by Hati Bell
Put like that, it did sound silly. Also, her jeans were getting soaked and she was getting cold. “Fine,” she said and followed him into his car.
He cracked up the engine and took off. She couldn’t help but feel the tension between them. It was the first time they were alone together without her being in some kind of trouble. It gave her the opportunity to size him up from several angles. Today he wore a black hoodie and jeans.
She frowned when she looked at his unmarred face, if she didn’t count the crook nose. It felt as if she should remember something, but the fleeting memory was gone before she could capture it.
“Your nose,” she started tentatively. “Why is it still crooked? I thought, like with dryads, you healed very quickly.” She noticed his hands tighten around the steering wheel.
“Broken bones do heal if you set them. And before you ask, I decided not to as a memory of what happened… and to keep me grounded.”
Well, if that answer didn’t raise more questions she didn’t know what did. Unfortunately his tone of voice was as inviting as hugging a cactus, so she let the matter go.
Their eyes met in the rear-view mirror. He was obviously brooding about something. She wanted to snap that he wasn’t the one who had to look that worried, sporting a little scowl. There was only one person in this car with the prospect of ending up as a human torch.
She was relieved when she caught a glimpse of the school gates in the distance. The iron gates were flanked by oak trees, with thick branches waving as if in a warning. Maybe her mythical ancestors, the old tree spirits, were more alive than she realized.
“Your gift…” Drake started.
She knew what he was going to ask. She’d been dreading this moment, surprised actually that he had waited this long.
“You saw something when you touched me,” he finished his sentence.
Yes. Fire. A sea of fire, with me burning in the middle.
“The first time we met and I handed you your bag,” he reminded her when she kept silent. “You pulled away, as if you got burned or something.”
If he only knew how accurate he was. She couldn’t tell him about his role in her vision of doom without it leading it to more questions though. “It was nothing, really,” she lied, avoiding his gaze. “You were just walking around in the forest.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Walking in the forest? Me? Was I alone?”
She shook her head and plastered her bag to her chest. For some reason grabbing on to something gave her comfort. “Your friend, the one who called me a tree hugger, was there as well.” That wasn’t a total lie. After all, he would pull Drake away from her when she would burst into flames.
“My brother Logan,” Drake surmised, while the car slowed down and he parked it.
Amber followed him out of the car. “Thanks for the ride,” she said quickly, about to walk away.
Drake stood next to her, his eyes narrowed. “You’re not telling me everything.”
Amber felt her treacherous cheeks burn. “Whatever makes you think that?” she asked, with Drake on her trail.
He didn’t seem to be fooled one bit by her evasive tactic. “One day you will tell me what you saw.”
But not today.
She was relieved when he left it at that. First period had already started and the halls of Trinity College were deserted when they walked inside. Amber went straight to the auditorium, with Drake on her heels. “There’s no need for you to go inside. It’s completely safe in there.”
“Why don’t you want me to go inside? You sing like a crow or what?”
“How do you know I’m going to sing?” she asked, surprised.
“You told me yourself, when you were lying in my arms. Something about a birthday present.”
“What else did I tell you?” she asked tentatively.
“Hmm. Let me see. You’re afraid that you won’t be able to stop your nightmares. You wished you were taller and stronger and you wished…”
“Stop!” Some things she didn’t want to know.
“…that I would kiss you,” he finished.
She looked shocked, until she saw his grin. “I did not!”
Drake grinned and opened the door to the auditorium for her. “Why don’t you go ahead? I have to make a phone call.”
Cindy Summer was already waiting for her on the stage. Teddy Berkinsen stood behind his DJ table at the stage and waved at her.
“About time you showed up!” Cindy snapped, beelining towards her and then pushed music sheets into her hands. “I called you like ten times and left you a hundred messages.”
Amber almost groaned when Cindy grabbed her elbow and pulled her on to the stage. She’d almost forgotten how excited and neurotic Cindy could become.
Teddy fidgeted with the lights and the music. A horribly cheesy love song blasted from the speakers and Amber winced. She reminded herself she was getting paid for this.
