Scarlet struggled to suppress the urge to snicker. Her girlfriend was so cute. The moment she’d come to check on her, Violet had been locked in the bathroom and refused to come out. “I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

“It really, really is,” Violet said. “You should go, I’ll take care of this.”

“Come on,” Scarlet said. “What, do you have a magic wart?”

“It’s a bit more than a wart,” Violet said.

“Are you in any danger?” Scarlet asked.

“I don’t think so,” Violet said. “It was just a bit alarming to see once I just woke up. It’s fine, though. You should go to bed. Oh my gosh, why is it so damn hot in here?”

“Violet,” Scarlet said. “Please don’t make me break down my own door.”

“Fine, fine,” Violet said. “Promise not to laugh? Or freak out? It looks worse than it is.”

“Are you bleeding?” Scarlet asked.

“Nope,” Violet said.

“I think I’ll be fine,” Scarlet said.

“Okay, brace yourself,” Violet said before the sound of the door unlocking could be heard.

Scarlet froze in place once the door opened and she could see Violet. Her tiny little body, well… she didn’t know how to explain it. A kobold of some kind? Very humanoid, but now covered in very thin green scales and with a chubby, thick tail dragging out behind her and onto the ground. Then the smell hit her and she took half a step forward before catching herself.

Not kobold. Dragon. Oh, that was dragon. That was incredibly dragon. It took all of her willpower to suppress the urge to lunge forward and bite her. She’d barely noticed Violet’s scent before, it was very calming, gentle. But now? Oh, that smelled like dragon. Which meant dragon blood. And Violet looked so incredibly soft and weak and vulnerable and she desperately wanted to pin her against the counter and bite into that soft little neck of hers and--

Scarlet shook her head, her hands reaching up to slap her cheeks. “You’re a dragon.”

“I think I’m a kobold,” Violet said.

“Nope, definitely dragon,” Scarlet said before reaching up to wipe some drool off her lips. She hoped Violet didn’t notice. Fortunately the hunter seemed a bit too distracted by her predicament.

“Yeah,” Violet said. “It’s a bit much. Pretty sure this necklace is cursed. Could you see if unlatching it breaks the curse?” She then reached back and leaned her head forward. Exposing her neck.

Scarlet barely suppressed the urge to whimper. Very gently she moved closer and reached out, her fingers brushing gently against the neck. Unfortunately, she received the best and worst reaction imaginable. Violet let out a soft, delicate moan. “Your hands are so cold. It’s nice.”

“Sorry,” Scarlet said quickly, fidgeting with the clasp. Unfortunately, it resisted and it took her a few seconds to get it off. However, once it came off she let out a sigh of relief. Said relief was short-lived when Violet suddenly pushed back against her and she got a face full of the small girl’s hair.

“Ahhhhhh,” Violet said softly. “You’re so cold. How are you so wonderfully cold? You feel amazing…”

Scarlet went entirely still, afraid to move. Violet smelled. So. Delicious. Just one little bite. Just one little nibble. A drop. Just a single drop of fresh dragon blood. When was the last time she’d been allowed such a treat? Years? Centuries? It felt like millennia and she knew that was impossible, she wasn’t that old. The girl was so vulnerable and weak and surely she wouldn’t mind just one little bite? She yelped when Violet turned around and almost wrapped her little scaled body around her.

“Soooooo cooooooool…” Violet whispered. “Do I feel too hot?”

“Huh?” Scarlet asked. Well, the girl definitely felt hotter than normal, like a little tiny heater. But she barely noticed the hot or cold anyway in most cases. The hug was oddly nice, though. Aside from the urge to bite her. “I didn’t notice.”

“Mmmmm, do you mind if I do this, then?” Violet asked, still holding onto her. “My little shiny cooling rock…”

“What?” Scarlet asked.

“What?” Violet asked. “What’d I just say? Huh… oh. Look! Look! I can wiggle my tail!” The little dragon’s tail began to wiggle to the left and the right, the tip slapping lightly against the ground. “I can wag my tail, hee hee.”

Scarlet blinked a few times and, well, that helped at least. This little hunter was way, way too precious to hurt. She gently reached out and gave her a hug. “Let’s go open all the windows, okay? We can cool the place down and then figure out what to do.”

“Are you sure?” Violet asked. “Won’t that be too cold for you?”

“Nope,” Scarlet said. “Resistant to temperature shifts. Besides, making the place colder for you might help. I think you need to make some calls.”

“Right, I do,” Violet said. “I need to find that girl. If she knew this would happen, who knows what she’s mixed up with?”

Scarlet paused, staring down at the hunter. That comment fully shook her from her need to feed. “What? Are you actually worried about her?”

“Of course I am,” Violet said before glancing back at the necklace. “That kind of thing is dangerous.”

