“Writing. I never could do that.”
“Well, I’ve loved to write since I was a little kid. It suits me.” She turned right at an intersection. “How long have you been working as a firefighter?”
“About twenty years.”
“Wow. Whatever made you want to go into burning buildings?”
“It was my brother actually. He was the one who always wanted to be a firefighter, so when he joined up I did the same. We did everything together like that.”
“Is he still a firefighter?”
“He’s dead.” Gabriel’s words came out a little harsher than he would have liked, but he didn’t like talking about Brent and he wanted her to know that the subject was off limits.
“Oh. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. It was a long time ago.”
For some time after that they drove in silence. Great going, he scolded himself, you ruined the mood with your doom and gloom attitude like you always do. He racked his brain for something else to say, but he could find nothing. Never had he been so glad in his life as when they pulled up in front of the restaurant.
“We’re here.” Samantha said as she put the car in park and switched it off.
“So we are.” He looked out the window. “I’ve ate here before and the best I remember it was really good.”
“I hope so. I heard about this place from a friend and she said the spaghetti was to die for.”
“Then I know what I’m getting.”
A nervous laugh passed between them as they walked to the door. He opened it and the sounds from inside came flooding out, the clatter of plates, the chatter as people talked to one another, waiters called out orders, and a man played the violin in one corner. Gabriel held the door and let her pass through first. He followed, but not without some reluctance. It had been a long time since he had been anywhere other than the firehouse or the little dive bar a few blocks from there that he frequented nightly.
Samantha talked to the hostess and got them a table by the window and he was grateful for it. They ordered and sat in silence as they waited for their food. He once again racked his brain for something to say, but he couldn’t seem to think of anything other than how much he didn’t want to be at the restaurant. She was the one to break the silence between them.
“I have to ask something that you may not want to answer and if you don’t it’s okay.”
“What is it?” He instantly went on alert as he asked.
“How was it that you could carry me down five flights of stairs without a mask in the sheer heat of that burning building? I did some research and a man twice your size shouldn’t have been able to do that.”
He smiled wanly. “I work out a lot and I’m in good shape.”
“That might explain how you could carry me that far. I doubt it, but I might.” She leaned across the table and looked into his eyes. “But it doesn’t explain why the smoke didn’t ever make you cough or get to you. Inhaling that much smoke should have killed you, but you never even acknowledged that there was smoke.”
“I held my breath.” Oh crap, he thought, she’s not buying a single word I say. I bet next she asks me about my eyes. Why they’re like no other color of eyes that she has ever seen.
“I bet you did. So you carried me, a two hundred-pound woman, down five flights of stairs and you held your breath for the whole time all the while why you were in full firefighter gear that weighs like fifty pounds or more?”
“Yeah. That’s what happened.”
“You know I might be able to believe you if it wasn’t for your eyes.” She leaned back and took a drink of her soda.
Here it is, he thought, here comes the question. “What about my eyes?”
“They’re like no eyes I have ever seen before. Not just the color. Even though I’ve never seen a green like that before in a human. No, it’s not the color. It’s the fire that seems to burn behind them. I’ve only seen eyes like that once before in my life.”
“Where was that?”
“An old movie I used to like as a kid. It was about a dragon and he had eyes like yours.”
“So . . . what? You think I’m a dragon?” He laughed and took a nervous sip of his beer. He tried to sound nonchalant, but his words sounded fake even to his own ears. “That sounds a bit ridiculous doesn’t it?”
“It does. I don’t think that you are a dragon, but I think that you’re something special. I wonder if maybe you aren’t the next stage of human evolution or something like that.”
“Well . . . ”
An explosion from across the street caused them to both turn and look out the window. The apartment building across the way belched flames from the middle floor windows and people rushed out of the front. Gabriel and Samantha hurried out of the restaurant and looked at the burning building. A woman rushed from person to person until she made it to them. She grabbed Gabriel by the arm with a panicked look on her face.
“Please. You have to help me. Please. My husband is on the sixth floor and he can’t walk. I got out, but I couldn’t carry him. He was too heavy. Please. He was in the war and he got paralyzed. Please help him.”
“Alright, but I need you to calm down and tell me where he is.”
“On the fifth floor turn right and it’s the third door on the right. Apartment 5F.”
“Okay.” He turned to Samantha. “Keep her here. I’ll be right back.”
“But you don’t have your suit or oxygen. Can’t you wait until the fire department gets here?”
He took a look at the building and shook his head. “By the time they get here he’ll be burnt up. I have to go now.” He touched her arm and smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
*****
Gabriel rushed past the onlookers and into the burning building. He knew that he should wait for the firefighters to get there, but he also knew that if he did, the man trapped inside would die. Besides, he thought, this will be my greatest test yet. To see if I can save a man in a burning building without my suit. He took the stairs three at a time. His long legs ate up the distance. In moments he was on the top floor of the building. Smoke filled the hallway and made it impossible to see for a human, but he wasn’t a human. His eyes took on a glow as he searched for the right door. Flames erupted from below down the hall and turned the end of the hallway into an inferno in seconds.
5F was just ahead.
