by Livia Quinn
Distracted with worry, I caught only a glimpse of the dragon as it slammed into my side. The pain was excruciating and unlike anything I’d experienced in hundreds of years. It had been that long since I’d seen one this large. Drakos! Here he comes again.
I tucked my wings and rolled to my right, diving into thick clouds. I needed time to recover, to get my breath. I hurtled toward the ground with an idea in mind, one I’d learned from a movie I saw about some Top Gun pilots like Lang during a training.
Somewhere above Mississippi, I steered away from the line of fast moving cars I saw between the clouds, and aimed toward the rising hills to the east. I flew straight at the ground, picking up speed, then, at less than two hundred feet, I cupped my wings slowing almost to a stop and turned. My pursuer flew past me and hit the ground with a thundering whack.
There! I felt a moment’s satisfaction that when he was airborne he would surely be flying hurt as well, for I knew I hadnae kilt him. Several long minutes went by as I gained altitude and made for a thick band of clouds. Glancing over my shoulder I saw him once again soaring swiftly through the clouds on my left. Like a game of sky chess, I’d have to guess where and when his next attack would come from.
I slowed and looked backwards, trusting my instincts and was just in time to narrowly miss his flame. His fiery breath singed the tender skin of my ankles as I tumbled into a triple flip. He was verra fast, stopping in the air and taking another shot at me, but I was out of range, evading again.
Feckin’ drago had me on the defense. There was something to the old saying though, about the best defense bein’ a good offense. He would expect me to keep running, perhaps try the same maneuver twice. Instead, I floated motionless in the air, watching the clouds, assessing their paths and patterns and saw when the subtle swirl of wind diverted the first puff.
Verra slowly, I filled my lungs, not to have my intention detected by sucking in a cloud, and when he burst through the thick layer, I was ready.
His eyes a bright red, rimmed in grey went wide when he realized he’d screwed up. He wasn’t as old as I’d previously thought. The blast of heat I aimed at his face missed as he slammed on the brakes and ducked his head, performing an impressive backward tuck, but I hit his right wing and he tumbled awkwardly. Whether for effect or because he was hurt was nae clear, but the telltale change in the clouds’ direction told me he’d recovered. There was nothing so dangerous as a desperate wounded dragon.
I gathered myself again, filled my lungs with oxygen, and became one with the air currents. I heard something in the distance I couldn’t identify. I wasn’t in any flight path to the major airports. Floating as I was, I could hear the distant sounds of airplanes taking off a hundred miles south, and the sound of wind streamin’ between the clouds.
Then I felt it, a dearth of sound. Somethin’ was altering the air around me to divert my attention. The black hit me again, biting into my left side with his boney snout, pushing me sideways across the sky. What kind of dragon was this? One with talents I did nae possess.
I squirmed trying to free myself as his speed increased and I saw he was heading for three large towers billowing with smoke. The nuclear plant. What was th’ beast thinkin’? Argh, he didn’t care that in killing me, he would keel himself and thousands of innocents.
Ignoring the pain in my other side, I cupped my free wing, straining, slowing us minutely, but we continued to ease closer to the power plant. Then, the sound I’d heard earlier became a roar, and I recognized it. A battle cry…
Another one? Shite.
I felt the jolt through the body of the black dragon and I was suddenly free. My nemesis was now on the run, and being chased by a sleek green wyvern. Sunlight bounced off his brilliant gold and green scales. A song came unbidden to my mind—they did that when I was particularly inspired—along with the rock beat that seemed to fit the chase scene below.
“I need a hero. He’s gotta be strong and he’s gotta be fast…” Yes!
The two wove in and out of the clouds while I waited for the best opportunity to join the fray. I envied the smaller dragon’s quickness, and didn’t doubt he was just as deadly. If this green dragon and Jack Lang’s fighter jet had met in the sky, which would have won?
