Devon watched her carefully. She had taken to it like she had being lady of the castle; like she’d done it all her life. And when she moved over the town, everyone that could came out to see them, waving at their new lady and sending up cheers for them both. Devon asked her if she was ready to see the mountains.

Can we become human again? I mean, I love being this other me, but I’d like to touch you. I find that I need to touch you. He told her that he wanted her as well. Almost as soon as their feet touched the ground, she was her human self, but naked. “I need you.”

When his dragon melted away from him, Devon reached for Kelly. Her body was different now, stronger and warmer. He kissed her, telling her with his mouth how much he wanted to take her. Lifting her up, he felt her wrap her legs around him when he pressed her to the closest wall of stone. Letting her go, he stepped back from her and dropped to his knees in front of her.

Devon pulled her pussy to his mouth and sucked on her hard clit. She rode his mouth as he ate her, her juices hot now, much warmer than they had been before. As he devoured her, drinking her as quickly as she released, he fisted his cock to relieve some of the ache that he felt. Lifting up one of her legs, he put it on his shoulder and spread her nether lips wider. He watched her pussy tremble and he blew his breath over her.

She screamed out his name as she came for him. Her clit seemed to beg to be bitten, so he tasted her. And when she curled her fingers into his hair and pulled him tighter to her, Devon slid his hand up her thigh and pushed two of his fingers into her to bring her again.

“Fuck me.” He watched her, looking up at her while he suckled at her pussy. “Please. Fuck me, Devon. Hard. I need you to fuck me really hard.”

He nearly tossed her to the ground, his body aching to fill her, to take her like he needed to. And when she spread her legs for him, showing him how ready she was for him, Devon leaned over her and slammed his cock as deeply and as hard as he could.

Kelly screamed again, her voice echoing around them, bouncing off the stone of the mountains and back to them. When he pulled from her and filled her again, he nearly came when she begged him to take her harder, to give her what she needed. Filling her again, this time holding her body to his, Devon pounded her as hard as he could until she screamed again and bit him.

Stars…there were stars in his vison he was so blown away by the release that took him. As he pounded more, emptying everything that he had into her, she came three more times, taking him with her each time she did. When she was as limp as he felt, he dropped over her and rolled to his back, his body too spent to even make sure that they were safe where they were. Sleep took him.

When he woke he was alone, but he knew that she was close and turned to his side to see her. She was sitting by one of the trees with a small circle of flowers around her. He sat up when he realized where she was. Dressing, because she was dressed, he made his way to her, careful not to disturb the faerie circle that she was in.

“I’ve been talking to my dragon. She told me to sit here and that we could talk. I didn’t know what this was until they came out to see me.” She nodded to the little faeries that he’d seen before. They bowed when he nodded to them and he looked at Kelly again. “They said they were to serve me.”

“All faerie are for us. We serve each other.” She nodded and smiled at him. “Did she tell you the meaning of the circle that you’re in?”

“Yes. There is a dragon on the other side. That when they died, someone put their ashes here and a garden, this garden, was made to protect them. There is but a single flower that can close it off to all who would harm them. She said that you have it. And so long as I don’t call to her, she won’t come to me. But that if I need her, she’ll be there. She’ll come to me in the form of a faerie.” Devon nodded and opened his hand, and the necklace that had been his since he’d been born was there. He put it out in his hand for her to take. “You don’t have to give it to me, Devon. It’s yours.”

“I wish for you to have it.” He sat up and put it over her head, the chain changing to fit her, and he sat back down. “When a dragon dies, he turns to ash, much like a vampire but not quite the same way. Dragon ash has special powers that when it is touched by someone that loved the dragon, they are forever touched by his magic. This flower and the ash within are that of my great grandparents. They are both on the other side of this garden.”

“You never touched the ash or met them.” He shook his head and told her that they were both gone before his mother had been born. “I’m sorry about that. I’m sure they were very nice people.”

“Yes, from what I heard, they were wonderful people.” He watched her as she sat there, the flowers, an offering from the faeries, in her lap. He picked one up and handed it to the faerie to let them start their work. “When a dragon male finds his mate, another dragon, there is a great celebration. Many faeries come from everywhere for their coming together. The faeries bring with them magic, magic that they share with the couple. The magic can produce a child should they like.”

“You mean for us to have a baby?” He nodded but said nothing. “This celebration, she mentioned that it happens when the trees were ready to open, the flowers to bloom. I take it that it’s sort of like a birth of a great many things.”

“It is. But should you like to wait, then we can.” She watched the faeries as they wove the flowers into a long chain, one that Kelly would wear to their wedding. “I’d very much like for you to marry me. Now, today if you’ll have me.”

