Chapter 8 - Camilla

“Sterling!” I cry out desperately when I’m lifted off my feet by something brutally coarse and strong, an outstretched arm flailing in the air. Like a vice grip around my waist, the clamp is scorchingly hot against my waist. A thunderous roar behind me is frightening, but I can’t see what just grabbed me.

All I can do is stare at Sterling as he sprints toward me.

“Rakon!” Sterling’s voice blares through my eardrums.

Close to throwing when the strong clamp forces bile to the top of my throat, my eyelids are about to close when what I see next widens my eyes.

Sterling, the impossibly handsome man who just referred to himself as my “boyfriend” after one incredible date, stops running. Instead, he closes his eyes and sticks out his arms on either side of him before thunder streaks of dancing white and green envelop his body, curling around his arms and head. Shock keeps my eyes glued to him, my body still as horror fills me up.

Through the clouds of swirling iridescent colors, a scaled face emerges that resembles one of the dinosaurs we showcase in the museum. Except this one is very much alive; its massive form is replacing Sterling with large webbed wings sprouting out from behind it. The unfolding of its wings is angelic-like; each pointed tip of its wings embellished with a translucent emerald gem that glimmers with energetic liveliness as if each one has its own heartbeat.

I’m mesmerized until I notice that the rest of its body is scaly and terrifying when sharp claws distend from its pincerlike, arched fingers. It peels back ivory lips on its snouted mouth, flashing a set of razor-sharp teeth before it roars toward the sky.

The deafening sound snapped me out of the hypnotic daze I’d been in when I witnessed the creature coming to life.

That’s… That’s Sterling…?

How?

Though its eyes are slitted like a snake, I do not doubt that it’s Sterling’s eyes that stare at me with torment swirling around the deep green depths. The monstrous creature stares at me and whimpers before flapping its wings and lifting a cloud of dust all around it. The beast flies forward, a puff of red-hot flames licking at the tail in front of me.

That’s when I realized that another, equally as large creature is what carries me. Finally able to tear my gaze from the creature that gives chase from behind, I look down to find that the vice grip shackling my waist is a rigid arm at least five times the size of a human, one with gray granular scales making up its sleeve.

I can hardly breathe as I gaze further up to see the onyx crystals bejeweling the creature’s shoulders. It wheezes as the flick of its dark eye skeptically glances at me from the side with an eerie glint of menace evident enough to keep me from squirming.

It can’t be…

My worst nightmare has just come true in a matter of a split second. Except, my captor isn’t the dreadful creature I was afraid of in my dreams.

The one giving chase with determination, flapping its magnificent wings to bring it closer, is the dragon from my dream-turned-nightmare. It’s the one that appears like a valiant hero to save me from harm’s way, breathing out a puff of fire that captures my captor’s tail and has it recklessly coasting to the side, spinning me in its brutally tight arms until I’m released from its grip.

I plunge to the ground, tumbling a few meters ahead until I finally roll to a stop. Bracing my palms on rough stones beneath me, I snap my head in the direction of a bleating roar that slices through the air.

I can only decipher that I’m on the top of a mountain somewhere far from the alley in the city where I’d last tasted blissful unawareness of my reality before now. The white dragon from my dreams faces off with the gray dragon, its snout pointed in warning as it stands on hindlegs strong enough to indent the ground below it.

I’ve never seen something as marvelously superior as the dragon who walked out of my dreams. Mightier than my imagination, in the flesh, it frightens me even more than those dreams I’d been having.

Only this time, I can’t close my eyes and try willing myself to wake up from those dreams. My eyes remain fixed on the dragon as a fight ensues between the two powerful creatures.

The white dragon with emerald gems speaking of its grandeur rushes forward, a wing curled like a fist that it throws in the gray one’s pointed face. The other wing is wound to throw another punch, but the gray dragon dodges nimbly and blows out fire in front of it. The white dragon’s wail of pain as its head snaps in my direction rushes through my being like a shockwave as if I’d taken the blow. I flinch from the residual impact, suddenly rooting for the white dragon as it regains its composure and fights back.

Punches are thrown between curled fists of arched claws and webbed wings. The two reptilian creatures of giant proportions spin and flutter around the edge of the cliff until a blow sends the gray one plummeting to the ground. The white dragon has the upper hand, towering over its competitor and crushing its chest with a powerful hindleg.

The gray dragon shuts its eyes as if to accept defeat, but in one swift motion, it swivels an arm and knocks the white dragon’s shin. The unsuspected impact is met with another wailing whimper, throwing the white dragon down. When it lands on the ground with an impactful crush, I shriek and shut my eyes, turning my face away when I’m unable to watch the horror unfold.

In one swift thrust, I’m back in the arms of my captor. However, its warmth soothes my being and prompts me to open my eyes, only to discover that it is not my captor.

It’s the white dragon, whose eyes are concerned as it stares down into my face.

The weight of everything I’ve just witnessed comes crashing into me like torrents of waves during high tide. My body grows limp in the arms of the white dragon, my vision blurring as I surrender to the tumultuous and sudden discovery that dragons exist.

***

A suffocating breath slithers up my throat, and my eyes fly open when I feel silk beneath my palms.

“Phew!” I breathe in relief, realizing that I was dreaming. The culmination of my dreams over the past few nights must have slipped through the cracks of my imagination and had me believing that my real life was a part of the dream.

“You’re awake…” a familiar voice startles me, jolting me into the realization that the bed I’m lying on isn’t my own.

The ceiling from which the white organza is draped around the bedpost isn’t my own either.

This one screams “expensive” and “exotic” with its emboldened lines and velvety paint.

Turning my face cautiously in the direction of Sterling’s voice, I gasped when I realized that I wasn’t dreaming. He wears a wary smile as he saunters toward me, appearing less human when I recall how he’d transformed into a dragon in the alley.

