my burned end table and singed wall. "Certainly killed my table."
"Maybe. I wish I could be sure, but I really don’t know," he said. "Until we know what we’re up against, I can’t really say."
I frowned. "Daniel didn’t see anything else in his vision?"
"Unfortunately not," Gabriel said with a sigh.
"Do you think it’ll come back?" I asked in a small voice.
"Well, without knowing exactly what it is…" He gave me a reassuring smile instead of finishing his sentence, leaning over to squeeze my arm. "We’ll figure it out. I’ll be here, no matter what, even if I have to crash on your couch for the rest of my life or, whatever."
I forced a smile. "Thanks. But that’s no way for either of us to live: in fear."
He shrugged. "No, but the best I can gather is whatever it was has something to do somehow with the force or entity or whatever that was causing all those storms: we know for sure it was coming after you now, and it found you."
"You think it could have been a warlock spell?" I asked.
"Not sure but, that would be good news," he said. "If it was, that means I could probably counter it somehow."
"And if not?"
Gabriel remained silent.
"I wonder…" I trailed off, searching around my bed for my phone even though I was pretty sure it wasn’t there, I left it on the coffee table last night.
Gabriel produced it from his jeans pocket. "Looking for this?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Why do you have this?"
"I panicked!" he exclaimed in exasperation. "I went through your contacts looking for your grandfather or your brother or someone! Anyone who might know anything about this thing that nearly killed you!"
"Ah, well…good thinking. Did you get anyone?"
"Your brother…I sent him a message telling him to have your grandfather get in touch with me. Or you. Or whoever," he explained.
I nodded. "Okay, good." I slowly stood up, feeling the pins and needles stab at my eyes. "Oh God…" I said woozily, stumbling back over on the bed. Gabriel caught me as I fell back and helped ease me back against the pillows, as a black curtain began to fall over my line of vision.
"Shit, Leo, you okay?" Gabriel asked, extremely concerned.
I felt it again…the darkness. The void. The nothing. The invisible hands that weren’t there wrapping around my throat, choking the life out of me. There was no light, there was no sound. There was nothing except for me and the thing that was draining me.
I gasped. "I remember!" I started shaking violently, recalling the
terror I felt. Gabriel was immediately attentive, wrapping his arms around me and letting me hyperventilate into his chest.
I didn’t hear my phone chime, but Gabriel did and he checked it for me. Sniffling, I managed to pull myself away from him for a few moments to inquire.
"It’s from your brother," he said, "he said he’s with your grandfather right now, and to explain to him the problem. Should we call him?"
I shook my head. "Texts are easier to get through, phone calls not so much," I said, composing myself momentarily.
Gabriel gave me a sympathetic look. He patted the pillow and motioned for me to lie back down. "I got this," he said, already tapping on my phone.
I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. I buried my face in the pillow—the one Gabriel had slept on—and inhaled his lingering scent. It was relaxing and a bit stressful at the same time.
Just a few days ago, I was just a girl in a coffee shop, working to attempt to buy herself a newer car and support her silly fandom obsessions.
Okay so I was a dragon girl in a coffee shop but…hey. I’d been living as a human now for a couple of years and it was becoming quite comfortable. I’d even made a friend and had a purpose, even if that purpose was only to deliver beverage sustenance to cranky morning people on their way to work, or evening gamers looking for that extra kick, or stressed out Moms needing a pick me up on their way to their umpteenth kids’ sporting event that week. It wasn’t much but, it was better than living under constant scorn and scrutiny back home.
I watched movies, I watched shows, I went to the movie theater and saw movies alone, I listened to my co-workers talk about life, school and romance and I learned a little about humanity along the way. All I wanted to do was blend in.
I never really thought about romance or relationships, friendships were hard enough for me. But in the past week those thoughts were tested. Now I was in the presence of an incredibly handsome and talented human male and I was beside myself. Since he came around I found my brain all a-jumble, my heart all a-flutter and I was now the target of evil unknown forces.
That sort of puts my blending in/anonymity ideas on the backburner for a while.
Hmmm...that is a rather interesting coincidence. Everything was fine until he came around and figured out who I was. Perhaps, somehow, he is a catalyst.
That would be my luck. The first guy to come along that displayed an interest in me would turn out to be evil.
But if that were the case, why would he still be here? What happened to me was…the scariest thing that had ever happened. He banished it, and had been by my side ever since. Right?
After this short time, I feel pulled to him...why him? Like, whenever he's gone, I just feel incomplete and empty. I didn't like that feeling but, perhaps it was just how infatuation or—yikes—love felt?
I snickered to myself. Don’t be stupid, Leorah, I admonished myself in my head. Grandfather verified his story, he said he was fine. Grandfather would know. You’re being overly suspicious.
Not everyone is as nasty as all those dragons you encountered growing up. There are some decent souls out there. There has to be.
"Okay, according to Braeden, your grandfather thinks you would be safer up there, not here. He says you should come back immediately," Gabriel said interrupting my self-loathing.
I lifted my head up momentarily. "Does he know what that was?"
Gabriel shook his head. "No, not really. But he was really alarmed by it. Good news is he thinks that the chances of it being able to travel through the portal to another realm are pretty slim to nil. Even if it could, you’ll have a house full of dragons there to protect you, and a sorcerer too. It’s not getting by all of us."
I tilted a brow. "You? You can’t go there. You’ll get…eaten. Or killed. I don’t even know what portal travel will do to you, and—"
He cut me off. "Wherever you go, I go, period. You won’t let me get eaten. As for the portal," he shrugged nonchalantly, "I’ll be fine. It’s just a form of magic, and I’m not fully human anyways so…I’ll be okay."
