Dragon's Kiss

by Raynah Gray

The story of a young girl who falls in love with a sadistic vampire when her best friend, Riley, a dragon, comes to rescue her. Sorry that I'm so bad at summaries.

11. Chapter 11

11. The park/Realization.

It made me nervous to walk at night on the streets, but I had Riley so I felt safe at the same time.

"Close your eyes." He instructed and then he picked me up and put me on his back.

He set me down gently finally saying, "Open them."

I opened my eyes and found that we were in the park, on the lovely wooden bridge with ducklings swimming underneath us. Across us, the gazebo had white lanterns dangling from it and I saw a man with a fireworks case walk past the gazebo and into the field. He started setting up while a sax player walked into the gazebo and started playing beautifully.

I looked down and saw a blanket spread out on the bridge.

"What…?" I asked.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Riley exclaimed looking ahead.

"How did you do this?" I asked.

"I had some help. It wasn't as easy as it could have been, being last minute and all." He explained, "May I have this dance?" he asked kissing my hand.

"You may." I said smiling wide.

He whirled me and twirled me gracefully all over the bridge. We swayed to the beat of the music and he dipped me one last time and then set me gently on the blanket. He sat down and I put my head on his shoulder, boldly, still not knowing how he felt for me.

"Get ready." Riley whispered in my ear.
Suddenly we heard a loud boom! and I watched as fireworks danced in the sky.

I looked over at him.

"Riley?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"I don't want to accept that I fell in love with Adam." I told him bluntly.

"But you can't hide the truth, nor deny the fact that you are in love with him. You can't help who you fall in love with. And noone faults you for it but yourself."

I looked into his soft eyes. I bit my lip and started slowly, trying to explain the way I truly felt.

"But…the truth is…I'm falling in love with…" I wasn't able to get it all out, but he waited patiently for me to finish, "…you, Riley. I'm falling in love with you."

He looked at me smiling. "Cecilia. I have loved you since Emmit first introduced us when you were in kindergarten." He told me, "Despite flirting with McDonalds cashiers."

"What do I do?" I asked him confusedly.

"You love me. You love him. I'm not going to tear you apart, Cecilia. If you want to be with him, you need to be with him. I don't want to hold you back from someone who will make you happy. Even if it means hurting me in the process."

"What were you talking about that day in the bowling alley?" I asked when I couldn't hold in my curiosity.

"About trust?" He asked.

"Yes."

"When…you…left us. Or rather me. When your Dad passed, I was scared. I thought you would be there for me for as long as I lived. We were best friends. I really did. It hurt me horrendously. And then I realized that you acted as your instincts told you to act. I couldn't stop trusting you because of that. I knew you'd come back, just as you have now and if I stopped trusting you, we wouldn't be here would we?" He said and I knew it was sincere.

"You trust me?" I asked disbelieving.

"I do."

"Did you mean what you said about waiting in the sidelines?"

"If you decide to love Adam and not me, yes, I'll be crushed, but I can't hate you for it. You did as you wanted and I just want you to be happy, Cecilia. But, if you decide to come back to me, if something doesn't work out. Then- yes, I'll wait for you in the sidelines for as long as I live because- I love you."

He lifted my chin and kissed me on the lips for the first time. This was different from when Adam kissed me. I wanted this to be my first kiss. Adam's was now inadequate.

But I was still stuck. I loved Adam. I loved Riley. I loved Riley more, I was only 50% sure, than I could ever love Adam.

No matter how many times Adam told me he loved me, that I could trust him, he'd never hurt me…it never even added up to Riley saying it once.

As deeply troubled as I was over my relationships, I was fully, immeasurably content. I was unrestrictedly and copiously in love with Riley. My Riley.

He let go of me and I laid my head on his fiery chest. The heat from his chest felt good against my head, as cold as it was tonight. My time with Riley, in the park, watching fireworks, on this entirely faultless night flew by like a dream. A brilliant, perfect beyond words dream.

When we got back in the taxi to go back home I realized how quickly time goes by and I can't waste any of it. I then realized that I didn't want Adam at all. I wanted Riley. And I didn't want to waster any of my time with Adam. Riley was mine and I was going to spend all of my precious time with him. I then decided- Adam had to go.

Riley looked uncomfortable on the car ride home.

"What's wrong?" I finally asked him.

"Nothing." He replied icily.

That worried me. Was he putting on a show too, like Adam?

"Riley- what's going on?"

He looked at me more gently this time and said, "It's nothing you need to be concerned about…yet." He said the 'yet' quietly and I didn't quite hear it enough to know that's for sure what he said.

Then it happened. All of a sudden I saw Adam's phantom crossing the road like a normal pedestrian. But, a demonically oppressed pedestrian. His mangled hair flew all over, his red eyes gleamed in the street light. He was on my side, so Riley couldn't see him while concentrating on the road. He looked at me and smiled maliciously as his brisk speed matched ours.

"Stop the car!" I yelled. The car halted immediately with a loud screech.

"What's wrong?!" He asked frantically.

"Adam." I said half-yelling and crying.

"What? Where?"

"He-He-was…He was on my side of the car. He was walking along side with us. Well- he wasn't walking- well I guess he was. He was walking, but very quickly to match our speed. He wasn't running really."

I turned to look, but Adam had vanished at the sight of Riley. Just as he had before. He taunted me. He tantalized me, he was waiting for me. As long as I was with Riley- I felt safe.

"I'm sorry. You can keep on." I told the taxi driver.

Our Asian taxi driver let out a long sigh but kept on. We pulled up at Riley's house so we could pick up his car, get his stuff and tell his mom that he was going to be staying at our house for a few days to work on a school project with Emmit.

His Mom bought it; she was a workaholic too, so she didn't care.

He grabbed his things, careful not to leave me alone. I stayed with his mom.

"Cecilia! I haven't seen you around in a long time! How are you dear?" Mrs. Evans exclaimed, her warm, abnormally green eyes glowing in my direction.

"Hello, Mrs. Evans. I'm doing well. And yourself? How is Mr. Evans?" I asked. Riley's parents didn't make me nervous since I had known them since kindergarten, when Riley, Emmit and I still played 'medieval' together. I looked outside the window and found our tree house still remained. That was my castle. I was always the damsel in distress, Riley had to save me from the dragon and Emmit was the king. The memories warmed me inside.

"We're doing well! How's your mother? I hope she's well. We have to have tea sometime soon. Please tell her to call me!"

My mom and Riley's mom used to be best friends too. Before the accident that is. That's when I became a hermit. Mom became a workaholic and Emmit – Emmit hurt, but he had healthier ways of dealing with it. It had taken me three years to come out of the shell I was in. But Emmit never formed a shell. Mom was still in hers.

"I definitely will." I assured her. Her perkiness was incredibly contagious.

"So why did you come with Riley?" She asked, her eyes curious, not prying just curious.

"Oh. Emmit is out on a date and I didn't want to stay home alone." I quickly lied, pleased with how easy this was becoming.

"Oh." She said sounding disappointed.

"Lia, are you ready to go?" Riley bounced down the steps smiling and leaving me breathless.

"Yep." I said, "Bye, Mrs. Evans. It's been great to see you again. I'll have my mom call you."

"Goodbye, dear. Lovely to see you. Yes, please do!" she called as we were heading out the door.

I saw Riley's flashy red Porsche and I just stared at it.

"Your car is like…wow." I said speechless.

He laughed. "Sweet 16 present. My parents are lawyers, remember?"

"Yeah, but…wow." I marveled at it and he opened the door so I could get in.

"I don't have to take my shoes off do I?" I asked him in all seriousness.

He laughed at that, "No, you most certainly do not have to take your shoes off."

I laughed, "Ok. That's cool."

He climbed in his side as I buckled my belt.

"It's actually a bit too flashy for my taste. But- I love the speed." He said grinning.

I grinned back at him, imagining watching him speed down the street in his hot red Porsche looking like a god.

"Your mom's so sweet." I said randomly.

"Your mom is too."

"My mom is bitter, cynical, not understanding, unsympathetic, mean, never around….your mom is none of that." I said bitterly.

"My mom is just as busy as your mom."

"But your mom can work at home more often."

"It'll get better, Cecilia. It can only get better from here." He comforted.

"Think she's home?" I asked rhetorically.

"We'll find out."

My house was only a 15 minute drive from Riley's, but in Riley's Porsche, it ended up being 5.

We got home to find Mom gone, not surprisingly, and Emmit on the couch…with Tabby.

"Hey, Emmit!" I yelled, ignoring Tabby.

"Hey, guys. How was dinner?"

"Hi, ya'll!" Tabby yelled before I could answer.

"Hey, Tabby." We both called from the kitchen.

"Dinner was great." Riley told Emmit.

"How was your dinner, Em?" I asked.

"Em! That is just so cute! My cousin's name is Jasmine, so I call her Jazz." Tabby suddenly exclaimed.

Riley looked at my face, and knowing I was about to lash out at her for interrupting twice for something so stupid, he dragged me to the kitchen.

"Ours was great too." Emmit yelled quickly.

We got to the kitchen, where I could still hear Emmit and Tabby giggling, and I made a disgusted face.
"Calm down. She didn't mean to." Riley started.

"You know what? It's stupid bobble heads like her that make me hate blonds."

"Emmit likes her, why can't you? Just be happy for him. I mean- when he finds out about us…how's he going to react? You have to give him the same grace he'd give you. And actually has been giving you with Adam."

I shuddered when he said Adam.

"Yeah I guess you're right." I leaned up to kiss him when we started to hear footsteps.

We heard a loud applause. We turned around to see Tabby and Emmit clapping and grinning.

"It's about time!" Emmit yelled.

"Sure 'nough! Emmit's been telling me all about ya'll and I was hoping we'd get to see this soon!" Tabby exclaimed.

I blushed and Riley laughed and kissed me on my very red cheek.

Then I saw a light don on in Riley's head. And I smiled at the thought of him embarrassing Emmit.

"So, what about you too?" He said, grinning sheepishly.

"Us two what?" Emmit asked.

"Have you kissed yet?" I asked, siding with Riley of course.

"Oh, sugar, ain't no problem!" Tabby exclaimed.

Emmit reached down, grabbed Tabby by the waist and set her on the counter where he ferociously started kissing her.

I kept waiting for it to end, but it never did and Riley and I were feeling a little awkward. I pulled him into the living room and onto the couch.

"Ok…that was…awkward." I exclaimed and Riley laughed.

"I've never seen Emmit do that." Riley said.

"Ahaha. Yeah, must have been weird for you." I said cynically.

Riley kissed me again mildly.

Finally as I started to fall asleep against Riley's chest, Emmit and Tabby came back in.

Tabby's once perfect lip gloss now smudged everywhere.

"Hey, Riley…I'm taking Tabby home, OK?"

"Alright man. I'll see you later."

I heard the door close faintly and the laughter of Tabby echoed in my mind, then the sped off.

"Cecilia…Are you awake?"
"Mhm."

"C'mon, let's get you to bed."

It was 11:00 and I was moving slowly around, brushing my teeth and putting on my pajamas. I came out of the bathroom to see Riley's 'bed' out in the hall, right outside of my room.

"What are you doing?" I asked confusedly.

"Well- we're not exactly just best friends anymore are we?" he asked.

"I guess not." I said, suddenly realizing what an old fashioned gentleman he was, "Oh, right."

He kissed me lightly on my forehead and I hugged his warm chest.

"Goodnight, love. Sleep tight. I'm just out here if you need me." He assured me.

"I know. Night, Riley." I said, still unwilling to let go of him.

I did eventually, even though I knew he'd hold me for as long as I wanted. I went into bed, feeling settled and safe with Riley in view.

I fell asleep watching his dark brown hair shine in the moonlight and memorizing every feature of his magnificent face.

12. Cedar Point.

I woke up at 7:00 in the morning, very pleased that the Adam phantom hadn't made his nightly appearance in my room. If he had come- he'd left too quickly for me to see him because he knew Riley was there. I figured we'd take another self-motivated field trip today, so I didn't get out of bed too quickly.

When I finally got out of bed, I had to sneak past Riley, still sound asleep outside my door.

As usual- the coffee pot is the first thing I turn on, then my computer.

I made my normal cup and went up stairs to sit on my bed and my laptop, muting it so the annoying voice that's always informing me what's going on didn't wake Riley up.

The one email in my inbox was from, none other than, Adam.

Dearest Cecila,

I'm so sorry for what I've done to you. I've behaved like a monster and I'm truly sorry.

You have to believe me when I tell you that I have not been visiting you mid-night. I don't know what's going on, but please, please, please believe me.

All of my love,

Adam.

The email would normally bother me endlessly, but I really paid no mind to it, since I had Riley.

It would probably come back to haunt me later. I would forgive him, but I couldn't be bothered now. If I forgave him, I might start loving him again.

I turned off my computer and heard Riley waking up from his sleep.

"Good morning…" I whispered to him.

"Good morning! How long have you been up?" He asked more cheerfully than I could have when I first woke up.

"Since seven, so about a half hour. Coffee?"

"I'd love some."

I got up to get him some and he followed close behind me.

I grabbed out a mug and poured him a cup, then handed it to him so he could finish it the way he wanted.

"Thank you, love. Emmit's not up yet?" He asked as he poured milk into his cup.

"Nope not yet." Then, as if on cue, Emmit, a morning person, came bounding down the stairs.

"Good morning, everyone!"

"Morning, Emmit. How was taking Tabby home last night?"

"She asked for my number." He said moving his eyebrows up and down.

"Did she now?" Riley asked not all interested.

"She did. And she found my name fascinating."

"She what? What'd you do?" I asked.

"Ok so she asks for my number when we get to her house right? So I pull out a sheet of paper from the car registration book thingy and I write : Emmit 555-890-8786 – and she's all "Oh my goodness. Is that how you spell your name? That is just so unique.", he said imitating her southern accent, "And I go "Yeah, well my mom didn't care for the usual Emmett spelling, so she decided to change it." And she's like "Aw, that's so awesome. I wish my mom had thought of something like that for me." so anyway, that's the story, but man this girl is amazing!"

"Psht." Riley scoffed.

"What, you got a better girl?" Emmit said forgetting.

"Um, yeah." He said nodding in my direction.

"Oh…right, duh. Well ok- she's amazing, but she's my sister. This girl is amazing and… not my sister."

Riley laughed, "Wow…what a classic piece of dialogue, Emmit."

"You should be more careful how you word things, Em. Someone might think you're an idiot." I said sneeringly and Riley and I busted out laughing.

Emmit tried his best to ignore us, "So what do you guys think of her?"

"What do I think of her? Oh- let me tell you what I think of her." I said, glad for the opportunity. Riley rubbed my back to console me, then interrupted so I wouldn't say something I'd regret.

"I think she's cool." Riley said, "She's a little too perky for my taste. And her hair is too blond." He winked at me and I smiled.

"Her hair is too blond?" Emmit asked disbelieving.

"She's just not my type- but I'm glad you've found someone who is your type, Emmit." Riley said sincerely.

"Cecilia…?" Emmit asked.

Riley leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Be nice. Remember what I said."

I sighed heavily, "Yeah, she's ok. It drives me nuts though how she constantly interrupts. Oh, oh! And how she falls for you so easily! And how you let her fall for you. Gah, you're such a player." I said disgustedly.

"But you like her as a person? You don't think she's fake or anything?" Emmit asked.
"She's OK, Emmit. Don't push it."

"Sweet!" he exclaimed, "Because we're all going to Cedar Point together today!"

Riley knew it all along, I could tell. He smiled in my direction, then he frowned, "I'm going, Cecilia…but I'm going to be trailing behind, or rather ahead, quite a ways, Ok?"
"Why? What's going on?" I questioned frantically.

"Calm down. Emmit's invited Adam."

"You. did. WHAT?!" I was screaming now.

"Lia, Lia…please don't fret. I'll be there, just trailing behind. Eventually Emmit will go with Adam, and Tabby of course, to ride on some rides alone. And we can go on some. When that happens- I need you to do a little bit of acting. Pretend like you're fed up with Adam, or whatever, just make something up to get away without him wandering too much. Understand?"

"Yes, I understand." I said sadly.

Riley kissed me on my forehead, "Excellent."

I was calm for just a minute, knowing Riley would be there and then I thought of something.

"What about the trip there?" I asked.

"What about it?" Emmit asked clueless.

"I'm not riding with Adam." I said stubbornly.

"You are. But I'm going to be there, as is Tabby." Emmit justified.

"What about Riley?!"

"I'll be fine!" Riley started to explain, "I'm going to be going early, Lia. That way- I can be there to watch you, or rather him, the whole time. If I went late, he might have done something to you by the time I got there."

I jumped on that one, "So you think he's going to do something to me?"

"No, no! That's not at all what I was implying. Lia, if we thought he would do something do you really think we would invite him?"

"No."

Emmit jumped in, "So, this trip's a-go right?"

They looked at me, "Yes." I said finally.

"Cool beans! See- Cedar Point has the tallest roller coaster in the world- The Top thrill dragster." He said like a little kid.

I rolled my eyes and then a light bulb went off.

"I've just had a fabulous idea!" I exclaimed.

"What?" they both asked.

"We push Adam off of it!" I said grinning.

"Lovely. And what do we tell the authorities?" Emmit asked.

"He fell, duh."

Emmit looked at me dumbly, then ignored, "I've gotta go call Tabby." He called as he left the room, heading for the phone.

"But," Riley said softly to me, "You do love him."

"I don't want to love him. He's deceitful and conniving and malicious."

"You're only basing your judgments upon his nightly visits, which we are still trying to figure out."

"And the conversation after the fact." I said bitterly.

Riley looked nervous, I knew that he knew that Adam was like poison for me, but he kept on with his whole 'You love him. You can't deny it or force it to stop, we can't help it, and it's a natural emotion…" business.

"Take today to make one last decision, please, Cecilia. For me. I don't want you to make a snap decision and decide you can't love him because you love me. Find out, truly first. I don't want you to end up unhappy without him." He said, still keeping his voice soft.

"Fine." I pouted, "For you."

"Thank you." He said smiling weakly.

"But I still get to see you, right?" I asked him.

"I'll meet up with you in the park. But, that will require some acting on your part."

"It won't be acting." I said bitterly.

"We'll see." He said sighing.

Emmit came running back suddenly and while he was talking to Riley about the trip, I pulled out a pen and paper and quickly wrote "I choose you." I went up and kissed him quickly, only long enough to slip the note in his pocket without him noticing and then ran upstairs to get ready. I dressed simply, not abnormally and bolted back downstairs to see Riley and Emmit laughing. And of course, in Emmit's arms was 'Tabby cat.'

"Hey, Tabby! Glad you made it!" I said with false enthusiasm.

I looked at Riley, who had moved behind Emmit and Tabby and he was grinning uncontrollably and giving me two thumbs up. I smiled a little, trying to hide a laugh.

"Hi! Me too! This is going to be so much fun! Did you know Cedar Point has the tallest Roller Coaster in the world?" She asked giddily.

"Why, yes I did!" Emmit said before I could answer.

"It's just so cool isn't it?!" She said and they started a whole conversation of their own. Riley walked over to me on the staircase, "You look quite lovely." He said smiling.

I blushed, "Thank you."

"I'm going to climb up through the window to your room, okay?"

"What?" I asked confused.

"Well, it was nice to see you again, Tabby. Later, man." He said to Emmit and then he kissed me quickly but I wasn't sure why.

"Where's he going?" Tabby asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.

"He can't come with us today. Adam doesn't like him much."

"Adam?" She asked.

Then Emmit explained everything to her and I finally caught on.

"Well now she knows the plan, so there's really no point in Riley hiding."

"Oh. Oops." Emmit said realizing he spoiled Riley's plan. We didn't even know if we could trust Tabby! I was enraged.

"Tabby you can't tell anyone what I've just told you. Promise me." He said quite fiercely.

She looked up at him sacredly, "I promise, Emmit. I do."

He looked at me and smiled, "There, see?"

I went up to my room and found Riley on my bed.

"You might as well come back down." I said bitterly, "My genius brother just told Tabby the whole thing."

Riley looked worried, "All of it?"

"All of it." I said angrily.

"Can she keep it confidential?"

"Supposedly." I huffed.

"Then we will be just fine. Will you please trust me more?"

"I don't know how." I admitted.

"It's there somewhere. You can trust me. Please do. I'll never let you fall." He told me.

"It's easier to trust you when you say it than it is when he says it."

"You've known me much longer."

"It's not just that and you know it."

He remained quiet after that. He slowly sat on my bed and I sat next to him. I leaned my head on his shoulder and touched my hand to his perfect chest, feeling the warmth it always brought.

"Why does Adam hate you so much?" I asked quietly.

"I wish I could tell you." He said regretfully.

"You can't tell me?" I asked hurt.

"I'm sorry. I wish I could, and I will be able to sometime soon." He told me and I let it go, knowing that I would know soon.

"Does Emmit know?"

"No."
"Do you hate Adam as much as he hates you?"

"No. I don't hate Adam."

"You don't hate him?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Why so curious all of the sudden?"

"It's not all of the sudden, I've been wondering for quite some time."

"Well, I'll tell you as soon as I can."

I sighed and let it go.

Adam arrived shortly and before Riley even knew Adam was on his way, Riley left on the road trip to Cedar Point.

I ran down the stairs and again, put on a fake smile and enthusiasm.

"Good morning, Adam."

"Cecilia. Did you get my email?"

"Yes."

"Do you forgive me?"

"Yes."

"Do you believe me?"

"Maybe."

He kissed me and I pulled away.

"Do you really forgive me?"

"I don't know yet. I'm taking today to find out." I told him, dropping all of my fakeness.

He remained quiet.

"But when do you exactly plan on telling me the truth?" I asked.

He looked at me with soft eyes, "I've been telling you the truth." He whispered in my ear. I turned to goo, snap out of it! You don't even love him anymore.

Yeah, you still do.

But you love Riley more!

Maybe. You're taking the day to find out.

No, I *know* I love Riley more.

I continued to argue with myself.

"Hello, Adam!" Emmit greeted him warmly.

"Hi, Emmit." Adam replied, "No interrogations today?" He asked teasingly.

Emmit didn't smile, "No. Not today."

"Oh," He said suddenly remembering, "This is Tabitha."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you! Well, actually my name is Tabitha, but everyone always calls me Tabby like a nickname, so you can call me Tabby! Dang, you most certainly are as good looking as Cecilia let on!"

I looked at Emmit with confused face. I never said anything to her about Adam. Emmit just shrugged.

Adam looked amused, "Thank you. It's nice to meet you too. Are you coming with us today?"

"I most certainly am! Did you know that Cedar Point has the largest roller coaster in the world? Emmit and I are hitting that one first! Aren't we, Em?"

Emmit grinned in her direction, "Yeah, we are."

"That's cool, that'll be fun." Adam said smiling, "What are we doing first, love?" he asked me.

"Um, well, I'm kind of thinking we should play it by ear." I told him.

"Did you also know that Cedar Point is the Roller Coaster capital of the world?" Emmit said quickly.

"Really? That's so cool!" I said falsely.

"When are we leaving?" Tabby asked excitedly.

Emmit checked his watch, "Now."

"Let's go!" Tabby yelled.

We climbed into the car, Tabby and I in the back (Emmit thought that was the safest option, despite wanting Tabby by him) and Emmit and Adam up front.

"How about we hit McDonalds first for soda?" Emmit asked us.

"OK." We all agreed.

We go to the McDonalds drive through and heard a very muffled, "Welcome to McDonalds may I take your order?"

"Yeah, um, 4 Cokes?" Emmit asked into the speaker.

"Anything else?"

"No, thank you."

"Ok, window one."

We pulled up and the window opened to reveal a beyond gorgeous brunette. I didn't feel as threatened as I would have if Riley were in the car, but I could almost see Tabby's face turn green as grass.

The girl smiled at Emmit and Adam widely.

"Well, hello!" She called. She was British. Poor, poor Tabby.

"Hi." Emmit said smiling casually.

"One second." She said winking at Emmit.

She came back and had her number, of course, written on two cups.

"There you are. Have a nice day." She said, winking again.

"We will." Emmit told her.

We drove to the next window and paid, where there was a frumpy woman in her mid-forties, I relaxed for Tabby.

Then we drove off, sipping on our drinks.

"That stupid, air-headed brunette." Tabby spouted, "Flirting with my boyfriend. Mine!"

"Calm down, Tabby." Emmit reached back and patted her knee, "She didn't interest me at all." He reassured her.

"How could she not have interested you? Brunette and British? How absolutely typical."

He looked back at her and with the most tender look I've ever seen on Emmit he genuinely told her, "I much prefer southern blonds. Look," he said handing her his cup, "I even washed her number off."

