Touchdown Daddy (156 page)

Kiara didn’t sleep much that night. She paced, practiced simple spells and waited for the day to break. She’d decided she would go to him first thing in the morning to check on him. And this time she wouldn’t leave until he talked to her.

She peeked out her window for the hundredth time and checked her phone. At 7 a.m. she climbed out of her window and ran to his house. She knocked softly, then slid the window open. It was unlocked now.

He was sleeping, but even in the dim light of the early morning she could see he didn’t look good. His skin had a greenish cast. She put her hand on his shoulder and whispered his name. She had to shake him a bit and speak louder than a whisper to finally rouse him. He groaned and turned on his side, then peeled his eyes open slowly.

“Kiki?” He’d only called her that once, and she kind of liked the nickname. But now it sounded more like he just couldn’t get anything else out.

“What’s wrong with you? What hurts?”

“Everything.” He moaned again and rolled onto his back. “Achey, throat hurts, head hurts. I might puke.”

Kiara found his trash can and moved it closer to him. She took out the bottle of juice she’d brought. It had the truth herbs mixed into it. “Drink this. You’ll feel better.”

He sat up and drank it. “What is it? Do you know how to make some kind of healing potion?”

“No, that’s very advanced magic. Some day. You just drank a truth herb.”

“Why?”

“I need to know what you saw last night in the woods.”

“Oh.” He sat up and leaned against the wall. “I saw you. As a dragon. Recognized the necklace. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Kiara’s stomach plunged. He had seen. This illness would kill him. And it was all her fault. Tears rushed to her eyes. “Spence, you don’t understand. I’m sworn to secrecy. And this illness, the reason you’re sick right now is because of me. Because you saw me. There’s a powerful dragon magic curse at work. It kills anyone who discovers its secret, whether I tell them or they find out by accident.”

His eyes widened. “You’re saying I’m going to die?”

She shook her head. “I’ll figure something out. I’ll find a way to save you.”

“Kiara,” he whispered. “I don’t want to die a virgin.”

Good ole’ truth herb. She almost laughed, but nothing about this was funny. “I know.” She kissed his cheek. “Me neither, but there’s no time. Right now I have to go. I have to find someone and see if he can help me.”

She leaned forward and kissed him, but he pulled away.

“I don’t want you to get sick, too.”

She put a hand to his cheek. “You’re not actually sick, you’re cursed, and that’s not contagious. But whatever you do, do
not
tell anyone. Anyone you tell will be cursed too, and will die.” They resumed their kiss, passionate but restrained by his pain. If she couldn’t save him, she would make sure that neither of them died virgins. Definitely.

“I will come back as soon as I know something. You hang in there and don’t die too soon, okay?” Her voice cracked and tears filled her eyes again. “Give me some time to figure out how to save you.”

“I’ll try.” He had tears in his eyes, too, when he kissed her again. “I love you. I’m so glad you told me that last night. I almost chased after you, but I started to feel really sick.”

“It’s okay. You will live. Or I’ll die trying to save you.” She kissed him one more time, then jumped out of his window and dashed into the forest at lightning speed.

She changed quickly and leaped into the air, then flew immediately to the dragon haven. She landed hard and called out, “Sindri!”

His response came almost like a whisper in her mind. “I am coming.”

She watched the sky and saw him fly into view moments later, large and shining green. He landed in front of her and tucked his enormous wings behind his back.

“Hello, Kiara.”

“Sindri, hi. I need your help.”

He nodded slowly. “Yes, I felt the magic activate. You have told someone our secret?”

“No, he found out by accident. He’s a wizard too and he bypassed my detection spell. I would never ever tell him, and now he’s really sick, and he’s going to die, and I don’t know what to do.” Tears ran down her cheeks. “I can’t lose him. I love him. Please, is there a way to save him? Anything?”

“Yes, you can save him.”

Kiara felt all four of her knees weaken in relief. “How?”

