Flames & Fervor

by Daniella Starre

  “Great. Will you call me once you—”

  The line went dead.

  “—ID him?” I finished even though he couldn’t hear me.

  Great.

  It was nearly midnight by now, but I wasn’t about to go lie down. No way would I be able to fall asleep. I was too worried and anxious. Someone or maybe something was killing humans. I had to find out who or what it was.

  I had been sitting on the couch in my living room while I’d had my unfulfilling talk with the coroner. Now, I grabbed my purse from the coffee table and left my house behind. My keys jiggled as I grabbed them out of my purse.

  After a few deep breaths behind the wheel, I turned on the car. An hour or so of driving, and hopefully I’d be able to fall asleep. Maybe. If I was lucky. I had to do something. I was a doer. I tended to always be pacing or tapping or talking. Something, anything. I couldn’t ever be completely still. Even if I wasn’t talking, my mind was always churning a mile a minute.

  The moon was full tonight, huge and swollen. Its slightly orange hue gave the world an eerie feeling.

  Just then, a shadow crossed over the moon, far too small and traveling too quickly to be a cloud. What in the world?

  I blinked and tried to find the object again. What could it have been?

  It had been heading northwest. Hmm.

  With my hands tight on the wheel, I whipped the car, speeding along, trying my best to keep the object in my sight. Yes, I was following it. I had no idea what it could be, but maybe it was a large flying creature. Maybe that thing was the one responsible for killing so many.

  Or maybe I was seeing things. It was late at night, and I was trying to follow an enormous dark shape in the sky that I could hardly make out. What if my eyes were playing tricks on me? That was possible. It was getting late, and I hadn’t been sleeping much lately.

  Eventually, it seemed like the animal landed in a field. I had to park and rush over to on foot to where it was.

  But the winged creature was gone. Startled, I glanced all around and tripped over something large and surprisingly heavy. Like a small boulder.

  After rubbing my ankle, I stood and whipped out my cell phone to use it as a flashlight.

  Not a boulder after all. It was an egg, a strange egg with weird designs on the façade. Had someone found it and painted it? No. The designs were nearly engraved, and the colors were displayed so perfectly at random that I had to wonder if that had been done intentionally after all, by nature of course.

  The moment I picked up the egg, the sound of beating wings had me whirling around. Towering over me was a massive dragon.

  It couldn’t be, but it was. And worse, it was opening its mouth. It completely terrified me that a huge ball of fire was forming at the back of its mouth.

  I managed to dart and roll out of the way as the fire blast erupted from the fire dragon’s mouth. Hopefully, I was dreaming and this wasn’t real, but I couldn’t deny that I could feel the heat from that blast.

  A dragon. Unreal. If I wasn’t so worried that I was about to get sliced to ribbons like the other victims, I might’ve been impressed.

  Chapter 4

  Francesco Marino

  I was more than willing to return home. Not that I considered Philly home yet. It was so different from the Rocky Mountains. There, we had ample space to fly around at night and didn’t have to worry about being seen.

  Of course, I was flying this night. I wanted to return to my clan as quickly as possible. The news I had wasn’t good. Not at all. We had a decision to make, and I already knew how I felt about it. As for Damon and Miguel, well, they could go either way.

  There was something about flying that was so relaxing, so magical, so peaceful. I did my best not to think and tried instead to focus on gliding. I hardly flapped my impressive wings, just floated through the air as if I weighed nothing at all.

  I knew I could fly faster, but despite my need for speed, I refrained. The faster I would fly, the more I would have to flap my wings. The more I would flap my wings, the greater the chance that someone would see me. For the most part, dragons were in agreement that humans could never learn about us, and I wasn’t about to be the foolish dragon who blew our cover.

  The moment I crossed over into the airspace above Philly, I descended. I needed to land and find an Uber to take me the rest of the way in.

  The sudden shift in wind and the smell it carried had me hesitating. Ozone. Brimstone. Fire.

