“Thank God, you heard me.”
Vulcan chuckled. If you only knew how true your words are. “Yes. I assume you’ve located the delinquent paranormal?”
“She just swooped over the area. I don’t know precisely where she is at this moment.”
Vulcan sniffed the air. A faint sour scent tinged the fresh ocean breeze.
“You can smell her?”
“No. I’ve never been close enough to catch her scent. What I’m detecting is smoke.”
Drake’s eyes widened in shock. “No… not again! I should have picked up the familiar smell. Are you sure?”
“There.” Vulcan pointed back toward Pleasant Street. A gray spiral rose into the air.
“Shit.” Drake dashed back toward the Russo home while Vulcan tried to keep up. He wasn’t used to running since he could transport himself just about anywhere with a thought.
The house didn’t seem to be burning, but smoke was billowing from a short distance behind it.
“Around the back,” Drake shouted.
Sure enough. The dock was on fire. If no one’s watching, I can put that out with one wave of my hand.
But at that very moment, several people rushed out the back door. Even a camera crew!
“Stay back,” Drake yelled. “I’ve got this.”
Two young men stood with their hands in their pockets, looking on and wisecracking. “I thought he ran off. Now he’s back?”
“Bliss has that effect on some people,” her father said.
Mrs. Russo elbowed her husband in the ribs. “And you wonder why she never brings her friends home.”
A metal bucket sat on the dock, enveloped in flames. Drake dashed into the blaze and grabbed the handle. The heat of the aluminum would have burned a human hand, but a dragon’s skin was so thick, it wouldn’t even make a mark.
Drake leaped over the flames to the part of the dock closest to shore. He filled the bucket and tossed the water where fire met dry wood.
Bliss appeared in the doorway, waving frantically to catch Vulcan’s attention. He started toward her, but then she pointed to the shed in the next yard. Apparently she’d spotted Zina.
Bliss started dashing toward the neighbor’s shed at a flat run.
Vulcan sprinted across the lawn and tried to catch up with her.
As he rounded the shed, he saw the female dragon zipping up her leather jacket. Her surprised gaze snapped to Bliss’s face, but before she could do or say anything, Bliss opened the shed door, shoved Zina inside, and leaned against it.
“Can you zap her out of here quick? Maybe to outer space?”
Vulcan chuckled. “I know just what to do with her.”
He transported himself inside the shed, grabbed Zina before she could get away again, and in a flash they arrived on the top floor of the office building that housed the Council. Zina gazed at the glass-bubble dome, openmouthed but silent.
His god cronies looked up from their poker game, but where was Gaia?
“Is she here?”
He didn’t have to tell the other gods who he meant. Apollo pointed to the forest in the corner. “She’s been in there all day… chanting.”
“Chanting?” That’s new. “Should I disturb her?”
“At your own peril.”
Zina ripped her arm out of Vulcan’s grasp. “Where the hell are we? And how did we get here? Who are you anyway?”
“I’m out.” Apollo tossed his cards into the middle of the table, rose, and strolled over to them. “Is this the dragon she’s after?”
“And who are you, pretty boy?” Zina gave the sun god a grin that was probably supposed to be alluring. Instead it made her look like the predator she was.
“This is she,” Vulcan answered. “Zina.”
“I think Gaia would want to know. I’ll get her.” Apollo strode off to the forest and spoke softly. He made a reverent apology for disturbing her and stepped away.
A few moments later, a bleary-eyed Mother Nature emerged. “Who dares disturb me when I’m deep in meditation?”
Vulcan appeared before her quickly so she wouldn’t blame Apollo. “That would be me. Meditation? I’ve never known you to meditate before.” He immediately wondered if he should have said that out loud.
“I understand it might make me a little calmer. Believe me, I could use some serenity.”
Oh, I believe you.
She glanced over at Zina and frowned. “Is that who I think it is?”
“Yes, Gaia. Zina is the dragon who’s been setting fires to your beloved city.”
“And risking exposure of her kind… not that I’m fond of dragons, but the human population really can’t handle the knowledge that they exist—or ever existed. We’ve finally managed to convince them that the whole race was a myth. She almost single-handedly undid all that work.”