Violet
She started chewing on her lower lip while she came up with a response. Eventually she looked at him, not bothering to hide her surprise. “I should be, shouldn’t I?”
“I just told you I can transform into a creature with scales and wings that you’ve only heard about in movies or books. You saw me put out the fire with my hand. Yeah, to be honest, I think that it would be acceptable if you freaked out a bit.”
“Yeah. Also, my shop has burnt down. We’ve got nothing left. That’s something to freak out about too,” she pointed out, head tilted sideways while she was lost in thought.
Ivore winced. “I wasn’t going to mention that to be honest…”
“Right. Someone attacked us. You’re a dragon, and so is everyone else who lives here? Have I got that about right?”
“Yeah. Basically.” Then he winced, realizing what he’d just said.
Giving away everyone else’s secret in the building probably hadn’t been his intention. Violet wasn’t entirely sure why that actually mattered, but apparently it did. Maybe it wasn’t his place to do so, but just then, who really cared? It was all so much to process, and the firemen in the background putting out the fire was just another factor to add in.
Violet flopped to the floor, purple hair flying everywhere until she settled it back behind her ears. “Your brother is a dragon? Cowl?”
Ivore nodded. “Yes.”
She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, noting that it was probably smearing black soot everywhere. Oh well, she was going to be showering and tossing the clothes in the garbage anyway. A little bit more wasn’t going to ruin her day.
“I can’t believe that all this time Andria’s been dating a dragon and she never told me. Like, ever. Not even dropped a hint.”
A vague memory of Andria mentioning that she shouldn’t be worried about hurting Ivore floated up. “Wait, can you guys heal fast as well?”
Ivore nodded. “Yes.”
“Ah, so that explains a lot. And also why when I found your brother in the parking lot after he was attacked, he seemed to recover so quickly.”
Ivore smiled, but he nodded. “Right again.”
“What’s with the smile? Do you like thinking about your brother being hurt?” She hadn’t meant it to come out quite so forceful, but it had. Maybe she was going into shock.
“What? No!” Ivore ran dirty fingers through his hair, black streaks ruining the brilliant white lines. “No, I was thinking that that was the first time I ever saw you. The first time we met. Before all of this happened.” He looked away, but the smile didn’t fade. “I remember thinking how beautiful you were.” Blue eyes traveled back up to lock onto hers. “Just like how you’re beautiful now.”
“Okay. I’m sure I look great covered in soot and sweat, makeup running down my face…” She was uncomfortable with the attention, and turned to her only outlet, humor.
“I’ve never seen anyone more beautiful in my entire life.”
“You’re a dragon. What other kind of powers do you have? How does nobody know about you?” She had so many questions!
“The usual things you might expect. I’m strong, fast, heal quickly. That sort of thing.” He spoke like it should be common knowledge.
“If you’re so strong, how is that you took one hit from a hammer and went down like a sack of potatoes? Huh, mister tough guy?
Ivore just started shaking his head. “You are accepting this way too easily.”
She shrugged. “I’m just used to trauma I guess. You go through it once, your brain doesn’t freeze the next time around. So, you’re some sort of super guy.”
“No, nothing like that. I’m just your regular old ice dragon.”
Violet was suddenly in a car, driving down a road. A storm was raging outside. It was bad.
“Violet?”
Ivore and the lobby reappeared in front of her.
“An ice dragon? Like…a winter dragon?”
His head moved slowly. “Yes, exactly. Winter is my element.”
She was back in the car’s seat again. Only this time she wasn’t driving. Chris was driving.
“Hey hon, it’s getting bad out. I’m thinking we should maybe stop and go back to that hotel we just passed and wait it out. We could stay there the night.” He didn’t remove his eyes from the road, what little of it they could see through the blizzard.
Violet shook her head. “I don’t know, babe. You know how I am with hotels. Can we just keep pushing on? I can take a turn driving if you’d like.”
Like he always did, Chris shook his head. He liked to drive, giving her the freedom to relax and not have to stress. That went doubly so during intense driving conditions, like the ones they were in right now.
“I know, babe. It’s really coming down out there. I hadn’t realized it would be like this when we left your aunt’s. Maybe we should have stayed.”
Violet shuddered in her seat. They had spent the entire afternoon there. The last thing she wanted to do was stay the night. If anything they should have left earlier. Her mother wouldn’t have been very happy however, so they’d stayed. Violet was thankful her parents had decided to stay the night, while she and Chris pushed on in an effort to head for home.
She had a thing about sleeping in beds that weren’t her own. Namely, she didn’t do it. Only in the worst of the worst situations. Hotels were barely acceptable.
“Okay, darling.” He took his hand off the wheel and laid it on her leg. “I’ll get you home.”
She rested her hand on his, enjoying the contact, but soon enough he took it back, preferring both hands on the wheel. Violet’s eyes grew drowsy, and she felt herself drifting off to sleep.
“VIOLET!”
The car swerved viciously as they lost traction around a gentle curve, spinning out of control. They crossed over the yellow line into oncoming traffic before bouncing off of the metal rail. The car continued to spin several more times as they shed speed, eventually coming to a stop in the center of the road at a cross angle to the flow of traffic.
Chris turned to look at her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, but something behind him caught her eye. “Drive!” she screamed as two headlights appeared out of the snow, a horn sounding frantically as the oncoming truck tried to stop. Her fiancé threw the car into gear and stomped on the pedal, but the wheels turned uselessly on the ice.
The pickup truck clipped their front end and they were jerked violently into their seats as they spun across the road. A much deeper horn blasted, and this time they were hit from the rear. The car started to disintegrate as the semi truck shot them across the road, through the metal railing, and over the side of the embankment. The fall was only ten feet, and it should have been survivable.
She screamed, and when they hit the whole world went black.
When she awoke, everything was changed.
“Violet!” Someone grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her. It was Ivore, and he had a frantic look in his eyes. “Violet, are you okay?”
Nodding numbly, she realized it was all a sign. The car accident had been her fault, and now the attack on Ivore. His being an ice dragon was just the final sign. She needed to stay away from him. To keep her distance.
She should have done that from the start. Now he’d gone and invested money in her store. Oh God. The store! It was ruined. How was she going to repay him now? She didn’t have the money to rebuild.
Ivore was speaking, his face bruised and bloody, though it was already repairing itself, fresh pink skin showing in spots. She didn’t hear anything he was saying, the words drowned out by a roaring noise inside her head.
Emotions and memories she’d thought long forgotten surged to the surface, reminding her of just how painful the time following the accident had been. Of the self-hatred she’d suffered with day after day, the guilt and shame of knowing it was her fault a family was torn apart. She couldn’t do that to Ivore and his brothers. Not again.
Firemen and paramedics came streaming through the front door, rushing up to the pair of them. Violet let herself be lifted to her feet. “Take care of him, he’s hurt,” she heard someone say, only to realize that it was her voice speaking. “Someone hit him.”
Ivore tried to push them aside, stating that he was fine, attempting to reach her side. Violet shook her head, letting herself be guided away by the paramedics.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I can’t do this. I know I promised you that I’d stop, but that…that was before. I have to put a stop to this, Ivore, before it’s too late.” Then she let the medics hustle her off to the waiting ambulance to check her out.
She was going to put an end to it all, and she knew exactly the way to do it.