How to Date a Dragon

Chapter 19

The cameramen, hostess, and director followed the couple into the backyard, which gently sloped down to a private dock. They strolled toward some deck furniture casually grouped together on the grass.

As soon as they were all seated, Judith said, “So, where are your designs? I’m excited to see them.”

“They’re still on my computer.” Bliss knew what was coming. This was the part where the host would pretend to be shocked by the news of the second fire.

Judith halted and faced Bliss head-on. “Still on your computer! But your entire line is due soon. Don’t you have any finished that you can show us?”

Drake squeezed Bliss’s hand, giving her some much-needed empathy.

“I know you expected to see some finished products, but I don’t have any.”

“Well? Why are you so behind?”

“I had nearly all of them redone a couple weeks after the fire. I even saved the designs on a disk and locked it in a safe-deposit box—that time.”

“Okay…”

Judith had said to drag it out for dramatic effect, but Bliss really didn’t feel like reliving the past few weeks in gory detail. Still… when had she ever had a choice when it came to this damn show?

She took a deep breath and continued. “Well, as you know, I had to relocate, so I moved to an apartment over a bar where my friend worked. She gave me a job there so I could pay the rent without dipping into the money you gave me to create the line.”

Judith raised her perfect eyebrows. “You were working as a cocktail waitress the whole time you had to recreate your designs?”

Bliss had to give herself a mental warning not to roll her eyes. “Yes. But it was okay. I was back on track until Friday night. I had printed out all the initial samples and made sure they were ready for the professional company I use to make a beautiful finished product. Even so, it would have had to be a rush job, but before I could get over to their shop in the North End…”

Judith pressed a hand over her heart as if she were so nervous she might have a coronary. “What happened? Tell us.”

“The bar burned down, and with it, my apartment, the CD, and all my samples. I was lucky to get out alive with my computer.”

Judith gasped. “Another fire? You were burned out of not one, but two apartments in the last few weeks?”

“Yes, but at least this time I managed to save my computer. It had all my designs on it, and since the bank burned…”

“What? The bank where you had the safe-deposit box burned too? What the…” Judith looked as if she was about to lose it, then she quickly pulled herself back from the non-scripted edge. She chuckled. “Thank goodness you had everything in two places. They used to say, if you could only grab one thing on your way out of a fire to take your photo albums. Now, everyone’s photos are on their computers along with a host of other things.”

“Yeah.” Bliss didn’t quite know what to say to that, so she just waited for Judith to talk again.

“So, it sounds like Boston has had more than its share of fires recently.”

“Yes,” Drake interjected. “It’s not usually like this.”

Psychotic, jealous dragon in town and everything…

“And were you there to save your girlfriend’s life again?”

The cameras both focused in on Drake.

He chuckled. “I was there, but Bliss saved herself that time. I was helping other people.”

“Oh my. You must have been worried about her…” Judith prompted. “I’ll bet you wanted to leave those people to the other firefighters and run right to Bliss. Didn’t you?”

“Well, of course I was worried about her and called out to her as soon as I was inside—but leaving people in trouble isn’t what we do. I was cut off from my fellow firefighters when the ceiling caved in.”

Judith sucked in another deep breath. “The ceiling caved in? And you knew Bliss was living on the second floor of that very building?”

She’s just loving this.

“Yeah. And there was a family on the third floor too. They all got out together. Until I saw my girl and knew she’d made it out okay, I was a little frantic.” He squeezed Bliss’s hand and they smiled at each other.

Yup, that’s the bit they were looking for.

“I can’t imagine what that must be like. To put yourself in harm’s way for people you don’t even know… the whole time realizing your own loved one could be in peril…”

Judith leaned back in her chair as if stunned. Meanwhile, something big and dark swooped over them.

“Cut,” the director yelled. “Where the hell did that shadow come from?”

