Page 25 of Lahaina Noon

He was showing her a catalog she could peruse to pick out a desk when a man named Killian knocked and apologetically asked Vaughn for a moment. Vaughn introduced him as the Director of Development as well as a good friend. The man nodded in greeting. He had long silvery-blonde hair that covered most of his face. He had kind eyes and a sweet smile. He spoke softly and quietly with an intriguing Irish accent, something to do with a certain Goblin not picking up a battle axe the way it was supposed to.

She shook her head. She supposed she’d have to learn a lot about fantasy with this new job.Not just the job,she corrected herself. She hadn’t really talked with Vaughn much today about the Shadow Claw. She really needed to learn more about them and why they seemed to be after her in particular. She stared into the trees, looking at the shadows between them. She studied them anxiously, looking for anything outside of the norm. She knew Vaughn had said the building was warded against them, but how far did those boundaries go? The whole property? Or just the actual building? What good was a warding around the building if they could snatch her from the parking lot? She shivered involuntarily, thinking about it.

“Cold?” she heard as hands touched her shoulders.

“Hi-yah!” she yelled in her best martial arts impression when she whirled around and karate-chopped her attacker in the throat. “Shit!” she said, watching as Vaughn doubled over, gasping for air. “Shit, shit, shit!” she said again as she awkwardly patted him on the back, encouraging him to breathe.

“I’m so sorry!” she cried out. “You scared me, and I thought you were a shadow monster, and I…” She trailed off suspiciously. She was suddenly aware that Vaughn wasn’t gasping for air. He was laughing. “Not funny,” she said grumpily.

Vaughn stood and straightened his shirt, wiping his eyes and continued to laugh quietly. “I don’t know, I found it pretty funny.” His face was full of delight at her attack. “Ms. Ridgeway, I do believe we will need to speak to HR about your assault on another employee.” He grinned at her.

She resisted the impulse to stick her tongue out at him, then thought better of it and did it anyway.

His shocked face made her laugh this time around.

“Well, seeing as how I haven’t ‘officially’ started yet, there’s not much you can do,” she replied haughtily.

He smiled and pulled her in for a hug. “Well then, I guess I’ll just have to let the insult stand for now while I think of a suitable punishment for you later,” he promised huskily.

Her body became warm and tingly all over at what he was insinuating. “Not in the office, you, fiend!” she playfully slapped his arm, stepping away. “We need to keep it professional here,” she reminded him.

He let her go and nodded. “Quite right, but I repeat my earlier question before you tried to use judo to remove my head from my body. By the way, for the record, dragons are very hard to kill. It's going to take more than your questionable fighting skills to take me down.” He winked. “Are you cold? I can adjust the temperature over here.” He gestured to the control pad for the room’s lighting and temperature.

“No,” she shook her head, “I was thinking about the shadows and the wards you mentioned. Having some not-so-pleasant thoughts. Look, I know you have work to be done, but we need to finish our conversation about these shadow creatures and my role in it. I’m scared,” she finally admitted.

Vaughn studied her face for a moment. Here it was, the moment he’d been dreading. He didn’t want to tell her the rest. He wanted to work by her side during the day, lie with her at night, and spend the rest of the time basking in her glow. He could listen to her talk about nothingand everything. There was so much to tell her about the hard days to come. He also couldn’t tell her he was already halfway in love with her.

He couldn’t tell her about all the times he’d had to stop from reaching across a table and brushing her wild red hair away from her face in the months they’d spent working together. The excuses he’d made up to bring paperwork by her office when he could have easily sent an assistant or a courier. Finding a reason to brush against her so he could feel her soft skin and breathe in her floral perfume mixed with something spicy that was just her. How he couldn’t stop thinking about her night and day and how he wanted to see her again as soon as she’d left.

Pumping information from Jack about his sister-in-law, who, by the way, was the widow of his dead brother. He’d had certainly caught on to Vaughn’s interest in Bridget, in fact, he had encouraged it. Her brother-in-law really cared about her, and it showed what a special person she was that he wanted her to be happy and not cling to the memory of someone long gone. She was lucky to have him as well. Jack was a good man.

He studied the way the light played across her cheeks, the way it reflected in her eyes, and something shifted in him. He wasn’t just halfway in love; he was all the way. And he was going to do anything and everything in his power to protect her. Even if she never loved him in return.

Bridget studied the serious look on Vaughn’s face. Trying to decipher what he was thinking. His mood had turned brooding, and she realized this was another side of him she hadn’t seen before. She wanted to make whatever was bothering him better, so she placedher hand on his cheek, “Hey,” she whispered, “Talk to me.” She watched him come back to the room, and he stared into her eyes. She smiled at him.

He gently kissed her, then said, “Lunch, let’s go eat. We can talk more once you have something in your stomach.”

She laughed, “Are all dragons this concerned with food? After that huge breakfast you gave me, you’re trying to feed me again. Are you trying to fatten me up to roast me for dinner?” She patted her not-so-flat but not-bad-for-her age stomach. She looked back up at him, and he was grinning in a way that she knew had nothing to do with food.

“Oh yes, my sweet Bridget,” he replied, “I can’t wait to eat you up.” He gave a corny, evil laugh and grabbed her hand, pulling her from the office towards the hall.

After grabbing some sandwiches from a little deli nearby, they settled onto a bench at a park by the office.

She took a bite and pointed at him, circling her finger in a ‘go ahead’ motion. “Spill,” she said after swallowing the bite.

He settled back onto the bench and picked up where they’d left off the night before. “So, the Shadows, they started finding each other and uniting as a group about three hundred years ago. In the last two hundred years they’ve really organized and worked towards a singular purpose. That purpose is related to a prophecy that was made before the Unbinding, as we dragon folk call the event. It was thought lost when the tribes disbanded and scattered the globe, but it was rediscovered in 1801. It has been hidden away to protect it and keep our identities secret. Can you imagine modern society finding out about this?” he asked as he paused to take a sip of iced tea.

Bridget shook her head; this was a lot to take in, and she was just one person.

“Anyway,” he continued, “Not too long ago, the Shadow leader, who calls himself King Azrael, by the way, bribed someone and discovered the prophecy.” He took a bite of his sandwich.

“Wait,” she laughed, “You’re telling me that the so-called King of these shadow monsters has the same name as Gargamel’s cat?” Vaughn’s face went blank, and she clarified, “You know the Smurfs, the cartoon bad guy Gargamel, he had a raggedy cat named Azrael? That little bit of trivia comes in handy from time to time,” she confided.

“Ah,” he replied, “Funny, but no. He named himself after Azrael, the Angel of Death. And it’s fitting because that’s how he sees himself. As the avenger of his people, death is his ultimate tool to instill fear in his followers and keep them under his thumb. He tortures, he teases, he torments. Quite a few of them like it that way, though.” He stared off after a bird that had taken flight through the trees.

“My god,” Bridget whispered. “That’s horrible.” She set her sandwich down, losing all interest in it.

He nodded and continued to watch the bird dodging between the trunks and seeming to enjoy the warm currents. He briefly closed his eyes and turned his face to the sun, seeming to need warmth, drawing strength from the light. After a moment, he opened his eyes and sought out the bird again. He heaved a deep sigh and shook his head. It was time to quit stalling and tell her the worst. He was not looking forward to it and wasn’t quite sure how to break the news.

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