by Aaron Crash
The guy with the M60 lowered his barrel and shot out the wheels on the right side of the truck. Rubber shredded away, and in seconds the steel rims of the wheels sparked off the pavement.
The Silverado and the trailer, crawling with Dragonskins, went slamming off the highway and into the grass and brush. Dust smoked up from the crash followed by the sweet smell of the sage and the oily hot stench of the engine. The Chevy turned hard to the right, and the momentum sent it rolling along with the trailer across the field. Metal squealed. The rig shed Dragonskins like a dog ridding itself of ticks. But it was hard to see anything. All was lost in the dirt and madness flung from the wreck.
A dozen motorcycles drove up. The lizard men let their bikes drop as they formed a firing line of machine guns. Waste of ammunition, and those fuckers needed to treat their motorcycles with more respect.
The priest and the Dragonskins stormed the cab.
“You get to Sabina, Tessa, and Liam,” Steven thundered. “I’ll deal with the gunners.”
He landed and positioned his shields to protect the Chevy Silverado. He then flung Impetim stars into the Dragonskins, taking out one, then another, then another until the dragon men had to fall back.
Steven felt the air change. The raw power of something coming made his stomach ache. It all went quiet for a minute, and then that silence was destroyed by a terrible noise, an awful sound—part murmur, part growl. A whomp followed. A line of ChromaticFury streaked by the truck and trailer. The stormy day was suddenly as a bright as noontime.
That put an end to the Dragonskins near the truck. The lizard men melted in the blast of world-ending Exhalant. But who had breathed the ChromaticFury?
Aria and Mouse, as dragons, stood in front of the upside-down truck cab. Ashes from the destroyed Dragonskins filled the air. It had been a direct hit.
Strutting out of the swirl of dust, smoke, and ash came Cassius Pine, a naked blond man with a smirk splitting his blond beard. He held the Slayer Blade in his right hand, and the fire on the sword painted his face a demonic green color.
Chapter Twenty
THE PRIEST HAD SURVIVED the blast of Cassius Pine’s ChromaticFury. He flew over Mouse’s head. He was going too fast for her to stop him, and dammit, Mouse had wanted to end him.
Now, however, they had Cassius Pine to deal with. The surviving Dragonskin bikers all were fleeing, either on their wings or on their bikes.
Mouse grunted in frustration.
If she hadn’t accidentally dropped the Slayer Blade, she would’ve flung it at the priest.
And if she could move.
Mouse found herself frozen, a zillion emotions, all bad, filling her head. Her enemy was in her sights, holding her sword. But she didn’t attack ... because ... she wasn’t sure why.
Cassius lifted his free hand. “Hey, Mouse. That was some fight. Glad I could come and do my part.”
She hated that smile. She hated how comfortable he seemed. He had murdered her family. He had to pay. And yet, she stood in her True Form by the damaged truck, unable to move. Was this some kind of spell? What the fuck?
Aria turned into her Homo Draconis form to pull Tessa, Sabina, and Liam from the vehicle. The smoke and dust from the crash was dissipating. The highway was deserted for a minute. The rain had stopped but that didn’t stop the clouds from becoming even darker. The smell of the hot engine and the shredded sage filled the air.
All the while, Cassius stood in his stupid human form with his stupid hand holding her beloved Slayer Blade.
Mouse stood frozen, the wheels of the Chevy spinning lazily to her left.
Steven was in his True Form on the other side of the truck. He cast healing magic on their wounded. He growled at Cassius. “What do you want?”
“Easy, amigo.” Cassius stuck the Slayer Blade into the dirt and raised his hands above his head. “Like I said before, you and I are on the same side. Those are Rahaab’s Knights Templar.”
Tessa coughed weakly. She was sitting up in front of the smoking grill of the truck. Blood covered part of her face. “That red cross. I knew it was familiar. Very Assassin’s Creed, all talk of Animus aside.”
Cassius left the sword and took a step toward where Aria doctored their wounded. Liam was still unconscious. Not that it really mattered. His Animus was for shit because he was too stupid to have sex. And he’d been taken out of the fight early. A magical bullet had hit his skull. Hopefully it had only grazed him, but with all the blood, it was hard to tell.
