How to Date a Dragon

by Ashlyn Chase

  Flashing lights lit up the night. Please be blue, please be blue. When the sirens deafened her, both red and blue light bars whizzed by. That meant both police and fire were responding. Crap. Well, maybe they needed the EMTs, not the firefighters. Somehow she knew that wasn’t the case.

  As the sirens slowed down and stopped altogether, she realized the incident couldn’t be far away.

  Suddenly the front door burst open and an excited man she recognized as a semi-regular shouted to the whole bar: “Hey! The bank on the corner is on fire.”

  Some of the customers took it in stride, not moving from their bar stools. Many got up—joking about cold, hard cash turning hot and crispy—and followed Phil out the door.

  The bank on the corner? Horror struck Bliss like a punch in the chest. “My designs!”

  She threw the rag on the floor and charged out of the bar. Running at top speed, she made it to the corner before the firefighters had completely unfurled their hoses.

  She spotted Drake. Part of her wanted to rush over and beg him to rescue her safe-deposit box. The other part of her knew she should stay out of the way. He didn’t need to get suspended twice in one month. Besides, how could he get into her safe deposit box without her key and the bank personnel? That’s why they called it a safe deposit box. She cupped the sides of her face and gazed in horror.

  She watched him work. He strapped on his protective gear and rushed up the steps.

  “Give me the hydro ram,” he shouted. One of the guys who followed handed him a sophisticated-looking tool. He had to try a few times but finally forced the door open. Smoke billowed out as Drake led the other firefighters into the building.

  Her heart beat a little faster. Knowing he was fireproof certainly helped relieve some of her fear. Knowing he was such a heroic figure—and that he was hers—well, that got her heart pounding in another way. No wonder so many women go nuts for firefighters.

  Someone sidled up to Bliss, and a female voice murmured, “Pretty cool, huh?”

  Cool? A burning building? She turned toward the voice, ready to give the woman a piece of her mind, when she recognized her. That’s the woman who beat up Drake.

  “What are you doing here?” Bliss made sure the woman understood that she knew exactly who was standing next to her and was none too pleased to see her.

  “I’m watching the excitement, just like everyone else is.”

  “Do you think you could do it from somewhere else?”

  “Only if you come with me.”

  Bliss felt something hard touch her back. She whirled around and saw a gun pointed at her midsection. Holy shit.

  Reason dictated she should stay quiet and wait for the woman to tell her what she wanted. But when had Bliss ever been reasonable?

  “Gun!” she yelled and grabbed the woman’s arm. She tried to press it over their heads and hold it that way until the nearest cop could reach them. She didn’t expect the woman to be so strong.

  “Bitch,” the woman screamed. “You can’t have him.”

  The weapon jabbed Bliss’s temple. The next thing she knew, she was being dragged across the street, away from the crowd.

  “Halt!” Two cops already had their weapons drawn and trained on both of them.

  “You don’t want to shoot,” the woman cried out over the noise and confusion. “You might hit an innocent woman.” Then she lowered her voice and growled in Bliss’s ear, “And by that I mean a not-so-innocent, boyfriend-stealing bitch.” Even though the woman had an accent, Bliss understood every word.

  She still thinks she’s entitled to Drake. Bliss didn’t know what made psychotics tick, but right about now she wished she did. Maybe if I play along I’ll live long enough to get out of this. Not only didn’t she know if that was the right thing to do, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

  She saw one of the cops speaking into his radio. Hopefully he was calling for backup, but would they arrive in time? The nasty Rasta dragon had managed to spirit her around the corner and out of sight. A moment later, Bliss was able to answer her own question with a resounding “No.”

  Something strange was happening. She felt as if claws were digging into her shoulders. Suddenly her feet left the pavement and she was soaring up into the night sky. For some damn reason, she pictured Dorothy being kidnapped by flying monkeys.

  Do something, Bliss! The only thing that came to mind was to follow Dorothy’s example and let out a bloodcurdling scream—so she did.

  An animalistic sound that might have been a laugh was the only response.

  ***

  Drake and his buddies wrestled the fire under control in about half an hour. The bank suffered irreparable damage, not only by ravaging flames, but smoke and water destruction too. The overhead sprinklers helped save some areas, but not all.

  His dragon warning tingles had begun during the fire, but he’d chalked them up to the possibility of his being in mortal danger—now that he was mortal. However, they hadn’t subsided.

  Drake had been focused on the job, and it wasn’t until they pulled into the station that he wondered whether or not that was the bank in which Bliss had stored her CD. He’d call her as soon as he could. If nothing else, he’d be able to reassure her that the vault and safe deposit area weren’t affected.

  She might experience a slight delay getting to her valuables, but she had until Monday to produce the designs she had been working so hard on. He was proud of himself for recalling a detail that was important to her but not so much to him. Too often he’d known men who only half listened to their wives or girlfriends and paid the price later.

  He hung up his gear and trudged upstairs, looking forward to a shower. Bliss would still be at work, so he could wait to tell her about his day.

  A little voice in his head argued, No. You need to call her now.

  Not one to ignore so many portents, he grabbed his new cell phone and punched in the number for Bliss. When her voice mail offered to take a message and get back to him, he hung up and called the bar.

