“I’m going on a blind date. Across the country.”
A month ago it hadn’t sounded like such a bad idea. Now Lissandra wondered if she needed to check her sanity.
Moonlight decorated the tops of the trees awakening in the late spring weather and a balmy breeze brought the scents of new grass and flowers. Upstate New York smelled wetter than her home of Cloudburst, Colorado, and despite her misgivings, she enjoyed the flavored humidity.
Lissandra tucked her wings and dropped closer to the ground. According to the coordinates she’d been given, she approached the location of her rendezvous. A rendezvous she’d asked her mother to set up for her with an eligible dragon bachelor.
Solenarra had been skeptical, but Lissandra had stood her ground. I’ve mourned my mate for thirty years, and I’m not getting any younger. She didn’t want to spend her life alone and her two daughters needed a male to give them perspective.
“Think of it this way, Mom. Dragons are few and far between these days, and this would give me a chance to have another baby.”
Solenarra had narrowed her eyes. “Are you trying to bribe me with another grandchild, m’dear?”
“Did it work?” Lissandra had winked before she grew sober. “Please, Mom. You know the dragon community better than I do and I’m finally ready to move on. I loved Mikelorrion, but he’s gone. I want to find someone new.”
Slicing through the air in a sharp turn, Lissandra spiraled down toward the ground, weaving through a small flock of bats enjoying the insects of the eastern forest. The scents of loamy soil, fresh water dripping off the deciduous trees, and the crickets calling bravely in the night tickled her senses. She opened her wings enough to slow until her talons dug into the soft forest floor.
Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on shifting into her human disguise, pulling the magical energy in to complete the transformation. Holding her human shape always felt a little like being stuffed into too-tight jeans, and taking her true form became a joyous release. Her face flattened and she wriggled her nose as everything settled into the disguise. She stretched her face muscles and shoulders, trying to get the fit right despite the initial discomfort.
When she’d settled, she concentrated on the little fold of magical space each dragon carried with them. It was a way to hide their hoard, a small worm-hole to another dimension that allowed them to store things beyond this world. She concentrated on the materialization of her small overnight bag holding clothes for her human body. A thump at her feet made her smile and she hefted the bag before she dug into her pants pocket for the directions to her meeting.
She angled the paper into the moonlight to read the words scrawled across the surface.
“Find the lightning twinned stump in the honeysuckle clearing.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Yeah, that’s specific.” She dug through her bag for her cell phone and powered it on as she stuffed it in her pocket. Worse comes to worst, I can always text Sole for more specifics.
According to her mother, she’d be meeting Charlorrion Ravenwing, the foster son to honored dragon hero Waltarrion Goldencoat. Everyone in the dragon community had heard of Waltarrion and his great battle with a demon back a hundred and fifty years earlier. It had set off the Great Chicago Fire, but he’d saved the world.
And now I’m attempting a blind-date courtship with Waltarrion’s blood son, Denarrion.
At least she could back out if she didn’t like him.
A sound intruded on her thoughts and she froze, scanning the forest around her. The crickets had stilled with the presence of something or someone. Lissandra gripped her bag and darted out of the clearing to the darkness of the trees. Her eyes adjusted as she crouched, waiting for the new intruder to arrive.
The sounds of something moving through the underbrush caught her ears and she inhaled slowly, testing the air for different scents. Her dragon senses reacted slower in her human guise, but she could still taste the flavors of the night. Musky scents of white tailed deer hit her nose just before the unconcerned creatures entered the clearing. The lead male raised an impressive rack for so early in the season as he scanned his domain.
Lissandra snorted. If I hadn’t eaten earlier, you’d make a lovely meal, bucko.
The sound of her response sent the deer into flight and they disappeared across the clearing as she gathered her things to leave. Now I just have to figure out where to go.
She closed her eyes and took another deep breath, sampling the air for the hot, fiery scent of a large predator. Dragons could easily hide amongst the humans because humanity had forgotten the use of its nose. But even in their human guise, dragons gave off the scent of fire, particularly with the flavor of their native rocks or wood.
The scent of a young adult male with the spice of mahogany and oak wafted out of the woods to her left. She grasped her bag and headed in that direction, hoping she wouldn’t have to do some elaborate threat display. I’m too damn old and too damn tired.