She smiled and reached over his seat to peck him on the cheek.

I sat there watching. Riley would have done the same, I know it. I didn't even bother asking Adam because I didn't even care.

The next 4 hours in the car with Tabby's nonstop talking seemed to drag by.

"So Tabby…you have a southern accent?" He asked.

"I do, indeed!" She replied.

"In Ohio? Surely you aren't from here."

"No, I sure ain't. I'm from Arkansas. I moved up here about a year ago."

"Any reason why?"

"Naw, I just wanted a change and my parents agreed with me. Course, I wanted to go to Florida because of the beach, but my parents wanted to come to Ohio where it's rainier and snowier. But, I'm just fine with it because Emmit lives in Ohio." Tabby managed to turn every conversation around to praise Emmit. Emmit grinned at her, "Yeah, I'm pretty glad you don't live in Arkansas anymore." He winked and she giggled. I could have gagged myself then and there, but then I saw how happy Emmit was. If Emmit was happy, I'd try to be happy for him.

As much as Tabby annoyed me, I would try and befriend her. I say that putting a strong emphasis on try.

"So, Cecilia, I know ya'll are playing it by ear and all but do you wanna come on the Top Thrill Dragster with Em and I first? It'll be nice to have another girl with us." She said to me hopefully.

"Oh, um, yeah I guess so." I said not fully knowing what it was about.

She winked at me and then it only took a short second to figure out that she didn't want me alone with Adam. I was touched. She may have been annoying, but she really cared for me like Emmit and Riley did. Well, maybe not as much as they did, but the caring was there.

I smiled softly at her and she squeezed my hand. I pulled away quickly when I saw Adam watching us in the mirror. My smile faded instantly.

"So the Top Thrill Dragster first then, Lia?" He asked.

"Is that OK with you?" I asked him.

"I'll do what you do." He smiled at me and I mustered up a grin.

Part of me, deep down, knew he was lying, but Riley was right and I knew I couldn't deny that I did still love him. I knew I had to forgive him, even though he didn't deserve it. I leaned up and kissed his cheek to imply that nothing was wrong. He smiled back at me and then I looked at Tabby who was smiling. She clearly was on to me. Emmit must have really left nothing out because she knew that I really hadn't forgiven him, I knew he was lying, but still loved him. I looked sadly at the ground thinking about Riley and how I needed to see him. I did love Adam, I know I've said it a thousand times, but Adam held only a fraction of my heart and Riley held all but that small fraction. Tabby squeezed my knee.

"What's wrong?" She mouthed to me.

"Riley." I mouthed back.

She frowned at the thought. She knew I loved Riley more. Emmit must have told her that too.

"Everything OK?" Emmit asked, noticing we were both frowning.

"Yes." I told him.

"I think that's the first time I've seen a frown on your face, Tabby. What's wrong?" He asked her.

"Aw, nothing. I'm just thinking about a friend of mine." She told him looking him in the eye and raising her eyebrows. Adam was looking the opposite direction, so I didn't worry about him catching on.

Emmit got the idea, "Oh."

"Look! There it is, there it is!" She suddenly exclaimed.

"Sure is." I said.

We parked quickly, it wasn't busy so it wasn't very hard to find a parking spot. I looked around and then was pleased when I finally spotted Riley's car.

We got up to the ticket booth and the man behind the counter looked at all four of us, "What? No school today?"

"We're from out of state." Emmit lied smoothly, "Vacationing here is so much fun. Wait till I tell my friends I went to the roller coaster capital of the world!"

The ticket manager rolled his eyes irritated, we quickly paid, got tickets and ran through the park doors.

I saw Riley, walk by us near the concession stand. I don't think he noticed us.

"Um, Emmit I'm going to the bathroom, okay? Why don't you all go wait in line for the coaster?" I told them.

"Well, there aren't very many people in line, so we can wait for you." He told me. Tabby urged him along gently.

"A woman doesn't like to be waited for while she's in the restroom, silly." She said and the three walked off. She turned around and winked at me and I smiled. She actually wasn't so bad after all.

I ran to Riley.

"Riley!" I yelled.

"Hey!" He called, running to meet me.

"How was the trip?" He asked with one eyebrow cocked.

"It was good. Tabby looked out for me. Emmit was oblivious to some things and Adam. Well, I was on my best behavior. Meaning I didn't interrogate him."

He smiled, "Excellent. Are they waiting for you?"

"In line for the Top Thrill Dragster."

"That's a fun ride. I just got off." He said trying to tame his hair.

"When will I see you?" I asked impatiently.

"You're seeing me now." He smiled.

"You know what I mean."

"Ok, look," He said pointing at the Ferris wheel, "I'll meet you there at 12:30. Does that sound agreeable?"

I looked at my watch. It was 10:00. Only two and a half hours.

"Yes." I said smiling.

He leaned down and kissed me. He pulled away, moving his mouth close to my ear, "Try to have fun, love?"

"I will. I really will. I have Tabby. She's proving to be not so horrid after all."

He laughed, "Good, good. See you soon."

He kissed me on the forehead and I walked casually to the Top Thrill Dragster and he walked in the other direction.

I ran around the side of the bathroom and made it look like I had just come out. Adam saw me coming and yelled "Over here!" and I ran to them.

"Ah, there you are!" Emmit said.

"Here I am."

"Was it clear and copious?" he asked me grinning.

I rolled my eyes at his stupidity.

"I'm not going to bother to entertain your retarted-ness."

Emmit laughed. "I love how you make up your own words." He teased.

Adam turned to Emmit and started talking about which ride to go on next, while they were doing that, Tabby turned to me.

"Did you see him?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did. I don't know how much more I could take without him." I told her.

"Good. Adam's kind of scarin' me."

"What's he doing?" I asked panicked.

"Oh nothing, but once in a while, he looks at Emmit. Or you, and probably me too with a fierce glare. I swear it- he almost looks demonic, just like you told Emmit and Emmit told me." She said wide-eyed.

"I've noticed too. Wait- he does it to Emmit?"

"Only when Emmit suggests we not leave you two alone. He's good at making up excuses for it though."

"That reminds me- thanks for inviting us to go on the ride with you. I was scared to go anywhere with Adam alone."

"You shoulda said something, Lia! Emmit and I are here to look out for you. If you're scared, then we gotta do something about it."

"Thanks, Tabby." I smiled and she hugged me unexpectedly. I hugged her back and then pulled away before Adam noticed. I was thankful for Tabby. She was two years older than I was, a year older than Emmit, but they didn't care, and she watched out for me like a big sister. Yeah, I could easily be friends with her now.

We finally got on the ride and it was over before any of us had time to blink.

"That was awesome!" Emmit said, clearly stoked.

"It was pretty cool." I agreed.

"Pretty cool? It was pretty cool? Just pretty cool?" He asked me annoyed.

"It was very cool." I said to please him, and it worked. The next two hours flew by as the four of us rode on most of the roller coasters in the park.

I looked at Adam, trying to work up a good false argument, and then the opportunity presented itself when he leaned down to my ear to whisper, "Believe me now?"

"No." I whispered back.

"Why?"

"Because you were in my room!"

"I was not."

"I saw you!"

"You're imagining things! Please leave me out of your delusional ranting!" He yelled frustrated.

"Delusional. Ranting?!"

"Yes. That seems to be exactly what they are! I haven't even been in your room! Ever!" He said to me looking at me angrily and demonically.

"You have so! And I am not delusional!"

"Oh? How else would you define this?"

"This is reality, Adam! You were in my room, I'm not making any of it up, and I am not seeing anything!" I yelled.

"Oh aren't you? If you aren't seeing anything than how come you saw 'me' in your room?"

"Because you were there!" I said trembling. The argument wasn't fake anymore.

He took a step towards me before yelling, "I. was. Not! Will you please drop it!?"

I watched Emmit behind him, who was about ready to pounce on the guy for taking that step. Tabby looked ready to kill him (Adam) as well. I thought she'd be scared, but she looked like a protective mother hen.

I looked at them to signal that I was going to find Riley and then ran off as quickly as possible. Tears flooded from my eyes. The argument was intended to be fake, but ended up being as real as everything.

I found Riley leaning on wall of the building next to the Ferris wheel.

"Cecilia, what's wrong? What happened?"

"Adam…we fought again."

"Again? It was supposed to be a fake argument!"

"I thought so too. And then we started yelling and screaming. Then he took a step towards me and-"

Riley cut me off, "What?!"

"It's ok. Emmit and Tabby were ready to kill him if he even laid a finger on me and then I ran here as quickly as possible."

"It's all getting so out of hand." He mumbled darkly and angrily.

"What?"

"Let's go."

"Where?"

"Home."

"What will I tell Emmit?"
"You'll call Emmit now and tell him the truth, but then tell him to tell Adam that you called a cab."

I did as I was told and Riley and I rode off.

The car ride gave me plenty of time to ask questions.

"What's getting out of hand?" I asked, my voice still shaking.

"What?"

"You said 'It's all getting so out of hand.' What's getting out of hand?"

"Oh." He said warily, "Everything."

"Dang it, Riley!" I yelled and he turned, a surprised look on his face, "I need to know what the heck's going on!"

He sat silent for a minute and tears started to roll down my cheeks silently.

"Cecilia...I…"

"Please, Riley. Please." I begged, my voice shaking.

"It's not that easy."

"Why can't it be?!"

"It's just that…I can't…"

"Riley. Please." I leaned over and touched his shoulder. I looked into his eyes. He wanted to tell me, I could see it in his pool blue eyes.

"I can't do it here. Wait until we get to your place."

"How long?"

"We're almost there."

His maniacal driving had gotten us home in thirty minutes! I was thankful though. The sooner I knew the truth, the better.

13. The Dragon.

He sat me down on the couch and then sat next to me.

"Lia, feel my chest."

I did as I was told.

"What do you feel?"

"It's hot." I told him, "Strangely hot."

"Now look into my eyes. Have you ever seen anyone with the same color before?"

I looked into his deep, pool blue eyes and realized that I actually hadn't seen the same color before. I shook my head.

He pulled out a knife and pressed it to his arm, I panicked instantly.

"What are you doing?!"

"Calm down, love."

The cut on his arm bleed a dark, almost black shade of red.

"What's wrong with your blood?" I asked petrified.

"Nothings wrong." He said calmly.

Then I watched as a new coat of skin covered the cut.

"H-How…did…?"

"Cecilia. I'm going to show you something now, you absolutely cannot tell anyone of this. Please, don't be scared of me okay?" He said calmly, holding onto my shoulder.

I nodded faintly and he got up slowly.

He placed himself in the center of my living room and stretched out his muscular arms. His body turned black and then Riley wasn't there anymore. In his place, was what looked like a dragon. His large blue eyes looked at me tenderly. I looked through teary, terrified eyes at what was in front of me. His body was covered in a million resplendent, blue scales matching his eyes. His enormous body filled my living room and his tale wrapped around his body. It had no ears, but his eyes were soft and warm. The beast leaned beside me and almost seemed as though it were smiling. I got a glimpse of his large, sharp teeth that could penetrate through just about anything. His feet were large and he had claws the size of my hand. His massive wings slid down his back majestically. I looked at him not knowing what to think. I was horrified, fascinated, perplexed and several other emotions all at one time.

I couldn't breathe. I opened my mouth to say something but words failed me.

Suddenly the beast downsized and Riley appeared again.

I grabbed the knife that he had used to cut himself and held it in a murderous way. Riley slowly walked steadily towards me.

"Cecilia…put the knife down."

I shook my head horrified.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Lia, but the knife will."

I shook my head once again.

"Please, Cecilia, I would never hurt you and you know it."

I looked at him for a long time and then threw the knife down and sobbed harder than I ever have before.

He ran over to me on the couch and held me. I almost pulled away, but the warmth of his chest felt good.

"B-but y-y-you're a…"

"Shhhh."

My sobbing stopped.

"You're a dragon." I said softly.

He only looked at me.

"But that's impossible." I told him.
He still remained silent.

"That just can't happen."

"I'm a dragon." He admitted quietly.

"But…how?"

"You don't know much about my family, do you?"

"I don't know anything about your family." I told him. I was still in shock and the room was spinning.

"Decades ago my grandfather, or rather great-great-great-great grandfather, moved here from China-"

"You're Chinese?"

"I don't look Chinese, I know. That's because I inherited enough American genes to look American."

"So your parents are American too then?"

"Yes. Only my grandfather was Chinese. Anyway he was forced to move from China to America because my grandmother found out he was a dragon. It's a bit like being a witch back in the 1700's in America. He came here and re-married and had children, who had children, who had children, and well you get the picture. So here I am. Only a few of us have the dragon gene, it's very rare for two in the same family to have it, but it makes sense in my fami-"

"Your mom is a dragon too." I said more as a statement.

"Yes she is." He said looking at me with a curious face.

"Her eyes." I said dazed.

"Oh, right."

"But…dragons…attack people." I said getting teary again.

"There, there, Lia." He said holding me.

"We aren't all the same. There are different types of dragons. We're benign dragons."

"Benign?"

"Yes, I know the term is a bit boring, but I mean we don't harm people. We try to protect them as best we can in fact. Most of the dragons back in China are the exact opposite of benign. Malevolent Dragons."

"How does it work?" I asked, now curious.

"Well, it's also rare for a woman to be a dragon without…another dragon causing it. My mom is a natural dragon. Normally natural dragons end up being benign. If a dragon turns you into a dragon, then because of the painful experience, normally you become malevolent. But since my mom is a natural dragon, she's the Chinese inheritant, I'm a dragon. If a woman is a natural born dragon, her child will also be a dragon. My mom is the only natural born woman in the family. We don't know how she could've become a dragon."

"You're a natural?" I asked.

"Yes, I am."

"But, I mean, how do you know if you're going to become a dragon…naturally of course?"

"All of us are born with brown eyes. By the age of ten, sometimes later or sooner, it depends on the person, your eyes start to color. Mine went blue, that's why my scales are blue."

I shuddered at the word 'scales'.

"So, your Mom is green?"

"Yes, that's right."

"But, how come I never noticed your eyes?" I asked wondering.

"We were kids; you probably didn't pay much attention."

There was a long pause as I had time to come up with more questions.

"Are you…? I mean, are you immortal?" I asked, scared for the answer.

"Yes. I'm immortal."

"But, how? I mean, I grew up with you?"

"Dragons are given from the time of birth to the time of becoming a dragon, plus ten years onto that to grow. That way we are in our adult form. I become totally immortal when I'm 21."

"What about un-natural born dragons? When do they become immortal?"

"It depends. They take on the same immortality age as the dragon who created them."

I could tell that Riley was glad I was asking so many questions for him to answer. His voice was a lighter tone than when he had first started to 'explain.'

"How do you create dragons?" I asked.

"You have to set the person on fire." He said like it was something you hear everyday.

"You what?!" I screamed.

"Dragons breathe fire, I'm sure you already knew that, but in our fire is a powerful venom that won't completely burn the person, but turn them into a dragon. It's a very long, painful process." He explained.

"So you could turn me into a dragon? And I would be immortal with you forever?" I asked.

"Yes. But, no."

"No what?"

"No, I will absolutely not do that to you."
"Why not?"

"Because I couldn't stand to cause you pain, Lia."

"But, it would all be worth it in the end. I would be with you and I wouldn't feel any pain."

"Lia, didn't you hear me? It's a long, painful process. Transformation can sometimes take weeks. I couldn't stand to see you writhing in pain for weeks. And what would we tell Emmit? Plus don't you remember me telling you that dragon-made-dragons normally wind up being malevolent?"

"I don't know what we would tell Emmit. I don't care about the pain, Riley. I want to live with you for the rest of my life, I'll take any path I can to get to that place. And- I have you, you could control me from becoming malevolent."

"I can't do it. I can't set you on fire, Cecilia."

"You can do it knowing I'd be with you forever."

"No. I can't do it. What if you decide you don't love me anymore?"

"Not possible." I said, devastated at the thought.

"What if you decide you love Adam more after I turn you into a dragon?"

"Not possible." I repeated.

"It is."

"Riley. Listen to me- I do not love Adam anymore. I will never love Adam again. I love you. I will always love you. Adam is gone. Adam is dead to me." I told him completely honestly because I didn't love Adam anymore.

"I can't do it, Lia."

"Hmph." I said, temporarily giving up. Temporarily.

I laid in his arms for a while and then he finally spoke quietly.

"You aren't afraid of me?"

"I was at first. But, you'd never hurt me, Riley, unless it was for the better." I said implying him turning me into a dragon.

Riley knew what I was insinuating, but he ignored, "I'm a beast, though. That doesn't scare you anymore? Don't get me wrong, I couldn't ask for more." He said.

"No."

"I was so afraid…for nothing." He said unbelieving, "I'm so relieved you know though."

We sat in silence for a while.

"What do dragons eat?" I asked him.

"Anything."

"Anything? People included?" I asked horrified.

"Malevolent dragons will eat humans, yes. Benign dragons don't desire or really, like the taste of humans. It's choice and preference really. Benign ancestors refused to eat humans, so now we don't have an acquired taste for them. It's like if you had liver. You wouldn't enjoy it, unless you had an acquired taste."

"Ok, so what do benign dragons eat?"

"Nothing different from human food." He said smiling.

"Good then. What would you like for dinner?"

"Anything." He said grinning.

Just then, the phone started ringing loudly throughout the house.

"I'm on it." I said managing to pull myself from his arms to get to the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Cecilia?" the small voice asked on the other line, I recognized Stephanie's small voice.

"Steph?"

"Yeah, Lia, it's me. Can I come over? I need someone to talk to."

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She suddenly burst into sobs.

"Um. Ok, yeah, just come over…I'll see you soon?"

"Y-yes."

With a faint click the line went dead and Riley was looking at me with a puzzled expression.

"That was my friend Stephanie." I told him.

"She's coming over?"

"She needed to talk about something desperately. She was sobbing uncontrollably."

"Should I go?"

"No!" I yelled jumping towards him with my arms extended.

"Whoa, okay!" he said laughing.

Before I knew it, I was wrapped in his arms again in a gentle embrace.

"Is your chest so warm because you breathe fire then?" I asked, still having thousands of questions engraved in my brain.

"Partly because of that, partly because of the warm venom and partly because dragons have two hearts."

"You have two hearts?" I said stunned, looking up into his dragon eyes.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Ok. So- dragons can create other dragons, that much we have established, correct?"

"Yes." I said not wanting to irritate him.

"Ok, a dragon can only create one dragon every one thousand years because when we create other dragons, one of our hearts goes out into them, slowly we grow another one, but I don't know how."

"Oh. How does it get to them? Clearly it can't travel through the venom."

"Right. I actually have no idea how the heart gets to the other person. It just does I guess." He said with a wondering look.

"Is your dad a created dragon?" I asked him slowly and carefully.

"No. My mom didn't want to turn him into a dragon." He said slowly.

"Why?"

"The pain, Lia. It's so much pain to have to endure. Can you imagine being set on fire and have intoxicating venom running in circles through your bloodstream?"

"It would be over soon though." I reminded him quietly.

"And then you have to spend the rest of your life as a beast."

"A beautiful beast. And I'd be with you for all of forever."

He only sighed.

"Unless…you don't want me to be with you forever." I said backing away, tears forming.

A look of horror spread across Riley's face as he ran to pick me up.

"Don't ever say that. How could I not want you forever? You are my life."

"Then why won't you turn me into a dragon?" I demanded.

"You've only just learned that there is such a thing. Let's not be irrational about this. Give yourself some time to think clearly."

I thought about it and realized he made good point.

He kissed me on the forehead.

"What do you want for dinner?" I asked again. .

"I really don't mind, Lia."

"How about lasagna? It's quite simple to make. I can fix it up while Steph is here."

"Sounds good." He said smiling.

Emmit and Tabby arrived shortly before Stephanie did.

"So I was thinking…" Emmit started slowly.

"Let's just take the week off. I mean- we've finished all of the exams and this week is basically pointless, since the last week of school before summer is filled with announcements and other pointless "Have safe fun over summer" speeches."

"I don't know, Emmit." I told him.

"C'mon. What's the point, really?"

"I'm in." Riley called.

"Ok, I'm in." I said thinking of Riley.

Emmit smiled, "Excellent."

"What about Tabby?"

"Aw, I've already talked about it to her. She's in it wholeheartedly."

"Ok, well, Steph's coming over and she sounded really distressed, so if you would please go to the living room?" I asked.

Emmit rolled his eyes, "Ok, ok."

He pulled Tabby in with him. Riley followed.

"Wait, Riley."

"Yeah?"

"Stay here, ok? I want to introduce you."

He smiled, "Kay."

14.Stephanie.

Riley was chopping onions, since I couldn't help but cry while cutting onions. His dragon eyes could tolerate it. I was on mushroom duty and then Stephanie barged through the door.

"Hey, Lia. Oh, I didn't know you had company." She said sadly.

Riley and I exchanged glances.

"Steph, this is my boyfriend, Riley."

"What happened to Adam?"

"Um, I'll explain later."

"Oh ok, well it's nice to meet you, Riley." She said shaking his hand.

"You too." He said warmly.

"I'll go out in the living room so you can talk." He said kissing my cheek.

Steph looked at me as he was walking out.

"He's a hunk." She said to me in awe.

Riley chuckled a bit, I knew he could hear.

"Yeah." I said, still staring at the path he had just walked.

"So, Steph, what's wrong?"

Her eyes started fogging, "Fidele dumped me, Lia!"

I hugged her, "No! Why?"

"I don't know. He just said that I was 'old news'."

"Oh."

"My other 'friends' left me because, I didn't realize, they are so shallow and only want 'popular' friends with boyfriends."

"It's ok, Steph! We'll get through it. Look- if Fidele was stupid enough to dump such an amazing girl, then we obviously shouldn't be missing him."

She sniffled, "You're right. There's other fish in the sea, right?"

"Exactly. And Fidele was the smelliest." I said smiling.

She laughed, "Thanks. I feel much better now having you here." She told me and I smiled warmly.

"Does Riley have a brother?" She asked laughing.

I laughed back, "No. He has a sister though."

I continued chopping mushrooms and then moved on to bits of salami. "What happened with you and Adam?" She asked cautiously.

I dared not get into everything, the nightly visits, the dragons, so I just said, "Oh. He ended up being a weird jerk who stalked me." I told her simply.

"Wow, that's creepy. How'd you meet Riley then? Was he competition for Adam?"

"Yes I think Adam felt threatened by Riley, but I've been practically best friends with Riley for nearly all of my life. And when Adam…um, stalked me, Riley was there to protect me."

"Protect you? Did he try to kill you or something?"

"Um, well I meant Riley was just there." I was horrible at lying.

"And then you started to fall for Riley?"

"Exactly."

"I think my problem was I didn't love Fidele enough and he got bored with me." She said still dazed.

"No, Steph. You're one of the most loving people I know. Look at me- I've been throwing love around like extra change. First Adam. I fell in love with him in a day. Now Riley. But I don't regret that one."

"Do you regret Adam?"

"Yes and no. Yes because I felt bad for Riles during that time. He had to watch it all. No, because I can't regret something that once made me smile."

She watched me.

"But the difference is, I only loved Adam a little. In fact it was more of a strong like. I'm in love with Riley. I love him more than the world itself. He's amazing." I told her honestly.

"And you've been best friends with him. That's got to be great because you already know so much about each other."

I laughed because it seemed like I knew nothing about Riley since he told me, or showed me, what he did today.

"Ok- I'll settle for a cousin." She said laughing along with me.

The rest of the time with Stephanie was relaxed. We didn't talk about emotions or boys anymore, we just talked about school and girly things. Stephanie had to be home for dinner, but Tabby and, of course Riley stayed.

Riley would stay for as long as I wanted, or rather needed at this point.

We all had a quick dinner, and everyone loved the lasagna. Tabby had to excuse herself before her parents called angrily. Emmit kissed Tabby a quick goodbye and made her promise to call.

"Bye, Tabby. Thanks for everything." I told her.

"Yeah." Riley agreed nodding in my direction.
"Anytime." She called heading out the door.

"Don't forget to call me, Tabs." Emmit reminded grinning.

"Psht." She scoffed, "I won't, trust me!" She smiled back at him.

We heard her car drive off softly.

"She's nice." I told Emmit.

"I knew you'd like her!" Emmit said nudging me.

"Did you see her face when Adam stepped towards me."

"Did you see my face when he stepped towards you?" He said.

"You both looked like you were ready to kill him." I said.

"We were."

"If he so much as blinks again in your direction, I'm coming after him." Riley said.

Emmit scoffed, "What are you gonna do? Just one person can't knock him down."

I laughed internally. Clearly Emmit had no idea.

"Help me clear, Riley?" I asked looking at the dishes on the table.

"Oh, yeah." He jumped up.