“I will.” He nodded, unsure of her mood at the moment. “I would like to have a child with you. Many if you don’t mind. But we have to deal with my mom and sister first.”

“We can do that now if you want.” She nodded but continued to watch the faeries. “What is it, love? You seem so...I don’t know, but sad for some reason.”

“Your mother was poisoned. It’s what killed her. She was given dragons breath, a flower known to poison only your kind and the faeries that surround you. Your father fed it to her himself, not trusting the staff to do it for him. He had tried to order them to kill you off as well, knowing when you were born that you were a dragon.” Devon said nothing as he listened to her. “He saw your mark. And when he did, he went into such a rage that he tried to stab you with a blade. But you had protection. You’ve always been protected; did you know that?”

“Yes. First it was Benshaw, then it was his grandson. They’re faeries as well.” She nodded. “Do you know how he was killed? My father, do you know what happened to him?”

“Your dragon, he killed him when your father meant to beat him from you.” Devon felt his heart break, knowing that she’d hate him now. “I don’t. Hate you, I mean. I love you, and am glad your dragon ended your nightmare.”

“No one knows what he did to me. Benshaw did. My father hated me. I never knew that he understood what I was.” He looked down over the fields that they’d flown over, the homes with the people that had come to mean more to him now more than ever. Kelly had shown him what love really was. “When he was dead, I called to the staff. Once they confirmed what I already knew, the police were called and he was taken away. No one asked me what had happened. There were no questions as to why he’d fallen. No one, not a single person, seemed to care any more than I did that my father was dead.”

“They knew even then, I’d bet, that everyone, you included, would be safer after he was gone.” Devon nodded and laid back on the grass. “This is so peaceful here. Do you suppose that’s why your grandparents picked this place?”

“I would say that back when they came here, there wasn’t even a town to speak of.” He sat up when she stood and stepped out of the ring. “We must go and deal with your family. Are you ready?”