Drake scanned the sky and muttered, “Oh, crap. It couldn’t be…”

A horrible feeling of dread made the hairs on Bliss’s arms stand up. No way… Zina? Had she found them somehow? What kind of exposure would she risk to cause trouble?

Drake rose from his chair and excused himself. He jogged toward the front of the house, despite the protests of Judith and the director.

“How can he just get up and leave?” Judith shouted. “How are we going to make a sensible segue out of a sudden exit like that?”

The director shrugged. “Say he got called to a fire. Maybe we can get him to film the call as soon as he gets back.”

“Nice save,” Judith said. “What an exciting moment that would make.”

Bliss jumped to her feet. “There won’t be any more filming. We all need to get inside and lock the doors.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Bliss?” Judith demanded.

“Roll ’em,” the director called as he fled.

“Trust me… and run!” She grabbed Judith’s arm and dashed to the house with the cameramen on her heels, capturing every second.

As soon as they were inside and the dead bolt was locked, Judith exclaimed, “This is insane!”

“No,” said Ricky’s voice from the living room. “What’s insane is Bliss’s boyfriend running down the street yelling, ‘Taxi!’”

“This isn’t the city,” Mr. Russo said. “We don’t have taxis trolling the streets looking for a fare.”

Oh, no. Bliss led the others into the living room to see her brothers peering out the side window, while her parents parted the lace curtains and stared out the little window on the front door.

“What did you do to scare him off, Bliss?” her mother asked tearfully.

How am I going to explain this one?

Emilio chuckled. “She probably mentioned the M word… marriage.”

Vulcan gauged the right moment to appear without being detected by humans. He snapped his fingers, and his white robe turned into a business suit. Drake had just rounded the corner out of sight of the Russo residence and halted, letting out a huge sigh of relief when he spotted him.

“Thank God, you heard me.”

Vulcan chuckled. If you only knew how true your words are. “Yes. I assume you’ve located the delinquent paranormal?”

“She just swooped over the area. I don’t know precisely where she is at this moment.”

Vulcan sniffed the air. A faint sour scent tinged the fresh ocean breeze.

“You can smell her?”

“No. I’ve never been close enough to catch her scent. What I’m detecting is smoke.”

Drake’s eyes widened in shock. “No… not again! I should have picked up the familiar smell. Are you sure?”

“There.” Vulcan pointed back toward Pleasant Street. A gray spiral rose into the air.

“Shit.” Drake dashed back toward the Russo home while Vulcan tried to keep up. He wasn’t used to running since he could transport himself just about anywhere with a thought.

The house didn’t seem to be burning, but smoke was billowing from a short distance behind it.

“Around the back,” Drake shouted.

Sure enough. The dock was on fire. If no one’s watching, I can put that out with one wave of my hand.

But at that very moment, several people rushed out the back door. Even a camera crew!

“Stay back,” Drake yelled. “I’ve got this.”

Two young men stood with their hands in their pockets, looking on and wisecracking. “I thought he ran off. Now he’s back?”

“Bliss has that effect on some people,” her father said.

Mrs. Russo elbowed her husband in the ribs. “And you wonder why she never brings her friends home.”

A metal bucket sat on the dock, enveloped in flames. Drake dashed into the blaze and grabbed the handle. The heat of the aluminum would have burned a human hand, but a dragon’s skin was so thick, it wouldn’t even make a mark.

Drake leaped over the flames to the part of the dock closest to shore. He filled the bucket and tossed the water where fire met dry wood.

Bliss appeared in the doorway, waving frantically to catch Vulcan’s attention. He started toward her, but then she pointed to the shed in the next yard. Apparently she’d spotted Zina.

Bliss started dashing toward the neighbor’s shed at a flat run.

Vulcan sprinted across the lawn and tried to catch up with her.

As he rounded the shed, he saw the female dragon zipping up her leather jacket. Her surprised gaze snapped to Bliss’s face, but before she could do or say anything, Bliss opened the shed door, shoved Zina inside, and leaned against it.

