Marked By Fire

by Meg Ripley

  “Is it that embarrassing to be out with me?” he laughed. “Should I have worn a fake mustache and a rubber nose?”

  “It’s just that I don’t want anyone else getting into our business.” She studied the fine linen of the tablecloth, embarrassed that she had said it that way. The wall of confidence she usually wore like a suit of armor was crumbling around Lance. What was it about this man that made her feel so exposed?

  “I understand.” He looked over the menu for a long minute before meeting her eyes again. “And no, I didn’t tell him.”

  Sabrina’s shoulders relaxed. “I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t ask Wendy for advice. She would have sent you to one of those nude dining events.” The waiter brought her an iced tea, which seemed safer than a glass of wine.

  “We could always do that next time, if you’d like,” he said with a smile.

  “I suppose we could, but I think I’d rather go for that bar in a cave, instead. I’ve never been, but it could be fun.”

  Lance raised his dark eyebrows. “Sounds like it’s right up my alley.”

  The waiter came back, smiling and overly-helpful. He took their orders and their menus and promised to return as soon as possible.

  “So, tell me,” Sabrina said, leaning forward, “why did you come to New York? I mean, for work of course, but was there anything more than that?”

  “No, not really. I’m honestly not sure why anyone comes here, other than the fact that people have been raised to believe that it’s the greatest city in the country. There are good things about it, I suppose, but I don’t get all the hype.”

  She tipped her head to the side. “I’m surprised. Everyone else seems to think it has some sort of magic.”

  “I don’t think there’s a whole lot of magic in dirty streets, wretched subways and overpopulation.” He pressed his lips together. “But maybe that’s just me. What about you? Are you from here?”

  “No, but I like to pretend I am.” She shook her head. “To tell you the truth, I come from a little backwater in Louisiana. I’ve been away from there long enough that I’ve managed to lose the accent, thank god.”

  “Why are you ashamed of that?” Lance nodded his thanks as the waiter placed their entrees before them.

  “Well, maybe it’s not so much the area or the accent as my crazy family. There aren’t many of us left, but my Uncle Wade—the one I told you about—is an absolute nutjob.”

  “Because he believes in dragons?” His pale eyes glinted in the candlelight.

  “You’ve got it.” Sabrina sliced into her steak, pleased at how tender it was. A trail of bloody juice funneled out of the cut and across her plate.

  Lance was watching it with a surprising amount of interest. After a moment, he realized she was watching and cleared his throat as he focused on his own meal.

  “Anyway, Wade is supposed to be coming through New York tomorrow, and he’ll be staying at my place for a couple of days. I figured I would warn you.”

  “Why is that?” His eyes were suddenly sharp, his mouth set in a grim line.

  She blinked, startled at his reaction. “Just so you don’t get stuck listening to his constant chatter about how dragons are living among us. That’s all. Honestly, I don’t think it would seem quite so crazy if he wanted to talk about aliens or his JFK assassination theories, but he much prefers to talk about dragons.”

  Lance had returned to normal. His face was relaxed as he lifted a fork full of lobster tail. “Sounds like quite a character.”

  ****

  Two hours later, they were safely ensconced once again in the plush interior of Lance’s car. Sabrina couldn’t help but feel spoiled by being with him; he seemed to have everything. It was odd that he didn’t have the same kind of cocky attitude Max did, but she wasn’t going to complain.

  “What would you like to do now?” he asked as he pulled out of the restaurant’s parking lot and waited for traffic.

  “My apartment building has this great rooftop garden. We could sit up there and have a drink, if you’d like.” Sabrina smiled, wondering if she was taking this too far. But Lance seemed to have just as much interest in spending time together as she did. It would make for an awkward meeting with the human resources director at some point, but he was willing to risk that.

  “Sounds wonderful,” he replied with a smile.