He was nae as big as the black, but he could put on a burst of speed that rivaled anything I’d ever witnessed. Add that speed to his acrobatics and he was nye uncatchable. The force with which he’d struck the black had come from that speed. Now, he was literally flying circles around the bigger dragon, taunting him.
I flew toward them preparin’ a kill strike. As I dropped I tucked my wings picking up speed, while my comrade kept the larger dragon reeling and upright. At the last second, I changed, brought my swords scissoring across the dragon’s throat, and severed its head from its body.
Before I could change back, I was scooped up and deposited on the green dragon’s back. This was verra strange. I was a dragon, after all, and a bigger dragon at that. Wha’ twas he thinkin’?
Then he communicated directly, and with a verra risky attitude for such a small dragon, to risk the ire of one so much more powerful than himself.
Your people need you and you waste time playin’ with that giant Squonk.
This familiar language could only mean he belonged to a clan from home, and could take man form.
That was nae just any squonk, I reasoned, irritated that he thought he had a right tae chastise me.
I’d almost commanded the change, when his message hit home. He said, Changing would be verra stupid and I’ve been led to believe you’re smart for a black.
I don’t think I like this dragon.
He looked back, his gold eyes boring into mine briefly. I can return you to Destiny at a fraction of your usual speed, not that it will do much good.
I considered a wee moment then said, “Shut up and drive!”
I didnae care for this young wyvern’s attitude, but I was worried about Montana and the rest of my new friends. I grabbed his ruff, just as he shot forward. And since he was fast, I rode in silence.
Who could have imagined a black of my stature and abilities riding a green? Mayhap I must rethink my prejudices about his clan.
Chapter 29
Tempe
Too many dragons, not enough villagers.
I had a whole new appreciation for the term ‘Chaos’. Until this scene before me, it had only meant an interminable day when we would be at risk, without our inborn abilities or lose a friend to illness. Not to downplay that, but this…
Dead and wounded animals and variants lay in the street. With the human citizens protected and ignorant of what was happening outside their shelter and the Paramortals out of commission, it had fallen on these few brave souls and our four footed community to protect mankind from the evil trying to take Destiny. I wondered if Jack would have been able to hold out without Freddie’s animals.
Hundreds still maintained a barrier around Jack, Montana and the soldiers Ridge had brought. Something whizzed through the air in front of us—ugly gray orbs the color of wet concrete with gruesome facial features and horrible snapping jaws. Montana swung and sliced one in two as I watched. The soldiers fired at the mini-dragons while the animals ganged up on what looked like zombies. I recognized one face, a customer from my route who’d disappeared just a week ago.
“Mother, what are those flying beasts? They look like monster smilie heads with their insides hanging out.”
“They are fengbo, a kind of vampire that feeds on the organs of the living. Those,” she pointed at the long bloody tubes, “are the entrails of their last victim.”
Our people were in the middle of this throng of attackers. It had been a good defensive strategy and I could see it wouldn’t have lasted much longer, but now we had to figure out how to attack the surrounding horde. “How are we going to get them bunched up in one place?”
“We’re not, but we still need a diversion if we are going to make our strike count.”
; As if she’d conjured it, something caught the sunlight. I squinted into the clouds as a smallish green dragon (much smaller than Conor) plummeted toward the street in what Jack would have called a fly-by over the opposite side of the circle where the largest congregation of shmoo and squonk were diving at Freddie and the animals.
The green dragon made an arc overhead and a glittering rider in black dropped from its back. During his descent he morphed into a familiar figure, Conor. His massive dragon form dwarfed the crowd on the other side of the circle. The ‘flock’ of shmoo flew up, suspended in the air—in fear I imagined—at the sight of him.
I could understand that. With a deep breath and the rise of his wings I knew what was about to happen. Jack called out, “Troops! On the ground.” They looked like a cornfield collapsing in a wave. But Conor seemed to reassess the situation—the vulnerability of animals and soldiers, and coming to the conclusion that by blasting the goofus and fengbo he might harm our people. He transformed into the knight, swords flashing, taking goofus down by the dozens.
