Chapter 2

Devon? Dangerous? What was he getting at?

Surely he was joking.

Paige crinkled her brow at his comment and chuckled. "What?"

"You heard me," Dewey said, poking a chubby finger in her direction.

He couldn't be serious, but she had to be sure, so she questioned, "Devon? Devon LeBlanc is dangerous?"

"Yeah, Devon," Dewey said, his eyes narrowed as he placed fists on his hips.

Paige rolled her eyes as she lugged a few bags to the counter. "How is Devon dangerous?"

Dewey perched on the edge of the breakfast bar, letting his back legs dangle in the air. "I didn't like him."

"You don't like anyone," Paige claimed as she dumped the remaining bags on the counter and shuttled the drinks into the refrigerator.

"Not true. I like Ronnie, and I like you most of the time."

Paige crinkled her nose at him as she swung the fridge door shut. "You don't know anyone else."

"What I know is that guy's got a creepy vibe. What with his ruggedly handsome looks, smoldering stare, and killer smile."

Paige raised her eyebrows at Dewey's description. "Are you serious? You don't like him because he's hot?"

"So you think he's hot?" Dewey questioned as she grabbed her laptop from the coffee table and set it up on the breakfast bar.

"I didn't say that," she answered, keeping her eyes trained on the screen.

"Yes, you did."

Paige clicked around on the Cheesy Does It website to place an order. "No, I didn't. I said you think he's hot. You said he has smoldering good looks."

"I didn't," Dewey argued. "I said he has smoldering stares and ruggedly handsome good looks. And those types are always dangerous."

Paige gave him a sideways glance, her head cocked and her eyebrows scrunched. "You're not serious."

"I am. Do you know how many times the guy in the romance novel with dastardly good looks turns out to be, well, dastardly?"

"No, I don't read romance novels, Dewey."

"Well, then take it from someone who does. It's like one hundred percent of the time."

"Two orders of breadsticks or one?" Paige asked.

"Two, obviously. Look, just listen to me on this. The dude is dangerous. Especially since you lose all sense of sanity around him."

Paige screwed up her face and shot him a glance as she clicked the Place Order button. "What?"

"Oh, Devon, hi!" Dewey mimicked, batting his eyelashes. "You may as well wear a sign that says, ‘I think you're hot. Kiss me.'"

Dewey rolled his eyes at her.

"You're goofy. I do not act like that around Devon. And even if I did, just because he has dashing good looks doesn't mean he's dangerous. This isn't some cheap novel, Dewey. It's real life."

Dewey raised an eyebrow at her when a furry feline darted into the room, leaping onto the stool and then the breakfast bar in rapid succession.

Dewey flitted into the air, darting away from it.

"Hi, Dicky," Paige said with a grin as she shoved her laptop to the side and stroked his fur. "Dewey, meet Dickens. Dickens, my new partner, Dewey."

The cat stalked back and forth as Paige petted him before he leapt onto the counter and studied Dewey, who hovered in the kitchen. Dickens plastered his ears back and hissed at the flying dragon.

"Be nice, Dickens. He's a friend."

The feline issued a low growl as Paige skirted the bar and grabbed his dish from the dish drainer. She popped the top on a can of fishy food and emptied it into the bowl. The cat concentrated on his dish rather than the dragon.

Dewey wrinkled his nose, his horns wiggling. "I don't think he likes me."

"I told you, Dickens doesn't like anyone," Paige said as she stroked the cat's fur while he ate the pate she'd dumped into his bowl.

"Can I touch him?" Dewey questioned.

"Sure," Paige said.

Dewey flitted closer, tentatively reaching a hand out to the furry feline. He rubbed one scaly finger down the cat's back. Dickens twisted to face him, his eyes narrowed.

Dewey's eyes went wide, and he zoomed away and hovered in the living room.

"What's wrong with you?" Paige asked as she shuttled a bag of candy to the coffee table and picked up the remote.

"Sorry," Dewey said. "Never saw a cat before."

Paige snapped her gaze at the dragon who darted around the space.

"So, this is the old homestead, huh?" He glanced out the window before he flicked his gaze around the room.

"Yep."

"Nice view of the sunset," Dewey noted as the dark red ball painted the neighboring buildings a deep shade of crimson.

He settled onto the couch, propping his head up on his hands as his elbows sank onto the back cushions.

Paige smiled over at him as his tail wagged lazily back and forth while he followed the descending sun. She clicked around on her streaming app, finding her trilogy collection of Blade and queuing the first movie.

She wandered back to the kitchen, cleaned the cat's bowl, and rustled through the bags to find the Cheetos. She tossed them on the coffee table before she readied the popcorn bucket for popping.

Dewey glanced behind him as the couch shook. His eyes went wide, and he backed into the corner of the sofa.

"Paige! Paige!" he hissed.

"What?" Paige asked as she returned from the kitchen into the living room.

He tapped his finger in the air toward the reason the couch had quivered.

Paige stared at it, shrugging. "What?"