She stepped to the edge of a new clearing and inhaled. Along with the scent of young male dragon came the fragrance of honeysuckle perfuming the warm evening air. The honeysuckle clearing, I presume. A great burned stump split in half by lightning stood beside a glacial boulder, and a man leaned against the boulder, his gaze fixed on her under the light of the crescent moon.
She paused, standing her ground, but refusing to come closer until she could assess who he was or what he wanted. He rose to his feet and stood with his hands loose at his sides, but she smelled his excitement and curiosity.
“May the Mother’s Heart always be open to your footsteps.” Lissandra spoke in the Old Language of their people, hoping he wasn’t too young to know it.
“And may it cradle you in its warm and comforting Halls.” Deep, warm compassion filled his voice, encouraging her to feel protected and comfortable immediately.
“Thank you.” Despite the urge to believe in him, she approached with caution. Appearances could be deceiving. “Are you Charlorrion Ravenwing?”
“I am. And you must be Lissandra Charforest.”
Solenarra had promised Lissandra that Charlorrion and the Goldencoats were on the up-and-up, but Lissandra had endured too many years of training and three demon attacks to trust hearsay. She let her eyes unfocus until her inner Sight showed the world in brilliant Technicolor. Demons often hid within plain view, but her Sight allowed her to discern the hideousness beneath benign exteriors.
And it sucks to be wrong.
She stretched her rusty skills now, filling the glade with her awareness. The male standing in front of the boulder glowed like a brilliant copper penny in the sunlight. His aura swelled upward until the long skull and twisted horns of his true form hung in the air above his human body. Healthy fire magic swirled within him and she breathed a sigh of relief. She pulled her senses back, satisfied, and his ghostly self disappeared.
“I am. It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Ravenwing.” She extended her hand to shake with him.
Charlorrion flowed to meet her with fluid grace, his long ponytail brushing his shoulders. “And you. Welcome to Redfield. I’m so glad you agreed to come.” His scent filled with relief as he took her hand. “Was the trip rough? It can be kind of tricky traveling at this time of year with the increase in summer travelers.”
She shuddered theatrically. “Yeah, tell me about it. I’ve had a few run-ins with American Airlines.” She shook her head. “Some of those pilots think they’re Maverick out of Top Gun, I swear.”
Charlorrion raised an eyebrow. “Are you serious?”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve got scars.”
“That can’t be true.” He grinned. “It would’ve been all over the news.”
“You need to pay closer attention to the tabloids. The stories were there, all right, but no one takes them seriously.”
He laughed and motioned ahead of him through the trees behind the boulder. She suspected he didn’t believe her, but then, neither had the general public except the UFO “kooks”. Those people were sharper than most folks believed.
“Come, my wife Torriandra is waiting and will be happy to get you settled for the night.” He gestured toward the trees to his left.
“It’s very kind of you to put me up while I’m here. I seriously can stay in a hotel or bed & breakfast.” Lissandra stretched her legs to keep up with him. While she’d spent a lot of time hiking around the Colorado Rockies, Charlorrion’s height made her work a little harder to keep up. His stride equaled two of hers.
“We wouldn’t hear of it. Solenarra knew my foster mother and she spoke very highly of you.” Again, the relief she’d sensed before came through Charlorrion’s scent.
What the hell’s that about?
“Well, thanks, I appreciate it. Have you and your wife been married long?”
“Oh, we’re just starting out. We’ve been together for only a couple of centuries.” He waved a hand in the air with a warm smile.
“Do you have plans for children?”
“Yes. Sometime in the next fifty years or so we’re going to start trying. Torriandra finds it hard to be patient until she reaches maturity. She says she’s going to tackle me the night of her first millennium.” He laughed. “I told her she can try.”
She laughed with him, happy to know she wasn’t the only one who enjoyed children. “So you want to have kids?”
“Very much. Torriandra became a local school teacher to spend as much time with them as possible.” He glanced down at her over one broad shoulder. “I understand from Solenarra that you had two kids with your mate before he died. How old are they?”
“Yes, two daughters. One’s one hundred and the other two hundred.” She sighed with a proud smile. “They grow up so quick. Pretty soon they’ll be able to shift shape before we know it.”