  They stopped at her place just long enough to grab a bottle of whiskey and a couple of glasses. Sabrina happily guided him up through her building, almost hoping she would run into a few of her neighbors so they might ask her who that handsome man was and what happened to Max. Lance was certainly worth bragging about. “I’m sorry. The elevator only goes up so far,” she said as they stepped into the hallway on the top floor and she opened a door to a narrow stairway.

  “That’s alright. I don’t mind a little bit of exercise.”

  The rooftop space had been used efficiently, with plants at every turn and vines growing on metal arches. A few small solar lights had been installed, providing just enough illumination so visitors could see where they were going. She led him down a path created by massive potted plants to a seating area underneath a pergola. “I don’t really get to spend a lot of time up here, but I’m always impressed with how much work the garden committee does. A group of tenants spends their free time maintaining it, and it’s open for anyone in the building to enjoy.” Sabrina set the whiskey bottle down on the table and sat on a cushioned bench, thrilled when Lance sat down right next to her and began pouring.

  “I have to tell you, I’m having a wonderful time with you tonight.” His eyes, despite the dim light, shone brightly.

  “You sound so surprised.” Sabrina took a sip of her drink, feeling it burn down her throat and start a fire in her core.

  He shrugged, the movements bringing him a millimeter closer to her. “I don’t really date much. I’m kind of a loner.” He looked down at his hands and smiled, as if this was a joke he was telling himself.

  But Sabrina got that joke, too. “Lance Rockland, not a people person? You could have had me fooled with all those long conversations in the break room and birthday parties you’ve been throwing for the staff.”

  Their lips were nearly touching, and Sabrina could sense every aspect of his body and its distance from her own. She had kept herself sober at dinner, and she wasn’t anywhere close to being drunk off the few sips of whiskey that had crossed her lips. This wasn’t just the alcohol running through her system, making her do crazy things; this was real, and it was amazing. The heat between them burned, and there was only one way to quench it. She closed her eyes and leaned forward.

  “I should have known.”

  The voice that burst through the air on the rooftop startled her. She jumped, sloshing her drink on her dress as she searched for the meddler. “Who’s there?”

  Max stepped out from behind a tall fern. “I see how it is, Lance. You wanted to act like the gallant gentleman, but you were just making room for yourself.”

  Lance’s glass clinked against the table, and he was suddenly on his feet. His fists were balled at his sides and his shoulders squared as he glared at Max. “What are you doing here?”

  The intruder shrugged his shoulders dismissively. “I’m just here to take back what’s mine.”

  “She’s isn’t yours to take,” Lance growled.

  Despite the adrenaline that was still surging through her system from the surprise, Sabrina felt a jolt of excitement throbbing through her veins. Two men fighting over her? It was like a scene straight out of a romance novel, and it gave her an undeniable thrill. Once they got rid of Max, she would have to take Lance back to her apartment.

  But Max didn’t seem as though he would be all that easy to get rid of. He stepped towards the pergola, where the landscape lighting illuminated the sharp features of his face. His dark eyes seemed to reflect the blackness of the night sky. “That’s where you’re wrong, Rockland. I was here first. Sabrina and I have been dating for months n
ow. She’s been leading you on, and that was her mistake.” He turned to Sabrina at these last words, and the hatred in his eyes sent an entirely different sensation down her spine.

  Her stomach turned. The steak and the whiskey suddenly no longer agreed with her. “Max, we broke up. You know that. It’s time to move on. You can’t just get drunk and come up here—”

  “I’m not drunk,” he interrupted, turning back to Lance. “In fact, I’m more sober than I’ve ever been. I knew when you came to the company that I was going to have to watch out for you. You’re one of those cocky assholes who thinks he doesn’t have to work for anything. You just have it all handed to you. You can have the high position and the corner office, but the one thing you can’t have is Sabrina.”

  Lance took a deep breath and let it out slowly, rolling his shoulders. He looked as though he was ready to explode. Instead, he stepped around the table so that he was standing in front of Max. “It’s not up to you. She makes her own choices, and she chose to go out with me tonight. It’s time for you to go home.”

