Book I: Avi's Angel

Here Be Dragon

Nine months later, Avi was holding his precious cargo at last! In awe and wonder, he stroked the small green head burrowed in his elbow. The scales turned purple when she leaned into the caress. Iridescent scales! he marveled.
   He ran his hand over her ridged spine, enjoying the pebbly texture of her hide. He was loath to touch the fragile-looking wings just yet, so he explored the more sturdy limbs instead. Her forelegs were tucked under his arm, so those long fingers skimmed every centimeter of her back, hind legs, head and neck.
   To the woman who did not yet know what she was, his questing fingers ignited a forbidden fire. When it was only her head and back, she considered it a welcome homecoming. But when those lean, nimble digits seemed intent on learning every inch of her, she struggled mightily to remain pure of thought. She burrowed further into her cocoon.
   "You're beautiful!" he murmured. "Marvelous!"
   She crooned in wordless reply, reveling in the voice that rumbled at her ear.
   Then she was being carried, probably over to the rest of the band. She refused to face them, embarrassed at being carried about like an infant.
   Tentative hands reached to touch her, with gasps of delight all around.
   "She's so warm!"
   Feeling crowded, she stuck her head out and glared in the general direction she thought they were. Her neck felt strange, and her head was heavier than she remembered.
   They all leapt back. Mitch clung to Scott, who seemed equally freaked out. Kirstie clutched his other arm. Kevin flopped into the nearest chair. She couldn't see Esther.
   Avi simply cooed at her like a baby, and patted her head. She scowled up at him, but instead of cowering as his friends did, he chuckled.
   "You have lovely eyes. Do they still change color?"
   She blinked up at him, becoming acclimated to the fuzzy way she was seeing the world. "Now, why would they cease to change colors?" She thought the question ridiculous.
   He simply smiled.
   "Yo, why are her eyes all milky?" Kevin asked.
   "She just hatched, give them time."
   "Hatched..?" she asked faintly. "Look, I don't know what's going on, or why your friends can see me, but would you please put me down? This is highly inappropriate!"
   He chuckled. "As you wish, my angel."
   She refrained from pointing out that she was merely an angelic vessel.
   Instead of setting her feet on the ground, he did a most preposterous and embarrassing thing--he set her on the table! She shuddered to think how this must appear to his friends!
   She stood and put her hands on her hips--or she tried to. For some reason, her legs felt out of joint, and her fists rested on her knees. Her elbows wouldn't bend the way they used to, nor her back straighten fully. There was a heaviness there that she could not explain. It felt, too, like she wore a skirt with a train, which was odd.
   :Ah, Little One, this is most enjoyable. Have you truly not noticed, then?:
   She aimed a scowl in the general direction of the angel's voice, though Avi's chest blocked her hazy gaze.
   :Look down, silly child.: Amusement rippled through his voice, which annoyed her.
   :Why, am I naked?:
   :Yes,: he laughed.
   Outraged, she covered her body with her hands and looked down.
   "Well, I guess dragons don't wear clothes," she said dazedly. She dropped to her haunches, suddenly lightheaded. She would have toppled sideways off the table, if Avi hadn't scooped her into his arms again. She slapped ineffectually at his arms and chest.
   :You need sustenance, little one.:
   :Don't be silly, I haven't required it thus far.:
   Gabriel tsked at her. :You have not had a physical form until this point.:
   Her head shot up, startling everyone except Avi. She spared them a brief glance of annoyance. :What did you just say?!:
   He laughed. :Consider it a promotion.:
   :But... I don't know how to fight as a dragon!:
   He sobered. :The training is there; you have only to access the knowledge. Do you honestly think He would leave you two defenseless?:
   :No,: she snarled. :We are far too useful.:
   She had a sudden thought, which he heard and answered before she could voice it. :Only those you wish to see you will be able to do so. You are still hidden from the world. As I said, you are not defenseless.:
   :Okay, but how much of the dragon lore is actually true? I need operating parameters here.:
   She couldn't see the shrug, but she felt it nonetheless. :If He wanted me to know, I would know. You are the only one gifted with the knowledge, little one. Look to yourself.:
   She ground her new, sharp teeth. :That sounds suspiciously like a fare thee well.:
   :For now, 'tis. Should you have need, I shall always come.: He smiled, she knew. It was a warmth behind her eyes. :After all, are we not friends?:
   :Oh!: The thought of eyes reminded her of a question. :What's wrong with my eyes?:
   He chuckled. :Nothing at all. You will simply have to get used to having three sets of eyelids. Do not open the third except when your instincts tell you to.:
   She blinked her outermost lids, confused. :Why?:
   Gabriel was uncharacteristically serious. :Your unshielded gaze is... potent. There are things you can see that only an angel would see.:
   :Like what?:
   :The very soul of a mortal.:
   She lay passive in the arms of her human, stunned. She wanted to ask why on earth she would need such a thing, but Gabriel was gone, and Time resumed about her.