  “Boston Uncommon, Angie speaking.”

  “Hi, Angie. It’s Drake. Is Bliss there?”

  “No. I was about to call you. She took off like a bat out of hell when the fire trucks drove by earlier and hasn’t come back yet. It’s busy and we need her.”

  “She left you in the lurch? That doesn’t sound like the Bliss I know.”

  “You don’t think something has happened to her, do you?”

  Drake didn’t know what to say. Should he reassure Angie when he was almost positive something was drastically wrong? Hell.

  “I’m going out to look for her. When I find her, I’ll call you and let you know what’s up.”

  “Call Anthony. He’s worried about her too. Really worried.”

  “Can you put Anthony on the phone?”

  “Sure. Give me a minute.”

  Drake paced as he listened to the sounds of a noisy bar. A few anxious moments passed before he heard Anthony’s voice.

  “Drake. What’s going on?”

  “Apparently Bliss is missing. Angie said she ran out during the fire, and I can’t get in touch with her.”

  “That much I know. You didn’t see her at the scene, did you?”

  “No, but she could have been there. I was focused on the job and didn’t pay much attention to the crowd.”

  Anthony hesitated but eventually said, “I followed her scent as far as I could. The smoke may have thrown me off, but on Branch Street her scent just—disappeared. Do you think Zina may have something to do with it?”

  Drake swore. “I didn’t want to even entertain the idea, but yeah. It’s quite possible. If she’s the one who set the fire, she may have been nearby.”

  Anthony sighed. “I’m sorry, Drake. I said I’d be responsible for her and I feel terrible. I was in my office and didn’t know s
he was missing for quite a while. I think the staff was covering for her.”

  “Don’t blame yourself. Neither of us would have expected she’d run off in the middle of her shift.”

  “That’s not much comfort, is it?”

  Drake dropped onto his cot. “No. It isn’t.” After a short silence, he said, “I’ve gotta go.”

  “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

  “I will, if I think of something. I don’t even know if there’s anything I can do.”

  Suddenly Drake had an idea. It might backfire, but it was all he had.

  “Talk to you later, Anthony.” He hung up and tucked his cell phone into his pocket. Then he ran downstairs to the street and yelled, “Taxi!”

  Chapter 13

  Bliss was tied up and gagged. If she weren’t so scared, she’d be amused that the woman seemed more intent on gagging her than tying her to a chair. Bliss’s mouth had always been her best weapon, and yet she hadn’t even taunted the bitch. I could have… Oh, I could have.

  Thank goodness she’d thought better of it. All she’d done was try to reason with the woman. Apparently reason didn’t appeal to psychos. Now that Bliss was forced to sit and think, she should have been planning a way to get out of this. Instead she was furious and chiding herself for getting into this predicament at all.

  Why did she care if the bank burned? She had her designs on her computer and could have simply created another CD. But for some damn reason, worrying about an arsonist—and knowing all her designs could be lost again if anything happened to her laptop—had her seeing things a little cockeyed.

  If I get out of this alive, I swear I’ll make dozens of CDs and mail one to each person I know before Monday’s presentation.

  The she-dragon had flown them all around the city before landing in a deserted park. That’s where she found a dirty, disgusting sock and shoved it into Bliss’s mouth. A nasty sweater lay nearby, and the dragon had used that to tie Bliss’s hands and blindfold her. Probably a couple of kids were canoodling in the park and something scared them off before they could grab all of their clothes. Maybe they saw a dragon swooping down on them.

  And if they were drinking, they’ll probably never touch alcohol again.

  Bliss glanced around the room, trying to figure out where she was. It looked like some kind of warehouse. How clichéd. A forklift and numerous boxes were clearly visible from her vantage point. High windows wouldn’t aid her escape.

  She twisted her torso, trying to see what was behind her, but boxes obscured her view of the door. The woman with the long dreadlocks walked out from behind a pile of boxes, zipping up her leather pants.

  She halted and stared at Bliss. “What? You didn’t think dragons had to go potty once in a while?”

  Bliss tried to mumble something around the sock, but it was useless. The she-dragon sported a mean-looking grin and strolled over to her.

  “What’s that? Speak up. I can’t hear you.”

  I really don’t want to play this game. Bliss let out a defeated sigh and let her shoulders slump.

  The woman ripped the sock out of her mouth. “Go ahead. Scream. No one will hear you.”

  Bliss lifted her chin. “I wasn’t trying to scream. I just thought the idea of a bathroom sounded good right about now.”

  The woman got down into her face. “Oh, yeah? Do you need to pee?”

  Bliss so wanted to answer her with sarcasm. She could hardly resist the urge. Oh, what the hell. I’m probably going to die anyway.

  Dragon Lady grabbed hold of Bliss’s hair and yanked her head back. “I asked if you need to pee.”

  “No. I want to put on my makeup.”

  To her surprise, the woman let go of her and laughed. “In another life I might have liked you. Unfortunately, we’re in this one, and you are in my way.”

  “What’s your name?” Bliss asked.

  “Why do you want to know?”

