Autumn Calling (26 page)

She looked over her shoulder when she
thought she heard something following her. She didn’t see anything
so she continued on.

When she arrived at the mansion she
remembered the last time she was here. Completely innocent of who
lived in this giant estate, she’d come to help a client with her
injured cat. A client who turned out to be her sister. My how
things had changed in just a short time. She’d almost been killed
then, too, by Juliette. “You’d think I’d learn to avoid this
woman,” Summer said under her breath as she leaned the bike against
the tree where she had left it once before. Again she heard
something—clicking and jingling, like tags on a dog collar and
nails on the pavement. That’s when she saw the behemoth hellhound
with glowing eyes, one red and one yellow, cantering down the
street in her direction.

“Dang it, Sully. I told you to stay home,”
she said in a loud whisper. “Go home,” she said angrily. Instead
the hound sauntered up to her side and sat on his haunches huffing
and puffing with his tongue hanging out on one side. She pointed
the way they’d come and said it again. “Go home, Sully. It’s not
safe for you here.”

Defiant as usual, he cocked his head licked
her hand and sat there.

“Fine. Then stay here.” She pointed to where
he was already sitting and he laid down looking up at her and
crossing his front paws daintily. “Ugh. You’re killing me, dog,”
she said under her breath, then turned and headed up the walk to
the front door and knocked, checking her watch for the time and
turning back to make sure Sully could not be seen from where she
stood.

* * *

A wraith of a woman with dark sullen
features opened the door. “Good, you’re on time. I have high regard
for punctuality in a person. So many your age, have little concern
for it and in doing so disrespect those who have a busy schedule,”
she said graciously welcoming her into the foyer.

Summer followed her lead and only nodded at
her comment.

“Quiet thing, aren’t you, unlike your
sister. That girl never shuts up,” Juliette continued leading
Summer through one beautifully decorated room after another. The
Macabres obviously liked living in luxury and seemed to prefer
French country decor adorned with finely carved furniture covered
in opulent fabrics and pristine chandeliers of the finest
crystal.

Juliette waited at the fourth doorway they
passed through, opening the door with a key only when Summer came
near. She waved her through and followed behind her, relocking the
door when she closed it. Through the door was a long stairway
downwards with minimal lighting and steep steps.

They came to another door in which Juliette
stepped in front of her and unlocked it with her ring of numerous
keys. Again she waved Summer through. This room was huge, round and
anything but extravagant with its bare brick walls, nary a window
in sight. The ceiling raised several stories and the only light
within was a naked bulb on an old lamp without a shade. There was
movement though, in this space—something large. A rattle of chains
made her turn her head toward a wall behind her where she saw a
haggard Jackson bound by his arms in a giant
T
.

“Jackson,” Summer exclaimed. “Are you all
right?” He nodded.

“He’s fine. A little tired and sore, I
imagine, but fine,” Juliette relayed.

“Let him go,” Summer said. “You’ve got what
you wanted, now let him go. He’s got nothing to do with any of this
madness.”

“Maybe not, but he has been a wealth of
information on this,” Juliette waved her hand and spun a bit
directing Summer’s attention at what lurked in the shadows at the
far end of the room.

Chains rattled in the darkness and something
moved swing around to reveal large glowing eyes of yellow peering
out of the blackness. Something else moved and rush of air rustled
passed her when she could just barely make out the outline of
enormous wings refolding on themselves after what she assumed was a
bit of a stretch to ease being cramped up in a room unable to fly
or walk around due to the chains that bound her talons. Summer
could just barely make out a glint of red iridescent color from the
murky confines of the shadows.

“The dragon.”

“You don’t seem at all surprised to see such
a magnificent creature,” Juliette said with disappointment.

“I’m not. I knew you had a dragon locked up
here.”

“Well, kudos for you,” Juliette said a
little miffed.

Redirecting her attention back to Jackson,
Summer said, “You said you’d let him go if I came. I’m here, now
let him go.”

“Technically that’s not what I said. I said
I wouldn’t kill him if you came and I won’t unless he annoys me or
we need to feed the dragon at some point.”