   As quick as thought, she was left very alone, without the constant soothing presence of her angel. Her friend. She was left in the care of six intimidating, awesome, inspiring people, with absolutely no buffer.
   She didn't know whether to hide again, squeal like a fangirl, or throttle the nearest pillow.
   Thankfully, Avi knew what to do. He made her pizza.
   "Noodle" Hoying was the first to approach the ferocious kitten of a dragoness. He edged cautiously around the table, and she concentrated on opening her middle eyelids. When she'd figured it out, she saw Scotty eyeing her like a viper. It broke her heart a little, so she tried for a smile. He scooted further away. She cocked her strangely balanced head at him quizzically. Then she remembered the pointy new additions to her mouth and chuckled.
   "Come now, no scaring our friends."
   Warmth spread through her at the inclusive "our", before she remembered her lack of humanity. Aw man, she thought, that's gonna be a downer for a while...
   "I sometimes forget how I must look to you lot." Because I only just figured it out myself, she thought. "For the record, that was supposed to be a smile. Still getting the hang of things, y'know."
   Mitchi ran up to the table and hung half over it. "Ooh! Her eyes changed!" He looked at her the way she imagined he must look at new fashions: with excitement, and a keen eye for detail.
   "If you think you're dressing me up in Wyatt's clothes, you're dead wrong."
   Most of the assembled humans laughed, but more importantly, Scott relaxed.
   She carefully climbed onto Avi's shoulder, to get out of those too-comfortable arms. Her new body wasn't totally foreign, it seemed. She was still bipedal, though she could be quadrupedal if necessary. She wasn't sure how she knew, but Gabriel had mentioned instincts, and training. Perhaps that's what she was feeling.
   The wings took some getting used to. They felt unnaturally heavy, but as he had said, the knowledge was there. They were quite helpful in keeping her balance. She quickly got the hang of tucking them up and in when she was on his shoulder. Once she let the instincts take over, things got easier. After mastering basic wing movements, the tail was a piece of cake.
   As it turned out, her tail was prehensile. It was lashed around his neck for stability, but it looked to the others like possessiveness. She assured herself that it only went halfway round his neck, to avoid asphyxia.
   "Dragons do not wear Vetements, Mitchi."
   They all laughed, that time.
   She nearly lost her footing when Avi bent to remove the pizza from the microwave. Her head went back, wings mantled, in an attempt to reach equilibrium. To the assembled musicians (and Esther), her nose seemed to go in the air, in hauteur.
   Avi straightened and turned to his friends and sister, forcing her to turn around with as much dignity as four unfamiliar appendages, and three new ones, would allow. He leaned against the counter, prompting more adjustments on her part. She eyed the food pointedly, but he didn't seem to notice.
   Well, I needn't have worried about getting flabby, she mused, chuckling inwardly.
   "This," he said, setting the food on the table at last, "is my Guardian--"
   Her tail whipped across his mouth, on the pretext of walking down his arm. Mitch asked what her name was, and she calmly removed her tail.
   Avi said "Angel," meaning Guardian Angel, but they needn't know that.
   With what appeared to be dainty, ballerina steps down his arm (but were actually "please don't let me fall" tiptoes), she descended to the tabletop once more. The tail, which had been so handy on the way up, threatened to send her head over hocks. Fortunately, her wings compensated when she partially extended them.
   Her new muzzle gave her momentary qualms. She could not imagine a way to eat flat food from a flat plate. Her mouth was now long and narrow, instead of short and wide. In the end, she decided to eat with her hands. After all, dragons were not simple beasts!
   She ate the food with such careful, ladylike bites that Scott and Mitch were emboldened enough to perch nearby and coo at her. She felt like a kitten they wanted to put a sparkly collar on. Her frills twitched with annoyance, which seemed to further enchant the trio of boys.
   Kirstin peeked around Scott, and soon she was under the spell the dragoness did not intentionally weave.
   "Hey, Angel?" Kirstie asked tentatively.
   "Yes?" she said warily.
   "May I pet--touch you? I didn't get a chance, before..."
