by J. S. Wilder
Dena! “Touch her and I'll rip your tail off and choke you with it,” he gasped, catching his breath as every muscle in his body convulsed in pain.
“Wrong, she'll embrace me.” It yanked his hair, forcing Taurian to look into it. Razor fangs snapped near Taurian’s. “You see I am excellent at deception.” It bit into Taurian's shoulder and he bellowed, struggling to get away, but he couldn't move his lower body.
The Tryn pulled away. Blood dripping down its pug-nosed face. Then its face contorted, altering shape until Taurian stared back at his human face.
“Thanks for preparing her for me, Renjerian.” It smiled too widely for a human. “I can smell you on her.”
“Taurian,” Dena yelled from several yards away. “This isn't funny. Come out now.”
Before Taurian yelled a warning, the Tryn chopped his hand into Taurian's throat. An audible crunch sounded then raw pain struck Taurian. He ignored the lashing in his throat and hollered for Dena, but only a squeaky sound trickled out.
“Enjoy humanity, little Renjerian.” The Tryn laughed. “I know I will.”
Helpless, Taurian watched a mirror image of himself dash out of the alley.
No! He dragged himself forward with his arms. He had to get help. Dena wouldn't know the demon wasn't him. It would hurt her. Taurian pushed the jumble of images aside of what would happen and gritted his teeth. Somehow he had to warn her. Protect her. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself. Dena had been innocent...only asking for something when she really needed it...giving him a place to stay when she didn't know him. He was an alien and a dragon yet she tended his wounds and fed him. Her touch and kiss had been electric, charging his blood. He held onto the memory of how she tasted, dragging himself into a hunched position. He lurched out of the alley and onto the sidewalk.
The Tryn had vanished. Would Dena be waiting in her car? Or had the demon already reached her?
Taurian pushed forward to where she had parked her car. Blood coated his side and ran down his face. The humans seeing him gave him a wide berth. Some used their phones and called an ambulance.
If only he had his wings, he could get to Dena and protect her. Kill the damn Tryn. Taurian collapsed against a wood framed building. A painted black skull on the sign over his head. It swung back and forth or maybe that was just his dizziness making it seem that way.
He tried to lift his head, but pain slammed into his skull. Keep going damn it! Dena was in danger. The beast would rip her apart while Taurian lay helpless here on this blasted street. He shoved the pain aside and rose, holding onto the wooden pillar outside the black skull shop.
“My, my,” said a woman. “You sure are a long way from home, dragon.”
He tensed. How did this woman know what he was? Blinking against the pain thrashing his skull and side, he focused on her. She was an elder woman with grey curly hair and taupe skin. She wore a black shawl and a burgundy skirt. Yet her dark eyes seemed ancient like looking into the dark, moonless night. Was she from a line of slayers? After his kind had run out the Tryns from Earth, then the humans turned on them. Hunting Renjerians like beasts.
“Sorry, I must go.” He didn't have time for a slayer or whatever she was. Dena was in trouble. He stepped off the porch and the old woman snagged his arm.
“You're not leaving until I get what I need from you.”
Before he could react, she blew a powder into his face.
His vision darkened. On his mind was only one word...a name...Dena.
Chapter Twelve
Dena spun around. Where had the man...dragon disappeared? He had been right behind her, but when she reached her car in one of New Orleans’ outdoor parking lots, but now he was gone.
As much as she wanted to show him the sights and sounds of the modern world, she had other obligations. An appointment in twenty minutes with a sweet Pitbull named Rocky for his checkup of his diabetes.
“Taurian!” she hissed, then whispered, “I don't have time for this.”
She jogged up the path and stopped short when she spotted Taurian at the other end of the street.
His back was to her and he cocked his head in a weird angle as it appeared like he sniffed the air. What was he doing? An icy finger of dread traced down her spine, but she shook it off as her wild imagination. Maybe back on his planet that was how he determined if a storm was coming?
