Never Dare a Dragon

by Ashlyn Chase

  As Jayce worked, Kristine blockaded the side door Amy had escaped from and propped the logs against the other exits. The front stoop was concrete, but the doors appeared to be solid wood. There were two of them, opening in the middle for a grand entrance. He pictured these asshats throwing open the doors to a well-lit foyer. He was fairly sure they would catch and burn too. The doors…not the asshats. Although that was kind of the point.

  Now it was Kristine’s turn. Jayce flew back to the woods, but she didn’t wait for him. She was probably tired of his asking, “Have you changed your mind yet?”

  She hovered in her beautiful dragon form—an iridescent blue-green reminiscent of her eyes. Then, beating her wings vigorously, she flew at the back door at full speed. Not that he knew what full speed for a dragon would be. He imagined they couldn’t fly quite as fast as a phoenix. Or maybe they could. He’d ask her, if they made it out of this alive.

  She turned at the last minute, roared fire all along the back of the house, and then whipped around the side of the building and did the same thing. The wood caught easily, along with the plantings all along the foundation. Fire sprang up and spread.

  He could only see the amber-colored light from the front of the house, but he imagined that must be burning vigorously too. She was nothing if not thorough…and angry. Soon she rounded the far corner, still blasting fire. Holy hell, Jayce. Try not to make her mad—ever.

  She targeted the second-floor windows next. The sills caught first, which would certainly discourage anyone from trying to escape that way. But escape they might.

  Jayce felt like he should be doing more. He figured he could fly down the chimney and perhaps trip anyone running for the stairs—or blind them with a well-placed peck to the eyes. A broken leg should slow them. He knew the chimney would be the last thing to burn, so he had a handy escape route.

  He flapped his wings and rose above the house, diving down the chimney to the blare of smoke alarms. Yeah, they should be up and looking for an escape route any minute now.

  He landed on the oversized crystal chandelier in the two-story foyer. From there he had a great vantage point of the grand curved staircase. Hopefully, he could describe the mayhem to Kristine after all was said and done. She might appreciate a blow-by-blow account of her enemies’ demise.

  Seeing the power his lover possessed, he had to wonder why Amy didn’t use the same tactics to get away. Did she know them as friends when she’d lived there before? Did they not know she was a dragon? Kristine’s mother had impressed upon her the paranormal law to never reveal herself to humans—just as his parents had dictated to him and his brothers.

  But Kristine certainly wasn’t worried about that now. He imagined the neighbors would be waking up and calling the fire department as soon as they noticed the formidable smoke and sparks rising over the woods.

  Ah, here came the criminals at last. One was in his robe. The other two were shrugging into their clothing as they ran.

  “Grab the tranq gun,” the one in the lead yelled.

  “But, boss…”

  That must be Donkey Pizzle…saving himself first without regard to the others.

  The leader didn’t wait to hear the guy’s objection. He just shouted louder over his shoulder, “The tranq gun! Get it! Now!”

  Jayce couldn’t let them get away. They knew about Kristine. They’d go after her, and apparently, they knew how to subdue a dragon.

  He saw his opening. Jayce flew at the distracted leader as he reached the top of the stairs and was turning his head back to center. Aiming for Donkey Pizzle’s left eye, his beak hit soft tissue, and the guy hollered. The tyrant began swearing and grabbing at the air.

  Jayce managed to get away and flew at the second guy.

  “Son of a bitch! What the hell is that thing?” he yelled and crouched in time to avoid the same fate. The third guy made an about-face and ran.

  Jayce flew faster and latched onto the third guy’s back with his talons, sinking his sharp beak into his neck. If he hit the right nerve, he could paralyze him or make him forget about getting that tranquilizer gun.

  The guy sank to the floor, moaning.

  Donkey Pizzle was making his way down the stairs, holding onto the railing with both hands. Jayce flew between the legs of the one who was now at the top of the stairs, hoping to take them both out with one trip.