"Ok, I'm gonna go shower up." Emmit said.

As soon as I heard the water upstairs running, I dropped the dishes and looked at Riley.

"Are we, no, you, going to tell him?"

"I will. In time."

"Riley, the secrecy can't go on forever. Believe me, Emmit can take it better than I did initially."

"The secrecy has gone on for this long, it can wait a few more days."

"Tell him tomorrow? Please? Emmit deserves to know, Riley. He's been your best friend since you were in first grade." I tried convincing him.

He sighed, "I know. I'll do it as soon as I can, I promise. I just don't want you to be around when I do it."

"Why?"

"Because Emmit will handle it as the older brother trying to protect his frail sister from the big scary dragon." He pointed out.
"Oh, right. That's a good idea."

"Hey, Riley?"

"Mhm?"

"Why is Adam so threatened by you?"

"I'm a dragon I guess."

I gasped loudly, "He knows?!"

"Yes. Yes, he knows."

"How?"

"We have a family…history."

Silence filled the kitchen once again.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" I prodded.

"How much do you know about Adam's family?" he asked not looking me in the eye.
"Not much." I breathed heavily, "I've never even met his parents."

"There's a reason." Riley said grimly, "Adam's family is from Europe originally. They moved here ages ago. Just a while after my grandfather arrived."

I stared at him, unmoving.

"My grandfather tried to make peace with them. They didn't like that we were benign dragons. They wanted dragons that they could control, dragons that would bring them prey."

I was shaking now.

"We, the part of my family that were dragons then, there were only 3- my grandfather, his new transformed wife and their eldest son, refused to assist them in their hunt. Adam's family got upset, but left us alone for about two years, trying to live harmoniously. Then Adam's family started the attacks all over Fostoria. People started disappearing everywhere and police claimed that they were attacks of a rogue animal." He eyed me cautiously for my reaction. I could feel blood draining from my face as I listened horrified of what he would say next.

He continued, "My grandfather tried to calmly and collectively confront Adam's grandfather over leaving the city and going somewhere else to hunt." He winced, "Adam's grandfather seemed to take it lightly, but nearly a week later, my grandfather found his youngest son, red eyed and crazed as all of Adam's family was. We didn't know what had happened, we only knew that Edgar, that was his name, was one of them. He went around killing people just as Adam's family did and he rebelled against us. At first my grandfather went into a deep sadness, then rage filled through his entire body. Normally dragons are very good controlling our emotions, but my grandfather killed all but Edgar. Even though Edgar was as dangerous, or possibly more dangerous than the rest of them because he was so young, my grandfather couldn't destroy his own son. Adam is one of the direct descendents of Edgar." He finished quietly.

"But…how was it Adam's family if he's a descendant of Edgar? Edgar is from your family?"

"Adam's grandfather transformed Edgar into one of them through his venom. They're venomously linked you could say."

"You and Adam are relatives?" I asked choking.

"Well, not even near to immediate, but yes."

"What.is.Adam?"

"Come here." He said and he held my hand, "Adam sucks the blood out of his victims. He's a vampire."

"Adam's a…a….a….vampire?" I asked tears forming. I sobbed hard with the reality that the boyfriend I was about to break up with was a vampire and the man I loved more than anything in the world was a dragon.

Once again, emotions flooded through my brain and overwhelmed me. Riley continued to hold me close and rock me as I sobbed.

Suddenly, anger kicked in.

"Why would you let me date Adam? He could have so easily killed me?" I yelled.

"I thought…maybe…he would be a 'benign' vampire. And then when you told me about the nighttime visits, I knew he wasn't. So, I refused to leave you. He's been trying to get you alone, Lia. That's his main goal. I won't let him get near it, I won't. And he knows I won't. That's why he feels threatened by me."

"Why does he want me?!"

"That's something I can't answer, love."

"How could you offer me such a choice as to be with him forever?!"

"Because there is still a small chance that he might not want you the way I think he wants you. He may really just love you for you and not your…blood."

"The one guy that actually likes me ends up being a vampire intent on killing me. I knew something was wrong." I started crying.

"The one guy?" Riley asked confused, "Cecilia, I more than like you clearly. I love you. And I'm not a vampire-"

"You're right- you're a dragon." I said distastefully.

"Yes. I'm a dragon who will use everything in my power to keep you safe. I'm not intent on killing you, I can't even fathom putting you through any type of mild pain."

"Riley! What did you do?!" Emmit groaned from the doorway.

"I didn't do anything, Emmit." Riley assured him.

"Then…what's going on?!" Emmit bellowed.

"Tell you later." Riley mouthed.

And I knew that Riley would tell him everything. Riley would tell him, or probably show him, that he was a dragon. Riley would explain Adam and his history. Emmit would find out why I was crying so hysterically and after that moment, the moment Emmit found out, my life wouldn't be mine anymore. Emmit would flock me every second, even though he would stand useless against Adam. Tabby would hang around me all the time, when Emmit couldn't. And Riley, Riley already was around me, holding me all the time. But, that last part I didn't mind.

It was amazing how in just one short day, everything could become so turned upside-down. This morning when I woke up, I was happy as a lark with Riley-the 'human'- on the floor outside of my room. Now he was a dragon. I was, well, not happy, but I could tolerate going to Cedar Point with Adam-the 'human.' Who was now a vampire. Now when I thought of going anywhere with Adam, paranoia filled my thoughts and the world started spinning with his face pictured in my brain. My first kiss I'd ever had, was with a sadistic vampire only pretending to love me to lure me into his death trap. Now, the kisses I had were with a dragon, who if malevolent would also lure me into his death trap. But, Riley stepped in to save me from Adam. It was amazing how it was all turning out, so confusing. How everything managed to link back together in an unpredictable, somewhat scary way. I cried for hours and Riley sat there like a martyr (although he never played that card) holding me silently, rocking me back and forth. I finally calmed down, but refused to move from his cradled arms. I listened to the steady beat of his heart. I'm not sure which one.

He leaned down and kissed the top of my head.

"You really should get some sleep, Lia. It's late and you've had a tremendously long and weird day, I'm sure." He chuckled. Emmit looked at him confusedly but let it go with the promise that Riley would tell him later.

I agreed and went to bed. Riley wasn't ready to sleep yet, so I fell asleep a little worried without him in sight.

13. Emmit finds out.

The next morning I woke up to see not just Riley, but Emmit outside my room too.

I sighed knowing that my predictions (that Emmit would rarely leave my side even though he couldn't do much against Adam) had come true.

I quietly got out of bed and started to walk out of my door. I managed to sneak past Riley, but Emmit woke up suddenly and grabbed my ankle, pulling me to the ground. I landed all over the staircase with a loud thud against the wood steps.

"Crap, Emmit! What the heck was that for?!" I demanded angrily while trying to stand up.

"I'm keeping you safe. Riley told me everything."

"I'm not a hostage, Emmit! I'll go anywhere in the house I want without you tripping me. Gosh."

"Just trying to protect you." He said casually.

Riley woke up sometime between the falling, the yelling and Emmit's excuses and ran to help me up while Emmit enjoyed my pain.

"No need to trip her, Emmit. If she's in the house, with us then she's ok." Riley told him protectively.

"Yeah, yeah" Emmit sighed.

"So what are you two going to do about graduation?" I asked sidetracking.

"Skipping." Emmit said like it was common.

"Skipping? You're skipping your high school graduation?" I asked surprised.

"We still graduate, Lia. We're only skipping the ceremony." Riley said and I ignored their flippancy. I was not going to miss the biggest day of my life. That was like skipping your release from prison.

"C'mon," Riley said looking at the cut I got from our metal railing, "Let's treat that."

I walked with him to the bathroom and showed him where everything was, since he insisted upon curing me himself.

"You have your tetanus shots, right?"

"Yes." I told him.

"How did Emmit take it?" I asked him biting my lip nervously.

"Well, he didn't try to stab me." He looked at me teasingly.

"What was I supposed to do? My boyfriend suddenly morphs into a dragon?"

"No one faults you." He said smiling.

"Ok, seriously? What'd he do?"

"His breathing started to be uneven and he needed to sit down. But then after the initial shock, and then worries about Adam, he thought it was very cool."

"He did?" I asked shocked.

"Yeah, he did. He's writing a book on it. It's called 'My best friend's a dragon.'" He said laughing.

"You can't be serious?"

"Ask him yourself." He said and we both almost burst laughing.

He got me all bandaged up and we walked down to the kitchen to find Emmit drinking coffee and staring out the window.

"What'cha doing, Em?" I asked him.

"Thinking." He told me.

"About your book?"

"Hey- how'd you know about it?"

"So it is true!" I yelled laughing.

"Yeah, yeah. It's going to be a best seller." He said grinning.

Riley couldn't contain his laughter and hearing him laugh made me laugh with him.

"You'll see." Emmit said faithfully.

"Mhm, I'm sure we will Emmit, I'm sure we will." I said being evocable.

"So what's the plan for today?" I asked.

"Hmmm. Let's just chill today. Your Mom will probably come back sometime though." Riley thought.

"Oh right. She might wonder why we aren't at school…" I trailed off.

"Psht," Emmit scoffed, "She suggested it."

"What? You talked to her? When?" I asked quickly.

"Gosh, Lia, relax. She called at Cedar Point. She said that she's going to be busy with work, but we might as well just take our break early. There really is no point in going to school this last couple of days."

"Oh. So she's still going to be gone?" I asked.

Emmit nodded looking down at his coffee, "Sorry, Lia."

"I don't freakin' care anymore." I growled glowering out the window.

We sat there in silence for a long time, then the shrill telephone ring pierced through the house.

"On it." Emmit said answering the phone, "Ryan residence."

"Oh, hello." His voice came across unfriendly, "No, she's not here right now."

Riley and I stared at him, Riley's face went pale.

"She left early this morning to go somewhere with Riley, I think."

"I'll tell her. Bye."

"Who was it?" I demanded.

"Adam."

"What?!" I yelled.

"Obviously I told him that you were out with Riley. He probably won't come looking for you since Riley's with you."

"What's the message you're supposed to give me?" I asked impatiently.

"Oh- he's sorry…blah blah blah. All the same crap load he's been giving you repeatedly." Emmit was mad, it was clear.

"Cecilia, we need to leave." Riley said darkly.

"What? Why? What happened to chilling?"

"Plans have changed."

"Why?"

Emmit stayed out of it, but looked confused.

"He's coming here to see if Emmit was lying. He's coming now and he's coming fast."

"So? We'll tell him we just got back."

"He won't buy it, Lia. Listen- you have to trust me. There are still a lot of things you don't know about our kinds."

"Tell me, then!"

"Get dressed and in the car." I did as I was told as quickly as possible.

Riley was already in the car with a worried, or maybe angry, expression across his face.

"How do you know all of this?" I asked as calmly as possible.

"I knew it was Adam on the phone because dragons can hear things over ten times more clearly than dogs themselves, as well as our sense of smell. Anyway- I could recognize his voice over the phone."

"And that he'd be coming?"

"Vampires are predictable, Lia. As I said before: dragons are fairly well at keeping our emotions intact. Vampires however, aren't. They act instinctively to everything. I'm quite shocked that he didn't…kill you when you fought it out yesterday." He cringed, "Being around vampires, even the ones that don't hunt humans, is very dangerous."

"Again- why would you even give me the option of letting me love him?"

"You couldn't help it and neither could I and if he really, really loved you for you than he would be able to control his emotions around you. Which is why I think he might actually love you for you. Because he managed to keep his emotions fairly controlled, but again, Adam is a good actor."

"But if Adam is such a good actor, how did you know that he would come over? He could go against the odds and act?" I said more of a question.

He sighed, "I can…see things."

"See things?"

"Yes. Like seeing the future, but I see the present. Just far away."

"Like a mind reader?"

"Kind of. But, I can't read minds I can only see what's going on far away. I have to stop and focus on the person to see what they're doing though."

"So that's how you knew Adam was coming and why you weren't worried so much even when you couldn't see me…because you could still see me?"

"Exactly. Well, I do worry when I can't see you because even when I can see you in my…visions I guess, I can't come right away to protect you if something happens."

I'm so sorry for bringing you into all of this, Lia. You don't deserve to carry such a burden as this. I can't even imagine how you could feel."

"I'm quite bewildered by it all." I told him honestly.

"Understandably so."

"It just doesn't make sense. One day I'm living my life perfectly, well, not perfectly but you get the idea, with an amazing best friend who I loved more than a friend and a boyfriend who creeped me out sometimes, but I still loved him and now…now the best friend who is more than friend is a dragon, and the boyfriend that I cringe when I even think about is a vampire. And until yesterday I thought dragons and vampires didn't exist. And now, come to find out that the man I deeply love is a dragon and…" I trailed off.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered, "I didn't want to get you involved. I've loved you all my life, but I just wanted to protect you, and then you fell in love with me, which I don't really understand why."

"You don't know why?"

"No, quite honestly. I'm a beast, Lia. I don't deserve your love."

"You have it though, and you always will. I love you because you are the sweetest, most thoughtful, pers- dragon," I corrected smiling, "that I have ever met. You're amazing. I know all of that sounds stupid, but I honestly can't put into words how I feel."

"The writer can't think of words." He said quietly.

"No, she can't. She can't because she loves the dragon so much that all of the words in her vocabulary would belittle it."

"You still don't deserve to be in the middle of this."

"I'm glad I am, Riley. If I weren't in the middle, where would you be now? If you hadn't have told me, where would we be?"

"School most likely, living out normal lives. Or- you would. I'd still be a dragon."

"That doesn't sound weird to you? Calling yourself a dragon? Don't get me wrong- I love it that you're a dragon…"

He smiled for the first time in the car, "It'll take some time to get used to, love," he paused. "You love it that I'm a beast?" He sounded horrified.

"Stop calling yourself that! You are not a beast, Riley. You're a beautiful, majestic, powerful dragon." His negativity had started to anger me.

"I'm sorry." He said looking at me with his soft eyes again.

More silence.

"Where are we going?" I asked him suddenly realizing we had been driving for almost an hour.

"I don't know. I'm just driving."

15. More than anything.

"Riley." I said cautiously.

"Yes?"

"Think before you say no: Will you please turn me into a dragon?"

"What?"

"I'm serious. Please."

"Lia, it's still too soon."

"The longer you wait, the harder it's going to be for you."

"But- the danger."

"You'll help me."

"You won't always love me."

"How can you say that?!"

He looked at me softly and I knew it was a genuine worry.

"Haven't I made it abundantly clear in several ways, Riley? I love you and I will always love you. Adam is dead to me, Riley. Dead. And the sooner you do it, the sooner we can put all of this behind us."

"I can't do it, Lia. I just can't set you on fire like that." His eyes actually started to well up and I felt a jolt of pain flow through my veins. For the first time- I actually saw things from his perspective. What would it be like setting the one you love on fire not knowing the outcome? Sure, I'd be sure to become a dragon and live immortally with him, but what about the possibility of me becoming malevolent and destroying everyone I loved and cared about? He worried strongly about that, but I knew that the bigger issue was that he actually had to cause me severe pain and trauma in order for me to be with him forever. And he couldn't do it because he couldn't imagine being so selfish. What he didn't understand was that from my eyes- he was the selfish one. He had the power to turn me into someone, or something, which would change my lives-our lives- forever and he wouldn't do it? We could be together forever, but he wouldn't allow it? Not only did it seem selfish, but the fact that it seemed more like he didn't want me forever hurt the most.

"Lia, can we please go about this rationally and wait a while?"

"Yes." I said.

He looked shocked,

"It's very hard trying to guess what you're thinking. I think you're thinking something and then you go and say or do something that completely takes me by storm."

"I'm almost the most predictable person out there." I argued.

"Quite the contrary, love. You're the most unpredictable person I've ever met."

I leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek so as not to distract him from the road.

"When will Adam leave?"
"Your house?"

"Mhm."

"I'll let you know when he's gone. He's interrogating Tabby and Emmit right now for our whereabouts. They're doing well, he's buying it."

"Tabby? She's there?"

"She came just after she left. Emmit was lonely so he called."

"Oh, right. Which is odd because he never was lonely until Tabby came into the picture."

"Girls change things for us, Lia." He squeezed my hand, "C'mon. Let's go to my place. I gotta grab some things and Mom'll want to talk to you." He said.

"Your mom's home?"

"She should be. She doesn't have to leave the house today I don't think."

"What does she need to talk to me about?"

"The fact that you know about everything."

"How does she know?" I asked worried that something else bad was about to happen.

"I can tell her things in my mind and she can hear them. We can't hear each others thoughts exactly unless we are talking to each other. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah I guess it does. All dragons can do it? Even from miles and miles away?"

"All dragons; everywhere in the world. I know it's kind of crazy, but that's how it works."

"It's all kind of crazy."

"I'm sorry, Lia. I can't imagine the position you're in."

"Stop apologizing, Riley. Just because I think it's crazy and impossible doesn't mean I don't love it."

"You love it?"

"I've told you all of this already."

He nodded slowly, "It worries me. That you love it I mean."
"Why?"

"It's abnormal that you have adjusted so smoothly. I didn't expect you to be so…nonchalant about it."

"I almost stabbed you?"

"Well, yes, but that was simply the initial reaction to a dragon being in your living room. But, only the next day and you want to be a bea-," He corrected himself, "dragon. You love it all, it's very odd and somewhat discomforting."

"Let me see if I can straighten things out- you're saying that you would feel better- more comfortable- if I was panicking at all of this."

"Well, not panicking, but the way you're taking it all in is just…unusual. I mean if my dad found out I know his initial reaction would be to panic- as you did- and then he'd keep the panic for the rest of his life. A life with two dragons…"

"Your dad doesn't know?"

"No. For the panic purpose precisely."

"Oh ok. Well, this is the way it is, sorry."

He chuckled, "I'll get used to it."

When we arrived at his house, Riley's mom was eagerly waiting for us out in the yard in a bright green apron, matching her eyes.

"Cecilia! Oh, dear, I'm so glad you're here."
"Hey, Mrs. Evans."

She studied my face, "How are we taking to this quite shocking news?"
"She's overwhelmed, but in a nonchalant way."

"That's contradictory. Contradiction gives me no absolute answers."

"I'm cool with it, Mrs. Evans. I think it's really cool actually."

"Really? Well…that's…wonderful!" She said thinking about it for a minute, "And how is Emmit taking it?"
"He's writing a book, 'My best friend's a dragon.'" I laughed.

"Well, hopefully it will never be published." She laughed, "Now, dear, please remember that if you have any questions you can always ask me."

"Or me." Riley said, "But, she's already asked a million." He teased.

"Well, I do hope Riley's given you the answers gingerly."

"I didn't sugar coat them, Mom. She's taking things in exceptionally though. We'll be fine." Riley assured her.

"Well, Ok. Are you hungry, hun?"

"No, thanks, Mrs. Evans."

"Oh- don't be so formal. My name's Adeline, dear."

I smiled at her and she flashed me her perfect, warm smile.

She looked at Riley and raised an eyebrow before leaving us in the yard.

"She's worried about how you're taking this too."

"Why?"

"The same reasons. It's just unnatural is all. We'll get used to how coolly you take things, don't fret."

Riley's fifteen year old sister, Arabella, suddenly came bounding out of the house with an annoyed look on her flawless face.

"Hey, Bell." Riley greeted her.

"Hi, Arabella." I greeted about the same time.

"Oh, hi." I looked in her eyes. They were brown. She was human.

"Where you off to?" Riley asked.

She scoffed, "Do you have to know everything I do? Gosh." She was quite the teenager.

"Okay then." Riley said backing off.

Her cell phone started to ring and she answered it quickly.

"Hey, Josh."

"Josh?" Riley interjected as the protective brother.

She shushed him.

"Yeah, you know I'm coming, babe."

"Babe?!" I thought Riley might have a heart attack.

She hung up.

"Who's Josh who?!" Riley demanded.

"Gosh, will you lay off the protective brother role? Mom and Dad have already given me enough crap about it."

"No, I won't lay off. Who is he?"

"My boyfriend, duh."

"Since when?"

"A long time. If you hadn't have been strutting around with little miss thing over there, you would have noticed."

So now I was 'little miss thing'?

"What the heck did you just call her? Grow up, Bell. You're too old to be acting like you're twelve. It's not cute. And be careful with Josh okay?"

"Whatever." And she walked off to Josh's house.

"Um. Wow." I said a little shocked.

"Ignore her. She's mad because she's not a dragon and we won't turn her into one."

I sighed, "Of course."

I paused and he watched me for an expression, "You shouldn't bee too protective, Riley."

"It's my job."

"I know. But I know how it feels from her side. You feel squashed."

"Am I squashing you or is Emmit?"

I smiled, "Your protection is good, necessary. Emmit's protection, however is not."

He smiled and kissed my forehead.
"Wait here. I'll get more of my stuff and we'll go back to your place. Adam's just left."

Relief washed over me as I waited for Riley optimistically.

Riley was back in less than two minutes with all his stuff…he apparently was prepared to stay for as long as I needed. Meaning- he wasn't bluffing.

16. Adam interrogates.

We got home to find Emmit and Tabby anxiously waiting for us.

"What's going on?" Riley asked Emmit the minute we walked through the door.

"He just left." Emmit told him.

"I know."

"You know?"
"We have time for explanations later, Emmit. What'd he do here?" Riley told him.

Emmit just looked at him quizzically, "He came. He asked 'Where's Lia?' and so I said 'I told you man. She's gone.' And then he asked where. I told him you went somewhere with Riley and you wouldn't be back for a long time."

"And?"

"And so then he said 'How come she's spending so much time with him?' and I said 'They're best friends.' I didn't feel the need to tell him that he had been replaced….big time." He looked from me to Riley and then back again before continuing, "So he asked a few more questions like how long you've known each other, blah blah blah. So I gave him every answer he wanted, most truthfully. He bought the lies somehow. And then I asked if he wanted to watch TV with Tabby and I. So he said yes, and I was actually just trying to change the subject, and then he left and here you are."

"That's all that happened?" I asked.

"Yeah that's basically it."

"He bought everything you said?" Riley asked him to be sure.

"Mhm. Well he looked like he did. He didn't ask anything else as he was leaving."

"Right, okay. Normally they can tell when others are lying or not. They are fantastic analysts. Adam must be more gullible than I had originally thought. This is excellent."

"What's going on ya'll?" Tabby asked frantically trying to keep up.

We were only mildly aware that she was with us. How well could she really keep a secret?

"We're just worried about how safe Lia really is around Adam. Yesterday he got quite upset at her accusations." Riley said smoothly.

Emmit shot him a why-can't-we-tell-her? look and Riley gave him an I'll-tell-you-later look back.

"Oh, okay. Yeah that was a little scary."

"It was. And we can't tell anyone about any of this okay? We don't want anyone else to worry for our Lia's safety." Riley told her. He was so good at it. I loved the way he said 'our Lia.'

I smiled softly at him and he pulled me close.

"What time is it?" Tabby asked.

"It's one o'clock. Are you hungry?" I asked.

"No, I gotta go to my little sister's softball game. She's 15."

"Oh ok." I said.

"Do ya'll want to come?"

"Sure, why not? We've got nothing else to do." I said. I knew Emmit would be OK with it because Tabby was there and I knew Riley would do whatever I did without complaint.

Emmit came over and whispered in my ear, "You want to go to a softball game? You hate sports."

"I know, but I need to get out of the house and Riley won't be too bored with this." I whispered.

He smiled and nodded.

17. Softball.

We sat in the bench closest to the field, Emmit and Riley got us all hotdogs and sodas for lunch.

"Keilyn!" Tabby yelled to the young blonde, cute player.

The girl waved at Tabby and ran over to us.

"Ya'll this is my little sister Keilyn." She introduced us, "And Keilyn, this is Emmit, my boyfriend I've been telling you all about." Emmit smiled at her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He told Keilyn. He could be a charmer when he wanted to be.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too! And you must be Cecilia." She said looking at me, then Riley, "And you're Riley, Lia's boyfriend. Right?"

"Yes, that's right." I told her, "It's nice to meet you, Keilyn."

She grinned at us widely, "It's so nice to meet ya'll. Tabby talks about you all the time. Are you staying to watch the game?"
"Yes, we are." Riley told her.

She smiled and walked away gracefully.

"She is so much more pleasant than my sister." Riley said stunned.

Emmit and I laughed.

"Who's your sister?" Tabby asked.

"She's your sister's age. Her name's Arabella."

"Your sister is Arabella?" She asked, "I had no idea!"

"You know her?"

"She's Keilyn's best friend! Hasn't she ever told you about Keilyn?"

"Um, I don't talk to her much. She's…Well, she's harder to talk to. Let's put it that way."