The charred marks on the left side of his face prove that he was the one who fought the other dragon on the mountaintop. But I refuse to believe that anything I saw was real.

It just can’t be.

Scrambling to an upright position, my back hits a soft cushion as I curl my legs inward and hug them for protection. I stare at him through perplexed eyes as the memories of what happened before come crashing into me like a storm.

“Wh-where am I? Wh-what are you? Wh—”

“Shh…” Sterling cajoles as he approaches the bed, a hand held out to subdue my panic.

It doesn’t little to soothe my fears when an image of the dragon flashes into my mind. Frightened by the reality of what I encountered today, I hug my knees tighter as if to shield myself from him. A mountain of questions enters my mind as a driving force behind my panic.

What does he want with me?

Am I to be the dragon man’s next hearty meal?

That’s the only reason he approached me before. I was way in over my head to think he was interested in me.

Oh, God! I must have been crazy when I thought it was an attraction that pulled Sterling toward me!

“... I know you’re in shock, Camilla,” he says calmly, his voice mimicking the one he used to seduce me.

Not the one that screeched and cried in his dragon appearance.

“But I want you to know you’re safe here with me.”

Blinking fervently, I stare at the man in utter disbelief.

Safe?

How am I safe in a dragon’s lair?

I’ve seen what he’s capable of when he fought his nemesis on the mountaintop.

He’d snap my neck in the blink of an eye.

I have to remain cautious.

“Don’t come closer!” I warn when he’s about to sit on the bed, my voice skittish as I scramble in the opposite direction. Close to the edge of the bed, I slide my feet off to prepare to make a run for it if I need to.

He remains calm and collected, sighing as he hangs his head.

“There’s no need for you to be afraid of me, Camilla,” he urges. “You’re safe now.”

I shake my head, unconvinced. He’s probably just trying to seduce me into trusting him, so I’m a willing candidate for his next meal.

“I don’t… I don’t trust you.”

“I understand,” he sighs despondently, lifting only his eyes to meet mine. He seems so remorseful, but it must be part of the act. “But I swear, you’re safe now.”

“Where am I?” I demand, feeling the ground under my feet. “Tell me where I am!”

Sterling stares at me as his eyes turn soft. “You’re on an island outside of the States.”

Panic erupts like fire in my chest, which fuels my need to escape. I’m on my feet, rushing toward the closest glass door I can find. My survival instincts kick in when he mentions an island as if I know that I’m about to be the dragon’s next meal, and I need to find a way out to save myself and spare my life.

I throw open the sliding door, hit by a cool breeze that does nothing to cool my frenzy. I bolt for the railings, gasping when I clench my hands over the wooden bar and find the ground a lethal distance away. If I jump, I’ll plummet to my death, according to basic instinct.

There must be another way.

I only catch a fleeting glimpse of the supposed island below, with all its beautifully woven details, as if it sprouted from my dreams. The flowers, the trees, the lush land. But I have no time to appreciate any of it.

It must be another trick the dragon man used to fool me into thinking that I’m safe here. He’s capable of the impossible.

The existence of dragons was impossible until today.

“Camilla…” he calls from behind, and I keep my body pressed to the rails as I turn around abruptly.

“I told you not to come any closer!” I yell, my mind turning into an incomprehensible abyss of dark thoughts.

Only one thought stands out from the rest, and I gasp when my grandmother’s voice grows louder.

Abuela…

She warned me against danger, against the “ respirador de fuego .” The fire-breathing dragon.

I didn’t take heed of her warning or the instructions she gave me to protect myself against the dragon man. Her instincts were right, and I dismissed her warning as the ramblings of an old lady.

“I have to go!” I cry out with exasperation in my voice, spreading from the throes of the fears curling in the pit of my belly. “Please let me go,” I plead.

That’s all I have left—a desperate plea to the dragon man to set me free with tears welling in my eyes.

“I can’t, Camilla,” he refuses with a brisk shake of his head.

Half-expecting him to shift into dragon form and do the inevitable, I shut my eyes and turned my face aside.

“Just do it, then,” I murmur, shoulders slouching defeatedly.

He surprises me when he chuckles lowly, compelling me to open my eyes again, only to see him frowning.

“Do what?” he asks.

“Kill me,” I blurt. “If you won’t let me go, then just do it now. There’s no need for you to drag this out.”

“I’m not going to kill you, Camilla.”

“Then…” I glance over my shoulder, my chest heaving rapidly with panicked breaths. “ If you don’t let me go, I’ll jump!”

“Don’t be foolish!” he grouches, grabs my arm, and pulls me forward.

Squirming and wrestling against his touch, he drags me back into the room and slides the door shut with a loud thud. I stare at him with grievingly perplexed eyes, unable to ignore the unfathomable pull I feel toward him despite my better judgment.

It must be another trick he’s using on me. He’s full of tricks when a twirl of his wrist in the air veils the glass door in a cloud of black smoke that darkens the bright light of the island. Startled, I muster enough force to pull myself free from his arms, only to find him glaring at me through the darkened eyes of menacing jets.

“You need time to get over your shock,” he bellows reproachfully. “I can’t trust you until then.”

My jaw drops at his unwarranted claim.

He can’t trust me ?

The audacity!

I’m about to snap back with spiteful words that hang bitterly on my tongue when Sterling turns and marches toward the main bedroom door. Without another word, he throws it open, grunts as he steps out, and pulls the door shut with a bang.

I rush forward, trying the door, only to find it locked.

Sinking to the floor, my face falls into my hands as defeated tears spring free from my eyes. My body shakes from the force of my sob, as I wish I’d heeded Abuela ’s instructions to be safe.

I shouldn’t have trusted the man, with his good looks a tool to trick me into being his next meal.