Sabina stood but nearly fell again. Her legs shook. She was blind. However, she’d done a good job driving the truck.
“Back off,” Steven snarled. “We didn’t make any kind of deal. And I’m full of Animus, if you want to try me.”
Cassius shook his head. “Steven, Steven, Steven, you found the third volume of your father’s spell book, am I right?”
“Yes,” Steven said. “And I guess I should thank you for that. We got attacked, but it didn’t feel like a trap. And I should thank you for your help today, though again, I don’t see myself ever trusting you.”
The Slayer Blade seemed to quiver in the ground behind Cassius. Sabina stood before him, silent. She didn’t talk much to begin with, but something was going on with her, Mouse could feel it. Tessa was still trying to get her shit together. Aria, scarlet and scaled, was ready to fight.
Something moved overhead, in the clouds, and Mouse pictured a storm of Dragonsouls, maybe Cassius’s entire Escort, readying themselves to attack. She didn’t want to take her eyes off her enemy on the ground, and yet, she needed to be aware of what might come swooping in.
They needed to kill Cassius. Yet Mouse wasn’t going to make the first move. She waited on Steven.
Cassius smiled. “You sayin’ you ‘should’ thank me doesn’t make me feel too good. Come on, buddy. It’s me and you against Rahaab. Right now, he’s at my Yellowstone Aerie, walking around like he owns the place. And the guy is sick. He don’t like humans, sure, but he also thinks he’s better than us. He keeps using this word, Alpheros, like it means he’s special.”
Steven flared his nostrils and steam rose from them. Mouse couldn’t help but be taken in by how powerful he looked, a huge black dragon standing over the blond man.
“What do you want?” Steven asked.
Cassius shrugged. “For you to trust me. What would it take? I mean, because of me, you got your daddy’s book back. And then I came in and helped you today against Rahaab’s Templar Knights, not that you really needed me. You’re as tough as they come, obviously. You have every Dragonsoul on the planet talking about you. I want in on that action. Better I join up with you. And listen, Rahaab is the real deal. You’re going to need help killing him.”
Mouse wanted to say something, but then she realized Steven was pumping Cassius for information.
“Tell me more about that,” Steven said. “I’ve read that the Alpheros can’t be killed by normal means. It seems it takes an ancient to kill an ancient.”
Cassius nodded. “I heard that too. The thing is, when Rahaab hit me, I never had the chance to really fight him. However, the stories I’ve heard about the Slayer Blade, well, I think it might be a tool we could use to end that Alpheros son of a bitch.”
“What about the Slayer Blade?” Mouse asked before she could stop herself.
“Well, Melissa—”
Steven cut him off. “Her name is Mouse. And you don’t get to talk to her. You lost that privilege when you murdered her family. Talk to me.”
That smirk never left the blond Prime’s face. “Fine. It’s us men anyway. Fuck your bitches.” He then snapped and grinned. “Oh, yeah, you hate that. Sorry.”
Steven growled, and Mouse could feel Animus coming off him in waves. He was fully powered up after the battle. It kind of got her excited.
Cassius continued. “Right, so you know the story of St. George and the dragon? Well, both were dragons, come to find out, and they were fighting for territory in modern-day Turkey. Back then i
t was a Roman province called Cappadocia, but this was after Rome proper fell and before the Ottomans. We’re talking Crusades shit here. Anyway, George wasn’t George back then, he was Dio Skuroi. The other dragon was Theodorius. Bad blood between the two, like for generations, like for reals. But they couldn’t get one up on the other. Until Dio captures Theodorius’s Escort. Kills them. And uses all that Animus to fashion the Slayer Blade. Some say that the green flame is made of the souls of Theodorius’s Escort. The two fight in Caesarea and nearly level the city. They’re fighting as dragons until Dio unexpectedly turns human, takes the Slayer Blade, and kills Theodorius. Stabs him right in the heart. Sword becomes famous, gets tossed around, until Rhaegen Mulk gets it, but Mulky wasn’t too keen on magic and history. He gives it to one of his lackeys. And then you guys get it. Ha.”
Cars raced past on the highway. Were those sirens in the distance? The battle on the highway, and all the dead bodies, must’ve caused some ruckus in the human world. Or maybe not, since they were on such a remote section of I-90.