  The guy grabbed at him but missed. He also missed the step and stumbled. Snatching the rail, he managed to catch himself and avoid falling. Now Jayce’s only option to stop their leader was to go after Donkey Pizzle directly.

  Because the element of surprise was gone, he was taking a risk. Jayce thought about Kristine and what Amy had told her—about how these guys had no conscience. Contract killings, using the homeless and drug addicts to pull off heists, plus drug smuggling and gun running. Smoke filled the stairway, so he could probably sneak through Donkey Pizzle’s legs from behind.

  He tried it, but as soon as he brushed the leader’s leg with his wing, a hand shot out and grabbed his tail feathers. It hurt, but he didn’t care. He needed to stop this monster.

  Unfortunately, the one who was stopped was Jayce.

  “Get to the basement,” the guy behind him yelled.

  “Not until I fuck up this bird!”

  Jayce struggled to get away. He turned and pecked the guy’s hand, but Donkey Pizzle hung on tight. Then Jayce felt his body swing hard to the right—and the room went black.

  Chapter 13

  Kristine landed on the lawn beside the woods and shimmered into her naked human form. Before she sprinted for her clothes, she turned back to be sure they’d succeeded. The mansion was engulfed in flames. So far, no one had come out…no one. She glanced around, looking for Jayce.

  Where the hell is he?

  Perhaps he was perched in a tall tree or circling high above, watching. Regardless, she had to get dressed before the fire department showed up. They’d certainly be there, and soon. Someone had to have noticed and called them.

  Once dressed, she began searching the trees and sky for her lover. “Jayce,” she whispered loudly.

  No response.

  He had paranormal hearing, so he must have been far off—or… Holy shit. He wouldn’t have gone inside, would he? That wasn’t part of the plan.

  The roar of sirens split the night, growing louder with every second. Kristine began to panic. She was supposed to meet Jayce on the beach, so she ran away from the fire and jogged beside the ocean until she was sure he couldn’t have or wouldn’t have gone that far.

  By the time she returned to the scene of the crime, fire trucks and police cars had arrived. Oh yes, she had committed a crime. A big one. Arson.

  But considering all the crimes she was stopping, she was convinced it was the right thing to do. Where the hell was Jayce?

  Firefighters were unrolling hoses and sprinting toward the house. She heard orders being shouted and knew they were assessing the situation before charging into the building. Soon streams of water were attacking the fire from the outside.

  The roof had caught, so they didn’t have to worry about getting firefighters up there to cut a hole, letting out the toxic gases. A steady stream of water prevented a widespread cave-in. So far the captain hadn’t felt comfortable sending anyone inside. Kristine’s stomach knotted as she witnessed her thorough work. She didn’t know whether to be proud or horrified.

  At last enough of the fire had been extinguished so firefighters were able to work their way inside and look for survivors. Their shouts were not met with any answering cries for help. Jayce had said they were in there. Perhaps they were overcome by the smoke and were unconscious or already dead. Kristine hoped for the latter.

  As she waited, she grew more and more concerned. If only she could shift and storm in there in dragon form. She’d be completely fireproof and safe. But what if they saw her?


  At last the radio crackled, and a firefighter said, “We have some possible survivors in the basement. It looks like some kind of Battle Royale took place here. Four men, all beat to hell, bloody and unconscious. Oh, and one is in a cage.”

  A cage! Oh no! That has to be Jayce.

  She grabbed her hair in her fists and closed her eyes. Count to ten, Kristine. Don’t do anything rash. Before she got to five, she dashed off toward the woods where she’d left her cell phone. She knew her love could reincarnate in fire. She just didn’t know how. His family would know—but she didn’t know his family!

  All she could think of to do was to contact the B and B and hope someone would know what to do. She found her fanny pack behind the rock and dug out her phone. Her mother was only a quick call away. Hopefully, she was at the B and B and not gallivanting around Boston with Conlan.

  “Hello?” Amy sang on the other end of the connection.

