How to Lose Your Dragon (The Immortality Curse Book 1)

of cute. Maybe he had a thing for her?
When I was back on the street, I took my phone out of my pocket and stared at the glinting notification icons on the cover.
My eyes practically bulged out of my head. I had twelve missed calls and twenty-six messages. Who on earth would message bomb me like that?
With twitching fingers, I pressed the power button on my phone and swiped up to unlock it. I know, I know, I should have it password protected or something, but I’d just never gotten around to it. It was on my list of things to do that always got put off for the next day.
My mind raced. Was it Mei’s kidnappers? Were they after me for money, too? Had they done something to her while I was off talking to Rick? Was it too late now?
I tapped on the notification icons and saw they were all from the same number. And it was even one that I had saved in my phone.
At least it wasn’t the kidnappers, then. Though how they’d know to contact me was another story. But it meant Mei hadn’t been killed. At least, I assumed she hadn’t been. That was still a very real possibility, but if that had happened, then at least no one had been texting me about it.
No, this was even worse. The contact card said “Clan Elders.” I peeked at one of the last messages. All it said was “Call me back. Now.”
My stomach churned and I felt like I was going to lose the meager contents of my breakfast that morning right then and there on the pavement.
This could only mean one thing. Mei’s father wanted to meet with me.

5
I took a good, long look at myself in the mirror of my small bathroom. All it held was a toilet, a standard-issue white porcelain sink with a tiny cake of soap next to it, and a shower that was barely big enough for me to climb into. I’d never really been one for luxury and rarely had visitors, so it more than suited my needs. It’s not like I could have afforded better, anyway.
Even so, Mei’s elder was due to stop by in just a few minutes, and I wanted everything to look perfect. Well, as perfect as it could be. This was me we were talking about. But I couldn’t mess this up. Mei’s elder was a powerful person.
Worse, they were friends with my mother. And the last thing I wanted to do was to bring her wrath down upon me.
A shudder ran down my spine at the thought of what that would look like. Imagine the most overprotective mother you could ever have, then multiply her by a thousand and factor in the fact that she’s been checking in on you for three hundred years now. Mostly for disappointing reasons, because you failed her expectations. Again.
Yeah. It was that bad.
My eyes trailed to my outfit. I was wearing a deep blue Tang suit jacket and matching pants. The jacket was on the long side, trailing down almost to my ankles. On the front of it, the Chinese symbol for Xiang was emblazoned in gold thread. It was my traditional Chinese attire, and given that Mei’s elder was also Chinese, it seemed like a good opportunity to impress them by wearing it.
With one hand, I smoothed out the fabric of my suit. It was slightly wrinkled, as was everything I owned, but I hoped they wouldn’t notice.
An odd sight caught the corner of my eye. Was that a grey hair sticking out on my left temple? I plucked the rogue hair from my head, wincing slightly at the sharp pain, and stared at it for several seconds.
Relief washed over me as I sighed deeply. Nope, it was the standard black, just like all the other ones. It had simply looked a little off in the yellowish light of my bathroom. I hadn’t shown a single sign of aging ever since the immortal curse had been placed upon my head, and neither had any of my other siblings. At least not that I knew of. So it would have seemed odd for it to have started now.
A loud noise roused me from my own subconscious. Three quick, harsh raps rang out on my wooden door.
“Now or never,” I said, my lips curling into a half-smile at my own reflection.
I let out another sigh and left the bathroom, being sure to turn off the light as I left. Hey, every penny of electricity saved could be spent on booze, am I right?
Taking another deep breath, I pulled open the door to my small apartment.
A single, tall person stood in the doorway. He was wearing a Hanfu with a black top and a red bottom, a giant dragon emblazoned in gold thread on the front of it. It looked like the thread was made from actual gold, too, not the fake, colored thread like I had.
His face looked weathered, with a few dark spots interspersed on his cheeks and forehead, like he’d seen a lot of sun or lived a long time. Likely both. I didn’t know how old he was exactly, but Mei was a thousand years old, and she was considered young for a dragon. A shock of silver hair covered the top part of his head. The rest of his face was bare, with sharp edges for his cheeks and chin. His dark eyes appeared beady in the low light of the hallway.
“Lao,” I said in a voice barely over a whisper. “How nice to see you.” I bowed, then righted and pointed my arm behind me. “Won’t you please come in?”
The elder gave a slight bow of his own - a surprising show of respect given what he thought of me in general - and did as he was bade.
I scurried to stay in front of him, letting the heavy door slam behind me as I ushered him past the tiny, disorganized