Before she could call him, he turned. His gaze roving over her form that made her pause instead of being turned-on like she normally would.
Get over it, he's just Taurian, not some crazed maniac.
“Hey, did you get lost and forget where we parked?” she asked.
“Yes.” He smiled so wide she worried his mouth would split.
“It's this way.” She led him to her beetle. “Let's do a quick check of your blood if we have time before my appointment. A second culture might show what your body is doing and how to help you transform back so you can return to you people.” God, the idea of him being inaccessible made her numb inside. How was she going to return to a normal life after finding out about alien dragons?
His steps echoed behind hers, but when she glanced over her shoulder, he was a breath away from her.
“You have a sample of his-my blood? And I can't return home or shift?”
An unease spread through Dena. Her heart pounded against her breastbone. Everything in her screamed run. That a predator stood before her. But her mind said it was Taurian and he'd never given her the heebie-jeebies like he was doing to her now, except when he was naked on her lawn when she first met him. She was just being paranoid, right?
She licked her lips and stepped back, her gaze darting to the left and right for an escape.
His laugh made her jump. “Sorry, still getting used to your new English. Very different from how Earthlings used to talk.”
The tension eased between her shoulder blades and she forced out a chuckle. “Right.” She shook her head. “Guess I'm a bit jumpy from everything that's happened lately.”
“Understandable.” He moved closer, the scent of burning sulfur wafting from him.
She crinkled her nose. Before she asked why he stank, he gripped her arm painfully.
“Ow, you're hurting me.” She jerked to free herself, but he held tight.
“Why hasn't the parasite killed the Renjerian yet? It should've done so the moment you two mated.”
“What are you talki—?”
Taurian pressed a thumb into her palm and her arm went numb. But then so did her mind. She let him open the car door for her and she flopped inside.
“Take us to where you have the Renjerians blood sample.”
Woodenly, like she was in a dream she couldn't control, she started the car. He climbed into the passenger side.
Her body thrummed with pent-up desire. She wanted to please him more than she needed to breathe.
They pulled into her driveway, and she raced inside her house. The injured Coyote snarled and hissed at them both.
“That's odd, she adored you before.” Dena squatted before the cage. Inside, in the back of her mind, she was screaming to wake up. “Maybe her leg is hurting and needs some medicine.” Even loyal animals would bite their owners when in pain.
“Shut that creature up or I will.” Taurian’s fingers shifted to black claws that appeared sharper than a bear's.
She swallowed, backing up against the wall as two sides of her mind fought for dominance: one that did whatever he wanted and the other who said something was very wrong. “Wh-Who are you?”
His face altered to the demon she'd stabbed with the anesthesia shot. Terror strangled her words. Only thing between her and the demon was the coyote’s cage. She had to reach a weapon. The coyote, as if sensing something was amiss, crashed again and again against the cage’s door.
“Stupid animal,” the demon snarled.
In a flash, the cage sprung open at the animal’s thrashing. It lunged at the demon’s throat.
Dena scrambl
ed around the two to her supply cabinet. Had to get something to stop the demon and save the coyote and herself.
Her hands shook as she tugged on the drawer with hypodermic needles. A whimper sounded behind her. Dena knocked over a can of flea repellent and the pungent scent clogged her throat. She gagged, coughing to clear her lungs. Dizziness pressed against her skull, but she grasped the edge of the cabinet to steady herself. The demon hoisted her backward, slamming her into her examining table.
“You think to best me again, human?’” it snarled. “I'll so enjoy watching the replay when you kill that filthy Renjerian for me.”
She choked back a scream. “Not happening. Ever.” Her heart hammering in her chest.
Grasping the surgical tray on the other side of the table, she yanked out a scalpel and jammed it into the creature's chest.
Her legs shook as she took in the coyote who had tried to defend her laying on the ground in a pile of blood and panting.
The demon ripped out the scalpel and black blood oozed from the wound. Then he launched the blade at Dena.