  “Mom! Please tell me you’re at the B and B. I need help!”

  “Oh dear. What kind of help?”

  “The kind that needs to know how to reincarnate a phoenix, still in man form, and in a cage…in the basement of a building on fire!”

  Her mother’s voice dropped an octave. “Where are you? Long Island?”

  “Yes.”

  “Crap. Hold on. Let me talk to Amber.”

  “Why Amber? Isn’t she human?”

  “Hold. On,” Amy said forcefully.

  Kristine tried to slow her breathing. She couldn’t help anyone if she passed out. The three minutes she might have been waiting seemed like a lifetime. She edged her way toward the house and sneaked a peek at the scene on the front lawn.

  A firefighter exited the building with a limp body draped over his back. EMTs rushed over with a stretcher. She watched as they did a quick examination and then shook their heads.

  She felt a few taps on her right shoulder and jumped. When she whirled around, she was greeted by Amber. “Where did you come from?”

  “I’ll tell you later. Right now, I hear you may need help. What can I do?”

  Kristine pointed a shaking finger toward the fully engulfed mansion. “Jayce is in the basement. In a cage! I don’t know if he’s alive—or what to do if he isn’t. He’s a phoenix, but I… I…”

  Amber laid a calming hand on her shoulder. “It’s all right. We’ll figure it out.”

  A split second later they were in a smoke-filled space with concrete walls. Yet the room wasn’t hot. She spotted a slumped-over body in a cage.

  “Jayce!” Kristine cried.

  A firefighter was making his way up the stairs with what must have been the last of the three criminals over his back. He didn’t even turn around to see who had shouted.

  Kristine tried to run toward the cage, but Amber grabbed her arm.

  “Let me go! He needs me, and I’m fireproof.”

  “I’m well aware. Married to a dragon, remember? But we need to know how to help him. We’re in the ether right now. Neither here nor there. A place between. I’ll explain later. Stay here.”

  With that, Amber disappeared.

  What the hell? Obviously, Amber had some big supernatural secret of her own. As mysterious as that was, Kristine gave it only a moment of her attention before returning to panic mode. “Jayce!” she yelled.

  If the firefighter hadn’t heard her from this “ether” she was in, Jayce might be unable to hear her too. Just because he didn’t respond… Kristine’s hope was dying as surely as her lover was.

  “Amber!” she yelled.

  An older woman with long, white hair appeared next to her. Not Amber. “Who are you?”

  “I’ll explain later.”

  Could no one answer her questions now? She needed answers NOW.

  “I know,” the woman said.

  She hoped she meant she knew what to do. “Let me go to him! I’ll survive.”

  “I know that too… And we’re going to deal with this—hold my hand.”

  She took Kristine’s hand, and they stepped out of what felt like a cloud, leaving its cool dampness, into the crackling heat of the room. As they stood before the cage, the woman said, “I’m Mother Nature. I know what you are, little dragon. And your phoenix here needs your help. Breathe on him.”

  Kristine wondered if she was actually out in the woods, hallucinating. Was this apparition telling her to do what she thought she was hearing? “Did you say to breathe on him? As in breathe fire on him?”

  “Yes. Bathe his body in fire, and don’t stop until there’s nothing but ash…no matter what you see or how you feel about it. Understand?”

  Kristine’s mouth dropped open, but no words would come out.

  The woman jammed a fist on her hip. “I’d suggest you use that mouth of yours. I didn’t just create it for kissing, you know. He doesn’t have much time.”

  She didn’t have any choice but to believe the stranger and act.

  Kristine held onto the hot bars of the cage, opened her mouth wide, pulled in a deep breath, and then she exhaled a blast of fire aimed right at the man she loved. It felt so wrong, and yet she’d been told his brother was reincarnated in fire—twice.

  Jayce’s body caught fire and burned brightly. Kristine felt tears sting her eyes but continued her onslaught of fire until she was tapped out and his size and shape were reduced to nothing but a pile of ash. She turned to the woman to ask if she was finished.