  “I’m not leaving without her.” Max’s chest puffed out and his shoulders straightened. In just those small gestures, he seemed to have gained six inches in height.

  Sabrina finally pulled herself from the bench. She trembled inside to see these two men face-to-face. They could seriously hurt each other, and she didn’t want any of that to be her fault. “This is ridiculous. Let’s all just go home and get some sleep. It will all look completely different in the morning.”

  “You only say that because you plan on waking up next to him,” Max spat. He dove for Sabrina, his hand wrapping around her upper arm.

  “Get your hands off her, prick,” Lance shoved him backwards.

  Max stumbled and put his arms up to regain his balance. “You really shouldn’t have done that,” he said, his voice menacing. “I’ve put up with you long enough.” He rolled his head on his shoulders and flung his arms forwards. Massive wings sprouted from his back, catching the night breeze and opening fully. They were spiny extension of blackness with thin leather between them, and as he moved them slowly, his fingers extended into clawed hands. His skull stretched and elongated, his nose and mouth pulling forward into a scaly muzzle. Max’s eyes turned to liquid for a split second, and when they congealed once more, they had the appearance of a cat’s eyes.

  Sabrina staggered backwards into the bench, terrified. Max had always been a horrible man, and she had referred to him as a monster more than once, but she’d had no idea just how accurate those words had been. The scream that escaped from her throat only made him laugh.

  Max was fully reptilian now, and he stood back on his hind legs and spread his arms and wings wide. “Now that you both know my secret, I suppose I have to kill you.” His voice had changed along with his body. It was still recognizable as belonging to him, but it was smoother, crisper. It was a voice spoken with a long tongue and sharp teeth.

  “Max! What the…What are you?” Sabrina shrieked. It made no sense. Only a few moments ago, he had been a normal human being. She blinked, hoping she could make the horrible image go away. But he was still there, covered in scales.

  “I’m done trying to fight you as a human,” Max said, his attention still on Lance. “Words just aren’t going to cut it. I think it would be much more fun to tear you apart. I can taste your blood already.”

  Lance didn’t seem affected at all by Max’s transformation. Sabrina marveled at how calm he was as he watched Max placidly from his position by the table. “Do you really think this is the right time for this?”

  “There is no better time than now!” Max roared as he charged forward.

  Sabrina screamed, her voice unheard as it mixed with the hubbub of the city. She screamed for what she knew was to come, as this creature destroyed the man she was falling in love with. But Max was no longer barreling across the rooftop to attack a human.

  He was headed for another dragon.

  Lance’s body surged forward as his skin morphed into scales of a deep emerald green that shone in the dim light. He moved toward Max with his teeth and claws as they emerged from his body, slinging them like knives at his enemy and keeping his balance with his newly-sprouted wings.

  Max gave a roar of frustration as his strike was thwarted. A fast blow from Lance sent him sprawling backwards, but he quickly regained his footing. “I see. I wondered about you, Lance. I knew there was someone new in town, but I didn’t think it could possibly be you.” He shot forward once again, saliva dripping from his teeth.

  Lance’s scaled chest puffed out and his neck drew back. He opened his mouth and launched a fireball at his enemy. It blasted him square in the chest and singed several of the nearby plants, but it didn’t stop him. Max struck like a snake, his teeth sinking into Lance’s shoulder.

  Sabrina screamed again, horrified and unable to believe what she was seeing. She got to her feet and ran behind the bench, desperate for a safe place. But the door that led back into the apartment building was in the opposite corner of the garden; the two dragons were in her way.

  For a moment, her mind flashed to thoughts of Uncle Wade. He had spent his entire life searching for dragons, working harder than most people did on anything, and he’d never actually found proof. Sabrina had accidentally found not one, but two of them, and she didn’t know what to think. Was there truly dragon hunting blood in her veins as Wade had claimed? Was there something she was supposed to be doing to stop them?