She ducked, the weapon whizzing past her head. The thunk of metal vibrating.
It's wound sealing up. Healing.
When she met its gaze, the demon laughed, the sound worse than nails raking down a chalkboard.
“Come here, little one.” It crooked a finger at her. “Come.”
“Not on your life.” She snatched a pair of scissors from the surgical tray.
In a blur, the demon stood over her. It clasped her wrist, digging its claws into her flesh until she winced in pain and dropped the weapon.
“Looks like you need more persuasion.” The demon bit her injured wrist. Her screams bounced off the walls.
What felt like worms wiggled up her arm from her wound. No! Her resistance ceased. The feeling she had before in the car washed over her.
“How may I please you, Master?”
The demon grinned, revealing rows of sharp teeth. “Give me any Renjerian blood you have and if the Renjerian returns—”
“I have two Renjerian friends, Master.” Why had she said that?
“If either return here, kill them.”
Chapter Thirteen
The overwhelming scent of burning pitch burned Taurian's nostrils. He thrashed to sit up, but thick chains held him down on a table. No matter how much he strained, the bindings across his chest, legs, and arms refused to budge.
In the corner, the woman from earlier stared at him and smoked a pipe. Her gray hair belying her taupe, unwrinkled face. Though her shoulders were slightly hunched, she gave the air of superiority despite her small five-foot frame.
Why had this old human brought him here and chained him like a spiked pheasant about to be butchered?
“Release me!” Where was Dena? Was she okay?
“Not until you answer my questions first.” She didn't move, but he sensed she would do everything in her power to make him stay until she was satisfied.
There wasn't time for this. He had to rescue Dena...the Tryn had duplicated Taurian and chased after her.
Taurian struggled again when the woman clicked her tongue.
“Don't go ripping your stitches so soon, dragon. My sewing is equal to none, but I won't make the fix straight again if you make me redo my work.”
He glanced down at his wounds to find the threads holding pieces of his flesh together smeared with a brown, foul-smelling concoction, which stunk worse than the liquid Dena had used on his gunshot wound after she blasted him. Yet, now his lacerations appeared crusted over already with a purplish cast to the bruises as if days had passed, not minutes. Then again, how long had he been here? Dena! “Let me go and I won't burn your house down.”
“Oh, aren’t you the big bad wolf now?” She cocked her head to the side. “Answer me or I’ll rip your entrails out. Why are you here?”
Though he admired the old woman’s spirit, he had to get out of this mess and fast. She already knew he was a dragon and about the Tryn. Something no other humans were supposed to know or remember. Just how old was this woman? She couldn’t be from the time period when he was last here on Earth…but humoring her might get him out of these chains faster. “Fine. I came into this world accidentally with a Tryn. Now let me loose so I can go kill it before it hurts someone.” His voice choked on the last two words.
“You brought one of those demons along with you?” Her glare speared him. “How could you? We have no more dragons to protect us. And if one of us gets possessed, the creatures multiple like an air-born virus.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose.” He yanked against the chains again. Was this woman a hunter? Why had she bound him and she knew so much about his kind and Tryns. No, if she was a hunter she’d have killed him already. Unless she was grilling him to find out if any more Renjerians were here or would be coming. That thought sent dread barreling into his chest. Had he left his world full of Tryns just to come here to another enemy?
“Please, there’s no time. An innocent…a woman is in danger.” His heart thudded against his chest and he swallowed down the bile pressing into his throat.
“Then how come you’re in this form…human rather than a dragon?” She rose and lightly smacked his shoulder. “A dragon’s breath of fire is the best thing for destroying these little devils.”
“There are more of them now. And giant ones too.” He licked his lips. If she hated the Tryns and knew what they were capable of, then he could convince her to let him go. Perhaps this woman could help him if she knew anything about the ancient magic of her ancestors—the ones that used to fight alongside the Renjerians against a common foe. “Something happened on the way over here. I was changed somehow and I can’t shift back.”
