by Unknown
“Don’t.” Phoenix had me backed into a wall in under half a second. His body pressed into mine holding me in place. One hand lay back to my cheek. “Calm down, Lianna. They’re in the clearing now. Damien drew him away from you. Now get a hold of yourself or I won’t take you.”
“I’m going with or without you! Why would you even be here, knowing Demetrius was out there within your reach? I know you want his blood, I can feel it!”
I wanted to ask why I felt so strange. Why my body burned. Why my wounds were darkening black where I had been bitten, and not healing faster. But I couldn’t. All that mattered in the end was Damien. Even if he was done with me, that didn’t matter.
His brow sunk, furrowed together. “Because I promised to protect you. I promised I wouldn’t let you go. That’s more important than another death on my hands. Even Demetrius’. And do you really believe you could possibly go without me?”
Taking in a deep breath, I closed my eyes. Of course I knew better. “Open those eyes, cupcake.” Phoenix could stop me in a number of ways if he so chose. Gulping down the lump of fear in my throat I nodded before opening my eyes. Phoenix didn’t say anything else, but he didn’t let me go either.
After a moment he pulled back without letting go, appraising me from head to toe. His fingers brushed the gash on my shoulder. I shivered to the touch. He turned me carefully so my back was to him. I could feel him lightly touch the exposed bone where it had been damaged. It hurt like fire, but I didn’t flinch this time.
Bringing his hand to his mouth, he bit deep into the meat of his palm. Squeezing his fist over my shoulder, blood dripped down onto the wound. “This is the worst one?” I nodded. There were many others, but that was the worst of them. As I turned back to him, Phoenix ran his hand down my cheek with his knuckles slowly. “Let’s go then.”
We reached the clearing faster than I expected. As we emerged from the thick trees I saw the most brutal fight uprooting between the two. The ground was mutilated with deep ruts and shattered boulders. A tree lay ripped to shreds in the middle of the field.
Damien and Demetrius slammed into one another, proceeding to rip each other to shreds. Demetrius landed a blow with his foot dead center of Damien’s chest, sending him flying back twenty feet.
Phoenix was midair in one clean jump and on Demetrius’ heals as I raced for Damien. The force that stopped Damien was a weak sugar maple. The tree snapped to the pressure. Falling back with a loud crack as the trunk broke. As some of the roots tore out of the earth around him, he landed in a crouched position on the ground. When he saw me, anger ripped through him. He lunged at me, grabbing my shoulders and throwing us into a roll. Let me just say, owe.
Damien pulled me back behind a tree though his eyes never left Phoenix and Demetrius. His voice was an angry hiss as he spoke, but he never even looked at me, “What are you doing here?”
“I came here for you!” I hissed right back, as my fists clinched tight at my sides.
“I can handle myself. Get out of here! Get back to the house. I don’t want him anywhere near you! Take Phoenix with you, I don’t want him in the middle of this.”
“He has more right to be here than you do! Why are you pushing me away?” my voice was an angry plea of desperation.
“Now is not the time for this, Lianna! Go back to the house.” Just like that Damien was gone. Demetrius and Phoenix were now deep in it. It was nearly quiet aside from the damage of each hit. Phoenix tore into Demetrius’ side with one swift move. A large piece of skin was removed, exposing his broken ribs and muscle. Their fight was the most beautifully inhuman dance of blood and war. No two had been more designed for battle.
A crazed lone Crossbreed ran up on Phoenix. Fast and fluidly he grabbed the arm coming in for the swing from behind. Jerked, twisted and snapped. The arm hung dead but the beast kept coming.
Damien flipped over him. His arm locked around the beast’s shoulders. He held both arms under the sockets locked back. Phoenix’s hand came up grabbed the man’s dreadlocks and ripped the head clean off as he spun back to Demetrius who was changing.
His flesh slicked into black glass under the light of the moon, morphing into gleaming metallic scales.
Phoenix backed up immediately as massive wings ripped out of Demetrius’ shoulder blades, extending to an instant twenty foot span. I watched in horror as Demetrius was ripped to shreds by the internal Dragon that tore out of him like shedding a second skin.
