Dragon Awakened

by Jaime Rush

  Purcell returned and paused by the two men. “Where is Magda?”

  Ruby’s eyes widened at the name. Of course Magda would be here. She was Purcell’s daughter-in-law.

  One of the men said, “She went to gather some provisions.”

  Purcell stepped into view, taking a call on his cell phone. “Yes?…It’s getting to be too much?…All right, you know where we are. I’ll see you soon. We’re ready.” He disconnected, turning to the two men. “People will start arriving soon.”

  Cyn stood. “Ruby needs healing now.”

  “The Deus Vis in the building should bring her around.”

  “She’s fading fast. If she dies…” He let the threat hang in the air. They had a small window of opportunity, with only a few men here and Magda out.

  After a tense moment, Purcell turned and walked away. “Bring her.”

  Cyn picked her up again and followed Purcell down a short hallway where the offices were. Purcell opened the door to the second room, allowing Cyn to carry her in.

  In a wooden cabinet lined with black velvet sat a reactor roughly two feet long and six inches wide. Energy pulsed all around it, as thick in the air as her pulse was in her blood. Purcell took her hand and pressed it against the smooth surface. Its energy charged through her so intensely that she gasped.

  He pulled it back. “Now, go back to the main area.”

  Ruby slid to her feet, not having to pretend to adjust to the power rocketing through her. She and Cyn exchanged a nod and Catalyzed.

  Purcell used his magick to throw Cyn against the wall, shouting, “Carew! Balston, get in here!” Purcell turned to her, his eyes as wild as the aurora borealis. He held out his hand, and she ducked as a fireball shot over her.

  She didn’t see the second one that followed right behind the first. It hit her squarely in the stomach with a fiery heat and hurled her to the floor. Cyn blew out a dark cloud that surrounded Purcell, though he was using magick to dispel it.

  Ruby grabbed the reactor and raced to the door as the two guards rushed in. She barreled into one, knocking him to the side. Cyn fought the other man, fangs against orbs.

  Like a football player, she tucked the reactor against her chest with her chin and ran. That was the part of the plan she didn’t like, leaving Cyn behind.

  Because of Brom’s vision.

  So she would take it away, hide it, and come back to fight with him. Except the back door opened and Magda stepped inside, turned away as she argued with someone behind her. “You have no right to be here yet.”

  The man was saying, “I need to know where—”

  She suddenly spun around to face Ruby. “I thought I sensed a Dragon.” Her gaze narrowed in on the reactor. “Oh, no you don’t.” She Catalyzed, and the man behind her ran inside. It was Fernandez, who, unlike Magda, wasn’t surprised to see Ruby. Because he’d no doubt followed them here.

  Magda pointed at the reactor in Ruby’s grip. “She’s trying to steal the device that will save us! Help me stop her.”

  Oh, hell. Of course he would. Fernandez Catalyzed, too, a black-and-blue Dragon like Cyn. Ruby couldn’t fight and hold the reactor at the same time. It slipped from her grasp. Fernandez went for it as Magda charged at her. Ruby tried to dodge, but like an oncoming car in a game of chicken, Magda changed angles and rammed her.

  Ruby shattered the hostess stand when she landed on it. Before she could get to her feet, Magda pounded on her. Fangs glistened as they came at her. Ruby deflected, feeling them scratch across her scales with the ear-shattering screech of nails on a chalkboard. Ruby braced against the floor and shoved Magda off of her. She rolled, coming up on her feet, ready to attack again.

  Where was Cyn? She could hear thumps down the hall.

  Focus. Fearing for Cyn’s safety would not help her.

  Magda advanced on Ruby, whipping her tail equipped with that fatal stinger. “You killed my husband.”

  Ruby sent a stream of spikes at her, trying to sever the deadly tail. “You killed my parents,” Ruby said, her voice a snarl. “My uncle. And now I’m going to kill you.”

  Magda laughed. “You’re a babe. Without your big, bad Obsidian Dragon, you’re helpless.” She pointed the black tip of her tail at Ruby, sending a shower of small flares at her. Three hit her, penetrating her scales and sending what felt like electrical shocks pulsing through her. The muscles in her right leg seized, cramping like the worst charley horse ever.