One of Ridge’s men came from Conor’s right, torching attackers on the ground with a fire gun but the rest of the men seemed to be out of ammunition.
A female soldier stood outside the circle on the near side, operating a small tablet as drones swooped down on a group of giant spiders plodding their way toward the circle. When the drones’ tiny laser-like beams connected with the spiders, the arachnids’ legs quit working and they rocked over onto their sides like broken toys.
This was our chance to make a targeted strike on all the enemies at once.
Phoebe and I held the globe with one hand, and completed the circle with our other hands. The Orbis sparked, chain lightning coming through the clear surface like a cartoon of a light bulb. Brilliant blue current crawled up my arms and across our clasped hands. The barometric pressure fell out. Charged ions permeated the molecules in our Tempestaerie blood. The scent of ozone and sulfur filled the air and one dark cloud obscured the sun. Impressive, but so far not dangerous.
Conor yelled, “Ach. Is that all you’ve got? If I have to use my fire, I’m liable to take out some villagers.”
Villagers?
Mother spoke in a voice like a tunneling wind. No one would have been able to translate but me. I love you.
Power charged through me, crackling across vessels, building and expanding, channeling electricity through menori. My eyes went wide. The aura of the storm surrounded me when Mother’s power plugged into mine, and the bubble that had enclosed the Orbis disintegrated.
The black tendrils of her hair whipped around her head as the clash of storm forces turned blue sky to a churning mass of undulating clouds. Blue white light snapped from the power suspended between us.
On the periphery of my vision I caught sight of several large squonks flying toward us. Go deeper, Tempest—my mother’s voice said, soothing, meditative. I listened. And heard the wind building, whistling, the flapping hundreds of vipers as they gathered closer to the defenders’ circle, then light broke across my closed lids and thunder rocked the ground under our feet.
I didn’t look, absorbed in the sensations of heat, light and the surge of fire rushing through my blood as my mother whispered, “Now.”
We released the storm directly at the enemy. It expanded outward, a circling electric blue supernova, a violent storm of heat, lightning and descending barometric pressure, the ring of fire floating above the crowd. The defenders and enemy both seemed mesmerized by the circle of light, until Jack yelled, “Hit the dirt.”
Good job Jack, I thought as we struck. A shockwave of thunder cracked as the blast rode through the wave of vipers and out into the enemy’s army, bolts striking spiders, turning them into octoped ash, charring the shmoo in midair and leaving only a handful for Conor or Slade to finish. Except the fengbo which still darted about dizzily, snapping at animals and diving for the soldiers.
Conor shouted, “I’ll get them,” and he changed.
The fire debate again. But men will be manly, so we concentrated on directing the lightning at goofus. Before our circle used up its source of reserved power, I looked back to see fengbo darting around Conor’s fire breath. They were quick as flies.
Mother winked at me and we split the clouds of the circle into mini storms and released our hands sending them out. In two seconds—literally—all of the fengbo had exploded from the heat of our lightning. At 53,000° not even dragon’s breath could compete.
I brushed my hands together discharging the remaining energy just as Conor landed. I scanned the remains of the goofus and fengbo at his feet and asked, “How do you like me now?”
The arrogant look he directed at me said, This isn’t over.
I laughed. Pretty soon, he joined me.
Chapter 30
Jack
Nothing stops Mardi Gras but Katrina
I’d never seen Freddie look so sad as he surveyed the street littered with our animal friends. Many had literally given their lives in unconditional support of their human and Paramortal friends. Which reminded me of the citizens in town. How were they faring?
I heard footsteps and Ridge stopped next to me. I pointed to the blood streaming from a cut over his eye. He swiped it with his palm and said, “I heard from RC. They have a few shmoo and I think an ugly head trying to breach the shelter. Ryan told the folks inside it was debris battering the walls.”
“I’ve got it,” said Conor who changed midair and flew toward town.