“This song is just perfect!” Cindy squealed. Her big, blue eyes sparkled. “I’ve arranged for Oasis to be closed down for Bryan’s birthday party.” She then ranted about the Egyptian theme she had chosen for the party and the golden Cleopatra dress she was going to wear to channel her inner queen.
“Oh, no. Where did they come from?” Teddy whined.
Amber followed his gaze and saw six dragons enter the auditorium. Four of them, the girls, were dressed in similar red tops. The guys wore sport coats and looked as if they came from a Ralph Lauren photo shoot.
“That’s Fiona Claw,” Cindy said, sounding peeved and glaring daggers at the girl in the front with platinum hair and the body of an athlete. “Apparently they’ve found a way to avoid going to camp as well.”
“The guy next to her is Henry Fitch,” Teddy said. “All he talks about is his new Bentley. Guess it has its perks to be Alec Kincaid’s grandson.” He sounded equally envious as impressed.
Fiona and her crew got on the stage and went to stand in front of Cindy. “We need the auditorium. Annabel’s going to sing for us as part of her initiation. Leave.” The atmosphere turned frosty in a second.
Cindy wasn’t impressed with the ice queen, though. “Since you’re a newbie to Trinity, I get that you’re not familiar with the rules. To use the auditorium, you have to make a reservation first.”
Fiona put a hand on Henry’s shoulder and her chin jerked to the dragon on her other side. “Maybe it was like that before we came, but I have two good reasons with me that trump your reservation.”
Henry and the other guy, stepped forward, looking menacing. Teddy scooted back to protect his DJ gear.
Amber placed herself between Cindy and Fiona before things got out of hand. “Why don’t we let Annabel sing first?” she suggested. “I’m sure it won’t take long.”
Fiona’s ice-cold glare fixated on her now. “And who the fuck are you?”
“That’s Amber, my singer, and you are wasting my time,” Cindy snapped.
A contemptuous grin appeared on Fiona’s face. “So you’re the one all that fuss was about Monday. The pathetic girl with the disgusting skin disease who starts to wail when someone touches her.”
Amber swallowed when she became the sole focus of Henry’s gaze. He looked as if he wanted to test Fiona’s remark.
“Leave Amber alone!” Teddy said. “She can’t help it she was born that way. She’s just… special.”
Special. That was actually the nicest way she’d heard herself being described as. Mental and wacky were other words. Somehow she got the feeling these dragons placed her in the second category.
“Don’t worry. We know exactly how special she is,” Henry said and then gave Teddy a push. Teddy tripped and fell backward, putting his foot into a drum. Amber gasped, unsure what to do.
Cindy was more expressive. She jumped on Henry’s back and started to pull his hair, screaming like a banshee. “That’s my DJ, you arse! I need him.”
Unfortunately Amber was in no position to give her a hand, because suddenly she was enclosed by
dragons. She yelled when one of them grabbed her hair and gave it a yank. Her neck was killing her.
“That’s in case you were planning to run off,” Fiona said. She made a lasso from Amber’s hair, wrapped it around her throat, choking her with it.
She got dizzy when she was hurled among dragons like some ping-pong ball, trying to break free but to no avail. It didn’t take long before she got a murky vision of Fiona’s life.
Parents yelling at each other. Her mother lying on the floor, crying, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Fiona holding her brother Jonah tightly, promising him he would be safe. She’d keep him safe.
Thing was, Amber didn’t get the chance to feel sorry for Fiona, because the next moment her nemesis pushed her into Henry’s arms.
He grabbed her by her hair. “When you’re chained like the animals you are, there’s nothing left of that one advantage you have over us, is there?” he hissed in her ear and pushed her forward.
She was propelled to the edge of the stage, her feet dangling dangerously close to it, and she had trouble keeping her balance. From her position, the floor seemed like a gaping abyss. Damn it, why did she always have to be the odd one out? Where was a dose of dryad super speed when she needed it? Or an avenger? Anyone? Or maybe she should get cracking on the krav maga lessons she’d been thinking of taking. Though she doubted the effect it would have against a dragon.
