Back Charm
Chapters (155)
  1. Copyright
  2. Dedication
  3. 1 Nearly Gutless Grace—Grace—
  4. 2 Head Space, Talk Space, Give Me Some Space—Grace—
  5. 3 I Do Like a Good Cup of Hurl Grey—Grace—
  6. 4 Every Little Thing He Does Is Not Magic—Grace—
  7. 5 Hot and Not So Heavy—Hudson—
  8. 6 In One Head and Out the Other—Grace—
  9. 7 Burning Down the Louse—Hudson—
  10. 8 Eat, Drink, and Be Wary—Grace—
  11. 9 From One Blink to the Necks—Grace—
  12. 10 Burning Your Britches—Hudson—
  13. 11 Sleep Like the Undead—Grace—
  14. 12 Grace on a Platter—Grace—
  15. 13 My Life Is an Open Phone—Grace—
  16. 14 Diary of a Vampire Kid—Grace—
  17. 15 The Best Defense Is More Defense—Hudson—
  18. 16 No Vamp Is an Island—Grace—
  19. 17 This Is How My Cookie Crumbles—Grace—
  20. 18 Trying to Lair Low—Hudson—
  21. 19 Put a String on It—Hudson—
  22. 20 All the Sizzle, None of the Heart—Hudson—
  23. 21 I’m Not RSVPing for This Pity Party—Grace—
  24. 22 All Cry, No Punishment—Grace—
  25. 23 Welcome to My Jungle—Hudson—
  26. 24 Dividing the Room in Styles—Grace—
  27. 25 I Mo, You Mo, We All Emo—Grace—
  28. 26 Re-Tweeting—Grace—
  29. 27 De-Briefing—Hudson—
  30. 28 It Dunks to Be Me—Grace—
  31. 29 How Do You Say Good-Pie?—Hudson—
  32. 30 Uneasy as Pie—Hudson—
  33. 31 Stalks and Bonds—Grace—
  34. 32 Some Bonds Can’t Be Unbroken—Grace—
  35. 33 Fake It or You Don’t Make It—Grace—
  36. 34 I Read You All Wrong—Grace—
  37. 35 Running Down a Nightmare—Grace—
  38. 36 Please Don’t Start the Fire—Grace—
  39. 37 You’re Dragon Me Down—Grace—
  40. 38 Waking Dawn—Hudson—
  41. 39 Keep Calm and Don’t Carry On—Hudson—
  42. 40 Don’t Farm It In—Grace—
  43. 41 Crop Till You Drop—Grace—
  44. 42 She’s Giving Me the Smokey Eye—Grace—
  45. 43 One Direction Is Not Just a Band—Hudson—
  46. 44 I Can Dish It Out If You Can Make It—Hudson—
  47. 45 Don’t Let the Bedvamps Bite—Hudson—
  48. 46 I Like to Sleep Tight, But Not This Tight—Grace—
  49. 47 You Really Stuck My Landing—Grace—
  50. 48 No Farm, No Foul—Grace—
  51. 49 Re-Veg Is Sweet—Hudson—
  52. 50 I’m Oh So Swan-Yay—Grace—
  53. 51 A Not So Savage Garden—Grace—
  54. 52 There Has to Be an Udder Way—Grace—
  55. 53 Suck It Up, Buttercup—Grace—
  56. 54 He’s Got Hangry Eyes—Hudson—
  57. 55 Afraid of My Own Shadow Queen—Hudson—
  58. 56 Baby Got Piggyback—Grace—
  59. 57 Cliffs Notes Got Nothing on Me—Hudson—
  60. 58 I Cave It My All—Grace—
  61. 59 I Know a Prick When I Smell One—Grace—
  62. 60 Tastes Like Teen Spirit—Hudson—
  63. 61 Carpe Drink-Em—Grace—
  64. 62 Dimples and Curls—Grace—
  65. 63 Tic-Tac-Toe and No Chill—Grace—
  66. 64 If I Could F(lie)—Hudson—
  67. 65 Live and Let’s Run—Grace—
  68. 66 Good Will Hugging—Grace—
  69. 67 The First Rule of Fright Club—Hudson—
  70. 68 I Have Friends in High Places—Grace—
  71. 69 Color Me Purple—Hudson—
  72. 70 Way Too Hidden Talents—Hudson—
  73. 71 Inn-stant Gratification—Grace—
  74. 72 Gone Wishin’—Grace—
  75. 73 My Lady in Red—Hudson—
  76. 74 1D-reams Come True—Grace—
  77. 75 Café Lotta Say—Hudson—
  78. 76 The Choux on the Wrong Foot—Grace—
  79. 77 Ah-Choux—Hudson—
  80. 78 All LinkedOut—Grace—
  81. 79 Getting the Red Ribbon Treatment—Hudson—
  82. 80 Starfalling for You—Hudson—
  83. 81 All’s Fair in Love and Ring Tosses—Grace—
  84. 82 Star Light, Star Bright—Grace—
  85. 83 On Top of the (Other)World—Grace—
  86. 84 It’s a Knock-Down, Dragon Fight—Hudson—
  87. 85 Dragon Me Over the Coals—Grace—
  88. 86 Go Stone or Go Home—Hudson—
  89. 87 Let Me Change into Something a Little More Stony—Grace—
  90. 88 Feather or Not, Here I Come!—Grace—
  91. 89 No One Wants to Catch These Cookies—Grace—
  92. 90 Sucker Brunch Me—Hudson—
  93. 91 I Know How to Hold My Drink—Hudson—
  94. 92 Drinks Are On Me—Grace—
  95. 93 I’m Spooning Over You—Grace—
  96. 94 Talk Dirty to Me—Hudson—
  97. 95 We Roll with the Brunches—Grace—
  98. 96 No Such Thing as a Free Brunch—Grace—
  99. 97 Time After Time Dragon—Grace—
  100. 98 Let’s Talk About the Time Dragon in the Room—Hudson—
  101. 99 Distrust but Verify—Hudson—
  102. 100 Whine and Dine—Grace—
  103. 101 Covering None of the Bases—Grace—
  104. 102 Between a Rock and a Hard Grace—Grace—
  105. 103 Passing the Pouspous—Grace—
  106. 104 How to Rock and Not Roll—Grace—
  107. 105 A Whole New Meaning to Stone-Faced—Grace—
  108. 106 Always Look a Gift Mayor in the Mouth—Grace—
  109. 107 Good Girl Gone Mad as Hell—Hudson—
  110. 108 I Want You to Want Me—Grace—
  111. 109 50 Shades of Fangs—Grace—
  112. 110 Need You Tonight—Grace—
  113. 111 Amateur Astronomer—Hudson—
  114. 112 Waiting for the Other Dragon to Drop—Grace—
  115. 113 One Surprise Deserves Another—Hudson—
  116. 114 Sending Out Smokey Signals—Grace—
  117. 115 The Tail End of the Deal—Grace—
  118. 116 Ripping the Scales—Hudson—
  119. 117 From Smokey with Love—Hudson—
  120. 118 It’s a Hack Job but Someone’s Got to Do It—Grace—
  121. 119 Big Disco Ball Energy—Grace—
  122. 120 Death on the Dance Floor—Grace—
  123. 121 This Is How You Skew It—Hudson—
  124. 122 Love Is a Red-Ribboned Thing—Grace—
  125. 123 Grin and Grace It—Hudson—
  126. 124 Now You’re Inn for It—Hudson—
  127. 125 Kiss My Asset—Grace—
  128. 126 A Not-So-Tastee Freeze—Grace—
  129. 127 Statue of Limitations—Grace—
  130. 128 Here’s Your Horns, What’s Your Hurry?—Grace—
  131. 129 Gargoyle Girl Gang—Grace—
  132. 130 A Shot in the Dark—Hudson—
  133. 131 The Story of Tonight—Grace—
  134. 132 You Bite It, You Buy It—Hudson—
  135. 133 Cross My Heart and Promise Not to Fry—Grace—
  136. 134 The Wheel of Misfortune—Grace—
  137. 135 BDSM: Bondage, Dragons, Stone, and Magic—Grace—
  138. 136 It’s Darkest Before the Dawn—Hudson—
  139. 137 Where the Wild Things Really Are—Grace—
  140. 138 Buggin’ the F*ck Out—Grace—
  141. 139 Don’t Trust Her as Far as I Can Throw Her—Hudson—
  142. 140 It’s Not Even My Third Rodeo—Hudson—
  143. 141 Is This a Bad Time?—Grace—
  144. 142 Full of Light,Full of Grace—Hudson—
  145. 143 What Grace Around Comes Around—Grace—
  146. 144 Out of the Shadows, Into the Light—Grace—
  147. 145 It’s All Coming Back to Me Now—Grace—
  148. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  149. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  150. Sneak Peek: Last of the Talons, by Sophie Kim
  151. Stealing Infinity, by Alyson Noël
  152. The Valkyrie’s Daughter, by Tiana Warner
  153. The Liar’s Crown, by Abigail Owen
  154. The Gravity of Missing Things, by Marisa Urgo
  155. Ember of Night, by Molly E. Lee