“Simply take off your ring in his presence. The secret will be wiped from his mind and you will die in his place.”

“No, Sindri, please. There has to be another way.”

“I did not create this magic. It is as old as dragons.”

“No, I know. But he’s not just human, he’s a wizard. Can’t you give him the power to shift as well? He has strong magic.”

“The power could be granted if he has magic—”

“How?”

He gave her a frustrated look and she kept her mouth closed. “For you it was your sacrifice of freeing me. You took a risk, not knowing the reason I was cast in stone, and you were lucky that I was not a malicious dragon. He has made no such sacrifice, so a sacrifice must be made.”

“Okay…” Kiara almost held her breath, waiting.

“In the light of the moon, you will cast a spell. It’s not the most difficult spell, and in your dragon form I have no doubt you would be able to perform it.”

“What’s the spell?”

“I will tell you, but you should know it’s the elements required that are the sacrifice.”

She knew of spells that required things like hair or even body parts. Some required intangibles like time or memories or happiness. To receive something like the power to shift into a dragon it would likely be something drastic.

“It requires the blood of a virgin.”

“Like, how much blood?” They’d just had the conversation about both of them being virgins. Easily accessible blood right there in her own body.

“All of it. The empty vessel of the virgin is also required.”

“So I need to kill a virgin and have the blood and the body?”

Sindri nodded and explained the rest of the spell. “Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“I wish you luck, young one.” Sindri lowered his head then flew off.

Kiara had a few herbs and things to gather for the sacrifice spell and a few other general herbs she liked to keep on hand. She also made a visit to the cave. She and Spence had spent a lot of money recently going out and doing fun things. If he survived she wanted to be able to do something awesome to celebrate. She selected a handful of coins, something easy to carry, and flew back to the woods.

Most of the elements for the spell to make Spence a dragon shifter were simple. A few plants, a certain potion and the moonlight. She could get all the plants from the dragon haven, she had some of the potion already and the moon was in abundant supply. Though there could be a problem if it was cloudy tonight or he didn’t survive the night. She should have asked Sindri how long it took the curse to kill someone. She was kicking herself for not knowing that, but it was the least of her worries right now.

This virgin thing made her sick to her stomach. Would she have to kill someone? When Sindri had first said the word “virgin” she’d been relieved. If both she and Spence were then their blood was readily available. But of course it couldn’t be that simple. A dead virgin’s body
and
all of his or her blood. Could she really kill someone to save him?

Kiara spent some time in the woods, pacing. There were many hours left of the day before the moon would be in the sky. She had time. Too much time to think, but not nearly enough time with Spence. She wanted to be with him, to spend every moment with him. But she couldn’t face him. Not yet. She had to decide first what she would tell him.

He wouldn’t want her to kill anyone, surely, but how could she look him in the eye and tell him he was going to die and there was nothing she could, or would, do about it? Was there some other way? What if she went to a hospital and waited for someone to die? She could maybe take the body without anyone noticing.

Except the timing would be really tricky on that since the body needed warmth for the spell. If the potion she had to pour into its mouth grew cold, everything would take too long and it wouldn’t work. So she’d need to be there right when someone died—someone who was a virgin—and she’d need to find a way to sneak the body out without someone stopping her. Right. Like she would ever get that lucky. If she had weeks maybe she’d try, but today was probably her only shot.

Then an idea came to her. She thought back through everything Sindri had said. Then she went through it all again. Nowhere in all of his explanation had he said that the virgin had to be human. She’d assumed that was what he meant based on the way he described the spell. It was probably the best way to do it. If she cheated, it might have negative consequences. But at this point, when her options were to let him die, die herself or kill someone else, this seemed like it was worth a shot. And if it didn’t work he’d just have to live another day, and tomorrow she would kill someone.

