The Enemies of Vengeance

by P. A Ross

Rip wagged his finger back and forth. "No, I believe V will beat you. He has just defeated two werewolves at a full moon."

  "As do I," Cassius added.

  Cyrus growled back. "What do I care? You will soon see he is not worthy of our name. He is not a proper Dragan. He is a pretender, and I will prove it."

  Max walked to Thorn's side and placed his hand on her arm and escorted her back to the edge of the circle, leaving Cyrus and I facing off against one another. Thorn shook off his hand and stomped back to the sidelines. "Thorn, don't worry. You know how well V can fight."

  Cyrus stared into my eyes, his eyes burning red, and fangs and claws already out. "Are you ready to die?"

  "Ready? I have died so many times before; it will be like greeting an old friend. But are you ready?"

  Cyrus muscles tensed and he held his claws up. I switched on my Dragan transformation, my claws and fangs cut through my flesh, and my eyes hazed in a blood rage. I held my claws up in front of my face to mimic Cyrus' battle stance. Cyrus flung his claws down, cutting through the air and launched forward, covering the space between us in a couple of steps and slicing up his right claw towards my face. I skipped to the side, and the claw whistled past my ear.

  I danced backwards and to the side. Cyrus spun around to keep me front on. I stopped and then slid back the other way, making him chase after me. He fainted to the left, getting to me to move to my right and then switched to attack to the right, lashing a backhanded fist. I swung both hands up to block and took the blow across my forearms.

  His hand slid off and scraped his claws across my skin, cutting them in four lines across both arms. I snatched back from the stinging claws and focused my magic into healing them. The lines quickly dissipated back into my Dragan flesh, the blood on top soaking in.

  I jumped back to gain breathing room, but Cyrus gave me no quarter, following up with a swinging left. I managed to sway out of the way, it slashing past my face. I went to counter-attack, but Cyrus had already spun around, pirouetting to hit back with his left elbow into my jaw. He caught me square on the chin and knocked me to the floor. He jumped after me, slamming his foot down. I rolled out the way as the heel of his boots tried to stamp onto my ribs.

  I twisted onto my hands and then vaulted back onto my feet. I immediately front kicked him back in the stomach, sending him flying backwards into Cassius and Rip, who pushed him back into the fight. We circled around each other, fainting attacks and dancing out the way.

  I had my magic stored up as a glowing purple sphere in the pit of my stomach. But it wasn't big and strong enough to turbocharge my powers enough to beat him. I needed more emotion to fuel it, something I felt drained of after my ordeal with the Turned. I was just relieved to be away from them and back with Thorn. Having to face Cyrus again, just made me feel depressed and desperate rather than angry, which would have helped.

  However, it was clear this battle meant everything to Cyrus. And even though he didn't understand how the magic and the Dragan powers work together, this emotion was enough to fuel his abilities and attacks. I needed a way to get angry; I needed a way to feel something. Depression and desperation weren't strong enough to feed the magic.

  Cyrus attacked again, even quicker than before, as if he sensed my desperation. He had retracted his claws and attacked with his fists, a quick couple of jabs, a right and a roundhouse into my lower right thigh. He launched a kick into my ribs, which I was able to block, but I took a nasty smack into my shins to stop it. The bruising subsided, but the sight of his success drove on his frenzied attack. His fists swung in fast. I covered up blocking the hits across my arms but underneath an uppercut snuck through. My head jolted backwards. I tripped up over my own feet and slammed to the floor.

  Cyrus flung his hands in the air. "And in the first round our favourite Dragan is dominating the ring," Cyrus said, smiled and punched the air in victory and walked around my prone body.

  He was arrogant, which I realised was fuelling his power but was also his weakness. The sight of him bragging and the look of fear on Thorn's face, snapped me out of my desperation and depression, and I felt a tingle of anger brewing inside.

  I jumped back onto my feet. "But he hasn't taken the count yet and our underdog is back in the match," I said.

