He believed her, he absolutely believed her. Then the woman leaned toward him and extended the blade. His heart began to race, not only from the blade so close to him, but from her proximity. Though she was only human, this woman was enticing in a way he could have never expected. He felt hungry for her, for her delicious, passionate fury. She jerked the knife toward him and Darion flinched, but then his arms fell free from their restraints.
The woman sat back and Darion raised his arms, rubbing his wrists.
“What do you want with us?” she asked.
“I need a place to stay, to start over,” he said. “I can work hard, I’m very strong.”
“I can see that,” she said, and he felt her eyes examining his body the way he had been hers.
“Do you have a place that new people stay? A special place for them?”
“Right here,” she said, “with me.”
“I would like to stay with you.”
“You’re very flirtatious,” she said.
Darion shrugged, “I am.”
“I already have a man,” she said.
“Do you? Where is he?”
The woman’s face darkened a little.
“You think you would like the job?” she asked.
Darion stirred. She was putting him on the spot. But why this sudden change in her attitude. Was she playing him somehow? No, these creatures are not that clever. “I think I could do the job better than him.”
“Hmph,” the woman nodded. “He is a very big man.”
“I’m pretty big myself,” Darion said. Despite himself, he was actually starting to enjoy this flirtatious banter.
“But do you know what to do with all that size?”
Darion blinked at her twice.
The woman stood again. “You really think I’m beautiful?” she asked. Her voice was higher, sweeter, and she cocked her head just so, letting her hair fall over half of her face.
“Very,” Darion said.
“What if I did this?” she asked, and set her dagger down. Then she grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head. Her body was tight and hard and perfect, with small, perky breasts topped with dark brown nipples. They were hard, and to Darion they looked ready to be sucked. The blood started to drain from his head and course down below. The woman shifted from one foot to the other, and smiled down at him. Then she knelt down next to him and let one hand brush across his pants, over his crotch and the swelling beneath. Darion shivered at her touch.
“You are a big man, aren’t you?”
Darion chuckled. “So are you just going to tease me or are you going to fuck me?” It was a bold statement, and Darion waited to see if it was going to work. Somehow this had turned from an interrogation into some kind of erotic foreplay. She was playing him, she was toying with him and he knew it, but he also seemed powerless to stop it. Confused as he was, his cock wasn’t. His little dragon was ready to lead the way, all the way.
Just then the door to the lodge flew open and Elisabeth ran in. “Jenisia, the girl you brought in is gone!”
“What?” Jenisia leapt up from the ground.
The girl who’d burst in stared at her in shock. Jenisia grabbed her shirt and pulled it on, and immediately headed toward the door. Darion’s arms were free but his legs were still tied to the chair. He watched the two women, waiting for one of them to divulge the information he needed.
“Where’s Mikhael?” Jenisia asked.
“He’s gone too!”
“Shit! Which way did they go?”
“Their tracks go into the woods, heading north.”
Bingo, Darion thought, got her.
“Goddamn him!” Jenisia cried.
When she turned back to Darion there was a great smile on his face.
“What the hell are you smiling at?” she snapped and took a step toward him. But then she saw his bright green eyes overcome with flames.
“Run!” Jenisia screamed, as the room was bathed in fire.
Chapter Thirteen
Fire raced up from deep inside Darion. It was a molten heat, liquid and deadly. It erupted from his body and he burst out of the chair, his body flexing and melting and reforming, faster, harder, longer. The dragon consumed and transformed him, unfolding and expanding, then he burst through the wood walls of the lodge. Darion let a cry of pain and rage bellow up from his throat and then he lit the place on fire.
The dragon rose up on his hind legs, smashing through the roof of the lodge and then the village ceiling above, thrashing and trashing the network of woven wood and vines. He looked up to the sky and a long jet of orange flame burst from his mouth, shooting a hundred feet into the air and sending a great plume of oily black smoke up after it. The fire would be seen from a hundred miles away. It was like a fiery beacon in the sky, a bright dinner bell that would spell death to all those who lived here.