  “The. Hell. I. Am.” Ruby stretched her leg, trying to regain control of it. Magda lunged forward, and Ruby surrounded her with a firestorm the same way she’d done with the demon.

  Magda screamed and shook off the flames. Before the last of them were out, Ruby sent fiery spikes at her face. Even temporarily blinded, Magda shot more of those damned darts, hitting Ruby’s shoulders. Pain radiated down her arms and paralyzed her hands.

  Purcell burst out of the hallway. “Where’s the reactor?” he screamed.

  Magda blindly pointed at the doorway as she kept her focus on Ruby. “That Guard Captain grabbed it when she dropped it.”

  “Who, Fernandez? He was here?”

  Was, but not anymore. He was gone. And so was the reactor.

  Magda screeched, “He must have taken it!”

  Purcell raised his hand and began to create an orb. A green one, like the kind that killed Mon. Cyn dove out, knocking Purcell to the ground. The orb disappeared. God, Cyn was bleeding, the red of it streaking down his chest. A huge bubble orb surrounded Purcell as Cyn lunged forward to attack. Cyn bounced back from it, then inhaled and encompassed it in black smoke. Like a living thing, it squeezed the bubble.

  Magda took advantage of Ruby’s distraction and knocked her to the ground, landing hard on top of her. Magda lifted her tail, like a scorpion, and readied to lance her with it. Ruby could only reach Magda’s arm, but she bit hard just as the tail was coming down. Magda screamed as scales broke and bones snapped. The tip still jabbed into Ruby’s thigh, sending shocks through her entire lower half. A series of seizures overtook her body, smashing over her like wave after wave. Magda crept closer with a cruel smile to deliver the final blow. And damn it, Ruby couldn’t move as her body convulsed.

  Cyn threw himself between Ruby and Magda, lashing out at her with his talons. Using the element of surprise, he knocked Magda down and lunged toward her throat. A green bolt of lightning hit him in the neck, tearing through the scales and into muscle. It threw him back with a grunt of pain. He sent an arrow of black smoke hurtling back at Purcell. It speared his shoulder, making him stumble back.

  The bolt raced back around again, aiming for Cyn. Oh, God, it was those horrible moments at Mon’s all over again. Cyn dodged the bolt and sprinted away from her, probably so she wouldn’t get hit accidentally. He left a trail of blood on the floor.

  Please let him be all right.

  The wound looked severe, but it was already beginning to heal itself.

  She saw no sign of the other two men, so she assumed they must be dead. From the corner of her vision, she saw Magda about to strike. Ruby whirled around and shot spikes of fire at her eyes. Several hit the vulnerable area Cyn had told her about, tearing away strips of skin. Magda roared, whipping her tail ominously as she circled Ruby. Hell, the aftershocks of the last attack still sparked through her.

  Ruby could only see Cyn and Purcell from her peripheral vision as she faced Magda. The bubble around Purcell kept Cyn from doing much damage to him. He could hardly do much anyway as he fended off the damned star orb that was intent on impaling him. Killing Purcell was the only way to defeat it. And Ruby couldn’t help with Magda deviling her, even with her destroyed arm. Now she needed to disable her tail.

  Every time Ruby checked on Cyn, Magda took advantage and tried to attack. So this is where emotions weakened. Cyn kept pounding it in that Ruby use her logic instead of letting emotion drive her.

  But wait. Ruby could use Magda’s emotions against her. “Too bad you didn’t have a man who would give you
everything you wanted. Oh, how you must have hated when my father was the one who figured out the solution for portable Deus Vis.”

  Golden flames burst in Magda’s eyes. “Shut up.”

  “I remember how sad you were when you kept miscarrying. I can imagine how hard it was when my mother got pregnant so easily. Did she rub that in your face, too, or did you just see her happiness that way?”

  “You little bitch. How dare you—”

  “And then the last thing your husband said was how women weren’t worth sacrifice, how they—you, he meant—were insatiable bitches.”

  With a cry of rage, Magda stormed at her. Ruby twisted out of the way at the last moment. As Magda’s tail whirled past, Ruby clamped onto it and bit down hard. Magda screeched. The tip thrashed, stinging Ruby’s cheeks. She held on through the shocking pain, her jaw aching from exertion. More, more, more, and then she heard and felt the snap of bone. Magda’s tail fell limp.