  A dragon was out and about.

  That did not spell good for the people in this city or for my fellow clanmates.

  It took everything within me to not throw back my massive dragon head and roar with rage, but I managed to keep my composure. Flapping my wings, not caring so much about being discrete, I raced along to try to discover the precise point of the dragon’s location. Not there. Not there. There!

  In a field, a dragon stood tall on the ground, shooting blasts of fire at someone or something. Thankfully, the dragon seemed to be solely and entirely focused on his prey. Unfortunately, that meant most likely the prey was dead or dying.

  The dragon’s back was to me, and I now glided over, wishing to maintain the element of surprise. Adjust to the left more, more, back, there!

  My clawed feet gripped into the dragon’s back. I would have to use an incredible amount of strength in order to lift the dragon, so I didn’t bother to waste the power. Instead, I racked my claws down the dragon’s back.

  The dragon roared and turned his head toward me. Before it could try to flame broil me to death, I gripped the dragon’s throat and pointed it skyward.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I spied movement. The creature the dragon had attacked lived yet.

  Fierce anger rushed through me, and I squeezed my claws even tighter. As a dragon, I could not speak, but if I could, I would say something along the lines of, “Do you give up? I may spare your life if you do. Or I could send you to prison. Or I could kill you right now.”

  The dragon seemed offended. Another howl escaped his lips, and I used that moment to ignore his pathetic attempts to get free or to claw or scratch me back. Instead, I focused on the claws on my other hand, and I jabbed him right in the shoulder.

  My opponent seemed to gasp. He was beginning to move a lot more gently. The dragon was in some serious pain.

  I released my hold on his neck. The creature the dragon had been fighting had now collapsed. I had no choice in the matter. I couldn’t allow the creature to die. The threat of even a wounded dragon was too much for any other living thing.

  The dragon fell to the ground the moment I let him go. He lay there, breathing heavily, sucking down air that I had refused to give to his lungs. Good.

  Carefully, I took to the sky and glided over to the spot where the creature had collapsed.

  No. Not a creature after all. A human. A female. She was wearing a white shirt with a gray sports coat matching gray skirt. A power suit. A hard worker.

  As I watched, she grabbed a rock. A flash of pain flickered over her features, but she lined up a shot and tried to throw the rock at me. She failed. The rock didn’t land far from her at all. Her body was weak. She was extremely injured.

  A wave of compassion washed over me. This was stupid, and I should ask the others first, but there wasn’t much time. The other dragon would recover very quickly, and I didn’t want to have to face him again, not if I could help it.

  I landed and tried to urge the woman to climb onto my back, but she would not stir. I could delay no longer. The other dragons would be furious with me, but I would not allow another to be slashed as if by magic. This dragon might or might not have killed the other humans, but this one would not be his.

  Gently, I picked up the girl by my claws. Swiftly, I carried her back to the domain of the dragons, a five-story-building on the other edge of Philly.

  As soon as I landed, I shifted back to my human form and managed to work it out that I catch the injured woman in my arms. A second later, those
feet of mine touched the ground.

  I strolled forward, and the doors automatically opened for me. A wave of cold air washed over me, and I grinned. Ignoring and bypassing the other dragons who were guards, I marched right to my bedroom and laid the injured woman on the bed.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Damon asked from the doorway.

  “Not now,” I said through clenched teeth.

  “But—”

  “But not now.” I glowered at him but only for a second. I could not turn away from the woman for long. I had to make certain her chest and lungs were rising and falling. I hadn’t saved her for nothing. I refused to accept that.

  Eventually, though, her breathing became more erratic and then her eyes opened. She took one look at me and screamed.

  Chapter 5

  Audrey Wright

  The attack. The wings. The fire breath. The nose, The massive mouth. The creature.

  The dragon!

