by Susan Illene
He gripped her in his arms as she trembled with the need to kill the beasts attacking the human town. As she had mentioned, Watonga was small compared to Oklahoma City or Norman, but the rising cacophony told him a sizable population of people made their homes there. Perhaps there were even refugees from nearby places.
Two of the dragons were attacking businesses and homes on the edge of town. Aidan swooped low to drop Bailey in a field across from a cemetery. One of the green beasts saw them coming and headed straight for them. Aidan streamlined his body, colliding with the dragon midair. He grabbed hold of his opponent’s lower jaw, shoved it upward and bit into its elongated neck, crunching down hard enough to make it difficult for the beast to breathe. It clawed at Aidan’s chest deep enough to draw blood, but to no avail. Once he was certain the dragon had been sufficiently weakened, he dropped it to the ground for Bailey to finish. She’d already killed its partner.
Aidan flew higher in the air, searching for more opponents. Phoebe had gone farther ahead and currently fought a large beast a couple of blocks away. She didn’t appear to need assistance if the way she castrated the male dragon was any indication. Aidan winced. His sister could be vicious when she wished.
Aidan searched for the other dragons and found three of them near a cluster of gray silos. They’d already burned one of them almost to the ground. He swooped down to grab Bailey again and then raced in that direction. Phoebe joined them along the way. As soon as he got close, Aidan dropped the slayer off on a road next to the silo complex and a warehouse. He went straight for the dragon doing the most fire damage, grabbing its wings from behind.
The beast roared as Aidan squeezed his fists tight, breaking the uppermost bones. His opponent could not maintain flight with its wings so badly damaged. Aidan tossed the dragon in Bailey’s direction where she waited with her sword at the ready. He caught her running to the fallen body as soon as it struck the pavement, her sword raised high. There was nothing more alluring than watching the slayer take down her opponents with brutal force. One day he hoped to catch her right after a battle while still on the field. Aidan wanted to experience all of Bailey’s passion and lust for himself . Some might find it too dangerous and a little depraved, but that was what made his and Bailey’s relationship work. They loved the best and worst parts of each other.
The sound of flapping wings came from behind him. Aidan turned as quickly as he could, but not quite soon enough. A green dragon bit into his shoulder hard. Breaking a jaw lock was no easy task, and as pain surged through his body, it was all he could do to stay aloft. The small surge of energy he’d felt at the beginning of the battle was fading fast. Aidan called for his beast to rise up, but got no answer.
Phoebe was fighting her own opponent and could not help. Another dragon headed toward the silos, coming straight for Aidan. With his shoulder steadily being crushed, he could not handle a second assailant at the same time. He clawed at the first dragon’s eyes but only caught the right one before it snapped the left shut. Aidan lifted his legs and dug his toes’ talons into the beast’s lower stomach. He ripped and tore into its body until the dragon finally let go of his shoulder. As blood poured from his wounds and ran down his chest, Aidan tried to force back the unbearable pain.
He rammed into the beast’s wounded belly and drove it toward the ground. At less than ten feet from the pavement, the dragon’s wings lost air. It fell the rest of the way on its own, finding Bailey ready and waiting to greet it.
Aidan surged back up higher as the other incoming dragon reached him. Gritting through the pain, he grabbed his opponent’s jaws and jerked them wide. His strength was nearly depleted as he lost more blood, and he needed to kill this one quickly. Aidan reached for his second fire and blew it into the dragon’s throat. The beast’s eyes widened in shock as its mouth and esophagus hardened, and it lost the ability to take deep breaths. This was a trick Aidan learned last summer. It would not work on a dragon’s exterior body but proved quite effective on soft, inner tissue.