An ear splitting roar bellowed from his engorged chest as his body shifted into the beast fairy tales were made of. I was so focused on the event that I hadn’t seen Damien disappear from sight.
Phoenix yelled as Damien ran up behind Demetrius and took a flying leap at the Dragon, “Damien, no!” But it was too late. As Damien was midair, Demetrius spun around using a wing to swat him down as if he were no more than a fly. The massive jaw of the draconic beast spread wide, black fangs bared viciously in an ear bleeding roar. His deadly wide open mouth was heading for Damien.
Damien was too stunned to know what was coming. Phoenix ran in front of them shoving Damien hard out of the way which sent him flying back. Demetrius came down on Phoenix instead. His mouth latched onto Phoenix’s shoulder. The beast was so big his maw spread down over Phoenix’s arm, chest and entire shoulder blade half down his back. All that kept him from death were his hands, prying at the Dragon’s jaw, trying to push him back. Demetrius’ wings wrapped around Phoenix’s body, talons digging deep into his flesh piercing to the bone.
Recovering from his stagger, Damien dropped down onto Demetrius back, biting into the Dragon’s neck at the base of his skull. His hands wrapped around its neck trying to pry Demetrius off of Phoenix.
Blood poured from Phoenix mouth but he never stopped fighting. His arms reached up, latched onto the maw of the monster, proceeding to twist the Dragons head from its neck.
As they were ensuing taking Demetrius’ head off, I heard movement in the woods. Something running faster than any animal could. Instinctively I jumped up and took off in the same direction. No way was I going to let some stray come to Demetrius’ aid again.
Hendrick and I were moving so fast we nearly collided into one another. The aid was for Damien and Phoenix, not Demetrius. Hendrick leapt over me tucking his body into a roll through the air. As he hit the ground he rolled up and took off running again without missing a single beat.
I spun around fluidly, flying behind him. As we reached the open field the shock nearly buckled me. Phoenix lay in the field unmoving while Damien threw everything he had at the massive Dragon.
Never in my life would I have ever expected to see a man punch a Dragon in the face.
“Lianna, get to Phoenix!” Hendrick bellowed while never slowing. The tail of the Dragon slammed into Damien with such force I could feel the pain radiating off him from all his ribs being broken at once. Despite his pain he kept on, grabbing onto the wing of the beast to keep him from flying back from the hit.
As Hendrick caught up to the fight, he bellowed out a barbarian battle cry such as a gladiator running into war.
I kept running until I reached Phoenix, sliding on my knees to a stop by his side. Rolling him to his back, he groaned from the pain. With his chest bare I could see the wounds clearly. Great holes pierced through his body where the teeth had sunk in. One was the size of my fist. The flesh had turned black where the poison was spreading like a mesh of cobwebs spread apart like Halloween decorations. Where his flesh had been torn was completely black as if the skin was dying.
“I’m gonna put your arm around me,” I whispered in a breath as I quickly and carefully pulled his good arm up around my neck. Sliding my arms around him, I stood. Phoenix stayed silent, which worried me more than f he would have cried out in pain.
“I guess I’m not near as good as you thought I was,” he grumbled with a dark laugh as I laid him back into a tree, kneeling close beside him.
“You saved his life. That makes you better than most.”
My hands were shaking as they fluttered over the massive gashes where the Dragon’s teeth had torn into him. “Tell me what to do,” I snapped at him.
“Sticks. My wild little tornado. Cupcake.” His hand came up to brush my cheek gently as his eyes rolled back into his head. The poison spreading, he was losing consciousness. His hand dropped to the ground as black blood oozed from his lips. In many places the muscle had been torn out and broken bone was exposed. Was the venom enough to kill him?
Without a moment’s hesitation I slit my throat with my fingernail and moved up against him. My arms slid around him cradling him against me, holding his head to my neck. “Drink. Drink!” His lips lightly pressed into my neck. It was so tender it felt like a kiss.
I could still hear the fight raging but as his cool lips began to suckle the cut on my neck the world fell away from us. His hands came up around my waist, pulling me into his lap. Only when the wound began to close did I feel his fangs brush my flesh, slowly sinking into my throat.
