by T. S. Ryder
She discovered the power to charm animals when she was ten years old. She was walking home from school on her normal route that took her down a run-down alley. Pawn shops and cheap Chinese take-out joints had back doors that opened to this alley. There was always a mean German Shepard chained to one of the walls. Every time Michelle had to walk past it, the dog would bark furiously and strain at its leash as it struggled to attack. She had learned to give the dog a wide berth and stay well out of its reach.
On that fateful day, the dog was particularly angry. It was barking and foaming at the mouth. It was pulling and tugging on its leash as she tried to sneak by. Michelle hugged the wall and edged past it, avoiding looking the animal in the eye. She was halfway through the alley when the dog managed to break its leash. Once free it raced towards her, slobber dripping from its mouth.
Michelle began to run, but her foot hit a pothole and he she fell forward skinning her arms and legs. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to scramble back to her feet. She turned over, but it was too late, the dog was on top of her. He was growling and slowly moving towards her with his teeth bared, his eyes furious.
“Stop,” she screamed, holding her hand up. To her surprise, the dog complied. It skittered to a stop and then looked around confused before sitting down in front of her. Its tongue lagged out of his mouth and he cocked his head and looked at her.
Michelle sat up and wiped the grit from her arms. The dog continued to sit and stare at her. All the anger and fury had left it. In one moment it had gone from furious predator to a little puppy who wanted his belly rubbed.
She reached out with her hand and touch his soft fur. At first, he pulled away as if he expected to be hit. But once he saw that she was kind, he leaned into her hand and thumped his tail happily.
The second her hand touched his fur she was bombarded with strange thoughts. The dog was scared, his master beat him. He was hungry and thirsty. He was hot, tired and dirty from being out in this back alley all day and night.
“Poor, little doggy,” Michelle had said as she scratched behind his ears. Underneath his fear, hunger and thirst was a sweet little puppy who just wanted to run and play and sleep inside.
Instead of tying the dog back up, she took the leash in her hand and brought him home. Her mother had been angry when Michelle first brought him home. But the dog was so sweet and so well-behaved that she eventually relented and Dolly, as he came to be known, became the loving family pet he had always wanted to be.
Dolly had been the first animal she had charmed, but he had been far from the last. Crickets, fish, even a lion at the zoo once, Michelle had yet to meet an animal immune to her charms. She just had to hope that dragons were susceptible as well.
Chapter Seven
The date was going well. No, scratch that, the date was fantastic. Michelle was charming and smart and funny. She knew a lot about hockey and sports in general. Brock couldn’t stop staring into her dark eyes. He was desperate to kiss her.
He took her to his favorite sushi place. She was exactly as unafraid as she claimed to be. They ordered the chef's tasting and they dug into the beautiful sushi and sashimi that was spread before them.
“So, did you google me?” Brock asked.
Her face blushed and then she said, “Maybe.”
“Did you like anything you saw?” He asked.
“You’re very successful,” she said, tipping back a shot of Saki. “I didn’t know about the accident that shattered your leg.”
“Yeah,” Brock said. There was a time when any mention of the accident would have sent him on a downward spiral, but he was passed it now. He hadn’t let that accident stop him. It had only made him stronger.
“I had a full hockey scholarship to Penn State,” he said with a shake of his head. “Third practice of the season, this guy on our team comes in so hung-over that he’s still kind of drunk. He hit the angle on his skate wrong and went crashing into me and then we were both down. He landed on my leg and I felt the whole thing shatter. It was the worst experience of my life. I blacked out from the pain.”
“Wow,” was all she could say.
“I was depressed for a while. I stopped going out, stopped going to school. I lost my scholarship and eventually got kicked out. I spent a miserable summer on my parents’ couch, just whining and complaining about how my life was ruined. Then one day my father sat me down and told me that I could either spend my entire life crying about what I had lost or I could recover from this tragedy and see what else life had to offer.”
“Seems like a great dad,” Michelle said.
“He was a great dad. I’m not doing his speech much justice. It was very moving and powerful and he was right. So I got up and applied to some other schools and began to figure out what my life looked out without hockey.”
“So you don’t play at all anymore?”
Brock shook his head and said, “I have to be careful with the leg. The injury is bad and if I break it again I could be in some real trouble. I’m a trainer now, on my own and with the Black Hawks.”
“With Cain,” she said.
He nodded and tried to think of something else to say. He didn’t want them to end up on the subject of Cain. But suddenly he realized that he couldn’t think of a single thing to say. All he could think about was Cain’s rage at the rink. The two men hadn’t spoken since that day. Brock had called and texted and even showed up at Cain’s house. But it had been like running into a brick wall.
“He’s not happy we’re dating,” Michelle said. “I feel bad about that. You two have been friends for so long. I don’t want to mess that up.”
“You haven't,” Brock said. “All three of us are adults. We can make our own decisions. Cain can’t claim you. He’s mad now, but he’ll come around. We’ve been friends a long time. We’ll get through this.”
“When did the two of you meet?” Michelle asked.