I rubbed Riley's back in effort to comfort him. I knew it wasn't easy having a sister like Arabella. Arabella was ridiculously gorgeous and she knew it. Keilyn was ridiculously gorgeous too, but she didn't let it get to her head.

"Now that I think about it, you two do look a lot alike, except the eyes. Hers are chocolate brown, but yours are...vibrant blue…"

"Um, hey, Tabby, do you want to go see if the kids haven't eaten all of the ice-cream from the stand? We should seriously get some." I said quickly.

"You're right!"

Riley squeezed my hand as I rose to walk with Tabby.

"Your sister's quite friendly." I told her.

"She's great. Arabella's lovely too, despite how Riley feels."

"She is lovely, she just let's her loveliness go to her head."

"She can be quite charming once you get to talking to her."

"I hope Riley finds that out for himself one day. He loves her and tries to protect her, but she feels squashed by the older brother thing. I can tell. I know how it feels."

She gave my shoulders a squeeze as we ordered 4 vanilla cones and took them back to our ice-cream loving boys.

The iron-men (our team) beat the opposing team by…well, a lot.

Keilyn was just glad that they all had fun, and won, and that Arabella was right by the fence cheering her on every bit of the way.

"Hey, Arabella." Riley said.

"Oh, Hi again. What are you doing here?"

"Well, as it turns out, Emmit is dating Tabby."

"Tabby? Keilyn's sister?"
"Yes. So we came to the game. And Lia and Tabby are quite good friends as well."

I looked up at him with a confused face.
"Right, okay." She glanced around us quickly, "Gotta run."

"Hey, Keilyn! Great playing! Change and meet me, well you know where!"

Keilyn gave her the thumbs up and Arabella ran off with a boy who looked to be her age.

"He must be Josh." I said to myself, although Riley heard…and watched them.

"Mhm."

Riley and I were both curious as to where 'you know where' was.

We quickly told Emmit and Tabby that we'd be right back and we followed Arabella quietly. It probably would have been easier to follow Keilyn, since she's nicer, but we followed Arabella instead.

Arabella weaved her way through hall after hall of our high school and eventually came to a small door hidden behind rows of shelves.

She knocked three times and whispered a muffled, "angeli caduti" through the door and it promptly opened as she disappeared into the strange, small room.

Riley and I would need to look like fifteen year olds if we were ever to get in. I ran to the bathroom and threw on loads of eyeliner, like Keilyn and Arabella wore and then ripped my jeans and put my hair in a messy pony tail. I actually looked completely different.

I came out of the bathroom to find Riley in baggy oversized jeans down to his knees and a long red shirt with a weird hat on his head. He wore contacts, making his eyes a shade of gray. He looked like Riley, but at the same time, he didn't look at all like Riley.

"Lia?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, it's me. What are you wearing?" I asked laughing.

"I found it in one of the kid's lockers." He grinned, "I'm gonna return it though." I smelled him, he smelled amazing. Not his usual smell, this was a very thick cologne.

"Where'd you get all of that makeup?" He asked still staring at me.

"I carry it around. I've never worn this much though."

"I almost didn't recognize you, but we do look like freshman."

"Think Arabella and Keilyn will recognize us?"

"Not a chance."

We walked quietly to the door, and knocked softly. We said 'angeli caduti" just as Arabella had said and the door swiftly opened with not even a faint creak.

Riley motioned for me to go first, as I bravely stepped through the door not knowing what was ahead of me.

18. The Coterie.

A hooded figure who looked to be the size of a junior ignited a small fire and glanced at us all. I was a bit worried about the whole starting a fire in the school business, but by the looks of the ashes, they had done this several times before.

"Where is young Keilyn?" The raspy voice demanded from under his hood.

"She is coming, master." Arabella told him solemnly.

"Excellent."

Keilyn suddenly walked through the door with her ripped jeans and messy hair, overdone eyeliner and studded jewelry. She almost looked like Arabella except the lighter colored skin and blond hair.

"Greetings, dear Keilyn. We can now get started." The hooded figure chuckled a darkly as Keilyn sat promptly at his side. I looked to the other side of him and there sat Arabella, who didn't recognize us at all.

The voice started mumbling in a foreign language as he threw strange powders into the fire, making the flames rise only slightly higher with each throw.

"Le creature che così malvagio cerchiamo di ucciderli prima che ci divorano queste creature sono dei draghi

così malvagie dall'inferno formano un esercito, faremo per andare contro bestie così sporche."

His mumbling in fierce Italian continued as he preformed his terrifying rituals.

Riley squeezed my hand.

The figure removed his hood in one swift motion and a frightened chill ran down my spine. His cold, red eyes shone brilliantly in the small fire that he had ignited. His mangled hair had fallen over his flawless face and his laugh was as maniacal as that of Adam's.

He turned to Arabella, "Who is your leader, dear one?"

"You are, my Edgar." Another chill went up my spine as I heard the familiar name of the crazed Edgar. My mind went mad piecing every thing together.

He turned to Keilyn who sat to his left, "And you, my rose?"

"You are my master, great one."

"I am your leader, children." The voice, now seemed even darker than before now that I had managed to figure out who he was precisely, "I will lead you on to a better life if you choose to follow me."

"Will you choose to follow me?"

Arabella and Keilyn replied with an, "I will, master." Riley and I nodded grimly and falsely. I suddenly prayed that Edgar wouldn't be able to smell Riley. His dragon smell, that is.

"Dear ones, we shall form a pact, an army and side against the evil forces. The lizards, the dragons, are our enemies and they must be destroyed in order for us to live harmoniously." I cringed.

"You there." He pointed to me. Keilyn and Arabella's cold gazes fell on me and to my great relief they didn't recognize me.

"Yes, master?" I asked, pleased that I could fake so well.

"You are new to our coterie; would I be correct in saying this?"

"You would, master."

"Dearest child, how is it so that you should so quickly proclaim me as master?"

"This I cannot answer, you are simply my master." I said almost believing myself.

He flashed a grim, accepting smile, daunting me before proceeding, "Tomorrow our ceremony shall begin and I shall transform you all into an army fit for combat."

He smiled and his teeth glowed in the faint light of the crepuscular room.

He swiftly hooded himself again and threw more powder into the wavering fire. He mumbled again grimly before saying 'angeli caduti.'

Riley and I crept out of the room, trying not to be seen. For the first time I could see fear in Riley's eyes. I'm sure he saw the fear in mine. For the first time, I was so scared I couldn't even cry.

"Let's change, Lia. Before Keilyn and Arabella come to recognize us."

I nodded slowly trying to keep steady. I was afraid to go into the bathroom alone, but knew Riley would be waiting for me. I scrubbed off all of the makeup and put on a very faint line as I normally do and patched my clothes together as best I could with some safety pins I carry around. I let my hair down and brushed through it with my fingers. I looked nearly the same as before, except the ripped jeans. I would tell people that I tripped. Knowing me, they'd believe it.

I walked out of the bathroom to find Riley smelling like his normal self, wearing his normal clothes and with no hat and blue eyes.

Arabella walked out suddenly with Keilyn.

"What are you doing here?" Arabella demanded and Keilyn smiled, clearly clueless that we were at their 'coterie.'

"Aw, I had too much soda." I said quickly.

Arabella rolled her eyes and left, pulling smiling Keilyn with her.

Riley and I went straight to my house without going to look for Tabby and Emmit. He drove slowly this time.

"I can't believe…Arabella…" His eyes welling.

"If Arabella is in that group, then Edgar must know about us. She must have told Edgar. He must have started that group then knowing that we were in the school. If she told Edgar, than in order to coax Keilyn into their formation, she must have told her too. Meaning all of us know but Tabby." He said still staring ahead. I rubbed his arm, trying to comfort him and myself simultaneously.

"I knew she hated me, but I didn't know it was like this." He kept on.

"How can Edgar still be here? He's Adam's father." I asked.

"Vampires are immortal too. They take on immortality at whatever age they are transformed. There are no natural born vampires. Adam was created by Edgar. That's why they are the same age. And did you hear them? Tomorrow, Edgar is transforming them all into vampires to attack us."

"But will he do it if Keilyn wasn't there?" I asked thinking out loud.

"What?"

"At the beginning of the…meeting, Edgar asked where Keilyn was. He didn't start until she came."

"Of course! Keilyn and Arabella are so favored by Edgar for ratting out dragons and starting the coterie. I don't know how I didn't see it."

"My thoughts exactly." I said.

"So if we can distract Keilyn so that she can't go, the ceremony won't take place."

"Yeah."

"Maybe I can distract Arabella as well." He said thinking.

"How?"

"Arabella never leaves the house without her cell." He smiled sheepishly, "Would it be childish of me to hide it?"

"Not considering the circumstances,"

"Why are they doing this so soon?" I asked.

"Adam must have said something to Edgar about you hanging around me so much. I'm sure he's afraid that I'll turn you into a dragon and you can help us defeat them in one swift movement. Thus- the army of them."

"So turn me into a dragon so I can help you!" I shouted.

To my disbelief he actually thought about it for one minute.

"I can't do that. Especially now that we are being hunted, it's far too dangerous."

"Ok, I can sort of understand that." I said admittedly.

"Thank you."

"Lia, we cannot tell Emmit about any of this."

"Why?"

"You think he'll like that Tabby is the only one left out? No, he'll tell her. She'll say something to her sister and it'll never be like it is now. It's dangerous now, but it'll make this seem like a walk in the park."

"Oh, ok I get it."

"I can't believe what's happening and how fast it's happening."

"Did you tell your mom?"

"Yeah, I told her while you were still changing."

I nodded grimly.

"She's worried. Especially for you. Now I've brought you into all of this dragon mess."

"Don't you dare apologize again, Riley Evans."

He chuckled, "Yes ma'am."

"So whose cologne were you wearing back there?"

"Oh my gosh. That stuff reeked didn't it? I really didn't want to wear it but it was necessary to try and hide my dragon smell. I had a gut feeling that it couldn't hurt."

"That explains so much, but you didn't answer the question."

"I took it from the same kid's locker. The one who I borrowed the clothes from."

"I don't know, I thought it smelled kind of nice." I said honestly.

"You have a human nose, Lia."

I thought on that. It was true, obviously my nose was human.

I sighed a long, drawn out sigh, "Typically."

He lifted my hand and kissed it, keeping his other hand on the steering wheel steadily.

That night, even with Riley in sight, I worried without ceasing. What if in a few days Riley wasn't there to protect me? What would happen? I'd let myself die. I couldn't imagine a life without Riley. It'd be like a sunless day. It would all be dark and there would be no hope. Living would be pointless without him next to me. I crept out of bed, bringing my pillow and blanket with me and lay next to Riley.

He woke up suddenly, "Lia, what's wrong?"

"I can't sleep."

"Why?"

"I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow…" tears started forming as I thought about possible outcomes.

He brushed the tears off of my cheeks and whispered, "It's all going to be OK, Lia."

His warm, cinnamon breath felt lovely against my cold face. His words were so simple, but so confidently said, I believed every word.

"C'mon." he said getting up and pulling me with him.

"Grab the blanket." I did as he said.

We snuck outside and he threw the blanket on the soft grass. We laid down and I bundled my head into his chest.

"I love looking at the stars. It's so calming. It's like no matter what happens, the stars are dependable. They'll always come out at night." He whispered, "Ok, I wanted to show you something."

He pulled out papers from underneath him, how they got there, I didn't know.

"What are you-?"

"Shh." He whispered, "Look."

I looked at the papers which showed a constellation and a star named "Cecilia" right there.

"You…you…you named a star after me?"

"Yes. And look where it is."

He pointed to a few stars in a slinky line.

"Do you know what constellation that is?" He asked softly.

"Is it Draco?"

"Yes, that's right. Draco, the dragon. And look here."

He pointed to what looked to be the heart of Draco, the dragon.

"That's Cecilia, right in the heart of the dragon."

"I'm in the heart of the dragon?"

"Yes. It's now in the stars to prove it, the always dependable stars. Whatever you do, Lia, whatever happens to me, whatever I do…you'll always be in the heart of the dragon."

I started to cry uncontrollable sobs, thankfully they were quiet sobs, so I didn't wake up the whole neighborhood.

He sat up, pulled me with him, tilted my head up to his and kissed me gently and my crying stopped instantly, like an infant being fed.

I loved how in the middle of our kiss I could feel him smiling. He pulled away slowly, "Do you trust me?"

"More than anything." I whispered.

"Please, don't worry, Lia. Please say you won't. I'll never let anything happen to you, I swear I won't. If anything happened to you…" he trailed off looking away.

I gently put my hand up to make him face me.

"I'm not worrying anymore, not with you. But I never worried about me. What if something happens to you, Riley? I'd never be able to live again."

He kissed me again.

"That's my promise to you, Lia. I'll never let anything happen to either of us."

I buried my head into his warm chest. He was so comforting.

I fell asleep in that same position against Riley, and he fell asleep holding me.

I awoke suddenly to feel water spraying all over me. Riley woke up with a jolt too.

I turned around quickly to see Emmit behind us rolling on the ground laughing so hard. In his hand was the remote to the sprinklers.

"Y-You should have s-s-seen your faces!" He could hardly speak.

"Emmit, I'm gonna kill you when I get dry!" I growled at him.

"Lia, enjoy it." Riley laid against the blanket as I watched water droplets run down his perfect face.

Emmit was having fits of laughter watching me. I probably looked so odd right now, in my pajamas, soaking wet, lying in the middle of the yard.

"Anyway, I made breakfast." Emmit said when he regained poise.

Riley and I jumped up the second he said breakfast. I was famished.

"What are we having?" I asked anxiously.

"Cereal." Emmit laughed.

I sighed, "Of course you didn't make real breakfast."

"I'll make you something if you don't want cereal, love." Riley said.

"Of course you will, lover boy!"

Riley ignored him.

"Thanks, but I'll be OK." I assured him not wanting to bother him, "Turn the sprinklers off, Emmit. It looks like it might rain today."

"So?"

"So we don't want the grass to be over-watered."

"Right, okay. I'll do that." He ran to turn them off.

"We need to call Keilyn." Riley said quickly.

"Right. But we have to invite Tabby over so it's not weird."

"Of course."

I dialed Tabby's number using Emmit's napkin that was now stuck to the fridge. I wondered if Mom had seen it, but I doubted it. It was like this wasn't even her house anymore. Maybe I'd catch up with her tonight.

"Hey, Tabs." I said.

"Hey. Lia! What's wrong?" She sounded alarmed.

"Nothing! Don't worry." Biggest lie ever, "Just wanted to know if you and Keilyn wanted to hang out with Riley, Arabella and me?"

"Yeah, sure! Is Emmit coming?"

"Probably."

"Cool! I think Keilyn has some sort of meeting at school. She has this club she's in. It's so cute!"

Oh, yeah, real cute, I thought. She's obviously never seen what they really are.

"Really? Cool. So can you get her to ditch?"

"Oh, probably. I'll call you in 10."

"Awesome."

Click, the line went dead.

"Ok so- now for Arabella."

"How'd you know what she said?"

He only had to point to his ears, "Oh, right…10x the hearing of dogs." I suddenly remembered.

"Hold on one minute." He said. He stood there looking like a statue. His face showed him to be concentrating hard on something.

I wanted to lurch into his arms, but restrained so he could concentrate. He chuckled and came over to embrace me.

"How'd you know?" I asked.

"It's all over your face, Lia. You're not very hard to read, love."

I sighed.

"So what's going on?"

"My mom is hiding Arabella's phone now." He informed me, "Then we're going over to invite her on a trip."

"Where to?"

"That much I don't have planned yet. Any suggestions would be appreciated."

We thought in silence for about 3 minutes before I yelled suddenly,
"I got it!"

Riley didn't even flinch. Emmit, who was walking back into the room, jumped backwards into the wall.

"Give me a freaking heart attack!" He yelled at me.

"Sorry."

"Accepted."

"Emmit, can you go check the weather and tell me what it's gonna be like today?"

"Um, yeah okay." He said confused.

"You need to know the weather?" He asked.

"No, just trying to get him away."

Riley smiled at me proudly.

"So, your idea?"
"Ok so- what do 15 year old girls love more than anything?"

"Eyeliner?"

"Not quite."

"Ok…?"

"Parties, boys and music. We're throwing a party, inviting everyone we can contact, from school of course, and blaring music through the house."

"Not a bad idea. It'll work for Arabella surely. Josh of course has to come. What about if your Mom comes home?"

"Can your Mom distract her? She was talking about how she wants to have tea or something."

"Ok gotcha." He concentrated again before saying, "Done."

"Excellent. Call everyone in your phone book. The party is tonight."

He kissed me swiftly, "You're a genius. I love you."

My breath escaped me, as did speech.

He chuckled and I flushed.

"I regret bringing you into this disaster, but I'm glad it's you. You're the strongest person I know, Lia. You're not afraid of anything. You're fearless. You're smart. We'll get through this on top."

He kissed my forehead and pulled out his phone.

It took me a while to register what was going on, and when it finally did register, I called everyone in my phonebook, searched the yellow pages and used Emmit's phone.

"Hey, Emmit! We're throwing a party!"

"Why?"

"Kicks." I told him, "Put together a playlist?"

"On it!"

I quickly dialed Tabby's number and told her about the party. She arrived right on time with Keilyn and they looked amazing.

Riley and I had replaced all of the light bulbs in our house with blue, red, purple, green, you name it colored bulbs. We had streamers dangling from random places. Chips, soda, punch, the works. We had Emmit's playlist blaring from the stereo and all but a couch and a chair moved out. Our living room looked empty. If Mom came home, it was the end of me.

It seemed like more than fifty people came.

Riley and I left quickly to get Arabella, whose cell phone was missing until we told her mom to give it back.

Riley's Porsche always went so much faster than I expected it to.

"Hello, Bell!" He said as we walked through the house.

Arabella was sitting on the couch looking furious, knowing that she was missing the grim ceremony. I don't think she fully knew what was happening.

I thought it best I stayed back since she didn't like me. I could hear them talking but my mind strayed off thinking about Edgar and Adam. Edgar was doing almost the same thing to the dragons as what had happened to him. I wondered if Edgar was so mad at dragons because of what happened to him. My mind wondered several different directions wondering what would happen. Riley came in interrupting my thoughts with his intoxicating presence.

"Is she coming?" I asked.

"Yeah. She's kind of mad, better knowing that Keilyn's going and she's changing her clothes now."

He grabbed my waist unexpectedly and kissed me, his lips crushing hard into mine.

"What was that for?" I asked breathlessly.

"Impulse. You look quite ravishing standing in my kitchen." He smiled sheepishly.

"Ahem. Let's get this over with. I have somewhere to be." Arabella said impatiently cutting in.

Riley was amused so he kissed me again the same way.

"Ugh, Riley." Arabella was tapping her small size 5 foot at us annoyed.

"Sorry did you want something Arabella?" He asked her for kicks.

"Look am I being brutally forced to go to your retard party or not? Because if not I have to go somewhere else."

"No, you're definitely coming." Riley told her.

"It'll be fun." I told her.

"Yeah, I'm sure it will, Barbie."

Riley leaned over to my ear, "Just ignore her, she doesn't take well to optimism."

"Way ahead of you."

"Ok, let's kick it." Riley said reaching for his keys on the counter.

By the time Riley, Arabella and I got back to the party, even more people were there. It looked like the party was a hit. We found Josh outside waiting for Arabella, so Keilyn probably said something to him.

Josh came and kissed Arabella a little too passionately for a freshman relationship and walking away was all Riley could do to avoid ripping his fragile head off.

"I swear, if that twerp ever gets fresh with Bell, I'll rip his head off and then throw all of his organs to pigeons." Riley spouted. I'd never heard him talk that way.

"Riley, I think you need to sit. C'mon." I let him to a bench.

I kissed him on the cheek, "She can take care of herself. You'll know when she needs you because believe it or not, she will come. Cool it for now, okay?"

He sighed, "Yeah, you're right as usual." He kissed me on my forehead before we went inside.

"Hey ya'll!" Tabby yelled at us, "Thanks so much for inviting us! This party is awesome!"

Keilyn sat with a boy on the couch, talking. She didn't look as unhappy as Arabella was.

"May I have this dance, Mademoiselle?" Riley bowed and extended his hand to hold mine.

"You may." I said giggling. Tabby giggled too watching Riley twirl me around the dance floor.

Riley stopped in the middle of the dance and pulled me close as if to protect me.

I looked over his arms that were curled to tight around me to see none other than Edgar walking through the door.

Riley pulled me closer to where Arabella was sitting. Just close enough to hear her.

Edgar drifted to Arabella's side.

"Arabella. You have neglected to come to the ceremony. Why is it that you would choose to come to this gathering instead of ours?"

"Master, I'm truly sorry. I could not attend the ceremony as I was forced to come here instead of our coterie. Please, forgive me. As I do not wish for you to cause harm to Keilyn or me, I apologize deeply for the both of us, my master."

"Dear child, you are forgiven. But, you must know that next time you skip our ceremony, it shan't wait for you to arrive, and you will no longer be a part of this coterie."

"Yes, master, I understand. It will not happen again."

"I should hope not. The next ceremony shall take place in 3 days. I must depart tomorrow and I will return on the third day. Please inform dear Keilyn."

"I will, sir Edgar."

Edgar smiled at her menacingly and fled out the door as quickly as he arrived.

Riley pulled me even tighter to his chest, although I'm not sure if he did it in order to comfort him or me.

His grip held firm and unwavering until Keilyn walked over to us.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey, Keilyn." Riley greeted her.

"Thanks so much for inviting me to this party, it's so much fun! But have you seen Arabella, Riley?"

"She was with Josh near the staircase the last time I saw her."

"Ok, thanks!"

Arabella suddenly came up from behind her, smiling and covering her eyes.
"Oh there you are!" Keilyn exclaimed.

Arabella laughed and then pulled her over to the wall and looked serious. She must have been telling her about what was to come in only three days time.

"Riley, what now?" I asked.

"I don't know, love. We're going to need something drastic to happen and it has to happen soon. A miracle is what we surely need."

I nodded distressingly.

We had to cut the party short when Riley's mom 'called' him to say that my mom would be home in an hour.

We quickly moved everybody out and Tabby stayed to help clean. Keilyn volunteered to help of course and Arabella even offered to do some. We had used paper plates and plastic cups so, we pretty much just had to throw everything away, change light bulbs, turn music off and clean the snack table. After that, we moved furniture back in and Mom arrived shortly.

"Hello, kids!" she said more cheerfully than normal.

She glanced at Riley who held me close to him, and then ignored as though she didn't care. But, I'm glad she didn't ask questions.

"Emmit, who is this?" she said looking at Tabby.

"Oh, Mom, this is Tabby, my girlfriend."

"Oh, it's nice to meet you finally! Emmit told me all about you!"

"Hi, Mrs. Ryan. It sure is nice to meet you too!" Tabby greeted, "This is my little sister Keilyn. She's best friends with Arabella."

"Hi, Keilyn, it's lovely to meet you too." Then she turned to Arabella,

"Arabella! How are you dear?"

"I'm fine, Mrs. Ryan, thanks." She hugged my mom and Riley looked at her wide-eyed. She did actually have a sweet side.

"So what's going on here?" She asked us.

"Just cleaning," I told her, "When do you have to go back to work?"

"Oh, I don't have to go back to work for a while. I figured I would go shopping and give myself a break. What do you all have planned?"

I marveled at the fact that she had a break and she didn't use it to be around us.

"Oh ok. Well we're just going to hang around here." Emmit told her before I had the chance to scream.

"Actually Riley and I need to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things. We'll see you later, Mom." I kissed her on the cheek before dragging Riley out of the door.

"See you later, Mrs. R!"

"Bye, Riley." Mom called.

20. Shopping.

"Please drive slowly, Riley." I said.

"What's wrong? A sudden grocery shopping trip and now I'm driving at a speed of only forty-five miles-per-hour?"

"Mom. She gets a vacation and she'd rather spend it shopping than at home with us."

He patted my knee soothingly, "Lia, your mom is still grieving. You went through it too, remember? I hardly saw you, unless in the halls at school just briefly, and when I did you were always depressed. You avoided everything too."

I sighed, why did he always have to be so right?!

"So are we really going grocery shopping?" He asked smiling.

"Yeah, we're really out of some things."

"So can I go faster?"

"Riley, the faster you go, the faster we get home and I have to see my mom. Oh, dear." I suddenly remembered Riley.

"What?"

"I hope her vacation isn't too long. What are we going to do about you? She'll wonder why you're sleeping the night every night."

"I got it covered. She thinks my mom's going on vacation. So I'm staying with you, and Arabella's at a friend's."

I smiled at him, "Excellent."

"You don't plan on leaving any time soon?" I asked a little worriedly.