I surveyed the area. “We have to get any evidence of the variants off the street. I have to say it could really pass for the aftermath of a tornado or microburst without the dead goofus and ugly heads lying around. If we had more city cops we could get it done more quickly.”
“Slade is getting rid of the remains, and Smoke and Tank are tending to the wounded.”
I thought back to when Lola had taken the hit by the fengbo. Where had Slade been then? I’d wondered if he’d been hit but he appeared to be fine, tossing one of the burnt carcasses onto a pile and torching it to ash. “How does he not ever run out of fuel?”
Ridge shrugged not meeting my eyes, and said, “Do you think it’s over?”
“We’ll know more after Conor does a flyover but it seems the majority of the variants were concentrating on us. I thought I saw someone in the street directing the action. Did you see him?”
“I was too busy trying to keep Lola from becoming scrap metal.”
I chuckled. “She was surprising, but…” Tempe walked up to us… “Not as awesome as my lady.” I jerked Tempe off balance and into my arms. “Call me crazy, Sweetheart, but I was glad to see you creating lightning again.”
Tempe laughed, a sound that was so carefree, I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard it before. Her hair was once again a vibrant red streaked with turquoise and other rainbow hues, and her eyes were a clear sky blue. I didn’t care who was watching. I was so damn glad to have her in my arms, to feel her healthy warm skin, and the silkiness of her lips under mine.
Her heart beat fast against my chest and the energy emanating from her rolled through me. There was a sparkling humor in her gaze just before she opened to me and there was no anxiety or uncertainty in her kiss. She seemed relieved, calm…I couldn’t put my finger on it. I just kissed her.
Several long seconds later, I ended the kiss. She glowed. I set her at arms length, making sure she was in one piece. Belatedly, I asked, “Everything okay?”
She nodded and bent over with laughter, then clasped a hand over her mouth, as if surprised that she couldn’t contain it. She glanced at her mother and then grinned at me, her eyes moist. “Everything’s…great.”
Phoebe moved to her side, laid a hand on her back, and then I understood. “Perfect,” said Phoebe.
In that moment, despite the difference in their hair color and age, there was no question they were mother and daughter, with identical expressions of happiness, much like the picture I’d seen of them at Phoebe’s house.
“You did well, Jack.” Coming from Phoebe Pomeroy this was like a medal of honor.
My arm felt good around Tempe’s waist but reluctantly I let her go. “Can we assume you got most of the bad guys with that lightning strike? That was pretty cool by the way. From the inside it was like being in the eye of tornado.”
Phoebe said, “We got all who were in this vicinity. I doubt we got their leader.”
I told Phoebe and Tempe about the being I’d seen at the end of the street that seemed to be directing the action, or at least observing. “He left when you two showed up.”
I heard a vehicle approaching a couple of blocks over. Phoebe brushed her black hair away from her face. “They always take advantage of the Para-moon to gain control of the Forge and kill as many Paramortals as possible. This was not as bad as I expected, but it’s disappointing knowing we didn’t get the leader of these…” she waved her hands toward the dead in the pile… “miscreants.”
I figured if anyone knew the answer to my question, Phoebe would. “It’s almost dusk. Do you think since everyone’s nearly got their power back, whoever the leader was went back to where he came from?”
“I don’t know, Jack. We probably just gained a—what do you call it—gang element. It is certain that a few variants slipped in and will find ways to stay undetected and cause trouble.” That was comforting, from a law enforcement perspective.
The truck I’d heard in the distance was our veterinarian, Dr. Shone. Apparently she was back in action and I was glad to see her. None of us knew how to care for our four-legged heroes.
She commanded Freddie, Tank, and Smoke to bring her the worst of the injuries and help her ease the suffering of the few they’d identified who weren’t going to make it. “It was quite miraculous how Freddie was able to create such a unified force,” Dr. Shone said, as she unpacked her supplies and set up a portable animal hospital. She’d been incapacitated by the power down herself.