“I’m surprised you’re such a history buff,” Steven said.
“I like weapons. Like the Colts your girl has.” Cassius nodded at Tessa. “Those Peacekeepers also have a colorful history. My point is, with a weapon like the Slayer Blade, if we could get Rahaab to drop his guard, you could stick it in his gizzard. Maybe make it a little spicier with some ShadowStrength. Hit him with a combo. I could help with that. How about it? You want to team up?”
Mouse held her breath. This was it. Everyone waited to see what Steven would say.
“Magica Divinatio,” Sabina whispered. Her eyes lit up.
“What’s this?” Cassius asked, sneering. “You gonna use your witch to put a lie-detector spell on me?”
“It’s how Sabina sees,” Steven answered. “But in this case, I’m not really interested in the truth. My answer is no, I won’t be joining up with you, not after what you did to Mouse’s family. Never.”
“Well, ain’t that just a son of a bitch?” Cassius closed his eyes. Lost his smile. And then struck.
SerpentGrace gave him supernatural speed. He reached behind him, snatched up the Slayer Blade, and went to run Steven through with the blade.
At the last possible second, a shield spell slammed down in front of Steven. That shadowy force field chopped off Cassius’s sword arm. The limb and the sword fell to the ground.
“He’s all yours, Mouse,” Steven said.
Mouse turned into a human, rolled across the ground, whisked up the Slayer Blade, and cut off Cassius Pine’s other arm in a sweeping arc of green fire and steel. “That was for my father.” She stepped to the side. “Your turn, Steven.”
Cassius Pine stood weaving.
From above, six female dragons of various colors came streaking down. On the back of two were Magicians, women, hurling green and blue bolts of energy. Sabina lifted her green-tinged shield above them to catch the thrown magic. Aria and Tessa were up as well, adding their own energy barriers to protect them.
Lucky they did. Two of the dragons breathed ShadowFlame, and the shields barely kept the hyper-energized fire from scorching them. Two others fired lightning from their mouths. And the other two hit them with cold.
Their shields held against the crackling ice, fire, steam, and electricity.
Steven opened his jaws and bathed Cassius Pine in fire. Every bit of hair was blasted off his body as his skin was turned into a black shell. His white eyes widened.
Mouse walked up to the armless, blackened man in front of her. “And this is for my mom, you fucking asshole.”
Two-handed, she swept the Slayer Blade through the blond Prime’s neck and cut off his head. It fell onto the ground with a noisy splatter next to his hacked-off arms.
The Animus from the kill permeated her body, and it felt divine.
The attack from above ended abruptly. The six dragons withdrew. They floated west and then up into the boiling black clouds. Their Prime had been killed. Mouse wasn’t sure what they’d do, but for the moment, the women were free.
Steven grumbled out laughter. “Yeah, Mouse, you bite. Thanks for ending him. I fucking hated that guy.”
Mouse spit on the body. She dropped the blade and ran to Steven. He was a giant compared to her, but it felt so good when he encircled her in the black scales of his arms. It was like being hugged by a loving redwood. Her enemy was dead by her hand. She knew Steven could’ve taken out Cassius easily, but he’d let her have the killing blow.
“Those are your females now,” Liam said. He’d woken up, which was a relief. They needed all the help they could get.
“No, they are their own people,” Steven said. “Right, Tessa?”
Tessa didn’t answer. She was crying. That shocked Mouse. She left Steven’s mighty arms and went over. “Tessa, what’s wrong?”
The barista shrugged. “I can’t talk about it now. We need to get going. The police will be here any minute.”
Sabina pointed to the wreckage. “I see the police, in the future, find the truck and trailer burned to cinders. I think maybe the dragons should take care of that.”
After grabbing some stuff from the trailer, including the coffer of gold coins, Mouse, Steven, and Aria all stood as dragons and bathed the Silverado and the Jayco trailer with their Inferno Exhalants. Watching metal heat up and become molten was always fun. They stepped back to let the gas and propane tanks explode.
Mouse tossed Cassius Pine’s body into the conflagration.
The end.