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No!" I almost jumped out of the seat.

"Good, because I wouldn't leave anyway." He smiled at me, "Here we are. Walmart."

"Okay." We found a spot near the front, since hardly anyone was here at this time to fill the lot.

"Ok, so…milk."

"Check!" Riley threw a carton into the cart.

"Cheese."

"On it." Riley said grabbing cheese.

We walked around Wal-Mart, slowly grabbing everything we were in need of.

We waited in the checkout line for a little while since it was the only one operating.

We finally got up to the register when the rain started pouring outside.

No one else was behind us so Riley grabbed my arm suddenly and told the cashier, "We'll be right back."

"What-?"

"C'mon!"

He pulled me out into the middle of the parking lot in the pouring rain and twirled me around dancing. I threw my head back in a delightful laughter as he grinned whirling me and twirling me. Perfect droplets ran down his body and his wet shirt stuck to his muscular body. He dipped me and spun me in all kinds of directions while I laughed like a crazy person. The laughter continued. At that moment, my life seemed beyond perfect.

He twirled us in the direction of the store again and kissed me, grabbing a hold of my face securely and I held onto his shoulders. The rain dripped down my face and ran down to his in perfect order. Then, it was over and we walked into Wal-Mart as men stared at us wondering what was wrong with us and women sighed, smiled and annoyed their husbands about being more like Riley.

Sobbing wet, we thanked the cashier and jumped into Riley's car, still laughing uncontrollably.

Riley was like a (positive) drug for me. He knew exactly how to make me laugh and he knew exactly how to make me feel better.

21. Home again. Home again.

When we drove up the driveway, we found Tabby waiting anxiously in the garage.

"Go back." She demanded.

"What?" I asked.

"You need to go away."

"Why? It's my house!" I was getting angry. Riley held me back.

"Adam is here." She said quietly.

I choked on my words, "W-w-wh-"

"Why?" Riley asked angrily for me.

"I don't know. Emmit's in the house distracting him, but you need to go as quickly as possible. I think he heard your car drive up. Go now!"

We crammed in the car as quickly as possible and Riley slammed on the gas.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"I don't know." He said. His expression showed that he wasn't angry, but concerned.

"I've made such a mess of everything." I groaned.

"What?"

"If it wasn't for me and my stupid emotions getting involved with Adam…"

"No, Lia."

"It's all my fault! I hate myself."

"It is not all your fault! Please, don't ever think that. It's not your fault that Adam came after you, and for the millionth time, you cannot help who you fall in love with. Could you please grasp that?"

"I know I can't help it, but ugh, it just makes me so mad at my emotions. I'm like an emotional cyclone, Riley!"

"You aren't, but you have every reason to be. And I'm sorry you hate yourself. If it's any consolation I hate myself for bringing you into all of this crap. But, despite how much you might hate yourself, I love you ten times that amount."

Tears formed in my eyes. I just couldn't mess up to him.

"Riley, pull over."

He did as I asked, not asking me any questions. I unbuckled and kissed his cheek softly.

"Come on, Riles."

I jumped out of the car and ran and pulled him out of his side.

We weren't too far from my house, but far enough away Adam wasn't going to be finding us.

"Where are we going?"

"The place I go to work things out."

"The Hershey's Ice-cream parlor?"

"How'd you know?!"

"Ha. How do you think Emmit knew? He couldn't figure it out by himself."

"You stalker!" I teased and we laughed together.

"Well, it's not like I- no, I did need to know where you were at all times."

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Climb on." He threw me on his back.

"Riley!" I yelled laughing, "I'm too heavy!"

"Cecilia, don't be absurd."

I laughed.

He ran full throttle with me bouncing on his back, laughing uncontrollably

When we finally got to the parlor, everyone was laughing at us, but we were too busy having fun to care.

Riley, of course being the gentleman, bought us both ice cream and we sat down at my secret spot a couple blocks away in an old tunnel like thing behind the playground.

"I get nervous when you're quiet." Riley said watching me.

"Riley, I'm quiet because I'm eating ice-cream." I said wondering what he was talking about.

"Well, I know, but it makes me wonder what you're thinking."

"I usually tell you what I'm thinking, don't I?"

"Well, yes, but you don't tell me everything and some of the things you aren't telling me is important."

"Well, I'll tell you the important stuff."

"What are you thinking now?"

"Nothing of importance."

"Everything you think is important to me, Lia."

I squeezed his hand, "Ok. I'm thinking about random things."

"Elaborate?"

"Um. Like what's like going to be like after Adam's gone and this whole thing is out of the way?"

"Lia, I'm a dragon. I'm sure we'll have our fair share of threats, but it's not important. You don't need to worry."

"When will you transform me?" I asked him.

"What makes you think I'll transform you?" He cocked an eyebrow and I tried to ignore the swooning feeling that washed over me.

"You'll come around some time." I sighed.

He kissed my forehead, "Give me time to decide, Lia."

"You don't want me forever?"

"Lia! Don't ever for one second think that! I won't be able to live with you gone. I just can't cause you that pain. We've been over this numerous times."

"So you're going to keep me human forever?"

"I don't know."

"What will you do when I die?"

"I'll find a way to kill myself."

"You can't, Riley! Change me and we'll both live happy ever after."

"Don't be so stubborn. I'm still thinking things through."

I growled and it made a loud echo through the long tunnel. I crawled out in an angry huff.

"Cecila…" Riley called.

I ran as soon as I could until the road came to an end.

Suddenly a cool breeze blew through the wind and shook the trees angrily.

"Hello, Lia." A velvet voice came from behind me.

"Adam." His voice had knocked the life from me.

"How are you, Lia?"

"I'm fine. How are you?" I asked keeping my voice as casual as possible and my face from twisting up in fear.

"Missing you, It's been so long."

"It has."

"I hear you've been hanging out with Riley…a lot."

"I have."

"What have you been doing?"

"Why should you care?" I spit at him.

"I'm worried. I love you."

"Well, I don't love you anymore, Adam, okay? It would be easier for me if you would just go about your life and I'll go about mine okay?"

"You all of a sudden don't love me since Riley came into your life?"

"Riley's been my best friend for years and now finally something good has actually happened to me and I don't want you spoiling it."

"Spoiling it? I made life better for you until he came."

"You made me live in constant fear of the dark and being alone Adam!"

He chuckled, "I see what this is about. You still seem to believe that I entered your room at night demonically."

"You did, Adam!" I screamed.

He stared past me icily.

"Hello, Adam." I heard Riley's comforting voice from behind me. He wrapped an arm around me protectively.

"Just go." I said to Adam coldly.

He glared at me and Riley for a long time before turning around and leaving quickly. "

"Ugh, I'm so stupid!" I yelled.

"What?" Riley asked still holding tightly onto me.

"I should never have walked off by myself no matter how mad I was."

"Lia, we aren't prison guards. You can go wherever you like, and we won't follow you…too close behind that is."

I sighed.

"You were unbelievably brave with him." He said softly into my ear.

I leaned into his chest and he cradled me for a few minutes before he carried me off to his car.

He opened the door, "Your chariot awaits, fair maiden."

I smiled and climbed in. It had been a long, tiring day and I was getting tired.

I could feel us pull up into the driveway of the house. And I could feel Riley's warm hands slide under my knees and neck and carry me up to my bed quietly and pulled the sheets over me.

"What happened today?" Riley asked Emmit quietly in my door.

"He just came over and demanded he see Lia. We told him you were still gone, and he stormed off."

Then Riley told him what happened in the park and Emmit shook his head.
"I'm so scared for her." Riley said.

"I think you need to do it, Riley."

"Do what?"

"Turn her into a dragon."

"Emmit, I can't!"

"She needs to be with you forever. She'll kill herself, I know she will, I know her."

Riley sighed, "I can't do it now. Especially now…"

"What's going on?"

"I can't tell you yet, but it's not safe for dragons yet."

"I don't know what's happening. I don't know if I want to, but after whatever it is is over, you have to do it."

"I'll sleep on it."

"Please, for me."
"It's too dangerous and I don't know how she'll turn out. And the pain I would cause her."

"She wants it more than anything, Riles."

Riley sighed and even though I could hear what they were saying, nothing registered in my mind.

My eyes fluttered open in the morning and Riley was watching me sleep, stroking my face.

"Riley?"

"Shhh."

"What's wrong?"

"You were having a nightmare, so I came over here to comfort you, love. Don't be alarmed."

I sat up and brushed my hair through with my fingers.

"Stop." He said grabbing my hand, "You already look lovely."

"Lia, I've been thinking."

"About what?" I asked stretching.

"About turning you into a dragon."

He caught me off guard and I stared at him dead silent.

"And?"

"And I know I couldn't live without you. And I don't want to, but I do want to live and be with you. I'll…I'll do it."

Tears formed in my eyes. "You'll do it?"

He hugged me, "Yeah, I will. I'll have to be really strong. I can't imagine it, but maybe you'll forgive me in the end."

"I love you, Riley."

"You'll literally have my heart soon." He said softly, thinking out loud and looking away.

"When will you do it?"

He turned to face me, "I'll do it when this vampire thing is over. Once Edgar is gone. He'll come after you. Newborn dragons are entirely vulnerable."

"I never thought you'd actually do it."

"Emmit thinks I should. He doesn't care if I don't turn him into a dragon, he just wants you to be happy. We all love you more than words can express, Lia. I'm so worried of what this is going to do to you."

"But I always surprise you." I said recalling his words.

"That you do, love." He said nuzzling into my neck.

Riley stood perfectly still for a moment.

"No!" He wailed and cried in an unnatural way. I didn't know what was going on, but something had upset him so terribly he cried in pain.

22. Red eyes.

"What?!" I asked jumping.

"It's Bell. Her eyes aren't brown anymore. They're red. We need to go now."

"No. Oh, dear God, please no." I prayed in a whisper.

I threw jeans on quickly and just kept the t-shirt that I was wearing on and Riley waited in the car.

It didn't even take a minute to get to Riley's since he was so worried for Arabella. Neither one of us knew what was happening. Edgar was out of town, so he couldn't have done anything.

Adeline came running out of the house. Riley was fuming mad and extremely upset.

"Riley, calm down. It's definitely not what you think."

She told him something and then he relaxed slowly and smiled. I had no idea what was going on amidst their private conversations in their heads.

"Well, I only saw Arabella's eyes at the moment. Now I know." He said out loud to his mom.

"Riley, be careful. She's mad beyond words at the situation."

Riley walked over and explained things to me in a low voice.

"It's not what we thought. Arabella is a late bloomer. Her dragon powers have been bestowed. We don't know how or why, but we don't care because the timing couldn't have been more perfect."

"Are you serious?!" I asked.

"This is actually great. Once you're a dragon, there's no turning back. She's mad because she hates us. She has no choice now though." He smiled sheepishly, my favorite way he smiled.

We walked in casually.

"Arabella?" He called.
"Hi, Riley."

"How are you?"

"I'm freaking livid. How can I be a dragon?! I hate those filthy creatures."

"Calm down. It's pretty cool. Better than being a vampire."

"What?!" She screamed and he backed off.

I gaped at her bright red eyes.

"Yeah, Barbie! My eyes are red." She yelled at me.

Which meant her scales were red. She'd have to wear colored contacts all of her life. That would be awful.

She was yelling at Riley in her mind, I could tell because she glared at him and he smiled smugly. Suddenly she sobbed long and hard and Riley held her. I walked over and sat with her, rubbing her back and to my great surprise, she didn't shrug me off.

"How…How can this be happening to me? It's too late. I'm fifteen! That means I'll be immortal when I'm twenty-five."

She wasn't a dragon, but she knew all about them.

"That's right. Which means you'll be my older sister." Riley tried to comfort her.

"You're right! You're right! I will be your older sister. That's kind of cool." She started to perk up.

"I guess…I guess it's not so bad. I mean- is being a dragon…what's it like?" She asked Riley.

"It's the best." He said smiling at her. Her red eyes glowed and intimidated me.

"What am I going to do about…?"

"Quit."

"How did you know?" She asked cocking one eyebrow at Riley. I secretly wished I could do that.

"I'm not as stupid as you may think, Bell."

"It's almost like I tried to kill myself." She thought long and hard and mumbled odd things quietly. Then she suddenly burst out in more uneven, hard sobs.

"Riley…I'm so…so sorry. I can't believe what I've done. I'm going to be the death of us." She said genuinely.

"No, we won't let that happen. We'll get through this, Bell. We will. We'll fight together."

"I tried to kill you, Riles. I'm so sorry…to you and to Lia."

I rubbed her back, my way of letting her know that it was ok. All of it was ok and that we'd be fine.

"Edgar is a monster. I don't know what will happen to us all. His powers are unlike that of another vampire. They are stronger. He's lethal." She said looking away, "And he's creating an army."

"He won't start anything if you don't show." I whispered.

"Let's go to Wal-Mart and find you some contacts." Riley said and we both welcomed the subject change.

"I have to wait here alone?" She asked paranoid.

"Mom's here." Riley told her grabbing his keys.

She nodded slowly.

I sighed. "I can't believe it." I said once we were both in the car.

"The timing is impeccable."

"It is."

"What's your take on all of it?"

"She's your sister, Riley. You're probably in more shock than I."

"Doubtful. I'm used to dragon things. Sometimes things don't work out the way things are planned."

"What color are we getting her?" I asked.

"Brown. Edgar still needs to believe that she's human. It's a lot of work covering her up, but I have to for the plan I'm working up."

"Riley what color do you think I'll be?"

He smiled, "I don't know. Hopefully not pink. Pink dragons are the worst. They're like human blondes. Once you go pink, something happens to you. It's bizarre."

I had to laugh at that. Pink dragons were like blondes.

"So if let's say, Tabby, were a dragon, she'd be pink?"

"Probably." We laughed, his low voice and my high voice perfectly harmonized.

"Hi, can you direct us to the contacts please?" Riley asked the unmistakably unhappy Wal-mart worker.

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe in the med section?"

"Um, thanks." I said and we walked away, Riley's arm draped on my shoulder.

"Why does everyone seem to hate their job?" Riley asked disbelieving.

"The world is an unhappy place." I said.

"Not anymore, since you came." He said. I twirled into his arms and hugged him before we finally found the brown contacts.

It was all like a dream. A crazy, tragic, weird, annoying, unbelievably wonderful dream.

I grinned widely thinking about it all. When all of this was over, I'd be a dragon. Unbelievable. Only a few days, or weeks, I can't remember how long it's been, I didn't know dragons existed. I had no possible idea that Riley was a dragon and now I was going to be one. He had finally agreed.

"What is it?" Riley asked smiling at my smile.

"Nothing." I said blandly and laughed to myself. I knew Riley was stressing about Edgar and what would happen, even though he told me it was OK. And I knew he didn't want to have to turn me into a dragon, the girl he loves to be set on fire by himself. And I knew my sheer happiness would concern him, so I decided to keep it to myself this time.

Riley's smile faded quickly, "Adam."

"What?"

"Adam is at Wal-mart. He wasn't following, don't fret. He came here on his own, but he smells you. He's on his way now."

"How far?"

"Not."

"Hi, Lia." Came a spine-chilling voice from behind. Riley involuntarily grabbed me in a protective stance.

"Hi, Adam."

"Relax. I was just shopping when I saw you and decided to come over and say hi."

"Riley…why don't you go to buy these?" I said handing him the contacts. He looked at me like I was mad.

"It will be ok. I just need to talk to him." I told him.

He nodded slowly and walked off, "Bye, Adam." He said.

Adam grinned looking triumphant. I cringed at the sight of his sharp teeth.

"So…what's this about Riley?"

"Oh haven't you heard?" I asked mockingly, "Riley is my boyfriend. I love him more than I ever loved you." I said. It spilled out of my mouth before I could stop it. I don't know why I felt the need to taunt the monster.

He chuckled, "Do you now?"

"I do." I said matter-of-factly.

"So, we're really done? Just like that? We didn't even go out for a week."

"I thought I made that perfectly clear, Adam. A week…maybe that's why it wasn't hard to say goodbye. Or maybe it's because you're so fake."

He laughed at that too. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll definitely be seeing you, Lia." He smiled darkly. I reactively flinched in fear. Riley felt it (another dragon thing I suppose) and ran to my side.

"Feeling brave?" Riley asked smiling.

"I can't believe I taunted him like that. How stupid of me."

"It's ok. It's not that big a deal, I'm just stunned you did it. You actually had the courage to do it. I keep expecting you to run."

"You can't get rid of me that easily, Riley."

He smiled in admiration as I walked ahead of him down the isle.

"Let's get these to Arabella before she goes stir crazy." I said.

"Right."

"I'm sure she appreciates this," he said in the checkout line.

"Sorry?"

"Bell. I'm sure she appreciates what we're doing for her. That you're here. She wouldn't admit it, but I think she does."

I smiled at him, but remained quiet.

23. Engagement.

"Bell. We've got your contacts."

"Excellent." She said coming into the kitchen, her bright red eyes startled me upon first glance.

"I'm not used to them either." She told me apologetically. It was the first time she had spoken to me without a tinge of disdain in her soft voice.

"So, I've been working up a plan." Riley said to us as he came closer towards me.

"And?" Bell asked.

"It involves considerable effort on your part, Bell."

I looked at him intently but said nothing.

"Bell, I need you to try your best to smell human. I'll coach you on pretending to be human. It's not that hard, honestly. Anyway- you'll act as you always act around Edgar,"

I cringed, but Riley continued, "and when he's about to transform you, you'll change form. I'll be hiding and I'll transform. Mom will do the same."

"But there's only three of us?" Bell stated as more of a question.

"Isn't it just Adam and Edgar?" Riley asked.

"Yes."

"We can take them." I listened as Riley gave Bell pointers on how to act more human. Fidget, blink, shift, etc.

"We have 2 more days to consider my plan more thoroughly."

"How do you know all of this, Riley?" Bell asked cautiously.

"I was worried, I followed." He admitted.

She just stared at him.

"You aren't mad?" I asked.

"No. I would be normally, but I suppose it was a rational worry."

"It was, thank you." He said sounding a bit miffed.

He turned to me, "I'm going to call Emmit and tell him we won't be back for a while."

I nodded and he left the room.

"What's it like?" I asked Arabella, "Being a 'newborn'?"

"It's weird. I didn't go through any pain like un-naturals do, I just woke up and screamed. Mom came up and I was yelling and crying and then she called Riley, who thought…well, you know."

"Yes, I do."

"It's strange though. Yesterday I hated dragons. I was human, waiting to be a vampire so that I could kill the creatures I hated because I longed to be one, but wasn't. Now it turns out I was just a late bloomer. And we have three natural-borns in the house. Which is odd in and of itself, but also 2 natural born women. Especially odd."

"Riley explained it all."

"When are you gonna be my big sister? Or rather little sister?" She asked smiling like she knew something I didn't.

I blushed, "What?"

"You know- when Riley turns you into a dragon."

"Oh, how'd you know he was planning on it?"

"Oh, c'mon. He's loved you forever, now you're dating, you love him, you know the secrets, he's been telling me all day how he's crazy about you. I know now that I can hear him talking to me in his head. Every smile you ever gave him, I could feel him swoon."

I blushed again. They could feel others feelings? I'd ask Riley later.

"And he said 'I have to do It.' to me as well. So?"

"Once all of the drama is out of the way. He's worried."

"You couldn't believe how worried. It haunts him."

"It's weird how you know everything."

"It's the dragon thing. Sometimes he tells me things absentmindedly, things he doesn't mean to tell me. So, even though it's the first day, I've heard a lot. Mom probably has too."

"Huh." I said thinking.

"And look- I'm really sorry about being so unpleasant. I was just…well, mad and hateful. I'll try to be nicer, little sister." She winked at me and I laughed. It was odd thinking that Riley and I would be twenty-one forever and Arabella would be twenty-five forever. Riley and I would have our happily ever after, after all.

I smiled and Riley came in, looking like a work of art.

"What are you smiling about, love?" he asked chuckling.

"You." I admitted honestly.

He smiled, "That's refreshing."

"Yes." I whispered as he drew me close to his chest again.

Riley chuckled, "We don't have a song."

"The slam of screen doors, sneaking out late tapping on your window…" Bell sung from the living room.

"Not everything is Taylor Swift related, Bell."

"It should be!" She yelled back.

I laughed at them and Riley smiled.

"I love your laugh." He said.

I stopped immediately, "Why?"

"Something about it is very serene. Everything about you is lovely."

I blushed, "The clumsiness is not lovely." I argued. I could have named a million other things about myself that weren't lovely, but that was the first thing to came to my mind.

"Ah, but it is. Because then I can pick you up again." He smiled warmly.

"And how do you know I don't have a song for you?" I asked him.

"You have a song for me, do you?"

"Maybe."

"Aha, and what is this song called?"

"Breathless."

"The Corrs?"

"Yes."

"You're amazing."

"Am I?"

"You are." He laughed, "And I have one for you."

"Do you now?"

"I do actually."

"Got it." Bell yelled from the living room and music blared through the speakers.

"I don't want another pretty face, I don't want just anyone to hold, I don't want my love to go to waste, I want you and your beautiful soul, you're the one I wanna chase. You're the one I wanna hold, I won't let another minute go to waste, I want you and your beautiful soul." He sang along with the music. Jesse McCartney's 'Beautiful Soul'. Riley's singing voice was soft and smooth, similar to his talking voice, but his singing voice had a much more powerful affect on me.

He grabbed my waste and danced with me slowly, my ear aligned with his mouth. His soft voice breezed through my ear, forcing my eyes to close. My hands were gently on his shoulders, I imagined his eyes were closed, although I couldn't see to be sure.

"It's not fair, really." He whispered in my ear.

"What's not fair?" I asked breathlessly.

"That I could have you. I don't deserve such a treasure as you."

"I'm not a prize."

"Of course you aren't, love. That's not at all what I was implying. I meant- all of the other guys don't have anyone nearly as special."

I kissed him quickly before saying, "So I gave you a song, and you gave me a song, but we still don't have our song."

"Mhm. We'll have to think of one, it needs to be perfect."

"I most undoubtedly agree."

"Excellent. But, we can do that later." He whispered kissing me again softly. He was always careful not to apply too much force, since he was much stronger than I and could crush me in an instant.

He pulled away looking serious, "Lia, I've been thinking about turning you into a dragon…"

"What?"

"And I want you to do something for me before that."

"Anything." I told him.

"Will you marry me?"

"Excuse me?"

He got down on one knee, "Cecilia Ryan, will you marry me?"

"Riley, you can't be serious."

"Lia, I'm dead serious."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to marry me?"

"I love you, I've always loved you, I will always love you, you will be the only person I have and will ever love."

"But, I'm only seventeen. You're only eighteen."

"Why does age matter? Lia, we'll be twenty-one for the rest of our lives," He squeezed my hands and looked into my eyes, "We could start our life together, Lia. As dragons. Imagine it."

"What about my mom?"

"Lia, we are our own people. What about your Mom?"

My eyes danced around him, of course I did want to marry him more than anything in the world, even more than becoming a dragon. And that would come too. But there were so many things to worry about.

"I'm scared."
"Me too. We're supposed to be."
"What if I fall?"

"I'll pick you up."

"What if you drop me?"

"I have wings." He said smiling.

This opportunity will never come again, You can't turn him down. You love him more than anyone you've ever loved. I told myself.

I laughed and threw my head back delightfully.

"Yes, Riley. Yes." I yelled.

Riley laughed with me and kissed me again. Bell shrieked with delight. It was amazing at how pleasant her behavior had become in just a day.

"You knew?" I asked Bell.

She nodded, "That's right, lil' sister." She laughed.

"Does Emmit…?" I asked trailing off.

"Of course, love." Riley said, "Now you know for a fact I will never leave you."

"I never thought you would." I said.

"It seems like you doubt it sometimes."

"I never do, love." I said.

He danced with me a little more before looking down in my eyes, "So, I was thinking you can come ring shopping with me. I've known you for so long, but it's very complicated trying to pick out the ring for the most perfect bride."

I wanted to sneer, but forgot how when he looked at me with such sincere eyes, "Riley, don't get me a ring."

"You need a ring. Don't be absurd."

"No, I don't. Marrying you is enough. Besides- what's a ring for anyway? Commitment? I already have that. Proof? Who are we trying to prove to? There's really no point."

"How are we going to tell my mom?" I asked suddenly.

"Aha, I've taken care of it."

"What?"

"Well, I went about this traditionally and asked your Mom and Emmit for your hand first."

"And?"

"Well, Lia, clearly they agreed."

"What did my Mom say though?"

"She hesitated. A lot. I honestly thought she was going to say no. She kept saying how we were so young. Then she asked if you were pregnant," Riley have an awkward chuckle.