“Fire department! Call out!” He yelled, but no one answered.
He hoped that the man wasn’t near the door as he hit it with a shoulder and smashed it in. The apartment was already filled with smoke, but his dragon eyes allowed him to see. The living room was empty. He ran to a doorway in the back of the apartment and found a bedroom. The man lay on the floor near the bed. Gabriel knelt down beside him and touched him on the shoulder. The man coughed and opened his eyes.
“Please . . . save me.”
The man’s voice was weak and scratchy from inhaling smoke and Gabriel knew all too well that smoke inhalation killed most people before the fire ever reached them. The man had a large frame, but his legs were spindly due to lack of use. He estimated the man to weigh at least two hundred and twenty pounds. An easy carry. He hefted the man onto his shoulders and made his way out of the apartment. As he reached the door that lead to the hallway, he was confronted by a wall of flames. He could see that the flames ended just beyond the doorway. His body would shrug off the heat and the flames no problem, but he knew the man’s would not.
He checked to make sure the man was unconscious. He was. Gabriel laid him on the couch and did something that he hadn’t done since Brent died. He shifted. Beautifully toned skin turned to hard, black scales. Wings sprouted from his back. Huge leathery wings. In seconds he was twice his normal height. With a roar he embraced the dragon.
Clawed hands reached out and picked the man up. Leathery wings wrapped around him like a fireproof blanket. The dragon rushed out of the room and through the flames. For a moment the flames fu
lly engulfed the dragon and he felt at home. The man moved slightly as the flames heated up the air around him and let out a groan, but as quickly as it happened it was over. The dragon ran down two flights of stairs with the man before he stopped. He laid the man aside and shifted once more. Leathery wings folded and disappeared into his back. Hard, black scales morphed into soft, beautifully toned skin. The shift took only seconds.
Gabriel grabbed up the man and rushed down the stairs at full speed. He could hear the man’s heartbeat with his sensitive ears, but it was growing weaker by the second. At last he reached the bottom floor and made a mad dash for the exit. He hurried toward an ambulance that had just pulled up amid cheers from the onlookers. The EMT’s took the man and immediately began to work on him to get his heart rate back up. The man’s wife ran to the ambulance as the EMT was about to close the door and explained that she was his wife. He let her inside and they drove away. A hand touched Gabriel’s arm and he spun around.
“That was something.” Samantha said. “You just saved a man from a burning building without anything on, but street clothes and then nobody even thanked you.”
“That’s how it usually happens. Most of the time the people are so glad to see their loved ones that they forget to say thanks. I don’t mind though. I don’t do it for the praise.”
“No, you don’t. You do it because you want to push yourself. You don’t care if you die and deep down you kind of wish that you would. But why? You have so much to offer the world Gabriel. I know you do. So why would you want to kill yourself?”
“Let’s get in your car and go for a little drive. I’ll explain.”
They climbed into Samantha’s car and pulled away just as the fire department drove up to the scene. He sat in the passenger seat for some time in silence before he directed her to pull into an alleyway. She did so without hesitation because she could tell that he needed to get something off his chest. After she shut the car off, they sat in silence for a moment until he turned to her and began to speak.
“My brother . . . Brent. He’s the reason I want to kill myself.” Gabriel explained how he and his brother had done everything together since they were newborns. He explained how they were inseparable. Then he told her how Brent had died. “We were pulling the children out of the school as quickly as we could, but it seemed that for every one we brought out there were two more trapped somewhere. We finally got what we thought was all of them out, but a teacher said she couldn’t find one of her students. A little girl. Brent turned to me and told me to stay put. ‘I’ve got this one.’ He said and ran into the building. I knew full well that the fire wouldn’t hurt him, I’ll explain why in just a moment, but the building looked like it was about to collapse from structural damage. I yelled at him to stop, but he just waved me off and ran inside. He had no more disappeared through the doorway when the building gave a shuddering groan and caved in. We dug for five hours before we found his body. The fire could never have hurt him, but twelve tons of building was more than he could take. I found out two days later that the teacher had been wrong and the little girl was out sick that day. He died for nothing. Nothing.”
“Oh, god. I’m so sorry for your loss Gabriel.” Samantha laid a sympathetic hand on his leg.
“Thank you.” He raised his head so he could look her in the eyes. “I guess I owe you an explanation of why the fire didn’t and can’t hurt me, huh?”
“Only if you want to.” She assured him.
“I’ll show you, but I can tell you that it isn’t going to be easy. You’ll not want to accept it at first and maybe you’ll drive away, but remember this. I will not hurt you.”
“Okay.” She raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “You’re starting to freak me out.”
He opened his door and climbed out. “You have no idea.” He whispered to himself as he moved around in front of the car. Once he was in full view he took a deep breath and shifted. Inside the car he could see Samantha’s eyes widen as leathery wings unfolded from his back and his skin turned into black scales. Seconds later he was the dragon. He stretched his wings out and did a turn for her.
“This is why the flames cannot hurt me. You had no idea how right you were about my eyes in the restaurant.”
Once more he shifted. His body morphed back to its original form and he walked over to the passenger side of the car. Samantha never took her eyes off him as he moved. He leaned down and rested his forearms on the door.