It works, because the dragon pulls up almost instantly, his head whirling around as he searches for the source of the noise. I do it again, even add in a little arm wave just to make sure he sees me.

“Hudson, no!” Grace screams.

“Go!” I tell her as the dragon spots me and turns on a dime, speeding straight for me.

The dragon’s almost here and fuck. Just fuck. And can I just say, this is what happens when you let yourself fucking care about someone. You end up using yourself as unarmed bait for a bloody fucking dragon.

I never thought I’d miss my powers, but now would be a really good fucking time to be able to make this thing poof. Or, you know, crawl inside his mind.

But since neither of those things is an option, I do my best to avoid his flames and end up with a nice burn on my arm for the trouble. Which puts a bloody big crimp in my plan, but at least improvisation is a thing. So when the dragon turns at the last second to avoid crashing into the clock tower, I ignore the pain in my arm and jump right onto its back.

If humans can ride bulls one-handed for eight seconds, surely I can do the same with this dragon.

It turns out, dragons are significantly stronger than bulls, and they really, really don’t like to be ridden. Or at least, this one doesn’t.

He lets out a scream that I’m sure the entire village can hear and then completely loses his shit. Like, full-on barrel spinning, twisting, bucking, roaring, belching flames loses his shit. And since we’re still over a hundred feet in the air, it pretty much sucks for me.

But I’m not going down without a fight, not when this thing seems so desperate to get his claws into Grace. If I’m the only thing standing between this dragon and her, I’m going to make sure I take him down with me.

So, ignoring the pain in my injured arm, I dig in. I grab onto a couple of the dragon’s scales that are within my reach, gouging my fingers through the hard plates to the tender muscle below.

The dragon screams and flies straight up, twisting and turning in an effort to get me to let go. But I’ve got a good grip, and I’m hanging on. Because the longer it’s preoccupied by me, the more time people on the ground have to get to safety.

Please let Grace be one of the ones who runs to safety.

God knows I’m not doing this for my health.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for the dragon to figure out that he’s not going to shake me anytime soon and decides to change tacks. Dropping out of his vertical climb, he dives back down toward the village.