His opponent made a strange gurgling noise, then its wings went slack. It spiraled down, landing on a warehouse roof and crashing through it. Aidan followed the fallen beast and went through the hole it left in the building. The green dragon would lay there dying for a while if he did not finish it off. While Aidan might not like the Thamaran all that much, he did not believe in letting his opponents suffer for prolonged periods. There was no need for that. He used his talons to claw and tear a hole in the beast’s belly just below the ribs. Once he’d made the opening large enough, he forced his fist inside the cavity, found the heart, and crushed it. The light from the dragon’s eyes faded away.
Turning his gaze up to the roof, Aidan blew a stream of flames to enlarge the hole so he could fly back through it. Though he hadn’t noticed it at the time, he’d sliced his right wing coming down. Gritting through the pain of his injuries, he made it back outside to land next to Bailey. It was all he could do not to collapse at her feet.
“I think we got them all,” she said, then turned to look him up and down, eyes widening. “My God, Aidan, you’re injured all over!”
As she fussed at his injuries, he searched the sky. He could not shift until he was certain no more dragons were around. Phoebe flew toward them, landing a short distance away. She’d suffered a few injuries herself to include a broken talon and several deep lacerations on her stomach.
There are no more dragons here, she said. I checked the whole town.
Relieved by her news, especially since Kade’s count had been off, Aidan let the fire consume him and shifted to human form. While he did that, Bailey asked his sister to go back and check on their group. She flew away about the time Aidan emerged from the flames.
He checked Bailey over, seeing nothing except cuts and scrapes until he spotted her right ankle. She wasn’t putting much weight on it, and her pants were shredded at the bottom. Blood poured down her boots and onto the ground. He kneeled to take a better look at her injury, finding her ankle swollen with deep gashes in her skin.
“I’ll be okay, Aidan. It just hurts a little.” She grabbed his good arm and pulled him up. “It’s you I’m worried about.”
“I will be fine,” he said, though inside he could barely contain his pain. The dragon had crushed his collar bone and shoulder socket. Once he also considered his blood loss and nearly nonexistent energy, Aidan knew he must rest soon if he hoped to begin healing.
Taking hold of each other, they limped toward the main street that ran through town. Several humans jogged toward them. There was shock and weariness on their faces as they took in the sight of Bailey and Aidan. Then their gazes shot to all the fallen dragons littering the pavement.
“You fought them off!” a middle-aged woman said. “We’ve been having trouble with those damn creatures for two days now, and you killed them all so fast!”
Bailey attempted a smile. “Hopefully this will be the last you see of them for a while.”
An older man pointed at her. “What are you that you can survive dragon fire? I saw it try to burn you, but you just kept fightin’.”
“I’m a slayer,” she explained.
“And him.” The man gulped. “I could have sworn I saw him change from some kind of red beast with wings into what he is now—and those eyes!”
Bailey went into a short explanation about shifters and the differences between them and the green dragons. Several more people gathered around to hear the story. They must have figured out the danger had passed, and wanted to know what happened. Aidan couldn’t blame them. Out here, they didn’t have slayers or shifters to help, and they were on their own.
“I’m Elen.” The middle-aged woman smiled kindly at them. “How about we get you two set up someplace where we can tend to your wounds? There’s a motel just down the street, and we’ve got some clean beds there. It’s the least we can do.”
“Oh, you don’t have to…” Bailey began.
“Nonsense. It’s the least we can do,” E
len insisted.
“And I’ll be happy to feed you supper at my restaurant. We’ve had to modify things a bit without electricity, but I promise we serve good, hot meals there.” The first guy gestured toward a place across the street. The sign read “Hi De Ho Café.”
Aidan could scent the faint trace of bacon and eggs that had been cooked there this morning. It did smell good, even a handful of hours later. Once his body began to heal, he would need sustenance to speed his recovery and the offer was tempting.
“We’re waiting on our friends,” Bailey said, glancing down the street. “That’s them coming now.”
The RV Hauler and service truck rumbled toward them, and Aidan caught sight of his sister riding inside the lead vehicle. After Miles and Conrad had pulled up next to them, Bailey’s sidekick leaned out the window with a concerned expression on his face. “You all alright? Phoebe said that fight was rough, and you guys were injured.”