  Cyrus stopped smirking and coiled back his fists. He was lightning fast again, but I didn't bother to duck too much. I took one to the chin, one in the ribs and one across the face. I allowed my legs to go and fell to the floor again.

  He kicked me in the ribs a couple of times. I curled into a ball as he kicked my back and shins. The blows rained in, and with it, his laughter echoed around the air hangar. "Pathetic boy. Beaten so easily. Whoever said you could be one of us," he shouted.

  The event triggered memories of other beatings, at the hands of the Hunters when they fought against me as an experiment. And at the hands of Barry's gang when they beat me up when I moved to London. With every kick and every taunt, my rage grew exponentially with the ignition of my fury and the anger from my memories. His arrogance grew, which would make him sloppy and would weaken his own anger.

  The next kick came in, and I caught it with my hand and shoved him backwards and staggered to my feet. All the while I held my magic back from healing me, letting it build up to an unstoppable torrent to launch my attack. Blood dripped from my face, and the bruises on my body swelled and pulsated in agony, all of which fuelled the pain to ignite my magic.

  I rocked on my feet and pulled my hands up into a boxing guard.

  "Are you joking?" Cyrus said. "You've got guts, I will give you that. But it looks like you're broken. Your body can't keep up with the damage."

  I said nothing but just waved him forward, my magic at bursting point. I just needed to direct it and unleash my fury upon him. He swiped out his claws again and jutted out his fangs.

  "I am going to rip your throat out and then spill your guts all over the floor," he shouted.

  He ran forward, but Thorn jumped in between us and pushed him back. "No, that is enough."

  "You are conceding for him. Throwing in the towel?"

  "No," I said and stepped around Thorn to continue the fight. He swung a claw, and I went to block, but Thorn had grabbed hold of my arm to pull me back, but it prevented me from defending myself. Cyrus claw slammed straight into my throat, blood pouring out, and Thorn yanked me back, unplugging the wound.

  I crashed to the floor and slapped my hand over my throat to stem the bleeding. I had no choice but to focus all my magic into healing else I would bleed to death. The purple sphere evaporated as its energy fuelled my healing powers. The flesh around my throat reassembled and stopped the blood from pouring out. I was empty. I had no magic left to fix the rest of my beaten body.

  Thorn crouched over me and held her hand up to prevent Cyrus from pressing his advantage. Thorn looked down, her eyes swelling with tears. "I'm sorry. That wasn't supposed to happen. But stay down, let me take care of this."

  Thorn turned to Cyrus, keeping her body between him and me. "Leave him. You win."

  "You concede. You recognise me as the King of the Dragans?"

  Thorn cast her eyes down. "If I must, so I can save him. It was my fault. But you don't realise how important he is."

  "Because of his genetics. Because the DNA secret his body holds, and the fact he can become Dragan. I understand it completely. I just don't believe we need any more Dragans. So our race cannot reproduce, so what. Maybe there shouldn't be too many of us. I prefer to remain unique and immortal. The best thing we can do is to end this experimental monstrosity, taking away the chances of the Turned and the Hunters getting their hands on the secret."

  "You're not going to kill him. Do you not want there to be more Dragans? Do not want to continue our race? Do you not want to be king of a great number of people?"

  "More Dragans, more competition for the throne. We are immortal. We don't need to worry about the survival of our race. I will enjoy my life while it lasts, which will be a v
ery long time. The less of those like us, the less I have to worry about someone trying to steal my throne. This is our uniqueness, this is our strength. If there's a whole planet of Dragans, then we are no longer special."

  "Do what you want, King of the Dragans. But please don't kill him. Let him go," Thorn said, crouched next to me.

  I tugged on her arm to show her that I was okay, but she just placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder and squeezed it, while still looking at Cyrus.

  "Why would I let him go? What will you give me in return?"

  "I will be your Queen. Isn't that enough?"

  "Nearly. You can remain with me but not as my Queen, but as my concubine. I will choose my own Queen or Queens. You can merely serve me."

  "No, he means the twins. Don't agree to it Thorn. Let me finish the fight," I said.