"Your cat is right there," he whispered, his gaze sliding sideways to eye her.

Paige shrugged again and tossed herself into the armchair, kicking her feet up on the coffee table. "So? He likes the couch. He usually takes a nap on the back after he eats."

Dewey grimaced as Dickens leapt onto the back of the couch with a big yawn. The cat arched his back and circled before settling down on the top of the cushions. Dewey eyed him for another few moments, his nose wrinkled.

"Relax, Dewey," Paige said as she tapped her foot in the air. "He won't bite…hard."

She arched an eyebrow and offered him a devilish grin.

Dewey's grimace deepened, and he stuck his tongue out at her, blowing a raspberry.

A knock sounded at the door.

Paige leapt from her seat and scurried past the kitchen, grabbing the cash tip she'd set out. After a quick glance through her peephole, she tugged the door open, accepting the order and passing off the money.

With her foot, she kicked the door closed and hurried back to the living room, sliding the boxes onto the coffee table.

She popped open the lids on two of the three containers. "Dinner is served!"

Dewey flitted to the table, snatched a plate, and loaded it with three breadsticks and two slices of pizza.

"Don't forget we have all this popcorn and candy, too," Paige called as she grabbed cold drinks from the kitchen.

"Don't worry. I can eat it all!" Dewey settled back onto the couch and bit into a breadstick, kicking one foot over the other as he lounged against a throw pillow.

Paige smiled at the scene of the little teal dragon lounging on her sofa as she slid the Energy Dragon drink across the table to him before cracking open her own soda.

She loaded her plate with a generous helping and licked her fingers as she slid back into her shabby armchair. She aimed the remote control at the television and shot a glance at Dewey.

She arched an eyebrow, a grin crossing her lips. "You ready?"

"Ready!" he announced, pumping a fist in the air.

Paige stretched up to flick off the lights before she pressed the play button on the remote. She settled back in her seat as the opening scene filled the screen.

Deep crimson rays filtered through the window as the sun continued to sink below the horizon.

Blood sprayed from the ceiling at a vampire dance party.

"Ewwww," Dewey shouted, crinkling his nose.

"So, do they have blood-infused vampire raves, do you think?" Paige asked.

Dewey snorted a laugh. "Get real, Paige."

"It seems plausible, given what I've lived through in the past week."

Blade appeared on screen in his long leather jacket, striking fear into the hearts of the vampires before he struck them with more than just fear.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. PAUSE!" Dewey shouted.

Paige tapped the pause button. "What is it?"

Dewey flitted over for more food before he settled back onto the couch. "Okay, so you said this Blade character is a day-walking vampire."

Paige nodded as she munched on her breadstick. "Yep."

"But he's killing vampires," Dewey said with a mouthful of pizza.

"Yep."

"It makes no sense at all. Wouldn't happen."

Paige waved her breadstick at the screen as she swallowed a bite of pizza. "Well, see, Blade is tasked with saving the humans from the vampires."

"False," Dewey shouted. "Day-walking vampires are an extreme threat to humans. As we well know from your negative experience with one."

"I'm pretty sure Blade didn't do this to me. He's a good guy."

"Okay, so these movies aren't going to help because Blade is a complete fake."

Paige slouched down in her seat and aimed the remote at the television. "Oh, well, then we'll just enjoy them."

They polished off the pizza and breadsticks halfway through the first movie. Dewey swiped the hot cheese curls, munching on them as Blade continued to battle against the bad vampires. Paige dug into a package of peanut butter cups and then licked her fingers clean of the gooey peanut butter and melted chocolate.

"Oh, come on!" Dewey shouted at an incredulous on-screen move by Wesley Snipes.

Paige chuckled at his reaction. "Just wait. It gets better and better."

They finished the first movie as the apartment plunged into darkness with the setting of the sun. Paige flicked on the light as Dewey groaned, squinting against it.

"I'll make some popcorn for the second movie." After tapping the pause button, she hurried to the kitchen and tossed the microwavable bucket into her microwave.

She ran back to the kitchen as the popping sounds echoed in her apartment and queued up the second movie. With the popping sounds dwindling, she darted back and brought the steaming bucket out, peeling back the plastic and delivering it to the middle couch cushion. She plopped down on the other side of it, switching seats to share the snack.

"This is nice, Paige. Thanks."

Paige grinned at him as she tossed a piece of popcorn into her mouth. "You're welcome."

She pressed play, and the second movie began. A few minutes in, a scraping noise sounded above them.

Paige's shoulders slumped as she flicked her gaze toward the ceiling.

Dewey's ears wiggled as he glanced up. "What is that?"

"Devon," Paige grumbled as another scrape sounded. "I don't know what he does up there, but this is constant."

"Sounds like he's moving furniture."

"He's been moving it since he moved in last week." Paige leaned forward and swiped the remote off the coffee table, aiming it at the television and ratcheting up the volume.

"Wait, wait, he moved in last week?"

"Yeah," Paige said as she munched on another kernel.