   She heaved a sigh, but nodded once, rather jerkily. This seemed to be taken as a general acquiescence, for they all reached toward her.
   She continued to eat, refusing to make it easy for them. She hadn't eaten in over a year and a half. The dead do not require fuel, for they have no bodies. The fluid in her shell, as she now knew her "coffin" to be, had only provided basic nutrients. She had not tasted real food in so long that she devoured all three pieces, despite the sausage and pepperoni.
   She sat straight, startling three of her admirers, and nearly overbalancing. It would take some getting used to, not sitting as she was accustomed to. She looked up at her human in entreaty. He took the plate with neither reluctance nor fear, for which she was pleased. He was the one person she could not afford to alienate or frighten.
   "Same kind okay? I think there's supreme in here, too. We, ah, don't eat much home cooked food..." He trailed off, embarrassed at the unintentional reminder that she'd left. He could cook, and sometimes did, but it just wasn't the same.
   "Supreme, if you've got it. Honestly, I haven't eaten in who-knows-how-long, so I'm not particularly picky."
   He popped two more slices in the microwave, though she would've eaten it cold. "Nine months, seventeen days," he said.
   "Pardon?" She asked, startled.
   "Hmm?" He looked up from the microwave window.
   "What about nine and a half months?" She spoke slowly and clearly, not entirely sure she wanted to know.
   He flushed. Apparently, he hadn't realized he spoke aloud. "Uh, that's how long..."
   "He's been counting the days 'til Christmas Eve," Kevin interrupted.
   "Been driving us crazy, dancing around and making up songs about his dragon." This was from Scott. Both were smirking like bratty little brothers who know all the embarrassing details.
   A chill raced down her spine. "Nine and a half months..?"
   Avi soothed her with gentle words, plucking her from the table and holding her close. "Heyyy, it's okay, Angel. We're alive, no harm, no foul. It wasn't your fault." He spoke low enough that only Esther heard him.
   The microwave dinged. He transferred her to one arm, removed the pizza, and set both on the table.
   She ate at a more sedate pace, and sat back when she was finished. She definitively pushed the plate to the side.
   When Avi took the plate away, Scott said "You're braver than me! How'd you know she doesn't bite?"
   Before he could tell them about her human past life, she spoke up. "I would be a poor Guardian indeed, were I to bite the hand that fed me!"
   Scott had the grace to blush. It would take time, she knew, for them to see her as a sentient being, instead of a pet.
   "So, how does it work? They just drop you off and you protect whoever is there when you hatch?"
   She heard honest curiosity, despite the surface sarcasm, and marveled that she could sense these things. She replied as best she could.
   "More or less, though I would presume 'tis a bit more refined than that. You lot," she said, looking around the rough circle of faces, "touch a lot of lives. When it was learned that one of you wanted a dragon for Christmas, it was decided that it would be a good fit."
   Half-truths and skirting the big picture were all she could manage, within the Angelic Restrictions. She was the one who knew Avi wanted a dragon, but when she became a Vessel, her knowledge was shared with the entire Host. Gabriel had mentioned dragons, though he'd never gone into detail about how that was supposed to work.
   Well, now I know, don't I?
   "Who is--are--'we'? Who sent you?"
   She further skirted the issue. "I just hatched. Even if I did know from whence I came, have ye never heard of the secretive nature of dragons? If we gave away all of our secrets, we would be extinct!" Lying was so much easier than only telling truths!
   She was the only dragon in existence, so technically dragons were no longer extinct. As such, her imposed secrecy was categoric of all dragons. Anything she did, in actuality, would become "typical" draconic behavior, since there were none left to do otherwise.
   This revelation was both liberating and terrifying. 'Twas an enormous burden to bear, but bear it she must! She had to be the best dragon she could, and to do that, she must shed her humanity like so many old scales. Dragons of lore could possess the nobler qualities of humankind, so there wasn't much to rearrange in her head.
   Forestalling any more questions, she leapt nimbly onto her human's shoulders, proud not to have fallen or otherwise embarrassed herself. She curled around his neck like a stole, and closed her eyes. The food sat comfortably on her stomach, and she appeared to doze off. A keen observer would have noticed the occasional twitch of an ear, and she set one tiny paw against his neck, should a gentle correction be required.
   Scott, Mitch, Kirstin, and Kevin reluctantly left for their various holiday celebrations. Only Esther remained. She stood, leaning against the doorframe, with an expectant look on her face.
   Avi tried to walk past her, so they could go back to the cabin in the woods, but she blocked his path.
   "You going to tell me what's going on?"