The nighttime noises flowed around them like a river and Lissandra tried to settle herself into their rhythms. Frogs croaked in the wet darkness and the crickets added their lowland songs to the late spring cacophony. Compared to the alpine environment of her Colorado home, the night in Redfield seemed filled with lush life. The humid darkness wrapped around her, stirring memories of her dead husband.
Aw, Mike, you would’ve loved it here. She still missed him, but the sharpness of his loss had faded.
“Here we are. Welcome to the Ravenwing household.”
A house with green shutters and a white picket fence appeared out of the woods. White picket fence? Really? They passed through a gate and Charlorrion led her to the back porch. The outside light illuminated a flower garden with tulips and snapdragons blooming gently in the warm evening.
“Torriandra, we’re here.”
A woman appeared with a big smile and sparkling eyes as Lissandra followed Charlorrion into the mudroom. She stood almost as tall as her husband with her black hair woven into a single braid down the center of her back. A red bindi marked the third eye between her black brows and her eyes glowed silver-black, like hematite beads.
“Welcome to our home, Ms. Charforest.” Torriandra nodded her head. “Did your trip go well?”
“It did, thank you.” Lissandra hitched her back a little higher on her shoulder. “And thanks for offering me a place to stay for this…event.”
Torriandra shot her husband a quick look before she returned her gaze to Lissandra. “You are very welcome. Come in. Are you hungry?” She led them into the kitchen of the house.
“No, thank you. I grabbed a bite on the way.”
“Buffalo burger?” Charlorrion grinned.
“Venison.”
“Nice.” He gestured toward the stairs, the feathers of a dream-catcher tattoo appearing from under his short sleeve. “Your room is upstairs. Let me show you where to put your things.”
“Thanks.” She followed him, wondering about the tattoo. “I like your ink. Does it have a special meaning?”
Charlorrion nodded as he led her down the hallway. “Yes, it’s to honor the Iroquois Shaman I’ve known since he was a child. I’ve worked with his family to keep things in balance.”
A curious tension mantled his shoulders and Lissandra bit her lip. What’s he not telling me? He’d chosen the appearance of the Iroquois, complete with stoicism, but his body language spoke to his apprehension. He showed her the guest room housing a futon frame with a regular mattress on it and brightly colored bedclothes. Lissandra set her bag down on the futon and rolled her shoulders to loosen them.
“Solenarra never mentioned what you do for a living.”
Some of the tension faded from his body. “I’m a firefighter.” He winked and she laughed. “Works out pretty well. I keep the community safe and don’t have trouble with smoke inhalation or burns.”
“Nice.” She nodded, but some of her misgivings returned. “Thanks again for the place to stay.”
“You’re welcome. The bathroom is down the hall and there are towels and extra toiletries if you need them. Can I get you anything else? Tea? Coffee?”
“No, thank you. That’s enough for now. I’m just going to get into bed and rest before, well, tomorrow.” She rubbed her arms to dispel the feeling that she’d missed something important.
“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. And I think you’ll really like Denarrion.” Charlorrion hesitated like he wanted to say more.
“I hope so. I mean, this seemed like a good idea a month ago, when I finally felt ready to face the world again.” She shrugged. “I wanted to see if I could find someone to love again.” She shot a look around the unfamiliar room. “But now I’m having a few second thoughts. Think I’m crazy?”
He tilted his head. “Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean taking this chance isn’t a good idea. Sometimes making a simple change in your routine helps everyone heal from losses.”
She couldn’t help but feel like he meant something other than her widow status. “I can see that. I loved my husband and for a while, I couldn’t imagine loving anyone else. But ultimately, I don’t want to be alone and I want my children to have a father-figure in their lives.”
He nodded. “Give Denarrion a chance and see how it goes. He’s a good guy once you get to know him.”
Once I get to know him? Why wouldn’t I like him first off?
She didn’t voice the questions as she nodded. “One day at a time, right? As if I could choose to skip days.” She snorted. “Thanks again for the room. I’m going to call home and get some rest. See you all in the morning.”
Charlorrion nodded with a smile. “Good night, Lissandra.”
“Night.”