"She thought I was pregnant?!"

"I believe she asked, 'How else could two teenagers possible have the notion to wed?!' and I said 'We love each other immensely.' And she calmed down after Emmit regained composure from laughing at her pregnant remark and told her that it was true and that we has his blessing, he was happy for us, he knew we were responsible and would never love anyone else…"

"Wow. Some ordeal."

"It was."

"Emmit proved himself to be of some use after all." I said.

Riley laughed, "He did indeed."

"When is the wedding?" I asked.

"Well, after the Edgar thing, as you probably figured out. And then, I figured it's up to you."

"Me?"

"Yes. Well, My mom wants to plan it, if that's ok? I told her you might not want her to, but she's very eager and it's hard to say no."

"No, I'd love for her to plan it."

"Excellent. She'll be thrilled. But I'll turn you into a dragon afterwards." He said grimly.

I grabbed his face, making him look me in the eye.

"I will marry you, Riley. We will be dragons," that sounded odd, "I will love you for as long as I live. You can't do anything to hurt me and believe me when I say this is for the best. Stop. Worrying."

He chuckled, "Yes, ma'am."

"Good." I said firmly.

"You're quite hard to say no to."

"I should hope so. I'll keep you in line better this way." I laughed.

"You certainly will, future Mrs. Evans."

"Ah, that sounds lovely doesn't it?" I asked sighing.

"It does indeed." Riley said brining me to his chest.

"I've a song." Riley said suddenly.

"That fast?"

He tapped his head, "Dragon thinking. We can think of several things at the same time rapidly. Unfortunately- it's Taylor Swift."

"Woo hoo!" Bell yelled, reminding me she was still there, "Oh, that's a good one!" she yelled. It was odd when they read each others thoughts like that.

"She said, I was seven and you were nine. I looked at you like the stars that shined, in the sky, the pretty lights. And our daddies used to joke about the two of us, growing up and falling in love and our mamas smiled. And rolled their eyes and said 'Oh My My My' Take me back to the house in our backyard tree, said you'd beat me up you were bigger than me, you never did, no you never did…" His velvet voice sang and my eyes closed. He swayed me and swayed me until the song came to a close.

"Mary's Song. By Taylor Swift." He whispered, "But, we'll call it Lia's song. It's better suited."

I smiled and kissed him on the cheek, as I usually did when he was being tremendously amazing.

"I'm in shock." I told him, not really paying attention to the fact I was thinking out loud.

"I can't believe you said yes."

"Of course I said yes."

"I love you."

"As I love you." I told him, "And that's why we're getting married at so young."

He laughed, "We should go home, tell Emmit and your mom. Tabby might be there."

It felt good when he said 'home' not 'your home.'

"Gosh, I hope not. It'd make things so much harder to tell Emmit and Mom. She'd scream."

"Arabella did."

"But not like Tabby would. 'Oh my gosh, this is just so great! I just can't believe it all! It happened so fast!'" I said imitating her accent and tone of voice.

"You could be her twin." Riley and I laughed.

Thanks to Riley's terrifying driving, we were home in 2 minutes.

As we walked through the door we found Mom waiting anxiously.

Emmit, however, was in the best of spirits.

"Hey, Lia! When's the baby due?" He laughed as I walked in.

"Shut up, Em." I said, forcing myself to hide my smile.

Riley chuckled.

"So?"

"We're engaged!" I yelled and Riley grabbed my waist from behind.

"When are you getting married?" Mom asked, the first time she had said anything since I came in.
"We're not sure yet. I'll probably leave it in Adeline's capable hands."

"Riley, your mom is planning the wedding?"

"She wanted to, and I figured it wouldn't be very fun planning your own wedding, so, Lia agreed."

"I can't believe it. You're only seventeen. I'll have to sign something."

"No you won't, Mom. Did you forget my birthday is in September?"

"So the wedding is in September?"

"As soon as possible, Mom. But I don't want you to have to trouble yourself by signing a flipping sheet of paper of consent." I said bitterly and Riley squeezed my shoulder.

"Lia, please." She started.

"No, Mom. I don't see why it's so much trouble for you to get involved in my life. All you do is work. All the time. You sleep at your work. You practically live there. So- forgive me for thinking that it's not that hard for you to sign your name."

Riley stood firmly beside me when most guys would have fled. It was amazing how in a month my life could be so rearranged, I thought.

I could see Emmit's concern spread across his face.

"Mom, can't you understand anything?"

"Lia, it's just that you're so young. You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

"I know exactly what I'm getting myself into," I said looking at Riley, "And I've never been so sure of anything in my entire life."

Mom sighed, which meant she was surrendering, "Okay, honey. I just wish you'd wait a little while. It hasn't been much time."

How would you know?, is what I wanted to say.

"I'm sorry I can't please you." Is what came out instead, slowly and steadily. I ambled up the stairs with Riley close beside me the whole time. Emmit waited for me to leave so he could talk and be reasonable with Mom. It seemed that I couldn't reason with her no matter what I did.

Riley closed the door softly behind us as we walked into my room.

"I don't understand her." I said angrily.

"Give her some time. She's not used to the idea of her baby girl growing up and getting married," He said brushing a strand of hair from my face, "She's still mourning over your Dad, Lia. I think that she's just trying to protect you from being hurt as deeply as she was. She loved him very much."

I sniffed and he hugged me tightly, "As I love you very much."

I remained silent, and I knew he knew that it meant that I loved him every bit as much as he loved me and that I wanted to freeze time and stay in his arms forever.

" 'Good things take time, but really great things happen in the blink of an eye.' It's amazing how one person can suddenly come into your life and change everything so fast."

"I've always been here for you, Lia."

"Thank you for waiting for me, Riley. I've been so stupid."

"No, love, you haven't."

I sighed, "It's only been hardly a month and we're en-en…" I couldn't get the words out.

"Engaged." He chuckled, then got serious, "Lia, this is what you want isn't it? You aren't just saying yes because of how you feel for me now? What happens when we get into an argument? Are you sure about this?"

"I'm sure about you, Riley. I couldn't be more sure in fact. I imagine it'd be hard to find anyone more elated than I at this second."

He kissed me forehead, "And you don't have to worry about anything, okay? My mom is taking care of absolutely everything."

"What about the wedding dress?"

"She's got it."

"She has a wedding dress? We've been engaged for 3 hours and she has a wedding dress?"

"Dragons are quite fast, love. Something you'll learn."

"That explains how we've managed to fall and love and become engaged so fast."

"I've been in love for 13 years, Lia. Since I first met you when I was five. It's not been fast."

I thought about it. I had actually loved him for all that time too, I'd just never noticed it. It was disguised as a brotherly love, but it wasn't.

"Huh." I said to myself. Riley looked at me wondering what I was thinking, but I shot him an I'll-tell-you-some-other-time look and he nodded.

"How do we pull this off? Being twenty-one for ever?"

"It's worked for my Mom. Everyone is amazed at how young she looks though."

"How old is your Mom really?"

"She's claiming 42, but she's only 23."

"She can pull that off?"

"For a couple years. We'll have to move elsewhere soon, start fresh. That's why I asked you to marry me, or one of the reasons…I can't lose you when we move."

I shuddered at the thought of him leaving me.

24. Bridesmaids, Maids of Honor and Pirates.

"Are you cold?" he asked pulling off his jacket and wrapping it around me. It was huge around me, but I sank into it warmly. It smelled amazing, like his cinnamon and pine smell.

I then started to think of the wedding. My wedding. Our wedding.

Who would be my maid of honor? Stephanie had to be. I'd known her for so long and she was certainly a good friend.

"I'm going to make a call."

"Okay." Riley said, reluctant to let go.

"Don't let go of me." I told him, "I'll use my cell."

Riley chuckled, "Good. I didn't want to."

I kissed his cheek quickly before flipping my cell phone open.

"Hey, Steph."

"Oh, hey, Lia! What's up?" The cheery voice on the other line greeted me.

"I was wondering if you'd want to come with me to this thing I have to do?"

"What kind of thing?"

"Oh, this wedding I have to go to. I don't want to go by myself it might be boring."

"Who's getting married?"

"Well, Steph…"

"Yeah?"

"I AM!" I shrieked and Riley laughed.

"SHUT UP!"

"No, I'm serious! Riley and I are engaged!"

"I don't believe it!"

"Will you be my maid of honor?" I asked hopeful.

"Me? Really? Oh my freaking gosh! Of course! When is the wedding?"

"I don't know. He only proposed a couple of hours ago."

"You're so young!"

I sighed, this seemed to be the widely spread argument.

"Yes, but we really love each other. Say you'll do it?"

"Of course I will! I'm so excited for you!"

"Thanks!"

"Love you girl!" she said.

"Love you too, Steph. Bye." I said flipping my phone shut.

I laughed and Riley grinned his heartbreaking smile.

"It's amazing the way girls react to things. It's quite fascinating."

"How so?"

" 'SHUT UP!' " He quoted laughing.

"Ok, Ok. So who's your best man?"

"Emmit of course."

"And how did he react?"

"We'll see, won't we?" He said smiling, "Hey Emmit!"

Emmit was in the room in a matter of seconds.

"Yeah?"

"Be my best man?"
"Really?"

"Yeah, man."

"Cool." He said and left the room.

Riley smiled mischievously.

"That was pitiful." I said, "There was no reaction. I'm glad girls' lives aren't like that. Screaming and overreacting is a lot more fun. You should try it sometime."

Riley smiled and stood up. He started jumping up and down and flailing his arms like a crazy person, "I'm marrying Cecilia Ryan, the most wonderful person in the world!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. I rolled in bursts of laughter on my bed.

Riley sat on the bed, "That was quite fun actually."

"I told you."

"You did." He said brushing my hair behind my ears before kissing me.

"Oh dear." Riley pulled away suddenly.
"What?" I asked worriedly.

"My Dad. What's he gonna say? 'You're ruining your life, and the girl's.'"

"Maybe it won't be so bad when he knows it's me." He sighed.

"Don't worry. That's what you've been telling me." I added after he sighed in a distressed way.

I grabbed the stereo control and hit the play button. 'Mary's Song' by Taylor Swift filled the room, eliminating all feeling of worry.

Riley danced with me as he usually did. I rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes tightly, imagining everything. Imagining the wedding. Imagining our house. Imagining life. Imagining our family.

"Oh my my my." Riley sang. "I'm thinking about everything." He told me in a near whisper.

"As am I."

"Let's just skip the wedding and go straight to starting life together." I said.

"Ah, but, love. The wedding is the first step to life together."

I held on to him and said nothing and that was enough for us. The song faded eventually, but Riley kept rocking us back and forth since we weren't ready to let go of the perfect moment.

"I'm still in shock."

"You will be for a while. As will I." He let go to jump like a crazy fan-girl again.

I sighed, "Oh my, my, my." I smiled up at him, "Whatever will I do with you?"

"You could kiss me for starters."

I kissed him.

"Excellent." He whispered.

"Knock, Knock." We heard faintly from the door.

I sighed in irritation, "Yes, Emmit?"

"I have someone who wants to see you."

I groaned, "Tabby." I whispered.

Riley smiled, "Come on in." I nudged him in the side, giving myself a bruise.

Tabby ran through Emmit's arms that were holding the door open. Emmit laughed and I shot him a nasty look as Tabby screamed.

"Oh my gosh! I just can't believe it! It happened so fast! So young! You've only just met!"

"Tabby, I've known Riley since the kindergarten."

"Well, still so young! This is wonderful!"

I forced a smile, "It is isn't it?"

"I gotta go, Keilyn needs me. Just wanted to say congrats!" She screamed again. Emmit showed her to the door and then came back up.

"It's amazing how girls overact." He said. I laughed.

"You should try it man, it's fun." Riley told him looking at me.

"Yeah, Okay." Emmit said looking at him oddly, "Sometime, but I need to ask Lia a favor."

"Oh, Emmit…what is it?"

"Make Tabby your made of honor?"

"What?! No way. Sorry- I have other friends and I already asked Steph to be."

"Fine. A bridesmaid? It would mean the world to her, Lia, you know that."
"I'm not going to have Tabby as one of my bridesmaids to improve your love life, Emmit."

"Not for me, Lia. For her. Think of what she's done for you."

"Like?"

"She thinks of you as a sister. Maybe you'll be in-laws one day."

"Really?"

"Lia, don't get sidetracked, I don't plan on proposing in the near future. I've only known her for less than a month. So will you do it?"

"Fine. I hate you, Emmit."

"Thank you! I know you do." He said hugging me.

"Yeah, yeah." I grumbled.

"I'm making pizza for dinner. Want some?" He asked.

"You're making pizza, Emmit?" I asked.

"Mhm. Well, Tabby helped…I'm just putting it in the oven." He smiled.

"Yeah, sure, we'll have some." Riley said.

"Where's Mom?" I asked.

"Guess."

"Work?"

"Yep." He said popping the 'p.'

"How typical." I said as Riley rubbed my back.

"I've an idea." Riley said laughing.

He grabbed my bandana and folded it into a long rectangle and placed it over one eye, "Pirates." He said close to my ear.

"Riley, are you serious? We haven't played pirates since first grade."

"Ok, let's be grade schoolers then." He said smiling his infectious smile.

"Ok."

"Aye, bonny lassy." He said in a raspy voice.

We ran out of the room and down the stairs, "We're gonna throw you off the plank, Emmit!" he yelled randomly.

Emmit looked confused and we burst out laughing, running to the "pirate ship." Otherwise known as the bench next to our backyard pond.

"Ok, my name will be 'Cap'n Jack." He told me.

"As in Sparrow?"

"No, as in Cap'n Jack Evans." He smiled.

"Lovely. My name can be Elizabeth."

"As in Swan?" He asked making fun of my silly question.

"Shut up." I said giggly.

"Oy! Pirates don't say shut up!"

"Well then what do they say?"

"I don't know, landlubber."

"Well then, shut up, cackle fruit." I said.

"Did you just call me chicken eggs?" He asked laughing.

"I think I did?" I said more of a question.

"Aye, you did." He said.

"Hey, Riley."

"Aye?"

"I'm a pirate! That I be! I sail me a ship upon the sea!" I started singing.

His grin spread across his face as he sang along,
"I stay up late - till half past three!

And that's a peg below me knee!

Yo Ho, my friends I have a tale

of treasure, plunder, sea and sail

my story's bigger than a whale

it gets so deep, ye'll have to bail.

I'm a pirate! That I be!

I sail me ship upon the sea!

I stay up late - till half past three!

And that's a peg below me knee!

I like to fish, I like to fight

I like to stay up half the night

When I say "starboard" ye go right!

Me ma, she says, "Ye look a fright!"

I'm a pirate! That I be!

I sail me ship upon the sea!

I stay up late - till half past three!

And that's a peg below me knee!

I've got no hand but that's me hook!

I pillage stuff but I'm no crook.

Me booty's in this chest I took.

They'll write about me in a book!

I'm a pirate! That I be!

I sail me ship upon the sea!

I stay up late - till half past three!

And that's a peg below me knee!

And that's all there is to this song.

I hope it hasn't been too long.

A pirate's life might just be wrong

So grow up nice and big and strong!

I'm a pirate! That I be!

I sail me ship upon the sea!

I stay up late - till half past three!

And that's a peg below me knee!"

We threw ourselves on the bench and tried to catch our breath. The next-door kids, who had been watching, applauded our lovely singing.

"Lia?" He said.

"Mhm?"

"You're such a nerd." He smiled and I nudged him.

"That's the only pirate song I know." I said.

"No it isn't… A sailor went to sea, sea, sea… need I go on?"

"No, Riley, you needn't."

"Pizza?"

"I'm starving."

"Hold on, Riley." I said coming over and reaching the bandana off of his eye, "You look quite a sight."

He chuckled, "Thank you, love."

"Well, well. If it isn't the pirate pair." Emmit said as we came in the door.

"Avast ye, landlubber." Riley said.

"You both were very fun to watch." Emmit said.

"You could have joined us." I told him.

"For what? You were prepared to throw me over board." He smiled.

"That we were." Riley said grabbing one of Emmit's slices of pizza the way he did mine.

"Riley, man, just because you're my future brother in law and best friend doesn't mean I won't kill you for stealing my pizza." He smiled.

"Dramatic over pizza, aren't we?" I asked stealing another slice of his pizza.

"Aw, you guys!" He whined, "Get your own pizza, nerds."

"We are not nerds." I protested.

"Oh yeah, your previous pirate performance definitely proved that you aren't nerds." He said and we all burst out in laughter.

"Don't be jealous, Emmit." Riley told him.

"Oh, that I'm not." Em assured him laughing.

"So…you mentioned popping the question to Tabby?" I asked.

"No time soon, Lia. Don't get your hopes up. We're still getting to know each other. We don't spend all of our time together like you love birds and we haven't known each other all of our lives. We never played pirates together." He said raising an eyebrow.

"You must do that. It's very invigorating." I told him.

"Besides, let's not shock Mom, okay? One engagement is enough for her right now. She feels like she's losing her family members apparently."

I sighed, "Well, I don't care. It's not like she cares about me anyway."

Emmit rolled his eyes, "Wake up, Lia. Of course she cares about you, she's just busy. And as Riley said, still grieving."

"How'd you know he said that?" I asked.

"The house echoes, Lia. I hear everything."

"Everything?" I asked.

"Well, I give you your privacy and turn music on."

"Aw, I love you, Em. Clearly you care. You're so respectful."

"Why are you kissing up to me?" He asked.

"I want more pizza." I said mischievously and Riley chuckled.

"Oh, eat your fiancée's." He said.

I stopped dead in my tracks. I had forgotten that I was engaged it sounded so weird.

"Forget you were engaged?"

"For a second, yes. And it just sounded weird to hear it."

"I agree." Riley said, "You can have some of my pizza though if you want it."

"No thanks, love. I just wanted to bother, Emmit. I am capable of getting my own pizza, believe it or not." I said with a tinge of bitterness.

"Calm down, Lia. No one said you weren't." Riley said softly.

"I know. I'm sorry, I'm just trying to get everything straight in my head." I apologized quickly.

"Don't worry, love. It'll take a while to get used to, and we have as long as you want. The end of time." He assured me.
"Riley, I just thought of something. What happens if the person you're turning into a dragon is over the age that the dragon turns immortal?" I asked.

"What?" He asked confused.

"Like if the dragon is already immortal at age 21, what happens to the person he's trying to convert if he's 25?"

"They would die."

"Why?" I asked softly.

"Because the human has 46 chromosomes. Your typical dragon has 22, less than half. If you're too old, your chromosomes get confused somehow, and you die. I don't know why that doesn't happen before the immortality age, but that's how it works. I know- it's all confusing. I'm sorry I can't give you any positive answers." He looked apologetic.

"Don't worry, Riley."

Riley had two years before the immortality age hit. I thought of Emmit. I couldn't live without my older brother. I would have to convince Riley to turn him into a dragon or turn him myself. Of course, I wouldn't mention it to him yet, because if he found out I would turn Emmit into a dragon if I could, he wouldn't change me. But, he wouldn't be causing Emmit pain- I would. And as his sister- that was OK.

I yawned thinking about it all.

"Tired?" Emmit asked, "It's only 8:30."

"I know. It's been yet another crazy day though." I said quietly, eyelids drooping.

"She's right. It's like everything that can possibly happen, good and bad, happens all a once." Riley said.

"It's mostly been good for today. Except seeing Adam." I said.

"You saw Adam?" Emmit asked suddenly looking up from his pizza.

"Grocery store. Nothing happened. Riley was there, so nothing even could have happened." I assured him.

"Lia, I don't know how you get yourself into these messes." Em said.

"This isn't a mess. Riley's handling it coolly."

Emmit sighed.

"You gotta love my crazy, tragic almost magic, messed up, beautiful life." I said smiling, "I certainly do."

"You know, Lia, when I encouraged you to do something with your life, I didn't mean- oh, why don't you go get engaged to my best friend who is also a dragon and be chased around by a blood lusting vampire."

"I know…but, this is way more fun."

"Lovely." He said sarcastically.

"Can I go to bed now?" I asked.

"Of course you can." Riley said walking with me upstairs.

"Goodnight my little engaged couple." Emmit said in a cutesy voice, "They grow up so fast."

"Night, Em." We said simultaneously.

I very drowsily put of my pajamas, brushed my teeth and washed my face before going to bed. Riley kissed me goodnight and then he went to bed.

"We've got a lot to do tomorrow too. Lot's of planning…Edgar is back the day after tomorrow." He said, sitting on the edge of my bed brushing the hair behind my ears.

"Mmm." I mumbled.

"Sleep well, my love. Dream happy dreams." He said kissing my forehead.

"Goodnight, Riles."

"Night, Lia."

25. Adam's not afraid.

That night I woke up to feel a cold breathing on my neck. I felt a chill go down my spine as I looked up to see Adam's phantom standing over me, glaring at me with his crimson eyes. They glowed down at me and glinted when he glanced around my face.

"Hello, Cecilia." He whispered menacingly.

I remained perfectly still in fright, chilled to the core as he pecked my neck that I had been covering up with my comforter.

My breathing was uneven as I watched him in horror as he got up and paced my room.

I jumped in shock when Riley pounced through the door and the phantom disappeared with the cool breeze that always swept over me when he was there. I stayed horrified in my covers as Riley looked around the room for anything out of order quickly before coming over to me.

"Lia, are you ok?"

"Riley. He was here. He…he came over…"

"I know, love. I could smell him."

I clung to his chest, pulling his shirt so hard it might have ripped.

"Why did he come back? Didn't he know you were here?"

I said calming down.

"I don't know. He must have known. He must not be worried anymore. Maybe it's a taunt. He knows they'll have an 'army' soon I suppose." Riley said, his voice unwavering.

Riley held me tightly for as long as I wanted.

"Thank you, Riley, again."

"What for?"

"Well you could have not come back after I hurt you. If it weren't for you I would be dead."

"There's no way that I couldn't have come back, Lia. Didn't you hear me when I said that I've always loved you? Don't you understand that?"

"Yes, Riley, I do. But I don't understand why you love me. Of all the random people in the world…"

"You aren't a random person. I love you and will never love any one else. I did ask you to marry me, didn't I?"

"You did." I sighed.

"And you agreed, did you not?"

"I did."

"And are you having second thoughts?"

"Riley!" I said looking up at him in sheer horror, "Of course not."

"Then, we're all set."

"Will he come back again?" I asked.

"I don't know."

"Will he come back after I'm a dragon? To haunt me? Forever?"

"I doubt it. But, really it depends on why he's 'haunting' you now."

"Riley, don't leave me. I can't sleep. Please don't leave me."

"Lia, have you ever known me to leave you in the past? I'll stay with you for as long as you want me."

"Then you'll never leave." I whispered, loosening my grip on his shirt, and then sitting upright.

He pulled me back to his chest, "Don't you dare let go of me." He said smiling, "We should be quiet. We'll wake Emmit."

I scoffed, "It would take a train to run over him to wake him."

Riley thought about that, "He is a deep sleeper, huh?"

"Very deep."

"What should we do?" he asked.

"Let's go outside and watch the stars again."

Riley smiled as he stood, "Okay."

I stood outside staring at my star. The star Riley had named after me, right in the heart of Draco. My star. That symbolized me being in Riley's heart, which symbolized his love for me.

I rested my head on his warm shoulder and he leaned down to kiss the top of my head, his warm lips felt wonderful against my cold skin.

"How's Arabella?" I asked.

"Oh, she's still struggling with being a dragon. She seems to really like you now. I don't know why."

I looked up at him,

"I mean I know why she could like you, but I don't know how she changed her mind so quickly." He said catching his obvious error.

"Riley, she's a girl. We're notorious for changing our minds every few minutes without batting an eye." I said.

Riley laughed, "And that is true." I thought I might worry him by saying that, he'd think I could stop loving him at any minute. But he must have trusted me, he must have known that I'd never not love him.

"Well, I'm glad she likes me."

"Me too. I was worried for a while. She getting over the fact that she's a dragon."

"Is she?"

"Yes. It seems that verity that she'll be older than me has pleased her greatly. She's quite the control freak."

"You don't say."

Riley chuckled at that.

"Oh, we are going to be an interesting family."

"We will indeed! We'll put the 'fun' in dysfunctional. That's what I get when I let my heart win."

Riley smiled, "I'm pleased you did."

"I'm pleased I did."

"Everyone's pleased." I said, "Do you think Emmit will really ask Tabby to marry him?"

"No time soon. He would have told me. Plus they just met. And they are both human-"

"That we know of." I interrupted.

"Gosh, I hope so. Anyway- time will go slower for them. Especially since they've only been going out for a little under a month."

"Riley…" I said in awe staring up at the sky.

Riley looked up at the sky just in time to see a shooting star pass through the dragon.