  But the beasts had taken to the air, hovering just over the rooftop as they fought. Blood dripped from Lance’s side, spattering onto the concrete like rain. Max gave triumphant howls with every assault, no matter how much or how little damage he caused. He bit and clawed, saving his fire for when he was close enough to make it truly count.

  Lance backed away, his wings pushing the air in front of him. Sabrina put her hand to her mouth, blinking back tears so she could see. He was giving up. He was losing, and she was going to see him die. How would she explain a dead dragon on the roof of her apartment? There wouldn’t be any need to; Max would surely snatch her in his claws and take her away.

  Once he had gained some distance, Lance shot forward like a bullet. His head pounded into Max’s stomach, and with a flip of his wings, he had pushed the black dragon straight down into the concrete. The building shuddered and stilled, and Max did the same.

  Lance brought himself down and tucked his wings behind him as he glared with golden eyes at Max. He stood for a long moment over the other body before he turned and headed back toward Sabrina.

  It was Lance, and she knew that, but the sight of such an animal moving straight toward her was too much. Another small scream escaped her lips as she closed her eyes and ducked down behind the bench. The small piece of patio furniture wouldn’t save her.

  “Sabrina?”

  His voice sounded normal, if a little concerned.

  “Sabrina, are you alright? Come here.”

  Daring to crack open an eyelid, Sabrina saw not a dragon in front of her, but a man. It was Lance, once again in his human form. His hair was mussed and he held his side where he had been injured, but he was otherwise the same person she had been working alongside for the past couple of weeks. Her lower lip trembled, and her breath came heavily as she tried to understand.

  “Come here. I promise, I’m not going to hurt you.” He held one hand out to her—a very human hand.

  Dubiously, she took it and rose to her feet. She glanced at the dark form several feet away. “Is he—is he dead?”

  “No.” There was anger in Lance’s voice, but not towards her. “I can’t kill another dragon, not unless I want them all to come after me. I just injured him enough that he’s not going to bother us anymore tonight.”

  She turned back to him, her eyes flickering as she tried to absorb everything she had seen and heard. “Lance, I don’t understand. You were you, and then you weren’t, and now you are again. I just…”

  “It’s okay.”
He pulled her close, pressing her cheek to his chest and stroking his hand down her back. “We have a lot of talking to do, I know. But right now, you just need to know that it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  A tiny part of her said she shouldn’t believe him, that she should never trust someone who didn’t stay in human form all the time. But the heat from his chest and the gentle touch of his hand told her what she had known about Lance all along: He was a good man. She couldn’t imagine killing him as her uncle would have advised, no matter what form he was in. Sabrina nodded and they picked their way across the garden and back inside the building.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Lance had stayed well into the night, trying to make her understand. Sabrina had done her best to take it all in, but it was a lot to handle. Exhausted, she eventually fell asleep against his shoulder.

  When she awoke the next morning, she found that she had somehow made it into her bed. She’d kicked her shoes off at some point earlier in the evening, but she was still wearing the dress she’d put on for their date. Her body felt stiff and sore, as though she had been the one fighting last night. What makeup she hadn’t cried off still clung to her face, and she pushed herself off the mattress and headed for the bathroom.

  Without looking, she knew that Lance was gone. He had a presence about him that was unmistakable, and she would have known he was there even if he had been on the other side of the apartment. The sun shone in brightly, washing out the deep colors of the walls, making the scene from the night before seem even more surreal in her mind.

  Once she had washed and changed clothes, Sabrina sat heavily on the couch and tried to wrap her brain around it all. It had been amazing and yet horrible, and she didn’t know how her life could ever possibly return to normal.

  Just then, the doorbell rang, startling her off the couch and to her feet. She now saw the need to be cautious in everything she did, since there was no way for her to know who was safe and who was dangerous. She padded quietly to the door and checked the peephole.