“No. But I’m more ready today than I was a week ago. I don’t think they’re going to like me overly.... Well, they’re not going to like me at all after this.” He wanted to say good, but it was her mom and sister. Laughing, she made her way to him and wrapped her arms around him. “My dragon, take me home.”

~~~

Rachel and her mom were taken to a conference room. It was drab and needed to be updated too. There wasn’t even a vending machine that had anything good in it, and no matter how many times she told them to charge it to her sister, they would not give her anything from it.

“This shit is going to have to be fixed. Kelly should know better than to leave us here and not provide for us.” Her mom nodded. “We didn’t even have a decent bed to sleep in. And no television at all. Christ, you’d think we’d done something wrong.”

They both looked at the officer who had walked in the room with them. Rachel asked him where their breakfast was. “And not that crap you brought us all ready. You made us miss our dinner out with Kelly last night, and I won’t have you making us anything nasty. I’ll have an omelet with bacon on the side and coffee. Not that dark stuff you brought us yesterday.”

“Tea. It was tea. And I’m not bringing you breakfast. You had it.” She told him she had not. “You did. I brought you sausage and bean with toast.”

“We didn’t like the way it looked, and you served it on paper plates. That is not the way we wanted it. Now, I want an omelet with bacon on the side. Crispy. I want—”

“Her ladyship asked that you write down what you want before you go home that you’d like to take. One or two things, like souvenirs. She said that you’re leaving today, thank the good Lord. And that she wanted you to know that your things are packed up too and ready at the airport.” Rachel took the notebook and pen and felt like this was the way things should have been from the start. “And do not be asking me for breakfast again. You didn’t eat what was served, and that’s all there will be until noontime.” After he left, she looked at her mom.

“I’m glad to see that she’s finally coming around. I have to tell you, Mom, I despaired of her ever getting with the program. To think that she has been treating us badly all this time, and it took us staying away from her for a day for her to understand how much she needs us.”

“You should write that down. That she needs us. And that we’ll suffer through letting her stay in the apartment with us. You tell her that we want a bedroom apiece. I don’t want to have to share.” Rachel nodded. “And then you tell her that we need her to set up an account with our names on it, not hers. No more of her just taking our money whenever she feels like it.”

“And no more trips for her. When we plan something, we’ll think about letting her go with us. She’ll have to work some overtime I guess, but that’ll be fine. With her gone all the time, you and I can have parties. Credit cards…we need them with our names on them. Ones without limits too. No more of her dictating how much we spend.”

Rachel was writing things down as fast as she and her mom could think of them. Changes were needed when they got home. And the first one was that she was going to have to start putting money back in that account. Rachel did note that she’d only take from it when it was necessary. She simply wasn’t going to have her nails and hair done at different times from now on. It made her feel unbalanced, and she hated that. When the door opened, she looked up at the gorgeous woman who stood there. Then Devon.

“Where is Kelly? She’s supposed to come here and we’re going to give her this list of things that we want.” The woman said she was Kelly. Rachel stared at her. “What did you do? You can’t have had your face and body redone. I looked into it…you’re all bandaged up for a long time after. What happened to you?”

“I fell in love.” Kelly sat down and so did Devon. “Now, what is it you want before you leave here?”

Rachel looked at her notes and then back at her sister. “I’m glad that you’re finally doing things the right way. You should know that Mom and I understand that you’ve been under a lot of stress, working as hard as you do. And we’ve decided that we should all live in the same apartment so that you don’t have to give us money for rent all the time. Also, we’d like a place that is bigger than the one you had before. Mom and I don’t want to have to share your bed, so we need you to find us one that has two bedrooms in it.” Kelly asked her where she was supposed to sleep in this apartment. “Oh, on the couch. But not in our rooms. We need to be able to have some privacy and to put our things where we want them. You can clean up after us but not move our things. That’s gotta be set in stone.”

“I see. And who pays the rent on this apartment?” Rachel just stared at her. “I see. I would. And I’m assuming the utilities as well?”

“Well, yes. It would be your place. Kelly, what would we do if you didn’t have the power paid? We couldn’t watch television, nor could we see in the dark. You would need to get either a second job right away or work a lot of overtime. We have other things that you have to get for us as well.”

“When I asked them to give you this paper, it was for you to see if you wanted to take home a tea cup or a glass globe. Not make demands on me.” Rachel just waved her off. Kelly was forever getting things wrong. “I’m not getting things wrong, Rachel. I want you to know that I’m not going to pay for any of this either.”

“That account that you took all our money from? We need that filled up again. All the time. And when we run short, you should have money at the house for us. Mom and I were thinking that you could put in a nice safe and have ready cash in there for us. You never know when there is something special we’ll want.” Rachel looked at her notes. “Credit cards too, with our names on them. And no limit or anything on it that says we have to call you before we can use it. The last time I took your cards from your purse, the man said that I couldn’t use them without proper identification. I tried to tell him that you were good for it, but he just wouldn’t use that. I don’t want to be embarrassed like that again.”

“Yes, we don’t want you inconvenienced when you steal my credit cards and can’t use them.” Rachel smiled at her. “I wasn’t being serious, Rachel. You stole my cards. It’s only right that you shouldn’t be able to use them.”

“That makes no sense whatsoever, Kelly. You’re just being selfish. Anyway. When we get home I want you to pay me back for all the money you stole from us to take this big vacation that I planned out.” Kelly huffed at her. “Well, you did run off without taking us with you. And after everything I did for you, too.”

“What did you do? Other than take my money that I had worked hard for and saved up. Do you know how much I had to give up to put that money in there?” Rachel started to speak but was cut off. “You took it all. Left a single dollar in there like you were taunting me.”

