by Jadyn Chase
That didn’t concern me. After Carlos called my loyalty into question, I had to prove myself as much as Logan and the other prospects—maybe more so. If The Boss couldn’t handle a situation like this, I didn’t have any business trying to lead the others.
At the off-ramp, I got a clear view of the road ahead. A semi-truck jack-knifed its trailer across the exit ramp. It created a bottleneck so none of the cars could get past. A cop in a hi-vis jacket directed traffic through a thin opening near the overturned cab.
The Longtails spotted the obstacle at the same moment and headed for the chute. The cop held up his hand to stop them, but they paid no attention. I lowered my head. This would be my one chance to smoke these suckers once and for all. With my shades over my eyes and my bandana covering half my face, it’s not like the cop would be able to identify me anyways.
I extended my arm and whirled my chain over my head. The blade whistled through the air. The Longtails looked back. They had to slow down to make that gap, but they sped up even more when they saw me bearing down on them.
The cop jumped in front of them waving his arms like a moron. The Longtails hesitated for a moment. I hit the gas and overtook them in a second. Too late, the Longtails rocketed forward in a last-ditch bid for freedom.
In the fraction of a second before they made it to the chute, I managed to overtake them and slung my chain with brutal fury. The blade slashed down on the first man. The chain whipped around his shoulders. He raised an arm to defend himself, but he couldn’t do that and steer his bike at the same time.
The bike spun out of control. The chain caught in his jacket and slapped around his chest. The motorcycle wobbled and skidded under him. The guy floundered trying to do everything at once, and the blade soared in a circle to embed its razor edge in his temple.
Down he went with a thud. I gave the chain an almighty jerk and gunned my hog at the same time. Two more Chinese plunged through the hole onto the off-ramp, but I caught the last one across the back of the neck. The chain cut him off his ride, and he pitched over the handlebars to face-plant into the blacktop.
The cop leaped out of the way as the other two Longtails blasted by him. I didn’t slacken my pace in the slightest and plunged through the space, but I had to let go of the chain to keep my quarry in sight.
No cars blocked the way on the other side. The Longtails shot off faster than ever. I burned rubber to keep up with them, but my mind went into a spin. If I caught them, I had no decent weapon to fight them.
I groped inside my vest. My fingers closed around a short knife I always kept handy for emergencies. That was all I had to go on, and I was all alone on the fringes of hostile territory.
The Chinese slithered through a labyrinthian maze of streets. I didn’t recognize where I was. I never would have had the balls to come down here under the most strenuous circumstances, but I suppose this was one.
I saw them headed for another corner up ahead. They squeaked out a good lead on me. If they made that turn, I would probably lose them. I throttled my ride to the limit speeding after them, but I already sensed that sinking sensation in my gut that told me I’d crossed a line. I couldn’t go back and I was taking my life in my hands going forward.
I eased off the throttle a little approaching the corner. I planned to stop at the intersection and check down the side street, just to make sure the coast was clear before I followed.
I drew level with the corner, but when I turned my bike, an ear-splitting crack echoed between the buildings. The sound hit me before the pain. Even then, it took me a minute to recognize a man standing about fifty yards down that street.
He wore a black leather vest over his bright red and yellow shirt. Red and yellow patches covered it, and a red sash ran through his belt loops. He narrowed his slanted Asian eyes at me and lowered the gun, but he didn’t loosen his grip on it.
After what seemed like ages, a hot, disgusting ache ate into my insides. Something wet and sticky burned my side. I teetered on my heels, but I couldn’t get my mind to understand what just happened.
The guy scanned me up and down for a minute. His inscrutable round face revealed nothing. He kept a firm grip on his gun. My knife made an uncomfortable lump inside my vest, but my arms refused to obey my command to pull it out.
What did I think I would do with it if I did bring it out? Rule #1 of life on the streets: Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. Every kid knew that. Shit, even Anna knew that. Anna! I would never see her again.