“If she knew this would happen, shouldn’t you be mad at her?” Scarlet asked.

“Eh,” Violet said with a shrug. “I’ve been cursed before. Better than mummy rot. That shit is nasty. Besides, I get a cute tail out of it for a little bit.” Her tail wagged back and forth again, making cute little thumping sounds on the ground. “Probably kind of my own fault, anyway. Maybe that dragon’s blood wasn’t good anymore.”

“You are handling this way better than I would expect,” Scarlet said.

“I’m kind of used to it,” Violet said. “Something like this won’t be too hard to break and besides, there’s probably a lot of people who would have paid good money to have this done to them. If it turned me into a boy I’d be furious. Tearing off some heads. But this? This is kind of cool. For a little bit.”

“Hunters are weird,” Scarlet said.

“Not… not bad weird, right?” Violet asked before looking up at her with the widest, most adorable eyes.

“Not bad weird,” Scarlet said quickly, her cheeks burning. All of her instincts were screaming at her to seduce the girl again, pin her, bite her, drain nearly every last drop of blood from her, turn her into the perfect little blood doll. Keep her on the edge of life, just so she could forever have her under her tongue. A never ending stream of draconic blood. She told those instincts to shut up. She may have been a vampire, but that did NOT mean she was a wild, feral animal. She was not going to hurt her girlfriend, especially not now. “You’re absolutely precious.”

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“And you’re a treasure,” Violet said with a smile that made Scarlet’s stomach do a small flip. She was pretty certain that one had nothing to do with her smelling amazing, either. “Right, as nice as it feels to keep groping my girlfriend, I really should try and get to work on this.”

“Right,” Scarlet said, though she felt a small pang of regret when the little dragon pulled off her. She smelled so amazing. But control. She had to remain controlled. “I’ll go open all the windows, you make your call.”

“Okay,” Violet said before walking away, her tail swaying from side to side with each step.

Scarlet watched her until she disappeared back into her room. Okay, so this wasn’t going to be an easy night. At least soon she’d go to sleep and it’d be over and done with by the time she woke up. Right? She hoped. Violet was a big girl, she’d break the curse in no time. Scarlet quickly started racing through the house, opening the windows and letting the cool air flow in.

Scarlet felt relief washing over her as more and more the scent was filtered out by the night breeze. Now that it wasn’t so overwhelming she felt like she could better think. Besides, even if Violet currently smelled like a dragon it didn’t mean she WAS one. She probably didn’t even have dragon blood inside her. No matter how amazing she smelled. It was probably only skin deep.

Scarlet thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. A strange, ghostly light of some kind. Her eyes narrowed and she peered out through the window, trying to catch a glimpse of anything in the dark. One huge advantage of being a vampire was that she could see so much better than most humans, so long as she wore her glasses. Especially at night. If there was anything out there, she’d see it just fine.

Except there wasn’t anything there. Just trees and grass. She then gave a soft sigh. She really did need to hire another landscaper before her yard turned into a jungle. Violet would probably never let her hear the end of it.

Once all of the windows were open she turned and made her way back towards Violet, who had returned to her room.

“Yes, I know it’s not something you can’t just give me,” Violet said angrily into her phone.

Scarlet froze in the doorway. The smell wasn’t as strong, but still strong enough. But that wasn’t what made her freeze. The little dragon’s tail was twitching angrily while she argued over the phone and it was so, so, so adorable. She had to resist the urge to walk over and try catching it. A delicious little wiggling morsel.

“Things have changed,” Violet said. “Yes, I know. Listen, she approached me last night. Well, I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal, she was just thanking me.”

Now her tail was lightly thumping and bouncing on the ground, making Scarlet’s heart melt. Did they really have to end this curse?

“She gave me this necklace as a thank you gift for stopping her,” Violet said. “Well, yes, I did. Yes, I know it was dumb. I checked it first! It just… turned out to be stronger than expected. Listen, it’s just a curse, I’ll be fine. I’m worried about her.”

Scarlet couldn’t help it anymore. She pounced, her hand catching the tail on the ground and holding it still.

Violet let out a squeak and then turned back, glaring at her before pushing the mute button on her phone. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” Scarlet said sheepishly.

“It looks like you pounced on my tail,” Violet said.

“Noooooo,” Scarlet said before, very slowly, pulling her hand off it.

Violet just stared at her for a few moments, looking as if she was struggling to decide if she should laugh or yell at her. Finally she turned away and unmuted the phone. “Yeah, I’m working on figuring out what it is. It’ll be a lot easier if I can get a hold of her. Yes. I don’t mind.”

Scarlet licked her lips, watching that tail flick back and forth with agitation. Why did it have to be so cute?

“Are you threatening me?” Violet asked.

Scarlet froze and her eyes narrowed on the phone. What? Threatening her?

