The Accidental Dragon

by Dakota Cassidy

  When he said it like that, Darnell made it sound like nothing wouldn’t be okay while he was around. She nodded. “Okay. So, from the beginning?”

  “Like all good stories start,” Darnell coaxed, taking her hands from Nina to keep her from falling.

  The moment he leaned in to steady her when she wobbled, Tessa relaxed, and relayed her story to Darnell.

  When she said the name Frank, he held up a beefy hand. “Did you say Frank? Little round guy? Sounds like Winnie-the-Pooh?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly him. Do you know him? Is he a ghost?” If Frank was a ghost, he’d be like the lettuce in her paranormal sandwich.

  Darnell’s eyes flashed concern, but he hid it well. “He ain’t no ghost.”

  Now she was worried again, despite Darnell’s reassuring grip on her hands. “So what is he?”

  “He’s a minion for someone in Hell.”

  “And not the Despicable Me kind, right?”

  “He’s the kinda minion who’s stuck. He doesn’t really belong in Hell, but somehow he landed there. And I’m bettin’ he wants out.”

  She’d lay bets the deeds were bad. “So give it to me straight, Darnell. I can take it.”

  “It means whoever he was getting those dragon scales for was probably somebody we don’t want no part of, and whoever that somebody is, they’re gonna be real angry when they find out he doesn’t have what they asked him to get.”

  “But how does that affect Mick and me? Mick didn’t take the dragon scales on purpose. Maybe we can just call this person up on the paranormal hotline and apologize?”

  “Here’s what I’m thinking, Miss Tessa. I’m thinkin’ this guy Frank is stuck between our world and Hell. He wants outta Hell. So he struck himself a deal with someone. Get the dragon scales, the demon he gives ’em to lets him out.”

  “Okay, so no problem. Frank doesn’t have the dragon scales, right? So it’s Frank’s problem.” Though she hated the idea someone would hurt Frank. He’d been the least scary of the bunch.

  “Well, sho’, Frank’s gonna have some issues. But that’s not the biggest problem. The biggest problem we have is, those dragon scales he got—they’re rare. So rare they like hen’s teeth.”

  Maybe it was lack of sleep, but she wasn’t connecting the dots. “Still don’t get it.”

  “This is what it means, Chatty Cathy,” Nina cut in. “It means you and King Kong out there have all the dragon scales. You know, on you.” She pointed to Tessa’s wings. “That means someone’s gonna come looking for you.”

  Her heart began to race, her palms going sweaty again, and that sick feeling in the pit of her stomach rolled like a tidal wave. “Someone bad?”

  “Yeah. Someone bad. Someone really fucking bad,” Nina responded with a tone suggesting she’d been to bad before, and it was really bad. “Someone who’s gonna wanna skin you two alive.”

  Mick sat with Wanda on the couch, Joe-Joe draped contentedly at her feet. They both stared at the fire he’d started in the fireplace, contemplating Darnell’s words while Marty dozed on the love seat and Nina was in with Tessa.

  Mick spoke first, though his words came out stiff. “Is what Darnell said true?”

  Wanda sighed, tucking her legs beneath her. “Likely it is. Darnell’s our hotline to Hell. If he says someone’s going to want retribution for the missing dragon scales, he’s probably right.”

  “He really lives in Hell?” Did he just ask that out loud?

  Wanda shook her head with a smile. “No. He skirts Hell. Somehow he manages to fringe it. He’s pretty good at it¸ too. But he has people there who keep him in the loop.”

  “So he’s a good demon?”

  “He’s an amazing demon—one of the best pieces of our crazy, patched-together paranormal family. I can’t tell you how many situations he’s gotten us out of.”

  “This goes against everything you hear growing up.”

  “Catholic?”

  “Born and raised,” Mick admitted, and struggling mightily with the idea that there were good demons. This wasn’t a goddamn Disney movie.

  “It’s always hardest for those brought up in a strict religion to believe this life is anything other than black-and-white. But think of Darnell’s situation like this: making the biggest misjudgment of character in your life, thinking you’re doing it for the greater good, and then taking the hit for it so the people you love won’t suffer.”