A motorcycle’s roar caught my attention. I turned around just in time to see the other rider hit his throttle and charge his bike at me full speed. He narrowed his eyes in cruel intent. His hog heeled on its hind tire to lunge at me in screaming horror.
My body acted on its own volition without any assistance from my brain. I couldn’t think anyway. The guy rocketed at me. Blue smoke billowed from his tires. The noise pierced my skull and made me wince.
How I got my hands up fast enough to catch him by the shirt, I’ll never understand. His front tire smashed into my leg and I hit the bricks, but not before I towed him down on top of me.
The bike veered. A second later, it spun away without him. I collapsed under his weight and he landed on top of me. His weight crushed the air out of my lungs. For a fraction of a second, my eyes went black. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe.
The guy wriggled out of my grasp. I couldn’t tighten my fingers to hold him. He flailed to get off me. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the clear blue sky overhead. Something terrible was about to happen and I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t know how.
A head cut off my line of sight. I blinked trying to place the features. I recognized it from somewhere. Oh, yeah. It was the other Longtail, the one that shot me. There he was, aiming his gun in my face. His fingers clenched around the trigger to fire.
At that moment, the ground shook under me. A low boom rattled my bones. The guy’s head shot up. For a second, he froze with his gun pointed at nothing. He stared above my head.
I summoned all my strength and craned my neck. A few feet away, a gargantuan dragon bigger than a building crouched on the street beyond my head. Its deep green scales glistened in the sun. It arched its wings close to the ground, whipped back its head, and screeched an Earth-shattering shriek at the two Chinese gang members.
The minute I saw him, I relaxed. Thank God he found me. I should have known he would never let me face these bastards alone.
He let out another spine-chilling scream that ended in a searing jet of fire erupting from his mouth. It shot over my head. The Longtail straddling my chest dropped his gun. It cracked on the concrete next to my head and popped off, but I didn’t care. It was all on now.
The flame plumed past my eyes and smashed the Longtail square in the chest. He staggered, but it didn’t produce much of an effect on him. In a fraction of a second, he changed before my eyes. He reared back and flung his arms wide. Wings sprouted from his shoulders. His neck snaked forward longer and longer until he changed into another dragon glowing bright red in the evening sun.
The other Longtail shifted at the same moment. They both rounded on Carlos screaming bloody murder. Carlos unloaded his fire on one and then the other, but they grew taller and more ghastly until their scaly forms blocked him from my view.
The two Longtails returned Carlos’s challenge with shrieks and screams. He rose on his hind legs to make himself look bigger, but he couldn’t stand up to these two. He wanted to draw them away from me. That was the only credible reason he could have to confront them like this on their own ground.
The next instant, both of them rocketed off me going a mile a minute. I lost sight of them for a second. I willed myself to turn over. I could do no more. I would give anything to get up and fight, but my eyes wouldn’t work right, let alone my arms and legs.
I swallowed hard. That insidious nausea galled my insides. It sapped my strength. Some forgotten corner of my psyche understood that I’d been shot, but I cou
ldn’t do anything about it.
With a heroic effort, I writhed over onto my stomach. I huddled there with my arms folded under me. That hot, slippery mess dripped off my flank. Every drop drained my life away. I had to do something, but what?
Hissing, spitting, scratching, and howling made me look up. The two Longtails whipped around Carlos and tumbled him over on the pavement. He did his best to fight back, but they outweighed him by a thousand pounds. They tackled him onto the asphalt and thrashed him before my eyes.
Get up, Roman. Get up. I could tell myself that all day long. It did no good. That was my own cousin sacrificing his life for me over there and I couldn’t do a thing to stop it. I let my eyes sink closed. I couldn’t stay conscious much longer.
My head started to fall onto the unforgiving concrete millimeters before my eyes. If I passed out, I might as well say goodbye to Carlos and Anna and….and everyone. Game over.
My neck turned to jelly. My vision swam. I hauled my head up by sheer willpower, and my eyes fell on the gun lying there. A gun wouldn’t do any good against a dragon. It never did. No wonder he dropped it.