“Oh. I see. Fine,” Violet said. “That complicates things. No, no, I understand. Fuck. Yeah. Thanks for what you could do. I’ll deal with it. Hm? Wait, what? Uhhhh,” Violet said before glancing back at Scarlet. “Yeah. So you saw the forms, huh? No, she’s a good one. Bit of a weirdo, but good. Trust me, if she tried anything like that she’d be ash now. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Thanks. Bye.” She ended the call before giving a sigh and turning to face her, drawing the tail out of reach. “Well, good news.”

“It didn’t sound good,” Scarlet said sheepishly before slowly getting to her feet.

“Your registration is going through well,” Violet said. “Other than that? No idea. Ami wasn’t supposed to be in town anymore, apparently she was visiting.”

“Visiting?” Scarlet asked.

“Yeah,” Violet said. “She’s from out of town, about an hour’s drive. I guess I’m going on a road trip out to the middle of nowhere today.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Scarlet asked sheepishly.

“You’d burn,” Violet said.

“I can bundle up,” Scarlet said.

“It’s fine,” Violet said. “I’ll deal with it, don’t worry. It’s not the first time I’ve had to drive out to the middle of nowhere on a job. Heh. Maybe I’ll ask my mom if she wants to come. Mother-daughter bonding. If I’m lucky, a werewolf will get her.”

“You’re not serious, are you?” Scarlet asked.

“Of course not. Werewolves are one thing, but trapped in a car with my mother? I’d sooner be a, well, whatever this is forever,” Violet said before dropping onto her bed. “It’s so HOT. Why is it so HOT?”

“I think this is why dragons usually sleep on gold coins or live in colder climates,” Scarlet said softly. She looked so cute, all sweaty and whiny and-- She shook her head, struggling to control her urge to bite. She moved over towards the window, letting the cool night breeze filter some of the scent away.

“I don’t know. I’ll send Tani a message,” Violet said before tapping a few times. “She knows the region, maybe she can figure something out.”

“Tani?” Scarlet asked.

“A hunter in the city,” Violet asked. “The one I met a bit ago? She’s cool. It’s fine. Really, I’m just going to try and get some sleep. Maybe take an ice-cold shower if that doesn’t work. Or sleep in the fridge.”

“I might have to take one myself,” Scarlet muttered.

“What?” Violet asked.

“Nothing. I think I’m going to turn in for the night too,” Scarlet said. “It’ll be dawn soon, I can feel it. Err… do you want me to close all the windows before I go to bed or do you want to do it in the morning before you leave?”

“We should probably do it now,” Violet said before starting to crawl out of the bed again. “Not like they’ll make my room any colder.”

“No, no, leave it to me,” Scarlet said quickly. “You get some rest, you’ve got a busy day ahead of you.”

“But I just--”

“It’s fine,” Scarlet said feebly. “It’s all fine.” The last thing she wanted was the scent of delicious dragon being all over the manor. It’d give her time to clear her head again as well.

Violet gave a shrug and then just plopped down again. “Fine, fine. Go ahead, good little kobold,” she said, her tone arrogant and prideful.

Scarlet paused for a moment, eyeing the girl.

“Did I just call you my kobold?” Violet asked.

“Yup,” Scarlet said, an amused grin on her lips.

“Oh, I have got to break this curse quickly,” Violet said before rubbing her forehead again.

“Of course,” Scarlet said in a teasing tone. “If I may have your permission to depart, oh grand and majestic Hunter of Curses, her grand scaliness, O mistress of breaking and entering?”

“You can’t tell it, but I am flipping you off with my tail,” Violet said, an amused smile on her lip. “Very dragon-like.”

“Oh, but of course,” Scarlet said before turning to leave the room. Right. Tomorrow her little dragon princess would be all back to normal. No more curse. She just had to keep it together a little longer. When she closed the windows she paused in the bathroom, before picking up the small necklace. “Hey, Violet? Do you want to bring the necklace with you?”

“Nah, keep that thing away from me,” Violet yelled from the other room. “Hopefully it’ll wear off. If not, I’ll find someone to take a closer look at it later. You got a safe or something?”

“Yeah,” Scarlet called back to her before looking down at the small bronze necklace. It was such a small, pretty thing. She really, really wanted to keep it. If they could find out how to put it to use, the thought of having Violet turn into a dragon on command for a little bite here and--

Scarlet shook her head and wiped the drool from her mouth. No. NO. Control. She had self-control. She was stronger than some carnal vampire urge. No matter how delicious her girlfriend smelled. She needed to feed soon, anyway. Maybe she’d just ask Jasmine to set something up a bit earlier this month. Maybe a bit more than normal this time. Something to hold her for a while. Yes. If she was stuffed then she wouldn’t crave it at all. Right? Oh, she hoped so.