  Thorn spun back to me, red tears running down her cheeks. She shook her head and placed a hand on my face and gently rubbed my bruises. "He will kill you. I cannot let you die. While you're still alive, there is always hope for us."

  My own tears stung the back of my eyes. She was willing to give it all up, all of her dreams and ambitions, all of her authority and power. She would sell herself into servitude to this arrogant Dragan to save my life. If I ever questioned whether she loved me or not, now I had my answer. My magic was empty from healing the critical wound to my throat. But her love was like emotions on steroids, and my purple sphere of magic erupted back into life.

  Cyrus stepped forward. "Now get out of the way, wench. Let me dump this monstrosity in the trash."

  Thorn looked back up as Cyrus swung down a backhanded fist across her face. She stumbled across to the side. Her tears were streaming down her face and cheek was swelling up. She spat out blood and pulled herself onto her knees. Cyrus pointed at her to stay down.

  I stared at her in total shock. He had hurt my Queen. He would continue to beat her throughout eternity. My magic was charging again from her expression of love for me, but this final action triggered a red rage that I couldn't channel or hold. My core of purple magic exploded like a nuclear bomb. I tried to direct it the best I could, but it overwhelmed me and incinerated through every muscle and limb. The remaining bruises and cuts healed within an instant, my strength renewed, and an extra power flooded my body. I rolled onto my back and flicked myself on to my feet.

  A roar grew from my guts and exploded out. "Leave her alone."

  Cyrus stared and pulled his hands into fists, ready to attack. My magic burnt as I looked down at her crying and bruised figure. My arms and legs spasmed as they filled with power. Dragon scales rose up across my flesh. I knew it was a bad idea to allow myself to become a full Dragon, so I focused on redirecting the energy to pure Dragan power instead. The muscles warped, growing stronger and bigger across my body. My claws thickened and eyes burnt so fiercely I saw everything tinted red. So violent was the change, my head shook, and my arms jerked around trying to contain the influx of power.

  Cyrus' face dropped as my body went into overdrive. He dropped his hands to his sides and eyes went wide. He turned and ran, but Rip and Cassius pushed him back into the circle. I strode across the space between us. Thorn's face was in shock. The blood from her tears absorbing back into her pale cheeks. The bruise on her cheek shrinking.

  I swung a left claw and Cyrus tried to block it, but it smashed through and cut into his shoulder. He twisted in pain and spun away from me. He turned and placed his hand on the blood and inspected it. The sight of his own blood fuelled his power, and he unsheathed his claws and leaped back and swung down with a right claw.

  His attack was wild but full of rage. I swung my arm up to meet it, but his claws pierced through my flesh and stuck into my left forearm. I tensed up the muscles and activated the dragon scales around it, preventing him from retracting his claws. I swiped down with my free hand and broke off his claws embedded in my arm.

  He yelled and stumbled back into Max and Giles, who pushed him back into the fight. He retracted his other claws and swung with wild fists. I released my power into a straight left and hit him before his wide punch came full swing. My fist slammed into his nose, blood spraying down his face, and he crashed to the floor. He wiped the blood from his face and scrambled to his feet.

  He looked around the edge of the circle, looking for an escape, but everyone held firm and glared back with satisfied smiles. He twisted back and charged at me. I focused my power and slid out of the way, sending him crashing to the floor at the feet of Thorn, who had stood back up.

  He went to grab her leg to pull himself up, and she backhanded him across the face. "I owed you that one."

  I stomped over. I grabbed him by his waist and hoisted him over my head and then dropped him down on to my outstretched knee, his back cracking on impact. I tossed him to the floor like a piece of junk.

  He tried to stand, but his back was broken. He crawled away towards the hanger doors, where the MI5 agents stood in the circle.

  As he crawled, there were the sounds of his bones snapping back into place, followed by his screams of agony. He pushed himself onto all fours as the last of his back repaired. I waited for his body to recover and walked around and kicked him in the ribs, spinning him over onto his back. I knelt across his chest and place my new massive hand across his jaw to open it wide.