  As much as I wanted it all to be a nightmare, I knew that it hadn’t been. Now, standing before me, was a man I had never seen before. He was staring at me, an expression of worry on his chiseled features. He was hot, I fleetingly thought, but I wasn’t concerned about that. I was freaking out because I was in a strange place, and my body hurt like hell, and the pain was so incredibly intense that I didn’t know if I should scream or cry.

  Of course I ended up doing both.

  The man jerked back as if shocked. I had probably startled him, but I didn’t care. I had done my best to avoid getting scorched by the dragon, but his claws and his tail had hit me, and my left arm felt wrong. I couldn’t move it. Dislocated maybe? And I had some serious abrasions on my left upper thigh from when I had tried to slide out of the way. My ribs had caught the tail. Thankfully, it hadn’t been spiked. If it had been, I doubt I would still be able to scream right now.

  Another man rushed over from the doorway. He was even more good looking than the first guy. I was making a scene. I couldn’t think too clearly, but I got the impression that these men didn’t mean me harm. They could’ve hurt or even killed me already if they had wanted to. I could hardly move. My own screams were dying. I could hardly catch my breath. It felt like no air was entering my lungs. What was happening to me?

  The two men were talking, but I could hardly hear what they were saying. It felt as if their words were coming from super far away, like the words were filtered through a long tunnel before they could reach my ears. Their expressions of worry and fear were easy enough to read, though.

  “Dragon,” I murmured. “A dragon… Killing people…”

  The two men exchanged glances. Of course they wouldn’t believe me. That was all right. I didn’t care. I just wanted to sleep…

  No. What if I never woke up? I forced my eyes to stay open.

  The first guy seemed really familiar. He kept staring at me more than the first, acting overly protective of me. At least that was how it came across to me. He reached down and brushed some of my hair back, and I got my first good look at his eyes.

  A deep dark color. Identical to the second dragon I had seen. Yes, there had been two dragons. The first had been so aggressive that I hadn’t the chance to fight him. The second dragon had injured or even killed the first before turning on me. I vaguely remember picking up a rock and throwing it at the dragon. Some throw. The rock had landed in front of my foot.

  The second dragon had then lain down. I collapsed at that point. Now, I was here. With these men. Who were strangers.

  The first guy was taking off his shirt and rolling it up. He was pressing it to my side. Was I bleeding? I couldn’t tell. I felt no pain, just a steady coldness.

  Wait a second. On his left shoulder was a tattoo.

  Of a dragon.

  Coincidence?

  In my line of work, there are no such things as coincidences.

  “Are you a dragon?” I blurted out. Even my voice was weak. I hardly got the words out, and they were slurred. He probably couldn’t understand me.

  The guy cupped my cheek. “You’ll be all right,” he murmured. “Don’t worry.”

  I wanted to laugh. Sure. I’d be fine. I felt like I was dying, but no worries. I was all good.

  I lolled my head to the other side. The second guy was talking about my breathing. I was having such a hard time of it now that I doubted I could say another word. In fact, I doubted I would be taking that many more breaths.

  The second guy held up his hand. Before my eyes, his pointer finger transformed into a claw that he then jabbed me with.

  I let loose a scream, and then, my world went dark.

  When I woke up however many minutes or hours later, I was alone in the room. My body was no longer in pain. I had a huge bandage wrapped on my side where the first guy had bloodied his shirt. My ribs felt maybe a little tender, and I could feel a slight bump where the claw had punctured me. My abrasion seemed to have healed. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I had been sweating earlier. I wasn’t now.

  I sat up and spied a tray on the nightstand. Cream of potato soup, a roll, and grape juice were waiting for me. Grape juice? Really? Disgusted because I’m not a huge juice fan, I took a sip anyway because I was thirsty. Not juice after all, unless you consider wine juice. I probably shouldn’t have, but I gulped that down. After what I had been through, getting drunk seemed like a great idea.