“Can you zap her out of here quick? Maybe to outer space?”

Vulcan chuckled. “I know just what to do with her.”

He transported himself inside the shed, grabbed Zina before she could get away again, and in a flash they arrived on the top floor of the office building that housed the Council. Zina gazed at the glass-bubble dome, openmouthed but silent.

His god cronies looked up from their poker game, but where was Gaia?

“Is she here?”

He didn’t have to tell the other gods who he meant. Apollo pointed to the forest in the corner. “She’s been in there all day… chanting.”

“Chanting?” That’s new. “Should I disturb her?”

“At your own peril.”

Zina ripped her arm out of Vulcan’s grasp. “Where the hell are we? And how did we get here? Who are you anyway?”

“I’m out.” Apollo tossed his cards into the middle of the table, rose, and strolled over to them. “Is this the dragon she’s after?”

“And who are you, pretty boy?” Zina gave the sun god a grin that was probably supposed to be alluring. Instead it made her look like the predator she was.

“This is she,” Vulcan answered. “Zina.”

“I think Gaia would want to know. I’ll get her.” Apollo strode off to the forest and spoke softly. He made a reverent apology for disturbing her and stepped away.

A few moments later, a bleary-eyed Mother Nature emerged. “Who dares disturb me when I’m deep in meditation?”

Vulcan appeared before her quickly so she wouldn’t blame Apollo. “That would be me. Meditation? I’ve never known you to meditate before.” He immediately wondered if he should have said that out loud.

“I understand it might make me a little calmer. Believe me, I could use some serenity.”

Oh, I believe you.

She glanced over at Zina and frowned. “Is that who I think it is?”

“Yes, Gaia. Zina is the dragon who’s been setting fires to your beloved city.”

“And risking exposure of her kind… not that I’m fond of dragons, but the human population really can’t handle the knowledge that they exist—or ever existed. We’ve finally managed to convince them that the whole race was a myth. She almost single-handedly undid all that work.”

“Yes, Gaia.”

She reached out and touched his arm. “You did well, Vulcan. Now, leave her to me.”

“Can I watch?” he asked impulsively.

Mother Nature paused, and he wondered if she was going to tell him to mind his own business, but to his surprise, she simply nodded. The two of them approached Zina together.

The usually cocky dragon took a few steps backward as they came closer.

“Not so confident now, are you?” Gaia said.

“Only because I don’t know who you are.” Then she puffed herself up. “Not that it matters. There’s nothing you can do to me.”

A sinister smile spread slowly across Gaia’s lips. “Oh, no?”

“Nope. I’m immortal.”

Mother Nature grinned. “I know. Which makes my punishment for you even richer.”

“Punishment? Who are you to punish me? I don’t see a judge or jury anywhere.”

Chuckling, Gaia strolled around her. “I’m neither judge nor jury… I am your mother—the mother of all, and you’ve been very naughty.”

“Mother of all?” Suddenly Zina’s eyes grew wide. “Me remember now. Mother Nature?”

“The one and only.”

“Oh shit.”

“Indeed.”

Zina looked all around her, probably hoping for an escape route. She saw the bank of elevators and began to inch toward them.

“It’s too late,” Gaia said. “I’ve already done most of what I plan to do to you.”

“Most of… what are you talking about?” Zina asked.

Vulcan couldn’t help echoing the question in his head too.

Mother Nature held herself regally as she pronounced, “Zina, you have abused your gift of flight. You can no longer fly. You have abused your power of fire. You can no longer breathe fire.”

Zina opened her mouth and huffed. Nothing came out. Not so much as a smoke curl.

Gaia strolled around her. “And now I need to know why. Did all of this stem from trying to make someone love you and create the gift of life inside you?”

“It started that way, but my cycle ended three days ago. Thanks to that harlot, I won’t get another chance for five years.”

Mother Nature’s brows rose. “Excuse me? Did you say your cycle ended three days ago?”