  "You don't deserve these," I said and reached in with my free hand and gripped his left fang and twisted and pulled it out. He screamed with arms and legs thrashing around. I pinched his other fang and tore it out, throwing them both into Thorn's hands. His screams drowned out, as the blood from his gums poured into his throat. I stood up and loomed over him. "We are done here, South."

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Cyrus lay beaten beneath me. Thorn walked over to my side and held my hand.

  "Mary, can your team take care of this thing?" she said, gesturing down to Cyrus.

  "Of course, we have the facilities," she replied, and the MI5 agents moved in and rolled him onto his front and cuffed his hands and legs together. They picked him up and flung him into the back of a black van.

  "We will take him to a safe facility, and I will be in touch with the latest intel to create a joint strategy. We will try and see if he talks. But I doubt it."

  "We will stick to the plan as agreed. Hopefully, there will be no more betrayals with him gone," Thorn replied.

  Mary looked at me and smiled, and then joined the guards in the range rovers and drove off.

  I let go of my hold over my magic, and it buzzed through my body, leaving me on a new high. My psychic sense heightened for a moment, and I read Cyrus revengeful thoughts. I summoned up the last of my energy to deliver a psychic punch into his mind as they drove away. From the back of the van, a scream burst out. I grinned and turned back to my friends.

  Rip walked over and placed his hands on my shoulders. "Your training is complete. You even had me fooled with your beaten act for a while."

  "You will have to tell us that works," Cassius said to us both.

  Giles shook my hand. "I never doubted you. Not after what we went through together. I knew there was more in the tank."

  Finally, I turned to Thorn, who slapped me across the face.

  "You deceitful little bastard. I was out of my mind, ready to give up everything for you. This was just an act, a game. I should knock your head off."

  The rest of the gang backed away and looked elsewhere. "I needed to get him off balance, build my emotions and channel it the right way, as Rip and you had taught me. But it was no act after he pierced my throat. I had nothing left, your rescue didn't help. I had to use all my energy up to repair my throat. But your offer to Cyrus and your tears and pain gave me plenty of fuel."

  "Oh. I'm glad my tears and pain was of use to you. You manage to get a good feed off my heartbreak?"

  I nodded, daring not to speak. The anger in her eyes diffused and she smiled. "Good. Because Rip told me to cry to get you going. I thought he was crazy," Thorn said.


  "What? It was an act?" I asked.

  Rip turned back. "Thorn, I never..."

  "Shh, no need to say anything else. Your insight was instrumental," she replied and waved a hand in front of herself, cutting off their conversation. There was no need to challenge her statement. We all knew the truth.

  She grabbed my hand and led me out the back of the hangars, towards a door. "Morning everyone, get some sleep and see you at dusk."

  I allowed myself to follow on, checking that Giles was alright before I left. I saw Max wave him over and start talking. They probably had a lot to discuss, and I knew Max would take care of him.

  We walked through a series of small grey corridors until we reached some barrack rooms for the air force personnel. She opened the door into a small grey room with two single beds pushed together in the centre of the room. The beds had white cotton sheets with grey blankets over the top. There was a cupboard in one corner and a small desk in the other. It was a basic military personnel bedroom, nothing fancy, just practical.

  Thorn stood at the bottom of the bed, and I shut the door behind me.

  I smiled and approached her with my arms held out to give her a hug. "I always look forward to this part. Being back together and making up."

  She held out her hands and halted me in my tracks. "Are you kidding? After that little stunt you pulled. There will be nothing going on tonight."

  "I had it all under control. You nearly ruined it with that intervention. But it all worked out, let's not argue now."

  "But you could have ruined everything. Surely you would expect me to protect you. You shouldn't have put me in that position. We could have lost everything. Anyway, before we carry on, you said there was something you needed to tell me in private."

  I scratched my head for a moment, trying to remember after the haze of the fight. "That's right. When I was talking to Bramel, he denied they killed Scarlett. He said if it was purely for revenge he would admit it, as that would have been the point of the revenge to upset me."