“It’s a strange story actually. I’m sure you heard about how Cain grew up, pretty far from civilization.”
“His father ran a weather station in the middle of the Yukon, right?” Michelle asked.
“Yeah. It was just his mom, him and his dad way out in the middle of nowhere. They almost never saw any other people. They lived in this isolated building far back in the forest. There was only one lone road to get to town. It was impossible most of the time due to the snow.
“It wasn’t until he was fourteen that they left the weather station and he was enrolled in a real school, my school. He was an odd looking kid. His hair was long and he didn’t know anything about movies or TV or video games. He was just strange,” Brock continued.
“I was a hockey player and he joined our team. At first, we were all wondering who this weird kid from the woods was. We were all ready to pounce on him and haze him until he quit.”
“Then he started playing and we saw how good he was. The kid had spent his entire life in winter. He ice skated year round. Hockey was his whole life. The coach tasked me with keeping him company and making sure he didn’t get in any trouble. We got along right away. I taught him everything he needed to know about surviving public school and he drilled me in hockey. We’ve been friends ever since,” he added.
“I don’t want to be the thing that comes between that,” Michelle said.
“You won’t,” Brock said, reaching over and taking her hand. “Cain will get over this. He knows he has no right to be mad.”
They finished their meal and Brock swept up the check right as the waiter dropped it off. Michelle offered to pay half, but he waved her off. Brock wasn’t the kind of guy who went Dutch. He knew how a man was supposed to treat a woman.
“Feel like taking a walk?” he asked her.
“I would love that,” she responded.
They strolled along Lake Michigan, a cool breeze ruffling their hair. The sky was clear and even with the bright city lights, Brock could see a smattering of stars above them. He looked up at the stars as he reached for Michelle’s h
and. He took her warm fingers in his and stroked her palm with his thumb. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her smiling.
“So what about you? Where did you grow up?” he asked.
“Tennessee,” she answered. “I hated it. It was hot and swampy and when I told people I wanted to be a lawyer they laughed at me and told me to mind my place,” she shook her head as a tinge of bitterness entered her voice. “I couldn't wait to get out of there. I worked so hard all through high school so that I could get a free ride to a college somewhere north. I wanted to see snow and watch the trees change.”
“What about your parents?” Brock answered.
“They always supported me. They wanted me to have a better life. Both of my parents were blue collar workers, they had never gone to college. My mother never even graduated from high school. But I do my best to take care of them now. They’re both retired and having a great time in Florida.”
“Sounds like you're a hard worker, driven. I like that in a woman,” he said, turning to face her.
“I don’t do it for you,” she said while raising one eyebrow and smiling at him. “I do it for me.”
He nodded and took a step closer. She didn’t step back, but instead looked up through her lashes at him. He brought his hand up and placed it gently on her cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch as he leaned down and kissed her.
He could feel the goose bumps on her arms. She leaned into him and her hand came around his waist. He pulled her close, his tongue sliding into her mouth. He wrapped her up in his arms and she melted into him as their kiss continued.
A horn honked loudly and a group of teenagers leaned out of their car and started hooting and hollering.
“Get it, man. She’s hot!” One of them screamed. And Michelle laughed, a sweet sound that was like chimes on a windy day. Everything about her was perfect. If only she hadn’t specifically requested no funny business. He would have brought her home and shown her the time of her life.
His mother had always said that patience is a virtue and he knew that was true now more than ever. Michelle was perfect, there was a chance that this could be the real thing. He didn’t want to ruin this by being impatient. He would wait if that was what she wanted.
She smiled at him and turned to walk again. They were headed down a long pier that led out into the water. There were boats moored on either side as they walked farther out, away from the bright lights of the city.
Michelle opened her mouth to say something, but before she could get a word out, the air was pierced with a loud, unearthly scream. The sound hit his ears like knives and he instinctively grabbed for Michelle and wrapped her up in his arms to protect her.
“What is that?” he asked as the scream came again.
“It’s a dragon,” Michelle said.
Chapter Eight
Brock’s strong arms were wrapped around her, but Michelle knew they wouldn’t be enough. He couldn’t protect her, she needed to protect him. The screams of the dragon matched the ones from her dream. It had been a prophecy.
She could hear the whooshing sounds of the wings beating and she felt his shadow as it passed over them. Its giant wings spread wide as it swooped around the two figures huddled on the pier. It was circling them, the circles getting tighter and tighter.
The dragon screamed again, a loud painful cry that hurt her ears. But what followed was worse. The dragon’s mouth was open and as it screamed a burst of orange fire flew from its mouth. The flames hit the water and steam sprung up and surround them. The dragon continued to loop around them spewing fire into the water.
They were surrounded by steam. Brock’s arms were around her holding her tight. She was trying to free herself, but he was holding her back, trying to protect her. But she needed to be free, she needed to look the dragon in the eyes in order to charm it. She couldn’t be wrapped in another man’s arms when she did so.
“Let me go!” she shouted, struggling to be heard over the scream of the dragon and thumping of its wings.
“No, it’s not safe,” he said.
“I can take it,” she yelled.