“Guess then we’re stuck with a dragon-less dragon and a Tryn that will be a legion before the new moon.”
“Let me go and I’ll vanquish the demon.” He met her stare. “I vow as a dragon prince of Renjer that I will not cease until the creature is destroyed.”
The old woman tsked and tightened her black shawl. “I will hold you to that. And I want you to promise me a dragon for my granddaughter.”
“Wha—no.” His kind didn’t do that anymore. Even if all she wanted was a nanny, Renjerians didn’t have any contact with humans anymore. The king bent the rules to marry and impregnate Kohl’s mom, but his father paid the ultimate price with the human woman losing her life. “We don’t babysit. We are warriors and fighting a great battle.”
“So is my granddaughter.” The woman raised a finger. “She knows all the old ways I taught her, but she doesn't believe me. Don’t believe in dragons or demons or galaxies where such things thrive.” She shook her head and shuffled over to a bookcase lined with old looking tomes, skulls of various animals, and small statues. “A thousand years ago, our ancestor mated with a Renjerian. Dragon blood is in us, even though dormant. It was how I sniffed you out. That and you spilled so much of your own blood in the alley it was hard to miss.”
Just how old was this woman? And how could she access abilities that should be long obliterated by mating with other humans after all this time? Didn’t matter. “Then we have a deal?”
“You must promise me first. A dragon prince for my granddaughter.”
He scowled. “I cannot force one of my brothers to come here on my behalf and play nursemaid to your kin.”
“Then we have no deal.” She set a pair of keys on one of the shelves beside a small skull that looked Renjerian to him.
What did he have to lose? He could say yes and get out of here and rescue Dena. Then return to Renjerian and this woman would have no way of reaching to ensure he held up his part of the bargain. For fun, he’d mention it to his father and brothers, but no Renjerian wanted to come to Earth anymore. Not after the dragon wars and humans turning on his kind and blaming them for the plague of Tryns that nearly wiped out the backward people of this planet.
“I vow that I will advise the king and my bothers to your deman—wishes. H
owever, I will not enslave any of my brothers to this task. One, if they chose, may come, but I will not force them.”
The old woman nodded and picked the keys back up. “I’ll send my granddaughter to Renjer within a fortnight of your return there.”
Good luck with that. He was having a hard enough time trying to shift back into a dragon so he could go home. How much less a human female with no wings or nanities to activate during a lightning storm to teleport to his distant planet. “We will await her presence eagerly.” And if by some miracle the daft woman did reach his planet, he would’ve held his end of the deal easily. Then, she’d be some other Renjerians’ issue.
Once he was unchained, Taurian sat up. “Thank you.”
“See that you do not betray me, dragon. Or you will owe me and my debt is far more than you can pay.” She pressed a finger to his forearm.
Yup, this woman was looney.
His insides coiled as lancing pain radiated up and down his arm. He growled, snapping at her, but she pressed harder, bringing him to his knees.
“This will force you to keep your word or your life will be mine for all time.”
A spell? She’d bound his future to hers if he didn’t live up to his bargain for her granddaughter. Hope the girl was old enough to marry a dragon. She’d have her pick of half his brothers.
He nodded and dashed out the door. Darkness greeted him and he cursed. How long had the filthy Tryn been with Dena? He’d tear its appendages off and roast them with or without his dragonfire.
Taurian ran up the street to Dena’s house. But even with his Renjerian stamina, he wasn’t getting there soon enough. A car with red and blue flashing lights pulled up beside him. Taurian admired the fancy decoration of this vehicle. Was the man someone special to have such lights when he had seen no other human cars with such?
“You okay there, buddy?” the man asked through the open window.
“Yes, but I need transportation.” He grinned. “Give me a ride to Dena’s house.” These humans and their new fancy machines. Much better than the carriage rides of old. Almost as fast as a dragon could fly.