  The soup was hot but not too hot, the perfect temperature to eat immediately. I dunked some of the roll into the soup. So flaky and fresh. The soup was amazing too. Whoever had brought it to me couldn’t have dropped it off more than a few minutes ago.

  In all, it took me maybe three minutes to eat everything. I put the tray back on the nightstand. I knew I should get up. Learn where I was. See who these people were. Make my way out of here.

  But my belly was full, and my mind was buzzing from the drink, which wasn’t like me. Normally, I needed at least three glasses of wine to get tipsy. Maybe I’d lost too much blood, so I couldn’t handle even the one. Regardless, I hadn’t the strength to fight off sleep, and my eyelids closed of their own accord. Immediately, I was asleep and dreaming of two huge winged creatures fighting to the death in the skies.

  Chapter 6

  Miguel Ramirez Lopez

  I blinked a few times. No way had I heard them correctly.

  “You mean to tell me there’s a human here, and she knows about us?” I all but roared. This was beyond unacceptable behavior.

  Francesco shrugged. “I had no choice.”

  “You exposed us!” I shouted.

  “Again, I had—”

  “You made a choice. There’s always a choice. You should have—”

  “Should’ve let her become the next victim to the Winged Serpents? I don’t think so. You would’ve done the same if you were there.”

  “Nope.” I shook my head. “Because I think ahead. I’m logical and reasonable, and what you did was neither. You were reckless and impulsive. I know you’ve been itching to fight them, but that wasn’t your call to make. We have to have a united front if we’re to survive.”

  “What about her surviving?” Francesco shouted. He could be every bit as loud and furious as I could be at times.

  This wasn’t the first time the two of us had butted heads. It was a good thing we didn’t have horns, because they would get all tangled if we did.

  I was Hispanic and hot-blooded. A cool cucumber I would never be. A thousand different expressions ran though my head to show Francesco just what I thought of him.

  It wasn’t that I was furious about him saving the girl. I might not be fully human, but I did care for humans. We all did. They were weaker than us. It was a macho thing, wanting to take care of them. That the Fanged Serpents would dare go after and kill humans infuriated me as much as it did Francesco and Damon. So I got that.

  But exposing us? Dragons had been around since the age of dinosaurs. We had always kept ourselves hidden away from even cavemen and Neanderthals. We didn’t want them for enemies, espe
cially considering how similar in nature we were. Half of ourselves was just like the humans. They could not help it that they had only the one form.

  Most clans felt as we did, that humans should be protected. All believed that humans should remain ignorant.

  Clearly, the Fanged Serpents thought differently. Well, maybe not, considering all humans who saw them ended up dead…

  Damon crossed his arms as much as he could. Even I had to say he had impressive biceps. Not that I would ever tell him that.

  “You two need to settle down,” he said.

  “Settle down?” Francesco shouted.

  “Do you want to wake her?” Damon pointed out.

  Francesco’s cheeks colored slightly. Embarrassed, he rubbed the back of his neck. “I will go and check on her.”

  “You will not.” Damon held out a hand and pressed it against Francesco’s back as he tried to maneuver around Damon to get to the door.

  “I will,” I said.

  Damon opened his mouth, but I just shook my head. There was no stopping me.

  Swiftly, I bolted out of the meeting room and rushed down the hall to a room on the left, where the girl had been taken.

  Slowly, I eased the door opened, entered the room, and shut the door behind me. She was sleeping peacefully, and she was anything but a girl. She was mid-twenties and beautiful. Her wounds had been healed already, which meant one of the others had healed her through their blood. That was not good. Not good at all. She was dangerous. A threat. She was already making it so that the three leaders of the clan weren’t communicating. There was no reason any one of us should be making such huge decisions without the others having a voice.

  The tray beside her bed was empty. I sniffed. Cream of potato soup and wine. Really? Who had fed her that?

  Her red hair framed her face, and she seemed so peaceful. Maybe we should learn who she was and return her to her house.