“But—”

“Sorry,” she said without conviction, “It’s
not my fault you assumed that would be the outcome of our meeting.”
She made a gesture with her hands and Summer was pushed back
against the wall and the manacles came alive clamping around her
wrists and locking themselves. Summer tugged and strained against
them but they did not budge.

Juliette nonchalantly made her way to the
door unlocking it and said looking around the room, “If we get
anymore guests, we’re going to have to expand this room.”
Apparently Juliette thought her comment was hilarious as she left
the room laughing heartily at the statement. They heard her
laughing as she locked them in the room with the dragon.

“Swell. Lot of good I did,” Summer said
leaning back on the wall, arms outstretched and slightly
dangling.

“You couldn’t have know what she would do,”
Jackson said sounding exhausted.

“When was the last time you fed?” she asked
looking at his more than usual pale vampire complexion.

“It’s been a while, though I don’t think I’m
in that boat alone,” he said directing his eyes to the darkness and
the dragon beyond.

She heard a scratching from high above. She
squinted to search the blackness and there was a window, yet small,
and two glowing eyes looked upon them—one red and one yellow.

Jackson and Summer said in stereo,
“Sully.”

“Well, I guess it was a good thing he
followed me, huh?” she said with a strained smile. Jackson nodded
in agreement. “Sully, go get Marcus and Autumn. Go. Now. Bring them
here.”

The glowing eyes bobbed up and down in what
she assumed was Sully nodding and then they disappeared.

“You’re requesting help from more Macabres?”
Jackson said with surprise.

“A lot has changed since you’ve been
gone.”

“Apparently.”

She craned her neck to read her watch and
said, “Nick will be calling in the cavalry here very soon. He’s
supposed to contact Aunt Myrtle, Hunter, and Morti if I don’t
contact him by ten and it’s ten minutes to.”

“Nick. Always saving my butt.”

“He’s a good guy underneath his broodiness.
His heart is in the right place, besides his pushing me away from
the two people he loves—you and Tori.”

“Tori?”

“Yeah. After her accident, I was banished
from contacting her.”

“He can…overreact at times.”

“It was for the best. It’s kept her out of
danger for the most part.”

“How did she feel about that.”

“At first, she didn’t know. Now, I don’t
think Nick will be living it down anytime soon.”

“I’ll bet not.”

“So, have you tried to speak with the
dragon?”

“Uh….No. I don’t speak dragon.”

“Just because she’s in dragon form doesn’t
mean she can’t understand what we’re saying. If she’s like Hunter,
she understands everything. And you call yourself a scholar?”

“Actually I don’t, but I get your
point.”

Summer directed her conversation to the
dragon in the darkness.

“Ms. Dragon? I’m sorry I don’t know your
name or I’d address you properly. If you haven’t surmised on your
own, help is on the way. There are many people very excited to make
your acquaintance. Oh, and so you know. We think we’ve located your
egg.”

That got her attention. Before there was no
movement in the blackness until the word ‘egg’ was mentioned. The
long slender neck bent around and yellow glowing eyes looked at
her.

“It’s true. We don’t know its exact location
but it is in this house and we know what room it’s in. We’ve been
planning your break out for some time now, though I imagine with my
disappearance they’ll engage sooner than we had planned.”

The dragon moved towards her, intrigued by
her words and as it did her head came more into the light taking
Jackson and Summer’s breath away. Her size alone was more than they
had expected, but the scales were a magnificent color of dark
cherry red that looked almost black.

To think of animals such as this existing
once in large numbers, filling the skies, must have been
magnificent and frightening to say the least. Summer didn’t expect
the dragon to speak to her in her present form, she may not be able
to verbalize.

“Just know this, we are doing everything we
can to get you and your egg to safety. I expect you have little
trust for humans after this bondage, but I swear on my life, it’s
true. We are working with another dragon to make it happen.”

The dragon cocked her head to one side, much
like Sully did when Summer spoke to him.

