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I grinned. They stopped clapping, shrinking back.
Okay, so maybe a mouthful of enormous dragon teeth wasn’t the most comforting of sights.
The snow had stopped, and a few breaks in the cloud showed glimpses of crisp blue sky.
Stephanie may not have survived, or her hotel, or her beloved, or the chef, but the rest of us had. That wasn’t so bad.
Now to check on Victor.
“Hey, big guy . . .” Zee had made his way over and stood between my two front feet. Each of my claws was as long as he was tall. “I’ll go get Fancy Fangs and the others. Just enjoy being you for a little while.” His grin slipped sideways. “You’re fuckin’ huge, in a badass dragon kinda way.”
He was sweet. I chuffed a laugh and watched him flap his wings, hopping over the hotel debris.
The SOS cosplayers gradually made their way over—it’s not every day you get to see a dragon up close. Most days folks ran screaming, but not today.
Resting my snout on my front legs, I let them amble around. Of course they took pictures, and now the storm was gone those pictures were probably already online. Syros would come, but I’d worry about that in a little while.
Right now it was nice just to be me, and to not have people running away screaming.
After a little while, I spotted a vehicle at the far end of the street, its warning lights flashing. A huge scoop swept up the snow ahead of it, fanning it to one side.
A chill skittered through my bones, and I lifted my head to the sky. Clouds had snuffed out the brief moment of blue sky and sunlight, and although it would be back, it was time for us to leave.
Huffing at the people to back up, I gave myself a shake, and reluctantly packed all my dragon self back into its tiny human package, then brushed the dirt off my clothes and from my hair. A whole bunch of thankful people crowded around, eager to shake my hand and slap me on the back. It was all very embarrassing, but heartwarming too. We really could make a difference.
“Dragons are awesome!” one of the SOS Hotel Adam lookalikes said.
“Not all of them,” I warned, then with a goodbye smile, headed around the back of the hotel to where we’d left the van.
Its pink paint was almost hidden under snow. We needed to move on before anyone called the SSD or local police. Any delay would give my brother the advantage. I started sweeping the snow off the van, then one of the guests joined in, and another. They didn’t ask why we had to go, but I was beginning to think they might suspect we weren’t just on vacation.
Wesley and Eddie arrived, with Eddie wrapped in a fluffy hotel gown.
“Is she gone?” Wesley asked, his hand laced with Eddie’s.
“She’s definitely gone.” I yanked open the van door and hopped into the driver’s seat. If the rusted heap of junk started, it would be a miracle . . . but the old girl hadn’t let us down yet. Apart from that time she hadn’t started outside the No Tel Motel and my brother had almost eaten us all.
“You could stay around for a few days?” Wesley suggested. “The press will want—”
“Uhm, no. We uh . . . we have a thing . . . down the road . . . Hero assignment. Very important.”
Wesley smiled but narrowed his eyes too. “Right.”
I pressed the van’s start button. It coughed, shuddered, whined, then grumbled to life. “Huh.” After a quick pat on the steering wheel, I turned to face Wesley. “Have you seen Victor and Zee?”
“Oh yeah, they’re on their way over.”
The pair of them were making their way through the slushy snow, carrying our bags. I caught the tail end of Victor’s incredulous question . . . “You failed to bring a woman to climax?”
“Why you gotta make it sound weird?”
“My dear Zodiac, you already made it uncomfortable several minutes ago when initiating this conversation.”
“I was just tryin’ to fuckin’ explain how we’re never gonna speak of it ever again, right?”
“Of course.” Victor’s glinting gaze caught mine. “Never again. Certainly not on the hour, every hour, during the next leg of our impromptu journey.”
A surge of relief lifted a great weight off my back and pulled a grin onto my face. He was okay. “Hey, there you are. You okay?”
