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I dropped Ralph and covered him His body was lifeless No breath, no heartbeat, no warmth Please be okay Please be okay Please be okay

I squeezed ht about how ht about how oftento Broken Heart I cracked open on&039;s flames flowed over us Fire tore at our clothes with hot, sharp claws I could feel its heat, its stinging caress on my face and hands, but it didn&039;t burnour exposed skin with lover&039;s fingers

"Stop," I shouted, unsure who I was talking to The dragon? The fire? The little voice in uished instantly I could control it Well, hell I guess I was a dragon after all That was the weirdest thing that had ever happened toa lot I crawled off Ralph, the acrid s ed, but otherwise okay I could taste the soot, feel the netic draw of the fire I had to resist its call

For Ralph

Once again, I grabbed him under the arms and heaved hion turned the soccer field behind us into a lake of fire How er would we survive? Panic squeezed ot Ralph to the car My hands were shaking andI prayed the dragon wouldn&039;t attack us again We needed the car to get away I wondered if Stan had called for help, and if so, when the hell it would get here

The passenger door was locked

Shit, shit, shit Ralph had had the keys in his hand Where were they now? I didn&039;t have ti lot

My mind raced The heat of the torched car battered onfire was daood

I wished I had my purse, but it had never been returned I had all kinds of useful tools inside it, including just the iteer door Instead, I took off e of theTelass never shattered when hit in the ht me that I unlocked the door and kneeled on the driver&039;s seat, leaning over to take Ralph under the arot him settled and strapped on the seat belt I sat down, heart pounding Why hadn&039;t the dragon attacked again? It was only a matter of time Ralph was still unconscious At least I hoped he was only unconscious Weren&039;t vampires supposed to be fast healers? Not to onfire, too If it didn&039;t hurt ht me how to hotwire a car Luckily, the Honda was an older ine turned over Yes!

So rapped on my

"Aaaaaaahhhhh!" My heart nearly stuttered out ofnow; its perilous tones made my hair stand on end I didn&039;t want to look, but I did anyway Thenext to the car was more than six feet tall and built like a linebacker His eyes were co was odd; the iridescent leamed like a million jewels The color was very si clothes Those were scales He was the dragon The one who&039;d killed the woman at the ceravelly voice "Get out"

I nodded and sear shift I looked behind as hard The tires spun as the car fishtailed wildly If this had been a movie, I would&039;ve expertly whipped the car around and sped away Instead, I went twenty otten to turn on the lights, but I didn&039;t want to try and risk wrecking us

I stared overtowhump The front of the car dipped Startled, I turned around and saw the man crouched on the hood He placed his palht e on?" asked Ralph groggily

"So the wheel back and forth,the pedal to the floor The car didn&039;t budge

I saw Ralph&039;s eyes widen "Get out," he yelled, echoing the deon He wrestled with the seat belt, but I kneas too late

"Can&039;t you hear the song?" I whispered Our death dirge oven inside it Gripping the steering wheel so hard ed through er side He leaned in through the broken , his eaze on mine "I don&039;t repeatit over the car It scudded across the parking lot Vaguely, I noticed the red dragon still circling above us

"What do you want?" I asked

"You"

"Leave her alone!" Ralph tried to push hirabbed Ralph by the shoulders and ripped him out of the car, seat belt and all

"Ralph!" It took precious seconds to get out of my seat belt I stumbled out of the car and rounded it, not sure what I planned to do

The dragon flung his round I couldn&039;t move my feet

Helpless and frustrated, I watched as he threw Ralph to the ground and banged his head again and again against the blacktop The fifth ti lot, he passed out

"Ralph!" I looked at the dragon, my eyes hot with tears "Don&039;t hurt him, please"

"Give me your power now or I will re about!"

"My sister gave you her dragon soul You have all her power And, it appears, her morality" He chuckled "Give me her power and I proain," I said "But I can&039;t give you my power" I really couldn&039;t I didn&039;t kno to do it His sister had kissed me, and I sure as heck wasn&039;t about to kiss him His smile revealed double rows of needle-sharp teeth The better to eat you with,at me like I was crud he&039;d scraped off his boot His ripped my shoulder, and he raised his other hand Ralph&039;s limp body rose into the air and slowly spun in a circle

"Give me your power, or I will kill your lover"