by Hati Bell
They walked to the deserted parking lot, to Jimmy’s car, when Amber was suddenly grabbed from behind. The smell of leather and oil penetrated her nose. Her crutches fell to the ground and she froze. She wanted to scream, but a sweaty hand was put over her mouth. Dark, grim images filled her mind. Her eyes started to water at all the violence that overwhelmed her.
“Quick, get her into the van!”
“What about the other kid?” a voice asked.
“Forget about him. He just wants the dryad that was promised to him for a day. We have to…”
She heard a growl like she’d never heard before and the sound as if claws came into contact with a blunt object. Suddenly, the hand over her mouth disappeared and she was free. Someone groaned and she spun around.
Drake ripped open the abdomen of one of her attackers, his hands turned into deadly claws. His eyes were glowing like someone lit golden cinders in them. However this wasn’t the only remarkable transformation about him. Every inch of his skin seemed to be bigger, brawnier and covered in a thick layer of scales that were pressing through the rips in his clothes. He seemed to be even taller than usual, as if he had drunk a secret elixir that had doubled his muscle power.
Mr. Hyde.
Although she knew that the danger wasn’t over yet, her fear disappeared. Drake was here; she was safe. At the same time, she feared his very presence, because fate seemed to keep making their paths cross.
She rushed to Jimmy and tried to pull him up.
Drake looked down on her attackers. One was crawling away and the other one held a hand over his injured abdomen. A puddle of blood was quickly forming below him.
She called for Drake’s help, but he didn’t seem to hear her. She tried again. “Drake, please help me get Jimmy up. I’m afraid he might have a concussion.” Apparently, this time he heard the tremble in her voice, because he turned his back to the men and stood beside her.
A crazy part of her was waiting for him to roar and breathe fire. She was embarrassed that she was as prejudiced as a human about dragons. Drake’s claws had already changed back into human hands, though, and his skin had its normal color and proportion again.
Jimmy moaned as he pushed one hand to the back of his head.
“Your near-miss with that van Monday was no accident, was it?” Drake asked, sizing her up as if he was wondering if somehow her nearly being abducted was her own fault.
She considered the idea when her injured abductor grabbed his friend, jumped into the van and cracked the engine. No human would be able to get up, much less get into a car, after his intestines had been turned into ratatouille.
Shit.
The van hurried away like it was being chased by hell hounds. Judging from Drake’s dark face, the comparison wasn’t too far-fetched.
Jimmy’s moan made her shift her attention. “Are you all right? We need to take him to a hospital,” she said.
“No hospital. You know I’m allergic to needles and doctors. It’s just a bump.”
Drake seemed to barely have noticed Jimmy or had already decided that he was fine. “You okay?” he asked.
Amber nodded and little by little her heartbeat slowed down.
“Who were those guys? I didn’t see them. Did you see them?” Jimmy asked.
“Probably some junks,” Drake answered, a warning look in his eyes.
“Really?” Jimmy sounded disappointed. “I was more hoping for a kidnapping by some sort of secret society that was founded a long time ago, according to my mum’s dissertation. Now that would’ve been an interesting story. What do you think, Amber?”
She thought she was going to throw up. Now that the fear for Jimmy’s and her own safety was gone, she could think about other things again. Things she had seen when that man had touched her. “I think I want to go home,” she said.
“I’ll take you,” Drake said immediately.
Jimmy glanced at him while he straightened his shirt. “But Amber’s a dryad, and you’re a…”
Drake lifted an eyebrow, as if he were challenging Jimmy to finish his sentence.
“It’s all right, Jimmy,” Amber said quickly. “I’ll call you when I get home.” She had some things to discuss with Drake so she walked over to Drake’s car before Jimmy could protest. It was a black pickup truck that had clearly been through a lot. The step was too high for her and impossible to reach while she was holding her crutches. This time, she didn’t protest when Drake lifted her into the truck. He asked for her address and she gave him directions. After that, she grabbed a painkiller from her bag and rested her head against the window.
She closed her eyes and waited for the pill to kick in. “Why did you lie to Jimmy?” she asked.
“Those men weren’t human. They were here to kidnap you. They knew exactly who they were targeting, since they grabbed you before you noticed them, so that you couldn’t run off at super speed.”
“That isn’t entirely true,” she corrected him. “The part about the super speed, I mean. I run as fast, or as slow–depending on how you look at it–as a regular human.” Unfortunately she wasn’t blessed with powers like a superhero. Yet another piece of proof she wasn’t normal, even compared to her own kind.
This made him ponder for a moment. “I never heard about a dryad who is slower than a dragon. There’s a good chance those guys haven’t either. It would be best to keep this between us until we figure out who they are and what they want from you.”
The easiness in his words–as if they were some team–felt as familiar as in her vision, making her feel warm, relieved, and protected at the same time. Unfortunately there was also that downer vision, the Damocles’ sword hanging over her head.
They reached the main road to the Woods in no time. Any minute now they would pass an invisible border and reach her part of town.
“You saved my life, again. It’s starting to become a habit,” she joked.
