Venom, Blood & Ink

The Firedrake

The night after his encounter with Desi, Gabriel stayed up all evening and the better part of the next day, sketching, penning, inking and perfecting a gorgeous study of the crimson haired beauty that saved his life. He was very relieved that his evening at work was relatively uneventful and slow. Running on pure adrenaline and ignoring the extreme exhaustion that was creeping up on him, Gabriel trudged through his night and hurried as fast as he possibly could to get to the place he had seen his supernatural muse, the woman that haunted his every waking hour since the moment he first laid eyes on her. He walked slower than usual, down the same street, to the corner where he almost died, past the alley where he followed her, and begrudgingly, to his apartment door. He glanced around, just in case she might have followed him and was hiding in the shadows, but sadly, she had not. With a heavy heart, he turned, opened his door and walked inside, taking one last look. As he closed the door and flipped the switch for his lights, there, by his work desk, Desi stood, in her hands, Gabriel's newest work of art.

"Desi!" He excitedly exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I found one of your picture things in the alley and I figured if you were willing to jump in front of a truck to rescue them in the first place, you might want this one back." She said as she nodded her head toward the couch where she had set his precious picture tube.

"Yes! Thank you!" He beamed as he watched her continue to stare at the skillful pictures he had drawn.

"Are these supposed to be me?" She asked quietly.

Gabriel's cheeks flushed a bit and he was slightly embarrassed to admit that, indeed, those pictures were all of her. "Yes. They are. I have a very good memory." He replied awkwardly.

A warm smile passed across her face. "They're beautiful." She whispered.

"They don't do any justice to the real thing though." He commented, turning on the charm.

With a frustrated huff, she set the long paper down on the desk, roughly. "Oh shut the hell up. Quit trying to kiss my ass. I can't stand sycophants."

"I wasn't trying to be a kiss ass. I was just telling the truth." Gabriel said as he gingerly stepped closer to her.

Desi tilted her head, pursed her lips and rolled her eyes, but before she could let her true feelings known about her disdain for ass-kissers, a sudden noise snapped away her attention. A deep, loud roar echoed through her ears, prickling her enhanced senses to life.

"What's wrong?" Gabriel asked, noticing the wide eyed reaction on the face he had drawn over and over.

"Shh." She snapped. She cocked her head to the side, listening, for the roar that repeated.

She darted toward the still open window, her original means of entry into his apartment and shimmied out and up the metal fire escape just outside of his window.

"Hold up, Desi!" He called from behind her as he attempted to follow her as closely as his mortal limbs wold allow.

He stopped, halfway up the metal framework that clung to the side of his apartment tenement, trying to catch his breath.

"Damn, you're fast." He spoke more to himself, through his heavy, labored breaths, bending over, holding onto the railing.

Taking one more deep breath, and resigning himself to continue his trek up the fire escape, where he presumed Desi still was, Gabriel finally heard what had made her dash from his apartment. At first it was merely a low rumble, like thunder from a far distant storm, but in seconds it crescendoed into a discernible, deep, vibrating roar that shook the metal framework he stood on. He clung to the pipes of the railing for dear life as it felt like an earthquake rippled it's way up the one lane alley. Peering through the darkness, he could just barely make out an enormous, black shadow as it advanced on his location. The metal pinged and dinged as Desi expertly scaled down the outer ridges of the fire escape he was still gripping.