Chapter Eleven – The Dragon’s Favorite Strays
Chapter Eleven
DAKOTA
I need a grill.
Fourteen cookbook shelves later, I’ve find a book that details how to smoke meat without a dehydrator, and it goes into great detail about smokers and grills. Which is perfect…except I have neither. The good news is that I can probably find one at an old hardware store.
The bad news is that I have to find an old hardware store. And it needs to be close enough for me to wheel the smoker back. I contemplate using an abandoned car’s trunk to act as a smoker but I don’t know if they’ll leak chemicals into my food so that’s out. I don’t want to poison me and Rabbit just trying to eat.
I pull on my shoes and glance at my dragon companion. He’s still in his human(ish) form and has been following me around the bookstore as I brushed dust off of books and hunted for the right recipe. He’s showing no signs of going away anytime soon, nor is he talking. I decide the best thing to do is just ignore him and go about my day.
I get to my feet, and Rabbit makes a sleepy groan from across the way, in the nook with shelves that she’s set up as her ‘room’. “I’m heading to the roof to scout,” I call out. “Stay here and when I come back, I’ll make breakfast.”
“Kay,” she answers sleepily, and I know her well enough to know that she’s going to be in bed for at least another half hour if she can swing it. Lazing in bed is a luxury.
Shooting a nervous smile at Murr, I grab my binoculars and head for the back of the store. I pop open the creaky, rusted metal door back at the shipping dock and then climb the metal ladder embedded in the side of the building that leads to the roof. He watches me climb but doesn’t follow up, and I wonder if he’s gotten bored of trailing after me.
I should know better. No sooner have I walked three steps on the leaf-strewn roof than a dragon appears on the side of the building. It alofts and hovers in the air, watching me, and then thumps down onto the roof next to me. My heart feels as if it’s going to beat out of my chest. Is this when he kills me?
A moment later, the massive golden form shimmers and warps, and then Murr is standing there again. He strides over to me and watches me with great interest, head tilted.
“Should have guessed that, huh?” I ask, and manage a small smile.
He smiles back at me, and it’s more natural this time, as if he’s finally figuring it out. Cute.
I lift my binoculars and scan the surroundings. The bookstore is in a busy area south of an old highway, with lots of additional stores clustered along a side road. Ideally I’d like to find a big box hardware store, but I’d settle for a small Mom and Pop store. Heck, I’d even settle for a grocery store because they might have a grill somewhere, or at least some pans I might be able to use to jerry-rig a makeshift smoker.
I don’t see any of those things, though. I do see an old pharmacy, though, a chain one that had a small amount of groceries at the front along with the drugs at the back. The old sign is crumbling but the building it looms over looks mostly whole. Well, I can start there.
“I’m going to go back down,” I tell him, pointing at the ground.
Murr eyes the side of the building, and then gestures about picking me up and carrying me over.
“No! I can do it myself.” I shake my head violently and take a step back. It’s not that I don’t trust him, it’s that…okay, so I don’t trust him. He’s still a dragon, no matter how normal he might seem at the moment. Dragons have destroyed the world I used to know in their endless wild rampages. Just because he hasn’t eaten my face yet doesn’t mean I’m safe.
It just means he hasn’t killed me yet.
I move to the ladder and start climbing down before he can suggest it again, and hurry back inside when he turns into a dragon and flies down on his own. I wait just inside to see if he’s going to come in, and sure enough, he enters a moment later and follows after me, curious. In his human form, his skin still looks scaly, but it’s more like a snake — luminous and patterned – rather than hard like a lizard. His body is sleek with muscle, and as he walks, my gaze is drawn to the hypnotic swing of his dick between his legs. How does he get anything done with that in the way?
How is it I can’t stop looking at it? God, I’m a mess.
Face hot, I head back inside and run into Rabbit, who’s coming out of the lavatory. Her eyes widen in surprise at the sight of Murr a few steps behind me.
“Surprise,” I say. “Our visitor is still hanging out.”
“Oh, cool,” Rabbit replies and leans over to make eye contact with the dragon-man. “Hi Murr. Remember me?”
His mouth works for a moment before he produces a word. “Ribbit.”
She giggles, face bright. “You do! Did you bring your cats?”
I speak up at that. “No cats, love. I’m sure they’re still in the parking lot but stay inside until I get back, okay? We don’t want him to feel like his cats are threatened by us and I don’t know how he’s going to react.”
“Are you going somewhere?”
I indicate with my thumb. “There’s a store in that direction a few blocks that I’m going to check out. I should be back in a few hours. Maybe make a fire? Roast up some meat for breakfast and save a bit for me for when I get back?”
“I can do that,” my daughter agrees and kisses my cheek. “You bet. Be careful, Mom.”
“Just no fire near the books,” I call after her as she heads back deeper into the store.
“I know. I’m not a kid!”
“Yes you are,” I mutter under my breath. But she does know how to make fire safely at least. I can’t stress over that too much. I glance at Murr to see what he’s doing.
He rubs his cheek thoughtfully and stares at the spot on my face where Rabbit kissed me. Now how am I going to explain that gesture? In the end, I give up and pretend like it didn’t happen. I just smile, grab my quick-travel pack, and head out the door.
Unsurprisingly, he follows.