“A bad one,” was the curt answer. “It was no accident that you almost got run over on Monday. It was the same van they were trying to kidnap you in.”
She’d come to the same conclusion herself and wrecked her brain trying to figure out why anyone would want to hurt her. She was just a simple teenager–if you ignored the visions. Her eyes shot open when she suddenly remembered the words of her attackers. “They said that… that the deal was that I was promised to someone for a day,” she started, feeling her cheeks burn. “I wonder what they meant by that. I can’t imagine that they’d… well, that they’d…”
Drake’s eyes glowed while he looked at her. “I can imagine only too well.” There was an electrically charged silence. “But I don’t think they meant that.”
“Guess I was lucky you were nearby.” She looked at him. “Why exactly were you there anyway? Don’t get me wrong, but I thought you promised you’d stay away from me.”
“I saw the two of you walking to the parking lot. I followed you.”
“You were keeping an eye on me.”
“Yes.”
Amber studied his profile. He didn’t look like a stalker. Then again, which stalker did? Maybe he had a good reason to keep an eye on her? She decided to just plainly ask him. “Why?”
“You’re gorgeous to look at. Also, I don’t like having to make promises against my will,” he admitted.
She tried to ignore the warm feeling that engulfed her when she heard the first part of his sentence. “Nobody forced you to make a promise.”
“First day of school, I said I’d get you home safely, but had to let you go with your brother,” Drake reminded her. “When I saw you sitting on that bench, all lost, fearing that you would get caught up in the middle of a brawl, I didn’t have any other choice. It was that, or someone would’ve ended up in the hospital.”
It surprised her that he had assessed the situation better than Ian had. “What do you think those men meant?” she asked, changing the subject back to her assault.
“They were goblins who came to collect a debt,” he said
. “It seems like your parents, or maybe one of your brothers, used you as a down payment or collateral.”
Her jaw dropped. “Excuse me? How can you say, no, even think something like that? That’s my family.” Suddenly she couldn’t imagine that the scene from her vision would ever come true. All she felt was icy rage, nope, not a flame in sight.
Drake calmly let her fury wash over him as her drove into her street. She yanked open the door the second he killed the engine.
“Don’t you dare jump out and break your neck. Not after the trouble I went through to keep your ass alive.”
He stood next to her before she’d thought of a snappy comeback. One that would hurt him as much as his words had hurt her. She grudgingly allowed him to lift her out of the truck.
Amber walked to the front door in an icy silence and grabbed her keys. She still hadn’t been able to come up with a stinging response. She wished that Pinky were there. Her tongue was as sharp as a blade when she wanted to fillet someone.
The front door opened before she could stick the key in the lock.
“There you are, finally!” an agitated Meg greeted her. “According to your dad, you should’ve been home hours ago.”
“Meg? How did you get inside?”
“I let myself in,” Meg said impatiently. “You look as pale as a ghost. Are you all right?”
No she wasn’t. Though she didn’t feel like confiding in Meg. It was too late to start playing the concerned grandmother. “I’m fine,” she said, and she stepped inside, dropping her bag on the floor.
“She’s not fine. She was almost kidnapped by goblins,” a familiar voice said. Drake was standing behind her with a slight frown between his glowing eyes. He filled the entire doorway.
“Go away,” she snapped.
“Goblins?” Meg stuttered.
“I already thanked you. Now, please leave,” Amber ordered. He didn’t move an inch.
“I could care less about your gratitude. I would’ve left if you’d told anybody about the assault, but it looks like you’re not planning to.” He didn’t seem to be pleased with that thought.
Amber wanted to deny it, but her blush gave her away.
“Just as I thought,” Drake drawled.
Meg cleared her throat. “Why would a goblin want to kidnap Amber? She has nothing of value. There must be some kind of mix-up. I don’t think we should tell your father. You know how overprotective he can be. I’ll take care of this.”
She couldn’t agree more. The thought of her dad hanging around her in a permanent state of panic wasn’t something to look forward to. “You heard her. Meg now knows what happened. You don’t have to stick around anymore.”
Drake ignored her and looked at Meg. “I’ve asked around, and apparently, your granddaughter does have something valuable on her. Her gift.”
Amber pulled a face. Apparently, he’d taken her feverish babbling seriously, and done some research. “My gift is unpredictable at best and has also been known in our community for a long time. It doesn’t make sense that somebody would want to kidnap me for that. Besides, it is forbidden and punishable by the Council.” It was one of the reasons her dad had lobbied to take the human seat in the Council. To be able to protect her from situations like this.
“You’re speaking rubbish, young man,” Meg exclaimed. “It’s typical for a dragon pup to cause panic when I’m sure there must be a completely logical explanation for the attack.” She pinned Amber down with her eyes, like a spider lurking at a fly. “How do you know this young man? Since when do you associate with dragons?”
Amber suppressed an irritated sigh and sat down on the bottom steps of the stairs. Judging from Drake’s cocky smile, he wasn’t in the least offended by Meg’s words. “Meg Garden, meet Drake Cage. Drake, this is my grandmother,” she introduced them. “Drake goes to school with me. May I point out that you also invite dragons to your parties?”