Lissandra closed the door behind him and slowly relaxed, letting her breath flow out with her tension. They’d welcomed her and she had a safe place to stay, but these dragons were essentially strangers. She’d never been shy about meeting new people, but there was something off about this whole event. She couldn’t put her finger on what seemed so wrong, though.
No use worrying until I have the whole story. Tomorrow would be soon enough to figure things out.
She nodded sharply and got undressed before fishing out her cell phone to call home.
“Charforest residence.”
“Hey, Luce. How was your day?”
“Mom!” The joy in her oldest daughter’s voice warmed Lissandra’s heart. “It was an okay day. I missed you. Even more now that you’re not here to read us a story.”
“I know, but Solenarra should be able to do that.”
“Yeah, but she’s not as good at the voices as you are.”
Lissandra laughed. “It’s a gift.”
Lucenarra giggled. “That’s a good one, Mom. How are you doing? Did you meet the guy yet?”
Lissandra sighed. “Not yet. I just got here. I’ll see him tomorrow.”
“Will you send us a picture on the phone so we can see what he looks like?” Luce’s voice rose in excitement. “Or you could put it on Facebook. Then we could see him.”
“Since when do you have a Facebook account, Luce?”
“Oh, I don’t, but I see the things you post in Sole’s feed.” Her daughter sounded smug.
“Sweet Goddess. I hope she’s there with you when you’re looking at her stuff. You know, to explain it.” Lissandra rubbed a hand over her face.
“I don’t think anyone can explain humans, Mom.”
Lissandra sighed. “There is that.”
“The good news is we could Skype with you and your new beau, and then we could hear his voice.”
“Luce, he’s not my beau yet.” Lissandra shook her head. “But I wanted to call and tell you I love you. Will you please hand the phone to Kressendra? I want to tell her goodnight, too.”
“Okay, Mom. I love you and I hope the guy’s really cute.”
Lissandra laughed again. “I’ll let you know. I love you, too, Luce.”
“Night, Mom.”
“Night.”
There was some squabbling and a few odd sounds while the dragonets passed the phone between each other, but in the end Lissandra’s youngest came on the line.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Kress.”
“Hi, Mom. I miss you.”
“Aw, I miss you too, sa garren. How was your day?” Lissandra couldn’t help but smile.
“It was okay. We made a bunch of crocheted blankets for the homeless shelter and gave them out. Everyone said they were so impressed that I could crochet, but you taught me that like twenty years ago. It’s not that big a deal, right?”
Lissandra snorted. “It is for most humans who look as young as you do. But for dragons? Not so much.”
“Huh. Okay. How was your trip out east? Did you see a lot of cool migratory birds on the way?”
“Not this time, and it was dark when I got here. I just wanted to tell you I made it okay and I love you.”
“I love you, too, Mom. When are you gonna meet your new guy?”
Despite the premise of her trip, the idea of a new man in her kids’ life made her heart clench. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’ll meet Denarrion tomorrow.”
“I know he’s the right one, Mom. Dad told me so.”
Lissandra’s eyebrows went up even though her daughter couldn’t see them. “He did? When?”
“Today during my nap. He said you would find a new dad for us and he’d make everything better.”
Goddess, I hope that’s true. Lissandra didn’t believe in fairytales. Even if she was a dragon.
“We’ll see. But you need to get to bed. It’s late. So I love you. Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.”
“Eww! I let the cat eat bedbugs.” She paused for a giggle before her voice grew serious. “But you are gonna meet him tomorrow, right, Mom?”
“Yep. A deal’s a deal, and I said I’d be there.”
“Promise?”
Lissandra frowned, wondering why her daughter seemed so intent on assuring her agreement. “Promise.”
“Good. I love you, Mom.”
“I love you, too, Kress. Good night.”
Lissandra ended the call and lay back in the bed, her mind going over her daughter’s words. The closer this trip had come, the more both her kids had said stuff like this, even citing their deceased father. She’d like to discount it all, but she understood the Goddess too well to ignore it. Why is he sending me messages now, almost thirty years late?
Something buzzed a warning outside her awareness and she couldn’t shake the feeling she might have stepped into a bigger mess than she was capable of straightening out. At least the girls are safe. Thank the Goddess for small favors. Now she just had to face whatever came on this extended blind date.