Chapter Twenty-One
STEVEN WALKED OUT OF the River Valley Inn in Big Timber, Montana. He’d gone to find Tessa, who’d unexpectedly broken down in tears after the Knights Templar fight. He didn’t think she was crying over Cassis Pine. Personally, Steven was glad that the ruler of the Rocky Mountain’s Primacy was dead. It made his life easier, and Mouse had gotten her revenge.
Big Timber was a cow town, and the place obviously loved being called that. Ranches full of horses and green grass spread out under a twilight sky clearing of clouds. The Beartooth Mountains sat in the distance. Somewhere in them was Mathaal, being taken care of by Uchiko. Where they were was a mystery. The third volume’s encrypted pages weren’t giving Steven anything. When he last checked, the words had swirled around but had never coalesced into anything he could read.
He’d sat looking over the third volume of his father’s spell book in the simple motel room, alone for the moment. They’d gotten four rooms at the place, which wasn’t a Marriott—Aria kept pointing that out. She thought maybe the Super 8 might be a better deal, but it had been booked. However, the River Valley Inn had good reviews online. It was clean, if a little dated. Finding a place to plug in their phones had been rough. The wood paneling gave it an old, classic motel feeling. And the TVs were old hunks of square plastic and glass. Tessa had used the word “retro” any number of times, but something was still bothering her. What was it?
News of the trouble on I-90 filled the local channels. They were calling it gang warfare between rival motorcycle clubs. Truckers swore they had just been trying to move freight when the battle broke out. They mentioned the burned Chevy Silverado, but local law enforcement hadn’t been able to pull the VIN from the wreckage. So Steven and his people wouldn’t be implicated. Sabina had been wise. She was in her own room, meditating and eating celery from the local Western Family supermarket. They all were wearing clothes from the Dollar Store. Aria hadn’t complained out loud, but she had done a lot of sighing. A lot.
Liam, after a few healing spells, felt good enough to go out and find a pawnshop to sell more of the gold coins. He’d also found a new set of wheels for them off Craigslist, a Chevy Suburban from the late 1970s. It was cheap. It still ran. Good enough for what they needed at the moment. Steven did miss the good ol’ Orange Crush parked back at the Infinity Ranch. He hoped they wouldn’t start going through vehicles like they went through clothes.
When Steven’s phone rang, it had been Mouse on the o
ther end. “Steven, I’m worried about Tessa. Can you go and talk to her?”
Steven had left his room and the motel. It was a block of brick and siding, sitting alone on a wide parking lot where weeds pushed up through the pavement. The asphalt on the sides flecked away into pebbles and grass.
Steven breathed in the air. The wet grass mixed with the smell of cattle. Yeah, uh, earthy. But it was somehow comforting. Maybe it was the simple fact that he was still around to be able to smell anything.
Tessa stood at the far corner, smoking. He didn’t like the cigarettes, but Tessa only did them when she was stressed, or to keep Mouse company while she smoked. Mouse smoking was far better than Mouse drinking.
He approached her, hands in the pockets of his dorky khaki slacks. The Dollar Store had been out of jeans. He’d bought a Hawaiian shirt, not really caring. He’d rip through them the next time he shifted into a dragon anyway. And he didn’t care how he looked like anyway. The women of his Escort loved him. End of story.
His feet were bare. The asphalt was smooth. It felt good to be out of shoes, but it would’ve felt better to dragon out and fly around. The sky was beautiful, the air warm, the humidity just right. The mountains were gorgeous in the distance. Traffic from the highway sounded like a waterfall.
Tessa wore tight black jeans she’d gotten in France, ripped at the thighs. Black boots on her feet. A loose white blouse with a low neckline showed off another one of her Halestorm T-shirts. She breathed out smoke. “So who ratted me out? I’m betting it was Mouse.”
“It was,” Steven said.
Tessa smiled but then tears filled her eyes. “I can’t stop crying. And I’m not sure why. If you mention PMS I will shoot you. I’m nowhere near my monthlies.”
“Monthlies?” Steven grinned. “Do you mean your menses?”
“Ugh, not that word. You sound like Dwight Schrute from The Office. I used to call it Aunt Flow. I kind of like monthlies though. I’m regular like that.”