  “So he made a sacrifice? Like a deal with the devil?”

  Her pretty eyes flickered by the firelight. “Sort of. He signed a contract with the devil for what he thought was a deal with a Major League baseball team. He ended up in the majors, all right. As a bat boy. Loopholes are huge with Satan. The gist of it is, Darnell was very poor. The deal he made was out of desperation and love. Not because he wanted something for himself, but because he wanted to help his financially struggling mother and sisters. Nowadays, he fringes Hell. Sort of lays low, gets lost in the fray and, in the interim, tries to help those who’ve been tricked like he was. It’s rather like his perpetual penance, I think. He just keeps helping in any way he can.”

  “Damn,” Mick breathed.

  Wanda nodded, but her face was all business. “What we need to focus on right now is how we’re going to keep our guard up until we can find out who wants your scales.”

  “They’d really skin us alive?” Jesus Christ. He had to find a way to protect Tessa. Not a goddamn chance in hell was he going to let anyone near her. Demon or not.

  Wanda turned to face him, her usually calm face now fierce, her shoulders rigid. “We won’t let that happen, Mick. We’ll protect you, of that you can be sure.”

  “How did Tessa get involved in this? How did she become a dragon, too? I still can’t figure it out.”

  “I don’t know. I have no answers about that. To be honest, I don’t have answers for a lot of the things that happen in our world. But I’ve got lots of feelers out to see what our people know about dragons.”

  “And how do we help Tessa? She can’t go around falling all over the place every time her wings pop out. Aside from the fact that it hurts her when they sprout.” He’d take that pain from her if he could. Take it and keep it.

  “I don’t know that, either. But we will. We haven’t failed yet. I won’t start now.”

  He admired Wanda’s fierce determination. It had to come from a place of experience. “Can I ask you a question?”

  Her face went light again. “Of course.”

  “The afterlife . . .” If the guys at the station could hear him, they’d call him a pussy. He’d call himself a pussy, too, except for the crazy shit he’d seen since yesterday.

  “You want to know if it exists?”

  “I don’t know.” He cleared his throat, righting himself on the couch. “Yes. Does it? Exist, I mean?”

  “I don’t know. I might never know because of what I am. But I hope so—because I couldn’t bear the idea that after this, there’s nothing. If that’s the case, I’d venture to guess I don’t mind living forever. But can I ask you a personal question now?”

  “Sure.”

  “Does your question have to do with Tessa’s brother, Noah, and what Frank said?”

  Yeah. Yeah, it did. What scared the shit out of him was how Frank had known Noah’s name. If there was a Heaven and Hell, no way a guy like Noah had landed down below. So what was the connection between them? If he just knew Noah was okay. That he forgave him for . . . “I guess it does.”

  “You were best friends all your lives, right?”

  “We were. Since we were kids.”

  Wanda tucked a pillow to her stomach. “I can’t imagine losing Marty or Nina. I’m sorry losing Noah still hurts you so much. I’m sorry it affects your relationship with Tessa.”

  “It doesn’t—”

  Wanda flapped a hand at Mick to hush him. “Of course it does. It’s plain as the nose on your face you’re in love with her, Mick. Though I’m far less crass than our Nina, I’m no
t one to tiptoe around. Whatever Noah’s death has to do with this angst between you and Tessa, I’m still not sure I understand. I only know that it’s driven a wedge between the two of you. You’re holding something back, and in doing that, you’re only hurting yourself. Think about that on this journey, would you?”

  “I can’t talk about it.” God. He’d said that a million times since Noah had died. He wanted to talk about it. But every time he thought he might be able to, his words became thick and uncomfortable, stuck on his tongue like they were mixed with peanut butter. It was easier to fight with Tessa than confess to her how he really felt.

  Tucking her chin under her hand, Wanda smiled at him, using her other hand to welcome Joe-Joe up onto the couch and into her lap. She stroked Joe-Joe’s ears as she doled out advice. “Men say that a lot. ‘I can’t talk about it,’” she mocked, deepening her voice. “Then after they say that, they complain when they don’t garner the reactions from us they want. You’re all strange, strange creatures to expect us to guess at how you feel or why you’re feeling it. But here’s something to think about. You and Tessa are in this together. You’re both in a helluva predicament. Working together is crucial. Learning about what happened to you both is even more crucial. Trust and communication are the two most important keys to making this work right now. I hope you’ll think about that if Noah’s death, and the aftermath of it, begin to get in the way.”