He slammed back to the earth, landing on the clawed fingers attached to the top of his wings. He could see everything, even through the inferno he had lit below. He saw people running, tiny things, fleeing from small houses around the lodge where he had been interrogated. A wide smile grew on his face and he loosed a thin jet of flame, sweeping it over the ground, cutting down the people as they ran. His victims screamed and writhed on the ground, some burning alive, others with appendages that had been rent from their bodies by the sheer force of his jet of fire. He swarmed over them, snapping up their bodies, crunching them in his long jaws. The village was filled with his smoke, roiling amongst the dead humans and torched buildings. The strong smell of burning wood and flesh filled the air. It was a delicious smell to him. Darion searched through the ruins, looking for her. Not his sister, he knew that her footprints were seen heading north out of the village. He was looking for the one who had shot her, the raven-haired woman, Jenisia.
Then she was there. She came out of the smoke and flames, stalking through the carnage as if she were a wraith straight from hell. There was no fear in her, even though she was the prey. He crouched down low, bringing his long neck and head close to the ground. She pulled something from behind her back and held it out for Darion to see. He cocked his head a little, trying to figure out what it was. An arrow. She rotated it slowly in her hand so that he could see the firelight glittering off its three blades. She smiled as she did it.
“I shot her down with one of these,” Jenisia said, stopping twenty feet in front of him. “She came down hard, wounded badly.” Still she smiled, taunting him. “And now we know that you can be killed.”
Darion screamed and extended his wings straight out on either side, knocking over more buildings. He flapped once and sent a great burst of wind toward her. The girl did not move. His glittering metallic scales were practically glowing with warm light now. The village burned around them. “You are a stupid, stupid girl,” Darion said.
Jenisia nodded. The she whipped her bow up and drew back the arrow.
Darion ducked to the side as the arrow sizzled close to his head. He barked a ball of flame at her. Jenisia dove forward, rolling on the ground. She came up with another arrow loaded and drew it back. He swiped at her with one claw but again she dodged him, then loosed her arrow. The triple-bladed arrow struck his head, bouncing harmlessly off his heavily armored skull.
Jenisia’s eyes glowed bright with anger and determination, but no fear. Darion struck at her again, his neck and jaws extending like a snake, lightning fast. His mouth opened, ready to crush her tiny body with eight-inch teeth. But she was too fast, and rolled to the side. He had almost gotten her, she’d been so close he could smell her sweaty body. The air was becoming too thick with smoke now. It was everywhere, it was like fighting in a thick fog, or a storm cloud. Even Darion's keen eyes had trouble penetrating the denseness of his own smoke. He searched but saw her nowhere. Where the hell is she? Did she run? Darion blew more flames all around him, searing everything within thirty feet. He was tiring of this. He needed to find Skye and get back to the west. This bullshit cold was k
illing him.
“Where are you, girl?” he bellowed. The flames were boiling within him, waiting to be unleashed.
“I’m right here,” she answered. Darrion looked down to see her underneath him. The little wench must have crawled right under him. She lay on her back with her bow drawn back, pointing up into him. Her hair was splayed about her head.
“Go back to hell where you came from,” she sneered, and shot the arrow.
Her aim was true, right at his heart. It moved with such speed he could not see it in the air, not until it hit him.
Chapter Fourteen
Blood was rushing to her head and her heart was pounding frantically, as if it might tear out of her chest. Her eyes burned from the acrid smoke, and every breath she took hurt. Jenisia released the arrow only a dozen feet from the purple beast that had murdered her family. The arrow flew true and struck his hide in a spectacular spray of sparks. Jenisia smiled, her eyes widening, and her heart thumping with victory. Then she heard a great, hearty laugh, and the arrow tumbled to the ground. She watched it fall, watched as the broken arrow head landed uselessly on the scorched earth. As the arrow hit the ground, so did her heart.