  Ruby took advantage of her surprise and battered her with a stream of spikes. Sprawled on the floor, Magda grabbed hold of her tail with her good hand, probably intending to use it as a sword.

  Be ready to kill, Cyn had said. She descended on Magda, everything in her ready to end it. “It’s been lovely, but now I have to kill you.”

  Except the lightning bolt shot past her, snagging her attention. Cyn tried to evade it, but the bolt shifted and plunged into Cyn’s chest. He went to pull it out but jerked his now burned hand away.

  Magda smiled. “Now you know how it feels, you—”

  Ruby sank her teeth into Magda’s throat and tore away a chunk of flesh and scales. As Magda struggled to push her away with one hand, Ruby ripped at her again. She couldn’t even feel the victory when the Dragon fell limp, emitting a pained cry as Cyn dropped to the floor.

  Purcell burst out of his bubble and tore out the door.

  Ruby sank down next to Cyn, tears blurring her eyes. “No. No!”

  His voice was hoarse and low. “Good job on Magda. Go, Breathe her power, quickly. Then Breathe me, like I told you to do.” His uninjured hand closed over her forearm. “Ruby, you must do it. You’ll need all the power you can get to defeat Purcell.”

  She shook her head.

  “Ruby, damn it, logic, not emotion.”

  How could she put aside her emotions now? Once again she was watching someone she cared about dying, helpless to do anything about it. She couldn’t bear to look at the gaping hole in his chest, focusing on the gash in his neck instead.

  He trembled, wincing in pain. “Go.”

  She got to her shaky feet and approached Magda. Ruby had to do it before Magda died and became human again. Had to…

  To hell with logic. She was not helpless. She dragged Magda’s body closer to his, kneeling between them. He’d told her to pull it deep within. A frenetic energy hovered all around Magda’s body, her essence. Ruby Breathed but she did not pull it all the way inside her. Instead she moved close to Cyn, pressing her mouth over his, and Breathed out. Like he had done to her in that apartment to heal her. Maybe she didn’t have enough power to heal him, but Magda did.

  He thrashed his head, murmuring, “Ruby, don’t take a chance.”

  She felt the same frenetic energy around him, too. “No! I will not lose you, Cyn. I can do this.” She braced her hands on his cheeks, staring into indigo eyes with very few embers left. “You made me love you, you arrogant, hard-assed Dragon, so you cannot die on me!”

  She didn’t know if he’d heard because he seemed to sink into oblivion. She went back and forth between Magda and Cyn, trying to transfer her power to him. Magda Catalyzed to human in death, a naked, blood-covered woman sprawled on the black tile floor. The energy dissipated.

  “Cyn, come back to me.” Tears flowed down Ruby’s cheeks as she pressed her face against his and whispered, “Cyn, please.”

  His chest was still rising and falling, but his exhalation was nearly imperceptible. Her finger, pressed against the scales at his neck, picked up hardly any pulse. She fought the tide of grief that threatened to drown her. She’d gone against his orders, risked everything, and failed.

  Then she felt a change in his energy. She sat up as he Catalyzed to human. “No. No!” She shook his shoulders, willing him to return to Dragon where he had a chance of healing. She buried her face against his chest and gave into the grief for a few seconds. But wait. His heart was beating. She sat up and searched for some sign of life. His eyes were still closed. The wound in his neck…it was healing.

  His eyes slowly opened; then he jerked upright, sending her tumbling back. He patted his chest, searching for his fatal wound, then took in the room, Magda’s lifeless body, and then her. “What did you do?”

  She Catalyzed, too, and smiled. He was alive, even if he was peeved. “I Breathed Magda’s essence into you. If there was a chance of saving you, I was going to do it.”

  He got to his feet, pulling her up with him. Now he surveyed her. “You’re hurt.”

  She glanced down at all the scratches, cuts, and swollen places. “They’re mostly healed. We have to get the reactor. Fernandez showed up. He must have followed us, desperate to find out where this place was. He grabbed it and ran. Purcell went after him.”