“Too bad you filthy bugs can’t fly,” Henry said. “Want me to let go?”
Asshole. “Since your painful grip is the only thing keeping me from a face-plant, I’m gonna go with ‘no,’” she snapped.
“I can’t believe Drake Kincaid wanted to fight for her,” Annabel chimed in.
“Cage, not Kincaid.”
All eyes went to Drake who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. There was a strange look in his eyes Amber couldn’t exactly decipher but could name: danger. Though it made chills go down her spine, she couldn’t hide her relief when in a flash he kicked away Henry and she was freed. Her hands were shaking when she combed back her hair.
Drake held the microphone stand in his hand, a threat in his eyes. Henry, and the rest of his group, stepped backwards.
Fiona narrowed her eyes to slits. “Your last name is just a formality,” she claimed. “We all know whose grandson you are. I wonder if you little, sickly love does as well.”
No, his ‘sickly love’ didn’t. Though she had a feeling she already knew the answer to the questions which wasn’t really a question.
“You will leave her the fuck alone, dear cousin,” Drake drawled. Judging by Henry’s sour look he didn’t appreciate being reminded of their family tie. “Unless you’re prepared for a world of pain.”
Henry looked at the piece of iron in Drake’s hands and his nostrils flared. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“You have no idea what I’m capable of.”
Those words had a chill and bite to them. They even made Amber wince. How did she manage to get herself in this situation?
“You’re choosing her side over your own kind?” Henry howled. “That’s low, even for Fire Mountain trash like you. Kincaid will be hearing about this.”
She stole a peek at Drake, but he didn’t seem to give a rat’s ass about who would be hearing what. His eyes were simmering with rage as if he were barely restraining himself.
Fiona snorted. “Do you have any idea what Alec Kincaid would do, if he found out about his grandson dating a tree-hugger?”
No, Amber didn’t know that either, but she could make an educated guess. Good thing she never had to find out, too. Drake was merely keeping her out of goblin trouble for the time being. “We’re just friends,” she stated, hoping to have Fiona back off.
“Drake doesn’t have any female friends,” Fiona claimed and looked straight at him, a little plea in her eyes. “It’s time for you to return to your own kind.” She sounded a tad bit more friendly now. “You know how Kincaid feels about mixing… schools.”
“Unlike you, I don’t give a damn what Kincaid thinks,” Kincaid said tightly.
Judging by the dragons’ shocked expressions, his words did exactly that: shock them. She guessed that in their world no one took a stand against Kincaid.
“What did she mean by tree-hugger?” a voice suddenly sounded. Cindy held a hand against her head and just crawled up from behind Teddy’s DJ setup table.
“Someone who goes au natural, unlike Fiona,” Drake said crudely, casting a pointed glare at Fiona’s platinum-blonde locks.
Fiona’s look could have melted the North Pole. She snapped her fingers and her entourage immediately followed her. Her furious gaze bore into Amber when she walked past her. “He won’t always be there to protect you, filthy dryad,” she whispered.
Her threat kinda made Amber hope that he would be.
Even though they had the auditorium to themselves again, Teddy and Cindy were pretty shaken up, as was Amber, so they rescheduled.
Drake rode the way home in silence. She was just wondering if he was purposely pretending she wasn’t sitting next to him because he’d promised Ian to leave her alone, when a thought hit her. “Meg said a dragon promise was binding when bodily fluids were exchanged. You didn’t kiss Ian when you promised to stay away from me.” She realized how silly that had sounded when she saw him smile and it began to dawn on her. “Ian doesn’t know that your promise to him isn’t binding.”
“There’s a lot he doesn’t know about my kind,” he stated.
A new, more intriguing thought formed in her head. “That day, when I was attached by goblins, you said you’d followed me to the parking lot because you don’t like making promises against your will,” she reminded him. “If your promise wasn’t binding anyway, why follow me?”
The light turned green and Drake hit the gas. He didn’t speak until he parked in front of her door. “How many dragons did you know before you met me?”
“None,” she admitted.