That was all she had, that was all she could give to her family, and it had failed. The dragon’s head snaked down until its long face was right above her, heating her body with its fiery breath. She shook her head. It wasn’t supposed to end like this. She was supposed to avenge her family, she was supposed to find justice. Up close she could see how thick and sharp his scales were, each metallic disc was layered perfectly on top of another, creating a seamless suit of armor. Then the dragon spoke.
“It was her wing,” he said, “that’s where you must have hit her. It is the only place we are vulnerable.” Darion pulled a wing in close for her to see.
The skin covering his wing looked leathery and hard, but not armored with bright scales like the rest of him. Tears began to form in Jenisia’s eyes. She couldn't help it. For years she had sought vengeance, and now to fail so spectacularly.
“Tell me girl, before you die. Where does your fight come from? Why are you so strong?”
Jenisia blinked away tears. “You killed my family,” she said. Her voice warbled just a little.
He shook his head. “I don’t hunt humans, stupid girl, I don’t fly this far east. Besides, there’s not enough meat on your bony bodies to waste my time!”
“You did!” she cried. “You murdered them in their sleep four years ago. You came in the night and burned our house to the ground. Then you - you ate them!”
Darion began to shake his head, but then paused. Four years ago would have been the year of his change. Some flashes of that fiery, painful night came fluttering back into his mind. He remembered the torment of his first change, the feeling of burning alive, and then the first time he rose into the air, soaring into the night on his new wings. He’d flown for many miles, and maybe it was to the east. In his mind he could see it, the vast darkness, and then there was something… a tiny light in the blackness all around him. It had been a house. The light beckoned to him, drawing him in close to see, and that’s when he smelled the sleeping humans within.
“Yes,” he said, low and deep. “I remember. There was a light outside the home, a lantern.”
The dragon pinned Jenisia down with one claw, holding her tight beneath him lest she try to escape once more. Jenisia’s eyes closed and her mouth twisted into a pained scream. Her chest was heaving against him. “You killed them all, they didn’t do anything to you!”
He looked down at the girl and nodded. “You are right, girl, I did kill your family. And now you shall go to meet them.” Darion opened his mouth to burn her alive when a sharp voice called out his name.
“Darion, stop!”
Chapter Fifteen
Skye walked through the thick smoke into the village’s newly gutted center. A mess of burned bodies littered the ground. She stepped around the charred humans, wrinkling her nose at the smell of them. She tried not to look at their faces, or what was left of them. She didn’t want to see their anguish. These humans looked so much like them, and she could not bear to see the ruin of their lives all around.
Darion was there, in the center of the burnt out village, crouching over the girl Jenisia like a cougar protecting its kill. He had her dead to rights. The black-haired huntress was helplessly pinned on the ground in front of him. Skye could see tears on her face. They weren’t tears of pain, they were tears of defeat. Her chest was hitching with sobs. Skye thought for just a moment that this seemed like poetic justice after the way Jenisia had treated her. But then Skye remembered who she was, or who she was supposed to be. She was a princess, and she was of the Lexian clan. They were supposed to be better than this, better than angry, vengeful animals.
“Darion, stop!” she called again.
Darion’s head whipped around to fix her in his stare. His head was long and heavily armored, with thick purple scales. Bony black protrusions like horns lined the ridge of his skull and snout. Darion was a formidable dragon, much larger than her own.
“My god,” she heard from behind her. Skye looked over her shoulder at Mikhael, who had been following behind. She and Mikhael had made it only a mile out of the village when they heard Darion’s great roar, and then the flames shooting into the sky.
“Be quiet, be still,” she said softly to Mikhael. Darion’s head rose up, but Skye held her palm out to him.
“Stop Darion, no more.”
“I am here for you, sister, do not presume to tell me what to do.”
Skye continued toward him until she was close enough to touch his massive head.
“You must stop now, we can terrorize these people no more. I have seen the truth of them, and they are not what we have always thought they were. They are more than animals, they are like us.”
Darion scoffed and a puff of smoke escaped his nose. She fanned the sooty smoke away with her hand.