“It’s true, ma’am, Ms…Uh. I’ve been working
with him for several months when we caught wind of your existence.
He’s very eager to meet you. I suppose it’s been killing him to
find you were her, so close, all along and he hadn’t been able to
see you,” Jackson added.

The dragon drew nearer showing more of her
immenseness, sniffing the air and directing her glare at
Jackson.

“He is, but he has been here.”

Jackson and the dragon both whipped their
heads around to Summer.

“Really. The little window above? Morti
brought him here a while back and I expect he’s been here when he
could to catch a glance of you.”

The dragon looked up at the window and
actually looked out of it. She obviously hadn’t known or noticed
Morti’s or Hunter’s visits.

“How could Morti come her without being
noticed?” Jackson asked.

“I told you, a lot has changed while you’ve
been traipsing across the Pacific. He’s found a way around his cat
form and has been spying for some time. He’s the one who brought
our attentions to the dragon’s capture.”

“And how could you know about the egg?”
Jackson asked.

“Hunter recognized the signs of her
nesting.”

“Oh, right.”

The dragon fell back a few steps directing
her glances between her dungeon mates and the window that now
intrigued her. She seemed to understand all that Summer had said,
which meant they had not caused her to go crazy as Hunter first
suspected. That was a good thing because when it came to escaping,
it was better knowing they could direct her to safety or ask her
help in defending them.

* * *

Nick and Tori raced to the Midnight mansion
and made it in record time. Nick pounded at the door and when no
one answered immediately Tori joined in on beating the ancient
piece of wood covered in cracked chipping paint. It caused an
avalanche of dried white paint to fall on the threshold like dirty
snow.

The door opened and Nick nearly mowed down
Myrtle when he stepped in and closed the door behind him.

“Summer’s in trouble,” Tori and Nick said in
stereo.

“What? Slow down, you two.”

“Ms. Midnight, we need to get to the Macabre
estate right away,” Tori said.

“It’s ten past ten and I haven’t heard a
word from her. She knew I’d come looking for her and contact you if
she didn’t communicate otherwise,” Nick blurted.

“Summer was to meet Juliette,” Tori
said.

“Why?”

“They have Jackson,” Nick said.

“Jackson? How?”

“That’s not the point, they told her if she
didn’t show or she brought someone with her, they’d kill Jackson,”
Nick divulged.

“So she told Nick where she was going and if
she didn’t contact him, he was to let you know where she was,” Tori
explained as Morti sauntered into the room rubbing his furry face
on the doorjamb.

“Oh, dear. Morti, Summer’s in trouble.
Better get Hunter and quickly,” Myrtle said.

He turned and ran off from the direction he
had come when the doorbell rang.

“My, it has gotten suddenly busy, hasn’t
it,” Myrtle said heading to the door.

A familiar scratching at the wood of the
door gave Myrtle a sudden pause. She opened the door and found
Sully joined by Marcus and Autumn.

“This evening gets more and more interesting
with every door opening,” Myrtle said unsure what else to say.

“Myrtle, I’m sorry for this intrusion, but
this, this, hellhound forced us to come here,” Marcus said with
confusion.

“It’s Summer’s, isn’t it,” Autumn said
admiring Sully.

“Yes, it is. And if he is here with you,
then my other visitors are right in thinking Summer is in grave
danger.”

“Danger?” Marcus exclaimed.

“Come. Since you’re here, we might as well
talk, as you don’t plan on killing us,” Myrtle said.

Marcus was stunned and simply shook his head
no. “Good. We all seem to be here for the same reason—Summer’s in
trouble.”

* * *

Myrtle escorted Marcus and Autumn into the
parlor where Nick and Tori were fretting. She started introductions
as Morti returned with Hunter.

“Victoria, Nick this is Autumn and Marcus
Macabre, Summer’s…”

“What is a Macabre doing in MY house,” Morti
exclaimed which stopped Myrtle and got a raised eyebrow and an
angry glare.

“YOUR house? You’re not exactly MAN of the
house, Mortimer, being a feline and all. This is MY house and I’ll
invite who I want into it anytime I feel like it.” She re-directed
her attention back to Nick and Tori.