Dewey squashed his teal lips together, rubbing them back and forth.

Paige glanced over at him. "What?"

He grabbed a pawful of popcorn and tossed a few kernels into his mouth. "Nothing."

Paige set her jaw and wrinkled her nose as another loud noise sounded from above them.

She flailed her hands at the ceiling. "Come on!"

Dickens opened his eyes to slits and lifted his eyes up. His ears flattened against his head, and he hissed.

"Whoa!" Dewey shouted, buzzing away from the couch, a line of dropped popcorn following him.

Dickens flicked his gaze at the fleeing dragon before lowering it to the discarded kernel. He leapt onto the couch cushion, then down to the floor, grabbing a piece and munching on it.

"I think he's mad at Devon, not you," Paige said.

Dewey flitted back to the couch. "Looks like the popcorn made a nice peace offering."

"He loves popcorn. But he knows better than to snag it from my bowl."

Another scrape filled the air.

Dewey let his eyes rise upward again. "What's with this dude? Does he always move furniture in the middle of the night?"

Paige puckered her lips as she shrugged. "He's always doing something up there that's noisy. Maybe he hasn't settled in yet. It's only been a week."

"Indecisive about his furniture placement maybe," Dewey said, grabbing another handful of popcorn and tossing it into his mouth.

"Also rude. Who moves furniture after 9:00 p.m.?"

Dewey crinkled his nose as he slurped another sip of his Energy Dragon. "What are you, eighty? I mean, it's only 9:38. Relax, Paige."

Paige shot him an unimpressed stare. "Whether I'm eighty or thirty-four, it doesn't matter. It's rude. People are trying to relax."

"Maybe you should call up there. Give him a piece of your mind."

Paige tugged one corner of her lips back, pawing through the popcorn bowl for another handful. "I tried that once. Didn't work out."

"Oh? Did he tell you off?"

"No, I just… lost my nerve, I guess."

"Because he's hot," Dewey said as the loud scraping continued.

"No, not because he's hot. Just… I'm not rude, that's all." Paige focused on the on-screen action.

"Mmm-hmm." Dewey crunched another few kernels. "So, thirty-four, huh?"

"What?"

"You're thirty-four."

Paige shot him a glance, her pale skin flushing. "No, I just said thirty-four. I was just throwing out a random age."

Dewey's thick eyebrow rose in the air. "Kind of a specific age to randomly throw out."

Paige shrugged it off. "Whatever."

"I was just gonna say you look good for thirty-four. I wouldn't have put you a day over twenty-six."

Paige flashed him a glance as she sipped her root beer. "Mmm-hmm. So, how old are you?"

"Two hundred thirty-six," he said without skipping a beat.

Paige screwed up her face, pausing the movie. "Huh?"

"Dragons live for hundreds of years. I'm still pretty young."

Paige slouched down in the cushions as she slowly chewed another piece of popcorn. "How many hundreds?"

"Huh?" Dewey asked.

"How many hundreds of years?"

"Oh, right, like seven or eight hundred."

Paige tugged her phone from her pocket and tapped around. "So, you're about thirty percent of the way through your life."

"Thanks, Paige," Dewey said, throwing a piece of popcorn at her. "I'm so glad to know that."

Paige pulled open the Twizzler package, peeled a few from inside, and bit the end off one. "I'm just trying to figure out how this compares to human life."

"I'm a little younger than you." Dewey waved his hand in the air, requesting a rope candy. "Also, I'm cooler than you."

A loud, long scrape sounded, drowning out the dialogue on screen. Paige growled at the ceiling and raised her fists in protest. She grabbed the remote and pressed her finger against the Volume + button. The yellow bar on the bottom of the television rose higher and higher until the sound blasted from the speakers.

Loud booms resounded through the living room, and Blade fought through another throng of vampires.

"TAKE THAT, DEVON!" Paige shouted with a grin.

The disruptive sounds from above ceased after another twenty minutes. Paige turned the volume down on the television as she queued up the third movie.

"Ugh, I'm stuffed," Paige said as she patted her full belly.

"Me too," Dewey admitted. "Where's your bathroom?"

Paige pointed to the doorway leading to her bedroom. "Through the bedroom. Hang a right."

Dewey flew into the air, darting across the room and disappearing into the other room. Paige tapped her fingers on the remote as she waited. She tugged another Twizzler from the package, swinging it around after she bit the end off.

Her gaze floated to the ceiling above. What did her noisy neighbor do up there?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud shout.

"Hey, Paige?" Dewey called.

"Yeah?" Paige inquired.

"You better get in here!"

Paige leapt from her seat, hopping over a sleeping Dickens and racing toward the bedroom. "If you stuffed up my toilet–"

Her voice cut off as she stepped inside the room. Dewey hovered at the window. He twisted to glance over his shoulder, his jaw hanging open and his eyes wide.

"What is it?"

His features pinched, and he swallowed hard. He lowered his voice to a whisper and tapped a finger toward the glass. "The vampire's outside your window."