  Sage advice. Mick took a deep breath, reaching over to give Joe-Joe a scratch on the ear. “Why is she so uncomfortable with me touching her wings?”

  Wanda shrugged, leaning her head back on the couch and closing her eyes with a smile. “Why don’t you ask Tessa?”

  Why didn’t he?

  And love. Was he that obvious? He thought their spats covered all of it up. Hid the way he felt. If he didn’t keep arguing with her, he’d throw her down on any available surface and make the kind of love to her that fifteen years of pent-up longing could produce.

  If fighting with her kept him from revealing his painful secret, he’d keep right on fighting with her.

  Because her silence was what confessions from him would supply. She’d never speak to him again.

  And he couldn’t take her silence.

  * * *

  NINA rubbed Tessa’s back with a soothing cream, massaging the muscles with the skill of a masseuse. Nina had helped her through the agonizing shift back to her normal state, rocking her, consoling her. Tessa never would’ve guessed she had it in her, but it led her to believe maybe she’d pegged the vampire all wrong.

  “I set my house on fire.” With her breath. Dragon breath had a whole new meaning now.

  Nina wrapped her slender fingers around Tessa’s wrist and twisted them in a gentle motion back and forth, working her way up her elbow and back down again. “You sure did.”

  “Everything’s such a mess.”

  “A shitty one, for sure.”

  “My store is gone, too.” So gone. It was all hitting her right now. Her store was toast. She had no way to make a living. Her brother was dead, and so were her parents. And she was a dragon. It was a good thing dragons lived in caves, because that’s where she was going to end up at this rate. “I don’t think this mess can be cleaned up.”

  “Messes can be cleaned up, kiddo. Even burnt-to-fuck stores. We’ll help.”

  Tessa didn’t speak. She didn’t know how to respond to the kindness, especially after so much fear.

  “But you hardly know me. Why would you help?”

  “It’s just what we do,” she responded, her voice gravelly to Tessa’s ear. Nina gave Tessa’s back one last pat. “Better?”

  “Thank you,” she whispered into the pillow, fighting the sting of tears. There had to be a better way to de-wing, because the agony of that last bout felt like near-death.

  Nina dropped to the edge of the bed, pushing Tessa’s hair from her face. “It hurts. That sucks. I’m sorry.”

  She curled her fist under her chin. “Me, too. It should be way funner to be a dragon.”

  “At least you can still eat chicken wings.”

  “A sure sign I lucked out when it comes to gifts from the paranormal.”

  “Looks like.”

  “Do you miss eating?”

  Nina stroked the top of Tessa’s head just like her mother once did. “You bet your scaly ass I do. But I’d rather go through my eternal life like this than have missed out on my husband, my kid—my stupid-ass friends.”

  Tessa’s laugher was weak, a frail wisp of sound. “Can I ask you something?”

  “More questions? You’re yappy.” But her tone said it was all right.

  “Will it always hurt like that?” Because she didn’t know if she could survive that for the rest of her life.

  Nina continued to stroke her hair, and just as Tessa’s eyes began to close, she said, “I sure as fuck hope not, kiddo. But if it does, I’ll stay with you until it passes.”

  “Will you really?” she whispered, her voice hitching, hating that she sounded so weak.

  Nina grabbed her hand, tucking it to her chest. “Count on it. Go to sleep now. I’ll stay with you.”

  Tessa let her eyes slide closed, clinging to Nina’s hand like she was an undead lifeline in the choppy waters of the sea of life.

  * * *

  “HOW do you feel this morning?” Mick asked, leaning into her, smelling of fresh soap and spicy cologne. Whenever she saw him, her stomach always fluttered. His long legs, thick with muscle, encased in tight jeans, never failed to make her heart jump around in her chest.

  But today, even the sight of Mick didn’t perk her up. Everything felt all wrong. Like she was looking through a frosted window and could only make out hazy images.