He didn’t seem to be surprised by her answer. “There are things about my kind you don’t know. Things your brother does and wants to protect you from.”
“I can take care of myself,” she huffed. Okay, maybe not when she was attacked by someone-or a group of dragons and goblins-but still. She had managed to make it on her own just fine until the merger. It stung that he considered her as weak.
Without waiting for his reaction, she grabbed the door handle, but he didn’t let her leave. He grabbed her arm to stop her. She was immediately engulfed in heat as if she were standing in the sun, rays of light dancing on her arm. The vision she feared more than anything, that moment when she would die, played over and over in her head. She gasped, in pain for what was to come, and the same time out of joy, for his touch lessened her fear, just as his nearness lessened her headaches.
His mouth turned into a thin line. “You’re trembling. This is exactly the reason your brother doesn’t want me anywhere around you. Whatever you think it is you feel for me, forget it. End it right here and now, or else I will. You are no match for me,” he said, sounding harsh.
It was a direct hit, right to the gut. He had taken it all wrong. Or had he? Wasn’t she already-albeit in her subconscious-dreaming about them being together? She must have suffered from temporarily being brain dead; there was no other explanation. It must be because of the vision and how she felt there, lying in his arms. Despite the pain, despite the slow burn that would turn into a bonfire, every time she saw him, she felt closer to him. In her mind she was already there. This was so messed up. As if a part of her, right in this moment, was living in the past.
You are no match for me.
“I never thought I would be,” she said truthfully. The second time she grabbed the door handle, he didn’t stop her.
By the time she had closed the front door behind her, she realized that he was actually trying to protect her from himself. Drake Cage might not be a knight in shining armor, but-whether he wanted it or not, he was trying to be noble in his own w
ay.
SIX
If the Devil ever needed a holiday and someone to replace him, Alec Kincaid would be the perfect substitute.
Drake looked at Kincaid, who sat at the head of the table in the dining room in what seemed to be a peaceful family dinner. The King of Darkness dominated the room like a black line on a white canvas. Drake had to admit that the colorless interior, consisting of different shades of white, wasn’t much of a competition for the dynamic man who was surrounded by an aura of power. The pale striped wallpaper, the marble floors and the Greek vases, were bloodless accents in a space that was otherwise soulless. Just like its owner. An antique dining table was placed in the middle of the room. He’d been told that the oval table was modeled after King Arthur’s round table. Not that anybody would ever catch Kincaid doing something chivalrous. From his custom-made suit to his silk tie, he was an example of an aristocrat who held the world in the palm of his hand.
There wasn’t a place on Earth where Drake felt less welcome, nor anywhere where he wanted to be less.
His only cousin and self-proclaimed rival sat opposite him and was stuffing his face. “The grandeur of the Dome never ceases to amaze me, Grandfather,” Henry stated while he looked up at the cone-shaped ceiling that was dominated by a glass dome which gave the Kincaid estate its name.
Kincaid fixed his bored look on his youngest grandson. “Your father made a similar remark when he asked me for your mother’s hand. As I told him before, people like me were born to impress people like you.”
Drake tried to mask his laugh with a cough, but didn’t quite succeed.
Henry’s face, which looked like a disgruntled koala bear, turned a mottled red. “What are you laughing at?” he spat. “As if you were used to anything better than that rundown shack you used to live in. You’re only here because Grandmother included you in her will out of pity.”
Drake had lost track of the times Henry tried to insult him. He just didn’t get that Drake didn’t consider himself a charity case. No, he had a legitimate claim to his birthright. He’d earned it by surviving a worthless father. “Not just included, dear cousin,” he said cheerfully. “She actually left me the Dome and all its estates. All I have to do is wait until I turn twenty-one, so I can take you out with the rest of the trash. See, that’s the way we take care of business where I come from, when things have reached their expiration date.” He suppressed a sigh–this time out of disappointment–when Henry’s cheeks turned red. It was barely even a challenge anymore to put his cousin in his place. All he had to do was remind him that he would be persona non grata the moment Drake inherited Satan’s Lair.