We walked through a large room that looked like a closet. There were racks on the walls, mostly empty, but some contained heavy coats and gloves. Emerging beyond that, we went into another bland hallway and then into a big room, lit with overhead fluorescent lighting.
Doyle stopped. He gestured. “Here. This is where we found Ezra. The dragons were in that cage over there.”
I looked where he was pointing. There was floor-to-ceiling mesh fencing over reinforced steel bars blocking out one end of the room. The door to the cage hung open since it was empty.
“Doesn’t look like they broke out,” I said. “That door is still intact. You have that repaired?”
“No,” said Doyle. “We aren’t sure how they got out, actually. Maybe Ezra opened the gate without taking proper precautions. It isn’t like him, but everyone makes mistakes now and then. It’s unfortunate this one turned out so deadly for him.”
“Very unfortunate,” said Naelen.
The two were quiet.
But I had to admit, Doyle didn’t seem distraught or anything. Maybe he’d had some time to adjust and grieve.
“Look,” I said, “this is interesting, but it’s not actually that important. We need to do what we can to stop these dragons.”
“All right,” said Doyle. “So, what’s our first move?”
I considered. “Get everyone together in one location.”
* * *
I addressed all the people in the facility. They were gathered in the rec room, which had a TV area, a pool table, and table tennis. Looked like a fun place to hang out if you could get past the lack of windows and the fluorescent lighting. “Until it’s safe, it’s better for everyone to stay in one location,” I said.
“Wait, what?” said Doyle. “We’re still working here, you know. We have things to accomplish. We can’t simply shut down.”
“You want to die?” I said.
He rolled his eyes. “You’re being melodramatic.”
“I’m not,” I said. “The safest place for everyone is here, together, in one defensible location.”
“Sure, that’s brilliant,” said one of the girls who looked about my age. I guessed they were the students. They all were crowded together on the couches, and they looked annoyed. “So, when the dragons find us, they can pick us all off.”
“No,” I said. “The idea is for the dragons not to be able to get in. Those doors don’t look flammable, right? You guys lock yourselves in here, and you’ll be fine.”
The main doors to each level were the big, circular sliding ones, like the ones at the entrance to the facility. Within each floor, however, the doors were the normal swinging kind with hinges and doorknobs. They were made of metal and had electronic keypads next to the locks.
“Look,” said the girl, “we’re all dying here. I asked if we shouldn’t just evacuate—”
“Celia,” said Doyle, “we discussed this. The storm—”
“Screw the storm,” said Celia. “If we would have left this morning, we could have made it. But you’re obsessed with keeping up the pace and working, even though you know we’re not making any progress.”
“Look,” said one of the older women, “we’re all worried, but it’s not doing us any good to be negative.”
Celia rolled her eyes.
The woman turned to me. “I’m Beverly Lewis, one of the senior scientists here, and I appreciate what you’re trying to do here, but the fact of the matter is, we weren’t told that we were coming up to the rec room to be locked in. We aren’t prepared—”
“You won’t be in here that long,” I said. “I’m good at killing dragons. I’ll go out, put some arrows in their skulls, and we’ll all be out in time for dinner.”
“Wait,” said Doyle. “Kill them?”
“Absolutely not,” said Beverly.
“Out of the question,” said another man.
“And you are?” I said.
“I’m Jack Lewis, another senior scientist,” he said. “And we’ve devoted months of our lives to trying to cure these dragons. They are not to be harmed. They are people—”
“The people who were these dragons are dead,” I said. “When a dragon shifts out of water, it kills the human part of the person.”
“We don’t know that,” said Doyle. “What you want to do is murder.”
I sighed, turning to Naelen.
Naelen cleared his throat. “Listen, I used to think the way that you did, but the more experience I have with rogue dragons—”
“You can’t have more experience than us,” said Doyle. “And there will be no killing of the dragons.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “What do you expect me to do, then?”
“Well, contain them, and get them back in their cages, of course,” said Beverly. “That’s the only thing to do.”
“Beverly,” said Naelen. “I can call you Beverly, yes?”
“Who are you?” she said.
“I’m Naelen Spencer,” he said. “Before Ezra took over the funding of this project, it was my project. In fact, I initiated the process to reach out to you and your husband to hire you.”
“We’re divorced,” said Jack, glancing at Beverly.
“Oh, how awkward,” said Naelen. “My apologies. Listen, my point is that these dragons that have escaped, they are dangerous. We can’t protect them at the expense of more loss of human life.”
“Killing them is loss of human life,” said Jack. “Or aren’t dragons people too?”
“I am a dragon,” said Naelen, glaring at him.
“Hey,” I said. “I’m not going to argue with you people about this. I’ve got the bow and arrows, and I know how to use them. If you could have contained these dragons on your own, you wouldn’t have reached out for help. Now, I don’t know why we’re having an argument about this, but let me lay out the situation for you. We are trapped in a tunneled-out mountain with three fire-breathing, magic-wielding monsters on the loose. They are nothing but husks of rage. They’re going to kill again. Unless I stop them. Which is what I’m going to do. You all need to stay here.” I turned on my heel and stalked out of the room, letting the door bang behind me.