Aidan tucked Bailey under his arm, knowing the two of them must look like a bloody mess. They were both in pain, but they would survive. “We are fine.”
One of the townsmen looked them up and down. “You two look like you should be in a hospital—if we had one of those.”
“All of you are welcome,” Elen said, undaunted by the new arrivals. “We’d surely be dead if you hadn’t shown up when you did. I don’t care what you are, or how you did it.”
“Help! Please help!” A woman screamed from down the street, hurrying toward them. Next to her, a man carried an unconscious little girl. The whole family appeared to have suffered from burns, but the child had it the worst. Her face, shoulders, and arms were mottled from dragon fire grazing her. If it had touched any closer, she would have been dead already.
Danae leaped out of Mile’s truck. “I’ve got this.”
“Is she a doctor?” Elen asked.
“She’s a healer,” Aidan answered.
Danae asked for blankets, and after they pulled the camrium one from the backseat, she had the couple lay their little girl on it. She gave them an urgent look. “There’s no time to wait. I must treat her here.”
Kade handed her the burn ointment, which she began rubbing on the girl without hesitation. It took the rest of the bottle they’d brought to cover all the girl’s wounds. Then Danae began chanting, using sorcerer words.
“What’s she doing?” the mother asked.
Aidan considered saying something, but he feared his appearance would only frighten the parents further. Not only was he covered in blood and wounds, but his yellow eyes stood out. The best thing he could do was keep quiet and not interfere.
Conrad joined them, speaking in a reassuring voice. “Trust me. Your little girl is going to be much better once Danae is finished with her.”
Both the parents looked down at their child with worried expressions on their faces. It couldn’t have been easy to let strangers near their daughter, especially after all that had happened to them. To permit an unknown woman who was chanting and placing a glowing hand over their little girl must have been difficult to allow.
Nearly thirty minutes passed before Danae stopped, slumping against Miles where he kneeled next to her. The young girl opened her eyes. “Mom?”
“Dear God,” the father said, running his gaze up and down his daughter’s body. “She’s almost completely healed.”
In fact, the only signs of her burns now were overly pink skin.
“The rest should fade by tomorrow.” Danae dragged in several deep breaths. “She will need rest and plenty of fluids.”
“Of course.” The mother leaned down and kissed Danae’s forehead. “You are a miracle worker!”
“Now how about we get the rest of you folks fixed up? Most of you look like you’re about to fall over on your feet,” Elen said, gesturing at them.
With a little more encouragement, Bailey, Aidan, and the others walked the short distance with Elen to a nearby motel where she set them up with rooms to rest. They wouldn’t be going any farther today until they could recuperate.
Chapter 31
Bailey
Our group was split up between a handful of motel rooms. Elen must have been one of those people who enjoyed playing hostess because she went out of her way to take care of us. She even managed to get some of the town’s sparse water supply so we could wash the blood off ourselves. My camrium pants were ruined after having my ankle half crushed, but I’d brought a spare set to wear. Aidan promised he’d make more for me once we were back at the fortress.
After taking a couple of hours to tend our wounds, rest a little, and clean up, we headed to the café where we were served steak and mashed potatoes. A local rancher supplied the beef to the restaurant in exchange for other things the owner traded with his customers. The town ran surprisingly well despite the post-apocalyptic circumstances. They said the dragons had mostly left them alone until recently, so they’d been trying to get by as best they could. I was definitely impressed with how well the meal was cooked and plotted ways to get back up to visit again someday. Risking life and limb was worth it if the food was good—only the fuel expenditure held me back.
I came out of the bathroom after changing into my t-shirt and underwear. Aidan was just coming in after going to talk to his uncle. His eyes were sunken with weariness, and his shoulder only looked marginally better. With his black camrium tunic on, I couldn’t be sure how the gashes in his stomach looked.
