Bewitching The Dragon. Jane Kindred

      She figured she’d probably just lie there on the bed no matter how tired she was. How could she possibly sleep with a dragon in her living room? But she was out like a light, only waking early in the morning to a loud thudding and clattering on the stairs.

      Ione grabbed the gun and jumped up, launching herself into the hall to find the dragon clumsily attempting to climb the spiral staircase, its tail coiling through the railing.

      “Mother of God. What are you doing?”

      The dragon’s claws slipped on the open wooden stairs and it tumbled backward before flinging its wings out instinctively to catch itself, apparently finally remembering it could fly. It circled the open-plan area beneath the vaulted ceiling, sweeping pictures off the wall and onto the living room floor—with every other item it had knocked over on its way to the stairs—finally settling on the landing, puffing steam like the “Little Engine That Could” and looking rather smug.

      Ione tucked the pistol into her waistband at the back of her cotton pajamas. “You’re pretty pleased with yourself, I see. What do you want, a treat?” The dragon tilted its head. Ione yawned. Judging from the pale glow from the skylight, it was about six in the morning. “I’m going back to bed. If you’re hungry, you’re going to have to wait until a reasonable hour.”

      After climbing back under the covers, she heard the dragon lumber into the room, just barely clearing the door frame, and settle onto the floor by the bed. Ione opened one eye as the dragon curled its tail over itself like a cat for warmth. How a dragon could be cold with steam coming out of it, she wasn’t sure, but it certainly made for a comfortable room for a human.

      She woke again a few hours later to find the dragon gone, but a curious lapping sound was coming from the bathroom down the hall. “Oh, God.” She’d forgotten to give it water. This was why she didn’t have pets. Among other reasons.

      Ione kept her eyes closed and pretended not to hear it, stirring only as the dragon thumped back into the room. She opened her eyes, a bit disappointed that the dragon’s transformation hadn’t simply reversed given a few hours. Was he going to be stuck like this? Blood was dripping down the creature’s foreleg, the makeshift bandage soaked through.

      She got up and got another set of towels to replace the sodden ones, trying not to think about the state of her pale wood floors and the cream-colored carpet in the living room as she rebandaged the wound.

      But by the time she’d cleaned up and gone to the bathroom, blood was already seeping through the towel. Shouldn’t the bleeding have stopped? Maybe dragons had different circulation systems. What the hell was she going to do? It wasn’t like she could dial 9-1-1 and get a paramedic over here to treat a dragon. She needed a vet.

      It occurred to her that Theia had worked as a veterinary assistant while studying for her degree in zoology. God, she couldn’t bring Theia into this.

      The dragon’s warm breath seemed to be more rapid than it had been. She had to do something.

      Theia answered on the first ring. “Hey, Di. Guess you must have felt me dreaming about you, huh?”

      “Uh, no. Not exactly.” Before learning about the Lilith blood, she’d never taken her baby sister’s prophetic dreams seriously. “What have you been dreaming?”

      “Mostly just vague dreams about power—your magic growing stronger.”

      Ione didn’t know about that, unless her magical abilities had been responsible for what had happened to Dev.

      “I also dreamed you got a dog. Which is hilarious, because you hate animals.”

      “I do not hate animals. I just don’t like having to clean up after them. I did enough cleaning up after you guys.” She bit her tongue. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

      “You did, but that’s okay. I know it couldn’t have been easy having to take care of a bunch of snot-nosed kids when you were barely more than a kid yourself. And we love you for it. You know that.”

      Ione’s eyes were smarting and she pinched her arm. She couldn’t afford to be sentimental right now.

      “Actually, that’s what I’m calling about. Animals. Do you know anything about...reptiles?” God, was it a reptile? Were dragons reptiles?