My attention shrank to a pinprick staring at the weapon. I peered down one black and empty chamber. Perfectly beautiful, gleaming brass discs shone in the other five. I even made out the symbols, 0.357 MAG.
My brain clicked. I closed my eyes and dug deep. Somewhere in the depths of my soul lived a dragon. I could call on him when I wanted to, but he eluded me just now.
I rummaged in my secret recesses in a desperate search for him. In the last agony of hope, I prayed, Please. Just this once. Just once. I swear….
I didn’t finish before the monster exploded out of me stronger than I ever imagined. He must have been hiding there, just waiting for me to ask nicely.
I observed the scene from a distance. Maybe I was already mostly dead. I only knew I no longer controlled what happened.
The vicious fiend broke out of my skin in all his raging green power. My soul vaporized in a screeching blur of wrath and flame. My tail whipped around and cracked against the pavement. It flipped the gun up.
The weapon sailed through the air. My focus zeroed in on the Longtails still burying my cousin in reptilian flesh. The gun floated downward before my eyes. I calculated my movements down to the micron.
One of the Chinese dragons arched his neck back. He locked his eyes on Carlos’s throat and gaped his jaws for the killing stroke. At the last second, I hurled my tail around one more time and smacked the gun.
It ricocheted across the street straight for the dragon’s open mouth. The other Longtail glanced over at me, but he was too late to react. I screamed out all my pain and fear and despair, and I spat flame and fire at the gun.
The inferno hit the weapon and propelled it down the dragon’s throat. The fire caught the cartridges and they all went off at once. A sonic concussion blasted back and forced my fire down my throat. It hurled me off my feet and catapulted me onto my back.
12
Roman
My eyelids fluttered and I stared up at Carlos’s face. Even then, I didn’t remember what happened until a stabbing pain in my shoulder blades made me wince.
“Lie still, Ese,” he murmured. “The brothers are bringing a truck around to take you home.”
I licked my parched lips, but that did nothing to get my throat working. I couldn’t speak above a croak. “What did you….Where are the….?”
“Don’t talk, Ese,” he told me. “You killed one of them. When I turned on the other one, he ran away. We’re safe now, and our brothers will be here any second. Just lie still. We’ll take you home and stitch you up.”
I tried to look down at my side, but I couldn’t lift my head. “Is it… How bad is it?”
“It tore through the flesh, but it didn’t hit the gut. It’s bleeding, but if we can stop that, you’ll be all clear.”
I closed my eyes and rallied all my strength. “Listen to me, Ese. If anything happens to me, promise me you’ll take care of Anna for me. Promise me.”
His thick fingers clenched around my shoulder. It hurt worse than the bullet wound, but he only smiled. “Ain’t nothing gonna happen to you, Ese. You’re gonna live a long life and see her married and having babies of her own. You’ll see.”
I stole a peek at him. “You were right about the nurse. I shouldn’t have….”
He looked away. “No more talking. Just lie still and be quiet. That’s an order.”
I couldn’t talk anymore anyway. Gravity towed me down on the sidewalk until the truck skidded to a halt next to me. I got all mixed up in arms and legs lifting me off the ground and laying me on a mattress in the bed. Then the truck barreled away.
It jolted to the curb in front of my house. They carried me inside. They got me as far as the couch before I blacked out, but not before I noticed an old Army blanket covering the cushions. At least they dealt with that so I didn’t have to worry about bleeding on my own couch.
I woke up to the evening sun streaming through the living room windows. I blinked and looked around. Did I imagine the whole thing? No, I still felt weak and my stomach hurt when I tried to sit up. It hurt worse than I remember it hurting during the fight. Wads of gauze and tape wrapped around my midsection to hold my aching body together.
My feet touched the floor. Just then, Anna came bursting into the room. She got halfway to the kitchen before she noticed me sitting up. “Papa!” she gasped. “You’re awake.”