  The woman who called herself Mother Nature was gone, but a hand reached out and pulled Kristine back. A second later, she stood next to Amber in the cool ether.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the ash stir. She watched as a glowing wing emerged slowly. She gasped and stared at Amber wide-eyed. “Can I go to him?”

  Before Kristine could take a step in his direction, Amber said, “Don’t try to touch him or stop him. He’ll find his own way out.”

  “But…”

  A moment later a brilliantly glowing bird rose up, flapped its wings, and easily slipped between the bars of the cage. He flew toward the stairs and disappeared into the smoke.

  “Is he all right? How will he get out?” Kristine asked.

  Amber set her hand on Kristine’s shoulder, and the two of them disappeared and reappeared, still in the ether; however, now they were hovering near the caving roof.

  A moment later, the bird—now sporting the familiar brown body and fire-colored tail—flew out of the chimney and up into the sky.

  “What… Where… When can I see him? Can you get me home from here?”

  “Where’s home?” Amber asked with a sly smile. “Boston or Manhattan?”

  “Wherever he is,” Kristine answered without hesitation.

  * * *

  Kristine found herself in the living room of the B and B. She and Amber were the only ones there.

  “You probably need some explanations,” Amber said.

  Kristine snorted. A curl of smoke exited her nostril. “You could say that. We probably have at least an hour to wait for him, so if you wouldn’t mind filling me in—”

  “It’ll be longer than an hour. I imagine he’ll go to his parents first. And, um, he may not be able to talk for a while.”

  “Why? Are they going to ground him?”

  Amber’s expression quickly turned from serious to amused and then serious again. “Not exactly. Maybe you can talk to them but not him. Not yet.”

  “I hate to meet Jayce’s family under these circumstances. I don’t even know where they live. But someone should tell them what’s happened.”

  Amber scratched her head. Then she snapped her fingers. “There are a couple of people I can think of who can help. Well, not exactly people…”

  “Huh? Like who—or what?”

  “Like Ryan, Jayce’s brother—also a phoenix who recently went through this.
He lives in Ireland, but I can go and get him for you.”

  “Seriously? You can do this poof, grab, and transport thing anywhere in the world?”

  Amber chuckled. “Have a seat. I think you could use a drink.”

  “I’ll say.” Kristine walked over to the comfortable couch and sank down on one end, while Amber strolled over to the bar and took a bottle of wine out of the fridge beneath.

  “Do you like chardonnay?” She opened the bottle and poured a glass.

  Kristine nodded.

  Amber poured another glass and then brought both over to the coffee table and set them down. She took a seat next to Kristine. “Here’s the quickest version I can give you. I’ll start with myself. I’m a muse. A minor goddess, recruited by Mother Nature because she needed a few modern muses to take care of technology that didn’t exist in ancient times.”

  Kristine’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

  Amber smirked. “Trust me. I know how you feel. I found this pretty hard to swallow when I heard about it. But as Gaia herself would say, ‘I don’t have time for your doubt. Just go with it, Girlie.’”

  Kristine took a large gulp of her wine, and Amber forged on.

  “I’m the muse of air travel. Usually I take care of airplanes in trouble. Actually, I’m more apt to help the pilot stay calm and make a safe emergency landing. I used to be a flight attendant.”

  Kristine decided she had seen and heard plenty of bizarre things in the past few days, and being, well, a dragon herself, why couldn’t there be muses? “Okay. You’re a modern muse. The muse of air travel. I didn’t see you use an airplane to take me anywhere.”

  Amber patted her knee. “Right. You’re doing fine. As a minor goddess, I can go wherever I want, and as long as I stay in the ether, I won’t be seen. It’s imperative that humans don’t see me appear or disappear. The ether is that cool and foggy place we were in for a while.”

  Kristine nodded as if all of this made perfect sense. “Continue,” she said and took another swig of her wine. She was going to need more than one glass if there were many more of these revelations.