"You’re not?" I mean when I think about it, no he wasn’t, really. I mean he was but…oh I’m confused.
"Well I am but…not. I’m a sorcerer. I can wield magic. Humans can’t do that," he said, in a moment of boastful pride.
"What about witches?" I quipped.
He rolled his eyes. "I’ll be fine."
"But…as far as I know, a human has never been over there. I can’t promise that you’ll not be thrown in a jail or some scary dungeons. Or— "
He waved me off. "I’ll be fine. After all I’ve got my balls, you’ve got your…teeth?"
I snickered. "Right."
I managed—with assistance—to pull myself off the bed and shower and barely get dressed. It was slow going through the knives stabbing at me behind the eyes but somehow I managed. At one point I freaked out Gabriel by emptying my bottle of Tylenol and swallowing them all with a couple swigs of Mountain Dew. I assured him that much was nothing for a dragon and our rapid metabolisms. He said he believed me but as I disappeared back into the bathroom to pretty myself up I swear I heard him putting some sort of spell on me.
"I can’t believe I have to go back there again already," I muttered under my breath, stumbling around my room grabbing for things I might need.
I felt something nudge against my calves. "Aww, Sona! Shit, what am I going to do with you?" I sighed.
"What’s that?" Gabriel called from the sofa.
I leaned over and picked up the cat who nuzzled my cheek and purred. She was sucking up to me, she probably sensed something was up and she didn’t want to get left again. I was just going to have to bring her along.
I chortled. "Wonderful: two things not typically allowed in the dragon realm, a cat and a human. Everyone’s really going to love me now!"
"What?"
"Just grumbling. I don’t want to go home." I quickly applied some BB cream, concealer and a quick swipe of mascara and lip gloss and braided my wet hair to the side. It wouldn’t matter much anyways because once I shifted, my hair would get messed up as would my makeup.
I grabbed some belongings I had gathered on my bed and shoved them in my backpack I had brought with me from living room. "I’m going to need you to carry Sona. She’s not going to be a happy kitty either. She hates the carrier."
"You’re bringing her?" He sounded surprised.
I shrugged. "What else can I do? I don’t know how long we’ll be gone. Even if I could find someone to take her, it’s too much to ask them to take her indefinitely."
He considered this. "Yeah I suppose…will she be okay there?"
I nodded. "I’ll leave her in my room, it’s big enough to where she won’t really care. There are animals over there though, rarely domestic. Most dragons don’t keep pets. As long as she stays put she shouldn’t get eaten or anything."
Gabriel’s eyes widened in horror. "Someone would really eat her?"
I gave him a "look". "You should be more concerned with yourself; they really will not be happy to have a human over there."
"Who’s ‘they’?"
"They. Everyone. Name it," I said.
He grumbled. "Well, they’ll just have to deal. And if not, we’ll be dragon food," he said, only half kidding to the cat as I plopped her in his lap. "Wait…why do I have to have her?"
"I can’t really hold her when I’ve got no hands and four feet and shitty wings now, can I?"
Gabriel appeared giddy. "You mean I really get to see you shift?"
"Almost. You get to see me after I shift. I don’t want to ruin my clothes, you know," I said.
"So you go all Hulk like when you shift? That’s pretty…" he didn’t finish his sentence, instead he smirked.
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever," I said. "But I kind of don’t have a choice. Bringing you around, it’s going to rattle some cages, I better be my bad ass dragon self just in case I need to claw someone in the face. Well…as bad ass as a pink dragon can be,
anyways," I finished under my breath with a wry tone. Maybe I'll just burp on them, or something equally as gross.
"You really think it’ll come to that?" he asked uncertainly.
"Don’t know. Hope not. But they might not be happy to learn about some secret human society devoted to me so…anything is possible, really," I said, with a laugh.
Gabriel forced a chuckle. "Oh, goody."
I drove us out to the portal in the woods, leaving behind Gabriel’s truck parked in my spot and my spare key in the mailbox for Kit. I couldn’t get a hold of her but I asked her if she could come check on my apartment once in a while. I know she was going to be baffled but, I couldn’t really divulge more than that. When I couldn’t get a hold of her I actually called Madison and asked her to check in on Kit and get back to me if she hadn’t heard from her in about a day, that she was sick last time I saw her. Thankfully, Madison being a slightly self-centered teenager didn’t ask questions, she just agreed quickly and tried to go into talking about a big football game that had occurred while I was gone. She didn’t even ask about when she could come back to work; she was just regaling in all the things she was up to since the shop had been closed.
Must be nice to have that carefree life.
We did drive by Gabriel's hotel really quick where he checked out and moved the small amount of things he had there to my apartment; it was little more than a laptop, some clothes and a video game system with controllers.
"That’s all you have?" I questioned uncertainly, eyeing the items he shoved into the small compartment in between the seat and the window.
He flung a backpack off his shoulder and tossed it on top of them. "There’s this too."
It didn’t even make a thud as it hit the seat. I chuckled. "What’s in there? Like a pair of underwear and a t-shirt?"
He made a face at me. "Something like that."
I groaned. "You have no clothes?"
He shrugged. "I have a few. I’ve been washing them over and over again. There’s a washing and drying unit in the room and unfortunately when I left, they were in the washer. So, I don’t have much left."
"Well, I guess we’ll just have to take some stuff from Braeden, but it might not be much more than court robes and things. Maybe a couple pairs of pants. He dresses a bit preppy with polos and khakis." Gabriel gagged mockingly at the idea; I couldn't picture him in anything but t-shirts and sweatshirts anyhow. Well, actually I pictured him without the shirts on currently, but he didn't have to know that. "Please tell me you at least have a couple pairs of underwear?" I asked.