I could feel the pain in his body as if it were my own. I could feel the charge my blood gave him coursing into him, healing each wound. Slowly my blood over powered the Dragons poison.
Phoenix drank slow and deep until each of his wounds closed completely. His blood stained skin was no more than a reminder. He’d taken a great deal from me. But I would have given it all to him if it had been needed.
Phoenix clung to me with a tender urgency he’d never shown with me before. He moaned low as a surge of power rushed through his veins, holding me even tighter than before. His fangs pulled from my neck. Holding his lips over the small four holes until the wound closed.
His hands came up to cradle my cheeks holding me to him, his forehead pressed to mine. “That’s twice now. Thank you, Lianna. You don’t know what that means to me. What you mean to me.”
His head lift while his hands held my cheeks and kissed my forehead firmly. A moment later his hands slowly trailed down to my waist again, squeezing firmly. “Someone’s feeling better.” I couldn’t help but smile with relief. My hand held to his cheek, thumbing away some caked on dirt.
Grinning wickedly with his forehead pressed to mine, “You’re the best medicine I could ever ask for. Stay here, cupcake. I’m gonna go slay a Dragon.” Phoenix winked. His lips pressed to my cheek feverishly as he set me to the ground. Instantly he was gone.
Someone should have told him I don’t listen very well.
As I hit the clearing Phoenix was stalking forward, arms open at his sides in challenge. “Demetrius! You think you can get rid of me that easily? You’ll have to do better than that.”
As Phoenix’s hands came up, several of the broken boulders rose up from the earth simultaneously. Phoenix muttered through grit teeth, “Eat this you overgrown bat.” As his hands came together the large rock fragments flew at Demetrius’ head.
Hendrick was being held by his jaw in one massive clawed hand. His bones being crushed slowly as Damien was trying to futilely avoid the wings and tail that kept thrashing down on him. Each time a wing hit Damien it broke bones and sliced into his flesh viciously as if the wing was one massive razor.
The rocks pummeled Demetrius in the head all at once. Damien was clipped in the shoulder when Demetrius blocked one by beating his wings wildly.
The shock forced Demetrius drop to Hendrick and turn to face Phoenix, bellowing out a deafening roar as his black fork tongue stretched from his blood stained maw. He was pissed.
“You’re not big enough to take me down, Demetrius. Not then, and definitely not now, you ugly mutt.” Phoenix taunted the beast as his hands continued to conduct debris to fly through the air.
A fallen tree trunk lift high and spun through the air like a baseball player who’d released the bat. The tree hit the dragon hard across the back. Limbs went flying as if the tree had been thrown into a grinder.
Furious as he could possibly be, Demetrius reared back on his legs. His wings stretching wide to show his impressive size as his chest enlarged screeching out in anger.
Before Demetrius could react, I heard two loud cracks and a dull aching grunt as Demetrius collapsed on top of Hendrick. Hendrick had kicked with all of his force with both feet into each of Demetrius’ knees.
“Hendrick!” I screamed for him, lurching to a stop as Phoenix’s hand shot up in my direction.
“Anna, stop! On my mark you grab him.” Phoenix wasn’t watching me. His focus was solely set on Demetrius.
Hendrick’s double kick would be enough to stop nearly anyone or anything for at least a few moments if they were shattered. And they were. Hendrick groaned to the weight on his injuries as the massive dragon collapsed on top of him.
In a second’s time Damien was in the middle of them. Demetrius fought and rolled. Thrashing wildly to try to throw Damien off of him. “Now, Anna!”
As Demetrius reared back, I ran as hard as I ever had. Hendrick reached for me as I flipped over him, grabbing his arm as he latched on to me. We rolled madly through the dirt. Hendrick was on top of me when we came to a stop. It was a slow process for him to get to his knees and help me up. He hurt so much.
Damien’s left hand was braced in front of Demetrius’ right shoulder. His right hand latched around the Dragon’s throat, in one swift move Damien snapped his neck.
It wouldn’t kill him, but it still paralyzed the beast until he could heal. My body lurched forward automatically but was painfully halted with Hendrick’s arms locked around me. “No, Anna!” What I saw was so incredible, that when I managed to throw him off all I could do was stand there.