"Wow." Was all we said.

"I hope that means something good. Edgar comes back tomorrow. As it is 4:00 AM." I said eventually.

"I'm sure it does, love. I'm not worried."

"Good. Because I am."

"You shouldn't be. As if I could ever let anyone hurt you."
"I know. I'm not worried for myself. Have we not gone over this? I'm worried for you."

"Ah, Lia. All of us will make it out okay. I promise you with all I have in me."

"You look so…unhopeful sometimes though."

"Not anymore. I'm quite confident with you by my side."

"Although I'm basically worthless against vampires."

"Yes, but, I proposed because if something does happen, which it won't, I wanted your promise that you'd never leave."

"You already had that, cackle fruit."

Riley laughed.

"Ah yes. I suppose I did. No matter- it'd have happened shortly any way, wouldn't it?"

"You tell me."

"I did, love." He said nuzzling my neck.

26. Shayne and Faye.

"Do you think this could ever happen again?" I asked breaking the silence of the cold night.

"What?"

"Do you think…do you think Arabella will fall in love with a human? That she'll turn someone that she loves?"

"I don't know. It happened with my mom, only she made the crucial mistake not to change my dad."

"A mistake?"

"I don't know how she'll get on without him. She can't very well change him now, can she?"

"Right…the whole immortality thing."

"Yes."

"And I doubt Arabella will fall in love with a dragon. Seeing as how there aren't too many here." He smiled.

"Has it ever happened before? A dragon turning the one he loved into a dragon?"

Riley's face dropped, "Yes." He said solemnly.

"What happened?" I asked cautiously.

Riley sighed, "You won't want to know, Lia. It's not a happy ending."

"I want to know what I'm getting myself into, Riley. Nothing, nothing will change how I feel about everything, about you. I promise you. Please tell me."

Riley started slowly, looking me in the eye and holding my hands tightly.

"The dragon's name was Shayne. His story is much like ours. He grew up with Faye. Shayne and Faye. They played pirates, like us. They did everything together. They only thought of each other as friends though. Until high school, Then they saw each other differently."

"Ok…?" I prodded him and he nodded.

"So Shayne loved her. Shayne loved her with an intense love, as dragons normally have. We perceive feelings like nothing else. Anyway, Faye loved him with what humans normally believe to be a stronger love than anyone else could have. So naturally, they realized how the other felt. Then, Shayne told Faye about the secret. Faye took it oddly well, like you did. She loved it. She was fine with it. Which is a little of why we worried about you at first. Anyway- They went about their normal high school lives and then Faye expressed to Shayne how badly she wanted to become one of us. Shayne, was ecstatic that she could be so accepting and that she wanted to become one of us. So, he did what any good boyfriend would do and turned her into the dragon. They lived quite wonderfully at first. They were a lovely couple. But- keep in mind what I told you about dragons emotions. Sometimes they can get out of control. Especially in young dragons. Faye and Shayne had an argument. A bad argument. Over something ridiculous and it blew out of proportion. Faye ended up killing Shayne. As a newborn, she had fiercer power and stronger feelings."

"She killed him?" I asked in a whisper.

"Yes." He said looking away.

"Go on." I urged.

He nodded grimly, "After Faye…killed Shayne, she turned malevolent. However, Faye was an intelligent newborn. She didn't display her malevolence. She hid it by day, and showed it by night. She looks like a normal dragon, you couldn't tell her out from another, unless at night. She lives in the mountains somewhere I believe. That's why I didn't want to tell you."

"Thank you for telling me." I whispered, "That won't happen."
"How do you know?" Riley asked sounding annoyed a little.

"I do, Riley. I can just tell. I know that it'll be alright. Okay?"

He nodded and I could tell he was back to worrying. I kissed him, "There. That's my promise." He smiled. And worry faded from his eyes.

"How do you know all of that?" I asked, "I mean Faye and Shayne?"

"I met Faye once. Shayne and my Dad were friends 'back in the day'." He said quoting his Dad.

"You know her?"

"Yes. I do. She won't hurt other dragons, so we aren't worried."

I nodded.

"Promise me again?" He asked smiling mischievously.

I chuckled and kissed him again, "Content?" I asked pulling away.
"Never." He mumbled and kissed me again more passionately.

I heard the door shut faintly but didn't look up, knowing it was Emmit. What he was doing at only 4:45 AM, I didn't know.

Riley didn't look up either, although I knew with his dragon ears, he must have heard.

One, two, three. I counted in my head and right on cue, Emmit had turned the sprinklers on again.

I could feel Riley smiling, and I'm sure he could feel me smiling, but we held our kiss for as long as possible. Emmit was probably growing annoyed with us for not responding to his immaturity, but nothing mattered but us. And so, we stayed in our own world where the crystal moon could light up all around us, dancing in the sky, water droplets dripping down our blended faces, and Draco flickering over our heads.

"Aren't you going at it?" Emmit said sneeringly.

"Shut up." I said only pulling partly away from Riley.

"I believe this is what happens after the wedding." He said laughing.

I jumped to my feet, "Emmit!"

"Yes, Lia?" He asked laughing.

"That's not even funny." I said angrily.

"Actually, I believe it was funny." He said, trying to keep steady. I shoved him into the bushes and came back to Riley.

"I hate him." I said.
"He's just having fun."

"Well, it wasn't funny. It's my life. I'd like to live it the way I want without his constant sneers."

"Ah, but Lia," He said, his eyes playful, "Wait until he's engaged. Then we can do so much more than he's doing now."

"His stupid remarks don't bother you?"

"Not really. I hear stupid remarks like that everyday at school. We live in perverted times, love."

I sighed at the realization.

"Some guys even talk about their girlfriends like that. It's disgusting." He said.

"I'm glad you show respect."

"I was raised right." He smiled, "A bit old fashioned, but right."

"Old fashioned is the new modern." I said lamely, "Seriously though- I'm glad you were raised properly." I said kissing him again. He pulled away, "Better not give Emmit another wrong idea."

"I thought you didn't mind?" I asked.

"I don't. But, if it bothers you, it'll bother me." He smiled my favorite subtle smile.

I hugged him this time instead.

I sighed, "This isn't fair."

Riley chuckled, "Wait till Emmit's not around."

Emmit, who had managed to control his laughter and come out from the bush I had pushed him in, was waiting at the door with the sprinkler controls.

"Turn them off." I said.

"Bossy, bossy." Emmit whined, "Ever since I told you to become a new person, you've developed a whole new character. You're very bold now."

"I've discovered myself. With help from Riley."

"Your fiancée." He said.

"Yep!" I said grabbing Riley's hand.

Riley chuckled and ran his free hand through his hair.

"What are we doing today, Riley?" I asked once we were at the kitchen table.

"You're going to ask Tabby to be your bridesmaid." Emmit interjected.

"Shut up, Emmit."

"I'm adamant."

"I realize that, but I wasn't asking you anything, was I? I was asking Riley what we were going to do today. Riley?"

"Well- you can ask Tabby to be your bridesmaid later. We need to talk to my Dad. I think you should come with me, it might help keep him calm."

I gulped, "Your Dad?"

"Yeah. Lia, you've known him almost all of your life."

"Yes, but I've never had to tell him that I was marrying his son before."

"No, Lia, I'm telling him that his son is marrying you. I won't make you say anything. Unless you want to."

"No, thanks."

"I didn't think so. Don't worry, I'll handle everything, love." He said smiling, comforting me.

27. Riley's Dad.

At 7:00 in the morning, Riley and I were ready for a day of our marriage announcement. Or at least to Riley's Dad.

When we got to Riley's house, Arabella was still asleep, as was Adeline. Riley's Dad was sitting at the table in a suit, ready for work drinking his coffee.

"Good Morning, Mr. Evans." I greeted as I walked through the door.

"Hey, Dad." Riley said, grabbing my trembling hand.

"Hello, you two. My, Lia, I haven't seen you in a while. You've grown into quite the young lady."

"Thank you, sir."

"Dad, we need to talk to you." Riley said.

"Ok, sit down, son." I sat down next to Riley, who sat across the table from his Dad.

"Dad, You know we've been dating."

"Yes."

"Well, I see how I should have done this the old fashioned, traditional way and talked to you first as the son seeking advice, but I've asked Lia to marry me."

"She's pregnant isn't she?" He asked, getting angry.
"No! Dad, no she isn't pregnant. Gosh, no."

My eyes got wide with panic. Mr. Evans heaved a sigh of relief.

"But you're so young." He said.

"We are. But I love her more than anything and she loves me the same way too, though I can't comprehend why."

I shot him a disapproving look, but he only smiled faintly.

"You're sure she's not pregnant?" He asked eyeing me.

"Dad! No, she is not pregnant. I'm over one hundred percent positive."

"Well, congratulations then, both of you. I'm glad Riley's finally found someone. Especially someone so wonderful as you, Lia dear."

"Finally? Dad, I'm only nineteen." Riley told him.

"Thank you, Mr. Evans." I said smiling.

"Please, Lia. I'm your future father-in-law. My name is Robert."

I smiled.

"Ok, Bye, dad." Riley said pulling me out the door.

"Bye, Riles. Oh- does your mom know?"

"She's already planning the wedding." I told him as we walked to the car.

"Why does every think I'm pregnant?" I asked, "Do I look pregnant?!"

"Lia, you're being absurd again. Of course you don't look at all pregnant." He said giving me a disapproving look this time, "Why don't people trust me though? Do they think I just walk around getting girls pregnant? My own Dad!"

"Riley, you're being absurd again." I mimicked him, "Besides, my mom thought I let myself get pregnant."

Riley sighed a long sigh, "Parents…what will we do with them?"

"We don't exactly have to worry about them for too long, do we?"

"Yeah, we do. You can't just up and leave your Mom."

"What about you?"

"Lia, my mom is a dragon, she knows everything. And my Dad expects me to move out since I just graduated and I'm marrying you."

"Ok, so I can move out too. My Mom will understand and she'll just have to deal. It's not like we ever see each other anyway. Plus- Emmit will be there."

"Until he gets married or wants to move out."

"Or when he goes to college. I forgot about that."

"Exactly."

"Gosh, why does everything have to be so flipping complicated?"

"That's how life is, love. Wait till you're a dragon." He squeezed my hand.

"You feeling better about changing me now?"

"Of course I'm not. I still don't know how I'm going to be able to set you on fire, but I'll do it."

I leaned over and kissed his cheek, thankful that nothing distracted him from his driving.

That day flew by more quickly than almost any other day in my life. Riley and I were inseparable, per usual. We hung out with Arabella, who was still feeling slightly down about being a dragon, who was filled with worry and who was trying really hard to treat me with kindness. Tabby came over later for supper and surprisingly, we got along okay.

"So, Tabby, you know how Riley and I are getting married sometime in the near future?" I asked.

"Mhm." She mumbled between bites of lasagna. Emmit looked up with thankful, smiling eyes and Riley squeezed my hand.

"Well, I was wondering- do you want to be one of my bridesmaids?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure."

"I would just love it! When is the wedding?"

"We don't know yet. Sometime soon." I smiled, "But after my eighteenth next month."

"Aw, eighteenth? My little sister is growing up!" She yelled.

Arabella, who had come over for dinner, choked on her water laughing and Riley coughed to stifle his laugh.

"Um, yeah." I said staring at my food.

I looked over to see Emmit, who had gotten out of his seat to fill the water pitcher, laughing like it was hilarious.

Riley sensed that I was annoyed, "Hey, how old are you Tabby?" Riley asked her seemingly curious.

"I'm nineteen, same as Emmit, well and you I guess."

"Right. Okay, cool. So Lia would be like your little sister."

I kicked his shin and he didn't flinch.

" 'So Lia would be like your little sister' ?!" I asked when we were alone.

"I was only saying that if Emmit and Tabby got married, you would be like her little sister."

I sighed.

"Tabby isn't that bad, Lia. Please try to get over your prejudices? She's just trying to treat you like family. The southern way."

"Riley, why do you have to be so accepting of flipping everyone?"

"I'm not accepting of everyone. I give people chances when due, but honestly Tabby is a nice person. Emmit sure thinks so."

"That's not fair. Don't play the Emmit card." We sat in silence, "Fine. I'll try."

"But you've said that before."

"No, but this time I really mean it. I will genuinely try to see the good in sentences such as 'My little sister is growing up.'"

"Are you angry now?" He asked with his concerned look on.

"No, Riley, I'm not angry with you."

"How do you feel about me then?" He asked.

"Riley, that's a stupid question. Yes, I love you. I am constantly thinking about you. I need you more than I need air. Any questions?"

Riley smiled, "Yeah I suppose it was a stupid question. I don't know. I had to ask since everyone thinks your pregnant, I figured you might want to stop everything."

"What?! Riley, are you mad? That doesn't bother me, well it does, but not nearly enough for me to lose you. Riley, how can you even think that?"

"I don't know. It was a typically human thought."

"Yes. Yes, it was." I said, inching closer to his face, and then kissing him as we had earlier that morning.

"Emmit's here." I said.

"Ok." He said, not pulling away, "I don't care unless you do."

"No." I breathed.

"Get a room." Arabella said jokingly as she came into the room.

"That one I mind." Riley said to me, "We had one, thank you, and then you walked in." He said turning towards Arabella.

"Well, I'm leaving, okay? I just wanted to say goodnight."

I asked her to stay the night since tomorrow is 'The Big Day' (As we were calling it) and then her mom would meet up with us later. Her mom's smell wouldn't need to be disguised, but Bell's would.

"Night, Bell." Riley said fondly.

"Night, Arabella."

"Night guys." She said grinning and then running up the stairs to my room.

"You should go to bed too, love." He said looking at me. I did as I was told and went upstairs.

"Riley, what about you? You have a bigger day than I. All I can do is sit and watch."

"Ah, yes, but dragons don't need near as much sleep as humans."

"Then why did Arabella go to bed?"

"She's a newborn. Newborns need as much sleep as humans. Then they adjust little by little to a point where they don't even sleep at all. My mom only has to sleep thirty minutes."

I nodded.

"Goodnight, Lia." He said smiling oh-so-faintly.

"Goodnight, Riley." I said kissing him goodnight quickly.

"I love you." He said.

"I love you too, of course."

He smiled my favorite subtle smile and I walked in and found Arabella already asleep on the floor next to my bed.

She'd not need eyeliner anymore, I thought to myself, since dragon eyes are already dark. If she added any eyeliner, she'd look like the grim reaper.

My thoughts went away with me as I drifted to sleep. Tomorrow's happenings determined everything.

What happened tomorrow would effect everyone's lives. Not just Riley's and mine.

27. ? ? ?

Arabella was still asleep when I woke up, I crept past her quietly and walked to where Emmit and Riley were sitting in the kitchen as soon as I was dressed.

"Good morning, love!" Riley greeted me.

"Hey, Lia." Emmit said boringly.

"Morning, Riley, Emmit."

"How are you feeling?" Riley asked with a curious look in his eye. I knew he was really asking "How are you holding up with today's events?"

"Not bad."

"What are you two doing today?" Emmit asked.

"We're just going to hang out around town." Riley told him. I knew it wasn't easy lying to your best friend, but in this case, it was absolutely mandatory.

"Coolio. Tabs and I are going to go to the mall. You gonna be anywhere near?"

"Uhm, I don't think so, Em. We're going to be just…around. You know, different places. But, not hitting the mall."

Emmit looked at me suspiciously, "Okay…"

"So when are you leaving?" I asked.

Emmit looked at his watch, "Oops. Now. Gotta go. Love you, see you later." He said kissing me on the cheek.

"Love you too. Don't do anything stupid." I said.

"Always do." He grinned grabbing his keys and running through the door.

"Good, he's gone." I said when I heard the car drive out.

"Excellent. Let's have breakfast. If Bell isn't up after that, we'll wake her up."

"No you won't." she said coming down the stairs.

"Oh, hey Bell." He greeted her.

"Morning, Bell." I greeted her at the same time.

"Morning guys. What's for breakfast?"

"Whatever you make." Riley told her.

"It's so weird," she said pouring herself a bowl of cereal, "Riley's over here all of the time. It's like you've already moved in together and everything."

"I'm not pregnant!" I almost yelled, looking up at Riley with a panic-stricken face.

Riley burst out laughing, almost spraying his coffee all over the kitchen.

Arabella looked up from her cereal with a confused face, "I never said you were! What are you talking about?"
"It's ok, Bell. Just everyone keeps accusing Lia of being pregnant, which we all know is incredibly inaccurate." He said glancing at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry. Just stress and annoyance with everyone's false accusations."

"No problem." Bell chuckled.

Riley hugged me, "Sorry, love. It's not fair for you."

"I'll live. When's the wedding again?" I asked smiling.

"Anytime you want after today." He said looking down at me, his brilliant blue eyes sparkling playfully, flashing the smile that he knows gives me goose bumps.

"Riley, you're dazzling me." I told him.

"Ah, on purpose, my dear. I know that I'm so irresistible." He said playfully, grabbing my waist.

"Thank you, Riley. We all know how proficient of a boyfriend you are." Bella said disgustedly.

"I intoxicate her." He said still smiling at me, his playful eyes dancing.

I couldn't disagree, so I smiled back, "If I said you didn't, it'd be a lie."

Riley laughed, "Well it's mutual. You're intoxicating me this very moment."

I laughed at that, "Am I now?"

"Yes. You are." He grinned infectiously.

"Excuse me. Not to interrupt your ridiculous love fest, but we do have a big day ahead of us."

I sighed, "She's right."

"Yes, she is. But, we all know the plan for that. We worked it out last night."

"Did you?"

"Yes."

"Care to tell me?" I asked.

"Well, I'll take you with us, but we have to be careful. We have to disguise your scent so Adam doesn't recognize us. And you have to sit like all of the other people, who think they're forming an army."

"Right." I said, I didn't argue, knowing that I couldn't do anything to aid in the 'war'.

"No argument?" He asked.

"No."

"Right then. That makes my job so much easier, thank you." He smiled, "Anyway, we'll disguise our scent and Arabella will act as she is about to be bitten and then, boom, the dragons step in to save the day."

"You're holding back so much information. That wasn't a very good explanation."

"I know, but I don't want to frighten or worry you."

I nodded.

"Excellent." He said, "Arabella, what time is Edgar coming back for the 'ceremony'?" he shuddered at the word.

"1:00."

"Dang, that's soon." I said.

"Yes. But, there's no telling how long it'll take us to conquer." He smiled as he said 'conquer.'

"My hero." Bell fluttered her eyelashes at him.

"Don't you forget it." He winked, "Now, it's 10:00 am now."

"Let's do this." Bell said.

"Don't get too cocky. One- it's not attractive. Two- it's not going to do us much good in the fight. It'll get you killed surely." Riley said warning her.
"Oh, right." She said regretfully, "Seriously though, we have to do this."

"Okay." I said.

We spent the next couple of hours spraying Bell down in strong smelling perfumes and covering her eyes. Then we did the same to Riley with strong smelling colognes and put contacts in his eyes, because his were too strong a blue to believe. Then it was my turn. We only had to cover my scent up enough to make sure Adam wasn't suspicious.

Riley sniffed me and I raised an eyebrow at him, a trick I had adopted from him.

"Yeah, her smell's gone." He said with a tinge of disappointment. I chuckled at his tone.

"We're supposed to wear capes to the ceremony." Bell said distantly.

"Why?" I asked.

"That's just what Edgar instructed."

I nodded and found an old black hooded cape in the back of the hall closet.

"Riley?" I called.
"Yes, love?" He answered sticking his head out of Emmit's room.

"Are you sure about this? You're sure that we'll be okay?"

"Would I promise you something I wasn't sure of?" Riley asked prudently.

I studied his perfect face.
"No."

"Then yes, I'm sure we'll be okay."

I smiled and kissed his cheek and he hugged me tightly.

By the time we were ready to go, Bell was in a red hooded cape as Edgar has instructed, looking a bit like little red riding hood. Riley had on a blue hooded cape and I, black. It seemed they liked to match cape color with their eye/scale color. Although, with the contacts no one would be able to tell that they were matching.

"It's almost 1:00." Riley said a tad darkly.

I nodded and we all hurried to the car. Riley drove faster than normal with a grim look spread across his face.

"Arabella, my dear, I cannot express how deeply pleased I am that you have not failed in coming to our ceremony." The dark hooded figure who we had known to be Edgar had said as she entered the dark room.

"Yes, master. I'm here."

"This is excellent. Where is our dear Keilyn?"

"I do not know. I would imagine she will be arriving shortly." Arabella said calmly and coolly.

"Wonderful. I see you have brought friends along with you?"

"Yes, master." Bell said.

Edgar looked at me, "Ah, yes. I do indeed recall seeing you at our last gathering. I truly cannot express how pleased I am that you have returned with our sweet Arabella." He said smiling his maniacal smile.

"And you." He said looking at Riley, "Are you also a friend of my dear Arabella?"

I looked at Riley and could tell he didn't like Edgar calling Arabella his.

"Yes." Arabella shot him a warning look, "Master." He finished. Thankfully, Edgar didn't catch his reluctance.

"Our ceremony shall begin just as Keilyn arrives."

I cringed internally.

The only light in the crepuscular room was the flickering fire in the center, lighting up Edgar's haunting face.

Edgar whispered to Bell in Italian, to which I was surprised that Bell understood and spoke back, and Riley embraced me tightly in a protective stance.

"Ah, child." Edgar said looking at Riley, "Is this gentle one your inamorata?"

"Yes, master. She is." He told Edgar, pulling me even closer to him.

"How delightful." He said in a hollow tone.

I just stared at him blankly and then looked up into Riley's dark eyes.

His eyes weren't sparkling anymore. They weren't they're lovely calm after the storm blue. They were bland, brown and boring. His expression was grim and protective over me. If anyone made but one move towards me, he'd mutilate them. Normally, I would feel safe about this, but at that moment I was more terrified than ever. Riley looked down at me and saw the fear in my eyes. Seeing that Edgar was distracted, he kissed my forehead and brushed hair out of unsure face.

"She said I was seven and you were nine…" he whispered in my ear to calm me down. It worked. I played the song over and over again in my head, petrified for the moment Keilyn would come in. My emotions were so undependable lately. This morning, I was fine and confident that we would come out okay, and now, I couldn't have been more worried.

I closed my eyes tightly until I heard a frightening,

"Ah, Keilyn, you have arrived." Come from the spine-chilling voice of Edgar.

"I have." Said Keilyn.

"We shall begin." He said, his voice carried more evil than I had ever heard.

"Le creature che così malvagio cerchiamo di ucciderli prima che ci divorano queste creature sono dei draghi

così malvagie dall'inferno formano un esercito, faremo per andare contro bestie così sporche." Edgar spoke loudly again.

Riley grabbed me even tighter, almost taking the wind out of me. I held on to his arms, which were engulfing me.

Edgar tossed powder into the flames and the flames rose to almost the ceiling.

"Keilyn, you shall be first in the transformation process."

Keilyn nodded and stumbled over to Edgar.

Arabella shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. The pain in her eyes was clear; the pain was enough to kill her. She shook her head, silent tears rolling down her cheeks, knowing she was able to do nothing. I looked at Riley with a look of distress and he stroked my hair, shaking his head slowly, and his eyes glassy.

"No." the words formed over Arabella's mouth, but she couldn't choke them out, "no, no, no. God, please, no."

Hot tears rolled down my face, of all of us, I was the most helpless.

Riley and Arabella couldn't act now. They couldn't act so impulsively. They had to wait to reveal themselves. They couldn't persuade Edgar to choose another without revealing themselves and that couldn't happen. All of us were utterly helpless.

Keilyn looked at Arabella, with tears forming and waved subtly. I didn't know why she was crying, I thought this was what she had wanted. But- maybe she was just doing it for Arabella. And she didn't want any part of it. She was completely selfless- ready to destroy herself in order to comfort her best friend.

Keilyn stepped towards Edgar.

"Fair Keilyn, please hold out your arm."

Keilyn did as she was told reluctantly. Fifteen year olds could be so trusting, not knowing anything.

I watched horrified as Edgar's lips curled over his teeth. A low growl formed in his throat, his lips moved, revealing his razor sharp teeth. He smelled Keilyn's arm. Keilyn's eyes wide and scared. Arabella's tears were rolling like a waterfall, her arms outstretched to Keilyn. Riley's grip tightened even more, almost squeezing the life out of me. Edgar placed his teeth on Keilyn's soft skin and sunk his teeth in, then backed away, leaving Keilyn screaming on the ground, writhing in pain. Her screams pierced through the air, my tears rolled down now, absolutely terrified over what just happened. Keilyn's wailed and screamed. Tears of pain poured down her cheeks. Arabella sobbed uncontrollably, "Keilyn. No, Keilyn. Come back, Keilyn. I'm so sorry." She wailed.