“I would never taunt you. They wouldn’t let me take the last dollar. Something about having both of us sign for the account to be closed. And then you just stopped putting money in there. And I did help you out, Kelly. Did you forget that I gave you a list for things Mom and I would need? Didn’t I tell you about the camera that we wanted to take? And what did you do? Not only did you not buy us anything at all, you took the money for our vacation and went on it all by yourself. You can be the most selfish person I know sometimes.”

Kelly stood up and Rachel could see that she was angry. Well, so was she. Why did she forever have to be telling her sister how she had wronged them? And how she’d taken their money. For Christ’s sake, it was a joint account, wasn’t it? The money was hers too.

“Your flight leaves in one hour. Your tickets are at the counter and so are your passports. You’ll need those to get your luggage put on the plane. When you arrive home, there will be a car to take you to your own place. The moment that you set foot out of this jail, you will not have contact with me again. As far as I’m concerned, we’re finished.”

“But you’re going to be living with us, so us not seeing you isn’t going to happen. Unless you’re working all the time. Which I don’t see how you’re not going to be with all the money that you owe us. Not to mention keeping the bills up.”

“The police in Ohio know that you burned my apartment and why you did it.” Rachel asked her why that was important. “Because you did damage to a place that wasn’t yours.”

“It was yours, so who cares what I did to it? And if that’s something else you’re going to have to pay for, that comes out of your pocket, not mine. I have enough expenses, what with having my hair done and going shopping for new clothing. You should have taken better care that no one could get in.” Rachel looked at her list and it was snatched away from her by Kelly. “Yes, you should more than likely keep it. That way when you take care of something, you can mark it off. But leave it where I can find it. I might think of something else.”

Kelly and Devon started for the door and Rachel stood up. They were leaving? Now? She’d not even gone over the last five pages of things that Kelly was going to need to take care of. But when Devon turned to her, she had a feeling that he wasn’t going to be as nice about things as she’d been. He was just rude and mean.

“You’re going to be arrested as soon as you get home. I thought you should know that. And the demands that you made on your sister? They’re not going to happen either. She is going to become my wife in a few days, and the only way you’re going to get to see her is if you save your money and come here. And we all know that isn’t going to happen.” Rachel asked him why he was marrying Kelly and not someone pretty. “She’s lovely, and you saw it too. Don’t contact us again or I will take measures to have your miserable lives become hell.”

When he left, Rachel realized that Kelly hadn’t taken her list. She’d just take it with her and give it to her when they got home. This was just silly. Things were going to be just fine and back to normal when they got back to Ohio. Someplace where Devon wasn’t. He was a bad influence on her sister, and Rachel was going to have to suffer through doing something else for Kelly.

“Do you suppose she really isn’t going to come home with us? What will we do, Rach? She won’t be able to put money in our accounts if she’s not at home working.” Rachel patted her mom on the hand, telling her that things would be just fine. “I don’t know, Rach. She looked like she was pretty happy here.”

“She needs us. Didn’t we prove that when we stayed here last night and not with her? Yes, she’ll come around.”

Rachel felt something she’d never felt before, doubt. It was the strangest feeling to have thoughts that her sister might not want to do the things that they wanted her to. Then she smiled. Kelly would do it; she might fuss a lot, but she’d do it. She was her sister, after all.

“Your ride is here.” Rachel smiled at her mom when the officer came to get them. “Everything is set up at the airport for you.”

“See, I told you she’d come around. I just knew she wasn’t serious. Kelly can be cruel when she wants, but she always does what is.... What is this?” The car was old and beaten up. Not the limo that they’d been using while there. “I want the big car to take us. This isn’t what Kelly said she was going to do for us. Don’t make me have to call her and have this taken care of.”

“Get in or I’m going to shove you in the back of the cruiser and take you there myself.” Rachel started to argue but decided for now she’d do what this brute told her. As they were riding to the airport, she tried to call her sister.

“They’re saying that the number is no longer in service. She didn’t pay the bill again. I tell you, she needs a keeper. How does she expect me to call her when we need things if she doesn’t keep up with her bills? I do hope she doesn’t try this when we get home. I won’t have it.” Rachel was getting really sick of having to do everything all the time. “As soon as we get home, I’m going to put her on a budget. She’ll turn her money over to us and then we’ll get things done correctly.”

Rachel was so upset when they were seated on the plane that she could hardly contain herself. Not only did they not have seats in the front of the plane, there wasn’t a menu for them either. They got no blankets, and the waitress told her to sit down and buckle so many times that Rachel was tempted to just call her sister and demand that she get them into someone better. But her phone was no longer working either.

“She might not have remembered to pay the bill on our phone either. I know that I told her several times that it was due. I tell you, Mom, things are going to have to change when we get home. A lot.” But when the plane took off without Kelly, she wondered what was going on. There wasn’t any way that Kelly would have a better seat on another plane. It wasn’t very nice of her if she did. Rachel pulled out her paper again and started making a list. This one her sister was going to have to abide by. “She’s out of control. We’re going to have to bring her home and have a talk with her. Make her understand that she can’t be doing this any longer. We have needs and she’s not meeting them.”

The police waiting for her at the airport in Ohio was the final straw. Kelly was officially no longer her sister. She looked at her mom as she was being dragged away.

“Call Kelly. Tell her that I’m disappointed in her and that she needs to stop this lesson learning all together. If she doesn’t take care, I’m going to have to cut her off. Then what will she do?”

“Rachel Dalton, you’re under arrest for arson, breaking and entering. Thief—” She kicked out at the man and demanded that she be set free. He just slammed her against the car hood and held her there.

“It’s all Kelly’s fault. She should have had a better lock on her door, and if she hadn’t been so selfish and hidden her money from me, then I’d not have to take her things and sell them.”

She was being put into another cell in another jail when she realized something. Kelly wasn’t coming back. She wasn’t going to pay for her a new apartment, and there wasn’t going to be any new things. Damn it all to hell, her sister was the meanest person in the world.