Once out of the rec room, I tried to calm myself down. I didn’t much like confrontation, but those people were being idiots.
The only one with any sense had been Celia, who said they all should have evacuated. The fact that the dragons had escaped was proof that this experiment of theirs wasn’t going to work.
And yet, they were trying to protect the monsters that would stalk and kill them.
Sometimes, people were morons.
I didn’t know where the dragons might have gone, but I thought it was possible that they might have have gone up. They could sense gravity, after all, and they could fly. Whatever instinctual response that was within in them might send them to the top floor.
I started down the hallway, back towards the elevator we’d come up on.
“Clarke!” Naelen’s voice.
I turned. “What?”
He hurried to catch up. “Where are you going?”
“Like I said, I’m going to kill dragons,” I said.
“Without me?”
I cocked my head to one side. “There a reason I should wait for you? You particularly adept at killing dragons? Oh, no, wait. That’s me. I’m the dragon slayer.”
“You don’t have to be sarcastic,” he said. “I can help. I’ve got magic.”
“You shifted recently?”
“I did,” he said. “I didn’t want to be caught off guard like we were with Cunningham. And after what you said about having one of the objects on us at all times, I even brought the knife. So, I’m wicked powerful.” He grinned.
I considered. “I guess you can come.”
“Guess?” He made a tsk-tsk noise. “You ought to be begging me for my help.”
I turned my back on him. “Why don’t you stay here and protect these people, hmm?”
“You’re only pi
ssed off because of our conversation on the plane,” he said. “You’re still in denial about how much you want me.”
I whirled to face him. “At a time like this, you’re still thinking about sex?”
He shrugged. “It’s because you’re around. You’re remarkably distracting.”
“Fine, then. If you’re so distracted, then you definitely can’t come with me. I am hunting these dragons on my own.” I turned again and stalked off down the hallway.
“Clarke!” he yelled, coming after me. “Come on, you need me.”
“I don’t,” I said without turning around.
“I’m coming along.”
I stopped in front of the elevator. “Stay here, Naelen.”
“What if something happens to you? I’ll never forgive myself.”
I snorted. “I don’t need you to take care of me. I’ve got this.”
He put his hand on my shoulder and turned me around. “I mean it,” he said in a lower voice. “I don’t want you going off on your own.”
I sighed. “I really will be okay. You know that.”
He licked his lips. “I suppose that it’s possible what that Celia girl said was true. That the dragons could try to attack all of them. Maybe I should stay here and stand guard.”
“Exactly,” I said.
“But I don’t like it,” he said. “I don’t like it one bit.”
I swallowed. “You know, Naelen, maybe you’re right.”
“Of course I am. What am I right about?”
“Maybe I don’t know what I want. Maybe I don’t know if it’s you or if it’s him. But I do know that I need some space, some time to myself. To think. And I do my best thinking while I’m killing dragons.”
* * *
That was a big lie.
Not the part about not knowing what I wanted. That was true enough, as far as it went. I was confused as hell. I knew that I used to be in love with Logan, and that I was definitely only in lust in with Naelen, and I wasn’t sure if being in lust with Naelen counteracted my love for Logan. It didn’t seem as though it should, but I had to admit that it did somehow. It made everything muddy.
No, I was lying about doing my best thinking while killing dragons.
Thinking about anything besides killing dragons while killing dragons was a great recipe for getting myself killed.
So, the minute I stepped off the elevator, I banished all thoughts of Logan and Naelen from my head. I pulled three arrows out of my quiver and I notched the first one in my bow.
The upstairs was a lot like the rest of the building, meaning that it was just rounded low ceilings and hallways with doors off them. I emerged into this long corridor, which dead-ended about forty feet down, and I decided it would make better sense to start at the dead end and work my way back to the door. That way if I found a dragon, and I needed to run, I’d be heading toward the elevator.
I eased my way down the hallway, my body on high alert. I was hyper-aware of my surroundings, ready to react to any bit of movement.
But everything was motionless.
At the end of the hallway, I opened the door and I entered a storage room. It was long and wide, full of metal shelves containing big containers of chemicals. Things like sulfuric acid and lead acetate.
I stepped into the room, leaving the door open behind me. I wanted to have an exit if I needed it.
Peering around the first set of shelves, my heart started to speed up. I tensed, my palms sweating a little as I tried to keep my grip on my arrows.
But there was nothing there.
Sucking in a breath, I crept forward. Leading with my bow and notched arrow, I looked around the next set of shelves.
Bed sheets and pillows down this row. Food too. Industrial-sized cans of tomato sauce and beans.
I supposed I hadn’t much thought about what they were eating up here. Probably a lot of shelf-stable stuff. No fresh vegetables or anything like that.
I wondered if they had to cook their own food or if someone was cooking for everyone up here.