Damien bent down over Demetrius as Phoenix ran in for the kill. Damien’s fangs dug into the back of his neck. Damien’s hand continued to pull, his fingers ripping through the scales as wings thrashed at him to tear him off and slice him to shreds.
Phoenix went in just as Damien’s fangs sunk into the Dragon’s neck. Phoenix’s hand thrust hard into the center of the Dragon’s chest. The blow of Phoenix’s fist was so devastating that the Dragon’s scales gave way. His fist sunk into the beast’s chest straight to the heart.
Demetrius was paralyzed and dying, but his wings thrashed, lashing at Damien and Phoenix in any way he could. In moments Damien’s fangs ripping through the spine, decapitating the beast. The head of the Dragon fell to the ground as Phoenix jumped back. A gaping hole left in the chest as the body fell forward. A black lump was clutched in Phoenix’s hand the size of my head. The heart of the black Dragon.
It was over.
I moved so quickly I hadn’t even registered I was running. Hendrick grabbed a hold of my shoulders stopping me quite suddenly as my trembling knees lurched forward to go to Damien.
“Easy, Sticks. Give him a minute.” Phoenix had stopped short, still holding the heart in his fist. I fought to free myself again desperately. “Hold her, Hendrick!” My mind could process only one thought. One need. One action. Get to Damien.
Damien’s eyes were ghostly, staring right through us. His body swayed a little between the rush of the old blood from the kill and his injuries.
A minute of struggle and I pushed Hendrick off of me, throwing myself into Damien. “Lianna, stop!” Phoenix yelled from behind me. Hendrick took in a sharp breath, standing poised and ready. I couldn’t heed their warning. This was Damien, not some soul sucking leach. My Damien. Demetrius was dead. There was no danger left.
My arms latched around his neck tight as ever, forgetting entirely how angry he had been before. It didn’t matter if he didn’t want me anymore. All that mattered was that he was okay. Damien’s arms were around me. It took me a moment to realize what was happening. He was clinging to me tightly. Too tightly.
I felt a rib snap as his arms tightened. His grip was tighter than it should be against my spine as we held against one another. His face buried down into my neck digging his fangs deep into my throat, shredding the skin like paper.
Sucking in a sharp gasp of air, I couldn’t even scream. At the same time I could feel the fle
sh pull away from my spine, ripping. His fingers dug through the muscle and into the bones. I thought I felt them starting to separate. My lips trembled though no sound could fall from them.
All of that had taken less than two seconds.
Suddenly we were both thrown to the ground. Phoenix and Hendrick both had tackled Damien and I. Phoenix threw me away from them sending me into a roll a few feet away. My back was tingling, I could barely move. I could feel the nerves unravel on the lower base of my spine like angel hair pasta spilling onto the floor.
Phoenix and Hendrick were both badly injured, but it hadn’t stopped them from reacting. Both men held hard against Damien, pinning him down. All I could do was lay there and watch.
His body shook violently. Low rumbling growls echoed through the night air from Damien’s chest. Bracing my hands against the earth, I slowly pulled myself to kneel in a crouching position, but I collapsed from the weight back to the ground.
“Damien!” Phoenix grunted. His forearm bracing hard on his chest as Damien fought against him. Damien’s teeth bared, trying to rip Phoenix’s throat out. “Snap out of it! Focus, Damien. Look at me. Fight it, damn it!” Phoenix was rougher with Damien. Maybe that’s because Damien was currently trying to rip him apart though. One can only hope.
“We gotta get him back to the house. You think you can carry him?” Hendrick asked Phoenix.
“Yeah, I’ll manage. Can you put him down?” Phoenix grunted as Damien landed a hard punch in the temple. “Now, Hendrick!” Phoenix grappled Damien’s arm and twisted so that Damien was half on top of Phoenix suddenly. Damien went after him with the intent to kill.
Hendrick brought his elbow down hard on the back of Damien’s neck unexpectedly. Damien stopped moving. He stopped fighting. For all of thirty seconds or so he was out cold.