“Like us? These animals shot you out of the sky!” He gestured to Jenisia. “And that one kidnapped you and brought you back here!”
Skye nodded. “That is true.”
“And what the fuck is that one doing with you?” he growled.
Skye glanced back at Mikhael again, who was not listening to her, instead drawing even closer to her and her brother. Fool, he was going to get himself killed. Still, there was a selfless bravery in his eyes, and she admired that.
“I have found in him something I could not find with my own people.”
The dragon looked stunned, then shook its head. “You’re kidding! HE IS A HUMAN! You are a dragon, a royal wyvern of the Lexian clan!”
Skye stared him down. “Not anymore.”
“Skye, you’re acting like a fool, which is typical for you, but this time you’ve really gone in deep. Get out of the way so I can toast these fuckers and we can go home.”
“Stand down, Darion, I mean it.” Skye widened her stance and pushed Mikhael back a little. She reached inside and felt her fire there, ready and waiting.
Darion was dumbfounded. “Are you going to fight me Skye? ME?!”
“Don’t make me, brother. All I want is to be free from my cage.”
With eyes still wide, Darion looked from her to Mikhael and then back at Jenisia who was still on the ground, pinned by one of his claws. She stared silently up. “And them? We just let them think it’s okay to attack us?”
“They’ve never attacked us before, it was happenstance. And that one,” she pointed to Jenisia. “You owe it to that one anyway.”
Darion snorted as if to say, ‘fuck you.’
“Don’t get me wrong, she’s a nasty little bitch,” Skye said, “but then again, I might be too if I had to watch a big purple dragon eat my family.”
Darion looked down and Skye thought she actually saw shame in his eyes, which was very unusual for him. Prince Darion was not one to show fear, shame, or remorse, but she seemed to have hit a note within him.
“Are you
sure about this?” he asked. “Father is going to be furious.”
“Father will be dead before long, and you will rule.” Skye touched Darion’s face. Even as a dragon, he was handsome. “I thank you for coming to rescue me, but I have found my place. Now please, change back so that you don’t destroy what’s left of this place.”
Darion blew out a smoke-filled sigh. Reluctantly, he lifted his claw off Jenisia and looked to the sky.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Skye.” In a flash of fire and light he changed before them, screaming as his body underwent the painful transformation. The dragon melted away, leaving only her brother standing in its place. He was still a big man, with an impressive physique and a strong face. He would make a stately king, just not her king. She walked up to him.
“You know,” he said with a smirk on his face. “I always thought you were a spoiled little bitch.”
Skye smiled at him, and brushed a hand over his cheek. “I am.”
“But I guess, I guess I want you to be happy,” Darion said.
Skye hugged him, pulling his big body tight against her own. He was still hot from the transformation, and the heat of his skin felt nice against her cold face.
“All right, all right,” he said, trying to pull away from her. “Let’s save the hugging for when I have clothes on.”
Sky chuckled and released him. “Thank you, brother.”
Darion smiled at her, the same smile that dropped the clothes off every girl in their country. For just a moment he looked like the protective and goofy older brother she remembered from her youth. For a moment they did not have the weight of a kingdom, or a world on their shoulders. There was a shuffling sound behind them, and Darion started to turn around, just as the shiny tip of a steel blade burst through his chest.
Darion stared down in disbelief. He raised one hand and touched the tip of the blade protruding from his right pectoral muscle, then let it drop. He looked back up at Skye, his eyes filled with pain and shock. A gurgling noise came up from his throat as Darion opened his mouth and tried to breathe. His body spasmed and he coughed a fine spray of blood that coated Skye’s face. She shrieked and reached out to him. Darion’s face went white with shock as his legs gave out and for just a moment, he seemed to fall in slow motion. When Darion’s body finally hit the burnt earth, Skye saw the handle of a dagger jammed into his back. Twitching and moaning, he wheezed, trying to draw breath into lungs that were filling with blood. He scratched at his chest as he lay gasping for air. Skye dropped to her knees, her brother’s life seemed to be slipping away before her eyes.
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