  “Hey,” he prodded again, looking down at her with concern. “How do you feel?”

  Not great. She definitely didn’t feel great. Kind of warm, a little sensitive, like someone had steamrolled her body. Maybe a little lightheaded and dizzy and odd. Just odd. “Like I suddenly sprouted wings and someone ripped them off my back,” she answered, sliding onto the breakfast bar stool and wrapping her grateful hand around the mug of coffee Marty supplied.

  Marty laid her palms on Tessa’s back and began making circles. “Aspirin? Maybe that’ll help. Nina, check the bathroom for some aspirin, would you? Our girl’s still achy.”

  Nina appeared out of nowhere, standing at the inside of Tessa’s small pantry, her nose slathered in sunscreen. She crossed the room and chucked Tessa under the chin. “We sure it’s the real stuff?” she teased, snickering as she made her way out of the kitchen.

  “Funny. Very funny.” She let her head rest in her hands, massaging her temples. God, she felt worse than she ever had with even her worst hangover.

  Nina plopped two of the pills down in front of her, using the tips of her fingers to push them toward her. “Drink up, princess.”

  Tessa grabbed them and swallowed, washing them down with a hot splash of coffee. “So what’s on tap for today? Are we going demon hunting? Vampire slaying? Full-moon frolicking?”

  Marty chuckled, pinching her cheek before frowning and putting the back of her hand against Tessa’s forehead. “You’re staying here and resting, because you look absolutely green around the gills, and you’re a little warm for my taste. Mick’s going to the store with Nina to meet his friends from the firehouse so she can make sure her mojo stuck.”

  “Her mojo?”

  “The one where she makes them scratch their heads at how they missed a fire like the one at your store. I hope her mindbend is in working order, because I imagine there’ll be some mass work to be done with the people in town.”

  Nina snorted from the stove, where she was cooking something. “Don’t you worry your pretty little airhead about that shit. I whammied your entire Podunk town last night. When they get up today, the fire will all be like a huge surprise.”

  Tessa looked to Mick, so strong and solid and obviously feeling much better than she did. �
��How are we going to explain it away?”

  “I’ll handle it, Tessa. Don’t worry. But the girls are right. You do need to rest. You had a rough night last night.”

  She bristled. “No rougher than you.”

  Mick made a face, his strong jaw tightening, and grated out a sigh. “It’s not a competition.”

  It was if you were always the little sister. But she was too tired, too achy to care today. “You’re right. I just mean, you must be tired, too.”

  “I’m fine. I’m used to nights like this. Fireman, remember?”

  Nina dropped a plate in front of Tessa with some fluffy eggs and buttered wheat toast. “Eat.”

  “You cook? Will your vampire wonders never cease?” She didn’t feel like eating, but the dark mistress had cooked. Tessa had a feeling she’d better not screw up Nina’s offering.

  “Will your yappy mouth ever stay shut? I have a kid. She’s half genie. She eats soft foods at this point in her life. Eat and shut up about it or I’ll force-feed it to you.”

  Tessa smiled, despite her headache. “I’m not afraid of you today, by the way. Not after last night. Just in case you thought that was going to work on me. You know, your DEFCON fear factor.”

  “The day is young, Chatty McChatty. It could turn on a dime. So shut up and eat.”

  She tugged on the edge of Nina’s hoodie. “How come you’re awake? It’s eight in the morning. Don’t vampires sleep during the day?” Ever since Nina had reminded her vampires could burn to death under the sun, she had irrational fears about Nina turning to ashes.

  “I’ve learned to build up a tolerance to vampire sleep. Good damn thing, too, with the kid and all. But come tonight, I’ll be hanging upside down in your closet by my bat wings from fucking lack of sleep.”

  Mick’s eyebrow rose. “Really?”

  Nina rolled her eyes at him. “No, Gigantor. I was joking. I sleep in a bed just like you, dipshit.”

  Tessa glanced outside. The sun was bright, despite the cold weather. She was still figuring Nina out, but she didn’t want to see her set on fire. “But won’t you burn outside? From the sun?” That would be dreadful to find Nina a pile of ashes in the middle of a snowbank.