“Do you have any questions?” He could see that she did, but she wasn’t speaking.
She nodded her head. “A thousand.”
“Then ask them. I owe you that much.”
Samantha opened her door and climbed out of the car. The sun had begun to set, but the headlights of her car illuminated the alley enough that she could see. She leaned over the roof of her car and stared at Gabriel. He couldn’t help, but smile.
“Ask your questions Samantha.”
“My grandmother used to say there were those in this world who could shift into other beings. I thought she was just trying to scare me when I was little, but when I got older I thought that maybe she was crazy or had dementia or something. She said that when she was a young woman she was a dragon mother. That was another of her stories I thought was crazy.”
“Wait.” He held out his hand. “Your grandmother was a dragon mother?”
“That’s what she said. Said she knew two brothers that were the loveliest and kindest men she ever had known. She said that they were killed and years later she fell in love with my grandfather and had my mother.”
“Was your mother?”
“No. Grandmother said that mom didn’t have it. Whatever ‘it’ was. She told me when I was young that I did. She said that one day I would be called on for my gift and I would be blessed with a gift of my own. Love. I never believed her, but she always told me that when the time came and I saw the shift for the first time I would either be aroused or terrified and then I would know for sure if I was a dragon mother or not.”
“What she said was true.” Gabriel nodded. “So which is it?”
Samantha opened her door and climbed back into the car. She leaned across and opened Gabriel’s door. He climbed in and she laid a hand on his thigh near the crotch of his jeans. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and she leant in to whisper in his ear.
“Aroused.”
Without another word he pulled her on top of him and their lips met. The taste of her exploded in his mouth and for the first time in a long time he felt passion and pleasure. Their hands roved over each other as their tongues explored one another. She bit him on the lip and he let out a small groan of pleasure. She moved her hips and he felt himself grow hard against his jeans. He could tell by the gasp she let out that she felt him as well. His hands found their way to the back of her blouse and he pulled it off over her head. She didn’t have on a bra and her ample breasts swung freely in front of his face as she gyrated her hips. He took one of her nipples in his mouth and ran his tongue around it in circles. She moaned and threw back her head.
In a fervor she tugged at his shirt until she had it over his head and cast aside. Her hands touched him and slid all over his toned chest and stomach. He had forgotten how good it was to be with a woman. For years he had ignored his lusts and passions, but now the all flooded back.
“My pants.” She gasped as she pulled her lips away from his mouth for a moment.
He lifted her up and she tore at her jeans to get them off. She got them to her knees before she gave up and did the same with her panties. Gabriel pulled her back in and kissed her neck. She reached down and pulled the lever to let the seat back. It flew back all at once and nearly toppled them into the back of the car. He continued to kiss her neck and began to move the kisses down and around to her breasts as she fumbled with the zipper on his jeans. She finally got it and he sprang forth. She gasped as she saw the length of him. He sucked air through his clenched teeth as she ran her hands up and down the length of him. As
she stroked, he nibbled at her ear and caused her to shiver.
“I want you now.” She whispered.
He lifted her without strain and eased her down onto his member. She let out a gasp as he entered her. He began to thrust slowly at first. He could feel her pulse racing under his kisses to the side of her neck and it turned him on even more. As he thrust into her she threw back her head and moaned again and again. He had never made love like this. Not with this much heat and passion. Her teeth nipped at his neck and he groaned.
“Oh, god!” Samantha tossed her head from side to side, her hair flying wildly about.
He could feel her tighten and knew by her raged breaths that she was about to climax, so he redoubled his efforts. Her small scream of passion as she climaxed drove him over the edge and he buried his face into her breasts as he thrust into her once more and climaxed himself. They lay back together and panted for a moment as they tried to catch their breath. He slipped out of her and she rolled onto her seat. She pulled up her pants and put her shirt back on. Gabriel used the lever to lift his seat back up and zipped up his jeans.
“That was . . . ” He started, but he didn’t have words for it.
“Incredible. The best sex you’ve ever had. Hot as hell.”
He smiled and leaned in to kiss her once more. She nipped at his lower lip with her teeth and he pulled back.
“Don’t start again.” He waved a finger at her. “Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to do that again, but I’d like to have a little more room next time.”
“I have an apartment.” A grin split her lips.
“That sounds great. How soon can we be there?”
“Five minutes. Three if I ignore the stop signs.”
“Ignore ‘em.” He said and placed a hand on her thigh.
They laughed together as she backed out of the alley and drove to her apartment. They pulled up outside and she put the car in park. Gabriel jumped out before Samantha, ran to her side of the car and opened her door for her. When she smiled up at him, his heart skipped a couple of beats and he felt a dull throb in his groin. He scooped her up into his arms and kicked the door of her car shut with his foot. As he carried her up the stairs to her apartment on the second floor, she gave him directions in between kissing him on the neck.
Alpha Vampire Romance: Vampire’s Mate (Paranormal Shapeshifter Alpha Demon Vampire Romance) (Coming of Age Werewolf BBW Shifter Women’s Fiction Short Stories) Page 62