Now the question was, what sort of creature would make the best sacrifice in the place of a human? An ape would be the closest to human, but there were no zoos nearby, and flying in as a dragon to steal one then flying it back here would probably not be the best idea. She may have come a long way on her cloaking spell, but she hadn’t tried to increase it to the ability to cloak someone else with her. People would probably notice an ape flying through the sky.

There was an awful lot of literature on wolf shifters. Werewolves. Books, movies, even a real disease that covered people in hair. Wolves were often thought of as kindred spirits to humans. Maybe they would be a good choice. There were wolves in the area, and if she chose one young enough to have never gone into heat it would be a virgin.

The wild relief mixed with the idea in her mind. Could this really work? Should she take the chance? After pacing for a while, she decided. She would do this first. If it didn’t work properly she would find someone to kill. Someone annoying and pathetic from her school, maybe. Even if the guilt haunted her forever, she would not lose Spence, not like this, not by her own fault.

She went into dragon form and put up her cloak, then pointed her nose into the air and sniffed around. There was a pack of wolves a few hundred feet away. She walked closer and thought that by the scent, by how thick and dense it was, this must be their home. The wolves would be there when she needed them. Right now she had no way to keep one. She’d have to make some sort of cage or get a leash and a lead to hold it until she was ready for the spell. She went close enough to smell that there were young pups there before leaving the woods in human form.

Spence was still in bed sleeping when she climbed in through his window. She kissed him and he stirred. His eyes were glassy and his complexion even worse. It smelled like sick in the room. He’d probably thrown up. Sweat glistened across his forehead.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey,” he croaked.

“You really can’t die of this now, because I don’t think we’d be able to fix that virgin thing with you in this state.”

His mouth twitched into a smile before falling back to a straight line. “I’d find a way.”

“Of course you would. Do you need anything? Can I bring you something?”

“I need”—he coughed and she saw the splatter of blood on his hand—“to not die.”

“Oh, that.” She waved her hand in the air, trying to lighten things a bit. “Yeah, I’ve totally got that all worked out. No worries.”

He blinked at her. “Really?”

She grinned. “Yes. We have to wait until the moon is out, but yes. There is a spell.”

“What does it do?”

“Well, that’s actually the extra cool thing. It makes you into a dragon shifter, too.”

“Really?”

She shrugged. “The only way to survive knowing the secret is to be part of it.” She wondered then if that was why Sindri had given her the power. If he hadn’t, she would have died after freeing him because she saw him. Maybe that’s what he meant when he said that she was lucky he wasn’t malicious. He could have just let her die, and she would never have known why. Who knows how many people she might have told? She could have started a chain of cursed deaths. And if Sindri was evil, he might have allowed it. Well, none of that mattered now.

“Yup,” she said. “Then we can fly around together. You probably didn’t know this, but in dragon form my magic is way stronger. Just wait until you see the magic you can do.”

“What’s the catch?” He coughed again and wiped sweat from his forehead.

“What do you mean?”

“Has to be something bad about it or everyone would do it.”

“Well, first, only those with magic can become a shifter. So it wouldn’t be everyone. And yeah, it’s a difficult spell. And it does require a sacrifice.”

He looked at her, waiting.

“We have to kill a virgin.”

His mouth hung open. “We can’t do that!”

“No, shhh.” She put her lips to his for a second. “I figured something out. It doesn’t have to be a
human
virgin. We’re going to kill a wolf virgin.”

His face fell into a frown.

“I know it’s still not ideal. I don’t even like the thought of killing a little wolf, but when I’m a dragon I eat lots of different animals, including wolves. It’s part of the food chain. And if it means we don’t have to kill a person and you don’t die and I don’t die, then I’ll have to be okay with killing a wolf.”

He nodded. “I guess that’s better.”

“You being alive is better.” She smoothed back the hair that clung to his forehead. “If I have to, I will kill for you.”

The look he gave her was so full of love and longing that she wished they could take care of the virgin thing right then. But he would live. He had to. And they could do it right. Make it special. And not when he was all sickly and half dead.