“Yes. What of it?”

“Isn’t that when you set fire to the bar in which she and several other people worked? The building that was previously home to five people?”

Zina held her head high. “I was upset. I don’t like being rejected.”

“Nobody likes to be rejected… just like it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature. Believe me, I understand. But do I burn down every company that makes butter taste good with half the calories? Or smite every sixty-year-old who tries Botox? Hmmm… do I?

“No.”

“Of course not. Only spoiled children expect to get their own way all of the time. Which isn’t to say it’s not natural to want what you want… It’s just not okay to get revenge when things don’t go your way.”

Zina crossed her arms and looked like she was pouting.

Gaia paced back and forth, hands clasped behind her back, muttering, “What am I going to do with you?”

At last she stopped in front of Zina and pointed at her. “Because you have abused your fertility, I’m taking that away from you until you can handle it.”

“You can’t do that!” Zina screamed.

“Yes, I can. In fact, I can do a little more. Have fun in Siberia.” Mother Nature waved her hand in a wide arc, and Zina disappeared from sight.

Drake had finished putting out the dock fire and rested on the shore. Bliss was arguing with her family, but he didn’t know why. He figured he should probably stay out of the way… until he heard one of the male voices saying, “Hey, it happens all the time. Firemen like to play hero. He probably made us think he left when he ran off looking for a taxi, then his accomplice snuck back there and set the fire.”

“Then he ran back to save the day,” said the other brother.

“What are you, nuts?” Bliss was obviously getting agitated, but it was her family. She could handle them.

“I don’t know, Blissy. It makes a certain kind of sense,” Mrs. Russo said.

“No, it doesn’t! It doesn’t make any sense at all. Why would he make more work for himself?”

“It’s not logical, Sis. I think there’s a name for that type of thing, but I don’t know what it is. Some kind of mental disorder.”

“Are you saying he’s deranged? How dare you? He was in the station when most of those fires broke out, and then he risked his life to answer the calls. Don’t you think his buddies would notice if he was missing?”

Uh-oh. Bliss’s voice is loud enough to alert the media—in New York.

Drake rose and checked the area behind the arguing family. There stood the director and cameramen—with their little red lights indicating they were still filming.

Shit. Now what?

He strolled slowly toward the family. A noise like “pssst” from the corner of the house caught his attention. When he glanced over, he saw Vulcan in his white robe, waving him over.

Oh, great. He looks like Father Time, and of all the imperfect timing… Drake altered his route, planning to ask Vulcan to change back into his street clothes. Then they’d need to come up with a reason for his presence so the family didn’t suspect Vulcan of being an accomplice. They had to figure out some way to fix this so Bliss didn’t have to defend them.

Unfortunately, as soon as Drake rounded the corner, he disappeared into the brightest white light he’d ever seen, and a moment later he found himself standing under a clear bubble.

“Oh, crap. Not again.”

Gaia strolled over to him. “I took care of your problem, and this is the thanks I get?”

Drake stared at the all-powerful woman who looked like an aging beauty queen. “You took care of… what problem?”

“Your dragon, Zina. She won’t be bothering you or this city anymore.”

Drake glanced at Vulcan. “Is this true?”

Vulcan nodded. “I wish you could have been here to see it.”

“Seriously, Vulcan?” Mother Nature cocked her head like she was talking to a foolish child. “If you want him to see what happened, just show him.”

“If you don’t mind…” Vulcan seemed reluctant. “You don’t usually like us to show anyone your reactions.”

“I’ll make an exception.”

Vulcan gave a slight bow, and then with extended arm and index finger, he drew a circle in the air. Appearing in the circle were tiny exact replicas of himself, Mother Nature, and Zina. He snapped his fingers, and the picture came to life.

Drake watched the whole interaction with alarming clarity. The whole thing really was my fault. If only I had told Zina up front I wasn’t interested, maybe I’d still have had a couple broken ribs, but none of this would have happened to Bliss.