They were surrounded by steam, the water beneath the pier was boiling and bubbling from the dragon’s flames. She couldn’t see anything. The steam was too thick. It was a fog that surrounded them.
“What do you mean you can take it?” Brock asked.
She struggled to free herself from his arms. Brock finally released her, but he kept a hand on her wrist.
Where was it? Where was the dragon? If she could see it, then she could charm it. The screaming and beating of the wings had stopped. It was no longer flying over them, it was somewhere else.
“Let’s go,” Brock said as he pulled her back by her wrist down the other side of the pier towards the street. The pier was long. It seemed to stretch in front of them for miles. They would never make it to the other side. There was no way the dragon was done with them. It had come for them.
Brock pulled her behind him, but they didn’t get far. A few feet in front of the pier, the boards rumbled and moved. They bumped up and down. Something was swimming underneath them. They stumbled backwards as the boards rattled and bumped and struggled to contain the monster pushing up against them.
The boards were pushing up, something was about to break free. With a scream the boards cracked and splintered and broke as a large, scaly head attached to a long neck poked through.
They were trapped. The pier was broken, there would be no way to get back to land without swimming. The dragon was staring at them. Its yellow, lizard eyes flicked between them as its tongue snaked out and tasted the air. It could clearly see them and when those cold eyes turned on Brock, it bared its teeth and opened its jaw.
Before she could stop him, Brock grabbed one of the splintered boards and raced towards the dragon holding the board above his head. He let out a scream and swung the board at the dragon. Had it been a man it would have knocked him off his feet. But this was no man, the dragon caught the board between its teeth and snapped closed, breaking the board in its jaws.
Brock fell back and in an instant the dragon was on him. He grabbed Brock’s leg and began to pull him towards the water.
“No!” Michelle screamed holding her hand up.
“Michelle, don’t,” Brock said as he cried out from the pain. He threw his arm out to keep her back, but instead Michelle grabbed his hand.
She knelt next to Brock, holding his hand as she stared into the dragon’s cold yellow eyes. “Stop,” she said clearly. The dragon only bit down harder. Brock screamed out and squeezed down on her hand. “Stop,” she said louder.
The dragon snarled at her. Everything smelled like sulfur and smoke, her eyes were watering. The dragon was in front of her. Michelle reached her hand forward and placed it on his snout.
The scales were cold, but felt surprisingly clean. The dragon shifted his eyes from Brock to her. And to her surprise, it almost felt like it was purring. She stared into his eyes, searching for the connection that she knew had to be there.
It came to her slowly, images of fire and snow and burning trees. There was a frozen lake and a hockey stick. Underneath the fire, anger and sulfur was something else. It was humanity. There was a person underneath all of that.
“Shifter,” Michelle gasped.
“What?” Brock said. His teeth were clenched and tears were streaming down his face, but he wasn’t screaming or crying. He was lying still, holding her hand, waiting to be let free.
“Who are you?” Michelle asked. She asked it out loud and within her mind.
The dragon let go of Brock’s leg and Brock let out a loud groan and pulled himself back and away from the dragon. Michelle stayed where she was, her hand resting on the dragon’s snout.
“Who are you?” she asked again. “You can tell me. You can trust me. Let me help you.”
The dragon blinked slowly and then she saw him. Buried underneath layers of anger, confusion and rage was Cain Samson. He was hidin
g within himself. The dragon had gained control and Cain was now trapped inside.
“Cain?” She whispered.
The dragon didn’t like that. It reared its head back and pulled away from her. It let out a loud painful scream and its wings began to flap. Water sprayed all around them as the beast slowly rose in the air. Her mouth hanging open, Michelle stared in awe as she knelt in the dragon’s shadow.
It took one last look at her and then with one final scream it rose up into the air and flew out over the water of Lake Michigan. She and Brock stared at it and watched it disappear over the horizon. Slowly the steam around them evaporated and they could see the skyline and the world around them.
Brock let out a groan of pain and grabbed his leg. Michelle ripped off her sweater and wrapped it around his leg, securing it tightly to stem the flow of blood. But it wasn’t enough. There was poison in a dragon’s bite. Brock’s normal human aura wasn’t normal anymore. There was something infecting it.
There was a bile green infecting the clean light. It started at his leg, but it was spreading. There was a foul smell coming from the wound. It smelled like rotten eggs and swamp and already a yellow puss was mingling with the blood.
“What’s going on? Do you know what’s going on?” Brock asked. But his voice was slurring. His eyes were losing focus. He was propped up on his shaking arms until they gave way and he fell back on the pier.
“Did you call the dragon Cain?” he murmured.
“Just lie still. Try and stay calm. Keep your heart rate down,” she said. She rested her hand on his head and felt a fever there. She jumped to her feet. She needed to get out of there. She grabbed three loose boards and laid them over the gap until it was wide enough for them to walk over.
“Okay,” she said going over to Brock. “I know it hurts to walk, but you have to try.” She threw his arm over her shoulder and helped him to his feet. He leaned heavily against her, his head lolling on her shoulder.
“I don’t feel well,” he murmured.