Benjamin had to shout to be heard over the crackling blaze and the powerful spray of the hose. “Is she here? Now?”
“She lives upstairs,” he yelled.
“Always in heat for your hottie, aren’t you?”
Drake ignored the obvious dig and quickly disappeared into the back.
If she made it out, she must have used the fire escape. He hadn’t seen any residents standing on the street out front. He prayed that he’d see her far down the alley, safely out of the way.
Drake was surprised that the back door was missing. That must have been how Zina got in. He rushed out into the night and frantically cast a glance all around, hoping to see Bliss somewhere. The fire escape hadn’t been lowered. In fact, it looked like it was about to fall off the brick facade. Meanwhile, the roof of the bar caved in.
Crap. He unzipped his jacket and said, “Out you go, boys. You’re safe now.”
The brownies hopped out of his pants and landed on the pavement. They paused just long enough to thank him and waved as they ran away.
He heard one of them mutter, “Boys. Hmmph.”
True, they had white hair and beards, and goodness knows how old they could have been. They might even be immortal like he was… rather, like he used to be.
Drake backed away, hoping only smoke had reached the upper floors. Smoke was deadly too, but he had on lifesaving equipment. If the floors could support him… Horrified, he watched as fire roared and smoke billowed out of every window.
He was needed back inside, but there was no way he could survive without shifting into his dragon form. Fucking Zina. She wanted this to happen. He threw his jacket on the ground and was about to drop his pants in order to shift so he could fly up to Bliss’s apartment on his dragon wings.
A window in the building next door opened and a couple of frightened men stepped out onto the fire escape. It’s a good thing Drake was there. They had no idea how to use it and simply froze. Drake directed them down and stayed to help the other five people from the third and fourth floors. Damn it.
Hoping Bliss had gone somewhere safer, Drake pointed at the charred shell behind him and asked, “Did anyone from this building come over to yours?”
The residents glanced at each other and shook their heads. One of the men who came down first said, “We opened the front windows to see what was happening, and the fire chief said to go out the back, using the fire escape. They were about to hose down our building too.”
“Do you think our building will burn?” one of the women asked, trembling.
“Probably not. They do that as precaution.” Although with the heat of this particular blaze, Drake figured anything wooden and dry might catch. That’s why the chief had sent them to the fire escape, not the stairs.
But where was Bliss? And what about the Balogs? He knew Angie was out for the night, but that left at least one family who may or may not have been paranormals and his very mortal girlfriend.
The nearest side street was only two buildings down, so he directed the residents to get to the chief out front and report that they were all accounted for.
“Go.”
When they didn’t move faster than a stroll, his frustration got the better of him and he yelled, “Run!”
A couple people glanced over their shoulders briefly, then they all took off at a flat run.
Finally, I can get up there and look for Bliss. Drake made sure all the people he had helped were safely out of sight before he shed his clothes. Then he shifted until he could spread his dragon wings and flew up to the second-floor windows.
At last Bliss heard voices on the other side of the attic door. A key rattled; the door opened; and four dusty, exhausted people tumbled into the room of a very surprised couple.
“What the heck…” the man began to say.
His wife or girlfriend asked, “Did you escape the fire through the attic?”
“Yeah,” Bliss said. “Thanks for letting us out.” She set her computer on the bedside table and rubbed her sore wrist.
Mr. Balog bowed formally. “We apologize for entering your home like this. I am afraid it couldn’t be avoided.”
Gee, ya think? Bliss almost laughed out loud. It sounded as if the Balogs had been invited to tea, not escaping a harrowing death.
Suddenly Bliss realized that perhaps this wasn’t the first time the Balogs had escaped something nasty. She could picture them hiding and running from communists or something. The strange language sounded Slavic. Honestly, the stupid things that run through my mind sometimes. I should be thanking them for saving my life.
Bliss embraced Mrs. Balog. The woman stiffened, but when Bliss murmured, “Thank you,” she relaxed and patted Bliss’s back.
In English she answered, “You are welcome.”
Drake soared through the window that led to Bliss’s bedroom and hovered over the parts of the floor that were still intact. She was nowhere to be seen. He could see his buddies below still battling the blaze. He had to go up in case Bliss and the Balogs were waiting for rescue on the third floor.
He sought a place out of sight of the firefighters if they were to look up. In the back bedroom, which would have been Angie’s, he scanned the area for some place to break through to the next floor. Grasping a heavy lamp in his talons, he smashed it against a spot in the ceiling that looked weak. Plaster rained down on him, which he didn’t care about. However, additional pieces fell below and his firefighter buddies jumped out of the way.
Shit. Seconds later, he heard the window above burst. A way in! He flew out the second-floor window and up to the third floor. Fire blasted out that window, so he sucked in a deep lungful of air and flew through it.
His eyes watered, but he could still see. He flew from room to room and found no one. Thank God. Maybe they’d made it out safely after all. He took one last look and spotted the attic door open. Oh, crap. Could they be hiding up there?
He flew up to the rafters and looked left, then right. No one was there. Suddenly another awful possibility occurred to him. What if Zina took her?
Dejected, Drake scanned the area for onlookers and found it was safe to descend to the ground and shift. As soon as he was dressed again, he took off for the side street at a flat run. He couldn’t lose hope yet. Maybe she was standing out front.
As he rounded the corner, he saw residents all along the block leaning out of their windows, trying to see what was going on.
“Drake!” someone yelled.
He slowed down, scanned the building up to the top floor, and saw Bliss leaning out the fourth-floor window. She appeared a little ragged but unharmed. To him she had never looked more beautiful.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes,” she called down. “Thanks to the Balogs.”
“Are they there with you?”
Adolf appeared in the window. “We are all here. All safe.”
“Thank God.”
Bliss held up something rectangular. “I even managed to save my computer this time!”
He would have laughed, but they were interrupted.
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Cameron!”
Oh, shit. The chief was striding toward him and looked none too happy. Bliss ducked back inside, probably remembering the last time she got him into trouble.
“Nice of you to join us,” Chief Tate shouted. “Nobody knew where the hell you were.”