He brought his attention back to the movie playing in front of him. Mother Nature had punished the dragon for her crimes, and it sounded as if Zina wouldn’t be bothering him or Bliss again.

The picture stopped with only Gaia and Vulcan in the frame. Then the vision and circle dissipated as if it had never been there.

“You sent her to Siberia? And made her infertile?”

Gaia crossed her arms. “Yes, and I took away her fire and flight. Why? Do you disapprove?”

Drake let out a sigh of relief. “No. I approve wholeheartedly.”

“Good. I like you, Drake. You’re not like some dragons who think they’re above the laws of nature. I’m giving you back your immortality.”

He placed a hand over his heart. “Thank you. I couldn’t be more grateful, but…”

Mother Nature raised her eyebrows. “But? There’s a but?”

“I–I have a mortal girlfriend. Actually, I plan to make her my wife, and I can’t see going through eternity without her.”

Gaia smiled. “Good to know. Because I actually have a favor to ask of you.”

Uh-oh. It’s never good when a deity wants a favor. “What is it?”

“Your girlfriend…” Mother Nature began.

“Bliss? You want Bliss?”

Gaia rolled her eyes. “Everyone wants bliss, stupid. I just want to know more about your girlfriend.”

“Well, for starters, her name is Bliss.”

Mother Nature burst out laughing. “Oops. Who’d have thought… well, never mind. What kind of person is she?”

“Honest, loyal, she’s one of the bravest women I know. She’s been under incredible pressure and didn’t crumble once. She even saw my alternate form and didn’t faint or run.”

“She saw you as a dragon?”

“Yes. She didn’t believe me and I really needed her to. I wouldn’t have been able to warn her about Zina if she didn’t take me seriously. If something happened to her because I hadn’t warned her properly, I’d never forgive myself.”

Mother Nature clasped her hands behind her back and started to pace again. “So, she doesn’t believe in things she hasn’t seen with her own eyes?”

“I don’t know about that,” Vulcan interjected. “She seemed to accept my help without protesting my nonexistence.”

Gaia narrowed her eyes at him. “Cute.” She pointed to a spot on the floor until a small sofa and armchair appeared.

“Have a seat, Drake. I think your Bliss might be just the kind of woman I’m looking for.”

Crap. Drake lowered himself onto the couch slowly. He sat on the edge in case he needed to jump up and run. Run where? That was a good question, and hopefully he wouldn’t need to answer it.

“Relax, dragon. I’m not going to do anything to your human… that is, if she doesn’t want me to…”

“Can we make this conversation a little less ambiguous?” Drake asked bravely. He didn’t want to upset the goddess, but she was upsetting the heck out of him.

“Here’s the thing… I need a few new muses. The world’s population has grown and evolved over the centuries. Some of my current muses are complaining that they can’t handle all the challenges, especially when it comes to new technology. Your girl seems pretty savvy and modern. Isn’t she?”

Drake nodded slowly. “She is.”

“Do you think she’d make a good muse?”

Drake couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Bliss… a muse? “That would make her immortal. Wouldn’t it?”

“Yes. I know you didn’t want to go on alone after she died, but are you worried about being with the same woman for eternity?”

“Not at all. I’d love to be with Bliss forever. She never fails to surprise me. I doubt very much I’d ever get bored.”

“Good. Then I don’t see any reason not to make the offer. Do you?”

Drake wished he had more time to think about it, but inevitably this would be Bliss’s decision, not his. “I can’t think of anything. She’ll tell you if she’s not up for it.”

“Good. So now that we have that cleared up, go back to your nice, normal life, and I’ll contact her.”

“You might want to wait a few days. She’s in the middle of a big competition right now, and her focus needs to be in one place.”

“And you think me making her a minor goddess might be a distraction?”

“Just a bit.”

“Fine. I’ll wait. But not long.”