Keilyn's screamed, "Bell! Bell! Help me, Bell! The pain! I'm burning, Bell!" Her words were slurred as she wailed. Riley brushed tears from my red face. I looked into Riley's face, he looked concerned and deeply heartbroken.

Despite Keilyn's screams, despite her pain, despite how she writhed in pain on the floor, despite everything we had all just witnessed, others stepped forward towards Edgar, waiting to become one of him. All of them looked eager. Riley jumped up, next in line, knowing that it was time to reveal. Bell couldn't see anymore, and neither could I.

Bell's small frame sunk to the floor, in pathetic sobs, her hands, shielding her eyes.

"Ah, child." I heard Edgar say as Riley approached him, "Show me your arm."

I watched through blurred eyes what Riley did next.

Riley's body turned black and then blue as he upsized into a dragon. He had showed me already, but it was more amazing this time, now that I knew. Edgar looked up in awe, "I see we have a lizard among us!" he exclaimed.

Riley growled.

Bell looked at Edgar with angry eyes as she tore out her contacts and upsized herself, forming into a crimson dragon. She had wings, formed jaggedly. She was gorgeously majestic.

"Arabella?"

She nodded her big head.

"Ah, I can't say I didn't see it coming."

Riley looked at me and tried to tell me to shut my eyes. I did as I was told, I didn't want to see any more.

I heard loud crashes, and fierce bangs. I could feel the ground shake beneath me. I heard a dragon's cry, or rather shriek and then a bang. I could hear the roar of fire and the deep growls from dragon hearts. I felt the ground shake nearer to me and opened my eyes for a second to see Riley standing before me, crouching protectively. In front of him was Edgar, lips curled over his mouth, growling and crouching, slowly making his way towards me. I looked over into the corner and saw Arabella shriveled up in a corner, moaning softly. I saw Edgar lunge himself at Riley and I shut my eyes fearfully.

I heard Riley's growl and then I heard a high pitched screaming and then something touched my foot. I opened my eyes to see what looked like a bread stick. As I looked closer, my stomach churned to realize it was a human finger. I closed my eyes again out of pure fear and shock and to settle my nauseous stomach.

I heard more screaming and more roars of fire. Then I heard Riley's voice for the first time in the horrific time. His voice was like light, piercing through darkness.

"Lia?"

I turned to face him, my eyes wide with horror.

"Are you ok?" he asked running and grabbing me in a tight embrace.

I didn't say anything, I just held on to him tightly.

"Ar-Ara-bella." I said eventually.

We ran to the corner, where her now human figure lay.

"Bell? Bell are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm…fine…is…everything ok…now?" she asked.

"Yes, Bell. It's ok. Are you ok?" I asked.

Riley stroked my hair and hugged me, "Calm down, love. We're immortal. He just lunged for her heart to finish her, and she fought back heroically. He really had no chance." Bell smiled at him, getting up.

"I'm very proud of you, Bell." Riley said hugging her.
"Thanks, Riley." She said.

"Where the flip was Adam?" I asked suddenly a little angry.

"I don't know." Bell said thinking.

"It's not quite over yet. Adam is still somewhere. But- it's over for now." Riley said, "Cecilia, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Riley. A little shaken." I told him. He kissed me, and I wrapped my arms around him.

"Better?" he asked pulling away.

"Almost." I said kissing him again, feeling his smile.

Arabella waited patiently for us near the door.

Riley grabbed my hand and walked us through the door.

"C'mon. Let's go to Dairy Queen and have ice cream for dinner." Riley said.

"Feeling rebellious?" Bell asked.

"No. I'm feeling like I want ice cream."

"Hey- where was your mom?" I asked forgetting about ice-cream.

"I told her we could take Edgar and it wasn't necessary for her to come. So she didn't. She stayed home and made wedding arrangements instead." He smiled.

"Aw, no!" I yelled, "We can't get married anytime we want now because of stupid Adam. Dang vampire."

"We can get married anytime you want. We'll just remove Adam from your worries as soon as possible, love. Now- ice-cream?"

"At Dairy Queen? Where Tabby works?" I asked.

"She'll be happy we stopped by. Plus it's the only place I know of for comforting ice cream."

I nodded.

Bell turned back and looked at her best friend, still writhing in pain on the floor. She sobbed uncontrollably and Riley held her.

"It's…it's not fair!" she yelled, "I should have been the one to suffer. She didn't even want to do this, but she did…for me. For stupid, selfish me."

"Shhh." Riley hushed her, rubbing her back, "It'll be okay, Bell. Maybe she won't be like the rest of them. Maybe you can still be best friends."

"No, Riley. No. It's over. It's all over. Because of me."

"No, Bell. Calm down. Everything will turn out for the best."

She nodded and wiped the tears as best she could and we walked as quickly as possibly to Riley's car.

28. Dairy Queen Again.

"It's amazing how someone so small can sweep you off your feet so entirely." Riley said to me as we sat at a table, eating ice-cream.

"Have I done that to you?"

"Oh, several times."

"Good. We're even." I said squeezing his hand.

Riley smiled.

"We just sat down…shouldn't we order at the counter?"
"Yes. But, I figured we'd nab the table first."

"Oh. Right."

"Hey, ya'll! What'cha doing here?" She asked.

"Ordering ice-cream of course." Riley said, stopping me from saying something rude like, "Ordering ice-cream, duh, you retard."

With all that she'd done for me, I suppose I could be nicer.

"Alrighty. What can I do you for?" she asked.

"Banana split, please. And a hot fudge sundae for Bell."

I heard Bell and thought of Tabby at the same time. What would Tabby do with Keilyn? Or rather without Keilyn? Or was I just imagining the worst? Would she really be able to control herself?

"Ok, hun." Even though it was this whole southern thing, I did not like her calling Riley 'hun.'

Riley chuckled under his breath.
"You have jealousy written all over your face, sweetheart."

"Do I?" I sighed.

"You do." He kissed my cheek.

"Dang it! Why do I have to wear my heart on my sleeve so freaking often?" I said angrily.

"I like it. It helps me know what you're thinking."

"I tell you what I'm thinking."

"Not all of it."

"I tell you enough."

"Not nearly enough to satisfy."

"I love you."

Riley chuckled again, "And I love you."

We took the ice-cream to a table and ate next to Bell, who sat curled up in a ball, staring out the window.

"Banana split, Bell." Riley told her.

She sighed, "Thank you."

Riley pushed the sundae towards me.

"Eat." He commanded.

"I will. You have to help though."

"Oh, of course I will." His grin lit up his face.

We'd just been through something so morbid it was like a dreadful nightmare, but we'd come through it alive, conquered and the battle was almost over, we treated everything the same as it had been. Except Bell of course. Her life would never be the same without Keilyn.

"I'm hoping for the best. Maybe you're right. Maybe she won't become malevolent." She said.

"I know I'm right. Not with you she won't." Riley said.

Bell smiled and we sat in silence for a couple of minutes.

"I have to start senior year. By myself. As a newly wed."

"No, you won't." Riley said.

"How's that?" I asked.

"I asked to repeat the year so I could be with you. The school agreed, perplexed, but they did agree."

"You're enduring high school again for me?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't I? Since we are living forever, I figured we should both have our high school degrees and I didn't want you to go through your senior year as a newly wed. So- I figured we would go through our senior year as newly weds."
"You're tremendously sweet, Riley. Intoxicating even." I smiled.
He sighed, smiling, "I know." He turned his cheek for me to kiss it, and I did.

"What are people going to say? They'll marvel at us. You repeating senior year. They'll think you failed. Then marrying me. They'll think you failed again."

"Oh, stop being so absurd." Riley said, "I most absolutely did not fail in asking you to marry me. I succeeded beyond all else." He smiled, "And as for what everyone will think about being so young and being married and failing and all of that- who cares what others think? I'm abnormal. We're abnormal. We'll have an abnormal family. But- we'll be the most delightful family world wide." He said seriously, "Okay? Besides, we have reasons for all of it that they can't even comprehend in their tiny high school minds."

"I have a high school mind." I reminded him.
"You do not." He said a little offended, "You are extremely intelligent and mature. You surpass even me, my love."

I kissed him on the cheek again.

Bell stayed silent amidst our chatter.

"So, Bell, how's Josh?" I asked trying to get her to talk. Riley's protective side came up as soon I said 'Josh'.

"Fine, I guess. I broke up with him when I found out about me being a dragon. He was…Adam's brother."

I choked on my ice-cream. Riley patted my back.

"What?!"

"I thought you knew, Lia?" Riley asked.

"No!"

"Why'd you think I was so protective?"

"Because you're her older brother!"

"Well, yes, and I was protective because of that, but also because of him."

"Didn't Adam introduce you?" Bell asked.

"He…he was secretive about his family. I suppose."

"Oh."

"Bell, how come you were so um…friendly, I guess, with vampires?" she sighed, "Do you mind if I ask?" I asked her cautiously.

"No, I don't mind. It was because Mom and Riley got to be dragons, but I never did. So- I decided I would hate them. They were disgusting. Then I heard Riley talking to Mom about Edgar and Adam and how they had moved with Josh to Jackson and how it was a potential threat. And I thought 'Hey, wouldn't it be great to show my hatred to an even higher degree.' And I wanted to be the enemy. And if I couldn't be a dragon, I would be the next best thing. So a variety of reasons really. Plus I did actually like Josh. But, then it happened so I broke up with him. Maybe I'll find someone as wonderful as Riley someday." She said smiling.

"You only wish, hun." He said smiling at her.

"Emmit's available. He's not as perfect as Riley, but he's an amazing guy." I said, thinking it would be an amazing way to keep Emmit with me forever.

"Yes." She said staring down at her melting ice-cream.

"My sister?" Riley asked.

"You have his." I said.
"True. And he's my best friend. I approve. Only he's nineteen. And taken currently."

Bell smiled, "Well, maybe someday."

I thought about it. Age was definitely an issue here. Emmit was older. So when Bell was his age, he would be twenty-three. If Bell waited until after she was immortal, it would be too late. But- I wasn't worried about them falling in love. Especially not in the near future.

"Yes." I choked out with tears in my eyes.

Riley saw my tears and was immediately concerned.

"Let's get going." Riley said, "We need to get Bell home."

Bell nodded with teary eyes, probably over Keilyn.

After we dropped Bell off, Riley took me to the park with a blanket spread across the bridge again.

"So…Emmit." He said, "What were the tears for, love?"

"It's just that…" I started as he waited patiently.

"Don't be afraid to tell me how you feel." He told me softly.

I nodded, "I don't know how I'll live after Emmit's gone."

"And Arabella could keep him alive, since we can only transform one person in a thousand years."

I nodded.

"I don't know if that could happen." He said, I knew he was hopeful of it too though.

"What about your mom?" I asked frantically.
"I don't know that she could do it." He said, stroking my hair to try and comfort me.

Tears started to form and roll down my cheek.

"Lia, you don't have to do this. You don't have to marry me. You don't have to become one of us."
"How can you say that? Don't you want me to?"

"Of course I want you to. But, I don't want you to be miserable without Emmit."

"I can't live without you either, and not being transformed is not an option. I need you more than I need Emmit. But, I still need Emmit. What am I going to do?"

"Maybe something will happen, Lia. Maybe it will. You have to be hopeful. I have no idea what's going to become of Keilyn, but I'm hopeful that it's something good."

I nodded and looked up at him through my eyes, blurred with tears.

"I'm sorry, Riley. I didn't mean to bother you with is."

"Nothing you say bothers me…unless it was that you had to leave or something such as that."

"Well, I'd never do that. But, I didn't want to…"

"Don't apologize for telling me how you feel; what's going on in your head. I want to hear all of it; I need to hear all of it. Apologizing for telling me how you feel!" He exclaimed, "You might as well say 'I'm sorry for being real.'"

"You've worried about this for a long time." He said positive.

I nodded, "I love him a lot."

"I know you do. As I love Arabella. But look at it this way- She was a vamp, but I didn't know how I'd live without her once she was gone. Then something amazing happened. She became a dragon. A miracle was what it was, and now I never have to live without her. Maybe something will happen with you and Emmit."

"Thank you, Riley." I said hugging him.

"Emmit and I were talking about Tabby once. He compared his love for her like my love for you."

"Interesting."

"Which means his love is absolutely unwavering."

"Maybe it will waver sometime. And Arabella…" I trailed off.

"Come on. Let's not dwell on the negative." He said lifting me from the ground.

He opened the door to his car and turned it on, but then he turned on the radio and immediately, our song played and he twirled me around the bridge gracefully, looking more beautiful than ever.

"Wait." He said stopping and listening.

I heard clapping coming from the tree above the bridge.

"Bravo, bravo, bravo." Came a chilling, familiar voice from above.
"Adam." I breathed.

Riley grabbed me tightly as Adam dropped out of the tree and onto the bridge with a light thud.

"I so enjoyed the show. Congratulations on the wedding, lizard. I knew you two would end up together eventually, it was just a matter of time."

"What do you want, Adam?" I demanded.

"Well, you see, Riley stole something from me that wasn't his to take. You're mine."

"I don't belong to anybody." I said icily, "I'm my own person. I willingly gave myself to Riley."

"Sure, sure." Adam said, inching closer, "Well, I've come to take that something back."

Riley stood in front of me protectively.

"I knew it wouldn't be as easy as Edgar had thought it would. Too bad you killed him. He would have been so helpful now." Adam laughed darkly, his mangled hair coming out, his red eyes flickering in the light spread out by the crystal moon floating in the milky twilight sky.

Suddenly cold hands wrapped around my torso and I was lifted from my feet and then I was traveling at the speed of sound, away from Riley.

I screamed and screamed for Riley to come.

He cried for me, I could hear him, but then the cries grew fainter.

My world went dark around me and the crystal moon disappeared.

I woke up, not knowing where I was. I smelled must, mold and moth balls. There was a long mirror on the wall, next to the broken fireplace. I was lying on a battered old, once red chaise. The wall paper was ripped off the walls, leaving shreds behind, chairs were broken all over and dust covered every inch of the area.

"Well, well, well." Came a haunting voice. I whirled around to see Adam standing in the doorway.

"Look who's awake." He said.

"A-Ad-Adam." I choked out.
"Yes."

"What do you want with me?" I asked.

"I think now that you know our secrets, it's fairly obvious what I want with you, wouldn't you agree?"

A lump swelled up in my throat.

"It was all too easy. To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed." He said, "I was hoping for a fight, but snatching you was just so easy. I was the distraction, Josh nabbed you." He chuckled darkly recalling, "You had no idea what hit you."

"And then as soon as I killed your fiancée, I came here and let Josh finish off the other lizards."
"Riley…" I whispered, tears rolling down my face.

"There, there." He said coming over and stroking my face.
I flinched back, "You were so easy to fool in the beginning. Then you noticed my…oh, what did you call them, 'nightly visits'? Yes, well, then I knew I had to be more careful. And then I realized you were best friends with him and had to be even more cautious. But, still, things ended up going my way, didn't they?"

I wondered why he didn't just kill me then. So that I didn't have to live another minute without Riley, why he had to go on and on telling me how he did things, why he was so intent on torturing me to the death.

"You couldn't possibly have thought that your late fiancée, or inamorata as Edgar called him, could have taken us out? I think this is fair, don't you? You killed him, and now I killed Riley and soon you and well, we'll see what happens to the rest of you, won't we?" He said, brushing his arm down my arm, "Well, I will anyway." He chuckled grimly, "I don't understand how these 'benign dragons' work. 'Malevolent dragons' are much more fun to have around. And, they are much healthier and stronger since…well, they don't exactly have the same diet as 'benigns'." He chuckled his grim chuckle again.

Adam came closer and kissed my lips, which I kept closed tightly, "It's a shame, I actually was a tad attracted to you." He moved his lips to my throat and I inhaled deeply. I tilted my neck up instinctively and he kissed my neck. He smelled my throat, "Oh, but you do smell more lovely than any human I have ever…well, harmed… before."

Suddenly, the wind was knocked out of me before I could scream. It felt like someone had jabbed a flaming knife through my skin as his teeth penetrated. I could feel the blood draining from my body. I felt limp under Adam's cold touch. Suddenly, it stopped. Everything stopped. I lay almost lifeless on the cold floor. I heard screaming and I heard fire roar and I felt trembles, but no more. I was unresponsive to the rest of the world.

"Lia. Lia, love, please stay with me. Please, don't go. Lia, please." I heard the familiar velvet voice I had loved so much. I thought it was Riley, then knew I must be dreaming since he would never come for me. He was dead. Even if he wasn't, I wasn't worth all of the trouble.

"Lia, I'm not dead. You aren't dead. Say something, please. I love you." I felt his warm hands touch my body, but I couldn't move. My world spun and almost faded. I wanted to respond, but couldn't.

"Riley, she can't live without…" I heard his mom's voice, "You have to do it. It's her only chance of living. Adam's done too much damage for her to continue like this."

Riley cried, "I can't yet."

"Riley! You have to! She's dying."

"Cecilia, I am so sorry." Riley said before I was engulfed in a huge flame. I'm dead for sure, I thought. I could see Riley's face in my mind. I could hear his voice singing to me, I could imagine him dancing with me in the rain, without a care in the world. I screamed out to Riley in pain, "It hurts," I cried.

"I'm so sorry." I heard a teary whisper ever so faintly through my desperate pleas and loud flames that licked over my skin.

Flames caressed my broken body, I felt the burn from Adam's bite, I felt as though his sharp teeth had lacerated through my skin again. The flames enervated my already weakened body. The torrid flames continued to sweep over my body and I felt like my chest was being heaved open and more flames, shoved in through the gaping hole. My heart was being incinerated. The next thing I knew, my world went completely and utterly black and my once perfect world, gone.

"Cecilia." I heard faint voices calling me.

"Cecilia, my love. Answer me." I wanted to answer, but failed in finding my lips.

"Cecilia, the pain is over. I promise, it's over. You're alive, Lia. You are. You're perfectly fine. You'll be okay, I promise."

I tried to respond as best I could, but only managed to move my hand so slightly it appeared more of a flinch.

"Thank God!" I heard Adeline yell from across the room.

"I told you she was alive." I heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Is she ok?" I heard Riley's concerned tone.

"She is. She is a full dragon, but since Adam's venom was contracted into her bloodstream, she does indeed have vampire like tendencies. But- not too serious. Only minor things like acting impulsively and such. All will be controllable in time." The voice said.

"And is there any chance...?" Riley's voice cracked.

"There is always that chance." The voice replied.
"But what are the chances with her?"

The voice sighed, "I'm sorry. The chances are indeed high. If she becomes a benign such as us, it will be a miracle. She has had the pain of vampire venom and the pain of dragon venom. But, love has such powerful influence, it's not a 100% chance."

"It wouldn't be the first time she's done something miraculous." Riley's voice whispered.

I felt hands stroke my face, not hot as usual, normal body temperature.

"Cecilia. Please say something?"

I waited a while to find the words to fill my mouth, "Riley…" I whispered hoarsely, and softly as best I could, not knowing if Riley could even hear me.

"Yes! Thank you, God," he prayed, "Yes, Lia. Lia, I'm here."

My eyes fluttered open and light strained my eyes. I saw Riley's perfect figure above me, holding me tight.

"I'm so sorry, Lia. I didn't want…" He trailed off, teary.

"Riley, what's going on? Why do I feel so warm?" I asked.

"Lia, I did it. I did it. I turned you into a dragon. Adam…Adam almost killed you. I had to, I'm so sorry."

"Don't apologize," I said gaining my strength back quickly, "It's what I wanted."

"I know…but, not this way."

"Maybe this was the only way you would do it." I said, "Adam…killed…you." I was almost whispering and still woozy and tired and in slight pain.

"Adam said he killed me, Lia. He wanted to make you suffer in your 'last moments' as he called them. But, I'm ok. Nothing happened. Look. See? I'm fine. Everyone's fine. Adam's dead. Josh is dead…Arabella enjoyed that one to our surprise actually…it's over. It's all over and now you can pick out your white dress and we'll start our lives together, I promise."

I nodded, "Where am I, Riley?" I said looking around the strange room. I was laying on a bed, there were a few windows and elegant curtains draping down, the walls were black with gold accents.

"You're at my house. I told your mom and Emmit that Arabella needed some girl comfort after Keilyn had drowned."

I nodded slowly, "Keilyn…drowned."

"Yes. That was the story we made up. Arabella didn't want people to think she was driving recklessly, she didn't want people to think she committed suicide, she didn't want people to think that she was killed, so drowning was what she came up with."

"How's Tabby?"

"Devastated, naturally."

"Emmit?"

"Comforting her every minute of the day."

"How long have I been…unconscious?"

"Four days." He said, "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine. I feel stronger."

"It's the dragon thing." He said, "Lia…promise not to freak out okay? But, you also have…vampire tendencies."

"What?"

"No blood lust or anything horrific, but you'll act on impulse and be hot tempered I suppose. They say it'll be controllable in due time."

"Whose 'they'?" I asked.

Riley smiled, "That's right. Of course you haven't met my grandparents yet because we called them after what happened to you."

"Your grandparents?"

"Your future in-laws." He said smiling.

That floored me.

"You can meet them as soon as you're ready."

I nodded.
"You're sure you're okay with everything?"

"I couldn't be more elated, Riley, truly. I'm just kind of overwhelmed."

"I understand." He said sympathetically.

I grabbed Riley in a hug, his arms wrapped around me almost protectively.
"I'm so glad you're okay." He whispered, "I was so afraid. I can't believe…I let them take you."

"You didn't let them. You came after them and it's okay now."

"I promise to always protect you, Lia. Always."

"Riley, I wish you would stop beating yourself up." I pulled away, pulling my hair back in a pony tail.

"Want to see what you look like, love? Most striking dragon I've ever laid my eyes on." He said pulling me to mirror.

I gazed into the huge mirror.

The girl in the mirror had dark, tanned skin and golden, almond shaped eyes. Her hair was draped down to the middle of her back and a rich, chocolate brown color. Her skin was absolutely flawless and her teeth were perfectly aligned.

"That's…me?" I asked breathlessly.

"It is, love."

"I'm…gold." I said.

Riley chuckled, "Lia, you've always been this beautiful. It's only just now that you're finally realizing it."

I kissed Riley quickly,

"You're right," I said pulling away. "in that dragons do perceive feelings more than humans."

"I know. Especially when combined with vampire traits." He said kissing me again, "You have my heart literally." He smiled, "'We were two and had but one heart.'"

"Francois Villion?" I asked and he nodded.

"Are you ready to meet them?" he asked. I nodded and swallowed hard.

Riley. I thought in my head, marveling that he was mine.

"Yes?" he asked.

"What?"

"You called me."

"No…I didn't."

Riley chuckled, "Don't forget, you can talk to me in your head. I hear you every time you so much as think my name."

"Right." I nodded.

I'm ready, Riley. I thought.

Riley smiled, Excellent.

I couldn't hear Riley's mind conversation with other dragons, nor could he hear mine, so he must have called his grandparents, as they walked through the door. His grandpa looked more Chinese than he did, but still didn't look full blooded. Riley didn't at all look Chinese, because he had enough American blood from American relatives. His Mom didn't even really look Chinese, but her eyes were just a little slanted if you really examined them closely.

"Grandpa, you obviously know Cecilia. Cecilia, this is my grandfather."

"It's a pleasure." I said and the words came out coolly. My words formed so easily now, and words rolled off the tongue as smoothly as Arabella's and Riley's. Although, Riley's had a different affect on me than my own voice had.

His grandpa smiled, "This is my wife, Rosalina. But, you can of course call her grandma and I, grandpa."

"It's lovely to meet you both." I said smiling affectionately. Riley smiled at me admiringly

"Well, dears, we're going off to see some of the town." Rosalina said.

"Jackson, Ohio? You won't be long…trust me." Bell said.

They laughed at that, "We'll see."

"How long are your grandparents here for?" I asked Riley once they left.

"I think they're waiting for the wedding."

"Oh ok." I said, leaning into kiss him.

"You guys are so cute." Bell said laughing.

I know. I said smiling. Apparently, if I even imagined the dragons face and then thought something, they'd still hear it.

Riley smiled too. I could hear him in our three way brain conversation.

This was lovely. Now I didn't have to pull away from him to say something. Riley curled his arms, pulling me tighter to his chest, so that no space remained between us. Forever begins today, he said.

I felt more passionate about him than I ever had. His brown hair swept down his face gracefully, his golden skin now the same color as mine. His blue eyes sparkled into my gold eyes and his perfectly formed lips crashed into mine.

Some people say that a kiss says a million words.

If that's true, I believe a dragon kiss says a billion. I should know; I've had them…