“That’s business,” Meg said haughtily.
“Your granddaughter needs protection, the type that a human can’t provide, but I can,” Drake said.
Meg raised an eyebrow. “Is that so. And why would you do that? Surely not out of the goodness of your reptilian heart. Dragons never do anything for free.”
“As opposed to yourself, you mean?”
Meg crossed her arms in front of her and narrowed her eyes. “Speak. I’m listening,” she huffed.
“Your granddaughter made me a promise. Her gift has… a certain value for me. I want her to return the favor one day, in exchange for my protection.”
Meg stared at Amber. “You made a dragon a promise?”
Amber rolled her eyes. It sounded like she had sold the family jewels. “I don’t understand what’s so special about that. I just told him about my nightmare. I saw…” Her throat became dry and her eyes started tearing up, like someone was holding a chemical substance beneath them. She gasped and grabbed her burning throat.
A moment later, Drake was standing next to her. “Calm down. It will be over soon.”
He sounded sorry, but not sorry enough. “What did you do to me?” she squeaked.
Meg snorted. “A dragon promise is binding, once bodily fluids have been exchanged between the asker and the giver of said promise. A kiss is the usual way. By the looks of it, this young man did more than just save your life.” She sounded accusatory.
Amber could only shake her head in denial.
“It’s a little late for that now, don’t you think?” Meg said sharply. “Oh well, too late to change anything about it now,” she mumbled. “Tell me what you saw when that goblin touched you.”
Amber swallowed and told about the vision of a dark room with a man in a chair. “They were torturing him.”
Meg’s look darkened. “Goblins mean trouble. It indeed looks like you need protection, at least until your brothers get back from camp. I accept your offer,” she said to Drake.
He nodded. “I will make sure that someone’s keeping an eye on her twenty-four hours a day.”
“Wait a minute. What about what I think?” Amber protested. After all, she was the one who would owe him.
“Would you like me to call your dad or your brothers instead?” Meg asked, a silver brow raised.
Amber pondered that for a moment. Neither option seemed very attractive, so she shook her head.
“Is there any particular reason, apart from the obvious, of course, why you don’t want this dragon to be in your vicinity?” Meg asked next.
Drake raised an eyebrow and suddenly looked very interested. The age-old hate between their races wasn’t what worried Amber. Her worries were of a more burning kind. Quite literally. But she couldn’t tell them that. “No,” she said, surly.
“In that case, no, I don’t care what you think about this arrangement,” Meg said as she grabbed her robe. “I have to go and try to figure out the deal with the goblins. You can start with your first watch, young man.” She frowned and snapped her fingers. “Outside.”
Drake nodded, but kept his eyes fixed on Amber. “I also have to make some arrangements,” he said. Without waiting for her response, he walked out of the door, followed by Meg.
“Wait,” Amber called out.
Meg turned around. “What is it?”
She wasn’t sure how to word her question, so she just blurted it out. “He stops my pain.”
“Stops your pain?”
“The day I met Drake, I had another nightmare. My headache was so severe, but it vanished when he was holding me. I wonder why.”
Meg had a blank stare, before she cleared her throat. “The heat of his skin–dragon’s skin–has a soothing effect on pain,” she explained. “Under certain circumstances, it can function as… morphine, but without any addictive side effects.”
Amber was surprised by this. Even more surprised to hear a dryad naming a positive dragon trait. “No one ever told me that.”
“No person is only bad. Not even dragons. A dragon who is willing or able to soothe the
pain of a dryad, though, is a rare creature. As you know, our worlds don’t collide very often. And when they do, it’s usually like a flame getting in contact with gun powder.”
Amber wanted to ask what circumstances Meg was talking about, but didn’t get the chance. Her grandmother spun around and hurried away like she couldn’t get away from her fast enough. She wished that it wouldn’t still hurt that Meg never spent a minute longer in her presence than strictly necessary.
She stayed behind on the stairs, wondering if there was anything else that she hadn’t been told.
FIVE
The next morning she found Drake on their drive way, leaned back on the hood of his car. It was the first day after her accident that she was finally able to leave her crutches behind. The cloudy morning, with rain drizzling, was slowly soaking her jeans.
He motioned for his car but she pointedly looked the other way and started walking.
“You’re still upset,” he said and barred her way.
“Ya think? You said my family had sold me. Like some cow or a defective fridge.”
“I said they might have used you as a form of payment for a debt,” he corrected her. “And I’d expected you to at least give a thought about that possibility.”
She gave him an incredulous look. “How would you feel when someone told you something like that?”
“I would consider it and investigate.”
He sounded calm. Something she wasn’t. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Why?” He looked genuinely surprised.
“Because apparently you live in a world in which your own family could betray you,” she answered, being honest.
“Blood ties are overrated.”
“Mine aren’t,” she assured him. “Now, will you step aside? I have to go to school.”
Drake didn’t budge. “I know. That’s why I’m here. As your personal protection detail so you won’t get snatched up by goblins again, as was the deal.”
“You can keep an eye on me from a distance,” she countered.
Drake raised a brow. “Like some stalker?”