Then I scolded myself. I needed to focus.
I took another breath and peered around the next shelf.
A flash of shimmering scales.
Damn.
I let an arrow fly and sent two more right after it.
The first one struck the ceiling. The next the floor. The third hit the dragon, who let out a roar.
I already had three more arrows out, and I was sending them flying.
All three hit the dragon, but it was crouching behind the next shelf over. I was only getting its tail and upper thigh.
It screamed and hissed, though. It was pissed.
I dove forward, getting out more arrows. Only taking enough time to get a lock on where the dragon’s face was, I shot arrows around the next shelf,
But before any of the arrows could make contact, the dragon blew out a huge wall of fire.
I hit the ground, feeling the heat rush over my head.
When it was gone, I looked up.
The dragon was coming for me.
I backed up, taking cover behind the shelf. I pulled out more arrows.
More fire, this time from behind me.
Crap. I whirled.
There was another one, this one coming inside the storage room.
I got off three arrows at that one.
Two of them embedded in the dragon’s neck.
It squealed, a tongue of fire coming for me.
I narrowly escaped it, leaping to one side.
But then the other dragon threw out another fire ball.
This time, it caught a big gallon jug of some chemical.
Boom.
The air exploded.
CHAPTER SIX
I couldn’t breathe and my face was burnt off.
I let out a little whimpering noise.
No, no, my face was okay. I put my fingers to it, and I still had skin. It felt raw as hell, but it was like a sunburn.
I coughed, blinking hard. There was smoke everywhere.
Quickly, I took inventory of myself. I had my fingers, my arms, my toes, my legs. I had my bow. It was okay. My arrows… Yeah, but I was running low. Typically, I’d gather them up after I killed a dragon, but…
They were part of that smoking mass that had been the first dragon I’d found. The only part of the dragon left was its torso and lower legs. Whatever had exploded seemed to have destroyed its head and chest. There were… pieces… everywhere.
Gingerly, I stepped back, navigating around the corpse best I could.
Where was the other one?
It wasn’t in the doorway anymore.
I hurried forward, looking past the shelves. Not on the food aisle. Not on the sulfuric acid aisle.
I put my back against the wall next to the door and stole a glance into the hallway.
There.
It was slinking down the hallway, dragging its wings behind it. The dragon was bright red, and its wings were purple. It was bleeding, leaving a crimson trail. One of its wings was damaged. Maybe both.
Not that it helped me much. It wasn’t as if the thing could fly here, anyway.
I notched an arrow. Just one. The creature was close, and I could line up this shot if I needed to.
But then it darted inside a room.
I swore under my breath. I crept down the hall toward the dragon. I didn’t want to be noisy, clue it in to the fact that I was coming.
At the door to the room, I waited, listening.
I couldn’t hear anything.
I took out two more arrows.
I burst into the room shooting.
The dragon roared, rearing up on its hind legs.
All three of my arrows pierced its belly.
It bellowed.
I yanked out another arrow.
This one went in its head.
* * *
Two down, I thought grimly as I finished checking the last of the rooms up here. I’d collected all my arrows from the dragon corpse.
I felt bad, because it was dead in someone’s bedroom there, and I didn’t know where that person was going to sleep now.
Come to think of it, I didn’t really know where it was that Naelen and I were sleeping. If we were trapped here for days, we’d need places to sleep.
Knowing Naelen, he’d done some stupid crap like told them that we were together and said we could share a bed. I wouldn’t put it past him. I’d have to clear all that up.
And then after I did that, I was going to have to spend the rest of the time convincing Doyle that all the dragons needed to be destroyed. He would have to see reason eventually. I wasn’t leaving this place here with a bunch of rogues trapped in the lower level. It was a disaster waiting to happen.
Of course, I wasn’t sure how to best kill all those dragons. I suppose it might be possible for me to shoot every single one of them. I wasn’t even sure how many there were. I would need to find out. And I’d need to figure out what to do with all those dragon bodies.
When slayers killed dragons typically, their bodies would be cut up and sold for magical purposes. All magic in the world came from dragons one way or the other.
Well, except for the objects, but that was a whole different kettle of fish.
I headed for the elevator and hit the button to go back down. I waited for the doors to open.
I wouldn’t suggest anything as disrespectful as having these bodies cut up, of course. But if these rogues had once been shifters, maybe their bodies should be returned to their families. Dragon families tended to keep the bodies of their ancestors. They honored them by using their remains to create magical talismans.
If they hadn’t been shifters, though, there wouldn’t be any reason to do that. There were two kinds of rogues. Some had become rogues when the human part of them had been destroyed. Others had never been human at all. They were just… monster dragons. I didn’t know for sure where they came from, but the rumor was that they had been sent here from some other world. That world had sent all its nightmares to our world. All its criminals too. We were meant to have been a place to contain evil, but we’d become more than that.
The elevator door opened. Someone was there. It was one of the students. She had auburn hair.
Embers (The Slayer Chronicles Book 2) Page 5