  She shrugged. “I just want to know what to call you besides, ‘Hey you.’ That seems rude, and I really do have to go to the bathroom.”

  “Well, since you want to be polite, you can call me Zina, like the warrior princess.”

  It was all Bliss could do not to burst out laughing. She pasted on the blandest expression she could muster. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. What’s wrong with that? I’m descended from dragon kings in the Amazon and my name is Zina, with a Z-I—not an X-E like the chick in the old TV show.”

  “Gotcha. Okay, Princess Zina, may I use the bathroom, please?”

  Zina blew out an exasperated breath. “I just asked if you needed to pee.” Then, as if she’d thought of something funny, she chuckled and threw her hands in the air. “You should have gone before we left the house.”

  “I almost went in midair.”

  Chuckling manically, Zina untied her. “Fine. Go, but be quick about it.”

  As soon as she was free, Bliss prayed the bathroom would offer some way to escape. Although if Zina the warrior bitch was letting her go, she’d bet there wasn’t one.

  Striding around the boxes, Bliss spotted a small door near the windows. She prayed there would be a stack of boxes, like stairs, leading up to an open bathroom window. Yeah, and with my luck, flying monkeys would be waiting on the other side.

  Deciding she had seen too many movies, Bliss opened the bathroom door and took in the small windowless room. Damn.

  “Disappointed, are you?” Zina called out.

  “Why should I be?” Bliss yelled back.

  “There are no windows to climb out of.”

  “Gee. I never thought of that. All I wanted was a toilet, and it seems to have one. Maybe I’m not spoiled like you.”

  The woman was silent.

  Frig. Maybe I went too far. Bliss had to remind herself not to taunt the psycho. Kind of like not taunting tigers in the zoo. Hopefully, if she could just stay alive long enough, some kind of opportunity to escape would come up.

  While she did her business, Bliss pondered possible scenarios, concentrating on the ones in which she’d get away in one piece. Zina would have to leave at some point. Bliss remembered reading an article on how to present your hands to be tied if you’re ever taken hostage. There was a way to look cooperative while giving yourself enough room to slip out when you changed hand positions later. Yeah, that’s what I’ll—

  Suddenly, she wasn’t alone in the tiny room. A man was standing right in front of her! She blinked to be sure she hadn’t imagined him. Nope. He’s still there.

  The well-dressed older gentleman was not an attractive man. His eyes were small and too close together. His face looked like a worn-out leather jacket, but if he was real, maybe he could help her!

  He put his finger to his lips as if to say, “Shhh,” although he didn’t make a sound. Thank goodness he seemed to be aware of the danger on the other side of the door.

  Bliss leaned forward, not only so she could be heard but also to protect her modesty—slightly. There’s nothing quite so embarrassing as being caught on the potty. “Who are you?” she whispered.

  He smiled and whispered, “I’m your rescuer. Now get dressed.” He turned his back to give her a bit of privacy, so she quickly yanked up her panties and straightened her skirt.

  “What’s going on in there?” Zina yelled.

  Bliss started to panic when she heard heavy boots tromping in her direction. The man whirled around, grabbed her arms, and seconds later, she was blinking against a blinding light.

  “What the…” She tried to shield her eyes with her hand but still couldn’t see past the gentleman who called himself her rescuer. He let go of her arms.

  A female voice called out, “Who the hell is this? And why did you bring her here, Hephaestus?”

  “I’m sorry. I just needed a moment to scan the area I’m returning her to, so we
won’t be seen appearing out of thin air.”

  “Well, that’s a moment too long. Get her out of here, now!”

  The guy sighed and grasped Bliss’s arms again. Suddenly they were standing in a dark place. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, as if she’d just had a flashbulb go off in her face.

  “Wh—where are we?”

  “In the alley behind the bar where you work. You’ve been gone for quite some time. You’ll need a reasonably believable story to explain your absence.”

  Bliss focused on the man as soon as she could see again and set a hand on her hip. “You mean they won’t believe a dragon snatched me off the ground, flew me all over the city, and held me in a warehouse until some guy with magical powers got me out of there and took me to someplace brighter than the sun?”

  “I think it would be a good idea to tweak the truth a bit, don’t you?”

  “Well, yeah, of course, but damn… what do I say to my boss?”

  “You could start by apologizing for running off and worrying everybody.”

  Well, that’s a no-brainer. “I probably won’t need to explain where I was. I’ll just get my stuff and start looking for another job and place to live.”

  “I don’t think you’ll lose your job.”

  Something about the way he smiled made her realize he wasn’t as ugly as she’d originally thought. There was a goodness inside the man, and she felt ashamed for not realizing it before.

  “I never thanked you. You probably saved my life.”

  “Oh, there’s no ‘probably’ about it. I don’t usually like to interfere with mortals, but this was a special case. Now, I’m off to wrestle with a certain nasty dra—I mean, person.”

  Mortals? “I have so many ques—” She stopped when she blinked and realized she was standing there alone, talking to herself. What the… How does he do that?

  ***

  Bliss stepped through the back door and headed toward Anthony’s office, fully prepared to pick up her stuff and get out. If only Claudia was back there, but she’s home in bed by now.