“Don’t you usually heal faster than this?” I asked, limping closer to examine his wounds.
He’d been bitten in the same spot where a dragon had gotten me a few months back. His bones had been crushed, and they would take a couple of days to mend, but even the punctures and gashes in his skin had barely begun to close. Those should have sealed shut by now. If Danae wasn’t already worn out from healing the burn victim, I would have asked for her help.
“Yes, but something strange occurred in the last cave,” he said, shaking his head.
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“When I breathed my second flames, the magic drew a lot from me to reforge the orb and everything else in the room. It left me drained afterward.” Aidan sunk onto the bed.
I sat down next to him. “Why didn’t you say anything? If I’d known, maybe I wouldn’t have suggested we jump right into battle when we found this place.”
“Bailey.” He took my hand. “You and I both know you couldn’t have left the people here to die. In fact, I am certain you would have run in by yourself if I didn’t offer to join you.”
“So?” I shrugged, feeling guilty he’d fought because of me. “Out of all of us, I’m the one who is least injured. I probably could have fought the rest if I’d had to.”
He lifted a brow. “You’re being ridiculous. I just witnessed you limping a moment ago, and we both know it would have been much worse if you’d been on your own.”
“Maybe,” I mumbled, knowing he was probably right.
Aidan lay back on the bed and stared at me. “Come here, slayer.”
I was on his good side, so I curled into him and rested my head on his undamaged shoulder. There was something comforting about listening to his strong heartbeat. “Tomorrow we’ll be home. Do you think Nanoq is going to send you away again?”
“I do not know.” He was quiet for a minute. “But I am hoping our success on this journey will be enough to convince him to let me stay in my lair.”
The idea of Aidan and I living together sounded almost too good to dream about. “If I have to make more vows for that to happen, I’ll do it.”
He kissed my forehead. “I do not think I can survive putting a knife in you again. Please do not ask that of me.”
“Even if it means a chance for us to be together?” I asked, lifting my head to meet his gaze.
Aidan sighed. “I do not know, but I promise I will try to work out something.”
I drifted off to sleep, scheming ways to make our relationship work no matter what it took. We’d been through so
much together during this trip and grown closer because of it. I didn’t think I could give Aidan up if he was sent away again. What that meant for my future with my family, I didn’t know. It wasn’t a choice I had to make for now.
***
I was pulled out of a nice dream I was having of Aidan and me in his lair, cooking dinner together and behaving like a normal couple. There were voices outside the motel room. I lifted my head and strained my ears, trying to make out what they were saying.
“You won’t get past me, sorceress,” Phoebe said. “I’ll kill you first.”
“How did you find us?” Kade asked.
Verena laughed. “Worried your sorcerer’s spell didn’t work? Oh, it did, but there is more than one way to locate those who do not wish to be found. I have spies everywhere.”
My heart leaped into my throat. I glanced at Aidan, who was still fast asleep. His severe injuries had taken such a toll that I doubted much of anything would wake him. A quick glance at my watch told me it was only an hour before dawn. Phoebe and Kade would be getting tired by now too, and I couldn’t leave them alone to handle this.
Dashing across the room to my pack, I dug out my spare pair of camrium pants and pulled them on quickly. The arguing outside continued. Good God, I couldn’t let anyone get hurt for my sake. If Verena had found us, she must have a plan for how to subdue everyone so that she could get to the orb.
Not bothering with my boots, I grabbed my sword and ran outside. “Leave them alone, Verena. This is between you and me.”
“Hand over the orb, slayer,” she said, staring down her nose at me. “I must have it.”
I shook my head. “No. It’s not going to happen.”
It was then that I realized she had her left hand upraised toward Kade. He was holding his own dagger against his neck. Phoebe was moving her head back and forth, watching all of us, which told me Verena couldn’t control her. Instead, the sorceress was using Kade to keep Aidan’s sister back.