I gave her a watery grin. “Don’t sound so surprised.”
She charged at me, and I almost passed out again when she leaped on top of me. “Carlos said you wouldn’t wake up until tomorrow. He said not to bother you, but I got hungry. I was just going to make myself a sandwich.”
“That’s okay, sweetie.” I slipped my arm around her waist. Damn, she felt good! “I’m all right. What happened after they brought me home?”
“The brothers were working on you for a long time,” she told me. “Carlos wouldn’t let me in the room until almost bedtime last night. When they let me come in to kiss you goodnight, Logan was hooked up to your arm.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Hooked up to my arm? How?”
“With a tube.” She ran her finger from her inner elbow to mine. “There was blood going through it from him to you. Carlos said it would make you better and it did!”
She broke into a beaming smile and hugged me again. So that’s what they did. They plugged the hole and Logan gave me a transfusion. He was definitely going through initiation the first chance I got.
I propped one hand against the arm of the couch, but I had to press my palm against the bandage to heave myself up. “I’ll make you a sandwich, sweetie. I’m all right now.”
She stood off a few paces and eyed me on the side. “Carlos said you shouldn’t get up for at least another twenty-four hours. He’ll be mad at you if you….”
A knock on the door cut her off. We both looked toward it. Then Anna squared her shoulders. “I’ll get it. You should sit down.”
“I won’t sit down,” I grumbled. “I’m fine. I think I can answer my own door.”
I hobbled toward it, but my side hurt a lot more than I wanted to admit. Anna got there first and checked over her shoulder. She arched one eyebrow to challenge me to stop her. Damn, she looked like Laura when she made that face.
I shoved her out of the way. “Stand back. It could be dangerous.”
She retreated to the kitchen, but the compressed line of her lips told me she didn’t believe it for a second. She was just humoring me in my misguided attempt to assert my authority.
I opened the door, so it couldn’t have been too dangerous. My knees wobbled when I found Maya standing there.
Before I could say anything, she blurted out, “Look, I’m really sorry about what I said at the hospital. I don’t know what got into me. I really do want to see you again. I just felt like a tool for hooking up with you so fast the way I did. I thought I must have given you the wrong im
pression, and I didn’t want to face you if you thought I was…. shit, I don’t know…. a slut. That sounds terrible, doesn’t it? I don’t know what I’m doing here. I’ll leave. I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just…you know, it’s hard for someone like me to get my head around you being in a motorcycle club. I don’t care about the other stuff, but maybe your people do. Maybe you have some taboo against getting with…. you know, humans. I don’t know. Christ, I’m babbling. I don’t know what to say to you. I just want to say I’m sorry. Can you forgive me? I mean, I don’t blame you if you don’t want to. I probably wouldn’t, either. Just accept my apology and I’ll be on my merry way. Okay? Jesus, I never should have come here, but the guilt has been eating me up since they brought Kane in. I’m just saying I did want to see you again. I mean, I do want to see you again. I realize I probably shot myself in the foot talking the way I did, but I do want to. I really like you, and I had an amazing time with you the other night. I just got cold feet the next morning. I didn’t really regret doing it with you. I just thought….”
She probably would have rattled on for the rest of the day, but I interrupted her by holding the door back. “Do you want to come inside?”
She blinked with her jaw hanging open. She glanced into the house like she was looking into the pit of Hell itself. At that moment, Anna shot past me. She shouldered me out of the way and grabbed Maya’s hand. “Maya! Come in! It’s so good to see you. How’s Kane? Did you come to check my math homework? Ha-ha! That’s just a joke. Come inside.”
She hauled Maya through the door. Maya dragged her feet, but in the end, she let Anna bring her in and park her in the living room. Anna perched on the couch next to her and starts running on at the mouth like she usually does.
I surveyed the scene from a safe distance. So she did want me after all. She wanted to be with me. She doubted herself, not me. Why didn’t I see that before? The truth was I let my own emotions get the better of me. I let the pain of the past color my view of the situation.