Melody wasn't actually supposed to be a blood dragon, or even a dragon at all. When I first created the character, she was a photographer, struggling to survive in the city. I had intended for her to meet a dragon, but as I began to write her main story, set some 250 years after this timeline, she became the dragon and Barnabus the human. Blood dragons were also an accident, created as I simplified an overly complicated system for dragon society and magic.
“When I talk to you, you know you’re talking to yourself right?” asked the voice after a moment. “I’m magic and the memories your maker passed on, nothing more.”
“Well your company’s still better than nothing,” Melody growled, coming to a stop on the hill overlooking the settlement. Her eyes focused on the people moving through the growing evening. She cocked her head, suddenly hearing a complaining lamplighter as if she were standing at his side.
“What am I looking for?” she asked, more to herself than to the voice. “How do I know if there are more supernaturals down there?”
A sound in the distant forest behind her brought her around with a start. To her new eyes, the evening was still as clear and bright as it had been at mid-day. Movement on the trail to her cabin caught her eye and her breath quickened.
“I think you had better worry about what’s out here!” warned the voice. “Quick! Hide in the town!”
With barely a thought, she was in town, moving almost more quickly than the eye could see. One of the night watchmen swore in shock as she went, the wind from her passing lifting the tricorn hat from his head. She stopped in the darkness not far away, resisting a sudden and overwhelming urge to laugh.
“This isn’t funny,” grumped the voice. “We should get inside before the hunters get here.”
Melody nodded, slipping through the streets unseen, her new powers making it easy to hide from watchmen and townsfolk alike. She stopped beside a small tavern by the waterfront, owned by the husband of a woman she had known in the orphanage. The woman, a pleasant girl named Mary, and her husband, were the only people in the colony that knew her secret.
The common room was crowded and Melody kept her head down, ignoring the raucous noise and curious glances as she crossed to the kitchen. Mary looked up as she opened the door.
“Melody?” she hissed, her eyes widening in surprise. “Is that you?”
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