  “Fernandez probably took it back to his house. He’s beyond desperate to save his wife.” Cyn led her by the hand down the hall and stopped near of one of the guard’s bodies. “We can’t leave here like this. We’ll have to borrow their clothes.”

  “Oh, yuck.”

  But she started wrestling with the man’s clothing as Cyn did the same with the second man. He nearly burst out of clothing that was skintight. She drowned in hers. Barefoot, they ran to the entrance and headed to Fernandez’s.

  Chapter 24

  Cyn had been surprised by a lot in the last thirty minutes: that Purcell got the better of him, that Ruby had risked everything to save him. He couldn’t dwell on them now or anything else but what lay ahead. Because what didn’t surprise him was finding Purcell’s car at Fernandez’s home.

  They parked along the road and walked down to the entrance. Cyn automatically linked his fingers with Ruby’s as they stayed close to the shrubbery. She looked ridiculous in the black dress pants and white button-down shirt that swamped her, and adorable, and vulnerable all at once. She had blood in her braid, which had half-unraveled. God, but he wanted to pull her against him, feel her body, her heartbeat. No time for that either.

  Voices floated on the air from the vicinity of the backyard. He nodded to go around the right side, where he knew the bushes grew thickest.

  “Give me the reactor, you idiot. You are not thinking logically. Go get your wife, and we’ll return to the club. You can’t keep it to yourself.”

  They peered through the bushes, where Cyn could see the two men facing off in the glow of security lights at the corner of the house. Fernandez gripped the reactor against his chest like an infant. His face was a mask of pain and desperation, no trace of logic left.

  “And you can’t select who gets saved. Who made you God?”

  “One of the gods did, as a matter of fact.”

  One of the gods? Was he serious?

  Purcell lifted his face to the skies. “Fallon, show this pitiful mortal your face!”

  Amazingly, a mist formed several feet above the ground, luminescent against the night sky. A man appeared, his face long and his eyes angry. “Release the reactor, Crescent. You know not what you do.”

  Cyn started stripping out of his clothes and leaned close to Ruby. “I’m going to grab Purcell and take him for a swim. Try to keep Fernandez calm and where he is.”

  She nodded, gripping his arm. “Be careful.”

  Fernandez held it closer to his chest. “I do know. This will save my wife, and her family. Our friends. I choose who lives! Me!”

  “Kill him,” Purcell said, pointing at Fernandez.

  “No!” Ruby raced out of hiding. “If you shoot him with magick or fire or whatever, you’ll detonate tha
t thing.” She slowed as she reached the three faces looking at her now. “It’s a dangerous mix of magick and science, like a friggin’ hydrogen bomb. What you’re doing is going to kill thousands of Crescents. Why? Why are you doing this?”

  Damn it, Ruby. Cyn started to follow but remained. No, he would let her do what she needed to do, which, he suspected, was enlightening Purcell.

  “There are too many of you!” the god boomed. “You clutter the earth and suck all the energy away.”

  He hated them. Cyn could hear it in his voice.

  She turned to Purcell. “And you’re all right with this?”

  Purcell was watching the reactor in Fernandez’s hands, though he briefly met her gaze. “Fallon is right. You do clutter Miami, so many of you with your mixed bloodlines. I am merely facilitating a purge and return to simpler times.” He searched behind her. “Where is your Dragon friend?”

  “Did you know that the reactor could take out the entire state of Florida? Darren must have realized the risks.”

  “Fallon would not let that happen.”

  She glanced up to the god, who could probably detonate everything with a look. “You don’t care, do you?”

  “I care about regaining what was once mine.”

  Interestingly, Fallon wasn’t detonating anything. Regaining what he’d once had…power? The gods hadn’t interfered physically with this plane since Cyn could remember. Purcell was working on an orange orb behind his back. Time to move. Once Cyn ascertained the best approach, he Catalyzed and flew at him. His out-of-practice wings only kept him a few feet above the ground, but that was all he needed. Night vision made everything stand out in shades of gray and black. His talons reached out just as Purcell, either hearing him or seeing the shocked look on Fernandez’s face, turned.

  Too late.

  The orb dropped to the grass as Cyn sank his talons into Purcell and dragged him the few yards to the seawall. He dove into the water with the struggling man. Magick tore at Cyn as they descended down through the murky depths to the ocean floor.